#like a real big mess and it looks like no one actually learned anything over their break

[revelboo]

Will you consider writing anything for prowl?Maybe a really angsty one or maybe he gets a human assistant and they have to learn to get along?

I don’t think I’ve ever written for Prowl before even in my FFN days…

Stand Too Close

Prowl x Reader- amends

• You’re always scowling at him. He can feel those sullen eyes watching his every move any time he enters a room. That anger, like he’d hit you on purpose. You’re the one who’d walked out in front of his alt mode on a dark street. It wasn’t like the silly little human crosswalk sign has meant anything to him. If it’s his fault, it’s equally your fault for not looking first. He hasn’t meant to do it, but you try your best to punish him for it every day.

• There he is. Public enemy number one as far as you’re concerned, and the reason you’re now spending your time in the land of giant aliens. Prowl. Those door wings on his back lift as soon as he notices you, going full aggression. You’ve definitely gotten the impression that if Bumblebee hadn’t been with him and seen him hit you, he’d have left you laying in the road with a concussion for someone else to run over. Your whole life and freedom just collateral damage because one alien jerk couldn’t be bothered to stop at a red light. As soon as you’d gotten over the terrified screaming upon waking up in this mess cause he’d kidnapped you, it hadn’t taken long to realize that while the Autobots aren’t going to hurt you, they’re also not letting you go. Because you know where they are, as if you remember anything of the trip to their secret base.

• “Back from ruining someone else’s life?” The human calls out from its perch on his desk and he goes rigid. It’s like you think he did it on purpose. If he had, you’d have gone under his wheels not over his hood. Optics narrowing, he barely resists the urge to bump the desk just so you fall on your butt. He’s done it before to shut you up and then felt guilt about it. And that only ever makes him madder.

• He’d tried pawning you off on Bumblebee since he actually liked humans, but Prime had firmly insisted you were his to look after. To make amends whether he wants to or not. “You didn’t refuel,�� he mutters, spotting the provisions he’s left you untouched. “I don’t have time to force feed you and if you make me, I swear you’ll hate it more than me.”

• That threat isn’t lost on you as you resist the urge to flip him off, eyes narrowing. “That’s a frozen dinner, you idiot. Does it look like I have any way to heat that?” He just turns that icy blue stare on you, rumbling in annoyance. “I can’t eat it frozen,” you add because he’s just staring like you’re the problem. Like you walked out in front of him just to ruin his life.

• “If you call me an idiot again, I’ll punish you.” The words are calm, all ice, but there’s an edge to them. A very real threat that walks up your spine on chilly fingers. You got the impression that while he respects the big guy, Prime, he doesn’t always agree with him. And maybe no one would notice if you just disappear. Prowl could just shrug and pretend you escaped. Drive out in the desert and hide your body in a shallow grave. You’d swear he’s thinking about it sometimes. Like now. You meet that stare head on even if it scares you. And to your surprise, he relents first. “I’ll find you food that’s not frozen. And you’ll eat it.” Why does he have to say it like there’s an or else there?

Next

[livwritesstuff]

Tommy POV, wc: 2890, full version on ao3

Tommy Hagan is not jealous of Eddie Munson.

He’s not.

There’s nothing to be jealous of, in his opinion, and Tommy probably wouldn’t be thinking about him at all if Eddie wasn’t the most publicly well known member of his graduating class – well, he hadn’t actually been in his graduating class, Tommy supposes.

They had been seniors at the same time, though.

If Tommy happened to be jealous of anything – and that’s a big if – it would probably have something to do with the famous thing. Everyone has a small part of them that wants to be famous at least in some capacity, he’s pretty sure, even if Eddie isn’t really, truly famous – not like the red carpet celebrities. He’s a writer. Even the most well known writers never get all that much attention, but Munson has his own Wikipedia page, and that’s more than anybody else from Hawkins, Indiana can say. Hawkins itself barely even has a Wikipedia page, and it’s only because of all the atrocities that happened in town in the mid-eighties.

Tommy hadn’t been around for the end of it all – the earthquake-slash-serial killer situation that never made any sense to him. He remembers his mom calling him at his college dorm when the deaths first started. He remembers her asking, “You went to school with that Munson boy, right? Do you think he could do something like this?”

And Tommy had been twenty and a total moron, so he’d said some dumb shit like, “Yeah, he’s into freaky stuff like that. Somebody should’ve put him on a list ages ago,” even though four years of experience told him that Eddie was all bark, no bite. Tommy hadn’t been surprised at all by the statements that later came out clearing Eddie's name, and by then his parents had already high-tailed it out of Hawkins so it all sort of became irrelevant to him.

Tommy never even returned to Hawkins one single time after he left for college (barring his high school reunion, obviously), and twenty years after graduation, he doesn’t really think about those years all that much.

He doesn’t love the person he’d been in high school. He was whiny and immature and had his priorities all messed up. Most of the memories he has of his teenage years, he looks back at and cringes, feels a whole lot of shame and embarrassment, but also some pride at how much he’s grown over the last twenty years. He also knows he’d been kind of a dick in high school, but that he’s less ashamed of. It’s normal, he knows, for kids to be mean, that it’s a standard response to being untreated kindly in other ways. Like, his dad had been an asshole to him as a kid, always on him about his grades and his smart mouth and how he’d no longer been a standout on any of his sports teams after starting high school, and Tommy had coped with that by poking kids beneath him at school. 

It’s just the pecking order of high school. It’s normal.

Even now, when Tommy’s son had dealt with some pricks in the year above him shoving him around, he had come home from school and tormented his little sister for a while – it’s normal, no matter how much his wife had tried to convince him it was something that needed addressing. It’s just kids being kids. They grow out of it eventually, just like Tommy had.

Occasionally he wonders where the kids he’d spent all those years with in the Hawkins public school system had ended up, but these days the internet makes that pretty damn easy to figure out.

He’s learned Tina got married and had kids real young. She still lives in Indiana. Carol, who he’d split up with before heading off to college, lives in Alabama now and she’s got kids and a husband too. Jonathan Byers is a photographer in California – Tommy isn’t into all that art-y crap, so he has no clue if he’s any good, but he definitely recognizes some of the organizations he’s worked for and if that’s any indication, Tommy would wager he’s not too shabby. No wife, though, he noted, so he’d either been right about Byer’s being a queer, or women just found him repulsive (admittedly, Tommy leans more towards the former – he’s a photographer). Tammy Thompson still lives in Tennessee, though it doesn’t seem like she does music anymore (husband, kids, blah blah blah). 

If he’s honest, the only person Tommy is actually interested in tracking down is Steve Harrington, and he’s the one person Tommy can’t find a single trace of online. No MySpace, no Facebook, no weird blog thing, nothing.

Vaguely, he wonders if Steve might be dead. A truly massive proportion of Hawkins had died over just a few short years in the mid-eighties. Maybe Harrington was one of them.

Tommy doubts it. 

He would have known. 

Steve’s parents would have made sure everyone knew if their son had died. Funnily enough, Steve’s mom is actually on Facebook, and pretty actively too, but there’s no sign of Steve anywhere on her page. 

He hadn’t even shown up for their high school reunion in the winter of ‘04, which is odd because Tommy had been certain he would.

He doesn’t obsess over it – he really doesn’t. It’s just a thought that pops into his mind every now and then – where the hell is Steve Harrington?

In the late spring of 2007, he gets his answer.

“Tom,” his wife says, “That guy from your high school is on the cover of this magazine.”

He knows without asking for clarity that it’s Munson – no other person makes sense – and when he eventually gets his hands on the magazine, he finds that he’s correct.

Eddie Munson is on the cover of a magazine because, apparently, he published another book. 

Truthfully, Tommy already knew that. 

It’s his fourth book (which, for the record, Tommy hadn’t known until he knew it because it’s not like he’s keeping tabs on this guy or whatever), and it’s been getting a whole bunch of mainstream attention after a controversial landing on the top of all those book charts Tommy doesn’t follow despite featuring a gay love store amidst all his normal fantasy crap. It sparked a whole debate about banning books and everything (dumb, Tommy knows, because if he learned anything in business school it’s that if you really don’t want something to exist, the best thing you can do is not funnel money and attention into it). 

Tommy does, in fact, watch the news so he’d already caught wind of all this – it’s part of the reason he can’t shake the guy – and it’s why Eddie Munson is on the cover of this magazine (because, seriously, nobody gives a shit about writers until it hits the news).

He allows himself a moment to look at the cover, to look at Eddie, who apparently goes by Ed now. Tommy is loath to admit it, but he looks good. His hair is normal and he’s grown into his frame, not all long and lanky and gangly limbs like Tommy remembers from school. He looks well-fed, confident, happy.

He looks good.

Tommy thumbs through the first few pages of the magazine until he reaches Eddie’s interview, and, again, he allows himself to look over the photo of him that takes up nearly three-quarters of the first page even if he has no intention of actually reading the article itself because, again, Eddie looks good (and maybe there’s something about the scruff of facial hair along his jaw that Tommy's eye gets stuck on). Tommy’s allowed to say that men look good when it’s true – it’s 2007, as his wife likes to remind him whenever it’s convenient for her, and if she’s allowed to say that Angelina Jolie looked good in that CIA movie, then Tommy is allowed to say that Eddie Munson looks good here.

When Tommy flips to the next page, he’s met with a photo that stops him in his tracks, has his feet frozen to the floor because –

Jesus Christ, that’s Steve Harrington.

Fuck, okay, so he’s reading this fucking article.

It takes Tommy a long time to get through it, honestly. Eddie comes out in the article, which might be a big deal, might not (and he doesn't care to be enlightened, thanks). He keeps getting distracted by the pictures scattered throughout it.

The pictures of Steve, mostly.

Because, well, if Eddie Munson looks good, Steve…

Steve looks alive.

Tommy didn’t realize it until this exact moment, but Steve had existed in his head for the last two decades as the eighteen-year-old he’d been the last time they were in the same room together. It hadn’t exactly occurred to him that Steve’s been aging this whole time too, just like Tommy has.

It’s undeniable that Steve is older. 

His hair is starting to go gray at his temples (it’s the only thing that’s changed about his hair since he’s still styling it the same as he did in high school – because why mess with a good thing, Tommy supposes) and he’s got just the hint of crow's feet around his eyes when he smiles. He’s smiling in all the photos – every damn one – and it has Tommy struck by how unbelievably happy Steve seems. It’s an effect that somehow both takes years off the age Tommy knows he is and shines a light on just how good those years must have been for him. 

There’s no solo shots of him like there are for Munson – though according to the article, it's actually Harrington now – and only half the photos are in color. The rest of them – the more candid ones – are smaller and left in black-and-white. 

The one that caught Tommy’s eye first – because it was meant to, he’s pretty sure; it takes up half the page – is right in that sweet spot between staged and candid where Steve and Eddie both know that they’re being photographed even though neither of them are actually posing. Eddie is grinning at Steve in a wicked way that still feels familiar to Tommy even two decades since he’d last seen it on him (probably swaggering around the cafeteria like a total jackass – not that Tommy would know anything about that). Steve is grinning right back at him with a smile Tommy doesn’t think he’s ever seen before.

Or maybe he has, but not on this version of his face, not since Steve was as young as his oldest daughter.

Just as the author of the article said, the photos don’t show the faces of Steve’s children, either leaving them artfully out-of-focus or choosing shots where they’re turned away from the camera, but they’re still present, and it makes the whole spread almost feel like a photo album in a way, like it should be private but instead was published for the whole world to see.

Steve has three of them – kids, Tommy means. He didn’t know that Steve was a family kind of guy. It makes sense though, when he thinks about it. Steve’s parents were kind of a nightmare — present in the worst ways, and absent in the worst ways too (though it hadn’t seemed that way when Tommy was a teenager looking for a failsafe party house). He'd always felt kind of bad for the guy. Like, Tommy's dad had been a total piece of work, but they'd at least been around, and he'd stuck around long enough for them to sort out their issues at least most of the way, and these days he's a pretty kickass grandpa to Tommy's children.

Tommy wonders about Steve's parents now, wonders if they maybe came around like his own parents had, but then he remembers Mrs. Harrington's Facebook page and how there's not a damn trace of her son on there, never mind three grandchildren.

Tommy isn't sure he wants to touch that.

Steve is probably a really good dad, Tommy decides. He’d been kind of that way when they were friends — Steve used to say he wasn’t all that bright, but he always had a freaky sixth sense for reading people, for caring about them in exactly the way they needed.

There's one photo where Steve is managing to holding his youngest daughter — a tiny little baby still — and her bottle in one arm (that's a level-three dad hold, Tommy knows). The bottle is angled in a way that obscures her face, and Steve's other hand is being tugged on by another daughter, this one with a mop of curly brown hair remarkably similar to Eddie's when it was still long.

That's another thing Tommy won't let himself think about, (because he knows if did he'd start wondering if any of those kids were half-Steve).

Anyways, Tommy doesn't need glance to see that Steve wears fatherhood like a favorite sweater.

There’s something about this, about seeing these pictures, about the way Tommy is getting an answer to that question he’s had for years about where his childhood best friend has been all these years, that is making him feel like his ribcage is being split open, bones splintering and shattering as everything vulnerable inside his chest in suddenly out for display.

He probably should feel uncomfortable, right? Like, a guy he’d been seriously close to growing up — sleepovers and gym locker rooms and all that shit — had turned out to be gay. If his own son came home from school saying that his best friend came out or whatever as gay…well, again, it’s 2007, and Tommy doesn’t think his wife would allow him to denounce the friendship entirely, but there certainly wouldn’t be any sleepovers anymore. He thinks that’s pretty reasonable.  

What was the likelihood that Steve had been, like, into Tommy?

And that should be an uncomfortable notion too, and in a sense, it kind of is, but not necessarily in the way he would expect. 

He just doesn’t understand why all this feels so much like a loss because he knows that he hasn’t really lost anything – not since he got his hands on the magazine, anyways. Steve Harrington hasn’t played any sort of role in Tommy’s life since their final falling out in 1984, and as far as he’s aware, having a falling out with a close friend is pretty much a guaranteed part of growing up. His wife even experienced something similar when her own grade school best friend suddenly stopped answering calls and stopped reaching out after they’d started college – and his wife is basically the nicest person Tommy has ever known, so…it happens to even the best.

It’s just…Steve had always continued to exist in Tommy’s life in a way, even if he wasn't physically present, and maybe Tommy had figured it could be the same for Steve too, that maybe he sometimes wonders where Tommy is, wonders what he’s up to.

This article and these photos makes it pretty fucking clear that Tommy doesn’t even exist in the same galaxy as the life Steve is living.

And that’s not to mention the Eddie fucking Munson of it all.

Tommy had been kind of ignoring the Eddie of it all until he couldn’t ignore it anymore, because he doesn't care about Eddie Munson.

He'd never cared, but he'd spent years seeing the guy's face and his name everywhere, and now it feels like a sick joke, like he's the piece of Steve left in Tommy's life.

If the article is accurate (and he has no reason to believe it isn’t), Steve and Eddie have been together for longer than Tommy has even known his wife. Steve has been with Eddie for longer than Steve was ever friends with Tommy – not by a lot, but still more. That’s a long fucking time, and it’s clear as day on both of their faces that they’re just as in love with each other fourteen years in as they were on day one.

It’s not just Steve, and it’s not just Eddie, and it’s not one more than the other. It’s both of them.

There’s one photo in particular – a small black-and-white one that keeps pulling Tommy’s attention.

It’s another candid shot, taken from a bit of a distance. In it, Steve has Eddie boxed in against the counter in what has to be their kitchen. Eddie is leaning back against the edge of the granite countertop and looking at Steve with something sappy and fond on his face, and Steve’s hands are this close to grabbing Eddie’s waist as he looks at him the exact same way.

It’s shit out of a fairy tale or something, and sure, maybe someone could argue that they’re laying it on thick just for the sake of the magazine or whatever, but Tommy knows Steve Harrington and that look on his face is more real than Tommy had ever seen in all the years he'd known him.

So maybe Tommy has a reason or two (or three or four) to be jealous of Eddie Munson.

[mylifesjustacarousel]

my little snow fairy

pairing: james hook x fem!reader (requested!)

summary: hook thinks your powers are very “princess-y” but his mind changes when he sees what you can truly do

type: fluff, a little angst

CW: bullying

WC: 1K

requests are open! <3

“I’m just saying, lass, they’re cool and all, but they’re a little fairy princess-y,” Hook teased, sitting down on your bed next to you, “like my own little snow fairy.” You raised a brow, leaning close to him, “First of all, don’t call me lass, I’m your girlfriend. Second of all, fairy princess-y? I could turn you into an ice statue just like that, baby.”

You had the power of manipulating water and ice, which was really cool once you had actually learned how to control your powers… there were too many instances of you causing a rainstorm above somebody’s head when they upset you. But, since attending Merlin Academy, you had gotten your powers under wraps. Now, you caused rainstorms above people’s heads just because you felt like it.

“Oh yeah, darling? I don’t think you could,” he giggled, pressing a kiss to your cheek before getting up.

You snapped your fingers, and a storm cloud quickly formed over his head. Within seconds, he was absolutely drenched from head to toe in ice cold water. He turned to face you, an angry but defeated look on his face.

“Okay, I guess that I deserved that… can you put it out now?”

Snapping your fingers again, the storm cloud quickly dissipated. You got up, running your fingers through his sopping wet hair, “Yeah, you did deserve it. But, I love you anyways.” Hook rolled his eyes, his arms wrapping around you as he pulled you into a tight embrace, getting your front soaked.

“James Hook! Let go of me! Right now!” you whined, trying to push yourself away from him.

“Never! You did this to yourself!” Hook leaned his head down, burying his wet hair in the crook of your neck. You groaned, gently smacking the back of his head, “You are so annoying!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love you too, my princess. To the end of the seas and back.”

You were sat in Uliana’s lair with Hook, your head in his lap as he played with your hair. You hated Uliana, she was vile beyond compare. But you stuck around for James. “I just don’t understand why you still hang around her. I get hanging out with Mali and the rest of them… but Uliana?” you mumbled, looking up at him.

Hook sighed, “This is the first real group of friends that I’ve ever had, y/n, I-”

He was interrupted when Uliana stomped into the lair, the rest of the VKs following behind her. “I will ruin her life!” she screamed, “I am so sick of that pretty pink princess!”

You rolled your eyes. Bridget. Bridget was one of the most, if not THE most, sweetest people alive. She did nothing but spread love and positivity, which Uliana couldn’t stand. You loved Bridget, she was one of the first people you met when you first came to Merlin Academy. Which was a big factor in why you hated Uliana, because who could hate Bridget?

“I mean, who does she think she is? Thinking that bribing people with treats will make people like her? Ugh!” The group snickered with her. They did anything to make Uliana happy. You sighed, sitting up, “Did Bridget strike a nerve there, Uliana?”

She snapped her head around to look in your direction, her face showing nothing but pure disgust. Uliana wasn’t too fond of you either. “No one invited you here, princess. Don’t you have plants to be watering or something?” She spat, looking around at the group behind her for approval.

“Ooh, someone’s a little jealous. Are you upset that people like Bridget, or are you upset that no one likes you?” you stood up, walking over to her. Uliana sneered, “You’re messing with the wrong sea witch, girl. You don’t belong here, or anywhere.”

“Knock it off, Uli.” Hook stood up. “This does not involve you, Hook. But, if we’re going to involve you, I guess we can talk about how I don’t even know why you’re here anymore. You’re a softie, you’re weak. You let her change you, I told you that she was bad news.”

“You don’t get to talk to him like that!” you snapped, “He’s not cold and heartless like you, I’m sorry if that offends you so.” One of her tentacles shot out, wrapping around you and squeezing tight like a boa constrictor.

“You are nothing, princess. People wouldn’t even know who you were if it weren’t for us. You should be thanking me for even letting you be in my presence, for not making your life miserable,” she squeezed you tighter, “I’m y/n, and I act like a big bad ice witch when I’m really just a scared little princess!”

As Uliana went on, storm clouds started to form above. It didn’t happen often anymore, but your powers sometimes became uncontrollable when feeling overwhelming emotions. It started pouring, everyone inside getting soaked.

“You think a little rain is gonna scare me?” she mocked, “Bring it on, princess!”

You slithered a hand out of the grasp of her slimy tentacle, your hand turning ice cold as you wrapped it around the sucker covered appendage. “If anyone here is nothing, it’s you,” you mumbled, “I hope you enjoy the cold.”

Ice shot down her tentacle, freezing Uliana in her place within seconds. You slipped out of her grip, looking at the ice sculpture in front of you. You’d unfreeze her eventually… just not yet. The rain slowly came to a stop as you calmed down and you turned around, looking for Hook.

Hook was stood behind you, his jaw dropped. “I did not know that you could do that… that was pretty hot.”

You went over to him, “I didn’t really know that I could do that either. I’ll unfreeze her in a bit, but I think a little bit of the cold is good for the soul.”

Hook’s arms wrapped around your waist, his lips pressing a kiss to your temple, “You know that she’s never going to leave you alone now, right?”

“I know, but if there’s anyone that I’m not afraid of, it’s her.”

“That’s my girl.”

a/n: sorry for not uploading for a bit, i just recently went back to work! but i hope you enjoyed!!

[inkdrinkerworld]

Dad!Remus being roped into tea parties! Tiara, over exaggerated posh accents, tutus, and all 🤭 he takes it very seriously as well, when Uncle Sirius and James visit and think it’s partial joking, Remus is like “oh this is very serious and you will be forced into it. No, she doesn’t care that the tiara will get tangled in your hair”

wc: 1.2k of straight family fluff and Remus having sassy little daughters

“Daddy tea?” Bekah’s holding a little play kettle and standing in wobbling on shaky toes as she leans over the table.

“Yes please, little love.” He holds his cup out and watches imaginary tea pour right in and hides a smile when Bekah sneaks a sip.

Charlie is sitting patiently in her seat, “Can I have a scone? With jam?” There actually are scones, lest your babies starve- you swear they could eat through a house in a day if you let them.

Wednesday afternoons’ are Remus’ tea date with his girls while you get an hour or so to yourself, today you’ve gone to the hairdressers.

“What ‘bout Uncle Siri?” Bekah asks, setting down the kettle with a thump. She’s always worried about him, if he’s well, if he’s still on his bike (which scares her) and when he’s coming to see her. Specifically her.

“There’s quite enough, baby. Mum and I made extras for Uncle Jamie and Siri.” With that in mind she sets one on her plate and another on Charlie’s.

The doorbell rings as Bekah and Charlie giggle about the jam on their lips and Remus stands to open it. “Your uncles’ are here.”

Bekah breaks into a full sprint the second she hears Sirius and giggles like a madwoman when he scoops her up and blows on her belly.

“Hi Trouble,” he kisses her cheek and stoops to ruffle Charlie’s hair. “Hi dolly.”

She passes him up for James- he never sets her on her own two feet and gives in to the perfected puppy eyes she gives him.

Plus James is already up for a cuddle with her.

“We have the tea ready,” Charlie says to James letting him rub her back.

“Lead the way, shortcake.”

Sirius and James hadn’t believed Remus when he’d said that tea parties are a big deal in your house, so they weren’t expecting to see a little stand and a table fully laid and set with tea kettles, cups and a towering plate of scones and cucumber sandwiches.

Remus smiles in an ‘I-told-you-so’ kinds of way as Bekah and Charlie give specific instructions.

“It’s Bekah’s turn to be the tea server, but she’s little so no wrastling.”

“Hassling, Charlie girl.” Remus corrects softly and she nods.

“Hassling. Be nice to her or no scones.”

Like a little sister hanging on to her big sister’s every word, Bekah repeats, “Nice or no scones.” Only she doesn’t sound nearly as harsh and consonants like ‘n’ and ‘s’ are so stressed they sound long and cuter than they should.

Just as Bekah reaches for the kettle she stops, turns to Remus with a look of pure shock and says, “‘Iaras daddy!”

Sirius and James are confused and Remus clarifies, “The tiaras, it’s a whole affair.” He reminds them.

“Trouble do I have to wear one? I just did my hair-“

Sirius remembers why he calls Bekah ‘Trouble’ when she marches up to him wagging a tiny finger in his face. She hardly looks intimidating- more adorable than anything in her little dress.

“Body wears ‘iara Uncle Siri.”

That settles it then.

James takes one with purple gems, Charlotte the pink ones, Remus takes the blue, Sirius the clear and Bekah keeps her coveted red gemmed tiara.

James learns quickly how to hold a tea cup correctly, ‘pinkies up uncle Jamie’ whispered to him by Charlie and Sirius learns that Bekah is not to be messed with as she pours tea- numerous times she pours an ‘overflowing’ cup and covers her mouth as she giggles and Sirius grumbles about wet hands.

The tea party lasts longer than an hour, scones and real tea served when Remus takes the girls one by one to shower. Bekah comes down just as you get home, all tired smiles as she reaches for you.

“Hair,” she coos, chubby fingers twirling the ends of your curls. “Pretty mummy.”

Remus descends the steps with an energetic Charlie on his hip. “Very pretty mummy, you look stunning dove.”

“You did it lighter mummy! Looks like caramel.” Charlie gives you a quick kiss before wiggling out of Remus’ grasp and making for her colouring pages and pencils.

You blush and fluster under his compliments and more so when you note Sirius and James on the sofa looking a little exhausted.

“You boys enjoyed the tea party?” James nods with an earnest smile and Sirius flips into his lap.

“I think I’ve lost about three handfuls of hair from that little rugrat adjusting the tiara, but it was heaps and heaps of fun.”

Bekah flushes, hiding her face in your neck when you look at her.

“You look positively out of it.” You say kindly to them, hand fighting Bekah’s as she tugs at your neckline. “Let mummy change, Bekah baby.” She doesn’t let you go as you climb the stairs and Remus flashes you a little grin- she gets extra lovey when she’s tired and skipping her mid-afternoon nap in favour of tea parties and staying up to entertain uncle Sirius has made her even more so- which you don’t mind.

When you come back down, in a little house dress Remus had got you for your last birthday, Bekah is already feeding and half asleep.

Remus has a cup of tea and a couple scones and jam in front of you and Sirius is halfway to sleep himself.

“Mummy?” Charlie looks up from her pages.

“Charlie?” She giggles the way you do when Remus calls you all sweet.

“Next time can I come and do my hair caramel too? Or is it sticky?”

James chuckles when you all do, making Charlie blush.

“It isn’t sticky, but if you want next time you can come and we can see what the stylists will do.” You’re sure by that time she won’t be wanting caramel hair like yours and something else, something a little more punk and a little more Charlie- like purple.

Bekah’s snoring in ten minutes and you smile as she keeps a hold of your finger in her chubby hand.

“You boys staying for tea?” Remus asks them as he sits on the armrest of the sofa beside you, an arm around your chest as he pulls you into him.

“‘Ve had enough tea for a week mate, but it was lovely.” James says as he stands, taking Sirius with him. “Thanks for inviting us, shortcake.” Charlie rushes to give James the page she’s colouring before he leaves.

“S’of the garden by your house, uncle Jamie.” James coos, kneeling to kiss her cheek. “Thank you darling girl, it’ll go on the fridge yeah?” She nods a smile so big that you worry her cheeks ache.

“Bye uncle Sirius, maybe next time you can be the tea server so you don’t get wet hands.” He nods, kissing her forehead.

“You’re so kind, dolly. I’ll take that offer up any day, just don’t tell Touble, eh?” She mimes a sealed lip and Sirius winks.

They leave and you slump further into your husband. His hand coasting along your collarbones. “She had Sirius spinning in circles. Fixed his tiara every time he moved.”

You laugh, “She’s a little stern, our girl.”

Remus hums, “Still quieter than Charlie though.” You look at your first baby. She’s grown up so much, her sass mostly saved for days where she needs extra dramatics just because, but she’s still just the same as she was when she was younger. Still bold and still whip smart. Suddenly your heart aches as you remember her as little as baby.

“Come give mummy a cwtch, Lottie. Missed you today.” She’s up fast, needling into your free side and you sigh.

“Missed you too mummy. You smell nice.” You lean even more into Remus, his arms around all three of you, his chin on your crown. You can’t imagine a nicer life than this.

[otgo-brooklyn]

Older Brother!Slider with Baby Brother!Ice

Okay, so another contribution rant to the Top Gun Fandom:

Big Brother Slider, but ONLY, ONLY to Ice. And not the generic sibling relationship, no, but Ice is his Baby Brother.

For any who don't have that 'Baby' Sibling, as an eldest child, let me explain: A sibling is a younger, less better, version of yourself because your parents were a bit delusional and now there is Another™.

HOWEVER, a Baby Sibling, a BABY Sibling? No, they are essentially your own child, typically the youngest, they are your pride and joy, and when I tell you that with a Baby Sibling you become so protective over them you would commit horrible crimes for them- literally becoming an attack dog on a leash held by said Baby Sibling, that is a true Baby Sibling/Older Sibling relationship. The minute they are born they're just, your child, like so what the birth certificate says that their parents are my parents, that's obviously a lie. They legitimately become your child in more ways than one, whose only role in life is to be happy and loved. And this is SO the relationship between Slider and Ice.

Ice is the Baby Sibling™, with Slider as the protective older brother. Slider makes sure that Ice is happy, and cared for/loved, protected, everything for the Baby™. I cannot explain enough how much I love this head-cannon, and all the proof I'll ever need to explain it is this one GIF;

Look at Slider, the protective arm around the shoulder, the glare, the judgement in his very being, the way his jaw tenses-, compared to Ice, who is just sitting there, not even noticing, focusing on something else all happy like (Or as happy as Ice can get while in Ice-man mode (Or as happy as one can get when translating languages, if you saw my other post about Russian!Ice ;D)).

Slider nearly getting kicked out of the Top Gun program due to beating a fellow pilot unconscious because he DARED shit talk Ice

So they never gave Slider a DOB/specified age in Top Gun, but his actor, Rick Rossovich is 2 years older than Val Kilmer, so that only furthers the point of Slider's Older Brother Agenda

One time Goose was showing Ice how to cartwheel after Ice was interested in how he did it on the deck of the ship they were stationed on and Slider refused to allow Ice to do it because "What if he falls and cracks his skull open on the tarmac Goose!"

When reassured that Ice cracking his skull open isn't going to happen, and Goose was only going to demonstrate, Slider still wont budge on it. Ice never learned how to do a cartwheel to this day

Ice's foot getting caught in the track and wheels of a stationary, not turned on/working tank on accident and one singular, quiet, whispered "ow" after pulling it out of said track/wheel, was all it took to have Slider screaming his head off carrying Ice into medical absolutely positive that Ice just "Broke his own god-damn ankle, GET A MEDIC-"

Someone shoving past Ice on their way to the mess hall in a rush, causing Ice to stumble back literally 2 steps, and Slider getting in their face, slamming them into a wall with a "I swear you put your hands on Ice one more time, your not gonna have hands AT ALL"

He then slings his arm around Ice's shoulder and directs him to the mess hall, glaring at any poor soul who dared look in Ice's direction

They were at the bar and a woman started to approach Ice, who, of course was not noticing (he only has eyes for a 5'7" gremlin named Mav), and Slider shuts that down REAL QUICK. Like, no, not today Lilith, pick a different naval guy-

Give Mav The Talk when he notices Mav giving eyes to Ice, and Goose because Slider can never be too sure, and everyone observing this is sitting there like 'what the actual fuck' after Slider threatens to, and I quote, "French braid your fuckin' nervous system you shitty dwarf" towards Maverick amongst other colorful threats

It gets to the point where Slider is so protective over Ice, people don't ask Ice anything without looking to Slider for some kind of acceptance or denial, like;

Hollywood: Hey Ice do you wanna- Slider, the coldest look ever seen, actively dropping the temperature in the room while promising a slow and tortuous death: Hollywood: -help me figure out this trajectory angle equation for this [classified] mission? Ice, absolutely oblivious to the entire situation: Sure? I guess?

Its single-handedly the funniest and most terrifying thing to ever happen in Top Gun history, aside from whoever decided to put Maverick Mitchell in a plane

And the cherry on top is that Ice DOESN'T HAVE A CLUE at the entire situation

When someone tries saying how terrifying Slider is to Ice he just brushes it off, like, "Oh Slider? No he's very nice, he even walks with me wherever I have to go in the day. He's all bark and no bite"

And everyone in the immediate vicinity just looking at Ice either with pity or like he's stupid because he doesn't know

He never figures it out either

(This overprotectiveness doubles, if not triples when he meets baby Bradley Bradshaw, and Slider just cant compute because now there is another person who has my undying love and protection-)

(Goose once lost Bradley on a very important, very large Naval destroyer and the entirety of the Top Gun Class of '86 is frantically searching the entire ship before Viper finds out and one of them just stumbling into Slider sitting on a couch with Ice and Bradley just absolutely passed out, sleeping like a brick, essentially using him as human furniture, and the look Slider gives them promises a 100 years of death if they wake either of them up-)

(After Goose's death when baby Bradley lives with IceMav, he just clings onto Slider whenever he's over because "I feel safest with Pops, but Pops feels safest with Uncle Sli', so I'm safest-est with Uncle Sli'")

(Mav doesn't know whether to cry because that is so cute- or be annoyed that Slider is preferred over himself)

(After Bradley reconciles with Mav, he's caught sleeping(read absolutely dead to the world) on Slider's chest like when he was as a child and no one knowing what to do because "Rooster that is a 2-STAR ADMIRAL OF THE US NAVY-" Slider is just like "I'm safest-est", and Bradley sleepily chiming in with a "safest-est" and deciding to just go back to sleep like nothing happened)

[janeyseymour]

At Arm's Length pt 3

Another little addition to this story I've somehow managed to start. It would probably be best to read the first 2 parts, but it should be able to stand on its own.

Summary: You overhear a few things Melissa says to your coworkers. It leaves you less than pleased.

Part 1. Part 2

WC: ~4k

As you pull up to Melissa’s house, the same type of wine before in hand, you realize the

severity of the situation you’re in. You were going to have dinner with the redhead again- but this time not as a friendly dinner. No. This time... it was a date. Your first date in years.

Suddenly hyper aware of the fact that you are still dressed in your teaching outfit, your hair is in the rattiest bun, and you have no makeup on. 

You take a few minutes to primp yourself in your car, thanking God you always keep an eyeliner and mascara in your purse for if you ever decide to go out on a whim. With one final fluffing to your hair and making sure you look presentable, you sigh and exit your car. 

Dinner is perfect. She makes you the pasta she promised, you two share another bottle of wine, and then she asks if you’d like to stay for a little longer. Of course you accept the invitation. Your head is swirling, and you aren’t sure if you’re just the slightest bit tipsy or completely intoxicated with being in such close proximity to the woman across the table from you.

“So,” you sigh in content as you settle onto her couch, a glass of wine in hand. “Is this for real?”

“I think so, hon,” Melissa smiles at you as a hand rests on your knee. “If you want it to be.”

Your cheeks heat up again, and you don’t know if it’s from the wine or from her gentle touch. It’s much more gentle than you expected it to be, considering her brash and abrasive personality she usually likes to show. You smile shyly.

“R-really?” you ask hesitantly. “I mean... I- you hated me a week ago.”

“I told you,” the redhead fights the urge to roll her eyes. “I never hated you. I could never. I just had to pretend, so I wouldn’t act like a lovesick puppy around you.”

“But just last week, you were ragging on me for my bulletin boards, and you were laughing at the fact that I was trying to learn to juggle for the kids, and I- I haven't contributed anything to the school. I barely know what I’m doing... I actually don’t know what I’m doing in the slightest. I’m kind of a hot mess. Actually, I’m probably the hottest mess I know.”

Melissa frowns, and you know she’s over you. That didn’t take much convincing at all. She’s looking at you with concern, and her hand moves from its place. She’s clearly thinking. Deciding to cut her off, you make to stand.

“Hey, hey,” she says gently. “C’mon.”

“I know when I’m not welcome anymore,” you whisper as you go to grab your bag. Your heart almost breaks in your chest as you go to leave her warm house.

Her hand wraps around your wrist, and she pulls you back onto the couch. You just barely manage to not spill any wine. “Y/N, do you think I was being for real when I said all that stuff? It was all an act so I wouldn’t grab you and make a move on you at school.”

You shrug.

“I was jealous of your bulletin boards. And yeah, learning to juggle is ridiculous, but that just goes to show how dedicated you are to the kids. You learned to juggle in three days because one of them took up an interest in it. I’m sure you’ll learn more ridiculous skills as you-”

“I’m already learning how to make balloon animals for Jessie,” you admit quietly.

“-And you have contributed to the school.”

You roll your eyes. “Melissa,” you sigh. “It’s fine. You don’t have to-”

“I don’t have to do anything,” she cuts you off. “But you deserve to know how lucky Abbott is to have you, hon. You’ve made such a big difference with these kids already. I overheard some of your post-observation meeting with Ava, and she had nothing but good things to say- it even sounded like she was pretty locked into the lesson herself. And you go the extra mile for Zion- paying for his lunch everyday and making sure you’re stocked up on snacks for the kids who forget or can’t afford to bring their own.”

“I-” you bite the corner of your cheek. You really don’t know what to say. “I’m a hot mess everywhere else though.”

“I doubt it,” she says honestly, and she’s back to squeezing your knee gently. “C’mon, hon. You’re just hot, if anything.”

“More like a dumpster caught on fire,” you mumble, looking away from her.

“Hey now,” she clicks her tongue. Then she makes a joke. “I’ve smelled enough dumpster fires started by us Schemmentis to know, you are not a dumpster caught on fire.”

That just barely gets you to smile, and she squeezes your knee again. 

“Now, I want this to be something,” she tells you seriously. “But do you?”

You nod, and you look at her. You see nothing but adoration in her eyes for you, and you notice how they sparkle in a way you’ve never seen someone’s eyes sparkle before. 

“Words, hon,” she prompts.

“I- I want to see where this could go,” you whisper as you start to lean in. You feel her hand cup your cheek and, this time, Mr. Johnson isn’t there to stop what almost happened in the hallway a few hours ago.

It’s soft, it’s sweet, it’s short. It’s perfect. 

---

That was almost two months ago. Since then, you and the fiery redheaded teacher have been seeing each other in secret. Nobody at work knows- not even Barb. It shocks you that your girlfriend hasn’t told her best friend- you thought that at least by now she would know.

You’re fairly certain Barbara is onto the two of you; actually, you know this. She could spot it from the first week you two had started seeing each other. But you nor Melissa had ever confirmed it for her. So for now, she just gives you two a knowing glance and a smile whenever she sees you together.

This morning was perfect. You had woken up in her arms, and the two of you got ready for work in a sleepy haze, but you were together. While she’s upstairs finishing getting ready, you head down the steps and into the kitchen. 

Only recently had she let you even think about touching anything in her kitchen, but you were going to take full advantage of the fact that you weren’t as exhausted as usual and were ready before she was.

Just as you’re plating the omelets you made for the two of you, you feel two arms snake around your waist, and she settles her chin on your shoulder. You lean back into her embrace for a few seconds, reveling in her warmth before pulling away just slightly.

“I made breakfast,” you say softly. “I can’t cook much else, but I make a mean omelet.”

She presses a kiss to your cheek and unwinds her arms to take the plates over to the table. You immediately miss the fact that you’re almost an arm’s length away from her. You sit down next to her, grinning as she rolls her eyes and pulls you into her lap.

As she takes her first bite, you glance at her. You hope she likes it. You know you’ll never be nearly the cook that she is, but-

“Holy shit, babe,” she exhales. “This is delicious. Beats my Aunt Rita’s- but don’t ever tell her I said that.”

You grin before digging into your own breakfast.

The two of you drive separately to school, not wanting to give away the fact that you spent the night together. The crew didn’t even know you were dating, so how would they react if Melissa pulled into the parking lot with you in the passenger seat?

You circle the block a few times, just enough to give off the effect that you hadn’t arrived at the same time before pulling in next to her car. You glance over, but she’s already inside. She’s probably pouring you a cup of coffee as you speak.

You’re about to enter the breakroom to put away your usual lunch when you hear your girlfriend’s loud voice. You turn just out of sight you can listen in.

“Oh come on,” the woman groans loudly. 

“All we’re saying, Melissa,” you hear Barb tell the woman. “Is that I see the eyes you give her. I haven’t seen those eyes since you went out with Joe, and the two of you ended up married.”

“Yeah,” you hear Melissa huff. “And then we got divorced.”

“I think you guys would be cute together!” Janine gives her thoughts. “You already do coupley things together anyway.”

“Like what?” you hear your girlfriend challenge.

“Well,” Janine drawls out. “You make her coffee in the morning.”

“I always have a little leftover anyway.”

“She practically grabbed your hand that one day when the fire alarm went off and none of us knew it was a drill.”

“And I grabbed Barb’s as a natural reaction.”

“You two stay late to decorate bulletin boards together even though we all know she does all of the-”

“Safety in numbers.”

“You give her the eyes Gregory and Janine would give each other before they got their heads out of their asses and finally started dating,” Jacob cuts in. The two mentioned feel their cheeks heat up, but they both agree.

“You’re outta your damn minds if youse think I would ever go out with Y/N. She’s a kid who barely knows what she’s doing in life. Now turn on the damned news.”

Your heart drops. It falls out of your chest and onto the floor. It shatters into a million pieces. Sure, you had used those words to describe yourself before, but hearing them from her mouth... that kills you.

You don't enter the break room that morning. Instead, you head straight for your classroom. You guess you’ll have to get used to wilted spinach again, and you’ll have to go without your morning coffee today. You plop down at your desk and put your head in your hands. And after last night and this morning, it just hurts even more. 

You feel like an idiot. An absolute idiot. No wonder she didn’t want anyone to know- because she isn’t falling for you the way that you already fell for her. She knows this isn’t going to be a lasting thing- you should’ve known too. You’re just beginning to berate yourself when you hear her footsteps growing louder. You know what that means- the kids are due to come in at any moment.

But the sound of her boots don’t go past your room. They stop right outside your door.

“Hey, hon,” she says as she knocks on your doorframe. “You ‘kay? You didn’t come in like I thought you would.”

You look up, and there she is standing with two mugs in her hands. You look at the clock. It’s fifteen minutes before your students will start to file in. Jim Gardner should still be on in the staff room. You set your hands back into your head.

“Fine,” you say as evenly as you can. “Just- responding to an email I got from Anaya’s mom.”

She looks at you curiously. You don’t even have your laptop out yet. She steps into your room and makes her way over to your desk, where she sets the coffee you would usually lunge for. 

“How’re you replying to an email when you don’t even have your laptop out?”

“Replying in my head,” you mumble as you glance at the coffee mug. You want to reach for it so badly, but you won’t.

“Can I help y’out in any way?” she asks, completely unaware of the fact that you had heard her earlier.

You shake your head.

“Can I at least take your lunch to put in the fridge for you?” she asks gently.

You shrug.

“What’d the email say that has you so worked up?” she prods. “You were fine this mornin’.”

“I’m fine,” you lie. “Just have a headache.”

“Did you take Advil?” you nod. “Okay, hon. Try to feel better, yeah?”

You continue to stare at your desk, not wanting to look at her. You know how she feels, so why is she pretending like she still cares?

“Okay, babe,” she leans down to press a gentle kiss to your temple. “I’ll leave you with some peace and quiet before the little monsters come in, but I hope you start to perk up again.”

You don’t miss the fact that she snags your lunch from your bag before leaving you with the cup of coffee she made for you.

As the kids make their way in, you aren’t there to greet them at the door with a smile like you usually are. You stay planted at your desk because you don’t want to have to look down the hall and see your girlfriend- probably you’re soon to be ex-girlfriend.

“I thought there was going to be a sub!” Jada announces as she walks in. She runs up to your desk and gives you a hug. “I’m so happy you’re here today, Ms. Y/N! I don’t like when we have subs.”

You can’t help the small smile that appears on your face as you embrace your student. “I’m glad I’m here too,” you tell her gently. You do mean that, because had you been home, you would already be half a wine bottle deep wallowing in your self pity, and it was barely 8 am. 

Standing outside of her classroom, Melissa can’t help but notice that you aren’t standing at the door like you usually do in the mornings. Watching you greet your kids always brings a smile to her face, and that smile is missing right now. She figures your head must really be hurting if you can’t even do that.

She makes her way down the hall to your door where she sees a few of her former students.

“Ms. Schemmenti!” one of them grins.

“Hey ya little eagle,” she chuckles as the girl practically bear-hugs her.

“Is Ms. Y/N here today?”

“She is,” you hear the second grade teacher say before seriously telling the little group now huddled around her, “But she isn’t feelin’ too great today, so I need youse all to be extra good for her today. Can you do that for me?”

They all nod eagerly.

Even with your students being on their best behavior thanks to a talk from Melissa, you can’t seem to pull yourself out of your funk today. You’re usually so good at compartmentalizing your home life from your school life- but now those two worlds have collided, and here you are.

The morning drags on much slower than it usually does, even as the students do everything they can to make today easier on you. And you may have lied to the redhead about having a headache earlier, but now your head is pounding- caffeine withdrawal.

You walk the kids down to their lunch period like you usually do, and you almost head into the break room to grab your lunch and make a coffee, but you don’t even want to look at your girlfriend right now; not after the way she acted with her friends this morning. Deciding you’ll just have to make do with a poptart from the kiddos’ snack stash, you head back into your classroom. Your headache won’t go away, but at least the growling of your stomach will.

As you settle at your desk, your eyes wander to the now cold cup of coffee on the corner of your table. You want it so badly, but you also don’t want it. You don’t want to give Melissa the satisfaction of-

“Hon,” the woman practically storms into your classroom, your tupperware container and fork in hand. In her other hand is a new coffee. She sets it in front of you. “Eat.”

“‘M not hungry,” you mumble and push it away. “Not for that anyway.”

“You hungry for somethin’ else?” she asks teasingly, a smirk written on her face. 

“Melissa, we are at school. No.”

“Hey,” she says quietly as she sits on the corner of your desk. “I was just makin’ a joke. I didn’t really-” her eyes wander to the untouched coffee. “You didn’t drink your coffee from this morning.”

“I didn’t want it.”

“I think if you drink it, it might help your headache.” Her brows are knit in concern for you.

“Please just go,” you sigh as you bite into your poptart. “I just need some alone time.”

Melissa’s hand finds its way to your shoulder, and she immediately realizes how tense you are. “Sweetheart, are you that st-”

“Just. Go,” you practically hiss.

“O-okay, hon,” she whispers. “‘M sorry.” She gives your shoulder a little squeeze and leans down to kiss your cheek before leaving.

Come the end of the day, as soon as your last student is out, you’re out. You leave your salad on your desk, you leave the two untouched mugs of coffee on your desk, and you sneak out before anybody else can see you leave. 

Melissa saunters to your room, hoping that you’ve perked up and are willing to come over again for dinner tonight when she notices that your lights are off and the door is shut.

“Y/N?” she opens the door. She walks over to your desk, a deep frown forming on her face as she sees your untouched food and drink. Your bags aren’t there. You left, and she knows it.

With a sigh, she closes your door and heads down towards Barbara’s room. The kindergarten teacher is just locking her door as you make your way over to her. 

“Hi there, Melissa,” she smiles. “No Y/N today?”

“She was here,” the redhead tells her. “She’s already gone though.”

“I know she was here, dear,” Barbara glances over. “I saw her this morning when she was on her way to take her kids to music. Poor girl looked miserable. Looked like someone kicked her puppy.”

“I know,” the second grade teacher groans. “I tried cheerin’ ‘er up, but it didn’t-”

“We know,” the older teacher tells Melissa. “We saw the way you came back to the staff room after you gave her your lunch. Ooh, girl, if looks could kill.”

Mr. Johnson’s walking down the hall, his garbage bin rolling in front of him. “Maybe you shouldn’t have said what y’did this morning,” he mumbles, mostly to himself, although the pair hears him.

“What was that?” Melissa whips around and glares at him.

The janitor shrugs. “Maybe you shouldn’t have said what y’did this morning,” he repeats again bravely.

“And what the hell is that supposed to mean?” the redhead raises a brow in shock.

“It means you’re the one who made her look like someone kicked her puppy,” the custodian tells her, and in that moment, Melissa knows what he means.

“She- she heard,” the redhead’s mouth falls open.

“Yeah, she did,” Mr. Johnson drawls out. “You shoulda seen the look on that poor girl’s face. Thank God hearts don’t really shatter, otherwise I’d still be there cleaning up the mess.”

“I- I gotta go,” Melissa pats her friend’s arm as she frantically runs out of the building.

“Go!” Mr. Johnson cheers. “Get your girl back!”

Barbara looks to him, clearly surprised. “So they are together?”

“We better hope they still are tomorrow morning,” the janitor quips. “Otherwise, I’m gonna have to do more than pick up Y/N’s broken heart. We all know Melissa can destroy.”

The second grade teacher probably breaks every possible driving law in order to get to your apartment. She’s barely put her car in park before she’s stumbling into your building and knocking on your door rather aggressively.

You’re laying on your couch face down when you hear what is obviously Melissa. She’s coming over to break up with you- you just know it. 

“Y/N!” Melissa yells. “I know you’re home! Your car is in your spot!”

“Go away!” You call back. “I don’t feel-”

You're interrupted by a key being put into the lock. You hadn’t give her a key? And she didn’t know where your spare was hidden? Nevertheless, your front door swings open as she throws a bobby pin back into her hair. 

“What the- dammit, now I have to get a new lock,” you grumble into the cushion of your couch.

“Hon, I’m so-”

“So what, Melissa? Ready to break up with me because you would never go out with me?” you finally bite out now that you aren’t at school.

“Babe,” she whispers as she makes her way over to you.

“I heard what you said this morning,” you spit out. “So just break up with me and be done with it.”

“I don’t want that,” she tells you as she wraps your arms around you. For the first time, you don’t lean into her. 

“Then what the hell do you want?” you wrestle free of her hold on you. “Since you clearly don't care about me enough to tell them we’re together. You wouldn’t have said what you did if you didn’t mean it, even slightly- dismissing everything they were saying.”

“Babe, it isn’t like that and you-”

“I don’t get you!” you finally break. “You tell me I’m your sun at home, and then you say all that shit at school! You won’t even tell your best friend because you’re so ashamed to be with-”

“I’ll tell Barb officially,” she states quickly. “I’ll tell Abbott. I’ll tell the whole fuckin’ world. I’m not ashamed at all.i I want you, and only you.”

“You say that now, but you haven’t even told Barb. You dismiss every comment she makes about the two of us,” you mumble. “Is it because you don’t really-”

“Barb knows,” Melissa tells you. “So does Mr. Johnson.”

At that you look at her, dumbfounded. 

“I don’t know how he knows, but he does,” she shrugs. She wraps her arm around you again. “And hon, I’m so sorry you heard those things I said.”

“It doesn’t take back the fact that you said it,” you grumble.

“You have to know I didn’t mean any of it,” she whispers as she kisses your temple.

“I- I know,” you admit. “But it still hurt that you could say all of that without any hesitation.”

“Because us Schemmentis are damn good liars, and we know how to- that’s besides the point. Y/N, I am so sorry. So sorry.”

You shrug again, but you don’t pull away from her.

“How can I make it up to you?” she whispers as she pulls you closer.

In lieu of an answer, your stomach growls.

“Why don’t you come back to my place with me, and I’ll make you a nice meal?” she suggests.

“That’s a start,” you say with a small, nervous smile.

“And then tomorrow, I’ll drive us to work, and we can tell everyone,” she suggests.

“Mel,” you sigh.

“I’m serious. I’ll tell them- I’m ready. I never wasn’t ready,” she promises. “I was trying to respect your boundaries, and you hadn’t said anything to anyone at school, so I didn’t wanna out you.”

You lean into her. “‘M sorry I was a bitch.”

“You had every right to be,” your girlfriend assures you. “I probably would’ve committed a crime if I were in your shoes. C’mon, hon. Let’s get going if we want to eat at a decent time tonight.”

“Just let me pack a bag, and then...?” you look at her, waiting for her nod of approval. She kisses you gently with a nod. “I’ll be waiting.”

As you leave your apartment hand in hand, her carrying your overnight and school bags, you know the two of you will be okay. 

Next

[qedart]

Time Warp AU - #14 Well this update just didn't want to come together. But finally it's done (all 8K+ of it 😬) and I'm actually rather happy with how it turned out. So I hope you all enjoy this offering of Pete emotional H/C with a side of parental Icemav.

Honestly, Pete had never really got the big deal about birthdays. Sure, when he was little they seemed important. They’re supposed to, when you’re young. But he wasn’t a child anymore. 

He’d learned a long time ago that simply managing to make it through the year wasn’t exactly cause for celebration. A few rounds of people forgetting, ignoring, or scoffing at him for waiting for some kind of acknowledgment of the date had made it all very clear to him - nobody gives a damn about stuff like that, and you look pathetic if anybody catches on that you might. 

So he didn’t. Doesn’t. 

For the longest time now, the only real significance that that day held for him was as a marker of his being one year closer to independence. Living with Mav and Ice, even that didn’t provide the same spiteful satisfaction that it once had. 

These days, he didn’t count down the months until he was free of the people he found himself in the midst of. Quite the opposite really. Ice, Maverick, Tom, the Daggers, the uncles… they were good people. Good, kind, safe people - and they actually seemed to like Pete being around. 

Nothing lasts forever though, of course. He knew that. He was well aware that he was one big screw up away from blemishing whatever image they all had of him, one proper misstep from sending the whole house of cards he’d built around himself from falling to the ground in one way or another. And he was well overdue for one of those mistakes. Unfortunately, it was an inevitability. The sky is blue. Water is wet. Pete Mitchell messes up nice things. 

He tried not to let it bother him too much. 

It was better to just live in the moment, and at this particular moment he had far bigger concerns than inevitabilities or the fact that he was turning 17 in a week. The chief among them - Maverick was turning 60. 

Unlike Pete’s birthday, that was something significant. That was important. That was worthy of celebration. 

Up until this whole time-warp fiasco went down, Pete would have put money on him (any version of him) not making it past 30. 60 was double that! It demanded celebration, even if Mav himself had developed a habit of referring to the subject of his age merely as ‘the situation’.

So when Ice suggested a little lunchtime get-together by the Hard Deck the coming Saturday ‘for the birthday we’ve got coming up’, he agreed that it was a fantastic idea. 

“Penny’s got a barbecue there that we could use I’m pretty sure,” Tom chipped in over his cereal. 

“Nice. I’ll be there if there’s food,” Pete grinned as he made a bowl for himself. 

Tom rolled his eyes. 

“You were going to be there anyway, numb-skull.”

“Boys, please,” Ice sighed, before Pete could return fire. “I’ve not had my coffee yet, let’s just hold off on the bickering for a little while longer.”

Pete sniffed when Tom promptly shot him an exceedingly smug smirk. 

“I’d get drinking if I were you.”

“Pete.”

“Fine,” Pete huffed, before turning back to Ice. “The beach sounds great though. Want us to bring anything?”

“Just yourselves,” Ice replied, shaking his head. “Mav and I will sort out the logistics.”

And that was that. Party at the beach to celebrate Mav’s 60th, be there at 12. Sorted. 

The rest of the week went by like normal, for the most part. He was asked if he was excited about the party a bit more often than he expected he would be, but he figured it was just people making conversation. He and Tom spent most of Thursday trying to find the old man a fitting birthday present. 

“You’ve seen the hanger! How are we supposed to top that?!”

“I think we should probably start by setting our sights a little lower.”

In the end they decided to both go in on a new camera, figuring it was the most affordable of Mav’s hobbies to tap into. 

When the day itself eventually did roll around, Pete was up and out of bed by dawn. Not due to excitement, and not due to any additional birthday gestures like he’d been contemplating (a fry up was always a good start to the day, after all), no - due to Tom. 

“We’re going for a ride and you’re going to enjoy it,” he announced the second Pete woke (with a start, thanks to the other boy dropping his riding jacket and boots on top of him). “Up and at ‘em.” 

“But what about Mav’s-?”

“We’ll see him at the party, I’ve left a note,” Tom announced, grabbing the end of Pete’s quilt and dragging it out of the room with him. “Mush.”

“I hate you!”

“Hate me on the move. There is breakfast with our name on it somewhere.” 

“Ugh!” 

The ride, annoyingly, was fantastic. The roads were mostly clear, and riding with Tom was always a blast. Tom even bought him breakfast and a couple of pastries for after (“It’s your birthday, idiot. Of course I’m shouting”). It was… well, nice. Pete didn’t care about birthdays, he really didn’t, but even still… it was just nice. Sitting at the look out, munching on the food his best friend had bought for him, he found himself feeling genuinely content with life and how it was turning out. A year ago, he wouldn’t have been able to bring himself to even imagine that. It was a moment he resolved to savour. 

“You feel any different?” Tom asked, smirking as he dusted the icing sugar from his Pączki off his fingers. 

Pete scoffed at the question, rolling his eyes. 

“Oh yeah,” he replied, nodding seriously. “I feel like I’ve levelled up, you know? Way more mature now. I feel like I’ve really grown as a person.”

“And yet not an inch vertically? Life’s not fair, is it-?”

“Fuck you!”

Tom snickered, ducking out of the way of the hand Pete swung at the back of his head, before holding his own up in surrender. 

“Seriously though, happy birthday,” he said, shooting Pete a warm smile that made his stomach do that fluttering thing he’d noticed it doing more and more often lately. 

Smiling himself and ducking his head, Pete shrugged. 

“Thanks,” he said. “It’s not really a big deal.”

“Well as somebody with a vested interest in your being born, I reckon it is,” Tom retorted, rolling his eyes. 

Pete scoffed, a teasing grin tugging at his lips as he folded his arms over his knees. 

“A vested interest, huh?”

“Don’t let it get to your head.”

“Nawww, you do like me,” Pete snickered. 

“You’re letting it get to your head.” 

“Is that why you brought me out here, to confess your undying love?” 

“In. your. dreams,” Tom scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Bringing you out here was my present to both you and Mav.” 

“How is me going to go for a ride and being bought breakfast a present for Maverick? 

“You going for a ride and being bought breakfast means both you and I are here, not at home. Which means Mav and Ice have the whole place to themselves, all morning. And there’s no chance of either of us overhearing anything and being scarred for life.” 

Pete blinked at that, before pulling a face at the thought of Mav’s birthday ride and announcing, utterly serious, “You’re the best friend a guy could ever ask for.”

“I know,” Tom drawled, before shrugging as he tucked the rubbish from his breakfast into his backpack. “And maybe I wanted to get in first with the birthday wishes.” 

“Always a competition with you, isn’t it?” Pete scoffed, ignoring the other boy’s derisive snort as he jumped back to his feet. “Race you back to the Hard Deck!” 

“Absolutely not!” Tom snapped, hurrying to his feet all the same as Pete bounded over to the bikes. “That flies entirely in the face of the contract!” 

“I laugh in the face of the contract!”

“Yes! That’s why it took so long to draft! Pete!” 

They didn’t end up racing back, much to Tom’s relief. As a result, by the time they pulled up, pretty much everybody had arrived at the beach. Bradely, Hangman, and Phoenix were still by the Bronco though, pulling the last of their stuff out the back.

“Ah, the birthday boy has arrived,” Hangman cried as they wandered over.

“Ha ha,” Pete scoffed, rolling his eyes before turning to Rooster. “Hey, can we dump our helmets and stuff in your car?”

“Sure, the back seat should be free,” he replied as he hefted the cooler from the trunk. “But really, happy birthday, Pete.”

“Ah, thanks?” Pete replied, a confused smile tugging at his lips as he stepped out of the way for Tom to stow his stuff away as well. That’s two times today. Weird. 

“What’s with the face?” Phoenix asked, laughing. “17 is a big deal.”

Pete laughed. 

“Yeah right,” he replied, stooping to grab one of the bags from their pile. “16’s supposed to be a big deal, and 18 definitely is. 17’s just there.”

“Agree to disagree. But, that raises a good question,” replied Jake, a mischievous grin spread across his face. “What sort of Sweet 16 fiasco are we competing with today?” 

Pete arched a brow at the question, but figured it made sense. Out of all the milestone birthdays, 16 was the only relevant one he and Mav had an overlap on. Though he wasn’t sure how much “I spent most of it in the ER with a broken arm’ would help with gauging the temperature for how this one was going.

Instead he just shrugged. 

“Nothing really special. I’m sure this’ll be way better.”

“That’s what we’re aiming for,” Jake replied with a grin, ruffling Pete’s hair (and then, far more amusingly, Tom’s), before leading the way over to the sand. 

Pete blinked as they drew closer. A lot of people had turned up. All of the daggers were here, pitching up chairs and umbrellas or tossing a football (actually, two footballs) around while almost all the uncles and even Viper milled about among them. Mav, Ice, Slider, and Penny were getting the barbecue started, chatting with Warlock and Cyclone (which was weird, but probably Ice’s doing). He even spotted Amelia and Theo slip out of the Hard Deck, deep in conversation with Hondo (about something nerdy and interesting no doubt) to join the group. 

“Damn, Mav sure invited a lot of people for someone who pulls faces whenever anybody utters the number 60 around him,” he laughed as he hefted the bag further up his shoulder. “Or are you all gatecrashing just to torment him?”

Jake snorted at that, rolling his eyes. 

“Nah. Though he is being a baby about it, so if we did it would be his own fault,” he replied. 

“He actually ordered us not to mention ‘the situation’ the other day,” Bradley scoffed, shaking his head.

“In fairness, Roo - you and Bagman were having a lot of fun at his expense,” said Phoenix as they all dropped their bags on the sand and set about making camp. She grinned at Pete and Tom. “There have been lots of fossil jokes. These two even smuggled a walker on base and swapped it with his lectern before debrief. He had to walk it to the side of the classroom.”

“Cruel,” Tom snickered from beside him. “Funny, but cruel.”

“You know it,” Jake cackled, dropping his bags down on the sand before stretching his arms over his head. “But nah, he’s opted out of a group celebration. Don’t know why. But I’m afraid that means you’re flying solo today, baby bro.”

Pete blinked again. 

“...I’m what?”

“You’ve got the spotlight pretty much to yourself today,” Bradley replied, shrugging like it was the simplest thing. “Apparently he’s got some day-trip planned with Ice tomorrow, so he’s sorted. That just leaves you with all of the attention. Reckon you can handle that?”

…Shit. 

Shit, shit shit - he had not prepared for this. He’d not expected this. What the hell even was this?! He’s turning 17. Who gives a shit?! Why the hell would all of these people come out here, some of them a hell of a long way, just for him?! They wouldn’t. Had they not been told it was just for him? Did Mav wriggle out of this at the last second and now he had 20+ people who’d pretty much written off half their weekend for no reason on his hands? 

“Pete, you alright?” Tom asked, shaking his shoulder, a worried expression on his face. 

Pete grimaced, before glancing around at the others and finding them all looking at him with concern. 

He pulled on a wide grin and laughed. 

“Me? Yeah, of course!” he replied cheerily, mind racing all the while. He needed a minute to himself. To come up with a plan. To fix this. 

Quickly turning back to the others, slapping his forehead as he did, he said, “You know what? I think I left my phone on my bike. Just gonna go grab that, can’t lose another one. Are you guys good here for a sec?”

“I mean, yeah,” Tom said slowly, frowning. 

“Great!” Pete cheered (perhaps a bit too overzealously, but whatever) before spinning around and, with a quick “Back in a moment!” taking off back up the beach. 

Right, step one, calm the hell down. He had to get a hold of himself and he had to do it now. 

Alright, it was a surprise. Alright, there were probably going to be some irritated people down there. So what? He could deal with irritated people. He could deal with people that actively wanted to kick his ass, irritated is nothing. Why the hell was he freaking out so much? Less than a year of being treated nicely and he’d gone completely soft, seriously?

He shook his head roughly. 

He was fine. This was fine. He’d make it work somehow. He just needed to stop acting like a baby and come up with a plan of action. 

He could direct attention back to Maverick. The old man can try and wriggle out of it all he likes but two can play this game. He’ll stick around for an hour, direct as much attention to Mav as possible, whip Jake and Bradely up into enough of a frenzy to keep the momentum going and then make a classy exit. Nobody will even remember he was here and they’ll forget all about this misunderstanding. That’s good. That’ll work. 

…Unless Mav launches a counter-attack. Which he would. 

Shit!

“Pete?” 

Pete whirled around and found Mav and Ice approaching, both looking concerned and not all that surprised to see him up here. Goddamnit, Tom, the snitch!!

“What’s going on, kiddo?” Mav asked, cocking his head to the side. 

“I mean, that’s a pretty good question man,” Pete replied, running a hand through his hair anxiously as he glanced down at the beach once more before turning his attention (and frustration) back to the older man. “I get that you’ve got some sort of three quarter life crisis going on about turning 60, but seriously, throwing me under the bus so you can avoid that is a dick move.” 

Mav, the bastard, looked more confused than chastened at the rebuke, exchanging a bemused glance with Ice. 

“You’re going to have to spell this one out for us, buddy.”

Pete groaned, folding his hands on top of his head. 

“First, explain it to me, guys,” he replied. “What was the plan? Trick everyone here by saying it’s a party for Mav and then hope people aren’t too put out when it turns out it was for the other Mitchell? Jeez guys, I mean, what the hell? Why the hell?! Nobody gives a damn it’s my birthday. I don’t give a damn it’s my birthday. Now it looks like I do, and now I get to look like the stupid little moron who needed people tricked here to pad things out!”

“Pete,” Ice said slowly, holding his hands out like he was trying to calm down some wounded animal. Like Pete was being irrational about this. “You do know this party is for you, right?”

“Yes,” Pete replied with every ounce of patience he possessed. “I’m aware of that. That’s exactly my point”

“No. He means it was always intended to be just for you,” Mav weighed in. 

Pete sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried his very best to channel Ice and remain as diplomatic as he possibly could (it did not help, mind you, that Ice was joining in on this nonsense. But he tried nevertheless). 

“Look,” he said with forced calm, “I see what you’re trying to do, and it’s a nice thought. I appreciate that you guys care and want to make a fuss, I do. But you can’t just expect to trick people into writing off half their weekend for one thing, and then bait and switch with a discount offer at the last second. Wood and Wolf flew in from Texas for this, guys. Please. I’ll see if I can get the Daggers to lay off the fossil jokes, but- …what’s this?”

“Read it,” Ice replied, holding his phone out to Pete until he took it and did as he was told. 

Jake has named the group chat: Big Effing Deal Jake: First of all, how. dare. you? Nat: Seconded! Both for leaving us out and forcing me to agree with Bagman. Jake: Look what you’ve brought us too!!!  Nat: I feel physically sick.  Jake: Ditto. Bradley: Wow, you guys really are in sync today.  Nat: You take that back!!! Ice: Could somebody please explain what we’re being accused of here.  Jake: Betrayal!!!  Coyote: Dude - you’ve been hitting the expresso machine again, haven’t you? Mav: Guys. BOB: Rooster mentioned you are having a get together for Pete’s birthday on Saturday and we’re all handling the rejection differently. Fanboy: How could you, Mav? Mav: Well first, there’s no rejection for anybody to handle. We floated the idea of a beach party this morning and he seemed alright with it. So if you guys are free and want to come along, you’re more than welcome to.  Jake: Was that so hard?!!!! Mav: If you’d waited a few more hours I’d have invited you in person at work tomorrow. Jake: But Roo gets his invite right away??? :(  Ice: Rooster was over during the day, so yes, he heard first. Rooster: Remember how you were supposed to help me fix their gate today?  Jake: Nope. Poorly communicated on your part.  Jake: Moving swiftly on - we need times. And gift ideas. Nat: What a crappy brother. I got my present for him weeks ago.  Payback: Burn.  Payback: Also, same. Jake: You’re a pair of goody-goodies, I’m not surprised in the slightest.  Jake: Besides it doesn’t matter how early you got it. It’s how good it is. Nat: Got you beat there too Bagman.  Jake: Bullshit. Pete and I have a connection.  Payback: Is that what we’re calling you being a terrible influence now? Coyote: Just before these three properly kick off - is this a joint birthday bash? Or Pete-specific? Mav: Pete specific.  Mav: I’ve already got plans for mine.  Ice: And by that he means I have already made plans for him.  Ice: They’re on Sunday though, so we’ll be there regardless.  Mav: And people think I’m the competitive one. My point is, I’m covered, so don’t go worrying about that. Coyote: Roger that!  Fanboy: This is going to be great!! I can bake a cake if you like!!! Lil bro likes chocolate, right? Payback: Guys - take him up on the offer!  Phoenix: This! ^^^^^ Ice: That would be lovely, Fanboy, thank you. And yes, chocolate would be well received I expect.  Fanboy: Yeeeeeesssss!!  Mav: Right, we’re just going to leave you guys to this.  Rooster: Oh, actually, just before you go… Bradley’s added Sly-Guy, Chip_P, E!News, Full_M00ning…  Mav: Oh you little shit stirrer.  Sli-Guy: First of all, how dare you?! 

Pete blinked, utterly mystified, as he scrolled through the group chat (which seemed to go on for quite a bit) before eventually turning back to Ice and Mav. 

“I… I don’t understand,” he uttered. 

“Join the club, kiddo,” Mav replied, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“You helped plan this,” Ice pointed out, a baffled expression on his ordinarily nonplussed face. “I specifically asked you if you would like a party at the Hard Deck?” 

“I thought you were asking for my input for Mav’s party,” Pete muttered, his cheeks blazing with embarrassment as he realised just how stupid he apparently was. 

“The daggers have been talking to you about it all week?” Mav pointed out, equally confused. “Bob asked you what snacks you’d like him to bring.” 

“I thought they were coming to me because they couldn’t get anything out of you!” Pete snapped back hotly. 

Ice held up a hand, cutting that line of conversation off before it could get too heated. Taking a deep, exceedingly put upon breath, he sighed “Once again, it appears that this family’s outstanding communication skills have come back to bite us all in the ass.”

He turned back to Pete.  

“If it’s any consolation, it wasn’t meant to be a surprise party,” he said.

Pete scoffed softly, in spite of himself, but soon enough the begrudging amusement gave way to confusion once more. 

“I still don’t understand,” he said. “Why would all of them come out if they knew it was just for me?” 

“How’s it any different from them coming out for me?” Maverick asked with a frown.

Pete shrugged. 

“They’re your family,” he replied simply. “They’re supposed to show up for you.” 

“They’re your family too,” Maverick argued, his frown deepening. 

“You do know that, don’t you?” Ice said slowly, eyes narrowed suspiciously. 

“Yeah. Course,” Pete muttered, cutting a quick glance to the group in question. Nobody seemed to have noticed they were gone yet, thank goodness. Somehow Pete felt like he’d find himself even more outnumbered if they did. He had to bury this quick though, if he wanted to avoid that fate. 

Unfortunately, when he turned back to the oldtimers, Ice had his signature ‘so you’re just going to lie to my face now?’ expression in place. Never a good sign. Also almost never directed at Pete he realised with a dull pain. 

“You know, you pull that face every time this topic of conversation comes up.”

“What face?” 

“The ‘well if it makes them happy’ face,” Ice replied, folding his arms over his chest. “Be honest with us, Pete. What’s going on here?”

Pete shrunk back a little at that, feeling very much under a spotlight all of a sudden and not entirely sure why. 

“N-nothing. Nothing’s going on.”

“Well clearly something is. And just to be clear, do you honestly believe that we’d have all been fine throwing a party for Maverick and doing absolutely nothing for you?” the older man asked, arching a brow pointedly. 

“I… I mean… I… I’d get it,” Pete stuttered, heart pounding in his chest. What the hell was going on? What did he even do? He took a step back, giving into the instinct to at least be out of arm's length, only to knock into the back of Ice’s Jeep when he tried. Crap. He was trapped. And he was in trouble. And he didn’t know why. 

His alarm must have shown on his face too, because soon enough Ice was taking a step back himself, hands held up disarmingly. 

“Pete, I’m not angry with you,” he said, calmly and far gentler than before. “I’m sorry.”

Pete swallowed thickly, but nodded all the same as he tried to rein himself in, to calm down for goodness sake. He was being so damn stupid!!

“I just don’t understand,” Ice continued. “You know everybody here loves you, don’t you? We haven’t dropped the ball that much I hope.” 

Embarrassment and shame twisted sickeningly in the pit of Pete’s belly. Because he did know that. He knew how hard everybody had tried to make him and Tom feel welcome. And not just as novelty extensions of Mav and Ice either, but as their own, separate people. They’d all tried so hard to bring them into the family and make them feel like they belonged in it, Pete knew it. He saw it each day. For the most time, he felt it too, but there was just this part of him that wouldn’t allow him to accept it fully. Wouldn’t allow him to trust it. To trust them. 

“I’m sorry,” he uttered weakly, staring down at the tips of his boots. “I… I know it doesn’t make sense. It’s not anything you guys have done, or haven’t done. I know how much you’ve all tried to be welcoming. And you have, truly. I love it here… so much. But… but every time I try to… it’s just in the back of my mind I’m always… I…” 

He flinched sharply when something touched his arm, but it was just Ice reaching out to him. All of a sudden, that contact, that offer of reassurance was all he wanted. Sighing heavily he stepped forward and leaned against the old man’s chest, dragging in a deep, calming breath as Ice’s arms wrapped around him, squeezed him in a tight. 

“I love it here,” he uttered. “And everybody here… and I know they- you all care - about me and Tom. But I just know…” 

He sighed deeply. 

“It’s just… self-preservation, I guess. I know it’s going to really hurt, so much, when I mess up.  I didn’t care, when it was just some other home I was stuck in longer than usual, but now… now it’s probably too late already. When I mess up and have to go-”

“Hey, who said anything about you going anywhere,” Ice said with a frown, holding him closer. “We told you, you have a place in this family for life. Nothing will change that.”

Pete sighed sadly, shaking his head where it was pressed to Ice’s sternum. They didn’t get it. They felt that way now, but it wouldn’t last. 

“No matter how hard you try, you’re going to end up alone.” 

Both Pete and Ice froze at that, before turning to face Maverick, who looked all the world like he’d just commented on the weather rather than putting one of Pete’s deepest, most painful fears to words. And he wasn’t done. 

“We’re going realise just how messed up you really are. How much damage has been done. How much of it can’t be undone. And, most importantly, how much of it you probably deserved. And sooner or later we’ll change our mind about you. It’s all well and good to say we’ll always want you in the family if we haven’t seen the full picture yet, because let’s face it, you’re on the good behaviour streak of a lifetime right now. But sooner or later, you’re going to mess up, because that’s what you do. And then we’ll see the real you. The screw up. The waste of space. The guy everybody else can see clearly. Eventually the rose-coloured glasses will come off and  we’ll really see you for what you are. We’ll get tired of trying to bring somebody into a family who doesn’t deserve to be in it and clearly is meant to be on their own. It’ll be better for everyone to just stop trying. We probably won’t kick you out, to be fair - but when you head off to college or the academy… the calls and emails will peter out. Tom will probably find his own people too, when he’s got other options. He’ll stop spending time with you too. It’ll probably be pretty amicable really. But everybody will just go on with their life and there will be no room for you in them. That will be that. Better to just accept it now, try not to get too attached to how things are, so when it happens, at least you won’t look like you were blindsided by it all. It’s a bit less pathetic if you at least saw it coming.” 

Pete’s stomach sunk so fast through the blacktop it felt like he was pulling negative G’s. Mav knew. Mav saw how this was going to play out just as clearly as he did. The first card in his little house was beginning to wobble. 

To his horror he felt his face beginning to heat up and his eyes beginning to sting. He dragged in a deep, shuddering breath, squeezing them shut tight. He wasn’t a baby. This wasn’t a surprise. He wasn’t going to start crying in the middle of the car park where everybody could see him like some child. 

He jumped as an arm wrapped around his shoulders and looked up to find Ice, holding him close again, and leading them to the space between his jeep and Bradley’s Bronco - more or less out of sight from the rest of the group.

“Sit down and take a few deep breaths for me, kiddo,” he murmured, manoeuvring Pete until he was sitting down on the gravel, back pressed against the rubber of the Bronco’s tyre. Biting his lip, he folded his arms tight over his chest, knees drawing up as Ice kneeled down beside him and wrapped an arm back around his shoulders, rubbing up and down his arm soothingly all the while.. “In and out. Just like that. What the hell, Mav?” 

“Just trying to work out what we’re dealing with here,” Maverick replied, sounding tired and sad now. “Pete, can you look at me?”

Pete really didn’t want to. This was all humiliating and painful enough without risking bursting into tears the second he made eye contact with the old man as well. But, at the same time, this was the reality of the situation, and closing his eyes and hiding from it wasn’t going to change anything either, except to make him look even more childish. So whether he wanted to or not, he didn’t have much of a choice. 

Clenching his jaw tight and breathing in deeply through his nose, he (as resolutely as he could manage) lifted his head and met Mav’s eye. He wasn’t expecting to be met with a sympathetic expression. How could Mav see him so clearly, and still look at him like that. 

“Does that about sum it up?” the old man asked, cocking his head to the side. “What’s going on in that head of yours.”

Scrubbing roughly at his face, Pete nodded his head. 

“M-more or less.” 

Mav hummed thoughtfully, pausing a moment, before smiling and sitting down properly across from them. 

“You know,” he said, leaning back on his hands. “The first time I met Carole, she scared that absolute crap out of me.” 

Pete blinked, confused at the strange turn their conversation had taken, but interested all the same. Mav wasn’t shy with talking about Goose or Carole, but he’d never heard that. 

A fond smile tugged at the edges of the old man’s mouth as he looked up wistfully at the sky. 

“People underestimated her. She was so loud and joyous all the time, most people figured she was probably a bit dim. But they had no idea. Sure she was smart enough, but her real strength was with people. She had this way of looking at a person, just looking at them, and seeing past all the bullshit.”

He shook his head. 

“The first shore leave after Goose and I became a team, Goose insisted that I come home with him. He hadn’t realised until we were literally docking that I didn’t have anywhere to go, so the second he put the pieces together it was, ‘Come on, you have to, Mav! It’ll be great. You can meet Carole. You guys will get on like a house on fire, I know it’. And I, for the life of me, couldn’t come up with a good enough excuse to convince him otherwise. I think I was a bit blindsided that he was offering to spend more time together at all.” 

He scoffed. 

“Either way, the pressure was dialled up to 11,” he drawled. “Not only would I have to stay on my best behaviour for even longer, to keep Goose on side - and I’d been on a 6 month streak at that point and felt the end looming. But I also had to become best friends with his wife, immediately. Otherwise he’d wonder how he got that one so wrong. Then he’d look closer, and he’d see everything he’d somehow missed about me before. See exactly where I was lacking. Me getting to keep the one person in the navy, hell, the one person in the world that gave a damn about me - depended on this month going well.”

Rubbing at his scratchy eyes, Pete leaned a little more into Ice’s side, before asking. “You managed to pull that off?”

“Hell no, I lasted less than a week,” Mav scoffed, shaking his head. “And it only lasted that long because Goose and Carole had the patience of saints.”

Pete frowned. That didn’t make sense. He might not know this story but he knew a hell of a lot of the others that came later. He knew Mav stayed friends with Goose, and Carole as well, for years after when this would have happened. How could it not have worked? How did he screw up that badly and still manage to keep them around? 

He shot Ice a confused glance, receiving a ‘just roll with it’ shrug in response. 

“Carole was living in this tiny town in the middle of nowhere Texas at the time. Her aunt needed help moving or something. Unfortunately that meant I had had about six hours of travelling to work myself up and come up with a game plan for how I was going to make it all work. Going in with a charm offensive wouldn’t have done it, Goose would feel like making moves on his wife, Carole would feel like I was a creep, and I’d be stuck with both of them feeling like that for a month. I couldn’t risk being myself, for reasons already discussed. So I decided on the red carpet treatment. From the second I got out of Goose’s truck to the second we got back in it to head back to the airport, Carole Bradshaw would be shown a level of respect and deference that no admiral had or has ever received from me. The queen of England could have come around and found it excessive. But it was the best I had.

“I addressed her as ma’am, I stood when she walked into the room or got up from the table, I tried to help out around the house as much as I possibly could. A big part of the plan was also trying to give her and Goose as much space and time to themselves as possible. I wasn’t supposed to be there, and the absolute last thing I wanted is for them to miss out on time together because Goose felt obliged to bring me along with him. On paper, I thought it worked. Be respectful and stay out of the way. Unfortunately, in practice it went more along the lines of me actively avoiding everybody like it was my job and, whenever I couldn’t, making the situation so awkward it was uncomfortable for everybody. And it was uncomfortable. My god. Goose and Carole, they tried so hard to get me to relax, come out of my shell, do the exact opposite of what I was trying to do essentially. It was not going well,” Mav laughed, rubbing the back of his neck and shaking his head at the memory. 

“Goose knew I was acting off, which was putting me even more on edge. And I knew I was quickly moving past that ‘meeting new people is awkward sometimes’ grace period straight into ‘this little twerp I’ve known for a few months has got a problem with the love of my life’ territory. So not ideal. And Carol… Carol knew from the beginning that I was putting up a front, which made settling around her pretty much impossible.”

Pete grimaced sympathetically at the thought of it all. 

“At least you stuck it out,” he muttered. “I would have just left at that point.”

“Oh, I did,” Mav replied without missing a beat. “About five days in everything finally bubbled over. Goose tried to coax me into telling him what was wrong for about the millionth time and… well, after days of constantly being on red alert, barely sleeping from the stress, just second guessing every single move or sound I made while knowing, in spite of trying my best, it was all going to hell - I sort of lost it on him. Told him he could take whatever friendship he thought we had and shove it where the sun don’t shine because I sure as hell didn’t need it or him. That I'd been on my own for over half my life and I didn’t need anybody, thank you very much, least of all some hapless, sheltered country-boy who clearly didn’t know what was good for him if it smacked him in the face. Then I grabbed my bag and went straight to the train station.”

Pete blinked owlishly at that, confused to say the least. 

“But I thought Goose was your best friend,” he said. 

“He was,” Mav replied. 

“Even after that?!” 

“I know, I was surprised too.” 

Pete frowned, puzzling it over as Mav laughed softly and shook his head.. 

“This being the tiny town it was, the train didn’t run very often, and I’d missed the one for that day - which was just the cherry on the top really. I figured I’d just spend the night on the platform. Didn’t want to risk missing the next one, and I was feeling pretty sorry for myself at the time so it seemed fitting. Which was exactly where Carole found me three hours later.”

Ice scoffed softly beside Pete, shaking his head with a fond smile of his own. 

“Mother Goose sent in the big guns then,” he drawled. 

“I honestly have no idea if Goose even knew,” Mav replied, smiling reminiscently himself. “I think she just figured she’d given us both enough time to sulk and decided enough was enough.” 

He chuckled, tilting his head back as he recalled the encounter. 

“She came over and sat down on the ground beside me,” he said, looking around them, the corner of his lips twitching a fraction higher. “Sorta like we are right now.”

Pete smiled weakly at that. 

“She sat with me for the longest time, didn’t say a word, just waited me out, until she could tell I was ready to actually listen to her. Then she took my hand and said, “You know what, honey? If you were half as rotten as you’re afraid you are, you wouldn’t care nearly as much as you do”.”

Pete ducked his head as, all at once, tears started welling up once again. God he wanted that to be true. With every fibre of his being he did. He bit his lip as he felt Ice pull him a little tighter against his side, and heard Mav scoot closer himself, reaching out and rubbing his arm himself. 

“Do you think she was right about that,” he uttered, voice crackling with the strain of keeping himself together. 

Mav smiled, squeezing Pete’s arm gently as he inclined his head. 

“Honestly, I always had my doubts,” he confessed. “But these days… I think she probably was.” 

Before he could stop them, a couple of the tears Pete had been battling against broke free and rolled down his cheeks. 

“Oh, buddy,” Mav sighed, reaching up to rub the moisture away. “I’m so sorry. Sometimes I forget how much all of that stuff hurt.” 

Pete leaned into the contact, the corner of his mouth twitching a little as he did so.

“Actually pretty good to hear that from my perspective,” he murmured, drawing soft scoffs from the oldtimers. 

Shaking his head fondly, Mav patted Pete’s arm one last time before folding them over his crossed legs. 

“I’m telling you this for two reasons,” he said, ducking his head to meet Pete’s eye once again. “First, and I really am sorry for this but, unfortunately, this is just one of those cards that you and I got dealt. This is something that you were always going to have to work through. Being on your own for so long, and getting told so many times and in so many ways that nobody wants you, and nobody will ever want you - it leaves a mark. That doesn’t mean you’re broken. It's just a hurdle that we get that some people don’t. Everyone’s got their own set. For us - it’s being very, very aware of just how much other people can hurt you, while at the same time knowing how much the alternative hurts too.”

Pete sighed softly, but nodded all the same. That point wasn’t exactly news to him, but it still sucked hearing it all the same. 

“And second,” Mav said, reaching out and brushing Pete’s hair back from his face with a small, reassuring smile. “Even though it doesn’t always feel like it, and that feeling will flare up from time to time unfortunately, some people really do stay.”

Pete lifted his head to look at the old man properly, something like hope fluttering weakly in the pit of his belly. 

“They stick by you as long as they possibly can, through more crap than you could possibly imagine. I know it’s hard to really let yourself believe that right now. I know it feels like the second you do it’ll all fall apart around you, like a house of cards. But that will fade with time and with evidence. You’re just going to have to trust me until then. You’re not meant to be alone. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong or bad about you. The people who are worth a damn, they stay - you just have to let them in in the first place.”

The older man leaned closer, whispering conspiratorially, “Just be careful, because once you do, it’s all bets off. I had one moment of weakness around Slider 36 years ago and now I’m stuck with him.” 

Pete laughed wetly at that, smiling back as Mav practically beamed at him. 

“I hope you’re right,” he uttered, rubbing again at his face. 

“I am,” Mav replied, nodding firmly. “And look, I’m not going to lie to you and promise forever. Nobody knows what’s around the corner. Hell, a tsunami could take us all out right now.” 

Pete scoffed softly, rolling his eyes as Maverick ruffled his hair teasingly. 

“But the stuff you’re worried about, the mistakes you’re worried about making, I’m sorry but they’re just not gonna cut it.” 

Ice nodded at that. 

“Unfortunately, to shake us at this point you’d have to do things that you’re simply not capable of. And they certainly wouldn’t be accidental.” 

Pete frowned slightly, glancing between the two of them. 

“...Could you give me a clue?” he asked. “You know, to be safe.”

Ice scoffed softly, before cocking his head to the side thoughtfully.

“Alright. We’re talking about doing things that would deliberately traumatise others. Not accidents, like a car crash or getting in a really bad fight, though we’d all rather you avoided that too. Stuff that’s just evil. Things specifically done to make somebody else feel afraid or humiliated or less than” Ice replied calmly, brow rising pointedly. “Do you feel that avoiding that sort of behaviour would be a struggle for you?”

“Fuck, no,” Pete replied, nose wrinkling at the thought of doing anything along those lines.

Ice  nodded. 

“There you go. There’s the bar,” he replied simply. “Anything above that? Worst case scenario, you’re the pain in the ass of the week. And that’s a title we’ve all held at one point or another.”

“Even you?”

“Unjustly,” he sniffed. 

“Ask Uncle Sli about it some time,” Mav replied without missing a beat, before turning back to Pete before Ice could retort. “Honestly kiddo, do you really think Bradely was an angel growing up?” 

“Well… yeah?”

“Think again,” Ice drawled. 

Mav hummed, nodding seriously. 

“Off the top of my head, there was that time he threw a party with his baseball team while we were out of town and trashed the house.”

“The bike he borrowed without asking, rode unlicensed, and totalled - on a dare.” 

“The kitchen he nearly burned down because ‘guys - you can’t pause online games, how many times do I have to tell you?’ and ‘I want bacon’ turned out to be a bad mix.”

“The spy-phase that ended with him trying to sneak onto a military base, ours that is, and then refusing to answer any questions or co-operate after getting caught.” 

“I maintain that that was mostly Hollywood’s fault for taking him to watch True Lies.” 

Pete blinked, stunned by the antics of, by far, one of the more mature ‘big brothers’ he had. 

Ice scoffed, rolling his eyes with a fond smile. 

“And we still love the kid. Did back then when it happened and through much less amusing run-ins too,” he said, before squeezing Pete a little tighter to his side. “So try not to worry so much. You’re a kid, you’re supposed to do stupid things. Mav does stupid things every other day and we still keep him around. And that’s these days. He was an absolute menace when I first met him. And six years older than you are now. You’re a dream in comparison.”

Mav huffed. 

“You are a delight,” he said, patting Pete on the shoulder, before shooting his husband a pointed look. “But I think some people are forgetting which one of us introduced himself by immediately talking shit.”

“We were competing and the fact that you still bring it up almost 40 years later just further emphasises what a sound psychological victory that introduction was for me.”

“I mean I wanted to kick your ass all the more afterwards, so I’m not sure how much of a victory it was.”

“Well you never did, so a big one I would say.”

“Bullshit I never did-!”

“Go-ddddddd,” Pete groaned, though he couldn’t help but grin at the bickering, which, in the span of 10 months, had somehow become the comforting soundtrack of home for him (which probably said a lot about Ice and Maverick, but who cares). “Wher’es Tom when you need him?”

“Our point,” Ice said pointedly, shooting Mav a look that said quite clearly ‘we’re supposed to be a united front, genius (also, you know I’m right), “Is that you’re going to make mistakes. Everybody does. You’re going to do stupid things, things that we don’t approve of. And, because we’re here to help you become the best person you can be, we’ll call you out on it. At one point or another, we’ll disagree, we’ll argue, feelings will probably get hurt, egos will get bruised. And then, we’re going to be here anyway. Because you’re a member of this family and that’s not going to change.” 

“And we’ll remind you of that however many times you need,” Mav replied, smiling warmly at him, before slapping his own knees and leaning back. “Now, how would you like to proceed from here? Are you alright breaking the Birthday Drought today or would you like to go home and we can just have a nice family dinner tonight. Which would you rather?”

Pete bit his lip, fiddling with a loose thread on the hem of his t-shirt. 

“I guess I… I wouldn’t mind staying,” he replied, his heart and stomach fluttering again at the thought of all these people, his family, turning up just for him. But this time, he found his emotions leaning more on the side of nervous excitement rather than all-consuming dread. “I mean, It’s been a minute.” 

“You’re sure?” Ice asked seriously, rubbing Pete’s back reassuringly. “Don’t feel like you have to if you don’t want to.” 

Pete ducked his head, a small smile spreading across his face as, for the first time since this whole miscommunication came to light, and before that really, something seemed to settle inside of him. Some knot of tension that had been there for so long that he’d just learned to live with it, seemed to ease just the littlest bit. He did not doubt, for a second, that if he decided to leave now, Ice and Mav (and Tom) would cover for him, would back him up and stand in his corner. Whether they needed to or not, and Pete suspected things would probably topple in the direction of ‘not’ because the others would understand.

Drawing in a deep, calming breath (like Ice had been teaching him) he lifted his head a smiled a little wide. 

“I want to,” he said. “Seriously, if I ever say no to chocolate cake I want you to assume that somebody’s stolen my face and is impersonating me.” 

“Mark that down for both of us,” Mav replied, nodding empathetically. 

“Noted,” Ice scoffed, smiling as the three of them got back to their feet. “In that case, we should probably get back. Tom said he’d try to keep them all in one place to give us a moment alone but the fact that he seems to have managed it is making me nervous.” 

Pete snickered as Mav shot him an amused grin, before they both followed Ice back to the beach. It turned out the old man may have been right to worry. 

“In my defence,” Tom drawled as he jogged over to meet them. “I didn’t expect them all to lose their minds.” 

Pete felt like that was a pretty accurate description for the mayhem they’d just walked into. Almost all the daggers and a few of the flyboys were shouting, waving their arms about, jabbing fingers in faces or, in Fanboy’s case, cackling rather manically. And those that weren’t seemed content to either enjoy the show or stoke the fires all the more. It was pandemonium. 

“What did you do?” Ice sighed as they drew closer. 

Tom shrugged. 

“I casually mentioned that Pete and I watched Die Hard for the first time, and asked what other Christmas movies we should watch. And, well...” 

“IT’S SET ON CHRISTMAS EVE, BAGMAN!!! HOW MUCH MORE OBVIOUS DO YOU NEED IT?!” 

“THAT’S ALL YOU’VE GOT! IT’S AN ACTION MOVIE-”

“ON CHRISTMAS EVE!” 

“OH MY GOD! SO WHAT?! SO WHAT?!!” 

“Well, it did distract them,” Ice replied, arching a brow as he took it all in. “They’re going to go full Lord of the Flies any moment now, but it worked.” 

Tom grinned, before slinging an arm around Pete’s shoulders and drawling, “Wanna make it worse?”

“You’ve been a terrible influence on him,” Ice sighed, shooting Mav a despairing glance as Pete laughed softly and shrugged. 

“Sure.”

Tom winked before calling over the noise, “Alright, maybe Die Hard can go one way or the other-”

“NO IT CAN’T,” Jake and Nat hollered in unison, before immediately shooting each other disgusted glares. 

“But surely we can all agree that Nightmare before Christmas-” 

And they were off again, with renewed vigour and with previous alliances suddenly shattered. 

Pete laughed as he took it all in. Tom’s arm around his shoulders; Mav and Ice squeezing his arm and ruffling his hair respectively as they walked by to try and reign in the chaos; Rooster and Hangman each elbowing their way through the crowd, hollering for him to back them up. 

The fears were still there, bubbling away beneath the surface. Pete felt that they probably always would. Allowing himself to stay this attached, to actually believe that maybe this time, just this once, things truly would turn out different… it was risky. Frankly it was downright dangerous. 

“Right, enough of this!!” Rooster hollered over the noise. “Let’s settle this properly.” 

“Agreed,” Jake replied, nodding firmly. “Dogfight football. I bags the babies.” 

“What?!” 

“You can’t take both of them!”

“Can. Did. Pete, Tom, come on.” 

Sometimes, the risks were worth taking. And, well, he’d always liked to think he was a little dangerous.

[chaifootsteps]

just me or is the whole 'saying this is like fanfic is homophobia' framing kind of frustrating? like just to list out the tropes that have come up so far in HH/HB:

female character is written as an evil shrew who gets in the way of the m/m pairing

relationship that starts with rape/dubcon rewritten into true love (this one is probably more common in bad BL manga but I'm willing to bet there's some overlap)

character is the child of a mob family

portrayals of rape/sexual assault treated as titillating / used for drama

portrayals of domestic violence/abuse used mainly to get viewers to feel sorry for a character instead of making them sympathetic on their own terms

abusers/rapists being all powerful monsters solely to torture the victim as much as possible

characters are either Good or Bad and writing is heavy handed about driving this point home

writers has one character they stan and baby above all others and not only the writing but the world bends around them as they eat up more and more screentime while the actual main characters are shoved to the side

writer has one character they hate and they hate other people liking them so they derail them in the most obvious way possible

writer has one pairing they despise and go out of their way to make them seem familial to shame the fans who ship it

writer has intended pairings in mind but they just kinda happen regardless of how much work has been put in to give them real chemistry

the plotlines jump all over the place with no consideration given to the differing stakes each create or audience fatigue when too much is introduced at once/too many hanging threads are left, similar to what happens in unplanned serialized fiction. consistency and worldbuilding errors abound. conversations/events that seem like they should change the status quo kinda don't but there's so little way to tell which one is which that audiences cannot gauge the stakes and either stop being invested or just take the show as it comes since there's no point anticipating anything being done with a lot of its characters & plot points

too many characters, often some of whom don't serve much purpose but the writer is way too attached to to ever cut out (looking at you, Andrealphus & Vassago)

characters are rewritten on the fly. due to the lack of planning their arcs start and stop or get quietly dropped when the writer tires of them

pervasive attitude of misogyny - female characters are underwritten, bitches, dumb or accessories to the men. The world revolves around the (usually white) m/m pairing/s

the main premise is dropped in favor of shipping drama or character shilling

etc.

There's probably more but those are the big ones - like s1 wasn't perfect but s2 really does feel like it became fanfic of itself. I understand Viv being frustrated if it seems like a broad dismissive brush instead of specific critiques, but there's a couple of problems here:

when people give specific critiques she either misrepresents their points to frame them as bad faith (tacitly encouraging her fans to do the same), complains people keep making the same point or writes defensive threads about how people just don't get it because, for example, the show totally demonstrates Millie has qualities other than Wife and Violent

when people say something 'feels like fanfic' as far as I've seen they aren't immediately using it as shorthand for 'it has LGBT characters'. usually when they expand on their points what they're getting at is a lack of planning and a lack of experience or competency in the writer that gives the whole thing impression of being done by an amateur who's either young or still learning their craft, or both

it's the same lack of experienced hands that resulted in the opening of Hazbin being so amateurish and lacking the sense of having actual episodes until other staff writers were brought in to clean up the mess

like yeah I don't like the implication that 'fanfic=automatically bad' since I've read some good stuff myself and maybe people could be more specific; but usually this critique is coming from people who actually like fanfic, who've read a lot of it and who recognize the tropes from the worst fanfics out there in Viv's work

Viv's little "Um, actually, fanfic is good and queer and so if you use it as an insult towards my shows, you're homophobic" snit is one of the more rancid things she's said. When you lay it all out like this, it really does go to show how her stories embody all the worst, most harmful tropes bad fanfic -- and bad writing in general -- has to offer.

[srslyscary]

tr boys with a hispanic!mom headcanons

| Contents: General headcanons SFW , reader is written as you, mom reader

for the sake of this everyone is alive, izana and mikey live together, you’re a single mother. (idk how many times I’ve had to redo this entire post bc my tumblr would decide to be a total bitch and mess up the entire writing process.)

Including: mikey, takemichi, draken, haitani brothers

Manjiro Sano

# he’s SOMEWHAT of a good kid, he’s just a little trouble maker in the house.

# constantly fighting with izana and you’re the only one who can break them up. shinichiro and emma both try but the it never get through their big skulls.

# you stand in front of mikey with a look that practically says “I’m gonna pop you if you don’t behave” and he straightens himself up real quick.

# he’s not afraid of anyone but his mom, and not because you’re mean or anything— you’re one of the most fun moms ever according to him. you’re rarely strict with him and let him have his friends over. he’s just afraid because when you’re pissed off, you’re pissed off as FUCK. and that means everyone in the house is gonna get a lecture over the smallest things.

# threaten to get the wooden spoon and take away his sweets— that wakes him up straight away in the morning.

# mikey cant speak spanish, but he understands it well. he’s your translator when you guys are both out together, at the store or with some friends. there is no language barrier to be truly honest, he understands that you are more comfortable speaking in your native language and as his mother he makes sure you don’t feel like you have to force yourself to speak japanese.

# if you’re more comfortable speaking both and you can fluently speak them, then by all means do it. he can’t really stop you since you’re his parent.

# his only chore in the house is to wash the dishes. he’s too lazy to do anything else. you’re a fun mom so at times you don’t really make him do anything else. he washes the dishes effectively either way so win win.

# when he was younger, coming home from the dojo always tired him out (even if it didn’t show to anyone). he was always a laid back kid. so you make him his favorite food and prepare a little bubble bath for him, which he enjoys.

# his hair is always silky because of the hair products you buy. you take the time to brush his hair because as a mother you enjoy it. his hair always smells nice after he washes it because he uses the coconut leave in cream you bought him.

# has never once gotten a real attitude with you. he’s always respectful and thinks it’s rude when he says something with a bad tone. he will immediately apologize, and hug you.

# he loves to sleep as a teen because when he was younger you always took naps with him. when he was tired and you weren’t, he would always ask for you to help him go to sleep.

# takes spanish lessons everyday so that he can hopefully learn to speak your language.

# one time you took all of the kids to your home town, and they LOVED it. shinichiro was a total kid when it came to your home town. he’s been here 2 times before when izana was only a baby. and Izana doesn’t remember much but he loved it either way. mikey and emma loved it so much that they begged to stay.

# you remind him that if he skips school he’ll be grounded for as long as he lives.

# overall 9/10 kid, except for the times when he’s picking fights with izana.

Takemichi Hanagaki

# he’s totally a good kid, always does his chores. never has an attitude.

# he cried for everything as a baby, you couldn’t even put him down.

# he also can’t speak spanish, but he understands it well! he’s also your translator when you’re in public.

# brings home a’s and b’s and when you see his grades you congratulate him with a big smile and some cake.

# you actually can’t say congratulations, or refrigerator. in japanese OR English. he attempts not to laugh when you mess it up.

# you took him on a drive with his uncle through the woods. your brother was teaching his nephew how to hunt deer. that’s the first time he didn’t eat meat for dinner.

# AN ONLY CHILD, after giving birth to him you decided one was enough. you were not trying to be greedy and so was your deadbeat husband.. apparently he thought 0 was enough. he left so why does he matter 🤷🏻‍♀️

# he gets scolded for forgetting to wash his dirty shirts, and leaving his dirty underwear everywhere. his only problem is laundry in the house.

# you taught him spanish before he started middle school, and his accent is somewhat off but either way the words go perfectly.

# surprisingly (not really) he’s never gotten popped by you! he’s been a decent kid and baby.

# bottle baby, not a boobie baby. after 3 months of being breastfed you tried the bottle way and he stuck with it ever since.

# he will only invite Chifuyu over, sometimes he will bring Peke J over. I’ve never seen a hispanic mother or father own a cat, so you really didn’t know what to think of the cat.

# he loves listening to spanish music, he loves daddy yankee and is not afraid to say it aloud.

# enjoys eating sweet plantains and mofongo.

# favorite song from your playlist is “Danza Kuduro by Don Omar”

# HE LOVES TAMARINDOS, he’ll ask every chance he gets to buy some. he eats them until he gets those little tastebud bumps and his tongue starts to sting.

# his hair also has a beautiful texture because of the products you buy.. also he gels his hair as a teen with “Suavecito Pomade”.. 😭

# you also take the time to brush his hair for him, it’s really pretty and almost like the texture of your hair.

# when he’s sick he genuinely hates when you tell him that putting on Vix Vapo Rub will help him feel better. he’ll be like “mom I’m sick can I stay home today?” and you’ll be like “No, no te quedarás en casa. Ve a tomar un medicamento y ponte Vix! (no you’re not staying home. go take some medicine and get the vix!)”

# overall 10/10 kid. you don’t have many problems with him.

Ken Ryuguji (Draken)

# you’re so surprised on how this boy grew so tall. his father was around 5,9 and you’re probably around 5’6. so how in the hell is this kid 6’1?

# he’s a great kid, he’s constantly respectful and does all his chores, he even goes out of the way to do extra whenever you’re tired.

# also an only child, but he loves it because it means less stress put upon you. he does all the groceries and cooks in the house as a thank you for always taking care of him as a single mother with NO help whatsoever.

# constantly tells you how he’s proud to be your son.

# he speaks fluent spanish, no language barrier whatsoever! he learned japanese first in school but learns to understand and speak spanish at home. he thinks it’s more efficient if he can do both.

# he brings over the founding members of toman a lot, and you let him. he’s a really good kid and you’re proud of him.

# you found out how him and mikey became friends and you scolded him for 2 weeks straight. mikey snickered watching his friend get scolded.

# the type of kid you had to tell to fix his face because he looked pissed off all the time.

# never acted up outside the house, he was presentable all the time.

# you’ve only threatened him a couple of times to be quiet by saying “callate” while him and his friends were over.

# you’re a fun mom in his opinion, he never feels bored at home because you’ve always got something new waiting for him at home.

# all his friends feel at home when they’re at your house, they all call you mom as well.

# although he loves his mom, when he got to the age of driving he hated that you were in the car with him. you were fine with him driving a motorcycle, because when you were younger your family always took rides on four wheelers and small motor bikes. but when it comes to a car, even you have to be careful with your child.

# he’s not allowed to have baji over when you’re not in the house. baji has a tendency to set things on fire when you’re gone. the last time it happened the kitchen almost burned down because he tried to make eggs on his own. he managed to burn WATER, apparently said from draken.

# when he overworks himself in the house you don’t bother to scold him because you know he is constantly working hard for you. you’re proud of the type of kid he turned out to be.

# also likes tamarindos, enjoy cracking the shell and enjoying the sour and sweet taste it has.

# he likes farruko to be honest. 105 F Remix is his favorite song.

# draken likes to do his own hair now. but when he was younger you wouldn’t let him wear his hair in a ponytail because you though he was cute with it out.

# when he got a tattoo and shaved the side of his hair you were astonished as to where the idea even came from. but you thought it was really nice, you just warned him to tell you next time he did something like that.

# overall 10/10 kid. you love him with your heart. and he loved his very fun hispanic mother.

Haitani Brothers (Ran & Rindou)

# ran was the problem child out of the two of them. you constantly had to scold him on skipping school.

# rindou wasnt that much of a bad kid, only when he took after his brother did you really start scolding him.

# ran was the type of kid to get popped on the arm or head when he misbehaved in public. while rindou was the type of kid to get his ear pulled.

# with those two you had to bring your wooden spoon EVERYWHERE. because when one little monkey sees and does something, the other one sees it too and does the same thing.

# rindou was the only one out of them both to attempt to learn Spanish, so he can speak and understand it. ran is a lazy ass child so he doesn’t understand it or speak it whatsoever. luckily you know japanese and speak it to him whenever you’re scolding him.

# both of them are scared of you when you’re pissed off because both of them are in for it. the slightest thing that ticks you off will set the entire bomb of your anger off and now their in for hours upon hours of your yelling.

# they better get to doing chores and cleaning their room when your mad because those two will never hear the end of it if they don’t do something you like.

# when you realized both of them started causing trouble around town— and when I mean trouble, i mean picking fights with older guys at the ages of 12 and 13— they got their asses handled.

# when they got sent to juvie for causing a guys death, you visited them everyday. you expressed how disappointed you were with them, and that you couldn’t believe that they took it this far.

# they both hated that you were disappointed in them and made their hearts shatter. the look you gave them while shaking your head and mumbling in spanish almost brought them to tears. you? ashamed of them? how could this happen?

# they were picky eaters as kids, they didn’t like to eat plain white rice or anything that was unseasoned. they loved when you made pork chops and yellow rice and beans, it was like their favorite meal. they asked for it every night, and when you told them you had already made it they would start pouting.

# they’re not allowed to have any friends over, they all scare you. you’ve threatened to call the police on them because one of them was smoking in your house.

# they went to church with you a lot when they were younger. as teens now, they use the phrase “en el nombre del padre hijo y del espíritu santo” before they knock someone out cold while fighting. if they manage to leave a gruesome scene they say “amen” every time.

# rindou wears glasses while ran wears contacts. ran hates wearing his glasses you bought him so he got his own contacts. rindou couldn’t care less and wore his glasses. everytime they wake up and forget to wear either of them, you laugh when they run into something or can’t read something.

# they’ve never actually had attitudes with you, they’re usually respectful.

# they get their tempers from you. and their little sassy stances are from you too.

# ran enjoys even now when you brush his hair. you were always the one to braid it when he was younger.

# rindou also hates when you tell him to put on Vix Vapo Rub when he’s sick. he doesn’t like the smell of it, it burns his nose.

# one time when they were both around 2 and 3, they accidentally got into the jar of grease while you were in the shower. they were both sitting in their play pens and you had accidentally left out the baby cream and grease you were previously using to put on them after they showered first.

# when you came out of the shower they were covered in grease and were all shiny. both of the boy’s hair was sticky with grease. thank god they didn’t put it in their mouths.

# they enjoy going out with you as teens, the scared looks everyone gives them as they walk carefree through the stores while you have no idea why everyone is staring.

# it’s hard for them to do chores on their own time because all they do is lounge around or leave the house.

# overall 8/10 kids. the only issues you have with them is the behavior outside of the house as teens.

[kairiscorner]

four words

punk!miguel and reader

yes please 😋

(reblogs are greatly appreciated, it helps get my content out there! if you guys like what you see, please reblog it too <:D)

punk!miguel x gn!reader headcanons

punk!miguel has two moods: being an annoying, cocky bastard and being an intimidating, more serious bastard.

punk!miguel loves towering over you. he enjoys smirking down at you and making you feel just how much smaller you are compared to him–it's not the feeling of being bigger than you that he likes, he craves to hear you cuss at him, and just seeing you get all furious at his teasing.

punk!miguel enjoys seeing you get all frustrated when he calls you those nicknames that just make you feel so... tiny when around him, like he's not taking you as seriously as he says he does: 'baby doll', 'mi chiquito/a', and of course...

"you're late to the action, my sweetest little gremlin." he cooed in a deep voice as he sauntered over to you all cocky, ripping his mask off from his head and shaking his unkempt hair. he smirked down at you and chuckled lowly as he bent down to your level. "what's the matter... pequeño/a? not too happy to see me?" he asked you as he placed his hand on your waist, feeling you squirm away from him and hearing you release those deliciously sweet little grumbles of frustration from your itty bitty mouth that sure knew how to complain a lot about him being a 'more powerful, capable spider person than you'... that can manage to piss you off beyond all comprehension.

"this was supposed to be a joint mission, o'hara." you remind him as miguel beat webbing up the anomaly and hoisting their unconscious self onto his shoulder, opening a portal up to HQ quickly as he turns to look at you with a shrug; his cocky smirk not leaving his face. "hey, chiquito/a, relax. it's not my fault your stubby little legs make you so slow that you gotta rely on a big, capable guy like me to help you out. ain't that right, my itsy, bitsy little spider?" he teases you as you huff, wanting to strangle him right now, but knowing that wouldn't solve anything, you kept your hands and anger to yourself. he chuckled, messing up your hair as he tousled it up with his free hand. "how adorable, see you back at HQ. that is, if you can keep up this time, cariño/a."

punk!miguel definitely plays music, preferably punk rock, but he prefers keeping that part of himself to himself. he's not embarrassed or anything, he's in fact, very confident in his music; the thing is, he wants to be better than he is already. he wants to make you stop and listen to his music, swoon to what he plays; and if he can't do that... then you won't get to see him play until you admit his talent's good enough to win you over.

punk!miguel likes teaching you how to play the electric guitar—he can play a bunch of other instruments too, though, like the acoustic guitar and such, but you were insistent on learning the electric guitar—and he loves feeling your soft, dainty little fingers underneath his longer, more calloused ones.

punk!miguel finds it so hot whenever you act all angry and take things in your own hands; he cheers for you whenever you silence everyone to alleviate the chaos, unironically.

punk!miguel would not hesitate going out, acting as your partner to protect you from people who think you're easy or soft. he hates it when people get that impression of you, but he's actually honored to get to know (and fall for) the real, raw you; one of the strongest spider persons in all of HQ, the most loving yet tough people he's ever met, and the only person who makes his heart beat for real, making him feel something other than it being a biological response.

"hey, now..." his low voice rumbled as he wrapped his arm around your waist, pulling you close to him as he glared down at a few people who kept clamoring around you, trying to get your attention when you clearly weren't interested in any of them. "what do you assholes what with my chiquito/a, hmm?" he asked them in a deep voice as he moved in front of you, shielding you from them. he knew you could protect yourself from all kinds of anomalies and villains, but when it came to confrontation, you sometimes struggled telling strangers to go away when you weren't behind that mask you donned on. luckily for you... miguel's always eager to step up to protect you.

"what? not gonna say anything?" he asked them as he towered over them, feeling you cling on to his jacket, making him slightly flustered, but still seething with rage at how these people couldn't even comprehend what personal space and boundaries were. as they left one by one, he turned back to you with a softer expression, holding your hand that clung to his jacket. he smiled all sweetly and chuckled. "pretty good, no? that's the only good thing about looking so scary, you get a bodyguard as well as someone to help you through all the multiverse's endless caca storms." he says as you move closer to him, letting go of his jacket to wrap him in a hug, catching him by surprise. "what's all this now?" "thank you..." you whispered as you clung on to him tighter, making him choke on his words. he cleared his throat as he felt an even worse fluster afflict him, making him smile wider.

he covered his smile up with his hand and pat your back with his other free hand. "you're... welcome. all the time, you're welcome. but all this is only for you, though." he said, adding that last bit in a rushed whisper so you wouldn't hear it clearly. you wondered what he uttered at the end of that statement, but you didn't mind. you always felt so safe around miguel, no matter how rough, stubborn, intimidating, or rebellious he seemed; he was just a big, cuddly, spiky teddy bear that was eager to hug you back... and do more things with in private (though he wasn't opposed to doing it in private, you two had autonomy over your own bodies. so if you'd... let him... maybe...)

tags !! @miguelswifey04 @hearts4gabri @hisachuu @wreakingmarveloushavok @fictarian @yuridopted0 @simsrandomstuff @luvstarrstruck @popeheywardssecretgf @meeom @arachnoia @melovetitties @fable-library @ophanimgold @smokeywhalee @capnshtfce

[weirdmarioenemies]

This is a post about GUBBLE

Gubble is funny, we all know this. Look at Gubble, look and giggle. But Gubble is not just something to laugh at, it is something to laugh WITH! It is a fun little game full of nonsense words and weird little creatures. I highly recommend reading the manual, which you can find here, as it is actually rather funny! I will be talking about some of my favorite Gubble Creatures! So here I am, posting a Gubble. It's Friday, alright!

Gubble D. Gleep

Oh hell yeah! Look at that rendering. I never want to see Gubble in a "good" rendering style. I don't think he would be able to breathe. Gubble is the main Gubble Creature. He is a funny alien! The gleep glorp kind! He has a wacky skin color and antennae, but his big defining features are his ears, which he is very proud of. I do not know how they work! It is weird to see an alien with antennae AND ears, since I always assume alien antennae are for detecting sound, but maybe Gubble's are like regular animal antennae, and are for smelling!

Gubble makes all sorts of weird noises as he flies around in his, I quote, "mini-spaceship pod thing". He uses that to unscrew screws and pry out nails and anything else he needs to do to detach Zymbots from the surface of the planet Rennigar, and Zymbots are the levels, and you see the word "Zymbot" a LOT in this game, and I think that is wonderful.

They even put "Zymbot" on the cover of the sequel! That only makes the information more confusing than it otherwise would have been. I am all for it! But what awaits you, among the Zymbots...?

Wangry Wobot

"They are red and they are angry. Unfortunately, they don't know what they are angry about, but they know they like to follow aliens around."

Look at this! See what I mean? The manual is so delightful! Wangry Wobot... such a wonderful name! This wobot is wangry... or I should say, this wobot is angry, because the description informs us that it is angry, and Wangry Wobot is its name. All it does is walk, but in a funny way, with those legs sliding back and forth on its body, not bending or anything. I love how flat and minimalist this thing is. Built and programmed just to walk around, yet built with the capacity for anger...

Wangry Wobot Wannabee

"They are not-quite-red (blue actually), but they want to be every bit as angry as the Wangry Wobots. They haven’t learned how to follow aliens yet, so they just wander around aimlessly. Pathetic, really, but oh well…"

Hey! Be nice to them! If Wangry Wobot is Gubble's Goomba, then the Wannabee is Gubble's Goombrat. These are even more endearing with their personality! They look up to Wangry Wobots so much, like a younger sibling or maybe even a child, a freshly hatched robot from a metal egg. I wish we had funny robots like this in real life, but the only ones they make in real life these days are evil. Hopefully it will one day be economically feasible to fund some funny robots that walk around town and do literally nothing but kind of get in the way. Would be cool!

FlatWorm

"These guys like to sneak up on you unnoticed and cause grief and misery."

Wow! I would not have expected to see notable Creature Representation in Gubble of all things, but here we have a platyhelminth that at least I think is pretty clearly a stylized planarian! This one is a funny shape, like a shoehorn, and has a funny depth to it, like it was cut out of a sheet of dough. Now, normally I would be telling you that no animal is morally bad, they don't have the capacity for it, but we are told in FlatWorm's description that it is, indeed, messed up and evil. Just get away from it, please! Get back to the zymbot! Had you forgotten about the zymbot?

Orb

"They just roam around over your head. They're orbs, ya know?"

I am not sure I know! But they are cool orbs! Good job making some orbs! Their eyes make them look like giant ostracods, the most orbtastic creature of all!

Slug Bug

"An example of the bizarre Rennigar fauna. Man, somebody must have gone pop-eyed when that monster was created."

Created??? These creatures were Created??? Even the non-mechanical ones? By who? Mad scientists? Gubble God? I don't know! Whoever it was, I don't think they know what a slug is, though. Pincers, segments, bristles, this is all bug, no slug! Like some kind of larva to me. The five eyes are goofy, but most insects technically do have five eyes, with two compound eyes and three little ocelli on top!

Drone

"Originally used as repair drones, these spidery-looking things will use their pinchers on you just as effectively. Stay out of their reach!"

Look, it's Drone! Like they keep putting in the cartoons to keep them timely! I am fascinated by the manual for calling these "spidery-looking", since it is clearly some kind of roboshark head with pinchy claws. Did you know? Real spiders do not look like robosharks! However, I am not saying the manual is WRONG. Maybe "spider" means something entirely different than the way we Earthlings use it. After all, we say "level" instead of "zymbot", like a bunch of knuckleheads!

Uurrgghh

"The stories go that the Uurrgghhs used to be somebody's eyes and were stolen. Now they roam back and forth looking for their owner. And if they can't find their owner, you would do as well. Want a pair of alien eyes?"

I will bookend this post with another of the silliest enemy names. We really go from Drone right to Uurrgghh. Awesome! Uurrgghh is almost a fantasy creature, a classic eyeball with bat wings, but it has this cool metal exoskeleton or helmet with droopy horns, and three tentacles emerging from the bottom, so it is also fittingly sci-fi, which I think is very fun. I don't think they looked like that when they were just someone's eyes, but put on this protective outfit to stay moist and healthy while flying around with no eyelids. Would you welcome them into your sockets? They don't HAVE to replace your current eyes. They could all be friends!

So those are just some of my favorite silly things from Gubble! If you did not know much about Gubble, I hope you have a new appreciation for it! Be careful out there on those zymbots!

[diacripticcomplex]

Ayayui?

Ayato's POV:

There's this one human holiday I'm fond of, I think it's called Halloween or something like that, humans get to dress up and scare each other, a concept called "trick or treat." I told Yui about it, and she said it was just for kids. Kids get to scare the living shit out of people on this day? I'd love to be a human child if that's the case. It wasn't halloween today or anything, but it would be fun to scare the fuck out of her, and fuck her in the process too.

When I was at the shopping district yesterday I found a ghostface mask, the ones that were used in that American Movie about the killings, it wasn't even scary, I've killed people in more creative ways before, they should take notes from me. Anyway, I ended up buying the mask, I'm going to use it for a scheme.

"Hey tiny tits, wanna watch a movie with me tonight? There's no school tomorrow." I ask her, then state. She gives me that suspicious look, she's really learning. "What movie..?" she questions. "It's an American movie, I know you suck at English so I purchased it with subtitles, what do you say?" I asked her again. She still is giving me hesitation. "You know I went out of my way to do this, the least you can do is watch it with me." I guilt trip and it works, she agrees. "Alright, I'll meet you in your room in a few minutes, get comfy." I command. "Why not the living room?" she asks, I smirk at her. "Cause' we might get horny and start fucking like rabbits." I let out, jokingly but I wasn't actually joking. She rolled her big eyes at me, anyway I went back to my room to retrieve the mask and I hid it well.

We plopped onto her bed, after I turned on the movie, "I said get comfy, this is your bed. Why are you sitting all the way over there?" I ask her, she scoots over a little closer and I grab her, getting us in a cuddling position. We start watching the movie, I believe this was Scream 1, the original it was old but still pretty good quality.

Finally the movie was over, “Ayato why do you like watching such strange movies at night?” She asks me, I yawn “they just help me sleep better, I’m gonna call it a night” I tell her, then leave. She didn’t seemed scared it wasn’t really scary to begin with. But I was going to wait for her to go into the bathroom to mess w her. I put on the ghost face mask and hide in her bathroom, I take out a dagger, it was a real dagger too. Maybe 10 mins go back and she finally goes into the bathroom, she took off her towel she was nice and naked, I wanted to just rail her by the sink instead at this point- that would be an even better idea. I ran up behind her and cover her mouth, holding the dagger to her throat. “What’s your favorite scary movie?” I say in an attempt to sound like a ghost face killer. “What the..?! Ayato let go of me!” She yelled out, “I’m the ghost of billy loomis if you watch that movie you summon me.” I said to her, trying to sound convincing who knows if it’ll work or not? Would be hilarious either way.

She tries wrestling out of my grasp but I have a secure grip on her, I pressed up myself against her ass, I got a little hard in the process I’ll admit that. “You like it rough don’t you pancake?” I say then realized I slipped up by calling her that. “Ayato…it really is you??” She sounded relieved. I grab her ass cheek, then bend her down, I wiggle out of my pants a little and slide my dick right into her, fuckkkk it felt so good that first insertion always does it. I start fucking her fast, pulling her head back and keeping my hand gripped to her throat, I kissed her shoulder blade . Fucking in this mask made me feel super hot. After a few minutes I change the position, I turn her to face me, and I lift her up fucking her standing up, she had her legs crossed on my wait and held me super close, I wasn’t going to drop her but I definitely was going to nut. A few more strokes and I really did.

[1starqi]

Over The Moon

(Part 1: Chicken Scratch) (Part 2: Call On Silent) (Part 3: Easy Talking) (Part 5: No Messing Up) (Part 6: Can We Talk?) (Part 7: Goldilocks)

genre: fluff, college!au

pairing: student!mark x student!m/c ft. haechan

summary: you confer with your friends after your date

wc: ~700

note: your friends still aren't real people. i had a lot of fun writing this one, her friends remind me of mine in some instances which is fun to write. the flowers thing where he asks is also something my bf did which was cute to include

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

“I think I bombed my final, guys." Yunseul announces to your group of three.

“Seriously, what even was the final question? Prof. Park did not prepare us for that at all.” Euna says. You’re lucky, your final was three weeks ago—but the English Department’s was this week, hence why this was your first real hangout in over a month. ‘Ugh, I really can’t think about this right now.” Euna draws you back to reality. You’re on a snack run, walking to the closest convenience store on the brick-paved sidewalk. 

The chiming above the door issues your entrance. “On other things…” Euna drags out her words and you feel the soft cotton of her sleeve knock into your arm as she leans into you. She looks expectant, and so does Yunseul.

You already know what they want, “Nothing crazy happened.” You giggle. God, that was so lame, you think. You giggled. You know in the back of your mind that you’re going to tell them every detail as soon as you get back to your dorm.

“Come on, you can't tell us anything?” Yunseul pouts.

“I’ll tell you as soon as we get home, okay?” You can't stop the smile from spreading on your face. You’ve learned your lesson of gossiping in public.

“But it’s Mark! Obviously, we have to know. You can say something here if it’s not too crazy.” Euna adds. She’s dating Haechan, who’s friends with Mark. Since they’re on the same dance team, Euna figures that Haechan would know something and, because it is considered her best friend, would get told.

“It’s not that big a deal! We went on one date.” You cave, you’ve been seeking an opportunity to pour your heart out to them—and there’s almost no one in the convenience store, certainly no one your age. The soles of your shoes stick to the floor of the store as you walk.

“But he brought you flowers! That’s kind of a big deal. Do you think he knew tulips are your favorite?” Yunseul asks. These are all of the same questions you are asking. Something catches your eye in the store: the flower arrangements. Something about them makes you think about your date and it makes you giddy.

“Actually…” Euna pipes up to your right, “He asked me what flowers she likes.”

“And you didn’t tell us?!” Yunseul exclaims as she grabs a lemon-lime soda from the wall of big metal fridges.

“What?!” You and her are shocked in tandem.

“He did his research, I guess?” Euna says as if it doesn’t make your heart race that he cared enough, even before knowing you. You’re impressed.

“I’m jealous,” Yunseul complains and grabs a stack of Reeses—her favorite. As you approach the register you take stock of your purchase: junk food and some strawberries. The middle-aged cashier rings you up.

—

“Okay. Now, tell us everything. No skipping details.” Yunseul is propped up on Euna’s bed, kicking her feet in her pink flowered slippers absentmindedly. Euna is on the desk chair, her hand stuck in a can of sour cream-flavored Pringles.

“He was just easy to talk to, you know? I was like, staring off into the distance and he caught me, but it wasn’t awkward at all. I still can’t believe he called me! Oh, I didn’t tell you guys this, did I?” You ramble, and they’re looking at you expectantly. “He called me during Prof. Im’s class. I faked going to the bathroom to listen to the voicemail, and that’s how he asked me out.” 

Ding, ding, ding ding ding. You’re interrupted by Euna’s phone steadily pinging. “It’s Haechan. Oh my gosh, Sora.” She puts a hand to her mouth in surprise. Her eyes slowly meet with yours and you see her smile. She puts the screen of her pink-cased phone in your face and scrolls through a series of texts, going too fast for you to read anything. “It’s Haechan! He’s telling me that Mark is over the moon about your date.” 

“Seriously?” You feel the bubble of happiness swelling in your chest.

“Yeah, he was at practice telling Haechan about it, he’s nervous to text you.” Euna’s beaming at you, urging you to say something.

“I’ll text him when he’s done with practice. When is that, by the way?” You figured Euna would know because of Haechan and Mark’s shared schedule.

“17:00.”

[anystalker707]

Boom!

Pairing: Killer x [gender neutral] Reader Words: ~ 1 300 Summary: It literally goes like “says he likes crazy girls, but hates when i act crazy" Tags: Fluffy and funny / Thank god for big men / lots of reader sitting on his lap

Requested by anon "Hey could you do a fluff/crack op killer x female reader who has a devil fruit (...)"

MASTERLIST

• Killer found out you had eaten the Boom Boom Fruit the worst way possible—ended up scaring you in a way you almost blew everything up by accident and didn’t know how to react with part of his mask now black and part of his hair spiked up by the explosion

• Basically, you’re able to blow anything you touch, including air, and your humor/reactions are very much a lot like your ability, so he learned to be careful. About everything, for real, because he didn’t like the idea of you blowing up anyone that did something inconvenient, even more with Kid around

• Because you’re able to blow things up just when you touch them, it sparked your interest in making bombs and, with a limited workspace, you end up requesting Kid to use his workshop for a little. The answer is ‘no’, unnecessarily accompanied by a “you’re not even skilled enough to need it”, which is followed by... quite interesting events

• You are with Killer on the deck, sitting on his lap and mumbling about your day while you play with his hair when there’s a loud sound of an explosion—he tenses up and starts looking around, clicking his tongue when he notices you’re still calm. You can feel his glare, despite the mask, once you hear Kid shout your name, followed by countless curses and crashes

• “(Y/n)...” “It was an accident!” “No excuses!”

• Actually, there are excuses. While he will be willing to do anything so Kid will solve things peacefully, he just can’t do the same with you, even more when you’re pouting and pressing soft kisses to his neck, in a way he will always be trying not to get killed by Kid to protect you from him

• Difficult task, in reality, because you don’t do the littlest bit of effort not to get in fights and neither does Kid, and it’s even harder with things flying around or being blown up at random

• Sometimes, you’re watching someone you don’t like talk and just tell him very quietly “I’m going to blow them up at any moment, no joke.” He does think it was a joke, but then sees you next to them with your hands in stance for an attack, so he quickly runs over to throw you on his shoulder because the crew doesn’t need more enemies—it was already hard enough to get an alliance with Basil and Scratchmen with Kid picking up a fight with them before it’d even been set

• Then, having the annoying Scratchmen around causes a lot of problems, not just because it takes a while for Kid to control himself so the alliance can work, but because sometimes you seem annoyed by his sheer existence. Expect Killer to have you on his lap or at least hold you close the whole time

• He’s actually very protective <3

• Like. No one should mess with you. People will be angry and want to kill you after you pissed them off by blowing things up just because you seemed fit then end up needing to face Killer <3 Imagine big man standing in front of you protectively with those big arms crossed. Thank hell.

• Scratchmen decides he’s done with you and wants to at least teach you a lesson, but can’t do anything because you got Killer. You’re there sitting there on Killer’s lap like you own the world <3

          “Stop it at once!” Scratchmen clicked his tongue, still very defensive.

“No, yeah, of course!” You sighed as you threw your hands in the air sort of defensively. “We can’t be fighting the whole time if we’re gonna be hidden here and have an alliance, man!”

He raised an eyebrow, finally cracking a crooked smile as he scoffed with humor. “Finally you’re being reasonable!”

Yeah, of course. A grin took over your lips. “A hug to seal peace?”

Scratchmen raised an eyebrow but shrugged, stepping closer. The grin was still there when you walked away from him after a hug, though it had a different tone as you snickered; your slow walk turned into running, which he only understood when he felt something go off on his back with a deafening noise and the immense burning resulting from it.

“You little—”

Scratchmen couldn’t even finish it, more worried about chasing you, but you were faster and on Killer’s lap before he could do anything—certain embarrassment took over him at how loud his steps were in the silent room in which the three sat at the table quietly talking; Kid, Killer and Basil, and now, you were with them. You leaned against Killer as if nothing had happened, placing one of his hands over your lap and wrapping his arm around you. Besides the fact Scratchmen didn’t want to face Killer’s wrath, he also knew better than to also awaken Kid’s since you were the only one who could just walk in while he was busy without being murdered.

“You’re being bad...” Killer mumbled quietly enough just for you to hear.

“Shush.” You patted his chest, adjusting yourself on his lap.

• He will complain about you getting into problems, but he can’t !! He spoils you all the time, and once he even commented about loving it when you go crazy in fights, blowing everything up, how hot you look, there’s no reason to complain when you do it now !! Doesn’t he like the crazy ones ? Cool, now deal with it <3

          The crew had stopped at this island to finish business, but what you hadn’t predicted was that the Marine happened to be there at the same time, same moment. Were they following your steps? Was it a trap? Well, it didn’t matter now—you didn’t even know where the hell Killer, Kid or Heat were, each of you running to a different direction at the moment chaos ensued. You tried your best to outrun them at least a little, at least so you could lose them and return to the ship.

“Fuck,” you groaned already out of breath. The fact you barely knew the city didn’t help at all, having you run into a lot of dead-end alleys or blow a lot of stuff to give yourself some extra seconds to think. At some point, you thought you lost them. Not really. You took a turn, only to find a small group of Marines.

“Stop right there!” One of them said; along with his, other 5 guns were pointed at you. You threw your hands in the air, stopping on your tracks immediately. “You better surrender, things will be worse if you struggle!”

“No, fine, fine!” You dropped to your knees, moving slowly; grins already decorated their faces, not even faltering as they should when you smirked because all it took was a touch on the ground for their victorious faces to immediately turn into defeated ones before you could jump over the debris and run away giggling. “See you, losers—” You interrupted yourself when you bumped into something with force enough to fall to the ground, about to slam your hand against the ground when the weight on your chest made you weaker than you should. The familian effects of the sea prism made a string of curses escape your lips, all you could do was to fall limp to the floor. Worst part is that you didn’t see anyone else from the crew around.

“It’s over!” The Marine held their spear to your chest, grinning wide with a cigar hanging from their mouth. Motherfucker. “You—” They were sent flying against a wall, shattering it, by something you couldn’t see; there was just a blur. You didn’t even have time to question what was going on before you were lifted off the ground—Killer held you in his arms while running away from the Marines.

“Better be careful, love,” he said a little breathless. A lot of destruction covered the way he went, hence he had to jump over some debris more than a couple of times, but there weren’t a lot of Marines anymore.

“Nah,” you sighed, resting your head against his chest. “Not while you’re around.”

.𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟.

[hoshibatake]

FREEDOM – Epilogue

Previous chapter

<Several days later. On a set based on the fictitious city “FREEDOM”>

Subaru: Whoa…! It looks a lot more like FREEDOM than I thought it would!

Subaru: You can even actually play games in the arcade. That’s amazing. It’s just like the real thing☆

Mao: FREEDOM is a virtual city, so calling it “the real thing” is a bit confusing.

Mao: But this really is amazing. This place looks just like what we saw on our screens.

Hokuto: I agree. Although it’s just a set, so it's not as big as that virtual world…

Hokuto: But even if it’s just the central area, it makes me happy to see it recreated in such detail.

Makoto: Yeah. This area is especially packed with our “love”¹, after all.

Makoto: Anzu-chan, you asked Tenshouin-senpai to let us film a music video in FREEDOM, right? Thanks for doing that for us♪

Subaru: ...Oh～? Among the project’s business partners, there was a production company that you knew, so you got them to help you with a proposal?

Subaru: So FREEDOM thanks its existence to the network you’ve built up, huh?

Subaru: That’s our Anzu! Ms. President～♪

Hokuto: What is it, Anzu?

Hokuto: …“I didn’t do anything”? Don’t say that.

Hokuto: You handed FREEDOM over to us, and let us develop it freely from the start until the end. You must have thought about correcting our unskilled attempts multiple times.

Hokuto: But instead, you watched over us as we learned, didn’t you?

Hokuto: Not because you didn’t want to guide us, but because you believed that we could do it. I’m grateful for that.

Mao: Yeah. And you even casually conjured up this extra job of filming a music video.

Mao: Our miniature city of FREEDOM, which was only known by a couple of people, will be appreciated all over the world because of this new song.

Mao: In other words, we’ll be able to show our fans what we’re like in this new year. We get to show them our “love”.

Mao: As usual, you’re an impressively competent producer, Anzu.

Mao: ...Alright. It looks like everything’s ready, so let’s start filming♪

Hokuto&Mao: “♪～♪～♪”

Mao: ...But this sure was a strange job offer. Building a city and all that.

Hokuto: Indeed. But it was fun. This isn’t something just anyone gets to experience in their daily life.

Mao: True. I’d love to try out lots of other new things this year.

Mao: Normal things like the stuff other idols do just don’t fit us as well♪

Hokuto: When we just met, all you wanted was to live in peace. It seems as if you’ve been thoroughly corrupted too, huh?

Mao: Ahaha, you might be right. I still prefer peaceful times, but goofing off with you guys is just so much fun.

Mao: At this point I’m fully immersed in Trickstar...♪

Subaru: “♪～♪～♪”

Subaru: After we’re done filming, this set will be torn down, right?

Subaru: I wanna keep singing and dancing here forever. I wanna stay in this world for as long as I can!

Subaru: Maybe I should mess up my dance moves on purpose, so we’ll have no choice but to do more takes～♪

Makoto: Ahaha. You’ll cause trouble for the staff if you do that.

Makoto: If we finish early, they might allow us to explore the city at our leisure. Let’s do our best and make a great music video♪

Makoto: “♪～♪～♪”

Makoto: Akehoshi-kun, can I reminisce about the distant past with you for a bit?

Subaru: The distant past? The time when you were a baby?

Makoto: Ahaha, not that distant. About when I became “Yuuki Makoto” the idol.

Makoto: Do you remember the Venus Cup²? It was before we even formed Trickstar.

Subaru: Yeah. That was the DreFes we participated in during our first year, right?

Makoto: That’s the one. At that time I had more time on my hands than I knew what to do with. The only reason I even attended the Venus Cup was to balance the number of representatives from each class.

Makoto: I was just another nameless idol, one of a countless number at Yumenosaki.

Makoto: But back then… in that venue where most of the seats were empty, you called out to me.

Makoto: “Let’s sing together”, you said. You told me I wasn’t all alone up on that stage.

Makoto: (When I was a model, I was always alone.)

Makoto: (...No. I “didn’t exist”. I just played the role that was expected of me. I was empty inside.)

Makoto: (I enrolled at Yumenosaki because I didn’t want to be like that anymore.)

Makoto: ...That’s the moment I became an idol.

Makoto: By telling me “let’s do our best together!”, you breathed life into me.

Makoto: Although you might have forgotten about that moment.

Subaru: Ahaha, I remember! How could I forget?

Subaru: We stood shoulder to shoulder and sang like friends. Just like this, woo...♪

Makoto: W-Whoa! Akehoshi-kun, let go of me. This way we’ll have to redo the take.

Subaru: Ahaha! It’s okay, the camera is focused on Sari～ and Hokke～ right now☆

Subaru: ...That day there was almost no one who bothered to watch us, but now we have loads of fans.

Subaru: All those people are proof that we’ve been doing things right all along.

Subaru: That’s exactly why I feel like we’re unstoppable as long as we’re with the four of us! If we work extra hard, we might even be able to perform in the unexplored expanse of space one day☆

Subaru: There’s no bigger joy than working towards a shared goal with your friends, don’t you agree, Ukki～♪?

Makoto: Yeah… I think so too.

Makoto: In the past I didn’t believe in myself. Even after I got into a school for idols, I didn’t have a clue what to do.

Makoto: I was gathering dust like a shelf full of unplayed games.

Makoto: But then I met the others, and we formed Trickstar. I became myself… I became free.

Makoto: Sometimes I still get frustrated because I feel incompetent, but…

Makoto: ...as long as I get to sing and laugh with the others like I am right now, I’m incredibly happy.

Makoto: I’m so glad I decided to become an idol...♪

Makoto: “♪～♪～♪”

TL notes:

Every time any of the characters talks about “love” in quotes in this chapter, it was the word 『好き』“suki” in quotes in Japanese. Suki can mean love or like (love for objects, hobbies, people, etc.), and it can also be used in the sense of “the way I like/want”. I interpreted it like this: they were talking about their “suki” in many senses of the word. So things that they enjoy, people they love, the way in which they express their love/enthusiasm, as well as having the freedom to do what they like.

The story that describes the events surrounding the Venus Cup in more detail is “Rocket Start”.

Translated by me, proofread by Altea (@icaruswasthesun on Twitter)

Big thanks to Altea for proofreading all of my work, and thank you for reading!

[felice-jaganshi]

His Pet

Alastor X OC

Chapter 10

Content Warning: drugging and discussing SA intentions. Also abandonment issues.

I also took some liberties with what Val's powers do, so don't mind if it's not fully accurate.

_-_-_--_-__--_-__-_-_-_-_-

The club was loud and Zariah immediately felt out of place.

“Oh… I think I know why my friends never invited me out clubbing.” Her ears laid flat, and her tails were wrapped tight around her waist to keep them from being stepped on.

Angel smiled and wrapped an arm around her, “Eh a drink or two and you'll feel just fine!” He led her to the bar. “What do ya usually drink?”

“Oh, something weak. I got a low, low alcohol tolerance. I also like fruity flavors.”

Husker sighed, “Fucking great. A weakling with poor taste.” He ordered for all three of them before handing over the money.

“Why's that a problem?” Her ears twitched back up, getting used to the loud noise.

“Because the boss asked me to let him know what you like.” He huffed and took his bottle. She took her drink and sipped on it.

 

Angel frowned and took his, “I was meaning to ask you about that too. You and Al, you good? Like, he doesn't hurt ya or anything, does he?”

She shook her head and smiled, “No, I'm fine Angel. If I wasn't, I promise I'd tell you. Swear on my soul. Actually, he can't hurt me. Part of our deal. I made sure to be careful. So don't worry.” She took one of his hands.

He sighed in relief and smiled back, “Okay, glad you learned from my mistakes at least. You know you're like a sister to me… I had one of those when I was alive too, so you can count on me to be a good brother.”

Tears immediately flooded Zariah's eyes, “I- I'm like your sister? I love you too!” She set down her drink and hugged him tight! Husk's hand immediately went to cover her drink with his hand and he rolled his eyes.

Angel was surprised by the tears, “Whoa whoa, is it really that big of a deal to ya?”

She nodded vigorously. “My real brother abandoned me when I was young, and I kept trying to find a replacement all through life and kept getting hurt by people. But now I have you!” She laughed and carefully wiped at her eyes, trying not to mess up the make up he had done for her.

 

“Oh? And who is this little treat?” Pink smoke suddenly blew towards them.

Angel's eyes dilated immediately, “Shit shit shit!” He covered her face quickly to try and block the smoke from her. “Uh, nothing Val! She's no one!” He sounded terrified.

Husker got caught up in the smoke and was dazed by it.

“Oh, don't try to hide her from me, Amorcito. With tails like that, she was made for the screen! How about it, dollface?” Val tried to reach out to her, but she shrank away with a hiss and a growl. She then tried to hide Angel behind her. “Fuck off creep! I don't do sex, and I don't do films!”

Val raised an eyebrow, “What's that supposed to mean? Everyone ‘does sex’, you mean you're a virgin? Oh even better. You should come back to my office then, pretty kitty.” He blew more smoke at her and she started coughing from it. Angel pushed her aside and swung a fist at Val's face. His fist connected and Val was caught off guard. “Augh! This again?! You ungrateful whore!”

 

Angel didn't listen, just grabbed Zariah, yanked out some of husk's feathers to break his trance, and ran for the door! 

Once the three were outside, Angel looked Zariah over. “Hey! You didn't breathe any of that in did ya?!” He looked into her eyes, growing more worried when he saw how hazed they were. “Shit, you did. Husk! We gotta get her home, Now!” He picked her up and carried her off, husk followed shaking his head, “What's the big deal? She's always walking around dazed anyway.” 

“This shit's different! Val's smoke and saliva act like a roofie if ya ain't used to it like I am. Asshole uses it all the fucking time in the studio for newer employees…” He frowned, “You weren't his target, so you didn't get hit full force like she did. You're also a former overlord, so you're probably strong enough to resist it like Charlie can.”

“Fucking dickbag…” Husk swore under his breath. “He's not gonna be happy about this. Might just rip my soul apart for fucking failing him this time.”

 

“Blame me then, he can't do anything permanent to me.” He smiled at Husker, “She's my sister now, so I'll do whatever it takes to keep her safe.”

Husker shook his head, “We're in this together, Angel. We were both responsible for her tonight, and we dropped the ball.” He took one of Angel's hands that wasn't holding Zariah.

 

Once they made it back to the hotel, and Alastor was sitting in the lobby with a newspaper, waiting for them. He set it in his lap, and eyed the three. “Husker, I thought I said to keep an eye on her. I trusted you to keep an eye on her drinks.” He sounded like a disappointed father.

“I did. It wasn't her drink. Valentino approached us, and you know he's stronger than I- augh!” He was dragged to the floor by his chain suddenly appearing. 

“I don't want excuses, Husker! I want her safe, even if you have to die to accomplish it!”

Angel stepped forward, “Hey, stop it Al! Zariah will be upset if you hurt him, she's become friends with him too! We acted fast enough and she'll be just fine, I promise! We did what we-!” He was cut off by Alastor suddenly getting in his face and scaring him speechless. 

“Give. Her. To. Me.” He growled. 

Angel was shaking and held her tighter, “Promise me… promise you won't hurt her or touch her in a way she doesn't want!” He said she was his sister now, and he wasn't going to let her down. Not without dieing first.

Alastor raised an eyebrow, but calmed his tone. “I promise that if you don't give her to me, you'll lose all four of your arms. I'd never assault her in the ways you're implying.” He held out his arms. 

Angel took a deep breath before handing her over, he then went to husk and helped him to his knees, wrapping his arms around him, “I got you, whiskers.”

 

Alastor looked her over, she was sleeping, but not peacefully. His eyes held worry, and his smiling was barely held together. If he could drop it, this would do it. But he physically couldn't.  

He turned to them and let husk's chain disappear. “Did he touch her?”

“Nah, I got a sucker punch in before he could. I'll definitely pay for it at work, but she's fuckin’ worth it.”

Alastor turned from them, and used his shadow to immediately enter her room. He went to her bed, pulled back the curtain and laid her down, taking note of the soft, fluffy stuffed animals in it. He started to pull away, only to find he couldn't move. She had a death grip on his shirt. He sighed, well, where was the harm? He laid down beside her and she immediately nuzzled into his chest with a whimper. He wrapped his arms around her.

“There there, my darling… I have you, you're safe now.” He didn't feel the usual skin crawl he got from being touched. She truly was a unique creature. He rest his chin on top of her head and hummed a lullaby to her, one his mother had used to sing to him. She started to relax and one of her tails laid across them both, the other falling off the edge of the bed.

“That's a good girl. Sleep well, and I'll stay right here till you're better.”