#look at how cute zi are

[rhoy-angel]

more of the little forest friend

i speed drew this on.

look at zir!

[seyaryminamoto]

Fic-to-Art #42: Hotaru, Mari and Zi

This month, our prompt was children, specifically our next gen kiddos in Gladiator. Surprising very few people, this little trio got the win, even though another trio (Yue's kids!) were really close runner-ups! It's a lot more interesting to write kid characters than I ever expected, even in a story as dark as what I work on. The dynamics between these three will be lots of fun to write someday, I know it! But for now, we get to enjoy a glimpse of them together in art form, with Mari having given the three of them makeovers with all those ponytails and pigtails and what have you x'D

I really hope you guys enjoy this piece, it was a lot of fun to work on <3 they're adorable cousins and it's always wonderful to think of how their eventual bond will be undisputable proof that their world is healing for good, after all the efforts of their respective parents.

If you'd like to be part of the creative process behind these pieces, a $1 pledge makes you eligible for voting and suggesting prompts, as well as reading Gladiator snippets 6 days before the new chapter releases!

[hikarinokusari]

I could propose a tarokka readong to guide you out of the troubles and to your fated ally.

you are personally and directly hit by a bus¹ and isekai-ed, via resurrection, into the body of the main character your most recent WIP

reblog and tell me: on a scale of 1–10, how screwed are you right now?

¹ this is, transparently, a plot device, so if you are about to tell me "joke's on you, I never leave my fifteenth floor apartment!" then you may rest assured it will have tremendous comedic value when the bus is launched into the sky and crashes through your apartment wall to flatten you anyway

[fluentmoviequoter]

I have a (The rookie) Tim Bradford x shyreader request please?

Tim and shyreader just recently start dating and one time when Tim, shyreader and his cop friends are at a restaurant “Denny’s” (I always order pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausages with Coca Cola) and Tim cop friends are meeting shy!reader.

Tim is surprised when Lucy and shy!reader have secret new best friends handshake and everyone finds it cute while Tim is being sad and surprised puppy asking himself when did this happen. https://youtube.com/shorts/WUON5Q4HDuc?si=4cot1jSQiyi5F-zI

Such a cute request; thank you! 0.7k+ words of fluff (I couldn't figure out how to make it longer without it being super boring. I hope this is okay!)

Secret Relationships, Handshakes, and Pancakes

“It’s been a month,” Tim points out.

“Five weeks and two days,” you correct softly, looking at Tim’s hands rather than his face.

“That’s worse.”

You glance up at him, unsurprised to see that he’s looking directly at you. He hides his smile and lifts his brows.

“Breakfast with a few of my friends can’t be that bad,” he assures. “I don’t even like spending time with them, but I’m still going.”

You push your hand against Tim’s chest before you ask, “Will Lucy be there?”

“Yes,” Tim answers, wondering why you’d ask about her. He’s told you stories about all of them, but this is the big day (Angela’s words) when you finally meet them.

Nodding, you agree to go, then wrap your arms tightly around Tim’s waist. He uses your grip on him to get you out of the door and into his truck. It’s not that you don’t like spending time with Tim or don’t want to meet his friends, but it’s hard being around new people when you’re shy, and you don’t want to make a bad impression and lose Tim forever.

“It’ll be right out,” the waitress says after taking drink orders.

“Thanks,” you whisper to Tim.

“For what?” he replies, lifting his brows innocently like he doesn’t remember ordering for you.

“Tim!” Lucy calls as the door to the restaurant opens behind you.

You smile and turn, then stand and hug Lucy. She pulls back and offers her right hand, which you take in yours. Tim watches as you shake her hand, then flip your fingers to hold her wrist before sliding your palms against one another. Laughing as you hook your fingers with Lucy’s, then snap, you almost forget that other people are around.

“Um, excuse me?” Angela interjects as she stops beside you. “I want a handshake.”

“It’s reserved for best friends,” Lucy argues. She winks at you as she sits beside you.

Angela groans, then smiles and introduces herself and Wesley Evers. You shake their hands before you lower to your seat. Tim’s eyes are on you, but your neck is already warming, so you keep your gaze forward.

“I was under the impression we were all meeting you for the first time today,” Angela tells you, looking pointedly at Lucy.

“We met at the station,” Lucy explains. “I recognized her from one of Tim’s pictures.”

“When did you see my pictures?” Tim interrupts, momentarily distracted from his internal wondering of how you and Lucy hit it off so quickly.

“Anyway,” Lucy deflects, “Nolan is running a few minutes late, but he’ll be here soon.”

“Did you come up with the handshake yourself?” Wesley asks you.

“I did,” you answer softly. “But it was Lucy’s idea.”

“Were you on the clock?” Tim inquires over your head.

“No,” you and Lucy answer together.

Tim pinches the bridge of his nose and looks down to ask, “How long have you been friends?”

“About a month,” Lucy answers.

Their conversation is interrupted by the waitress returning with drinks for the table. After Angela thanks Tim for remembering her favorite, Tim gently taps his elbow against your arm. You turn toward him and interlace your fingers beneath the table.

“So, while I was fighting to get you to talk to me, hold eye contact… you were hanging out with Lucy and making secret handshakes?” he accuses.

“Bet you’re wishing you’d picked up Nolan,” Wesley tells Lucy.

“Wasn’t the goal of breakfast to let us bond?” Lucy defends for you. “We just bonded early.”

“He’s mad that you stole his girlfriend’s limited attention,” Angela explains. She meets your eyes and smiles. “No offense.”

“None taken,” you promise. “Sorry I didn’t tell you, Tim.”

Tim sighs and murmurs, “I suppose there will be even more handshakes now.” As Angela cheers, he reaches across the table for a straw and uses his arm as cover to whisper, “I’m the only one who gets secret kisses, though.”

You nod, fighting the shy smile growing at his words.

“Hey, Nolan,” Wesley calls. “Lucky for you, no one else has to talk once John gets here.”

Tim takes your hand under the table, and as his thumb brushes over your knuckles, you know your relationship is better than all the secret handshakes in the world. But then he orders for you, and the women at the table act like it’s the sweetest thing anyone has done since Fitzwilliam Darcy walked to propose to Elizabeth Bennet. You turn to hide your face against his arm.

“Wait, handshakes?” Nolan exclaims a moment later. “I love handshakes!”

“No you don’t,” Tim warns, his hand warm against your back.

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 1)

It wasn't long after Uzi restored N and V's memories that N began to stay over at her “apartment.” more often.

It started when he sheepishly knocked on her door one morning, chassis slightly steaming and looking guilty, tail laying flat against the floor.

“H-H-Hey U-U-zi” His voice was so glichy it was nearly impossible to hear what exactly he was saying, his visor angerly blinking, warning him that he was overheating, as if that wasn't immediately obvious.

“Holy shit! N!” Uzi was immediately concerned, leaning in to help her best freind and to lead him inside, she went to grab his hand to help him. Only to be immediately burned, the temperature of his plating feeling like a stove top.

“Y-y-eah, I'm kinda h-h-ooo-t right now.” He explained as if he wasn't about to melt in front of her. She sprinted to her room, grabbing the canister of oil she'd been sipping on and shoving it in his mouth.

He drank it deeply, emptying the entire container rather quickly, steam plumed around him and he sighed, his joints groaning from the quick constriction back to form.

“Oh wow, that was a little closer than I would have liked. Thanks Uz!” He brightened immediately, tail curling up and beginning to wag, a beaming smile on his face.

“N! What happened? I've never seen you that hot before!” She motioned him in, looking into the hallway to make sure nobody saw him enter. It wouldn't help the already rampant rumors about her. About them.

“Uh, V is in one of her moods after I tried reminiscing with her, she shoved me and I fell into the sunlight.” His explanation was not lacking in enthusiasm, seemingly not thinking about how close the death he just came.

“And she didn't get you oil because…?” Uzi questioned, trying to not notice how he looked around her house in awe, glancing around at everything.

“Oh, because the oil we have is old and a little chunky, it would have taken too long to cool me off before I started to go offline.” He explained, picking up a picture of her father and her, when she was a pill.

“Awww, baby Uzi!”

Blushing, she swiped the picture out of his hands and put it back down.

“Bite me! I'm not cute!” She snapped at him, only for him to laugh lightly, as if that action itself proved whatever point he was trying to make.

“Whatever you say!” He grinned, walking off to pick up another trinket off the shelf and turn it in his hands.

“This isn't the first time you've been here, you've seen it before, also you almost just died. Priorities!”

“I actively avoid thinking about the times I almost die. Also look!” He brought her attention to a picture of her, in a toddler body, bashing her dad in the head with a wrench.

“Looks like you were good with tools even when tiny!” He cooed at her image, Uzi grumbled, trying and failing to swipe the picture from his hands.

“Also, I was unconscious for most of the time I was here. I didn't get to see all your adorable droneling pictures!” He threw his hands up, tail wagging wildly.

Adorable?

“N!” She shouted in indignation, fists balling up and stomping her foot like the was throwing a tantrum.

He put the picture back on the shelf, giggling at her, if he was anyone else she would have bitten back a little harder, but he was incredibly difficult to stay mad at, especially with that crooked, dopey smile.

“Well, I guess I'm stuck with you until nightfall…” She murmured, honestly she had started to become nocturnal herself, being unable to touch sunlight after her strange, fleshy transformation at camp, switching over seemed to be the better option.

“I was about to get ready for bed, if you wanna-”

“Sleepover!” He shouted immediately, looking like he just got the best Christmas gift ever. Uzi couldn't help but smile at him, he was always so endlessly positive.

“Uh, yeah… I guess.” She turned to look aloof, but to also hide her growing fluster, which had been growing more and more common since prom.

She drug him into her room by the arm, partly just to get him away from more of her pictures. And slammed the door behind her. Sighing softly.

When she opened her eyes again, N was sitting on her bed, well more laying, as he was a little too tall to comfortably sit upright without touching the ceiling, and was looking at her nightmare board.

“Mmm. This looks like repressed memories.” He said off-handedly, and he was partly correct, some of them were nightmares, some were things she'd rather be only in her nightmares.

“Just nightmares N.” She replied, going into the corner of the room to find a comfortable shirt to change into. Only to look at N, to realize he was still in his overcoat and hat.

“You want to wear something more comfortable then that coat?” She asked, still pulling through the mountain of clothes.

“Huh? Oh uh, if you have something that fits me.”

Fair enough, he was quite a bit taller than any other worker drone. Especially her.

But luckily, she had hoarded clothes over the years, and finally fished something out that was way too big for her. But would probably fit him just fine. A thin lilac shirt that said. “My Girlfriend Thinks I'm Tall.”

The universe really wanted to shove this crush in her face today. Didn't it?

Whatever, the universe could bite her.

“Here.” She threw the shirt up at him and continued to search for something that suited her. Finally, she saw a faded yellow shirt that read; I'm a Big Freakin’ Ray of Sunshine

Perfect

She turned, only to find N standing naked in the middle of her room, the shirt folded in one hand and his coat draped over the other.

“N!” She immediately whipped around to face the wall, her temperature rising quickly, a violent blush taking over her face.

“What?” He hummed, seemingly unperturbed by being nude in front of her, taking his sweet ass time putting the shirt on.

“You're naked!”

“And? The only difference between us is armor plating.” He responded, pulling the shirt over his head. His voice laced with confusion.

“Still! You don’t see me stripping in front of you!”

N paused for a moment, seemingly pondering this. Before he clicked his tongue.

“I wouldn't mind it, you seem to forget that none of the corpses that make up the spire have clothes.” That made her jump, sometimes she forgot he was a disassembly drone, with his cheerful, loving attitude. And it made her feel a little weird, did all of the worker drones really look so similar?

Did he not think of her as different?

“N-No, I don't care how many you've seen. I don't want you to see me.”

She heard N make some kind of noise, then heard him step out and close the door. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, shit, she didn't realize N would be so nonchalant about it.

She quickly got changed, and reopened the door for N, who met her gaze with a slight blush, and who's hands were shifting against each other awkwardly. Clearly, he'd known he'd said something wrong and overthought it.

“Erm, sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, and I didn't mean to imply that… you look like every other worker drone. Because you don't- uh…” He broke from her gaze for a moment, and his tail flicked irritability. What she could see of his visor he was? Blushing? Maybe?

“You don't look like anyone else. You look like you, and you are my best friend.”

Or maybe he did.

“It's okay, you kinda walk around without pants anyway.”

“So does V!” He defended, before they both dissolved into laughter, awkward moment being pushed aside.

“Come on, let's choose something to watch.” And they walked back into her room, N following as she pulled put a drawer, letting him look at the movies she had.

“A lot of them are animated, looking at live action humans is a little freaky to me.” She admitted, watching as he held each box in his hands. Reading the description of each.

“Oooh, this one is about robots!” He grinned, showing off on of the boxes to her.

“Wall-E? I haven't seen that since I was little.” She vaguely knew it was sappy though, which knowing N, he may have picked up on as well.

‘Yeah sure…” She picked up her homebrew laptop and shoved the disk into the reader, before looking around for a place for both of them to sit.

Her couch was currently covered in railgun parts, where she has been trying (and kinda failing) to repair it after it exploded, she'd nearly had to start from scratch.

But then that left her bed… which would probably end up with the both of them being in pretty close proximity, even more so with how excitable N could get.

N made the choice for her, climbing up to her bed and giving her his hand to help her up.

She blushed, looking away as she took his hand as was hoisted up quickly enough to disorient her, thankfully she didn't loose grip on the laptop.

She landed in his lap, she could tell that much by the ambient warmth radiating from his core, she felt him lean down over her shoulder to start the movie, some of his silvery hair tickling her cheek.

Ah, shit this escalated, does he realize how close we are right now?

Apparently not, as he readjusted himself he forced them closer, Uzi leaning fully against his chest, his head looming above her as she was curled on his lap.

She was extremely happy he couldn't see her visor, which she was sure was nothing but purple at this point.

Still, she eventually relaxed into it, realizing that this was one of the only ways they'd both truly fit on the bed while still being able to see the screen.

She just… didn't remember the movie being so… romantic?

The way Wall-E swooned over Eva's sleek design, melted at her voice, showed her his collection of weird human things… for once she could kinda relate, looking up at the disassembly drone, who's eyes were locked onto the screen.

“Awww, he likes her!” He pointed out when Wall-E tried to hold her hand, and all Uzi could do was shake her head, of course he'd be into romance, that was just so… N.

“Kinda reminds me of when we first met.” She said without thinking, before her words caught up with her and she realized what she was implying.

Luckily, either N didn't call her out or simply didn't notice.

“Yeah… her arm cannon thing is really similar to your railgun.”

Oh thank Robo-Jesus that's what he took from that.

“I don't think you were swooning over me though, with me trying to kill you and everything.”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

“Uh- Pfft, I wouldn't swoon over anyone N.”

Yes. Nice Save.

“Thad?” N mentioned, eyes still trained on the screen. Although his tone had shifted slightly, although she couldn't fathom why.

“Ew. No. Sports Jock is not my type, he's just not mean to me.” They both jumped when a lightning strike hit Wall-E as we was trying to recharge her.

“I'm not sure what I'd do if you suddenly went offline like that.” N's voice was uncertain, like it was something he'd been thinking on.

“You worry about that?” Uzi replied, trying to ignore the way her core sped up, but wait his did too.

“Of course, with everything going on I'm afraid someone is going to get hurt in a way I can't fix…” One of his arms wrapped around her, seeking comfort, making her jump slightly.

She wasn't used to other people caring about her to this extent, in the way she knew N did, he was her ride or die and she knew that, and it was worth so much to her.

“If you're talking about V, she can kill us both before taking a breath.”

But showing him that was too scary.

“I don't worry about her as much as I worry about you.” His head rested on hers for a moment, as he watched Wall-E hold onto the side of the spaceship for dear life.

She felt herself smiling, face warm. He was such a wonderful friend, he was one of the only people that truly cared about her.

“I'll be fine… Bite me….” He chuckled, sensing no aggression behind her words. And they fell into comfortable silence, getting reabsorbed back into the movie.

Uzi found herself melting pleasantly in his warmth, she'd expected him to be warm, with his constant need for oil, but had expected it to be more unpleasant, instead it was lulling her to sleep quite rapidly. She felt… safe. And that was weird considering she was cudd- uh leaning against a drone who could end her life before she could even finish her next thought.

But she knew he'd never do that, he would rather melt into a puddle than lay an aggressive hand on her, and in a way that made her feel special, even though he would do the same for any of the worker drones in the bunker.

“Oh she looks really upset…” Her eyes refocused on the screen, Eve shouting at Wall-E while her words faded into the background, showing he wasn't listening.

“He did follow her into space.”

“For love!”

“She doesn't know that, although pretty sure she'd still be mad if she did… it really wasn't a smart decision.” Uzi deadpaned, groaning at N's partly fake offense.

“Love is always the best decision!”

Then please don't let me go

She shook off that thought with a shake of her head, settling back against his chest, realizing his arm was still around her and his head still laid on hers.

They were actually cuddling now, there would be no denying that. But Uzi couldn't bring herself to be upset by it even if a part of herself was screaming about her “reputation.” and her “critical lack of edge.”

“Am I putting you to sleep?” N asked, his voice soft and soothing, it sent pleasant streams of data straight to her core.

“I've already seen the movie, and… you're really warm.” She admitted, looking up onto to find he was looking back at her.

“You don't have to stay awake for me then.”

His eyes were honey, pure and sweet and looking down at her like she was a precious gem. She smiled, eyes dimming as she fell into sleep mode. Was this still just a crush? It didn't feel like one, with the way her core felt full and heavy like it was about to come out of her chest. Was this what love was like? She didn't know, she'd never felt anything close to it before.

[Sleep Mode] appered on her visor and N felt her relax fully into him, letting out a content sigh that made yellow spring to his cheeks. His attention slowly turning to the movie again.

She nuzzled into him in her sleep, making the robot equivalent of a squeak as she did. His core felt light, and a small laugh fell out of his mouth.

He worried about her constantly, with her strange powers and her transformation, she'd put herself in danger, always bravely going into it with so much confidence it tended to rub off on him even if he was nervous. But he still worried, she was still a worker, still small, still so much more fragile. And recently, he'd seen her lacking in confidence, terrified.

Even if she would tell him to bite her if he dared ever call her any sort of fragile. She meant so much to him, his closest friend that he could always count on to be patient with him. She could be prickly, sure, but that was more of a shield she put up to protect herself. Much like the padding of optimism he'd wrapped himself in.

He was really upset knowing how the rest of the colony treated her, as if she was some sort of diseased stray cat that needed to be avoided. It was awful! Uzi had the potential to be so sweet, and it was sad to see her having to create this shell to hide that part of herself.

“Mm… N…” She mumbled in her sleep, and he subconsciously pulled her closer, he'd stopped paying attention to the movie long ago, that was okay, he was recording everything anyway, he'd be sure to pay more attention then.

He was going to make his best freind feel wanted. Like he'd wanted to feel, like she made him feel.

Sleep mode came quickly for him too, until all the sound that escaped the room was the sound of the laptop, until that too died down to nothing.

Next ->

[galpalo]

(SPOILER)

Okay so I can’t fit ALL my screenshots here so I’ll focus on the ones I found most interesting. I will not apologize for shamelessly rambling, you WILL listen. Also this is not in order of the events.

(funfact: all of them scenarios were my favorite)

NORI FLASHBACK I REPEAT. R.i.p to the “intern”.

Can I just say I find it cute how similar Uzi and her mother are? Look at the band posters and her music tastes, plus the drawings (there’s one also on the desk!) but I did not expect her to be a heart-core remain of her old body.

BLONDE TWINS ARE BACK. THEORISTS YOUVE DONE IT AGAIN.

This moment

I did not ask to be hurt for a fraction of a second

I would scream too if I saw a trauma ghost of my past-life crush standing in front of me. Seriously though, this moment was funny

SO YOURE MEANING TO TELL ME, THEY WERE NOT JUST PROGRAMMED TO WIPE OUT ALL WORKER DRONES.

BUT ALSO THE HUMAN RACE. It unexpectedly makes sense?! Because back at episode 5 “home”, the absolute solver took cyn as a host to MURDER all humans at the gala. AND NOT ONLY DID THEY SUCCED HERE.

THE SOLVER FREAKIN. KILLED TESSA AND USED HER SKIN AND BODY??? THEORISTS HOW THE HELL DID YOU PREDICT THIS. TESSA WAS NOT TESSA. (Also this is a nice callback to Liam’s old works)

LOOK. THE SKIN-MASK. THE ARMS. THE FACE. POOR TESSA.

This moment made my heart race. When I tell you I GASPED. At first shocked by tessa being vague and kinda of a douche. And then N freakin- KILLING HER?? (That was before finding out it was the solver) girl didn’t even finish her sentence before he SLASHED her throat. AND N FREAKING OUT OVER IT FOR A SECOND. MY BABYS. MY FUCKED UP FAVORITES.

KHAN IS BACK AND I HAVE NOT BEEN HAPPIER. Lizzy and Thads confusion (mostly Thad’s) were funny.

Look at him so used and casual about the solvers powers (which raises a question) and thad and lizzy panicking in the backgrounD. Also him fixing the railgun?? And he KNEW about uzis cannibalistic tendencies? Did he notice or he saw NORI eat humans? And the fact he complained about her “nightcore” music taste. She’s just like her mom

Best not to ask Thad.

WHEN I TELL YOU IM IN DENIAL OVER DOLLS DEATH.

I WAS SO SCARED I THOUGHT THE SOLVER TOOK HER (doll) AS A HOST?? I AM IN DENIAL. I TELL YOU. UZI IS TRAUMATIZED. EVERYONE IS TRAUMATIZED. IM TRAUMATIZED. UZI SHES WARNING YOU.

THEM. THEM. IM. SCREAMING. THEM.

Even as a heart, a mother is a mother. She’s right tho Zi. (Also when she told N she knew Doll was infected with the solver. Nori. You’ve got some explaining with so little time to do so.)

J is back and I have NEVER been happier. Again. Also her “PRIOR HAZARD” message when seeing the RAILGUN khan fixed. GIRL IS NOT HAPPY TO SEE IT.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Just thinking of Peaches canon hyperfixation of plans and medicine and just... going into a rant whne he visits DBK's place the first time over some rare plant Redaon had cultivated and DBK jsut... standing in the background with a soft smile on his face as he sees his xiandi happy to talk about medicine and plants again and reminiscing on the times he'd talk his ear off when they were kids about the medical properties of various ingredients in the teas they'd make

Oh gosh this idea was cute I had to write out some dialogue for it;

referencing this post I made about catnip/cat plants with lmk characters;

DBK: "I wonder why Brother Azure acted so oddly when i sat next to him at dinner. He didn't drink that much." Wukong, sniffing: "Oh easy! You use Mao Bo He to keep away the flies right?" DBK: "Yes? It's one of few herbs that works for me." Wukong: "Mao Bo He causes mild intoxication and feelings of elation in cats! Lions are just big cats after all." DBK, surprised/amused: "So Brother Azure was drunk off my insect repellent?" Wukong, getting excited: "Yes! In a way! There's some other plants that cause a similar effect but it's different for every individual- oh... sorry." DBK: "For what?" Wukong, nervous: "I've been told I... get too excited when discussing herbs and treatments like that," DBK, smiling: "I have no issue in hearing you describe them. You clearly hold much joy for the subject." Wukong: "You don't think I'm annoying?" DBK: "Not at all. If I had, I would have said so. My ancestor was a herbalist himself after all. Now, tell me xiandi, what can I use to keep the flies away that won't make our proud Brother Azure turn into a kitten at the mere scent of me?" Wukong: (*tail wags happily as he charges up the infodump*)

Later in the Peach Soup au as Peaches is receiving training from DBK.

Peaches: "Oh! Thats a Zhi Zi!" DBK: "Hmm?" Peaches, pointing to a flower in the courtyard: "Gardeniae jasminoides. Sometimes its called a gardenia or a cape jasmine. It shows up in some of my books." DBK, knowing smile: "Really? Red Son collected some plants during his time learning under Guanyin. I had always assumed it to be a regular jasmine plant." Peaches: "That's ok! They look really alike and smell nearly the same! One way to tell them apart is to check the leaves. Smooth leaves mean Jasmine, Toothed leaves mean Gardenia!" DBK: (*fond chuckle!*) Peaches: "Oh sorry! Was I rambling? I apologise if I got a little carried away." DBK: "Not at all! Where did you come across such knowledge by the way?" Peaches, little bashful: "My uncle Sandy introduced me to different tea blends when I was younger, and from there I wanted to know more about plants and herbs and how they help people. I was actually hoping to become a doctor or a pharmacist before all of this... monkey business happened." DBK: "It's never too late to return to your passion. You always wanted to heal people, xiandi. Even back then." Peaches: (*shy smile as he realises what DBK means*)

It leads to a rare moment where Peaches discovers something positive he shares with "old him". Who knew Sun Wukong was a nerd back then too?

DBK is elated to see this side of his little brother live on - Wukong had put aside many dreams due to the War, and herbalism was sadly one of them. Wukong did continue to pursue medicinal knowledge after the fact, but his duty as a king and near-god had kept him anchored.

Peaches has lived 18 years with no such anchor. DBK is excited and cautious to see what path he chooses.

I love these guys so much

[kneelingshadowsalome]

I’m feeling sad can konig cuddle me 😪

🩷🩷🩷

Light angst, comfort, tooth rotting fluff, yandere undertones

It’s not romantic to have a boyfriend in the military. It really is not.

Your man is always away, and the stimulating aspects of mutual pining dry off quickly. In the end, you’re both just lonely, and anxious, and jealous, and horny.

Usually, the first week goes by just fine. You’re quite glad that the big man is away and you have the house all to yourself. You stay up late now that König is not there to supervise you, and you can walk around in nothing but his tee and your underwear without a giant sneaking up to you from behind and smothering you in a crushing hug or picking you up and twirling you around like you’re a doll.

He always tells you (lovingly) that you demand so much attention, that you’re like a little pet he has to take good care of. You always pout at him for saying such things because König is the most co-dependent, touch-starved man you have ever met. (You don’t tell that to him, of course. And König would simply deny it even if you did.)

The second week is way harder.

You start to miss the smothering and the cooing and the cuddles and the sex. You start to miss the way he brings you your morning tea and then attacks you if you’re still in bed. You were always the morning person out of the two of you. König had already gone for a short run or done 50 pushups before you were even fully awake.

In the third week, you start to cuddle his blanket and pillow. You even cry into them because they smell of him but are far too soft and tiny to be any kind of compensation for his muscles and safety. You two can’t even text or talk – not to speak of having a cute but raunchy little video call – because he’s somewhere where there’s no connection, no internet, nothing.

Familiar fears creep up on you at the end of the third week. You know König is supposed to come home tomorrow but there’s still no sign of him having returned from the mission safely. Usually, he at least sends a text; normally, he would call and you two would talk on the phone for hours. He would ask so many questions about how you’ve been, what you’ve been up to, who you’ve seen, have you remembered to take care of yourself, eat healthy and drink enough water, silly things like that. It sometimes feels like an interrogation – as if you can’t even tie your own shoelaces when König is away. And you know he’s a little too possessive… but you can’t help but giggle sometimes, which in turn only makes him more serious. Once he even scolded you, saying "Zis is not funny" (with his terribly funny, sexy accent.)

He always, always has to make sure his girl is safe and that nothing bad has happened to his pet while he has been away. But now… there’s nothing. Only silence.

The key turns on your front door lock at 15.10 sharp the next day.

For the first time ever, you actually run to him. You don’t even have time to look him in the eyes; you simply collide against his chest, your arms go around him while relief washes over you like a warm, lovely wave.

"Hallo little one," he’s surprised at your advances – usually, it’s he who comes to you and lifts you from the ground with a hug. Now he freezes from the wall of your emotion that he’s met with before he’s even gotten his shoes off. Then his arms close around you, pressing you against the sweet, sturdy darkness of his chest.

"Liebling… Kleine Schatz. I missed you so much."

He sounds so relieved to see you too that you almost start to cry. If you’ve been an anxious mess for not having heard from him in three whole weeks, you can only imagine how lovelorn König has been. He’s stronger than you in many ways, but you know you’re the Achilles’ heel of this man. You’re an addiction, an obsession – perhaps it’s not healthy, but neither of you are strong enough to fight the connection you two have.

"I missed you too," you mumble in his chest, squeezing him even tighter, pressing yourself against him furiously until your heart starts to feel like melting ice cream on a sunny day.

You stay like that for a while, breathing together, relaxing into each other. Then he moves to slowly get his shoes off all the while still holding you, scoops you up in his arms, and you reach to place your hands around his neck in an instinct. He must see the sorrow in your eyes as he looks down at the pitiful, pathetic you, trying to hold on to him while he walks with you in his carry, marches through life with you in his arms like you weigh nothing. He looks at you with concern through the whole journey to where your bedroom is. You feel your bottom lip pout again as he lays you on the bed.

"Little angel… Is everything alright?" He asks when he settles there beside you and takes you back in his arms. Your leg drags up and over him – you’re built small compared to this giant, but his hips are so narrow that your thigh comes to rest on his frame like it has always belonged there.

"Yes," you whimper, cringing at how pathetic you sound. Everything is alright. Everything's perfect now that he’s here. You guess you’re a bit dependent, too...

He tells you he had to destroy his old phone because of some breach in security. That’s why he couldn’t call you. The mission was a mess, and everything that could go wrong, went wrong. He got back yesterday with fresh scrapes and bruises, only to get rid of his cell without being able to even call you first. It would’ve set you in danger too if he had made that call.

And it doesn’t matter now, not when he’s finally here. König doesn’t even grill you with questions, he just looks down at you with all the love in the world. His hand lifts to cup your cheek, a warm thumb brushes over your cheek as if to sweep away an imagined tear, and t’s obvious that he’s happy to be home – happy to be with you. From that loving look in his eyes, you could bet a million bucks that you’re his home, not this house or the objects inside it.

You cling to him as he strokes your hair, your neck and your back, gently and with care, like you’re his most prized possession. When you tell him you were afraid that something had happened to him, he takes a deep breath and releases it with a shaky exhale.

You know that it breaks his heart to know that there’s someone in this world who cares about if he lives or dies. That’s why you sometimes hold back your confessions of love and dedication; because you know it’s almost painful for him to hear them. König wants to smother you with love, but every time you return the gift, he looks like he’s about to crumble to dust.

He starts to rock you gently while whispering sweet little things in your ear. He tells you how he almost forgot to clean his gun because he was in such a hurry to get back to you. He tells you how he looked at your picture first thing in the morning and last thing at night before laying himself to sleep.

He also tells you about this little kitten that befriended him in the ruins because he gave the poor creature food and water, and how one night, it was finally brave enough to sleep inside his helmet. After that, it stuck to his side like he was the creature's new mom. He had to take special care that it didn't get hurt when he was getting some heat.

"It reminded me of you," he says softly.

"How so…?"

"It was tiny and cute and demanded a lot of attention."

You shove him lightly, even poke him in the chest. König just laughs, grabs your hand, and gives it a kiss.

You know why that cat chose him out of all the soldiers – it’s because he knows how to take care of poor little things. You tell it to him, and his eyes light up with joy.

"You don’t have to sleep in my helmet, little one. You have a special place right here," he says, squeezing you against his heart.

[jazzyblusnowflake]

do u have any headcanons for Nuzi? sorry if you've already written about this before and I just didn't see it-

Oh boi anyone here into silly headcanons? XD ill put them under the cut just in case cuz i write a loooooooooooot lol

i usually just make headcanons as i go with my fics, its hard to think about for them specifically but here i go trying, hope you enjoy uwu

Some Nuzi Headcanons i got ùwú:

[for the drone universe ofc, some of my human HCs don't work in the drone universe sadly lmao]

considering this is at a time where they would become official or heck maybe the tragedy ends and they are happy together or something:

Uzi loves calling N "Puppy", sometimes she would also call him "Sunshine" or "Angel" but her & Ns fav would be "Puppy". however N usually doesn't call Uzi many nicknames other than "Zi" rarely- and maybe occasionally "Birdie" when they are more lovey dovey- he's more into pet names like "honey - darling - sweetheart - etc" and not much of a tease... although at times when they get a bit more spicy and he DOES want to tease- he could go towards names like "lil biscuit", "baby bat", "my lady" and etc but again, very rarely 6v6;;;;

they both had to download helpful content on how to flirt 🙄 although they caught on pretty quick lol.

N is subconsciously protective of Uzi, often curling his tail around her without realizing it, or stepping in front of her; but Uzi is consciously protective of N- especially when he's being bullied or degraded- she would cut off anyone's conversation if they were talking about N badly with something like "oh stick a fork in it J-" before changing the subject-

Uzi is actively a smartass sass mouth- she just never really had the confidence for standing up for herself- but with N she's grown to be a bit more confident in herself- and yet N has never seen her be aggressive to HIM lmao- and then when he sees how sometimes she absolutely drags some other drones he has to literally pick Uzi up from the scruff of her coat and tell her to please be nice XD

Uzi and N are absolutely, hopelessly touch and affection starved- this makes them get really cuddly as a way to recharge themselves emotionally. occasionally they just sit next to eachother without words and rub their heads against eachother like cats and sometimes Uzi just sits on his lap and randomly starts prepping his whole face with tini kisses- as if to say mine mine mine- and N is... well just sitting there wagging his tail like an excited puppy :D no words needed between them, just healthy and wholesome touching, cuddling and affection from eachother-...... i mean it could get spicy too- lmao 👀 cuz Uzi really loves taking off Ns hat for more comfort and just threading her hands in his hair- sometimes tugging gently to tilt his head for a more firm and heartfelt kissing and makeout sesh- they rarely get that needy but N happily reciprocates and his grip on Uzi's body/hips tightens pulling her flush against himself more-

at the beginning they are both a flustered mess doing or saying anything romantic but then Uzi started liking teasing and flustering N at any chance she could take. N is just too easy and too smitten for her.

N also occasionally gets the confidence and mood to be more forward and assertive and teasing Uzi over things he knows she's into and Uzi is absolutely into that shit- she's sat 😤

they do share oil sometimes through bites or kisses- but usually that's only when they feel extra frisky lmao-

Uzi gets easily embarrassed during intimate moments and since contact and touching easily discharges their power as sparks, Uzi often uh.... ends up with multiple soft-reboots or powering on and off which kinda overheats her body and CPU alot lmao-

they like drawing and listening to music together- Uzi actually likes watching N draw even if they look amateur and childish- she finds them extremely cute and hangs them up in her room when he draws for her <3

they did NOT start out sleeping next to eachother well. Uzi has nightmares a lot, and even without them she still moves around frantically and is just never in the same position when she wakes up, meanwhile N sleeps like a dead person, he hardly moves and he got used to the pose of crossing his arms on his chest so yeah... dead pose lmao. this made him get kicked alot or shoved in the slot between the bed and wall often- [if he didn't sleep on the other side and just straight up get kicked off the bed anyway]😭. even at times when he decided they could sleep hanging from their tails Uzi often still found herself in the middle of the night hanging haphazardly, limbs and wings in every direction and clothes riding down which made N almost start laughing when he woke up seeing her like this 😭😭😭. in the end one of the ways they ended up making Uzi sleep alot better was cuddling. N would just hold Uzi close, if hanging he would put his wings around them. Uzi would resist and push against him alot at first but slowly after time her nightmares subdued and she felt calmer sleeping at night.... also they put a cork or something on Ns tail when they sleep lol-

All drones, disassembly or worker, can make their cores whirr in a purring noise, its just that its louder for disassemblers, the noise of Ns core helps Uzi relax <3

Uzi can lift N very easily, straight up on her shoulder even.... and somehow N is very turned on by this as she could easily carry him around bridal style if need be- esp if she gets jealous of N interacting with others and just throws him over her shoulder and leaves- or uh.... yknow, if Ns hurt or something, yep 6x6;;;

Uzi is also turned on by the fact that N is so much bigger than her. they be casually sitting and inspecting eachothers hands and Uzi's is smaller and she just blushes fervently imagining all the things she wants his hands and claws to do to her.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND thats about all i can think of atm without spoiling much of my own future ideas lol, hope it wasn't too annoying, but i really enjoyed writing this uwu<3

hope yall enjoyed it too if you made it til here :p

i diiiiid wanna include some nsfw hcs too but im gonna keep this ask as sfw as possible for now. 😇 those would be nsfw specific hcs anyway lmao

[letaot-ze-magniv]

Infodump on birds in Israel? 👁️👁️ Pls go on

General guide to birds in Israel

This post is going to be very long

Level 1- really common ones

Hooded crow/o-rev a-for (gray crow)

These big boys are the most common birds in Israel. You can find them everywhere, especially in urban areas. They’re quite big, the average crow is 40-50 cm long with a wingspan of 1m. (That’s bigger then a pigeon).

Like all corvids, they are incredibly intelligent. They have an excellent memory, can recognise specific humans and pass on information through generations. They are fond of shiny things, have funerals, an understanding of games and a justice system. They can use tools and have a taste for peanuts and grapes.

Laughing dove/tzo-tze-let/yo-na

These are the second most common birds in Israel, and they’re also an invasive species. The vast majority of people call them “yona” and if you say “tzotzelet wont know what you mean. You can find them everywhere, especially in cities.

This is an invasive species, and is commonly thought of as the first invasive species in Israel. It was brought over by Muslims during the Ottoman occupation and has lived here since.

Domestic pigeon/yo-nat ha-Ba-it (house dove)/yo-na

Like the tzotzelet, most people call this bird “yona” too. That leads to the misconception that they’re the same species and confusion between the two. This pigeon is also extremely common, and you can find it in all urban spaces in Israel.

Feathering mutations are widespread among domestic pigeons, and they can also look like this:

House Sparrows/ dror ha-ba-it/dror

On the left, a female, on the right is a male. This birds are tiny and common and very cute. Can be found in all areas of Israel. They like eating small seeds and bugs, and you can feed them bread.

Monk parakeet/ tu-ki ne-zi-ri (commonly known as tu-ki)

They’re green, adorable, can speak, and you guessed it, are invasive! Like the maynas, monk parakeets were introduced to Israel in the 90s after they escaped the Tzafari. You can find them in all parts of Israel except the Negev, and they’re especially common in Tel aviv and it’s neighbouring cities. Monk parakeets are often confused with rose-ringed parakeets as they’re the only green birds in Israel.

Rose ringed parakeets/da-ra-ra

Above is the male, below is the female. Like monk parakeets, dararas are also an invasive species. I thought they were introduced in the 90s, but apparently they were introduced in the 1860s because they were kept as pets. Like monk parakeets, they can be found in all areas of Israel that aren’t deserts. It’s hard to tell them apart from monk parakeets if you can’t see their chests.

Eurasian Jackdaw/kak

Yet another corvid! Like all other corvids, jackdaws are extremely intelligent, have an understanding of death, can use tools, and so on. Jackdaws are unique in that they also have an understanding of monogamy and privacy around mating! They prefer to mate away from their murder (is murder what you call a flock of any corvid or is that exclusive to ravens?) and they also kill their ill. They can be found in all areas hooded crows are, but aren’t as common. Its possible to confuse them for a hooded crow, but they’re smaller and darker.

Hopoe/du-khi-fat

This lil girl isn’t extremely common, but it’s the national bird and is adorable so I HAD to include it. Hopoes tend to live near sources of water, and you can find them in coastal areas. There used to be more of them but sadly deforestation and invasive species hurt the population. They have a floofy feather thingy on their head that they can open and close and that’s adorable!

I’ll make a part 2 now about somewhat uncommon birds

If anyone is interested in learning more about the birds of Israel, I highly recommend אתר הצפרות הישראלי. They have detailed descriptions of the birds, they include scientific Hebrew and Arabic names, they have a map that shows you how common each bird is in what part of Israel, AND THEY HAVE RECORDINGS OF THE BIRD CALLS

They also have a page for every bird that was ever spotted in Israel, even if it was only once. Don’t ask me what they define as Israel, because I’ve wondered about it too and I don’t know

[shinyshade8026]

My source's Prom

This isn't some AU thing, these are my memories. Don't take this and use it or whatever....

Chat this is just a ramble about how my prom went 😭

Little starting info. Uzi, Doll, and I have been friends since we were kids, we've just had our fair share of bad moments… but we had a promise to each other… I'll come back to that

So, It went pretty much like how you guys know at first, but like… I /gen meant it when I said Uzi would look cute in her dress… Doll and I did genuinely want to go with Uzi for Prom, my dad didn't put us up to it. There were also no plans to actually harm 'Zi, BY THE WAY >:/

But, she didn't exactly realize that…? She still scrambled out of the colony via the vents 'n stuff and went to get that stupid boy, N for his help or whatever. Doll and I didn't see the point of going after her if she didn't want to go, so I texted V as she and I walked to prom… we were so close… our hands kept brushing…

We got there, and things went as you see in the episode. Blah blah blah! When V started walking towards the mic, I felt so… hesitant… I didn't want V to die, she was my friend as well... I was about to warn her when N came in with Uzi. My core started to flutter when I saw 'Zi in that dress…

But things started going fast. I yelled at V to run, Doll sprung her attack, and people panicked. Doll grabbed me by the throat with her solver and threw me across the gym… I screamed her name in fear… Luckily she caught me before I smashed into the bleachers, but I was still bruised afterwards.

Things are fuzzy for a bit, I think I hit my head or something, but I got back behind the curtains to help one of the disassembly drones get put back together before I saw Doll throwing knives at Uzi.

I was terrified.

Before I knew it, I was hopping off the stage and using my own solver to knock the knives off course. It didn't even register to me that I did it, I just… Did. I helped Uzi to her feet and we did the fight N and Uzi do in canon or whatever… I remember my hand on her waist… spinning her and dipping her down… her hand in mine and her arm wrapped around my torso as she threw her weapon…

I had helped a rocket fired by V from backstage, guiding its course to knock Doll back. I also threw a knife. I hit Doll in the shoulder. I could see the sparks flying and oil spurt out. She just brushed it off… Uzi looked at me.. she blushed from how we were holding each other… so did I… we didn't say anything about it…

I flung her as best I could into the air, and she scrabbled onto one of the tables with a bit of effort while Doll lifted them.

I got hit with a FUCKING TABLE!! My stomach was hurting for a WEEK!!

V eventually shot Doll through the head, N came to help me ew… and then those three went to Doll's apartment after getting her key.

I felt way too weak, so I just went home. I changed and lay in my bed. I thought I was just gonna go to bed and deal with whatever when I woke up, but a while later, Doll just… teleported into my room. It startled me, and I thought she was going to kill me too, but she just crawled onto my bed and put herself in my arms, her head against my core.

We fell asleep that way. Despite everything that had happened, just hours before, she fell asleep right there with me.

I think it was that stupid promise we made as kids… It was that we'd always be there for each other. Even if we wanted the other dead, we could call off things for just a moment to comfort the other. Even if it was just a subtle lean on the other or cuddling them into the night. Didn't matter. It would never matter.

[accio-victuuri]

how many cpns can you get from a 7 second douyin by wyb? 💚💚💚

The Douyin King is back! I know i’m not the only one who missed his random ass douyin posts. They are very much welcome, he is free to share one everyday. I’m cackling at the comparison going around between WYB and other people. So, the rest of the celebrities and influencers are posting on a regular basis per month and have different topics.

photos at work, travel photos, interests/hobbies. this line represents the whole year. there is another diagram that shows how many per line, like 1-2 or more. then you have wang yibo 😂😂😂

line 1 : I'm busy at work and have no time. // line 2: I don’t have time to skateboard, ride a motorcycle or play golf // line 3: Visit my gege’s camping site and the volcano scenery is very good and has a lot of material// line 4: happy and don’t have much time// line 5: Shoot whoever is lucky enough to shoot!

then all the lines after is when he will post — shows that he will share a lot towards the end of the year to keep up with KPI. lol. he is rushing his homework again, to the point that on the video, people are searching what wyb’s kpi mean. which is the engagement metrics he needs to reach and now he gotta work on it, even the fans know and expect it.

the memes are also hilarious! 😂😂😂 ( cat memes below ) basically him working on making his “cool” posts to the internet.

Honestly, never change yibo. We love you as you are, Our Gremlin Best Actor. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

That was a long intro, now let’s move on to the sweets & CPN…..

• @rainbowsky already talked about the messenger bird CPN & how it might be for ZZ’s Hennessy endorsement.

• similarity in how sometimes, they just wanna post an emoji for caption. this one is a cute parallel from 2021 and 2023. If you wanna further clown with WYB using kadian 13 for yizhan then go ahead too 😌

• it is being compared to him referencing his shoes before, picking up his shoes ( xie zi ) (xz) ; and now it’s another homophonic clue ( jm ) ⬇️⬇️⬇️

yes we know that you get to meet more often now cause you are both in Beijing! It’s so cool how their language can be used for so many things and you can play with it to send different meanings. international fans could never 💀💀💀💀

• talking about picking up and meeting, cpfs remembered ZZ’s 11/17/21 douyin post. It’s the one with him and a light saber and a sexy transformation. Going by his clothes, I’m thinking it was what he wore during the DC tencent conference and at the time of posting it was already considered as leftover. but I could be wrong, cause he might have worn other leather jackets that year for ads.

anyway, the point is — please compare the background of the rooms. the walls. you know. add the floor too. 👀

look, this isn’t the most unique type of interior. i would say it’s pretty basic like how we clown about hotel curtains. i’m guessing yibo’s is an evisu shoot sometime ago ( cause his hair is not that fluffy anymore idk if his stylist did something to make it like that even with his recent cut ). this place may be a studio of sorts that can be rented out and they just happen to have filmed there.

or… or…..

this could be XZS office. or one of their rented office. Why? this CPN is similar to the one in 2020. How we speculated that the birthday shoot was done in XZS office so ZZ could supervise the direction of the shoot too.

we also love to talk about how xzs and ybo office are right next to each other ( it’s a fact xzs is close to yuehua building actually ) so maybe that can be an explanation too 😂😂😂 it’s not uncommon for an office to have a separate space to do regular photoshoots so maybe theirs have that. or this could have been done after and wyb dropped off their office and took this.

hahahahahaha! so many explanations all because of a wall. that’s the kind of life we turtles have 🙃

Personally, i’m hoping for a 24 hour relay between them. 🙏🏼

-END.

[uninformedartist]

So... this just went down on twitter with Viv 😶

So Viv qrted this art of a Russian artist.

So this person Storkart28 looked into Katya's account and saw their retweets, and the tweets speak for themselves:

These are just examples the original thread is here of Storkart28 for more retweets from Katya's account

Cw for n*zi imagery below:

Now I saw this go down and 1st thought to myself that Viv wouldn't know. She just liked this cute animation by a fan and didn't scan Katya's account obviously, Viv is not at fault.

Kicker is Viv by the looks of it saw this person's call out post and Viv Blocked them (I translated their block picture)

Now Viv made this qrt 3 days ago and in the past 5 hours or so people started calling Viv out. She hasn't responded by deleting her post or any (and people are very vocal now Viv should see the notifications not to mention she blocked the person who called her out).

The bootlickers are here too (Sorry but Elcee_Rod 💀 up there with redthespian, stfu)

Anyway, yeah thats the situation. Its not looking good for Viv especially how she responded by blocking and not responding at all.

Any thoughts on this, link to thread is there for anyone to look at.

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 31)

Today was the day that Tera got her toddler body, complete with arms, legs, and a real mouth, not just a speaker. It was also the day they would find out her hair color, and if she would need oil for the rest of her life or not.

Yeah, that last one had N on edge.

Either way, he'd be there for her, for Uzi too, who was looking equally worried as Tera sat in his lap, babbling up at him, testing out words and sounds that she'd heard. She'd be able to make much more with a proper mouth, it would probably never be quiet around the house ever again.

He was fine with that, he wanted to hear every noise out of his daughters mouth, even if it was repetitive or annoying, he didn't want to miss a single detail of her life.

He thought, still sometimes thought. That he wasn't a good parent, he was sometimes forgetful, spacey, not knowing what to do or how to proceed.

But after so long, he didn't worry as much, Uzi would pre-fill bottles whenever her body allowed it, and he was now an expert at feeding her, not a single drop of oil being wasted. He knew how to plug her in, how to hold her, how to calm her down and get her excited, and play, now that he was an expert at.

He looked down at her as she rolled around in anticipation, freshly woken up and ready to cause mischief, it had almost been a surprise that she'd taken after Uzi in that way, infants were supposed to take after their parents after all. She laughed as loudly and as often as he did, she purred when happy, and was ready and willing to love (almost) anyone instantly. And she was mischievous. She growled, she stuck her tongue out when trying to figure things out. And she was cute, so cute.

Despite sharing none of either of thier code, somehow she was like the both of them.

His eyes drifted over the the seat next to him, Uzi looking down as she bounced her leg absent-mindedly, he could hear her core from here, well, he could always hear it, his hearing was freakish, but right now he was paying a lot of attention to it.

It was thrummimg as hard as it would go, as if she was running for her life, or something equally as physically stressful.

“You good Zi?” He asked, placing a hand on the leg that was bouncing, it stopped under his touch, and she looked up at him, concern laced over all her features.

“W-worried.”

“About Tera's new body?” He assumed, and she nodded, he took her hand in his own, thumb pressing into the tiny purple light there, but she quickly snatched it away, preoccupied with using her hand to gesture wildly.

“There's… there's always a chance something goes wrong in a body transfer. She's still so young- what if she doesn't wake back up?”

She's overthinking again He thought to himself, watching as she was visibly making herself upset, biting into one of her fingers so hard it almost looked like she was going to break the hard-silicone caps.

“That's the worst case, and she can't stay a pill forever.” He replied, voice even toned, he was nervous as well, incredibly. But he also trusted Uzi's previous judgement (one not made while stuck in ‘worry’ mode.) If Tera would fare better in a toddler body, then that's what she needed.

“You don't even know the percent chance!” She yelped, the solver symbol flashed in her eye for a moment, and N witnessed as her entire body sprung out at once. Going from a normal sitting position to crouching on the seat of the chair, tail suddenly swishing around, clearly irate.

That had been happening more often, her tail springing out when under duress, he'd found it cute if not also a little concerning, he took both of her hands again, guiding her to sit back down normally, her tail wrapped around one of his arms.

“Is it less then 1 percent?” He asked, trying to show her the odds of what she was worrying over.

“… point 3” She replied with a mumble, not meeting his eyes, pouting, although trying to hide it.

“That's less then half a percent… that is right? right?” He started confidently but then realized he wasn't all that great at math.

“Yes, b-but-” She confirmed, clearly not wanting to give the discussion to him just yet.

“Uzi...” He stressed, and she sighed in response, releasing his hands and putting away her tail before leaning into his shoulder, trying to calm herself down.

“Yeah. Yeah. Okay, you're right, I'm overthinking.” She relented, leaning down to tickle the little droneling in his lap, Tera squealing in response, trying to roll away but still laughing at the contact.

Watching her relax made him relax, and he slipped an arm behind her back, leaving them the tiniest bit closer even though they were already pressed together with Uzi leaning on him.

He wasn't sure how he ever lived in a world where he couldn't have her close like this, he needed this almost as much as he needed to breathe, he just kept wanting her closer, even if it was physically impossible.

Touch for such a long time had been associated with pain, if Mr or Mrs Elliot has touched him it meant he'd done something wrong, that he was about to be punished.

If Tessa touched him more often than not it was to try and fix what her parents had broken, plugging up holes, replacing fingers, his visor… and while she was as gentle as she could be she had been a young teen, and not professionally trained at all when it came to maintainince…

V… had been nice. At the manor her touch meant it was okay, that she was fine and that he was fine. And that she wanted him to stay… usually it was her pressed up against him in some way, into his shoulder or his chest. But then… after the gala…

She'd not ever touched him, aside from light hits that never truly hurt, she'd just been distant, in fact she was rarely around at all, either hiding out in her nest or finding some way to avoid him entirely.

Then there was J.

He didn't even want to think about J.

But against his own wishes both the casing around his core and the vial on his tail both lit up in phantom pain. Sending a wince through his systems he was only able to barely hide. A shudder went through him.

Punishment was J’s favorite activity. And him her favorite toy…

“Is everyone ready?” Mrs. Rayn’s voice brought him out of it, and he was blessing her internally, he did not need to be thinking along those lines on his daughters big day, this was about her. Not about him.

“Y-yeah, as we'll ever be.” He locked his fingers with his girlfriends hand, shaking off the last of his thoughts as they both stood up, Tera tucked in his arm, squirming as per usual.

“Good, her body has been printed, and it's waiting in the back. Come on then.” She waved her hand for them to follow and Uzi led him along by the hand, her grip was firm but tender, as if she was trying to say “I love you.” Through her hand alone.

He liked her touch much better.

They arrived in a small room, with two waiting chairs and very little else aside from a stainless steel table in the middle of the room, laid atop it was the smallest worker drone body he'd ever seen.

It was still quite a bit larger than Tera was now, but he could probably still hold the body in a single one of his hands comfortably, on the top of the bodies head was a swatch of short, thick black synthetic hair.

The body was lifeless, the lights on the hands and feet absent of any light, right now, it was no different than a corpse.

“Yeah, her coding read her hair color as black, so that's what I printed, cute right?” Mrs. Rayn, was smiling, watching the couple as they took in the room.

“It's… It's perfect. Thank you.” N replied, running a hand through the synthetic black hair, soft, it would suit her.

“Uzi, would you like to help me plug her in?” Rayn asked, gesturing to the giant machine next to her.

“Uhm…”

N could feel her shaking, eyes shifting between the body on the table and the baby in his arms, He smiled at her, and gently laid Tera in her arms, before his hand found the side of her face.

“You got this.”

She closed her eyes and gulped, before nodding, a determined look behind her eyelights, she turned to the machine next to the table, which was the largest thing in the room, and laid Tera down next to the body she would soon inhabit.

Mrs. Rayn was at the machines console, and it whirred to life, a loud clunk signified it's activation, and it spit out a small cord that she plugged into the freshly printed body.

The screen flickered with the phrase [Downloading Libraries] before that too faded into a white loading bar.

“Once the initial setup is complete, the body will be ready to accept whatever program you put into it, in this case, the program is a whole person.” Mrs. Rayn explained, inputting several more keys into the console.

Setup Complete. Please import desired data.

The body ‘spoke’, it's voice extremely robotic, something leftover from their time of being workers for humans. Tera looked over at the body, curiosity displayed on her eyelights.

“Whenever you're ready, plug her into the machine.” Rayn handed her a second cord and backed away, leaving Uzi hovering over Tera, the cord shaking in her hand and she tried to stabilize her breathing.

She hadn't ever done this before. She'd watched her mom do it, and she often did it seamlessly, without worry. She partly wondered if she'd been just as fearless when Uzi had transferred the first time. Because this was… nerve-wracking.

The chance was low, sure. But this was her kid, it wasn't just a kid. If she plugged her in, and Tera never found her way to her new body, or her data got lost in the machine, she'd be gone, and there would be very little she could do about it.

“Mama!” Tera laughed at her, nuzzling into her hand that was resting on the table as if she knew she needed the support, Uzi cracked a smile, only just now noticing the tears in her eyes. She looked over at N, who looked back with a smile.

“Can you… can we do this together?”

His smile got wider and he made his way to stand behind her, awaiting to do whatever she needed him to.

“Okay, just… hold her, and uh, help keep my hand from shaking.”

“Okay.” He only nodded, trying to keep her calm as well as himself.

He leaned down to hold Tera in place, she giggled at his touch, clearly thinking he was trying to play, his other hand came to steady hers, holding onto her trembling hand and the cable in it.

“I… I love you, Jellybean.” Uzi said quietly, those three little words heavy on her tongue, N smiled and kissed her cheek, he heard Rayn chuckle somewhere behind him, but he paid it little mind.

“We both do.”

And with that, and a final little giggle from Tera, they opened up her front panel… and plugged her in.

Instantly, her eyelights disappeared and the baby went silent, leaving only the egg shaped husk in it's place.

“How long does this normally take?” N asked, feeling his core drop into his stomach.

“Should see her in her new body in about five minutes.” She replied, no hint of worry in her voice at all.

“R-right.” Uzi responded with a trembling voice.

They removed both their hands and stood now over the new body, which had blinked off as well, leaving the room painfully silent. The only sound being the large machine whirring and the low electronic buzzing of the lights.

The seconds ticked by, both N and Uzi keeping perfect track of time.

A minute

Two minutes

Three minutes

He felt Uzi squeeze his hand at three-and-a-half, and he squeezed back, feeling his core speed up and fall at strange intervals, a deep dread filling him that he didn't know what to do with, all he could do was wait.

“N…”

“Shhh, she's fine.” He convinced himself.

Five minutes

The room was still eerily quiet, every second over five minutes counted, logged and memorized.

His daughter was okay, she was just finding her way. He had faith. He had to.

Six minutes

Seven minutes

Each second dragged on for millenia, Uzi's grip only kept getting tighter, her trembles got worse. N felt it getting harder and harder for him to breathe, his grip on Uzi's have was just as if not more tight than hers.

N's gaze was transfixed on the bodies visor, it was still staring blankly at the ceiling, still lifeless.

Until it wasn't. Two lavender eyelights suddenly popped into the visor, lavender lights on her hands and feet accompanying them, her eyes roamed around the room for a moment, as if she was slightly confused.

“Tera!” Uzi quite literally lunged forward and captured her in her arms, bringing the small body up to her chest, the toddler's eyelights scrunched happily, although the rest of her limbs hung awkwardly, and her mouth remained closed.

N felt himself be able to breathe again. His arms wrapping around the both of them and holding them tightly, Tera was still silent however, and strangly still.

After a moment of letting their emotions release, paired with both of them sniffling and letting out worried tears, N slowly stood up, turning to Rayn, who was smiling softly at the family in front of her.

She'd never tell them that 8 minutes was on the upper limit, one of the slowest uptakes she'd ever seen, they didn't need that stress.

“She's really still. Is that normal?”

“Yes, she didn't have limbs before, or a mouth. She'll be speaking again soon, don't worry.” Rayn explained, making her way towards them from the corner of the room.

“Good…”

“Tera, how are you feeling?” Uzi asked her, perhaps forgetting for a moment that she likely couldn't understand her.

Tera blinked in response, probably having quite the out-of-body experience, she closed her eyes as if she was straining, and she managed to twitch her fingers slightly.

“I think “weird” is probably the answer.” N replied with a small smile, looking back and gripping her shoulder, laughing lightly.

“You're free to go, but here.” She placed a small purple onesie in his hands, so small and with plastic soles, likely full body to protect the new limbs.

He held it up to himself, making the size of the outfit look even more comicly small.

“Thank you so much…”

“Anytime.”

Next ->

[fwoopersongs]

责子 - Admonishing (my) sons

by 陶渊明 (Tao Yuanming, ~365 - 427)

白发被两鬓 肌肤不复实 bái fà bèi liǎng bìn  jī fū bù fù shí White hair greys both temples, skin sags, no longer firm -

虽有五男儿 总不好纸笔 suī yǒu wǔ nán ér  zǒng bù hǎo zhǐ bǐ though blessed with five boys, none have love for paper and brush.

阿舒已二八 懒惰故无匹 ā shū yǐ èr bā  lǎn duò gù wú pǐ A-Shu now twice eight, is so lazy none can compare.

阿宣行志学 而不爱文术 ā xuān xíng zhì xué  ér bù ài wén shù A-Xuan, coming to fifteen where others pursue study, dislikes all things literary.

雍端年十三 不识六与七 yōng duān nián shí sān  bù shí liù yǔ qī Yong and Duan, aged thirteen, find strangers in the numbers six and seven.

通子垂九龄 但觅梨与栗 tōng zi chuí jiǔ líng  dàn mì shí lízi yǔ lì Tongzi who is nearly nine, seeks only pears and chestnuts

天运苟如此 且进杯中物 tiān yùn gǒu rú cǐ  qiě jìn bēi zhōng wù Now if Heaven’s will is truly thus, drink up, whatever’s in the cup

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Notes 

(translations below are all mine):

This is a homework poem - from many weeks back xD - that I’d like to share. It’s by Tao Yuanming, a poet whose lifetime spanned the late Eastern Jin Dynasty and early Liu Song Dynasty. 

I really like his writing, and one thing I appreciate a lot about it is that he (usually) writes very plainly, but if we think about it a little, we can uncover hidden delights! He’s also just a very cute* person in general, which I think is what makes reading his works such a pleasure xD It also feels quite safe leaving this poem without any commentary because of the above mentioned quality of his writing - perhaps the only thing that needed some clarification was 志学, which was glossed in the translation anyway. 

So! Feel free to leave a message and tell me if I’m right, and also what you spot!

Also, as Jing said in the chat, tag yourself! Which lazy kid are you? :P

Oh and Tao Yuanming is a super famous writer of the Northern and Southern Dynasties actually, so you can probably look him up very easily if you want to. I’m just trying something different with him where I want to go through all of his works, and then go snooping through other people’s writing about his life.

* I said he was very cute earlier. Here is proof in his 归园田居·其三 Retiring to Fields and Home (part three).

种豆南山下 - Planting beans ‘neath the Southern Mountains, 草盛豆苗稀 - weeds abound, while the seedlings are sparse. 晨兴理荒秽 - Rising with the dawn to cull the weeds, 带月荷锄归 - retiring with the moon and a shouldered hoe; 道狭草木长 - the paths are narrow, the grasses tall, 夕露沾我衣 - and the evening dew dampens my clothes. 衣沾不足惜 - But dampened clothes aren’t worth lamenting, 但使愿无违 - so long as my ideals and actions, aligned, remain.

When he’s in a lighthearted mood, he likes to raise his readers’ expectations or tease at something and then reveal a hilarious twist. And often it’s very good naturedly self deprecating without being disparaging or underselling himself, so you laugh with him but not at him. 

For example, in an earlier part (Part Two) of the above poem, he talks about the peaceful rural retirement with down-to-earth neighbours and the things he is doing with his land. Then in part three, he starts off with a romantic-ish image only to dash it immediately with the next paired line, stated soooooo proudly. It gets funnier with every addition as you realise how hard he worked to get that result. But then there is a twist again - he says, all this and he doesn’t mind! Why not? Because it was his choice. Bro is truly committing to the unworldly farming life.

…Anyway, there are six parts to 归园田居. I highly recommend reading it all if you can because I’m totally not doing him any justice xD

For all of y’all who can read Chinese with a bit of help, here is another piece of his writing related to his kids. They make quite a number of cameos in his other poems, but I chose this one because it's actually addressed to them! He was writing in anticipation of the birth of his first son - if internet sources are to be believed.

Note: Veryyyyyyy rough, first draft-y sort of translation. I was just trying to get the meaning across as easily as possible.

命子 - Guidance for my son 悠悠我祖 爰自陶唐 邈焉虞宾 历世重光 御龙勤夏 豕韦翼商 穆穆司徒 厥族以昌 Long, long ago, my ancestor lived; Yao, who was of Tao and Tang. In the distant past, honoured at Yu, Danzhu paved glory for generations after. Surnamed Yulong, they served in Xia, as Shiwei, were wings to Shang; Great Minister over the Masses, Tao Shu led our clan’s rise.

纷纷战国 漠漠衰周 凤隐于林 幽人在丘 逸虬绕云 奔鲸骇流 天集有汉 眷予愍侯 The chaos of the Warring States, the fall of weakened Zhou; the Feng fades into his forest, hermits retire to their mountains. The Qiulong winds through cloud, whales ride monstrous waves; heaven-blessed was the coming of Han, it favoured Marquis Min.

於赫愍侯 运当攀龙 抚剑风迈 显兹武功 书誓河山 启土开封 亹亹丞相 允迪前踪 Illustrious Marquis Min; the time for him and his Emperor just arrived. Sword in hand against the wind, he achieved impressive martial feats. Fulfilling his lord's promise of everlasting glory, he was bestowed land, titles. And a tireless, diligent Chancellor followed in the footsteps of his father. 浑浑长源 蔚蔚洪柯 群川载导 众条载罗 时有语默 运因隆窊 在我中晋 业融长沙 The gushing of a river long from its source, the luxuriance of towering trees; all streams began from somewhere, all branches grow from some trunk. There is time to speak or be silent, for fortune has sharp vicissitudes; In our Jin at its zenith, Changsha’s brilliant achievements shined.

桓桓长沙 伊勋伊德 天子畴我 专征南国 功遂辞归 临宠不忒 孰谓斯心 而近可得 The fearsome, heroic Duke Huan of Changsha, with outstanding merits and virtue upon whom the Son of Heaven bestowed a hereditary title, leads wars in the South. Victory achieved, he retires home, unwavering despite glory and favour. Who dares say that such a heart can be easily found in recent times?

肃矣我祖 慎终如始 直方二台 惠和千里 於皇仁考 淡焉虚止 寄迹风云 冥兹愠喜 Rigorous he was, my grandfather, careful to the end as he was at the start. Fair and upright was his influence at Court; wisdom spread through his lands. Praiseworthy was my late fathers benevolence, though he sought no fame. He gave himself to Office and took both gain and loss with equanimity.

嗟余寡陋 瞻望弗及 顾惭华鬓 负影只立 三千之罪 无后为急 我诚念哉 呱闻尔泣 Lamenting my ignorance, I look to my ancestors, unable to reach their heights. I was ashamed, for despite my greying hair, alone in my family I stand. Among three thousand crimes, gravest - to leave no descendants. Over this I was deeply worried… until I heard your babbling cries.

卜云嘉日 占亦良时 名汝曰俨 字汝求思 温恭朝夕 念兹在兹 尚想孔伋 庶其企而 Observing the portents on this good day, divining this to be a good time, I named you Yan, gave you the courtesy name of Qiusi. Be respectful and aspiring day or night; remember well your name as Kong Ji remembered his. Such is my wish for you.

厉夜生子 遽而求火 凡百有心 奚特于我 既见其生 实欲其可 人亦有言 斯情无假 A diseased man’s son was born at night; with lamp and urgency he went to check. Every person, being ordinary, would have such a worry; I am no different. Witnessing your birth, truly, I wish for your future success. Though something often said by man, the sentiment in this is sincere and true.

日居月诸 渐免于孩 福不虚至 祸亦易来 夙兴夜寐 愿尔斯才 尔之不才 亦已焉哉 Days and months will pass swiftly, my son will leave childhood behind. Fortune's roots are always there, disaster also easily arrives. Be diligent: rise early, sleep late; may you be blessed with talent and success. But if you do not, then alas, though that is also fine.

(Referenced this source and this one for annotations)

I thought the intertwining of the imagined past and illustrious connections with traceable ancestors, grandparents and parents was a very charming way of expressing this narrative. Especially so when you think about the way the whole longass grandmother story is told shapes the message to his son! Noticing his efforts to emphasize the great achievements that could come about because of opportunity and fortune right after his rather soul stirring introduction (Parts 1 and 2) was DELIGHTFUL and actually very touching.

What makes a man good? Diligence, steadiness and dedication to doing what is good and right. What makes a man great? First, opportunity i.e. luck, but also, most importantly - strength of character - not losing sight of his heart despite power or fame.

All that leads up to his concluding verses - that it's human nature for parents to wish sincerely that their children will do well, so that their own regrets in life do not repeat. But the world is so unpredictable! Just do your best to lay the foundations for fortune when it arrives, then let things happen as they will, and let's be contented whatever the outcome.

Just taking his attitude at face value, what an un-stressful way to live life :D !!!!!!!!

And after reading this poem, how do you feel about Admonishing Sons that we started with in this post? GO read it again!

I love him so much.

[13keithxpidge13]

First I ADORE YOUR WRITING!! Your punkflower family AU is soo cute! Could you do a snippet of how it went when Miles found out he was pregnant and Hobie's reaction? Any funny scenarios you had in mind on Hobie caring for Miles during his pregnancy? You are amazing have a nice day 😊❤❤

AAAA MY FIRST PUNKFLOWER FAMILY AU ASK LET'S GOOOOO

(just a little side note, Miles and Noir have a scene together and there is a mention of, y'know, N@zi's, it's just the single word but I don't want to trigger anyone, haha. Enjoy!)

Having his senses buzz every second was unusual. Normally, when his senses buzzed it meant that a villain would be coming to punch his lights out in the next millisecond but, there was no villain to be found when his spider-instincts triggered.

He had talked to his husband about it and Hobie was just as confused. In their puzzlement, Hobie suggested perhaps going to see some of the other Spider's to get some advice? He hated asking for help but, it was important that they find out what was going on with him, Hobie told him.

So, Miles did just that and first, went to talk to Peter B.

"That's...odd, yeah, kid, I'm not sure," Peter B told him sadly as he settled Mayday into her crib for her afternoon nap. It had taken forever to get her down for the afternoon. "Maybe ask Noir? Maybe he knows."

And so, Miles did, and received more or less the same answer.

"Sorry, Miles," Noir apologized as he punched a thug straight in the jaw. "I don't really have any idea. But, perhaps Peni knows. She's smart. She knew what color was on my Rubik's cube before I could figure it out the other day."

Miles laughed at him and reassured him it was alright, waving goodbye but, before the portal could close, he watched as Noir grabbed the thug by the collar before chucking him in a dumpster. Served the bastard right. Fucking N@zi's.

Miles feels even more frustrated though when even Peni doesn't have an answer for him.

"That's never happened to well, any of us before, I don't think," She said while fixing up her robot friend. "I'm so sorry I can't be of more help. But, maybe you should ask Jess? Or Miguel? They've been in the game longer than us."

Miles shudders just thinking of asking Miguel.

Guess Jess is the next best option.

"Your senses are going off all the time?" Jess looked up at him, eyes blinking behind her goggles as she sat next to her bike, a wrench in hand. "Like, all the time."

Miles nodded, sighing as he already sensed he'd come up empty here too. "Yeah...it's nonstop, like, just before I walked in here they started chirping again."

Jess blinked at him for a moment before muttering something underneath her breath and Miles tilted his head.

"...do you know something?" He asked. "Anything?"

"Not sure," Jess licked her lips. "Just...go see a doctor. Okay?"

"What?" Miles straightened. "A doctor? But-I can't tell them-"

"Yeah, I know," She told him, nodding. "Go see one of our doctors, tell them what's going on. They'll know what's up."

Oh.

Miles blinked at her largely. "That...I don't know why I didn't think of that."

Jess laughed and he ran from her in a hurry, face darkening with every single bout of laughter that escaped her lips.

He met up with the doctors only a few hours later, settling in the office easily before being led into one of the many rooms inside. Turns out, there are a lot of doctor Spider-man variants lying around and they all help Miguel out by doing their jobs in HQ.

"Sooo," Dr. Spider began, holding onto a clipboard and Miles has to hold in his laughter at the sight of a Spider-man dressed in a lab coat with only his mask on his face. "Your senses are going off twenty-four seven?"

Miles swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, basically."

"Hm," Dr. Spider stood up. "That means that there's something going on inside of you. Unless, of course, you have a stalker."

Miles deadpanned.

"Welp, an ultrasound it is, then," He told him and Miles blinks rapidly.

"Wait, an ultrasound?"

"Yep," Dr. Spider said. "It's likely you're pregnant, due to being an omega but, this is also just procedure. So, just hang tight for a minute, kay? I'll be back in a moment."

Miles can't get another word in before he's leaving, shutting the door behind him and Miles is left shocked beyond compare.

Pregnant.

He could be pregnant.

Oh god.

+

He comes home late that night, shutting their apartment floor door as quietly as possible.

His footsteps can't even be heard, perks of having the abilities that he does. He walks into their kitchen, making sure to be as quiet as possible so he can grab a drink of water and a pack of fruit snacks to calm his nerves.

Then, he's stalking into their living room, walking past the couches to hopefully get in their shared bedroom without waking Hobie and-

The light switches on and Miles freezes.

Hobie's sitting on one of the couches, an eyebrow raised.

They stare at each other and Miles swallows.

"Hey," He croaks.

"Hi, love," Hobie greets and tilts his head. "Ya've been gone all day. Weren't answerin' my texts and calls."

Miles licks his lips. "Was busy."

Hobie stands from the chair and walks over to him and immediately, Miles is turning away to hide his sniffles and he wipes at his watery eyes. Of course, this doesn't go unnoticed by his mate and Hobie gently grabs ahold of his wrist, his hand dwarfing his arm by a mile like it had always done.

"Love," Hobie whispers. "What's happened? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just-" Miles twitches. "It's just been a long day...I'm fine."

"Yer cryin'," Hobie argues. "Yer not fine. Jess told me ya' went ta' the doctors in HQ, what'd they say?"

Miles curses Jess and his teeth grind.

"I-"

"Are ya' hurt?"

"No."

"Are ya' sick?"

"No."

"Then, Jesus God, Miles what the hell-?"

Miles shakily reaches into the pocket of his hoodie and pulls out the crumpled picture in his hands. Hobie pauses and watches as he holds it up in the light to him.

His brows furrow.

"What-?"

"I got an ultrasound," Miles tells him and Hobie gently grabs onto the photo.

He stares.

Miles sniffles and wipes a hand down his face.

"I'm so sorry, Hobie. I-I don't know how it happened," He cries, unable to stop his tears. "I didn't-I was so stupid. I didn't even realize that I forgot to take my pill during my last heat. I'm so, so, sorry. Please, please don't leave me, I-"

"Leave you?" Hobie breathes and glances down at him, their eyes meeting and Miles' breath hitches as he sees tears glistening in Hobie's mismatched orbs. "Miles, baby, leave ya'? This is-I would never, especially not...yer pregnant?"

Miles sobs and nods pitifully. "I'm sorry."

Hobie exhales loudly and looks back to stare at the photo where an obvious outline of a babe is printed onto.

He glances back down at Miles' stomach. He's hardly showing but-

Hobie gently caresses him tummy and Miles twitches, whirling up to look at him with wide, teary, caramel eyes.

"...Hobie?" He breathes.

"Yer pregnant," Hobie whispers, astonished. "Ya'...ya' want to keep the babe?"

"I-" Miles hesitates. "...yeah. I do."

Hobie licks his lips and nods. "Aight, then," He says. "Then, I guess we're havin' a baby, love."

Miles breaks down and sobs.

"Re-really?" He cries, reaching for him and grabbing onto him so tightly, like Hobie is his only lifeline, like he'll fall apart without him. "Really? We are? You'll stay?"

"Gods, Miles," Hobie laughs breathily. "Of course I'll stay. We didn't plan this but I always figured it'd be in the cards fo' us one day. Kinda scary that we didn't plan any of this, yeah but, we'll make it work, babe. Spider-man always makes it work."

Miles laughs wetly and immediately hugs him tight and Hobie returns the gesture, kissing his head and rocking them back and forth as Miles cries and cries into his chest.

"Oh, my darlin'," Hobie coos, rubbing up and down his back. "I love ya'."

Miles sniffles and nods. "Love-love you too, Hobie," He sobs. "I love you so much. Thank you. Thank you. I'm so excited, I'm-we're gonna have a baby-"

"With yer eyes," Hobie grins.

"With your smile," Miles laughs right back.

Hobie kisses his temple and Miles stands on tip toes to catch his lips in his own.

Days later, the printed ultrasound photo can be seen hanging from their fridge and they begin counting down the days until they can meet their baby boy.

Eight months later, Aaron Morales is welcomed into the world.