#like clearly he loves them a lot and also realized their family situation wasn't working

[ghostlyheart]

Do you think Stede thought of Louis and Alma when he saw Ed interacting with those kids on the republic of pirates. Do you think he was thinking about how Ed would be with his own children

[fanonimus]

My brother is obsessed with TTG, and I am baffled. We binged it, and I looked around in the... Fandom? I know the show is lighthearted, but I'm a psychology nerd.

Tw: Abuse, neglect, shitty people in general, mind conzrol and trauma. Progress with caution.

Not many people talk about the abuse Robin faces. I don't understand why is there basicaly no angsty content.

I also want to scoop that boy up and hug him and take him away from those people that surround him.

This boy has no positive influence in his life. Get him a therapyst.

He's neglected. I was sick watching this.

WHAT THE HELL DUDE this was genuinely hard to watch, and even the colour coded idiots aknowledge how badly he was treated.

Oh but they don't get away scott free. The little idiots.

They constantly hurt him (which I noticed is a reocurring joke, but it happens to him so constantly that it's not even humour. It's just... painful.)

What the fuck was that prank?

Considering I know his backstory pretty well (look, I watch enough dc), this prank just makes me want to cry. He smiles. His smile broke my heart. I genuinely started crying, alonside Robin. It was not a nice experience.

So they clearly don't have a problem with triggering traumatic responses.

Robin is also almost always the butt of the joke, even tough he is the leader nobody respects him.

Which would be understandable if he didn't try his damn hardest. He's resourceful and can make the best of a situation.

Like the time he got dance powers (which is just amazing, holy shit I want dance powers).

He found great use of an othervise "useless" pover.

Speaking of useless, his "friends" look down on him because he has no powers. Even though he is capable of beating all of them without it.

Yknow, like in the movie.

Oh yeah, nice recall to the movie the one where they competed with the Super Hero Girls team (love that show).

Y'know, where it started like this

And ended like this in like, five seconds.

Abandonment issues go brrr:

He's my angsty boy.

Also, the fact that he answered mind control on the last question, and it wasn't even on the board, broke something in me.

Him being a "control freak" is also played up for jokes, which I personally hate, but you can also go with the route of the Titans just not listening, ever, and Robin, still raised by the batman even if differently than in canon, in a city where if you are not on top you are dead, it's obvious that he developed an instictive need for control. He had gotten used to being on top of every situation, so when he felt that control slip, he grasped it and held on. This behaviour is not good, but he can't help it, and without proper consuling, he won't be able to stop this behaviour. He could, if he just let go of the illusion of control he clings to, a safety net, and we all know one can not simply just do that.

(I was someone people called a "control freak". I worked on myself, and I changed, but it took years after I noticed. Letting go is the hardest thing people like me and him can do because letting go means losing control, and that can be the scariest thing in the world. So I have experience, yes.)

(Yes, I also have experience. No, I am not going to talk about it, but it wasn't physical, don't worry)

For the hitting... Wild hot take and shit: Since Batsy was not a stellar dad, he kept robin in line by means not so family-friendly. (He hit his kids in canon, it's really OOC for him, but we have proof that happened) And it was really effective. Children of abusive parents go a lot of ways, but repeating the parents' mistakes is one of them. So maybe Robin decided that violence might be the thing to keep his teammates in line. (We are circleing back yeah.) But it clearly didn't work.

Edit: Holy shit I just realized that this Robin is all of the worst qualities of the other Robins. Obsessive, Controlling, full of himself, violent, and then throw their insecurities into there too (Abandonment issues, parental issues, anxiety, paranoia). Holy lady.

Edit2: Thank you, Yurki-posts, for pointing out some things my little rant was missing. I shall update it now.

[skayafair]

I don't have a lot of thoughts on Jet after the "Clean break" but I have a whole bunch of feelings.

Junoverse doesn't strike me right into my heart, doesn't hurt no matter what is happening there, unlike some other podcasts, and is very entertaining. In other words, I really enjoy listening to it, it's nice having a safe story like that.

But it also means a lot of things just fly past me unless I stop and consider what I've just listened to. Maybe it's because I'm binging and most of it is while working, so I don't have my full focus on it. I generally grasp the essence of what's going on but not the details, and the details matter.

Luckily I've listened to Clean Break on my day off. So... I need to untangle this mess in my mind but oh my is Jet the character ever. He's probably the only one in junoverse who made me feel so much and more... personally, I guess.

First of all, I admire how masterfully the script is written and acted. Because Jet wasn't exactly the most prominent character before, and we went a bunch of episodes without him at all. "The Tools of Rust" was enjoyable to me (maybe more than I realized because that episode made me type a few posts) but I didn't care for Jet all THAT much. In other episodes his screen time is relatively modest, and I liked him overall but was mostly neutral and didn't think much of him. Was worried for him when they were getting the curemother orime tho.

AND YET the creators made sure that the whole situation in the Clean Break would MATTER to the listeners. That we WOULD care for Jet just as much as Buddy and Juno. That the major issue for the Aurinko family's jailbreak consisting of one person wouldn't just seem like a waste of time and a lot of fuss out of nothing.

When Vespa relayed the situation - that they CAN get out just fine if they leave Jet (who seemed to want that himself atm) or try to get him and end up in this jail forever, - I internally screamed "IS THIS EVEN A CHOICE GO GET HIM N O W". There was litelerally no other option, and that was a fact. So of course they decided so, but the fact that I as a listener felt the same flame inside? Great job.

To me the breaking point was Rita's 4Ever Love minute. I guess because there Jet didn't have to battle anything - neither any outer forces nor his inner demons, - and was just relaxed, comfortable and caring. People often say to know someone you need to see them in trouble, and this is true in a way... although there are counterpoints as well... but to me it's important to see the person when they're at their most relaxed, when they feel safe and just let themselves unfurl their self. That's when I can really connect to them.

And that's what that episode was. I already adored Rita (since season 1 actually), maybe exactly because she lets herself be her unapologetic self very often, and it's beautiful, - but this was the first time when I witnessed Jet just enjoying himself. He clearly adores Rita, too, so helping her while having crazy fun adventures looked like a really fun day to him too, no less so than to Rita. This episode showed me that he isn't just a stoic person with some inner battles and a great sense of humor, but he actually likes having crazy adventures, he has fun this way! It's like he let that part of his past self free that time, and felt generally more relaxed and free. I think he may be overdoing his self control a bit usually, actually... And the whole aroce thing going on that episode helped too of course. *waves in aroace spec*

Anyway, that episode shifted my perception of him enough to make him one of my 3 fave characters of the whole show, and he feels to me probably more like an actual living person than any of them. So of fucking course I was invested by the Clean Break and felt furious when his upcoming execution was revealed.

But I didn't understand all the implications of the way he was being contained in his cell. The only way I came across an addition was my grandfather and trust me I spit this word with all the disgust I have in me, and that was enough to be allergic to any kind of it. Unfortunately it turned out one can be addicted to people and relationship patterns too, so working on that yeah, but anyway, the point is - I can only somewhat understand it. Juno's input was helpful, but only when I've read some posts here (short and emotional, not very informative, but I think that was exactly what did it) I've started to come to the realization.

And it's... horrifying. I think I've realized like 1/100 of the pit Jet was in back there, and even this makes some feelings stir inside. The jail system was cruel as is, but to use Jet's addiction he has beaten once against him, to use him as an exacution example while it wasn't even him - I mean yes his past self is him too, like a person driven into a corner and pumped up with potent agression inducing drugs is the same person, only driven into a corner and pumped up with drugs, - that was something else. I hope Jet's treated properly after this and Buddy won't spare him from her therapy sessions, because to beat your own weaknesses and demons once just to be broken like this, to be bought to your lowest against your will and endure this for months... ugh. Yeah. That's. Yeah.

I need all the comfort for Jet 💔

[breakaway71]

For the director's cut: there's a fire burning in my bones?

Oh, man, this fic. THIS FIC. This fic has been on my mind a lot, actually, since my current 9-1-1 WIP is less a general crossover, and more a stealth crossover with fire burning. So while it's primarily a 9-1-1 fic (the working title is buck sees dead people, and I'm trying very hard to write it in a way that no working knowledge of JATP is required), it's involved a lot of re-reading to make sure the crossover parts are consistent with the story. IDEK. Look, sometimes it's just better to let the muse have their way, and the muse was pretty demanding about this one. ANYWAY! Back in the golden days of the JATP fandom, I had a lot of ideas. It was a hyperfixation that hit hard, and I was jotting down story ideas faster than I could even start writing any of them. But when the Big Bang challenge came along, there was only one story I could even contemplate writing, and that was a story about Julie becoming a ghost. I knew I wanted it to be essentially a season 2 fic. And I knew I wanted Julie to experience being a ghost, but not have her actually have to die in any kind of permanent way. That was it. Everything else that happened throughout that entire story - the entire plot, really, and the ships and the soul bonding aspects in particular - were little "eureka!" moments I had in the course of writing. Usually these brainstorms hit at 3am and had me jotting notes in my fic notebook by flashlight:

Fire burning also never went through a significant editing process. Aside from general tweaks, I was deliriously happy with how the story turned out, considering I pantsed the hell out of it. The most interesting thing, for me, though: Originally, I thought this story would end up being gen fic, or maybe Julie/Luke. When Reggie found her in the music room... Look, you know how it feels when something just unlocks inside you? And you're like "MY GOD. YES. THIS." That scene, the opening to fire burning, was my first real PING! moment about Julie and Reggie. (And I was clearly doomed forever after that moment.) Reggie wasn't even originally the one who was supposed to find her! But I wanted so badly to show the balance of her friendship with all three of the boys, so I decided it made more sense for it to be someone other than Luke in that scene. And the way everything fell into place after that, right up until the first true OT3 scene, happened almost entirely by accident. I fell in love with the idea of all of them together much the same way Julie did. A little at a time until it felt more like an inevitability, and I couldn't even pinpoint the moment I realized it was going to happen. Also: I had two absolute favorite scenes in this fic. The first is when Julie is sitting at the piano, and feels Reggie's teardrop on her hand, from where he's sitting and watching over her body in the hospital. If I was capable of serious art, that is the scene I wish I could somehow convey in visual form, which is probably why Reggie's POV ended up being the first timestamp I wrote. My other favorite scene was after the ritual, where Julie can finally 'talk' to her dad and tells him about dating Luke and Reggie. Writing Ray will always be a personal favorite for me (Family Matters was another story that happened mostly by accident tbh), and trying to determine what his reaction would be in that situation was stupid amounts of fun. WHEW OKAY I HOPE I'M DOING THIS RIGHT AND YOU ENJOYED THIS BIT OF COMMENTARY!

[haleigh-sloth]

Hi! I was curious why you flipped toward tenko being born with his quirk? And why you’ve flip flopped before? Like what are the pros and cons for the AFO giving him a quirk theory? Thank you shigaraki expert!

Shigaraki expert a;kshg;kasng you're very kind lolol

OKAY SO

This theory I was always 50/50 on since I got into the manga.

Because:

It doesn't change a whole lot either way, AFO is still big bad and Tomura is still the one who needs saving--regardless of whichever option ended up being canon

However, after we got Touya's backstory and saw the panel of AFO in the hat and shit, everybody (myself included) jumped on the bandwagon that it's the same guy we saw dropping Tenko off at home at the beginning of his backstory (this is probably still the case but I'll get to that)--and then it led to believing he gave Tenko decay. Honestly, it's not a bad theory--it's super believable and makes sense. The parallels with the MC work, the devastation behind it works.

But there's a thematic issue with it.

The whole thing about Tomura is that he hates himself because:

He's been told he was only born to destroy

He's been told by multiple people that his quirk is proof of this

He's been told that because he was only born to destroy, he "obviously" killed his family on purpose

Now, there are clearly some issues with those statements. Tomura believes every single one of them. The entire reason he can't break free from AFO is because his hatred (for himself) keeps his willpower/agency/independence to take back his identity (an identity that he hates, just gonna keep reminding ppl of that) at an all time low.

Now I had a discussion the other night with some moots about this and this is when I officially flip flopped, and I intend to stay on this side of the fence until the end or until canon says otherwise.

The closer we get to the end, the more prevalent it is that Tomura has to be shown that he wasn't born to destroy, he didn't want his family to die, and his quirk isn't proof of those things---while having his quirk be naturally his. This is necessary in order to fight the "your quirk defines your purpose" allegations AFO and ReDestro and everyone else in the manga imposes. If the quirk wasn't his to begin with, it kinda starts picking away at the whole "your quirk doesn't define you" message, because it's like an easy way out of the guilt Tomura feels for his family dying.

Tomura has to really fight to reconcile that he did NOT want his family to die, which is going to be accompanied by a lot of pain and grief all over again, because it goes from being a reason to hate himself, BACK to being a major, devastating loss--which is what it always was, but he believed the lies that he wanted it all to happen. And realizing that is going to fuck him up, bad. (I'm so excited, I love when my favs have emotional breakdowns)

Having it to where AFO gave him decay would really only add devastation to the situation, but not anything thematically.

I do think there are good reasons for believing the theory that AFO gave him decay. Seriously. But my moots pointed out that it could be a red herring of sorts. And I'll be honest, if it ends up being one, it's a fucking fantastically done one.

I'm also on board with it because tbh, I've written on it before but Izuku and Tomura aren't super solid parallels or even foils. At times they are, in ways they definitely are, but their arcs are more about filling in gaps in each other's worlds than anything.

All that to say, I'm okay with letting go of the quirkless Tenko parallel. I don't think the idea came out of nowhere either. Tenko being quirkless isn't like, a bad theory at all. But I feel more strongly about him being born with decay than without.

[dollarstoreartsupplies]

saw ur post about Danny from escape room and omg agreed I need more people to talk about him with he's so underrated

NO LIKE ACTUALLY THOUGH!!!!

I genuinely love him, he's so harmless and genuinely excited to be there, it's like textbook-first-death-you-care-about-to-get-you-invested, but I think it would be fascinating to see how the story would progress if he had lived longer. He doesn't get much of a chance to realize this isn't just a super fucking good escape room and I'd love to see how he'd react to another person's death, or the more morally-questionable puzzles.

Would he step up to the plate in a Zoe sort of way? I feel like theres even a possibility he'd cling to the concept of it just being a normal escape room for WAY longer than he should as a way to cope with all the fucked up shit happening.

Because if you think about it even his personal tragedy/survival event (while also being SO FUCKING SAD OHHH MY GOD??? how old was he??? was he a kid??? when did this happen?? if someone remembers if it's says how long ago HIS ENTIRE FAMILY DIED let me know) is incredibly passive.

He definitely saw his family post-death but unlike a plane crash or a mine cave or any of the other tragedies in he has never actually seen anyone else in the process of dying, and I think that would be SO interesting to explore.

Like is that why he likes escape rooms so much? Because it's a way to solve 'impossible' puzzles and clever-your-way out of problems in a way he never got a chance to because he was probably asleep when it happened?

(I also wish we got a slightly closer look at how Ben feels about his death. Because it's really no one but Minos' fault but if the blame had to be pointed to another player it's on him. And he's already got a complex about that shit. Danny is a significantly more sympathetic/guilt complex kind of murder than Jason.)

He's just SO interesting as a character, especially because his death is the only non-preventable one. Theres no way to out-think being dragged under ice in a freezing current. I know the whole game is about luck but it's entirely unfair in a way that I can't even imagine would be particularly entertaining for the people watching at home and I WANNA KNOW WHY! Was he always going to die first? Did they underestimate how good at escape rooms he was? Was it a shock value death to keep all the rich viewers who bet on the safest-winner invested? Was it just because he brought a phone when he wasn't supposed to?

Like (second movie spoilers) but especially with the Amanda reveal in the second movie I'm shocked more people aren't talking about the possibility that he's not actually dead at all!

Because why would Minos kill him? If they want to force people to make escape rooms for them wouldn't Danny be their first choice? He's smart, he loves escape rooms, it would be perfect!

The only real explanation is just that it has to do with personalities and who would be most likely to actually go along with them, but we don't know nearly enough about Danny to think that he wouldn't.

Like?? He kind of seems like the easiest of the first movies cast to manipulate in this situation!! He's the youngest, he's naive, and I don't think he's got the kind of Zoe-backbone that would rather die then spend his time building escape rooms which is what he's passionate about.

If I'm being entirely honest I am not going to believe anyone is dead unless we see the body.

Like, in the first movie who are the only two we don't see the actual body of?

Amanda and Danny.

Amanda is clearly a good person to have on your evil-escape-room-murder-game team as it's shown in the sequel, and like I said DANNY KAHN IS LITERALLY THE PERFECT PERSON TO HAVE ON YOUR TEAM. WHY WOULDN'T THEY KEEP HIM IN THEIR BACK POCKET?

((It also makes sense with the sequel, where we don't see a lot of the bodies. The ONLY person's body we actually see is Theo; Nathan falls into the sand, so does Ben, and we know how that worked out. We kind of hear Brianna and Rachel but we don't SEE them. And the might mean nothing, but if you think about it- it tracks, in a tournament of champions, best of the best, you'd want to hold on to as many as you can.))

I'm veryyyy interested to see if this comes up in the next one, I honestly do not think it will, but I definitely think it's a plot line that could be INCREDIBLY interesting to go down.

[blueskiestarot]

I’m sorry if this doesn’t fit the aesthetic of your blog, but I’ve followed you for a while and you seem like you give good advice. Please don’t feel like you have to answer.

I got broken up with a few months ago. I asked for “too much” when I had asked for time, respect and effort. We had argued a lot in the weeks prior because I couldn’t get over the past (he broke up with me once before when i asked for a long term relationship, made comments on my body twice—but it was the completely wrong time and place, called me a derogatory name “as a joke”) were just some of the things I struggled to move past, ultimately I couldn’t move past them and he’d shout at me saying “you live in your head” “i’ve apologised once i’m not apologising again” and would ignore me and become distant when I bought up my feelings.

Anyway, clearly it wasn’t a healthy dynamic. It ended, of course, he said it was entirely my fault and he couldn’t meet my needs, he fell out of love, we’re too young etc etc. Cool. But this break up has destroyed me. I sent a final message via a friend because we’re no contact (he said we’d meet, he never showed up, ignored me ever since). The final message was “I’m sorry I wasn’t good enough”

The thought of everything consumes me. My performance at work has dropped, I have no desire to “make it”, I cry. A lot. non stop. It’s like the whole situation has consumed me and it’s stuck in my brain. My confidence is the lowest it has ever been, I struggle to socialise. I’ve tried therapy and honestly, it doesn’t feel like it’s working. I have very few friends, very little family, I work remote. I don’t have goals or dreams I’m so lost. It hurts even more that I get these stupid dreams where we have that closure conversation or we are happy together. I don’t even think I believe in love. How can someone go from saying “I want you, I’ll do everything I can to be the one for you” “I love waking up next to you” “You’re perfect, you’re truly special, I love you” to “I don’t think my heart is in it anymore, you’re asking me for too much”

Even the way it ended was really difficult. He claims he didn’t know he fell out of love yet i knew from the look on his face and the way he was acting the day before he ended it. I’m so so lost. Why wasn’t I good enough? I did everything I could to keep him happy, I cared, i listened, I treated every word and feeling like glass, I compromised, always apologised first. I did everything.

Oh, honey. Don't worry about it not fitting the aesthetic of my blog. I'm always here to help when you're going through something tough.

I'm so sorry that happened to you and that you're having a difficult time healing from it. Yes, it was clearly a toxic relationship and they were a toxic person but that still doesn't mean that you didn't have good times together and that you can't be sad that it ended. Please just be gentle with yourself right now and don't judge yourself for feeling the way that you feel. You're still grieving the end of this connection and while you can logically say that it wasn't good for you, it's going to take more than that to mend your heart. I won't lie, it's not going to be easy but you probably know that. It'll take time. I'm not sure when this happened but even if it was awhile ago, it's important to realize that we all heal at different paces. Plus, healing is not linear. You'll have to work at it and some days you'll feel like you're making progress and other days, you'll feel like you're making no progress at all. Just know that it's all a part of the process, my friend.

Also, feeling lost and lacking motivation after going through something like that is totally normal. Just take it day by day. You will get through it, I know you will. And sweetheart, it had nothing to do with you not being good enough. How he treated you said more about himself than it did about you? So, please don't put yourself at fault for his actions.

I would suggest to stay in therapy even though it may not seem like it's doing much right now. Again, it takes time. So, keep at it. Unless you don't like your therapist and they are genuinely not helpful. If that is the case, I would suggest getting a different therapist and see if that makes a difference.

Above all, just be gentle with yourself, don't rush the healing process, and allow yourself to cry and grieve as you need to.

I hope this helps some. Love, Tara

[alyszaen]

~ "dating" - seungmin x chichi ~

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embedding in time: Maxident era word count: 1.2k words summary: seungmin and chichi go on a date warnings: fluff disclaimer: Chichi is an O/C invented by @chiskz who gave me explicit permission to create and post this.

Do not repost or translate my work. Reblog or comment if you liked it. Let me know what you enjoyed.

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The weather wasn't great - it had been raining ever so slightly for the last 5 hours, destroying Chichis plan of meeting up for a walk with Keeho. He ended up cancelling as soon as the sky started to look grey, anyways, stating he would use this chance to stay in the studio for a while longer and continue training.

The oldest Stray Kids member had been stuck in the dorms, not finding the motivation to really do anything productive. The enthusiasm to continue studying was long gone, considering she had done nothing else but fill her brain with information about law in the last month. Today was the groups one day off, leaving everyone to spend time with friends or family. More or less at least. Chris was in the studio, producing, as per usual, and Seungmin also stayed at home, not really wanting to hang out with a lot of people.

Or so she thought, because just as she finished sending a meme into her groupchat with Felix, Hyunjin and Keeho, a knock on her door made her raise her head. Logically thinking, this could only be Seungmin, her new fake-boyfriend. "Come in!", Ichi exclaimed, waiting for the door to open. She was right, it was the singer. Seungmin didn't say a word and just threw himself onto her bed, groaning in frustration. "I'm bored.", he sighed. The girl raised an eyebrow, "And what am I supposed to do about that?" "I don't know. I thought maybe as my fake-girlfriend that I am fake-dating we could go on a fake-date.", he waved his hands in front of her face, waving his hands into all directions and getting louder whenever he said a word relating to their situation. "Hmm.", Chichi thought about it for a moment, "I guess JYP did tell us do get sighted on a date or something like that..." She pouted a little at the thought of having to leave the comfort of her warm home during the current weather. Chichi ended up throwing him out of her room so she could get changed for their outing, agreeing to his plan.

The singer took his oldest member to a café, treating her to her favourite drink. Thinking back, the newest addition realized, that this was the first time she had ever spent any time with Seungmin alone. They hung out within the group, but it was never just the two of them. They didn't dislike eachother or anything, there was just never a chance or need for them to get into further conversation. Which was why this was a great chance to change that.

"Did I ever tell you how intimidated I was by your singing?", Chichi mumbled into her non-existent beard. He barely heard her words, "What do you mean?" "Well...I was so impressed by your vocal control. It made me realize I still had so much to learn. But I was always to afraid to ask you for help." Seungmin tilted his head slightly, trying to make sense of the information he just learned, "But I was intimidated by you!" The young woman started to giggle loudly, "Why the hell would you-" "You may have been new, but you were already so good at both singing and dancing. I was kind of afraid you would take my spot...", the boy got more quiet towards the end of his sentence. He was clearly embarassed by his feelings.

"Well-", Chichi clapped her hands, "I'm glad we got that out of the way. That kind of explains a lot." She smiled at the young man in front of her, changing the topic so they wouldn't be forced into an awkward conversation, "And now that we are dating, madly in love with eachother, I feel like we should get to the juicy details!" Her smile went from something warm and comforting into one you would probably run away from if you saw someone look at you like that. Anybody that didn't know her would likely consider her expression crazy. Seungmin was about to ask her what she meant by that, when she started speaking again. "If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, which one would it be and why."

Throughout the date both parties realized, that they had no idea why they never really hung out before. They found a lot of similarities between them. At one point, when they noticed that they were currently both watching the same drama, they decided to schedule movie-nights to watch it together from now on and get more chances to spend time.

Chichi was sure this fake-dating thing could work. Now that they understood their similiarities, they could easily sell that they were in love. Of course it would still hurt, acting like she liked someone, when the person she really wanted to be with was so close and yet too far away, but she would figure this out somehow. Ichi was strong and some stupid publicity stunt wouldn't change that.

A server at the café ended up kicking them out at around closing time, because the two idols had completely missed how much time passed. The sun had already set by the time they went back outside and the way home was filled with loud laughter and slight friendly shoves. Their original mission of being seen in public was long forgotten - it had turned from that into an actual hangout of two friends. Ichi was glad that she gained a new friend through this generally unfortunate situation, instead of just seeing him as a colleague, knowing that acting like they were dating was going to be more of a fun activity, rather than a chore. Of course they had noticed a couple fans not so subtly photographing and filming them throughout the day, but they used it as a chance to cuddle up to the other a littlem, holding hands, basically making it look like they were actual partners.

Back at the dorms Seungmin went to have a conversation with Hyunjin, who had come back from spending his time with Kkami and family a few hours ago. Chichi knocked on Changbins door, wanting to tell him about the day she's had, only to find his room empty. "He's still out with his parents.", Jisung mentioned when he noticed the confused Chichi, while he was walking by. Her view lowered onto the floor, "Oh. Thanks." She went over to her own room, getting comfortable on her bed, but not before changing into some comfortable clothes again. It was weird for the rapper not to be home yet, considering they had plans to hang out and watch a movie tonight. Maybe he forgot?

Chichi tried to wrap her head around what may be going on, snuggling into the sweater she stole from Changbin a few days ago, inhaling the scent of his perfume that still covered the fabric.

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Taglist: @longingpurity, @hyujinnie1, @sensitiveandhungry, @minvho, @skz-jisoo, @minnnie-binnie, @zoe8stay, @l3visbby, @bbyquokka Feel free to let me know if you'd like to be added to the taglist!

[samijey]

I always wonder about Roman's sudden turn on Sami. Like we know, it was about Roman's paranoia, but I always wonder if it was about Sami/Jeys bond too. Like Roman seemed almost DELIGHTED that Jey didn't like or trust Sami and rubbed Jeys face in the fact that Sami was sticking around. The t-shirt segment, having Sami watch Jey, etc. Like he loved abusing Jey, but at the same time, Jey was clearly his favorite, so the game wasn't fun anymore, and now Jey was happy and paying attention to someone else.

Honestly thats something they really glossed over with this SS match. They made it more about Jimmy, the family and Roman and less about Jey and what Roman did to HIM personally and its probably because it would make the story TOO powerful and we can't have that when they are trying to FF to their new toy.

Seriously, it was ALWAYS about messing with Jey as much as it was about constantly questioning and humiliating Sami - it was a 2 for 1 special and Roman had way too much fun tormenting Jey while at the same time keeping Sami on that edge between acceptance and rejection. But oops, guess what! Sami managed to work his way through the walls Jey put around himself and now they love each other??? Suddenly Jey is ecstatic about having Sami join the family for real??? Time to dash both their hopes by using Kevin as a scapegoat! Oh, what's that??? It didn't work and they're closer than ever?? Time to put Sami on trial! Oh shit, Jey defended him with really solid arguments while having actual tears in his eyes and I had no choice but to find Sami not guilty??? Time to set up a fucked up "test" for Sami at the Rumble!!

This version of Roman was always in the impossible situation of wanting to be loved BUT feared at the same time - a balance that is impossible to achieve without manipulation. He clearly enjoyed having Sami around acknowledging him, taking kicks to the face for him, and trying to prove himself at all times while Roman never quiiiiite really gave him the full validation he wanted. The fact that he was an annoyance to Jey was also a nice bonus.

After WarGames though? When he realized that after fighting it for so long, Jey ended up becoming the biggest Sami fan in the group? When Roman saw neither of them were as focused on respecting/fearing him as they usually were because that was now a burden they were sharing instead of taking on individually? Roman SAW Jey stick his neck out for Sami at the trial - he KNEW Sami disobeyed him the very next week when he showed up on Smackdown to meet Jey in the parking lot and then AGAIN when Roman confronted Sami about it, Jey jumped to defend him again.

His two favorite victims now had a close bond and had become more fearless than ever because of it, disobeying him out in the open and getting away with it because they were now protecting each other and that was NOT something Roman was ever going to allow ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[xxpeppermintxx109]

Pep!! Here (again) to tell you how incredible chap 20 was!! :') My absolute favourite part was Aemond's initial response to Shaera's collapse. Not flying into a rage or going numb or being sad but wondering how she'd act in the situation as if she wasn't the one who was injured. Trying to play make-believe as if she was gonna walk right in as a spectator. The part where he wanted to clean the blood hit me so hard I literally cried bc that resonated so much with my own experience of grieving. I think a lot of stories tend to gloss over/neglect the fact that denial is one of the first and most instinctive ways humans respond and process traumatic/sorrowful events. When I first knew that someone close to me was terminally ill, I didn't react by crying or being upset. My initial thought was about when I'd get a chance to cook with them again- which is ludicrous bc I knew deep down that would never happen anymore- but that was how I found myself dealing with the heaviness of everything. The way you wrote that part in the story truly makes me think that you know what it means to live as the characters you write- that they're real, complex individuals that live and experience things the way we do too. Love you for that!! On a separate note, Baela and Qoren really stuck out to me so much this chapter!! Baela- I LOVE HER. The way she's both the family's voice of reason and so loving of her family is amazing. Baela really shone in this chapter- what with cleaning Shaera's blood and supporting Rhaenyra and comforting Joff, this queen had A LOT on her plate. Second mother of the blacks honestly. I especially appreciate how grounded Baela is in the reality of everything that's happening, while Shaemond are fools in love and all. But obviously the backdrop of their relationship is immensely tense and political, and I think Baela provides that timely reminder. Also Qoren omfg, I've always been neutral towards him but I loved him in this chapter??!!?? The way he managed the whole poisoning fiasco and the realisation of what it was that Shaera drank AND how he still cares so deeply about her in spite of what he knows. Honestly if Shaera's not gonna husband him up, I AM. Qoren x ayalou truther now!!! Also I think the manner in which you've laid out the relationships between the blacks and the greens in this fic is so intricate. And it really came to the forefront this chapter. A regret I've always had after reading f&b is that there wasn't much room given to exploring the complexity of the relationships between both parties. It was pretty clear they hated each other, yes, but there wasn't the same kind of tension and layeredness to it as GLBH imo. Anyway I can't believe I've written a whole essay in your asks AGAIN (when I struggle with writing 1-paragraph long discussion posts for school lol)- sorry if I was rambling!! TLDR: I love you + your work so much and cried multiple times reading this chapter. Sending you warm hugs!! <3

AHHH HI AYA! THANK U FOR THIS DEVASTATINGLY KIND ASK!! I’ve been wanting to post a little something but I like to give people like 5 ish days before I post anything about the chapter, so I hope that’s okay!!

THE DENIAL!! While Aemond is certainly the most rash out of all of them (in my opinion cause of his actions in f&b and even a little in hotd), I think there’s a certain hesitance. And denial! Because why would anyone think that Shaera of all people has been poisoned? Shaera mf Velaryon?? The girl who literally could not even hurt a fly?? There’s also a realization that the girl he very much is infatuated with is doing something she should not be (bleeding) and that’s fucking horrifying. He knows blood bothers her and he knows that he would do anything to keep her from bleeding if it meant she was comfortable, but he can’t do that, and I think that makes him go error 404 for a moment, and even then that denial carries over to when he finds out about the betrothals. Now he’s agitated and clearly ready to snap (and he does a little), but when he hears about the marriages, he has to shut down again before he does something bad and there’s something dangerous about him rn. He’s not acting poised—save for when he goes to Shaera’s bedside, but even then, he’s brought to tears even if he doesn’t realize it—and that’s not the Aemond that Alicent (and Criston) raised, and only his siblings are realizing that.

I’m so glad you loved Baela and Qoren this chapter!! They’re some of my favorite characters to write! Baela truly is the voice of reason and she cares so much about keeping everyone safe and happy, even if that means risking the short-term happiness here and there. She truly thinks like the future Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and she’s certainly the best of Daemon and Laena, and that’s why I love her so fucking much (even if people are upset she’s not team shaemond LMAO—Guys it’s for a good reason!!). And Qoren!! My dilf. My king. My baby girl. Qoren certainly has his jealous moments prior to this chapter but there’s a certain smugness about him. A security. He knows that he has Shaera’s hand secured and at this moment in time, he could care less who she’s fucking (though he certainly has his suspicions and it’s not a happy thought) because that’s not what matters. This isn’t the right time for him to get jealous (or at all) and he understands that because he’s older, more mature, and has many more life experiences than some people sksksksk. His goal isn’t even to save Shaera cause he wants to marry her but because she deserves to be saved. She deserves to live, and Qoren will not see another woman die unnecessarily if he can help it (and he can certainly help it this time, whereas with his wife, he couldn’t.)

I’m so glad the relationships are landing. That means so much to mean cause I spend so much time on making sure I build them as organically as possible. They take a lot of time, but I always feel so pleased with how they turn out with each chapter and I’m so happy that people love them all just as much as I do.

Thank u so very much for this lovely comment aya. I loved it and I hope this response ,does it justice <3

-p

[ndostairlyrium]

MA QUANTO TEMPO, wait that I'll throw you some family prompts.

👩, 👍 for Hawke, 💕, ✨ for Ankh, 😞, ⚰️ for Ela!

( of course, skip any you don't like, they're… A lot, LOL)

GLI EONI 💛💛

Hawke:

👩 - What's your muse's relationship with their mother, what made it that way?

Leandra is a very cautious person, protective of her children. Being Hawke the guy with the thunderous laugh in the back of the room and the occasional "I turned Carvers hair into moss because he was being annoying" sibling, you can see why their relationship was rocky to say the least. Malcolm acted like Switzerland between them but most of the times it wasn't enough. They were clearly different people, they still are.

It's when Malcolm died that Hawke realized that his mother was acting a certain way for a reason, consequently he changed his behavior to ease her role as a single parent. He soon became someone to rely on, working alongside her with much more passion, plus he toned down his personality to avoid unpleasant attentions.

Usually, when parents are left alone with children depending on them, they either become superheroes with iron shoulders or they look for another adult in the room for assistance. In Hawke's case, unfortunately the second option happened. He was treated like the other adult in the household while he was still developing his identity. I think that's one of the reasons why Carver just antagonizes him at every possible occasion; he's not his dad and he's not acting like his silly big brother again. Who is Hawke? Why he's in charge? Why does he think it's best to do certain things without even consulting him and Bethany about it?

I can sympathize with Leandra for acting like this tho, growing three kids (two of them being mages) without someone helping is probably one of the hardest roles you can ever have. "Yeah but she could've asked for help rather than putting such responsibilities to her kid"

Listen Judy, the woman has kids with magic. What if she asked for help to the wrong person? One that could give templars a call and just take what's left of her family away, for example. She's alone, in a different country, her dreams have just been shattered in the worst way. She's just a human trying to survive an environment that is trying to crush her; realistically, a perfect reaction to crises rarely occurs.

What I'm trying to say is, Leandra's situation has never been easy. But she was also the adult in the room and she wasn't fair with her older kid.

Hawke took the lead because he understood his mother's struggle, but she failed to fulfill her children needs in return. But she also did her best? That's why Hawke was adamant to give her a better life in Kirkwall, he knows she could have done more, but also he knows that she just needs a different environment to grow and thrive.

tl;dr: he knows her flaws, but he can't help but love her profoundly even if he has all the rights to fail and process his trauma without having to act like nothing can touch him

👍 - Does your muse think they’re a good child and/or sibling?

No, because he blames himself for everything bad happened to his family. But he's a great child and sibling.

Ankh:

💕 - What are your muse’s thoughts on parenting and being a parent even if they aren’t one?

Actually, I never planned anything for this lol

I know she wants to generate a chaos elemental and the guy is into the idea as well, but there are quite the maluses involved in such a concept (anchor messing up with the inquisitor's body, age, lyrium influence on fertility, plus elves being unfortunate when it comes to their reproductive system). Hopefully they'll have that experience, I'm just not too eager to explore the implications surrounding it :'D and Bonbon is already a fulltime parenting job. Could be a training ground for the most poofy haired kid in existence? We'll see, we'll see

✨ - How important is family to your muse?

Fundamental.

Her concept of family is different from the standard parent 1 parent 2 (3,4...), plus spawn. For her, family is the ensemble of all her loved ones, including her clan, her people in general, and the ones who entered her life by seeking her protection. She doesn't think of her blood relatives more than she would think of Cassandra.

Which is why when someone betrays her, the world just stops making sense.

Ela:

😞 - Finding an orphaned child would your muse opt to take them in, find someone more qualified, or just leave them?

A Warden's life is not suited for a child. Before the Chantry just forced the Wardens to get rid of Anders, probably she would have left them to a flock of mothers/sisters to take care of them. In this moment she would probably claim a couple of favors and place them in the most suitable household. The girl has a heart

⚰️ - How would the loss of a family member affect them? Does it vary based on type of family member?

Being a traumatized orphan still, she would take the loss of his brother in the most heartbreaking way possible. She knows her clock is ticking faster than his, and it would be an upsetting surprise if he was the one walking through the Veil first.

She would honor his name by all means, even if this would end in losing all the freedom she struggled to capture all those years she was away from Highever. She would return home and stay in court to protect the designated heir until the situation is cleared from any threat, sacrificing her tasks in order to celebrate what her brother accomplished while she was away.

Now

If Alistair died (Warden Alistair in my worldstate) it would be tragic in the most greek-theatre-like possible way, because he became the most stable presence in her life since the loss of her family. He's the air she breathes, her compass whenever the morality of a situation gets blurry, the man that made her say "not all men suck" for once. She wants to give him a better future, it's irrelevant if she's involved in it or not.

She knows she's on borrowed time, grasping every minute with what's left of her nails, but he doesn't need to carry such burden. He deserves happiness, he deserves the world. And she wants to give it to him on a silver platter.

If her brother died she would have a plan, but if Alistair died nothing in her life would make sense anymore.

The ask meme

[aimbutmiss]

https://www.tumblr.com/aimbutmiss/748143921530535936/i-just-came-across-a-zosan-post-about-zoro-on-wci?source=share

I don't know, I think we can all have different opinions.

And you know, I disagree with you. Look, I don't think they would fight, something that Zoro and Sanji have in common is not interfering in their captain's problems unless they see it necessary and Zoro is also someone very perceptive. Which makes me think that maybe he would have realized why Sanji was acting like that, who knows?

But I do know that Zoro would not have interfered in Sanji and Luffy's "fight", nor would he fight Sanji unless he thought it was necessary.

I advise you not to take their silly "fights" as something that would become a problem in a serious moment, when you know that in situations like this Zoro and Sanji put that aside to work together to the point of having the same opinion about the situation and supporting each other

Also stop believing that at this point Zoro would put Luffy first over all the Strawhats, it sounds similar to those who say that Zoro would kill any Strawhat if Luffy asked him to.

At this point in the story Zoro has learned because of what happened with Nami, Usopp and Robin, that it is better to first know what is happening before acting.

Yes, at first he had a different reaction with Sanji because their dynamic is different and he trusts Sanji and he felt betrayed, but that would not cause a serious fight, and after knowing what was happening he felt worried for Sanji (Luffy said it), but Zoro had to continue pretending that he didn't care about Sanji, because that's how they and their relationship are.

The Strawhats are his family and he is the protector of the crew, in situations like this he would first want to know what is happening and then decide what to do.

I was gonna start this post by thanking you for stating your disagreement in kind words but some sentences are too stabby for my liking so I'll skip the pleasantries. I will not hold it against you, though. I got really heated in my initial post too after all.

Look, we both clearly care about these characters and that's why my thoughts, which are clearly different to yours, bothered you so much—enough to write this long ass ask at least. So out of my respect and understanding for your feelings, I'm gonna try to go through everything you said one by one. Forgive me if I fail to be clear and miss anything.

First of all, you're making a lot of assumptions about me and my thoughts from simply one short post. I never said the "fight" in question would be anything like their gag fights. I wasn't even referring to a physical fight, more of a verbal clash of two individuals struggling through a mentally exhausting and borderline traumatising event. I could have worded it better initially, so maybe that's on me.

Zoro is emotionally intelligent indeed. He's good at reading people and he knows it's better not to assume, especially from experience Iike you've said. However, he's not one for words. He doesn't comment on things, and when he does he can be easily misunderstood because he's not good with words. And Sanji is an overthinker with deeply rooted self esteem issues. The two just don't mix, it's recipe for disaster. Even if Zoro knows something is wrong and Sanji has his reasons for leaving, he's not gonna be able to articulate that clearly. One wrong word could set off Sanji's already spiriling mind and set off a screaming match. Not a silly one, no, a very emotionally taxing argument that would do nothing in terms of them solving their problems. If anything, it would make things worse by pushing Sanji further away and making Zoro feel guilty and tired. The last thing Luffy needs is dealing with extra baggage.

I also hate when people say "Zoro would kill his crewmates for Luffy" because it completely erases Zoro's love for his friends. Here again you've put my words into my own mouth and made an incorrect assumption about my thoughts. We actually agree here, to some extent. You know I finished that post by saying "fanon thrives when it's built on canon" right??? Ignoring Zoro's love and care for his crewmates is exactly what I'm against because it stomps all over Zoro's character. When I said Zoro always puts Luffy first, I was referring to his dedication to his status as captain. He knows Luffy will never back down from getting back Sanji, and that is not a problem for him, however the moment Sanji does anything to disrespect Luffy his first mate instincts will clash with what Luffy wants. Just like back in Water 7 when he made sure Usopp apologized before coming back. What makes you think he wouldn't hold Sanji to the same standard??? "It's been two years, he must have learnt from his mistakes-" but was what he did even a mistake? I don't think so. Zoro is a man with ideals and he would have upheld them to the end, even if it ended up making things tougher on Luffy and Sanji. Because in the end, it was for the crew's own benefit.

Of course the straw hats are Zoro's family and he cares deeply for them. I never said that wasn't the case. But wanting to do what's best for your crew and actually doing it are two different things. People make mistakes, especially in high stress situations like Whole Cake. Zoro's not perfect, he's a 21 year old who's deeply worried for his friends and that means he could easily mess it up, just like any of them. But I just think Zoro's chances of reaching out to help Sanji in wci is much lower than other crewmates for reasons explained above. I truly believe Sanji would have benefited most from having Usopp or Robin there but I'm not gonna elaborate on that because this isn't about that.

Anyways, in the end I can't tell anyone what to do. Everyone has the freedom to read and write whatever they want. My post wasn't about that, I never targeted anyone either. I could have easily left a mean comment on the post I saw, but I'm not about bringing other people down. It just bothers me when people don't take the characters’ personality into account when they're coming up with scenarios and headcanons. I was frustrated so I made that post, that's it. You could have easily scrolled past it if it bothered you so much, like I did with the post I didn't like. Well, either way, thank you for deeming me worthy enough to waste your time on. I appreciate it 👍🏻

[thatoneguy031]

So, I realized that I never really did anything for Pride Month. My bad, especially since I'm a member of that group.

I know it isn't a lot, but what if I talked about where my characters sat on the LGBT spectrum? That works for you guys, right?

First things first, Delta. Hoo boy, is he an odd case. Like, he's obviously asexual, he literally doesn't even have genitals to begin with. But, as you'll see way, way later in his storyline, he is interested in the concept of romance. And, he follows the "It doesn't matter, love is love" mentality, so I guess he's panromantic? Is that a term?

On top of that, he's not really opposed to the idea of crossdressing or looking feminine or anything. He's the kind of guy to wear a full, Princess Peach-styled dress because it's comfy, or something like that. He goes by any and all pronouns, but I use he/him in my stories about him, for no reason in particular.

For Jason, he's ace/aro, simply put, clear-cut as his Oshawott's fighting style. Similarly to Ash, he doesn't really care for love too much, as long as you and your Pokemon are strong and give him a solid challenge, which you'll see more and more time passes(He referred to Bianca as "girlfriend," because they were just that close with each other to do stuff like that. They weren't dating or anything). The only "love" he shows is towards Jayden and his Pokemon, who is family and are considered family respectively.

Trevor, as I've mentioned before, is straight and questioning. He's always thought he just liked girls when he was in middle and high school, but his best friend, Bryant...

Bryant. Just Bryant.

...Yeah, that Floatzel definitely flipped Trevor's world view on its head, and now he's just confused. Please send your condolences for our turnabout Typlosion-Ampharos-Blastoise... guy.

Funnily enough, Smudge is the only character that I've made with the intent of being purely homosexual. At least, mostly, but I'll get to Chris eventually.

Smudge is pretty clearly into Charles, but their situation is kinda complicated. Smudge thinks that he doesn't have a chance in heck with Charles due to his childhood, so he sticks with them just being friends, and Charles thinks that Smudge is way out of his league due to the dragon's now-popularity, so he doesn't even bother asking him out. But, they do still talk to each other, and Smudge jokingly brought up the chance of them just making out once, which Charles clearly wanted. He denied it, though, in fear of looking too weird.

You know how I said I'd get to Chris's whole deal eventually? Well, now it's eventually(The first time I've followed up on that kind of thing in a while).

Chris had a rough childhood. He was often picked on, mostly because he was an easy target, but also because he was just a loser to his bullies. So, he never really got to even discover his options.

When he was turned into a Pokemon, he got to see the rest of Team 7(Besides Stephanie, because he already knew her from when he first arrived.) Insert some wacky, emotional missions later, but he sorta began growing feelings for Lucas, that Cubone I keep mentioning. It wasn't love, at least not at the time, but Chris definitely felt like he could connect with him more than anyone else on the team, since they've had similar backgrounds. So, it's not like he's dating Lucas or anything...

...But he isn't repelled by the idea of getting to know him a little more.

For yours truly, I'm bisexual. At least, I'm pretty sure I am. There's no real explanation for this. I kinda just discovered I liked dudes one day, and I rolled with it. Nothing special, no interesting backstory, that's sorta just... it. Point, blank, period, 'cause it ain't no question.

Off topic, I love the bi flag. It gives such a vaporwave aesthetic, and I can really vibe with that kind of thing. The colors blend in with each other so well, they're so easy on the eyes.

[zepskies]

Aww I'm so glad to hear that, because I love every time I get to come back to the BMD-verse! 💓💓 Very excited to dive into your thoughts here.~

I've said it before but I love what you've created with the BMD verse and especially how you've captured Ben as a nuanced character.

Thank you so much. 🥹🥹 I try my best to give Ben a new angle of growth and dimension every time I write a new chapter of the BMD world, but also for the reader as well! Neither of them are perfect, which you so aptly pointed out here.

Ben should not be dictating (or in this case implying) what the reader should be doing with regards to her job.

Neither of them are completely right in this argument, but neither are they completely wrong (my favorite kinds of arguments and conflicts to create between these two, or of any conflict I try to write). Thank you for seeing both sides of it. While you understand Ben's POV of wanting to do what he can to protect his family, he's not entirely going about it the right way. Because damn right, his wife is a badass, and he should know very well by now.

But, his later points that "just being near him is dangerous" to her will especially call back to Wake Me Up, when that mini series comes out in May lol.

At the same time, it's not right for the reader to assume he's "stuck in the past," because she knows damn well that he's grown a lot since she first met him. In her defensiveness, she's not properly "hearing" him.

I thought it was very interesting you included how Lila got scared of Ben shouting during their argument. I think a lot of us that grew up in a two parent household can remember when we heard our dads got loud when we were little and we all had similar reactions of I don't like this loud noise.

Yeah, this aspect of the story came from my own experience, unfortunately. Not when I was that young, but there was a lot of verbal conflict and arguments in my house growing up.

And the whole idea that sparked Calculated Risks was trying to think of a situation in which the more unsavory parts of Ben's personality (in this case his temper) got the best of him, and sparked fear in his own daughter. How would he deal with that? And how would he have to self-reflect on his behavior? That growth will benefit him later on when he has a son. Hopefully by then, he won't be so quick to say "just toughen up, kid. Don't be a crybaby."

(Ha! He really is wrapped around Lila's finger. 😂)

I love how with the bad guy escaping, fighting the reader and grabbing Lila kind of proved Ben's point of it not being safe BUT he never explicitly states that despite all that, the reader should stay home from then on. He let's HER make that decision for herself and despite it being what Ben may have ultimately wanted, I really like that she got there on her own without him pushing her in the end.

That's exactly it!!! That's what I was going for with the whole Slingshot episode. It proved his point about her working for the S.A., but still, he knew he wasn't going to be able to make the decision for her. And she ultimately realized where he was coming from in order to find a solution they could both live with in order to protect their family.

The characters were all on point and I thought the fight scenes were fun and perfectly in line with what we'd expect from The Boys. I love Frank too and that he's kinda fit in with their life and is clearly someone both the reader and Ben trust.

Hahaa thank you so much!! I try to make it feel like The Boys as much as possible. And the return of Frank, yes!!! (And Loco, though he didn't get any lines this time.)

Frank has a special place in my heart, and he's now ingratiated in their family dynamic while getting to restore his life as a member of society, rather than being a criminal (not unlike Ben).

Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with me on this one! I always love and appreciate it. 💕💕

Calculated Risks

Pairing: Soldier Boy/Ben x F. Reader

Summary: You and Ben argue about your commitment to being a working mom. When a rogue supe gets loose at Supe Affairs, mayhem ensues, putting not only your life at risk, but your daughter’s as well.

AN: Welcome back to the BMD-verse, friends! Did you miss these two as much as I did? Plus, get ready for a heavy dose of fan-favorite Frank. (And Lila, of course!)

Word Count: 7K

Tags/Warnings: Familiar bickering, a mission gone awry, angst, hurt/comfort, fluff.

Catch up on the BMD-verse. ⤵️

💚 Break Me Down Masterlist

In four years of marriage, one thing that had never changed between you and Ben was this.

“All right, you’re being a little too much right now,” you said in irritation. “Of course I’m not sitting this one out. I’m the one who found us the damn lead in the first place.”

The man was following you from the adjoining bathroom and back into your shared bedroom, where you began getting dressed for work in the blouse and pencil skirt you’d laid out for yourself.

Your husband had already donned his supe suit, sans helmet. He stood just behind you with his arms crossed, a familiar surly frown on his face. When you turned around, he hadn’t moved an inch.

“I’m being too much? You’re the one who’s not being fucking reasonable,” he said.

You rolled your eyes and moved past him to find your shoes. For this skirt, you really needed heels. Your most comfortable black pumps would do. You grabbed the closet doorknob for balance as you slipped them on, giving him a look of exasperation.

Ben held firm on his stance, but inside, he had a feeling you’d chosen this outfit on purpose. You knew he liked this whole sexcretary look on you, with your hair let down around your shoulders. The skirt and heels just brought his eyes to the delectable curve of your ass.

But again, he was holding firm.

He’d been called in on this case partly because Annie was on maternity leave. She was due in just a few weeks. Which meant “Soldier Boy” was definitely needed to help out Butcher and his merry band of assholes. By now, Ben had gotten used to them.  

“Look,” you said, “Slingshot has been causing a lot of havoc, and the police haven’t been able to catch him. You heard Grace. This is an ‘all hands on deck’ situation.”

“She always says that shit. Doesn’t make it true,” Ben retorted.

“This time it is,” you said. “I’ve already put in tons of man hours on surveillance for this guy. I want to get him off the street.”

Ben held you by your arms. “That’s exactly my point. You’ve been putting in way too many hours.”

You shook your head. He just didn’t get it.

“If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t have this opening now,” you said. You gave him a smile to try and lighten him. “Now he’s all teed up for you and the guys. This should be in and out. Practically a milk run for you.”

“Yeah, but not for you,” he pointed out. “And not for Lila. You’re stretching yourself too damn thin. It’s not like we need the money.”

Ahh, now we get to it, you thought. Yet again, he was bringing this up. In his mind, you should’ve cut your hours at Supe Affairs after Lila was born.

You did take an extended maternity leave of an entire year and a half, which was much more than women usually got from their jobs. However, because of your relationship with Grace and the entire team, you’d been allowed to come back whenever you felt ready. 

Ben had often felt it necessary to point out that with his money, you didn’t have to work at all. 

He knew very well that for you, this work was more than a job. 

“I’m not the first working mom in existence, Ben,” you said, pushing out of his hold. “And I’ll remind you that Supe Affairs has a great daycare program. Lila’s very happy there.”

Plus, she was almost three and a half years old. In less than a year, Lila would be off to preschool.

“And look, it’s not about the money,” you added. “I told you before Lila was born. I am a mother, and I’m your wife. But I’m still me.”

Ben processed that for a moment, meeting your gaze.

“The situation’s changed,” he replied. He grasped your hips this time. His thumb gently brushed over your belly, which had a small bump under your high-waisted skirt. 

You were finally pregnant again. Three months, in fact, and you were having a boy. You knew that Ben had several reasons to be more protective than usual…but still. You thought you were already taking every precaution to keep you and your children safe, even with the occasionally extensive hours of your job.

“These cases can be long and difficult, not to mention dangerous,” said Ben. His green eyes met yours as he looked down at you through furrowed brows. “You’re putting yourself at risk.”

You blew out a breath and tried to placate him, soothing a hand over his chest. 

“I’ve stopped doing field missions,” you pointed out. “And Supe Affairs is the most secure building in the city. Do you think I would bring Lila there if it wasn’t?”

The security team at the S.A. was bar none, not only because Loco was a part of that team. Frank was also your personal bodyguard; Ben hired him back when you found out you were pregnant with Lila.

In fact, Frank was coming to the house in a few minutes to pick you all up.

Ben frowned. “I think you’re being stubborn just to be fucking stubborn.”

That sparked at your temper. Again, you withdrew from his arms and crossed yours.

“I think you need to face the fact that I’m protected as well as I can be,” you said. “I also think that you’re trying to use this as a way to shoehorn me into some antiquated idea of what you still think a wife should be. I’m gonna tell you right now. That’s not me! It’s never been me. And you know that.”

He opened his mouth to give an angry retort, but you beat him to it.

“It’s like you don’t even care about what I want,” you snapped. “Just what you think is right—for me to be here waiting for you to come home, quite literally barefoot and pregnant, ready to rub your balls!”

Cliché as it might’ve been to say, if the shoe fit, then you were certainly not going to be the one to wear it.

“You know what, you can accuse me of being stuck in the fucking past all you want,” Ben said, raising a finger, as well as his voice. “But the problem here isn’t me. It’s that what you want is goddamn idiotic!”

Your mouth fell agape. “Excuse me?! I can’t even believe you right now!”

Ben fairly loomed above you when he shouted back.

“Well, that makes fucking two of us!”

His voice was loud enough to reverberate on the walls. You even flinched, but you held your ground with a glare…

Until you heard a whimper.

You and Ben paused, and turned to find Lila. The three-year-old was cowering a bit in the doorway to your bedroom. Her eyes welled up with tears, and she began to cry.

Your heart broke.

“Oh, honey,” you breathed. You were both apologetic and mortified as you quickly went to her.

Ben was close behind you, but while Lila was quick to melt into your arms when you picked her up, she shied away from his attempt to reach out to her. What would’ve been a placating hand on her head, turned into him pausing in surprise when she ducked.

“Lila?” he prodded.

He tried to mask how put out he was by his daughter hiding her face from him, burrowing into your neck instead. She was usually a daddy’s girl, through and through.

You shot him a knowing frown, while rubbing her back in comfort.

“It’s okay, baby,” you told her. “Your dad and I were just…talking. He didn’t mean to shout.”

When Lila only whimpered in response, Ben’s gaze dimmed in understanding. His lips pursed.

You saw that look on his face, and you wanted to sigh. Part of you felt bad for him, at the way Lila had flinched away from her father. In a way though, maybe it was a lesson he needed to learn.

Frank arrived a few minutes later in a black SUV, like he did every weekday morning to bring you all to work. Ben was quiet and taciturn climbing into the backseat on one side, and you clipped Lila into her car seat from the other side. He still made sure that she was strapped in correctly, and even tried to earn his daughter’s gaze.

She snuck a glance at him a couple of times, but quickly lowered it to play with one of her favorite stuffed animal toys (a little German shepherd that he had gotten for her).

Ben let out a long breath through his nose. He gave Frank a nod through the rearview mirror, and the other man peeled away from the house.

The four of you rode in silence away from your house in Scarsdale, towards New York City.

Ben’s mood remained grim, even when you all got to Supe Affairs. Frank held back while you and Ben stopped in the hallway with Lila. You were carrying her, and she was holding onto you and her stuffed animal like a lifeline instead of looking anywhere else—namely at Ben.

You sighed and tried to pull her back enough to see her face.

“Daddy’s gotta go to work now. Want to say goodbye?” you encouraged.

All Lila could manage was a shy look in his direction. Ben laid a gentle hand on her head, over her dark hair.

“Bye, sweetheart,” he said.

Lila didn’t answer him. She just bit her lip and stayed withdrawn.

You and Ben shared a glance. He was hiding it well behind his usual stoicism, but this was hurting him. There wasn’t much either of you could do about it now, however. You both had work to do, and the mission would have to come first.

“I’ll be online in a bit,” you told him. 

First, you needed to take Lila up to daycare before Frank accompanied you to your office. There you’d be able to join the mission from your computer and put your headset on. Aside from surveillance, you were their virtual eyes on missions. 

So Ben tacitly agreed, and the two of you parted ways.

You went up to the second floor to drop Lila off at daycare, where you set her onto her feet. You could see that she was quiet and almost sad, not as bright and talkative as usual. And she was clinging to your hand. You bent down the best you could in your skirt, so you could meet her eyes.

“Are you still upset with your dad?” you asked. 

After a moment, Lila replied, “Daddy’s loud.”

You couldn’t help a rueful smile. 

“Yeah, he can be,” you nodded. “But he’s gonna work on that, okay? He loves you very much.”

She finally smiled a little when you pressed a few sweet kisses to her cheeks. You felt a little better about leaving her with Sarah, the woman who ran the daycare center. She was kind, but well-organized, and good at her job of wrangling fifteen or so toddlers on a daily basis.

And she was hovering off to the side with a smile, waiting to shepherd Lila over to where the rest of the group were starting at the arts and crafts table.

“Okay, baby. I love you. I’m just downstairs if you need me,” you said, caressing Lila’s cheeks, brushing her hair away from her face.

She nodded and waved goodbye. Sarah then stepped in and guided the girl over to the crafts table. The other kids were already drawing and coloring with crayons and markers.

With a sigh, you knew you had to get to work. You joined Frank out in the hall.

“Did something happen this morning?” he asked. You gave him a weary look.

“Something always happens. I’ll fill you in when we hit the elevator,” you said.

“Kids are resilient. She’ll bounce back,” said Frank, when you two got off the elevator down to the basement, under the first floor. This was where the “heavy stuff” happened at the S.A.

“That’s not the point, Frank. He hasn’t snapped at me like that in a long time, and he really scared her. That’s not fucking okay,” you said. “He needs to learn to control his goddamn temper.”

He sent you a knowing glance. You rolled your eyes.

“Okay, I know I don’t always help. But in this case, I was justified,” you said. “Ben was being an ass.”

“Right,” Frank nodded. “It’s not at all that he’s worried about you.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “Whose side are you on?”

The man remained silent, but his stoic face wasn’t fooling you. He’d been your friend for much too long, and he knew Ben just as well…which was why you found yourself reconsidering what happened this morning.

“You really think he has a point?” you asked. “Am I working too much?”

Frank shook his head and opened the door for you into the Surveillance Department. The two of you ventured to your office, where your quadruple monitor setup was waiting for you. He also had a desk for himself, since he often spent the long hours of your day with you.

“When you were pregnant with Lila, you were on maternity leave by now,” he pointed out.

“Because we had no idea what was going to happen,” you countered. You went to your desk and started up your computer. “I had to meet with Tonya once a week, ultrasounds and blood tests all the time, making sure Lila was healthy, that I was healthy. This time around, we have a better idea of what to expect.”

For example, you were experiencing bouts of super strength once again, but it was still intermittent. Although, you pretty much never needed coffee. Maybe the supe genes coursing through your system, thanks to your unborn son, was part of the reason why you’d been able to go such long hours for these cases.

He's already brightening up my life, you thought with a little smile, holding a hand over your lower belly.

“It’s your choice,” Frank said at last. “But it is possible that Ben cares about more than just making you a suburban housewife.”

At that, you sighed. There was nothing wrong with being a housewife, you knew. It just wasn’t…you.

Once your computer and monitors were booted up, you connected to the right channels and put on your headset.

Already you could hear M.M. bitching about keeping the weapons trunk organized, not just tossing things in haphazardly. 

“It’s a simple fucking system, Frenchie. You can at least abide by it,” M.M. said. “We don’t have time to be scratching our asses while you try to find a—”

“Hey, Bert and Ernie. Would you shut the fuck up already?” Ben groused.

Your mouth twitched at his grumpiness.

“A little testy this morning, ey guv?” Butcher remarked.

“Gargle my ball sack,” Ben replied, with an even grouchier deadpan than usual.

“Do you kiss your child with that mouth?” Frenchie teased. 

“Nah, just your mother’s French hole,” Ben slung back. You rolled your eyes. 

“All right, all right. Put the measuring tapes away,” you interrupted. “I’m online, locked on your GPS.”

“Well, if it ain’t Mrs. America herself,” Butcher drawled. “Got a lock on Slingshot’s location for us?” 

“You know it,” you replied. “Sending to the group chat now. Slingshot’s been spotted entering a strip club in Chinatown.” 

“Jeez. A little early for tits and booze. It’s 10:00 a.m. on a Tuesday,” said Hughie.

You heard Ben huff in amusement. “It’s never too early.”

You snorted at that.

“Right. I’ll remember that next time you fall asleep watching Family Feud,” you clipped back.

You heard the other guys trying not to laugh as they got into Butcher’s van. Part of you felt bad for teasing Ben, knowing he was already in a bad mood, but you were feeling a bit petty about what happened this morning.

You had to bite your lip against a smile, as you could picture the ill-tempered face your man was likely sporting.

And we’re off.

Lila wasn’t having a good day. 

She didn’t feel like coloring, and the toys just weren’t fun today.

She just didn’t want to be here. The other kids smelled like old Cheetos and feet (especially the boys).

She missed you. And though she hadn’t wanted to admit it to you, she missed Daddy too.

Lila wanted to go home…she wanted her mom. 

“I’m just downstairs if you need me,” you’d said.

Lila had a kind of plan percolating in her mind, all through the morning, and even through lunch time. She didn’t want to get in trouble, but when she’d asked Miss Sarah if she could go see you, she’d said you were at work and couldn’t come get Lila until later. 

But that’s not what Mommy said, Lila thought.  

After lunch, she laid on the napping mat with her pillow and blanket, even though she was wide awake. She didn’t want to nap with the other kids, even though Miss Sarah told her it was time to sleep. 

Again, Lila didn’t want to be bad. She didn’t want to get in trouble either, but she really, really just wanted to see you.

And you’d said it was okay to go downstairs if she needed you, right?

Lila closed her eyes while Miss Sarah was looking, but she waited until the teacher went into her office to answer a call. Then, Lila carefully put Charlie, her stuffed dog, against her pillow, tucking the blanket up to his neck. 

She crawled off her mat and snuck over to the door while Miss Sarah was distracted on her phone. Lila reached up and was just tall enough to twist the doorknob. It led her out of the room, and out into the empty hall. She then looked both ways for a clue on where to go. 

She heard a ding, and looked over at a nearby pair of elevators.

The mission went more or less according to plan. Slingshot’s abilities allowed him to stretch every part of his body like elastic. It not only made him hard to catch, but even harder to maim without collateral damage. 

A whole block in Chinatown was wrecked in the takedown, but your idea of ripping the cables from a nearby utility pole to electrocute him let Ben finally subdue the elastic supe. Kimiko knocked him out, and Butcher slapped some tight-ass cuffs on him and dragged him into the van. They returned with the rogue supe in custody. 

You were mentally exhausted from helping them track down routes to pin down Slingshot, but you were relieved to be done. You were also satisfied that another danger to society was neutralized, for now.

You took pride in your work, and you didn’t think Ben saw that, or thought it was important. You supposed that was what upset you the most about that fight with him.

Sometimes, you wondered if he would ever truly change.

You grabbed your purse and made sure to slip in your gun and taser. You left your office and greeted Frank, who had just finished making his rounds in the building with Loco’s team. Frank joined you on the way to the elevator.

“I meant to ask you, how’s Alana doing?” you asked. Alana was his daughter, who was now in college.

“She’s changed her major yet again,” he said wryly. “This time to philosophy.”

“Philosophy? That’s interesting. What does she want to do with that?” you asked.

“No fucking clue,” he replied, hitting the button for the first floor. “I just hope she gets bored and picks something practical. Like…teaching, or dentistry.”

You shot him a bemused look. “Dentistry?”

“As much money as I put into that girl’s braces, it’d be good for her to pay it forward,” Frank said, in a surly tone that reminded you of Ben. You had to laugh.

You and Frank exited the elevator and started down the hall.

You planned to touch base with Grace Mallory on the safety measures of Slingshot’s containment before he was put into custody. The idea was to house him in a prison cell that could actually hold him until he went through the legal process. 

But you’d only gotten halfway down the hall before the supe in question literally stretched past you on unnaturally long legs—in a blur of his white and blue supe suit. Your eyes widened on a gasp as you watched him head toward the elevator you’d just come off of. 

“Fuckin’ hell, we’ve got a runner!” Butcher shouted from down the hall. He along with Ben, M.M., Frenchie, Hughie, and Kimiko were rushing your way. 

It all happened so fast. 

You registered Frank shooting out a protective arm in front of you. You turned back to see the elevator doors had opened back up, and Slingshot rushed inside. He made eye contact with you.

Then his arms shot out like rubber bands. One of them knocked Frank into the far wall. You gasped and froze on reflex. 

Ben shouted your name; he was running towards you, getting closer. You were able to meet his wide eyes for a brief moment. He reached out for you, but those stretching arms closed around you first. You gasped when they slung you backwards.

You cried out in shock when your back met a surprisingly solid chest.

Meanwhile, Ben barreled the rest of the way down the hall as the elevators closed just short of his angrily furrowed face.

The stretched arms holding you were tight around your torso, making your grit your teeth as you tried to pull away. They twisted you around so you could face your captor. Or so he could see you.

His natural height was around Butcher’s—dark hair, blue eyes, angular features. He gave you what was probably meant to be a suave smile as those baby blues dragged down your body.

“Hey, baby. Nice heels,” he said. You rolled your eyes.

“So that’s why they call you Slingshot,” you said, still a bit breathless. The elevator started to move. He’d chosen the top floor. “Where do you think you’re gonna go?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he snarked. “Anywhere but here. And you’re gonna help me.”

“How? Being a human shield?”

“For a start,” he smirked down at you. He backed up a step just to take another proper look at you, and he whistled lowly. He took your chin between his sweaty fingers, making you grimace when he stroked your cheek. 

“Down boy,” you said warily. “Trust me, you really don’t want to do this.”

This jackass hadn’t even realized you had a small, but noticeable baby bump.

“Why not, babe?” he grinned. “You’ve got the whole sexy librarian thing going on.” 

You heard a loud creaking sound outside the elevator doors. The compartment itself came to an abrupt stop, making the lights flicker. 

“What the fuck?” Slingshot muttered. His hold around you loosened. 

You had an idea of what just happened, with grim satisfaction. You also took advantage of his distraction and managed to slip a hand into your purse.

You pulled out your taser. Slingshot noticed and tried to grab you again, but the elevator somehow started to move in reverse, about a foot a time. It made both of you lose your balance and utter sounds of surprise.  

As soon as you regained your footing, you aimed the taser at the most sensitive place you could think of—the supe’s dick and balls.

His howls of pain were loud enough to reach Ben, Frank, and the rest of the team on the third floor. Ben’s face became edged with a smirk. 

He kept pulling the elevator cables down until the compartment’s doors were in reach. There he grabbed the doors and pulled them open with his bare hands, crunching metal under his fingers. The moment he saw you, the relief in your eyes, he grabbed your hand and pulled you out, into his arms. 

Slingshot was angry, though he managed to recover, rip off the taser’s metal prongs and wires, and evade Kimiko, M.M., and even Butcher when he slithered his way out of the elevator and around their guns. The bullets ricocheted off the walls, and off his body as they followed him down the hall.

Ben focused on you. He brushed his half-gloved hands over your shoulders and sides while he quickly looked you over. There was worry in his eyes, disguised as anger. You caught your breath and held a protective hand over your lower belly out of reflex. 

“You okay?” he said, but you were already nodding before he asked.

“I’m fine,” you replied. “Just get him. I’ll get Lila.” 

Ben nodded. He shot one last firm look at Frank, who was back at your side. Frank laid a hand on your shoulder as Ben took off down the hall to find Slingshot. 

“The stairs are safer at this point,” Frank said. 

“I would have to agree,” you said, steeling yourself with a breath. 

While you and Frank went downstairs to the second floor, you didn’t see the second elevator ding, its doors opening to your daughter, who ambled out alone. She looked one way down the hall, but hearing her father’s voice carrying down the opposite way, she started venturing in that direction.

If she couldn’t find you, then she’d find her dad. 

“What the hell do you mean you lost her?” you shouted at Sarah, the woman who was supposed to be looking after your daughter. “How do you lose a three-year-old at nap time? What kind of incompetent fuck are you?”

Yes, Ben had unfortunately rubbed off on you. 

Sarah was in tears by the time you were not even halfway done, but Frank calmed you down with another touch to your shoulder. You had tears of panic stinging in your eyes when you met his gaze, your mouth trembling.

“I just radioed in and put Loco and the rest of the security team on looking for Lila. She can’t have gotten far,” he said. 

“Come on! Keep up with me, old man,” Slingshot taunted at Ben. His super flexibility allowed him to keep several steps ahead, dodging any attempts to grab him and any weapons fired with easy dips and playful deflection. 

“When I get my hands on you, you flaccid fuck, you won’t know your ass from your ball sack,” Ben growled. 

But he crashed into the wall when he took a corner too hard trying to tackle the other supe. He picked himself up from the debris of crumbled wall and plaster, ignoring Kimiko’s offer of a helping hand. 

“Big fucking talk from the walking AARP commercial,” Slingshot snorted. He turned around and once again prepared to run. “Try not to shatter a hip, asshole!”

He took off down another bend in the hallway. Meanwhile, Ben shook himself off and joined the others in running after this cocksucker. Ben looked over at Butcher.

“What’s your fucking plan?” he grated out. 

Butcher seemed to have an idea growing in his mind. “What’d she do to him in that elevator?”

“Tased his dick, by the sound of it,” Ben replied. He knew what weapons you kept in your purse, and that you'd know better than to fire a gun in an enclosed elevator. Butcher snapped his fingers.

“Electricity. Bloody brilliant,” he said. He pointed at Hughie and grabbed Frenchie by the collar. “You, with me. I’ve got an idea. The rest of ya, get him pinned down.”

“Easier said than done, motherfucker,” M.M. grumbled. But he followed Ben and Kimiko to find their errant supe. 

Slingshot played a cocky game, but inside, there was fear. 

They’d caught him once, and now, this building was crawling with security, let alone the assholes chasing him.

He was panting for breath when he nearly ran straight into…a kid? 

She was wandering around, trying to open a locked door. He skidded to a stop in front of her, and she looked up at him wide-eyed. He tilted his head. She was a cute little thing with brown hair and green eyes. She wore a blouse with cartoon ducks on it over her jeans and sunshine-yellow shoes. 

“Hey, cutie. Where you going?” asked Slingshot. “Are you lost?”

“Looking for my mom,” she answered, a bit timidly. The supe gave her an easy smile; inside, he knew he’d just found his collateral, and his ticket out of here. 

“Okay. What’s your name?” he asked. 

“L…Lila,” she said. 

“Pretty name for a pretty girl,” he said, with all due charm. He struck a pose, with his fists held up to his waist. “I can help you, Lila. I’m a superhero.”

Her eyes widened. “Really? Like Daddy?”

“Oh, yeah. Your dad and I are friends.” Never mind that he had no fucking clue who her daddy was. He offered her his hand. 

Now, Lila knew not to talk to strangers, but if he knew her dad… 

After a moment of reluctant indecision, she took his hand. Slingshot tapered a smirk into a more friendly smile. 

“Let’s go find him.”  

Ben was ahead of the pack, but he soon came to an abrupt stop with wider eyes. He finally found Slingshot, except he had Ben’s daughter by the hand. Slingshot wore a cocky grin as he took the child up into his arms. 

“Hey, guys. Who’s this little peanut belong to?” he asked. “Said she was looking for her daddy.” 

Ben’s breath turned to lead in his lungs. Lila’s eyes lit up with recognition when she saw him. 

“Daddy!”

Ben’s softer gaze shifted from her, hardening once it reached the other supe. 

“Let her go,” he growled lowly. 

Slingshot’s grin deepened incredulously as he laughed.

“Oh shit, she’s yours?” he exclaimed. “This’s just too fucking perfect.”

“Lila!” your shout came from behind Ben, and you stepped around M.M. and Kimiko.

Ben held out a hand to keep you at bay. He kept his eyes on Slingshot, but Ben heard your gasp. His stomach dipped, knowing your worry had to be reaching new heights as you took in the situation.

“Ben,” you uttered. 

“I’ve got this,” he said to you.

“You don’t got shit, old man,” Slingshot snapped. He shot you a smirk next. “She’s your bitch? Figures.”

“Just let her go,” you implored. You had tears brimming in your eyes. “We can negotiate your release if you promise to be more responsible.”

Ben shot you a glance then. He didn’t intend for this fucker to live, let alone walk the streets of New York again. But he supposed any bluff was worth it at this point.

Meanwhile, seeing the distress on her parents’ faces made Lila begin to break down into tears. She whined, pushing against the supe holding her, wanting to be let go. 

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Slingshot cooed. “You’re just gonna take a little trip with me.”

“No!” a ragged shout tore from your throat when he took a few backward steps down the hall. 

Ben held you back from following him, all while he tensed with rage. M.M. and Kimiko were also poised to try and stop the supe. But Slingshot tightened his hold on Lila in warning.

“Back the fuck off,” he demanded. “Once I get to JFK and get my ass on a plane, maybe, maybe you see your daughter aga—”

He had to stop short, as he sensed something just outside of his peripheral vision.

It was Butcher, coming at him to swing a baseball bat at the supe’s head.

You screamed in protest, but Butcher was relying on the supe’s reflexes to dodge the bat. He wasn’t disappointed. Slingshot dodged. Though in his distraction, it gave Ben the opening he needed to step into his orbit and land a solid punch across Slingshot’s face.

It not only cracked his jaw, but also caught him off guard enough for his grip on the child to loosen. Ben grabbed his daughter and turned her away in a protective embrace.

Then Frenchie brought Slingshot down with the prongs of a massive taser clipping onto his nipples. He jolted and screamed—and went down hard on the tile floor. 

While Hughie and M.M. ushered in the rest of the security team to swarm in and take the supe into custody, you raced forward to Ben and Lila in tears.

Lila was also crying and clinging to Ben’s neck, shaking like a leaf.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ve got you,” he said quietly, so only she could hear. Lila whimpered and burrowed tighter against his neck.

Tears streamed down your face, but you tried to breathe through it. You rubbed her back and checked her over, making sure she wasn’t hurt. 

For Ben, the force of his relief was pounding in his ears. He briefly closed his eyes as he held his daughter closer. 

When he opened them again, he met your gaze. You couldn’t speak. All you could do was grab onto his wrist for support. He gave that to you, wrapping his free arm around your waist and pulling you into his side. 

“Frank,” he said. His voice was a sharp command. The other man was ready to carry out whatever Ben asked. He also looked relieved to see that Lila was all right.

“Pull the car around,” said Ben. Frank nodded, and went to do just that.

Ben turned to watch in satisfaction when Frenchie and M.M. hauled up a still twitching Slingshot. Butcher slapped a pair of electroshock handcuffs on him that would keep him better contained this time—courtesy of the S.A. armory. He nodded over at Ben, and the latter returned the gesture. 

You missed it all, as you were preoccupied with comforting your daughter.

“It’s okay, honey. We’re going home,” you gently whispered to Lila, who was still hiding her face in Ben’s neck. You shared a look with him, and he gave you a short nod. His hand moved to the small of your back, both protective and possessive as the three of you moved towards the garage exit. 

There Frank waited with the car that would take your family home.

You watched Ben with the beginning of tears brimming in your eyes. You managed to hold them at bay while he set Lila down in her bed. You’d just finished giving her a bath and helping her get into her pajamas after a quiet, somewhat tense dinner. 

Lila still seemed upset in her unusually quiet mood, which you knew was understandable. Ben sat at her bedside and soothed a hand over her head, brushing her cheek with his thumb. 

“You’ve had a crazy friggin’ day, huh?” he asked. Lila didn’t want to look at him, but he encouraged it with gentle fingers brushing her chin, teasing the tip of her nose. She hinted at a smile and finally met his eyes. He smiled back at her, if more reserved. But his expression turned serious again.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. He could see it. She had been more or less fine throughout dinner, but now she’d turned quiet and withdrawn again. She only got like that when she was upset about something.

Lila toyed with the ear of her stuffed animal, Charlie. Frank had retrieved it for her from the daycare.

“Sorry I talked to strangers,” Lila mumbled.

You had to bite the inside of your lip so you wouldn’t cry. You came over to sit on the other side of her bed. You sniffed and shook your head, but Ben beat you to what you wanted to say. 

“You’re not in trouble, all right? We’re not mad,” he said. 

Lila’s lower lip wobbled. Ben sighed and picked her up, plopping her down in his lap. She hugged him as tight as she could and he held her back, warm and secure.  

“You know I’m always gonna be there to keep you safe. You never have to worry or be afraid,” he said. 

You carded your fingers through Lila’s hair so she knew you were there too. Usually, the roles were reversed, where you were doing the comforting and Ben was the solid support. Right now though, you just didn’t have the words. Not when guilt was eating you from the inside out.

Fortunately, your husband did have the words, after he heaved a sigh. 

“I might raise my voice, sometimes, but uh…you never have to be afraid of me either. Okay?” he said.

"Mhmm," Lila agreed.

You laid hand on Ben's arm, gently squeezing. He met your gaze, and knew what you were prodding with just that look in your eyes.

Briefly, he hesitated before he looked back down at his daughter.

"I'm sorry I scared you," he said.

Lila nodded against his chest. “It's okay.”

“Good,” he said, laying a kiss on her forehead. “All right, you ready to go to bed?”

She clung to him and made a sound of refusal. 

You were finally able to crack a smile. You leaned down by her ear. 

“You want Daddy to read you a story first?” you asked. 

Ben shot you a look at the way you volunteered him for that. He was tired and drained. 

But one hopeful, shiny look from his daughter, and he folded like a deck of cards.

Later, when Lila was asleep, you tucked her in one last time and Ben turned out the light. He kept the door cracked open, just in case she called for either one of you tonight.

Then, somehow, you and Ben ended up in the kitchen instead of the bedroom. As exhausted as both of you were, you needed this moment to decompress, with one of your old favorite pastimes…

He broke out the whiskey while you found an appropriate midnight snack, and then a seat with him at the breakfast bar. The two of you shared a companionable silence, as well as a large bag of sea salt and vinegar chips. 

That was sort of how you felt inside.

“Today can’t happen again,” Ben said, breaking the silence. 

You looked over at him, but he was looking beyond you. Maybe so he didn’t have to show you how deeply he’d been rattled. You knew him far too well for that. 

“Of course not,” you replied. And you released a sigh. “So here’s what I’m thinking. From now on I’ll work from home, so I can watch Lila until she goes to preschool.”

Ben got ready to argue, but you held up a hand. The other went to rest over your belly. You had scheduled an ultrasound with Dr. Tonya Baker tomorrow, just to make sure all was well after this ordeal.

“I already plan to take my maternity leave when this guy rolls into town,” you said with a smile. “Then, when I’m ready, and if it’s feasible, I can continue to work from home until all the kids are in school.”

Ben’s lips twitched humorlessly. He should’ve known you’d continue making this a negotiation. He set down his glass, and he reached out to slide a hand over yours, across your belly. He took in a deep breath. But when he let it go, you sensed you still hadn’t convinced him.

“Listen, I know you don’t want me to work—” you began.

“It’s not that,” he said. He made sure you looked him in the eyes when he said it. “It’s not.”

Despite yourself, you read the sincerity in his words. It had you pausing, waiting for him to continue.

“You know damn well…that just being around me is dangerous,” he said. “To you, and to Lila. But you being connected with Supe Affairs, working these missions, even from behind a desk, it’s a fucking risk. It’ll always be a risk.”

You considered that with new understanding. You took his hand with both of yours.

“Ben, this life, this work…it’s the same for me as it is for you. It’s all I know how to do. It’s what I’m wired for. So that’s why it’s hard for me to turn down that dial,” you explained. “But look, I understand what you’re saying. Believe me, I do. And today…today was…”

Your breath hitched as tears stung in your eyes. Ben shook his head and tugged you closer.

“Come ‘ere,” he said.

You left your chair to go to him. You stood between his long legs while he pulled you into a warm embrace. Logically, you knew that what happened today wasn’t your fault. However, part of you still felt like a failure of a mother for underestimating the risks of having your daughter at the S.A.  

You should’ve known better, you berated yourself. And yet, it was Ben’s words that stopped your train of thought.

“Today wasn't on you,” he said. "Get that thought outta your head."

He knew you well too, and this was one of those times. You wept harder against him, pressing your face into the crook of his neck. He held you, comforted you until you began to calm down.

“Take your maternity leave early,” he said. His deep voice was a rumble. “You’re going to have your hands full with Lila when I’m not here. Unless we hire someone to help you.”

It was an idea you could consider, but who could you trust? That was the question. 

Maybe your mother? you thought. You knew she was thinking of retiring from her job in a couple of years anyway.

You sighed and slipped your fingers through Ben’s hair. Your hand came to rest on the back of his neck as you leaned against him.

When Lila came into your lives, you had been so excited to start a family that you hadn’t considered the non-physical side effects. Namely, the sacrifices you would have to make in order to keep your family safe. 

Before you met Ben, your job was your life. But today reminded you that your daughter…and your unborn son, were more important to you than your job. No matter how important that job might be for the rest of the world. 

“Let’s talk about this more tomorrow,” you said, shaking your head. “I can’t think anymore.”

After a beat of hesitation, he agreed with a nod. Like so many battles before, whatever compromise you and Ben finally reached would be hard won. His hand found your cheek and caressed your skin.

“You still try my fucking patience, you know that?” he muttered.

You smiled tiredly. “Did you really expect that to change?”

He scoffed. Even so, he guided you off his shoulder so that he could claim your lips. His kiss tasted like the burn of whiskey. You met his demanding lips in kind, though you were the first one to part from him slowly. 

“I love you,” you whispered a reminder. 

Ben nodded and pressed a kiss to your forehead. He lingered there for a moment, as if he could pause the world for a while. 

He eventually let out a breath through his nose and allowed himself to be honest.

“I love you too,” he said.

With that shared understanding, he stood from his seat. He drained the last of his glass before he bent to gather you up into his arms. You yelped in surprise, clinging to his shoulders.

“Time for some rest,” Ben said. There was a certain smile on his face, gentler than usual.

He forged a path towards the bedroom. You sighed and laid your head against his chest. 

For once, you didn’t argue with him.  

AN: I've been wanting to put this one out for a while now. 💚💚 I so hope you enjoyed this chapter of the BMD verse! Do you like how their little family is evolving? 😘

Ko-Fi Me ☕

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[tryst-art-archive]

Context: 2010, pt. 2

Enter Boyfriend 2

As the summer of 2010 approached, the boy who'd flirted with me the previous December resurfaced and began flirting again--but this time I wasn't spoken for. It turned out our family homes weren't that far from each other, and, although I didn't have a license, he didn't mind driving, so we made plans to meet during the summer break.

It was a bizarre courtship, and when I look back at the situation now with the benefit of more life experience, I have to laugh at how dumb I kept being. But I'll also be nice to myself: how could I not be dumb? I knew nothing and wasn't used to being seen as attractive at all. I'd functionally entered a world I knew nothing about. I'd never even learned how to say "no" to anyone about anything.

So, our courtship was lumpy. He would make moves, and then I would second guess myself about whether or not I was reading the situation correctly and would act stiff, so then he'd think I wanted to keep things friendly or move slower, but then I'd overcorrect from the last time we met so we'd be meeting up with clearly misaligned expectations about whether or not we were going on a date...

It was silly. I remain faintly amazed he put up with it.

Sometime around the end of the summer we finally managed to align expectations and began a relationship--which I remember being excited about but also confused by. We still didn't know each other that well, all things considered; it all felt a bit rushed, especially considering how much being confusing we'd both done for three solid months.

Sure enough, about a month after we'd started dating, he called me out to one of our college's buildings where he was working on an assignment and said he'd like to end the relationship on the basis that he'd be going to LA in a few months. He felt he was functionally leading me on by continuing it, given that it now had a built-in end date; long distance wasn't on the table.

I found this reasonable, and while I was disappointed by the outcome, I honestly wasn't as busted up about it as I could have been. I remember returning to my dorm and feeling proud of myself for Handling It Like An Adult.

And then the next day he hit me up with a booty call.

Dear reader, 19-year-old Trystan was initially and rightfully offended. However, 19-year-old Trystan was also very horny and at the very start of his Hot Girl Phase (TM).

What ensued was an awkward friends with benefits arrangement that had me confused 100% of the time. It also involved me being the worst dormmate. I'd at this point changed dorm rooms to one with a really lovely view overlooking Boston Commons and a new roommate in a much, much smaller space.

That roommate and I actually had the problem of being too similar. We were shy/socially anxious and avoidant of confrontation in the same way, which meant we never really built any kind of connection--while I never truly became close with my roommates of the prior year, one of them and I had become friendly enough that she gave me parting gifts when she returned to Dubai.

New!Roommate and I were just strangers who uncomfortably shared a space but not a schedule; I did a lot of homework in darkness or in the common room that school year. I also functionally locked her out of the room several times to get laid, so OOPS.

I can't even say "I didn't know better." I super did. I was being an asshole, and I knew it. I felt bad about it, but I didn't stop until aforementioned ex-boyfriend-now-fwb moved across the country.

Not All Bad

The thing about Boyfriend 2 (who we're going to call that for ease of sentence-writing) is that I could easily tell this story as him being just some shitty bro taking the opportunity to get his dick wet with a naive girl, but that wouldn't be accurate.

When I look back at it now, what I realize is that of all the people I've been intimate with, he was actually the most consistently upfront and clear about his intentions and wants. I just wasn't ready to communicate in a direct and straightforward way; I'd literally never done that before. It wasn't how the cultures I'd grown up in functioned, ever, and so I assumed that when someone told me something directly, there was another, unspoken motive under the surface.

Does that mean he did nothing wrong? No, but that's my point. I struggle to put this particular affair into an easily digestible form because it simply isn't easily digestible--and that's kind of a good thing. I learned a lot from him.

So here are a few of the stories.

When we were in that summer of awkward courtship, and before we'd really done anything other than go on remarkably celibate dates, there was a time when he touched my arm while we were joking around. Later on, after our arrangement had become intimate, he reminded me of that occasion and told me he'd done that intentionally in order to break what he called "the touch barrier." Once you break the touch barrier with someone, assuming they aren't put off by it, you'll both be able to make physical contact easily going forward. This tidbit rattled around in my head for years, and I notice when I and other people break the touch barrier.

This was also during the summer, and it's probably the most Coming of Age Story thing I've ever done. On a day when we didn't plan to see each other because Boyfriend 2 was out drinking with friends (which I couldn't join for because I was a couple years under the legal drinking age), I got a text late at night (I was awake; I slept 3 or 4 hours a night for most of college) in which he asked if he could stop in. I was at my parents house, so the "Dad'll be pissed if I sneak you in here" was my first thought but, for reasons I to this day don't comprehend and therefore were probably "I am horny," I agreed after some discussion.

Lo, Boyfriend 2 came to the house, parked, relieved himself at one corner of the house, and came around to the back door to the basement (where I was) whereupon I let him in. I remember there being a harrowing moment while he was there when my dad went downstairs from the bedrooms to the bathroom (first floor). I was basically holding my breath, praying he wouldn't walk downstairs to scold me for being up. But, he apparently decided I was in bed and had left the basement light on by accident. He turned it off and trundled up to bed. I remember claiming in the morning that I'd fallen asleep on the basement couch by accident. Not sure my parents ever found out I'd pulled this one off.

Boyfriend 2 had a lot of qualities and experiences that were far outside my personal realm of experience. His family history was complicated and messy, and he was the single most ambitiously driven person I've ever met. He hailed from Bulgaria, which he'd left as a teen with the desire to direct films (which was his major). He worked a pile of jobs and saved scrupulously to put himself through college--ours was not a cheap college at all--and the things he spoke to experiencing and doing to achieve his dream just blew my mind. I couldn't imagine ever wanting something that bad (I was depressed out of my mind, remember).

He was also a big Linkin Park fan, which I was initially skeptical of. To me, Linkin Park was screamo I listened to when I was 14 and angsting on the bus with my Walkman. He told me he related to the songs a lot, that they touched parts of his lived experience. That thought wriggled around my head for a long time, and it contributed to the easing of my own habituated snap judgments.

You know how a meme went around a bit ago about white people not washing their legs? Yeah that used to be me. I learned to -actually wash my legs and feet- from Boyfriend 2. Not sure if he knew he taught me that, though. It was one of those things where we were showering together, I saw him not just trusting to the fall of soap and had the "Oh crap I'll seem weird and gross if I don't also wash my legs/feet" and started doing it, hahaha.

Another time, when we were in the relationship phase, we talked a bit about how awkward our initial courtship had been, and he owned that he'd nearly given up on me. Good lesson in being clearer with my intentions, as well as more confident in my assessment of situations.

Another summertime one: Boyfriend 2 drove fast. Dangerously fast, always. The kind of car you see zip by you on the highway and decide to change lanes to get away from. One of the times we were in his car, driving down the interstate at night, we came upon a crash thsat was completely invisible in the darkness because the people involved didn't have any lights on. Boyfriend 2 swerved out of the way successfully, but it was an incredibly near miss that shook us both up. I learned something about road safety that night, and it actually wasn't the speeding issue (that was obvious): it was about making yourself visible after a crash.

This one's a TMI so skip this paragraph if you don't want to read about a sex thing. I also learned something about myself and consent via Boyfriend 2, which was that my inability to say "no" was a lot more deeply seeded and dangerous than I'd previously realized. One time when we were getting frisky, he made an attempt to engage in anal without involving any lube or permission in the matter. (Now, there's a decent chance this was accidental, but at the time I didn't interpret it that way.) It wasn't a thing that had ever been discussed as on the table, and I was alarmed and didn't want to go there. But I didn't say anything. I clammed up. I made one whimpering sound when it started to hurt, and he stopped, so it was a non-issue, but the revelation that even under threat of a nonconsensual sex act I still wouldn't say no sure did prime me to get my ass out of shitty situations quickly in the future. The TMI has ended.

Through Boyfriend 2 I had the opportunity to be an extra on a film set and to help out on another one. This on the one hand revealed to me how the camera can take a bunch of duct tape and cheap plastic champagne flutes and make them look like a high quality sci-fi set with the right lighting, and it also revealed that I really loved the vibe and energy of the situation. I was a pretty crappy extra, but working behind the scenes was cool as shit, and that primed me for entering the entertainment industry in a different way than being someone who makes stuff had. I think, maybe, it was the first time I'd enjoyed working in a team (and that's 99.9% of what entertainment industries are).

And here is the last and, I think, most important one:

When it came time for him to move to LA, I made him a going away present. I put a lot of effort and care into it. He really liked gin and tonics so it was a little set I put together for making them--glass, gin I had someone else buy, the rest of the ingredients, little cut outs of ice and limes that I drew myself (they came out great; I fortunately do have scans) and a recipe card with a mocked up g&t on one side and the recipe on the other, to be cute. I was proud of this present.

When he received it, the first thing he said (that I remember) was a sarcastic "I'm pretty sure I know how to make a gin and tonic" about the recipe card (which was intended decoratively, really). It hurt the fuck out of my feelings, and while I do remember some nicer things said about the other elements, the wounded feeling and sense that I had been wasting my time really hit hard and stuck with me. And that's the lesson: spend your time on people who will appreciate it, not trying to win over folks who already got what they wanted from you.

And thus did Boyfriend 2 exit my life. Our encounters had slowly petered out until he departed. When he got to LA, he started dating a girl he knew there in short order (they'd been very chatty leading up to the move), which I read as echoing what had happened with Boyfriend 1. As she became more interesting, I became less so, like the toy a child grows bored of.

I didn't want to be "boring" again.

[vannybarber]

The Prenup: Final Chapter

Summary: After four years of being together and finally being engaged, Chris wants you to sign a prenup.

Chris Evans x Reader

Warnings: angst, swearing, chris getting his ass handed to him, a lot of pain.

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four

You lied.

You didn't come back the day after. Or the next day. In fact, you stayed at the hotel for almost a week. You didn't stay in the same clothes of course. You went out to buy everything you needed. Clothes, hygiene products, prenatal vitamins. You were the saddest and most ridiculous thing to walk this earth.

Lisa and Scott eventually came over with your permission of course. You couldn't say no to them. You weren't upset with them.

"How've you been, sweetie?" They both look for your answer, trying to read your face.

"To tell you the truth, I actually feel like an asshole. I honestly realize how immature I was. Chris definitely was, but I was stooping to that level myself. But I won't admit to him just yet. I want him to recognize how immature he was too."

It was crazy to even hear it from your own mouth. But you had time to think it over. You recognized how stupid you looked living in a hotel because you couldn't put your immaturity aside.

"Well this might be a shock to you, but I had a talk with him also and it might've did something." You make eye contact with her and your eyebrows jump. Indeed, you were surprised. She continues.

"I know you guys will be able to resolve this. But you need to try. You've have been together too long to let this get in between you two. I think he finally understands." She sets her hand on yours, which was placed in your lap.

He finally understood? You had to see this for yourself. You hoped to everything that she was right. You actually wanted to fix this and he needed to be on board and feel the same way.

It occurred to you after some time that his points were actually valid. It was just the way he came across is all. You were in your own feelings and took it really personal, which was understandable, but you got stubborn. Even though he got a prenup for his own reasons, you felt as if he didn't love you as much as you love him.

This could all be fixed, but he needed to set some boundaries with Megan. He had no choice. Wait till she finds out about the baby. Evidently none of the other Evans' knew about the baby because it was never brought up. You secretly thank Chris for keeping that between you guys, even though he was most likely still upset that you weren't gonna tell him about the baby right away.

You both are grown ass adults and you're having a child together. This bullshit needed to end.

"Oh my gosh this is great !! All my shit talking did some good." Lisa clears her throat at him. "Along with Ma's great advice of course." You just laugh. You loved your family.

"I think I'm ready to see him. Scratch that. I am ready to see him. I want my fianceé back." You smile and grasp your hands together. You don't think you've ever seen them smile so hard.

"Oh yeah we know you're pregnant." You stop smiling and stare at Scott like you've been caught in the cookie jar. "You know Chris can't keep his big mouth shut." Well that's a Gemini for you.

"Now its really important that you solve this. You're bringing another life into the world!" Lisa exclaims. "Plus I'm gonna have another grandbaby!!"

You giggle and shake your head. "Well we need to head over there right now then!"

Little did you know Chris was on the exact same page as you. Down to every line and every word.

He has always been indecisive and this situation really forced him to take some responsibility and rethink his behavior. You had all the reason to feel the way you did, his intentions clearly being missed by you. Whatever they even were.

He also decided that he was going to set Megan straight about his personal life and respecting you. You were his future wife. And now that you're bringing a baby into the world, she definitely needed to be put in check. He can't even believe how he allowed her to disrespect you like this.

Now he only hoped that you'd want to sort this out and forgive him. He needed you no matter what he said. He did make up excuses because your relationship was too good to be true. He's never had a connection like this before. He never allowed it, but clearly it was for a reason because it give you a chance to come in his life and completely change it for the better.

When he had gotten home from visiting you, his feelings were all over the place. Upset that you didn't come back with him and guilty for making you feel the way you did. He just felt like he was doing the right thing because Megan told him to. Deep down inside, he really didn't even want to get the stupid prenup anyway.

"So where's Y/N? Is she okay?" Shanna asked for everyone. They all expected you to come back too. They didn't know you were this stubborn.

"She's alright. She said she wasn't ready to come back just yet. Which I completely understand. But I feel like a failed once again." He slumps on the couch and lies back. "I don't deserve her at all."

"Now Chris, you know what you have. And what you have is good. Better than anything you had before. You two were made for each other. You're a hard head and I know you're not giving up this easily" Lisa says to him, taking a seat to his right.

"You know she's pregnant." He really shouldn't have said that and he knows it, but he can't keep a secret to save his own life. Everyone in the room gasps. "I found the tests in the bathroom. If I didn't go in there and discover them myself, she wasn't planning on telling me yet."

"Well she probably wanted to fix this before adding more on top of it." Scott adds. And he was absolutely correct.

"Well I'm happy for you! But I you still have this going on." Lisa's voice goes from excited to monotone. She's super happy, but she wished this could have been evented at a much better time.

"Well this could've made things better...or worse." Chris throws his NASA cap on the couch angrily.

Carly speaks up.

"You and Scott should go visit her. I doubt she'll turn it down."

"Yeah Ma. We should see where her heads at. Maybe her mind will change with our advice" Scott agrees. He loves you as a sister. Anything threatening that would have to be put to death immediately.

"Guys, I don't know about that. She seemed pretty definite on how she felt." Chris didn't want to make it worse than what it was, but he always found a way to do that anyway.

"Chris come on" Scott drags out. "We have to try."

"Y/N is a smart girl. She knows what she needs to do and it will come to her. I know it'll work out. And when it does, you'll realize your love is inevitable." Lisa smiles knowing she is absolutely right.

Now she just waits for it all to fall in place.

You were currently outside in the driveway of your house. You drove back there in your car with Lisa and Scott behind you. When you arrived, you hopped in her car to discuss how this was going to go.

Looking at the property, you admit missed your place, but you allowed your infantilism to get in the way.

"Okay he's in there, but he doesn't know you're coming back." Scott speaks lowly from the back seat.

"Wait you didn't tell him?" You snap around mystified. Why did they not tell him?

"Because we wanted it to be a surprise. Well I wanted it to be a surprise." He corrects himself when Lisa throws him a look through the rear view mirror.

"Well um okay. Then this just has to play out itself. Hopefully he's happy to see me..?" You were unsure yourself. The little intimate moment you had before he left couldn't dictate how he'd feel now.

"I'm positive he is, but you won't know unless you get up in there. Go ahead! We'll get your stuff," Lisa encourages. You think she's more excited than anyone. You thank her with a kiss on the cheek and high five Scott then head out of the car. You walk up the driveway to the front door. You didn't get the key out your bag so you rang the doorbell.

A few moments, the door is jerked open. You automatically know he didn't even look through the peephole before he opened the door. He needs to stop doing that.

You appear in his vision and he pauses.

"Y/N? Baby?" Incredulity is all in his voice.

"Yes, that is my name." You giggle. "Can I come in?"

"Uh of course! You live here, ya know." He steps back so you can walk inside. Walking through the threshold, you look around the house as if it was foreign to you. For whatever reason, you expected some dramatic changes. One thing that didn't change is his shoes in the middle of the floor. His bad habit.

"Chris what did I say about your shoes in the walkway?" You scold him and move them to the corner with his others. You can't count how many times you've almost fell face first because of his shoes in the way and truthfully, you not watching where you're going.

"Sorry I forget a lot" he says sheepishly with a tiny smile on his face stopping behind you. This makes your corners turn up as well.

You stand facing him and him facing you. Neither of you say anything. You can't tell if it is because you don't know what to say or that you just really missed each other's faces. Before you do speak, Lisa and Scott are inside with your things.

"Oh guys just put that stuff on the couch. Thank you again!" You point to the sofa, absentmindedly moving closer to Chris.

"We need to talk." Turning back to him, you nod. You remember why you're here in the first place. You needed to put an end to this.

"Right. Patio?" You always go out there to have conversations or just to chill with each other. He nods his head and turns to his family.

"We're gonna go outside and talk for a bit. Okay?"

"Oh yes take all the time you need," Lisa exclaims, shooing you both off. Scott is grinning himself. You just smile and walk to the back door onto the patio. Chris follows quickly behind.

Once you both get outside, you sit down. You wouldn't say it was awkward, but there was definitely some tension. You decide to break it.

"I'm really sorry, Chris."

"Baby I'm so sorry."

Guess he wanted to as well. You were about to talk, but he spoke up first.

"I want to apologize first. I was completely wrong here. I was being an asshole and I deserved everything you said to me. And everything Scott said to me as well." He rolls his eyes at that part. You could only imagine the dragging Scott was giving him. "I allowed Megan to disrespect you and that was a dick move. No one should allow their partner to be treated like that. You're were going to my wife and I stooped that low. I'm truly sorry." He searches in your eyes for something to let him know that you forgave him, knew that he was really sorry at least.

You look away about to let the flood come like Noah and the Arc. You've been waiting to hear that for a while and you knew he meant every word. But now it was your turn. Clearing your throat and wiping your eyes, you speak up.

"This isn't completely your fault, baby." You take his hands in yours. "I am also guilty as well. I acted so immature and didn't even truly try to resolve this because I wanted to victimize myself the whole time. Although you were acting like a huge dick, I still played a part. I am so sorry for not planning on telling you about the baby. That was unfair of me. I know that you love me and that I am important to you, so if you still want me to sign the prenup, I'll do it."

Hearing the words come from your mouth surprised you both. He didn't think you'd ever give in and you sure as hell were making sure you wouldn't. But here you are agreeing to it because you love him that much and wanted to make him happy. Your relationship would work so it would never come to be used. You had strong faith in that.

"That's another thing." He shakes his head and you're now confused. "I don't want you to sign a prenup. We're not doing that. I already plan on talking to Megan about it. And I'm going to address her on knowing her place working for me. Since you know that I love you, so fucking much, I don't need to worry about money. Nor a divorce. Like Ma said, we were made for each other and I'll be damned if I let you get away from me."

"So no prenup?" You needed to hear it again.

"No prenup, love." He grins at you, squeezing your hands. You pull from his grip and jump up busting out random dance moves. His mouth is ajar.

"No prenup! Ain't signing no prenup! Lalalalalaaaaa! No prenup!" After your little dance number, you sit back down with no shame. You needed that.

"I'm glad that you finally came to your senses, Christopher. Your mother taught you well" you say in a pompous manner. He just can't help but laugh. You truly were something else.

"We have a little one coming soon and we have to be out best selves for them. Pinky promise each other that we never ever argue and not fix it in a matter of 25 minutes ever again?" He holds out his pinky finger waiting for yours.

"I promise." You wrap yours around his and grin. "So we're good?"

"Well there is one more thing." He stands up and reaches in his pocket. He pulls out your engagement ring and gets on one knee. Just when you had no tears left to cry.

"Y/N, baby, will you be my fianceé again?" You laugh breathlessly and nod your head.

"Yes, you meatball!" He slips the ring back on your finger and you jump in his arms. Almost knocking him over, he grabs your face and kisses you. You wasted zero time kissing him back because you needed it. It had been so long.

Finally pulling away and balancing your breaths like you just ran a 5k, you both make eye contact and burst out into laughter.

"Come on. Let's go tell them." He grabs your hands and you rush inside the house. Heading into the living room you see them both watching with anticipation.

"So?" Scott speaks and they both stand up.

"Guess who's getting married ?!"

HELP-😌 im so proud of myself. i decided to end this with a nice fluff. it was well deserved. i read you guy's comments and it influenced how i wrote it. some of you mentioned immaturity in y/n and that was really valid. and the point about the prenup making sense.

thank you so much for reading. i am honestly so grateful that you guys liked it. i didn't expect it to blow up like it did. im crying now so bye ✌🏽🤧❤

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