#mo is so funny just voicing his disappointment immediately too

[3416]

Toronto Maple Leafs Present Punch | 12.25.24

[foli-vora]

more than words, pt.2

A/N: Really wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction to pt.1 so thank you all so much for your likes, reblogs, kind words and support! I had a few requests to make a taglist so I’ve done it at the bottom - let me know if you’d like to be added! (and I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone) so - on with the show!

Summary: The one person who you thought would be happy for you finally getting with someone decent was your best friend. After all, he had set you both up. Who would’ve thought he’d be the reason it all falls apart?

Pairing: best friend!Benny Miller/f!reader, Frankie ‘Catfish’ Morales/f!reader

Word count: 1.7k

Warnings: swearing

pt.1 / pt.3 / pt.4 / pt.5 / pt.6

+++

You startle when your phone vibrates on the coffee table, the sudden and abrupt noise of it quick to drag your attention away from the true crime documentary playing across your TV screen. You eye it from your spot on the couch, so far, yet only a mere reach away if you could be bothered to stretch the distance. Your eyes fall back to the TV, happy to just ignore it and address it when you eventually have to move from the cocoon of blankets and pillows you’ve surrounded yourself with, but when the reminder alert sounds two minutes after receiving it, a small voice in the back of your head pipes up, saying it could be something important and you sigh tiredly.

The effort to move pulls a low groan from you and you stretch out, snatching the device from the table and back into the warmth before you could tumble onto the floor and really have something to grumble about.

Hey Benny’s mystery girl, how’s your night going?

The text sends flutters through your stomach, your hands immediately clamming up with a brief wave of nerves. This was the guy that Benny was setting you up with – an apparent very close friend and someone who clearly meant a lot to him. Why did you feel so much pressure to make a good impression?

Blankets, cushions and crime show now forgotten, you straighten up and let your fingers hover over the keypad in contemplation.

Do you play it cool? Act like you have a brimming social life, full of fun and endless options, and are not currently sat at home on a Friday night in your pyjamas watching Netflix, eating an excessive amount of snacks? No. No, you shouldn’t put a false image out there. Honesty is the best policy.

Hey yourself mystery fish. It’s a nice and relaxed night on my end, how about yours?

You leave it at that, briefly wondering if you should quickly chuck your phone on airplane mode, delete the message before it could go through and start again.

Did it sound boring? Is that the kind of image you were throwing out there? Maybe you should’ve acted like you were at least doing something productive. But then… what if Benny was there to call you out on your bullshit, knowing you literally have nothing better to do? He’d gladly do it, too.

You roll your eyes at yourself, wondering why you even cared what this mystery man thought about you and your weekend rituals when you had literally never even met. You were who you were, and that was that. If he didn’t like it, then he could take his handsome face and pretty brown eyes elsewhere.

I’m jealous. Stuck out with the guys and all I can think about is sleeping.

Scratch that. Maybe he was a man after your own heart, after all. A picture of a tray of tequila shots and lemons wedges comes through, another text quickly following which had you giggling quietly to yourself –

I’m too old for this shit.

You grin at your screen, opening your camera and snapping a quick picture of your blanket covered legs, snack covered coffee table and bright TV screen before sending it with a little smirking emoji. You’re not disappointed when he replies almost immediately.

Now I’m really jealous – are those Doritos?

Nacho cheese!

The one and only acceptable flavour. Is that Forensic Files? I binged the shit out of that the other day!

OMG it’s so good!

-

Surprisingly, your eyes didn’t feel as heavy as you thought they would when your alarm drags you from sleep the next morning. You could even say you were looking forward to waking up, which was not how your Saturday mornings usually played out.

Immediately you reach over for your phone and unlock it, smiling like an idiot at the Home safe :) text waiting for you. You chew your lip as you scroll through the many bubbles of conversation, stomach twisting in delight as you re-read through the topics you managed to bounce through in the few hours of texting before you had to call it quits at 2:14am and send a final – Goodnight Frankie x

You had paced your apartment after that, ringing your hands together anxiously and eyeing the clock as the seconds ticked past, scowling at your reflection in the mirror as you took your worries out on your teeth, scrubbing them much harder than necessary. Was a kiss too much? Is it too early for that kind of thing? You had only literally just started talking. Should you quickly text and say it was an accident? It’s not like you can say you sent it to the wrong person – the message had his fucking name in it.

The sound you made when you got a – Sweet dreams mystery girl x – in return wasn’t even remotely human and the words swirled around your head long after you fell asleep.

The reservations you had originally developed on being set up, yet again, quickly dissipated the longer you and Frankie exchanged messages. There had been no awkward block of nothing between texts, no dragging up mediocre subjects to keep the conversation rolling… it had just flowed so effortlessly, so naturally – something which had never happened before with Benny’s previous candidates. The only other candidate that you had managed to have a comfortable conversation with was Will, and that was only after you had both agreed that there was no attraction between the two of you.

Over text, Frankie seemed funny – quick witted and sarcastic – and often had you snorting into your drink over a comment or joke made at his own or his friends’ expenses. No, you weren’t even remotely hesitant about this anymore. If anything, your evening of conversation just made you that much more eager to meet him.

It’s much later in the day when you finally message him, having kept the temptation to message him at bay while you tidied up, keeping it short and sweet with a, How’s the head? You chew your lip, eyes flicking over the message with thoughtful eyes before quickly tagging a little kiss on the end and pressing send. Not even two minutes later, your phone goes off on the coffee table and the clammy hands return tenfold when you read over the message a good fifteen times.

Can I call?

Shit. Shit. He wants to call? And like… talk? With voices? What if you stutter? Choke? Oh god, your throat’s dry. It’s dry – how can you talk with a dry throat? You can’t. Fuck. Fuck. Drink – you need a drink –

You quickly run to the kitchen, filling a glass of water and swallowing it down as quickly as you could, not at all caring that it half spills down your chin and onto your jumper. You gasp for air when you finish, slamming the glass down and catching the drips of water from your chin with the back of your hand. You slide across your floor as you run back out to your couch and grab your phone, typing a quick reply.

Yeah sure.

Too casual. Was that too casual? Should you have added a kiss? Shit – it’s already sent. It’s fine. It’s fine. He asked a short question, and he got a short answer. It makes sense. It’s fine. You yelp when your phone starts to vibrate in your hand, his contact name flashing across the screen.

Oh God.

Oh God.

He’s calling. He’s somewhere out there, phone to his ear, waiting for you to answer and you’re what – standing in your lounge and looking at your phone, watching it ring, like an idiot? What are you doing?

You inhale deeply, clearing your throat a little before swiping the green icon.

“Hi,”

Oh God, what was that? What was that tone?

“Hey. Sorry – looking at my phone screen and trying to reply was making my eyes feel like they’re exploding.”

His voice is deep, hoarse from his night of drinking, and overwhelmingly pleasant to listen to. It brings a flush of warmth across your cheeks, an electric tingle across your skin.

You laugh softly, “It’s alright. Tequila wasn’t a good idea, then?”

He grunts quietly and your stomach tightens, throat suddenly dry again at the suggestive sound.

“It never is.” He groans, melting into a long yawn and you start to feel a little guilty. Did your text wake him up?

“I’m sorry, I should let you sleep –”

“No! No, it’s fine. I uh – I really want to talk to you… if you’re not busy.” He adds onto the end, almost nervously. 

“I’m not busy,” you reassure quietly, smiling shyly down at your lap. “I’m all yours.”

He chuckles lowly, and the sound settles deep in your belly, “Good.”

You don’t understand how conversation could just be so... easy with someone you’ve never met. For a brief moment, you worry you might be talking too much, maybe boring him, but when he keeps asking questions, encourages you to continue, you think that maybe he doesn’t mind, maybe he actually is just interested in what you’re saying.

When dinner comes around, you’re in a fit of giggles as you prepare your food, listening to pots and pans bang and clash on the other end as Frankie prepares his own meal. You cook together, eat together, and then settle in front of Netflix together, debating back and forth on what to watch. The evening melts into night, one movie turns into two, and eventually conversation dies down.

Sometime in the night, you roll over, briefly waking to fix and fluff the pillow under your head when a sound makes you pause. Your head jerks up and you look around, finding yourself sprawled across the couch, and a blanket twisted around your legs.

Glancing over to your phone to check the time, you touch the screen and blink in surprise when you see your phone call is still connected with Frankie, who’s quiet on the other end. You move to press the red button but freeze when a soft snore sounds from the device, and a warm flood of affection grows in your heart and spreads throughout your chest.

He’s asleep.

You listen a moment longer, smiling tenderly when more quiet snores reach your ears. Instead of hanging up, you bring the phone closer, tucking it just beside your pillow before laying your head back down and closing your eyes, letting the quiet breathing soothe you back to sleep.

If the strong butterflies turning your stomach were anything to go by, you were in serious trouble.

+

Tags: @anu-simps @seasonschange-butpeopledont @withasideofmeg @you-got-me-starry-eyed @emilykjh​ @peterhollandkait​ @sara-alonso​ @starlightsearches​ @bookishofalder​ @empress-palpat1ne​ @shadowolf993​ @rosiefridayrogersunday​ @canyonmirrors​ @eoz-stuff​ @blackonemasie​ @layniapetrovnaaa​

[vanillashusband]

Safe Journeys (902 words) - Caviar Cookie/Blue Jay Cookie

Quick little drabble with Caviar Cookie I wrote! This was originally going to be like a quick funny text post but I wrote a small fic instead hjgfgfh

"Are you sure you don't want me coming along? I'm sure that I can help navigate the ship." Blue Jay Cookie said. Captain Caviar Cookie grunted in disapproval. "I already said no." He replied. "It's safer for you on land anyway. You don't have any sea salt in yer dough, the sea'll swallow you up in minutes." The Captain muttered. Blue Jay Cookie didn't take any offence to the Captain's comment. He wasn't really a sea-faring cookie at all, and though he wasn't afraid of much, the ocean did strike a particular fear in him. The thought of drowning or his dough becoming so soggy that he fell apart sent shivers through him. But despite their differences, he and Captain Caviar Cookie had become fast friends. The sky was a deep blue. It was a calm and clear summer day. As Blue Jay Cookie followed Caviar Cookie to the harbour, he could see the Captain's crew stocking the ship with supplies before they set sail on another mission to the Black Pearl sea. Before they reached the ship's gangplank, Captain Caviar Cookie stopped and turned to Blue Jay, looking as serious as always. He didn't say anything and just examined the shorter cookie. "I might as well see you off then." Blue Jay Cookie said, sounding a little disappointed. The Captain frowned a little, he put his hand on Blue Jay's shoulder and leaned down slightly to the shorter cookie, as if he was trying to keep this between them. "Listen," Caviar began, his face softening. "the reason I don't want ya comin' is cause I got enough to worry about. I don't want anything tah' happen to you. If you're on that ship, you're my responsibility. I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to you when under my protection." He said quietly. Blue Jay Cookie looked up into the older cookie's eyes and saw the sincerity behind the Captain's words. He cracked a smile. "Caviar, you old softie." Blue Jay chuckled, hugging the taller cookie. For a moment, Caviar Cookie froze up when Blue Jay put his arms around his neck and pulled him down into a hug. Ignoring that his crew could probably see this, the Captain wrapped his strong arms around the smaller cookie and hugged him tightly. His eyes shut for a second before he released Blue Jay Cookie from his grasp. Caviar gazed at Blue Jay fondly before he remembered himself and cleared his throat loudly to cover up his embarrassment. He moved away from the other cookie quickly. "Alright, alright, enough with the mushy stuff. I got work to do." He grumbled. Blue Jay Cookie grinned. "Come back in one piece, ya hear?" He said. "Ha! Don't you know who yer talkin' to? I'm the Captain of the Salty Shark and head of house Caviar!" Caviar Cookie laughed loudly. "You got nothin' tah' worry about!" He went on. With the last remnants of tension gone, Caviar Cookie stepped onto the gangplank and waved at the cookie crew members. They waved back. Blue Jay stood there watching him go with a fond smile on his face. As soon as Caviar Cookie stepped foot onto the ship, his first mate spoke up. "Pardon me, Captain." They said. "Whadda want?" Caviar Cookie questioned gruffly. "Are you worried about us too?" The first mate asked, a slight teasing tone in their voice. "Huh!? What are ya, babies?! Get back to work, we shove off in a few minutes!" He huffed in annoyance. The first mate smiled smugly and saluted the Captain before returning to their duties. Once all of the supplies were aboard the ship, they cast off. The large sails unfurled and immediately caught the light breeze from the ocean, pulling the vessel out of the harbour and into open water. Caviar Cookie went to the back of the quarterdeck and stood staring at the gleaming white stone of the docks. Blue Jay Cookie stood at the very edge, waving goodbye. Caviar smiled a little and returned the wave. For a moment, Captain Caviar thought he saw Jay conversing with something, but since they had gotten quite far out from shore, he couldn't tell. Then a little blue and white bird flitted after the Salty Shark and landed on the wooden railing. It was Jay's pet bird, Blueberry, a rolled piece of parchment in its beak. Blueberry chirped at him. Caviar Cookie raised an eyebrow and took the parchment carefully from the bird's beak. With the note delivered, the bird darted off back to its owner before Caviar could say anything. "What's all this then?" He said to himself. Caviar Cookie unrolled the note. After a quick look at what the paper contained, his eyebrows shot up.

Good luck out there, I'll be waiting at the port when you return. Let's eat together to celebrate your successful mission! Safe journeys, Blue Jay Cookie

Caviar's cheeks flushed a little as he read the note again. He grinned from ear to ear, his heart skipped a beat every time he thought about seeing Blue Jay Cookie again. Caviar Cookie sighed happily and folded the note neatly before pocketing it. He'd missed him a lot while on this voyage, but that only gave him another reason to return quickly afterwards. Because that was basically an invitation for a date! Not all the treasure in the world would make Caviar Cookie miss that.

[skellebonez]

Did someone ask for fluff?!?!

How about some brothers bonding (Sandy, Pigsy and Wukong) with 1 and 9?

YEAH brother bonding time! This also has a follow up fill here because I like adding a dash of angst with my fluff (and then finishing it up with even more fluff) and I had two ideas that were similar enough I wanted to keep the flow going. They both ended up rather long as well.

Do not give me that look./ How long have you been standing there?

It was odd to have company on Mount Huaguo again. Not “Xiaotian over for training” company but “oh actual guests and more than one oh boy hope I can handle this many people” company. A “three day bonding trip” Xiaotian had called it, time for them to get reacquainted with each other. The fact it was two people who he had initially believed to have moved on with their lives to the point of reincarnating... made it even more odd.

But Sun Wukong would admit, though he had not recognized them at first due to how much they had changed, it was nice to see Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing again. Or, rather, Pigsy and Sandy. That’s what they went by now. New names to go with their new lives.

The first day he kept staring at them, afraid they would disappear now that everything was out on the table. Their anger at his disappearance, his assumption they had left him behind when he heard they had left their positions, his reasoning for leaving so long in the first place. Everything had come out when Pigsy had cornered him the day he chanced coming by the shop when Xiaotian hadn’t shown up for training (turned out he was sick and had forgotten to inform him) via email. He was pissed that Wukong hadn’t said a word to either of his younger brothers at the Lunar New Year festival and had just run off again.

He’d only stopped yelling when he realized that the monkey’s face had starting streaks of angry tears from holding himself back and the way his face fell when Wukong responded “I like pranks but pretending to be my dead brother isn’t funny” was more than telling enough. Telling enough that Wukong realized it wasn’t a cruel prank. His “you thought I was dead Wukong?” pushed him over the edge and those angry tears became “soul crushing disappointment and relief” tears because his brother, no both of his brothers were alive and he had wasted so much time mourning them when they were right here the whole time.

It was very awkward. Especially when Wukong couldn't stop himself from grabbing Pigsy and holding onto him.

But that was then. And again when he saw Sandy. But that was then! This was now. Now was bonding time. Now was the last night of this trip and it was such a far cry from the first day.

The first day, again, was awkward and tense before the few immortal monkeys he had managed to scratch out the names of in his one trip to... well, he didn’t want to think about that, had recognized Pigsy and flocked to him. The first night had him showing them how he had been living and them telling him of their exploits in becoming normal modern day citizens. He listened intently, asking questions when his curiosity couldn’t wait but otherwise holding himself back with great self control and focus. The second day they talked and talked and played games with the monkeys and Wukong showed them how he cared for them (and if he was right he saw soft glimpses from both of them in his direction and a thwap and laugh from Sandy after Pigsy heard him say “you’re both dads now that’s something you have in common”) and Sandy showed him how his boats work and introduced them to all of his cats on his houseboat (there were many and Wukong immediately loved all of them)

While that first night they had just eaten basic food Sandy and Pigsy had brought, that second night he had decided to show him his own cooking. He’d only been cooking for a years, since he had started his search for a successor and tempted a taste of some food at a festival that he happened upon, and he was nervous. Pigsy had always been very eager to eat anything before but even then he would judge the food with a shockingly insightful pallet. Wukong worried that his attempts at adding extra seasoning on their dishes had gone overboard since they overwhelmed him too much to try them.

Pigsy’s “You’ve only been cookin for a year? This is really good!” put all his worries aside. Ironically he had still under-seasoned his dishes, but the fresh vegetables he had used were such high quality that Pigsy assured him they more than made up for it.

Now was when he watched Pigsy show him how to prepare fresh homemade noodles in his own kitchen as Sandy regaled them with stories of the stuff the cats got into as he prepared fresh tea.

It was better than he ever hoped for.

"So Pigsy was stuck there for 3 hours?” Wukong laughed, grabbing the baby monkey that was about to leap off his shoulder before they could careen into Pigsy. “No, no jumping on guests!” He laughed, gently running his fingers through their fur before letting them leap out of the kitchen and back into the living room where the others watched TV (a livestream of kittens Sandy had put on, they absolutely adored it). He looked over at the chef with a smirk. “And here I thought you had a temper.”

“Do not give me that look,” Pigsy said with a warning tone, but Wukong could not tell it was almost all bark and playful to boot. “I’m the one making you a separate pot of soup so your tongue doesn’t hate you for trying to eat too much pepper.”

“And I thank you for that, younger brother,” Wukong said with a smile that Pigsy returned after a moment. It was odd, still, saying that again. But it felt good.

“Elder brothers,” Sandy chimed in, and that was odd and good as well, placing the dinner ware and fresh pot of tea on the table. “Everything is ready!” Mo meowed on his shoulder, a content purr sounding from the cat who looked a lot like his owner.

“Perfect timing! The soup’s just done too,” Pigsy announced as he grabbed Wukong’s smaller pot and carried it to the table. “Lemme ju-”

“I’ve got it,” Wukong said as he grabbed the larger pot effortlessly and placed it beside his own, closer to his brothers. “I can’t make you both do all the work now can I?”

“Not what you would have said 1 month into our journey together,” Pigsy playfully ribbed, earning a mock offended gasp from the monkey.

“I have you know I was a very different person back then, why I would have almost offered to do it 8 years in I bet!” Wukong joked, earning good natured laughs from his brothers as they all helped themselves to the amazing meal. Even as under seasoned as Pigsy had to make his own helping Wukong could only describe the taste as “nearly divine”.

This was... amazing. Nearly perfect, even.

“Sound like you’re all having fun!” Xiaotian’s voice suddenly rang out, scaring the three into jumping in their seats. Wukong had become so content and comfortable in his brother’s presence that he hadn’t even realized they now had two more guests. Tang stood beside his student, holding back laughter as he looked at Pigsy specifically.

“Geeze, kid, you nearly scared me to death!” Wukong said as he took exaggerated breaths. “And I’m immortal!”

“How long have you been standing there?” Pigsy questioned as he relaxed, sending a slight glare over his shoulder to a now laughing Wukong.

“Long enough to hear you having fun,” Tang answered with a laugh, sitting down next to Pigsy and picking up one of the extra bowls to ladle himself a portion of soup once Pigsy nodded his ok.

Xiaotian took a seat next to Wukong, smiling as he grabbed his own bowl. “We just wanted to see how things were going and since I have training tomorrow we thought maybe we could stay the night?"

"Tang too?" Wukong asked with a raised brow.

"I didn't want him to feel left out with Xiaojiao training for her next race," Xiaotian explained with a chuckle and a shrug. It was sweet, the way he wanted everyone to feel included now... but Wukong had a sneaking suspicion he brought Tang so he would also have some time with the Monkey King since he was, you know, Tang’s hero apparently.

“The more the merrier, then!" Wukong said as he leaned back and sipped the broth left in his bowl, eyes closed as he savored the rich flavor. “You were right, by the way, this was a great idea. Everything’s been perfect so far.”

He was so engrossed in his meal that he missed how Xiaotian tensed beside him.

[burnedbyshoto]

Can I request a Christmas scenario about they getting caught under the mistletoe with shy female S/O for Aizawa and Present Mic (separately)? 😍🥰 Because I really love to see they have extremely adorable moments together!! 🥰🥰🥰

aizawa shouta x reader; yamada hizashi x reader

warnings: angst (1), fluff (1), alcohol consumption

a/n: I'm horrible, I didn't read the word s/o…..so…haha…um…… I was in an angsty mood while writing one of these……… enjoy? this is a request, not a drabble!!! more drabbles will be up later tonight :)

Aizawa shouta

You took a deep breath.

Today is the day. You thought.

Today is the day. You repeated.

Today is the–

“What are you doing outside? You’re going to get cold!” A voice interrupted your thoughts, and you shrieked. You whipped your face around and looked at a figure walking your way. You sighed.

It was only Nemuri. “You, uh, you scared me…” You whisper. Your cheeks feeling enflamed as you stood outside the doors to the house you were by. “I was–”

“Thinking of ways to profess your love to little baby, Eraser?” Nemuri teases despite the own blush on her face, she was a sucker for your one-sided romance after all. “You know, for someone as observant as he is, it’s a tragedy he hasn’t noticed you’re in love with him!”

“’Muri-chan!” You shriek as you whip around as if expecting Aizawa to be lurking around for some reason. Given that you knew your crush since high school, you were sure he was busy keeping a drunk Hizashi out of trouble.

“But it is Christmas, who knows! Maybe Ecto left a mistletoe up!” Nemuri teased you as she grabbed your arm, and took you to the door.

You groan as she knocks on the door. The teachers of U.A. were throwing a Christmas party tonight. You had also decided ages ago you would tell Shouta you liked him before the end of the year was up. After stalling for twelve months, you had decided today was the day. Christmas was a couples event, after all.

But you were nauseous as the door flew open, “MIDNIGHTTTT, Y/H/NNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!”

Oh boy, Hizashi was already drunk.

You sat in the corner of the room, a drink in your hand as you chatted with Nemuri about the man she had dommed the other day. Oh, how you wished you could be like your best friend and sweat confidence. You were in your late twenties and still had issues not stuttering around people!

How you were a teacher was beyond you.

Your eyes kept searching around for Aizawa, you knew that he was here. You had said hello to him earlier. With the activity of both your best friends wrecking chaos in opposite ends of the house. You split ways prematurely. 

He did say you looked nice, and it left you blushing and stuttering for a solid ten minutes though. You just wanted the night to end so that you could scream it to him on the way out and then disappear for a while. Thank the universe he was still with first years and no longer with third years anymore. If he rejected you, you could at the very least avoid him.

But the night was only getting later, and gifts for Secret Santa had been distributed. Most of your colleagues were, in fact, leaving now. But you knew you had to stay.

“I’ll distract Hizashi, you go get you… your man!” Nemuri slurred drunkenly, the skimpy red dress she wore was not at all in a decent place, but she wasn’t embarrassed. Nor did she want anyone fixing it for her. So most people avoided their stare from her body. 

You didn’t even have time to reject her statement as she dragged you across the room. Aizawa and Hizashi were standing where she took you. “MIC COME WITH ME!” Nemuri laughed as she took Hizashi by the hand who had been in the middle of ignoring what Aizawa had to say anyways.

Your eyes locked onto Aizawa who was looking at you. You found yourself straightening out your dress. Your drunken friends disappeared with very loud whispers. 

“T-They’re a bit too much, huh?” You ask looking at your feet as Aizawa sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“I regret telling Mic that I would be his driver tonight.” Aizawa agrees as you nod your head. 

Your thoughts were racing a million kilometers a second. The horror you felt because you couldn’t keep a conversation. You knew you had to say something soon, or else you never would.

“Do you want to go outside with me for a bit?” Aizawa asks, and you freeze. “It’s a bit stuffy in here, and I’m going to pass out soon.” 

“Yeah, um, I just need to grab my, uh, my jacket.” 

“Take mine.” Aizawa offers as he shrugs off the black wool coat he had been wearing all night. 

“No wonder why you’re hot.” You laugh slightly, as the heavy coat is placed on your shoulders. The heat of the jacket and the scent of Aizawa’s cologne hit your body like a truck as you watch him walk out the door. His eyes on you expectantly. 

“Oh, man…” You mutter to yourself as you walk after him, mentally preparing to confess any second now. 

You watch as Aizawa leans against the porch, his arms folded and you walk over slowly. The two of you stand in silence as Aizawa lets out a slow exhale. The hot air of his breathes smoking against the cold air. 

“How have your students been?” Aizawa asks you, interrupting the silence. 

“Oh, pretty good.” You say with a smile before it falters. “I wish we could do something about Mirio though, it breaks my heart.” 

Aizawa nods his head in agreement as he looks up, his body stilling. But you don’t notice this as your mouth opens ready to confess your feelings.

“Do you follow the mistletoe tradition?” He asks, and your voice dies in your throat. 

“W-What?” 

“Ecto hid the mistletoe here, and well, I’m asking if you follow the tradition.” 

You honestly didn’t, but Aizawa didn’t need to know that as you nodded your head. Your body was quickly becoming hotter as he straightened out. And your eyes fluttered shut as you felt his lips press gently against yours. Your heartbeat roaring in your ears as he did so.

The kiss was short, his lips pressing against yours for less than two seconds. But the warmth that spread through your body made it seem like you had taken a shot.

He pulled away, and you felt breathless as you opened your eyes.

The shrieks coming inside made you realize that many people were watching on. You flush as you see them all cheering, now invested in their happiness for you and Aizawa. You turned your blushing gaze to Aizawa who looked… sad?

“Aizawa, I…” You trailed off, it was now or never. “I have to confess something, I–” 

“Please don’t finish that sentence, y/l/n,” Aizawa whispers, and your throat tightens at those words. 

“W-What?” 

“I know you have feelings for me.” 

And you can feel your heart slowly being consumed by the frost of the outside air.

“I can’t…” Aizawa trails off, “I can’t accept them, I’m sorry.” 

Hot, bitter tears well up in your eyes as you stare at him, unable to come up with words. “S-So, you… you ask to kiss me… under the mistletoe, knowing full well that I have feelings… and you reject me, still?” You splutter, your mind unable to make sense of this situation as tears roll down your face. You can feel them freezing against your simmering cheeks as you raise your gaze to Aizawa. Aizawa who, for the first time ever, seems at a loss of words.

“I’m sorry, y/l/n.” 

You shake your head, a choking sound escaping your lips as you shove the jacket off your body. Tossing it to the ground as you curse him through gritted, humiliated teeth. You don’t even hear him call out your name. His capturing weapon missing your wrist as you storm into the house. You slam the door with all the strength of the Pro-Hero in you.

Nemuri and Hizashi are at your side immediately as you walk in. They were imitating kissing sounds like a bunch of middle schoolers.

“You both were wrong,” You pant, feeling as if the world was caving in on you. “He doesn’t like me back. I’m going to leave.” 

You were out the front door the second Aizawa entered the back door. Although not everyone was still there, everyone stared at him with disappointed eyes.

“You fucked up big time, Aizawa…” 

Yamada hizashi

You groaned as Hizashi smacked another kiss onto your lip that night.

Your dork of a husband had gone out of his way to buy a Christmas hat with a piece of mistletoe on it. He was now deliberately using it to kiss you whenever he wanted despite the company you had over.

Setting up the table? 

“Oh my, watch out y/n, I’m falling over on top of you?! IS THAT MISTLETOE?!” 

Smooch!

Eating?

“Hey, y/n, can you pass me a bread roll, no come closer… IS THAT MISTLETOE?!” 

Smooch!

Passing out presents?

“Don’t mind me, y/n, just grabbing some present. Ya know, I think there’s a mistletoe just above you right now!” 

SMOOCH!

It was cute, don’t get it wrong! Yet your face had turned twenty shades of red and you were not happy to be this red in front of company.

So you were doing everything you could to avoid being yet another kiss steal from Hizashi. Because if he kissed you anymore, you were going to faint. Mixing yourself a drink, you walked back over to where Hizashi and his coworkers sat. Everyone was talking about what they aimed to do with the month they had off in March. Once school was out, of course.

You noticed that the hat was finally off Hizashi’s head, but you still sat across from him in the hope he wouldn’t put it back on. He wouldn't try to make out with you in front of his friends. But the kisses alone were embarrassing!

The night continued smoothly as everyone stayed in the comfort of your home. Everyone chatting away while playing board games you and Hizashi had in the house. Of course, when it got particularly rowdy, those U.A. alumni were some of the most competitive people ever. Hizashi would break out his quirk. Making Aizawa use his quirk. Making Nemuri rip her clothes. Making Cementoss build a wall in your living room to stop the horrible loud yells of your husband.

Every time it happened you couldn’t help but laugh, everyone was so funny in your opinion.

But as the night got later, everyone was getting a bit drunker…

“Who’s the least flustered out of everyone here, we know the most is y/n!” Nemuri slurred as everyone tried to make a mental note of who the least flustered person was. 

You were cuddled up into Hizashi’s side, blushing because they definitely weren’t wrong.

“I am!” Hizashi announced a proud smirk on his face. “I only pretend to be flustered so people think I’m just like them!” 

It must’ve been the alcohol in your system because you let out a laugh as you shook your head in disagreement. Unfortunately, it seemed that everyone actually agreed with your eccentric husband’s opinion.

“I can fluster you without a problem!” You laugh, oh yeah, it was definitely the alcohol speaking. 

“Prove it!” Nemuri squealed, her eyes materializing hearts as she stared expectantly at you two. Chants went around the room, and you stood up. Placing the mistletoe hat back onto your husband’s head who was now looking at you with traces of a blush on his cheeks.

You grabbed him by the collar and pulled him in for a kiss.

You couldn’t even hear the whoops of laughter and cheering from your drunk friends as your lips fervently pressed against Hizashi’s. Your tongue slipping into his mouth. The taste of bitter alcohol was evident in his mouth as your tongue swiped at his. You swallowed the shaky gasp that escaped his lips as your tongue traced the roof of his mouth before pulling away panting.

Hizashi was blushing redder then you had all night.

“HE DOES GET FLUSTERED!!!!!!”

[ibijau]

Burn it down AU // on AO3 // extras on AO3

Everyone goes to Carp Tower, only for more questions to be raised.

It became a game of sorts for Wei Wuxian to make what he appeared to believe was an outrageous demand and see if Lan Wangji would give in. Most of the time, he did. There was no harm in letting Wei Wuxian swallowing as much spice as he pleased, as long as nobody else took from his bowl (Nie Huaisang did sometimes, on a dare, and always regretted it). Lan Wangji simply had to request that the kitchens make the appropriate purchases, and paid for it from his own funds since it would have been inappropriate to use sect money for personal matters.

He was more cautious about letting Wei Wuxian drink, since his body was young and unused to it, but since Mo Xuanyu had not been a heavy drinker, Wei Wuxian easily reached his limit anyway. If he tried to push too far, Lan Wangji mercilessly took whatever alcohol they had around at that moment and poured it all in front of the Jingshi. 

Other things were easier. He was only too happy to let Wei Wuxian have paper and ink, or to give him access to the library whenever he wished. It was a little sad, really, that Wei Wuxian seemed to treat these very basic things as if they were unbearable whims, though after the restrictions of Yiling, it made some sense. Still, Lan Wangji had fought his own sect and been brought near his breaking point by the discipline whips for the man he loved. A little paper was nothing. 

Usually Wei Wuxian kept that game for moments when they were alone. Once or twice he slipped in front of A-Yuan who did not even notice, since he was used to asking for what he needed and getting it. It also happened once in front of Nie Huaisang who, for reasons unknown, found it impossibly funny. He grinned all the rest of that evening, while Wei Wuxian refused to meet anyone's eyes and went to bed shockingly early. 

Aside from that odd evening, Lan Wangji's happiness was near perfect. Or it would have been, of not for the presence of Xue Yang hidden away in a remote corner of the Cloud Recesses, and the worry that Jin Guangyao might find his crimes had not gone unnoticed. Over a month after returning to the Cloud Recesses, they still had not figured out how they might try to steal back Nie Mingjue’s head. 

That problem became all the more urgent when a letter arrived from Carp Tower, bearing invitations to Qin Su's birthday. 

Lan Xichen, as soon as he opened that letter, requested that the other three join him in the Hanshi to discuss the situation. They all sat around a table as they had done many times in the past month, this time with a darker mood surrounding them at the perspective of what they might not be able to avoid any longer. The invitation, after all, was not for Lan Xichen alone. Jin Guangyao had heard that Nie Huaisang was currently in the Cloud Recesses, and asked for his presence as well. More surprisingly, Lan Wangji and A-Yuan too had received their own invitations, with a reminder that Jin Rulan and Jin Rusong would be delighted to finally meet the little boy who, in a manner, was almost a cousin to them. Qin Su was a gentle woman, but also a stubborn one who did not easily give up once she had decided on something.

This demand for A-Yuan's presence made the matter more complicated. Without it, this upcoming birthday might have been the perfect chance to enter Carp Tower and attempt to retrieve the last proof of Jin Guangyao's crime. But even without needing to say it aloud, all four men agreed that they did not like to risk A-Yuan's safety.

And yet, there was an air of deep thoughts on Nie Huaisang's face as he read the invitation again and again, and it promised nothing good.

“What if…” Nie Huaisang started, only to interrupt himself to look up at Lan Xichen who, after some hesitation, sighed and nodded. Nie Huaisang too sighed, as if the encouragement displeased him, and resumed. “What if we took the invitation? All of us, Wei Wuxian passing for a servant and… and A-Yuan too.”

Lan Wangji tensed, but said nothing.

“It would give us a good excuse to go there a few days before the other guests arrive,” Nie Huaisang explained quickly, sensing that his idea was unpleasant to everyone. “Xichen will be there to help Jin Guangyao, it’s nothing out of the ordinary at this point. I’ll help Qin Su watch over the children as they play together. And so will you, Wangji, at least officially. In truth, the first chance we get of having both Qin Su and Jin Guangyao properly distracted, you and Wei Wuxian can make your way into the Fragrant Palace and see if you can figure out the secret of that mirror.”

“It is risky,” Lan Wangji noted. 

“Not so much, not with your reputation and Wei Wuxian's capacity to improvise a story. We do have other proof anyway, if it really comes to that, but we can’t lose more time, sooner or later Jin Guangyao will hear about Xue Yang, or Xue Yang himself will try to escape, and…”

“It is risky to bring A-Yuan into Carp Tower,” Lan Wangji corrected.

To his credit Nie Huaisang immediately nodded, glancing again toward Lan Xichen who placed a hand on his shoulder.

“That’s why I’d stay with Qin Su and the children, why Xichen would be trailing Jin Guangyao,” Nie Huaisang insisted. “I don’t want anything to happen to A-Yuan either. And if… if you refuse, I’ll understand. If you refuse, you’ll have to stay here with A-Yuan, we’ll find an excuse, say he’s unwell. It’d be too odd for you to take the invitation yet refuse to bring A-Yuan, Jin Guangyao would see it as an insult and pay too close attention to us. But I think Wei Wuxian should come either way, he’s good at figuring out how things work, if anyone can find a way to Jin Guangyao’s secret room, it’s him. You have to choose, Wangji.”

It was a cruel choice to force upon him, although at least Nie Huaisang had the kindness not to say it out loud: Lan Wangji could either keep his son away from Jin Guangyao, or he could be at Wei Wuxian’s side when he entered the house of his enemies.

“Nie xiong, are you any better at fighting than you were as a boy?” Wei Wuxian asked bluntly. “Because unless you have improved a lot in the last few years, you saying you’ll protect A-Yuan isn’t as reassuring as you think.”

Nie Huaisang pouted, which was an answer in itself.

“Nobody would dare touch A-Yuan without a direct order from Jin Guangyao, knowing he is kin to me,” Lan Xichen pointed out with great calm, “and I will not leave him for a moment. I will kill him the instant he threatens my nephew, be certain of this.”

This much Lan Wangji believed easily, just as he was certain that Nie Huaisang would throw himself between A-Yuan and danger without hesitation, even if it should cost him his life. All four of them adored that little boy, all four would do anything to keep him safe. 

Lan Wangji still felt like a monster when he gave in and agreed to take A-Yuan to Lanling. 

-

However the adults felt about going to Carp Tower, A-Yuan was delighted to be included in this trip. He was impossibly excited to start packing, and asked many questions about Jin Rusong and Jin Rulan. He was a little disappointed to hear that they were younger than him, but still seemed happy at the perspective of making new friends and visiting a new place.

The only thing that came to dampen his enthusiasm was when the adults had to explain that he would have to pretend not to be close to ‘Mo Xuanyu’ while they would be there.

“Mo gongzi will come with us, but we’re going to say he is working for me,” Nie Huaisang explained. “There are people in Carp Tower who do not like him, but we really, really don’t want to leave him alone here, so we are going to say he works for me and call him by a different name.”

“That’s a lie!”

“Yes, but it’s just for this once. It’s important, it’s very important. It has to be a secret, A-Yuan. You think you can keep the secret with us?”

“Like when I dreamed of…” he glanced toward Lan Wangji, and his voice lowered to a murmur. “The dreams of fire and the other gege?”

While Nie Huaisang nodded solemnly, Lan Wangji felt the air knocked out of him at the idea that his son and his friend had been keeping secrets from him. He could easily guess what sort of dreams would have involved fire and an unknown man, and he’d always known that A-Yuan suffered from intense nightmares for the first few years of his stay in the Cloud Recesses. But it was odd and unpleasant to think that his son might have trusted Nie Huaisang with this rather than him.

At least, when A-Yuan promised to keep this secret, Lan Wangji knew that his son could be trusted. After all, he had never once suspected that the child had any memory left of his time in Yiling.

-

It was rather awkward to arrive in Carp Tower and be greeted so warmly by Jin Guangyao and his wife, knowing they had come here for the express purpose of causing his downfall. The man seemed genuinely happy to see them, and expressed sincere concern when Nie Huaisang explained that he had come with a doctor he had hired after some health concerns in recent months.

“You do seem much better than you had been lately,” Jin Guangyao agreed, inviting them to follow him as he personally guided them to their rooms, his wife following at his side. “I thought it was only the pressure of ruling still affecting you, was there something else?”

“There was an issue with his Qi circulation,” Wei Wuxian said in a forcefully gruff voice. “He was getting close to a deviation. We’re getting that under control.”

Jin Guangyao glanced at him with a blank, polite smile. It was obvious that he was curious about this short man whose face was half hidden by bandages, but Nie Huaisang had come up with a story that his personal healer had been disfigured by an illness when he was too young to cultivate, and chose to hide. Most cultivators were uncomfortable with scars, since they were rare for them, and so it was not too outlandish that a person would rather keep them away from sight.

“Well, I’m glad to hear this,” Jin Guangyao said. “Although I wish you had told me, Huaisang. We have many healers attached to our sect, I could have found you someone from the start.”

“But I already trouble San-Ge so much!” Nie Huaisang mumbled, his voice trembling slightly. “I always trouble everyone, if I keep asking for help, one day it’ll be too much and you’ll be tired of helping and you’ll all drop me.”

Jin Guangyao frowned. “Huaisang, that”s…”

“We won’t!” A-Yuan exclaimed, grabbing Nie Huaisang’s leg and hugging it tight. “We all love you, Nie-Ge! If you’re unwell, please tell us.”

The adults around him fell into silence at this outburst. Nie Huaisang looked particularly awkward, as if unsure whether to continue his act or comfort A-Yuan by telling him he did not actually fear being abandoned. 

Standing next to her husband, Qin Su was the first to recover, smiling warmly at the child.

“Sect Leader Nie, what a delightful little boy you have,” she said. “You and Hanguang-Jun have done a great job raising such a filial son, you can be proud. I hope my son and nephew grow to be this good as well. I cannot wait for them to meet you, I’m sure the three of you will be great friends.”

“I’m very happy to meet them too,” A-Yuan politely replied, still firmly hugging his step-father’s leg. “I hope we all get along. When am I going to play with them?”

Qin Su exchanged a look with her husband, the two of them having a silent conversation before she smiled again.

“I think you and your family might want to rest a little and change after the trip,” she told A-Yuan. “Then we can all have lunch together. You will meet A-Xiao and A-Ling at that moment, and then you can play together after eating. Would that please you?”

A-Yuan nodded enthusiastically, and with some probing, finally let go of Nie Huaisang. After that it was a short trip to the rooms where they would be staying. Once there, Lan Xichen quickly changed into clean robes, washed his face from the dust of travelling, and headed out again immediately to see how he could help Jin Guangyao with organising his wife’s birthday party. He did not seem particularly happy with the perspective of being alone in his sworn brother’s company, but by his own admission, it would have been odd if he didn’t behave in this exact way. Before he left, Nie Huaisang took his hand and squeezed it in a comforting gesture, the only one they could allow themselves in front of others.

Once Lan Xichen was gone, the three remaining adults also got changed into more suitable clothes and helped A-Yuan do the same. It was then only a matter of sitting around and resting a little until the call for lunch came. Rest, however, was maybe asking too much. A-Yuan was too excited about the idea of meeting potential new friends, and the grown-ups were too nervous about their plan, so none of them really relaxed. It was a relief when at last, a servant came to tell them that lunch was ready to be served.

Whatever other misgivings he had about the situation, Lan Wangji had to admit that the encounter between the three children went well. A-Yuan, as could be expected of him, was the perfect image of politeness as he bowed before the other two, and his radiant smile appeared to daze them.

“I am Lan Yuan,” he announced. “And my courtesy name is Lan Sizhui. It is a pleasure to meet you both.”

Jin Rusong, who was still young and clearly a little shy, could only stare in apparent awe, half hiding behind his cousin. It could have quickly become a little awkward, but Jin Rulan was thankfully a bolder child and had no problem taking over the introductions for their side.

“I’m Jin Ling,” he stated. “And this is Jin Xiao, courtesy name Jin Rusong. We’re very happy to meet you.”

“What’s your courtesy name?” A-Yuan asked.

“I don’t like it,” Jin Rulan exclaimed, “so nobody can use it.”

“A-Ling, we’ve talked about this,” Jin Guangyao intervened with an awkward chuckle. “You have to tell people your courtesy name. It is not proper to force everyone to call you by your personal name.”

Jin Rulan crossed his arms on his chest. “Uncle Jiang says it’s ok. He says my courtesy name is stupid and I don’t have to use it.”

Jin Guangyao looked positively horrified by that statement, but not surprised, so Lan Wangji guessed it was not the first time they were having this argument. Of course, with Jin Rulan often being sent to spend time in the Lotus Piers, it was unavoidable that the child’s personality would be tainted by his other uncle.

“Well, I don’t mind calling you Jin Ling,” A-Yuan said. “It’s pretty. Are we going to sit all together?” He turned to his father. “Am I allowed to speak during meals here?”

“Quietly,” Lan Wangji agreed, knowing it would be hard to enforce that rule away from home and in the presence of other children who had no reason to be silent.

The meal went well, as far Lan Wangji was concerned. He was not asked to speak much, unlike Lan Xichen who found himself in deep conversation with Jin Guangyao, and Nie Huaisang who happily chatted with Qin Su about a number of inconsequential subjects. Lan Wangji, for his part, found himself exchanging many glances with Wei Wuxian who appeared deeply amused by the situation and clearly struggled not to make any comments. It said a lot about his dedication to helping that he remained silent, actually. That, or he feared that Lan Wangji would simply silence him if he said anything.

After lunch, Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen quickly excused themselves again and disappeared together. Qin Su offered that the rest of them go in the gardens so the children could play freely, and the idea was of course accepted. They all settled in a pretty corner of the vast gardens, not far from the main buildings so that servants and attendants could still easily find their mistress and ask for her input on this and that detail for the upcoming party. Nie Huaisang sat near her and happily gave his opinion here and there, as long as it was not on anything more important than floral arrangements or who could be trusted to sit near sect leader Yao and not murder him out of annoyance. Meanwhile the three children, after some initial hesitation over what games to play, were running around together quite happily.

After a while of simply being there, silent and steadfast, Lan Wangji rose from the bench on which Wei Wuxian and him were seated, and announced that he was going to retire for some meditation. Qin Su looked a little sorry, possibly because she took it as a slight against her skills as a hostess, but she did not try to stop him. It was quite well known that Lan Wangji was not a very sociable person, and hopefully she understood he had already made an effort by staying this long.

“I’ll come with you,” Wei Wuxian announced, still disguising his voice. “I have to prepare some remedies for sect leader Nie.” He bowed before Qin Su. “Madam Jin, I leave my patient in your hands.”

“And I’ll make sure he behaves,” she amiably replied. “Won’t you, sect leader Nie?”

“I’ll do my best,” Nie Huaisang laughed.

Acting satisfied with that promise, Wei Wuxian also stood up and followed Lan Wangji away from the gardens.

It would have been easy to get lost in a place like Carp Tower. Thankfully, before coming, Lan Xichen and Nie Huaisang had drawn for them a rough map of the place, which Wei Wuxian had easily memorised. They started by heading out in direction of their room to avoid raising suspicion, but at the first opportunity they took a turn toward Jin Guangyao’s private residence. 

Of course as soon as it was safe to do so, Wei Wuxian started chatting. Considering how long he had managed to stay quiet, Lan Wangji could not begrudge him this. Still, he wished a different subject might have been picked. 

“Really, Sizhui?" Wei Wuxian teased. “What sort of a name is that? Did you let Nie-xiong pick that name, for it to be so dramatic?”

“I chose it,” Lan Wangji confessed, a little embarrassed. In truth, Nie Huaisang too had teased him for naming his son “to recollect and long for”, and even Lan Xichen had raised an eyebrow at it. His only defence was that he had been asked to find a courtesy name soon after the engagement had been announced, when he had only just been given A-Yuan back, so that he could be put on the official registry, and… he had not been in a very good emotional state at the time, both aching over Wei Wuxian’s death and fearing a marriage forced upon him.

Without surprise, Wei Wuxian laughed at the admission.

“Lan Zhan, you’re really too much sometimes. Poor child, did you want him so badly to someday remember where he came from?”

Lan Wangji only hummed in answer.

If Wei Wuxian wanted to believe that, he was not going to say otherwise. If the name Sizhui had been embarrassing when he had thought Wei Wuxian lost to him for ever, then it was simply shameful now that the man was back with them. Lan Wangji had tried to live without regrets since losing the man he loved, but this dramatic name might be one of the few he had.

It was a relief when they arrived near the Fragrant Palace and had to be quiet again.

The entrance was guarded of course, but it wasn’t hard to simply enter through the gardens. Clearly, the sect leaders of Lanling Jin felt confident that nobody would reach them this far inside their sect. Once inside, they had to avoid being seen by the occasional servant, but thankfully most of the staff was busy with preparations for the party. In the end, it was easy enough to find Jin Guangyao’s bedroom.

It was easy, as well, to find the copper mirror. Xue Yang had told them it was huge and ostentatious. He hadn’t lied: the mirror was a little taller than Lan Wangji, and large enough that both of them could easily stand in front of it with room to spare. Even if it had just been a mirror it would have been worth a fortune, exactly the sort of luxurious display one might have expected from the sect leaders of Lanling Jin.

Wei Wuxian got to work. Before all else, he checked for any sort of safety measures protecting the mirror, but found none. However that secret passage worked, Jin Guangyao appeared to have full trust in it being unbreachable. A trust that wasn’t unjustified because no matter what Wei Wuxian tried, he simply could not get the passage to open.

“There’s something though,” he grumbled after another failed attempt. “I can feel it. I need to think, what could be so infallible?”

Given enough time, Lan Wangji was convinced Wei Wuxian would figure it out. But time was not an endless resource, and it was getting late. They would soon need to make their exit and regroup with the others. Hopefully they would get other chances in the coming days, but it was disheartening that a solution hadn’t been found yet.

“It’s reacting to something,” Wei Wuxian muttered, kneeling in front of the mirror and pressing his hands against the surface to better feel whatever magic powered it. They would need to clean it before they left, Lan Wangji realised. “Maybe I’m not powerful enough? This body is so weak… Lan Zhan, come closer please, I want to try something.”

Lan Wangji dutiful obeyed, and following the other man’s instructions, pressed his hands against the mirror’s surface.

“Do you feel it?” Wei Wuxian asked. “It’s like a buzzing in my hands.”

“I feel nothing.”

“Really? That’s odd. I wonder…”

“What’s going on here?” asked a voice behind them.

Both men startled and turned to look at Qin Su who gaped at the sight of two strangers in her private apartments. She seemed too shocked to cry out for someone to help, but that wouldn’t last and Lan Wangji steeled himself to use the Lan silencing spell on her. From this there would be no going back. But in truth, just from having been found there, they could not back down. They needed to go inside that passage that very day, or risk giving Jin Guangyao a chance to get rid of evidence.

“Madam Jin, we have a perfectly legitimate reason to be here!” Wei Wuxian exclaimed. “Please don’t create trouble, we aren’t here to harm you!”

“Your voice is… just who are you?” she retorted. “Does sect leader Nie know about this?”

The second question was directed more at Lan Wangji who hesitated on how to answer. Lying would be wrong. Saying the truth could only be used a last resort. Stuck between two unpleasant options, he elected to simply ignore the question.

“We are currently investigating serious accusations that have been made against Lanling Jin,” he explained. “Although it is distasteful to act in shadows, the accusations are such that we could not bring them to light without proof. We believe such proof can be found in the room behind the mirror.”

Qin Su startled. “You know about that room? Who told you?”

“Considering the circumstances, Madam Jin will understand we can’t give that name,” Wei Wuxian replied. “Isn’t the fact we know there’s such a room enough to show that we aren’t here at random? And since we know about it, perhaps Madam Jin might let us know how to open it?”

“Only my husband can.”

“It is important,” Lan Wangji insisted. “We would not be here if there was another choice.”

Qin Su smiled weakly at him.

“Hanguang-Jun, you misunderstand me,” she sighed. “When I say only my husband can open this passage, I mean it. This mirror is built in such a way that it will only react to a direct descendant of its creator, who was a previous Jin sect leader.”

"Well, that's inconvenient," Wei Wuxian grumbled. "Is there really no other way…" 

"My husband once told me that even Xue Chengmei could not trick the mirror when Jin Guangshan offered him the chance to try," Qin Su explained, her smiling growing a little more confident. "Seeing as breaking and remaking artefacts was his speciality, I feel it is safe to say the mirror's magic is quite secure."

Calling this inconvenient did not even begin to cover it. Lan Wangji had no illusions about Jin Guangyao’s willingness to allow them inside. To have come so close only to fail… 

"Madam Jin, aside from this, do you know how to get the passage open?" Wei Wuxian abruptly asked. 

"I have seen my husband do it." 

"Perfect. Then show us, please."

"I've told you…" 

"Yes, yes, but… Madam Jin, you are aware that your father-in-law had many children out of wedlock, aren’t you? I happen to be one of them. And if your husband can open it, then clearly the mirror doesn't care about legitimacy, only about blood."

Qin Su paled at the reminder, her lips pinched in distaste as she tried to look through the bandages hiding Wei Wuxian's face. Lan Wangji had heard it said that, mild and even tempered as she was, Qin Su did not tolerate anyone trying to speak in her presence about her husband’s origins. She had fought her own parents about it, and it was the one issue on which she was willing to get angry.

"I suppose that's true,” she conceded, “but still…" 

"We do not ask lightly," Lan Wangji intervened. "If the situation were not so dire, we would not be here. If we are wrong, we will accept the consequences, but certain things must be verified." 

Qin Su did not look particularly impressed with that statement. Although Lan Wangji's reputation had somewhat recovered from his actions in Nightless City, it would take a while longer for people to forget he had chosen to side with Wei Wuxian that day. That he would associate himself with one of Jin Guangshan’s bastards, none of whom had ever been judged worthy of remaining in Carp Tower, could not help.

"Very well," Qin Su sighed. "For your brother's sake, because I know Zewu-Jun would not allow injustice to be carried out. But I will come inside with you. I hope you understand." 

Lan Wangji nodded, while Wei Wuxian bowed. It was already more than they would have expected. Lan Wangji wondered if perhaps the young woman was curious about this secret passage inside her home. Even this easy going woman would have had to wonder about something so mysterious.

“Move back,” she ordered, before she placed her hands on a specific spot on the mirror's frame. “Here, there is this notch here where you must press while sending an impulse of energy.” 

Committed to the task, she demonstrated the movement and the impulse while Wei Wuxian watched like a hawk, obviously fascinated by the process. When everything was over and they were freed from this investigation, Lan Wangji was sure the other man would try to recreate this technique.

“And that’s it,” Qin Su concluded. “Of course, as I’ve said, only a descendant of that Jin sect leader may do it. For anyone else, it won’t work. I suppose you’re about to see if you truly are of Jin Guangshan’s blood. Otherwise…”

To show what would happen if Mo Xuanyu’s blood wasn’t enough, Qin Su brought her hand to the mirror’s surface, ready to lean against it.

She nearly lost her balance as her hand went right through and cried out in shock, only barely managing to grip the mirror’s edge before she could fall through the passage.

[blueboxesandtrafficcones]

The Gift of One’s Self

Day 3 of 2020′s 31 Days of Ficmas.  Thanks @doctorroseprompts​!

Prompt: Shopping

Rating: T (discussions of sex & sex toys; no “use”)

Pairing: 13xRose (AU)

Summary: Sparks fly when just before Christmas Jane comes into the adult toy store where Rose works, leading them to reevaluate what they think they’re looking for in a partner and making the connection of a lifetime.

2020 31 Days of Ficmas masterlist

AO3

---

Rose stood behind the cash register, humming along to the Christmas music piping through the store. It was her first Christmas season in several years not spent at Henricks, and though she was still in retail, the boutique adult toy shop she’d joined in August had an easier-going pace; though business had picked up in the last few weeks as December drew near, it didn’t come close to the frenetic pace of the department store.

Especially not at ten in the morning on a random Tuesday.

The bell above the door tinkled, forewarning the entrance of a customer, and she straightened from where she’d been slouched on the counter, pasting on her best customer service smile. “Good morning, welcome to Handled With Love, can I help you today?”

The woman bee-lined towards her, eyes wide and directed towards the ground, and Rose held back a sigh. She was late twenties like Rose, also with peroxide blonde hair, and the overpowering air of someone who had never seen a sex toy before, and didn’t want to now.  Her cheeks were already crimson, and likely not from the reasonably moderate temperature outside.  This’ll be fun.

“Hi,” the woman muttered, peeking up at Rose as she reached the counter.  “Erm, I’m here for a pickup – Amy Pond?  It’s Hen Night stuff.  She called to say I was coming.  Jane Smythe?”

“Yes, of course, hang on.” Rose verified the details in the order book, glancing at the woman’s proffered ID long enough to confirm the name. “Thank you.”  Turning, she dragged the prepared bag out from under the back counter, settling it before the woman with a thunk.  “Shall I review the order with you?”

The woman, Jane, had found enough courage to lift her head, but was staring at the sample-size lubes in front of the cash register with more than a hint of fear.  “Er…”  Fumbling in her pocket, she pulled out a piece of paper.  “Can you just…”

Rose accepted it, laying it on the desk and checking off the items compared to the order.  “First time in a sex shop?”

“That obvious?” Jane flinched.  “Erm, yeah. I don’t really… do that.”

“What, have sex?” Rose’s eyes widened in horror, darting up to look at the woman, cringing inside.  “I’m so sorry, that was completely inappropriate.  Forget I asked.”

Surprisingly, she relaxed slightly, offering Rose a tentative smile.  “It’s okay.  And, yeah, basically.  I’m… I’ve never had an interest in it.  Amy called it something- but, honestly, I’d already tuned her out.”

“Asexual.  Means you don’t experience any sexual attraction.” Her own cheeks heated a little; part of the reason she’d taken this job (against her mother’s objections) was to lose some of her prudishness, wanting to be more comfortable with her own sexuality.  That had meant a crash course in all things preference and gender related, all kindly included as part of her on-boarding. “Nothing wrong with that.”  Checking off the last item, she folded the list back up and handed it over.  “I just need you to sign here,” she slid the order page over, “as confirmation of pick-up. It’s all paid for already.  Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Jane bit her lip, warm brown eyes darting around.  “Well… actually, I need a hen party gift, and Amy suggested I try something here.  But I know nothing about any of it.  Like I said.”

Rose gave her another warm smile.  “I’d be happy to help,” she agreed.  “D’you have a car you want to take this to first, or keep it behind the desk until you’re ready to go?  Just so you’re not lugging it around the store.”

“I’ll take it to the car,” she said with gratitude.  “Excellent idea.  I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tale.”  Gingerly grabbing the bag, she gave Rose a grin and trotted out the door, holding the bag away as if it was a bomb.

This’ll be interesting, if she comes back.

-

She did, and Rose spent over an hour helping her – it didn’t take long to find something for the bride-to-be, but to Rose’s surprise, halfway to the register the woman confessed that she was maybe open to finding something for herself.  It had taken all of Rose’s experience in retail to not react to that, and eventually, helped her pick out something fairly tame that was a good ‘starter’.

Jane crossed her mind occasionally throughout the day, bringing a smile to Rose’s face – it had felt good, to help someone get more in touch with themself, and when she slid into bed that night and pulled out her own favorite “massager” (thank you employee discount!), her thoughts drifting towards the other woman and her toy, she realized she’d been attracted to her.

Oh.  Switching off the vibrator Rose sat up, staring blankly at the wall.  Is that what this is?  With the exception of an experimental phase shortly after the crashing and burning of her relationship with Jimmy, she’d never really considered the idea.  It wasn’t that she was opposed to dating girls, she’d just… never really done it, other than a few drunken hookups.  Is that what I want?

She had lots of questions, but no answers – the most pressing being, Will I ever even see her again?

-

Jane sat on her bed, knees curled up to her chest, staring at the innocent-looking wand sitting in front of her.  Asking the shop girl about it had been instinct – purely a delay tactic, not ready to leave her presence but not sure why.  She’d felt funny, talking to her – like she had a menagerie inside her stomach, her palms sweaty and shaky.

No, not ‘shopgirl’. Rose.  “Rose,” she said out loud, savoring the feel of name on her tongue. The woman’s face flashed before her eyes, Jane’s heart jumping at just the thought of her – but it wasn’t just her face.  An odd pulsing feeling low in her hips had cropped up every time Rose had smiled at her, pink tongue peeking through pearly white teeth; even now, Jane’s stomach swooped at the thought.

“This has never happened to me before,” she informed the vibrator, feeling a need to defend herself – against what, she didn’t know.  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”  That was a lie; like any good scientist, she’d googled the sensations as soon as she was home, and been informed she either had some untreatable disease – or a crush. A crush.  I’ve never had one of those.  That was a lie too; she had, once, at uni, but it had been fleeting, easy to squash and a distant memory.

This, so far, hadn’t. In fact, the more she tried not to think about the shopgirl (Rose), the more she did; her bright eyes, her kind smile, the snug fit of her jumper…

I think I’m in trouble.

-

It took Rose the better part of a week (and three good wanks, not that she’d ever admit that) for Jane to fade to a background thought.  Throwing herself into Christmas shopping and planning had helped, and by the end of the second week, she’d written the “incident” off as little more than a lapse in judgement, and perhaps excessive vanity or narcissism, given their similar appearance.

In fact, she’d worked so hard to remove the encounter from her memory, that she’d managed to stop her heart from leaping every time the bell chimed.  Which meant that when it went off first thing the Monday before Christmas, she didn’t look up from the inventory she was stocking, merely calling, “Welcome to Handled With Love, I’ll be with you in just a mo’.”

“Take your time.”

The familiar voice startled Rose so badly she dropped the armful of inventory, and after ducking down to pick it up, came face to face with a blushing, grinning Jane with an armful of dildos.  “Hi,” she said, somewhat breathless, before trying for something more in the realm of professional.  “Erm, hello. What brings you in today?”

“Hi.”  Jane looked as delighted to see her as Rose felt, butterflies taking flight in her gut.  “I- erm- thank you for the recommendation, before.  I’m interested in… expanding my collection.”

“You are?”  Rose cleared her throat, trying again with less surprise.  “I mean, you are?”  I’m never going to get through this if I have to keep repeating myself.  It was almost immediately clearly that while she’d been ignoring the slight attraction she’d felt, it had developed into a full-blown crush on its own.

Jane nodded, twisting her hands in front of her.  “Maybe something a little more advanced?”

Rose fought desperately to reengage her salesclerk brain.  “Sure.  What did you think of your previous purchase?  What did you like or not like?”  Looking down at the armful of artificial cocks she still held, she dumped them back in the box haphazardly.  “Shall we?”

-

Jane blushed and stuttered her way through the next twenty minutes, shyly admitting to having actually tried with the toy several times but getting disappointing results.  Rose was kind and encouraging, gently guiding her towards a different sort of product she thought might help.

The entire time she tried to work up the courage for what she really wanted, dithering over signing the credit card slip in an attempt to delay the inevitable.

“Is everything all right?” Rose asked, wide eyes concerned and feeling like they could see straight through to her soul.  “I haven’t pressured you into this, have I?  If you’re not happy-”

“It’s not that,” Jane cut her off, tucking her hair behind one ear.  “I just… I’m nervous it’s not going to, you know, work.  For me.”

Rose nodded.  “Sure, I get that.  So, our return policy really only applies to things not opened or used – for sanitary reasons – but…”  Reaching behind the counter, she pulled out a business card, scribbling quickly on the back. “This is my information, if you’re really not happy I personally guarantee you your money back within 30 days, & I’ve written it here for you.  I care more about your happiness than the sale.  Okay?”

“Okay.”  Jane accepted it, knowing she would never make use of the generous offer – as far as she was concerned, the only thing more embarrassing than buying a sex toy was returning one.  Dropping it into her purse, she knew it was now or never.  “This might be completely inappropriate-”

“It’s okay, go ahead,” Rose reassured her when she paused.

“Thanks.  Erm, the problem may be that I don’t know what I’m doing, with this or the other thing.”  Jane licked her lips.  “Do you do demonstrations?”  In for a penny, in for a pound.  “Or personal assistance?”

Rose’s eyes widened, and when she didn’t say anything for several seconds, Jane started to pray for death, but before she could take it back, the other woman said, “Only if you buy me dinner first.”

They stared at each other.

“I’m kidding about the ‘you paying’ bit, but… I would like to get to know you better.  Would that be okay?”

Okay?  Okay?!  Jane was practically floating.  “Very much so.  Maybe dinner, drinks…” she trailed off, sure her face was scarlet, heart ready to beat itself out of her chest.  “Mind you, I’ve never done this before.”

“So you keep saying.” Rose’s lips twitched.  “How about this – we go Dutch on dinner, I’ll bring a bottle of wine, and if I can’t sufficiently demonstrate the effectiveness of your purchases, I’ll refund them personally and buy you breakfast.”

“Deal.”

They shook on it.

-

A year later

“Open it, open it, open it,” Rose chanted, bouncing on her knees.  They’d decided Christmas morning was just for them, having been at Jackie’s the evening before and going to Jane’s family for lunch, leaving them to enjoying their first Christmas together in their new, shared flat.

“All right, all right,” Jane laughed.  “I’d say keep your pants on, but…” she trailed off with a wink, eyes lingering on the ample skin Rose’s skimpy nighty didn’t cover.  Not that she was any more covered up, in boy shorts and a tank.  “What do we have here?”  Tearing at the paper, she was only slightly surprised to see the logo of their favorite brand of adult toys.  “You’re a sex fiend, Rose Tyler.”

“Shut up.”  Her girlfriend just grinned, waving for her to continue.  “You’ll like it, I promise.”

Jane finished removing the paper to find a pair of pink, fuzzy handcuffs still in the box, and laughed. “Are these a gift for you, or me?” She leaned forward, kissing her in thanks.  “I do like it, though how much depends on your answer.”

“Both of us, obviously,” Rose replied, tickling her calf.  “But turn it over.”

She did, laughing harder at the Blu-Ray of the 1952 movie Houdini – she’d mentioned in passing being a fan of his tricks weeks earlier, and apparently Rose had been listening.  “Okay, I love it.”  Setting the gifts down, she leaned towards Rose again, this time cupping her cheek and giving her a slower, deeper kiss.  “Happy Christmas, my love.”

“Happy Christmas.” Rose opened her eyes, smiling softly. “To many more.”

“Hear, hear.  Now, that’s the last of the gifts and we’ve got several hours before we’re due anywhere.  What say you we break these in?”

They raced for the bedroom, and in the end, they both won.

[fromcrossroadstoking]

George Luz Visits the Emergency Room (A Lot)

I`m having the worst writer`s block while trying to write Welcome to the 5061st, so I wrote a little piece of Luzroe fluff to try and break it.

Tags: @gottapenny @itisjustmethistime @indigosandviolets 

--------------------

George Luz made his way through the maze of corridors towards the Emergency Room, two cups of coffee and a bag of muffins clutched firmly in his hands. He found Lipton  in his usual spot in the break room, going through some paperwork as he waited.

"Paging Dr. Lipton! Your incredibly healthy breakfast of one low-fat blueberry muffin and small black coffee has arrived!" Luz made the announcement with more pep than should be allowed on a Monday morning as he pushed through the door into the break room.

Lipton looked up from his papers with a smile, "You're a lifesaver Luz."

Luz opened his mouth to agree with the statement when he caught sight of the two men in the hallway through the break room window. Dr. Winters, head of the ER, appeared to be talking to a doctor Luz hadn't seen before.

"Hey Luz, you might want to... " Lipton made a motion indicating that Luz should wipe his mouth. Luz stopped himself just as moved his arm up to do just that.

"I`m not drooling!"

"Whatever you say." 

Luz rolled his eyes and handed over Lipton`s breakfast, only momentarily taking his eyes off of the dark haired doctor in the hallway before they darted right back.

"In case you were wondering, that would be Dr. Eugene Roe, our new resident. Supposed to be one helluva doc."

"Huh. You don`t say... " Luz watched intently as Roe smiled at something Winters said. Luz didn't know if Roe was one helluva doc but he sure had one helluva smile.

Lipton sighed knowing Luz was going to stand there being a drool-fest unless he intervened.

"I could introduce you, if you want."

"Well, I mean, if you think that would be a good idea. I, uh, do visit a lot down here so he should probably know who I am. Don`t want him thinking they let just anyone wander around here. I mean - "

Lipton held up his hand to cut Luz off. He could tell when Luz was about to start rambling and Lipton had too much paperwork to do to listen to that right now.

"Come on. I don`t think they'll mind us interrupting." Lipton put down his coffee and led Luz out in to the hallway.

"Hey Dick," Luz nodded at the redhead in greeting and then turned to the other man, "Dr. Roe, I want you to meet a good friend of mine, George Luz. He`s a nurse up on the pediatric floor."

Luz wiped his hands on his pants quickly before holding one out.

When the hell had his hands started sweating?

"I`m George! Nice to meet you!" His voice came out funny sounding and he mentally kicked himself.

Roe took the hand Luz had extended and shook it.

"Nice to meet you too George. I`m Eugene Roe, but you can just call me Gene."

Luz`s eyes widened a bit.

Oh fuck. The accent.

~

Later that night as Luz laid in his bed he couldn't help but bemoan how unfair it all was.

How dare someone that hot, with an even hotter accent, work a mere two floors away from him? How was he supposed to get any work done knowing Dr. HandsomeFace McHotPants was so close?

Luz huffed and rolled onto his side.

Unfair.

~

It was tradition that every Monday morning, Luz and Lipton would meet in the ER`s break room for a quick breakfast before their shifts started. It was a nice tradition that gave them both something to look forward to on Monday mornings.

Today, however, was not Monday. And yet, here Luz was, breakfast for the two of them in hand.

"Morning Lip! Long time no see!" Luz grinned widely as he set the coffees and bagels down on the table.

"Luz?"

"Yeah?"

"It`s not Monday buddy."

"It isn`t?!" Luz`s eyes widened in dramatic fashion, "Oh shoot! Silly me! Well, either way, shouldn't waste this breakfast!" Luz gestured for Lipton to take a seat.

Lipton shook his head, amused, as he sat down. "Luz, he`s already been in and made his coffee. I don`t think he`ll be back again for awhile."

"Who?"

"Luz. You know who. We both do." 

"Hmph," Luz chewed his bite of bagel thoughtfully for a moment, "I can eat slow."

"Luz!" Lipton balled up a napkin and tossed it at the younger man, "You have a job to get to!"

Luz laughed as the napkin bonked him in the face, "Alright! Fine! Maybe I`ll just have to come visit on my lunch break."

Lipton could tell from the grin on Luz`s face that he really was going to do just that. Hell, he had a distinct feeling he was about to see a lot more of Luz for the foreseeable future.

~

Lipton`s feeling had not been wrong. Luz seemed to find every excuse in the book to wander down to the ER - breakfast, lunch, "just getting exercise", dropping off coffees, looking for so-and-so.

And yet, Luz never managed to make it beyond small talk with Roe. Luz was a natural talker and could make friends with anyone (a habit that occasionally worried Lipton) so the whole thing puzzled him. If Lipton didn't know better he might've sworn that Luz`s nerves were actually getting the better of him...  

~

Luz sat in the Emergency Room not as a visitor, but as a patient. As he sat there waiting, he hoped desperately that one of the docs he liked would be the one to see him. Preferably Lipton, or Winters, or Grant. He was torn as to whether or not he wanted Roe to walk in - on one hand it mean time with Roe, time with Roe touching him, but on the other hand Roe would probably ask about his injury and, well, it was frankly embarrassing.

Luz had been lounging on the couch, watching trashy daytime television, when he heard the toaster strudel he had in the toaster pop up. In his rush to get to his precious toaster strudel, he leaped off the coach, promptly tripped over his own feet, fell, and hit his head on the corner of the coffee table.

Luz wasn't sure he wanted to tell the hottest man he had ever seen in his entire goddamn life that he needed stitches because of toaster strudel, so it was to his great relief that Lipton was the one he walked in to the room.

Lipton looked Luz up and down, "Please tell me this isn't a new way of trying to get Roe`s attention."

"Believe it or not this is a legitimate toaster strudel injury."

"Of course it is."

"Really! You can go to my apartment right now and see the evidence yourself! My poor toaster strudel is probably ice cold now."

Lipton let out an exasperated sigh, "Ok, well since it`s just you - "

"Hey!"

" - I need to run to the bathroom so just wait here a second."

~

Lipton did not have to go to the bathroom. Lipton did have to act on what he considered a brilliant idea.

He found Roe coming out of room 5 and flagged him down.

"Hey Gene! I hate to ask but I`m drowning a bit. Could you take a look at the patient in room 2 for me?"

"Of course," Roe nodded and gave Lipton a small smile.

"Thanks Gene, I owe you one."

As Lipton walked away he knew beyond a doubt that Luz was probably going to kill him later. But it was worth it.

~

"George?"

Luz`s head immediately snapped up towards the door as the familiar voice filled the room.

"Gene! Hey, uh, where`s Lip?"

"He asked me to take over. Said he was pretty swamped. Let`s see what we got here, huh?"

Luz made a mental note to murder Lipton later as Roe walked over and began examining Luz`s head wound. Roe was so damn close. So damn close. Luz was pretty sure his brain was going to short circuit with the proximity.

"It ain`t bad. Just a few stitches should do it. Won`t even really be a scar."

"Ha! What a shame, I heard chicks dig scars." 

FUCK. Why would I say that?

Luz tried to recover, sort of... "And guys. Guys, uh, dig scars too."

Luz had never wanted to sink in to the earth so badly before. Until Roe chuckled.

He fucking chuckled.

"We do. Dig scars, that is." Roe gave him what could only be described as a mischievous smile before refocusing on patching up the cut on Luz`s forehead.

~

Over the next few days, there definitely seemed to be a shift between the two of them.

Or maybe it was Luz`s imagination.

No, no, there was a definite shift to a more flirty style of interaction.

Hopefully.

No, definitely. There was no way this was in his head.

Right?

~

Luz showed up to the ER`s break room with three coffees clutched in his hand - one for him, one for Lip, and one for Roe if managed to "run in to him" (he always managed to run in to Roe, even if meant doing a few circles around the ER). So he was absolutely delighted to see that Roe just so happened to be in the break room. He was not, however, delighted to see that Roe was busy playing with a little kid. A dark haired little kid. A pale, dark haired little kid.

Luz felt like he had punched in the gut. Maybe the flirting had been in his head after all. Roe had a kid and probably a girlfriend (or wife, maybe he was the kind of guy who didn't like wearing rings) to go along with the kid.

He did his best to shake off the sudden tidal wave of disappointment as he threw the best smile he could muster on his face.

"Good morning! Coffee?"

Roe looked up from the matchbox car race he was having, "Thank you George. You`re the best." Roe grabbed the coffee with a smile, beaming with appreciation.

"Don`t I know it," George swallowed hard and tried to think of something to say, "Didn't know you had a kid. He`s cute. What`s his name?"

Roe let out a laugh.

Jesus Christ, what an amazing laugh. Luz doubted he would ever get sick of that sound.

"He ain`t mine. I`m just watchin' him for my buddy Ralph. He`s a paramedic. Should be here soon."

The relief hit Luz instantaneously. 

"Speak of the devil..."

"Papa!" The kid in Roe`s lap squealed in delight and wriggled out of Roe`s grasp as a dark haired paramedic came through the break room door.

"Hey kiddo! There`s the cutest little munchkin in the whole world!" Spina picked up his kid and covered him in kisses before turning his attention to the other two men in the room.

"Hey Gene, how was he?"

"An angel as always."

Spina snorted, "Maybe you should spend some more time with him," Spina looked at the squirmy kid in his arms, "What do you think kiddo? You want to spend more time with Uncle Gene."

"Yes, pwease!" The kid nodded enthusiastically.

Roe grinned and then glanced over at Luz, gesturing towards Spina, "George, this is my best friend, Ralph Spina."

Luz held up a hand in greeting.

"Ralph, this is George Luz."

Spina broke into a wide grin at that, "So this is George Luz! Nice to finally meet you George! Heard a lot about you!"

"Oh, yeah?" Luz couldn't help the massive grin on his face as he looked over at Roe who was glaring daggers at Spina. Luz could feel the butterflies in his stomach kick up.

~

Luz immediately liked Spina - he seemed like a genuinely warm, friendly person. The three of them chatted for a bit before Spina excused himself, leaving just Luz and Roe in the break room.

"So," Luz smirked at Roe, "Just what exactly did you tell your best friend about me?"

Roe tried to nonchalantly take a sip of his coffee as he shrugged, "Not much, really."

"Huh, didn't seem like not much from the way Ralph reacted to meeting me..." There was a pause before Roe spoke.

" I might`ve told him about how you`re always tellin' real corny jokes, an' how you put way too much sugar an' cream in your coffee, an' how I ain`t never seen someone eat three chocolate chip muffins for breakfast like you do, an' how you spend all your time on this floor instead of the one you actually work on." 

Another pause. Roe looked Luz straight in the eyes.

"Might`ve also told him my favorite part of the day is when you`re visitin' an' I`m always countin' the minutes until you come visit again."

Luz could feel his heart flutter and for the first time in his life he was at a complete loss for words. So he did the next best thing.

He closed the space between them in two quick steps and pulled Roe into a kiss. He could feel Roe`s lips form into a smile as the kiss deepened.

Oh, Luz was definitely going to be visiting a lot more now.

[isitgintimeyet]

Road To The Aisles

AO3

Previous

Well, it’s not the weekend (well, it is for me!) but here’s the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it! thanks for all your support

Thanks as always to @mo-nighean-rouge @happytoobserve @wickedgoodbooks

Chapter 10: A Photographic Opportunity

“I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing.” Mae West

Silence filled the car as Jamie drove back to Glasgow. There was only the sound of the regular breathing from Claire, dozing in the passenger seat, and William, napping in the back. He didn’t mind this quiet. It gave him a chance to enjoy the passing scenery and also to process the previous few days.

It had been a most satisfying weekend - in every sense of the word. Jamie chuckled to himself. Claire was right… he did turn into a sex-crazed beast when he was at Lallybroch. Not that Claire seemed to object. In fact, she seemed more than willing to match his appetites, as the bite marks on his groin could bear witness to. It was fortunate that the walls and doors at Lallybroch were solid and practically soundproof with her apparent inability to remain quiet during sex. But that was part of the thrill to him -- when she cried his name, all restraint abandoned, her face contorted with pleasure -- it only made him want her more, made him harder than anyone else ever could…

As he felt his arousal begin, he took several slow, deep breaths and deliberately forced his mind away from images of his Sassenach and towards more neutral topics.

Aye, he always enjoyed his visits to Lallybroch but this one had been extra special -- introducing his son to the place where he grew up, visiting his childhood haunts and taking him to the distillery. William had been fawned over by all the staff as he regaled them with his newly acquired party trick, blowing very loud and very slobbery raspberries. And, whether by reason of tact or ignorance, fortunately no one had made mention of William’s maternal parentage.

He had also managed to mend bridges with his nephew that he never realised were broken. There had always been a close bond between uncle and nephew and Jamie had been so wrapped up with the thrills and anxieties of being a father that he had neglected this bond. At least he’d learnt his lesson on that score.

Planning for the wedding was now finally underway. He just needed to have a conversation with Geneva about flexibility on dates with William. Jamie sighed. Flexibility had never been one of Geneva’s strong points.

And then finally he had to talk to Claire about his idea. The idea that had been discussed and approved at the meeting yesterday. It all depended on her agreement. Jamie wasn’t sure which way that would go.

Claire stirred and looked around. “I must’ve been dozing for a good while. We’ll soon be home.”

Jamie smiled. No matter how many times he heard it, he still thrilled when Claire mentioned home… their home, together.

“Aye, no’ long now. I’d best drop ye at home and then I’ll head straight tae Geneva’s and drop William there.” He grimaced. “And I’ll ask about the dates. If we drive up tae Lallybroch on the Friday, have the wedding --”

“Our wedding,” Claire interrupted.

“Our wedding,” Jamie corrected himself. “... have our wedding on the Sunday. Then Isobel can drive William home on the Monday and we can have a honeymoon fer a week. So I’m asking fer William on the Friday not the Tuesday and then no’ till the following Tuesday.”

“Will she be amenable to that?”

”I dinna ken. This is Geneva we’re talking about.”

**********

Jamie was hardly through the door when Geneva snatched William out of his arms and smothered him in kisses.

“Oh Mummy missed you so much, angel.” She muttered against his head, his ginger down moving slightly with her breath. “Have you had a nice time, then?”

William smiled and blew a very loud and wet raspberry.

Jamie laughed. “His new party trick. I’m sure he thinks he’s verra clever.”

“Hmm, not the nicest thing, I must admit.” Geneva looked down at the shoulder of her satin blouse, now splattered with William’s drool.

Geneva led the way into her living room with Jamie following.

“So, I’ll see you on Sunday evening for pick up then,” Geneva began.

“Aye, But there’s something I want tae discuss with ye.” Jamie hurriedly continued, anxious lest Geneva begin jumping to conclusions. “It’s about the date fer my and Claire’s  wedding. We’re having it at Lallybroch, and I was wondering if we could move some dates when I have William around in October, so that the bairn can be at the ceremony and then mebbe Isobel could bring him back tae ye while Claire and I have a week’s honeymoon.”

Geneva thought for a moment before speaking. “You need to email me the dates you are talking about and then I’ll think about it. But, you know, it’s funny, you were the one who got lawyers involved, who wanted your access to William clearly defined. And now you want to start changing things around.”

Jamie clenched his fists behind his back, letting his nails dig into his palms, forcing himself to remain calm. He tried to keep his voice level. “I got lawyers involved because as ye well ken, ye were keeping me from seeing ma son. I’m no’ just asking ye tae be awkward… tae change dates on a whim. This is ma wedding and ma honeymoon I’m trying tae plan.”

Geneva shrugged. “Like I said, send me the dates and I’ll think about it.”

She turned away, the conversation obviously at an end. Jamie kissed William on the head and quickly left.

***************

Jamie came up behind Claire as she leant into the fridge and with his hands on her hips, he bent over and kissed the back of her neck.

Without turning around, she immediately responded. “Not much in. I can do us some bacon and eggs for dinner, if you like.”

Jamie pulled away, pretending to be disappointed. “Aw, how did you know it was me, Sassenach?”

Claire finally turned around, her hands now full of dinner ingredients. “Because…” she stood on tiptoes and kissed his nose. “... my other blokes always knock twice before coming in. To check if the coast is clear, you understand.”

“I dinna think ye can manage any other blokes after the weekend we’ve had, aye?” Jamie tried to wink suggestively, which turned into more of an exaggerated blink.

She put the bacon and eggs on the counter top and wound her arms around his waist, running her hands over the contours of his back. She rested her head against his chest. He smelt of cologne and fabric conditioner with a hint of baby and another smell that was uniquely Jamie. She wondered idly whether it was that that kept her wanting him… pheromones. But she knew it was more than that between them… their bodies, their personalities, their souls all inextricably linked together.

“I know. I’ve told them not to bother me. I need time to recover from you this weekend.” Claire joked.

“And I ye, ye vixen. Ye marked me well, ye ken.”

Claire shrugged, gave a fully perfected wink and turned back to the hob.

********

After a hastily put together dinner, Claire relaxed on the sofa, flicking between television channels as Jamie carried two mugs of tea and two slices of Mrs. Crook’s Dundee cake into the living room.

Settling himself next to her, he asked. “Can we turn it off, please? There’s a couple of things we need tae discuss.”

Claire turned to face him and waited.

“I’ve asked Geneva about moving dates around…” he began then hesitated.

“And?” Claire prompted.

“Weel, she said she would consider it and I should send her the dates, but ye ken, Sassenach, I’m worried. Even if she agrees now, what’s tae stop her changing her mind when all the arrangements have been made, jes’ tae make it difficult fer us?”

“Would she do that, do you think?”

“I dinna ken. Even if she wouldn’t, I think she’d like tae have that hanging over us. Mebbe she’d like that control knowing she could change her mind and ruin our plans. It’s a question of how much do we want tae risk it.”

“And how much do you want to risk it?”

“Personally, I dinna want tae risk it at all. I can imagine what it’d be like every time I picked William up or dropped him off… ‘ooh yes Jamie, remind me again what were those dates. I must remember not to go away then…’  and her thinking we’d have tae play any little game she wanted. But this is yer wedding too, Sassenach. I want ye tae be happy with any decisions we make. So, what do ye think? What should we do?”

Claire took a bite of cake and washed it down with a swig of tea as she considered Jamie’s views. “I want to be able to enjoy these next few months, not have to worry about what Geneva may or may not do. And if that means having a shorter honeymoon, so be it. I will not have her thinking she has control over us. Although --”

“I ken what ye’re going tae say. She’ll think she has control making us change our plans now. But I’ll live with that, she canna hold it over us for months.”

“So, if we drive to Lallybroch with William on Friday, have the wedding --”

“Our wedding, Sassenach, is it no’?” Jamie interrupted with a grin.

“OK, point taken… ‘our’ wedding on the Sunday, come home Monday and drop William off at nursery on Tuesday morning, we can still have a honeymoon until Sunday evening. That’s six days.”

“Five nights, dinna forget.” He waggled his eyebrows comically.

“Me...forget? Never.” Claire responded as she reached up and stroked his cheek, enjoying the rasp of the beard growth against her palm. She kissed him lightly before pulling back.

Not content with the fleeting touch of her lips against his, Jamie leant into Claire and returned the kiss, gently at first before capturing her lower lip between his teeth and then teasingly running his tongue around her lips. She moaned softly as he traced a path of butterfly kisses from her mouth down her neck. She shivered as he reached the soft skin behind her earlobe.

“Jamie, don’t distract me,” she said, laughing. “You said you had a couple of things to discuss. What was the other?”

“Mmm?” Jamie continued nibbling her ear.

Claire pulled away. “You had something else to discuss?”

“What… tae… er… discuss?” It took Jamie a few moments to remember their conversation. “Oh, aye… weel… it’s just an idea I had. Ye ken, we’re launching our new whisky in Japan, and Ian’s planning the marketing campaign?”

Claire nodded and shifted in her seat to sit cross legged, her back against the arm of the sofa, facing Jamie. He took her hand, idly playing with her engagement ring as he looked into her eyes.

“I was thinking… yer eyes are sae beautiful, sae warm and they’re the exact colour of the whisky. Would ye be part of the advertising campaign? The photos? Nae pressure but…” he tailed off, unsure of Claire’s reaction.

For once, he couldn’t read her expressions as she looked down at their hands, her eyelids hiding her eyes from his view. She was silent.

“Have I offended ye? I didna mean tae.”

“No… no… it’s just… I’m not a model. I’m not sure how I’d feel seeing myself in magazines. And what if someone recognised me? I wouldn’t want that.”

“Like I said, there’s no pressure. And I havena spoken tae the advertising agency yet, but it would only be fer the Japanese market and I have this idea of only using yer eyes, the rest of yer face hidden. Sassenach, say the word and I willna mention it again.”

Claire bit her lip and shrugged. “Let me think about it.”

[space-whalesharks]

More nonsense but in that last Mandalorian recap I realized I gave the barely-a-fic I’ve been doing a plot hole, and even if three of y’all care I fixed it bc my writing brain is finally, finally working again. Behold, the worst summary: 

Refusal of the Call

In which Din has a request, and Raza and Cobb share a brain cell with different degrees of success in its usage. 

Din stared across the table at Raza and Cobb, trying to figure out just how to present the thing he had been hesitating to ask the last few hours. Din had bitten the bullet and  returned to Mos Pelgo after the speeder debacle so the speeder could get repaired and he could get some rest so he wasn’t caught as unawares again. But now he was about to depart so he intended to ask at the last minute so there could be less damage. For all involved.  It has been nice enough, he could admit, but the sight in front of him made him think back on the last thought he had about the dynamic, and well, now that everything had calmed down and he could make clear connections, well, there was something obvious staring him in the face. He turned his attention to Raza. “I need you to do me a favor.”

Her smile was immediate, kind. “Sure. What do you have in mind?” 

“I need you to take the kid.” 

She beamed. “You  got it,” she looked at The Child. “How about that, Little One? You stay here with Aunt Raz and Uncle Cobb when your daddy goes off to do something dangerous?” she looked at Din. “For how long? Couple of days?”

“As long as you can take him. Life, if you can.”

Her response was immediate. Her smile dropped instantaneously: “No!” 

It was matched perfectly with Cobb’s incredulous “What?!” and even the Child made a squeak that sounded stunned and offended. 

Din sighed. “He’s… somehow a Jedi. He needs to be with his people-“

“Mando, I’m not his people. I’ve only known one of his kind and -“

Din started to stand at the comment, completely forgetting the Child was in his lap for the moment. He scrambled to catch the Child, only to find that Cobb had already lunged for him, gotten a hold of him and had set him in his own lap instead. That was another reason he was certain he was making the right choice. The kid would be raised loved and protected if he did this. It was much better than his current situation. Though the fact that Cobb leaned over The Child what looked like protectively against him and was giving him a warning look didn’t quite sit well in his gut. Even The Child looked distressed, which made it much worse. Maybe he’d wait to see about the species mate. Maybe that would work better than a Jedi.  “You’ve seen his kind before?” 

Her response was guarded. “A long time ago, when my father brought me to an old Jedi for a game of catch up- and to see if I could train.”

“Where is he now?”

“Was. Was in Dagobah. But he’s long gone, I’m afraid. Died… must have been ten years back now. My friend Luke might know more. He’s one of us, too. I can ask if you’d like but with my skill, well, lack thereof. it might take a while.” 

Din sighed again. So close and so far. He thought that would be it, he would be home free, the kid could be safe with his people who would understand him, keep him on the right path. It was finally getting to him just how many plans had gone wrong. At least this one didn’t end up in mayhem or bloodshed. “No, that’s…” what could he even say. “He needs to be with you, your mother- Jedi. Decent Jedi. And I don’t mean in skill.”

“We’re barely Jedi, we don’t count.”

“You’ve got decent covered, though. You’re all I have. And some understanding is better than none.” 

“And you’re all he’s got. He’s your son.”

“He’s not.” His heart broke at the honest to god distressed sound the Child made. “He just… needs people who are better for him.”

“You’re the best for him. You can have him get trained in the Force without severing any sort of relationships. It worked for me... more or less.”  

“I took him with me to fight the Krayt Dragon,” Din objected. 

Cobb finally spoke up. “And he loved every second, if I heard right.” 

Din turned his attention to Cobb and tried to convey annoyance through the helmet. 

It worked, judging by how Cobb tossed his hands up in the air. “What? He did! He only got scared the one time. That’s saying something.” 

“Yes, it’s saying he’s getting used to danger. That’s a problem,” Din looked back at Raza. 

“No,” she repeated, firmer than the last time. 

“Cobb wants children,” Din blurted. If the other man was going to throw him under the bus, he’d do it right back. “Told me last night when he had a couple of drinks in him. You can get your wish if you take the kid.” 

Cobb gaped at him, then looked at Raza frantically. “Now hold on a sec-” 

Raza put a hand out to silence him. “And that’s our call when the time comes, not yours trying to pawn off the kid.” 

The Child cooed at that, sounding hurt, and Din’s heart broke again. It’s for him. It’s for his safety. “I just want what’s best for him.” 

“You’re what’s best for him,” Raza replied. 

“Doubtful,” 

“So the next best thing is dumping him off with strangers?” Cobb cut in. 

“We’re not strangers.”

“Funny, you told me the opposite two days ago,” Cobb deadpanned. He sounded… off. 

“I just… trust you both with his safety… and knowing what to do with those powers of his.” 

Cobb scoffed with enough venom in his tone that it alarmed the other two. “You’re asking us to sit by and let you abandon your son, Mando,” Cobb finally cut in. His voice sounded dangerous. “It happened to me, my parents dropped me here right after having, and I I’ll be damned if I sit by and let that happen to this little guy that I’m already fond of.”

Din’s stomach twisted all over again. So that was why he had been so quiet, why he was holding the Child so tightly during that conversation.

Cobb continued. “If we’re not strangers after all, you won’t ask that of us. So don’t you dare. Ever. And honestly I’m pretty damn disappointed in you that you made it this far.” 

Well now this was bound to end like all others had. So mayhem, then. He opened his mouth, then shut it. “I’m not trying to pawn him off, I-” 

“Sure sounds like it.” 

“I’m sorry, I just-” 

“Take. Your. Damn. Kid,” Cobb replied. He passed the Child over to him, the Child himself whining at the sudden shift in energy. 

To her credit, Raza did too. She gave the Child’s head a reassuring rub, then looked at Din. “Look, we get it. We do. And we know you care about the kid. And that’s another reason why we can’t do that to you. Or the little one.” She went to pull her hand from the Child, but the Child reached up in order to keep her hand there. She sighed, then passed her hand over his head lightly. “You two will be fine, you can make it through this. You’ll help him find his way. It’s just not here without you.” 

Cobb’s eyes flicked to his, not at all losing any of the annoyance he had built up. 

Din sighed. Those two were tough, but they made fair points. There was no sense in arguing. There was no way Raza and her mother were the last two around. She had mentioned Luke. Luke Skywalker, he supposed. That was a start. “I suppose you’re right. We’ll be fine. We’ll make it through. Won’t we, Kid?” He hoped it sounded convincing. He opened his arms. “Come on Kid, we have to go.”

“Wh-“ Raza’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re leaving from here? You were actually going to dump him and run?”

“Would’ve been easier on the both of us,” Din admitted quietly. He only took small comfort in how Raza’s face shifted from growing anger to sympathy. At least he had that. Cobb was still glaring at him. He opened his arms. “Come on, kid. We have to be back to the Crest by nightfall.”

The Child pouted for a moment, mourning the soon to be loss of the pets, but got up on the table, waddled over and let Din put him back in his sling. 

“We’ll walk you out, make sure you don’t dump him on one of our doorsteps,” Cobb commented  drily, rising to walk with him all the same. Raza joined them, and they all gathered by the speeder, just like they had the last time. 

“I won’t. You’ve got nothing to worry about, message received, loud and clear. He stays with me,” Din assured them. He took the Child’s carrier out and set it on the floor of the speeder. Then, carefully, eager to out some physical and emotional distance between them: “Thank you for the hospitality. We’ll meet again.” He got into it and fired up the engine, and without another word, pushed off and started making his way through the town. 

The Child popped his head out of the bag and waved goodbye to the other two, and they waved back half heartedly. 

After Din was out of sight, Cobb sighed heavily. “Kriff…” Another pause. “That reminds me, we gotta go to Mos Eisley this weekend. Ma invited us for dinner. She asked me to ask you to bring the stuff to make that roasted nuna you made the last time.” 

“Okay. You do know that he’s gonna kill you when he finds out that you lied, don’t you?” 

“Oh, absolutely. But you were floundering, I jumped in to assist. But I just lied to the guy. You mind tricked him. He’s gonna be more mad about that, I’m sure.”

“The kid’s not vocal. He’s not gonna know about the Jedi mind trick for a while. He’s gonna figure out the lie way sooner.”

“He’s gonna have to catch me, first,” Cobb countered. Then, carefully: “you think he and the kid will actually be okay? He ain’t gonna do something stupid?”

“See, that’s the good thing about my mind tricks. Most of the time they only work if there’s already some semblance of what I tell them in their heads already,” Raza answered. “They will be fine. He doesn’t want to leave the kid as much as he pretends he does.” She looked back at the speeder, already just a dot on the horizon. “He needs the kid more than he thinks the kid needs him. Part of him knows that, too.” 

“That is… actually assuring. Feel like an ass for doubting him, though.” 

“You’re in good company there.”

—-

A few months later, Cobb had been repairing part of his roof when he heard a few passersby talking excitedly about how ‘he’ was back. He was vaguely concerned for a moment until he looked over the side of the roof to see a familiar green and brown lump make its way to his doorway. “Kid…?” There was silence, an excited squeak, followed by Raza going “Little One!” inside. Ah. That “he.” No cause for concern then. Especially if he still had the kid. He hopped down from the roof, intent on finding the surrogate father, only to come just about face to face with him just outside the entryway.  “Hey, our favorite Mandalorian returns. Good to see you. What brings you here?” 

Din hummed. “Had some trouble in Mos Eisley before this.”

“Oh?” Cobb grinned. 

“Trouble with a job. Had to stay the night,” he slowly turned towards him. “Met a nice old couple who put me up for the night. Eric and  Noma.” Cobb stopped smiling. “Vanth. Who are very much looking forward to their son Cobb’s wedding in a couple of months. Noma’s been dreaming about it since they took him home from the Medical Pavilion.”

Cobb flinched, feeling the annoyance seeping from the man. He wondered if he should just start running now.  “... Can I get a head start, at least?” 

Din’s response was punching him in the gut, but he could tell he pulled it, so even as he doubled over, he tried not to laugh after the pain receded. “Okay, so it was a lie, a bit of a mean one. But hey, you’ve still got the kid, so we were right. He is yours.”

“That’s why you’re not dead,” Din answered. “Is Raza inside? I’ve got a question about… Jedi mind altering.”

Shit. “You gonna hit her for pulling that, too?”

“... … What?”

Cobb frowned, then looked at the kid, suddenly putting together that he had done something with it. Go figure. She had said the thought had to be there. “Nothing. Right this way. Help me up the step, I can’t move anything below my chest thanks to you.” 

“Fine.”

[rqs902]

.

IS THAT WHO I THINK IT IS 

ITS MY BOY ENYU!!!! ON THE FRONT PAGE???? okay also a big deal for zhaohao and li hao too!!!

ok now into part 2 of the ep

interesting that they focused on junhao for everybody. can understand he probably has the most different and struggle experience so probably more interesting for dramas sake lol im surprised they dont spend more time on shengen, considering his popularity. 

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA JUNHAO FREAKING OUT over the fact that they only learned the dance for 40 mins. LOL thats the level of tyger + kou cong + shengen, i can imagine the struggle of the yang guang nan hai group in comparison AHAHA i just imagine him running down the hall freaking out like HOW DID THEY LEARN THE DANCE IN JUST ONE CLASS WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE 

lollll “theyre all dachang boys” “theyre all zhang yixing’s students” HAHAHAH you know even though he is slightly struggling compared to the rest, he aint bad and theyre all taking it light hearted with laughter so seems like a good learning environment! and he’s confident he’ll get it LOL thats good! i think thats what makes him so amusing 

HAHAHA i love how lin mo just keeps giggling at junhao like he genuinely just finds him so amusing LOL yay for making new friends 

awww bc junhao’s always been a leader i feel like for him to finally feel like hes being taken care of is so nice. i have absolute confidence that this group will treat him kindly. AW HE CALLED HIM MOMO 

im still disappointed they have YET to show zhan yu’s funny/strange personality and this wouldve been a great opportunity bc hes surrounded by friends he’s comfortable with!! like his friendship with kou cong! or akey and lin mo! but sigh...

THEY PUT ZHAN YU IN THE FRONT FOR THE SEXUAL LINE HAHAHHA PERFECT BUT I SEE LIN MO BEING ONE OF THE ONLY ONES NOT SHOWING HIS ABS HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA

wow the lyrics are so fitting for lin mo to scream LOL but also ay his vocals?! aw im glad they put in a little rap for shengen and akey! honestly was kinda hoping for more bc they havent had a proper stage together before and i feel like itd be awesome but also junhao and zhan yu vocalization at the end was on point!!

lol all the kids being like zhang pd’s words are so detailed and professional... sigh theyve been missing out until now 

im glad they really pointed out how each member of this team did well! they really all did a great job with each of their parts, and they each got a little part to shine, and when put together, it was a complete performance. im proud of them and happy for them!

aw.... i feel like we’ve been waiting so long to hear lin mo get complimented.... i feel like it’s been since qcyn namanana that we’ve been waiting for him to redeem himself and climb back up to the peak. ugh its been nearly a year and a half. im just so terrified of whats gonna happen next bc im way too skeptical at this point to expect this high to continue, esp with what happened after namanana last time......... but for now, im happy. relieved hes finally getting the recognition he deserves and im happy that hes happy. lol i was also half scared we were gonna get spirit of the knight-ed again with his pink hair (nightmare flashbacks to lin mo and changxi’s deletion from that perf) i dont think ill ever get over that :( i feel like as a lin mo stan, ive been trained to not keep my hopes up and to prepare for the worst bc hes the type of person who just always gets the short end of the stick, it feels like. 

aw the part when they go back to the waiting room and jin fan is waiting for them with an encouraging smile and the whole exchange of "帥的真的帥的" "哇~可以吧" "我沒想到" "那必須的" our leader did them proud :’) 

ugh the part where luo jie calls them and tells them he can’t come back........ heart breaking. i can see why lin ran and xikan would be really affected. lin ran has been luo jie’s go-to since he left and knowing how their usual friendship involves making fun of one another and jokingly complaining about each other, it hits hard when lin ran says he cried his eyes out. it hurts that they didnt get to share the stage again before he left. xikan may not have shared the stage with luo jie during ip, but hes known him since then and has been with him through both rounds here. it interesting bc i feel like the namanana perf was very light hearted on qcyn but i cant see that happening here, esp with their outfits? 

aw shiwei and chaowen taking charge to raise their spirits :’) 

lin ran’s voice fits so well with this song wow! i really like his lines! also lol i didnt know xikan would have abs but okay and tbh im always hesitant about dances with props bc it always is so easy to look messy..... like every slight difference in angle in the way you hold your arms is immediately magnified 

and like sxl’s fan is obviously broken and having performed fan dances myself i know that that’s like the most annoying thing to happen on stage, and can be really difficult to deal with, even tho it happens ALL THE TIME with those types of fans ugh :( 

i mean its super kind of them to leave luo jie’s space empty for him, but its kinda weird to have parts of the audio missing sadly :( and also chaowen’s voice did something weird in the middle there, like its sounds weirdly weak 

wait didnt yixing tell them to close the fan? but they didnt? 

xikan’s facial expressions are perfecttt, good for him! wish they gave more screen time to shiwei during shiwei’s lines lol... but also i cant help but hear lin mo’s voice during that part LOL ugh speaking of which i miss that team dynamic namanana team a on qcyn HAHAHAH hwx being a brat and fjj running around wild and lin mo giving up on them all just laughing like idiots for hours on end while bo yuan just judges them from a corner LOL i love the beginning of the wenxuan and lin mo friendship good times :’)  

HAHAH ENYU AGAIN WITH THE REALEST COMMENTS - i agree AHHAHAH i love these kids too but there was something off about this stage 

im surprised but also not surprised by what the judges are saying 

o didnt realize sxl was supposed to be center but i guess that explains the big puffy thing on his shoulder lol.......... agree with cx tho, even without his broken fan, i think the fans made them look worse bc it just looked messy 

well idk if we’re getting all the stages today but at least jin fan’s is also getting aired! TYGER HUG FOR JIN FAN YESS

jin fan teaching them dance? yes thank you for showing us he is a good dancer. oof jin fan’s just too nice :( hes trying to avoid conflict too much that it caused conflict smh......... lol oscar trying to talk to su er hes having such struggle i feel that bro LOL hes doing really well though, tbh being relatively young, hes really trying his best and is being reasonable. 

LOL HE CALLED HIM JIN FAN GE i forgot jin fan is considered old lol..... jin fan really taking the higher road here and im glad they sat together and talked it out a bit

THE JIN FAN VOICE YESSSS hahahhaha kou cong holding the tyger sign!!

oo is that some of his bel canto-style singing coming through LOL 

AY NICE for hong weihao and oscar to put in some rap 

some of those high notes were a bit questionable at the end but okay jin fan is really claiming that vocal + dance teacher role i see.... interesting 

but agree with yixing that he doesnt need to force himself to do high notes bc his voice is so nice regardless!! yay for oscar getting recognition! im still waiting for jin fan to do a cool dance performance sigh

wasnt expecting an enyu feature BUT ILL TAKE IT 

oof huang enyu saying hes really trying to put himself out there by going for leader and the realest comment that he hasnt considered getting to debut he just wants to pass this round oof and he feels like his opportunities may be cut short bc hes getting old oof

enyu and chenxu crying watching the movie 

AW THEIR HAHA VIDEOS ARE THE CUTEST THING I LOVE THESE KIDSSS so sad that so many of them are at risk of elimination :(  im glad these vocals made their own friend group! I hope itll be a memory they carry forward. they do all have shared experiences as vocals on this show. 

this reaction to junrong’s voice

same tho :’) but actually all of their voices are so so nice like actually these 5 are all people whose voices ive really listened for on this show, but wow renyu’s voice in particular like really ugh just sounds so pure 

also enyu looks really nice in this performance but thats a side note okay moving on

i mean literally these reactions

and li hao crying while singing and so many kids in the waiting room crying while watching OOF this perf has got me emotional 

HAHAHHAHA THEIR INTROS HAHAHHA

UGH ENYU his plea just.... the way he yelled it bc it mustve taken courage and it mustve been a frustration on his mind for a while now and bc maybe he wouldve broken down if he hadnt yelled it out but im really crying now.... and its so out of character for him that you know he really really is feeling desperate and feels the need to speak out

lol wait gjm posted on weibo about him? is that why hes getting more attention lol..........

i really hope the vocals win :( 

no tygers in the next ep preview? hmmMMMMMmm okay 

well also interesting that they put the other 4 perfs with the elims...... seems sketch but at least most of my kids got to go this week ahhhhhh i feel bad for the other groups already. esp the ones with the kids who arent as popular... 

[growingpaynes-art]

Far From Home Initial Review: What I Liked and What I Didn’t (Spoilers)

I saw Far From Home yesterday and jotted down some of my immediate responses, and then took some time to think on those points. I do intend to see the film again in the next few days and I may be adding to or amending this list.

Major spoilers below.

(CW: sexual harassment, victim blaming)

What I Liked:

That scene in the jet where Happy stitches Peter up was A+. Not just regarding the expert acting, but how the filmmakers decided to handle the scene. Peter’s fear, stress, and self doubt briefly shifts to anger, and he snaps at Happy for telling him to “relax.” He immediately apologizes, saying “i’m sorry, I shouldn't shout.” Happy in return responds by choosing his words more carefully. Happy then gives him a gentle and encouraging pep talk in which he recognizes Peter’s emotions, encourages him, and explains that he doesn’t need to live up to the legacy of Iron Man and that he only needs to do his best. He remains on task and pragmatic, but never rushes Peter or forces him to do anything he’s not comfortable doing, offering support all the while. 

Peter is allowed to cry at several points throughout the film in front of other male characters, including Nick Fury and Happy. He is never judged for this and he is never made to feel like his emotions are unreasonable or invalid. Continuing this from the previous films even as Peter gets older and takes on more responsibilities further normalizes male emotion in action films. 

Peter consistently voices his concerns and asks for help instead of overwhelming himself and internalizing.

Peter was noticeably shorter than MJ in most of their scenes together, including where they kiss or hold hands. Peter’s height is never made into the butt of a joke, which I had feared might happen. No one even mentions it. Marvel did have Tom wear shoes that made him a little taller than he actually is, but I do appreciate that they didn’t drastically increase his height like they always did to RDJ. 

JK Simmons returning as J Jonah Jameson was a great surprise, and it gives me hope that we may yet see Peter as a photographer

Peter walking out from behind that car carrying a sign and a light as a reference to Steve wielding the shield and mjolnir.

Peter calling his dick his “webshooter”

MJ stepping in and providing some real help several times throughout the movie 

The movies on the flight to Venice “Heart of Iron: The Tony Stark Story,” “Chasing Hydra” etc

The terribly edited movie maker tribute set to “I Will Always Love You” with “in memoriam” in comic sans was the funniest possible way to open the film

Bucky being included in the Thank You Avengers collage in the Midtown Tech news video

Mr. Harrington and Mr. Dell were definitely dating and i’m here for it. 

Seeing Peter fight without a suit was cool. I’ve always thought there was a kind of disconnect when characters like spiderman or black panther fight with their masks on, like they feel separate from the actors. But seeing Peter fight in his civilian clothing made it feel more real to me that this kid really has these powers and can do all these amazing flips and feats of strength. It also let us see more of his creativity and quick thinking.

I’m impressed that they were able to make Mysterio’s mo-cap suit look cool instead of completely ridiculous like they do in real life.

Peter closing his eyes and fighting the drones with his spidey-sense to avoid the illusions was so badass. 

The violence felt real. Every time Peter got hit, the audience felt it. Several times he was unable to stand up, he limped and winced and cried. It felt like the consequences of such heavy action were realistically considered when Peter couldn’t just pop back up and shake it off. 

"If you were better, maybe Tony would still be alive” “You’re just a scared little kid in a sweatsuit” 

“You got me?” “I got you.”

“lets get a drink” “i’m- i’m not 21.”

Peter going to a parent figure wearing an oversized shirt and crying while confessing his self-doubts was an oddly specific parallel that i didn’t expect to get again but i’m certainly not complaining

What I Didn’t:

The “rest stop hookup” scene was deeply inappropriate. Peter, a child, is commanded to undress in front of an adult female agent. He initially resists but is intimidated into compliance when she repeats the order. One of Peter’s classmates, Brad, walks into the room and Peter is literally caught with his pants around his ankles with an adult stranger. Brad makes the assumption that Peter is hooking up with her, and takes a photo for evidence with the intention of showing it to MJ in order to ruin Peter’s “chance” with her. Peter is blamed for a situation in which he is the victim, and the audience is meant to find this entire scene funny. Instead of what could have been a really cool scene in which this agent presents the new suit she’s made for Peter, we are given this very uncomfortable scene of sexual harassment played for laughs.

Peter and Brad competing for MJ’s affection and actively sabotaging each other is unnecessary. 

The use of old footage from previous films was lazy, especially when Marvel could have easily recreated those scenes from the perspectives of the new antagonists. I’ve always found this distracting, especially when the quality noticeably drops between two clips, though this is more of a personal peeve than anything I see as a legitimate problem.

The list of characters who become villains because they feel personally or indirectly slighted by Tony and Howard is getting too big. Honestly I think it’s lazy to keep using that as backstory/motivation for new villains after over 10 years, especially now that Tony isn’t even alive.

The multiverse being made up by Beck was disappointing.

The monsters being the Elementals instead of Sandman or Hydroman was also disappointing.

I wish that the spidey-sense was represented by some creative audio or visual cue, like the goosebumps in iw or the ringing noise in spiderverse

There were several lgbt characters/actors on the class trip but they weren’t very visible. You really don’t notice them at all unless you were aware of who was cast beforehand and were watching closely for them. I’m not asking for Peter to swing through new york with a rainbow flag screaming “trans rights” but I would have liked to have seen a queer couple holding hands or a student with a trans patch on their backpack or something. I had been hoping for Peter to actually interact with one of them, to refer to them by name. Obviously having such a diverse cast with queer characters being played by actual queer actors is a huge step up from Joe Russo’s “grieving man” but like that shouldn’t be where the bar is at this point. 

Tbh the headstone and zombie iron man were cliche, and i think it would have been much more impactful if Mysterio had made an allusion of Tony himself instead.

Why would Dr Strange not be available to fight massive elemental monsters from another dimension bent on consuming the earth like dude make yourself available??

I wish the new suit included Karen so that we could see how she and Peter’s interactions have changed now that he is expertly familiar with the functions of the suits. Additionally, the spider-drone would have been cool to see again.

The illusion to Uncle Ben with the “BFP” initials on Peter’s suitcase was great but I do wish we could get some actual information about him. We don’t need to see his death or the “with great power comes great responsibility” speech- we’ve already seen that enough times- but a little clarification on what officially happened to him in the mcu would be interesting. 

Honestly I thought it was too convenient that May, Happy, and all of Peter’s closest friends also dusted. I had wanted to see how interactions between Peter and May or friends such as Ned would be tested emotionally due to the five-year gap.

The BARF tech being invented by Beck and stolen by Tony detracts from it being used in Civil War to establish Tony’s feelings about Howard and Maria’s murders. If it isn’t Tony’s invention, that takes the heart out of it. 

I had really hoped that the glasses were going to end up revealing Tony as an AI, or at least some kind of message from him, and i thought was weird that Tony would give Peter access to a system that allows him to order drone strikes on his classmates.

Also...  so the drone strike on peter’s bus was faked by Mysterio’s team because they needed to get the EDITH glasses from Peter? Because the EDITH glasses give them access to the satellite that deploys the drones? But they already have the same drones? and use one them to fake the bus attack? so why do they need EDITH? Maybe i missed something but that makes no sense to me. 

[iminyourhandskara]

A Second Schott At Love - Final Chapter.

Kara almost jumped outside the elevator, clearly impatient to hear all about Eve’s version of the date night: obviously, she was a bit scared that she misread everything and that she wasn’t happy with how it went, but she wanted to be faithful in her match making abilities. “Oh, Eve isn’t here yet.” Kara whispered to herself, looking around the office. James’ staff reunion was about to begin, when the sound of Eve’s heels clicking on the floor echoed in Kara’s super-ears; she waved at her enthusiastically, perhaps a bit too much, but they couldn’t even get close because all the employees were now walking towards the boss’ office. “We’ll talk later.” Eve mouthed from a distance, and Kara replied with a thumb up.

 “Sooooo?”  Kara slid at Eve’s side. “How was it?” “It went really well.” She smiled, “I had a lot of fun.” “Aw, I knew it! Tell me everything.” “At the beginning, I was terrified because I don’t do small talk, but then I felt really comfortable and relaxed, we talked about our jobs, our lives in general, we both like blue, technology, books, Harry Potter specifically, and chicken nuggets.” Kara laughed, that was Winn in a nutshell. “But I have something to say, promise me you won’t get mad.” She suddenly felt alarmed, “Of course.” “The dinner was delicious and the restaurant was so nice and elegant, but..we were still hungry after eating there. So, we drove to Big Belly Burger right after.” “You had two dates in one night?!” Her voice went a little higher than the usual. “Shh, technically it was one big date, but I have to admit that the second part was even more fun, we ate a lot and I didn’t feel judged once. My cousin doesn’t even eat carbs in front of her dates, I have no idea of how she does that. Are..are you mad?” “No, it’s the complete opposite! I’m so happy for you two, especially after those previous dates, you deserve all the fun.” Eve smiled at her friend, “Thank you for arranging this.” “No problem, actually I apologize for not thinking about this before. So, are you gonna see each other again?” “Oh, yes, I forgot to mention we already exchanged numbers…and we texted a lot..and that might be the reason I was late today.” “Woaaah.” “I don’t even know how we managed to text until 5 AM. I haven’t felt this traumatized by my alarm clock since the college days.” “This definitely exceeded every expectation I had. Also, I should probably text Mike that if Winn isn’t replying to his calls, it’s because he’s still asleep. He should be up by lunchtime, though.” The two girls laughed again. “Like I said already, I’m extremely happy for you,” Kara said going in for a hug “but we should get to work, now.” “Right, do I look too disheveled?” “No, you’re perfect.” “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you one last thing..” “What is it?” “…I might’ve kissed him..” Her voice was lower than a whisper, Kara’s mouth was now agape. “Eve!!” “I could not help it, he was so sweet to me..” She was now as pink as her blouse. James called his assistant, she winked at Kara and then walked into the office.

 Mon-El was afraid that calling Winn so many times could’ve made his phone explode—it was his first smart phone  and he didn’t want to break it after just a few weeks, Kara would’ve definitely killed him. He was about to push the call button again, when he suddenly got a text from his girlfriend: “Winn is still asleep, he spent the entire night chatting with Eve ;), you’ll see him later at the DEO I think” “Oh, that explains it! So, does she like-like him?” “YESSS! We’ll talk about it later, are you going at the bar now?” “Yep, I’ll see you at the DEO as soon as I’m done L” “Ohhh..okay, I’ll see you later babe” “Later, babe!” Mon-El grinned at the screen, she called him babe again and he still couldn’t believe it.

 Mon-El and Kara arrived at the DEO and immediately noticed that Winn still wasn’t there. “That boy sleeps like a rock.” “I’m here! I’m here!! Mon-El, 75 calls? Seriously?” “Good morning, champion!” His friend joked, “About time. How long did you sleep?” “Less than you think.” Kara walked into their conversation, “Go straight to the point, how was the date?” Winn smiled gleefully, scratching the back of his head, “It was..awesome, honestly one of the best dates I’ve had, though the bar is pretty low. But I have to thank you, guys.” He chuckled. “Ah, don’t mention it..Eve told me you went to Big Belly Burger!” “Oh, yes, sorry about that.” “You don’t need to apologize, Winn, it’s great!” “What did you guys talk about all night? I can’t even hold real life conversations for that long.” Mon-El wondered. “Literally anything, it was like a third part to our date. It’s great that we share the same sense of humor, look, we sent each other memes.” Winn picked his phone from his pocket to show the two aliens the funny images: too bad Mon-El looked perplexed and highly confused, “You’ll get it one day, my friend.” Winn said with a pat on his back. “One day I’ll show you all the vines you need to know.” “Aren’t those in India? Or was it Africa? I can’t fly you there like Kara.” Winn covered his disappointed eyes with his palm, “Hey, is Eve a good kisser?” “Really good- She told you?!” “She’s good, from what I remem-“ Mon-El had just learned a new fact about his super girlfriend: apparently, she could throw flames with her gaze without heating up her eyes. “I shouldn’t have said that.” “Anyways..Kara?” Winn interrupted the awkward couple exchange. “Yes?” “Did you tell Alex yet?” “No, I didn—wait, you told him?” “Oops, yes. I forgot to mention it, we were so invested in this date that I completely removed that from my brain..I’m just gonna go to the bathroom before I mess up even more.” Kara bit her lower lip and then looked back at Winn, who despite his past crush for his best friend, was now looking at them with so much love and support, “Not that she needs more confirmations, because you know, Alex Danvers always knows everything, but you should tell her soon.” “Tell me what?” Silent as ever, she walked closer to the three friends. Kara and Mon-El became red as tomatoes, Winn just found the scene really funny, “Whatever it is, it can wait until later: there has been an attack near the fire station.” With a perfect timing, J’onn interrupted the big revelation. “Ahh, I think I’m gonna tell her tonight.” The girl of steel thought. “I guess I’m gonna have to hold my pee for a little longer.” The hero in the making sadly realized.

 Kara invited Alex to her place to eat some pizza and watch a movie, and of course, tell her the truth about her and Mon-El: now sitting on the couch, munching her slice, Kara interrupted the silence: “Hey Alex, I wanted to talk to you about something..” “Is everything okay?” “I know that the past weeks have been a wild rollercoaster, for both you and me, and we’ve talked about it on my Earth birthday, but then I told you things weren’t as easy as they seemed..” “Go straight to the point!” “I’m dating Mon-El!” “Oh, thank goodness. Finally!” She let out an exasperated sigh. “And I know about your bet with Winn, he owes you 30 dollars.” “So who else knows? Me, Winn, and?” “Eve. That’s it.” “Wasn’t she going out with Mon-El?” “Now she’s dating Winn.” “Okay, what? When did that happen?” “Well, we set them up this weekend.” “We?” “Me and Mon-El.” “Ahh, right. There’s already an ‘us’, I see.” Kara grinned, she was really happy she didn’t have to hide her relationship to the most important person in her life. “I’m so glad I finally told you.” “It didn’t take a lot to see the chemistry between you two, I’m glad you finally got together! You know I’ve been rooting for you.” “So am I obvious too?” She asked her big sister, referring to when she told her about his confession. “Eh..Sorry. But changing subject, how was it?” “How was what?” “The sex, Kara.” “Alex!!” She covered her face, red as the tomato sauce on the pizza and then she started giggling. “I’m taking that as a good sign.”

  6 months and 12 double dates later, the two couples were hanging out at Eve’s place for a game night: “Guys, can I please have your attention?” Winn called Mon-El and Kara “I wanted to tell you something, uhhh, it’s not really that much of a big deal to me because it doesn’t change much—“ “We’re moving in together!” Eve squealed excited, seeing that her boyfriend was now taking too long to reveal it to their friends. “Yes, we found a place that’s pretty close to the DEO and not too far from CatCo, however this little genius right here might have a new job soon..” “You’re leaving CatCo??” Kara seemed to dread her future days at work without her favorite colleague, her eyes went wide. “I sent my curriculum to the DEO.” Now both Mon-El and Kara were shocked and pale, thinking about what it would mean for their superheroes identities. Winn started talking to save the situation: “If you guys didn’t already know, my girl has an impressive brain and a even more incredible resume, even J’onn was impressed. And I know what you’re thinking about—“ “Your secret is safe with me.” Eve took Kara’s hands in hers. “And yours too, Mon-El.” She looked back at who she used to call ‘Mike’.

“He told you.” Kara’s voice was still a bit shaken. “Oh, no, no. I figured it out about a month ago, I only told Winn last week and he just confirmed my suspicions.” “You really are full of surprises.” Mon-El spoke, getting over the initial stupor. “Can I ask how?” “A few months ago, I found myself in the same place as Supergirl and she had just saved something or someone, anyways..I was looking at her hair and I was like ‘Wow, to get those waves you either use a  curling iron everyday or you keep your hair braided all the time, like Kara.’ And then I just connected the dots.” “Jeez, I’m starting to believe Alex when she says that glasses aren’t that good of a disguise.” Kara shook her head. “Well, then, if the secret is safe, I really hope the DEO hires you: we would be really lucky to have your brilliant mind in our team.” “Thank you so much, Mon-El. I have my fingers crossed.” “Let’s have a toast, to Eve!” Kara passed the beer bottles to everyone, who echoed her toast. “Cheers!”

Mon-El leaned in to whisper something to Winn: “Hey, are you sure you’re not going a little too fast? Moving in so soon?” “Haven’t you been living with Kara since you started dating, literally?” “Hey! It’s different! I was living at the DEO and it’s not a really comfortable living situation.” “Whatever..I know you’re concerned, but trust me when I say this..She’s different, my life has been different since I met her and I love her, truly. So I have no doubt in my mind.” Mon-El smiled, knowing exactly what he was feeling, “I trust you. For the record, if I’m not your best man next year, I’ll be really offended.” Winn laughed heartily, “Of course, of course.”

 Little did Mon-El know that it was exactly what was going to happen in a year. There was no other choice for Winn and Eve than to have him and Kara next to them at the altar; after all, none of that would’ve happened if it wasn’t for their best friends who let them give a second shot at love.

[birdiethebibliophile]

{fic} Dear Traveler

Fandom:  Critical Role (Wildemount Campaign) Rating:  T Warnings: Nott-typical body image, references to sex Relationship:  Nott/Jester Word Count:  2,544

Here on AO3.

I’m going to have to start a whole collection for fics that are just about Jester kissing girls and I’m not sorry at all. Pretty much unadulterated fluff with one (1) moment of hurt/comfort because I have a brand to uphold.

Summary:  

Jester tells the Traveler everything, especially about her friends, and especially one friend who she loves very much and maybe - maybe - thinks is very pretty.

__________________

“Dear Traveler,” Jester said. She was lying on her tummy on her bed, and she had her sketchbook open, and she was using some very pretty paints that Caleb had bought  for her last time they were at the markets to draw bea-oo-tee-ful pictures for the Traveler. “I had a good day, mostly, and I put one of your little statues that I made in a place no one would expect it.” She gave a happy little wriggle, and her spaded tail curled over her shoulder. She had put the tiny hooded figure right on top of the sign of the bookstore Caleb had dragged her to, to buy the paints and also lots of paper, of course. It was right at tiefling eye level, but you couldn’t see it unless you turned just the right way, and then there it was. “I am going to have a sleepover with my friend Nott, you remember Nott, I tell you about her allllllll the time, I am doing that tonight. Maybe we are going to talk about our detective agency, and I got lots of pastries, and nail polish because it’s pretty and I think Nott likes being pretty.”

Jester screwed up her face and added more yellow to Nott’s eyes on the page. “I don’t think she thinks she’s pretty, I think,” she told the Traveler. “Just because she is a goblin, but I think that’s silly. All sorts of people can be pretty. Humans like Beau and half-orcs like Fjord and firbolgs like Caduceus and tieflings like me. Well, obviously tieflings because my mama is a tiefling and she is the most  beautiful person in the world,  but I am just saying  that like, she says her pointy teeth are scary, but I have pointy teeth too, and Fjord has his eensy-weensy tusks, so it isn’t that. Or her eyes, but Fjord has yellow eyes too, and Molly had really glowy red eyes. And she is green, but so is Fjord.” Jester chewed thoughtfully on the end of her paintbrush, the part that didn’t have paint all over it. “Fjord and Nott have a lot in common, but they fight a lot. That’s funny.”

There’s a knock on the door. “Come in!” Jester sang out, and the door cracked open, and Nott scuttled in, clutching bottles of nail polish.

“Is Beau going to be here tonight?” Nott asked.

“Nooooo, she has some boring thing she wanted to go to,” Jester said with a pout. “It doesn’t even involve beating anyone up, I think, which I don’t know why it would be fun if no one is getting beat up. Or getting their nails painted. Did you bring the book?”

“Ah, yes,” Nott said, hopping up on the bed. She set down a ragged towel – stained from when they painted their nails before and Jester maybe spilled the bottle a little bit – the bottles, and a book that she got from the bookstore when they were there earlier. “It’s a different one, not Tusk Love,  see?” Nott said in her creaky voice, pointing at the cover. A half-orc was batting her eyelashes at a swooning tiefling lady in her arms. “They’re both girls, I hope that’s okay.”

“We’re both girls!” Jester pointed out brightly. “It looks really good, Nott, thanks!”

“Oh, ah, no problem,” Nott said. “What do you want to do first? We have pastries, and the nail polish, and the book. Or we could just talk. Like, girl talk.”

“I love girl talk,” Jester said, bouncing slightly in place, her tail whipping from side to side and almost hitting the headboard of the bed. “I don’t get to girl talk with anyone,  Beau likes punching people too much and Yasha is so quiet and Caduceus isn’t a girl, though I don’t think he is maybe all the way a boy either,” she added, almost as an afterthought. “And Caleb and Fjord are boys.”

“Okay, how about I paint your nails, and we play… Truth or Dare?” Nott suggested.

Jester clapped her hands. “Oh, I like that game! I haven’t played it much, just once or twice or maybe zero times because one time I played it with the Traveler but he wasn’t actually there so it was really just me and I dared myself to climb up the roof and I did it.” Jester giggled. This was going to be fun.

“All right, you go first, then,” Nott said, unscrewing a bottle of sparkly red nail polish and taking one of Jester’s hands. Nott’s fingernails were sharp, Jester always noticed, but she was always very gentle with Jester. “Truth or dare?”

“Ummmm.” Jester grabbed her tail and held it in her lap so she wouldn’t accidentally knock over the nail polish while she was thinking. “Dare.”

Nott grinned. She wasn’t wearing her bandages or her mask tonight, and that made Jester happy, though she wasn’t quite sure why. She liked when Nott felt comfortable enough to show her whole entire face, no hood or anything, even. “I dare you to go ask Fjord if he wants his nails painted.”

Jester gasped, a scandalized sound. “Nott! He and Caleb are in your room tonight! They might be –” She lowered her voice. “Having seeeeex or something.”

“I know,” Nott said smugly.

“Okay okay, wait, I still have a third level spell slot, I can use Sending to do it,” Jester said, and scrunched up her nose. “Twenty-five words. Hello Fjord, it is Jester, Nott is painting my nails and she dared me to ask you if you wanted your nails painted too.”

Little busy at the mo’, Jester,  Fjord’s reply came back after a second, and Jester squealed and jumped so hard she almost knocked the nail polish over anyways.

“No, no, don’t, I don’t want to hear it!” Nott said as soon as Jester opened her mouth. “No, ah, Truth. Wait, fuck, Dare –”

“You already said Truth,” Jester said, settling back in. “What is… the scariest thing that ever happened to you?”

“The day on the snake island,” Nott replied without hesitation. “Other hand.” Jester switched hands and blew on her nails. She wished she had Prestidigitation – she could dry them immediately with that. “It was really scary and the worst day of my entire life. I almost drowned.”

“I almost drowned too,” Jester said. “And then Fjord breathed air back into me and I didn’t.”

“Oh yeah,” Nott said. “Your first kiss.”

“Yeahhhh, well, it wasn’t really  my first kiss,” Jester said. “I mean, yes, it was, but he wasn’t really kissing me, you know, because I was drowning and stuff, and I needed air. And so that was nice, to have air again.”

“Has he kissed you again since?” Nott asked. “Or – oh, have you kissed him?”

“No, of course not,” Jester said scornfully. “All his kissing is going to Caleb, now, which is very nice, because I feel like Caleb probably needs lots and lots of kisses.”

“You got that right,” Nott said. “Do you want another dare?”

“I can’t do a lot of dares without messing up my nail polish,” Jester realized in disappointment.

“Just truths then?” Jester nodded. “All right,” Nott said. “Well, I sort of already asked you a question, about Fjord. So you can ask me one now, if you want.”

“Okay.” Jester glanced around, trying to come up with an idea, and her eyes landed on the book that wasn’t Tusk Love.  “Have you everrrrr… kissed another girl?” she asked Nott.

“No,” Nott said. “I’ve kissed a boy, though.”

Jester tilted her head to the side as Nott finished her last finger. “Would you ever want to kiss a girl?”

“It depends on the girl,” Nott said primly. “A lady doesn’t kiss and tell.”

Jester giggled. “That’s what Truth or Dare is, though, kissing and telling!”

“It’s not all about kissing,” Nott protested, but she was smiling too, and Jester could see all her sharp teeth. Really, Jester thought, Nott wasn’t ugly at all, even a little bit. Her skin was a very pretty shade of green, and her ears were big, and her hair would probably be really nice, when it was washed and stuff.

Nott was pretty.

“Do you want me to paint your nails now too?” Jester asked.

“No, you should at least wait for yours to dry,” Nott said, screwing the top back on the nail polish. “You can do mine after. My turn to ask.” She put the bottle in her pocket like she wasn’t thinking about it, then paused and took it out again. She made a funny face. At least, Jester thought it was funny. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to be funny, though, because when Nott spoke again, her voice sounded weird. Jester thought it sounded a little like Caleb’s did right before he got really quiet for a long time.

“Why are you friends with me?” Nott asked.

“That’s your question?” Jester said, confused.

“Yeah,” Nott said. “Just. Answer it. Please.”

“I’m friends with you,” Jester said, “because I really like you, Nott. You’re funny and super smart, like, the smartest of any of us except for maybe Caleb –”

“No one’s smarter than Caleb,” Nott interrupted.

“Yeah, but you’re still very  smart,” Jester said insistently. “And you’re fun to talk to and you understand things, sometimes, and you listen to me. I like  you, Nott. Do you think we would be detectives together if I didn’t like you?”

“I don’t know,” Nott said. She grabbed her feet so she was all scrunched up. “Lots of people don’t like me. I steal shit and I drink a lot. You, ah, you don’t drink at all.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t be friends, though,” Jester scoffed. “I’m friends with everybody else and they drink too, except Caduceus. And Beau steals mail.”

“But I’m a goblin,” Nott burst out. “I’m green and ugly and horrible and –”

“Nott! Nott, Nott, Nott,” Jester said.

“Yes?” Nott said in a very small voice.

“Nott, I don’t care that you’re a goblin,” Jester said, and she tried to make her words sound true, because they were, and she was afraid Nott wasn’t going to believe her. “I mean, I hope someday you don’t have to be a goblin anymore because I want you to be happy, but I like you like this.”

“You do?” Nott said, and her voice was still so small, and Jester wanted so, so badly to make it big again.

“Yeah,” Jester said. “I think your ears are really nice, and I think it’s really cool how your eyes are yellow and they can get really big in the dark, and I think your skin is a nice color and I think your hair is really pretty.” Oops. She didn’t mean to say that one.

Nott’s ears lifted up a little. “You do?”

“Yeah, of course,” Jester said. “I think all of you is pretty, Nott.”

Nott crept a little closer to her, and Jester felt her heart beat a little faster. “Even my teeth?” she said, and bared them.

“Even your teeth,” Jester said, baring her own pointy tiefling teeth back. “…Do you think I’m pretty?”

“You’re very pretty, Jester,” Nott said, and her voice was soft, but it was a different kind of soft than before. It was a nice kind of soft, Jester thought, a soft she wanted to wrap herself in like a blanket. Nott came a few inches closer, and now she was almost in Jester’s lap, and Jester maybe wanted Nott to be in her lap, maybe.

“You know how I said I never kissed a girl?” Jester said, and she didn’t know what the word for scared and saying things anyway was but that was how she felt. Traveler,  she thought, I hope you are helping out here because I don’t know what I’m doing but I think maybe it’s good.

“I do,” Nott said, and she crawled into Jester’s lap. She fit there, it seemed to Jester. Right between Jester’s round thighs, easy to hold.

Jester’s tail snuck forward and wound around Nott’s waist and Jester grabbed it. “Sorry,” she said.

“No,” Nott said. “It’s okay.”

And then Nott kissed her.

It was a little tricky with the sharp teeth and fangs and stuff, but Jester kissed her back, and maybe she was kissing a girl but she was also kissing Nott  and Nott was one of her best friends and her detective partner and that, Jester thought, was what made it a good kiss. She took Nott’s face in her hands, not worrying about the nail polish anymore, because she was worried maybe Nott would change her mind, that she would think that Jester didn’t actually want to kiss her, but Jester did very much. She very much wanted to kiss Nott and to keep kissing Nott.

“Wow,” Nott said when they finally stopped kissing because they had to breathe. That was funny, Jester thought – her last first kiss had been because she couldn’t breathe, but this time, it was the kiss that took all her breath away. “Wow, Jessie. That was really nice.” Nott was smiling really big now with all of her teeth, and that made Jester happy the same way Nott taking off her bandages and mask when they were together did.

“It was really nice for me, too,” Jester said. “Nott? Do you think, maybe –” She stopped and scrunched up her nose a little. Maybe she shouldn’t say the next part.

“What?” Nott asked, and she sounded a little anxious instead of happy like she was a second ago, so Jester thought she should probably say it anyways.

“Do you think maybe we could be girlfriends?” Jester asked, and her voice came out like a whisper and that seemed funny to her, so she started giggling.

That made Nott start giggling as well. “Girlfriends?” she said. “Like in the book I got today?”

“Yeah!” Jester said, more enthusiastically now. “We like each other a lot, and we like kissing each other, and I guess we’re basically  girlfriends already. And if we don’t like it we could stop.”

“That’s true,” Nott agreed. “That sounds nice.”

“I can take you on a date!” Jester exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “We can go to a pastry shop and I can buy you so many – oh, I think we’re going to have to redo my nail polish. It got all messy.”

“Well, if yours is already ruined, you can do mine,” Nott said, putting the bottle in Jester’s hand. “Now we’re not just girl friends, we’re girlfriends.”

Jester was going to have so much to tell the Traveler, she thought. About nail polish and books and sleepovers and her girlfriend,  Nott the Brave. But for now, she painted Nott’s nails.

 That night after Nott was asleep, curled up by Jester’s head, Jester opened her sketchbook again. “Dear Traveler,” Jester whispered. “I have a girlfriend and she is the prettiest person in the whole world, even if she doesn’t think so.” As she talked, Jester drew the sleepover into her sketchbook with her very prettiest paints: yellow for Nott’s eyes, green for Nott’s skin, and pink for Nott’s nails and the little heart Jester painted above her.

[savedbythenotepad]

hello!

i wrote this piece about my ocs, aster and lerin, and i posted it a while back. but i feel like it’s worthy of its own post because i really do love it and them. this was written for @ravenisthegem who is just amazing and indulges in my ideas and helps them as well as me grow. so please enjoy these soft boys! also...aster and lerin’s ship name could potentially be lester and i’ve never forgiven myself.

there are the characters to the book i’m planning and sorting out so if you have any thoughts, let me know!

“I didn’t know you liked cats,” Lerin said as he watched Aster lean down to greet a Calico who had immediately wandered to his side. They had just finished having lunch at one of their favourite cafes in the area. It belonged to a lovely woman called Mrs Jones who treated them like they were her own children. It was her insistent mission to ensure that they had eaten more than enough before they left their seats.

Lerin’s stomach was pleasantly filled with two pieces of her delightful quiche lorraine that never failed to have customers coming back. Aster’s flower shop was only a ten-minute walk from there and there was no rush to be anywhere so they took their time as they ambled through the back streets. Quiet conversations accompanied by softened laughter filled the space around them and there was a brief moment where their hands brushed together in a fleeting touch.

Neither of them mentioned it or saw the slight smile that curved the other’s lips.

Lerin was about to ask if Aster was working on any more flower hybrids when he was interrupted by a loud meow. It was then that the Calico had appeared and Aster’s features softened in a way that made Lerin’s heart skip a single beat. He watched as Aster leaned down to gently run a hand over the cat’s fur and his breath caught in his throat at the way that cat pushed into his hand with such trust. The type of trust that would take years to develop between humans due to their flaw of being unable to trust and trusting too hard.

If that even made any sense but Lerin felt that as he had been a victim to both.

But he shook his head from such memories and joined Aster as he leaned down right next to him. He waited and watched as Aster gave the Calico a few scratches behind its ear before looking at Lerin with one of those smiles that never failed to warm him up from the inside. He nodded towards the cat and Lerin gave him a look of uncertainty but didn’t resist as his hand was taken and placed in front of the Calico’s face.

It was sniffed and Lerin was still as he allowed to cat to deem him as a friend. It didn’t even take five seconds until the Calico let out a mew and pushed its head against Lerin’s hand. The fur was soft beneath the palm of his hand and warm despite the chill in the air that came with the winter. It was nice to the touch and Lerin felt his fingers move through it to pet the cat with tender touches which were very welcomed.

“I love cats,” Aster said, answering his questions from a few moments ago. “We had two when I was growing up and they were amazing.” He paused as his features contorted into one of thought. “One was a Maine Coon and the other was a Bengal cat,” he said, sounding albeit relieved that he managed to remember the breeds. “The Maine Coon was called Pinky while the Bengal was called Mo.”

“Pinky and Mo?” Lerin asked, a little amused though his eyes were still trained on the cat in front of him. The Calico was now attempting to capture his fingers in order to playfully bite them and Lerin wasn’t giving him the chance to. He spun his hand in quick circles and chuckled as the cat followed the fast motions. “Not that I’m judging-”

“You definitely sound like you’re judging.” Aster interrupted with a wide grin.

“I’m not!” Lerin laughed and smiled as the Calico decided that his energy wasn’t worth wasting anymore as he settled down in front of them. He was lounging peacefully with his tail giving the occasional swish every so often. “Those are just some really cool names.” He then pursed his lips and failed to notice how Aster’s eyes dropped to take in the sight of his plump bottom lip. “Not what I would name my cats if I had them.”

Which was funny in itself because Lerin had never thought about getting a cat. It wasn’t that he didn’t adore them as he did but he simply didn’t have the time to balance taking care of another living being. Not when he could hardly take care of himself.

Aster raised a thick brown before deciding to sit on the floor and Lerin would have followed the action but he had decided to wear white overalls today. It had been a good fashion choice at the time but his legs could hold out in this squat for a bit longer.

“Okay,” Aster started as he began to take off his long coat. “What would you name your cat or cats if they had them?”

Now that was an interesting question and a little hard as Lerin wasn’t the best at giving names. He tried, though, and hummed in thought as options were brought up and presented to them. Most, if not all, of them, were horrible and made him inwardly cringe because really, he could do better than that. But then he realised that sometimes the simplest names are the ones that cutest. So he looked at Aster with serious eyes and made his announcement.

“I’d call them Whiskers and Paws.”

There was silence.

Followed by more silence.

Aster blinked at him and Lerin blinked back and it was like a back and forth until Aster finally cracked. And he cracked hard as laughter flew free from his mouth and it was deep and wonderful. It came from deep within, from the very pits of his stomach because he laughed with his whole being, with his body as it shook in happiness and Lerin couldn’t stop his cheeks from heating up beneath his skin. And it wasn’t even out of embarrassment but because he was in the presence of hearing as well as seeing something so beautiful.

It was Aster laughing without a care in the world and it was one of the most amazing sights that Liren had ever seen. His eyes were closed and crinkled around the edges, his nose was slightly scrunched up and in this moment…

In this moment, he was the personification of happiness and it was perfect.

“It’s not that funny!” Liren protested and pretended to shake his head in feigned disappointment even though he was smiling. Smiling like the love-sick idiot he was for the very man who had somehow managed to capture his heart.

It took a moment before Aster could calm down again and he let out another short chuckle as he stared at Liren with warm eyes. He was leaned against one of the brick walls that made up this small alley and he looked so comfortable in the orange-pinkish glow brought by the oncoming sunset.

He had taken off his coat and laid it out next to him in a way that made Lerin think that he had done it for him. And he had as Aster gestured for him to sit down on it and Lerin wasn’t going to object because his legs hurt and he desperately wanted to be close to him. Close to the warmth that came off of him in waves and made Lerin want to curl up against him like the Calico cat himself.

He moved until he was seated on the coat and hesitated for a moment before slowly leaning into Aster’s side. He was warm like he always was and Lerin couldn’t stop from sinking into him with a pleased sigh, his eyes closing as he relaxed in the muted silence of the alley.

A strong arm came to wrap itself loosely around his waist to only tightened a few seconds later before pulling him even closer to that warmth. Lerin smiled into the soft material of Aster’s shirt and listened as Aster took a breath to say one more thing.

“Whiskers and paws,” he started, his voice a whisper as his lips brushed against the curls of his hair. “They’re not too shabby for names.”

Lerin snorted and laughed, feeling Aster grin into his curls before placing three kisses upon them.

[trash-squatch]

Birthday Party

Word Count: 3.6k

Fandom: Marvel

Summary: It is Morgan’s fifth birthday party and she spend it alongside her family, extended family, and some of the Avengers at the lake house. Set after Endgame, but Tony is alive. Family Fluff.

Characters: Tony Stark, Pepper Potts-Stark, Morgan Stark, Happy Hogan, Rhodey, Peter Parker, May Parker, Harley Keener, Clint Barton, Laura Barton, Lila Barton, Cooper Barton, Nathaniel Barton, Scott Lang, Hope Van Dyne, Cassie Lang, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Bruce Banner. 

FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12931038/5/Suiting-Up-For-Fatherhood

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/734132772-suiting-up-for-fatherhood-birthday-party

Shoutout to @fandoms-funnies-etc for editing this at 3:30 am

It was a quaint morning on an early June summer day in a secluded part of upstate New York. A tire swing that sat adjacent to a shimmering lake swayed in the wind, mirroring the tree branches that danced in the surrounding woodland area. Everything was peaceful outside; however, that was not the case for the inside of the nearby lakeside house.

“MOMMY! DADDY! WAKE UP!” A small, yet powerful voice echoed through the halls. Morgan Stark was found jumping up and down on her parent’s bed, trying to get them up and just as excited for the day as she was.

Tony Stark was a man who enjoyed his sleep, and needed a minimum of at least eight hours of sleep to be able to function; so, he was not loving the fact that his darling daughter woke him up at 9 o’clock in the morning, as he had been up late the previous night in the garage/lab working on updates for Pepper’s Rescue suit.

“Morgan Hope Stark, you better have a good reason for waking daddy up so early” Tony groggily muttered as he got up from underneath his pillow.

Morgan stopped her bouncing after hearing her father’s comment and with a disappointed look on her face replied, “It’s my birthday. Did you forget?”

Of course, Tony remembered his daughter’s birthday was today, in fact he had been working on Morgan’s gift for the past month, he was just messing with her.

“Oh, is that today?” He sarcastically admitted, just before picking Morgan up and tickling her.

The bubbly laughter, of the now 5-year-old, was always contagious and Pepper Potts-Stark rose from her side of the bed and couldn't help but smile at seeing the scene unfolding before her.

“Be careful you two, we don’t need any injuries to deal with before our guests start arriving for the big day.” She chimed in, causing Tony to put Morgan down slowly and safely on the hardwood floor.

The Starks had a special day planned out for the birthday girl and had some surprises in store for her too. They had a lot to do before the guests were to arrive at noon, so both Tony and Pepper were a little grateful for their early wake up call. Happy would be coming over first to help out and bring back some very much needed items such as the decorations, food, drinks, and of course the cake.

“You know Mo, mom is always right, so how about some breakfast? What you hungry for? Your wish is my command.” Tony happily offered up as he led the family of three down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Once they arrived, Morgan was lifted up into the elevated metal chair that stood up to the granite island by her mother as Pepper immediately afterwards planted a soft kiss upon the top of her daughter’s head.

Morgan spun around in her seat, debating on what she wanted for breakfast, until finally coming to a decision.

“Can we have scrambled eggs, juice pops, and lemonade?!” Morgan asked, as her face lit up from her previous deep-in-thought expression.

Both Tony and Pepper realized that this food combination was a bit outlandish, but they both weren’t the type of parents to ever turn down their child’s request, no matter how silly it was.

“Of course, Peanut, daddy will get right on that. How about in the meantime you and mommy can set the table?” He swiftly proclaimed, which caused his wife to stop in her tracks, as she was already up from her seat next to Morgan and ready to start on the meal.

Cooking eggs was an easy enough task to handle, Tony thought to himself, so he let his wife have a little break; even though she would be intently watching him make the eggs, as she still didn’t trust her husband to not burn down the kitchen.

The meal was served soon after the girls were finished setting the table, which of course only happened right after a short round of I Spy at the request of little, miss Stark. As they were seated, Tony went around the table distributing the juice pops, pouring the lemonade, and serving the eggs.

“Ok, I think I have this right. Let’s see, an orange juice pop for mom, purple for Momo, and a red one for me.” He confidently announced, before sitting himself down at the table with his family.

It was a little after 10 in the morning when they had finished and cleaned up after Morgan’s birthday breakfast. Just as Tony placed the last plate into the drying rack, FRIDAY’s voice had announced a notification throughout the entire house.

“Boss, it seems that someone is approaching the front door.” The AI alerted.

“I wonder who that could be?” Tony jokingly asked as he turned to his daughter, dish towel still in hand.

Morgan immediately hopped out of the chair at the kitchen table, and sprinted towards the door, yelling out “Uncle Happy!” with pure joy. She knew she was not supposed to open the door, so she excitedly awaited by the door until her mother came to let Happy in.

“Hello there, Munchkin. Happy birthday!” He greeted, as he ruffled the hair on the top of her head, carefully trying not to drop the many brown paper bags of party supplies that he had been carrying.

Pepper took it upon herself to reach out and take the bags from Mr. Hogan to help him out a bit, as she knew Morgan would climb all over him in no time.

“Thanks Pep. I still got a bunch more stuff in the car; I will go get them.” He calmly informed her.

Just as he turned around to make his way out to the driveway, he felt a bunch of weight jump on his back.

“Oooff,” he called out in slight pain, “is that Monkey Morgan I detect? Shouldn’t she be in the jungle somewhere? Maybe off her uncle Happy and his old back?” He enthusiastically suggested.

Thankfully, he felt her slide off of him and heard her feet hit the gravel below.

“Oh, so your back is too old for Monkey Morgan all the sudden? That’s too bad, guess she’s just going to have to find a new jungle gym.” Tony mentioned, as he came outside to welcome his loyal friend and proceeded to pick Morgan up and onto his shoulders.

“I still don’t know how you can take all of that.” Happy responded in disbelief.

“Well, I am Iron Man.” Tony smirked and patted Happy on the back before going out to his car to assist him with the bags.

“Of course, how could I forget.” Happy slyly mentioned under his breath before slamming the trunk of his black Audi.

“Is that my cake daddy?” Morgan exclaimed as she saw the white rectangular box that he was holding as they walked back into the house.

Tony had been in charge of ordering the cake this year and wanted it to be a surprise for Morgan, so he responded “Yes Momo, but you're going to have to wait until it’s time to blow out the candles with everyone here to see it.”

She was a bit bummed out by her father’s statement, but then it also reminded her of the party, and she became excited again, as she was looking forward to playing with and seeing all her friends and family that were coming.

When they had entered the house with all the supplies in tow, Pepper lifted Morgan off Tony’s shoulders and sent her to get dressed for the party and then to go play outside while the grown-ups set up. Shortly after getting her party dress on, off the birthday girl went, skipping her merry way to her purple play tent to throw a grand tea party for her stuffed animals until her guests arrived. In the meantime, Pepper, Tony and Happy hung pink and purple streamers, set out paper plates and plastic cups, tied balloons around the banister on the back porch, set out various snacks, sandwiches, and beverages, all while taking turns keeping a watchful eye on Morgan.

It was about 11:40 when the first guest arrived, as Tony could tell because he watched Morgan rush out from her tent and out of sight towards the driveway. Tony could have guessed who this early arrival was, and his guess was confirmed when he heard his daughter scream out “Uncle Rhodey!” with glee.

Tony dropped the bag of pretzels he was pouring into a bowl and chased after his daughter, making sure his best friend wasn’t stupid enough to run her over.

Thankfully, Rhodey successfully parked without any casualties.

“Woah there Mo, take it slow. We don’t want to scare uncle Rhodey away there, do we?” Tony proposed, as he intercepted Morgan just in time before she was about to open his door to launch herself onto him for a hug.

Rhodey exited his car with a large red gift bag in one hand and with the other he picked Morgan up and planted a kiss on her cheek.

“Happy birthday, Morgs! Five years old today, wow what a big girl you are!” He happily beamed, before putting her down.

“Good to see you again, Rhodey! How’s D.C. been treating you, buddy?” Tony inquired, as he put one arm around his friend to lead him inside to the party ready house. He also reached out and took Morgan’s smaller hand in his own to make sure she didn’t bolt again towards any more guests that may have been arriving early as well.

Once returning back into the house, Morgan stood in awe in the front door frame, admiring the magnificent decorations that had been adorned around the entire first floor of the house.

She snapped out of it when she saw the snack table and rushed over to grab a handful of Cheeto puffs, as playing for almost two hours made the small girl work up quite a large appetite.

Pepper caught her daughter red-handed with her face stuffed with the orange chips and her hand ready in the bowl for another refill.

“Now Honey, don’t eat too much before the guests arrive. We need to leave some Cheeto puffs for them too, plus we have sandwiches here for everyone to eat for lunch. They should all be here any minute, let’s wait till then.” She advised her daughter, as she took Morgan’s free hand out of the bowl.

Tony’s previous statement about mom always being right held true, because in a matter of minutes the doorbell rang yet again, indicating a most anticipated guest’s arrival. This time it was Happy to answer the door, as he was the closest to it.

As the door opened, the Stark household was greeted by the familiar faces of Peter and May Parker as they both held onto a rather large gift box tied up together with a big bow between the two of them.

Happy took the large box from the both of them, and soon afterwards, Peter and Morgan simultaneously ran towards each other meeting in the middle of the family room in a large embrace.

“Petey! I missed you!” Morgan loudly announced once their hug had ended.

“I missed you too Mo, but it has only been like a week since I last saw you.” He laughed out and proceeded to get back up off the floor to greet everyone else in the room.

He took a quick glance back at his aunt, whom he noticed was laughing at something Happy had said, and was quick to roll his eyes at the blatant display of flirting both May and Happy were involved in.

Thankfully, Mr. Stark came over to him and embraced him in a hug to take his mind off the probable future of Happy and his aunt dating.

“What’s up, Kid, how’s school these days? Is that Flash guy still bothering you, because if he is I can come down one of these days and give him a stern talking to.” Tony stoically reassured.

Peter knew how worried Mr. Stark could be, but he didn’t want him to handle his fights for him. But he was still appreciative of the fact that he was so fiercely protective of him.

“Oh, no Mr. Stark, that’s fine. I’ve got it covered. Thanks for the offer though.” He politely responded. “School is going great. We have a field trip coming up during this summer to Italy which I’m really looking forward to.”

“Oh, really? That sounds fun. And it sounds like the perfect time to ask a certain someone out on a date. I bet MJ would really love a gondola ride in Venice.” Tony mentioned, as he led Peter into the kitchen and offered him a sandwhich.

“Keep your voice down, not everyone knows about the MJ thing.” Peter said as he lightly hit Tony in the stomach.

“OK, OK I surrender. But really, if you do, make sure to tell me how it goes.” He adds, dropping the topic for good.

More and more guests arrived as the time drew after noon. Scott Lang, his daughter Cassie, and Hope van Dyne were next, followed by Clint Barton and his entire family, then Bruce Banner. Even Steve managed to show up alongside Sam Wilson, which was a pleasant surprise.

Everyone was mingling around and happily helping themselves to sandwiches, snacks, and refreshments. After lunch, the grown-ups retired to the living room while the kids split up and did their own thing. Cassie and Lila went off on their own to the dock to talk, Cooper and Nate went out to the back to play catch with a baseball they had to ask Mr. Stark to borrow, meanwhile Morgan and Peter stayed inside and began working on a pillow fort.

Suddenly, the doorbell chimed and everyone turned their heads to the front door. Morgan climbed out from under all the pillows and blankets her and Peter had been working on and followed her father to answer the door.

“Who could that be Morgs?” Tony asked. He knew the answer, as this was her first surprise of the day, and was looking forward to seeing the expression on her face when he opened the door.

“I don’t know, daddy.” She suspiciously replied, as she reached out to turn the door knob with the help of her dad.

Standing in front of the father-daughter duo was none other than Harley Keener.

“Surprise, Mo!” Harley exclaimed as he took a knee to get down to her level with open arms.

As soon as they were done hugging, he got back up and apologized for being so late to the party due to his flight being delayed. Tony had flown him out from MIT to make sure he could be here for Morgan’s special day. Harley had been a part of Morgan’s life for a while now, as he had survived the snap and would visit the Starks often, but he hasn’t been around that much lately due to his busy life being a college student at MIT.

“Yay Harley’s here! Daddy, now can we eat the cake?” Morgan sheepishly questioned.

He laughed at his daughter’s obsession with getting to the cake and was grateful to finally grant her wish.

“Yes Mo, I think it’s finally cake time. Let’s round everyone up first.” He instructed and watched her drag Harley outside to go excitedly inform the rest of the kids that it was cake time.

Once everyone convened to the kitchen, they all took their positions around the table with the birthday girl in the middle. Tony obtained the cake from the fridge, made his way next to his daughter, set the white box in front of her, and finally made the big reveal of the cake by opening it up.

The cake was a large chocolate sheet cake with white icing, a red icing border, and an iron man helmet made out of fondant displayed in the middle of yellow frosting text that read ‘Happy Birthday Morgan’.

“Did Morgan really ask for that, Honey?” Pepper spoke out from the silence of everyone in awe of the cake.

Tony was too busy admiring the cake that he had forgotten his wife had asked him a question. Peter nudged him and Tony quickly replied back.

“Um, well no, not specifically. She didn’t really say what she wanted, so I saw this on the bakery’s website and just ordered it.”

Most of the adults in the room let out a snicker, as they had assumed Tony had kept up on his arrogant ways and made his daughter’s cake be Iron Man centric; however, a small voice suddenly silenced the lingering laughter.

“I love it Daddy! Thank you!” Morgan happily declared.

Tony looked down at his daughter and beamed. He was glad to hear that his daughter was a fan of Iron Man, almost as much as he was a fan of her.

“The only thing that could make this cake better would be if Spider-Man was on it though.” She confessed, throwing Tony off a bit.

“Yessss.” Peter quietly let out from under his breath, as he couldn’t help but do a small fist pump under the table.

Pepper took it upon herself to get everything back on track and started to light all five candles on the cake. The whole house echoed with voices singing happy birthday to Morgan, and then the cake was quickly consumed by all.

The party continued as it was now time for Morgan to open her presents. The Langs had gotten her a variety of different stuffed animals and dolls, the Bartons bought her a day pass to a nearby farm to go horseback riding with her family, Bruce brought a children’s science kit, Sam and Steve had together gotten her a couple of board games and craft supplies, Harley had given her a purple MIT sweatshirt that she immediately put on, Peter and May had gotten her a brand new doll house, Rhodey came along with a ton of coloring books and art supplies, and Happy brought two squirt guns with a promise to play with them all throughout the summer.

Last, but not least, was what everyone was waiting for. To see what the last surprise Tony Stark had in store for his daughter’s gift. Tony had excused himself and went out to the garage to get the gift. Soon later, he returned back with a large pink box wrapped with a black and white polka dot ribbon.

Morgan’s eyes lit up when presented with the giant box. She looked up to her parents with excitement before going to town and ripping that box apart. Many styrofoam peanuts were flying behind her, as she tossed them aside to get to the gift below. What she pulled out made the whole room gasp.

In her grasp was a small purple and pink accented iron man helmet that would fit her perfectly and then she realized that there was one more item in the box as well. She then pulled out a child sized toy web shooter glove that was painted like Spider-Man’s suit.

She ran into her father’s arms and thanked him for the gifts and then did the same to her mother, before attempting to try them both on.

“Now, Morgan, you need to be very careful with these and mommy and daddy need to establish some rules to go along with them, per mommy’s request.” Tony stressed, as he helped her into the helmet. “I noticed you like to play with the stuff in the garage, so I thought it would be good to have something of your own to play with.” He added.

“Tony, is that safe? Giving a five-year-old a web shooter sounds a bit dangerous.” Steve chimed in, genuinely concerned for Morgan’s wellbeing.

“Of course, Rogers, these are toys. She's been playing with the real things, so I made her some more high tech toy versions of them that are safe for her.” Tony assured the older man.

“Yeah, Steve, I had the same concern, but Tony did promise me that Morgan would be fine playing with these things. Right, Hon?” Pepper chimed in.

“Of course, I would never give her anything that would put her in danger. Now Mo, you have to use this web shooter outside” He responded, as he finished helping her get the glove on.

Once Morgan was all suited up, she immediately ran outside to try out her new toys and everyone followed to see what would ensue.

Morgan’s first target with the web shooters was none other than Peter Parker, coincidentally. All of the other kids, including Peter and Harley ran around the backyard trying to avoid the wrath of Morgan Stark.

And that’s how the rest of the day unfolded. Morgan was tuckered out from playing super heroes for an hour and a half and found herself being carried back into the house by her father. The whole group retired back into the living room and sat around on couches to watch Morgan and the other kids color together with her new coloring books on the coffee table in the middle of the room. To Morgan, and only being five years old, this was by far the best day of her life. She was surrounded by her uncles Happy and Rhodey, her big brothers Peter and Harley, her friends, and most importantly, her parents. That was what her favorite gift of the day actually was...spending the day with all the people she loved 3000.