#large boys birthday hamper

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 沙海/Tomb of the Sea/Sand Sea.

Sand Sea is the 2018 installment of the DMBJ/Lost Tomb franchise, which tells the story of the search for an ancient desert city, a fight against a secretive assassin family, the raiding of more than a couple tombs, and a whole bunch of other action-packed bullshit.

Have you ever watched an anime adaptation that outran the as-yet-incomplete manga it was adapting, necessitating it throw together a largely befuddling ending based on the available clues? That's Sand Sea. At time of production, only ~75% of the Sand Sea novel had been written. As I am making this post, that's still all of the Sand Sea novel that has been written. I finished watching the show and had a lot of questions about its loose ends. I read the book. It didn't help.

So, I'm not going to try and summarize the story, much less try to sell you on the show on the strength of the plot. What I am going to try and do is convince you it's a good time anyway.

As I mentioned earlier, it's part of a larger franchise, but you shouldn't let that stop you from diving in here. Most of the DMBJ shows and books are narrated by Wu Xie, the series' special little birthday boy. Sand Sea takes a different tack -- your main POV characters are completely new to the world of the tombs, meaning that the show explains things to you while it's explaining things to them. Wu Xie's still a major character, but you're seeing him through the eyes of a befuddled teenager who wasn't even supposed to be here today.

I'm going to give you five reasons to watch this series, and all five of them are relationships. I'm pitching it to you this way because, as was the case in my rec for Reunion (one of the other tomb-raiding dramas), I'm assuming you have zero familiarity with DMBJ, which means that any appeals to the larger franchise or its twists and turns will have no impact. Instead, I am here to sell this to you on the strength of character interactions. If you're interested in what the characters are doing, the plot will come.

1. Dudes Rock

The aforementioned teenager narrator is Li Cu, a too-cool-for-school underachiever who lives with his abusive father and has no direction in life. He comes with his two best (and only) friends: earnest pushover Su Wan and neighborhood bully Yang Hao.

They're a trio of problem children who cannot succeed by the metrics of society at large: Li Cu and Yang Hao are both from family circumstances that have hampered their ability to perform academically, while Su Wan, bless his heart, is just not that bright. They do, however, all do well when put in situations that play to their strengths and given appropriate mentorship. (Alas that all of their mentors are terrible people; see point 4.)

They're set up as an intentional next-generation parallel to the Iron Triangle, which is the term DMBJ uses for Wu Xie and his two closest people. Normally, the Iron Triangle would be the core of a DMBJ story -- but since that threesome is broken by Circumstances at the moment, these boys become the substitute triad whose friendship is one of the main bonds holding the narrative together.

They have such teenage boy dynamics, it's great. They're stupid about girls and alcohol and money and homework and all the other things teen boys are stupid about, while also being stupid enough to get themselves entangled in shadowy international conspiracies. Huge parts of the plot are fueled entirely by their dumbass decisions. But they also barely have any competent adult supervision in their lives, so you know, when you're seventeen and basically feral, renting a warehouse so you can beat a bunch of frozen snakes to death actually sounds like a good solution to the problem at the time.

It's not all comedy, though. Li Cu and Yang Hao in particular are deeply traumatized young men even before the story starts, and events of the series make it worse. They're definitely the "feelings are for girls!" type of young men, and they need Su Wan there as their eternally bippy buffer. When he's not, they can get mean.

What's also charming about this trio is that they're all pretty darn straight. In a franchise chock full of (unintentional?) homoeroticism, these three manage to keep their platonic dude dynamics pretty platonic. I mean, I myself come at most things with slash-colored glasses on, and even I'm of the opinon that they're befuddled heterosexuals struggling with how the entire tomb-raiding industry's gay. And even if you assume everyone in this entire show is straight, these boys are still going to get a bunch of real-time lessons in how to love other people, whether they like it or not!

So if you like a Teen Boy Squad of goobers who don't want to admit they're close or have emotions or anything like that, right up until they're all each other have, this may be just the thing for you.

2. The Only Good Het in the Tombs

DMBJ is not known for its high-quality heterosexual romance, to put it mildly. Most of the time, it makes the smart decision to not even try. When it does, you mostly wish it hadn't.

Therefore, you cannot imagine how shocked I was to find myself falling head-over-heels for the incredibly weird canonical love story between horny hot mess Dr. Liang Wan and emotionally constipated 80-year-old virgin and arsonist Zhang Rishan.

Their relationship goes a little something like this: He needs something from her, so he contrives a plan to ask her out. She declares him her boyfriend. He continues the relationship in order to continue getting things from her. She thinks he's hot, so she's fine with that. He warns her that continuing their relationship will involve messing with some very bad members of the Tomb-Raiding Industrial Complex. She's like, again, you're incredibly hot, so that's not a problem. He makes her memorize maps and sends her to a desert. She dresses up like him and pepper-sprays him. And somewhere in the midst of all that, he falls for her and she gets sick of his shit, and they wind up for-real dating as equals.

Part of what's so delightful about their relationship is how awful they are to one another. It'd be bad if that awfulness were one-sided, but man, they each give as good as they get. He's heartless and exploitative, and she's neurotic and insecure. She makes constant demands of him that he's almost too confused by to refuse, and he keeps putting her in situations no sane person should want to be part of. He comes from a cutthroat world of complete bastards, while she wears her heart on her sleeve whether she wants to or not. They're extremely good for one another, because he trusts her competencies and is going to make her demonstrate every one of them, while one of her chief skills is calling him on his bullshit.

It is at this point I need to sing the praises of Liang Wan, hottest of the hot messes. She's one of the principal POV characters for the novel, where she's just as boy-crazy (though for a different boy, because Zhang Rishan's not in this book) and just as far in over her head. The adaptation has absolutely done her character justice. What makes Liang Wan so charming to me is how much she absolutely refuses to let herself be stopped by being completely out of her depth. She doesn't know what the hell is going on most of the time, but fuck it, she's rolling with it. She's just also going to be applying moisturizer and anti-aging serum the entire time, because you know what, sometimes when your whole world is falling apart around you, the one thing you can count on is your skincare routine.

Zhang Rishan is surrounded by people so cool, butter doesn't melt in their mouths. He can be balls-out naked in front of them without batting an eyelash. It is her thirsty disaster charms alone that have set fire to his frozen heart. I love them to bits.

3. Enemies to ... ???

This is Sand Sea's Wu Xie. You're not going to like him at first, because he spends the first several episodes tormenting a teen who only mildly seems to deserve it. What you find out as the show goes on is that Wu Xie is having a bad time -- more than that, he's having a straight-up bad decade. He has taken a lot of psychic damage and decided to cope with it by being absolutely insane. He's a bitch with no sense of self-preservation living in constant gremlin mode. He is no longer under the active supervision of his husbands, and he's going to make that everyone else's problem.

The show chooses to start out by inflicting Wu Xie on a bunch of strangers through an arc that's bizarre, lengthy, and mostly completely unrelated to the larger plot. It does introduce a few elements that will matter, though, and one of them is Su Nan.

When Su Nan appeared as the badass head of a mercenary outfit, I was braced for one (or both) of two things to happen. Thing one, I figured she'd die or otherwise leave the narrative after the first arc, which made me not want to get attached to her, if she wasn't going to stick around. Thing two, I was all but certain the show was going to try and make her Wu Xie's love interest, which made me make such a face, because [see last point].

Neither happens. Su Nan is still around in the final episode, and what she becomes to Wu Xie is much, much more interesting.

They're not friends. They're never friends. They can't be friends, because they absolutely can't trust one another. Except sometimes they have to trust one another, and in return they have to allow themselves to be trustworthy.

In the last relevant chapter or so of the novel, Wu Xie gets his throat cut and shoved off a cliff ... and because the novel isn't finished, we have no idea why that happened or who did it. The drama decides that when he goes over that cliff this time, throat unslit, Su Nan needs to go with him. This means they spend much of the later part of the series depending on one another for survival, getting real vulnerable, sharing trauma, and occasionally fucking one another over anyway, because they are both bad and untrustworthy people.

And they're ... kinda into one another? But because it's not textual, it winds up being great. If the show had tried to write their romance, I would have hated it. Instead, it chooses to leave things fraught and unspecified, with the two of them obviously having a lot of feelings but not even knowing themselves what all those feelings are, much less how to react appropriately to them. That is delicious. Pour that right into my mouth.

I also choose to interpret Su Nan as being transfemme (complimentary), if only because that's the most charitable explanation for her dedication to keeping her tits out and her lipstick game sharp even in wilderness conditions.

4. This Man Should Not Be Trusted With Children

As I mentioned before, all members of the Teen Boy Squad wind up paired with adult men who act as their mentors. Li Cu and Wu Xie are the main duo, since they're the main character of this show and the main character of the entire franchise, respectively. Yang Hao winds up in an even more abusive dynamic with a bitch of a man who takes advantage of Yang Hao's capacity for rage. But precious baby Su Wan is lucky enough to be adopted by, well...

If you read my rec for Reunion, you will recognize him as the guy I called "this giant fucking loser" with all the affection in the world. Hei Xiazi is both the worst and the best, which makes him the perfect man to take care of the tender soul that is Su Wan.

Su Wan's a poor little rich boy who is happy to be bullied by his friends, because it means he has friends! He's a dipshit because he's sheltered by his family wealth, and he's also a dipshit because he'd be a dipshit no matter how much money he had. He needs someone to kick his ass in a way that builds him back up again and helps him make the transition from doormat to functional adult.

The circumstances that bring these two together are so batshit, they're not worth recounting here. Suffice it to say that as one adventure arc ends, Hei Xiazi is tasked with taking Su Wan home. Su Wan expresses interest in whatever Hei Xiazi's whole deal is, and Hei Xiazi responds by offering (in a roundabout way) lessons in what exactly his whole deal is.

Hei Xiazi is a terrible teacher, but he's a perfect teacher for Su Wan, who is the kind of boy who would go find the nearest dictionary if you told him the word "gullible" wasn't there. They're preciously weird at one another. The work so well together because Su Wan believes the best of everything, which leads him to see right past the parts of Hei Xiazi that other people (correctly) find inscrutable and offputting. With Hei Xiazi's questionable guidance, Su Wan finds for the first time in his naive, privileged life a goal for himself that is both achievable and worth the effort.

Later books give evidence that all three of the boys eventually go to work for Hei Xiazi, which I think is great, especially since he is somehow the least toxic and terrible of all the mentor characters. ...Man, though, that bar is low. It's a miracle anyone in DMBJ survives into adulthood.

It's also cute to think about how the boys are no doubt context-appropriately homophobic, because it's so easy to picture their respective reactions to finding out that their strong, terrible male role models are queer. Cue Li Ci and Yang Hao's respective no-homo freakouts, while Su Wan just has a million slightly offensive but ultimately well-meaning questions about how bisexuality works.

And I'm just going to say, if you watched the Untamed and loved Xue Yang? You owe it to yourself to see that actor suddenly become the sweetest little butterscotch muffin ever. ...Yes, if you didn't recognize him earlier, that's Wang Haoxuan, and he turns in an incredible comic performance here. Su Wan is consistently one of the funniest characters onscreen. The bit with the saxaphone kills me dead.

Anyway, unlike the first three relationships I've talked about here, this is one you have to wait a good long while for. Su Wan shows up in the first episode, Hei Xiazi appears about a dozen or so episodes later, but it takes their storylines much longer to cross. It's worth the wait, though, knowing that eventually you'll get to see these two weirdos bounce merrily off one another.

5. Everybody Loves Pangzi

This is the Iron Triangle I mentioned earlier. Obviously there's Wu Xie in the middle. The perfect boy in the hoodie is Xiao Ge, who is at the time of this series slightly stuck in what's basically a giant time-lock safe, so you're only ever going to see him in flashbacks. (Xiao Ge is trapped, so you can't have Xiao Ge.) And then, over there on the left is the man whose nickname translates to "fatty," Wang Pangzi.

Hold on to your butts, because I am now going to wax poetic about how much I love this fictional man.

Pangzi is the best. The best. He's funny. He's kind. He's got terrible taste in men and only slightly less terrible taste in women. He's a gentleman. He's the party shock absorber. He's prone to making things explode. He's impeccably dressed. He's charmingly superstitious. He's not subtle. He's got an excitable little stammer and an atrocious Beijing accent. He's a flexible fat man. He's the most fuckable person onscreen no matter who's onscreen with him.

He's also usually the DMBJ everyman character, except Sand Sea has a ton of everyman characters for a change, so he winds up filling the role of a badass insider instead. His job is basically to hold down the fort while Xiao Ge's indisposed and Wu Xie's off being insane. In the absence of both his beloveds, Pangzi's going to do what needs to be done, and he's going to be incredibly hot while he's doing it.

Usually, DMBJ shows serve up a huge amount of Pangzi and Wu Xie interaction. Sand Sea only puts them in the same room near the very end -- but they're collaborating throughout. In fact, the only way the whole story works is if they're basically so much in each other's back pockets that they can function as a single unit even across great distances. The record will show that I read them as husbands -- but more importantly, they're good friends who understand and trust one another completely. As much as it pains me that they're apart for basically the entire thing, they're never really apart, you know?

However, because Wu Xie is physically elsewhere for so much of the show, Sand Sea provides a unique chance to see Pangzi interacting on his own with other characters. Wu Xie is the special little boy who always takes up all the oxygen in the room -- and of course Pangzi doesn't begrudge him this, because Pangzi loves him. Without Wu Xie around, though, we get to watch all the other relationships Pangzi has cultivated over the years.

One of the best is with Xie Yuchen, a.k.a. Xiao Hua. In other series, we see the two interact, but only in the context of having Wu Xie around. Sand Sea presents us with a little window into what is clearly a longstanding friendship. From the tiny bit we get of their interactions, it's obvious they hang out on a pretty regular basis. They're chilling and having spa dates while their husbands are out there getting sandy and fighting snakes, proving that these two urbanites are absolutely the brains of their respective marriages.

...Hold up a second,

I hear you say,

IS this show actually gay? Because you keep using words like "husbands" and talking like it's intentionally, onscreen, boys-kissing-boys gay.

On the one hand, no.

On the other hand: Is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid gay? Textually, taking it at face value, and especially considering the context in which it was made, no, it is absolutely not gay, nor was it meant to be gay. But when you step back and realize everything it's doing, you kind of can't avoid the really romantic implications. Maybe Butch and Sundance never smooch, maybe they don't even want to, but they're each other's other halves. We would instantly recognize what they are if one of them were a lady. In a narrative setting where gayness is unthinkable, nothing they can do can be gay, which loops around to making everything kinda gay, and ... look, I'm just saying, if Pangzi were a woman, we'd know immediately what she is to Wu Xie (and holy fuck she would be so hot). If Xiao Hua were as female as the opera characters he plays, we'd have no questions about her relationship to Hei Xiazi. Keep everything beat for beat, line for line the same, and there'd be no missing it.

This is something you get a lot with stories about men written by men, this unintentional homoeroticism from male authors who don't realize their misogyny has actually poisoned them against heterosexuality. Remember what I said earlier about DMBJ's regrettable het? So much of it stems from the assumption that getting a girl and a boy together will inevitably to romantic feelings from at least one of them, so there's no reason to bother spending time giving either of the participants any actual reasons to like one another. (Sand Sea does this too! Just with a character I haven't mentioned here, because I'm trying to talk about the good dynamics.) This kind of thinking treats women not as people, but as as basically interchangeable desirable objects. But men are people, which means the male characters' feelings are worth discussing in the narrative! So what you get is these well-developed, intimate relationships between men described in loving detail, sat right next to perfunctory heterosexual couplings -- and we're supposed to believe that one is romantic and one is not based solely on the genders of the participants? Yeah, no, I call bullshit.

And -- if you'll permit me to loop back to the boys for a minute -- we now have a model for how a straight Iron Triangle would behave, and it is not the way the actual Iron Triangle members are about one another. Those teens love one another in a way that is fierce and strong and not what Wu Xie, Pangzi, and Xiao Ge have going. Maybe it could become that, but it's not now. It's not better or worse now for being what it is, but it is different, and it makes by contrast some things very clear (and very queer).

So that is why I feel justified in referring to them as husbands and will continue to do so despite the lack of explicit textual support.

Anyway, back to Pangzi!

Where were we? Right, Xiuxiu!

Pangzi's always at his best when he gets to be a knight for someone he cares about. This time around, that's Huo Xiuxiu, who who only shows up after you've met several of her matriarchal family's other members, all of whom would be at home in a Tank Full Of Dangerous Ladies. Xiuxiu is not a fighter like they are, but she does have an object that means everyone's out to get her, and as such she relies on her Pangzi to keep her safe while she's trying to survive the fucked-up games her family is playing.

And Pangzi clearly loves it. He absolutely thrives on being the big brother/bruiser figure for her. He loves how cool it makes him look to her. He doesn't have Wu Xie around to be a tank for, so he's going to tank for her. In fact, he's even going to bring in reinforcements to help him do it. (What's the deal with the cute Tibetan boy? Look, shh, just appreciate that you've got a cute Tibetan boy.)

Then there's his dealings with the rest of the Tomb-Raiding Industrial Complex, who are a bunch of shady dudes with impressive family pedigrees and expensive suits, all of whom are trying to play twelve-dimensional chess with one another. There's going to be lots of names dropped, of families and of individuals, and the show is going to act like you're supposed to be impressed. And if you're familiar with DMBJ canon, yeah, you could be impressed! Or you could be like Pangzhi, who rolls up in his amazing Holstein shirt, not giving a single fuck what any of these rich bastards think about him.

This is actually some character development for Pangzi, who has in the past been cowed (pun unintended) by the wealthy, mostly due to his own financial situation. That stage of his life is over now. Honey badger has ceased to care. The cool, pretty people are going to try and give him shit, and he is impervious to it. You better believe the Iron Triangle trashed this fancy restaurant the last time they were in here, and if you give Pangzi half the chance, he'll fucking do it again.

No wonder Zhang Rishan likes him. A pair of little firestarters.

Don't let me oversell you on how much Pangzi is in Sand Sea, because he's not. There's maybe a dozen of the 52 episodes that have any Pangzi content, and he's only in small parts of those episodes. Pangzi is a rare and precious event, like an eclipse. Cherish the Pangzi moments and all the wonderful interactions contained within.

caveat: You call that an ending?

Buddy, if you'd seen how most other DMBJ series end, you wouldn't be asking me that. But because I'm assuming you haven't: Yes, I call that an ending, because it actually attempts to do a winddown and conclusion, instead of just wandering off on a cliffhanger. The ending isn't wholly satisfying, but it is an ending. There is a narrative, and that narrative concludes. Does the conclusion make sense and tie up all the loose ends? Absolutely not! But it does follow basic story structure and resolve the action semi-competently.

As I said about the sweet disaster that is Psych Hunter (which was also directed by the guy who did Sand Sea!), I think knowing in advance that an ending sucks makes the ending suck less. It removes the disappointment factor and lets you enjoy what is there, instead of making you grumpy about what isn't. No, you're never going to understand a lot of things. That means whatever you want to be true can be true. The book is unfinished. The series is nonsense. Canon has no hold on you. You are free.

As compensation, here's a picture of Xiao Ge without his shirt on.

Are you feeling like it's Tomb Time?

There are a couple places you can get this one! Try Viki, WeTV, this YouTube playlist (which is missing the first episode for some reason), or this YouTube playlist (which has the whole thing). Note that subtitles vary in quality from place to place. The YouTube versions also have the bizarre, amazing in-character commercials, and it's up to you if that's a plus or a minus for your viewing experience.

I love this bonkers show. It is balls-to-the-wall weird, to a point that will make you question the translation. I got to the part where Zhang Rishan explains that ancient people worshipped fish with snakes in their eyebrows, caught the fish, took out the snakes, and implanted the snakes in their own human eyebrows -- and I thought, surely that's not what he's actually saying. Nope! The subtitles are accurate. It's the show that's off its rocker.

Anyway, once you've watched Sand Sea, scroll down to the bottom of my rec post for Reunion and find out how you can get even deeper into said tombs! Trust me, there's a lot down here.

As those other posts would indicate, this would not be my first choice for how to get into DMBJ. It is, however, how a fair number of people have gotten into DMBJ, so what the hell do I know! Or maybe this post has convinced you that Sand Sea is worth watching, but you'd rather build up to it than go into it raw. That works too! Whenever you get to it, it'll be here: under a bunch of sand, tattooed and inexplicable, and extremely gay whether it knows it or not.

Go to the desert, they said. Find Gutongjing, they said. Solve the mystery, they said. Fuck it, we nap.

[jinmukangwrites]

prompt 20 with damian and jason (batfam)?

20: Blanket

Hey don't cry, AO3 still down drabble prompts

-o-o-o-o-

Jason heard scuffling at the other side of the bedroom wall. He frowned, pushing himself up to his elbows so he could check his phone for any break-in alerts. Nothing. Which meant someone used the code to get in, which meant it was a bat.

Tonight, he wasn't staying at one of his own safe houses, but at one of Bruce's. He got his ankle twisted and this one happened to be closer than his own houses, and he, at the time, really didn't want to stay on the ankle longer than he had to. He had called it an early night too, so when he looked at the time and saw it was nearing 3am, he wasn't too surprised to hear someone else moving around, especially considering he could hear the sound of a growing thunderstorm outside.

Moving carefully off the bed so the mattress didn't creak, he got to his feet and padded silently to the door. He creaked it open and squinted into the light of the combination living room, kitchen, and dining area. It wasn't a large safehouse, meant for one person really unless someone else wanted to sleep on the single couch.

Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw none other than a sopping wet Damian glaring at the open linen closet, wearing most of his Robin suit sans the mask. Jason wondered why the pipsqueak would be looking so upset at the closet, like it had killed his cat, but then he glanced back at his bed and realized he took all the blankets on the lower shelves.

He grinned, looking back at Damian as the boy considered his options. He studied the shelves, even placing a hand on a shelf, then thinking better of it and looking back at the kitchen for a chair to stand on.

Jason decided he'd save the kid from the embarrassment by offering a different kind of embarrassment. "Need help, squirt?"

Damian nearly jumped out of his skin, giving a small shout and pulling out one of his swords. His eyes landed on Jason quickly, and his defensive shock turned into a classic scowl.

"Jason. I was not aware you were here."

Jason stepped out of the door and leaned against the wall near the linen closet, smiling. "Sorry, next time I'll let you know."

Damian scowled harder, and Jason sent a smug look at the linen closet. "Need a hand?"

Damian's mouth thinned, looking like he would love nothing more than to argue, but Jason didn't give him a chance to. He shooed Damian out of the way and reached up in the closet, grabbing a blanket, but handing over a couple towels first. "Dry off, shrimp. Couch may be plastic lined but the blanket sure ain't. Besides, your lips are blue."

Damian huffed, snatching the towels and stomping to the bathroom. Jason smiled and grabbed a second blanket, walking to the couch and laying the first one down and tucking it between the practically vacuum sealed cushions. It was standard protocol for Batman safehouses; the couches are plastic lined and the beds have removable protective mats. Made it easier to get blood off if the only form of warmth you had was a crap ton of random blankets you could pull from the closet.

He looked at the second blanket in his hands, then stopped in distant surprise. He recognized this blanket. Dick gave it to him for his eleventh birthday. It was a simple one, two squares of plush fleece with unfinished edges, the blanket held together instead by inch wide cuts along the perimeter tied together with beads. Red, green, yellow.

At the time, Jason thought it was the coolest blanket. Now, he can see the imperfections of the most certainly handmade gift. He didn't know Bruce kept it, let alone if he even knew it was Jason's.

He ran his fingers along the fleece, some of the edges beginning to pill from use he never gave it.

He didn't have time to think about how he felt about that before Damian stomped back out of the bathroom, shoving the towels into a nearby hamper and snatching the blanket out of Jason's hands, plopping down onto the couch. He hadn't changed out of his Robin suit even though Jason knew there were several stored changes in the bathroom.

"Hmm, acceptable blanket, Jason. I like this one," Damian said, and Jason felt a genuine smile tug at his lips, something warm in his gut.

"I like that one too," was all he said before he ruffled his damp hair. Damian hissed and slapped his hand away, but he wasn't aggravated. He knew he was being teased, and he wasn't genuinely upset about it. "Make sure you're done shivering before you go back out," he continued.

"I know how to take care of myself," Damian huffed. "But... thank you."

Jason nodded, turning and waving a lazy finger-gun at the kid. "Night."

"... Goodnight, Jason."

[universitypenguin]

Have princess and Lloyd ever celebrated his birthday together? Has she done something for him like how he pulled all the stops for her birthday? I feel like he’d be shy about celebrating his day but she would def show him how much he is loved by her 🥰

Thank you for the lovely ask! 

I think Lloyd is a little reserved about his birthday. However, for Princess, birthdays are a big deal because her family always celebrated with dinner, cake, and presents. Lloyd’s impact on her life and his support as a friend and mentor caused them to grow closer, so when his birthday rolled around, she really wanted to help him celebrate. Working with him made her feel like Dr. Watson, trailing along with Sherlock Holmes on his adventures. 

For the first birthday he had after you were hired, you were a bit nervous about surprising him. Though you’d thought a lot about what to get him, Lloyd wasn’t someone you could easily buy gifts for. He had a habit of getting himself anything and everything that caught his eye. Therefore, you leaned into your other options and decided the best way to celebrate his birthday would be with a meaningful gesture. 

On Lloyd’s 39th birthday, you planned a picnic for Lloyd and his friends. You were aware of his grumpy attitude towards his birthday but didn’t let that hamper your enthusiasm.

That morning Bishop’s assistant had ordered him a birthday cake that was served at the morning staff meeting. You were proud of him for holding back his cranky comments until you were safely ensconced in his office and patiently listened to his grousing about cake being served before lunch. When you suggested he take a proactive approach and arrange for a vegetarian platter to be served next year, he sneered and declared that he hated celebrating his birthday. It wasn’t the best kick off to your surprise, so you warned him that you had something planned for this afternoon.

This information seemed to peak his interest and restored your hope that the catered picnic you’d arranged would go over well. Fortunately, you had a busy morning doing interviews at the courthouse in preparation for a mediation case that would be arbitrated next week. The distraction saved you from prying questions from the birthday boy. 

As you drove back from the courthouse meetings, Lloyd sat in the passenger seat, absorbed in reading his notes. 

“Are you hungry?”

He was so focused on his paperwork that he didn’t look up. 

“Lloyd? Are you hungry?”

“Hmm? Yeah, I could use a bite.” You turned left at the park and Lloyd looked out the window. “This isn’t the office. Why are we here?” 

“Happy birthday! I thought we’d celebrate with a picnic. Zach is picking up the food for me and he’ll be here in five minutes, so please don’t say no.” 

*****

Lloyd helped you set up the picnic table with a plastic table cloth and set out the placemats before Zach pulled up in his Chevy Tahoe. Landon and Jake carried over the large cooler and unpacked the containers from Garden Table Bistro. It was Lloyd’s favorite lunch restaurant near the office. There were caprese salad skewers, an orzo salad, baked salmon filets, sweet potato fries, and eclairs, and lemon rolls for dessert.

“You arranged all of this for me?” Lloyd asked.

“Well, your birthday only happens once a year. It’s customary to celebrate the occasion with friends.”

“I’m aware of the practice,” he said dryly.

Zach had brought a football for after lunch and there was a debate over how teams should be divided. Jake had poor hand eye-coordination and so he was declared the referee. At Landon’s insistence you were paired with Lloyd to counterbalance his semi-professional skills. 

Much to everyone’s surprise, you didn’t end up being much of a handicap. Landon and Zach tried to gang up on Lloyd, which left you wide open. His throwing arm was just as accurate as it had been when he was quarterback at Harvard and you caught the pass easily to score a touchdown. After that, the game remained deadlocked. When Jake finally called time, you and Lloyd won 0 to 1.

When the others left, Lloyd slung his arm around your shoulders and pulled you into a hug. His lips brushed your temple, setting off butterflies in your stomach. 

“Thank you for today, Princess. I had a good time.”

“Really? You’re not just saying that? After you hated the cake this morning, I was worried about your reaction. If you want me to ignore your birthday next year…”

“Sweetheart, I haven’t had anyone around who wanted to celebrate my birthday for nearly thirty years. What you did was personal. It was for me. The cake they served this morning was only there because everyone wanted an excuse to stuff their faces with chocolate.” 

“Does that mean I can start planning something for next year?”

Lloyd squeezed you. “I’d like that.”

“Awesome. You know, if someone had told me a year ago I’d be playing touch football with you on your birthday, I’d have told them to get their head checked.” 

“We may not have gotten off on the right foot, but I’m glad you stuck around.” 

You turned your face into his neck to appreciate the faint scent of his cologne mingled with sweat before stepping back. 

“So am I.”

*****

By his 40th birthday you and Lloyd had grown much closer which was why you felt comfortable giving him a spa certificate for two. Of course, he invited you along as his guest. 

You enjoyed a complimentary breakfast on the patio with herbal tea before soaking in the outdoor mineral pool. Lloyd had selected a Swedish massage while you went for the hot stone option. After your massages, you met in the garden for lunch before your mani-pedis and appointment with the esthetician for facials. The final event of the day was a relaxing hour in the sauna where you tried to avoid drooling at Lloyd’s chest muscles. 

The day at the spa marked a shift in the intensity of your physical interest in Lloyd. You’d always been aware of him as an attractive man, but seeing his chest, arms, and legs up close and personal twice in one day left you with plenty of fodder for lusty dreams. Therefore, as enjoyable as your spa day was, for his 41st birthday you retreated to less personal territory and gave him a private tour of his favorite craft brewery and tap house in Maryland with three guests. You’d expected him to invite Zach, Jake, and Landon, but the latter ended up having plans with his girlfriend. In light of the group needing a designated driver and your well-documented aversion to beer, you’d ended up tagging along. 

Your strategy of giving Lloyd gifts that focused around time and enjoyment made him feel valued because they were so personal. In the past he’d viewed his birthday as just another day, but thanks to your influence, it’s become his favorite day of the year. He spends the entire month prior to his birthday looking forward to whatever you’re going to think of next. There was an incredible sense of contentment that had taken root in his life since you’d become a part of it. His once chaotic existence now held some semblance of stability. It wasn’t that his wild mood swings and stubborn nature had been vanquished, but your support that had caused the difference. You gave him balance and helped him lean into his strengths instead of asking him to change - and that was a gift he was thankful for everyday. 

[handmadeblossoms]

2023 Craft Roundup

4 Weird Blankets

7 Silly Little Jumpers

12 Christmas stockings

14 Christmas ornaments

2 sets of bunting

1 pair of mittens

1 amigurumi octopus.

I’m also about a third of the way through another blanket and 50% of the way through a large cross stitch piece. Number Three Son’s fair isle jumper is just waiting on seams and a collar, and the list of ornaments continues apace.

For 2024 I am aiming to only knit jumpers for my boys, everyone else will get lap blankets for their birthday gifts this year. I would also like to get in some knitting for myself as it’s been a while since I kept anything I made. If I think the time allows I might try for a few more bunting sets for the Mother’s Day raffle hampers but we shall see.

[specialgifts58]

Excited to share this item from my #etsy shop: Boys gift box,boys toy gift, boys games gift,boys chocolate,boys birthday gift, well done,thank you box/Boys letterbox gift,boys hamper #birthday #boysbirthdaygift #boysbirthdayhamper #boysactivitygift #boysbirthdaybox #boysgiftbox #boysthankyou https://etsy.me/2SUf08h

[youarejesting]

Sly like a... ? part 11

[Full Masterlist] Beta: n/a (at the moment) Rating: All (Marked Chapters 18+) Pairing: Hybrid!BTS x FailedHybrid!Reader Genre: Hybrid au, fluff, action, adventure, angst, drama, slice of life. Some marked chapters will contain mature/smut scenes, BUT they will not have plot in those scenes and are 100% skippable without losing your place in the story.

Summary: Human’s strive to be better, faster and stronger looking to animal DNA. Thus Hybrids are born. As the rise for designer and Pedigree Hybrids increase, so do the failed attempts. There is one species scientists are unsuccessful in creating, but, folklore says they have been here all along, hiding and blending in with the humans for many millennia. How clever they are.

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‘No girls or Jungkook’s allowed! ’

The sign on the door filled you with so much anger. You had to physically remember to breathe, it wouldn’t do to start yelling at the hybrids, they already felt inferior and vulnerable compared to humans. You never wanted them to feel weak, which is why you were mad. You didn’t care if they wanted to exclude you, but you would give the two young men a strong lecture for even thinking about excluding Jungkook.

“Jimin and Taehyung I would like to talk with you,” you ripped the sign down and tore it up. It would be best to dispose of the evidence before the young man saw it. Seeing his hyungs ignoring him would break him, “If you are upset talk to me and I will try to fix the situation.”

There was no response so you sighed walking away pushing the small lump in your throat down, you heard them whispering and thought maybe they needed time. It was after lunch that you began wondering if they planned to lock themselves up all day. Jungkook sat on the soft rug looking at the video games and he smiled setting up the controllers as he looked between two games.

“Which one do you think is better?” Jungkook asked Seokjin who took one of the controllers and smiled, he read both and grinned and you stepped over sitting on the floor picking up a controller.

“I can play right, I think Jimin and Taehyung are talking about some things,” You smiled, nuzzling his hair for a second and leaning back on Seokjin’s legs. “So what are we playing, I have never played before?”

Namjoon ended up joining and Yoongi took a seat on your spare side on the rug and leaned on one of Seokjin’s legs laughing at your expense. “You missed, he was right there and you missed, he shot you,”

“Look, I am a Minecraft kind of videogamer, you know the sims?” You puffed your cheeks flailing as you tried to shoot Namjoon who was doing a lot of shouting and not a lot of aiming either.

Everyone was in stitches. You almost forgot about the other two boys who were feuding with you. It was late and you had played a series of driving and shooting games and a game of Minecraft; where you all made a village and lived side by side and visited each other's houses with food and tools.

“I am hungry,” Jungkook pouted, pulling your sleeve and glancing at the dark kitchen. You looked at the time, and your mouth dropped open. “When is dinner?”

“Let’s order in, I can’t be bothered cooking,” You ordered a bunch of food, making sure to get Jimin and Taehyung’s favorite dishes so that you could lure them out. They would no doubt be hungry.

The food was delivered and as you removed the lids you named the dishes loudly hoping the two locked away in their room would emerge and eat something.

It’s super effective!

You smile as everyone digs in. The two boys were obviously mad and jealous that you had slept in Jungkook’s room and you wondered how you would possibly be able to fix this.

“I will take Wednesdays,” Yoongi smiled “I like Wednesdays”

“What is he talking about?” Hoseok asked he was just as confused by the white tiger's outburst looking towards Namjoon who with a mouth full of noodles shrugged.

“Sunday’s you can sleep in Jungkook’s room, and mine on Wednesdays,”

“Oh I will take Monday’s” Hoseok smiled, brightly

“Monday is tonight” Jimin accused looking panicked, “fine, I will take Tuesday then”

“Can you sleep in my rooms on Wednesday?” Taehyung said,

“Wednesday is already taken,” Yoongi glared, placing some meat on Taehyung’s plate in an attempt to console him, “Take Thursday”

“Yes Thursday”

“I will take Saturday,” Jin grinned, “Which means Namjoon is Friday? Is that alright?”

You blinked watching this all unfold, they had just decided on their own sleep schedule for you. It was nice to see them working together but you didn’t know how to feel about moving rooms every night. But at this point, anything seemed more comfortable than the couch. “Maybe once and when I have stayed once in everyone's rooms, I will go back on the couch.”

“What if two people share a room and have bunk beds or something, then that leaves a free room for you?” Jimin said, grabbing some tteokbokki, “I can share with Hoseok or Taehyung or Jungkook, I can give you my room. It can be your own little space.”

“Oh, my room! My room!” Hoseok said, “I miss the sound of other people in the night, we can get bunk beds.”

Hoseok and Jimin grinned at one another, the two already talking about how they would design and decorate their room. Heading into the bathroom you cleaned up the clothes off the floor and dumped them in the hamper. It made you laugh how comfortable they were all getting enough to drop their clothes on the floor right beside the hamper.

Taking a rather warm shower you scrubbed your skin wondering if you would smell different again in the morning. It was a strange thought, once scrubbed and buffed clean you wrapped yourself in your towel and stood on the small mat in front of the basin. Examining your appearance, as you slowly moisturize your skin.

Whilst smoothing the cool night cream across your brow you thought you saw an orange tail in the mirror turning you thought Seokjin had burst into the bathroom to pee but when you turned nothing and nobody was there.

It left you feeling a little unsettled, it was your head playing tricks on you. Getting dressed you all but ran out into the hall smacking into Seokjin who was coming out of his room. You grasped his large shoulders to prevent yourself from falling back. He gripped your waist in response.

“Woah, what’s wrong, why are you scared?” He asked, his tail fluffed and his ears twitching looking for a threat. A few heads popped out of their rooms, “You reek of fear, what happened?”

“I spooked myself, one of the towels moved in the bathroom and I thought it was something else and I got scared, that’s all” Your voice died off with your rambling, and the blush settled upon your cheeks.

Hoseok walked over and took your hands, “don’t worry, you are staying in my room tonight so I will protect you!” His chipper tone did wonders to ease your distress, pulling you along to his room where he tucked the two of you into the bed.

“Thank you, I miss having people to talk to and just be there,” He smiled, “I am excited to get to stay with Jimin, he is such a nice guy.”

“He is a sweetheart when we were little we used to play together and he always wanted to play pirates and superheroes but on my 4th birthday no one from our school showed up to my princess party. So Jimin dressed up as a princess as did my carer Felix and his carer Astrid and we all shared snacks and cake”

“YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T TELL ANYONE!” Jimin’s voice screeched from the hallway seconds before rapid footsteps. His figure appeared in the doorway for a split second, his sock-clad feet slipping out from underneath him sending him sliding further down the hallway.

“I have pictures too,” You giggled

“Send them to me.” Yoongi’s tired drawl came from a few rooms up and you grinned airdropping them around the house. Jimin tried to wrestle the phone from your hands and you grinned, pulling him onto the bed.

“Time for bed Jimin, lay down or get out.” he indeed snuggled up on your other side, Hoseok and Jimin's arms wrapped around you and you were indeed feeling quite safe from your previous scare.

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Tags:  @simplymemyself @lolsiiike @min2jeon @notruercolors @luvaffaire @grazysf  @ella-mella @lustremyg @sonnymii @moments-of-melancholy @calling-dips-on-j-hope @jiminiessipabo @staerryminimini @afangirl91 @halfway-insane @ireallylikeyourwriting @lindsayjoy444 @lindsay1013 @bangtansleftnut​ @chimchoom​ (please make sure you have tagging setting on so you get notified when the story updates)

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[tsukishumai]

too lazy to do 🍰 anon right now lol, but heLlo!! I’m 🍰 anon!! you can continue to call me 🍰(cake) Or Rue!! But to answer your question I was specifically looking for you to do tsukishima!

<3

- 🍰

Hello!! Omg Rue is such a pretty name🥺🥺 ahh I hope you didn’t think I forgot about you! Sorry this took so long, work has been slaying me this week 😭

Hope you like this! (and between u&me I’m so glad u picked tsukki I love him sm)

Tsukishima hates it when you pull his headphones off to try to get his attention. The first time you did it, he almost punched you. Even five year olds know not to touch other people’s things?

Word count: 1k

Warnings: Minor Angst to tooth rotting fluff

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Tsukishima was tapping away almost furiously on his keyboard, bopping his head along to the music flowing from his over-ear black headphones. It was a fairly new pair – a Bluetooth one that you’d gotten him for his birthday. He had the volume maxed out, slightly impressed by the sound quality; he knows this habit of his was bad for his ears, but he’s had a stressful day. He was so close to getting this last part of his paper done, and the familiar rhythm of his favorite songs were helping him stay focused.

He sat up a little, straightening his back and attempting to roll away the tension in his shoulders from being hunched over for two hours. He moved his head side to side, cringing a little at the resounding ‘crrrkkk’ of his neck cracking. He could feel a slight burn in the back of his eyes, taking off his glasses and attempting to rub it away with the face of his palm.

Tsukishima hated to admit it, but he was feeling burnt out these days. What with the extra practices and the increasing amount of school work, the blonde boy was stretched extremely thin. He didn’t know how the other two idiots on his team could put in that much effort into volleyball – surely their classes had the same curriculum as well?

Oh yeah, Tsukishima remembers, it’s cause they’re failing idiots.

Tsukishima chuckled at his own comment, typing out the last few sentences of his paper, practically slamming his fingers down on his keyboard. He let out a heavy sigh, leaning back on his computer chair and stretching his hands out in front of him. He picked up the cup of coffee that was nearly forgotten at his desk, taking a large gulp and cringing a little at the lukewarm temperature.

That’s that, he thought, glancing at the textbook mocking him from his bag and running a tired hand through his hair, what were the chapters we needed to read for English again?

He was flipping through the pages of his planner when suddenly, the thumping sound of his music disappeared. It took him a second to register a pair of hands plucking his headphones off his ears.

“Tsukishima Kei!”

He swiveled his chair around, tired eyes finally landing on your figure standing in the middle of his room, headphones still blaring music dangling from your hand. You waved a little and gave him a sheepish smile, one that Tsukishima would have found cute if not for the abysmally bad mood he had been in prior to your arrival. Normally, he would have stood up and given you a kiss by now, but all he could feel was irritation brewing in his chest.

“What the fuck?” He bit out, reaching out to grab the headphones back from your grip. Your brows shot up in surprise, looking slightly taken aback by his aggressiveness. “How many times have I told you not to do that??”

“I’ve been calling your name – “

“So you just snatch my headphones off my head like some monkey?” Tsukishima stood up quickly, his towering figure causing you to take a step back, “Any idiot can see that I’m in the middle of doing something. Do you even know how rude that is, or are you just that dumb? Even a fucking five year old knows not to touch other people’s shit!”

The tension in his shoulders melted away with every foul word that tumbled out of his mouth. Your face quickly shifted from surprised to calm; your eyes darted around his room, noting the pile of dirty clothes in his hamper, the crumpled protein bar wrappers littering the floor, and the mountain of paperwork scattering his desk. Tsukishima could feel himself shrinking under your probing gaze, sitting back down and looking away as the irritation in his chest transformed to a guilt that sank to his stomach.

You huffed a little and crossed your arms. “Are you done?”

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes at you, before begrudgingly answering with a soft, “Yeah.”

“That’s not how we talk to people, Kei,” You began your lecture, pushing passed him and setting down a brown paper bag he hadn’t noticed you holding on the desk, “You said you were going to work on that. See, that’s how I know you’ve been working for too long! Your sodium levels are through the roof, you salty asshole. But don’t worry,”

He stayed silent as you emptied the contents of the paper bag, watching you take out napkins, utensils, and finally, a clear plastic container containing one perfect slice of strawberry shortcake.

“I brought you something sweet to make up for it!”

His little heart grew three sizes in that moment. You always were really good at making him feel like an asshole.

He smiled at the little squeal that came out of your mouth when he pulled you down onto his lap. You giggled as he placed quick little butterfly kisses along your neck and jaw, tightening his hold around your waist. You placed a hand on his chest, lightly pushing him off.

“Alright jerk, let’s eat this damn cake already,” you say, opening the plastic container and grabbing a fork.

“Feed me,” Tsukishima mumbled, returning your surprised look with an expectant one.

“Excuse me, what?”

“You heard me,” Tsukishima said, opening his mouth for added effect. You roll your eyes, if only to hide the rising heat in your cheeks, cutting off a piece and feeding it to the waiting Tsukishima. He closed his eyes in satisfaction, and you were only able to admire the view for two seconds before Tsukishima placed a hand on the back of your neck and pulled you down for short, soft kiss.

“I’m sorry for raising my voice at you,” he said, nuzzling his face on your neck. “And for being a dick about it.”

You wrapped your arms around his neck tightly. “I’m sorry, too. I won’t grab your headphones like that again.”

[heyiwrotesomethings]

Mitsuri’s Birthday

ShinoMitsu Week 2021 Day Seven: (Happy Birthday Mitsuri, Free Day)

A/N: Hello, welcome to the last day of my ShinoMitsu Week writings. This has been a fun little challenge for me as I scrambled to get everything done in time. I only finished this last piece last night so, much like with every other piece I did this week, I hope there aren’t too many errors because I’m tired and only skimmed through twice. Anyway, many thanks to those who read along! Lastly, I’d like to apologize to Mitsuri for making her sick on her birthday. At least Shinobu came to help! Word Count: 2,030

Mitsuri’s eyes fluttered against the sunlight filtering through her window, causing her to roll over and sigh with relief when the light no longer reached her. Nothing could make her get out of her warm, soft blankets.

“Wake up, Onee-chan!”

“Ah!”

Nothing could get her out of bed, except maybe her eight year old sister jumping on her bed.

“Happy birthday! Happy birthday!” Natsumi cheered as she bounced with abandon.

Mitsuri whined. Her sister did this every morning, special occasion or not, but today the jostling made her feel terrible.

“Natsumi, please be gentle.” Mitsuri coughed. Now that she was actually awake, Mitsuri noticed just how terrible she felt. She felt hot, achy and it hurt just to swallow.

“Mitsuri, honey, you’re going to be late for school if you don’t get ready soon.” she heard her mother call from down the hall.

“Moooom? Onee-chan doesn’t look too good.” Natsumi called, taking note of her big sister’s trembling and sweating form.

“I don’t feel well at all.” Mitsuri moaned. “Why today of all days?”

Their mother came into the girls’ shared room. She felt her eldest daughter’s forehead and tisked, a sympathetic look upon her face.

“Oh honey, you’re burning up. I guess you’ll be staying with me today.”

“But, birthday plans...” Mitsuri rasped, disappointment evident in her tone.

“Another day, sweetheart. Wouldn’t you rather be able to enjoy yourself to the fullest?”

“I guess...”

“Akimitsu?” The mother called and the young boy appeared in the doorway. “Walk Natsumi to her school will you? Your big sister is sick.”

“Okay mom. Get well soon, Onee-san. I’m sorry you’re sick on your birthday.” The polite boy frowned.

“Thank you.” Mitsuri sniffled.

“I’m going to make you some warm, soothing miso. I’ll be back soon.” Mitsuri’s mother smoothed back Mitsuri’s colorful bangs before following her other children out the door before closing it gently behind her.

Mitsuri weakly kicked her blanket to the bottom of her bed, freedom from the now stifling heat brought mere seconds of relief before returning to discomfort.

With difficulty, she heaved herself into a sitting position and peeled off the large sweatshirt she had taken from Shinobu’s the last time she stayed over. She weakly tossed it at the hamper and it barely made it halfway across the floor.

“Aww,” Mitsuri looked down at the tank top she was wearing covered in sweat. She really needed a cool bath. Carefully, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up on shaky legs. Her hips left especially achy with the change in altitude and her vision was swimming as lightheadedness consumed her.

She grasped onto her bedside table and sucked in a few deep breaths before braving the trip across the hall to the bathroom.

As she exited the room, she heard the cries of the twins as her mother worked to console them. Mitsuri would have loved to help her, but she knew she would be no help as she was now. Her mother would likely scold her for being up anyway.

Finally, she made it to the bathroom and stripped. A full bath would have been nice, but she simply didn’t have the energy and instead cooled herself and washed away the sticky sweat with the shower nozzle.

When she was done, she patted herself dry and hobbled back into her room. She had just enough strength to pull on another tank top and a pair of shorts before flipping back into her bed with a frown. At least the sweatshirt had helped keep most of the sweat off of her sheets.

She stared at her ceiling, feeling miserable. The chills were back so she pulled her blanket back up over her body, turning just in time to see her phone blink to life.

She gingerly scooped it up and squinted at the notification, a text from Shinobu. Mitsuri hurriedly unlocked her phone to open their conversation.

‘Where are you? You’re going to be late.’ the text read.

‘I’m sick : (‘ Mitsuri responded, frowning to herself as she realized she wouldn’t be seeing Shinobu today. Maybe she could ask for a facetime after school? This was easily her worst birthday ever.

‘I’m sorry Sunshine, that’s awful. What are your symptoms?’ Shinobu’s next text inquired.

Mitsuri relayed what she felt, selfishly wishing all the while that Shinobu would ditch her classes and sit beside her all day.

It took a little longer for Shinobu to text back, but when she did, the message made her heart soar.

‘Naho-san is working deliveries in the pharmacy today. She’ll be by in about half an hour with medicine and some other helpful items. I’ll come check on you after school. Love you.’

‘Love you too. Thank you, my knight <3 <3 <3’

Mitsuri clicked the screen off and hugged the phone to her chest. She coughed harshly and turned in her bed, eagerly awaiting Shinobu’s arrival later that afternoon.

About twenty minutes later, Mitsuri’s frazzled mother came in with Naho trailing behind her. The young woman waved at Mitsuri as soon as she saw her and she weakly gave one in return.

“Mitsuri, Naho-san from the pharmacy has a care package for you, but I’m sure you already knew she was coming.” Her mother guessed, carefully setting the miso on her daughter’s nightstand.

“Yeah, thank you for coming by Naho-san.”

“You’re welcome, Mitsuri-chan.” the pharmaceuticals student approached, “You do look ill, poor dear. Not to worry though, Kiyo, Sumi and I put together everything you’ll need for a speedy recovery!”

Naho produced a little bottle of medicine and explained to Mitsuri and her mother how much to take and when. Then she got out a little box of throat soothing tea leaves, a cooling peppermint oil for aching joints and a cute little pink elephant plush.

“On behalf of everyone at the Kochou Family Pharmacy, I hope you feel better soon, Mitsuri-chan, happy birthday.” Naho grinned.

“Thank you so much Naho-san. Please give Sumi-san and Kiyo-san my thanks as well.”

“Of course! Bye, Mitsuri-chan, Kanroji-san.”

And with that, Naho left to her next destination. Mitsuri’s mom stayed with Mitsuri a while longer to help her resettle. When Mitsuri fell asleep, she turned off the light and closed the door gently behind her.

***

Awhile later, Mitsuri began to stir in her sleep, a cough racked her lungs and stabbed at her throat like needles. She would have to ask her mother to make more of that tea. She was starting to feel hot again too. A small whine sounded in the back of her throat and mere moments later cool, smooth skin rested over her forehead.

Slowly, Mitsuri opened her bleary eyes to find Shinobu hovering close over head. Her eyes closed in concentration as her forehead resting against Mitsuri’s.

With a displeased hum, Shinobu straightened and opened her eyes, noticing Mitsuri staring back up at her.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Shinobu blushed faintly, “I was checking your temperature. You’re very warm. I’m going to get you a damp washcloth, I’ll be right back.”

“Wait Shinobu.” Mitsuri said, her voice quieted by her awakening as well as her sore throat.

Shinobu turned back to face her, “Yes?”.

“Hi.”

“Hi Sunshine.” Shinobu simpered, turning back to the door to retrieve a washcloth from the bathroom.

While Shinobu was away, something caught Mitsuri’s periphery and she turned her head to observe it more clearly. She was cheered by the sight of a lovely bouquet of flowers.

“Do you like them?”

Mitsuri startled a bit as the cool cloth was placed on her forehead, so distracted she hadn’t notice Shinobu come back in.

“Kanae helped me pick them out. She’s more adept at the whole flower language thing. These ones are supposed to represent good health and healing.” Shinobu informed.

“They’re beautiful, thank you.”

“I’m glad you like them. I’ve brought you some other things too.” Shinobu said, reaching for her school bag.

“Oo!” Mitsuri winced as another dry cough stabbed through, “what, what is it?”

“Well, least exciting is that I collected all your homework. Hinatsuru-senpai even made copies of all of her notes for you.”

“Ah, how practical of you two. Forgive me for not being excited by the thought of schoolwork.” Mitsuri groaned, causing Shinobu to laugh.

“I take no offense. Don’t worry, I’ve got something else you might enjoy more,” Shinobu returned her hand to her bag once more, withdrawing a neatly wrapped box, “Happy birthday, Mitsuri.”

“Aw, Shinobu!” Mitsuri squeaked as Shinobu handed her the box.

She gently removed the pretty wrapping paper as she always did, not wanting to tear it. Then she popped open the lid, wiggling once she saw the contents of the gift. If her throat wasn’t so sore, if she wasn’t so sick, she’d be bouncing around her room squeeing and showering Shinobu in kisses.

Inside was a neatly packed container of sakura mochi, a gift card from the Kamado Bakery, a new cook book detailing recipes from around the world and a beautifully crafted butterfly hairpin.

“Shinobu, this is all wonderful. Thank you so much!” Mitsuri couldn’t help but let a few tears slip down her cheeks and she sniffled, “I really wish I could kiss you right now but I don’t want you to get sick.”

“Then you’ll just have to rest and get better soon, won’t you?” Shinobu looked down at Mitsuri warmly. “Do you need anything? More tea perhaps?”

“Yes please.” Mitsuri sighed.

“Alright, I’ll be back soon,” Shinobu said as she turned over the cloth on Mitsuri’s forehead to the cooler side.

“You’re bedside manner is very good, Shinobu, like you’ve been helping sick people all your life and beyond. I’m so lucky.”

“If there’s one thing my family knows, it’s treatment of human health.” Shinobu nodded. “But it helps that you’re such an easy patient.”

Shinobu left the bedroom again and Mitsuri could hear Natsumi talking her ear off before they were too far away to be heard. Mitsuri looked back down at her box to touch the wing of the butterfly pin. She had often told Shinobu how much she liked hers and how cute it was that her sisters wore them too. It felt very special to be gifted one of her own.

Mitsuri ran a finger longing over the mochi, wanting nothing more than to dig right in. She knew she would enjoy them much more when she felt better so she held off. She took the cook book out and set the rest of the box down on the nightstand.

Shinobu returned with the tea, carefully setting it beside the flowers and box.

“Find any interesting recipes you want to try?” She asked.

“Mm, kind of. It’s hard to focus with this headache.” Mitsuri answered, rubbing at her eyes. Then she looked up at Shinobu standing in front of her, her eyes wide and pleading. “Will you read it to me?”

“Okay, put those puppy dog eyes away. I’ll be happy to read to the birthday girl.”

Shinobu walked around the bed and Mitsuri scooted over a bit to make room for her. Shinobu sat with her back against the headboard and smoothed her skirt over before taking the book from Mitsuri’s hands.

“Anywhere you want me to start in particular?” Shinobu asked, watching Mitsuri down her tea.

“The beginning is fine,” Mitsuri breathed, once she finished the cup and set it back down. Then she maneuvered herself to rest her head on Shinobu’s thigh, relaxing further when Shinobu combed her fingers through her fringe, trying to keep the wash cloth in place.

“Very well, recipes from Afghanistan it is. First we have a kidney bean curry recipe, lubya. The ingredients are as follows: coconut oil, coriander, cumin, dried mint, tomato, garlic, onion, broth, kidney beans...” Shinobu carried on, her voice as soft as a light breeze. She had hardly made it to the instructions when Mitsuri began to snore.

Shinobu set the cook book down with care and watched Mitsuri cling to her side. It may not have been the best birthday Mitsuri could have had, but Shinobu was happy she could be there to help her feel better.

[randombtsprincessa]

Belladonna || 1

All Rights Reserved. © RandomBTSPrincessa, Tulips98.

Author: Randombtsprincessa

Characters: Min Yoongi x Reader, Past Lovers! AU

Words: 3k

Genre: Heavy Angst, Smut 

Rating: This chapter is General up to NC-17, rating might go up as story progresses.

Summary: Your life has finally settled into a routine; keeping you far away from your home, friends, family and the man who broke your heart. Coming back home means facing him again and maybe you’re not as over him as you’d like to believe.

Warnings: (in-chap) Heavy Angst, mentions of a toxic relationship.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. The idol used as the Muse for the lead is not in anyway affiliated with the work. The characterisation is a work of mine. Any asks or accusations against the work on the grounds of inability to keep fact and fiction seperate on the part of the reader, will not be entertained. 

A/N: Its’s rather sad that the disclaimer has to be added but eh, it’s a bad time for tumblr writing fandom and people are being very mean. Brush past that if you’re sane. Anyway, a very very huge hug to my best friends for screaming at me about this fic. A bunch of thanks to @softyoongiionly​ for hyping up the chapter! And a round of applause for @kithtaehyung​ for beta-ing the chappie!!

Happy Birthday Yoonfie baby!!

It was cold inside the cabin, the air conditioner turned extreme while the outer windows fogged with condensation. Your head leaned against the pane, the thudding and rolling of the train wheels under you jarring your brain in your skull as you watched the world outside flash speedily by.

Trees, small gravelly roads, sign boards, sparse traffic here and there…and then rolling grasslands before the pattern repeated itself…redundant, normal, and soothing.

You sighed, a puff of white exhale clouding around your mouth while your eyes drifted back to the interior of the cabin. This sight was a lot more different, with different people having different lives, problems, worries…

A woman tended to her sniffling child, holding a handkerchief up to the girl’s running nose…a man spoke into his phone; harried and rushed as he more likely than not slurred a few words together…

It was when your eyes caught a girl laying her head on the boy next to hers’ shoulder, smiling serenely when the boy ran a hand through her locks that you turned around again, eyes back to watching the redundant.

There was nothing soothing about people watching.

Or maybe there was and it required some form of inner peace to find the charm in it.

You didn’t have that sort of inner peace; neither did you have the patience for it.

People watching for people like you was anxiety inducing…and you really didn’t want that burden on your shoulders right now. There would be enough anxiety waiting for you when you set your foot home.

“____?”

You turned coffee worn, blue light sunken eyes towards your boss, standing over you with his files clutched to his chest nervously. The sight was enough to make you chuckle. For all his genius, Kim Namjoon was just a giant fumbling through life. It made him a stellar boss and manager, but it also made him a wonderful friend.

“Yes?”

“I just got your email for the leave application.”

You blinked up at your boss expectantly, face calm and relaxed. Of course, your brain had shot straight to overdrive, praying, wishing, and begging for a miracle that would allow your boss to refute the application.

A large red denied would do nothing to hamper your mood; at least it would stamp down the very intrusive tendril of panic that was already gripping around you.

You waited until Namjoon was done rustling inside of the folder in the crook of his arm. The white print out was placed in front of you, green letterings spelling ACCEPTED AND FORWARDED, scrawled on the top screaming obscenities at you.

You looked back at Namjoon.

“We don’t have a lot of work load right now plus you look dead on your feet. Some time away with your folks will be nice, won’t it?”

You very nearly grimaced at his words.

He was sincere, of course he was. Namjoon didn’t have a conniving bone in his body, but right now, you couldn’t help but resent his kindness, his mushy brain that railed against exploiting his workers. You hated the fact that he looked into your eyes and saw past the stubborn energy and caught onto the exhausted person underneath.

So you offered him a tiny smile, just in case the flicker of your crushing despair was made clear onto your traitor face.

“Thank you, Namjoon.”

He placed a heavy, tight hand on your shoulder as he passed by.

“Have a nice vacation, ____.”

Usually, someone who was away from home, working their ass off, making something of themselves away from their family should ideally jump at the chance to take a vacation, to go home and see the family and friends they had.

Ideally…one should be happy at the prospect of going home.

So many times, however, situations were rarely ideal. Sometimes there were complications, convolutions, obstacles…

Sometimes people had no love in their hearts; sometimes there was nothing at all.

Sometimes, there was dread.

Right then, in the rattling carriage that carried you to the small town which had spawned your existence, you could sense the dread carving a pit into your stomach, roiling and curling like a wretched cat kept too long from sunshine.

There was no relief for the upcoming long sleepy times, no joy at the prospect of home food…of warm embraces…

There was just that god awful dread.

You hoped you wouldn’t throw up; though there was nothing in your stomach to hurl but for the coffee you’d pumped in you from the station café. You couldn’t keep anything else down.

You had upped and left your home right after the end of your college life. Many things had come to an end with that particular period in your life. You had scampered and scrapped together enough courage to exit the hole that still robbed you of breath sometimes when you twisted and turned in your bed – sleepless.

You had left shattered pieces of your heart in your whirling escape of the town, the space that you had now the only light that shone at the end of the tunnel back then. Your family and friends, as supportive as they were, had never truly understood why you had nearly clawed away from that world.

To them, it had been the job opportunity.

And it was understandable…

The town, as well-knit and seemingly lovable as it was, was used to being self sufficient. The people there didn’t ever need to leave, they knew everything, helped everyone, and any problem one of them had was a problem for them all.

You couldn’t fit yourself in that mold anymore.

You had left – knowingly cut yourself away from that community.

Your friends had remained; some spreading out of course but they were still as much a part of that bunch as they had been when born.

You didn’t expect anything from them.

Not when he was also still a part of that community.

Your mind jerked away moments before conjuring his likeness behind your eyes, the ticket collector bearing down to save you from the torture of it.

Your fingers fumbled with the pockets of your bag, slipping the stub into his patient hands as he clipped and handed it back to you.

You accepted it meekly, folding into yourself again, eyes drifting back out the window and firmly tugging your thoughts away from your past. You had to prepare for what was going to come now.

Nobody expected you to come, you knew. It was a surprise to you yourself that you had found enough guts in you to pull this off.

Namjoon’s words came back to you.

Some time away with your folks will be nice, won’t it?

You weren’t going to hold out much hope for that.

You found a cab almost immediately out of the station, the many cruisers that stood to one side eager to free you of your luggage and take you off to your destination. You gave your address shakily, hoping this particular driver wasn’t one of the townspeople. Luckily, the man didn’t bat an eye, instead nodding and quietly switching on the radio for the drive over.

You leaned back into the seats, arms grasping the strap of your handbag tight as the moment to face your family and close ones drew closer.

Objectively, your little hometown was very pretty.

Trees lined the major roads, small clusters of buildings interjecting the greenery to spread business to the good people. And as tense as you were, your mind couldn’t help but pick out the differences.

Boutiques were newer and flashier, the diners you remembered now expanded to add cafes or banquets. The town hall was an imposing as ever, only a new marble fountain added to the square in front of it now.

By the time your cab entered the section of the suburbs where you had grown up; your back was straight, neatly aligned with the window. If you had been dreading the homecoming before, it was all gone; replaced with an odd form of resignation.

You lugged your bags out and paid the taxi driver with cold hands, winding bloodless fingers around the handles to pull them up the drive way towards your open door.

The house was full, open and bustling – a normal day for when your mother threw one of her success parties. She was one of the famous people in the town, her career as a landscaper and home decorator for big names making her in turn the man source of revenue and attraction for the town.

It had been both a source of pride and embarrassment to you in your teens. Mainly because your mother insisted on these parties each and every time one of her projects turned out well. But then, as you grew you realized that this is why your mother was important to the town.

She was more than half the money earned and the social events of the calendar.

Inside the house, small clusters of people gathered here and there, in the living room, the kitchen, the dining space. You stood at the door; feeling more exposed than you ever had here but moved in quickly, lest one of them notice you in the doorway and start blabbering about it.

Of course, the three big bags that you carried more than made up for it.

One of the groups of women nearest you turned their heads in synchrony, taking double looks as you passed by before the murmurs began.

How could you tell?

Well because, gossip usually lowers ones’ volume. And each group you passed stopped conversing before muttering arose in its place.

You cut across the living room to your father’s den. Here, there were all men, hands cupping your dad’s cut glasses of scotch but thankfully no one mentioned you dumping your bags right by the door and walking back out.

Your hands fiddled with your scarf, wondering where your family was in their own party but you were loathing asking one of the guests.

Even as you convinced yourself to walk over to one of the ladies by the window sofa, a figure walked past opposite you, a handful of trays of cocktail bites and glasses on them. You jumped, watching as the woman placed the trays on the coffee table, smiling at the people before she turned…and spotted you.

Your sister’s eyes widened, eyelashes fluttering before quick steps led her closer to you.

“____?” She asked, almost checking if it really was you.

You smiled wryly, hand still tangled with your scarf. “Hi Sana, yes it’s me.”

“Oh my god!” She threw herself at you, arms wrapping around your neck to draw you into a warm and nearly forgotten embrace. You stood in her hold for a few seconds, managing to pat her back before she was pulling away, eyes glistening at you.

“Oh god, don’t cry,” you whispered immediately.

“Shut up, these are happy tears; my little sister is home! Hang on; I’ll go get Mom and Dad.” She turned on her heel before you got another word out, mouth parted as she disappeared into the house.

You stood rooted to the spot, hoping against hope she brought your dad first. You just knew your mom would start bawling and then all the neighbors and her social circle would start hovering like the pack of vultures you had the low opinion of them as.

It was unfair and very rude of you, yes, but you couldn’t help but remember half the rumors and gossip that had come from none other than these same people when you had first left. Sympathy or well wishes from them now, would only make you more disgusted.

It had made you keep your own mother at a distance, seeing as she was probably the source of their information.

Thankfully, you knew you could always depend on your dad.

A no-nonsense and rational person, he was only guilty of being extremely in love with your mother. You knew he only bore these parties for her sake and of course your sister, Sana’s.

So when you saw Sana come back, with both your parents you still heaved a relived sigh.

“____, my god, you’re really here.” Your mother was the second to hug you, your father following.

“We didn’t think you would make it this year too.” Your dad said.

“Yeah, it’s been hectic…a lot…for the last couple years.” You repeated the same lies you’d been spouting for two years now. You had spoken the same lines into your phone, in your emails over months and it came much easier while speaking them to their faces.

“Very hectic for a well-established firm, ____, you could’ve asked for a leave, I’m sure office policy allows that.” Your dad said in that logical baritone that rendered most arguments moot.

“That is actually how I got away, Namjoon insisted.” You said; not completely untrue.

“Well, I for one am very happy my little girl is back to me. You’ll stay for a bit, won’t you?” Your mother stroked your hair back from your face.

You smiled tightly at her, thinking of the weeks Namjoon had generously piled on you out of respect for your relentless working for two years under him.

“Yes.”

You caught Sana try and push in, her eyes seeking yours even as your mother squealed in jubilation. “Perfect, we are going to have to throw you a coming home party.”

“Y/M/N,” Your father said lightly. “We are at a party now.”

“Yes, but ____ deserves her own night.” Sana put in before grabbing your hand. “Come on,” she dragged you away from your debating parents.

“Not a lot has changed I guess.” You spoke drily.

“Yeah, maybe, listen I think we need to –”

Sana was cut off by a gasp of your name, your head swiveling to see Park Jimin, one of your old friends gaping at you.

It was a whirlwind of reunions and emotions as people gathered around you, astonished that you’d come back without any mention of it.

“Yeah, I – I guess, it’s a surprise.” You scratched the back of your neck awkwardly, going over the faces of your childhood to college friends.

Many things had changed while you were gone, true – to the town, to the people and even to your friends but one thing you were glad to see…they hadn’t cut you away completely. Yes, your interaction with them had been reduced to the odd Facebook and Twitter chats and the occasional emails and texts here and there but they still looked…happy to see you.

Park Jimin and his twin, Jihyo had been the first ones to come to you, Jihyo hugging you tightly enough to make you wince. She had been your roommate in college; she probably knew you as well as Sana did – maybe even better. She had introduced you to Jimin and the three of you had been inseparable throughout your college life.

Jimin had apparently been friends with one of your childhood friends, Kim Taehyung.

You were not so shocked to know he was now married, living next door to you with his wife, Nayeon. Sweet and charming, she hugged you like her husband.

“It’s almost like I already know you,” she explained to your unsure smile, “they talk about you so much.”

“Ugh, I’m already worried.” You cringed.

“They were all nice things don’t worry. We had to put down a couple old gossips down here and there, though.” Jimin came to defend his friend.

You glanced at them curiously.

“Oh yeah, it was just old gossipy hags around the town, don’t worry about it. People moved on from you pretty soon to a Miss Mina. She’s a spinster, which apparently is a sin.” Taehyung rolled his eyes. “She lives a few houses from us.”

“Also, I think your mom told that friend of hers, Dahyun to stop people gossiping about you. They were task-forcing the town. It was fun to watch.” Jimin added.

A sudden wave of affection for your mother rose up in you, before being quelled by the reminder that she must have done it to protect her own image.

You shrugged then, picking up a glass from one of the trays to take a sip of your mother’s homemade cocktail – fruity and simple on your tongue.

“Enough about me, what about you all?” you pointed at Tae and Nayeon, “Married with a house,” your finger moved to Jimin, “Sports coach,” then Jihyo, “Choreographer,” you stopped.

“What about the others, any news?”

“Not really, we are the ones who still live here you know. Plus, no offense to your mom, but I doubt folks would leave their city jobs to come to her parties.” Jihyo muttered; exchanging a glance of solidarity with you before her eyes widened suddenly.

“What?” you asked.

Her eyes quickly went to her brother, Jimin’s eyes a little more slow on the uptake but they widened too…before repeating the process – albeit comically – with Taehyung.

“What is wrong with you all?” You asked again.

“Um, ____, did Sana tell you -?”

Jimin paused nervously, refusing to look at you as he fiddled with the rim of his glass.

“Tell me what?”

He looked helplessly at his sister. Jihyo hesitated before placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. “Listen, ____, while you were gone” -

She broke off, her eyes darting over your shoulder and stuttering to a stop.

In that moment of her silence, the conversation behind you was clearer.

Or rather, one particular voice was…

Low and deep – soft morning grumbles came back to you – muffled conversations from behind you made you turn around.

It was a voice you would know anywhere. It was one that haunted your dreams, one that crested the ache in your heart on particularly bad days…

It was one you would know beyond a void.

Min Yoongi stood directly across from you, in your home, undoing his coat and removing his scarf, conversing lowly with your sister.

Something she quickly muttered to him had him freezing, long nimble fingers stopping in the unknotting of his scarf.

And then as if he could feel your gaze, could feel your presence, the reason why you left everything behind looked straight up at you, eyes locking across a room…just like the day you had first seen him.

[lune-hime]

Garden of Tulips (Levi/Reader) Chapter 3

~Click me for more chapters~

“What did it look like?”

“Hmm?” Levi looked up from his place next to your sleeping form. “The titan that tried to snack on my darling granddaughter.” “Ugly as fuck.” “Aren’t they all?”

Levi recounts memories of the reader and their shared life together while she recovers from a serious injury.

!!WARNINGS!! - Violence, gore, smut, wholesome content ;)

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

Tulipa kolpakowskiana ~ A tulip whose golden glow resembles the sunrise of a new day.

↞↠↞↠↞↠

Levi regained consciousness with a jolt, heart racing and tears bubbling behind his eyes.

Another nightmare.

I guess a good night’s sleep was too good to be true. He honestly didn’t remember how he dealt with his nightmares before you, and now you weren’t here to help. Levi had to resist his urge to leap up and crawl into bed next to you. Your well-being and your grandmother’s threat kept him in the guest room.  

The sky was edging with light, signaling it was early in the morning. Levi knew from over 20 years of garbage sleeping habits that he would not fall back into slumber, nor did he want to. Instead, he opted for rising with the sparrows chitting just outside the peeling window. He lifted himself up from the sheets, and groaned as the tightness in his joints fought back. Releasing the tension from his body with several alarmingly loud cracks, he arose and turned down the hall towards your room. The light casted a muted glow over your bed, the sheets bathing in a cool yellow hue. Your form was still as motionless as it was yesterday; arms neatly folded at your sides, hair neatly brushed out of your face. You looked like you a model in a museum exhibit which sent Levi’s stomach churning. Your grandmother must have already attended to your wounds because as he sat down next to you he regarded the fresh bottle of alcohol and roll of bandaging. That would explain your clean look as well. A partially eaten jar of applesauce and used spoon were neatly placed on the nightstand. Levi let out a sigh of relief that you were able to keep some food down.

“Good morning.” He greeted in a hushed tone. Usually in the early hours of the morning, he would be conscious of how loud he was being as to not drag you out of sleep. But now all he wanted was for you to wake up, to respond to his voice. Your skin looked as fragile as glass, with too much pressure you would shatter into the satin. Warmth was rising to your cheeks, though, which was an improvement from yesterday.

He wasn’t sure if you could hear him but he continued to talk to you anyway, about the expedition, about his interactions with your grandmother, about the beautiful tulips. He could have remained by your bedside for an eternity until a rancid smell passed through his nostrils. Repulsed, he looked around the room for a clue to its origin until-

Oh shit, it's me.  

The master bathroom was rather spacious with polished tiles and copper embellishments. The tub was enormous , so large that Levi felt like a child within it. Where had the old woman acquired all of this lavish furniture?

Treading over to the basin he twisted the golden knob and let the water run over his other hand, testing it until it was a soothing temperature. Leaving the tub to fill, he wandered around the bathroom. He turned in the mirror to regard the back of his shoulder. A sparse breath puffed from his lips. He had never actually bothered to look at his wound the night before. His skin was stained a deep purple that spanned most of his shoulder.

Disrobing fully, he carefully stepped into the tub, goosebumps prickling all over his body when the warmth kissed his skin. He sunk into the water, the steam visibly emanating from the pool. Levi let out a breathy sigh and his pupils lulled to the back of his eyes as he relished in the soothing hands of the water. He couldn’t hold back his moan as the water numbed his swollen skin and sent him into a temporary state of peace.

↞♞♘↠

“I feel so icky.” You whined, bouncing in an exaggerated manner. The way your limbs were flailing around made Levi snort. Expeditions were never fun and neither was coming home from one. The unwanted pinching along your ribs, the dull aching everywhere, and discolored plum pigmented spots that bloomed on your skin never failed to be your welcome home present.

It had become a tradition for you and Levi to sleep in his quarters after particularly taxing scouting excursions as he claimed his bath was more effective at getting the blood and soot out of every crevice of the body than yours. Honestly you didn’t doubt his reasoning with all the cleaning products he used on a daily basis.

“Me too.” Levi dittoed, exhaling with a groan as he removed his left boot. The leather leaving his foot made a satisfying pop. Lifting the shoe to his face, he examined the contents with a knit brow. He must have been unsatisfied with what he saw because his features contorted into a grimace and his tongue peeked out from behind his teeth in distaste.

You barely heard the softly spat fucking disgusting before he removed the other one and neatly set them in the corner by the door. Upon releasing his other foot from its confines, he then immediately retreated into the bathroom. As you began removing your own boots, the harsh sound of water running filled the otherwise quiet room. The moment you bent down to remove your shoe, the pinching in your side intensified.

“Fuck.” You hissed breathily, hand reaching awkwardly to massage the tender area.

“What is it?” Levi’s call was distorted by the flowing bathwater. He apparated into the doorway, nimble fingers halting at the fourth button on his shirt.

“Nothing, I just have a cramp.” You explained, attempting to wave his concern off with a small grin. Your foolery was cut short, however, when your body refused to bend further than your knees. You stretched half way down your legs before your body decided that was far enough, leaving you rocking back and forth like an inchworm as you grappled at the lacing on your boot.

Levi pursed his lips, inhaling his almost-chuckle, and left his post in the doorway to kneel before you. He gently rose each foot and slipped both your boots off, cringing when more foreign substances were discovered. Your eyes met in silent disgust, neither of you really wanting to investigate further. Once your socks were removed, Levi’s fingers danced over the sole of your foot mischievously. A crackled squeak left your lips and you lightly kicked him with what strength you had left. He didn’t attempt to cage his laughter this time and his hearty chuckle danced around the chamber.

“I can get my shirt.” You stated, a determined glint shining through the bags under your eyes.

“Oh?” Levi challenged with a hint of jest in his tone. With a raised brow he rose to his feet and disappeared back into the bathroom.

It was going well until you missed one button and that was all it took for you to become a tangled mess. It was like you were playing a game of twister by yourself. Levi barely heard the tiny help that was muffled by the haphazardly folded fabric wrapped around your limbs. You waited for a moment, staring at the inside of your shirt and your arm starting to get tingly from its awkward position at the back of your neck. Then a light tug cleared your vision and you were faced with Levi’s bare chest. He had successfully managed to remove the garment off your constricted torso without causing your side to act up.

“My hero.” You thanked in a sweet voice, more fatigued than you should have been from that ordeal. He responded with a kiss on your forehead before resigning towards the bathroom yet again.

“Do you want to go first?” You proposed, running your fingers through your mussed hair to check for any unidentifiable materials. Fortunately they came back empty handed.

“I thought we could go together.” He suggested, his belt coming undone with a metallic gingle. Once it was coiled and placed in his dirty hamper he turned towards you and waited expectantly.

“Lemme just put my clothes away and I’ll join you.” You said, undoing the buckles of the straps that snaked around your thighs.

“You need help with your pants?” Levi offered casually as he began to fiddle with the zipper of his own.

“Trying to get into them, Mr. Ackerman?” You retorted with the quip of an eyebrow.

“Only if it gets you into the bath faster.” Levi returned your accusation, his eyes shining with amusement. The lazy familiarity in his gaze beckoned you to remove the rest of your uniform with haste.

Now clad in only your underwear, you shuffled into the lavatory a few minutes later. Walking into the room felt like entering the inside of a soothing flame. The candles Levi had lit casted the room in a warm and silky blanket of light and their comforting atmosphere almost made you melt into a pool of candle wax the instant you entered the space.

The luxury of his bathroom was a stark reminder of your days as a cadet and you constantly thanked the heavens that you no longer needed to take community showers. The time you had accidentally walked into the boy’s shower room left a deep scar that had the situation playing forever on a loop.

Your companion had himself already submerged under the frothing water. The airy bubbles outlined his reclined form and clung to his pale skin as if they were afraid he would part from their lavish cradle. The smell emanating from the bath was of lavender, a scent you recognized as Levi’s birthday gift from Erwin. He was too crass to admit it, but the amount of times he used the bath salts and the way his body practically became one with the foam betrayed his indifferent fasad.  

He had not yet registered your presence, the enticing embrace lulling Levi’s eyes shut and parting his rosy lips. Your heart could not contain itself and began fluttering against every surface of your body. He lolled his head back to look at you when your steps hit the tile with a little too much force. His lips upturned and eyes slowly opened into a blissful expression.

Reaching back to unclasp your bra, your gaze momentarily fell to the side of the tub. Just as you began to slide the straps down your shoulders, a slight sloshing of water from the tub halted your movements. Levi was regarding you boyishly, an enamored smile gracing his porcelain features. The pure domesticity of the situation caused a garden of warmth to cultivate in your heart, spreading through your bloodstream and pooling at your cheeks. Your faltering caused a velvety chuckle to rumble through his chest.

“What? I can’t watch you?” He purred, blinking slowly and smiling contently. To him, you were the most exquisite thing in such a grimy world. Even if you were grimy, too, at the moment.  

“I- uh, no it's okay.” You flushed and continued to undress. The garment fell to the floor with a soft clatter. You eyed him once more as your fingers brushed the silky hem of your underwear.

His smile only deepened, and his eyes refracted the candle light and the way the flame danced within them mimicked a sunset along a silvery sky. He had stopped hiding his smiles from you long ago.  

“You know I can’t count the amount of times I’ve seen you naked before.”

You breathed out a laugh, too exhausted, too flustered, and too eager to relax to come up with a snarky comeback. You planted yourself at the side of the tub and made a moving gesture with your hand.

“Scoot up.” You instructed. Levi blinked a couple times before obeying, the bubbles relentlessly sticking to his skin as he glided up the tub. You slipped in behind him, immediately feeling the bruises and scratches of the battle being subdued by the heated water. Guiding his shoulders back so his body was pressed against your chest, he practically melted into your embrace at the feeling of your plush skin.

Delicate hands glazed over his torso, spreading the bubbles up his chest with the tranquil pitter-patter of water. A shiver followed in their wake, chasing the feeling of your touch when your hands left him to lather themselves in shampoo.

“How are you feeling?” You asked sweetly, working your foamy palms through his obsidian locks.

“Nothing hurts more than usual.” He sighed, muscles involuntarily flexing under your minstraitions.

“That’s not what I meant.”

His response was not surprising to you. You had grown accustomed to the delay in response in regard to emotional questions. While Levi often confided in you, he still had his affliction with expressing is inner turmoils. Yet, the closer the two of you grew and the more time you spend together, the shorter that intermittent silence became. Your teeth worried at the inside of your cheek in anticipation as you massaged the clipped hair at the base of his head.

“Nothing hurts more than usual.” Levi repeated but this time with a gentler tone. It signaled not to press further but allowed you to sense meaning behind his words. You nodded in understanding. Seasoned soldiers became numb to the bloodshed of war to a certain degree but any weathered scar still holds the potential to bleed.

“How are you feeling?” Levi asked and gingerly traced patterns along your thigh.

“This expedition seems like child’s play compared to the one in a few weeks.” You said with a tinge of worry lased in your statement. Levi hummed in agreement and craned his neck to give you better access to the area of hair next to his ear. The two of you had avoided talking about it too in depth as you knew what dwelling on heavy tasks during the time of a current expedition would place you both in a bad mental state.

“It will be risky, but Erwin knows what he’s doing. He-” Levi was unable to complete his train of thought when you tugged just right on a section of his hair. He let out a husky moan that mingled with the steamy flush of the tub and what heat resided within your face was now pooled between your legs.

His body went rigid in embarrassment and you immediately halted your massaging. His sensuous reaction surprised both of you but it was endearing that even after all this time, the two of you could still be so bashful in front of each other. You could never get enough of his vulnerability, a side he reserved deeply for you.

“Felt good?” You giggled, smoothing your palms over his shoulders. The plush press of your breasts against his back drew a shaky breath from deep within him. In one fluid moment, Levi sank under the water and reemerged facing you. The sight before you sent an electric stream volting through your nerves. The dark expanse of his wet tresses framed the ravishing galaxy that swirled vividly within his eyes. His canines toyed with his lower lip, determined to get even with you for laughing.

“Not as good as how you are about to feel.” His voice was so low it seemed to vibrate the whole tub and sent a shockwave of pleasurable currents across your skin. He licked his lips languidly, carefully grabbing your thighs and adjusting your legs so they rested atop of his. Now it was his hands that smoothed down the heated skin of your arms, stomach, thighs, the cusp of your breasts, and gliding along your shoulders. He placed tender open mouthed kisses against the shell of your neck, collarbone, and then again to the swell of your breasts. The touch left your skin burning with desire and with every exhale the steam thickly materialized above you. Your body curled into his, the need for friction becoming unbearable. It was Levi who now chuckled in delight when his fingers found your core. The moan he drew from you made him light-headed and left his consciousness as fuzzy as the humidity of the bathroom.

Just as Levi began intensifying his strokes, his movements began to grow lazy. You started feeling sluggish as well, the sultriness of the room lulling you into a sleepy daze. As the immense exhaustion from the expedition caught up with your bodies, the two of you let the water earnestly lap at your slumped forms. For how long, you did not know. Levi’s eyelids drooped and you became aware of the dark lilac bags residing under them. Your sore side too decided it wanted in on the fun and started singeing the right half of your body. You were about to tap Levi to get him to move when his head suddenly dipped, the sweet release of sleep getting the better of him. His head only touched your shoulder for a second before it snapped upward. The disoriented expression he wore caused you to bark with laughter.

“I’m trying to be sexy.” He pouted, the cosmic hue of his eyes fading to a dull gray. He squeezed your thighs playfully.  

“If we don’t get out of this tub soon we are both going to fall asleep and drown.” You squeaked, hitting his shoulder lightly and moving off of him to step out of the tub. He gently held you in place.

“I need to wash your hair first. Turn around.” He said tiredly. You could barely distinguish his request through his lofty yawn.

“Okay, but don’t take too long or we’ll get all pruney.” You remarked after popping a stray bubble caught on his cheek.

~

“SIR! REPORTING FOR MORNING CLEANING DUTY.” The shrill voice cracked with the breath of a fresh morning. Whoever was yelling really had pipes.

“Shut the hell up, Jaeger. She’s still sleeping.” Levi’s annoyed chiding was much harder to hear from the otherside of the closed bedroom door. Shuffling and muffled fumbling for what you expected was the sanitation equipment followed the commotion.

“How are you so energetic at the ass crack of dawn?” Levi tsked and playfully hit the cadet atop the head with a folder just as the boy picked up his duster.

↞♞♘↠

Levi’s head had begun to ache with a dull blurriness after spending a sizeable amount of time in the bath. His temple cooed under the pressured glides of his pruney fingers before resigning to get up, lest becoming the embodiment of a raisin. He heaved himself out of the heavenly pool, dizziness immediately enveloping him when his feet touched the bathmat.

Upon returning to his room he found a freshly folded pile of clothes awaiting him on the leather lounge chair. The garments were a little too posh for his liking but anything was better than the tattered remnants of his uniform. The finished look made Levi huff in mild surprise. The scarlet dress shirt fit snugly on his shoulders and highlighted the curvature of his biceps. He got rid of the excess billowing of the torso by tucking it snuggly into his slacks. The pants were expertly tailored, an indication they originated from a higher class, and complemented every outline and muscle of Levi’s lower half.

Except for length.

Muttering to himself about the inconvenience in the height difference between the previous owner of these clothes and himself, he began thinking of ways to alter the outfit so he didn’t look like a child or walls forbid a hobbit.

After rolling each pant leg up neatly just past his ankles with slight irritation, he perched the suspenders utop of his shoulders and padded over to the mirror. Clearly whoever these clothes belonged to was much taller than he. But he didn’t hate it. In fact, he sort of liked how he looked. He twisted his body this way and that to garner as close as he could get to a 360 degree view. He gave himself an approving nod and grabbed a piece of stationary and a pen before exiting the room. He made his way downstairs but not without peeking into your room once more.

The house had a much different aura than the night before. The sunlight extended its pale tendrils through the polished glass and beckoned Levi to sit at the small table in the corner next to dutch door window. He placed the stationary on the carved wood and gasped when his back suddenly cracked. It was then he realized just how sore and exhausted he still was even after the bath.

He needed caffeine badly. Your coffee addiction was, unwantedly at first, rubbing off on him. Before the two of you were close he had no interest in dirt water as he called it. However, you slowly opened him up to a new world where long nights were made substantially easier and when his tea just didn’t cut it. Levi had been conditioned to like the strong way you made it, but it was indeed an acquired taste.

Thumbs absentmindedly played with the fabric of the suspenders as he scanned the spacious room for a french press. Now that yesterday’s adrenalin had been cleansed from his head, he could see the room clearly. The room was filled with life, literally. Plants were everywhere; potted and leaves overflowing from their confines. The wood was more polished and artistic than his glazed eyes had seen the night before. The decor emitted wealth and pretentiousness yet it gave him the opposite feeling. He felt like he was at home, and he didn’t know what to do with that feeling.

Locating the french press next to one said plant, Levi brewed his drink under the warm morning embrace and the lithe song of songbirds. Once he obtained his cup of coffee, he resigned back to the table and wrote his letter between sips and gazes out onto the yard.

Erwin,

As I’m sure you are aware, Y/N and myself were separated from the left flank during the expedition. We’re okay. We are staying on the outskirts of Krolva.

Y/N has sustained heavy but not lethal injuries.

I’m fine.

Don’t worry your eyebrows off.

Levi

“How long have you been awake?” A familiar gruff voice hollered from the hall. Levi had just finished sliding the letter into the envelope when your grandmother appeared in the doorway.

“A couple hours.”  He said with characteristic plainness.

“You look a lot better than yesterday. Cleaner too.” She commented and returned to the hall to discard her lightweight coat.

“I took a bath.” His thumb eagerly pushed against a paint chip in the elegant coffee mug.

“Well good for you, I’d figured you would know how to properly bathe.” She chided with a jestfull tone. From his seat next to the window, Levi could see the woman shuffling around the shoe rack. He gave her appearance a once over; mud encrusted baby blue paddock boots, an apron with a floral design embroidered into the front pocket and gardening gloves just as dirty as her boots. When her outdoor clothing had been discarded by the front door she padded back into the sunlit kitchen. His eyes were still fixated on the dry dirt that littered her apron, work pants, and shirt. His nose wrinkled automatically.

“I was gathering tulips.” She responded to Levi’s silent inquiry. He simply nodded and when she turned towards him a satisfied smile chuffed her cheeks. Her hands were perched attentively on her hips.

“Well don’t those clothes look nice on you. I was afraid they would be a little loose fitting.” She clicked her tongue approvingly. Levi idly attempted to hide the extremely rolled up pants by crossing his legs at his ankles.

“Those were my son’s clothes. I know he had a couple inches shy of a good foot over you but they suit you. You both had a similar style.”

Levi stiffened when your grandmother revealed who’s garments he adorned. It didn’t bother him, per say, but it did feel a bit strange wearing something that belonged to your father. Curiously intimate. Like this whole experience, Levi reckoned.

“Yeah, they fit alright. Thank you.” His curt response made your grandmother purse her lips. She was determined to get him to open up to her.

“Oh! You made coffee how delightful.” She said giddily as she made a beeline for it. When she had poured the amber liquid into delicate china she took one sip, smacked her lips in a sophisticated manner, and gagged.

“You make it just like her, strong as shit.” Your grandmother muttered sounds of disgust that hid Levi’s breath of amusement. She hastily retrieved the sugar and milk from the pantry and remedied the deathly drink to her liking.

“While I was out there I fed the horses-” She added after a satisfying sip of her coffee.

“And your corps horse is a huge pain in my knickers. You know, in all my years serving in the military I’ve never met such a spoiled creature before.” She ranted as she sauntered over to the tiny corner table. She sat down opposite of Levi, taking her apron off and waving it out to get some dust off. Levi dodged it the dislodged particles.

“The bugger went to bite me whenever I tried to look at his wounds and even feed him. I don’t know how he passed his horsey exams because he’s so disobedient.” She scoffed and took a particularly violent swig of her drink.

“I’ll go check on him later.” He said, furrowing his brows when his cup no longer contained his energy source.

“Humor me. Why don’t you just get rid of the thing? It’s too ornery.” She proposed slyly, the aged wood of the chair creaked as she leaned back against it. Levi noted her posture, she may act prickly but she walks with the grace of someone raised inside the innermost wall.

Levi harbored the same sentiment about the horse. It still blew his mind how Zacharias even chose him in the annual foaling. If he had the choice, Levi would have been born with the ability to wiggle his fingers and magically make bratty horses disappear far away to a distant farm where they would never be heard from again. Scratch that. Anything or anybody that was a brat. What a heaven that would be, half the cadets turning into stardust. Levi’s eyes were glazing over as he became lost in his fantasy but your grandmother’s harsh cough reigned him back in.

“It’s Y/N’s horse.” Levi stated simply. Her mouth formed an O shape and she nodded in understanding. As much as he thought it was a pain in his ass, he loved the smile that creature brought to your face.

“Well, that will do it, huh.” She affirmed pushing off the table and abruptly taking his empty cup.

“How’s the shoulder?” She questioned as she poured a fresh batch of coffee into the reservoir.

“Still aching, but better.” He replied, rolling it around a little to show her. She nodded silently and drew closer, placing the drink gently in front of him. He returned her gesture with a small smile.  

“Do you think you have enough energy to help me with my shipment?” She suddenly inquired, hand resting on the table.

Levi stopped mid sip and looked at her with a quizzical expression. Shipment?

“I have to ship out some tulips today, some dusty politician has a banquet tomorrow.” She said dismissively.

“What about Y/N?” Levi said this as more of a statement than a question. Surely one person had to be around in case something came up. What if she awoke an no one was there to assist her? Even worse scenarios swam through his mind.

“I have a so called housekeeper .” Your grandmother rolled her eyes. Damn your family really was more well off than you had led on.

“I insist that she stops coming but that lass is hellbent on helping me with this estate. If you can even call it that. ” Your grandmother mumbled the last bit. “She comes by everyday around 11 am whether I like it or not. So we will leave once she arrives.”

Levi’s brow knitted with worry. Would a housekeeper be able to care for you as your grandmother did if your body suddenly rejected the applesauce? If a stitch came undone and the river of blood became unclogged-

“Son, don’t worry. The girl has known Y/N all of her life. She’s an apprentice at the apothecary in our village, I couldn’t think of more capable hands besides our own to leave her in.” Your grandmother comforted his silent spiral into anxiety. It was curious how she was able to continue to hone in on what he was feeling.

Levi contemplated her statement for a moment, finger idly running along the rim of the china.

“Sure.” He agreed. Even though the idea of parting with you in this condition made his nerves flare up, you trusted your grandmother with all your heart so that meant Levi should too.

“Splendid, I will begin the preparations.” She cheered, clasping her hands together and pushing off the table.

A warm bowl of oatmeal and another cup of coffee later, Levi found his arms shaking slightly under the wooden crate. Who knew flowers could be so heavy. Of course his body wouldn’t have recovered within a day but he had never felt so exhausted in his life.

“Is there a post office where we are going?” Levi asked asked between heaving breaths as he loaded another crate into the back of the carriage. Your grandmother rounded the vehicle and dropped her gaze to the paper sticking out from his pants pocket.

“Mhmm, we’re going to drop them off in town. It's about a quarter short of an hour's drive from here. From there, a royal attendant will pick up my goods and we can be on our way.” She explained. Before turning, she pointed to the parchment.

“Is it a love letter to the Commander?” She smirked. Levi rolled his eyes and went to grab another crate. With every box he placed onto the polished surface, a waft of fresh scent would pass through his nose. He's never smelled anything quite so aromatic and pleasing before.

“That should be enough. This is one of my smaller orders.” The little woman stated with satisfaction. She turned with the poise of an ex-soldier and moved to sit on the porch steps. Levi mimicked her movements and settled himself onto the heated wood.

"And now we wait for that troublesome girl."

[yamithediaperdork]

Baby of the family OR Birthday wishes are tricky pt 1 (Power pack)

Baby of the family OR Birthday wishes are tricky

It was Alex's 15th birthday and while he found the party his parents were throwing him to be a little cheesy and childish. He did understand though at a certain level this party wasn't just for him even though it should of been. Being the oldest meant his needs were put on the back burner for Julie or Jack's or Katie's needs, and toss in Katie was STILL wetting the bed at 8 years old (and wearing pull ups for longer car trips) and well, he'd basically had to become a mini adult. it was Katie and Jack who drew his attention now, watching them run around the living room with Jack having apparently stolen Katie's stuffie again. 'You know, for someone who so desperately wants to be man of the house..he needs to stop being such a bully.' Alex thought and went to move over to stop him. "Don't worry Birthday boy, I got this." Julie said, holding up a hand and marching over. his oldest sister and still younger then him, Alex smirked as he watched Julie snag jack by the ear and march him over to say sorry to Katie. having a big sister like Katie would of been sooo cool growing up, he watched Julie interact with Katie and Jack lots and while her and Jack didn't always get along, she tried. "alright everyone, to the table. time for the birthday boy to blow out the candle!" Came Mr.Parker's voice. His parents just knew of him as a nice guy who had recently moved into the neighborhood to help look after his aunt but of course Alex and the others knew the truth. Mousey gentle Peter Parker was really spider-man. And he wasn't even the only superhero at the party! of course with the kids being the hero team known as power pack one would expect a few heroes to show up but mom and dad were actually STILL clueless about the powers. That said Jack being best friends with Franklin Richards, AKA the son of Reed and Sue Richards meant that not only Franklin but Johnny and Sue had a excuse to come over. (the thing while loving birthday party's had excused himself apparently upset when he was told he couldn't go in the bounce house this time, while reed who Alex had hoped would show up had gotten busy with a experiment.) Mix in the other kids who'd been invited and a whole lotta people were singing happy birthday to Alex as his barbie princess cake (He'd made the mistake of asking Katie to pick out a cake for him) was carried over and he closed his eyes and thought of a wish. 'I wish I could be the baby of the family for once. see what it's like to be like Katie.' he thought, then blew.

The party went on for awhile longer but soon guests were excused and some of the family had to get ready for bed.  and by some of the family that meant Katie on her back in the living room, both hands on a sippy cup of warm milk and watching the last of a cartoon movie as Julie got her tapped up in her thick bed time diapers. Of course they didn't WANT to put the 8 year old back in diaper diapers, but without how much Katie flooded the bed there was no choice. heck, the car trip Pull up's were starting not to be enough. the sippy cup was because once it got close to her bed lately Katie seemed to zone out and as funny as seeing her dump a drink on her face was, the clean up was awful and she had started asking for warm milk before bed and no one wanted her to burn herself. "hey Alex, I know your the birthday boy and all, but my show is coming on and if I don't claim the tv now Jack will put it on something stupid and say he was there first just to tick me off...you mind?" Julie asked, scooping up the almost asleep now padded Katie and offering her to him. "heh, I got this." Alex said and took Katie who oddly..seemed heavier then normal. 'must be from all the sweets she packed away.' Alex thought and struggling to not show he was having a little bit of trouble, carried her up the stairs.

with Katie bear in bed, Alex yawned big time and headed for the bathroom. it was only going on 8 pm but he felt just wiped as he paused to look in the mirror. 'no bags under my eyes and I look ok..maybe it's just sugar crash.' Alex thought and shrugged. Normally one to put off his shower till right before bed, Alex started the water running and heating up as he stripped and answered natures call, then got in and started to wash himself. on a silly whim he made use of one of the pink extra soft cloths they used on Katie because of her baby soft skin and also used some of the fruity smelling princess shampoo she had, giggling and picturing a old bugs bunny cartoon as he lathered up his hair.

Downstairs Julie and Jack exchange puzzled faces as the water started up for a shower. Mom and dad were a few doors down meeting aunt May and Alex never went for a early shower unless forced too. heck, you could set a clock to his shower time! "..Maybe Katie sprung a leak already and he's cleaning her?" Jack suggest and shrugged a little. "no way! those new diapers are MASSIVE! even a little pee princess like her couldn't make them leak THIS fast." Julie said shaking her head. "welp, that's all I got. Maybe he just wanted to cover up the sound of his taking a massive dump. you KNOW how much he blushes when we tease him." Jack laughed. "Pffft yeah..mister gruntzilla. I think the whole block knows when he's going he grunts and whimpers so loud. " Julie snickered. "Remember when Katie knocked down the bathroom door convinced he was being attacked because he kept going..oh god..what was it.." "Oh! 'please god please god Oh oH oHHH!'" Julie said, mimicking Alex's whimpers of despair. "Bwhahahaha yeah! That was when he took too much diarrhea medicine because he had to give a speech to the whole school and kept getting the runs." "then couldn't unload for five days. yeah. Mom and Dad were gonna take him to the ER if he hadn't of gone when he did." the middle siblings laughed and shared more embarrassing stories about their respective roomies as the TV show was forgotten.

Alex was swaying back and forth on his feet, having fallen asleep standing up in the shower and only woken up when the cold water hit him. He was shivering a little from that but mostly moved as if drunk he was just sooo tired out of the blue and hauled himself out of the shower and turned it off and grabbed a large white towel and started to dry himself but was doing a worse job of it then Katie had when she was 5. shrugging it off he just wrapped it around him like a damp clock and made his way into his way into his and Jack's room, and headed for his dresser. deciding to go with a KISS solution since he was so tired, Alex just tugged on a pair of old white briefs (he'd been avoiding them lately despite liking their cut better then boxers because Jack kept calling them toddler pants) Tossing the wet towel in the hamper Alex stumbled over to his bed and plopped down, face first and was out like a light before he could even cover up.

around 9 was Jack's bed time and their parents where back, having asked where Alex was and Julie and Jack told them as far as they knew, he'd gone to bed. Making his way upstairs Jack had 'somehow' managed to put off taking his shower and gosh, would just have to get it in tomorrow. It wasn't that Jack didn't care for showers or liked being stinky, just there was ALWAYS something better to do then take a shower. Coming into the room he shared with his dweeb of a big brother, Jack noted that the light was still on which meant Alex had to of been super tired since he was super OCD about turning off lights if they weren't being used. Looking over Jack snorted at the site of Alex on his back, legs and left arm sprawled out in his bed while he was sucking on his right thumb, in just his toddler pants. 'what a doofus.' Jack thought and shook his head. Doofus or not, he was still his brother and Jack didn't want the dork to get a cold.  with that in mind he tugged Alex's Blanket up over him, then as a after thought grabbed one of his own old stuffies (that he was keeping around because they'd be worth money some day. not that he still totally needed ot loved them!) and held out Mr. Fuzzy wuzzy , having it brush on the blonds arm. Alex reached out with his free arm in his sleep, coming out from under the blanket and whined around his thumb. "whoa..too much cake and pop and Alex goes baby brained! awesome!" Jack thought with a grin but then let the big toddler have the stuffie and huggle it. 'I'm going soft in old age.' Jack thought to himself then after changing into just his boxers got the lights and climbed into bed.

In a universe where a god of Myth fought alongside with a world war 2 hero, a man who had built his own battle armor and well, any number of different heroes and villains and forces exist, it was amazing that random wishes weren't picked up by more cosmic being's who might just answer them. and for the most part, it's a good thing that most of these are ignored because Alex was about to learn what happened when a simple wish can get granted, at least to a degree.

Alex hung his head in shame as he showed his parents what had happened the next morning. Having always told Julie, Jack and many many times Katie that they should be honest with their parents if they have accidents, it had been Alex's turn to practice what he preached when he'd woken up this morning in a very soggy bed. Thankfully it didn't smell THAT bad and mom and dad were going to open the windows and air out the mattress in the back yard, but Alex was still SUPER ashamed. He'd of course gone and gotten washed up but came back to find the others in his and Jack's room, and two out of three of them were being less then nice with no mom or dad in site to call them off. "Sheesh, and I thought I dodged having to deal with anything worse then you with a milkshake in you!" Jack said, holding his nose and waving a hand. "Oh puh-lkease. you think this is bad? try waking up in a diaper pail everyday because of pee princess here." Julie said, and jerked a thumb at Katie. "H-hey! don't be meanies!" Katie huffed and then turned to a mortified Alex, patting his leg. "It's OK Alex, accidents happen. but worse case you can come into my room. as Julie said..it uh..kinda smells.." "Kinda?" Julie asked and then shuddered. "and that's all i need, twin pee fountains going off in stereo." "I-it's not that bad!" Alex whined. "and really? Little miss farts rainbows is gonna start giving lip about sleeping arrangements!?!" Katie added as Julie's cheeks flared red now. "we talked about that,m you're not su-" "and YOUR not 'pose to complain about me either. fair's fair." Katie said and nodded her head. Alex gave Katie a weak smile. "heh, thanks for coming to my defense..kinda, Katie bear." Alex said and gave er a hug. He was sure this would prove to be a just one time thing, and as such, tried to put it out of his mind as much as he could when a look out the window showed his mattress being set up in the back yard.

[youllneverknowrac]

Oscar Diaz-Birthday Bash Pt.1

(Momma Bear Series)

“Birthday party today mommy.” Angel cheers as he is the first one awake out of the whole house, him and Alexander sleeping with you and Oscar like usual. He climbs on to your chest and grabs at your cheeks, wiggling them in his tiny hands,”Wake up mommy. I turn treeee.” He sings, your eyes opening slightly and a smile forming on your face.

“Three?” You ask, faking surprise,”Are you sure about that? You look like a baby to me.” You say as you tickle his sides causing him to giggle loudly.

“Yes! Party today, I’m a big boy.” He says before covering his mouth quickly,”Shhh daddy and Alex are sleeping.” He reminds as he looks over at them and then back to you with big eyes.

“That’s right.” You whisper as you stand up with him in your arms, letting him cling to your neck like a monkey as you walk out of the room,”Want to help mommy make your birthday breakfast?” You ask him, already knowing the answer as he shakes his head in agreement eagerly.

“I always help you silly goose.” He laughs joyfully, causing you to laugh as well.

“Silly goose?” You grin and press your forehead to his,”You’re the silly goose.” You tell him, he doesn’t reply and gives you a messy kiss on the mouth, laughing again seconds later. When you reach the kitchen you set him on the counter, his legs swinging back and fourth as they dangle,”Don’t jump.” You tell him seriously as you walk over to the fridge.

“I know mommy. Angel no jump.”

“Good boy.” You praise and pull open the door,”Now bacon or...sausage?” You ask him as you rummage through what you could make for your large family.

“Both!”

“Okay, only cause it’s your special day.” You smile and place both items next to him before going back to pull out what else you would need.

“And I want beans mommy! With skinny bread.” He smiles

“It’s called tortillas.” You laugh but nonetheless agree with his choices

“Skinny bread.” He retorts as you push him down further away from the stove before you light it up.

“Fine. Skinny bread, but don’t let daddy hear you say that. He’ll go on a whole rant about how it’s pronounced tortilla.” You say, the last word in a exaggerated Hispanic accent. Angel making a tight lip smile and acting as if he was sealing his mouth closed before throwing away the fictional key,”Lets get to it, I’m sure your brothers are going to wake up very soon.”

You get started on the very grand breakfast-cheesy scrambled eggs mixed with potatoes,beans,bacon,sausage and home made tortillas. Even going as far as making a pot of Abuelita Chocolate, all of your kids however preferring it cold so you mixed it in the blender with ice. As you come to a finish and pour some of the drink into Angel’s cup, a tired Oscar walks in with a very happy baby in his arms.

“Morning.” He yawns and comes over to give you and Angel a kiss on each of your heads,”Happy birthday Mijo.”

“Thank you papa.”

“I already changed him, but he wants some teta.” Oscar says as he stands behind you, the baby being held at arms length now.

“Let me see him.” You smile and take the now seven month old from him, pulling your top down just enough to feed him as you work on putting the final touches on everything,”Go wake up those kids of yours.” You tell your husband, doing as you asked with no questions. You hear him walk up the stairs, banging on Junior’s door first.

“Wake up huevón!” You hear him call out to your eldest son, pushing open the bedroom door and turning the light on,”Your mom cooked and it’s your brothers birthday so downstairs in five minutes.” He orders, moving onto Carlos and Anthony’s shared room next and doing the same.

“Wake up! I told you to not be up all night on that video game bullshit.” He says and shakes them awake, tossing the blanket off the both of them as they protest. You shake your head in amusement and serve the plates one by one, a bit hard since Alexander was literally attached to you. Oscar rejoining you a minute later and getting Angel set up in his booster seat before taking Alexander back and putting him in the hand me down high chair you’ve had since Carlos. The rest of the kids coming down together as they sit around the table, all of them thanking you and wishing Angel a happy birthday as well.

“Let me grab his food.” Oscar says and goes back into the kitchen to grab a jar of baby food for Alex, sitting back down when he returns. He feeds himself and the baby, you focusing on your own plate and occasionally helping the birthday boy make a taco with all of the items on his plate.

“It’s really good mommy.” Carlos smiles through a mouthful of eggs, Anthony giving you a thumbs up when you look his way.

“Yeah mom. I want pancakes when it’s my birthday though.” Junior grins before scarfing down some more food.

“Noted.” You smile, taking a bite of your beans when there is a sudden knock on the door,”I got it. It’s probably the water slide company.” You say and wipe your mouth quickly before going over to the door, your guess correct as two older men stand at the door with a big truck parked at the end of your driveway. You talk to them for a bit before showing them the side gate that they could use to set up in the backyard, making sure Oscar already payed before you head back in to finish the rest of your food.

“What time is Uncle Cesar coming over?” Anthony asks excitedly

“Soon, he’s showing up with Ruby so they can decorate for the party.” You reply as you grab your fork.

“Baby shark right mommy?” Angel asks

“Yes, Ruby knows you wanted a baby shark theme.” You laugh

“Wash your plates off if your done.” Oscar orders the older boys, doing as told one by one when they finish.

“Junior! I need you to go pick up the cake in a bit from the bakery.” You tell him, Junior groaning before Oscar gives him a look and he stops the words that were going to come from his mouth.

“It’s a five minute walk, you’ll be fine.” You tell him as you let Angel get out of his chair when he finishes, running over to the window and watching the water slide being inflated.

“Okay.” The teen says with a forced smile before trudging up the stairs, Anthony and Carlos following behind.

“Are you full papi?” You ask Oscar,”There was still a bit left on the stove, do you want it?”

“Yes please.” He smiles, putting a spoonful of the green colored food into Alex’s mouth. You get up with your empty plate and grab Oscar’s as well, placing yours in the sink before loading his up again.

“Here you go.” You say and place the plate down in front of him.

“Thank you mamita.” He grins and swiftly pulls you onto his lap causing you to laugh,”Can I have a piece of you too?”

“Mhm always.” You smile and peck his lips lovingly.

“Kissy for me too?” Angel asks as he walks over.

“Just one.” You joke as you stand and pick his small body up, giving him a peck as well before dipping him down so Oscar can do the same,”Now let’s let daddy finish eating in peace.” You say as you place him back down so you can grab Alexander.

“I’m going to put them in the bath while I shower. You better pick up after yourself.” You playfully warn before heading down the hall to your master bedroom. When you enter the bathroom you turn the water for the tub on, making sure it’s warm. Angel already undressing himself and hopping in. You undress Alexander as well before sitting him down next to his brother. The water not even reaching their belly buttons as you turn it off. You just decided it would be easier to put them in so you could shower real quick and get ready for the day while keeping them occupied,”Mommy’s going to shower, you watch Alex okay?” You tell the toddler, not really meaning it since the shower was two feet away and was made of glass.

“You got it mommy.”

You undress and throw all the discarded clothes into the hamper, tossing the diaper and pull up away as well before getting under the hot running water, your eyes on the boys at all times. You’re just about to finish up when Oscar walks into the bathroom,”Slides all set up.” He informs as he walks over to the sink so he can shave his face.

“That was fast.” You comment back, rinsing the conditioner out of your hair, both kids still splashing about in the tub,”Can you hand me my towel?” You ask nicely a minute later

Oscar stops his actions and reaches for your towel, waiting until you step out to wrap it around you,”Thanks.” You smile and dry yourself off as best as you can before pulling your silk robe on and tying it securely, the towel now wrapped around your hair and sitting on your head.

“Did Junior go already?” You ask

“Just left.” Oscar says, focusing on not cutting his face,”What did you have them make?”

“A tres leches cake and chocolate cupcakes.” Angel shouting in glee when he hears that,”Don’t take too long, your ass needs to fire up that grill.” You smirk at your husband as you join him in front of the mirror, pulling your make up bag from the drawer.

“Ya lo se, I’m hurrying. I gotta look good too, not just you.”

“Just saying.” You smile as you pull your stuff out to do a quick beat, Oscar mumbling something incoherent.

“Oooh make sure my burger is well done. Extra cheese on that shit.” You tell him as you prime your face, pushing his buttons every now and then being one of your favorite hobbies.

“Any other request reina?”

“Actually yeah, I’m going to want a hotdog. So make sure that it’s included on my plate.” You smile sweetly, Oscar putting down the razor as he looks over at you smugly.

“Tengo un hot dog para ti right here mami, all you gotta do is ask.”

“You always gotta make shit dirty.” You laugh as you continue on your face,”Almost twenty years together and your mouth still surprises me...don’t even say anything.” You say when you realize that he can also make a joke out of what you just said.

“You make it too easy.” He laughs, wiping his face off with a wet hand rag after, you just giggle in response. You let Oscar get the boys out and change them into their matching swim trunks. Oscar changing into a pair of cargo shorts and plain white tee since it was going to be a rather hot day and he would be outside, his outfit reminding you of when you guys were younger. Some would say simpler times but those words being the complete opposite for you guys.

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Bonus Chapter 4

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 16,518

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

Lea gave a low thoughtful hum as he zipped up the back of my dress. "Well lessee here… the sound of dry leaves crunching under my shoes… the smell of movie theater popcorn… that specific shade of deep red the sky turns at sunset…" A brief pause and another quiet hum as he gently finger-combed and played with my hair, eliciting a small shiver from me. "Oh! Let's not forget the feel of the first breeze of summer warming my skin."

My eyelids drooped as I shot a look over my shoulder at where he sat at the edge of his bed in skinny jeans and topless. "...I was more looking for things you liked that maybe, sort of… had a price tag?"

He chuckled, his arm hugging my waist from behind, pulling me back towards him so he could press a kiss to my shoulder. "Trynta figure out what to get me for my birthday, hm?"

"Now whatever would give you a silly idea like that?" one corner of my lips tugged up as my hand covered his, toying with his fingers. "Perhaps I was simply making polite and completely theoretical small talk."

"Oh-ho, I see. Well if you were theoretically fishing for gift ideas for the birthday boy, how 'bout this?" A tiny yelp escaped me as he suddenly yanked me backward, my spine hitting the mattress. He hovered over me now in all his shirtless glory, his hands finding mine as he pinned them to the bed to either side of my head. Smirking down at me with hooded eyes, the tip of his nose brushed mine and his breath warmed my lips as he purred, "You. Me. Locked in my room from dawn to dusk while I just worship every last inch of your body."

Face warming, I looked away, pressing my cheek to his comforter as I gave a small scoff. "This is for your birthday, not mine, remember?"

He did not hesitate to take advantage of the easier access I'd just given him to my throat, nibbling down it. "Funnily enough, I was actually thinking the exact same deal for your birthday as well. It's a win-win for both of us, really."

I cleared my throat, trying not to get distracted as he teeth now lightly nipped at my earlobe. "Come on, there's got to be something you want besides just… that."

"Honestly?" he pulled back a bit and my gaze met his once more as he playfully waggled his eyebrows. "Getting to see you naked is the second greatest gift you could give me."

Snorting, I narrowed my eyes up at him suspiciously. "...what would be the first then?"

Lea nuzzled our noses together as he cooed, "Your love," before capturing my lips with his.

I laughed against his mouth, breaking the kiss. "Have I mentioned what a sap you are?"

"Mm, it may of come up once or twice," he nodded solemnly before burying his face into the side of my neck again, only this time to blow a raspberry. I gasped and spasmed under him, managing to free one of my hands so I could swat at his shoulder. This only seemed to encourage him to do it again as his chest rumbled in amusement. But then his whole body deflated on top of mine as he released a soft, grumbling sigh. "Damn this motherfucking econ exam I hafta take today. I'd call in sick in a heartbeat if it wouldn't flunk me outta the whole course for missing it." With a groan, he planted a quick peck to my forehead before reluctantly pushing himself up off the bed and onto his feet as he began a hunt for a clean shirt.

Sitting up myself, my fingers set to work weaving my pale hair into a loose braid. "Seriously, I need ideas for what to get you."

"Seriously, I know you'll figure out something awesome on your own." He grabbed a tee that was hanging from the brim of his hamper, giving it a quick sniff. Guess it passed the smell test, for he then tugged it on over his head. The front bore a circle with a curved grid, yellow on the inside with a thick red ring border and large, bold but faded text wrapping around it proclaiming, THE POWER IS YOURS! Then he grinned big at me, "I mean, the first gift ya ever got me was perfect after all!"

My brow furrowed. "...my first gift?"

I'd gotten him something before?

Since when?

Both eyebrows reached for his hairline and he dramatically clutched at his chest. "Don't tell me you forgot about Bubbles!"

Um…

"...Bubbles?"

He snerked then moved over to one of his tall, cluttered bookcases where he plucked something from the top shelf - a spot of honor, no doubt - before holding it out in front of me. "Bubbles," he repeated by way of explanation.

In his hands was the toy from Wandering Oaken's Trading Post - the orca robot with a machine gun. A little derisive huff blew out my nose as I took it from him. "This? It doesn't count as a gift. I didn't even pay for it."

"Ya tried to. Not your fault if the cashier let it go for freesies." Snatching one of his Converse up off the floor, he started hopping up and down on one foot as he tugged it onto the other before setting to work tying it. "'Sides, spending munny doesn't necessarily make something a gift. Some of the best presents out there can't be bought in a store."

"But I didn't even pick this out for you," I continued to argue with a small sour twist to my lips. "You did."

Finished donning both his shoes now, he snagged his messenger bag off its wall hook and started hastily stuffing it with whatever supplies he'd need for his test. "But you saw that I liked it, thus ya got it for me. That right there was some superb gift decision-making! And I'll have you know outta everything in this room, it's my most favorite."

I wrinkled my nose and frowned down at the cheap toy in my hands. "...really?"

"Mm-hm! 'Cept for you, of course!" he chirped, bending forward and bracing his hands on the bed to either side of me as he pressed his lips to mine. I rolled my eyes but bit back a grin as he straightened back up. "And I have the utmost faith that you'll be able to find something else I like without even breaking a sweat, babe. 'Sides, whatever it's gonna be, I'll love it no matter what cuz it'll be from you!" Slinging his bag strap over his head to hang across his chest, Lea unplugged his phone from the charger and pocketed it. Then he squinted up at the ceiling and tapped a curled finger to his lips before snapping his fingers, "Ah! Mustn't forget Marshmallow!"

He crossed his bedroom to open the door only to be immediately greeted by the sight of Saïx standing on the other side. In his arms was the big ball of white fluff in question, poofy tail enthusiastically wagging as his tongue lapped away at Saïx's chin. The show of puppy-dog affection did not seem to be wholly appreciated, if Saïx's dull scowl was any indicator.

"Oh! Heh… mornin', big guy!" Lea said brightly. "Thanks for keeping an eye on the pooch last night! Hope the lil furball didn't give ya too much tr-"

His words were swallowed in a grunt as Saïx just shoved Marshmallow into his chest, then wordlessly turned to stalk off into his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him. Eyes fixed on where Saïx had just disappeared, Marshmallow immediately began to whimper and squirm in Lea's arms.

Struggling to maintain his hold on him, Lea grumbled, "Aw c'mon, what am I, chopped liver? Where's my doggy smooches? You're my pupper after all!"

Marshmallow's reply came in the form of gnawing on Lea's thumb.

Sighing, he put him down. "I tell ya, Mr D of W, I am this close to kicking your fuzzy ass to the curb where you'll hafta turn tricks for Scooby Snacks just to survive."

The threat fell on deaf ears as Marshmallow came running over to me, demanding attention. I hummed a laugh and reached a hand down to pet him, glancing towards Lea out of the corner of my eye, "I think Saïx is one puppy-sitting session away from murdering you with a Scooby Snack."

"Nah. He puts on a grumpy front, but he loves that lil slobber-factory. I saw the two together last night. There were cuddles. There were snuggles. There were even," here he paused, dropping his voice low for dramatic effect, "...belly rubs."

I mock gasped. "The scandal."

"Right?" Removing the hair-tie that was around his wrist, he handed it to me before nudging Marshmallow over to make room and plopping down on the floor himself, using my knees as a backrest as he tucked his feet in under him to sit cross-legged. As I set to work running my fingers through his hair and gathering all his crimson spikes together, he went on, "Now I should only be gone a few hours. Dog food's under the sink in the kitchen and the lil fellah will probably wanna go for walkies soon. Bruni's already gotta full belly so all good there, but some time outta the terrarium might be nice and-"

"I know all this already. This isn't my first time watching them, you know," I snorted, finishing his ponytail and pressing my lips lightly to the top of his head to let him know I was done.

"Sorry, can't help it. I just take my responsibilities as a pet dad very seriously," he chuckled, standing up once more and spinning around to smirk down at me. "Unlike some people who strangle imaginary animals during acting class."

My hand shot out to pinch him, but he hopped back out of my reach with a laugh. I huffed, "Don't you have a test to be getting to?"

"Yeah, yeah. But first," he braved stepping closer to me once more, eyes crinkling as he reached down to take my hands in his, "c'mere and gimme some sugar, sweet thang." I let him pull me up to my feet as he brought my hands up to clasp behind his neck. Then he slipped his arms around my waist, pulling me close for a kiss.

Marshmallow circled our legs with a small growl. Pulling away, Lea stuck his tongue out at the dog, "Don't be jelly. I saw her first." Then he was turning a soft smile towards me, cupping my cheek with his hand as he rested his forehead against mine and murmured, "I love you."

Still wasn't used to hearing that. Still wasn't used to the way it made my heart jolt nor the explosion of butterflies it set off in my stomach. And definitely still wasn't used to saying it back.

And so…

Clap.

The sound of my hand flying up to cover his eyes.

"El, c'mon," Lea pouted.

My lips pursed to one side. After some hesitation, I slowly pivoted my hand so it was only over one of his eyes now.

It helped. Don't ask me why or how. It just did.

As he blinked it open and half his green gaze settled on me, my face grew uncomfortably hot as I mumbled, "Love you too."

There it was again. That big, dorky grin. "There ya go! Progress! Now I only hafta be a pirate for you to tell me that, yar!" Planting a swift peck to my cheek, he released me and headed towards the door. "Gotta run, wish me luck!"

"Good luck," I smiled after him as he closed the door.

Save for the sound of Marshmallow happily panting away from his seat next to my feet, the room fell abruptly quiet.

For a grand total of two seconds.

Then-

The door banged open and in Lea rushed once more. I tipped my head to one side, "Did you forget-"

He took me in his arms and dipped me backwards, kissing me long and slow and deep. I was breathless when he at last broke it off and straightened us both back up. "Kay, bye for real this time," he winked before bolting out the door, clicking it shut behind him again.

Fighting the upward pull I felt at one side of my mouth, I ran my hands down my dress to smooth the nonexistent wrinkles out and cleared my throat.

Right. Back to the matter at hand.

That matter being I still had no clue what to get Lea for his birthday.

Since the boy himself had been absolutely zero help, it might only be natural to assume the next best step would be to ask his closest friends and family. But Saïx had just gone to bed and as nice as he could be during his regular awake hours, the thought of disturbing him while he was just settling in to get some sleep seemed like a bit of a deathwish. Ruling him out for the moment, I supposed the next best options would be Xion and Roxas, but…

Was it wrong for me to feel so… self-conscious about going to them for present ideas? I mean, I was the girlfriend after all. Wasn't it my job to know these things? Shouldn't his friends be the ones coming to me for advice on what to get Lea, not the other way around? I know it was totally silly, but I couldn't help but feel embarrassed for not just… automatically knowing the answer. I simply wasn't quite ready to put my shame on display like that in front of his friends. Not just yet, at least.

Luckily, there was another I could turn to without any fear of judgement.

"So tell me," I began conversationally as I crouched down next to the terrarium, one elbow propped on my knee as I cradled my chin in my palm, "of the three of us in this room right now, you've known Lea the longest. What would you suggest I get for him?"

Bruni blinked back up at me. Then lashed his tongue out and flicked it over his eyeball.

I gave a soft snerk at that. "That's just your answer to everything, isn't it?" I sighed, straightening back up to my full height and setting the enclosure's lamps aside before opening it and reaching inside. Scooping the little salamander up, I turned and walked back towards the bed, Marshmallow trotting along behind me with his tail going a mile a minute.

"It's just… well, you know how Lea is," I told Bruni as I took a seat on the mattress and rested my head back into the pillows. "So impulsive… anytime he sees something he wants, he just buys it on the spot. It makes it very hard to find something he'll like that he hasn't already purchased himself."

As I stroked the reptile's head with a fingertip, a whimper from next to the bed drew my attention down to Marshmallow, who was staring up at me with forlorn puppy eyes. Smiling, I pat my free hand to the blankets. Needing no further invitation, the pup sprung up onto the bed and flopped his full weight down onto my belly, forcing a small grunt out of me. Making a noise that was half wheeze, half laugh, I said, "Marshmallow, I think you're getting too big for that."

He tilted his head at me with a tiny huff and doggy frown.

"Oh, well then, my mistake. Consider the comment withdrawn," I grinned softly, my fingers scritching behind his ear. The grin slowly faded however as I shifted my gaze up towards the ceiling. "...I suppose I've just never really been a fan of the whole gift giving thing. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of giving something to someone you care about that you'll know they'll love. It's everything else around it that I dislike… the agonizing over hundreds of options in search of the perfect gift, the uncertainty that comes with finally making a decision of whether it was even the right one, the anxiety as they open the gift and the fear of a negative reaction… and even after all that's finally over and done with, there's a lingering wonder of if they even really liked the present or if they just said they did to spare your feelings when really they were disappointed with the absolute crud you gave them…"

When the only response I received was a soft snuffling noise, I glanced back down to see Marshmallow curiously but gently sniffing at Bruni. Nothing to be concerned over. Marshmallow had long ago learned that Bruni was friend, not food. Still, my eyelids drooped, "Hey, you even listening to me?"

Puffing out a low snort through his snoot, the dog blinked up at me.

"That's better," I lightly tapped his nose before depositing Bruni on top of his head. As the salamander began to explore his new white, fluffy terrain, the dog hardly seemed to notice or mind as he just rested his chin on my chest. Idly ruffly the fur at his cheek, I muttered, "Then of course there's also what to even do for his birthday. I mean, Xion and Roxas have that surprise party planned, but that doesn't start until mid-afternoon, so it's up to me to keep Lea busy until then. And not just busy… I want to do something nice for him. Something he'll really like." My teeth gnawed at my bottom lip. "...I mean, I've already made plans for something… and I think he'll enjoy it, but I don't know. It's so simple… maybe too simple… maybe he'll think I put little to no thought into it because I didn't really care enough…"

Marshmallow yawned deeply, lazily licking his chops while Bruni graced me with the sight of his tail-end as he started crawling down Marshmallow's back.

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I boring you two?" I chuckled, my hand moving to block Bruni's path before he wandered off too far. Then my face scrunched slightly before I conceded with a nod, "But you're right. I've made a decision there already. It's done, so no use second-guessing myself over it. My time and energy would be better spent on what I haven't figured out yet: the present."

Settling Bruni back on his throne - aka the spot between Marshmallow's ears - I then reached over for Bubbles, picking it up from where I'd left it lying on the mattress. I held the little robot up in front of my face, squinting at it. Lea had called it a great present, but…

...why?

"Reveal unto me your hidden and untold wisdom on picking the perfect gift, oh great and powerful plastic one," I implored Bubbles.

The toy just stared blankly back at me and remained stoically silent.

My eyes narrowed. "Fine then. Keep your secrets."

...was I really resorting to asking an inanimate object for advice now?

I really was hopeless.

But I couldn't help it, I was really that clueless when it came to gift giving, especially for a boyfriend. You'd think I'd have years of experience from when I'd dated Hans, but gifts between him and me had never really… mattered. There had never been any substantial meaning behind the presents, no real sentiment… it'd just been stuff like the most expensive, latest model of wristwatch for him, or some fancy, glittery bit of jewelry for me. It'd all been about putting on a show of looking like a happy couple, just like everything else had always been between us. But for Lea, I actually cared about getting something he'd like. I just really didn't want to screw this up. I just… I wanted to make him happy.

"Ugh, maybe I should just cave and ask Roxas and Xion for help," I grumbled under my breath.

Marshmallow snored, apparently having elected to take a nap.

Bruni had made a break for it and was halfway to the foot of the bed by now. The little fugitive.

Deciding not to disturb Marshmallow until it was absolutely necessary, I let the salamander continue his adventure. If it looked like the little guy was going to take a swan dive for the floor, then I'd leap into action. For now, I just glanced at Bubbles again with a tiny frown. "...what's your deal anyhow?" I whispered. "A firearm-toting, killer-whale-transforming robot must have some sort of story behind it, right?"

Putting the action figure back down on the comforter, I snatched up my phone. Pulling up Google, I pursed my lips to one side as I stared at the empty search bar for a few seconds before deciding the bluntest, most direct course would be best and simply typed in "orca robot with machine gun toy." It actually didn't take long to find exactly what I was looking for and-

My eyes widened and I gasped, sitting up straight and knocking Marshmallow out of his beauty rest with a disgruntled huff.

I knew now.

I knew exactly what to get Lea for his birthday.

"Now turning down Market Street. And directly on our left, dear sightseers, you'll find a candy store, accessories boutique, and local post office."

"Are you sure you can't see at all?" I grumbled as I stopped Lea's car at a red light, glancing at him dubiously out of the corner of my narrowed eyes.

"Yup!" he chirped, turning his head to look at me. Or rather… not look, seeing as how he was currently blindfolded with a black strip of cloth. "Blinder than a bat with vertigo after a twenty-hour bender at a tequila bar! But I know Twilight Town like the back o' my hand, babydoll! Could navigate these streets with my eyes closed." He smirked, pointing at the blindfold, "As demonstrated."

My lips twisted sourly as the light became green and my foot pressed on the gas.

The day had arrived. His birthday. I was currently chauffeuring him to the destination I'd picked out to kick off celebrating the big day. A destination that was supposed to be a surprise, thus the blindfold. A fat lot a good that was doing though. I muttered, "You should consider getting your own circus sideshow, your recall skills are so freakishly good."

"What can I say, I know how to get it memorized," he declared cockily, poking a fingertip to his temple. "'Sides, never can be too careful. This lil party trick could save my life one day."

I snorted as I checked the rearview. "Sure it could."

He waggled his index finger, "You scoff now, but just you wait. When I get kidnapped but know exactly where my abductors have taken me despite having a sack thrown over my head to keep me in the dark, we'll see who has the last laugh. We'll see," he taunted, pointing two digits at his covered eyes then pointing them at me. Well… more like at the space in front of me, aka the steering wheel. While he had the uncanny ability to pinpoint his own precise location on a map without the use of his vision, it seemed he was a little bit foggier on where exactly I was.

"When you get kidnapped?" I echoed. "Not if?"

"Trust me, it's an inevitability at this point."

A grin tugged at my lips. "...what if your captors take you outside of Twilight Town?"

"Well then, I'm fucked," he shrugged.

"Very well," I hummed a soft laugh. "If someone manages to overpower and get the drop on a behemoth like you, and if they put a bag over your head, kidnap you and throw you in a car, and if they take you hostage somewhere within the city limits... then and only then, in that absurd and oddly specific scenario, will I concede that you may have had a valid point."

"Thank you," he lifted his chin with a lofty sniff. "Oo, now we turn down Station Heights, huh? The plot thickens."

On seeing that the street sign we'd just passed confirmed his words, I said nothing, just growled low in my throat.

He chuckled. "I think we can both agree that this," his hands reached for his blindfold, tugging at the knot in back, "is really just a formality at this point and is doing jackshit, so may as well just-"

"Ah-ah! Leave it," I snapped, jabbing a warning finger in his direction, even though I knew he (allegedly) couldn't see it.

"Mm, love it when ya get bossy. Your wish is my command, mistress," he waggled his eyebrows with a click of his tongue, hands dropping back into his lap. "Gotta say, El, when ya started off the morning by handing me this thing, I thought today's activities were gonna be lil more hitting the sheets, lil less hitting the streets."

Shifting my grip on the steering wheel, I dropped a casual, "Who's to say that's not the plan for the blindfold later?"

Who me? Trying to distract him from mentally tracking our whereabouts by appealing to his baser urges? I would never!

"Woman, don't tease me if ya don't plan to make good on it."

"Who's to say I won't?" I quirked a cheeky eyebrow.

Lea "looked" towards me again with a toothy, lopsided grin. When he next spoke however, it wasn't to comment on that. Instead, he furrowed his brow and cocked his head. "...be mindful of that tram."

I blinked. "Okay, one, I was nowhere near that thing. And two, pretty sure you're messing with me and can one hundred percent see."

"Nope!" he said brightly before tapping his ear. "Heard the ol' gal chuggin' along. She has a very distinctive thrum. I tell ya, El, take away my sight and I become a regular Daredevil - what I hear is what I see, clear as goddamn day."

"Right," my eyelids drooped.

"Like that! Right there! From the skepticism in that one word alone, I can see the perturbed look on your beautiful face, Love," he cooed, leaning over towards me with lips puckered. Presumably, the intended target was my cheek. Instead, the smooch landed on the headrest of my car seat. He pulled back, "My, how leathery you taste today."

I snorted. "Huh. Must have forgot to moisturize this morning."

"Must've," he agreed. Then, "Hey, ever wonder where totes wackadoodle streets like Where Nothing Gathers Way come from?"

My left eye twitched as we pulled up to a stop sign at that very road. "Streets? As in, more than one?"

Lea beamed, "Oh yeah! There's loads of 'em out there in the world! Don't tell me ya've never heard of the infamous Bucket of Blood Street."

"That's a real street name?" I scrunched up my nose as I flicked on the turn signal.

"Mm-hm!" he nodded. "Over in Arizona. Named after a shootout in the 1800s at a saloon located there. Then of course, if you're lookin' for some class, we can skip our happy asses on over to Vegas and take a stroll down Hanky Panky Street."

I scoffed. "Now I know you're making these up."

"Am not! I'll prove it to ya!" he jammed his hand down his pocket, digging out his phone. I watched out of my peripheral as he swiped the lockscreen away before his thumbs became a blur of typing.

Okay seriously, if he could successfully google this while blindfolded, I'd eat my own braid.

Just as I pressed down on the brakes for a crosswalk, Lea shoved his phone in my face with an all too pleased, "Read 'em and weep, sweetcheeks."

I was greeted by the sight of the search results for a string of characters and numbers that were just a complete mishmash on nonsensical gibberish.

Kudos for actually being able to pull up the search app at all, but I think I could consider my braid safely off the menu.

To him, I just deadpanned, "I stand corrected."

"Bam!" he smugly retracted his phone, moving to sheath it at his hip once more. "Game, set and... shit," he hissed out under his breath as the phone missed his pocket and fell down the crack between his chair and the center console, followed by a muted thunk from somewhere below.

Shifting lanes, I lightly singsonged, "Gone forever."

"You mock - quite cruelly, I might add - but it actually very well could be, " he grumbled, sticking his hand down there after it to blindly fumble around for the thing. "People think the Bermuda Triangle is in the Atlantic, but nope. Nu-uh. It's here, right under my goddamn car seat. You don't even know half the crap that's disappeared down here, never to see the light o' day again."

Alright, I'll bite. "...like?"

"Does the name Amelia Earhart ring a bell?"

"Please," I rolled my eyes with a soft huff, fighting a grin. "There are no historically famous female pilots lost in the black void beneath your car seat."

He razzed his tongue at me, hand still rooting around under his chair. ""Scuse you, but outta the two of us, pretty sure I'd be more the authority on what important figures from history may or may not of gone missing in my car, thank you very much."

Shaking my head, I reached a hand over to gently squeeze at his shoulder. "You can stop, I'll find it for you after we park."

"Spoken like the black hole below's soon-to-be next victim," he harrumphed, giving up on his search and straightening back up in his chair. "Now lessee, where were we?" he muttered, tapping his chin as he "stared" up at the ceiling. Then he brightened, snapped his fingers and pointed at me, "Psychopath."

"Uh…" Both eyebrows shot up my forehead as I slowed for a pedestrian. "...pardon?"

He held up a pair of digits, "Two words. Psycho..." insert pause, "...path. Psycho Path. 'Nother weirdo street name out there."

I tipped my head to one side, one corner of my lips lifting as I drove forward once more. "Okay, that one's pretty clever, actually."

"Right? Definitely way more fun and interesting than dumb, boring ol' Sunset Terrace."

I scowled.

Guess what road I'd just turned the car onto.

Go on, just take one look at Lea's shit-eating grin and guess.

...let's see what we can do about wiping it off that dumb, gorgeous face of his, shall we?

The tires loudly screeched as I made a sharp turn without warning into a massive grocery store parking lot, ignoring the blaring honks from the vehicle I had cut off in the process. Lea yelped as the momentum threw him into his car door. "Crap! The hell?! El, wha-"

I jerked the steering wheel into another hard left and his words were swallowed in a grunt as his shoulder hit his door again. Pressing my lips into a flat, determined line, I said nothing, just zoomed down the parking aisle. Now Lea laughed, "Oh-ho, I see how it is. You're trynta discombobulate me, get me all turned around so I dunno left from right, up from down. Nice try, but I gotta mind like a steel trap, babe. Ya won't get me lost that-"

Another abrupt turn tossed and silenced him.

We'll see about that, bucko. We'll see.

I weaved the car in a high-speed, winding path around the parking lot, making sudden jerky stops here, driving in reverse through empty parking spaces into the next aisle there, just constantly and unpredictably on the move. Lea remained quiet now, a crease forming between his eyebrows just above the blindfold - most likely concentrating on keeping his sense of direction and where we were intact. After a minute or two of this - right about when I saw what looked to be an annoyed employee emerging from the supermarket, probably aiming to put a stop to my recklessness - I maneuvered the car towards a different exit than the one we'd come in through and floored it, propelling us out of the lot and back onto the streets.

"That all ya got?" Lea shot me a half-smirk.

My eyes settled on what was coming up on the road ahead. Then a wicked grin twitched at the corner of my lips. "Hardly. We're just getting started."

That's when I drove the car into the roundabout.

A risky move, yes. There probably weren't a lot of roundabouts in Twilight Town and given his track record thus far, there was a good chance Lea knew every last one of them.

Didn't mean he'd know which direction I'd exit out of it.

Not if I raced around it eight times, anyhow. Or was it nine? Honestly, I'd lost count.

"Devil woman," Lea hissed, bracing one hand on the dashboard and the other to the door, steadying himself against the centripetal force.

My nose crinkled in amusement as we started our tenth (eleventh?) lap. "You like it."

"I really do."

Finally I picked a road at random and turned off the roundabout onto it. From there, I swerved down a few more lanes and side alleys for good measure, hoping to further throw his internal GPS out of whack. At last, I puffed out a sigh as I started driving like a sane person again, glancing towards my phone. The map app (sound muted so Lea wouldn't hear street directions from it) was going a bit haywire trying to adjust and correct course for our destination after that wild ride I'd just taken us on.

Lea chuckled, interlocking his fingers behind his head and leaning back in his seat. "Ya got moxie, kid, I'll give ya that. Tell me, is the rest of Red Nocturne Avenue as in awe of you right now as I am?"

I was this close to smacking his shoulder when I caught sight of the street sign and my hand froze.

This wasn't Red Nocturne Avenue.

This was Dragoon Drive.

...had I really done it? Did he actually not know where we were anymore?

I gave him a sideways squint, holding my tongue as I steered us into a right turn.

"Speechless, huh?" his grin ticked wider. "Yeah, the pure and unadulterated awesomeness that is yours truly has a tendency to do that to the ladies. Not to mention all o' the pretty sights Powerwild Court has to offer."

Wrong again. We were now on Dancer Boulevard.

Smiling as I basked in the glory of my tiny victory, I did my best to mask it with a soft hmph. "Fine, you win. Guess there's no fooling you."

"Damn skippy!"

It didn't take much to get us back on track and heading in the right direction again. From there, it was just a few minutes and several more incorrect street names from Lea before we'd arrived at the final address.

"Conduit Way? Really?" Lea arched an eyebrow as I finished parallel parking. "Ain't nothing here but sewage treatment facilities. Babe, I love ya, you know I do, but hate to break it to ya… a tour of one of those icky places isn't exactly my idea of b-day fun."

Luckily for him, we weren't on Conduit Way. I merely smiled, "You'd be surprised. Out… and ah, not yet! Blindfold stays."

His hands dropped from where they'd been trying to remove it again and he just grinned and shrugged before unbuckling his seatbelt and opening his door over the sidewalk. By the time I'd made my way around to his side of the car, he'd managed to climb out without tripping over the curb.

I pressed a quick peck to his cheek before turning and crouching down to start patting my hand around under his chair, trying to locate his phone. My fingers finally bumped into something, closing around it. I frowned.

...whatever it was, it was most definitely not a phone.

I pulled the object out to discover a tiny troll doll with neon pink hair, goggles and a little scarf wrapped around its neck. I held it up to Lea, "And this would be?"

His hands fumbled with it for a second, feeling the thing out before his face lit up. "Amelia Earhart! Ya found her!"

I shot him a small, withering look. Though it was more so only for my benefit, since he couldn't see it. "You're just messing with me. I refuse to believe that it's actually named that."

"You don't know!"

I gave a snort and shook my head as my hand plunged into the dusty shadows beneath the car seat once more. This time I successfully fished out his phone.

"Thanks, boo. Dunno what'd I ever do without ya," he chirped as I handed it to him.

"Probably not be blindfolded and thus dropping your phone in the first place?" I suggested, rising to my feet once more and dusting off my dress.

"Touché." Then he bent down to reward me with a smooch, right smack dab on-

"That was my eyeball, thanks," I deadpanned, screwing my face up a bit as he pulled back.

He beamed. "Meant to do that! Peepers need love too, ya know!"

"I'll take your word for it," I shook my head as one side of my mouth quirked up. Taking the troll doll back from him, I set it on top of the car's dash before closing and locking the car. Then I tucked my hand into Lea's elbow and began leading him over towards the building's entrance. Halfway to those doors, something on the sidewalk caught my attention and my eyes crinkled. "Little to your right," I told him, gently veering him with my grip.

The sharp crunch of brittle leaves being crushed beneath his Converse filled the air. He perked an ear up at the sound, then he flashed his dimples down at me. "D'aaawww, you remembered!" Again, he was ducking down. I think this time the aim had been to press his lips to mine. Instead…

"And I suppose nostrils need love as well?" I half grimaced, half grinned as I swiped the back of my hand across said nostril that had been the unwitting recipient of his affections.

"Absolutely! But what's that?" he cupped a hand to one ear. "...do I detect a note of discontent to my maiden fair's lovely voice? What oh what could the problem be, I do wonder!" Then he snapped his fingers with an evil smirk. "Ah! Not enough tongue. Gotta fix that," he started bowing towards my nose again, mouth open and tongue snaking in and out of it.

A clamped a hand over his whole face and shoved him back, grumbling, "Dork."

"Mm-hm!" he hummed, kissing my palm before freeing his head from my grasp. "And proudly so!"

We reached the entrance and I pulled open one of the doors with my free hand, using the other to tug Lea over the threshold. Once inside, I directed him off to one side so we wouldn't be in other people's way before pulling us both to a complete stop. His head pivoted to and fro curiously, even though the black strip of cloth was still covering his eyes. Then he sniffed the air, "...popcorn?" He cocked one eyebrow then pointed to his blindfold, silently requesting permission.

I bit down on my bottom lip, chilly uncertainty spiking in my chest, tiny but sharp.

This was it.

The moment of truth.

Time to find out if this had been a halfway decent plan or if I should just be crawling under a rock already to die of embarrassment over what a pathetic idea my useless brain had come up with.

I gave him a tentative nod. A full two seconds ticked by before I remembered he couldn't see it. Reaching up to squeeze at my braid, I voiced a small, "Yes."

He untied and removed it, blinking a couple times as his eyes adjusted to the light. Then he glanced around, taking it all in: the massive lobby we stood in now with its walls regally embellished with gold, curly trim. The plush red carpet beneath our feet leading to a wide, old-timey looking concession stand that looked like it'd been yanked straight out of the 50s. The noisy, vintage popcorn maker behind it, paired with a retro yet newly-polished soda pop machine. The black-and-white posters lining the walls boasting popular movies from various decades long past. He squinted at one of those in particular, right between Giantland on its left and Mickey's Circus to its right. "Classic Kingdom Theater?" he read off slowly.

"Mm," I hummed in confirmation, giving my braid one final yank before releasing it and instead fidgeting with the pendent on my necklace. "It's a movie theater, but not a normal one. It only screens old films. Every week, they pick a few from a certain decade to play. This week is the 90s which is apparently the cut-off for what they'll consider a classic, but some weeks they'll have movies from as far back as the 30s."

"This is… How did I not know about this place?" his forehead wrinkled as he glanced over his shoulder towards the glass doors that led back out onto the streets. Then his eyes widened slightly as a lightbulb seemingly flashed in his brain. "Wait… we aren't on Conduit Way. Which means we're… hang on, gimme a sec, I know this place..." Another pause as his eyes swept the room with a thoughtful frown before he tapped the side of his fist into his palm. "Got it. This used to be that defunct and abandoned tram lot warehouse."

Nodding, I said, "It only had its grand opening a little less than a month ago. Apparently some local billionaire bought the place and renovated it into this." I smiled softly, "Looks like there's someone who might quite possibly like the classics more than you, if such a thing is even possible."

"Local billionaire, huh?" he rubbed his chin. "Not a lotta those running around. Betcha it's the same one that owns Le Grand Bistrot."

"And Ice Palace too, I think," I agreed. Then I hesitated, licking my dry lips. "...so… what do you think? ...do you… like it? I hope you like it. I mean, you should like it." I blanched at my word choice, then hastily amended, "N-not that I'm telling you what you should or shouldn't like, I just meant that you, uh… you like… movies." I winced, fingers fiddling with my necklace more frantically. "Of course you like movies. Duh, everyone likes movies. Wait… no, not everyone exactly, I suppose, that's a bit of a broad generalization…"

Please like it.

"...but what I'm trying to say is that you in particular… you like the sappy classics. Although…" I frowned, tucking in my bottom lip,"...not even sure if they're showing anything sappy this week… but they're still classics, so that's something at least, right? Something you'll… like? Hopefully? Or… was this a bad idea?"

Please be happy.

" ...what am I saying, of course this was a bad idea," I was quick to answer my own question, saving him the trouble. "Such a bad, awful, uninspired idea. I should have come up with something else. Something to do with… dogs! Because you love dogs. I should have taken you to a dog… show. Yes, a dog show. Or… or a toy show, or a… car show? Because you like your car, so you'd like a car show, right? Do they even host car shows in Twilight Town? If they don't, then something else to do with cars, like… go-karts! Yeah, we could've gone to Disney Town Speedway or-"

Lea's hand cupped the nape of my neck, yanking me forward and shutting me up by otherwise occupying my mouth with his.

...fudge, I'd been doing it again, hadn't I? The whole anxiety-fueled rambling thing?

Lea had learned fairly early on in our budding relationship that sometimes this was the only way he could get a word in edgewise.

I gripped at the front of his shirt and he inhaled deeply before finally pulling away, but only by about an inch so he could press his forehead to mine. His fingers brushing my bangs behind one ear, he murmured, "You're right. It was a huge mistake bringing me here."

My heart plummeted and I stared hard down at my feet. I knew it. This had been such a dumb idea. Stupid, stupid, stupid-

"Cuz now that I know this place exists, I'm gonna be dragging ya here all the time. So when you inevitably get sick of it, just remember this is all your fault."

My eyes snapped up to meet his, which were crinkling at the corners. "...really? You… actually like it?"

"Like? No. I love it. Thank you for bringing me here, couldn't think of a better way to kick off my birthday," he pressed his lips to the tip of my nose. Then he straightened up, lacing our fingers together with a big grin and tugging me towards where tickets could be purchased. "Now c'mon, let's go find out what flicks you're treating me to."

I snorted, arching an eyebrow, "Wow, you're going to actually let me pay for you for once?"

He chuckled, "Course! Today is Lea Day after all and on this most blessed and holy of days, you're supposta spoil me rotten! Plus, I'm yo date and like I told ya before, I ain't a cheap one. You'll see that for yourself soon enough when we head on over to concessions. Now let's have a look at our options here…" he scrutinized the movie listings overhead. "Clueless… The Sandlot… Oo, Edward Scissorhands…"

I watched him as he idly rattled off a few more movie titles, slightly tipping my head to one side.

...he'd meant it… right?

He actually liked that I'd surprised him with this? He wasn't just saying that to calm me down or so that I wouldn't feel bad? I mean, I guess I never really could be sure when it came to stuff like this and I'd just have to learn accept that and take people's words for it, but-

"Holy shit, The Mummy with Brendan Fraser?! Oh hell yeah!" he excitedly tugged at my hand several times, pointing. "Babe, that's it! That's the one!"

...okay, I actually think I could be pretty sure in this case he was being genuine.

Don't think it would be possible to fake that much enthusiasm for a cheesy action-fantasy blockbuster from the 90s.

A pleasant tingle bubbled inside my chest and I couldn't hide my growing smile as I stepped forward to buy our tickets.

Guess I could consider the morning birthday activity a success.

Now to hope I would do even just half as well on the birthday present later.

We actually managed to squeeze in seeing two movies, considering we'd gotten there early enough in the morning. Good thing too seeing as how I don't think I would have gotten much say in the matter anyway, not with the way Lea had all but dragged me into Groundhog Day once he'd found out I'd never seen it after we'd exited the first movie. By the time we were finally leaving the theater, it was getting close to 1PM - perfect for lunch. Not that we were starving. We'd both filled up plenty on popcorn and candy, Lea especially. But now we could get something more substantial in our stomachs, or so I'd told him. Thus once we were on the road again, I couldn't help a tiny smile as I checked my phone and confirmed we were right on schedule for-

"Turning off Mako Lane onto Avalanche Street, huh? Must mean it's time for the surprise b-day bash Xion and Rox planned for me at 7th Heaven," Lea clapped and rubbed his hands together, a smirk emerging beneath where the blindfold was tied firmly in place once more.

I heaved a low sigh through my nose but chuckled as I steered his car into the parking lot. "You know what? I'm not even going to fight it anymore. Just please at least try and act surprised when we get inside?"

"Always do!" he flashed his pearly whites.

After pulling his car into a parking space close to the bar and shutting down the engine, we both climbed out. I went to the trunk first, pulling out the present I'd gotten for him - a tall box covered in ice cream print gift wrap. I'd snuck it back there earlier this morning after the blindfold had first been donned. Holding it against my hip, I then took Lea's hand in mine and led him towards 7th Heaven, carefully guiding him up those wooden steps onto the wraparound patio and through the front entrance.

"Golly gee, I wonder where it is you've taken me now, El, cuz I really haven't the foggiest!" Lea announced as we walked in, delivering the line loudly and with all the emotion and believability of cardboard.

My eyelids drooped at him before I shook my head and glanced around. Gosh, Lea had a lot of friends, all of them gathered here right now, shushing each other and struggling to stifle their giggles as they watched us step further into the room. Saïx could even be seen off to one side of the group, looking positively pleased as punch (not) at being included in the festivities - guess his brother's birthday was one of those three days a year he begrudgingly endured daylight. I also spotted Anna and Kristoff, his arm draped around her shoulders as she excitedly yet quietly waved to me from the crowd. It came as little surprise to see Riku and Rayne next to them, along with Kairi and Sora.

And of course, standing front and center of the small mob were the masterminds and orchestrators of this little shindig themselves: Xion and Roxas. I glanced towards them, arching one eyebrow in silent question. Both grinning ear to ear, they nodded their heads rapidly, giving me the okay. Temporarily setting my gift down on the nearest table, I then moved behind Lea and reached up to undo his blindfold. Just as I slipped it off him and his eyes fluttered open-

"SURPRISE!" erupted from every corner of the room accompanied by party blowers and poppers, filling the air with a whole rainbow of streamers and confetti.

Lea dramatically clutched at his chest with both hands, gasped and made choking noises, then fell over backwards, collapsing to the floor with a loud THUMP!

I blinked, then squeezed my eyes shut and hung my head with a sigh, pressing my fingertips to the spot between my eyebrows.

For the love of… I'd said to act surprised, you big doofus, not like you'd had a friggin' heart attack.

As everyone else around us devolved into laughter and chatter, Roxas's shoulders sagged and he groaned, "Goddamn it, Lea, you knew again?!"

Xion glared at his prone form, stomping over towards him. "This happens every year, you stupid jerk!" she huffed, kicking his foot with hers.

"Rude!" Lea harrumphed, sitting up and crossing his arms as he shot a flat look up at her. "Is that anyway to treat your friend who just suffered cardiac arrest, not to mention is the birthday boy?"

She threw up her hands, so done with him as she turned to walk away, "That's it! No more surprise birthday parties for you since you always ruin them!"

"What?!" He scrambled to stand now and chase after her, "Aw, but I love surprise parties!"

"How would you know, seeing as you've never really had one? Not one that's actually surprised you, anyway," Xion grumbled as she rejoined Roxas and matched the pouty scowl he was shooting at Lea for the double whammy.

"C'mon, kiddos, ya almost had me this year, I swear! No doubt you'll get me good next birthday, I'm sure of it!" Lea did his best to placate them, but judging by the zero change to their sour expressions, they were unmoved. He chuckled sheepishly, rubbing at the nape of his neck for a second before his face brightened as he seemed to recall something. "Hey! Guess who turned up?" he asked them as his hand dove into the pocket of his skinny jeans, pulling out-

"Amelia Earhart!" Roxas's eyes immediately lit up on seeing the troll doll emerge.

Seriously?! Okay, no, I still wasn't buying it. This had to be a bit. The three of them had to have planned the whole silly thing at my expense. There was no way that thing was actually named Amelia Earhart.

"You finally managed to rescue her from the Bermuda Triangle!" Xion laughed, taking the little toy from him.

"Actually, it was El." Just as I had my gift for him in hand once more, he reached back towards me to snag my other hand and tug me forward to join the three of them. Smiling down at me, he went on, "She fearlessly braved the dreaded unknown beneath my car seat, sticking her hand under there and risking life and literal limb to bring our tiny, intrepid heroine home and-" He abruptly stopped mid-sentence, seemingly noticing for the first time that I was carrying something. "Hey, what's that?"

Holding it behind me and out of his sight, I asked innocently, "What's what?"

"You know what," he smirked as he stepped closer to me, bringing us toe-to-toe and invading my personal bubble while he tried to reach around my side for it. "The thing you're hiding behind your back. The suspiciously birthday present shaped thing."

I stretched my arm away, keeping it out of his reach as I grinned back at him, teasing, "Well if it looks like a present and is shaped like a present…"

Crooked smirk twitching wider, he caught me around the waist with one arm, pulling me up against him - all the better to reach the cheerfully wrapped box with, of course. I don't think he was trying all that hard however, not really. His arms were easily longer than mine, so if he really wanted the thing he should've had no problem getting it. And yet I was able to keep it out of his grasp. He didn't seem to mind, his eyes hooding and his lips a breath away from mine as he murmured, "But I thought the blindfold was your gift to me."

I snorted softly at that. "Really? What kind of gift would that be?"

"A fantastic one. Or so you'll find out later tonight," his eyebrows slyly bounced.

"It certainly doesn't take much to make you happy," I crinkled my nose at him, one corner of my mouth curving up.

"It really doesn't," he agreed, pressing a lingering kiss to the hollow where my neck met my shoulder that left a little tingle in its wake while at the same time his hand casually reached for the present again. "Now gimme."

An audible gag at our antics - courtesy of Roxas - reminded me that we weren't alone. As Xion sniggered, I cleared my throat, disentangled myself from Lea's grip and took a step back. "You'll just have to wait and open it up with the rest of your gifts later."

"But-"

"Happy birthday, Lea!" Anna suddenly appeared at my side, clinging to my arm with a giggle and almost making me drop the present.

"You're getting old, Red! How's that social security treatin' ya?" Rayne beamed cheekily as she latched onto my other arm, which did make me drop it. She was quick to catch it for me however and once I had it back, I hugged it protectively to my chest.

Lea scoffed, "I'm not old, ya twerps, I'm-"

"Decrepit, we know!" Roxas supplied, barely ducking in time as Lea took a swat at him and coming back up with an impish gleam in his eye. "Now grab your walker and c'mon, ya old coot, cuz it's time you make your rounds and receive all your birthday punches!"

Fingers waggling as his hands reached for the precious cargo in my arms once more, Lea said, "Be with ya in just a sec, I just wanna-"

Xion stepped forward, putting herself between him and his coveted prize, "But you're the guest of honor! You can't leave all your adoring fans hanging like that, for shame!" She shoved the troll doll into his face, "Amelia and her glorious flamingo hair judge you!"

He snerked at that, brushing the toy aside. "Amelia should learn not to get her non-existent lil panties in such a twist."

The troll immediately snapped back up, nose to teeny, plastic nose with him now as Xion coaxed in a light singsong, "Come with us. You know you want to. You'll be the center of attention." She gave the thing a slight wiggle for emphasis.

"...I do love being the center of attention," he slowly, almost begrudgingly allowed as he glanced past her, still eyeing the gift in my hands.

"We know ya do, big guy," Roxas slugged his shoulder - the first of the aforementioned birthday punches, perhaps? "And just think… the sooner the whole meet-and-greet is done, the sooner there can be cake!"

That caught Lea's full attention. "Cake, you say?"

"Mm-hm! Your favorite, bud: strawberry and sea salt ice cream cake!"

"Well, why didn't ya say so? Musn't keep my public waiting!" Turning to the face everyone else in the bar, Lea grinned big, threw out his arms wide and called out, "Who here's ready to celebrate the birthday boy?!"

The crowd cheered as he strode forward, disappearing into the throng with Roxas hot on his heels. Xion shot me a tiny wink before she went after them. Anna and Rayne - still hooked to either of my elbows - laughed as they spun all three of us around into a rather sloppy about-face and all but charged us towards the presents table, me stumbling to keep up with them.

Once I'd deposited mine with the others, I glanced around 7th Heaven with a small smile. "The place looks great. Do we have it all to ourselves?"

"Yup!" Rayne said brightly as she handed Anna what looked to be a big box of party favors to unpack and distribute. "We've rented it out for the rest of the day and beyond. Trust me, this party is gonna be going until the wee hours of the night."

I crossed my arms as I continued to take it all in. "Roxas and Xion really did a wonderful job with everything."

She quirked an eyebrow at that with an odd little smirk. "Did they now? Like what?"

My head tipped to one side. "Um… well, like the-" I was interrupted by a squeal of delight from Anna, who'd just finished opening the box. She pulled out a brightly colored conical hat with a tinsel poof at the top and swiftly put it on my head. Wincing as the elastic snapped under my chin, I then pointed up at the thing, "Like the birthday hats?"

"I brought those," Rayne grinned, seemingly pleased that they were already such a hit.

"Oh? Well, then the streamers and par-" once again, I got cut off, this time by Anna shoving a party horn in my mouth that furled out and whistled. Rolling my eyes at my sister as she bit back a snerk, I removed the thing and finished, "Party blowers."

"Me as well," Rayne declared chipperly yet also somewhat distractedly as she started rearranging the presents into a more aesthetically pleasing display.

My brow furrowed, then I looked around the room again. "...the decorations?" I asked, pointing to where the giant, prismatic cut-out letters declaring "Happy Birthday!" were strung up across the back wall, surrounded by dancing fairy lights.

"Me yet again."

"Huh… guess that'd explain that one then," I gestured towards where another string of letters were hung, these ones spelling out "It's a boy!" Seemingly as a last minute afterthought, a sheet of bright red construction paper had been taped up between "a" and "boy" with the word "birthday" scrawled across it in sharpie.

Rayne shrugged, patting her swollen tummy, "Bought that before we knew jellybean here was a girl. Had to find some use for the thing!"

A low huff of amusement escaped my nose before I shook my head. "So why did you end up being prime party planner?"

"Why else?" she chuckled. "Practice for my own baby's future birthday parties! I volunteered and Xion and Rox were only too happy to let me take over."

I snorted as Anna continued to pile party favors on me. I was now also sporting several cheap, beaded necklaces, some glow-in-the-dark bracelets, and a pair of comically large sunglasses with lenses that were almost as big as my head. I was basically a walking advertisement for a party store at this point. When Anna had been given the job of distribution, I somehow got the feeling she wasn't supposed to distribute all of it to me. Ignoring her for the time being, I said to Rayne, "I don't think throwing a party for your kid and throwing a party for Lea are quite the same thing. Not unless you're planning on giving birth to a fully grown, twenty-six year old man."

She pulled a face at that. "First of all, ouch. Painful. Don't even joke about that. Second of all, pffft, you. Trynta act like your man isn't basically an oversized toddler."

"Hey!" I tried to be indignant for my boyfriend. But then my lips pursed to one side, "...alright no, that's fair." Then I frowned slightly, "Why didn't you tell me you were organizing the whole thing? I could have helped."

"Don't worry about it!" Rayne brushed off. "You had your hands full with keeping him busy for the first half of the day."

"Yeah, keeping him busy," Anna echoed, suggestively waggling her eyebrows as she slipped a "Party Girl" plastic headband onto my head behind the birthday hat.

I narrowed my eyes at my sister. I think the humongous sunglasses made it lose its impact however. "I took him to the movies."

"Is that what the kids are calling it nowadays?" Rayne sniggered with a wicked smirk. "Well I'll be taking Riku to the movies," she made air quotes with her fingers, "later tonight, if ya know what I'm saying. Taking him to the movies all night long."

Ew.

TMI, Rayne. TMI.

"What about the movies?" Riku (speak of the devil) grinned at his wife as he walked past carrying a box of what would presumably be more party supplies, slowing to a stop beside her.

"Nothing, hon. You'll find out later," she winked at him, planting a kiss on his lips.

A slow grin spread across his face as he murmured back, "Alright, looking forward to it." Then he turned to call back over his shoulder, "Hey! Am I the only one working on getting all this stuff inside?"

Sora suddenly came running past carrying a box almost as big as he was, huffing and puffing out a hasty, "Sorry!"

"And you're just as lazy as he is," Riku grumbled to Kairi as she came in next with two smaller boxes, one stacked on top of the other.

"So you noticed!" she giggled as she too jogged past him, spotting the top box was about to topple off and shifting her hand up to steady it as she went.

Rolling his eyes, Riku just readjusted his grip on the container he was carrying so he could secure a better hold on it before following after the other two.

"I see you've put the hubby and the hubby's friends to work," I snorted dryly as I watched them go, before turning my attention on my roomie once more. "Did Xion and Roxas actually end up doing anything to help with party prep?"

"They usually take care of it all in previous years, just this time they were nice enough to let me be in charge of everything so I could get as much birthday planning experience as possible! I wanna be the mom that throws the best parties!" She paused thoughtfully for a moment then. "They did pick the place though," she gestured around the pub, "and also helped blow up all the balloons."

"I brought the cake!" Anna happily announced as she tried to press a "Make a wish!" sticker to my cheek. My hand caught her wrist, stopping her in her tracks as I drooped my eyelids at her.

Had to draw the line somewhere.

"No, I brought the cake," Kristoff abruptly appeared at her shoulder to correct her. Come to think of it, strawberry and sea salt ice cream cake did sound like something that could probably be custom ordered from the Ice Palace. He playfully grinned down at her, "You I had to keep from eating the thing on the whole ride over."

Anna gave an offended gasp, "Hey! So not true!" One side of her mouth lifted as she threw up her dukes before him, "Them's fightin' words, buddy!"

He grunted out a laugh as she socked his shoulder. "Woah there, Feisty Pants. Easy," he caught her fists, one in each of his hands, and used his hold to spin her around so he was now hugging her from behind.

"I helped," Anna insisted with a halfhearted pout.

"You most certainly did. You helped by successfully not eating the cake before we could get it here," he agreed, pressing his lips to her cheek. She cracked a smile then, seemingly mollified.

"Today's the day, Tifa!" Lea's voice suddenly cut through the hubbub of the festivities all around us. We turned as the crowd parted to reveal the redhead, cocky smirk twisting his lips as he thrusted a finger towards the person standing across the table from him, none other than Tifa herself. "That bottomless ale for a year is mine!"

She chuckled, cracking her knuckles. "Don't think I'll go easy on you just cuz it's your birthday, beanpole."

"Would never expect ya to," he shot back as he threw himself down into a chair, slamming his elbow on the table and holding his hand up, fingers curled and smirk widening.

"What's that all about?" Anna asked quietly as a hush fell over the room. She'd set to work on getting Kristoff all decked out now in birthday finery, complete with stickers. Surprisingly (or maybe not really) he let her.

"Tifa - the woman he's challenging - owns the bar and has a deal going where if you can beat her at arm wrestling, you get your drink of choice free of charge for a whole year," I whispered back, not taking my eyes off the two contenders.

"Really?" Anna's lips formed a tiny 'o' as she paused mid-snapping a hat onto her boyfriend's head. Then she glanced back towards Tifa. "...wouldn't that put her out of business?"

Rayne made a noise through her nose that was somewhere between a snerk and a scoff. "Please. The woman hasn't lost to a challenger yet."

"Hafta warn ya," Lea was telling his opponent now as she settled into the seat opposite the table from him, "I've been doing extra reps at the gym. Gotta new trainer too. Name's Phil… perhaps you've heard of him?" The last part came out a touch smug.

"That old, washed-up has-been? You should demand your munny back," she flashed a half-grin as her elbow planted on the table as well and she clasped his hand with hers. "You sure about this? Not too late to back out. Hate to make a grown man cry on his birthday."

He barked out a laugh at that. "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. 'Sides, it's a matter of manly pride to me at this point. You're going down, girl. Now go!"

WHAM!

That, my friends, had been the sound of Tifa taking a grand total of zero-point-three seconds to totally and utterly obliterate Lea's "manly pride.".

"Better luck next time, beanpole," Tifa winked as she stood up, dusted her hands together and walked away.

"Crap, can't believe ya'd humiliate a guy like that on his birthday of all days!" he called after her, sulking and hissing through his teeth as he shook some blood flow back into his hand.

His moping was short-lived however as Roxas and Xion rolled out the ginormous cake a minute later. The customary song was sung, the candles were blown out, and presumably a wish was made. Then slices were divvied out, Lea of course happily taking the largest piece whereas I opted for what was quite possibly the smallest, given that I still wasn't exactly sea salt ice cream's number one fan. I will admit however, the strawberries helped.

Shortly after that, karaoke started up. And shockingly, I may or may not have been the one to get the karaoke ball rolling. Willingly, no less! It'd even been my own idea, no one had to drag me up there or anything this time! Perhaps taking part in Wicked has gotten me more comfortable with performing on stage. Or maybe that college acting course I was taking with Lea now was already starting to work its magic on me. True, the semester had only just begun and we were just a couple classes into it, but hey… every little bit helped, didn't it?

In any case, I went with a song I'd picked out especially for this occasion and especially with Lea in mind… Jodi Benson's Happy Birthday, Princess. I thought it suited Lea quite perfectly actually as I smirked over the mic at where he sat in the audience, cheering me on. Of course once I was done, I was quick to exit the stage to avoid any sort of encore performance.

One song was enough for lil ol' awkward, misanthropic me, thanks.

But still… baby steps. I count this as a win.

From the relative safety of the back of the room, I watched as several more people took their turns at the mic next, each with varying degrees of success. As I now fought a small smile watching Anna lug Kristoff up to karaoke so he could sing Ain't No Mountain High Enough with her, I felt arms slip around to encircle my waist from behind while a faint but familiar boyish cinnamon scent reached my nose. "So here's where my lil hermit disappeared to after her big number, hiding tucked away in a dark corner," Lea's voice murmured against my ear, his breath tickling a bit.

My hands covered his as I leaned back slightly, settling comfortably into his chest. "I wouldn't say hiding so much as… enjoying the ambiance."

"Mm," I felt more than heard his hum of acknowledgement as he rested his chin atop my head. "Why're you all by yourself? Where are Raindrop and Riku?"

"They slipped off a few minutes ago in the direction of the restrooms." My face scrunched up a tad. "There's a good chance they've locked themselves in one and are making out like a pair of hormonal teenagers in it."

"Shit, they beat us to the punch," he chuckled and I elbowed him in the ribs for the comment, which only seemed to make him laugh harder. "Can't believe they left ya alone like this though. They're fired, let's find ya some new friends to hang out with."

I smiled, knowing he was only joking. "I'm good, thanks. Anna and Kristoff will be done and back in just a few minutes anyway."

His fingers idly played with mine, weaving and unweaving them only to weave them together again. "Aw c'mon, lemme help ya find a new posse, it'll be fun! Lessee, who do we got here…?" He used his hold around my middle to pivot us both, forcing my gaze away from where Anna was having no shame getting overly flirty with her lines on stage which in turn was causing Kristoff to get all flustered and horribly butcher his half of the song. I instead glanced about the room now, which was still quite packed - I think even more people had shown up since we'd arrived. Many were faces I recognized from Friday night drinks or laser tag or just from around the mall in general. There were also several that were unfamiliar to me sprinkled in amongst the rest.

It was one such stranger that Lea now directed my view towards with a, "Ah-ha! How 'bout that guy? Mr Broody McBrood Face over there with the blonde, spiky hair doing the cool-mystery-guy lean against the bar. That's Cloud. He and Tifa go waaaaay back.

"And that other dude that he's angrily eye fucking from the across the bar?" He steered us now to look at said dude. "The one with the long, white Fabio locks and looks like the whole Halloween Town store threw up on him? That's Sephiroth, or Sephy for short - take note, he's a real huge fan o' that nickname. Anyhoo, the two of 'em are locked in an eternal battle to be the one true champion supreme over Darkness."

I blinked. "...Darkness?"

Now Lea turned us to face the pub's small arcade section. "Name of one of the pinball machines over there. Those knuckleheads are always fighting over who holds the high score. Currently, Sephy is top dog on the scoreboards, so he's standing guard to make sure Cloud doesn't steal the number one spot out from under his nose. Yeah, they take that game way too seriously… so whaddya say, do they sound like prime bestie material for ya or what?"

"Or what," I wrinkled my nose and shook my head. "Think I'll pass."

"Alright, not your cup of tea, got it. Maybe this next bunch will be more your speed. See that gang over there, butting heads with Hayner, Olette, and Pence?" He swept me around to point me in another direction now, causing a tiny laugh to escape me. I spotted four people - a guy (who appeared to be the leader) with a scar across his face and wearing a beanie engaged in what looked to be a rather heated debate with Hayner, a girl with red eyes and half her face hidden behind bangs, a tan muscle-bound guy, and… well, I really couldn't make out whatever the deal was with the fourth one. Not with that large coat they were practically drowning in and the large brimmed hat shrouding their face.

"That's Seifer and crew," Lea went on to explain. "Or the Dusk Town Center Disciplinary Committee, aka the fancy lil title they gave themselves that basically means glorified mall security. Don't let the sneers fool ya tho, they're a real sweet lot… all warm and friendly-like. You'll fit right in with 'em!"

"Shut your mouth, chicken wuss!" Seifer suddenly shouted as he grabbed Hayner by the front of the shirt, who shoved him away with a snarl.

"Oh yeah… super friendly..." I deadpanned. "Not sure they're exactly my crowd though."

He gave a low chuckle, his arms tightening around my waist. "No? Dang, thought they'd be a shoe-in for sure. Hmm, who here can meet your impossibly high standards?" he teased. I would've reached back to tickle him for that remark if it weren't for his fingers gently squeezing mine now, holding them captive. He then turned us to face an occupied booth across the way.

"Got it this time for sure! That guy right there is Tarzan. He works over at that jungle-themed café at the mall. And the chick he's with? His girlfriend, Jane. She's hella smart, like step-aside-Einstein-there's-a-new-brainiac-in-town kinda smart. She's an anthro major over at Twilight U. Dunno what that girl sees in her neanderthal boyfriend. Don't get me wrong, he's nice and all, but dude's a total ape. Seriously, I legit think he was raised by gorillas." As if on cue, the man in long dreads grinned and proceeded to stand and beat his chest with his fists, cracking up the brunette he was sitting with. "See? See?" Lea pressed triumphantly.

I snorted softly as I watched the couple. "They do actually look kind of sweet… but no thanks. Wouldn't want to be a third wheel."

"Fine then, guess there's just no pleasin' ya, Lil Miss Wallflower," he cooed, nuzzling his nose into my cheek. I squirmed, closing one eye against it as I fought a grin. "If making friends is off the table, we'll just hafta find something else for ya to do. Hmm… oh! You can come sing a duet with me!"

"Sorry," I shook my head, "but I've already performed my one song for the day."

"What?! Aw man, I didn't know it was a one-and-done kinda deal, no fair!" I could hear the pout coloring his words. "C'mon, I love your voice. Just one more for me? You can't deny me on Lea Day, that's sacrilege!"

An amused huff escaped me. "I think I'll take my chances."

"The impudence! You're lucky you're so cute, otherwise there'd be a reckoning," he gave a halfhearted harrumph. Then, "Fine, ya don't gotta sing. Just come up on stage with me while I devote a love ballad to you."

"No thanks."

Ugh, so cheesy.

I could already feel my face warming at the very idea.

"C'mon, it'll be romantic. Let me serenade you," his voice dropped low as he started trailing light kisses down the side of my neck.

Well… I guess maybe… one lil song wouldn't h-

Hold it!

Oh-ho, no. Nu-uh. Nice try, bucko, but you're not going to get me that way!

"And I'm sure it'll be just as romantic if you serenade me while I'm sitting at a table in the audience," I said sweetly back.

A chuckle hummed in his throat. "Alright then, have it your way," he released me so he could spin me around and plant a smooch to my forehead. There was a wicked gleam in his eye now. Perhaps it should have set off warning alarms in my head.

But it didn't.

"Just remember… you asked for it," he smirked and winked before disappearing into the crowd in the direction of the karaoke stage.

Maybe his parting words should have filled me with a sense of dread and foreboding.

But they didn't.

Ah, what a naive little fool I was. It's true what they say. Ignorance really is bliss.

Anna and Kristoff soon finished their song and I clapped with everyone else as they stepped off the stage, making their way back towards me. It was just as we were finding an empty table that my blissful ignorance was shattered and tragedy struck.

It struck in the form of Lea's voice coming through the overhead speakers singing, "Oh-oh-oh-oo-OOH!" to the opening notes of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.

My face paled, my spine snapped rigid, and I whipped around to see him standing on the karaoke stage now with the cordless mic up to his lips. He made direct eye contact with me and flashed a wide cheshire grin as he kept crooning away at the song's intro, beckoning me with a crook of his finger. It seemed my presence was requested on stage.

I gulped, rapidly shook my head and crossed my arms as I sat down in my chair with more force than intended.

Nu-uh. No way. Not on your life, pal.

He was undeterred. In fact, his toothy grin only broadened as he hopped down off the stage, singing the gaga-ooh-la-la's now as he came charging straight across the bar towards me.

So I, of course, did the only logical and mature thing I could do in response.

I squeaked and scrambled to try and hide under the table.

Problem solving at its finest.

Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough and he'd snagged my wrist before I could safely get under full cover. As he dragged me back out into the open, I snapped, "You said it would be romantic! This song is not romantic!"

"You lost your chance at romance when ya refused to come on stage with me, babydoll! Now suffer for the birthday boy!" he cackled as he pressed me back down into my chair. I tried to stand up again, but his hand on my shoulder held me firmly in my seat. Then he raised the mic to his mouth once more, picking the lyrics back up as if he'd never been interrupted in the first place and started to dance around me in a way that was… hrm… how shall I put this? ...provocative, but... so exaggerated to the point of extreme silliness and absolutely absurdity. As people around us started clapping in time with the music with whoops and whistles, I looked down and buried my face in my hands.

Don't worry, I wasn't feeling mortified…

...merely homicidal.

I was seriously going to murder him for this.

But no. I couldn't. Not today. Not on his birthday, of all days. Surely, I could give him a pass, just this once.

I'd slaughter him tomorrow instead.

That's right, yuck it up while you can, you giant dork. Your days are numbered.

Also, I didn't know whether to be disturbed or impressed by the fact that he seemed to know this song by heart and didn't need that little karaoke TV to remind him what the next line was going to be.

As the chorus began now, he straddled my legs for a crude approximation of what might be considered in the very absolute loosest sense of the term a lap dance. He whipped his free arm around over his head - oh gosh, was that dope doing The Lasso? - and Anna managed to wheeze out between her peels of laughter, "Oh my gawd, just how friggin' hammered is he?"

"Pretty sure he hasn't touched a single drop yet," I turned my head away from Lea, bringing up a hand to shield my face as I pretended I was anywhere but here right now.

"You mean this is him sober?!" she busted up all over again and nearly fell out of her chair, clinging to Kristoff's arm for support.

Any retort I might've made to that was swiftly forgotten as Lea, still singing away, spun around to give me a front row, up close and personal seat to his gyrating rear end. Rolling my eyes, I used both hands to shove the thing out of my face. A sharp gasp from Anna had me looking at her again. Swallowing splutters and snerks, she chided, "Sis, behave yourself! You're in public!" She tsked, still struggling to keep a straight face. "Groping a guy like that, so unladylike… what would Mom and Dad say?"

I blinked. What was she even-?

...oh.

Oh god.

I basically, technically, for all intents and purposes and with the whole world to bear witness (or at the very least, the whole bar)... had just grabbed my boyfriend's butt.

Okay. Now I was mortified.

Thanks a lot, hands. You little harlots, you… you… jezebels, you-

Whump!

Annnnd now Lea had flopped over backwards on top of our table. Just where exactly was he going with this next? Did I even want to know? I mean, really?

Whether I did or not, it seemed I had little choice in the matter. It was kind of like a scene out of a classic black-and-white film, where a sultry bombshell in a slinky dress would be stretched out seductively on top of a piano while sing-schmoozing the pianist. Except there was a table instead of a piano, Lea instead of the bombshell, leaving me as the sing-schmoozing recipient.

All still to Bad Romance, mind you.

Which is just every girl's dream, am I right, ladies?

My eyelids drooped as I fixed him with a dull stare. I was determined to not give him anything. Zero reaction. Zilch. Nothing. There was a tiny gleam to his eyes now as they crinkled, sending a clear message: Challenge accepted. In the end, it actually didn't take much to break my resolve. Just him hooking a finger into my necklace, drawing me close so he could "whisper" (if it could even be called that, considering the mic was still broadcasting his singing) into my ear the lyrics, "You know that I want you… and you know that I need you… I want it bad, your bad romance."

That's when it happened.

A mutinous little snort rushed out my nostrils. Then I was cracking up laughing and shoving his face away. Beaming in victory, he hopped up off the table to resume singing and dancing around me like an idiot. And for the record, he seemed to take way too much delight in the parts of the song where he got to shout, "I'm a free bitch, baby!"

The buffoonery thankfully only lasted another minute or two before the song came to an end. After he gave several flourishing bows to the loud round of applause for his performance, Lea handed off the mic to someone else. I did not envy the next person up for karaoke who had to follow that act. Then Lea flashed a grin as he leaned over where I was still seated, bracing himself with a hand on the table. "Well now, I hope we learned our lesson!"

I crossed my arms, smirking up at him. "We most certainly did."

"Good. So next time I wanna serenade ya on the karaoke stage, you…" he trailed off, waiting for me to fill in the blank.

My smirk widened. "...barricade myself in the bathroom until the song is over."

He gave a soft pft at that. "It's adorable that ya think I couldn't just bust that door straight off its hinges and-"

"Lea! Get your ass over here!" Xion suddenly came bursting through the crowd, skidding to a stop in front of him with a giggle. "It's that time at last!"

He whipped his head towards her, blinking a couple times. "Huh?"

She snerked, "Don't gimme that dumb look! It's Present Time!"

His whole face lit up before he glanced towards me slyly. "Oh goody, and I know exactly whose I'm gonna open up first!"

...fudge.

My hands were already reaching to tug and twist at me braid as I frowned. "Or, uh… or maybe you could start with… some of the other gifts? That way-"

-I could secretly compare what other people had got him to what I'd got him and then-

"-you, um… you wouldn't be playing favorites! Yeah! And, er…"

-if I thought my present terrible by comparison, I could maybe covertly remove it from the pile and-

"...that just wouldn't be... fair! You know… to the other gifts!"

-sneak out, buy him something better, return and slip the new one into the stack with everyone here none the wiser, least of all Lea!

"...which might hurt their… their feelings! And you wouldn't want to go around hurting the other gifts' feelings, now would you?"

Wait, what was I going on about?

Ugh, mouth… I leave you unsupervised for two seconds and this is what I come back to?

Well, at least you tried. A for effort… No, you know what? C-minus. Do better next time.

Lea pressed his lips to my cheek and ruffled my bangs. "Well, all the other presents will just hafta put on their big boy pants and suck it up," he playfully teased before going with Xion to where his treasure horde awaited him. I grimaced slightly before slowly following behind.

Most of the partygoers had already gathered in a circle around the present table. I squeezed into a spot between my sister and (a somewhat disheveled but thoroughly satisfied-looking) Rayne. The chatter around us was shushed as Lea approached the small mountain of colorfully wrapped boxes. He immediately zeroed in on mine, yanking it out and raising it high over his head to be met with cheers from the whole room. Then he held it up to his ear, giving it a little shake and arching his eyebrow with a grin.

Oh gosh, what if he didn't like it?

I mean, I'd felt so… so sure when I'd first laid eyes on it. So confident in my decision when I'd made the purchase. So certain as I'd wrapped it, zero doubt in my mind that he'd absolutely love it - which was so out of character for one such as myself who'd second guessed every gift decision I'd ever made in my entire life. Well, now I was second guessing this one too. Up until a minute ago, it'd seemed so perfect. But now all of a sudden, it just seemed so… so stupid and-

-and oh god, he was ripping it open!

I couldn't watch!

My hands flew up to cover my eyes.

Ahhhhh, much better! Now I had absolutely no clue what was going on!

...except now I had absolutely no clue what was going on. Oh dear, had he finished removing all the wrapping paper? Had he opened the box? Was he looking inside this very second? What was his reaction? Was he happy? Confused? Indifferent? Underwhelmed? Disappointed? Crestfallen? So unimpressed by what a mundane, thoughtless gift it was to the point of taking offense and throwing it in the nearest trash can, lighting it on fire and- dear lord, not knowing what was going on was worse. So, so much more worse! Why wasn't he even saying anything? If he'd just say something, maybe I could at least get some sense of his-

"Holy shit."

...yeah, I didn't know what to do with that.

Was that a good "holy shit" or a bad "holy shit"?

Or maybe a wow-this-present-sucks-so-much-that-I'm-breaking-up-with-you "holy shit"?

Perhaps if he just said one more thing-

"Holy shit."

...preferably something else and that was maybe a bit more descriptive.

Ugh, screw it. I couldn't take this anymore.

I parted my fingers ever so slightly, just enough so I could peek between them. There he stood now with an action figure in molded plastic packaging in one hand while the other reached inside the open cardboard box on the table in front of him, still with bits of shredded gift wrap taped to it. Out came a second toy similar to the one he was already holding and just as brightly packaged. Other than both of his eyebrows reaching for his hairline, Lea's expression was unreadable as he glanced from one to the other.

"He's part of a set," someone suddenly blurted out.

Took me a second to realize it was me.

As Lea's gaze locked on mine, I bit my bottom lip and wrung my hands together for a second. Then, "Bubbles, I mean. He's… They're… all of them together, that is... they make a set." I hesitated for another beat before finally stepping forward to reach inside the cardboard box, pulling out the third and final one so I could hold it up to him as well. Heart thudding in my ears, I hastily began to explain, "Besides the orca you already had, there's also robots for a great white shark, a dolphin and a whale shark. And they all have machine guns too!" I tacked on with a bit of nervous excitement, then frowned. "...for… some… bizarre reason." I shrugged, "Anyway, now you have them all. Bubbles has, er… has been reunited with his brothers! Or… sisters, maybe? I mean, far be it from me to assume the gender of a," I paused, squinting at the toy's packaging for a second and slowly reading off,"...royal sea dinosaur deformation robot." I wrinkled my nose. Yeesh, what a mouthful. Clearing my throat and suppressing a tiny grimace, I then uncertainly asked the question that I was dreading the answer to. "So… what do you think?"

Still, Lea said nothing, just pursed his lips to one side as he scrutinized the action figures again. But then he uttered one single, solitary word. "Riptide."

I blinked. "Uh…?"

...was that a good "riptide" or a bad "riptide"?

A smile broke out across his face now as he tapped a fingertip to the plastic encasing the one in my hands - the whale shark. "Riptide," he said again. Then he lifted the great white, his hand giving it a little wiggle, "And this one's Whirlpool."

Oh! He was naming them.

That was a good sign, right? Was the present a success? Had I done it? Had I achieved the dream?

"This is great, now the kiddos and I can play with 'em all together!" he laughed. "Xion will be Riptide, Rox Whirlpool, and I of course will control Bubbles."

One side of my mouth quirked up. "Then I guess that makes that one for Saïx," I nodded towards the dolphin.

"You kidding? Saïx wouldn't be caught dead playing with toy robots," Lea razzed his tongue in his brother's direction, whose only reply was to fix him with a dull stare. "Then again, who knows, once in a blue moon he might surprise us. In that case, he can borrow it, but only if he asks ya nicely first."

"Me?" I furrowed my brow at him.

His infamous dimple emerged. "Course! Cuz that's the one you'll normally play!"

"Oh." I'd been assigned one of the robots. Was it odd that that made me a teensy bit giddy? Trading him the whale shark for the dolphin, I inspected it with a small grin. "So what's this one's name then?"

"Craig."

My eyes snapped up to meet his again and I echoed incredulously, "Craig?"

He nodded firmly, "Mm-hm. Craig."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "...so their names are Bubbles, Riptide, Whirlpool… and Craig."

"What? He looks like a Craig!" Lea defended.

"Don't be silly, how on earth could an aquatic robot toy possibly look like a-" I cut myself off as I glanced at the little figurine in my hands again. I blinked once, then twice. "...actually, he kind of does look like a Craig." My head tipped to one side with a thoughtful frown, "Huh."

Lea then hooked his finger under my chin, lifting it and drawing my attention back to him so he could kiss me before murmuring against my lips, "These are amazing, El, I love them. Thank you."

My face warmed as I bit back a small smile and nodded. "You're welcome. Glad you like them."

Tucking them all with care back into the big cardboard box, Lea called out, "And now, the show must go on! So lil time, so many presents to get through! Onward to the next tribute celebrating the greatness that is me! Minions!" he pointed to Roxas and Xion. "Bring me the next offering forthwith! Chop, chop!" he clapped his hands together twice.

They both just drooped their eyelids at him as Roxas deadpanned, "Yeah, no. Not happening."

"Ugh, fine! Guess the birthday boy's just gotta do everything himself!" Lea harrumphed before walking over to pluck the next gift from the top of the pile and thrusting it up above his head again for another round of cheers from everyone gathered to watch.

I observed for a while longer with everyone else as he gradually made his way through the stack. Amongst other things, he got a video game rated M for extreme violence, blood and gore from Roxas, a DVD box set for some series that looked old, sappy and right up Lea's alley from Xion, and a big, heavy hardcover book from Saïx that was difficult to discern from the title whether it was a novel or some sort of academic text. Lea quickly hid the flicker of a grimace at the last one, thanking his brother all the same. Towards the end as the heap began to dwindle, the crowd and press of people started to get to be a little too much for me and so I decided to slip outside for a few minutes for a quick breather. There were only a few presents left anyhow, so I was sure I wouldn't miss much.

Dusk was beginning to fall as I stepped out onto 7th Heaven's deck. I was the only one out here as I moved to take a seat at one of the picnic tables, closing my eyes and relaxing on the wooden bench. After all the hubbub inside, the solitude and quiet was a welcome change. The cool autumn gust felt good on my skin and I breathed it in as it toyed with my braid.

Not sure how long I stayed like that. Probably only a few minutes before I could hear the murmur from the festivities once more as the bar's door opened briefly before closing again. Then the sound of approaching footsteps on the patio before the bench creaked under the weight of someone taking a seat next to me, their knee brushing against mine.

"You all good?" his voice reached my ears.

I opened my eyes now, turning my head to look at Lea. He was slouched comfortably where he sat, propped up by his elbows on the tabletop behind him, flashing me a gentle grin. I smiled warmly back and nodded. "I'm fine. Just wanted some fresh air. You should get back to enjoying the party, I'll be right behind you."

The corner of his eyes crinkled before he slung an arm around my shoulders, hugging me tightly into his side. His teeth lightly nipped at the tip of my nose before he rested his cheek against my hair. "Lil fresh air sounds good. I'll head back inside in a minute."

As I settled my head into the crook of his neck, I hummed a contented sigh. Then I pointed out towards the sunset, simply telling him, "Look."

I felt a small chuckle rumble through his chest. "That certainly is a lovely shade of red."

"Mm," I agreed softly. "...I unfortunately can't do anything about a summer breeze for you though. Not until next year anyway."

"Don't worry 'bout it. Three outta four ain't too shabby."

I gave a low snort at that. Then, "So… you having a good birthday so far?"

"The best," he nodded against my hair. There was a smirk in his tone as he added, "I mean, course it's no locking us in my room together, worshipping every last inch of your body, that whole shebang, but still… pretty damn good."

A blush creeped into my cheeks as I hesitated before saying, "Good thing that's the plan for tomorrow then."

I felt him tense beside me. Then he was lifting his head off mine as he pulled away slightly to fish his phone out of his pocket. He tapped his thumb to "Work" under his contacts before bringing it up to his ear as he beamed big at me.

"Welp," he delightedly chirped, "Looks like I'm callin' in sick for tomorrow!"

Author's note: BE WARNED! Extra long chapter gets extra long Author's Note! Keep reading at your own peril xD It's all just basically fun facts and me explaining the random inner workings of my oddball brain as I wrote this chapter, so if none of that interests you, then just skip it all, no skin off my nose xP

Early on in writing "Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza", I decided I wanted to figure out when Lea's and Elsa's birthdays were for no other reason than just because I could! So with the help of several "what the day you were born on says about you" websites, I spent days poring over the meaning of more birthdates than I care to admit before finally deciding on (insert drum roll) August 3rd for Lea's bday! It was a really silly thing to spend all those hours on cuz at the time I had no plans for their birthdays to ever come up in the story at all, it was just a random fact I wanted to know about both my characters xD But then as I was writing these bonus chapters, I suddenly remembered figuring out those birthdays and realized Lea's big day was coming up between 2 chapters I had planned and I was all, "well shit, I should probably write it!" And whew, I tell ya, for starting out this chapter having absolutely ZERO CLUE what to write, I certainly came up with a lot of BS to fill it with, making it my longest chapter yet xD Hehe, guess I overcompensated, oops! Hopefully it was all fun to read tho! I'll probably get around to writing an Elsa bday chapter too, but hers isn't until February 5th, so we have a lil bit before we get there. Also, timeline is getting a lil vague, wibbly-wobbly with these bonus chapters, but if I try to line this chapter up calendar-date-wise with whatever the date was exactly that Elsa ran away at the start of this story, pretty sure at this point I have to say that Oaken ALWAYS has a big summer blowout going on in his store, no matter WHAT time of year it is xD

Hopefully strawberries and sea salt ice cream cake sounds good :P According to the internet, it should be delicious, I'm just not sure if it SOUNDS delicious to the reader haha! I just thought plain old sea salt ice cream cake would be too basic bitch for someone like Lea on his BIRTHDAY of all days, so I went too far in the other direction at first (still sea salt cuz DUH, but I think there was also chocolate and blackberries involved? Again, the internet said it would taste PHENOMENAL, but it didn't SOUND phenomenal xD) before toning it back to just strawberries xD Anyhoo, another chapter jam-packed with references! Some might have been more subtle than others tho, so I wonder if you guys were able to catch them all? I brought Tifa back for a proper cameo this chapter, since I didn't really do her justice back in chapter 12 - hopefully this made up for it xD I even came up with a lame twist on Cloud and Sephy's whole Darkness bit from the KH games - I know it's a lil off since Sephiroth is supposed to BE Cloud's darkness, but shhh, close enough, dang it! On another note, I spent way too long trying to figure out what song Elsa would sing at karaoke, especially for what amounted to just one friggin' sentence lol! I wanted a birthday song that wasn't the standard one, but everything I could find was either too sexy or too sappy for El, either of which would have made her too flustered to sing in front of a bunch of people xD I almost went with one of the birthday songs by either The Backstreet Boys or NSYNC cuz she actually probably would have been the most comfortable with their lyrics, but I just couldn't bring myself to write Elsa singing goddamn Backstreet Boys or NSYNC x'D Just when I'd been about to give up all hope of ever finding the right song, I happened upon "Happy Birthday Princess" sung by Jodi Benson, which I felt Elsa would not be embarrassed singing to Lea while at the same time letting her be a lil cheeky about it xP It's a song on an album entitled "Disney Princess Tea Party" and Jodi Benson is actually Ariel's voice actor! Fun Fact: I imagine in the "Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza" universe, people like Jodi Benson and Idina Menzel still exist just instead of being voice actors, they're singers equivalent to Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, and Lady Gaga fame. Speaking of Lady Gaga… xD THAT happened cuz, due to circumstances beyond my control, Bad Romance has been playing on loop in my household almost constantly for like 2 weeks while I was writing this chapter haha! You'd think I'd get sick of the song, but actually it got me pretty hooked - and I'd liked the song before, but you know I never actually LISTENED to the lyrics until I heard it nonstop and lemme tell you, that is one surprisingly HORNY song xP In any case, my brain eventually warped it into me totally being able to see Lea singing it at karaoke and being a total dope about it too xD But hey… at least I didn't include the full lyrics to the song this time! We've finally reached a point in the story where someone singing isn't pivotal to their character growth and thus I can gloss over it, huzzah! On one final note, those action figures are real! I think I mentioned that about the orca robot back in chapter 30, but the whole set is a real thing! And I know, honestly maybe it would make more sense as a gift you'd give to Demyx since they're all sea life themed, but I could definitely see Lea going totally bonkers over them too just cuz their weird AF which, let's face it, is Lea's brand xD

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

Next bonus chapter is once again gonna be focused on Lea and something going on in his life, but is gonna be a lil less mindless nonsense and a lil more serious… but still flavored with my odd brand of humor tho, cuz it's me and that's just how I roll! And the hint will be… car keys! Ooo, how are THOSE involved?! Stay tuned!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

[sussex-nature-lover]

Friday 23rd July 2021

Dear Friends

I know that sounds a bit like a formal address, but I do think of anyone who likes to follow my blog as a friend, regardless of whether I know you’re there or not, and so I’m just letting you know that from today I’ll be updating as and when rather than every day. Yes, I know I said that once before but then Spring came and another lockdown. Lots was happening in the garden and I could easily set time aside to post my pictures and pour out some thoughts.  Today’s my birthday though and looking back I’ve written 531 entries here including this one, plus my 59 supplementary pages at THIS Tumblr page and that makes a nice round number to build on and a good benchmark for me to take a rest. I will still write and you can either check from time to time, or subscribe and be notified when the muse has taken me (that’s if you like of course and if you haven’t tired of all the antics in these parts)

You’ll have gathered that it’s also true to say that we think of our garden visitors as friends too. You can certainly see how much they feel at home here.

A nice bit of shade provided by Doug the Christmas tree and my tidy hamper

No doubt who’s the most beautiful boy of this manor - sorry Crow

So the birthday reveille was at 5am this morning. Inspector Pritchard came over and ran through his full repertoire of sounds before taking up a rooftop position and coming out with a completely new call. I can’t lie, I felt quite honoured. I would have then sunk back into a comforting dream, but the Wren took up the challenge and serenaded quite beautifully - I just can’t be mad with them. 

Pritchard was photo bombed

Good neighbours become good friends

I’m going to close today with those photos of a real Little & Large scene, not sure if you could call them ‘friends’ but there’s certainly harmony and I’m not sure I’ll capture something like that again anytime soon.

Shake those tail feathers!

PS although I said I’m going to write less frequently, I would like to point out that birthday notwithstanding, I’m not retirement age yet!

Quick photo pages HERE on Tumblr

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[fortheloveoffanfic]

Lullaby

Keanu Reeves x Reader (Chapter Summary- Two months later and one person is still being affected by a decision they made and another’s apparent rejection bothers them more than they’d prefer to admit.) (Warning- slight NSFW)

Chapter1     Chapter2

Chapter 3

A breathy sigh escaped her parted, plump lips. The silkiness of her legs rubbed against his thighs and her breasts felt firm and warm, just enough to fit in his palm with room for him to knead appreciatively. The slick heaven between her parted legs was so tight, cocooning Keanu’s member perfectly as he slid in and out of her in controlled thrusts. Her little gasps bounce of the walls, joining his low throaty grunts. Oh the sounds she makes. Y/n’s hair haloed around her on the white cotton pillow, messy and wild. She looked so divine in the most corrupted way. She’s so young, beautiful, oozing with youthful appeal.  And she’s all his.

Except, she’s not. Not really.

With startle, Keanu awoke, sitting up in his bed, drenched in sweat......and something else. “Fuck,” he breathed, scrubbing his hands harshly over his face, proceeding to rub sleep out of his eyes. It was just minutes away from five in the morning and the sun hadn’t even risen yet, but Keanu knew that there was no chance of him falling back asleep.

It had become almost routine by then, his slumber being interrupted by dreams of Y/n, naked in his bed, or other parts of his house. The location never mattered, but for two months, it had been her. His mind had taken it upon itself to conjure up a slew of different sexual fantasies, ideas never seemed to be in shortage, much like his body’s gullibility when it came to believing them.

With a disgruntled sigh, Keanu shook the covers off and took a minute to offer his deflating crotch an annoyed stare. There was a stain at the front and those would be yet another pair of sleep pants that he’d have to hold back of the laundry hamper and deal with himself, lest Linda find out that she was actually working for a thirteen year old boy just discovering the mechanics of his body and not a grown man with the ability to not nut in his pants. 

“The fuck is wrong with me?” He asked himself as he striped lazily, heading for the shower. As he got in, Keanu turned on the hot water, looking up as the water rained down from the entire ceiling of the sizeable cubicle. The shower in the master bath was one of the many things he loved about his house. It mimicked rainfall and could be easily controlled by the sleek silver knobs on the dark tiled wall. 

As Keanu washed himself, his hands rough hands passing over his body, his mind flashed to the night from not too long ago, when he had gotten off the mere memories of a dream of Y/n. Since then, he had refrained from masturbation, at  least to her image. It felt wrong, like he was violating her somehow. Y/n had probably forgotten their encounter by then, returning to....whatever women her age did. Shopping, dating men who weren’t fifty-something- learning how to run multi-million dollar empires. 

He had refrained, yes. And Keanu liked to think that he was normally a man of great, strong restraint, but that morning, as he stood in the shower, hot water washing over him, his fingers brushed his member and thoughts of Y/n took a racy turn. He closed his eyes and started imagining that she was there, her hands touching him, settling to circle his growing erection, pumping slowly as her lips pressed to his, and she mumbled against him, “This what you want, huh? Let me make you feel good baby.”

Throwing his head back, Keanu groaned, his imagination running wild, his vison going white. 

Men. They were all the same, weren’t they? Y/n was starting to believe the archaic stereotype. They had to be, else, she wouldn’t be in the position she was in. Sitting in a boardroom, eyes blank and teeth clenched as she listened to rantings of an ancient CFO, who apparently didn’t understand the concept of seasonal changes. As he spoke, Y/n found it hard to stay in the moment.....until he called her out on it, “You know, Miss Warren, if you don’t want to stay, the door’s right there. I’m sure kids your age want nothing more than to run wild all, boozed up.”

At his comment, Y/n sucked in a deep breath, closing her eyes as she tried not to snap. After a minute, she plastered on a wide smile, “Run wild?” She quoted, malice edging her tone, “I can assure Mr. Priestly, I’m not bored, just in awe of you’re.......stupidity. I’m not sure if it’s ignorance or if you’ve never watched the news, but the reason we aren’t making in the tropics is because of the hurricane season. You know, hurricanes; big scary storms; lots of wind and rain, really dangerous and we’ve had to close three braches so far because of them,” her words drew down, her tone grew whiney and mocking and an episode of quiet laughter ran across the table as other board members snickered.  

The older man’s face grew hot pink with either embarrassment or anger, and from a mile away anyone could see that his jaw was clenched. The stocky, sausage fingers of his wrinkled hands clenched into his fist before he stuffed them into his pockets, fuming, “Michael, maybe teach your daughter a little respect,” Priestly glared at her father who sat at the head of the sleek glass table, combating his own proud smile.

Michael cleared his throat, leaning back further into his impressive leather chair, folding his arms and nodding, “Yes. Of course. Good observation Y/n,” he tried to look serious, clearing his throat and nodding stiffly, “But perhaps there are better ways to correct our colleagues,” before Priestly could grumble a remark about Y/n not actually being his colleagues, Y/n’s father continued, “But Roger, maybe next time, read the brief first,” he tapped his tablet screen knowingly.

The rest of the meeting went by mostly uneventfully, save for a few snide remarks traded back and forth between Roger and Y/n. At the end of it, everyone gathered their things, dispersing; heading back to their respective offices. After a quick word with her father about the rest of her tasks for the day, Y/n did the same. Usually, they’d ride the elevator together, but he’d promised her mother a lunch date, and Y/n had opted to stay back at the office.

As she stalked past the receptionists’ desk, one of the young girls, just about Y/n’s age or a little younger; Emily, called her back, “Oh! Miss Warren-”

“Emily, we’ve been over this, you can call me Y/n, we went to middle school together,” Y/n chuckled, rounding back to the large shared desk.  

“Y/n,” Emily smiled politely, “You’re cousin is here, she’s waiting in your office.”

“Great! Thanks,” after pleasant good byes, Y/n went straight to her office, pulling open one side of the mahogany doors, the long silver handle cool in her palm, “Jill I-”

“Surprise!” A cluster of voices yelled in cheery unison. 

Taken a back, Y/n jumped, stumbling back into the already closed door. It took barely a minute for her expression of pure shock, with just a bit of fright mixed it, before her face took on a more excited expression. There in her office, was almost everyone she had called a friend over the past ten years; a few girls her age from the country club her parents frequented, a couple people from college and just some others she’d met at parties and other snazzy events, “Oh my god! What are you guys doing here?”

“We’re here for you, obviously. Jill told us that you’ve committed yourself to these four walls,” a guy, someone who Y/n had met on her very first day of college, Mathew, broke from the small crowd, pulling her into a sideways hug, “And we’re here to tell you, that we won’t stand for that.”

“Matt,” Y/n yelped, hugging him back, “It’s been forever. How is the world of venture capitalism?” She laughed lightly.

“About as fun as it sounds,” he grinned, finally pulling away, going to a cooler that they had somehow managed into her office, and getting out a couple beers, “I’m serious though. We’re taking you on a vacation.”

“In May?” Y/n’s brows furrowed in confusion, “We can’t just-”

“Nuh uh,” Catharine, a young woman her age, who Y/n had known since she was sixteen cut her off, “Relax Y/n/n, it’s a week, not a month. You need to unwind and relax. And you’ve missed at least two birthdays, so you have to make up for those too.”

Y/n sighed, a little excited for the activities in the near horizon, but also a little worried about what her father would think if she just stole away from her work for an entire week. Seeing her tormented expression, Jillian stepped in, placing her hands on Y/n’s shoulders, “I already asked Uncle Michael; he’s okay with it and Aunt Heather thinks that this could be good for you,” Jillian's hands rubbed up and down the silk sleeves of Y/n’s blouse and her eyes pleaded with hers, “Come on cuz, all you’d have to do is pack a bag and grab your passport.”

Y/n worried on her bottom lip, thinking that it might be nice to get away for a week, to wear something other than high heels and skirt suits. Sighing, she rolled her eyes, pretending to be annoyed, her friends seemed to be holding their breaths in anticipation of her answer and a smile tugged at the corner of Y/n’s lips as she spoke, “Well, where are we going?”

Excited cheers erupted and someone popped a bottle of champagne, quickly handing her a glass. Jillian was the one to propose her toast, and answer Y/’s question, “To beautiful, sexy people, old friends, and yachts in Greece!”

At that, glasses clinked, and everyone drank.

“Hey, whatever happened between you and you sexy movie star friend?” Y/n along with Jillian, Catharine and a couple other ladies were gathered in her closet, helping her pack while everyone else made last minute preparations.

“What sexy movie star?” Amanda, another one of Y/n’s college friends, who had taken her business expertise to Silicon Valley after they graduated asked, “We talked on the phone last week and you didn’t tell me about a movie star. Who was he?”

“He’s hot right?” Catharine interjected, holding up a deep green sundress with happy colorful flowers on it. Briefly, she examined it, then, satisfied, she tossed it into a suitcase.

Another friend, Tracy, the lone doctor of their group giggled at their questions, before asking a couple of her own, “I think the real question is; which one of Hollywood’s silver foxes is Y/n hiding from us. Tell me his last name, an I’ll tell you if I’ve seen his dick.”

Y/n, who had taken a quick shower when they got back to her place, stood in her bathrobe, surveying her selection of bathing suits, “Why would you have seen his dick?”

Tracy scoffed, “You’d be surprised, I make a lot of money on penis enlargements. I’ve seen some pretty famous cocks.”

At that, the girls laughed and Jillian shook her head, “I too have seen famous cocks,” she laughed, “But don’t you have some kind of doctor-patient confidentiality?”

Tracy shrugged and it was Catharine who spoke up again, “I think we’re losing focus here; Y/n slept with a movie star and didn’t tell us. And she won’t even tell us who he was.”

“Or if she’s seen him again,” Amanda inserted.

When Y/n turned to face her friends, holding a bathing suit in each hand, one with a colorful pattern from a season ago and the other a timeless, black, designer bikini, all eyes were on her, expectant and awaiting an answer. Even Jillian, who knew exactly who he was and that Y/n had in fact not slept with him, look amused. “Well, I didn’t tell you because it didn’t happen. We almost had sex. Almost as in someone,” she shot an accusing eye at Jillian, “Interrupted us. And he was Keanu Reeves.”

“Excuse me?” Tracy laughed loudly, dropping the pair of denim shorts she had been holding, “As in Johnny Utah, Jack Traven, and my newest favorite; John Wick. Wow,”  she paused breathlessly, “I’ve actually never seen his dick.”

“Oh” Catharine, an eternal romantic exclaimed, clapping her hands together, “He’s in my favorite movie-”

Before she could even finish, everyone was saying, “Sweet November,” then a little more disconnected, “We know.”

“You should call him,” Amanda suggested matter-of-factly, “That’s a once in a life time opportunity right there.”

“Yeah, okay,” Y/n began sarcastically, “I’ll just pick up my phone and call him, with a number that I don’t have, and ask him to come fuck me on the way to the airport. Hope seven isn’t too much of a crowd,” she ended with a chuckle.

“Like Y/n Warren who has everything at her fingertips can’t get his phone number,” Amanda argued lightly, “You could have anything you want. Any phone number, any address, anything. And that’s what’s stopping you?”

“Yeah,” Y/n gasped, not believing that she was actually being pressured about something like that, “What do you think it is?”

“Fear. He’s nice guy, at least according to everyone who’s ever met him. What if it doesn’t live up to whatever you imagined. You know what they say about nice guys,” Amanda winked and Y/n could have sworn that Tracy whispered something about over achievers.

Jillian was the one who spoke up next, “Well let’s not breath down her back, while we take a minute to consider that this might not be all her fault. Why don’t you tell them what you did.”

Y/n’s cheeks took on a bright pink tint, heat rushing to her ears, “How do you know that?”

“I heard, I was standing like, a foot away.”

Scoffing Y/n shook her head, zipping her suitcase closed and pulling it to the floor, “I.....invited him over. And he never came. There,” she finalized, moving on to finding something to wear to the airport, “He essentially rejected me and that’s it, it was two months ago and I don’t wanna talk about it anymore.

Before anyone in the room could propose otherwise, Mathew was poking his head into the doorway, “I swear I’m not looking,” he put a hand over his eyes, “But we need to get going, the car’s downstairs and the jet’s ready to go.”

Hurriedly, they finished packing and Y/n quickly got dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a grey cable knit sweater, hustling down the stairs, hoping to put the lingering disappointment from Keanu not showing up in the rearview. 

******

Tagging- @baphometwolf666   @a-really-bi-girl​  @paanchu786​