#oh yeah one thing they have in common. they refuse to eat their vegetables

[thebirdandhersong]

I have two godsons now apparently 😂

[euovennia]

headcanons for simon being the mom/dad friend to reader and her just eating that shit up? like yeah, that giant intimidating guy wearing a skull mask is my best friend. he’s really cute right? (he is)

anon your brain is huge and i love it, thank you for such a gorgeous request! just want you to know that your second request will be up sometime soon, i just wanted to split them! thank you again for requesting, i hope you enjoy <3

pt. 2

fair warning to anyone reading, this is my first time writing headcanons (more like a short story with bullet points because my oh my i got carried away) so please don't shoot! anyway, i've got some ideas rolling around in my head so just jump into it:

let's get one thing straight

becoming friends with a man like simon is not an easy task

while you may be somewhat quick consider him a friend because you're both skilled enough to have made to the 141, it takes a lot longer for him to also consider you a friend

the process of getting him to this point is an arduous journey and some people (probably gaz and rudy bc i can see these two being equally terrified of this man) will not hesitate to tell you to cut your losses and leave him alone

i reckon simon is the type to verbally tell you this himself

and maybe for a bit you do leave him alone

but then one day you see him sitting alone in the commons area with what you deem to be the saddest plate of dinner ever and you just crack

cue you sliding into the seat in front of him with your tupperware full of homecooked food you'd stashed away the night before

naturally he gets frustrated and a maybe a lil annoyed so he goes to leave

but then you slide your tupperware of food over to him and his movements just kinda stop as he stares at you with his typical ghost stare

think 👁️👁️

he'll push the container back toward you causing you to push it back toward him

it becomes an almost vicious cycle before he finally snaps and spits out something like, "what's your fuckin' problem?"

to most he's a scary man with an even scarier voice so that would've been where most people drew the line (let's face it though, most people probably wouldn't have sat with him in the first place)

but all you can focus on is the piss poor excuse of a meal he'd retrieved from the mess hall so you just push it back toward him one final time with a simple, "eat."

he'll narrow his eyes and straighten his posture in an attempt to scare you off but when that doesn't work he'll tell you something along the lines of, "i'm spitting it out if it's shite"

he does not spit it out

from that day on, you'll seek him out with two tupperware containers filled with whatever you'd cooked up the night before and offer it to him

the first few times he's hesitant to accept simply because he doesn't wanna get used to the unusually kind gesture but it eventually gets to a point where he just stops getting a plate from the mess hall and instead waits around for you to feed him

these small dinners you share make it nearly impossible for simon to avoid your talking

he almost debates getting up and leaving a few times but then he remembers he'd be eating soggy meat and vegetables if it weren't for you so he decides to entertain it

and to the surprise of absolutely no one he eventually starts warming up to you, even throwing in a few comments and sarcastic quips of his own

and after a long while of having these dinners with you, he decides he likes it – he likes hearing you talk, whether it be about how you and gaz hid price's hat somewhere on base and blamed it on soap or what the latest celebrity gossip is

so what does he do?

he tries to block you out

it doesn't work because you're a stubborn little shit and refuse to let him fall back into his bubble of solitude and self pity

and he eventually realizes this so he just kinda accepts it after a while (more like a week)

and the two of you become quite chummy

well

as chummy as one can be with a person as closed off as ghost

instead you always being the one to seek him out come dinner time, he'll be the one to start finding you

it's a surprise

a delightful one

but still a surprise

his short, clipped responses will morph into longer, more thought out ones as your friendship continues to develop and you can't help but notice just how smart he really is

despite his everything that's happened to him in the past, he's actually quite in tune with the emotions of other people; his observational skills are off the charts

so you'll eventually start asking him for advice on anything and everything, even if it's not something that pertains directly to you because his wisdom outside the battle field is something to truly behold

it's amazing what can be solved without heavy loads of artillery and violence!

anyway

simon quickly becomes very used to this dynamic

you two having dinner, talking about everything and nothing all at once and while he may never verbalize it, he truly does appreciate it

he'd convinced himself long ago that his life was just cursed and that the people he loved and held closest to him were always destined for terrible things so he just closed himself off

he put on the mask and became ghost whereas simon was kept tucked away in a place no one even bothered to try and discover

but then you stumbled your way into his heart with your homemade food and endless chatter and he can't help but indulge himself

maybe having a friend isn't all that bad

and so the dinners/mini therapy sessions continue

until one day you don't show up

while he is a bit disappointed, simon decides to let it go because you've had dinner with him for god knows how long now

you probably just wanted a day to yourself and he understands that so he doesn't pry

even when he barely force himself to finish the sludge smacked onto his plate from the mess hall – how was he so comfortable eating that for so long?

but you don't show up the next day

or the next

and by the fourth day simon is just downright angry

and a little sad and worried

but mostly angry

who do you think you are to waltz in his life, make yourself cozy in his extremely tight knit circle, and then just leave him high and dry with no goodbye? (wow that rhymed)

if you're gonna ditch him like this then he's gonna make sure you sit through the awkward pain of saying it to his face

he spends an embarrassing amount of time looking for you before he even thinks to check your room

he walks up to your door, fully prepared to slam that door open and confront you

but then he hears you fall into a particularly nasty coughing fit paired with a muffled groan of agony and suddenly it just clicks

you got yourself sick

tempted as he is to simply walk away, he knows deep in his heart he can't do that to you

which is why you open up your door to see ghost awkwardly standing there with a tray of hot soup, water, and some medicine

you nearly cry in your haze of sickness

you'd spend the past four days miserably rotting away in your bed and to suddenly have simon by your side offering you soup and medicine? it was almost too much

ever since that day there had been a gradual shift in your friendship

it started with you two coordinating who would bring dinner on which days

but then it turned into simon being the one to bring dinner nearly everyday

which then evolved into him finding you throughout the day and offering small snacks and drinks

but he's a busy man and he can't do this every day so he'll settle for sending a simple message of, "you doing ok?"

and most times you say yes

but on the off chance you say no he'll take a few minutes to message you back and forth until you feel at least a little better (no this is not achieved by him sending you bad dad jokes, he would never do such a thing!)

but eventually the man just gets so tired of constantly going around base trying to find you that he'll simply just start to linger around you whenever he's free

gruff words of assurance and friendly pats on the shoulder become a staple for the masked man

when the team becomes privy to the newly formed friendship between the two of you, it's almost scary

like

imagine this 6'4 beefy mountain of a man hanging around someone half his size just chilling

i reached the character block limit how awkward anyway

it's odd and you know it is so you'll play into it

like that time you loudly asked ghost to grab the blanket from your room while you two were sitting on the couch in the common area while the rest of the team filed in

and him immediately going to grab it while the team are completely gobsmacked when he promptly returns with your blanket in hand

cue soap asking ghost the same thing a few days later and only receiving a glare in return along with a stern, "i'm not your maid, johnny."

then he just walks away leaving soap to feel like an idiot

it becomes apparent very quickly that simon has a favorite and that favorite is you

especially when he's the one to sweep you up into a quick hug with a quick pat on your head after the team completes yet another mission

you make it a point to squeeze onto simon just a tad tighter when you see soap looking over in complete bewilderment

seriously, how did you tame the legendary ghost?

and honestly?

you're not quite sure yourself

you just soak it in because you'd be a fool not to

maybe one day you'll ask him yourself

maybe you won't

doesn't matter either way because at the end of the day you're the only one who can proudly call ghost your best friend

even if he doesn't refer to you as the same

he totally does he just never says it out loud because he's secretly terrified you don't feel the same

regardless

you two are very much attached at the hip

what with you constantly getting yourself into trouble all around base and ghost not wanting you piss off the wrong person

he is very much your guard dog and you make it everyone's problem

soap went too hard on you during your sparring session? ghost is already glaring at him

gaz won't stop bugging you when you're actually trying to get your work done? ghost is pushing him out the door

price is about to lecture you for something gaz and soap framed you for? ghost is quick to rat them out

it's sweet really, the friendship you have

it warms your heart thinking about it

and it warms his too

even if he won't admit it

he's just grateful you didn't give up on him even when he wanted you to

because he's found that, sometimes, it's nice to have a friend

and he's glad it's you

:)

[astrowaffles]

The Megumi-Is-Babysat Incident

General Audiences | chaos, attempt at humour

“I don’t like yellow,” Nanami argued. “Too loud.”

Megumi stared meaningfully at his hair. “Suuure you don’t.”

“I don’t,” Nanami insisted, trying not to lift a hand to cover his hair. “And yellow wouldn’t fit with my colour scheme, anyway.”

Megumi hummed. “Blue, then. You like blue,” he added, nodding to Nanami’s shirt. “Do you know blue is the most common favourite colour?”

Nanami ignored the jab – it was good to be ordinary, thank you very much – and put a pink flower decisively in his basket. “Pink.”

“Very 2006,” Megumi nodded. “I see what you’re going for.”

“I’m not ‘going for’ anything. It’s just the best flower.”

“So it’s nothing, huh? The pink flowers, the loud patterns-“

“You spend too much time with Gojo,” Nanami told him, swapping his flower for a yellow one.

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

OR: Nanami realises that Gojo really did raise this kid.

Babysit the kid, they said. It’ll be easy, they said.

The last time Nanami had met Megumi, he’d met a small, polite boy of about seven, who refused to go within a metre of Gojo and hid a snicker whenever Nanami said anything particularly cutting. Ten-year-old Megumi was a very different creation: for one thing, he was taller, which was a miracle; all Gojo probably fed him was sweets and carrots (which are the only vegetable Gojo ever deigned to eat). For another thing, he’d gained enough confidence to snark at Gojo by himself, which Nanami wasn’t complaining about. It was tiring being the only one with any common sense.

But apparently, three years of constant Gojo did odd things to one’s psyche.

“If we get red, it’ll clash with the carpets,” Megumi informed him, as Nanami poked around in the plant section. “Better get yellow.”

“I don’t like yellow,” Nanami argued, lifting a pink flower to the light. “Too loud.”

Megumi stared meaningfully at his hair. “Suuuure you don’t.”

“I don’t,” Nanami insisted, forcing himself not to lift a hand to cover his hair. “And yellow wouldn’t fit with the colour scheme anyway.”

Megumi hummed. “Blue, then. You like blue,” he added, nodding to Nanami’s shirt. “Did you know blue is the most common favourite colour in the world?”

Nanami ignored the obvious jab – it was good to be ordinary, thank you very much – and put the pink flower decisively in his basket. “Pink.”

“Very 2006,” Megumi nodded. “I see what you’re going for.”

“I’m not ‘going for’ anything. It’s just the best flower.”

“Oh. So it’s nothing, huh? The pink flowers, the loud patterns-“

Nanami gave in to temptation and put a hand over his tie defensively. Megumi raised an eyebrow.

“You spend too much time with Gojo,” Nanami told him, swapping his flower for a yellow one. Megumi rolled his eyes.

“Duh, he lives with me.”

“Doesn’t mean you have to spend time with him.”

“Have you ever tried being in the same building as ‘Toru? He’ll hunt you down until you spend time with him.”

Nanami winced in sympathy. “Yeah, I see what you mean. You call him by his first name, though.”

Megumi immediately slapped a hand over his own mouth, eyes widened in horror. “I wasn’t supposed to say that in public!” he whined, muffled by his hand. “I meant Gojo. Gojo, Gojo, Gojo, Gojo, Gojo-“

“Careful, if you say his name enough times you’ll summon him,” Nanami warned, having fallen into this trap several times himself. Megumi shrugged and took his hand off his mouth.

“Whatever. If I summon him, he’ll at least tell you not to buy pink.”

“What, are you the masculinity police or something?”

Megumi stared at him, judgement clear in his eyes. “I live with a man who has forcefully put glitter in my eyebrows before. I’m just saying, pink is not your colour. Try yellow.” He motioned aggressively to Nanami’s hair, and then the flower in the basket, as if to prove his point.

Nanami sighed. If he tried to call Gojo – come pick up your kid!!!! – he’d never hear the end of it (the great Nanami gives up because he’s been bullied by a ten year old? Wow. I’m gonna add that to your eulogy), so he stuck with the safe option and simply ushered Megumi towards the counter. “Let’s get out of here, hm?”

“Only if you get me cookies,” Megumi immediately bargained, pulling Nanami the opposite way.

“When did you get so bratty?” Nanami asked, following him obediently. Megumi sighed.

“I am not bratty, I am confident and aware of my own needs,” he recited, not even looking back.

“Oh, very good. Did Gojo teach you that?”

“Yeah.”

“Thought so,” Nanami nodded, followed by “the little shit,” in an undertone he prayed Megumi couldn’t hear.

“Gojo says only he’s allowed to swear,” Megumi told him. Apparently the low tone wasn’t low enough.

“He means only adults are allowed to swear.”

“No, only he’s allowed. Shoko isn’t either.”

“Well, I’m allowed to swear, whoever else might or might not be,” Nanami said firmly.

Megumi fished in his pocket for a minute, before bringing out an electric blue flip phone to wave in Nanami’s face. “Should I call him and find out?”

“No,” Nanami hurried to grab the phone, “No, I don’t think you need to do that-“

“It’s not like he’s busy, he’s probably just in a bar somewhere,” Megumi reasoned, “Wouldn’t it be better if we just asked what he thought-?”

“That is probably true,” Nanami allowed, “But we don’t need to bother him and we don’t need to know. We’re just going to pretend it didn’t happen, okay?”

“Why? You’re allowed to swear, aren’t you?”

Nanami cursed the heavens above for giving Gojo such a mouldable child to work with. “Yes, I am, so I don’t need to ask Gojo for permission,” he reasoned.

“But I can’t tell him?”

“Well, you can, but it won’t be a big thing.”

Megumi hummed distrustfully. “Well, I won’t tell him if you get me cookies.”

“Blatant blackmail,” Nanami complained. “I see how it is. Alright then, for go for it.”

Megumi, who had apparently chosen smiling as the one thing he wouldn’t pick up from Gojo, nodded and continued dragging Nanami all over the store. It was about to be a loooooong day.

   Nanami wasn’t really one to question parenting techniques – he’d never had a kid, he wasn’t really qualified to judge. However, Gojo’s odd choices were really beginning to shine through.

First was giving a ten-year-old a phone; Megumi had been sat playing Snake for the past half hour, refusing to interact with anyone else unless Nanami offered him another cookie. Second was telling him to recite ‘I am confident and aware of my own needs’ whenever anyone accused him of being rude, and third was teaching him to announce what he was doing to the world at large every five minutes.

“I hit my lowest score yet,” he informed Nanami, not even looking up from his phone.

“Did Gojo teach you to do that?”

“Hit low scores? Yeah, he sucks at Snake.”

“I mean, telling me you hit low scores.”

“Oh, sorry, it’s habit,” Megumi apologised, not looking at all sorry. “If I give live updates it stops him asking, ‘cos that’s just irritating.”

“Live updates are also irritating.”

Megumi opened his mouth, probably to tell Nanami that he was confident and aware of his own needs, but the doorbell rang.

"Saved by the bell,” Nanami muttered, standing to get the door.

“It’s Gojo,” Megumi observed, pushing himself off the sofa.

“How would you know? You can’t see through walls.”

“I can smell him.”

“He does stink,” Nanami agreed, “But not really enough to get through walls.”

“He’s very powerful,” Megumi shrugged. “It gets everywhere at home.”

“What, does he blow up your house or something? How does his power get everywhere?”

“What, you can’t smell it?”

“Smell what?”

“His power. Duh.”

Now, it wasn’t unheard of for powers to have a smell, especially for those close to the sorcerer, but for it to be recognizable, strong, and distinct, there would have to be an emotional closeness on par with a couple married for about ten years. Since Megumi had only known Gojo for three, and was constantly complaining about him, Nanami felt this was doubtful.

“You can smell his power,” Nanami repeated, disbelieving. “And you’re sure it’s not his deodorant.”

“Very sure,” Megumi agreed. “I can smell them both, but his deodorant doesn’t go through walls.”

“Using my own words against me,” Nanami noted. “Nice. Alright then. If I open the door and it’s Gojo, you win.” This was Nanami’s trump card, since it was three minutes before Gojo was due to pick Megumi up – and Gojo was always, unfailingly, late. Nanami reached for the door handle.

“Hey, Nanami!” Gojo chirped.

Nanami closed the door again.

“Why’d you do that?!” Megumi protested, opening the door himself. “Hey, Gojo. You’re late.”

“I’m early,” Gojo argued, tapping his watch. “By three minutes.”

“Your watch is slow,” Megumi told him. “My phone says you’re a minute late.”

“My watch says three minutes early,” Nanami interjected, mainly because he now knew what it felt like to be targeted by this kid.

“Late.” Megumi’s face didn’t move from its patent apathy.

“Late,” Gojo agreed, giving up. “Ready to go home?”

“Yeah.”

“Had dinner?”

“Cookies.”

Gojo’s expression turned to one of betrayal as he lifted his face to look at Nanami. “Is that it?”

“He wouldn’t eat anything else,” Nanami defended, hands up in a surrendering gesture. “There wasn’t a lot I could do.”

“Aw, Megs, you need to eat vegetables sometimes,” Gojo sighed, ruffling Megumi’s hair before his hand was batted away. “Poor Nanami, you must have been a nightmare.” Having said that, Gojo didn’t look at all bothered about the trouble Nanami went through; he seemed mainly perturbed by Megumi’s eating.

“He probably gets it from you,” Nanami commented. “Only eating sugar.”

“You think he’s like me?” Gojo beamed. “Me too. He’s a superstar. Aren’t you, Gumi?”

Megumi grimaced at the nickname. “No.”

“You don’t mean that~”

“Are you going to stand in my hallway all night?” Nanami interrupted. “Go home, and take that terror with you.”

“Yes, sir,” Gojo saluted. “But he isn’t a terror.”

“Let me guess, he’s confident and aware of his own needs.”

“You got it! Try to reduce the bad vibes next time,” Gojo advised. “See ya later, alligator!”

Megumi rolled his eyes at Gojo’s antics, but waved. “Bye.”

A flicker, and they were gone; Gojo’s show-off power was at full force today, it seemed.

Nanami closed the door with a sigh of relief, welcoming the silence of his empty apartment.

The phone rang.

“Hi, Nanami!” Gojo’s voice echoed through the answer machine. “Just wanted to ask if you’re free for next week?”

He put his head in his hands. Please, God, give him a nice kid next time.

A03 | Exclusives | Tip Me

[authoressofdarkness]

I saw that you're taking prompts, from the dialogue list. Can I get number 20? “I’ve never had someone taking care of me before.” for starker obviously. I'm excited, I love reading your works. Thank you in advance!

Hi anon! That means so much to me and I’m v glad to be taking this as my first prompt. Thank you 💙

I kinda want to try some new things with some of these prompts, so I’m gonna go at this with omega Tony and alpha Peter and see where it goes. I hope that’s okay with you anon and that everyone likes it 😘

Same age college AU, omegaverse, alpha Peter Parker, omega Tony Stark, some angst and some fluff at the end.

—

It’s a well known fact that Tony Stark has a shitty family.

Well, at least to anyone who knows him, it is. They know how he’ll do anything to not be at home when his father is around, to get out of the endless pressures of social events and promotional things and questions of mating and management and all of the things that he hated about being born an omega and being attached to the last name Stark to top it all off—

For years, it was just him. Some flings, mainly to piss his father off, but he never had his attention for longer than the time it took to scold him or order him around, and his mother was never much help, either. He had precious few friends growing up, never really made any real ones until college when he met Rhodey and Pepper — an alpha and a beta respectively that helped him manage things there and that were the first people to truly understand the depths of struggles he had going on at home.

And they were great friends, still are, but there was never anything more there between them. They helped him float through the first year of school, and then—

And then came Peter Parker.

Tony doesn’t hate all alphas on principle, although he is often rather tempted to try to, what with how they were shoved in his face most of his life. They were great for a good fling but most of them were meatheads. As horny as Tony was, he couldn’t allow just anyone to be close to him, nothing too get to serious, because he’s got a lot of responsibility coming down to him and he needs the right partner — alpha or otherwise — to be willing to deal with that. Not that he’s particularly interested in mating right now but he also isn’t going to allow someone close enough to potentially mark him knowing the repercussions of that.

He’s the heir to Stark Industries, sure, but he’s still an omega. An alpha will have significant legal power over him once they’re mated. And he wants to be the one to run SI, to take on his legacy, to build, to create, and to run his business, and he’s not going to let anyone stop him, even if that means flings forever.

(Not that that’s legally going to fly because he can’t take over until he’s considered qualified which implies a certain amount of stability that translates into having an alpha that’s more than just a fuck buddy but—)

It doesn’t matter. None of it matters after he meets Peter.

Peter is a year younger than him in school, technically, but biologically they’re the same age. Peter just started a bit later than most — and for good reasons, as Tony comes to find out.

He’s in one of Tony’s engineering classes and his organic chemistry class and the omega would be lying if he said he wasn’t immediately taken with him.

He can’t help it. Peter is cute, with his overgrown curls and slim form and silky skin and shy little smile and—

The other man is all alpha, there’s no doubt about it. He exudes it without even trying, but there’s a shyness to him, too. He’s not a meathead; he’s a sweetheart. From day one he’s respectful of Tony in class, kind when he sees him around campus, and that makes them the perfect lab partners in chemistry, and after knowing that, it’s just the natural choice for them to partner for the project in engineering and then—

Then things spiral, and Tony doesn’t even care.

He’s seeking the alpha’s attention, and Peter, the innocent, shy thing he is, is happy to give, to dote on Tony in ways that he would resist if they were coming from anyone else.

They’re not even fucking, but it’s intimate, so intimate that he can’t even explain it, and he loves it, scarily so. It both soothes and sets all his instincts on edge at the same time.

By mid semester they both have keys to come and go freely from each other’s rooms. It’s more common to see them together than it is to ever spot one of them out alone. The whole school probably thinks they’re a couple, and even though they’ve never made it official — and he’s never allowed himself to even come close to considering it before — Tony can’t bring himself to mind.

As midterms approach, though, Tony locks himself in to focus on his work. He doesn’t mean to, really; it’s just that hours studying slip into full nights and then he hasn’t eaten and he hasn’t left the room, even missing one of his classes because he doesn’t realize the time.

Peter hasn’t come by in days and except for the occasional check in text, Tony hasn’t heard from him, either. But they’re both busy with midterms so he really isn’t surprised. In fact he barely has time to eat, let alone check his phone, so even if he was texting him regularly Tony probably wouldn’t be answering.

Except mid terms or no, of course Peter notices when Tony misses class. And when his texts go unanswered by the absorbed omega, he doesn’t hesitate to show up and let himself in.

Tony doesn’t even realize anyone is there until he feels a hand on his shoulder. He jumps so hard he nearly knocks the chair back, and when he turns around he sees Peter, stepping back and holding his hands up in the universal “I surrender” gesture, clearly not having meant to startle him.

“I’m sorry, I knocked but you didn’t answer so I let myself in. I just— you weren’t in class, and I was worried… are you okay? When was the last time you ate?” It takes all of two seconds for Peter’s sheepishness to melt into concern, and he steps forward again, closing the distance between them to tilt Tony’s chin up, looking at the shadow stretching across his jaw where he hasn’t shaved in a few days. “You’ve lost weight,” he murmurs, thumb brushing over Tony’s cheekbone tenderly — which, yeah, is definitely more prominent than it was at the beginning of the week.

Tony’s eyes flutter and he leans into the touch for a moment before refocusing and shaking it off. “I’m fine. This is normal, Peter. I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you?” Peter raises an eyebrow. “Do you even know what day it is?”

“It’s Saturday—“

“It’s Monday, Tony. 1pm on Monday, at that. You missed engineering this morning and you haven’t answered my texts all weekend.” Surprise flits across Tony’s face at that, because — yeah, last time he checked it was Saturday, and he had no new texts from Peter, so— “When was the last time you ate?” Peter continues to prod, voice gentle but insistent.

Both aspects only serve to spark irritation in him, though. Tony bats Peter’s hand away from his face, frowning. He doesn’t need to be treated with kid gloves. “I ate a little while ago. I’m fine.”

“You don’t even know what day it is—“

“It all kind of blurs together when you’re not doing anything besides working, okay—“

“Two days is a lot of blur, Tony—“

“And just because I need a shave doesn’t mean I haven’t left my desk or that this isn’t totally normal for midterms—“

“You’re the one saying you haven’t left your desk, not me—“

“That’s not what I meant! I’m just saying—“

“I’m just saying you need to take a short break, it’s not that big of a deal—“

“I don’t need a break, I know my limits—“

“Tony, I really don’t think—“

“Jesus fucking— You’re not my alpha, Parker, would you fuck off?”

The words come out before he can stop them, and he flinched himself at the hurt on Peter’s face, the way the alpha physically recoils, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“I’m not— god, I know that, okay? I’m just trying to help you, Tony. Please, this isn’t sustainable. You need to eat. Just— let me find you something, and then I’ll leave, okay?”

Leave? No, he doesn’t want him to leave. But the only thing that comes out is a quiet “whatever,” and he watches Peter escape to the kitchen with a ball of guilt growing in his chest.

Peter is just trying to help. He likes Peter and he doesn’t want him to leave, he just— he panics, and then he snaps.

Because what if Peter wants more? What if he really likes him? And Tony is a fuck up that does shit like this when he feels emotions and has so much baggage attached to being with him and—

And Peter knows that, at least some of it. It’s been a few months of seeing each other nearly every day, now, and his family situation was never a secret.

So why is he still here? Oh god, did Tony just ruin it?

The thought, for reasons that he’s refusing to immediately think about, is almost too much to bear. He stands up, fumbling his way out of the chair and into the kitchen.

The smell hits him almost as soon as he enters, and he sucks in a deep breath. His traitorous stomach growls, loud and demanding.

Soup bubbles on the stove as Peter works at the counter, chopping up some fruits and vegetables. He’s already managed to put a few little storage containers of food together for him, and something in Tony’s gut feels warm at the sight. But it also drops — preparing premade meals most certainly means that Peter isn’t intending to come back.

He looks up when Tony enters, expression wary. “The soup was the quickest thing you had, and since I had to be here for as long as it takes to boil anyway I thought I would just—“

“Peter.” His own voice sounds remarkable calm for how shaky he suddenly feels, lurching towards the alpha at the countertop. “It’s okay. I… thank you, for this. I’m sorry.”

Peter looks taken aback by the apology. “Tony, you don’t have to apologize. You’re right; I’m not your alpha and it’s not my place to give you orders. I just… I care about you, okay? I just want to help. I know you don’t think about me that way, and I’m sorry I overstepped, but—“

“You’re wrong.”

“What?” The words draw Peter up short.

Tony takes a breath, looking down. He focuses on the alpha’s hands, watching him chop instead of looking at his face. It’s easier. “You’re wrong. It’s not that I don’t think of you that way. The problem is… that I do. And I… I’m not used to this. I’ve never had someone take care of me before. Not really, not in any way that mattered. And what I feel for you… it scares me.” He takes a little breath again, looking down at his own hands. “I want you to be my alpha, Peter. But I’m not really a good omega, and I just have so much shit that comes along with being with me. The thought of asking you to do that… what that could do to us… I just don’t think I could handle that.”

He hears the knife ting against the countertop as Peter sets it down, and the pitter patter of footsteps as the alpha crosses the room. He’s suddenly being drawn into a pair of lanky but surprisingly strong arms, surrounded by the musky, relaxing scent of alpha, and he practically melts into it, nestling his nose into the spot between the collar of Peter’s sweatshirt and his throat almost automatically.

Peter’s hand running up and down his back is soothing, relaxing him the rest of the way, and the press of the alpha’s chin against his head is just the perfect weight to be comfortable, reassuring.

“Tony… I’m not an idiot,” he says gently. “I know who you are. What you’ve done, where you came from, what’s expected of you — and yeah, I’m sure there’s more that you haven’t told me and that’s not public, but— I get why this is a struggle for you, and why you feel the need to put so much pressure on yourself. There’s nothing wrong with you for that and it is most definitely not your own fault that you’re not used to being taken care of. And you’ve no idea how badly or how long I’ve wanted to be your alpha.” He pulls back a little to look down at him, fingers scratching Tony’s scalp gently as he works his fingers through his hair. “But that doesn’t mean that this kind of behavior — towards yourself or others — is good or acceptable. It’s okay to let me take care of you — at least in small ways. I know you’re scared of losing your independence, but that’s not what I want for you, either. I just want to help.”

“Help,” Tony echoes, eyes drifting to the pan on the stove and then back to Peter. “I… I think I’d like that.” He bites his lip, looking up at him. They’re about the same size and height, but this close, wrapped in the alpha’s arms and scent, with his steady gaze on him, he can’t help but feel small by comparison. “You really want to be my alpha?”

“Only if you want me to be, but…” Peter looks down at him and cracks his shy little smile. “I’d like to try, if you’d let me.”

“I’d like that,” Tony admits. He shifts to press up against him, putting a hand on his chest. “I’d also really like it if you’d kiss me.”

Peter looks a little surprised, but not unpleasantly. Still, he shakes his head, giving him a little push back. “Tony, you didn’t even know what day it was. God knows when the last time you brushed your teeth is. No offense, but… ew.”

Tony just laughs a little, unable to help himself. “If I brush my teeth…?”

“Maybe. If you eat your food as well.” Peter moves back to the counter, finishing up the container he was working on. “We can’t be doing anything that’s going to burn you extra calories when you don’t have enough to begin with, hm?”

Tony finds himself grinning. “That’s an argument I can get behind. Literally and metaphorically.”

Peter flashes a grin in return, voice back to that gentle but insistent tone that he knows so well when he says, “Go, Tony.”

And for once, Tony is all too happy to obey.

[amanda-glassen]

The Wonder Years: Part 11

While getting ready for her first school dance, twelve-year-old Olivia starts a path toward discovering who she is truly meant to be. Parts 1-10 and one-shots in this universe can be found in the tag #alex and liv: the wonder years

Jamie stayed up with Olivia until 2 a.m. playing video games to take their minds off of the night’s events when Serena finally came home. She didn’t talk to either of them despite Jamie asking if she was okay and Olivia telling her that she loved her. Olivia didn’t know who this woman was that walked through the door. She was fragile and worn down, nothing like the vibrant woman she knew. Olivia was used to giving her mom a hug every time she got home, but this time there was no talking to her, no touching her, and Olivia felt for the first time in her life that her mom wished she hadn’t been born. The only words she heard from her after a few minutes was her mom yelling at her to go to bed.

...but she didn’t go to bed. Instead, Olivia left her bedroom door slightly ajar so she could peek down the hall.

Olivia didn’t know how it happened, but Jamie was able to embrace her mom and Serena clinged to her and smiled some goofy smile that Olivia had once seen in a romantic comedy, until she remembered she and her mom didn’t actually watch romantic comedies. Or was that a horror movie before the woman went on a rampage and killed the man who wronged her? Either way, she’s actually smiling.

“I’m sorry our first full night together didn’t go according to plan,” she heard her mom say to Jamie.

Olivia didn’t remember falling asleep and, when she woke up the next morning, the noises she heard from down the hall made her feel as if she had woken up in another universe. She heard pans clinking in the kitchen and the sound of her mom laughing. Oh my god, she killed my dad with a frying pan and she’s laughing about it. But Olivia quickly shook that thought from her head and took a deep breath before walking down the hall.

“...Mom?” Olivia hesitated.

“I’m in the kitchen, Olliegator!” she heard her mom call out.

She walked in to find Jamie standing in front of the stove, making omelets and her mom sitting on the counter, eating from a bowl of shredded cheese. She was smiling and happy and Olivia began to wonder if last night had even happened at all or if it was just a horrible dream.

“Morning, Ollie. Your mom has been banished to the counter,” Jamie informed her. “She kept trying to do non-stick pan demonstrations, but she couldn’t do them without making the omelets fly out of the pan and onto the floor. I figured the bowl of cheese will keep her happy, though.”

“Treating me like a common mouse,” Serena scoffed. “Do I at least have permission to get off of the counter so I could talk to my daughter?”

“Permission granted,” Jamie responded, too preoccupied with the omelets to care if Serena got off the countertop.

While sitting on the couch in the living room, there wasn’t a single moment of awkward silence before Olivia felt herself wrapped up in her mom’s embrace. She was holding her close and giving her kisses on the cheek to make Olivia giggle, which made her more confused than ever. It’s like last night never even happened.

“My Ollie,” her mom said as she hugged her again. “My sweet baby. I’m so sorry I hurt you last night.”

“It's okay."

She felt her mom cup her face in her hands. "I need you to listen to me, Olivia. It's never okay for anyone to hurt you, especially me. I’m your mom and I should always protect you.”

“Mom?”

Her mom kissed her wrist where she had roughly grabbed it the night before. “Does it still hurt? Do you need ice? Olliegator, please tell me how I can make it up to you? I’ll get you anything. I’ll get you the bat you’ve been wanting.” Her mom shook her head. “No, that’ll make it seem like I’m buying your forgiveness. I’m sorry, baby. I’m so bad at this.”

“Buying my forgiveness is okay,” Olivia smiled. “I’ll take the bat.”

“I bet you will,” her mom playfully pulled her onto her lap and wrapped her arms around her waist. “My big baby. You’re growing so fast. You’re almost as tall as me now.”

“Mom?” Olivia asked nervously.

“Yes, Ollie?”

“What you said earlier...you’re not bad at this,” Olivia averted her eyes. “And this whole you being in love thing...I guess it’s okay. Jamie played video games with me last night while you were with Uncle Kyle. I really like her. I just don’t like her kissing you. No one is supposed to be kissing my mom.”

“No one?”

Olivia turned around to face her. “Just me,” she said after giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. She saw her mom give her that dopey smile that meant she was feeling soft and sentimental. 

“Okay, only you.” Olivia felt her mom’s fingers combing through her hair. “I know what you can do for your science project.” With everything that had happened around her in the course of twelve hours, Olivia had completely forgotten about her science project. Even if it was a significant portion of her grade, it all felt so trivial in comparison to meeting her dad. “When I was in middle school, my best friend and I did a cupcake geology project and made cupcakes with different layers to represent the earth. Instead of your classmates just observing the project, they’ll get their own cupcakes and straws to use to simulate what it’s like to drill and collect core samples. I’ll help you bake them.”

Olivia gave her a confused look. “But you can’t bake.”

“Then I’ll help you convince Jamie to bake them,” Serena playfully touched her finger to the tip of Olivia’s nose. “Come on, Olliegator. I think breakfast is almost ready.”

“Race you to the kitchen. First one there gets the cheesiest omelet.” Olivia took off running but felt her mom wrap her arms around her waist from behind and push ahead of her. “Mom! That’s cheating!”

....but the moment her mom stepped foot in the kitchen, Jamie scooped her up and refused to let her go. “Get the cheesy one, Ollie. She’s trapped.”

Olivia raced toward the plate with the cheesy omelet and piled some hash browns next to it. She looked back at her mom who was still struggling to get away from Jamie’s embrace. “Jamie! Now I have to have the veggie omelet.”

“Serena, you ate half a bowl of cheese this morning!” Jamie released her once Olivia was sitting down with her breakfast. “I did it on purpose, babe. When was the last time you ate a vegetable that wasn’t on a pizza?”

“I ate a chicken caesar wrap for lunch two days ago,” Serena pointed out as she begrudgingly piled some hash browns next to her veggie omelet.

Jamie came up to hug her from behind and Olivia couldn’t help but giggle when she saw her mom pout. “Yeah and I bet you doused it in dressing,” Jamie smirked.

“She’s just gonna cover this in ketchup anyway and that’s loaded with sugar,” Olivia told Jamie although she had just squirted ketchup onto her own hash browns. “And not just the hash browns either. She covers her omelets, too.”

“Is this how it’s going to be from now on?” her mom asked as she poured what remained of the shredded cheese onto her omelet when Jamie wasn’t looking. “Are you two going to call me out on all of my eating habits?”

As her mom really didn’t know how to cook, a homemade breakfast was a rare treat in the Benson household. On weekend mornings, they usually ordered from Doordash or went to her mom’s favorite coffee shop for bagels. Weekday mornings were always hectic between Olivia rushing to get ready for school and her mom getting ready for work so she’d scarf down a Pop Tart while her mom grabbed a cereal bar and some coffee in a tumbler. But sitting at the table that morning, just the three of them, eating a breakfast that Jamie cooked and talking and laughing made Olivia feel like they could eventually be a family and her mom could be happy like this every morning. 

“What’s on your mind, Olliegator?” her mom asked as tousled her hair. 

She wanted to tell her mom that she was happy for her and that her being in love was one of the best things that could happen to the two of them. She wanted to tell her that she was going to meet her dad so she could alleviate some of the guilt. Olivia still didn’t know what happened between the two of them, but she held onto the hope that it was a fight－something they could finally work out－and when they did, Olivia would have a relationship with her dad. She didn’t want her parents together now that she knew how much her mom loved Jamie and how much Jamie loved her mom, but she still hoped that he could go to her games and maybe she could spend every other weekend at his house like all the other kids she knew whose parents were divorced. She thought about what her grandma said about going to Disneyland and she wanted to tell her that she’d do anything for the chance to ride the teacups with Alex, but none of the words formed.

“I’m just thinking about how good the cheesy omelet is.”

[ms-rampage]

Hello. I have a little request on the Supernatural. Y/n is an Archangel. After y/n gets pregnant and gives birth, she tries to live a quiet life. Lucifer lives with them. You can ask imagine, where Y/n is forced to look after not only her restless child, but also Lucifer, who behaves like a big child. Please.

Sure!! That sounds like something I would enjoy writing!! 😁😁. I hope you enjoy!!!. Also the baby is he/she.

A Baby's Need

Lucifer & Female reader

Note: Since the reader is an Archangel, and so is Lucifer. I made them two brother and sister. Also I put a bit of Y/n's back story as an Archangel.

Also: This made me want to write a series if there were a 5th (female) Archangel that I'm gonna post shortly.

Requested: by @aida690adriana

After you had baby AJ, you had to live your life on the down low, get away and raise your child. Being an Archangel and also a single mother is something you'd thought you'd never have.

The first few months of the baby's life were pretty tough, you were constantly changing diapers, fed the baby every 2 hours. Little AJ was completely restless. You're living out in a rural area in Colorado several miles away from the city. Your closest neighbor was a mile in a half away from your home.

Your child, AJ, who you're 100% sure is a Nephilim, is 9 months old. You'd never thought you'd get pregnant because you're an Archangel, and when you found out, you had to get away. Away from Heaven, away from other angels, away from Chuck. Live a quiet normal human life.

Fornicating with humans is a big no-no, completely frowned upon in Cloud City. Everything was going great in your life, before you had the baby and a bit after you had the baby, then your big brother Lucifer found you and your son/daughter. Practically moving in with you, and now you have to deal with two babies. For the love of dad *face palm*.

He maybe "The Devil", and "The Fallen Angel" but he happens to be a bigger baby than your actual baby. A literal child. Without his powers he's completely helpless.

"Y/n!!!!" he whines from the living room, as you feed AJ his/her bottle at the kitchen table, "Y/n!! Y/n!!! Y/n!!!".

You sigh, setting the bottle down and get up to see what he wants. "What is it Lucifer?!?" you ask.

He looks up at you with a pout on his lips, "I'm bored!" he whines, flailing his arms. Stomping his feet like a child. Seeing the mess he made from whatever it was that he was eating. When was the last time this man child left the house? .

You just shrug, "Okay? What do you want me to do about it?".

"I don't know, I'm just bored!!" he continues to whine, slouching on the couch. His hair a blonde, frizzy mess.

You sometimes can't believe you're related to this celestial. Yeah he's your brother and you love him, but he's just a pain in the ass. At least with Gabriel, or even Castiel they would try to help you, their sister, and raise their nephew/niece.

"You know Lucifer you didn't have to come looking for me" you tell him as you sit down on the couch, still holding AJ, "I'm capable on taking care of myself and my child".

He gives you a mocking look, "Welp, I got tired of being in Heaven and I got bored in Hell. So I wanted to go look for my little sister" he tells you, playfully nudging your arm.

You roll your eyes, and scoff "Did you though?".

He nods, "Yeah!".

You narrow your eyes at him, "Did you though?"

Rolling his eyes at you, drooping his shoulders back, "Yes I did!".

You give him a "serious" look with a raised eyebrow "Lucifer? Did you though?".

He scoffs, playfully hitting your shoulder, "You're annoying".

You retaliate, hitting him back "You're annoying".

"You're annoying!" he says, poking your shoulder.

"You're a child!" you tell him, poking his shoulder. He sticks his tongue out at you, "See you're a child!".

You two go back and forth with the "You're annoying's" "You're a child" and hitting/poking each others shoulders.

You and Lucifer always had a good brother, sister relationship before he was cast out of Heaven, after that you lost communication with him until he found you and AJ. When he found you, he was low on grace and you had to take care of him. Nurturing him back to health, all that while taking care of your restless baby and now your older child brother.

You're the youngest out of the Archangels, and to top it off the only female. First was Michael, then Lucifer, Raphael, Gabriel then you, Archangel Y/n. Technically you and Gabriel are twins but that's another story for another time. It's debatable according to Chuck.

You figured you have 4 older brothers and thought they'd be protective of you because you're their little sister. Wrong!, sort of. You still remember the day Chuck introduced you to your 4 older brothers before all the other angels were created/born.

Michael didn't really seem fond of you, neither did Raphael. Gabriel was just glad he wasn't the youngest but you two had an inseparable bond, Lucifer kept his distance from you but you grew on him, but he still saw you as the annoying little sister.

When he rebelled and was about to be cast out of Heaven, you came to his defense. Surpised that you defended him, and tried to convince your father, God, to let him stay in Heaven.

After he was cast out, you and Michael were at each others throats. Telling him that he betrayed his own family, defending Lucifer with every chance you got, if it weren't for Gabriel you probably would've gotten cast out too.

You two were both tired of seeing your brothers fight. Then Gabe left Heaven, leaving you behind not even asking you (his twin, possibly) to go with him, Raphael was disconnected from everything, and you left Heaven not long afterwards. You knew the consequences but you took the leap of faith and left.

Trying to adjusting to a human life, trying not to use your powers unless it was 100% necessary, then you met a nice guy, you two bonded, you had sex for the first time and then next thing you knew you were pregnant. You didn't know what to think of it and you told him the news.

The dude panicked, and bailed on you, leaving you by yourself. Just like your brothers and father did. Scared and not used to the human life, you hid away from everyone and everything. You made yourself forget about that man because you knew his time will come eventually. Afraid of the angels getting to you and your child.

When Lucifer found your whereabouts, he tracked you down and eventually found you, because he knew his brothers wouldn't want anything to do with him, neither would Heaven, but he knew you would. The one who came to his defense centuries ago, the one who tried to convince their father to let him stay.

"Why don't you be an uncle and hold AJ" you tell him, holding out your son/daughter to him.

He sneers at the infant, but grabs him/her holding him/her in his arms. Looking back and forth from you and your child.

"What am I supposed to do?!?" he asks, confused. Furrowing his eyebrows at you.

"Talk to him/her" you tell him, then you get up to go clean the kitchen because that's what humans do apparently.

He looks at AJ not knowing what to do or say, "Hey how's going?" he asks the infant. Making his/her typical baby sounds. Cooing and fussing in his hands.

"Can you speak?" he asks, "Talk. Speak to me! C'mon tiny human". He continues to babble to him/her, trying to get the 9 month old infant to speak to him.

You hear him talk to AJ from the kitchen, and a smile grows on your face. From hearing your big brother bond with his nephew/niece.

"Talk to me goose!" he continues to get the baby to talk to him, "What do you know of your speices?".

You laugh a little to yourself, then you hear him groan in disgust.

"Oh my dad!" he exclaims "Y/n!!!".

You go to the living room, and see him holding AJ away from him. Looking grossed out.

"Humans are disgusting!" he groans, "Why!!".

You take AJ from him, who is laughing and giggling. You check his/her diaper, Lucifer mocks the baby's laughter which only makes him/her giggle more.

"He/she pooped" you tell him, laughing. He gags in disgust, acting like a child who ate nasty vegetables for the first time. Crossing his arms, pouting on the couch.

You changed AJ's diaper, and since Lucifer is incapable of taking care of himself because of his lack of powers. You're practically forced to take care of your big brother, making sure he eats and sleeps. You still have some of your powers but you refuse to use them unless its necessary to do so.

You sometimes ask yourself if you're the 2nd eldest Archangel because of how Lucifer asks, like a child, a giant man celestial child. Him and AJ have a lot in common they're both babies, they make messes, they sleep a lot and they wake you up from your sleep.

They also constantly need to be bathed, but Lucifer can do that on his own. You learned how to cook from YouTube videos and recipes off of Pinterest. Wash clothes, and all other human activities and chores back when it was just you and AJ.

You clean up after both of them, because The Devil is still a rookie at cleaning up after himself and cleaning in general, not taking the human life very easily. He whines about everything but luckily you tolerate and put up with his childish behavior.

[ilooklikeaburntchickenugget]

Only Mine Pt. 4

A/N: So this is basically a series at this point but I’m kind of in love with this idea I’ve created of a pop star reader and MCR Gerard? I don’t know it’s interesting. Also, if you haven’t figured this out yet, the reader is based heavily off of Taylor Swift. Not looks or anything but her career. But instead of country star turned pop star (now turned folk artist), it’s rock band lead singer turned pop star. So yeah. Pairing: F!Pop Star reader x Gerard Way Word count: 1,983 Warnings: Mention of eating disorder, I think that’s all.

Most interviews did not excite you in any way, shape, or form. The idea of sitting down and answering consistent questions, some bland, some too personal, and even some misogynistic was exhausting. But when you were offered a complete 25 minute feature on you and your life from 60 Minutes, you gladly accepted the offer.

Sitting down in your large, open living room now filled with lights and camera crew as well as the reporter, you introduced yourself and the interview began. Initially the questions were primarily about your upbringing, how you started in music, all the usual stuff. But as the interview continued, the questions got more and more complex, and more and more personal.

“Your album, My Midnight Boy, blew up, you won award after award, went on a world tour,” The interviewer began her question, her soft nature making you more comfortable, “You’ve mentioned before that there have been both positive and negative effects to the response of the album. You’ve talked about the positive, but what about the negative?” She asked with a slight smile, as if tying to both apologize and make you more comfortable with the question. You took a deep breath and a light laugh.

“Yeah, I mean, I will be eternally grateful for the opportunity that album has given me, and will continue to give me,” You began, “But the amount of fame and spotlight it gave me also comes in a negative sense. There’s been a lot of rumors that have started, and tabloids that seem to consistently try and build a narrative of my life that just isn’t true.” You continued, “And it gets more difficult when they begin targeting people in your life, besides yourself. You try to build a shield around those people, but they’re inevitably going to see what’s happening and the lies being thrown around about you and them.” “Who are you talking about, in specific?” She asked next.

“Well,” You took a deep breath, “It’s primarily my husband. Which is extremely ironic considering this entire album is abut him. There’s this tendency some people get when they see my personal life to attack it using my work as their weapon. So there’s been this rumor around for years, since the album was released, about Gerard getting married to me to use me for my money and fame, which is completely and utterly not true.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because he would have left me during my worse and darkest days if he didn’t love me for who I am.” She hummed and nodded.

“And what were those days?” “Um,” You took a deep swallow, “I went through an extremely rough eating disorder a few years back. And I didn’t really know, or understand how bad it was until there were people who chose to intervene. And he was one of those people.”

“Speaking of your husband, you and him have been open about your relationship when compared to many other public figures in your same positions, which has led to many people to comment on it. What do you have to say to that?” She continued the topic of Gerard, sensing the uncomfortability of the last question and answer.

“That his and my relationship is not up for discussion,” You began, “We’ve been together for over five years now, we’ve gotten what feels like an endless stream of bad press and rumors, even from the beginning with a five year age gap, and now, somehow, our relationship exploded into somehow being infested by the world.”

“Is that why you and he are so private now?” “It was a mixture of that, and for our careers as well. Both him and I are constantly touring, or making music for our own projects, and we don’t get many intimate moments together. So when we do get those close moments, where it’s just him and I, we like to spend them with just each other, the two of us.”

“You and he have been an interesting couple, but fans seem to love you together,” She began, “There’s been common discussion about the two of you being so different. Gerard looks like this rebellious bad boy, and you’re an innocent good girl. Does that fit into your everyday life?” You lightly smiled knowing she was right, you and Gerard were opposite.

“Kind of, but not really,” You began with a laugh, “We’re similar in a thousand different ways as well. I think there’s a very common misconception among everyone in the music industry, that the image created by your work and by your stage persona is you in real life. And to an extent that’s accurate, but it’s also not. I don’t wear crop tops and short skirts, or sparkly body suits and dresses like I do on stage everyday in my normal life. So while both of us are different in many ways, such as our art and how we dress, our personalities are extremely similar. We’re both nerds about comics, we both love to read, we love to do a lot. So our careers are drastically different, but us as people, we’re very similar.”

“You’ve mentioned before that you’ve wanted to be a mom, start a family quite frequently.” You smiled and nodded, “Would you and Gerard still do that? Even after all the fame?” “I think so, yeah.” You began, “We’ve discussed the idea of having a family, of being parents a lot, and both of us are on the same page. We want to have kids, we want to have a family and raise one of our own. But we need the right time and ability to do so. We will both refuse to take a child into our world of chaos without knowing a way to remove them from that chaos, completely. And having them not be involved or in the public eye at all.” You explained.

“And I think in the future that’s going to require both of us to take breaks from our public personas, and our public lives, and focus solely on our private life for at least two to three years. At least to a point where we feel comfortable enough to say, ‘Okay, we’ve retracted our child from any chance of being targeted by anyone in the world who we don’t want them to see. Now let’s re-emerge ourselves, but only to the extent that we can be sure that our child will have two supporting parents, both of whom can properly care for them.’” She hummed with a light smile again, nodding.

“Now, there have been numerous ideas surrounding your previous project, Suggestions From Thursday, which was the band you started in and your only other project aside from your solo career.” You nervously nodded as the interviewer continued asking her question, “When you decided to release your first solo project, the band broke up. Is there any bad blood between the four of you?” “Um,” You nervously played with your fingers trying to create a fast and satisfactory answer that you wouldn’t regret later, “I would hope not. I haven’t really talked to the guys since the split happened. But I would hope there’s a mutual respect between everyone in the situation for both us as people and our history together.”

The interview wrapped up relatively quickly, the reporter was actually very nice and respectful. Her smooth and pleasant tone of voice, plus easy going vibe made you feel very open to talk, and pressured in no way. You knew the intention of 60 Minutes interviews was not to insult the person, but to explain and elaborate on who they really are, which you were more than happy to do.

Once the interview concluded and the camera crew had finished cleaning up your living room, you said goodbye, closing the door and taking a sigh of relief. While you enjoyed the interview and liked how no questions were asked as if to imply an answer, they were still exhausting. You went upstairs, running yourself a bath despite the fact it was 4 pm. And pouring yourself a glass of wine with that.

You were in the tub for a good hour before the water got too cold, getting out to change into an oversize sweatshirt and short pajama shorts. Gerard would be home in only a few hours and would be the only one to see you, so it was’t like it mattered what you wear.

You walked down stairs beginning to cook dinner, a good way to calm yourself down. You began reflecting on the interview, now partially freaking out over whether anything you said could or would be used against you. Yes, 60 Minutes was always pretty unbiased and tried their best to promote everyone who wasn’t actually bad, which you thought you were, but still. The PTSD from previous bad articles about you was slowly building up.

You were chopping some vegetables when you heard Gerard come in, kicking off his tennis shoes and walking into the large, modern kitchen where you were. He kissed your shoulder, giving you a hug from behind. “Hey babe.” You lightly smiled feeling his warmth.

“Hey,” He responded, still hugging you, “How did the interview go.” “Good,” You sighed, “Difficult, and personal, but good.”

“Personal?” He asked next, grabbing some water from your fridge, “What did they ask about?” “Typical things. How I grew up and got here, which grew into you and I, which went into even more personal stuff.” He rose an eyebrow at you taking a sip from his glass, as you sighed in defeat. “Well some of it was about my ED, but they asked me about kids too.” You mentioned.

“Oh?” He inquired again, “And how did you respond?” “With the truth,” You looked over at him from where you were previously invested in your cooking activities, “That you and I want a family one day, but only when we feel it best fit.”

“We could start right now.” He smirked and you scoffed.

“C’mon Gee, for real?” You whined. He sighed in defeat, walking over and giving you a hug.

“Fine, fine, I was just trying to cheer you up.” “I know.” You whispered, your head comfortably in the crook of his neck. “Maybe we should get a dog first.” You said.

“A dog?” He asked and lightly laughed, “We could.”

“Like as a test subject, to see how we would be as parents.” He lightly laughed, kissing the top of your head.

“Mkay babe, you go with that.” He let go of you, looking over at the food you has just started. AKA the chopped vegetables. “Let’s get takeout, sweetheart. You’ve had a long day.” “But-” You tried to protest “No buts.” He insisted. “I need you to not worry and do nothing right now. Other than sit down with me, and watch something.”

The two of you were placed on your huge couch, which could have easily fit eight people, your legs draped over Gerard’s as his arm tightly wrapped around your back, head on his shoulder. He had pulled a blanket over the two of you as you indulged in burgers messily, catching up on a show. 

All day you had been heavily reflecting on a lot of what the interview was about. What hit so close was the idea that Gerard was going to corrupt you in a way, a common rumor that had been passed around tabloids and gossip sites dozens of times. You had never truly addressed the rumors, not even in the interview today. But as you mindlessly observed the scenes scanning the TV screen, you got an idea. A brilliant idea at that.

Swinging your legs onto the floor, you got up with haste, beginning to march out of the room. “Where’re you going?” Gerard asked, a confused look on his face.

“To write an album.”

[woah-were-halfway-there]

Along For The Ride.

Word Count: 10.9k

There was just something about the off-season that Carson loved. But realistically, how could she not? 

The weather was warm. Carson got to spend loads of time with her loving fiancé seeing as he wasn't busy playing hockey. She could even work from home during it all after landing her managerial position around six months earlier. It was a pretty great setup if Carson was honest. 

However, this summer wasn't as peaceful as it had been years prior. 

It was the beginning of July. Carson and Auston had been back in Scottsdale for no more than a few days, and it was pretty lowkey. Like always, it took Carson a bit of time adjusting to not being at her home in Toronto. However, this specific year was even more difficult because she was insanely sick. 

She wasn't feeling the greatest leading up to their departure from Ontario, which was part of why she and Auston were so late leaving once the season had concluded. Almost every morning, for about a week and a half, Carson woke up at an ungodly hour with the need to vomit. 

She convinced herself it was just a bug of some sort or the flu, seeing as some days she wasn't as sick as others. Auston, however, thought it was a bit more severe than that. But, he gave Carson her space because she knew her body best and rescheduled their flights from Toronto until finally, she felt well enough to travel. 

Carson's first night back in Arizona was fine. The second, however? Not so much. 

After a lowkey day relaxing by the pool with her fiancé and cuddling with their almost fully grown puppy, Frank, Carson, and Auston had plans to go over to his parent's house for the evening. 

Seeing as Carson and Auston got engaged during Christmas and didn't have much time to spend with family because of Auston's hockey schedule, they never really got to celebrate the engagement with his family due to how rushed their last visit was. So, Ema took it upon herself to cook a massive meal for the whole family as a way to congratulate the two of them once they were back in Arizona for the summer. 

It was nice, too, because Carson has always been relatively close with Auston's family. Ema and Brian considered her to be like a third daughter, while Alex and Breyana welcomed her with open arms and accepted her as someone else they could plot against their brother with. Carson really did love spending time with them, so she was pretty excited about this dinner. 

But then things didn't go as planned. 

Once Carson and Auston arrived and were greeted by Auston's family, Carson was ushered away so that Ema, Alex, and Bre could all catch up with her while Auston went off with his dad to look at something in the backyard. 

Carson was telling Alex how work was going as they walked into the kitchen but then was met by a scent that made her stomach churn so intensely that she had no other choice but to bolt to the nearest washroom. 

Concerned over what had just happened with Carson, Auston's mom and sisters followed after her to make sure she was alright. Once she was done throwing up, Carson apologized to them for just running off as Bre grabbed her some Listerine to rinse her mouth out with, and Ema handed her a glass of water. 

"I really thought this sickness was passing," Carson sighed as the four of them made their way back to the kitchen. 

"Do you know what's wrong?" Alex asked while climbing onto one of the barstools at the island. 

"Not a clue," Carson shrugged and sat between Alex and Bre after Ema refused her help with dinner. "Thought that I might've eaten something that didn't agree with me, but I've been sick for well over a week now."

"Have you consistently not been feeling well?" Ema asked as she rinsed off some vegetables and glanced up to her future daughter-in-law. "Auston was saying you'd wake up sick most days and, for some of them, couldn't even get out of bed because of how nauseous you felt."

"Yeah, it's been pretty weird," Carson explained. "Aus has been trying to get me to go to the doctors, and I really should have before we left Toronto, but yesterday and the day before, I felt fine and didn't get sick once. I don't know. Something I smelt as we were walking in here just did not hit me well, I guess, which is strange because you know how much I love your cooking Ema."

Auston's mother smiled at Carson's comment as she turned off the running water and looked away thoughtfully as if debating something. 

"Mom, what're you thinking?" Bre asked with a pointed gaze. 

"Nothing!" She replied. "I'm just wondering." 

"About what?" Alex pressed, causing Ema to sigh. 

"Carson, sweetheart, please do not take this the wrong way or that I'm assuming anything," Ema started and looked at Carson. "Just from what you've told me, it got me thinking about how sensitive to smell I was when I was pregnant with these two and Auston. It's common in expectant mothers, as is morning sickness… Do you think pregnancy could be a possibility of what this is?"

Carson's instinctive response was to say no. She didn't think she was pregnant. She and Auston were always so careful, but before she replied, she got thinking. 

There's always the possibility of a slip-up, and Carson knew that. She also knew a bit about the symptoms of being pregnant, such as morning sickness and sleepless nights, but then she began thinking about her period and how it had been over a month, maybe two, since she last had it. That's when her eyes widened in shock.

"Oh my..." Carson gasped and covered her mouth as tears began pricking her eyes. "I'm late. I'm so late."

 Alex and Bre looked at each other on high alert and spoke in unison. "No way."

Carson glanced around at the three women, who looked back at her with nothing but love and support, but it did nothing to ease her nerves. 

Could she be pregnant? It was never really something Carson and Auston talked about. Sure, they made comments about having babies one day, and there wasn't anyone else Carson would want to be the father of her children, but she and Auston never talked about it in depth. She knew that Auston loved kids, but they had only been engaged for all of six months. Was it too soon?

Carson wasn't sure what to think or feel about the possibility of being pregnant, but the symptoms were there and the fact that her period was unnaturally late just added to it all. 

"How could I not notice these things?" She groaned and dragged her hand down her face in defeat. "There's just been so much going on, and oh my god, what if I actually am pregnant? How am I supposed to mother a whole child?"

Carson could feel herself begin to panic, but Ema was around the island and pulling her into a hug before it could get too bad, even though she still cried a little bit. Both Alex and Bre joined in, too, trying their best to make Carson feel better and make ease of the situation. 

"You don't know for sure," Alex said. "But you know that we're all here to help you regardless, right?"

"Yeah," Carson sobbed while moving away to wipe away her tears. "It's just a lot to take in."

"Everything will be okay, but I will say that I, for one, would not be mad if I became an aunt soon," Bre chimed in, causing everyone to chuckle. 

"When you and Auston are heading home, why don't you stop by the store and pick up some tests just to see," Ema suggested as she moved over to the other side of the counter again. "We can also make you a doctor's appointment for early next week."

"I will, and yes, that sounds great," Carson told her with a nod. "Cause even if I'm not, you know, expecting, an appointment wouldn't hurt, seeing as I have been sick. Thanks, guys. I really appreciate the support and love. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to tell Auston."

"Tell me what?" Auston's voice sounded from behind Carson. It wasn't long until his arms wrapped around her waist, and he was placing a soft peck to her temple before looking around at his mom and sisters. "Did I miss something?"

"Just something you and Carson can talk about later in private," Ema told him and sent Carson a wink, knowing she'd tell Auston as soon as she was ready. "Why don't you four go watch some TV? Your dad and I will finish up dinner, and then we can eat?"

Immediately, both Alex and Bre locked eye contact with their brother as they stood up from their seats, but unfortunately, Auston was faster. 

"I'm picking the show!" He yelled before bolting from his spot behind Carson and out of the room. The girls weren't too far behind him, leaving Carson and Ema to watch and shake their heads. 

"Children, all of them," Ema said before coming around to Carson again and pulling her into one more hug. "You tell him when you're ready, sweetheart. I know you're probably nervous, but he loves you so much, and everything is going to work out just fine. Alright?"

"Yeah," Carson told her future mother-in-law with a smile. "Thank you, Ema, I mean it. If I am pregnant, this child will be so insanely lucky to have you in their life. I'm just… really nervous."

"Are you trying to make me cry? Because I will. And I understand, Carson, but there is no one else I'd rather my son experienced this with if that is the case. You're going to have an amazing support system, and you know you can come to talk to me about anything or ask any questions you have, right?"

"I do."

"Good," she said with a smile while giving Carson one more squeeze. "Now go with the others before they start complaining about me hogging you."

As soon as Carson arrived in the living room, she went to walk past Auston so she could sit with Bre, but he prevented that from happening by grabbing her hand so that she'd stop, then glance up at her with somewhat of a pout. 

"Can I help you?" Carson asked with raised eyebrows, earning chuckles from both of Auston's sisters. 

He looked at her with a bit of a pointed gaze in response before pulling her closer, indicating that he was hoping she'd sit with him. "What were you and mom talking about? Everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah, everything's fine," Carson responded before letting out a small huff. "I, uh, I just got a little sick again shortly after we first got here..."

"Again?" Auston asked, making no attempt to hide the worry that laced his voice. "Carse-."

"I know, Aus," Carson cut him off while shaking her head. Auston sighed as she looked to Alex and Bre for help. They weren't quite sure what to say because both knew Carson needed to be the one to tell Auston what she really thought was going on, but luckily Bre was quick to the rescue.

"Auston, would you hurry up and pick a show already?"

He scoffed and immediately looked to his little sister with a scowl. 

"Yeah, let's go," Alex chimed in. "And can you please pick something that's not The Office?"

"What's wrong with The Office?" Auston asked in a tone as if saying that was the most offensive question he'd ever received. 

Carson chuckled and squeezed his hand. 

"We can talk when we go back to the house, okay? But I want to catch up with your sisters first. I haven't really gotten the chance to do that yet."

Carson didn't leave much room left for argument, so with a nod, Auston let go of her hand and observed as she went over to the girls to talk before getting comfy and putting on The Office anyways. 

The rest of the evening went by quickly. Carson didn't eat a whole lot at dinner, having lost her appetite from getting sick, and she could tell it was worrying Auston. He watched her like a hawk the entire time, and it just made her feel even more nervous to tell him about the possibility of being pregnant. 

Once everyone finished eating, Carson and Auston helped Brian do the dishes so that Ema could finally have a break, while Alex and Bre cleaned off the table and went to pick out a board game. After a few competitive rounds of Jenga, Carson and Auston called it a night and headed home, but not without making plans to be back later in the week for another visit. 

On the way back home, Carson asked Auston to stop at a CVS so she could run in and purchase some pregnancy tests. She didn't tell him that's what the two of them were stopping for, but after a quick dash inside and an interesting look from the cashier, Carson went back to the car and tried to keep the contents of the bag hidden until they were back at the house. 

Throughout their relationship, Carson quickly learned that Auston was much more observant than a lot of people gave him credit for. He caught onto the small things like her mood changes, mannerisms, and so much more. So, it wasn't surprising that with the way she walked out of CVS, chugging a bottle of water before moving to a second before the two of them got home, he knew something was up. The fact that Carson bolted upstairs to their shared en-suite almost as soon as they walked through the door was a dead giveaway as well. 

Auston was worried. How could he not be? Part of him wanted to make a doctor's appointment right then and there because he knew the way Carson was acting had to do with how she hadn't been feeling well. He just wished that she would talk to him about it. After about 10 minutes, he became fed up with his nagging thoughts and followed after her to the washroom. 

Carson was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, hunched over with her head in her hands when a soft knock sounded on the door, and her fiancé soon peeked his head inside. 

"Hey," Auston greeted softly, worry prominently shown on his features as he observed her rough state. 

"Hey."

"Did, uh, did you get sick again?" He asked hesitantly as he sat down beside Carson and gently laced his hand with hers. 

"No," she told him and shook her head. "I feel like I could, though."

"Carson."

"Not in the way that you're thinking, Auston. From nerves. I'm so nervous I feel like I could throw up."

"What do you mean?" He questioned and squeezed her hand. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah, well, when we were at your parent's house," Carson started with a sigh. "After I got sick and was talking to your mom and sisters, I got thinking."

Auston watched as Carson used her free hand to reach over and grab the phone that sat beside her on the bath's ledge. He couldn't help but smile as he looked at the picture of her and him in front of the tree at the Leafs team Christmas party from the year prior set as her lock screen, but then she unlocked the device and opened an app with a tiny pink flower on it. There was no way he'd ever know what the app was for, so he just watched as a calendar opened up and Carson started scrolling through the months. 

Carson stopped once she reached April of that year and looked down at the only highlighted week that indicated significant dates she never thought of twice during the last two months before handing the phone to Auston so he could look at it as well. 

"What's this?"

"The app I use to track my period," she explained, not taking her eyes off of him as she waited to see how he would react. "That week in April that's coloured was the last time I had it." 

"Baby, that's almost two months ago."

"I know."

Carson continued watching him as he processed this information, it not taking much longer before his eyes widened and looked back at her. "Wait, you don't think you're -."

"Pregnant?" Carson finished for him. "I don't know. Like, the symptoms are there, and it makes sense..."

Auston kept staring at her, absolutely stunned but was quickly brought back to reality when Carson's phone alarm went off in his hand and caused him to jump.

"So, I took three tests that I got from CVS," she continued. "They're over there on the counter, and the results should be showing by now."

It was then Auston's gaze finally left his fiancee so he could glance at the three pregnancy tests sitting in a row on the vanity that he didn't notice before but remained utterly silent.

"Auston, please say something."

"I- this is why you think you've been sick?" He asked, and Carson nodded. "Holy shit, Carson, I-I don't even know what to say."

"Tell me that it's going to be okay," she pleaded, not being able to stop the sob that escaped her mouth or the tears that formed in her eyes. "That regardless of what those tests say, we're in this together, and it'll all be fine because right now I'm absolutely terrified, Aus, and I really need you with me for this."

"Hey, Woah, who said I was going anywhere?" 

"No one, it's just… we've never talked about having kids. I didn't want to just spring this on you. You still have your entire career ahead of you and-."

"And you being pregnant is not going to impact any of that negatively," Auston told her firmly as she sniffled a little bit. 

Carson then smiled slightly at his words, beginning to wonder why she was so worried to tell him in the first place. "I'm scared."

"You do not need to be," he assured as he reached over to grab her left hand so that the two of them could look at Carson's engagement ring together. "There was a reason I got you this and asked you to marry me, Carson. It's because you're the one I want to do this whole life thing with. There's no one else I'd rather start a family with than you, okay? You're it for me. And I mean, we already have Frank."

"You're right," Carson chuckled and reached up to wipe away a few stray tears that still spilled. "I love you, Auston. So much."

"And I love you," he replied and pulled Carson in for a kiss. Once he pulled away, he looked back at the counter nervously and gave her hand another squeeze. "Think we should go check those out?"

"Ready whenever you are."

Carson and Auston slowly stood up with a deep exhale and made their way over to the counter. Neither of them let go of the other's hand as they walked but jumped slightly when Frank strutted his way into the room, making the entire thing a real family affair. 

After one final glance at her fiancé, Carson looked down at the three tests and felt her breath hitch when she saw that each of them had a positive symbol. 

Auston wasn't long pulling her into his embrace so he could mutter sweet things while placing the softest pecks to her head. "We're having a baby."

"Oh, my God, we are," Carson replied and squeezed him a little tighter. "I need to make a doctor's appointment as soon as I can, though, Aus. I don't know how far along I am. Right now, this is all a guessing game."

"We can call first thing in the morning and get it all figured out," Auston assured while leaning away slightly so that he could look at her. "But tonight, we'll just take it easy, alright? Maybe try to find a way to break it to Frank that he's not going to be an only child anymore."

"Oh, I'm sure it'll devastate him," Carson teased before leaning down to pet the miniature Goldendoodle that laid at her feet. "But, I do think there may be three women who live pretty close by that are anxiously waiting for news about whether or not they're getting a new family member. Think we should call them?"

"Probably not a bad idea," he told her with a smile before leaning in to press a soft, loving kiss to her lips. "Then we can call your family if you want to."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

~*~

The rest of the summer went by in a blur. The day after finding out she was pregnant, Carson and Auston went to the doctors together to confirm everything and make sure nothing was wrong. After some tests, the doctor assured the two of them that their baby was healthy, explained how Carson was roughly eight weeks along based on the information given regarding Carson's last period and gave tips on how to deal with specific pregnancy symptoms like nausea. 

Carson spent time with Auston's family almost every day, which she was completely okay with. If she wasn't shopping and spending time with Ema, or just talking about life in general with Brian, she was hanging out with Alex and Bre; and those two sure never made any attempt to hide how excited they were about becoming aunts.

"I'm convinced my family is going to steal you away from me one of these days," Auston said one night he and Carson had gone out to dinner.

"They're excited, Aus," she replied while shaking her head at him. "We're not the only ones who can't wait to meet our little one."

He smiled at her response and watched as Carson mindlessly placed her hand on her stomach, smiling even wider as he thought about the baby she was creating. Their baby. It was surreal. 

Telling Carson's family that they were expecting was interesting. The first people they shared the news with were her dad and his girlfriend, Alice. The day the doctor confirmed how far along Carson was and everything, she immediately wanted to call her dad to share the news. He and Alice were ecstatic and were curious about how she planned on telling her siblings that they would be an aunt and uncle soon. 

With Carson's sister Mya living in Vancouver and her brother Nate residing in Montreal, it was difficult for the three siblings to be in the same place simultaneously. Still, they always had FaceTime calls to catch up with and torment one another. That summer, after finding she was pregnant, Carson didn't tell them right away. Instead, she waited until she visibly had a bump to show off, then during one of those FaceTime calls, she stood up so they could see. 

"Is that a bump?" Mya asked as she squinted and leaned closer to the screen of her phone, unsure if she saw correctly. Once she saw her sister nod and smooth a hand over her belly, Mya gasped and threw her head back dramatically. "Carson!"

"Shut up," Nate said, his jaw-dropping open as he realized what Carson was indicating. "Did you eat a watermelon seed?"

"I hate you," Carson replied and rolled her eyes at how her brother was making fun of how she used to think women got pregnant by eating watermelon seeds when she was little. "You two are going to have a little niece or nephew pretty soon."

"I'm going to cry," Mya stated. "I just need to see my pregnant sister in person, goddammit."

"Is Auston there?" Nate then asked.

"Yeah, he's right here," Carson replied and shifted the iPad she was calling on so her siblings could see him.

"Hey, Auston."

"Yes, Nate," Auston said, unable to keep a straight face because he knew what was coming.

"So, uh, next time I'm in Toronto, or you're in Montreal, I'm going to have to kick your ass for knocking up my sister."

"Nathan!" Carson gasped. 

"I'm just giving him a fair warning that the next time I see him, it's on sight," Nate replied with a shrug, earning a laugh from Mya and another eye roll from Carson. 

"You know, that's valid," Auston chuckled before Mya and Nate went on to congratulate him and Carson. 

The next person they told over FaceTime was Carson's oldest and best friend, as well as her old roommate, Lexie, who just screamed with joy and excitement before crying over the fact that her best friend was going to be a mom. 

Everyone else, Carson and Auston, wanted to wait to tell. 

Nearing the middle of September, Carson was about 20 weeks pregnant and well into her second trimester. It could not be assumed that she was already halfway through her pregnancy to an unknowing eye, but Auston saw the changes. 

He noticed them in her appearance, how there was a subtle bump when she wore tight-fitting clothes or walked around in one of his t-shirts. Even noticed them in her mannerisms, with mood swings and weird things she'd crave at the most random times, learning the hard way of how difficult it was to tell a pregnant woman she couldn't have poutine regardless of how bad she wanted it because she was not in Canada. 

But what he noticed the most was how Carson carried herself. Auston knew damn well that she was always one to take excellent care of herself, but from basically the moment Carson found out that she was pregnant, it was like that motherly instinct kicked in immediately. She didn't overwork herself so she wouldn't get stressed, ate the best foods she could, and spent so much time researching ways to bring a healthy and happy baby into the world. It truly blew Auston away, and he was so insanely excited to meet the little one the two of them made together because he undoubtedly knew they were going to have the best mom in the world.

When the time came to leave Arizona, it was hard to say goodbye to Auston's family, but it was more of a see you later, seeing as they already had plans to visit Toronto in the upcoming weeks. 

Carson was excited to be back in Toronto and experience whatever was left of the summer weather, even though it was stupid hot. It almost felt like she never left Scottsdale with how intense the sun was, but at least she was home. And that made it much more bearable. 

Auston was always there, adjusting the AC to the perfect temperature in the condo so that she'd be comfortable and making sure that she stayed hydrated at all times. Carson loved seeing the fatherly instincts Auston developed as well, and it sure made her feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside, but she also made sure to tell him if he was a little too much and remind him that she was capable of doing things herself. 

The two of them were back for only a short amount of time before Auston delved into practicing and having to leave for preseason training in the Muskokas with the Leafs, but in that time, they did a lot. 

The first project Carson and Auston tackled was starting to redo the condo's office, which no one used, and beginning its transition into a nursery. This project required a lot of planning, but with a couple of trips to IKEA, much to Auston's dismay because he was ready to drop an unnecessary amount of money on luxury baby items, they got a good start on it all. 

Carson had a few doctor's appointments within that week as well. Her doctor in Toronto wanted to make sure everything with the baby was okay, and once she determined it was, she rescheduled for Carson to see her again so she and Auston could find out the sex of their child. 

Unable to contain her excitement and nerves, Carson slept a little restlessly leading up to that appointment. Auston noticed this but didn't give her a hard time about it because he was excited too. 

But then the two of them agreed not to learn the baby's sex. 

Carson still went to the appointment, and the doctor was able to tell the baby's sex as she performed an ultrasound on her growing belly. Still, instead of telling Carson and Auston, she wrote if their baby was a girl or a boy down on a piece of paper and sealed it in an envelope so that if either of them changed their mind, they could look at the results. 

A few days later, Auston had to leave. Training luckily meant that the guys weren’t away from Toronto for long, even with the preseason games. But, Auston was still very reluctant to go. 

"Aus, you have to go," Carson told him as she crawled from her space on the bed to where he was sitting at the end of it, placing soft pecks to his exposed shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "It's only for like two days."

"Not a selling point," Auston replied and turned to face her. His eyes then flickered down to Carson's stomach, taking in how it had grown even more in size and how prominent it was in the lilac tank top and pair of Roots track pants she wore. However, Carson still managed to hide her bump whenever she went out in public somehow, which was fair because no one else knew she was expecting outside of the family. "Don't want to leave you… or the baby."

Carson smiled as he reached over to gently place a hand on her stomach before leaning in to kiss her. The gesture made her melt a little bit, but Carson was still the first to pull away. "I know, babe. But, we're both still going to be here once you get back."

Auston didn't respond but sent her a narrowed glance instead. 

"Don't look at me like that," Carson told her fiancé. "What are you going to do during the regular season when you're gone for much longer?"

"Bring you with me," he deadpanned, and this time it was Carson that gave him a look.

"I don't think so. The more weeks that go by, the more even the thought of flying makes me want to vomit. Coming back to Toronto was enough of a challenge. Plus, I'm going to start going into the office for work again now that we're back."

"Guess I'll just have to fly back as much as I can," he stated with a shrug. "Cause I refuse to be away from you for long, especially with your due date approaching."

"We've got until February, Auston," she explained. "Nothing to stress about."

"Not yet, at least."

Carson shook her head in frustration at his stubbornness before climbing off the bed so that she could help gather a few last-minute things before his departure. "I think you're being dramatic."

"Why? Because I'm afraid, I might miss the birth of my child?" He unintentionally snapped and immediately felt horrible when he saw Carson jump in response to his sudden change in tone. She was shocked at his outburst and remained utterly silent as the two of them stared at each other. "Fuck, I'm sorry, Carse, I didn't mean-."

"Is that what you're worried about?" She asked before setting down the t-shirt she was holding and walking over to him again. 

Auston sighed. 

"I- yeah, I've been thinking about it a lot actually. I'm just scared that I won't be here when you need me, and the last thing I want is to be away when you go into labour and..."

"Auston," Carson started while linking her hands with his and pulling so that he'd stand up from the bed. "I need you to tell me when things like this are bugging you. That way, we can try to figure something out together. We still have lots of time before we need to start worrying about any of that, babe. And even then, I think we'll be fine. You play for a great franchise and have amazing teammates. When we decide to tell them that we're going to be parents, I'm sure they'll be insanely supportive and understand if you have to miss a game. That's even if it comes to that."

Auston just looked at Carson for a moment with an unreadable gaze, and she wasn't quite sure if anything she said got through to him, but then a tiny smile danced its way across his lips, and he was soon pulling her into his embrace. "How do you always know what to say?"

"I don't," Carson explained while cuddling closer to him. "I really wish I did, but I'm just as scared as you are, Aus. However, I know that we're in this together, and it's all going to work out... So that helps a lot."

"God, I love you so much," he stated while leaning down to kiss the top of her head.

"Good, cause the feeling's mutual."

"Well, I would hope so!"

"No one else I'd rather be stuck with, Matthews," Carson replied, causing Auston to scoff. She then pulled away to look up and smirk at him before patting his chest and nodding towards his suitcase that still needed to be packed. "Come on now, Steph will be here to drop Mitchy off soon. Then you guys need to go."

"Yes, dear. Still don't know how you plan on telling those two we're having a baby."

"I'll figure it out."

The day after Auston left, Carson spent time relaxing with Frank. It was nice to chill, but the day after that, she had plans to get lunch with Steph at a nearby restaurant, and Carson was extremely excited to see her. It'd been a long summer not seeing one of her best friends, and Carson knew Steph was ecstatic to spend some time with her as well.

However, Steph was a little thrown off by how Carson was acting at lunch. 

Carson had taken a bunch of time that morning to look nice. It took her over an hour to do her hair and even longer decide what to wear. She ended up wearing a long, flowy maxi dress that hid her bump exceptionally well, then paired it with a pair of strappy sandals and some bangle bracelets. All in all, it wasn't anything about her appearance that threw Steph off, but rather how she was acting. 

What started it was how Carson barely talked about herself at all. Steph filled Carson in on all the details about her and Mitch's summer that she hadn't already shared with Carson over FaceTime and expected her to do the same. But she didn't. 

"It was, uh, pretty uneventful," Carson somewhat lied and started picking at the Caesar salad on her plate. "Spent a lot of time by the pool and with Auston's family, but other than that, it was pretty lowkey."

"You're joking," Steph stated and leaned back in her seat with crossed arms. 

"Excuse me?"

"Come on, Carson," she said and threw her head back in a dramatic groan before looking back at her friend. "You always have the funniest stories whenever you and Auston come back from Scottsdale. Did something happen? What are you hiding? Oh my god, did the two of you elope?"

"What? No!" Carson screeched, causing her to burst out laughing. "We're still engaged, Steph. You and Mitch would've been at the wedding even if it was in secret. Pretty sure Mitch would disown me as his twin if I didn't want him there."

"That's what I like to hear. And I'm just messing with you, hun. I'm really glad you're back, but you're sure everything's okay? You just seem I don't know… off."

Carson gulped as she attempted the most natural smile that she could. "I'm fine."

"Carse…"

"No, really, Steph," she assured, feeling a little anxious all of a sudden. "I just haven't been feeling all that great lately. Actually, I'm just going to run to the washroom real quick. I'll be right back."

"Oh, okay," Steph replied as she watched Carson stand up and grab her bag to take with her. "Take your time. I'll order us some sangria."

"Uh, none for me, thanks," Carson told her, earning herself a surprised look. "I'm good with water."

Steph didn't reply, just looked at Carson, wholly shocked over the fact that she turned down sangria, something she'd never done before. 

Unsure of what else to say, Carson awkwardly nodded towards her before fleeing to the washroom. 

As she was going, she took out her phone and texted her fiancé. 

Carson

This is proving to be rather difficult.

Auston

What is? Everything alright?

Carson

Yes, everything's fine. It's just really hard not telling anyone we're expecting, y'know? Please remind me why we haven't told Mitch and Steph we're having a baby yet cause this is getting painful. 

After hitting send, Carson waited for a second to see what he'd respond with; but when he didn't, she tucked the phone back into her purse and entered the washroom. 

A few minutes later, once she finished washing her hands, Carson felt her phone buzz with a new notification and moved to pull it back out, freezing as she did so. 

Auston 

… Mitch knows.

Before Carson could even react, her phone started ringing, and Mitch's contact picture showed up. Still a little shell-shocked, she answered the device and held it up to her ear.

"H-hello?"

"You're going to be a whole mom!" The oh-so-familiar voice of her cousin, Mitchell Marner, sounded from the other end, and Carson couldn't help but chuckle at it slightly. "Congrats, wow."

"Yeah, I guess I am," she told him with a smile while shaking her head. "Thanks, Mitch."

"So, when were you planning on telling me, hm?"

"I was still trying to figure out how," Carson told him honestly. "Didn't want you to freak out."

"Oh, I'm trying really hard not to murder your fiancé right now," he stated casually. "But luckily, my happiness for both of you overpowers that."

  "I can't with you. Now, speaking of my fiancé, you wouldn't happen to know where Auston is, would you?"

"Right here, babe," Auston's voice called from nearby, indicating that Carson was on speaker. "We just got back to the hotel, and I was driving, so it was Mitch texting you from my phone."

"I see, so that's how you know?"

"Yeah, the two of you didn't plan that out very well, if I'm honest," Mitch replied. "All the guys are kinda nosy. Literally, anyone could've been looking at his phone."

"No, pretty sure it's just you," Auston stated loudly, causing Carson to cover her mouth in an attempt to silence her laughter as the boys started bickering. 

"Okay, that's enough, you two," she said while putting the call on speaker as well so that she could gather her things and head back to the table. "Steph's gonna think I got lost on my way to the washroom if I don't go back soon. Now I'm going to have to figure out a way to tell her that I'm pregnant."

"Wait, you haven't told her yet?" Mitchy asked, a bit of concern lacing his voice. 

"No, not yet. Why?"

"Uh, no reason!"

"You told her already, didn't you?" Carson heard Auston ask, her mouth falling open when Mitch's silence confirmed the answer to her fiancé's question. "Bro, you haven't known for five whole minutes yet!"

"So?" Mitch argued. "I got excited!"

"That doesn't mean-."

After that, Carson zoned out a bit and did not hear the rest of Auston's response because, as if on cue, the washroom door swung open, and a familiar voice called out, making her jump. 

"Carson!?"

Although she couldn't see her from where she stood, Carson knew it was Steph that had just barged in, and it seemed that Auston and Mitch knew as well. 

"Oh, you've done it now," Auston snapped while Mitch scoffed. 

"How is this my fault?"

"Because you literally have the biggest mouth."

There was no way Steph didn't hear the conversation happening on the phone, so Carson stayed silent as she waited for her friend to come around the corner to where the sinks were and braced herself for impact. 

As soon as Steph appeared around the wall with an unreadable expression, Carson was more terrified than ever. 

"Is that Auston on the phone too?" Steph said as she walked up to Carson. Still unsure of how to approach what was happening, Carson kept quiet and nodded. "Great. So I get to ream him out as well."

Silence. 

"Uh, so, we're gonna go," Mitch finally spoke up, and Carson could briefly hear Auston say he'd call her later. "Bye!"

Once the line went dead, Carson hung up and tucked the phone back into her bag, all without looking from where Steph stood in front of her. 

"So, um…"

"You're PREGNANT!?" Steph cut her off, and Carson couldn't help the sigh of relief she let out, seeing as Steph sounded more excited than upset.

"I am," Carson replied and chuckled a little bit. Steph just stood there shocked, but then Carson turned to the side and started pulling the back of her dress so that the front would be tight against her body, showing off the bump that had been hidden the entire time. 

"Oh my god!" Steph squealed before rushing over and engulfing Carson in the biggest hug. "How? When did this happen?"

"I'm not going into the details of how it happened, Steph," she explained, causing Steph to laugh as she pulled away. "But we found out during our first week back in Scottsdale. I just thought I was sick, but after talking to Ema, I decided to take a few pregnancy tests and sure enough…"

"Oh babe, congratulations, I'm so happy for you and Auston. Wow, my best friend is going to be a mom!"

"And you're going to be an honorary aunt!"

"Ahhh, I am!" She screeched excitedly but was quick in going straight-faced and looking serious again. "I mean… what the hell Carson, why didn't you tell me?"

"Okay, drama queen," Carson told her with a scoff, easily breaking her facade. "To be fair, outside of me, Auston, our parents, siblings and Lexie, you and Mitch are the only people who know."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, knowing your cousin, there's going to be a lot more people who will know very soon."

"Yeah, I'm just waiting to talk to Auston again tonight and find out that the entire team knows."

"That is exactly what's going to happen," Steph replied before gently smacking her hand to her forehead, both of them laughing as she did so. "Do you know what you're having, or your due date, or anything? Wait, how far along are you even!?"

"Oh geez," Carson began with a smile. "Well, Auston and I decided not to find out the baby's sex, but the doctor wrote it down and put it in an envelope for if we changed our minds. So that's currently sitting in a drawer at home."

"That must be killing you."

"It is! I'm trying really hard not to look, but who knows? I'm weak. And I'm almost 20 weeks along now. My due date is February 4th."

"20 weeks?" She gasped. "Damn, mama, you look good."

"Why, thank you," Carson laughed and quickly struck a pose.

"Anytime," she replied with a wink. "I hope you know just how spoiled this child is going to be. Oh, and that there's no way I'm not throwing you an over-the-top baby shower."

"I don't know; I think Mya, Alex and Bre might have you beat to that."

"Fair enough. That's fine, though. We can plot together."

"I'd expect nothing less," Carson said and reached out to pull her in for another hug. "You know, I was terrified at the thought of being pregnant. But having people like you and Mitch and my family here to help and just having Auston go through it all with me, I realized I did not need to be. So, thank you, Steph. I really wouldn't be able to do it without any of you."

"Excuse you, I wasn't prepared to cry today," she mumbled and gave Carson another squeeze. "This baby is going to be so loved, and they're going to have the best parents."

"Well, now you're going to make me cry." 

After that, the two girls moved away from each other and wiped away the tears that had formed before finally going back to the table and finishing lunch. 

~*~

Time started going by insanely fast once Auston was back from training, and before Carson knew it, hockey season had started. 

By that point, it was next to impossible to hide her baby bump. During the month of being back in Toronto leading up to the Leafs home opener, their little one started making themselves known, and Carson was just too exhausted to keep a secret that didn't need to be kept. 

The entire team knew she was pregnant. Carson had received quite a few congratulatory texts a month prior within only hours of Mitch finding out, and even more in person whenever she was around any member of the TML franchise. 

The best part, though, was watching Auston whenever someone brought up the fact that he was going to be a dad. He'd always smile a little wider, and there'd be this tiny glint of excitement in his eyes whenever he talked about it. Carson was getting excited too, but watching him just made the whole duration of her pregnancy that much better. 

Even though Auston wasn’t playing in the home opener because since his wrist was still recovering from surgery in the summer, his family flew in and Carson was going to join them sitting in the stands for the first game of the season. She spent the entire day with them taking Frank for a walk, grabbing some dinner and then getting ready with Alex, seeing as Bre was still in Arizona for school, before heading to Scotiabank Arena. 

Once they arrived, everyone walked down towards the glass to watch a bit of the pregame warmup. Carson, Ema, and Alex found a few open seats to set their coats on before turning their attention back to the ice. After a few minutes, Carson sent Steph a quick text to let her know where they were since she would be there with her aunt, uncle and cousin Chris to cheer on Mitch. 

As soon as she put her phone away, Carson's gaze immediately fell on Auston as he stood over near the bench, dressed nicely in his suit, waiting for the opening ceremony to start. He spotted her, then winked and waved before going back to talking to one of the assistant coaches and pointing to Carson and his family as if to show that they were there. 

Carson blew him a kiss back, to which Auston smiled, but then she watched as he looked to the right a little bit, and that smile faded. Curious about what caused his mood to change so quickly, Carson followed his gaze and eventually saw a reporter and a cameraman with their camera pointed directly at her. 

"Alex, is it just me or are they taking pictures of us?" Carson asked Auston's older sister and nodded towards the reporter. 

Alex looked towards them and scrunched up her face a little bit. "I think so? That or a video, I'm not sure. They must be, or else Auston wouldn't be looking at them like that." 

Carson wasted no time looking back to her fiancé Sure enough, Auston was glaring at the two people. His face was unreadable, but his expression was stern, and Carson knew he would not start that game off happy. 

"I wonder why," Ema said as she noticed Auston’s hard expression and the reporters.

"I think I know why," Carson whispered loud enough for them to hear before looking down at her belly, which was rather prominent in the jersey she wore, then protectively placed her hand on it. Carson could have easily bought a newer, larger Matthews jersey, but the one she wore still fit comfortably enough that she didn't feel the need to do that yet. Sure, her pregnant belly was quite visible, but she didn't really care because Carson knew she would be surrounded by people who weren't going to judge her and knew she was expecting. But at that moment, thanks to the reporters who were undoubtedly about to make Carson's pregnancy their next big headline, she had never felt more self-conscious. "Can we go up to our seats, please?"

"Yes, of course," Ema said and started ushering Carson and Alex out of the row they were in and back up the stairs to their actual seats. She kept a comforting hand on Carson's back as they went, which Carson thanked her for as she tried her hardest not to cry. 

Once they reached their row, Carson looked down at the ice once more to see Auston give her an apologetic look before having to turn his attention away from her get ready for the game. 

Being in their proper seats relaxed Carson because they blended in with the entire crowd. She didn’t see the reporter again, but she was still upset when Brian joined them, looking more confused than ever. 

"Hey, Woah, is everything alright?" He asked, looking between his very upset-looking wife and daughter, before landing his gaze on Carson and seeing that she was on the brink of tears. "Oh, Carson. Did something happen?"

"Um, there were reporters," Carson explained. "They were filming us, and... I don't know. Maybe I'm being dramatic, but I can't help but think that as soon as the game is over, everyone's going to know I'm pregnant."

"I see," Brian replied and looked at Ema. "They didn't approach you guys or anything, did they?"

"No, I don't think they would have," she told him.

"But still," Alex spoke up from beside her mother. "That's not fair. This is Carson and Auston's business, not anyone else's."

"That's the thing," Carson added while shaking her head. "I don't care if people know we're going to have a baby, and I know Auston doesn't either, but not like this. I didn't want it to be a big spectacle, and now I feel like that's exactly what's going to happen."

"I guess all we can do is wait," Brian said with a sigh. "You can talk to Auston about everything once the game is over. Hopefully, nothing will happen between now and then."

Carson nodded in agreement and took a deep breath to calm herself down a bit. "You're right. Let's just watch the game; it's not worth getting upset over. I'll just talk to him once he's home tonight."

Everyone agreed and settled into their seats just as the entire Leafs roster. Carson went to sit on the other side of Alex but was stopped by someone's hand on her arm, causing her to snap her gaze to its source and see Ema. 

"Carson, you have every right to be upset," she said quietly but firmly. "You're going to be a mother soon, it's in your instincts to want to protect your baby, and the only way to do that right now is by protecting yourself. So don't think you're being dramatic or have no need to be upset over those reporters because you do. You never liked being in the spotlight, and this is worrying you, isn't it?"

Carson let out a breath and nodded. 

"It is, and I just feel so helpless. Like I knew my pregnancy becoming public knowledge was bound to happen, but I was hoping it'd be on my terms. Something I'd have control over."

Carson paused as she heard someone from a couple of rows back start talking about something they saw on Twitter. 

“Woah, is Matthews having a kid?”

At that, Carson’s eyes started welling up again before she groaned and frustratedly pushed her hand through her hair. Eventually, she looked back to her future mother-in-law and fought the urge to cry all over again. 

"As I said before, I really don't care if everyone knows," Carson explained. "But the last thing I wanted was for this to be a whole big thing that distracted people from the team because that's what we're all here for, right? This is already getting out of hand and-."

Carson's voice cracked as a sob involuntarily left her mouth, and she was no longer able to keep the tears in anymore. She sat down quickly to attempt not to draw any attention to herself, while Brian, Ema and Alex tried to console her.

"I'm okay, thanks, guys," Carson told them after taking some deep breaths and being able to calm herself down a bit. "I'm so over these hormones already."

"Perks of being pregnant," Ema told her with a smile before giving her arm one last squeeze and moving away. 

"Are you sure you're alright?" Brian asked sympathetically, and Carson nodded. 

"I can go back to the condo with you if you need to leave, and we can watch the game there?" Alex offered. "I'm sure Auston would understand."

"No, no, it's alright. Thank you. But, there's nothing I want more right now than to watch my favourite hockey player with some of my favourite people. I might head out a little early and just meet Auston at home, but until then, let's just try to enjoy the game."

"Sounds like a plan," Alex replied with a smile.

 Once the game concluded, Carson left. The Leafs had won, and she wanted to give Auston the chance to see his family once he finished all of his postgame stuff with the team. Carson also didn't want reporters asking her any questions if she went to see her fiancé, so instead, she and Steph went straight to the parking lot and drove back to the condo once Steph and Mitch’s family caught up with her and were filled in on what happened. 

Steph offered to stay with Carson until Auston was home, but Carson assured her that she'd be fine. After saying goodbye and telling Steph to text her once she was home, Carson went up to the condo and changed into comfy clothes. Once she was done, she curled up on the couch and watched the post-game interviews and highlights before sending a quick text to Alex about plans for breakfast the following morning.

However, Carson's train of thought was disrupted because as soon as she turned on the TV, Auston appeared. 

He was being interviewed about the game, like always, answering questions about how he thought the team played even though he couldn’t comment on his own performance. It was nothing out of the ordinary, so Auston responded to the question quickly. Just as he was about to leave, Carson could hear a reporter from off-screen pushing for one more question and watched as Auston's expression visibly hardened. 

"Auston, before you go, can you answer one more thing for us?" A voice asked, and Carson could see the debate in Auston's eyes of whether to stay and answer their question or just leave. But, her fiancé knew how bad it looked just to cut off a reporter without reason. So, with a deep breath, he nodded and waited for what it was they wanted to ask. "We were just wondering about your girlfriend, Carson. How is she doing?"

"Fiancée," Auston corrected, not missing a beat. "And she's doing just fine, she was here tonight with my family, but I think she's gone home by now. What does this have to do with hockey exactly?"

"Is there a reason she left so suddenly?"

Carson knew exactly where the reporter was going with their questions and started feeling anxious all over again because of it. Although she was aware of how well Auston could handle the media, that didn't stop her from scrambling for her phone and texting the first person she thought of. 

Carson 

Mitch, please get him out of there if you can.

Part of her didn't expect her cousin to text back right away, seeing as he did just finish a game and all, but the other part was hopeful that maybe, just maybe, he was near his phone and saw it go off since he had already done his interview for the night. Carson waited for a second, watching her phone screen as she heard Auston start speaking again and had to avert her attention back to the TV.

"She, uh, she was pretty tired, had a long day hanging out with my sisters," he replied calmly, but Carson could very clearly hear the annoyance in his voice. "Again, not sure what this has to do with the game we just played or why it's any of your business."

"Oh no, no, no," she muttered and burrowed herself further into the fuzzy throw blanket she wrapped herself up in. Frank seemed to notice Carson's distress and wasn't long in hopping onto the couch so he could curl up on her lap and provide some reassuring hand licks as she continued watching the television. 

"It's just that she was seen before the game and didn't look too well," the reporter continued while Auston looked at them with raised eyebrows. "Is she sick?"

Although Carson was thankful they didn't just flat out ask if she was pregnant, she still groaned at how badly they beat around the bush as a way to confirm or deny their suspicions.  

"No, she's quite healthy."

Her phone then buzzed with a new text, and she couldn't help the audible sigh of relief that left her mouth as she saw who it was from. 

Mitch

On it. 

After typing back 'thank you,' Carson moved her gaze back to the TV, completely missing what the reporter asked but catching what Auston had to say in return. 

"You know, I think you've made some type of assumption for when it comes to Carson… is there really a need for me to confirm or deny whatever it is you're digging for?"

No one spoke again after that. It was just the sounds of cameras flashing and the odd mutter in the background. An awkward moment of silence went by, and soon enough, Mitch appeared behind Auston and tapped him on the shoulder, telling him to leave. The two boys disappeared off camera, and Carson was quick in shutting off the television altogether so she wouldn't have to hear what anyone had to say about everything that just happened. 

Carson wasn't sure how much time went by of her just sitting in silence petting Frank, but soon enough, she was met by the sound of the door being unlocked and Auston entering the condo. Frank was immediately off her lap to greet him, and she wasted no time in hiding the small envelope she was holding behind one of the cushions before going to see her fiancé as well. 

"Hey…"

"I'm going to have that reporter fired," Auston stated firmly as he hung up his coat and eventually looked at her. "I don't know how I'm going to, but that was a complete disaster. There has to be something that can be done. That was too much."

"I know, I saw," Carson told him quietly in hopes of calming him down a little bit, but he didn't have it.

"Like, who do they think they are just asking someone that as a way to get a story? The fact that they were trying to dig into our personal lives apparently wasn't enough. They had to make a big scene about it. I'm surprised they didn't just ask your due date or something like that."

Carson hated seeing him so upset and just felt so crappy about the whole situation, but she wasn't sure how to approach it. "Aus, I know this sucks… a lot. I was there too. But it's really not worth getting upset over. They wanted some sort of a reaction from you."

"And they got one," he huffed while frustratedly pushing his hand through his hair. "Did I seem as big of a dick as I feel I was? I tried so hard not to snap at them, but..."

"I know," Carson replied and gently reached out to grab his hand. "I appreciate you defending our privacy, and I know all the guys don't blame you for how you handled those questions. It's just- I can't help but worry that you're going to get in trouble with management because you did lose your cool a little bit, babe."

"I don't care. I'd do it again. Management can get me in all the shit they want, but it won't matter because I refuse to let a reporter, or anyone for that matter, go after you and our baby again. God, I'm so sorry, Carse, this is all my fault. You shouldn't have had to deal with any of this."

He was livid, that much was evident from the moment Carson saw him glare at those reporters before the game even started, but he needed to calm down. Auston beating himself up over something he had no control over wasn't beneficial to anyone. However, Carson knew for him not to do that was easier said than done. Which was why after turning off the interview, she thought of a way that might ease his worries and wasted no time rushing into the kitchen and grabbing a tiny envelope she knew resided in one of the drawers. 

Carson thought about waiting until Auston was home to open it up and look at the envelope's contents together. Still, her curiosity got the better of her, and she snuck a peek at the small sonogram of their baby from the appointment she had almost a month prior, then read what was written on the back of it. 

Now Carson was left figuring out how to tell him what was on the back of that picture, but Carson just knew that telling him would help ease the current situation the two of them were in. So, without a second thought, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled until her head was able to rest on his chest.

The gesture caught Auston slightly off guard, but he quickly reacted and soon enough had his arms wrapped around her while placing a soft peck to the top of Carson's head. 

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Auston," Carson stated while squeezing him a little tighter. "You were being your protective self and looking out for the ones you love. You're incredible, do you know that? And it's just things like this that I can't help but think of how our little girl is going to have the best dad on the planet."

At that, he went stiff, and Carson couldn't stop the enormous grin that began stretching its way across her mouth. Auston eventually pulled away just enough to look down at her with wide eyes and a shocked expression. 

"Little girl?"

"Yeah," Carson told him and let out a tiny sob as the happy tears began pricking her eyes. "Baby Girl Matthews will be making her debut here pretty soon."

"What, I-," Auston started but stopped himself as he pulled her in for another tight hug and just held her there for a minute. "We're having a girl?"

"We are," she confirmed while reaching up to wipe away her tears. "I'm sorry I looked without you."

"That doesn't even matter," he said before moving away so that he could lean down to place a soft, sweet kiss on her lips. "I'm just- wow."

"I figured if the world is going to know we're expecting, at least this could be our little secret for the time being."

"You know my sisters are going to lose their minds over having a niece, right? Although I really would have been happy with whatever we were having."

"Me too," Carson agreed. "But this way, us girls get to keep you outnumbered for a bit longer."

"A bit?" Auston asked and looked at her questionably. "Are you suggesting that we have another baby before the first one is even here?"

"I mean, I don't hate the idea," she explained with a smirk. "Not that we need to think about that yet or anything, but yeah, I could see myself having a few kiddos with you."

"I like the sound of that," he replied and gave Carson another peck on the lips. "But after this little one arrives, I think I actually want to marry you first."

"Not opposed to that idea either."

[dimancheetoile]

time differences mean i certainly HOPE you’re not working still, but Top 5 kitchen utensils?

Honestly, I wish I was still working. I'm having a paranoid episode and I genuinely think it's one of the worst thing that's ever happened to me mentally.

put “top 5” anything in my ask and i will answer ok go

But this is truly a vital question, so here we are:

5. The peeler. That thing is impeccable. Top-tier level kitchen utensil, I use it every day. Fits perfectly in my hand without needing too much grip, which, for disabled, hurting fingers, is incredible. The first utensil my parents taught me how to use as a kid, we were always cooing on the boat. I love that thing so much, bless its cold steel heart.

4. The thing for doing a specific thing to vegetables (I'm so sorry. I don't know the English name and my brain isn't cooperating rn to find an alternative). Again, one of the oldest things I was taught to use, super useful especially in summer when you make lots of cabbage salade.

3. The cheese-grater with a handle. Growing up, we never had grated gruyère at home, only big slices we would use to then grate with this thing. Nothing beats it

2. The hachoir (yeah I gave up and now use the French names, sorry). Perfect design, perfect concept. It looks straight out of a fantasy novel, like this is used by druids and witches at the same time as rogues and warriors. It's also amazing for so many things in cooking, preparing the parsley and garlic, mincing walnuts and almonds for bakhlava, I love it.

Honorable mention for the whisk because it's the most beautiful utensil imo, but a bit too common to be truly be on this list. Also, once I was in vacation visiting British friends of our family an we spoke almost exclusively in English with some French sprinkled in. Twas a couple years ago so my English was completely acceptable, but still sometimes a bit weird. So of course, as I was making a blueberry cheesecake for us all, I asked Maggie where the whisk was by saying "I'm gonna need the whip too, can you get it out for me?". And there was this silence. Oh, this silence. But she laughed really hard after that so it was ok.

Honorable mention for the presse-ail, (garlic crusher?), also. Because garlic.

1. Snail fork and its accompanying snail plate. As you probably know, snails are a fairly common thing to be eaten in France, especially in two regions where they're a regional dish: in Bourgogne (the wine and Dijon mustard region) and in Languedoc-Roussillon (yes I refuse to use the new region names, they're dumb as bricks and I hate them tyvm) (also L-R is the most southern region, making up the curve of land above the Mediterranean sea, and it's famous for its wine and Provence vibe).

I happen to be born and raised in Bourgogne and now living in L-R so you can imagine how often I've eaten snails in my life. I like them a lot tbh. In Bourgogne, the species is larger and imo tastes better, and we prepare them with butter, garlic and parsley, then cook in the oven in the shell, or inside a puff pastry it's great. In L-R, they throw them in an oiled pan and kinda stir-fry them a bit, then make a sauce with tomatoes, oignons, garlic, provence herbs (that's rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano) and olive oil. But if you eat them the Bourguignon way, you need a special dish with holes in it to put the shells in as they cook, and a special fork to get the snails out.

So there you go, my top 5 kitchen utensils!

[obsidiancreates]

The Crossover Nobody Asked For (VenturianTale and Milo Murphy’s Law)

“Oh, this place is horrid,” Cavendish says, looking out the window as the van rolls into town. “This is barely an upgrade from garbage duty.”

“So there’s a lot of damage. Maybe they’ve just a Murphy in town and no budget,” Dakota says with a shrug.

“... I suppose that’s a possibility. But I don’t believe Milo has mentioned any family living in North Carolina. Especially not a place with a name like... ugh.”

“Come on, say it,” Dakota says, already almost laughing.

“... Butts, Little Butts,” Cavendish sighs.

Dakota laughs, slapping the steering wheel.

“Who even named this place?! And who would live here-”

“WHOA!”

Dakota slams on the breaks as someone runs right out in front of the van. 

“It went this way! Come on, Johnny!” a short man in a gray hoodie shouts behind him.

A tall man in a rather fancy outfit jogs into view. “I’m coming, sir! But I-I’ve been stabbed in the leg-”

“IT’S GETTING AWAY- oh, you!”

The short man runs up to the window of Cavendish and Dakota’s van. “Hey! Give us your vehicle!”

Cavendish is slightly taken aback. “Wh- we most certainly shall not!”

“Oh, he’s British! Johnny, come communicate with him in your British tongue!”

“What the devil-”

“Hello, there. I’m Johnny Toast. May we please use you vehicle?”

“More British, Johnny.”

“Oh, right sir, um, tea and crumpets, may we use your vehicle, um, Doctor Who, ah, my grandmother is the Queen of England.”

“... Just drive, Dakota.”

Dakota waves at the two men, and drives away. They hear the short one scream in frustration.

“This town is deplorable,” Cavendish says.

“We’ve only met two people, maybe it’s not so bad,” Dakota points out. “And we haven’t even been to any restaurants yet.”

“Given the state of some of these buildings, I advise against eating anything from here.”

“When has that ever stopped me?” 

“Mmm, true.”

They finally arrive at their destination. A shockingly normal looking house, out in the suburbs. 

“Well, perhaps this won’t be so bad after all.” Cavendish seems hopeful as the van is parked.

“Yeah, see? We just happened to run across two weirdos. Now let’s find that alien signal Mr. Block sent us here for.”

“I’ll grab the scanner, you introduce us,” Cavendish says, opening the back of the van. 

Dakota nod sand heads up to the front door. He rings the doorbell, and waits.

“GERTRUDE! SOMEONE’S AT THE DOOR!”

“I HEARD IT, I’M MAKIN’ DINNER!”

“KIDS!”

Dakota winces. Oh boy, so the people who live here are... loud, to say the least.

“WHERE’RE THE KIDS, GERTRUDE?”

“BILLY IS HIDING FROM MADDIE AND SALLY IS ON A DATE WITH SLENDER! SUE IS SOMEWHERE IN THE MALL!”

Dakota waits a moment, and then rings again.

He hears a heavy sigh. A moment later, the door swings open, and Dakota shouts and stumbles back.

A large man stands in the door, holding a shotgun. With his bald head, beard, and very angry expression, he looks like exactly the type of person you don’t want to bother in the middle of the day. 

“Who the heck ‘re you?” he demands in... some kind of... southern? accent.

“Uh...”

“Dakota, have you- oh, hello, are you the resident who lives here?”

Cavendish is either ignoring the shotgun, or hasn’t noticed it yet, somehow.

“Yeah, this is my house, so what’re you doing here?”

“Well, we’ve been sent by an agency-”

“Are you some more of them P.I.E people?  I told ya to quit comin’ to my house, you only make the problems worse!”

“P.I.E? No, we’re with an agency called P.I.G-”

“Paranormal Investigators Gourmet?! I don’t remember hirin’ you!”

“... Gourmet- no! No, we’re with the Paranormal Investigation Group-”

“How many ghost huntin’ groups are there?!” the man shouts, presumably in frustration, though a slight bit of laugh slips into his voice.

“... We deal with aliens,” Cavendish says, unsure what else to say.

“Aliens? I KNEW IT! GERTRUDE, I TOLD YA! I TOLD YA THAT THING WAS FROM THEM ALIENS!”

“GOOD JOB, HONEY, YOU DID IT!”

“YEAH! I DID IT, I DID IT!Aw, you can come right on in, provin’ me right. You’re a lot less annoyin’ than the P.I.E people, they’re always talkin’ and sayin’ I’m wrong and not to shoot the ghosts, but they shoot ghosts too so I don’t know what they’re talkin’ about-”

“He’s just talking to himself now,” Dakota whispers to Cav as they follow the man into the house.

Cavendish nods. Maybe this won’t go as well as he’d hoped... He clears his throat. “May we ask for you name, my good man?”

The man stops, and turns around. “My name! Is PAPA ACACHALLA!”

Dakota snorts.

“Why’re you laughin? That’s my name! It’s a great name! Means ‘whole dang universe’!”

“No, no, it’s just I never thought we’d find a more made-up sounding name than his,” Dakota says, pointing his thumb at Cavendish. 

“I beg your pardon?!”

“Well, what’s his name?” Acachalla demands, pointing at Cavendish with the shotgun way too casually.

Dakota pushes the barrel of the gun away. “Go ahead, Cav.”

Cav crosses his arms. “Balthazar Cavendish.”

"HA! You British people have the weirdest names! Like that Toast boy! Anyway, the alien thing is out here. Officer Maloney came to look at it, but it isn’t one of his things, and I can’t figure out how to move it! I’ve tried C4, a tractor, Freddie, a nuke-”

“A nuke?!”

“- an’ none of it even dented the thing!”

“Yeah, can we go back to nuke?” Dakota says, eyes wide.

“Too late, we’re here.”

Dakota and Cavendish blink.

Cavendish’s eye twitches “It’s a-”

“It’s a giant metal Kirby,” Dakota finishes. 

“Yeah! I don’t want it in my yard! My daughter says it feels like it’s mockin’ her from when she was a Kirby!”

“What in blazes are you- this is no alien technology! This is some kind of... bad sculpture!” Cavendish shouts.

“It dropped right out of the sky!” Acachalla protests. “Maloney said it was alien, and he would know! He’s a bird!”

“A bir- you said he was a police officer!”

“He is! And he’s a bird! Who can be a person!”

Cavendish is fuming. “Dakota, call Mr. Block and tell him we’ve been lead on a wild goose chase!”

Dakota sighs, and heads inside to make the call (for some reason, he can’t get a signal from the yard).

“There’s no wild goose around here! Not after that nuke test, anyway!”

“There’s no possible way you set off a nuke here! This house is still intact, you’re still alive, and there’s no residual radiation in the area!”

“So?”

“SO?! SO THERE WAS NO NUCLEAR EXPLOSION!”

“I don’t think you know how nukes work!”

“YOU-”

“Cav, calm down, he’s holding a gun,” Dakota says in a hissed whisper.

Cavendish takes a deep breath, and collects himself. “Clearly, Mr. Acachalla-”

“Papa Acachalla. My title is Papa.”

“I steadfastly refuse to refer to you as ‘Papa’. Mr. Acachalla, there’s been some sort of mix-up, and this is not alien in-”

The mouth of the Kirby opens, and a being steps out.

“Excuse me, but our craft was broken, and we just got the doors working,” says the being (that looks... weirdly like a... Pokemon?). 

“I KNEW IT!” Acachalla shouts. He shoots his gun up into the air, and starts ‘dancing’ (to use the term loosely). “I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT, PAPA ACACHALLA, I KNEW IT-”

Cavendish stares, dumbfounded. “You- you’re actually an alien?”

The alien nods. “Yup, I am!”

“... You sound remarkably human.”

“Thanks! So do you!”

“... Thank you?”

“Do you happen to know where we can get some materials to repair our ship?”

“Well, I suppose I might. What do you need?”

“Macaroni.”

“... What-”

“Hey, we’ve got that!” Acachalla says, stopping his little song and dance. “Just don’t tell the cops. It’s Johnny Toast brand, too, really strong stuff.”

“... Why would macaroni need to be hidden from the cops?” Cavendish asks weakly, shoulders slumped. This is ridiculous, and he feels... defeated, in a way.

“Uh, ‘cause it’s illegal?” Acachalla says with a laugh. “Duh?”

Acachalla leads the alien inside, and-

“WHY’RE YOU EATIN’ OUR MACARONI?!”

Dakota looks up from his bowl. “Uh, your wife offered me some-”

“GERTRUDE, WHAT’RE YOU THINKIN’?! THAT’S OUR GOOD MACARONI!”

A woman in a green sweater peeks out from the kitchen. “Well, he said he was hungry, and it was either this or your old boot!”

“That boot is high in protein!”

“That’s why I’m savin’ it for the kids!”

Dakota puts down his fork. “I think your macaroni went bad, actually, I don’t feel so good...”

Acachalla rolls his eyes. “Duh, you don’t! Have you ever even had macaroni before?!”

Dakota looks up. “Somethin’s weird here...” he slurs.

“Wh- what have you done to him?!” Cavendish pushes Acachalla aside and rushes to Dakota.

“It’s macaroni! It makes the world all wiggly and weird!” Acachalla says, like that’s at all true and common knowledge.

Dakota laughs a little, reaching up to grab Cavendish’s hat. “You’re way taller th’n I remember,” he says, still slurring.

“That is it! We are leaving!”

Cavendish picks Dakota up bridal-style. Dakota grins, and leans up, giving Cavendish a peck on the lips. “Wow, I can stretch really far...”

Cavendish blushes intensely. “That macaroni has clearly intoxicated my partner! You’ll be hearing from the higher-ups over this!” he says, trying to ignore what just happened.

“I think ‘m flying,” Dakota declares as Cavendish carries him back out to the van.

“Dakota, you’re delirious. Just rest until we get home.”

“I feel fine,” Dakota insists, head lolling. “You’re the one who turned into a tomato when I kissed you. From a leek to a tomato...”

“A leek? Is that because of my suit?”

“You’re a-a leek with fluffy wings.”

Cavendish buckles Dakota in. “What on Earth-”

“Like a vegetable angel.”

Cavendish blushes again. “This is terrible. you have no idea what you’re saying,” he says, trying to affirm that fact in his mind.

“You’re a tomato again. Whoa, my hand is made of fresh fries...”

“No, they’re just yellow because they’re covered in cheese.”

Dakota grins. “Smarty-pants.”

As Cavendish goes to shut the door, Dakota grabs him again and gives him another kiss. A long one. Cavendish is in shock. 

“You don’t taste like a leek,” Dakota says afterwards, apparently incredibly happy about that fact.

Cavendish, blushing more than he thought was possible, gets in the driver’s seat and starts the car. “We’re never returning here,” he mutters to himself.

Dakota waves at the house as they drive away.

[flirting-with-psychology]

🌸✨WILDFLOWER-APOLLO’S 300 FOLLOWERS SPECIAL✨🌸

LETS GET PERSONAL!

1. what’s your full name? 

No

2. when’s your birthday? 

November 26

3. what does your URL mean? 

I like psychology and I like thinking about crushes

4. who’s your celebrity crush? T

om Hiddleston

5. are you single or taken? 

Taken

6. rant. let it all out babe. 

Fuck jobs fuck capitalism 

7. are you named after anyone? 

My grandmother

8. do you have or want children? if so, how many? 

Possibly, if so then 2

9. do you relate to any fictional characters? 

Yeah, several. The ones that come to mind are Gatsby and Queen Regina

10. do you have any plants? 

Yes

11. what are you currently wearing? 

A jumper

12. describe your aesthetic in emojis. 

I’m on my laptop lol, not gonna try to do a survey on my phone

13. do you have any bad habits? 

Oh yes. Procrasting, instant gratification, being late, eating like crap, obsessing over stuff

14. what’s your sexuality? 

Mostly straight

15. what’s the last song you sang? 

Currently singing The Rose Song from HSMTMTS

16. what are your favorite colors? 

Pink, green, blue

17. are you and introvert, ambivert, or extrovert? 

Ambivert

18. describe your current mood in emojis. 

Again, laptop

19. is there anyone you’d do anything for? 

Probably not anything

20. what fascinates you? 

Random stuff, currently chemistry, music, crafts, and space

21. favorite artists? 

Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo

22. what outfit makes you feel confident? 

Fancy dresses

23. favorite flower? 

Idk

24. favorite season? 

Fall

25. favorite tv show/movie? 

TV show: Friends. Movie: Back to the Future

26. what do you like in a person?

Sense of humor, easy to talk to, common interests, attractive

27. least favorite color?

Idk maybe like muddy yellow

28. first crush?

Aidan in kindergarten

29. how long do you usually sleep?

When I don’t set an alarm, till like 1pm

30. what celebrity do people say you look like?

None really. I think I look like Lea Michele but I’m probably not that pretty

31. favorite scent?

Citrus

32. do you have/want any pets? if so, how many?

I don’t have any currently, I have had 4 cats and I want to get another cat

33. what color is your hair naturally? if you could dye it any color, what would it be?

Brown, I want to try a red ombre

34. do you have a good relationship with your parents?

Pretty good

35. do you take a yearly vacation?

No

36. what is your biggest fear?

Spiders

37. what do you wear to bed?

PJs or a nightgown

38. best memory?

Idk

39. best feeling you’ve ever experienced?

Probably when everyone liked my video or jokes, or when a crush likes me back

40. best gift you’ve ever received?

Half of the cost of my car

41. what’s your skincare routine?

Wash it once a day, rinse face twice a day, moisturize 

42. favorite book?

Harry Potter

43. favorite song?

All Too Well by Taylor Swift

44. favorite album?

It changes a lot, currently Sour by Olivia Rodrigo

45. share your playlist or a playlist you love!

Nah

46. dream destination?

I’d like to visit Ireland

47. best subject? favorite subject, least favorite?

Best was probably math, favorites were science and arts, least favorite was english

48. do you prefer baggy, loose, or tight clothes?

Semi-loose but with some form

49. punk or pastel?

Pastel

50. search your name + core on pinterest & make a moodboard!

Nah

51. if you could travel back to any time period, what would it be & why?

Medieval because i think it’s cool

52. do you have any piercings?

Just my ears

53. do you have any tattoos?

No

54. do you have any siblings?

No

55. are your parents together or divorced?

Divorced

56. do you have any stepparents or step-siblings?

No

57. are your parents strict?

My mom was kinda

58. do you have a set bedtime?

No lol

59. what state do you live in?

Colorado

60. what are your sun, moon, & rising signs?

Idk, I just know I’m a sagittarius

61. do you share any traits with your signs?

Idk, they’re pretty generic so that everyone feels like it describes them

62. what’s a song that gets you going?

Depends on my mood

63. sweet or sour?

Sweet

64. soft or hard tacos?

Idk, I don’t eat tacos too much

65. what color are your bedroom walls?

Pink and green

66. the color/design of your bedsheets?

Turquoise

67. favorite thing to drink out of?

A glass

68. socks or bare feet around the house?

Bare feet

69. favorite board game?

Lately Dead of Winter

70. favorite video games?

Among Us, Detroit Become Human

71. do you sleep with the fan on or off?

On

72. do you sing in the shower?

Yes

73. favorite song to belt at the top of your lungs when alone?

Satisfied from Hamilton

74. last thing you cried to?

Being stressed over job hunting

75. have you tried any alcoholic beverage before?

Yes

76. gum or breath mints?

Gum

77. favorite pair of shoes you own?

The pink wedges

78. how many pairs of shoes do you own?

Way too many, probably like 30 at least

79. what is the natural state of your hair?

A little wavy

80. have you had braces? if yes, how long?

Yes, for 4 years

81. makeup or natural?

Makeup

82. are you a competitive person?

I can be 

83. favorite pasta dish?

Pasta with cheese

84. favorite kind of chips?

Ruffles cheddar and sour cream

85. talk about something your passionate about!

Idk if I’m passionate abot anything

86. what are some of your hobbies?

Crafts, DnD, shopping

87. do you drink coffee? if so, how do you like it?

No

88. favorite kind of pizza?

White pizza with pineapple

89. favorite & least favorite labels that have been put on you?

Idk what labels have been put on me

90. are you religious?

No

91. were you raise religious?

Not really

92. what shoe size do you wear?

7.5-8

93. heroes or villains?

Depends on the character

94. favorite vegetable?

Corn

95. least favorite vegetable?

Broccoli probably

96. favorite dessert?

Chocolate

97. do you play any sports?

No

98. can you swim? if so, when did you learn how to?

Yes, when I was little

99. tell a funny story!

Idk

100. what job would you be terrible at?

Doctor or politician

101. what’s your favorite compliment to give?

Compliment their clothing or accessories

102. has your opinion changed on something recently?

I’m evaluating my opinion on how cautious I need to be for covid

103. favorite physical feature about yourself?

Maybe eyes

104. what’s your favorite physical feature about someone else?

I look most at faces

105. what’s something you would rate 10/10?

Galavant

106. heels or flats?

Heels

107. what’s something you had more knowledge about?

Does this mean wish you had? If so then chemistry

108. would you want to be famous?

I’d want to maybe be known by name but not by face

109. what’s something you would get arrested for?

Pirating TV shows

110. are you a planner or spontaneous person?

A mix

111. what do you hope never changes?

Being friends with my best friends

112. what are your pronouns?

She/her

113. are you a feminist?

For the most part

114. what’s your hogwarts house?

Hufflepuff

115. myers briggs personality type?

Idk, it changes every time

116. who’s your favorite superhero?

Idk maybe Thor

117. favorite villain?

Loki

118. marvel or dc?

Marvel

119. what’s an assumption everyone makes about you that’s not 100% true?

In school people thought I was bookish and didn’t care about parties or boys or that kind of stuff, and now that I’m out of school people think I’m ditzy and probably not that smart

120. favorite bands?

Taylor Swift

121. if you could meet one celebrity, who & why?

Taylor Swift because I like her music and I think we would get along

122. have you watched porn before?

A little

123. favorite disney movie?

Hercules, Aladdin, or Tangled

124. favorite disney princess?

Rapunzel

125. favorite disney prince?

Hercules or Aladdin

126. favorite disney couple?

Rapunzel and Eugene

127. star wars or star trek?

Star Wars

128. top five movies?

Back to the Future, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Timer, The Imitation Game, Tangled

129. top five songs?

All Too Well, In a Crowd of Thousands, Traitor, Me and the Sky, Satisfied

130. top five ships?

Idk. Currently I’m enjoying Gina and EJ from HSMTMTS

131. how gay are you?

Just a little bit, I have occasional crushes on girls but I don’t think I’d want to date a girl

132. scream. just let it out.

Ok

133. do you have a best friend?

Yeah

134. call or text?

text

135. what’s a song that’s been stuck in your head recently?

A lot of Olivia Rodrigo songs

136. is there a song stuck in your head right now?

Just the songs I’m listening to

137. what song(s) will you always love?

A lot of Taylor Swift and showtunes

138. what song is your current mood?

Idk, I just feel like singing

139. recommend an artist!

The girl who plays Ashlyn from HSMTMTS

140. favorite meme song?

They’re Taking the Hobbits to Isengard

141. a song you hate that everyone loves?

I Like It by Cardi B

142. an artist you refuse to listen to?

Most rappers

143. what’s you “big gay mood” song?

Idk, I Kissed a Girl?

144. favorite lyrics?

“You call me up again just to break me like a promise / So casually cruel in the name of being honest” from All Too Well

145. what lyrics would you get tattooed on any part of your body?

I wouldn’t

146. shuffle your music & share the result!

Knowing Me, Knowing You by Abba

147. what’s your favorite love song?

In a Crowd of Thousands

148. ultimate song to clean to?

Through the Fire and the Flames by Dragonforce

149. if you could collaborate with one musician, who & why?

Taylor Swift because she gets me

150. what song makes you cry?

Soon You’ll Get Better by Taylor Swift

151. what would be your theme song?

Blank Space

152. what’s a strange phobia you have?

Spiders aren’t that strange, so fear of having accidentally shoplifted

153. did you have an emo phase?

No

154. did you have a greek mythology phase?

Just a little

155. roman or greek mythology?

Greek

156. who’s your godly parent & which god/goddess are you?

Idk

157. how do you handle your anger?

Yell, slam things

158. most attractive singer of the opposite gender?

Ramin Karimloo

159. most attractive singer of the same gender?

Hayden Panettiere

160. what time is it?

12:03am

161. do you have any nicknames?

Star

162. what’s a song that always makes you happy whenever you hear it?

In a Crowd of Thousands

163. which swear word do you use the most!

Fuck

164. five ways to win your heart?

Sense of humor, sing duets, do creative stuff, tease me, pay attention to me

165. five pet peeves?

Mouth sounds, people who think strong female characters can’t have love interests, people giving me unsolicited advice, people wearing their mask under their nose, ghosting

166. do you have trust issues?

Maybe

167. what do you pray about?

I don’t

168. most traumatic experience?

Probably braces

169. what is your dream job?

Idk

170. if you were to be in a musical, which musical, character, & other cast members would you have?

I would love to play Angelica in Hamilton

171. who would play you in a movie about your life?

Lea Michele

172. what’s your favorite thing about your significant other?

Sense of humor

173. favorite fictional character?

Kelsier from Mistborn

174. post a picture of yourself!

Nah

175. what’s your favorite pet name?

I don’t really like generic pet names that much

176. what makes you feel like a horrible person?

Not caring enough about people

177. when did you realize your sexuality?

It was always kind of assumed, but started thinking I might be a little bi a couple years ago

178. when was your first kiss?

When I was 18

179. expose your parents. that’s right. expose them. they deserve it.

My mom is overly cautious and doesn’t know how to pick her battles, my dad is a bit annoying 

180. a phrase that breaks your heart?

Depends on the context

181. when did you come out?

I didn’t

182. how did you come out?

I didn’t

183. who knows you’re out?

I’m straight

184. what’s your lucky number?

Idk

185. how tall are you?

5′6″

186. favorite word?

finnicky

187. are you right handed or left handed?

Right handed

188. do you have an accent?

American

189. first word that comes to mind when you hear ‘heart’?

Beat

190. what’s something you’re proud of?

I made a funny meme in the work group chat the other day

191. do you like where you live?

I like the area, but I don’t like living at my dad’s house

192. when you’re older, do you want to move to a different place?

Yeah

193. do you play any instruments?

Clarinet

194. how long is your hair?

To my boobs

195. what’s the meaning of your name?

Star

196. give an unpopular opinion & let your followers attack you or be salty.

People shouldn’t be cancelled for one shitty opinion, and consuming their work doesn’t mean you support all their beliefs or even like them as a person

197. do you support the lgbtq+ community?

Yes

198. who were you supporting for the 2020 election?

Biden

199. opinion on abortion?

Pro-choice

200. opinion on the death penalty?

Against it

201. opinion on reverse racism?

It’s not the same

202. post your screen time for this week.

Like all damn week lol

203. have you ever talked to a celebrity?

Yes, I met Channing Tatum and got a picture with him

204. what was your first concert?

Demi Lovato

205. how long do you keep your bra on?

All day

206. what’s your bra size?

36D last time I got one

207. give a tour of your room (video).

nah

208. how many photos are in your camera roll?

2990

209. what is the most recent movie/show you downloaded on disney+?

Phil of the Future

210. do you like documentaries?

Occasionally if it’s an interesting subject, but it’s not my favorite genre

211. what’s your favorite musical?

Wicked

212. who’s your favorite non-broadway actor/ actress?

Benjamin Bonenfant

213. who’s your favorite broadway actor/actress?

Ramin Karimloo

214. what’s the song you’re currently listening to?

A Dancer’s Heart

215. drop your most recent picture!

Nah

216. do you have a record player?

No

217. how many records do you have?

None

218. show your records!

None to show

219. do you plan on going to college? if so, where?

I went to my state school

220. talk about someone without telling who.

They used to wear light up sneakers

221. talk about something you hate.

I hate tomatoes and everything made out of them

222. have you been to therapy?

Yes

223. what color are your eyes?

Brown

224. what color are your parents’ eyes?

Hazel for my mom, Hazel-green for my dad

225. what color are you significant other’s eyes?

Hazel

226. how old were you when you had your first kiss?

18

227. do you have a favorite parent?

No, they are good in different ways

228. are your grandparents still alive?

Just my maternal grandma

229. drop 10 songs & let your followers tell you if you have taste or not.

That’s too much work

230. how many followers do you have on twitter & instagram?

Like 3 probably lol

231. are you the eldest, middle, or youngest sibling?

Only child

232. do you have a specific daytime routine?

Work

233. how often do you go to the doctor’s?

When I need to

234. have you had any surgeries?

Yes, for my canine and wisdom teeth, and to get part of my thyroid removed

235. do you wear glasses?

Yes

236. do you prefer unsweetened iced tea or sweetened iced tea?

Sweetened

237. do you have a “type”?

Yes lol. I like a lot of types but my “type” that I fall for a lot is light skin, dark hair, blue eyes, "golden boy”/big personality

238. what’s your significant other’s astrology sign?

I think Sagittarius

239. drop 5 blogs you love.

Idk

240. do you think you’re like any celebrity (personality wise)?

Maybe Taylor Swift in some ways

241. are you a “popular kid”?

No

242. what are your school’s colors?

Black and gold

243. what’s your school’s mascot?

Buffalo

244. how many irl friends do you have?

Idk

245. who was your least favorite teacher?

My camera workshop instructor

246. favorite teacher?

My 7th grade math teacher, my freshman year words and music professor, and my junior year film professor

247. drop a picture of your closet.

Nah

248. how many awards do you have?

Idk, a handful

249. what’s one award you’re proud of?

The dean’s list

250. do you take naps?

I try not to

251. what’s something people always ask you when you first meet?

What’s your name?

252. favorite fast food restaurant?

McDonalds or Wendy’s

253. favorite place to dine in?

Rueben’s

254. mexican or chinese food?

Mexican

255. chinese or japanese food?

Chinese

256. mexican or japanese food?

Mexican

257. olive garden’s breadsticks or texas roadhouse’s yeast rolls?

Breadsticks

258. garlic bread or breadsticks?

Garlic bread

259. plain garlic bread or cheesy garlic bread?

Depends on my mood

260. chicken or steak?

Chicken

261. favorite meal?

Pasta

262. drop a recipe!

I don’t really cook

263. how do you like your steak cooked?

I don’t

264. what would your last meal be?

Pasta

265. are you allergic to anything?

Beeswax I think

266. cats or dogs?

Cats but I like both

267. favorite genre of music?

Showtunes

268. favorite fan fic trope?

Fake dating probably or needing each other for survival

269. favorite tv show genre?

Sci-fi or sitcom

270. what’s your favorite cover/cover a band or artist has or should do?

Disturbed cover of The Sound of Silence

271. how often do you write songs?

I haven’t since I was a kid

272. how many finished songs do you have?

Idk like 5

273. do you write your songs in your notes or in a journal?

I just came up with them

274. how long have you been writing?

I don’t really write

275. how long have you had your account?

Since like 2013 or 14

276. what was your first URL?

shineslikestars17

277. if you could change your name, what would it be?

Star

278. what would you like to name your children?

Shane or Eric for a boy, Phoenix for a girl

279. what are your parents’ & sibling’s names?

I don’t have siblings, I don’t feel like sharing my parents names

280. are your parents democratic or republican?

Democrativ

281. do you have more in common with your mom or dad?

Both in different ways

282. are you & your siblings close?

I don’t have any

283. how close are you and your siblings in age?

I don’t have any

284. are any of your siblings married?

I dont have any

285. do you have any nieces or nephews?

No

286. do your parents have any siblings?

My mom has a sister and my dad has a brother

287. do you have any cousins?

Yes

288. do you look more like your mom or dad?

Both

289. how old were you when you started your period?

13 I think

290. have you lost your virginity?

Yes

291. who took your concert virginity?

My what? 

292. who took your musical virginity?

My what?

293. scream again. everyone needs to.

Ok

294. do you have any collections?

Kinda, lately I’ve been collecting dice

295. what’s on your nightstand?

Water, lotion, advil, phones, chapstick, purell

296. how do you usually style your hair?

Down or ponytail

297. do you play games on your phone?

Sometimes

298. are you hydrated?

Yes

299. have you breathed enough today?

I assume so since I am still conscious

300. are you thankful for anything?

I know I have a lot of privilege

[halothenthehorns]

TLTNL- FELIX FELICIS

Remus helped her out at once, speaking while trying to pull his thoughts together at the same time to somehow get an answer. "I'm wondering now if Voldemort has, cursed objects?" It didn't seem right, as even if he did, what could be the significance of that in relation to Harry surviving the prophecy?

"Your thinking that necklace that cursed Katie belonged to him?" Sirius tried to understand where he was heading, his mind on an entirely different matter, like how all this tied back to Voldemort wanting to go after Prongs for any significant reason.

"You think Voldemort tried to slip him one over the summer, and failed? That's what could have started all this?" She prompted, her mind lingering on their old headmasters injury. It was hard to believe he'd fall for such a ruse though, and she still felt like they were missing the real significance of what was going on here.

"If Malfoy's supposed to be helping with something, maybe Harry's right, and he's trying to get one of these treasures of his into the school somehow. For a reason that can't be good." James uneasily agreed.

"And it walked right in the front door because of me," Harry said, but the nausea wasn't quite right for that feeling, he was sure they weren't on the mark now.

"We could be entirely wrong," Remus quickly disagreed. "When he was young, he kept treasures on his person, I'm sure he treated those like a secret. Why hand them out now?"

"Because now he knows how to curse people," Harry rebutted far harsher than he meant to, but he refused to let this theory slip away from him, back into the recesses of his mind. He was right, and he wouldn't let this one go.

When no one else offered anything, he reached eagerly for the book, but Lily held it to her instead. "It's getting late, we should probably stop for dinner before anyone else nearly gets murdered."

  The dower comment wasn't much to wet their appetites, but no one disagreed either. Harry picked restlessly along his meal, not even realizing what he was eating. This really was one of his more mild years, he had to admit, and yet with each passing page he could feel something terrible lurking on the edge of his mind, waiting for him to let his guard down and spring upon him.

It was as noticeable to the others as it was the guilt they felt for seeing it. Sirius had tried in vain several times through the meal to catch Harry's attention and put him on a lighter topic of conversation, but it was clear he would not be pulled from whatever unhappy thoughts he was lingering in. They almost wished it wasn't his turn to read, so that they could try and put off a little longer and put him in some sort of good mood before he started, but in his preoccupation he hardly even seemed to recognize his audience as he began.

Harry had Herbology first thing the following morning. He had been unable to tell Ron and Hermione about his lesson with Dumbledore over breakfast for fear of being over-heard,

"They didn't wait up for you this time?" James demanded in mock outrage far louder than was called for, but he was still as determined as the others to snag Harry's attention.

He barely glanced up, muttering about their prefect duties that night in answer before plowing on.

but he filled them in as they walked across the vegetable patch toward the greenhouses. The weekend's brutal wind had died out at last; the weird mist had returned and it took them a little longer than usual to find the correct greenhouse.

Ron quietly said what a scary thought it was, the kid You-Know-Who, as they took their places around one of the gnarled Snargaluff stumps that formed this terms project, and began pulling on their protective gloves. He didn't get why Dumbledore was showing him all this. It was sort of interesting, but what was the point?

Harry agreed he wasn't sure as he put on his gum shield*, but Dumbledore had promised it would help him survive, though his words were now slightly contorted.

"I'm sure they can still understand you with that in your mouth," Sirius rolled his eyes, he found them bulky and extremely annoying to talk through. It didn't help Moony had once given him one on his birthday as a hint.

Hermione earnestly pointed out how fascinating it all was, it made absolute sense to know as much about Voldemort as possible. How else would they find his weaknesses?

"I'm not disagreeing," Lily said grudgingly.

"It wouldn't kill the man to get to the point a little faster though," James huffed, he really felt like this was all dragging a bit.

Harry changed the subject and asked how Slughorn's party had gone.

Hermione said enjoyable for the most part. He prattled on a bit about all the famous people he knew, but he also invited a few of them, like Gweong Jones, Captain of the Holyhead Harpies.

Harry beamed, and didn't wait for anyone to ask why, "I hope Ginny was at that one then, she'd have loved that! It's her favorite team!"

Professor Sprout came over then to tell them to get to work, Neville already had his first pod.

"I demand a reason I need to fight with a plant rather than chat with my friends, the second is definitely more useful for my life," Sirius huffed.

They looked around; sure enough, there sat Neville with a bloody lip and several nasty scratches along the side of his face, but clutching an unpleasantly pulsating green object about the size of a grapefruit.

"Was he working all by himself?" Lily asked, impressed. She often did as well, and especially in that class it could prove difficult with some of these larger plants, this one especially. It had taken her at least the first twenty minutes of class to manage this, and she was sure from this conversation they hadn't been talking that long.

Harry had already agreed he was and moved on.

Ron quickly agreed to appease her, but waited until she'd walked away before muttering to Harry they should have used Muffliato.

"She still would have noticed you aren't working," Remus disagreed.

"Yeah, then she would have likely even taken away points, putting a spell up trying to distract her," James agreed with a sigh.

Hermione at once, like she always did, looked intensely cross at the thought of the Half-Blood Prince and his spells.

Lily smiled privately to herself, really wondering at what Hermione's reaction was going to be if she learned the origins of that book. She really wasn't even sure if Harry did, though she'd very likely inform him at the end of the year when the teacher would no longer be there, for whatever reason she still wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Now she changed the subject by telling them to get to work.

They all took deep breaths and then dived at the gnarled stump between them.

It sprang to life at once; long, prickly, bramble like vines flew out of the top and whipped through the air. One tangled itself in Hermione's hair, and Ron beat it back with a pair of secateurs; Harry succeeded in trapping a couple of vines and knotting them together; a hole opened in the middle of all the tentacle like branches; Hermione plunged her arm bravely into this hole, which closed like a trap around her elbow; Harry and Ron tugged and wrenched at the vines, forcing the hole to open again, and Hermione snatched her arm free, clutching in her fingers a pod just like Neville's. At once, the prickly vines shot back inside, and the gnarled stump sat there looking like an innocently dead lump of wood.

"Lovely things, aren't they," James wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"I remember I once tried to feed some snotty little third year into one for asking why I was in the wrong common room that morning," Sirius smirked. "What?" He demanded of Lily's agitated look. "He came out with a dozen of those little pods, I really should have gotten a thanks!"

Ron casually suggested he wasn't planning on putting one of these in his garden as he wiped sweat from his face.

"No Lily," James said at once when she opened her mouth.

"Oh, but, the pods-" she began to wheedle.

James purposefully wouldn't look into her pouting face, knowing he'd cave in an instant to her ever growing garden idea.

Then Remus helpfully tacked in, "actually, I wouldn't mind helping prune this one, perhaps even give it a snack from time to time. See how Padfoot likes it," he finished with an obvious look at his friend, who scowled and pressed his hand to his heart in betrayal.

Harry still couldn't be distracted by any of this. Not his memories of wrestling a plant, his family having just a nice conversation around him, even Ginny's briefly coming to mind had faded just as quickly so that he wasn't aware of anything anymore than the gaping hole in his mind where the answer to Voldemort, to everything this year should sit. He wanted to skip right past all of this, find Dumbledore's next lesson and keep going with that and come back for this mess later, but he knew the others would never agree.

Hermione held the pulsating pod at arm's length; Harry handed over a bowl and she dropped the pod into it with a look of disgust on her face.

Professor Sprout called to them not to be squeamish and pop it fresh.

Hermione decided to continue their interrupted conversation as though a lump of wood had not just attacked them,

"What do you mean that's not perfectly normal?" James politely asked.

Lily couldn't tell if he was kidding that time.

about Slughorn's parties, and how Harry had been invited to the Christmas one. Slughorn had specifically asked her to check Harry's available dates to be sure he could come.

"I will demote her to passing friend along with Neville if she didn't lie!" Sirius said at once.

That did get Harry's attention, he never really did like it when they made cracks at Hermione like that, even in defense of him. That was his friend after all, so he swiftly returned, "you'd have done the same thing if one of these two had annoyed you so much recently."

Sirius contemplated that for a moment, before nodding along and saying, "true, revenge and forcing them to live it with me at the same time. Alright, I'll take it back."

"Good," Harry chuckled. "I'm the only one allowed to demote my best friends from anything, and it won't ever be happening."

They were all just pleased Harry had finally reacted normally to something!

Harry groaned. Meanwhile, Ron, who was attempting to burst the pod in the bowl by putting both hands on it, standing up, and squashing it as hard as he could, asked angrily, that this was just another party for Slughorn's favorites?

Hermione said yes, and the pod flew out from under Ron's fingers and hit the green house glass, rebounding onto the back of Professor Sprout's head and knocking off her old, patched hat.

"Well she can't say you aren't working anymore," Remus said with chipper.

Harry went to retrieve the pod; when he got back, Hermione was saying, she wasn't the one to name it the Slug Club.

Ron repeated the name with a sneer worthy of Malfoy.

"Ugh," Harry heard those around him mutter, but he honestly couldn't have put a better comparison at the time. He was sure it was unintentional on Ron's part, but it didn't mean Harry enjoyed it either. He braced himself anyways, getting the feeling Ron may be getting just a touch on his nerves of late, it definitely wasn't declining the more the Slug Club was brought up.

He insisted the name was pathetic, and so were these parties. Was Slughorn going to make her and McLaggen King and Queen Slugs?

James couldn't help but snort a bit at that, it was quite comical. Incidentally, didn't that make him and Lily heirs to that throne?

Hermione was turning scarlet now as she said they were allowed to bring guests, but if he thought it was so stupid she wouldn't bother asking him!

"Ha, that's brilliant!" Lily chuckled. "She certainly put him in a spot, deciding not to share this until after he'd badmouthed it all."

"Now if he goes, it'll be obvious he's only doing it for her company," James agreed, finding Hermione quite clever, though that wasn't anything new.

Harry suddenly wished the pod had flown a little farther, so that he need not have been sitting here with the pair of them.

"What's with you?" Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Unlike you two privileged souls, these were my two best mates having this right in front of me, not one of them whom you didn't have to pick sides for," Harry finished with a huff, feeling it was obvious.

Remus and Sirius exchanged a look before deciding it was lucky no one in their group had ever succumbed to this problem.

Unnoticed by either, he seized the bowl that contained the pod and began to try and open it by the noisiest and most energetic means he could think of; unfortunately, he could still hear every word of their conversation.

"I actually wanted details of that," Sirius smirked.

"Like cracking it against Ron's head," Remus agreed with a sly smirk that Harry didn't need to question, Remus wasn't picturing Ron.

Ron had a very different tone now as he confirmed she was going to ask him?

Hermione sounded more angry than anything as she said yes, but if he'd rather she take McLaggen, she would.

There was a pause while Harry continued to pound the resilient pod with a trowel.

Ron said in a very quiet voice he wouldn't prefer that.

Harry missed the pod, hit the bowl, and shattered it.

He hastily used the 'Reparo' charm on it, poking the pieces with his wand, and the bowl sprang back together again. The crash, however, appeared to have awoken Ron and Hermione to Harry's presence.

"Darn, and it was just getting good," Lily sighed, actually looking a bit disappointed. It would be nice to finally have some definitive answer so these two would quite jumping around the subject. This had been a very good opportunity for such a thing, and she hoped they picked it up when Harry wasn't around.

Hermione looked flustered and immediately started fussing about for her copy of 'Flesh-Eating Trees of the World' to find out the correct way to juice Snargaluff pods; Ron, on the other hand, looked sheepish but also rather pleased with himself.

Hermione took the pod from him, explaining they were supposed to be using something sharp to pierce the pod.

Harry passed it all to her while he and Ron both snapped their goggles back over their eyes and dived, once more, for the stump.

It was not as though he was really surprised, thought Harry, as he wrestled with a thorny vine intent upon throttling him;

"Can't think of a better description for dealing with this," Remus snorted.

he had had an inkling that this might happen sooner or later.

"I'm glad, otherwise you'd be more daft than Lockhart of all things!" Sirius smirked.

But he was not sure how he felt about it.

"That's a bit fair, awkward transitioning phase and all," James shrugged.

"Don't know what you're talking about, Harry's had time to transition since at least his fourth year," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"It's one thing to be thinking it, it's another to witness, and still yet another to see in action. Have yet to see that last one," Harry sighed.

He and Cho were now too embarrassed to look at each other, let alone talk to each other; what if Ron and Hermione started going out together, then split up? Could their friendship survive it? Harry remembered the few weeks when they had not been talking to each other in the third year; he had not enjoyed trying to bridge the distance between them. And then, what if they didn't split up? What if they became like Bill and Fleur, and it became excruciatingly embarrassing to be in their presence, so that he was shut out for good?

Harry sighed as both options were laid out like that. He wished someone would tell him it would all work out and neither extreme option was going to happen, but he also couldn't help but appreciate no one was giving him another false security. They just had this awkward look on their face, like they knew better than to say anything, so he just ran his hand through his hair to lay it flat and concentrated very hard on that sense of peace he could still cling to when he thought of his friends, confident that would never fade.

Ron suddenly yelled in triumph, pulling a second pod from the stump just as Hermione managed to burst the first one open, so that the bowl was full of tubers wriggling like pale green worms.

The rest of the lesson passed without further mention of Slughorn's party. Although Harry watched his two friends more closely over the next few days, Ron and Hermione did not seem any different except that they were a little politer to each other than usual. Harry supposed he would just have to wait to see what happened under the influence of butterbeer in Slughorn's dimly lit room on the night of the party.

Harry grumbled a bit more and shifted restlessly in his seat. He wasn't truly worried, that wasn't the right feeling, he may even be happy for them. There was just an anxiety over their relationship he couldn't quite place, like it would come back and bite him hard eventually.

In the meantime, however, he had more pressing worries.

Katie Bell was still in St. Mungo's Hospital with no prospect of leaving, which meant that the promising Gryffindor team Harry had been training so carefully since September was one Chaser short. He kept putting off replacing Katie in the hope that she would return, but their opening match against Slytherin was looming, and he finally had to accept that she would not be back in time to play.

"Oh, the poor thing!" James sounded as remorseful as if he were just receiving the news all over again she was in the hospital.

Harry did not think he could stand another full-House tryout. With a sinking feeling that had little to do with Quidditch,

James looked confounded, like it was hard to imagine anything that didn't relate back to Quidditch in some way. His questioning eyes sought out Harry's, who merely shrugged. "If it doesn't explain all the reasons, I will. Mostly though I thought it was obvious, I don't want another full-House tryout spectacle."

"I guess," James muttered, hoping that game hurried up already.

he cornered Dean Thomas after Transfiguration one day. Most of the class had already left, although several twittering yellow birds were still zooming around the room, all of Hermione's creation; nobody else had succeeded in conjuring so much as a feather from thin air.

"That spell always seemed more like a charm to me, conjuring things rather than, well, transforming them," Remus grumbled.

He outright asked him to be on the team, and Dean said of course at once.

Over Dean's shoulder, Harry saw Seamus Finnegan slamming his books into his bag, looking sour. One of the reasons why Harry would have preferred not to have to ask Dean to play was that he knew Seamus would not like it. On the other hand, he had to do what was best for the team, and Dean had outflown Seamus at the tryouts.

"So it's only fair then," James quickly agreed, and Harry gave a lackluster smile back.

Harry said that was settled then, and told him when the next practice was.

Dean cheered, and at once muttered about going to find Ginny to tell her the news.

Harry huffed a bit, and the others thought he was still so put out about his team no one noticed his mutters about him having to tell Ginny this first.

He sprinted out of the room, leaving Harry and Seamus alone together, an uncomfortable moment made no easier when a bird dropping landed on Seamus's head as one of Hermione's canaries whizzed over them.

All five of them got a snort out of that, perhaps they weren't quite over their foul attitude of his last year.

Seamus was not the only person disgruntled by the choice of Katie's substitute. There was much muttering in the common room about the fact that Harry had now chosen two of his class-mates for the team. As Harry had endured much worse mutterings than this in his school career, he was not particularly bothered, but all the same, the pressure was increasing to provide a win in the upcoming match against Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, Harry knew that the whole House would forget that they had criticized him and swear that they had always known it was a great team. If they lost. . . well, Harry thought wryly, he had still endured worse mutterings. . . .

"There's the bright side," Lily half managed a giggle. She'd never really be invested in this sport for all the trouble it caused, but the clear stress it was putting on her son couldn't be played off either, so she was happy to see he was trying to look up all on his own.

Harry had no reason to regret his choice once he saw Dean fly that evening; he worked well with Ginny and Demelza. The Beaters, Peakes and Coote, were getting better all the time. The only problem was Ron.

Harry had known all along that Ron was an inconsistent player who suffered from nerves and a lack of confidence, and unfortunately, the looming prospect of the opening game of the season seemed to have brought out all his old insecurities.

Harry sighed and fidgeted with the pages, it was clear his apprehension was mounting. She almost wished he had picked McLaggen now for the team, even if it would have caused extra strain between him and Ron, surely his best friend would have gotten over it and faced facts there was a better player? She sometimes worried he was too loyal, and look where that had gotten her until the last straw.

After letting in half a dozen goals, most of them scored by Ginny, his technique became wilder and wilder, until he finally punched an oncoming Demelza Robins in the mouth.

"Foul," Sirius said in what he clearly thought was a helpful tone of voice while they all winced.

Ron profusely apologized, while Ginny called him a prat for giving her a split lip.

Harry zipped over and fixed it with the Episkey spell.

"Was that really safe?" Lily couldn't help but scold him. "You'd only had the spell done on you once, you really should have someone explain that to you more before you go using it on others." She only realized after the fact her words weren't helping anything, his mouth seemed permanently set in that uneasy frown, so she soothed her tone and finished with, "but it was very sweet of you, and I'm glad you learned it."

Then he turned on Ginny and told her not to call Ron a prat, she wasn't Captain.

Ginny merely said he'd seemed busy, and someone needed to.

Remus snorted in surprised agreement.

Harry forced himself not to laugh.

"You're a better man than some," James clucked his tongue and was very clearly trying not to do the same, while Sirius and Remus were having no such restraints.

Overall it was one of the worst practices they had had all term, though Harry did not feel that honesty was the best policy when they were this close to the match. He made sure the team heard his thoughts of them flattening Slytherin tomorrow, and the rest left with good spirits.

When he and Ron were alone in the locker room, Ron slumped into his seat and called himself a sack of dung.

Harry insisted he was no such thing, he was the best Keeper. He only had some problems with nerves.

He kept up a relentless flow of encouragement all the way back to the castle, and by the time they reached the second floor, Ron was looking marginally more cheerful. When Harry pushed open the tapestry to take their usual shortcut up to Gryffindor Tower, however, they found themselves looking at Dean and Ginny, who were locked in a close embrace and kissing fiercely as though glued together.

"Urgh, not something you ever want to walk in on," Remus said with a stank eye at the redhead in here, who was blushing faintly while James wasn't bothering with anything except a smirk. Sirius had never been any better, nor subtle, hardly ever waiting until he was alone to parlay in the same practice.

Harry really didn't need to ask, nor was he even paying it much mind.

He felt like screaming, though at no one in here. His fist clenched so tight the ring upon it actually felt strained on his finger. He'd never felt such a powerful feeling in all his time here, not even in his memories, and for once he read on looking for some kind of name to put to this newfound surge.

It was as though something large and scaly erupted into life in Harry's stomach, clawing at his insides: Hot blood seemed to flood his brain, so that all thought was extinguished, replaced by a savage urge to jinx Dean into a jelly.

"I knew it!" Lily smirked.

"Knew what?" Harry demanded, still fighting back that burst of outrage.

"You've been paying more attention to Ginny for ages, and now you're out and jealous," she finished with a giggle.

"Jealous?" Harry tried to snap in protest, but it came out as more of a question.

"I'm not that surprised," Remus shrugged, "at least how he's been acting in here. He's always paid much more mind to her than he ever seemed to in the past, and I always wondered about the change."

"I am," James was still frowning lightly between the book and his kid. "Just hours ago you were still referring to her as Ron's little sister. Where's this coming from?"

Sirius suddenly burst out laughing, but he was watching Harry in a weary kind of way. "Well this could be all kinds of awkward if it keeps going, even if it's just as far as it was with Cho. You were thinking how not fun it would be to have your two best friends dating, try your best friends little sister."

"Sorry Harry, but none of us can really compare, seeing as none of us have sisters." James agreed.

Sirius thoughtfully rubbed his jaw for a moment before offering, "I don't know, if one of you had made a play at my brother, I'd think you were pretty barmy."

"Well darn," Remus sighed, "there goes my love life."

Harry let them make a couple more jokes of it, but then decided to go back to the moment. His ring still felt heavier by the moment, and he was more sure than ever they were down playing this moment. Jealous didn't even feel like a strong enough word, though he was now convinced his mum was right. There was more to it though, so he pressed on eagerly, to explore this new feeling that was very rapidly developing.

Wrestling with this sudden madness, he heard Ron's voice as though from a great distance away shouting to get their attention.

Dean and Ginny broke apart, Ginny looking around without much care to demand what he wanted.

Ron shouted back he didn't want to find his own sister snogging people in public!

Ginny snapped back this was a deserted corridor before he'd come butting in.

"I mean, she's not wrong," Lily snickered, clearly still finding this funnier than anything. She was very pleased to finally have this one out in the open, Ginny had been seeking Harry out for ages and he'd been reciprocating more and more as her youth vanished. Clearly it had just taken the right circumstances to make Harry realize what she'd been seeing.

Dean was looking embarrassed. He gave Harry a shifty grin that Harry did not return, as the newborn monster inside him was roaring for Dean's instant dismissal from the team.

"You've got Hermione as your conscious, now a monster ruling your jealousy, you're just made up of all kinds of things. Wonder what else is going to develop when you ask out Ginny?" Sirius smirked and shook his head as he continued to pick apart jokes for all this. They'd been wanting to know Harry's new fancy, and now they had it, this was going to be hilarious until he moved on.

Dean tried to coax her away, but Ginny told him to go on, she wanted a word with her dear brother.

"Prongs isn't her brother," Sirius said, clearly mystified.

"Shut up Padfoot," James rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

Dean left, looking as though he was not sorry to depart the scene.

Ginny gave her long hair a toss over her shoulder before squaring off, telling Ron it was none of his business who she went out with or what she did with them.

"I'd be paying real close attention to this Harry," Remus mock whispered, "you could be Dean next."

Harry blushed faintly, but the reaction wasn't near as severe as they would have thought. Perhaps this jealousy would come and go even faster than they were thinking then, for him to have so little a reaction.

In all honesty, Harry couldn't get too worked up over this teasing like he had the last time with Cho. He couldn't even put it into words, it just felt natural to him, like watching his parents together. He wasn't even that worried about Ron's response, like the idea occurring to him now said he should be. So he'd take whatever ribbing they or anyone else offered and go with it.

Ron defended yes it was, he didn't want people thinking his sister was a-

Ginny drew her wand threatening, demanding a what exactly?

Harry automatically told Ginny her brother didn't mean anything, though the monster in his chest was roaring approval with Ron.

"Glad someone approves of what's going on, even an inner-" James subtly elbowed Sirius to get him to stop that one before it went too far.

Ginny flared up at him now, shouting Ronald's problem was that the best kiss he'd ever had was from their Auntie Muriel!

"Oooh," James sucked in air backwards through his teeth. "This just went from awkward to flat out bad."

"What does Ginny think she's doing, throwing that around," Remus agreed with an uneasy wince.

"She's proving a point, and standing up for herself," Lily said just a touch defensively. "Her brother's being awful to her, trying to control her like that."

"He's telling her to get a room, Ginny's the one who escalated it, calling him out just because he's never had a girlfriend." Sirius scowled back.

"Both of them are being rotten siblings to each other, they need to take a step back," Lily sighed.

"Without their mum around, I doubt either of them are going to have the good grace to do that," Remus muttered. Harry privately agreed, and it was making him anxious, thinking of having to take sides in that.

It was pathetic, the way he kept hoping Fleur would give him a peck on the cheek every time she passed! If he went out and had a bit of snogging himself, maybe he wouldn't find it so disgusting when others did it!

Ron pulled his wand too, Harry stepped in between them.

All five of them were looking like a bomb was about to go off now, not one of them wanted this to keep escalating, but they were all sure it would.

Ron was now trying to get a clear shot at Ginny around Harry, who was now standing in front of her with his arms outstretched.

"Eesh, I don't even want to know what he's going to throw at her," Sirius winced hard, very aware of the variations he'd set on his brother for multiple lesser things. He wished he could push Harry out of the way of this one.

Ginny cared nothing as she carried on Harry had snogged Cho Chang, and Hermione had Victor Krum! He was the only one acting like a twelve-year-old when it went on! Then she stormed away.

Harry rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck. That was most definitely not how he'd wanted his feelings for Ginny to flourish...if he did at all. Now that he'd so vividly seen Ron's vehement reaction to someone being with his sister, it even turning into a brawl, Harry's calm assuredness from moments ago vanished just like Ginny had from that corridor. What had he been thinking, Ron would would be okay with this?! He'd murder him!

"Well, I can find a bright spot in this for Lily," Sirius continued pleasantly like nothing more had happened. "Ron's going to hook up with Hermione just to prove a point."

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" Lily scowled at him. "I'd want them to get together because they want to be, not for Ron to show off to his sister. If Hermione finds out this is the reason Ron finally made a move, I'll very much doubt she'll be happy."

"Can't win anything with you woman," Sirius rolled his eyes.

James noticed Harry was still looking rather queasy, and had a wash of sympathy for him. Sirius and Lily had been nonstop having a go at each other since he'd started dating her. It had gradually turned into the friendship they'd developed, but James didn't envy Harry's position of having to pick a side in that argument, something that never had, and fingers crossed never would happen in his life. He was still half convinced Harry's sudden spurt of feelings for Ginny would fade though, so he pushed that away and was more than happy when Harry forced himself to keep going.

Harry quickly let go of Ron; the look on his face was murderous. They both stood there, breathing heavily, until Mrs. Norris, appeared around the corner, which broke the tension.

Harry quickly led them both away before Filch himself could catch up.

A small girl was standing in the middle of the seventh-floor corridor, and jumped in fright and dropped a bottle of toadspawn as Ron snapped at her to move.

Harry hardly noticed the sound of shattering glass; he felt disoriented, dizzy; being struck by a lightning bolt must be something like this.

Harry still felt that way, as if his mind were being split in two. One part kept replaying that scene, like he should have been paying much more attention to it, instead of letting the rest flit off to corridors, to imaginations he'd never share with Ron...or memories?

It's just because she's Ron's sister, he told himself. You just didn't like seeing her kissing Dean because she's Ron's sister. . . .

But unbidden into his mind came an image of that same deserted corridor with himself kissing Ginny instead. . . .

James whistled in surprise his sons mind was already going that rout then, he'd never even escalated that far with Cho, especially not right off the bat.

"Ginny slip something in your evening dinner?" Sirius burst out laughing at Harry's now scarlet face, that was not something he'd ever wanted to share with them. "Where's all this coming from?"

"I really think it's just been building for ages," Lily said clinically as she kept eyeing him as well. Harry kept his eyes trained on the pages instead, well aware how much every one of them were still looking at him.

"Let's hope it doesn't take him another two years to get his act together and do something about it then," Sirius chuckled.

The monster in his chest purred . . .

James snorted slightly that kept being brought up, but really he was still assessing all this, while Harry fidgeted more than ever with that ring on his finger. Was it like before, with Cho? Whoever his wife was should be on his mind now, with some new love interest present, or was it him trying to recall Ginny as that wife? He wasn't sure, and he still felt more sorry for Harry than anything, especially if it wasn't Ginny. This just got more awkward the more he thought about it.

but then he saw Ron ripping open the tapestry curtain and drawing his wand on Harry, shouting things like,  'betrayal of trust'. . . 'supposed to be my friend' . . .

"No second guessing at all what Ginny might say eh?" Sirius chuckled.

"Apparently he's still hoping that celebrity crush is alive and well," Remus agreed.

Ron abruptly intruded to demand of him if Hermione had snogged Krum?

Harry didn't really answer, as his mind supplied the idea that yes he did think so,

"Do you really think they got to know each other that well?" James more than happily jumped topics, though was sad Hermione wasn't actually here so he could asses a real answer out of her.

"I was under the impression they didn't have too much to do with each other after the second task at least, but at the same time, they've been writing since, so," Lily trailed off with a shrug. She could see how it would anyways.

however, Ron seemed to gather the worst from the look on Harry's face. They climbed through the portrait hole into the common room.

Neither of them mentioned Ginny or Hermione again; indeed, they barely spoke to each other that evening and got into bed in silence, each absorbed in his own thoughts.

Harry lay awake for a long time, looking up at the canopy of his four-poster and trying to convince himself that his feelings for Ginny were entirely elder-brotherly.

"What you were imagining just now had nothing to do with siblings," Remus told him like he'd gone daft.

"At least I'm relieved he is trying to talk himself out of it," James gave an uneasy chuckle. "I really can't see how this one's going to go."

Harry scowled at the two, looking twice as offended as anything they'd said about Cho, but still no one could tell on what level. Paternal like, or more?

They had lived, had they not, like brother and sister all summer, playing Quidditch, teasing Ron, and having a laugh about Bill and Phlegm? He had known Ginny for years now. ... It was natural that he should feel protective . . . natural that he should want to look out for her . . . want to rip Dean limb from limb for kissing her... No ... he would have to control that particular brotherly feeling. . . .

Ron gave a great grunting snore.

She's Ron's sister, Harry told himself firmly. Ron's sister. She's out-of-bounds. He would not risk his friendship with Ron for anything. He punched his pillow into a more comfortable shape and waited for sleep to come, trying his utmost not to allow his thoughts to stray anywhere near Ginny.

"I'm already convinced his dreams didn't follow the same pattern," James said, but with an affectionate look at Lily who blushed faintly but refused to acknowledge that one.

Harry awoke next morning feeling slightly dazed and confused by a series of dreams in which Ron had chased him with a Beater's bat,

"Ron doesn't even play that position," Sirius chuckled.

"We don't need Trelawney to pick that one apart," Remus rolled his eyes.

but by midday he would have happily exchanged the dream Ron for the real one, who was not only cold-shouldering Ginny and Dean, but also treating a hurt and bewildered Hermione with an icy, sneering indifference. What was more, Ron seemed to have become, overnight, as touchy and ready to lash out as the average Blast-Ended Skrewt. Harry spent the day attempting to keep the peace between Ron and Hermione with no success; finally, Hermione departed for bed in high dudgeon, and Ron stalked off to the boys' dormitory after swearing angrily at several frightened first years for looking at him.

"Merlin, one little spat with his sister and Ron thinks his life is ending," James said with more sympathy than anything. At this point in his life he'd been pretty frustrated the girl of his dreams still had no interest in him, even when she wasn't hanging around Snape anymore. He hadn't always been at his most pleasant either, though he liked to think he'd never gotten this bad.

"He's being a ponce," Lily scowled for this attitude no one deserved. "If he has a problem, even one he doesn't want to talk about, taking it out on everyone else is inexcusable."

To Harry's dismay, Ron's new aggression did not wear off over the next few days. Worse still, it coincided with an even deeper dip in his Keeping skills, which made him still more aggressive, so that during the final Quidditch practice before Saturdays match, he failed to save every single goal the Chasers aimed at him, but bellowed at everybody so much that he reduced Demelza Robins to tears.

"Bloody hell, just go snog a girl already and be done with it," Sirius said in exasperation as this pent up feeling only grew worse.

"Sirius, that really should not be your answer to everything," Remus rolled his eyes in exasperation, before grudgingly saying, "but in this particular case I can't help agreeing with him. Ron needs to work this out, and if that's what does it I'm all for it."

Peakes flew into his face and shouted to leave her alone! He was two-thirds Ron's size, but was carrying a heavy bat.

"Yeah, that would be a sight," James muttered, hoping Harry stepped in soon to calm his team before it went that far.

Harry bellowed at them that was enough, especially at Ginny, who he had seen glowering in Ron's direction and, remembering her reputation as an accomplished caster of the Bat-Bogey Hex, soared over to intervene before things got out of hand.

He told the rest of the team to go and pack up for the night, and waited until they were out of earshot before confronting Ron. Telling him that best mates they were, if he didn't stop this he'd be kicked off the team!

He really thought for a moment that Ron might hit him, but then something much worse happened: Ron seemed to sag on his broom.

"Maybe this'll finally help," Lily honestly tried to put some hope into her voice. "He needed someone to give him a swift kick in his arse."

"I can't see how Harry attacking him now will really help," Sirius disagreed, thinking what Ron really needed and wishing he could help just like he'd tried for Moony all those years ago, still occasionally tried to do no matter how much Remus protested and refused to participate in whatever blind-dates he'd set up.

All the fight went out of him and he simply resigned on the spot.

Harry fiercely said he didn't accept! He could save anything when he was on form, he just had a mental problem!

Ron demanded he was being called mental?

"He's sure acting like it lately," Remus agreed.

Harry agreed he was right now.

They glared at each other for a moment, then Ron shook his head wearily. He conceded Harry couldn't find a new Keeper so soon, but when they lost the game tomorrow, he was resigning.

Nothing Harry said made any difference. He tried boosting Ron's confidence all through dinner, but Ron was too busy being grumpy and surly with Hermione to notice.

"I'm sure she loved that," Lily grumbled, wishing to swat him upside the head for still taking this out on the wrong person.

Harry persisted in the common room that evening, but his assertion that the whole team would be devastated if Ron left was somewhat undermined by the fact that the rest of the team was sitting in a huddle in a distant corner, clearly muttering about Ron and casting him nasty looks.

"Ouch, yeah, probably not helping," James winced, but he was at a loss of anything to help Ron as well. If winning the Championship last year didn't do it, he didn't know anything that would encourage Ron now. Maybe quitting really was best for the poor guy, even if they had to endure McLaggen because of it.

Finally Harry tried getting angry again in the hope of provoking Ron into a defiant, and hopefully goal-saving, attitude, but this strategy did not appear to work any better than encouragement; Ron went to bed as dejected and hopeless as ever.

"Credit for determination," Sirius offered, which did about as much good in distracting Harry as he'd been trying to do to Ron.

Harry lay awake for a very long time in the darkness. He did not want to lose the upcoming match; not only was it his first as Captain, but he was determined to beat Draco Malfoy at Quidditch even if he could not yet prove his suspicions about him. Yet if Ron played as he had done in the last few practices, their chances of winning were very slim. . . .

If only there was something he could do to make Ron pull him-self together . . . make him play at the top of his form . . . something that would ensure that Ron had a really good day.

...

And the answer came to Harry in one, sudden, glorious stroke of inspiration.

"Oh Harry, you don't!" James groaned at once.

Harry went wide-eyed and innocent, fighting to keep his expression under control and not give himself away.

"That's cheating that is, getting him onto the team is bad enough. What's the point of playing Quidditch if you won't rough it," Sirius scowled, trying hard not to say the words too venomously to Harry, but he really didn't appreciate what he was hearing.

"I've never cheated," Harry said, his defensive voice pure and helping well to smother the light in the back of his eyes. "I never will."

The two exchanged a calculating look, but really weren't sure what Harry was on about then. They kept themselves quiet and just let it play out then.

Breakfast was the usual excitable affair next morning; the Slytherins hissed and booed loudly as every member of the Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall. Harry glanced at the ceiling and saw a clear, pale blue sky: a good omen.

The Gryffindor table, a solid mass of red and gold, cheered as Harry and Ron approached. Harry grinned and waved; Ron grimaced weakly and shook his head.

Lavender gave him a cheerful greeting, saying she knew he'd be brilliant!

Ron ignored her.

"Irony in its purest," Remus muttered. "Ron's finally getting all the attention he ever wanted, and he hates every minute of it."

"I really thought he'd be loving it, especially the way he gloried in it last year. He really can't decide what he wants about anything this year," Harry agreed with a sigh, his mind not really on Quidditch now.

Harry offered him a variety of drinks, but Ron just said anything without a care as he started moodily on a piece of toast.

A few minutes later Hermione, who had become so tired of Ron's recent unpleasant behavior that she had not come down to breakfast with them, paused on her way up the table.

She asked how they were feeling, her eyes on Ron.

Harry said they'd be great once they got some breakfast, and handed Ron a glass of pumpkin juice.

Ron had just raised the glass to his lips when Hermione spoke sharply at him not to drink that!

Harry was fighting back more every moment the smile trying to tug across his face. It wasn't helping the others jumped in surprise and looked on in concern now for what was happening.

Both Harry and Ron looked up at her.

Ron asked why not, but Hermione was now staring at Harry as though she could not believe her eyes as she accused Harry he'd just put something in Ron's drink!

His fathers and Godfathers scandalized expressions grew, but his previous assurance held their tongue. It was clearly maddening to them they were missing something, but why would Hermione say something otherwise?! Harry was biting the inside of his cheek as he tried to continue without picturing the looks he knew would come when they figured it out.

Harry defended he'd done no such thing, but Hermione insisted otherwise.

Hermione turned sharply to Ron and pleaded with him not to drink that, but he took it all in one large gulp after telling her to stop bossing him around.

"Is playing them against each other really helping anything?" Lily sighed. She wasn't nearly as invested in Quidditch as the others, nor did she find it too hard to believe her rotten boy would pull such a thing for a game he clearly loved. If he'd get into such a big fight with Hermione over a broom, she really wouldn't put this past him no matter how much she still loved that determination to do anything.

Harry just batted his eyes innocently, but it was even harder to fake on his mum with that calculating look, so he quickly kept going.

She looked scandalized. Bending low so that only Harry could hear her, she hissed he could be expelled for that!

Harry politely returned back if she'd Confunded anyone lately?

"Heh, got her there," Remus snickered, he was enjoying this immensely. The one thing he could guarantee would rile his friends up was something Harry was now toeing the line with, and he couldn't get enough of the show, considering he might well have done the same for one of his friends if they'd needed the boost that day like Ron clearly had.

She stormed up the table away from them. Harry watched her go without regret. Hermione had never really understood what a serious business Quidditch was.

"Invoking my name right now won't help you Harry," Sirius said with a stiff lip, but his expression was softening now as he tried to dig up some explanation for this. Harry insisted he never had, nor ever would cheat, but that's exactly what he'd just been caught doing. What was he missing? The puzzle at least stopped him constantly glaring at his godson for an explanation.

He then looked around at Ron, who was smacking his lips.

The frosty grass crunched underfoot as they strode down to the stadium.

Harry casually asked him it was pretty lucky the weather was this good.

Ron agreed while looking paler than ever.

Ginny and Demelza were already wearing their Quidditch robes and waiting in the changing room.

Ginny completely ignored Ron's presence as she told Harry the Slytherin line-up wouldn't be the usual. Vaisey took a Bludger to the head during their last practice and was in the Hospital Wing, and Malfoy was out sick.

"What's this now?" Lily asked with interest, agreeing with the suddenly intense look of concentration on Harry's face for this development.

Harry turned on the spot in surprise, asking what was wrong with him?

Ginny didn't know, but the team was playing Harper instead. He was in her year, and an idiot.

"So's Malfoy, but he's actually decent on a broom," James gave a casual enough roll of his eyes, even as he kept shifting his weight for the game to begin. He'd had enough people dangling answers over his head already this year, but found he was actually enjoying Harry doing it to him. Something about his sons expression promised a payoff he'd appreciate at least, even if he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Harry smiled back vaguely, but as he pulled on his scarlet robes his mind was far from Quidditch. Malfoy had once before claimed he could not play due to injury, but on that occasion he had made sure the whole match was rescheduled for a time that suited the Slytherins better. Why was he now happy to let a substitute go on? Was he really ill, or was he faking?

"Who cares?" the three Marauders said, just wanting to get to the game already and figure out what Harry was up to. They'd already spent far too much time caring about Malfoy this year, and they wanted this one thing to enjoy.

Harry tried to get Ron to see how fishy this was, but Ron called it lucky again, then his eyes bulged wide as he turned to Harry and began babbling about his drink this morning.

Harry raised his eyebrows, but said nothing except they'd be starting in five minutes and he wanted everyone dressed.

'All of this would have happened the other day though, the Luck potion wouldn't have caused this to happen in the last hour,' James thought to himself, before his eyes widened in understanding and he quickly stopped an 'oh' of surprise escaping. He wasn't sure he was right, but suddenly he wondered why Harry showed no shame of his actions. He had more faith in the Captain of this team not pulling such a stunt, but if it really was a literal stunt...

They walked out onto the pitch to tumultuous roars and boos. One end of the stadium was solid red and gold; the other, a sea of green and silver. Many Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had taken sides too: Amidst all the yelling and clapping Harry could distinctly hear the roar of Luna Lovegood's famous lion-topped hat.

Sirius did get a laugh out of that. "I've missed hearing about her, wish we could see if she'd added anything to the hat."

"Sorry, I'll let you know later if I notice," Harry said with all the cheer in the world. Sirius was still shifting restlessly for the game, not even sure what he wanted to hear now. If Ron started miraculously catching all the goals, he couldn't even be thrilled at it, but he still had faith Harry hadn't lied to him, so what was the other option?

Harry stepped up to Madam Hooch, the referee, who was standing ready to release the balls from the crate. She told the Captain's to shake hands. Harry and Urquhart tried to crush each others instead.

"I actually wouldn't be surprised if Malfoy quit the team that morning in protest of not being made Captain." Remus said with a huff of disgust. "Been mock practicing with them in training, and then did this to spite them at the last second. Seems the kind of thing he'd do."

The whistle sounded, Harry and the others kicked off hard from the frozen ground, and they were away.

Harry soared around the perimeter of the grounds, looking around for the Snitch and keeping one eye on Harper, who was zigzagging far below him. Then a voice that was jarringly different to the usual commentator's started up.

"Oh yeah, Lee Jordan graduated," Lily puckered her lips in disappointment, she'd always enjoyed his commentary.

"Hopefully the next person is just as entertaining," Remus said with a bright smile.

It didn't start well, pointing out Ronald Weasley was a patch performer in his Keeper position last year, so many were surprised to see his reappearance on the tea. Of course it helped to be friends with the Captain.

Sirius grumbled in disgust, he'd heard that insult a lot in his last year of school, right around the time he'd been trying to restrain himself from cursing the lot. It had been a long year.

These words were greeted with jeers and applause from the Slytherin end of the pitch. Harry craned around on his broom to look toward the commentator's podium. A tall, skinny blond buy with an upturned nose was standing there, talking into the magical megaphone that had once been Lee Jordan's; Harry recognized Zacharias Smith, a Hufflepuff player whom he heartily disliked.

"I'll pay McGonagall extra to kick him from the stands," James muttered.

His words were not met with anything though, as Urquhart sent the first ball of the game, and Weasley saved it. Smith wasn't impressed, saying everyone had to get lucky.

Harry grinned to himself,

James was eyeing Harry shrewdly still to get a nail on an answer and Sirius was muttering to himself about his godson doing this to him at a time like this. Why couldn't they ever just enjoy one match without it being something?

as he dived amongst the Chasers with his eyes searching all around for some hint of the elusive Snitch.

With half an hour of the game gone, Gryffindor were leading sixty points to zero, Ron having made some truly spectacular saves, some by the very tips of his gloves,

All four of them narrowed their eyes at Harry, but it was maddening this didn't really mean an answer because Ron had done this before as well. He really was good at the game, the boost it was implied he was given really wouldn't make a real difference if Harry had gotten Ron's head on straight before this.

and Ginny having scored four of Gryffindor's six goals. This effectively stopped Zacharias wondering loudly whether the two Weasleys were only there because Harry liked them, and he started on Peakes and Coote instead.

Describing Coote as not the usual build for a Beater, they generally had more muscle-

Harry bellowed at Coote as he passed to hit a Bludger to Smith, but Coote only grinned and sent the next one to oncoming Harper.

"Well I'm certainly liking him more and more," Sirius did get a grin out of that, though certainly wouldn't mind if the next one went a bit wild.

Harry was pleased to hear the dull thunk that meant the Bludger had found its mark.

It seemed as though Gryffindor could do no wrong. Again and again they scored, and again and again, at the other end of the pitch, Ron saved goals with apparent ease. He was actually smiling now, and when the crowd greeted a particularly good save with a rousing chorus of the old favorite "Weasley Is Our King,"

Lily sniffed a bit, couldn't they add in something for Ginny's sake? She was doing as much as Ron. She'd start having her own problems of inferiority soon.

he pretended to conduct them from on high.

"Ron's really been compared to Malfoy a lot lately," James said a bit tartly, knowing he would have found that funnier under other circumstances.

Harper collided himself into Harry for the purpose of mocking Ron, calling him a blood- traitor pal.

Hooch had her back turned at the time, so by the time the Gryffindor shrieks of a foul reached her ears and she turned, Harper was shooting away.

Harry's shoulder was aching as he raced after him, determined to ram him back

"You can afford the foul," Sirius agreed in clipped tones, but he really couldn't help it, he put his feeling about Harry aside and started to lean forward with an eager smile, at least trying to enjoy the good of the game before whatever happened for it later came up.

Smith airily said Harper had seen something Potter hadn't, and Harry thought him a right idiot. Hadn't Smith seen them just collide moments before? Next moment, his stomach seemed to drop out of the , sky â€" Smith was right and Harry was wrong: Harper had not sped upward at random; he had spotted what Harry had not: The Snitch was speeding along high above them, glinting brightly against the clear blue sky.

Sirius growled in his seat, shifting his hands desperately to throw a Bludger, or anything, to help get a win out of this! He was certain no matter what Harry had done the team still deserved this!

Harry accelerated; the wind was whistling in his ears so that it drowned all sound of Smith's commentary or the crowd,

"That Firebolt really coming in handy right now," James breathed, then caught his breath and held it, fists clenched with hope his boy would pull off another win, at least he'd never done anything to himself to deserve that. Had that been what he'd meant earlier, he was only promising he'd never helped himself win? He forced his mind to snap back to this and worry about everything else in a moment.

but Harper was still ahead of him, and Gryffindor was only a hundred points up; if Harper got there first Gryffindor had lost. . . and now Harper was feet from it, his hand outstretched.

Harry desperately shouted after him how much Malfoy had paid him to come on instead?

"Razzing him at a time like this could work," James stressed the word as much as his body was tensed, regretting the hiss of words that escaped him as it only delayed a few moments longer the answer!

He did not know what made him say it, but Harper did a double-take; he fumbled the Snitch, let it slip through his fingers, and shot right past it. Harry made a great swipe for the tiny, fluttering ball and caught it.

All four of them cheered with excitement, Harry beamed with pride as his fist still tried to clench over his prize. He couldn't help it, even despite their weariness of what he was pulling on them, that was genuine praise for something he'd done! Something he never in his life expected to feel from his parents!

Harry whooped as he circled back. Wheeling around, he hurtled back toward the ground, the Snitch held high in his hand. As the crowd realized what had happened, a great shout went up that almost drowned the sound of the whistle that signaled the end of the game.

Harry found himself trapped in the midst of a mass midair hug with the rest of the team, but Ginny sped right on past them,

"Disappointed not to be getting a particular hug eh?" Sirius asked with a cheerful enough wink, but his mood was still soured more than Harry was used to for a win. He considered telling them already, but he was still sure he'd have to explain himself to Hermione as well, so waited just a few moments more.

until, with an almighty crash, she collided with the commentators podium. As the crowd shrieked and laughed, the Gryffindor team landed beside the wreckage of wood under which Zacharias was feebly stirring,: Harry heard Ginny saying blithely to an irate Professor McGonagall, she'd forgot to put on the brakes.

All five of them lost it, laughing in nothing but a carefree way for Ginny lighting all of them. Harry found himself with a growing ache, one he'd held since he first remembered Ron and Hermione. He wanted Ginny here now too. To meet his parents, to see where he'd come from! He looked wistfully to the kitchen once more, and then just as quickly looked away, scolding himself for such a thing. He was going to enjoy the time he had with his parents, and he'd find a way to make all the lives he wanted come together in the end.

Laughing, Harry broke free of the rest of the team and hugged Ginny, but let go very quickly. Avoiding her gaze, he clapped a cheering Ron on the back instead as, all enmity forgotten, the Gryffindor team left the pitch arm in arm, punching the air, waving to their supporters.

The atmosphere in the changing room was jubilant. Dean was already yelling about a party up in the common room!

"Always is," James agreed with nostalgia. He still missed those times, especially the ones in his last year, with his Lily Flower on his arm.

Ron and Harry were the last two in the changing room. They were just about to leave when Hermione entered. She was twisting her Gryffindor scarf in her hands and looked upset but determined. She told him what he'd done was illegal, Slughorn had said so.

Ron asked if she was going to turn them in?

"Why's he still being so defensive, she's trying to be on his side," Lily grumbled.

"Well it's not like Hermione hasn't done that before," Sirius snipped.

"And Ron's ego just got a bit of a boost, potion or not," Remus agreed with a sigh, he wouldn't expect anything to bring him down right now, instead it was likely to just keep climbing.

Harry asked what they were even talking about, turning away from both of them so they wouldn't see him smiling.

James clucked his tongue and Sirius shifted a bit, both determined to hear an explanation before they really got to scolding as well. Harry would admit to it, if nothing else, when he was confronted. He'd always been honest with them, and his friends.

Hermione shrilly shouted he'd used Felix Felicis to spike Ron's drink this morning!

Harry said he hadn't, turning back to face them.

James's face squished up, his mind scrambling to catch up with his sons. He suddenly sympathized in a whole new way how Harry must always feel to constantly be missing something, he was certainly getting that feeling a lot lately.

He promised he hadn't slipped anyone anything, as pulled from inside his jacket pocket the tiny bottle that Hermione had seen in his hand that morning. It was full of golden potion and the cork was still tightly sealed with wax.

"You-" Remus began in disbelief, but he could hardly get past the first word as Sirius and James burst out laughing.

"You rotten little curd," James wagged his finger even as he was grinning ear to ear. "Pulling such a stunt, I couldn't be prouder!"

"You couldn't have just said that!" Sirius agreed even as his breath came out in stops and starts from laughing.

"Where would be the fun in that?" Harry asked, more pleased than words could say he'd guessed right, they'd taken it all in stride for the joke. It was a warmth he never expected to get, knowing how his family would react to something he'd done.

"That's so sneaky," Lily tried to scold even as she was fighting back twitching lips. "Was winning the game that important to you? Would you have really done it?"

"Didn't need to," Harry gleefully pointed out, wishing Ron and Hermione were here now more than ever so he could relive seeing them go through this with him. "But no, if the idea hadn't worked, I'd have just put up with the aftermath, just like always," he finished, his smile starting to dim as he wondered why that left such a sinking feeling, why he was immediately regretting his thoughts and quite happy his friends weren't here. That was ridiculous, he'd just won a match, surely Ron would apologize and everything would go back to normal now. Suddenly anxious, he stopped Remus adding in and cut off James and Sirius still chortling to get back to his aching mind, fingers crossed he was misunderstanding something to bring the mood back down already.

Harry explained he'd only wanted Ron to think he had, but he'd really done all that himself.

Ron was astounded with himself, but then he rounded on Hermione, thrusting in her face he hadn't needed any help, he could do that without a potion!

"It's not like she knew that anymore than him," Lily huffed, still wanting to give him a good whack. He really needed to stop taking everything out on her, she'd done nothing to deserve it.

Hermione protested she hadn't said otherwise-

but Ron was completely ignoring her now and walked right out.

Harry stood there awkwardly, he hadn't expected this part of his plan to backfire. He offered to walk up to the party with her, but she told him to go on without her. She didn't know what she'd done to Ron, but she was sick of it! She stamped away, tears in her eyes.

"Would you have told her, if she'd stayed?" Remus asked in concern. This wasn't nearly as bad as some of their previous fights, but this certainly needed to be resolved, perhaps by Harry stepping in no matter how awkward.

"I don't know, probably, even though that would have made her more mad, then they'd both be mad at me," Harry sighed as he explained why he'd yet to do it. He wasn't happy at all his forewarned thoughts had been right, surely this was the unpleasant feeling, his friends still fighting.

Harry walked slowly back up the grounds toward the castle through the crowd, many of whom shouted congratulations at him, but he felt a great sense of letdown; he had been sure that if Ron won the match, he and Hermione would be friends again immediately. He did not see how he could possibly explain to Hermione that what she had done to offend Ron was kiss Viktor Krum, not when the offense had occurred so long ago.

Harry could not see Hermione at the Gryffindor celebration party, which was in full swing when he arrived. Renewed cheers and clapping greeted his appearance, and he was soon surrounded by a mob of people congratulating him. What with trying to shake off the Creevey brothers, who wanted a blow-by-blow match analysis,

"And you didn't give them one?" Sirius demanded. "You've given us plenty."

"Those two reminded me of puppies even more than you, and I didn't need the extra attention right then," Harry huffed, but at least Sirius smirked for the joke.

and the large group of girls that encircled him, laughing at his least amusing comments and batting their eyelids, it was some time before he could try and find Ron. At last, he extricated himself from Romilda Vane, who was hinting heavily that she would like to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with him. As he was ducking toward the drinks table, he walked straight into Ginny, Arnold the Pygmy Puff riding on her shoulder and Crookshanks mewing hopefully at her heels.

"Oh boy, let's hope another Weasley Hermione row doesn't sprout from Crookshanks eating him," James muttered. Hermione really did need a break, hopefully Crookshanks wouldn't start anything.

She smirked as she passed Harry, asking if he was looking for Ron? He was over there being a hypocrite.

"Excuse em wa'?" Remus put on a terrible french accent to mock what his mind was suddenly offering him in explanation. Either he'd made up with Hermione extraordinarily fast, or something far worse was about to happen. He really couldn't decide which he wanted to hear at this point, either was going to be awkward for Harry to live through.

Harry looked into the corner she was indicating. There, in full view of the whole room, stood Ron wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell whose hands were whose.

"Well then," Sirius chuckled, clearly all at ease with this display. "Glad someone's untying his knickers."

"Thank you Sirius," Lily huffed.

"This won't go well," James muttered, seeing everyone else's expression but his best mates was thinking the same. Where was Hermione?

Ginny dispassionately said it looked like he was trying to eat her face.

Sirius still got a cheerful laugh out of that, now eyeing Harry and expecting his mind to trail off, to wonder what Ginny would say when Harry tried kissing her. He expected that to come up sooner rather than later.

She supposed he'd have to refine his technique somehow though. Then she told Harry good game, and patted him on the arm as she left. Harry felt a swooping sensation in his stomach, but then she walked off to help herself to more butterbeer. Crookshanks trotted after her, his yellow eyes fixed upon Arnold.

Harry turned away from Ron, who did not look like he would be surfacing soon, just as the portrait hole was closing. With a sinking feeling, he thought he saw a mane of bushy brown hair whipping out of sight.

He sighed though when he realized instead where Harry was going. He hoped Hermione wouldn't be too difficult about this, Ron was just letting off some steam. Surely Hermione would understand that.

He darted forward, sidestepped Romilda Vane again, and pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady. The corridor outside, seemed to be deserted.

He found her in the first unlocked classroom he tried. She was sitting on the teacher's desk, alone except for a small ring of twittering yellow birds circling her head, which she had clearly just conjured out of midair.

"Why?" Remus drew the word out in concern.

"Try to keep her mind on other things," Lily shrugged, running her hand through her hair uneasily. She at least hoped Hermione wouldn't take this out on Harry, but would save it for the friend who deserved it. Ron was being foul treating her this way. Whether he was avoiding the problem or he really didn't return her feelings in that way, which she doubted, this was just a terrible time to be doing anything of the sort like he was, especially as Ginny had just called out, in such a hypocritical way. They'd never even gotten an answer on what he'd said about the Slughorn party, but this wouldn't have helped anything.

She greeted him in a brittle voice, telling him she was just looking for somewhere to practice.

"She clearly doesn't need it," James said carefully, like he had an angry witches wand trained on him now. This was not a good place to start, and he had no faith his son would make it better, he'd never been very good at doing that for Hermione in the past.

He had no idea what to say to her. He was just wondering whether there was any chance that she had not noticed Ron, that she had merely left the room because the party was a little too rowdy, when she said, in an unnaturally high-pitched voice, Ron seemed to be enjoying himself.

Harry awkwardly said he wasn't sure what she meant, and she snapped at him Ronald hadn't been hiding it!

The door behind them burst open. To Harry's horror, Ron came in, laughing, pulling Lavender by the hand.

"Timing!" Sirius cried to try and break the growing tension. He was ignored.

He drew up short at the sight of Harry and Hermione.

Lavender quickly backed out of the room giggling.

"I'm sure she won't be when she gets up to her common room and remembers how close Hermione's bed is to hers," Remus muttered.

The door swung shut behind her.

There was a horrible, swelling, billowing silence. Hermione was staring at Ron, who refused to look at her, but said with an odd mixture of bravado and awkwardness, to Harry he'd wondered he'd gotten to.

"Yeah, that's why he was going into that room with Lavender," James muttered, his face pulled tight for he didn't even know what. Were Ron and Hermione going to blow this off, or start another row? He really didn't want the latter, but the first would be painfully awkward because it would then take them even longer just to talk again as if they were having a fight.

Hermione slid off the desk. The little flock of golden birds continued to twitter in circles around her head so that she looked like a strange, feathery model of the solar system.

Sirius snorted for the comparison, then pouted when he was the only one who bothered to crack again. Honestly, everyone got so cut up over romance.

She quietly said he shouldn't leave Lavender to herself. She walked very slowly and erectly toward the door. Harry glanced at Ron, who was looking relieved that nothing worse had happened.

Remus had just opened his mouth to agree to the same, when Harry had gone on in the same breath.

The spell 'Oppugno!' came as a shriek from the doorway.

Harry spun around to see Hermione pointing her wand at Ron, her expression wild: The little flock of birds was speeding like a hail of fat golden bullets toward Ron, who yelped and covered his face with his hands, but the birds attacked, pecking and clawing at every bit of flesh they could reach.

All five of them felt their mouths flop open in shock for such a display. Then Sirius started laughing harder than ever. "Well, I may not have seen this coming, but in hindsight it makes sense. She's got a bit of a violent streak, she did punch Malfoy in the face when he finally pushed her too far."

"Sirius Black, this is not funny!" Lily snapped at him.

"Why not?" He returned casually. "Ron's being an arse, either trying to make Hermione jealous or playing around with some options to see how his feelings for Hermione stack up. Honestly, he could even be just messing around for some fun."

Lily had looked surprised, even impressed he really had grasped some emotional level of what was going on, until he'd finished with another attempt to blow all this off.

She'd just opened her mouth to retort when Harry desperately tried to finish the last line,

Ron yelled to get them off of him, but with one last look of vindictive fury, Hermione wrenched open the door and disappeared through it. Harry thought he heard a sob before it slammed.

Harry groaned and let the book fall to the floor with a thud as he grabbed his head in misery. He could already feel this was going to get worse before it got better.

HPHPHPHP

Lots of romancing going on in this chapter, but the big controversial you've all been waiting for, Harry/Ginny, has finally arrived!...It's not bad.

Honestly, I don't dislike the pairing, there's certainly worse out there, but I'll never get over how little it was set up. Of all the plot threads JK did in advance, this has to be the least developed of all. Now yes I've seen a ton of posts claiming otherwise, but even rereading these recently with a critical eye, I've done more to have Harry notice her than JK ever bothered. Even in this book, there's been what, three instances of Harry noticing her? She was set up for a romance no better than if he'd suddenly fallen in love with Dean. So yeah, proceeding will as follow, this is cannon and Harry is purely smitten with her, but I just don't much care for the two together either way. I'll still do my best to have the characters invest in it like normal of course.

As for Ron and Hermione, I genuinely do like them. They're idiotic teenagers figuring out love for the first time, it's been clear it's going to be getting to this point for ages, and they're going about it in the worst way possible to each other. I personally think that makes them a stronger couple in the end, I don't believe there's such a thing as the perfect romance and some problems at the start are probably healthier than finding them later in life. I've heard JK's commentary that they'd probably have to have a counselor at some point in their marriage, but I don't get why people say that means she didn't want them to end up together. There's nothing wrong with needing a mediator to find a way to talk to each other, hell, I'm pretty sure Harry's the counselor she meant. He's already had years of practice at it already.

This has been my thoughts none of you asked for on the two current pairings in the series. I think I made myself pretty clear on Harry/ Cho, Harry/ Luna will come up in a later chapter, you already know my stance on Jilly and Wolfstar, I'll address Dramione near the end of seven if any of you really care, and Remadora will come up in a later chapter which I'm sure you can guess at.

*A mouth guard, to those who didn't recognize the word like I didn't and googled it upon my first read. I don't know why I pictured a wand creating a wad of gum to surround them first, my mind feels idiotic now for not putting it together, but that's what happens when I spend too much time in a place like Hogwarts. Things like that seem more real than common safety practice.

[jennygirl2014]

Just Deserts- Chapter One

Chapter Summary: Tawney has the misfortune of having to work Linda Drysdale’s birthday party.  Her luck doesn’t get any better when some careless driving results in her meeting the trust fund playboy.  He offers a deal she can’t refuse, mostly because he doesn’t give her the choice to.

Warnings: language, some aspects of racism

July        

The heat of the kitchen was worse than usual that day, in fact is was downright oppressive.  This event was thrown together without much thought at all, and with little time to spare, but of course the client expected a tall order.  Oh, to be on the other side of things, the most effort the client put in was dialing the number and reciting a rather large order, and now there was a ten-person team roasting their assess of in a cramped kitchen, working like elves.  For the event to be set up and food to be placed for serving by six, everyone had to be in by ten in the morning.  It didn’t sound like an early morning, but considering that some of them had only been away from that kitchen for a measly eight hours, it was early.  For Tawney, it was early. 

              Sweating to death in her apartment while trying to sleep the night before proved impossible.  If only she had the money to repair that damn air conditioner, and it wasn’t even that old.  What was worse was that she had been in that same stupid kitchen until almost two in the morning, cleaning after another long day and prepping for this big event ahead of time.  She wanted to turn down working the event in the first place, having to bake a two-layer cake and five dozen matching mini cupcakes in three days, among other orders and filling in for a cook while they were out with an injury was silently eating away at her sanity.  She bounced back and forth between icing the desserts and chopping vegetables enough times to make her go mad.  An who would order enough cake to yield seventy servings when there were only thirty odd people present? People with money, that’s who.  

              The thin layer of sweat under her chef coat was starting to nag her, but the bandana tied around her forehead did the trick to catch the sweat as she tried to maintain the intricate piping details on the side of the cake.  Her wrists were starting to kill her, her feet were aching, she wanted nothing more than a shower, and for a little silence to concentrate on her piping, but that kitchen was loud enough to wake the devil himself.  At the moment, she was wondering why she had even decided to become a pastry chef.  All that money she was paying back in student loans could have easily afforded a new air conditioner, among other things.

“How’s it going over there, Tawney?” her concentration was interrupted when her coworker, and friend, shouted to her from across the way.

“Damn it, you almost made me mess up!” Tawney complained back to her over the noise of the kitchen. “If I have to fix any more mistakes on this cake…” she warned.

“Why are you making mistakes to begin with?” her boss’s voice rose from in front of the stovetop. “Do you need a refresher class already?  Do we not pay you enough?” he sounded angry, or course.  He always sounded angry, because he really was always angry.  He was the typical pig-headed chef, and to him a recent graduate was nothing but a grunt, and women didn’t really belong in the kitchen.  Tawney fit both of those roles.

“You don’t pay any of us enough!” Tawney’s friend spoke up in her defense.

“Watch yourself Kira!” The chef warned her.  This was Kira’s usual attitude and banter that she somehow got away with.  Kira had been in that kitchen a whole year longer than Tawney had, so she had earned the right to have a voice.  She often used that right to stick up for Tawney.  Being the only two women in the kitchen had them bonded pretty strongly already.  “Shit!” the chef leaned back as the flames from his pan shot up and narrowly missed his face, unfortunately.

“You better stick to watching your own mess, or we’re all gonna enjoy watching you singe those eyebrows off, Chef!”. Kira piped in again before giving a heart laugh.  

“I want all of the food on the van in half an hour, are we clear?” the chef asked the kitchen.

“Yes Chef!” all of the cooks replied in unison, except Tawney who simply muttered under her breath. It was unfair, she was expected to get the dessert done ahead of time and then she had to lend a hand in the main course once she was done.  Then all the men would sit outside with cigarettes in their hands once the meal was done and she would be left the clean.  She was starting to really feel shit on, and she wondered how much more she would be able to take of it.  This isn’t what they told her life would be like while in school.

“Oh, and Tawney,” the chef spoke up again, “We have a pick-up order for the same time we leave. Four crème brulees. I trust that should be no problem for a pastry chef.” His tone was nasty, and she caught on right away to his bitterness.  

“You tell her an hour before we have to go?” Kira spoke up for her, again.  

“She can manage.” The chef shrugged it off.

“Yes Chef.” Tawney couldn’t hide the defeat in her voice.  It felt like her boss was out to get her.  

              The crème brulee was whipped up in record time, luckily she knew the recipe by heart, and the cake and cupcakes were finished and loaded into the van.  She thought her work would be done, but when the chef asked her to tag along to present the dessert, her heart dropped.  Tawney insisted on driving herself, not wanting to be anywhere near the chef or the other men who worked in that kitchen.  Especially after hearing how one of the cooks was talking about her, she wanted to keep distance there.  She knew going to the chef with a complaint of sexual harassment would only backfire, even Kira agreed.  She could hear the chef now saying “that’s why women only belong in kitchens at home”, as if it were her own fault somehow. 

              Her car puttered along behind the catering vans, making noises that had her worried, but she didn’t have the funds to figure out what those sounds were.  She simply turned up the music.  She had no idea where they were headed, someone had referred to it as the Thrombey mansion, so she expected a big house, but once she pulled up that long driveway her breath was taken away.  This place was massive, but it wasn’t bright with a giant water fountain like she had pictured.  Instead it was dark with richer tones, brick with black shingles on steepled points, like something right out of a mystery novel.  She followed the van towards the far back end of the driveway and parked, taking a second to get out.  It wasn’t that she was nervous, she was actually more annoyed.  Clearly these people had money, which meant they had high expectations and demands, in translation, they would be pains in her ass.

              It turned out the place was owned by a famous writer; Harlan, someone Tawney had never heard of.  The party was for his daughter, she only heard the woman’s name here and there; Linda. While she and the cooks took over the enormous kitchen, the catering staff showed up a few minutes later to start placing things. They wore these gaudy red vests with black ties and large black buttons, she pitied them really.  She was lucky enough to be in a chef coat, meaning she wasn’t going to be running around like a pet monkey with a mission.  The air was stuffy, likely from the tension and aggravation of a long evening to be spent sucking up to those with silver spoons in their mouths.  Tawney could have been counting the minutes, if she knew when to count to.  The hors d'oeuvres were to be passed at five and dinner was supposed to start at six, but Harlan’s housekeeper let the chef know family was running late.  Which meant maintaining food temps longer, dealing with congestion in the kitchen, and worrying about the buttercream on the desserts sweating too much.  

“Rich people really have no idea how much of headache they are.” Kira leaned in and spoke to her as she placed more herbs atop the bowls of dips.  “At least show up on time to eat the damn food we just busted our asses to make.” Kira wasn’t quiet in the slightest when it came to her opinions, and she had one very strong opinion; fuck the rich.

“I expected it.” Tawney replied quietly as she chopped more parsley.

“I mean, yeah, I grew up broke as a joke on the wrong side of the city, but at least I have common decency.” Kira sighed before continuing, “You ever wonder what they think of us when we go to fancy places like this?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, do they see a couple of black girls and assume because we’re the only ones in the kitchen with tits and melanin that we’re the house maids?”

“I think you’re giving them too much credit, Ki.” Tawney replied as she grabbed a head of garlic and smashed it. “I think they don’t even notice us.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Kira gave in, “Hell, I hope you’re right.” Then the chef walked in, “What the hell is going on, Chef?  What is the hold up?”

“I don’t know, the woman is out there complaining that her son is never going to come.  I guess that’s who they’re waiting on.” The chef replied as he looked over the food.

“You have to be one entitled prick to keep your mama waiting on her birthday.” Kira snickered.  

              Dinner didn’t start until seven, and there was only a total of 27 people that actually showed.  While the family wouldn’t consider it, asking the catering company to put on such an elaborate dinner in such short notice, to be missing guests, and to start late was greatly disrespectful.  Kira made a point to openly discuss it while on a cigarette break, which of made the chef jump on her case again.  But she was right.  After the dinner had been cleared away, the cooks ate some of what was left, feeling tired and hungry and just needing some food to get through the rest of the night. That was the part nobody talks about when entering the industry.  You couldn’t help but to feel like mice, sneaking in to grab what was left after the cats had their share, and hoping not to get noticed.  Tawney refused, not only on the principle that eating on the job was wrong, but it felt like another act to establish the difference between the haves and the have-nots.  She would wait.  Besides, it was time to present the dessert, this was her time to shine.  

              Kira helped her place the cake, carrying it out on a big silver board, and then strategically placing the cupcakes around it, creating a visual appeal before it was even eaten.  It was those times that Tawney felt pride in her work, and it reminded her of why she decided to become a pastry chef in the first place. There was something magical in that moment when someone sees how beautiful a cake can look, or how cute a cupcake is, or how perfectly browned a pie can be, when they admire the work done before getting to the good part.  She beamed with joy when people told her that her desserts were too pretty to eat, but that rarely happened anymore.  And this time was no exception.  The family pretty much ignored her as she set up the dessert and didn’t even take a second after the candles were blown out before cutting into it.

              The night wasn’t a failure, but it wasn’t pleasant either.  When the chef finally gave them all the okay clean up, Tawney pulled him aside and said she wanted nothing more than to go home and go to bed.  The chef agreed, but made her promise to come in early the next day to clean up the kitchen and start a new order.  It was a never-ending job, especially after already working ten days in a row, but she needed the money, at least that’s what she kept telling herself. She said goodbye to Kira and climbed in her car, fought with it to get it started for a moment, and then pulled out of that driveway with gusto.  With the windows down and the radio up, she would try to shake off the aggravation and get home to finally take a shower.   She was cruising down the highway when her phone started lighting up in her passenger seat, diverting her attention from the road.  Knowing she shouldn’t be doing it, she still reached over and grabbed the phone to read the text message.

This family is ridic! I hope we never see them again!

It was from Kira.  She got worried and wondered what was going on, now feeling bad for leaving her friend behind to fend for herself.  She checked back on the road, and the her speedometer, making sure everything was okay, and then balanced her phone in one hand against the steering wheel to text back.

What happened?

She put the phone on her lap, and it chimed again in only a matter of seconds.

One of them asked Luis if he was here on a green card! Can U believe that shit?

Tawney gasped and couldn’t contain herself from texting back right away, taking her eyes off of the road, again.

Wtf?  Who does that?

Just as her finger pressed the send button, her car started vibrating and making a loud screeching noise.  The shock caused her to drop her phone and grip the wheel with both hands, panicking while searching the road in front of her.  For a split second she saw nothing, and then the sound of a horn right next to her made her practically jump out of her skin.  She looked to her left and saw that she had swerved into the other lane and scraped the side of someone’s car. “Shit!” she cursed and swerved as she tried to regain her bearings.  The little car sped ahead and swerved in front of her, still honking and hitting the breaks, making her stomp onto hers and grip the wheel in fear.  The sound of screeching rubber carried over the music as she swerved onto the shoulder and came to a skidding stop.  “Shit!” she cursed again as she tried to catch her breath. And then the saw the little car pull onto the shoulder just ahead of her.  

Oh fuck.

              She smashed her fist on the radio button, silencing it, and turned her car off.  This was not good.  Her adrenaline was pumping and her stomach was in knots.  She had to remind herself to take deep breaths to avoid hyperventilating. She had never been in an accident before, she hadn’t even gotten a ticket before.  How could she have been so careless? A man climbed out of the tiny car and slammed the door shut before inspecting the passenger side of his car. Her one working headlight did little to illuminate his figure, but she could make out enough that he was tall, and broad.  

Double fuck.

              The man angrily stomped towards her vehicle and pointed a scorching finger at her, and for a moment she forgot how to breathe. “Get out of the car!” the man’s voice bellowed.  Still she sat in shock, and in fear, not moving.  “Get the fuck out of the car!” he repeated.  Her trembling hands finally made way to the door handle, pulling on the lever, only for it not to open.  Had the damage been that bad?  

Triple fuck.

              She yanked it harder and the door finally released, creaking open with the sound of metal scraping metal.  Yes, it was damaged.  As she leaned to move her legs of jell-o, she noticed she was still buckled in.  “Get the fuck out of the car!” the man yelled again.  She unbuckled and stepped out into the nighttime air with no grit to even keep her on her feet, she could have crumbled to the ground if she wasn’t holding onto her car.  The man got even closer, now close enough for her to see.  His face was red with anger, his jawline was sharp as a knife, and his eyes were like daggers.  If she wasn’t scared for her life, she could have thought he looked rather good.  But this was not the time for that.  This man was more likely to be a wild lunatic than a Calvin Klein model.  

“Are-are you okay?” her voice cracked, and still came out weak.  She was shaking like a leaf.

“Look what you did to my car!” he shouted above the noise of passing traffic.  He pointed a blazing finger at his car.  “Go!  Go take a look!” he demanded, but she was too scared to move from where her feet were planted.  

“Is it scratched?” she peeped, twisting her fingers and fidgeting.  He gave her an astonished look.

“Scratched?!  It’s more than scratched!” he paused, and she watched his chest expand as he drew in a deep breath. “Do you have any idea how much this car is?!  You couldn’t even sell your sorry soul to pay for it!” Ouch.  She cringed and looked down at her feet.  If this man wasn’t going to kill her, he was going to verbally assault her until there was nothing left.  “Give me your information!” his voice somehow caught her off guard, and she flinched.  “Give me your damn insurance card!”

Quadruple fuck.

“Come on!  Give it to me!” he commanded as he held out his hand. She gulped.  “Hello?” he snapped his fingers impatiently.  There was no way to get out of the bind she was in, she had to be honest.

“I…I uh…I don’t…” she stuttered.

“Oh my God,” he huffed, “Don’t tell me you don’t have insurance.”

She didn’t.  She did, a few months ago, before her rent went up, and before she had an unexpected medical bill after slicing into her own finger at work.  Going to urgent care and getting three stitches was expensive.  She just fell behind on the payments.

“I’m sorry!  I couldn’t afford it!” she admitted.

“Couldn’t afford?  Jesus!” his anger grew again, “You shouldn’t even be on the road!”

“I know! I just fell behind in the payments! I’ll get it back!”

“That’s not much help right now, is it, dumbass?!” he shouted again as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. “I’m calling the police.”

“Wait!” Tawney panicked and held her hands out in protest.  “We can work something out!  Don’t call the police!” that was the last thing she needed.  He cut his eye at her, contemplating her offer, before pulling his phone away from his ear.

“What did you have in mind?” he raised a brow.  Tawney caught on quick and her eyes widened.

“God, not that! Not like that! No!” she shook her head and quickly dismissed any perverted idea he had in his head.

“Wait a minute,” he interrupted her before she could say anything else and nodded at the patch on her chef coat.  “You work for the catering company that just did my mother’s party.”

“Linda Drysdale?” she somehow recalled the woman’s name, “You’re her son?” Was this handsome jerk the guy that held up the entire night?

“Yeah,” he tucked the phone back into his pocket, which relieved her at least a little bit. “I didn’t see you there putting out any of the food.”

“That’s because I’m the pastry chef, I don’t set up the food.  Only the dessert.”

“You made that cake?” he questioned her.  She nodded, curious as to what his next insulting statement would be.  The man put his hands on his hips and inspected her. “Can you cook?  Or do you just make fancy cakes?”

“I can cook.  I mean, I specialize in desserts, but…” she drew in a deep breath to steady her nerves, “Yes.” She replied as she sighed, “I can cook.”

“Fine.  I mean, it’s not like I can’t get the car fixed myself. But you’re not going to get out of this that easily.” he spoke almost like Tawney was irrelevant in the entire conversation.  “Tell you what…” he rubbed his strong chin, “I need a new cook.  My last one walked out on me.” He squared up to her, almost like he was trying to intimidate her in some way. “If you can’t pay me the money outright to fix my car, you can work it off, save me the expense of hiring someone else.” From the looks of this guy, and his car, and his family, expenses weren’t something he had to be worried about.  

“You want me to come cook for you?  To pay off the damage to your car?” Tawney was skeptical.  She didn’t even know this man.

“You just said you wanted to work something out.” He sounded annoyed, “And clearly you can’t afford to pay for it.”

“But I also have to work at my job, I mean…I’m going to have to fix my car.”

“That’s not my problem.” He waved off her concern.  “What do you say?  Or do I need to call the cops?” he stared her down, almost daring her to give the wrong answer.  Tawney stayed silent, not knowing what to say, or what to do.  The man gave a smug nod.  “I thought so.” He paused, “My address is 10 Canoke Drive.  I want you there at least three days a week, lunch and dinner.  Got it?” She still didn’t respond, instead she stood there chewing on her lip, distressed by how quickly this was all falling into place. “What’s your name, kid?” he raised his brow and leaned in, like he was trying to get some sort of response from her.

“Tawney…” she finally replied, “Tawney Winters.”

“Well Tawney,” he spoke her name as if it tasted funny on his tongue, “Come by tomorrow.”

“I-I don’t even know who you are.”

“Hugh,” he stood up straight and tilted his head some, and then a slight smirk appeared across his lips, “But you can call me Ransom.” The smirk grew, “Consider it an honor, usually I have the help call me Hugh.”

“Um…okay…” Tawney didn’t know what else to say.  The man, Ransom, eyed her once more before turning back to his car and walking off. He didn’t say goodbye, he didn’t wish her a goodnight, he didn’t even bother to ask her if she was okay.  She watched as he climbed back into his little BMW and drove off into the night, leaving her standing on the side of the road with her own car to worry about.  Of course the thing was still drivable, as far as she knew, but it would be a matter of getting that driver side door to work properly.  A gentleman would have made sure she was okay and that she could make it home, but this guy clearly wasn’t a gentleman.  On the contrary, he was an asshole.  And now he was her boss.  Maybe she gave in too easily.  But what other option was there that didn’t involve the cops?  When she eventually found it in her to get back in her car and fight with the door to shut it, she grabbed her phone, having a mind to call Kira to tell her all about the ordeal, but she had already sent her another text from their last conversation.  

Fuck the rich.

Next chapter here.

[beckyh2112]

back to Fox^2

Ponds let himself into Mace's quarters. His Jedi was meditating in the central room, had been since he returned from questioning Palpatine.

Bad sign.

Until Mace finished meditating, there was nothing Ponds could do to directly comfort him. But he went and got down the weighted blanket they mostly used on Caleb when the Force was just Too Much. He checked the food supplies and put in an order with the quartermaster. He chopped vegetables and made a stir fry.

By the time his Jedi finished meditating, Ponds had made enough stir fry for both of them and sent an extra box of it to Gree. His di'kut brother might be getting all of his flimsiwork done while he sat with Fox, but he was terrible about actually eating.

"Ponds."

"Mace." He handed his Jedi a plate of stir-fry then sat down on the floor with his own. They ate in companionable silence. After seconds for Mace and thirds for Ponds, he set his plate aside. "All right. What happened?"

"Too much." Mace gathered the dirty dishes with the Force and stacked them on one of the side-tables. "I can confirm Sidious has Commander Fox."

Ponds clenched his fists. "What is that demagolka doing to him?"

"On the surface, he's keeping the commander as a pet."

"What," Ponds bit out. He knew he wasn't shielding his anger well; he could see it in the sudden tightness around Mace's eyes. But honestly, he thought he was doing pretty good by staying seated and not immediately running off to the prison to commit a murder.

Mace grimaced. "He invited me to share a meditation with him. It was... Unpleasant. In it, he had Commander Fox's constrained in such a way that he looked like a Guard-red fox."

"If I crack his skull open, do you think Fox can get out that way?" Ponds mused, tapping his comm awake and checking the guard roster for Palpatine.

"No, Ponds."

"What if Master Che did it-"

"Still no, Ponds."

---

Ponds had learned something from General Windu that he was refusing to share, so Thire had been recruited to grill him over a group lunch. Well, Thire had agreed to come along and have food with them at least. He didn't want to know what the Chanc- the Sith Lord was doing to Fox.

He knew far too much about what the Sith Lord had already done to Fox.

"I've been meaning to ask," Thorn said, a phrase which never heralded anything good in Thire's experience, "what's with Wolffe's boytoys?"

Bly choked on his drink, while Ponds gave Thorn that flat look he'd honed from watching General Windu. "Boytoys."

"You know, those two CTs he's always got with him."

"They're the other survivors of the Malevolence."

"OH." Enlightenment crashed across Thorn's face. "Yeah, okay, not surprised. Lots of vode get like that with other survivors."

Ponds's look got even flatter. Bly, who could clearly only be allowed to play sabacc with natborns, winced. (Most of the GAR was very expressive by Guard standards, but Bly took it to another level.) Apparently this was another thing that was Guard-normal, or at least Guard-common knowledge, and GAR-disturbing as heck. Which usually meant one of the GAR CCs was going to try to hug him. Gree was still with Fox, so...

Don't get him wrong, Thire was glad as heck the rest of the CCs hadn't been through what the Guard CCs had been through. But the distress from the GAR was so much, everything he had learned in the Senate insisted it had to be performative. He knew it wasn't, but he couldn't make himself believe that.

He tried to lighten the mood and preempt any hugging attempts. "Thorn, I'm begging you. Please. Please. Call them boytoys to his face."

That got snickers from the other three. "Make sure his bucket's off and you're recording," Ponds added. "I want to see his face."

---

His owner was showing him off. That meant his owner wanted people to focus on him instead of anything else his owner was doing. That meant he needed to be lovely and obedient and delightful.

Fox knew how to be lovely and obedient and delightful. His owner had made sure of it.

[kariachi]

Some more Levinstar, sequel to yesterday’s Applin story because

~~

Falkor. The absolute nerd named the Applin Falkor and it was taking everything in Mike not to just kiss him right there.

“You’re a disaster, you know that right,” he said instead, heart going a mile a minute as Kevin stepped out of the apartment in a pair of pants that shouldn’t have been legal, Tock at his side and Falkor nestled against his neck.

“I’ve heard rumors to that effect, yeah,” he replied and Mike was forced to return his smile. He couldn’t not.

He’d spent his entire life making himself as charming as a man could be, and this asshole outdid him with a nothing but a smile. It was awful.

Locking the door behind him, Kevin put out an arm for Mike to take, which he did as begrudgingly as he could muster. Just because he might have been falling in love with the man didn’t mean he was going to go around being soppy. He had a reputation. Not that Kevin seemed to be fooled in any way, smirking as soon as Mike had ahold of him as if the other man had swooned into his arms. Bastard.

“So, mess-of-mine, where are you taking me?” This was their second date. Mike had run the show for their first one, the day he’d given Kevin Falkor. It had had everything- a movie, dinner at a nice restaurant, and Kevin laughing at him both for going for the textbook, impersonal shit and for having, despite what rumor and his own constant flirting had to say, no relevant experience in dating. In the midst of damn-near pissing himself, he looked up at Mike’s pout, reached up to fiddle with his hair, and promised to show him how it was really done.

“Safari zone,” he said.

“That’s a two hour drive out,” Mike pointed out, raising an eyebrow even as the corners of his mouth twitched into something more devious.

“Yeah,” Kevin replied, his toothy grin not even trying to play at anything but active plotting. Mike snickered under his breath.

“They’ll probably be closed.” With a snicker of his own, Kevin pressed a kiss under his ear. Circling them, Amy peeped her approval.

“Don’t you worry about it, Sparkles.”

~~

It was dark when Kevin parked the car on the side of a backroad well away from the entrance to the safari zone, within sight of a large, heavy-duty chain-link fence. Dinner was retrieved from the trunk and in only a few minutes they’d made the arduous trek to the fence, which was just excessively tall in Mike’s opinion. There was no reason it couldn’t be dropped at least a foot. But alas. Slipping the bag with the food over his shoulder, Mike bundled Elissa into his arms and was standing on the opposite side in less time than it’d taken to get out of the car. Setting her down as Amy followed suit, he smirked at Kevin through the fence.

“Need me to come get you, Daffodil?” Unsurprisingly, Kevin smirked back. Without a word he began scaling the fence like it was nothing, pausing only long enough for Tock to use him as a springboard over the top- a maneuver that had Elissa purring up a storm- before all but flinging himself to the other side, a hand clapped firmly over Falkor. He did a flourish as he landed perfectly on his feet, which Mike actively refused to look impressed by, no matter how much he was. Kevin didn’t seem to mind.

“Come on,” he simply said, shaking his head and throwing an arm over Mike’s shoulder, “I know exactly where we’re going.”

Mike became aware of several things as they made their way into the reserve. That it was a lovely night, with clear skies and a full moon. Lovely array of stars. The temperature just right to be picnicking. Nocturnal pokemon were everywhere, a natural ambient backdrop. And most importantly, that Kevin’s arm fit around him like it belonged there.

They hadn’t even gotten to the ‘date’ part and he was already more impressed with this one.

Kevin led the way on what was a fairly long walk, sometimes on trails and sometimes not, up onto a ridge that made for one of the highest points in the reserve. He planted another kiss on his cheek as he admired the view, taking the food from him and laying out it all nice and proper before dragging him to sit on the grass with him. Roast beef sandwiches, pasta salad, brownies, in enough quantities to maybe not satisfy Mike’s appetite, but at least take most of the edge off it.

“Okay,” Mike said, again as begrudgingly as he could manage, “I’ll give you, this has been nice. Not quite five Michelin star, but I suppose you have to sacrifice something for the view.”

“Oh this isn’t all,” Kevin replied in a light tone that said he was no way fooled by Mike’s aloof act. “Give it another-” he checked his phone “-twenty minutes or so.” The information came with a pre-emptively smug expression and Kevin’s weight landing against his shoulder to stay.

That’s how they spent the next twenty minutes- sat there together, eating and talking about nothing (“Bet Ben he couldn’t get through one of my vegan lasagnas in an hour. Lost fifty bucks, but it was worth it to see him struggle to eat a vegetable.”) (“Found myself spending a half hour yesterday coaxing Feliciano out from behind the tub. I didn’t even know there was a gap there.”) It was, nice. Soft. With Elissa and Tock curled together in a mirror of them, and Amy and Falkor napping away. Scenic views, good food, Kevin’s awful breath against Mike’s cheek. He could be forgiven for forgetting there was supposedly more to the night until Kevin grinned and pointed to their left.

A topic that had come up repeatedly in Mike’s research had been the natural bond between magic users and fairy-types. Mike had never questioned the concept- in all honesty it explained a lot. Why Gwen had a Gardevoir and Togetic. Why Charmcaster’s team was eighty percent fairies. Even Argit had a fairy on his team, and Mike had two. It just made sense, the idea that they were naturally drawn together by some common ground between magic and the power fairies wielded. Explained a lot. Like why his breath caught when he followed Kevin’s finger to a clearing in the forested area down below and saw a cluster of green, orange, and white lights.

A colony of Morelull on the move, with three Shiinotic guardians. They could just barely hear their strange whirring, chiming calls over the distance as they made they made their way across the open space. Very quickly, for what Mike knew where fairly small pokemon. Within only a few minutes the clearing was dark again, the grass types safely back in protection of the trees.

“Do they do that every night?” Mike asked, knowing damn well he had a stupid smile on his face but not yet ready to drop it. A quick and forced glance revealed Kevin giving him the same look, so other than the probably-dangerous beats per minute he heart started getting it was probably fine.

“Every night I’ve been here,” Kevin replied, then nudged his shoulder with a quiet chuckle. “You’re not the only one who can do his research.” Actually concerned that at that moment meeting each other’s eyes might have been fatal, Mike kept his gaze of the dark little clearing and simply leaned his weight against Kevin.

“You know a colony of Morelull one almost caused a plane crash? Something disturbed them as the plane was going by and they released enough spores in self-defense that the pilots above were temporarily blinded.”

“Damn.” Kevin’s arm returned to its rightful place around Mike’s shoulders, pulling him in closer against his side. “So, a good date?” Mike hummed like he was considering it, smile taking on a sharper, more devious edge.

“An eight out of ten,” he said, “could use some work.” With a snort, Kevin reeled back in mock offense before diving at him. He easily knocked the unresisting blond to the ground, pinning his arms to his sides in a totally-not-hug and grazing at his throat with quick snaps of his teeth. Mike normally could’ve broken free, Mike normally could’ve broken his arms, but it just wasn’t possible through the laughter bubbling out of the both of them, especially as the grazing snaps turned to gentle kisses along his neck and jaw. Woken up by the commotion, Falkor began trying to break up the ‘fight’ with harmless tackles, which only made the whole thing worse.

By the time they were making their way back to the car, Mike slung over Kevin’s shoulder because he ‘couldn’t be trusted’, he was more than willing to admit this had been better than any of his ideas.

He was going to have to up his game.

[thejacketandthehook]

Before Dawn 7/?

Title: Before Dawn

Author: thejacketandthehook (aka everystareverywhere)

Summary:  Emma Swan and Killian Jones only had one thing in common: Emma’s best friend and Killian’s brother were dating. But Emma and Killian could not get along. That was, until the day they had to work together through a tragedy that no one saw coming.

Rating: General (but that will change to Mature in later chapters)

Word Count: 27,009

Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing.

Author’s Notes:  So, I’ve been in the mist of writing this particular story for almost two years. And I’m hoping that if I have support, I’ll be more motivated to finish it. So my story is based off of the movie “Life As We Know It” starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. 

You can also read it here: A03

@searchingwardrobes

"We can do this," Emma murmured

"Absolutely," Killian replied.

"We are two very well educated adults. Well, sorta well educated. I mean, I didn't -" Noting that she was getting off topic, Emma cleared her throat and tried again. "We're smart individuals. We have faced more in our lives than others. We can do this."

"I have complete faith in us."

They both looked down at the laughing Henry, who was giggling and wigging his legs at his guardians.

"He shite all over himself, didn't he?" Killian whispered.

"I don't want to look," Emma groaned before backing away from the changing table.

Killian gently took her by the shoulders and moved her closer. "Together."

"It's going to be bad," she warned.

He nodded in agreement. "Yes, but we'll get through it."

They both took a step towards Henry, who unfortunately let out some gas, making both of them back away once more, only this time they were covering their noses.

"Bloody hell, mate! What did you eat?!" Killian's voice was muffled, due to his hand.

"Killian, we have to clean him."

"I know, I know. I just...Good Lord, mate!"

Emma took a deep breath through her mouth, and still she could smell Henry. Oh, this was not going to be pretty. "Okay. Okay, this is what we are going to do. We're gonna --"

"Do we have gloves?"

Emma raised her eyebrow. "Gloves?"

"You know, the gloves that doctor's wear."

"Oh, those gloves. Yeah. In the bathroom."

"And a mask?"

"I doubt it."

"Okay, gloves. I'll get the gloves." And then Killian all but bolted out of Henry's nursery.

Emma shook her head but looked down at the smiling boy in front of her. "Well, at least you think this is funny," she muttered, giving a small smile thanks to his giant grin.

Then Emma noticed something, and gently lifted Henry's foot.

"Killian!" she almost screamed as she picked up Henry by his underarms.

"What?!" he yelled, seconds away from panicking.

"Turn on the water for the bath! Now!"

She ran out of the bedroom and hoped to God Henry wasn't dripping onto the floor.

~*~

Before....everything, Emma lived a fairly simple life. She had her work, she had a small but useable apartment, and she had Elsa and Henry. And Walsh. And she was content. She really was.

Emma met Walsh through Elsa. It was when she was pregnant with Henry that she began looking for furniture. Refusing to even think about going to retail store, she insisted on going to a small (and somewhat expensive) furniture shop just off of Main Street. While Elsa was glancing at the furniture, Emma was too busy having an almost heart attack over the prices of the furniture. And when the owner of the shop, Walsh Green, came over, she insisted he talk about why they had to pay so much more for the furniture than anywhere else.

Walsh made a sounding argument, that even Emma was nodding along at the end. She still thought it was expensive, but it was her nephew that she was thinking about, so Emma and Elsa (along with Liam, of course), picked out which furniture they wanted for the child's first bedroom.

Emma had noticed that Walsh was checking her out, but Emma and relationships....well, she wasn't good at them. A one-night stand? That she could do. But to get into a relationship with boyfriends and girlfriends and dates and flowers and romance...

Emma would rather run to the hills.

She was burned before by relationships, she wasn't going through that mistake again.

Walsh was different though. They didn't start dating right away. In fact, she didn't see him again until after Henry was born. She went back to the store looking for a night table and once more he was there. And he was nice. And considerate. And extremely patient.

She liked Walsh. A lot. She really did. If she had to write down everything she wanted in a man, Walsh would be it.

But after everything that has happened over the course of the last five months, being in a relationship kind of took a backseat. She needed to focus on Henry, that was her priority. And then days turned into weeks which turned in months, and she realized that Walsh wasn't just in the backseat. He was out of the car completely.

And the worst part? She was kind of glad for it.

She felt incredibly guilty for it, but Walsh just made everything that was happening with Henry and....just everything more complicated.

The part that made her cringe the most was the fact that she didn't even really notice that anything was amiss, but rather Killian did. It was while they were cleaning up their supper (salmon with a lemon dressing and roasted vegetables that even had Emma sighing with pleasure) that Killian asked:

"How's Walsh doing?"

Emma was scrubbing at the baking pan (he swore than he used a cooking spray, and she was pretty sure he forgot) when she stopped. She honest to God had no idea.

"Um, he's...he's good."

"Haven't seen much of him lately."

"Right, well, he's busy. And I'm busy. We're both busy, so..."

"Right." He nodded, lightly twisting the towel in his hands. "Right. It's just, you haven't seen him on any of your days off."

She continued scrubbing, but raised one eyebrow. "You stalking me?"

"No. No! No, of course not. I just---I notice...things."

She shook her head before they heard a thud in the living room. Killian instantly dropped the towel on the counter and ran over, Emma picking up the towel to dry her hands, following him.

"He's fine," Killian commented once he assess what happened. "He dropped that toy I gave him for his birthday."

"It made a loud thud."

"He dropped it outside the playpen."

"Ah," she commented before walking back towards the sink. She handed the towel back to Killian before rolling up her sleeves once more.  Once she ready, she continued. "I, um, I talk to Walsh. Every few days or so." Though, honestly it was bordering on like a week now.

"Oh, okay. Glad to hear that's still...going."

"Yeah. Yeah." They were quiet for a moment before Emma blurted out, "I was pretty sure that Walsh was going to propose the night that..." She gestured to the living room where Henry was. Killian nodded in understanding.

Emma handed him the baking pan, and he's scrubbed it dry like he'll be marked if it's not dry enough. Looking down, Killian asked, "And what were you going to say? If he did ask, I mean."

She gives a nonchalant shrug as she washed the glass Killian used. "I was--am, I am in love with him. I would have said yes." Emma looks down to see the towel now lying on his feet. "Killian, what's going on? You keep dropping stuff, and I thought we had discussed that I'm the klutz in this house."

"Butterfingers tonight, love, nothing more." He took the glass she was holding and promptly started to dry it. "And now? If he asked now?"

"I don't know. Everything's complicated now. Now it's not just me I have to think about, but Henry. And you. You've become an intricate part of my life. I mean, we share custody of Henry, and that's huge."

He nodded, putting the glass in the cupboard. "And how does Walsh feel about Henry?"

"Henry he loves. He's has no problem with Henry." Emma refused to look at Killian.

And he knew why. "It's me, isn't it? I'm the one causing the problems?"

Emma dropped the sponge in the soapy water. "No!" Killian cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. She looked back down at the sink and bit her lip. "Small problem. Minute, really."

"Emma--"

"Walsh has to work through it, Killian. We spoke about it." He spoke. Emma tried to listen, but he just calling up the same argument: "I don't understand why you two have to live in that house together! Why can't you go back to the apartments you had and just have shared custody or something?

She knew where he was coming from. She did. But she tried to explain that it was for Henry's sake, but that just fell on deaf ears.  So she just....stopped talking to Walsh.

"When are you going to see him again?" Killian asked.

"Um, tomorrow. I think. I have to check."

Killian raised an eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing.

~*~

As soon as they were done, Emma ran upstairs to get her phone. She had a message from Mary Margaret (a photo of Leo that sort of look like he was smiling) and sent back a reply, before immediately looking for Walsh's name (and it was a little further down on the list than what was probably proper for someone's boyfriend) and shooting him a text to meet up soon.

His response wasn't encouraging:

Oh, remember me, did you?

Oh boy.

Of course I remember you, silly, she texted, though she couldn't believe how badly her hands were shaking. Shit, shit, shit, she kept thinking as she continued, Things have just been really busy here with Henry. He's walking without falling over all the time, so he's keeping me on my toes. And he's really close to talking. The doctor said any day now he could say his first proper word.

Silence.

What did she expect? She barely has messaged him, let alone seen him in a week. And then out of the blue she's like Hey, don't forget about me!

Shit.

Yeah, sounds like it, he wrote back. Think Kurt can spare you for a couple of hours tomorrow? Or will "Henry" suddenly be needing more of your time?

First of all, his name is Killian. Second of all, wtf is with the quotations around Henry's name? He's a little over a year, Walsh! He needs attention.

Can you come tomorrow?

She had a idea on how tomorrow was going to end, but she still typed, Yes.

~*~

"Oh, how cute! How old is he?"

Killian grinned at the woman who was currently bending over to look at Henry who was in his stroller, eating the cereal Emma packed for him. Killian needed to get his bottle out soon, because last time he forgot that Henry also needed to drink something, Emma almost had a fit.

The woman, who was pretty and young and currently showing more than she really needed to, especially since it was almost mid-October in Maine, held little interest for Killian. He was grinning because Henry had more cereal in his lap than in his mouth and for some reason that made him laugh.

"He's almost sixteen months."

"How precious! And the handsome father taking him out for the day!" The woman stood up, and she somehow still showed so much skin. For reasons he didn't quite understand, Killian got uncomfortable. "Your wife must be so pleased."

It was not unusual for women to flirt with him, especially when he had Henry with him. Actually, he's pretty sure more women have flirted with him while he's holding Henry than when he was just out on the town. And in the beginning, it was fun. He walked around with Henry, smirking at all the looks he got from the women who passed him on the streets. It was almost comical in a way. He still was a bachelor, that was true, even if he did have a kid.

And a woman at home.

Somewhere in the last couple of weeks, however, taking Henry to the park became less like a game and more like a drag. Emma noticed it too, how he stopped going to the park as often or stopped taking Henry out with him during his morning run. She made some kind of comment, something about why he didn't take Henry out as often as he once did. She didn't say it to be mean or snarky, but more like she was curious. He felt bad that Henry, who could now walk around and babble with little difficulty, was pretty much stuck in the house unless Emma took him out. So he grabbed Henry's bag and stroller, Emma made both of them up some snacks, and off to the park they went. Beside, Emma was out meeting with her...Walsh, so some fresh air was exactly what both Killian and Henry needed. And what was better than the crisp autumn air?

And he was enjoying himself, running after Henry, making sure he got down the slide safely, even patching up a small scrape. Now they were quietly enjoying their snacks when the woman came along and made Killian remember why he stopped coming in the first place.

The woman kind of reminded him of his ex-wife, with the long brown hair and small nose. But she lacked Emma's smile, her green eyes, and he now was realizing that perhaps he has a thing for blondes.

And the more the woman flirted with him, the more he realized he was utterly screwed.

So, when she asked about his wife, his mind screamed at him to tell her, "Nope. No wife. Just me and the little guy." Which wasn't exactly false, but wasn't the complete truth either. But something else, something he didn't want to look at took closely made him say, "Yeah, she enjoys some quiet while I take the little one out."

The woman made a face, almost like she knew he was going to say that before smiling once more, telling him he has a beautiful boy, before hightailing it out of there.

Killian turned the stroller around, so Henry faced him. The little one was picking up the cereal he had dropped and gave a small cough. Reaching in the back of the stroller, Killian took out the bottle filled with water that Emma had prepared and gave to Henry, who dropped what cereal he was holding and reached out for it. As he sucked happily, Killian watched with a small smile.

Then he remembered the woman and his lie and his smile faded.

He leaned closer to the boy before saying, "This isn't going to be good."

~*~

"Emma, I think we need to talk."

Taking a deep breath, Emma turned her body to face Walsh. They were at his apartment (he insisted), and since she had a feeling how this story would end, she didn't argue it.

"Yeah, I think so."

Walsh looked at her for a moment before saying, "Emma, this just isn't working."

She nodded. She knew it was coming.

What she didn't expect was what Walsh was going to say next.

"I mean, you suddenly having a kid was...Not something that I planned. But I understand your predicament, so I went along with it. And Henry is a great kid, but I know you have your hands full with him right now." He paused, and she was going to start talking, but he continued. "But Emma, this situation with Kevin is just...I don't like it. I don't like how he's with you all of the time."

"Not all of the time, Walsh. And his name is Killian."

"It's all the time, Emma. Did you know I saw you at the supermarket last week? You, Henry, and Kevin walking down the aisles together. And you just looked so...domesticated. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were a family."

Emma knew what he was referring to. It was their usual run to the supermarket, to pick up food for the week. Henry sat in the front basket, typically eating a piece of fruit that the store puts on display for children to munch on as their adults shop. At one point, Emma was insistent on getting Pop-Tart cereal (best thing invented, to be honest), and Killian was listing all the reasons why that would be a horrible idea, the amount of sugar number one on the list. And had this conversation have happened months ago, they would have gotten into a screaming match right there in the cereal aisle. But instead, they were both laughing, Emma almost mocking Killian for his reasons why they shouldn't buy it, as Killian tried to put the box of cereal into the cart without Emma noticing. Then Killian took a bit of the banana Henry was munching on, making him laugh.

"Walsh," Emma sighed.

Walsh stood up and began pacing. "I knew this was bad idea. I knew you two living together would become a disaster."

"It's not a disaster, Walsh."

He gave a humorless chuckle. "Maybe from where you're sitting. But from my perspective, this is a disaster. The woman I'm in love with is in love with another man!"

This man Emma stand up and put her hands out in front of her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I am not in love with Killian Jones! I will admit that I don't hate him as much as I used to, but I most certainly am not in love with him!"

Walsh, however, barely would even listen to her. "I know what I'm seeing, Emma. You're taking care of Henry, sure. But I also can see the writing on the wall. You may not be in love with him, but you most certainly have feelings for him."

"I respect him." When Walsh scoffed at that, Emma continued, "Walsh, our relationship doesn't include Killian."

For the first time that evening, Walsh raised his voice. "Like Hell it doesn't! Our relationship was fine until he came into the picture!"

Emma took defense. "No, our relationship was fine until Elsa and Liam....until I got custody of Henry!"

"When you first got custody, I still saw you. You had your breaks or days off or whatever, but I still spent time with you. But after our little vacation or whatever, you...you just disappeared. Suddenly I barely got a message from you. And I know that Henry is a baby and he takes up your time and whatever bullshit you want to pull out of your ass. But how much was it that Killian was right there, and --"

Emma held up one hand and closed her eyes. She was so angry in the moment, that if she didn't leave the room right that instant, she would either cry or smack him. And, honest to God, she wasn't sure which way she was going to go.

"Stop right there. I have been through Hell, Walsh, and have been for a very long time. Long before Killian, and way before you. Yes, Killian and I get along right now, but that's because we both lost someone very close to our hearts. We are grieving, and he's the only one who understands how I feel."

"Help me understand then!" Walsh argued.

"No. There is some grief that you just...you just can't explain it. And Killian..." She shook her head. "I'm sorry Walsh. I'm sorry I put you though this the last few months. But what I'm really sorry for is if I had the chance to change it....I probably wouldn't."

And with that, Emma picked up her bag and left his apartment for good.

~*~

When Emma finally arrived back to the house, Killian was sitting on the couch, a soccer game on the television, and Henry next to him. Henry had no idea what in the world was going on, but he raised his arms when Killian did and laughed when Killian gave him a hug in celebration.

When Killian noticed Emma in the room, his face immediately fell and he paused the game. "Mate, maybe you should go play," he said to Henry, picking him up and placing him on the ground. Henry tottered a bit before gaining his balance and walking over to him mat with toys on it.

Killian scooted over on the couch and patted gently. "What happened, Swan?"

Emma placed her bag on the floor next to the couch and all but collapsed next to him. "It's over."

"What's over?"

"My relationship with...with Walsh. It's over."

When he didn't say anything, Emma looked over at him. "Oh," was all he said. Then he cleared his throat and continued. "I'm....I'm sorry to hear that." He placed his hand over hers. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. She wasn't crying, no. He wondered if she was in shock.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I mean, it's sad, but..."

"Did he break it off, or...?"

"It was him."

Silence, and then Killian asked, "Was it because of Henry?"

She shook her head. "No."

Killian's eyebrows knitted together. "Then what...?"

She sat back and crossed her legs and arms. She put up her wall, and Killian knew that unless he wanted to go ten rounds with her, he wasn't going to get any more information out of her.

"I don't want to talk about it. It's done."

Killian respected her decision and sat back. They sat in silence and watched Henry as he played with his toys. Killian turned the game back on, but was barely paying attention to it, just watching Emma bit her lip from the corner of his eye.

Both adults focused when Henry got up from his mat and tottered over to Emma. He smiled up at her, and she ran her fingers through his hair. She froze when he said, "Ma-ma."

Emma's eyes grew and her jaw dropped. She looked over at Killian, who's mouth also popped open and both of them looked at Henry with amazement.

"Henry, did you just--?"

"Ma-ma. Ma-ma! Ma-ma!" he said again and again and again, leaning on Emma's legs and bouncing a little.

"You said your first word, Henry!" Emma shouted with glee as she quickly picked Henry up and spun him around, holding him tightly to her. Killian too got up and when she stopped spinning, he took Henry from her arms and gave him a hug as well.

"I'm so proud of you, my boy! Now try Kill-i-an."

"Oh, Killian, he's never going to get that," she scoffed as she rugged the baby's back. "He can't even fully say 'Emma.'"

"Fine," he huffed. Looking back at Henry, Killian tried again. "Come on, Henry. Say 'Killy.' 'Kill-e'"

"Ma-ma."

"We'll get there."

Emma took Henry from Killian and bounced him around, making the boy laugh. She noticed Henry's bag and stroller in the corner by the door and asked, "Oh, you went to the park?"

"For a little while, aye."

"So, how was it?"

Killian rubbed the back of his neck, and before he could say anything, she replied. "That bad, huh?"

"No, not bad. Just tiring."

"I'm sure getting flirted with left and right must be exhausting," she teased.

He cracked a small smile. "Why do you think that women flirt with me wherever I go with Henry?"

"Because you're a guy who's holding a baby and you don't have a wedding ring. Women eat that crap up," she said before she sat down with Henry on her lap.  

She was reaching over for one of his toys when he asked teasingly, "And what, you don't?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "Nope. You made me totally immune."

And just like that, Killian suddenly felt something, something deep in his chest. It was almost like getting shot with a thunderbolt, the electricity running through him. Suddenly it all made sense, why he wasn't interested in the women who flirted with him, why he suddenly had a desperate urge to get home every day after work, why he no longer wanted to spend his nights on the town but rather on the couch next to Emma.

It was because somewhere along the way, he actually had fallen in love with her .

And it was right then, right at that moment when she smiled at him, her green eyes dancing with mischief that he realized just how deeply he had already fallen down the rabbit hole.

"Excuse me," he muttered before practically running to the bathroom.

Slamming the door shut, he held tightly to the sink, taking deep breaths.

He, Killian Jones, was head over heels in love with Emma Swan.

Just what in hell was he going to do about it now?