#omfg what is air xD

[maximwtf]

readder takes a bullet for izzy. need this fic asap. omfg. did u want finale yet???

Izzy x Reader

words: 1700

google docs pages: 3

warnings: ! S2E8 Spoilers (Kinda?) ! Gunshot wound, mentions of smoking and drinking, blood, death

opening: Ricky turns to fire his pistol and run, but you saw it coming and push Izzy out of the way. 

AN// Reader can be any gender! I can’t even lie, my angst loving heart was highkey excited for this one XD Thank you for the request, I love writing stuff like this !! This shall also heal my soul after watching ep8, I’m still a mess from it waaa

 “I’ll wait for you”

The long ferns dragged along the freshly stolen British navy coat as you made your way towards the shore with the rest of the crew. Your palm was around the handle of your sword, still convinced that this was a clear suicide mission. There seemed to be absolutely no chance for the whole crew to make it alive all the way to the ship and to make an escape. The Republic of Pirates was swarming with British soldiers, every corner being watched and checked actively. Though, you weren’t going to try and stay here either. You’d rather die as a pirate than get captured and be hung by the British. 

Izzy marched a little ahead of you with Ricky. You weren’t sure why he had been put in charge of the man, but there was no use in asking for him to hand over the job to you. He was still the first mate, and as loyal as he was he continued on with his duties. You weren’t scared for his sake, he was most certainly a more skilled fighter and a sailor than you were. But there was always the what if, at the back of your mind. As far as you knew, the whole area was surrounded by British soldiers. Each and every time you’d peeked to take a fast look, at least three men stood near with their guns. So the odds of one of them spotting the group and shooting weren’t nonexistent. 

Blackbeard and Izzy had a long history together, but so did you and him. From what you’d talked with Izzy, you’d joined the crew only a short time after him. The man wasn’t even the first mate just yet, which was one of the reasons why you’d dared to start chatting with him in the first place. By God, you wouldn’t have started hitting up someone in a much higher position in the crew just after joining. But there had started your decades long, complicated relationship. He’d always been a little snappish, and that had only amplified once he was given the position as first mate. But every time you’d been with him at the sidelines where he usually spent his time, he was just slightly different. He was the same man, but like there was less of a wall he had to keep up. So because he was seemingly comfortable with you around, you sometimes spent time with him. Share cigarettes, watched him carve figures out of small pieces of wood, whatever he was doing. Sometimes there were no words, just silent companionship. At times the air felt tense, and at some point that wasn’t just an itch you had sometimes. There was real tension, but neither of you addressed it. All the way up until you’d sat down to drink a bottle or two of rum with him. There were not many memories of said night, just one of the tension breaking kiss you’d shared with him. And of course the morning after, and the days that followed. The silence that suggested the both of you being at loss of what to do next. 

Your eyes focused on the soldiers in front of you, listening to Ricky speak to them as he’d been told to before. So far the plan was going as intended, but that wouldn’t last for much longer. The prince swung around, alerted the soldiers that the group he was with were pirates and pulled out his pistol. Your eyes widened and without more than a second to think you pushed the man next to you. There wasn’t time to check if he'd landed okay, since that hadn’t been a part of your plan, only to get him out of the bullet’s way. You heard the thud as he fell over, and soon after followed one of the most agonizing pain you could have imagined. The bullet must have hit you instead. There was no time to properly locate where it had hit, but you didn’t have to just yet. As long as you could somewhat walk, that was enough, since after you’d made it to the ship you could take a look at the damage. 

The rest of the unit had heard the gunshot and were hurrying to the scene. You reached out and offered a hand for Izzy, the other hand holding the spot you could see blood seeping through. He took a hold of your hand, noticing that something was clearly wrong. You could see his mouth open slightly, but before he was able to question you, you let go of his hand and pushed him forward by his back. “Fuck off, go!” You growled, eyes scanning the area for the easiest way out. 

The walk to the shore was a blur. You could tell you were stumbling, even the smallest of rocks getting in your way. Izzy was walking in front of you, but you could tell he was stalling more than a person running for their life would. “Did I not tell you to go?” You snarled a little at the stinging pain, now more obvious that it was coming from somewhere deep near your side. You wished he would have just followed the others, gotten away faster. But this brand new version of him wouldn’t do that to you, to anyone from the crew for that matter. You’d been proud of him through his change, but this was not the time for him to care about you. “Come on, I’m not leaving you here.” He paused enough to get you closer to him, and hoisted you up a little by your arm. “Fuck you.” You cursed, trying to walk a little faster now that he was helping you. 

The boat ride felt like forever, and as each of the waves hit the boat the stings of pain just felt worse and worse. You felt light headed and even without noticing you leaned on Izzy just a little more for support. He stiffened up, but kept you in place so you wouldn’t accidentally lean over the edge. You could have sworn you felt his thumb repetitively go over your forearm, as if to keep some sense in the moment .

Izzy got out of the boats first, and with the help of the others he got your form on the main deck. The first mate tore off his coat, laying it flat on the wooden deck before leaning your head over his lap. You could feel cold sweat creep onto your forehead and back, breaths shallow and quick. It was only now setting in what had happened, but you tried to bite back the feelings of panic. You felt Izzy tap your cheek, making your eyes land on his face. Some dirt had stuck to his face from the fall he’d taken because of you, you thought to yourself. “Come on, stay awake.” Izzy said, his voice a little shaken, but the same old commanding tone somewhere in there. “Oh, you’ll be fine, you carouser.” A groan left your throat, making you close your eyes for a moment. You didn’t feel like opening them after, but you did. You did when Izzy’s hand made contact with your cheek again. 

Before this you’d thought of the crew members watching. You’d noticed they were around Izzy, some of them hurrying to get anything to help. Though, you knew this was the day you’d feed the fish. Izzy’s expression looked tight. Like he wanted to cry, but tried not to for your sake. He was hunched over your form as his eyes watered. “Aye, now. Don’t hang the jib. You’ll be fine.” You tried to reassure him. He’d changed so much, gotten to see how much the crew actually cared about him. He’d be just fine even if you weren’t there with him to stand at the sidelines. Only if he could see that as well. “You don’t do this now, ye fucking hear me?” He said, brows furrowed. You looked at him, his eyes. He looked oddly blurry, your head was spinning from the lost blood. Though, you didn’t mention it to him. “I’m not going anywhere.” You grit your teeth, finding breathing a lot harder than it had been before. You wanted to go, if that meant the struggle would finally end. “But even if I did, I’d be leaving you with the…best possible people.”

Your gaze stayed on Izzy, trying to follow his lips in case you missed something he said. But he was silent, like he was holding back something. The first mate swallowed uncomfortably, leaning over carefully, just to hide his words from anyone else. “You need to tell me if you-” He started, but that was enough. A faint smile appeared on your face. “Of course I fucking love you.” You said, for his sake silently, but you didn’t find it in you to speak any louder anymore. Izzy froze for a moment, some tension leaving his shoulders as he nodded. It was subtle, but as long as you’d known him you’d learned to find even the most minimalistic emotions from his face. His jaw trembled, but his mouth opened and he silently replied; “I love you.” Which was enough for you, more than so. But at that moment, you hoped those words would have been said earlier. Then maybe, just maybe everything could have been different. “I’ll wait for you.” You said, the struggle starting to feel better, like it was coming to an end. Izzy’s face blurred into a soft darkness, which slowly became the only thing still holding you. 

AN// Requests for Izzy are open, I love writing for him ahhh >:(

[happypopcornprincess]

Finished binging The Sign series (till ep. 7) and... I have thoughts!

this is going to be either in 2 or 3 parts because there is no way I am covering everything in one post.

Spoilers Ahead!

Episode 2

I loved how they are blending so many different genres in one series, I didn't even knew this was possible dude! This episode had a murder mystery, fluffy romance, brotherhood, comedy and reincarnation, ancient mythological connections? Writers, hats off dude!

My favourite moments:

Tharn picking a lock with a paperclip :)

This scene was so fucking funny T~T I was giggling, kicking my feet in the air.

Yai, my sweet summer child, that was not a dream.

Beautiful Mythical lady Jumpscare 2.0 (I totally get you, Phaya, If she called me into the waters I would have jumped too)

This shot of the brotherhood :D

THE BANTER>>>>>>>

Couple goals? nah bro, Couple GOALS!

Had me giggling, kicking my feet omfg!!!

ARIANA WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE XD

even when drunk... he wants his bro to get laid T~T Yai the best wingman ever!

and that's it :)

[shimmerbeasts]

IMMA CHEAT! Gives in cheat card that says one cheat per day

So, first off! Imma go with Vi. Its who I came to write with you at first when we first meet, and holy shit I haven't looked back for one second. I absolutely love getting to write with your Vi, how we did into who she is since the beginning. I've gotten to see you literally fly off in a jet with her, crafting her sass, her sarcasm, her brutal nature, all of it! I think one of my favorite things I've seen her is your epiphany that she is practically a chem-baroness in Stillwater which continues into Zaun and how Caitlyn is her unofficial deputy. I also love how you've taken so much with her and just created a beautiful, unique, dark version of Vi that is still a "good person" but filled with demons and struggles of her own!

I literally am amazed at how well Caitlyn and vi work together too, like her portrayal of yours works SO WELL with Caitlyn. they are both vastaya, both struggling with situations that are similar, they lean on each other. They are literally the bridge between the two worlds Caitlyn born in Piltover how embraces actions as a Zaunites, Vi who is a Zaunite who embraces the life as in Piltover. They are just two halves of a whole.

Her character and portrayal are so on point and you are my ultimate inspiration for me writing a Vi as well cause without you, I would have never tried and you encourage me so much just as I have encouraged you. I will never not love your Vi, I always want to write with her and enjoy your story with her!

AND THEN! drum rolls

Jinx!!! How can I not mention Jinx. She's so crucial in the development of my Caitlyn, same as Vi, and they are brilliant foils! like goddamn the whole 'she's replacing me' and we literally just kept tacking on more and more of how jinx sees her as a replacement.

But besides our interactions, I am absolutely in love with your darker version as well. For me, it FEELS like Jinx. Not the league version of this playful, silly, dumb blond feeling lunatic that just doesn't shit for giggles. While Your Jinx includes these little things like her playfulness and all, there is still this air of danger. And not just danger.

Intelligent Danger.

Your Jinx KNOWS How to scare people, she knows the power she holds. and she makes sure that everyone else knows it too. And just the depth of her instability and how it influences this intelligence danger too. Jinx isn't just some psychopath going about doing things cause she can; despite her instability it has a reason, a driven purpose, and she is literally Silco's legacy of monstrosity. But I still love how despite all of this, she isn't blanket "only chaos". There is her love for silco, her family unit, her strengths and qualities that bring about more to her! Like ssshit, I love how I can literally have this heart breaking for her despite her being an antagonist (same with Silco but we won't go there cause 2 is my limit XD). But just, omfg!

And I love our tragedy between the sisters. The two who want to help the other, but they cannot accept who they are now, they won't. And just this Greek tragedy design between the two that no matter what ,their story will be tragic and heartbreaking.

But seriously, I could talk about Vi and Jinx all day long but this is getting long and its going to be a text wall in a half on the dash.

Still… no regrets <3 I love ya ^_^

Alright, you little cheater. *laughs* I am gonna let it slide because it is you, Panda. ;)

I don't mind you talking about both Vi and Jinx because like you just stated, they played such a fundamental and deep role in shaping your Caitlyn. And to be honest, they are a bit of a packaged deal. If the writing goes well with one of them, there is a big chance that eventually, the other one shows up too.

I will never get tired of saying this but without you, Vi would not be who she is right now. Thank you for giving her a chance and most of all, thank you for showing such patience and enthusiasm as I slowly worked out the kinks concerning Vi. Without you and your interest in engaging with her on so many levels, I don't think Vi would have ever made the jump from secondary to primary muse. And I don't think she would have done it as quickly either.

I agree: For me realising Vi is the Chem-Baroness of Stillwater was such a huge moment, especially because I don't think anybody has ever done that concept before. Most people if they write darker Vi, lean more into her brutality and how dangerous Vander used to be. Meanwhile, I feel like my Chem-Baron girl basically took Vander's negotiation ability and twisted it up a bit. Maybe she even took some cues from Silco; though I bet she'd kill me if I ever insinuated this out loud.

To be honest, I do not think I had even planned for Vi to become this dark a character. What is even more impressive, is that despite her violence and dark twists, I can still say with confidence that she is the protagonist and deep down is a good person. I am so glad and happy, that you adore how dark and unique my version of Vi is.

I too will never get over how well they work together. It is honestly insane and borders a bit of a miracle. To be honest, from an outside perspective, you would think, Vi and Caitlyn came from the same writer. That is how much in sync they are and how similar they are in backstory and struggles. I think we had a very deep understanding of what both of us were going for and on top of that, we had an incredibly good read on the bond, we were trying to craft here. Furthermore, I think there is also a massive trust involved with us both. We trust the other's craft and imagination. We trust the other to take the lead once every while. Especially because we know we can always contact the other one if we reach a hiccup in the road.

Honestly, nothing shows that trust more than us starting with Babette's brothel and then out of nowhere jumping forward into post-canon and somehow understanding the dynamic so well that we can write it and you just feel the history behind Caitlyn and Vi. Which again is an insane feat in itself given that back then we had just met each other.

Your love and appreciation of Vi and how I wrote her means the world to me. I am so incredibly happy that you feel her character and portrayal are on point. I am so honoured that I gave you the courage to give Vi herself a try as a writer.

I really love that you were willing to give the Jinx/Caitlyn dynamic the same level of care you gave Vi/Caitlyn. I think we both realised how crucial that second dynamic is for both Caitlyn and Jinx's character. At the same time, we could have just assumed that we do not need to put in the same amount of work, given that it's an antagonistic dynamic. However, I love that we did not settle for mediocrity. I love that even though Jinx's gripe with Caitlyn boils down to "She is replacing me.", we actually really looked at the forms this replacement took and how Jinx's mental instability exasperated it. This resulted in one of the probably most nuanced antagonistic dynamics, I have ever written.

I am so happy and flattered that my Jinx feels like Jinx to you, even though she is much darker in nature. Obviously, compared to League Jinx, she is a lot darker, but I think she even tops Arcane Jinx in darkness to some extent. At the same time, I am glad that you feel I captured some aspects of League Jinx because I still wanted to honour where she came from and who she was originally as a character.

I really like that label of intelligent danger and the notion of Silco's legacy of monstrosity. Because that was what I was going for. I wanted, especially post-canon Jinx to feel like she was Silco's ideology and worldview given flesh. I remember Jason Spisak said in an interview that Jinx for Silco is the spirit of Zaun embodied in a daughter. And I think I took that and tried to push it to its most extreme conclusion. So, Jinx is not just embodying the spirit of Zaun. She embodies the monsters, which call this town their home.

And I love how this translated into an extremely dangerous individual. Like you said, Jinx knows how to scare people. She knows how dangerous she is and she makes it clear that people are not just aware of her danger, but also aware that she is aware of that fact. I am also really glad that Jinx does not feel like a blanket of "only chaos" and instead has all those nuances about her. It was really important for me that not only did her madness stay internally consistent, but also that she was more than just a mad girl. I also wanted her to be more than just Vi's sister or Silco's daughter. Sure, Jinx highly identifies herself with those two labels, but she also has a lot of traits and interests, which have nothing to do with either of those things. And I feel like those interests and traits are where Powder/Jinx the individual in a way shines through the most.

I agree. It honestly is what makes the dynamic between the sisters so special. They want to be sisters again, they want to be there for each other, but at the same time, not only can they not accept who the other one is now, but they also cannot give up who they are now. They have changed so much that they cannot go back anymore.

I never get tired of you spazzing over Jinx and Vi. You shouldn't have regrets concerning that wall of text. It is so wonderful to read. I love you too, friend. Keep being amazing.

[i-will-cry-you-a-river]

pssst did you reblog the Rick and Morty ask game. if so, I'd ask you allll the questions, too XD

Hahaha, yes, I rebloged, then I deleted it, but I will happily answer all for you ;) thank you for the ask 💙

1. Morty, of course 💕

2. Domestic Beth. Beth is too much of her father's daughter

3. Yes! Oh, yes, definitely xD

4. Wren is cute, but I want to say her name would be Robin 🤭

5. Not sure. Hopefully lots and lots

6. Hard pass. Like, I can appreciate the horny Rick content, and I want more of it - especially Young Rick -, but nope, not for me xD

7. Rick 💀💀💀 but if we are talking about somebody they only portray as a villain, even if he didn't do anything wrong in his entire life, then it's Evil Morty 🤭💕

8. I haven't watched all of the episodes yet, but out of those I did, the Citadel ones are my favorite 😍

9. I did. Not. Like. Rick and Jerry bonding, even if Rick did it because his boywife asked him to do it ☹️

10. Beth and Jerry. Omfg I hate those two. Every time I see them on screen being their uncaring, shithead selves, I just want to- *deep breath* not going there. The thing is, I hate them.

11. Not worshipping Morty enough u.u okay, but really, blood and gore and killing and being an awful human being doesn't bother me. What does is when he is deliberately cruel to Morty.

12. No, I don't think so. It will be strange, sure, but it won't be a problem.

13. Hahahah, I think Vi said the same thing, but my mutuals, definitely 💕💕💕

14. I mean, probably Morty...

15. Every time Rick appears just as Morty wants to talk to Jessica, because we all know he is a jealous old man who can't handle the thought that Morty thinks about anybody else than him.

16. Not sure yet.

17. Not sure yet.

18. No, but I still have to watch the whole thing before the next season airs.

19. If you think my Rick's dead, he's alive! And if you think you're safe, he's coming for you!

20. Nuh-huh. None of them 💀

[lil-melody-moon]

my ask about the Moodies, how did you find them?? And when??

I had a massive Moody Blues phase in November 2022 but SOMEHOW it ended after one month and I never really came back to them 🤣

I've found them by total accident. I was watching a music channel with dad and they played "Nights In White Satin" and you know I just vibed to it. It's a really beautiful song - literally my lonely days anthem - poetic, and the full version has this orchestral conclusion with a fragment of a poem read by the drummer (if I remember correctly) and you know. I just gave "Days of Future Past" album a try and I loved it. Just got around listening to "On The Threshold of a Dream" and love it as well - that's why I've posted their song yesterday.

When when... It was at around summer I think. I had to hear "Nights In White Satin" two times to love it. It definitely wasn't at July, I had job practices then and I remember that they were airing a lot of The Beatles at 19:00/7:00 pm. ...Shoot me, but I think I heard them for the first time at August last year. The urge to listen to their album appeared much later, two months later I think, but I'm almost certain it was at August. Yeah, had to be, because I looked at the lyrics back then and literally felt kicked by them, they are so fucking good, like:

Nights in white satin, Never reaching the end, Letters I've written, Never meaning to send.

[...]

Gazing at people, Some hand in hand, Just what I'm going through They can't understand.

Those are beautiful lyrics and the chorus, omfg the chorus - this is what kicks me every time.

Seems like orchestral music ain't for you XD

[spiltscribbles]

Prompt: Pro Athlete Sirius because that my and Remus' kink

~Notes: OMFG VICTOrIA!!!! I FUCKING SCREECHED!!!! lkadfjlaksdgjoiaejfalskdgjioeugisfkldshg Yes tis my kink as well!!! And then I saw this from Nonny and worlds collided and BOOM! I hope you like this my love<3<3 You incredibly talented sugarplum!!! TBH I want to write a thousand more things in this AU XD

.-

FROM THIS LIST  |  Send Me A Prompt!💜 | A REBLOG MEANS THE GALAXY!!💜

.-

When Remus was young— surrounded by the light breeze of the Welsh coast and the harmony of birds chirping in the distance— he would follow his mother to their small garden behind their cottage  at the cusp of twilight as his father cooked their supper, and he’d watch as she laid flat all sorts of newspapers written in French and Arabic and English, watch as she brought her red pen against the ink and marked the articles with underlines and shorthand he wouldn’t understand for years still.

He asked her once, when he was barely eight years old, why she bothered to keep up with so many different publications, why she read the same story penned by countless perspectives when all the facts stayed the same at the end of the day. And he remembers how she had let out a quick, shrill of a laugh, tossing back her golden head while sucking in a puff from the bubbling hookah she had set up besides her— a habit she acquired from her Algerian, refugee parents, and one that became synonymous to those late nights in Remus’s eyes.

“Facts can be wielded to someone’s personal vendettas, Remus John,” she had crooned in that adoring way of hers whenever she spoke to him— honey eyes that were the same color and shape to Remus’s own flashing alight and their matching smiles going crooked in her stunningly beautiful face. 

“Oh.” Remus had replied, still confused as all get out but was perfectly fine with just holding his small vigil, watching her beneath moonlight and the soft glow of their outdoors lamps, as he listened to the shuffling of papers while she commenced this odd quirk. 

It’s a decade and a half later—  as his editor for the Phoenix, a small, but bustling online editorial that plans on dethroning the likes of Politico and Vox in only a matter of years, scans his latest findings on the corrupt boosters linked to MP Avery from Leeds— when Remus thinks he suddenly understands what his mother, with her keen eyes and pixelated air, had meant by facts in how they can be colored differently simply by the words surrounding them. And he wonders if one day soon, one of his bylines will join her little stack of stories, if she’ll be proud of him even if she says as much even now, when he’s a lost twenty-something stumbling through life in the capitol and barely making it as is, between his actual job and the gig he has at the coffee shop nearest his dingy flat he shares with three other blokes.

“Mmm, this is good, Lupin,” Dorcas declares after what feels like an eon, dropping her long, dark legs from where they were lounging leisurely on her desk and scuffs out her cigarette in a pretty, glass ashtray. “Send it over to Flores to look into deeper, maybe it’ll corroborate the info she’s already gotten from her sources.”

Remus feels himself bristle, hopes that it doesn’t show, that his face stays passive as he contends, “I think I should at least help her write the expose, I’m the one who got this bombshell.”

“That’s not how it works, sweets,” Dorcas toots, tossing back her dark head of curls as she rises, perching on the corner of her desk delicately and looking down, straight into his gaze. “I know it’s frustrating, but you’re fresh blood. barely six months here, but Alice has been with us for years. This is her baby, and we’re just here to nurture it.”

“So I’ll have to wait another ten months, at least,  to get the same treatment?” He argues in an admittedly petulant way, making Dorcas laugh endearingly, and Remus is suddenly,  searingly reminded of his age, and how he’s the youngest staffer that this London based news outlet has on hand. 

“C’mon, love, it won’t be that long for someone as sharp as you, just be patient, and don’t try to pull a Zoe Barnes on us, yeah? You’re far too pretty to clean up on the rails of  the tube.” Dorcas tousles a hand into his dark tawny curls, and Remus holds back the roll to his eyes that he feels willing up inside of him as he stands fully.

“Thanks Cas.”

She smiles beatifically, and throws him a wink. “You’re joining Emmy for the report tomorrow on those United footballers and their fundraiser for the hospital, yeah?”

“Bright and early,” Remus replies, still feels a bit miffed that he was chosen to write up the charity function, considering he doesn’t know a lick about football and doesn’t really get on with anyone who does. But Caradoc— their typical sports reporter— is out sick with the flew, so it’s on him. “I’ll have it on your desk early enough so it’ll be published by tea time.”

“Good man,” Dorcas says in thanks, picking up her crowing cellphone before waving him off.

Remus isn’t all that surprised when he strides out of the office only to find Benjy Fenwick sitting against the opposite wall, knees pressed to his chest and quickly scrambling up when he catches sight of Remus. Sometimes it’s impossible to believe that the bespectacled man in front of him is one of the top editors for the Phoenix, that he’s a regular corespondent for places like the BBC or CNN— that his rebukes against the piss poor inquiries waged during PMQs have become more anticipated than the sessions themselves. Remus tends to forget all of that when he sees him like this, messy haired and wearing a graphic T-shirt with some marvel superhero embossed on the front. “Wotcher Remus.”

“Hiya Remus says, smiling softly and rocking back on his heels. “You wanted to talk to the sergeant then?”

“Huh? Oh, no, no. I didn’t want to talk to Dorcas, I just— Erm, I know you were showing her that stuff you got from that intern, Pettigrew, and i know you were chafed about not getting any opportunity here so—“ He trails off, scratching the back of his head and studying a point over Remus’s shoulder, and it’s all too endearing, and Remus is so beyond thankful he’s made such a good friend here.

“No cigar,” he says in answer to the unspoken question, shrugging noncommittally even if he feels like shit over it.

Benjy nods, face contrite in a way that tells Remus he never thought it would’ve went otherwise. “I’m sorry, that’s bollocks.”

“’S whatever,” Remus shrugs off the apology, begins walking down the hall and straightening his report to hand over to Alice. 

“Ah,, erm. We can get a drink, yeah? In commiseration,” Benjy offers, and Remus stilts only for a beat before continuing the twisting trail to where Alice is set up with the more senior members on staff. And he feels only sorta bad about wanting to refuse. He knows that if he says yes, it’ll mean something different to Benjy than it does him, that he’ll probably take it as Remus finally giving into his pestering and deciding to actually go out with him, even if he’s refuted the other four times he’s asked as much. Remus’s simply just too busy trying to get a footing in this city, and trying to figure out where he’s suppose to go from here, and what he’s suppose to do. And yes, Benjy is cute— a complete Seth Cohen archetype. And he’s sweet and smart and funny enough. But Remus is really not in the mood for doing the whole flowers and wine and candle lit dinners shtick, had gotten enough of that while still with his university boyfriend. And yeah, he’s only just turned 24, but he already feels too old and too jaded for that sort of puppy love— even if Benjy’s got a good decade and some change on him.

Probably sensing his hesitation, Benjy is quick to rectify the offer. “I’ll ask Mary, and Fabian too, and a few others. We can make a night of it, just some drinks on a Friday after work.”

Stalling by the last turn to Alice’s desk, Remus looks at him from over his shoulder, and sort of hates himself for being such a soft hearted fuck sometimes. “Yeah Benj, sounds nice. Just let me know on the group chat, yeah?”

Benjy grins, much more genuine than his awkward quirk of the lips from earlier. “Yeah, good call, I’ll let the others know pronto.”

“Aces,” Remus says, tosses him a obligatory thumbs-up before finding an expectant looking Alice who’s tapping her foot impatiently.

Yeah, today is so bloody shit.

.-

Surprisingly, the round of drinks turns to another and then a third and fourth and Remus is currently nursing his fifth mango margarita on Benjy’s tab, and he actually feels lighter than he has since taking the job at Phoenix, feels bright and bubbling and like absolutely nothing could be wrong as long as he’s got this drink in his grasp and he’s sitting with the handful of reporters and photographers from the office that don’t all have sticks up their asses. It’s fun, it’s good. So obviously it couldn’t have lasted.

Mary is currently cackling about her Uber driver from last night who asked her all sorts of well meaning, but incredibly dense questions about her hijab— a freshly poured glass of coke in one hand, while the other is tangled into her girlfriend Emmy’s. And From his left Remus can hear Fabian ribbing Frank on his crush on Alice, while Benjy scoots intermittently closer as they watch Kingsley and Marlene sparring over something to do with a Kardashian or TikTok trend or whatever the fuck else— The guy has resilience, Remus has to give Benjy that.

“Right, who’s buying next?” Marlene asks, abrasive as ever while scrolling through her phone, ostensively finding something to prove her point against the managing editor.

“Reckon it’s my turn,” Benjy crows, standing up smoothly and glancing down at Remus with a nervous sort of half grin.

“Just a water for me, ta. I need to sober up,” Remus tells him, feels proud that he didn’t even slur slightly. Benjy bobs his head understandingly, and Remus turns to ask Marlene about her latest tinder hookup which always is a good laugh, but then he catches on it. On the sound of the pub’s doors flinging open, followed by a raucous crowd of athletic looking guys probably only a bit older than he is, clambering indoors. 

They’re all so very sixth-form, broad grins and slapping each other’s shoulders with jeers, topped off with loud, bark like laughter that makes it obvious to Remus that these wankers think that they’re some sort of group of gods amongst men, roaming around like everyone should fall to their feet and offer everything they have. It makes Remus roll his eyes so far back that it feels like he might’ve sprained them. They just give off this exhausting aura that reminds him of a past boyfriend in tenth year who was on the footie team and who’s favorite activity was either making Remus feel lucky enough to go out with someone so popular, or dragging him around like some sort of bloody trophy.

To put it nicely, Remus sorta hates them on sight. So when he sees one of the tossers— regrettably the brightest of the lot who’s all pearly teeth, and glittering eyes and incredibly impressive shoulders that tape off to a narrow waste in an objectively infuriating matter— swivels up to the barkeep and jostles Benjy on his way, well Remus doesn’t hesitate to dart forwards to tell him off.

“Oi, watch where you’re going, yeah?”

Benjy and the bloke who looks like he might moonlight as a model for Calvin briefs for when he’s not lounging in a yacht off the Tuscany coast, both turn to him at the same time. Benjy looking abashed, and the aforementioned tosser preening like the cat who’s just caught a canary.

“Sorry, love. Didn’t see you there,” he says in a delightfully deep tenner, giving Remus an appreciative once over, and Remus absolutely despises how the action makes him feel both thrilled and irritated. “Trust and believe, I wouldn’t have looked away if I saw you.”

“Not me, arse.” Remus spits back, refuses to pay any credence to how his cheeks have begun to flush. “You bumped into my mate right there, the one with the tray of loggers.”

The tosser darts his almost molten gray eyes over to Benjy for a sparing second before he laser focusses back onto Remus, the most phony expression of contrition all over his face. “Sorry to your friend,” he says the descriptor like a joke that no one else is in on. “Let me buy you a drink in sorry for the one I made slim here spill.”

Remus is officially unimpressed, hopes that his flat tone gets it across. “You’re an arse.”

“You’re mouthy,” he retorts, looks like it’s something he greatly appreciates— delights over even. 

“Ah, ’s fine Remus, really. I’ll just bring these back and get us a new glass.”

“Listen to slim, Remus, he’s got the right idea.” The tosser hurriedly interjects, strutting close enough to him that he makes it so Remus has to tip his head back just slightly so not to drop his gaze. “I’m Black, Sirius Black, just to get the pleasantries out of the way.” His leer tells Remus that the name should probably evoke some response of aw into Remus, but all it does is make him sound so egregiously pretentious that Remus wants to smack his own bloody head against a dry wall and stay in the hole until this ruddy Sirius bloke leaves him the hell alone.

“Good for you,” he says instead of all of that, and spots Sirius’s friends from behind Sirius chuckling and elbowing one another. Evidently this is a line the tosser uses frequently, and Remus is pleased that he might be one of the first who aren’t at all impressed by the grandiose way he introduced himself.

“Hah, you know I’m use to the pretty ones playing hard to get, but I’m really feeling here that you’re not exactly liking my company, love.”

Remus sucks in a frustrated breath through his nose, shouldering past Sirius and taking the tray of drinks from Benjy before storming back to their table where the others have begun openly gawping at the scene— Marlene outright squawking with Fabian just as Remus takes his seat.

“Don’t,” Remus warns them all as he silently says fuck off to the water and instead gargles down one of the loggers. And if he has to steadfastly not turn around for the rest of the night towards where he can feel Sirius’s gaze burning into his back— well then so be it.

.-

The next morning, Remus has to puke twice into the toilet, and gulps down three aspirins just to stave off his bloody hangover from the night before where he decided that getting properly sloshed would prove as a good technique to not end up making out with Sirius in some dark corner— or regrettably the backseat of his car. And if he does still remember flashes of ranting to him about how insufferable preppy, rich boys actually are while Sirius gazed at him endeared— well Remus just decides to purge it out along with the stomach acid. It’s not like he’ll ever see the douche again.

.-

He meets Arthur— one of the accountants who also helps out by taking photos for more low key news stories— outside the hospital where the conference will be taking place with the Manchester United team. There was a scrimmage that they all played with some of the kids in the cancer ward that occurred at around eight in the ruddy morning, but thankfully Remus didn’t have to show up until an hour later when the team presented their big shiny check, to the big, shiny hospital. 

However, Arthur has been here for hours, so he’s beyond chirpy and looks like he’s downed three cups of espresso as he chatters on about his son Percy starting secondary school, and his eldest, Bill, getting an award for his reading prowess, and all the strange craving his wife has been having throughout her pregnancy with the twins they’re expecting any week now. And Remus loves Arthur, he does— one of the sweetest folks he’s ever met— but God, his head is still thrumming from those misguided tequila shots and he really just wants to get his three quotes, and write up the story so he can find refuge back in his sheets.

While Arthur has moved to talking about his wife, Molly’s, plans to open up a daycare in their refurnished garage, Remus scans his eyes over the familiar face of reporters from other outlets who look just as bored as him, and then to the stage where a woman in a sharply pressed suit is ushering for the group of football stars to join her, so that the conference can finally fucking begin. 

And Remus thinks that their faces are sorta familiar, probably from all the publicity they get on the telly— but then he freezes as he stops at one of them with dark brown skin, and thick rimmed spectacles— and he suddenly can hear him chatting about his redheaded girlfriend and drunkenly declaring that she’ll be the mother of his children some day soon. So he completely expects it when his stomach drops as he moves his glance just a bit to the right, being struck by pearly teeth, and glittering eyes and incredibly impressive shoulders that tape off to a narrow waste, made all the more infuriating by the tight kit he’s got on and the blazing number twelve splayed against his chest.

And fuck.

Remus runs through about a dozen scenarios in which he can make a discrete, or not so discrete exit before he notices him, but in tandem to his spiraling thoughts, the wanker actually looks forwards, and like a creepy metal detector, his quick silver gaze pinpoints onto Remus.

They stare at one another for a beat before his smirk goes wolfish, and he runs a hand through his artfully tousled hair in a way that practically screams, fancy meeting you here. And holy fuck he looks so mouth watteringly attractive with that faint film of sweat running down his neck, and how his smile pulls slightly more to the left, and how he’s looking at Remus like he’s his birthday and Christmas presents all rolled into one.

Remus suddenly hates everything— but most of all hates Sirius, and how bloody fit he is.

“Oh, you’re a fan then?” 

Starting, Remus shifts around slightly so that he’s facing Arthur completely. “Pardon?”

“Sirius Black I mean, you’re a fan?” Arthur asks in that abrasively congenial and intensely scrutinizing way that he treats everything. “I mean he’s a great player, but I know you don’t really watch. So I bet it’s all that charity work he does, yeah?”

“Charity work?” Remus echos, feeling like a floundering fish.

“Truly some amazing stuff.” Arthur pontificates, rubbing a hand against his jaw as he tips his head back. “I mean obviously I’m partial to the fundraising for Reporters Without Borders, but of course the things he does with the more impoverished kids is great. And I know Molly likes his very outspoken posts about being anti war and his annual live streams to earn money for refugees in those war torn nations, like the last one he did for Syria?”

“Oh—“ Remus says, feeling like his head is being overrun by a fountain of new information.

“Yes well, you don’t usually see athletes get into the thick of it with political issues, but I reckon he never really minded. I mean the fact he’s the first football star from United to have come out without any fanfare really proved that. Oh, I think they’re starting, I should probably get some photos before Dorcas gives me a tongue lashing.”

And as quick as the flash of his camera’s lends, Arthur is using his considerable height to get to a more advantageous spot towards the front, and leaves Remus in the dust, as if he hasn’t just obliterated his every assumption of Sirius from after that initial meeting.

And unbidden, the words his mother had told him so many years ago, about facts and how they can color a situation just simply based off the person who’s speaking them— flood to the forefront of his mind.

“Fucking hell,” Remus mutters lowly, gets jostled by Greengrass, a hawkish reporter from a rivaling publication who always has on the most wickedly sharp acrylic nails, and perfectly quaffed curls— as she waves around her certification to speak her inquiry.

“My question is for Potter,” she announces when the woman leading the event, McGonagall, points her way. “And I was wondering how early you boys have to rise for training during the season? And how intense the sessions are that Coach Hooch puts you guys through?”

Potter, the one with the redheaded girlfriend that Remus heard so much about last night between his ranting at Sirius, parts his lips, but it’s not his voice that ends up reverberating through the outdoors space. Instead, it’s Sirius, who’s shouldering him with a goading air, obviously expecting his comment to have only ended up in Potter’s ear and not caught by the mike.

“I wonder if Lupin will let me wake up with’m so he can let me get some real training done before practices, eh?”

And just as soon as his words pitter off, the entire crowd drops to a hush— quiet enough so that they could probably hear it if a pen dropped. 

Sirius’s handsome face— strong jawline, and broad but sharp cheekbones, and a long, narrow nose— goes suddenly ashen, and he flashes over to Remus as if he’s terrified that he’ll bite his face off.

God, what an idiot.

With a long suffering sigh, Remus plucks out the microphone from a slack faced Greengrass’s hand. “We can discuss the regimen afterwards, Black. Just meet me by the front doors and let your mate answer the bloody question.”

Everyone around them falls into laughter that’s caught between uncomfortable chuckles and amazingly amused cackling, but the only person Remus is paying any mind is Sirius, and how he seems to have gone absolutely incandescent, nodding electrically before miming the zip of his lips and gesturing for Potter to carry on.

Jesus help him, Remus has no idea what he’s gotten himself into.

.-

~My Wolfstar FIC Masterlist

~Buy Me A Coffee 

[its-kall-the-clown]

14 Fluff for Red Son realizing he's nursing a crush on MK

As some context this is post redemption for the demon bull family. So Mei, MK, and Red hang out a lot together now. Red Son is also an idiot. XD

Also this isn’t my most polished work so sorry if it feels rushed.

prompt list

Stop that!! (Don't stop)

Rating: PG-13 for implied sexual interactions

"I think I'm sick"

Red Son admits to the ceiling of Mei's room. They were hanging out like they normally did on days MK was training with monkey king. She was playing some sort of retro video game and he was watching till he got bored and lay on her bed thinking.

"You got a tummy ache?" Mei teased, pausing her game and he huffs rolling his eyes, and sits up.

"Don't be ridiculous" he huffs out and crosses his arms over his chest.

"Okayyyy so what're the symptoms." Mei crawls from her spot on the floor and joins him in bed, sitting crisscrossed with her hand in her lap, and leaning forward eagerly.

"It's hard to explain… sometimes when MK is gone my chest hurts " he places a hand over his heart that was beating normally at the moment.

"And sometimes, when he's around, my hands get sweaty and it feels like I'm gonna throw up and…." He watches a wide unlearning Cheshire grin grow across his friend's face. He continues on, albeit, a bit more hesitantly.

"And….sometimes I can't talk right, and sometimes when he IS around my chest hurts also?" Mei was grinning so wide she was more teeth than she was girl.

"Why are you smiling…."

"OMFG!!?? You have a crush on Mk?!!!" She squeaks excitedly and rolls around in her back as she descends into what Red can only describe as absolute madness.

"What are you talking about??!" He sputters, Mei giggles a bit longer before finally pulling together and greeting him with a wide grin.

"Dude. Your like SO gay for him. 'My HeARt hUrTs WhEn hE’s not arOuNdddd~ " she mocks him in a fake tone and he growls hitting her with a pillow..

"Stop that!" He growls.

"SToP ThAt~" she mocks back and they devolve into a pillow fight on her bed. He girns when he hits her smug face squarely with a dragon stuffie.

Soon they lay panting on her bed and the dragon girl rolls onto her stomach poking him in the face.

"So. Crushing in MK huh?"

He grows beat red again and pulls a pillow into his face and groans.

"You should tell him."

Red son sits up with a smile.

"I should!"

"Yes!!"

"So I can tell him to stop making me sick!"

"Say what now?"

He turns to Mei with a feral smile. This 'crush' or whatever she called it could be fixed. If MK was the one giving it to him. He just needed MK to stop doing...whatever he was doing to make him feel like this.

"Hold on I think you are conf-"

"Thanks Mei!" He gets up and is off to confront the noodle boy as he hears Mei shout at him from her room.

"You're a fucking idiot!!!"

-----------

He storms forward like a typhoon. Red son is a force of nature that can not be stopped, nothing could yield him in his goal or hinder him in his path. Wild horses pulling chariots could not stop him, celestials in heaven would not dare stand in his way, and even his parents (by far the scariest force of all) could not persuade him to rethink what he was doing.

He pushes past the doors to Pigsy's noodles, shoves past patrons and ignores the warning shouts from the pigman.

he had one goal on mind

"Nyyyooodle boy!!!!!!" He bellows grabbing the attention to his problem. Those perfect expression color eyes meet him and the disease in his chest grows. He's in his training clothes, clearly on his way up to his apartment over the shop so he can shower.

Why did the idea of MK showering make his heartbeat erratically? Soft shoulders and cascading water off them…

She shakes his head back and forth now back on track.

"Stop. That." He growls out grinding his teeth together as steam leaves his ears. MK tilts his head slightly. The disease grows more in his chest and he hates it.

"Stop that!!!!" He points directly at MK feeling his hair sputter and spark as his temperature rises. He thinks his face is growing red.

"I'm….not doing anything?" MK gives him a sheepish smile, the kind that quirks up on one side and absolutely obliterates Red Son on the spot.

Like a crunchy fall leaf under the heel of a boot he's crushed.

Whatever motivation he had before it evaporates quicker than a drop of water in the Sahara desert.

"Y-your haven't heard the last of me!!" He makes a quick retreat, stumbling over his own feet and taking out one of Pigsy's tables in the process.

He exits the shop faster than he entered. He needed to regroup and strategize.

-----------

"SoooOOOOOo How'd it go?" Mei asked her eyes not leaving the screen, she's playing a different video game now, and she didn't even spare him a glance when he came back as if she predicted he would fail.

"Horrible!!! All it did was make this sickness worse." He throws his arms up and paces back and forth biting his lip. Mei doesn't pause her game this time, only continuing to mash buttons as he grumbles under his breath.

She lets out A long-suffering sigh and finally pauses her game.

"Dude. I know you're behind on the lingo and stuff but a 'crush' isn't a sickness. It means you like MK. As in you want to kiss him and stuff." she explains with a shrug unpausing her game and the sound of power-ups and pixelated men punching each other continues.

Red Son halts in his tracks

He pictures kissing MK. pressing his lips to the boy's soft adorable lips. He can practically feel the warmth it would produce. He pictures MK smiling into the kiss as they awkwardly bump noses. He pictures holding MK’s hand, squeezing it gently as they walk hand and hand. He imagines the feeling of MK’s hair between his fingers as he runs his hands through it.

He sucks in a gasp, his heart beating out of time.

Of fuck.

“I’m so screwed…..”

He feels Mei patting his shoulder, she paused her game again when he was fantasizing

“Yeah, you are. But at least now you can DO something about it.” she nudges his side and he blushes a bright red and he can hear her chuckling at him

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

“Can we talk?”

MK blinks back at him looking back and forth for a moment as if he was confused by his precence. Which to be fair he DID just enter through MK’s window while he was showering and was now waiting for him on his bed.

“Uhhhhh sure?” they rub the last remaining moisture from his hair with a towel before tossing it to the floor to be added to piles of laundry they had yet to do. Red Son didn't even curl his lip up at the slob-like behavior because HOLY SHIT MK IS SHIRTLESS!!!

Of course, MK didn't even seem to care that he was only wearing grey sweatpants in his presence. Red Son guilty looked MK’s chest up and down while they searched for a sleep shirt. Working out with Monkey King has been paying off because MK was sporting some muscle. He also had a few scars from battles that only added to how attractive he was, and of course, there were the two faint top surgery scars under his pecks.

“Is this about your weird episode in the shop today?” they asked pulling him from his guilt ogling and MK pulled a shirt over his body. Damn what a shame.

“Mei says I have something called a ‘crush’ and I should ‘tell them how I feel’ in order to make the pain in my chest go away,” he explained using quotation marks with his fingers to punctuate himself. MK’s eyes widen slightly and then it's schooled quickly. They join Red Son on the bed.

“O-oh? Have you told them?” MK squirms in place and keeps his gaze cast down. He looks uncomfortable, no. he looks upset? Why would MK be upset? Was it because he broke into his room again without permission?

No not that. Although he will have to apologize later

“I’m working on that part,” he explains scooting closer to MK and he grabs one of their hands gently. This felt stupid, and he thinks his sickness will kill him with how quickly his heart is beating. He was terrified and all his symptoms were amplified by ten.

He looks into MK’s espresso-colored eyes looking for something. He loved those eyes. They showed so much in them and he SWORE they could change the whole lighting of a room.

He opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water with his false starts. Eventually, he clears his throat and releases his confession.

“Umm well...MK. I h-have a crush on you.”

he shuts his eyes and waits for the rejection, waits to hear MK laugh with their head back and shove him away.

None of that comes.

He peaks an eye open to find MK’s face a bright scarlet red. Was that a good sign? Or was MK so angry at him that he was just building up anger inside of him like a volcano ready to blow.

“ I w-will leave now.” he pulls away ready to retreat with at least his dignity still in tack. He's pulled back violently and soft lips are smashed to his. He lets out a surprised whimper and absolutely melts into the feeling. His brain is electrified and static all at once.

He kisses back hungrily grabbing MK by the waist and pulls him closer. When they are running out of air only does MK pull away with a little breathless gasp.

“Stay the night?” They requested, placing a soft kiss to the juncture of his neck and he can’t find a single cell in his body that would possibly say no. He nods numbly and MK kisses him again a smile on his lips that he could taste.

----------

“MK GET UP! YOU ARE LATE AGAIN!!”

Pigsy burst down the door jolting the demon awake from his peaceful slumber, his arms that were previously wrapped around MK pull away quickly in the process. He thinks he could stick to the ceiling with his claws like a cat in a cartoon if he jolted just a little higher.

The covers are yanked off them both before Red Son even has time to protest. Thank gods they both put underwear back on when they finished satisfying each other. Red Son is completely and thoroughly exposed to MK’s boss, bitemarks, and hickes across his chest snitching on him.

Red Son and Pigsy meet eyes and he feels a sweat break out across his neck. Pigsy sighs and pinches his snout. He sucks in a deep breath and lets it out through his nose.

“I don't know what happened here... And I don't WANT to know. Tell MK he’s got ten minutes to get downstairs.” Pigsy turns on his heel and leaves slamming the door behind him. Red Son looks over to his now-boyfriend who’s mouth hangs open with drool dripping down his face.

MK slept through all of it.

He can’t help but chuckle and kiss their forehead gently.

[itsanidiom]

BL TAG!

tagged by @negrowhat *~*\(^u^)/

1. Your all time favorite bl and why?

HIStory 3:Trapped~ Gimme all the cops and gangsters enemies to lovers plz <3 It's the only drama where I love the side couple just as much if not more than the main couple <3

2. That one bl that scarred you for life

Until We Meet Again because WHAT THE FUCK I remember I sat down to watch ep1 with a god damn bowl of popcorn… that was a mistake (;A;) Also Color Rush! I found the concept in the plot kind of disturbing. Like it’s really good for a sort of sci-fi thriller but it was weird for romance with how he like wanted to kidnap his soulmate at one point and kept like fantasizing about murdering him?? (O_O)

3. Is there any bl that made you feel very single?

Cherry Magic because…Kurosawa is blinding…

Love By Chance (>u<) it's not the best drama but omg everyone deserves a Ai in their life <3 tiny protective bf ftw <3

4. If you could change one thing from a bl, which one would it be?

I would take HIStory 4: Close to You and like remove the step brother subplot…omfg that pairing/that character is so disturbing to me please no…Like just make them old friends or something? Or even that he could just a straight up stalker but they end up falling in love? I dunno why but just a stalker is better than both stalker AND his step brother FML…

6. your top five:

History 3:Trapped > We Best Love > TharnType > 1000 Stars > WHY R U?

I’m trash and I like high heat OKAY?? XD

7. that trashy bl that you lowkey like

TharnType…I highkey like it tho it’s compelling LOL I would have been my fav but Trapped and WBL are both honestly the better dramas plot and characterwise sooooo…

8. your favorite korean bl (it’s important we know)

To My Star (^u^)

9. but also your top 3 for kbls

To My Star > Mr. Heart > Antique

10. season 2? which one?

Is this “which one is best? Or which one I want?”

I think the only season 2 I’ve seen is TharnType and it’s hot smutty garbage I love it~<3 LOL (wait no I watched LBC2 as well…it was 75% product placement soooo…)

If we’re talking which one I want: I really want a S2 of HIStory 3: Trapped (;A;) plz gimme~

11. a bunch of dramas will air soon. which ones are you the most excited for?

KINNPORSCHE!!

12. tag them!

WHOEVER WANTS TO~! <3 Tag me if you do it :D

[songofsunset]

Can u tell us more stories about the work babies, I am sick and blah and toddler stories will fix me

Okay so today we had our thanksgiving meal (because pizza is on fridays, and half the school is out for the days we're here next week) and oh my god we were so busy but had so much fun

here is a readmore because LMAO I have so many stories, I love these kiddos I love my job HERE YOU GO

We did bubbles outside in the morning, I recently got a bubble wand you can just wave, which I'm allowed to use with covid regulations (no air from my lungs!!! also I'm masked The Entire Day so like) and they are SO excited to play with bubbles now

I bring out the bubble wand and their tiny faces go :D and we have a good several minutes there running around and grabbing them as they blow around! Also one of the children has decided to try biting the bubbles to pop them lmaooooo

uhmmmmm oh the newest kid has finally learned how to sit down before he tries to go down the slide!!! good for him!!!!! I did, however, see the next youngest kid who is an Expert Slide Goer, like, she is ready she just sits and zooms and cackles madly- anyways today she was in a skirt and omfg her legs caught and I DID see her tumble end over end at the base of the tall slide, WHOOPS gonna hafta keep an eye out for her on that one!!!

OH, this same child, who- this girl is tiny, barely two feet tall, and her hair in a perfectly upright ponytail at the top of her head, and the chubbiest little cheeks you ever did see, and she has a specific cackle she does when she knows she's being naughty lmao (I have cared for this kid since she was six weeks old, and now she's like.... idk 15 months? it's been a while and I love her haha)

okay so this same child JUST TODAY figured out how to give her classmates hugs

please picture two babies with the chubbiest cheeks carefully leaning forward to clumsily place their arms around each other like an awkward middle school dance, then they step back and grin, and then I have to walk them all through taking turns hugging each other (Gentle!!! I remind them, Gentle like with the plants!!! should I go get the plants???? and then I go get one of the little houseplants we have and then we carefully pet the leaves like some sort of weird cat and I say 'gentle gentle gentle' over and over so they learn the concept of being gentle) and then they decide they also want to hug me so here I am on my knees getting snot on my shirt being hugged by grinning toddlers who all want to hug me at the same time and okay, these are the things that make my job worth it

They ALSO have figured out how to dance with each other!!!! I will literally just put on music, and I will turn around and they will have self organized into little handholding pairs, and they will grab each others hands and gently sway and shuffle and bop. One thing people don't often know about kiddos is that babies can dance before they can walk!!! kids love music!!!!!!!! so these kids really love doing this together, and sometimes I'll come over and they'll hold my hand and we'll get into a larger circle and wiggle back and forth. I have one girl, who if I'm the one holding her hands, loves to jump up as high as she can and let me catch her from falling, so I'll lift her a little extra high while she does it, and she grins so big while we do it :) (she is also good about NOT trying this on her classmates, which would go much less well hahaha)

They are also really into the baby dolls lately!!! they take the babies, and wrap them in our tiny dishtowels, and then grip them in their chubby little arms and sway back and forth while I sing rockabye baby. Sometimes they lay the baby down in the bed, and carefully tuck the towel in around them. Today I started singing, and the youngest kid picked up the babydoll..... and then just started spinning himself entirely around in circles!!!!!!! kid lmao what are you doing xD xD xD

We also brought out spoons and bowls to pretend with, and the pretend to mix stuff up and feed it to the baby dolls and omfg the babies are taking care of babies it's so sweet

on the OTHER hand, I was singing rockabye baby for a kid rocking a babydoll at the end of the day, and his mom showed up at the door, and when he saw her he just YEET dropped it right on the floor and sprinted over lmaoooooo this is why we don't hand them real babies xD

OH RIGHT YES, so today was our thanksgiving thing so for one of our activities today, I prepared a book of our family pictures! We have a soft fabric book with plastic slots to put pictures in, so I made color copies of all the pictures on our photo wall (having family pictures is important to kids!!! pointing gives them a way to talk about their family if they don't know many words yet and is a great way to help them calm down if they're feeling frustrated! also lowkey I think it may be legally required actually???) So I made this book for thanksgiving, because we are NOT talking about the pilgrims, this is a holiday about just food and family thank you good night lmao

And, there was a girl today who had a bit of a rough drop off, because her mom just left for a trip and that's rough for a 1 year old. So I bring her this book and we find her page and she's pointing at her mom and dad and brother and for the entire rest of the day, she just kept going back to that book and bringing it to me to show me her family, and just sitting down and flipping through it and I think it really helped her today :')

okay ALSO, the actual youngest child, because I have just remembered that the child I have been calling the youngest child has since been supplanted by a new kid fresh from the baby room hahaha

so she doesn't have many teeth yet at all.... but today, when we brought out the turkey sandwiches everyone had for our meal, she grabs it like that baby discovering an ice cream cone for the first time and SHOVES IT IN HER FACE WITH GLEE, idk what about this sandwich resonated for her but oh my god she ATE IT ALL DOWN...... then she leaned over and tried to grab her classmate's sandwich off his plate xD xD xD

Okay, I have infinitely more stories where this came from (we used our climbing blocks to build an archway to crawl through! a big hit!! we used our toys to play five little monkeys! the politely signed 'more' and made me sing the baby bumblebee song FOUR TIMES IN A ROW and participated with rapt attention each time!!!!) but this is super long already so I hope these are some good baby stories for you!!!!

[nisakiyoo]

Them hugging you from the back and Being clingy + while you're working~

Character: Benkei, South, Draken, Ran, Rindou

~Benkei~

-Will make you Notice him so he wont scare you, especially when you're working on something.

-Will definitely ask you if you need help besides he's really helpful (Cuz i think he's smart hoho)

-After you've done your work, he'll ask you to cuddle with him.

-Imagine you lay on top of him and fell asleep bcs he's so cuddleable and soft, Then he caresses your knucles and comb your hair with his finger gently while he's smiling and admires you. He will also mumbling about how lucky he was to have you in his life (AGGGHH IM SCREAMING) He's so cutee! >< and you guys sleep till the end of the dayyy.

~South~

-This man will hug you from behind without you knowing and never intends to scare you...but you did shock and jump a little since he's a bit quiet. ~LMAO~

-Will not disturb you when you're working (cuz he has no idea whatever shit you're working on HAHAHAHAH)

-I HC that this man is the best cooker 👀 he'll probably cook you something while you're working and he'll bring a coffee or tea to make you relax.

- He'll remind you to not overwork yourself and that you should take a rest when you really need it.

- After you've done your work, he'll serves you the food he made and it's definitely taste good.

~Draken~

- OK HE'LL DEFINITELY COME AND HUG YOU FROM BEHIND IF HE'S BORED AND GUESS WHAT??? THE HUG HE GAVE ARE THE MOST COMFORTABLE AND SOFTEST HUG COMPARES TO OTHERS LMAO.

-Will offer you for help or offers you if you need anything

-Imagine Him come up to you and massage you from behind while he talk about his day and will tell you how much he loves and adore you. Damnn🥲

-Once you're done with the work, he'll bring you out for some fresh air and stop somewhere and do stargazing✨

~Ran~

-Menaces...i said what i said😐 This asshole will probably come up to you and suprise you which make you jump😐

-Besides helping you....He decide to laugh first😐 omfg this man...Let me just *put him in adoption centre skksksks.

-After being shit,he make it up to you by serving your fav coffee (or choco milk if you dont like coffee sksksksk)

-This man will carry you and put you on his lap so he could cuddle you while you're doing your work.

-You end up sleeping at the work table and he'll slowly get up and carry you to your shared bedroom and put you on the bed gently~

-Tucks you in and pull you closer to him,then he admires every single inch of your physical and Whisper some sweet things svdhhdvsudbz 😩

~Rindou~

-Menaces 2.0😐

-Exactly acts like his brother where he silently come up behind you,wishing to scare you but end up you knowing cuz this man is bad at being quiet HAHAHAHAH

-He'll pout bcs you didin't give him chance to scare you and all you do is just chuckles XD

-Help you if you need it and will make sure you get enough rest,food,and drinks. He'll cook something for you that will gain energy so you could do your work without being tiredd~

-After done feeding you and all he notices you're getting sleepy, he'll force you to go sleep but you being a stubborn bitch refuses😮‍💨,n guess what he does?

-he'll lock both of your hand and carries to bed and proceed to tuck you in XD then he'll lay besides you and lullabies you hoping you'd fell asleep 😂 you look at him in disbelief LMFAOOO then both of you end up sleeping together while holding each other 💃

That's all lmao💃

My apologies for my grammar errors, English is not my first language okay skskssksk💃

[gelo-p]

Completely understandable. Although kids? Don’t get shot in real life for the lulz.

(Spoilers ahead..?)

Not much to report for me this episode, although I will say that I’m amazed Tanaka’s phone still has juice in it. Have you tried using GPS and Data at the same time? Drains your battery like hell (but then again... the screen isn’t on).

What I will say though, is I’m amazed at how interconnected the episodes are.

I was initially trying to see if it was possible to establish a timeline between last episode and this episode (because again, I’m amazed at the phone battery!!) and it surprised me that you kinda could. Last episode, the girls needed to be picked by 7 PM (because the manager said it explicitly), and you know the phone was left before then. By the end of the episode, Ichimura (omfg I just realized that Mystery Kiss members are literally Ichimura, Nikaido, and Mitsuya - 1-2-3! XD) was on a date with Kakihana, and she showed her phone that says 19:12 - which means at least a day has passed.

Anyway. Interconnected episodes.

Because of the timeline thing, I decided to watch episode 1 again, and boy oh boy. Remember Tanaka bidding (Episode 4) for the Donraku Eraser all those years ago?

WELL GUESS WHO HAS IT BY EPISODE ONE!

How the hell did Shirakawa get her hands on that???

(Well, it’s Odokawa’s now... which means LOL Tanaka has another reason to kill him, haha poor guy ^^; )

Man. I keep loving this series more and more. I’m not gonna bother seeing all the callbacks yet, but I definitely plan to re-watch all the episodes once it’s done airing. I feel like there’s more to discover (and that more of the scenes will make more sense).

[occasionally-writing]

Breakfast And So Much More

A/N: This idea for this fanfic came out of nowhere and omfg, I never write smut...like I do but not much but the thought of this just...wow XD Anyways, as you can read, this is a smut fanfic XD This is also the first time I am writing for these two but I couldn’t help but want to. I hope you guys like it nonetheless <3

Summary: A peaceful day turns into so much more after Bun makes breakfast and Tan takes it upon himself to thank the doctor in his own special way.

Word Count: 3072

Taking in a deep breath full of mountain air, Bun let it out in a gentle sigh, his attention drifting from the breakfast he was making for himself and Tan as he took in his surroundings. The skies were bright blue and cloudless, along with the sun, which was bright and warm, casting its rays of light onto the cabin like home. Moving his gaze back towards the eggs that were almost done cooking, Bun let a soft smile rise on his face as the thought of being able to relax for once reached his mind, the thought of Jane’s case and how corrupted the police system was far behind on the backburner for now. Flipping the eggs so the yolk was on the hot pan, Bun listened to the sizzling food until the sound of the hose turned on and Tan appeared below, watering the garden that the two of them had planted earlier in the week. 

“Breakfast is almost ready,” Bun called out, trying to ignore the way his cheeks lit up when Tan turned and grinned brightly, his whole face lighting up as he waved to Bun to announce that he had heard him. Clearing his throat, Bun swiftly glanced back towards their food, not seeing the way Tan’s grin had turned into something more fond as he finished up with watering the plants, turning the hose off and entering back into the house. Turning off the small stove, Bun placed the eggs onto two different plates and paused when the door opening behind him made him aware of Tan’s presence. Twitching briefly when arms wrapped around his waist and a face was buried into his neck, Bun let out a small cackle and rolled his eyes, offering the plate towards Tan. “It’s going to get cold if you don’t stop holding me and eat already.”

“You’re no fun,” Tan grumbled with a pout present on his lips, his arms disappearing from Bun’s waist so he could take the offered plate. Snickering at the pout on Tan’s face, Bun stayed quiet and chowed down, leaning against the counter in silence as they ate, the sound of birds chirping and the occasional scrape of their forks on their plates created a calming air for the both of them. Taking the last bite of his egg, Tan licked his lips and tried not to let Bun become aware that he noticed the way he was watching the movement of his tongue against his lips. “Let me take care of the dishes, okay? It’s the least I can do since you always cook for me.”

Shaking his head softly at what he had said, Bun swallowed the lump in his throat and leaned over, pressing a soft kiss to Tan’s cheek before he backed off, taking his place at the railing to continue looking at the forest covered property. Chuckling fondly, Tan stared at Bun’s back for a moment longer, letting himself bask in the moment until he knew it was time to bring the dishes inside. Gathering their plates and forks, Tan carried them inside and placed them in the sink, making a mental note to wash them later since he had something more important to tend to. Making his way back out to Bun, Tan stalked closer until his arms were wrapped back around Bun’s waist and Tan’s face was pressed into the other’s neck. Taking in a scent that was purely Bun, Tan sighed and nosed the side of his neck, tightening his hold on Bun when he heard the doctor’s breath hitch. 

“R-really? Out here? Aren’t you afraid someone will see us?” Bun asked softly, his voice trembling slightly with the pleasure he was feeling when Tan nipped at the skin, licking over it as if it would soothe the slight pain he felt from Tan’s action. Leaning back against Tan’s chest, Bun opened his neck up wider, laying his head on Tan’s shoulder so that he could have more access to the sensitive area. Smirking into his skin, Tan unwrapped his arms from Bun’s waist and teased them up Bun’s shirt, gentle fingers swiping against the skin of his stomach. “T-Tan…!”

“No one is out here but us...but if you want, let’s go to the bed,” Tan whispered, his lips pressed against Bun’s ear, his panting breaths tickling the doctor’s ear as he let out a whimper in response. Turning in Tan’s grasp, Bun stared up into Tan’s eyes and pressed their lips together, throwing his arms around Tan’s neck as he was hoisted up, their groins pressed together when Tan wrapped his arms around Bun’s thighs, holding his body snug against his own. Carrying Bun as if he weighed nothing, Tan pushed the door open with his foot, closing it behind him the same way, ignoring the way it slammed shut and making his way up the stairs. Making it to their shared bedroom, Tan dropped Bun onto the bed and crawled on top of him, pressing their lips together once more, his tongue swiping against Bun’s bottom lip. “Is this better, Doctor?”

Nipping Tan’s lips as a punishment for his teasing, Bun laid back against the bed and stared up at Tan, who swiped his thumb against his lips with a teasing smirk that made Bun feel even hotter than before. Crawling up until he was able to sit on Bun’s waist, Tan sat up and pulled his own shirt off, throwing it aside so that he could pull Bun’s shirt off as well. Raising his arms to make the slide easier, Bun flopped back against the mattress as his shirt was thrown in the same direction as Tan’s. Taking in the build of Tan’s body with a lust filled gaze, Bun reached out to touch, not getting far however when Tan grabbed his wrists and pinned them above his head, his eyes dark as he leaned down, pressing their foreheads together as their breathed, taking in each other’s breaths.

“Keep them there,” Tan whispered, his tone of voice telling Bun that he was giving him a direct order. Arching his brow in a challenge, Bun decided to obey for now, his hands grabbing a hold of the frame above, the wood cool against the heated skin of his palms. Whispering something that sounded like, ‘good boy,’ Tan rubbed their noses together, moving down slowly to press little kisses against Bun’s lips, not staying there for long as he continued to trail down further. Nosing his neck, Tan pressed soft kisses against the skin, nipping once more and grinning when Bun let out a muffled groan, his neck being thrown back as if he was unwillingly giving Tan more space to work with. “Can I leave a mark, Bun?”

“U-uh...not too h-high up...need to cover it for w-work,” Bun gasped out, trying his hardest not to move his hands when he felt Tan’s teeth nip at his neck again. Nodding softly to show that he was heard, Tan pushed himself back up and pressed their lips together, sucking on Bun’s bottom lip before their tongues brushed together, not a sign of a fight from the doctor below him. Drifting back down Bun’s body, Tan nipped down Bun’s neck and nosed at the spot where his neck met his shoulder, making his mark as Bun’s hands formed fists at their position on the bed posts. Pulling away from the spot with a final kiss, Tan brushed his thumb against the blossoming spot before he got back to what he was doing, trailing down Bun’s body. Attaching his lips to one of Bun’s nipples, Tan bit back a snicker when Bun let out a breathy gasp that turned into a moan when Tan circled his tongue around it. “T-Tan..oh god…”

Letting go of the reddening nipple, Tan turned his attention to the neglected one, his fingers pinching the one he was just at as he bit and licked the right one. Arching his back completely off the bed as a moan left his mouth, Bun threw his arms down and pushed his fingers through Tan’s hair, pulling on the strands that made a growl escape the other when he realized what just happened. Pulling away from Bun’s chest, Tan grabbed at his wrists and shoved them above his head once more, arching a brow at the small grin Bun was directing towards him. 

“Are you challenging me?” Tan asked, his voice still holding a bit of amusement despite the way his eyes were getting darker with how much he was feeling. Letting out a hum as he thought about his answer, Bun smirked and arched up, pressing a kiss to Tan’s nose that had the other gaping in shock, his grip falling off Bun’s wrists completely as he tried to comprehend what just happened. Letting out a fond sigh, Tan couldn’t help the way his insides seemed to melt at the smile Bun was giving him before he leaned down, pressing soft kisses all around Bun’s face that had the doctor chuckling and whining. Brushing his fingers through Bun’s hair, Tan pressed a kiss to his nose before both of them let out a harsh breath when Bun arched up and rubbed their groins together. “Right...how do you want to do this?”

“I’m okay with either…” Bun whispered, a blush staining his cheeks at the grin Tan shot his way. Biting his lip in thought, Tan nodded to himself and got to work, drifting his hands down Bun’s chest once more, playfully pinching his nipples on their way down, a smirk on his lips at the sound Bun had let out before he finally reached Bun’s boxers, his fingers just teasing the skin underneath the waistband. Keeping his gaze locked on Tan’s, Bun lifted his hips as the other pulled his boxers off his legs, dropping them down the side of the bed as he finally got to take Bun in completely. “Don’t just leave me here...you get rid of those as well!”

Blinking when he felt Bun tugging at his pajama bottoms, Tan let out a cackle and did what he was told, untying the strings before he pushed himself off the bed to yank down his pants. Taking his place back in between Bun’s legs once both of them were bare, Tan drifted his hands up and down Bun’s thighs, his thumbs drawing slow circles on the soft skin of his inner thighs. Swallowing the urge to close his legs, Bun fisted the sheets and reached out, wanting Tan close despite his embarrassment. Smiling fondly at the act, Tan leaned into Bun’s arms and sighed when the doctor’s legs wrapped around his waist, their dicks rubbing against each other as Tan leaned into Bun’s hold. 

Burying his face in Tan’s neck to hide his whimpers, Bun squeezed and scratched at Tan’s back, letting out harsh pants and moans when Tan bit at his shoulder again, their hips moving in sync as they rubbed against each other, their sounds of pleasure mixing in the once quiet room. Gripping at Tan’s shoulders when he felt the heat in his abdomen growing hotter, Bun gently pushed Tan back and stared at him with a pleading gaze. 

“Tan...i-inside me, please. I need it, p-please,” Bun yelped out, his back arching when Tan rubbed against him once more, the pleasure he was feeling beginning to become too much too soon. Placing his hands on Bun’s hips, his thumbs rubbing comforting circles against the bones, Tan kept his eyes on Bun’s as he tried to make sure that this is what Bun truly wanted and not just a in the moment kind of thing. Realizing what Tan was doing, Bun took in a deep calming breath and reached out, cupping the side of Tan’s face with a smile. “I want this, for real. I promise, Tan.”

“Okay...do you need me to prepare you?” Tan asked softly, reaching for the bedside table and pulling open the drawer, a bottle of what looked like clear and vanilla scented lube catching Bun’s eyes. Arching his brow at the choice of lube, Bun tried not to chuckle before he nodded, knowing that it has been a while since he did anything like this. Flicking the cap open and squirting a good amount into his hand, Tan warmed it up the best he could before he gently tapped Bun’s waist, the doctor taking one of the pillows from his head and placing it under his hips so that he was slightly elevated. “Okay, I’m going to start now.”

Taking in a deep breath as he felt Tan’s fingers drawing circles around his entrance, Bun yelped when his finger entered, Tan pausing to give Bun some time before he started again, slowly and gently preparing him. Not too long, Tan already had three fingers buried inside Bun’s, scissoring and jabbing at the spot that made Bun want to scream and his dick leak, a puddle of precum already appearing on his abdomen. Jabbing at Bun’s prostate playfully one last time, Tan pulled his fingers out and poured more lube, rubbing it onto himself with a low moan, taking in the feeling of Bun watching him jerk off. Knowing both of them were ready, Tan held himself still as he pressed the head against Bun’s twitching entrance, their eyes never leaving each other when Tan pushed in. 

“Oh god...you’re so tight, Bun…” Tan gasped out, his voice shaking with how much he was trying to hold back from just thrusting into Bun’s warmth. Letting out whimpers when Tan finally bottomed out, Bun took in deep breaths while Tan pressed his face into Bun’s chest, staying still so that the doctor could adjust to the sudden feeling of fullness. Feeling like he had a hold of himself, Tan pushed himself back up and held Bun close, his fingers scratching gently at his scalp, the pure care he could feel from the act making his whole body relax. Pressing their lips together, Bun pulled back and nuzzled their noses together, giving a soft okay for Tan to begin to move. “If you need to stop, let me know...okay?”

“Of course,” Bun whispered, offering a soft smile before he gasped when Tan pulled out and pushed back in. Keeping his arms wrapped around Tan’s shoulders, Bun let out soft whimpers and moans, yelping when he was suddenly lifted and he was sitting in Tan’s lap, his legs still wrapped around the other’s waist. Thrusting up into Bun again, Tan held him close as their chests were flushed together, the sudden change in positions making Bun glad for the change since it felt like Tan was even deeper inside him. Burying his face in Tan’s neck as their pace began to quicken, Bun bit Tan’s shoulder when his hand wrapped around his dick, Tan’s thumb circling around the leaking head and drawing out a moan from Bun’s throat. “T-Tan, I’m close!”

Thrusting harder into Bun, Tan growled and tightened his hold on Bun’s dick, the jerking of his hand growing fast as he too grew closer to the edge. Digging his nails into Tan’s shoulders when he felt so close to completion, Bun opened his mouth in a silent scream when Tan hit his prostate over and over, the last thrust finally pushing over the edge as he came, coating Tan’s hand as his body tightened around Tan, causing him to reach his end as well. Slowing his thrusts as the high of their shared orgasms began to ebb away, Tan stayed inside of Bun until the doctor stopped panting and weakly pushed himself up, the scratches he left on Tan’s shoulder leaving bright red welts on the other’s skin.

“I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to do that. Does it hurt?” Bun asked sleepily, rubbing his thumbs softly across the mark before he noticed the bite mark he had also left on Tan’s shoulder. Chuckling softly, Tan shook his head and carefully dropped Bun back on the bed and pulled out, both of them wincing from the feeling. Leaving the drifting Bun for a moment, Tan fetched a wet rag as he washed the doctor’s cum off his hand. Feeling Tan’s presence beside him once more, Bun shivered when Tan carefully cleaned him up, obviously trying to avoid the still sensitive areas. Gently dabbing at his entrance, Tan knew that he got everything clean the best he could so he tossed the rag in the direction of the hamper, getting off the bed once more to look for their bottoms. “Tan...where’d you go?”

“I’m here. Can you lift your hips for a moment?” Tan asked, pulling up his own pajama bottoms before he reached for Bun’s boxers. Slipping them back onto his body, Tan pulled the pillow out from under Bun and pushed it off the bed, knowing he would have to wash the pillowcase for it later. Doubling up the pillows, Tan took his place on his back and gently pulled Bun into him, the doctor taking his place at his side with his face buried in Tan’s shoulder and his one arm lying across the other’s waist. Wrapping his one arm around the doctor to keep him close, Tan pressed a soft kiss to his forehead and sighed, nuzzling their head together when he noticed Bun trying hard to keep his eyes open. “Take a nap. It’s your day off and I have nothing planned for the rest of the day. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

Seeming like he wanted to fight what Tan had said, Bun opened his mouth to protest yet only triggering a huge yawn as he did so. Pressing one more kiss to his forehead, Tan pulled the blanket up on the both of them and held Bun close, rubbing his fingers through the other’s hair while he tangled their legs together. Letting out a grumble like protest, Bun didn’t get a chance to say anymore since the warmth of the blanket and Tan’s body grew too much, the doctor falling fast asleep in the safe space of Tan’s hold. Chuckling softly, Tan continued to run his fingers through Bun’s hair and before long, Tan had joined Bun in taking a nap, similar soft smiles resting on their lips as they cuddled, basking in the safe feeling of having each other close.

[rinas-ninjas]

Hey um... continuation of The Nindroid Lives AU?? Plz??

I had to scramble to find that fic omfg. XD

“Zane? Zane!” Cole craned over the white ninja’s face to find any sign of consciousness, but the lights behind his eyes were shut completely off, and the nindroid was limp in his arms.

He looked unsettling. Half of his face plate had fallen away, leaving exposed wires and metal plating. His left eye stared dully ahead, the glass cover cracked and chipped. Loose wiring sparked around his face; it occasionally sent a mild shock into Cole’s skin where they brushed against each other.

If it wasn’t for that slight buzz, Cole would assume him fully shut down.

A shockwave rocked him where he knelt with Zane; he cursed and rocked to his feet to get to safety as more rubble crumbled and fell around them. He hated how limply Zane was jostled around in his arms, even as he tightened his grip to keep him steady. “I gotcha, Popsicle,” he muttered. “We just gotta get you to Jay, it’ll be okay, I gotcha.”

Zane didn’t respond to his assurances.

He couldn’t get the sight out of his head.

A pit had sunk into his stomach when Pythor had ruined the original plan; he saw his life flash before his eyes when the Overlord loomed up over them.

He almost didn’t register the subdued sound of Zane’s voice behind him.

“Support me friends, for one last time.”

The following seconds played over and over in his brain.

The hauntingly resolute look on Zane’s face before he launched himself into the air.

The brief weight and release as the white ninja vaulted across all of them.

And the flash. That horrible flash that stunned the Overlord and dropped all of them, making his head spin and his vision blur. He rolled over only to stare in horror at Zane’s form dangling from those spindly limbs.

The world flashed bright white again, and Zane’s screaming voice echoed in his head – and he shut his eyes tight against what he was sure was Zane’s –

He shook the thought from his head and kept running forward.

Lloyd’s voice crackled in his ear.

“What’s your position, Cole? We’re ready for pickup.”

He huffed out a sigh in relief and looked around for a landmark. The ground was scorched and burning everywhere he looked. Smoke billowed from buildings on all sides, obscuring the sky and the familiar skyline above him. What looked like burned trees snarled and cracked around them. “We,” he panted. “We’re in Ninjago City Park,” He bit his lip. “I think.”

“Any landmarks? Anything at all?”

Cole shook his head. “I’m sorry, Lloyd, I can’t see a thing,” he gently knelt and set Zane on the ground. “Are the beacons working?”

He heard Lloyd mutter a word he wasn’t supposed to know. “Jay and Nya are trying to get them up and running – maybe Pix can do a manual scan if your beacon is transmitting.”

Cole heard a chilling enraged snarl echo across the smokey sky, sending a chill down his spine.

“Hurry, Lloyd.”

[t-rina]

Star Trek Enterprise Rewatch

2x3 Minefield

First aired: 2 October 2002

Synopsis by Netflix: The Enterprise stumbles into an area of space containing cloaked mines and a malfunctioning, active mine attaches itself to the ships hull.

Synopsis by Ash: Archer and Malcolm bond while disarming a mine that has attached itself to the ships hull.

Malcolm looks so nervous

ok, he has breakfast with the captain, I would be nervous too

Soccer, football xD

we still haven’t seen Chef’s face

Never bring your homework to the table xD

WHOA WHAT THE FUCK JUST HIT THEM????????? THAT WAS A HUUUUUGE EXPLOSION!!

I’VE GOT, I’VE GOT, I’VE GOT

nobody died, thankfully

but Hoshi is wounded :/

PHLOX!

more wounded

something attached itself on the ship O.o I wonder…. could it be the mine mentioned in the synopsis?

Malcolm is going to defuse it O.o

he’s going out there alone?

those are… a lot of mines

uh-oh, there is a ship

and the translator is not locking on

Hoshi wants to help, but is still in Sickbay

and they’re firing

how creepy must it be for Malcolm to be outside when the ship is firing?

FUUUUUCK MALCOLM HAS BEEN HIT

NO HE HAS BEEN STABBED! BY THE MINE 

The captain wants to go out there now?

He actually goes out there, shouldn’t there be someone else for that job?

A bit more optimism, Malcolm, please 

And he’s high xD

Does Archer have ANY idea how to defuse bombs?

Hoshi is working again :)

ROMULANS

THEY ARE ROMULANS

OMFG

WHY DIDN’T T’POL RECOGNIZE THE SHIP?

Oh, they Vulcans never made contact with the Romulans

How the fuck does Archer know what exactly 70 degrees are?

Archer will really try everything to bond with his crew

Malcolm is afraid of drowning so he went to space xD

How the hell does Malcolm even know what to do? This is a completely alien design

He’s sharing trauma

What does Malcolm have with heroics? Is that his life goal? To become a hero?

He needs to pee… seriously? SHOULDN'T HE BE TRAINED TO HOLD IT IN?????

There’s the ship again!

Oh no, there are two ships now

Oops, looks like he just triggered the mine

MALCOLM WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING???? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF??? Whyyyyyyyy????????

WHAT. The ACTUAL. FUCK?

I don’t get this guy

Wait… shuttle pod doors??

Okay, they are dispatching the hull plating, but thank god they have the SHUTTLE POD DOORS

Ok

Right

Yeah

Sure

They fly away with the shuttle pod doors

And are save from the explosion

Sure

Right

Mhm

They are save

Rating: 3/7

Not a particularly original story, lots of Archer and Malcolm but kind of weird interactions? Why would Malcolm commit suicide before the end is not immediately imminent? Huh??? Archer defuses alien bombs??? Huh?? And the way they survived? no...

[alirhi]

jfc FINALLY

Ugh. I have been fighting with my muse to get this done for two months. And I was actually going to stretch it to line up more or less with the movie's timeline, but honestly... I'm just so burnt 😂 So this is what you get.

Title: Monday Chapter: Oneshot Fandom: Monday Rating: R/NC17 (I mean, have you seenthe movie?) Pairing: Mickey/OC Summary: What if, instead of Chloe, Mickey met a woman that night who was actually good for him and whom he was compatible with? WARNINGS: swearing, sex (not explicit; I rarely if ever write smut, but still) Notes: I hate Chloe. Omfg I hate her so much. So I fixed it XD Yes, I literally rewrote the entire movie with a different love interest. Well... most of it lol. I get bored, okay? Lol. Oh, and the girl is actually a character I yanked from one of my original stories lol. I didn't make her up on the spot for this (I'm too lazy for that XD). Tweaking her to fit the setting was kind of a bitch, as she's from a fantasy series, so if she seems kind of Mary Sue-ish...sorry.

“You have a nose for American cheese!”

Mickey rolled his eyes. “Come on, that girl looks insane!”

“What?” Looking surprised, Argyris turned and looked where his friend was pointing, and then laughed. “Not her, you idiot! The ginger-snap over there!”

The girl in question, a lithe, pretty thing with a wild mass of red hair that she constantly shoved impatiently out of her face was dancing alone a few feet away from the angry-looking blonde Mickey had thought he'd been talking about. She was gorgeous, he had to admit.

“Go and talk to her, man!”

He pointed to the turntables in front of him, impatiently reminding Argyris, “No, I'm working!”

“Come on,” the other man taunted, “I know your playlist inside-out! It's the same R&B shit, and then a little bit of disco!”

“It's not R&B, and it's not disco!”

“This song is twenty fuckin' minutes long! Come on!”

“Hey!” Mickey grimaced, hastily yanking his headphones off and setting them down as he was dragged off toward the redhead. “Fuck!”

All puffed up with pride – and way too much to drink – Argyris pushed Mickey when they drew close to the girl, so that he slammed right into her. Laughing, he patted her shoulder, but his mirth was short-lived. She grabbed his hand and twisted his arm up behind his back.

“Put your hands on a girl you don't know again. I dare you.”

Mickey covered his mouth with one hand to hide his laughter as his friend writhed in the deceptively delicate-looking girl's grip.

“Alright, alright! I'm sorry!” Laughing as he was released, Argyris went to put a hand on each of their shoulders, took one look at the girl, and just hung off of Mickey's shoulder, instead. “You're an American... You're an American! You're a man, you're a woman! There you go!”

“Yeah, crazy kismet,” she snapped, rolling her eyes. “Two Americans out of their natural deep-fried, flag-waving habitat at the same time! Imagine!”

Undaunted, the drunk Greek simply shrugged and flounced off with a flippant, “Whatever. Have fun!”

“Sorry about him,” Mickey said immediately, smiling when she turned and smiled at him. At least she didn't seem to be judging him by the company he kept.

“Friend of yours?”

“Argyris? Yeah.” He grinned. “He's kind of an idiot, but he's a good guy.”

She laughed. “I'll take your word for it. Aren't you the DJ? Should you be over here?”

“No,” he admitted with a laugh, “but I'm fine for a few minutes. You wanna dance?”

“I'd love to.”

She was tall, he realized as he spun her around; in the little barely-there heels she was wearing, they stood eye to eye. Clearly drunk, though, she lost her balance every few seconds and crashed into him with a laugh, occasionally giving up on righting herself and just resting her head on his shoulder.

Mickey grimaced as he heard the song beginning to wind down, but the girl hanging off of him only smiled and patted his chest. “Go on! Get back to work. I'll be here when you're done.”

“Any chance I could convince you to come around the other side?” He gave her his most charming grin, and felt a little warm inside when she laughed.

“Why, so you can stare down my top the whole time?”

With a shrug, he admitted, “I've been doing that anyway, so why not?”

“Honesty!” She grinned and kissed his cheek. “I like it. Alright, you gorgeous lech! Get back up there. We'll see what I can do about your view.”

He only made it another hour or so, with the girl coming up to him every few minutes with another drink, and occasionally flashing him from the spot she'd found in front of him. Queuing up enough songs to play through the end of the party, he hopped down off the podium and ran over to her, tugging her close for the kiss he'd been dying for since Argyris had first pulled him over to her. “You wanna get out of here?”

“You sure? What about-”

Mickey shook his head, smiling. “It'll run til they all pass out. No one'll touch my stuff, not here. Come on!”

“Okay, yeah.” She shrugged and laughed, allowing him to pull her through the throng of dancing people and away from the party. “Fuck it. Let's go!”

The next morning, naked, hungover, and covered in sand, they were nudged awake by a police officer while an angry lady yelled about their indecency. The officer waited for them to scramble back into their clothes and then cuffed them both, ushering them into the back of a cruiser.

Despite the situation, Mickey couldn't keep the silly smile off of his face. At least the cops had been kind enough to cuff their hands in front of them, allowing him to hold his out to the girl beside him. “Hi. I'm Mickey.”

She laughed, the realization that they'd never introduced themselves clearly dawning in her bright green eyes. “Beck.”

“Nice to meet you.” He shook her hand, but couldn't hide his slight confusion. “That a first name or a last name?”

“It's short for my first name.” She was still smiling, but there was a dangerous glint in her eyes as she added, “Call me 'Becky' once and I'll be facing real prison time at the end of this ride, and you'll be missing body parts.”

With a slightly nervous laugh, he nodded. “Alright, noted. Beck it is!”

“And, nice to meet you, too.”

There was the briefest of conversations at the police station, the sandy couple signed themselves out, and then Mickey persuaded one of the officers to give them a lift back to the beach.

“You want a ride?”

Beck grinned, one ruddy eyebrow arching up. “I still need to clean up from the 'ride' last night.”

Laughing, Mickey shook his head. “I'll never say 'no' to more of that, but that's not what I meant.”

“I know.” She shrugged, snarky grin turning into an almost bashful smile. “And yeah, I'd love a ride. Thanks.”

He loaned her his helmet and, after getting directions from her, drove her to her hotel. It seemed like that would be the end of it... and he hated that thought. “So, what're you doing tonight?”

“Packing and sleeping,” she told him with a laugh, leaning against the building. “I gotta be on a plane Monday morning, and I hate leaving things to the last minute.”

“You're leaving?”

With a grin and a snarky air kiss, she teased, “Missing me already, lover boy?”

Mickey shrugged, grinning. “Maybe I am. I like you, is that so bad?” He beckoned, and was somewhat surprised when she walked right over to him. Still smiling like a fool, he grabbed her by the waistband of her shorts and pulled her close for a kiss. “Come with me tonight, for a proper sendoff.”

“Come with you where?”

“I'm DJing on an island.” Thumb sliding under her clothes to slide over her hip, he wheedled, “Come on. Come with me.”

“I need to shower. I'm all sandy and sticky from last night.” Beck gave him just long enough to deflate, and then she smirked and nipped his jaw. “Care to join me?”

“Fuck yes!” He was off his moped in a flash, following the laughing redhead as she took his hand and tugged him into the hotel. Giggling like hyenas, the pair made their way up to Beck's room, stopping every few steps for one to yank the other close for another kiss. Mickey was on cloud nine. This girl was fun, she was sassy and wild, and he couldn't get enough.

It seemed she couldn't get enough, either. They'd barely stepped into the shower before Beck was on her knees in front of him, her hand on his ass and his hand tangled in her hair as she sucked him off. He leaned back against the wall, tugging lightly on her hair and shuddering as he felt her moan around him.

“Fuck... oh, fuck, you're good at that! Holy shit... Stop. Stopstopstop!” With a little half-smile at her look of confusion, he tugged her back to her feet and kissed her. “You're fucking amazing. God damn, you are good with that mouth! But that's not what I want.”

Beck grinned, a playful glint in her bright green eyes that made him weak in the knees. “That's not a good idea.”

“Oh, no?” He backed her up against the wall, nuzzling her neck as his hand drifted down between her legs. “Funny... You don't seem to really believe that.”

“I definitely want you to fuck me til I can't move,” she assured him, shaking as she tried desperately not to laugh. “But it's not a good idea-” Her words turned into a startled whimper as Mickey hoisted her up by her thighs and slid into her to the hilt.

“I think it's a great idea,” he purred, biting her shoulder. Then he almost dropped her, and they both cracked up.

“The wall's slippery! This isn't smart.”

“No, it's definitely not smart,” he agreed, turning so that he was holding her up in mid-air instead of bracing her against the wall. “But that doesn't make it not a good idea.”

Beck laughed, clinging to him for dear life. “You're just gonna hold me up?”

“Yep.”

“The whole time?”

“You don't think I can do it?” Mickey grinned, bouncing her a few times just to prove her wrong. “You weight nothing, baby girl. I got this.” She was surprisingly light... but she was also a grown woman almost the same height as him. His pride would never let him admit it aloud, but there was no way he was going to be able to fuck her like this for long.

Just as he was wracking his somewhat foggy brain for a solution, he saw light dawning in Beck's eyes and waited. “Counter!” She nodded toward the sink, and only then did he realize they hadn't even closed the shower curtain, and the bathroom floor was getting soaked. “Put me on the counter.”

“I thought we were supposed to be getting cleaned up.” Even as he teased her, he was carefully stepping out of the tub, blessing her foresight when she grabbed a towel and threw it down just before he set his foot down, and carrying her across the bathroom.

Beck snickered and kissed him. “No point getting clean until we're done getting dirty. Shut up and fuck me.”

“Yes, ma'am!”

A little while later, they stumbled across another logistical issue Mickey hadn't considered.

“You are not putting dirty clothes on a clean body!” Beck insisted, prying his – pretty nasty at this point, he had to admit – clothes from his hands. “That's disgusting!”

“Well, what the fuck else am I supposed to wear? Clearly, I can't just run around naked. We got arrested for that this morning!”

“Pity,” she teased, eyeing him in a way that made him wonder if they were ever actually going to leave her hotel room. “You're the best view in Athens.”

“Maybe they arrested us out of jealousy, then.” Mickey shook his head, though he couldn't help chuckling a little, despite his frustration. “Either way, I'm kinda stuck. It's either be gross, or don't go anywhere.”

“As much as the thought of keeping you trapped here as my sex slave appeals to me...” With another mocking grin, Beck turned and started going through her dresser drawers. “I think I can help you out.”

“I'm not wearing your clothes.”

“They're less flamboyant than what you do wear.”

“They won't fit!”

She tossed him a tee shirt and a pair of cargo shorts that proved him very wrong. They were huge. At his questioning stare, she shrugged.

“I always pack a couple of cute outfits when I travel, and the rest is super baggy; at least three sizes too big. I like to be comfortable.”

“Convenient.” He stared at the shorts in his hands, and then at the belt she handed him a few seconds later. “Am I supposed to wear your underwear, too?”

Beck snorted and walked away, patting his shoulder as she passed him. “I don't wear underwear.”

“Then I guess I kind of am wearing yours.” Even as the joke was tumbling out of his mouth, he knew it was lame, but they still both laughed. Then he glanced at his watch and winced. “Shit, we gotta go.”

“What?”

He waited for the dress she was pulling on to settle into place and then wrapped his arms around her, tugging her back against his chest. “We gotta go. If we don't catch the next ferry, we're gonna be late.”

She flinched. “Okay, two seconds.” The girl moved like lightning. Mystified, Mickey watched as she yanked on a pair of canvas sneakers, grabbed her wallet and cell phone – which she then stuffed in the pockets of the shorts he was wearing – grabbed a hair tie, and ran for the door. In no time, she'd strangled her wild red curls into submission in a low ponytail. They hadn't even reached the elevator yet.

“How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

Handing her his helmet, Mickey shook his head. “I think you got dressed faster than I did! I thought girls always take forever to get ready.”

Laughing, Beck rolled her eyes. As she settled on the back of the moped and tucked her skirt around her legs for decency, she told him, “I spent two years in the jungle with nothing but what I could fit in a backpack. Low maintenance is kinda my thing. The fewer steps to getting ready, the less time it takes.”

“That explains so much.” He stared at her for a moment, and then shook his head and grumbled as he slid into place in front of her and started the moped, “And raises so many more questions!”

“Full disclosure: I will probably answer none of them, as I'm very likely never going to see you again after tonight.”

Well, that was a depressing dose of reality he wasn't ready for. Not one to dwell on things, though, Mickey simply decided to have as much fun as he could with this girl while she was around, and treasure the steamy memories.

They made it to the ferry just in time. Making sure there was no one else around, Mickey smirked and tugged Beck into his lap, one hand sliding up her thigh. He moved slowly, giving her plenty of time to push him away if she wanted; she simply arched an eyebrow at his questioning look and grabbed his wrist, tugging his hand closer.

“Why do you think I'm wearing a dress?”

Fuck, he loved this girl!

They were pretty much attached at the hip the whole day – literally, when they could steal a few minutes alone. While he was DJing, she was dancing like a lunatic, front and center. Those piercing green eyes never strayed from him; he knew, because he couldn't look away from her, either. Once he was free, they danced together for a little while, but it didn't take long for Beck to grow bored and yank him down the beach, away from the party. They found a dark, hidden nook to be alone, spent the night hopelessly wrapped up in each other, and then cuddled as they watched the sun come up.

“Gods, this place is so beautiful!”

Mickey chuckled at the plural, but didn't ask about it. He had a more important question for her: “You really gonna leave all this behind?”

“I have to.” She didn't sound any happier about leaving than he was about letting her leave. “I gotta get home.”

“Where's home?”

“Boston. You?”

He grinned and nudged her. “Athens, baby. Been here seven years!”

“Okay, but where before here?” she prodded with a laugh. “You're obviously not Greek; you don't even speak it!”

“Do you?”

Beck sat up a little straighter, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “Nai.”

“Showoff.”

“One word is being a showoff?” Beck laughed, shaking her head. “You've been here seven years, and you don't know a single word of the language?”

Mickey scowled, feeling defensive. “Everybody speaks English!”

“Wow.” She wasn't smiling anymore. She actually looked and sounded pretty pissed off. “That is astoundingly arrogant. And completely American, so clearly your obnoxious friend with no boundaries was right; it's not just a funny accent, you actually are American.”

“You're an American, too!”

“By birth,” she snapped, “not by choice. And I fucking hope not by attitude. I don't go stomping around foreign countries with absolutely no respect for their language or customs, expecting everyone around me to cater to my laziness.”

He rolled his eyes, scooting away from her. “Give me a break! Learning another language is hard!”

“Impossible, if you don't even try.”

“Yeah? How many languages do you speak?”

“Fluently?” She held up her hands, ticking each one off on her fingers as she listed them. “English, obviously. Korean, Irish Gaelic, Italian, and German. Passably? Japanese – I can speak it fluently, but I have trouble reading it; the kanji is a nightmare – Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, and Swedish. I can read Latin and Old Norse, and I'm learning Mandarin, but I admit I'm struggling with that one. Mostly for the same reason I can't read Japanese; the writing system.”

Gaping at her, Mickey couldn't formulate a response for a long moment. When his brain finally started working again, all he could think to say was, “Jesus, what the fuck are you, a robot?!”

“I'm an archaeologist,” she told him flatly, still looking irritated. “And I've been traveling since I was seventeen. Been studying at least one language other than English since I was ten. I definitely had an advantage, starting when I still had a little kid's spongy brain, but it's not impossible to learn at any age, if you actually care enough to try.”

“You sound like my ex.” Hoping to distract her from that comment he hadn't meant to make, he hastily asked, “If you love to travel so much, why're you in such a rush to get home?”

Beck sighed, turning to stare out over the water. “I promised my daughter I'd be home in time for her birthday.”

Huh. They had more in common that he'd thought. “You have a kid?”

She nodded. “Two. Two girls.”

“How old?”

“Alice is five,” she murmured, pulling her knees up to her chest and crossing her arms over them. Head pillowed on her arms, she added, “And Madeline's about to turn fourteen.”

“How the hell old are you?!” He hadn't meant to ask so bluntly, but he was so stunned by her daughters' ages that the question just kind of blurted itself out.

Mercifully, Beck laughed a little. “I'm thirty-three. I'll spare you some math – I was nineteen when I had Maddie.”

Mickey shook his head, not sure how to react. In all honesty, she didn't look much older than that now. There was a shadow behind her eyes that he was dying to ask about, but even as thoughtless as he could be, he knew when to just not go there. Instead, he told her softly, “My son is six.”

“What's his name?”

He smiled. As much as the situation with his ex sucked, he loved his son, and thinking about him always brought a little smile to Mickey's face. “Hector.”

The look on Beck's pretty face as she watched him like a hawk made him blush, though he wasn't sure why. There was just something about that direct green gaze that made him feel like she could read his mind. “He's the real reason you don't want to leave Greece, isn't he?” A spot-on guess like that certainly did nothing to dispel the notion.

He nodded. “Yeah. Yep. His mom hates my guts, but I don't care. There's nothing I wouldn't do to stay in his life. I actually, um... I have a room for him, at my place. If she'll ever let me take him, you know, just for a weekend or whatever... His room is ready and waiting for him.”

“All you can do is keep trying. Put in the work, be the best dad you can be, and hope for the best.”

Unsure what to say to that, Mickey changed the subject with an awkward smile. “So... Alice? She blonde, like Alice in Wonderland?”

Beck snorted, shaking her head. “No, she has black hair, like her dad.” She paused and then shook her head again with a bemused smirk on her face. “Actually, both of my girls look like their dads – dark hair, big blue eyes.” Smirk turning into a grin, she nudged him. “Guess I've got a type.”

“'Dads,' huh?” He grinned, too, and nudged her right back. “Plural?”

“You gonna get all judgy on me, now?” Her tone was light and teasing, but her eyes promised a whole lot of pain if he answered wrong.

Mickey just laughed. “Nope, no judgment. I think you've seen enough of what I'm like this weekend to know I wouldn't have the right.”

“Good answer.”

“I don't want you to leave.” He watched her go rigid and sighed, shaking his head. “I'm not gonna try to stop you. If you were leaving for literally any other reason, I might, but I'd never dream of trying to keep a mom away from her kid. I just... I really like you, and I wish you didn't have to go.”

She shrugged a little, staring out over the water again. “To be honest, I don't wanna go, either. I mean, I'm dying to see my girls again, being away from them is always painful, but... This place is so beautiful. I would love to stay a little longer.”

Not a single word about whether or not she liked him. That stung, but he did his best to ignore it. “Why don't you bring them with you when you travel?”

“I used to,” she admitted. “When it was just Maddie, I brought her everywhere with me and tutored her myself. I tried to keep it going after Alice was born, but it was rough. They got tired of always being on the road and not having kids their age to play with, so now I leave them with my sister when I'm away.”

“Wait, you taught her yourself?” He laughed, shaking his head in dismay. “Are you sure you're not a robot?”

Beck laughed, too, rolling her eyes. “I'm sure. There's more down time than you think in archaeology; plenty of time to keep an already smart girl from falling behind in her schooling.”

“They must take after their mom. I mean, you speak a zillion languages, so you gotta be pretty damn smart.” She was so reckless and carefree, it was hard to picture this woman digging in the dirt for broken clay pots, or wrangling two children to teach them math. From what he'd seen, it felt like Beck was describing a completely different person. He didn't want to offend her, so he refrained from pointing out that she came across less brilliant, multilingual career woman in her thirties and more Girls Gone Wild: Athens.

“Cheapann tú gur leathcheann mé.” He had no idea what the hell she'd just said, but he could tell from the look on her face that he hadn't been as good at keeping his thoughts to himself as he'd hoped. She looked both offended and darkly amused. “Pensi che una ragazza non possa essere intelligente e libera? Eísai vlákas, Mickey.”

He didn't bother asking for a translation; her tone told him he didn't want to know. “How many languages was that?”

Beck grinned. “Three. Gaelic, Italian, and Greek. I sometimes mix a few in the same sentence – I constantly mix Japanese and Korean at home; it makes my girls laugh – but I figured I'd be nice.”

Mickey opened his mouth to say he wouldn't have noticed the difference, and then stopped. He had noticed the difference; the lilt of her voice changed dramatically with each language. That was how he'd realized that she'd been speaking more than one in the first place. “I kinda wanna hear that mix, now. Are the languages that similar?”

“No.” She laughed. “Not at all. They share some slang thanks to pop culture, and both borrowed a lot from China, but they're structured differently, and the way they're spoken is different.”

“Then how do you mix them?”

“I speak them both,” she said with a shrug and another laugh. “If you speak more than one language well enough, they don't have to be similar to still flow. Like...” She smirked, leaning against him and batting her eyes. “Kimi wa baboya, demo... mada jowayo.”

“Showoff.”

“Yes.” Cracking up, she pulled him back to lie on the warm sand with her and cuddled close. “That time, absolutely.”

“Do you think you'll ever come back?” He'd been trying so hard to avoid the subject, but he just couldn't get his mind to budge from the fact that he didn't want her to leave.

With a fond smile, she kissed him before teasing lightly, “You gonna miss me, honey?”

Mickey grinned, hoping she couldn't see that he was feeling more melancholy than amused. “I think mostly I'll miss the sex. It's hard to find a woman who can keep up with me.”

“Oh, is that so?” She laughed and tickled him, making him squirm. Then she stopped, a warm, almost wistful smile on her face. “I'm gonna miss you, too, you know.”

Forced playful grin turning into a soft, genuine smile, he pulled her closer and kissed her. “I was beginning to worry you didn't like me.”

Beck grinned and nuzzled his neck. “The past twenty-four hours wouldn't have happened if I didn't like you.”

Feigning shock, Mickey gasped. “You mean you don't fuck strange men all over Greece indiscriminately?”

“No, that I do all the time,” she joked, hand sliding up one leg of his borrowed shorts. “But I only let the really special ones wear my clothes.”

He laughed, glancing down at himself; he'd forgotten for a second that they were hers. “Right. We should stop at my place so I can change and give these back before I take you back to your hotel.”

Beck sighed, snatching her hand back as if he'd burned her. “Right. Yeah, we should get going.”

Though he still hated that she had to leave, he kept his word and didn't try to stop her. Argyris tried to convince him to make some grand gesture at the airport, but Mickey shut him down with a grumpy, “It's her kid's birthday. I'm not that much of a selfish asshole.”

“I can't believe you're in love with this girl!” Hooting with laughter, Argyris slapped his back. “I'm a fuckin' matchmaker! Who knew?”

“Fuck off, Cupid!” Mickey grinned and shoved him away, hoping the other man couldn't see how shitty he really felt. He moped for a couple of days, barely paying attention to the world around him, just missing the crazy girl with the temper as fiery as her hair.

Then he answered an unexpected knock at his door and was baffled by the sight of a cute, petite brunette with huge blue eyes staring up at him. “Um... Can I help you?”

“Huh.” One dark eyebrow arching up, she called back over her shoulder, “You really do have a type.”

A familiar laugh made Mickey freeze in shock as Beck stepped into view behind the girl, another one in her arms. “I made the mistake of telling Maddie that I met this awesome DJ in Greece-”

“And since I have no friends anyway,” the girl, who he finally realized was Beck's older daughter, Madeline, cut in, “I figured there'd be no problem moving my 'party' somewhere more fun than my aunt's house. For the third year in a row.”

“Jesus, you might look like your dad, but you sound just like your mom!” The words slipped out before he could stop himself. While Madeline rolled her eyes, the little girl in her mother's arms – Alice, he figured – giggled.

“Yeah,” Beck agreed with a grin, moving closer and leaning past her daughters to kiss him. “She's got my snarky attitude. Gods help me. Thankfully, this one's still innocent.” She squeezed Alice tighter against her side, making her giggle again.

“Mommy! You're squishing me!”

“Her? Innocent? Did auntie tell you what she did to my stereo?!”

“It was an accident!”

“My butt it was!”

Wincing, Beck glanced at Mickey and mouthed, 'I'm sorry.' “Girls, enough. What have I told you about bickering in front of strangers?”

“I mean, you also tell us not to spread our legs for strangers, and yet...”

“Madeline Fiona O'Brien!”

“What?!” Eyes wide and looking frustrated, Madeline gestured to Mickey. “I'm kinda right!”

He couldn't hold it in anymore. Leaning on the door frame to stay upright, Mickey burst out laughing. God help this woman, he thought as he struggled to get his breath back. Her daughter's exactly like her!

Face even redder than her hair, Beck grumbled, “I did not tell her we slept together.”

“You couldn't shut up about him and your clothes smelled like dude. Doesn't take a genius.”

“Maddie, couldja stop? I kinda wanna see more of Greece than two buildings. If mom drags us home early cuz you're being a jerk, I will kick your seat the whole way back to Boston!”

“I'll let her.”

Mickey had just about gotten his laughter under control. Still chuckling, he yanked Beck into his arms and gave her a long, slow kiss. “You are dreaming if you think I'm letting you leave again.”

“That doesn't sound kidnappy at all!”

Laughing again, he released the blushing redhead only to trap Madeline in his arms and tickle her until she squeaked. “And you, little miss Queen of Sarcasm!” With a grin, he kissed the top of her head and released her, pleased to see that she was smiling. “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

As he stepped aside to let them in, it finally dawned on him that he'd never actually worked a child's party before. He was used to crowds of rowdy drunk Greeks, not two innocent little girls. He didn't even know any kids, besides his own! He glanced helplessly at Beck, who snickered and kissed his jaw.

“Just do whatever; I can keep an eye on them. Maddie was more interested in the change of scenery than an actual party.”

“Does she really have no friends?”

She shrugged, turning to watch her daughters awkwardly settle on the couch and begin nudging and poking each other repeatedly. “She's never been the most social kid in the world. Around their own age groups, Liss is the bubbly extrovert and Maddie can't be bothered; she wanted to hang with kids her own age until she realized they annoy the hell out of her.”

“Argyris might know some people with kids...” He rolled his eyes. “He'll think I'm nuts, trying to hunt down teenagers, though.”

Beck laughed and shook her head. “No, really, don't worry about it. We don't even have to actually throw a party-”

Cutting her off with a kiss, Mickey insisted, “Oh, she's getting a party. When is her birthday, anyway?”

“Today, actually.”

He flinched, glancing at the clock, and then relaxed. It was still pretty early. “She's getting a party,” he repeated firmly. “She's fourteen! That... has no special significance in any culture I've heard of, but the kid still deserves some fun on her damn birthday. Especially if the last few have been disappointing.”

“The day after is pretty significant in our culture,” she murmured, so softly he almost didn't catch it.

“Is it?” Wasn't she American? He seemed to recall a whole conversation that almost turned into an argument about it. “Since when?”

Beck blushed again, looking uncomfortable. “Never mind.”

“...Girls, make yourselves at home. I need to talk to your mom for a minute.”

“You're talking now.”

He almost wrote that off as another snarky response, until he realized it had come from Alice. Looking innocently confused, she stared at him with almost comically large blue eyes, and he smiled. “In private,” he clarified as gently as he could as he grabbed Beck's wrist and tugged her down the hall toward his bedroom.

“Door open at all times!”

With a huff, Beck dug her heels in and spun around to glare at Madeline. “Who's the mom, here?”

“Sometimes I wonder.”

“Madeline.” Wrenching free of Mickey's grasp, she crossed her arms over her chest and stared her defiant offspring down. “Who's the mom?”

Glowering right back, Madeline mirrored her pose and grudgingly admitted, “You are.”

“Good. Now that we've got that cleared up, how about you show our host a little respect?”

Madeline's face was red as a tomato, but she still looked more angry and resentful than contrite, until she took a deep breath and turned to Mickey. With a surprising note of sincerity, she grumbled, “Sorry, Mickey.”

“Jet lag gets the best of all of us. Maybe you two should take a nap while your mom and I talk.” He didn't know what the hell else to say. He couldn't say 'it's okay' and undermine her mother, and 'you're forgiven' sounded kind of dickish. With an awkward smile, he waved and resumed dragging Beck down the hall.

As soon as the bedroom door was closed behind them, Beck sighed and leaned against it, looking worn out. “I'm so sorry about her. She's been so bitchy lately; my sister said she was even copping an attitude with her, which she almost never does.”

“She's probably just tired and been missing her mom.” In truth, he thought Madeline's sass was funny as hell, but he wasn't about to step into the middle of a mother-daughter war. Instead, he focused on his own curiosity. “What 'culture' celebrates the day after a birthday?”

She winced. “It's nothing, Mickey. Forget it.”

Weird. “What's the big deal? I'm just curious.”

“Alright, fine.” Looking and sounding resigned, she muttered, “If you're gonna judge or laugh, might as well get it out of the way – I'm a witch.”

Mickey stared at her. Whatever he'd been expecting her to say, it wasn't that. “...A witch?”

“I don't ride a broomstick and I can't turn you into a toad.” Oof. Defensive. Judging by her tone, she'd had this conversation before, and it hadn't gone well. “My sister's a witch, too, and so are my girls. There's an old tradition in the craft; at thirteen we find our deity, if we're meant to serve one, and a year and a day later, we pledge to their service.”

Light dawned. “Oh, that's why you always say 'Gods' instead of 'God'! That makes sense.” Who was he to judge? He wasn't particularly religious, but was any one religion really any weirder than the next? Curiosity abated, he brushed it off and tugged her into his arms. “My very own Sabrina.”

Beck snorted and dropped her head onto his shoulder. “Sometimes I feel more like Sarah Sanderson.”

“You really want me to throw a rager for your fourteen-year-old?” He didn't know what to say about her Hocus Pocus reference – 'horny and ditzy? Sounds about right' was...probably not the right thing – so he decided to just jump back to the original topic.

She shrugged. “I honestly don't know what to do for her. Coming back here was her idea, but I kinda doubt it had much to do with her birthday. She wasn't kidding about wondering which one of us is the parent; that kid's been trying to take care of me since she was little.”

“Why?”

Sighing, she stepped back out of his arms. She looked so sad and broken suddenly that he wished he'd never asked. “I would love to say that it's just who she is – and it is, to a point. Some people are just natural caregivers, and Maddie's definitely one of them. But I was a mess before Liss was born. Maddie's had to deal with a lot of bullshit, and it made her grow up too fast.”

That settled it in Mickey's mind. As he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket with one hand and opened the bedroom door with the other, he told her again, “She's getting a fucking party.”

Three hours and a lot of yelling at Agryris to get him to stop laughing later, he was setting up speakers in front of his apartment building, surrounded by what looked like every kid in Athens between twelve and sixteen, along with their parents. It definitely wasn't his usual crowd, to say the least, but they were friendly enough. Most importantly, Madeline was already smiling and laughing.

Remembering the posters he'd seen around town, he pulled his phone out again and called a number he hadn't used in quite a while. “Well, well. So you're in Athens. What do you know? I have a favor to ask you...”

“OHMYGOD! BASTIAN!”

Mickey grinned. Clearly, he'd made the right call, and it was earning him hugs galore. For the first time all day, Madeline was acting like a teenage girl, bouncing up and down and screeching with joy as Bastian made her way through the party. With a bright smile, she hugged the birthday girl and smoothed her dark curls back off of her face before approaching Mickey and hugging him. The second she moved back, Madeline launched herself at him, squeezing so tightly he thought she might crack a few ribs. And then her laughing mother replaced her, and he'd never felt so popular.

“Hell of a dad move,” Beck teased, grinning at him as she stepped aside and Maddie barreled into him again.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!”

Laughing, Mickey lifted her up and kissed the top of her head. “Happy birthday.” She was too light; idly, he made a mental note to ask what the hell Beck and her sister were feeding these kids, or failing to feed them. Then he realized he sort of was acting like Maddie's dad and he blushed, setting her down.

As she ran off to dance with her little sister, he pulled Bastian up onto the platform and picked up the mic. “First of all – let's hear it for the birthday girl!” He pointed, and grinned when the revelers around him cheered, making the brunette blush. “Maddie O'Brien! You said you have no friends back in the States-” Boos echoed around them, and her color deepened. “-So I thought, what could make a better birthday present than a couple hundred Greek friends?”

The crowd cheered again, and a few “YEAH, MADDIE” shouts made the girl in question laugh, covering her face with the hand not holding tight to Alice's little wrist. Mickey noticed that she did that a lot; whenever the younger girl wasn't in her mother's arms, she was in her sister's tight, protective grip.

“What do you guys think?” He shouted into the mic. “This girl's really cool, right? You wanna be Maddie's friends, and show her how much better everything is here in Greece?”

The cheers were deafening. Mickey was grinning like a fool, and was pleased to see that so was Madeline. Big blue eyes shining, she stared up at him like he was her hero, and for a minute, life was pretty damn good. He'd die before admitting it aloud, at least so soon, but he could easily see a bright, happy future where he was stepdad to these two beautiful little girls, and they doted over their step-brother Hector, the way Maddie doted over Alice. He glanced at their mother, and couldn't help getting just a little choked up when he saw an identical look of joy and appreciation on her beautiful face. Man, it was nice to be the hero.

Before he could get too emotional and ruin the party, he pointed to Bastian. “You guys know who this is, right?” Another enthusiastic roar; he was a little jealous this time, but shoved it down and smiled. “Well, she's gonna take over for a little while, so make sure you give her some love, alright?”

Yanking her into one more tight hug, he handed the reins over to Bastian and hopped down. Beck immediately threw her arms around him and kissed him. “You are amazing, you know that? I descend on you unannounced with a grouchy teenager in tow, and you give her the best fucking night of her life!”

“All in a day's work,” he joked, squeezing her. “She seems like a great kid; they both do. I couldn't just do nothing and let her be miserable.”

“Hector is lucky.” She was grinning so wide, her face hurt; Mickey only knew because he was doing the same. “He's got a really great dad. If you'd do something like this for a kid you've never even met before, I can only imagine the lengths you'd go to for your own.”

“Think you can pass that praise on to my ex? Maybe she'll actually let me see him.”

Smile fading, she gripped his head with both hands and pulled him down to press their foreheads together. “If you want me to, I'll help you fight for him. You deserve to see your son, and he deserves to know his dad.”

“How long are you staying this time?” He didn't want to talk about Hector suddenly; not at a party surrounded by strangers and their children.

Seeming to sense his mood, Beck smiled and glanced at her giggling daughters. They were hopping around like lunatics to the music, surrounded by kids Maddie's age. She looked like she was having the time of her life. “From the looks of things now? Forever.” Mickey thought she was joking, but the look on her face stopped him from laughing it off. “I've never seen her so happy. Athens might just become home.”

“I hope so.” He shrugged, forcing a chipper smile to hide the desperately hopeful one he couldn't quite keep in. “It did for me!”

“We'll see.”

Unlike most of the parties he'd worked, this one started winding down fairly early as kids hugged Maddie, wished her a happy birthday, and were ushered home by their tired parents. Alice was asleep in Mickey's arms, her tiny body limp as a rag doll and her silky black curls tickling his nose. As the last of her party guests wished her well and left, Madeline hurried over to him and cuddled up to the side not currently occupied by the dead weight of her sister.

“Thank you, Mickey.”

“Did you have fun?” She nodded, and he smiled softly, stroking her dark hair. “Good. Let's get inside and get the little one into bed, shall we?”

She glanced around, frowning a little. “Where's mom?”

“Already upstairs.” Grinning, he watched her for a reaction and added casually, “With Bastian.”

Bright blue eyes widening, she gaped at him. “She's staying?”

Mickey laughed. “For tonight, at least, yeah. Come on.”

As they trudged through the door of his apartment a few minutes later, Mickey found himself wishing he'd stayed outside.

“No way!” Beck whipped around to gape at him while Bastian laughed. “You didn't tell me you were in a band!”

“Oh lord,” Madeline grumbled under her breath. “Get something pierced and she'll propose to you by midnight, I swear.”

Choking on a startled laugh, he lowered Alice into her sister's waiting arms. “Put her in Hector's bed. You and your mom can take mine tonight.” As she obediently wandered down the hall to tuck the younger girl in, Mickey flopped down on the couch beside Beck and tugged her into his arms. “That was a long time ago. Then she got her big break and got all famous, and she didn't need losers like me anymore.”

“Oh, that is such bullshit!” Laughing, Bastian stretched out to kick him. “We got a break. We got a deal. You were every bit a part of all that!”

“Oh, please!” Mickey rolled his eyes. “You never needed me. It was the Bastian Show, and we were just-”

“No! No, what happened was...”

They bickered for a while, going back and forth over who was to blame for Saint Claude's ultimate demise. After a few minutes, Beck excused herself and left the room, leaving the two old friends to catch up. When the argument showed no signs of ending, Mickey huffed and stood up, muttering something about getting a drink as he walked away. He loved Bastian, but damn she could be stubborn!

“What the fuck are you doing?” A glass in each hand, he stared at her as she laid out lines of cocaine on her phone's screen.

“What the fuck does it look like I'm doing?”

“Oh, god.” He grimaced, glancing toward the bedrooms. All quiet, but he didn't know if Beck and Maddie were asleep, or just hiding from the debate. “Come on, let's go in the bathroom.”

“The Brat Pack's asleep. Don't worry about it!”

“You don't know that,” he hissed. “Come on.”

Bastian rolled her eyes, but she allowed him to usher her into the bathroom. “You're paranoid. You barely even know these people! What do you care what they think?”

“I care,” he snapped, though he didn't refuse when she offered him a line. He'd just finished, was still hunched over the phone, when the door opened and he was faced with, basically, his worst nightmare: Madeline was standing in the doorway, hand on the knob.

They both froze, staring at her like deer in headlights. Face completely expressionless, Maddie looked at each of them, then at the line of cocaine still on the phone, and then straight at Mickey. "I just wanted to thank you again for today." Without another word, she calmly turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Shit." Ignoring Bastian's drug-fueled giggle fit, Mickey was on his feet and chasing after the teen in a flash. "Maddie!"

Though her face was still a stony mask, there were tears in her eyes when she whirled around to face him. "I need to talk to you. Now."

"Okay." He gestured to the couch, but she shook her head.

"Outside. I don't wanna wake up mom or Alice."

Nodding, he followed her without another word. At first he'd thought she meant out in the hall, but she didn't stop until they were outside the building. "Maddie, listen-"

"Let her go." Mickey's heart broke when she turned to face him again. Tears running down her cheeks and lower lip trembling, she stared up at him with those huge blue eyes and he almost started crying with her. "You have to let her go. Mom's loyal even when she shouldn't be. She'll never break it off."

"Maddie, I don't want-"

"I only exist because my dad drugged and raped her!" Wiping furiously at her face while he shrank back in horror, she continued more calmly, "She doesn't know I know that, or that he tried to kidnap me a bunch of times when I was little. Auntie told me. She still stayed with him for almost a year. Will hit her, Owen was a toxic psycho, Alex was a racist jerk... Alice's dad was always really nice to us all when he came around, but he almost never did. And I don't know what he did, but he's in jail for life now." With a bitter grimace, she spat, "And you're a druggie."

Maddie's had to deal with a lot of bullshit, and it made her grow up too fast.

Beck's soft voice, so full of pain and regret, echoed in his head as Mickey sank down to sit on the steps and tugged Madeline into his arms. "I'm not a druggie," he assured her as she clung to him and broke down sobbing. "One time thing, kiddo, I promise."

"Like you'd say anything else!"

The little whimper that escaped her as she scooted up his leg to get closer and dropped her head onto his shoulder very nearly made him start crying with her. For all that she insisted he get the hell out of her life, he could tell that she was desperate for someone decent to stay. This poor kid was fourteen going on forty after watching her mom date a string of losers; no wonder she had no faith in men, or in her mother's ability to make sound decisions. He squeezed her a little tighter, not sure what to do or say.

"Mickey, I'm tired," she croaked, making his heart ache for her even more. He knew she didn't mean sleepy; she was tired of being the mature one, and he couldn't say he blamed her. "I'm so tired..."

"Shhh, it's okay, baby," he whispered, rubbing her back. "You can rest now. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. You're my little girl now, okay? And I won't let anything happen to you, or your sister, or your mom. You don't have to take care of her anymore, honey. I will. You just take a breath and be a kid while you can."

"How can I trust you?"

Well, that hurt, but he got where she was coming from. Pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head, he murmured, "I gotta earn that." He pried her loose and pushed her back a little, just enough to be able to look her in the eye. "Do you think you can give me a chance to?"

After a pause that felt like an eternity, Maddie sniffled and nodded. "Okay. But if you hurt her, I'll kick your nuts back up inside."

Laughing, Mickey nodded and smoothed her hair back. "Noted.” A thought occurred to him and he frowned. “Why did you aunt tell you all that? Putting that weight on a kid... That's cruel.”

“I asked,” she admitted with a shrug. “I asked why mom was such a mess, and why I didn't have a dad. So she told me.”

I'd have made some shit up, damn. Even high, he was smart enough not to say that. He chose not to say anything at all, and just held her for a while as the cool night air soothed their frayed nerves and her breathing slowly returned to normal.

“Mickey?”

“Hm?”

Voice a small, timid whisper, she asked, “Do you really wanna be my dad?”

Smiling softly, he kissed her head again and hugged her just a bit tighter. “I am your dad.” When she tensed and let out a frustrated huff, he explained, “I'm in love with your mom, kiddo. And I already love you and your sister. We're family now, and I'm not going anywhere. I promise.”

“You're weird.” He could hear her teasing smile in her voice, and he smiled, too, relieved. “You don't even know us.”

“I know enough. Come on.” Though all he wanted was to sit there and cuddle with her all night, he gently pushed her off his lap and stood. “It's getting late. You should get to bed.”

Sending her off down the hall to his bedroom when they got back upstairs, he collapsed on the couch and sighed. He'd known when he met her that Beck would make his life more interesting... he just had no idea how interesting.

A laugh beside him reminded him of his other guest and he reluctantly opened his eyes. Judging from the way she was twitching and snickering, Bastian had finished the rest of the coke. “That was intense!”

Mickey closed his eyes again. “If it's not already gone, get that shit out of my house.”

“Oh, come on!” She shoved him, grinning impishly. “Don't try to act all virtuous now! You were right there with me, until that kid walked in.”

“'That kid'?” Annoyed now, he sat up and glared at her. “My kid.”

“Not really, though.” Confused, she twisted to glance down the hall, and then back to stare at him. “...Right? I mean, shit, she does kinda look like you...”

He shook his head. “No. Biologically, no, but I don't care. I'm not gonna add my name to the list of guys who've hurt her.”

Bastian snorted, rolling her eyes. “Mickey, you can't just decide to play daddy to this random kid on a whim just because your ex won't let you see your own. She's not yours, and changing your whole life and personality isn't going to change that.”

“I haven't touched that shit in years. I'm not changing on a whim; you just don't know me anymore.”

“Enough,” she challenged, settling back in her seat and staring down her nose at him. “I know you well enough to know this is never gonna work.”

“What isn't?”

“This!” Bastian gestured vaguely around them. “This whole self-domestication shit. You're not some house husband and stepdad – you're a musician. You belong on the road, Mickey! Not shut up in some old lady's apartment playing House with some crazy chick and her walking, talking reminders of past mistakes.”

“Beck,” he snapped, glaring at her. “'That chick's' name is Beck, and her gorgeous daughters are Maddie and Alice. They're not mistakes. Alice is adorable and so smart, and Maddie is fucking awesome and she's been through Hell. I haven't seen you in years and you think you're gonna sit here in my house and tell me who I am and what I want? I don't fucking think so, Bastian.”

“Alright, alright!” She held up her hands in surrender, eyes wide. “Chill. I just miss you, okay? I want you to come on tour with me, like the old days, not sit here and rot away in some mediocre domestic life. You could have so much more!”

Mickey sighed, staring off into space for a moment. Some part of him was drawn to her offer, but that wasn't him anymore. He didn't actually want to tour with her, he just hated feeling settled; at some point in his wild youth, stability had begun to feel like stagnation, and now he found himself often desperate to avoid it, even if it came with everything he truly wanted.

He thought about Beck, and her bright smile and her two beautiful, lonely daughters, and he thought about Hector. Beck had been spot-on; as much as he did love Greece, Mickey had really only stayed this long because of his son. He wanted to be in Hector's life. Now he wanted to be in Maddie and Alice's lives, too. He wanted a family.

And for the first time, he was willing to fight for that family.

“You're right,” he admitted slowly. “You're right, I've been hiding here, just floating around aimlessly.” Before she could get all triumphant, he stood and growled, “But that's not what I'm doing now. Now, I'm finally seeing a life that I want, and I'll be damned if I'll let anyone take it away from me.”

That said, he walked away without giving Bastian a chance to argue. He peeked into his son's room to check on Alice, smiled when he saw the way she was sprawled, half hanging off the bed, and he quietly closed the door and headed to his own room. Hopefully Maddie wouldn't mind; he'd originally intended to crash on the couch, but he couldn't stand to be in the same room as Bastian, and couldn't quite bring himself to kick her out, either. Moving slowly, so as to avoid waking either of the bed's other two occupants, he slid in next to Beck.

She immediately rolled over and cuddled close to him. At first he thought she was just fidgeting in her sleep, but then she whispered, “Don't let anyone change you or tell you who you are. Not even me.”

“I won't.” He tried to smile, couldn't quite manage it, and kissed her, instead. “Goodnight.”

“Night.”

It wasn't quite a seamless transition. Mickey's place was too small for a family of four, and he didn't exactly love the idea of moving a bunch of heavy audio equipment down those winding stairs. Though he wanted to jump right into living together, he didn't put up much of a fight when Beck started looking for her own place.

It helped that she didn't spend a lot of time at home. Once the girls were enrolled in school, their mother started dropping them off and then going straight to Mickey's place. She helped Argyris translate for Mickey and his clients, which both men had thought was a terrible idea... until they saw her in action. The short fuse he'd become so familiar with in their first couple of days together was nowhere to be found. Around even his most difficult clients, Beck was the embodiment of charm and professional courtesy. Mickey quickly found that while Argyris was better for direct translation, he was no match for Beck when it came to diplomacy and deescalating a heated argument.

“You haven't seen 'difficult',” she teased, “until you've been a woman in a male-dominated field arguing for funding. This is nothing.”

Mickey laughed, yanking her into his arms. “Where have you been all my life?”

She flinched, closing her eyes and pressing her fingertips to her mouth for a second. It was the briefest of moments, and then she was smiling again and joking, “On my knees in the dirt, mostly,” but he refused to ignore it.

“You okay?”

With a little shrug and a nod, she admitted, “Been a little queasy and lightheaded lately, but I'm fine. It never lasts long.”

“You are so American.” She glared at him and he grinned, pleased that he knew how to get her attention. “You're not in Dystopia anymore – go to a doctor.”

“Did you not hear me? I'm fi-”

“I heard 'lately,'” he countered, poking her side and immediately regretting it when she cringed. Right; queasy. Maybe don't mess with her stomach, Mickey. “'Lately' means this is not normal. It means you're sick, so go to a doctor.”

She shook her head, winced, and dropped it onto his shoulder. “I don't need a doctor.”

“You can't even move without turning green.”

“I'm fine. I don't need a doctor.”

“Why are you being so stubborn? You're supposed to help me with stubborn people, not be the Queen of them!”

“Am I your girlfriend or your lawyer?”

“That's not what I meant and you know it. Don't change the subject.” Rubbing her back, he insisted as gently as he could, “Please just go get checked out.”

“I don't need to. I'm fine.”

“Look, even if it's minor, do you wanna suffer or find out what's wrong and get better?”

“I don't need a doctor to tell me what I already know!”

What she already knew? He frowned, more confused than ever. “Is it some kind of chronic-”

“Mickey, I'm not sick – I'm pregnant!”

He froze, gaping at her in shock. She started to pull away, but he tightened his grip on her waist before she could stand up. “You're what?”

Looking nervous and uncomfortable, she mumbled, “I was trying to find the right time to tell you; we've just been so busy with that 'make it more Greek' asshat...”

“You're really pregnant?” When she slowly and carefully nodded, Mickey grinned and hugged her as tight as he dared. “That's fantastic!” He finally let her up, only to stand with her and frame her face with both hands. Between frantic kisses all over her face, he gushed, “That's incredible! Have you told the girls yet? Oh, Alice is gonna be so excited to be a big sister! And Hector! I can't wait for Hector to meet his little brother or sister!”

“Mickey...”

He glanced around, smile dimming just a bit. “Damn, we gotta get a bigger place.”

“Mickey.”

“I wonder if Agryris' grandmother had-”

“Mickey!” Shoving his hands away, Beck got a tight grip on his hair and forced him to turn back to face her. “Do you really think we can do this?”

He blinked, taken aback by that. “Don't you?”

“Three kids, and fighting for joint custody of a fourth?” She shook her head, looking at him like he was an idiot. “The thought that we might be in over our heads crossed my mind, yeah. I was struggling with just two!”

“Well, now you have me.” His cheeky grin didn't seem to comfort her as much as he'd hoped it would. “You were struggling 'cause you were alone; now you're not.”

“A single mom with two kids really isn't all that different from two parents with four,” she pointed out, releasing his hair and crossing her arms over her chest. Seeing the hurt he tried to mask, she sighed. “Look, I'm glad you're excited, I am. And whether we're ready or not, the kid's on the way, I just... I just wish I shared your optimism. I'm not excited, Mickey; I'm scared to death.”

“Well, get excited,” he jokingly commanded, pulling her close for another hug. “We'll be fine. Besides, it's not like Aspa's ever gonna give me full custody, so it's not really two to four. Maddie's old enough that she doesn't need constant hyper-vigilance from us, so it's really just two to two-and-a-half.”

Finally, finally, Beck laughed. It was quiet and weak, but a laugh nonetheless. “Jesus, you're like sunshine in human form. Does anything ever get you down?”

He shrugged. “Sure, but I try not to let it for long. And I see a new baby as something to celebrate, not freak the hell out over.”

“See, you get to see it that way because you don't have to push it out,” she teased. “It's not so perfectly sunny from where I'm standing.”

“No one said life is perfect.” Still smiling like a fool, he kissed her. “Whatever you need, I'm here. You're not doing everything alone anymore. We got this.”

“I love you.”

It didn't seem possible, but somehow his smile got even wider. “I love you, too.”

“Speaking of Aspa, though...”

“Oh, god, what?”

With a laugh and an apologetic smile, Beck ventured, “I don't think you should come today.”

“What?”

Her smile immediately faded; apparently, he was really bad at hiding it when he was confused and offended. “Baby, you're chaos incarnate. It's one of the things I love about you, but it's not exactly conducive to a civilized conversation with a woman who probably kind of hates you.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“I just think I might have better luck getting through to her, single mom to single mom.” She looked like she was waiting for him to hit her, which only made him feel worse. “I know how hard it is, and how, whether we mean to or not, we tend to villainize our exes-”

He snorted, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, well, with the stellar guys you've dated, it makes sense. It's not really villainizing if he's already a villain.”

“Exactly how much did Madeline tell you?”

Uh-oh. She was mad. Knowing he was in trouble no matter what and refusing to drag his stepdaughter down with him, Mickey hastily changed the subject. “Do you really think I'll fuck things up that badly if I go?” Why was he even asking? Offended or not, he knew she was right; Aspa hated his guts.

Thankfully, Beck let the dig about her exes drop and her steely expression melted back into one of gentle sympathy. “I just want you to have the best chance possible of getting to be an active part of Hector's life. I want him to know you, to sleep in that bed you bought him before he outgrows it, to meet his new sisters. And I think your feelings towards Aspa, and hers toward you, are probably too raw and volatile right now for a face-to-face meeting to be a good idea.”

“Alright.” Forcing a faint smile, he nodded. “Alright, go. You've got a point.”

“I'll tell you all about it when I get back, okay?” She promised with an equally strained smile, kissing his cheek.

“Can't wait.”

When she came back a little while later, she was laughing. Mickey's hopes that it meant things had gone better than expected were dashed, though, when she managed to gasp out, “She really hates you!”

“Yeah, thanks.” He shook his head. “I knew that much.”

“I'm sorry.” Still giggling, Beck wound her arms around his waist. “She was just such a bitch. I kinda respect the hell out of her.”

“What did she say?”

“That you're a baby,” she dutifully recited, “and you're irresponsible, unreliable...”

“Why is this funny?!”

“Because, Mickey... Mickey, honey...” Framing his face like he had to her earlier, she told him, “It's nothing I didn't already know. You're flighty and you're a big kid; this isn't news. She was floored that I love you anyway, and my god, the look on her face when I went off about how that childishness is what makes you such a good dad, and you're great with the girls... I haven't been able to stop laughing since! Pretty sure she hates me now, too.”

“Great!” Failing to see the humor, Mickey jerked free of her light grasp and moved away, beginning to pace the room. “So instead of helping, you just alienated her from us both!”

“We're going to see him on Saturday.”

“What?” He spun to stare at her; she wasn't laughing anymore. “Are you serious?”

Looking rather proud of herself, she nodded. “Supervised by Aspa, of course, but yep. You get to spend time with your son, and I finally get to meet him. It doesn't matter what she thinks of either of us, as long as she can see that you give a shit; that we're safe to be around Hector, and can be trusted to think of him first. Show her how much you love him, that even childish and flaky you can be reliable, that you want to be reliable, and a supervised visit might turn into father-son weekends, without your ex underfoot.”

“I... wha... how...?”

She shrugged, smiling faintly. “Mother to mother. We came to an understanding.”

Overwhelmed by emotions he couldn't even identify, Mickey closed the distance between them and lifted her up. “I fucking love you, you know that?”

Beaming as he set her down, Beck leaned in for a kiss. “I love you, too, baby.”

“That's not cute anymore.” Despite his protests, he was grinning as he backed her toward the bedroom. “Now I just feel like you're calling me a baby. That sucks. Don't do that.”

“I'll call you what I want,” she teased, pulling him down for another kiss. “And you can't stop me!”

With a hand on her belly, he joked, “How about you call me 'daddy'?”

“No.” She laughed and shook her head. “I physically cannot do that. I'll puke.”

“Well, morning sickness is pretty common.”

“No, this is pure disgust.”

They were both laughing now as they reached the bed; he almost playfully shoved her back, but then remembered the baby and thought better of it. Instead, he flopped across it himself and beckoned for her to join him. “We're gonna be okay, you know.”

Beck winced as she settled gingerly on the edge of the bed. “It's just such bad timing. I don't...”

“Hey.” He tugged at her arm until she stretched out beside him, and wound his arms around her. “It's all gonna be okay. No matter what life throws at us, we'll deal with it together, okay? I want this baby. I know you want this baby. The rest is just details.”

“Pretty big fucking details. I was supposed to go to Mongolia next month.”

“Then go.” God, he didn't want her to, but he was determined to show her that they could be together, be a family, without completely derailing her life. When she looked at him like he'd lost it, he gave her a bland 'are you kidding' look right back. “You're not really gonna try to convince me that you weren't still going on digs when you were pregnant with Alice, are you?”

She blushed. “My team didn't know...”

“So don't tell them this time, either.”

“Mickey...” Pushing his arms away, she sat up. “You really have no idea how physically demanding my work is, do you? I almost lost Alice.”

For a second, he floundered, wondering what the hell to do or say. Then he brightened and sat up, as well. “You speak a million languages; just work as a translator until you're safe to go back out into the field.”

“...I do love it,” she conceded, making him perk up. “And maybe I can finally teach you some Greek so you can talk to your son more easily.”

Mickey chuckled. “I'm not getting out of that, am I?”

“Nope.” She grinned and settled back against his chest as he leaned against the headboard. “Not until we're both fluent.”

“Alright, I'm in.” He smiled, kissing her jaw and lacing their fingers together. “New home for us, new job for you, learning a new language...”

“New baby on the way.”

“New baby on the way,” he parroted, pressing their linked hands to her belly. “New chapter.”

“Here's to a new life.”

Mickey nodded and leaned down for a proper kiss, murmuring against her lips, “Together.”

[ceo-of-daichi]

Holy crap I'm with you on this!! I CANT watch the dub seriously. They're voices make me cry. Tsukki sounds like an absolute Chad and yams literally sounds like my little brother 😭(not a good thing xD)

And daichi's dub voice makes me cringe so hard it isn't deep enough 😭😭😭😭

Right??? It makes me laugh so hard😭😂 But like idk the voices just don’t fit them? Like watching it in Sub i feel like everything makes sense, but dub its just weird?😂 And yes omg Daichi’s deep voice was just thrown out the window pls what happened to his 🥵🤤 voice???

Also when i read ‘Tsukki sounds like an absolute chad’ i choked on literally nothing.. like air... omfg😂😂