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perhaps-in-anotherdream · 3 years ago

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[CN] Victor’s Remainder of One’s Life Date (Eng Translation)

⌚Warning⌚ This post contains detailed spoilers for a date, 余生之约 , that is yet to be released in the global server! ♡

[Translation Under The Cut]

┈┈ ◍♡◍ ┈┈┈ ◍♡◍ ┈┈

[T/N]: As unfortunate as it is, EN translation is inconsistent with their records. They’ve already translated the name of Victor’s “Aunt Gu” as “Auntie Alice” (Victor’s maternal aunt) in Deep Love Date. But in the following contents of Victor’s 4th birthday and CH 37 R&S – they forgot about it. But I’ll still use “Auntie Alice” here for better reminiscence. And the name of Victor’s cousin is “WenWen” in CN which they’ve translated as “Vera” in Victor’s CH 37 R&S. I don’t know what they will do in the future LOL but I’m translating her name as “Vera” for now. (・∀・)

[Note]: The link of the video (starts at 2:12; chose this one cause better sound quality) — Here ♡

[T/N]: Do I recommend following with the video? If it’s possible for you, YES. A THOUSAND, A MILLION TIMES YES HNNNGNNNNNGNNNN

✧ [Section 1] ✧

MC: May you live a long and happy life together. Be happy forever!

After sending our blessings to the newlyweds, Victor and I applaud while standing on the side of the flower path along with the crowd.

While the newlyweds are still coming over, I lean against Victor on the sly and shake my sore legs and feet.

Perhaps because the auspicious dates have all been concentrated lately, many of our friends and relatives are “gathering together” to hold wedding ceremonies, and we’ve been invited to participate in several of them.

Although I feel very happy to see everyone happy, but the continuous running around is indeed a bit difficult for my body to endure....

A warm support is placed on the back of my waist. The person next to me draws me closer.

Victor: Tired?

MC: A bit, but it should be over soon.

MC: Now it’s almost time for the music to start playing——

As soon as my voice drops, the sound of melodious music starts to play. Proud of myself, I look up at Victor and find that he is also clapping his hands in tune with the beats.

Victor: Then what?

MC: When they walk through the flower gate, we should sprinkle flowers.

Victor picks up a small flower basket. I hold up the petals conveniently, adding another handful to the rain of flowers filling the entire horizon.

The bride and groom walk past us. Looking at their figures from behind, I blurt out the following sequence of process again.

MC: It’s time to walk to the end of the red carpet and take photos!

Victor: You’ve actually remembered the process very well this time.

MC: Naturally. I’ve been brainwashed by attending so many sessions....

Victor: I remember someone saying in the second scene that, “The appearance of happiness looks alike for the most part.” But now you’ve grown tired of watching it?

MC: Process is process, and happiness is happiness.

MC: It’s of course very heartwarming to see the love of the lovers finding a way to come together.

After the shutter sounds several times, the photographer makes an “OK” gesture. Victor takes me by the shoulder and turns me around, casting his gaze behind me.

Victor: And now it’s time for your most favorite segment, catching the bouquet.

MC: Let me rub against your hand quickly for good luck!

I take Victor’s hand and clench it firmly before turning around and running to the queue waiting for the wedding bouquet.

—

MC: I didn’t get the bouquet again this time.... even CEO Victor’s hand is not being useful for summoning luck. As a matter of fact, it’s not rational.

After the wedding, Victor and I head back to the car to rest. Thinking about the bouquet I’ve missed narrowly just now, I kick off my high-heeled shoes while prattling on.

Victor: When all is said and done, do you want to receive the blessings or do you just want to win the lottery?

MC: Can I choose to have them both?

Victor shoots me a glance with a half smile on his face. Then he reaches out to lift my fingers, and squeezes them gently.

Victor: For this kind of greedy desire, how can a couple of casual rubs be sufficient?

As he speaks, he tucks his fingers into the seams of mine naturally and diverts the subject with a light expression.

Victor: Since a certain someone is being so impatient, there’s still another opportunity.

Victor: Do you remember Auntie Alice?

With a brief pondering, I soon find this name in my memory.

MC: Yeah, we helped Uncle and Auntie Alice rehearse their wedding anniversary ceremony earlier. What’s wrong?

[Note]: MC is referring to “Deep Love Date” ♡

Victor: Her daughter is also getting married soon, and two invitation cards have already been sent home.

Victor: But if you feel tired, you can also decline.

MC: Such an important event, of course I’m going to be there! Perhaps, it might even help to keep the pressure off you to get married.

I raise my eyebrows at him in feigned derision. The next thing I know, a certain someone suddenly taps me on the forehead.

Victor: I was thinking that the venue they’re arranging the wedding at is pretty nice. We could have a short vacation while we’re at it.

MC: Did I hear that right? A vacation dropping from the heaven?

Victor: Consider it as a reward for your help with “keeping off the pressure to get married”.

Victor: If there isn’t any problem, start preparing your holiday equipment.

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✧ [Section 2] ✧

The venue of the wedding ceremony is located in a small warm seaside town. The warm breeze that greets us just after we leave the airport disperses greater part of the fatigue of the journey.

Driving along the side streets, one can espy the sandy shore and the seacoast at the end of the road from afar.

I heard Victor say that the wedding venue has been decided by the bride. I thought to myself— this girl must be someone who really likes romance.

—

As we arrive at the hotel, I see that Auntie Alice has been waiting in the lounge long before, along with a young girl next to her. When they see us appear, they come towards us with smiles on their faces.

Auntie Alice: Vic, MC, it’s been a long time!

MC: Hello, Auntie Alice!

Victor: Auntie, we’re a bit late. It seems that everything’s all set on Vera’s side here.

Auntie Alice: You’re both busy, so it’s very good that you could be here.

Auntie Alice: Vera keeps saying that she wants to see you guys, and wanted me to make sure the invitations have definitely been sent to you.

The girl on the side comes up to me with a beaming smile on her face, takes my hand and shakes it.

Vera: You’re my sis-in-law, right? Finally, I get to see you in person!

MC: Hello, Vera.... eh?!

This title comes so very naturally to her to the extent that it takes me several seconds to react, and the temperature on my face ascends in hindsight.

MC: Umm, I’m MC. Congratulations on your wedding!

Vera: Thank you, sis-in-law!

MC: ....

Facing Vera’s enthusiastic smile, I feel somewhat at my wits’ end and subconsciously glance back at Victor.

He seems to have long since foreseen this outcome. With a somewhat helpless upward curve at the corners of his lips, he wraps his arm around my waist inadvertently and brings me back to his side.

Victor: MC is a few years younger than you, just call her by her name.

Vera: Oops. Anyway, she will be my sister-in-law in the future!

Victor: My aunt hasn’t even said anything, and you’re already being worried about other people first.

Vera pouts and comes up to my side again, and whispers to me.

Vera: Don’t be fooled by that exaggerated expression of my cousin. He is probably secretly feeling happy.

Vera: Sis-in-law, tomorrow I’ll give you the “black box” of bouquet, so you guys will have to return earlier before my wedding reception.

As soon as the words leave her mouth, the sound of guests conversing can be heard coming from the doorway again. Auntie Alice smiles and pats Vera, gesturing towards the door.

Auntie Alice: There are a bit too many guests here at the moment. Your cousin.... they’ve travelled a long way, so let them rest for a while.

Vera: All right. MC, can you come by later and help me with inspecting my style for tomorrow?

MC: I don’t have much experience. I can only help a little....

Vera: That’s okay, it will suffice!

—

Later in the day, I head towards Vera’s room to look for her. As soon as I walk in the door, I see a few girls gathered together. It should be her bridesmaids’ group.

Their figures and hairstyles are more or less alike. If it weren’t for Vera wearing a wedding gown, I almost wouldn’t have recognized her.

Vera: Sis-in-law, you’re here! Come on, come on, I’ve something interesting to tell you.

Vera hands everyone a box. I open it, only to find that there is a “wedding gown” inside, exactly the same as the one she is wearing.

The girls beside me and I freeze. We stare at each other in dismay for a moment.

MC: This is....

Vera: There will be a small game before the wedding ceremony officially begins tomorrow. These are the props.

Vera: When the moment comes, we will dress up exactly the same, put on our masks and stand together. Then we will ask my husband to find me out from among us.

Vera: How is it? Isn’t this sort of feeling of destiny super romantic!

Bridesmaid: Romance is romantic. But what’s to be done if your husband is wrong?

Vera: It’s because I believe he can’t be mistaken that I dare to play this game.

Vera: So the arrangement is settled. Thank you everyone!

As I’m preparing to go back to the room with my “bridesmaid’s dress”, my phone in my pocket rings out all of a sudden. Victor’s name appears on the screen.

Victor (on the call): Do you have the room card?

I feel around in my pocket and find that I haven’t taken it along with me on my way out.

MC: I don’t.... aren’t you in the room at the moment?

Victor (on the call): Mm, after you left, the groom’s side also contacted me to lend a hand. I’m outside right now.

Victor (on the call): Why don’t you go back to Vera’s and wait for a while? I’ll be back soon.

MC: I’m coming to you!

MC: It’d be perfect as I also want to see what surprises you guys are preparing.

┈┈ ◍♡◍ ┈┈┈ ◍♡◍ ┈┈

✧ [Section 3] ✧

Following the location sent by Victor, I turn into a nearby small side street.

The setting sun spreads a layer of sprinkled golden splendor across the narrow streets. The small stores lined on either side of the streets are reminiscent of finding a sanctuary on the back of the passage of time, quiet and comfortably elating.

When I’m about to reach the end point of the route, I suddenly catch the sound of a melodious music drifting to my ears. I accelerate my footsteps and see Victor’s figure at the source of the sound.

It’s a modest shop, surrounded by shelves on all sides, each self filled with records and CDs.

Victor is sitting on the rug, conscientiously selecting a few vinyl records scattered around his hands.

His coat folds out with soft creases along with his movements, adding a little more leisure and casualness to him that belongs uniquely to the holidays.

It seems a bit aggrieving for a person of about six feet to be squeezed into such a small space, yet he looks just as usual, seemingly not caring about this at all.

Hearing the sound of movements at the doorway, he lifts his eyes to mine, meeting my gaze that’s been lingering on him.

Victor: [HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR VOICE SOUND LIKE THAT AKSKSGHG] This time you actually didn’t get lost.

MC: It was still difficult for me to not stump through this distance!

MC: But why are you in a record store? Is there something you want to prepare here?

Victor: Nope, I was just here to confirm a few things.

Victor: The reason I’m still waiting here is because a certain someone said she wanted to come over and have a look.

Victor lifts the corners of his lips slightly, gesturing towards me with the record in his hand.

Victor: Come here. Let’s satisfy your curiosity.

I sit back straight against Victor and put on the headphone he hands me.

According to him, this record store has a special service. The groom precisely requested him to come over and confirm the reservation of this service.

There’s a momentary murmur in the headphones, soon followed by a slightly clamorous ambient sound.

The sound of people chatting and cheering, the gentle clinking of glasses and plates, and the faint sound of music in the background. It sounds very much like the sound recording of a party.

I listen for a while, then open my mouth with slight hesitation.

MC: So.... this album is full of sound recordings?

Victor: Hmm, can you hear what the scenario is?

MC: It seems like a party.... wait!

My ears happen to capture the somewhat familiar words, and I suddenly realize the answer.

MC: I heard someone say “I do”. It’s a wedding!

Victor: Not truly slow-witted.

Victor: Since so many people come here to arrange their weddings, the owner of this shop thought of using sound as a memento for the newlyweds.

Victor: By collecting the live soundtracks from the scene and burning them onto a record, it easily becomes something people can preserve forever.

As I listen to the all kinds of confessions of love and vows unceasingly resounding in my ears, a sweetness floods my heart.

Whether it’s the culmination of a romance or the beginning point of a marriage, the wedding is perhaps the crowning moment of a relationship between two persons.

It must be a feeling of extraordinary happiness to keep the sentiments of this moment alive, and relive them from time to time.

MC: It seems that Vera’s fiancé is also a very thoughtful person.

MC: By the way, would you like to guess what mission Vera has assigned me with?

I take off my headphones, turn around to face Victor and lift the bag in my hand. He takes the bag and glances at it, slightly raising an eyebrow.

Victor: She wants you to be a bridesmaid?

MC: Strictly speaking, not exactly a bridesmaid. She just wants me to play a little game with her.

I briefly explain Vera’s plan. Hearing what I said, Victor sighs softly.

Victor: [sighs extremely softly] She’s really good at finding things for other people to do.

Victor: You two.... one really dares to arrange, and the other really dares to say yes.

MC: I think it’s pretty great. Her fiancé must be very familiar with her temperament and particulars.

MC: Let’s say for a change, if you were the one standing among people of similar appearance, I’m certain that I’d recognize you immediately.

Victor looks at me, and suddenly burbles with mirth.

Victor: [laughs softly] If you can’t even do that, then you’re truly a dummy.

MC: It seems that CEO Victor still trusts in my way of looking at things!

Victor: I’m just saying, you don’t need to prove such things to me.

Victor: Looking into a certain someone’s eyes is enough for me to accept something as true.

—

First thing in the next morning, the game of “The Real or The Fake Bride” begins as planned.

We girls all line up. The very first person the groom walks up to is me, who is standing at the very edge of the line.

Groom: May I see your left hand?

I hold out my left hand, and soon hear his response.

Groom: Thank you.

He walks towards the other girls, proposing to look at each one’s left hand.

Just as I’m recalling what’s so special about Vera’s left hand, a sudden gasp emerges from the crowd.

Witnesses: Isn’t it a bit too soon to be certain? May we ask, what’s the basis of your judgement?

Groom: Vera usually plays the violin very often, and has calluses on the fingertips of her left hand.

Groom: Furthermore, she had also been wearing the engagement ring on her left middle finger earlier, leaving a slight indentation.

[Trivia]: According to the Chinese tradition, engagement rings are worn on the middle fingers. According to the beliefs, middle finger represents “yourself”. And the wedding ring is worn on the ring finger which represents “your life partner”. Together, they become “ring fingers” and it’s impossible to separate these two fingers from each other, representing the eternal bond. ♡

Witnesses: Well then, now please take off her mask——

I can’t help but extend my neck to look over. The groom gently unties the knot of her mask and is instantly greeted with Vera’s delighted smile.

MC: He succeeded!

My voice is instantly submerged into the cheers and roars of the crowd, the atmosphere bustling with noise and excitement all at once.

I try to untie the knot of my mask, but perhaps the hairstyle is a bit complicated, and I’m unable to succeed even after trying for a while.

Just as I’m becoming somewhat anxious, a familiar soft sigh resounds from behind me.

?? (Victor): [softest of voices] Let me do it.

The knot at the back of my head is easily freed from its restraints. As the mask falls off, a hand catches it just in time.

I raise my head. And sure enough, I look into a pair of eyes that I’ve most wanted to see.

MC: Victor! Why did you come over all of a sudden?

Victor: There’s a dummy who’s fooling around here. I couldn’t just leave her alone, could I?

MC: But I’ve been wearing a mask the whole time. How did you know it was me?

Victor: What’s so difficult to guess about that?

Victor: A person who has a hundreds of ways to get herself in trouble, who else would it be but you?

MC: Owh, it turns out you only recognized me just now....

I deliberately switch my tone to one of some disappointment, and just as I avert my gaze, the person in front of me pinches my cheek.

Victor: [sulking 1.0] I see that some people are becoming more and more adept in playing the game of “changing expression”.

Victor: [still sulking but 1.5] I was able to recognize you by the way you walk and your standing posture alone, right at the moment you showed up.

Victor: [sulking 2.0] ’Satisfied with this answer?

I glance at his slightly grudging yet earnest expression and blink, before finally raising the smile I’ve been holding back for half a day.

MC: Satisfied! I knew our CEO Victor has always had an all-seeing-mind, like the torch!

Victor: ....enough with the silly laughter cause you’re satisfied. Come on, let’s head to the church.

┈┈ ◍♡◍ ┈┈┈ ◍♡◍ ┈┈

✧ [Section 4] ✧

—

[Note]: Throughout the entire church scene, MC reminisces their wedding rehearsal from “Deep Love Date”, starting from the moment Victor leads her to the end of the isle till the moment he removes her engagement ring and they put wedding rings on each other, and he says his vow. Even though the EN translation differs slightly, but Victor’s vow and the groom’s vow here is exactly the same in CN. So if you can, I will very, very, VERY HIGHLY recommend reading/revising that particular scene from “Deep Love Date” before encountering the next scene.... 🥺

Link with the timestamp: Here ♡

As I watch the bride walk down the long red carpet to the sound of the music, I can’t help but feel a twinge of mixed emotions.

With your loved ones at hand, and your beloved waiting at the end of the path — this whole journey seems to be leading to the another part of your life.

I subconsciously think of that wedding rehearsal, when Victor had also held my hand and led me through such a long path. I had stumbled along the whole journey, but I still persevered.

The bride walks to the front of the stage and her father hands her over to the groom. Just at this moment, my left hand is also wrapped in a warmth.

I turn my head to look at the man beside me. But Victor is still looking ahead, just stroking the back of my hand with his thumb.

The priest begins to recite the vows. I have no other choice but to suppress my puzzlement for the time being, and withdraw my gaze.

The cameras and recording equipment in the corners operate silently, recording this solemn moment.

The familiar phrases, the expected answers— I listen in silence, but my mind constantly keeps going back to that rehearsal, the continuous progression of this situation.

Priest: The rings will represent the binding of the vows they have made. Now, please exchange the wedding rings.

Victor: [Idk how to describe his voice AKSJSJSHSH] ’Still remember how to do it?

Victor’s voice suddenly rings out, his tone tinged with a bit of a laughter— as though he, too, is thinking of that panic-stricken but beautiful memory.

I nod. In the next second, I feel his fingers fumbling around and squeezing the root of my middle finger.

I hold my breath, all my perceptions centralized on the finger he is holding.

Groom: With this ring, this symbol of love——

The warmth on the root of my finger slowly slides toward my fingertip, as if to temporarily pluck the past that once lingered there.

Very soon, that smear of warmth climbs to the tip of my ring finger, sliding down with a gentle and extremely cherishing touch.

It’s like.... he is putting a ring on me.

Groom: —— In the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, I give you all of me.

That prolonged past melts into his caressing, as though it’s being branded onto the root of my finger little by little.

It’s been a really long time since I last heard these words. But even if I didn’t have the records to help me record them, the memory hasn’t faded.

As saying the vows on the stage comes to an end, the audience breaks into loud and clear applaud, the incessant clamors concealing my chaotic and pounding heartbeat.

....Until the end of the wedding ceremony, I feel somewhat dizzy.

—

As we leave the venue, looking at the bouquet Vera has left for me and the “wedding gown” on my body, I suddenly wish that this moment won’t dissipate so quickly.

The slight salty sea breeze brushes lightly against the petals. I stop in my tracks, and so does the person next to me.

Victor: What’s wrong?

MC: ....I’m a bit unable to walk.

I make a random excuse. Victor studies my expression, and I don’t know if he’s realized something or not, he suddenly smiles.

Victor: The parking lot isn’t far from here.

MC: Hmm.... I don’t really want to take the car today.

Victor: Then.... you require me to carry you on my back or in my arms?

Suddenly recalling that scene when he carried me in his arms throughout the whole way during the rehearsal, I turn red in the face and hurriedly wave my hand to and fro.

[Note]: MC is referring to the scene from “Deep Love Date” when he bridal carried her. ♡

MC: There are too many people here, so let’s not! I was just thinking that it’s still early and wanted to walk a little slower.

Victor: [laughs softly] All right, where do you want to go?

MC: How about a visit to the sea?

Victor nods, and takes me by the hand. I follow him around a corner, and we stop in front of a row of rental bicycles.

He reads the instructions for a while, and quickly pushes one out by inserting coins.

MC: Why are you renting a bicycle?

Victor: It’s still a few kilometers from here to the beach. I don’t think you will be able to last that long in high heels.

Victor: It’s not too speedy and we will be able to rest properly along the way. The bicycle is just right.

MC: But, I may not be able to ferry you.

Victor: [sighs helplessly] ....are you a dummy?

I’m stunned for a moment, watching as Victor strides onto the bicycle with his long legs. He then turns around and pats the back seat.

Victor: This is your seat.

MC: Y-you actually can ride a bicycle?

Seeing my expression of not daring to believe, Victor gives me a speechless look.

Victor: After all this time, you still have a lot of strange impressions of me.

Victor: So, do you dare to sit?

MC: Of course I do! I’m rest assured that CEO Victor can ride a bicycle!

With that said, I very carefully lift my dress and sit down, and cautiously hold onto his waist from the side.

Who knows how long it’s been since the great CEO last rode a bicycle....

Before I can finish my silent grumbling, the bicycle has already started to move forward steadily. The person in front of me frees his one hand, pulling me in to let me hug him a little tighter.

Staring at his tall back, I cannot help repeating myself.

MC: CEO Victor is quite a steady rider.

Victor: It’s the first time I’m taking someone with me. You might still fall down if you flail about.

MC: ....shouldn’t this sort of risk warning be given at the very beginning!

Victor: Who asked a certain dummy to not have any vigilance at all?

His deep voice is tinged with notes of laughter, and blowing along with the cool and refreshing sea breeze, it reaches my ears.

Despite grumbling in a low voice, I lean on his back obediently.

The landscape slowly recedes on both sides. The end of this path leads to the coast. The entire world seems to shrink into this small path, as though it can only accommodate the two of us.

I clutch the front of his coat. Immersed in this atmosphere, I don’t say anything for a very long time.

Victor: Why are you so quiet?

MC: I just suddenly feel that this seems like we’re on our honeymoon trip.

As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I realize that something might be wrong and hastily stammer to change my tone.

MC: Ahh, no, I mean....

Victor: So this trip counts as our honeymoon?

MC: [confused] Eh?

Victor: My bride, you shouldn’t be so easily contented.

Victor: Besides, the sequence of process isn’t over yet. I suggest her to be a little more patient.

MC: You, this is cheating and it wasn’t our wedding just now....

Relying on the fact that he won’t be able to see my expression cause I’m hiding behind his back, I clear my throat in feigned calmness and divert the subject.

MC: But on that note, have you ever wondered what your ideal wedding would look like?

Victor: Except for the one next to me, I haven’t ever given any thoughts to the other specifics.

Victor: Whether the ceremony is ideal or not, it will depend on whether or not the smile on her face is silly enough.

MC: There are so many things that can make her giggle, for example Souvenir’s cake tower!

I feel that Victor seems to incline his head, his tone laced with the laughter I expected.

Victor: [laughs softly] It can be considered.

MC: And how about some slightly sweet wine so that she doesn’t get drunk easily?

Victor: [the laugh grows even softer] All right.

MC: And she also wants a super long and touching confession of love from the groom!

Victor: ....how long do you want it to be?

MC: Hmm.... it has to be at least as much as the annotations you’ve made to my proposals.

At these words, Victor’s cycling movements seem to pause for a moment. I can’t help but hide behind his back and laugh out loud.

MC: HAHAHA CEO Victor, don’t be nervous. I’m just kidding~ Actually, it doesn’t need to be complicated like that.

MC: After all, simply sitting in the back seat of your ride is enough to keep me laughing in a silly manner all afternoon.

Victor: Mm, I don’t have to look to know it’s silly.

Victor: However, in this matter, you have the right to reach for a yard after taking an inch.

The corners of my lips rise even higher, and I straighten myself up, using his shoulder as the cushion to rest my chin on.

The path ahead stretches perfectly straight. As I gaze towards the looming shoreline at the end, I recall the way Vera looked as she walked towards her groom.

After the happiness of the wedding day, what will await the newlyweds?

MC: Victor, how do you think it’d be like to spend the rest of your life with another person?

Victor: Why are you asking this?

MC: Because it’s a bit difficult to imagine....

MC: The wedding is a blissful event because it’s a new starting point.

MC: There are also many people who say that marriage is the “destination of love”. But either way, it’s just a juncture.

MC: What exactly is it the two people who accompany each other to the end experience?

Victor: Dummy. Don’t be hemmed by these so-called definitions.

I freeze for a moment, looking up from behind him.

Victor: Marriage is only a legal constraint. In reality, what you truly experience is still “life”.

Victor: The kind of person you choose to be with is the kind of life you choose for yourself.

Victor: The feelings between two persons are incapable of becoming the whole of life. But they can give people the courage to dare to face their choices.

The path ahead of us is not smooth, and the bicycle jolts slightly as well. His voice is intermittent, but I can hear every single word vividly.

A gust of see breeze blows in, and I tighten my arms around his waist, increasing my volume slightly as I ask him the question.

MC: Then you must’ve had enough courage to make your choice, am I correct?

Victor: I’ve had, indeed. I just don’t know what my chosen “the one” thinks.

The bicycle slows down slightly, and the person in my arms turns back to look at me.

Victor: If I ask you here and now, what will be your answer?

The bright sunlight warms his gaze with scorching temperature, and the sight before me sinks deeply into my eyes.

Victor: [HIS VOICE SENT ME HIGH ABOVE IN THE CLOUDS I SWEAR] MC, do you dare to marry me?

As though knowing my billowing heart, the sea breeze willfully ruffles my wedding veil, revealing to him all my bewilderment and elation.

MC: ....before I answer, I also have a question I want to ask.

MC: Victor, dare you stay by my side through all the trivial and mundane events life has to offer for the rest of your life?

The sound of the waves is already close to the ears, and we are about to reach the shore at the end of the road.

But at this moment, the only existence brimming the depths of my heart and remaining before my eyes is this man in front of me.

We stare at each other in silence for a few seconds, then voice our answers in unison.

Victor & MC: I do.

As the final syllable of the sentence drops, we lift the corners of our lips in unison.

The bicycle comes to a steady stop. Victor stands up, and cradles my cheek with one hand.

The ebb and flow of tides are in my ears, and in front of me is a pair of gradually approaching eyes, which is contained entirely with my reflection.

I also tilt my head up, taking the initiative to devote myself to this courage I have chosen. The warmth of the touch takes my breath away, as though taking away the last trace of bewilderment as well.

At the end of this path is the ocean, so what?

No matter how much worrisome wind and rain we have encountered on our journey, they failed to knock down the small boat we are in together.

And the joys and sorrows of our day-to-day life has equally failed to rust this relationship in the slightest.

At this very moment, I hear my feelings perfectly, loud and clear.

As long as I’m in the same boat with him, I’m willing to go through any kind of life.

—

┈┈ ◍♡◍ ┈┈┈ ◍♡◍ ┈┈

[Tidbits]:

In case you don’t know or haven’t noticed, the proposal scene in this date is actually a play on MC’s questions from “Doomsday Date”, where she asks him the following two questions—

It specifically completes the full-circle with the same courage of choosing to spend the rest of their lives with each other; as the life is as vast than the ocean, and you need to dare to brave the tsunamis it has to offer (っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ

–

📞 • Calls and Moments: Here

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[T/N]: Now, Excuse me while I’m gonna go cry in a quiet little corner as this time, it wasn’t a wedding rehearsal, it wasn’t a documentary filming or arrangements for wanting to make the other one happy. THEY OFFICIALLY AND GENUINELY PROPOSED TO EACH OTHER. NOW PG GIVE THEM THEIR OFFICIAL RINGS AS HE PLEDGED BEFORE PLEASE (ᗒᗩᗕ)

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#They really be like— we’ve already done the engagement ring-wedding rehearsal and rituals fully the previous two times. How do we top that?#OWH RIGHT. LET’S POP THE QUESTION SKSPSYDKLSSJDJDKSGH #THEY GENUINELY AND OFFICIALLY—— okay I shouldn’t spoil before you guys read HAHAHA~ (ᗒᗩᗕ)#*internal screaming but really.... it’s not internal screaming* HNNNGNNN #mlqc victor #mlqc li zeyan #mlqc cn #mlqc spoilers #mr love victor #mlqc #mr love queen's choice #mldd victor #love and producer #恋与制作人 #李泽言 #mlqc translations

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victorianwhitechapel · 3 years ago

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The International Day of Families is observed on 15 May every year. The Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 and reflects the importance the international community attaches to families. The International Day provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families.

In human society, family (from Latin: familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as members mature and learn to participate in the community. In most human societies, the family is the primary locus of attachment, nurturance, and socialization.

The women victims of brutal attacks in and or around London’s Whitechapel area between 1873 and 1891 were daughters, granddaughters, nieces, aunties, mothers, grandmothers, cousins... Here's a list of all their known relatives:

Annie Smith Chapman:

Parents and siblings: Daughter of George Smith and Ruth (née Chapman). Older sister of Emily Latitia (b. 1844), George William Thomas (c. 2nd June 1844 ~ d. June 1854), Miriam (c. 25th January 1852 ~ d. June 1854), William (c. 1st February 1854 ~ d. June 1854), Georgina (b.1856), Mirium Ruth (b.1858), and Fountain Hamilton (b. 1861).

Husband and children: Married John Chapman (1869 – 1884). Mother of Emily Ruth (b. 25 June 1870 - d. ca. 1882), Annie Georgina (b. 5 June 1873), John Alfred (b. 21 November 1880).

Extended family: Uncle Thomas Smith. Daughter-in-law of George and Ann Chapman.

Catherine Eddowes

Parents and siblings: Daughter of George Eddowes and Catherine (née Evans). Younger sister of Alfred (c. 2nd August 1833), Harriet (c. 3rd October 1834), Emma (b. 30th November 1835), Eliza Gold (c. 14th May 1837) and Elizabeth Fisher (b. 1838). Older sister of Thomas (b. 9th December 1844), George (b. 1846 – d. 1885), John (b. January 1849 – d. 18th March 1849), Sarah Ann (b. 1850), Mary Ann (b. 1852) and William (b. 1854 – d. 1854).

Husband and children: Had a relatioship with Thomas Conway (1862 – 1881). Mother of Catherine Ann "Annie" (b. 18 April 1863), Thomas Lawrence (b. 8 December 1867), George (b. 15 August 1873), Frederick William (b. 21 February 1877). Common-law wife of John Kelly (1881 – 1888, her murder).

Extended family: Uncle William Eddowes, uncle Thomas Eddowes, aunt with unknown name, paternal grandfather Thomas Eddowes. More ancestors can be found here. Son in law was Louis Phillips (married to daughter Annie). Her great-great-great-grandaughter is Jean Smith and her daughter is Tracey Marks.

Emma Elizabeth Smith

Children: A son and a daughter.

Elizabeth Gustaffsdotter Stride

Parents and siblings: Daughter of Gustaf Ericsson and Beatta Carlsdotter. Younger sister of Anna Christin (b. 1840), older sister of Carl Bernard (b. 1848) and Svante (b.1851).

Husband and children: She gave birth to a stillborn daughter result of her 7th month pregnancy (21 April 1865). She married John Thomas William Stride (1869 – 1881) and the couple had no children.

Extended family: Daughter-in-law of William Stride and Elenor Monk Stride. Her husband had 8 more siblings. PC Walter Stride was her nephew by marriage. Her sister-in-law was Olena, married to her brother Carl Bernard; and her brother-in-law was Bernhard Olsson. Descendants relatives are John and Sally Edmonds (Sally is related to John Stride).

Alice Pitts McKenzie

Parents and siblings: Daughter of Charles Pitts and Martha (neé Watson). Younger sister of William (b. 1833), John (b. 1838), Martha (b. 1840) and Jane (b. 1843), older sister of Charles (b. 1847) and Thomas (b. 1850).

Husband and children: Married to Joseph Kinsey (1863 – 1867, his death). Mother of Joseph James Kinsey (b. 21 July 1866 – d. 12 October 1866). She was in a relatioship with John McCormack (1883 – 1889, her murder).

Mary Ann Walker Nichols

Parents and siblings: Daughter of Edward and Caroline Walker. Sister of Frederick and Edward Jr. One of them died on June 1886.

Husband and children: Wife of William Nichols (1861 – 1881). Mother of William Edward (b. 17 December 1864 – d. 1866), Edward John (b. 14 July 1866), Percy George (b. 18 July 1868), Alice Esther (b. December 1870), Eliza Sarah (b. December 1876), Henry Alfred (b. 4 December 1878).

Extended family: Her maternal aunt was Mary Webb. Maureen Nichols is a descendant.

Martha White Tabram

Parents and siblings: Daughter of Charles Samuel White and Elisabeth (neé Dowsett). Younger sister of Sarah Elizabeth (b. 1832), Henry (b. 1837), Esther (b. 1839), Stephen (b. 1842) and Mary Ann (b. 1847).

Husband and children: Married to Henry Samuel Tabram (1865 – 1875). Mother of Frederick John (b. February 1871) and Charles Henry (b. December 1872). Had a relationship with Henry Turner (1876 – 1888).

Extended family: Her parents-in-law were John and Hannah Tabram. Her sisters-in-law were Anna or Hannah and Mary, and her brothers-in-law were Thomas and William (Mary, Thomas and William Tabram were triplets). She has a step-son, Henry, from Henry Samuel's first marriage to Mathilda.

Frances Coles

Parents and siblings: She was the daughter of James William Coles and Mary Ann (née Carney). Her older sisters were Mary Ann (b. ca. 1853) and Selina Adelina (b. 25th October 1855 – d. 1897), and her youngerbrother was and James Jr. (b. 30th August 1862 – d. ca. 9th January 1889).

Extended family: Baby niece Selina Adelina (b. and d. 1877), daughter of her sister Selina.

Rose Mylett

Parents and siblings: Daughter of Henry Mylett and Margaret (nee Haley). Younger sister of Mary (b. 1855) and William (b. 1857), older sister of John (b. 1863).

Husband and children: Common-law wife of Thomas Davis (c. 1880 ~ 1883). Mother of Florence Beatrice "Flossie", "Florrie" (b. 22 October 1880), and Henry (b. 29 June 1883 – may had died in infancy).

Emily Atkins Horsnell

Parents and siblings: Unfortunately itis not known at the moment the names of Emily Atkins parents. She had a sister, Mrs. Ekins.

Husband and children: Emily was married to Alfred Horsnell (1880 – before 1886). She was the mother of Emily Horsnell (b. 1881).

Mary Kelly

Parents and siblings: Daughter of John Kelly. She had seven brothers (one of them called Henry) and at least one sister (not known if older or younger).

Husband and children: Married to a man with surname Davies (1879 ~ 1881, his death). They had no children.

Ada Elbury Wilson

Parents and siblings: Daughter of Henry Edwin Elbury and Emma (née Fry). She was the sister of Charles and Henry (don't know if older or younger), and the older sister of Rose, Emma and Thomas.

Husband and children: Ada married Samuel Wilson (1889 – 1891) and it is not known if they had children.

Extended family: A niece named Zoa Lavinia Elbury, daughter of her brother Henry.

Elizabeth Jackson

Parents and siblings: Daughter of John and Catherine Jackson. Younger sister of Annie and May, sister of James (not known if older or younger).

Husband and children: She was in a relatioship with John Fairclough (1888 – 1889, her murder) and was murdered when she was eight months pregnant.

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mwolf0epsilon · 4 years ago

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I just thinked that if the toons where humans, they would be most likely employes siblings/cousins /nephews/children. Bendy would be Henry's brother or Joey's (or even Sammy) son. Boris could be Wally's or Buddy cousin, or better, Thomas nephew! (Just gor that and oHhowcuTE). Alice probably be Sammy's newphew or daughter, or Susie's sister :D. Barley likely be Lacie's brother or grandpa¿ idk with that one. Charley family of Shawn. And Edgar son of Grant. I'm sure that I skiped someone haha

I definitely see Bendy as being Henry's son, with Joey being the crazy uncle he should definitely not listen to.

Boris as Thomas's nephew is hilarious to me because he's the opposite of Tom and would likely get on with Wally and Buddy.

Alice as Susie's and Sammy's daughter would be really cute!

Barley strikes me as maybe being Lacie's uncle that she went to live with after she left home. They talk about fishing and engineering, with the other not knowing anything about the other's topic but being supportive anyway.

Charley is one of Shawn's brothers and their arguments get super loud because neither has an indoor voice or the sense to back down.

Edgar is Grant's kid and knows a lot of words he shouldn't repeat because daddy gets at least one letter smearing his name from his crazy ex once a week. He also knows how taxes work but would rather play with his ducky instead.

Definitely can see Miss Twisted as Susie's rebellious cousin, Cameraman as Norman's son, and the Brute as one of Wally's cousins (the one that shakes up people at Wally's uncle's car dealership).

The Pie Lady could be Allison's aunty, and the Wooly Triplets are Jack's nephews. Boswell is definitely a relative of Nathan's.

Chester is Bertrum's brother who owns a pirate themed amusement park (they're competitors), Gaskette is one of Wally's many uncles (no blood relation), Canoodle is a friend of Buddy's grandpa, and Dewey is Grant's stuck-up brother.

#bendy and the ink machine #batim #batim au #human au #bendy spoilers #bendy crack up comics

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thedemonandthedead · 3 years ago

Text

OC: Belliah Edith Price

Introduction

Name: Belliah Edith Price

Also Known As: Bell, Wabbit/Rabbit, Ghost Girl (derogatory)

Titles: None

Birthday: February 18th, 1960

Astrological Sign: Aquarius

Nationality: British

Species: Half-Blood Witch

Blood Type: B-

Sex: Female

Gender: Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Orientation: Bisexual

About Her

Personality:

Belliah is a goth little shit, to sum her up quickly. She's bossy, she's weird, and she's nerdy, but she's also loyal to a fault and bakes a mean brownie. She's a good friend to have, if not a bit frustrating with her conviction that she's right about what needs to be done at nearly all times. She means well, though, and at least for the most part her... "suggestions" are decent. If you do befriend her, she'll throw down for you at the drop of a hat, be it with magic or just plain fists.

Occupation: Tailor, Student

Likes:

- Bones - Books - Clothes - Magic - Tabletop Games

Dislikes:

- Wasps - Anyone saying anything even remotely rude to her sister - Garden Gnomes - Bullies (Teeth-punching levels of hatred) - Manual Sewing

Hobbies: Tailoring and making clothes, articulating skeletons, studying, playing Dungeons and Dragons, reading, acting, playing violin, singing.

Fears: Wasps, her mother and sister dying, ending up alone, the house burning down, the theatre burning down, just kind of fire in general.

Strength: Quick thinking and split-second decision making.

Weakness: Highly vulnerable to appeals to emotion

Talents: Transfiguration, sewing

Appearance

Height: 5'9"

Cup Size: B cup

Skin Tone: Pale AF

Eye Color: Red

Hair Description:

- Color: White - Highlights: N/A - Length: Long in the front, very short in the back - Style: Straight-edge fringe and the rest vaguely resembling a lop-eared rabbit. - Worn: Down, or with a crown braid on special occasions

Extra:

- Scars: Lots of small ones on her arms and legs from various scraps and scrapes - Piercings: Three in the right ear - Tattoos: None - Facial Features: Soft cheeks with occasional acne and big, wide-set eyes that droop a bit. Short nose with a flat bridge. - Scent: Some sugary perfume that smells a bit like honey - Other: Bottom heavy. Wide hips, not much up top. Fond of dress robes that accentuate this.

Picrew: [x]

Faceclaim: Nastya Zhidkova

Relationships

Father: Belial Everleigh

Mother: Edith Price

Siblings: Edward Everleigh, Samantha Price (adopted)

Relatives:

Family Line of Work: Mother: Theatre, Father: Department of Mysteries

Family Background:

Belial and Edith met in a muggle cult run by an errant wizard using some very strange magics. Belial was investigating; Edith was a member. They were both extremely young at the beginning, and they ultimately worked together to bring down the cult and return the members to a normal life. They also fell in love, but it was the odd sort of love between two viciously independent people with very different life styles. Despite seeing each other very little, they remain in love to this day, and have in their few ventures together, produced two children that they've chosen to raise separately.

Best Friends: Eric Gaudreau, Amir Laghari, Samantha Price

Friends: Lorraine Selwyn, Ruby Silvervine

Love Interest: Severus Snape

Enemies: Vivienne Burke

Education

School: Hogwarts

House: Hufflepuff

Best Core Class: Transfiguration

Worst Core Class: Herbology

Favourite Elective: Care of Magical Creatures

Quidditch: Spectator

Extra-Curricular: Chess Club

Magic

Wand:

- Length: Eleven-and-a-Quarter Inches - Flexibility: Flexible - Wood: Hazel - Core: Unicorn Hair

Pets: Lucifer the ????

Boggart: A huge swarm of wasps

Animagus/Patronus: Jacobs Sheep

Amortentia: Petrichor, Dusty Storage Rooms, Cooking Tomato Sauce, Lilacs

Affiliations/Alliances

Home Town: Plymouth

Residence: Hogwarts / Her mother's home

Loyalty: She is beholden to no one but herself

Organizations:

Band: White Dragon, White Dragon, Hufflepuff, Chess Club

Extra Information

Quotes: "Better to fight for something than live for nothing."

Theme Songs:

Fairy Paradise CocoRosie

Roll a D6 SirConnorAnderson

The Bard's Song The Blind Guradian

March of Mephisto Kamelot

Spooky Scary Skeletons (Remix) The Living Tombstone

Living Dead Girl Rob Zombie

Freaks Timmy Trumpet & Savage

Gimme Chocolate BABYMETAL

Daddy PSY

Macaron Ashikubi

Sugar Tunes Balan

Fuck You Lily Allen

Food: Pasta with red sauce

Drink: Rootbeer

Color: Red

Animal: Spiders

Flower: Daffodil

Season: Fall

Bio Belliah is, by her own reckoning, the bastard child of a wizards mistakes. Whenever she pries for details on the identity of her father, her mother turns into some sort of sphinx, speaking in riddles through coy smiles. When she was small, she used to spend long nights fantasizing about a king in a far off castle, called home to rule, leaving his true love behind, or a dark sorcerer running from a love that couldn't be. The day Hagrid brought her a very interesting letter, she was shocked to find out that the last one was hovering somewhere around probable. She grew up in the care of her doting, muggle mother. She was, until the age of nine, an only child with a remarkable propensity for accidental mischief. She was far more alarmed by her emerging magical talents than her mother was, but the cool indifference with which Edith put out suddenly appearing fires soon wore off on Bell as well, and incidents at school became less and less frequent. Still, though, her classmates viewed her as somewhere in between amazing and the literal devil, in part because she looked really weird, and in part because that one time Theo knocked her over his leg just broke for no reason. Those that fell in between the two extremes mostly just laughed at her speech impediment. Edith gently guided her daughter through the turmoil towards becoming a level-headed person, and Bell, over time, gained a few very close friends and the ability to pronounce R's correctly. Most notable of these friends was a young boy named Samuel who she'd been in class with since pre-K. Well before Belliah was personable, they were inseparable. Sam spent every possible moment he could with Bell and Edith, sleeping more often on their couch than he did his own bed. Sam's mother had died when he was very young, and he didn't like his father much. Belliah had no context for the situation, but Edith sure did. It took her a few years to piece together the necessary evidence before she went to war to seize custody of the young boy, who was being heavily abused by an otherwise neglectful father that blamed the child for the death of his wife. At the age of eight, Samuel became her legal brother. Both of them were absolutely over the moon about this development, but it fairly quickly became evident that Sam had developed some fairly severe PTSD and the same gently guidance Edith had given her own daughter wouldn't be sufficient for her new son. So, the three of them delved into the heavily stigmatized world of mental health services to seek a better life for him. Belliah, more than any of them, developed a deep fascination with the science of psychology. Determined to help Sam, now that she understood what he'd been through, she came home every weekend with stacks of books from the library on psychology and related subjects. She became a sort of make-shift therapist to both him and anyone she perceived as needing such a thing, and it was more or less appreciated. By the time she got her letter, she was an expert at conflict deescalation, and Sam had fallen gracefully into their family. The final hurdle in his treatment was addressing the fact that he wasn't mentally a "he" at all. Edith, who'd handled much weirder with little more than a shrug, switched pretty immediately to accepting her adopted son as her adopted daughter. Belliah took a bit longer to wrap her head around the concept, coping by reading a shit ton on the subject. She quickly found modern literature on gender dysphoria to be fairly insulting at the best of it. After that, she spent a lot of time at school beating the shit out of anyone who was mean to her sister for any reason at all. It was a brief period of violence and strife, but the dust settled with some ruffled feathers and some rearranged friend circles within a few months. When not at home or at school, the two of them are most likely to be found at the local theatre, where Edith works as a production manager for all of the community stage productions. She's worked there for a great deal longer than Belliah's been alive, and she frequented as an actress well before that. As such, a young Bell spent a great deal of time toddling around the backstage amongst vivid characters, stored set pieces, and a plethora of costumes. Her favourite of the regular members was, when they first met, an impressively goth teen. Her proper name was Rebecca, but she introduced herself as Azazel, and despite that fact that these days, she's in her thirties and not so outlandish, she's still referred to by the whole of the troupe as Auntie Azazel. Similarly, Bell is mostly called Wabbit at home. Growing up watching her mom in plays got her extremely interested in participating in them herself. She was five when she was given her first speaking role, which she took to with vast enthusiasm. Her mother pegged her white haired child with a speech impediment for the perfect role: the white rabbit, in a stage rendition of Alice in Wonderland. The in jokes from that particular performance have stuck just as well as the nicknames. Belliah had been the one to answer the door for Hagrid. He'd addressed her by name, which confused her a bit, as most of the bizarre looking people that showed up at their door were looking for her mum. Never-the-less, she'd dutifully lead him into the kitchen, where Edith was making some tea and Sam was working on her homework. After the initial shock of a half-giant showing up in their house with a letter for her daughter, he was invited to sit at the kitchen table and given some tea and biscuits. Through all the awe and wonder at this revelation, she couldn't avoid punctuating the conversation with giggles at the sight of Hagrid sipping earl grey from a normal sized tea cup. Edith remained nonplussed by the existence of magic, and mostly just observed the conversation with a warm smile. Belliah asked as many questions as Hagrid would let her. Sam listened raptly, stirring her tea and staring, maths work well forgotten. The same night, after Hagrid was gone, she made a promise to Sam to get her a body she'd be happiest in. After being sorted into Hufflepuff, she set off to make good on that promise, pouring everything she had into transfiguration and potions. She's also discovered that the field of psychology doesn't have a magical equivalent at all, and thus found her second life's goal in founding psychiatric medicine in the wizarding world. On her first train ride, she sat with a second year Ravenclaw named Eric, who took her under his wing and introduced her to wizard chess. She found it only slightly more entertaining than she did it's non-magical equivalent, but she's become fairly decent at it over the years, given that Eric's the captain of the chess club and convinced her to join up. In return, she taught him to play Dungeons and Dragons, though the two of them have had issues keeping a steady session going in the business of the school year. She had a great love of fantasy growing up, and it evolved into a deep seated love of finding the parallels between muggle myths and fiction and the reality of magic. As a result, she does very well in History of Magic, though she's just as subject to the droning tones of Professor Binns as everyone else. She's friendly enough, but she's a bit of an acquired taste for a lot of people. Her tendency to psychoanalyze people compounds with the bossiness she inherited from her mother to make friendship with her being a lot like having a very nagging mother who happens to be the same age as you. It does, however, come with the perk of getting free snacks pretty much whenever you want them. Hufflepuffs in general are known for always having food on them, but Belliah spends a lot more than the average amount of time in the kitchens. She's formed a fairly deep friendship with one of the house elves, and she likes to visit the lot of them and make sure they know their work is appreciated, which they always have mixed reactions to.

Picrew: Here

Template: Originally by PunkPrincess9493 on DA, has since been removed.

#OC #HP OC #Belliah

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madampince-rph · 4 years ago

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everybody always makes alice longbottom in the same families: fortescue, selwyn, prewett. which do you think is best? or do you have better suggestion? thnx

Honestly I really don’t like Alice as a Prewett. It doesn’t make sense to me. I mean we know that Molly is really big on family, basically adopting Harry after five minutes conversation, so if Neville was a nephew or something like that don’t you think she’d have been part of his childhood? Even just a small part? Don’t you think the Weasley children would consider him family, even distant family, if he was a direct Prewett descendant? Making Alice a Prewett makes me uncomfortable, because if you project that lineage out to what we get in the books later it just doesn’t work. imo: bad idea, one of the worst.

Between Fortescue and Selwyn, I prefer Selwyn. We don’t get to really meet any Selwyns in the books – just one Death Eater who shows up briefly – but we have a nice little encounter with Florean Fortescue, and he seems like a friendly sort of guy. Someone who would likely have made at least a token effort to be involved in the childhood of a basically-orphaned little kid whom everyone thought was a Squib, if he had been part of Neville’s family. And while there is nothing in the books that says he and Neville weren’t family or friendly, the fact that Florean hangs out with Harry for a summer and doesn’t mention anything about Neville – a boy who is in not just the same year as Harry, but the same house – well, it just reads as off. Or that is it would read as off, if Neville was a relative of Florean, because that seems like the kind of thing that would have come up in conversation even if he and Neville weren’t personally close. But when Harry is summarizing his weeks in Diagon Alley, he doesn’t say “Florean Fortescue, Neville’s uncle who ran the ice cream parlor…” or anything like that, which leaves anyone trying to make that canon connection the responsibility of answering the question, why not? Why would Florean not introduce himself via Neville when he met Harry? Why would Harry not reference Florean’s connection to his housemate? I’m not saying you can’t make it work, that it’s impossible to come up with a way to make Alice a Fortescue without making later events in the books go wonky – but you definitely need to make that effort to craft that backstory.

Honestly having Alice be directly related to anyone we meet in the books who interacts with Harry in any sort of extended and friendly fashion doesn’t really work for me, because it feels awkward for them to never mention something about “oh you got to school with my nephew, Neville, he talks about you all the time!” or so on, you know? And again, it’s not impossible to do it and do it well, but it is something you have to tackle because when you’re writing a prequel (which is what Marauders Era stuff is if you think about it): you have to be very conscious of the canon that is going to come later and how what you’re writing now that’s new works alongside what was written previously about what is going to happen next. I think we’re all familiar with badly done prequel stories that don’t quite mesh with their later-slash-earlier installments, so I expect you get what I mean when I say that that kind of attention to detail matters!

(Also tbh most of the time when I see Alice linked to a family like that, one of the “nice ones” we meet, her background tends to read as pretty “Mary Sue-ish” anyway. You know what I mean: the sort of OC-insert character who ~conveniently~ has really close family ties to other characters we know and she’s suuuuuper important in their lives and oh-so-special and…basically it just makes you think of bad fanfics, right? The kind you write when you’re twelve and want to burn later? Maybe that’s just me idk, but any time I see the name “Alice Fortescue” I cringe because I think I know what’s coming, and sadly I’m usually right.)

Anyway, basically the thing that I think is important to keep in mind when crafting a backstory for Alice is what we learn about Neville’s upbringing: he was raised by his paternal grandmother. He had a family of busybody relatives who sent him lots of advice on what classes to take and who all thought he was a Squib when he was little and did awful things to try and get his magic to show itself (the doing of which seemed very casual, almost like he was an afterthought, as evinced by him being dropped out the window once when someone wanted desert). No one thought he was important or talented. His grandmother takes him to visit his parents in St. Mungo’s on holidays. She acts very familiar to her daughter-in-law (although admittedly she’s spent about fourteen years visiting her in the closed ward by then, so there’s no telling what their relationship was like back when Alice had her full faculties) and worn-out by it all, although still fiercely proud of her son’s talents (and later her grandson’s, at least once he finally “lives up to” what she wanted from him after the fighting against Voldemort starts).

From here on out this is admittedly all extrapolation, but going off of what we know: it has always seemed to me as though there are a lot of Longbottoms of Augusta’s generation or around that age but not a lot of younger ones, and Alice’s family doesn’t seem to be involved in things with Neville much at all. We know she’s a pure-blood, because Neville is, so it’s not a situation like with Lily – but we also know that the family line means a lot to most pure-blood families. So from that we can draw the assumption that for whatever reason, Alice’s son doesn’t matter much to her side of the family, even though one would think he ought to. Is that because she comes from a huge family, so the Squib-ish son of the girl who went mad and got locked up in St. Mungo’s isn’t someone they need to spend much thought on? Is that because she comes from a family that has almost died-out and there just aren’t many of them left to care about him? Is it because they don’t consider him part of “their” family as much as they do “a Longbottom” because the maternal line doesn’t matter to them as much? Is it because Alice herself had a falling-out with her family so they severed ties before Neville was born?Is it because her family and the Longbottoms just don’t get along (either for reasons that existed at the time Alice and Frank got married, which she did despite her family’s wishes, or for reasons that cropped-up later – perhaps over the side that Alice and Frank chose in the war, or perhaps they blame him for what happened to her, etc etc?) so they don’t want to have anything to do with the Longbottoms...who might not welcome them anyway even if they did?

The last option makes me like the Selwyn idea because we know the Selwyns are pure-bloods at least in part (from the fact that Umbridge claims their lineage when sporting Slytherin’s locket) and we know that at least one of them was a Death Eater. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean the whole family was a bunch of blood-supremacists of course, but it does give us more potential to play with than we get from the Fortescues or the Ollivanders (or the Prewetts), I believe. Giving Alice a family that is: a) majority pro-voldemort or b) mixed between pro-voldemort/pro-dumbledore or even c) majority pro-dumbledore but with a few outcast death eaters provides a much more interesting and idea-fertile background, I think, for both her and her son.

To that end I’m thinking that if you really want to tie Alice in with a family that has members we know well – maybe one that provides you with relatives who will also be played in your game without adding a bunch of OCs – you can always go with the Lestranges. That’s an idea that occurred to me recently that I really, really like. Make her a cousin or second-cousin or so forth to Rodolphus and Rabastan. Not a sister; if she was that closely related to them the dialogue we get between Bellatrix and Neville later gets awkward because there’s no way she wouldn’t introduce herself as his “auntie” to drive the spikes in deeper, not if they had that kind of connection – but some sort of relation, anyway. Then you get to add another layer of intensity to a bunch of canon things without having to actually twist canon at all:

Why did Voldemort pick the Potters and their half-blood son to go after first, before the pure-blood boy? Maybe it wasn’t just because he and Harry shared the same blood-status; maybe it was because the pure-blood was related to his most loyal servant so he figured he’d start with the stranger (either because he thought Harry would be easier to deal with, or because he trusted Bella and her boys to be quick to deal with the Longbottoms if they got troublesome in the meantime).

Why did the Lestranges go after the Longbottoms when they wanted information about Voldemort’s whereabouts? Maybe it wasn’t just because they were Aurors who knew Ministry secrets and were part of the Order; maybe it was because they were family. We know that Bellatrix is enthusiastic about the prospect of pruning traitors out of her family tree after all, an idea that she would probably extend to her relatives-by-marriage even if the Lestrange brothers didn’t share that fatal familial enthusiasm for themselves…although they probably do.

Why did the Lestranges torture the Longbottoms so much that they lost their minds permanently, when surely that meant going far beyond the point of their actually being able to get any answers from them? Maybe it wasn’t just because they got carried away and liked the fun of it so they kept going even when it wasn’t useful any more; maybe it was exacerbated by the fact that Alice and Frank were family and they needed to be punished for choosing the wrong side. Maybe it was personal.

If Alice was a Lestrange before her marriage, then tension between the Longbottoms and the Lestranges gets ratcheted-up about a thousand points in all areas, both regarding the things that happen in the books and their relationships before. It puts her in a position similar to Sirius and Andromeda, where the battle lines are drawn between the branches on her own family tree and she has to decide how far she is willing to go for what she believes in, even when she knows the person looking back at her out of that silver mask.

The First Wizarding War divided people against their own family and friends and too often we get mired in extreme black-and-white ideas of good and evil sides, forgetting that there are a lot more shades of gray (just ask Sirius). Since we know so little about Alice, she’s a perfect opportunity to explore that nuance and making her related to a few Death Eaters (of any family) is a great way to play around with that. Honestly I have like a hundred different ideas of things that could be done with such an Alice so if you want to build one and you’re drawing a blank please hit me up I will gladly gush to you!

tl;dr Alice Selwyn = yes, that’s interesting. Alice Fortescue = a whole lot of meh and a little awkward. Alice Prewett = please no that causes more problems than it does anything else. Also consider as an option: Alice Lestrange.

#alice longbottom #hp rph #alice longbottom rp #bellatrix lestrange #neville longbottom #longbottom family #pure bloods #alice lestrange #alice selwyn #alice prewett #alice ollivander #lestrange family #marauders era rph #character building #character canons #pince's rants #extrapolations

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ciarawritesmarvel · 5 years ago

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newsflash - steve rogers x reader

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Word Count: 4.3k baby

Warnings: Only the slightest tinge of language, lots of children and crying and love and fluffy family feels

A/N: FINALLY! Here is the beginning of my new universe, based on the oneshot Number Five which got an amazing response and which I just absolutely adored. A few people asked for a continuation and whilst I don’t want to make this into a series, I absolutely do want to make this into a series of oneshots! Most should be relatively easy to read as standalone pieces. This one happens to directly follow on from Number Five buttt can just be read as a standalone too! Anyways, much much love and I’m so grateful to each and every one of you. Bring on 3.5k and the celebration to come! <3

masterlist is in my bio and tags will be in a reblog…enjoy!

---

You were swinging your hands between you as you reached the left wing of the compound, still swinging your hands between you as you both underwent your retinal scans, still swinging your hands between you as you took the elevator up to the main floor.

It was as if you had all this nervous energy, and swinging Steve’s hand was your only way of releasing it.

“Are you nervous?” Steve asked you as you watched the numbers on the elevator steadily climb. Sometimes you swore he could read your mind.

“Um, yeah,” you said, sarcasm laced in your voice, “I’m pretty nervous about telling everyone about our fifth child.”

“I’m not,” he said breezily and you turned your head towards him to catch the blissful grin on his face. You rolled your eyes.

“Well, good for you, bucko.”

“No, seriously,” his tone was now holding something else as he tilted your face to look at him properly, “What’s there to be nervous about? Our family is growing, again. And we get to tell everyone we love.”

You paused. Moved your face out of his grip to stare at the numbers again.

“Well, when you put it like that,” you mumbled grudgingly and you could see Steve’s stupid smirk in your mind’s eye.

The ding of the elevator signalled it was time. As the doors opened, you were quickly drawn to the scene in front of you and you couldn’t help but smile. You couldn’t remember a time when you walked through these doors and could stop yourself from smiling. It just wasn’t an option anymore.

“Mama!”

It seemed James had spotted you first and you grinned at him as he circled the couches and tottered over to you, your arms open wide to receive him. You decided to take mercy on him and took a couple of steps towards him until you were able to lift him high in the air. Your eyes lit up at his laughter and you kissed him on the nose, adoring the little wrinkle that came with it, before hoisting him onto your hip.

“Hello little man,” you beamed, giving his leg a small tickle, “You have a good day with Uncle Tony and Auntie Pep?”

He nodded vigorously and began telling you all about his day, to which you were only half listening. You had half your concentration elsewhere, on Steve and your three girls, who were huddled around his legs and looking up at him with adoration. He snuck a knowing glance at you, raising an eyebrow. It was going to be a task and a half to get them all to sit down and listen to your news. Then you heard something about bottle rockets that slightly alarmed you and your focus slowly returned fully to your son. Something about lava definitely woke you up.

“I’m sorry, honey, did you just say something about lava?”

“Yeah! The floor was lava and we jumped on the sofa and the cushions. Uncle Tony has the best games!”

You shook your head fondly and agreed with him before handing him off to Steve to tell him about his very eventful day with lava and let him have a cuddle with Papa too. The girls quickly ran to you.

“Daddy said we should let James have a bit of alone time with you,” Claudia told you as soon as she was hugging your legs and you crouched down to hug the three of them properly.

“Well that was very kind of you girls,” you praised happily, they’d always been so good with little James and his slightly possessive habits of you and Steve. You were gradually getting him used to the fact that he had to share you but it was a slow process, “Did you play this lava game James was talking about?”

“Yeah! Uncle Tony has the best games,” Margie chimed in and you nodded.

“So I’ve heard! Where is Uncle Tony anyway?”

“You called?” came a welcome voice and you looked up to find Tony towering above you, something that was very rare for him to do and balancing both a mega bowl of popcorn and his own little bundle of joy, Rosie. You squeezed your girls one last time and then stood up, reaching over them to pull them in for a hug.

“Hey, you,” you greeted him happily, then turning to Rosie and giving her a wink, “And hey you!” you pulled out of his hold but kept a friendly hand on his shoulder as you felt Steve walk up behind you and a hand find the small of your back, “How’d they treat you today?”

“Brilliantly, as usual,” he said breezily, squeezing your elbow before moving past you and kissing each of the girls on the top of their heads on his way to the sofa. He sat down with a thump, a few pieces of popcorn flying out of the bowl, “We were just about to start a movie.”

The kids ran over to the sofas at the mention of their movie, even James signalling to be put down so that he could run as best he could to the sofa. When he was there, Alice helped him up to sit with her and your heart warmed inexplicably at the sight.

Little Morgan came running from the kitchen then, carrying yet another bowl of popcorn which she clambered onto the sofa with, sitting next to your Margie with a giggle.

“If we could just get Pep in here, that would be everyone,” Steve whispered in your ear and you nodded, excited enough now to just want to get on with it. You still had that nervous energy in every atom of your body, after all.

“Where’s Auntie Pepper?” you asked nobody in particular and watched as Tony looked over his shoulder at you.

“She’s just getting some paperwork finished. I told her not to, but you know Pep,” Tony rolled his eyes and turned back to the screen, flicking through Netflix as the kids chattered excitedly. You formed the plan.

“You stall them on the film, I’ll grab Pep and we can tell them before they start,” you whispered to Steve and he nodded solemnly, walking towards the sofas as you turned on your heel and speed-walked towards Pepper’s home office.

It was only a short walk down the corridor and it still felt like it was taking forever to get there. When you finally reached her door, you knocked twice and entered, greeted by the tired smile of a working mother that you knew all too well. You returned it, although for once yours wasn’t quite so tired.

“Look, I know what you’re going to say, but I just need to sign off on this one thing-”

“No no, I’m not here to comment on your work habits, for once, don’t worry. I just need you to join me in the living room for a few minutes,” you said and, upon seeing she was about to protest, added, “You can come back after. I promise.”

She narrowed her eyes at that one.

“After what?”

“Shit, Pepper, would you just come?” you said, exasperated and you resisted the urge to add a ‘that’s what he said’ afterwards.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming, sheesh Y/N,” she mumbled as she dropped her pen on the desk and stood up, gesturing for you to start walking down the corridor. You smiled gratefully at her, if a little guiltily, but began nonetheless, the bounce in your step almost too prevalent to keep hidden.

Steve’s eyes were on you as soon as you entered the room, all giddy and flouncy and he smiled despite himself.

“Can we watch the film now?” one of the girls whined, you thought it might have been Alice, as you and Pepper entered the room and sat down on the sofas. Pepper joined Margie and Morgan on their sofa, ruffling the two girls’ hair with a smirk whilst you sat yourself next to Steve, on the edge of a corner sofa where everyone was in full view.

“Not yet, pumpkin,” Steve cooed, “Mummy and I have some special news for you all first.”

You caught the look exchanged between Tony and Pepper, the confusion swimming in all eight pairs of eyes that were staring at you.

“Go on then,” Claudia urged and you smiled at your eldest and her typical impatience. You could’ve predicted that one. She probably just wanted to watch the film.

“Okay, so...there’s no easy way to say this and, as you’ll know, we’ve tried many different methods of breaking this kind of news before. But it’s easier to just come right out and say it,” you took a deep breath, reaching out beside you and tangling your fingers with Steve’s for support, resting them on your stomach with a watery smile, “I’m pregnant.”

“The Rogers are getting a new baby brother or sister!” Steve announced, his tone ecstatic and the kiss he pressed to your temple just the same.

There was a gasp from Tony and Pepper and some relatively blank looks from the younger kids, like James and Rosie who were unfazed by the whole thing. You had a feeling James would be rather fazed when he actually understood what was happening. Margie and Alice had been subject to this announcement before, albeit when they were younger, but they seemed to get it enough as their eyes lit up in delight, whilst Claudia burst out into a silly grin and ran up to hug you both.

“Yay, yay, yay!” she squealed happily and you tried your best not to get emotional, though you knew that was unlikely to happen. Crappy hormones.

You could always rely on Claudia to be excited about a new arrival in the family. Even when she was only two and learnt of her soon-to-be little sister Alice and what that would mean, she had this beautiful idea of being the best big sister ever, an idea she had carried with her ever since. Each new birth was a chance for her to show her responsibility and her usefulness and you certainly wouldn’t have it any other way. It could come in really handy.

It only took Claudia running up for a hug for Alice and Margie to run up too it seemed, though Morgan just sat there looking rather happy. She was a natural born protector, after all, just like her father, and any new additions simply meant more young’uns to look after. She was only four though, and so her help wasn’t quite as handy as Claudia’s.

“Oh, congratulations!” Pepper cried, and you noticed she was in fact crying as she rushed over to the group hug that was building, wrapping her arms around your head and bringing it to her chest, kissing the top of it and laughing. A new addition to the Rogers family was practically a new addition to the Stark family at this point, with a shared home and shared childcare arrangement, so you’d known this would be a big excitement for them too.

Tony seemed a little overcome at that moment and you looked over to him to find him staring at you with teary eyes, which only made your own tears worse. He eventually wandered over, setting Rosie down on the couch cushions gently on his way over. Pepper managed to pry herself from you and Tony grabbed your face and kissed you on the cheek before wrapping you in a bear hug that had you crying harder.

“I’m so proud of you, kiddo,” he said tenderly and you buried your face in his shoulder in response.

Tony pulled away again, feeling the kids at his legs trying to push past him for your attention again. Pepper had been hugging Steve and Tony followed her in that too, patting his back and whispering something in his ear that seemed to make Steve himself well up a little.

“When, mummy?” Margie asked, holding onto your knee with tiny grip and you thought it over in your head.

“In the new year, angel, after Christmas. It’ll be an exciting winter!” you wiped your tears, not wanting to give the kids the wrong idea about how happy this moment was. They struggled to grasp the concept of happy tears yet.

Steve had to leave your side to go pick up a now distressed James, who couldn’t understand the commotion and understandably had become overwhelmed. It was in his nature. Rosie, however, of a similar age, didn’t seem overly bothered by all the noise and the crying, instead enraptured in the strands of the fluffy pillow she’d found.

Steve returned to your side almost instantly, James perched on his lap and you reached out a hand to stroke his hair and then to run down Steve’s arm with a smile directed his way.

“A very exciting winter,” Steve agreed instantly, leaning in for a quick kiss, short and sweet and tasting just like family. You held his jaw as he pulled away, nudged your nose against his despite a half hearted protest from the kids and then moved away properly with no regrets. You wanted your kids to grow up knowing their parents were true soulmates and if that meant a little bit of embarrassment every now and then, that couldn’t be helped.

“Can we come in now?” a voice sounded from the elevator and the doors opened to reveal Uncle Clint and Auntie Nat, changed from the mission into jeans and t-shirts and smiles to light up the room. They sauntered in and the kids jumped for joy at the sight of them; a visit from them wasn’t exactly rare, but it was rare enough for them to look forward to seeing them each and every time. They always had presents, too, which helped.

“Who wants cookies?” Clint called, waving a paper bag in the air and Alice, Margie and Morgan instantly ran over, Claudia joining them after a nod of permission from you. Nat came over to swoop James from Steve’s lap with cuddles and tickles and carry him to the cookies herself whilst Pepper carried Rosie over too.

“Wait,” Tony began, and you knew exactly where he was going as he stood with his hands on his hips in front of you, any trace of emotional Tony well and truly gone, “They knew before we did? What the hell, Rogers?”

You knew instinctively that he was talking to you.

“It’s a long story,” you insisted, “But I didn’t mean to. And I only told Nat about-” you checked your watch, “-15 minutes ago.”

Tony looked like he was considering what you’d said.

“Okay. Forgiven.”

Steve chuckled beside you and you elbowed him in the ribs, stopping him from laughing at Tony too much and setting him off on one of his faux-rants. He coughed to cover his ass and you rolled your eyes. Dork.

“It’s a shame Bucky isn’t here,” Steve said, sincerely, but in what was also a deft change in subject, “And Peter. Although I suppose then I could include Bruce and Thor and Carol and Wanda in all that. There’s so many people to tell.” “I think just Buck and Pete will do for now,” you said, already resting your hand on your stomach with an absentminded fondness in settled in your heart, “We can’t tell everyone.”

Steve nodded, because you were right. You had so many family members, were so lucky to have so many, but it wasn’t even twelve weeks yet. You needed to pick and choose.

“I can invite them over, if you want?” Pepper called from over near the elevator where the kids were still tucking in to their cookies with wild abandon and without a word. Clint knew the way to their hearts and also the way to get them to be quieter. That too.

“I’ll call Buck if you call Peter?” Steve offered and Pepper nodded, offloading Rosie onto an all too happy Clint, who booped her nose repeatedly as Pepper fished her phone out of her pocket.

Steve rubbed your back briefly as he stood up and your gaze followed him, shooting him an almost bashful smile at his retreating form when he glanced back at you.

“Hey Y/N,” Tony said, quieter and only for you to hear and so you shuffled down on your sofa until you were on the other side of it and beside the one he had unceremoniously fell down into, “You’re okay, right? You’re happy about this?”

You smiled, a smile full of love and gratefulness. Tony had always looked out for you, but ever since your rather difficult pregnancy a few years ago and the low mood that accompanied it, he’d been ever more careful to keep an eye on you and your state of mind. It was a welcome check in every once in a while, one that reminded you that you really were okay, that you were happy. It hadn’t always been that way and it only made this all the sweeter.

“I am happy, Tony. Overwhelmingly so. This feels right, for some reason, my fifth little one,” again a hand on the stomach, a reminder. It seemed you needed a lot of those, “I love you for checking in though, you know that. Thank you.”

“Always, sweetheart,” he said honestly, truthfully, compellingly and then that sincere Tony was gone again as soon as he’d arrived, and he was back on the jokes, not that you’d have him any other way, “So what’s the gender then?”

“You know I don’t know-”

“Come on, I know you, and I know you’re gonna think you know the gender already.”

You paused. He’d got you there.

“It’s another girl. Definitely,” you said confidently, a little wry smile on your face that you couldn’t shake, “I can feel it.” “You could feel it last time,” Tony scolded and you pouted like one of your children.

“That’s exactly what Steve said!”

“It’s a mother’s intuition, Tony, you leave her alone,” Pepper said as she re-entered the room and sat down next to you, a hand around your shoulders, “Peter’s on his way.”

“So’s Buck,” Steve clapped Tony on the back as he sat next to him, “But he can’t shoot webs to swing through the city and public transport is crap so, he could be a while.”

“Daddy said a bad word!” Margie called out from where she was sat on Nat’s lap on the floor with half a cookie in her mouth and you glared at Steve with little malice. He pulled a face.

“Sorry sweetheart! I’ll put a dollar in the jar later,” he said, actually sounding rather apologetic and you chuckled at him.

“How many dollars in the jar is that for you now Steve?” Tony asked playfully and he shoved him lightly in retaliation.

‘Only seven. How many have you put in, honey?”

You bit your lip at Steve’s question and looked down at the floor. You mumbled your response to which he only asked you to repeat yourself.

“$24 okay? It’s hard to remember.”

The group laughed at you to which you joined in after a couple of seconds, because your inability to keep from swearing in front of the children was somewhat a running joke between you all.

“Um, little help here guys,” came a muffled voice from behind the sofa and the four of your turned to find Clint lying on the floor, six kids sitting on him and giggling manically while Nat tried not to cry from her own laughter as she held up her phone and took a video.

It was probably time to set him free.

You pulled each other up from the sofa like four old and tired parents that hadn’t slept enough and didn’t sit down very often, which may have been true but the groans that sounded as you stretched your legs were not very Avenger-like. It seemed like being in the family zone turned you into parents alone and rid you of any dirt or blood from a battlefield.

Just as you were each hauling a child from Clint’s breathless body, you heard a thud behind you and rolled your eyes fondly, seeing Tony beginning to go but you stopped him.

“I’ll go,” you said, passing Margie’s hysterical body to Steve along with Alice who was already under his arm and skipping over to the balcony to open the door. Instead of letting him in, you closed the door behind you and stepped out into the cool April breeze.

“Y/N!” Peter cried, pulling off his mask and wrapping you up in one of his signature hugs, the ones that the kids loved just as much as you did. Somehow Peter always managed to be warm and comforting, even if he’d been zipping through a cold New York City for an hour before you saw him, “Aren’t we going inside?”

“In a second,” you pulled back from his hug and left your hands on his upper arms, looking at him with an easy to read excitement flashing in your eyes. He eyed you warily, “I need to tell you something first.” “Okayyy,” he answered, looking past you briefly to see Nat and Clint watching at the window, only to duck down as soon as he looked at them, “What’s going on?”

“Well, we’re going to need you over here even more often, Pete,” you said gravely, with a raise of your eyebrows, “All hands on deck for the new baby.”

His eyes nearly popped out of his head.

“New baby?”

You nodded and placed one hand on your stomach with a grin.

“I’m pregnant!”

He gasped, fully audibly gasped, a reaction you hadn’t really expected and one you couldn’t take in before Peter was squeezing you way too hard and crying into your shoulder. Your eyes widened and you looked over your shoulder to find Steve watching, his expression torn between one of affection and one of amusement.

What do I do? you mouthed, your arms rubbing up and down Peter’s back as he sniffled and Steve pressed his lips together to stop from laughing with a small shrug.

Peter eventually calmed down, still sniffling but at slightly larger intervals now. He pulled out of your hold and wiped his eyes and nose with the back of his hand and your features softened at the sight of his puffy face.

“You okay?” you asked hesitantly, unsure how to deal with a reaction that was even greater than your own tears had been. You absentmindedly wondered whether teenage hormones might be worse than pregnancy hormones, but quickly waved that away. That was bullshit.

“Y-Yeah, I just-” one big sniff, “-I’m really happy for you guys. I get another f-family member.”

Now you were gonna cry alright.

“Hey, what are we crying about out here?”

Bucky walked out onto the balcony, Steve following close behind and leaning against the doorframe with a look that you could barely bring yourself to tear your gaze away from. But you did, of course, because whilst Bucky’s tone was light, his concern was still palpable in the way he held himself. Luckily, he had broken the mood of emotion that Peter had just set and you were able to choke back the tears that had been imminent.

“Oh, nothing really,” you breezily said, composing yourself and signalling for Steve to come and join you. He did, willingly, immediately, giving Peter a small pat on the back as he stood next to you which almost set the boy right off again. Such a sensitive soul, “We just have some news.”

“Is that news that you’re kicking Peter out of the Avengers, or what?” he joked, again concealing any concern with something lighthearted, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Peter and earned him as much of a steely glare as Pete could manage through his red eyes.

You looked at Steve beside you and nudged him in the ribs, nodding towards Bucky, indicating to him that he could be the one to tell him. He smiled at you, then turned to his oldest friend.

“Not quite,” he said calmly and then with a hand of stability on your shoulder, “We’re pregnant.”

There were already three grins out on the balcony and as Bucky’s slowly spread across his face, that three became four.

“Seriously?” his voice was a little higher than usual as he walked over and hugged you and Steve with an arm around you both, Peter not being able to resist but to bound over and join you, “I’m so happy for you guys.”

“Knock knock,” came a voice from the door to the balcony and you turned your head from the group hug to see Tony, Pep, Nat and Clint peeking around the glass door, pointless because it was a...glass door. The four of them crept out onto the balcony, smiles contagious and slightly sheepish.

“Can we join you?”

You laughed, proper laughter, head tilted back slightly and beckoned them over jovially, laughing even more when Tony ran back inside and brought the kids out too. They ran over and attached themselves to all of your legs, as the grown-ups joined the hug at a regular height. You and Steve found yourself in the middle of the embrace.

8 adults. 6 kids. One on the way. You leaned over and kissed Steve and desperately tried not to let the hormones affect your tear ducts once again.

Family didn’t get much better than this.

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers #captain america x reader #captain america #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers fluff #steve rogers oneshot #captain america imagine #captain america fluff #captain america oneshot #marvel #marvel x reader #marvel imagine #marvel fanfiction #newsflash #univer5e

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thosebizzareserpents · 5 years ago

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Waris Higgs had made the final preparations of wards around her home. Gloxinia's portrait followed checking each entrance and exit.

"I will check the rooms downstairs my dear Waris"

"Thank you Glo."

Waris and Nathaniel Higgs sent their sons to her parents in the Ivory Coast a year earlier after the return of the Dark Lord and Second Wizarding War announced. Her eldest son Albert was the Keeper for the Appleby Arrows, she insisted that he come home after the League suspended matches indefinitely and shut down the pitches.

Her youngest son Terence was three years out of Hogwarts and started out as an writer for Seeker Weekly but soon branched out and created his own magazine called Quidditch Queen.

Family friend Cellach McLaggen kept them abreast of the situation at the Ministry.

Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour had been killed by Voldemort and the Ministry was now under his control.

Cellach had to also wrangle his younger brother Tiberius from doing anything rash as well. His son Cormac had been required to go back to Hogwarts as it was now mandated that pure-bloods and half-bloods were to return. The McLaggens, Waris and Nathaniel were to meet a certain location and then-

“Waris someone has dismantled the wards!” “Leave quickly!”

The portrait of her mother-in-law brought her out of her train of thoughts.

Waris steadied herself, and peered over the balcony ready to strike. The figure came into view, their voice all to familiar.

“Terence!”

"Mother what are you doing in the dark!? Did you setup those protection charms! " He rubbed his hand. He looked just as startled as she was.

"Why are you here in England Terence!?"

Gloxinia’s portrait sighed in relief but quickly scolded the young wizard.

Waris ran down the stairs and hugged him, but then gave him a swift pop on the forehead. “Answer me Yasir, is your brother with you?"

Terence winced, “Bert- Abshir is still with gran and the family. I slipped away, took a portkey, I received a letter from Adrian.”

"The Puceys are in Argentina "

“Well Ade’s not with them.”

"Basically the whole team is here save for Graham and who the hell knows where Warrington is?"

I can't believe I'm saying this aloud. They’ve joined the fight against the Dark Lord. Marcus has his reasons. Adrian is Marcus best friend he knows how Marc is. Miles met up with Lucian who joined to help his uncle Kingsley who is an Auror, and a member. It’s an organization called the -

Waris closed her eyes. “ The Order of the Phoenix, I know about the Order.” She sat down on the steps and shook her head.

Adrian sent me the letter a month ago but I didn’t respond back. I’m here now.

No I forbid it! You all will be killed! shrieked the portrait. Terence whipped around stared at the wailing portrait.

"They aren’t blood-traitors Lady Glo. Adrian, Marcus, Lucian, Peregrine and I aren't betraying anything." Terence sighed and looked at his mother and Lady Glo's portrait.

“Neither was Aunty Liss and Uncle Franky.”

You -

“I remember Aunty Liss. She used to call me Terry, Terry Cherry.” I knew something bad had happened to Liss and Frank during the First Wizarding War I just didn’t know what, I couldn't put the pieces together.

“And I remember you Lady Glo, you aren’t just a relative.”

Terence used to insist when he and Bertie were little that they had meet Lady Glo when she was alive but the subject was brushed off. She was a kind woman and always comforted and encouraged him and his brother when they were younger.

The portrait of Lady Glo stared at Terence. “You always had a knack for picking up on things. I am Gloxinia Higgs, you and Albert’s grandmother"

“And Old Mr. Parth?”

Gloxinia chuckled. "Parth's full name is Parthenos Higgs you two’s grandfather.”

Parthenos Higgs was an renowned British magi-architect. He designed the Quidditch museum and was also his mother's mentor. He helped rebuild their house after the First Wizarding War.

“Parthenos and I are also Neville’s maternal grandparents.”

“Neville Longbottom?”

Neville Longbottom was a few years below him in Gryffindor house with Harry Potter the Seeker for Gryffindor quidditch team.

“Your Aunt Liss is Alice, my daughter. Nathaniel's younger sister. Alice married a fellow Auror named Frank Longbottom. Neville's parents. Together they were members of the original Order of Phoenix. Your father was also an Auror, he was an ally of the Order."

"Frank, Alice, and their allies among the aurors and the Ministry earned the wrath of Lord Voldemort by virtue of the fact that they were very efficient, and was responsible for a lot of captures, arrests and imprisonments of his Death Eaters throughout the First Wizarding War and ultimately defied him three times."

"Why hide this?"

“I can fill you in on that part” sighed Waris. Your father was in a coma from a battle previously fought known as the Battle of Exmoor. Over a hundred Aurors and Hit-Wix were killed including Frank's cousins the Bulstrodes’."

"After such heavy loss of power that devastated the DMLE there was an attempt to control the ministry by Udolf Lestrange and Augustus Rookwood which almost succeeded."

"The Auror and Hit Huntings" started. All auror and hit wix that participated in the battle and had survived were to to be terminated. Their families detained." Nathaniel, Alice and Frank's partners families as well."

"Death Eaters stormed St.Mungo's Hospital killing the injured. Cellach's wife who was at the ministry at the time had sent a warning out."

"You mentioned Peregrine was with them as well?"

"Yes. He came back from Egypt a couple of months ago, and switched to a desk job at Gringrotts. His parents don't know."

"Of course they don't," Waris rolled her eyes.

"Mrs. Derrick, Chelidon was also an Auror and Frank's partner. Then she was known as Chelidon Koh." She had also been wounded in the Battle of Exmoor."

"Where were they if not St. Mungo's?"

"There was an Order member named Caradoc Dearborn, his daughter-in-law Allene, was a Healer and so was member Gideon Prewett. They managed to transport the wounded to a makeshift hospital. They hid it using the Fidelus Charm and a Welsh Green dragon."

"Alice got your father there in time. Your grandmother used Sir Winogrand's home as the hospital."

" Wait dragons? Sir Winogrand, as in the herbologist?"

"Gideon's older brother Fabian was a dragonologist and the MacFusty compound wasn't to far away."

"Oh there so many things that happened during the First Wizarding War. It was chaos Terence."

"And yes. They are you family too. Sir Winogrand is Gloxinia's great-great grandfather."

"Parthenos sent us to Winogrand's greenhouse by the Western Rift Valley lakes. I took you, Bertie, Tiberius, and Cormac. That's where we stayed."

"You used a memory charm on Bertie and Tibbs."

Once a nog-tail hunting trip Terence asked Bertie and his friend Tiberius McLaggen about the events of First Wizarding War. Oddly enough neither one of could remember. They were thirteen by the time the First Wizarding War came to an end. Terence always thought it was strange that his brother and best friend knew so little.

"I did. You and Cormac were so young, I thought you two wouldn't remember." But you picked up on little things over time."

“Where was Alice and Frank?”

Albus Dumbledore sent them into hiding along with Harry Potter's parents.

"After Voldemort's downfall everyone thought it was safe but then there were Death Eaters who had managed to evade capture. They kidnapped and tortured Alice and Frank into insanity. The four were Bellatrix, Rudolphus, Rabastan Lestrange and Bartemius Crouch Jr.

"Gloxinia and Parthenos were torn. Their son still hadn't woken up and now their daughter would never recover from what was done to her."

"Frank was Augusta and Renfred's only child and Neville their only grandchild. Parthenos said it was best that they have guardianship of Neville."

"Why did Lady Glo and Mr. Parth hide who they were?"

Gloxinia and Waris looked at each other.

"Parthenos does visit Neville too, he knows him as Mr. Parth same as you and Bertie."

"Still doesn't answer my question."

"In 1985 Udolf Lestrange died, six years later in 1991 Cygnus Black III died. Udolf was one of Voldemort's earliest followers. Cygnus Black supported his cause."

"We killed them, Parth and I. Cygnus Black was the father of Bellatrix Lestrange. Udolf was the father of Rabastan and Rudolphus."

Terence eyes widened.

"I personally fought Udolf in Lestrange House. Parthenos took me away and I eventually succumbed to my wounds."

"We murdered the fathers of the wix who tortured our daughter and son-in-law into insanity."

"The only people, who know are Augusta, her husband Renfred who passed away. Judge Amelia Bones who has also died. Waris, Nathaniel and now you."

"When the mass breakout happened two years ago we didn't want you, Bertie and Neville becoming targets."

"So when father goes to St. Mungo's he's visiting Aunt Liss, his little sister."

"Yes and when he's not he visiting your aunt he's with your grandfather."

"Speaking of which that's where we need to go now."

"We're going to Parth's home. His residence is called the Agrimonia Hotel."

Terence stood up. "I'm going to send a patronus to the Adrian and the others let them know I'm alright."

He turned and loooked at Gloxinia. "Lady- grandmother thank you.

"Oh, stay safe little one."

*Quidditch Queen belongs to @mxrcusflint

#higgs family #terence higgs #waris higgs #nathaniel higgs #gloxinia higgs #gloxinia winogrand #alice higgs #alice longbottom #second wizarding war

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vampire-prisms · 6 years ago

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Have y’all ever thought about how the Cullen’s would react to meeting distant, human relatives?

Like- we know Alice’s niece is alive in Biloxi, and she probably had children, who might have had children.

Emmett had siblings and Rosalie had two brothers.

Rosalie goes to Rochester. Maybe just to visit. Maybe to see her family home.

She steps out of a shop, a bag filled with toys and trinkets for her niece when someone tugs on her skirt.

A little girl looks up at her. Nine, maybe eight, Rosalie guesses, but she has blonde curls and violet eyes and Rosalie can’t breathe for a second.”

“You look like my Auntie Rosie,” the girl says.

Rosalie leans down, eye to eye with the child. “Does your auntie rose live with you?”

“No, I never met her,” The girl continues with a shrug, “But great-grandaddy kept a picture of her above the mantel,”

Rosalie swallows hard, “What was your great-grandfather’s name.”

“Matthew. Auntie Rose was his sister,”

Without warning, Rosalie wraps her arms around the girl, her world going still for a second.

“And what’s your name?” She asks finally, pulling away.

“Lillian,”

Rosalie wants to cry. She’s not dead. She’s not forgotten. Even if not gray-haired on a front porch with Emmett, she still has a family.

She’s still remembered.

She takes a pendant off of her blouse and pins it to Lillian’s shirt.

“You know I think your auntie rose would have really loved you,”

#Twilight #Headcanons #Rosalie Hale #Rosalie headcanons

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nadjaofstatenisland · 6 years ago

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Don't hate me, but imagine if Betty refuses to move to The Cult Farm and gets emancipated from Alice and has to go live with her next closest relative... Auntie Blossom.

The comedic potential of Penelope and Betty living together is too much for this show though. It's the same reason we could never see Hal and Jughead have a conversation. It would be too entertaining and this show is so afraid of being (intentionally) funny.

#penelope blossom #betty cooper #hal cooper #jughead jones #just let me laugh damnit #these are the adult-kid interactions that i want to see #like more hiram and jughead too thats funny #if you cant be good riverdale you can at least be funny #alice cooper

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the-unholy-trinitea · 6 years ago

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Southside Starlet, A Riverdale: FanFic pt. 2

HeHeItsKeKe - Twitter

"That's a wrap on The Hatea. Missing my wonderful cast."

I, Nicolette Woodhouse, am screwed. I'm in Riverdale to live with my Auntie Woodhouse. I don't know her first name and i don't want to. I did something bad, well... my cast mates and I did. Long story short, I'm in Riverdale. Luckily my older sister and agent, Dani was with me. We arrived two days ago but we haven't moved in until now.

Last night I had the best time at the Jubilee and now I'm scared to meet my distant relative.

Auntie Woodhouse doesn't smile when she sees me.

"This way, Nicolette." She says.

"It's KeKe. Is this your house?" I say, correcting her. That earns me a sharp slap, "Nicolette, don't interrupt me, child. Here's your room."

It's a small room with two beds. Another girl walks in soon after, "This is my niece Nicolette, Miss Lola. She's quite the celebrity."

Then, she proceeds to explain the rules to me.

No junk food. Lights out at 10. Curfew at 9. 12 on weekends. No sleeping over at a friends house.

"You will also attend Riverdale High, I have an alumni with a daughter attending." She says.

"Thank you, Auntie. May I go to Pop's?"

"Sure. Be safe, dear."

I arrived at the small diner and it was deserted.

"Nicolette Woodhouse? Why don't you join me and Archie?" Fred Andrews offered. I sat and ordered. Then, Archibald Andrews entered.

"Nicki? Hey! How are you?"

"I'm good. I'm kinda joining you guys!"

"Cool. I'm gonna go wash my hands."

Then as he left, a man entered and opened fire. A burning sensation starts in my right leg. Then black.

"Help! Somebody help my dad and my friend!"

What the hell?

I took a deep breath. I woke up screaming. "What the hell?"

I was in a bed in a hospital. Ugh. Beside me was a wheelchair. I needed to get out of here. I moved and my machines went off. "She's awake!" A nurse says.

"What the hell happened?"

"Ssh. I don't think she knows what happened," I saw a blonde tear up.

"Nicole? It's Jughead," a beanie wearing boy said.

Another deep breath, "JUGHEAD JONES! LONG TIME NO SEE."

I was awake and well. The nurse told me the gunshot had broken my right leg, but I was free to go as I was stable.

I was about to sleep when Auntie Woodhouse barged into the room.

"Come child, we're leaving."

"But auntie..."

"Don't disrespect me," she slapped me.

I looked at Jughead, then to Betty. She gasped.

Auntie Woodhouse got me dressed and we headed out.

"Nicki?" Archie Andrews was covered in my blood, "Archie? What the hell?"

"Nicolette..." My Aunt glared at me.

"Hold on." Alice Cooper said, "Archie wants to ask you something."

Archie looked at me, "Well, I might lose my dad so do you want to maybe..."

"Well, Nicolette. Jug and I want to help you and Dani."

Alice Cooper cleared her throat, "I know you're staying with your godmother, Sister woodhouse, but as your aunt, I want to welcome you both into my home."

"I'm sorry, Miss Cooper," my godmother went to speak.

Dani beat her to it, "Of course Aunt Alice, we'd love to stay with you, if you and Betty will have us."

Betty's eyes widened and she started tearing up.

Then Mrs. Lodge came up to inspect my leg, "How long will this take to heal? Will she be able to go to train?"

"Um... who are you?"

"Hermione Lodge, donor to the Broadway Youth Theatre."

I shook her hand, "Thank you." More like, I completely forgot that even happened last night.

#varchie #choni #archieandrews #riverdalememes #cherylblossomedit #riverdaleau #jarchie #tonitopazedit #dumbarchie #barchie #riverdale season two #riverdale season 2 #riverdale fanfic rec #riverdale fanfiction #riverdale fandom #riverdale oc

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shireness-says · 7 years ago

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Merry Christmas to All

Summary: Christmas has become An Event in the Swan-Jones household. ~2.2K. Rated G. Also on AO3.

A/N: Here, have another wildly unseasonal piece, transferred from AO3 in honor of the Fandom Crescendo! Pretty much no plot - just a lot of fluffy family feels. At Christmas. What more could you want? Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

“Psst.”

The little whisper isn’t really a shock. Over the past couple years, Killian has grown very accustomed to the noise. In reality, he’s been only dozing for perhaps the past twenty minutes, enjoying a few more minutes in the sole company of his lovely wife before the chaos the day will undoubtedly bring. However, his morning visitor doesn’t need to know that he would have been up in the next half hour, regardless. Half the fun – for both of them – is pretending to still be asleep.

“Psst. Papa. Papa, wake up.”

Even after over four and a half years, the title still brings a smile to his face, and he can’t help but turn his head to see blue eyes and bouncing energy.

It had been a bit of a wait to be blessed with their own child, but Amelia Alice Jones is worth every moment. She’s a happy, cheerful child, curious about absolutely everything, with his eyes and hair in a red-brown shade Killian thought only existed in storybooks. In short, she’s perfect.

Emma’s still sleeping – it had been a bit of a long night in the Swan-Jones household – but thankfully, Amelia has the good common sense to whisper. Brilliant little lass. “Papa, you’ve got to get up, it’s Christmas!”

As if he could forget.

Christmas has been a bit of an event ever since he and Emma got married. Things had properly settled down in Storybrooke not long after their nuptials – the occasional disturbance at most, no more of this ‘villian of the week’ nonsense – and Christmas had been one of the first holidays their little family had cause to celebrate. Emma and Henry had gone all out to introduce him to the holiday, with peppermint everything and eggnog and weeks of Christmas movie marathons, a fire roaring in the fireplace and a beautifully decorated tree in the corner. Christmas morning, Henry and Emma had teamed up to jump on him, screeching about Christmas, so his wakeup call this morning is sedate in comparison. All the same, he treasures the memories of that first holiday.

Subsequent holidays had been somewhat tamer – always with a family lunch at the Nolan’s farmhouse, some years spending the morning with Henry, some years not. After Henry had embarked on his quest to find his own story, holidays were somewhat sadder, Emma (okay, Killian too) nostalgic for the afternoons curled up on the couch with Henry, watching the snow fall. Their ever-unsuccessful efforts to start their own family only added to the vague melancholy, especially as Emma’s parents continued to reproduce like rabbits – Emma now the proud older sister to four siblings. Thankfully, by the time Regina joined Henry, they were finally expecting a little one of their own, the excitement and preparations somewhat tempering any sorrow Emma might have felt about losing her friend and confidant. Regina and Emma may have had a rough start, but the two women not only reached an understanding, but developed a close friendship over the years.

Christmas may have always been special, but everything changes when Amelia arrives. She’s a mere seven months old that first Christmas, not nearly old enough to remember anything, but Killian and Emma act like a pair of fools, buying her far more toys than any infant more interested in the paper ever needs. Last year was the first Christmas they knew she might actually remember, and so they had gone all out all over again. Hopefully, Amelia will have lovely memories of making cookies and ice skating and opening presents with Mama and Papa that will last her for years.

Transported back to the present by an insistent tug on his sleeve, he flashes a grin at his daughter and swings his legs out of bed, careful not to wake Emma. Resting his stump on Amelia’s back, he motions for her to keep quiet as they make their way out into the hallway and shut the door again.

“Let’s let Mama sleep a bit longer, okay darling?”

She nods, very serious. Oh, his precious little lass.

“Shall we make her some breakfast for when she wakes up?”

Well, that gets her attention, as Amelia scampers for the stairs in an auburn blur of flying curls, making him chuckle.

He’ll meet her in the kitchen soon enough – he’s got another stop to make first.

———

Killian practically inches open the door to the small, green corner room before noticing its inhabitant is already awake, if still quiet.

After so much struggle to conceive Amelia, Killian and Emma had assumed their daughter would be the only child they’d raise from birth, the only sibling Henry would have. But four and a half years and a very careless Valentine’s Day later, he and Emma became parents again – this time to a little boy, their little Dash. Well, Dashiell. Dashiell Liam. A tiny, precious bundle now a full nine weeks old.

It’s been a little bit of an adjustment period with Dash, in the best of ways. Amelia had been a whirlwind since the day she was born – loud and determined to be the center of attention, and Gods help the man or woman who didn’t grant her their full and prompt attention. Dash, in contrast, is a quieter little lad – Amelia’s piercing wails traded for his less noisy whimpers, like he’s set on being polite or some such idea. Of course, with the full practice of a father to now two young children, Killian wakes to any noise from the baby monitor anyhow, as does Emma. He’d forgotten, truly, how tricky sleeping with a newborn is, now that Amelia (mostly) sleeps through the night, but now he’s up again every few hours because Dash is hungry or needs a change or just wants a little company.

Right now, though, Dash seems perfectly happy just to pedal his arms and legs in his seasonal, candy striped onesie, distracted by the colorful mobile above his bassinet. Soon enough, though, as Killian bends over the crib to scoop his little lad up, he’s treated to a genuine smile from Dash as he sees his Papa. The smiles only started last week – an early Christmas gift, Emma had told Killian – and Killian is still reveling in every toothless grin.

“Hello, laddie, are you ready for Christmas?”

Dash just continues to smile. He’ll take that as a yes.

“Well I think your big sister is downstairs, ready to make Mama a proper feast. Shall we go see her?”

He gets a happy sounding gurgle and grab for his nose in response. Another yes, surely.

“Alright, let’s go see sissy.”

Sure enough, Amelia has pulled out half the refrigerator to cook. Those frozen biscuits she likes so much, bacon, a nearly empty bag of hash browns (he thinks there’s another in the fridge – otherwise he may be dealing with a very disappointed pre-schooler), the box of frozen waffles, a can of cinnamon rolls… the eggs are still in the fridge, but Killian suspects that’s only because his daughter still couldn’t reach them, even with her little kitchen stool. He chuckles at her haul, before quickly moving in to limit her picks.

“I know you’re excited, little love, but we can’t eat all of this. Pick only a few things, please.”

She settles for hash browns, biscuits, and bacon, happily putting the rest back into the fridge as Killian settles Dash into the baby swing he’s only just grown into.

By the time Emma sleepily stumbles down the stairs, yawning all the while, breakfast is almost ready – the bacon already out of the microwave, the hash browns just flipped over, and the biscuits coming out of the oven in the next few minutes. She presses a quick kiss to his lips as Amelia barrels over, shrieking at the top of her lungs, “Merry Christmas, Mama!”

“Merry Christmas, Duckling!” Emma cheers back, before leaning over to whisper in his ear. “Merry Christmas, baby.”

He barely has a chance to kiss her again before she’s moving to the swing, where Dash has perked up again at hearing his mother’s voice. Killian is well aware that this may be their last relatively quiet moment of the day before chaos descends, but he almost doesn’t care. Christmas is always an event, but this year will be particularly special, since it’s the first Henry – and his family – will spend with them since his return from his time cursed in Washington.

Emma had been ecstatic at the return of her son – though how many of those tears were the result of hormones is anyone’s guess. Killian had been smacked for even suggesting it. Regardless, Henry is thrilled with his siblings, Emma is besotted with Lucy (“God, Killian, I’m way too young to be grandmother to a kid that old. Is this how my mother feels?”), and everyone even admits that it’s nice to have Regina back in town. Granted, it’s still a relief that the other him elected to stay behind in Hyperion Heights, endeavoring to bring order to a town only newly aware of their formerly cursed state. Killian isn’t sure he’s nearly awake enough these past days to have been able to keep track of conversation had there been two Killians running around.

Killian may be looking forward to a holiday with his stepson, but it’s Amelia who’s truly thrilled. She’s come up with all kinds of plans, seemingly determined to fit an entire year’s worth of activities into a single day. To his amusement, she’s detailing all her plans of what she and Henry and Ella and Lucy are going to do for what must be the tenth time to Emma. Thank the gods that Henry’s wife and daughter are just as good of sports and Henry is.

“…and then, after the snowball fight, we’ll have hot chocolate, and Grandma can help us make cookies, and maybe then you and Auntie Regina can make an ice rink! And then I wanna show Lucy Rudolph cus she’s never seen it, Henry says…” She’s barely taken a bite in her excitement, and while part of him wants to just sit and listen to her babble on, Killian is still very well aware of the absurd schedule his mother-in-law will undoubtedly demand they stick to religiously. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and while they may have opened all the gifts last night, he’s still got something up his sleeve.

“Melly, darling, if you hurry up and eat your breakfast, I think I might have seem something in your stocking…”

Emma and he had decided that first Christmas with Amelia that they were going to try not to play up the Santa Claus thing. Emma doesn’t have particularly fond memories of the practice, and with their luck, Santa would turn out to be real, and some kind of villain who’d turn up in the future to terrorize the town. No, better just to leave a few candies and small things in the stockings, and make a big deal out of all the family traditions instead.

Still, the promise of stocking gifts is enough to get Amelia gobbling down her breakfast and bouncing in her seat as she’s now forced to wait for her parents to finish. When they’re finally done, Killian is practically dragged into the living room by his small daughter, leaving a chuckling Emma to gather up Dash and meet them by the tree.

As Amelia tears into her stocking – just some candy from them and a couple of ornaments for the small tree in her room – Emma leans into his side with the baby, allowing him to drape his arm around her shoulders. “Thank you for letting me sleep,” she murmurs, and he smiles back at her.

“Of course, love, you deserved a little extra time.”

“All the same… thanks. I think we forgot how tiring the first few weeks are. Can that be my Christmas gift this year? An extra hour of sleep for the next few days? Can someone set that up? Oh! Maybe Mom and Dad will babysit!”

Truthfully, Killian could go for an afternoon to themselves as well, albeit perhaps with some extra activities. He’s a father twice over – he knows what the six-week checkup meant, even if they haven’t been able to act on it yet. And then sleep. Several hours of sleep. Probably not all night, since the Charmings have four kids under nine in the house and Snow’s been talking about another, but Gods above, even just an afternoon of uninterrupted sleep would be a dream come true.

He presses a kiss to her forehead and holds a little tighter before replying. “Aye, Swan, that would be lovely. Perhaps they’ll offer today when we go over.”

Across the room, Amelia is giddy with her haul. “Look, Papa, it’s a little pirate ship for my tree! Like the Jolly, Papa!”

Soon enough, they’ll have to leave, have to drive to the Nolan farmhouse before Snow blows some sort of Christmas stress induced gasket. But for now, he’s content to snuggle with his wife and son on the couch as his daughter tells them in great detail about each and every thing she’s found in her stocking.

Merry Christmas, one and all.

#my writing #ouat fandom crescendo #merry christmas to all #cs ff #family fluff #christmas #and shockingly no italics

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