#please i may be annoying but i love polls and i refrain from using them bc of how much i love them

[thursdaysyme]

i am so curious how many of you came from which fandom ive drawn for so poll time

[lyranova]

Children of the Future: The World to Come

Chapter 8: A Surprise Christmas Gift

Hiya guys! I’m so sorry this chapter took me so long, I had a poll to decide what this chapter should be about and it ended in a tie so I ended up having to decide 😆! And I really struggle with writing birth and pregnancy chapters (they give me anxiety and I have a really hard time 😅) but I think this chapter came out very well and I’m super proud of it and myself 😁! I hope you all enjoy~!

Solara and Josele that are briefly mentioned belong to @/thoughtfullyrainynightmare and @/loosesodamarble

Taglist: @thoughtfullyrainynightmare @crazyclownthanos @acacia-may @loosesodamarble (if anyone else wants to be tagged please let me know!)

Word Count: 2,897

Warnings: Pregnancy, Labor

———

Neva winced slightly as she sat at her vanity, even though she was now Queen she still insisted on getting dressed and doing her hair and make-up herself, but in her current state that was…a little difficult to achieve.

Currently, the Queen of Spade was 9 months pregnant with the next heir to the royal throne.

She nearly laughed at the memory of everyone being so excited when she told them. She had invited everyone that was close to her and could clearly see the surprise and happiness on their faces as though it had happened yesterday. She recalled William and her friends Solara and Josele pulling her aside and telling her how happy and proud they were of her, and that if she ever needed anything to just send them a letter or use the communication device and they would gladly come to Spade to help her.

Neva also recalled how everyone in the castle treated her differently after her announcement. They treated her like she was some sort of priceless, fragile doll that could break at any moment. It annoyed her greatly that the people in the castle treated her that way, but luckily there were two people in the castle who treated her normally.

Her mother-in-law Ciel, and her husband Yuno.

The two did act a little more cautious, especially in the beginning, but knew when and where to draw the line. Yuno toed that line many times, but always made sure to take a step back when Neva caught him or when he caught himself.

But during her entire pregnancy he was a really big help. When she was sick around him, no matter the time of day or night, he would always help hold her hair out of her face and would rub her back soothingly. When she was too tired to go to a meeting or to take care of her Paragons Yuno would take over so she could rest, and he even went as far as to surprise her with new clothes as she progressed in her pregnancy.

Neva laughed as she remembered how much she teased him about that, she knew his heart was in the right place by getting her more clothes that would fit more comfortably, but she could refrain from giving him a bit of a hard time over it.

But her most favorite thing that he did during the entire pregnancy? He started reading to her.

Of course Yuno would tell her that he wasn’t reading out loud for her, and that he was actually reading out loud to help their child’s development. But she knew better. After she offhandedly mentioned how much she loved hearing him read to her he began to do it more often and even began reading her favorite books.

Neva suddenly winced again as she felt that same pain in her back. Her doctor had told her that they were most likely something called “false labor pains” and that she would be experiencing them more as she progressed further and further along, it was her body's way of preparing itself is what the doctor said. The woman couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

If this was just the false pains, just how bad were the real ones?

She turned as she noticed a familiar face in the mirror smiling lovingly at her.

“ You look very beautiful Neva,” Yuno said softly as he leaned against the door frame and had his arms crossed, and she couldn’t help but smile and shake her head.

“ Even with the back of my dress open like this?” Neva asked curiously, she had tried to tie the back of her dress herself, but found it to be a little…difficult. Yuno chuckled.

“ Especially with the back open.” He joked which caused his wife to scoff and roll her eyes before she stood up.

“ You’re a terrible liar.” She muttered as she watched him walk up to her and tied up the back of her dress.

“ I know. Which is why I make a point to never lie.” He told her before placing a gentle kiss onto her shoulder, which made Neva smile softly.

“ You don’t have to go to the party, you know, you can just stay up here and rest.” He muttered as he wrapped his arms around her, his wife nodded before leaning back against his chest and placing her hand on top of his.

“ I know, and trust me I considered it, but this will probably be my last royal event before our child is born. And we have so many visitors from Clover, Heart, and Diamond here, so I owe it to everyone to at least make a short appearance at the Christmas Party.” Neva said and she felt Yuno sigh before he rested his head on her shoulder.

“ I understand, and I think Asta would be very disappointed if he didn’t get to see you at the party.” He muttered with a shake of his head. “ I swear I think he’s more excited about becoming an uncle than becoming a dad.” He added and Neva couldn’t help but chuckle.

Asta and his wife Noelle were also expecting a baby, although Noelle was only 2 months along as opposed to Neva’s nine months. But the two were able to chat and bond about their different, yet somewhat similar, experiences during their pregnancies. It was nice to have someone going through it at the same time as her, all of her other friends already had their children and provided her with great advice which she was now handing down to Noelle as well.

“ He’s excited about both, but what about you? Are you excited about being a father, and then an uncle in 8 months?” Neva asked softly as she turned to look at him, although she already knew the answer, she still wanted to hear him say it herself. And when she saw a soft smile appear on his face again she knew what he was going to say.

“ Of course I am. Although I am a little nervous about being a dad, I think the excitement outweighs it a bit.” Yuno admitted quietly which made Neva chuckle before placing a kiss onto the side of his head.

The two of them had already worked through their worries and doubts about being good parents long ago, so now they had more excitement in their hearts than nerves. But the nervousness still remained no matter how excited they were.

As Yuno removed his arms he grabbed his wife’s hand and the two walked out of the room. They walked down the hall a bit before Neva winced in pain again, this time it was a little sharper than the other two had been. Her husband noticed her wince and placed his hand on her back and began to rub it soothingly.

“ Are you okay? Do we need to go back?” He asked in concern as he looked at her face, she shook her head before inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly.

“ It’s alright, it’s just these stupid false labor pains. I’ve probably been standing too long.” Neva told him with a laugh, but Yuno didn’t look convinced. “ I’m fine, don’t worry.”

“ You’ll pop your head in for a few minutes and then go rest,” Yuno said in a serious and stern tone, as Neva opened her mouth to argue, she watched him cut her a look. “ That’s an order from the King.” He added, his wife made a tutting noise before rolling her eyes.

“ You’re so annoying.” She muttered but didn’t argue. Yuno kissed the top of her head and the two continued to walk down the hallway, and as much as Neva appreciated him trying to help ease her pain by rubbing the small of her back, it didn’t really do much to help. But it did give her some comfort.

But after being in the ballroom for a few minutes, the pain grew worse.

As Neva walked around and greeted their guests and friends in the ballroom with Yuno the pain in her back began to grow more and more intense and soon it migrated more to the front.

These were not the “false labor pains” that her doctor had told her about.

She gritted her teeth and attempted to smile warmly at everyone. She was used to wearing a ‘mask’ in front of people, but this time it was much harder to keep it in place. After the greeted a pair of nobles from Spade another contraction hit Neva hard and she gripped Yuno’s arm tightly and couldn’t help but double over in pain.

“ Seriously kid? You couldn’t have waited at least one more day before pulling this stunt?” Neva grumbled in her head, but just like all her friends had told her, babies came when they were ready to, regardless of if you are ready for them to.

“ Neva! Are you okay?” Yuno exclaimed in concern as he bent over and tried to look at his wife’s face. He watched her try to smile through the pain as she turned to look at him.

“ I’m…I’m fine…” She told him through gritted teeth, but Yuno and everyone else could see that she clearly wasn’t alright.

“ Ralph,” Yuno called his personal guard loudly, and he quickly rushed over. “ Go fetch the doctor quickly!” Ralph nodded before taking a few of his fellow Mage Defense members with him, Yuno looked back at his wife and saw her face turn a little paler and sweat begin to appear on her forehead.

“ Is everything alright?” Ciel asked as she walked over to them, behind her was Asta, Noelle, Mimosa, Klaus, and William, all with worry etched onto their faces.

“ She’s been complaining of her back hurting since this evening, and she thought it was just false labor pains, but it just keeps getting worse.” Yuno explained, Ciel smiled warmly and knelt down next to her son and daughter-in-law.

“ It’s not false labor pains,” She said matter of factly. “ Neva dear, I think you're in actual labor. But we’ll need the doctor to confirm it.” She added kindly as she watched their eyes widen before they looked from her to each other.

———

Yuno paced back and forth anxiously in front of the oak doors that led to the Queen’s quarters. After Neva had doubled over in the ballroom, Ciel had ordered Yuno to help guide her to the closest private room. The closest one happened to be the Queen’s quarters where Neva was ‘supposed’ to sleep after she and Yuno were married, but of course she abandoned that room after one night, stating that she didn’t like sleeping alone and so far away.

Yuno had stayed in the room and held Neva’s hand as they waited for the doctor and his staff to arrive, but as they rushed in the nurses and midwives had ordered him to leave. When he tried to argue, the women glared at him and told him they would forcibly remove him if he didn’t do as they asked, no matter that he was the king.

He stopped pacing as he felt someone place a hand on his shoulder and he turned to see Asta standing there with a small smile on his face.

“ Yuno, she’s going to be okay. They both will be.” Asta tried to assure his friend.

“ Remind me to tell you that exact same thing when Noelle’s the one in labor.” Yuno snapped icily, which caused everyone to wince. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “ Sorry.”

“ It’s okay, I get it. Honestly I’d probably snap at me too.” Asta said with a nervous laugh and Yuno tried to smile apologetically.

Yuno looked at the clock on the wall, Neva had gone into that room around 9pm and now it was 15 minutes past midnight. After a couple of hours of waiting William had to take his leave, which everyone understood, being here like this probably brought back a lot of memories that he would rather forget.

Yuno looked at the oak door again as he swore he heard a noise on the other side. There were many times where he had to restrain himself from throwing the door open and barging into the room to be with his wife, but he always hesitated. He wanted to be there for her and support her, but at the same time was worried about being in the way or stressing her out more, on top of that he was worried that seeing her in pain would break him. One of the things in this world that tore him up and could easily break him was seeing Neva in pain.

Finally, he determinedly walked up to the door and went to open it. But before he could, it swung open from the other side and one of the nurses face appeared, although it was considerably pale and her eyes held fear in them, which made Yuno anxious and concerned.

“ Y-Your majesty…”

“ What is it? Did something happen to Neva? Or the baby?” He asked quickly and she shook her head.

“ No it’s not that, um, actually…”

“ What? Is it twins? Or triplets?!” Asta suddenly asked from behind Yuno, causing both the Nurse and his friend to look at him.

“ N-No it’s not that either,” the nurse turned back to Yuno. “ Actually, the Queen is um demanding that you be allowed in there, and she specifically said if we didn’t let you that um���she would permanently incase us in her diamond magic…” the nurse continued nervously, and Yuno looked above her to see one of the midwife's feet completely covered in Neva’s diamond magic.

Yuno nodded as he quickly swallowed the laughter that crept into his throat, he would have to tell his wife to apologize to them after everything was over. He followed the nurse into the room and closed the oak door behind him.

———

Later at 6:30am

After waiting hours and hours, everyone in the hallway suddenly heard a baby cry as loudly as it could, and a wave of relief washed over all of them at the delightful sound.

The doctor, nurses, and midwives walked out of the room a few minutes later. When asked whether it was a Crown Prince or Princess the doctor just smiled and said that the king would come out and tell them himself later, the doctor also instructed the people in the hall to get some rest and to let the new family of three have some time to themselves before they tried to go into the room.

They nodded understandingly and they all sat down on the floor or in chairs and closed their eyes to rest for a few hours.

Inside the Queen’s room the new family of three were sitting together comfortably. Yuno sat on the edge of the bed and Neva rested her upper body against him as she held their daughter comfortably in her arms.

“ She looks a lot like you.” Neva muttered quietly as she stared lovingly at the newborn, Yuno frowned and shook his head.

“ I don’t think so, I think she looks a lot like you actually.” He muttered as he moved a little closer to inspect their daughter's face.

She had round chubby cheeks, a complexion that was closer to Yuno’s, and her hair seemed to be dark like his, but her eyes, her eyes were the spitting image of Neva’s.

“ Have you decided on a name yet?” Yuno asked curiously as he reached out a finger to gently grab his daughter's tiny hand, Yuno smiled as she gripped it firmly.

“ Hm I was thinking maybe…Miku.” Neva said softly as she traced her daughter's chubby cheek with her finger gently, the baby smiled brightly and Yuno tilted his head.

“ Miku huh…” He muttered the name to himself over and over again before he nodded. “ I like it, it suits her.”

“ In Hino it means ‘wind’ and I figured since most of us have four letter names that Miku would be perfect.” Neva lightly joked before she gently passed Miku off to her father so he could hold her. Neva shifted slightly so she could rest her head on her husband's shoulder and still keep an eye on Miku.

“ I never realized that our family all had four letter names,” Yuno admitted with a chuckle. “ But now that you mention it, it’s true.” He added and when he looked down he noticed his wife had closed her eyes and had fallen asleep, he looked over at his daughter and realized she had fallen asleep as well.

Yuno shook his head and shifted Miku in his arms a bit so he could hold her as well as Neva in his arms. It was a struggle, but he was able to manage it. His smile went from happy to content as he looked at his girls, they had a very tiring day and deserved the rest.

He looked up as the clock in the room suddenly chimed to signal the time, and his eyebrows raised in surprise. It was 7:30 am but more importantly, it was Christmas. He couldn’t help but chuckle, Miku was what one considered a ‘Christmas baby’.

As Yuno stared down at his adorable daughter he couldn’t help but think that this was the best Christmas gift he had ever received.

———

Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you all have a good day~!

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

The 12 worst types of Instagram Stories

We need to talk about Instagram Stories.

"Story of my life"? More like please don’t story your whole life, or at least do so tastefully.

Over the past few years, Instagram Stories have cannibalized Snapchat and emerged supreme as the premiere location to show off shaky cam concert footage and puppy-dog selfies. But with great power comes great misuse of a platform. 

We’ve all succumb to the desire to constantly cherry pick the juiciest parts of our life and share them with anyone who cares to tune in. Sometimes, though, those juicy bits don’t taste, sound, or look very good to those of us consuming them. 

It’s time for a crash course in Instaquette (Instagram etiquette, duh). 

12. The 'New Post' Story

Don’t post your post to your story to your post to your story to your post…

If you post something, we’ll see it in due time. 

Just like Bebe Rexha said in her hit song with that country singer: "If it’s meant to be, it’ll be." If we’re meant to see your post, we will. You mustn’t shove it down our throats by posting it on your story with a GIF or scribbles over it, concealing the very thing we just might have been interested in seeing. That’s called overkill, friends. 

I wouldn’t have minded scrolling by and throwing you a like, organically. But now that I know you want me to see something, I will actively avoid looking at it, Birdbox style. 

11. The Work Out Photos Story

We get it, you like to get your iPhone sweaty.

It’s 2019. We’re all for body positivity and going after your goals in a healthy way. Strive! A nice, strong gym post is cool. But to constantly barrage us with poorly lit semi-self conscious pics of you flexing is poor form. Leave it to Kim Kardashian. Do your squats and your pull ups and then barrage us with pics in those jeans that are beginning to fit like a second skin. Double negative if you’re forcing your significant other to participate in your sweaty social gains. They just want to meet their PR without feeling pressured to appear swol to your 539 followers. 

10. The Filmed Without Consent Story 

Let your friends do their thing without turning it into a production.

If your friend wants to be filmed, we guarantee they will do something to warrant a recording sesh. It’s just not cool to constantly be filming your friends’ every move. Soon, they’ll start to feel like they can’t do anything around you without feeling like Britney circa 2006. 

There’s nothing more cringe-worthy than watching someone publicly squirm under the lens of their friend's iPhone. 

9. The Pointless Poll Story

They see me pollin’, they hatin’.

If you’re going to put a poll in your story, and yes there is a right and wrong time for a poll. Please adhere to poll etiquette. 

For the love of all that is good, place your poll in the center of the screen so we don’t accidentally vote if we’re trying to move on to the next slide. OR conversely when we are aggressively trying to vote on your poll and you’ve placed it so far to the left that we end up clicking backwards. We don’t need to see your story twice. 

Finally, the polls that read "yes" or "yes, but in red" need to die. It was never funny.

8. The Terrible Music Story

If you play a song through your speakers, you’re dead to us.

Instagram went out of their way for you, and you have shown no gratitude. We’re looking at you Kylie Jenner. That’s right, we’re talking about playing songs through your phone’s speakers instead of the music feature on the app. We would have listened to AM radio if we wanted our music reception to go in and out, so we sure as hell don’t want it coming from your iPhone. 

7. The Facetune'd Child Story 

We don’t want to see your baby smoother than a glazed doughnut, Rebecca.

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times. DON’T FACETUNE YOUR CHILDREN. Babies are naturally cute. There is no need to morph or transform their bodies, thus holding them to ridiculous beauty/cuteness standards, before they even know what ridiculous beauty standards are. We really thought this one should be an obvious don’t, but as per usual the internet has found a way to disappoint us. 

6. The Never-ending Rant Story 

Go 👏 off 👏 but 👏 respect 👏 the 👏 medium 

Listen, sometimes you just gotta go TF off — whether that be about a topic of social injustice, or when you feel personally attacked by the vicious moms who fought you for dominance at the Bath and Body Works Candle Day Sale™. 

Unfortunately, the time limit of Story clips don’t necessarily lend themselves to a 30 minute impassioned critique of the cisheteropatriarchy. And we guarantee that people would love to hear it  — if only you weren’t getting cut off every 15 seconds. Next time a particular issue lights a fire within you, spark it up on YouTube instead. 

5. The BFF Birthday Story 

It’s my party, and I’ll post 9,000,000 clips if I want to.

I think my least favorite type of Instagram post is the 'It's my best friend's birthday' post

— Brian Koerber (@bkurbs) January 8, 2019

🎵 Happy Birthday dear [yourfriendthatidon’tknow], Happy Birthday to you! 🎵 It’s literally Birthday Law that you must spend the day hyping up your bestie on their birthday — but do we really care? Yes, we’re sure your friend’s #bdayLook is bomb. Yes, that party looks like it’s jumping. Yes, that cake looks delish. But are we there? No. BFF birthday stories are the epitome of JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out) — watching people you don’t know have fun is boring, not glamorous.

4. The Boomerang Clipshow Story 

Nothing but Boomerangs for days. 

When the Boomerang first came to Instagram, having your own personal GIF machine was a fun, inventive way to liven up your feed. Now that the novelty has worn off, though, we’re begging you to stop. There’s so many more features available to you on Stories now: face filters, zooming in with music, uhh….other things! We don’t need a whiplash-inducing video of you chugging your third cocktail of the night. 

3. The Tons of Unreadable Text Story

OH GOD MY EYES 

You don’t need a degree in Color Theory to slap some aesthetically pleasing text onto your Story, but at the very least please try and make it readable. There’s nothing worse than attempting to speed-read 0.2 size cursive neon green font on a bright yellow border in less than 15 seconds before the Story switches. Crowding the screen with text also takes away from the actual photo itself, if you took one. This is not a comic book, so don’t fill your stories up with speech bubbles. 

2. The Filming Your Drive Story 

Yes, a video of the street you’re driving down is EXACTLY the content I was looking for.

Everyone knows you shouldn’t text and drive, or at least that’s what we thought. That includes Instagram, guys. Not only is it dangerous and could cause bodily harm to you or others, but we can guarantee that absolutely no one cares about you filming yourself talking or blasting the bass through your crappy car speakers. 

No one asked for this content, in fact, we’re asking that it stop. 

1. The Concert Story 

If we wanted to see that concert, we would’ve bought a ticket.

We’re so glad you went to that concert. We really are. Live your joy. But watching said concert playback on a 5-inch glass screen with sound quality that makes it seem like it was recorded on a Nintendo DS was never part of our plan. 

Unless you’re literally backstage with the artist, please refrain from recording back-to-back snippets of their concert. Your seats aren’t even that good so we can’t differentiate the artist from their backup dancers. This also applies to Storying in a loud club. Unless Jaden Smith is holding a sparkler while simultaneously pouring you a shot of Grey Goose, refrain. We will not have the FOMO you’re so desperately trying to induce if our ears are bleeding. If you must post, kill the sound. 

You can be better at Instagram Stories. We believe in you.

Image: GIPHY 

The truth is that every Instagram story can easily be swiped away at a moment’s notice. You can speedrun through clips faster than your finger can graze glass (literally). None of these annoying stories will kill us, although we may claim they will — after all, we live for the drama. 

But, like most people, we are genuinely interested in our friends’ lives. Just maybe not enough to put up with their Insta habits. As I’m sure legions of people throughout history would agree, some stories just aren’t meant to be told.