#ook I have to go to bed so much

[anna-scribbles]

haven’t had enough time to draw s5 adrinette to convey just how much this is genuinely the only thing on my mind

[maplegracefour]

Don't Tell | schlatt song fic

Summary: fwb Schlatt (sfw somehow)

Warnings: slight suggestive themes

Word Count: ~700

Author's Note: I don't think I'm too particularly happy about this one but it's here! Enjoy :)

Song: Greta Isaac - Don't Tell

Don’t give the game away I think they’re onto us

The gentle kisses pressed against your neck as your hands grip the edge of the cool bathroom sink basin. “Jay… We shouldn’t… Someone might hear…”

You feel his smirk against your warm skin as he continues to press those goddamn sweet kisses against your neck. He pulls his lips away from you, pulling further away so his eyes can meet yours.

“I think Ted is catching on.” You mumble, his smirk falters a little.

He pauses for a moment, looking down at you with glazed eyes. The silence between you feels heavy, despite the thumping music outside the door. His hand comes up to gently stroke over your jaw.

He chuckles quietly. “Ted doesn’t know anything, doll. Don’t you worry.”

There’ll be no compromise If they find out too much

You had brought it up a couple times, the secrecy is getting to you. “I just don’t get why you have to pretend I don’t exist whenever we’re with other people.”

He sighs, looking down at you as he stands at the foot of his bed. You’re sat cross-legged on the bed looking back up at him. His eyes glaze over your figure, his shirt draped over your shoulders, you looked gorgeous.

“C’mon, you know it’s not like that.” He says, running his fingers through his hair.

“It is like that.” You respond. “I’m not saying that you need a neon sign above your head saying ‘we’re fucking by the way!’. I’m just asking you to acknowledge me at a party, join me on a stream some time?” You suggest.

He groans, leaning against the foot of the bed. “The second people get a whiff that we know each other, it’s chaos on Twitter. I don’t need that right now.”

You scoff. “Right.”

Don’t say a word, no, don’t tell another Just one little white lie won’t hurt ya Keep it a secret and you’ll feel better No one has to know

The argument dissolves as soon as he’s close enough to kiss you. Your lips press together like puzzle pieces, quiet gasps escaping as he pushes you to lay down on the bed. You can feel the chain from his neck dangling down and brushing over your chest.

“Don’t worry ‘bout all that, sweetness.” He whispers against your lips, his thumb grazing over your jaw once again. “Just let me make you feel good, yeah?”

He pulls from you for a second, looking down with a silent want in his eyes. You nod, breath hitching as you ook up at him.

Later that evening, laying beside him as the cool draft from the open window blows through, hitting your warm skin and making goosebumps spread across your skin. Moments after, Schlatt is climbing out the bed and pulling his clothes on.

You frown, normally he stays. Normally, he’ll pull you into his arms. So why isn’t he doing that this time?

With his sweats pulled up, he turns to look back at you. “Listen… (Y/N)...” Oh. Oh no.

Told me to go away Then you came crawling back There’ll be no compromise My words are all you have

You hadn’t spoken to him for a couple weeks, it had almost been a month at this point. No one had really questioned it because barely anyone even knew that you two had known each other. So you spent many days just sitting in your own apartment, wondering what went wrong.

Soon, you get back into your usual rhythm. The final slot to fall back into place is your streaming. Getting back into that office chair, you pull a blanket up to you, getting cozy as you laid up all of your software.

Stream is going as well as you hoped it would, keeping it simple, playing Call of Duty and interacting with chat. But as you’re playing, you notice a little message pop up on the top corner of your screen.

Schlatt [Today at 20:47]

Hey, can I hop in and play a couple rounds?

Hide the truth, I’m telling you They won’t know a thing Hide the truth, I’m telling you It’s worth it

[babyvivi]

How did your abdl Journey started?

so i know i kinna said this already in my pinned post, but there issa bit more to it... i started off in highschool because i wanted to know what pu-ups felt like, and back then i was able to wear her 3t-4t pu-ups because i was also smaller, and i just loved them so much because of how soft and cute they were and made me feel...

but actually it kinna started a bit before that when i was like 14 and randomly finding new places on the internet like abdlhomestead.com which i think is gone now, it used to have so many great stories about abdl people and diaper teens too, i don think that abdl teens should be a thing thas encouraged, but it at least helped me when i was younger find out who i was.

anyway, after stealing my sisters pu-ups a whole bunch my step mom was wondering how she was going through so many, so eventually she got her goodnites because she thought she was getting worse, and i took some of those too and i loved them, but then my sister stopped wetting the bed and i din have anyway to get anything for myself, so i had to stop for a long time

but then one day i kinna had an idea, and i started getting thicker pads and pretending that i was wearing a diaper, i even got overnight pads one time and those were really big and fun, nobody really thought anything of it but I still tried to keep my abdl stuff a secret

when i got into big girl school i was able to buy some for myself, and my first pack i got for myself were the cinderella goodnites in M/L and i loved those so much, it ook a whole bunch of pictures but idk where they are now, i might be able to find them if i try hard enoughs also this was when i first started wetting them because i could actually get rid of them reliabubly

and after thats.... not much till i met my mommy who helped me get back into diapers where i belong! but we dont always get to see each other so i still hafta do a lot by myself :(

[ninadove]

Nina reads Dracula 🦇

September 18th

Today’s entry looks pretty long! Let’s do this!

THE ESCAPED WOLF.

PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF OUR INTERVIEWER.

Oh oh.

but I waits till they've 'ad their sherry and kawffee, so to speak, afore I tries on with the ear-scratchin'.

Wolf Care 101

"Without offence did I tell yer to go to 'ell?"

"You did."

I LOVE THIS MAN

There wasn't much people about that day, and close at hand was only one man, a tall, thin chap, with a 'ook nose and a pointed beard, with a few white hairs runnin' through it. He had a 'ard, cold look and red eyes, and I took a sort of mislike to him, for it seemed as if it was 'im as they was hirritated at. He 'ad white kid gloves on 'is 'ands, and he pointed out the animiles to me and says: 'Keeper, these wolves seem upset at something.'

"'Maybe it's you,' says I, for I did not like the airs as he give 'isself. He didn't git angry, as I 'oped he would, but he smiled a kind of insolent smile, with a mouth full of white, sharp teeth. 'Oh no, they wouldn't like me,' 'e says.

"'Ow yes, they would,' says I, a-imitatin' of him. 'They always likes a bone or two to clean their teeth on about tea-time, which you 'as a bagful.'

ICONIC

"God bless me!" he said. "If there ain't old Bersicker come back by 'isself!"

GOOD BOY

He went to the door and opened it; a most unnecessary proceeding it seemed to me. I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us; a personal experience has intensified rather than diminished that idea.

Reasonable.

Anyways back to the murder scene —

Without a word the Professor bent over the bed, his head almost touching poor Lucy's breast; then he gave a quick turn of his head, as of one who listens, and leaping to his feet, he cried out to me:—

"It is not yet too late! Quick! quick! Bring the brandy!"

WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT��S NOT TOO LATE I ALREADY MOURNED MUST WE REALLY DO THIS ALL OVER AGAIN

"What are we to do now? Where are we to turn for help? We must have another transfusion of blood, and that soon, or that poor girl's life won't be worth an hour's purchase. You are exhausted already; I am exhausted too. I fear to trust those women, even if they would have courage to submit. What are we to do for some one who will open his veins for her?"

"What's the matter with me, anyhow?"

The voice came from the sofa across the room, and its tones brought relief and joy to my heart, for they were those of Quincey Morris.

YEEEEEEEEEESSSSS 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

It’s always darkest before the dawn

"A brave man's blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in trouble. You're a man and no mistake. Well, the devil may work against us for all he's worth, but God sends us men when we want them."

VERY COOL SPEECH

"It dropped from Lucy's breast when we carried her to the bath."

When I had read it, I stood looking at the Professor, and after a pause asked him: "In God's name, what does it all mean? Was she, or is she, mad; or what sort of horrible danger is it?" I was so bewildered that I did not know what to say more. Van Helsing put out his hand and took the paper, saying:—

"Do not trouble about it now. Forget it for the present. You shall know and understand it all in good time; but it will be later."

I think now’s a pretty good time

"Jack Seward, I don't want to shove myself in anywhere where I've no right to be; but this is no ordinary case. You know I loved that girl and wanted to marry her; but, although that's all past and gone, I can't help feeling anxious about her all the same. What is it that's wrong with her? The Dutchman—and a fine old fellow he is; I can see that—said, that time you two came into the room, that you must have another transfusion of blood, and that both you and he were exhausted. Now I know well that you medical men speak in camera, and that a man must not expect to know what they consult about in private. But this is no common matter, and, whatever it is, I have done my part. Is not that so?"

"That's so," I said, and he went on:—

"I take it that both you and Van Helsing had done already what I did to-day. Is not that so?"

"That's so."

"And I guess Art was in it too. When I saw him four days ago down at his own place he looked queer.

HE IS SO SMART TOO look at my handsome cowboy. So so so so smart.

I have not seen anything pulled down so quick since I was on the Pampas and had a mare that I was fond of go to grass all in a night. One of those big bats that they call vampires —

Oh.

One of those big bats that they call vampires had got at her in the night, and what with his gorge and the vein left open, there wasn't enough blood in her to let her stand up, and I had to put a bullet through her as she lay.

Oh.

"And how long has this been going on?"

"About ten days."

That felt like a lot longer with all the dread…

"There has been a series of little circumstances which have thrown out all our calculations as to Lucy being properly watched. But these shall not occur again. Here we stay until all be well—or ill." Quincey held out his hand. "Count me in," he said. "You and the Dutchman will tell me what to do, and I'll do it."

I love you

Quinceyyy 🎶

I ain’t never gonna stop loving you

QUINCEEEYYYYY 🎶🎶🎶

Towards dusk she fell into a doze. Here a very odd thing occurred. Whilst still asleep she took the paper from her breast and tore it in two. Van Helsing stepped over and took the pieces from her. All the same, however, she went on with the action of tearing, as though the material were still in her hands; finally she lifted her hands and opened them as though scattering the fragments. Van Helsing seemed surprised, and his brows gathered as if in thought, but he said nothing.

🥺😔

Now back to the happy couple —

Such a sad blow has befallen us. Mr. Hawkins has died very suddenly.

Oh come ooon

Forgive me, dear, if I worry you with my troubles in the midst of your own happiness; but, Lucy dear, I must tell some one, for the strain of keeping up a brave and cheerful appearance to Jonathan tries me, and I have no one here that I can confide in.

Oh come ON

< Prev 🦇 Next >

[tteokokki]

Spooky Skeletons!

- Day 9 of ageretober! (Agere/KidFic)

Little & autistic Tzuyu (4yrs) with Mummy!Jihyo & Mama!Sana

| TW: HURT AND CONFORT |

Enjoy! 🩵

Sana and Jihyo were planning this trip for years and it's finally happening in a month of work. One of Tzuyu's dreams was going to Disney World on Halloween particularly because it wasn't scary like going to neighbourhoods and asking trick or treat and hearing people screaming during the whole afternoon and evening.

They packed every single thing they would need costumes, baby/toddler/little gears, some pull-ups, Tzuyu's snacks, etc...They are staying at the Disney resort, doing activities everyday.

" Tzu come here to Mama! " Sana said waiting for the little girl to get her dressed so they could go to Magic Kingdom. The little girl came almost running on her toes to Sana.

" Mama 'Ook! Mummy made bwaids! " The girl said in a exited whisper, she showed to Sana the two little braids Jihyo just did on her hair.

" They are beautiful Sweetheart! And you look so good with them! " Sana chuckled and got up from the bed starting to dress Tzuyu up.

They were all wearing matching outfits, just with diferent colored Dismey hoodies, Jihyo begged for them to used. Tzuyu wasn't the one to complain she genuinely loved matching with her Mommys, she was wearing sweatpants and felt confortable to be on them the whole day. It's autumn so naturally it is cold and for a Baby like Tzu who feels cold easily it was the perfect outfit for the day.

" Let's go My Loves? " Jihyo asking picking her and Sana's backpack and Tzuyu's to put on the Little one's back.

They went to the big car on the garage and started their way to the park, it was still morning so they would be having a day full of attractions meeting with some characters eating delicious things, more for Sana and Jihyo.

They day went by fast, and the three of them were getting ready in their costumes to go back to the park for the Not So Scary Halloween Party! They were all dressed up as the Teletubbies, Tzuyu was Po, Jihyo was Laa Laa and Sana was Tinky Winky.

As now at night it was more calm then in the morning Tzuyu choose not to were her sound muffler headphones. They party was great and trick or treating was so fun to all of them. The last thing was the Boo To You parade as soon as it started Tzuyu asked for her headphones, she was a little sick of sleepiness, so she was clinging on Jihyo while looking to the parade.

One thing no one was expecting was that th parade had little jump scares, nothing too much h because there were a lot of kids, but Tzuyu was falling to a younger space every minute. The second last parade car was full of dancing skeletons that would get off the car and try scaring some families.

As much as Sana prayed for them to pass by, one stopped right in front of them, Tzuyu looked away rapidly but got scared the same with triggered a panic cry from the little one. Jihyo started bouncing her and tried to calm her down, but it wasn't quite working out, lucky them because Tzuyu did not cried loud but she was shaking, it was a sign to go home...

As much as it hurts a little to go to the Hotel now , they have to sleep and calm a baby down.

Soon when they enter the room, Tzuyu is visibly calmer, just some sniffles and weak sobs.

" Tzu! Come bath with Mama and I baby! " Jihyo picked the girl up going to the bathroom to take a relaxing bath before sleeping time.

Soon they went to sleep, tomorrow would be just as exhausting as today!

___

- Not my best one yet but it is something diferent, I think

[tofueggnoodles]

Drama CD Saiyuki Memorial Pack Disk 2 – Track 4: Room Allocation

Summary: After Hakkai expresses his wish to room with someone aside from Sanzo, the Ikkou air their grievances about each other’s sleeping habits.

--------

Hakkai: Um, this is a bit sudden, but would it possible to change our room allocation from tonight on?

Gojyo: It’s really sudden.

Goku: Why would you want to change rooms?

Hakkai: Sanzo insists on going to bed early, so anyone sharing the room with him will have to put up with early lights-out. I’d rather go to sleep much later in the night–

Gojyo: Ah, so it’s because old man Sanzo’s bedtime is way too early. What a nuisance!

Sanzo: Hah? Rooming with a kappa who talks loudly in his sleep is very much a nuisance too!

Gojyo: What did you just say? If that’s the case, Goku’s habit of tossing and turning in his sleep is even more of a nuisance.

Goku: Why me? If we’re talking about that kind of thing, in the first place, Hakkai getting up early in the morning and sneakily taking out the trash is definitely more annoying!

--------

Gojyo: Now that you mention it, the stupid monkey goes ‘ook-ook’ whenever he sleep-talks!

Goku: Those antennae of yours probably grow longer in the middle of the night, cockroach kappa!

Gojyo: So what? Having one’s hair growing longer is something the baldy monk can only pin his hopes on!

Sanzo: Who are you calling a baldy? Just hug a plush toy and cry yourself to sleep at night, damn kappa!

Hakkai: Ah! When it’s late at night, Sanzo starts to scratch himself **, you know.

Gojyo: The monkey eats all of the filling in the pillow while he’s still half asleep!

Goku: I’ve seen Hakkai whistle in his sleep from my bed!

(Once more, they breath loudly at each other.)

Hakkai: Er, let’s just stick with our current room assignments for the time being.

Gojyo: Yes, let’s.

Goku: Somehow, I don’t feel like rooming with any of you now.

Sanzo: Don’t worry. All of us feel the same way.

Hakkai: Well then....

Sanzo: Yeah.

Gojyo, Goku and Sanzo: Good night!

(Someone switches off the light.)

Gojyo, Goku and Sanzo: More or less....

(A whistling sound is heard.)

[Their last word, fuete, is probably the beginning of the expression “fuete mo hette mo”, which means “more or less.”]

--------

(Round brackets): actions and sound effects. [Square brackets]: translator’s notes. Double asterisks **: Stuff I am not sure with. Suggestions for improvements and corrections are more than welcome.

[oscpaistry]

|| Mommy and Daddy are having a fight. ||

!! Warning: cursing, other languages with translation, tension under cut !!

Virgil and you have been married for 13 years now. But one day you saw something that wasnt yours, his or your guys's children.

"Good morning lieverd!" He says with his deep morning voice. "Goede morgen schat" you say has you turn yourself around, kissing his bare shoulder. (Good morning babe)

You get off bed and put on a sweater and shorts. You go downstairs and hear the tv running in the background. You go to living room and see your both beautiful children.

"Mama! Mogen we alsjeblieft iets eten?" Nila says while running up to you and hug you. You pick her up and kiss her. (Mom! Could we please get something to eat?)

"Tuurlijk schatjes. Wat willen jullie?" You asked them while putting Nila down. (Of course sweethearts. What do you two want?)

"Pannekoeken!" Jadi answered from the living room. "Okay!" You said back. (Pancakes!)

You went to the kitchen to prepare the pancakes. You heard Virgil coming down. You heard the kids running as well.

"Papa!" You heard the two yell while hugging Virgil's leg. (Daddy!)

"Hey lieverds! Wat doen jullie hier al beneden?" Virgil picks the two off them up and came to the kitchen. (Hey darlings! What are you two doing here already?)

"Mama gaat pannekoeken maken voor ons! Wil je ook pannekoeken papa?" Nadi asked Virgil. So sweet. She always had manners, she got it from her mommy! (Mommy is gonna make some pancakes for us! Do you want some panecakes too daddy?)

"Mama haar pannekoeken zijn altijd wel lekker! Ja hoor ik wil er ook wel een paar." Virgil answers Nali while putting them down to kiss you. (Mommy her pancakes are always delicious! And yes ill take some panecakes."

"Babe, put on a shirt. Its so cold. I dont want you to get sick." You said while cleaning the kitchen counter and putting the pancakes, sugar, siroop and plates on the table.

_________________________________________

You go and clean your room. While picking up clothes you see a bra under the pile of Virgil's clothes. It was a blue laced bra. You dont wear blue bra's. Your shocked, tears filling up your eyes. You pick it up and put it somewhere. You go back to cleaning and putting the clothes in your washing machine.

There he was. The skumbag. You ignored him. Not even looking at him.

"Hey baby. Its sunday. Come downstairs and relax." He says while laying on the bed. "Jadi and Nali really want to see you and watch a movie with them!" He said and your heart skips a beat. You were so angry. All you wanted to do is ignore Virgil and be left alone. But you couldnt say no to your own children. You throw everything aside. Trying to hint at him that your angry. But he didnt notice. You go downstairs and see that they are already watching the movie. 'Pim & Pom: Het Grote Avontuur' the movie.

It was a cute movie but you've already seen it 100x because your two girls love it so much. You go and sit next to them and cuddle them. You heard Virgil coming. And your heart starts to beat faster. Virgil come and sit next to you and puts his arm around you and the girls. You try to nudge him away. But didnt really work.

After the movie you leave and go back upstairs. You lay in bed and your still thinking about that bra you found. You feel a few tears roll down your face. You wipe them away and scroll on your phone.

You hear the bedroom door open and hear virgil talking about something. You wont listen.

"Y/n, wat is er? Je luistert niet eens naar me." He says while tapping on your shoulders. (Y/n, whats wrong? Your not even listening to me.)

You finally snap and say "Virgil alsjeblieft speel niet so dom godverdomme!" You sit straight up facing him. His smile fades away. (Virgil please dont play stupid god damnit.)

"What are you talking about?" He asked when you get out off bed.

You are searching for that blue laced bra you've found. There it was. You throw it to him.

"This is what im fucking talking about!" You say while your voice breaks and your eyes are filled up with tears. Still standing there as if you didnt care.

His pupils shrink while he looks at the bra. His eyes widened, lips pressed against each other and his forehead covered in sweat.

"Am i that boring? Really Virgil? You needed to fuck another bitch?" You try to say. But your voice is almost gone.

"No i-" he stuttered.

"After 13 fucking years being married to each other. We have 2 beautiful girls. Do you even care about them? And still you pull this stunt off." Almost incoherent. Then you bawl your eyes out.

He just looks at you and sighs. Knowing fucking well he fucked everything up. No fixing up.

"A sigh? Is that your response to all of this? I felt safe with you. You were my home. You were my happy place. You were the person i trusted. Virgil you were my number one in everything. I thought you understood me. I... I dont even know what to say anymore. Just fuck you Virgil." You say while pointing at him and crying. Your heart is torn apart.

"Im sorry Y/n. I dont know why i did it." He says while tears are streaming down his face.

"I need to go. I cant be around you anymore. Im gonna stay at a hotel or something. I just cant stand looking at you anymore. I just cant stand you at all anymore." You say while getting a bag and shoving everything you could fit in it.

You go downstairs and put on your shoes and jacket. You heard Virgil running behind you. Tears streaming down both off your guys's faces.

Nali came and asked both of you. "Mama, papa! Waarom huilen jullie? Mama waarom doe je je schoenen aan? En je jas? Wat ga je doen? Mag ik mee?" While hugging my leg. (Mommy, daddy! Why are you crying? Mommy, why are you putting on your shoes? And your coat? What are you going to do? Can I come with you?)

You bend down to Nali. "Nee schat sorry je mag niet mee. Mama een papa hebben een ruzie. Mama gaat effe weg. Papa, Jadi een jij blijven hier. Ik hou van jou en Jadi! Echt waar! Mama komt in een paar dagen weer terug! Ik zal papa bellen een vragen ofdat ik met jullie kan praten! Ik hou zo veel van jullie!" You say while giving Nali a forehead kiss. (No, honey, sorry you can't come. Mommy and daddy are having a fight. Mommy is going away. Daddy, Jadi and you stay here. I love you and Jadi! truly! Mommy will be back in a few days! I'll call daddy and ask if I can talk to both of you! I love you so much!)

You look at Virgil, his eyes already red from crying. You go and take you car keys and go up to Jadi. You kiss her goodbye. You walk out and go in your car. You sob in your car. You search for the closest hotel near your house and drive off.

Bro i even got emotional at a point i could even write for 10 minutes 🥹. Tiktok is @virgilcentral

[ynseincanada]

dinsdag 29/08/2023

Dag twee in Canada. Nogal een late update, maar met weinig wifi en toch wel wat last van het uurverschil, heb ik nog niet veel tijd gehad.

Mama en ik zijn zondagavond laat (in België rond 4 uur ‘s ochtends) toegekomen. Na 17 uur onderweg te zijn, konden we nog altijd niet geloven dat we eigenlijk in een ander continent waren.

Na een verfrissende douche zijn we zo goed als meteen ons bed ingekropen. We waren de volgende dag dan ook al om 4 uur (12 uur Belgische tijd) wakker. Na een Canadees ontbijt (bagels met cream cheese en wafels) vertrokken we richting de stad.

Om 9 uur zijn we mijn sleutel gaan ophalen, en hebben we een klein stukje van de campus ontdekt. Mama vond iedereen zo vriendelijk (het is Canada, eh). Op mijn apartementje hebben we ook al twee van mijn kamergenoten ontmoet. Jin uit Calgary (de andere grootstad in Alberta) en Haruka uit Japan. Buiten een bed en een bureau is er nog niets, dus mama en ik gaan vandaag naar de IKEA en naar goodwill.

Mama en ik zijn ook voor de eerste keer naar de Canadese supermarkt gegaan. Alles is hier in gigantische verpakkingen. (Serieus, wie heeft er ooit zoveel boter nodig?). We wouden gisteren pasta maken, maar ik ben rond 17 uur (1 uur in België) in slaap gevallen. Geen avondmaaltijd, dus, en opnieuw vroeg wakker.

Mama zit hier nu over mij aan de ontbijttafel in mijn boekje te lezen, waarin mijn vrienden en familie lieve berichtjes hebben geschreven voor mijn vertrek Ze is aan het wenen (door jou, Djim). We gaan ons direct klaar maken om te vertrekken. Hopelijk kan ik het vandaag wat langer volhouden zonder in slaap te donderen.

Tot snel!

x Ynse

tuesday 29/08/2023

Day two in Canada. Quite a late update, but with little wifi and some trouble with the hour difference, I haven't had much time.

Mum and I arrived late Sunday night (around 4am in Belgium). After a 17 hours trip, we still couldn't believe we were actually in another continent. After a refreshing shower, we pretty much crawled straight into bed.

So it wasn’t a big surprise when we were awake by 4 am (12 pm Belgian time) the next day. After a Canadian breakfast (bagels with cream cheese and waffles) we left for the city.

At 9 o'clock we went to pick up my key, and explored a small part of the campus. Mum found everyone so friendly (it's Canada, eh). At my little apartment, we already met two of my roommates. Jin from Calgary and Haruka from Kyoto,Japan. Apart from a bed and a desk, there's nothing yet, so Mum and I will go to IKEA today.

Mum and I also went to the Canadian supermarket for the first time. Everything here comes in giant packages. (Seriously, who ever needs that much butter?). We wanted to make pasta yesterday, but I fell asleep around 5pm (1am in Belgium). So, no supper, and again waking up early.

Mum is now sitting here over me at the breakfast table reading in my little notebook, in which my friends and family have written sweet messages. She is weeping (because of you, Djim). We are going to get ready to soon. Hopefully I can last a bit longer today without falling asleep.

See you soon!

x Ynse

[aereiff]

The Investigation

Once upon a time there was very  tall detective whose name was Goldilocks and he  investigated the three bears on vacation in  a house in Dubai. So the tale is not the IIII it appears to be. They never  are. He didn’t like being called Goldilocks. It was an offshoot of his  business which includes heavy parts sarcasm, irony and mispeech in order to  bear the trials of the daily work. All the detectives had nicknames, a female  was Boise Boysee, a looker has to suffer. Donald duck, Don for short, lived  on the canal. Lambragingee, Lambri,  got caught driving a bike to work. They all had their crosses each put  the other on. Goldy for short had surfer hair, not slicked back, but fuzzed  out like the auroa of the sun, or at least when the sun had an aurora. As you  suspect in yer in all tall white dudes he was Dutch, but with some other blood  that suggested in the aborigy, but we’re not here to discuss the gene pool.  That district was named for the airport and took in the less affluent parts  of town, the warehouses, pulperias, lumberyards along the dust banks and the  downtown landfills, squatter camps, extending to the base of the towers up  and over. They divided that valley into north and south and naturally south  for all misanthropes the chumacca lies. This was the way of those explorers  not only to the west and southwest but to the globe. Didn’t they say we love  the centric part, pretending the globe girl and in the girl well we know the  center lies…

He could have  been called moonbeam, or sunshine, or starlight, but the goldy thing wasn’t  helped by his breaking open the case of the three oops, called oops yes, but  also ooks, and they are mighty big bears, or/and they might have been bears,  big fat grizzlies that would eat ya be forewarned, which is the offing of the  folktales abounding and surrounding these events.

The investigation  proceeded first hand, but eventually led to a series of folk tales, street  tales emenating in those neighboods among the freeways and tide flats of the  toxic plumes of TCE that flowed their merry way west from the old Motoola  plants. The tales grew up at the time those plumes were fast  flowing and it continues underground much  the way the tales about the oops ooks did, changing shape, permutatijgn ,  perculating, through the aq

 Uifers, Ubers of  the strata, drifting down to the salt itself. It the tales are toxic so are  the plumes and the alumina air, presume, down to the very word faer in the old  tongue before the Dutch, in that book besides Goldy’s bed. That ‘s like the  tales that Goldy found so much he became a forlift himself, fork-lorist,  collector of coyote tales, Hopi legends, Navajo forts along not just rio  salado, but north of course and down in the canyons among the brush wees of  the rio grande and above that up to the Colorado running cold. I means the  tales were that way, some put upon poles, or walls in praty paint, some found  in old pamphlets with hints in the old painters of Dutchtown as it was then  called, with degrazia untouched, found in the thrifts,  touches un approved [add other painters]  but westers case more as blue riders than realists. The tales exploded at  various points into epiphanies of nonsense and whimsy all which was suitable  f for the amnesia of the times which substituted the blast of the sun at 110  for indoor pleasures of freezer rooms and packages of orm meat that stopped  the force of crime so many days that still sleepy town of 5 million grew to  10 when all the refugees finished their arrival. They would know nothing of  the history of their new solace without such tales as these. Not that Dave,  that’s his real name, Dave Hunt, Goldilocks, or Dave Cash, would collect them  in any other form that a murder book held closely in the department. Grand  juries supposed this and a lot more. Wires and surveillance even more. So we  have a lot to tell, not to go on and on about the docket and the process. In  that town they take their  teenagers  for a night in the lockup as a precaution, same as their tales are still  painted on buildings, if you can read the symbolism. They are part of the  decoration now, licensed by the signage of the city , liegit, people eating  eat other under the rubric of nonsense. So read the billboards more closely  and look for signs of the revelation.

Police procedure  dictates that these things stored in cold cases and archives can only be  leaked sourcelessly to the press so a lot of what occurs below is just that,  stuff from murder boards and books, interviews, interpretations, ver batium  transcripts and the lithe like. How you get these exclusives  is part known part not, and if yor’re  worried about language, native speakes determine the language, I am a native  speaker form the breast  therefore I  have carte blanc. White socks is a symbol of their innocence. Trade in Body  parts is one part of cannibalism. In the mix of truth and fantasy I did  review this book cited at the end.Dave was more of a linguist than he let on.  He had an anglo saxon dictionary by is bedside and read it to go to sleep.

 4/11/18 Wed. Faer Press: “The Old English word above holds inside it many meanings. It is a going, a journey, a way, a journeying, an expedition, a road, a passing, a course, a march, a voyage, a path; it is a place where passage is possible, a thoroughfare, an entrance; it is that in which a journey or voyage is made – a vehicle, vessel, carriage, ship, ark; it is a body of persons who journey, a crew; it can also mean fear, peril, danger, sudden, intense and beautiful. [information gathered from the Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary]…This word can conjure others too if you look at it long enough: it could be the just-out-of-sight otherworld of færy; it could be a gathering of festive merriments from afar – a fair, or the gift one would give to another at such an occasion – a fairing…”

[theinheriteddutchess]

I thought before I go to bed i'm going to reread that riddler story again. 😏

And then it hit me... it was you! Now I know why I followed you (before I had an account) and I'm like of course! It makes sense! The long beautifully written stories!

Oh gosh this is the 3rd time reading this. I haven't even seen the movie. I don't even know why but this is the best story for this character. I can't say it's completely fitting him because I have no proof, but it must be. This is so realistic in all its absurdity of the setting, and so beautiful in its disturbing way.

I love how they found each other again and how needy she is for him. Her ooks might've helped her climb up and survive, but it doesn't matter what he looks like because he will always be her lifeline. Her savior.

These two with their weird romantic we ride together we die together mentality and the sweet romantic gesture with the ring at the end. And I love this so so much!

This is apparently the second character that I might not be into, that I get into. What are your doing?

Everything about this, I can go on. How he watched her in bed with that creep and how she seemed to instinctively know him, soulmates! And okay, why did he say he thought about killing her? Maybe because he thought she left him?? But then everything after and the flashbacks. This was truly beautiful.

This weird, eerie, dark, beautifully entwined story!

𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙄 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 || the riddler/edward nashton x reader

𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮 || for the most part, you've managed to let go of the life you lived so long ago, fighting to survive in an orphanage with your best friend at your side; you thought it was the only way to cope with the trauma and move on so you could start living in better means. but the cost of selling out is higher than you thought, and lying to yourself is harder than lying to everyone else. good thing there's a new vigilante in town who really, really hates lies.

𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩 || 15k (yeah.... strap in y'all)

𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 || SMUT (penetrative sex, loss of virginity, emotional sex, slightly dom!edward), best friends to strangers to lovers, some reader x male oc stuff, explicit violence/murder, minor character death, mentions of previous childhood abuse, bullying, stalking (implied), voyeurism, ANGST!!, hurt/comfort, young reader and young edward doing kid stuff (and sometimes adult stuff but it's not explicit), somewhat non-linear timeline, possessiveness, overall just a lot of emotions

𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙘 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙙𝙪𝙡𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙙𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩

Everything is so oppressively cold and damp; your fingers are pruned just from the moisture in the air, but your lips are somehow still chapped from dehydration.

You would think that stripping naked would go against all instinct in a cold like this, but the rags you call clothes don’t do anything for you anyways. They can’t keep in warmth you don’t have, all they do is shield you from the wintery draft blowing through the crack in the wall.

But something else can do that, and so you strip to nothing but your barest of undergarments, and join him under the blanket— it’s thin, but it’s wool, so it does the trick. There aren’t enough of them for everyone, and you try to forget what you did to get yours. You’re both so freezing that at first it doesn’t do much, but over the course of the hour your combined body heat is just enough to fight off the chill. He holds you tighter the first time you relax from the growing warmth; your teeth finally stop chattering.

It’s too cold to sleep, but neither of you are really awake, either— embracing each other and living in that in-between state where there are no dreams but real life isn’t too close, either. Tears run down the bridge of your nose, into the crook of his neck where you’ve buried your face, and it’s by far the warmest thing either of you have felt in days.

“Why are you crying?” he whispers. Even just his voice can soothe you.

“Don’t leave me, Eddie,” you whisper back. “Don’t ever leave me… we need to always be together. Promise me.”

“We will always be together,” he assures, hand tightening on your shoulder. “Always, always, always.”

You startled awake from the dream, already crying. Ironically, you were sweating— you threw off the blanket and felt the blast of air from the ceiling fan above on your sticky skin. It made you shiver.

You never thought you’d miss the cold.

The man beside you stirred awake with a groan. “Are you okay?” he asked groggily.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine, baby,” you assured, giving his arm a squeeze with your hand before you sat up on the edge of the bed, “I just need a shower. Go back to sleep.”

“I should go, actually,” he decided, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “Denise is probably wondering where I am.”

You looked back over your shoulder and noticed the way the ring on his finger catches the light, even when there’s so little in your bedroom at midnight.

The door shut across your apartment while you were in the shower; you just barely heard it past the sound of hot water streaming past your ears. You tried not to think about what you did to afford a living space so large; you tried not to think about why you were so desperate for a taste of luxury.

But some nights, you can’t keep the memories down. Some nights, it’s like he’s right around the corner of your mind— and you just want to reach around and touch his fingers with yours. Some nights, love is almost enough to make you wish for the past, because even though things got so, so, so much better and you’re never hungry or cold… they got so much harder, too.

Always always always.

Some nights, you let yourself wish he’d kept that promise.

~

You’d been sipping on your champagne pretty much non-stop all night, social lubricant to help you tolerate the bustle of cocktail party guests crowding your home, but you stopped as your loitering took you by the window and you caught a glimpse down into the street— children, playing in the snow. They reached right into it with their little hands wrapped in mittens, pressing it into globes in their palms and chucking them at each other, chasing and running around.

Chet’s hand on your lower back didn’t even get your attention, you were so used to it by now. “What’s got you thinking so hard, beautiful?” he wondered with a jovial, tilted smile.

“What are they doing?” you asked, looking at him quickly— his hair was getting longer, and grayer at his temples, but it looked good slicked back— before returning your gaze to the scene below.

“What, the kids?” he clarified as he followed your line of sight. “Sweetheart, they’re having a snowball fight.”

He laughed a little, softly, but he stopped and wrinkled his brows when he realized you weren’t joking.

“You’ve really never had a snowball fight before?” he tilted his head. You understood, then, that if you talked anymore about this that you’d make him confused and concerned and that wasn’t what you wanted to do. Over time, you gained a talent for sensing that you were about to make people uncomfortable with the reality of your childhood— Chet knew you were adopted out of the Wayne House for Orphaned Children, at least, but very few others did.

“I guess it’s just been too long,” you dismissed with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, it's been a few years since it snowed," he recalled. "Do you remember that one winter, record lows in Gotham for the past hundred years or something? Oh, it must’ve been almost ten years back— I can’t remember what year it was exactly, but the whole city got a foot of snow, and almost half of downtown lost power.”

You threw back the rest of your champagne in one go, but it tasted more sour at the back of your throat than you remembered.

“Everybody was having fun the first day, my kids made a snowman,” he remembered with a laugh. I wasn’t having fun the first day, you wished you could snarl at him. “But then it got old fast, thankfully our side of the city never lost power— and we had a back-up generator, just in case.”

A friend of Chet’s appeared beside the two of you, the cigar in his hand emanating a noxious odor; you hated the smell of cigars because it reminded you of your “father” as he was legally considered— the man who took you out of the orphanage for his own twisted benefit. Turns out a rich man isn’t likely to adopt a sixteen-year-old girl with nowhere else to go out of the goodness of his heart.

“Surprised to see you standing by a window,” the man addressed Chet with a hearty laugh, “with that Riddler going after politicians— aren’t you afraid of getting sniped?”

“Don’t make me laugh, Hugh,” Chet replied. “I’d love to see him try— I’ve never had a good excuse to use that fingerprint-activated gun safe under my bed. I wish that punk would give me a chance.”

“You should be more worried about standing at an open window with me,” you joked, and both of them laughed.

“Aw, baby, you know I can’t help but show you off,” Chet cooed as he wrapped his heavy arm around your shoulders left bare by your dress. “Especially when you’re wearing what I bought you— doesn’t she look gorgeous?” he addressed Hugh. “Don’t I have great taste?”

“In dresses, or mistresses?” Hugh wondered. “Oh, doesn’t matter— the answer’s yes either way. It’s just a shame you don’t share.”

“That’s sweet of you to say, Mr. Haverford,” you returned bashfully, “but I don’t think the dress would fit you.”

Hugh and Chet laughed; you were good at this part, the ‘charming girlfriend of the respected senator’ thing. It was an open secret in this corner of society that Chet played the role of a family man for the cameras but kept you on the side as his plaything. Sometimes he said he loved you, but you figured he just loved how owning you made him feel about himself. And he wasn’t cruel, not sadistic or excessively controlling, and he gave you a great life in exchange for your companionship and silence. Your apartment, for example.

Well… it wasn’t really your apartment, it was his apartment, that you lived in. The apartment he bought specifically for you to wait for him in, specifically as a place where he could meet you in private and use your body and vent about the stress of his facade.

You didn’t know if Denise, his wife, knew. Chet seemed to imply that she didn’t since he always told you about coming up with ridiculous alibis for time he’d spent with you; but you wondered how she couldn’t have figured it out by now, when you’d met so many of his friends, so many of her friends…

If she really didn’t know, that was almost sadder than if she did and just pretended not to. But you tried not to think about her… and Chet certainly spent most of his time with you not thinking about her. I just need to get my mind off things, he’d tell you often, and that was his way of saying he wanted to lay back on the couch with his arms and legs spread wide while you got on your knees and sucked him off. That’s also what he meant when he said I’ve got a headache or is that new lipstick you’re wearing? or remember when I bought you that bracelet?

Now that you thought about it, about half of what Chet said to you really was just code for ‘I want a blowjob.’

“Maybe it’s about time to kick all these people out,” he mumbled to you, squeezing your waist for a moment, “end this re-election campaign afterparty a little early, hm?”

That was code for ‘I want to fuck you.’

~

Chet said goodnight to the last of the guests shuffling out the door as you finished rinsing out glasses in the sink. “Thanks for coming out,” he nodded at them, shutting the door behind them and letting out a long sigh when the apartment plunged to silence again.

You heard him coming up behind you, but pretended to be surprised when he started to rub your arms, kissing your neck playfully.

“You look so beautiful tonight, sweetheart,” he mumbled, starting to move one of the rhinestone-coated straps of your dress down your shoulder. “You always look nice in the things I pick out for you.”

“Mm, I do,” you hummed in agreement, drying the champagne flute and setting it aside so you could focus your attention on melting into his strong embrace.

“You need some diamond earrings,” he decided as he kissed the shell of your ear for emphasis. “These rubies are nice, but a girl like you needs diamonds all over.”

“Stoooop,” you whined playfully, purring as his hands moved to your hips, pulling you back into him.

“A girl like you needs a diamond on her finger,” he added, his voice even lower, squeezing your left hand. You gasped and turned around, looking up at him with wide eyes.

“Chet, you’re not serious,” you assumed.

“Oh, I am,” he insisted. “I wish I could give it all to you now— but re-election is the worst time for things like this, even though all I really want is to be with you. Believe me, I’m gonna divorce her and I’m gonna marry you, after I win and after that moralist vigilante is thrown into Arkham.”

“Batman?” you furrowed your brows.

“No, that Riddler guy,” he corrected.

You rolled your eyes. “Are you really worried about him?”

“Obviously not,” he scoffed, “but still, a psycho who posts crazy videos online and doesn’t like politicians… I don’t know anything past what I read in the papers, but I bet he’s not a fan of guys like me getting girls like you— cause he could never get a girl like you.”

No, you figured someone hellbent on exposing corruption and manipulation was not likely to be sympathetic to a man nearing his sixties with a much-younger mistress running on the platform of family values. It was too bad the man who adopted you had died peacefully in his sleep three years ago, or maybe a man like the Riddler would’ve given him a little suffering for doing what he did to you— for making the money he made selling the pictures he took, for barely managing to wait until you were eighteen to essentially trade you to Chet in exchange for his support on a tax break bill.

You wondered if he would target someone like you, though, for being complicit in so much. You hid so much more than yourself in this apartment… you kept a lot more secrets than just an affair.

“Is that really why you think he does it?” you wondered aloud. “Jealousy?”

“Baby, let me tell you something,” he began, raising an eyebrow and wearing a somewhat condescending smirk. “Everything is about sex.”

You snorted out a nervous laugh.

“I’m serious,” he insisted, “everything men do— it always has something to do with women. And guys like that, who need to hide behind a mask… well, if they didn’t have to do it to get women, they wouldn’t do it, that simple.”

“You think Batman puts on a mask to get women?” you giggled.

“I think whoever he is, he must not have what it takes to attract attention with the mask off,” he asserted confidently. “He’s probably not ugly, but I bet he’s broke.”

“You think women can be bought?” you said, only letting an acceptable amount of your irritation seep into your tone— you were trying to be the amount of offended that a guy like Chet saw as a sexy challenge, rather than an actual threat.

“I think women like power,” he offered instead, pulling you closer. “Who doesn’t?”

You smiled, looking up into his eyes and then down at his lips. “I think I’d like you even if you weren’t such a big, important politician.”

He let out a proud little groan and kissed you; you were amazed that he fell for that. He was so logical, cynical even, and yet he believed any lie you told that was flattering.

He carefully pulled you along with him, both of you stumbling out of the kitchen and across the apartment— straight to the bedroom, of course. You were laughing together, somewhat mischievously, as you navigated by memory through the dark and toppled onto the mattress.

His weight on top of you would be crushing if you weren’t used to it; he wasn’t quite fat, per se, though he was medically at risk of being overweight. He was just sort of massive, towering and thick everywhere with a stubbiness to his form everywhere you looked… cock included, the one rubbing up against your inner thigh as he writhed on top of you.

Acting like you had sexual desire for him was one of the easiest parts of all of this, just because it was the most feignable emotion. What you couldn’t fake was physical desire— you had to close your eyes and retreat into your mind to find something stimulating enough to get your body prepared for this.

There wasn’t any one person or idea that you turned to in search of arousal, no handsome actor or erotica sampling or kinky pornography you’d committed to memory; it was more just… ideas.

Warm, safe. Loved. Whole.

You felt your panties sliding down your thighs, you heard a groan from above you. “You want me that bad, beautiful?” he purred. “You’re so wet…”

“Yeah, baby, all for you,” you cooed.

He pushed the skirt of your dress up higher and flopped back down on top of you; you winced when he slipped inside you, not reaching very deep but thick enough to give you a little sting when you weren’t expecting it.

Chubby fingers slid your loose strap down lower, exposing half of your chest, and he sighed as he groped your breast with a clammy palm.

“So fucking gorgeous,” he praised. You had trouble taking comments like that personally. Beauty felt so passive for you.

The room was dark, the only light coming in from the living room through the open bedroom door; it cast a big orange rectangle on the wall just past where you could see over Chet’s padded shoulder. You wrapped your arms around him and held onto his suit jacket as he grunted into your ear.

Your eyes fell shut, and the concepts in your mind started to narrow in and gain specificity, culminating towards something you couldn’t describe.

Shared secrets. Ink smudges on your fingers. Scraped knees wrapped in bandages, tears wiped away.

Clutching tighter at his clothes, you whimpered aloud— and he seemed fine believing it was because of how he was making you feel and not because of your runaway memories.

Soft hands gripping at your back, pulling you closer and holding you steady. A language only the two of you speak. The plastic rim of eyeglasses bumping into the side of your face. Always always always.

“Oh god,” you moaned aloud.

“Yeah, you like that?” Chet chuckled proudly.

You hadn’t been expecting to hear his voice, even though he was the only man you’d been with for years; the realization made you shoot your eyes open.

The shape on the wall was now a big orange rectangle… with the shadow of a man inside it.

You were so paralyzed you couldn’t even gasp, you couldn’t breathe at all. Chet’s head was in the way, you couldn’t look at the door and see who was standing there, watching you; for some reason, your instincts didn’t tell you to alert Chet to the ominous presence… you just laid there and let him keep going, because that was basically your whole fucking purpose.

“Kiss me,” you breathed, and Chet sat up slightly to hover above you with a self-congratulatory smile.

“Oh, sweetheart,” he pouted, mocking you, before he leaned down and gave you a hungry, sloppy kiss. When it ended naturally a few moments later, you guided his head to rest on the other side of yours— which gave you the freedom you needed to turn your head and look at the man standing at your door, while you felt Chet’s thrust gain speed and lose accuracy (not that they had a lot of that to begin with…).

You’d guessed it based on the jagged edges of his shadow, and at his presence in a time like this, but you were still shocked to see the Riddler standing there— cast in a golden glow from behind, his face impossible to make out while he was backlit like this. Obviously, his face wouldn’t do you much good when it was masked, but for some reason you wished you could see his eyes… you thought maybe it would make his visage less viscerally haunting, give him some humanity; right now, he looked preternatural, otherworldly, when all you could see of him was a vaguely human shape in tones of muddy brown and deep black. Two things stood out in his appearance when he was lit like this: one, the roll of silver duct tape in his hand, which reflected the light rather obviously; and two, the clear plastic frames around his unseeable eyes, which seemed to almost glow with the light shining behind them, though they too disappeared into blackness in the middle with everything else.

There were a few logical responses for you to choose from: scream for Chet to get his gun, scream at him to leave, scream with no particular goal besides expression of terror.

Instead the terror just stayed inside, and you couldn’t look away, and you felt it all building and swirling and making pins and needles wash over your body in waves. You choked on your breath; and the two of you just stared at each other. Shame hit you just as much as sick pleasure at the knowledge that this man was watching you be ravaged by someone else’s husband, by a father and elected official and the man who swore to crack down on prostitution and get ‘whores’ off the streets.

But he had one in his bed. A tear rolled down your temple; you hated yourself, then, as much as the Riddler must have hated you seeing the living hypocrisy you were. Seeing the way you’d debased yourself for a scrap of luxury. But if he knew— if he knew what you’d been through and where you came from and why you spread your legs just to stay off the streets— he’d understand.

Too bad the only person who could ever understand probably still hated you… if he was still alive.

The invisible, overwhelming stare of a terrorist— and the crushing self-awareness you spent most of your waking moments running from like a track star— was having an… unexpected effect on you.

“Oh, fuck, are you close, sweetheart?” Chet groaned loudly. “I can feel your little pussy squeezing me…”

Well, any chance you had of not giving away to this terrifying stranger that you were about to come from being watched by him was out the window.

“I’m close, too,” he continued, “I’m gonna come so deep inside you.”

Not that deep, but, sure. Live your dream, pal. “I— I want you to,” you gasped.

“I want you to come first,” he insisted. Wow, what a gentleman… it was almost like you didn’t fake your orgasms nearly every other time.

You honestly tried not to give in, you already felt horrifically vulnerable with this man watching you, and now he was about to watch you come. He was about to make you come, without even touching you. Or saying a word.

“Come on and come for me,” Chet encouraged— but as you and the man in the doorway contemplated each other, you were sure that he knew you were really coming for him. For some fucking reason.

Your moans got sharper, louder, needier; after being frozen for so long that you would’ve worried he were a statue if not for his heavy breathing, the Riddler stepped forward into the room. You heard every step of his boots as he circled the room and came to stand by the side of your bed, staring down at you much more closely, but Chet didn’t seem to notice… apparently he was distracted at the moment.

“Oh, fuck,” you whimpered, tears welling in your eyes as you looked up at the faceless man above you; he tilted his head and you felt your channel clench even tighter. “I—!”

You didn’t get a chance to finish your warning as the heat hit you like a paradoxically-pleasant suckerpunch right to the gut. You choked out a loud, pathetic whimper and went limp beneath Chet’s broad form.

His own grunts got louder and louder, erratic thrusts culminating in one rough slam of his hips against yours as he came inside you. “Fuck, sweetheart,” he sighed, sinking his weight down into you, “you’re amazing…”

The Riddler raised his arm and you realized he was brandishing a massive metal pipe in his hand, preparing to bring it down on the back of Chet’s head. You tried to reach up to stop him, but the man on top of you was too wide and heavy to give you that much mobility, and you winced as the weapon came down with a clang.

“Damn it,” you hissed, shoving on Chet’s shoulders, but the dead weight of an unconscious two-hundred-pound man was well past your strength ability. “Will you help get this guy off me?”

The intruder reached down and grabbed Chet by his jacket, both of you heaving to turn him over on the bed.

“He was about to fall asleep,” you explained with a groan as you rushed to cover yourself, pushing your dress back down over your legs and sitting up on the side of the bed. “You could’ve waited and saved yourself the trouble of knocking him out— you’re gonna have to wait a while for him to wake up if you want the combination to the safe, I don’t know it.”

You stood up and noticed his head was tilted down— the light finally gave you enough of a look at his eyes and they were pointed down at your chest. You glanced down with him and realized your dress was still pulled down.

“Shit,” you grumbled as you corrected your strap and covered yourself. “Thanks for letting me know my tits were out, Jesus,” you snapped sarcastically. “You already got a free show, get a grip.”

You brushed past him and he was still just standing there, so you turned around and crossed your arms.

“Well, aren’t you gonna use that tape for something?” you shrugged. “By the way— lead pipe, really? Is this fucking Clue? The Riddler in the bedroom with the lead pipe?”

“You’re in no place to question my methods,” he spoke, finally, and unrolled a long stretch of tape with a sticky, tearing noise.

~

You tapped the eraser end of your pencil rapidly on your open notebook, desperately hoping for the energy to focus on Mrs. Gilliam’s lecture on Wuthering Heights. You jumped slightly in your seat when you felt something brush against your back through your shirt— you waited until the teacher turned her back to write on the chalkboard to reach behind and grab the piece of paper.

When you unfolded it, the letters were randomized and made no sense… to anyone except you. You smiled as you turned your pencil around and began to work to solve the cipher. It only took you probably less than a minute, and you grinned when you read the decoded message:

IF I DIE OF BOREDOM IN FRESHMAN ENGLISH, BURY ME UNDER THE BLEACHERS

Just as you started to snort a laugh, you covered it with a cough and no one seemed to notice.

“Now, two of the most important themes of Wuthering Heights are childhood, and love,” the teacher continued. “You should all have a pretty good understanding of the first one, but, whether you believe it or not, you’re a little too young for the second.”

You flipped the page over and started working on your code for the other side; it came to you like second nature now, it was how you and Eddie kept your secrets in a place like the Wayne Orphanage where there was never really privacy.

I WANT TO FIND ONE OF THESE WUTHERING HEIGHTS AND JUMP OFF, your message offered in reply, if he could find the key— which he would, quickly, you imagined.

You folded the paper up and turned to pass it behind you, but you jumped in shock when Mrs. Gilliam was suddenly standing right in front of you, having appeared out of nowhere.

“O-oh, we were just—” you began to make up an excuse on the fly.

“Principal’s office, both of you,” she ordered with crossed arms.

“Wait, it was my fault,” Eddie insisted, “she didn’t do anything.”

“Except write a note to you? I have eyes, Mr. Nashton.” She rolled them for emphasis.

She snatched the paper from your hands and unfolded it; you instinctively reached to try to stop her, but sat back down when you realized it was useless.

“Wow, riveting stuff,” she spoke sarcastically as she displayed the paper for the class. “Random letters? No wonder you’re not interested in English class, you apparently can’t actually write in English.”

The classroom erupted into laughter, and you shot a sympathetic glance at Eddie who was looking down at his knees, cheeks starting to turn a little pink. Getting picked on by upperclassmen and even other freshmen wasn’t really new to either of you, being orphanage kids and all, but you wished the teachers wouldn’t do this kind of thing as well.

“I-it’s a cipher,” Eddie attempted to sheepishly explain.

“I don’t care,” she insisted, “you can explain it all to Mr. Waters and see if he cares enough to keep you out of detention for disrupting my class.”

“Actually,” you interrupted, “we were just passing notes. You were the one that disrupted the class.”

A few astonished laughs and ‘ooooh’s echoed around the room, and Mrs. Gilliam gave you a glare of pure fury. “Be sure to explain that attitude to the principal, too, missy,” she snapped.

And, to be fair, you tried… but it didn’t go over well. You cringed as Mr. Waters glared at you over the thick tortoise-shell rim of his glasses.

“I’m surprised to see you here,” he said, “especially for an issue in class. You’re such a good student.”

“I— well, I try to be,” you offered meekly. “I’m sort of distracted today. So is Eddie— we didn’t sleep much last night, there’s no power at the orphanage and it’s so cold—”

“While I’m sympathetic to your extenuating circumstances,” the principal offered, “I can’t allow you to disrespect teachers on account of a poor night’s sleep. Many of our students lost power in this winter storm—”

“Yes, but our walls aren’t insulated—”

“I wasn’t finished speaking,” he informed you sternly.

“Right, sorry,” you mumbled.

“My point is, there are always excuses,” he continued, “but they never mean much. You’re responsible for your behavior at school, and I would encourage you to consider the company you keep and how that affects your performance.”

You wrinkled your eyebrows together. “You don’t mean Eddie…” you hoped.

“Edward is a bright student,” Mr. Waters mitigated, “but his attitude is… concerning, at times. I think you might be better off with a wider social circle— maybe not latching on entirely to someone so isolated.”

“He’s not isolated,” you defended, “he has me.”

“Yes, well, clearly the two of you have a strong connection.”

“No, we— it’s so much more than that. We don’t just have a connection, we are connected,” you explained defensively. “That’s not a choice, that’s just… how it is. You just wouldn’t understand because you’ve never needed anybody the way we need each other.”

He laughed a little, looking down at where he rested his elbows on his desk, shaking his head. It was so fucking condescending you wanted to scream. “Listen,” he began, “it’s normal, at this age, to feel like you’re the first person to discover feelings this powerful. And it’s normal to think someone you have a crush on now will always be the most important thing—”

“Wait, wait,” you shook your head, leaning back as if you couldn’t physically process his words as fast as they were traveling through the air. “A crush?”

“I’m sorry— love,” he corrected, semi-sarcastically.

“It’s not— um, we aren’t—” you stammered, looking down and feeling your face get a little warm. “It’s not romantic, really. We’re more like siblings, I think.”

I think being the operative phrase there. Siblings sometimes still didn’t feel like enough to capture it, but more than that, things had happened last night that you weren’t sure how to explain. You knew enough to know that it wasn’t technically sex, but… it wasn’t something best friends normally do— definitely not siblings. Even though you’d been thinking about it every moment since, you still hadn’t figured out what it meant. Was it just respite from the cold, survival instinct? Was it a moment of weakness as the winter seemed to seep right into your mind and make you a little delirious?

Regardless, it was perfect. It was a moment of perfect in a life of so much suffering. Three days of blistering cold— the weekend, plus the Monday when the school called a snow day and other children must have celebrated while you cried for hours knowing you’d be separated from your chance at warmth and a decent lunch that much longer— and one night in each other’s arms feeling like you might just be okay.

“I’m sorry,” Mr. Waters coughed, “I didn’t mean to assume. But that is the prevailing assumption, when a boy and girl spend this much time together.”

“Well, the prevailing assumption is generally wrong,” you informed him, “because people are generally very stupid.”

He snorted. “I guess I can’t argue with that.”

“I’m sorry for being rude to Mrs. Gilliam by passing notes in her class,” you concluded. “I’ll write her an apology letter.”

“Considering the circumstances, it may be more fitting to apologize verbally,” Mr. Waters noticed.

“No,” you shook your head, “I’d like to prove to her that I do know how to write in English. Will I be receiving detention?”

“Yes, after school today, until 6,” he nodded, and you nodded back in acceptance. A few more hours in the heated building, with ample time to do homework without the distractions of screaming babies and kids getting into fistfights, was anything but a punishment in your mind. You stood up to leave, slinging your backpack over your shoulder. “Would you send in your, uh, brother on your way out?”

“Sure,” you agreed, and you slipped out of his office, past the receptionist— where you caught a glimpse through the glass wall of Eddie surrounded by four juniors shoving him around, forcibly roughing up his hair and laughing at him as he anxiously shoved his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose. One was already midway into dumping the contents of his backpack onto the ground as Ed weakly begged them not to.

You glanced back at the receptionist behind you in exasperation, finding her caught up on a clearly-personal conversation on her phone instead of either noticing, or caring, that this was happening just a few feet away. Sighing, you stormed out of the waiting area and into the hall.

“Where do you get off?” you snapped at the leader: Darren Blanchard, you knew him much better than you wanted to.

“Hey,” he grinned at you— and though it did intimidate you to see him and his gang step closer to you, you were just relieved that it took their attention away from Eddie. “What’s a goody two-shoes like you doing in the principal’s office?”

“What’s an illiterate dumbass like you doing in a school?” you returned, and his buddies sarcastically laughed at your comment.

“You know, it’s a shame you waste all your time with your Loser of the Year over here,” Darren continued. “All us junior guys agreed you’re the hottest freshman girl. You could be popular if you let one of us take you out.”

“Oh, really, you all agreed?” you chirped. “Did you take a vote in between jerking each other off?”

“Listen, bitch,” one of the others— you thought maybe his name was Craig but you weren’t sure— snarled as he grabbed you by your shirt and shoved you back against the glass wall.

“Stop,” Eddie demanded, and they all turned to look at him.

“Ed, don’t,” you breathed.

“Don’t touch her,” he continued anyways, and you sighed in frustration.

“Or what?” another thug challenged. “What are you gonna do?”

“I— I don’t—”

“C’mon,” Darren grinned predatorily. “Tell me what you’re gonna do if I touch her.”

“I…” Edward began again. “I’ll kill you!”

They all laughed, and you hung your head in shame. “Oh my god,” Darren croaked out between cackles, “oh, that’s sad. That’s really sad.”

Probably-Craig grabbed your wrist and Edward made good on his promise— uh, sort of. He threw a punch and hit one of the other boys in the jaw, but it landed like a fly on a dinner plate; the punch he got back, meanwhile, knocked him straight to the ground.

You broke free from the grasp of the boy holding you and knocked him back long enough to get one kick between the legs in, and he crumpled to the ground— but Darren grabbed you and held you back as the other two still standing dragged Eddie up off the ground.

“Let me go!” you whimpered, struggling against Darren’s grasp but finding it totally useless.

“It’s cute when you put up a fight,” he grinned. “Get up, Craig— this little bitch needs to be taught a lesson.”

Obviously resisting the urge to hold his injured groin, Craig clamored up and walked up to where Darren was holding you back… and suckerpunched you right in the stomach, so hard you worried for a second you might wretch. “Stop!” Eddie shrieked, but his own cry was cut short as he got a similar treatment— except much more unrelenting.

You had to blink the tears out of your eyes to catch a glimpse of Eddie getting absolutely pummeled, and it only made you sob harder. A punch to his cheek knocked his glasses off onto the floor, where they were promptly stomped on. “Leave him alone,” you croaked out, “please—!”

Darren dropped you to go get in on the action, and you fell to your hands and knees atop the scattered contents of Eddie’s backpack all over the tile floor; you scrambled up and dashed to the receptionist’s desk, all but slapping the phone out of her hands.

“Look!” you demanded, pointing to the glass wall, and she frowned as she stood up.

“Hey!” she shouted at them, and they all stopped and turned to look at her. “Break it up!”

Principal Waters, apparently overhearing the commotion, stormed out into the waiting room and that definitely got their attention— the boys holding Edward dropped him to the floor unceremoniously and straightened themselves. “You four!” he bellowed. “In my office, now!”

They awkwardly shuffled past you. Darren shot you a glare and Craig waited until the receptionist returned to her phone call to whisper, “snitches get stitches.”

“Just worry about the stitches you’re gonna need,” you returned, glancing at his crotch— which yes, he was clutching still, though he was probably overexaggerating the injury for a sympathy appeal to Mr. Waters.

As the principal shut the door behind them, you ran back into the hall to find Eddie trying to lift himself up off the floor.

“Oh god, Ed, it’s all my fault,” you whimpered as you reached under his shoulders to help him up. “Your lip is bleeding,” you sighed as you reached up and dotted the blood away.

“I-I’m fine,” he assured, unconvincingly, as he blinked down at you.

“Your glasses,” you remembered. “I’ve got tape in my backpack, hold on.”

You picked up the two halves off the floor, and sat down on the bench in the hall (where he sat down next to you as well) to open your backpack and take out the roll of Scotch tape you kept at the bottom. With a decently-sized strip stuck to one of your fingers, you held the snapped bridge of his frames together and carefully wrapped the tape around.

“There,” you smiled as you turned to the side and gently slipped them onto his face. “It won’t fix the cracked lens, but, it’s a start.”

You noticed the way he was looking at you through the spider-web splinters in the glass, and it made you feel all warm inside. He looked away nervously. “I wish I could protect you,” he mumbled.

“You do, Ed,” you assured as you reached forward to squeeze his hand— but he pulled it away.

“No,” he denied, “you’d be better off without me. I’m the reason they treat you like that. If it weren’t for me you’d be the pretty popular girl.”

“That doesn’t matter,” you scoffed. “Popular is for normal people, and I hate normal people. Pretty is for shallow people— the only ones worse than normal people.”

“Well, you’re still pretty,” he explained, and damn it, there was that feeling again— you didn’t know what to say, but the subject changed itself when the tape on his glasses gave way and the two halves fell limply at the sides of his neck, still hooked onto his ears. You couldn’t help but laugh, covering your mouth with your hand instinctively.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” you giggled, “I’m not laughing at you— it just looks funny.”

“No, it’s fine,” he promised, “it’s worth making you laugh.”

“I’m sorry my tape didn’t work…”

“Oh, that’s okay! I’ve got my own—” he looked at the assortment of his belongings all over the floor, pointing to the duct tape roll that had rolled its way across the hallway— “right there.”

He got up to get it and you sighed a little as you got down on your hands and knees to start gathering the papers and notebooks strewn about, while Eddie was busy using his teeth to snap off a small piece of tape and carefully repair his glasses.

“Can you see those well enough to fix them yourself?” you asked, still working on stacking things neatly enough to fit back into his backpack; you glanced up at him and saw him holding the glasses about an inch from his face as he repaired them, making you chuckle to yourself. You looked back down at the papers around you, mostly homework and notes with a few doodles here and there (Eddie liked to draw little things while teachers explained things he already knew everything about), and you tilted your head as you caught a glimpse of one page specifically. It was a cipher— a symbol cipher, not key, and most interestingly it was one you didn’t recognize. There was a legend on the side, and a message in the middle; you could see so much erased and scratched out, clearly he was still working on this specific code. Distracted, you sat back on your feet for a second to try to solve it. You glanced back and forth between the message and the key, decoding it one letter at a time.

I SHOULD HAVE KISSED YOU

You tilted your head when you realized what it said, and just then Eddie snatched the paper out of your hand. “D-don’t look at that,” he mumbled awkwardly, gathering more papers of his own and haphazardly shoving them into his backpack. Before you could ask more, Mr. Waters stepped into the hallway, and you and Edward stood up nervously to await your sentencing.

“Is it true, Mr. Nashton, that you punched Kyle Mitchell in the face?” he asked.

“I… I don’t know, sir,” he admitted, making the principal raise an incredulous brow. “I just swung— I wasn’t sure who I hit… I kinda can’t tell them apart.”

You tried not to laugh at that. “But you did hit someone,” Mr. Waters presumed.

“Yes, sir,” he sighed.

Mr. Waters’ attention turned to you next. “And you… did you kick Craig Johnson in the, uh…”

“Johnson?” you repeated.

“Watch your language,” he frowned.

“N-no, I really didn’t know his last name,” you insisted.

“Oh,” he cleared his throat, “well… you admit to kicking him, then?”

“Yes,” you agreed, “in self-defense—”

“Regardless,” Mr. Waters interrupted, “school policy dictates that any involvement in a physical altercation merits an out-of-school suspension of at least one day—”

“Out of school?” you repeated, choking up instantly. “Principal Waters, please—”

“It’s not up to me,” he assured.

“It’s so cold,” you whimpered, “there’s no food, please, you can’t keep us out of school!”

“I can, and I have to,” he repeated, firmer.

“Please, just an in-school suspension, detention for a month, anything!” you offered.

“Suspend me for the whole week,” Edward bargained, “and let her come back tomorrow. Please.”

“Eddie, no,” you whined, but Mr. Waters stopped you both.

“Student discipline is individual,” he explained, “and not something that can be traded or transferred to someone else. You’ll be sent home with a letter to the head of the House explaining your suspension, and you may return to campus on Thursday. I’m sorry.”

He turned and left, leaving you to fall into Eddie’s arms with shaky sobs. “It’s my fault,” you choked out, “it’s all my fault, if I just hadn’t kicked him—”

“Shh,” he soothed as he stroked your back. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay…”

“How?” you whined.

“When we get back from school,” he began, speaking quietly against your ear, “we’re not going to give them the letters. You know they aren’t going to notice anyways… and tomorrow, we’ll wait for the bus, but we’ll get off at the next stop— and we’re going to go spend some money.”

You leaned back to look up at him through your tears. “What are you talking about? What money?”

“Craig Johnson’s money,” he explained, holding up a wallet— which you quickly snatched out of his hand to hide in your backpack, glancing to make sure no one had seen. The receptionist certainly hadn’t, she was laughing hysterically at something said by whoever she was on the phone with.

“Where did you get that?!” you whispered.

“Off the floor— must’ve fallen out of his pocket after you kicked him,” Ed smirked proudly. “We can stop at a diner and get a hot breakfast first, then buy coats at the mall and snacks to hoard when we get back to the Home—”

“Oh my god,” you squealed excitedly as you hugged him tightly. “Eddie, we’re not gonna be hungry tomorrow, or cold—”

“No, we’re not,” he agreed, holding you even tighter in response. “We’re gonna be safe… and we’re gonna be together. Always.”

~

You sniffled and discreetly wiped a tear off your cheek, forcing yourself out of the memory and back into composure as you stood up straight in front of the bathroom mirror.

Stepping out into the living room, you found that the Riddler had arranged a little scene mid-progress; he sat your unconscious boyfriend up in a chair, walking around it to encircle him with the tape. He only had it wrapped around once when he stopped to stare at you.

"Am I next?" you asked. "Are you gonna tape me to another chair and… torture me, kill me?”

You considered saying the other thing he might be likely to do to you after restraining you, but you didn’t want to give him any ideas. Even though if that was what he wanted to do to you, he could’ve done it by now.

“I thought about it,” he admitted. “The thought upset me. So as long as you don’t interfere and let me carry on, I’ll leave you be.”

You let him go on for about a half second longer, before you had to interrupt him: “Wait,” you mumbled, and he sighed and set down the roll of tape, barely leaving Chet’s limp form stuck to the chair. "Don't kill him," you pleaded. "I know he's not perfect, but he doesn't deserve to die. Wouldn't it be better to keep him alive and use him— like a man on the inside?"

"I have no interest in the usefulness of a bribed senator," the Riddler insisted firmly, "or in the advice of his whore."

You scoffed at the term even though it wasn’t exactly wrong, and made your cheeks sting with heat. "Listen, you don't know me—"

"I know everything about you," he interrupted in a growl, stepping closer to you. "I like to do my research."

“If you know me, then you know why this is what I had to do,” you replied. “Did your ‘research’ show you how awful that orphanage was, that not a cent of Dr. Wayne’s grant ever made its way to us after he died? That we fucking starved? And just when I thought I was free, adopted by an important wealthy man and sent to the best private school in Gotham… well, you must have seen the pictures my dear old dad took of me—”

“You—” he choked, sighing and looking down. “You don’t have to worry about those anymore.”

You knitted your eyebrows together. “I— what?”

“There weren’t a lot of copies left,” he explained, “most of them were never digital but, either way, I destroyed them all.”

“Wh—” you choked, looking down at the ground because suddenly looking at his masked face was a little overwhelming. “Why would you do that for me?” you whispered.

“I… you were a kid,” he answered, apparently struggling with an explanation of why he would go out of his way to save your dignity. “I don’t like pictures of kids being out there, I don’t think that makes me particularly special.”

“Of course it does,” you breathed, holding your own arms tightly. “It makes you special to me…”

“Well—” he coughed, “I just wish I could kill everyone who ever bought them, or saw them. I wish I could kill everyone that exploited you— I’m about to kill that senator, because of what he did to you.”

You blinked up at him, thin tears gathering at the corners of your eyes. “Because of me?” you whispered. “What… what does this all have to do with me?”

“You’ll see,” he promised.

Just then, you only got a split-second warning as you heard Chet yell, and he dashed in out of nowhere to tackle the intruder to the ground. He landed with a powerful thud and you yelped in shock.

“Son of a bitch,” Chet sputtered as he wrapped his fat hands around the Riddler’s neck. Gloved hands reached up and tried to fight him off, but Chet was stronger— and most of all just heavier, leaning in with all his weight.

It’s impossible to describe what came over you then, an instinct so natural you didn’t even realize what you were doing, until you came to and that damned pipe was in your hand, and Chet was collapsed on the floor beside the masked man. The whore in the living room with the lead pipe… but you still needed one more clue to solve the mystery.

“Oh, oh god,” you sighed, falling to your knees; the Riddler was looking up at you, apparently surprised that you saved him— of course he would be, so were you after all. You caught his stare from behind his glasses, which had cracked when he hit the floor, and you leaned in a little closer. Reaching up, your fingers brushed over the leather covering his face, and your lip started to quiver— green eyes looked right through you from behind the shattered glass, and you pulled the frames away gently so you could lift the hood and see his face.

Well, it was a little distorted covered in plastic wrap, but it was still obviously him. He still looked so young and boyish, he looked just like he did in your memories, even though he must’ve aged just as much as you.

You smiled just in time for a tear to slip past your lip. The taste of tears brought back memories too. “Eddie?” you whispered.

“Hey,” he said, and his voice was muffled but familiar, casting a cloud of condensation around his mouth on the clear material. You laughed and started to pull at the plastic so you could hold his face unfettered but he reached up to hold your wrist and stop you. “I need to keep that on— so I don’t leave any hair behind…”

Before you could stop yourself, you leaned down and pressed a long kiss right on his lips: obviously there was plastic in the way, but you just needed to kiss him at that exact moment and a little Saran wasn’t gonna stop you.

You felt his gloved hands reach up and brush gently over your back, delicately pulling you closer, and you smiled. It had to end sometime, though, and the taste of whatever chemical gives this stuff its self-stickiness wasn’t entirely pleasant. You broke the kiss to laugh again, you couldn’t help it with the joy so pure running through your veins that it made you all shaky and tingly like you skipped lunch or something.

At the same time, you both said the same thing to each other: “I thought you forgot about me.”

“You thought I— what?” Edward responded to you. “I could never—”

“Of course I couldn’t forget you,” you breathed. “I know you didn’t want that man to adopt me— you were right, in the end, but I thought you wanted me to stay more than you wanted me to be happy… and you promised to write letters, and you didn’t— I thought you hated me for leaving you behind, but I wanted us to be adopted together, but he just wanted me—”

“Hey,” he interrupted your neurotic ramble with a hand on your shoulder, “I never hated you— I couldn’t hate you, I just knew you wouldn’t be safe with him. And I did send letters, every day. I thought you ignored them all— did you never get them?”

“No, he must’ve thrown them away,” you sighed, “of course he would.”

“I figured you just wanted to forget about everything from before…”

“I did— I tried to, after I moved in here, but I could never stop thinking about you for very long,” you admitted, looking away and feeling your cheeks warm. “What did you end up going into— like, what do you do now?”

“Uh, I do this,” he answered, motioning to his khaki-green get-up and the unconscious man beside him.

“I mean other than this,” you giggled, rolling your eyes.

“I’m a forensic accountant,” he explained, and you beamed.

“Oh, Ed— that makes so much sense for you!”

“Did you ever get a chance to be popular at the private high school?” he asked. “Since you didn’t have me dragging you down.”

“Well, not really,” you hummed, “he only sent me there because he was a big donor and he knew they’d ignore me when I tried to tell them what he was doing… the other kids weren’t as violent as they were at South Gotham High, but they didn’t like a charity case in class with them very much. I hope it wasn’t so bad for you after I transferred…”

“Uh, yeah, it was fine,” he muttered.

“Eddie, don’t lie to me,” you sighed.

“I-I got beat up, a lot,” he shrugged, “but it wasn’t that bad— I mean, I never had to go to the hospital or anything.”

You whimpered and wrapped your arms around his neck, resting your head on his chest as he sat up and held you tightly. “I didn’t even know if you survived that place… I’m just happy you’re alive.”

“I wasn’t really alive,” he whispered, “until just now, having you in my arms again.”

A groan made you both turn your heads to the side, finding Chet staring dazed at you both. His eyes trailed over his arms around you, your hands on his chest. “Wh…what?” he mumbled groggily.

Edward sighed and reached for the hood you’d left on the floor, tugging it on. “You’re a tough old bastard, huh?” he grumbled. It must’ve been the mask that changed his voice, he sounded pretty different with it on.

“N-no, please,” Chet began to sleepily beg for his life. Edward grabbed the pipe one more time (even though it had proven to be less of a permanent fix insofar), but turned to you before he did anything with it.

“I would, um, kinda prefer that you didn’t see this,” he told you nervously.

“Right— sure,” you agreed, standing up, even though he’d already seen plenty you would’ve rather him not see tonight. “I’m gonna take a bath, just… come get me when you’re done?”

“Okay,” he hummed happily, turning back to Chet who looked bewildered to say the least. “Where were we?”

You were walking to the bathroom to draw your bath, but you heard a bit more of their conversation on your way.

“What’s going on?” Chet asked, almost accusatory. As if his girlfriend having some bizarre connection with the serial killer in his apartment was more important to him than, you know, the serial killer in his apartment.

“You love her, don’t you?” Ed asked him, and apparently Chet must have nodded before he continued. “I can’t blame you. But I loved her first.”

You shut the bathroom door behind you, in time with the loud sound of the weapon coming down on Chet’s head; you winced, trying not to notice the icky, wet crunching sort of noise a lethal blow like that made.

Turning on the faucet— hot water first, then a bit of the cold side just to keep it from getting scalding— the loud rush of water mostly covered the sounds of Ed unrolling more tape, hopefully enough this time to keep Chet down for good (although you didn’t think he was coming back from that last hit, but you weren’t an expert on these things).

You stripped down out of your dress, letting it fall to the floor in a pile of black silk before you stepped into the rising water.

A sigh of relief fell from your lips as you relaxed into the warmth. Realizing you still had all your jewelry on, you slipped off the bracelets and rings, setting them on the edge of the porcelain tub; you took out your earrings and centered them inside the bracelets delicately.

On accident, you nearly fell asleep right there in the bath just because you were so… at peace. You never felt as safe as you did with Edward nearby, even if he had always seemed worried that he couldn’t protect you. Every good memory from the orphanage came rushing back, every moment of joy born from the suffering: sharing a warm bread roll, hiding under your bed and whispering to each other, carving your secret language with its scrawled shapes and symbols into the wall. On the day before your birthday one year, he’d taken a snack cake home from school and stayed up until midnight with you just to unwrap it and strike a match to stick in it, telling you to blow it out and make a wish. Chet had gotten you a three-tier custom red velvet cake last year, with sparklers and golden lettering sticking out of it, and thrown you a lavish party to serve it at… but when you closed your eyes and tasted the first bite on your fork, you found yourself longing for that empty room and pre-packaged plastic-wrapped cake with the artificial cream and the waxy legally-not-considered-chocolate coating with a wooden match in it. Really, of course, you were longing for him, for your soulmate, your best friend— your always.

As is to be expected with almost falling asleep, you didn’t realize how close you were to it until you were brought back to full consciousness by Eddie opening the door. You blinked your eyes open and smiled up at him, noticing the way his eyes trailed over your body left exposed by the clear, still water. “Hi,” you greeted.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked. “You might want to pack a bag… some stuff to bring to my apartment. Unless you wanna wear my clothes.”

He was obviously being sarcastic, but you were obviously tempted by the idea with the way you bit your lip and glanced away. “I’ll get a few things,” you decided. “I don’t know what kind of money you’re making doing accounting, but if I pawned some of my jewelry we could live large for a while.”

He knelt down, resting one of his elbows on his knee, and gently pulled off a glove. Reaching out with a bare hand, he brushed his fingers over your cheek, and you smiled and took a deep breath. You leaned into his palm and felt him cradle your jaw gently; “We shouldn’t waste any more time,” he breathed, “the police will be here in a few hours, when they see my video.”

“Are they going to be looking for me?” you asked.

“I warned them not to,” he sighed, “but they probably will. You’ll be safe with me, though… no one will ever find you.”

You smiled contentedly, reaching up out of the water to rest your hand on top of his where it held your face, before turning to give his palm a small kiss. “Let’s hope not. I want it to always just be us.”

~

You leaned down over the edge of the crib, smiling at the sweet, chubby face looking back up at you; she smiled when she saw you, and you reached down to let her grab onto your finger. “Hi!” you greeted excitedly, cooing at her as she kicked her feet up and wiggled around. “I wish I could come visit you every day, but I’m not gonna be able to from now on… you gotta stay tough, okay? My little trooper. You made it through that winter, you can make it through anything.”

He didn’t make a sound or move into your line of sight, and yet you somehow sensed Edward’s presence in the doorway; you turned your head up and back to look at him as he watched you. “What are you doing all the way in the nursery?” he asked.

“Saying goodbye to baby Hannah,” you explained, looking down at her again. “I’m gonna miss you, little dumpling!”

She giggled even though she obviously had no idea what you were saying, and you continued babbling at her meaninglessly. Eddie stepped up behind you, and you jumped straight up when you felt his hand on your back. “Stop hiding from me,” he demanded— not angry, not sad, just… flat.

“Eddie, I’m not—”

“And don’t lie, either,” he requested.

You sighed, pulling your hand out of Hannah’s crib and facing him properly.

“You’re leaving tomorrow, and you’re not coming back,” he reminded you.

“I said I would visit—!” you denied.

“You’re not coming back,” he insisted. “You shouldn’t. There’s no reason to be in this place a second longer than you need to. But you’ve been spending all week preparing to go without even saying goodbye to me.”

“Ed, I—” you began, starting to tear up already. “I don’t even know where to start… if I try to imagine not seeing you every day, not living with you and going to school with you, it just makes my brain go blank. I don’t know what life is without you.”

“Well, you’re gonna find out,” he smiled. “You’re gonna do what we always promised we would do… escape.”

You glanced away so he wouldn’t see how hard you were fighting not to cry, as if you could ever hide something like that from him. “But we were supposed to do that together,” you whimpered. “Eddie, I begged them to take you, too, but they said—”

“It doesn’t matter,” he assured, “I’m not going.”

“But you’ll write to me?” you interrogated. “You’ll visit me? Arkham College Prep is kind of a long bus ride, but I think my new parents are gonna give me an allowance so I can send you the fare—”

“Of course,” he interrupted. “We’re gonna see each other as much as we can, and in a few years we’ll be really free and…”

As he trailed off, you swallowed thickly. You’d spent years planning your lives as adults, but the older you got, the less fantastical your dreams became. You could still remember when he wanted to be an astronaut and you wanted to be a ballerina. Then it was secret agent and rockstar. Then it was engineer and teacher.

By now, it was just the hope that you’d make it that far. Even in a place like the Wayne House where life was near-constant torment, certain things were guaranteed. In adulthood, there’s no promise of shelter from the rain or one meal a day. Worst of all, there’s no one by your side through it all; you were both forced to wonder if it was ever feasible to dream that life wouldn’t keep you two apart one way or another.

You reached up and slipped your arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug. He hugged you back, but it felt different— distant. It felt like he was trying to let you go already, and accept that you were leaving for another life without him; you hated that. You couldn’t let this be the end, and you couldn’t let him pretend this didn’t matter so it wouldn’t hurt as badly because it was killing you inside.

Just as you started to hold each other tighter, one of the adult staff happened to walk by the door. “Hey,” she snapped at you both, and you pulled away from each other. “Lights out in ten minutes. You shouldn’t even be in the nursery— go back to the adolescent wing, and stay on your side of the hall.”

Her last warning was especially aggressive as both of you had been disciplined excessively for being in the opposite-gender rooms after hours. It was never anything inappropriate— well, there was that one night that toed the line pretty hard, but the point is your intentions were never as nefarious as they assumed. Thankfully, you only got caught about one-third of the time.

“Yes, ma’am,” you and Eddie nodded at her simultaneously, and she continued walking along.

“After lights out,” you whispered to him, “wait a half hour and then meet me in the courtyard…”

You reached up to rest your hand on his chest and felt his heart racing; your was, too.

“And we’ll say goodbye,” you finished, “properly. The way we need to.”

The time you spent staring up at the ceiling that night, counting the ticks of the clock in the hall outside, was excruciating. Minutes had never been longer in the history of time, probably.

Honestly, you never had a chance at sleeping anyways: a few of the girls most jealous that you had been adopted and were leaving tomorrow had threatened to jump you as soon as you fell asleep. You knew one of them had already been caught with a shiv she made out of an old soda can… so, beyond just excitement to have your secret rendezvous with Ed, you were never exactly in a position to get any rest.

When the time came, you slipped out of bed as quietly as you could (which took an intimate knowledge of the creaky springs in your half-rotted mattress) and crossed the floor delicately (which took an intimate knowledge of the creaky floorboards in the half-rotted floor), dragging your blanket behind you.

Peeking out into the hall, you knew none of the adults would be back to check on anyone for a while… they were supposed to stay overnight to make sure no one got hurt, but even they couldn’t stomach sleeping in a place like this and had a tendency to go back to their homes and return in the morning as if the children wouldn’t notice. Still, you needed to be careful in case one or two stayed behind and would catch you and force you back to your room— or in case you woke up another ward, especially one of the more unsavory boys who might take advantage of finding you alone.

Blanket draped over your shoulders like a cape, you navigated the circuitous path around the House that would take you into the courtyard while passing the fewest dormitories— this place was a maze, but thankfully, you were good at solving puzzles.

When you emerged barefoot into the stone courtyard, shivering when the soles of your feet collided with gravelly rock and the grass that grew in the cracks between, you found Eddie already there, his own blanket under his back as he leaned against the big tree and looked up at the sky. You smiled just seeing him, and scampered over to shorten the time you had to spend away from him (and walking on the cold and mildly-damp ground, if you were being honest).

He looked at you when he heard you coming and smiled back, opening his arms for you to jump into. You draped your blanket over the both of you and nuzzled into his chest, looking up at the sky with him. “I hate that we can never see stars here,” he sighed. “It’s just fog and planes.”

“I think the fog is sort of beautiful,” you admitted, “in its own way.”

“Of course you do,” he laughed softly. “You see the beauty in everything.”

You turned your attention away from the sky and to his face above yours— he was still looking away, so you took a moment to appreciate the shape of his jaw and the way you could just see his eyelashes past his cheek. His glasses reflected the moonlight, so much so that when he looked down at you, you couldn’t see his eyes past the glare on the lenses.

But you still felt his stare, and it made you feel exposed in a way that was unexpectedly pleasant.

“I came up with a riddle,” he announced suddenly.

“Hit me,” you challenged.

“I’m blind, but with me, you see everything a bit more clearly,” he described. “What am I?”

You cycled through a few ideas in your mind, but cracked into a grin when you figured it out. “Love,” you answered.

“Yeah,” he agreed, “you got it…” He reached up and brushed his thumb over your cheek as he slipped his hand around the back of your neck— but then he just… didn’t do anything. He just looked at you and you looked up at him and waited but nothing happened.

“Why haven’t you kissed me yet?” you asked, whispering.

“I— I don’t know,” he whispered back, “I guess I’m just afraid.”

“Kiss me, Eddie… please,” you begged, and finally, he did.

It was everything you hoped it would be: sweet and soft and patient. He pulled you closer and, without breaking the kiss, you sat up a bit so you could climb into his lap and straddle him.

You gasped when he pulled you into him and kissed you harder, tasting your tongue with his own, even starting to let out the quietest moans against you. As you shifted in his lap, an instinctive motion to address the growing warmth in your core, you felt his erection and it made your head spin.

When you broke away, the two of you held your foreheads together and just caught your breath; you carded your fingertips through his hair while his hands held your back. “We never talked about that night, when it was so cold we didn’t know if we’d survive,” you panted.

“I didn’t know what to say,” he explained. “I didn’t know if it was just because of the cold…”

“It’s a beautiful night,” you breathed. “I’m not hungry or scared or lonely. I’m happy, Edward, because I’m with you— and I… I wanna feel you again…” you swallowed and barely managed to find the courage to finish your thought, though you still had to speak under your breath: “inside me.”

He just nodded and kissed you again, and you both rushed to get your bedclothes out of the way just as much as you needed to do this. A kiss on your lips helped keep you quiet when you whined at the initial sting of being penetrated; and more breathless kisses trailing down your neck and over your shoulder soothed you as he promised it wouldn’t hurt anymore— but you didn’t even care. You’d braved so much worse pain for him, and you never regretted a moment of it.

You breathed with each other and moved with each other and it was the most natural thing in the world. Everything good you’d ever had, you shared with him. And now you were sharing pleasure together and you couldn’t think of anything more perfect.

“Tell me we’ll always be together,” you pleaded one last time.

“Always,” he promised.

The physical element of it was over rather quickly, from an objective standpoint, when he needed you to stop so he wouldn’t risk getting you pregnant even more than he already was. But that finite moment felt like its own forever, and even though he apologized that he couldn’t hold out longer, you were anything but disappointed. The night itself was just beginning, and the two of you held each other and talked and kissed and dreamed until the sun started to rise and melt the fog away.

You needed to be back in your beds soon for the morning, but you stayed together until the absolute last second. You made promises— maybe he knew already how hard they would be to keep, but you believed them completely. And you never imagined how long it would take you to really make good on them.

~

You set your duffel bag down as he locked all seven deadbolts behind you. “Cute place,” you mumbled, looking around at the shabby— yet homey— interiors. It looked so much more comfortable than Chet’s apartment, which was populated with geometrical, sterile, white furniture. You saw polaroids he’d taken of himself, in and out of his Riddler garb, taped up to one of the cabinets atop the peeling paint; there were a few empty takeout cartons with chopsticks sticking out of them, which he dashed past you to awkwardly scoop up into his arms. He looked so adorably… puffy, in that massive bomber jacket, and you stifled a giggle.

“Uh, sorry— I would’ve cleaned up, if I knew you were coming back with me,” he defended as he dumped them in the trash. “Obviously.”

“It’s okay,” you grinned.

“Are you, uh, hungry?” he asked. “There’s probably something in the fridge I could make for you—”

“Ed, I was just at a campaign dinner a few hours ago,” you reminded him.

“Well, maybe you worked up an appetite,” he smirked nervously, “with everything that’s happened…”

“I just wanna get settled in,” you explained. “Is there somewhere I should put my stuff?”

“Anywhere,” he shrugged. “The bedroom’s this way, if you wanna hang your clothes up in the closet…”

As you followed him down the hall, you caught more glimpses of his work— contraptions he’d designed, schematics and puzzles and information on his targets. You saw a blurry picture of yourself under Chet’s arm, taken from across the street; a big red ‘X’ in marker covered your dearly-departed ex-boyfriend’s face, and you smiled to yourself.

“In here,” he pointed as he opened the door for you. The bedroom was… efficient. A double mattress on an old steel frame, and just enough room on each side to get around it. There were some books scattered around, cryptography books just as one would expect, and a lamp on a nondescript bedside table, but that was about it. "I need to hang up my jacket anyways…"

He slipped past you when you opened the closet door, stepping inside to unzip his jacket and drape it on a hanger. He was wearing just an undershirt beneath, and the short sleeves gave you a good look at his arms which were… much more toned than you remembered. He was still lean like he'd always been, but not as scrawny as his teenage self, like he'd really grown into his frame.

Apparently, he noticed you ogling him, because he cleared his throat and pushed up his glasses slightly on the bridge of his nose. "Is everything okay?" he asked.

"You look good, Ed," you answered with a smirk.

"Oh, thanks," he hummed. "You've always been beautiful…"

A little flustered, you looked down at the floor where you saw his boots take a step towards you.

"I… I still think about the night before you left," he admitted, "when we made love to each other."

Finding the strength to make eye contact again, you found the most beautiful storm brewing in his stare… behind those damn cracked glasses. "I do, too," you replied. "I thought about it a lot, actually— it was the only way I could get through, um… through nights with other people. I only ever wanted it to be you, Eddie—"

"Shh," he interrupted, soothing you with warm hands gripping your shoulders, "it's alright— that's over now. We're together and nothing else that happened in between matters anymore."

You sniffled and slipped your arms around his back to hug him tightly. "You don't hate me for what I did, right? And who I did it with?"

“I could never hate you,” he promised gently. “I… I hate that anybody else ever got to have you, though… that you belonged to someone like him.”

"I was always yours," you sighed, "all I've ever been is yours."

He grabbed your face and kissed you; you didn’t remember Eddie being this forward, but you couldn’t blame him for growing up— and you certainly weren’t complaining, in fact you were immediately melting into it and kissing him back and letting quiet moans slip out when you couldn’t help it. You yelped as he pushed you back onto the bed and climbed on top of you, but initial surprise melted into a needy, happy groan. "Mine," he growled as he started to roughly push your clothes out of the way. "Say it again."

"Yours! Fuck, Eddie, I'm yours— you know I am. Everything, all of me, I belong to you," you whimpered.

"My beautiful girl," he cooed proudly, "my angel. I was so lost without you… I'm yours, too, I need you so bad…"

"Take me," you offered. "Whatever you need, just take it. How long has it been since somebody made you feel good?"

"I… I can't even remember," he mumbled into your neck.

"Please, Eddie, I need to feel you inside me again," you begged, "I'm yours, I'm yours—!"

He groaned loudly and reached down to hastily open and push down his pants. He was already hard and he began to rock his hips so he could rub himself against you.

Shouldn't have been too much of a shock that all of him had grown since he was sixteen— and he wasn't lacking back then to start with. You felt a little intimidated, but even more excited. Grabbing him by the hair and pulling him into another kiss, you giggled when his glasses bumped against your face. You moaned and arched your back into his touch as his palms groped at your chest; you could feel his smug smirk against your lips growing as your legs instinctively spread wider.

His fingertips gently pinched your nipples and, lacking any desire to suppress your arousal— you had nothing to hide from him, anyway— you whimpered desperately and started begging. “P-please,” you choked, “don’t make me wait anymore… I’ve waited so long, I just need to feel you, please—”

“Shh,” he soothed softly, moving his hands down from your chest to the waistband of your sweatpants which he pulled down just a little too slowly; you mewled impatiently. “M’gonna give you everything, don’t worry…

You whined and wrapped your arms around his shoulders, hiding your face in his neck, but he didn’t tolerate that for long.

“No, baby, I wanna see you,” he explained as he sat up slightly and guided your head back to lay on the bed again. “That’s better… look up at me?”

You bit your lip and blinked away the tears suddenly gathering in your eyes; afraid he’d think you were strange for crying, you began to explain. “I-it’s just so much, Ed—”

“I know,” he cooed, “it’s a lot— it’s everything. It’s the only thing that matters.”

A little shaky gasp filled your lungs as you felt the head of his cock press up to your opening, and your insides clenched around nothing in anticipation.

“Keep your eyes on me,” he instructed quietly, staring down at you intensely; his green eyes were so dark when he hovered over you like this, the light on the ceiling above him making the edges of his light brown hair glow golden like a halo. You reached up and brushed your fingers over his cheek, then moved down to hold onto his shoulder. He thrust his hips forward somewhat abruptly and you cried, but worked very hard not to disobey him by closing your eyes or looking away. You hadn’t even realized he wasn’t all the way in yet until he gave you the second half, burying himself to the base of you, and you let out a high-pitched whine.

"Oh god," you hissed, "Eddie, you're so deep… fuck, I can feel you all the way up here…"

You guided his hand to your lower belly, pressing it down so he could feel, too, how well he was filling you. His expression changed as he felt it, and you caught the way his gaze emanated so much power as he started to move inside you and feel the way your stomach shifted under his hand.

You were completely at his mercy, and both of you were becoming addicted to it.

He took his hand off of your belly and lowered down to rest his elbows on either side of your face, hovering above you. Watching you closely, his eyes darted all over your face while he set an unhurried— though not specifically slow, either— pace with his hips.

Being watched by him was already having a similar effect on you now as it did earlier this evening, even when you didn’t know it was him: your walls were pulsing with need and you heard your moans getting so loud they started to echo around the small room.

The pleasure made you tilt your head back and shut your eyes, but he gently grabbed your chin and pulled your face back down. “I told you to keep looking at me,” he reminded you, just a bit more stern than you expected him to be. “I wanna see the look in your eyes when you come apart for me.”

You whimpered but nodded in agreement, a silent promise to follow his instructions and let him see every moment of your orgasm— which was building so much more quickly than it had any right to, making your walls pulse and your toes curl as your legs wrapped around his hips.

“We’re never gonna be apart ever again,” he promised quietly, his voice a little deeper and rougher as his breathing got heavier from the exertion.

“That’s all I ever wanted,” you breathed. An extra rough thrust slammed his head right into your spot and you yelped, feeling your channel bear down on his cock so forcefully it was almost painful— but in the most pleasurable way. “Fuck, E-Eddie, I love you, I love you…”

That phrase was rarely spoken between the two of you, it always seemed sort of obvious. But it felt good to just say it point-blank, and even though you figured he must’ve already known it, he smiled down at you proudly. “I know, baby,” he soothed, “I love you, too.”

“I-I’ve never loved anyone else,” you continued.

“I know,” he responded again.

“I— oh god, Ed, m’gonna come…”

“I know,” he replied finally, lowering his voice this time.

You did your best to focus your attention up at him as you held the back of his neck to keep yourself steady, but the energy coursing through your body seemed to make your vision go a little blurry. You longed to let your eyes fall shut and give in to the dark calling for you, but you needed to stay right here with Eddie— he was going to take you there if you just kept your promise not to look away. The last thing you wanted to do was forget who was making you feel this good, who you belonged to.

“You can let go, angel,” he encouraged you softly. “I’m right here, okay? Just do it, for me, come for me right now.”

You didn’t mind giving away that he had that control over you— he’d already proven it before, exhibiting the power he had over your body just from standing in a doorway. So, it was no wonder that when he was actually inside you, you would do whatever he asked. And he asked you to come, so you came; your eyes stayed open and trained on his, miraculously, as a heavy wave of ecstasy crashed down on you. Just past the deafening sound of your own moans you heard him pant and grunt a little.

“There you go, just like that,” he praised darkly, “such a good girl for me. I can feel you, coming on my cock.”

You could feel him throbbing inside you, too, and it was oddly soothing as you started to come down from your high; going limp beneath him made each thrust rock your body on the mattress, and he kept moving faster and faster.

“I can’t last much longer,” he admitted in a rough whisper. “You’re too perfect, it’s been too long without you—”

“I want you to come,” you assured, tangling your fingers into his hair and tugging slightly though you didn’t really mean to. “I want it so bad, I need you!”

"I'm not pulling out this time," he warned, fucking you so fast and hard now that you had no chance to recover— it felt like you were going to come forever. "I need to come inside you."

"Yes," you moaned, "oh fuck Eddie, please! Please please please…"

“Keep looking at me,” he ordered, even though your gaze hadn’t faltered since his last demand. “Look at me while I fill you up— fuck, I-I’m coming—”

His verbal warning was sort of moot considering you could feel it, every pump of his cock filling you deeper than you thought possible; he gasped and held your hips so he could slam all the way in, deep enough that your eyes would’ve rolled back if you weren’t so damn obedient.

Finally, the minutes-long eye contact was broken as he grabbed your face and kissed you hard, both of you shutting your eyes tightly and pulling each other into an embrace. He rolled you onto your side but stayed inside you, and even just that slight friction on your overstimulated walls made you shiver and whine. Thankfully, his hand stroking your back gently soothed you a bit in that regard.

Cuddling up in bed together, you were so relaxed that you didn’t really remember falling asleep— it was just that you woke up what must’ve been hours later, blinking your eyes open to find him contemplating a sudoku puzzle with a pencil in between his teeth. You smiled and started to shift around, but he quickly grabbed your hips to keep you still.

“N-no, baby, don’t move,” he cooed, “you’re keeping me warm while I work on this.”

Yes, he was still inside you; your body was so accustomed to him that you didn’t notice the stretch that much, except when you moved, and then there was a delicious sting that made chills run up your spine. You would’ve already been sore after he fucked you like that, but keeping him inside you for so long afterwards made you sure that soreness wouldn’t leave you for another week or so. Not that you wanted it to. “How much have you solved?” you asked sleepily.

“Most of it, but it’s a tricky one,” he explained. “Any ideas for me?”

He moved the booklet in front of your face and you blinked the blurriness out of your eyes to examine it. Of course, your attention wasn’t on the puzzle anymore when you noticed his little doodles around the free space on the page. Some of them had to do with trying to solve the square, but most were just miniature sketches— most notably: your face as you slept; a greeting card, like one you remembered seeing on the news addressed to ‘the Batman’; and a diamond ring.

“I’m glad you still draw,” you announced, reaching up to run a finger over the silvery etchings in the page. “You’ve gotten even better.”

“Oh, well, it comes with practice,” he dismissed. He turned the page around and looked at the puzzle again. “Would you wear a ring like this if I gave it to you?” he asked, pointing at the doodle with his eraser.

“I’d wear anything you gave me, Ed,” you informed him.

“I know it’s kind of silly for you to have a ring when you won’t be able to leave the apartment for a long time— but I wanna see it on your finger anyways,” he explained, smiling slightly. “I’d wear one, too. Even under my gloves when no one can see it. And that way just you and I know they’re always there.”

You smiled back at him, reaching up to gently touch his face; he hummed and set the puzzle book aside, closing his eyes as you pet his cheek. “You know we don’t need anything to show how we feel,” you reminded him. “It doesn’t make it more important or more real. We love each other more than most people who wear rings like that could even imagine.”

“Of course not,” he breathed, “but it might be nice, I think…”

“I think so too,” you agreed, nestling your face back into his chest and drifting into sleep again.

And so, even though it was a bit superfluous at this point, he got you both rings— and although they looked quite typical to someone passing by on the street, they were anything but usual. Edward carefully designed the mechanism that made them interlock; he described it as just another way that you ‘solve’ him. His ring had a sort of keyhole, little notches arranged in a circle that he kept turned inside his palm, and they fit perfectly with the setting of the stone on your ring. When you used yours to unlock his, a panel in the gold pulled out of the way and showed the engraved message inside, written in symbols only the two of you knew how to read: Always.

[riofann]

Christopher Rodrigo Ch. 13

Mr. Rodrigo Chapter 12 

When you come to you see all white around you convinced you’re in heaven but the beeping sounds make you realize otherwise  you groan bringing your arm to your face trying to block the light. You slowly look around realizing you were in the hospital. 

“You’re awake” You hear Tessa next to you. 

Your eyes search for her

“OMG you’re awake!” 

You smile at the sound of her voice as she speaks through the intercom 

“She’s awake!” 

You don’t know how much time passes but many people showed up to your room after that. You were repeating the same thing. Your name, date of birth, and the day. Seems like you were out for a day and by the time the second person asked you knew what day it was. Tessa sat in the room holding your hand as she alternated between texting and talking on the phone updating people. 

“Y/N you can’t scare me like that!” she fusses once it was just you two alone “Where’s Jason?” “Dead!” You grimace the memory of what happened coming back to you. “Christopher found you I don’t know how but he said he found you in your apartment?” You nod not wanting to make the situation any worse. 

“How is Jason dead?” She shrugs “They found a gunshot wound to his head and apparently he was high on drugs, that’s all I know anyway” 

“Oh” 

“Mom and dad are on the way!” “Oh okay” 

“You’re really lucky Christopher found you Y/N. You don’t know what could have happened” 

“I’m glad I’m okay too Tess” Your parents came and went, Tessa left because she had to go home to Lucas she had been in the hospital for 2 days after all. Your mind drifts to that day, to that night and you can’t help but feel even more afraid than you were. Christopher had a record? Was it tied to the men he brought with him to save you? If he did have a record, how come it never came back in the background test? “Hey mama?”  you hear his voice and you look towards the door. 

Your body tenses as you watch him enter the room and close the door. “I’m not going to hurt you Y/N” he comments taking note of your heart rate monitor beeping faster. “I know that!” How could he have killed Jason and have no consequences? You think to yourself  “just scared me is all” 

He nods, placing the vase filled with flowers on the side table next to yours before he takes a seat near you “How you feeling?” 

“Sore” you offer up a smile. He smiles and takes in the bruises on your face. “Thanks for...” He interrupts you and smiles “Don’t mention it, made a promise” You smile and look down at your hands “I guess I’m a handful” He chuckles “nah, just got trouble with the ex” You remain silent hoping that was enough for him. He clears his throat making you look at him “about the box” You nod “yea I hid it from Jason” “Why didn’t you tell me mama?” You shrug “You already did so much,” You feel tears build up “I didn’t want to bother you any more! But ..” you pause and gather yourself wiping away your tears “I’m just a burden” He leans in closer and rubs your hand “Nah don’t say that about yourself” You scoff and look up not wanting to believe that there really was no way you were not a burden. “You’re sweet but,” “But nothing where’s the box?” “Uh it’s behind the fridge” “Behind?” You nod “I’ma go check it out”  

“Okay” 

He sends a text and just like that the box is found. He would look into it later but right now he was more concerned about you “I told Bernard, he is going to give you a few weeks.” You look up “Oh I forgot about work” “Yea well now you don’t have a lot to worry about.” You straighten up in the bed “About Jason...” “Don’t worry about it I t

ook care of it” “Okay but how?” He stared at you for a while with his infamous smirk  “You really wanna know?” You think for a moment and shake your head. “Nevermind” What good was it gonna do for you to know about his sketchy background and friends? You should be more concerned about what he wanted in return. “I’ll tell you all about it later okay?” 

You nod and watch as he stands up. “I gotta go mama, visiting hours are over. If you need me just text me” 

You nod and watch as he leaves the room.

Taglist:

@bun-dpdbny @beyoutiful9413

[sandwichfordinner]

I loved your Emil hcs! Can I have more Emil hcs , and Luca too? With a s/o that has like a universe powers , and has missions to do in the universe, I don't know how to say it , if you have watched Bee and Puppycat maybe you could get it. Yeah that's it , I'm sorry if it's a weird request , stay safe!! <3

An; So the person changed their mind they wanted it to be a oneshot , so I made it! I added Puppycat to this story. Btw suggest you guys to watch Bee and Puppycat it's such a nice show !

Emil and Luca with a s/o that goes on a missions in magical places

*alarm ringing*

. "Uuuauhhh.. *falls from bed* OW!! That hurt!" You touched your butt from the fell so you can sooth the pain away. You looked through the window to see that it's morning , then you looked at the clock, it was 7 AM.

" Ohhh.. Wait let me check again when do I have matches.." You picked up the list for this week matches. "7 , 7:15, 7:30 , seven-

8:50! I can finally do my duties freely!

Ok uhh let me get ready first so I can meet the other survivors ."

.

.

"And done!" You looked around your room and saw Puppycat still sleeping.

"Puppycaaaat! Wake uup! Today is a new day to uhh.. Oh yeah! Today is Lucas birthday ! You know what that means , we gotta go see tempbot and then she will teleport us in the candy island , and the--

" Uaaaaaahh Puopochionuposu... ( Ook I get it, stop talking...)"

You smiled and then took Puppycat from his little bed , open the door and then closed it and went down the hallways.

As you were walking you saw Margaretha , but there was something wrong. She looked so nervous.

"Hey Margie why do you look so nervous??" You asked.

"Oh my gosh Y/N!!! I need help!"

"Sure, what's the problem?"

"Ok so , me and a few other survivors broke Luca's present , it was a brand new materials for making machines and other things that Luca likes to do! And Victor's dog accidentally ate one of the materials , I don't know what to do Y/N please help me!!" You blinked a few times.

"Okkk I will help you guys , but I'm not sure what should I get him or make him something??"

"Brrrzzz Oaachonaa!!! ( I'm hungry!! )"

"Not now Puppycat! Ok I got this don't worry Margie!"

She relaxed.

"Oh thank god , thank you so much Y/N."

"Don't worry , off we go!!"

While you were walking down the stairs you were greeted with some of the survivors.

Emma ran up to you and hugged you.

"Good morning Y/N!!! And hellooo Puppycat!! Sleep well??" She said while patting Puppycat.

"Yep ! What are you guys doing?"

"Well there was a little accident when we were wrapping one of Luca's gifts.." said Emily.

"Oh? What happened??"

𝗢𝗵 𝘆𝗲𝗮 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁..

"Well we kind of lost some of Lucas materials for mechanism, we gave Emil to keep them safe while we were making the cake and other things, but he lost them around the manor or garden, plus someone ate the cake, and wick ate one by accident."

Wick looked at you guilty while Victor was patting her head and Emil looked like he was about to cry because he was feeling embarrassed that he lost them.

Everything was messed up. Then Luca came .

"Hey guys how are you all doin-"

He just looked what a mess everything is.

"Uhhh did I miss something?"

"Noo no no! You didn't Luca ! We were just uhh..-"

"We were just practicing cooking with some survivors!!" it was obvious that they were making cake for Luca but he just pretended that he didn't know.

"Okay. Oh hey Y/N , going on a mission?"

"Good morning Luca! An yes we are-"

"Can I please comeee?" He said.

"Sure why no-"

"Uhm.. Miss/Mister Y/N can I please come too.?" Emil said. Ada was really shocked.

"Emil, darling? Why do you want to?" Ada asked.

"I really want to see the space, or other interesting places, please Ada?"

".... Fine. But I will have to be with you.-"

"Sorry to interrupt you miss Mesmer but I can't go on a mission with 5 people , that will be a lot.."

She sighed.

"Okay. Emil you can go, but please come back soon!"

Emil got really excited.

" Don't worry miss Mesmer I will protect him! Puppycat??"

"Nōō... Brzhoaanmddaa..(Noo... I'm hungry...)"

"Ok Puppycat I will give you..." You looked at the dining table and saw half eaten bacon."

"This half eaten bacon anndd this bread.."

He looked at you annoyed but his stomach grumbled loudly , embarrassed he ate it."

You knelt in front of him.

"Okay you ready?"

"Nōō.. Aosachakalipaew... (Noo.. I'm still hungry..)"

"Ahhhhuhgggg... Ok we will eat something if you give me the letter!"

He just stared at you still annoyed.

"Buaaaeamsmd. (Fine)"

He touches the letter with his pall and you guys teleport.

"WOOO OFF WE GOOoo"

The three of you were falling like you were in a black hole , Luca and Emil were screaming and you were only saying "WOOOO" while falling down and Puppycat was silent and looking grumpy as always.

"𝙄𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜!"

Then a big hole opened revealing the four of you falling down.

" 𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙋𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙮𝙘𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙔/𝙉. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙤, 𝙪𝙣𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨. 𝙐𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙪𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙."

The tempbot opens a oven with burning fire inside. ( Sounds weird I'm sorry)

The two males screamed in horror.

"Wawawawau! Uhmgg. Cheinponkot wofoliliii. ( Waiwaiwait! These two here are our.. Guests.)

The oven closes.

"𝙊𝙝! 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙚-𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙬? 𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚! 𝙄𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩!"

{𝙿𝚎𝚎𝚎𝚎𝚠}

(In this part you guys dress up in candy costumes)

Luca and Emil were stunned by their costumes.

Then the tempbot opens her mouth wide so you guys can get in the island.

( basically when there's a mission the tempbot opens her mouth so she can teleport in different universes. Y'all pls don't take that weirdly 😟)

The place was actually pretty nice , you guys stepped on clouds.

Emil was just too amazed , he has never seen something beautiful like that. Same goes to Luca , he was looking at the sky. The colours.. When was the last time he saw a pretty sky like that? Doesn't remember , in his head was his terrible past. Most of the times he has seen clouds in the sky, and a little bit of the sun , but now he clearly sees it.

You chuckled.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

They snapped back to reality and smiled .

"Yeah it is! So what are we doing here?" Asked Emil.

"Oh yea , that! So it was said that in this little house it has a monster but I'm not sure.."

"Monster?!?" They both got scared.

"Relax I got my weopon , I can defeat it really easily!"

Puppycat couldn't hold it anymore , he was so hungry , so he sprinted inside.

"Puppycat!" You ran after him, Emil and Luca looked eachother in confusion and ran after you.

The two of them stopped running .

This place was huge! It was like a pudding place and other sweets. It was beautiful!

Emil smiled widely and ran to take a bite of the pudding.

"Mister Mesmer! Wait! What if it's poison?? What if the monster is near us wants to eat us?!?"

Emil stopped and looked at him.

"Maybe.. But I wanna eat that pudding!"

Luca stood there thinking .

"Hmm ok but I will take a bite if it's dangerous."

"Are you sure??" Emil started getting scared.

"Yep. Hmm let me see which one.. This one!"

Luca ran to the banana pudding , he took a bite from it.

Emil waitied for his response nervously.

"Whoa!!! This is so good!!!"

He was shocked , so he ran next to him to try.

Both of them had stars in their eyes.

"Wait!!! We forgot about Y/N and Puppycat!!!"

Emil stopped eating , and started sweating a little bit.

"Oh no!! I-its my fault that we lost them! I shouldn't go and approach to the pudding!"

Luca looked around and heard you talking loudly.

"Puppycat stop eating!! You will not even move a muscle if you eat too much !!"

Luca held his hand to help him.

"Follow me , I know where they are."

The two men ran to your direction. And what did they see was a big snake approaching to eat the two of them.

"Y/N look out!!!" Screamed Luca.

"Huh?" You turned you head , and saw that there was a big pudding snake approaching to eat you.

"Holy!!-"

The monster was few centimetres away eating you , but Luca shock him , the monster screamed in pain , it got even more mad.

Emil was panicking.

An idea popped out his mind , he used his hook , aimed it at the snake. It was very risky but wanted to save his friends. The hook went through the snakes eye , but he forgot that the hook was attached to him so he went flying right at the snake. The monster was furious and was about to eat Emil, but (Y/N) got their weapon out and sliced the snake in 2 pieces.

There were two snakes but little ones , they crawed out somewhere . Puppycat ran to them and ate them.

Emil's arm was stuck up in the strawberry jam. He fell and screamed in horror , but you catched him in bridal style.

"Gotcha!" His whole face was red .

Luca saw everything, he was in shock , what did he just saw?? And let's just say that he was a little jealous because you held Emil close .

So he went and grabbed chocolate topping from the chocolate river and threw it on Emil's face.

He was confused and first. Then he licked his lips from the chocolate , smiled from the lovely taste. He got out of your embrace took the strawberry jam out of his hand and threw it back at Luca's face. He blinked a few times. Then the two of them started a war, you watched them throw eachother foods , so you joined them to since you were bored.

The three fo you were laughing and having fun while Puppycat was sitting and waiting for you guys to finish so you can go home.

When you guys finished, you were panting , because how tired you guys were. Then started to collect some sweets in a few bags and you were ready to go.

"Awochupoinnnn. (Finally.)"

A portal opened revealing a dark room. You all entered in confusion.

It was quiet. It was like no one is here.

Suddenly you heard a

"SURPRISE!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCA!!!"

Luca didn't speak. He was about to cry from happiness. You hugged him .

"Oh yea I forgot to say that , Happy birthday Luca!!" You hugged him.

He started to cry from joy.

"Thank you so much everyone. This means a lot to me..."

Ada was running toward Emil with a worried expression.

"Emil my love!! Did you get hurt??"

Emil just smiled tiredly.

"No Ada my love I am okay , I had a great time spending with my friends.." he said tiredly.

Ada hugged him which he returned the hug back.

Luca's birthday started , there were tons of sweets and drinks , it was really fun.

"Hey Luca! Having a great birthday?"

You smiled at him.

He smiled back.

"Of course Y/N . Thank you for taking me to an epic adventure with you it was really beautiful and fun.." he hugged you.

You only smiled.

"You're welcome Luca!"

Then you kissed him on the cheek, which he blushed.

You yawn.

"Well it was nice going to an adventure with you too, but I feel so tired , my legs feel like jellies. Welp I'm going to bed now , good night have a nice birthday!"

He waved at you touching his cheek where you kissed him. Smiling at himself.

Now for Emil.

While you were walking thought the halls to your room Puppycat groaned, because of how much he ate.

"I told you do not eat too much cake but you didn't listen to me."

"Yiaaaaazzz. (Sorryyy.)"

You just chuckled tiredly and headed to Emil's dorm. You knocked three times and waited for an answer. You heard footsteps , the door opened revealing tired Emil. When he saw you he started to sweat from nervousness.

"It's okay Emil! I just wanted to say thank you for today. I had so much fun with you" You smiled gently at him which made him blush.

"I-I had.. so much fun with you .. too. Th-Thank you."

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲?

"By the way I wanted to give you this" You got out from your bag a soft fluffy blanket and pillow and a little plushie.

"I know it looks stupid as for the plushie but it's a gift from me."

He couldn't hold his excitement . The blankets were so soft and warm , same goes to the pillow.

He hugged you tightly.

You returned the hug and stayed like that for a good one minute.

"You're welcome Emil." You gave him the bag of pillow,blanket and plushie.

He took them happily and thanked you again.

You walked to your dorm happily . You got your keys from your pocket and unlocked the door. You close the door behind you and lay on the bed same as Puppycat lays down on his bed too.

"Uaaahhh.. Sooo tired.." Then suddenly you opened your eyes again.

"THE MATCH IN 8:50 I TOTALLY FORGOT , NOOOOooo!!! Why didn't I think for that uhhhhhh... I'm gonna talk to Emily tomorrow then.. Probably got replaced by other survivor..."

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

*ೃ༄ All of the bg aren't mine! They are from the episodes of Bee and Puppycat.

I am really happy that you read my oneshot :)

And I hope you enjoyed it! <3

[band--psycho]

Harvey Specter x Reader-Not A Disaster After All

(Credit to the gif owner)

Other Character Masterlist

Today was the day. The day of my first date in almost three years, to say I was nervous was an understatement; not just because it was my first date in so long but also because the date was with the one of the most famous lawyers in the city, the one and only Harvey Specter. After several outfit changes I finally settled on wearing a black, spaghetti strap jumpsuit accompanied with matching black stiletto high heel ankle boots. I glanced at the clock on the other side of the room, feeling a mixture of emotions as the time grew ever closer. I hadn’t felt this nervous in a long time but likewise I hadn’t felt more excited to go on a date with someone, not since I dated Nathan, Y/d/n father. In all honesty, since he died I hadn’t really gone on many dates, if any really. I tried the dating apps a few years after his death but there just wasn’t anyone on there that I liked that way. Harvey was the first person I’d even liked since Nathan and although part of me felt guilty about it, I knew he’d want me to be happy and Harvey was a good guy, I felt safe with him. 

“So..whaddya think?” I asked in a sing-song voice as I turned the corner, revealing my outfit for my date tonight to my best friend, Emma.

“You look absolutely gorgeous babe!” she practically squealed, causing Y/d/n to pull her eyes away from the tv screen. 

“You ‘ook reawy pwetty, mummy,” Y/d/n beamed as she was waddled over to me, a wide smile on her face and a look of awe in her eyes.Thinking about it, this was probably one of the only times  she’s seen me all dressed up just like this, normally I’d just be wearing my ripped skinny jeans and a tshirt. 

“Thank you baby,” I whispered, bending down to pick her up. 

“Now, I need you to be good for Auntie Em whilst I’m out, okay?” I asked her, brushing away some of the stray locks of hair out of her face. 

“Otay,” Y/d/n agreed, placing a sloppy kiss on my cheek. I couldn’t help but chuckle at her actions as I placed her back on the floor, within seconds she’d waddled back over to the tv and was sat infront of it completely engrossed in her favourite show once again. 

“C’mon then you, you’ve got a date to go to,” Emma chuckled, lightly pushing me towards the door. 

“Okay, okay, I’m going,” I chuckled, putting my leather jacket on, taking a deep breath before I opened the door. 

“If there are any issues-” I began, quickly turning back to Emma just rolled her eyes and said, “I will call you, Y/n/n, now go otherwise you’re gonna be late.” So with that I left and got into the taxi, the closer I got to the restaurant the quicker I could feel my heart beating away in my chest. Part of me wanted nothing more than to ask the taxi driver to take me home, absolutely terrified that I was somehow going to mess this date up. But then I saw him. Mr Harvey Specter standing outside the restaurant patiently waiting for me. I took a deep breath as I opened the taxi door and made my way over to him. 

“Y/n/n,” Harvey greeted with the very same charismatic smile I first fell for. 

“Mr Specter,” I replied, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks as his eyes locked onto mine. 

“Call me Harvey,” he chuckled, lightly placing his hand on the lower part of my back, leading me into the restaurant. There was no turning back now. This date was happening...and it was either going to be the best night of my life or...or I was just never going to date again. 

~~~~~~~

I’d always heard about how charming Harvey Specter was but I never expected this. He was...he was amazing. I felt like I’d known him for years, the two of us were just swapping stories about our lives, our hobbies, just anything and everything..once we got talking it’s like we couldn’t stop. There was no awkward silence, or nerves about what to say, it was just natural. I hadn’t even realised how much time had passed until my phone rang; at first I was just going to ignore it but when I saw Emma's name flash up in the called ID I felt my heart stop, terrified that something was wrong with Y/d/n.  

“Sorry, I’ve got to answer this,” I apologised, rushing over to a quieter part of the restaurant to answer my phone. 

“Em, what’s happened? Is Y/d/n okay?” I asked, a worrying tone now lacing my voice. 

“Don’t panic, Y/n/n, but Y/d/n’s been sick, you don’t need to worry I can take care of-”

“I’m on my way home,” I interrupted before hanging up the call and quickly making my way back over to Harvey. 

“Harvey, I hate to do this but I’ve really got to go, it’s my daughter she’s not well,” I explained, grabbing my jacket from the chair. 

“I can uh...I can forward you the money if you send me your details,” I quickly added, not really having the time to work out exactly how much I was going to owe him for this dinner. 

“I’ve got it, don’t worry,” Harvey replied with a smile, handing over the money to a nearby waiter. I wanted to argue with him about it, but I couldn’t, not now. Right now all I wanted to do was go home and look after Y/d/n. I smiled politely at Harvey and rushed outside, attempting (and failing) to get a taxi. I sighed in frustration, running a hand through my hair, placing a hand on a nearby wall in an attempt to steady myself as I took my heels off accepting that I was going to have to walk (more like run) home. 

“Y/n/n? What’re you doing?” Harvey asked, his voice catching me off guard entirely. 

“I’ve gotta go home but apparently all the taxis wanna ignore me, so I’m gonna have to walk,” I explained in a harsher tone than I expected. 

“My cars gonna be here in five minutes, I’ll take you home,” 

“Harvey, that’s a really nice offer but-” I attempted to argue only to be interrupted by Harveys words, “But nothing, I’m not about to let you walk home this late at night, besides the quicker we get to Yd/n the better right?” He asked, raising an eyebrow as he held out his hand for me to take. I didn’t want to take advantage of him...but I couldn’t deny this offer, so I slipped my heels back on and took his hand, both of us waiting patiently for his car to arrive.  

~~~~~~~~

“Thank you so much for this Harvey, I really appreciate it,” I said, practically bolting out of the car before he could say anything back. I didn’t even know Harvey had followed me to the door until I saw the shocked expression on Emma's face when she answered the door. 

“Harvey-” 

“I wanna help,” He offered, a small and reassuring smile coming upon his lips. I nodded back, smiling at him before rushing into the house and heading to Y/d/ns bedroom. When I saw Y/d/n, I felt my heart ache, her usual rose tinted cheeks were pale and tears cascaded from her now bloodshot eyes. 

“Mummy,” She sniffled when she saw me, “I don’ feel good,”

“It’s okay baby, I’m here,” I cooed, stroking her hair soothingly as I sat next to her on the bed. 

~~~~~~

Ten minutes after I got back, Emma left, leaving me and Harvey to take care of Y/d/n. Harvey was amazing. There was no other word I could use to describe how great he was at looking after Y/d/n; all I did was stay in bed with her, stroking her hair and giving her all the cuddles I possibly could while Harvey did everything else, he would got her water and a little wet flannel to bring her slight fever down and then on top of that he read to her. Not once. Not twice. But at least five times as much as I hated to admit it, he was a lot better at doing the voices than I was and I could see Y/d/n was enjoying it and it was definitely helping to calm her down. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed but eventually Y/d/n fell asleep; I carefully moved my arms away from her and moved off the bed. 

Thank you, for everything you’ve done tonight,” I began, my voice barely above as a whisper to, as we quietly left the room, making our way back downstairs. 

“It was a pleasure,” Harvey reassured with a comforting smile on his face. A short silence filled the air as he grabbed his suit jacket and made his way to the door.

“I know tonight has been a disaster-,” I began only to be interrupted by Harveys chuckle.

“I got to spend the evening with you, I call that a success,” He said , wrapping his arms around my waist, a comforting smile on his face. I don’t know what came over me, but at that moment all I wanted to do was kiss him. So that's exactly what I did. I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck and closed the distance between our lips. Instantly, Harvey reciprocated my action, his hands slowly moving up my body to my face, caressing my cheeks as he deepened the kiss. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” He whispered against my lips, pecking them one last time before opening the door and making his way over to the car, just before he got in he winked at me, that charismatic smile coming onto his face again. Then he vanished off into the distance. Maybe tonight wasn’t a disaster after all...maybe it was the beginning of something really special.

Tagging: 

@rebelwrites @little-diable @xacatalepsyx @multiplecelebritycrushesat16​

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[keijislove]

Surprise: Harry Potter x Wife!Reader

A/N: warning, i guess there is a slight mention of NSFW (i do not write smut btw) and vomiting, sickness, etc.

Your eyes fluttered open as you were snatched out of your sweet dreams.

You looked to your left, where your husband was still sleeping.

Giggling, you got up and dressed for work.

‘Wake up, sleepyhead.’ You spoke. ‘You’re going to be late for work.’

Harry let out a small groan, sitting up in bed.

‘Morning love.’ He said through a yawn.

‘Morning, dork.’

---------

‘Mrs Potter, good morning!’

‘Hello Mrs Potter!’

‘Hi Y/N, alright?’

‘Good day Mrs Potter!’

‘Hello, hello.’ You briskly said, rushing through the stampede of Ministry wizards, making your way to your office.

‘Y/N, thank goodness you’re here!’ Hermione spoke. ‘Samuel Goodman’s having trouble with that spitting guitar again.’

‘Really? Again?’ you whined. ‘I didn’t think to bring lunch! That man’s job is going to take hours.’

‘I’ll tell Ron to get you something.’ Hermione giggled.

You fake gasped. ‘Minister, are you helping an employee?’

Hermione snorted. ‘Very funny, get going, he’s already knee-deep.’

You raised your hands in surrender, running off.

---------

‘Now, Mr Goodman.’ You seriously stated. ‘I do believe I told you to leave this instrument alone?’

The man blushed scarlet, muttering something that sounded like an apology.

You sighed. ‘Well, it’s done. It won’t spit at you anymore. Good day.’

You lead him out of your office.

Minutes later, there was a knock on your door.

‘Come in.’

‘Hey, Y/N.’ Ronald Weasley popped his head in. ‘Mione told me to bring you lunch, here you go. George has fixed this up for you.’

‘Ah, thanks Ron.’ You yawned. ‘Tell him thanks, that looks great.’

After eating your delicious egg-sandwich, you headed to your husband’s office.

‘Hi Y/N.’ Harry smiled as you entered. ‘Long day?’

‘The spitting guitar again.’ You answered.

‘Again? I feel sorry for you now.’

‘Oh, shut up.’ You laughed. ‘I expect-’

But at that moment, a wave of nausea overcame you, so powerful that you doubled over.

‘Love?’ Harry worriedly asked. ‘Y/N?’

Not speaking, afraid you would throw up, you ran into his bathroom and retched into the toilet.

After panting and cleaning yourself up, you went back out.

‘Love, a-are you alright?’ Harry asked.

‘I’m fine...’ you answered. ‘Maybe George cooked a bad egg or something in his sandwich...’

Harry nodded, unconvinced.

--------

The bell on the door of the shop rang as you entered.

The red-haired man at the counter didn’t look up. ‘Hello, welcome to Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, best joke shop in Diagon Alley, I’m George Weasley and you may look around and ask me if you need anything.’

You politely waited for him to finish his monologue before you spoke.

‘Hem hem.’ You said, fighting your giggles as George’s head snapped up in horror.

‘Oh, it’s just you.’ He spoke. ‘I thought it was old toad-face who came to shut down my shop.’

‘Just me?’ you asked. ‘I’m offended.’

‘Yeah, yeah, hello Y/N.’ George snickered. ‘May I help you?’

‘Well, thanks for the sandwich.’ You began. ‘But did you-’

Before you could say put a bad egg in it, another wave of nausea washed over you.

‘Bathroom?!’ you choked out.

‘Y/N, what-’ George began. ‘Uh, yeah, just there.’

He pointed to the door.

You ran in and retched again.

‘Are you alright?’ George asked.

‘Well, I was going to ask you if you put a rotten egg in the sandwich, but now I’m wondering if you put a Puking Pastille in it...’

‘Puking Pastille?’ George repeated. ‘Why would I put that in your food? And we aren’t even making those anymore, it’s limited to Fever Fudge and Fainting Fancies.’

‘Am I sick?’ you wondered aloud.

‘By the looks of it, yeah.’ George spoke. ‘Maybe go home and rest?’

‘Yeah, maybe drop by at St. Mungo’s....’ you muttered, leaving.

----------

‘Hello, you’re at St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, if you want to get treated, use that elevator, if you’re meeting someone, you have to wait, if you’re wasting my time, then please leave and- OH MERLIN!’ the woman gasped. ‘Y-you’re Y/N Potter...’

‘Uhm, I do believe I am.’ You said uncertainly.

‘Oh, well, oh, Mrs Potter, uh, big fan.’ She stuttered. ‘How may I assist you?’

‘Well, you see, I’ve been vomiting since this afternoon, it’s happened thrice already and I don’t recall eating anything off or drinking something old... overall, I need help.’

‘Well, of course you do!’ she breathed. ‘We will call our best healer for you, Mrs Potter, given how much you do for this nation!’

You fought the urge to giggle. ‘Er, thanks. I hope this best healer of yours can cure me.’

‘Certainly dear! He is one of the most skilled.’

The woman grabbed a microphone of sorts and bellowed. ‘HEALER MALFOY, I DON’T CARE IF YOU’RE ASSISTING A DYING PATIENT OR WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU’RE DOING, GET. HERE. NOW!’

You gasped. ‘Did you say... Healer Malfoy? As in Draco Malfoy?’

‘Yes, dear, quite right.’ She distractedly said.

‘What do you want, you horrible old woman?’ a voice asked behind you.

You didn’t dare turn.

‘Malfoy, kindly assist this lovely lady here.’

‘Alright, hello, how may I help?’ asked Draco.

Cursing internally, you turned around. ‘Hi...’

‘Y/N?’ he asked.

‘Draco.’ You spoke.

‘Ah... um come on, then.’ He awkwardly led you to his office.

‘We haven’t seen each other in quite some time, have we?’ he asked once you entered.

‘Yeah, the last time we met was when we both thought Harry was dead.’ You spoke sarcastically.

Draco smirked. ‘So, what’s with you and Potter, L/N?’

‘That’s Y/N Potter to you.’ You corrected.

Draco’s eyes grew wide. ‘Y/N Potter? You’re serious? That’s you? I thought it was some other Y/N or something...’

‘Honestly Malfoy, how many Y/N’s would marry Harry Potter?’ you asked.

‘I expect you have a point. Alright, Mrs Potter, what ails you?’ he asked.

‘Dunno.’ You simply answered. ‘Been retching all afternoon.’

‘What?’

‘Wait...’ something wasn’t right.

Oh no.

You ran into his bathroom and doubled over inside the toilet and let out your stomach’s contents yet again.

‘Blimey, you alright?’ asked Draco. ‘When did this start?’

‘This afternoon!’ you panted. ‘I thought George put a Puking Pastille in my sandwich, but then it didn’t stop. What’s wrong with me?’

‘I have a very good idea of what might be wrong with you.’ He began, making a disgusted face but you couldn’t place why. ‘But if it’s not true, I don’t want to worry you uselessly. Here, take these pills and if they don’t work, come to me right away. It will take two or three hours to have an effect, so tomorrow should be fine if you’re still... a human hosepipe.’

You snorted. ‘Yeah, alright. Thanks Healer Malfoy.’

‘My pleasure, Y/N Potter.’

---------

‘Hey love, how are you feeling?’ Harry asked as you entered your house.

‘Bit better, I went to St Mungo’s and apparently the best healer they have is Healer Malfoy.’ You spoke.

Harry laughed. ‘And what did Healer Malfoy tell you?’

‘He didn’t. He said he knew what might be wrong with me, but he didn’t want to uselessly worry me in case this is just a nasty stomach bug. So, I’ve got these pills for now.’ You explained.

‘Well, that’s nice.’ You husband said in amusement. ‘For once, you and Malfoy had a conversation where the both of you weren’t constantly threatening to break each other’s face.’

‘I was in for a surprise myself.’ You sarcastically said. ‘I’m going to bed... it’s been a long day, y’know?’

‘Yeah, I understand.’ Harry soothed. ‘Come on, let’s go.’

And yet after eating the pills, you puked almost four times that night.

-----------

‘MALFOY!’ you bellowed. ‘OPEN THE DOOR!’

The door swung open.

‘Pills not working?’ Draco asked before you could open your mouth.

You aggressively nodded.

‘Ugh.’ He spoke. ‘We’re going there, aren’t we? Oh well. Come in.’

He shut the door and crossed his arms over his chest. ‘Er, Y/N, I have a question that is necessary for finding out what’s wrong with you... uhm, you’re married and all right? So, um... did you and Potter have your... em, fun night yet?’

Your cheeks blushed a heavy scarlet as you choked on your own spit. ‘Fun *cough* night?’

Draco looked fairly embarrassed as well. ‘Sorry, er, let me rephrase, when did you have your last menstrual cycle?’

‘About...’ you suddenly gasped. ‘It’s ten days late!’

‘Mhmm.’ Draco wore the same disgusted expression as before.

‘What?’

‘Sorry, it’s just really hard to imagine Potter wanking himself in your presence...’

You slapped the back of his head.

‘Sorry, sorry.’ He said again. ‘Alright, um, take this.’

He handed you a small tube of sorts.

You raised a brow. ‘The Draco Malfoy, offering me a muggle instrument? What day is it today?’

‘They’re surprisingly reliable.’ He said delicately. ‘And it’s Wednesday, by the way.’

You giggled.

Minutes later, you emerged from the bathroom.

‘So what does two lines mean?’

‘That there’s one baby Potter in there.’

----------

The next morning, you set out for your friends’ house.

You knocked on the door.

Several minutes later, a shabby-ooking Ron came out. ‘Whozzerre?’

‘Y/N.’ you answered.

‘The bloody hell are you doing here seven in the morning?’ he asked, nettled.

‘I need to see your wife, Ronald.’ You responded with equal mock-anger.

‘Oh, for Merlin’s sake Ron!’ said a voice as a fully dressed Hermione appeared at the door. ‘Y/N! Hi!’

‘Hey Mione, can I speak to you?’

‘Of course.’

‘Er, privately?’

‘Oh don’t mind me. I’m going to bed.’ Ron yawned.

‘Charming, Ronald.’ Hermione snapped as Ron trudged back. ‘Yes?’

‘Mione... I’m pregnant.’

‘What? I’m sorry, I must’ve misheard you, could you say that again?’

‘I’m serious Mione. I’m pregnant.’

‘WHAT?’ Hermione squealed. ‘Y/N, but that’s... amazing!’

‘I know!’ you squealed.

‘Does Harry know?’

You looked away.

‘You didn’t tell him, did you?’ Hermione accusingly said.

‘I’m not sure how he’s going to react.’ You muttered.

‘Well... maybe tell him by the end of this week... the Auror requirements are crazy at the moment. Maybe you ought to wait till he’s relaxed?’ she suggested.

‘Yeah, I’ll do that. And Mione, could you please cover for me just this once? I’ll work overtime maybe when you know, the baby’s born? It’s just... I’m quite tired at the moment.’ You pleaded.

‘You will not work overtime after your baby is born.’ Hermione sternly instructed. ‘I will cover for you all the same. Take care, Y/N.’

-----------

‘Love, is something the matter?’ Harry concernedly asked. ‘You’re... distant.’

‘I’m working long hours, Harry.’ You responded.

Harry arched a brow. ‘I don’t recall ever seeing you at the office in the last two days. Where do you disappear to in the day time?’

‘I have other work to do besides stay at the Ministry, Harry.’ You snapped in irritation.

Pregnancy was giving you mood swings.

‘See, this is the problem.’ Harry said. ‘You’re not telling me something. When was the last time you called me Harry in that tone?’

‘I dunno, but I’ll use it more often if you act like this.’

‘You know what, that’s it.’ He slammed his fork on the table. ‘I can’t take this anymore. Do what you like.’

He stomped up.

Yup, you blew it.

Sighing and rubbing your temples, you followed.

‘I’m not sure you’d be happy if I told you why.’ You muttered when you got there.

‘Happy?’ asked Harry. ‘Why would I be happy with something that is the cause of my wife ignoring me? I’d personally hate it.’

Tears brimmed in your eyes.

‘Oh yeah?’ you asked in a shaky voice. ‘Well good job, because I’m bloody pregnant with your bloody baby. And you hate it, don’t you?’

Harry was dumbstruck.

He opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish.

‘Y/N...’ he choked out. ‘I didn’t mean...’

‘Save it.’ You said, running downstairs.

Harry messed up his hair.

‘I’m gonna be a dad?’ he whispered to no one.

A crash from the dining room followed by a whimper of pain snapped him out of his thoughts.

‘Love?’ he called.

No answer.

‘Y/N!’ he ran down.

‘I’m... nothing, I thought it was going to... come.’ You panted. ‘Babies don’t come that fast, do they?’

‘I... don’t know. Love, I’m so sorry.’

Harry gently picked you up and carried you to your bedroom.

He pressed a kiss to your cheek. ‘Rest, darling. Don’t exhaust our little child here.’

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

‘It’s a boy!’

You let out a choked sob, reaching out as the doctor placed your creation in your hands.

Everybody, Harry, Ron, Hermione, George, Ginny, Bill, Fleur, Percy, Mr and Mrs Weasley had come to see you.

‘It’s so cute!’ Ginny whispered.

‘He’s beautiful.’ You spoke.

Your husband approached you.

‘C-can I?’ he asked.

You smiled and shifted over as Harry sat down, cradling the baby boy in his arms.

A tear escaped his eye.

‘James.’ You cooed.

‘James Sirius Potter.’ Harry declared, pressing a kiss to your temple.

After you had gone home, Harry had taken you to the nursery he designed for the baby weeks ago.

‘I love you so much.’ He muttered.

‘I love you too, idiot.’ You laughed. ‘And I love this baby.’

‘Hmm. Let’s make another one.’

[earnestly-endlessly]

hello! do you have any fics where charles meets edie/erik's family for the first time?

Hi anon. I have plenty of fics where Charles meets Edie and/or Erik's family. I hope you enjoy!!!

Charles Meets Edie/Erik’s family for the first time

In the Bleak Midwinter – keire_ke

Summary: It is not easy to find out, well into the second decade of the twenty-first century, that your mother arranged a marriage for you. It is even less easy to convince her that you have no interest in the very fertile Magda, she of the wide hips and lustrous auburn hair. Fortunately, with a good friend at his side over the holiday weekend, Erik is sure he will prevail.

A Road Trip to Pennsylvania - Aainiouu

Summary: For a year Charles has nurtured the biggest and most embarrassing crush known to man towards Erik. They are friends and roommates and when Erik asks Charles to accompany him to home on Thanksgiving of course Charles goes.

Fools and Their Mamas – LoveSupreme

Summary: Charles FINALLY gets to meet Erik's mother in person! Sure she doesn't know any English (besides knowing when Erik is cursing and thus requiring a good smack) and sure Charles doesn't have a great history when it comes to mothers, but Erik is sure everything will be stupendous, when he has brain power left over from trying to find a way to ask Charles to move to the Lensherr estate.

A Nice Boy (The Family Matters Edition) – pocky_slash

Summary: Erik's not sure whether the problem is that he doesn't want his parents to meet Charles or that he doesn't want Charles to meet his parents. Either way, he never invites Charles to brunch. Why should he? It's not like they're dating.

First Impressions – Ook

Summary: The first time Erik Lensherr, CEO of Eisenhardt Enterprises, met Charles Xavier he might just have called him a homeless drop out and accused him of being a junkie, before realising he was a waiter. He almost apologised.

The second time Erik Lensherr met Charles Xavier, he was volunteering at the soup kitchen, and Erik definitely (In Charles's opinion) accused him of being a thoughtless freeloader and slacker. He did apologise. Eventually.

The third time Erik met Charles, he hit him with his car. This was definitely not on purpose. Erik didn't actually ever say he was sorry, but he did end up taking Charles home with him, that time.

Food, Family, and Friends with Benefits – endingthemes

Summary: “Everyone,” Edie says, voice bursting with pride. “Erik’s here, and he’s brought his friend.” She takes Charles’ arm and pulls him forward, presenting him like a shiny object. “This is Charles.”

Charles manages a weak wave and an even weaker, “Hello.”

(In which Charles gets dragged along to his fuck buddy's parent's house to celebrate a Jewish holiday, and things get weird.)

Impulse Decisions – listerinezero

Summary: Erik wakes up in Las Vegas with a hell of a hangover, a telepath in his bed, and a ring on his finger. Now what?

Look Up, You’re Standing Next To Me, What A Feeling – luninosity

Summary: Charles, when uncertain, buries the uncertainty beneath extra certainty about everything else, which reads an awful lot like arrogance to anyone who doesn’t know better. Erik does know better. His mother doesn’t.

I ♥ NY (It’s My Friends I’m Not Sure Of) – oddegg

Summary: Erik is a single, successful man who likes quick sex with no strings attached. Then, he meets college professor Charles and it's love at first sight, at least for him. Charles, who heard of Erik's notorious ways, wants nothing to do with him besides being friends. Cue Erik bending over backwards to steal Charles' heart.

Series

Mutually Beneficial Transaction – Pookaseraph

Summary: In his sophomore year at Columbia University, Erik, feeling slowly strangled by his mounting college debt, places an add on a sugar daddies website. He doesn't know exactly what to expect from it, but when he's contacted by a man named Charles who seems less creepy than the other people who have responded to his profile, he decides to give it a shot. Charles is nothing like what he expected, and Erik finds himself slowly falling in love with his sugar daddy while trying to find out exactly what caused this amazing guy to buy his emotional and sexual intimacy when he clearly deserves so much more than that.

Math Reasons – pearl_o, pocky_slash

Summary: "Mom says Erik always knows what he wants, it just sometimes takes him a little while to actually realize it," Ruth said.

Charles fell in love with Erik the first night they met, the first week of freshman year. Two years of friendship, adventures, arguments, hijinks, secrets, and summer visits later, Erik is starting to catch up.

Miss Missing You – WaxRhapsodic

Summary: In his head he knew it was unfair to compare Charles and Magda, but he couldn’t help the giddiness he felt around Charles. Erik had never felt this way about anyone before, and he relished the live wire of emotion coiled in his chest.

or

Erik and Magda are separated when he meets a charming young professor out on the town.

Soul of my soul – ikeracity

Summary: You can imprint on your soulmate anywhere — school, work, on the street, in a restaurant, on the subway.

Charles and Erik imprint on each other just in time for the holidays.

Heart of my heart – pinkoptics

Summary: You can imprint on your soulmate anywhere — school, work, on the street, in a restaurant, on the subway.

Of course, imprinting on the guardian of one of your grade one students isn’t ideal.

Then again, when has Erik’s life ever been ideal?

Love Over Challah – sebastian2017

Summary: As his first Shabbat alone with David approaches, Charles realizes he's overlooked one important detail: he's not actually sure how to have a Shabbat dinner. Thankfully, he meets Edie Lehnsherr, who just so happens to be having dinner with her son and grandchildren that very Friday and would love to have Charles and David over to celebrate the Shabbat with.

or

Charles and Erik meet while celebrating the Shabbat and bond over mutant activism and their adorable children.

When, how, and because we do – aesc, pearl_o

Summary: Erik brings Charles home to meet his mother. AU of Tough little baby telepath.

And your smile, oh darling, your smile – lavenderlotion

Summary: Charles turned back around to find Mrs. Lehnsherr still standing in the doorway, watching them with a smile and some very warm thoughts that made Charles feel very soft in his chest, right by his heart. "You have a lovely home, Mrs. Lehnsherr. It's very, very nice," Charles told her seriously, meaning every word and hoping that Mrs. Lehnsherr would believe him and not think him just terrible for the way that he had first thought the house too small.

Hearts and Bones – pocky_slash

Summary: Modern, non-powered AU. An impending visit with Erik's parents leaves Charles anxious and Erik unsure how to proceed.

Good manners (will get you far) – ximeria

Summary: Charles had been looking forward to the performance at the Met for ages. Little did he know, things would not go according to plan.

The Gift of the Magi, But Screw it Up – librata

Summary: He doesn't know if he's buying too much, too little, or even the right things at all, because he's never entertained a guest as important as Edie Lehnsherr.

‘How to Parent’ by Edie Lehnsherr – SprinkleofSunshine

Summary: Edie prided herself on being a good mother. The best mother even. After all, she had several mugs in her cupboards declaring that truth gifted by her two children over the years. However, something is going on with her son, Erik, and it's her duty to find out what....

Defying Expectations – Baamon5evr

Summary: Charles and Erik meet each other’s family. Neither of them gets what they expect.

Meeting the Parents – melonbutterfly

Summary: Erik takes Charles home to introduce him to his family.

Charles Does Not Buy a Shamwow – magneto

Summary: Charles and Erik are spending the first few days of their university's winter break alone at Erik's mother's house. Then, Erik's mother decides to come home early unannounced... while Erik and Charles are naked on the living room couch.

[xxreader-writerxx]

Found

Word Count: 3.7k

Dad! Fred Weasley x Fem! Reader (Granger and mum too)

Warnings: Cursing, mentions of food, sort of sad, abandonment issues, pregnancy, vomiting, not a lot but tell me if I missed any.

A/N: I'm obsessed with dad fred ok?

Y/N= Your Name L/N= Your Last Name Y/H= Your House, Y/N/N: Your Nickname

"I'm sorry! I-It's just that between the shop, and Umbridge, and my mum- It's all too much and I can't also-" Fred says as I feel tears drip down my cheeks. "You also can't have me? I didn't know that I was such a burden Fred. If I knew I wouldn't of burdened you for three fucking years." I say and he looks at me hurt. "No- No! I didn't mean that- Baby" He begins but I let out a choked laugh. "You can't call me that. No not when you are breaking up with me. That's not fair." I cry and he tries to move closer but I take a step back picking up the clothes in my closet. "W-What are you doing?" He asks and I throw his shirts at him as I grab his things on the bottom. "I can barely face you now. I'm not facing you to give you your things back." I tell him and I hear a choked cry. "Please don't do this. We can still be friends." He tells me and I laugh through my tears. "You can't call me a burden and say that shit line." I tell him. I turn around to see tears strolling down his face, barely any because of the fight he is putting up.

I finally cry and wrap my arms around him. He places his hand on my head and the other on my back, holding me where I was. "I'm so sorry" He whispers in my hair and I just sob into his shirt. He finally leaves when George calls him and I watch from my window the fireworks off in the distance. I sit down on my bed and feel myself break mentally. 'I don't know how I will do this on my own.' I think to myself staring at the pregnancy test I took yesterday. I was planning on telling him but when he clumped me in with his burdens, it was too hard. I just curl up into a ball crying until I fall asleep.

***

"HERMIONE HE'S DOING IT AGAIN- FINN" I yell as the baby flings his lunch at me. "SWITCH!" She yells back in the same worried tone. I grab Ginger my other newborn as she grab my spoon and place her on her tray. She fights me as I try to swaddle her and I plead her silently. I hear the doorbell ring and Hermione perks up. "Don't you dare-" She begins but I place Ginger in her cot and run out to see who it is.

I open the door and my breath hitches lightly. "Hey Y/n..." George says nervously. He looks up and does a double take. "A-Are you alright?" He stutters at my appearance. "Yeah just work getting ahead of me." I explain and he nods. "So... Watcha doing here? For the first time.. In a year..." I mumble the last part and he looks around confused. "Where's Hermione. She invited me saying something about needing to tell me something." He explains. "HERMIONE" I groan and she walks out and smiles at George. "You made it!" She exclaims and I point at her. "You're dead." I say and I run towards her angrily.

"WHAT THE HELL YOU CALLED GEORGE?!"

"LOOK I CAN'T TELL YOU ENOUGH THEY NEED A MALE INFLUENCE AND SURE AS HELL FRED WON'T BE IT SINCE YOU HAVE NO GUTS, HE'S THE BEST OPTION."

"I CAN DO THIS ON MY OWN" I yell back and she sends a firm smack to the side of my head. "YOU ARE 19 YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO!" She yells back and George finally made it over to us confused as hell. "As much as I love the Granger sisters fighting over me... This is not what I had in mind." He points and I groan at the sound of Finn crying. "Look what you made me do." I tell her and she gasps starting to rant again. I walk into the baby's room. I smile sweetly at the boy crying in his cot.

"Hi baby..." I whisper and he gurgles at me smiling. I walk over and pick him up, rocking him lightly. I sit down on my rocker and he swiftly falls back asleep. I reach my free hand to poke inside of Ginger's cot, her hand wrapping around my finger. I smile at the two and hear a gasp. "Y/n-" He begins and I shush him softly, not taking my eyes off my baby boy. "He's asleep." I whisper, too distracted by my ginger baby to register what's going on.

"W-Who are the parents?" He asks kneeling in front of the rocker to rub a knuckle against his head lightly. "They're mine..." I whisper and look up, a tear dripping down my face that clearly gives away my happy smile. "What do you mean? Its only been a year since you two-" He stops realizing what happened. "Is this my nephew?" He asks smiling softly at him. "Maybe." I whisper and he looks at me smiling with tears sliding down his cheeks. "C-can I hold him? Or her?" He asks, guessing at the colors of their sleeping sacks. I smile sweetly getting up. I hand him Finn softly and he gasps at the size of the baby in his hands. "Y/n- You're 19. How- Why?" He asks and I sigh, rubbing my knuckle into Finn's chest lightly. "My sister has helped but honestly I don't know. It's been a crazy year." I explain. "I'm willing to help. Especially now." He tells me and I smile.

***

I pick up Ginger trying to put her shoes on her as she gurgles in protest. "Hey baby you gotta wear shoes now that you're walking, that's the deal." George explains and she gurgles lightly as if she understood. He's fighting Finn to get his shoes on and I finally put on Ginger's. "Tough ones we got here." He says, wiping sweat from his brow. His arm getting hit by a flying tantrum going on next to him. He looks at him and shakes his head chuckling. He scoops up the almost two year old in his arms and laughs. "He is a kicker." He tells me and we finally get them dressed. "Ugh we really need to stop bringing them to the shop, its getting risky." I tell him and he laughs as if I said the best joke ever. "There is no way these kids are being raised without knowing the joke shop, and plus Fred is off on Wednesdays." He explains and I nod curtly.

We walk to the shop talking about the kids who are settled on our hips. "So I will take up cleaning tomorrow if you bring them to the park the next day and I think there might be a Hermione visit. And I bought some baby food with solid because I don't know if they will still like it-" I begin but get cut off by George chuckling. "You are overthinking this. You are a great mum and if they won't eat solid,  you have a blender." He explains and I nod. He's been amazing at calming my anxiety when it come to the kids. He took the role as helpful uncle and comes over all the time but makes sure he doesn't overstep. I make my way inside the shop and he makes his way to customers. I get to the till having Ginger in her stroller next to me. Every hour he switches with me saying they need time with their mama.

The shop finally closes and he helps me with the stroller up the steps. We quickly make our way to the room and Ginger gets up waddling to his bed. I fold his clothes as they play on the bed. I hear a muffled conversation as me and the kids stay quiet. He walks in and Finn gasps reaching out for him. He hands him the milk and Ginger whines until we pass the milk quickly to her. She lays on her back playing with her feet as she drinks her milk.

"These kids..." He laughs. He grabs Finn and opens the door. "Fred's gone don't worry. He will be for the next hour." He tells me to my worried expression. I nod and he comes back with Finn in a new diaper and hands him to me. "He has been kicking me lately. The little bugger." He says rubbing his arm. I laugh and nuzzle my nose against his. "He's obviously like his father." I state and he nods smiling.

***

I make my way into the shop searching for George as the two toddlers point out everything. I hear Ginger gasp and bolt. I run after her clutching on to Finn. I look around scared as shit I lost my baby. When I hear someone talking to her.

"UNCLE RORGE!" I hear her squeal and I laugh realizing she found her uncle. "What sweetheart? Where's your mother?" I hear a voice ask laughing. "Uncle Rorgeeee. You promised me you would bring treats!!" She complains as I look for the aisle they're in. "I'm sorry little one but I'm not George. I'm Fred. What's your name?" He asks and I freeze. "Isn't Red daddy's name?" Finn asks and I can't answer. He slides out of my grasp, obviously knowing where Ginger is. I yell after him and see the man Ginger was talking to. I gasp lightly and she's giggling.

"Uncle Rorge that's not your name! Your name is Rorge. R-O- MUMMY! I FOUND UNCLE RORGE." She points out. "There's your mum. Hello ma'am- Y/n?" He asks confused. "C'mon Ginger. Uncle George is probably somewhere." I say not answering I pick her up as she cries saying Uncle George is right in front of her. I quickly scoop Finn up and quickly walk to find George. "Y/n! What- Crap its Wednesday." He says shocked. He grabs Finn from my hands and bounces him lightly. "UNCLE RORGE TEL-TELR- HE USED A PORTAL" Ginger tries and I nod rubbing her hands. "You- Oh no- Oh shit- Oh sorry-" George stutters. "I'm going to hide in your office now-" I state and he grabs my hand. "You need to face him. He is their father." He tells me and I wipe a tear from my eyes. "I can't George. Not yet." I say and he drops my hand nodding. "C'mon then." He tells me and I walk to the office with him.

I hear banging on the door and it finally opens. "Y/n-" He gasps and I ignore him playing with Ginger. "Y/nnnn" I hear him say again. "Yes Fredrick?" I ask and he tugs my shoulder playfully and George walks in. "Great, your on babysitting duty." I say and George tries to protest but I try and bolt. Fred stops me. He moves carefully so I can't get past him. "A-Are you sheep dogging me?" I ask and he shrugs. "If it works. Now when did Y/n Granger start babysitting?" He asks and I try to move past him. "Two years ago. When you broke my heart, remember that?" I ask and his smile turns into a frown. "I've been trying to get a hold of you. Every day for an hour I question Hermione or someone." He tells me and I laugh. "Anyways- I need to-"

"MUMMY FINN 'OOK MY BLANKET!!!" Ginger screeches. I turn around and George is trying to help the best he can. "I- They fight over everything-" He tries and I laugh walking over. "C'mere baby." I say to Finn. I take the blanket from his hands and he sobs. I grab the dummy and pop it in his mouth, calming him instantly. "Mummy?" He asks and I sigh. "They're two." I explain. I watch the gears turn in his head. "I- No- Wait- Are- What- No-" He stutters, shocked. "Yep. Meet Ginger and Finn Weasley- Well Granger-Weasley. Felt wrong to take the fathers name out." I explain and he collapses to his knees. "UNCLE RORGE! THERE ARE TWO!!!" Ginger states, finally looking around.

***

"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummyyyy." I hear Finn complain next to me. "Yes light of my life?" I ask sighing. "When's daddy coming? And when's dinner? And why are bananas curved? And why are me and Ginger's hair red when yours is brown? Do we get that from Daddy? Where is daddy?" He questions. "Finny- Baby- Daddy is coming in twenty minutes. Dinner will be done in an hour. I don't know, I need to google it. Yes daddy gave you ginger hair. And on his way." I explain turning so we can google it together. "Ok so bananas are curved so they can get sun." I explain. He nods and slides out of my lap. "Thank you mummy!" He yells behind him as he runs.

The doorbell rings and I open it to see Fred. I give him a quick hug as we all sit down for dinner, Fred answering all of Finn's wild questions as I listen to Ginger tell me its paghetti not spaghetti. We all finish and I clean the dishes while Fred reads them a story. He walks out and sighs laughing. "Ginger just had a long ass argument about how an elephant not a giraffe was in  Africa. She does not realize that she can't read." He tells me and I laugh. "She refuses to admit it. Yesterday she tried reading to Finn. Pride and Prejudice was a ballsy move." I explain and he laughs. "My girl would do that." He says. "Want to watch a movie?" He asks and I sigh. "Fred you need to head home soon." I tell him and he nods sighing. "I know... But can't two friends watch the thrilling and sexy adventure of- Aurora?" He says picking up a random tape.

I laugh and take the tape shaking my head. "I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea Fred." I tell him, poking his nose. "Then let's make it the correct idea." He boldly puts. I chuckle taking the blankets from the couch. "What do you mean Fred?" I ask and he moves to hold my arms lightly. "I want to be yours. And- And I want you to be mine." He states and I look at him shocked. "Don't do this Fred." I whisper and his smile falters for a second. "Do what?" He asks softly.

"Don't do this." I say circling my arms between us. "Fred I love you but based off of three years ago, you don't love me. And I finally found my peace with that. But please. Please do not say you love me when I know you don't. I love that you are such an amazing father that you would throw yourself into an unhappy relationship just for them. But I can't. I don't want fake. I want your real love. And I won't allow myself to accept the man I love to say he loves me when he doesn't." I rant and he pulls me closer. "That's not why I'm saying that. Please." He whispers the last part, placing his forehead against mine. "Fred. I'm not going to be a burden again. That's why I couldn't tell you about those two amazing kids in there. I'm not using them as a way to have you again." I say and he looks at me with hurt eyes. "At least allow me a movie. Just a movie. I don't care if you say I don't love you when I do. But I just want to hold you again." He whispers and I sigh. "A movie."

I sit down on the couch and he slides next to me. "I do love you, more than the world." He whispers and I feel my eyes sting from tears trying to leave. I hear Ginger cry and I get up instinctively. "She's been having bad dreams lately." I tell him wrapping my jacket around myself. "Sit down. I got her." He tells me and I nod sighing.

I hear the baby monitor register him entering their room and I grab it to see what's going on.

"Daddy!" She sobs clutching to her fathers shirt. "Hey little one. What's wrong?" He asks calmly, wiping her face. "I had a bad dream. I got up and Finn was gone and mummy and you. Then there was a dragon and it chased me!" She sobs and he holds her close nodding. "Look baby. There's Finn. And mummy is right in the living room." He assures her. "But every time I wake up you aren't here anymore. You always leave. Why can't you stay? Mummy makes pancakes every Wednesday and she tells us they used to be your favorite. And- And why don't you stay?" She cries into his shirt, breaking his heart. "I'm so so sorry baby. I would stay. I would. But I can't right now. But I promise I will be one day." He tries. "Why don't you and mummy have rings?" She suddenly asks and he looks at her confused. "What do you mean baby?" He asks and she digs her face into his shirt more. "Sophie's mummy and daddy have rings. And they always hug. Why do you and  mummy not do that?" She asks and he smiles at her softly. "Because mummy and daddy are a little different than Sophie's." He tells her and she pouts. "Don't you love mummy?" She asks and he sighs. "I do baby. Very much. But some things are harder than others. But I promise. I will always be here for you. And I am so sorry for all that lost time but I promise, I will make it up to you." He whispers. They stay there quietly hugging until Ginger finally drops her head, quietly sleeping. He smiles laying her on the bed assigned to her and tucks her in softly. "God I love you. More than the world." He whispers, almost exactly how he said to Y/n moments before, with the same look in his eyes. Love.

I wipe my eyes hearing him walk out. His eyes are puffy but he shows no sign of sadness on his face. "Fred?" I whisper and he looks over smiling. "Yes?" He asks and I sigh. "Make me a promise." I tell him and he nods confused. "If I do this. You have to promise me. Do you actually love me or do you just love our children?" I ask and he laughs. "I love you all. Y/n you are the love of my life. Why are you asking this?" He asks and I finally kiss him. He perks up in surprise but he slowly melts into it. "God I love you so much." He whisper in between the kiss. Finally we break away chuckling as he smiles at me. "Want to watch our movie now? I was told there are some sexy adventures in Sleeping Beauty." I ask and he chuckles sitting down on the couch. "I also wanted to say, I might have promised a ring in the future." He suddenly says and I laugh holding up the baby monitor. "Shit I forgot we had that." He laughs and I kiss hiss jaw lightly. "Guess I caught you." I whisper and he laughs.

***

I wake up in my bed thinking last night was a far-fetched dream and smell smoke. "Fuck he is too much like his father." I whisper to myself. I run out and the twins are no where to be seen. I see Fred and he is throwing toast in the trash sadly. "Watcha doing?" I ask and he looks up sighing. "Trying to make breakfast..." He groans sitting down. I walk over and rubs his shoulders as he hums lightly. "Its Wednesday you blessing of a man." I whisper and he chuckles nodding. He turns, puckering his lips and I kiss him quickly. "Get the two arsonists awake please." I say as I grab a pan. He groans moving closer to me. "Why ruin the fun so early?" He asks, his hands sliding around my waist. He kisses my neck as I lean my head away slightly. "Mmm... As much as I would love to, the muffling spell is going to drop at any given moment and Finn is a light sleeper. The boy will tell Ginger we didn't wake them up and they will plot." I explain and he laughs at the thought.

"DADDY!" I hear Ginger yell and Finn runs out to find me. "DADDY'S HERE!" He tells me and I gasp. "He is?! Does that mean we should make french toast?!" I ask and Finn tugs my pyjama bottoms. "NOOO WE NEED TO MAKE PANCAKES!!!!" He whines and I laugh nodding. "FINN! CMONNNN" Ginger yells as she pulls Fred behind her. "COMING! WE'RE WATCHING TV WITH DADDY!" He tells me and I smile. "Go on then!" I tell him.

I finish making pancakes and we all eat together. Fred gets up and Ginger grabs him. "What baby?" He asks and she shoves her face into his leg. "You're leaving aren't you?" Finn asks and he smiles at Ginger, picking her up. "Just to the bathroom. Me and mummy thought you two would like a daddy day. I'm staying here for the whole day." He says winking at me. They all cheer and he moves over to kiss the top of my head and walking to the bathroom. "Mummy..." Ginger whispers. "Yes?" I ask in the same hushed tone. "Daddy kissed you." She tells me and I nod. "Yes he did." I whisper and she giggles happily.

***

I wake up to feel Fred moving around. "What are you doing?" I ask sleepily and he kisses my head. "Finn peed his bed, I got it though." He whispers and lays down next to me. "Does he need a bath?" I ask and he laughs. "Covered." He tells me and I smile nuzzling into his arm. "My hero." I mumble and he chuckles. I start to feel woozy and I rush out of bed. "Darling?" He yells behind me. I throw up into the toilet as I feel my body shake. He rushes in and grabs my hair into a ponytail. "Darling! Oh my god this is why you don't let me make meals." He tells me and I laugh weakly.

"I feel like now is a brilliant time to tell you. I might be pregnant." I tell him smiling. "Surprise..." I whisper doing weak jazz hands.