#putting your competitiveness behind you when there are kids involved?

[catzz089]

“Omg could you imagine how terrifying it would be if your just having fun matting with your friends then suddenly an F1 driver pulled up??”

No, I couldn’t. I’m shit at imagining.

I Like writing though

“Charles, please. We are going to be late if you don’t hurry up.” Max called through the door to their bedroom.

“I’m almost done!” Charles screamed back, still rifling through something in their bedroom, causing an overflow of mess that Max would somehow be coerced into cleaning up.

Max sighed, how come this happens every single time Max tries to plan something nice for them both, he really just needs to let Charles stick with the planning.

Charles slammed the bedroom door open, waltzing up to him and spinning, throwing his arms out,

“How do I look?”

What idiot stares at Max with the most gorgeous looking face known in history, and a perfectky accentuating outfit and then has the gall to ask how he looks?

Well, aside from Max’s idiot bug that’s a conversation for another time.

“Gorgeous, get in the car.”

He sighed dramatically, “it’s like you don’t even love me anymore, baby.”

“That’s because I don’t,” Max deadpanned, “Now please get going, we are cutting it way too close right now.”

Charles grabbed his hand, and began walking outside, “We’ll be fine mom cœur, you’ve left us ages of time, stop stressing.” He brought their hands up, planting a delicate kiss on Max’s hand.

Max pouted, “you can’t just kiss me and expect me to forgive you for taking literal hours ti get ready.”

“Yes, I can. Now hop in.”

“Wait I thought I was driving?”

Charles opened the passenger door, forcing him down inside.

“Nope,” he said, popping the p, “you thought wrong. You’ve done too much, let me drive.” He began doing the belt on Max’s seat.

Which was entirely unnecessary.

But quite sweet.

Not that Max would ever admit it, Charles would get far too big a head.

Charles jumped into the drivers seat, resting a hand on Max’s thigh and high-tailing the car out of their, knocking over their own bin as he did.

“Seriously? If your going to destroy property, at least make it someone else’s, I don’t want to deal with that.”

“Then pay someone to deal with it, I’m pretty sure you have the money for that.”

Max sighed, leaning back in his seat and gripping onto the car door, it probably wouldn’t save his life but security was security when you’re in a car with Charles Leclerc.

By the time they reached the track, they very much were late, only by 10 minutes or so, but still.

Late.

Max grabbed at Charles’ hand, running off to the changing rooms and dragging him behind.

“Max! Come on,” he whined, “Slow down, I haven’t gone for a run this entire off season, I’m going to get a stitch.”

“Your not that unfit, Schat, I want to get in the track, hurry up!”

“Maxie,” he complained, again, “we are on the track like every weekend, why are you so desperate to go back, it’s our holiday.”

Max just huffed, shoving on his race suit- Redbull, obviously, he’s not wearing some rental- and dashing down to the karts.

Charles groaned, running after him.

There was already an array of kids, all around 6-14 years old already down there and driving.

Charles had the pleasure of watching first hand as their jaws dropped, and nothing but pure terror filled their eyes.

His oblivious little boyfriend however, was far too focused on finding one of the remaining karts with the best tires and bagging that for himself to notice the kids trying to escape the track.

It’s not like they were even going to be racing strangers, just eachother.

Yeah, sure, they may just happen to be driving in the exact same track at the exact same track, but neither of them would ever dare to cause an accident.

Hopefully.

When the started their karts, Max bolted it into the track, making some poor 10 year old serve his car out of the way to maintain a good distance away, Charles screamed an apology behind him and followed in quick pursuit.

Their two hour session lasted a lot like that.

Charles ramming his kart into Max, subsequently banging into another kid

Max screaming in delight at overtaking Charles, scaring the child in front, making her flinch so badly she binned it into the wall.

Charles realising that the kart he thought was Max’s, was in fact a slightly older kid, so yelling “I beat you!” Into his face as he crossed the start line a millimetre in front was NOT the flex he thought it was.

In Charles’ defence, Max was arguably far worse than him, deliberately falling behind Charles to beat into him one too many times that he too, forgot the difference between a monegasque F1 driver, and a teenager, swerving his car into hers, knocking them both out of the track.

It was the most fun either of them had felt in a long while.

Neither of them were allowed back.

[blimpintime]

cursed : azriel x reader

in which azriel has a crush on a witch, and thinks she cursed him.

warnings: none (unedited)

word count: 1.4k

“She’s quite the character huh?” Cassian says to Azriel, staring at you. He grunts in response wondering why you are currently in a handstand competition with a couple of kids in the middle of town. Kind of in awe how your little black dress didn't fall down to your face with you being upside down, but that's a perk of being a witch, he thinks. 

As if you heard them talking about you, your gaze finds theirs. You grin and then lose balance and gracefully fall out of the handstand. It being the last day of summer did make it a cool one but still having been outside with a summer camp of kids you were quite dewy with sweat. Your face was flushed and damp as you made your way towards the two men. 

“Hi Cassian!” You say with a grin, you turn and look at Azriel, your smile falling into a smaller one. “Spymaster.” You nod. Cassian lets a chuckle slip through at Az’s blank face. You were always like this with him. He never fully understood why. You kept him at a distance always but managed to be involved in every one else’s business. He often thought it was because you could not stand him. And then he thought you were terrified of him, because let’s face it, that was more believable.

You were making small talk with Cassian when Azriel started to get lost in his mind thinking of you and how it seemed you teased him on occasion. With your little quips here and there. Constantly smelling like those fresh baked chocolate-chip muffins that were his guilty pleasure to eat when he got back from long missions

He noticed eventually that Cassian had walked away from you two when a group of kids started playing tag with him. He turned to look at you where you decided to sit on the grass, he made a quick decision to sit next to you. Both of you were silent, but for once it was comfortable.

The path leading up to your small little house on the bank of the Sidra was always well lit at night. Glowing with purple and orange lanterns their reflection makes it seem brighter than it was that night. Your house was on the smaller side (still fairly large all considering.) But you loved to host seasonal parties due to them being in connection with your magic and since summer was ending and fall was starting, it was the perfect time to throw one of your celebrations. 

Currently the Inner Circle is in your living room drinking and eating food you have made for them. Your familiar, Silly the tabby cat, has made their home on Azriel’s lap. He doesn’t seem to mind though. Gently petting the cat's soft fur. You stare at them from the kitchen with a soft smile on your face. 

“You could just tell him you know.” Nesta says from behind you, scaring the absolute shit out of you. You place a hand over your chest and let out a deep breath. “Nesta, I’m going to put a bell on you.” She laughs lightly as you scrunch up your nose. 

“I am not joking though.” She says softly, and you look back at him now playing with Silly on the couch. “He can’t even stand to be in the same room as me for more than ten minutes. There is no way I could tell him how I feel.” She hums in response. 

“I think you’d be surprised.” And then she walks back out to sit with Cassian. You did deeply care about Azriel, borderline loved him. You felt connected to him in a way you couldn’t describe, just that your soul was at peace with him. Your magic proved that theory too. It sometimes appears to you in colorful hazes around people. 

Every color had a different meaning, the majority of the Inner Circle had a warm orange around them. Your magic had to be newer or just not have a written history because there is barely any research on what these colors mean.  However, you chalked it up to orange meaning some of the most important people in your life. Azriel though, he had a beautiful blue humming around him almost constantly for you, and you had no idea what that meant.

You must have been lost in thought for a while because the next person to scare you was Rhys with Nyx on his hip. He was building another plate for Feyre and Nyx to pick off of. 

“You okay?” He asked you softly. Nyx’s grubby hands reaching for the fresh food on the plate, you and Rhys both grin at that. You nod your head in response to his earlier question. 

“Maybe ask him to hang out with you?” He says, like it's that easy. You shake your head, “I don’t know about that.” 

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to try.” You watch him leave the kitchen and decide it's time to do the same. 

You follow Rhys back into your living space, where it's warm of laughter and love. You sit down on the only open seat, which happens to be on the couch next to Azriel. Silly runs over to your lap and demands petting. You look down at the orange cat with love and when you look back up you meet Azriel’s puzzled stare.

“What?” You ask him softly, nudging the cat off your lap gently. You turn to fully face him when he abruptly stands up. He grabs your arm and pulls you towards the outside. 

“We will be back.” He says gruffly towards everybody, dragging you along.

“Please for the love of Mother, take your time.” Cassian says with a cheeky grin, “We have bets placed.” to which earns him a vulgar gesture from both you and Azriel.

When you go outside he drags you closer to the river and further from the house. Probably to avoid prying ears and eyes, but with everyone’s magic you go ahead and place a sound proofing spell over the two of you.

“Is everything alright Azriel?” You ask him after a moment of silence. He turns back around to look at you with something close to… fear?  

“So, what is it?” You look at him deadpanned and tilt your head in confusion.

“What spell did you place on me? Why, when I go to sleep I think about how I hope you had a good day. When I wake up I wonder if you actually ate breakfast and not forgetting after you have your morning coffee. And tonight, I wonder where you go when this party is mainly in celebration for you and I am busy playing with your cat and not with you.” He gets out in one breath. I stare at him for a moment and when I open my mouth he interrupts me again,

“Why is it when you are near my hands shake less and my worries ease but when you are gone I crave your scent. What curse? What spell?” Azriel genuinely looks shaken for a moment, and for a second so do you. 

“I didn’t know you felt that way too, Azriel.” You say and approach him with a soft smile. When you guys finally make eye contact though something inside you both, snaps. Your eyes widen and so do his. Mate.

You let out a little giggle that eventually turns into a full laugh. “You thought I cursed you?” You say through giggles, “I thought you hated me Az.” 

“Ah, well that goes both ways.” He responded with a smile. You look at him in confusion. “I could never hate you.”

“You couldn’t stand to be near me.” He quips back.

“No. You couldn’t stand to be near me.” You say and jokingly sniff at him. He shakes his head and grins. “We are both stupid.” You nod your head in agreement. 

“A couple of stupid mates, huh.” You look up at him, now leaning shoulder to shoulder. 

“Yeah something like that.” And then he kisses you. 

Warm lips slotting over yours softly, you both start getting a little more heated with each other. Hands finding their way into your hair while yours go around his neck. His lips softly biting yours and then pulling away. You arch and reach up on your tiptoes in a feat of chasing his lips. He grins at you, puts his hands on your cheeks and kisses your nose. 

“Let’s go back inside.” He whispers and leans back, as if he’s afraid that this will all be a dream if one of you speaks too loudly.

“I am kicking everyone out the minute we get back inside.” You whisper back and kiss his collar bone. 

“That sounds great to me.” he says and with that you both walk back to your house holding hands. 

a/n: so this was completely self indulgent, I wanted a cozy azriel fic!

please tell me what you think!

I don't own any characters that sarah j. mass created.

[inuyashaluver]

airport havoc with reader and leah’s 3 kids😩

mumma williamson - leah williamson

leah williamson x reader

description: in which you and your wife handle your children at an airport, a roller coaster for everyone involved

warnings: leah never did her acl, looonnngg, really don’t know how to feel about this one

a/n: thank you for the request lovely, this was super fun ❤️ also - i unintentionally wrote this at the airport lmao

⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆

you and your wife, leah have been together for just over 10 years, it seems unbelievable but you and leah have been basically in love with each other all your lives, taking years of mutual pining and a gentle push of your teammates.

you’d met leah in the arsenal youth teams, becoming quick best friends through both of your competitive natures. “i’m gonna win” little leah says with a toothy grin, giving you a light shove. “not if i win first!” you say cheekily. and that describes your entire relationship, competitive, genuine, loving and comforting.

when you finally started dating at 16, you grew closer and closer over the years, both physically and emotionally. you two just got each other, everyone around you telling you that you were soulmates and you couldn’t help but agree.

—

if there was one thing to know about your wife, it was that she is incredibly convincing. this girl could have you doing anything she wanted and you would because you love her so much. she was exactly the same, if you wanted something, she would make it happen, no if’s, and’s, or but’s.

so when you both hit 22, leah took you to her house for christmas, where she brought her cousin’s baby over with a pleading expression. “baby, look” she pouts, cradling the baby’s head to her chin as she gently bounced up and down. you couldn’t help but grin longingly.

you had to admit, everytime leah held a baby, your ovaries would explode, you knew she’d be an amazing mother and you were willing to give her that.

so, you put your career on hold to have your first child, amanda, named after her mother but called mandy for short. you and leah were ecstatic to have a little girl, both of you crying when you were told the gender.

after you had baby mandy, you’d taken months off before making your return, working extremely hard and honestly playing better than you ever have. leah was incredibly proud of you, telling you everyday. you were both so content with your little family, until it flipped completely.

during a game, you’d manage to get a goal which saved the match for arsenal vs chelsea at the emirates.

when it happened, leah bolted over to you, hoisting you up in a tight embrace. “look at you, mummy williamson” she winks, giving your cheek an affectionate kiss as you tried to push her off out of embarrassment.

“stop it, mumma williamson” throwing her a half assed wink, she laughs and bumps her hip with yours, running back to her position for the last two minutes of the match. by the time you’d done your lap of signatures and photos, you and leah make way to the family and friends section, taking baby mandy from leah’s mum and taking her around the field.

she was a year old at this point, your teammates immediately running over to her and giving her all their love.

you held mandy on your hip, she’d fallen asleep. you lightly chat with some of the girls while rocking your baby gently as she sleeps against your shoulder.

leah stood behind you and took in the scene, her wife and her daughter, ‘williamson’ shining brightly on their backs. she walks up behind you and wraps her arms around your waist, gently kissing your neck and smirking when your breath hitches.

“lee” you breathe out, she tightens her grip, “hm?” she places a kiss just below your ear and you lean into her. you let out a shaky sigh when she continues to press soft kisses against the right sight of your neck. “what? i can’t kiss my beautiful wife?” she says smugly, spinning you around gently so she could face you.

“i know what you’re doing” you sing out, leah looks at you with fake confusion. “what? nah, baby, i’m not doing anything” she moves her hand to lightly tug at the bottom of your jersey and you squint your eyes at her. her finger dips under your shirt to lightly graze the skin of your waist and you grab her hand before she continues. you were both literally standing in the middle of the pitch.

—

when leah saw how much of an amazing mother you were, her heart exploded. she’d known you’d be an amazing one but the fact that you carried her child and gave her the privilege of becoming a mother herself, how could she not want another?

that night, when you arrive home, leah pushes you on the couch as she carried a sleeping baby mandy in her arms. “hey!” you whisper shout and she just grins at you, winking to wordlessly tell you to wait there for her. once she put the baby in her bed, she comes out with the baby monitor in hand, placing it on the coffee table before making you lie flat on the couch so she could lie on top of you.

“hi, mumma” she says cheekily, leaning down to place a sweet kiss on your lips as she hovered over you. “hello” you mumble against her lips in between her kisses. she pulls away and looks at you suggestively, “you know, i’ve been thinking..” she starts, “oh, that’s not good” you grin, she rolls her eyes amusingly as she pinches your hip. “shut up, anyway, you know, you’re such an amazing mum, baby” she says adoringly, her eyes glistening as she speaks.

you place a gentle hand on her cheek, “you’re an amazing mum too, lovey” you grin softly, she leans forward to kiss your lips. it’s starts off slow and calculated, until she feels your hand dip under her shirt and graze your nails on her skin and a switch flips.

a needy make out session progressing quickly, she pulls away from you breathlessly and looks down at you with blown out pupils. “i want to run an idea past you if you’re comfortable” she breathes out, getting off you to sit up and tapping her lap for you to join her which you happily do.

you knew where she was going and you were in the same mindset. you wanted another baby. she nervously plays with the hem of your shirt, unable to look into your eyes because she was so nervous. you smile, placing a hand under her chin and directi her eyes to yours. “you want another baby” you say simply, affection laced in your words.

leah looked at you with wide eyes and an unmistakable grin. “only if you want to” she replies, grabbing your hands and squeezing them gently. you nod and smile, leaning forward to peck her lips, then her cheeks, her forehead and her nose. she looks up at you, completely love sick. you lean forward to whisper in her ear, “put another baby in me, williamson” and that’s all it took for her to lift you up and run to the bedroom. sure, leah couldn’t put a baby in you like this, but the both of you weren’t complaining.

so that’s how baby cathrine, cat for short, came along. you begged leah to name the girl after her middle name because you found it so cute and she begrudgingly agreed, willing to let you name the baby anything you wanted as you were carrying her child. at this point, mandy was two and a half while baby catherine was just a year old.

—

one day after training, you’d gone to the shops to quickly get some groceries and came back to leah sprawled out on the floor with your two daughters, their little heads propped up on your wife’s arms, completely engrossed on the screen. walking closer to the sweet scene in front of you, you realise leah had put on a video of your highlights

“mummy’s so cool isn’t she?” leah says proudly, mandy nodding and watching intently, cat reaching her arm out in a grabbing motion when there was a close up of you after your chelsea goal which prompted her birth but you would never tell her that.

“mumma’s cooler i think” you say suddenly and all three of them jolt, snapping their heads towards you. leah looked at you with so much love in her eyes, you nearly collapsed. the entire rest of the night, you couldn’t keep your hands off leah and she just knew what you wanted because she wanted the same thing.

when the two girls were tucked in by you and leah, after they were sound asleep, you drag leah to the couch, pushing her onto it and immediately straddling her. “oh, hello” she giggles, placing her hands on your thighs. “i need to ask you something” you say nervously, feeling so vulnerable in this moment for no reason.

“you want another baby, don’t you?” leah says simply, a deja vu moment for both of you.

you instantly nod, “only if you want to” you whisper and she kisses you sweetly. “i’d have 50 babies with you if i could but i care about this and you” she pokes your stomach cheekily and you giggle with her at her response. and so, baby olivia was born, liv for short.

you’d taken some time off football to be a mum, spending your time with your kids until they were old enough to go to preschool/school. you’d made your comeback during the euros, a euphoric experience being in your national team that your wife captained while your three kids sat with your families watching.

—

and now in present time, it was the 2023 world cup. your wife was named captain and both of you get called up. it was a no brainer that you would bring your kids along for the world cup, mandy was now 4, cat was 3 and liv was 1. you’d been to the airport with your kids before but not like this, you were flying internationally, with your teammates, for over 16 hours.

you had expressed to leah how nervous you were about it but she constantly reassured you that everything would be fine. crazily enough, your children were extremely well behaved, the girls absolutely loved having them around. many of them teased you that all three of them were just complete carbon copies of you and leah mixed together.

—

and so, you, leah and your three daughters arrived at the airport with excited grins, you and leah were in your training kits while your daughters all wore their ‘williamson’ jerseys. you held liv along with dragging two suitcases in your other hand while leah held mandy’s hand, mandy holding cat’s, leah held all your documents in her other hand while you all walked through the airport. thankfully, england had gotten a private plane for your arrivals, as there was so many of you coming along for the trip.

you’d done all the check ins, dropped off your luggage and that left the five of you to chill and wait until boarding. your kids throughout check in and security were perfect little angels, you and leah constantly giving each other surprised and proud grins. you were so impressed by your kids behaviour until they saw their aunties at the airport, all of them switching completely.

each and every teammate of yours was always an auntie, so when your kids are surrounded with almost all of them, they go insane. as soon as mandy sees her favourite auntie, georgia, she sprints away from the both of you and jumps into her awaiting arms.

“my little mandy!” georgia exclaims, hugging the girl tightly, she laughs gleefully when georgia litters kisses on her cheeks. “careful, amanda” leah scolds when the small girl ripped her hand from her own. georgia waves leah off and leah can’t help but send her a half-hearted scowl.

cat however also had a favourite auntie, the small girl sprinting over to auntie lucy through the influence of her big sister. “lu-lu” cat squeals, her little feet bounding over to the brunette.

lucy gives the small girl a bright grin and an affectionate kiss to the cheek before gently throwing her in the air and catching her, spinning the girl around as they both giggle with each other.

“oh my god” leah breathes out terrified, scared lucy would drop her. you wrap your arm around her bicep, she looks down at you with uneasy eyes but washes away at your comforting grin.

“hello, kitty cat!” lucy coos, taking her to watch the big window where the planes were taking off and landing.

you tug her over towards some open seats, sitting down and looking up at her with a bright smile. “come on, captain” you tap the seat next to you encouragingly. liv snuggles into you further, her hand gripping your jacket tightly as she buries her face into your neck.

leah looks at you with a little pout, she felt a little betrayed that none of her girls wanted to stay with her, instead running off around the section in the airport where the lionesses were situated.

well, liv did stay, but the girl was passed out against your shoulder, cuddling into you completely. “all our baby girls are gone, we’re empty nesters” she huffs, you just shake your head at her gently.

leah lets out a defeated sigh but smiles at you and liv, taking out her phone and snapping a quick picture before sitting next to you, placing a warm hand on your thigh while your head rests on her shoulder.

“oh, leah baby,” you coo amusingly, “we’re not empty nesters, my love, they’re just excited” you hold onto the arm that was holding your thigh.

“they don’t want us anymore” she pouts, you take your head off her shoulder and pull her down to kiss you softly, she can’t help but smile into it while you run your nails over her arm.

“they do, baby, don’t look into it too much” you part from her with a kiss to her cheek. you look into her eyes to reassure her and it seems to do the trick, she nods and smiles at you, quickly kissing your lips appreciatively. “yeah, you're right, darling” she breathes out and trails her eyes over your face.

“it’s alright, lee, i’ll just annoy you” you say cheekily and she kisses the top of your head, giving your thigh a gentle squeeze. “you never annoy me, my girl” she smiles, resting her head on top of yours as she watches her daughters interact with your teammates.

contempt, she closes her eyes for just a second until she feels a little body clawing itself into her lap, opening her eyes to see mandy looking at her with wide and excited eyes. “hi, mumma” she grins happily and leah smiles at her affectionately, “hi, baby girl, you having fun?” leah questions, mandy nods her head instantly. mandy was in a stage where she asks questions every two seconds, leah was in for a ride.

you sit beside them and watch the interaction while liv was still passed out on your shoulder.

“why are we here?” mandy cocks her head to the side and leah couldn’t help but grin, “mummy and I are playing football” leah remarks, the small girl grabs her hand and begins to play with her fingers. “but, mummy said you can’t play football at the airport” she cocks her head to the side and stared up at leah confused.

leah lets out a little laugh, moving her hand up to pinch her cheek gently. “mummy’s right, darling, but i meant we’re playing football in another place” leah speaks full of affection, mandy nods and turns her head to smile at you,

“hi, mummy” mandy offers you a toothy grin and you send her one right back, “hi, princess” you lift your hand up to give her a gentle pinch on her cheek. mandy suddenly snaps her head towards leah again and leah’s eyes slightly widen, “where are we going?” the girl queries, “australia” leah replies with another soft smile.

“that’s where auntie caity and steffy are from!” mandy remarks with a bright grin, leah nods along with her, “that’s right, smart girl!” she praises, placing her hand on her head and lightly ruffling her hair.

mandy hates that, offering leah the signature williamson glare and leah just laughs loudly, looking at you with an amused grin, you laugh along with them. suddenly, little cat runs over with a bright grin, climbing on top of the seat and sitting on one of leah’s legs and one of your legs. “hello, catty” you say brightly, the girl smiles at you, “mummy! i saw the plane!” she says completely astonished, you and leah both offer her shocked expressions, “did you really?” the small girl nods enthusiastically and you and leah have expressions full of love evident on your faces, a couple of your teammates watching your family interact with one another with elated grins.

liv who was asleep until now slowly begins to stir, taking her face out of your neck and looking completely disheveled. you and leah let out a little giggle at your daughter’s appearance, she offers you a tired smile before blinking slowly and taking in her surroundings.

“hello, baby” leah coos, liv smiles gently and rests her head on your chin, leah pouts at the sight, her heart soaring out of her chest. “she’s so cute” leah boasts, you nod your head in agreement and hug the little girl closer to your chest.

“what about us?” cat exclaims and you both look over to see two unimpressed glares staring at the both of you, the two of you immediately fuss over them. “look at our cute and pretty girls, huh, mummy, aren’t they the best?” leah asserted, nodding over in your direction where you nodded instantly.

“oh definitely, mumma, prettiest and cutest girls alive” you affirm, both you and leah nodding enthusiastically and it seemed to work on your daughters, both of them sporting shy grins. liv still tight in your embrace cuddles into you further, babbling random words as she stares at her sisters.

you were growing slightly uncomfortable, the small girl had been sitting in your arms for so long, they were growing tired. you try to stretch and leah notices your discomfort, moving immediately to grab the small girl, holding her in her arms and you let out a sigh of relief, smiling at leah appreciatively.

liv was happy to move as well, giving leah a sweet kiss on the cheek which had tears brimming in your eyes. you can’t help but look at them full of love, leah instantly growing shy under your gaze. “stop it” she mumbles and grows pink at the sound of your affectionate giggle.

leah has always slightly freaked out when she sees you looking at her completely love sick, often feeling like it was a dream that her dream girl was looking at her full of love.

the two girls on your’s and leah’s laps brighten at your now vacant body, both of them trying to get over to you as quick as they could. you had each girl on a thigh each, letting out a little laugh at leah’s frustrated face, she wanted you to rest a little before the flight and she just knew you wouldn’t be getting that till much later. “girls, no, let’s leave mummy to rest, please” leah commented, trying to coax your daughters to get off you but they wouldn’t budge.

“no!” cat exclaims, grabbing your arm tightly and shaking her head at leah, mandy does the same thing, grabbing your other arm and holding it as tight as she could, they were just like their mother, stubborn, you thought. “yes, come on, let mummy relax, she’s very tired” leah says sternly, patting the chair next to her for them to sit in.

you open your mouth to assure leah it was okay but before you could, you hear a whimper from your lap, looking down to see cat’s eyes swelling with tears. both your and leah’s eyes widen, at seeing her sister cry, mandy begins to cry. “mummy, i’m sorry” cat wails, cuddling into you and you instantly hug the girl back, mandy follows in suit and holds onto you tightly.

“why are you sorry, lovey?” you coo, running your hands over both of their backs in comforting circles. “we are making you tired” mandy cries, nuzzling her head into your chest. you look at leah beside you with wide eyes, faced with your wife and your youngest looking at you with shocked and confused expressions. “baby, i-” leah tries to respond but she’s just so shocked, she didn’t think her words would spur a reaction like that.

“no no, my girls, it’s okay, you’re not making mummy tired” you reassure but the two girls continue to cry, leah dips her head to make eye contact with the two of them but they refuse to look at her. leah pouts at you, she made her babies cry. you move back from the two of them and they face you with matching, tearful expressions, their pouts going unmissed. “aw, girls don’t cry, it’s okay” you smile softly, wiping both of their tears away with the pads of your thumbs.

“babies” leah calls out, all three of you look up and leah mutters up all her strength to bite back a smile. “did mumma make you sad?” leah questions, placing liv on one of her thighs and holding her hands out to them, mandy grabs one and shuffles closer to leah. the two of them nod, pouting up at their mum. “oh, my loves, i’m so sorry, i didn’t mean to make you sad, i just want mummy to feel good for the flight” leah says earnestly, placing a small kiss on mandy’s head and holding cat’s little hand in the other.

“it’s okay, mumma” cat says, lifting leah’s hand up and placing a little kiss on the back of it, you and leah wear identical grins. mandy nods at her sister’s words, wrapping her arms around leah’s neck and hugging her tightly. leah looks at you with the biggest smile, you giggle at the little interaction. cat moves to hug you, holding onto you tightly and pressing her cheek up against your own, smiling at leah. leah could’ve crumbled at the sight before her, knowing you felt the same with her.

after the moment of solidarity with one another, you hear a bright laugh coming from leah’s right thigh, looking over and seeing liv with a bright smile at seeing you all hug. leah brings her over to the middle of you and you all have a little group hug, hearing multiple ‘aw so cute’’s coming from your teammates.

when you pull away from the hug, mandy immediately bombards you with questions, making both you and leah laugh. the team had gotten called to board the plane and the girls all perk up, excited to embark on the journey to australia. leah takes over with liv, the girl extremely cuddly and wanting to go back to sleep, seeming as though the arms of her mums lulls her into dreamland.

on the other hand, you’re being dragged by two sets of hands, mandy and cat’s. “mummy, quickly” mandy huffs, sending you a little scowl when you giggle at her attitude. “sorry, baby, mummy will hurry” you tease, leah places a hand on the small of your back and leads you all to your seats.

“these two will be handfuls, baby, let me take care of them and you take this one” leah gently passes liv over to you, you smile and pucker your lips up at leah, which she quickly leans down to place a quick kiss on your lips.

she pulls away slightly, pecking them numerous times until she feel small hands on her legs, dragging her to the seat directly next to you. “do you see these little monsters you made” leah says jokingly, you stick your tongue out at her and shrug your shoulders. “i may have carried them, but they’re all you, williamson” you smirk. leah tutts, but smiles at you, “yeah, yeah, williamson, whatever, look at how stubborn they are, that’s all you”. leah teases and you roll your eyes at her jokingly, both of you knew that your daughters were clones of the both of you.

she takes mandy and cat and sits them in their seats, immediately putting on movies for both of them to watch, both of them entertained wholeheartedly. leah smiles at both of them, “can i sit with mummy or do you need me?” they both look at her with cheesy grins, “go kiss mummy” mandy teases, leah’s eyes widen with amusement, laughing and ruffling the girls hair and again gaining an icy scowl.

leah moves away to where you were, liv sleeping soundly on your lap while you sit and look up at her with a smile. “hello, mumma williamson” you say adoringly, your wife leaning down to place a kiss on your lips before sitting next to you. “hello, mummy williamson” she replies cheekily, placing another peck on your lips before settling in her seat beside you.

“they’re awfully quiet” you whisper in your wife’s ear, she nods in agreement, both of you look over to see your two daughters sleeping, heads resting on each other while completely out cold. you and leah look at each other sweetly, “we made them” leah pouts, you nod with a matching one, “we made them” you mirror, both of you have eyes full of pride and adoration.

the rest of the flight, the girls were mostly asleep, waking up to ask you to take them to the bathroom or for a little snack or meal before dozing off completely. “i think we should go on planes more often, look how perfect” you point at your sleeping daughters, leah smiles at you sleepily, clearly wanting to join. “let’s sleep” leah kisses your forehead and you rest your head on her shoulder, the five of you asleep and fully contempt.

⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆

liked by stanwaygeorgia and 44,232 others

leahwilliamsonn: all my pretty babies

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yourname: leah williamson is a milf

↳ leahwilliamsonn: (y/n) williamson is a milf

stanwaygeorgia: my little monster

luzybronze: kitty cat

mbrighty04: still shocked at how you made such perfect children, considering both of you are fucking handfuls

↳ leahwilliamsonn: just because you’re second captain doesn’t mean you can put us down like that

↳ yourname: yeah! tell her, baby!

↳ mbrighty04: okay captain, you’re still a handful

↳ yourname: i won’t deny that

↳ leahwilliamsonn: baby!

[loveinhawkins]

Robin’s always had a soft spot for Eddie Munson, but up until recently it had been in a distant kind of way; she appreciated his class clown act, the way it had a domino effect of keeping the heat off the band kids, how he hogged the spotlight for any passing douchebag’s attention.

But then they both literally dive into The Upside Down, and her appreciation reaches a whole new level.

They’re in the Wheeler’s garage, thanking their lucky stars that four bikes exist in 1983 (and yeah, Robin’s sure that if she thinks about the whole time thing for half a second more her brain will promptly melt, so she doesn’t).

Each of them are pushing their chosen bike down the driveway, in a dazed sort of silence—the high of the Lite-Brite worn off in the face of another grim journey through The Upside Down.

Steve is flagging, Robin can hear it: his breathing’s growing laboured as he walks, an occasional unsteadiness to him that’s setting her anxiety off all over again, because what if they were wrong, what if it’s really rabies, and it’s too late, it’s coursing through his veins, and he’s—they’re gonna lose him—

“Hey, Harrington,” Eddie says, swinging a leg over his saddle, “wanna race?”

“… Hmm? Sorry, what?” Steve says.

There’s not even that long of a delay in him speaking, but the pause still has Robin’s heart in her throat.

Eddie’s got one foot on a pedal now, ready to set off. He looks back at them with a shaky grin—like he’s terrified, but he’s still gonna have some fun anyway.

“I’m throwing down the gauntlet, King Steve. Bet I’ll be faster than you.”

Steve scoffs, stands up a little straighter before he mirrors Eddie, balancing on the bike with one foot on the pedal.

“How much are we betting?”

Eddie huffs. “Oh, no money involved,” he says nonchalantly. He raises an eyebrow in challenge. “This is just for the glory.”

And God, there’s that spark back in Steve’s eyes; it’s like Robin can physically see his competitive streak giving him strength.

Eddie Munson, you beautiful soul, she thinks, I could kiss you.

“Faster than me? Yeah, maybe in your dreams, Munson,” Steve says.

But Eddie’s already speeding off with a comical whoop; Steve curses as he hurriedly tries to catch up, yelling, “You dick, that’s cheating!”

“Not in my rulebook!” Eddie says with a cackle.

And for a little while, that’s enough to put Robin’s mind at ease: watching the pair of them taunt each other like kids—hearing Nancy laugh at the spectacle as she bikes alongside her.

But then she falls through the Gate, Eddie close behind her, and they freeze when Steve screams Nancy’s name with such fear.

Robin’s plunged back into a mind-numbing panic; she’s sure that her heart doesn’t even begin to slow until they’ve left the trailer park, until Steve’s control of the RV switches from ‘holy shit, we’re on the run, what have our lives become?’ to something more normal—the reliable, measured driving she’s familiar with, taking her to and from school or work.

Finally, she has time to, um… take stock. Of… things.

She wobbles her way over to Eddie, grabbing onto his elbow as Steve takes a turning.

Eddie instantly holds her up, a steadying hand around her waist. “Oh, hi. I’ve gotcha—” “Your music isn’t actually shit,” Robin says in one breath. “I know, um, on balance, it’s probably not the worst thing I could’ve said, but the delivery was—but, you know, considering I thought Nance was literally about to die, I’d say it was, like, kinda calm all things considered, but—”

Eddie’s chuckling. “Yeah, on balance,” he echoes teasingly, “you were pretty damn funny, actually. Uh, sorry for. Um. Screaming at you? Basically?”

“Basically,” Robin agrees. “Yeah, you were like impressively loud. Not quite eardrum-rupturing level, but y’know, I don’t actually know anyone who’s really had that happen to them; Amanda Wallis said she ruptured hers at the pep rally ‘cause she was standing too close to us—the band, I mean, but—”

Eddie rolls his eyes. “Oh, that’s bull, there’s no way that’d be loud enough to—”

“—I think she just had a grudge ‘cause David C on mellophone got literally the tiniest bit of spit on her, and he was only—”

“Yeah, well, everyone knows you sit in the splash zone at your own risk.”

“Exactly! She’s had plenty of time to learn marching band protocol.”

“Uh-huh, protocol,” Eddie echoes again, with a giggle.

He’s got a nice kind of laugh, Robin thinks: one where she’s never in doubt that he’s laughing with her rather than at her.

“That stuff you do’s pretty cool,” he says; with his free hand, he actually imitates her mime of playing a trumpet. “You must have good, uh…” She can see the exact moment that he’s having second thoughts about saying it, but he forges ahead anyway, with a hilariously uncertain, “Good… lungs?”

“Fascinating attempt at a compliment,” Robin says. “Luckily for you, I accept insults as, like, equal tokens of friendship.”

Eddie does a double take. He doesn’t go so far as letting out a questioning, “We’re friends?”, but he might as well have said it anyway: his eyes widen for a moment, like someone who’s just been unexpectedly asked out to prom.

Steve takes another turning; he does it smoothly enough, but even he can’t stop the RV from moving with it, and Robin stumbles again, very nearly ends up repeating how she toppled right onto Eddie in The Upside Down.

“Woah there, you’re good,” Eddie says, “just gotta find your, uh, what’s it called? Your equilibrium.”

“I don’t have any,” Robin says, all theatrical devastation, and Eddie snorts.

“Sure you do, Buckley. Look, just take my—yeah, that’s it, then just kinda straighten up… yeah, you’ve got it.”

And yes, after a minute or so, Robin’s footing does feel more certain, but she still keeps a stubborn grip on Eddie’s elbow, just in case.

“God, d’you know what I’m gonna do when all this is over?” Eddie says.

“Pray tell.”

“I’m gonna make a list. What was it you said, Madonna, Blondie…? Whatever, I’m getting all of them, m’never getting caught out like that again.”

“I’m hoping that needing music to evade the clutches of a serial killer from an alternate dimension is, um, strictly a one-time thing.”

“Don’t care,” Eddie says. “Still buying those tapes. Just in case.”

And yeah, it’s said partly in jest, but Robin can hear that he means it. Still, it’s the most optimistic that she’s heard him be so far: making plans for after, like he can really see a way through this. Like maybe he finally knows that they’ll help him get there.

“Need a list of tapes from you too, Buckley. You and Harrington.”

Robin smiles. Her first thought is of singing Total Eclipse of the Heart from the dirt-ridden floor of a mall bathroom, but then she thinks of every car ride with Steve, every time they’ve turned up the radio to belt along, and she knows that there are way too many songs to count.

“Forget a list,” Robin says, “I could fill a book. Same for big boy over there.”

Eddie blinks, like he’s suddenly taking stock, too. “Oh yeah,” he says, laughing lightly, “I did say that, huh?”

“Sure did. I was doubting my ears, too.”

Robin had been hoping they’d long since reached the point of being able to joke around with one another. But while Eddie does laugh again, he also starts biting at his thumbnail, glancing over at Steve in the driver’s seat.

“Um, hey.” Robin manages to keep her balance, briefly pressing her knee against his leg. “I didn’t mean anything by it, Eddie.”

“No, I know.” Eddie huffs self-effacingly. “I’ve kinda got permanent foot-in-mouth disease, my report cards would tell you that.”

Well, if he wants to pass it off as sometimes I just say the darnedest things, Robin would be a hypocrite to deny him.

It fascinates her in a sad sort of way though, how he veers between joking and nervousness—like he’s worried he’s intruding on their group, of overstepping somehow.

She wants to tell him: Look, we all got dragged into this, but we chose to stick around, and you’re no different.

But she no longer has the aftermath of Russian drugs to help bypass her own nerves, to kickstart her sincerity.

“Hey, you’re awfully quiet back there,” Steve calls, and Eddie startles.

Robin shakes her head. “Not us, that’s his—”

“Hello? Henderson, I’m talking to you.”

“We’re not even doing anything!” Dustin shouts back in exaggerated affront.

He’s sat on the backseat of the RV, peering out the window along with Lucas, Erica and Max. Robin stifles a chuckle at the sight; they look like they’re on a field trip—the cool kids at the back of the bus.

“Yeah, well, just checking,” Steve says, amused. “For all I know, you coulda been building a gigantic radio again on, like, the roof of this thing.”

“Cerebro,” Dustin says, just as Eddie lets out a baffled, “Uh, again?”

But then they’re pulling into The War Zone’s parking lot, and any chatter abruptly dies.

Afterwards, Steve gets off the road to park in a reassuringly deserted field. They don’t head outside right away (Robin’s not exactly looking forward to prepping Molotov cocktails), instead staying in the RV to eat junk food they’d grabbed beforehand.

Robin discovers that Dustin’s somehow bought five more cans of Pringles and snorts, declaring, “You’ve got a problem.”

At some point, Steve tries to sneak off to the bathroom so he can change his dressings—“And use actual proper bandages!” Robin calls to him; no offence to Nancy’s resourcefulness, but the torn shirt strips only do so much good.

It becomes a more comical than horrifying event, although she’s sure that’s down to Steve deliberately making it so, like a sleight of hand trick: playing it down as he keeps talking to the kids throughout, never wincing even once.

He ends up having to keep the bathroom door open to continue an argument with Erica over which Scoops Ahoy sundae was the best of all time—then figures that he might as well just step out into the open anyway.

At least the wounds have stopped bleeding—although the sight of Steve cleaning around them with bottled water is one that Robin could personally do without.

The kids are entirely unfazed. They flock to Steve, peering at the glimpses he lets them see like he’s just got a cool tattoo. Robin supposes that after El and whatever nightmare wormy thing was in her leg, they’ve seen everything.

Eddie, however, is another matter. He keeps quiet about it, not obvious at all, but Robin watches his face grow paler and paler before Steve wraps the new bandages around his stomach.

Dustin, bless his precocious little heart, must also notice, because he quickly starts up a seemingly impromptu game of charades, meaning that Eddie is soon distracted by his ridiculously over the top gestures.

“No, Steve, how are you not getting this?”

“I thought the whole appeal of this game was that you’re not meant to talk, Henderson. Dude, watch it, you nearly took Max’s eye out with… whatever the hell that was.”

“Oh my god, it’s Back to the Future, obviously! Ow, Max, I didn’t mean to—uh, yeah, the mime needs to be that big, how else am I gonna project what—”

“Dustin, I swear to god, I’m about to project you out the window,” Steve drawls.

Eddie laughs, hides it behind his hand.

But Steve must catch it, because he glances over at Eddie and winks before he’s dragged back into guessing another movie title.

And Robin’s obviously seen Steve wink before—he does it all the time, so much so that she’s become quite adept at reading when it’s a friendly one for her, or if he’s sharing some kind of in-joke with one of the kids.

She’s also seen his attempts at a ‘smooth’ wink towards some girls at work—and look, he’s Steve Harrington, it’s not like he’s going to be bad at it.

But if you ask Robin, it’s never looked quite right, like he’s always performing to an audience he’s unsure of.

But this wink doesn’t look like it belongs to either of those categories. Well, it’s got something in common with the first: that it looks entirely natural, as if he’s doing it almost without thinking. Like it just feels right.

They go through some more rounds of charades—Dustin’s gestures, if possible, getting even more dramatic—and Eddie gradually goes from contributing a few guesses to none at all, curling up on the backseat. He looks utterly wiped out.

Robin tries to catch Nancy’s eye, and after a few attempts, she gets the message, stands up with a nod.

“Okay, let’s take this outside, guys.”

“Spoken like a true camp counsellor,” Max says.

Nancy acts like she’s offended, but her lips keep twitching into a smile. “Max, never say that to me again.”

“There’s more space outside,” Erica says, “so we can duck out the way of Dustin’s windmilling arms.”

“Hey!”

“I’m bored of charades,” Lucas says. “We could do another competition? Like, I dunno, cartwheels or handstands or something?”

“Oh sure, so I can show you up?” Max returns, grinning.

Steve scoffs. “Uh, if you’re doing a cartwheel competition, I would win.”

“Since when?” Dustin says, an obvious taunt that Steve predictably rises to, flipping him off.

“Save your athletics for Vecna, please,” Nancy cuts in dryly.

“It wouldn’t be a fair fight.” Lucas gestures to Steve’s stomach, a little uncertainly. “You know, considering…”

Steve rolls his eyes. “Whatever. Under normal circumstances, I would kick all your asses.”

“Sure,” Robin says brightly, “but Steve, if you do literally anything more strenuous than sitting down right now, I’m gonna—”

“Uh, Steve would kick your asses, actually,” Eddie says slowly. His voice is muffled from the way his hand’s holding up his chin, partly covering his mouth. “He did gymnastics.”

Robin, surprised, looks to Steve; he’s doing that thing where he scratches at his cheek unconsciously, seems to be a mixture of embarrassed and pleased.

“How’d you know that?” he asks.

Eddie shrugs. “We didn’t have a cover for gym one time, remember? There was a whole group of us slacking off but you just kept doing, y’know,” he twirls his fingers, “tricks on that box thingy.”

“Vaulting box,” Steve corrects like he can’t stop himself. He’s sporting an almost abashed little smile that Robin’s never seen before.

Eddie shrugs again. “S’all Greek to me,” he says, interrupts himself halfway through with a deep yawn.

Steve’s eyes soften. And then he’s ushering the kids outside, “C’mon, you can do whatever competition you want for thirty minutes before we get to work.”

“Got it, coach.”

“Shut up, Mayfield.”

“I’ll be your stopwatch if you’re doing handstands,” Nancy chips in, bringing up the rear—she catches Robin’s eye again, subtly tilts her head in Eddie’s direction and mouths Stay?

Robin nods.

“Uh, that won’t be accurate at all,” comes Dustin’s rebuttal—he’s outside now, but his voice still carries. “Unless you can like accurately keep time in your head down to the second—”

“Oh my god, Dustin, you’re such a shithead.”

“Nancy Wheeler, I’m heartbroken.”

Steve’s chuckle floats through the open door. “She said it, dude, not me.”

“You say it all the goddamn time!”

And then the voices fade away until all Robin can hear is distant laughs and joyful screams. It’s relaxing, in its own way.

“No gymnastics for you, Buckley?” Eddie says.

“Nope, not since 7th grade. Managed two cartwheels before I broke my wrist.”

Eddie winces in sympathy. He’s slumping a bit more; Robin makes herself comfy in the opposite corner of the backseat, gives him the most space.

She feels a weird lump at her back, behind one of the cushions. A quick investigation reveals an issue of TV Guide Magazine.

“Ooh, we can find out what we missed while on the run,” she says, waggling it in front of Eddie.

He smiles with a small huff. “Doubt it. Says 1981 on the front.”

“What’s a little more time travel?”

Robin flicks through to the crossword. She’s all too aware that Eddie’s still sat more stiffly than anything else. With Steve, it would be so easy; she could prod him in the thigh with her toe, light touches until he took the hint and relaxed.

But even before they’d really become friends, they were tactile: a tap on the shoulder to grab attention, bumping hips to move each other out of the way whenever they were scooping ice-cream at the same time. It’d been done so unconsciously, like they were already learning to read each other’s minds.

With Eddie, it’s clear that a different approach is needed.

Robin had caught onto that after her misstep at the boathouse, a pit in her stomach at the sight of Eddie’s hands shaking.

But her instinct to reach out, to soothe, made her unthinkingly try again; as they walked in the woods, she’d heard his breathing quicken, and her hand lightly brushed his back. She drew back as he instantly flinched at her touch.

“Sorry, sorry,” she said hurriedly. “Just—just checking you were okay. Sorry.”

Eddie just stared at her before nodding hesitantly.

And Robin wanted to tell him that it wasn’t by chance, that he had people who cared about him; that she did, and it wasn’t a fluke or an accident—she was choosing it.

She keeps her eyes on the magazine, jots down a few crossword answers. It reminds her of summer days spent reading on her grandparents’ porch, not wanting to startle a cat her grandpa had rescued as it approached her. It was always so spooked.

“You’ve just gotta let him come to you, sweet pea,” her grandma would say.

After a couple minutes, she hears Eddie breathe out, the creak of the seat as he lies down. He rests his head right next to her thigh.

“S’good?” he asks, pointing at the magazine.

“It’s pretty easy.” One of the crossword clues is ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the?’ which isn’t exactly taxing. “I’m used to doing the cryptic ones.”

Eddie laughs. He kinda sounds fond. “Of course you are.”

“They’re not that hard, once you know how to read ‘em.”

“Hmm, I doubt that. Lay one on me, Buckley.”

She purses her lips in thought. “Oh, I got this one last week. Condition of Wyoming, five letters.”

Eddie lifts his head ever so slightly to give her a blank look. “Not a fucking clue.”

“State. Get it? ‘Cause ‘condition’ is the definition, and Wyoming is literally—”

“God, I’m surrounded by geniuses.”

“Well, I’ve got the advantage of a summer of code-breaking.”

Robin slowly raises her hand as she speaks—makes sure to do it in Eddie’s line of vision, spots that he doesn’t pull back, that he even gives the tiniest half-nod. She pats his head twice.

Eddie scrunches up his nose. “Sorry, my hair’s gross.”

“It’s not that bad,” Robin says honestly. “Y’know for being on the run, it’s holding up pretty well. I’m getting whatever shampoo you use.”

Eddie smiles. “Sure.”

“Yours is looking way better than mine did after, like, one day getting wrapped up in all this.” Again, without really thinking, Robin adds, “I had all this sweat and blood and puke in it.”

Eddie’s eyes are closed now. He makes an unhappy sound, prods gently at her knee. “You’ve all gotta work on telling me horrific shit. That should not be casual for you, Buckley.”

He sounds emphatic—protective, even. Robin feels unexpectedly emotional.

“Yeah, sorry. Bad habit.”

Silence falls, and by the time Steve enters the RV, Robin has filled in the whole crossword, Eddie dozing by her side.

Steve’s getting another bottle of water—actually drinking it this time. He’s got grass stains on his knees, and he’s sweating slightly, like the ‘stay still’ advice hasn’t once been taken.

His eyes soften again when he sees Eddie sleeping—he doesn’t need to linger, but he does.

Robin watches.

We need more time, Steve, she thinks suddenly. For you to keep looking at him like that—for him to be awake to see it.

Steve tears his eyes away. Lands on her.

She smiles, mouthing What?

Steve rolls his eyes. He imitates her ‘what?’ mockingly, but then he smiles back and taps at his wrist, mimes winding a watch on. It’s what they do whenever they’re slammed at work, wanting to talk, but only able to briefly catch each other’s eyes in the rush. Later.

She taps her wrist. Later, she promises.

He gives her a double thumbs up—what a dork—before heading back outside.

Robin quietly puts the magazine away. Ever so carefully, she lightly strokes Eddie’s hair, feels her heart swell and break at the same time when he sighs contentedly in his sleep.

You’d better look after yourself, Eddie Munson, she thinks. You’ve got people here. People who really want you to stick around.

[sexlapis]

# a snowy morning .·

𝗓𝖹𝗓 🦌 ⎯⎯ &. ♥︎

❤︎ toji x gn!reader

sfw, fluff, christmas season, petnames (‘kid’, ‘sweetie’), playing in the snow, old man toji, he’s a tiny bit mean but … <3

wc: 1.9k

a/n: just wanted some toji winter fluff…<3 merry christmas everyone ᒄ₍⁽ˆ⁰ˆ⁾₎ᒃ♪♬

masterlists

*

toji awakens with a startle at your shout, shooting up and out of bed, swiping his handgun from his bedside drawer and stumbling to where you stand, looking out of the bedroom window.

life away from the city was all toji wanted, along with peace and quiet, which is why you and toji live just on the outskirts of the woods, where your only neighbours are the wild animals that roam the surrounding forest.

and toji likes it that way; no annoying neighbours, no noisy cars, no air pollution and clear, vibrant skies where you can actually see the fucking stars when you look up.

but with you around…peace and quiet are nothing but foreign concepts.

“toji, look!” you exclaim. “it’s snowing! it’s- toji put that away.” you frown at him, referring to his gun.

“what’s with all that yelling?” he grunts, lowering his weapon and instead unsafely using it to scratch his back.

“it’s snowing! it must’ve started when we slept!”

toji huffs, his heart slowing down a little in relief. “alright, let’s jus’-”

“it’s so deep too. and it looks so soft. i’m going outside!”

after your sporadic ramble, you’re flinging out of your pyjamas and into thicker, warmer clothes.

“it’s six in the morning.” toji deadpans, blinking away the sleep in his eyes and ruffled by you shocking him awake. “we can go outside later.”

you were always so spontaneous with your plans, he could hardly keep up with them.

“no! it could be melted by then,” you claim, throwing a large, cream-coloured sweater over your head, “put your clothes on, you're coming with me.”

“now why am i involved?” he asks, rhetorically of course, since he’s already heading to his wardrobe and picking out a black fleece along with a long sleeved shirt.

he should really stand his ground more, show you who’s in charge and who makes the rules around here. after all, it is his house.

but when you look at him so expectantly, hoping for him to agree, he knew that he would only comply with your wishes.

and you know that too.

“someone needs to help me build the snowman!”

*

minutes later, you’re skipping in the sparse forest behind the house, travelling through crunchy snow to the best of your abilities, leaving uneven footprints in your path as toji trails behind you, chiding you to slow down.

frosty, crisp air bites at your exposed face, sure to ache when you get back inside to the warmth. the wintry sky is painted in a pale periwinkle, cloudless and plain lest for the faded crescent moon that follows you on your merry way.

you leave the forest and you are welcomed to the wide, vast and picturesque landscape of the field you and toji commonly frequent. said field is completely blanketed in a white sheet of pure snow, going on for miles and miles, glittering in the morning glow.

“kid, what’d i say.” toji huffs, coming to stand beside you with a hand supporting his back, a little out of breath. “what a view, huh?”

“mhm!” you agree and then you’re plopping right down into the snow, repeatedly spread and closing your arms and legs, more strenuous than you expected, “come make a snow angel, toji! next to me. not too close though or you’ll mess mine up.”

toji sighs, mostly fond, breath leaving his nose and he clambers onto the snowy ground with his knees cracking, something you then proceed to make fun of him for and he flicks snow at you.

“toji, that got in my mouth!” you sputter and spit, glaring at a flailing toji who attempts to make a snow angel. his long, big limbs make the movement look heavy and odd, causing you to snort in his face.

“what’re you laughin’ at?” he grunts, his expression determined like he’s in a competition to make the greatest snow angel of all time. snow splatters all around him from his brash actions.

he looks so cute like this, you think. rosy cheeks, the sweet dimple on his left cheek that appears when he grins, the wrinkles around his eyes crinkled even more as he smiles and entertains you.

“okay, that’s enough!” you stand, brushing the snow away from your body, “get up. i wanna see what they look like.”

toji sticks his hand out, “‘right, help me up.”

“oh toji..” you mutter in faux annoyance before you clasp both of your gloved hands around his one, groaning with the struggle of lifting him up.

“i’m not that heavy, sweetie,” huffs toji, clapping his covered hands, causing snow to powder all around him, “okay, what’d you think?”

you both observe at the snow angels created by your bodies. they are…simply a mess and bundle of piled up mess, shapeless silhouettes dented into the snow, the size difference between them almost comical.

“…yeah it’s looks great ♡,” you smile, looking to toji who nods in agreement, clearly pleased with himself.

*

“okay! toji you make the body and i’ll do the head!” you call out to him from a distance after playing and prancing around in the know. you’ve already begun rolling out a small ball of firm snow along the ground.

meanwhile, toji’s snowball is already up to his knee. he shuffles and rolls his huge globe of snow around the field, leaving swirls and spirals in the sheet of snow behind him.

“how is yours so big already?!” you screech, glancing down at your pitiful snow ball, “we just started!”

“‘cos while i was getting down to business you were doin’ backflips in the fuckin’ snow.”

“hey!” beyond your better judgement, you launch the ball of snow right at toji, striking him square in the chest.

a quiet “ufff” leaves toji’s mouth and he peers at his once black winter coat that is now splattered in snow. then, he slowly raises his head back to you, a malicious glint in his eyes.

“ohhh, you really shouldn’t ‘a done that, kid…”

toji’s lifts what is supposed to be the body of the snowman and stalks towards you in swift strides. you scream, already on your feet and dashing away downhill, squealing and cackling as toji runs after you with the giant snowball in his arms, a sight that would be absurd to onlookers if there were any.

your foot slides off the floor and up into the air, landing on your back onto the pillow of snow, leaving you completely at toji’s mercy.

it took a mere four or five steps for him to keep up with you. quite sad on your part, really.

toji’s looms over you, a wicked grin on his lips as he holds the large snowball in his hands, “i hate to have ’ta do this but…”

“toji, please! have mercy-”

but your words fall on deaf ears. toji’s raises the vast ball of snow, creating a shadow over your vision, and your eyes are bulging, your stomach dropping slightly as he promptly drops the snow onto your awaiting body.

you gasp. luckily, your winter coat protected you from the bite of the snow, the clothing now caked with snow.

toji pats his hand for good measure right over your body, sprinkling snow on your face.

“how’s that, huh?” he smirks before noticing how you’re covering your face with the back of your hands, your shoulders shaking slightly.

shit.

“shit,” he crouched down and going to comfort you, thinking he took this game a little too far, “kid, you okay? ‘m sorry-”

a snowball is smashed into the side of his face.

“ha!” your giggles fill the bitter air and you shove him into the snow, jumping up and scurrying off, “got youuuuuuu!”

“oh, you fucking-” toji springs to his feet, shaking the snow his face, the area now red and flushed, “yeah, you better run!”

you and toji chase each other through the snow, launching snowballs at each other, noses rosy and cheeks aching from smiles and laughter, breaths heaving and hearts running as you both reveal in this newfound peace and joy.

playful, free and happy.

toji tackles you, cupping the back of your head as you fall to the ground softly.

he hovers over you. the hat that previously covered his head is long gone, most likely buried within the surrounding snow. his raven locks point in all directions and droplets of snow seasoned in his hair. tender, rounded eyes decorated with fluttering, thick lashes study you adoringly and you feel like hiding your face as your heart bursts in your chest.

you bite your lip and say, “i think i won.”

“yeah, sure you did.” toji rolls his eyes, shaking his head and kissing your nose, “c’mon, let’s go. it’s just gonna get colder, anyway.”

“i wanted to go ice skating on the lake, though…”

toji rises to his knees, lifting you up with him. he sweeps the snow from your hair and scans your body, his actions instinctual at this point, “yeah, yeah, we’ll go tomorrow, promise.”

you seem satisfied with his answer, allowing him to stand you up.

“i want a piggyback ride, please” you beam at him, and…toji is a weak man. only for you.

seconds later, he is letting you mount him like a horse and he begins the journey back to the cosy home you both created for yourselves.

toji’s large, strong stature makes you feel safe, protected. it always has. and with the smoothness of his steps, you find drifting off into a momentary rest against his broad shoulders.

*

the next time you come to, you’re on the couch of your living room, the fireplace crackling and illuminating the dim room. a fluffy, lengthy blanket protects you from the slight chill in the air which is also permeated with the scent of chocolate. you blink, licking your lips and yawning. you are by yourself, you note as you stretch and sit up on your knees.

shortly after that thought, toji walks in, holding two mugs of what you presume to be hot coco.

“hey, sweetie,” he coos, wishing to keep the quiet atmosphere, “got ya some hot coco,” he hands you the cup, placing his own on the coffee table and taking a seat right next to you, “‘fell asleep on the way back. musta been tired from waking up at ass ‘o clock, huh?”

you pout, gulping some of the chocolatey beverage which has your mouth hot and warming up your insides. you stick your tongue out at him, feeling too drowsy to even refute his snipe.

toji huffs, grinning softly. he licks his thumb and wipes the corner of your mouth to get rid of a chocolate stain.

“ugh, toji.” you grunt, “gross.”

“c’mon i've done worse than that.”

you grumble, sipping on your hot drink and ignoring his short chuckles.

he shifts closer to you, wrapping an arm around your shoulder, “c’mere.”

toji is so big and so warm and so soft and just so tender. you’re dropping your mug next to toji’s and snuggling up right beside him, also wrapping your arms around his waist, your cheek pressed up against his firm chest. it’s the perfect fit and you’ve never felt so content.

“hmm..think i’m gonna fall asleep again…”

“that's alright, baby.” toji hums, kissing the top of your head and smoothing your hair down. he loved the feeling of you in his arms, it made him feel like the protector that he is at his core, something he’d forgotten so much about - the true nature of himself.

“go to sleep,” and you are already passed out, fast asleep on toji’s firm body. he nuzzles against the top of your head and closes his eyes, breathing you in and holding you close.

he can stay here, with you in his arms, far away from the rest of the world, forever.

*

a/n: have a very merry christmas everyone! please make sure to rest and stay healthy ^_^🎄💚❤️

[abbysimsfun]

Sims In Bloom: Generation 2 Pt. 96 (Making Amends For Past Mistakes)

Conrad arrived in Henford after dark and walked right inside the Nesbitt home. Henford was the kind of place where no one locked their doors, which was a large reason why he'd wanted Heather and Lavender to spend an extra night in town.

He found his daughter cuddling with River's wife in one of the bedrooms. "Oh you're here!" said Cass warmly. Lavender smiled up at him, and he was happy to stumble on the two of them first. "Heather's still over at the Finchwick Winter Fair, but she should be back soon."

He took Lavender from her arms, sitting with her on Heather's childhood bunk bed until she fell asleep. He chuckled at a goofy selfie of Heather as a child hanging on the wall nearby. She was missing her front tooth, grinning wide in front of the statue of Sophie the Snail.

He smiled at their sleeping daughter, cuddled against his chest. No matter what Heather had to say to him when she got back from the fair, their love was strong enough to create someone perfect, and he held on to that belief as fear gripped him.

River and her parents had seemingly made themselves scarce - perhaps they were enjoying the fair, or maybe they were avoiding him. Whatever the reason, he cherished the quiet with his daughter. The calm before a possible storm.

At the Finchwick Winter Fair, Heather entered some of her homegrown dragonfruit into the produce competition, winning a first-place ribbon! She posed for a photo for the town's community notice board to celebrate her win, met her sister Hazel's boss, Mayor Varner, and even ran into her old acquaintance, Lucas Munch, who she'd failed to flirt with back in her teens.

"Lucas, hi! Did you and your girlfriend, Gabi, live happily ever after?"

He smiled. "We got married after she graduated and I moved to the Bramblewood with her and her parents. I love it here, and it's a great place to raise our son, Luka."

(The game decided the son of Lucas Munch and grandson of Paolo Rocca would be named Luka and I was all for it.)

"Luka's a nice name," said Heather kindly, but she was distracted thinking about home. She thought she'd seen Conrad's cruiser pull in behind her parents' place, but she stayed until the fair wound down, going for a spin on the ice rink for old time's sake. Open despite Henford's notoriously mild winters, Brindleton Bay never put up a rink, though she often wished for such a place to take her kids in their own hometown.

When she returned to her parents' home across the emptying village green, she found Conrad in the bedroom. Without a word, he put Lavender in the crib where Heather had slept as an infant and glanced hopefully in her direction.

"Let's go for a walk," she said. He followed easily. They made their way to a bench in a small park lined with stones and short greenery, and she was the first to start talking. "Your past doesn't upset me, Conrad. That you thought you couldn't share it with me is what made me so upset."

"I'm so sorry I lied to you. I was always just trying not to hurt you."

"I never thought I'd be the girl who broke her own promise to herself after my last relationships - if he ever lies, he's just not worth it - but I can forgive you. If you promise that nothing is too dark for us. I can handle anything, but we have to keep the kids safe together."

"I promise nothing is too dark or us. I know how strong you are, and I'm sorry."

"What do I need to know about the investigation?"

He took a deep breath. "George Brindleton's involved. He pulled security from the pier to show off and then a body turned up, so we're going to have to bring in some of his guy's for questioning."

"Did he try to show off because he was angry at us?"

Conrad shrugged. "It's the least of my concerns for now... Ximena's missing. She's the prime suspect, but they're going to put a police detail outside our house and the clinic until we find her, so there's no way she'll come around you or the kids."

"What about the school?"

"No one gets out to Deadgrass Isle without a boat, and every boat gets logged at every dock."

"John Brindleton made it to the island without being noticed."

"Heather, they check everyone who walks into the school."

"I can't believe this woman is making me fear for the lives of my kids. Who the hell does she think she is?"

"Right now she's desperate. If our suspicions are right she doesn't have anyone. Her one ally in the world is missing."

"And now no one's looking for him..."

He looked anxiously at his feet. "Actually...the captain put me on the case to look for Rafa. Officially."

She frowned. "I thought you were done with the case because it was too personal."

"I gave the captain a way to do this without opening an investigation into the cartel. He doesn't want me to lead but he wants me involved in case Ximena comes out of hiding and tries to find me."

"Conrad, what could she do to you?"

"She's not going to do anything to me, I swear to the Watcher. I promise you, Heather, we're going to find her and put her away where she belongs. And I'm going to find her brother. I need to."

Heather thought a moment, swallowing her anxiety in the face of his conviction. "The minute she reaches out to you, if she does, you have to tell me."

He stood from the bench, and she reached slowly for his outstretched hand. "I promise I will tell you."

They stayed outside for a while in the mild moonlit night, and Conrad finally had an opportunity to tell Heather about his wild night at Bella Goth's.

"I finally used her seance table to travel to the Realm of the Dead. I was hoping for guidance from the mentors but I relived my first year of college, instead. I didn't go to some new school, and Bella said this only happens when they want to send a warning."

Heather peeled back in fear, but he shook his head. "I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what the mentors wanted to show me, but after everything that's happened this weekend, I think they were trying to warn me about the body that turned up at the pier. And the way I make amends is by finding Rafa and putting Ximena behind bars."

"Conrad, I know you," said Heather. "Now that you don't have to hide anything, you'll figure it all out. You'll find Rafa and you'll be able to help him. And I'll help keep us all safe."

They returned home after everyone but Neal had gone to bed. He followed them inside with a smile, but Conrad felt a chill in his future father-in-law's demeanor. As they laid together on the pull out couch upstairs, Conrad turned to talk about it. "I think your dad and your brother might have a harder time forgiving me for this than you did."

Heather nodded. "I haven't told them anything about it, but River knows that you lied to his face, and my Dad's afraid you can't keep us safe. I tried to cover for you this morning, but they want to hear it from you."

He was up most of the night thinking about how to defeat Ximena. His mind drifted to Rafa, and who he might find to give insight into where he could be, but he couldn't come up with anything resembling a solid theory.

As dawn broke, he got up when he heard Lavender babbling in her crib. She enjoyed riding around in a carrier, staring at the world with curious delight, and he strapped her to his back. He found River in pajamas and they shared knowing glances. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you what was really going on. I couldn't tell you before I told Heather, but you made me see that I wasn't managing it and I'm glad you did."

"Even though backing out of the case made your ex leave a dead body out front of the Salty Paw?"

He froze. "Did your father eavesdrop on me and Heather last night?"

A gruff voice called from the other side of the door. "I was looking out for my daughter."

Conrad looked back to River with a helpless expression and River shrugged. "Put your ex behind bars and he'll believe you're keeping Heather and the kids safe," he said. Oblivious to the conversation, Lavender cooed happily in her seat behind Conrad's broad shoulders.

"That's the plan," Conrad assured him.

"Good. I'm not even that mad you lied to me, dude. Lies are bad, and they always cause trouble, but I just want to be sure they're not about to get caught up in something that has nothing to do with them. Heather loves you, but she didn't sign up for a life running from cartels."

"When I said I'd do anything to keep them safe, you have to know I wasn't lying about that."

"I know that," River said. "That's why I left your house knowing you were lying to me about everything else."

"You have my word. I won't rest until Ximena's behind bars and I can put her entirely in the past."

"I believe you, man. But...why are you still in your work clothes?"

"I honestly haven't really slept much. I need a shower before I put on something clean."

(I told you, I like him in this outfit! Shameless.)

Having made amends with Heather and River, Conrad was determined to win back Neal's respect, and his own peace of mind, by ensuring Ximena got what she deserved. ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 2 Start | Gen 1 Summary | Gen 1 Start

NOTE: Heather really did go to the fair, met the latest mayor, chatted with Lucas, and won first place for her fruit, but I was bad at taking photos and jumping between too many sims. When it was time to restage for better shots in the photo save they were too far away from another fair so I used TOOL to place a stand but couldn't feasibly restage everything and couldn't get the dragon fruit to place on the stand with TOOL and gave up.

TOWNIE TREE NOTE: Lucas Munch married Gabi Rocca-Chopra, daughter of Lavina Chopra and Paolo Rocca. She's a half-sister of Rahul, who's still living happily with Bella's onetime bartender boyfriend, Diego, after his wife Rashidah died of heatstroke and left him a widower. Rahul's daughter, Thomasine, married Heather's former, mediocre vet tech Marcus Flex, and they live somewhere.

Rahul and Gabi have another brother (also Lavina and Paolo's) named Rocco. Rocco married Rikissa, the third daughter of Bjorn and Clara Bjergsen (also born in game), and thus far they're the only sims to have triplets in this save. Glad I'm not playing them tbh. 😂

Lucas' brother Wolfgang is married to Everett Pancakes' younger brother Kash and they live together in Brindleton Bay with Wolfgang's elderly mother, Mila. Lucas and Wolfgang's eldest brother, Gunther, married Catarina Lynx and they have three redheaded daughters - Felina, Yasmine, and Lindsey.

WCIF Poses Used? @helgatisha's Model Poses 21 posepack (pose 15) next to the stand where the dragon fruit is supposed to be. It's fine that the dragonfruit defeated me, Heather looks ️‍🔥 in the shot, anyway. For the conversation on the bench I used @simmerianne93's Conversation posepack 5, and I think it looks fantastic! Really suits the mood of their conversation, for me. Thank you creators, for sharing your creations, as always! 🙏

[femdomdiaries]

Random Gojo Headcanons

If yall want me to put any of these into a separate post to better fit your blog theme let me know. It’s just random thoughts rn.

Tw: NSFW below cut. MDNI. One of these mentions breeding qnd pregnancy kink, the other mentions that gojo is a service switch.

SFW Headcanons (Realistic)

He's canonically addicted to sweets so do not underestimate what he would do for a Klondike bar.

On a museum date he would giggle and point everytime he sees a naked statue.

Doesn’t sleep often but when he does he often has nightmares about his past. Never when you’re around.

Doesn't drink but is fluent in drunk and can often be found being a bad influence to intoxicated people at parties.

Hope you don't get embarrassed easily because he has no shame and there will be loads of PDA.

Doesn’t wear headphones for the same reason he doesn’t get drunk.

He would steal your clothes, then when you catch him wearing your stuff, he'd deny that they're yours. You can't really fight him about it because he honestly wears it better anyway.

If you’re shorter than him (he’s 6’3 so likely), he rests his chin on your head when he hugs you from behind.

Chronically late so you have to tell him things in advance.

He always wins competitive games so now he tends to stick to creativity oriented ones like Minecraft. From an artistic perspective he tends to suck at those.

Obscure/Crack Headcanons

He licks the icing off the oreos and puts them back in the package.

Snags bites of your food but complains if you eat his food.

To make up for stealing your clothes he'd order you a "smoking hot outfit" he saw online. But when it arrives it’s barbie doll sized.

Don’t worry, he also got you these really nice shoes. But when the shoes come in they're also barbie doll sized. He puts them on his fingers and walks them up your face.

When he grabs ass or gropes you anywhere he says honk honk or beep beep or something like that.

Still has the original flappy bird on his phone. He holds the high score. Could have gotten higher but he lost interest after a couple thousand.

He made a portrait of you out of macaroni art. You keep it at your job. Your coworkers often say how they wish their children were still in the cute art making stage.

His phone wallpaper is a picture of you naked with hot face emojis censoring your private bits.

His lock screen is you with the potato filter.

Keeps a plant because plants are often unpredictable so even he wouldn't get that right by default.

Had an Undertale phase. You know how Sans is lazy and puts forth no effort because he knows it’ll all just be reset by the player anyway? Gojo canonically doesn’t get involved in major conflicts or try to solve everything because he knows that when he dies it’ll all just revert back to the usual. Twinnem.

Actively played pokemon go when it came out and was definitely on team instinct. Probably trespassed in weird places tryna catch rare pokemon and was single handedly carrying team instinct in his region. (Arguments could be made for team Mystic)

NSFW headcanons (realistic)

Bros the type to beg for sex in public then giggle loudly when you're trying not to get caught in the public bathroom

Since he's kinda just the best at everything, he's been worshipped his whole life, so praise would just go over his head. But degrading him? Using power play to humiliate him or make him seem inadequate in some way? Works wonders.

He would send you really explicit texts and get you all hot and bothered only for it to turn out that he was talking about tres leches cake.

Playfully mocks you for not being able to keep up with his stamina.

While he may have infinite cursed energy, he has a limit to his physical stamina and does eventually get tired after going too many rounds.

Believes that the future rides on the youth, so heavy on the breeding kink and pregnancy kink. Wants kids so if you'll allow it best believe this man is not pulling out.

Obscure/Crack NSFW Headcanons

As a service switch he's more than willing to make up for outperforming you by servicing you on demand. It doesn't matter where or when you're horny, he's all yours.

He gets even more turned on when you push him past his limits to use him like a toy.

Says he wants to bring "a special friend" to bed but it's just a stray cat he found. (If you're allergic, it's a life sized cat plush.)

Answers the phone during sex and doesn't care how loud you are, will talk as if nothing else is going on

"Oh, I have to take this. Oi, Nanami. Yes, this is a good time. Hmm? Oh, nobody's hurt, that's just (Y/n). Say hi (Y/n)."

You'd think his favorite sex toy would be some type of gawk gawk 3000 but no, it's a fleshlight that glows in the dark.

Would love to be a rope bunny but he’s just too strong and always breaks the restraints when he gets excited.

He’ll still want to be tied up if only for aesthetics. Maybe you’ll find curse imbued cuffs on the dark web or something.

[haveyouseenmyhat]

Hot take but… Lance Stroll is one of my top 3 favorite drivers.

Lance Stroll is such a strong example of the human character, lance stoll is me if I was on a F1 grid and not a fanfic writer.

A lot of people have complaints about Lance being a nepo baby but this is ridiculous because almost every single one of the F1 drivers bought a place on the grid including Max Verstappen the current world champion. And if not most are now wealthy from their time in F1 and not doing anything significant with that money.

Notable exceptions to Lewis Hamilton and Sebastion Vettle, but really that's so 2012.

No, the reason most ‘F1 bros’ out there don't like Lance Stroll is because he was given the thing every F1 fan ever wanted, a place on the grid, and is doing nothing with that despite having talent and yet continues to race despite looking bored out of his mind. These ‘F1 bros’ are envious, plain and simple.

Which is incredibly hypocritical because Lance Stroll cannot control the circumstances of his birth any more than you can. And to critique someone for not taking advantage of every single opportunity provided to them requires a person to exist on a plane of existence where they also took advantage of every single opportunity ever presented before them. Have you? Based on the demographic of English speaking social media users, even you must have been given a start in life that someone else would kill for.

A person reading this might say the opportunity to use social media, go to school, to read, and write is normal, whereas the wealth to buy your way on a F1 team is not. However, literacy is only normal for people in wealthy countries and is determined by your social peers. The same way Lance Stroll might view the wealth of billionaires normal and insignificant, as those are the peers he grew up with.

So if we remove the fame and wealth superiority complex that some people give celebrities for merely existing, what is left behind with Stroll is something I deeply relate to: gifted kid syndrome and parental pressures. Stroll only races because it was his father’s dream to be in F1. As Stroll's father became more and more involved in Stroll's career his driving suffered. Every race is a constant evaluation of Stroll's own performance by his dad who is also his boss. Imagine the pressure you would feel if every aspect of your job was scrutinized by your parents? And if those same parents expect you to be the best in the world at that job? I would struggle too.

Furthermore, after Stroll's dad bought a F1 team, something unseen by the other F1 nepo babies until now, social media freaked out. Now instead of backroom deals hinting at wealth, Lance's dad is the owner front and center. Leading to a large online hate group for the driver.

Imagine showing up to your incredibly public job every day knowing everyone watching hopes you will fail. I think this might be my worst nightmare.

People talk about how Lance Stroll is rude to his Team and other F1 drivers. These people clearly know nothing about PR. In competitive sports it is difficult to be humble, when you are not one of the better players. This is because the world's best football player can be humble and everyone will still understand their value, but the worlds worst football player being humble makes them look unconfident and unworthy of playing. Although, I personally would argue to always be humble, F1 is primarily a male dominated sport, with male dominated press and employees, and men are not known for their emotional maturity. More important I am not naive to believe everyone puts others before themselves like I do. In which case humbleness would severely limit an individual's opportunities.

Furthermore, not a single person on the grid who tries to be nice to Lance Stroll. And yes that is Stroll's fault, but at this point in time I can no longer blame Stroll, because the other drivers are so childish to continue to act this way. However, I will concede that most of the grid fails to have any sort of emotional intelligence, case and point Lewis Hamilton isolating himself from making friends with the younger drivers. (you know why).

The internet talks about how cowardly Lance is to be unable to stand up to his dad and the public and quit F1. All I can see is how fearful Lance must be. People have a hard time quitting normal jobs and announcing normal things to their parents. You want Lance Stroll to quit his highly competitive, highly lucrative job, run by this own father and fail to see how hard it is to logically call that a good decision? People across the world struggle to realize their dreams and fight against societal expectations. I don't see Stroll continuing his F1 career as cowardice, I see it as human.

So many celebrities nowadays are expected to present a caricature of themselves to social media, because they expect them to act a certain way. So maybe I like when one of the few celebrities I know brutally shows all of the down sides to fame. Despite the constant criticisms, Lance never hides his apathy for F1 or his moody childishness. Which as a moody childish person I can significantly relate to. I like Lance Stoll simply because he is an interesting complex human celebrity, something that is often washed out and fake in the modern world.

Finally, one more food for thought. People act definitely in different settings. I for one act more childish around my parents because that is the society role I play. Lance stroll is constantly around his dad in the workplace, as well as, has been around the same workplace for 9 years so maybe give him some slack for acting like the 18 year old he was when he joined F1. And to date Lance is only 26 years old, an age that I would consider 1 year into being an adult.

Lance was quite easily too young to have any solid opinion on what he wanted to do with his life when he joined the sport.

Lance is one of the most interesting drivers on the grid, but don't mistake me, I would still give up his seat for Daniel Ricciardo any day.

[valewritessss]

Prompt/ask: anything about the year rounders growing up at camp half blood.

I’ve put off answering this question because I was blanking on how to answer but I finally got around to it, hope I answered it alright

The year rounders threw birthday parties for every demigod present during the year, and even Chiron was involved.

They had homework sessions organized by the Athena cabin so they wouldn’t get off track from their studies during the year.

They all planned at least one prank on Chiron per year, and sometimes Mr. D is in on it.

The older campers convinced Chiron to let them go out once a year and they fooled around in the city. Yes they’ve been arrested once and Chiron was not having it.

Someone created a chb drama account and the person behind it is anonymous.

Fashion show by the Aphrodite cabin twice a year but anyone can attend and be a part of the show.

Every camper has to help with the strawberry farm so they can fund cool stuff for the summer.

There is a phone in the Big House and whenever it rings all of the kids that miss home gather around hoping it’s for them (it never is).

The new campers are always told to not piss off Clarisse so they make it a competition of who can befriend her first.

Dionysus pulls the “I’m your father” trick every single time a new camper asks who their godly father is.

Chiron makes it a goal to buy a bunch of boxes of cookies every year to cheer up the kids that didn’t want to stay but had no choice. When Percy came into the picture he would bring those cookies that he spent hours making with Sally.

There is 100% a little stand for things like hair care, menstruation products, deodorant, and overall hygiene, and it is run by a few of the campers.

There is also a secret shop for weed and stuff like that. The items aren’t bought with money but with trading chores. Each chore is worth certain points and you buy stuff with those points(not too crazy even the easiest chore is worth at least 5 points). Chiron shuts it down so quickly but Mr. D thinks it’s hilarious.

Every once a while all of the girlies at camp have a girls night and do their hair, gossip, watch movies, talk, play board games. Clarisse and Annabeth act like they’re too good for it but they always attend.

That was probably not the kind of answer you were hoping for but this is what I came up with

Thanks for the ask!

[missmoonfrost]

hi! btw I loved writing for both of your prompts, I hope you see them and like them <3

also now I'm going to prompt YOU! no pressure:

🍬treat - jegulus - taller regulus I may have a slight obsession

I loved them! Hope you like this! 🍬

James stopped at the entrance of St Mungos’ grand entrance hall and took in the crowd. The yearly charity fair always drew a lot of people, but he was equally surprised each time. They hadn’t even officially opened and yet there were witches and wizards all around, talking in small groups or setting up tables and hanging colourful decorations.

Effie and Monty had a stand selling donated books where James had helped out many times as a kid, but this year he and Sirius had both signed up to help out at the lottery. They soon find the old grey-haired wizard in charge. The instructions were clear enough, they mingled in the crowd with tree rings of lottery tickets each. Sirius' charming smile earned him more buyers than James, who in friendly competitiveness decided to split up and move closer to the entrance to catch the incoming crowd.

Either James was a strategic genius or people were feeling generous, but he soon sold out one ring of lottery tickets. Returning to the lottery stand to leave it, he saw Sirius hugging someone.

Someone with equally smooth black hair as Sirius, but slightly leaner and taller. It couldn’t be…?

James had not seen Regulus since his own graduation last year. He had heard all about the chaotic break with his family from Sirius, of course. He apparently shared an apartment with two other guys after a short period crashing on Sirius’ and Remus’ sofa.

That time he had definitely not been this tall. Making his way there to say hi, James realised Regulus was even taller than him. Not more than an inch, but that was enough.

Don’t get him wrong. James had always thought Regulus was pretty, always been impressed by his quickness and amused by his dry wit. But he had always been Sirius' little brother and quite frankly James had actively avoided getting involved in something as complicated as that.

Looking (and trying not to stare) at this Regulus, the same laws as last year didn’t seem to apply. Someone taller than James and just a year younger couldn’t be off limits just because he happened to be someone’s little brother, could he? At least not when his eyes sparkled like diamonds at something Sirius had just said and his smile gave his flawless face an inviting softness.

“Oh, there you are” Sirius greeted James, “I met my baby brother. Never thought I’d see him at a charity fair.”

“Shut up” Regulus rolled his eyes, “Hello James!”

“Hi! Eh… Hello!” James scratched his neck and looked after Regulus as he gave a little wave and walked off. Sirius gave him a weird look which made his attempt to appear normal even harder and he quickly hid behind the lottery-stand to hide his blushing cheeks. Maybe letting himself get attracted to Regulus was still too complicated to be worth it? Sirius had called him his baby brother after all.

He continued selling the remaining lottery tickets. But he couldn’t help but look out for silky black hair in the crowd. Or those eyes, seemingly carrying a myriad of mysteries. Or those lips. He couldn’t possibly had been smiling like that ever at Hogwarts, James would have remembered something as perfect, wouldn’t he?

He didn’t see him again, though. He had probably already left and maybe that was for the best. After selling all his lottery tickets there was a short break before the actual lottery ceremony along with some speeches and awards would begin. James used the time to go to the gents. He opened the door and stopped dead in his tracks. Regulus stood in front of the mirror.

He was putting on lipstick.

Making his perfect lips even more prominent against his stunning regal features. As if that wasn’t enough to make James gape, Regulus turned towards him (probably wondering what idiot stopped right in the doorway) and smirked.

Oh God. James had never seen a more gorgeous human being.

Regulus finished his work with exquisitely fluid movements, put the lid on the lipstick and the lipstick back in his pocket. He walked past James. Close (because being the idiot that he was, he was still standing right in the doorway). On his way, he towered over James in the most pleasantly intimidating way possible and said:

“I work at the up-cycled clothes stand. You should come by.”

While James’ brain short-circuited Regulus smirked as if he knew just what effect he had on James and leisurely walked on.

 “Y-yeah, m-maybe I’ll do that,” James shouted after him.

He would definitely do that. How he should explain his newfound interest in up-cycled clothes to Sirius was a later problem.

[willsimpforanyone]

hii :) im so happy your requests are open again, i love your writing and your blog is one of my favorites. could you write something where daughter of aphrodite!reader is in love/have a crush on a son of ares but doesn’t act on it because she’s afraid of being rejected, so piper plans something with the other aphrodite kids to make them be together? if not, that’s okay! anyway, thank you for your time <3

thank you for being so patient, you're so sweet!!

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

"Okay, you have to tell him."

I whined as Piper pushed me over on my bunk so she could comfortably sit with me.

"I don't have to tell anyone anything, Pipes, I'm a free woman!" I protested, picking at my nails. "Not that there's something to tell anyone anyway."

Piper barked a laugh. "You are literally in the Aphrodite cabin, you know damn well we all know who you're mooning over."

Ugh, she had a point.

"Doesn't matter, he probably doesn't like me anyway." I sighed. "Gods, he's so cute."

Piper took my hand, squeezing it. "You gave in so easily, but that's okay because now we can help!"

I frowned, alarmed at the 'we' in that sentence. "...I'm sorry, help?"

"Yep!" She stood, dragging me with her. "Let's go."

I was unceremoniously pulled from the cabin and led to the arena where most of the Aphrodite cabin were practicing. Stereotypes be damned, we were gorgeous and dangerous.

"Hey! C'mere!" Piper yelled. About a dozen heads whipped round, recognising the voice of their cabin leader, hefting weapons over their shoulders and making their way over.

"Uh oh," Lacy grinned at me cowering behind Piper. "She finally admitted it?"

I rolled my eyes but Mitchell swept me up in a hug. "Our baby sister, so grown up!"

I smacked his arm. "Put me down, asshole, I'm not that much younger than you! And I haven't actually admitted shit, so."

"Nope, she called him cute, that's all we need." Piper turned to me. "Unless you truly, truly don't want our help, we will back off if you say so, you know that, right?"

My heart warmed at the genuine tone in her voice- the second I was honestly uncomfortable, she would back down. Unfortunately for me, I desperately wanted help.

"I know, Pipes, but I also know that this family lives for drama, so..."

Mitchell squealed. "Oh my gods, we get to set them up!" He kissed my forehead and latched onto my arm. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

I rolled my eyes but squeezed his arm. Piper cleared her throat.

"Okay, cabin meeting in 20 minutes, put everything away, shower, go."

Everyone split, and Piper and I headed back to the cabin.

Almost exactly 20 minutes later, my siblings were sat on bunks and on the floor facing a whiteboard on the wall. My name and his name were written at the top.

"Alright people," Piper began. "Any ideas?"

"They could get paired up for sparring?" Someone suggested. "She could show her prowess with a weapon, he'll be impressed, bam, he's in love."

Piper considered it. "Interesting, okay, I'll write it down."

I cringed internally. Up and close fighting wasn't really my thing, I was better with long-ranged stuff, but it would be mean to cut down the first idea.

"Ooo!" Lacy raised her hand. "The Ares cabin get really competitive, right? What if we beat them at capture the flag?"

There was a moment of silence. Piper swallowed. "That's a good idea, except it could have the exact opposite effect." Lacy took a second to think, and realised the issue.

A few more ideas were thrown out, Piper looking to me for any ideas that caught my attention. I shook my head slightly at each one, laughing a little at the increasingly elaborate plans my siblings were coming up with. When the last suggestion involved ropes and pulleys and the Hephaestus cabin, I had to put a stop to it.

"Okay, okay, we're getting a little ridiculous, don't you think?"

There was a mix of agreements and protestations but Piper held up a hand. "She's right, and I have a much simpler plan." She turned to me. "If you'd be open to it."

I was hesitant, but nodded. "What is it?"

Piper shrugged. "You go say hi."

I blinked, muscles locked. "...I'm sorry, you want me to what?"

She laughed. "You go say hi to him, wherever he is, start a conversation, maybe ask him out."

Mitchell squeaked. "Absolutely not, that's so boring!"

Lacy elbowed him. "It's old-fashioned, it's cute, and it doesn't involve twelve other people."

"And, most importantly," Piper sat down in front of me. "It's brave. It's a guaranteed way to earn his respect- you're worried that he won't like you, right?" I nodded. "So if you go up to him despite that fear, isn't that a brave thing to do?"

I sighed. "I don't know, Pipes, what if he's actually a jerk and I've just seen him pretending to be sweet and kind and everything?"

"Then you'll know you've dodged a bullet."

Damn. Good point.

One of the older girls piped up. "And hey, I used to have a crush on one of the Ares kids, I said that I liked her, she said she didn't feel the same but appreciated it, and she's been lovely to me- who's to say that won't happen again?"

"And," Piper said, taking my hands in hers. "If he's a dick, we'll make his life a living hell, m'kay?"

I laughed, breathing deeply. "Yeah, yeah, okay." I stood up, everyone following suit. "You're gonna be nearby, right?"

There was a chorus of 'of course!' and 'well obviously, we wouldn't miss it'. There was a quick check of the rota to see where the Ares cabin would be, and I walked out the Aphrodite cabin, followed one by one by my siblings doing a terrible job of being nonchalant.

The archery range was loud and boisterous, with Ares kids being repeatedly corralled from poking each other with arrows. He stood near the end, laughing hard at something his sister said. Gods above, he was so cute.

I swallowed hard, eyes flicking to where Piper had stationed herself against a tree. She gave me a thumbs up and I stepped forward.

"Um, hi?" I walked into his line of sight, hand raised slightly.

He locked eyes with me, a grin spreading across his face. "Hey, what's up?"

I smiled back. Brave, I'm brave, Ares respects bravery. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

His sister smacked him with a wide grin and he hit her back harder. "Sure." He dropped his quiver and bow on the floor and followed my lead to a little way into the forest. There was some teasing shouts from his siblings and he gave them the middle finger without even looking.

"So," He said, once I'd stopped. His hands were shoved into his pockets. "What's up?"

Let's just rip off the bandage, brave, I'm so brave, come on.

"I think you're really cute and I really like you." My eyes were squeezed shut and I could feel how much blood was in my face.

There was quiet for a moment. I cracked an eye and looked at him. Was he... blushing? And... smiling? I opened my eyes fully, relaxing a little.

He coughed. "Uh, that's, like, really cool, so cool, um-" He buried his face in his hands and I nearly melted at how adorable that was. "So, um, I've been wanting to ask you out for, like, weeks?"

WEEKS?!

I sputtered. "W-what? Weeks? Why didn't- why did you wait for me to do it first??" I poked at his arm. "I was so worried you'd hate me!"

He peaked at me through his fingers. "Well, you're, like, so gorgeous and smart and I fully believe you're capable of, like, kicking my ass if I got it wrong?"

Gently, I pulled his hands away from his face. "Okay, very sweet that you think I'm dangerous, but are you actually going to ask me out now?" Wow, I was a lot more confident once he'd said he liked me.

He laughed. "Yeah, totally, um, hey, do you want to go out with me? Like, on dates and stuff, I'll work shit out, just... turn up, I guess?"

I grinned. "Yeah, I can do that, absolutely."

"Sweet." He paused, suddenly went really red, darted forward and pressed a quick kiss to my cheek before sprinting away. I stood, stunned, before bursting into laughter. There were hollering yells from where the Ares siblings were, and I was swarmed by Aphrodite kids cheering for me.

Piper slung her arm around my shoulders. "Atta girl, you got him!"

I grinned, all the confidence that I'd lost flooding my system. "Oh, I think I have that boy wrapped around my finger."

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

thank you so much for requesting, i hope you liked it!!

[natshiiii]

Miss Academia Chapter 1: Just For Fun

☆ Characters: Teacher Jeonghan, Teacher Nayeon

Warnings: mention of bullying, indirect mention of past trauma, lots of crying, departure, swearing Word count: ~ 3.3k

Next Chapter . Masterlist .

“Class dismissed!” 

You quickly pack your things. Finally, it’s your favourite time of the day—going home—so you can actually get to your studies after a long day of time waste.

Just as you were about to leave, the teacher spoke. “Y/n, please stay behind.” A huff of frustration almost left you, but thanks to your emotion control instincts, you stayed unchanging. You waited until everyone left the classroom, then approached the teacher.

“Yes, Mr. Yoon?” Mr. Yoon looked up from the homework he was checking. “Ah, y/n, I thought you left. Have a seat, we have something to discuss.” As you settled down on the seat in front of his desk, he turned his full attention to you before starting. “So… have you thought about where to continue your study?”

You have been studying in this community school since kindergarten. Currently, in 9th grade, almost done with middle school.

*With a deep sigh Where do I even start? This school is full of low-class people. Even the teachers are unknowledgeable. Mr. Yoon is different, though. He’s been looking out for you and keeping an eye on you since forever. He has seen the way you put your everything into your studies, your enthusiasm to always learn something, and your interests that are beyond something kids your age like. And, guess what? That’s one of the big reasons you got bullied.

Lame, right? 

Mr. Yoon is your number 1 supporter. He’s the one who pushed you with your academic interests and abilities—applying you to competitions, you know, putting your abilities to work. He helps you with some of your studies and answers all your questions willingly. And even if he couldn’t answer your question then, he would find the answer for you by the next day.

You’ve learned not to ask the other teachers. They would either shoo you away to go search for it on your own or insult you to death just because they didn’t know the answer to your advanced questions. And when you corrected them in class or tell them that the information they delivered was wrong, those were the days you used to go home with red eyes, crying from the humiliation, and all the things spitted at you by the teachers and the classmates.

“Oh, look at Miss Y/n everyone. She thinks she knows more than I do.” “Why don’t you teach the class if you’re so clever then? Come on.” “So you’re the one with the teaching degree?” You’re not even sure if they hold any degree at all or how they even passed their college to become a teacher.

“You just can't stop being a know-it-all, eh?” You were only 9, getting ganged up on. Can you imagine what effect it had on a soft-hearted girl. “Awe, are you going to cry? She's going to cry, everyone!” No one helped you, they all just stood there and watched, not wanting to get themselves involved, dickheads. You didn’t even stand up for yourself, only accepting and letting everyone's words and acts get to you, overshadowing your real thoughts and personality. You were convinced that they are right and believed in all the

Lies lies and lies

You can’t separate what’s reality or just made-up things any longer. For them it was all just a joke, but what it did to you?

‘ I’m wondering what we could do

And I’m lost, I’m so lost.

Oh, somebody come through.

Tell me why they do this to me, it’s so confusing.

Oh, why do I feel stupid?

Tell me what you want from me now,

Or i’ll just cry again.

Here we go again.

Back in the same places. ’

You tried so hard, you really did, and still trying to this day cause you understand that in the end, you only have yourself, no hero is going to come save you. You needed to be your own saviour. After years and years of getting stepped on and on, letting them control your mind, and filling your head with all the false statements about you.

You had enough.

Mr. Yoon has seen you since you were little till now that you’ve transformed into a completely different person. How these ruthless people affected you, turning the sweet sunshine girl into a cold, stoic one.

How else were you supposed to survive this place, shield yourself, and bring yourself back up on your feet again? So you threw her away.

Mr. Yoon also knows that a talent like you won’t be able to go anywhere if you stay here. This is not a place for you.

“Uh…here?” Your answer came out more like a question because where else will you go when this is the only school in your area?

Mr. Yoon sighed, putting his pen down. “Y/n, your capability is unfitting for this school, you know it. And your curiosities and interests are beyond something this school can provide for you.” You stayed silent, so with a contemplating sigh he continued, “WILL Academy is opening for new students to ap-”

“WILL ACADEMY?!” You exclaimed in bewilderment. Mr. Yoon put his hands out to hush you.

“Calm down! Y/n, please listen. I know what you’re thinking, but please just listen first.” He quickly stated.

You shook your head frantically. No no no no no. Is this some kind of a joke? Because WILL is only a dream for someone from a middle-class family like you. You’ve only seen this heavenly place on the television, how luxurious it is, and heard about their interesting study systems, they even have advanced classes that your local library probably doesn’t even have the books for, so…yeah, you’re definitely not overreacting. It’s too unrealistic. You won’t even dare to go there in your dreams.

“There’s a test you’ll need to take as the scores are required for the application.” “This is ridiculous.” “You already have too many impressive achievements, like your first place in the ‘Math Problem Solving Competition’ since the 6th grade, first place in literally every ‘Biology Contest’ ever, ‘Poetry Contest,’ ‘Chess Competition.’ You even participated in ‘History Debates’ and presented your projects at Science Fairs, and so much more. Y/n! Impressive is an understatement to state you. When most of the people your age or even older can’t even match 1/4 of your achievements.” Mr. Yoon finally took a breath after rapping out. Counting his fingers, he mumbled with a frown. “What else?” Trying to remember what else you’ve done.

You watched Mr. Yoon with your upper lip curled in bemusement at how certain he sounded. Did he forget? “Mr. Yoon, my parents can’t affor-” You were about to remind him when he cut you off.

“There is a position for a full scholarship.”

Your eyes widened to the level that it felt like they would pop right out of your skull, but then you turned back normal again. Even after that, “There will still be a lot of other expenses. The academy is in the city far from here, and they have this…weird rich people lifestyle that is completely different from mine.”

“Can you at least try, y/n?” Mr. Yoon pleaded.

I mean… there’s no loss in just trying, right? No need to take it serious. You pondered on it before speaking, “Just for fun?” 

Mr. Yoon perked up. “Just for fun.” He confirmed.

You enjoy challenging yourself, wanting to know if there are any limits to you and if there is possibly anything you can’t do.

Since you were little, when most kids play around, you sit alone, reading or observing their behaviours. Never had a friend to call your own, the only little dude that was nice and played with you moved away when you turned 7. Lucky number my ass. You still remember him precisely. Wonder where he is now and how he’s doing.

The other ones that called themselves your “friend” turned out to be bitches that only used your innocent ass for your brain and their grades.

You don’t talk, like… at all cause who the fuck will you even talk to?These shits? No, thank you. You grew to find peace in your own presence. But you do speak up if it’s necessary now. Some kids still sometimes look your way weirdly, but as you simply look up from your book with your habitual sharp eyes, they all divert their eyes and move away. But rarely does that happen because mostly you’re a ghost, no one really cares about you or even sees you. Why? I don’t know, maybe you just have that spy skill to go unnoticed, or maybe because of the stone behaviour you’ve developed.

Your parents are your number 1.2 and 1.3 supporters, especially in your study. You just know if you tell them about WILL Academy, they will most definitely push you, even if it’s more than what they can afford. And you do not want that, so you decide to keep quiet.

//

[One day of some week in some month]

You walked back home from school like usual. “I’m home!” Announcing as you took off your shoes before going in. A gut of something delicious hit you. You took a deep breath at the smell of fresh bakery mom made. It loosens you up right away, like a switch, telling you that you can take off your mask now. The best part of the day for sure. Now, it’s time to steal some. You made your way to the kitchen with a content hum. Walking in, both of them were sitting at the dining table with some papers on the dining table, either bills or work stuff, not your business. “Hello~ Me just want a… something that my master chef has made in my mouth please.”

Mom got up from her seat as she heard you, rushing to give you a hug, causing you to tense up by the suddenness. “You didn’t tell me you applied to WILL Academy.” She said softly.

Oh, shit. How did they know?’

“Oh, I only applied for fun, it’s nothing, Mom.” Your voice was muffled from being pressed into her shoulder. “What do you mean just for fun? You could have told us, you know?” She backed away a little. You stayed silent for a few seconds before replying. “I just...didn’t want you two to worry over nothing.” She hugged you again, tighter this time, which made you even more baffled. 

“I’m sorry, but what does it have anything to do with this…hugging thing going on?”

Then you heard quiet sniffles, making you frown deeply, and backing away to look at her. “Mom, what’s wrong with you?” Dad lifted one of the papers from the table and waved it lightly. You hesitant slightly before walking to take it from him.

___

‘WILL Academy logo’

Dear Y/n Y/l/n,

We have received your entry application for the ‘Year 10’ students. Your profile, achievements, and especially your scores were beyond impressive. You have scored the 2nd highest ranking out of all the applicants, so we are writing this letter with immense pleasure to CONGRATULATE you on being selected as the recipient of our highly competitive scholarship.

Your dedication and commitment to your academic pursuits have not gone unnoticed and have significantly distinguished you from the other applicants.

This scholarship is just the beginning of your bright future with us, we’re looking forward to having an excellent student like you at our academy. 

WELCOME TO WILL

___

Your hands started shaking the moment you saw the big ass CONGRATULATION. Eyes widening as you read the letter, gaping in shock, and goosebumps erupted through your whole body.

You got in?

You, Y/n Y/l/n, got into the WILL academy? Shut up.

But… you’re not going. You only tried it out for fun.

You looked up from the paper to them, about to say something, but Dad shook his head, stopping you. “You know we would always support you, right?” “Bu-” “It doesn’t matter. This is about your future, y/n, and we’d do everything for that.”

“We’ll figure it out”

//

Dad made an arrangement for everything to make you as convenient as possible. Your single filthy-rich aunt Sejeong, who lives alone in her mansion in that city, decided to take you in as her responsibility. She couldn’t contain her excitement when she heard the news.

“Let her live with me! I’m so lonely. FINALLY, I’ll have company.” “Don’t you worry about her at all, brother. She’ll have a bodyguard with her at all times.” “If anyone even dares to take a glance at my tiger, I’ll write a lawsuit at them!” And yes, she’s kinda (very) dramatic. 

Knowing she has good intentions, Dad still doesn’t like accepting help from others, even if it’s his sister. 

“I’m serious, brother. I can take care of everything for y/n. You don’t have to worry about anything at all, okay? She’s like my daughter, you know?” After arguing for almost an hour with aunt, Dad finally gave up, knowing he could never win. “Fine…but since you’re going to be taking care of y/n for a long time now, at least let me do something for her.” 

“Your stubbornness is 100% from Sejeong.” Dad always tells you.

Aunt Jeongie hardly agreed to let him rent a condominium room fully by himself. The academy and Jeongie’s mansion are in different areas, so Dad insisted on getting you a condominium room. You argued that a normal apartment would be more than fine. “It’s a waste of money, Dad.” “It’s just unnecessary.” “It’ll onl-”

“Do you want unwanted attention again?” He shut you, finalising with, “You have to fit in.”

//

Mr. Yoon cried when you informed him the news. “I knew it!” He exclaimed, getting up from his desk in his office room. He was about to hug you but stopped as he remembers. You’ve become sensitive and hyper-aware of physical touches or even proximity because of the traumatic event that happened to you in 8th grade, last year. 

But you stepped closer to him yourself, reassuring him that he can. Mr. Yoon played the biggest part in your success and even in your life. He's the fourth person after Mom, Dad, and Jeongie that you gave your trust to and let your guard down when being with. He is like a mother figure to you.

“Your time has finally come. A bright future is waiting for you.”

//

The last day of school was like a heavy weight was lifted up from your chest. You felt such a sense of relief. Can you believe this? You’ll finally be free from this rat trap, and you’re never coming back ever again. But a little bit of nostalgia, you did feel, cause you’ve been here since 4, but damn, the sickening life-changing experiences, and a lifetime's worth of traumas it has given you will never be able to make you look back with a smile or any of the positive emotions.

You decided to take a walk around the school after the final exam to look at everything one last time. You visited the library, your favourite place in the school. All the classrooms you’ve studied in, the field where you used to play badminton with some kids. A small smile did creep up on your face at the memory of the other kids not wanting to play with you because you always defeated them all. You made sure to skip and walk past the gymnasium on the side of the field quickly, so your brain don’t replay it again.

You had to visit the small studio you loved to go sing in whenever you felt down. Mrs. Im, your singing teacher for 6 years, works in the studio. She's the one who suggested the way to cope with your overthinking and wildly running thoughts. You learned to write your thoughts down into words whenever they become too complicated and too much for you to take. And convert them into lyrics and make songs out of it.

‘Will you come back?’ (CHIHIRO by Billie Eilish, but lyric changes are applied to fit the message better.) Was the song you wrote, talking to yourself, your two self.

‘ To take my love away

When I come back around, will I know what to say?

Said you won't forget yourself

Not today, not tomorrow

Kinda strange, feelin' sorrow

Had to change, you should follow (follow)

When I come back around, will I know what to say?

Not today, or tomorrow

Open up the door, can you open up the door?

I know you said before you can't cope with any more

You told me it was war, said you'd show me what it’s for

I hope it's not for sure, can you open up the door?

Did you take

My love away

From me?

Thought I saw you in the mirror when I looked away

Saw you turn around, but it wasn't your face

Said, "I need to be alone now, I'm takin' a break"

How come when I returned, you were gone away?

I don't, I don't know who you are

I don't know you at all

I don't know you

Not at all

I don't, I don't know who you are

I don't know you at all

I don't know you

Did you take

My love away

From me? Me…’

—

‘What have I done for?’ (What was I made for? By Billie Eilish)

‘ I used to float, now I just fall down

I used to know but I'm not sure now

Why I was played on

What have I done for?

Thinking back on, I was shining bright

Looked so alive, then the lights all died

Just something you stepped on

What have I done for?

'Cause I, I

I don't know how to feel

But I wanna try

I don't know how to feel

But someday, I might

Someday, I might

When did it end? All the enjoyment

I'm sad again, don't tell my mother

It's not what she's made for

What was I made for?

'Cause I, 'cause I

I don't know how to feel

But I wanna try

I don't know how to feel

But someday I might

Someday I might

Think I forgot how to be happy

Something I'm not, but something I wish to be

Something I wait for

Something I'm made for

Something I'm made for ’

“Come in!” You opened the door carefully. “Oh, Y/n~” She said bightly to you like always, and that was enough to make your eyes water. “Awee, baby, what’s wrong?” She got up from her seat and came to take you in a hug, surprised because she hadn't seen you crying for a while now. “I’ll miss you.” She smiled with a pout, tearing up herself. “I will as much. Where else will I ever find a girl like you, huh?” She caressed your cheeks lovingly and wiped your tears away. “Don’t you dare forget such a lovely teacher as me, do you understand?” She threatened playfully to lighten the mood. You let out a little chuckle with more sobs. The only other teacher who understood you and helped you a lot during the hard times.

Lastly, you visited Mr. Yoon’s office, where you always came to ask him questions. Your chest still feels heavy even after the fun karaoke and conversation with Miss Nayeon. Mr. Yoon was checking the test papers when you knocked. He sighed in annoyance. “Now, who?” He looked up. Who else would it be other than the notorious kids pranking him? “Oh, y/nna. Why are you still here? You want me to take you home?” You shook your head softly, fidgeting with your hands. “Had to visit you..one last time.” Your voice quivered towards the end as your eyes teared up again. He looked at you with a slight frown in concern before giving you a motherly smile and getting up from his desk. “Glad you did.” He opened his arms. You didn’t waste another second, rushing in to hug him, and crying all over again. “You’ll always be in my heart, my little Miss Academia.”

“Remember me with a smile, not with tears.”

[knownangels]

blood pressure

It’s rare that anyone is invited to one of their outings. They’re not quite girls nights, because Nomi’s brow does a cute little furl at the label. Doesn’t quite apply, even if it gives each date a label Matilda knows she’s coveted since she was a kid. Girls night meant having friends, meant being invited and involved and wanted. Included. 

So on the off-chance that outsiders are invited, it’s usually not one of the boys. Xavier occasionally, if “out” means club or pizza. Benji, if it’s a quiet tag-along to the art store and cafe afterwards. Naima and-slash-or Mouse to dinner, Lark on one catastrophically memorable bar trip where Matilda had, of course, roped him into an argument after receiving a free drink from some weirdo regular.  

Maran hasn’t come with them. Yet. 

But Matilda is, if not anything else, very perceptive when it comes to her best friend. Nomi is about as elusive as they come. And while it might be easy to say she wants to untangle the mystery for the prestige of it, the bragging rights of understanding such a strange little creature…well, it’d be a lie. At the end of the day she wants Nomi happy. She’d do quite honestly anything to see that goal realized — as mushy and cringe and over-warm as admitting that makes her feel. 

As of late, Nomi has seemed the happiest and most herself when her little buzz cut shadow is following her around. Matilda is protective of Maran in a way that Benji probably relates to. But that protectiveness won’t stop her from putting him on a hook just for Nomi. He’s the perfect little colorful wriggling lure. 

She’ll settle for bragging rights of matchmaker. Even though their orbit around each other seems destined for an adorable, dorky collision.

Like now, at the shopping center food court, the two of them are leaned across the table into each others’ space. Nomi’s babbling about her latest convention trip — Atlanta or Nashville or something down south, where she’d been a national or regional or whatever finalist in a cosplay competition. Her manicured black fingernail taps along her phone screen, swiping picture after picture of costumes that Matilda has to begrudge as…really well-crafted. Unless it’s Nomi, or Xavier talking her to sleep with some NatGeo history documentary in the background, Matilda really prefers not to give nerds their flowers. 

Keeps them humble.

But she does love listening to Nomi regale the drama and politics behind the scene. She had no idea these sorts of activities could be so deliciously cutthroat. Trophies and titles and controversy, lying and cheating and sabotage? 

“Who knew a bunch of video game obsesseès could be cunty?”

“Oh man,” Maran says, tapping Nomi’s wrist to stop her swiping. “Is that a Soul Caliber one? That’s so good.” 

“That’s Josette.” Nomi says with a twist of admiration and spite that pulls Matilda’s full interest. “She’s just cunty.”

Maran’s eyes go big. “I thought that was good?”

“Bad cunty, Mar.” Matilda reaches across to pat his cheek. “Start taking notes.” 

Nomi pouts at the grid of gorgeously color-graded, professionally-taken, and expertly-posed pictures.

“Well I can’t bend that way.” She grumbles, lifting another mouthful of noodles. It’s certainly more difficult to chew with her chin propped in her hand, but somehow she manages — and looks cute, too.

“You shrimp sit in your chair for fourteen hours a day.” Matilda points out, voice overlapping with Maran’s exclamation:

“Flexibility is so important overall though, Noms.” He does a little arm-over-elbow stretch. Clearly, he thinks he’s being motivating. Matilda isn’t sure he realizes that he’s showing off. “Just a few minutes a day, like while you’re waitin’ for your tea or whatever. Helps out so much, promise. Posin’ too!” 

Matilda hms thoughtfully, sensing an opportunity. “Overall, huh?” She has the pleasure of watching the gears shift in Nomi’s head. 

“Posing flexibility.” She downs another too-big bite of noodles thoughtfully. “Well…Oh! D’you suppose it helps sex, too? Like positions? I’ve always had a few I wanted to try but—”

Matilda lifts a hand to her mouth, refusing to show her cards through the smirk. She loves when Nomi gets like this. Matter-of-fact but totally socially inept with her curiosity at play. She can’t help but glance their friend’s way — he’s faring much worse than amusement. 

Maran sits there with his jaw nearly unhinged, fork paused halfway to his mouth. He is going hilariously, incrementally red. 

“I would assume so,” Matilda says, but only after she pauses to gather herself. “Maran said overall health, right? Give it a month and I’ll bet you could—”

“Maran are you feeling alright?”

“Yes.” Maran stutters. Liar, Matilda thinks fondly. Fucking awful one.

“When’s the last time you got your blood pressure checked?” Matilda snickers. “Gotta be careful with the junk food. You can have all the flexibility you want but if it comes to blood pressure, sex is totally off the table.” She pauses, snorts. “No pun intended.”

“On the table,” Nomi says absentmindedly, as if she’s got a running list of positions she’d like to try and is adding to that. As if. Matilda knows she does. “Is that true about blood pressure and sex?”

“Girl, why do you think you’re always hearing stories about old men stroking out mid-stroke?”

“Why is your example always old men.” 

“You are so desperate to hear about my sexual escapades.” Matilda loftily teases. “Maybe you should try having some of your own?”

“I’m trying—”

Maran stands abruptly. They both look at him. 

“Mar?”

“You alright?”

“I need to go.” He blurts. Then somehow goes redder. “I mean I’ve got to piss.” His eyes widen, almost look teary. “I mean I’ll be right back I need—”

“Some air?” Matilda offers. She points towards the other end of the mall, where there’s a little atrium and open windows. Maran nods jerkily and then dashes in the wrong direction. They watch him stumble, look over his shoulder, avoid eye contact with either of them, and then rush past to go the opposite and correct direction. 

When he’s out of sight, Matilda levels Nomi with one of their patented Looks. 

“You’re going to kill him before you can test his blood pressure.” Matilda steals a bite of her remaining ramen. “Or flexibility.”

Nomi blinks at her. Owlish and pretty and totally fucking obtuse behind her giant glasses. 

Matilda would kill for her. Maybe not with her bare hands - gross. But definitely kill.

[cyberneticatoms]

no way is that TOPHER DEVEREUX..they’re a 28 year-old SYNTH notoriously known for being SELF-DEPRECATING & OPPORTUNISTIC but there are some people who have seen them being CHARISMATIC & FLIRTY. if you ask me, they remind me a lot of the soreness in your muscles after pushing yourself too far, melodies for someone who will never hear them, and lights shining off the metal blades of ice skates, but that could just be because they’re considered the FORMER WORKAHOLIC around town. just keep an eye on them  &  see if their true colors shine through..

↳ 𝚀𝚄𝙸𝙲𝙺 𝙵𝙰𝙲𝚃𝚂

NAME: Christopher Luka Devereux NICKNAMES: Topher DATE OF BIRTH: May 22nd (28) HEIGHT: 5'11 AFFILIATION: Neutral OCCUPATION: Professional Figure Skater Coach/Choreographer FACECLAIM: Franco Masini

↳ 𝙱𝙰𝙲𝙺𝙶𝚁𝙾𝚄𝙽𝙳

❖ Oldest in his family to a mom who wanted kids and choose to use other's DNA to have them. Growing up and being surrounded by so much creativity and talent, he didn't want to just follow one thing. ❖ Instead he took acting, dance, and music lessons. He also struggled with imposter syndrome, wanting to make his family proud, while also being able to, in his eyes earn a spot with all these prestigious people.  ❖ One of his mom's fundraisers for the arts turned out to be a figure skating show. Immediately this had Topher hooked, it was everything he enjoyed in performing while having the added challenge of being on the ice.  ❖ Signing up for lessons, this was also when he met one of his best friends, Andros Lupin. Slightly confused why his friend didn't just follow his passion and was hiding it.  ❖ Still he focused solely on pushing his body to the limits, even taking it a step farther by writing his own music for his performances.  ❖ Because of how much focus he put into skating, he fell behind on earning a degree in college. While he technically didn't need it, it never hurt to have more knowledge in performing and a backup plan in case things didn't work out.  ❖ It was during college he met Carrie Bachman, and now he knew what passion actually felt like.  ❖ While he'd always been close to his family, her feeling like the odd one out in hers was something he could at least somewhat relate to. Admitting to her, he never felt quite talented enough to be around his mom and her social circle.  ❖ Watching her come out of her shell while they were dating, was and still is one of the things he's most proud of being a part of. ❖ Close to when he was graduating, a production company had been holding auditions for their show. He'd tried out and snagged the leading male role. At the time he'd tried to convince Andros to try out, but his friend had opted to stay closer to home and stick to competitions.  ❖ Breaking up with Carrie hadn't originally been part of the plan. He'd been in the middle of discussions with his manager/agent on how he could get time off to visit her.  ❖ They were set to tour across the country, as well as possibly globally. During this meeting his manager brought up that Carrie didn't need a part time boyfriend, that she'd likely meet someone better than him. She'd come out of her shell enough, she didn't need him anymore. ❖ They were young after all, why was he trying so hard for something that was likely to fizzle out. It was better to end things on good terms, besides he was about to be too busy for a relationship with anyone.  ❖ Reluctantly he agreed, and though he phrased it better, he used those same points when breaking up with her. While it sucked, she seemed to take it well overall, so his manager had likely been right.  ❖ At first touring was fun, the shows were challenging but creatively fulfilling. A year into this and that slowly started changing. The show became less of an actual performance and more a walking ad show. 

❖ Every number involved trying to sell something, Topher beginning to feel more like a walking salesman than a performer. Even his music became ad jingles he hated to write.  ❖ Whenever he argued with his manager, the argument always got turned back around on him. That he should be grateful for the opportunity he had, that if he hated the songs so much it was his own fault for not writing something better.  ❖ While on a brief break and being back home, he saw how much his siblings were creatively fulfilled along with his friends, even Carrie had found something she was passionate about.  ❖ It made him feel even more lonely and burnt out. At his next performance he went off script, writing and performed a whole new musical number. Giving the production company and his manager the middle finger while quitting then and there.  ❖ He might have burned any bridges for future performances but he felt like he could finally breathe again.  ❖ After talking to Andros, he officially became his choreographer/coach  and started writing music again for his friend’s performances.  ❖ He misses performing but he's content to just be in the background for now. Taking the chance to reconnect his family and his friends, though there's one person he's nervous to reach out to.

↳ 𝙼𝙸𝚂𝙲

• Topher has a box full of postcards from the various places he toured in. They have messages written on them from simple i miss yous to wish you were heres. • Some have verses or full songs, while others are covered in long winded messages. All addressed to Carrie, never having the guts to send any of them he instead kept them in a small box.

[toomuchracket]

I really enjoy playing group sports, but the schedules with friends rarely align to make it work. It would be fun to rope in all the boys on a field trip to play some ultimate frisbee, they'd inevitably start playing soccer (which I dislike playing so that's prime "appreciating the view" time). Followed by tired, cuddly film watching + eating at home!

I'm a George girly, but dealers choice!

this is so sweet! i see it being a really nice day at the end of spring/beginning of summer, so not too hot but still sunny, and you suggest to george that the weekly meetup (because those boys CANNOT be apart for any length of time lol) should take place at the park - he's so up for it, and so are the rest of the boys (and carly and baby hann!). you take the frisbee, and everyone - including the kid lol - gets involved in an initially friendly game that soon gets fairly competitive (let's be real it's probably george and matty trying to outdo each other lol); it ends abruptly when baby hann asks if he can get an ice cream from the kiosk nearby, and the rest of you all go "you know what? i could go an ice cream right now too". so you all get them and sit on the grass, you between george's legs lying against his chest totally content, just enjoying the sweet treat and the sun on your bare legs. speaking of, once george has finished his ice cream, he defo reaches into your tote bag and brings out sunscreen like "reapplication time, c'mon babe" - you do your limbs and anywhere exposed on the front of your body while george clips your hair up and does the back of your neck, your shoulders and your back, a very cute little routine you've both established. and then it's his turn, and then you both face each other to put some on your faces, smiling sweetly at each other and having a cute little kiss - everyone finds the whole thing adorable, despite ross fake-retching and calling george "sappy and whipped" (which is actually true lol). george just laughs and stands up, grabbing his hoodie as if to put it on, then abruptly shouts "bagsy not in net!" and just fucking BOLTS to the middle of the grassy section you guys are in, closely followed by adam - still holding his son - and ross, matty behind them like "this is so bloody unfair you all have longer legs than me of course you're going to be faster than i am christ alive i hate being in goal" lol. but he stands between the makeshift goalposts (george's hoodie and baby hann's rain jacket) as his role requires him to, trying to stop the others kicking the ball ross brought with him between them. you don't really focus on the progress of the game, though, because you're too busy chatting to carly initially, and then too distracted by the sight of george (who's removed his shirt) all lean and golden and beautiful in the sunshine - he looks over and winks at you at one point, which sends you into a fit of lovestruck giggles. but after a few short games (everyone takes a turn in net literally if only to stop matty having a tantrum), you all part ways and head home for dinner, making plans to do the same thing next week if the weather stays good. and yeah, you and george are both sleepy from the sunshine - dinner is something quick to assemble, eaten sprawled out on the sofa, followed by a 90-min rom-com watch that you don't even see the end of because you fall asleep contentedly cosied into your boyfriend's chest. very cute vibes! <3

[dalt20]

Tooning In 15 Greg Bailey part 5 of 10

DL:Yes, please! So let's talk about your crowning achievement, Arthur for PBS and WGBH Boston.So what was the story behind the transition from book to world famous TV show?

GB:In what way do you mean?

DL:As how Arthur became a TV cartoon.

GB:Marc Brown had about 10 books out in the market based on Arthur. The character designs of the characters like Arthur and Binky and Buster were in the books but they looked extremely different in each book and on every page even. Anyway Mark lived in Hingston MA near Boston and Carol Greenwald worked at WGBH Boston. When Carol got the go ahead to produce a new kids show she liked the books and got in touch with Marc Brown. This was the first animated show that was going to be made for PBS so it had no precedent. Once Marc and WGBH had an understanding they had to find an animation company that could produce animation. So they scouted around North America including Canada as far as Toronto and Montreal at least. They had gone to Nelvana because they were a big well known company in Canada. Then they came to Cinar in Montreal. We were a smaller company but we allowed more input from the rights holders on our shows and we had developed a good track record on spinning books into successful animated shows. We were riding high on the success of The Busy World of Richard Scarry. I would say that the series was very true to the look and sensibility of the books even though the work was very painstaking.Anyway I took Marc and Carol on tour through the animation studio when I saw them getting off the elevator looking lost. I gave them a 25 cent tour showing them how we were putting together R, Scarry and Little Lulu and that kind of blew them away because I doubt they really saw such a large and functioning animation company by that time. Marc always claims that I was very nice to them and he liked my attitude. I was not scheduled to direct Arthur when they came in but I was doing Little Lulu and I was the supervisor of all the directors in Cinar at the time. So I was involved with meeting them for the meeting that day. We had another director lined up at the meeting to do the series Arthur. On the other hand Nelvana just kind of brushed them off and said to basically send the money and they would do the show the way they did every other show. I think for both Marc and Carol they felt like that was giving up any control or connection to the series. That was the Nelvana way of operating and I don't think things have really changed in that way since then.I think we just offered a more human touch and approach than the competition so it put them at ease. I mean it was their baby for both Carol and Marc. So it makes a lot of sense looking back.

DL:Yeah Nelvana after Rock and Rule was kinda like DiC during that time either as a outsourcer or rights holder to make animated series off of books, video games, movies,comics, etc like during this time they worked on Little Bear, Gargoyles, The Neverending Story cartoon, The Free Willy cartoon, The Magic School Bus, and a Ace Ventura cartoon. The only original property they made at this time was Stickin Around for YTV and FOX.

GB:Nelvana characters in their shows have possibly forever lacked some kind of personality or soul. Their shows always looked really modern and slick but the characters were very generic and you never felt like you knew them. Like they were not really your friends that you hang out with every day. I would say at least on R Scarry and Arthur that the shows looked like they were made by humans and they had fingerprints on them and the characters had some warmth or personality that you never saw in Nelvana. At best Nelvana had some nasty characters that would insult other characters and they were good at the bad boy characters but they were never anyone you would want to hang out with. They had a very different approach and I am not running them down. I always thought their shows looked so much better than ours technically but after one episode there was no need to watch a second episode. It was not going to be different or go to another level. Stickin’ Around is a good example of what I mean. I loved that show. I thought the technique was brilliant and the show looked great. The crew and director that pulled that off were amazing. The characters were unbearable though. They screamed everything they said so it was completely one emotion. The specific line of dialog could come out of any of the characters because they were the same personality. The emotion in each show was the same- Hyper. If you saw the first show you can be guaranteed the emotional journey on the second show will be exactly the same. If you think of a really great live-action series like Mad Men you can watch that series and watch the emotional roller coaster and twists in the understanding of the characters, develop from show to show and year to year. You don't know what will happen by the end of the episode when you are halfway through each show.

DL: I mean and Nelvana's animation started to get stiff during the 90s, as I think because of budget or was it from Canadian Content law?

GB:The studios in Canada got really big during the 90s and it was hard to find talent because animation artists needed to draw in the period just before Flash style animation. The budgets and the bigger talent pool were fairly adequate and that is why American producers were all coming to Canada to produce the shows in Canada. Nelvana may have been putting more money in the pockets of the producers instead of spending it on the shows. I had a great relationship with Nelson Shinn at Akom and with Hanho when we did R. Scarry and Arthur traditionally in Korea. The overseas work in the best studios made a big difference in the lack of stiffness. Nelson was doing The Simpsons and he was doing Arthur and those shows were really mopping up the competition in America in those days. Nelvana was trying to dump some lame shows in Akom and not paying for the higher level of show. Mostly the show just wasn't very interesting in the first place. Nelson liked The Simpsons and he liked Arthur, and because he was still just a big kid animator running a company like an art studio instead of a factory he would get good results on those shows. If the show wasn't as good he would let you know.

DL:So back to Arthur, so what did you think about the character designs Marc gave you to work off of?

GB:It was the other way around. We had the 10 books he had published. The characters never looked the same from picture to picture so we had to find a good average and establish some guidelines. A character in animation has to turn and exist in 3 dimensions but in illustration it can just be different in the side of the front view for example. so maybe in the front view the nose is higher or he has whites in his eyes and in profile the nose drops down and you don't have white in the eyes just because it looks better. Or maybe he has 5 hairs in 3/4 view and 3 in profile in illustration. But in animation the character turns or moves into the new position so things can't just pop off or on. It gets annoying if you see that a lot. So we would do a design and make a rotation of the character. Things like his glasses had to be drawn with a double line so we could add the brown color. In illustration it might have just been a brown line when the character is small.Anyway, we did the rotations of each main character and then sent them out every week or 2 when we had enough characters done. Marc would ask to change things in one view or another and that meant changing all the views in some cases if he tried doing something like lowering the glasses in side view. For us we couldn't have the glasses suddenly slip down when he turned each time. In animation, we are also looking at the character as a 3D figure so everything has to line up in all views. Marc was really great at doing new characters or guest characters because he was so comfortable with his style that he could whip off a really great rough design of someone like Arthur Garfunkle. We generally limited the characters to a finite number of animals. Cat, dogs, Aardvark, rats, bear, monkey, and rabbits. These were all from Marc's world. There are a few oddball ones that came out of the design department that stuck around like goats, alligators, and moose. We settled on kind of a nervous and broken line work so it looked more naive and hand drawn. A few things got standardized like everyone always has whites in the eyes. Prunella was an example that we left alone and she never had whites in her eyes unless she got shocked.It took a few months just to do the main pack design and in the end they looked kind of Frankensteinish with all the adjustments. I asked one of the really great designers we had to go over the whole main pack and rotations and action poses and expressions and make the drawing all consistent. His name was Anastasio. I haven't seen him since. I think it was a huge job to do in the short time it took him to do it. But we kept using those main packs for most of the years of production. WE got rid of Muffy's buck teeth after season 1 because Marc decided he didn't like them. and we tweaked Arthur a little because his ears and glasses were out of perspective in some views.

(update from Dom, the Anastasio guy who did the model sheets was Stephane Anastasio, who worked on the series from 1996-1997 as a character designer. He hasn’t worked in Animation before or since the series)

DL:So a question I had for a really long time, is why don't they have tails?

GB:Thank God for that. The characters in R. Scarry had tails that stuck out of little holes in their pants. The dog character's tails looked kind of phallic even. I think the reason is that although Arthur characters are animal-headed they are actually just kids. So they don't have paws or legs like animals or anything. Unless they are actually an animal like Pal or Nemo.

DL:Oh, that makes sense. Many people think that Arthur is just a human who sees everyone as animals. Because in the last episode, Arthur got into drawing animals and in the future he made an autobiographical book with everybody as animals in-universe.Right?

GB:But even in the last episode he still looks like an animal though when he shows his book of the first episode that he illustrated. Now you got me. Why is he studying animals?

DL:Yeah, I don't know. I mean, are they animals or not? Did you talk to Brown about the episode ending?

GB:Of course, we all read the script drafts and approved the character designs, and watched the various versions of the incomplete show. I remember from Marc's comments years ago that he said he wished he had not done the books as animals in the first place because he just wanted them to be kids. It was something he could not undo.I had a different interpretation of the last episode though from the others and I am entitled to my own opinion. I think that none of the time frame from episode 1 until before we dissolved to the Sugarfree Bowl in the last episode existed. The new hipster Arthur is just beginning a fictional book series starting on episode one and he is going to make up all those stories that make up the Arthur TV for the last 25 years. It's not Arthur retelling his past. It's not an autobiography. That doesn't really solve the animal question however. But the end of the last episode is actually the first episode of the series, in that understanding.

DL:Oh, I see, it makes a little sense.

GB:I will have to ask Peter why he didn't ask for the hipster characters at the end to be humans. I will let you know if he had a reason or if he thought they would be.

DL:Another question, why do most animals, like dog and cat characters like Binky and Jenna have human noses?

GB:Jenna has a cat nose. I think because cats often have a nose like a human's. Try to find the Jenna character in the original 10 Arthur books. She looks totally different and not like a cat at all. Binky too is pretty much adapted from the book where he has that big globular nose

He shows me the cover of the first Arthur book, which features a different design than the TV version.

DL:Ah yeah, I remember this is when Arthur was going for a more realistic funny animal style before Marc Brown anthropomorphized them over the years. Imagine if this is what you have to work with if Marc hadn't changed his style.It would've look like Richard Scarry.

GB:He did evolve this more before we started. You would need to look through Arthur's Eyes and Thanksgiving, Arthur's Birthday to see what we had to start with. He only had this super long nose for the first 2 books. They often had hairs drawn on the skin and of course, the clothing changed more often. I was trying to find the old Binky and Sue Ellen picture. I remember a lawyer at Cinar came and asked me which character was in a book. His kid was puzzled. I think it was Sue Ellen but she is very different looking and there was only one design in the books.The books were pretty popular especially amongst educators even before the show came out. They still look pretty good compared to most kids books out there.later on Marc adapted his book illustration more toward what we had in the series and then stuck with it. HIs heads are still a little larger and have nice round furry ears and he is cuter than the TV Arthur, but then again we had to age Arthur up to the 3rd grade for the series. I would say our TV character is more heads high than he is in the current books. He is less wide in the tv series.

DL: Another Question, why did you adapt Arthur's Eyes as the first episode instead of Arthur's Nose? Did you ever adapted Arthur's Nose?

GB: We never did Arthur's Nose. That would have required giving him a nose job or something. Although it would be funny I don't think as many kids would relate to it.

DL: Yeah, Imagine a "Word from Us Kids" segment on that!

GB:Haha! Maybe we could do one more show and do Arthur's Nose but have him change to that big nose like in the first book. All the other kids would be envious and want one like that too.

DL: Yeah, good idea! Lol! So, you were talking about the VAs of the Little Lulu show coming back on Arthur last time. And I wanted to ask how was the recording sessions were on Arthur?

GB: sure go ahead and ask. We primarily had a Montreal cast in the first 10 seasons so we would record in Montreal. Then as time went on we started recording more and more in Toronto but a lot of our main original cast was still in Montreal. Some people were young teens when we started and they had to move away to get on with their lives elsewhere so we would record them remotely in Vancouver or wherever. Some guest stars were recorded in Montreal like Mr. Rogers and Garfunkle and most of the time we had to go to record them where they wanted . It was great in the old days when everyone was together and we could record ensembles. This was really great if we had a big section of Arthur and DW because they would play off each other and we'd get a better performance. Some of the kid characters were adults since the beginning like Bruce Dinsmore who did Binky, Dad and Bailey. And others were old teens like Danny Brochu and Jodi Resther who did Buster and Francine. Then we also had kids like Melissa Altro doing Muffy and the boys that did Brain, Tibbles, Arthur and DW. Those buys kept changing as their voices changed. Initially I insisted we used Michael Caloz as DW even though he is a boy but we had him do the voice of Annie in Little Lulu and I thought he was brilliant. He was the best kid actor I can remember. His voice changed and he moved on in life but we always came back to replacing him with another boy to get that voice quality. I don't know if that answers your question.

DL:Why didn't they record the series in the US if it was an American co-production?

GB:A few reasons come to mind. WGBH was not involved with any production except the writing and the interstitials. Production was all produced or subcontractors were paid by Cinar and so expenses paid in Canada would entitle the production to a tax credit. Secondly, Cinar started as a post-production and recording studio. So we had the facilities and expertise right in-house. Canada at that point already had a reputation for recording animation voice-over. You remember I mentioned that I began working for DIC in Tokyo because I knew someone who owned a recording company in Toronto that recorded voice-over for DIC LA. Even now many animated shows are recorded and post prod is done in Canada for kids shows. If we recorded in the US we would have to send me and a voice director to that city for the recording so it would have been an expense and time spent. Most times the guest stars were recorded in the US.

DL:Ah. So what do you think about the writing on the series and that it was written by Americans, head written by Joe Fallon and Ken Scarabourgh?

GB:I think we had the most amazing writing for any kid's animated series. You also forgot to name Peter Hirsch who was head writer from the time Joe left until the end. We just had the most crazy, most talented and most willing to push the boundaries writers we could have dreamed of. Those guys and even the rest of the writing crew were really fantastic and I loved having the opportunity to work with them. The stories are really what made the series so fantastic and memorable.

DL:Yeah but I remember Joe Fallon left because of something at CINAR.

GB:No nothing to do with Cinar, he left because of a disagreement with Marc Brown. Joe is a fantastically creative and funny writer. His scripts would just be totally insane and you would laugh hard just reading his script. I mean a script isn’t like literature and if you laugh at the script it's rare. Joe would just wind himself up and let go and the story would go through all these crazy places and twists until it came to the end. He is quite brilliant

DL:Yeah and the crazy bus left with him. Seriously, why did that song go?

GB:Yeah that was his crazy bus song. Joe did the demo of that song after he wrote it into the script. Jeff Zahn the music arranger kept Joe's original vocals for the final song and I don't think Joe liked that because he was hoping it would be redone by a singer. Though I guess now he gets the royalties for performing it as well as composing. anyway the song got used a few times in other shows. I think once by Joe and once in another script after Joe left and Joe told us to stop using the song in more shows after he heard that. I don't really know any more of the nitty gritty about that issue. This all kind of heated up about the same time and the fight with Marc and Joe's leaving the show so it was all related in some way.

DL:Ah, so another question is what do you think of AKOM in South Korea and their work on Arthur?

GB:They were excellent. I loved AKOM. It was my favorite studio overseas of the Korean studios. They did such a great job on Arthur. Even sometimes when Simpsons was out of season we would get the animation crew from there on Arthur and the timing and movements were just great in general. Also, the backgrounds were beautiful. They were always on time and I only have praise for them. I miss working with them a lot. I don't even know if AKOM still exists now or if Nelson and his son are still alive.

DL:AKOM is still around but they only do Simpsons now.

GB:Good.

DL:But yeah after Rough Draft opened , they took away many of their clients like Warner, Disney and Universal. to the point of Arthur and Simpsons being their only source of work.

GB: I remember that. I think I was very loyal to them because I always had such great work from them. I first worked with them on Bunch of Munsch and I thought they were good then. So much animation went to China shortly after that point.

DL:Yeah! Your thoughts on the studio, Animation Services? ( I know, it really rolls off the tongue.)

GB:The question should be why did we change to Animation Services who were clearly a less experienced and less talented studio.This was entering the dark days at CINAR. The new owners had taken over and most of the studio had been shut down. The only series was Arthur. Michael Hirsch who was now the president of CINAR had an old dispute with AKOM. He disliked them because he had put a show in AKOM and wanted the best crew on the show but he was not going to pay for the top tier or animation teams. So this old grudge continued later when he controlled CINAR. WGBH also did not get along with Michael Hirsch from a long time ago grudge and they now wanted to cut the budget significantly. At the same time WGBH had it in their heads that we needed to start doing the series in Flash animation because they were doing some other show in Flash and they believed the hype that the show would always be on model and it would be so much cheaper to do. The Flash salesmen had done a good job on them and it stuck in their heads. So we dropped AKOM and started testing companies to do the show in Flash. We tested some good companies in Canada like Mercury and some overseas companies and some pretty inexperienced companies in Canada. We also tested Animation Services. Steven Ching's company. He found a company in Nanjing that could still do traditional animation. At least they still had the key animators but not assistant animators anymore. Anyway, he did the test for the show traditionally on his own decision saying he could do it cheaper than digital. Digital animation was not big yet in China. So out of all the tests we had, I felt that the one from Animation Services still looked the most like the same old Arthur series. The characters seemed to still inhale and breathe compared to digital animation. It wasn't at all as good as AKOM but out of the choices I thought it was going to be less trouble staying in traditional rather than switching to digital and having all those other problems like not having extreme angles and things we were familiar with in Arthur. I got everyone to agree and we managed to do 3 or 4 more seasons traditionally at Animation Services for considerably less money than AKOM. They did try very hard to please us and I know it was hard for them to find the crew that were still able to animate. It was a dying craft at that point in most places. I am glad to be finally able to explain that to someone because it really is the beginning of the end of Arthur. People talk about the drop in quality from one season to the next but this was the reason or how it began.

DL: Yeah, I didn't really like those seasons because the animation was often stiff at times.Why didn't you try Carbunkle Cartoons in Vancouver? They still did traditional and it was run by Bob Jacques who worked with John Kricfalusci.

GB:People complain even more about the seasons done in Flash.Like I said we were not looking to replace AKOM with another traditional animation company, we were testing companies to do it digitally in Flash or ToonBoom. Animation Services just ignored that and did it traditionally for the same price. What we were paying was never very high for Arthur and now we are looking at a drastic reduction in money to do the show. Everyone coming along kept saying it would be the last season anyway.