#pompom and princess are you kidding me

[artisthedgehog]

no bc i genuinely think but im a cheerleader is like the only movie i can rewatch its just so good im crying and sobbing

[irisinluv]

Isekaied as the Yandere Villain!? PT 1

All I could do was stare at my reflection. This had to be a joke. I was going to wake up in my bed, right this instant.

“FUCK!”

Ok, so, pinching myself hurts. That’s fine. This is like. Some sort of lucid dream. What do they say to do if you’re lucid dreaming? Oh, that’s right, put your finger in your palm, it’ll phase through!

I resist the urge to scream as my finger meets solid flesh.

You see, I’m not in the right body. Or the right world from what I can tell. No, I’m supposed to be back home, waking up in a panic as I realize my alarm didn’t go off cuz my phone died after I stayed up way too late reading manga.

But of course, I’m not late to work, I’m in a lavish bedchamber right out of the latest webcomic I’d been reading! And by the looks of it…. I’m the crown princes crazy fiancé! As much as I love reading about the Isekai trope, I never wanted to be in one! And come on- as the Yandere Villain!? Couldn’t this at least be original? There’s hundred of stories just like “my next life as a villainess,” why couldn’t I be like… a stable hand or something? Ugh. Ok. Think!

I need to get home. Do the protagonists ever get back home in the stories I read? I pace around my room and rack my brain over every webcomic I’ve ever read, every manga I waited in line for, every anime I binged, even the unfinished manhwas! I can’t think of a single fucking one where they get home?

Well this isn’t going to stop me. I have a cat who’s going to absolutely flip if she’s not given fresh kibble in the morning. She has enough in her bowl for another 2 days but she needs it topped off ok! She’s a princess! I can’t be stuck here! Who’s going to throw her pompom toy for her if I’m not there???

What did all these have in common? What’s the barebones trope layout? Ok let’s see

1) person either died or falls asleep and wakes up in a new world…. Check

2) person is the villain!…. Check

3) to avoid the characters terrible death, person tries to change the story, ends up being new protagonist…

Ohhh… hey…. Do these Isekai characters ever just…. Play along? Even the “reincarnated as a baby” ones, they only play along till they’re old enough to try to run away or rework the political structure of the entire city. Maybe that’s it. Make it to the books natural end, and you’ll wake up where you belong. It’s like when you get part of a song stuck in your head. Play the whole song, and it’ll get out.

Ok, I’ve trained most of my adult life for this- I can totally ace this trope! I just have to stalk the crown prince, act totally in love with him, and be a bitch to the female lead. Then my finance will leave me, I’ll do some crazy dramatic act to try to kill the female lead, and then I’ll be exiled or executed, and wake up to feed my cat. How hard can it be?

Hard. It’s very hard.

Where the hell did he go!? My fiancé, the crown prince Eric, was JUST HERE. I swear! He turned that corner back there and then went down this hall… at least I think it was this hall? Ugh! This is impossible! For someone with such loud shoes and an armed escort, you’d think he’d be easier to follow! Now my feet just hurt. They don’t make these fancy shoes to run around the castle all day. They’re meant to daintily peek from beneath my many skirts as I host a tea party or some shit.

Ok. I’ve got this! I’ll just peek into each room until I find him, maybe I can get a better feel for the layout, or maybe find his office and see if he has a schedule or a day planner or something I can use to make this whole stalking thing easier.

I begin snooping, and it’s a bit of thrill to be honest! Back in my real life, I’m the kind of person to hide a wrapper deep in the trash can if I’m babysitting, sitting on the floor playing a game on my phone after the kid goes to bed rather than “making myself at home” the way the parents insisted as they showed me how to access Netflix. I’ve never been a snooper. Now…. Well. It’s totally on brand for this character! I’m not me, I’m a psycho lovesick fool! I giggle a bit at that as my fingers trail over a shelf of beautiful pottery in some sort of sitting room.

“What’s so amusing dearest?”

I practically screech as my heart leaps to my throat and I whirl around, and see the very person I’d been searching for has snuck up on ME…. That’s so unfair!

“W-what? O-oh! Nothing! I was just- uh, admiring the pottery?”

I stutter out as I try to recall how to act like a human being while simultaneously trying to stop feeling my own pulse in my ears. The idiot has the nerve to LAUGH! Full on snort and everything!

“What are you doing in this wing anyways? Weren’t you meant to be out riding today?”

Shit. I was so busy trying to figure out his schedule, I didn’t consider maybe the body I was shoved into had a schedule of her own. Ok. Play it cool- I’ve got this!

“Yes, well, I decided I wasn’t in the mood and wanted to stay in today instead.”

His brows furrow

“Oh, but you love riding? Are you feeling ill? I can fetch the royal physician for you if you-“

“No! That’s- that’s quite alright! I simply wanted a change of schedule, that is all. Um… what about you? What are your plans for the day?”

He looked a bit surprised at that, and a small smile danced on his lips.

“I was just going to the library to do some paperwork, boring stuff really, and then of course our dinner at its regular time.”

I nod like that means anything to me. Ok think, if I were crazy in love with this man, what would I say?

“Would you like some company? Reading in the library sounds really nice, maybe we could have some tea as well?”

Ok. I’m already fucking this up. He looks confused…. God damnit …. I knew I shouldn’t have skimmed over those early chapters- but the translation was shit ok!?

“Well… I’d actually love that. But are you sure? You haven’t exactly shown interest in reading, and you’ve never requested something like this before…. In fact I don’t think I can recall the last time we’ve interacted outside of dinner or a scheduled social event in… well. Ever.”

Wait…. What? Isn’t my character like goo-goo-ga-ga over him? Are you telling me she never asks to just… spend time with her lover? They only talk during dinner and parties or whatever?

“Of course, I think it’ll be relaxing! Just lead the way!”

My brain is working overtime as I smile politely at him as we reach the library and I pretend to browse for books. I’m missing something here. What is-

Oh. Shit. That’s right. I’m supposed to be really insecure and awkward about him. That’s why she stalks him- she spends all her free time obsessing over this man from the shadows, threatening the competition…. Yet chokes up when it comes to how to act natural. Her inferiority complex is what drives her entire character. And then to him, they’re just two nobles in an arranged marriage who speak on dull subjects like the weather and horse rides…. And who barely interact.

This must have been a real big shake up, she always stays out of sight, they never run into each other by chance. And she certainly never would ask to sit and read with him…. Maybe watch him do his work from a hidden keyhole somewhere, but that’s right…. She IS more of a traditional lady with her hobbies. She was raised to be the perfect noble wife, so naturally, her hobbies include things like dancing, needlepoint, and horse riding. The only studies she’s interested in are etiquette and things that noble ladies are supposed to know.

Well…. Shit. That’s so like me to already have fucked this up. But that’s ok. That’s ok- he’s going to meet the female lead and fall in love and so I just have to be the obstacle they need to overcome. Surely the details don’t matter too much…. It’s my first day in the job ok? Not everyone’s perfect!

I find a book that honestly actually sounds interesting, it’s historical, but it’s giving Hellen of Troy, the closest to a dark romance I think I’ll get from an academic personal library like this. I settle into what looks like the comfiest chair in the central area, and begin reading. The prince and I exist comfortably, the only sound being the scratch of his pen, and the occasional rustle of paper as he flips a document or I finish a page. We continue like this for several hours until he puts down his pen and clears his throat, getting my attention.

“I know it’s a long way from dinner…. But I was thinking I’d grab something light for a mid day meal and then take a walk about the gardens …. Would you care to join me?”

Honestly, some lunch and pretty royal gardens sounds like so much fun, so I agree. As we begin walking, I ponder how I can recover from all this.

You know what.. this can totally still go to plan. This is just me being the evil villain and sinking my claws into him! The female lead will appear, and I’ll reveal my true, nasty side to her! She’ll have to fight to save the prince from his marriage to me!

*insert evil laughter!*

“You’re smiling.”

“W-what?”

“A smile. It suits you. You’ve been doing that a lot today….. I like it.”

Ok and now I’m blushing. I go to reply when I suddenly find myself weightless for a moment, and then hit the ground with a hard thump.

“Ow! What the-!?”

My eyes snap up and glare at this pretty blonde girl who just rammed into me, and sent me flying

“Do you not know how to watch where you’re going!? Owww…. Ugh.”

Ok I’m sorry I’m usually a nice and understanding person but I’ve never been literally knocked over before! Who does that to a person?

Eric helps me to my feet and sends a reproachful glare toward the girl, asking me if I’m alright with most concerned look…. And the girl gasps and says,

“C-crown prince Eric! I apologize! I’d didn’t recognize you!”

She drops into a curtsy and lowers her eyes all demure and modest as if she hadn’t just bulldozed me. I send an incredulous look toward Eric…. She… didn’t see HIM? I’m the one she took out? He gives me an equally puzzled look and so I decide, you know what, fuck it. I’m this evil person in this world…. I need to act like it!

“And not recognizing his highness is an excuse for taking out the princess consort, soon to be crown princess? Are you blind or just daft?”

Oh my god I really just called someone daft! This feels like when you stay up late thinking all the witty comebacks you could’ve used against your high school bullies, except actually using them in the moment!

And Eric is being a sweetie and letting me handle this, waiting expectantly for blondie to answer me, just prompting her,

“Well?”

“Forgive me…. Princess consort…. You are right. My oversight in inexcusable. It appears neither of us were looking where we were going. I hope we can start fresh!”

I scoff- that’s it? Who does this bitch think she is? Yes, I was looking at Eric, but I was going a walking pace, who rounds a corner with so much force that you knock someone over?

Suddenly something clicks- oh shit! This is the female lead!!!! This scene happened in the story, just without the prince here. This is good, that means this is on track. Although I gotta say- I was much more on the female main characters side when reading it. Now, I just feel like she’s one of those mean girls in high school who’s not *technically* doing anything mean. Anyways- what was I supposed to say? That’s right.

“Yes…. Well. I’m sure we won’t be seeing much of each other anyways. If you’ll excuse me-“

Nailed ittttt…. Now her line?

“Well, actually…. My name is Lady Cressida, and I’ll be staying in the place for several months as my father is a foreign ambassador overseeing trade agreements with his highness the king. So I imagine we will be seeing *plenty* of each other. That goes for you too your highness! So please- forgive me, I look forward to getting to know each of you better!”

Oh that’s so cool, seeing her recite the lines from the story. But ok- I have a role to play as well. I scoff and grab Eric’s arm, pulling him behind me as I storm off, playing the part of entitled lover, stuck up and irritated at this ambassadors daughter who DARED to speak to my love.

Yea, this will work, Eric will think Cressida is a genuine sweetie, and see me as being the unreasonable bitch who’s refusing to accept her apology, or apologize for not looking where I was going either. And now I’m manhandling him- totally unlady like. God I’m killing this aren’t I? Minimum wage job and demanding cat, here I come!

What I don’t see, as I lead Eric by the arm, is the cold glare he shoots towards Cressida, before smiling down at our connected hands, an unreadable look in his eyes.

Part 2

[usssnarfblat]

Did Anastasia deserve to die for her family's crimes against Fieval's family?

I've always found it interesting that "Anastasia" and "An American Tail" were made by the same guy...

My mom got us "An American Tail" as kids, since we were Jewish, and a Disney-like movie with Jewish characters was a one-of-a-kind thing. ("The Prince of Egypt" was still a few years away. Yes, I'm that old.) More to the point, my dad's side of the family is largely Russian Jews, who immigrated in the early 1920s, for exactly the same reasons as the Mouskewitz. Being a child of this background and very literally obsessed with cats, I had mixed feelings about the movie.

When "Anastasia" came out a few years later, Mom didn't let that history stop us from enjoying the new princess movie, but she didn't shelter us from it either. We regarded it like we did the real history behind any sugar-coated princess movie. She even got us some history books about the real Romanov family, and we were fascinated by the subject.

Still, it's an odd elephant in the room, watching "Anastasia" and knowing that her granddad was the one who sent those Cossack cats after Fievel's village, and her dad himself continued doing it to the Jewish mice who didn't leave.

"Go, Pompom, Kibble and Fluff-Baron! Kill those Jew mice, and I'll give you extra catnip treats tonight!"

Don Bluth presents both the Romannov family and their victims with equal sympathy, even opening both movies with the family celebrating a holiday, with the kid heroes getting a plot-specific present, before being viciously attacked.

"Wow Grandmama! Fieval and Tanya could use this as a merry-go-round!"

*Cough* "Yes uh, about those Jewish mice Sweetie..."

Bluth's portrayal of the Romanov family is not entirely inaccurate. By all accounts, Nicholas II was a deeply loving father who both doted on his children, but raised them not to be spoiled. Despite being royalty, the princesses shared bedrooms and did charity work at hospitals.

It's a baffling irony that Nicholas was nevertheless was a tyrant, and not remotely just to his Jewish subjects. When I was about twelve, Mom got me the Dear America book A Coal Miner's Bride, about the Catholic Polish immigrants who also fled the oppression of the Russian Tzar. (Anastasia's family conquered part of Poland in the 1800s, banning the Pols from speaking their own language and drafting their sons into the Tzar's dick-measuring contest wars.) Anyway, that's what my mom's side of the family was fleeing when they immigrated. Yes, my family has double reason to hate the Romanovs.

So, I personally don't have a lot of sympathy for Nicholas II. But the horrors his poor wife and children endured in their final moments never fails to get the reaction from me.

The rationalization for the murder of the children and queen was that it was the only way to ensure that the monarchy never returned. But I assume most modern-thinking people would say that the ends do not justify the means in this case.

That said, millions of families like Anetka's and Fievel's suffered as bad or worse than the Romanovs, because of the Romanovs, and no one remembers them because they didn't wear tiaras. This no doubt was another factor that killed sympathy for the Romanov children. But they were still children.

The question today is, if we can feel for a family that was literal royalty, despite their father being an undeniable tyrant against our own families...can we also feel for Palestinian and Israeli families, during a conflict that is vastly more complicated than Imperial Russia?

Or do they need to be cute mice and glittery princesses to get our attention?

[muiltifandomnerd]

Adventures of Chika Hanabusa: The Restoration of Earth

Disclaimer: This book follows the events of Percy Jackson and Heros of Olympus fanfic, This fanfic will not include Trails of Apollo, The Kane Chronicles, and Magnus Chase.

Chapter 1: School Attack

Chika PoV

The alarm clock was going off and I quickly got out of bed. Today was Friday so I put on my green and white cheer uniform. The cheer uniform is a white pleated skirt with a green trim line, and the top is white with green spelling that says Oakwood Senior High School. I also pick up my scythe, which can transform into a pencil. I walked downstairs and saw my dad making scumble eggs and getting ready to work on the farm. My father is a buff Japanese guy who has scars around his arms, and he has a ponytail and a beard. He is wearing a farmer hat, flannel shirt, and jeans. His name is Isshin Hanabusa, and he use to be part of the Japanese military, but he decided to move to America to become a farmer. He met my godly mother, Demeter, at an agricultural convention and both fell in love with each other.

"How is your sleep, my precious princess? By the way, did you pack your scythe?" he asks as he hugged and kissed me on the cheeks. I’m very lucky to have a good dad, he taught me how to deal with the stresses of life and how to deal with the mythological world.

I hugged him back and kissed him on the forehead, "I did put my scythe in my pencil pouch in pencil form. Hey Dad, I’m happy that we get to have the farm and take care of animals. Once the game is over, I might make dinner later on.” I say as I winked at him.

He smile a calm smile and say in a soft voice, "Don't worry about dinner, I was thinking that we can have some food from Quickway Hibachi. Have fun at the game and maybe find a nice girl at your school.”

I blushed like crazy and say “Maybe, well anyway I must get going.”

“Don’t forget your pompoms and be a kickass cheerleader as always.” As he laughs while he hands me the pompoms.

“I will forever be a badass as always dad, maybe I could save a princess or a queen from danger. I can be like a superhero who can control plants or even the Earth.” I chuckle as I say that. I’m glad that my father accepted me as a lesbian demigod, I truly love him and I hope I can make him proud someday. I wonder if I can spend some time with my mother Demeter. I know that she's a goddess that must look after the Earth and feed all living things, someday I hope I can lighten her burden. I remember Demeter gifted me a scythe and told me the truth about what I am and hugs me very tightly and says she loves me and doesn't want me to be part of her world. She is still traumatized by how Hades just kidnaps her daughter and Zeus lets it happen. Mother doesn't love her brothers for what they did to her, and she will gladly sock all three of them in the face. Mother does get along with her sisters and always says nice things about Hera and Hestia to me and how all three of the girls are best friends. Mother also told me how she lived in Grandad Cronus's stomach and how she and her siblings defeated him in combat. Mother is very anxious for my safety, and she comes over from time to time and helps train me in case I have a huge prophecy. I'm the only one in the last thousand years to have a huge destiny for her kids, I guess she makes sure that none of her kids must deal with the mythological world or be pawns of other gods. I'm so glad that Mother is honest with me and lets me in her thoughts at times, hopefully, she is like this with my half-siblings. I wonder if I ever going to Camp Half-Blood or even Camp Jupiter.

I left my house, and I went to the bus stop. I get on my bus and it’s full of loud kids, I share a seat with an overweight kid who is growing a beard, his name is Dean Arlovski. Dean is not a bad kid and is always nice to me. He could have a crush on me because I do catch him staring at me a lot but I’m not sure, I may have to get a shirt that says I’m gay.

“I guess that today is a football game, you look nice in your cheer uniform. I hope you slept well. I’m curious, are you dating a football player.” Dean says in a shy, bumbling tone.

“Just because I’m a cheerleader doesn’t mean I date football players, I rather date volleyball players because they are just so awesome and cute. No offense Dean but you watched way too many high school movies, people are just way more than what activities they do. I do think that we should stop with the high school stereotypes, for example, I do karate on Mondays and Tuesdays, and I’m part of the environmental club. But those are just fun activities I do, my goal in life is to help improve the earth's ecosystem, travel the world, and analyze some wildlife." I say to him with an upbeat tone and I have to catch my breath.

“Those are very cool goals; I didn’t know that you have scientific goals.” He say in a surprised tone and had an excited smile and looking at me as if he made a scientific discovery that cheerleaders are more than just football players girlfriends.

The bus stops in front of my school which is a wide two-story building and the bricks were covered with white and green painting. I got into the school building and was greeted by a fellow cheerleader named Aisha, a curvy black girl who has a well-toned arm, I find pretty attractive.

"How was your sleep? I can't wait to pass the finals" Aisha yawned as she say that, she must have not slept well.

“Luckily finals are two months ahead, I got to go to my first period which is biology," I say in a high voice, which causes others to look at me weirdly. Curse my loud voice.

“I wish I had your enthusiastic nature. Btw I saw a scary regal-looking Latina who is trying to find you. She shares the first period with you, and I guess the counselor put you in charge of helping” Aisha says in a low, quiet voice.

"Oh, right I did volunteer, ok thanks I will find her," I say in an anxious tone, and my hands start shaking, I don’t want the new student to hate me, Relax Chika that’s just your anxiety talking, Chika take calm breaths I say to myself.

Just as I was about to run, The new student came behind me and say, “I guess you are my guide, I need to talk to you privately. My name is Reyna and I’m here to recruit you to Camp Jupiter.” Reyna says in a loud authoritative voice. Reyna is so pretty with her long braided dark hair, her nice, tanned complexation, and her dark eyes. She somehow makes a purple shirt and jeans look hot. I swear she looks like a queen who has been to wars with her toned arms and her legs have a lot of muscles hiding behind jeans. I notice she has a small facial scar as well; she could be a half-blood like me.

“Nice to meet you, my name is Chika Hanabusa and I will be your guide. You didn't tell me your last name but I'm pretty sure it's not important." I say while sweat is coming down my forehead while Reyna looks at me with the fiercest glare, I bet Reyna could literally stare at monsters and they start peeing their pants and ran from her. Chika, you must keep your cool in front of the attractive new student.

“It’s fine, I’m not comfortable with people learning my last name. I guess you are already aware of the fact that you are a half-blood. We must go before they appear." As Reyna finished her sentence, a group of huge burly men with big noise appear as the school rings, signaling first period. I know what these monsters are, they are the Laistrygonian Giants. One tried to punch me, but I ducked under the punch and give the undercut to the throat which caused him to hold his throat in pain. While he held his throat in agony, I took out my pencil and it transformed into a celestial bronze scythe. I sliced the giant head with my scythe, and I saw Reyna take out some gold sword and proceed to kill half the giants left and right. She cut these huge monsters like they were nothing, they were just lambs in a slaughter. Reyna must have killed monsters when she was kid, she makes like so easy.

As I was busy admiring her, the other giant front kicked me in the chest, and I was sent to the locker room. Oww, that hurts, luckily my backbones are fine and not broken. I moved out of the way while the giant charged toward the lockers, and I sliced him in the back with the scythe while his head is stuck in the lockers. I should have stayed focused on the enemies; I proceeded to dodge the blows of the two other giants and sliced both of their arms off. They screeched in pain and tried to tackle me to the ground, but I moved backward, and I jumped in the air and kicked both in the face and I used my scythe to slice across their necks and watch them down to golden dust. Reyna thrust her golden sword into the giant chest, and he shrieks in pain while he's turning to dust on Reyna's blade. The last giant managed to knock the scythe out of my hand and managed to bear hug me.

“You killed my brothers’ puny demigod, watch as I crush you with my holds. I am the strongest of my brothers, my name is Fraciso.” He says in a thick French accent while he’s laughing like one of those cartoony villains. Luckily, I managed to use my plant abilities to make the roots grow under him and tie around his body. The roots strangle his body and he cries in pain while I managed to free myself from his bear hug.

"I can't break out of these cursed roots, the roots are too strong. I can't believe I will be killed by plant roots." Fraciso says while he's trying to crawl against the constantly growing roots that become branches. I decided to just behead him with my scythe.

“There will be more monsters that will be coming. We will have to leave now; I will take you to camp. Don’t worry your father told me where you are, and he knows that you will come to Camp Jupiter” Reyna says as she takes her breath while she finishes off the last giant.

"Camp Jupiter is for Roam demigods, why am I going to Camp Jupiter," I asked in confusion.

"Because it's the closest to where we are at. Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter decide to work together to recruit more demigods and we are allowed to look for Greek demigods while Camp Half-Blood is allowed to find Roman demigods. Why you didn’t use your powers that much?” Reyna asked as she’s giving me a questioning look and analyzed what my response will be.

"I didn't want to use my powers that much because my powers are not suited for places like the school or the office. Had we been on the football field, I would have been spamming my plant powers to kill as many monsters as possible. Before we go to Camp Jupiter, I want to cheer in the football game and just finish up the school day." As I explained in a calm voice. My back still aches from the bear hug and the kick to the lockers.

“I’m afraid we can’t do that; you will put your mortal friends in danger. I got a Pegasus waiting outside for us. Your father already packed your clothes and other belongings” Reyna says in a regretful tone, her eyes look sympathetic at me, it’s like she’s saying that I’m sorry that your life is not normal anymore. I was preparing for the day to leave my regular life, but I wish I had more time, hurray now off to death quests. I didn’t bother to change out my cheer uniform and we just walked straight to the parking lot with a white stallion with wings and my dad just waiting on it.

@sakuraazharuno @miuyuki-snowfall @thecreatorandcreation

@xxsmexyprincess6969xx @0lympian-c0uncil

[jessiebites]

JESSIE WOULDNT BE A CHEERLEADER, but she would eat one, too. She pictures what it would be like to be one, though. Jessie would be standing on the side of some football field or basketball court, wiggling and thrashing pompoms around, secretly hoping the quiet girl would notice her. There's a flash of the redhead doing flips to get her attention, hoping Maren would peer up from her book to see her moves. To see her. Jessie likes how they are now more than the fantasies she has, the reality being much better than the whatifs because she can kiss and touch her in this universe.

"That fits you." Jessie murmurs. "I can see you gettin' all lost in the books, though. Slackin' on the job 'cause you got one chapter left." Said as if she could tell the future, Jessie's smile doesn't leave her even if she tries. A teacher would also fit her, even with their little ... problem. She wonders if Maren wants kids shortly after, even though the logical answer would be to never carry on their gene to another child. Jessie wouldn't be able to bear watching their child hate themselves for the biology they passed on. It was better to be cautious around other peoples' children with bloodlust than to spend the rest of their lives trying to make it better for their kid. Jessie would be lying if deep down she didn't wish for the white picket fence and arms full of babies story for them. A happy ever after she's seen in the movies and read in books.

"My dreams have always been small compared t'everybody else I've ever met." Jessie sighs contently, letting her head fall to Maren's shoulder. "It's nice knowing that someone's similar to me in not having big future plans." It's comforting, really. "When I was a lil girl I always saw myself married, with a baby on each arm, makin' dinner for my prince charmin' to come home to." A scrunch to her nose at prince. "But now my dream's t'come home to my bookish princess. My own Belle from that fairytale my daddy used to make my brother read t'me." Jessie snickers, leaning in to her chest and curling inwards ever so slightly.

"I love you."

“I'm not tryna to be mean, m'just tryna imagine you as one of the cheerleaders, or somethin'." She smirked. "I bit one of the mean girls once. Didn't eat her, though. Just a finger.” She scrunched her nose. As much as she'd like to think her and Jessie would've gotten along in every timeline, Maren knows it's unlikely. Maren never stayed anywhere long enough to shake the title of 'new kid' let alone make lasting relationships. Besides, she thinks, Jess would've scared Maren for all the reasons she loved her now.

As abrasive as some people might think Jessie to be, Maren knew the truth. Just as Jess had seen the dark corners of Maren, Maren knew all the ways Jessie shined. She knew the way her eyes crinkled when she laughed, or how the freckles on her skin looked like constellations. She knew the way Jess smelled after getting out of the shower, and the way her lips tastes after they ate together. She knew the type of things that young Maren would've never gotten to know about Jessie.

“I don’t know. I don't think so." She shifts, tilting her head to the side as she tries to remember anything. Most of her childhood was spent wishing to be normal, to be good, she hardly had time to think about the future. "Maybe a teacher. Or a librarian. Anything that let me read a lot of books for a livin’.”

[fckwritersblock]

The Other Sinclair

Stranger Things; Black!reader x Everybody

Description: Lucas’ older sister gets back in town and is not very happy to hear about the events that took place. Especially when it comes to someone putting their hands on her little brother.

Warnings: I mean.....mild violence, but again this page is 18+ so y’all be aite

(Unedited .)

“5 minutes Lucas! I leave you guys for 5 got damn minutes and everything goes to shit!”

Y/n was livid.

It wasn’t really anyone’s intention for her to find out. Lucas knew better than to involve her unless he really needed to. If there was one thing she didn’t play about it with her family. It would’ve all been fine too, however when Y/n saw Steve, she asked what happened to his face and he couldn’t help but blurt everything out. Now, being that she was included in all the events the previous year it didn’t come as a surprise that the moment she left for 2 weeks for the cheerleading competition they’d get themselves into more shit.

“I just want to know what made him think he could put his hands on you!”

Now she knew about the new kid and his rivalry with Steve. That was purely their egos and a mess full of entirely too much testosterone and high school cliche for her to bother with. That would come to pass as Steve was proving to be less and less of asshole everyday. But to hear Steve’s face, though healing, looked like that as a result of protection her little brother and the rest of the kids..

No, ma’am.

“Was anyone gonna tell me?” She fussed at the preteens.

“It’s over, we handled it.” Lucas groaned knowing his words were falling on deaf ears.

“Uh huh. I’m sure.” The elder Sinclair rolled her eyes, arms crossed and hip poked out. “And this Billy kid is related to who? Your little girlfriend right?”

Y/n’s gaze quickly shifted to the girl in question.

“Yeah. H-hi. I’m Max.”

Y/n said nothing, just continued to stare and assess the child. Finally she smiled.

“Max, you look like a sweet kid and I really don’t wanna not like you. So spill. What’s his deal?”

Max twiddled her fingers only hesitated for a moment before she gave her boyfriend‘s sister the backstory on her stepbrother and his dad. Giving her a little bit of detail about how he also felt about black people.

“Interesting. And where can I find this Hargrove?” Y/n inquired.

“The arcade.” Max answered.

Nodding she went over to the front door of the Sinclair residence and opened the door.

“Ma, I’m taking the boys to the arcade with Steve.”

Barely take time to get a response, she grabbed her house keys off the hook and closed the door behind her.

“Y/n I don’t think-“ Steve began but she cut him of.

“Don’t hurt yourself doing that.”

“This isn’t a good idea.” Lucas mumbled.

“I don’t remember asking you.” Y/n replied.

“I forgot that’s where Erica gets it-“ Dustin commented in a failed attempt to whisper.

“Shut up Dustin. Everybody in the car.” She snatched the keys from Steve. “And I’m driving.”

The ride to the arcade was quiet, everyone afraid to speak as Y/n drove them the short distance a little quicker than usual. Soon as they pulled up, she parked randomly and they all hopped out.

“Where is he?”

Max looked around before pointing him out.

Once Y/n laid eyes on him she scoffed before rolling them. There stood Billy Hargrove leaning against his car with Tommy and a few girls fawning over him. He looked like the king of douche bags like he had some grade A daddy issues. Any other time she’d feel for him, but he did the one thing he shouldn’t have and that was a mess with her little brother.

“Hold these.” She practically shoved her pompoms in Steve’s hands before heading for Billy.

“Babe,” but the look y/n gave Steve shut him up.

All The kids followed her protesting the entire way trying to get her to change their mind scared of what Billy might do to her regardless of the deal he made with Max. After all, she was just a stranger approaching him in a hostile way, and the gang expected nothing more than for him to react in true Billy. Steve on the other hand, was preparing to possibly receive another busted lip if Billy decided to retaliate and even think about raising his hand to her. He’d go out fighting again if need be. However Y/n wasn’t scared.

Less than a few feet away she bawled her fist, feeling all the anger toward the white boy surface.

“Hey asshole!”

He barely spared them a glance before doing a double take. Once he spotted his sister and her friends a cocky smirk planted itself on his face.

“Well well if it isn’t the losers-“ y/n held up her hand to silence him, her steps coming to a halt.

“You Billy Hargrove?” She pretended to smile flirtatiously.

“Who’s asking princess?” He asked with a cocky smirk, giving her a once over.

“Y/n Sinclair.” And with that Y/n cocked her arm back and punch him squads in face.

“Well, shit.”, Dustin said as the rest of the party gasped.

Wow they didn’t hear a crack or anything, they could see Billy’s now blooded nose, leaking while he grabbed it.

“Fuck! You bitch!” He quickly got in Y/n’s face to where she took a step closer staring up at him.

“I dare you.” Y/n challenged not even flinching as his nostrils flared and fist balled at his side as if he was thinking about retaliating.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but put your hands on my little brother,” she pointed at Lucas. “Again and I promise you’ll have bigger problems when my brother and daddy gets a hold of you and yours.”

“Brother?” Billy repeated sounding surprised.

“Howard Star QB.” She smirked.

Anthony Sinclair was older than Y/n by two years. Currently not present since he was off at Howard University but that could all change with a phone call from her or Erica.

“Are we clear?” She asked crossing her arms.

Billy continued to glare at her as he held his blooded nose, but nodded nonetheless.

“Manners, William. Use your words.”

“Yeah, yeah, now fuck off.”

“Glad we’re on the same page Willy.” She smiled before turning back toward the kids who all continued to stare in shock.

“Are you sure Mrs. Wheeler is picking you up?”

“Yeah-“ they chorused.

“Mom.” Dustin added.

“Good! I’ll see you at home Luke. Bye guys.” She smiled taking her pom poms from Steve and heading to his car.

“Oh. And don’t touch Steve either.” She called over her shoulder. “He’s also mine.”

“Wow,” spoke El and Max in awe

“She’s scary when she’s mad.” Mike commented.

“Yeah.” Steve agreed. “And hot.”

“Very hot.” Dustin added earning a punch in the arm from Lucas and A hit upside the head from Steve

“Come on Harrington.” Y/n beckoned from the passenger seat. “This ice cream isn’t going to pay for itself.”

The teenager grinned to himself goofily as he headed toward his car.

“Yes ma’am!”

[russianbluewitch]

“Daughters AU” aka South Parkettes

This is a story about an alternate future of South Park where everyone stayed friends, and while some of the boys left for college, nearly everyone came back, and now most of them have daughters in third grade.

Disclaimer: Just because I put these boys certain couples doesn’t mean I necessarily ship any of these things. I’m not really into shipping; please don’t drag me into ship discourse.

The main 4:

Sandy Marsh, daughter of Stan and Wendy Marsh

-Daddy’s little girl

-Tomboy who plays baseball; star hitter for the otherwise all boy team. Stan pitches to help her practice

-Embraces gender nonconformity in part because she wants to please her parents, giving Stan a pseudo-son and showing Wendy that she isn’t oppressed by stereotypes and the future is bright or something

-BFFs with Esther

-Aware of her dad’s chronic depression, despite Stan’s attempts to hide it, and believes it’s her job to make him smile. It’s not the healthiest mindset

-Out loud, takes pride in being a maverick who does what she likes, no matter what society says, but this is masking insecurity. She’s really more of a people pleaser with a very short list of people she lives to please.

-joined the Boy Scouts instead of the Girl Scouts because having her mother as a den mother felt weird to her and also Butters is the best scout leader

-long black hair that’s usually in a ponytail under a baseball cap, but she lets Esther style it for fun sometimes since Esther’s own hair is unmanageable

-Also owns a blue knit beret with a red poofball

Esther Brovloski-Dacyzyn, daughter of Dr. Kyle Brovloski and Maya Dacyzyn

-Daughter of Kyle and who? Maya is someone Kyle met in college and she might get her own post later. Sorry for canon x OC but like, most people don’t get married to people they knew in elementary school

-Anyway Esther is Sandy’s BFF, the girly girl to Sandy’s tomboy

-artsy, good with her hands; likes to play salon owner and give makeovers

-also rigidly religious. Gets it from her mom’s side. Doesn’t go out of her way to yell at people who aren’t Jewish; this mostly comes up when she opts out of certain activities.

-an absolute brick wall when she’s angry or being stubborn.

-Kyle does morality by heart, which is why he spends so many episodes fretting about stuff. Esther does morality by the book, in the hopes that she doesn’t have to live her life waffling all over like that.

-inherited her dad’s hair and hates it. Keeps it under a pink knit hat with two dangling pompoms

Erin Cartman, daughter of ???

-Eric found a baby lying in a field and decided to keep it for reasons no one knows but himself.

-(going to call Eric Cartman just Cartman and Erin just Erin for the rest of this post)

-For as long as Cartman was alive there was only one person he cared about. Then he found Erin and that number became two. And the people of South Park trembled.

-absolutely a spoiled brat just like her father before her

-even if she’s not biologically related to Cartman she’s still recognizably the fattest kid in South Park

-did I say Esther was the girly girl? No THIS is the girly girl

-everything she owns is sparkly or bedazzled. Only the best for Cartman’s little princess

-wears fairy wings or princess costumes on random occasions. Her normal outfit is an iridescent pink parka lined with faux fur

-way more likely than her dad ever was to throw down, even with grown adults. Battle cry is “I’ll scratch your eyes out!”

-“Daddy! You can’t hit Kyle like that! You’ll go to jail for assault, and then I’ll grow up as a fatherless degenerate! I’ll hit him for you :)”

-raised in a large part by her grandmother, because yes Cartman still lives with his mom.

-“Grandma! Daddy’s being mean to me!” “Eric, go to your room!”

-Cartman will then actually go to his room and think about what he’s done

-oh did you think Cartman would be married in this future? Haha no. And now Erin will make sure he never has another lady in his life.

-on the other hand, Kenny was also around to help with Erin when she was little and now she regards him as a second dad that she goes to for actual advice, much like Cartman used to do with Chef.

-considers Jenny her younger sister. The feeling is not mutual.

-actually about a year older than the other three daughters, but she’s in third grade now because when she was five she just didn’t want to start school and no one made her. It wasn’t until the other three were ready that she got jealous and agreed to start school.

-hates Kyle and Esther and Jews because her father told her to. Doesn’t actually know what Jewish means.

Jenny McCormick, daughter of Kenny McCormick and Dora Boxx

-of who? A serial black widow. Long story.

-her mom is not in her life anymore except for occasional jump scares and special episodes. It’s just her and her dad against the world.

-she remembers. But Kenny never remembers that she knows.

-takes perverse pleasure in creeping people out. Collects spiders and worms just to scare her classmates; draws pictures of people bleeding to death in crayon

-claims she sees ghosts and demons. She definitely knows some things about the past of South Park that she couldn’t have found out otherwise.

-mostly wears her dad’s old parkas. He’s got like eighty of them from his various resurrections and he’s still collecting more. They tend to get damaged or set on fire and she likes to confuse her friends by pretending she only has the one parka and she just fixed it somehow. To her, it feels like wearing a hug.

-hangs out with Erin over Sandy and Esther when it comes to that, despite her undisguised hatred of Erin, or perhaps because of it.

-is she an inheritor of her dad’s curse? No one’s sure yet. Kenny’s not about to let anyone find out.

[themetaphorgirl]

Prompt: Emily gets drunk and comes back to the school and she voices her love for all of them and won’t stop hugging bby Reid. Can u imagine the CUTENESS. I cry your au makes me so happy

so I LOVE this prompt. and also my darling @criminalmindsgonewrong needed something fun with Emily. So I hope you like this!!

featuring Hotch’s secret weakness, children learning profanity and Alex’s “I mean business” ponytail

----------

“Hey, guys?” Dave called up the stairs. “I just want everyone to know that none of this is my fault. In fact, I should be considered a hero.”

Hotch, James, and Alex raised their heads slowly from their respective homework. “What the fuck is happening?” James whispered.

“Language,” Hotch whispered, nodding towards the younger kids piled in front of the TV.

“I say ‘fuck’ all the time, Hotch,” Derek said, only half paying attention.

Something heavy thumped on the stairs and a high pitched giggle floated up. Alex closed her Russian dictionary. “If Rossi is bringing another new girlfriend in here, I swear to god…”

Emily stumbled to the top of the stairs and flung her arms in the air like a gymnast landing a vault. “I made it!” she cheered.

Dave climbed up behind her. “Listen, I only lost her for like two seconds,” he said. 

“Oh, no,” James said. “You didn’t.”

“Did what?” JJ asked.

“Yeah, did what?” Penelope echoed. 

Emily grinned. “We went to a party!” she said. “And there was a tequila!”

Hotch slowly turned to glare at Dave. “It’s a school night, and you took Emily to a party?” he asked.

Dave shrugged helplessly. “She was very persuasive,” he said. 

“Very, very persuasive,” Emily nodded.

Alex rested her chin in her hand. “She told you a certain girl was going to be there, didn’t she?” she said.

“I’m very persuasive,” Emily repeated. She threw her arms around Alex’s neck. “Lemme...lemme braid your hair.”

“No, no, not this time,” Alex said, peeling her hands away. “Oh, I’m not excited about sharing a room with you tonight once this starts to wear off..” 

Emily smiled dreamily and raked her fingers through Alex’s hair. “It’s so red,” she mumbled. Alex sighed and dropped her chin in her hand again. 

Penelope and JJ leaned over the back of the couch to watch. “Do you think she’ll throw up this time?” Penelope asked.

“Oh, absolutely,” JJ said. “At least twice.”

Spencer looked up from his book. “Make her drink V8 again, that worked last time,” he said.

“Emily, we’ve been over this,” Hotch said. “You can get in serious trouble if you’re caught drunk on campus.”

“Oh, shit, no,” she whined. She fumbled in her pockets. “I can...I got…”

“Don’t show me your credit cards again.”

“My credit cards!” she said, waving her wallet at him. “I’ll...I can...yeah, I’ll give ‘em money and it’ll be fine.”

“No, it won’t be,” Hotch said patiently. 

Emily scowled and stumbled over to him. “Mr. Hotchner,” she said. “Mr. Hotchner, you gotta...why don’t you fuckin’ smile, dude?”

Derek burst out laughing; she whipped around and shook her finger at him. “This is a serious question!” she said. “I...I know you can smile.”

Hotch grimaced at her. “There,” he said. “Now can you please pour yourself back into your dorm room and sleep this off?” 

Emily frowned, plunking down on his lap. “You need to smile,” she said. She grabbed at his face and pulled at his cheeks. “It’s...it’s in there somewhere.”

“Emily, please,” Hotch said, pained, as her thumb came perilously close to jabbing up his nose.

“No, keep going, I wanna see what happens,” Penelope said.

Emily’s frown deepened. “Why won’t you smile?” she demanded.

“See if you can initiate gargalesis,” Spencer suggested.

“The fuck you say to me, nerd baby?” Emily said.

Spencer scowled. “Tickle him.”

Emily brightened. James immediately got up, gathering his homework. “This is going to end horribly,” he said. “Oh god. Oh, god.”

“He’s not smiling!” Emily said, digging her fingers in Hotch’s sides.

Hotch pressed his mouth together, firmly stoic. “Stop trying to tickle me,” he said. “You need to sober up, and I’m not ticklish, so-”

“Don’t ask me how I know this. Back of the knees,” Alex said.

Hotch’s mouth dropped open. “How did you-” he started to say, but Emily lunged for his knees, and he burst out laughing, trying to wrestle her off his lap. “God! Emily! Stop! Stop, you got me to smile, okay, I’m smiling!”

She tumbled to the floor and scrambled to her feet unsteadily, screeching with laughter. “I did it!” she said. “Aha! I knew you could...could fuckin’ smile.”

Penelope held up her phone. “I can’t wait to show this to her tomorrow,” she said. 

Emily staggered over to her. “You are so cute,” she said. She dropped her hands on JJ and Penelope’s head. “Two just...cute little princesses.”

“Oh, she’s really gone this time,” JJ said. She gently pried Emily’s hand off her head. “Emily, you should take it easy.”

“I can get you some snacks,” Penelope offered as Emily tangled her hand in her hair, giggling as the pompoms tied to her ponytail bounced. “Some nice saltines, maybe? A piece of dry bread? Something to soak up the alcohol in your bloodstream.”

“Hey, she hasn’t called me ‘cute’ yet, that’s how we’ll know she’s real bad,” Derek said.

Emily let go of Penelope’s hair. “But you are cute,” she said. “So...so fucking cute. You guys are all just...fucking babies and I love...all of you.”

“I’m only a year younger than you,” Derek said dryly. “Spencer’s the baby.”

“Hey!” Spencer protested. “I’m very mature for my age!”

Emily stumbled over to him, leaning over the side of the couch, and swooped him up in a snuggle. “You are a baby!” she said. “Just the babyest...fuckin’ baby.”

“You smell like hand sanitizer,” Spencer complained, squirming in her grip as she smacked kisses on his cheeks. “And I’m not a baby! Guys! C’mon, help me!”

“I’m not taking the risk,” Hotch said flatly. “Now that someone decided to blab.” Alex shrugged.

“Derek!” Spencer said, trying to wriggle away from Emily’s octopus-like hug.

“Nah, man, I’m not gonna take the risk either,” Derek said.

“Ooh! Try to initiate...gargling. Gargantuan. Gar...what was it again?” Penelope said.

Spencer scrunched up his face. “Gargalesis?” he said. Emily grinned and started tickling his ribs. “Noooo! Emily, no, stop tickling me!” He shrieked with laughter, kicking his legs at her and in an attempt to twist free. 

“Emily, stop torturing Spencer, he’s going to pee himself,” JJ said.

“No, I won’t!”

“Emily, you gotta stop, he has to breathe.”

“What?” Emily said, momentarily distracted, and Spencer tumbled off the couch and beelined to the table to duck behind Hotch and Alex. 

“Emily, you’ve got to chill,” Dave said. “We don’t want a repeat of what happened after homecoming.”

“What happened at homecoming?” Hotch asked, eyes narrowing as Spencer climbed onto his lap.

“Nothing,” Dave said quickly. Emily scowled and started scolding him in Italian; he shot back, waving his hands.

“What’s happening?” Derek asked. “What are we missing?”

“Profanity, mostly,” Alex said.

“Yeah, and you guys didn’t want me to learn how to say ‘fuck’,” Spencer said. Hotch covered his ears. 

Emily halted midsentence, holding out her hands. “Wait...wait…” she said.

JJ drew back. “Oh, she’s gonna hurl,” she said.

“False alarm,” Emily said. “We’re good. We’re good, everybody.”

Alex got up from the table and tied her hair back into a ponytail, snapping the elastic with resigned determination. “All right, Prentiss, say goodnight to everybody,” she said. “We’re going back to our dorm, and you’re going to sober up.”

Emily pouted and whined in Italian; Alex rattled something back and Emily sighed heavily. “Okay, okay, take me away,” she said. “Bye, everybody, love you.”

“Bye, Emily,” they chorused.

They didn’t see her again until breakfast the next morning; Emily sat with her head down on the table and a glass of tomato juice at her elbow. “So I take it things went well?” Dave said.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Alex said. “Miss Prentiss over here…”

“Shut up,” Emily mumbled into her folded arms. “Shut up, shut up, shut up…”

“Have we learned an important lesson?” Hotch asked.

Emily raised her head. Her eyes were still smeared with last night’s makeup. “That your ticklish spot is under your knees?” she said. 

Hotch’s ears turned red. “No, hopefully you learned a lesson about getting drunk on a school night,” he said. “Or, better yet, you’ve learned to not get drunk because you’re underage and it’s bad for your health.”

“Aw, come on, chief,” she said. She mimed finger guns at him. “Gimme a week, I’ll forget all about this.”

“Oh! I can help with that,” Penelope said. She handed her phone to Derek, who passed it to JJ, who propped it up in front of Emily. “Here’s the video! Maybe this will help remind you.”

Emily went pale. “Oh, cazzo,” she mumbled.

“That basically means ‘fuck’!” Spencer announced.

[gyllenhaalstories]

Hi can you write a fic about dad!jake because there’s not a lot of them on here (if u want) and plus your writing is amazing hands down one of the best jake blogs on here ♥️

i do agree, there is a cruel lack of dad!jake. it’s so unfortunate! i mean, he looks like uncle goals and he would make the best dad in the entire world! thank you so so so so so much anon! you have no idea how happy your kind words make me! you didn’t give any specific setting so i went for the ultimate softness! just because i love naming characters, let me introduce you to toddler (ish) rose gyllenhaal! EXTRAS: i suggest you listen to the cinematic orchestra’s to build a home to get in the same mindset as i was while writing this. i found the gif on google image and couldn’t find the original creator, i’m sorry! WARNINGS: none except i don’t know how kids act and like what they are except very strange creatures so i’m so sorry if my awkwardness is showing through this fic! i hope you, and everyone reading this, will enjoy it! ( 1500 words)

BUILD A BEAR

“Teddy Bear!” Your daughter pointed, her head and arm peeking from the pillow fort you helped her build in your living room. “Big Teddy Bear!” She pointed at her father.

You chuckled, realizing that Jake has returned from running errands.

“You learned new words? I’m very proud of you, sweetheart!” Jake frowned, confused, as he planted a kiss on your forehead, then your daughter’s. Proud was an understatement. He would brag about how smart your daughter was at the simplest thing. Whether she fed herself without making a mess, drew an absolute chaotic art piece with her crayons or found her way to snuggle up in her parents’ bed despite being told not to, he was so proud. She amazed him.

It amazed him how she looked exactly like the two of you combined. She had his piercing blue eyes, but they had your shape, soft and cheerful. She had a bright smile like him. She had your button nose. She had that little curl in her hair that resembled yours. A bad encounter with the coffee table during a tickling session left her with a tiny scar on her chin, which looked exactly like one of Jake’s shaving accidents when he was young and innocent.

It amazed him how fast time flew by. Not even yesterday, the two of you were hearing her first cry and hugging her for the first time. It amazed him how much love he had to give this bundle of joy, while he believed he could never love someone or something as much as he loved you.

Rose repeated the nickname again and again. Maybe it was her new obsession. Last week, she tasted her very first lemon and kept screaming lemon all the time. Quite the learning experience, she had her father’s vocal chords that was for sure.

Jake shrugged it off and brought the mail to the kitchen table. He did not bother taking off his jacket, he kneeled with the two of you. He opened his legs and arms, hoping Rose would crawl and sit with him, but she just laughed and pointed at his face again. “Bear, Daddy is a bear!”

It finally hit you and you brust into laughter, leaving Jake in his confusion.

Rose pretended that her fingers were scissors and she mimicked the snip snip sound as she ran her little hand around Jake’s beard.

“She thinks you look like a bear.” You, too, brought your hand to Jake’s face and you stroked it lovingly. Rose agreed by nodding her head frantically. “You know, with the beard.”

“That’s not nice! I’m not a bear!” Jake pouted and pretended to be sad, which resulted in your daughter covering his face with kisses.

“No sad Daddy, I love my teddy bear!” She hugged him tight and Jake widened his eyes. He mouthed that she didn’t have a teddy bear and suddenly this looked like the biggest emergency in the world.

He scooped her up like she was as light as a feather, pulling out the cutest giggles out of her tiny body. “Get in, sweetheart, we’re going shopping!”

You told Jake you preferred to stay at home and clean around the house. He insisted he would prefer to have his princesses with him, but you gave him a wink. He was quicker to understand it meant you were clearing their evening schedule for something more entertaining than laundry, baby food making and bento box lunches binge watching.

So Jake got the little toddler ready. He let her pick her hat, her scarf and her mittens while he put on her boots. She usually hated that part, but he had this magic trick of singing a silly tune as he did so. It made her want to sing too, and forget about the heartbreaking moment her feet leave her favourite slippers. She opted for teal mittens, an orange hat with a pink pompom and a purple scarf with stripes. “She’s New York Fashion Week ready!”

You laughed, kissing them good bye.

*~*~*

Jake drove to the nearest mall and carried Rose over his shoulder until they reached the door of the shopping center.

“Where are we going?” She kept asking, from the moment she was in the car to now, when Jake was all scrunched over to hold her tiny hand.

“It’s a surprise, Rosie!”

“I love surprises!”

He made the walk to the Build a Bear store fun. He went to grab a muffin from a food stand and shared it with her, washing her hands so she would not stick them every where. He even stopped by a clothing store, taking notes of the pieces she liked from the front windows so he could get her new outfits. And when they finally made it to the store... She was running and dragging Jake along. He was surprised by her strength, but he really should not be. Ever since she was a baby she was strong like the Hulk, or like her mother. He liked to think she got it from you, his super woman with super strength and super everything.

“You can pick one, okay? And we’ll bring it to life together! Poof!” He added sounds to his explanations, catching her attention.

Rosie was impossible to control. She ran from one corner to the other, apologizing adorably when she bumped into a friendly employee. She would pick up a giraffe, no a cat, no, a dog, no, a dragon... Honestly Jake wanted to buy them all. He was aware the mall was closing soon, and he knew better than to torture these poor employees with an excited child who skipped her nap and would crash at any moment (or well, she would when he would stop giving her M&Ms to buy her concentration).

She finally made up her mind on a light golden bear. It came with a flower on its ear and pink paws. “It’s perfect, just like you!” Jake exclaimed and booped her nose. He let the employees teach Rose how to fill the plushie with stuffing until it was the best cuddle buddy in the world.

“How should we name her?”

“Jake!”

He shook his head, trying not to be insulted by the fact she still associated bears with him.

“No!” She listed possibly fifteen names that made less and less sense and gave the employees a headache.

Rose pulled on Jake’s pants, asking him to come down to her level, which he did. “What is Mommy’s favourite flower?” She asked and he answered.

“Daisy!” They both said in sync. It was a perfect name, because the bear had a daisy on it and Jake and you really had this flower theme going on. You, in fact, hesitated between so many flower names for your kid.

“Let’s show Mom your new friend!”

*~*~*

Jake managed to spend the entire car ride without a cry, a scream or a word of complaint until he accidentally woke Rose up from her nap by picking her up. She was tired and fussy. It was dinner time, but you and Jake decided it was better if she slept a bit more before. Your plans for the evening got bumped to tomorrow, but you could not care any less. Rose and Daisy were the new partners in crime and they were too adorable to resist.

“I have another idea!” Jake announced and set Rose down on the couch, inviting you to do the same. He disappeared in the laundry room, where he threw a soft blanket in the dryer with a dryer sheet. He then ran to the kitchen and prepared a platter of hot chocolate. He made sure that Rose’s was just warm enough and he placed a big marshmallow on it. He set the platter down and left again, only to come back with a warm blanket.

He turned on the television to play Frozen and sat on the couch with Rose in between the two of you. Your bodies were wrapped in a coccoon of warmth. And your heart felt the same. Rose quickly fell asleep, she did not even make it to the pat where Olaf appeared, and it was her favourite moment. She snored lightly, clutching on Daisy.

Your head was resting on Jake’s shoulder and you looked up to him.

If somebody told you a couple of years ago that you would live a life like this, you would have never believed it.

You have a beautiful house to live in. A job you love that allowed you as much family time as you wanted. A significant other that was nothing less than your soulmate. And you had this precious soul sleeping soundly with her mouth covered with hot cocoa.

You took a deep breath and Jake stared back into your eyes. The silence said it all.

You wanted nothing more in life than this: the taste of hot chocolate, your child being so peaceful and happy, Jake’s content face lighting up the evening sky and this never ending smell of fresh laundry. Your family was like a basket of clean laundry. So warm, so satisfying, so comforting.

Jake built Rose a bear.

And Jake, Rose and you built a home.

[rwbyremnants]

WARNING: Light-but-sudden gore later.

Heyyyy we still out here, I promise. More coming soon! Maybe a new fic once Lady Stardust wraps up!

=Chapter 27

The rest of the evening went quite well, all things considered. Yang politely answered Mrs Schnee's every question, only side-stepping a few about her parents that were too painful to answer, or about how intimate she and Weiss had been. For that, Weiss felt grateful; she didn't want her mother to think of her that way if at all possible.

Neither did she want to think of her mother that way. An hour or so later when Kali finally shook loose the bonds of minimum wage servitude, she couldn't help noticing the warmth of the smiles that passed between them, and saw Yang squinting suspiciously, as well. But they very quickly afterward set to work.

“So,” Kali finally sighed just as Weiss was coming back downstairs to fetch herself a glass of milk, and Yang a glass of juice. The two mothers were sitting very close to each other on the couch, poring over various documents. “If these figures are accurate…”

“They must be. Jacques keeps impeccable records. Do you think we really have a-” Her voice cut off when she noticed her daughter standing there. “Oh! Did you need something?”

Shifting awkwardly, she said, “Just something to drink. Am I interrupting… anything?”

“No, no. Go on.”

She went through into the kitchen, trying to shake the feeling of being out of place in her own home. That feeling hung around a lot lately. She wanted to ring her sister and ask her to come home - help it feel less strange. But that wouldn't be fair; Winter had her own life to live. Maybe she would write her a letter.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a gentle hand in the small of her back. She turned, expecting her mother, only to find Kali instead.

“Are you alright?”

“What? Oh… I'm fine. Why?”

“You're pouring that milk into the juice.”

Starting in complete shock, Weiss took a step back and gaped down at the glass overflowing with two different liquids that most certainly did not mix well. “Oh… oh, poo.” Grimacing, she carried it over to the sink to dump out.

“Seriously, what’s wrong?” she asked again. “Your father?”

“It’s not that. I… oh, you’re going to think I’m silly.” But the Belladonna matriarch wasn’t budging. “You and… my mother.”

Kali smiled very slightly. “She’s a wonderful woman, Weiss. She’s simply been through a very difficult situation. I was a little premature in passing judgement on her for not being there for you… because it wasn't truly her choice. Once on the other side of all this, I think you’ll find you’re glad to be her offspring.”

“No, not that - I meant, um… you and my mother.”

“Me and…” Her eyes slid closed as she nodded. “Ah.”

“It’s none of my business, of course. I’m sorry.” Kali didn’t respond; merely stood by waiting as Weiss rinsed out the glass and went back to start over. Eventually, she decided she had to finish her thought or she might never get out of there - and she might as well, now that the subject had been touched upon. “It’s just- I mean… you spent so much time flirting with me, and now, you and she are so close, and I’m… a little confused about that. But as I said, it’s none of my business, and I’m definitely making a big deal about nothing.”

Chuckling gently, Kali sidled closer and slid an arm around her back, granting her some comfort. “I’m fairly sure your mother isn’t one of us, Weiss. Don’t worry so much.”

“Did I say I was worried?”

“Yes. Body language and tonal inflection count.”

“Tonal wha…?” But when Kali only smiled easily, she sighed and looked down. “Then you aren’t interested in my mother in that way?”

“I didn’t say that. But even if I were, it’s… irrelevant.” At Weiss’s alarmed expression, she held up her other hand to waylay any complaints. “I only mean that even if she were interested - which she is not - I’d never accept her feelings. She’s barely a few days on the other side of leaving a husband who hurt her, as well as their children. I don’t date married women, and especially not ones who are in pain from that marriage, and too fragile to make wise decisions. It’s… not a good idea for either party. Do you understand?”

That did grant the poor girl some relief. However, she was a little surprised to find that underneath that relief… she felt some disappointment.

“Weiss?”

“Sorry,” she sighed as she poured the juice and put it away. “I must really be irritating to you right now.”

“Did you… want me to be interested in courting your mother?”

Weiss swallowed hard. She didn’t want to upset Kali, but it had to be said. “Not if you were still interested in courting me. It’s too strange.”

“Ahhh. Well, I can see how that would be awkward. I did try to assure you that I was teasing, but…”

“You should probably just ignore me,” she laughed uneasily as she tried to back toward the door - but Kali caught her by the wrist, drew her in close so that her hazel eyes were filling most of her vision. “H-hey! I almost spilled these!”

A long, tense moment passed, and Weiss felt her heart thumping louder. It wasn’t the way it did for Yang - that was its own unique, beautiful mess that she sought out whenever possible. But Kali was a different matter. It was as if she wanted both women to take care of her, but in different ways; in Yang, it was physical, romantic. Sensual. With Kali, there were thrilling hints of that, but the rest of it was completely different.

She wanted her to mother her. And she had done such a good job of it thus far that she craved more of that, to receive what she had missed from her own parents. The craving just manifested in an oddly sensual way because she wasn’t used to feeling it.

“I’m sorry,” Kali told her very simply. “Sometimes, I forget my own sapphic strength.”

“M-Mrs. Belladonna…”

“I’ll never flirt with you again. That is a promise. As for your mother… well, I stand by what I said before.” Her voice took on a tinge of urgency as she embraced Weiss warmly. “What’s most important to me now is to be there for both of you, and help you through this. It’s silly since we’ve only known each other for a few weeks, but I already feel like you’re family. And I need you to be alright. Even if not now, then soon, with all of us working toward that goal.”

Weiss melted completely into the hug, squeezing back as best she could with the two glasses in her hands. It was nice having someone on her side - and the Dragons were quite good at that. But after a moment, she found herself saying something that was a little at odds with her feelings and actions.

“I suppose… you don’t have to quit flirting. Just as long as you keep an eye on the line and don’t cross it.”

Kali laughed, squeezing her just a little. “New lesbians are so cute.” Her lips pushed into the top of Weiss’s head, prompting a giggle. “And delicious.”

“Close to that line,” Weiss warned as she backed away. “And with Yang upstairs!”

“Maybe I’ll wait just long enough for you two to get frisky and barge in,” she threatened with her eyebrows waggling. Weiss would have been upset, except that she had all but asked for this herself. What was wrong with her mouth lately?

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

Of course, Kali never made good on that threat. She and Yang didn't do any such thing, either; they studied. Now that her father was temporarily sequestered, she wanted to get back to keeping Raven from beating her up again. Yang groaned and complained, and tried to distract her with kisses, but in the end they got some decent work done.

Next came another dreary school day. The homecoming dance was on the immediate horizon, and decorations were going up all over the hallways, reminders about “appropriate conduct” on every bulletin board. The Dragons had plenty of fun deriding the very concept, since none of them would be going.

“We know our kind isn't welcome there,” Blake sighed as she finished off the last dregs on her tray. Kali probably offered to fix her something more appetizing, but she didn't want to be the only one eating out of a metal lunchbox or brown bag. At least, that's how Weiss would feel in her shoes; she herself had only suffered through one lunch in her freshman year that was catered, thanks to her father. The other kids made such a big deal about it she thought she would never live it down.

“Our kind, the Dragons?” she asked. “Or our kind… the Boston Marriage kind?”

Coco shrugged, working on her teeth with a toothpick. “Six of one, half-dozen of the other.”

“We could still all go. It might be fun!” The withering looks she got said otherwise, and she ducked her head down. “Or not. Sorry.”

“Hey, why not?” Yang sighed with a lazy smile. “We'll go to the dance, raise a little Cain, and then head back to Kali's to, y'know… be ourselves.”

“Or Shopkeeper's.” The instant she said it, Blake's face fell, and she stared down through the table. “Damn. I forgot.”

Weiss reached over to pat her back. “It'll take some time. And… we'll find a new place, like we talked about.”

“I'll wear a suit,” Yang piped up, to take their mind off the fire. “Pick you up, show you a good time.”

“No, thank you. I like the idea, but I'd rather see you in a pretty dress.”

“Yeah,” Coco laughed easily, propping her boots up on the table. Weiss curled her lip in disgust, but no one paid her any mind. “I'd pay good money to see that myself!”

Glaring at the sunglasses-clad girl, Yang snapped, “If I gotta wear one, so do you.”

“Nah. My Velvet will look like royalty, and I don't want to upstage her. Although… I'll be on Fox's arm when we arrive…” Now she looked the tiniest bit less confident.

“Hopefully, Cinder will be able to come by then,” Blake sighed. They all fell silent after that.

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

After cheerleader practice let out, Weiss almost pushed and shoved Ruby into Pyrrha's car. It had taken some convincing to get her to hang around until after they were through shaking pompoms and memorising cheers for the home team. Penny tagged along with her ever-present smile in place, and the both of them looked quite contented in the backseat. In no time at all, they were all seated in the malt shop, barely crammed into a single booth.

“Hey, squares,” Yang grunted when she joined them a few minutes later, pulling up a chair to sit at the end.

“Oh!” Pyrrha gasped, sitting up a little straighter. “Here, sit next to Weiss!”

Before she could fully rise, Yang forcibly pushed her back down by the shoulder. “Cool your heels. I can sit next to her later. Besides, you were there first.”

“Hello, Yang!” Penny piped up with a chipper grin. “My name is Penny, and it's a pleasure to meet you!”

“Uhhhh, yeah. We've met before, I think.”

After thinking for a moment, she grinned again. “So we have!”

“Hey, sis,” Ruby began with a hesitant smile. She was just beginning to have some confidence around Yang now, after their sickbed visits. “How's, um… your shoulder? Is it better?”

“Yeah, better. Still kinda aches sometimes, but Watts said to expect that for another month or two.” The waitress came over to drop off two malteds and a cheeseburger in front of Pyrrha and Penny, so she waited for her to leave. “Uh, what have you been up to, Rubes?”

Smile both cherubic and excited, silver eyes lighting up, she replied, “Me and Penny are gonna apply to become writers! For the Vale High Voice!”

“Actually, I think I would make a better copy editor,” Penny put in pleasantly. “But I'll leave that up to Miss Goodwitch. She's the faculty advisor.”

“That's wonderful,” Pyrrha told them immediately, smiling as wide as Ruby. “I did a few articles for them last year, and was on yearbook committee. It's the bees’ knees!”

Yang looked a little unsure of what to say. But the instant Weiss kicked her under the table, she smiled over at Ruby and said, “Great! Wow, I didn't know you were into writing.”

“Yep! Well, before now, I just, y'know, wrote stories about… well, it doesn't matter.”

“Sure it does. C'mon, tell me what you wrote.”

“Umm…” Blushing a little, she looked down at her fingers, playing idly with a napkin to distract herself from being forced to talk about her hobby. “Stories about… well, kinda like Anne of Green Gables, but with magic? Fairies and wizards. I don't know, they were silly.”

Voice suddenly quite hallowed and serious, Penny leaned in to say, “Oh, they weren't silly! I enjoyed Ruby's books!”

“Books?” Yang asked, her smile growing wider still.

“I know, I'm a cube,” Ruby muttered, red to her roots. “And they're only in notebooks, not a real-”

“Get outta town! That's pretty great, little sis!” At her stunned expression, Yang gently socked her in the upper arm. “I ain't so good at reading, especially not a whole book. So you writing one is a big deal!”

Still wincing from the light punch, Ruby grinned. “W-well, they aren’t very good…”

“I told you they are,” Penny said simply, as if her stating that settled the matter.

“Can I read one?” When Ruby buried her face in her hands, Yang said, “What?”

“They’re not real books!” she squealed. “Just a bunch of scribbles!”

However, Ruby underestimated two things: Yang’s growing interest in her estranged sister, and precisely how stubborn the brute could be if she put her mind to it. That was something with which Weiss was intimately familiar, so she helped convince Ruby that there would be no dissuading her by that point.

And Ruby loved it. All Weiss needed to feel secure in her decision to push them together was to see how earnestly ecstatic the younger girl was to be hanging out with her big sister again.

The sky was getting dark by the time their little rap session was interrupted. Weiss had been about to check her watch and head home when it turned out not to be necessary.

“Hey, kid. Takin’ too long.”

Weiss blinked up at the tall, lanky man. She needed no introduction; ordinarily, she would be demanding to know why some stranger was coming up to their table. But he was almost a dead ringer for Raven - same brooding, dangerous eyes, same pale skin and black hair. Both fairly tall; Yang obviously got the averages of her mother and father's heights. That made this man…

“Sorry, Uncle Qrow!” Ruby squeaked with a duck of her head. “Lost track of time! Can, um, can we give Penny a ride?”

One of his broad shoulders shrugged. “Hurry it up.” Then he leaned down and squinted hard at Yang. “Huh. So it is you. Been a while, Little Dragon.”

“Hey.”

That was an awfully short reply. Even while Weiss was staring between the two of them, Ruby was hopping up and dragging Penny with her - almost as if trying to avoid an incident.

“You, uh… get my birthday present?”

“Yeah. Thanks for the two bits.”

“Mm.” He reached over to tousle Ruby’s hair. “C’mon, squirt.”

“See you guys!” Once Qrow had turned his back, hands in the pockets of his grey slacks, Ruby mouthed the word “Sorry!” at her sister before fleeing.

The table remained silent for another minute or so. The waitress brought their check in the meantime. Weiss moved to the other side of the booth and dragged Yang into it next to her.

“What happened? I mean, that was a pretty chilly reception.”

“I agree,” Pyrrha said in a hesitant tone, idly moving the straw around her malt glass.

“Drop it.” After a few seconds of them staring, Yang sighed and grunted, “Family stuff. Okay? Just… he only ever had time for Ruby. And she's not even his niece by blood. Why couldn't he take me in, too?”

Stunned by these sudden admissions, Weiss breathed, “Raven's your mother. I'm sure that's… well, of course she would get custody. He probably didn't have any choice.”

“Yeah? Well, I don't remember him fighting very hard. And Ruby didn't, either.” When Pyrrha winced, she snapped, “I know! I know already, okay? Little perfect golden child was too young, and too upset about Summer dying. But I didn't get to be upset. I had to go live with the one person on Earth who would say anything bad about Summer Rose, who was way more of a mom to me than the bitch who gave birth to me.”

By that point, she was trembling all over. With rage, or with sadness; it wasn't easy for Weiss to tell, but she put an arm around her all the same. She clung a little tighter, and eventually the tension lessened, Yang’s breathing evened out.

“I’m sorry,” Pyrrha whispered very quietly, as if worried she would break something if she were louder.

“Nah. I’m… gonna be fine. Promise.” Then she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Summer’s gone, and so’s Dad, and nothing’s gonna bring them back, anyway. So I might as well just… move on with my life.”

“Yang…” But Weiss didn’t get a chance to say anything else before she was getting up.

“I need to pee. Ladies, anybody else? No?” Without really waiting long enough for an answer, she pushed through to the restroom in the rear of the soda fountain, shoulders still taut despite her efforts to appear casual.

Pyrrha slumped a little lower in her chair. “Good grief, that was…”

“Awkward? Unpleasant?” As Pyrrha nodded, Weiss slumped forward herself, dragging her malt glass over to sip the last few drags from the bottom. “At least now I understand why she resents them. Imagine, being asked to raise only one of two sisters!”

“Or being one of the two. Not a nice situation for anyone involved.”

Her eyes flicked towards the bathrooms. “Should I go check on her? Probably not. She probably wants to be left alone for a minute.”

“You know her better than I,” she answered with a self-conscious laugh. “But… maybe just check on her, and ask if she wanted to be alone? Then you'll know for sure.”

Deciding she was right, Weiss made her way to the ladies’ restroom. Yang was seated on the sink, head in her hands. When she looked up to see who had come in, Weiss could at least see that she had not been crying - which was good, even if it didn't necessarily mean she was alright.

“Oh… hey, you.”

Weiss tried for a smile. “Hi. Sorry if I'm intruding, but… I wanted to check if you were alright. But I can leave! Just say the word.”

It made her sad that Yang actually debated the options. In the end, she sighed and leaned back against the mirror. “Wish it didn't still bother me. But just seeing his or Ruby's face… reminds me nobody wanted me. Not Raven, or Dad, or Summer… Qrow…”

“Ruby did,” she told her firmly. “And now you can't pretend she didn't - and if you try, I'll scold you until you see reason.”

“Fine,” she snorted, gesturing for Weiss to come closer. She did, and she reached out for her hand, squeezing it gently. “And I've got you, too. The Dragons. I shouldn't complain.”

“No reason you shouldn't, if you need to. Just want you to keep in mind that your sister loves you quite a bit - and not having you in her life was painful for her.”

Finally, Yang's expression turned truly sad. “Really? I mean… I can tell she's all smiles around me now, but not… she really missed me, huh?” When Weiss only nodded firmly, entirely convinced it was true, her violet eyes flicked toward the tiny window at the top of the wall. “Damn. I've been a terrible big sis.”

“Don’t say that,” Weiss reassured her quickly.

“Yeah, I have. Don't butter me up.”

Leaning up on her tippy-toes, she gave Yang a gentle kiss to the cheek. “You were still missing Summer, and feeling hurt. It's… you weren't mean to her much.” Knowing that wouldn't help, she added, “But you're already making it up to her now. Don't feel too bad.”

“Why do you love me?”

“What?”

“I'm a jerk,” Yang whispered in such a fragile voice that she had to double-check that this really was her girlfriend, The Dragon. “To you sometimes, and to Ruby, Qrow… even my mom, who is a real piece of work on her own. Sometimes, I'm really worried that… that I'm just a bad seed.”

Voice as gentle and soothing as she could make it, Weiss whispered, “You're strong, and loyal, and brave… and tender with me. Don't be silly; nobody's perfect. And you, Yang Xiao Long, are one of the best. I mean it.”

For a long moment, they simply stood and let their leather-clad arms hold each other. They had been through a lot in their lives, and a lot of it very recently. Then Yang left a kiss on top of Weiss's head, close to where Kali had so recently.

“What would I do without you, Schnee?”

“Probably fall apart,” she sighed airily while striding for the door. Yang let out an easy laugh as she followed.

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

Out of respect for their parents, Weiss and Yang retired to the train depot for a little post-dessert enjoyment. Pyrrha drove them, as they were still trying to let Yang's injury heal.

An hour passed with the two of them taking turns wringing pleasure from bodies that were quickly becoming so familiar. Once, they tried Weiss reclining back against Yang's front while the brute reached around to fondle her from behind. That was nearly as magical.

“You two really ought to fix your hair,” Pyrrha said as she glanced in the rearview mirror at them. “People will talk.”

“Let 'em talk,” Yang purred into Weiss's ear.

“Stop that!”

“Never.”

Blushing, their chauffeur went on, “We’re almost there, anyway. Do y-you want me to… drive around the block again?”

“Yeah,” Yang sighed wearily. “But you probably better take me home now instead.”

“Okay. I'm sorry.”

“Not your fault. Just gotta do what I gotta do.”

Weiss did offer to go in with her, but Yang declined. She thought it was more important that she spend a little one-on-one time with Raven. That sounded like a fate worse than death to Weiss, but she knew the reason was to hopefully help bridge that enormous emotional canyon between them.

As Pyrrha began driving them home, Weiss now in the front seat, she sighed and looked over at the tall redhead. “So… want to come up to my room and listen to the radio?”

“Oh? Shouldn’t we do our homework?”

“Probably. But… I think we can take a break for a little while. Maybe I could scare up some of my old comic books.”

The smile that stretched across her friend’s lips told her she had done the right thing. Even if she didn’t mean to, she had been a less than ideal “best friend” of late, and this was something they both needed.

Once they got back to Atlas Heights, Weiss stowed her jacket under the seat out of habit; she didn’t know why she kept doing that, but also didn’t much feel like going back for it just now. Then they began to head up to the front door.

“Think we could find any of Kali’s cooking in the kitchen?” Pyrrha asked quietly. “Maybe some pie?”

“Pyrrha! We just ate!”

“W-well, my metabolism is higher from all that track-and-field,” she hedged, cheeks pinkening a little.

Chuckling a little, she said, “Alright, we’ll check. But don’t be too disappointed if you’re out of luck; the way he packs food away, Whitley must have a hole in his stomach or s-”

What a sentence to be interrupted. Weiss had just been wondering what the noise behind her was, but didn’t even get time to fully turn and investigate before she felt white-hot pain in her abdomen. When she looked down, it was to see the very tip of a thin blade sticking out just below and to one side of where her navel lay, gleaming with her own blood.

“Or s-something.”

[obaby-me]

Can i please have a matchup? I'm a woman, short (5'3) BUT i do volleyball and kickboxing so im strong :) i'm the youngest sibling, and usually the princess of the group (funny story, i was named after cinderella) and while people tend to dote on me (aw, who am i kidding. i LOVE it!) i love to make others smile, and i spend my free time with friends. i tell bad jokes, but they make people laugh - and i study astrophysics, with a minor in literature! i love learning, music, and books :D (and you)

I match you with Asmodeus!

You have it all. You’ve got the brains, the brawn, the artist, and the fun all wrapped up into an adorable princess package and Asmo couldn’t be more in love with you.

You love a little doting, and Asmo’s ready to drown you in it. You’ll be his princess for sure—and he’ll play the role of your dashing prince. You can bet he’ll take to dressing you both accordingly, and taking any excuse to dance with you as if you were in your own cinderella story. And when you’re out kicking ass, literally or figuratively, on people or with a ball, Asmo is your number one fan and cheerleader. He has the pompoms and everything. He’s a cheer squad all on his own.

You always have something new and interesting to talk about, from your studies to your books and when you’ve got your nose into pages doing your research, he has his own in his magazines and working on his latest cosmetics. Sometimes you get free pedicures and manicures as you work, just because he’s eager to be at your side even if it means doing so quietly. It works perfectly in his favor that you like to have company around.

You make him laugh, you make him smile. He has so much fun just being with you—he never feels alone with you at his side.

[egglygreg]

I made a list of all the pets I've had in my 24 years of life

Oh it's... so many. So many pets.

Dogs-

Rex- Ridgeback/shepherd. Very lazy. Could say his fav treat "boney-ohs!"

Winnie- Aussie terrier. SO much sass. Backtalking princess who also loved picking fights and killing spiders.

Macca- Suspected shepherd/staffy. Feral trash disaster who got up to huge amounts of mischief. Bit like Red Dog. I plan on writing a book.

Farlie- Kelpie. Anxiety* personified. Super smoochy.

Cats-

Dusk- Small black and white feral I kinda tamed- SUPER fuzzy and cute in winter, scraggly half chewed in summer (think fox). Lived under the house. Appeared when he heard my singing, loved agressive pats, dribbled when happy

Dawn- Dusk's short coated grey tabby brother (disappeared after a year)

Fleece- Feral kitten, tamed and found a new home after a week. Had to kneel in nettles and get horribly scratched to catch him.

Rabbits-

Molly- Grey version of that rabbit from Monty Python, most vicious of beasts. Actually male.

Goku- Black lop with white bits and gold "hair", sweetheart but real dumb. No fear. Very good boy on lead.

Parmesan- My gremlin. Golden mixed breed. Hefty 6kg. Naughty destructive chew monster. Loved his face mooshed. All the flops.

Leesi- Grey netherland dwarf. Gentle baby. Will lick anyone, even Parmy (who was always mean to her). Only current pet.

Guinea pigs-

Piff- Yellow.

Nuts- Fat.

Hairball- Black sentient slipper. Couldn't tell one end from the other.

Inky- stripe- Black with a white stripe on his face, obviously.

Chrysanthemum Theresa- Tri coloured. She and Agatha were named after a story mum told me. Her Aunty, only 10 years older and a teen, was teasing mum and her sister that these were originally going to be their names. Aunty Denise cried.

Agatha Twaddle- Also tri coloured.

Birds-

Flute- Cockatiel. Screaming. Always stealing food, once got a hot two minute noodle caught round his leg and flew shrieking around the room. Loved showers, you had to let him in. Pen thief and paper shredder.

Samantha and Samuel- Budgies, former green and latter blue. Learnt to make kissy noises constantly.

Ducks-

Quacker- Black, named by my bro.

Zipper- Black, named for zipping under the water as a duckling.

Blanche- White. Obviously.

Chickens (big category, I loved my chickens growing up)-

Pompom- The original. White silky bantam with pink skin (most have black). Lived for 12 years. Most docile animal ever. Completely unconcerned. Loved having babies, including the 3 ducks. Used to dye her different colours and paint her nails.

Fluffy- Pompom's sister. Got eaten by the neighbors dog. I was 5, very upset.

Ruby- Big rhode island rooster. Named because I was really into Deltora Quest (all the gem names). Handraised by 7 year old me, I would carry him and his brother under each arm.

Pearl- Ruby's bro. When his brother got re-homed, he would perch at the livingroom window and watch tv.

Sapphire- Whoo boy, this chicken! Silky X rhode island (Pompom and one of the bro's offspring). Black, sleek feathers with green sheen and a slicked back pompom. Face like a hawk and intelligent eyes. Always escaped the pen, even with clipped wings. Slept in trees. Would steal the dogs food. Watched her take a bone off Rex and drag it away while he snarled at her. He would try and take her eggs and she'd peck his face. Would lay eggs in multiple spots to confuse me. Fought a fox and won. Literal tiny raptor.

Brown Chook- Fat brown hen with pretty green black markings on her neck and a slicked back pompom. Amazingly, Sapphire's sister. Loved a lap to sit in, especially dad's (she obviously had a crush). Would greet me at the front gate with the dogs every day. Suprisingly un-motherly despite appearance.

Omlette- White silky bantam. Nervous and wary, despite being handraised.

Stitch- Omelette's bro, died young from unknown illness.

Fefe- White silky bantam. Basically Heihei from Moana. Goofiest animal. Shaped like a weird fluffy emu. Super uncoordinated. Probably inbred. Used to gently peck my feet when I fed them, would have to direct her to the food. Once got a red berry stuck on the end of her beak and ran around in circles. Had mum hysterical.

Shire- White silky male. Goof. Only rooster at the time but was definitely not the boss (it was Sapphire).

Pippin- Hand raised sussox rooster. Carried him and Merry around in an apron as chicks. Took them like that to church at Christmas.

Merry- Used to fly up onto my shoulder. I'd pretend he was a cool eagle or something.

Killer- White sussox rooster. Sooky scaredy cat.

Callula- White silky. Nervous but very sweet. Flapper.

Periwinkle- Grey silky rooster. Loved eating violets, constant confusion.

Gazania- Gold silky. Just a happy little chookun.

Pony-

Magpie- Welsh mountain mix. Black and white (again, obviously). Grumpy old man. Had taught so many kids to ride, was fed up by the end of it. Liked me well enough, since I mostly brushed him and gave him treats rather than riding often.

That's 40! (I think?)

And these are only the ones I remember! I also left out gran's 3 pets where I currently live, the animals (aside from Magpie) that I had at dad's, and all the rescued wild critters over the years. Yep.

[somethinsappy]

Snow says it’s (love)

Emma nods her way through Snow’s nagging, inching toward the door with every sentence from her mother. 

Just as Emma’s hand is on the doorknob, the door opens, hitting Emma’s back and causing her to stumble forward, which would have been fine except for Neal’s alphabet blocks, which tangled in her feet and sent her thumping to the ground. 

“Emma!” “Idiot.” two voices call in unison. 

Ow. 

Emma rolls onto her side cradling her knee and willing tears not to spring to her eyes. Owowowow.

“Oh, honey,” comes Snow’s saccharine voice. Emma hates that she thinks it, but she kind of just wants Snow to just go away. 

“Stop babying her,” Regina’s voice says sharply to Snow. The older woman crouches down to Emma’s level, softly removing Emma’s hand from her knee. She makes a light tsk noise with her tongue, straightening out Emma’s leg despite her protests. 

“Do grow up, dear.” Regina snaps. “If you didn’t wear jeans meant for a twelve year old, I could actually have a look at your knee now, couldn’t I?” 

Emma does her best impression of a growl, the noise belying the fact that she sort of liked being fussed over by the prickly woman. 

Regina rolls her eyes, running her fingers over Emma’s leg and pressing in different places to ensure Emma hadn’t seriously hurt anything. Satisfied, she wraps an arm around Emma’s back and a hand around her waist, pulling her up as she rose. 

“T-thanks,” Emma gets out, feeling a little lightheaded. She’s unsure of whether it was caused by getting up so quickly, or the warm hand that has yet to leave her waist. 

“Of course,” Regina says, dismissing her gratitude. Regina’s hand trails along Emma’s back before moving up the front of Emma’s coat, smoothing its wrinkled lines. She straightens the beanie on Emma’s head and tucks a lick of blonde hair behind her ear. “There,” Regina says with a degree of finality. “You don’t look like you just got swept off your feet.” 

Emma thinks perhaps that’s the sort of statement one feels affronted by. She huffs, “Sweeping? More like shoving.” 

“I’ve tried shoving, trust me,” Regina quips, sweeping by her and into the loft’s kitchen. 

What the fuck was that supposed to mean, anyway?

“Emma, weren’t you leaving?” Snow asks, Neal gurgling on her hip. 

Huh. So she was. Now she’s here in the kitchen. “You were so concerned about me two seconds ago and now you’re just kicking me out. I see how it is!” 

Snow shoots Regina a look. It should bother her that Snow and Regina give each other these kind of looks often, but she finds it kind of endearing, even if she’s not quite sure she’d like what they mean if she knew. 

Snow opens her mouth, and Emma can almost see the nags hanging off her lips. “Okay, okay. I know. Get the Turkey--25 pounds. And the flowers you ordered. And pick up the sweet potatoes.” Emma reiterates. Before Snow can open her mouth again, she quickly adds, “And ‘Don’t forget to confirm Ruby is coming,” in a slightly higher tone that ostensibly was supposed to be mimicking Snow’s voice. 

Snow nods with an approving smile and starts shooing Emma out the door with her one free hand.  

“Okay, okay. I’m going, see?” Emma huffs, shooting one last plaintive look at an unconcerned Regina before heading out the door. 

She manages to get the turkey and potatoes without much of a problem, also picking up a bottle of whiskey on a whim. Belle is tending the shop at Game of Thorns when she arrives, and is busy arranging a monstrosity of red, green and silver that Snow had undoubtedly ordered. She packages up three small brown boxes as well, sliding them over to a confused Emma.

“Mistletoe,” Belle says in answer with a sly smile. 

“No way-” 

“It’s what Snow ordered,” Belle says with a shrug.  

Emma sighs loudly. She sincerely hopes that the mistletoe isn’t for her benefit. Ever since she broke up with Hook months ago, Snow had seemed strangely insistent upon Emma ‘getting back out there’ and ‘finding her True Love.’ It had led to a number of frustrating arguments, two unexpected Blind Dates and three attempts at making Emma online dating profiles. 

“Just swipe right on one of them,” Snow had said plaintively. “For me?” Emma had swiped left in quick succession, swiping past three dwarves, Henry’s science teacher and...(vomit!) Blue. Her finger hovered over the next picture, however. The picture was definitely taken candidly, as there was a slight look of surprise on her face and a ridiculous snapchat filter giving her a princess crown and hearts. Emma had smiled, immediately knowing that Henry would have taken it, and Regina would have demanded he delete it at once. Her finger had hovered--would it be rude to swipe left on Regina? Would Regina ever swipe right on her? What if Emma did and she didn’t? Snow had looked suddenly disinterested, claiming that she heard Neal fussing, leaving Emma alone with her hovering finger. Emma deleted the app. 

“She’s just trying to help,” Belle says softly, eyes bright and knowing.

“Help? More like cause me middle school dance-level embarrassment.” 

She had always felt jealous when other kids expressed embarrassment about their parents. At least they had someone to fuss over them, to show up at school with their forgotten lunches or to chaperone school dances and field trips. To have someone care for her like that--

She would have given up almost anything. 

But Snow was certainly making up for lost time. Emma still flushes with embarrassment every time she passes Blind Date Number 2, Sebastian, on her way to Regina’s office. At least Blind Date Number 1 had been Mulan, and the two of them had been able to grab a drink and laugh over it. 

“She cares for you,” Belle responds, handing Emma the arrangement. “See you tomorrow?” 

“Yeah,” Emma responds from the forest of pine and ribbons in front of her face. “Can’t wait,” she finishes dryly. 

Emma carefully places the arrangement in her car, grumbling a little as pine needles scatter onto the seat. She pulls into a parking spot in front of Granny’s, happy to note that it was just about time for lunch. 

“Hey, Rubes,” Emma greets the waitress, sitting down on one of the squeaky bar stools. 

“What can I get ya?” the woman responds, leaning onto the counter between them. 

“The usual.”  “Are you sure?” 

“Yeah, why?” 

Ruby tips her head in the direction of the door, bringing Emma’s attention to the arrival of one Regina Mills. “The wife’s here.” 

Emma huffs at her friend, “I told you--”

“Yeah, yeah, not to call her that. Should I sub the milkshake for a water?” 

“Yeah,” Emma grouses, kicking the wall of the counter petulantly with her feet. Regina was always commenting on her diet and not-so-subtly attempting to get her to eat ‘healthier’ for the sake of their kid. 

“Oh, hey, Rubes?” Emma asks. “Mom wanted me to make sure you were coming to Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow. Can you make it?” 

“Yes,” Ruby responds, drawing out the word. She shouts Emma’s order to Granny in the kitchen. “I already told her I was coming.” 

“Huh.” Why would Snow have her ask Ruby about dinner if she already knew she was coming?

The door opens, letting in a cold sweep of air, and suddenly, Ruby starts laughing.  

“Oh, Emma,” Ruby says, patting Emma’s hand on the counter. “Your mother’s such a shit.” Seeing Emma’s confused look, she continues, “Your mom wanted you to ask me as your date.” 

Emma’s mouth opens once and closes again, no words actually forming. 

“Date?” Regina asks, placing her purse on the counter and sliding in smoothly next to Emma. 

“Yeah, looks like I’m Emma’s Christmas date tomorrow night,” Ruby says with a wolfish grin. 

“You are?” Emma asks at the same time Regina says, “She is?” 

“Yep,” Ruby says with a roguish wink. 

Well, then.

“Anything I can get you, Madame Mayor?” 

A leash, Regina thinks angrily. “My usual,” she grits out instead.

Once Ruby has bounded away, Regina turns to Emma with an icy smile. “So.” 

“So.” 

“How did this occur?” she asks, gesturing between Emma and the absent Ruby. 

“You don’t want to know,” Emma grumbles. 

“Don’t I?” 

Emma hates it when Regina gets all rhetorical, mostly because she’s never quite sure how to respond. “You don’t. Trust me,” Emma sighs. There’s a few beats of silence between them. It’s far from unusual, but this time it feels...tense. “You, uh, ready for Snow’s inevitable Christmas jumpers?” 

“As ready as I am to see Henry go to college.” 

Emma snorts a little. “She can’t top last year.” The previous Christmas, Snow had gotten them matching Christmas jumpers, complete with snowmen made of pompoms and the words, ‘Baby it’s cold outside’ written in script below. Nothing like wearing the lyrics to the world’s rapiest song to get you in the Christmas spirit. 

They ended up singing it together after quite a few spiked eggnogs, much to Henry’s delight. The little shit still hadn’t deleted it off his phone, and would randomly send it to them despite their hollow threats of grounding. 

Yeah, it was a good Christmas, even despite Hook getting into a pissing match with Regina over where Emma would spend her Christmas morning. 

Emma’s glad that relationship is history.

The two eat their lunches with companionable chatter, Regina slipping fries off Emma’s plate and Emma deciding not to comment. When they ask for their checks, Ruby only comes back with Regina’s. 

“Yours is on the house,” Ruby says with another wink.

Regina, thinking of leashes again, grinds out, “Nonsense. I’ll cover it.” 

“No, really--” Emma protests.

“Not at all! It’s the least I can do for my dat--” 

“Which is tomorrow, I might add,” Regina huffs, throwing a $50 bill on the counter and shrugging on her coat as she marches out the door. 

When Emma turns back to look at Ruby, the woman is positively grinning. 

“Someone’s jealous,” Ruby teases, picking up the empty plates. 

“Who? Regina?” Emma asks, replaying the last thirty seconds of her life. No--Regina was just...protective about certain things. Or something. Honestly, Emma had given up trying to analyze certain aspects of Regina’s behavior long ago. “No!” 

Ruby snorts, humming out a “Mmm-hmm,” as she saunters into the kitchen.

Emma sighs, running a greasy hand through her hair. What had her mother gotten her into?

SQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQ

(1/?) 

[chicgeekgirl89]

Partied Out

Prompt: Too many holiday parties.

@densi-mber

I enjoyed writing this story IMMENSELY. I cannot stop laughing. These two are too much!

“How the hell did we get roped into going to three parties in one day?” Deeks asked as he attempted to open the car door while juggling three bottles of wine in carefully selected gift bags.

“Well, you said yes to your mom’s party without telling me,” Kensi said, shoving an armload of clothes into the backseat.

“Oh come on! You said yes to Tiffani P.’s party without telling me!”

“Not true. I told you about that party a month ago. You forgot.”

“Because you didn’t tell me to write it down! I thought it was like a hypothetical possibility. Not a set in stone plan.”

“Well it was. And then Nell and Eric scheduled their party and we can’t skip that one so here we are.” Kensi poked her earrings into place as she slid into the driver’s seat. “Did you get the gifts for the white elephant?”

“They’re in the trunk. Are you sure we have to wear these?” Deeks looked down at his sweater, which sported the word “Naughty” in capital letters and an assortment of ugly pompoms.

Kensi pulled at the neck of her own sweater, which had the matching “Nice” and pompoms. “Yeah. It said on the invitation.”

“My only consolation is that whatever Eric’s wearing it will be worse than this.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Kensi said fervently as she pulled out of the driveway.

Nell and Eric’s Ugly Sweater Party began at 4:00pm. They would stay for an hour and a half before heading to Roberta’s Christmas dinner and escape just in time to hang out with the Cupcake Girls at Tiffani P.’s “White Christmas Extravaganza.”

They arrived at Nell’s loft at exactly 4:03pm. “We’re three minutes behind schedule,” Deeks said as they hustled to the front door.

“I know, I know!” Kensi said. “That’s the wrong wine!”

“Damn it!” Deeks hurled the red gift bag back into the car as Kensi hissed, “The green bag! Get the green one!”

The front door opened and they both blinked. Eric was wearing a red and green striped blazer with flashing lights that seemed to be playing music. He’d completed the look with a top hot sporting a large poinsettia and a pair of shorts that had reindeer all over them.

“Wow,” was all Kensi could manage.

“You’re here! Welcome!” Eric said brightly, looping strands of blinking Christmas lights over their heads.

“Are these so we can be seen from space?” Deeks asked weakly.

“Hi!” Nell bounded to the door and grabbed Kensi’s hand. “Get in here you two!”

She was in a dress that resembled an elf’s uniform and wore pointy elf shoes on her feet that jingled as she walked. “Your sweaters are great!” she said as she dragged Kensi to the kitchen.

“Oh, yeah, thanks.”

“Are you sure this was the right choice?” Eric said, examining his jacket. “I really think the one with the Christmas trees is good too.”

“It is good, but this one is better,” Nell said. “Here, have some eggnog.”

She poured generous glasses for Deeks and Kensi who each took a timid sip. Kensi choked and Deeks’ eyes widened as the doorbell rang and the Wonder Twins took off to answer it. “Holy eggnog Batman,” Deeks said.

“How many bottles of rum did they put in here?” Kensi asked.

“Um, three.”

“What?”

Deeks slid the recycling bin out from underneath the counter. “Three.”

“We can’t drink this!”

“Okay um…how about this. You drink at this party and I’ll drive us to my mom’s. And then I can drink there and you can drive to Tiffani’s and then…we’ll figure it out from there.”

“I’m not going to your mom’s house completely plastered!”

But Deeks was already dumping his glass into Kensi’s and Nell and Eric were returning with more guests in tow. “How’s that eggnog?” Eric asked.

“So good,” Deeks said holding up his empty glass.

“Drink up Kensi,” Nell said as she began pouring glasses for their new guests.

Kensi just glared at her boyfriend and sipped slowly.

When most of the guests had arrived, the games began. First was the ugly sweater competition for which Deeks and Kensi won the “Best Couple” award. Then there was a contest in which you had to wrap your partner in wrapping paper and finally a relay race where they built snowmen out of marshmallows. Nell refilled their glasses steadily throughout and Kensi found herself a bit worse for the wear by the time they started to say their goodbyes.

It took her four tries to put on the shoe that had come off during the relay and then she nearly headed into the pantry instead of out the front door. “Whoa.” Deeks gripped her arm and steered her to the hallway. “This way princess.”

“You can’t go yet!” Eric said. “We still have the gingerbread house competition.”

“Sorry buddy, my mom is expecting us,” Deeks said as he grabbed Kensi’s arm to keep her from tipping into the Christmas tree.

“Well you have to take them to go then! You can make them at home.” Nell was insistent so they waited while she packed up a vast amount of frosting, sprinkles, and gumdrops for their decorating pleasure.

By the time Deeks got Kensi in the car they were running twenty minutes behind. “I’m going to change in the backseat,” Kensi announced, launching herself headfirst into the back of the car.

“Yikes! Geez Kensi!” Deeks swerved as her foot narrowly missed his skull.

He reached out a hand to steady her. “Hey!” She swatted it away from her rear end, which was sticking up in the air. “None of that while you’re driving!”

“I’m not getting frisky babe, just trying to avoid a ticket or near death experience,” he said in exasperation as her sweater came flying into the front seat.

“Where’s my black boots?” She was talking far too loud.

“In the bag with my belt and pants.”

Those were whipped at his head next. “Babe, I don’t need those yet!”

There was a crunching sound. “Damn it!”

“What?” Deeks checked the rearview mirror but couldn’t see anything.

“I think I just sat on the gingerbread houses.”

“Oh my god, you are super plastered aren’t you?”

She popped up and kissed him sloppily on the neck. “Yep. Your fault buddy.”

She managed to get herself dressed and back into the front seat by the time they pulled into his mom’s driveway. “Okay,” Deeks tried to give them both a pep talk as he pulled off his own sweater and buttoned the shirt they’d bought for the occasion. “We can do this. We’re late, but we can do it.”

“Oh I’ll do it.” Kensi grabbed the front of his shirt and mashed her lips to his.

He grunted in surprise. “Kensi!”

There was a knock on the car window and they turned to see both Roberta and Guy smiling down at them.

“Holy mother of Satan!” Deeks put a hand over his heart and slowly rolled down the window. “Hi Mama. We’ll be in in just a minute.”

“Well would you hurry up? You’re half an hour late. Everyone is starving.”

“Just start the hor d’ouevres Mama.”

“We were waiting for you.”

“Well now we’re here so just go ahead and we’ll be right in.”

She rolled her eyes at him and turned to go. Guy eyed them closely. “You two all right in there?”

“Yeah, super fine Guy.” Deeks ground the words out between his teeth.

“I know your mom is looking for grandkids but maybe not in our driveway, all right?”

“Thank you Guy!” Deeks rolled up the window and looked at his girlfriend who had remained blessedly silent during the exchange. “Still hammered?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Perfect.”

This party was mostly friends of Roberta and Guy, who were from exceptionally different crowds. Deeks grabbed a plate of appetizers from the counter along with a very big glass of wine and made his way to where he’d left Kensi on the couch.

“How much do you think that guy can bench press?” he said, looking across the room at a man who appeared to be a body builder and was wearing the world’s smallest tank top.

“Soooooooo much,” Kensi said with a giggle.

“Where did you get that?!” Deeks snatched a half empty glass from her hand.

“Somebody gave it to me.” She frowned at him. “I like wine.”

“Yeah but we agreed it was my turn to drink. No more for you!”

She pouted for only a second before taking four of the bruschetta off the plate he’d brought over. “These are so good.”

“I’m going to go find you some coffee.”

“With Bailey’s!”

He turned back and pointed a finger at her. “No.”

By the time he made his way back to her dinner was starting and Guy had escorted her to the table, handing her yet another glass of wine, which Deeks promptly took from her fingers.

“Hey!”

“No. More.”

“Martin, you’re sitting right here next to Guy.” Roberta bustled over, waving him into the empty chair.

He turned to his girlfriend. “See? I need the wine. Me.”

And boy did he. Sitting between his mother and her boyfriend was like every nightmare he’d ever had worsened by one thousand percent. If their lovesick looks at one another and their pet names weren’t the most sickening thing he’d ever experienced he didn’t know what was.

“This is a fabulous party my sweet,” Guy said as they were finishing dessert.

“Thank you monkey,” she said.

“That’s my knee!” Deeks cried, jerking away from Guy so violently that the whole table shook.

“Whoops.” Guy grinned. “Sorry Martin.”

Deeks downed the rest of his glass as the alarm on his phone went off. He looked at Kensi. “That’s our cue.”

“Super.” She got unsteadily to her feet. “Roberta. Guy. Thanks.”

With that she turned and went out the front door. “Uh, yeah, thanks Mama. We’ll see you soon. Guy…” Deeks tried to come up with something to say and when he failed he simply shrugged and followed his fiancé.

“Babe. Not our car,” he said when he reached the driveway.

She looked up and frowned, removing her hand from the grey minivan she’d just been attempting to enter. “Oh. Deeks, I have to tell you something.”

“Okay.”

“I think I’m still drunk.”

“No kidding.”

He was feeling a little buzzed himself meaning driving themselves to Tiffani’s party was out of the question. “I’ll get us a Lyft. You go get the white elephant gifts and our clothes out of the car.”

The theme of the Tiffani’s party was “White Christmas” which meant everyone was supposed to come wearing white, bring a white elephant gift, and that presumably everything at the party was going to be white too.

Which would have been fine except, “Oh shit.”

“What?” Deeks asked in the back of the Lyft car.

She held up her formerly white dress, which now had smears of green and red frosting down the front of it. “You put the gingerbread houses in the same bag as my dress.”

“Well it’s not….” Deeks winced as she turned it around to reveal even more smudges. “Okay, yeah, it’s bad.”

“What are we going to do? Tiffani is going to freak out.”

“Okay, um…” Deeks thought for a moment before pulling off his button down.

“Oh, okay,” Kensi slid over so she was in his lap, her fingers finding their way under the white t-shirt he’d had on underneath his dress shirt.

“No, god you are so handsy when you’re drunk! You put my shirt on over your dress and I’ll just wear my undershirt and that’s as good as it’s going to get.”

“We’re here,” the Lyft driver said loudly, clearly displeased at whatever the two crazy people in his backseat were doing.

“We are so not getting a five star review,” Deeks said as the car pulled away from the curb.

“Babe, where are the gifts?”

“Shit!” Deeks spun around and watched as the car turned the corner. “Yeah, we’re not going to see those again.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it,” Kensi said.

“KAY KAY!!!!!!”

The shrieks of the Cupcake Girls were deafening and Deeks was nearly knocked to the floor as they rushed the final member of their party, pulling her in for hugs and air kisses.

Tiffani had spared no expense. The ballroom was decked out in twinkling lights and sheer white swags that hung from floor to ceiling. Christmas trees bespangled with white ornaments decorated every table. And everyone was dressed in white. Beautifully dressed.

Deeks strode over to the bar and ordered the strongest drink on their menu of specialty cocktails, all of which were also white. He nodded to the two men next to him. “Gentlemen.”

Their raised eyebrows reminded him that he was not even close to dressed appropriately for the event. “Rick,” he said to the bartender. “Keep ‘em coming.”

Half an hour later he stumbled his way over to Kensi for the white elephant exchange. “You smell like booze,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“So do you,” he told her.

“Okay!” Tiffani clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “You know the rules! Only one steal per person. And you may not trade once the game is over!”

People began to unwrap gifts one at a time. Several bottles of wine were opened along with boxes of chocolate, ornaments, and a lurid pair of neon green socks with snowmen on them. Deeks received a gift card for a local coffee shop and Kensi unwrapped a pair of cashmere mittens. “Okay, who’s next?” Tiffani called out.

 A friend of her husband’s picked up one of the two final gifts, both of which appeared to be wrapped in Kleenex. The wrappings fell away to reveal, “A…container of tic-tacs. Partially used,” Tiffani announced in confusion.

“I thought you said you had this?” Deeks hissed to his girlfriend.

“I said I had it. I didn’t say it would be good!” she hissed back.

“And the final gift is mine I guess.” Tiffani gingerly picked up the final package. “A Best Couple award. How…fun? Who wants to trade?”

The Lyft dropped them off at home around 1:30am and they both stumbled in the door half intoxicated, half asleep. “We are going to be so hung over in the morning,” Deeks said with a moan as he fell fully clothed onto their bed.

“Never again.” Kensi collapsed onto his chest. “Never, ever, ever again.”

“I’m sorry about your dress.”

“I’m sorry about Guy rubbing your knee.”

“How about as a Christmas present you never mention that again?”

“Done.”

[smt-here]

A Cocktail of Emotion (Part 2)

Pairing : Peter Parker x Reader (first person POV, ‘I’ pronoun)

Genre : Soulmate!AU

Warning : idk what to warn you guys lol

Word Count : 1578

A/N : Heyaaaa I finally post the 2nd part... sorry it took so long! I just came back from Singapore 3 days ago and I was super tired and as usual, my brain isn’t functioning properly... Anywho, since I’m making this story 1500 words per part, this story would probably have several more parts before the ending and just to be clear, there will be angst somewhere over the rainbows.lol. btw I really appreciate the support some of you have been sending me through dms, comments and even submissions, it means a lot to me and I’d definitely reply them. I think I might make more Tom holland stories so if you wanna be notified, go ahead and dm me, I’ll put you in my tag list! 💕

Part 1

School wasn’t bad.

So far at least.

I managed to get through the first and second period without a hitch. The teacher didn’t bully or tease me for being the new student and the other students were actually very accepting of me.

But despite all that, I was very disappointed that my imagination didn’t became a reality.

I had imagined that the minute I stepped into the classroom, my eyes would trail off to one of the students and our eyes met and my soulmate sensor would activate at its peak and every emotion that he felt, and his heart beat, I’d be able to feel them and he could feel mine.

But of course that’s what romantic novels are for, right?

They enhance our brain to make scenarios, imaginations, all sorts of things that allows us to be hopeful of what may come in the future. Although we are unawarely conscious about the fact that those scenarios are most likely not able to happen. Or even if they do, it’ll make you feel like something’s not right.

“Spacing out I see, hope the teacher didn’t caught you mid-class”

I look up and see Michelle with an eyebrow raised and a book open in her arms. I grinned at the sight of her fulfilling her promise and stood up immediately, “Sorry! I-I tend to imagine... A lot...” I said sheepishly as I gather my books and head out with her.

“I won’t judge, don’t worry... But I will get cranky if we don’t get my usual spot during lunch so let’s go” she told me before speed-walking with her head down to her book, forcing me to copy her action just so that I won’t lose her in the crowd.

Soon we were both seated on a table with a group of kids on one end of the table and Michelle and I on the other end. The cafeteria was filled with kids to the brim. There were all sorts of kids around and the line for food was insanely long.

Michelle sat across from me and as I munch on my home-made lunch I had managed to make this morning, I noticed that she had finally put her book down and grinned at me, “Well newbie, are you ready to get the proper introduction to students here in Midtown High?” she smirked.

I rolled my eyes playfully but nod, “Yes, please, do enlighten me with your knowledge of other students in this school” I answered back.

Michelle propped herself on her elbows on the table as she began pointing around, “Those are the football jocks, as you can see... Varsity-wearing, stinky, popular dudes that thinks that they rule the school... Their captain is Cole Grant Langley, honorary student, one of the top students in class, would probably go to an Ivy League on a football scholarship, he’s a Junior... And of course, sitting with them are the cheerleaders... Pompom loving fancy poodles that shows off their cheerleading outfit like a trophy, the captain is Brittany Lee and she’s a total daddy’s girl...”

I looked at her with an eyebrow raised, stopping her mid-sentence as if asking her, ‘Are you serious?’, “What? I may not be close to them but I am very observant... Next!”

Michelle then continued on with her ‘storytelling’ session as she points to different tables of different groups of students that have their own ‘label’.

“And there’s Liz Allen, probably the most popular student in this school, everyone adores her, she’s nice, smart, a senior, and Peter has a major crush on her” she said, scoffing at the end.

Again, I raised an eyebrow at her, “Peter?” I asked, not knowing who the person is. Michelle hadn’t pointed to a student in the cafeteria and told me the name Peter. I was surprised that I remembered considering the names that were spat out by Michelle over the 20 minutes of the get-to-know-Midtown’s-students session.

“Oh, yeah...Of course you don’t know Peter Parker... I mentioned him earlier this morning, you remember Ned, right?” I nodded and let her continue, “Well Peter is Ned’s best friend, they’re like super tight buddies and all and they’re both total nerds hence the main pillar to their friendship was that and... Peter has a huge obvious crush on Liz Allen in which he thought was super subtle but, come on... He’s stupid” She rolled her eyes.

“Again... I don’t know who this... Peter Parker is yet so I can’t make a fair judgement as of now...” Michelle raised an eyebrow at me, “You’re a goody-two-shoes, aren’t you?” She asked in a bit of a curious tone.

I shrugged at her, I propped my chin onto my elbow before answering, “I’m not quite sure, I just like playing by the rule book, alright? It’s better that way and the results are most likely to be easily predicted”

Michelle scoffed playfully at me with a grin on her face, “Wow, you must be the life of the party, aren’t you?” I feigned a shocked and offended expression at her while putting a hand on my chest, “I have never been so offended in my life! You, my dear friend are a menace to society for addressing a person such as I am in such way!”

Surprisingly, Michelle laughed heartily at my abnormal joke which would often annoy people.

“Alright, princess... No need to cast me out of society for calling you a party pooper!” she replied.

As I was about to retort something back to her, her eyes trailed to something or someone. I looked at the direction she was looking at and saw Ned walking away while talking to someone, Ned was on the left side and the other person had their back to me as he talked with Ned. They both then took a seat on the table nearest to the exit door whereas Michelle and I were sat in the middle-ish row of the cafeteria. The person Ned was with still had his back on me but I could still get a perfect view of him despite the amount of students surrounding the are.

Strange.

The more I see him, the calmer I get.

That and he looked oddly familiar in some way.

Have I met him before?

Do I know him?

I don’t recall having a friend back from LA who moved here to Midtown.

“Speaking of party pooper...”

I turn my head back to Michelle and raised an eyebrow at her in a questioning way.

“That guy...” she then pointed to the guy Ned is walking with, “...Is Peter Parker, THE Peter Parker that I’ve been telling you about, the Peter Parker that totally disappear here and there like ghost and also the Peter Parker that has a huge crush on Liz Allen”

“Really Michelle... You totally sounded like you’re obsessed with this... Peter Parker just by the way you talk about him” Michelle furrowed her eyebrows and narrowed her eyes at me, “I am so not obsessed with him! I’m just simply observant to the people I usually hang with!” she desperately said, she had her arms raised in an annoyed kind of way at me.

“Anyhow, what’s the beef with him? You made it sound like he’s a jerk in which I don’t think he is... I mean, he’s friends with Ned and Ned is obviously not a bad guy, so I don’t think this Peter is as bad as you said he is...” I ask her as I put my lunch box away into my school bag.

Michelle shrugged her shoulders at me, then she took a short pause, thinking about what her answer to my question is before answering me, “I... Don’t actually have any problem with him... It’s just... I have been observing him since the first day he move here to Midtown, I forgot where he was before he went here but that’s not the point... Around a year ago he suddenly changed”

That made me raised an eyebrow at her, “Changed? What do you mean by ‘changed’? L-like a physical change or something?”

She shook her head vigorously, “No no no, it’s more like... He became a whole different person...” she took a deep breath while closing her eyes, seemingly trying to focus to find the perfect way to describe the current topic to me. “See, before he became the Peter Parker he is now, he was a super nerdy, studious, loyal to his friend and careful Peter Parker... Now, he’d sometimes became reckless and won’t even realize it, he is still nerdy though but sometimes he’d ditch Ned to walk alone after school... Not to mention he dropped all of his extracurricular activities, it was a miracle that he still hold onto the decathlon team” she scoffed while crossing her arms on her chest.

“Well, we don’t know for sure as to why he dropped out of all of his extracurricular activities, right? I mean, he must have his own reason!”

“I guess... He did lost his uncle not long ago...” she muttered softly while looking down onto her own lap, “But I still refuse to believe that’s all... He completely changed the day after we all went to Oscorp...” she scoffed one more time.

At that my eyes had somehow automatically trailed to the boy across the room, sitting with Ned, talking things only the both of them knows.

I really need to stop feeling weird about him.

Taglist is still open. DM me if you’d want to be tagged in my Peter Parker/Tom Holland stories !

Taglist :

@x-wing-starwriter

[aresaphrodites]

Into The Black Chapter Six

You guys talked me into it! Here, have this short ass chapter!! I hate that it’s so short but this is where it needed to end. It just went perfectly. 

P.S. This was supposed to be angsty as hell but then I started jamming Enrique Iglesias and my man got me hyped af so this happened and now: Betty and Jughead talk and certain relationships become established. ;)

ENJOY MY LOVES!

She doesn’t talk to Jughead for a whole week. He’s texted her and called her a few times but she ignores all of them. She feels bad, of course she does but she’s confused out of her mind. She thought she was just starting to understand who Jughead was and then Thursday night happened and she’s been a mess of thoughts ever since. She’s very aware of the fact that she could very well be overreacting about the whole thing, but something about it just strikes her really wrong. Another part of her wants to know what caused Jughead to get so drunk. What had been bothering him so much?

She twirls her phone around in her hands as she considers what to do. Today’s Friday; game night and as much as she knows it’s just wishful thinking, a small part of her wonders if Jughead will be there. She wants to talk to him, but she’s nervous to reach out after she’d been pointedly ignoring him. If he’s at the game it’ll make it a lot easier for her to approach him. Maybe.

“What’s got you thinking so hard?”

She looks up to see Kevin sitting in front of her, chewing on an apple. Veronica and Archie are god knows where doing god knows what, so she had been enjoying her lunch period alone. Not anymore though. She doesn’t answer Kevin and he sighs.

“We have to talk about it sometime, Betty. You call me at like eleven asking me to pick you up at some trailer on the Southside? You can’t expect me not to be curious.”

She doesn’t expect him not to be, she knew he would be, but she also knew that at the time he was the least likely friend to ambush her with questions. Which had been true at the time. It had been a week now and he’d been pushing her for answers.

“I don’t want to talk about it, Kev.” She doesn’t. She’s not even sure if Jughead and her are anything anymore after the way she’s been dodging him and she really doesn’t want to think about how that’s going to make her feel. She hates how she hasn’t even known him that long, but yet she already feels attached to him. It’s pathetic.

“Betty, seriously, are you in some kind of trouble?”

“Drop it,” she groans out as she places her head into her hands.

“Come on—.”

“Seriously, Kevin, let it go.” She snaps. She doesn’t want to sound mean or harsh, but she doesn’t need him riding her about this right now. It’s stressing her out.

“Fine, but when you want to talk, I’m here.”

He gets up and leaves, leaving Betty alone once again. She sighs as she continues to twirl her phone around and around.

The football game passes by slowly and Betty’s thankful when it’s over. She hadn’t left the track at all so she doesn’t know if Jughead’s here or not, she doesn’t know if she still wants him to be. She packs up her pompoms into her duffle bag and tells Veronica bye. She’d tried to get Betty to go to Pop’s with all of them, but she wasn’t feeling up to it so the other just went along their way without her.

She waits until the football stands are nearly empty so she won’t have to deal with all the traffic, even though she’s walking home. It’s a bit chilly outside, but the fresh air and quiet walk will give her some time to think.

She passes by the bleachers when a voice comes out from under them.

“You’re a tough lady to get ahold of.”

She recognizes the voice immediately and turns slowly to see Jughead standing against the bleachers, arms crossed over his chest and leg resting against the cold metal before he pushing off of it.

“You’ve been ignoring me,” he says lightly. He sounds so careless but his eyes tell a different story. He looks both angry and sad at the same time. Betty feels like shit.

“Jughead,” she starts but he cuts her off.

“Look, if I did something or said something to offend you the other night then I’m sorry, but you could at least cut ties with me to my face instead of just ignoring my calls like a child.”

The words make her cheeks brighten in embarrassment. She’d been well aware that she was acing childish, but having Jughead confirm it for her is all kinds of embarrassing.

“I know it was childish, but I just didn’t know what to say to you,” she admits.

“Well, I didn’t really know what to say to you either after getting shitfaced drunk and realizing that you came to get me, but I still called you, didn’t I?” He snaps.

“I’m sorry,” she says, completely meaning it. “I want to talk about this.”

“About what?”

“Everything! Why you got so drunk, about what we are. I mean what are we doing here, Jughead?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do,” she bites back. “We’re from two totally different worlds. We’re complete opposites. We don’t belong together.”

Jughead’s jaw tightens and he narrows his eyes. “Gee, Betts, anything else you want to say? Wanna spew some more stuff about how I’m obviously not good enough for you?”

“That’s not it!” She cries out. “That’s not what I’m saying at all.” She looks around and realizes that this isn’t exactly the best place to be having this conversation. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”

“Somewhere people can’t see us, you mean? So that way no one knows that Riverdale’s princess is slumming it with Southside trash?” The words are so harsh that Betty has to bite down on her lip not to start crying. “Yeah, follow me.” He leads her out to the parking lot quietly and she follows behind him. They stop in front of a motorcycle and she gives him an incredulous look.

“You’re kidding, right? You can’t expect me to get on that.”

“I do and you will if you want to talk.” He straddles the bike and hands her over a helmet. She grabs it and turns it around in her hands before sighing and putting it on. If her mom could see her now.

She places her hands gently on his waist and he snorts.

“You better hang on tighter than that if you don’t want to fall off.”

She does as he tells her and then he takes off. It’s a fast start and she startles as she goes to grab onto him tighter while pressing her cheek against his back. The wind is cold against her face and she’s thankful for the long-sleeves that the cheerleaders have with their uniform.

They’re at Jughead’s trailer before she knows it and she wonders just how fast he was going. Her legs are a bit wobbly as she gets off the bike and Jughead helps her up the steps and inside. It looks just as it had when she’d come last week and she briefly wonders where Jughead’s parents are.

“So you want to talk,” he says, getting straight to the point. “Talk.” He sits on a couch in the living room and Betty sits down next to him, but makes sure to leave a good amount of space in between them.

“Why did you get drunk?” She dives right into it. If he wants to be straightforward then so will she.

“Can’t a guy just get drunk?”

“No. You didn’t seem like you were drinking for fun. It seemed like there was more to it.”

“Oh, you think you know me?” He asks with a sneer.

“No, but I’d like to.”

His face softens are her words but he still looks away from her, not answering.

“Where are you parents, Juggie?” It’s a bold question, but it’s a real one that she has. It almost seems as if Jughead is the only one who lives here.

“I don’t know,” he says gently.

“You don’t know?”

“No. My dad… my dad comes and goes. I don’t know where he goes when he leaves, but I don’t ask either. He’s a Serpent too.” The news shouldn’t surprise Betty as much as it does. “He kind of leads shit, you know? He’s a busy guy.” He says it as if he’s saying his dad is a businessman who has to travel on occasion like Veronica’s dad. Betty doubts they’re in the same kind of business, though.

“And your mom?”

Jughead pauses, as if he’s trying to decide if he wants to tell her, before letting out a deep sigh. “I don’t know. I called her the other day and asked if I could go stay with her for a while and she said no. I asked if she could come down here and visit me and she said no. That’s what caused the drinking that night. I understand things didn’t work out for her and my dad, but what about me? I’m her son.”

It’s so open and Betty wasn’t expecting it. She looks at Jughead who’s still looking at the ground and away from her. She wants to comfort him, but she doesn’t know how. She doesn’t know what to tell him or how to make him feel better.

“My own parents don’t even want me,” he says with a laugh. “And then I met you and we kissed and it was fun, but that’s all it’s ever going to be; fun. Girls like you don’t end up with guys like me. You end up with the Archie’s and the Trev’s of the world. Captains of the football team and newspaper writers, that’s what you deserve. Not an eighteen year old in a fucking gang who has absolutely no goals.”

“Wait, what?” She breathes out. “What do Archie and Trev have to do with any of this?”

“Those are the type of guys you deserve to be with, Betty.”

“You need to slowdown.” She says with an edge to her voice. “I can’t speak for your parents, but I know if they don’t want you then they must be really stupid, Juggie.” She scoots closer to him and wraps her hands around his. “Look, who knows where we’re going to be ten years from now or even ten days? Yes, we might crash and burn, but we could also be great together.”

She squeezes Jughead’s hands and he finally looks up at her.

“This is new to me and happening so fast, I don’t really know what the proper procedure is, but I know that I do like you, Jughead Jones. You’re funny and a great guy and an amazing person to be around. I know that you’re going to be something great one day even if you can’t see it. I know it. I like kissing you and I just want to kiss you, only you and all the time. I can’t promise you anything, but I want to try this out.” She smiles at him. “If you do.”

“And we just keep meeting in secret?” He asks with a sad smile. “I can’t do that, Betty. I can’t feel ashamed in my own relationship.”

“You won’t have to,” she promises. “I’ll tell people about us, I promise. Just let me do it my way, okay?”

Jughead gives her an unsure look before eventually nodding. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

“So what does this mean?” He asks, smiling at her shyly.

“It means that I’m your girlfriend and that’s the only thing that’s for sure right now. The rest of it? Your parents? Your future? We’ll figure all that out together, okay? You don’t have to do any of this alone anymore. You have me and I want to be here for you.”

“I’ve never had someone be here for me,” he says almost to himself.

“Well now you do.”

He smiles and wraps an arm around her. She places her head on his chest and smiles. It’s quiet but it isn’t awkward. They have a lot to talk about and a lot to overcome, but in this moment? In this moment everything is perfect.

THE END!!!!! :)

Just kidding. Could you imagine? lolololol.