#like tonight I made an omelet and it didn't stick and it came out so well

[bentothuglife]

God I love cast iron

[sweaterkittensahoy]

prompt: jackharding post-war, settling in and figuring things out

To love during wartime and to love during peace are so utterly different. Jack is surprised by this. Chick was already career military, and Jack's figured out it's what he wants for himself. But somehow, being at home together isn't the same as being overseas.

There's a yelling, screaming argument about whose job it is to make dinner on any given night. Chick turns his face away when Jack tells him it's only fair to split the job, and Jack replies by flinging a stick of butter at Chick's face.

It hits dead on. Jack always got great scores in markmanship.

"Did you--" Chick asks. He stares at Jack, then down at the butter, which is sitting on the table because Chick came in and sat at the table and acted shocked and annoyed that Jack didn't have dinner on the table. Jack had gotten home ten minutes earlier and had had the fridge open to decide what the fuck one makes for dinner when one is in a relationship but also doesn't want to fucking cook.

Before Jack can find an answer, Chick picks up the butter and unwraps it, then takes a huge bite.

"Needs salt," he says.

And Jack's anger is gone. There's butter in Chick's moustache, and he's trying to pretend like he is truly trying to like the butter. He laughs, and Chick grins, and there's butter in his teeth as well, and then they're howling with laughter as Chick gets up to spit the butter in the sink and run water to wash it down the drain.

"I'm sorry," Chick says when they've calmed down. "It's not fair to expect you'll take care of everything just because you're here when I walk in."

"I didn't expect to come back to the war and have to figure out how to keep house," Jack says. "I figured I'd get married after. Not during."

Chick turns and pulls Jack in close. They're both still in their uniforms. He takes Jack's left hand in both of his own and kisses Jack's ring. A quickie ceremony with the Chaplin before Chick had been driven by ambulance to London to take care of his gallbladder. Once he'd recovered from ignoring a gallstone until it had gotten even worse, he'd shown back up at Thorpe's Abbot with rings. A combination of brass and gold that makes Jack's finger slightly green from wearing it for all of twelve hours.

He won't ever accept a different ring.

"Let's go out tonight," Chick says. "And tomorrow's Saturday. I can make a decent omelet, and we can go to the bookstore and find a cookbook that looks useful. We'll take turns. I'll start with cooking on Sunday."

"I'll take the first one," Jack replies, tipping his head to kiss Chick's own wedding band. "I know my mom's Sunday roast recipe by heart. We should definitely start the week on something that doesn't taste like shit."

Chick chuckles and looks at Jack for a long moment. His face shifts and relaxes. He smiles. "We made it through a war," he says. "We can figure out all this."

Jack smiles in response and squeezes Chick's hands. "My dad has a rule. He won't make any decision with my mom until they've both dressed for and had dinner."

Chick glances at his uniform, then Jack's. "Let's try that out, too," he says. "Make our home our home."

"Our home," Jack replies because it sounds so nice.

They change and go to dinner and have such a good time they catch a movie and end up having a drink at the end of the night.

The bartender grins as he watches them make each other laugh. "You newlyweds?" he asks.

It's been two years, actually, but Jack figures they can set the clock from the moment they got home from the war. "Yes," he says. "As a matter of fact."

The bartender pours a round for free, and they toast and grin and drink.

[smallrainclouds]

It's not easy having yourself a good time

we're on a double-date with other people... why are we kissing? you're not my date

Credit for prompt to

Hypnos x reader (modern!College!au)

Word count: 2.7

Warning: some dating violence on OC's side. Wrist grabbing, slurs and controlling behavior.

Summary: this was the worst date of your life. Thankfully it's also Hypnos' worst date ever.

A/N: here have this fic. I had yandere! Hypnos I was working on but it's giving me issues (it was supposed be under 1k but it keeps growing).

Also, I am open to requests but will rejected any I don't feel comfortable doing.

No beta.

Thank and I hope you enjoy.

💤☁️💤

You regret everything.

You stared at the plate of food you didn't order, some sad little salad that somehow smelled greasy.

Why did you let yourself get talked into a group date? You know why, you thought your friend was going to try to set up with your lab partner, Hypnos.

You looked at the bubbles in your sparkling water, another thing you didn't order and wondered if the person you were with would ever stop talking.

You glanced up at the group at the table. Across from you with his own date next to him, was Hypnos who was frowning at your date.

At least you had one sane classmate with you. Hypnos had been your lab partner since the first day in senior year and honestly you had thought at first your friend was setting you up with Hypnos. If you had known it was with someone else, you would have bail.

Charlie was a nice person you told yourself and your friends thought they would be great for you. Charlie was just… maybe they didn't know you don't order people's food for them.

"Look what I'm saying, Hypnos, is that maybe that YouTuber guy shouldn't be called out as much. Not his fault people can't take jokes anymore." Your date, Charlie, said loudly across the table to Hypnos who just raised a brow.

You rolled your eyes, You weren't going to let your friends pick a date for you ever again.

"Alright buddy. Whatever you say." Hypnos shrugged.

Hypnos' date and fellow classmate leaned across Hypnos, her breasts pressed against his arm. You looked away, poking at your food. You certainly were not jealous, you told yourself.

"Come on, guys. Let's talk about something else." she whined. The other two couples that came along echoed their agreement.

Hypnos grimaced and sat up taller, making the girl sit up as well. You felt kinda bad for both you and Hypnos. Clearly neither one of you guys were getting on with your dates.

You looked toward your friend, hoping she would notice how poorly everything was going. You rolled your eyes when she was clearly lost in her own world, feeding her partner french fries.

Too bad your date wasn't with Hypnos. You thought he was actually cute back when You first saw him, if not a little odd looking with white curls and heavy lidded eyes. Now, you couldn't imagine a more handsome person.

You found your eyes kept going back to him throughout dinner. Especially when he pushed his hoodie sleeves up, showing off his forearms.

The table moved on to some marvel movie or something but you were drifting in and out. You kept checking your watch in hopes that you could end the night soon without being rude.

You could feel someone was watching you and you looked up to Hypnos' golden eyes looking at you. He glanced at the group, back at you and rolled his eyes. You smiled in agreement but quickly covered it up with your hand.

Hypnos pointed toward your plate with the uneaten food, eyebrows rised in a questioning way.

You tilted your head toward your date who was loudly having another argument over some tv show with one of the guys there.

Hypnos looked at your date for a second before he sneaked you his untouched plate of pancakes.

You mouthed, 'Are you sure?' and he nodded, pointing at a plate of mostly eaten omelet.

You mouthed a quick thank you and dug in. You were half though the plate of pancakes when your date noticed.

"Wait, where did you get the pancakes?" Charlie asked, "You know how fattening all that carbs and sugar are? I like my dates to be healthy."

"What?" You asked flatly. Did you really hear what you just did? Hypnos and his date were both staring at Charlie. Hypnos looked furious and You saw the girl send you a pitying look.

"Oh. come on, you know I don't mean it like that."

You suddenly lost any appetite you had and pushed the plate of food away. You looked toward your friend who remained blissfully unaware of your pain.

Your date swung an arm on your shoulders, you sighed annoyed at the causal possiveness. You only knew them for like two hours but they were already acting like you were going steady.

"Ready to hit the club, Y/N?" Your date asked.

You almost groaned, you had forgotten about the stupid club.

"Uh, sure. Yeah." You tried to wiggle your date's arm off but no dice. You thought you saw Hypnos send a disapproving look at your date but you weren't sure. No point getting your hopes up.

As you exited the diner, Hypnos tripped; knocking into your date and their arms off your shoulders.

Grateful for the excuse, you took a few steps out of their reach.

"Oops, my bad." Hypnos smiled widely, and gave a shoulder pat to your date who glared at him. "Just watch it alright?" Your date snapped as they made it to the carpool.

In the car, you peeked at Hypnos who just winked at you. You didn't hide your smile this time.

The club did nothing to improve your date or your mood. The loud bassy music was almost too loud to hear anyone and your date kept trying to get you to stay on the dance floor.

You were able to duck out of their hold and pointed to the table. They tried to tell you something but You didn't stick around.

You almost fell into the booth, your feet were throbbing and you just wanted to go home. You could just see your homework growing by the hour.

"Need water?" Hypnos asked. You looked up, "Oh I didn't know you were at the table. Yes please."

He handed you an icy cold bottle and you moaned at how good it tasted. He laughed and you blushed, feeling foolish.

"Sorry, thank you." You took a slip, without moaning this time thankfully.

Hypnos went back to his phone, fingers moving quickly. "No problem."

"Where is… um what was her name?" You asked, trying not to look at Hypnos too much. How dare he look this good in the club' dim lighting.

"Oh I forgot her name. But she is doing fine. Told me she was going home with her ex." He pointed to the dance floor where the girl was dancing against another guy, their mouths glued together.

You looked back at him, but he already was back to texting on his phone. He didn't seem upset at all.

"I'm sorry, Hypnos." You said awkwardly, not sure of what to make of this whole night.

"Don't be. I'm not." He shrugged. You couldn't help but notice how nicely the red hoodie fit him.

"I will admit though I don't think I will be trusting our friend's matchmaking skills after tonight." Hypnos looked at you, his amused smile made you smile in return.

"You and I both." You murmured your agreement.

You finished off your drink, eyeing him.

After a few more minutes, your willpower broke.

"Okay I gotta know. It has been months since I met you and it is bugging the crap out of me." You leaned forward to him.

He looked up from his phone, a white eyebrow raised.

"Is Hypnos your real name?" You asked him, not quite able to look away from him. You were being a silly school girl and you knew it.

He laughed, "Yeah, it is." He moved closer, his eyes bright. "Wanna know why?"

At your nod, he spoke. "When my mom was pregnant with me and my brother. She got kinda crunchy, got into healing crystals and tarot cards, stuff like that."

Hypnos waved a hand. "So when she couldn't pick names for us, she went to a psychic, who told her that she was a reincarnation of the goddess Nyx. And apparently she was pregnant again with the reincarnated gods of sleep and death."

You couldn't help the small laugh and Hypnos chuckled as he took a sip of his beer.

"Mom believed the guy." He pointed to himself, " So ta-da I got named Hypnos. And my brother is Thanatos."

"Your mom sounds like a fun lady." You played with your hair, enjoying the warmth in your stomach. You couldn't remember the last time someone made you feel such things.

"Oh definitely. I never know what I'm going to get when I see her." Hypnos said fondly.

When You shifted your seat, your leg brushed against his. You almost pulled away but Hypnos pressed his leg against yours. You could feel the heat of his body and it just made you want more.

His golden eyes searched yours, silently asking if he could do this. You returned the gentle pressure and flushed at his soft smile.

"How does your brother handle the whole Thanos name thing?" You asked, desperately trying to calm your racing heart.

A devious glint lit Hypnos' eyes, "Oh he hates it so much. He already hated the whole super hero thing. Last year for his birthday, I got him a cardboard cutout of the big guy. I thought he was going to shove it down my throat. I got his boyfriend Zagreus and their girlfriend Meg in on it this year, we going to -"

"Hey Y/N. Are you coming back to the floor?" Charlie's eyes narrowed, "Hypnos, I think your actual date is looking for you."

You pulled away, you had forgotten about Charlie and you couldn't help but feel some guilt, even if you didn't like them that much or at all.

Hypnos stayed in place, amusement on his face. You saw Charlie's fists clenched and knew they were about to start a fight and stood up.

You were definitely going to block Charlie's number after tonight was over.

"Come on, let's get some drinks for everyone. They should be coming back soon." You motioned for Charlie to follow you. They glared at Hypnos before following you.

You couldn't resist a quick glance back to Hypnos, who raised his beer at you in a 'cheers' motion.

💤☁️💤

Charlie was sullen and quiet as you ordered more drinks for the group. You couldn't blame them really, anyone would be put out when their dates are clearly having a better time with someone else.

Well, not Hypnos but Hypnos wasn't exactly normal, you thought fondly.

You tapped the bar, guilt gnawed at your guts as your thoughts went back to Hypnos.

"So what were you guys talking about?" Charlie slurred, his tone icy.

You took a breath, just a few more hours you reminded yourself. "Nothing much. Just about his brothers and stuff."

Charlie crowded into your space. You can smell the booze and sweat on them.

"You guys seemed like you were sitting pretty close considering you were talking about 'brothers'." They did a finger quote.

You rolled your eyes, unable to stand being near them any longer. You stepped away to head back to let your friends you were bailing for the night.

"Tell me what he said to you." Charlie demanded as they grabbed your wrist harshly.

"Ow, let go of me! You are hurting me, Charlie." You hissed, trying not to draw any attention.

"Tell me." They hisses back.

"I did. Buy your own drink, I'm going home." You tried to yank your hand away but they didn't let go.

"Look I've been nothing but nice to you and you're cuddling up to another guy on our date like some slut." They changed their tone, trying to sound more upset than controlling but it just made your stomach twisted in disgust.

You opened your mouth to defend yourself but after a moment you shut it, "You're right. Clearly this isn't going to work out so let me go."

"No, you own me something, Y/N." Charlie leaned toward you. "And I'm not leaving empty handed."

"Fuck off." You snapped, fear rising in your chest.

"Hey, man." Hypnos grabbed Charlie's wrist and squeezed tightly enough that they were forced to let go of your wrist. His normal light-hearted tone was hard. "I think Y/N had enough of your company tonight."

You took some steps back, shaking a little. Without looking at you, Hypnos asked. "Y/N, do you need to go get anything?"

"N-no. I have everything. I want to leave." You hated how weak you sounded and you wished that you never came out at all.

Hypnos held on to Charlie's wrist and yanked them toward him. You heard Hypnos murmur something to them.

Fear flashed over Charlie's face and they stumbled backward. "Fine. Whatever asshole."

Hypnos turned to you, his eyes darkened by his anger. "Come on, I can get you a ride home."

You just nodded, feeling very exhausted and close to tears.

💤☁️💤

The cold wind felt like heaven after the heat of the overflowing club. At least for the first two minutes.

You just walked, not quite sure where to go. Hypnos walked next to you, easily keeping up with your pace.

Neither one of you said anything as you tried to process the horrible night.

After walking for ten more minutes, Hypnos spoke up. "There is a park nearby, we should be able to find a park bench."

You just nodded, Hypnos offered an arm and after a moment you took it. You pressed your cheek against his shoulder, soaking in his body heat.

The park was empty, lit by warm path lights.

"Thank you." You said. "You didn't have to do anything for me."

"It's all good. How about the wrist?" Hypnos asked softly.

"It doesn't hurt. Thank you since you stepped in." You patted his forearm.

Hypnos sighed, "No. Not thanks to me actually. Its kinda my fault, I've been pushing their buttons for most of the night."

You looked up at Hypnos, your brow furrowed. "What? No, they have been pretty rude since the start of the date. I mean, you heard the salad thing. They ordered it for me!"

Hypnos shook his head. His breath coming out in white puffs. "Yeah and because I was jealous, I made a bad date into a nightmare. I knew I was making them feel all threatened, it wasn't hard honestly. I didn't think they would grab you like that. I just thought they would be a bad date you could laugh about later."

It took you a moment to process his words. You stopped on the park path, staring off at the lake.

"You were jealous?" You asked, not quite believing what you were hearing.

"Very." Hypnos chuckled bitterly.

"Hypnos, you are an idiot." You said blankly.

He opened his mouth to say something but you pulled him down by his collar to kiss him.

At first, Hypnos doesn't return your kiss and you pull away, an apology already on your lips.

But he cupped your face and met you again in a sweet, slow kiss. He kept pulling away to press chaste kisses against your lips and cheeks.

"Damnit, I was planning on asking out you after our last class assignment. I had a plan for everything. I was going to take you to your favorite coffee shop and buy you that dumb drink you like. Take you the park by our dorms and ask you by the duck pond." Hypnos said between kisses and pressing one last long kiss against your lips.

You hummed, unable to think straight. "Our friend ruined that, huh." You laughed when you could feel him growled against your lips. "You have no idea, I had a speech and everything."

After another long and soft kiss, both of you pulled away only to met again in a forehead press. Your white puffs of breath mingled together and your heart felt so full.

"You could still do the coffee and the speech. And the ducks." You whispered.

"Yeah?" Hypnos asked softly, his thumb caressed your cheek.

"I have to do a lab with a very cute classmate tomorrow but I'm free after that." You flushed, pleased at the fond smile Hypnos had.

"That's funny, so am I." Hypnos replied.

Unable to hold off any longer, you pulled him into another kiss, one of the many yet to come.

[pbandjesse]

Today was excellent. I had a really nice day. It was way too cold but it was still a really nice day.

I slept okay last night. Enough that I woke up with an alarm at 7 and I felt okay. The sun was way too bright and I forgot to close the curtains. So that was not ideal. And I wasn't actually able to fall asleep like I wanted to. So I just hung out and play it on my phone. It was nice. I didn't get a bid for a long time. I just enjoyed laying here without having to be anywhere.

I did eventually get up. I got dressed and I love my outfit. This dress plus this sweater is just an excellent look. I made an omelet and have toast. And I watch TV for a bit. I've never pain is like I was hoping but that's okay. I have time this weekend. Mostly I just hung out. And it was just chill and nice and I'm really glad I was able to have some time to myself.

I left here a little before 11 and walked over to the 7-Eleven that's closest to my apartment. It is the worst 7-Eleven. It's not the one I normally go to that made the ouija board by the other one on the other side of Martin Luther King. They are just consistently the worst 7-Eleven. They're always half out of everything and just bad every time. And the girl was very confused when I asked for the two pieces of pizza that have the least amount of pepperoni on them. I tried to explain to her that I needed to pull it off since they didn't have cheese. Was very annoying but she figured it out eventually.

I want to wait for the bus that took way longer than I thought it was going to. I was standing out in the bitter wind for like 20 minutes. By the time I got on the bus my hands and my face were numb and tingling from coming into the heat. It sucked. And I had to watch the bus driver yell at a guy because he was standing in the middle of the street with his car door wide open. Just for no reason.

I got to the building before anyone else. Except for Marshall but he is always there. I had my pizza and talk to him for a bit. And eventually Chelsea came. And we caught up. I had a meeting with Tiffany and Chelsi first. We went over my lesson plans and what I was doing wrong and how to correct them. I'm much more clear now. I was actually doing twice as much work as I needed to. So now I can go back in and fix my lesson plans and send them to Chelsi to finish up for me. Because she's the best and she's going to take some of the load off.

Not sure that it was just lesson plan working on. We had a staff meeting. Address some concerns. I had a nice time. I got to hang out with Marcus which I enjoyed. He's always so funny. And then we did a personality test. Which I love. It was so fun.

According to this color test I'm in the blue personality type group and so was a lot of other people in our class. Well the other teachers not the class. We had none in the gold. Two in the orange. And 3 in the green. It was pretty cool learning about the way that we approach life and so many of us found truth and what it was saying. And we had some big laughs as the blue group because one of the things was that we talked to you much or were a very talkative. And Linnea kept interrupting everything to tell people how she didn't love to talk and then she would go on a 5-minute talk about how much she didn't like to talk. And I'm just like darling you are doing it right now. And she almost threw her water bottle at me. It was very funny. And it was really nice as a bonding moment for a lot of us.

Miss Elaine gave me and Marcus a ride home. I had her drop me off by The Rite Aid. At the ride home was nice. We listen to music. And it was hilarious hearing sweet Miss Elaine who reminds me of my mother singing cardi B.

But you left me at the Rite Aid. And I wandered around while I waited for James to finish his shift. I got a new moisturizer to try to deal with the dry skin on my face. It's just a stick of shea butter essentially but it's at black owned business and I always like to support less mainstream brands. I also bought a new shampoo since I am finally running out of the 20 bottles of half things of shampoo I had from when I lived in Minneapolis.

Then when she was done I walked over to the restaurant. We had a pasta dinner. And I enjoyed people watching. And seeing this woman have a really nice interaction with the owner of the pizza place. He made her a dessert that she could only get in New York and haven't been able to find here. And then he gave it to her for free. It was just really sweet. And then James did the personality test 2 and he's also in the blue group. So we talked about that for a while. It was just really nice.

We walk back to my house and he helped me cut the sculpture clay into 20 parts for the kids. I know I technically have like 15 to 17 students but I figured having more split up will be better than not. And I'm going to make more clay anyway. This will just be them to start. And I did some organizing real quick and brought the mail in. And my brandless order had come. Some stuff that I was sending to his house we packed away in his backpack. And then my new fur became! And they are the perfect little Cloud. Their name is vape Life. But it's spelled VapeLyfe. Because me and James think we're hilarious. But they're very cute and I'm excited to show them off to the kids tomorrow.

We went back to his apartment and we were going to make a puff pastry thing but I let it get moldy in the fridge by accident because I was supposed to back in the freezer and I never did. I didn't think it was going to be a problem until he opened it and it was disgusting. So he made some pastry dough. And then his friends came. Brandon who you know. And his friend Dante from Philadelphia that we find out with a few times. I think it's a delight. I ended up sitting in the bed talking to him for most of the time and catching up on all the things me and James have been doing. And then James made me some hand pies and we read about the rules of the internet and I went home at 9.

And now I'm in bed. I washed up and now sweet pea is in my face trying to get attention and I'm just looking forward to going to sleep. I have the BMI in the morning and I don't have my bike so it's going to be annoying getting there. I'm going to wake up and take the bus. And then I'm going to have to just bite the bullet and take a left because it will take like an hour to walk to the bus stop. And the bus that would get me closer so infrequent that I just can't risk it. But it's fine. It'll all work itself out.

Hope you all sleep well tonight. Be safe out there. Stay warm.