#my friends and family shower me in lego and i do not mind

[naomiknight-17]

Got the wall-mounted Lego botanicals set for my birthday back in July, built it just before Canadian Thanksgiving, and finally finally mounted it on the wall above my shelf of Lego succulents today

So happy with this little display :)

[weergang]

Because no one asked you any, I ask ALL! all 100.

Anon.... thanks I guess.

----

1. whats your favorite thing in your room?

In the room i'm currently in? the bed.

2. how tall do you wish you were?

I'm perfectly tall enough already.

3. what color is your hair?

Blond with some grey

4. whats a rare fear that you have?

Fish creep me out.

5. are you single?

Unfourtunatly yes

6. has your heart ever been broken?

.. Oh look next question

7. what was your favorite thing as a kid?

Lego

8. favorite coping mechanism?

Shutting everyone out and suffering alone.

9. whats your favorite love language?

Making other people happy

10. how often do you get nervous?

Rarely

11. if you had three wishes, would you use them?

I'd think very hard about it.

12. if you could be fluent in any language which one would it be?

Always been currious about Russian.

13. where do you wish to live?

I'm good where I live. New Zealand would be cool too I guess.

14. what’s something surprising about you?

I'm nicer in person, people seem to be surprised about that.

15. when did you last shower?

Today

16. when did you first join tumblr?

17. do you want any tattoos? if so, where, what, and why?

Maybe, if I do I want the traditional sailing ones. that tell the story of my accomplishments at sea

18. whats the most prominent dream youve had?

I don't dream.

19. whats your dream job?

I honestly like my job you know, people are always surprised when I say that. Maybe work on one of those tall ships?

20. whats your ideal date?

Forrest walk, tea, book shop.

21. what do you wish you could do better?

Talk to people

22. what country would you live in if you could?

Why does this question imply that I couldn't live somewhere else?

23. whos the best person you know?

.. I thought I knew the answer to this one.

24. have you ever walked into something you shouldnt have? A door.

25. whats your favorite holiday?

Depends on who I'm with. I've always enjoyed the Christmas season tho.

26. when have you been most embarrassed?

Idk nothing comes to mind so quickly.

27. whats your favorite halloween costume?

Never did halloweens, not a thing in my country.

28. what are you best at?

Well I'm worst at telling what i'm best at that's for sure.

29. do you know how to tie your shoes?

Yes

30. do you have siblings? Yes

31. if you could know one thing about the future what do you wanna know?

NOOO I DON"T WANT TO KNOW!

32. whats a dealbreaker for you?

Don't ever lie to me. keep a secret, refuse to talk about something, all fine. but don't lie.

33. whats your favorite current class?

not in school anymore son.

34. how many people have you dated?

35. how often do you wash your hair?

Every working day.

36. do you daydream? what about?

Everything

37. where do you go to be alone?

Home

38. which parent do you like more?

No preference

39. whats the one standard you hold yourself to?

Do

40. whos voice do you enjoy?

?

41. if you could announce one thing to the world what would it be?

Me talking to the whole world? are you out of your mind.

42. whats one thing you wanna do but havent yet?

Start a family.

43. what do you wish you never did?

Waste my early twenties to a depression.

44. do you believe in life after death?

Maybe

45. do you prefer book over movie?

Both have their own charmes. but books.

46. whats your favorite season?

Autumn

47. whats your favorite time of day

Sunrise

48. do you have a beloved stuffed animal?

Yes

49. whens a time you wish you acted differently?

To many to name.

50. what’s something you wish that you never bought?

.. no idea man.

51. do you have your own room?

On the ship? Yes everybody has their own cabin. At home I have a whole apartment for myself :P

52. whats your favorite book?

Pick one, nuh uh. What if the others get jealous

53. who’s someone you hate?

-redacted-

54. whats your best hottake?

I never understood what a hottake is supposed to be

55. whats your favorite game?

The one you enjoy with friends

56. whens a time you felt real genuine fear?

Last week, clibing 60 meters up the cranes.

57. are you a morning person?

yes

58. do you drink enough water?

Does the water inside all other beverages count towards this question? yes.

59. how different are you from the little kid you used to be?

Alot

60. do you enjoy tumblr?

yes.

61. have you ever had a tumblr experience that made you wanna delete the app?

no, to many friends here

62. whats your least favorite game?

the ones where people play with other peoples feelings.

63. were you a markiplier fan?

A what?

64. how do you respond to compliments?

Uncomfortably. I've learned to say thank you.

65. whats something that would make you fall in love?

genuinity

66. do you believe in marriage?

marriage is a fact, can't not believe it it mate. people get married everyday. you want to deny that??

67. do you have a crush on someone?

68. do you like tumblr?

see 60

69. were you a voltron stan?

a who?

70. whats your favorite ship?

Sunset Dawn

71. whats your favorite song?

Birds morning call out over the fields

72. do you like loud crowds?

nooooo

73. have you ever created conflict on purpose?

Yes, it was hilarious

74. how do you sleep?

In bed

75. do you bite your lips?

Occasionally

76. do you use chapstick?

no

77. do you have any pets?

no :( Can't have pets when you're never home, that's unfair to them.

78. what color are your eyes?

Green

79. what’s something you wish you could change about yourself?

80. have you ever had surgery?

Several times.

81. whats your least favorite animal?

82. whats something that youre really bad at?

Thinking of more witty answers to this list that never ends.

83. do you have an sqishmellows?

no, i don't like marshmellows.

84. do you enjoy fast food?

not in particular.

85. do you like soda?

occasionally

86. what grade are you in?

I finished school half a decade ago.

87. do you wear any jewelry?

one necklace.

88. what socials do you use?

Tumblr

89. whats your lowest grade in school right now?

not in school

90. whats the latest youve stayed up till?

can't get any later then midnight. after that it's early again.

91. did you ever have bangs?

this is about hair right? don't think so.

92. what trends did you hate?

ooh quite a lot of them

93. whats your favorite item of clothing?

clothes are basically all functional to me.

94. do you like dinosaurs?

sorry to break the news but they dead.

95. whats your opinion on body hair?

it's hair, grow up.

96. whats your least favorite time?

time for saying goodby

97. do you make a wish at 11:11?

nah, I just give candy to the kids that come at the door to sing a song.

98. do you have your phone on military or regular?

The what???? My phone is a stock off the shelf from a general brand. nothing military about it. I'm not in the military so I shouldn't have a military phone.

99. have you ever been to church?

yes

[cloudiyum]

1: Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed? Closed of course

2: Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel? Yes I doo, I want to donate them to homeless shelters.

3: Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out? Tucked in, I love being tucked

4: Have you ever stolen a street sign before? No but I've stolen many a cone

5: Do you like to use post-it notes? I do at work

6: Do you cut out coupons but then never use them? I don't come across any coupons in my life right now

7: Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of a bees? BEAR. ABSOLUTELY A BEAR. I would gladly be mauled to death

8: Do you have freckles? Not freckles but "beauty spots" as my mum calls them

9: Do you always smile for pictures? Nooo I tend to avoid that cuz my lips turn into 2 dimensional objects

10: What is your biggest pet peeve? Untidyness. Leaving the babywipe lid open. Dirty fridges.

11: Do you ever count your steps when you walk? No I don't!

12: Have you ever peed in the woods? Yeeees

13: What about pooped in the woods? No I once went camping for a week and didn't need to because my body knew It'd have to be in a hole.

14: Do you ever dance even if theres no music playing? Not really, maybe if I'm eating rly tasty food

15: Do you chew your pens and pencils? Nope

16: How many people have you slept with this week? Zero the fuck

17: What size is your bed? Queen.. slay

18: What is your Song of the week? LIKE A GIRL DOES PEACH PRC

19: Is it okay for guys to wear pink? Absofuckinglutely. I'd love my Henry to dye his hair pink if he would

20: Do you still watch cartoons? Not really but family guy yes

21: Whats your least favorite movie? OMG. DUNE!! FUCK DUNE. my god. worst/boring movie I've ever seen in my entire life.

22: Where would you bury hidden treasure if you had some? Bury? In dirt.. what else can you bury treasure in?

23: If you’re a girl, bra size? If you’re a guy, pants size? 10D I think, last time I got sized was when I was 14

24: What do you dip a chicken nugget in? Mustard or Sweet and Sour sauce. Mostly nothing though

25: What is your favorite food? Salmon Sashimi <3 <3 <3

26: What movies could you watch over and over and still love? TWILIGHT <3 <3 <3

27: Last person you kissed/kissed you? My Henry on the 7th November 2023

28: Were you ever a boy/girl scout? I did scouts when I was like 8 or 9 and met this cute girl named Chloe and we were such good friends at camp. I think she gave me one of her lip glosses or something. I wish I could find her again

29: Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine? Only if my nips n bits were covered with an emoji or something

30: When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper? I don't remember but it definitely would've been to henry. Or today to pippa for work

31: Can you change the oil on a car? Nope but I can fill my tires with air :)

32: Ever gotten a speeding ticket? Only once I think

33: Ever ran out of gas? Never I would die

34: Favorite kind of sandwich? Banana & Honey or Cucumber & Salt <3 <3

35: Best thing to eat for breakfast? Bacon, egg & bbq sauce toasted sandwich or poached eggs on toast

36: What is your usual bedtime? I aim for 10:30 but sometimes its midnight

37: Are you lazy? No, I value my well deserved resting time

38: When you were a kid, what did you dress up as for Halloween? :( I wasn't allowed

39: What is your Chinese astrological sign? Ox I think

40: Are you horny? No I am not, that is very rare

41: Do you have any magazine subscriptions? Nope

42: Which are better legos or lincoln logs? the fuck are lincoln logs

43: Are you stubborn? Noo my mind can be changed very easily

44: Who is better…Leno or Letterman? Crystal meth santa claus <3

45: Ever watch soap operas? I like the big bang theory sue me

46: Are you afraid of heights? I would say not

47: Do you sing in the car? YEA I DO VERRRRY LOUDLY

48: Do you sing in the shower? On occasion

49: Do you dance in the car? I wiggle

50: Ever used a gun? Nooo

51: Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer? When I was 9 years old

52: Do you think musicals are cheesy? Some of them.

53: Is Christmas stressful? Not really

54: Ever eat a pierogi? Yess with Henry & Greg in San Francisco <3

55: Favorite type of fruit pie? Cherry or blueberry

56: Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid? A cleaner only cuz mum once said they get paid a lot HAHA

57: Do you believe in ghosts? Yea friendly ones only

58: Ever have a Deja-vu feeling? I have a specific scenario I see every time I get it. I'm swinging back on the blue classroom chair in my year 7 classroom. The big windows are to the left and I'm at the front left of my class. I think Mrs Ralph or the other one was teaching. Every time.

59: Take a vitamin daily? No but I would if the gummies weren't so expensive and had enough nutrition in them

60: Wear slippers? no

61: Wear a bath robe? nono makes me look like an idiot

62: What do you wear to bed? The only thing I want to wear to bed for the rest of my life is the avocado toast oodie sleeping shirt that henry got me. It's so fucking ridiculously comfortable you have no idea

63: First concert? Die Antwoord in 2015 but if that doesn't count then apparently mum took me to see Hi-5 when I was little, I don't remember it tho

64: Wal-Mart, Target or Kmart? Walmart if I'm in America, but in Australia I like Kmart for everything and Target for clothes and socks

65: Nike or Adidas? I don't really give a fuck to be honest but Nike aesthetic is more pleasing to me

66: Cheetos Or Fritos? I've never had fritos but I enjoy flamin hot cheetos

67: Peanuts or Sunflower seeds? Neither, those textures are off putting to me. Too gritty

68: Ever hear of the group Tres Bien? No is that French?

69: Ever take dance lessons? Yeees I did, at Denise Hollins Dance Company. I started when I was 3 or 4 and did Teddy Bears Picnic. I stopped and didn't start again til I was 8 turning 9. 2006 Jazz (I want Candy & Footloose) (Must've skipped 2007) 2008 - Tap (Here It Goes Again & Jump n Jive) Jazz (Moving thru Time & Get Up and Dance) Acrobats (Jump Shout Boogie) Finale (Move Shake Drop) 2009 - Jazz (Backstreets Back & Hocus Pocus) Intermediate Acrobats (Batman) Finale (Zombie) 2010 - (my last year forever) Advanced Acrobats - Gold :)

70: Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing? I picture Henry as a professional DJ <3

71: Can you curl your tongue? YA

72: Ever won a spelling bee? We don't have those here

73: Have you ever cried because you were so happy? Nooop

74: Own any record albums? A thank u next single and peach prc

75: Own a record player? nope

76: Regularly burn incense? Occasionally

77: Ever been in love? yessss henry

78: Who would you like to see in concert? ARIANA GRANDE

79: What was the last concert you saw? Peach PRC <3

80: Hot tea or cold tea? Cold!

81: Tea or coffee? I like the taste of tea better but I like the effects of coffee

82: Sugar or snickerdoodles? Don't know what that is

83: Can you swim well? Very well, I won champion girl at my primary school once

84: Can you hold your breath without holding your nose? Of course.. I don't think anyone can't do this

85: Are you patient? I try to be yes

86: DJ or band, at a wedding? hmmmmmmm dj

87: Ever won a contest? Not a contest but a wax kit and some free goodies from norris for guessing the correct number hehe

88: Ever have plastic surgery? Nope only lip fillers 4 times. Dissolves way too quick for me tho

89: Which are better black or green olives? omg fuck I love both so much. my fave is marinated green olives

90: Can you knit or crochet? I do not

91: Best room for a fireplace? Living room I guess

92: Do you want to get married? I am :) already. married. hehe

93: If married, how long have you been married? um one month and four days

94: Who was your HS crush? Luke Ramljak <3

95: Do you cry and throw a fit until you get your own way? No that doesn't work

96: Do you have kids? I do not

97: Do you want kids? I think so. I'm very undecided still. Blairs so cute and I don't think my baby will be that cute hahaha

98: Whats your favorite color? Pppppink duh

99: Do you miss anyone right now? henry henry and henry even tho its only been 11 days

[bts-reveries]

young one | 22

(images in between and at the end!)

JUNGKOOK’S POV

It was one in the afternoon. You have just woken up and you just wanted to close your eyes for the day to go by faster. At one point you know you’d wake up and your girl and your son would be coming back home. At that point you’d get up.

Your phone rang beside you and you opened up one eye. Reaching out to the empty side of the bed for your phone. 

It was your friend.

Sungjae specifically. 

But you weren’t feeling it today so you let it go to voicemail. 

After the call ended, you saw several text messages from all of your friends. From both group chats. Unfortunately, none of them were from Yn. Your friends sent their good morning texts and daily pictures of their kids. It was your guys’ thing to do that. You all just loved each other’s kids so much. Yoongi hyung seem to still be upset over the fact that Hana is starting to attract boys at school. I mean, who can blame her? Just like your other nieces, they were beautiful and definitely will be heartbreakers in the future. Your other friends on the other hand were bringing you food. You don’t like saying no, because you think this is their way of keeping you company and distracted during this sad time... but you just weren’t feeling like it today. 

▼ the text messages you woke up to ▼

-

“What are you up to?” Taehyung called you unexpectedly, but of course, you couldn’t just let his facetime go on a missed call. Taehyung’s different.

“Cleaning,” you answered.

“Cleaning? There’s only one of you, how messy could the apartment be?” he replies. You scratch your head, laughing sheepishly. 

“Well…” you switch the camera to the back camera and show your hyung the mess you’ve made along with your friends.

“JUNGKOOKAH!” Taehyung yells in surprise. “What the heck! What do you do?”

“Uhh… my friends are quite messy..”

“You have your friends over? I never get an invite anymore,” Taehyung says with a pout.

“Well,” you say, biting your lip, “I don’t really invite anyone over, my friends come unannounced most of the time.”

“Do you like them over?”

“Y-yeah.. I guess so. I don’t mind I guess,” you say. “Plus, it would be rude for me to kick them out. They come over and bring me food and I don’t know, they know Yn and I don’t live together right now so I guess they just want to keep me company.”

Taehyung quirks up an eyebrow at you, then squints his eyes. 

“I see… well, if they’re going to come over, unannounced, they should at least help clean up? You know, making a mess in someone else's house is more rude than kicking them out. It’s your place, if you don’t like it, you have the right to tell them not to come next time.”

“It’s okay hyung, don’t worry. I don’t mind. Cleaning up relaxes me anyways-”

“What’s wrong? Why do you need to relax, are you feeling okay?” Taehyung interrupts, feeling a bit worried as he senses something wrong.

“Yeah, I don’t know. I just feel a little off today. But I’ll be okay! Don’t worry about me, I’m sure I’ll feel better after I clean up everything… here,” you answer, sighing over the mess you had in front of you. 

“Okay, well I’ll leave you to it then,” Taehyung says.

“Okay hyung, I’ll see you,” you say, waving at the camera. 

“Okay, well I’ll stop by tonight. I’m letting you know before going like a polite person,” Taehyung says, mockingly. “Bye Jungkookiee~”

“Bye hyung, I’ll see you later then,” you say, ending the call. You put down your phone and sigh. “Okay let’s get started.”

-

After picking up all the mess, the old pizza boxes, the empty cans, and going down to take them to the trash and recycling bins, you were finally done. 

But you didn’t want to stop there. So you went to your room to clean up there as well.

Unsurprisingly, it was pretty clean. It’s mostly empty. It’s pretty empty. Well, the only time you’re ever in there now is to sleep. 

So a U-turn has been made and you went your way to Sian’s room instead. 

Again.

Empty. 

And suddenly, you felt pretty empty as well. 

You dropped the vacuum you were holding onto and walked inside the quiet room. You shivered as you felt a cold breeze. 

You missed the sound of Sian’s laugh and, surprisingly, stepping on his legos whenever you entered. You don’t know how long the two will be gone. You’re hoping not forever. You know it won’t be forever. But you know, you never know what may happen in Busan that might make Yn and Sian stay. But you’re hoping everything goes well there so they can come back home and the three of you would be a happy family again. 

It looked like Sian packed most of his toys and brought them to Busan with him, so the room really felt empty. 

You scan your eyes around the room and scrunch your brows as you see something poking out from underneath Sian’s bed. You walk over, bending down to pull the fuzzy thing poking out from underneath.

It was Sian’s bunny. You frowned at the thought of Sian forgetting his favorite bunny back home. 

This was the first toy the two of you had ever gotten him.

~ flash back ~

“What about this?” You say, turning to Yn, showing her a small stuffed bear. She scrunches her nose, holding her hand on her belly. 

“We call him little bunny… Kookie. Don’t you think a bunny would make sense?” she laughs as you scrunch your nose. She knew the little baby in her belly was going to be just like his daddy. 

“Nevermind then,” You say, putting down the stuffed bear. “I can’t find a bunny though…” Yn walks over to you and pinches your cheek because she thought you just looked too cute when you pout. 

“I hope our Sianie bunny looks just like you,” she tells you.

“Because I’m cuter?” you joke. She glares at you as you say this, making you laugh. 

“Whatever Jeon, let’s find a bunny so we can go home,” she pouts, “we’re hungry..”

“Well let’s get some food then!” Jungkook says, grabbing hold of your hand and, basically, dragging you out of the store.

“Wait!” she says, stopping you from speed walking out.

“What is it, are you okay?” you ask her, putting your hand on her stomach. 

“Yeah we’re fine, but look!” she points. You turn your head to the direction she’s pointing at. And of course, there it was.

A big, white bunny. Perfect for your little one.

-

fast forward months and months and months later ▸▸

-

“Jungkook, can you watch Sian while I take a shower?” Yn asks you. She looked exhausted and you can hear your baby crying on the bed behind her.

“Of course, take your time,” you tell her. She’s been working hard, I mean, you’d like to think you both are. Being new parents and all. Yn finished the school year when she was pregnant with Sian, and she’s going to be taking a break as of now to be a full time mommy. She says she’ll finish whenever she’s ready. But you, you’re done. So as the father of your new, little family, you think of yourself as the breadwinner. 

You didn’t have a super stable job… yet… but what you have right now is good enough. 

You walk up to Sian, who’s still on the bed, pouting. Something Yn says he got from you. You knew exactly what would make him happy.

“Sianie! Look!” you yell, taking out his bunny stuffed toy. Immediately your son’s face lit up, reaching out for the bunny. 

“You love him right! Mommy and daddy got this for you before you even came out,” you explain, poking his little belly, making him laugh. “Mommy says I look like a bunny and she says you hopped in her belly whenever I’d talk to you so she said you’d come out just like me.” You couldn’t help but lean down to pepper kisses all over your baby as he chews on the bunny’s ears. You sigh. 

“Aigoo..Please never get bigger, you look so cute like this,” you pout, pressing a finger to his cheek. 

-

fast forward even more months and a year later ▸▸

-

“Where’s Sian?” Yn asked you from the kitchen, holding Sian’s lunch. You look at her with wide eyes, knowing darn well that Sian was on the living room floor in front of you eating candy that you weren’t supposed to give him. 

“No idea,” you lied. Yn put Sian’s food down on the table and walked straight to you and you tried to snatch the candy away from your son. But even at a young age, he knew what you were doing and pulled away before you could reach it. 

“What is that?” Yn says as she comes closer, seeing her son sucking on something red. “Jungkook!” she yells, giving you a look as she takes the candy from Sian. He cries immediately and she picks him up from the ground to take him to the kitchen table. “He’s not going to want to eat now, why would you do that.” She’s pouting now because she’s upset with you. 

“Yes he will,” you say, reassuring her. You grab Sian’s bunny off the ground and bring it towards the two.

“Sian look, bunny is going to eat all your food if you don’t eat it,” you say, pulling the tray in front of you. You bent the bunny closer to the food and made “eating” noises to pretend he was eating all of Sian’s food. 

“No! No!” Sian yells, lips quivering as he reaches for the food. “That mine…” he says sadly. Yn looks up at you and smiles. You mouth an “I told you so” at her and she playfully rolls her eyes at you. You slid the tray back to you and Sian and he doesn’t hesitate with his little spoon, digging in. 

“Thank you,” she mouths back at you.

-

fast forward to Sian getting ready for his first day of school ▸▸

-

“Where’s bunny?” Sian says, as the two of you were packing his school supplies. You quirk an eyebrow up at him.

“You’re taking bunny to school?” you ask. He looked at you as if you just asked the STUPIDEST question in the world.

“Daddy he has to go with me. If you can’t come, who else would be my friend,” he pouts, searching under his blankets for his favorite stuffed toy. You smile at your little boy. Who suddenly… didn’t feel so little anymore. Your heart ached at the thought. 

“You’ll make lots of new friends,” you say. “You’re charming, just like daddy,” you say with a little smirk and an eyebrow lift. “Who could say no to you?”

“I still need bunny to make me feel safe daddy… please help me find him,” Sian says, ignoring everything you had just said.

“Okay okay,” you give in, “I think mommy washed him, he should be in the dryer.” Sian turned to you in horror.

“OH NO!” he yelled, “the dryer is dangerous for a bunny!” He tells you with wide eyes, before running out of the room.

“D-don’t blame me! Mommy did it!”

~ end of flashbacks ~

You bring the bunny to your heart as you just got a wave of memories of Sian’s past. You wondered how he’s surviving without his bunny right now. Usually he can’t sleep without it. How did he get through the other nights without him? Better yet, without you?

Yn would usually call you at night to talk to Sian before he slept, maybe that helps. But without his bunny??

Maybe you’re going to have to visit them. You know, just to drop the bunny off. 

Thinking about seeing them in person and even getting to hug them makes you happy, but you know it isn’t right. 

You’re on a break for a reason, you want to give them some space. It’s for the best. 

Anyways, you take his bunny to your room, putting him on your night stand.

Right next to the little box that held your future with Yn.

And your debt to Yoongi hyung.

young one

♛ part twenty-two: bunny ♛

pairings: photographer, dad!jungkook x hostess, mom!reader

a/n: this was different from what i usually do, but i hope you like it!

taglist: @kookietsukkie @brinnalaine @chocobetterknot @silentlyimpractical @aianloveseven @jayhope88 @preciouschimine @noelitaaaa @butterflylion @yogugui @jikachoo @samros95 @yoongis-cumsock @strwberry-jam @sope-and-shine @cosmicdaylight @eatjeanjin @rjsmochii @i-swear-im-a-soft-stan @peoplejustcanthandlemywierdness @prdshobi @marmaribelarova @ramyagovindraj @casspirit0705 @ssyubb @smauslut @taexmichi @codeinebelle @cecedrake2217 @hellotherehoneybee @ddofa @winterwidow27 @ephyra1230 @heartfeltscribblings @nightapple4jk @applejuice5000 @salty-for-suga @lemonteacyst @princessjazzyjazz @bamboozled-jaykay @bigimpression @dammit-jjk @kookie-sun0097 @kookoo-kachoo @waddlebby @taekookcaneatme @jikooksgirl19 @tanumiki @strawberryforever25 @hobiismyhopeu

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[starrynite7114]

TikTok Challenge: Friend

A/N: Back with another! I’m so glad you guys enjoyed the EZ TikTok Challenge. I think I might do one for EZ as well, would you all like to see that? Give me some requests for the EZ TikTok Challenge if you do want me to continue.

Enjoy this latest installment for Angel’s little family! <3

Another update for everything is you and everything is you shorts should be up soon, but I really want to update Snapshots and Misconstrued first. Thank you for patiently waiting for your requests as well, I work on them little by little, I promise, I will have them up soon!

TikTok

Word Count: 1097

Masterlist

Request tagged list: @justahopelessssromantic : @ifoundmyhappythought : @carlaangel86 : @woahitslucyylu : @encounterthepast : @enamoured-x : @thewarriorprincessxo : @briana-mishell24 : @bribri-82 : @chibsytelford : @agirllovespasta : @twistnet : @everyhowlmarksthedead : @trulysuccubus : @jadert15 : @sammskellington : @cind-in-real-life :  @onmyspookysblock : @sadeyesgf : @thickemadame : @summertimesadnesswithadashofsass : @gemini0410 : @elcococruz : @samcrobae : @sesamepancakes : @iambabyharry : @blackmissfrizzle : @mrs-losa : @1-800-imagines : @phoenixhalliwell : @lady-pswrld : @dazzledamazon  : @getyourcrayoncas : @fvckthisbxtchup : @lukealvxz : @scuzmunkie : @lilac-tea-time : @danie1432 : @cocotheclown : @soaronmywings : @my-rosegold-soul : @buttercup812​ : @un-poetryy : @angelreyesgirl : @sheeshgivemeabreak : @vicmackeybullshxt​ : @bigcreatorwombatdreamer​ : @khyharah​ : @strawberrywritings​ : @cherry-icetea​ : @fuzzy-jellyfish​ : @losolvidad0s​ : @brownsugarcoffy​ : @courtrae89​ : @prdsdjarin​ : @blessedboo​ : @marvelmaree​ : @enamouravecleslivresetlechocolat​ : @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead​ : @thesandbeneathmytoes​ : @dark-twisted-and-mechanical-mind​ : @maddie-georges​ : @pearlkitten33​ : @aquamento​ : @incorrect-mcdanno​ : @that-chick212​ : @rebel-without-cause-x​ : @inscribeddiatribes​ : @kaystacks17​ : @mindless-x-dreaming​ : @justlikebreathing​ : @jadesamhart​ : @imanerdychubbyqueen​ : @deeandbobbymcgee​ : @60shannon​

If you would like to be added to the tag list!

CREDITS TO THE ORIGINAL GIF MAKER!

You decided to cool it down with the TikTok challenges since you were sure Angel was going to kill you if you pulled another one.

Okay, he wouldn’t.

But you were away from your family for the last two weeks, quarantining due to a possible exposure while at work. You tested negative, but you wanted to make sure you exhibited no symptoms.

When you finally came home, Angel didn’t let you leave bed for three days and you expected it. Being back in Angel’s arms was the best thing in the world. And then your babies also joined you in bed, which you truly appreciated.

After another night shift, taking off your scrubs in the garage that you changed into after showering at a friend’s apartment. Making your way inside in your shorts and tank top, you were greeted by Angel, who was up making breakfast. He gave you a sleepy smile, which you returned with a smile of your own.

“Hey babe,” you wrapped your arms around him from behind, kissing his back. “Why are you up?”

“Wanted to make you breakfast baby.” He brought one of your hands to his lips, kissing the back of it.

“You’re too good to me.”

“Yeah, well I love that ass so, gotta keep you healthy.”

You laughed, shaking your head. “Are the boys still asleep?”

“Yeah, they’re asleep.” Angel turned the stove off and placed the eggs and chorizo he cooked on a plate. Turning around, he placed a kiss on your lips and you groaned, loving the feel of his lips against yours. “Maybe you can skip breakfast and I can help you relax a bit,” he moved his lips down your jaw and to your neck. 

It was only seven in the morning and your kids usually didn’t wake up till ten, but you were far too exhausted.

“Rain check?” You pulled away, pouting.

Angel chuckled, kissing you once more. “Alright,” he pulled away, leading you to the dining table, and pulled the chair out for you. Sitting down, you thanked Angel as he placed the plate of food in front of you.

“Babe,” you called out.

“Chocolate milk, got you.” He placed a glass in front of you. 

You spent breakfast talking about your stressful night and Angel just listened, holding your hand as you ate and talked. He loved listening to you and just having these moments with you. When quarantine hit, Angel was absolutely terrified for you. Besides doctors and nurses, you were the one mostly exposed to COVID patients since you were a respiratory therapist. At some point, you two argued about you choosing to work, knowing you could possibly contract the disease and die. You understood his worries, but this was your job.

Once you were done, you brought your plate to the sink and led Angel to your bed. After washing your face as part of your nightly routine, you slid in bed with Angel, your body half draped over his. You loved his warmth even though you loved having the house at 65 degrees so you could sleep.

“Corazon,” you heard Angel call out as you felt yourself slipping away.

“Hmm,” you managed to reply.

“We making a quarantine baby?” 

You laughed. “Let’s talk about it when I’m more coherent.”

==================

You were tying your hair up when your phone rang. It was a text message from Coco.

You opened it and the content of the text message made you cackle.

Kookie Cruz

‘Hermana, do this TikTok with Angel.’

You clicked on the video and it was a little prank where the woman was on the phone and they called their significant other, friend. 

Oh, this was going to be fun. 

Slipping on your AirPods so you could film Angel easily, you found your boys sitting on the couch playing around. Thiago was on the floor playing with LEGOs while Angel was on the couch playing with Raphael. You sat down on the armchair, lifting Thiago onto your lap when he ran over to you. You gave him a kiss and a hug, which he returned. He went back on the ground to continue playing with his LEGOs. 

“Did you sleep well mi reina?” Angel questioned.

“Yes, so good.” You smiled at him.

“Good, you want to stop by pops later? Get some meat?” Angel gave Thiago a look as he threw a LEGO at him. “Stop, you know we don’t throw things.”

“Sorry papi.” Thiago pouted your pout and Angel just groaned. 

“Sounds like a plan.” You pretended you got a call then. “Hey girl, how was work?”

You watched as Angel was playing with Raphael, your youngest shrieking with laughter. 

“That’s good, I’m just here, chilling with my friend.” You saw Angel do a double take staring straight into the camera.

“Friend?! I’m your husband, querida.” Angel scooted to the edge of the couch. “Who the fuck you talking to?” He held Raphael towards you, your baby boy laughing as his father brought him closer to you. “What am I? A babysitter? I’m your husband, baby. I got kids that need to be taken care of.”

You laughed. “Babe, don’t be rude, I’m talking on the phone.”

“That better be your friend, cause if not, I’ll break quarantine and kick their ass.” Angel stood up and made his way over to you. “Do they want to watch a baby? Does your friend want to watch a baby? Your friend? Baby, got me fucked up. Who you talking to?”

You stopped recording and was dying of laughter. Angel saw your screen and rolled his eyes. He sat back down and placed Raphael on his lap. Raphael maneuvered himself off of Angel’s lap and walked over to you.

“Mama,” he raised his arms and you gladly took him in your arms. You kissed the side of his head, hugging him.

You looked at your handsome husband, who was leaning back, watching the two of you.

“You know what, that’s it, it’s on.” Angel smirked devilishly, making your laughter cease.

“What?”

“You play too much, payback is a bitch baby.” Angel was already thinking of all the ways he could prank you. He wasn’t actually upset, your humors was what bonded you two together, but he couldn’t just let you slide.

“Babe, I wasn’t going to prank you anymore, this was Coco’s idea.”

“That’s even worse.” Angel rolled his eyes. “It’s on baby, you ain’t going to win this.”

“Careful there babe, we both know who the true prank master is.”

“Yeah babygirl, and it’s me.”

And that’s how the prank wars started.

[olivarryprompts]

Fanfic Friday #6

Welcome to Fanfic Friday! Each Friday I will post a new fanfic here and on A03. Enjoy x

Read and save it on A03 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/32370130

{Peter Parker’s Field Trip to Stark Industries}

Ships: peppertony, wandanat, sambucky

Warnings: mild anxiety, swearing

Status: married or dating

Wc: 3,281

“-and so that wraps up this lesson. Your homework is to do this worksheet, please hand a sheet back to everyone. I have a quick announcement, and it is very exciting. Given that this is one of the most advanced classes we offer, the school has arranged for us to have a field trip!”

Peter refocused on the word field trip. He didn’t have a good track record for those.

“We will be going to Avenger’s Tower! This is a very exclusive opportunity and you all should be very excited-”

No, no, no, no, this couldn’t be happening to Peter. Not now. Oh god. He had a suspicion this was set up by his basically-father. He was going to kill Tony. His teacher went on to blabber about permission slips and NDAs.

“Class dismissed. Please hand your forms in tomorrow as the field trip is on Friday.”

FRIDAY? How could it be so soon. Peter wanted to die. He headed for the door, but was stopped in his tracks by Mr. Blaze calling his name.

“Yes?” he said, turning around. The class had mainly cleared out by now.

“Peter, you're a good kid, and I understand not being the most popular student in school, but we need to talk about the lie you made up about working at Stark Industries.”

“But the internship is re-”

“This field trip is a great opportunity, and I do not want your lies ruining it for yourself or your classmates. Please do not mention it whilst we are there, or there will be serious consequences.”

“It’s a real intern-”

“Please Peter. You should know better than this. See you tomorrow.”

He was tired and fed up of school when he headed into the hallways to see his best friend.

“Hey,” Ned said, meeting him in the hallway.

“Hey,” Peter replied weakly.

“What’s up? Something happened?”

“Nah, just that field trip.”

“Oh the one to Stark Tower! It’s going to be so fun!”

“Right..”

“You’re not excited? I know you work there and stuff, but still.”

“Hmn uh yeah. No it was more Mr. Blaze being a bitch,” he replied, half lying.

“Still thinks you're lying about the internship?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Wanna come over to mine? Build some lego?”

“Nah, got to be home. Too much work to catch up on with all the patrolling I’ve been doing.”

“Gotcha. Well, see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah see you.”

Peter walked to the carpark expecting to find Happy in his black SUV. He was, instead, met by Black Widow.

“Nat?”

“Hey spider boy.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Figured I’d pick ya up and bring you home. Had a second free.”

He jumped into the passenger seat of the jet black convertible.

“How was school паук?”

“Не очень хорошо,” he said easily slipping into Russian. (Not very good)

“Зачем? что-то случилось? (Why? Did something happen?”)

“Да. У нас есть производственная практика в Stark Industries. Что было бы не так уж и плохо, но мой глупый учитель не думает, что я действительно проходил там стажировку, поэтому он отругал меня. Плюс мое паучье чутье сегодня сильно пошло на убыль.” (Yes. We have a field trip to Stark Industries. Which wouldn't be so bad, but my stupid teacher doesn't think I really have an internship there, so he told me off. Plus my spider sense were going off so much today.)

“бедный ребенок. Я могу чем-нибудь помочь?” (Poor kid. Anything I can do to help?)

“Убить Tony за это? (Kill Tony for setting this up?”)

“Нет, детка. Сожалею." (No can do kiddo. Sorry.)

“Разве ты не можешь рассказать другим Мстителям? Особенн�� папа.” (Can you not tell the other Avengers? ‘Specially Dad.)

“Я не обещаю.” (I won’t, promise.)

"Спасибо.” (Thanks.)

They’d arrived at the tower. There was more to it than he was telling. Ever since he’d moved into the tower, he’d been his safe space. It was his and his families. And he knew it was supid because so many people used it, but still. It felt awful for people from his school to come there. Peter pulled his security card out of his bag, scanning it.

“Peter Parker-Stark, clearance level Alpha 5, all access. Hi baby boss,” Friday, the building's AI called out, “Shall I tell Mr. Stark you’re home?”

“Yeah sure. I’m going straight to my lab, though.”

“Okay sir. Morgan would also like to inform you that she is looking for you.”

“Send her down to the lab.”

“As you wish.”

He hopped in the lift and allowed Friday to take him to floor 89. It was his personal lab. Oren, he’d reprogram Karen, allowed him entry through the glass door.

“Hello Peter, welcome back. What would you like to work on?”

“I’m going to do some work on my web shooters. Play my “workin after school” playlist on, please.”

“Yes, sir.”

He worked peacefully on his shooters design and mechanics for about 30 minutes before Oren alerted him that Morgan was coming up.

“Morgan Stark is requesting entry.”

“Granted.”

The door opened and revealed his basically little sister.

“Hey Mo,” he said, picking up the little girl, “Who let you roam around all on your own?”

“Mummy sent me up,” she smiled.

Peter nodded.

“What are you working on Petey.”

“I’ll show you,” he said, placing Morgan on his work table. He’d quickly made sure there was nothing that could hurt her.

“Web shooters?” she guessed.

“Yep. See I wanted to make them even more efficient so I changed the gears and trigger mechanism.”

She nodded knowingly. She was very smart for her age.

“Nice! Can we build our robot?”

“Sure thing. Oren, pull up the files for Petey-Pie and Morgana’s Robot.” He’d let Morgan handle the name for their creation.

Peter went and grabbed the box that had all their pieces in it. Being careful around the young girl, they continued to work on building the robot, Peter teaching her little things on the way.

So he had a normal evening. Did some fun work, some homework, ate dinner with the lunatics called the avengers, and went to bed.

“If it isn’t my two favorite small children!” Tony said, entering his lab.

“Daddy!” Morgan said, running into her father’s arms.

“Oren, I thought I told you to lock Dad out.”

“Unfortunately your father runs the building, so I could not follow your wanted protocol.”

“Love you too kid.”

“You set up the field trip.”

“Field trip?”

“Yeah. My school’s coming here on Friday!” Peter said, looking up from his work.

“Really? Nope wasn’t me. It was likely someone from PR, kiddo. You do go to one of the best STEM schools in the country.”

Tony had a point.

“Right...sorry.”

“It’s good, kid. What’s got you so wound up about it?”

“Daddy, I’m going to Mummy.”

“Okay kiddo, Friday take little Potts to bigger Potts,” he said with a smile.

“Yes sir.”

Once Morgan left, Tony asked again, “So wanna talk about it?”

“Just, just this is home. My home. And I know that’s stupid because it’s a fuckin 100 floor tower, but I know it. I know it so well, and I just don’t really want kids from my school here. I know I can’t gatekeep a building bu-”

“Hey, hey, it’s not stupid. It makes sense. This place is home and you don’t want them messing with any part of it. I bet most kids in your class wouldn’t love it if people came into their home for a field trip.”

“Yeah. And i-its my safeplace. From everything.” Everything being all the people he lost. His parents and uncle and aunt.

“I get it. Want me to have Pep cancel the trip?”

“N-no, no. All the kids in my class were so excited.”

“Always so selfless,” Tony smiled, “When is it again?”

“Friday.”

“Kiddo, I promise it’ll be fine. If anything, anything happens just get Fri to call me or Pep. Most of the avengers will be around too so you can call ‘em too.”

“Yeah. Thanks. They’ll just try to embarrass me, though,” Peter laughed.

“They will. Do I need to sign something?”

“I’m just going to have Mum do it because her signature is less recognizable.”

“Yeah, okay. Your teachers still don’t believe you?”

“How did you know th-”

“Come on kid, I’m Tony Stark.”

Peter smiled, “Fair enough. Yeah they don’t. I mean they will after the trip.”

“Yeah, that’s the bright side.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll leave you to it then. Don’t stay in here too late.”

The night before the field trip he was so nervous. He ended up eating dinner in his lab. Pepper complained but Tony just told her he’d had a long day and deserved a break.

He knew he should have gone to bed but as each hour passed, he got more and more anxious about the trip. He needed something to take his mind off it, so he just kept working and working. Suddenly it was seven in the morning and he needed a shower. Finishing his eighth coffee of the eve, he headed to the 91st floor where he stayed. Hoping that neither of his parents would notice his all nighter he crept into his room.

After getting ready for school, he made his way back out of his room.

“Morning,” Pepper greeted him, “How was last night?” She wore a knowing smile as she continued to tap on her computer, presumably doing work.

“Fine,” he smiled, “Don’t tell dad.”

“I won’t. You're turning into him, though.”

“What else was expected?”

Pepper just smiled, “Sam and Bucky had loads of pastry delivered to the main kitchen if you wanna pop in there.”

“Yeah, sounds good. Thanks.”

“By sweetie, have a good day at school.”

“Thanks. Love you.”

“Love you too, hun.”

Peter jumped in the lift taking him up two floores to the Avengers hang out space.

“Spiderling!” Sam and Bucky greeted

“Old Man, bird boy,” he smirked.

“You look like shit, паук,” Nat said from the sofa.

“Thanks,” he said, putting a few of the delicious looking treats onto his plate. He also grabbed himself another cup of coffee. He plops himself down next to Nat on the sofa.

“Did you not sleep again? You look like hell.” Tony said, entering the kitchen to get himself another cup of coffee.

“Right back at you dad.”

“Fair.”

Steve entered, coming back from his run.

“Hey,” he said, addressing the room, “God kid, you look like yo-”

“OKAY NEXT PERSON TO TELL ME I LOOK SHIT IS GETTING IT!”

“Oh sorry,” Steve said, rolling his eyes. Clint came in with Pietro at his side, “What’s this about Peter looking shit?”

“I hate you all,” he said, finishing his last bite. He laid down on the sofa.

“Oh ah kid, something I needed to tell you. Right, you can stay here. No need to go to school and back. Pepper wrote a note saying you’d meet at the school because you had a doctor's appointment or some shit.”

“Why is spider boy here?” Sam asked.

“School field trip.”

“Only you Parker,” the White Wolf laughed.

“No embarrassing me, please,” he begged.

“Hell no, this is a great opportunity,” Sam said, looking over to bucky.

“I won’t,” Nat said with her hands up.

“I’m in, team embarrass Peter,” Clint said, high fiving Bucky and Sam. At that moment, Wanda walked in heading straight for her girlfriend’s arms. Nat happily let her fall into her lap.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Nat asked with some level of concern.

“Everything,” Wanda said.

“Drama queen,” Pietro scoffed. Peter closed his eyes and let the conversation happen around him. At some point, Tony had left. Clint had gone off to train with the Dumb and Dumber, and Steve claimed he had a mission brief.

Friday’s voice startled him, “Peter, I recommend you head downstairs as your class is arriving in 5.”

“Five what?” Peter questioned.

“Four,” The AI continued.

“A LITTLE MORE WARNING WOULD BE NICE!”

Peter grabbed his shit and jumped into the private elevator as fast as he could. Luckily, he was in the lobby mere moments before the class entered. He pretended just to be standing around.

“Peter,” Mr. Blaze called, “Please come and join the class.”

Peter nodded, spotting his best friend amongst the crowd.

“Hey,” Ned greeted.

“‘Sup.”

“Good morning everyone,” said the tour guild, “My name is Tamiko Hiroki and I will be taking you on your tour today. To start, I will be giving you all badges. When I call your name please step up and collect it.”

She made her way through the basket and by the time she was done only one student had not received a badge.

“Hey, Peter didn’t get a badge,” Cindy Moon, a kind girl in his physics class, called.

“Apologies, there doesn’t seem to be one in here for a Peter.”

“Uh I-i, I have m-my own. Thanks Tamiko.”

“Oh okay, cool. Please follow me to security.” The class seemed shocked. Was the kid telling the truth about his internship?

“So, there are many different levels of pass here. Guests get Beta levels 1-5 depending on what they are doing. Then there’s Omega’s who are interns and such. Next is the scientist and important employees with Zeta. Finally there’s Alpha for major important roles such as department heads. The top level, Alpha 5, contains the most important people like the Avengers who live in the tower and CEO Pepper Pots.

“Tamiko Hiro, Clearance level Beta 5.”

“Don’t worry everyone, that's Friday, the AI who runs the building. Just keep passing through.”

“Philip Maiko, Clearance level Beta 1.”

“Michelle Jones, Clearance level Beta 1.”

Peter headed towards the back, allowing all the students to go in front of him. He prayed they didn’t hear his security protocol. The rest passed through with Beta 1. Then, Peter came up.

“Peter Parker-Stark, clearance level Alpha 5, all access. Hi baby boss,” Friday, the building's AI called out, “Shall I tell Mr. Stark you’re home early?”

“I’m on a field trip, Fri. No need to tell D-Mr. Stark. Thanks.”

The class, once again, looked shocked.

“Why does Penis Parker have all access?” Flash called to Tamiko.

“I do not believe I have clearance to disclose that information, but Peter here may answer,” Tamiko said, glaring at Flash.

“I mean I’ve said it before. I am a personal intern of-”

“PETEY!” Bucky yelled, giving him a hug from behind.

Deflated, he responded, “Hey Buck.”

“Is that all I get?

The two settled on one of the many sofas in the lab. Pete’s head in Tony’s lab.

“Sorry about that, Pepper explicitly told all tours to stay off this level, but it seems as though her assistant made an exception because she thought it was okay as you were on the tour. Pepper fired her.”

Only his mum, “She didn’t have to do that.”

“She was furious.”

“Oh I’m sure.”

“I know this is your safe space, so-”

“It’s okay. No one came in.”

“Yeah.”

“You feeling any better?”

“Just tired. Thanks.”

“Always kiddo. You wanna go upstairs? Take a nap?”

“Sure.”

[sortasirius]

Celebrations

Pairing: Dean/Cas

Words: 1644

Warnings: mentions of abuse, my usual hatred of John Winchester

AN: I miss him a whole lot.  Happy birthday, Dean <3

Read it on AO3 here!

When Dean turned four, his mother baked him a birthday pie instead of a cake.  It was apple, his favorite, and made the house smell like heaven the whole day. Better than heaven, as Dean would learn when he was much older.  They threw a party for him, surrounded by his friends from pre-school and their parents, they were allowed to run around the house because it was too cold and snowy to play outside for long.  Dean still remembers the way that he slid across the wood floor to get to the umbrella base in tag, laughing as his friends chased him.

They had opened presents and Dean had gotten new Hot Wheels and two new Lego sets.  He remembered that he got the first piece of pie with a candle in it, that they had all sung him happy birthday, and that they had ended the day with a snowball fight and hot chocolate in front of the fire that night, where Dean was curled between his mother and father, sleepily holding the little black muscle car he had been given in his hand as his mother stroked his hair.

That was the last birthday party he ever had on earth.

When Dean turned ten, his father had taken him shooting. They had stood in front of some stationary cans, a makeshift gun range in the middle of the woods of Colorado, and John had kept him at it until he could hit every target with his eyes closed. He had known how to hold a gun from the time he was six years old, but he swelled with pride when he hit one of the cans, looking up at John for approval, getting a half-smile and a hand ruffling his hair every so often.

When Dean turned sixteen, he spent the day in school staring out the window and wondering what his father was hunting this time.  He wanted to be there, he wanted to be out there saving people, hunting things, protecting his father’s back, showing him that he was ready for the life.  He wasn’t cut out for school his report card that he intentionally made worse than it could be showed that, he wanted to show his father that he was really made to be a hunter.  Too bad he couldn’t even fake being bad at math and science, he always got As in those classes, no matter how hard he tried to fail them.  His birthday gift that year was a 100 on a math exam. Damn.

When Dean turned eighteen, he had already dropped out of school to hunt with his father.  Sam would stay behind, only hunting during summer break, focusing on school, which Dean had never been able to do.  He and his father took out a pair of ghouls, and John had given Dean a swig of his whiskey as a reward.  It was, in Dean’s mind, an invitation to becoming a man.

When Dean turned twenty-one, he got shitfaced at some seedy bar while Sam studied for the SATs and John was on a hunt turned binge drinking session.  They hadn’t seen him in two weeks, but that was becoming more and more routine, as every time he was home, he and Sam would fight.  Dean would always get in between, always protect Sam, and if that earned him a black eye or two, so be it, he would do anything when it came to Sam.  They had thrown him out of the bar when last call came around, and Dean had sung happy birthday to himself as he stumbled back to their hotel, ignoring Sam’s bitchface as he focused on his flashcards, determined to escape the life that Dean knew he was stuck with.

Birthdays came and went like any other winter days after that.  Twenty-two, thirty, thirty-six, forty-one, they all passed without incident, without mention, without name.  Dean didn’t mind, it was easier that way anyway.  At least, that’s what he told himself when he got himself a slice of gas-station pie on a solo hunt when he turned thirty-seven.  He was lucky to be alive at all.

Dean doesn’t make it to forty-two, he misses it by a few months.  Time is supposed to move differently in Heaven, but Dean still knows that it’s his birthday.  He spends a lot of the day at the lake by his perfect little house, not really wanting to be bothered.  He knew this day would be harder for Sam down there on Earth than it would be for him. That still bothered him, even in the middle of paradise, that Sam was hurting and he couldn’t help him through it. It was an adjustment, they all told him, something that you got used to, but how does he forget that he left his brother, the man he raised, that he loves with all he has, on Earth by himself. He’s not by himself, he reminds himself fifty or so times, staring out at the smooth, glassy surface of the water ringed with aged trees, he has Eileen, he has a life.  

People seem to understand that he wants to be alone, no one swings by like they usually do to check in with him.  They seem to understand that his first birthday in Heaven may be one that he wants to spend alone.  Except for the dark-haired angel who settles in his own chair at the end of their little dock, sitting silently and watching the water with Dean.  Dean occasionally takes his eyes off the water and settles on the angel, in his beat up Zeppelin t-shirt and jeans and boots, his messy hair and his bright blue eyes.

“Should I tell you happy birthday?” Cas eventually asks, looking at him directly, not out of the corner of his eyes, “Or is that not appropriate anymore?”

“You can,” Dean watches the minnows twirl in the water at their feet, not able to meet Cas’ eyes, “Are they looking for me?”

“I told them not to,” Cas responds, not taking his eyes off of Dean’s face, “I figured you’d need a little time.  Many of them have been here for years, they forget that it takes some getting used to, especially for someone stubborn like you.”

Dean rolls his eyes but huffs a laugh in spite of himself.

“It’s not so much me,” he lets the words fall out of his mouth, uninhibited here as they were so often on Earth, “It’s more Sam.  I still worry, even though I know he’ll get here eventually.”

“You raised him, it’s understandable,” Cas’ hand reaches for Dean’s and Dean takes it automatically, feeling the tightness in his chest ease at the feel of Cas’ strong, warm hand in his.  He still wasn’t used to it, wasn’t used to having Cas to wake up to in the morning, having Cas hold him at night, having someone that understood him so fully, inside and out.

“Should I stop being mopey?”

“You know as well as I do that I can’t tell you what to do,” Cas smiles, “But I think Ellen might like it if you came to the Roadhouse today.”

“Why?”

“Because she wants to give you a real birthday party.”

Dean feels the way he did when he was four again: almost weightless with excitement.  He doesn’t even pause, just stands up and starts dragging Cas to the Impala, speeding towards the Roadhouse and the idea of his very own birthday party in nearly forty years.

It’s just like he had always dreamed, one of those things that really made him believe this was Heaven and not just some made-up djinn dream.  Everyone was there, everyone he had loved and lost and found again in the sprawling eternity that was this place.  They had his favorite food, his favorite music, his favorite beer…everything was perfect.  Well, he thought so anyway, until his mother came out of the kitchen with a steaming apple pie with a candle in it and set it in front of Dean.  They all sang happy birthday, and he took the first bite of his birthday pie with a smile so wide he thought his face might split in two.

“Did you set all that up?” Dean asks Cas when they’re in bed that night, Cas tracing the freckles on Dean’s skin with his long fingers.

“No, I just planted the seed.  Mentioned to Mary and Ellen that you might like a birthday party.”

Dean listens to the trees rustle outside their window for a while, trying to find the words.

“How’d you know?”

“Because I know you’ve never really been able to celebrate you, any milestones, any accomplishments.  It’s not a hunter’s life.  It’s not that I knew you wanted it, it’s that I wanted that for you.  You deserve it.”

Dean closes his eyes at the words, letting them wash over him like a warm shower.  He had never really thought he deserved anything, but he was starting to understand that, whether he deserved the party or the family and friends he had, he might, just maybe, deserve Cas.

“I want to give you a birthday party.”

Cas laughs, pressing his lips to Dean’s hair.

“I’m many millennia old, I don’t think I ever had a date assigned.”

“Pick one, then.”

Cas considers for a while, hands still running along Dean’s skin.

“September 22, the fall equinox.”

Dean doesn’t question it, just leans up to press his lips to Cas’.

“I’ll start planning,” he pauses again, steeling himself to find the right words, “Thank you.  For today.  I love you.”

“Of course.  And I you.”

Dean falls asleep that night dreaming of Cas, of birthday pie, and of fall birthday parties.  He learns to let Sam be, to be his own person, to celebrate himself, for a change.  

[hopelikethemoon]

Falling Apart (Javier x Reader) {MTMF}

Title: Falling Apart Rating: PG Length: 1600 Warnings: Angst (allusions to post-partum depression) Notes: You can find everything about Maybe Today, Maybe Forever here. Set in July 1997. Javier’s POV.  Summary: Javier grapples with the aftermath. 

@grapemama​ @seawhisperer​ @huliabitch​ @beccaplaying​ @beccaplaying​@thewallpapergoesorido​ @twomoonstwosuns​@gooddaykate​ @livasaurasrex​ @ham4arrow​@plexflexico @readsalot73​ @hdlynn​ @lokiaddicted​ @randomness501​ @fioccodineveautunnale​  @roxypeanut​ @snivellusim​ @lukesrighthand​ @historynerd04 @mrsparknuts​@ ​​​​​@awesomefandomsunited​​​​​​ @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @exrebelshocktrooper​@synystersilenceinblacknwhite​ @ah-callie​ @swhiskeys​ @exrebelshocktrooper​ @u-wakatoshii @space-floozy@cable-kenobi​ @cool-ultra-nerd @himbopoes​@findhimfives​@pedrosdoll​@frietiemeloen​@arrowswithwifi​ @random066​ @uncomicalhumour​ @heather-lynn @domino-oh-damn @cyarikaaa​ @ahopelessromanticwritersworld​ @im-still-a-pieceofgarbage @ksgeekgirl​@yabby-girl @xqueenofthecraziesx @punkass-potato @coredrive @pascalesque@theduchessofkirkcaldy @queenquazar​ @sabinemorans​ @buckstaposition​@holkaskrosnou​ @yespolkadotkitty​@seeking-a-great–perhaps @kochamcie​@jaime1110​@katlikeme​

“Coffee?” Javier questioned as he rose from the kitchen table with his own coffee cup. His brows knit together as she lifted her gaze to stare back at him with visible indifference written on her face. 

“Sure.” She pushed the coffee mug to the edge, before picking up the newspaper that had been sitting idle on the table and flipping through it.

He hesitated, words forming at his lips, but he didn’t have the balls to actually speak them. Instead, he snatched up the mug and headed for the coffee pot. 

It felt like he was living with a stranger. 

The woman sitting at his kitchen table looked like the woman he loved, but everything about her felt wrong. Sometimes he still saw her — that glimmer of mischief that was followed by cold feet finding his leg beneath the covers; that raw sense of humor that meshed with his and drove their friends crazy. 

But most days it felt like she’d been replaced with a pod person who wanted nothing to do with him. She was stand-offish at best and entirely disinterested at the worst. 

Maybe he had understood her correctly. Maybe she truly was done with him. 

Javier was well aware of the fact that he’d been overbearing during those last few months of her pregnancy, but he hadn’t anticipated that his worry would turn into this festering wound that wouldn’t heal. 

“I was thinking about taking Josie to the park,” He started gently as he sat the coffee cup down on the table in front of her. 

“Newborns aren’t exactly park-friendly.” She retorted, folding the newspaper in half and sitting it aside as she reached for her mug. “I’ll just stay home.”

Javier took a sip of coffee as he sat down across from her, “I don’t mind handling Sofía—“

“You don’t mind handling her?” She scoffed, rolling her eyes. “I’m perfectly capable of watching her at home. Alone.”

He swallowed thickly, nodding his head as he glanced down at his half eaten breakfast. His stomach turned in response to the coarse tone she’d taken with him. “Right.”

Where had he gone wrong? Was it the guilt he felt that had done this relationship in? Wasn’t that what precipitated her confession that she didn’t want to do this. 

Whatever it meant. 

No, he knew what she meant. 

And fuck if it wasn’t tearing him up inside. 

The idea of having to rebuild his life without her scared the shit out of him. It had been bad enough when there had been a few hours where he thought he’d have to plan her funeral — but somehow the idea of existing in the same world with and without her didn’t seem right. 

Javier rubbed at his jaw as he stared down at his coffee cup, brows drawn together as he considered how to navigate this perilous situation he found himself in. “I would really like for you to come with us. And I’m sure Josie would like to have the two of you there.”

She chewed on her bottom lip as she glanced at him briefly, “Alright.” She offered a shrug, before rising to her feet. “I’m going to take a shower, then.”

She hadn’t even touched her coffee. 

He sighed heavily as he watched her walk out of the kitchen. His gaze lingered on the empty space she had occupied, before he leaned forward on his elbows and raked his fingers through his hair. 

Javier pressed his tongue to the inside of his cheek as he stood up to clean the table off. 

He’d already called his father to try to talk through the situation — to try to figure out why this was happening. But even that hadn’t helped. It was like she was drifting away at sea and he was completely helpless and drowning too. 

Steve and Connie had come to visit a few days ago and she’d seemed almost normal. But he wondered how much of that was just for show — she was good at putting up these false walls of emotion, to mask how she really felt. 

It pissed him off that he had gone through four years of psychology classes two decades ago and it did fuck all now when it really counted. 

And she was too damn good at performing in front of friends and family, Javier doubted Steve would believe him if he brought up the way she’d been acting around him. 

“Josie,” Javier started as he walked down the hallway to her bedroom, pushing the door open. “Can you get ready to go to the park?”

“But I already am dressed, daddy!” She said as she looked up from the Hot Wheels track she was building. 

“You can’t wear pajamas to the park,” Javier chuckled as he watched her adjust the tiara she had on. “Do you need help?”

Josie pursed her lips thoughtfully before nodding her head, “I want to look like a princess, like mommy.”

Javier smiled a little, “Your mommy is a princess, isn't she princesa?” He said as he pulled open the dresser drawers to find her something to wear. She had a plethora of dresses with like shorts sewn into the skirts — which were perfect for the park. 

What would life look like if all of this fell apart? Would he get the girls part of the time? He hadn’t had to have these thoughts since Colombia — back when everything hung in the balance. 

His father had talked him off that ledge, the last time they’d talked. Chucho was convinced that they were both stressed after everything that happened. He’d been there too, after all. He’d seen it firsthand. 

But the thought of packing his life back into a joyless apartment was a sobering thought to consider. 

“Hey babe,” She popped her head into Josie’s bedroom, fresh out of the shower and toweling off her wet hair, “Did you use the sunblock last? I can’t find it.” 

Javier perched on the edge of Josie’s bed, “Should be in the kitchen in the junk drawer.” 

“Perfect.” She smiled, like nothing was wrong and it felt like a genuine display of emotion. “Next time we go to the store, remind me that I’m out of my apricot scrub.”

“Alright,” Javier nodded, turning his attention back to Josie who was wrestling her way out of her pajama top. “I’ll put it on the list.”

“Josie, are you wearing a crown?”

Josie turned towards her mother, beaming from ear-to-ear, “I wanted to be a princess racecar dry-beaver.”

“You wanted to be a beaver?” She snorted. “Are you trying to say ‘driver,’ babydoll?”

Josie nodded her head, “A race dri-ber.”

“Close enough,” She grinned, looking towards Javier then. “How about ice cream after the park?”

“Ice cream?” Josie gasped dramatically. 

“I can’t say no, now.” He smirked, his heart beating a little faster. “Whatever you want, baby.” Whatever it would take to make her feel normal again — Javier was willing to try it. He’d walk on Legos barefoot if it meant normalcy could return to their lives. 

Sofía started crying in her nursery and her mother’s face fell. 

“Do you want me to get her so you can get ready?” Javier offered cautiously. 

“No.” She blinked slowly as she looked down the hall, “I’ve got her. Just get Josie ready.” 

“Come on, JoJo. Let’s get you dressed.” Javier clicked his tongue against his teeth and held out her dress for her. 

He knew he had to be patient — she’d gone through hell too. Physically and mentally. They had both built up so many expectations for Sofia’s birth and in the end it had been a nightmare. 

Javier hated to even think about what life might’ve been like if they hadn’t kept trying. If they’d given up… but how could he think that way? Sofía was the grumpiest little angel — she was perfect. And if they hadn’t had her, they wouldn’t have Monica in their lives. 

Or Stevie. 

Or even the house they lived in. 

Even with the current situation, he wouldn’t give up the best parts of his life just because they had hit a rocky patch. A really rocky patch. 

And then there was the added pressure of knowing what she’d gone through in her own childhood. The pain, the trauma, the instinctual reactions that came with her upbringing. It was why she soldiered through everything without speaking up — she’d rather suffer in silence than feel like a burden. 

Was she suffering now and he was just blind to it? Outside of how it inconvenienced his life.  

“Daddy, why are you sad?” Josie questioned, standing in front of him pouting. “You’ve gots to smile.” She wagged a finger at him, before poking him between the eyes. “You’ve got them wormy lines!”

Javier couldn’t help but laugh, scooping Josie up and tickling her until she squealed for him to stop, her laughter an infectious sound that warmed his heart. 

This was his family and he wasn’t going to lose his partner. He’d weather whatever storm he had to weather, if it meant coming out the other side. The good already outweighed the bad, he just couldn’t let him get caught up in his own melancholy. 

His own guilt. 

That guilt still ate him alive at night. 

She’d wanted to have a second child to give him the experience he’d missed out on. Now he wished he’d missed out on this experience. 

He had wanted to experience the joy of fatherhood firsthand, but instead he got to suffer the nightly fears that the love of his life was slipping through his fingers. 

And maybe he should bring it up with her. Talk about it. But what if she confirmed his worst fears? What if she truly did want out? He was a fucking selfish man still, and he wanted to hold onto this until it was pried out of his hands. 

He wanted to roll over at night and reach out for her and not fear that he’d feel her flinch away from him. He wanted to walk into the nursery while she was feeding Sofía and not fear that she’d bite his head off about hovering. He wanted all the things he had been blessed with when Josie was a baby and he’d taken for granted. 

Javier had realized the merit in the saying — you never realize how good you have it, until it’s gone. And she already felt one foot out the door of their relationship. 

[blushing-starker]

For my Gracie dear. What would I do without you in my life? Merry Christmas darling. @vaguekiwi

"Well, you wouldn't really be in this position if you had accepted my proposal, baby cheeks. In fact, I'm practically drooling over the thought of you saying fuck it and coming to visit with a few surprises beneath that second skin you're rocking." Two sentences, two very different tones of voice, both trying to coax him in. Reprimand and flirt, the only possible courses of action for Wade when it came to them.

"So I guess it's true what they say; chivalry died when you were born, Wade. Every single conversation between us is proof and the world knows it." He grinned as soon as he heard the exaggerated gasps over the landline, always loved these tennis matches with his partner in crime.

Sure, the 'red devil' of Cliffwood often threaded barely subtle, often outlandish innuendos into their interactions and never denied the neighborhood a chance of seeing him draped over Peter, but it was, God forgive him, fun. Exciting and a little thrilling.

And also past their bedtime. So to speak. "I gotta go and I know Wanda likes to cook late. Go help her in the kitchen, Mr Gifted Hands. Vision might give me an A in the next exam if I told him I encouraged you to make his favorite lasagna." It won't happen, obviously. The Maximoffs, because Vision had adopted the name on his second date with Wanda long before their wedding, were usually chaotic neutrals that tried sticking to the right side of the law. Hopefully, Mr Maximoffs' morality would at least allow the man to add a five point bonus on Peter's next physics test.

"Oh, you finally admit my hands are gifted, Mr Parker? How forward of you." If there was one thing that he loved about being friends with the incorrigible Wade Wilson, it was how the man oozed sex like it was nothing. His surety in it, in flirting, in courting and joking made Peter feel at ease. Most people, even those like Mr Rogers with his slightly conservative views, enjoyed Wade's antics because they were harmless.

Most of the time. The guy had slept with two thirds of the town, after all.

"I'm not sleeping with you, Wade. What would Vanessa say of-"

"Please, the woman basically throws me at people in the hopes of watching me sleep with them."

"you being with me before her?"

"..."

Peter squinted at a shiny red nail, worried he'd somehow messed up Morgan's job of decorating him in the Christmas spirit. The lamp next to the couch is a tad dimmer than usual, right, he has to swap the bulbs. He'd completely forgotten in the midst of playing with Morgan and Rocky, baking them brownies, battling the upstairs shower mold, decluttering the toy boxes and throwing something semi appealing for dinner. There was a spare light in the, was it the garage? No, his memory had been reduced to physics laws and the kids' allergies, but Peter's sure he would have noticed. Maybe Morgan had hidden them in the office, Rocky liked chewing on light bulbs so it's not too unlikely

"Shit, Parker, now I'm thinking about that, Jesus. Christ on a bicycle! Hmm? It's nothing, Wanda, just Peter being a brat and a tease."

"Hey, I'm not a brat!"

"Says you. I bet a certain member of the awesome facial hair club could evidence the opposite. Actually, I'll go right over and ask, hey!" The sound of Wade distinctly face planting onto the Maximoffs couch sent Peter into enough hysterics he could barely make out what Wanda was saying.

"I sincerely apologize for the little devil-"

"I'm almost two heads taller than you!"

"that can't seem to mind his manners no matter how many times we try to teach him how to be human."

"It's," God, he's wheezing like a freshman first day of gym with Coulson, "perfectly alright, Miss. I'm the one that should say sorry for keeping him up so late, I know he has chores to do around the house. Lovely Christmas lights, by the way. I think you guys might win the competition again this year."

There's a tiny worm of guilt crawling up his throat; how could he distract Wade when Wanda had her hands full with an energetic baby ready to sprint out of the house at any moment?

"Oh sweet Peter," she drawls out the vowels, like they're honey and she's trying her best to stretch them out, savour them, "you really think so? I thought the yard looked perfect, but Vision insisted on decorating the roof to 'ensure our win against my dear brother in law'. And please, a happy Wade that's finished his teasing for the day is wonderful for us. He cleans faster and doesn't kiss my cheeks as much."

"Wait, you did the roof?" He knew the Maximoff siblings were intense, had witnessed Pietro stabbing flamingos into Clint's lawn just to add some color to his already bright remodeling a weeks ago.

"You haven't seen it? Tell Morguna's father to take you outside to see it while the kids are watching television. That way you can go back with an excuse if you get too nervous with him."

Peter spluttered, ignored the fact his cheeks were flaming, pretended he couldn't hear Wade's howling through the phone. "I don't, I wouldn't, it's not like, I mean. The, the kids will probably sleep early tonight."

"Perfect, you won't have an excuse and he'll finally kiss you. Oh, Vision. Hello, dear, I'm saying goodbye to Peter. That idiot might kiss him tonight."

"Hello? Hello, Peter. I'm very happy for you both; but may I request you kiss after midnight? I'm afraid I made a substantial bet regarding that kiss and was hoping to get Clint back over Banner and Natasha."

Great, he'd died and entered a hell where the only thing he could do was stutter and flush crimson. Typical Parker luck, really.

"SurebyeMrandMrsMaximofflaterWade."

He slammed the phone back on its pedestal, dove into the leather couch and screamed until his throat ached.

--------

"Daddy? Peter, daddy's here! Don't let him go to our room until we're done with the Christmas card, please!" He yanked his head from under the cushions, scrambled to the door, tripped over Morgan's race car, narrowly avoided the destruction of Rocky's Lego chop shop, hastily stashed a pink apron in the drawers by the door, failed to straighten his sweater (a gift from the kids' grandmother) and took all of ten seconds to fix his hair before opening the door. In the exact moment the owner of the house leaned against it to enter.

There's a second where realization kicked in, worry is splashed over both their faces, he darted forward to help so the man's heart didn't shut down on them right then, said man wanted to preserve such a young, healthy body; they tried to control the damage.

They failed. Spectacularly. Crashed into each other, somehow elbows and knees sunk into bad spots, bone snapped, ligaments wept in pain, a chest became winded, one of them got a black eye and the other a constricted throat. This was, of course, before it started raining and two idiots got drenched while piled up on the front door.

Peter gasped, wasn't sure whether it was better to lie under his dream, his wet fantasy, his goal in life or allow his brain some oxygen.

To be fair, this would only happen the once. He could breathe for the rest of his lonely life.

"Uh, welcome home, Mr Stark. How was work to, today, sir, that's not my thigh." Wade would know. Jesus, Wade would find out Mr Stark touched his dick for the first time and it wasn't even on purpose.

"Kid, I'm so sorry. Here I was wondering if I could give you your Christmas gift without ruining the box and now look at me. Peter, you don't have to come back to work if you don't want to-"

"Wait, you got me a gift, Mr Stark?"

"I will pay you for this whole month, obviously." The man shuffled back, attempted to shakily stand up like a foal and immediately slid down onto the sleek young man.

"Not come back to? Mr, ow, Tony, I'm not going anywhere. Not on Christmas, not ever. Look at me." Don't look at what's between my legs, Peter prayed, don't look at how you are between my legs, don't look.

Tony Stark glanced down, inhaled sharply and snapped his gaze to the au pair's. He may have leaned against what he hoped was his Christmas gift. Maybe.

"I'm not leaving, Mr Stark." The rain kept drizzling into the house, his throat continued to ache, the distance between their two bodies remained the same. But there was something in Mr Stark's eyes now, yes indeed, something Peter had resolutely ignored for the past six months while working with the sweetest family he'd ever known. It was the same something Wade yelled about when talking about his best friend's employer's face as it regarded the au pair.

"I think Wade might kill me if -"

"Rhode's is gonna choke me out if-"

"Are you two gonna kiss or not?"

They risked whiplash to peer right at, or, in Peter's position, upside down at Morgan and Rocky who unflinchingly stared at the ridiculous site their fathers made. Rocky even shook his head the way Tony did when he was disappointed. Little Morgan criss crossed her arms and Peter thought he'd sob because that's just how he taught her.

"We were going to put mistletoe on the door when you came in; we finished the holiday card months ago so that was the one thing left on the to do list."

"Months ago? I helped you two make one last week!"

"Oh yeah, how were you going to hang up mistletoe, daughter mine? There's no nail." A soft thwump over the doorway. It seemed Clint had given Morgan her own bow. And she knew how to use it.

They collected their courage, scraps of reduced pride, some drool and a tiny drop of sweat before turning to the man they'd been waiting for for so long.

"Mr Parker, will you do me the honor of bestowing a kiss upon an old man with creaking bones and heating hair?"

Oh. Oh, this was happening.

"I love your hair and I'll get you a walker that has a cup holder for water and a few pain pills. Mr Stark, will you kiss a kid from Queens who's so into you the red devil of Cliffwood himself doesn't dare sleep with either of us and get in the way?"

"Well, first of all. A walker, really, am I that old. Second, nice call on the pain pills, very good save on the hair. And please. He'd never get in the way of us two-"

"Great, are you gonna kiss me?"

"Why, Mr Parker. Don't mind if I do." It was a soft statement he would otherwise confuse as a plea.

"Fucking finally." That was a bit more of a pained gasp instead of a sigh of relief, but Morgan and Rocky were doing enough sighing for the both of them afterwards.

Afterwards though, when the blood is finally distributed to the right places

"Yeah, I think I broke my wrist and you should get that throat checked. I'll get the car."

"Tony, it's the fifties. I can get the car while you call Bucky to look over the kids. Anyone talks to me and they'll think you had something to do with my throat."

"That is a fantastic idea, sweetheart. Save it for later, maybe raincheck?"

"Get the car, Tony."

"Yep. Come on, you rascals. Help an old man out."

----------

Wade can't look at Tony without howling, mutters something about a limp wrist while Vanessa sighs and apologizes, compliments Peter on surviving life with a ridiculous best friend by his side. He says it's ok. Wade's his go to guy for whenever Peter has to get his head in the game and his lips on Tony's.

[hiremeyuehua]

Get to know me tag

tagged by @hoseom Can always count on them for some tagging entertainment. (Even if I also forget to do these...)

Thankkyouuuuu. ♡

when is your birthday? - 2nd July baybeeeeeeee which I share with my birthday twin @obligatoryidolblog Hehehe we’re like Seungyoun & Yibo.

what is your favourite colour? - Red.

what’s your lucky number? - 2, 3, 4 & 7... I like to think...

do you have any pets? - Aye, I have 3. A Cat, a Bearded Dragon & a 25 yr old African Grey Parrot.

how tall are you? - 5″5′ aka cute height.

how many pairs of shoes do you own? - I have 5 that I use on the regular, then probably 5 older pairs I keep for different activities. (I use shoes until they have holes in them before throwning them away, or else it’s a waste.)

favourite song? - I have many, I should probably insert a playlist or something... but atm N.Flying- Let Me Show You.

favourite movie? - I’m a cinephile & majored in Film... That question is N/A... but anything by Wes Anderson... also my favourite childhood film is Matilda because I am one with Matilda.

what would be your ideal partner? - ♡ Kang Daniel... ♡ Goofy, foodie, & a highly introverted nerd that likes Spiderman & LEGO... but I can’t just pick someone like him off a supermarket shelf... So I’ll go with soft & trustworthy with a sense of humour. (Preferably a dark haired one, but I’m not picky. As long as we can lounge around reading manga & snacking, we good.)

do you want children? - Nope. However, if I did, I’d like to think I would adopt. Just makes sense. Thought of growing a sprog & popping one out it weird.

have you gotten in trouble with the law? - ...not yet... see A. to Running Q.

what colour socks are you wearing? - Currently none, my feet are warm... Please... No pictures...

bath or shower? - Shower, but occasionally I’ll soak in the bath. (It’s a must as I suffer from Hypermobility.)

favourite type of music? - Hmmm probably Rock/Indie/RnB.

how many pillows do you sleep with? - *sigh* Not enough... but 2 under my head with a memory foam plushie. Then 2 body pillows on either side of me & a shiba plush to hold whilst I sleep. (I can’t sleep without the latter, not for security purposes, hypermobility is just no joke peoples, the act of sleeping is very painful sometimes. & also I have boobs... if you have boobs too, you’ll understand.) 😬😬

which position do you sleep in? - 1 arm under a pillow, the free one holding something, 1 leg straight, 1 bent & sideways. (If I can sleep that is... lmao) 🥴

what don’t you like when you’re sleeping? - Noise. & Light. I’m an extremely light sleeper. I can’t sleep without earplugs & an eye mask or else I will murder someone, so please do not try to talk to me as I fall asleep. Also warmth. If we be hugging whilst sharing a bed, do not be offended if I take breaks. ♡

what do you have for breakfast? - I don’t like breakfast, but it’s important to eat it so I usually have a Nature Valley biscuit & a bottle of water, does me fine til dinnertime. (& by dinnertime, I mean lunch. Not dinner, as I call that tea. Don’t ask questions, I’m from Jon Snow land.)

have you ever tried archery? - Nope, I was banned from ever trying but I’ve always wanted to. It’s badass. (L.S.S: I used to own a paintball gun & was a VERY good aim...)

favourite fruit? - Strawberries & Cherries . My party trick is the thing with the stalk... FYI.

favourite swear word? - B*stard. My family is part Scottish 🇫🇮 so it’s fun to say & hear. Also I grew up watching Sean Bean in ‘Sharpe’ so it feels right as he wasn’t born too far from where I live.

do you have any scars? - Aye. Oh boi do I, but people barely notice them until I bring them up. I have a Harry Potter-esque one from when I split my head open as child that’s mostly covered by freckles... a pretty cool one on my right ear from when I fell into a stack of VHS tapes that I’d made into a castle... several on my knees... a small one above my upper lip & the most recent one is on a boobie from when I had my heart monitor implanted. It sorta looks like a ‘W’ or a little butterfly... Kinda cute I must say.

are you a good liar? - I have been known to spin a tale or two for comedic purposes.

what’s your personality type? - INFJ (It hasn’t changed in years, so I stand by it.)

what’s your favourite type of girl? - Human. & Alive & Nerdy.

left or right handed? - Right, but slightly ambi depending on the task.

favourite food? -  Cake. Or an English roast.

are you clean or messy? - Clean, but if I’m stressed, you bet my room will be a mess.

favourite foreign food? - Korean Seafood Pancake & pork buns, basically any kind of sweet or savoury buns. GIMME.

how long does it take you to get ready? - Depends on the day, but 30mins if I’m showering & dressing & drying my hair. (It’s pretty long, I need a haircut)

most used phrase? - “Gotta risk it. To get the biscuit.” Amongst many others.

are you a good singer? - Who knows. I hate Karaoke.

do you sing to yourself? - If no-one is around, then yes. But when with friends you’ll find me singing my own parodies to popular songs for my own amusement. The most popular is Jealousy (KFC) by Monsta X.

biggest fear? - I shall not reveal this incase my enemies are reading... but I’ll say humans. They’re very scary.

do you like long or short hair? - On myself... long, but I am jealous of people that can rock the short hair.

are you into gossip? - Nah, aint got time for it. Have too many films & dramas to watch in my free time & himbos to simp over.

extrovert or introvert? - Ambi, but highly introverted. Humans irk me & drain my mental battery. I need all the juice to get through a single day.

favourite school subject? - Art & Media.

what makes you nervous? - Everything & Nothing.

who was your first real crush? - Ooof. Hard pass.

how many piercings do you have? - I used to have my ears pierced as a kid, but they’re closed up now, I would like the top of my right ear pierced though. I think that looks really cool.

how fast can you run? - Very fast. Faster than The Flash. Probably even faster than Koro Sensei. Definitely Mach 20+. My brain thinks even faster than that. It’s a gift. Fast & Furious who? Fast & Furious Me is what it is.

what makes you angry? - People without manners. Also people who aren’t open minded & do not think before they speak. Words scar.

do you like your own name? - Aye, I do. It means ‘to bind/snare’ & also ‘noose’. In Scottish Gaelic it’s ‘Beathag’ [Bey-ahk] which means ‘Life’. Which I find pretty cool. I like all my names. Middle & last name include. They have nice meanings.

what are your weaknesses? - My own feelings.

what are your strengths? - My own feelings. I’m also extremely loyal. I’ll do anything for my friends.

what is the colour of your bedspread? - Currently black & white. Chic.

colour of your room? - Cream, but I’m moving soon, so who knows.

-le fin-

tagging: @24hoursofdaisy @ceruleansoleil @summerstormsandbacon @wdzday6 @mypansy @lovelyeo & anyone else that wants to join.

[elisaphoenix13]

Before The Dawn (Ch. 1)

Tony was quiet but Cassie understood why. He just lost his entire family and half of his friends, and only Diana had survived the snap the adults were talking about. When Tony saw Cassie, he asked about Scott and Steve had told him that he was missing and her mom and stepdad were either out of reception range or victims. So Tony had her pack her things and took her Diana with him after he recovered from his near month in space.

That was how she found herself in the backseat of his car and on their way to a new house he said he bought, with only the radio to fill the silence and Diana's periodic cooing. Cassie didn't feel it was the right time to strike up conversation and that it was best to leave Tony to his thoughts for now, and she kept herself entertained with either a book or playing with the baby. When Diana started fussing though, Cassie immediately reached into the diaper bag between them and grabbed what she needed to make her a bottle.

A water bottle, formula, and a baby bottle were all fished out and she carefully poured formula and water into the bottle before closing it tightly and shaking it. Just like Stephen showed her. Cassie loved helping him with the baby so she asked him to show her how to do things so she could help when he needed it. She was glad she did because Tony needed it now more than ever. He wouldn't need to make as many stops and maybe they would only need to make one before they got to the house they were going to.

Diana quiets immediately when Cassie offers her the bottle and the baby drinks hungrily as Cassie holds it. She was getting hungry herself and Tony seemed to read her mind because he briefly caught her eye in the rearview before he looked back at the road.

"We'll be there in about half an hour. Think you can hold out?" Tony asks.

"Is there food there already?" Cassie asks.

"No. It will be delivered tomorrow but there's somewhere close to the house we can drive through."

"I can wait." Cassie nods.

Tony answers with a nod and Cassie pulls the bottle away when Dia is finished with it and sticks it back in the diaper bag. She keeps her entertained with some toys and then eventually a teething ring and before Cassie knows it, Tony is pulling into a drive thru and asking her what she wants and then putting the bag of food in the passenger seat before he's driving away again. It was another ten minutes before he was pulling onto a gravel road and the sound of crunching under the tires drew Cassie's attention out the window and the scenery around them.

The first thing she saw was the enormous lake. It was too cold to go swimming but maybe when it warmed up, Tony might distract himself and take her out. She didn't keep her hopes up though. Tony was hurting and depressed and needed time to mourn, just like the rest of the world, and Cassie knew he had to have that time. She did too. Her dad was missing as well as her mom and stepdad...and it was possible they met the same fate as half of the world. For all she knew, she only had Tony and Diana.

Tony parks and turns off the car before he gets out to open the back door and unbuckle Diana to pull her out. "Don't worry about our bags just yet. Can you get the diaper bag and the food?"

"Yeah." Cassie nods and gets out of the car and grabs Diana's diaper bag before she closes her door, and the bag of food from the front seat before following Tony inside. "Where is Dia sleeping?"

"Her own room. Everything should be set up. I'll have one of the baby monitors in my room." Tony responds. "Go ahead and eat. I'll take her up and lay her down after I change her."

Cassie hands him the diaper bag when he reaches for it, and then sits at the table with their food as he disappears up the stairs. As she bit into her chicken nugget, Cassie looked around the cabin and almost frowned when she noticed that it was only furnished with the bare essentials. At the tower, it always felt like a home because it always had something personalized lying somewhere. But here? There wasn't a pile of books in the corner, there wasn't a completed lego structure sitting on an end table, no baby toys strewn about…

She decided she needed to help change that whether Tony liked it or not. Maybe she didn't have anything of Stephen's, Peter's, or Harley's, but she had her things and Diana's. She would help make this a home too even if it wouldn't be the same as the tower.

Tony returns downstairs and sits across from her and then pulls his hamburger out of the bag. "We'll get the other bags when we finish eating. You can go find a room you want." He frowns. "Uhh...you don't need help with taking a shower or anything do you?"

"No. I can do it myself." Cassie says and finishes her last chicken nugget.

Tony visibly sighs with relief. Cassie had a feeling he wasn't comfortable with the possibility of having to help her but she was old enough to take care of herself.

She waits until he finishes his dinner and then they go back outside to grab their bags from the trunk and she carries hers in and upstairs. All of the doors were open except for one and she figured that was Diana's room. So she looked into the nearest one, glad that it wasn't the master bedroom, and went in to put her bag on the bed. She takes her time unpacking and putting her things away, takes a quick shower, and then goes to bed. She didn't fall asleep straight away though. That was when she took the time to cry for her parents. For the family she found in the Avengers. Cassie was lucky Tony was willing to take care of her.

She cried herself to sleep.

When Cassie woke up the next morning, the first thing she heard was Diana crying but figured Tony would be tending to her soon enough and got up to get ready. By the time she had gotten dressed and brushed her hair, Diana was still crying and Cassie frowned as she left her room. She checked the master bedroom and found Tony asleep in bed and after some quiet investigation when she snuck in, she discovered that he had forgotten to turn his end on. Cassie decided he needed the sleep since even she knew he was notorious for staying up for hours or even days, and she snuck back out of the room and closed the door silently behind her.

Cassie then walks into Diana's room and finds the six month old baby sitting up in her crib with tears rolling down her cheeks. When the ten year old steps closer, Dia calms down a little and holds her arms up as Cassie lowers the railing to the crib and hiccups when she picks her up.

"Are you hungry Dia?" Cassie asks and takes her over to the bed in the room to change her.

The changing table was too high for her to use so the bed was her next option. Cassie grabs the plastic keys for Diana to play with while she changes her diaper and gets her dressed, and when she was done, she picks her back up and leaves the room.

"I think your Daddy has some baby food for you. Want to try some apples?" Cassie giggles when Diana babbles in response and takes her down to the kitchen to put her in the high chair.

Once she was certain the baby was secure, Cassie looked through the diaper bag that had been left in the living room and pulled out a little glass container of pureed apples and blueberries. She fed Diana about half of it and then cleaned her up and took her out of the highchair, and then carried her over to her swing in the living room. She didn't see it the night before but she didn't see the high chair either so Tony must have set them up for a brief moment of distraction. Once Diana is buckled into her swing, Cassie goes back over to the diaper bag to make her a bottle and gives it to the baby and turns on the tv to a preschool show to keep her occupied.

Cassie had taken to watching how Tony and Stephen (and even the boys at some points) took care of her and made note of every single thing. But now that the baby was taken care of for now, she had nothing to do but wait until food was delivered so she could have breakfast. Cassie put the jar of baby food in the fridge for later and as quickly as she could, she went up to the room to grab her coloring book and pencils, then ran back down to sit in the living room at the coffee table to color since she knew it wasn't a good idea to leave a baby unattended.

It was another hour when Tony finally woke up and came stumbling down the stairs. Both Cassie and Diana looked over at him and the man glanced between them before sighing in relief.

"How long have you been up?" He finally asks and Cassie shrugs.

"About an hour."

"Shit...and you fed her and everything? I woke up and realized that I never turned on the monitor--" he stops rambling and rubs his eyes. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You needed the sleep." Cassie says easily. "When will the food be delivered?"

"Uh...should be any minute now actually." Tony steps over to pat her head. "Thanks for taking care of her. Think you can watch her for a little while longer? I want to get Friday up and running."

"Uh-huh."

Tony sighs and crouches down to kiss Diana's forehead and he disappears into the garage where Cassie assumed he was going to set up his lab. True to his word, the food delivery came about fifteen minutes later and Cassie brought it all in and put it away, pulling out a large bowl to put on the counter and set the fruit in it. Once that was finished, she poured herself some cereal and took it back into the living room after putting the milk in the fridge and ate at the coffee table. Diana happily babbled at her cartoons as Cassie ate, and when the girl was finished she got up with her bowl and even took the baby's empty bottle from her to wash and put away.

As she was setting the bottle on the drying rack, Tony walked back in and Cassie pointed to the fridge. "I put the food away."

"You did?" Tony raises an eyebrow and opens the refrigerator to look inside and finds it stocked and organized. "Guess I know who the boss of the house is."

Cassie giggles and puts the step stool away and returns to the living room as Tony finds the coffee and sets about making himself coffee and breakfast. She knew he would probably only willingly make himself food today, but she would make sure he ate no matter what. She wanted to do her dad and Stephen proud and make sure Tony took care of himself.

"Cass? Did you eat?" Tony asks.

"I had cereal!" She calls back as she colors in a flower with her orange pencil.

"What did you give Dia?"

"Half a jar of baby food and some formula."

"How do you know to do that?" She hears him mumble to himself but doesn't answer him. "Uhh...I think I'm almost done with Friday." He says a little louder.

"I can watch her. It's okay." Cassie responds.

"It's just for a little longer. Promise." Tony says as he pours himself some cereal.

It became apparent to Cassie after that day that she would be just as responsible for Diana as Tony was.

If not more.

[angelsswirl]

Vellichor

The One With Very Chaotic Pool Party

"Sugar, we're going down swinging."

Peyton knocked on the door harshly, "Ryland! Hurry the fuck up! Everyone's already here and I haven't even gotten to shower!"

A huff came from behind the locked door, "Go use the one in moms' room!"

"Oh! I can't believe I hadn't thought of that!" Peyton rolled her eyes, even though her older sister wouldn't see it.

"See, there you go."

"That was sarcasm, dipshit. Mom is in there."

"Peyton! Don't call your sister a dipshit!" Jisoo yelled from somewhere in the house.

"How did she even hear that?"

Ryland finally exited the bathroom a few seconds later. Her hair was tied back in a immaculate ponytail with a baby blue scrunchie that corresponded with the rest of her hot weather outfit.

Peyton glared at the young woman, "What were you even doing in there? You look exactly the same?"

Ryland gasped, terrified, she quickly backed into the bathroom again and slammed the door shut.

"Sleep with your eyes open." Peyton muttered at the locked door.

"Peyton! Stop threatening your sister!" Jisoo yelled again.

"What the hell?!" Peyton yelped.

You frowned as you left your bedroom, Kaleb sat on your hip, his swim trunks and rashgaurd coincidentally matching Ryland's baby blue outfit.

"Your mom's right. You need to stop threatening your sister with bodily harm when she does something you don't like."

Peyton's frown deepened, "It wasn't a threat. It was a suggestion. I'd hate for it to be an unfair fight."

You just stared at your youngest daughter, "You know, when Lia dropped you on your head as a baby I didn't really think it would manifest itself into this."

Peyton pouted, "Lia dropped me?!"

"Well, technically it was Jisoo and you landed on the bed. Just..head first. In your mother's defense, she didn't know Lia was going to jump onto her stomach. You were on her chest. It was like those big air blob things you see at summer camp on a lake. It was actually kind of funny. You thought it was too while you were in the air. After you landed, not so much."

"And somehow I still love you." Peyton deadpanned. In all honesty, that story made a whole lot of sense.

"I love you too!"

Kaleb tugged on the collar of your shirt lightly, "Build?"

You smiled at your youngest, "Yeah, we can build. I think mama moved your legos outside, is that okay?"

Kaleb thought about it for a second then nodded. He didn't care where his legos were as long as he got to use them.

You urged Peyton along one more time, before setting off to the backyard.

~•~

"You're going to burn a whole through the poor kid's head if you don't stop staring." Sana said as she pushed the meat around the grill some more. She didn't know what she was doing really. But she was precariously watching a YouTube video with instructions. YouTube University to the rescue once again.

"She wants to defile my child. I know this as fact. That's all I was thinking about at that age." Jisoo said without breaking her gaze.

"And yet, you remained a virgin until 27. Funny how stuff like that works itself out." Irene spoke up, she shooed Sana out of the way of the grill and set about fixing things.

"If I lost my virginity at 27, how would I have had Lia? Oh, you were joking." Jisoo pouted.

"Got it in one." Irene's words dripped sarcasm, "I thought you got over that. Seulgi and I met at 19 and 18, you didn't seem to have a problem about that then."

"I was also 19 and neither you or Seulgi are my fucking daughter. How would you feel if Maya just suddenly walked into your house claiming your sworn enemy's kid was her mate?"

"I killed all my enemies back in the late 90's."

"Could you give me two seconds of sincerity, Irene? Please." Jisoo's shoulders slumped.

Irene rolled her eyes, "Is Maya happy in this scenario?"

Jisoo looked as though she didn't want to answer that question, "Well...yeah."

"Then I'd be happy for her. Like you should be with Ryland."

Sana nodded along with Irene's statement, "As far as I can tell, neither Rosè or Taylor are bad people. Ryalnd is happy. Shouldn't that be all that matters?"

Jisoo huffed defeatedly, "Fine. You're right. I'm going to go talk to the kid."

Jisoo practically stomped off in the direction of the teenager.

Irene looked on with a proud smile, "You know, Sana? I think our little girl is finally growing up." She wiped a fake tear from her eye.

"The ribs are burning." A voice stated from the side of them.

"Shit!"

"Oh hey, Jennie. When did you get here?"

~•~

"Ryland, do you mind if I scare the shit out of your girlfriend? Thank you." Before Ryland could respond, Jisoo dragged Taylor away by the arm.

Taylor stood up straighter and puffed out her chest, "Hello, Mrs. Kim. My name is Taylor Bae-Park and I-"

"Look, kid. I don't need all of that. I just need to know a few things. Do you love my daughter?"

"With every single breath I take."

Jisoo tried to keep her scowl to a minimum.

"Are you treating her right?"

"I like to think so."

"Are you pressuring her into anything she doesn't want to do?"

"Of course not."

Jisoo sighed, "That's...good to hear. Alright, if you end up going all the way with this thing then so be it. Just promise me this, if she ever starts acting like...well, herself and you can't take it anymore, just bring her back. Her mom and I are use to it."

Taylor nodded stiffly then saluted, "You have my word!"

"Did you just sal-you didn't-I'm not..whatever." Jisoo took a sip of the beer she had completely forgotten was in her hand.

Taylor began to walk away, but Jisoo stopped her, "Hey, Taylor? Tell Chaeyoung I said 'Hi'." Taylor nodded with a smile, then jogged back to the edge of the pool.

Jisoo stayed rooted to the spot, almost jumping out of her skin when arms encircled themselves around her waist.

"That was very hot." You practically purred into Jisoo's ear, "You being all protective mama bear. It's a shame we're hosting this little get together, because if we weren't I'd get down on my knees for you and-"

"Okay! Why don't you put a pin in that thought for now, while I go completely submerged myself in the pool for about 10 minutes, yeah?" Jisoo shuffled out of your arms frantically.

You only laughed hysterically as Jisoo awkwardly hobbled to the pool edge then jumped straight in.

"20 years later. Still got it." You gave yourself a mental pat on the back.

~•~

"Jesse Kim! You are way too old for me to have to tell you to stop standing on tables." Lisa shouted up at her son. He had always been a climber. He had given her and Jennie multiple heart attacks as a baby.

Jesse only smiled charmingly at his mother, then set about continuing to do what he was doing, "Friends, Family! I have an announcement to make!"

He had managed to catch everyone's attention, though most of them probably wanted to see if Lisa would throw a shoe at him to get him down.

"As you all know, I was going to go into my second year of college at Julliard, but what you don't know is that last week I got a signed a record deal with Columbia records!" He smiled brightly.

The rest of the partygoers clapped enthusiastically.

"But they suck."

"Peyton!"

"Not only that, but after talking with my 'rents, I've decided to say fuck college and I'm going to perform full time."

"You just couldn't keep it PG, could you?" Lisa took a long sip of her chilled wine. Jesse shook his head with a happy smile.

There's a scraping of a lawn chair against pavement and a dissatisfied huff. No one really notices accept for the people closest.

Jisoo moved to go talk to her oldest daughter, but stopped when a hand is placed on her shoulder.

Jennie shook her head subtly, "I think I have some aunting to do on this one."

Jisoo looked a bit skeptical, but let Jennie walk off in Lia's direction nonetheless, "Alright, but come get me if you need me."

"I got this, Chu."

Lia had stormed around the house to the front stoop. She sat on the step with a huff. An angry tear hit her cheek just before being forcibly wiped away.

"What's up, Li?" Jennie sat on the step next to her. She had a feeling she already knew what the problem was, but it wouldn't do her any good to assume and be wrong.

"...I was supposed to be like you and Aunt Seulgi. But no, I just had to get that stupid disease and it just had to ruin my fucking voice." Lia squeezed her eyes shut to prevent the oncoming spillage of tears. There's an idle throb in her throat as if to taunt her.

Jennie rubbed her back softly, "I know that this is hard for you, Kid. If I knew Jess had planned on doing that, I would have talked him out of it. You know how he gets."

Lia only shrugged and shook her head, "It's whatever. What's done is done. Peyton commited to SUNY. I should be used to it."

"I don't think you should have to get used to your life passing you by. You're not a failure. So, what? You can't sing anymore, but that's not all you are. You're a successful youth soccer coach. You just graduated college. You're completely independent of your parents. Those are all things to celebrate."

Lia nodded softly. Jennie did have a couple of points, "It's just...hard."

"I know, Li, but you're not alone. You've got me, your parents, your siblings, and all of your other family and friends to help."

"Yeah, okay." Lia nodded.

"Now, you want to get back to this party?"

Lia nodded resolutely, "Yeah. Mama said I have to beat Taylor in a game of Chicken Fight to assert my dominance."

Jennie only sighed, "Yeah, that sounds about Jisoo."

[wonderland-irwin]

Neighbour!Ashton

Word Count: 1862

Warnings: None

Summary: Bella gets locked out of her house when a cheeky friend from her past pops up to her assistance.

A/N: This may become a bigger story, I’m not sure what will happen. Let’s see how much people like this one! Neighbour!Ashton is not the title, its the current concept lol until I find a title. Enjoy! Let me know if you want me to continue this story line! If you wanna be tagged in other parts, let me know! (Also I tried to remove unnecessary commas! I edited the best I could)

~*~*~

Unable to get my feet under me, I slipped on the towel I’d placed on the bathroom floor instead of the bathmat and as I fell to the floor, I grabbed the towel rack for aid, and it crashed loudly beside me. Muttering curses under my breath I stood, snatching the nearest towel and wrapping it around myself. 

I fumbled with the lock in the door knob, then once I finally got it open, I hurled myself into the hall. Why was I never able to do anything? All I’d wanted was a shower to wipe the thin layer of sweat I could feel over my entire body off, but I’d barely stepped in and the dogs had begun to bark and howl at something.

I crashed down the stairs, spooking Olive, our grey tabby, and I raced into the front living room. Our shih-tzu’s - a breed of small dog that should be rather chil, however ours were far from - Peekley and Mushroom were standing on the back of the couch in the bay window, heads thrown back barking as loud as they could. 

“Hey!” I hollered, pulling my towel tighter around myself, “shut up!” Usually when they did this there was a person walking past with a dog or the poor paperboy. The dogs refused to stop, and I collapsed on the couch, leaning over them to pull the curtain back. Their barking was slightly valid when I saw the white mail van pull away from our house. 

“Stop,” I hissed at the dogs as the van drove around the crescent. They were usually good with their barking and stopping, but sometimes they got excessive. It was ridiculous.

I pat to the front door, pulling it open, stepping into the hot summer’s day, then pulling the door shut to keep the air conditioning in. There was barely a cloud in the sky and those home during the day were doing garden work. I grinned when I saw the box on the bottom step. A few days ago I had made a large order of novels I had wanted to read on my summer break, and it seemed to have arrived. I expected it to arrive at the house’s mailbox down the road, but it was so big that they had to deliver it right to our doorstep.

Adjusting the towel around me again, I bent to pick the package up when I heard the front door click shut. I shot up, sprinting up the steps and trying to push the door open. It rattled and I cursed. Our front door had an automatic lock that could only open with a key. My dad worked for a lock company and was testing it on our door, and long story short the thing was useless. 

“C’mon,” I begged, rattling the door. It refused to budge and my key was hanging on the hook by the front closet. The dogs started barking from the window, and I shouted for them to stop, the horror that it was mid-afternoon and I was stuck outside in my front garden in nothing but a towel was occupying my mind. I realized I may have left the back door unlocked, and I leapt from the porch, adjusted my towel yet again and darted down the cobblestone pathway, across the hot driveway and up the side of my house to the gate. I reached over to find the hook on the gate, then my stomach turned hollow as my fingers brushed a hard padlock fastened to the hook.

I cursed, balling my hands into fists and I stormed back to the front door. As soon as my dad got home from work I would demand he remove that lock and burn whatever prototypes his company had created. What an awful design.

My parents weren’t going to be home until that evening, and my sister was out with her friends at the amusement park. I was going to be stuck out there forever. 

“Bella?”

I whirled around, grabbing the top of my towel and clutching it to my chest in protection. I stared at the person. It was Ashton. I hadn’t seen Ashton or spoken to Ashton in years. He lived across the street, and we’d grown up as best friends. We got to high school and interests changed, our lives got busier, and we started to drift apart. I missed him sometimes. Sometimes someone would remind me of him, or I’d see him when he was home from college in the dark hours of the night lit by the street lights riding his yellow trick bike in aimless circles. Sometimes I saw his posts on Instagram, or I’d simply just think about him. And I missed him.

But mostly I tried to push that missing feeling away. Tried to pretend it didn’t exist.

“Hi,” I said quietly, staring at him. He was the same as the last time we spoke, which was at our high school graduation and our mothers demanded a picture of the two of us together. He still wore dark jeans and ripped band tees. He still wore black converse. Still had those pretty hazel eyes I knew every girl gushed over. He was a little older, had a couple of tattoos, but he was still recognizable as my old Ashton. 

“You okay?”

Mm, he still also had that cheeky grin. 

His eyes roamed up and down me, and I felt briefly violated before realizing he wasn’t looking at me in a way that meant he wanted to rip my towel off. He was being his usual cheeky self, and was probably very concerned why I was out in the street in my towel.

“It’s a whole thing,” I told him, “but my dad’s stupid lock locked me out of the house.”

“Ah,” he nodded. I nodded in return because I felt awkward, and a silence fell between us.

“Why don’t you come over to my place until your parents get home,” he offered.

I raised my eyebrow, “are you sure?”

“Of course. You’re  family.”

“Thanks.”

I adjusted my towel again, and took the steps slowly. Ashton scooped up my large box of books and quirked his eyebrow at me as he tucked it behind a planter on my porch.

“Books?”

I smiled, “of course!” He chuckled as we made our way across the street to his house.

“The water droplets on your shoulders sparkling in the sun are very pretty, Bella,” he said as we walked up his front porch and he opened the door for me to step through.

“Oh,” I said as he pulled the door shut, feeling off guard, “um, thank you.”

He flashed another smile before calling out to his mum, “Bella’s over!”

Ms. Irwin appeared from the kitchen with wide eyes, “Bella?”

I wondered when the last time was that Ashton and I stepped through the Irwin’s front door like this.

“Hi Ms. Irwin,” I waved, my face flushing.

She beamed, “hi, Sweetheart. How are you?”

“I’m fine,” I nodded, “you?”

She just nodded and said, “you two be good,” before disappearing again.

Ashton rolled his eyes with a grin before putting a hand on my back between my shoulder blades and guided me towards the stairs. As we climbed, I looked at the photographs that lined the wall of Ashton and his little sister and brother. There were photos that had been hanging there for as long as I could remember, but some, like school photos, now showed them as older kids, Ashton as an adult. 

There was one photo that made my heart stutter. It was Ashton and I when we were about six. We were at the zoo, sitting on a bench laughing, my head on his shoulder, his head against mine. We each held a melting popsicle, the red and pink syrup all over our hands, around our mouths and on our chins. I don’t think a photo has been taken of me where I’ve looked that happy since.

“I love this photo.” I pointed it out.

“Yeah,” Ashton who had been at the top of the stairs, hopped down the last few to join me, “that was a fun

day.” 

We looked at it for a moment, then continued to Ashton’s room. I laughed when I entered.

“What?” He asked, rummaging around his closet.

“Ashton, it looks the same!” I wandered around the room. The room itself was painted a dark blue. Ashton’s bed was unmade, clothes were in piles on the floor. He had a desk, where his laptop sat, and in one corner his drum kit, the other a black bean bag chair. Knick knacks and odd belongings sat on shelves and in odd spaces on the floor.

“Like yours doesn’t?” He grinned, passing me one of his t-shirts. 

“Okay,” I laughed, “it might be.” My room was still purple and green. The doll house my dad had made me that I made Ashton play with me numerous times still sat on its shelf. I still had fragments of LEGO upon my shelves. My books cluttered every corner. Posters from movies and musicians covered my walls.

He chuckled, moving to his drawer and rummaging around. I pulled on his shirt, a Guns N Roses shirt with minimal holes, and pulled it down as far as it could go. Ashton passed me a pair of boxers, and sat at his desk as I pulled them on and ditched my towel on his floor.

I felt better now I wore clothes and stepped over to him. Folding my arms across my chest, I leant over his shoulder to see what he was doing. A message appeared on the screen once he’d logged in, and he clicked it.

_dirtycliffo: log in!

I grinned, “Ashton, is that Michael?” I hadn’t talked to our old friends  in a long time.

“Yes,” he frowned, typing back.

weeniebeanie: no

I suddenly exploded with laughter, clutching at my stomach. Then I leant over his shoulder so I could see his face.

“You still have your screen names from eighth grade?”

“Yes,” Ashton grumbled. He was avoiding looking at me, but I could see in his eyes he was smiling.

weeniebeanie: i hate that game

_dirtycliffo: c’mon. Luke n cal also suck

bread: heyy

“You still act like you're in grade eight too,” I laughed, resting my chin on Ashton’s shoulder as he logged into the game.

“Here,” he said, passing me a headset that was on his deck, “listen in.”

I twisted the headphones so we could both hear and Ashton could use the mic.

“Good, you’re here,” came Michael’s static filled voice.

“Yeah,” Ashton sighed, “but it’s not just me here.”

“Oh?” Calum’s voice came. It occurred to me that even though I wasn’t as close to them as I was Ashton, I kind of missed them too.

“Yeah. Bella-Wella is here too,” he replied, calling me my grade school name.

“Stop,” I laughed, nudging him, and he grinned.

“So it’s just like old times? Hey, Bella.”

“Hey,” I called back, and the boys started their game, talking about weapons and strategies. And I listened along. Just like old times.

[purplesurveys]

1003

survey by --rainboweyes--

When you think of this country, what first comes to your mind?

Argentina: We have a local brand of canned corned beef called Argentina, so instead of the country I immediately thought of that food. But if I really have to connect this to the country, I also remembered a wrestler called Giant Gonzales; he hailed from Argentina.

Brazil:  Those “Come to Brazil” hashtags that used to trend all the time on Twitter. Brazil had some reallllly loud fanbases; I’m just not sure if they’re still as vocal now.

Canada: Bret Hart. Also @inchoate-surveys, heh.

Denmark: I don’t really know anything about Denmark. OH WAIT NO there’s Legos, so we’ll go with that.

England: I honestly thought of their dishes first since I find them rather unique and super different from the Asian dishes I’m used to. We don’t really use beans or make a lot of puddings and pies, but I think they’re all interesting. 

France: Escargot and baguette lol. I’m constantly thinking of food, guys; what a shocker. Also the movie Funny Face since most of it was set in France.

Germany: Sauerkraut and long words.

Hungary: I always confuse Hungary with Germany, but the difference is I don’t know a single thing about Hungary. So I don’t actually know how to answer this haha oops, sorry.

Ireland: Niall Horan HEHE. Also the wrestlers Becky Lynch and Sheamus. Ireland’s got a lot of talented folks.

Italy: @justsurveys (:D), Lizzie McGuire, the movie Roman Holiday.

Jamaica: I also first thought of a wrestler. His name is Kofi Kingston and I remembered him because at one point in his career he was packaged to have a Jamaican gimmick even though he’s actually Ghanian, just because of his race and the fact that he had dreadlocks. Like seriously? Classic example of WWE being racist and stereotypical...ugh. It’s truly hard to vouch for them sometimes.

Japan: The brutally honest first thing I thought of wasssss how they took over my country for a few years and subjected thousands of women and children to various forms of torture before killing them.

Korea: Korean food :( Man I miss having jjajangmyeon.

Libya: Their old flag, which was just entirely green. No designs, no stripes, no other colors. Just a good ol’ green flag.

Morocco: I think of Marrakesh and how colorful the place is. I’d love to go someday.

Norway: Northern lights.

Poland: The current Pope. < OMG editing this answer. The Pope I was thinking of was John Paul II, the actual Pole. Pope Francis is from Argentina lmaooooo so sorry

Romania: I honestly can’t tell you a single thing. Slowly starting to realize that I’m not as good in geography as I thought I was, ha.

Russia: Onion domes, I think that’s what they’re called.

Spain: When I think of Spain I always immediately think of the unfinished church, Sagrada Familia is what I think it’s called, if I remember correctly. It’s in my bucket list of places to see, for sure. Then there’s also the 333 years of colonization, but I’m not feeling bitter enough tonight to rant about that.

Tunisia: Not a clue. I’m bringing my ass to read more about other countries after this.

Turkey: Gabie, because she has Turkish blood.

Uganda: That Joseph Kony documentary that blew up nearly a decade ago. I’m pretty sure that was based in Uganda.

United States of America: Trump, Target, cheeseburgers, elderly people on scooters, those machines at the store that count your coins for you, more cheeseburgers.

United Kingdom: The royal family, Black Mirror, accents that sound fancy.

Australia: Barbecue, kangaroos, deserts, Vegemite.

New Zealand: I thought of my relatives who live there. Also Lord of the Rings.

List 3 movies you like in each genre.

Action: Eugh, I hate this genre. Wonder Woman is probably the only action movie I ever really enjoyed.

Comedy: Can romcoms count? I like The Proposal, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, andddddd This Is Spinal Tap. 

Drama: Room, Revolutionary Road, Requiem for a Dream.

Fantasy: Huge pass.

Horror: Midsommar, The Shining, (the original) Carrie.

Kids/Animated: Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Tangled.

Romance: Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Carol, Two for the Road.

Sci-Fi: 2001: A Space Odyssey(!!!), The Martian, Interstellar.

Thriller: Misery, Black Swan, Gone Girl.

Western: Not my cup of tea. The only thing I could think of is Breaking Bad, and that’s not even a movie.

Answer just in numbers.

Number of brothers you have: 1.

Number of sisters you have: Also 1.

Number of the house you live at: Eh.

Number of close friends you have: Off the top of my head, 3.

Number of pets you have: 2.

Number of times you shower a week: 6 or 7.

Number of concerts you've been to in your life: Too many to count if I include local gigs at schools. But if we’re only referring to bigger acts held in arenas or stadiums, 4.

Number of cars your household has: 3.

Number of serious relationships you've been in: 1, but we dated twice.

Number of movies you've seen at the cinema this year: Hahahaha

Number of people who live in your house: 5, including myself.

Number of plug sockets in the room you're in now: 4.

Some more randomer questions.

What food do you have cravings for the most? My cravings are always changing, though. Right now, it would be sushi and takoyaki. We actually just had both last night for dinner, but we devoured them SO fast and now I’m seeking them out again.

What TV shows do you hate to miss on TV? I’m not that attached to any show. I used to religiously follow WWE Raw and The Walking Dead and always wanted to watch both live as often as possible, but those days are long gone.

What do you tend to lose the most? My appetite. As for actual items...probably pens.

The last time someone shouted at you - why were they shouting? It’s been a while since that happened, so I don’t remember.

Would you rather have a cactus or a bonsai? Cactus. I heard taking care of bonsai trees is quite complicated, and I just know I’d kill it within a day or two, if not a lot shorter.

What scary story freaks you out the most? Not really in the mood to think of an answer to this considering it’s 1:07 AM and dark as fuck in my room D:

Are you better with gadgets or cooking? Probably gadgets, but just barely.

How would you rate your own looks? Personality? I hate deciding on things about me. I don’t want to hype myself up too much but I don’t want to drag myself down either lol

What accent is the most attractive? Some English accents are very pleasant to the ear.

Do you get annoyed when people spell your name wrong? Not for the most part since I have the more uncommon spelling anyway. But if someone is talking to me on like Messenger or Viber where my name is blatantly stated and spelled out and they still misspell it, then I get peeved.

[endless-array-of-tom]

Twisted Fate (2/2) [loki x reader]

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Genre: Angst/Fluff

Request: Can I request 12 on fluff/general “how did you get in here?” For Loki and it’s like him coming back to the reader after having left her and it’s been the first tie they’ve seen each other in like 5 years or something. When he gets in the house he sees that she has a child who is his.

Prompt: “How did you get in here?”

Word Count: 3,513

Part 2/2

Click here for Part 1

A/n: I had a lot of trouble trying to make a “read more” break but I finally gave up ‘cause I don’t have a clue on how to do it. If you have idea on how to do it (or make a functioning mobile masterlist & add a link to bio from mobile) PLEASE help me out!! On the other hand I want to apologize for being so late with the next part, but I still hope you all enjoy it!!

“Mommy! Can I have cookie dough?” A young boy, no older than six begged his mother as he yanked his mother’s blouse desperately. His sapphire eyes glowed brightly as they brimmed with fake-tears, completing what was called the “puppy-dog” look.

His mother sighed as she kneeled down, ruffling his raven-black hair mercilessly, grinning widely. “I guess you can, but what about me? What flavor do you think mommy would like today?” The young boy gasped in shock, before staring at the menu in thought.

“How about… (f/f)? You seem to like that one a lot…” he suggested as he somehow managed to climb up his mother and tug her shoulders for support (expectedly).

“I think you’re right, Jay.” His mother smiled as she made her way up to the front, placing her order in…

__

“Here you go, there’s your ice-cream. Now let’s go home, and remember to eat it quickly— it’s going to melt all in your hands if you don’t.” The boy eagerly nodded as he pushed the glass doors wide open, walking down the streets and enjoying his ice-cream in his hands.

The mother laughed as she watched her son pounce around any nearby pigeons, watching them flee made her son laugh happily as he continued his way home. She took a bite out of her own ice-cream as thoughts began to drown her mind, not enough to lose sight of where Jay was going though.

Five years. It had really been five years since he left, without a word nor a trace of where he could possibly be. In the beginning, she was an absolute wreck— crying almost every day and pleading to herself that’ll she’ll see him march right through her doors and apologize to her, accepting both her and their baby. But he didn’t. Not once in five years…

She asked frequently to Thor where his brother would be, but he also had no idea himself where Loki was located. But that didn’t stop her. As she was in her seventh month of pregnancy she gave up on the possibility of Loki ever arriving again, and then the thoughts swelled in: if he wasn’t going be in the picture she would damn make sure she was.

And from there it began; torturous hours of being in labor and delivering a son that became the best (lovable/charitable) person in her life. Thor, accompanying her through most steps of the way had helped name her child…

Jay(lin) Cuyler (L/N).

Jaylin, meaning “the beautiful (blue) jaybird.” Symbolizing that he would grow up to be an intelligent and determined young lad, who’s both fearless and well-protected by the people surrounding him (and vice versa), and full of truthfulness.

Cuyler, was given to him by her family, meaning “strong man.” The dualism was that in Norse it had also meant “archer/bowman,” which could tie into him being incredibly keen and impeccable vision.

Her last name was respectively placed as her son’s last name, due to the fact that she wasn’t too sure how good it would be to have her father’s name there, nor how much he would like it. Besides that, she didn’t think people would be incredibly accepting to know his name was “Lokison,” though to be frank, she couldn’t give a damn about other’s people views of hers, what simply mattered was how Jay was going to have health with it; therefore, she decided to lay it off and not tell him until he was possibly much older.

As they made their way through the cobblestone path, (Y/N) dismissed her thoughts to see her son jump on every big stone in his path, mimicking the god of thunder as he waved his hands through the air, a stick firmly held.

“I am Thor, son of Odin. And I will bring lightning down and scary storms if you don’t listen to me!” He taunted to a squirrel, amazed at how the animal didn’t budge, he pressed on. “You shall then face the mighty wrath of me… don’t say I didn’t warn you…” (Y/N) stifled a laugh as she prepared on what was to happen, seeing her son bang the stick on the ground as he screamed the highest and loudest he’s ever in his entire life.

The squirrel soon reacted, grabbing its acorn and sprinting away deeper into the woods. “Ha! I won, no one is matched for me!” (Y/N) laughed again as she crept closer to her son slowly, careful not to step on a dry twig.

If only Thor could see this… she thought. I would be incredibly insulted, and pleased. Her arms then latched onto the young boy, grabbing him and bringing him up into the air, cautiously swinging him around as she tickled him.

“N-no w-wait-t! M-mom! S-s-to-op it!” Her son cried terribly as a series of giggles echoed through the forest. She soon halted her actions, settling him back down onto the ground. Her son pouted, giving her a very mad look.

“I told you to stop, that wasn’t nice.”

“Well… I did, didn’t I? It just took a tad bit longer than you expected it to be.” She smiled mischievously in response, extending her arm out.

“C’mon, let’s get you back home— we don’t want it to get dark before we arrive now do we?”

The young boy shook his head before springing back into action and running through the path all the way to their home in the woods.

When Jay was born, (Y/N) is certain when she said she had no idea what to do. She mapped out a general idea of how to prepare, read books and articles of becoming a mother, and begged her friends around to help guide her along the way for moral support.

Looking back, she would’ve laughed at the thought of panicking as much as she did— though she couldn’t blame herself for worrying.

Over the years Jay had grown up to become a very handsome young boy. He looked almost an exact replica of Loki, his shimmering personality didn’t help one bit either… In school, all the girls in his class made sure to greet him in the morning and in the afternoon, but Jay didn’t really spare them a glance at that, his primary goal was to get to the LEGOs and play with the other boys before class began.

One thing had started… that (Y/N) had noticed. At night, Jay had begun to get a lot more nightmares— waking up in a cold sweat, but that wasn’t the biggest issue. The truth was, Jay was still half of his father, which meant he was half-frost giant.

Certain times through the night when she checked upon him, his hand would be blue. Next, his arm, sometimes he legs— but never a full-body transformation. (Y/N) wasn’t scared of the fact that he had adopted that gene of being a frost-giant because it wasn’t disgusting at all… really, the ability was remarkable.

But there was a possibility that Jay would one day wake up and see it, and she wasn’t exactly sure how to prepare herself and tell him. Mind the fact, Jay was incredibly scared of monsters, he was… Dinosaurs were neat, but monsters he’d heard of and seen in his books weren’t. And she didn’t want her kid, either to wake up and one day sees it, or someone else. And then they call him a monster.

(Y/N) had grown extremely protective of her son, though she tends to deny it. She wasn’t going to let any punk tell her son he was a monster, because he was far from that.

(Y/N) opened the door as the keys rattled in reply, settling her things down on the counter.

“Jay, why don’t you go run and grab some new clothes for you to change into after you shower? You’re covered with mud,” she suggested, watching as her son eagerly nodded and headed out the kitchen.

What she didn’t expect, was to hear him call out to her.

“Mom?” He asked except she could hear the worry laced in his voice as he called out her name as he called her again…

___ __ A Little Bit Before __ ___

“Jay, why don’t you go run and grab some new clothes for you to change into after you shower? You’re covered with mud,” (Y/N) suggested, the little boy eagerly nodding his head and heading out the door that separated the kitchen from the living room.

As little Jay hummed a tune to himself and skipped across the floor, as he reached the stairs he came to an abrupt stop. His humming died as he whipped his head around, his eyes darting to the figure sitting down on his couch nervously, staring at him; the stranger’s blue eyes staring into his; the man almost looked exactly liked him, except much older.

“Mom?” Jay cried out, scared, as he held onto the stick still in his grasp. His eyes widened as the man seemed to get the hint that he was terrified, and stood up silently, raising his pointer finger to his mouth, and making a small “shush” sound. This, aggravated the little boy more as he scurried near the kitchen door again, calling out for his mother once more. If they hadn’t met on such terms, Jay had a feeling he would’ve really liked the man, but that wasn’t the time.

Jay heard the door swing open and watched his mother rush in, panicked.

“Jay? What’s going on—“ she stopped as she saw the stranger, her eyes widening in surprise. She gulped as she saw the man before them, instinctively grabbing her son’s hand and gently tugging him near her. Crouching down, she ruffled her son’s hair again, seeing his nose crinkle at her actions.

“Honey, I want you to go upstairs and go play with your toys for now, okay? Mommy will be up there, soon.” Jay titled his head to the side in confusion, before gesturing to his dirtied attire.

“But mom, my clothes—“

“Don’t worry about it, okay? Just go and do what I told you to do,” she spoke out, embracing her son. “But make sure, to lock the door.” She whispered to him, his eyes widened as he nodded in response, making his way up the stairs and to his room.

“I love you!” (Y/N) called out, hearing her son soon reply with the same words made her heart swell. As she heard the faint sound of the door closing, her eyes narrowed at the man in front of her.

“How did you get in here?” She questioned quite aggressively as she saw him move from his position, aligning himself across from her as he gazed at her sorrowfully.

“The backdoor was open…”

“Don’t give me that, Loki. I know it wasn’t opened.” She retorted, watching as he brought a hand up to his face, pushing the loose strands of hair back. “Then you already know the answer of how I got in, now I wish to know this… is that my son?”

(Y/N)’s heart dropped at his words, she didn’t know how to reply. Of course, the child was his, but what if he came here for the child? To take him? (Y/N) would certainly lose her sanity, at least the very left she’d been desperately attempting to cling onto, the sanity only being near her son could give her.

“Yes. Why do you wish to know?” She dragged out, watching his every move; as he leaned forward, she stepped back. “He’s a bright young man, clever too.” He complimented, taking another step towards her, watching her reaction.

“I know, no help from you,” she sarcastically remarked, trying to keep her cool in that very moment, afraid what would happen if he found out just how frightened she was on the outside. She took another step back, her hands behind her back in an attempt to hide them from him— her trembling hands.

“I just want to talk, (Y/N). To apologize,” Loki uttered out, taking another giant advance towards her.

“No,” she spoke out. “You had five years to come and talk, to apologize, but you didn’t… what do you really want, Loki? Just what are you doing here?”

Loki gulped, and for the first time… looked stumped. Completely surprised, and guilty. (Y/N) could see it, it was written all over his face, but she wasn’t going to trust it immediately, in case he had other intentions of showing up unexpectedly.

“I just wanted to see how you were doing, to see my son and how he was… and to apologize for everything. Truly.” She stopped stepping backward and took a good long look at him; he looked spent.

He was still devilishly handsome, there was no doubt about it, but it looked like his face had slightly sunken in, the bags under his eyes were heavily noticeable, and his hair wasn’t slicked back and taken care of as he usually had it. To be honest, he looked like a hot mess.

“Sit down at the couch, say what you have to say with me, and then leave.” She declared, knowing that some of the words stung him hard. He complied without any complaints, slowly placing himself on the couch with his hands up in the air, before gesturing to the space on the opposite couch across from him.

(Y/N) nodded as she did the same, placing her hands in her lap.

“Now, what do you want to say to me?”

“I apologize,” he said.

“You’ve already said that, what else?”

“I want to say I’m sorry I’ve betrayed you, to the both of you. I really am. Five years ago, I lost the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and it was all because I was afraid…”

Soon, Loki’s last words (five years ago) echoed through your mind. “I won’t fuck up my child’s life with me being in the picture…”

“At that point in time, I wasn’t ready… and it wasn’t the fact of being scared of what I created, but having to raise it being the person I am. Love,” he croaked out, staring into your bright irises, before turning away to stare at the floor beneath him. “You don’t know the things I’ve done, not even a portion of the terrible crimes I’ve committed… what’s worse, is for some of them… I enjoyed it.”

“The point is… what would happen if he found out who I was? All that I’ve done? And what would everyone else think? He’d be accused of unspeakable things, let alone things he never once dreamt about—“

“So removing yourself from the picture helped?” She mustered out, seeing as his eyes found hers again in a state of panic.

“No—“

“Because it didn’t. Loki, it tore me apart. Jay doesn’t talk about it, but he wants a father, he’s curious, Loki. He needs a father, and I can tell you he couldn’t care who it was! Just someone who’d be there for him through thick-and-thin, and bring him up when he falls! Loki! How long do you think he’ll go on before he realizes and asks who his father is? How mad do you think he’d be if he found out not only who you were, but how you left. Loki. He’s a smart boy, even if I didn’t tell him, he’d piece together it all, and he’d be broken too.”

Loki flinched at her words, hearing the words echo within him.

He’d be broken too. Too.

She was broken too. Much more than she let on… he knew it. But the words dripping from her lips made it much worse, it stung. Badly. So bad he didn’t know what to do— he didn’t know what to say; he couldn’t reassure her, he already overstepped his boundaries by entering her life out of the blue.

Tears filled his vision without him knowing, as he stood up from his seat, ignoring her worried-look.

“I guess in the end… I fucked up my child’s life… even with me not being in the picture.” He said, trying his best to play it off as a joke and chuckle in the end, but all he saw was her vision becoming teary as well. “Not only that, I screwed up the life of the person I love most. No matter what I do, I screw everything up, don’t I?” Loki kneeled down and wiped the tears from his love’s eyes, giving her a small smile.

“(Y/N). I’m sorry, for everything. You don’t have to forgive me, and if you never will, I can accept that. If you don’t want to ever see me again, I can manage it. After all, you’ve gotten along so well without me, both you and Jay will find happiness, whether with or without me. I don’t deserve any of this, anything… really. But I want to tell you all of this before regret eats me alive, and I know it isn’t fair to you… which is why I leave you with the option…”

“Do you want me to leave?”

(Y/N) felt as if her whole world had collapsed again, her heart shattering again. And she didn’t know why.

She shouldn’t be this sad, feel this empty at this moment. She shouldn’t be wanted to grab him and never let go, to desperately feel his embrace again, or to hear him laugh and he smiles brightly.

She was strong, she’s been this strong, for years… she didn’t need a man in her life to make her feel complete, for years…

So why?

Why did she want him to be in the picture?

He left. He deserted her and left her. Her and her son. For years, without a trace, a hint, or even a gesture to say the things unsaid for so long. He loves her. He didn’t say it past tense, he still meant it, he meant every word.

She knew him, his words weren’t empty— they were true. And almost every thought in her mind told her to reject him, to let him rot for the actions he’s done so long ago…

But her heart ached, for so long. And seeing him suddenly appear out of thin air, caused all of her walls to crumble down within a matter of minutes. Maybe even seconds….

She couldn’t believe it after all this time— she still loves him.

Even with all his mistakes, from all of his words, she forgave him so easily, just him returning back— she’d already forgiven him.

Forgiveness is the final form of love.

More tears streamed down her face and she held onto his shirt carelessly, tucking her head into his chest as she shook it furiously.

“N-no,” she whispered. “I don’t want you to leave, even after everything. I should hate you, you know. I shouldn’t even want to see you ever again after what you’ve done…”

Loki’s heartstrings tugged.

“But no matter what you’ve done, I can’t do that. I can’t ever do that to you, Loki. I love you too.” She mustered out, before going limp into his arms as she continued to cry, Loki quickly rubbing soothing circles on her back as he enveloped her fully, muttering all types of “thank you”s to her as she calmed down.

Loki knew it would be a challenge, to confess his apologizes, and see her reaction. He also knew she wouldn’t be open to suddenly returning to the relationship they had five years ago, she needed time to not only forgive him, but he needed time to be able to appreciate all of her, and Jay.

He’d need to earn her love and respect for him again and develop an entirely new one with Jay. But right now, it was unspeakably going to be worth it. Every ounce of energy was going to be dedicated to being devoted to both the loves of his life. Besides, if her words of still loving him were true, then perhaps he still had a fighting chance. Not to restart, but to continue forward…

_____

(Y/N) had disappeared for a bit after their little make-up session, her exact whereabouts unknown to him. All he knew was that she was somewhere upstairs… she could be telling his brother to come and kill him for all he knew.

His thoughts were soon interrupted as he heard her walk down the stairs, and a nervous smile plastered among her face. He watched her peculiarly as she gave him one last promising look, and moving out of the way to reveal their son.

For a second, his breath was gone— sucked out of him. He looked so much like him, like her as well, it was miraculous.

The young boy waddled his way over to him, afraid and holding onto his mother’s hand tightly.

“Jay... I want you to meet— your father.” The boy’s eyes widened at her statement.

“D-dad…?”

Tags:

@jessiejunebug

@hellethil

@atomiczineprofessoroperator

[hailing-stars]

new york’s santa 

for @ardenskyedarcy221b​ @frostysunflowers​ @seek-rest​ @blondsak​ I <3 you all, and are all some of the kindness people I know! hope your holiday season is wonderful and bright 

summary 

“Are you Santa?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “You really think I have the time to be a glorified cosplayer?”

“I didn’t even think you knew what a cosplayer was…” said Peter, trailing off. He shook his head, refusing to let his mind wander from the topic. “Where do you keep the reindeer? Can I meet them?”  

OR

New York City has it's own Santa, and Peter discovers it's Tony Stark, because of course it is.

trope: holidays

read on ao3 or after the undercut 

New York City didn’t always have a Santa.

Peter remembered a time when he was too little to reach over the counters and steal cookies. That hadn’t stopped him, though, because even back before he was sticky, he had still liked to climb.

He worked hard, dragging the step stool in the bathroom, the one he stood on to brush his teeth and wash his hands, all the way into the kitchen, grinning the entire way. He pushed it in front of the counter, stepped up, and reached his hand out. The tips of his fingers brushed against the plate, before he was caught around the belly by his Uncle Ben’s arm, carried out of the kitchen and into the living room where he was tossed down on the couch.

He giggled as he landed on the cushions, near where his Aunt May sat reading a book.

“Be careful with him, Ben,” said May, as she turned a page of her book. Peter looked at her, upside-down, from his position on the couch.

“He’s tougher than you think,” said Ben. He plopped down on the couch between May and Peter.

“Yeah,” said Peter, jumping back up into a sitting position, his wild brown hair falling into his eyes as he did. He extended his arm out, like he’d seen his hero do many times on TV. “I’m tough, like Iron Man.”

“I think you’re much tougher than Iron Man,” said May. She shut her book and set it on the coffee table in front of them. “And much more sensible.”

“True,” said Ben, with a laugh, then his face grew more serious. “Which is why, me and your aunt both, think it’s time we told you the truth about Santa, Pete…”

That was the day Ben and May explained to him that Santa Claus was make-believe. He wasn’t real. There wasn’t a magical place called the North Pole, there weren’t any reindeer out flying around in the sky. They explained it was his job to keep the story alive for his friends and the other kids in class, who probably still believed.

Back then he hadn’t thought it was fair that he had to be the first to realize magic wasn’t real, but now, Peter understood. Ben and May, infinite in their love and their wisdom, hadn’t wanted Peter to think he’d done something wrong when he woke up and saw just a few presents under the trees, when his friends would come to school and talk about getting a whole store.

Families like the Parkers weren’t rich enough to believe in fairy tales.

He’d drifted off to sleep that Christmas Eve, after two kisses on his forehead, a little sad, but loved, and still excited for Christmas morning.

He’d been the first to wake, like always, and when he’d wondered out into the living room where the Christmas tree stood strong, his eyes went wide in shock. There were presents under the tree. A mountain of presents, piled high, covered in bright, shiny wrapping paper and topped with bows.

And there was a bike. The exact one he wrote to Santa about. It was red and gold and had never once had training wheels on it. It had a bow, too.

Peter’s mouth hung open, but it was approximately thirty seconds until he could get any words to come out.

“AUNT MAY! UNCLE BEN! YOU WERE WRONG ABOUT SANTA!”

They were rising up from under the covers just as Peter rounded the corner, bolted into their bedroom and leapt up between them on their bed. He scrambled to stand upright, then jumped up and down, completely forgetting the conversation May had with him just last week about jumping on the furniture.

“Come on! Come on! You have to come see,” said Peter. “Santa bought us lots of presents.”

May and Ben exchanged looks of concern.

“Peter, honey,” said May, taking his hand, while he kept jumping up and down. “We talked about this. Santa – “

“-Just come on.”

Peter tugged his hand free, jumped off the bed, and ran out of the bedroom, giving his aunt and uncle no choice but to follow him into the living room.

“See? He is real.” Peter motioned at all the presents under the tree.

“Ben,” said May. “Who…? Someone broke into our apartment…”

Ben wasn’t paying attention. His eyes were fixed on a shiny envelope that had been placed on the tree. Gently, he pulled the envelope off and opened it, taking out a stack of twenties and a small notecard.

“… it’s signed Santa,” said Ben. He handed over the envelope with the money and notecard to May.

“This is enough for three months’ rent,” said May, shuffling through the stack of cash.

“Whoever it was, I hope they break in again.”

May smiled through her tears and elbowed her husband.

“Can I open these now or what?” asked Peter. He dove in only after giving his uncle’s okay in the form of a nod.

Peter got a lot of stuff that Christmas. Clothes, which his aunt and uncle were happy about, and toys, which he was happy about. His favorites included a chemistry set, a stack of Star Wars movies on DVD, his new bike and Legos. He loved the present he got from his aunt and uncle the most, an Iron Man action figure that shot blue bullets out of his hand.

He sat on the floor and played with it while Ben and May watched the news. As it turned out, all of New York City had received visits from Santa. A few people, who were out and about in the dead of night, got pictures of a sleigh with reindeer flying around in the sky.

“I wonder who it is…” said Ben, munching on Christmas cookies. “I wonder who’s doing all this.”

At the time, it’d seemed obvious to Peter. Santa, of course. But as the years passed by, Peter got too old to believe in magic, and he joined Ben in his speculation about the man underneath the Santa Hat. Christmas after Christmas, they wondered, they guessed, until Ben wasn’t around to do any wondering or guessing, and Peter and May were left to somehow survive Christmas without him, to wonder and guess without him and with the rest of the city, instead.  

All of New York City wanted to know Santa’s name, and the students at Midtown High were no exception.

“I’m going to set a trap,” said Flash, with clear venom and disgust in his voice, heard clearly even from a few tables over in the school cafeteria. “I’m going video him and expose him on my Instagram, then maybe the police or Spider-Man can put him in prison where he belongs.”  

Peter looked away from the table where Flash sat with a frown. It seemed odd, and a bit extreme, even for Flash, to have a personal vendetta against someone who just wanted to shower money and presents on the city.

“What’s Flash got against Santa?” he asked.

Michelle snorted from behind her book. “Last year he got a lump of coal and a book called Kindness for Dummies.”

Peter and Ned laughed, but quickly moved on to talking about their excitement about the new Star Wars movie. He didn’t be bothered with obsessing about who Santa was or wasn’t. It lost its charm once Ben died, and besides that, there was something in Peter that felt like he knew him already.

*

Peter stepped out of the elevator and into the common room of Avenger’s Tower, shaking snowflakes out of his hair and holding two cups of hot chocolate, one of which that was snatched out of his hand by an unregretful Sam Wilson.

“Thanks, Pete,” he told him. “I don’t care what Bucky says about you, you’re the best.”

“That’s not for you,” said Peter, carefully prying Sam’s claws off the cup and reclaiming it. “It’s for Mr. Stark.”

Peter took a glance around the common room. It was filled with Avengers, buzzing with Christmas music and chatter, but Mr. Stark was nowhere to be found.

“Where is he?”

“Might as well let me have it,” said Sam. “You won’t be seeing much of Tony this time of year.”

“He’s right, Peter. Tony hates Christmas,” said Steve, from where he stood with Bucky, the both of them with cue sticks in hand.

“What?” He tried not to choke on the laugh stuck in his throat.

The idea was so childish, like something a villain in a storybook might say. Peter knew not everyone loved and celebrated Christmas, that the holidays were tough for many people, but hate it? Hate Christmas? Mr. Stark? The same Mr. Stark who insisted on blasting classic rock covers of old Christmas songs in the workshop since Black Friday?

Peter didn’t believe it. He couldn’t. It was illogical.

“It’s the same every year,” said Nat, who was lounging on the couch, her phone in hand. “Isolates himself. Won’t even help us with missions.”

Peter stood on his tippy toes, trying to look her in the eyes over the back of the couch. Something didn’t seem quite right, something didn’t add up, either that, or it… it lined up perfectly, actually. It clicked, right then, inside Peter’s brain, something that seemed so obvious it had to be true.

“You guys don’t think?”

“Don’t think what?”

“Tony’s Santa,” said Peter. Every Avenger in the common room stopped what they were doing and looked at him like he was stupid or delusional. “Come on, guys, billionaire, tech genius, pretends to be all grinchy so he can be alone and work on… well, Santa stuff.”

“Tony isn’t Santa, Peter,” Nat told him.

“You said it yourself,” said Sam, pointing his finger at him, then starting to walk away. “He’s more like the Grinch.”

“On a good day,” Bucky finished.

Peter gave them each a look, wondering if they were being intentionally dim, or if they knew the truth and were attempting to hide it from him. He shifted his head, pointing it towards the ceiling.

“Friday, tell Mr. Stark I’m here, please.”

Just a few seconds ticked by before Friday’s voice came back over the intercom, telling him to take the elevator up to the Stark Suite. He left the other Avengers happily, and without a word, leaving them to stew in their ignorance and lies.

*

The cries of Morgan Stark, mid-tantrum, assaulted Peter’s ears before the elevator stopped or opened its doors. He couldn’t help the smile that crept on his face, one he had to hid once the doors did open and he caught sight of Pepper carrying her back to her room, as she kicked, screamed, her tiny fists pumping into the air.

“What’s going on?” asked Peter, stepping into the kitchen and looking around. Mashed potatoes, peas and cut up chicken bits were all over the floor. Some of the mashed potatoes had made it into Mr. Stark’s hair.

“She wanted to have a food fight,” said Mr. Stark. “Pepper spoiled our fun.”

Peter laughed and pressed one of the hot chocolates into Mr. Stark’s chest, until he accepted it and took a hesitant sip. He watched him drink, with a question on his lips, burning to be asked out loud.

“This is actually good,” said Tony, examining the cup. He took another drink, and Peter couldn’t take it anymore.

“Are you Santa?”

Tony spit out the hot chocolate, only contributing to his messy kitchen. “Am I what?”

“You know, the guy who dresses up in a red suit and has the reindeer and flies around, handing out bikes?”

“Kid – that’s the most ridiculous – “

“That isn’t a no,” said Peter, a grin splitting his face. He knew it was the truth, it made too much sense not to be true.

Tony rolled his eyes. “You really think I have the time to be a glorified cosplayer?”

“I didn’t even think you knew what a cosplayer was…” said Peter, trailing off. He shook his head, refusing to let his mind wander from the topic. “Where do you keep the reindeer? Can I meet them?”  

Tony sat the cup of hot chocolate down on the table, then gave him a hard look. Eventually the façade of stone crumbled, though, and he was letting out a sigh and wadding up his face and slinking off towards the elevator.

He slammed his thumb against the call button and turned his head back to look at Peter. “You coming or what?”

Peter yelped out in excitement, almost dropped his hot chocolate on the already messy kitchen floor. Instead, he put it down on the kitchen table with so much excitement, so much force, it toppled over and began slowly leaking out. Peter ignored it. The reindeer were waiting.

*

The elevator took them both to the depths of Avenger’s Tower, so far down, Peter expected they could into the Earth’s core any second. When, finally, the elevator came to a slow stop, and the doors slid open, Friday announced they were at the North Pole.

“Whoa,” said Peter, stepping off the elevator, and onto a shiny, sliver floor.

Looking around, Peter took it all in. He was standing in a warehouse, although it felt a little weird to call it that, as it was well decorated and filled with bright colors. Snowflakes fall from up above. They disappeared before they came anywhere close to hitting the floor, reminding Peter of the Great Hall in Harry Potter, and a giant Christmas tree stood tall, with a blue star shining bright on top of it.

Shelves filled with expertly wrapped presents stretched on and on, further than Peter could see with his eyes, and bots wearing elf hats scurried around on wheels, carrying stacks of gifts to their correct locations. There were other bots, also wearing elf hats, with four arms that moved quickly, wrapping boxes of toys with the precision only Tony Stark’s tech could pull off.

“This is amazing,” said Peter.

“Yeah,” said Mr. Stark. “I know.”

Peter continued scanning the room for the one thing he wanted to see the most. “Where’s the reindeer?”

Mr. Stark led him off to a side room where nine reindeer, nine reindeer bots, were playing. The entire room was designed to look as if it were a stable, and off to the side, sat a shiny, red sleigh, ready and waiting for Christmas Eve night. Mr. Stark gave a whistle, and the deer stopped what they were doing, looked, then stampeded towards them with the excitement of a puppy greeting you after a long day away from home.  

Within seconds, Peter was surrounded by all nine reindeer, all nudging at him with their noses, wanting some pets, all ignoring Mr. Stark in favor of Peter, the new person.

“You all are traitors,” he told them.

Rudolph stomped his foot and barked angrily at him, before giving Peter’s hand another nuzzle.

“See why I didn’t introduce you sooner?” said Mr. Stark, who stood alone, without any reindeer attention. “You’re always stealing my thunder. Why do my bots always like you more than me?”

“I dunno, I’m not that one who made them that way,” said Peter, with a shrug, before he continued petting the mechanical reindeer. “I still don’t understand, Mr. Stark. It doesn’t make any sense. How do you fit all those presents on the sleigh? Do you make multiple trips? How do you even have time to deliver to the whole city in one night? OH, do you – did you invent time travel?”

Peter stopped, took a deep breath, realizing he was doing his rambling thing. He was spitting off too many questions, and too fast, and most of the time people found that annoying, but the smirk on Mr. Stark’s face told him his mentor wasn’t most people.

“Presents don’t ever even go on the sleigh, kid,” said Mr. Stark, addressing his first question, and his first question only.

“Then how…?”

“The Wizards do their, yellow portally thing.”

“Oh,” said Peter. “So this is like an Avenger’s thing?”

“Yep, they’re my elves.”

Peter laughed at their expense. They deserved it, those liars.

“You go flying around on the sleigh just for fun?” asked Peter. He wouldn’t blame Tony if that were the case. The reindeer alone made it worth it.

“Gotta make it look convincing, don’t I?”

Mr. Stark explained the rest to him, while he further made friends with the reindeer. That the rest was computerized, ran with algorithm that collected, stored, and organized information scanned from the letters children (and in NYC, sometimes teens and adults) wrote to Santa. It automatically put in an online order from small retailers around the country, to both help local businesses and to keep people from tracing a bulk order from a giant retailer back to the Tower.

“Some families need a personal touch,” said Mr. Stark, talking about how sometimes he manually input information in the system. Flash’s book about kindness and his lump of coal came to Peter’s mind.

“You have to let me help out,” said Peter. “Please.”

“Will I survive the whining if I say no?”

“I doubt it,” said Peter. “Plus, the reindeer will never forgive you.”

Rudolph, Blitzen, and Prancer barked their agreements, Comet licked Peter’s face and Mr. Stark rolled his eyes.

“Fine you can help,” said Mr. Stark. He wagged his finger at Peter, before quickly withdrawing when Vixen tried to bite it off. “I expect you’re going to take this secret more seriously than you do your secret identity, got it? It’s a mystery to me how the city doesn’t know you’re Spider-Man yet.”

It was Peter’s turn to roll his eyes. He didn’t understand why Mr. Stark had so little faith in him. “Of course, Mr. Stark, I won’t tell anyone.”

*

Peter told May.

He didn’t mean to tell her. The words just sort of slipped out of his mouth, without any permission from his brain, but to be completely honest, he wasn’t sure it was his fault, exactly. What else was he meant to do on Christmas Eve evening? When he and May sat down with their hot chocolate and continued the tradition Ben started, taking guesses at who the man under the hat was?

“It’s Mr. Stark,” he blurted out.

May laughed. “What?”

“Mr. Stark is Santa,” said Peter.

“Oh he is?” asked May. She laughed harder when she saw Peter’s face was serious. “Sorry, kiddo, I’m not falling for it.”

“But he –“ Peter started, then shook his head in frustration and pulled on May’s hand. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

Twenty minutes later the two of them were stepping off the elevator and into the North Pole, and about two seconds after that Peter was shouted at by Mr. Stark.

“Parker, what the hell?” asked Mr. Stark, his voice annoyed, but hard to take seriously. Mr. Stark was wearing the beginnings of his Santa suit, bright red, silky pants and a white t-shirt under a red, silky jacket.

“Holy shit, it’s true,” said May.

Mr. Stark zeroed in Peter, trying his best to look intimidating as he could with a Santa hat hanging off his head. “I told you to keep it a secret.”

“Honestly Tony, if you wanted to keep it quiet you shouldn’t have told Peter,” said May. “We all know Peter is terrible at keeping secrets.”

“Hey! I’m not that bad.”

“I hate to tell you this, Pete,” said Pepper, as she joined the group, with Morgan hanging off her hip. Morgan stretched her arms out towards Peter, wanting her big brother as soon as she knew he was in the room. “But you’re awful at keeping secrets, and relax, Tony, May isn’t going to tell anyone.”

Mr. Stark and Pepper have no way of knowing the wave of grief that went through Peter, and probably, he guessed, his aunt, too. The only other person they wanted to tell wasn’t around anymore to hear it.

“Hey, Mo,” said Peter, taking her from Pepper. “Wanna show Aunt May the reindeer?”

“Yeah!” Morgan shouted. She had one volume. Loud. She pointed to the stable room. “Let’s go! Let’s go!”

The three of them left Pepper and Mr. Stark, the latter of which was still mumbling under his breath grumpily. Peter supposed the other Avengers were right, in a way. The closer it got to Christmas, the more stressed Mr. Stark became, because he wanted everything to be perfect. He wanted the city to be filled with magic and wonder, even if it was only for a day.

Peter looked back at him before disappearing into the stables. He was rambling with Pepper about something else, a serious scowl on his face. That was Mr. Stark, a grumpy Santa, with a heart two sizes too big.

*

They were playing fetch with reindeer, taking turns throwing a bright red ball, while the reindeer took turns retrieving, when Mr. Stark strode into the stable room, looking a lot more like Santa Claus than he did Tony Stark. His suit was complete, his hat was on straight, he had a white beard and half-moon glasses and a dad belly.

He gave a special whistle, and the reindeer galloped into formation immediately, the red ball bounced on the floor where Dasher had dropped it. They stood, with Rudolph in the front, and waited for Mr. Stark to fastened them into their harnesses.

Mr. Stark threw a green jacket at Peter, who caught it with both ease and confusion.

“What’s this?”

“It’s your jacket,” said Mr. Stark. “I thought you wanted to come along.”

Peter never remembered asking Mr. Stark to ride along in the sleigh specially, but he wasn’t about to open his mouth and bring that up at the moment. He put on the jacket quickly, noticing that despite its lightweight, it was warm. Too warm. Hot and stuffy, and making Peter wish he was already up in the sky and out in the cold.

Next Santa Stark threw a green hat with elf ears attached to the sides at him. Peter made no effort to catch, and it fell to the ground by his feet.

“I can’t wear that.”

“Uh, you have to wear that,” said Mr. Stark. “Unless you want pictures of yourself all over the news tomorrow, and headlines asking why Peter Parker from Queens is helping Santa Claus.”

Peter grumbled under his breath, snatched the ugly hat off the floor, then grumpily put it on, disgusted to find it was also a mask.

“Awww,” said May. “You’re so adorable as an elf.”

Before he could stop her, she snapped a picture of him with her phone, and Mr. Stark starting mumbling again. That time about how bad secret keeping must be a Parker trait as well as taking photos in a Top-Secret Avengers Facility. He snapped his jaw shut when May gave him that look, that look she often gave Peter to stop him from doing something stupid.

“Be careful,” said May, giving him a hug.

“Of course, May, I’m always careful.”

She didn’t seem convinced, but let Peter out of her hug, anyway, allowing him to help Mr. Stark put the harnesses around the reindeer. After that, they both climbed into the sleigh, and Mr. Stark took the reins.

“You really do look like Santa, Mr. Stark,” Peter told him, looking at him through the slits in the elf mask, tilting his head, examining every inch of the fluffy white beard. “You’re even starting to get some wrinkles.”

“Say that again,” said Mr. Stark. “And I’m tossing you off this sleigh when we fly over the Hudson.”

Peter chuckled under his elf mask, and Mr. Stark lifted the reins and brought them down, fast. The reindeer barked, and slowly, parts of the wall in front of the sleigh folded in on itself, revealing a tunnel with tracks and lights that slanted upwards.

“Friday, play the soundtrack,” said Mr. Stark.

Back in Black pumped through the built-in speaker, Mr. Stark lifted the reins once more, and then they were off, rushing forwards at a speed that made Peter’s back hit the metal behind him, made him grip the edges of the seat and wish he’d thought to bring his web-shooters.

*

*

*

Peter woke up, for the second time that Christmas morning, without being sure he’d ever fallen asleep.

His dreams were hadn’t felt like dreams, more like memories, his brain trying to relive over and over again slicing through the New York skyline in what could only be considered a deathtrap. If Mr. Stark hadn’t been controlling it, Peter might have been scared for his life, then again, if Mr. Stark hadn’t been controlling it, they probably wouldn’t have been blasting through the sky at terrifying speeds.

Mr. Stark knew how to put on a show.

He weaved through builds, dipped down low enough to wave to people on rooftops, people with cameras, and people who braved the cold just to catch a glimpse of Santa’s sleigh.

They disappeared from the city sometimes.

“I have to make it at least look like I’m going into homes,” Mr. Stark had told him, before directing the reindeer to fly over the ocean, where the stars in the sky were reflected down in the waves.

It’d been a great night, a memorable night, and not one Peter would ever forget. His dreams wouldn’t let him.

Peter sighed, and shifted around under his covers, turning over and taking a peak at the small mountain of presents next to his bed. The first time he woke up that morning was to open them, before promptly returning to his bedroom in Mr. Stark’s penthouse and drifting back off into a half-sleep, a world where he was still in the sky, on the sleigh, with Mr. Stark’s laughter in his ear.

He sat up, forced his feet on the floor, grabbed the throw blanket at the end of the bed, and put it around his shoulders like a cape, before leaving his room to see what the others were doing.

The penthouse was quiet. Not even Morgan wailed or shouted, and when Peter stepped into the living room, he found out why. She was fast asleep on the couch, still holding the favorite toy she’d unwrapped earlier that morning, a stuffed Spider-Man doll. Mr. Stark sat in a rocking chair by the fireplace, reading a book, and wearing a red plaid sweater.

Sure, he wasn’t dressed up as Santa anymore, but after seeing him in the suit and the beard, Peter didn’t know if he’d ever be able to separate the two again.

“Morning, Mr. Stark,” said Peter. He sat down on the couch gently, careful not to wake Morgan.

“Afternoon, actually,” Mr. Stark informed him. He closed his book and looked at Peter. “How’d you sleep?”

“Good,” said Peter, then laughed. “I just – I still can’t believe you’re really Santa.”

“Believe it, kid.”

“But why?” asked Peter. “You’re already so busy, you have Morgan, and you’ve saved this city thousands of times as Iron Man. It’s just – you sacrifice so much time into this.”

“Everyone should get to believe in something, Pete,” said Mr. Stark. “Even if it’s only for a day.”

Peter nodded, slowly, beginning to understand that the best part of Christmas wasn’t Santa bringing him a bike, but it was sitting at the table with May and Ben, having wild conversations and conspiracy theories about who was behind it all. Ben had come close once. He’d claimed it had to be an organization. Just never suspected it was the Avengers.

“You know,” said Peter. “The first year we had Santa, you got me this red and gold bike. It was my first without training wheels, and I fell off so many times, I had so many bruises, but Ben never gave up teaching me how to ride it.”

“Ben was a good man,” said Mr. Stark, and Peter was about to ask how he knew, some wild hope raising up inside him that maybe they had meet one day, but he didn’t need to speak his question out loud. Mr. Stark just knew. “I know because he raised a good man.”

Peter sniffed. “Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

“I remember that bike. I remember seeing it before it got portaled away.”  

Peter laughed, hard and intentional, to chase the tears away. “No you don’t.”

“I don’t,” he admitted. “I wish I did.”

“I bet May has some pictures.”

“I’m gonna have to see those, kid,” said Mr. Stark. He straightened out in the rocking chair and cleared his throat. Peter imagined he was trying to clear all the feelings away. “Hungry? I think May and Happy are making breakfast for lunch down in the common room.”

“Starving,” said Peter. “That sounds great.”

Mr. Stark collected Morgan off the couch, and they journeyed downstairs where the smell of pancakes and eggs and maple syrup hit Peter immediately. Most of the Avengers were milling around, Happy and May were laughing together in the kitchen, and Pepper was there to greet them off the elevator, taking Morgan from Mr. Stark so he could go get some food.

It was a grand breakfast for lunch, and Peter, at least he hoped, the start of a new tradition.