#my sister gave me some noodles I want them with

[mzcain27]

Do I go buy rice flour and try and make rice cakes today?

[jacesvelaryons]

The Reluctant Empress (Jacaerys Velaryon x Female!Reader)

Act II. Burgeoning

(19th Century Imperial Austria AU)

summary: crown prince jacaerys gets to know his prospect betrothed and future bride whom he has been arranged with to marry, your sister helaena targaryen, but true to your wild spirit, you cannot help but wonder what awaits in the world behind gilded castles and royal splendour.

word count: 2.4k words

a/n: i'm so sorry this took an entire year before an update but it is finally here! i apologize as I had some health things to settle, and with brain fog and got more distracted by other fandoms but here we go! once again, please comment and share what you liked, what you'd want more for me and request and let me know as my inbox is always open <3 let me know if you want to be on the taglist or not getting tags!

series masterlist

previously: prologue | act i

masterlist

requests OPEN

“Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” ― William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

Seated between her mother and sister, Y/N eyes roamed around the dining hall in the palace that hosted the royal family and her covey. Changed into an emerald green gown, wearing the necklace and earrings her father gave her on the last name day before his passing, she paid no mind to the significance of the occasion and was just glad to be there, surrounded in the splendor of the castle walls.

She knew that it was Helaena’s time to shine, and she would not want to rob her of her light, of the opportunity that would change their fortunes and not have Alicent scrabbling and worrying over the last penny of their expenses.

Twirling her fork on the pesto noodles in front of her, Y/N remained silent and just patiently listened to all the conversation around her, between her mother and her childhood friend the Queen, who inquired about Helaena’s well being, her lifestyle and assessing on how she would adjust becoming the next consort upon wedding Jacaerys.

Dazed out in a world of her own, Y/N did not hear Jacaerys reverting his attention to her aptly, until her sister nudged her ankle with her shoe, repeating her name on his tongue like it was the sweetest honey, curiosity and amusement on his features.

“Lady Y/N, what do you do in your free time, my lady?”

Stammering like a cat bit her tongue, she cleared her throat as she gathered herself and make her look and sound presentable.

“I ride horses, my prince. I hunt and I have picked up the sword a few times.” Lady Y/N bluntly replied, already feeling the burning glare of your embarrassed mother. Queen Rhaenyra only watches in amusement, how her confidante could have a daughter who was nothing like her mother.

Jacaerys was intrigued, leaning forward to hear Y/N better and scooch closer over to Her. A curious smile on his handsome, chiseled face, his curly brown hair starting to grow out and neatly groomed behind his ears.

Plates and utensils remained untouched as Y/N and Jacaerys were engrossed in an engaging, animated conversation, passionate replies to uncontrollable laughter.

The older women present at the table watched with trepidation, Lady Alicent’s habits of digging into her fingernails returned while the silver-haired queen’s expression turned unreadable.

Helaena swallowed her wounded pride of being ignored and not found as an interesting companion, playing with her knife and fork, digging at the roast beef the same way her young daughter would.

As the servants gather the finished main course meals and replace them with fresh fruit and lemon cakes for dessert, Rhaenyra swiftly suggests for the elder Targaryen sister to read out some of the poetry her mother praised earlier.

“You must share with us your talent in verse and poetry, Lady Helaena.”

Relieved, the indigo hued girl stood up at the end of the table, grabbing her little booklet hidden in the pockets of her skirt. Flipping through its parchment pages, she settles to a recent entry close to the end of the worn out leather bound book, covered with an embroidered beetle.

To want is the most natural thing Inherent in the blood through our veins The very primal urge of our being Yet we will always want, and want With no end like a black hole What better to want what is not ours? To covet what the other possesses To take away what is given as easily as it was owned?

Her raspy voice echoed through the halls mellifluously in perfectly rehearsed High Valyrian. Yet you could not help a guilty perception weighing on you, blossoming at the pit of your stomach and you could not shake it off. You were doing nothing wrong, you told yourself, wanting to believe in it but it felt wrong.

Y/N’s fears arose to the surface when she could feel a burning stare on her face intensely, as if memorizing her very form and that she would disappear into nothing anytime. You were listening as intently as you could, yet when you turned, Jacaerys did not pay mind to a single word Helaena said as his focus was fixated on you.

No, no, no. Nothing was going as planned. Everything was going wrong. She praises whatever gods intervened when the heir’s brother Prince Lucerys gracefully diverted the topic into the new cuisines created by the cooks of the Keep with the freshest catches of seafood from Driftmark.

…

“Y/N, what do you think you were doing out there?! Do you think I do not notice your need to always be the centre of attention?” The shrill shrieking of her mother’s voice pierced through her ear drums, yet Y/N was unsurprised and used to such altercations with her mother.

Following the uneasy supper, the three ladies from Dalston Keep returned to their chambers to change midday in preparation for the tour around the gardens with the queen and her heir again after a few hours of respite.

Silently humiliated as they reconvened in private, the illusion of propriety that Lady Alicent carried in front of the queen and prince ripped away, unleashing a ferocity unrestrained like never before.

“I did nothing, mother. I was polite and engaged in a conversation when I was spoken to.”

“You did more than that, you foolish girl! It was about your sister. All of this was about her, not you! Is it so difficult for you to tone down your tendencies for once so we can go according to the arrangement? You put our fortunes up to be desolated. You are as careless as your father!” The sting of her final words hung in the air, salt over the open wound for such a loss. Y/N knew her mother did not love her father, who was older than her own father, and only did her duty to her ailing, troubled, aging husband.

“Mother, that is enough! Do not bring father into this.” Helaena countered exasperatedly, holding onto her sister by her shoulders in defense. “Y/N did nothing wrong. It was..it was me. I should have engaged with the prince more. She did me a favour.”

Y/N gasps in disbelief, astonished her beloved sister would keep taking her side when it was clear she was the wounded party.

“Do not worry about it, mother. I promise I will remain silent from now on. I want this to be Helaena’s night.” Y/N swears sincerely, wanting to defend Helaena and stay away from any trouble from now on.

Alicent does not fully believe her youngest, but nods solemnly as she seeks to move this behind them, returning to her dignified, contemplating gaze with her perfect posture and arms clasped at her waist.

Subsequently, a drove of maids and seamstresses poured in, as Alicent went to her solitary room while the sisters shared a larger room. Each stepped on the raised wooden platform. Taking lush gowns from the closet, they plucked out a rich emerald green gown with fitted sleeves for Helaena.

Meanwhile, a muted seafoam gown was placed on Y/N, as maids scuttered behind her to tighten the corset and laces. Y/N whimpered quietly in discomfort, never finding any gratification in restrictive court dress upheld by centuries of protocol and conduct. It barred her sense of freedom, clipped off her wings from flight and reminded her of a bird in a cage.

Heirloom pieces of emerald silver lined jewelry were given to Helaena, designed to accentuate her beauty and prepare her for her upcoming role and ascent into her duty. As the daylight trickled in through the lace curtains and open windows, she looked like a future queen. A role she was raised to be. Otherworldly and ethereal, while Y/N was grounded to the earth, locks like flames and soil.

Y/N beamed in delight for her older sister, squeezing her hands in reassurance. Helaena reciprocated not as enthusiastically, the nerves still getting to her as her palms were sweating and shaking.

“You have nothing to worry about, Hel. We would not get this far if he did not consider you his bride already.”

“Truly, do you really think so?”

“I do. Without a doubt. You already look the part. It is only the formality left we are waiting for at the ball.”

The elder genuinely chuckled this time in relief, her joy finally meeting her eyes from the comfort and encouragement of her sister.

“Now, all that is left is for you to step into your destiny.”

…

Manicured gardens flourished in the peak of spring, cicadas chirping from the branches of oak trees. Lilies and carnations in hues of apricot and blush, while the outlying paths were paved in blue hydrangeas and violet peonies.

Queen Rhaenyra adorned a lapis lazuli blue gown adorned in gold trimmings and sapphires sewn onto her bodice, matching the stone necklace of the color on her neck and matched her tiara, a reminder of her late mother and former queen.

She pleasantly strolled with a natural confidence, carrying herself with an ease afforded by one who has known privilege and power all her life. Guiding a tour around the Red Keep at the height of its social season, Rhaenyra proudly showed off her domains, and subtly if so, the lands that Helaena would take care of as its hostess after she marries Jacaerys and becomes his queen when the time comes.

Behind her was her eldest Crown Prince Jacaerys, always without a hair or trivet out of place, the picture of perfection that she had groomed since his birth. Dressed more casually in teal with the seahorse emblem on his chest, he honoured his late father Lord Laenor Velaryon, further dispelling any rumours or uncertainty around his paternity.

Although he did not directly resemble his father, he has begun to share features with his paternal grandmother Princess Rhaenys with her Baratheon colouring, and the shape of his nose and chin mirrored her father, who was another Prince of Dragonstone, Prince Aemon the Pale Prince. As rider of Vermax, it was undeniable he was the prince long awaited by the realm, whom millions of hopes and dreams were instilled in.

Standing beside him was Lady Helaena Targaryen, his expected betrothed in everything but formality. Raised with the intention of becoming a princess consort, she was demure, shy, obedient and trusting, exactly what the people of Westeros wanted of their model future queen. Proven in her success of childbearing, onlookers examined her critically on baited breath as they wanted to know who will bear the next generation of Targaryen rulers on the Iron Throne.

Their chaperons trailed behind them, Lady Alicent arm in arm with Lady Y/N, in the same shade of muted green, but her mother had visible symbols of the Faith of the Seven from her necklace, her dark headdress and veil, and on the cuffs on her wrist and belt. Y/N distractedly took in her sights, studying every nook and cranny of the storied palace with eagerness and pursuit.

“This garden still follows the design plan created by Queen Rhaenys the Conqueror herself, yet it was only finished years after her passing in Dorne.”

The queen continued the tour of the keep, while she discreetly eavesdropped on the conversation between her heir and his expected betrothed. The two were engaging pleasantly yet amiably on the surface level, their dialogue not reaching too far. Unaware of a figure parting at the fork and heading another direction.

…

When she is assured she’s clear and no one can find her, Y/N Targaryen smirks victoriously as she heads straight and turns left towards the barn, near the dragonpit, where the horses and grazing animals were located.

On nimble footsteps, through the mud and manure, she makes a run for it as two stableboys turn the corner and miss her, as they forgot to close the stables and she sneaks in.

As the afternoon light trickles in, Y/N looks around curiously, before her attention is caught by this white mare, with its freshly brushed mane and shining horsehair, an anomaly among ebony and hickory. Not wanting to startle the majestic creature, she prances until she’s in front of the horse, hushing and cooing at them as she latches onto the reins.

She holds the mane by her reins, tugging gently as she walks through the barn and the empty backwaters of the ancient castle. It is quiet, with most servants resting for their annual nap and their morning duties finished, so Y/N is able to ride the stallion undiscovered.

The lingering scent of the manure and greenery turns into salty waters of aegean and spruce and the earthy, musty petrichor from the rain on the fir and cedar trees earlier in the morning.

A hint of the cool breeze tingles through her skin, a dress and not proper riding gear in its leathers and furs, but she brushes it off, as King’s Landing in the spring at this time of the year has turned warm and the rain from earlier is long gone.

She rides as far as her companion will allow, until the peripheral view of the Red Keep grows distant from over her shoulder. Y/N stops at the fork of the road before it joins the greater Kingsroad, diverting by the forest with towering trees and fallen logs. Sitting by the foot of a trunk, Y/N pauses for some stillness, her back pressing against the hard trunk as she closes her eyes, before grabbing an apple and vial of water to share with her stallion.

As she and the mare finish the fruit, she stands up to brush off any leaf and dirt on the back of her skirt, about to mount once again before she hears echoes of confrontation growing closer. Y/N has barely begun to leave the forest and return to the artery before she is surrounded by hooded, disheveled men with smug expressions.

Unable to avoid contact, she politely acknowledges them and pulls her cape over her flaming locks before she is stopped from moving in either direction. “Good morrow, sirs.”

She yelps as she’s grabbed by her wrists by the men, struggling to stay on her saddle as the mare turns skittish. “Not so fast, my lady. We need something from ya, and you gotta pay up for our silence. Comes with a price.” The men smirk, distant galloping approaching them.

Y/N yelps as she is knocked off her horse, hitting her head against the rock and all turns into darkness around her. She hears a distant echo of another mount heading her way, furious yelling and clattering swords. Her head throbs, feeling the blood dripping down her nape, as her eyes flutter closed.

[jasmines-library]

Hello!! I was hoping I could request for a Winchester sister reader that's taking care of the brothers when they're sick? Maybe making chicken noodle soup for them and stuff! Just something cute, I just need some comfort 🥹 Thank you if you take my request! 🫶

Noodle Soup

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Note: Sorry its a little short, I wanted to get some spn out for you all tonight because its been a hot minute since I wrote for spn and I’m ashamed

Word Count: 1k

⛧ SPN MASTERLIST ⛧

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You never thought you would ever say this, but the infamous Dean Winchester was sick. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he would ever say it. Not out loud at least, but this morning, he could hardly drag himself out of bed and he was hit with a migraine and blocked sinuses that completely threw him off balance.

 It put him in a bad mood as he tried to make his way to the kitchen, grumbling something about how he was fine. He was betrayed by the dry cough that left him heaving and leaning heavily on the side of the counter. You considered getting up many times as you watched him from the kitchen table as you scanned the papers for any possible hunts, but you knew his foul mood would more than likely end in an argument that you didn’t want to be involved in. What finally made you push your chair out from the table to put a stop to Dean’s antics was when he was fumbling around with a pan and dropped it on the floor with a clatter. 

“Alright. That’s it. ” You linked an arm around him, pulling him away from the counter. 

“Get the hell off me, Y/N.” Dean tried to push you away. “I’m fine.”

“Dean.” You gave him a look, narrowing your eyes at him stubbornly. “You can barely stand straight.”

He tried to turn back to the kitchen. “Piss off.”

You took his arm and dragged him back to the sofa. He sank back into it with a cough. 

“Stay put.”

Your brother rolled his eyes and grumbled, but made no attempt to stand. 

Sighing in content, you made your way back to the kitchen to make a start on breakfast when you heard another set of lumbering footsteps echoing through the bunker. 

“I swear to god, Dean-” You started, making your way out of the kitchen only to come face to face with a very gruff-looking Sam. His hair was tousled and his eyes had dark shadows beneath them. 

“Sammy?” You frowned. 

“Hey y/n/n” He greeted. His voice was hoarse and scratchy, as if someone had replaced it with sandpaper. Perhaps it was not just one set of coughs and sneezes that kept you up last night. 

“You too, huh?” You asked as he plonked himself on a stool in the kitchen. 

Although less stubborn than his older brother, Sam still hesitated for a moment before sighing. 

“Yep. I think we must have picked it up at the bar on the last hunt.”

It made sense. The two of them had gone out to the bar the other nights while you scouted out the local town. You weren’t sick, so it seemed to add up.

Sam groaned, rubbing his temples to try and ease the pressure. 

“Why don’t you go and join Dean? I’ll bring some food out in a bit.”

Nodding, Sammy took his leave, stumbling back to his brother. 

~

“Alrighty…” You balanced two bowls of steaming soup in your hands and you pushed open the door with your foot. 

Your brothers didn’t seem to have improved much since this morning. Stubbornly as ever they both sat bundled up in blankets on the couch, wallowing in their own self pity and watching whatever they could find on the TV to keep themselves entertained. In the meantime, you were making sure that they were well cared for: making sure their temperatures didn’t get too high, or handing them painkillers to help with the headache. It was only fair, they had spent countless hours looking after you in the past when you were ill. 

That was why you found yourself in the kitchen nursing a bowl of chicken noodle soup. It was your mother’s recipe; something that John had stashed away at the back of his journal. You could see why: it was the perfect remedy for a day like this. 

Handing a bowl to both of your brothers, you watched as they sipped the steaming liquid and twisted the noodles around on a fork. Glad to see that they could stomach food, you went back into the kitchen to grab your own bowl. Your two brothers had sprawled themselves out across the length of the sofa, so you took a seat on the floor with your head leaning against Sam’s legs. 

“Thank you.” Dean said as you took your seat.

“It’s not a problem.” You told him.

“We should be the ones taking care of you.” Dean continued.

You frowned, deepening the creases on your forehead. “Says who?”

Dean faltered. “Us.”

“Let me take care of you for once.”

The three of you stayed there for the rest of the day, talking and watching films through half lidded eyes and checking that your brothers were feeling okay. But, a few hours and a mountain of tissues later, they had finally drifted off to sleep.

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SPN TAGS:

@defonotashleyr @aestheticdaisies @xxrougefangxx

@hell-o-kittys @inlovewhithafairytale @harleycao

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[mochamvgz]

made with love.p.jay

; a warm meal with your partner was all you needed after a hectic month

; park jongseong x reader

; genre: fluff, non-idol au

; warnings: talk of exhaustion

; 0.7k words

; tags: @inkelea @sobun1est @kbookshelf

; divider cr: @plutism (i can't believe I forgot to credit them earlier 😭😭 if you're reading this i'm so so sorry)

you entered the passcode to your studio apartment, letting yourself in after being met with an affirmative *beep*

after carelessly tossing your backpack onto the kitchen counter, you miraculously managed to drag yourself to your bed, collapsing on it right away

thank god it's saturday tomorrow

that was the only thought in your mind at present. you'd had a hectic week—no, a hectic fortnight...or was it a month...? your pre-existing headache grew worse as you tried to recall so you gave up eventually

your eyelids grew heavy and just as you were about to board your train to dreamland, star lost by stray kids started playing from the front pocket of your pants. wait, no, that couldn't be right. pockets don't make sounds...oh, it was only your phone ringing

an annoyed grunt escaped your mouth before you checked the caller id. a tired but genuine smile speak across your face when you saw who it was. you accepted the call and put it on speaker

"how's my girl doing?"

you could almost hear the smile in jay's voice, which, in turn, made your own smile widen. "i'm feeling pretty wiped honestly"

jay knew that, he'd noticed the way your smile didn't reach your eyes these days, how your shoulders seemed deflated, the way you looked as if you could pass out at any given moment. of course, he'd be there to catch you if you did

"have you had anything to eat yet?"

"no...sorry"

jay had expected as much

"want me to come over? i can make you something to eat, and then we could cuddle or watch a movie or something"

"yes please, i could really use your cuddles. only if it's not too much of a bother, of course"

"nothing's ever a bother when it comes to you. i'll be there in 10. wait for me, yeah?"

you hummed in response and hung up with an "i love you" which he mirrored back. his soft voice when he spoke to you always warmed your heart. you dozed off thinking about how you truly had the best boyfriend ever

the clatter of pots and pans jolted you awake

you screwed your eyes shut as a groan escaped you, the blaring headache coming back. you heard someone cursing, probably the same person responsible for the racket that disrupted your sleep

sitting up, you began to rub your eyes when you heard a sequence of frantic footsteps, getting progressively closer, and then a pair of arms wrapping around you

you looked up to see jay with an apologetic expression on his face

"i'm soo sorry 'bout that sweetheart, I was trying to be quiet but..."

you mumbled an "it's okay" while hugging him back. after staying in that position for some time, jay broke the silence

"how about you wash up yeah? i'll be in the kitchen"

you noded, shooting him a smile—which he returned—before getting up and making your way to your bathroom

when you came back out, feeling considerably more rested and energized, you found your bed was made, and your previously-cluttered desk was much tidier. a smile made it's way on your face, knowing it could be none other than jay's work

jay noticed you as you approached the kitchen counter, his face lighting up

"you're right on time for dinner!"

"dinner? don't you mean lunch?"

he tilted his head a little to the side in confusion

"it's 7:00 p.m. sweetie"

"already??? have i been out for that long? why didn't you wake me up??"

jay chuckled, "you looked so cute sleeping, i didn't wanna wake you. plus, you seemed like you needed it"

"fair enough"

by then jay announced dinner was ready so you helped him set the table and sat down for dinner. the noodles he'd made were simply delectable. it reminded you of the way you used to make them with your sister. you mentioned it to him among other compliments

"well, where do you think I got the recipe?" he winked. your mouth fell open. no way.

"i literally love you so much"

"love you too" he replied with his adorable smile

© mochamvgz on tumblr | all rights reserved | do not plagiarise, repost or translate

[ma1dita]

🐥

okay I dont wanna seem annoying but it's 10:53pm and the ideas r coming in but I already sent an ask in so do whichever u want first 😭

bf!Luke when he's sick headcanons? (can be in an au where they're js normal ppl or can be them at camp, your choice !! 🫶🏼

🐥🐥🐥🐥🐥

a/n: LIVVVVV i truly believe that if this man was sick with an SO that would take care of him he would be the biggest bitch alive just because he can

at camp:

it starts with a sniffle, luke trying to be oh so brave about it until he can’t ignore the sneezes that sound like they could shake the earth and all of cabin 11 (if you think those kids barely got sleep in general, you should see them get mad at luke’s dumbass going ACHOO for the 47th time that night)

so they rightfully complain to you to go get your man and drag his ass to the infirmary, because the cabin counselor he is loves taking care of others but throws a fit when they tell him to get checked out by the apollo kids talking bout “i don’t get sick, i’m too cool to get sick! heroes don’t get—”

yeah so he has the flu

one stern look from you sends him packing towards the infirmary, dragging his feet in the dirt and complaining the whole way

he puts up a fight the whole time, swatting the healer’s hands away to the point they want to tie him to the bed, and luke doesn’t like not winning

“luke just listen to the fucking healer and you’ll be out of here faster.” “bedrest! they want me to be strapped down here forever, babe, you know i don’t like not moving for that long! though if you were the one tying me down…” *sniffles innocently*

a cold towel smacks him in the face

you end up nursing his nasty germ-riddled ass back to health in a corner of the infirmary that you have to make your own for the next week and a half. 

but if you ask him, he felt fine after a few days—he just likes being taken care of by you

im bored lets do modern hcs too:

in this universe he’s still a little shit but at least you two live together in a cute little city apartment

luke’s laid out on the couch wrapped up in some of your coziest throw blankets as he scrolls through old reruns of friends, laughing at chandler’s humor because i imagine it to be a lot like his own (of course, if rick let him be funny instead of traumatized and an antagonist)

you’re making chicken noodle soup in the kitchen and the smell wafts through the air of your apartment even if he’s so congested his voice sounds funny when he talks

i think you guys would have two cats, brother and sister—absolute menaces, pouncing on him in turns trying to resuscitate their dad from his lifeless form on the couch to throw their little mouse toy around

that or a really big senior dog who sleeps at his feet and turns its head every time luke makes a funny noise

oh he’s still annoying in this one trust—you gave him a little silver dinner bell to ring if he needs you since you’re working from home in the other room but the problem is this man always needs you

ring. “babe!’ ring. “baby!” ring ring. “love of my life, absolute goddess among—*wheeze* humans, can you come here a second?”

“what’s up, honey?” “oh i just needed to see your pretty face. feeling better already!” 

you toss a pillow at his head and get back to your meeting.

when it’s over though, you join him in his little blanket fortress and he lays on your chest, sniffling and smiling as he pulls you into a kiss and thanking you for existing

you get sick after but it’s worth it. sort of like payback

[writings-ofthe-heart]

(Mizu, BES)/(Reader)

- prompt: "Always give them the first bite of food."

Cw: None

Info: Reader is fem sorry, may be ooc, i tried. I love my woman so much this is self indulgent and motivated by my day one <3

Mizu walked. Like always, being followed by Ringo and his sister. You were quiet, but agreeable. Mizu only allowed you to follow because Ringo didn't want to leave you alone with your father. The sky weaned and the sun began to fall. Purple and black scattered to the East. Nightfall would arrive soon, Mizu thought absently. Her body ws always tense, ready to pounce on enemies, but her mind? Tranquile. Calm, it seemed like the soft, unmoving ocean.

You were only taken in by Ringo after being left on the noodleshops doorsteps. A cliche backstory, but what could you do? Growing up with Ringo was the best outcome of your childhood. Because of him, you had a certain joy within your aura. Despite the lack of speaking, socializing you did normally, you had good spirit. You were good.

The group set up camp. A fire was lit, courtesy of Ringo and you just looked around for sticks. A silence spread throughout the wintery forest. Mizu sliced the air, releasing an audible sound of her precision. You had stumbled across her, coming face to face when she cut down a tree with ease. You yelped.

"What are you doing here?" She grumbled. You shrugged, softly quipping, "Collecting sticks. What do you want to eat tonight?"

Mizu wondered why you even asked, "..." She rolled her shoulders, narrowing icy eyes behind her lens at you. "Anything is fine."

"Well, okay." You turned to walk away.

An hour after, you were all sitting around the fire as the pot simmered. You stood, grabbing small wooden bowls and scooping the soup into it. There were only two so you gave Ringo one and was about to hand the second bowl to Mizu when her hand stopped it.

"Drink some first. I can eat when you're done."

Confused as you were, you nodded slowly and sipped it. After half the soup was gone you refilled and slid it to Mizu who had dozen off, or at least that's what it looked like. She ate, and eventually you and Ringo fell asleep.

But this didn't just happen once. Another trip to Mihonoseki proved to be a habit of hers.

She broke a rice cake piece before even touching it and shoved it in your hand. Walking idly, you were startled and paused looking down at the crumbled, small piece of dry rice cake. Immediately you swallowed it, to be frank you weren't even hungry but, oh well.

Ringo knew something was weird with Mizu and his sister. First, he didn't pay mind because Mizu is just... odd in general. Not until the third instance where, Mizu not only offered, but refused to eat until you had taken a piece or a bite, did he start thinking more about it. His sister was pretty, he didn't try to disagree but you were oblivious to say the least, unable to see what's in front of you.

Mizu calmly set her chopsticks down. "Try it, I'm sure it's good but I can't risk being poisoned."

Another silly excuse, Ringo rolled his eyes digging into his own bowl of soba noodles. You sighed, dragging Mizu's bowl in front of you and slurping one, exactly one noodle.

"Tastes good to me, now eat! It's almost closed." You tried to hurry her. She seemed unfazed as now and only now Mizu began to eat the soba.

Ringo made an excuse to pull you outside while Mizu finished, (it was incredibly obvious and clumsy.)

"Hey. You must have noticed something weird with Mizu now right?" He holds you by your shoulders.

You purse your lips, "Um..? No.. If you mean her in general, well, I think that's just how she is."

Ringo exhales harshly. The cold wind making itself known in your ears. "No, her habit. Habit of making you eat her food first? Making sure "it tastes good?" Habit of randomly offering you her very first bite? Anything ring bells in your little head?" He grew more frustrated, practically shaking you.

You held up your hands, admitting defeat. "I thought it was just me!"

"You know, it seems oddly intimate for a person like Mizu." He noted. "You don't think..." Ringo gasped, loudly. Mizu appeared outside, her sword clinked as she looked around wildly for danger.

She furrowed her brows at you both, "Excuse me." Mizu walked back into the noodle shop.

"Mizu likes you." Ringo breathlessly, excitedly, exclaimed.

"What?!"

[fangirlwriting-stories]

Race to Help

Summary: No One Knows AU Part 25, Danny's evening is interrupted by everything that's been happening that he's been unaware of.

...

Danny has spent the afternoon since he got home from the hospital paying much closer attention to his parents, and he’s come to a conclusion.  He’ll tell them.  Eventually.

It’s not a huge step up, but it’s at least a step up from his former plan of “take this to my second grave.”  It had seemed like the best and only possible choice for such a long time.  But his parents do seem very different, meaning something Jazz did worked.  And telling Valerie he’s Phantom made him realize that sometimes if you give people the opportunity, they surprise you.  Valerie immediately accepted that Phantom was different from how she thought, the moment she learned he was him.  Maybe his parents would do something like that too.

That doesn’t mean he’s ready, and he thinks that’s fair.  He can’t switch from “my parents want to rip me apart molecule by molecule” to “my parents love me for who I am” in half a day.  There needs to be a “maybe” phase in there somewhere.  But he’ll give it some thought, and try to stop writing it off as impossible.

And he’s definitely not telling Jazz yet.  He can’t bear even the thought of the smug look on her face.

But for now, at least, he’s gonna give himself more chances to spend time with his parents and not be totally miserable or terrified throughout.  Such as attempting to make edible food with them.

“Danny-boy, add some more garlic to that sauce,” Dad calls from his spot putting noodles in a serving bowl.

“Are you sure there’s not enough already?” Danny asks.

“Danno, as you get older you’ll learn, there’s no such thing as too much garlic.”

Danny snorts.  “Alright, more garlic it is,” he says.  He shifts on his useless and very annoying crutches to reach for the garlic.

“Oh I’ve got it honey,” Mom says.  “Do you think you could go get your sister?  We’re gonna be putting things on the table.”

“Sure,” Danny says, heading for the steps and up to Jazz’s room.  As soon as he’s out of sight of his parents, he shifts the crutches to one hand and walks up the steps while carrying them.

“Jazz,” he calls along with a knock on the door.  “We’re having dinner!”

No response comes from the room, and Danny knocks again.

“Jazz, you there?”

When he gets no response again, he pushes the door open, and finds no one there, though the window is open to let the breeze in.

Danny sets the crutches against the wall, crosses the hall and knocks on the bathroom door, but it swings open with his knock to reveal no one in there.

“Huh,” he says aloud to himself.  “Must be in the lab.”

He grabs the crutches and starts for the steps again to head back towards the kitchen.  Before he can make it all the way down the steps, however, he hears a set of loud frantic knocks on the front door, so he changes pace and heads there instead.

“Coming!” he calls when the frantic knocks don’t stop.  “Sheesh.”

He opens the door and finds himself face to face with Sam, who looks an absolute mess.  Her hair is wild and she’s breathing frantically and she keeps fidgeting with the wrist ray he gave her, which he hasn’t seen in ages.

Danny blinks at her.  “Sam?”

Sam opens her mouth, but looks at the crutches he’s leaning on and then can’t seem to get anything out.

“Hey uh, look,” Danny says, looking down.  “Tucker was supposed to talk to you.  I really just need a little bit of time to myself.”  He takes a breath and looks back up at Sam.  He can do this.  “I don’t want to hurt you guys, but—”

Sam bursts into tears.

Danny stares at her for a second, then shakes himself.  “Okay, you know what, nevermind, we can talk about that later!  Come on, let’s go to my room, we can talk more privately.”

Sam shakes her head, and opens her mouth to try and say something, but it just comes out as another sob.

“Sam, come on,” Danny says gently.  He moves the crutches enough to hold a hand out and usher her inside.  “We don’t have to do this out in front of my house, let’s go upstairs.”  Thankfully, Sam makes her way in, though she stays out of his reach.

“Mom, Dad!” Danny calls, turning towards the kitchen.  “I need a minute, sorry!  Don’t wait for me!”

“What’s going on, sweetie—” Mom starts, but she stops when she walks in and sees Sam crying off to the side.

“We’ll keep something warm for you,” she says with a gentle smile, and she heads back into the kitchen.

It takes a minute to get them both upstairs and into his room, especially since he has to pretend to use the crutches this time, but they get there.  Sam doesn’t seem to be in much of a better state, however.  Danny balances himself on the crutches and reaches out to put his hands on her shoulders.

“Okay, what’s going on?” he says.  “Come on, you can talk to me.”

Sam shakes her head again, and finally manages to get something out.  It sounds like “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Danny says gently.  “It’s alright, just tell me what’s going on, okay?  I can’t help if I don’t know.”

Sam takes a couple of deep, heaving breaths, and wipes at her eyes.  Then she all but collapses back against Danny’s door, and slides to the ground.

“Sam?” Danny says, wishing he could kneel down in front of her without giving the game away.

“I,” Sam says, “I know you’re Phantom.”

Danny goes still.  He opens his mouth, trying to come up with something to say, but then Sam keeps going.

“I’ve always known,” she says, burying her head in her hands.  “Since— since that night Tucker and I said we got captured by a ghost.  We lied.  Well, sort of, we didn’t— we— Vlad captured us.  He did that and then he somehow pretended to be two people and tried to act like he saved us from this vampire ghost and then he drove us back to the police station and he— he told us you’re Phantom, but he said you were evil and trying to kill us, and I believed him because of that whole thing at Circus Gothica which I don’t even know what the hell happened there anymore but it doesn’t matter anyway because Vlad said he would like, teach us to hunt ghosts and to hunt you and so I said yes because— because I’m just a terrible friend and I made Tucker do it to even though he really didn’t want to and we’re— we’re the new Huntresses working with Valerie that’s us, and Vlad told us about Valerie but he didn’t tell Valerie about us because— well because duh, and so I tried to keep you away from her because I thought you were gonna hurt her or something and I was s-so— so awful to you because I was trying to hurt you because I wanted you to hurt and because I was so scared you’d try and hurt me or Tucker because I thought— I thought you wanted to and because Vlad said that you wanted to and I did so— so many terrible things to you and I don’t know how you can ever forgive me but Vlad— Vlad has Tucker and he put this— this thing on Tucker and my suits that can like, control the suit while we’re in it and he made Tucker kidnap Jazz and I can’t use my suit because he’d do the same thing to me that he did to Tucker but I can’t fight him on my own because all I have is the wrist ray you gave me and that didn’t work the first time against Vlad and I’m sorry I need your help I’m so sorry!”

Sam buries her head in her knees and starts sobbing, and Danny stares at her, feeling a little faint.

“Oh,” he says weakly.  “That… would explain a lot.”

Sam tightens her grip around her knees and starts crying harder.

Danny looks at her for another second, then sets the crutches on his bed and kneels down in front of her.

“Sam,” he says gently, “look at me.”

Sam starts to raise her head, but gives up halfway there and just stares down at the floor, shaking her head.  “I can’t,” she whispers.

Danny reaches out and gently raises her chin until she’s looking him in the eye.

He smiles gently.  “I forgive you.”

Sam stares at him.  She blinks tears out of her eyes.  “You… why?”

Danny lets go of Sam and she drops her gaze again.

“Well, for one,” he says anyway.  “Vlad is an absolute piece of shit who is really good at manipulating people.  I know what he’s like, and I wouldn’t put any of what you just said past him.  You also clearly feel terrible about this, and you know where you messed up and you aren’t gonna do it again.  But mainly…” Danny shakes his head.  “God, I fucking missed you, Sam.”

Sam sniffs, and Danny sees her wipe her eyes again.�� After a second of hesitation, he leans forward and pulls Sam into a hug, mostly because he’s not sure what else to do.

He can feel Sam start to pull back, and he doesn’t want to force her to stay there, so he lets her.  Besides, they have other matters to attend to.

“Okay,” he says, pushing himself to his feet.  Sam looks up after him, but otherwise doesn’t move.

“You said Vlad has Tucker and Jazz?” he asks.  Sam nods.

Danny holds out his hand, and Sam takes it.  He pulls her up, and looks at her until she meets his gaze.

“Well, I don’t like that,” Danny says.  “You wanna go kick his butt?”

And despite it all, Sam smiles just a little.

…

Sam waits down on the ground while Danny flies up and knocks on the window.  It doesn’t take very long before it opens and Valerie sticks her head out, looking more than a little surprised to see him.

“Danny?” she asks, and wow, it’s still weird to hear Valerie say his name while he’s in ghost form.

“Hey Val,” he says with a nervous smile.  “Can I ask you a favor?”

“Me?” Valerie asks incredulously.  “I mean, of course.  But why?”

“So, uh, you know the guy you got the suit from?  That was Vlad, right?”  He doesn’t really want to phrase it that way, but Sam already mentioned her in between the talk about Vlad, and he doesn’t want to act like he doesn’t know, either.

“Yeah,” Valerie says slowly.  “Why?”  Suddenly, her eyes widen.  “Is he bothering you?  Do you want me to go yell at him?  I can do that.”

“Uh, no,” Danny says quickly, holding up his hands.  “Really bad idea.  Listen, I’m gonna tell you a crash course of too much information, but I need you to just roll with it, okay?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time we both did something like that,” Valerie says.  “What’s going on?”

So, as quickly as he can, Danny explains everything he’s just learned, from Sam and Tucker, to the way Vlad messed with both of their suits, to the spy cameras in all three suits, which Sam told him about when he mentioned getting Valerie’s help, to how they need to go save Tucker and Jazz now.

When he finishes, Valerie stares at him for a minute.

“Wow,” she says finally.  “And I thought our situation was bad.”

“Yeah,” Danny says.  “I’m dealing with that part later, though.”

Valerie seems to shake herself.  “Right.  Okay.  So, you said Vlad didn’t put any controlling mechanisms in my suit, right?  You’re positive on that?”

Danny nods.  “He only took Sam and Tucker’s suits back to do that after you left.”

“Okay.  Then I’ll deal with the spy cameras later.  He’s bound to know we’re coming anyway.  I’ll let my dad know where I’m going and meet you outside.”

She shuts the window before Danny can be surprised at the telling her dad part.

Danny flies back down to join Sam, and sure enough, a couple minutes later, Valerie walks out followed by Mr Gray.

“You promise you’ll be safe?” he says.  “And you’ll contact me if you need help?”

“And I’ll let you know if I’m not going to be back after two hours,” Valerie says, only sounding a little annoyed.  “Thanks Dad.  Now we gotta go.”

“Be safe!” her dad calls, and Valerie gives him a nod and a smile.

“We’ll be safe, sir,” Danny says to Mr Gray.

“You’d better,” Mr Gray says, with a knowing look in his eye that Danny doesn’t have time to worry about.  He gives Valerie one last quick hug and heads back inside.

“Okay,” Valerie says, turning to Danny as soon as the door shuts.  “We doing this?”

“Yeah,” Danny says.  “But first, Sam.”

Sam startles as she turns to him, then looks down and starts fidgeting with her wrist ray.

“You said you took your suit off before coming to talk to me, right?”

Sam nods.  Danny wishes she’d look at him.  He’s getting a little tired of people not looking at him.

“Then he might not know you’re coming.  I think we should keep it that way.  Would you mind if I carry you and make you invisible?”

At that, Sam’s gaze snaps immediately to his, and Danny can tell she minds.  It’s the best option they have, though, so he doesn’t take it back.

Finally, Sam nods shakily.  “Okay,” she says, her voice shaking a little.

She walks over to him, and lets Danny pick her up.  He turns her invisible, but not intangible, meaning he feels it when Sam wraps her arms around his neck and digs her nails into the fabric of his hazmat suit.

Danny winces, but tightens his grip on her.  “I’m not gonna drop you,” he says quietly.

“Okay,” Sam whispers, sounding like she’s trying to force herself to believe it.

Valerie puts her suit on next to them, and Danny shifts his arms so they look as natural as possible while still being able to hold on tightly to Sam.

“Okay,” he says, starting to rise slowly into the air, and trying to ignore Sam’s quickening breaths.  “Do either of you have any ideas as to what we should be expecting?”

…

Tucker thinks that Jazz is remarkably calm for someone with a gun pressed against her head.

To be fair, it is his suits’ ecto-gun, and maybe she has a bit more experience with that kind of weapon.  But he wouldn’t be this calm with a gun of any kind to his head, and Jazz has spent the whole time taking deep breaths and looking around the room with obvious intent to learn as much as she can.

Vlad’s remote thing is still making it so Tucker can’t talk, meaning Jazz probably doesn’t have any idea who’s threatening her, unless she’s worked it out some other way.  She hasn’t said anything about him, but she certainly seems to know who Vlad is.  Not that she’s said anything to him either.

She’s instead looking very intently at all of the consoles spread throughout the lab.  Maybe she knows something about them, due to her family?  She probably knows Danny’s secret, based on the fact that Vlad went after her directly, and the fact that she’s so calm right now.  Her knowing something like this was possible beforehand would definitely help with the nerves.

Vlad, for his part, is standing as Plasmius next to the both of them, looking at a screen on the opposite console that shows Danny and Valerie approaching.

The closer they get, the more Tucker feels his breath start to quicken, which is the only way his nerves can show.  He has no idea what Vlad’s going to make him do when they get here.  He just has to hope it’s not “shoot Jazz in the head.”  He’s pretty sure ecto-guns aren’t lethal to humans, but that doesn’t mean it’ll feel nice, especially not at point-blank range.

Vlad glances up towards the ceiling, which is the only warning Tucker gets before there’s a loud blast and the sound of falling debris.  It sounded like a wall was damaged, but none of the walls are falling down around him, so he’s not sure what they hit.

Vlad sets his screen down on a nearby console, and turns to face the door to the lab.

And… nothing happens.  There’s a long stretch of time of silence and then staring at the door.  It gets to a point where Tucker can see Vlad is starting to get confused too.

But then, finally, Danny and Valerie round the corner.  Danny has a hand raised with a plasma blast and Valerie’s holding up her gun, but neither of them fires anything yet.

“Hello Daniel,” Vlad says.

“Vlad,” Danny says, his voice low and tense.  But he’s already turning to Jazz without seeming to care much about Vlad.

“Are you okay?” he asks.  Jazz nods, though Tucker can feel the slight shake as she does.

“Don’t worry, we’re gonna get you out of here,” Danny says to Jazz, and then he raises his gaze right to Tucker, without glaring at him for some reason.

Vlad chuckles.  “Oh, you are, are you?  Well my boy, I think there’s something you don’t know—”

“Oh my god, we so don’t have time for this,” Valerie says.  Then she points her gun at Vlad and fires.

Vlad gets knocked back a step, then turns to Valerie, looking almost offended.

“Do you normally blast someone in the middle of a—”

Tucker’s not surprised when Danny cuts him off by blasting him in the chest.  The opportunity was just right there.

Vlad narrows his eyes and fires back, and then the two of them both fly at him, chasing him away from Tucker and Jazz.

Tucker can’t turn his head to look, so he’s planning on trying to take deep breaths and hoping that Vlad doesn’t accidentally hit the button that makes him kill Jazz.

Instead, his gaze snaps back to the door when Sam sprints out of it.

“What the—” Jazz says, voicing Tucker’s thoughts for him.

Sam shushes her as she runs up to the both of them, then looks over at the fight happening on the other half of the room and pulls Jazz away from Tucker.

Jazz’s breath catches, but Vlad is still distracted, meaning Jazz just ends up facing him in confusion when Tucker doesn’t move his arm at all.

“Can you move?” Sam asks, reappearing right in Tucker’s face.  When he doesn’t say anything, understanding blooms in her eyes.  “You can’t talk, can you?”

No, how does she know that?  How does she know anything that’s going on?  Why isn’t she wearing her suit right now, or trying to fight Danny?

“It’s gonna be okay,” Sam says, though her voice is shaking.  She goes for his wrist, and the bracelet that holds his suit.  Tucker has just enough time to see she’s not wearing her bracelet at all before he hears Vlad snap, “You little brat.”

Then he feels his arm raise and he fires his gun into Sam’s chest, knocking her back into the wall.

Tucker manages a whimper, which does not feel at all satisfying as an expression of free will.

Tucker feels himself spin around and face Vlad, who is now pointing the remote directly at Tucker.

“Hey!” Danny snaps, blasting Vlad in the back of the head.  “Pay attention to me, fruit loop!”

Instead, Vlad turns around and shoots Danny in the face, though that’s immediately followed by Valerie shooting him from the other side.

All of which apparently gives Jazz enough time to run around his other side.

“What was she trying to take off?” she asks, clearly having noticed Vlad’s remote.

Tucker still can’t answer, but thankfully Sam appears a second later on his other side, though she’s holding her hand to her chest now and it’s making Tucker’s chest hurt too.

“The bracelet,” Sam says to Jazz.  “We have to get his bracelet off.”

“Oh no you don’t,” comes Vlad’s voice again, and this time Tucker’s board rockets kick on, and he rises into the air.  Tucker can see Danny coming towards Vlad from his other side, but rather than try and block it, he hits a button on the remote and Tucker’s gun raises and fires at Danny.  Since he isn’t looking in this direction, the blast knocks him into the wall behind him.

That doesn’t feel anything like shooting a dummy.

A shot comes from below Tucker, and then Sam runs out in front of him, shooting her wrist ray into Vlad’s face.  It doesn’t seem to hurt him, but it distracts him enough that Valerie can shoot him from behind.  Vlad growls, spins around, and fires at her, which just gives Danny enough time to recover and blast him again.

Vlad, seeming very irritated, throws up a glowing pink sphere around himself, which absorbs the next blasts coming at him.

As soon as he sees this works, Vlad turns to his remote, and Tucker finds himself raising his gun and shooting another blast at Danny, which at least he dodges this time.

Danny seems to realize the problem the same time as Tucker, though, which is as long as Vlad has a shield up that they can’t break, they can’t get to the remote either.  And while they don’t seem to want to hurt him, Vlad has no such qualms about them.

As soon as Tucker starts firing, Danny flies back towards Sam and Jazz and throws up a shield of his own, and Valerie puts up her own that’s connected to her suit.

For a moment, everything stops.  And then Sam gets a look in her eye that Tucker recognizes.

She runs out from behind Danny’s shield, raises her wrist ray, and fires it into the ceiling above Vlad’s head.  It cracks and starts to crumble, and she fires it again, bringing debris down on top of Vlad’s shield that shoves him towards the ground and knocks the remote out of his hands.

Vlad has just enough time to cry out in surprise before a piece of the ceiling falls directly on top of it.

As soon as feeling rushes back into his limbs, Tucker flies down to the floor and twists the bracelet off, then he takes it off and stomps on it.

He wraps his arms around himself and takes a deep shaky breath, just before Sam runs up to him and throws her arms around him.

Tucker doesn’t have time to hug her back, however, before Vlad cries out in rage and spins around, dropping his shield as he faces Tucker and Sam, raising his arm with a plasma blast.

Sam pushes Tucker behind her and raises her wrist ray again, but before she can fire Danny drops down in front of them and pulls up his own shield that bounces Vlad’s shot off into one of the consoles.

“Back off, Plasmius,” he growls, voice low.  “Get out of here.”

Valerie lands down next to him, and Jazz steps forward next to Sam.

Vlad pauses, takes a moment to look at all of them, and then smartly turns and flies off.

Tucker sees some of the tension release from Danny’s shoulders as soon as he does, and then he turns to look at the three of them standing behind him.

“Are you guys okay?” he asks, looking mostly between Tucker and Jazz.

Tucker doesn’t know quite what to say, and Danny seems to pick up on that.

“Hey,” he says, meeting his gaze.  “I told you.  You need me, and I’ll be there.”

Tucker swallows, and nods weakly.  “Okay,” he says weakly.  His voice comes out much shakier than he’d like.

“Hey,” Jazz says, drawing everyone’s gaze.  “Uh, can I ask what in the world just happened?”

Danny laughs a little.  “I’ll fill you in,” he says, walking over to her.  “Come on.”

The two of them start over to the other side of the room, and Sam turns immediately to Tucker.

“Are you okay?” she asks, reaching out and taking him by the shoulders.  “You— I—” she stops, seeming lost.

Tucker takes in her shaking hands, and the expression on her face, and the fact that she just fought Vlad side by side with Danny and Valerie, and realizes that somehow, she has to know.

He reaches out and pulls her into a tight hug, slumping a little bit against her shoulder.  “Thank god,” he whispers.

Sam sniffs and reaches up to hug him back.

Tucker opens his eyes and finds Valerie standing behind Sam, looking gravely at them both.

He opens his mouth, trying to come up with anything to say.

Valerie shakes her head.  “We’ll talk,” she says.  “We will.”

Tucker nods, and Sam pulls back from the hug to look at her.  For a moment, the three of them just stare at each other.

“Okay,” comes Danny’s voice, and all three of them turn to face him and Jazz.  Jazz is looking at Tucker and Sam in a way that makes Tucker take a step back.

“So uh, we have to get home,” Danny says.  “Our parents are kind of expecting us for dinner.  I can drop you guys off first, if you want, but we’ll have to, uh, talk tomorrow.”

Sam looks away, and Tucker glances after her for a moment before turning back to Danny and nodding.

“Don’t worry about it,” Valerie says, stepping forward.  “I’ll take ‘em home.  You two go ahead.”

“You sure?” Danny asks, and Valerie nods.

So, Danny and Jazz head up the stairs, and as soon as they’re gone, Sam turns to Tucker.

“I want to get out of here,” she says, grabbing his arm.  “Please.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Valerie says, starting past them.  “This place gives me the creeps.”

They all start for the steps, and Tucker turns to Sam, who’s looking down at her feet as they walk.

“Hey,” he says, reaching out and squeezing her hand.  “It’s okay.”

Sam looks up and gives him a weak smile.  She doesn’t really look like she believes him, but they walk out of the training grounds squeezing each other’s hands.

[hockybish]

Online Sibling Night

l hughes!sister au l lola hughes l masterlist l

Once or twice a month the three of them tried to some sort video call. Since it was the night before the game between the Ducks and Canucks in Vancouver, Lola got hang out with Quinn while Luke called in from New Jersey. Tonight it was Lola's choice on what they did, and she chose Spa Night.

"Which one?" Lola held two different face masks out for Quinn to choose from.

Quinn, not really caring which one she put on his face, picked the one in the blue package. Lola handed it to him. He was about to open the thing and apply it to his face, but Lola stopped him, insisting that he needed to pin his hair back with a plush headband that she had just flung at him.

"Are you two ready yet? I feel like I've been waiting for forever!" Luke piped up, tired of watching and waiting for his sibling to be ready. He already had his hair pushed back and a face mask on.

"Hush you, it's not my fault Quintin has issues"

"I don't have issues!"

"Yes you do." The two younger siblings chimed in at the same time. Quinn glared at them, threatening to call Ellen for ganging up on him, because it's not fair.

Once they all had their masks on Lola set the timer for 20 minutes and they got to catching up on what's been going on with them. Lola talked about a boy named Robbie, who was news to both her brothers, and Quinn informed them about a teacher he was seeing.

Lola was going to ask Luke about that one girl he had feelings for, but they got interrupted by Jack coming home, so Luke had to scurry off to his room. Quinn and Lola took the opportunity to quick make a noodle dish for dinner.

"Lukey, what about that one girl? What's her name? Did she like the new camera?" Lola took a big bite of noodles. She was the one to give Luke the idea to get her a new one.

"Who Maisie?" The thought of the cute photographer who worked for the Devils brought small smile to his face. Luke forgot he had told Bah about her and what he did "No, she gave it back. She uh told me that I can't buy her forgiveness"

Jack had notice Luke acting weird since he had gotten home. He had ran off to his room as soon as Jack got home and had been in there pretty much ever since, aside from the few times he's come out to get snacks.

He was curious to say the least. At some point in time he went to Luke's room and held his ear to door, trying to hear anything. Only thing he could really make out was a laugh he didn't recognize.

"Never have I ever slept with a siblings friends or teammates" Quinn smirked knowing he was about to get Luke because of that one time he dated Lola's bestie/teammate, to his surprise Lola put down a finger as well.

"Okay Lu, your turn." She wanted the game to move along, before either one of them could comment on what she just did.

"Wait a minute Luke" Quinn stopped Luke from speaking and addressed the girl sitting next to him. "Clem, who did you sleep with."

"No one. No one. I didn't sleep with anyone" She played it off by trying to put her ring finger back up. "I just put it down for funsies."

"No. You slept with someone, tell us who or at least which one of us is friends with the guy" Lola was still quiet, how do you say you slept with least favorite brother's best friend.

"Oh god not him" Quinn groaned "anybody but him"

"Who?" Luke still confused.

She spilled the name just as the door to Luke's room opened and Jack appeared in the door frame. Lola was completely embarrassed when she heard Jack talking as Luke was pushing him out and locking the door.

"I think I'm gonna go now. I should get back to the hotel and get some sleep." She looked around for her things she brought over.

"No Bah, I'm sorry, I thought I had locked the door. Don't go! We can play another game or something. Please."

"Yeah I think I have that one game Wavelength? We can play that."

Lola agreed to stay for a while longer, after Luke reassured Jack wasn't going to be popping up anymore.

[cookieswithay]

"The happy feelings club!"

🧡Ichigo x Orihime🧡 Ichihime fic

💝Episode 1: The gingers meet!

°•●•°○°•●•°○°•●•°○°•●•°○°•●•°○°•

• Ichigo's pov!

• "Don't let it happen again, Kurosaki."

• "Yeah, yeah. It won't."

• Once again, I'm leaving the principal's office. But at least I got sent for actual reason this time.

• Hi there, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. Near straight A student. I got 2 sisters and 1 insane dad. And I'm a natural carrot top. You'd think with my high grades and all, teachers wouldn't pay me any mind. But no. I'm on everyone's radar. The color orange means trouble. Everyone picks a fight. But, I know how to win this messed up game...most of the time.

• "Did you hear? That guy punched someone."

• "No way, that's horrible."

• "Whispers" aren't anything new, but this rumor has truth in it. (Although those girls could at least TRY to be quiet) The "guy" I punched, was some loser who thought he could get handsy with the girls in my class. I don't know them very well, but I'm not a fan of hearing my classmates scream. So I took care of him. Nice and quick.

• (Tatsuki wanted to kill him, so I just took the fall.)

• "Oh no,"

• One of the girls griped.

• "Here comes that orange haired girl again."

• Orange haired girl? This cruddy school has one? Since when? I turned around and sure enough, there's a carrot top! She's running down the hall...towards me. I...should run, but... My feet feel stuck to the ground. She screeches to a halt and fell to her knees panting. So...she shouldn't of ran that fast. A few minutes passed and she's still wheezing. Damn, is she okay?

• "Um, are you okay?"

🧡

• Orihime's pov

• My lungs...are burning! But...I wanna...pass...these out! My name is Orihime Inoue! I have a busy older brother and I'm new to this school! I also like "weird combinations" of food. (Sweet treats ramen is so tasty!) And last but not least, I'm in charge of the happy feelings club! A blissful hour of doing your favorite things at school! All I need to do is get 3 more members and we can stay afloat. Hence my constant flyer passing! Like right now. But, I REALLY need to...catch...my breath. This tall guy...looks real nice.

• "Should I get the nurse...?"

• (Ichigo said that) Ah! Not the nurse again! I'll get scolded! I shot up. And I was face to face with a...with a...super cute boy. His hair is orange too...And...he probably has girlfriend! Don't wanna get my hopes up for nothing! I scrambled to my feet. I'm not dirty, am I?

• "Hi!"

• I said, flashing my persuasion smile. (It always works!)

• "I'm Orihime Inoue and I run the happy feelings club!"

• The cutie noodle looked confused. But, that's okay. It's a new club, so of course he never heard of it. This is what flyers are for! I pulled one from my backpack.

• "The details are on here."

• I gave it to him, nearly touching his long fingers. He's reading in his head. ...Why am I so NERVOUS!? He's reading the flyer! Not looking at me! Should I run!? Hide? Pass out!?

• "Ah-em."

• Huh?

• "Yes?"

• Did I say that too fast? He had on a half smile.

• "The meetings are after-school on fridays and wednesdays, right?"

• I nodded. My favorite days of the week.

• "Good, I'll be there."

• Oh..my...gosh! A new member! After two weeks of demanding nicely, someone finally joined-

🧡

• Ichigo's pov

• Out of nowhere, Orihime fell into my chest. It hurt but...some softer things touched me too. ...Holy crap! What do I do? Move her? Ask if she's okay? What am I saying, of course I check if she's alright! ...Um. Where to tap? I don't wanna make her uncomfortable or anything. Suddenly, she popped up and...looks raring to go like she didn't just fall? What is this girl?

• I was gonna actually ask that, but someone caught my eye. It was that one black haired chick with the fuchsia eyes. She's snickering with her tomboy friend. (Menoly, she goes to Tatsuki's boxing class.) Why...is that ticking me off? ...Whatever, whatever. Back to Orihime.

• "Orihime-"

• I paused. She looked...hateful and she was gripping her hair. And that's kinda hot. Not angry, but not fully sad either. But, what's the hair clutching about. ...I get it! Those two owe her money. Of course. I would be furrowing my brow too if I was in this situation. Man, people are so cheap nowadays.

• "Ah-em."

• I looked down straight into Orihime's big brown eyes. Shit, she's pretty. She looked down at a hip and back up at me. Ah! I haven't let her go! I stumbled back, muttering a apology. Damn, I'm bad at this.

• "So, I'll see you after school?"

• I said somewhat cooly. She nodded, with the biggest smile on her face. I couldn't help but laugh. Seriously, what is this girl? I just felt like ass a minute ago and now I feel like I won the lottery.

• Rinnnnng!

• That's the bell. Here dies my good mood. I looked back at Orihime.

• "Um, bye."

• I couldn't of said anything smoother than that!?

• "Bye!"

• "See you after school!"

• I waved and watched her skip off to whatever class she's in. Huh, I'm actually looking forward to the club thing.

🧡

• A few hours later

🧡

• Orihime's pov

• "So, tell me more about this hunk you met."

• Um...I did, did I say hunk? He's just really, really handsome is all. I pulled some games out of the cabinet.

• "He was really just nice, Rangiku."

• (Rangiku is one of my favorite upper classmen. She's nice and taught me how to get on Mr. Hitsugaya's good side! He gives out snacks! And she has a thing for Sora. She said she's gonna get serious soon.)

• "Men are nice,"

• She said, leaning on the table.

• "But they all have little quirks and one of your mystery man's caught your eye."

• She...got me there. I really like his hair...and his face. Plus his voice too. She opened her arms up.

• "Come here, tell me all about it."

• I sighed and laid in her squishy embrace. This is probably my favorite thing about Rangiku. She so soft! I could almost...fall asleep on her... Suddenly, I felt hands on my sides. Oh no. She's gonna tickle me again!

• "Don't fall asleep on me now, Orihime~!"

• "I wanna hear all about your little crush."

• Eeeek! I don't wanna pee! Again.

• "Rangiku, stop it!"

• I said through laughs. My uniforms gonna get all crinkly! I tried to push her away, but she laid me on the table!

• "Wow, your skin is so smooth. What lotion do you use?"

• The answer is Cloudy delight moisturizer, but I can't breathe from too much laughter! Suddenly, she stops. Thank goodness. My bladder couldn't take too much more.

• "Oh shit..."

• She mumbled. Wait? What's wrong? I grabbed onto Rangiku's arm, pulling myself up. Is it a teacher? It was just tickling-

• It's the cute guy from earlier in the door way.

• (And two guys I ran into at lunch.)

🧡

• Ichigo's pov

• I'm sure my face is beet red. But, I mean, come on! It's my first seeing two girls ontop of one another. (I'm not a adult film kinda guy) My hand shook on the doorknob.

• "Um...is this a bad time-"

• Suddenly, Keigo's hand was on my mouth.

• "Shut up, Ichigo! This is a once in a lifetime moment!"

• "Don't mess this up!"

• He shouted, while yanking me down. What the f-!? Mizuro put his hand over my mouth too.

• "Please ladies, continue,"

• "We don't mind."

• The older girl snickered.

• "Well, I guess we could do a little a something."

• She said, while tugging on her shirt. Orihime squeaked from under her. She looked just as embarrassed as me. That's it. This ends now. I bit down on one of Keigo's finger.

• "Ouch!"

• I shot up.

• "Knock it off!"

• I snapped. Man, this is a bad look for me. I'm flushed. Probably sweating now. And I had yet another "loud outburst". (Counseling stuff, don't ask.) Orihime's gonna think I'm crazy. The blonde burst into laughter.

• "Easy, easy, kiddo,"

• She crawled off the table. And Orihime.

• "I already have a guy I'm into, so calm down."

• She must a upperclassmen. No one my age would talk down to me like that. She strolled over, sizing me up. ...What's happening right now? She reached out and...patted my head?

• "No wonder a certain somebody likes you!"

• "You're adorable."

• What the- I am not adorable. I pushed her hand away.

• "Who're you anyway?"

• Yeah, I'm done being polite.

🧡

• Orihime's pov

• "I'm Rangiku Matsumoto. The prettiest 3rd year."

• As she introduced herself, I sat up and fixed my clothes. (My underwear wasn't out, was it!?) That was embarrassing. Hopefully mr. unknown doesn't think I'm in love with Rangiku or something. Or a creepy pervert. I'm being crazy. If he ask, I'll explain. Easy peasy.

• "Okay, okay, I'm sorry for intruding,"

• I turned around. She's gonna leave!?

• "You two have fun,"

• Fun? (Why'd she say it like that!?)

• "And you two are gonna clean up with me!"

• The brown haired guy looked horrified.

• "You're a total hottie, but-"

• Rangiku snatched him by collar and pulled threw the door. He was screaming alot. (The other guy followed with no complaints.)

• "Bye bye, you too~!"

• She shut the door, leaving us in quietness.

• "I'm sorry about my friends."

• ...He's apologizing too?

• "No, no, it's my fault!"

• "Rangiku probably freaked you out."

• He turned red and shook his head.

• "It's fine, really."

• I nodded. And hello the crushing quietness. I looked around. What could we do? What's screams 'welcome new member'? Bingo! I grabbed the kitty notebooks.

• "Wanna draw cats with me?"

• He looked surprised, but smiled.

• "Why not?"

• Alright! Perfect time for my new scented markers! (Hopefully, they actually smell like their names.) I spread them out on the table and passed him a notebook. This is gonna be great! I'm great at drawing kitties!

🧡

• Ichigo's pov

• This takes me back. The markers. Cats. And the breeze outside. When I was younger and my sisters were like 4, my old man went out. (I dunno if it was shopping or doctor stuff.) But, he was taking awhile, so that freaked them out. And I remember pulling out my school books and markers. We drew for what felt hours. Needless to say, we had alot to show to dad. Heh, feels like forever ago. Although, I'm not any better at it. They still look like malnourished stick cats. Poor things.

• I looked over at Orihime. She was laser focused. I wanted to peek at her drawing but...I got lost. The afternoon sun made her look great. Ah, what am I doing!? I'm s'posed to be drawing right now. Suddenly, she shot up. I flinched. (Did she notice me?) She turned to me.

• "Do you hear that?"

• "Hear what?"

• I said way too casually.

• "Just listen."

• She whispered. So I did. ...What're we listening in for?

• Mew.

• Orihime grabbed my face and pointed towards the window.

• "It's there!"

• I pried her hands off and walked towards the window. What the- It's a frickin cat in the tree. (Cliché much?)

• But, how'd it get up HERE of all places? We're on the third floor!? Orihime popped out from under my arm.

• "I think I can grab it from here."

• What!? She tugged me back and lifted her leg on the windowsill. Hiking her skirt up with it. Oh hell no. I gripped her waist.

• "Orihime!"

• She turned around, looking genuinely confused. I snatched my hands back.

• "Lemme get the cat."

• Good excuse!

• "I'm taller."

• She nodded, and got back in. We swapped places.

🧡

• Orihime's pov

• "Let's make a plan."

• The mysterious prince said. He turned around, towering over me. Oh my...

• "I'll get the cat and you grab a teacher, okay?"

• "Okay!"

• I can do that!

• (I needed to give Mr. Kyõraku a assignment anyway)

• He smiled and stretched his long legs out the window. That's my cue to run like a track star!

• "Good luck!"

• I shouted and ran out the room. Just like earlier, I'm running down the hall. I'm hearing alot of not nice comments as I do, but I can't stop now. For the kitten's sake!

• A little more running later...

• "Mr. Shunsui!"

• He jumped and sat up straight. I slammed my hands on his desk.

• "I found a...a cat...I need...we..."

• I gotta...catch my breath! Just all the other times, I come in here, he chuckled.

• "Slow down, miss Inoue."

• He patted my head. (I'm kinda wheezing on his desk.)

• "I'm not going anywhere."

• My lungs are on FIRE, but...that guy probably has the cat already. And it could be hungry. I took a breath.

• "Me and this guy found a cat in a tree!"

• "A cat?"

• I nodded quickly.

• "On the 3rd floor too!"

• Mr. Shunsui stood and tugged his hair.

• "Oh boy."

• "Let's go find the kitty."

🧡

• Ichigo's pov

• This cat is putting up a fight. I know it's scared and all, but I seriously not being threatening. I'm even smiling! (That's what's scaring it, my guy) And what's really irritating is, I almost got it. I can literally poke it with my finger. But, I'm almost out the window. If I loose my footing, I'm dead.

• "Come here..."

• The cat meowed and hugged the branch tighter. Dammit...I got it! It's afraid to fall! Just like me. I can do this. I saved one of Karin's friend before. Still shaking like crazy, I lowered my hands.

• "Fall right here,"

• I said, in my softest voice.

• "You're gonna be okay..."

• Slowly, the cat began to relax. (Although It looked at me with a oddly expressive face as like it was trying to call bull shit.) After a little time, it fell into my hands. It's a tad heavy, but it's nothing I can't handle.

• Suddenly, my foot slipped.

• Am I falling out the window!?

• Yes I am.

• Everything moved extremely fast. I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die-!

• "Ichigo!"

• My leg was caught. I looked up.

• "Orihime?"

• (She knows my name?😳) She smiled.

• "You're gonna be okay!"

• A much bigger hand grabbed my other leg. I shivered. Which teacher did she bring!?

• "I gotcha kid."

• Ohh, it's Mr. Shunsui. (Glad she didn't get crazy Coach Zaraki)

• After a little pulling and touching places, I hoped no man would. I was back inside.

• But, without the cat. When did I drop it!

🧡

• Orihime's pov

• "Ichigo, what's wrong-"

• The cat.

• "Eeek! Where's the cat!?"

• We both pushed Mr. Shunsui out of the way and looked out the window. Where is it!? Where is it!? (I hope I'm not saying this outloud.)

• "There it is!"

• Ichigo shouted, pointing down. I hopped on his arm, getting a closer look. Down below, I saw a dark skinned guy with wavy hair. He had the kitty in his hands. (The poor thing was trembling) Have I met him before? He looked up at us.

• "Is this yours?"

• He called up. I shook my head.

• "I wish, but he's a stray we found in the tree!"

• I shouted back. I'm sure I know who he is. Mr. Shunsui scooted me over.

• "Son, could you be a dear and bring that cat up here?"

• He nodded and walked off. So did my teacher. I looked over at Ichigo. He was panting and sweating He looked my way and raised his hand.

• "Good job, we saved a cat."

• Oh, we're gonna high five. I only put my hand on his. I'm too tired to actually slap it.

• "Good job."

• I wheezed. He chuckled and looked back at the sunset. A light wind blew by. ...I'm so thankful for golden hour.

• "So, can I become a member?"

• Huh?

• "Of course!"

• "This is the most fun I had in weeks!"

• He looked over at me.

• "And cause your a nice guy!"

• I don't want him to think he's just a source of entertainment or anything. Ichigo stuck out his hand.

• "Agreed?"

• I smiled.

• "Agreed!"

• We shook hands.

• "Welcome to the happy feelings club."

°○°•●•°○°•●•°○°•●•°○°•●•°○°•●•°○°

• "Orihime,''

• (We're putting the stuff away.)

• "Yeah?"

• "How come you suddenly know my name?"

• I know I forgot to tell her about it. She thought for a moment.

• "The cat you drew earlier!"

• "You signed it."

• Ah, she saw it!?

• "That's great."

• I said with a fake smile. She nodded.

• "It's going on your nametag!"

• Huh!?

°○°•●•°○°•●•°○°•●•°○°•●•°○°•●•°○°

This was so long! But, y'know what, first episodes are always long. (And I may of done it on my tablet) Anyway, I really like this one. I can't wait for the next episode. Stay cool!

Little tag list: @elyonholic @o0o0thorn0o0o @ichihimelover1503 @takibikaen @usoppsstar

[ramspatula]

Carnations | Cole Brookstone x fem!reader | Part 3

Ghosts are real. I know because my best friend told me I speak to them.

Previous part, Masterlist, Next Part

“Good morning, beautiful.” I heard Cole’s voice sound. Way too bright and cheerful for 8 in the morning.

“Nothing about me is beautiful right now- How’d you know I was on the early shift?” I said instead of greeting him back.

“Didn’t. Lloyd- my lil bro -sent me in here to get us all some protein before- y’know what? Doesn’t matter. What you got for me, sugar?” He asked and I frowned.

“Does it run in your family to have endless nicknames?” I asked and he smiled.

“How many protein bars do you want?” I asked and he thought to himself for a moment before beginning to count on his fingers.

“Well there’s 6 of us so…. 30.” He said and my eyes widened.

“5 each?” I said and he looked up in thought before nodding, it took me a moment to figure out that he was figuring out 30 divided by 6.

“I’m not sure that’s enough….” My eyes widened more.

“Wow, you guys sure are a hungry bunch.” I picked up my phone and messaged Peach

‘Damn, do you know how much your man eats?’ - read 8:04am

‘A lot’ - sent 8.04am

“Are you shit messaging your best friend?” Cole asked, tryna peek over my phone.

“No I’m letting her know what her boyfriend is up to. Didn’t know you were that close to Lloyd.” I told him and he frowned.

“Lloyd’s my brother. I live with him and trained him when he was younger.” Cole told me and I nodded.

“Want anything else?”

“You.”

“Get out.” I told him, deadpan. He gave me the ick.

“Okay, okay. I’ll do this properly then. I’ve given you flowers, I’m clearly very interested in you. Do you feel the same, mama?” He said and I cringed.

“Try again.”

“Do you feel the same about me, Y/n?” He said and I smiled.

“I-“

“Cole hurry up! I’m starting to get hangry and Nia’s got period cramps so don’t forget the painkillers!” Some ginger guy yelled into the little corner shop and I frowned.

“Who in the fuck-“

“Jay. My other brother, Nia is his girlfriend. Can I get some pills as well please.”

“That’s $13.50.” I said and he frowned.

“The painkillers-“

“Free. Cramps make me wanna die.” I said and he smiled.

“You’re amazing, Y/n.” He said and I smiled, walking towards the door.

“Cole!” I yelled and he turned around, he almost looked innocent despite his massive figure.

“Meet me at Chen’s noodles tonight at 8.” I told him and he nodded, smile bright.

“Yes mam- ow-! I’ll be there.” I cringed as he wacked his head into the top of the door before leaning down slightly to avoid it happening again and leaving. He was tall as fuck.

0:57 ————|——— -2:10

“I might scream…” Peach held a hand over her mouth.

“I need to wash my hair.” I told her.

“Are you straightening it?” She asked and I shrugged.

“Not sure if I’m bothered.” I said and Peach followed me towards the bathroom.

“Use the expensive shit. My treat.” She said and and I frowned.

“Lloyd uses it?!” I pointed out.

“Yeah he bought it! You don’t think that Prince Charming do was kept that way with Head & Shoulders did you?” She gasped and I threw my towel at her.

“You can get him to do anything, can’t you?” I asked and she winked. “Did you know Cole’s brother was Lloyd?” I asked and she frowned.

“Of course. They’re not blood related. That’s what that whole group does though. They’re all brother and sister and shit. Lloyd’s Uncle always says “brother sharpens brother.” Or something like that.” Peach explained and I nodded.

“Is that weird?” I asked and she contemplated it.

“I feel like I shouldn’t say anything.” She said and I nodded again.

“Kai wasn’t kidding when he said Lloyd has barely a handful of friends.” I said and her face fell.

“He said what?” She asked and I paused in my movements.

“Allegedly.” I added and she huffed.

“Kai’s not exactly Mr Popular either, it took him going to a whole other island to find Skylor and well… she’s something herself. Do you know she’s more a part of their group than me?!” Peach bursted out and I looked around, confused.

“What?! How?!” She shook her head and nodded towards me.

“You’ll see.” She just said and left the bathroom.

“What?” I said to myself, confused.

0:57 ————|——— -2:10

It’s 8:15. Cole was supposed to be here 15 mins ago.

‘He’s still not here.’ -read 8:16pm

‘Just wait a couple more minutes and I’ll pick you up if he’s not there by 8:30’ -sent 8:16

“Fuck this.” I said going to stand up but Skylor appeared in front of me.

“Hey! I thought I saw you walk in!” She said. What? 20 mins ago?

“Oh wow. I didn’t see you.” I said, forced smile. I wasn’t in the mood for small talk with my ex-hookup’s girlfriend. She already made it clear she didn’t think the best of me.

“Yeah I was in the back. My father actually left this place to me awhile back now.” She said and I nodded.

“I didn’t know he passed, sorry.” I said, taking a sip of my drink. “I didn’t know you owned this either. No wonder Kai always wants to eat here.” I said and she laughed.

“Yeah he’s my biggest regular. Those guys eat so much! Cole especially.” She said and I nodded.

“I don’t think he’s very hungry today.” I said she frowned before realising.

“Oh my god! Were you supposed to meet him here?” She asked and I nodded.

“Oh wow. Work must’ve called him in. Lloyd has all those guys on a tight rota.” She said and I nodded.

“Peach said Lloyd was staying round ours this weekend- or was supposed to. She’s not gonna be happy.” I said, standing up. Skylor frowned.

“I don’t really see much of Peach anymore… are her and Lloyd okay?” I frowned. They’ve never been so close. “I mean me and the boys know Peach isn’t very… friendly.” Peach is the definition of friendly. “Not very warming, y’know what I mean?” She said and my face hardened.

“No.” I said and she immediately went onto her back foot. “Peach is extremely friendly. She talks to anyone- maybe you just don’t make her feel very comfortable.” I said, getting defensive.

“Oh… we always try to include her just she seems very removed and Lloyd is always coming to yours. I guess to us it just seems like he’s putting more effort into her than she is him.” I’m gonna hit her.

“Mm. Well that’s definitely not the case from my angle. Seeming how stressed Lloyd always is when he comes to ours and how quickly he de-stresses when he gets there. Maybe you’re the problem. I bet you can’t even tell me one time you’ve had an actual conversation with her giving how inaccurate this version of Peach sounds.”

“I can see why Cole hasn’t shown up now and why Kai doesn’t want you anymore. I wouldn’t want to be with someone so aggressive either.” I saw a hand tap her shoulder and she turned to face Peach.

“Oh-hey?” Skylor said, alarmed. “I haven’t seen or heard from you in forever.” She said, nicely and Peach smiled.

“Oh wow, that’s funny considering you know me so well.” She said and Skylor turned to look between us. “I’m sorry, I think I interrupted- Y/n? Were you about to reply to that?” She asked and I smiled.

“Yeah, I was.” I said and punched Skylor in the eye when she turned around to face me again. She turned around again to Peach holding her eye and Peach kicked her in the knee and did some fucking cool as move where she flipped Skylor over onto her back.

“That’s for saying I don’t put in effort- am I still slow?” She asked and I almost cheered.

“Car picnic? There’s a new burger joint I wanna try.” Peach asked and I nodded.

“Please.” I said and we walked out. “When did you learn to do that?” I asked and she shrugged.

“Basic self defence.” She said and I gasped.

“You actually listened?!” I said and she nodded.

“Lloyd taught me a few things as well.” She confirmed.

0:57 ————|——— -2:10

Kai was messaging me, angrily and I ignored his calls. Chowing down on the nice fat burger. Me and Peach moaned at how good it was.

“We might be lesbian lovers after this, y’know?” Peach said and I nodded.

“Both screwed over by men in one night? It’s a sign.” I said. “You’re moaning louder at that burger than Lloyd makes you.” I said and she laughed.

“Tell me about it.” She said screwing up the wrapped and throwing it in the empty bag. “Y’know how they’re all gym-heads right?” She asked and I nodded.

“It’s freaky.”

“Lloyd once didn’t talk to them for a couple days because they said I was too fragile and unfit to train with them. That fucking hurt me.” She said and I frowned.

“Err. That’s fucking rude.” I said and she nodded, taking a vape. She only smoked when was upset.

“Don’t get me started on when they found out I vaped.” She said and I frowned harder. “The worst part is they were right.” I patted her shoulder.

“There, there. You’re still out of Lloyd’s league.” I said and she smiled.

“Do you think I don’t put as much effort in as him?” She asked and I shook my head.

“No! The poor guy would be dead without you.” I told her and she shrugged.

“They’ve done a lot more for him.” She added and I hit her in the arm.

“Shut up! Whenever he gets you a present it labelled to ‘the best thing that’s ever happened or me’. Let’s be for real.” I told her and she smiled.

“Yeah, that’s true.” She looked at me.

“Could be worse. You could be a selfish, aggressive, vile person that no one wants to be with.” I told her and she hit me instead.

“Only one of those things were said and none of them things are true.” Peach said and I shrugged. “Fine… I’ll break up with Lloyd and be your lesbian lover. Okay, Pookie Bear?” She said and I laughed.

“Okay, Pookie. Make me yours.” I said and we both started laughing our lungs out.

0:57 ————|——— -2:10

We pulled into the car park for our apartment which was actually a 10 minute walk to the apartments but not if you went through this ally.

“Listen, men are shit. They do this! Because they have nothing better to do than be dickheads. That’s why ice cream was made. To fix men’s mistakes. That’s we’re full time lesbians now.” Peach said, carrying the bag full of treats with me carrying the other.

“You don’t mean that do you, Peaches?” A voice called and I looked up startled to see the green ninja staring down at us. The earth ninja appeared behind him like he was in trouble.

“Oh I so do. I so so do.” She said, gritting her teeth as he jumped down in front of her.

“You and Garmadon struggling? Do I have my chance now?” He asked and oh my god, the green ninja was a flirt.

“No! Didn’t you hear? I’m a lesbian now, meet my lesbian lover.” She said and gestured to me, he gave a short wave.

“You stealing my girl now?” He asked and I frowned.

“Was never yours and the universe wants us to be together. Gave us a sign.” I said and he looked to Peach.

“Both screwed over by these brothers tonight then their friend started saying that I didn’t put any effort in to my relation and that’s no one wants to be with her because she’s a selfish, vile, aggressive person.” Peach almost spat in his face.

“That’s not true.” Greenie immediately said. Going soft.

“I second that.” The earth ninja said… I forgot he was even there.

“Well… only one of those things was said.” I told him and I saw his eyebrows knit from the little eye slot on the mask. He had brown eyes.

“Still not true. What happened?” He asked and Peach was glaring at him and then dropped the bag in Greenie’s hand and started walking to the apartment.

“Follow us.” She said, taking the lead and I did a little run to be by her side. She looked at me before taking my bag and dumping it in the Earth Ninja’s hands. “Don’t talk to me.” She hushed him before he even spoke.

“Are we in trouble.” Earth asked and Greenie nodded.

“Big trouble.” He confirmed.

0:57 ————|——— -2:10

“Make yourself comfortable.” I said, watching both men collapse on the couch. They sat up immediately in sync, like they were both in trouble.

“Shit, ice cream has melted.” Peach said and I grabbed mine and squished the tub a little to feel the liquid move.

“Fuck off. As if today could get worse.” I said and Greenie reached out.

“Here.” He took it in both hands and cupped it. When he gave it back it was frozen again.

“Thank you-show off” I said at the same time as Earth. Greenie wacked him.

“You boys had a hard patrol?” Peach asked, hidden meaning. I knew she knew the green ninja but not this close.

“Yeah- massive sinkhole appeared in the road! Had to block it off. Try and figure out the cause. Witness says that it apparently ‘glitched’.” Greenie said and I noticed how Peach all of a sudden went really stiff and nervous.

“Weird.” She said and looked away.

“Yeah weird.” I said, looking at her strangely before running over to her.

“I thought you said that shit only happened once! To our….” I cut myself off noticing the boys looking at us with lost puppy eyes. “Can you like not please?” I asked and they jumped into motion.

“Oh yeah- uhm…. Is your room still the same Peach? I’m gonna have a look!” Greenie said and walked through the door leaving Earth.

“I would also like to see your room! I’ve only seen Y/n’s! Two for two! Am I right?” Earth said and went into Peach’s room, shutting the door.

“It totally is what happened to our neighbours! That’s the problem! That’s why I’m so close to greenie!” Peach told me and I gasped.

“No!” I said.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” She said, tears in her eyes.

“Why wouldn’t you fucking tell me?!” I asked and she tried to hold back tears.

“I wanted to tell you everything! From the glitching to why you can’t say my name! You know how you see ghosts right?!” She asked and I shook my head.

“No! I didn’t know that!” I said and she laughed.

“Neither did I! But apparently yes! It’s to do with some dimension third eye thing! But being exposed to the glitch- changed us.” She said and I gasped.

“What-?”

“Peach that’s enough!” Green said from the door. Earth ninja defensive behind him.

“Enough-?” She questioned.

“Yes! Enough… just calm down. It’s not your fault.” He said and I looked to Earth.

“He’s being leader…” He clarified. “The senseis are really big on secrecy. Makes our lives harder and easier at the same time.” Earth told me and I nodded.

“You’re huge by the way.” I said, just noticing how tall he is. “Super strength?” I asked and he nodded.

“Was always tall but this…” he gestured to his body “…is all thanks to training.” I laughed at him as Green tried to calm Peach down.

“I should probably call Lloyd. He’ll know how to calm her… does he know?” Earth looked at me.

“I don’t personally know the guy.” He said and I nodded.

“Just fought his Dad?” I asked and he became more awkward.

“If you want to make someone uncomfortable start talking about the final battle with him.” Earth said and I laughed.

“I’m gonna go to bed. I don’t even wanna think about anything that has happened tonight. I’m gonna shoot my self if this carries on- My ice cream is melted again!” I complained, opening the lid.

“Here!” Green said stressed, hand on his hip with one outstretched towards me. He took it and ice spiked off it in his frustration.

“Y’know what?! Go! I’m done speaking to the green ninja! I want to speak to Lloyd! And take him with you! I don’t want her caught up in this crap either!” I heard Peach say and me and Earth looked at each other and he nodded before jumping out the window. Greenie went to storm out but came back with my ice cream and slammed it down so hard our kitchen counter snapped in two. We both gasped.

“We’re gonna lose our deposit.” I blurted out. First thing my mind thought of.

“Im so a lesbian now!” Peach said and I nodded.

0:57 ————|——— -2:10

‘Hey, sorry i didn’t message or call.’ - sent 3:23

‘Just got in. Been a rough night’ sent 3:23

‘I’m sorry I fucked up big time tonight’ sent 3:25

‘I don’t wanna fuck this up with you please’ sent 3:25

‘I heard what happened with Skylor. I’m on your side’ sent 3:26

‘She’s wrong’ sent 3:26

‘I really fucking wanna be yours’ sent 3:29

Message deleted

‘Call me back when you wake up please’ sent 3:29

…

‘I saw you type. Please respond’ sent 3:32

‘Please Y/n I’ll make it up to you’

…

‘I wanna be yours too’ sent 3:39 read 3:39

‘But how can I trust you?’ read 3:40

‘I’ll do anything.’ sent 3:40

…

‘Bring me a single carnation every Sunday’ read 3:56

‘It has to be a pink one’ read 3:57

0:57 ————|——— -2:10

[birgittesilverbae]

thinking of babea au again…

bea going to the movies for the first time with mary and it’s like 2008, so they’re going to see Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

bea frets and spends daaaays agonising over it because she wants to go see the film in her padawan robes that one of the sisters helped her sew and she wants to bring her toy lightsaber, but she’s also terrified of standing out. doesn’t want people to stare at her, because it’s not very jedi-like to hide in mary’s jacket while she orders popcorn.

and it’s shannon who finds her haunting the chapel, coming in barefoot, sore, a little dab of blood still on her neck, which bea points out to her with a soft fingertip as shannon settles into the pew next to her.

“that was ketchup,” she tells bea, swiping at it with the heel of her palm.

“you shouldn’t lie in a church.”

they sit in silence, votive candles and their soft puttering, casting spear-tip shadows up the stone walls.

eventually, shannon yawns, “so hey, sister agatha said you disappeared before lunch. it’s 7pm.”

“i know what time it is.”

“never doubted you for a second” - shannon reaches out to tuck a rebellious strand of hair behind bea’s ear - “but my point was more about you and me maybe going to the grocery store to get some stuff to eat? we can get those instant noodle pots and add M&M’s. have you ever tried that?”

a perturbed frown, “noodles with M&M’s?”

“yeah, the pretzel ones.”

and bea senses, then, that shannon’s trying to rile her up and slip through the cracks formed by her frustration, so she settles back against the pew, folds her hands in her lap, “no thank you.”

but a moment later she’s clenching and unclenching her small fists, staring fixedly at one of the crucifixes. it’s her favourite, apparently, because instead of nailing his feet to the cross, the sculptor gave jesus a little shelf to stand on. ‘that’s actually a little cruel,’ beatrice told her once. ‘without the asphyxiation, it would take him much longer to die, unless the centurions were feeling merciful.’

“bea,” she says, soft. “you know you can tell me what’s wrong. i’m not saying i can fix it, but i’m not going to say it’s stupid.”

bea’s silent for a minute. “but it is stupid.”

“more stupid than noodles with M&M’s?”

her brown eyes are almost blackened by the shadows in the chapel, irises laced with faint impressions of candlelight.

“mary’s taking me to a movie tomorrow.”

“i know,” shannon reaches into her pocket, produces two slightly-crumpled pieces of paper. “i picked up the tickets this morning.”

“oh.” bea squeezes her eyes shut, like she’s trying not to cry. “it’s just… i don’t think i want to go.”

and she tells shannon why, taking out her plastic lighsaber (blue, of course) from under the pew, holding it.

shannon kisses her forehead and takes her through the convent to her room, where her armour rests on its stand in the corner. someone’s already cleaned up the blood.

she lets bea touch the gauntlets, the links of the mail bumpy-smooth under her fingers. tells her, “i felt ridiculous wearing it, in the beginning, but then it saved me from a stab to the chest and i realised” - she huffs a laugh - “that i’d rather be alive, and myself, than one hundred percent comfortable all the time.”

she puts a hand on bea’s shoulder, “you should wear what you want, bea.”

so she does. holding mary’s hand with the sleeve of her padawan robe slipping up her arm, passing kids wearing darth vader helmets and carrying lightsabers just like hers. a couple of them wave at her and say “hi Obi-Wan!” and she buries her face in mary’s jacket, but she’s hiding a smile.

she has a short lightsaber fight with another kid in the lobby while mary’s ordering popcorn; a girl who shows her a pack of Top Trumps cards and tells her she thinks C3PO should be more powerful. bea gives a soft sigh of appreciation whenever Obi-Wan appears onscreen, and afterwards shannon picks them up in the van and bea falls asleep against her ribs as mary drives through the dark streets.

S.O.S. not shannon showing bea her armour and getting her even more invested in warrior nunnery

[bookofbolden]

TIMING: Current LOCATION: The Generic Store PARTIES: Syd ( @felinefrenzies ) & Eleanor SUMMARY: While grocery shopping Eleanor runs into Syd who is in the middle of an intense battle with the beast within. WARNINGS: None!

Groceries. It was a necessary evil that Eleanor had had the pleasure of forgetting about while she’d lived with her sister. She simply wrote on the chalkboard door of the pantry what she needed from the store and it appeared almost like magic. Now she had to get all of her things together, including her long list, and trudge to the store herself. Not that she could really complain, she didn’t want to be in the apartment for too much longer than absolutely necessary, it had been left a mess and somehow seemed even more so after her return.

Almost immediately after she’d walked into The Generic Store the cashier gave off some mildly irritated vibes but Eleanor could understand, she wouldn’t have wanted to be at work and miss out on whatever else was going on outside of the store, either. She smiled at the worker and continued on her way to the groceries as she took out her list. Only a few other people roamed the aisles and they were all either extremely calm or just a little bit anxious as they made sure they had gotten everything they’d come for. Because of the lack of strong emotions within the vicinity, the feeling of dread and distress was as noticeable to her as if the person had announced that they were feeling it.

Eleanor looked over her shoulder and offered a kind smile in hopes of calming the stranger. “Hello, I’m not in your way, am I?”

Syd leaned against the cereal aisle, gaze fixated on the stupid off brand Tony the Tiger. Their vision blurred ever so slightly, off brand Tony dancing in the corner of their eye as they looked away, as if mocking them. From one cat to another, it sang. Syd clenched their teeth and tried to focus on the ring of their heart in their ears, of the way it sounded, a rhythmic beat to the discussion and footfalls of shoppers in and around the store. They’d been through this time and time again, and they could do it again. There were faces they knew here, and they couldn’t risk the chance of shedding their skin, of hurting the very woman who had handed them their diploma several years back. 

They’d been so focused on controlling the shift, from keeping it at bay that they hadn’t noticed somebody was next to them now. Concern echoed in their voice and Syd tore their eyes away from a neighboring box of low sugar off brand Toucan– what the fuck was that bird’s name?  Their company stood only a few feet away, and the warnings that fell at the back of Syd’s throat were swallowed by the anxiety of possibly creating shreds out of the person in front of them. “No,” Syd stammered, tightening their grip on the shelf. The jaguar hummed, circling them as if prey. “Sorry, I’m–” They let out a soft laugh that came out as a hiss, unfurling into something of a growl. Quickly, Syd covered it up by coughing into their arm. “I think I left the house before the flu left me.” They gave a half-assed smile, tongue moving against teeth, against cheek– anything to keep them rooted. “Did you need…” They looked at the aisle they were in again, then to off brand Tony. “This?” 

Eleanor could tell that something awful brewed just below the surface but she didn’t want to call too much attention to it. Some people preferred to pretend that nothing was going on even if they were going through some of the worst moments of their life. “No need to apologize, I’m sorry that you’re not feeling well. I can bet that it must be miserable being sick in this weather. Have you been getting enough fluids? Have you tried chicken noodle soup? Whenever I haven’t been feeling my best I typically give it about a week and then if things aren’t getting better I go to the doctor.” She knew that she’d started to ramble so she stopped herself. “Not that you asked for any of my advice. I’m sorry, you're an adult, you know how to take care of yourself.” She blushed, but she had genuinely just wanted to offer some kind of help because it was obvious between the stuttering and the swirling dark cloud of emotions within them that things weren’t going well.

Although Eleanor hadn’t been in the market for the off brand cereal she nodded and took it anyhow, adding it to the small selection of items in her basket. “Sure, I appreciate it.” She looked them over one more time then turned as though she were going to leave. She’d gotten halfway down the aisle before she turned and went back, her heart unable to allow her to simply walk away. “I’m sorry, and please tell me to buzz off if I’m prying, but you don’t seem well. Is there anything I can do, someone I can call for you? You shouldn't be out if you’re feeling this terribly - what are you shopping for? I can grab it for you so you don’t have to be on your feet for too long.”

Most people would move on after being advised that the person they were speaking to had the flu, but the girl ahead of her stayed put, concern pulling over her features. Frustration flickered brightly at the center of Syd’s chest. They wanted to tell her to leave, that they didn’t need the suggestions. Because that much was true, they didn’t. They could take care of themself. The sound of the front door opening, a bell ringing– the till, the count of change, the exchanging of thank you’s, it hit Syd from every side. It was hard to ignore. On top of it all, the smiling brunette had the audacity to be kind. The longer Syd stood there, the more their irritation grew, and they felt horrible for directing it at somebody who was only trying to help. “Chicken noodle soup, no. Pozole.” Through clenched teeth, Syd continued, “you should try it sometime.” Maybe the brunette already had. It was easier to focus on the comfort of a warm meal than it was to focus on the tiles beneath their feet and how it might feel to press their face against them. They’d be cool to the touch, they were sure, and maybe it’d soothe the sweat that had begun to break out at the back of their neck. 

“S’okay,” Syd coughed out again, attempting to hide a pained whimper as the jaguar tugged at the corners of their mind, as if luring them inward in order to take total and complete control. “Appreciate it all the same, actually.” It was harder to speak now than it had been previously, and that wasn’t good. They knew that. Syd moved to the side slightly as the brunette reached for the box of cereal. A blur of colors danced in the corner of their vision as they kept their eyes on the shelf’s price display. They traced each number carefully, one breath in, one breath out. She was retreating, and Syd felt some minor relief that maybe she would leave the store before the jaguar split the seams of the individual standing there. Syd hoped so. Nobody that kind should be mauled in a grocery outlet. The footfalls stopped, and Syd let out a huff, ready to explain that yes, she was sticking her nose where it didn’t belong, all for the sake of ridding a victim from a soon to be crime scene. But instead, Syd refocused, staring at the toucan on the stupid cereal box. They memorized the colors, thought of them on human skin, the thrum of the tattoo gun in their hand. Grounding techniques, that was what their father had called them. Important, to beings like them. “Call? No, nobody to call.” Their parents were in Arizona, and it wasn’t like Meredith needed to be bothered, they were only just now reconnecting. “You’re really fucking nice and all, but look, I don’t– I would have asked for your help if I needed it, alright?” Frustration plucked at Syd’s vocal cords and their voice broke slightly at the end of the sentence. Agitation burrowed itself, dragging away the kindness that Syd had been born with. “Fuck, sorry, I just– it’s so fucking loud in here, right? So fucking loud.” 

There was a flash of frustration and Eleanor took another miniscule step back. Had she said something unkind, out of line? She didn’t think so, but not everyone received unsolicited advice well, perhaps that had been the other’s breaking point. She was sure that if she’d felt awful out in public and someone came along yapping about soup and doctors then surely she too would become irritated. But this was different, it had to be, it couldn’t have all been aimed at herself - the irritation, fear, anger… it was all too much to have occurred during their brief exchange of words. But still, they offered up another bit of conversation and she took it because she didn’t know what else to do in such a situation. “I have! It’s very good, one of my best friends makes it.” But her words sounded forced, scared. What could have caused such a storm within them? It wasn’t her place to get to the bottom of it, she needed to learn where to draw the line, but she also wouldn’t have forgiven herself if she were to just walk away and leave them in such a state.

Their response was exactly what Eleanor had expected so it didn’t hurt her feelings when they lashed out, she simply nodded and smiled sadly. Hadn’t she always done the same thing? Lashing out was a whole hell of a lot easier than trying to explain whatever was going on inside of her mind so no, she hadn’t been offended. But it did still worry her. “No need to apologize, I was just offering it. Whenever I see someone who might need a helping hand I offer, but you by no means have to accept it, I understand that you’re wanting your space.” She let out a breath and brought her palm to her forehead as though checking for a fever. The intensity of their emotions had started to create a headache. “Yes, it’s very loud in here, I agree. I hope that I’m not coming down with something myself.” Although the volume she was complaining about happened to be on a different wavelength, one she was sure they were unable to hear. “I’m Eleanor. I don’t think I’m supposed to give out my name freely, but I want you to know who I am just in case… you ever need anything? Whatever’s going on, flu or otherwise, it’ll all pass. I’m sure your family and friends would be more than willing to listen to anything you have to say about what might be going on, and if not then… I don’t know. I’m here, too. I’m no therapist, I don’t claim to be one, but I’m really good at listening despite my habit of always talking.” She didn’t want to leave, as much as being around them pained her, so she went further down the aisle as she had before but stopped to pretend to be very interested in the loaves of bread on the shelf.

It was at inopportune times like these that the jaguar had wanted to come out, desire to be freed from its vessel trumping any reason that Syd tried to make. The last thing they wanted to do was hurt anybody, and they knew that leaving sooner rather than later was probably their best bet at doing little to no harm. But it was hard to move– to put one foot in front of the other. They could barely focus on each and every breath that filled their lungs, a labor in its own right– defying the very spirit that lived within them, coaxing Syd to release any and all control. Their grip on the shelf tightened, and they leaned into it gently, careful to not put their full weight as they didn’t want tons of cereal boxes to come crashing down. It didn’t seem like the brunette was hurt by her words, which was a surprise in itself. Instead, it looked like she understood the aggression, tucking it away for further investigation. 

Syd tried their best to focus on her words, to allow them to carry them further from the tightening in their chest. It felt odd, being talked down so gently after misplaced cruelty stained their words. “No, it’s–” Another sharp inhale, another clench of the jaw. “Ah, fuck. Hope not. Sure it’s going around town, though.” Syd wasn’t actually sick with anything, so maybe the girl– now named Eleanor, was using empathy as a means to distract them. “Don’t worry, not gonna use your name against you. I don’t even use Facebook. Plus, I’m sure there’s loads of other Eleanors in town.” It hadn’t occurred to them that there was a deeper seated meaning to her words, but it was hard to focus on that. “You talk like a therapist. Not that it’s a bad thing.” The words came out raspy, a hollowed out version of Syd’s typical cadence. “Never been to a shrink, though.” Never had to, before now. Were there such things as balam shrinks? Would they be able to tap into the jaguar and coax a level of understanding? Maybe they should look into that. “My name is Syd.” If they focused on the conversation, then maybe it would pass. They could feel the feverish warmth at the back of their neck beginning to subside, a sign that perhaps the jaguar was relenting. “You do this a lot?” Syd asked after a moment of listening to the other noises from within the store, “talk people down who have the flu in the cereal aisle, I mean.” 

The comment about Facebook confused Eleanor for a moment and she wondered if they even understood what she had meant by the layered comment. Perhaps they really were sick and it wasn’t anything supernatural… that would be strange simply because it wasn’t strange. Everything that happened in this town had to be weird, right? It was the law or something. It just wasn’t feasible to Eleanor that this person was plainly sick with the common flu. She shrugged one shoulder and attempted a chuckle. “I’ve been to plenty of therapists, I know their lingo. Going to one isn’t a bad thing, it’s not admitting weakness or anything like that, sometimes you just need someone to talk to you, someone who doesn’t know a thing about you and can give everything a glance from the outside - it’s really helped me.” How they had moved from the subject of possibly catching a virus to her trying to coax them into therapy she wasn’t sure, but as long as they spoke with her the more she would continue as well. It seemed to work as a distraction, keeping them from completely toppling over.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Syd. Lovely name.” Eleanor wondered if it was short for Sydney but then decided that it was none of her business. Syd, as they had introduced themself, was all she needed to know. At their question she truly laughed. “I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you, I'm laughing because… no, no I don’t talk people down from the flu in the cereal aisle often. But I give myself damn good pep talks in the bathroom mirror so I’m using all of my skills I’ve learned by doing that - is it working? Because if it is then I need to give myself a raise.” There was a gradual shift in the atmosphere that indicated that perhaps they had started to feel a tad bit better and Eleanor took that as a sign that she was doing well. It felt good to be the one to help someone else for a change. “What brought you out to the store with the flu, Syd? All of the DoorDashers busy?”

Syd snorted. When leaving the campsite today, they hadn’t anticipated a minor panic attack in the cereal aisle of a store they had gone to since they were a child. Syd was positive that if their parents had service, Glenn, the manager of the place, would be calling them erratically asking what had gotten into Syd. Everyone knew each other here, it seemed. Except Syd knew that Wicked’s Rest wasn’t really that small of a place– it just so happened that they were a creature of habit, frequenting the same places that their parents had. 

“You should be a marketer for them.” Syd took another deep breath, gaze flashing up to the ceiling to seek out the patterns of the tiles above their heads. “Maybe I’ll look into it one day.” If balam therapists were a thing, they’d jump at the chance, no questions asked. They didn’t think they’d get that lucky. Maybe they’d have to find somebody else– a zombie therapist who understood what it was like to no longer be in control. There was a degree of separation, but Syd felt as though that was their best bet. “I’m glad it’s helped you, though. You seem to know what you’re talking about.” Eleanor’s voice was helping keep Syd’s mind off of the thrashing in their mind. It was a constant tug-o-war, keeping the jaguar at bay, silently pleading with it to give them a moment within their own body. 

Then again, like Syd normally did, Eleanor could be talking out of her ass. Syd, however, was incapable of dissecting the true meaning of the other’s words. “Ah, shit. No, you’re totally laughing at me. ‘S alright, I get it. I’m sick in the cereal aisle.” Not sick, but plagued with the spirit of something they should have been able to harmonize with. Syd finally tore their gaze from the ceiling. It landed back on Eleanor and they let out a laugh of their own, however it sounded congested and strained, as if being peeled from their lungs. “You should ask for a raise, deffo.” They gave a curt nod, pushing away from the shelf slightly, grip loosening. “I can be my own DoorDasher, y’know?” Their reasoning for why they looked violently ill was slipping. Realistically, nobody should go out when they were sick. Syd looked like they didn’t care about those around them, and they didn’t like that, but it was too late to fall back on the excuse now. “Thought it was over, then it fucked me up again is all. You know, false hope.” For somebody who engaged in therapeutic discussions, surely Eleanor wouldn’t be able to argue the topic of false hope. “Hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but you deserve a gold star. Not many people’d take a look at someone hunched against a shelf and ask if they were okay.” Syd’s voice was still strained, but the cloud of agitation was dissipating. 

It was Eleanor’s turn to scoff. “Perhaps if the whole writing thing doesn’t work out then I’ll definitely either become a therapist or a marketer for them. Maybe BetterHelp can sponsor my upcoming book.” She joked, glad to have gotten some amusement out of them. She shrugged and fiddled with the basket in her hands. “I just know how to sound like I know what I’m talking about. It’s a skill, really, one that I inherited from someone in the past.” One of her past foster fathers had been one of the best bullshitters she’d ever met in her life - she’d learned from him how to boost herself up in the best way possible but she only used it whenever necessary. She noticed that Syd had started to take deep breaths which was a good sign, it meant that they had at least started the process of calming down.

Eleanor bit her lip to keep from laughing again. “I swear that I’m not laughing at you but you have to admit that this kind of interaction isn’t necessarily… normal. Did you wake up planning to speak with a stranger next to colorful boxes of cereal because she refused to leave you alone while you were sick? I’m self aware enough to know that I’m a little annoying but, I don’t know, I think sometimes it pays off.” The gold star comment made another giggle rise out of her. She liked Syd, even if they did seem like they were going through a lot more than they were willing to disclose. She probably wouldn't have been comfortable laying everything out on the table, either. But she could tell from the emotions that flowed from them that a lot more was going on with them whether they’d admit it or not. “I’m a sucker for gold stars, the other kids in my class used to hate me because I’d do everything I could to get one added to my chart every day. I was that kid.” She allowed her smile to fade just a tad so that she looked more serious. “Are you sure you’re alright? I’ve asked that a million times but please, if there’s truly anything I can do let me know. Maybe I could help you out of this stupid aisle? I’m sure that tiger staring at you isn’t helping.”

“Yeah, who knows. Maybe they’ll jump at the chance.” Syd grimaced, knowing well enough that continuing to talk through things like it was all fine probably would have turned out not fine, and leaving was definitely the smarter thing to do, but Eleanor’s kindness was hard to turn down. “A book though, really? Yeah, I guess that tracks. You look like a writer.” In a way that books wrote about writers, but Syd wasn’t sure that Eleanor would take that as a compliment. Syd definitely meant it as one. Not that they read a whole lot, but still. “Oh, so you’re bullshitting me? Does therapy even really work?” They steeled themselves, knowing the joke probably didn’t hit the way they wanted it to given the fact that they were trying not to fall apart. “That was a joke.” Maybe that would help. 

“I think that I plan on that every day. It’s what keeps me going.” Syd tilted their head back, letting out another breath, pushing the jaguar out from the corners of their mind. It was still circling, a constant thing, claws ripping into her psyche, but she could handle it. Could coax it into submission, at least for the time being. Without really knowing if it was the death of Callum or the abnormality that had done this to her, she had no way of fixing it, but taking deep breaths did help, and so did having somebody to talk to about it, even if it wasn’t necessarily the truth, and instead just a simple distraction or two. As Eleanor went on to explain that she gained the most gold stars out of any other kid in her grade, Syd nodded. “Yeah, that also fucking tracks. You look like one of those kids who’d put it in a whole ass sticker book or something. It’s probably in a box somewhere, right?” Eleanor was making it easy to make fun of her, and Syd felt a little bad. “That was another joke, by the way, even if it’s kind of true?” They leaned away from the shelf finally, realigning their gaze with Eleanor’s, no longer tracing out the patterns of the ceiling. “The flu is a bitch, what can I say?” Syd wore a lopsided smile that looked more like a grimace, so she tried a little harder, pushing it to reach her eyes. “The tiger can’t do shit to me, but uh, I really– seriously, thanks for hanging out while I go through the ten stages of what the fuck is happening.” 

Although some might not have taken it as a compliment Eleanor was thrilled to hear that she “looked like a writer”. She had always been able to point out an author in any crowd simply by the way they dressed and handled themself and she wanted to give herself a pat on the back for being able to emulate such a presence. “I’ve spent years trying to perfect my wardrobe and even my hair - I think the new bangs are what really ties the whole look together. It’s even more evident whenever I wear my glasses - I see that as a compliment whenever someone is able to guess that I write for a living. What do you do, if I may ask?” She wanted to continue the conversation because it seemed that she and Syd had finally gotten to a place of friendliness. “Oh, it definitely works, I can assure you of that. I would be absolutely falling apart at the seams if not for my therapist. But I know a joke when I hear it.” She winked at them.

“Well in that case I need to start planning very strange and specific things to do in my day. This has been nice, getting to meet a lovely new person.” Eleanor liked Syd a lot and she hoped that maybe if they were to run into one another at a different time that it would be under better circumstances. She blushed but nodded to answer the other’s question. “Actually… I believe it’s in a box in my parents’ home. My mother is very sentimental about things like that. She wants to bring out all of my book reports and essays anytime someone speaks about my books - she wants the world to know how young I began writing but I find it a bit embarrassing.” She subconsciously mimicked Syd and took a deep breath, happy to see them finally standing up straight and making eye contact. “Talking is what I do best! I’m always happy whenever someone’s around who I can yap to so thank you for making my day better. I’m sorry that we couldn’t have met under better circumstances, maybe we’ll run into one another soon enough and we can have an actual conversation. I promise that I won’t completely talk your ear off, I’ll listen to any and everything you have to say since you’ve allowed me to get carried away this time.”

Syd couldn’t help but let out a chuckle as Eleanor went on to explain that she purposely dressed as a writer, hoping others would deduce as such. Yeah, maybe that was important– being proud of whatever you did. When Syd worked at the tattoo shop, it’d been a lot more obvious what they did for a living, but now that that was behind them, nobody ever really pointed at them and said campsite manager. Not unless they knew them from before, at least. “I run the three pines with my parents.” This time, as they spoke, it wasn’t said through gritted teeth. That was good, at least– a change in direction, a chance that the jaguar was beginning to settle down. They let out another chuckle, this time more strained, as Eleanor reassured them that therapy did in fact work. “Alright, you’ve got me. You therapized me here, I’m a believer now.” Not quite, but on the fringes of it. Eleanor had in fact helped them calm down considerably. 

Lovely was a stretch, but Syd made no move to correct her. Maybe in another life, they would’ve been lovely to meet, all toothy grins and an arm wrapped around her shoulder as they showed her to the seat where she’d get her first tattoo, because they definitely wouldn’t have met in the cereal aisle where Syd was having a meltdown. No way. That was definitely not the way Syd liked to meet people, nor the way they liked to leave a lasting impression. “Of fucking course you do.” This time it was a snort instead of a chuckle. “Cute, though. Sounds like a good mom.” Their mom was the same. Even if the first time they’d come home with a tattoo, they’d nearly been disowned. Over time, they accepted that the art Syd created wasn’t meant for a sketchbook, and rather for their skin, and that of their peers. “I feel like that should be the case, though. Pretty fucking important, to be proud of something like that. Not everyone just writes a book.” That wasn’t necessarily true, so Syd amended, “or is good at it.” They didn’t know if Eleanor’s books were good or not, but they made a mental note to at least find it on audio book. “Nah, you’re– you did more than enough.” Eleanor didn’t need to stop at all, and Syd was grateful she did, even if annoyance had transcended that feeling entirely during their first moments. “But uh, I’m good– flu is hitting the road or whatever.” 

The jaguar was still antagonistic, and it’d be good to go home and avoid any more uphill battles. “Not every day somebody stops and talks to somebody who’s bitching at them for being too loud.” Not that Syd had been yelling at Eleanor specifically, but it could’ve come across as that. “I appreciate you though, for real. Uh, keep… being a therapist to people in the streets. Or don’t, maybe not– maybe a bad idea.” Especially here. “Maybe only do it in public places?” They let out another short laugh. 

Laughter was a good sign and Eleanor once again gave herself a pat on the back for the progress Syd had made. She hadn’t been entirely sure that any of her efforts would affect them at all so to see such a change made her happy. “That sounds wonderful, I’m guessing you’re outside a lot? That’s the perfect time to just let loose and take a couple deep breaths in case you’re ever needing to calm yourself. It worked for me although I’m sure my neighbors believed me to be completely off my rocker after that time I went out into the rain to do some deep breathing. It couldn’t wait, I needed to do it then and there.” She wasn’t sure if Syd meant what they said about her convincing them that therapy worked, but since she’d accomplished her goal of calming them down that was all that mattered to her. “Good. I’m glad that I could be of assistance.”

Syd’s words encouraged Eleanor. She knew what a difficult road it was to write books, much less books that were welcomed with open arms by the public and did well, so it was nice to have some recognition. “I’m obviously not the best but my books do well enough for me to live off of what I make from them, that’s a huge deal in the writing community. I don’t like to sound like I’m bragging though, no one likes someone who talks about themself during the entire conversation, so back to you: I’m glad that you’re feeling better. I’m sure the flu probably just got annoyed with me and decided to abandon ship. It was my pleasure being able to be your makeshift therapist for a little while, but I certainly don’t think that I’ll be doing it too often. I got lucky running into someone who didn’t try to fight me or something because I was only trying to help. I hope you have a lovely rest of your day, you should definitely go home and rest so that you don't get sick again.” She shifted awkwardly onto the balls of her feet because she was unsure how to end the conversation. “Goodbye Syd, hopefully we’ll run into each other again when you’re feeling better.” She offered them one last smile then finally turned and actually continued on down the aisle to continue her shopping.

[kachikirby]

Made with Love

Because it's Meta Knight's birthday, I'm doing another Metaccine drabble.

-

Today was Meta Knight's birthday and his wife and children were excited. Their father had gone out of the house to meet for a birthday lunch with the crewmates of the Halberd for the occasion, something that would likely take a few hours. Of course, this gave them plenty of time to prepare their own celebration, and that was their reason for being in the kitchen right now.

"Alright, everyone, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna split in to two groups: Kirby will be with me and Sieg and Freya will work together. Kirby and I will work on dinner and you two will work on dessert, do you understand?"

Fettuccine got three nods in response.

"Good! Let's get to work!"

The twins went off to do their own work as Kirby walked over to Fettuccine, already inhaling a frying pan to gain the Cook Ability.

"So, mom what are we gonna make?" The pink puff asked, clearly excited for whatever was planned, making Fettuccine giggle.

"Well, I decided we should make one of his favorites, of course! Chicken parmesan!"

The child's eyes lit up. "Oh! Thats a great idea! Oh, but wouldn't just chicken and spaghetti be a bit too little? We should add other things like maybe a big bowl of salad! Oh, oh, oh, and truffle fries! Or a fruit salad for color! A whole loaf of garlic bread! No, wait, maybe mix some seafood in the noodles-"

"Alright, Kirbo, calm down! While the garlic bread does sound like a good idea, I think it'd be a bit too much to add all those other things. You want him to have room for dessert, right?"

"He'll have plenty of room for it!"

"You know what I mean. It won't be fair to Sieg and Freya if we make a whole bunch of things for him."

Kirby paused, as if to think. "Oh, that's right! Well, we can get it done in a jiffy!"

"Yes, but remember, just the chicken parmesan, the noodles and sauce, and the garlic bread. Nothing else." Fettuccine replied, making herself clear.

"Ok, mom!"

* * *

On the other side of the kitchen, Sieg and Freya were in a bit of a standoff, handwritten lists clutched tightly in their nubs.

"I think we should make a chocolate cake!" Sieg said.

"We should make a chocolate ice cream sundae!" His sister replied.

"Dad has sundaes every day!"

"He also has chocolate cake every day!"

"No, he has chocolate... um... fandant!"

"That's the same thing!"

"No, it's not!"

"Siegy, Fre-fre, I would appreciate it if you didn't argue with each other." Fettuccine said, looking over at them, causing them to immediately stop.

Sieg rubbed his head, as if trying to think of what to do as Freya shifted her weight to think about her own answer.

Suddenly, the daughter spoke. "Um... I know dad likes both sweets and chocolate..."

"Uh-huh..."

"So, um... maybe we can both make something for him?"

"We are gonna make something. though!"

"No, no! I meant we should make our own things for him! He loves both so why should we choose?"

Sieg looked up as if thinking and then turned to Fettuccine.

"Mom, is it fine if we both make one dessert for dad?"

"Go ahead! I don't see why not!"

"Wait, how comes they get to make multiple things!?" Kirby asked with a pout.

"Because we're already doing chicken parmesan and garlic bread, and those are two things. Plus, we're technically doing three things if you count the spaghetti with the chicken parmesan meal."

Kirby seemed to pout even more, as if he couldn't deny that statement, making both Fettuccine and the twins laugh.

* * *

A few hours later, Meta Knight walked into the house, looking a bit tired as he fell onto the sofa. As he let out a long sigh, he felt someone plop next to him and pick him up in a hug.

"Welcome home, Metty!" Fettuccine exclaimed.

Almost instantly, it felt like that was enough to give him his energy back, and he gave a kiss to his wife.

"I'm glad to be home, my bunny." He smiled.

"I know you are, honey. I hope you had a wonderful little birthday party with the others~."

Meta seemed to sigh, drawing a bit of concern from his wife. "Well... it was mostly fine until Dedede and some of his Waddle Dees decided to crash it while complaining about how he wasn't invited and how we could've used his castle for a giant party but we didn't."

Fettuccine seemed to pout. "Well maybe I should go talk to him..."

"It'll be fine. I said we're going to have Sieg and Freya's birthday at his castle this year. Besides, he also wanted to give me a gift..."

"Well, what is it?" Fettuccine asked.

With a blank expression on his face, Meta pulled out a hammer with a ribbon tied around it.

"…he gave you a hammer?"

"He did."

"…why?"

"It's how he expresses his friendship. It's the thought that counts, I suppose."

Fettuccine nodded in response. "Well, that makes sense. Are you ready to have your birthday dinner? We spent the whole day making it!"

"Yes, I'm quite looking forward to it."

What Fettuccine didn't say was that Sieg and Freya were still putting the finishing touches on their desserts and that was why they didn't come to greet them. However, her husband seemed to understand that, and that was why he happily sat at the table.

"First is dinner, made by me and Kirby!"

Upon saying that, the pink puff walked out of the kitchen holding a plate full of chicken parmesan with a heaping side of pasta and a piece of garlic bread.

"Happy birthday, dad! I wanted to give you more than just this, but mom said it would be too much food, so I had to cut down on it."

Meta chuckled in response to that. "I appreciate the thought, but I do understand why she'd say that. Anyway, thank you for the food, I'm sure it will be delicious."

* * *

After finishing his dinner, he turned to Fettuccine and Kirby.

"Well, what did you think?"

"It was delicious, of course. I had no doubts about your cooking."

Both of them smiled, with Kirby tackling his father with a hug.

"I'm so glad you loved it! Happy birthday!"

"Yes, thank you, Kirby."

"But that's not the only thing, Metty. You also have dessert to eat."

Fettuccine walked into the kitchen for a moment and then followed Sieg and Freya out. The twins carried out two things, one was what appeared to be a plate of chocolate cake and the other appeared to be a giant chocolate ice cream sundae. Meta Knight hid his confusion and concern for what he was getting, willing to stomach down this meal for the sake of his children.

"Happy birthday, dad! We made these for you!" They both exclaimed with a hug.

"Thank you, Sieg, Freya." He then looked at the desserts. "Not that I'm unappreciative of it, but is there any reason why there's two dishes?"

"Um... we both had ideas of what we wanted to do but we couldn't decide..." Freya explained.

"We didn't wanna cheat and use the Cook Ability, so we did our best on our own..."

Her father nodded and then looked at both the dishes. The chocolate cake looked uneven and was covered in a mountain of frosting and occasional sprinkles. There was a message on it, but it was barely legible. For the sundae, it looked a bit neater, but at the same time it was also extremely messy, with a lot of its toppings starting to settle in the bottom of the giant bowl. Of course, there was chocolate ice cream and fudge, but there also was a notable coffee scent lingering near the bottom. Speaking of the bottom, there were brownie bites and chocolate chips starting to pile up there and the whipped cream was starting to slide to the bottom of the bowl. Honestly, he didn't know how to feel about them.

"I'm going to have the ice cream first because I know it'll melt if I let it sit out." Meta said, making it clear to Sieg that there was no favoritism involved.

The twins nodded and Meta took a bite of the sundae. Almost instantly, he was shocked! Quickly, he tried Sieg's dish and he was reeling from it. Not because they were bad, but quite the opposite! They were delicious!

"Fetty, try this!" Meta exclaimed, allowing his wife to have a bite.

Fettuccine tried a bite of the sundae, and she was blown away enough to try the cake, only to get the same reaction. "You both made these without the Cook Ability?!"

"Uh-huh!" Both twins nodded.

Meta stared for a moment and then stooped down to Sieg and Freya's level before giving them a hug.

"It's wonderful. Thank you so much." He uttered in a gentle voice and his heart melted when he saw their sparkling eyes in response to that. Almost instantly, he felt them tackle him while in his arms.

"Happy birthday, dad!"

[fictionalstoryteller]

How the Main Characters of LMK Would Babysit Your Kid

Fandom: Lego Monkie Kid

Characters: MK, Mei, Sandy, Tang, & Pigsy

TW: none at all! Just wholesome fluff here ^^

Hello there new people! Yes yes, welcome to my first post on Tumblr. These are just some personal head cannons of mine, so if you have any critiques or questions please ask me about them in the comments. I also plan to do this for the side characters and antagonists of the show, so be on the lookout for that! Now let’s get this show on the road 🚗💨

MK:

With all due respect, why would you let him babysit your kid?! He’s the main protagonist! Something bad is bound to happen, no matter how good of a job he does

Ok but in all seriousness he’s probably going to take his job super seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he’ll swear off any crazy adventures for the day I doubt that’ll stop the antagonists from messing with him though

Knowing MK he’ll get slightly freaked out by the notion of letting you down

When you finally drop your kid off MK has already set aside some crayons and paper on the counter

They both do some doodling, order some noodles, and talk about how cool Monkey king is

If it’s a good day for it then MK might even take the kid to visit Monkey King! He’s got good connections man 

Mk gets distracted super easily so he definitely lost the kid at LEAST once

Overall I’d rate him a 6.8/10. He has an energetic and lovable personality, and he will definitely will give it his all. That being said he can’t focus to save his life. And he’s the main protagonist. So there’s a 50/50 chance that he’ll end up taking the kid on some wacky adventure of his on accident 

Mei:

Yes this is definitely a good idea. The hyper green skittle themed teen with parent issues will totally make a good babysitter! What? No of course I’m not being sarcastic! Whatever gave you that idea? 🤭

Mei probably volunteered for the job because she likes your kid, after all she definitely isn’t in need of any money 

You’ll have to drop your kid off at Pigsy’s Noodles since Mei wouldn’t want the kid to break anything at her parents place

She doesn’t really have a plan for the day, so they start off the babysitting session playing Monkey Mech, the arcade machine game in front of Pigsy’s noodles

Mei definitely offered to take the kid on a ride on her motorcycle. But don’t worry! I’m sure she had an extra helmet! Heh…

Ok let’s be honest, Mei gave your kid a crap ton of sugar. Like your kid is gonna need to brush their teeth at least three times before going to bed-

Luckily your kid ends up running all of the sugar out of their system before you pick them up thanks to Mei’s liveliness

No way your kids going to be bored. After all, Mei is super energetic and basically radiates cool older sister energy! But there are some negatives, especially because she does less then… responsible things at times. (Like letting a kid ride a motorcycle) she means well! She just doesn’t want to be as boring as her parents were. I’d give her a solid 6/10

Sandy:

Sandy couldn’t be happier that you chose HIM of all people to babysit your precious little angel. 

This overgrown Smurf already bought a ton of stuff for your kid to use while at his place, even though they’re only going to be there for a couple of hours

You’ll have to drop your kid off at Sandy’s houseboat for babysitting time

If your kid is allergic to cats then your out of luck, because he has 28 cats besides Mo. (and yes… this is canon…) BUT if your kid loves cats they’ll practically be in heaven. Especially since they’re all technically therapy cats, so they’re bound to be nice! Heh- Right?

This man has the best type of snacks for your kid, a mixture of salty and savory stuff! And if you want him to he can also pull out some tea for the kid. No one’s going home hungry today. No one.

If Sandy ever got distracted Mo would be there to make sure your kid wouldn’t do anything dangerous

Since Sandy’s house radiates calm energy there’s a good chance that they end up falling asleep on his couch at some point

Sandy is a literal icon. He has so many activities for them to do, like painting, yoga, and crafts. (And don’t pretend like he wouldn’t play all game they asked him to play) He also has delicious food that’s healthy, and he has cats! But for some kids that’s just not their cup of tea, hence why I’m not giving him a perfect score. After all, kids can be absolute menaces when cooped up in one place for a long period of time. Therefore I’m giving papa Smurf here an 9.5/10!

Tang:

Just to be clear Tang ain’t doing this for free. He’s either asking for some moola, sacred texts, or ramen. Tsk tsk, Tang is so greedy 😔 

Tang has so much experience dealing with MK, so he totally knows what type of stories your kid would love. Most of them are probably going to be about past legends and what-not

If he’s in a generous mood he might take your kid to see a museum! If your kid isn’t into that sort of stuff then he’ll consider some other fun activities. This could be exploring the town, visiting a library, things like that

Tang would totally take your kid out for some Pigsy’s Noodles when they got hungry, and he might even teach them a few tactics that’ll help them get some free food… (Pigsy would be LIVID)

If your kid is a bookworm Tang might share a few of his favorite books. And if he likes the kid enough he might even let them borrow the books until the next babysitting session

Tang is a simple man with simple needs, unlike most kids. He’s a bookworm who has a cool kid complex, clearly the most normal out of everyone in the gang. Because of this, your kid will be completely out of harms way! But that doesn’t change the fact that he might appear a bit boring… at least in the beginning of the babysitting session. But I have no doubt that as time goes on your kid will grow to appreciate his swindling ways and his logical thought processes! After all, MK practically idolizes him, and he’s practically just a kid in a teenagers body. That being said it’ll definitely cost you some pocket change to hire him. Anyways, Tang is getting a 7.5/10 from me!

Pigsy:

Pigsy probably has the most experience with kids out of anyone in the gang since he basically raised MK

I imagine Pigsy wouldn’t want to take a day off to babysit, and so he’d probably get MK to help work in the kitchen so he can focus on your kid without getting too distracted. And if MK is busy he’ll just ask someone else in the gang! Though, he probably won’t be happy about it-

After you drop your kid off at Pigsy’s restaurant he’ll have two options for them to choose from: Help out in the kitchen or hang out at a table

If your kid wants to help in the back he’ll teach them all the basics of noodle making! But if your kid is a slow learner he’ll probably just give ‘em some dough to play with while he works.

If your kid just wants to hang out at a table, Pigsy will bring them some of MK’s crayons and let them do some drawing. Don’t worry, he’ll occasionally peek out of the kitchen to check on them

Pigsy is kind but stern, so your kid should be prepared to get yelled at lectured at least once 😅 (I’m kidding ofc, I don’t think he’d really yell unless he was in a panic or REALLY upset. Something tells me he has a soft spot for kids)

Whoever is helping him work would also get to hang out with your kid during their breaks, so it’s like 2 babysitters for the cost of 1!

I love Pigsy, and I’m sure other people do as well! He has experience and is fairly responsible, he definitely wouldn’t let your kid get away with doing something bad. He can be tense at times, so if your kid is sensitive he might not be the best babysitter for them. But I’d like to point out HE DEFINITELY HAS A SOFT SPOT FOR KIDS which means he might be nicer than normal. Because of this I’m rating his babysitting services an 8/10!

[onestormeynight]

Sam

Sam was meeting his friend Dillan at The Futures Past on Saturday. Ellie was off with their mother who, once again, had said she only had time to spend with his little sister. Unable to stand being in his house, he decided to meet up with his best friend and get some things off his chest.

"How is it my fault I'm a boy?" He snapped. "I still just like, wanted my Mom to love me, man. Why aren't I good enough?"

"I don't know, my dude," Dillan said. "It's truly messed up what she's doing. I think you're pretty cool."

Sam put his face in his hands. "I just wish she didn't have the power to make me feel like this. I wish she didn't matter. But I feel like I'm going to crawl out of my skin I'm so messed up inside."

"What's your dad say?"

"That's the worst part, he just lets her! He just says 'it's complicated' but I think Rosie is right and he's just a coward."

Dillan stood up. "Listen, my dude, I can't fix this. This is way out of my depth. But I have something that I think will make you feel a little better, at least right now."

"What is it?"

Dillan gave him a wink. "Come to the bathroom."

"Oh, I'm not into guys, man, I'm sorry."

Dillan waved that away. "No no, that's not what I'm getting at." He leaned in close to Sam and whispered, "I have some special K. Come on, you'll feel better."

"I've never done that, I don't know about this, Dillan."

"You never know until you try."

The thing was, Sam immediately felt better. Sure, his nose felt like a condo in Hell and his eyes were watery, but he didn't hurt anymore. His mother and her casual cruelty was fading from his mind. Nothing seemed quite so dire.

"Better?" Dillan asked.

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. That stuff is nice."

"Don't over do it, though. And obviously don't let your dad see you tripping over your nuts, man. You'll be grounded until you graduated."

"As if he or my mother would even notice."

Dillan had to leave shortly after, but Sam wasn't ready. Having nothing better to do, he plinked around on the keyboard the museum had, enjoying the feeling of the sun on his skin.

It was hard to be him. His mother had bailed when he was Ellie's age and had made no effort to be part of his life after that. He didn't even get a phone call on his birthday. Then Ricky had brought home his sister and now Lily was making guest appearances in his life, but only to shower her baby girl in affection. There was none for him that she could spare.

Ricky tried his best to make sure Sam knew that he loved him and was proud. Sam was still angry that he would let his ex wife play favorites like that. Even Rosie was angry about it and Lily had nothing to do with her life. Sam wanted his mother to love him the way Penny loved Rosie, the way his mother loved Ellie. He didn't understand why he wasn't enough.

His phone rang, bringing him out of his musings. It was Rosie.

"Hey, you," She said when he answered the phone. "You have time to talk? I was thinking about you and the twins are down for a nap."

"Sure, Roz," Sam said, using the same nickname Billie used for Rosie. "How are my nieces?"

"Perfect, wonderful, exhausting. Enough about them, how are you?"

"I'm...fine."

Rosie was quiet on the other side. "Sam, you can tell me anything, you know. I'm always going to be on your side."

"I know, Roz."

"Is it Lily again? Is Dad being a wet noodle?"

"It's really fine, I can handle it."

"You shouldn't have to. What are you doing right now? I can load up the girls and we can go to the park or something if you want."

"I really appreciate it, Roz, but I'm okay. I'm just taking some time for myself, today."

"Okay, if you insist. I love you, little brother."

"I love you, too."

((prev)) ((next))

[its-all-under-control]

guys i’m gonna start treating this like an actual blog/diary wish me luck 😎😎

today there was a meeting for our schools jacket committee and they had krispy kreme donuts and hot chocolate for everybody who was part of it

i wanted the donut SOOO BADDDDD but i gave it to a friend who didn’t bring her lunch that day and told her there were extras for me (there weren’t and lowkey i’m mad about it because I REALLY WANTED THAT DONUT)

and i got the hot chocolate but passed it to a friend “r” i give all my food to before taking a sip <3 (we were in a silent study period so. she couldn’t ask me about it 🫡) and later i gave her the food i brought too and i gave j and our friend n a slider which they shared

later that day r gave me the rest of her chicken sandwich and i ate it after i got home with my person j 🫶 it was really damn good. then we ate a couple crackers

today me and i made these peanut butter oats chocolate chip bars. he didn’t like them cause he’s not an oats fan but they were SO FUCKING DELICIOUS and i ate like a quarter of the tin 😭😭 it was so fucking good omg and even better with ice cream so i had like a half scoop of ice cream w it. i really wanted to eat the bun i gave r but there were no more at home so i’m actually mourning it

and we also made some mi goreng with homemade sauce. i let j make the sauce and he fucked it up (put tablespoons of soy sauce instead of teaspoons) and he felt actually awful about it but ngl I still liked it cause I like a lot of salt

we had two blocks of noodles and I tried to eat slowly and take sips of water between so I think I ended up eating maybe 2/3-3/4 of one packet? i’m probably underestimating ngl 😭 but oh well i can’t really measure

i also had a couple spoonfuls of pesto pasta and i went out to hunt for the bars we made again but it was gone and i think someone ate the whole thing (it might have been my sister. she said she ate in the city but ngl I think she was lying)

today was pretty good honestly. i fucked, i didn’t eat too much and i got to cuddle j a lot. ate way better than yesterday (~1800 cals 😣😣) but i could have done better i reckon. i honestly want to cut down my eating habits SOOO much cause the diet isn’t really dieting and i’ve been really shit with my eating lately