#she only ends up doing it to rip it down later bc hey someone's gotta put the brakes on your stupidity

[carewyncromwell]

"Don't talk 'bout me

Like how you might know how I feel --

Top of the world, but your world isn't real...

Your world's an ideal...

So go have fun -- I really couldn't care less."

~"Therefore I Am" by Billie Eilish

x~x~x~x

When Carewyn Cromwell first joined the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as an up-and-coming lawyer in the spring of 1991, Cornelius Fudge -- the Minister for Magic -- was very eager to welcome her and show support for her budding career. It didn't take long for Carewyn to figure out that Fudge had heard all about her and her brother Jacob's exploits dealing with the Cursed Vaults and apprehending R -- not just from Dumbledore, but from OWL examiner Professor Tofty and infamous Auror Mad-Eye Moody -- and although Carewyn had had plenty of people side-eye her for her dealing with the Vaults at school, it seemed Fudge held no such disapproval. On the contrary, he seemed very keen on interacting with Carewyn, especially around his support staff and the rest of the Wizengamot. And it wasn't until Carewyn finally met him (as well as his Senior Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge) that she figured out why.

Carewyn had known she wouldn't be the first Cromwell that sought a career in Magical Law. Her Head of House, Severus Snape, purposefully brought it up to her in their Career Advice session, to make sure she was aware that -- at the time of her interest -- Carewyn's ruthless grandfather, Charles Cromwell, was an influential member of the Wizengamot. After Charles's arrest and lifetime imprisonment, the Cromwell Clan's reputation had understandably been tarnished. Carewyn and Jacob's reputations, however, were shining and pristine, because they were the Cromwells who had actually defeated Charles and the rest of R and in the process saved Hogwarts from the danger of the Cursed Vaults. And considering that Fudge was related to the Cromwell Clan through marriage (a fact that still left Carewyn reeling) and had apparently done his fair share of socializing with Charles Cromwell while unaware of his crimes, it was very clear that Fudge wanted to distance himself from that old association, preferably by being on good terms with the people who'd brought Charles to justice. And since Carewyn was now pursuing a promising new career at the Ministry, Fudge had clearly deemed it in his best interest to throw his support behind Carewyn, so as to have her esteem and reputation likewise reflect nicely on him.

So Fudge only has interest in being around people who make him look good, rather than anyone with actual integrity, Carewyn thought cynically. Guess I shouldn't be surprised that the chief politician around here acts like it.

Despite herself, though, Carewyn was disappointed. All the more so when she learned in the spring of 1993 just how self-absorbed the man was, despite being given charge of the entire British Wizarding World.

It all started when -- in the midst of a busy night shift -- Carewyn's meeting with fellow lawyer Chester Davies was interrupted by her old school friend Ben Copper bursting into her office.

"Carewyn," he said urgently, "Hagrid's been arrested."

Both Carewyn and Chester whirled around.

"What!?" they cried in unison.

"How can that be?" Chester immediately followed up, sounding confused. "I didn't even know Hagrid was under investigation -- let alone charged with anything..."

He looked to Carewyn as if to ask if she had, but Carewyn wasn't paying attention. She got up from her chair and strolled around her desk over to Ben, taking hold of his shoulder and steering him into the office so she could close the door.

"Tell me everything," she said seriously.

Ben rested his forehead on his clenched fist as he propped his elbow against the wall of Carewyn's office.

"I was just finishing up my work for the day, when I saw Hagrid by the Floo grates with two Hitwizards, talking to Cornelius Fudge," he explained. "Fudge was apologizing, saying something about 'it just being a precaution' and that he was sure once things at Hogwarts settled down, he'd be able to go about his business as usual. Fudge even tried to tell Hagrid that Azkaban shouldn't really be that bad for him -- "

Ben looked absolutely disgusted repeating back such a blatant lie. Carewyn was just as furious herself.

"'Shouldn't be that bad?'" she repeated, her soft voice nonetheless dripping with horror and umbrage. "What, does he think only violent criminals are affected by dementors?"

"Likely!" Ben spat, his brown eyes flashing with righteous anger. "I went over and asked what was going on, and Hagrid explained that it was because of the whole 'Chamber of Secrets' mess. Fudge didn't seem to want to talk about it and kind of just blustered the same rubbish he'd said to Hagrid -- claimed the Hogwarts school governors had been concerned and he'd thought he should take measures to 'reassure' them and the public -- "

"Reassure them?" said Chester, his mouth falling open in disbelief. "But -- you can't mean -- the Minister can't really think that Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets?"

"No -- but apparently because Hagrid was expelled right after the Chamber of Secrets opened the first time, Fudge is perfectly willing to throw him under the bus anyway, just to make it look like he's doing something," Ben said vindictively. "Apparently he's letting the exact same thing happen to Dumbledore too."

"What do you mean?" said Carewyn, her eyebrows furrowing.

Ben leaned his back up against the wall, crossing his arms.

"Hagrid said that Dumbledore and Fudge had come to see him at his hut about an hour ago, when Lucius Malfoy crashed the meeting out of nowhere, just to round Dumbledore up and expel him from the grounds. Apparently that snake Malfoy somehow got all of the other school governors to sign off on the proposal."

The mention of Lucius Malfoy made Carewyn's eyes flare with resentment. Of course Malfoy would be the sort to take advantage of a bad situation to try to oust his old master You-Know-Who's greatest enemy.

"But -- but taking Dumbledore away could only make things worse," said Chester. He clearly had a hard time making sense of all this. "Surely the Minister wouldn't agree to that? He's gone to Dumbledore for advice for years..."

"But how could Fudge have arrested Hagrid in the first place?" Carewyn rerouted the conversation sharply. "The Hitwizards can't arrest anyone without the charges first going through the Department of Magical Law Enforcement...how fast must the charges have gone through, for Chester and me not to have heard anything about them?"

"That's because Fudge didn't involve the Hitwizards or the Wizengamot at first," Ben said coldly. "The Hitwizards I saw looked just as surprised by what they were hearing as I was...even if they did end up going lockstep with Fudge and took Hagrid away through the grate anyway. I reckon Fudge just asked Hagrid to come with him quietly, so he wouldn't have to get the Hitwizards involved..."

"Or have his activities draw too much attention," Carewyn finished.

Her low voice evoked the rumbles of an earthquake as she swept to the door. Opening it, she glanced over her shoulder at Chester, her blue eyes blazing with righteous fire despite the stoicism of her face.

"Chester...I'm afraid I'll have to leave you to finish editing the case file," she said curtly.

"What are you planning to do?" asked Chester.

"Speak to Madam Bones. Hagrid needs a lawyer, and I intend to be it."

x~x~x~x

It only took a half-hour for Carewyn to blaze through all the paperwork needed to become Hagrid's official legal counsel. Unfortunately Azkaban's visiting hours were only from sun-up to sun-down, with each visitor only being allowed an hour each day with a Patronus escort either provided by the warden or conjured by the visitor themselves. The conditions were very familiar to Carewyn -- she'd been reminded them every time she chose to visit Patricia Rakepick in her lonely cell block.

When Carewyn finally made it to Azkaban first thing the next morning and was led to the cell Hagrid had been squeezed into, she found the poor gamekeeper crumpled up in a huge ball, sobbing like a child.

"Dad -- 'm sorry, Dad -- "

Even with her Abraxan Winged Horse Patronus protecting her from the dementors' influence, Carewyn could feel a cold, ocean-like wave of despair crash over her, just looking at Hagrid. Her almond-shaped blue eyes welled up with empathetic pain.

"...Oh, Hagrid..."

She clutched the bars of his cell with her free hand as her Patronus swept through the bars, lightly brushing its nose along Hagrid's arm. Hagrid choked, blinking up through his tears as he shakily raised his head.

"...W...wha'...?"

The grief and paleness of Hagrid's usually rosy, happy face broke Carewyn's heart. She could feel her own eyes welling up with traces of tears as she tried to smile at him.

"It's me, Hagrid," Carewyn said gently. "It's Carewyn."

Hagrid's beetle-black eyes widened. Then, just as abruptly, they flooded with even more tears, which streamed down his face like pouring rain might streak down a windowpane.

"...Carewyn..."

He couldn't keep himself from breaking down into full sobs as he crawled over and slapped his oversized hands up against the bars -- they were too small for him to grab them the way Carewyn had. Even so, Carewyn tried to take his hand as best she could, even if it only resulted in her holding his pinky and ring finger.

"It's okay, Hagrid," Carewyn whispered as soothingly as she could. Her Abraxan Patronus gently rested its transparent wing over Hagrid's shoulder and rested its head beside his arm. "It's going to be okay..."

x~x~x~x

It took sitting with Carewyn and her Patronus for a couple of minutes before Hagrid was able to speak coherently. He told Carewyn everything that had happened, including the reason Fudge had thought he could be behind the attacks in the first place.

"...Th' whole lot thought that he'd been what hurt poor Myrtle Warren, bu' -- bu' I'm tellin' you, Aragog wouldn't-a done it!" said Hagrid. "I tol' 'em that at th' time too...bu' only Professor Dumbledore believed me..."

Carewyn nodded. That sounded about right -- for as much as she resented Dumbledore, the Headmaster had always supported Hagrid. And given the Headmaster's own talent for Legilimency, Carewyn suspected Dumbledore knew full-well Hagrid was telling the truth, just as much as she herself was certain of it. But she also knew that her intuitions based on her Legilimency couldn't be used as evidence of either guilt or innocence...and even if Hagrid didn't believe Aragog was the beast from the Chamber of Secrets and Carewyn doubted it as well, plenty of people could see the circumstances as pretty damning, on their own.

"And because no one else believed you, Headmaster Dippet expelled you with the thought that it would make the attacks stop," surmised Carewyn.

Hagrid hung his head. "...Yeah. An' well...th' attacks did stop, after tha'. Dunno why, aside from th' person maybe decidin' t' cut 'is losses..."

Carewyn's lips came together grimly as she looked at the floor. The gamekeeper's face went that little bit paler as his eyes flooded with fresh tears.

"Yeh -- yeh don't think I did it, d'yeh?" he said desperately. "I-I would never! I woulda never hurt 'em -- Nick an' Mrs. Norris, an' -- an' poor Hermione -- oh, Carewyn, I never woulda -- !"

Carewyn gave Hagrid's pinky a reassuring squeeze.

"I know, Hagrid," she said firmly. "I know you didn't do it. All of those Pureblood wizarding families that claimed to be related to Salazar Slytherin have died out -- and trust me, 'Hagrid' was not one of them. And the beast inside the Chamber of Secrets was supposedly put there by Salazar Slytherin around the time he and the other four Founders made the Cursed Vaults, back in the 9th century. Acromantula weren't bred until the 18th century. Aragog couldn't be Slytherin's monster."

Her eyes softened.

"...And I know you, Hagrid. You love everyone at Hogwarts, even the brattiest students. I know you would never do anything to hurt them."

Hagrid's teary eyes crinkled up to make room for a very weak, watery smile.

"...Thank you, Carewyn," he gave a loud sniff. "It...it means a lot...knowin' yeh believe in me..."

Carewyn gave a gentle pat to his hand through the bars. Hagrid gave another loud sniff.

"...D'yeh...d'yeh know if the Wizengamot'll be able t' stop Malfoy? Get 'em t' bring Dumbledore back?"

Carewyn pursed her lips grimly. "There's nothing for them to stop, at present. The school governors' job is to oversee the school and its Headmaster -- them asking Dumbledore to resign is a completely legal action for them to take."

Hagrid looked distressed. "Bu' -- bu' withou' Dumbledore there, everyone'll be in more danger than ever! Professor Dumbledore was likely the only thing that kept th' Heir o' Slytherin from goin' all out -- "

"That doesn't mean the Wizengamot can overrule the governors' decision," Carewyn said sternly. She then said a bit more gently, "...I know how much you respect Dumbledore -- and you're right, Dumbledore has warded Dark wizards away from the school before..."

Not that he was able to prevent R from sending Jacob and me threats, but they still didn't feel bold enough to show up in full-force until Dumbledore was away...

"...But however foolish their decision might be, it doesn't break any laws. And law enforcement is meant for that purpose -- enforcing laws that have been broken."

Hagrid looked incredibly disheartened.

"They're gonna regret it later," he muttered miserably. "Yeh jus' wait an' see..."

Carewyn gave Hagrid's pinky another light squeeze, exhaling quietly through her nose.

She thought so too -- but she was so unhappy just contemplating the consequences that she didn't have to heart to say so.

x~x~x~x

The consequences, as it turned out, were even worse than Carewyn could've envisioned.

After going out for an afternoon coffee break with Talbott one May day, Carewyn found the Ministry Atrium in disarray, with multiple owls flying in and out of the offices of the Minister of Magic and his support staff and nosy reporters crowding around in an attempt to figure out what was going on.

Tonks emerged from the crowd and filled them in -- apparently the reporters had heard rumors that there'd been another attack at Hogwarts by the Heir of Slytherin, this time with a student actually being taken into the Chamber itself. It was only once Talbott convinced Tonks to change herself temporarily into one of Dolores Umbridge's staffers so she could force her way through the reporters and get more information from the support staff herself that she found out who it was -- and when the pink-haired Auror caught up with Talbott and Carewyn in the Atrium, her heart-shaped face was as white as a sheet.

"Weasley," Tonks whispered shakily. "Fudge said the girl's name was Weasley..."

Talbott's shoulders stiffened as Carewyn's hands flew to her mouth in horror.

"Ginny," she gasped.

x~x~x~x

Talbott, Tonks, and Carewyn all bolted to the lift, taking it up to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement where they could use the Auror Department's Floo Network grate specifically meant for communication. Upon trying to contact the Burrow, however, Carewyn found the house quiet and deserted.

"Are they not there?" Tonks asked Carewyn anxiously as she took her head out of the grate. The ginger-haired lawyer shook her head.

"The school must've contacted Mr. and Mrs. Weasley as soon as it happened," Talbott said solemnly.

Carewyn nodded, her red lips knitting together tightly. "I've got to write to Bill and Charlie right away -- "

"I'll go to Hogsmeade," said Talbott at once. "There might be more information, closer to the school..."

"And I'll go back downstairs!" Tonks agreed. "Maybe I'll pick up some more intel, huddled in with all those reporters -- "

The three dispersed, with Talbott and Tonks heading back to the lift and Carewyn heading to her office. Once she'd very quickly written out a letter each for Bill and Charlie and put all of the expediting stamps on them that she possibly could, she then set about writing another more formal letter to Azkaban prison. Then she raced back to the lift, gave Bill and Charlie's letters to the two fastest owls she could find, and then headed straight for the Minister for Magic's office with the final piece of paper in her hand. The tiny ginger-haired lawyer had some trouble pushing her way through the crowd of reporters until Tonks -- disguised as one of them and therefore much taller and more muscular than usual -- managed to push everyone back enough that it gave her an opening.

When Carewyn reached the slightly open door of the Minister for Magic's office, she didn't even bother to knock the way she probably would've in any other circumstance. Quite frankly she didn't think the Minister would've heard her knock even if she tried, and if he did, he likely would've tried to ignore it, given how much owls were swooping in and out of his office and how noisy it was outside.

"Minister!" Carewyn said urgently.

Fudge looked up, incredibly startled. He'd been pacing the room, one letter in his hands and five left more open on his desk. His trademark light green bowler hat was hanging off the side of his high-backed chair, and he looked incredibly harried.

"Carewyn!" said Fudge, trying and failing to smile. "How nice it is to see you!"

Once Carewyn was in, she immediately shut the door behind her so sharply that Fudge gave a start.

"Ah -- forgive me, my dear, but...I'm afraid I'm very busy at the moment --"

"I know," said Carewyn. "Minister -- I need you to sign a release letter for Rubeus Hagrid."

Fudge was taken aback. "Hagrid? I-I don't -- "

"If the Heir of Slytherin has taken Ginny Weasley into the Chamber of Secrets, then he's still at Hogwarts," Carewyn said sharply. "Therefore Hagrid is innocent."

"Well, yes, but...that'll be dealt with, in due time," said Fudge with an attempt at a reassuring smile as he put down the letter in his hands and started to make a stack of it with the others. "I'll be sure to send along a proper letter to Azkaban, once I get these papers in order, and calm the press -- "

"You needn't send anything," Carewyn cut him off firmly. "I've already written out a formal release, and I'll be happy to deliver it myself -- you only need to sign it."

She put the letter down smack-dab in the center of his desk, right on over the stack of parchment he was organizing. Fudge, however, seemed hesitant to look at it, and instead busied himself with consulting the stack.

"Ah, well...I do appreciate your initiative, Carewyn," Fudge said in a weak attempt at indulgence, "but as I said, this...all will be dealt with, in due time. Now I'm truly sorry, but I'm afraid we'll have to speak more later -- I do have so much to do, in the light of all this -- "

"Minister!" Carewyn said, clearly upset.

" -- responding to all these letters from the governors, from Minerva McGonagall, from Arthur Weasley -- coordinating a response, for all press releases, and sending it along to the Prophet -- all before heading out to the school myself, to ascertain the gravity of the situation -- "

Carewyn could hear Fudge's rambling, but it was oddly muffled, in her own ears. Because of her Legilimency, she could sense Fudge's feelings wafting off of him just as clearly as she could hear him with her ears -- and in that moment, when she herself was so urgent, all she could feel from Fudge was the desire to run. To avoid, to push away, to ignore -- to not deal with his terrible mistake at that moment, and instead just try to make himself look as capable as he could to the public at large --

All that Carewyn could feel coming off of Fudge was cowardice.

And it was this that made Carewyn cut into his rambling with the cold sharpness of a knife.

"Minister."

Carewyn managed to catch Fudge's eye, and when he made eye contact with her, his voice immediately died in his throat. Her almond-shaped blue eyes were burning with a kind of cold disapproval the likes of which he'd never seen.

"I realize that you wish to be seen as a compassionate and attentive leader," Carewyn said very softly. "But trust that, in leaving an innocent person locked up in a prison manned by creatures that can drive people mad with their Dark aura alone -- when all you'd have to do to help him is sign your name...you currently appear as anything but."

Fudge opened his mouth, trying to stammer out a weak attempt at a stern response. "N-now, Carewyn -- I-I already told you I'd deal with -- "

But Carewyn merely picked up the release letter again and slapped it right back down on the desk in front of him.

"Minister -- you've already wrongfully sent a man to Azkaban before he'd even been formally charged with a crime," she murmured. "All while being quite certain he hadn't committed the crime in the first place, to the point that you reassured him that he'd probably be released 'once things settled down.'"

Carewyn's blue eyes narrowed.

"...Don't shame yourself further."

The Minister's face had lost quite a bit of its color as he stared at Carewyn. He rather shakily lowered himself down into his chair, regarding Carewyn with a wariness he never had before. Then, looking almost cowed, he averted his eyes, reached for the quill in the inkpot at his desk, and signed the release letter. He mutely held the letter out for Carewyn to take.

"Thank you," Carewyn said quietly.

She turned on her heel and headed for the door. When she opened it, ten owls swooped in, flocking around Fudge's desk and raining even more letters onto and around his desk.

"If I may make a suggestion, Minister," Carewyn said a bit more levelly as she left, "going to Hogwarts right now to deal with the problem would both make you look more proactive and give you some relief from all these letters."

Without waiting for Fudge's response, Carewyn left his office. Once she'd pushed her way through the crowd of reporters (even taking out her wand at one point to better coax them back), she dashed over to the closest Floo Network grate, snatching up some Powder in her free hand and chucking it down at her heeled feet as she climbed in.

"Azkaban Prison!"

And in a burst of emerald green flames, Carewyn had disappeared.

x~x~x~x

Once Hagrid had been released from his cell, Carewyn brought him with her to her mother Lane's new cottage, out in the country. The half-giant was still in pretty poor shape after his three-week-long stint in Azkaban, and since Carewyn knew he'd never fit in her tiny London flat, she figured at least Lane's new home would be a comfortable place to get Hagrid fed and healed and await further news from the Weasleys and Hogwarts.

As the night wore on, Carewyn received a few short updates from Tonks and Talbott -- Hogwarts was going to be closed; the girl's parents were at the school; the school governors were convening for a secret closed-door meeting. It wasn't until very early the following morning that Carewyn, Hagrid, and Lane received the news they'd all been hoping for, in the form of a long letter from Mrs. Weasley.

Carewyn dear, Bill wrote to Arthur and me telling me of your letter to him, so after following up with him and Charlie via Floo, I thought it best to write to you straightaway. Ginny is all right. My son Ron, his friend Harry, and their Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, were able to locate the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry, bless him, was able to both kill Slytherin's monster (a basilisk! Merlin's beard, I was terrified, thinking of that poor boy facing off against that thing!) and rescue Ginny. Arthur and I are so grateful, even now I still can't stop crying. We're so relieved to know Ginny's safe, and that Ron and Harry are both safe as well. Unfortunately poor Gilderoy Lockhart apparently had his memory wiped...at his own hand, no less! He actually had the audacity to try to modify my son's memory! I suppose it's true what they say about never meeting your heroes!! Oh well, it seems Professor Dumbledore will have to find yet another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for next year. Oh, yes, I nearly forgot -- Dumbledore has returned to Hogwarts! Apparently all of the school governors (excluding Lucius Malfoy) heard about what happened to Ginny and immediately sent a letter to Dumbledore begging for him to come back. And he did, of course -- he was so gentle with Ginny, after her ordeal... Oh, but Carewyn dear, truly, I cannot thank you enough for caring so much for Bill and Charlie. Arthur had sent them his own letters not long before we left for Hogwarts, but from what I understand, your letters reached both Bill and Charlie well before Arthur's did, and I appreciate you trying so hard to make sure they knew what was going on as quickly as possible. Arthur and I send our love, and Ginny as well. Do consider coming over to the Burrow for a visit sometime soon -- Ginny was a bit cheered at the thought of having "another girl" over for dinner! Your mother and brother are more than welcome as well, if they're available. Arthur would be delighted to know what your mother thinks about pinball machines. All our love, Molly Weasley

Not long later, Hagrid returned to Hogwarts, and Carewyn returned to work at the Ministry. It was when she returned to the Ministry that Carewyn noticed Cornelius Fudge's attitude toward her had gone through a considerable change. When she arrived in the Atrium, she caught sight of the Minister likewise heading into work. At the sight of her, Fudge immediately approached her -- but his smile was not as wide open and overly amiable as it was before.

"Hello, Miss Cromwell," he said.

Carewyn blinked. "...Minister."

Fudge inclined his head respectfully. Taking a quick glance around the Atrium, he then spoke a bit more stridently.

"...Professor Dumbledore told me that Hagrid has settled himself back in nicely. He expressed admiration, for your defense of him...Madam Bones did, as well."

Carewyn frowned as her eyes drifted off toward the lift.

"Hagrid was my client," she said simply. "It was my job to advocate for his well-being. And it wasn't either lawful or right for him to remain imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit."

To Carewyn's surprise, Fudge's pleasant expression actually seemed to crack a bit, betraying something strangely insecure.

"I suppose so," said the Minister a bit stiffly. "Well then, Miss Cromwell...I'm afraid I must be off."

He paused. Then, forcing a slightly more politician-worthy smile, he asked, "I hope...I might likewise call on you in the future...should I wish for an expert legal opinion? Madam Bones does speak very highly of your abilities as a lawyer, you know."

Carewyn cocked her eyebrows in surprise. She honestly wasn't expecting that.

"...Of course," she said, once she'd recovered.

Fudge tipped his lime green bowler to her, before turning and sweeping away toward his office. As Carewyn watched him go, she couldn't help but frown.

It was bizarre -- it didn't feel like Fudge disliked her now or anything after she'd so coldly called him out in his office. Even so, there was a wall around his feelings that wasn't there before: something guarded. And yet it didn't seem suspicious or mistrustful. If anything, it felt almost formal: like Fudge was standing that bit taller and being that bit more detached and dignified than before. Less like he was trying to buddy up to Carewyn and use her as a prop to elevate himself and more like how an employer would treat a high-ranked employee...

And then it hit her.

Fudge had called her "Miss Cromwell." Not "Carewyn," not "Carewyn, my dear" -- but "Miss Cromwell." In the same sort of respectful tone of voice he'd use for Madam Bones and other older, respectable Ministry employees.

He was speaking to Carewyn not like a child that he could coax onto his side through coddling and fawning...but as an adult he wished to coax onto his side through decidedly more political means.

Carewyn's red lips came together tightly as she turned and headed for the lift, tossing her much shorter ginger bob off her neck.

Well, even if Fudge was truly nothing but a politician at heart, at least now he saw her as an adult who wouldn't become his sycophant just because he acted nice to her.

[waynedunlaptheorgandonor]

caryl first date headcanon

i wrote a stream of consciousness caryl headcanon i was thinking about when i couldn’t sleep last night. no i did not proofread it. yes it is rambling nonsense. yes you can read it if you want: 

so i genuinely don’t know what the timeline for canon is gonna be now that we got bottle episodes, s11, and the spin-off, but just for a moment let us pretend that it happens during the bottle episodes and then we have all of s11 to watch caryl trying to figure out how to navigate a relationship with each other

cuz like, they gon fuck right away, bc things are gonna get heated, and tensions are gonna be high, and they’re gonna snap like a trip wire and fucking ravish each other, that’s without question

so the first little while of their relationship will be mostly getting intimately familiar with each other’s bodies down to every last freckle

but once they’ve simmered down some they’re gonna need to address the “oh shit, wait, how does a relationship work?” problem

cue: caryl’s first date

it’ll take place in commonwealth, and i’ve never read the comics and i know jack all about it outside of what i’ve skimmed, but we’re gonna ignore that for the sake of my fun post

i know enough about it to know that there are definitely places to have a date

daryl knows this too, tho he doesn’t rly think about it right away. at first he’s more confused and sort of standoffish about the whole place, bc he was always a forest-dweller even before the apocalypse, so seeing this new metropolis-like place after years of living like a gd pioneer is gonna throw him way off kilter

right up until he’s chillin’ with judith and she’s talking about how she’s excited to see her first concert, and they have restaurants, and things she’s only ever read about, and then out of nowhere she’ll pull out, “are you gonna take aunt carol on a date?” 

and daryl will stare at her

and she’ll be like “rosita was telling me about how father gabriel took her on a real date and how nice it was. you should do that for aunt carol” 

and daryl will stare at her

and then will hastily change the subject (she’ll see right through him, ofc, but she’ll let it slide)

but the thought will stick with him, and suddenly he’s looking at the schedule of upcoming concerts and plays and wondering if carol would care about any of it. does she like shakespeare? the most experience he would have had with shakespeare was ripping out a couple pages of his school copy of romeo and juliet to use to light some firewood

but maybe she’s into it???

eventually he’ll reach the inevitable conclusion that the only way this is going to work is if he actually asks her to go on a date with him, which should be easy, right? like, he was ball’s deep inside her last night and told her good morning by putting his face between his legs, so surely asking someone on a date is simple

it will not be simple

bc yeah, they fuck all the time, and obviously they’re head-over-heels in love with each other, they’re each other’s soulmates, yada yada, but also daryl’s extremely emotionally repressed and has the romance skills of a fifteen year old having his mom drive him and his date to his first homecoming dance, only worse bc he never even went to any school dances

but after Dwelling On It for ages he’ll finally get fed up with himself and will vow to stop being a pussy. he’ll ask her before the day’s over or he’ll shoot a bolt into his own foot, ok, no more excuses

so the whole day he’s jittery af

you’d think he’s trying to pop the question, but all he wants to do is go eat dinner with carol and then watch some people recite lines from a play written hundreds of years ago, like, what is his Deal(tm)??? 

(his deal is, ofc, that he waited so long to have her, and now every new thing feels tenuous, bc he’d rather die than lose her, and sure she knows him better than anyone, but never in this context, and plus her last dude basically bled passion and romance no matter how obnoxious, and what if she realizes just how fucking clueless he is and decides she doesn’t really want to be with a middle-aged man who still gets tongue-tied around a pretty girl?)

(but also she deserves a gd date, alright? she deserves it, and so he’s going to give it to her, even if going face-to-face with a walker horde is less intimidating)

carol notices something’s off with him right away, but she waits until after dinner, when the kids have gone to their rooms and the two of them are alone washing dishes to ask, “hey, so what the fuck?” 

and daryl will be like, k, it’s now or never

and he will 100% make a fool of himself by stumbling alllll over his words, like, “nothin’s wrong, i’m fine, everythin’s real fine, i was just wonderin’ if mb you’d wanna, y’know, i dunno, they got all these shows and shit that we ain’t had in forever and i didn’t know if mb you’d wanna go see one? and mb get some food? with me, i mean. like, together. like i’d take you there and we could do those things, like a, you know, a date. but it’s cool if not, no worries, i get it if it’s not your thing, but i just thought i’d ask, but no, you’re right, it’s stupid, forget i said anythin’, hey look at the time, well i’m beat, gonna go to sleep now, goodbye”

and carol will go, “hold up”

and she’ll take daryl by the wrist before he can flee the room (bc he definitely intends to), and pulls him close and kisses him all sweet, and she’s gotta stand on her tiptoes to do it bc she’s in a pair of knit socks and he’s got his boots on so there’s more of a height difference than usual, and after she’s successfully managed to keep daryl from falling straight into a panic spiral, she’ll whisper, “i’d love to, let’s go this weekend”

and then she’ll just turn back to doing dishes without another word on the matter 

(bc, as previously stated, she knows daryl better than anyone, and she knows exactly what all his insecurities are and how much it must have taken him to ask her that, and so she’s not gonna harp on it or tease him)

(daryl recognizes this and loves her desperately for it)

the actual date is way easier than daryl expected

bc he spent all this time hyping it up, but when it comes right down to it, he just gets to spend a night with carol where they don’t have the kids to worry about, or any council business, and they just get to enjoy each other’s company

she even dressed up a little for him, which was unnecessary, but he most certainly appreciates it and can’t wait to tear the outfit off of her later

(it does make him regret the fact that he’s only had one pair of pants for the past ten years, but she doesn’t seem to mind)

they end up seeing a shakespeare play

daryl understands like 2% at best, but carol holds his hand and rests her head on his shoulder the whole time, and apparently it’s a comedy bc she laughs a lot, and that alone makes it worth it

they fuck like crazy when they get home, obviously

but it’s different than it had been previously, bc now their “togetherness” seems more solidified

like, they’re officially a “couple” now

like the type of couple that gets a babysitter for the night so they can go to the apocalyptic version of dinner and a movie together and then have sex and then fall asleep right afterwards bc they’re domestic af

and like, deep down both of them knows that this isn’t the life that they’re meant to live in forever, a la commonwealth/domestic bliss, and he wasn’t kidding when he told her new mexico was still out there, and he can feel a shift coming sooner rather than later

but he also knows they’ll be together when it happens, and they’ll figure out their own version of “date night” when they’re out exploring

but for now he’s content to do it the old fashioned way, though

when she falls asleep on his chest that night he rubs her back and kisses the top of her head, and he’s already planning their next night out

he might pick a show with modern english, though

but it’s not required

just so long as they’re together

the end 

[justkpopjokes]

Found You || OnlineRival!Felix

AU: online gamer friends + college + rivals to lovers

Anon: know it's a common au cliché but I've been craving some college au's of felix, maybe enemies to lovers ?? but enemies in a playful, competitive sense of course. I'll leave this vague so that you have more creative freedom, idc if you write in para. style or bullet point, I'll eat up anything you write skskj

A/N: I HAVE RETURNED!! Hope you enjoy this anon~ still can’t believe you’ve been following me since 2017 oml

If anyone else has lowkey specific requests for skz I’ll take them!! It can be any type/medium(?) of writing lol I just don’t want to write elaborate plots rn

You’ve been playing this video game recently

(I’ve been playing Valorant lol so I’m basing this off of that)

you’ve been playing solo for a bit

One afternoon, you match with a nice team that’s doing well

it’s a good game; you’re pretty evenly matched

you end up the last player standing, win a round for your team, & they applaud you for it!

But then—ohoho and then—

—you hear the deepest freakin Australian accent on voice chat

saying “ayy nice!!”

you say a polite thank you back to him

meanwhile the other people on your team are like

“holy crap bro your voice is low af!”

you get to hear this boy speak for longer lol

His username is #1Aboji or BrownieBoi915 or smth idk so you call him Brownie

and y’all get to talking lol

you send him a friend request on a whim because he seems nice

he accepts, sends you a party invite, and you play a few games together!!

Over the course of a couple months, you play together every time you’re online at the same time

(which is often bc ur timezones happen to be the same hehe)

It’s funny because although you’re friendly with each other, you’re competitive af LMAO

most of your games are spent competing for who can get more kills and who can be MVP of the team/entire match

it’s friendly competition but competition nonetheless

eventually he asks for your Tumblr/Twitter/whatever so y’all can chat a bit more :D

his @ can still be @/BrownieBoi915 lol

Brownie’s fun and you share some interests!!

your music tastes are similar too, so he sends you song recommendations, then you yell about them

You’ve been chatting a lot and reply to each others’ posts/tweets often, especially when you’re just posting about weird sh!t happening in your life

But one day… you post about something that happened at your college

something like “icb this ajlsdhf there’s this girl in one of my classes and she just sCALED THE SIDE OF THE BUILDING SO SHE WOULDN’T BE LATE TO CLASS”

less than a minute later you get a text:

“AHJKFLDSA WAIT YOUR MOST RECENT TWEET—

DO YOU MEAN VANESSA??”

and then

wAIT THAT’S BROWNIE TEXTING

HE KNOWS VANESSA?!?!?

So, naturally, you text him back

Then Brownie gets you to agree to another silly competition:

see who could identify the other first on campus!!

the 1 rule is that you have to find each other in-person

(there is a 2nd rule that you can’t ask exactly where the other person is, but that’s pretty obvious lol)

But because of the main rule, occasionally you’ll get a vague text like

Brownie: “Hey are you wearing a red flannel right now”

You: “No I’m not even outside lmao”

Brownie: “Dammit I thought I felt the vibes”

It’s a nice lil challenge because the only thing you know about Brownie is that he identifies as a guy and has an Australian accent

(but that may be unimportant depending on where you live lmao)

meanwhile the only things he knows about you are random details, your voice, and that you have a class with Vanessa lol

And it’s FUN!!

but you both start to get suuuuper competitive

mostly because of the 1 rule

there have literally been times you’ve probably found Brownie when you hear an Australian accent in the distance

however he always leaves before you can get to him, so it doESN’T COUNT GDI

Brownie tho lmao—he’s always putting on his detective hat and trying to track you down on campus

whenever he’s chilling after class he asks for where you are generally

he’ll ask you “Hey wyd”

You: “Studying”

Brownie: “In the library?”

You: “…Yes”

then he starts to narrow down where you could be based on less-specific questions

Of course, that’s not the only thing you text him about

you’ve grown pretty close to Brownie

the competition has helped with that!!

and ofc you still play that game together lol

Honestly, you really want to meet him

he’s just super charming + considerate

Also he mentioned he likes baking

you suggested “we should bake together!!”

Brownie: “Gotta find me first ;)))”

so,,, yeah you daydream about baking with Brownie

you really want to know his name

I mean, c’mon, you’ve gotten his phone number at this point, but you still can’t find him??

it’s starting to get frustrating

to the point where he can hear the frustration through your texts

HIS NAME IS FELIX!!

YOU HAVE A NAME TO WORK OFF OF NOW!!!!

That small piece of information motivates you for the rest of the week

you give Felix your name in return, but he insists that neither of you should ask around for each other

(you can’t ask your friends if they know someone named Felix

but if you hear someone say “Felix” while you’re out and about, that works)

you’re still unable to find him for some time, but knowing Felix’s name makes you feel closer to him

You can’t video call Felix but you normally call him at least once a week

after knowing him for at least half a year, you get this warm feeling in your chest every time his name pops up on the top of your phone

One of your phone calls sounds something like this:

Felix: “Hey, y/n?”

You: “Yes?”

Felix: “Do you want to go out for lunch? I mean, once we find each other.”

You: “As in a date?”

Felix: “Yeah—I mean, if that’s okay!”

You: “Yes please!! So can you find me already istg 🙄”

Felix is itching to meet you too

…so he sends you a selfie

with a filter though! that way you don’t see his entire face

you send him 1 in return (also with a filter)

Felix immediately says “aww ur cute uwu”

and your heart m e l t s

you’d think, hey maybe that’ll help me find him

SPOILERS it doesn’t really help lmao

Your close friends really want to help lmao because they’ve been hearing about this “Brownie” boy you like

however, you & Felix are adamant of winning this competition because the person who wins doesn’t need to pay for your 1st lunch date lol

It’s the last Friday afternoon before you have a week-long holiday, when you’re hanging out in front of one of your friend’s classes to pick them up

you’re standing outside the building chatting with one of your other friends when your phone starts ringing in your pocket

other friend is like “ooOOOH is it brownie boy??”

You: “Oh yeah rip he’s probably calling because I missed some of his texts, give me a moment."

You’re about to pick up when the call drops

so you’re like ?? bruh what and are about to unlock your phone to see what Felix’s texts are about

That’s when you feel a tap on your shoulder

and a low Australian voice behind you says your name

your head whips around to find this cute face with freckles and a giant smile on his face

“Felix?!?”

“Heh, I found you~”

Dude doesn’t hesitate to hug you, pick you up, then spin you around

your friend is watching with a goofy smile but he doesn’t care

after he finally puts you down, you cup his face with both your hands

“The filters always hide your freckles… they’re like stars, Lix”

instead of a lunch date, Felix takes you out for dinner :DD

even though you lost he insists on paying :’))

your friends don’t even care that you’re ditching them ajlkfdhs they literally push you away to go eat with Felix lmao

and you return home with that warm feeling in ur heart still there

needless to say, he will arrange another date so he can bring you some homemade brownies

he is the brownie boy after all!!

[do-you-have-a-flag]

Destiel shippers come get ya’ll juice!

SO @deadwright​ and I were inspired by Some Tumblr Posts and the twitter Roadhouse  Wedding stuff and keep writing headcanons about Thee Destiel 2021 Married Ever After S16 SPN Romantic Event Of The Season, so here’s that. 

Arranged in order of marital chronology and cutting out us keysmashing too much:

oh man imagine all the burgers they get catered for the reception dean got it done himself he would’ve been so particular about the catering bridezilla cas would probably be THEE bitchiest bridezilla

it's also definitely that trope where all the other hunters ect KNOW that that many of them and the wedding party are essentially a target for trouble so everyone spends the 24 hours leading up to the vows taking out every beastie who shows up on a revenge kick out of sight because they'll be damned if they let ANYTHING stop this wedding and Dean and cas are both having their marital jitters oh god im not good enough what if something goes wrong about mundane things while monsters are getting their ass kicked outside AWWWWWWWW for sure for sure, they’re hunter royalty this wedding is a big deal like half the attendees are nursing injuries but grinning widely

they don't do the can't see eachother before the wedding thing because you KNOW dean would be fixing cas' tie last minute

dean wears a blue pocket square to match cas' tie cas wears a FLANNEL SQUARE

I’m obsessed w the idea of cas giving dean a little bit of his grace in a small bottle on a chain for him to wear or like a wing feather or some part of him god the grace in a bottle breaks me every time in fic dean probably builds cas something but every time i try to think of something specific i choke up

i was thinking like what if trading grace is as close to a romantic gesture as angels have and he's like..... technically i left some grace behind in your mark when i dragged you from the pit and dean is like ARE YOU SAYING WE'VE BEEN MARRIED THIS WHOLE TIME? 

they are so sweet i’m on the verge of tears the ability to do anything by halves in their relationship was burnt out by like the second return from the dead moment they are too insane to be anything less than All In And Then Some

at one point someone was like hey cas do you want to run your vows by someone as practice? and he started reading what he'd prepared and it devolved into Biblically Grand Statements Of The Power Of Love And The Redemption Of - ect ect ect and it's because unlike the confession scene he's had TOO much preparation and overshot into uncanny angelic vibes he makes some edits because he know the expressions he gets when he reads it aren't what he intended

dean writes page after page after page of unused drafts, none of them are particularly floral

he does the cliche of ripping up his vows and improvising at the altar, something he gets mercilessly teased for because he swore he wouldn't but it classifies as a chick flick moment

THAT’S SO PEAK HIM OH MY GOD and you knoooooow you just KNOW it’s beautiful and emotional and everyone is crying

god the NOVELTY of dean being emotionally honest in front of people......im gonna faint YEA yeah... ONE TIME ONLY DEAL he thinks loudly at Sam's smug expression

anyway, at the wedding dean is the one who spends the whole ceremony with like crying cat meme eyes after the confession scene i’m pretty sure the minute the vows start cas is in the same boat USELESS HUSBANDS dean gets passed a handkerchief for his tears and immediately goes to use it on cas' face and they both laugh sob love the idea that everyone individually thought they were too tough to cry but they all broke at various stages yeah sam definitely starts to choke up just standing up there with his brother sam chokes up before the ceremony even started, like probably when he was pinning on dean’s corsage

anyway, Jack dancing with his two dads at the reception CAS’ BEST MAN / FLOWER BOY FLOWER MAN let him heelie down the aisle with the flowers LITTLE MAN GO NYOOM who makes him a little flower crown he wears with a proud lil smile? claire ofc, with those hair braiding skills? she makes it BEAUTIFUL flower crown: on nails: painted dads: MARRIED!!!!

when they say i do and kiss and everyone is cheering you can't convince me that someone doesn't let off what is either a gun or a dubiously legal firework in celebration jack pops a few lightbulbs in his uncontrollable joy

Dean and Cas can't let go of each other, it's at LEAST one point of physical contact for the rest of the reception PERIODT

CAN YOU IMAGINE THEM DANCING TO AIR SUPPLY

they definitely didn't do the wedding gifts thing but a few mysteriously show up anyway; discuss waffle iron from sam bc he remembers the becky incident meanwhile claire gets them flavoured lube because she’s an insane little mean girl she gets them a sampler package with like novelty flavours, gotta spring extra for a wedding PIE FLAVOURED LUBE

it’s gonna be the party of the century omfg you KNOW it! that dancefloor going OFF the BAR is FLOWING

dean gets dragged up onto the bar to make a speech and there's a moment at the end where he drags cas up there too and they're being playfully yelled at not to scuff it and there's hooting and catcalls as dean and cas kiss and dean gestures rudely before almost falling backwards off the bar before cas grabs him and climbing down is less romantic or dignified but he couldn't care if he wanted to

meanwhile sam and claire are outside defacing the impala with silly string and lewd graffiti and tin cans tied to the bumper for the going-away oh it is one hundo percent a just married atrocity there's enough condoms hidden in the car that they're still finding them months later

anyway wanna hear my disgustingly soppy honeymoon roadtrip concept? YOU KNOW I DO OKAY SO

you know at some point dean must have said some sad thing like for the longest time he never thought he'd live long enough to get married and the only circumstances he could imagine was hooking up drunkenly with a stranger at some vegas wedding scenario like that's the best he would ever get and he thinks it's mostly forgotten but then during their cross country honeymoon roadtrip castiel does in fact navigate them to las vegas and quietly mutters that the legal veracity of the little chapel on the city limits is dubious at best and they're already married so it couldn't do any harm and they get officiated by an elvis impersonator and a woman wearing more sequins than fabric throws cheap confetti over them

and after that they stop into every venue they can find that would be friendly to them to pretend they're eloping and at one point dean even pulls out the fbi id badges and the officiant is under the impression he's facilitating some sort of covert workplace romance 

one place is a kitchy little house that's clearly just the couple who run it opening their strange home to anyone who needs it and have been since the 70s and Castiel thinks for a moment when they're asked to pin something to the collection of stuff on the walls and ceiling before pulling the receipt for the pie they'd shared earlier in a dinner out and scrawling his and dean's name on it to be added to the clutter 

and at one point they stand ankle deep in a pond while some old hippie lady wraps their clasped hands together with soft fabric and chants something that dean knows isn't real magic but hey he's not going to tell her that and after the ceremony they sit on the grass and feed each other sweet bread to complete the binding or whatever and it's nice but it doesn't compare to the ranch where they both tossed their cowboy hats in the air and were given a horse to ride to their camp site

i thought about riverboat gambling for point one seconds and now i know in my bones that one of their many weddings was on a riverboat, they made the captain officiate after cornering him on deck in like five minutes, the crew sent them complimentary champagne and they threw fries at the birds following the boat while sharing it straight out of the bottle

if destiel can go canon multiple times they can get married multiple times CHANGE MY MIND THEY GET MARRIED SO MUCH the MOST married i just want them to get gay cowboy married

eventually i want them to end up at the beach bc dean has canonically never been to the coast their road trip is to get to the other coast

they send just married postcards back to sam from every stop sam stops feeling hurt he was left out of their vegas elopement wedding by the third wedding postcard he recieves sam saves them ofc bc GOD can you imagine them looking at the postcards on their 30th anniversary or s/t 🥺 showing their grandkids and recounting the story of each wedding there's a seashell taped to the last one

cas gets a terrible sunglasses tan and dean gets burnt on the tips of his ears and there's sand on sand on sand in all their clothes and at one point dean is blinking away salt water and cas is gripping his arm and saying something about the coral by them in the water and dean thinks that he likes floating beside cas a lot better than flying

dean has cas pick ice cream for them from a truck and hustles at carnival games enough to win them both big novelty foam hats and they both go back to their room and pass out immediately post shower sprawled across the bed and still smelling like sunscreen and salt water

dean tucks a little cocktail umbrella behind cas’ ear

cas spends most of the next day in dean's zepplin shirt and a pair of shorts they only picked up once they got there because neither of them thought to bring beach clothes, they sit on the balcony and dean sips his beer and idly plays with the ring on cas' finger and they play a game of what fictional monsters could they beat in a fight

cas’ true form is the size of the chrysler building he can fight king kong easy that's what he says and dean's like okay but what about mothra and castiel is like how would YOU defeat mothra and dean just goes "bugspray." GDJSGSHSGSHDSJ DEAN WOULD

in honour of misha putting his whole pussy into the role, cas wears a dress in at least one of their weddings

it's at one of those theme parks that's just historical re-enactments and people get their vows renewed there and there's costumes for the photobooth and the staff are like how long have you been married? castiel says two weeks, three days, eighteen hours, and twenty five minutes................ approximately.  and the photo is cas in a classical wedding gown and dean is wearing the veil with his old timey suit and there's a moose head on the wall behind them wearing the top hat he was given and they send that print with an arrow pointing at the moose with sam written next to it

i keep thinking bitch!!!! you KNOW WHAT!! you KNOW that dean is the type a guy who's heart races every time he feels his wedding ring/is always fiddling with it in the weeks after the wedding, like an anchor to remind him they really got married this is real he would NEED that physical reminder that he can have good things

he’s never ever going to take it off, the tan line will be permanent

how funny it would be if dean gets injured on a hunt and the monster guy is about to kill him and then the lights blow out and the monsters are like what was that and dean is just like "[spits blood] that's my husband." and nek minnit cas has just ripped through them thanks to teleporting in angel style and is just like Cas: [heals dean] "you're late for movie night" Dean: "Well if you'd gotten here earlier i would have been on time." Cas: >:| [kisses him]

cas is like i didn’t burn the popcorn this time you BETTER be alive to see it

[bre-meister]

absolutely adore the way you write the greens! so buttercup and butch and just domestic bliss? just any fluff is fine!

first, I’d like to apologize for long this took, and then I’d like to apologize for how long this is...she got a little out of hand but I hope you like it!

                                                   Family Trips

Butch was happy. Quite frankly, he couldn’t recall a time in the last few years that he hadn’t been happy, but today he was especially happy. 

Buttercup had offhandedly mentioned needing some basic things for around the house when they had been cleaning up after dinner one night and he knew their four year old could use a new pair of shoes - God knows that kid went through sneakers like a maniac but Butch supposed between his superpowers and being his son that it wasn’t that surprising. So, he had suggested that they take advantage of the upcoming weekend and spend a day downtown. Both adults agreed that now would probably be the best time to get some much-needed shopping done considering the recent drop in monster attacks that usually came with the changing of seasons. 

So, when Saturday rolled around Butch woke in a good mood knowing that this would be a day specifically for spending time with his family. His mood got even better when Bruce was well mannered at breakfast. Despite being very obviously excited for a day out, the boy was showing none of his usual signs of misbehavior even going as far as to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when Buttercup asked him what he wanted for breakfast. 

The car ride to the mall was also uneventful in the best of ways. Bruce sat in his car seat with no objections and talked candidly about all the fun things he would do when he stayed the night at his cousin’s later that day. Butch made a mental note as he drove that a stop at the candy store would probably be in order before they dropped Bruce off at Brick and Blossom’s.

“Mamma?” Bruce ended his excited rant to ask his mother a question,

“What’s up, green bean?” Butch smiled at the nickname his wife had for their son.

“Can I get a dinosaur so I can take it with me and I can play with Bryce?”

“I know for a fact that Bryce had tons of dinosaurs you guys could play with tonight. I’m sure Bryce wouldn’t mind sharing.”

Butch could see Bryce’s face form a small scowl from a quick look in the rearview mirror. 

“Ya but, I don’t have any to play with at home either.”

“Well buddy,” Butch interjected, “you would if hadn’t broken yours.”

Bruce deflated at the memory of why he no longer had any dinosaur toys.

“Here’s the deal.” Buttercup turned in her seat slightly until she could look Bruce in the face, “If you behave, maybe Daddy and I will let you pick out a new dinosaur.”

Bruce immediately perked up at the possibility of a new toy,

“Really?”

“Only if you behave the whole time.”  At that, Buttercup reached to tug playfully on one of Bruce’s legs.

The little boy pulled back and roared, throwing his arms up. Butch could only assume that he was pretending to be a dinosaur. He let out a chuckle as Buttercup continued their little game until Butch found a parking spot.

“Ok mister dinosaur,” Butch opened the passenger side door and helped Bruce out of his seat, “remember the deal.”

Bruce smiled up at his father, “Behave!”

Butch chuckled before holding his hand out for Bruce to hold onto as they crossed the parking lot and entered the typically crowded mall.

For his credit, Bruce sat patiently as a store clerk fitted him for new sneakers - green of course. He politely gave his input on what dress his Mamma looked prettiest in for her interview with his aunties the next week. He even ate his lunch in the food court without making any more of a mess one would expect from a four-year-old.

After lunch, the small family had just two more things from their list to pick up. Thankfully, the sheets and towels that Buttercup preferred were found in the same store.

“Mamma,” Bruce tugged on Buttercup’s hand as they made their way inside the homeware shop, “can I ride in the cart?”

Buttercup looked at the lines of grey shopping carts that Bruce was currently pointing at.

“Are you going to stay in the cart the whole time?”

The little boy nodded his affirmation so Butch made his way over to snag one, ruffling Bruce’s hair as he went.

Butch knew when he suggested this family day at the mall that Bruce would most probably be tired by the end and he could tell his original instinct when, instead of floating up into the seat himself, Bruce lifted his arms up to Butch. He made a show of lifting the boy into the little plastic seat upfront - even without his powers, it would take minimal effort considering that Bruce was a little small for his age - causing the four-year-old to giggle.

“You’re silly Daddy.”

“Am I? Or are you just really heavy?”

“Am not! Mamma, am I heavy?”

Buttercup chuckled at her two boy’s antics,

“No baby, but Daddy is.”

Butch scoffed, placing a hand over his heart in mock indignation and hurt. Buttercup turned her head slightly but didn’t stop pushing the cart towards where she knew the sheets would be. Bruce laughed at his parents' familiar back and forth.

“That’s pure muscle you're talking about, woman! Heavy my ass.” Butch said once he caught back up.

Buttercup gave him a look. Bruce tended to repeat words he learned from his Dad and, more often than not, it would lead to a scolding for her from her older sister. He mouthed a sorry towards her but they both knew he wasn’t. Personally Butch thought those lectures were kind of funny considering that, before they got together, Brick cursed like a sailor. His older brother would still let something slip every now and again - it never quite ended well for the redhead when that happened.

Bruce seemed to have not noticed Butch’s own slip up though, 

“I’m gonna have mus-cels just like you Daddy!” Butch could tell that, sometimes, Bruce was bothered by his small size. He always tried his best to encourage him when that happened,

“Of course buddy! You’ll get there in time, just like me.”

Buttercup made a beeline straight to the collection of black sheets, stopping in front of the vast choices to decide which ones to purchase. Butch never put in his two sense on these kinds of things. If it were up to him they'd probably be sleeping on the scratchiest sheets in existence - just something to cover the mattress. He’d learned in the years they’d been together though that his wife had skin more sensitive to these kinds of things than him so he usually just let her get whatever she wanted and when he had to pick, he’d just go with whatever was softest.

They'd been standing in silence for a few moments until Bruce spoke up,

“How much longer Mamma?”

“Not much longer green bean. I just need to figure out which one of these is least likely to tear.” Buttercup pushed and pulled the cart in front of her slightly in an attempt to calm Bruce.

“I feel like we just bought sheets.” She said exasperatedly.

“Probably because we did. Ya know, we wouldn’t have to keep buying them if someone would just stop ripping them.” Butch lowered his voice to a level he knew only BC would be able to hear, Bruce not having learned how to train his superhearing to that extent yet.

Buttercup blushed at the implications of the sentence. She looked away from all the sheets for a moment to sneak a glance at Bruce who looked to be on the verge of a twitching episode brought on by his annoyance at all the sheets - a quirk he inherited from his dad. One look at the kid told both his parents that he would need a nap before heading over to the red’s place.

“Hey, the towels are just around the corner. Would you mind - ?”

“Don’t worry, I got you.” Butch didn’t need her to explain to know what her goal here was, they knew each other better than anyone. If they split up they could get out of here faster which meant Bruce could get his nap faster. 

He also knew that no matter how tired he was Bruce would insist on getting his Dinosaur. Butch supposed he earned it - his behavior today had been wonderful aside from currently but who could really blame him?

By the time he found what he considered to be the fluffiest towels available - green, gotta stick with the theme - Buttercup had apparently decided which sheets would put up the most fight against her superstrength. He met back up with her and Bruce in the line for the register upfront, the latter of which was almost jumping out of his seat at this point.

Deciding to avoid disaster before it struck, Butch placed the new set of towels in the cart and gathered the squirming child into his arms. Bruce seemed to settle down once he was no longer confined to the shopping cart.

Looking ahead of him at the long line for checkout Butch made an executive decision.

“Hey,” he turned towards his wife, “I’m gonna take the little man to the toy store and get him his reward.”

“Dinosaur?” Bruce perked up immediately.

Buttercup shot Butch a thankful look before turning to address their little boy,

“Well you held up your end of the deal, it’s only fair we hold up ours. But you still have to behave for the rest of the trip, got it?”

Bruce shook his head eagerly, giggling as his Momma tickled his stomach. 

Butch made to set the boy down so he could walk but was stopped by Bruce’s protest,

“No Daddy.” He tugged on Butch’s sleeve slightly to let him know that he wanted to be carried. 

Usually, he would insist that Bruce walk, he was a big boy after all but Butch knew he would probably be pushing his luck. Butch was a brave man but even brave men did not want to handle superpowered tantrums in a crowded place. 

Placing the boy back on his hip, Butch was reminded of when Bruce was smaller and he’d carry him around more often. His kid was already four now - time really flew by. 

Bruce layed his head down on Butch’s shoulder and, for a minute, Butch thought the boy had fallen asleep due to how quiet he was. He was proven wrong though as soon as the toy store came into view. Bruce immediately began to squirm in his father’s hold - a sign he wanted to be put down. Butch complied but kept a firm grip on the child to avoid a superpowered accident. 

Butch noticed that Bruce seemed to take careful consideration as to which toy he wanted. Eventually, he had narrowed his choices down to either a green and blue-winged dinosaur and a purple t-rex. Bruce looked up to his dad with the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster and, although Butch had a weakness in anything involving his kid, he had prepared himself for this. He schooled his features into what he hoped conveyed sternness.

“One.” He held up a finger to emphasize.

Bruce sighed deeply and Butch tried to hide his chuckle at the blatant show of disappointment. The child stared at the two plastic toys in his hand before ultimately deciding.

“I want the pterodactyl!” Bruce held up his prize to his dad’s face.

“Are you sure?”

“Mhmm, I’m sure Daddy.”

Butch’s superhearing picked up on a few older women swooning over the apparent cuteness of their current scene. 

“Look at how cute they are.”

“Men with babies are just adorable.”

Bruce must have picked up on them because he turned to the end of the aisle and assured the two women that he was most definitely not a baby.

Butch made to apologize on behalf of this kid but the women waved him off,

“Of course, how silly of us. You’ve got quite a brilliant young man on your hands there.”

“Oh,” Butch answered back, “you have no idea.”

The two women laughed. They made a few more comments before leaving, mostly about how handsome Bruce was and how he looked the spitting image of his father - Butch had to agree with both. 

Father and son made their way to the front of the store to pay for the toy.”

“What’s this again, a triceratops?” Butch knew that he was wrong. He lifted the toy towards his face and made a show of examining it just to get a laugh out of his kid. The question was also used to distract the once again noticeably tired child as they waited in line.

“No Daddy,” Bruce sounded exasperated and Butch couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face, “It’s a pterodactyl.” 

“Hmm. You should make sure to show Uncle brick when you see him today ok? I don’t think he knows his dinosaurs very well.” 

Bruce perked up at the idea of teaching his super-smart uncle something new. Butch knew he was being a little shit but he couldn’t help it. Brick wouldn’t correct the little boy but he knew he would be practically dying to give the boy a lecture as to why ‘pterodactyls’ aren’t a real dinosaur and how the proper name was pteranodon (look, Butch was a smart cookie too he just didn’t flaunt it the same way as his brother).

After paying and handing the toy back off to Bruce, Butch checked his phone to see a message from his wife to meet her back at the car.

Bruce once again motioned that he didn’t want to walk. This time Butch placed the kid on his shoulders and Bruce sat contentedly, one hand gripping onto his hair to keep himself steady. One the walk to the car Bruce used his free hand to make his new dinosaur fly, squawking noises Butcha assumed were supposed to be dinosaur sounds occasionally escaped from his mouth.

When they finally made it to where they had parked, Butch saw Buttercup leaning against the car with the various bags they had accumulated over the day sitting on the ground around her feet. He raised an eyebrow at her.

“You have the keys, genius.”  

Despite her rude comment, Buttercup placed a kiss on Butch’s cheek as she haled Bruce off of his shoulders. Bruce happily settled into his mother’s arms, eyes drooping, and head resting on her shoulder. Butch unlocked the doors as Buttercup made her was around the car.

“Are you tired, green bean?”

Butch heard Bruce mumble his dissent and he imagined that the boy was shaking his head although he couldn’t actually see from where he was placing the bags in the back of the car.

Walking back around to the driver's side door Butch could see his wife place a kiss on their son’s head. Bruce responded with another squawk and Butch couldn’t help but smile at the sight of his wife laughing so candidly with their son, happiness exuding from both of them.

The car ride home was just long enough to lull Bruce off to sleep. Buttercup made sure to be gentle as she brought the sleeping child inside the house and up to his room. When he woke he’d be upset that he had indeed succumbed to the nap that he so obviously needed - preferring to have rather gotten to his cousin's house early so he could show off his new dinosaur.

Pulling the covers back Buttercup layed Bruce down in the small bed and carefully tucked the covers around his little body. Bruce shifted, turning from his back to his side and hugging his new toy closer. Buttercup moved his bangs out of his face.

“He’s gonna need a haircut soon,” Buttercup said in a form of acknowledgment of her husband having entered the room. Her voice was low so as to not wake the sleeping child.

Butch hummed, moving away from the door frame where he had been standing and closer to the bed. 

“You need one too.” Butch ran a hand through his hair. She was right. He tended to keep the sides short but the hair on the top of his head was beginning to curl in front of his eyes. 

“I brought all the bags in.” He mimicked her volume level.

“And I suppose that's all you did?” Buttercup said, referring to his habit of bringing in groceries but leaving them on the counter instead of putting them in their right place.

Butch just shrugged,

“ I wanted to come check in on you two. I’ll put everything away later.”

Buttercup turned her head away from him but not fast enough to hide the small smile that tugged at her lips. Looking back down at their son she placed a kiss on his chubby cheeks before standing up from the bed. Butch opens his arms and Buttercup gladly accepts the affection.

“He’s getting so big.” she sighed.

“I know. Thank you for giving him to me. I never thought I’d ever have...anything like this, I -”

“Stop it.” Buttercup sternly interrupted him. “It doesn't matter what you may or may not have done in the past, it’s exactly that - the past. I love you, ok? So much. So does Bruce. That little boy adores you, Butch; you say he’s a Mamma’s boy, but all I see is that he wants to be just like his Daddy. Don’t ever say anything like that again.” By the end of her scolding Buttercup was holding Butch’s face in her hands. Butch leaned in and kissed her.

When they broke apart, Butch looked back over to Bruce who was still sleeping peacefully, hair having fallen back into his face.

“We should have another one.” the words slipped from his mouth before he could stop them,

It was something they'd been considering lately - having another kid. Butch wanted to. Secretly, he was hoping they’d have a little girl. He could see it now; she’d look just like her Mamma and he’d spoil her senseless. Bruce would be a great big brother.

“I want that.”

“What?” he was confused.

“Whatever world you’re thinking up in your head where we’re all happy and loved and Bruce gets a sibling, I want it.” Buttercup was smiling so wide Butch couldn’t help but mirror her. 

“How did you…?”

“You say it all the time, we know each other better than anyone; sometimes better than we know ourselves.”

Butch didn’t think his smile could get any larger but as he stood there with his loving, beautiful wife in his arms and his son sleeping peacefully and contently just a few steps away, he couldn’t help it. His smile was so wide and so bright and yet, Butch knew that it still couldn’t convey just how happy he was, how lucky he was, how...loved he was in this life that he never thought he’d be able to live.

[taetaesbaebaepsae]

BTS as FWB

Hyung Line

My sister and I were talking about this yesterday so I thought I'd do a post about how bts would handle being a fwb (spoiler alert they all catch feelings eventually)

**Also I take requests for BTS and maybe Monsta X so hmu in my asks, fam**

Hyung Line (Maknae Line coming up bc this got Loooong)

Warnings: smut, angst, fluff, alcohol tw

Word Count: 1,779

Namjoon (RM)

If it was your idea, he would be so down like "yeah of course who needs relationships?" but low-key he wanted to confess to you 5 seconds before you suggested an arrangement

Puts that mouth to WORK

Likes it a little rough but nothing that would leave bruises or hickeys that's for amateurs

He has a downright filthy mouth this boy will have you clutching your pearls with the nasty shit he'll say (you love it)

Late night convos, this boy will text you at 3am not for a booty call but just to talk to you

He's more of an emotional booty call than just sexual, he'll come to you when he's stressed or upset

Don't get me wrong, he'll fuck your brains out but expect lots of pillow talk, especially if he's been drinking

Takes you out for coffee, will buy you breakfast, insists to his friends he isn't dating you since he doesn't take you out at night

You're the only one he's fucking, though he flirts a lot

If he runs into you at a club and you're dancing with someone else, God help you

He won't be mean just stupid charming, doing his best to lure you away for a night of crazy sex

If it doesn't work though, he'll be high key salty, pouty, whiny

You'll get texts until daylight because he'll keep drinking, imagining you with someone else

He might show up at your door at 6am, shitfaced, honestly

"Did you bring that clown home? No, I'm not jealous, I just wanted to talk to you."

You're weak so you let him in and he spends all day at your place recovering from his hangover

He will only admit he's caught feelings if you do first or if he thinks you're getting serious with someone else

If you go on dates he'll pick a fight with you about nothing and when you're yelling at him he'll just kiss you senseless.

"I love you, ok?"

You start dating him before you even know what's happening the smartass manipulative little shit

Jin

The biggest fuckboi of the group don't @me

He's a pro at this

After he got cheated on all his relationships are fwb arrangements and they always catch feelings first

Not you, though, you know he's a fuckboi and you know what you're in for

This boy will make you laugh during sex he's never serious he'll make you come while you're giggling over some stupid shit he said

Sexts, sexts, sexts

He will never stop dirty texting you while you're in an inappropriate place like work or dinner with your family

God forbid you tell him you're going on a date, then dick pics and sexts galore

He's not jealous, he's territorial, he wants to be the best you've ever had (he is but you would die before you'd admit that)

This boy is not even a little exclusive with you, at least not at first

He'd invite you over to meet his friends and be shook at how well you fit in

You start playing video games with Jungkook and when Kookie starts looking at you with stars in his eyes Jin goes all possessive puppy

All over you at all times he's not ashamed of you he just isn't ready for a relationship

Like Namjoon he will use you for emotional comfort too, although his pillow talk will be mostly jokes and flirting

Your convos don't get too serious unless he's had WAY too much to drink

Then he tells you about his ex and shit gets real for a second before he wakes up the next morning his flirty self again

He gradually stops texting the other booty calls he has on lock, just telling himself you're better in bed, that's all

Finds out you have another fwb when he comes to your house at 3am drunk

He is SO salty, there is less salt in the Pacific ocean

He's whiny and pouty and shading the other dude constantly

"Jealous? Why would I be jealous I'm just wondering why you bother with him, he's ugly."

But if he hung out with you and the other guy would not let on ONE bit. Makes friends with him, I easy going even if he's a bit touchy feely with you

But low-key stares at you like a kicked puppy when no one is paying attention

His friends are all like "what did you do to him?"

YOUR friends are like "what'd you do to him he looks so heartbroken"

He only admits to catching feelings when you get so fed up you say it's done and you are over it

He gets mean when he sees you with the other guy on a real date and says some cruel shit

You are D O N E

Block his number done

He will 100% show up drunk at your house

He's cute so you let him in and he really does look like a kicked puppy

Honest with you for the first time bc he's scared of losing you

"I still don't know if I can trust anyone enough for a relationship but you make me wanna try it. Don't cut me out."

Yoongi (Suga)

He would only agree to a fwb arrangement if he had some feelings for you

He's not the type to fuck around with a girl he can't see himself dating

Definitely the fuck and run type at first zero pillow talk

Absolute master with his hands and fingers LORD

Not too vocal during sex but it makes him crazy when you are if you want him to nut fast you just gotta moan his name

Won't say anything non sexual unless he's drinking even then it's low key like "You look pretty tonight."

Texts you for booty calls like "hey dumbass wyd"

Will not take you for coffee or be seen in public with you, bc he's worried you're ashamed of him, not the other way around. Otherwise why wouldn't you date him?

You have no clue he likes you. Absolutely none he barely talks to you unless he's horny

He loves it when you booty call him he's so smiley and sweet when that happens

He's so soft to you when you get too drunk at his house party and throw up

He sits behind you as you hug the toilet and strokes your hair for hours

You're shocked to wake up in his bed since he has a strict no overnights rule

Scolds you for drinking so much but brings you breakfast in bed and is low-key a sweetheart through your hangover

You: shook. Your heart: full

You don't tell him you're seeing other people until he point blank asks you. When you say yes, he just nods

"Good we always use condoms then."

Will ignore you and be kind of a dick when he finds out but that's not uncommon so you are still oblivious

If you wait on him to admit to catching feelings you will die waiting

Only one way you will find out

One of his dumbass friends lets something slip when they're drunk (It's probably Jin)

You're complaining about how he's ignoring you at the party

"Bitch he's so whipped for you his lockscreen is your selfie."

You cannot believe it

You think it's bullshit

You end up sleeping in Jungkook's room that night bc you fell asleep whupping his ass at Mortal Kombat

The next morning somebody is slamming every door in the house and throwing dishes around.

Jungkook's door is open so he saw you cuddled up to the maknae

He big mad

When you finally get him to talk about it (probably days later)

"I just don't want you fucking my friends it's messy."

You only find out the lockscreen shit is true when you grab his phone by accident

He knows you know he fucking BAILS

Books it outta your life for like a week

The only way you pin him down is by texting him a paragraph about how you like him too

He kisses you so sweet when you see him next and he's all smiles and affectionate

You're dating now, that's it, no need for discussion

RIP Kookie tho he'll never trust him again despite you telling him a thousand times nothing happened

Hoseok (J-Hope)

He agrees because he is literally down for anything

Definitely a good time this boy is so much fun in bed

Will try anything once and I mean ANYTHING

You wanna tie him up? Definitely. You want him to eat whipped cream off your tiddies? Tell him when and where

The world's biggest switch don't @me

Has a thing for public sex, loves to finger you on a dance floor

Y'all do everything together, everyone thinks you're just dating

He's a big goofball with you in public, v affectionate

He's your best friend and you're his

Y'all don't take anything seriously when one of you is upset you text each other dumb selfies and fuck it out next time you hang out

Never drunk dials you you won't even know he's out until you see him on the dancefloor with some girl

Y'all compete to see who can dirty dance with the most people before you go home together

Feelings? He's never heard of them

Least likely of all the boys to catch feelings first

Would take him FOREVER to realize he actually likes you

I'm talking y'all have been fucking for MONTHS before he catches on

If he gets jealous he'll just think it's bc he's competitive

If you make him sad by not hanging out with him he'll think he just wants the attention

Feelings hit him like a brick when he finally realizes

You're in his car jamming to his latest track and you're singing and dancing like a fool with your hair flipping around and all of a sudden it's like the sun shines only on you

The boy is SHOOK

He gets real quiet

Scary quiet

You think he's mad but when you ask him he blows you off with a smile saying he's tired

You don't hear from him for a couple of days

He's pacing around his place and trying to process, talking to friends and trying to decide what to do

Everyone tells him to just tell you ofc

Confident boy is not used to feeling insecure he's hesitant.

"What if she doesn't love me back?"

There's no dramatic reveal

He really just asks you on a date

A REAL one

Nothing much changes, honestly, he has always been your bff and being your bf is just a bonus

[camimcndcs]

two tiny hands, a pair of eyes

TAGGING: KJ @itskjapa​, Cami.

LOCATION: Vancouver, BC.

TIMEFRAME: October 7th, 2020.

NOTES: Talia Lua Apa is born.

Cami: Today was going to the day, she could just feel it. Camila had reached her due date and woken up to KJ’s lips brushing against her cheek as he headed out for work. With her due date looming in the air, she’d stopped working mid-week last week and had been spending her time preparing for their daughter’s arrival. When Camila finally left the comfort of her bed an hour later to eat something she felt a tightness in her belly that seemed more painful than the Braxton Hicks she’d been experiencing for the last couple of days. Reaching for her phone, Camila called her mom, asking her to come upstairs to help her figure out what was going on. Another contraction hit about 10 minutes later when her mom and Tessa walked through the door of her apartment. Once she had finished her breakfast, Camila took a quick shower and then sat on an exercise ball after getting herself dressed. Just as she sat down on the exercise ball, she felt liquid trickling down her leg. “I think my water just broke,” she exclaimed, almost instantly feeling the pain stretching from her back to her stomach as a contraction took over her body. “Can one of you call Kaje?” she asked, closing her eyes and practicing her breathing as she carefully held her stomach. The look on Tessa’s face after she had tried his phone a few times told Camila everything she needed to know. It was likely he was filming a scene and didn’t have access to his cell which was unfortunate. Luckily, Timena and her girlfriend had joined him on set today, so there was someone else they could call with a direct line to KJ. Once they reached Timena, her contractions seemed to be getting closer and closer together and intensifying. The whole process seemed to be picking up speed. Once KJ’s mom explained everything to her daughter, she was off to find her brother and pull him off of the set. She promised they’d call so Camila could talk to him once they got to the car where they would be driven off of the set. It was going to take them at least an hour to get to the hospital, so Camila wasn’t really in much of a rush, but it seemed Talia had other plans. Another contraction ripped through her tiny body causing Camila to reach out for her mom, tears springing into her eyes due to the pain and her fiancé being an hour away from her. “Take a deep breath, meu amor, it’s all going to be okay,” her mother reassured her, rubbing her daughter’s lower back. “He’ll call once he’s on his way,” Tessa added, smiling softly at her future daughter-in-law. 

KJ: Despite everything he had read on the pregnancy, nothing had been able to prepare KJ regarding the tense days leading up to the arrival of their daughter. His efforts to make Camila feel better seemed to be in vain, no matter how much she tried to reassure him -- witnessing her being this uncomfortable had been taking its toll on him as well. He could only ponder on the way she actually felt herself, although it was quite clear the one thing she wanted was to reach that long awaited day. Like each morning, he had quietly gotten through his usual routine before softly kissing her goodbye; something she had insisted upon a long time ago. She was constantly tired these days, but always needed to be made aware when he left their home. Meeting up with his sister and her girlfriend in front of the studio, he took them on a quick tour of the new sets they had built for the season and directed them to his trailer when the time had come for him to get ready -- going through the usual makeup necessities before putting on the clothes he had done a fitting for the previous day. Never failing to be his joyful self and entertain the crew even under such grueling circumstances. A few takes later as a brand new Archie Andrews handling a fire station, he slowly made his way back to Timena only to see her rush toward him at full speed; phone in hand and an anxious expression crossing her features. "What's going on?" he questioned, halting his motions as fear gripped him -- a sensation deep inside of his being screaming that something had surely happened with Camila. The words his sister uttered were barely registered, though quite enough to realize he needed to leave right now. Which is what he did without looking back, the sound of steps following close and explaining the situation to the people they encountered. Timena had enough common sense to not allow him to drive, forcing his eager self to the passenger seat and throwing the phone in his lap. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." he muttered under his breath, fingers trembling as they brushed against the screen. They had talked about this moment so many times, but they had never expected it to happen this way. Even if the possibility had often been brought up. "It's me-- I, yes. Please, let me talk to her." KJ knew his fiancée was surely in a stressful state and he willed himself to calm down so he could comfort her -- even as they were so far away from one another. "Hey, baby. Looks like our little girl is ready to be with us, aye. Should have known she was going to be a pain like her mum." Making a joke was his default mode, though he also hoped this would perhaps be able to distract her.

Cami: When Tessa’s phone rang ten minutes later, Camila was breathing through another contraction from the front seat of the car. She’d had another one as they made their way down to the car and it had stopped her in the lobby. Both of their dads were going to meet them once she got checked in just so it wasn’t too overwhelming. She loved her parent and future in laws, but having all four of them worrying about her in close quarters with KJ forty minutes away would’ve stressed her out. Pressing the phone up to her ear, she willed herself not to cry as the sweet voice of her fiancé filled her ear. “Hi, babe,” she whispered, her free hand resting on her stomach in a protective way. “Yeah, a real pain,” she breathed out, giggling at his teasing remark. Normally she would make a stink about him teasing her, but right now she was thankful for the nice distraction. “We just got into the car and we’re on our way to the hospital, so you’ll just meet us there, right?” she asked, looking out the window to calm herself down. “I love you, I’m okay, it hurts, but I’ll be okay,” she whispered, watching the people and buildings that passed them by before another contraction hit. She could hear a hint of stress in KJ’s voice, but she needed him to remain calm for her and for his sister who was currently navigating the roads to bring him safely to her. “Don’t give Timena a hard time, you’ll be at the hospital before you know it and I need you in one piece,” she said sternly. She was about to say a quick goodbye when another contraction ripped through her body making it almost impossible for her to speak. Camila closed her eyes and practiced her breathing, feeling bad that KJ had to hear her in pain over the phone when he couldn’t get to her. “I love you, baby, I’ll see you soon,” she breathed out as the contraction ended. Camila made kissy noises into the phone before handing it back to his mom in the backseat who reassured her son that his future wife was in good hands and would be okay.

KJ: The sound of her voice appeased him and increased his anxiousness all at once. Simply being able to hear it was quite enough for relief to wash over his body, eyes fluttering closed as he imagined for a brief second that she was within distance -- giving him the strength to sit still and not urge his sister to press her foot harder on the pedal. She seemed to be going too slow for his liking, but KJ knew deep down Timena was doing her best. At the same time, he was unable to not take notice of the light tremor in her voice that she disguised as soon. Surely for his sake. Perharps for her own too. He was willing to play along, especially since they wouldn't be able to see one another for at least a good forty minutes. "Of course, baby. Right now I just gotta deal with being in this car." he uttered with a harsh chuckle following suit, the frustration present despite the playful tone of their conversation. But he was quick to brush it off. "Mine would totally be out there like the flash, aye." The redhead barked out a laugh when his fiancée still found it in herself to reprimand him regarding the comment he had made on his sister's driving skills; the first genuine smile ever since he had stepped into the vehicle painting itself on his lips. A short lived moment when he heard through the speaker the current pain filling her. How he wished time could be toyed with so he could be by her side right now. "I love you. Be there before you know it, I promise." After what had felt like a lifetime, and thus an empty promise, the hospital came into view -- the car hadn't even fully come to a stop that he had rushed in the direction of the sliding doors. The harsh beating of his heart thumping in his ears. He was caught off guard by his mother as he reached the front desk, dragging him in a tight embrace before she quickly led him toward Camila's room. At least she wasn't awkwardly waiting on some chair for someone to take care of her. "How is she? Good? What did I miss?"

Cami: Once they arrived at the hospital a nurse quickly checked Camila over and got her checked into a private birthing suite. She was making her way to the bathroom in the suite to change into the hospital gown they had given her when she heard KJ entering the room with his mom. “Baby! You’re here!” she exclaimed, reaching her arms out to him as he made his way over to hug her as tightly as he could with her belly getting in the way. “I’m so much better now that you’re here,” she whispered, pulling back from his embrace to grip his hands. “Would you help me get this hospital gown on?” she asked, dragging him towards the bathroom with her. Once they were inside she shut the door and lifted her arms so he could get his own t-shirt off of her body. She hadn’t even worn a bra because she hadn’t seen the point. Camila caught sight of herself in the mirror and smiled, “I can’t believe we’re going to get to meet her today,” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked at KJ. He helped her out of her leggings and underwear, moving onto getting the gown on her when another contraction ripped through her body. “Fuck,” she cried out, gripping her fiancé’s shoulders as she bent over. His hands moved from her waist to her back as she did her best to breathe through it. This was the first real contraction he was experiencing in person and part of her wanted to assure him that she was okay, it just really hurt. After the minute-long contraction came to an end, she looked up at him with a smile. “They’re going to see how dilated I am and then someone should be by for the epidural,” she said, turning around so he could tie the gown in the back. They then exited the bathroom and the redhead helped her into the hospital bed. A few more minutes passed and a nurse arrived to see how dilated she was. "You're at 4 centimeters, only 6 more to go," she explained with a smile adding that she'd go get the anesthesiologist if Camila wanted an epidural which she nodded in response to.

KJ: A string of questions were thrown at his mother on their way to the room Camila had been checked into -- the worry making him act like an addict who was eager to get his fix. The little voice in the back of his mind finally gave him peace when his brown eyes settled on his fiancée, a content sigh tumbling from his mouth when they both found solace with one another. "I'm here." he repeated, his voice quiet but firm, to reassure her of that fact. He had been so scared to not make it in time, to not be present for her just like she had been needing him to; and not having the joy to witness his daughter making her big debut into this world. With a nod, he followed Camila to the bathroom and carefully helped her out of the t-shirt she had been wearing -- the one that was supposedly his but she wore more than he ever did -- trying not to stare too hard at the bump that would soon disappear. "Our little angel." The emotion filling her eyes was matched in his own, a small grin etched on his features as he stared at the woman who had changed his life. Still so in awe of her person and the strength she exuded on the daily. The brunette slowly resumed his motions, getting rid of the rest of the clothes and wrapping her into the gown -- the powerful contraction that followed urging him closer. There was not much he could do, despite the need to, but he stood by her side and forced himself to be the kind of support system she was seeking. Swallowing his own fears and concerns. Time had slowed down, or at least it felt as such for KJ as they waited in the room afterward, the nurse coming along explaining how things would unfold. "How long does that usually take?" he questioned when she announced how many centimeters were left in order for them to proceed. "I know not everyone's the same, aye. But you could probably like give us an idea." His hold on Camila's hand tightened slightly as he looked her way with a small smile, reassuring her once more of his presence.

Cami: Watching the nurse’s face as KJ questioned how long it would take for Camila to get to 10 centimeters, she knew there was no real answer. Not even an idea of an answer to appease the redhead. “I’m afraid it’s hard to tell, some women progress rather quickly and for some, it can take hours,” she explained. “The anesthesiologist will be by soon and then I’ll be back in to check on how you’re progressing, in the meantime, you could try walking around the room to maybe speed up the process” she added with a soft smile, leaving the couple and her mother alone again. KJ’s hand was wrapped tight around her own and she brought it up to her mouth to press a kiss to it. “She’ll get here when she gets here, baby, there’s not much we can do about it,” she whispered, feeling surprisingly calm for the first time since her water had broken. Another contraction came and her hands tightened around her stomach, once it passed through her she lay back in the bed, taking a few deep breaths. “Is Papi on his way?” she asked her mother, hoping to distract herself from the pain. Her mother nodded, explaining he was on his way with KJ’s father and once she got the epidural they could each visit her one by one if she wanted them to. “Let’s try walking around the room while we wait,” she suggested, pushing herself up and taking KJ’s hands to guide herself off the bed. She knew that there wouldn’t be much walking happening after the epidural and at that point, she might want to take a nap, so this was the time to get up and active. Holding on tight to KJ’s hand and arm they slowly began to walk around the room as Camila practiced her breathing in between contractions as well as during them. They walked around for a good 20 minutes or so, pausing only when she would experience a contraction. The anesthesiologist still hadn’t come for the epidural so her mom went to go get her some water to drink which left the couple alone for the first time since he’d kissed her goodbye this morning.

KJ: There was an obvious disappointed expression painting itself on his face as the doctor gave him the kind of answer he had clearly not been waiting for -- yet had expected in some way. KJ had been a dutiful pupil during the pregnancy, reading carefully through the one book Camila had gotten for him as a present and she had swore would be easy enough for him to retain the most important information. Right as always, of course. But he had hoped their doctor could give them an inkling of the time they might have to spend in this room; she knew them better than a book that was bound to generalize most situations. He simply nodded to acknowledge the words she had uttered before directing his attention toward his fiancée once more when she addressed him. "I know, babe. It was worth a try though, aye." he chuckled with a sheepish smile before helping her out when it became clear she needed to do more than just lay around -- at least until the anesthesiologist would come along for the epidural. Thankfully the room was spacious enough for them to make long strides and not feel as if they were lions trapped in a cage. As her mother left minutes later in order to get Camila a bottle of water, the redhead leaned his body against the nearest wall; allowing his fiancée to rest her heavy frame upon his strong one. They had been pacing this space for over twenty minutes now and with how stressful the morning had been, they both deserved a little break. "Remember sex is pretty damn efficient, babe. I'd take you right now-- like this. Ain't ever seen you this sexy." he teased with a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth, his fingers tucking a damp strand of hair behind her ear while his thumb grazed along the pink tint adorning her cheek. "Ask me to get you preggo again. I betcha you're gonna want me to avoid cumming inside of you for a while." A soft laugh flew past his lips as he tilted her head to look into her eyes. Needing to see her smile in this moment.

Cami: As KJ leaned his body against the nearest wall, allowing Camila the chance to lean into him. The laugh that flew from her lips at his words was a welcomed sound in the space that they occupied. It felt good to laugh after the stress of the morning. “Sorry to disappoint, babe, but I think that window of opportunity has been closed. I appreciate you calling me sexy though,” she whispered, closing her eyes as he tucked a damp strand of hair behind her ear and let his thumb graze against her cheek. “We’re not having any more babies anytime soon,” she giggled again this time the smile on her face grew as he tilted her head to look into his eyes. “You’re crazy, Keneti,” she breathed out, gasping slightly as another contraction had her almost doubling over in front of him. “Fuck,” she called out, moaning in pain in response to the tightening in her stomach. “I need that epidural,” she whined, burying her face in her fiancé’s neck as her mother reentered the room. “I just spoke with the anesthesiologist in the hall, he’ll be right in,” the older woman spoke in a calming tone which was just what Camila needed right now. “You should keep walking around until he’s here because you won’t really be allowed out of bed after they give you the epidural,” her mother added, flashing a sympathetic smile KJ’s way. Camila gripped his hand and continued to pace the floor of the birthing suite. 10 minutes and one contraction later, a middle-aged man entered the room ready to administer the epidural. Making her way to the bed with KJ’s help, she pressed a quick kiss to his lips before they wheeled her off to the labor and delivery room down the hall. KJ followed beside her and her mom was behind them carrying Camila’s hospital bag. Once they were settled in the new room, the raven-haired girl sat straight up so they could put the epidural into her spine. She winced at the feeling of the needle, but other than that it was mostly painless in her opinion. The doctor explained that it would take about 20 minutes for the full effect to set in, but she should be good to go. Camila thanked him before laying back in the bed to help herself relax. 

KJ: It was without a doubt the best view he had gotten to witness all day, aside from very early that same morning when he had kissed Camila goodbye and her tired self had mumbled the three words that never failed to make his heart skip a beat. Seeing her smile at him right now, along with the laugh she had graced him with, almost made him forget exactly why they were here in the first place. "Damn. Can't believe I passed right by that window and didn't jump in." he muttered with an exaggerated frown, unable to hide the amusement still etched on his features. But like a blink of an eye, the sweet moment was cut short when another contraction hit her like a bowling strike -- fast and sharp. He was quick to hold her closer than previously, the hand lingering on the small of her back gently massaging the naked flesh he was able to get in contact with through the gown she was wearing. "It's gonna be fine, babe. You've heard your mum, aye. He'll be there soon and then things will be so much better." It all seemed rather futile as the words tumbled from his mouth in a comforting manner, but his fiancée seemed to appreciate them nonetheless. As another person stepped into the room after a dozen more back and forth strides, KJ carefully watched the way he attended to Camila -- staying alert in case she needed him to intervene. It somehow made him feel useful, to know there was a possibility she might need him for something. Anything. "Do you want a magazine? I could like check if they've got Cosmo or whatever other girly shit you like to read." he suggested, having caught sight of a kiosk ealier in the hallway they had gone through. "I was thinking of getting something for myself and your mum will be right here-- plus I ain't going far. You'll see me come back running to see firsthand your drugged self." He chuckled softly, the sound too contagious for her to resist. Just as he had planned. "Or I can stay with you. Tell me what you need, baby and it's yours."

Cami: The epidural was already starting to slowly settle into her system as soon as the doctor left the room. Camila couldn’t help the lazy smile she sent KJ’s way at his suggestion to find a magazine to help occupy her time. She stifled a yawn as he chuckled. “I might end up taking a nap, since I sure as hell won’t be sleeping during delivery,” she giggled, reaching out her hand to give his a squeeze. “Go find yourself something to eat and check in with our family,” she added with a smile, even though they weren’t all officially family just yet it felt like they’d all been one big happy family since the moment he’d asked her to be his wife and they’d found out she was pregnant. Camila was hopeful that after a nap, she’d be farther along in dilation and they could get Rachel, Lili, and Cole over to the hospital before Talia’s arrival. Now that her contractions were less intense thanks to the epidural, she’d be able to sleep for at least a couple of hours. Camila pulled his hand to her mouth, pressing a kiss to his knuckles before sending him on his way to get some food in his system and to check in with their family. Her mom appeared in the seat he had occupied, running her fingers through her daughter's hair and singing to her in a whisper just like she had when the raven-haired girl was a child and she’d woken up from a bad dream. Camila drifted off, scooting closer to one side of the bed so KJ could slide in behind her when he got back. Before they knew it, Talia would be gracing them with her presence and their whole worlds would be turned completely upside down. In these final quiet moments of their world being mainly the two of them, she wanted him as close to her as possible. 

KJ: Two sandwiches and a couple of snacks later, KJ had made his way back to Camila as quietly as possible — sliding in the bed she was laying upon with his hand instinctively settling on her belly. The months had passed them by and everything had seemed more real during that time, but not as much as in this moment. They were going to have a baby. A little human being who would seek their attention in a way nothing else ever had before; someone who was going to count on them no matter what. “Did you see your dad? He was looking for you.“ Lifting his head as the words reached his ears, he smiled at Camila’s mom and nodded, having seen the older male previously while he had been devouring a sandwich. “They went home to get me a change of clothes— I’m just not sure I’ll have time for that.“ The redhead was after all still dressed as Archie Andrews, but it was the least of his worries. His primary focus was Camila and their daughter — not the fact that this could literally be a scene taken straight out of an episode of Riverdale. A knock on the door made him jump slightly and carefully extracting himself from the embrace he was in, KJ got on his feet only to be greeted by the nurse that had been assigned to them and was nice enough to allow him to properly wake his fiancée up from her nap. “Hey, baby. The nurse is back.“ he whispered softly as he hovered above the bed, gently massaging her scalp and smiling when her eyes fluttered open — meeting his own tiredly. As they waited while she checked how dilated Camila was by now, hands clasped together tightly, he raised his eyebrows when she looked back at them with a wide grin; keeping quiet for a handful of seconds that seemed ever lasting. “Ready to have this baby?“ He scoffed lightly at the words, more surprised than anything before a grin of his own found place on his features. Brown eyes skimming back to Camila in acknowledgement of what was currently happening. This was it. The moment they had been waiting for. “Ready.”

Cami: She’d slept for at least two hours and it was now mid-afternoon. Waking up to the gentle sound of KJ’s voice brought a tired smile to her face. Camila felt his fingers gently massaging her scalp which relaxed her even more, but she perked up a bit when his words reached her brain. Sitting up in the bed, Camila moved her legs so the nurse could see how dilated she was now that she had slept for a couple of hours, clutching KJ’s hand tightly in anticipation. What the nurse revealed to them wasn’t what she had been expecting. The raven-haired girl had assumed the laboring process would’ve last longer, but to her surprise the nurse was grinning at the both of them and asking if they were ready to have this baby. A look of panic washed over Camila’s face as she sought out her mom. “It’s now or never meu amor,” she whispered, joining them at her side. Her face found KJ’s in that moment — dressed head to toe like Archie Andrews which made her laugh, her eyes sought out his and she nodded her head. “Ready,” she breathed out at the same time as the word fell from his lips. The nurse paged the doctor and other team members that would be helping in the delivery process. Tears formed in Camila’s eyes as she looked from her mom to her fiancé, “We’re going to meet our baby girl,” she whispered as they transitioned the bed into a birthing bed by removing the end. The doctor explained that they would try some practice pushes before the real thing, stating that when it was time they’d count to 10 during each push so she knew when to stop and taken a break. Camila’s mom propped up one of her legs as a nurse took the other. KJ stood right up by her head, holding her hand next to the nurse who had a hold of her leg. After a few practice pushes the doctor informed them it was time to begin. “When you feel a contraction you need to push, Cami,” she explained with a smile. Camila nodded her head and focused in on her breathing, gripping the sheet of the bed as she felt a contraction, bearing down with all of her strength as they encouraged her to push.

KJ: The emotions surrounding them took the best of him, tears pooling in his eyes as he leaned forward to press his forehead against the side of her head -- breathing in the comforting scent of the perfume she hadn't failed to put on despite the events of the day. KJ couldn't help but chuckle softly as it invaded his nostrils, appeasing him better than any medicine or pep talk ever could. There were many things that he wanted to say, but most of the words were caught up in his throat and unable to come out. Which is why he settled for simply being quiet and listening intently to the new people that had stepped into the room. He watched anxiously as everything started to unfold before his gaze; regrettably letting go of Camila's hand when the nurse moved his way but quickly reaching out for her once more as soon as she was in place. The hold on her hand strong and firm -- giving her all the support and strength she needed to give birth to their daughter. First came what they had deemed as practice pushes, although he didn't truly understand the need for them in the first place. Still, he kept quiet regarding the matter and focused on his fiancée; gauging her reaction to every new command or motion. Acting like the bodyguard she clearly didn't need but would nonetheless do anything for her. The next contraction came along and it took everything in him to stay put by her side. She seemed to be in so much pain from one push that he couldn't imagine having to go through this a dozen more times in order for Talia's little frame to come out. "You're doing great, babe." he tentatively uttered in a shaky breath, being as lost as he looked on how to proceed. "She'll be there in no time, aye. Just a few more like this and that'll be it-- right?" The last word was directed at her mom as he seeked some kind of reassurance that would not only help Camila but himself. But all she offered him was a tilt of her head before she spoke to her daughter once more. Shit.

Cami: When preparing for this day, Camila had read that the pressure she’d feel building up down there would still be painful even with the epidural and that was for sure the case right now. Even after just one push, she felt completely exhausted. When the doctor had counted to ten she laid back on the bed, sweat already building up on her chest and forehead. Her mom wiped at her head with a damp washcloth, brushing her hair behind her ear to comfort her. KJ’s nervous tone almost made her cry, knowing how worried he was. But then she felt the overwhelming need to push again and she didn’t feel so bad for him anymore. Gripping the sheet again and squeezing her fiancé’s hand tight, Camila pushed as hard as she could, closing her eyes as if that would make it feel better. After ten minutes of pushing and laying back in the bed, exhausted, the doctor told her they were starting to see their daughters head. It felt like she’d been pushing forever, but it also seemed to be flying by. One of the nurses asked if she wanted a mirror to see her daughter coming out, they added that this might encourage her to push harder when it started to wear her out, as if it wasn’t wearing her out already. Camila nodded her head and they brought a full length mirror not a second later. When she felt the urge to push again, they were all cheering her on to start getting Talia’s head out, she could see exactly what was going on as she kept her eyes open through the pushing. “This sucks, this sucks, this sucks,” she cried out. “I just want to be done, I can’t do this...” she whined, looking from KJ to her mom. She laid back on the bed before they’d even gotten to ten, gripping KJ’s hand. When he tried to encourage her she just grumbled at him. “Fuck you, you did this to meeee...” she groaned.

KJ: The time spent in the room felt endless as they went through the same motions relentlessly in hopes of witnessing Talia's head making her way out. Soothing words and an iron grip were all KJ could offer currently -- his eyes venturing from the doctor to his fiancée each time there was another push. Hoping deep down this would be the one that would finally allow them to move forward. Unfortunately for Camila, the minutes passed them by without any break through. The exhaustion etched on her beautiful features breaking his heart. "It's okay, baby. It's okay, you can do this. I've got you." he whispered in a defeated tone despite his best efforts to appear hopeful regarding their situation. Though he mostly felt like a liar with each sentence that flew past his lips. After what had felt like an eternity, their daughter felt inclined to acknowledge the fact that people were awaiting her arrival and decided to grace them with the top of her head; something he was able to witness along with the rest when a mirror was placed before Camila's lower body; the sight leaving him speechless. The redhead was torn between being so amazed at being able to see this little bundle of joy on her way to them and the fact that he was actually looking at a baby coming out of a vagina. His baby though, and that alone made all the difference. "No, no-- you're too close, babe. You can't give up now, she's right here." he frantically told her when she felt like giving up, squeezing her hand tighter to share more of his strength. The answer he got regarding his encouraging words was not expected, but it left a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. With a sharp laugh, KJ leaned forward close to her ear in order to give them more privacy, even if he was quite aware anyone in the room could hear them anyway. "Fucking you won't help much right now, babe. But in six weeks..." he trailed off, pressing his lips against her cheek before seeking her gaze. "Let's welcome our daughter, aye."

Cami: The laugh that fell from her fiancé’s mouth after she had cursed at him almost had her shooting daggers his way before he was leaning down in an attempt to whisper something to her. “Keneti!” she exclaimed, glancing over to her mother who had definitely heard what he had to say. Camila couldn’t be mad at him though when he was pressing his lips against her cheek and laughing like an idiot. A quiet chuckle escaped her own lips before she got serious again, looking into his eyes with a look of determination on her face. “Yes, let’s welcome our daughter,” she repeated, taking a deep breath before bearing down once more with all of her might. “Almost there, Cami, one more big push and her head will be out,” the doctor explained. One look at the mirror was all the inspiration Camila needed to bear down once more when she felt the urge to push. Everyone was cheering her on and even though it hurt, she knew that there would only need to be about five more minutes of pain for a lifetime of happiness with their baby. As she fell back against the bed to catch her breath, she looked at KJ with the biggest smile on her face. “We’re going to meet our baby,” she whispered, squeezing his hand as he helped her take a sip from her cup of water. Just a few minutes later the doctor was explaining that she’d probably be able to get their baby out with one final push. Soon enough there would be a little tiny version of herself and KJ laying on her chest. The thought brought tears to her eyes as she leaned forward to push one last time. Letting out a groan as she felt and watched their baby emerge completely from her safe and warm home for the last nine months, into this bright new world. “Oh my god, oh my god,” she cried as the doctor pulled Talia up to show her off. “It’s a girl!” she exclaimed, handing the screaming baby to a nurse to place on Camila’s bare chest. “Kaje, it’s our baby…” she whispered, wrapping her arms around the tiny little human squirming around on her chest.

KJ: He couldn't explain where such bold words had come from when her mom was literally right next to them, but it had felt right in that moment -- as if it was exactly what he needed to say in order to bring Camila back onto the right track. The atmosphere surrounding them had been so heavy for too long, and they needed that little spark once more. It warmed his soul to see her chuckle once she had gotten over the fact that her mother was present and the determined look on her face was everything he had hoped for. A promise she wouldn't give up when their future was within reach. As he looked up and met his mother in law's gaze, a deep blush crept his neck and spread across his cheeks; the embarrassment finally getting to him. Though he rapidly directed his attention back to his fiancée and willed his mind to focus on the one thing that mattered the most. It was as if a new breath of life had surged through her as she pushed yet again; giving it her all until a powerful cry made the world stop altogether. The redhead could only look on as a tiny human being was held up, his heart hammering against his chest the way it usually did for the one person it was beating for. Never in his life had he seen such perfection -- seemingly so fragile and small as she was comfortably settled on Camila's chest. He was almost afraid of getting too close, of doing something that could hurt her in any way. "It's our baby." he finally breathed out as a tear came running down his cheek, others following suit before he wiped them away with a quiet laugh. "You've got one job, dad. Here-- take this." KJ was caught off guard by the nurse addressing him until he was holding the scissors in his hand, remembering what had to be done. Despite the nerves, the process was easy and quick -- soon enough all that was left was to properly greet their little girl. And he did just as such as he leaned forward and brushed his fingers over the dark hair on her head. "Welcome to the world, Talia Lua Apa."

Cami: Looking from KJ to the tiny human on her chest, Camila’s eyes flooded with tears as she watched one silent tear fall from the redhead's eyes, many more following suit. “Our baby…” she whispered, running her finger across their daughter's features, admiring everything about her. The look of pride on her fiancé’s face as he cut the cord made her heart swell and soon enough he was properly greeting their little angel. Hearing her full name out loud for the first time and watching as KJ brushed his fingers over the dark hair on her head, Camila felt completely on top of the world. Everything leading up to this moment had been worth it, it was truly the hardest thing Camila had ever done, but it had given her this precious life to take care of for the rest of her life. The raven-haired girl's mother had taken a step back to let the happy couple enjoy this special moment with their daughter, but she made her way back over once things seemed to have settled down. “Hey mama, meet your neta,” Camila whispered, using the Portuguese word for granddaughter to introduce the two. Watching her own mom reach out her hand to hold Talia’s little one made Camila’s heart soar even more. She could already tell that introducing Talia to their friends and family was going to be so exciting. A nurse reluctantly reappeared to interrupt the sweet moment, “The doctor needs to get your daughter cleaned up and you stitched up,” she explained to which Camila nodded her head and looked over at KJ as they took Talia from her chest. “I love you,” she whispered, puckering her lips so he would lean over for a kiss before following the nurses with Talia. Camila’s mother stayed by her side as the doctor checked for tearing and began to work on stitching her up explaining that the stitches would dissolve in one to two weeks.

KJ: There was nothing else in this world that mattered more as he kept on gently trailing his fingers along her scalp, marveling at just how soft and tiny she appeared to be. His hand almost as big as her little head. Love at first sight wasn't foreign to him -- it was only fitting that such event had happened with the two girls he was currently looking at. While Camila introduced Talia to her mother, he used his free hand to softly tuck the damp strands of hair behind her ear; the exhaustion still present on her features although there was an undeniable glow that widened the smile etched on his lips. Happiness had never looked so good on a person before. He was almost tempted to ask for more time together when the nurse came along to take Talia away, but held himself back from sounding too needy. They would get their moment soon enough, but that didn't mean he had to stay away altogether. Pulling back to follow them, he quickly looked back at his fiancée and gave her a firm nod -- a silent promise that he would make sure she was in good hands. "I love you." he whispered in kind, a lingering peck following suit before he left her side. It was with arms crossed, making his frame even more impressive, that the redhead kept watch over the numerous tasks the nurses were assigned to regarding his daughter; ignoring the teasing words thrown his way for taking this so seriously. Once he was certain she would find her way back to Camila, he swiftly walked out of the room and to the waiting area to find their loved ones either pacing or talking amongst themselves. "Waiting for someone?" he asked playfully, a deep chuckle rumbling in his throat as he was tackled from every side with so many questions. "Cami's good and the baby too. She's just-- beautiful, aye. So perfect." There was no shame in how smitten he already was and from the looks of it, despite not meeting her yet, they all felt the same way. "We're gonna take some time together first and then we'll come get you."

Cami: Watching as KJ followed the nurses, arms crossed, already being the most protective dad ever, Camila couldn’t help but smile. This was a role he was truly born to play and she was so thankful to have a part in it with him. The stitching up didn’t take too long and before she knew it, KJ had left to go announce Talia’s arrival to their friend and family in the waiting room while her mom also slipped out. The nurses placed Talia in a little baby bed and whisked both off them off to the birthing suite where Camila had been only a few hours before when her daughter was still inside of her and the world hadn’t looked as bright. Now there was this tiny little beaming light in her life that she swore to protect every day. Once they were settled in the room, a nurse placed Talia in Camila’s waiting arms letting her know that in an hour or so a lactation consultant would be in to help her nurse. The raven haired girl thanked her and then sat quietly with her daughter while they waited for KJ to return. She would’ve been lying if she’d said she wasn’t exhausted, but there was also this random burst of energy within her after that final push when their daughter had entered the world. Looking down at her daughter with tired eyes, she pressed a kiss to her smooth forehead, so thankful that she was finally here. When KJ entered the room, there was this look of pure love on his face that made her heart melt. “Look Tal, your daddy’s back,” she whispered, propping the baby up in her arms so her fiancé could get a good look at her. “I think it’s time he holds you in those big strong arms of his, what do you think baby girl?” she added with a smile, leaning forward to offer the little girl up into his arms and reaching for her phone at her bedside to take a video and some pictures.

KJ: After departing from the waiting area, KJ had stopped by the gift shop and gotten a small teddy bear that Talia could probably hold onto -- something that would watch over her just as much as her parents would. A souvenir of this memorable day that was her birth. Knuckles raking along the surface of the door when he reached the suite they had occupied earlier, he popped his head in with a bright grin; brown eyes settling on the heartfelt sight of Camila holding their daughter. "Missed me?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow playfully before slowly separating the distance between them. The bear hidden behind his back. Daddy. The word had been used in many different circumstances that were far from innocent, but right now it had another meaning altogether. This little human being that had been brought into the world would one day call him as such and he already couldn't wait to hear it from her. When his fiancée urged him to take Talia into his arms, the redhead finally revealed the present he had grabbed earlier -- chuckling softly as he let it plop down onto Camila's lap before reaching carefully for their daughter. Every motion was done in slow motion and for a brief moment, he held his breath; gauging her reaction while he held her close to his chest. Eyes full of wonder and joy. "She's really a mini you, aye. Look at her-- so beautiful. Am I doing okay? I ain't hurting her like that, right?" KJ couldn't help but be fearful of doing the wrong thing, though there was nonetheless an ease that washed over him as he kept her in his arms. Soon enough, it felt as if he had done this his entire life. As if his arms had been made for this precise moment. "If you scoot over a little bit, we could join you on the bed." he suggested, taking his eyes away from Talia for the first time ever since she had been placed in his arms. The expression crossing his features blatantly showing just how much love and gratitude he held for his fiancée. The mother of his child.

Cami: As KJ finally revealed whatever he was clutching behind his back, Camila couldn’t help the smile on her face as the teddy bear landed in her lap. “Daddy brought you your first present, baby girl,” she cooed, stroking Talia’s cheek as she placed the baby in the redhead's arms. As he gently took her in his arms with so much love and care, Camila could feel her heart bursting at the sight of her two favorite humans together for the first time. As he held their daughter close to his chest, Camila noticed he still had not changed out of his Archie Andrews clothes from being on set earlier in the day. “I hope you haven’t wreck Archie’s clothes,” she giggled, watching as he didn’t take his eyes off of Talia. It was so sweet to watch him look at their little girl who was already such a perfect mixture of the two of them. “A mini-me? You think so?” she whispered with as her cheeks turned rosy from blushing at his compliment. No matter how many times he told her she was beautiful it always reminded her of the first time and she always blushed. “You’re doing great, baby,” she replied when his voice turned just a little bit panicky. “She’s so safe in your arms,” she added, taking a few more pictures, reminding herself to share them with their family later on. At his next suggestion, Camila slowly moved over, taking her time because she was still sore from the events of the morning and afternoon. “You mean I get to cuddle my two babies?” she gasped, smiling as he finally looked up from Talia to glance at her. As KJ carefully sat down beside her, Camila leaned her head on his shoulder as Talia looked up at both of them, her eyes were moving all over because newborns weren’t really able to focus until they were at least 2 or 3 months old. She almost looked a little cross-eyed which made Camila giggle. “My cuties,” she breathed out, leaning forward to press a kiss to Talia’s cheek and then one to KJ’s. The raven-haired girl pulled out her phone again to take a few selfies of the three of them before putting it away to enjoy a moment of silence with her little family. “This is truly the best day of my life,” she whispered, looking at KJ with tears in her eyes.

KJ: As Camila shuffled on the bed where she was currently resting, allowing enough room for him to slip in, he did just as such — slowly sitting down on the mattress with Talia still fitting perfectly in his arms. She had been crying like a champion earlier but had been pretty quiet ever since; only soft sounds tumbling from her mouth as she got accustomed to the world surrounding her. “Already a legend, aye.” he whispered, eyes fluttering closed for a brief second as his fiancée’s lips found their way to his cheek. Never had he felt this content in life. With both of his loves as they shared the kind of moment they had talked about so many times during the pregnancy. When everything would finally fall into place and their little family would be complete — at least for the time being. KJ couldn’t help but chuckle to himself at the thought of bringing up the idea of more kids when the experience was still so fresh. Especially for Camila. Not that it would prevent him to joke about it at some point during the day. Though right now all he wanted to do was to bask in the most amazing thing that had ever happened to him. The words she spoke prompted his brown eyes to meet her own; filled with so much adoration amidst the dampness. “Mine too. But it’s only the beginning, babe.” Finding her lips, the redhead softly kissed her, brushing their lips in lazy motions before drawing her closer against his side as he wrapped his arm around her form. There was nowhere else he wished to be as the three of them embraced each other without a care in the world — turning a page in order to reach the next chapter of their lives together.

[trashinaglass-archive]

Dorks

Request: so, my point is: reader is the new actress in ffh cast and looks all tough, is tall and even the way she dress is badass, tom is kinda afraid to talk with her but then one day he spots a star wars tatoo on her wrist (the resistance symbol if that's okay) and then he's nervous but makes the first move and then she starts to ramble about how she loves movies and tv shows, she's actually a nerd and a big dork, not what tom thought of her at all. could you write it please? thank you <3

A/n: Confession, I’ve never seen Star Wars (and I’ve never seen Harry Potter) so I don’t know what the resistance symbol is or what it stands for, but we just gonna roll with it😂

Adding this gif bc the only thing I know about Star Wars is lightsabers

“Look at that chick,” Jacob said as he and Tom sat at the table at catering. Jon had told them they hired some extra cast, but he didn’t mention he hired someone that could literally be the real-life Black Widow.

“She could kick my ass in more ways than I’d like to know,” Tom said as he watched you walk around the room. You wore a simple white tank top under a leather jacket with ripped jeans and heeled boots. “And she just looked this way. Perfect,” Tom turned around real quick as he saw you look toward him and Jacob. You smiled and made your way to him.

“Hey, guys,” you said, setting your plate on the table and sitting down across from the boys. “I’m y/n. Been working on set for a while, but we’ve never actually met.” You looked between the two boys waiting for one of them to speak.

“Um, yeah. Sorry,” Jacob spoke up. “We’re just super busy, you know. Ned and Peter.”

“What about you, tough guy?” You asked. Everyone gushed about how sweet Tom is and you couldn’t imagine his silence was normal.

“Sorry?” He asked.

“So he does speak,” you said, making Tom laugh nervously.

“Sorry, I uh- I just have some scenes after this that I’m going over in my head.”

You nodded your head before licking your lips. “We’ve wrapped for the day,” you reminded him.

“Yeah! Yeah, no. I know, I meant for tomorrow. After this- tomorrow,” he spoke quickly trying to cover his ass.

“If you don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine,” you said, lifting your hands in surrender. “I won’t force my friendship on anyone, Peter Parker.”

“Is that a Star Wars tattoo?” He asked, noticing the ink on your wrist. You turned to look at it as he mentioned it. You’ve had it for so long, sometimes you forget that it’s there.

“Yeah, the resistance symbol. I got when I turned eighteen,” you explained. “I grew up on Star Wars- I love it so I wanted to have a piece of it with me forever.”

“That’s sick. So do you like all the movies, the new takes and films? Or are you straight classics?”

“I like them all. I think it’s really cool to introduce all these new characters. My brother hates it- he’d rather see Yoda and Leia and Darth Vader, but I think Rey and Finn and Kylo Ren are just such cool characters. And none of them are copying any other characters, they’re unique which I really appreciate. I mean you can’t ever replace or do better than the original- that’s what started it all, but I think there’s always room to build from them, you know?” You paused, realizing the rant you just went on, and gave an embarrassed laugh. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to ramble.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re passionate, I think that’s adorable.”

“Thanks,” You said as you looked down at your tattoo and lightly rubbed over it with your thumb, a little blush arising on your cheeks. “What about you? Any tattoos?”

“Yeah, actually. I’ll save you the rant, but it’s kind of the same story- I grew up watching Spider-Man, loved it, and eventually became him so I got a little spider tattoo on the bottom of my foot as a sort of ode to the character.”

“That’s pretty cute,” you told him before turning to Jacob. “Any tattoos?” You asked, wanting him to join in on your tattoo-film talk.

“No, I don’t,” he told you, making you snap in disappointment. “Sorry. I’ve just never had the drive to get one.”

“I can understand that. I feel like it takes a certain kind of crazy person to get tattooed.”

“Why do you say that?” Tom asked you, intrigued with your personality.

“Intentionally asking someone to stab you with a needle- sometimes multiple needles- hundreds of times just to get a picture on your skin? Gotta be a little coo-coo for that, if you ask me.”

“I think of it more as a necessary evil,” Tom said with a shrug. “I mean I don’t think people go in asking for the pain, they just know it’s something they have to get through for the end result.”

“Sounds fair,” You said with a shrug. You turned as some crew began advising y’all go home for the night. “I guess that’s the cue. I’ll see you later, Peter and Ned.” You stood up from your seat, ready to walk away when Tom stopped you.

“Can I have your number?” He asked quickly.

“And what do I get out of that?” You asked, a smirk on your face.

“Conversations with the most eligible bachelor of London,” he joked, gesturing to himself.

“How could I pass that up?” You laughed. Tom pulled his phone out, opening it to the contacts page and handing it to you. You put your number and added your name to the top with a little kissy emoji next to it.

Handing the phone back to him, you smiled and waved. “Don’t be a stranger. Bye, Jacob.”

“Bye, y/n!” Jacob called after you. He waited until you were out of earshot to talk again. “You two are definitely getting married.”

“What?” Tom nervously laughed.

“She’s hot, you’re hot. You’re both dorks. It’s like a match made in heaven,” he explained. “Just don’t forget to make me best man. I did kind of just introduce you, you know.”

“Jacob, you spoke to her when she approached us. You didn’t introduce us,” he chuckled at his friend.

“Exactly. Basically the same thing. I gotta go- have fun talking to the hot, badass girl.”

“I will, believe me.”

Did my Star Wars rant sound believable? I just looked up some character and went with it

[snakewives]

Okay but like Stranger Tides AU

So everyone has their Golden Age of Piracy AU and listen I get it. I need Crowley swinging down as a pirate as she rips open the corset of Aziraphale to save her from drowning ala that scene from Curse of the Black Pearl. 

HOWEVER  Pirate Crowley and Aziraphale will come later bc right now I can’t get ineffable wives based off Stranger Tides out of my head. Stranger Tides was trash but honestly had one thing going for it and it was that mermaid and the priest subplot.  - Crowley is the mermaid/siren here although honestly it works both ways.

- I mean Crowley as a priest losing her faith (or rather finding it in someone else) is V Good. Plus in case you haven’t seen it - that ending with the two of them:(”Forgive me?” LORD) but for the purposes of this post I’m going to keep it to one AU at a time. 

- Aziraphale is the (nun I guess? Lady of the cloth) serving on a voyaging boat of the Royal Navy for REASONs. She would have been killed when they (demons-as-pirates) captured the first ship she was on, but hey wouldn’t you know she’s a bit of a bookworm and can translate some of these older maps and texts their touting around trying to find this hidden treasure. So for the time being she’s valuable but she’s also a captive now of the pirates, helping them find this fountain of youth. 

- They know they need the tears of a siren to get to the fountain and book it to this location that Aziraphale was able to parse out from the maps. 

- Anyways I said she was on this ship for reasons but honestly it’s cause her mother superior knew she was a bit of the odd one out and wasn’t all that great at falling into line.  - So they tell her to go on this mission, spread the good word (I know none of this aligns historically all this will be backed up with research later when it’s not nearly midnight and I’m three ciders in)

- anyways until the pirates captured her she was honestly just fretting over whether or not she was doing the right thing (and tbh, maybe a little bored) bc if she’s not at home with her fellow sisters than who she is.  - Like the whole reason the priest leaves for a voyage in the movie is bc he thinks he’ll find his faith again through the sea and wind but he ends up finding it in his love and if that doesn’t describe a theme of these two I mean really

- Anyways so they get to this lagoon where the sirens are supposed to be & Aziraphale isn’t sure what to believe yet, she’s a woman of faith but sea monsters are another thing entirely but she’s also seen things on this journey. Things like strange pirates with seemingly cursed bodies and magic items passed amongst the hands of the crew and she knows the Lord works in mysterious ways. but she doesn’t really want to think too hard on it. 

- Just like she’s trying not to think too hard on other things. 

- She’s left in a little boat off to the side of the lagoon (the pirates have been cruel but honestly they sort of leave her alone and it’s almost like a weird comfort of being back in the nunery where if she didn’t speak than no one would give her grief and it was just a fine, lonely, quiet existence)

- and while they’re sailing through those quite waters she sees something in the fog and just as it draws close enough for her to make out what it is it disappears.

- only for the shape of a person to appear right along side her off the edge of the boat and the only warning she gets is “Well YOU don’t fit the profile of the typical sailor.” - cue Siren!Crowley just hanging out and Aziraphale stunned/awed/internally gay panicking at this women/creature/God’s Gift just leaning on her little boat within touching distance. - Crowley just finds her amusing but also interesting bc what’s someone like her doing all the way out here. 

- They find out some curious things about one another in their short introduction.  - Like how Crowley is a siren and yes she does tempt men to their dooms but it’s just a job all right? Or rather, more in her nature. Supposedly. She brings up how it’s in men’s nature to be gluttonous and greedy, coming to the lagoon to steal things that don’t belong to them.  - Aziraphale doesn’t know if she agrees but she knows within minutes that this conversation, this ease, is a missing piece she’s been looking for. 

- they have one conversation along the edge of that boat and though she knows she should be wary, knows that all the pirates say how sirens drag men down to the depth of the ocean, Aziraphale doesn’t feel as scared as she should be. She doesn’t really feel scared at all.  - even when the Siren gazes back with stunning, bright, yellow eyes with pupils more akin to a snake - of course it’s right after they have their chat that all this goes to SHIT bc the pirates come upon them and capture Crowley and are amazed Aziraphale was still alive.  - Aziraphale hopes they’re going to release the siren right away but Crowley hears they need a tear and is just “fuck you, it ain’t happening” - So the whole gang now is on their way bc of course the pirates!demons just figure they can make it work when they get to the fountain.  - Archangels are the Royal Navy in this but I gotta hash it out later.  - Anyways the events of the movie would play out somewhat similarly with Aziraphale gaining more confidence along the journey esp. when it comes to defending Crowley.  - and of course growing closer with her along the way. They’re from two opposite worlds and they shouldn’t trust each other but they DO ANYWAYS Anyways this is going to be split into a second post to map out before the fic comes bc this is too damn long. 

[blxckdamask]

Second fic bc my last one did surprisingly well.

Bakudeku angst with a lil fluff at the end. dont know how to write a synopsis so yall are just gonna have to read it.

word count: 4650 

Katsuki’s day was going pretty well so far. He had a day off so he caught up on housework, reorganising his and Izuku’s wardrobe, watched that new tv show he was meaning to watch and even managed to squeeze in grocery shopping with some time to relax.

It was currently 6pm and Izuku should’ve been home half an hour ago. Katsuki was starting to worry. Izuku always called him when he was going to be late, he had since they were younger and it was a habit that stuck, so him being thirty minutes late without a word had Katsuki mildly irritated and majorly worried.

Katsuki shot him a quick text asking where he was and put his phone on the coffee table just in case Izuku decides to call him. Izuku had a habit of texting back quickly, a habit that sometimes got on Katsuki’s nerves because he can never get out what he wants to say without his husband interrupting half way through with some stupid response, but in times like these he needed his husband to respond right away saying he was okay.

Katsuki checks his phone every minute, getting angrier every time. He had to physically restrain himself from blasting a hole in their new couch. He sighed angrily and ran a shaking hand through his spiky hair. Where the fuck is he?  

Another hour passes before Katsuki’s phone starts to ring. He grabbed it so fast he almost sent it across the living room. He doesn’t bother to check the caller ID before answering the call.

“Shitty nerd, where the fuck are you!? I’ve been worrying for an hour and a half and I swear to god if you aren’t home in the next ten minutes I’m going to blast your ass into next week, mark my fucking words Deku!” Katsuki screamed into the phone regretting it instantly when he heard soft whimpers and something that sounded suspiciously close to a sob on the other end.

“K-kacchan, c-can you-” Izuku groaned in pain “-can you pick m-m-me up ple-” a blood curdling scream ripped through Izuku’s throat and it made Katsuki’s blood boil. He didn’t know what was happening to Izuku and god did he want to murder the fuck out of the people that did this to him, but right now he had to focus on getting his husband home safe.

“Izuku, fuck, I’m gonna be there real soon, tell me where you are okay? Just hold on for me please” Katsuki said frantically, he heard Izuku tell him the address and before he could process what he was doing, he was jumping off the couch and grabbing his keys. He stayed on the phone, his ears focusing on the cries, whimpers and screams of his love. He didn’t bother putting a shirt or shoes on and at this rate he didn’t really care about breaking a few laws.

“Kacchan I-I need you t-t-t-to get here fast I d-don’t-t know where this b-b-blood is c-coming from. Oh god there’s so-so much” Izuku gasped in pain and Katsuki could hear him struggling to breathe, that only fueled him to go faster.

“Hang on baby, I’m on my way I’ll be there really really soon, just breathe. Take deep breaths with me okay?” Katsuki breathed in dramatically, smiling slightly when he heard Izuku do the same, he exhaled slowly, coaxing his husband to do the same.

After two or so minutes of helping Izuku breathe, he pulled up to where he was. An abandoned building on the outskirts of town, how Izuku ended up there was a mystery and not the most important thing on Katsuki’s to-do list but he made a mental note to ask him about it when he wasn’t on the brink of fucking dying.

Katsuki exited his car, regretting not putting on shoes because he immediately stepped on a piece of glass. He cursed loudly, his foot throbbing but he pushed the pain to the side, he can deal with it after. He walked rather quickly through the dark building, thanking god it was only one storey. He was still on the phone to Izuku, the noises Katsuki heard would probably haunt him forever, the screams, cries, sobs, all of it was making Katsuki sick to his stomach.

“Izuku, I’m here, tell me where you are, scream out I don’t care just tell me where you are please” Katsuki was hysterical at this point, running around like a chicken with no head, frantically trying to find his no doubt dying husband.

“I’m at the end of the hall just keep w-walking and you will find me just please-” a groan “-quickly” Izuku rasped. He hung up. Tears pricked Katsuki’s eyes as he picked up his pace, sprinting down the horror movie esque hallway. He ran for about three minutes before he saw Izuku. He sprinted towards him and dropped to his knees in front of him.

“Jesus Christ Izu,” Katsuki started, his eyes wandering to the array of injuries littering his husband’s body. His hero costume was shredded, his hair was all over the place, his arm was clearly broken and there was so much blood Kasuki didn’t know how many wounds he had, “holy fuck, what the fuck happened?” Katsuki asked although he wasn’t really expecting an answer.

“K-k-kacchan please i-it hurts s-s-so bad” Izuku gasped. His face was so sore from god knows how many injuries, his arms hurt, his abdomen was burning with white hot pain that almost made him pass out, and his head pounded so hard he thought his head was going to explode.

Katsuki gritted his teeth. “I know it does baby, I know, just hold on a little longer, we gotta get you the fuck outta here.” Katsuki moved quickly but with caution. He hooked an arm under Izuku’s knees and an arm around his waist, picking him up bridal style. Izuku gasped in pain and Katsuki winced, he’d apologise later.

“‘M sleepy Kacchan” Izuku slurred, the pain and exhaustion from trying to stay conscious hitting him all at once, the blood loss probably wasn’t helping either.

“I know but stay awake, Izu. Keep those eyes open c’mon” Katsuki said struggling to get out of the building as fast as he could without disrupting any of his husband’s injuries.

“K-kacchan,” Izuku whispered, his head falling to rest on Katsuki’s bare shoulder, “I love you”

“I love you too, Deku.” Katsuki replied looking down to see Izuku’s eyes start to shut, “Stay awake, c’mon a couple more minutes then you can sleep, I promise” He felt Izuku nod against his shoulder and he lent down to press a soft kiss on his forehead.

They finally made it outside without Izuku falling asleep. Katsuki ran to his car and opened the back door. He maneuvered the man in his arms so he could lay him down across the back seat. Once he was secured, Katsuki closed the door and raced the the driver’s side. He jumped in, turned on the car and sped down the highway towards the hospital. He held Izuku’s hand the entire way making sure he didn’t fall asleep.  

“Just a little more, Izuku. You’re doing so great, we’re almost there” Katsuki squeezed Izuku’s hand softly waiting a couple of seconds before he felt Izuku squeeze back weakly. Katsuki turned his head to look at the injured man, only to see him asleep. Katsuki swore under his breath and sped up, not really caring if he was breaking about all of the road rules, fucking give him a ticket he doesn’t give a shit the only thing he cares about is making sure his fucking husband stays alive.

—–

Once they made it to the hospital, Katsuki ran into the hospital with a limp Izuku in his arms, screaming at the top if his lungs that someone needs to help him. The almost lifeless body being cradled in his arms, the screaming and the dramatic entrance seemed to alert quite a few staff members.  About eight doctors and nurses crowded around the heros and before Katsuki could even comprehend what was going on, a nurse was taking Izuku from his arms and almost throwing him on a gurney wheeling him away. Katsuki tried to run after it but a forceful hand on his chest stopped him.

“Sir, you need to take a seat someone will be with you as soon as they can” a younger looking doctor said calmly, his hand not moving from its place on Katsuki’s bare chest. Katsuki glared at him.

“If you know what’s best for you, you’d quit touching me” Katsuki growled and the doctor quickly took his hand off his chest, muttering a quick apology.

“Please, sir you need to calm down and come with me, he’s going to be okay” the doctor tried again, more forceful this time. Katsuki ran a bloody hand through his hair but complied and followed the doctor. The room he was lead into was pretty plain. A few seats, some fucking pot plants and a tv playing some shitty reality show. Katsuki rolled his eyes and huffed.

“When can I see him?” Katsuki asked, his voice rough and forceful. The doctor sighed and turned towards him.

“Like I said before, someone will see you soon and tell you everything but right now, you need to take a seat. Now, what is the patient’s name and what is your relation to him?” The doctor said looking down at the clipboard in his hand, obviously not in the mood to deal with temperamental people at this hour.

“De-fuck, Izuku Bakugou. He’s my husband.” Katsuki finally answered, sitting down on a chair closest to the door. He looked down at the ground and remembered his foot still had glass in it and was currently bleeding onto the carpet.

“Thank you. I just need your name and I’ll send someone in as soon as i can” the doctor said, not looking up from his clipboard.

“What the fuck do you mean you need my name!? I’m the fucking number 2 hero! You should know me!”Katsuki yelled, his temper getting the better of him.

“Sir, I don’t care what your occupation is, I need your name or I’ll have to call security”

Katsuki sighed dramatically, “Katsuki Bakugou.” The doctor looked up from his clipboard and flashed the hero a smile before dashing out of the room. Katsuki sighed. He needs to tell someone. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled Uraraka’s number. It rang three times before she picked up.

“Hey, Katsuki! What’s up?” Her cheerful voice came through the speaker, calming Katsuki’s nerves a small bit.

“H-hey Cheeks. Um, fuck, Deku is in the hospital and he, um, isn’t looking too good” Katsuki managed to choke out, his eyes starting to well up with tears. The adrenalin wearing off and all of the exhaustion and emotion hitting him at once.

“What!?”, he had to pull his phone away from his ear in fear of becoming deaf with how loud she screamed, “What the fuck do you mean Deku is in the hospital?”

“I mean he’s in the fucking hospital, damn woman learn how to fucking listen. He got really fucked on a small one day mission and now he’s at the hospital” Katsuki said, the bite in his voice not really present as he was trying to hold back tears. He didn’t cry very often if at all but he deemed this situation to be a pretty reasonable excuse.

Ochako gasped. “What happened? How did you find him? Did you call Inko?” her questions came at rapid speed, Katsuki had to take several moments to figure out what she actually said before he answered her.

“I don’t know what happened he was bleeding out and I didn’t get the chance to ask him since I was more focused on making sure my husband didn’t fucking die in an abandoned fucking building!” Katsuki screamed, alerting some patients and people in the waiting room but he didn’t care, he was too angry to care. He did, however, regret his tone when he heard soft sobs coming from the phone. “Ochako, I’m, fuck, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to yell at you. Shitty Deku getting himself almost killed is a lot to take in right now.”

Ochako sighed. “I know and I’m sorry you even have to go through this. Have you gotten any updates from the doctors?”

“No, we got here about ten minutes ago and then a shitty doctor told me to wait in an empty room which is starting to creep me the fuck out” Katsuki replied, a soft smile appearing on his face when he heard a small giggle coming from the phone.

“Do you want me to be there? It’s fine if you don’t want me to, I just don’t like the thought of you being alone.” Ochako asked, even though she sounded like she was begging Katsuki to let her come. Katsuki sighed and ran a hand down his face, leaving a trail of blood.

“Fine, but on your way can you bring me some clothes, I’m kinda only in pants right now.” Katsuki said, his face heating up with embarrassment. He heard Ochako giggle.

“Okay. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes. See you soon” Ochako hung up before Katsuki could thank her. He sighed and put his phone back into his pocket. As if on queue, a nurse walked through the door, a bright, obviously fake, smile plastered on her face.

“Alright sir, if you could come with me that would be great” she said before exiting the room. Katsuki didn’t think he could get out of a chair faster than he did. He jogged out of the room, trying to keep up with her with his injured foot. The hospital was pretty quiet considering, the only sounds being the noises from the machines and the loud talking of nurses. He felt a bit calmer now.

“Can I see him?” Katsuki asked, his voice was small and frail. He didn’t want to rush the poor nurse that looked like she’d dealt with one too many assholes today and Katsuki didn’t want to make her day any harder than it had to be, so he kept his normal loudness to a very minimum.

She turned to him when they reached the elevator and flashed him a smile. “You can see him now. He’s sleeping now but he should wake up soon” the elevator dinged and the doors opened. They stepped in and the nurse pressed the button for the fourth floor. Katsuki averted his eyes from her and looked straight ahead, his mind going a mile a minute. Katsuki heard the nurse gasp. He turned to her to see her looking at his injured foot, her eyes wide.

“Oh gosh! Your foot is bleeding. Are you okay?” she asked, her voice full of so much concern Katsuki was taken aback.

“Uh, yeah it’s just a bit of glass, I’ll be fine” he said, trying to sound confident, but in reality, his foot hurt really bad.

“Oh no sweetie, you need that looked at. I’ll send a doctor to the room as soon as we get there.” she said and the elevator doors opened.

“So what happened to him” Katsuki questioned, folding his arms across his chest. The nurse stopped in front of a room, the door was shut, making Katsuki feel uneasy.

“He has minor head trauma, his left wrist is broken, his right wrist was sprained and he has a stab wound in his right side, just above his kidney, not to worry it didn’t harm any organs. Fortunately, most of the blood wasn’t his. There is one question a couple of the doctors had. Do you know if your husband has or had any history of mental illness?” Katsuki swore he stopped breathing for a moment. Izuku having a mental illness would be completely reasonable but he would tell him about it, right?

Katsuki inhaled deeply. “Not that I know of, why?” the nurse gave him a sympathetic look. She hesitantly placed a hand on Katsuki’s arm, making him tense up but his mind was way too preoccupied with the fact that this woman just asked if Izuku was mentally fucking incapacitated.

“We ask you this because when the nurses were cutting his clothing, they found his arms riddled with scars and we feared they might be self inflicted” the nurse avoided eye contact, almost looking afraid. The blonde chuckled.

“Nah they aren’t. He scars really easily and because we’re heros, he gets injured a fuckton. Don’t worry he isn’t self harming, although he does have really bad anxiety if you need to know” Katsuki said, his voice light. The nurse smiled a genuine smile before removing her hand. She opened the door and gestured for Katsuki to walk in.

Katsuki froze not even fully through the door, his eyes fixed on the man in front of him. Izuku looked peaceful as he slept but he looked different to when he’s fall asleep beside Katsuki. Besides the obvious fact that they were in a hospital and he looked beat up, he looked as if something was bothering him, like the mission was still happening, just in his head this time. His eyebrows were knitted together and his forehead was creased. Katsuki finally got his legs to work and walked towards the right side of the bed.

“I’ll give you some time alone. Is anyone else coming?” the nurse brought his attention back to her as he sat down on a chair next to the bed.

“Um his, um, our friend is coming she should be here in like five minutes” Katsuki said as he grabbed Izuku’s hand in his own carefully, rubbing his knuckles with the pad of his thumb.

“Okay she needs to be quick though, visiting hours are up in thirty minutes. You can stay since you’re family but she has to leave, sorry.” the nurse said, giving Katsuki one final smile before exiting, closing the door behind her.

Katsuki looked down at his husband. The tears that threatened to fall before, finally falling down his face. He didn’t wipe them away, he didn’t care who saw him like this, he was just to fucking happy Izuku wasn’t dead. He brought his and Izuku’s hands to his mouth, pressing a soft kiss against the back of Izuku’s scarred hand. He heard the door open but he didn’t look away from the green haired man laying in front of him. “Hey. I got your clothes. How’s he doing?” he heard Ochako say.

He looked up at her. “Thanks. Um, he has a broken wrist, a concussion and a stab wound but the nurse said he’s gonna be fine.” he said, his voice was cracking with every word. He looked broken, more broken than Ochako had ever seen him before. She walked closer to him almost scared of what he’d do to her.

In all honesty, Katsuki was way too tired and emotional to even think of doing anything bad to her. The brave, confident face he wore everyday was replaced with the face of a broken child. The tears that cascaded down his face, he didn’t wipe off, he didn’t even acknowledge them. Wet spots started to appear on his pants and Ochako was genuinely concerned as to why this got to Katsuki so much. He’d seen Izuku in worse situations, taken him to the hospital more times than she could count and watched him get thrown around like a ragdoll on more than one occasion and he never once shed a tear.

She placed the bag of clothes by the bed and she pulled up a chair next to Katsuki. They sat in a comfortable silence, Ochako occasionally looking over to Katsuki mentally trying to ask if he was okay. She was more than shocked when Katsuki decided to speak up.

“When he was on the phone, he sounded like he was dying and- and then in the car he told me he loved me as if it was the last time he’d say it to me. It was like he accepted the fact that he could’ve died” Katsuki said through tears. His voice croaked and broke all the way but he didn’t care. Ochako reached over and grabbed Katsuki’s free hand, hoping he’d let her hold it. To her surprise, he did.

“You both knew- we all knew what we were getting into when we chose to be heros, Izuku was no different and he didn’t have a quirk” she said her voice was light and reassuring. She smiled when she felt Katsuki squeeze her hand.

“I had a day off today and I told him to stay home with me because we never get to spend time together anymore. He told me he wanted to get a small day mission out of the way and then he’d come home earlier. I’m guessing the mission didn’t go as planned and now he’s here.” Katsuki sighed and squeezed Ochako’s hand once more before he let it go to run a hand through his hair. Ochako got a good look at his face and couldn’t help but laugh at the massive blood streak covering the side of his face. He looked over at her, looking irritated.

“What the fuck you laughing at, round face?” Katsuki asked, the bite to his voice wasn’t as intimidating with the blood on his face and the tears running down his face.

Ochako couldn’t contain her giggles even if she tried. “You look like Todoroki”

Katsuki huffed and glared at her, still unaware as to what she was referring to. Rustling of plastic bags caught his attention. He saw Ochako pull out what looked to be face wipes. “What’re those for?”

“You have blood on your face” she said between giggles. A packet of makeup wipes were shoved into Katsuki’s lap. Katsuki glared at her once more before opening the packet and pulling one out and wiping his face. He did make it worse but they both didn’t give a shit because they heard a soft ‘Kacchan’ coming from the bed in front of them.

Izuku opened his eyes, wincing when the light his his sensitive eyes. He looked around the very white room, the light making his eyes sting. Anxiety rising in his stomach, he felt sick, the white too overpowering. A hand on his shoulder made him turn his head. He was met with crimson eyes, full of panic. The rapid rising and falling of his chest slowing when he realised who it was. Kacchan. A small smile tugged at his lips as he tried to sit up, strong hands gripped his shoulders, stopping him.

“What are you? Fucking crazy? You’re gonna pull some stitches Jesus fucking Christ” he chuckled at Katsuki’s words. He couldn’t really remember anything. There was a mild stinging pain in his side, almost as if someone poked him with a small needle. His eyes met Katsuki’s, the previously panicked eyes softening when they looked into his green ones.

Izuku smiled at him, reaching his hand up to touch Katsuki’s face. “Hey, Kacchan” he said softly, his voice still thick with sleep.

Katsuki smiled down at him, bringing his hand up to his face to cover Izuku’s. “Hey, nerd. How’ya feelin’?”

“Sleepy. And a bit sore. What happened?” Izuku looked around the room, finally realising they were in a hospital. He layed back down in the very uncomfortable bed.

“You got a bit fucked up on a mission today but you’re fine now, I promise” Katsuki said, his voice quivering a small bit but Izuku didn’t notice. Izuku heard a bag rustling and looked behind Katsuki to see Ochako.

“Ochako! Why’re you here?” Izuku’s voice was as bright as it could be with the morphine wearing off. A small giggle escaped the girls lips and she came to stan beside Katsuki.

“I came here to make sure King Explosion Murder didn’t explode or murder anything” she said, her voice teasing. Katsuki didn’t look very impressed but did he ever? He pushed her shoulder with his free hand, making her erupt in more giggles. Izuku’s smile grew wider and before he knew it, he was laughing too. “Oh my god” Katsuki groaned, “it’s like taking care of children for fucks sake” he said and the giggles suddenly stopped. They all heard the door opening, their heads snapping up to see who it was. The same nurse from before stood at the door looking shocked. She quickly composed herself, a smile appearing on her face.

“Oh good, you’re awake. I was just coming to say visiting hours are over and I’m sorry Miss Uraraka, but you have to go, you can come back tomorrow at 9am.” the nurse looked over at the brunette, an apologetic smile on her face.

“Oh! Right, sorry. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, get better Deku.”she said, blowing them both a kiss before grabbing her things, leaving the bag with clothes on the floor and disappearing into the hallway.

“Mister Bakugou you can stay if you would like. I can ask for an extra bed” she smiled. Katsuki nodded at her and she left, leaving the men alone. The hands that were on Katsuki’s face were now resting on the bed. The small strokes of Katsuki’s thumb across Izuku’s knuckles made the green haired man sigh in content. Katsuki leaned down, his and Izuku’s faces millimetres apart. Izuku made the first move. He tilted his head to the side slightly and captured his husband’s lips with his own. Katsuki let go of Izuku’s hand and brought both of them to cup his face, stroking his freckled cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. The kiss was slow and gentle. Their lips fit together like puzzle pieces, moving in perfect sync. They pulled away slowly, letting their foreheads touch and Izuku took this opportunity to rub their noses together, giggling when Katsuki scrunched his nose up in disgust. God he hated when Izuku did that.

“Oh I’m sorry gentlemen, just coming to deliver the bed” their heads turned to see two doctors wheeling a bed into the room. Katsuki moved out of the way and let them past him, watching as they clipped the beds together. The doctors left swiftly. “No-one’s come to fix my fucking foot yet but they sure as hell can deliver a whole ass bed in under 5 minutes” Katsuki said with a huff, making Izuku giggle.

“Cuddle me Kacchan!” Izuku demanded, lifting his good arm and making grabby hands at the irritated man at the foot of the bed. Katsuki walked over to the side of the bed and picked up the bag Ochako left him. He pulled out a plain black t-shirt and pulled it over his head, smirking when he saw Izuku eyeing him.

“Like what you see, nerd?” he teased, making Izuku blush and look away. Katsuki laughed and climbed into the bed, his face contorting to one of disgust when he felt how uncomfortable it was. Izuku giggled at his husband’s face, grabbing his arm and pulling him down so that his head was on the pillow and he was facing Izuku. They moved carefully, Katsuki putting his arm around Izuku’s shoulders, pulling him gently so that his head was resting on his chest. Izuku slung his good arm across Katsuki’s stomach. They sighed in content.

“Next time one of us has a day off, we both do. I don’t give a shit if the entire country is being blown up, we are staying home” Katsuki said. Izuku looked up at him and smiled.

“‘Course” Katsuki planted a kiss into Izuku’s mess of green curls. He was going to be okay.  

[crazymecjc]

Quotes from Mary Poppins

So I was in Mary Poppins this summer and it was the best show I've ever done, it was also one of the funniest backstage experiences I've ever had so here's some quotes from rehearsals :)

I'm referring to everyone by their character names except if they're my friends yeet

My friend Miranda, staring me dead in the eyes: “Cannibalism."

Both of us simultaneously: "hmmmm”

Miranda, frantically: “Do you want some.... boNeLesS AiR”

(She then proceeded to research if boneless air was a thing for like ten minutes)

Me, angrily: “buT wE hAvEnt had our mILK”

Honestly idk who this was: “What is in your boob?”

(Context: we were all volunteering at a meat raffle, which I didn't know was a thing before then but ok)

The guy in charge of the raffle: “If you’re selling tickets, stand up”

*everyone simultaneously drops to the floor*

Guy running the raffle: “Hors d’oeuvres is not a person”

The same guy, a half hour later: “I’m not trusting you, because you said hors d’oeuvres were a country”

The radio:“I’m looking for some way to bond with my kids” Miranda, whispering: “Mr. Banks?”

My friend Anthony:“That’s like the worst way to reduce reuse recycle”

Miranda during rehearsal for Step in Time, pretending to be on Disney Channel:“Hi, I’m a low class citizen, and the only time I see the light of day is at night”

Anthony, sinisterly:“We’re all dead bodies in the end”

Anthony, in the car: “Smells like... g g g g g g g g g g ggrravy”

Miranda:“buT THEY TORE MY spinal cord.... aGAIN!?!?!”

Anthony, walking out of rehearsal:“It smells like a hot dog out here”

Me:“mE”

Anthony, incredulous:“you smell like a hotdog?!?”

Also Anthony:“My uvula is quook”

My friend Maddie, who we all call Marcy bc that was her "character" for the show and it stuck:“Why do you guys know what windex smells like??? Hello???”

Miss Andrew: “You don’t smell windex? What’s wrong with you???”

Anthony, in the car, shouting:“sTEP AWAY FROM THE GOODS”

Anthony, discussing Into the Woods:“I feel like Little Red is sort of like Smeagol”

Me: “There’s a whole family standing in the middle of the road??”

Anthony:“Are they ok?” Me:"They’re not even crossing, they’re just chilling.”

Anthony to me, while in the fake plant section at the craft store: “It’s like you’re trying to get into leaf Narnia”

Miranda to me: “You look like the Kool Aid Man”

Anthony, to me:“Go onto stage like ‘OoOh yEaH”

Anthony, to the tune of one of he songs:“Reeeedd Robin, Yum!”

Miranda, dramatically crossing her legs:“I’m a fucking queen” *mouth pops*

Miranda calling after me on my way out the door:“Wait I’ve gotta tell you a secret “ *whispers in one ear* “the snack that smiles back” * in other ear* “goldfish”

Me, singing:“Someone is returning”

Miranda:“the demons in my house when I’m coming home”

Miranda, in a whisper:“Mary and Bert look like they’re gonna fight”

Anthony, in the car: “No one is alone.. that’s kinda scary”

Anthony:“When I was young, I ate people”

Miranda:“crispy”

Miranda, in the car after a long rehearsal, exhausted:“Can we play some tunes? I don’t want some hard tunes tho, I want gentle tunes”

I honestly don't know who this was, probably Anthony:“Why are you discriminating against whales?”

Miranda, with jazz hands:“Just a spoonful of... pizazz!”

Miranda, a few minutes later:“Just a spoonful of soot helps the depression go down”

Miranda:“What’s the month after January?”

Me, sister struggling:*counts on fingers* “October, November, December, January, feBRUARY”

Anthony,:“Doesn’t it smell like cat food? Oh no that’s McDonalds”

Anthony:“You smell like Cheerios.”

Me:“Thanks????”

Mary, standing by the roof set we had:“Bert, you look like a cat”

Bert, on the roof: “meow”

Marcy, working on her character:“I’m doing research... drug research “

Marcy, trying to explain her character to me:“Marcy Tippetome is a drug addict. But she’s addicted to Tylenol”

Bert:“Bloody hell”

Michael:“sTOP THERE ARE CHILDREN “

Bert:“well you’re the one who keeps pretending to shoot people on stage”

Anthony, singing:“Someone smells like celery!!!!”

Anthony, moments later:“So I was in my room and my body collapsed”

Miss Andrew:“In 20 years I’ll be like ‘hey, you owe me a soda kid’”

Michael:“I’ll be dead in 20 years”

Mr. Banks:“All hair is dead”

Miranda:*bad Italian accent* “would you like some rigatoni???”

Anthony:“Spit the alcohol out Marcy”

Miranda, ranting:“The government can leave. I only know... I don’t know English”

Miranda, reenacting the Sound of Music:“Donde es Maria??”

Miranda and Anthony:*speaking in simmish for ten minutes*

Bert:“I’m gonna hiss. Like a cat. Meow.”

Mary:“Bert, I’m done with you. Jump off the rooftop.”

Probably Anthony??? I don't know:“My name is Margaret, and I like cheese”

Me:“Michael who? I only know mILK”

Anthony:“Remember when I asked what century it was?”

Anthony:“There’s blood on my finger”

Miranda, deadpan:“blood is the cure”

Me:“There’s something in your pocket”

Anthony, nonchalantly:“it’s just a chair”

One of the statues:“Ohmigod who’s on your phone screen Anthony?”

Anthony:“I’m gay”

Anthony, staring into the distance:“Death is my cure”

Anthony, moments later:*valley girl accent* “I’m gonna die”

Miranda, disdainfully:“I never had emo phase. I didnt want to associate with tHAT”

Me to Anthony because he had to wear this frog costs and it was skintight: “Dicks out for Mary Poppins”

Anthony, giving Mrs Banks a hug:“Hi mom!”

Mrs. Banks, deadpan:“did I give you the permission to touch me?”

Anthony, after we went to Wendy's:“Oh my gosh there’s a spoon between my legs! I just wanted my phone and I reached down and then... there’s ice cream on my crotch”

Also Anthony:“I was exhaling really intensely the other day and my tongue started flopping around”

My little brother right before tech week:“Dress rehearsal?? More like stress rehearsal”

Anthony:“Marcy put the Tylenol DOWN!”

Miranda:“Noooo, she’s doing cocane”

(I swear we're good children I'm sorry)

The lady who played Queen Victoria, approaching Miranda:“Can you blow into my eye?”

An ensemble member:“Don’t choke me”

Mr. Banks:“I don’t even know you yet”

Miss Lark, handing someone her dog puppet:“Here, hold my bitch”

Literally all of my friends: *simultaneous “it’s poppin”*

Who knows, but now we all say it:“Rest IP”

Anthony, buying frozen yogurt at the mall between shows:“Is chocolate supposed to be crispy??”

Me, dying inside because I thought it would be a good idea to leave my show tights on while we went to the mall:“Oh No tHeReS SorBeT oN mY TigHtS!?!”

Ok backstory: we had this table for Spoonful of Sugar that is supposed to break and then magically repair itself. So it's motor powered, and so far it's been working great. Fun! So the last night of the show arrives. I accidentally sweep the guy playing Robertson Ay because he's on the floor, so we're already dying. Mary goes to fix the table, and it goes as planned, only to revert back to broken a moment later with a bang. I'm breaking character, and trying to keep singing, but I lose it bc out stage manager offstage, sounding completely dead inside, goes:“Well, there goes the table.”

????:“Why is it wet??” Anthony:“Because I salivate”

Michael, on his way out the door on closing night:“Keep it poppin”

(I cried)

Other notable moments:

This girl started crying about cows in the middle of rehearsal bc she loved them so much

The guy who played Mr. Banks did origami and he made me a dragon

The lady playing Mrs Andrew would regularly balance chairs on her chin

I had to pretend to rip a dolls arm off and the second night I actually ripped its arm off oops

One night I forgot to preset said doll, so it didn't have an arm for a full scene

We'd been joking about building a fort in the dressing room for a while so on the last day, we walked in to find Mrs Banks surrounded by chairs. "It's Fort Banks." She said. Someone had blankets in their car and suddenly there was an actual blanket fort in the dressing room

The girl who played the messenger would write letters to Mr Banks to read during the shows. One of them was about robbing a bank, I think??? She gave him her address and we're still waiting for a reply for the final letter

The flying equipment got caught on the lights one rehearsal and Bert almost died

We'd sing Feed the Birds for warm ups sometimes and I'd cry. every. time.

We were in the Disney store, and the Mary Poppins trailer starts playing as we’re buying Mary Poppins shirts, with Mary Poppins shirts already on

[captaincanarygotmelike]

Voices Carry Alternate Ending

So I promised an alt. ending to Voices Carry literally in July. Whoops. Anyway, if you’re new, you should probably read the original fic (linked here) bc this won’t make a whole lot of sense if you don’t but it’s your life.

Read on AO3

Read on Fanfiction.net

“Avery’s dancing with someone and it isn’t me?” Leonard heard someone exclaim.

He looked over in time to see Avery run over and jump into Felicity’s arms, letting her swing her around in circles.

Leonard felt someone grab his hand.

“You wanna dance, Leonard?” Sara asked, a smirk on her lips.

Leonard tried to smirk back, but found that he couldn’t, his body paralyzed, his eyes seeing nothing but darkness.

You wanna dance, Leonard?

The words reverberated in his mind until they took on a new voice.

Or…the same voice, but different somehow. Maybe younger? Older? He couldn’t tell. Different definitely. More of a joking tone, as if Sara — yes, he was sure it was still Sara — knew he would say no.

No thanks, I’ll watch.

His voice now, although he hadn’t spoken them.

Suit yourself.

Sara again, indifference in her voice, like she was talking to a stranger.

The world around Leonard was still dark, or maybe he just couldn’t open his eyes.

Dollar beers.

Mick’s words, rough and jagged, floated into his mind like a bubble.

One. Two. Three. Four.

Avery, her voice high and sweet.

Gotta love the seventies.

Mick again.

The seventies?

An image flickered into Leonard’s mind of a bar he had never been in, an old jukebox in the corner, a deer head mounted on a tall post, red, knotty wood making up almost every surface, and Sara standing in front of him.

Her hair was longer than he remembered, and she was wearing some sort of costume? Something he’d never seen before: white and leather with a halter neck.

Suit yourself.

Sara handed him her beer, the bottle cold in the palm of his hand.

Recognition flooded his mind as the White Canary walked into the empty space of the bar in St. Roch, Louisiana, 1975.

He and Sara and Mick had all just joined the time traveling mission to save time from Vandal Savage. They were benched from the first mission, so they crashed a bar.

They weren’t benched from other missions though. He remembered breaking into Savage’s house with Mick and…tall…painfully optimistic…Ray. He remembers the rest of the team now, Kendra, Jax, Stein, and Rip, their captain. He remembers breaking Mick and Ray out of a Russian gulag. He remembers nearly freezing in the cargo hold of the Waverider, Mick’s betrayal and return, pointing the cold gun at Sara. He remembers holding down the failsafe at the Oculus Wellspring.

Me and you.

You wanna steal a kiss from me, Leonard.

Leonard.

“Leonard!”

The voice was louder now, solid, and certainly not Sara’s.

Snart!”

It’s lower, a man’s, but not as low as Mick’s, somewhere in the middle.

His eyes opened and he could see again, for the first time since the wedding.

His wedding.

His vision focused and he recognized the med bay on the Waverider, clean and painfully bright.

Ray Palmer stood beside the bed.

“You’re awake!” he exclaimed. His face was as bright as ever, but there was still concern in his eyes.

“Thanks for letting me know,” he grumbled, pushing himself into a more upright position.

There was a beat of silence.

“What happened?” he finally asked.

He hadn’t wanted to say it, to admit to Raymond and himself the position of vulnerability he was in.

“We’re not really sure,” Ray answered, looking intently at the screen displaying his vitals, “You, y’know, died when the Oculus blew up, or at least that’s what we thought. A year and half went by without any sign of you and then all of a sudden Gideon started freaking out and then we found you passed out in an alley behind some bar in Louisiana, 1975.”

Another second of silence.

“What happened?”

This time it was Ray who asked.

“I mean,” he continued, “did you get sucked into the timeline? Because that’s what I think happened.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Or maybe destroying the Oculus reset your timeline or, what do you think?” Ray paused when he realized Leonard wasn’t responding, “Hey, are you okay?”

“I need to talk to Rip,” he said, “Alone.”

Confusion etched itself across Ray’s face, but he hid it surprisingly well.

Leonard wasn’t surprised by his concern. The more he came to remember who he was here, on the Waverider, the more he recognized that genuinely seeking out their captain was extremely out of character.

“Rip is,” Ray hesitated, “not here.”

“Not here?”

“Look, I know it’s been a while, but—”

“Who’s Captain, then?”

“Sara.”

Leonard felt a pang in her heart at her name.

“Oh.”

“But I’ve been working pretty closely with Gideon,” Ray said hurriedly, “I can try to help.”

Leonard said nothing, gesturing for him to continue.

“I assume you want to figure out what happened. You are aware of how you…” he paused, “…left us — I guess died isn’t really the best word now.”

“The Oculus.”

“Right. We thought the Oculus explosion killed you. Gideon never found any traces of your survival, so we just assumed you had died. We did have some other theories, so we set up an alert if you ever turned up anywhere. Eighteen months later, here we are.”

“I just, what, showed up?”

“Seems like it,” Ray replied, “in St. Roch, 1975 at the bar you went to with Mick and Sara.”

Leonard let his eyes close at the sound of Sara’s name.

“What?” Ray asked. Leonard opened his eyes and shook his head.

“Where did I come from?” he asked, hearing anger in his voice he hadn’t realized he was feeling.

“We don’t know — not yet anyway. I’m almost afraid to ask, but,” Ray hesitated, “where were you?”

Leonard exhaled heavily.

“I was—” he stopped for a moment, thinking, “I think I was on…not this Earth. Another one. I was me, but things about me were different.”

“Different how?”

“I was still Captain Cold,” he answered, “but I hid who I really was. My sister wasn’t Golden Glider, Mick wasn’t Heatwave — Mick wasn’t around at all really.”

“And you didn’t work on the — a — Waverider, or with anybody on this team?”

“No— well, not entirely.”

“What do you mean?”

“I knew — know — Sara.”

“Oh,” he said, his eyebrows raised, “And you were with her?”

“Yeah, you could say that,” he replied, feeling a smirk creep onto his lips.

“So let me get this straight,” Ray said, starting a slow pace around the med bay, “You have all your memories from your life on this other earth, from childhood to today. And you have all your memories from your life on this Earth?”

“As of ten minutes ago, yes.”

Ray nodded slowly.

“Okay, well, the first thing we did when we got you to the med bay was run a test to see if you are really you — our Earth’s you.”

“And?”

“You are the Earth-One Leonard Snart. The cells in your right hand are younger than the rest of your body, from when you had to regrow it two years ago. According to Gideon, that event is unique to Earth-One Leonard Snart.

“Lucky me.”

“So now we have to ask, how did you end up on another Earth?” Ray continued, “And which Earth was it?”

“You think that’s what happened?”

“Well, my other thought is that you were in a dream world, you know, inside your head, but given how visceral your knowledge of this other life is, I don’t really think that’s the case,” Ray replied. His face clouded over in thought, “Or maybe the aliens.”

“What?”

Rip shook his head.

“Never mind. Probably not. Anyway, we can run a search to figure out what Earth you ended up on, but we’ll need to go to the bridge. Gideon, is Snart okay to make it there alright?”

“Yes, Mr. Palmer, I believe Mr. Snart has recovered enough to not need the services of the medical bay.”

“Perfect.”

Ray took a step back and waited while Leonard got to his feet.

“So,” he said as they walked down the corridor leading to the bridge, “What I think happened is when you destroyed the Oculus, the explosion pulled you into the time stream of another Earth, and you became an anachronism.”

“What’s an anachronism?” Leonard asked drily.

“Man, have you missed a lot,” Ray sighed, “Anachronisms are changes to the timeline that were caused by the ripple effect of other changes. Stein caused an anachronism when he gave his younger self some advice and now he has a daughter, Lily. He has memories of both lives, with and without Lily, same as you with the two Earths.”

“So…” Leonard said, trailing off when he couldn’t find a way to continue.

“I can find the Earth you were on if you want,” Ray suggested.

After a moment of thought, Leonard nodded.

“Okay, so I just need a detail that could be unique to that particular Earth, like how having to regenerate your hand is unique to you,” he explained. By that time, they had reached the bridge, stopping in front of the holo table, “Do you have anything in mind?”

Leonard thought for a while, considering the two worlds he had lived in.

“Avery Lance.”

Ray met his eyes for a moment, but didn’t say anything.

“Gideon,” he called into the air, “Run a multiverse search for Avery Lance in the year 2018.

There was silence for a moment.

“I found records of an Avery Felicity Lance, age four, currently living in Central City on Earth sixty-three.”

Leonard wasn’t listening. A picture had appeared on the holo table — Avery, in a floral print skirt and pink blouse, sandals on her feet, a white bow in her wild curls, and backpack straps over her shoulders. Sara was crouched down at her side and they were both smiling into the camera.

Leonard knew this picture well. It was taken on Avery’s first day of preschool, and sat in a frame on a shelf in the living room.

He thought of Sara and Avery. The new weight of the wedding band on his ring finger had been a constant thought in his mind. He could only hope the mysterious ways of time were protecting them from what was going on, and he was trying to avoid altogether the thought of never returning to them.

“Snart,” Ray said, his voice softer than it had been thus far, “This is Earth-63-Sara’s daughter?” Leonard nodded, “And yours?”

“Not…biologically,” Leonard answered, not taking his eyes off the picture, “but she’s…” he trailed off, trying to find the right words, “I love her like she’s mine.”

“And Sara wasn’t just a business partner.”

“No,” he said, his voice soft, “Our wedding was today.”

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to share that particular part of his life, but at this point it didn’t seem to matter.

“Mazel Tov,” Ray replied somewhat uncomfortably.

“Thanks,” Leonard replied, expressionless.

“Well, Gideon and I are going to figure out how this happened. In the meantime, if you’d like to,” he paused, “reacquaint yourself with the ship and the team, you can.”

Leonard nodded curtly, turned, and headed for the metal doorway.

He’d be lying if he said his memory of the Waverider and its maze of corridors was perfect, but it was starting to come back to him. He made it back to his quarters relatively easily.

The doors opened automatically as he approached, and once inside, he was surrounded by his old belongings, although he wasn’t sure if old was the right word.

There was a frame on a black desk holding a faded photograph of Lisa at her high school graduation. On Earth-63, Leonard had a similar picture from Lisa’s college graduation, but he also knew on this Earth, Earth-1 Lisa hadn’t gone to college, and neither did he.

It was strange, when he first woke up, he had considered what was apparently Earth-63 to be his real Earth, but the longer he was here and the more he remembered, it was beginning to even out. He had lived both, and had memories of both lives. Both of them were real.

Leonard wasn’t sure if that was a reassuring thought. He wondered if he was stuck on this Earth now — although again, stuck didn’t seem like the right word, because there was a part of him that felt relieved to be back. Of course, there was an equally strong part of him that desperately wanted to return to Earth-63. He just wasn’t sure if that was a possibility.

He turned when he heard the sound of knocking on the metal door.

“Hey,” Jax said, taking a step into the room, “How’re you doing?”

“Fine,” he replied.

“I, uh, sort of accidentally overheard you and Ray on the bridge,” he said, “Look, I’m really sorry, man. I really hope we find a way to get you back to Earth-63 and your family, if that’s what you want.”

“So do I,” he replied.

“Have you said hi to the rest of the team yet?”

“No.”

“Well, you should. We missed you around here.”

Jax nodded once, then turned and left the room.

Leonard thought about what Jax had said and found he did want to talk to the team. He found he was beginning to remember the people he worked with for the five months he was on the Waverider before the Oculus. He remembered how much he cared about them. He realized that this was somewhat uncharacteristic for this version of him, but so was self-sacrifice to save all of history, at least it would have been when the mission began. The mission had changed him. He probably wouldn’t have let himself acknowledge that before, but at this point, it seemed sort of futile. He’d changed a lot on Earth-63 as well. It was a good thing. Barry — Earth-63 Barry — had said something only a few hours early which led him to realize that past versions of himself could never have been capable of being loved by Sara Lance. He’d continued to become a better person because of her. perhaps that’s why he drifted to Sara on this Earth as well.

When he’d first woken up, thoughts of returning to Earth-63 and Sara and Avery had nearly consumed him. Those thoughts certainly weren’t gone, but he couldn’t deny there was a part of him that wanted to stay here, on Earth-1. That thought left a somewhat bitter taste in his mouth. He had a wife and a daughter on Earth-63, yet he still felt a desire to stay here. He had unfinished business here, both on this Earth and on the Waverider.

He couldn’t help but think of Lisa. Did the team tell her what happened after the Oculus? Did she think he was dead? Leonard hadn’t bothered to tell her about the Waverider and the mission because he figured they’d return mere minutes after they left.

And what about Mick. He didn’t know why it had taken so long to think of his old friend, his partner, except perhaps that they hadn’t been as close on Earth-63 as they were here.

Either way, Leonard knew the last time they had interacted was when he had knocked Mick out with the cold gun to take his place at the Oculus.

He remember what Jax had said about visiting the team. Leonard sighed and headed for the door.

He remembered where Mick’s room was. He hadn’t gone there particularly often when he was on the ship. For as long and as well as they knew each other, they weren’t particularly close. He actually thought he might have spent more time in Sara’s room than Mick’s.

Predicting the future, he thought, then pushed the idea out of his mind, realizing as he did that he wasn’t sure which Sara he’d been thinking of.

He rounded a corner and nearly collided with someone. He took a step back and saw familiar light brown hair — the same color as Avery’s — messy in a way that seemed like it was on purpose. He was slightly more built than on Earth-63, but he was dressed the same: t-shirt and loose-fitting jeans.

“Hey,” he said, holding out a hand, “Nate Heywood. You must be Captain Cold. Ray talks about you all the time.”

Leonard stood still, not really sure how to react. He had never considered the potential overlaps between the two Earths he knew, overlaps he couldn’t foresee.

Nate Heywood hadn’t been on the team when Leonard was last a part of it, yet here he was. He wondered what else was different.

Had anybody else joined the team? He knew Rip was gone, although he didn’t know why — maybe after the Oculus they defeated Savage and saved Miranda and Jonas. Maybe he was with his family.

Either way, Sara was captain of the Waverider now, a fact he hadn’t gotten to process yet.

What about at home? Is Lisa dating Cisco on this Earth? Is she working on the Flash’s team? What about Malcolm Merlyn? As memories of Earth-1 returned to him, he remembered hearing about earthquakes in a district in Star City, attributed to Malcolm Merlyn. What was he doing now? Still in jail, hopefully.

“Hey,” Nate said, slowing lowering his hand, “You alright?”

“Peachy,” he replied, brushing past him towards Mick’s room.

It was a disaster zone.

Mick had always been the messiest person Leonard had ever known. This wasn’t particularly out of the norm when they were teenagers, but apparently he’d never grown out of it. At least something was consistent between the two Earths.

Mick was sitting on the edge of the bed, tinkering with the heat gun. He looked up.

“Mick,” he said, leaning against the doorframe.

“Heard you were back from the dead,” he replied, glancing up at him before looking back to his gun.

“Seems like it.”

“Haircut told me you were on a different Earth.”

“Seems like it.”

“He said you married Sara on that Earth,” Mick eventually said, “Nice job.”

“Thanks.”

Mick didn’t respond immediately, long enough for Leonard to think he should say more. He felt a strange need to apologize to him, but he wasn’t sure why.

“After you died, I told Sara that I wish I’d ‘a done more to push you together.”

“You knew?”

“ ‘course I know. The only ones on this tin can who didn’t know were you and Blondie. Glad to hear it worked out on one Earth, though.”

Leonard didn’t respond.

“Did you know me on this other Earth?” Mick asked.

“I did,” he replied, “We weren’t as close though, not in the last five or six years — remember Freeport Warehouse.”

“Yeah,” Mick said with one short laugh, “Almost didn’t get outta that one.”

“Well, we didn’t. Got three years each — except yours turned into seven because you kept pissing off the guards. After that we didn’t really work together much anymore.”

“Did you invite me to the wedding?”

“I did.”

“Did I come?”

“Yeah. You did.”

Neither spoke for a moment, Mick focusing on the heat gun, Leonard’s eyes roaming around the room that was becoming more familiar with each passing minute.

“You shouldn’t ‘a done it,” Mick said.

“Done what?”

“Knocked me out. Traded places with me.”

“Doesn’t seem like it really mattered in the end.” Leonard replied.

“Still. Shouldn’t ‘a done it. Not for me. Didn’t deserve it.”

Leonard furrowed his eyebrows. Apparently he wasn’t the only rogue who had changed during their time on the Waverider.

“Stein, Jax, and the boy scout are working on a way to get to your other Earth,” Mick continued, seeming unbothered by not getting a response to his previous statement. “You gonna go?”

Leonard didn’t answer immediately, even thought he knew what he was going to say. Mick’s question had made him realize that he was going to need to make a decision eventually, and the longer he stayed here, the harder that became.

“I really don’t know.”

—

Leonard left Mick’s room only a couple minutes later. Mick was a man of few words, and Leonard could sense when the conversation would go no further.

He headed back towards his room the way he came. He was nearing the corridor leading to the bridge when a familiar figure walked out of it and turned his way.

Leonard was standing face to face with Sara Lance. Sara’s expression was one he’d never seen before — not on this version nor her Earth-63 counterpart — holding both anger and sadness. He felt his lips involuntarily part, his eyes softening.

Leonard saw something change on Sara’s face, and before he knew what was happening, she surged towards him and they were kissing.

Kissing this Earth’s Sara was not like kissing the Sara on Earth-63. That Sara was gentler, not hardened by years on a remote island inhabited by training assassins. This Sara’s strength was apparent in her touch, one hand on his cheek, the other on the back of his neck.

Everything came flooding back to him, the smirks exchanged over the holo table during team meetings, fighting back to back against Savage’s army — not even fighting with Mick was as effortless. Everything about this Sara he’d ever thought and felt came back.

He pulled away. He met her eyes, seeing the sadness had returned.

“Sara—”

She shook her head, opening her mouth to speak and closing it again before she brushed past him.

Leonard watched her go for a moment before he sighed and continued towards his room.

—

He didn’t leave his quarters at all after his interaction with Sara. A couple hours later, Ray poked his head into the room.

“Hey,” he said, “So I’ve been talking to Gideon and we think we figured out a way to get you back to Earth-63— if you wanted.”

Leonard didn’t say anything so he continued.

“And we think we figured out a way to sort of reset the timeline there, so if you wanted to stay here, it’ll be like nothing ever happened. Nobody gets hurt. I could explain how it all works if you wanted—”

“No thanks.”

“Yeah, sorta figured,” he shrugged, “Anyway, I know it’s a tough decision so take your time.”

He backed out of the room and the metal doors slid closed.

A few minutes later, he heard another voice in the doorway.

“Hey.”

Leonard turned his head to see Sara in the spot Ray had just left.

“I’m sorry about—” she hesitated, “I’m sorry about before. I…your expression when…I’m just sorry. Ray told me about Earth-63, how you’re married to…to that version of me, and about your daughter.”

He nodded slowly.

“What’s her name?” Sara asked, moving farther into the room.

“Avery Felicity Lance,” he replied, unable to conceal the small smile that appeared on his face.

“Felicity?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re closer with her on my — that — Earth than here.”

“The timelines are different?”

He nodded.

“How?” she asked, “How did I end up — not what I am today.”

“You didn’t go on the boat.”

Sara went still. Leonard knew she had always wondered who she would be had she not gone on the Queen’s Gambit with Oliver. Maybe this was it. Maybe she would finish college, become a cop, have a daughter.

She wouldn’t meet him though. He knew that much. His past on Earth-63 was bad, but his past here was much, much worse. Putting aside other discrepancies that would stand between them meeting (for one, he was pretty sure he’d never even seen the apartment building he and his sister had lived in on Earth-63, the one where he and Sara had met), there was no possibility Sara would give him the time of day. None.

“What else?” she asked.

“Your parents are still divorced and your mom still lives in Central City, but your dad is married to Felicity’s mother.”

“Really?” Sara interjected, “I don’t think they even know each other here.”

“Tommy’s alive,” he continued. She nodded, “He’s married to your sister.”

He saw her eyes widen slightly, her lips parting.

“What?”

“My sister died,” she told him, “sometime during the first few months of the mission. I found out after you…after the Oculus.”

“I’m sorry.”

Sara nodded, then shook her head, straightening.

“What else?” she asked, “So I didn’t go on the boat. What’d I end up doing?”

“You’re a cop,” he replied.

“Really?”

He nodded, “Actually, a homicide detective. you led the case to catch Captain Cold.”

“Is that how we met?” she asked, laughing.

“No,” he smirked.

“Why do I feel like that’s a long story,” she replied. He nodded, the smirk becoming a smile before he could stop it. “What about my — her — daughter? How old is she?”

“Four,” he replied, “Turns five in March.”

“Can I see her?”

Leonard pulled his phone out of his back pocket and opened a folder of photos he had of Avery. He knew there were a few photos of Sara — Earth-63 Sara — in there as well.

He watched as Sara looked at the pictures.

“She’s cute,” she told him, smiling as she swiped through the blurry selfies Avery had taken in the few seconds before Leonard noticed, “Baby pictures?”

Sara tipped the phone towards him so he could see a photo of Avery when she was a little over a year old, standing on chunky little legs in Dinah Lance’s kitchen. Her light brown curls were shorter, but just as wild.

He nodded.

“Huh,” she said, “I just never saw you as the kind of dad who had baby pictures on his phone.”

He didn’t. Well, not really. He had pictures of Avery now, mostly ones she’d taken herself. The only baby pictures he had of her were sent by Sara — Avery had needed them for a homework assignment.

“Do you know who her…” Sara hesitated, “biological dad is?”

“Yeah,” he replied. He sensed her next question and shook his head, “Doesn’t matter who.”

Sara nodded. A moment later, her face clouded over.

“Oh God, tell me it’s not Oliver.”

“It’s not Oliver,” he chuckled.

Sara stilled. Leonard remembered that the version of him Sara remembered rarely ever laughed or smiled (besides out of sarcasm, anyway).

He watched her sigh.

“You’re not staying,” she said. It wasn’t a question. She already knew the answer.

“No.”

“Because of them.”

“I love them,” he said, “more than I thought I ever could.”

She exhaled.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“No, I get it,” she shook her head. She waited a beat and then continued, “You should know — and I’m not saying this to convince you to stay, I swear — it really sucks not having you on the Waverider. It does. There’s too many Ray’s on board now. I wish you were here to balance things out.”

He chuckled.

“You still have Mick,” he replied.

“Mick’s not as good at pushing buttons as you were,” she shook her head, smiling slightly, “Team hasn’t been the same without you.”

He didn’t respond. There wasn’t anything he could say.

Sara spoke again.

“I wish I hadn’t left.”

“The Oculus?”

“No — well, yes — but I mean my room. When you came to talk to me.”

“Oh.”

“I always wondered…” she trailed off momentarily, “if I hadn’t left and we had kept talking and…stuff, would you still have taken Mick’s place.”

Leonard didn’t answer immediately. His conversation with Sara then had gone exactly how he thought it would, but if it hadn’t, if it had gone differently, maybe he would have made a different choice.

“I don’t know,” he replied honestly, “But you should know I meant what I said about thinking about you. I think that’s why I did what I did on the bridge, pulling the cold gun on you.”

“You know, I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to justify that kind of thing,” Sara said, her lips turning up in a smirk.

“I’m not,” he replied, “I was a jerk —”

“Guilty,” Sara cut in, still smirking, and Leonard felt a pang in his chest.

“I was a jerk,” he repeated, “but I think I was trying to convince myself that I didn’t care as much as I did.”

“And did it work.”

“No.”

“Captain,” Gideon’s voice rang out across the room, “Ray would like you to know that the tech to send Mr. Snart back to Earth-63 is ready.”

“Okay,” Sara replied. She met Leonard’s eyes, “Ready?”

“Yeah.”

—

“You’re sure this is what you want?” Ray asked when he and Sara were on the bridge. Leonard said nothing but raised an eyebrow at him, “Okay, well, you should know Gideon wants to erase your memories — you know, of this Earth.”

“Why?”

“After we bring you to Earth-63, we can’t come back, and there’s no way for you to get in contact with us. That’s not gonna be a problem if you don’t remember any of us and all of this. Besides, I can’t imagine wanting to have memories of two lives in a world where only one happened.”

“Fine.”

“Alright, so we figured out a way to sort of…beam you into Earth-63 in the exact place you left, and we’ll erase your memory then.”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” Ray repeated. He took on a look that conveyed a taxing internal debate before stepping forward and hugging Leonard.

“That was unnecessary,” he grumbled when Ray relinquished him.

Mick then moved forwards.

“I’m glad you’re not dead,” he told him as Leonard shook his hand.

“Me too. Tell my sister what happened.”

“ ‘Course.”

Jax and Stein both shook Leonard’s hand and then stepped back.

Sara started moving towards him, arms crossed in front of her.

“We’re gonna miss you around here,” she said. She stopped when she was just in front of him and turned to Ray. “He’s not gonna remember anything?”

“Not anything, just nothing from this Earth. Gideon said tha—”

“Perfect,” Sara breathed, grabbing Leonard’s face and capturing his lips with hers.Leonard gave into the kiss that time, snaking his arms around her waist.

“What the hell?” he heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like Nate whisper.

Sara’s hands trailed from his face to around his neck as she deepened the kiss. Leonard remembered the last time he had kissed Sara, when they were at the Oculus. He remembered when she pulled away, their eyes meeting. He remembered trying to memorize every inch of her in the seconds before she left.

Sara pulled away, untwining her arms from around his shoulders. Leonard didn’t move his hands from her waist. He met her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice low. She shook her head.

“Don’t,” she replied just as softly, “It’s okay.”

Finally, he let his arms drop and Sara stepped away from him.

“Ready?” Ray asked again.

“Yeah,” Leonard nodded.

Ray lifted his arm. In his hand was a small white gun with a wide, box-shaped barrel that looked not unlike the one Rip Hunter had used on him when he was first pulling together the team.

Leonard’s eyes flicked to Sara. Her expression was the same as when they were at the Oculus.

She gave him a small, almost imperceptible nod. He heard the click of the trigger, and as he turned back to Ray, a flash of white light completely consumed his vision.

—

“Hey,” Sara said, her hand moving to his arm. He met her eyes, seeing concern written on her face, “You okay? It looked like we lost you for a second.”

Leonard processed again where he was, saw the twinkling lights hung around them, illuminated by the steadily setting sun, heard the last few notes of Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together beginning to fade. He looked back to Sara, saw her in her wedding dress, felt the weight of her hand on his arm, and smiled.

“Just realizing how lucky I am,” he said.

“Oh really?” Sara asked, a smirk on her lips and eyebrows raised, “And why is that?”

“I dunno,” he replied, his arms moving to around her waist, “maybe because you’re beautiful and smart and strong.”

“I’m also your wife,” Sara replied, the smirk turning into a smile as she looped her arms around his neck.

“You’re proving my argument,” he murmured against her lips before Sara kissed him.

—

“Would you like me to land, Captain,” Gideon asked.

Sara didn’t answer immediately, looking out the jumpship window at the couple on the dance floor.

“Uh…no, Gideon,” she replied, “We’re leaving in a second.”

She continued looking at the scene below her. She’d never seen a more beautiful wedding before, with the lights and lanterns hanging from the rustic wooden frame lighting up the shiny black and white dance floor and the tables and chairs filled with people. She didn’t consider herself to be a wedding person — she hadn’t really even thought about the possibility of having one since before the Gambit. Maybe this version of her was.

She saw her father dancing with a blonde woman she had to assume was Felicity’s mother — Leonard really wasn’t kidding about that, she supposed.

Her eyes landed on Laurel then, and she felt tears pricking her eyes. She was dancing with Tommy a couple yards away from Leonard and this Earth’s Sara. She was laughing at something Tommy had said as they swayed back and forth to the music.

“Gideon, is there any way I can hear what’s going on down there — without them noticing, obviously.”

There was a click and then the first chorus of The Way You Look Tonight started playing  in the jumpship.

“Daddy!” Sara heard a high voice call. She watched a little girl run across the dance floor and jump into Leonard’s arms.

Even from a distance, Avery Lance looked just like her picture, with wild brown curls and shining eyes.

“Mama,” Avery said, “watch this!”

She squirmed out of Leonard’s arms and took his hand, twirling underneath it.

Sara watched her Earth-63 counterpart smile.

“Wow, Avie,” she said heard her say, “That’s so cool.”

Sara sat down in the pilot’s chair.

He made the right choice, she decided as she watched Leonard with this Earth’s Sara, Avery hanging onto his arm, chattering indistinguishably about something in the little girl manner she’d never been able to understand. He’d never looked that happy before, a genuine smile on his face as he looked to his wife.

“Gideon,” Sara said, “I’m ready to go.”

The jumpship jolted into motion, and as Avery’s little voice was carried into the wind with the music, Sara left Leonard for the last time.

[shuakkinda-blog]

Chan crushing on you !! // scenario

A bullet-point scenario starring Lee Chan/Dino !!

Feel free to request scenarios and reactions on my page :)

- Chan has grown up so much since his predebut days

- he isn’t a lil baby anymore and I CHOKE EVERY TIME I SAY THAT ISTG

- he’s become so mature and intelligent and sassy (courtesy of seungkwan) and charming and

- damnit

- he’s not even the same Chan we started out with in the Adore U era

- his growth over the past few years is just c r a z y

- BUT EVERYONE STILL TREATS HIM LIKE THE FAMILY FETUS LOL

- a lot of times I sense that Chan doesn’t wanna labeled “the group baby”

- and he definitely wouldn’t want to have this kind of “baby reputation” when he’s trying to go after a girl he likes

- because oh man when Chan starts crushing on someone and the members find out

- he’ll be babied a whole lot more than he already is sorry chan

- let’s get right into the scenario :D

- the first day of your internship at pledis, you’re introduced to the group you’ll be working under

- seventeen !!!!

- and during your personal introduction, you can’t help but notice all the members acting...

- strange

- is it something I’m saying? My accent? Is there something on my face??? you think to yourself

- you’re so confused

- but after some more observations, you notice one thing

- the members keep on looking at one specific member

- and the ones who are right next to him are constantly nudging his arm

- the targeted guy’s face is stolid, but it breaks every once in awhile when he tells the other members to knock off their nonsense

- after you finish your own introductions, the seventeen members begin introducing themselves individually

- and the guy that everyone was bothering during your introduction eventually steps up to introduce himself

- “Hi, I’m Dino. Nice to meet you,” he says sweetly

- his brief sentence is followed up by quiet laughter and finger-poking at the poor boy

- “stop it,” he whispers to the others

- you don’t get it

- were they poking fun at him because of you

- and if they were, why??? why you?

- after your introductions, one member agrees to take you on a mini tour of the company building

- “hi, I’m Jeonghan,” he greets you

- you greet him with a hello and your name before you begin a conversation as you walk through your tour

- you guys get along comfortably, and by the end of the tour, the both of you are practically conversing the way best friends would

- as he leads you to building exit to end the day, he asks you

- “y/n, I know this is really random, but did you happen to see any of us members around the building when you first arrived today?”

- you don’t recall seeing anyone so you reply

- “I don’t think so, why?”

- “ah nothing,” he smiles but it appears he’s holding back a laugh. “I was just wondering...”

- did that have to do with the way Dino was treated earlier?

- you shrug it off for a little and head home after exchanging goodbyes with that nice tour guide

- but at night you can’t help but think of what happened earlier again

- even though you don’t know what all the fuss was with Dino and the other members

- it’s bothering you

- what did you do? was it even your fault? or was it his?

- you tell yourself to forget about it and start off clean on the first official day of work tomorrow

- when you report to the company building the next day, everything goes the way your internship advisor has said it would go

- you pick up your to-do list from your boss’s office and go off to wherever you feel like doing your work in the building

- and after spending a lot of time trying to find vacant places to work, you finally find the practice room to be empty

- you find it kind of weird because lol aren’t there a lot of groups under pledis that practice daily???

- but you go with it bc you’re not complaining

- it’s a nice room :D

- wElp s0rry, you were kinda right earlier when you said artists need to practice there because GUESS WHO DECIDES TO WALK IN THE SECOND YOU GET SETTLED

- “Oh, hello, y/n,” Dino greets you with a bow

- you do the same for him, but you can’t help but feel kind of awkward as he drops his backpack by the sound booth right next to your workplace and gets settled into the room

- “I hope you don’t mind if I play songs on the sound system for practice right now?” he asks you

- “oh it’s okay,” you reply. “I usually like to have a little bit of music playing while I work on things anyways.”

- “okay!” he replies cheerfully. “Just let me know if you need anything, alright?”

- aw this guy is so... nice?

- “thank you, Dino,” you smile

- “oh no, please call me Chan,” he laughs shyly. “I mean... Dino, Chan, it’s up to you, really.”

- “okay Chan,” you smile at your paperwork and get started with your tasks

- he smiles as he starts playing the first song

- you don’t know this but Chan gets this warm feeling in his chest when he hears your voice chime his real name for the first time

- ahgghh I can’t let the hyungs think they’re right, he thinks to himself

- promise yourself now, Chan, that you won’t end up liking this girl

- I mean pshh this is only your second time seeing her

- that weird thing in your chest can’t be anything significant

- right?

- lmao just wait, Chan

- so the both of you are pretty much silent in the practice room

- well besides the music playing in the background

- there’s no conversation

- it’s just you working on paperwork and Chan working on choreography

- from where you are sitting, you can see Chan’s phone hooked up to the speaker system on the sound booth

- and whenever you got curious as to what a certain song’s title was, you’d peek over from your desk to see his phone screen

- after awhile, you notice his phone practically blowing up with messages

- since the phone is so close to you, your eyes can’t help but read a few of them:

- Seungkwan: “tryna show off your dancing skills to the girl, hUH”

- Seungcheol: “I see you, Channie ;)”

- Minghao: “yo I didn’t think you’d actually like her, but I guess you do since you’re literally practicing dancing in the same room she’s working in on purpose”

- Jeonghan: “EY AEGI (baby in korean) GO GET ITTTTT~”

- you blush a little at the messages

- it was pretty obvious

- they couldn’t be talking about anyone else but you

- you look out the windows and doors and see if anyone’s peeking into the practice room, but there’s no one

- are they hiding or something?

- how did they know we’re in the same room?

- and does Chan... like me???

- you want to tell Chan that his phone is exploding with messages, but you don’t want to seem nosy

- so you sit quietly and continue your work

- but ofc Chan, being a little self-conscious around the new intern, glances back at you every now and then while he’s practicing

- he catches you looking at his phone

- “hey, is something wrong?”

- “OH nothing nothing!!” you panic and revert your eyes back to your papers. “I’m just... checking out the song titles, that’s all.”

- you technically weren’t lying because you had been checking the titles earlier, but you only told half of the truth so you’re still kinda guilty LOL

- but Chan believes you and flashes you another cute smile before continuing his practice

- you finish your work, and the both of you say goodbye before parting ways

- Chan decides to take a look at his phone after you leave

- and his mouth drops at the sight of all the messages the members spammed him with

- and they we’re all obviously about you

- he’s pretty sure you saw these messages too since they were sent awhile ago rip

- WHY DO THEY ALWAYS GOTTA PICK ON ME AT THE WORST TIMES, Chan would think as he covers his face with a hand

- he informs the members about this on the svt group chat

- Chan: “GUYS WHAT THE HELL”

- Jeonghan: “Oh is lil aegi mad?”

- Mingyu: “dude what’s with the angry text?”

- Chan: “WHY WERE YOU ALL SPAMMING MY PHONE”

- Chan: “AND POINTING OUT Y/N”

- Mingyu: “because we all know you got a little crush on her lmao”

- Chan: “BUT YOU GUYS”

- Chan: “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND”

- Joshua: “wdym”

- Seungkwan: “yeah calm down. it’s not like she saw them”

- Seungkwan: “right?”

- Chan: “...”

- Seungcheol: “shit”

- Hansol: “oh my god we’re sorry, Chan”

- Seokmin: “LMAO DID SHE REALLY SEE THEM?”

- Minghao: “lol guys we really fucked it up”

- Chan: “yes she was looking at my phone and she said she was looking at the song titles, but now I think she was lying”

- Junhui: “oh yeah she was definitely lying then”

- Junhui: “If I were her, I’d be more interested in those juicy texts than some song title”

- Chan: “I hate all of you”

- Jeonghan: “wait Chan”

- Chan puts away his phone and flushes red in anger and embarrassment

- he doesn’t wanna care about what happened because he doesn’t have any concrete feelings for you

- but at the same time he cares a lot because now it’s gonna be very awkward between you two

- what are you supposed to think of Chan after seeing those messages?

- a part of him wants to hide from you for the rest of his life

- but luckily, his mature side takes over and makes the decision to talk it out with you the next time you guys bump into each other

- a day or two later, Chan spots you in the hallway

- and he finds himself walking toward you

- here we go, the both of you think simultaneously at the sight of each other

- “hey y/n,” Chan greets you

- “hi Chan.”

- silence follows

- “look, about the other day... ugh I hate to be like this with you but... were you really looking at the song titles when I asked?” he gets into the questions right away

- you know exactly was he’s talking about, and you know you would feel guilty if you pretended to not know

- “oh, well yeah I was checking for the titles at first, but then... you got a few texts and-”

- “I know, I just want to apologize for... those,” he looks down to avoid your eyes

- “It’s okay! I know what it feels like to be in that kind of position where your friends constantly bug you about a specific person,” you explain sympathetically. Chan looks up at you again

- “oh, really?” he smiles. Wow, she actually understands me...

- you nod. “Yeah, I get it.”

- Chan sighs in relief

- “Maybe we should start again?” you suggest

- you hold out a hand and the both of you reintroduce each other with a handshake

- Chan would be so freaking happy when he clears that all up with you

- he’ll probably hit up the group chat again

- Chan: “I’m sorry for getting mad the other day”

- Mingyu: “now you come crawling back huh”

- Seungcheol: “hey he’s apologizing, just take it”

- Joshua: “no we should be apologizing, Chan. we went a little too crazy with the spam the other day and we’re sorry”

- Seokmin: “none of this would’ve happened tho if Chan hadn’t said y/n looked pretty when he saw her walking into the building on her first day”

- Hansol: “lol”

- Jeonghan: “SEOKMIN STOP”

- Minghao: “he’s kinda right tho, it all started there”

- Chan: “wow I come back to apologize and this is what I get”

- Seungkwan: “Seungcheol: hey chan, did the new intern walk in yet?”

- Seungkwan: “Chan: I dunno, maybe. I just saw a pretty girl walking into the building a few minutes ago”

- Seungkwan: “everyone else in svt: OOOHHH DID CHAN JUST CALL A GIRL PRETTY???”

- Seungkwan: “Chan: WAIT NO I DIDN’T MEAN TO SAY- BUT- HADKGFJS. STOOOP.”

- Jeonghan: “SEUNGKWAN, RECAPPING THE MOMENT THAT STARTED ALL OF THIS ISN’T HELPING RN”

- Seungkwan: “ok I’m sorry”

- Chan: “it’s okay we made up. I explained everything”

- Wonwoo: “so are you guys friends now?”

- Chan: “I guess???”

- Mingyu: “:3:3:3:3:3″

- Soonyoung: “my boy”

- Minghao: “we all know you want more than that though”

- Chan: “bye I regret coming back to this group chat”

- Seungcheol: “NEXT PERSON TO ATTACK CHAN HAS TO CLEAN ALL THE LAUNDRY, YOU HEAR ME??”

- with this new, clean slate, Chan would feel so confident about initiating conversations with you and joining you at work for mini hangouts

- and tbh he wouldn’t even notice that he’s been developing a legitimate crush on you unless another member talks to him about it

- maybe Soonyoung because he’s got the cutest hyung-dongsaeng relationship with Chan :’)

- you’d be hanging out with Chan in the practice room again when Soonyoung comes in to get ready for the performance team practice coming up in a few minutes

- knowing their schedule, you say your goodbyes before leaving the two dancers alone in the room

- Soonyoung turns to Chan and grins as soon as you close the door and depart

- “Chan, admit it. You like her.”

- “no no, I’d never-” the maknae shakes his head in denial but Soonyoung interrupts his sentence

- “then tell me why you’re always hanging out with her.”

- “I mean is it wrong to hang out with friends??”

- “there’s nothing wrong with ‘hanging out with friends’ but there’s a difference between that and constantly talking to a single person 24/7.”

- “what? What are you talking about?”

- “I see you texting y/n on your phone all the time, and as soon as she gets to the building for work, you guys meet up and hang out for hours.”

- “She’s not objecting to any of it though...” Chan shrugs and hides a smile

- “YEAH EXACTLY. So don’t give me that ‘I don’t have feelings for her’ bullshit because I won’t believe you,” Soonyoung narrows his eyes at Chan and shakes his head

- “okay fine,” Chan blushes. “Maybe I kind of like her...”

- “kind of??? Dude, you’re so whipped for this girl.”

- so Chan accepts his feelings for you

- luckily, the way he’ll act around you won’t be too different from the way he treated you before

- except he’d be smiling a whole lot more when he’s with you

- it’s just because he can’t believe how lucky he is to be this close to his crush I’m crying how pure :’)

- the only other difference in hanging out with him while he has a crush on you would be ALL OF THE BABYING FROM HIS HYUNGS OMF

- you’d be having such a great time JUST with Chan, but then some member like Junhui would walk in and think it’s a f a n t a s t i c day to run over to Chan and pinch his cheeks to embarrass him

- “JUN HYUNG, PLEASE NO,” Chan would plead constantly

- his face would be heating up and you’d be there laughing at how funny his hyungs can be

- Chan would probably be annoyed every time this happens, but he’ll get used to it eventually sorry Chan pt.2

- tbh he wouldn’t really think of confessing because he’d love how perfect your friendship is with him the way its, and he wouldn’t want to ruin it

- so if anything, the confession would be by accident

- and ofc what kind of confession would it be without the help of his lovely, supportive hyungs ;)

- so one day, you come a little late to work and find svt practicing altogether in the practice room

- you don’t get to see all of them together very often, so you weren’t ready for the explosion of “OOHS” directed at Chan and you as you walked in

- “jeez, you guys are never gonna live this down huh,” Chan rolls his eyes at the cooing members as he comes over to you to give you a hug

- “again, it’s all your fault for not filtering your mouth when you first saw her,” Seokmin spills out

- “wait what?” you ask out of confusion

- Chan gives Seokmin wide eyes with the other members. Did he really just say that??? Chan panics

- Seokmin adds. “Whaat? You guys haven’t told her about that yet?”

- “NO WHY WOULD WE TELL HER,” Mingyu laughs at Seokmin

- “tell me what?” you quirk up an eyebrow.

- “NOTHING, HE’S JUST...” Chan reddens

- “HALLUCINATING, YEAH THAT’S ALL. I’M HALLUCINATING,” Seokmin awkwardly laughs and scratches the back of his head

- you face gets serious. “Out with it, guys.”

- “y/n, it’s nothing imp-” Chan tries to explain

- “Chan, cut the crap. Tell me what’s going on,” you say a little more sternly

- the maknae sighs

- “just tell her already,” Soonyoung insists

- “okay fine,” Chan says a little frustrated. “On the day you reported to the company building for the first time, Seungcheol was asking all of us to keep an eye out for you, the new intern, so we can let your boss know.”

- “I saw you walking through the hallways, but I didn’t know whether or not you were the one they’re looking for. So when Seungcheol asked us if we saw “the intern,” I told him I wasn’t sure but I saw a...”

- he pauses out of hesitation

- “a girl,” he says and looks down

- ���umm... I still don’t get it?” you respond

- Chan hesitates again

- “a pretty girl is what he meant to say. He called you pretty and everyone went crazy over it,” Jeonghan clarifies

- “... really?” you ask

- Chan nods as he faces the floor

- you try to fight a smile but can’t seem hold in the feeling of flattery

- “to be honest,” you cover your smile with a hand as you begin to put a statement together. “I thought Chan was kinda cute when we first met too”

- Chan looks at you and his mouth widens at your words

- if y/n thinks I’m cute, does that mean she... likes me too?

- “OOOOHHHH,” the 12 other guys coo loudly

- he smiles

- maybe confessing right now wouldn’t be such a bad idea, he contemplates

- “well to be honest with you,” he starts. “I’ve always thought you’re...”

- the words are stuck in his throat

- “CHAN JUST SAY IT ALREADY,” Soonyoung yells from the crowd of members

- “CUTE, I’VE ALWAYS THOUGHT YOU WERE CUTE AND I LIKE YOU OKAY?” Chan covers his mouth after his confession.

- his words are followed by another loud cheer from the rest of the group

- you blush in embarrassment as the others rush to Chan’s side and cheer him on with hugs

- “he’s grown up so fAST,” Jeonghan fake sobs as he holds onto Chan tightly

- “don’t reject out little guy, he’s a great boy,” Seungcheol says to you and pats Chan’s head

- you look over to Chan and his face is as red as a tomato. His eyes are glued to the floor

- “I’ve liked you for awhile too, Chan,” you confess quietly, but everyone still manages to hear it

- and at the sound of your response, the members push Chan towards you, and your body accidentally collides with his

- he backs away a bit to take a look at your face

- “sooooo.... what now?” he asks awkwardly as he stands in front of you

- “hmm... how about coffee at the cafe tomorrow?” you offer with a smile

- Chan laughs lightly. “Meet up here at 8am and we can walk together if you want.”

- you nod and the members resume their cheering

- “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? HUG HER, CHAN,” Soonyoung screams again

- Chan opens up his arms and you come in for an extremely warm hug. He gently sways you side to side in his embrace I’M DEAD

- “NOW KISS,” Seokmin suddenly adds, but his comment is then greeted with light punches and hits from the other members

- Chan and you laugh at the suggestion

- “I think we’ve had enough of the babying today,” Chan says before he plants a soft kiss on your cheek

- “CHAN YOU’RE GROUNDED,” Jeonghan scolds him

[hycrans]

( the cuteST )

a bitch is Tired rn after pulling my usual shit, aka staying up until 5am for no reason only to wake up three hours later to watch bts run, so excuse the seeming lack of enthusiasm lkfdsjglk. hey i’m jules, i’m 20, canadian, and my current means of life rn are chocolate, the x files ( iM LATE IK SFGDJLK ) and 3am you in me listening parties with myself rip !! it’s been almost a month since its release, i need to Relax dammit. i’m a uni student who just got off for christmas break and in love with sowoo so you don’t wanna know the agony that came with picking one over the other without a bit of help. you can hmu on d*scord at HAPPY S*OKJIN DAY#2030 ( don’t.. call me out for not having an updated name since his birthday’s passed, i’m not v bright pls ) if you’d like and this is so boRING, it’s like the life is sucked out of me omg. anyways hyeran, a whole.. other positive muse bc jesus, how many of these do i have rn ?? this is so out of hand man, but nonetheless here’s a bit abt the brat:

- ̗̀ JEON SOMIN, CISFEMALE, SHE/HER ̖́- – have you seen YUN HYERAN? people’ve said the TWENTY TWO year old has been running around the streets of jeju lately, which is odd because aren’t they a BARISTA/MUSIC PRODUCER during the day? anyways, i know they’re known to be EBULLIENT and TRANQUIL but recently i’ve heard they’ve been MAGNANIMOUS and DIFFIDENT, but i could be wrong. ( jules / 20 / gmt-3:30 / she/her )

EDIT: i somehow forgot to mention that she’s.. not sure where she is on the lgbt spectrum but she knows she’s Not Straight JFGDSLKJGK but she’s panromantic so yeah sgjkdl. i’m a whole mess today, i’m sorry lol

yun hyeran, a daegu native with an older and younger brother, an ambivert and an all around baby

tbh i don’t have much of her bg figured out, that’s always the last thing i get to so rip

buT she became involved in music through her father, who studied it in uni and ended up becoming a music instructor with a focus on piano, flute and vocals

her and her mom.. also her older brother, didn’t have the best relationship when she grew older, which seemed to die altogether when her parents divorced and her mom left. but her and her brother’s still exists, it’s just that he’s a bit of a toxic influence on her and she tends to distance herself from him

went to uni in seoul to pursue music like her father ( a daddy’s girl too like ) and found her way into the world of production !! by junior year, she’d transferred out of her original program and majored in that instead and has loved it ever since; she recently graduated

moved to jeju island bc an aunt lived there when she was young and she LOVED to visit, made a few friends there and would always whine abt the next time they could all go see her aunt again. so it made sense for her to live, at least for a little while, in one of her favourite places

she also adores said aunt, her dad’s sister and the maternal figure she Deserves, so she came partially to see her more often

for the time being, she works full-time as a barista at the café just a block from her cute little studio apartment while looking into internships at record labels for her to take on a little further down the line ( no rush bc it’s already quite competitive and she’d rather enjoy what she has going now )

she’s also making something of an income as the creator of an acct on youtube and soundcloud for her music, something she’s had for abt two years now

she’s not even close to making it big yet, and she doesn’t mind if she never works for a moderately to highly popular label — though she should if she wants to get by

among the aesthetic, lo-fi music crowd ( one of those yt accts with a livestream for certain playlists that go on for hours, rip ) where for the most part, it’s personal faves mixed with her own works, and has a substantial following as of now. but has an interest in experimenting, with mashups ( as a lover of them ?? i couldn’t help myself sgflkdsjg ) for example, with a small fear of how that change would be received

this is so short iK, it’s a little infuriating if you ask me ljkgdfjls

in terms of her personality and other things:

she’s a very loyal person, v e r y. while like i said, her relationship with her brother is Not Great, she hasn’t completely given up on him. maybe for the time being, but her being someone who��s open to the idea of people changing for the better somewhere down the line, leaves a bit of room for her to possibly change her mind if he does enough to allow her to consider it

so she can be a bit of a doormat in some cases, it all depends on how she sees the person that determines if that’s the case, but she generally won’t let you off if you’re being dumb/an ass to someone or if she gets advantageous vibes from you for example ( given she can.. be a little naive and is a p gentle soul ) so.. idk fgklsj good luck to the 99% ig ??

she does have a slight dependency on others despite her thinking all signs point to the opposite, and even though her and her mom never rly had a good relationship she still reels from the neglect/abandonment some days so handle her with Care if she deems you a close pal, 

spontaneous tbh, moving to jeju was a little last minute on her part, for one

she’s a little reclusive when focused on something, if she tells you she’s working on a track, it’s essentially a head’s up that you might not see her for a couple of days depending on how soon she gets it done — lowkey that bitch™ who makes up an illness to her boss, so she wouldn’t even show up for work if it’s more than just her fucking around

bc admittedly, a lot of what she posts is fucking around and liking it, her more thought-out and effort packed projects are hidden away on her laptop

a bit insecure with her work and just her general disposition ?? those first few points above mess with her a lot and leave her disheartened so.. my poor child

v strong overall, takes people’s shit and if it gets to her, she gets over it p fast. doesn’t dwell on much and will be courteous to you even if she’s declared you too toxic to stick around 24/7

isn’t exactly one to get angry ?? she’s basically just disappointed or annoyed at best 99% of the time, it takes a lot to get her beyond that

positive, ugh. maybe not sickeningly sweet, but still. kinda explained parts of it above and i’m 95% gone mentally rn, gotta spare that for other little details gsjklf

a cute bean who wants the best for everyone and is also clumsy as absolute fuCK

uhhh

plays piano and bass guitar ( you don’t know how tempted i was to say clarinet bc of jiwoo gjflkgds )

prob had some kind of little amateur rock band with a few music majors and took up bass for the hell of it lmao

loves animals, leans towards cats or big dogs. corgis and those little spaniels get a pass tho

speaking of, she has a cute little calico kitten ( i’m shit with pet names so that’s tba rgkjls ) who she Loves, her baby !!

sweater, ball cap and basic t shirt junkie

those glasses somin’s been wearing a lot of lately ?? hyeran wears them too but.. actually needs them, not even close to a fashion statement

doesn’t don much makeup unless someone’s dragging her to a party or something

thaT’S when she looks a little more like a classy early twenties bitch.. which lbr, is hard enough when adulthood is a whole Train Wreck for the most part LGFJSDL

not a heavy drinker, but the textbook definition of a lightweight so.. she’s always praying for anyone who has to deal with her dgfjklsfg

lattes are her livelihood

a bit of a hopeless romantic, god help her

her favourite subject in school was literature/writing and reads quite a bit on her breaks at the café

favourite music genres.. it’s easier to say what she doesn’t like/finds boring, which is prob country and some aspects of edm/pop, not into punk/metal either

these are super basic but.. i’ve gotta get myself together for the day so this’ll do for now i hope ??

so if you’d like to plot, im me here or on d*scord ! i prefer the latter personally, but whichever’s easiest for you. i have a list of a few of the specific wcs i have in mind ( for the time being, catch my lazy ass avoid listing all the basic ones and revising a few i have on an old blog ) for hyeran up now, which you can find here, so just lmk if any of them appeal to you !!

[heyhihelloidontusethisanymo-blog]

deh pets headcanon

ok so i made another headcanon before about phones and things they would all have and mentioned that evan would probably have a dog. so then naturally i just started thinking about all of them which resulted in this. another warning that it’s midnight and im half dead soooo yeah enjoy??? 

jared:

he would be the kid that BEGGED until his parents got him whatever animal he wanted

like he has a lot of pets idk

the first thing that comes to my mind is a bird

and i’m not talking like a cute little parakeet

im talking like an annoying ass huge bird

like they used to keep it in the house but it was just,,,, , so loud

so now they keep it in the shed

(don’t worry he takes great care of the bird even tho it’s in the shed)

i keep picturing a parrot

is that even llegal? idk 

don’t ask me

the bird’s  name would either be like something he named when he was little like “rainbow”

or it would be literally just meme

like

the bird’s name would be meme

there is no in between don’t fight me on this

he would also have a guniea pig named something really stupid too

idk what it would be probably dat boi or another old meme 

but he would love that freaking thing

he would like constantly hold it or like carry it around his house

or he would show up at evan’s house holding it and evan would be like “what why”

and he would be like “oh yeah. this is dat boi and he’s coming inside with me”

he wouldn’t have a dog tho

they probably had one when he was little but it passed away and they didn’t think anything could be better than that dog

aw now i’m sad

maybe he would have a hamster at one point too but it would like probably get annoying and he would give it to connor

oh thats another thing for later

long story short jared loves animals

connor:

connor would probably be like “i hate all animals. i hate everything. angst blah blah blah

but jared one day just showed up with a hamster like “just tAKE IT”

and then left

so he was like uhh okay

and he ended up becoming secretley obsessed with this hamster

like when he was feeling really angry and about to freak out he would just watch it run on it’s little wheel and it would calm him down

he wouldn’t name it because “he didn’t want to get too attached” 

(he was so attached. he loved it.)

he would buy so much stuff for it

like he would come home with bags and bags of little tubes for it to run in or a bunch of different wheels to try out 

his mom would be like “connor what is that” and he’d be like “nOTHING”

it would be a hamster mansion

p.s. zoe wouldn’t know about the hamster

she would be completley oblivious somehow

his parents did tho and didn’t really care

evan was the only person that knew about the hamster other than that

and he loved that thing so much

like whenever him and connor would hang out he would just be constantly holding it

evan probably named it in his head but never really says it out loud 

and one day he lets it slip

like

“aw can we take out hammy?”

and connor’s like “whatthefuck”

and evan gets all nervous and stuttering 

but they eventually just start calling it hammy

it would be a really tan almost orange looking hamster btw

and it’d probably be really fat because evan likes to give him treats

side note: the only other animal connor would like is evan’s dog which i will talk about later

alana:

alana would always love animals but she never really acted on it much

like she would know anything and everything about animals but would never really vocalize it 

until one day zoe starts talking about how she likes animals

then she just goes crazy

like she’s a Certifed Animal Lover™

but anyway

I feel like she would have a little dog

like not a chuiwawwawawaw i gave up on spelling that rip

but like a little rescue dog

it would probably look like a puggle 

and while she’s doing homework the dog would just like sit in her lap

(if u haven’t already noticed this is heavily based on how kristolyn lloyd mentioned alana having a dog or something with her on stage and tbh i agreed hard core)

this dog would be so freaking spoiled

like im talking huge beds made for golden retrievers 

purple sparkly collars and harnesses and clothes (the dog’s color would be purple. dont fight me on this) (wow i can’t believe i just gave a dog a favorite color rip)

she would make it wear shoes sometimes and take funny videos to post on her instagram

this dog would have the most extra name of all time

like Persephone or athena or some goddess name 

i didn’t include this in the other hc but she would DEF have a vlog channel

and she would be like “hey guys! this is alana and dionysus (yes i just googled that im sorry) and welcome to todays video!”

either that or she would have a guinea pig

but i more see her with a dog

she would love that dog so much

zoe:

golden retriever. for sure.

she would be the kid who BEGGED their parents for a dog for years and years

like every school essay would be about why she should get a dog

and she would like tape dog pictures to the fridge and on her notebooks at school

she would be s’cute

but when she got into high school her parents expected it to kind of drop off

but no

not at all

she only wrote more essays about why she should get this dog

and they were still like “mehhh no”

(actually cynthia would be fine with it but larry would be like hell no hell no hell no)

so the day she turned eighteen she was like “screw this im an Adult™ now”

and just went out and got a dog

and when she came back home with it everyone was like “what have you done”

and she just shrugs and is like “i’m an adult now i get to do what i want”

and nobody really says anything after that

she loves that dog so much

it would be a girl named kiwi

or something weird but adorable like that

and she would sneak it into school sometimes 

she would totally get caught but it would be worth it to her

she only did that when the dog was a puppy tho

when kiwi got big she loved her even more

omg this dog would know so many tricks

like im not talking “sit” and “roll over”

(but obvi she would know those)

im talking like dance and jump and speak and play dead

that dog would be so smart

zoe would work really hard to train her tho

she would try to bring her everywhere

like when all of them would hang out she would make the plans around wherever place was dog friendly ya know

her parents would be like “no dog on the bed!1!1!”

but no

i mean the dog would obviously have a dog bed 

(and it would be damn comfy tbh)

 but she would always sleep in zoe’s bed

not at her feet but like right up on top of the pillow like she’s a human

ok I’ve gotta stop now time for evan handsoap

evan:

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: i love evan so much okay

just a reminder

anywho

evan would never really be the type to beg for a dog

but heidi got one for him at the beginning of senior year just bc she thought it would be good for him

(she tries so hard i love her too)

and at first he was like “oh ok hi dog”

but then he’s like “ohmygod i love u”

it’s def a dachshund/wiener dog don’t fight me on this i know it’s a thing

he would name it bonsai 

i know he would

my hear is melting just thinking about this s end he lp

but he would love that thing so much

he would love taking hikes or little nature walks with her

(the dog would be a girl btw idk how i know this i just do)

and the dog would be very fit

like she would never be fat

she wouldn’t know very many tricks

like  only sit and high five

but it’s ok she’s an angel

she’s probably  like very light tan almost blonde (if u google a pic of a light tan weiner dog you’ll see what I mean they’re so cute I cant)

and when he’s anxious she can always tell

so she goes up to him and just like sits next to him and kinda whines bc she’s worried?? idk you know what i mean

but at night she sleeps curled up into evan’s side

like wiener dogs when they sleep literally curl into a little burrito 

she does that

it’s so cute

when connor stays over the dog sleeps between them

oh yeah

that’s the only dog connor likes

like he hard core loves that dog

when he sees her he uses this high pitched baby voice

you know the one im talking about

it’s adorable

evan thinks it’s the best thing he’s ever heard actually

he loves that connor loves his dog

i just thought of this but what if it was a therapy dog

like he could bring it to school when he had really bad days

and she would be v friendly and love people

and in class when he got anxious he would just stick his hand down and pet his dog

(if u can’t already tell idk how service/therapy dogs work someone educate me)

he wouldn’t bring her with him a lot

bc people would want to pet her and he would get all flustered

and once he got kicked out of a store because the worker thought he just brought in a dog and evan was too nervous to explain that it was his therapy dog

poor boyo

but zoe and alana and connor and jared would BEG him to because they all love her

so when they got ice cream at a la mode he would always bring bonsai just to make them shut up

and the employees there know bonsai and always give them a free vinalla cone for her

ah i just love the idea of him having a dog

[birdysnow]

Who is your favorite OC? Pls share their backstory I must know👀

to be honest it’s totally Devon. I’ve had him sinceee about the 6th grade, and he’s been concrete since about 7th grade (I’m almost a junior!). He’s so important to me :’). Whenever I feel sad I just work on him or write about him and it cheers me up real fast. 

haha his backstory is a loooong, complicated mess. I literally went on an 1.5-2 hour rant about his backstory at a sleepover once, it was ridiculous how long it took for me to talk about him. I actually wrote a response for this ask yesterday, but it got deleted I hate my life. It was soooo long because I wrote it in the way I speak. You’re probably getting a lot more than you bargained for :’). I’ll put it below the cut so everyone else doesn’t suffer. 

im gonna use bullet points bc i like them and theyre shorter

note: universe is like. sci-fi. there’s space stuff you know

full name: Devon Mateo Westmore

born: August 16th 

a leo!!! do with that what you will

as far as parents go, they’re kinda dicks basically

Devon was a complete accident and he’s kind of treated as such

they’re pretty neglectful?? they really dont give a crap abt him frankly

they’re more interested in making bank with their jobs and turning up

has a sister who’s like graduating or smthn. she’s old. her name’s Lucía. 

she also could give less than a crap about him and had a similar experience with their parents; just wants to be free and have no attachment to this rando baby 

is a total Problem Child™ during school because of his messy life, just wants attention and love really but never really gets it

universally hated by teachers all his life

high school is especially rough he is a disaster

he’s basically like party all day every day bitches bc is parents are never home/probably wouldnt reprimand him for going out anyways

he drinks a lot, does drugs 

he bangs a lot of people irresponsibly. A LOT of people.

is a player tbh he will flirt with anyone. very pansexual. 

makes a lot of (bad) friends 2 fill the Void™ and does a lot of illegal things

anyway fast forward to when he’s like 17-18 and school’s like yep time to graduate!! and hes basically like

but he does graduate in order for the story to move forward

but now he’s like careers????????

all he’s kind of enjoyed is music throughout high school but he’s like thats not what i want to do. 

yolo, he probably says to himself one day. I’ll just join the military and become a space pilot because thats what I wanted to do when i was 8

so BASICALLY i haven’t figured out how I want this space military to work but he ends up in like an academy (he’s like around 19ish) or smthn 

this is where he starts to like chill tf out tbh

he discovers that he likes this a lot?? and he’s like dedicated to it???

a lot of like. coping happens and he has to figure out what kind of person he wants to be and recover™ himself

but yah he does well and he ends up being valedictorian nice going m8 

basically if you’re #1 in your class you get the opportunity to go to this like. school/training thingy. and it’s very exclusive but if you like graduate from their you’re like. set 

its like harvard except you could die there 

yolo, he thinks in yet another life decision he really shouldn’t be taking lightly. I want $$$$ so i’m about to make that place my bitch

he does not make that place his bitch

he suffers so much

by the end of the year/2 years he’s there, he does pretty well

He makes a bunch of good friends, and he gets a ton of experience. he’s really good because of it, as to be expected

while there the top of the class is this girl and her name is Adella

shes my daughter

Devon likes her but she’s like super stand-offish and he’s a party kid so he’s like

“hard pass.”

but he has like mad respect and he thinks she’s chill

the feelings mutual

anyways like RIGHT before they graduate she gets recruited to this special program because she’s top of the class and like disappears he never sees her again

sike

but not for a while at least……………

so like fast forward he’s like 23 maybe

he’s got a good job, he’s living it up really?? he’s just like pretty happy all around he has a life, an apartment, friends

he gets an email from this girl and she’s like yo

I’m Tamara, my mother passed away recently but I discovered that our parents are apparently siblings?? I never knew I had a cousin, I heard you live in the area and I was just wondering if you wanted to get to know each other 

and hes basically like damn if i’m about to pass up this chance!!!!!!!!

Tamara works as a programmer literally one (1) city away 

basically they just?? end up getting along really well?? Devon spends a lot of his off days hanging out with her

he’s so ecstatic to finally have someone who’s his family like she treats him like a little brother

probably Tamara also has a younger sibling, their name is Calix. they work as a doctor and dont see Tamara often but the two are close regardless

they’ll be important later but for rn they’re not relevant

anyway, at some point they make plans for Devon to meet Tamara and he ends up at her work

and she’s chilling with this guy who is absolutely

fucking

gorgeous

Devon’s sure he died, right there, behind a goddamn cubicle,,

he’s frantically trying to think up something suave to say (are you the only tennessee no– wait–) when Tamara notices him

she introduces him to her hot friend, his name is Shay

Devon tries to play it cool

“Hey would you mind if Shay came w–”

“NO NOT AT ALL I WOULDNT MIND”

they go out for lunch

he chills out a little bit on the way enough to be his usual self

Shay mistakes flirting for good-natured joking

Devon suffers

They exchange numbers 

cue pining 

Shay continues to be oblivious

He has to be told point blank by Tamara whos like “Please, for the love of all that is good, fuck him go on a date with my cousin.”

“Has he been asking me on dates every time he takes me out?? every time??”

I love Shay so much u dont even know

Shay is basically a really pure and happy person, literally nothing can get him down ever he’s just trying to live his best life

he’s everything to Devon, he’s so sunshiney and nice and Devon has just been through some stuff and his life is going well and now he has been blessed with this beautiful, perfect boy….,,,

it’s not like Devon has never dated anyone before, most of his relationships have been purely physical but he’s been in romantic relationships w people

but this is like. it he knows it. 

they date for about a year, everything’s fantastic

and then

things are heating up politically, and Devon’s in the military so they need him somewhere else

right now everyones living in like?? around india somewhere and they need him in like. canada.

hes understandably upset

he’s gotta move. acROSS THE GLOBE.

he’s not going to break up with bae but they’ve got to talk through this like Adults™

so they talk through it

and Shay’s basically like

“fuck no, i’m moving with you idiot

did you think you were just going to move away from me bench?? sike”

they move in together

I used to have their apartment layout drawn up on homestyler but they reset the system and it’s gone into the void so i’ll have to remake it :’)

so now they’re moved in which is super great everything is popping

remember Calix? they’re relevant again

basically, Calix has been dating this girl for a while now and they’ve gotten serious but their relationship is not working out because she is a mess tbh and they love each other very much but they are not good for each other

Calix isn’t emotionally receiving or helpful he’s very blunt so they end up splitting up because she doesn’t need a relationship  

Said girl is Adella

Adella is a mess basically

the program she was recruited for made her very successful, very well known in her field and in a lot of ways, among common people

but downside is there was a lot of government dirty work she was kind of pressured into doing

there’s also a lot of hush hush skirmish’s that have been occurring that she had to stop

she’s been struggling with depression for a lot of her life and she has PTSD so when her contract is up she decides to take a break™ 

her and Calix’s relationship kind of falls apart but she’s friends with Tamara and she’s like I need to leave somewhere and get out of this messiness, i’m going to move back home (Canada)

Tamara is like

LIGHTBULB DING DING DING

she doesn’t think that Adella shoudnt be on her own, she wants someone to supervise her and make sure she doesnt accidentally starve or smthn

she has the best intentions but she kind of tricks Devon and Shay tbh

“Hey you guys got an apartment with an extra room?? Can you take in my friend for a while, she’ll pay rent, she has a job she’s just trying to find a nice place to live but she needs to move to the area rn”

the two of them are like “yeah sure lol sounds legit tammy we ly

Adella shows up on their doorstep with the intention to live there for like 2 years

cue Shay internally flipping his shit over this lowkey celebrity whos going to LIVE in HIS APARTMENT DEVON DID YOU CLEAN THE KITCHEN

Devon is not phased 

he knows Adella from school so he’s just kind of like hey its u whats banging girlie

he basically just treats her like normal and she is so appreciative 

basically they become SQUAD i love them and thats the beginning of my story and thus ends background 

i’m sorry this was so long i tried so hard but i got carried away. double sorry for taking so long I have like 3 end of school projects due rip me

Thank you so much for asking!! I can’t tell you how much it means to me :’)) If you made it this far through my story I applaud you. thanks for reading!!! Feel free to message me if you have any questions