#so he can ask how Santa gets around the world in one night and sneaks into houses without chimneys

[roosterforme]

You're on the Naughty List, Rooster | Rooster x Reader

Summary: Bradley knows no limits when spoiling his family, especially for his daughter's first Christmas. When he's down to the wire getting everything ready, he lands himself on the naughty list. He'll do whatever it takes to fix things, including calling on one of Santa's helpers for backup.

Warnings: Fluff, adult language, smut, oral sex

Length: 3000 words

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Female Reader

This is a The Younger Kind one-shot, but it can be read alone! Check out my masterlist for more!

"What is this?" you asked, holding up a receipt that trailed from your outstretched hand all the way to the floor. "Because I know you didn't spend eight hundred dollars on toys on your way home from work today."

"Uh," Bradley replied, brow puckered. He looked up from his spot on the living room floor next to the Christmas tree where he was putting batteries into a remote control dinosaur. "It's, uh.... well, yeah, I did stop for a few more toys on the way home, but I only spent like seven hundred and sixty bucks..."

"Daddy!" you gasped. "Noah and Noelle already have way too much stuff! And we agreed to put money aside to go to Disney World next summer!"

Bradley rolled his eyes and waved his hand casually in the air. "Don't worry about that. This is Noelle's first Christmas, and I really wanted to spoil her."

You shook your head, balled up the receipt, and threw it at his head. But you were smiling. "Where are these toys?"

"In the Bronco," he muttered. "I was going to sneak them under the tree after you went to bed and hope you didn't notice that I got a few more things."

You deadpanned. "You don't know how to wrap gifts. They would have stuck out like a sore thumb," you muttered, sliding your feet into your slippers and pulling on Bradley's discarded sweatshirt. 

Without another word, you slipped out into the crisp, cool night to retrieve everything. To your dismay, it took you several trips back to the living room before you got all of it.

"You are in so much trouble," you warned, pulling his sweatshirt off and crawling across the floor toward your husband. "You're on the naughty list."

"I'm not," he whispered. "I've been really good all year."

You pointed to the Elf on the Shelf which was perched on the windowsill next to the front door. "That's not what Skittles Junior told Santa. I saw the note he sent to the North Pole. Everyone was on the nice list except for you."

"Including Skittles Senior?" he asked, pulling you close until you were sitting halfway on his lap. The Yorkshire Terrier looked up from her napping spot under the Christmas tree, annoyed that they kept saying her name without offering a treat.

"Especially Skittles Senior," you confirmed.

Bradley wrapped his hands around your waist and whispered, "What if I bought my way onto the nice list?"

"How?" you asked, chin jutting into the air, playfully haughty.

Bradley leaned in, pressing his lips to the side of your neck. You had the softest skin, and he let himself indulge in some kisses before saying, "Maybe I already booked the trip to Disney World."

You gasped softly. "Well, this is an interesting turn of events. Did you pick a nice hotel?"

"For my family? The nicest."

"And we get to go for a week?"

"A full seven days, Princess," he rasped, brown eyes reflecting the lights on the tree as you tipped his head back to examine his face.

"Let me check with the Elf," you whispered with a wink. You turned toward the window and asked, "Hey, Skittles Junior? You think we can let the old man slide this year? He wasn't too bad."

But Bradley was already easing you onto your back, right next to the snag in the area rug, while you laughed. "I know for a fact you're on the nice list. You're so nice, in fact, I'll let you have one of your presents early," he murmured. You bit your lip as he started to tug your pajama pants over your hips. "This is something I definitely wouldn't be able to figure out how to wrap." He kissed below your belly button, tossing your pants on top of his hoodie. "But I know it's something you like."

The tip of his nose tickled the waistband of your underwear before he started to pull them down as well. Then he kissed his way along your thigh, mustache prickling you as you shivered, pussy completely bare for him. "Daddy," you moaned softly, fingers grabbing at the rug while he held tight to your thigh and dragged his index finger along your slit.

His face was handsome in the glow from the multi-colored lights, gaze fixed on where he was stroking you. "You're so fucking pretty like this," he grunted, collecting your slick and circling your clit until you whimpered. His lips found the inside of your knee before he set your legs gently on his shoulders. You watched as he licked his finger clean, eyes closed in pleasure. "You taste like a Princess."

"I am a Princess," you replied, eyes flicking to the collection of paper crowns which your son added to the Christmas tree. Then your eyes slid closed as Bradley's tongue traced you from hole to hole before his lips sealed around your clit with just the perfect pressure. 

"Oh, god," you whined as your fingers sunk into his thick hair. His broad shoulders kept you planted against the floor, pussy already fluttering with need as you tried to roll your hips for more.

"Just wait," he whispered, mustache dragging through your wetness. "Don't rush it."

"But it feels good," you whined loudly, tugging him by his hair. "More." 

That's when he lifted you slightly off the rug, his big hand landing on your butt, spanking you one time. You sucked in a deep breath, enjoying the sting as he kissed the inside of your thigh. "I said don't rush it. Want you to make a mess."

"Oh." He was going to make you squirt. That was the gift he was giving you. Even now, you weren't sure how he managed to make it happen every time he put his mind to it, but you weren't mad about it. You tried your best to keep your hips still as he worked you up while his hands made their way to your waist. 

He drew little circles against your skin where you were most self conscious after being pregnant with Noelle, but he never seemed to mind your stretch marks. He just kept at it, licking you up and down your slit with a steady pattern until you were starting to get loud. Then Bradley shoved two fingers inside and circled your clit with his thumb.

"Don't wake up the kids," he scolded playfully, guiding his body over yours while his hand worked at your pussy. The sounds were wet and indecent as he finger fucked you while you licked yourself from his lips and mustache. "God, you're so fucking sweet," he crooned, making you whine for him as he pulled away again.

As soon as his face was back between your legs, his lips took over for his thumb, and you knew you were close. His fingers felt thick and unrelenting, giving you the most delicious friction as he sucked on your clit. When his tongue swiped you, your back arched up from the rug, and your legs started to shake. When his fingers slowed, your vision blurred, creating a colorful mosaic from the Christmas lights as you clenched around him, your body trying to keep his fingers inside.

"Jesus," you gasped, riding his fingers, looking down at his face, lips still all over your pussy. "Daddy!"

You gushed on his face, and he moaned in pleasure, lapping up everything from your ass to your clit as you gasped and giggled, fingers pressed to your lips as you shakily rode out your orgasm.

"Merry Christmas, Princess," he crooned, teasing you with his fingers before removing them. He kissed your chin and your parted lips before letting you suck on his fingers while he sprawled out next to you. Your tongue cleaned him up, enjoying the taste of yourself on his rough hands before you rolled onto your side.

"You want me to wrap all of the extra toys you bought, don't you, Bradley?" you asked, voice shaky as he nodded.

"Yeah. I mean, I thought that was a given."

You laughed, but a few minutes later, you were once again dressed, wrapping presents until well after midnight. Bradley handed you the tape and scissors when you asked for them, and he made both of you mugs of hot cocoa when you needed a break. He told you his plans for the summer vacation to Florida, and you lined up the mound of toys for Noah and Noelle under the tree until you couldn't stop yawning.

"I don't know if I'm more tired from my orgasm or wrapping. Or both?" you asked, kissing him before standing. "But I'm going to bed."

"I'll be in after I put the mugs in the sink, Princess. I love you."

You stood and arched your back in the most alluring way before running your fingers through his hair and kissing his forehead. "Don't forget to move Skittles Junior to the tree for Christmas morning."

"Right. I'll take care of it," he grunted as you walked away, Skittles Senior trailing behind on her way to her puppy bed. 

After straightening up the kitchen, Bradley took the time to clean up a few wrapping paper scraps and adjust some of the ornaments. The tree looked beautiful covered in homemade art projects you and Noah crafted together. The whole house had taken on a new life since he met you, and if you wanted to go to Disney World in the summer, he was going to make it the best trip ever.

"Get over here," he told the Elf on the Shelf, picking him up and searching for a good spot on the tree to hide him. "And I better be on the nice list tomorrow, Skittles Junior. There are a lot of things I want from my wife next year, if you catch my drift, buddy."

But Bradley took a wrong step trying to avoid the huge pile of presents that he bought. His eyes went wide as he reached for the tree, somehow managing to keep it and himself upright while the presents scattered noisily across the floor. He stood there silently, trying to regroup, but then he heard footsteps in the hallway.

"Daddy, did Santa come?"

Bradley turned in time to see Noah peek into the room, his brown eyes wide as he took in the scene before him. Then he burst into tears.

"What's wrong, Bub?" Bradley asked, scrambling around the presents to get to his son.

"You touched the Elf!" he wailed, tears streaking down his cheeks. "Now Skittles Junior won't be magic anymore!"

Bradley tamped down the string of obscenities on the tip of his tongue and winced, throwing the Elf at the tree. "He's okay. See? He's in the tree now. He's just fine."

"No!" his son cried, dropping to the floor where Bradley joined him, trying to keep him quiet so he didn't wake you or Noelle. "He's not magic anymore!"

Fuck. Bradley had been setting up elaborate scenes involving the elf leaving flour footprints in the kitchen and dangling from dental floss in the bathroom for the entire month of December. He knew he wasn't allowed to get caught touching the damn thing.

"I'm pretty sure there's a way to fix his magic," he said, collecting the sobbing child against his chest.

Noah gasped for air as he said, "Someone at school told me the only way to get an elf to be magic again is if Santa sends a helper to sprinkle new magic on him. That's the only way."

Bradley tried to think of a solution to appease Noah, but he was beyond exhausted. "How about I take you back to bed, okay? Santa was clearly already here, but Mommy and Noelle are still asleep. We can open presents in a few hours-"

"No!" Noah protested, looking up at him. "I want to stay here with Skittles Junior until Santa sends a helper to give him back his magic!"

Bradley gritted his teeth. It was four in the morning. He wanted to be curled up next to your warm body in bed. He didn't know how the fuck to fix the elf as it dangled helplessly from the tree. But it was Christmas, and the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint his son.

"Right," Bradley agreed, scooping Noah up and settling onto the couch with him as a plan started to take shape. "How about you and I wait right here? I'm sure it won't take long."

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

When you woke up, the bed was cold. You could hear Noelle starting to fuss in her crib, so you went to her room before investigating where your husband could possibly be.

"Hey, Noelle," you whispered as she giggled and reached for you when you walked to her crib. Thankfully she was finally sleeping through the night now after getting a rough start. You kissed her forehead and changed her into a fresh diaper. "Merry Christmas," you told her, tickling her tummy, making her coo. "Let's find Noah and Daddy and make breakfast."

When you walked into the living room, you froze. The wrapped presents were all over the floor, Skittles Junior was dangling from the Christmas tree, and Bradley looked miserably tired with Noah pouting on his lap.

"What's going on?" you asked, and they both turned to look at you and Noelle.

"Daddy touched Skittles Junior, and now he's not magic anymore."

Noah's lips quivered as Bradley rolled his eyes behind him. "It was an accident," Bradley replied through gritted teeth. "And Santa's helper should be here shortly to remedy things."

You looked at him like he had two heads. "What are you talking about? Santa's helper?"

"It's the only way!" Noah insisted, his little fists clenched on his lap. "It's the only way to get his magic back!"

You looked from one pair of brown eyes to the other. "I'm still confused," you whispered, but then there was a knock on the front door. "Who could that possibly be at this hour?"

Noah launched off Bradley's lap. "It has to be Santa's helper!" he exclaimed, racing for the door and opening it. You nearly choked when you saw Natasha standing there, dressed as a life-sized Elf on the Shelf with heavily rouged cheeks and her hair hidden under the pointy hat. She was also wearing oversized glasses which she pushed up her nose as Bradley stood.

"Hi! My name is Pip! I'm an elf!" she squeaked.

"Did Santa send you?" Noah asked hopefully, opening the door wider for her.

"He sure did!" she told him with a smile while you took in the events before you with Noelle in your arms. This had to be the most insane thing you'd ever witnessed as your husband's best friend walked into the living room with a canister of gold glitter in her hand.

"Did he tell you my elf lost his magic?" Noah asked, pointing at the tree.

"Oh, yes," Natasha squeaked. "He said your dad was very, very naughty." She glared at Bradley who just shook his head. "He's going directly onto the naughty list for the next decade or so. Everyone knows you aren't allowed to touch the Elf on the Shelf. Only a complete moron would-"

"Okay, Pip," Bradley barked. "Can you fix the elf or not?"

She adjusted the glasses and opened the glitter. "Of course I can. Just a little sprinkle," she said, dousing the elf and half the tree in gold dust, "and he'll be good as new."

"Yay!" Noah shouted, jumping around the room. "He's magic again! He's magic again!"

You gaped at Bradley and whispered, "Do I even want to know?"

"Absolutely not," he replied, taking Noelle and giving her a kiss while Noah plopped down to open aone of his presents like all was right in the world.

When Natasha turned to quietly sneak back out the front door, you followed her to the porch, closing the door behind you.

"What in the world is happening here? I thought you and Javy were coming over later for dinner?"

She waved her hand in the air in clear annoyance. "I don't know exactly what your husband did to fuck up enough that I got texts in the middle of the night and had to drive an hour each way to the only Walmart that opened at seven in the morning on Christmas to buy this outfit, but he owes me dearly. I'll be back at a normal hour, and you can tell him he better be ready to start kissing my ass."

The elf stormed across the yard to her SUV, tossed her hat in, and drove off. You scratched your head, still confused as you went back inside. Skittles Junior was practically dripping with gold glitter as you passed the tree to find your husband and both of your children were wearing their paper crowns.

"Mommy, put it on," Noah said, handing you the purple one as you took a seat on the area rug with them.

Bradley leaned in and kissed your cheek while Noelle reached for one of the wrapped gifts. "I'll explain everything later," he whispered. "The important thing is the elf is magical again, and everyone is happy."

You shook your head and pursed your lips. "Everyone except you. Ten years on the naughty list? You better hope Pip changes her mind before she gets back to the North Pole."

Bradley groaned and sprawled out on the floor while the kids opened their presents, but there was a smile on his face the whole time.

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

It feels good to check in with them! I'm so obsessed with elf Natasha, if you couldn't tell. Thanks for reading! Happy holidays! Thanks @beyondthesefourwalls

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[ridiasfangirlings]

Post-RoK S4 is hosting a community christmas event. Munakata plans to play Santa Claus as a fun experience but Fushimi thinks it's stupid cause Santa isn't real (Niki made sure to tell him that). While they're setting up the community center, they come across some excited kids who are talking about the upcoming event as they watched and they're excited about Santa. They asked Fushimi if Santa would really show up and Fushimi thinks he didn't want to be like Niki and told them that he would.

Munakata can’t believe such slander against Santa Claus, he himself stays up every year on Christmas Eve indulging in increasingly elaborate plans to capture Santa Claus and learn his secrets. Of course, even though Munakata believes in the true Santa he also assumes there’s nothing wrong with dressing up in his stead, and the local children will enjoy this important community outreach. Munakata acts like this is just something he’s doing as part of S4’s duty but watching him prepare Fushimi just clicks his tongue all ‘you say it that way, but you’re really enjoying this aren’t you?’. Munakata feels that this is the time of year to indulge in good cheer and bring happiness to children, as Santa does. Fushimi snorts and says Santa isn’t real and shouldn’t they tell brats that sooner rather than later. Munakata’s face falls and Fushimi is just like ‘…don’t look at me with that expression,’ like he suddenly feels weirdly uncomfortable. Munakata smiles then and says regardless, the existence of Santa is a thing that brings joy, so even if Santa were to be fake (which he is not), isn’t it fine to let children indulge now and then.

Fushimi leaves to continue his work, thinking that not telling kids about Santa is how you end up with a ridiculous boss who wants you to stay up and assist in the Santa Capture Mission. Fushimi never believed in Santa even from the start — well, maybe once, when he was very little and his teacher had everyone make cookies for Santa. Fushimi woke up the next morning to find Niki snacking on them (after this Fushimi anticipates the future and adds extra salt and also sometimes rat poison), laughing that his little monkey still believes in Santa. It’s not like Fushimi was disappointed though — of course Santa doesn’t exist, only a stupid kid would believe that. It’s better that he learned the truth from the start, rather than believing like an idiot for way too long.

As it gets closer to Christmas Munakata has Awashima and Fushimi accompany him to the community center to get things set up for the party. Fushimi is complaining about all the work that’s piling up as he tries to hang some streamers, probably pinning them to the wall with knives (at least he was until Awashima walked by and informed him that’s too dangerous to do with children around). There are some local kids already running around talking about what they want for Christmas and Fushimi just rolls his eyes all how stupid. One of the older kids says his big brother told him Santa doesn’t exist and the younger ones argue, he does so exist. They look over at Fushimi all ‘mister, Santa Claus does exist, doesn’t he?’. Fushimi clicks his tongue all ‘why are you asking me’ under his breath, but the kids are still waiting for an answer. Fushimi opens his mouth, ready to tell them that no, Santa doesn’t exist…but the kids are looking at him with hopeful eyes and Fushimi finds himself saying instead ‘yeah. He exists.’

 The younger kids cheer and Fushimi goes back to his work, rolling his eyes. Suddenly Munakata is behind him, noting with a smile that he thought Fushimi didn’t believe in Santa. Fushimi says he doesn’t, but it isn’t his job to tell brats that, their parents can do that. Munakata is still smiling all oh is that the reason and Fushimi snaps that yes, that’s why, don’t you have work to do. Munakata thinks that Fushimi certainly is good with kids and Fushimi clicks his tongue in response. He finds himself looking at where the kids ran off to though, thinking that it’s just maybe he didn’t want to be like ‘that guy,’ and to let the kids believe a little longer.

[dreamescapeswriting]

Tripped Into Love ~ MYG [Request]

WORD COUNT: 3.5k

PAIRING: Yoongi x Fem!Reader

GENRE: Fluffy, friends to lovers, opposites attract, best friends friend, fluffy yoongi, yoongi having a crush on the reader

Yoongi was 100% without a doubt in love with you. There was something about the way you dressed. The way you acted. The way you held yourself. You were the complete opposite of everything he was and everything he thought he wanted in a partner. Everything about you had him head over heels in love with you. 

From the moment he met you he knew there was something about you that drew him in. Something that made him feel as though he could never let you out of his life. Jungkook wanted you all to meet and so he set it up, way back before everyone debuted. Yoongi figured you would be exactly like Jungkook but he couldn’t have been more wrong. The fact that Jungkook felt the need to warn the boys about you should have been his first guess that you were nothing as he was expecting but in a good way.

“Just remember I said Y/n can get a little excited over things, and when she sees something she thinks is cute she’ll keep telling you how cute she finds it,” Yoongi rolled his eyes at the persistent Jungkook. He’d been going on for the last hour about you. His best friend. Someone he’d known since the two of you was able to walk and talk. Jungkook just wanted to prepare Yoongi about you, he knew how temperamental Yoongi could get with things and he didn’t want there to be any issues.

“I told you, I’ll say hello and leave.” Yoongi reminded him as he sat on the dorms sofa and waited for the doorbell to ring. Jungkook wanted you to meet everybody since you were going to be seeing them all a lot more now your best friend was going to be training more.

“That’s her,” Jungkook breathed out as he walked over to the door calling you to come in. Yoongi couldn’t see you at first because Jungkook had his arms wrapped around your body. 

“Come in, this is Jimin and you already know Tae.” Yoongi kept his eyes on the door waiting for your arrival and when it finally came his jaw almost dropped open. Not only were you beautiful but you seemed so happy to be there. A smile plastered across your face as you held up a bag for Jungkook to see, 

“I got everyone something. I couldn’t resist.” Taking the bag over to the coffee table in front of Yoongi you smiled at him and his heart practically lept from his chest. The way you smiled at him did all sorts of things he never thought would happen. 

“I’m Y/n,” You shook his hand and he smiled, beginning to stammer over his words trying to introduce himself to you. Never in a million years had he ever been this shy around someone. 

“That’s Yoongi, he’s one of our rappers,” Jimin said as he sat beside Yoongi, poking his side and earning a death glare from Yoongi. 

“I can tell,” You joked about the way he was stammering and let out the most heavenly giggle Yoongi had ever heard in his life. It was something he would feature in the back of a song if you would ever let him.

“What did you get us?” Jungkook asked as he stood beside you trying to peek into the bag. You smirked before rummaging through it. Yoongi still couldn’t take his eyes off you. The dress you were wearing looked as though it had been plucked from a barbie doll but it wasn’t anything too much for the eyes. A simple A-Line dress that went to below your knees, short puffy sleeves with a lace-up-front. Covered in cute strawberries. You had paired it with a pair of pink vans and Yoongi instantly could tell what your favourite colour was from the first look at you. 

“Yoongi!” Taehyung began snapping his fingers in front of Yoongi’s face to pull him back into the conversation. All of the boys were staring at him holding cute stuffed animals while you grinned at him. There was clearly something on his mind that was taking up his attention but you had no idea that it was you.

“I got you one too,” You smiled holding up a black and white stuffed cat. It was larger than a small sofa cushion and adorable. Yoongi couldn’t help but smile even more as he took it from you carefully, giving it a small squeeze. 

The boys all exchanged looks with one another as Yoongi had a slight blush to his cheeks. It was shocking for them to see him so shy in front of someone but they were going to enjoy seeing him like this for a while. 

“I figured since Jungkook always tells me how much you look like a kitty,” You smiled sweetly at him and he couldn’t help but smile more. Not only was it a kind gesture but it was something he never would have expected. 

“I love him,” He breathed out as he looked up at you. Jungkook could already see what was beginning to happen and he wasn’t going to put a stop to it. Only encourage it, it would be a breath of fresh air to see Yoongi so happy around someone. 

Yoongi stayed longer in the living room with you and Jungkook, agreeing to watch any movie with you that you were willing to put on. He never would have pegged himself as the guy to sit and watch copious amounts of Disney movies just because someone asked him to.

Smiling to himself Yoongi bopped the cat toy you had gotten him on the nose, he had kept it for eight years and kept him on his desk in each studio he stayed in. It never left his side unless he went home for the night. It had been eight years of Yoongi being in love with you and he had never once admitted to you or confessed to you that it was all happening. Why would he want to ruin something that was already perfect? 

Jungkook knew of Yoongi’s feelings for you and had confronted Yoongi about it trying to convince his Hyung to tell you the truth. That he would feel even better once the feelings were out in the open. But he never did. He never wanted to risk the friendship that you and Jungkook had, nor did he want to ruin the friendship you and he had. 

The two of you had begun to get close over the years, hanging out together whenever Jungkook was busy or just because you wanted to be around one another. The two of you had movie nights, take-out nights and even lunch dates together. You knew what he was like for forgetting to eat so you made sure to bring him a homecooked lunch at least once a week, two if you could push it. 

Yoongi figured it was something you did for Jungkook as a friend and he let it continue on, having no idea that it was because you were head over heels in love with him. 

The moment you met him you couldn’t help but feel a yearn for him. You needed to be around him at all times or you would feel sort of lost without him. It was hard to explain and you had tried to explain it to Jungkook too many times you were beginning to lose count. 

“I thought we were going to have lunch,” You complained to Jungkook as he stood inside one of the dance studios sweating and panting heavily. It was your annual lunch in the HYBE canteen.

“I got caught up in a late practice. I’ll be out in an hour or two,” You rolled your eyes at him playfully before agreeing to go off on your own. It wasn’t the first time he had suddenly become busy while you were supposed to visit him. The joys of being friends with a kpop idol.  

It wasn’t as though you were going to be bored you could just go and sit with Namjoon or Yoongi. Whichever you happened to run into first on your way up to their studios.

“Hey! I thought you were going to lunch,” Namjoon’s voice filled the hallway and Yoongi frowned as he turned to look at who he was talking to. He’d gone out to get a small cup of coffee before going back on his break. He thought he was the only one around on the floor.  

As soon as his eyes landed on you he couldn’t help but smile. Your back was to him but he could already tell it was you because of the outfit. A soft pink jumper and matching plaid skirt, your pair of pink vans that Yoongi had gotten you for Christmas. 

The fact that you wore them almost every day bought a huge smile to Yoongi’s face whenever he saw you. It was secret Santa with the boys and Yoongi swapped with everyone until he got you. 

“Jungkook is practising so I was coming up to see if you or Yoongi were free,” Yoongi’s heart almost combust hearing that you wanted to spend time with him. Whenever you were around him it felt as though he was going to have a heart attack or at least have his heart suddenly burst out from his chest and confess to you itself. 

“Well, I’m not but I think Yoongi might be considering he’s staring at us,” Yoongi felt himself beginning to burn up as your body turned around to see him. Standing there holding a paper cup of coffee and smiling shyly over at you. The sight alone was enough to make you smile and heart sing, 

“Thanks, Joonie,” You hugged him goodbye before rushing over to join Yoongi beside his studio door.

“If you’re doing something I don’t have to.” You didn’t want to ever push your presence onto anybdoy but Yoongi shook his head at you. There was nothing that could stop him from inviting you into his studio. Spending more and more time with you. 

“I’m free, you can come and sit with me. I just finished a song, you can help me decide if I like it.” He smirked a little as you began to jump up and down on the spot getting excited at the thought of seeing a sneak peek of a song. 

“I think this will be the first time you’ve ever allowed me into the studio…” He thought back on all of the times you had been there and it was true. Mostly because he never wanted you to see him working, he would drown out the world and end up ignoring you. Or there was the possibility that you being in his studio would be far more distracting and he didn’t think he would be able to concentrate on anything but you. 

“It’s nothing much,” He pushed in the password and you looked away. You knew how private Yoongi was about things and you didn’t want him to have to change the password because you had seen it.  

“Welcome,” He breathed out as he pushed the door open.

Eyes dancing around the studio you couldn’t help but smile at everything around you, looking at the huge audio mixer, three monitors that were at his set up. Two on the desk and a larger flatscreen mounted onto the wall above his desk. There was a keyboard beside the desk that was put away whenever he wasn’t using it. A sofa sitting on the opposite side where the boys would sit and a small recording booth to the side. 

“This place is huge,” You gasped out as you looked at his desk. The mixer took up a little more than half of the desk, then there was a keyboard and mouse ready for him to use. 

As you were about to ask about what every button did on the mixer you saw it. It being the cat you had gotten for him all of those years ago. To your knowledge, the rest of the boys just put them away never to be seen again but the cat was there. Dressed in a miniature version of Yoongi’s Daechwita outfit. 

“You kept him?" There was genuine surprise in your voice as you looked at the small animal sitting there.

"Of course, you gave him to me and I love him." He chuckled watching you as you began to pick up the stuffed animal. Holding it close to your chest, 

"So cute! Did you get this made for him?" You questioned looking at the small outfit. It had every last detail from Yoongi's rags outfit in the video on the teddy. 

"Yeah, I got it made after the video dropped." It was a lie. He got it custom made the moment you told Yoongi how much you loved the video on set. 

He'd invited Jungkook to film with him and you'd tagged along to watch everything for the two days of filming. Watching Yoongi act tough as Agust D always made you feel something inside you couldn't quite explain. Even when he was dressed in the rags it made your heart skip and your stomach flip. 

"I love the video and song so much," You admitted as you put the cat down onto the desk. 

The video shoot had been one of the most amazing two days of your life. Yoongi had tried to convince you to get in the video but you declined, just wanting to watch the master at work. 

"Do you remember when you burnt your hand?" You looked at him remembering the scene where he had been bound near fire. He'd accidentally slipped and burnt his hands on one of the metal holders when he was trying to impress you. 

"How could I forget?" He whined looking at the small burn on the back of his hand, nothing large but just a small pink mark where he had gone into contact with the metal bowl. 

"It healed nicely," You told him as you took his hand into yours to take a look at the mark. Your fingers softly running over the faint mark as you inspected it. Yoongi's heart lept into his throat as you held his hand. A spark radiating from his entire body.

"Only because you made me ice it right away," He reminded you,

"Because you would have scared a lot worse if I didn’t." You scolded him as you began to look over his hand, letting go of it and smiling. When he did it he tried to act tough, as though it hadn’t bothered him but you could tell by the look in his eyes that day that it hurt more than he was willing to let on.

The two of you sat down on the sofa looking at one another. Talking about anything and everything that came to your mind. You were in the middle of planning your next movie night together when he suggested a horror movie.

"I'm telling you, there is no way on this earth you can get me to watch a horror movie with you," You complained as he continued to beg you. To you, it was just a horror movie but to Yoongi it was going to be a ticket into getting you to hold you in his arms. 

"Why not? I'll be there to protect you." He announced clearly as you shook your head,

"Protect me? Who's going to protect you!" You laughed rolling your head down onto the sofa and shaking it. 

"There is no way," You repeated to him and he pouted a little. There had to be a way to get you to watch a movie like that with him. 

"What if I asked really, really nicely." He pleaded, you looked up at him before sitting straight. 

"How would you do that?" Yoongi sat up straight and looked at you, eyes turning into puppy dog eyes as he begged you.

"Will you, Y/n Y/l/n, like to watch a horror movie with me? Pretty please," You scoffed at him, 

"Have to do better than that." You told him clearly as you waited for him to continue on. Yoongi nodded,

"I'll bring you chocolates, flowers, and a new stuffed animal.” The idea made you smile a lot more than if it was something between friends.

"It'll be like a date," Your mouth spoke before your brain even had time to register what it was that you were saying. The two of you froze. Yoongi didn't laugh and neither did you. You just stared at him wondering what to say next.

"A date...Would that be a bad thing?" His voice came out soft. He was testing the waters to see what you would think about having a date with him. 

"I don't think so..." Your voice came out a little strained. Was this your way of coming clean to him and admitting your feelings for him? 

Your eyes kept staring at his lips, his eyes doing the same as he did his best not to kiss you. He didn't want to move too fast or be too forward with you. Yoongi's head moved forward just a little as if he was going to kiss you so you. His breathing was careful as he glanced at you, heart racing from how close he was. He couldn't feel his legs, his arms or his toes anymore. All he could feel was how close you were to him and that was the only thought running rampant in his head. 

Meeting him in the middle you kissed him. His lips were softer than anything you had ever felt and you began to feel weightless. Lips moving against his as you sat up straight to deepen the kiss ever so slightly. Yoongi's hands at on your waist as he smiled against your lips. This was everything he had imagined and more. 

Pulling away your eyes stayed shut, resting your forehead on his as you were unable to open your eyes. Opening them meant realising that had truly happened and the repercussions that could have come along with it. 

"Y/n I need to tell you something," The whole room seemed to tense up as he looked at you. As if the kiss wasn’t obvious enough for you he needed to tell you how he was feeling.  

"I don't think I can be friends anymore..." He admitted as he looked at you, your heart almost dropped to the pit of your stomach.

"What? I-I didn’t mean to...I thought-”

"No, Y/n...Listen," He took your hand into his and smiled softly at you. Cutting you oof as he shook his head,

"I don't want to continue as friends because I need something more...I'm in love with you. I'm in love with you more and more every time that I see you and it's getting harder and harder to keep my feelings for you at bay." Heart lept back into your throat hearing that Yoongi loved you back.

"You love me too?"

"Yes I do- wait, too?" He questioned as he raised his eyebrow not expecting to hear that you loved him back. He would have thought you liked him after the kiss but loved him?

"You think I wouldn't fall in love with you?" You giggled softly as you kissed his lips again softly. It was like a drug, every time you stopped you wanted to go back in for more.

"You light up my life Y/n...I never would have thought someone like you would ever go for someone like me." When he finished his sentence you frowned at the statement. Someone like you?

"Someone like me?"

"Someone so cute and pink...The complete opposite to who I am." He rambled on a little as he looked at you. Never in a million years would he have expected you to like him back.

"Opposites attract," You whispered as you looked at him.

"But you're so soft and gentle with us and you're unreal. You make me melt into a puddle." Giggling at the small statement you kissed his lips over and over again making him blush deeper. The effect you had on him was unreal.

"So you fell for me?" You teased as you held his hand in yours. Locking your fingers together and giving his hand a small squeeze.

"I didn't fall in love, you tripped me." He licked his lips as he looked at you. Head racing to kiss you again but he didn't want to go too far or too fast with you. He had to take you out on a date first. 

"You tripped me too," You admitted to him as you pressed your lips to his cheek. The blush growing deeper with each touch he earnt from you. 

"Let me take you to lunch...We can make it up to Jungkook another time." He admitted before kissing you softly, pulling you to stand up from the sofa. If the two of you stayed in the studio any longer he was never going to be able to let you go.

Tagline: @lyoongx​ @mitzwinchester​ @min-yus​ @rjsmochii​ @taestannie​ @sw33tnight​ @sweeneyblue1​ @agustdjoon​ @jin-from-the-block​ @acciocriativity​ @justbangtanthingz​ @taeechwitaa​ @mwitsmejk​ @stillwithlix​

[storiesforallfandoms]

take a break ~ thomas shelby;peaky blinders

word count: 2155

request?: no

description: even on christmas day, tommy’s head is always in his work, until his wife manages to convince him to take a break

pairing: thomas shelby x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist

I was awoken by my toddler step-son, who was poking at my face. I opened my eyes to see that it was so early that the sun wasn’t even up yet. I blinked to try and see Charlie through the dimly lit room, his adorable, chubby face watching me with wide eyes.

“(Y/N),” he said, his voice low. “Santa was here.”

Oh right, it was Christmas morning. Now it made sense why he was awake so early.

“Was he, Charlie?” I asked, trying my best to keep my eyes opened. “Did he leave any presents?”

“Tons! The tree is full!”

I smiled at him. “That’s wonderful, darling. Do you think you could let your father and I sleep for a little longer? Then we’ll open presents. You can climb in bed between us.”

“Daddy isn’t in bed.”

Confused, I rolled over to see that Charlie was right, Tommy wasn’t in bed next to me. Strange, I was sure he was laying next to me when I had fallen asleep that night.

I sat up and rubbed my burning eyes. “You can still climb into bed, I’ll go looking for daddy, okay? Then we’ll open presents.”

Charlie excitedly climbed over my lap and cuddled into the blankets on his father’s side of the bed. I couldn’t help but smile at him as I swung my legs over the side of the bed. A shiver ran down my spine as my bare feet touched the cold floor.

There were few places that Tommy could be this early in the morning, especially on Christmas morning, and I happened to instinctively stumble into the one room he was in: his office.

He had his head down on his desk with a pen in one hand and his glasses still on his face, in the middle of writing something when he drifted off to sleep. I wondered how long he had been out here, and what was so important that he had to sneak away at the early hours of Christmas morning.

I lightly touched his shoulder, causing Tommy to jump up suddenly. “It’s just me.”

“Hello love,” he murmured, rubbing his tired eyes. “I must’ve fallen asleep, I’m sorry. I was - ”

“Working?” I finished. “I gathered. Charlie came in to tell us Santa had been here, but daddy wasn’t there to share the news with.”

Tommy’s glanced out the window for a moment, watching the now raising sun. “Charlie is awake already? It can’t be any more than 5 in the morning.”

“It’s Christmas morning and he is a child, Tommy, of course he’s awake this early,” I responded, crossing my arms. “What was so important that you had to come out in the middle of the night and work? I thought all business related matters were being put on hold for Christmas holidays.”

“It was just some urgent paperwork that Arthur wanted, it wasn’t going to take more than a few minutes - ”

“And evidently took so long that you fell asleep.”

Tommy sighed and looked up at me. Through the sleep in his eyes, I could also see the regret. Tommy hated to make me angry. Tommy would give me the world just to see me smile, he had told me so on numerous occasions. He hated to be the reason I was angry or upset, but unfortunately, with his profession and his dedication to his work, that happened more often than either one of us would’ve liked to admit.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I truly am, (Y/N). It was important.”

“Your son should be more important, Tommy,” I responded. “You should’ve been there with me when he woke me, you should be in bed now with the two of us cuddling your little boy before he gets up to open his presents from Santa. We should be important enough that you want to take a proper break from work to spend time with us, Tommy.”

Tommy wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him, resting his head against my stomach. I sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It was hard to be mad at him when I loved him so much, like how hard it was to be angry with Charlie when he did something bad.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured against me again before standing from his desk. He cupped my face with his hands and looked down into my eyes. “I mean it, (Y/N), I am sorry. I promise, between now and New Year’s I am all yours and Charlie’s. No work, I won’t even speak to my family if it means having my full attention on you and him.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at this. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far. You know how excited I am to see Poll and Ada.”

Tommy smiled and leaned down to press his lips against mine. “Let’s go back to bed, love. Charlie will soon be awake again for presents, no doubt.”

~~~~~~

As Tommy predicted, Charlie was awake not even an hour later. This time, however, I was delighted that he decided to wake his father first.

I heard his small voice whispering first, before hearing him yell, “Daddy!” followed by a groan from Tommy. I opened one eye to see the little boy, a mirror image to his father (just with some chubbier cheeks) sitting on Tommy’s stomach. I stifled a laugh as I figured out that Charlie’s tactic to wake his father was by jumping on him.

“Daddy, Santa was here!” Charlie exclaimed with excitement. “We have to go open our presents!”

“You can’t open presents without (Y/N),” Tommy reminded him.

I quickly pretended to be asleep as Charlie turned his attention on me. I felt this small hands press against my back, shaking gently to wake me up. “Wake up, (Y/N)! It’s Christmas!”

I slowly opened my eyes and smiled at Charlie and Tommy - my boys.

“Let’s go open those presents,” I told them.

Charlie was down from the bed and racing for the living room in seconds. I giggled as Tommy kissed my cheek and got up to follow him. I decided to delay a few minutes, taking an alternate route to the kitchen to make Tommy and I some coffee. I knew we’d both need it for the day.

When I finally got to the living room, Charlie was already tearing into his first gift: a brand new bike from “Santa”.

“Whoa!” he said, excitedly. “It’s the exact one I wanted!”

“Of course it is, Santa knows everything,” I said as I passed Tommy his mug of coffee. He smiled and wrapped an arm around me, pulling me close to him. I leaned my head against his chest, taking in the warmth from his body. I could’ve stayed there forever, I often did want to stay in his arms forever.

Charlie was ripping open another gift when the faint sound of the house telephone began to ring. I sighed and started pulling away from Tommy, knowing it was too good to be true thinking I could stay in his arms for a long time. However, he tightened his grip on me, keeping me pinned to his side.

“Let it ring,” he told me.

“What if it’s your family looking to wish us a happy Christmas?” I asked.

“They know where to find us.”

“What if it’s Grace’s family looking for Charlie?”

“They’ll call back.”

“That’s rather impolite, Tommy.”

“Mary will get it, then. I’m sure she’s around.”

My eyes widened. “You didn’t let Mary go for the holidays? Tommy - !”

“She wanted to stay,” he cut me off. “She insisted. She knows she’s free to leave whenever she wants and she’ll be paid in full for any time off she takes. I think she likes it here with us too much to leave.”

I sighed and rested my head against his chest again. I had to admit, I liked having Mary around. She helped a lot around the house, especially with Charlie. It was hard to try and raise a child that wasn’t yours and that you had missed the early stages of their life.

The phone stopped ringing as Charlie began to play with another toy he had opened, mesmerized for a few moments before diving back into his pile of gifts. Before we could enjoy the peaceful moment, the phone began to ring again.

“Mary!” Tommy called. “Do you mind getting that?!”

“Of course, Mr. Shelby!” came the familiar voice of our housekeeper.

Charlie was deciding to take a break from his own presents and was trying to decide on a present to give Tommy and I when Mary came to the door of the living room. She looked between the three of us, waiting for the attention to be drawn to her before speaking.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said, “but Mr. Shelby’s brother is on the phone. Said something about important business matter he called about last night. Wants an update on it.”

I looked up at Tommy, his stone face giving away nothing in that moment. Slight anger was starting to build in me again, but I knew there was no need for it. Just like Tommy, Arthur lived and breathed the family business. Especially after Linda had left him, he dived head first into everything to keep his mind off of his cheating wife, or rather ex-wife.

I pulled away from my husband again and took a seat on the couch next to Charlie. Sensing the tension in the room, the little boy was looking between all of us. It looked as though he were waiting for permission to continue opening presents. I was about to encourage him to pick out another gift for himself when Tommy spoke first.

“Tell Arthur I will see him when we all get together,” he told Mary. “And tell him I won’t hear anything about business, not now, not later, not until after the holidays. If he gives attitude, hang up, if he keeps calling, unplug the phones. I am spending this Christmas with my wife and my son, no business talk unless it’s life or death, and not just him being overdramatic.”

There was a hint of a smile on Mary’s face as she nodded and left. I couldn’t hold back my own smile as I sipped the coffee in my hands.

“Charlie,” Tommy said, lowering himself to the floor to sit next to his son. “Can you get that small gold wrapped gift and give it to (Y/N)?”

Doing as he was asked, Charlie excitedly took hold of a small, box looking gift that was wrapped in gold wrapping paper, topped with a red bow. He passed it to me and sat back against Tommy, waiting excitedly for me to open it.

I carefully untied the bow before pulling the wrapping paper off. I opened the small box to see a beautiful gold necklace with a gold heart pendant.

“It’s beautiful, Tommy,” I breathed, completely mesmerized by the dazzling gifts.

If there was one thing Thomas Shelby knew how to do, it was spoiling his women. Even though Tommy and I had been together for so long, I was always taken aback by the incredible gifts he would buy me.

“It’s not just from me,” Tommy responded. “Charlie helped me pick it out.”

“Open the heart, (Y/N)!” Charlie told me.

I did as he said to find that the heart pendant was indeed a locket, and on the inside was a picture of myself, Tommy, and Charlie on mine and Tommy’s wedding day. I was wearing my beautiful white dress and both Shelby men were dressed in their finest tuxedos. Charlie was up in his father’s arms and had captured my attention the moment the photo had been taken. So, in the picture, I was looking up at the youngest Shelby boy with a bright smile on my face, while he himself was laughing. Tommy was looking down at me, a small smile on his face and so much love in his eyes I was shocked I had never noticed it when the picture was taken.

“I picked it out,” Charlie admitted, coming to sit next to me now. “The necklace, I mean. I think it’d look nice on you, it’s all shiny and pretty, like you!”

“I picked the picture,” Tommy added. “It’s my favorite of the three of us.”

“It’s beautiful, Tommy,” I repeated. “And Charlie. Thank you both, it’s the best gift I could’ve ever received.”

We continued to open presents for another few minutes before Charlie insisted on opening every toy he had been given and playing with them all.

And, as Tommy promised, he didn’t once sneak away for work. He stayed by our side the whole time, his arms wrapped around me as if he never wanted to let me go. And truthfully, I didn’t want to let him go, either.

[surlybobbies]

(here’s a late holiday offering for all of you)

deancas, 2.5k, AU, friends to lovers, baby jack

-----

They stopped at a park on the way back to Dean’s apartment. Baby’s trunk was full of gifts, evidence of a successful Christmas shopping trip, and so it was with satisfaction that Dean leaned against the hood of the car and pulled out his burger from the takeout bag.

Cas was similarly content, and they enjoyed each other’s company in silence for a few minutes as they began their meal. At a nearby jungle gym, children threw snowballs at each other from the little flakes of ice they’d been able to scrape together. Dean tried not to watch them too closely - you could never be too careful - but Cas observed them with a furrowed brow.

Apropos of nothing, he said, “How do parents handle the Santa situation?”

Dean wiped his mouth with a napkin. “What do you mean?”

“When would one begin telling a child about Santa? And how does one deal with the inevitable fallout when they realize he isn’t real?”

Dean’s stomach turned a little bit. “You thinkin’ about kids all of a sudden?”

“Not sure,” Cas said, examining his burger and plucking out a piece of onion with his fingers.

Another silence descended. Dean frowned at his meal, his appetite lost.

Meanwhile, Cas plucked out another onion slice. “I don’t think I believed in Santa,” he said eventually. “But I knew about him. I wish I could remember who first told me the tale.”

“I learned about him when I was in middle school,” Dean admitted. “The first time I stayed at one school for more than a few months. Pretty sure by then I was too old to believe.”

Cas lifted his eyes to the playground again. “No doubt at least a few of these children believe in Santa.” He sucked some stray ketchup off his thumb, and Dean had to look away.

“Good for them,” he said. “They should enjoy being kids.”

“In a few years, maybe even this year, their parents are going to have to admit to their lies.”

“It’s harmless,” Dean replied, waving away Cas’s curious stare. “It’s good for ‘em. Teaches ‘em to question things, question motives. Gets ‘em ready for the adult world of backstabbing and lies.”

Cas smiled at him. It was wide and affectionate. “I thought you said they should enjoy being kids?”

Dean bit down on a reflexive smile. “It’s one little thing, alright? Santa’s like - 1% of the kid experience. They’ve got the other 99% to think about - cooler, more important shit.”

“Like what?”

“Like the shit they do on the daily, y’know? If they can con their parents into letting them have candy for breakfast. Or sneaking down at midnight to have some ice cream. Or building a pillow fort. Or stickers. Or farts.”

“Farts?”

“Kids like farts.”

“No one likes farts.”

“You don’t know kids then.”

Cas conceded with a tilt of his head. “You’re right. Maybe they do enjoy farts.”

They finished their burgers and sipped at their sodas. It was when Dean was returning from the trash can that he saw the wistful look on Cas’s face as he listened to the yells and laughter of the kids. He smacked Cas on the arm. “You good?”

Up close, Dean could see the downturn of Cas’s lips. “Just thinking about the future,” Cas said eventually. When he turned to Dean, he was smiling woodenly.

Dean’s gut turned sour again, and he knew himself better than to blame it on the burger. “So you are thinkin’ about kids.”

Cas looked down at his shoes. “I think I might be.”

Dean ran a hand over his chin, then cleared his throat. “Good for you, man. I think you’d be a good dad.”

Cas looked at him. “And you too. You’d be an amazing father.”

The expression on Cas’s face - sincere, soft, affectionate - made Dean’s throat tight. He laughed too loudly. “Hey, listen, when you do have kids, you can tag me in any time, alright?”

The wistfulness had vanished from Cas’s face. He was smiling. “Agreed. I’ll let you handle the Santa situation.”

-----

Cas started fostering Jack a year later, and it was apparent very early on to Dean that fatherhood was Cas’s calling. Yes, he was always tired, and yes, he didn’t have nearly as much time for Dean as he did before, but Jack was thriving and Cas was happy - and because of that, Dean was happy, even if it meant losing Cas’s attention to fatherhood.

Dean’s disappointment was lessened by the fact that Jack quickly became just as attached to Dean as he was to his foster dad, so if Dean spent a few days a week at Cas’s place to “help out with the baby,” no one questioned his motives.

“You ever going to tell him?” Sam asked one day as he and Dean watched Cas carry Jack around Sam’s garden. Jack was a grabby kid, and Cas was constantly having to stop him from putting flowers in his mouth.

Dean didn’t bother asking what Sam was talking about. “He doesn’t need that on his plate right now.”

Sam raised his eyebrows at Dean, unconvinced. “So when? When he gives Jack up? You and I both know that’s never happening.”

“Then never,” Dean snapped, even though just the thought of holding it all in for one more day made Dean’s chest feel tight.

Sam ran a hand over his mouth like he was trying to stop himself from saying anything else, but Sam was nothing if not nosy. “We both know never’s not an option. It’s gotta be now, Dean. Or if not now, then soon. You’re already playing house with Cas. Plus there’s a kid involved now - a kid who absolutely adores you - so I hate to say it, but if things have to go south, it has to happen before Jack’s any older.”

Dean stared at Sam. “That’s fucked up, Sammy.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t know this already,” Sam said, though his tone was gentle. “I’m just saying out loud what you don’t want to admit.”

Cas was approaching with Jack, so Dean didn’t respond.

“I apologize,” Cas said to Sam. “Jack might have destroyed a few blooms.” He opened his palm and offered the crushed red blooms up for inspection. It could have been Dean’s bloody heart for how much he was hurting.

It was obvious that Sam was still watching Dean out of the corner of his eye, but he spared a smile and a tummy tickle for Jack. “No harm done, little guy.”

-----

Dean knew Sam was right, knew that for Jack’s sake, his two de facto parents needed to be on the same page about what they were to each other - but there was never a good time to bring it up. Was Dean supposed to just spill his heart out onto the dining room table with Jack’s sliced fruit? He contemplated asking Sam for advice, but 1) Dean did not want nor would he accept any pity from his little brother and 2) Sam was busy getting ready for his wedding.

So Dean, Cas, and Jack went on with their lives - separate but hopelessly intertwined, and all Dean could do was lie awake at night hoping that when the time came, he’d be able to make sense of the mess of tangled knots they’d created.

-----

Jack made the cutest ring bearer. Cas was a groomsman, but he’d asked to escort Jack up the aisle, and Sam and Eileen had loved the idea. Dean had loved the idea too, mostly because he knew he wouldn’t have been able to stomach the sight of Cas walking down the aisle in his smartly-tailored suit, arm-in-arm with Eileen’s cousin Sara. In the moment, however, Dean loved the idea simply because Cas was incandescent, smiling widely down at Jack, holding Jack’s hand as the toddler took his too-big, unsteady steps down the garden path.

At the end of the walk, when Cas had deposited Jack safely with Gabriel in the front row, he took his place by Dean’s side.

Dean couldn’t help but smile at him, helpless with affection. “I’m happy for you, Cas,” he said, just as the guests stood up to welcome the bride.

Cas ducked his head bashfully, but he put a hand on Dean’s back in acknowledgment. “Thank you.”

-----

Cas cornered him at the reception, where Dean was lurking at the edges of the dance floor. “Can we talk?” he said, leaning in to be heard over the music.

Dean had two servings of whiskey in him. “Always, Cas.”

Cas looked him oddly, but he said nothing. He led Dean away from the reception tent (where Gabriel and Garth were taking turns to dance with Jack in their arms) and stopped when they were far enough away to hear each other without yelling.

Cas was pink-cheeked from champagne, his hair was a mess, and Dean was so in love with him it hurt. “What do you need?” he asked, because concentrating on what Cas needed kept Dean from focusing on what Dean wanted.

“I thought I should tell you before it gets any farther in the proceedings - I’ve started the formal process of adopting Jack.”

Dean’s heart was full to bursting. He swallowed down a sudden urge to cry. “That’s great news, man,” he said, pulling Cas into a rough hug. “Congratulations!”

Cas’s arms wrapped tight around Dean, his chin hooked over Dean’s shoulder. There was a telltale sniff at his ear, so Dean just held on tighter to his best friend.

When Cas drew away a minute later, his nose was red. He kept his hands at Dean’s elbows. “I’ve asked so much of you already - “

“Stop right there,” Dean said, shaking his head, “because that’s not true. Whatever I did, I did because I wanted to. Because I’d do anything for that kid.”

Cas looked at Dean so tenderly it made Dean’s throat tight. “And I’m so grateful for that, Dean. You’ve been the best support I could have asked for.” Cas looked down, his eyebrows furrowing. The hands at Dean’s elbows tightened. “But I have to ask of you one more thing.”

There was no universe out there where Dean would have refused Cas anything. “Spit it out, Cas.”

“If something were to happen to me,” Cas said, eyes brimming, “would you take him in?”

Dean took hold of Cas’s elbows too, a reassurance that Cas was still there in front of him, still alive, still breathing. “Cas, you’re going to be kicking for a long time. Jack will have grandbabies before you check out.”

Cas smiled softly. He indulged Dean. “Still, if I should go before you - “

Helpless, absolutely wrecked, Dean closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Sammy had just gotten married to the best woman on Earth a few hours prior. A few yards away, the people Dean loved were dancing to “The Cha-Cha Slide.” And now Cas was asking Dean to take on the biggest honor of his life in the same sentence that Cas was talking about his inevitable death. Dean’s eyes welled up.

Cas touched Dean’s face for a brief moment. “I’m sorry to do this to you.”

Dean swiped at his eyes stubbornly. “Cas, I meant it when I said I’d do anything for that kid. If he ever loses you, he’s going to have me. Don’t even think about apologizing for that.”

“Thank you,” Cas said. There were tears on his cheeks too. “That makes me feel less scared of the future.”

Dean sniffed. He straightened Cas’s tie. “But hey, no takebacks, alright? Even if you go and get yourself hitched, I’m not giving Jack up.”

Cas’s mouth lifted at the corner, but Dean knew it was just for show. “I don’t think marriage is in the cards for me, Dean,” Cas admitted.

It was the way Cas looked at him that made Dean remember what Sam had said a few months before. If Dean was ever going to say something, it had to be right at this moment.

“Listen, Cas,” Dean said, clearing his throat, “now that we know Jack’s gonna be sticking around, you should know something.”

The hands at Dean’s elbows tightened again. “Tell me,” Cas said, his eyes growing worried. He stepped closer, studying Dean’s face.

Dean was crying again, and he despised it. “I’m in love with you,” he said. He was terrified, anxious, and angry with himself at the same time. “So if that changes things - if you want me to fuck off and never talk to you or Jack again - now’s the time to tell me.”

Cas took a shaky breath. He cradled Dean’s face. “My love,” he murmured, eyes warm though they were still brimming with tears. “Love of my life.”

Dean almost laughed. Incredulous, he asked, “What? Who, me?”

Cas kissed him. It tasted like salt, and Dean was still crying, and honestly he had no idea what was happening, but Cas was patient with him, kissing his cheek when Dean did nothing but stare.

He drew back after the first few seconds, smiling despite Dean’s shock. “Yes, you,” he confirmed. His hands went to Dean’s tie. His voice was thick when he spoke again. “So no, in case it isn’t obvious, I do not want you to ‘fuck off.’”

This had not been what Dean was expecting. Tentatively, he touched Cas’s face, just a brush of fingers against Cas’s cheek, not bothering to hide his amazement when Cas smiled at him.

“Kind of slow on the uptake,” Cas said. His nose was still pink. “Maybe I should be in charge of Jack’s studies.”

It hit Dean all at once. Cas was his. Jack was his. Everything he’d ever wanted in this world was his. He kissed Cas properly this time.

-----

They returned to the reception a few minutes later. Eileen, upon seeing Cas’s glossy eyes and pink nose, instinctively grabbed a butter knife to throw at Dean’s throat, but Sam tugged her arm down and pointed at Dean and Cas’s joined hands.

The pair mingled with the guests hand-in-hand for most of the night, only letting go to pick up Jack and swing him between them.

Later on, in the parking lot, with Jack asleep in his car seat and buckled safely in the back seat of the Impala, Cas turned to Dean, who had his arm around Cas’s waist.

Cas smiled at him. He said two words: “Marry me.”

Dean didn’t know how he had any tears left in him. “Jesus. Give a guy a break,” he said, his voice cracking.

“Earlier I said marriage wasn’t in the cards for me,” Cas explained, smiling widely, apparently pleased that he was making Dean cry so much. “I don’t want you to misunderstand - it’s in the cards if it’s you.”

Dean touched his forehead to Cas’s, so happy he could barely get any words out. “Cas, you know it’s a yes.”

-----

Jack was five years old and came home from kindergarten with a coloring sheet of Santa. Cas looked at Dean, mouth thin. “I’m tagging you in,” he said, then left the room.

“Can we see Santa at the mall, dad?” Jack asked, tongue between his teeth as he scribbled with his crayon.

Dean put a hand on Jack’s back. “Sure, bud,” he said. “You can tell him what you want for Christmas.”

He pulled out his phone. You’re dealing with the tooth fairy, he texted Cas.

Fine. You talk to him about the Easter Bunny then.

-----

Hope you liked it! I only ask that you do me one favor if you did - go and read my most recent fic on ao3 - I posted it at a dumb time and wish more people could see it. 

[ghostadventuresstuff]

Billy Tolley x Reader

Christmas Cookies

Y/N

'Seriously Billy, we're decorating Christmas cookies, not Halloween cookies, what about ghosts scream holiday spirit?' you ask, hands on your hips as you look over the other side of the kitchen counter where Billy was in his own little world icing cookies.

Billy puts the icing bag down and grins widely, 'they are wearing Christmas hats y/n, and look I even gave one a carrot nose.'

He holds up a couple of cookies and you hated to admit it but the ghosts looked cute in hats and carrot noses, 'okay they are pretty awesome but we can't serve them to my family, you know how they get around all this paranormal stuff.'

Billy puts the cookies down and gets up from his stool before making his way around the counter towards you. Your parents had died in a car crash when you were four and the family who'd adopted you were pretty religious, but you never really believed in God and when you met Billy and the rest of the Ghost Adventures crew you saw your chance to rebel and in the process fell in love.

'They are going to love your cookies y/n, you ice a mean snowflake,' he says sweetly, pulling you into his arms so that your head rests on his shoulder.

You sigh loudly, 'I'm madder that they sprung this visit on us last minute and now I have a lot more hassle when I wanted this Christmas to be about us and moving into our forever home.'

Billy kisses the top of your head, 'we'll put on a good show, they'll be satisfied I haven't fully corrupted you to the dark side, and then once they leave we can celebrate Christmas our way.'

You smile, 'I love you, Billy.'

He hums, 'I love you more y/n. Now let's finish these cookies and get a jump start in cleaning the house.'

NEXT NIGHT

BILLY

Rolling over in bed I expect to bump into y/n but wake up sensing their side of the bed was empty. I sit up and look at the clock on the bedside table, it was 3 AM, where were they? Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I throw back the duvet and get out of bed to go and find them.

It was safe to say y/n's parent's visit hadn't been running smoothly, they found little flaws in y/n, myself and even the house which stressed y/n out. I was able to put out any fired before they began, but y/n was close to breaking point and I didn't want them to snap when they weren't at fault, they couldn't help having judgemental parents.

I head downstairs and find the kitchen light on and the door slightly ajar.

'y/n are you in here?' I ask, pushing open the door.

y/n was sat on a stool eating my decorated cookies looking sad and defeated, 'hi Billy.'

I walk towards them and smile, 'are you eating cookies right now? It's 3 AM.'

y/n nods, 'if Santa can do it then so can I,' they reply deadpan.

I had no comeback for that one because there was some truth there, so instead, I pull one of the other stools up next to theirs and sit down, 'they'll be gone before we know it y/n. Ignore them.'

y/n pouts, 'I guess you're right, but I always feel the need to impress them, Billy.'

I pick up a ghost wearing a Santa hat and bite the hat right off, 'you know I'm always here for you y/n, just say the word and I'll sneak something out of Zak's museum to freak them out.'

y/n eyes light up and they throw their arms around me, 'ah Billy you'd bring a haunted object into our home to scare off my parents. That would be the best gift you could get me.'

I chuckle and hug them back, 'let's finish these cookies and head back to bed, we can discuss operation 'get our Christmas back' in the morning.'

y/n picks up a cookie and offers it to me smiling, 'this is going to be the best Christmas ever Billy.'

[winterfluffs]

Santa Isn’t Real.....Right?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X Reader

Summary: Someone has told your daughter that Santa isn’t real. Your husband is not too pleased. 

Warnings: Mostly fluff. A couple of swear words. Tiiiiiiiniest bit of implied smut.

Word count: 2.4k

Author’s notes: Thank you all so much to the people who have liked or reblogged the first story that was posted (I have now figured out how to make a cut!). It really means a lot!  This drabble, one-shot - whatever you’d like to call it was so much fun to write; just in time for Christmas! I hope you all like it as well. Also, it is a LONG one. 

Merry Christmas, everyone! Happy Holidays!

(* “Honey, go to bed.”)

“Who told my kid that Santa isn’t real?!” A voice boomed through the halls, heavy footsteps quickly stomping through the quiet compound. 

“Shit. Hide.” Clint Barton's eyes widened as he looked around at the people spread out in the living room. The heavy footsteps came quicker causing everyone in the room to run back to their rooms fear of what was going to happen.

----

 “Daddy!” A tiny teary voice cried out from the hallway. 

Bucky Barnes groggily opened his eyes, his ears immediately picking up on the soft crying. “Whsm?” He grumbled before sitting up and rubbing at his tired eyes. It was only 2 A.M. and he had just gotten to sleep an hour and a half ago. 

“Buck?” He felt you stir, your hand reaching out to pull his body back to yours.

“Daddy.” The soft crying was closer, coming from the doorway of yours and his bedroom.

“Belley?” you mumbled sitting up next to Bucky. A yawn escaped both your lips as your sniffling four-year-old daughter crawled up the bed. “Honey, what’s wrong?” 

“Daddy.” Isabelle looked at her father with tear filled blue eyes, her bottom lip quivering as Bucky wrapped his arms around her. 

“It’s okay, baby. Daddy’s here.” He cooed sweetly in her ear his vibranium hand making slow comforting circles on her back. 

You watched as Bucky whispered sweet words in your daughter’s ear in an attempt to calm her down from whatever had shaken her; your heart ready to burst with love at the sight. 

“Belley, tell daddy what’s wrong.” He cradled her close, rocking her in a comforting sway. 

“Santa isn’t real!” the little girl sobbed, her tiny hands wrapping around her father’s neck while she cried into his chest. 

Bucky's jaw clenched as he looked at you with slight worry. James Barnes had always been beautiful to you; but right now, seeing his jaw clench and already knowing what was going through his mind, he was breathtaking. He was in protector mode – a way he had always been with you but became even more fierce when your daughter was born. The day he found out you were pregnant he swore no one would ever hurt his little girl. Ever. And if someone did, he would make them pay.

“Baby, what do you mean Santa isn’t real? Of course Santa is real.” You joined your other half in trying to soothe your daughter’s tears.

“No! Santa isn’t real!” she spat back at you before clinging back onto her father. 

Your mind went back to the day you both found out you were expecting. Bucky knew, without a doubt, the baby would be a girl; his princess, a complete daddy’s girl, the spitting image of the dark-haired, blue-eyed man that had stolen your heart.

 And she was. 

From the moment Isabelle Marie Barnes made her entrance in this world she had her father wrapped around her little fingers. Everything Bucky did was for you and your little miracle. All the late nights staying up to finish a report, the even later nights spent training, his reluctance to do missions that would take him away from home for too long – it all was for you and your baby. 

Bucky refused to be a dad that wouldn’t be there for his child, and to yours and Bucky's surprise, the rest of the team had agreed as well. Steve and Tony especially. 

You blinked away the tears that were forming in your eyes, shaking off the sudden emotions to hormonal changes due to your being six-and-a-half-months pregnant with your second child.

“Baby, you need to tell me what happened.” Bucky’s jaw twitched again. You saw the anger forming in his eyes and placed a loving hand on his arm, squeezing it slightly. He looked at you, his resolve coming undone as he met your gaze. “Honey, Santa is very real. How else do you think you get presents on Christmas Eve?” he spoke quietly, deep blue eyes looking into even deeper bluer eyes.

 Isabelle stayed quiet yet looked between you and her dad. “Sweetheart, did you have a bad dream?” you moved her long tangled dark hair away from her face. She looked so much like her father your heart ached. 

Isabelle shook her head pouting while doing so.

“It’s okay, baby. You can tell mommy and daddy what happened. We won’t get mad.” You smiled at her yet gave your husband a stern look. The super soldier rolled his eyes then kissed your little girl’s hair, his head resting on top of hers. “Right, daddy?” 

Bucky shot you a look then sighed heavily. “Mommy and daddy won’t get mad, sweetheart. We promise.”

Feeling slightly better at your admission, Isabelle sat down on her father’s lap, her tiny fingers running along Bucky’s vibranium arm. “I was in my room when I heard a noise.”

“Honey, that was just daddy going to bed.” Bucky let out a loud laugh, the tension instantly gone from his face.

“Daddy, let me finish.” She looked back at him with a stern look. The same look you always gave him whenever he was teetering the thin line between being stupid and wanting to sleep on the couch. 

“Sorry.” You both hid a smile; you still in awe at how formal your child was at the age of four. Maybe it was the enhanced serum in her veins, or maybe it was just your thickheaded stubbornness, but your daughter was an absolute force to reckon with. So much so that she even gave Black Widow a run for her money. 

 “I heard a noise and went out to see what it was.” She sniffed, her head resting against Bucky’s chest.

 “Honey, you know you should have been in bed.” You sighed suddenly feeling exhausted.

“Mommy. You promised.” Her dark blue eyes landed on you.

“Yeah, mommy.” Bucky smirked giving you a playful look. You rolled your eyes yet couldn’t help but smile as well.

“I went out in the living room and saw someone taking presents from the tree! I asked if he was Santa and the man said that Santa wasn’t real.” Isabelle’s bottom lip quivered causing your heart to ache.

Bucky’s face had gone hard. The twitch in his jaw told you everything you needed to know. 

“Honey, Santa is most definitely real. Right, daddy?” you urged your husband to smile, pleading with him not to say anything. 

“Yeah, baby. Santa’s real.” He spoke lowly, his eyes focusing on the open door.

 “How do you know, daddy?” Isabelle looked up hope filling her pretty eyes.

“Oh, I never told you before?” he snapped out of his trance and looked down at his daughter.

“No! Tell me what! Daddy!” she bounced in his lap; her previous worries quickly turned into curiosity.  

“I’m going to tell you but you have to promise you won’t tell anyone.” He whispered.

“Not even mommy?” her eyes widened.

 “Mommy already knows.” He gave you a smile as you rested your head on his shoulder. 

“What I’m about to tell you is very important. You have to promise me you won’t tell a single word to anyone.” 

“Not Uncle Steve?”

“Not Uncle Steve.”

“Not even Aunt Tasha?!”

“Not even Aunt Natasha.”

Isabelle looked up to face her father, the look of awe and wonder etched on her brow made Bucky almost break. He loved nothing more in his life than you, your daughter, and the little one growing inside of you; his heart clenched at the thought of any of you ever being unhappy. 

“Okay, daddy.” Isabelle nodded her head seriously. 

Your husband kissed you on the top of your head with a smile before turning back to your daughter. “I know Santa is real because I’ve seen him myself.” He whispered causing Isabelle to gasp out loud. 

“You…..ve seen Santa.” She whispered, her little mind spinning with the newly found news.

“Sure have. One Christmas Eve I was coming home late from work, even later than it is right now, and when I opened the door, there was a big man in a red suit with a long white beard. He had the biggest sack of presents I have ever seen. I tried to sneak away but he caught me.” Bucky’s eyes widened to match his daughter’s, her little body clinging to his every word.

“What happened next?”

“He looked at me and said, ‘James Barnes, I know what you seek in life, what you have always sought out. By midday today you will have found what you are looking for.’ And then with a smile and a wink, he flew up the chimney.” 

“Wowwwwww!” Isabelle gaped in disbelief. Her daddy! And Santa Claus! Clearly Santa was real because daddy knew everything and she also knew that daddy would never lie to her. Of course Santa was real! There was just one thing still bothering her. “Dad, what did Santa mean when he said all that weird stuff to you?”

“He meant that I would find mommy. He gave me your mommy. And then he gave me you. My best girls.” 

You looked up to find him beaming at the both of you. Your heart burst with love for him and your little family. Your one true love and happiness.

“I think it’s time we all get back to bed. We don’t want to miss Santa!” You gasped suddenly. “I think I hear footprints on the roof!”

“Oh no, mommy!” your little one gasped and flew off the bed racing down the hall to her bedroom. 

“I love you, Barnes. Thank you for always taking such good care of us.” You whispered your eyes meeting your husband’s.

“I love you, doll. More than you both will ever know.” He smiled and kissed you gently. “Let’s go make sure she’s actually in bed.” He laughed while wrapping his arm around your waist and hugging you close as you walked to your daughter’s room.

----

“Night, munchkin. Olive you.” Bucky kissed his daughter’s forehead then pulled away with a smile. 

“Olive you, daddy.” Isabelle giggled while hugging her favorite stuffed animal to her. 

“Tuck the little one in and I’ll meet you back in bed. I have something to finish first but I’ll meet you straight back there.” 

“Babe, you aren’t going to do something stupid.” You gave him a look. That same look your four-year-old gave him just a little while ago. When your husband refused to meet your eye, you tried again. “James.” His cool blue eyes stared back into yours, a hint of threat still clouding his vision as he quietly cursed himself for inability to hide his emotions from you. “Baby, please.” 

Bucky sighed then nodded. He hated to love when you used his first name to get him to calm down. No one else had that power over him, and there was absolutely NO ONE else allowed to call him by his first name other than you. And maybe Santa, if Isabelle was asking. 

“Thank you.” You mouthed before turning to your little one. “Night, baby.” You kissed your daughter’s head with a tired smile. It was just past 3 A.M. and you wanted nothing more than to slip back into your warm bed, your arms around your husband as the both of you drifted off to sleep. “I love you, kiddo. Get some sleep.” 

“I love you. Night, mommy.” She yawned sleepily. You quietly shut the door and went to turn back to your bedroom. You were halfway down the hall when you knew something wasn’t right. And then you heard the yelling. You swore under your breath and ran to the main living room, hoping you would be able to stop your husband before it was too late.

----

“Who told my kid that Santa isn’t real?!” Bucky Barnes’s deep voice boomed through the quiet compound, his footsteps heavy and quick.

 “Shit, shit, shit!” Clint swore as he tripped over himself as he tried to reach his room before he was caught. 

“If I find out –“ Bucky stopped himself mid-sentence his eyes sweeping over every inch of the room. “Barton, if it was you - so help me God! You had better run for your life!” 

“Bucky! *Дорогая, иди спать. [ Dorogaya, idti spat’].”

Bucky turned to face the voice that had just spoken out. A surprised look overtook him for a moment before he started to laugh. “Since when do you know Russian?” he smiled and walked over to you, his previous mission already forgotten as he slipped his arms around your waist.

“Since I married a really sexy Russian Sergeant. Had to know all those dirty words he was moaning in bed.”

“I’m from New York.” He moaned against your lips, pulling your body closer his striking blue eyes staring into your own. 

“Still moan dirty Russian things in bed.” You smile and bring your lips to his. Bucky held you there loving the feeling of how close you two are. “I love you, Sergeant Barnes.”

“I love you, Mrs. Barnes.” He smiled while hugging you close. “Let’s get to bed. Don’t want to be awake for when Santa comes.”

“I’ll be right there.” You kissed your husband and patted his butt with a smile as he walked off. You went around turning out the lights stopping at the beautifully lit tree when you heard a door creak.

“He’s gone, Barton. You can come out now.” You called out into the darkness with a laugh. “You owe me.”

“Oh, I’m not Clint, Mrs. Barnes,” a voice replied with a chuckle in their voice. “But I am sure he will still say thank you anyway.” The voice chuckled again; this time louder, deeper causing your eyes to widen. 

You hurried down the hall, trying your best to keep quiet until you reached your room.  

“Babe, what are you doing?” Bucky sleepily looked at you as you ran into the room and dashed under the covers.

“I think Santa is in our living room.” You whispered into the dark. You felt your husband chuckle, his body warm and inviting as he pulled you in closer.

“Get some sleep. It’s been a long day and our little one will have us up in only a few hours.” He yawned cuddling into your body.

‘Maybe I am going crazy.’ You shook your head with a smile as your eyes slowly began to close. Just before you drifted off you whispered a goodnight to Santa almost feeling silly to be saying the words out loud. 

Just then you heard a woosh and with a small chuckle a voice said, “To all a good night!”

[suchalonelysunflower]

Merry Crisis (a.i)

Pairing: Ashton Irwin (ft.5SOS) X Fem!reader (Dad!Ash)

Summary: Shopping is always stressful, but when you have a baby on the way... it can become a chaos, especially when you have 3 crazy best friends with you.

Warnings: Language. Fluff and some crackhead moments. Reader uses she/her pronouns. Mentions of Birth. Some grammar mistakes (English is not my first language, sorry)

Word count: 4.5 k

Author’s note: Hello! This is my first Holiday fic with 5SOS and it’s Ashton’s turn to shine (even tho each boy gets their moment) This was so fun to write, I did it on my sociology class (so maybe it’s not that perfect) and I love it very much and I hope you do too! Reblogs, feedback and comments are always welcome and encouraged! Support your writers! ❤️ Hope you like it and Happy Reading 🦋❤️

My materialist // wanna be on my tag list?

Twas the evening before Christmas, the streets were filled with Christmas lights and the chill air of Los Angeles made everything cozier as families gathered around the fireplace and enjoyed the most peaceful of times…

This statement does not apply to our favorite band, tho.

Our four Australians were not enjoying a cup of hot cocoa with their families as they were supposed to, oh no. They were doing the most dreadful thing a person could think of doing the night before dear Santa came to visit: They were Christmas shopping.

In their defense - or at least Calum’s, Michael’s and Luke’s defense, this was all Ashton’s fault for he was the one that dragged them to the crowded mall in the middle of one of the busiest days of the year. And, in Ashton’s defense, it was not his fault that the store had called him in the middle of a recording session to tell him that they finally had the only thing he wanted for Christmas: A music box.

He just had to get it before everyone else.

“Why did we come all over here for a little music box?” Asked Michael as they stood at the end of the line for the register. How could they only have one register open? It’s Christmas for fucks sake! but then again, it’s Christmas for fucks sake, so they know that people should be with their families instead of working a poorly paid job.

“It was the last one!” Ashton claimed, admiring the little circular box in his hand “It’s a limited edition and I just had to get it for Y/N and for the baby”

His eyes lit up when your name escaped his lips. Not even a year ago did he officially make you his wife, but now you were carrying his child! People might think it was rushed, but for Ashton it was the complete opposite. He had his life made when he met you, knowing that he will marry you as soon as he could… he had to wait a few more years to do that, but he was extremely happy, more so now that your little family was expanding. He loved you and your child with all his heart, and the boys all knew that so they can't even be mad about it, even if he kidnapped them to the mall with the promise of some cinnabuns later.

“She had one of these when she was little” Ashton continued as he admired the little hand painted details of the box “It always played a little lullaby to help her sleep. But it broke a few years ago and she always complained about not having one like this for her kids one day… But now she will!” The black haired man smiled.

“Shit, that’s actually pretty sweet” Michael commented “Okay, you’re forgiven”

“I don’t know if I want to hug you for being the perfect husband, or to kick you in the balls for being the perfect husband and making the rest of us feel bad” Luke chuckled.

The four boys laughed at the comment and started talking about their plans for the Holidays as they waited for the line to move. The problem was, it has been fifteen minutes and the line has only moved once.

“How long is this line anyway?” Calum said, peeking over the side, furrowing his eyebrows as he noticed at least thirty more people waiting in front of them “Shit, this is going to take a while. That man has at least twenty plushies and eleven race cars”

“I don’t know how people could leave this kind of stuff for the last minute” Ashton huffed, earning a death glare from each of his friends “This one is different, tho! It was the last one!”

“I’ll give you a hundred bucks for that!” Someone said behind Luke, making him jump at the sudden surprise.

“What the-” Luke said, placing a hand over his heart.

It was a short man in a trench coat who pointed to the music box in Ashton’s hand.

Ashton furrowed his eyebrows and said to the man “Uh, not a chance mate”

“Two hundred?”

“Nope”

“Five hundred?” The man would just not cave and Ashton was getting fed up with it, luckily Calum noticed and hurried to say something before his friend started a scene.

“Hey, mr. Devito wannabe. He said no, so just go bother someone else. Okay?”

The man scoffed and turned his face to the side, stating that he was offended. The four Australians rolled their eyes and turned their backs to him once again.

Another fifteen minutes passed and the line barely moved. The guys were not talking anymore, running out of things to say past the twenty minute mark. Each of them were bored out of their minds, well all but Ashton at least, he was still gleaming with pride as he looked at the music box and created scenarios in his head and thought about the joy that would be mirrored in your eyes once you open it tomorrow morning.

After a few more minutes of silence, Luke was the first one to break it “I think I’m just gonna get a coffee and wait in the car. These boots are killing me today” He looked at Ashton as if to ask permission, but the dark haired man just shrugged and nodded, asking him to buy one for him as well and to leave it in the car.

Michael then added “Yeah, I think I’m gonna go and check the electronics this store has. I think I saw a new camera that would be perfect for my streams”

And that only left Calum and Ashton waiting in line. But about five seconds later, Calum opened his mouth.

“Yes, you can go explore, too” Ashton said with a sigh before Calum even got a chance to ask.

“Cool” The curly man said, patting Ashton on the back before muttering a ‘I’ll be right back’ Leaving him alone with the music box.

Ashton didn’t mind. In fact, he kind of enjoyed this time alone. It gave him plenty of opportunities to imagine a new future for the both of you next to your little baby boy or girl. He catched a glimpse of families walking around the mall, buying gifts or eating a snack as they smiled at each other. He couldn’t wait for that to be his new normal.

He remembered the time when you told him you were pregnant. You gifted him a special baby bodysuit that said “My daddy is the best drummer in the world and there is nothing you can do about it” next to your positive pregnancy test. Ashton always wanted to start a family, especially if it was with you, but he never expected it to be so soon. Yet, once he held the test in his trembling hands, he knew that this was the best thing it could’ve happened to him. He remembers how tearful he got the second his brain processes the information, quickly running up to you and pressing an earth shattering kiss to your lips, promising you and your baby that he would be the best father in the world.

And, as he held the little object in his hand, he already thought he was doing a pretty good job. He smiled to himself and thought about calling you. Not only did he want to hear your voice at this moment, but also because he wanted to check up on you. You were having tea with your best friend at the moment, but the pregnancy hormones were hitting pretty hard lately and he wanted to make sure you were doing alright.

But as soon as he got his phone out of his pocket, your name started glowing on the screen.

“Baby! I was just about to call you” Ashton said with a smile, loving this little coincidence.

“Ashton, is coming!” You said in an alarming tone. Ashton, however, did not understand what you meant.

“Yeah? I’m coming home soon, why are-?”

“No!” You cut him off “The baby, Ash! The baby is coming!”

Ashton laughed “Ha, ha very funny Y/N. But the baby isn’t due until three weeks from now”

“ASHTON FLETCHER IRWIN” You yelled through the phone, making Ashton pull away from the phone for a second “MY WATER BROKE AND THE BABY IS COMING NOW. SO GET YOUR ASS TO THE HOSPITAL BEFORE I-” A sharp pain ran through you as you were experiencing the contractions. Ashton could hear your distant groan and immediately went pale.

The baby was coming and he wasn’t ready.

“Ash, hello?” Your friend’s calm voice came from the other end “I’m gonna take Y/N to the hospital right now. I need you to meet us there, okay?”

“Fuck, okay. I’m on my way” He rushed to say before he ended the call.

“Hey, dude. What’s going-?” Michael said as he approached the black haired man who looked like he might throw up.

“The baby’s coming!” He said, trying to concentrate on his breathing before he hyperventilates.

“What?!”

“Hey, Mike, is everything-?” Calum came next, worried about his friends’ weird behavior.

“THE BABY IS COMING”

Michael.

The guitarist started wandering the electronics and new technologies hall. He was secretly glad he got away from waiting in line for what it looked like another hour, but at the same time he was glad he decided to accompany Ashton in his little quest.

The moment he knew you were pregnant he set himself to be the best uncle that little kid will have. He already knew that you and Ashton were going to be great parents, with the way in which you love each other it was hard to think otherwise. Michael was always up for anything you guys wanted to do for each other, from secret dates or help you sneak out after a concert, or even to plan gifts! He always took pride to know that he was part of your epic love story, even if it was with just a little favor.

Michael stepped into the videogame aisle like he usually does, but this time he went directly to the kid’s section, knowing that eventually your baby will want to play videogames with uncle Mikey and he will have to be ready with the most family friendly games he could find.

He started grabbing a few of them and reading the little summaries they had on the back, eventually deciding that he did not understand anything about children’s games and that he might have to ask around in order to find the best ones.

He went back to the electronics aisle and something caught his attention.

“Is that a real megaphone?” He asked one of the workers there “I haven’t seen one since 2014” He said, remembering the last time the boys ever let him play with one of those in the Good Girls video.

“Yeah! It’s the new model” Said the teenage boy that was in charge of that seccion that day “Wanna try it out?”

“Before that, can I go and show it to my mates? I won’t be gone for long, they are just down the checkout line”

“Sure!” The young man smiled and gave him the megaphone.

Michael had a big smile on his face as he started walking towards Ashton to show him what he found. But his smile dropped the minute he saw Ashton’s face grew a thousand times paler.

He carefully walked up to him and asked “Hey, dude. What 's going-?”

“The baby’s coming!” Ashton said, trying to catch his breath.

“What?!”

Calum.

He hated the mall. He really did. There were always too many people, too much noise and the prices were always exaggerated. But he knew that he was here today for a good cause. Calum was not going to let his best mate down.

Ever since you came into Ashton’s life - and the boys’ life for that matter - he could tell that you were special. Not only because of the way Ashton talked about you all the damn time, but because of your energy, your passion, your kindness and obviously your undenying love for the drummer.

Calum was always the protective friend, always keeping his guard up for any new companion they boys might have. But with you it was different. The first time you two met was the day you instantly became best friends. He knew he could trust you to keep Ashton’s heart safe, and he knew that if Ashton ever broke your heart that he was going to have to kick his ass for being that stupid. Luckily, he wasn’t.

He was the first person (after Ashton, of course) to know about your pregnancy. He swore to himself that he would not let anything happen to his future godson/goddaughter. That baby was going to be the perfect mixture of his best friends, there was nothing in the world that could stop him from loving them just as much as he loves all of you. He even got them toys so they could play with Duke when they’re older! Needless to say that he was very, very excited.

As he wandered through the halls of the store he noticed a commotion next to the toys section.

A line of kids accompanied by their parents awaited in front of a huge chair decorated with fake snow and candy canes. Santa Claus was going to be there.

“Oh my god” A female voice said behind him “You are Calum Hood!”

Calum turned around and was faced with a young girl dressed as an elf looking at him like he hung the moon or something.

“That I am” He said with a smile “Hello, nice to meet you!”

“M-my name’s Lizza” The girl blushed “I’m a huge fan! Is it okay if- I mean, could I get a picture? Please?”

Calum smiled “Sure!”

Lizza squealed “Omg, okay. But, can we do it over there? The kids aren’t supposed to see me yet” She said, pointing to a corner with a curtain and some costumes, presumably Santa’s and his elves'.

Calum nodded and followed the girl, catching a glimpse of the Santa Claus outfit “Do you think I can wear that for the picture?” He asked. Honestly, he just wanted to know how it would feel like to dress up as Santa, knowing he would one day have to do it for your child.

“Of course!” The girl said, taking her phone from her purse and giving it to another elf so he could take the picture.

Once the picture was done, he started to strip off the big red coat, the white beard and the hat when suddenly he had an idea “Is it okay if I borrow this for a while? Maybe five minutes? I wanna prank some friends that are at the check out”

“Uhh”

“I’ll give it back, I promise,” He said with a smile.

Lizza sighed “Sure! We have another one for emergencies”

“Cool, thanks Lizza”

Calum walked away with the fake beard, the warm coat and the hat, feeling cheeky as he approached the line.

“What?!” He heard Michael yell. And although Michael always yells, this one seemed important as his voice sounded concerned.

“Hey, Mike, is everything-?” Calum said, approaching his friends with a very confused face. But before he could even finish the question, Ashton looked at him with fear in his eyes.

“THE BABY IS COMING”

Ashton.

This was not good. Not good at all. His wife is at the hospital about to give birth and he is still in the line of the fucking mall.

“Oh shit!” Calum said, looking frantically over the line that was still too long “OH SHIT”

“Okay calm dow- Is that a Santa costume?” Michael asked.

“Calm down?!” Calum said, panicking “My best friend is having a baby and you tell me to CALM DOWN?!”

“I’m having a baby…” Ashton said in a whisper, not really paying attention to what was going on around him “I’m having a baby”

“Not you!” Said Calum “Well... also you but I meant Y/N! She’s the one pushing it mate” But Ashton did not listen.

His whole world paused in that moment. Too many thoughts were running through his head as he tried to formulate a plan, any plan that would get him the quickest to you.

He thought he was doing a good job, he thought that he was going to be the best dad ever and now he was going to miss the birth of his first child because the line wasn’t fucking moving.

“Ash?” Michael called, but he wasn’t listening.

How could he screw this up so early in the game? Your baby wasn’t even born yet but he swore he could already feel their disappointment.

“Ash..”

And you! How could you ever forgive him?! You will surely file for divorce once the baby is born.

“Ashton!”

“What?!” He yelled, looking at Michael who was shaking him by the shoulders.

“Fucking breathe man! You almost turn purple there”

Michael started breathing at an even pace, motioning Ashton to breathe with him and so he did “It’s going to be okay, don’t worry about it”

“How can you say that?!” Ashton almost cried “I’m not even a dad yet and I’m already screwing up! Who doesn’t show up to the birth of his child?”

Michael rolled his eyes, knowing his friend was just talking out of fear than out of reason, and shook him by the shoulders again “Listen to me, you are already a great dad! You were a dad even before Y/N got pregnant and you are not going to miss the birth of my nephew or niece. I won’t allow it. But first I need you to calm the fuck down!”

Ashton looked at Michael and swallowed the lump in his throat “What if I’m not ready? What if we’re not ready?”

Michael chuckled “You asked me the same question when you were about to walk down the aisle a year ago. You were ready even before you knew you were and this is not different”

But before Ashton could say something, Calum walked up to them again.

“There are fourteen people ahead of us” Said Calum, who had just run up to the start of the line “If we asked them to move, we might get there in time”

“Or maybe you could leave the music box to me…” The man with the weird vibe intervened.

“Fuck off DeVito!” The three Australians yelled.

Suddenly, a lightbulb got turned on on Michael’s head “I got an idea!”

A panicked Calum dressed as Santa and a very panicked Ashton watched as Michael ran out of the store for a second, only to come back pushing a Target cart “Get in!” He said jumping in the cart and motioning to Ashton to follow him.

Ashton jumped inside without asking any questions, not even when Calum started pushing the car or when Michael turned on his… was that a megaphone?!

“Attention ladies and gentlemen” Michael said through the megaphone, making every single person turn their heads towards them, as if two large Australians standing inside of a shopping cart being pushed by a very tattooed Santa Claus wasn’t stiking enough “We have a man that’s going to become a father at any moment now while his wife is in the hospital! Please let us through!”

Ashton does not know if it was the weird scene they caused, his desperate face or Christmas magic that made everyone on the line take a step back as Calum pushed them through the checkout.

Once they got there, the cashier took his money, too shocked to say anything else as Ashton yelled “Keep the change!” As they rushed through the doors and towards the parking lot with Calum pushing the cart at a great speed with all of his energy as all the other customers looked at them and wondered what the hell was going on.

“Mommy?” A confused random kid asked “Why was Santa pushing those men on the cart?”

Luke.

His favorite Christmas playlist was playing in the car. He loved the holidays, but he hated Christmas shopping with his life. So he was very thankful that Ashton could understand this and let him wait in the car.

As he hummed through the song “His Favorite Christmas Story” he thought about the gift he got to your little unborn baby. As soon as he found out you were pregnant, he knew he had to spoil that kid rotten. Well, not that he knew he had to, but he wanted to. You and Ashton were the best people he has ever met, and he knew your little baby was not going to be different, so what’s wrong with giving that child the world they deserve?

A few months ago he talked to a friend of his that made customized presents made of crochet, so he asked if they could make a baby mobile to put over the crib. He also made sure to ask that the animals that were to adorn the mobile were your’s and Ashton’s favorites, and also throwing a little kangaroo in honor of their father’s homeland and a little penguin in honor of their future favorite uncle.

He smiled to himself as he thought he couldn’t wait to meet the little pal and how he couldn’t wait to start a family of his own. But his daydreaming got cut short when he heard a commotion coming from the mall’s doors.

Sirens were ringing and a lot of people stood and watched at whatever was causing the disturbance. He even had to take a double look because he thought he just saw Calum dressed as Santa Claus pushing a shopping cart with Ashton and Michael inside, the latter speaking with a megaphone in his hand. And indeed that is what he saw.

“LUKE START THE CAR” Michael yelled from his megaphone. And Luke, being the smart man that he is, did not ask questions as he did just that.

Soon enough, Calum Santa Claus was jumping inside of the car, followed by Michael and Ashton, who just sat in the front seat.

“What is-?” Luke tried to ask, but his three friends were quicker as they all said at the same time:

“The baby is coming!” “We needed to get the music box” “The line was too fucking long”

“Hurry up, dude!” Calum said, giving Luke a pat on his shoulder as he stared at them, very confused.

“Why didn’t you just leave the music box with one of them?” He said, motioning to his friends in the back “I could’ve come back for them after I dropped you off…”

The three Australians all looked at eachother like they were the most stupid people on the planet. Until Micahel turned on the megaphone again and said with a defeated voice: “Just drive”

The ride to the hospital was silent as Luke drove through the streets of LA at full speed. Michael even turned on the siren of the megaphone to make way across the traffic jam. How the hell they didn’t end up in jail? A Christmas miracle if you ask me.

Once they got there, Ashton was the first one to jump off the car, followed by his best friends as they ran through the hospital’s floors.

“Irwin!” He said, once they got to the maternity wing “Y/N Irwin! My Wife-”

Luke followed, almost knocking down Ashton as his boots slipped on the floor “His wife!” He said, almost out of breath.

“His baby!” Calum added, almost falling to the floor as he tripped over his foot.

And last but not least came a small “Help?” From Michael who was completely out of breath as he sat on one of the chairs in the waiting room.

The nurse, apparently not taken aback at the sudden outburst of three grown man and a Santa Claus in her waiting room, just smiled at Ashton and said: “Over here, Mr. Irwin. You are just in time, she just started dilating…”

But Ashton didn’t hear much as he walked behind her, anxious to see you and see your baby. Breathing heavily as he tried to calm his nerves before he got to your room. He gave one last look to his friends and smiled at them.

“You can do it man!” Michael said, giving him the thumbs up.

“You go Poppa!” Luke cheered.

“We will be here!” Calum said, feeling tears of pride gather up in his eyes as he watched Ashton turn into another hallway, ready to become the dad he always knew he could be.

“Did you actually steal a Santa costume?” Michael said as the other two sat down next to him.

“And you stole a cart and a megaphone so shut up”

A new family.

You watched with tired eyes as your husband held your baby girl in his arms.

“She is so tiny…” He said with fresh happy tears falling rolling down his cheeks. Ashton started crying as soon as he saw her little face and heard his heart shattering cry.

You almost thought that he wasn’t going to make it in time, afraid that you were going to have to get through the birth of your child all alone. But he came through the doors just in time and he did not let go of your hand for a second, even when you knew you were crushing it as you pushed.

“I love you so much” He said, just as he’s been saying for the past hours since he got here “I love you so much and I love her so much I- Thank you”

“Why are you thanking me, love?”

“For giving me the best gift of all” Ashton said as he laid next to you with your daughter curled up on his chest “You gave me the family I always dreamed of. I could never thank you enough for it”

He slowly lowered his head and pressed his lips to yours, showing you all the love that he could in only one simple kiss.

“Well, it’s not like you didn’t help on making this, you know?” You teased, making him chuckle “I should be thanking you, Ash.You and her are the best thing that has ever happened to me, I love you”

“I love you” He said, capturing your lips in another kiss as you let the music box play in the background, filling the room with the notes of your favorite lullaby.

“Should I let the boys in?” He asked as he passed your daughter back to you. You just nodded, not wanting to let your friends wait a second longer to meet your baby. “Oh, and just a heads up, Calum is dressed as Santa Claus and we might never be allowed on the mall again”

You laughed “I can’t wait to hear that story”

Ashton smiled as he got out of the room and walked towards where the boys were sitting. Once they saw him walk up to them, they immediately got up, all of them smiling proudly at the new - official, father of the band.

“Boys, come and meet our baby girl: Jane Elizabeth Irwin”

Tags: @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof @talksoprettyjjx @mystic-232

[armandclocksitall]

Watch The Night Go Up In Smoke (Chapter 1)

Paul(The Lost Boys) x Frog! Reader (gender neutral)

Warnings: mention of blood, dead mom

(Y/N) Frog was always deemed “the weird kid” out of all their friends. Not because of anything they ever did. No, it all started with their seventh birthday party, before Christy Frog had tragically passed away.

Just as the candles were being blown out, (Y/N)’s father and uncle, Edgar and Alan Frog, stomped through the door holding stake guns and dripping blood all over the freshly cleaned rugs. All of (Y/N)’s seven-year-old friends obviously screamed in absolute terror as their parents were all flabbergasted and disgusted at the sight before them. Each of the children along with their parents were quickly ushered out of the house with a rushed apology as well as the barely believable explanation that Edgar and Alan had just returned from a hunting trip and forgot they were coming home to a child’s party.

Things obviously worsened after Christy, the wife of Edgar Frog and mother of (Y/N), fell sick. (Y/N) almost never left the house and their mother’s side during this time and lost almost all their friends turning into a recluse. They were only 13 when she passed away peacefully in her sleep. Christy was the more level-headed between her and her husband, never letting his profession stop (Y/N) from living a normal life. Edgar, crippled by the passing of his true love, held on tightly to his only child and the only direct link to his deceased wife he had left. He was strict but it was to protect them. He had to know who was in their friend group and where they were at all times. However, his most strict rule was that (Y/N) was never allowed out past dark.

As (Y/N) entered high school, this obviously made whatever remnants of a social life they had left crumble completely. With a weird father and uncle who didn’t understand social cues, a dead mother, and now a completely unreasonable curfew, (Y/N) was a total social outcast, and hanging out with them would almost instantly be the death of any chance of popularity.

This, however, did not affect (Y/N)’s best friend since diapers, Mikayla Emerson. She was the daughter of Edgar Frog’s lifelong friend, Sam Emerson.

They were complete polar opposites. While (Y/N) was forcefully made into an introvert by the tragedy that is having the Frog name, Mikayla was a bubbly, sweet, and sociable teenager. (Y/N)’s father always told them that she was a spitting image of her father from when they first met. Nobody really understood why the two of them were so close and worked so well together but nobody dared to question it.

If you were caught talking shit about Mikayla’s cousin and it got back to her, then you could consider your high school social life flushed down the toilet. Despite the fact that (Y/N) was best friends and practically family with one of the most popular girls at school, it granted them no entry to any sort of clique.

While Mikayla could never save (Y/N)’s social life at school she would be damned if she couldn’t at least get them a social life in public. They were both 18 and finishing up their senior year, in just a few months, nothing from school would matter anymore. They’d be two adults in the real world, no longer held back by embarrassing birthday parties, or dead moms, or weird dads and uncles. Two new faces. Mikayla, while a total sweetheart and the apple of her father’s eye was a rebel at heart and knew that Edgar Frog’s restrictions that he set on his kid were stupid. There was a party on the beach this Friday night and she was going to help (Y/N) sneak out and finally see how wonderful the world is and just how magical the Santa Carla boardwalk can be at night.

——————————————————————————

Friday night had finally arrived, and the only way (Y/N) could describe how they felt was nervous. Sneaking out was totally risky and completely out of character for them but their cousin had insisted that they go to “Blast on the Beach.” It was an annual event and anybody who was anybody would be at this party, not just high-schoolers. This could be (Y/N)’s chance to finally branch out and meet people who didn’t think of them as some sort of hermit with the father who walked into a child’s birthday party covered in blood.

After dinner, (Y/N) had excused themself telling their father that they were feeling a bit under the weather and worn down from the past week and that they were heading to bed early. (Y/N) thankfully lived in a single-story home with their father so there’d be no climbing needed for when their cousin showed up to sneak them out.

(Y/N) paced around their room waiting 15 minutes before they heard a light tapping on their window. Mikayla stood outside with a smile that stretched a mile wide across her face. She was sure her cousin was going to back out at the last minute but there they were, impatiently awaiting her arrival already dressed for the party.

(Y/N) had opened the window slowly, making as little noise as possible before looking around their room once more, “I should probably bring a jacket right?” they asked their cousin.

Mikayla quickly nodded before motioning to the door of (Y/N)’s bedroom, “Don’t forget to turn off the light and lock the door so it looks like you’re asleep and don’t wanna be bothered.”

(Y/N) quietly rushed and did as their cousin told them to before grabbing their leather jacket off their desk chair and silently maneuvering their way out the bedroom window.

They landed on the dirt outside with a muted thud as their boots hit the ground. (Y/N) readjusted their jacket, checking for any tears. This jacket was very important to the teenager, (Y/N) had found it when they were raiding their Uncle Mikey’s closet with Mikayla. It was a very popular pastime of theirs when they were just entering high school and wanted to look cool. Mikayla mainly stole a few pieces from their Aunt Star’s wardrobe but (Y/N) was inexplicably drawn to this jacket.

They had never seen Mikey ever wear it so they figured he wouldn’t put up much of a fight when they asked for it. (Y/N) remembered how apprehensive their uncle seemed when they had first held it up to ask to keep it. For something he almost never used, he was pretty reluctant to let it go. Their Aunt Star finally convinced him to give it to the teen telling him that it was okay to let go of the past. It seemed rather deep considering it was just a jacket that didn’t seem to hold much importance but (Y/N) chose not to dwell on it for too long.

Mikayla, obviously not a stranger to sneaking out for a night of fun had everything planned to a T. She had parked a few blocks away from the Frog household to not raise any alarms. The two 18-year-olds hopped into her jeep and raced off to the boardwalk. As they arrived they saw that the parking lot was incredibly crowded but she managed to find a parking spot next to four gorgeous motorcycles. Mikayla and (Y/N) climbed out of the vehicle and made their way to the beach where a giant bonfire was roaring away as teenagers and 20-somethings raged around it already completely wasted and ready to have the best night of their lives.

>Next Chapter<

[songsformonkeys]

12 days of Christmas Pedros. Short little ficlets based on prompts that can be found here. One ficlet every other day. Thank you @yespolkadotkitty for the beautiful banner!

Day 11 - “Oh my God, I didn’t get you a present!” - Dave York from the Sturdy Home verse

This was going to be the first Christmas without Dave. Even though it really shouldn't have come as a surprise, the holiday had still managed to sneak up on you. You'd had so many other things to think about while attempting to glue together the shards of your broken life this past year, and subconsciously you had hoped that if you just ignored thinking about Christmas then maybe it just wouldn't show up this year. Of course, that plan hadn't worked. The girls had started putting together lists for Santa already at the beginning of November.

Christmas had always been Dave's favorite holiday and you had been wholly unprepared for how to handle it without your husband being there to guide you through it. You couldn't do this on your own! Not without Dave and especially not with the man who looked like Dave but was different from him in a million little ways.

December had rapidly approached and with it, your anxiety grew. Dave asked a few times if you needed help or if there was anything he could do to assist. You shot him down every time and in the end, he stopped asking. You knew you were being ungrateful but the thought of watching Dave decorate a tree or help wrap Christmas gifts would have shattered you completely, and no one wanted a broken mom for Christmas.

The girls somehow handled their dad's amnesia better than you did. You hadn't talked to them much about it but their eyes didn't fill with sadness every time they looked at him and, instead of crying, they only reacted with rolled eyes and slight frustration when Dave did something unexpected or forgot something they thought he ought to have remembered. Your youngest had started referring to him as David, and when you had carefully reminded her that David was still her dad – trying to convince yourself as much as her – she'd looked at you with an amount of patience that no six-year-old should be able to possess.

”I know, mom. But not all the time. Sometimes he's just David.”

You hadn't known how to respond to that.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The month of December flew by faster than it had any right to. Decorations and preparations weren't nearly as lavish as they had been in previous years but, all things considered, you thought you had done a pretty okay job and both the girls and Dave seemed pleased. For everyone's sake, you had opted out of going to the family dinner at your parents' house. Dave was still a little wary about meeting people he was supposed to know and your own constant state of exhaustion didn't make for the most entertaining dinner guest either.

Instead, you'd put together a small dinner with just Dave and the girls. Dave had gotten up early and made bread. It tasted just like the bread Dave had made every other year and he had apologized when he'd watched your eyes tear up after he'd offered you a slice on Christmas morning. The girls had brought home decorated gingerbread cookies from school. The frosting tasted of sugary chalk but Dave still complimented them.

Gifts were exchanged and the girls tore into the colorful paper and squealed with delight at their new toys and clothes. For just a few moments, as you watched your daughters and listened to their happy laughter, you forgot to be sad and smiled with them.

The smile only slipped when you looked over at Dave and found him already watching you, with a curious expression on his face. You looked away again.

”Don't forget those,” Dave said, pointing at two remaining gifts, hidden deep underneath the tree behind where the other gifts had been. You frowned, not immediately recognizing the paper, but it clicked why when you watched Dave swallow nervously as the girls tore off the paper from the gifts that were clearly his doing.

You jumped when Alice screamed in delight. Dave's shoulders dropped and relief washed over his face as he laughed. You couldn't tear your eyes away from his smile. Both girls got up and more or less flung their arms around his neck, the new plush cat and rabbit squeezed into the middle of the group hug.

”Thank you, Daddy!” Alice squeaked against his shoulder and the house of cards, which you spent all your waking hours carefully assembling crumbled once again as your hands began to shake and you found it difficult to breathe.

Dave looked over at you and now it was his smile that slipped and disappeared, replaced by a look of worry. You stood up and with a flimsy excuse of getting water, you fled to the kitchen.

You didn't hear Dave follow you until he spoke up.

”Should I not have done that?” he asked carefully, keeping a respectful distance to where you were leaning against the kitchen counter with your back to him. You took a deep breath and turned around, forcing a fake smile onto your face.

”No, Dave, it was very sweet... You got their favorite animals right too. I'm sorry. I'm just...”

”Thinking of him,” Dave finished sadly. You bit your lip to keep it from trembling.

”You...are here,” you replied in a shaky voice. Dave held your gaze and you forced yourself not to look away.

”I'm trying to be,” he said softly, but with a stubborn resolve that was all too familiar.

”I know.” You pushed away from the counter and his hands twitched at his sides, almost reaching for you before he stopped himself as he realized you were just heading towards the doorway to the living room. He cleared his throat.

”Let's get back to the girls.”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You let the girls stay up a little too late and when you decided to finally call it a night, they were both so tired that their eyes were only half-open as they staggered up the stairs. The silver lining was that they were also both too tired to protest when you ordered toothbrushing.

While they brushed their teeth and slipped into their pajamas, you helped put their opened gifts on their respective nightstands so they would be the first things they saw when they woke up the next morning. Everything was neatly arranged, except for the cat and the rabbit. The plush toys were held tight in the girls' arms as you read them their bedtime story. Irrationally, you wished that you would have gotten a plush toy to hug at night as well.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you came back downstairs, Dave was relaxing in front of the TV, his feet propped up on the coffee table. You made a beeline for the kitchen, pouring two glasses of wine before you joined him.

”They're sleeping like logs,” you told him as you handed him his glass. He thanked you and took a small sip before returning his focus to the TV, which was showing some sort of Christmas concert.

”I'm surprised they even made it up the stairs. Especially Alice in those unicorn boots,” he said with a soft chuckle.

”If only they had inherited your fondness for practical footwear,” you teased with a small smile. Dave turned his head away from the TV to look at you. You watched him back.

”Hey...” he said slowly and set the glass of wine down on the table. Your pulse sped up and you gripped your own glass of wine a little tighter. But Dave turned away from you and started feeling for something between the couch cushions. ”I uh... I got you a gift too,” he said and when he turned back towards you he held a flat, square box, the size of your palm in his hand. It was wrapped in navy blue paper with gold stars.

”Dave...” you said, surprised and then a little ashamed. ”Oh Dave, I haven't gotten you a present.”

Dave shook his head before you could attempt any apologies.

”You have given more than enough already,” he assured you before looking around the living room with a soft smile. ”My first Christmas for example.”

You watched him quietly until he nodded his head towards the gift in your hands.

”I was nervous with the girls but this is even worse so please...”

”Yes, sorry,” you apologized and picked at the edge of a piece of tape. You were less aggressive in your unwrapping than the girls had been and less vocal when you finally got the box open, revealing a delicate necklace with a small golden heart hanging from a thin gold chain. In fact, you were completely silent as you stared at the gift. The symbolism of it didn't escape you and suddenly you found it harder to breathe around the growing lump in your throat.

You looked up at Dave and, as always when he did something unexpected, your paper-thin defenses crumbled into nothing and you started crying.

”Hey...” Dave said softly again and reached out to swipe the pad of his thumb across your cheek to gather up the first tear that escaped your eyes and rolled down your cheek.

You still couldn't speak, so with the box clasped tightly in your hand, you leaned forward to wrap your arms around him. You could count on one hand how many times you had hugged Dave since he came back, but he immediately responded by curling his arms around you, like it was the most natural thing in the world. And maybe it was.

He wasn't your husband, but he was sweet and caring, and for the first time you weren't hugging him as a substitute for someone else.

You held each other, perhaps for longer than what was necessary but you didn't want to let him go just yet and neither did Dave, it seemed. You still stained his shirt with your tears but it wasn't the heartwrenching sobs from the other times.

When you pulled back, you held out the box for him.

”Will you help me put it on?”

Dave nodded and you turned your back to him. When his knuckles brushed the back of your neck as he fastened the tiny clasp of the necklace, you closed your eyes for a moment and let out a slow breath before you turned back to face him.

”Beautiful,” Dave said and the intensity of his gaze made your cheeks burn warm. As you held his gaze, you brushed your fingers over the little heart. It was still a bit cold to the touch but slowly, it was beginning to warm up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist: @yespolkadotkitty​ @agirllovespancakes​ @pedropascalito​ @pedropascallion​ @ohpedromypedro​ @knittingqueen13​ @synystersilenceinblacknwhite​ @mourningbirds1​ @alwaysbethewest​ (Merry Christmas. Here’s your Keep Reading) @heatherbel​ @larakasser​ @fromthedeskoftheraven​ @seawhisperer​ @ahopelessromanticwritersworld​ @mrschiltoncat​ @pajamasecrets​ @phoenixhalliwell​ @ilikechocolatemilkh​ @dornish-queen​ @holographic-carmen​ @thirstworldproblemss​

[dreamescapeswriting]

25 Days Of Christmas ~ Day 12 ~ LF

WORD COUNT: 0.8K

PAIRING: Felix xGN!Reader

GENRE: Fluffy, christmas drabble, prompt, late minute shopping, reader softly teasing Felix

Song Suggestion for the day: Winter Falls - Stray Kids

Copyright: © DreamEscapesWriting - December 2021

Check out the masterlist HERE

Three nights before Christmas and you were standing in the middle of a mall with your boyfriend. Both of you looked completely lost as you tried to think of where you could possibly start with all of this shopping. 

"I can't believe you did this," You grinned at Felix as you both began to walk together through the shopping mall, Christmas music was blasting through the speakers. You could hear kids screaming for Santa and parents yelling that they were running late on their schedule.

Felix had a frantic look o his face as he stared down at the list of gifts he had written out months ago, only just getting around to trying to buy everything now. You'd tried to convince him to go before now but he was set in his ways, telling you that he would get around to it sooner or later.

Only now it was later and almost too late. You didn't know if the stores would have everything that he wanted in stock.

"I didn't think, I've been busy." He whined at you, linking your hands together as he began trying to push through crowds of people. The mall was completely packed with people who were all in the same boat as Felix, last-minute shopping or taking their kids to meet Santa. Either way, the whole entire place seemed to be brimmed full but it was lucky at the same time. Everybody was so focused on themselves that none of them had time to process Felix was walking around wearing nothing but a mask to hide who he was. 

"I think we should start with clothes, they'll be easy to get and lighter to carry." You told him as you snatched the list from his hands and began to read through everything that he had planned to get for people. This was the only reason Felix had chosen you to come with him, you knew how to do things efficiently and he wanted you by his side the whole time,

Luckily for you, Felix had already gotten your gifts a week before after going shopping with Hyunjin and Minho. 

"That's a good idea, if things get heavy we can go back to the car," He explained making you frown a little, what could have possibly been so heavy you wouldn't be able to carry it?

"Heavy? What are you planning on buying that's heavy?" You laughed as you spoke, stopping just outside of a coffee shop as you reached the bottom of the list. Raising an eyebrow at the handwritten note from your boyfriend. In his neat handwriting there it was. The name of the new console he had been dying to get since it had dropped months ago. 

There was no way he was going to give it to all of the boys, Felix mostly put it onto the list for himself to keep.

"You're buying yourself a games console?" You taunted playfully as he gave you a comical glare, pulling you once again in the direction of the store he was planning to get some clothes from.

"Never. Again!" You panted sitting on the bedroom floor of Felix's room, surrounded by bags and bags of gifts. The two of you had practically raced against time trying to get the gifts to then sneak them into the bedroom. The shopping trip was enough to make you swear off from shopping forever, no one was being kind and considerate. Everyone was bashing into one another to try and steal places in line and even fighting over items in the stores.

"I have to wrap," Felix mumbled looking over at everything before his eyes slowly began to look up at you. You already knew what he was going to ask and you didn't want him to. It was bad enough that you had agreed to go shopping in the first place but Felix was giving you the best puppy dog eyes that he could manage. 

"Lix," You whined, already knowing what the boy was going to ask you to do with him but this was the bane of your existence. The one thing you hated more in the world than stepping on a lego or peeling potatoes. Wrapping presents took so long and you hated having to sit for hours on end in one spot. 

"I just finished mine, I can't-" You tried to whine but he shook his head, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

"Please," He begged, dragging the word out for as long as humanly possible, staring at you as he poked out his bottom lip. Bringing out the acting skills he had as he tried his best to convince you to help him,

"I hate you." You lied.

"I love you too y/n." He smirked as you walked past him, humming sarcastically as you bent down to give him a small kiss. Going to prepare you both some hot drinks for the nice long night of wrapping that the two of you seemed to have ahead of you.

Tagline: @minholuvs​ @taestannie​ @sw33tnight​ @acciocriativity​ @mwitsmejk​ @taeechwitaa​ @justbangtanthingz​ @stillwithlix​ @lolalee24​ If you would like to be added or removed please DM me <3

[combat-wombatus]

Hot Cocoa

Pairing: Iida Tenya x gn!reader

Warnings: brief cursing (mostly just bakugou being bakugou), some suggestive humor (m*neta is involved too)

Genre: fluff (a lil bit of crack bc why not)

WC: a bit over 8k? went slightly overboard with this idea and not entirely happy with the ending but i already rewrote it like 5 times so it is what it is-

(A/N): heya! so this is my first fic and i was kinda nervous about posting it...

it started out as an idea on @todorkihoe’s discord server but then it evolved into this monstrous nightmare so...it took me like a whole week to hash everything out and the logistics of the secret santa thing was an absolute nightmare. but it was worth it!!

It was the holiday season. Most people were taking time off of work to hang out with their friends and family. You had wanted nothing more than to relax in your hot tub with a glass of sparkling cranberry juice and scrumptious holiday cookies, but being a pro-hero meant sacrifices.

You were signed on as a sidekick in the UA Hero Agency’s Tokyo branch. The UA Hero Agency was exactly that: a hero agency formed by the most illustrious graduating class at UA. Not everyone from their class eventually went into the agency, but they were a large agency, with around 36 pro-heroes working full-time. This meant that they had several branches. You, a recent graduate from UA, knew these heroes who were a year above you at UA. They were special. When you started at UA, there were already whispers about “the Class of Legends”. Every single person who graduated the year after had been through enormous trauma during their years at UA. You thought that they were true heroes: strong, unbending even in the face of overwhelming adversity. They were only in their first year when they had been attacked by villains: twice. One of them had even been kidnapped. You couldn’t even begin to fathom how hard they must have worked to get to where they were today. They were resilient, and it showed. The UA Hero Agency is now one of the top Hero Agencies in not only Japan, but also the world. In fact, with their combined power, you wouldn’t be surprised if they happened to make an international branch. You knew that some of the heroes at your agency, Can’t Stop Sparkling and Pony, wanted to start something overseas but didn’t yet have the manpower to make it happen. You were sure that within a few years, their ranks bolstered by new graduates, they would take UA to the international stage.

So it was Christmas Eve. Even though you wanted the chance to chill out at home with some relaxing instrumental jazz and freshly baked sweets, you were out patrolling Tokyo’s vibrant shopping sector instead, on the lookout for villains who wished to ruin everyone else’s holiday fun. The mall was abuzz with shoppers, some hanging out in the verandas with cup of hot cocoa in their hands, others hurrying through, their arms loaded with shopping bags, searching for last-minute gifts they had previously forgotten to purchase. It was definitely not the worst patrol ever. The cozy atmosphere almost had you sighing in contentment, before you heard a voice shout, “thief!”

Of course a villain had to ruin the fun. They had a tendency to do that. You weren’t very comfortable using your quirk in such a loud, crowded area, but you bet that you could catch a small-time shoplifter without it anyways. You raced through the crowd, tracing the voice that had called out moments earlier. You saw a tuft of orange hair weaving unnaturally through the crowd of shoppers, and sprinted forwards, your eyes locked on the target. You followed the path they had created unknowingly for you, trying not to draw attention to yourself. It would only slow you down and light a fire under the criminal, which was exactly what you didn’t need.

Within moments, you caught up to them. Sneaking up behind them, you snatched their wrist and smacked your quirk-suppressing cuffs on it.

“Fuck!” He swore. How did he get caught so quickly? He could have sworn that there was no one chasing him. Pesky heroes. Relying on the comparative lack of heroes patrolling during the holidays, as well as the customary holiday shopping rush, was a sound strategy. He had done the same in previous years without getting caught. If only that damned, nosy civilian hadn’t shouted…

“Please do not resist arrest. It will be easier for all parties involved. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. There are eyewitnesses to your crime. Please drop your bags and hold out your other wrist.” You said calmly. You had a beautiful voice. It was calming and had a lilt to it that was a byproduct of your quirk. The villain did as you said, knowing that there would be no escape.

You sighed. Pressing a button on the comms situated in your ear, you reported the situation back to your office. You then called the nearest detective station and waited until their patrol car got here so you could hand the man over. Glancing at your watch, you realized your patrol was almost over. You did one last sweep of the premises, then headed back to the agency.

Today, the agency was the emptiest you had ever seen it. It was a large building, with 20 above-ground floors. In fact, it was essentially a mini-city. There was a heated indoor pool, a sauna, an elite gym that would make fitness junkies drool, a massage and spa, three verandas, and a rooftop greenhouse. It had a café reminiscent of the UA cafeteria, and all types of cuisines were available. In fact, Lunch Rush’s niece was working in the café, and the food was always heavenly. Sometimes, heroes from other agencies would drop off at the UA Hero Agency just for a bite of food after a long patrol. It was the unofficial headquarters of all the hero agencies in Japan, and it certainly lived up to its reputation.

Thinking about the café, you were suddenly hungry for some pad thai. Arriving at the door, you dropped off your comms and cloak at the door to your office and headed down to the café for some food.

“(Y/N)!!! You’re back!” Your friend squealed.

“Yeah Mina, just got off of patrol. Arrested this shoplifter trying to take advantage of the holiday chaos.” Spying her coat in her hands, you realized she was on her way out.

“Cool! You’re always so efficient with your arrests. Anyhow, I’m going to head home. My parents and I are getting some dinner together. I’ll be back for the party, yeah? Don’t open any presents without me!” Mina waved, a grin on her face. You assured her that you would make sure everyone waited for her to celebrate. You wanted to see your parents too, but they were currently on an international tour. They were famous singers, pioneers of a new genre of music. It was a sort of lullaby, but it wasn’t meant to put people to sleep. It was more of an enchanting, calming kind of music present only in fantasy books before your mother brought it to life. She was wildly popular, and your father was only too happy to support her. Speaking of which, your phone rang in your pocket. You took it out and accepted the video call.

“(Y/N)! It’s so nice to see you baby! How’s it going? I know you had patrols today but I forgot about the time difference and your father had to stop me before I called you and distracted you during patrols! He’s always so paranoid you’ll hurt yourself, sweetie. Stay safe, okay?” Your mother was always cheerful.

“Yeah mom, I know. I’m doing pretty well, actually. I arrested a shoplifter today,” you replied, recounting the same story you just told Mina. “Everything’s pretty calm here. How’s your tour going? I missed you,” you asked her.

“That’s good to hear sweetie!” You mom smiled. “The tour is amazing. I’ve never had such an international turnout before! Maybe I need to start considering singing in other languages! Everyone’s always so supportive.” You smiled at her, happy that she was enjoying herself.

“You deserve it Mom. I’m glad that your music is appealing to an international audience. You always work so hard. It’s nice to see that people appreciate all that you’ve done.”

“Thanks sweetie. Here, I’ll let your dad talk to you for a bit.” There was a bit of shuffling on her end as she handed the phone over to your father.

“Hey sweetheart,” your father’s voice boomed through the phone. You held your phone away from your ear, wincing a bit. Quickly dialing the volume down, you responded.

“Hey Papa. Mom said the tour was going well.”

“Yeah, it is. How’s the holidays going for you?” You heard the slight sadness in his voice. You knew that he wanted Mom to take a break in the middle of the tour and spend Christmas with you, but Mom was adamant about it. It was a holiday tour, after all, and tickets had already been booked. Some people were going to see her concerts as a way of celebrating, and she wouldn’t let them down.

“I’m doing good. It’s pretty peaceful here. No big missions or anything,” you say, in an attempt to comfort him.

“Ok, that’s good to hear sweetheart. We miss you.”

“I miss you too, Papa. Don’t worry though, I’ll be here when you guys get back. Have fun in Paris!” You replied, suddenly feeling sad. “Bye Papa! Bye Mom! I’ll see you guys soon!” You blew a kiss to the camera and hung up. Sighing a little, you trotted towards Emiko, the revered chef.

“Can I have a pad thai please?” You asked, putting your phone back in your pocket.

“One pad thai, coming right up!” Emiko beamed. “So, I hear there’s a party tonight. Should I make anything special?”

You thought about it for a bit, then shook your head. “No, you don’t have to. It’s mostly just for the presents. We already have the booze covered. I think Momo is ordering some special hors d’œuvres already and Sato is taking care of the cookies. Are you coming?”

Emiko shook her head. “I’m spending the night with my family and my boyfriend. I think I might make you guys some tiramisu though. I have all the ingredients and I don’t want them to spoil since I’ll be gone for a few days. Desserts are my specialty anyways,” she added. Then, with a knowing smirk, she prodded your arm. “Do you have anyone on your mind? You know, Mina and Ochaco hung some mistletoe up before they left…”

You blushed. Of course they did. Your friends knew all about your one-sided crush. You also knew that he would still be working here. He was always working. You were pretty sure that he had the mind of a robot, focused only on his work and his legacy. With those hand motions he made, you weren’t surprised if he actually was one. You shook your head to get rid of these thoughts. Emiko didn’t know. At least, you didn’t think she knew. You really regretted telling Mina about your little crush. With her tendency to run her mouth, you wouldn’t be surprised if the entire agency knew already. With the exception of your actual crush, of course. He was simply too socially dense to see the signs and too uninterested to pry.

Taking your pad thai, you scurried away from a smug Emiko and plopped yourself down at a table. You dug into your noodles and sighed in contentment. Maybe working during the holidays wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t like you had friends who weren’t as busy as you were anyways.

You finished the last of your noodles, then got up and took your tray to the recycling area. Heading up to your office, you paused by Ingenium’s office. His door was cracked open, and you peeked inside. You had to muffle your giggles at the sight.

He was wrapping presents with such a focused look on his face that you found absolutely adorable. His brows were furrowed, the tip of his tongue poking out of his mouth. He had a spool of ribbons laying on the floor next to him, as well as elegant white-and-gold wrapping paper and a roll of tape. What really amused you was the pile of paper, ribbons, and tape that was bunched together and tossed aside, obviously a result of trial and error. Iida looked frustrated. He had already put his presents in boxes so that they were almost uniform in size and easier to wrap, but he was clearly struggling. You estimated that he had forty boxes littering the floor, but he only had five wrapped. You watched as he ripped off the wrapping on the newest box he had started on, muttering about how hard it was to get straight edges with the wrapping paper. Knocking lightly on his door, you stuck your head around the doorway.

“Need some help?” You asked.

Iida looked up from unspooling more wrapping paper. His face brightened at your offer.

“Yes please, (Y/L/N)-san! I would greatly appreciate your aid. I seem to be having trouble folding the paper and trying to tape it together without it sliding from its position. If you could hold the paper in place while I tape, that would be wonderful!” He looked so excited, almost like a puppy.

You smiled at his eagerness. “Of course, I’d be happy to help.”

You sat down across from him and held the wrapping paper in place while he tore off a piece of tape. The two of you worked in tandem for around an hour, until you finished wrapping all the presents. You sat back, face flushed, and surveyed your work. All forty presents, wrapped with elegant paper and tied up prettily with a gold organza ribbon, were laid out neatly on the floor. It was a satisfying sight. Rolling out your back and cracking your knuckles, you got up from the floor.

“Those were a lot of presents, Iida-san,” you yawned, stretching your arms back like a cat. “Do you want to go down and get some hot cocoa? Emiko already left, but I can make us some.”

Iida got up too. His glasses were slightly askew on his face, and he had a dazed look about him. “That would be greatly appreciated, (Y/L/N)-san. Thank you very much for helping me wrap my presents. It was irresponsible of me to leave them until the last minute.”

“Of course, Iida-san,” you replied. “We were all so busy before the holidays I’m surprised you wanted to wrap everything as fancy as you did. I know that I just stuck my presents in bags, covered them with tissue paper, and called it a day! You didn’t even buy those sticky bows, you tied them with real ribbons. That’s dedication!”

Iida blushed furiously at your compliments. It’s the perfect time to confess to her, he thought. We’re alone, and there’s no one here to see if she rejects me. He took in a deep breath, trying to muster the courage to say something to you, but before he could, you grabbed his hand and dragged him down the hallway for some much-desired peppermint hot cocoa.

Humming lightly to yourself as you lead Iida down the halls, you entered the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. Releasing his hand, you clasped your hands behind your back, hoping he wouldn’t notice how they were shaking slightly. Wow, you thought. I really did that. I really just snatched his hand like that. Ugh, he probably hated it every second of the way, he’s just too polite to say anything. God, my palms are so sweaty. Why did I do this to myself?

Unbeknownst to you, Iida was having a mental freak-out of his own. Ahh! She grabbed my hand! And she didn’t seem to hate it! Does this mean she really doesn’t mind my company? Maybe I actually do have a chance with her! No, stop, he told himself. She was probably just tired of how I was staring at her and decided to do something about it. Ugh, I was staring at her, wasn’t I? God, I’m such a creep. Iida wiped his palms on his slacks, then reached up and adjusted his glasses, trying to hide the obvious blush on his face.

“Ding!”

The elevator stopped at the ground floor, and the two of you stepped out into the lobby. The decorations had been up for two weeks already, but it still took your breath away every time you saw it. There were garlands of lights strung high all over the ceiling, and dainty little ornaments hung from the chandeliers. There was a huge Christmas tree next to the fireplace, the floor around it coated in snowy fuzz. You had to resist the temptation to jump in on multiple occasions. You couldn’t help yourself! It just looked so fuzzy and comfortable, like clouds of cotton candy…

The Christmas tree was decorated tastefully. There was a surprising lack of hero-themed ornaments, mostly due to Momo’s elegant decorating. You had all been in agreement when you refused to let Kaminari or Mineta even touch the tree.

Making your way to the kitchen, you relaxed a little when you breathed in the apple-scented candles. It was a surprising choice for a holiday scent. Usually, pine or cinnamon were much more popular scents. You had gotten the privilege to choose the candles though, and although you almost fainted sniffing at every single scent in the candle store, you decided on apple. It was nice and refreshing, with just a subtle touch towards the holiday season. You liked the change of pace from the usual holiday scents, and it seemed it was growing on everyone else too. You stopped at the cabinets that contained the hot cocoa bombs. Emiko had seen these as an online trend with the food community, and she had made dozens of them “as an experiment”. Everyone fell in love with them (because heroes are allowed to be childish!) and they stuck. Now, the agency had an entire cabinet in the kitchen dedicated to the delightful goodies.

“Oat or regular?” You asked Iida.

Iida had, unfortunately, spaced out again. He was thinking about how cute you looked, standing on your tiptoes to reach the cabinet.

“Hello? Earth to Iida-san,” you turned around and waved a hand in front of his face. “You okay there?”

Iida blinked and had to recompose himself again. He kept getting distracted. This was not good. Not good at all.

“Regular is fine,” he replied, his face flushing once again. He really needed to stop daydreaming.

You poured out some milk into a jug and heated it. Then, you placed a hot cocoa bomb in each mug, licking some sprinkles off your fingers as you did so. Once the milk was ready, you filled each mug to the brim, careful not to spill any. It smelled absolutely delectable. Taking a spoon from the cabinets, you stirred both cups slowly, letting the chocolate melt at an even pace.

Iida was watching all of this, and he was still having an internal debate over when to confess. Would it be better to wait until you both finished the hot cocoa? Should he even confess to you on Christmas? What if his confession ruined your holidays? He began to sweat a little, his anxiety rising with each thought. Before he could come up with an excuse to escape, you stuffed a mug into his large hands.

“All done!” You exclaimed, taking a sip of your own cocoa, careful not to burn yourself.

Iida was not so lucky. Distracted by his thoughts, he raised the mug to his lips and gulped.

“Shit!” Iida swore. You blinked at him, a little shocked since he never swore, then immediately put your mug down and raced to the refrigerator to collect some ice cubes. Iida promptly put his offensive mug of cocoa on the counter, glaring at it like it just murdered his dog. Dumping some ice cubes in a glass, you hurried back towards Iida and popped one in his mouth.

“You really should be more careful next time, Iida-san,” you chided. “I just made it! You shouldn’t take such large swigs of a piping hot drink!”

“Sorry, I got distracted.” Iida replied absentmindedly.

“Distracted? By what?” Your curiosity was now piqued.

Iida’s face turned ever redder than before. He averted his eyes and mumbled out some quiet words that you couldn’t quite catch.

“Sorry, what was that?” You gazed up at him. “I couldn’t hear what you said.”

Iida’s hands were stuck to his thighs to prevent himself from freaking you out with aggressive hand gestures, and he didn’t think he’d ever been more nervous in his entire life. He cleared his throat. “I said that I got distracted by you.”

Now it was your turn to blush. “Really?” Your voice was quiet, almost a whisper. You weren’t sure if you heard that right, and your heart was beating so fast you were afraid that he’d hear it.

Iida finally looked at you. “Really,” he confirmed.

You wrung your hands and stepped towards him. Raising your eyes to meet his, your voice a half-whisper, you gulped before your next words.

“I like you.”

Blinking twice, Iida unclasped his hands and pinched his forearm. He winced in pain, then blinked again. You laughed at his antics, then clapped a hand playfully on his bicep.

“I’m real, Iida-san. I’m right here!”

Slowly, a grin crept up Iida’s face. “Really?” He mumbled, obviously still not entirely convinced he wasn’t dreaming.

You chuckled at how you had just asked the same thing moments earlier, but then you grabbed his large hand with your smaller one and squeezed.

“Really.” You smiled bashfully.

The two of you stood in silence for a while, then Iida spoke up.

“I like you too, (Y/L/N)-san.” Feeling bold now that he knew his feelings were reciprocated, he drew his other arm across your shoulders and drew you into a tight hug. You sighed, feeling comfortable and safe in his arms. A part of you wanted to stay like this forever and never wanted him to let go.

“Would you like to go on a date with me on Saturday afternoon at 3?” Iida’s voice rumbled in your ear.

You were bursting with excitement. A date! A real, formal, date! “I’d love to, but why so specific?” You giggled.

“Ahh, well, my patrol ends at 2:30, so I thought-”

Of course Iida volunteered for patrols the weekend after Christmas. Did this man ever take a break?

“No problem at all, Iida-san. That sounds lovely.”

Iida released you from the hug and rubbed lightly at the back of his neck. “You can… you can call me Tenya, if you’d like.”

You were smiling so big that you feared your face would split. “I’d love that, Tenya.” His eyes crinkled when you called him by his first name. “And you can call me (Y/N).”

Iida nodded his head. “(Y/N). I like that,” he said to himself. He muttered your name a few times, getting used to the way it rolled off his tongue. You blushed and hugged him again, pressing your nose into his chest. He was just too adorable.

You wanted to stay like that, but your phone dinging incessantly in your pocket made it uncomfortable.

Mina

(Y/N)!!! my parents ordered this WHOLE-ASS TURKEY for dinner with JUST THE 3 OF US!!! how we gon finish it all?!?

Mina

*burps* we did it. we finished all of it. the whole turkey. (Y/N). we. finished. a. whole. fucking. turkey. pls send help i can’t walk (Y/NNNNNNNN)!!!

(Y/N)

want me to call u an uber … mina mina MINA MINA DID U PASS OUT im calling an uber mina istg

Quickly sending an Uber to the restaurant Mina was at, you put your phone back in your pocket and looked up at Tenya.

“Hey. Do you wanna get your presents and put them under the tree?” You asked.

Tenya quickly straightened up. “Thank you for reminding me, (Y/N). I had almost forgotten about them!”

“No problem!” You chirped. “Let’s go!” You took his hand in yours again and lead the way to the elevator. As the elevator chimed, the two of you waltzed in, hands still clasped together.

Humming a little tune to yourself, you stepped out of the elevator. You and Tenya entered his office, and each returned with an armful of presents, carefully stacked as to avoid damaging the delicate ribbons the two of you had spent so much time tying.

It was a tradition in the agency to get everyone something small. However, you participated in gift exchanges every year. This year, it was a Secret Santa-type exchange, but the UA Hero Agency did Secret Santa’s a bit differently. Instead of giving your partner the gift on Christmas Eve, the gifts were labeled with typed name tags in generic Times New Roman font. Then, there was the guessing portion. Everyone got 3 guesses at the party when they first open it, and after that, they get one guess per week. Whoever held out the longest (avoided being guessed) would win a batch of Sato’s homemade cookies, a week of free food from Emiko, and two patrol coupons (basically the adult version of homework passes). This year, you had drawn Bakugo as your partner. You’d decided to get him a ¥4,000 gift card to his favorite ramen restaurant, as well as a high-quality leather jacket. The gifts were pretty generic, and you thought that you had a chance at the prize. You chuckled to yourself when you remembered that last year, Momo had been so frustrated when she hadn’t figured out who had given her a pretty earring and necklace set after two months that she’d used Creation to make fingerprint dust and swiped it all over the box. It had turned out to be Todoroki. Needless to say, he’d won the prize that year.

The two of you made a few more trips, carrying gifts from his office to the tree. Checking the time, you saw that it had been an hour since Ochaco’s patrol ended. Right as you were about to call her, the front door to the lobby burst open.

“(Y/N)!!!” Your friend screeched, holding up a kitten with fur the color of cinnamon. “Look what I found on my patrol! I had to take her to the vet really quickly to make sure she wasn’t hurt, and she didn’t seem to have an owner. Just look at her!”

You beamed. The kitten was absolutely ADORABLE. And not only was Ochaco safe, she brought a kitten back with her!

“Can I hold her?” You asked.

“Duh!” Ochaco passed the kitten from her arms to yours. Behind her, you saw Bakugou walking sullenly, arms drawn tight across his chest. You stifled a giggle at the sight. He obviously wanted a turn with the kitten too, but his pride wouldn’t let him as for it.

“We were coming back from patrols and I saw this little one stuck in a tree! And when I floated up to take her down, she just looked so sad. There wasn’t a collar on her or anything, so we took her to the vet. It seems like she was abandoned,” Ochaco pouted. “And so we asked the vet to vaccinate her and everything, and we brought her back here! Can we keep her? Mr. Grumpy over there already said yes.”

Tenya looked like he was about to object, seeing as this building had a no-pets policy, but then he saw how your face lit up and the idea and changed his mind. Maybe having a pet on the premises wouldn’t be too bad, he conceded. It’s not like there were other people sharing the building with them anyways.

“Of course we can keep her!” You squealed. Bakugou huffed a sigh. He’d have to deal with all these idiots fawning over the kitten for weeks, and he wasn’t happy about that, but there was no denying that the thing was cute. He’d mellowed out since his high school days and seeing a therapist for anger management classes certainly helped.

The kitten felt warm and fuzzy in your arms, and when you stroked it down its back with the palm of your hand, it let out a satisfied purr.

“What should we name her?” Ochaco asked.

You thought about it for a moment. “Well, since you found her, and her fur is brownish, why not Coco?”

“Coco! I love it!” She beamed. Coco purred again. “It looks like she likes it too!”

You smiled and looked down on the kitty. “Coco,” You murmured. “Welcome to the family.”

Just then, Mina burst through the doors, brimming with energy and not looking at all as if she’d fainted from turkey overconsumption.

“Mina!” You ran towards her. “I thought you fainted or something!” You accused, poking her in the chest. “You didn’t even leave me on read!! You just LEFT!”

“Chill, chill, girly, I’m alive and kicking! Just had to take a quick nap because of my digestive woes,” She flashed you a big thumbs-up. “And what’s this I see? Do we have an agency pet now? Did Shinso sneak it in his pocket from the cat cafe?”

“Shinso what?”

“Cat cafe?”

“I KNEW there was something fishy about his jacket the other day!”

You, Tenya, and Ochaco said at the same time.

Mina stared at all of you, then shook her head. “Never mind.”

Turning around, you looked at Ochaco. “I wanna hear about this later, you hear?”

“Alright, alright!” Mina shouted. “Change into your holiday gear! Let’s get this rolling!”

You had made a sweater especially for tonight. Knitting was a great way to relax, and huddling up in a cozy armchair with the soft yarn, some hot cocoa, and your favorite book, you had finished your holiday-themed sweater in two weeks. Now, you would finally get the chance to wear it. The sweater you made was white, a soft gold-and-silver threading woven through in the pattern of snowflakes. It was a basic winter pattern, but you were proud of your work.

Setting Coco down on the couch, you headed into the locker rooms to change into your sweater and some flannel pajama bottoms. Walking out, you noticed Tenya was still in his business attire, which looked pretty uncomfortable by your standards, although it did fit him nicely.

“Tenya,” you called out. “Are you wearing that to the party?”

He turned around at your voice, looking slightly taken aback. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. Why?”

“Nothing, just wondering,” you replied. Good thing that your present to him was a nice, cozy, hand-knit sweater. You may or may not have thought about making him a matching one, but then you’d decided that it was too forward.

“You look…” Tenya stared at you. “You look…cute,” he said, with a small blush on his face.

Blushing at his compliment, you smiled and ducked your head. “Thanks.”

“Your sweater…it looks nice,” he added.  

Playing with the hems of your sleeves, you smiled up at him bashfully. “Thanks. I made it myself. I really like knitting. It’s kind of therapeutic.”

“Oh, wow. You are truly very talented, (Y/N)!” Tenya praised.

“Thanks.” You rubbed the back of your neck. It seemed like you had lost the ability to say anything else. Why did you suck so much at making small talk?

Just then, Mina stepped out from the locker room and saved you from any further embarrassment.

“Hey, has Yaomomo come down yet?” Mina asked.

“No, she hasn’t. Do you want me to go get her?” You answered.

“Nah, it’s alright, I’ll just text her real quick.” Mina pulled out her phone, fingers dancing rapidly across the screen, then put it back in her pocket. Minutes later, Momo stepped out of the elevator, already dressed in a red sweater and white jeans. She always looked so put-together. You were sure that she had a second quirk.

“Yaomomo!” Mina screeched, running up to her friend. “You’ll never guess what I ate for dinner!”

You groaned as Mina recounted her dining disaster. You loved Mina, but her tendency to tell her experiences to everyone multiple times could sometimes get a little annoying. Trying your best to tune her out, you tapped Tenya’s shoulder and moved to settle on the couch with Coco.

“Hey, (Y/N)!” Mina shouted. “Come here!”

Begrudgingly, you stood up again, having just sat down moments earlier. “What is it, Mina?”

“We forgot to introduce Coco! Yaomomo hasn’t seen her yet!”

Oh right. You did forget. You lifted Coco with both hands, then scurried over to where Ochaco, Mina, and Momo huddled. Momo let out a quiet “aww” when she saw the kitty and lifted her manicured hands in a silent invitation to hold her.

You gently placed Coco in her outstretched arms and was about to turn and leave when Mina grabbed your elbow. “Not so fast, (Y/N),” she scolded you sternly. “Picture time!”

Mina took out her phone and swiped open the camera app. You girls all huddled together as she snapped a picture for the fans.

Settling back down with Coco on the couch, surrounded by your friends, you didn’t think that you had ever felt happier. One by one, more of your friends and coworkers began to trickle in, until finally, when a disgruntled Jirou arrived with a protesting Kaminari in tow, Mina stood up.

“Alright! Everyone’s here now, so let’s get this party rolling!”

She bounced off to the kitchen to grab plates for everyone. You could smell Sato’s freshly-baked cookies from here, and your stomach growled in response. Remembering the tiramisu that Emiko had made, you followed Mina into the kitchen.

Mina held a stack of plates that covered half her face. It was wobbling slightly, the entire thing almost toppling over multiple times. You had gotten out the fancier cake platter and was currently in hyper-focus mode, carefully moving the tiramisu from its cake mold onto the crystal platter. You breathed out a sigh of relief as the process was finally completed and the cake hadn’t been ruined.

Holding the crystal tray with both hands, you stepped out into the lobby, marched over to the coffee table in the center, and slowly set the tray down.

“Hey guys, Emiko made us some tiramisu,” You called out. “Come here if you want some.” You held a cake knife in your hand and began serving everyone.

Tenya watched all of this with barely-hidden admiration. You were just so competent. So hard-working, so kind, and so wonderfully skilled at everything you do. Even the things that you weren’t good at, you tried your hardest to learn and to improve. He was definitely in deep, and to be honest, he didn’t mind a single bit. You were worthy of being admired, and he vowed that he would let you know in all the ways he could.

As you served the last slice of tiramisu to Ojiro, you carried the cake platter back to the kitchen and sat down next to Shinsou, who was, not surprisingly, hogging all of Coco’s attention. Seeing you, Coco scrambled over Shinsou’s lap and faceplanted into yours. You laughed at her enthusiasm and snorted when you heard Shinsou mutter “traitor” underneath his breath.

“So Shinsou,” you started casually. “What’s this I hear about you stealing cats from the cat café?”

Shinsou’s face immediately turned a tomato red. He put his hands up defensively. “No, wait, you have it all wrong- I swear- who told you about it anyways? Never mind,” he stopped his waving motions. You snickered. You were definitely getting the full story out of him later. For now, you had things to do.

Strolling over casually to Tenya with Coco still in your arms, you very sneakily dropped her, front paws landing gracefully, onto Bakugou’s head.

“Hey! What’s this damn cat doing here!” Bakugou yelped. Coco also yelped, and it came to you that dropping her on Bakugou’s spikey hair was probably not the best idea ever. However, as Coco quickly scampered down and curled up on Bakugou’s shoulder, and Kirishima was sitting next to him to make sure he didn’t kill the cat, you felt a sense of triumph. Bakugo was smiling. Not smirking, not grinning maniacally as he beat someone up, but genuinely smiling. You gave yourself an internal high five as you moved onto your next goal.

You walked hesitantly towards Tenya, and when he turned his head towards you, about to ask what you were doing, you quickly linked your hand with his and started leading him towards the rest of the group.

“(Y-Y/N) ?” Tenya sputtered. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” You replied cheekily. “I want to hold hands with you!”

“B-but, do they know?” Tenya gestured nervously with his free hand.

“Nope, but they’re about to,” you grimaced, thinking about all the teasing you’d have to endure from your friends later. Better to just get this over with during the party, when everyone had the attention span of a goldfish and any embarrassing moments would hopefully be forgotten moments later when more exciting things came along, such as Mineta’s annual lingerie gift. Whatever the powers that be were doing, they were definitely not doing the world any favors when they let Mineta draw a girl for the Secret Santa every single year. But, for all the bad things you could say about Mineta, he definitely consumes enough material to have at least semi-decent taste in lingerie. Surprising, and sometimes gross, but not entirely unwelcomed if you could manage to forget who gifted it. The most disturbing thing was he knew all the girls’ sizes. You tried your hardest to not think about that. It’s not like you could erase his memory anyways.

You settled down with Tenya on a vacant couch, inwardly counting the minutes until someone noticed your position. Tenya looked vaguely uncomfortable, his posture ramrod straight, and you squeezed his hand in reassurance.

“No one’s going to judge or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about,” you whispered into his ear. “And besides, at least half the girls already knew I had a crush on you, so this won’t entirely come as news to them.”

Tenya relaxed slightly at that, then stiffened again when he noticed a pair of eyes glancing his way.

Midoriya had been excited at seeing Ochaco for the first part of the evening, but then had wondered where his other friend had gone. He knew Tsu was in southern Japan, as she couldn’t stand the cold and was operating in the warm coastal areas instead, but Iida being absent was strange. He had searched around the lobby, and when his eyes descended upon you and Iida cuddling on the couch, he was intrigued, to say the least.

He stared at the two of you for a solid minute, not wanting to disturb your peace. Slowly, he turned back to Ochaco, thinking that it wasn’t his place to draw attention to the two of you.

Ochaco, however, had no such qualms. Noticing how Deku began to space out during their conversation, she followed his line of vision to the two of you, blinked twice to check if she was seeing it right, then immediately let out a squeal.

Heads turned at the sound, and in moments, everyone was staring at you and Tenya curiously. You hadn’t noticed the attention yet, but Tenya had, and he grew stiffer and stiffer until you finally looked up at his face with furrowed brows.

“Tenya, what’s wrong?” You whispered. “Do you not enjoy cuddling? I can stop if you’d like,” your lips were pressed together in concern.

“I-it’s not that,” Tenya whispered back. “Look.”

You finally raised your head from his chest and saw thirty pairs of eyes staring back. After a few moments of silence, the room erupted.

“Iida-kun! Why didn’t you tell us?” Midoriya was the first to raise a question.

“(Y/NNNNNN)!!!!!!!!!!!” Mina practically screamed as she ran towards you. She clasped her hands dramatically over her heart. “YOU DID IT YOU DID IT YOU DID IT OMG YOU GUYS ARE SO ADORABLE EEEEE!!!!!!”

Half the room winced at her loud tone, and you quickly moved Coco from your lap to save her from the incoming bear hug.

Mina launched herself in your arms, then stepped back and shook your shoulders until you felt your brain rattling around in your skull like soupy mush.

“(Y/N)! What did I say, huh? Bitch I TOLD you that he liked you too, and you wait three goddamn months to finally make a move!?! Honey-”

Your face flushed red. Gently, you pushed her away. “Mina, stop,” you whispered, horrified that she was making a scene. It was too late. Ochaco and Hagakure rushed towards you, Momo trailing more slowly behind them. The boys were stunned for a bit, since you had always seemed so quiet and shy, much less Iida’s feelings towards you. As their initial shock wore off, Midoriya trailed after Momo to approach Iida.

“Congratulations, Iida-kun!” He held up his arms in front of his chest. “You and (Y/N) are really cute together!”

“Yeah bro! That’s so manly that you finally confessed!” Kirishima added, with a quirk of his lips and a thumbs-up.

“Tch. Fucking coward. Took you idiots three fucking months to confess, huh.” Bakugou smirked, but you could tell he wasn’t really annoyed. You actually somewhat got along with him, due to all the times Mina would drag you to hang out with her friends.

You struggled vainly against the arms of your friends encasing you. “Guys,” you pleaded. “Let me out, please.”

Reluctantly, the girls let go, and you immediately tried to redirect their attention. “Shouldn’t we start opening presents?” You asked hopefully.

“Oh, you sneaky little thing,” Mina wagged her finger in your face. “Don’t think we’ll forget about this, (Y/N), but you’re right, we should start opening presents or we’ll be here all night.”

“We’ll be here all night anyways,” Todoroki pointed out.

“You knew what I meant,” Mina sighed.

Mina enlisted the help of Ojiro and Shoji to pass out the Secret Santa presents; you’d all open the rest of your personal presents later.

The best way to go about this, after years of trial and error, was for everyone to open their presents at the same time. It would simply take too long for everyone to open theirs one by one, and you’d all realized that the people who opened theirs first had a significant disadvantage when it came to guessing who their partner was, as the ones who opened theirs later had the benefit of some options already being eliminated. When you opened your present, you tried your hardest to hold back a squeal. It was a limited-edition album from your favorite artist! You hugged it close to your chest, and immediately knew who gave it to you. Jirou. Her parents were musicians too, and you had bonded over your love of this artist. It was a thoughtful gift, and you were glad that she had given it to you, even though it immediately gave her away.

The rest of your friends opened their presents. Poor Momo. No wonder Mineta had looked so gleeful earlier. He had been her Secret Santa and had gotten her a lacy black lingerie set. Her face was so red you were beginning to get scared that she would hyperventilate, but you had to admit that it was a pretty nice set. Mineta was basically drooling at this point, and Jirou was trying to comfort her while sending a death glare towards Mineta. Mineta, meanwhile, had received a new video game. Sero had received a large pack of farmer’s market coupons, as well as some homemade mochi from Ochaco, who had blushed and apologized profusely for not being able to afford something better for him. Sero just grinned and gave her a thumbs-up, saying that it was completely okay and that he appreciated her effort into gift-giving. She had brightened up a bit at that.

Koda had received a new hamster wheel along with some toys for his various pets. Shoji had been gifted a comfortable-looking poncho, as well as three pairs of matching gloves. Ochaco had received a generous sum of money, Midoriya had gotten a new set of comic books, and Iida had received a beanie and a multiflavored pack of tea. Aoyama had received a makeup set, and had gifted a makeup set as well, evidenced by his inability to contain himself and pounced on Hagakure, asking if she liked it. Hagakure was ecstatic, babbling about how she could finally show her face and how she’d never really been able to afford a full set before and how Aoyama was so considerate.

Sato had received a new baking pan, as well as cute mittens and a trending recipe book. He had given Setsuna a batch of cookies, as well as a gallon of frozen cookie dough with instructions on how to make it. There wasn’t really a point in him trying to win the contest, since he would be one of the people providing the prize. Mina had gotten fuzzy socks and a blanket, Kirishima had received a new pair of tennis shoes, and Jirou had been gifted a new pair of headphones. Ojiro had received some sort of custom tail armor with spikes along with an Amazon gift card, and Todoroki had gotten a hand-made red-and-white sweater with a red reindeer nose smack in the middle, along with a gift card to a hair salon, tucked into a bouquet of red-and-white candy canes. The only person you could think of that would go so far into the color scheme was Hagakure, who seemed like just the type to make an ugly sweater for fun. Shinsou had received earmuffs, a silk eye mask with a note (“to help you sleep”), and some gourmet coffee beans (“in case you still can’t”). Mina had seen the little notes that came with his gifts and started teasing him relentlessly about how sweet his Secret Santa was and how it was so cute that he had a secret admirer. Shinsou looked very nonchalant about it all and grumbled about how he just wanted to pet Coco and then go to bed.

Finally, Kaminari received some Pokémon cards to add to his collection (yes, he collected Pokémon cards, what was wrong with that?) along with another Pikachu plush, as per usual. It was an unspoken tradition that whoever drew Kaminari for their Secret Santa would get him a Pikachu plush along with whatever else they decided to give him. He had about twenty, collected over various years from birthdays and holidays. If this kept up, he’d be able to fill an entire closet with them once he retired.

As the chatter slowly died down, you snuggled into Tenya again. At some point during the present exchange, Shinsou had stolen Coco from the couch you occupied. Stifling a yawn, you pulled out a bag and handed it to Tenya.

“What’s this?” He asked, a slight smile on his face.

“It’s your gift, silly,” you booped him on the nose with your index finger.

“Ah, I see,” he replied, still smiling. “Do you want me to open it?”

“Duh,” you giggled into his chest. “What else would you do with it?”

Chuckling lightly, Tenya removed the tissue paper from the top of the bag. He stuck his hand inside, then pulled out a sweater. The sweater that you’d knitted for him. It was navy, the color of the yarn matching his hair, with gold and white snowflake detailing. His heart skipped a beat when he realized that you had made this especially for him, with your own hands. Putting the sweater down beside him, he wrapped his arms around you and pressed his face to your hair.

“Thank you, (Y/N),” he whispered. “I love it.”

You flushed, but you hugged him back. “You’d better,” you teased. “I spent two weeks on that.”

“Well, I appreciate it.” Tenya ruffled your hair.

The two of you stayed like that for a while, just soaking in the pleasant atmosphere. Yawning, you stretched out your arms, careful not to hit Tenya in the face. You gently pushed his arm off of your torso and got up to go to the bathroom.

When you came back, Tenya was nowhere to be seen. You searched around the common area and stepped briefly into the kitchen, but he wasn’t there. Sighing, you grabbed your parka and padded outside.

“Tenya?” You called out as you stuck your head around the doorframe. He was with Kirishima and Todoroki, clearing the entryway of the building of snow. You leaned back along the handrails of the stairs and watched. Your friends were all just so nice. So caring, so wonderful, so kind. As Todoroki evaporated the last bit of snow, you stepped aside to let them all head back in. As Tenya reached you, he paused briefly, looking up.

“What?” You tilted your head up also, curious to see what he was staring at. Oh. So this was where Mina and Ochaco had decided to hang the mistletoe. If Tenya hadn’t looked up, you would’ve missed its existence entirely. You looked back down at Tenya to gauge his reaction.

He gulped, and softly taking your chin into his hand, he leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss on your lips. You leaned up to meet him, rising slightly on your toes and wrapping your arms around his neck. The kiss was long and sweet, and you were both a bit breathless when you let go.

You smiled sweetly up at him and took his strong hand in yours. Standing on your tiptoes again, you pressed another soft kiss to his cheek.

“Merry Christmas.”

Masterlist

[amydancepants-peralta]

in the spirit of 4/28: if you’re willing to write non-peraltiago POV, could you maybe write the moment(s) that leas terry to decide he needed to tell jake to propose?

Terry loves love ♥

It all comes to Terry a few weeks after the squad captured the fugitives, on what seems like just another Friday night at Shaw’s.

(Which hardly feels like the ideal setting for an epiphany, but Terry supposes that’s what makes it so … epiphanic.)

It had been a long week - New York seemed to be feeling particularly felonious lately - and he was doubly tired from spending his Wednesday off helping Jake move apartments. With Sharon and the kids staying overnight at her mother’s, and high odds for a sleep-in the following morning, Terry’s plans didn’t stretch much further than washing his week away with a glass of whiskey or six.

That is until Terry noticed, about an hour into the squad’s drinking session; that a suddenly quiet Jake had removed himself from their booth, relocating to a seat by the bar where he could keep a close eye on the entrance. Amy was late - a rarity for any Santiago, but doubly so for Amy - and as Boyle plonks a fresh glass in front of him; Terry remembers watching her bolt out of the bullpen a few hours ago, a sudden lead on an otherwise dormant case too important to delay.

Terry hadn’t heard any updates since then; but given the lack of detailed reports landing in his inbox, and the look on Jake’s face whenever he checked his messages, he would have to assume the lead hadn’t panned out the way Amy hoped.

He’s in the midst of an argument with Rosa over which Friends character was superior (clearly Ross - Terry does not get all the Ross Hate) when Amy arrives ten minutes later, and Terry watches from his position in the corner as she heads straight towards Jake’s outstretched arms, her sense of defeat stretched clearly across sunken shoulders.

As though reverting to his detective days, Terry continues to observe the couple as Jake orders his girlfriend a beer, leading her over to another booth and sliding alongside her until their heads bow in quiet conversation. He thinks, as they talk and he sips, that there was once a time where Amy would have spent the rest of her evening at the precinct, pouring over paperwork, certain it’s the reason why they can’t catch the perp. Just as Jake would have taken the opportunity to boldly declare how he could have done it better - consequences (and unintentionally, feelings) unconsidered.

But now, Amy laughs with her head thrown back while Jake beams with pride; and in the past year or so has been known - after three drinks - to steal her boyfriend away to a slightly more secluded corner of the bar, dancing cheek to cheek to music only the two of them can hear.

It truly was the greatest thing to see, and part of Terry wishes he’d picked up on it sooner.

He watches Jake and Amy for the rest of the evening - even if they weren’t in the bullpen, these people were his work family, and Terry would look out for them anywhere - and as the empties begin to pile up at the squad’s table, the most simplest of truths comes to light. Somewhere along the way - in-between fire extinguisher roller chair derbies, robot captains and covert jimmy jabs - Jake Peralta had transformed into the man that Terry had always known he could be.

Gone was the promising detective that hadn’t quite figured out the puzzle on how to grow up, monopolising too much time in Terry’s therapy sessions. And in his place was one of the 99’s greatest detectives: a brilliant mind at solving puzzles, and a gentle soul who brought two extra gifts to last year’s Secret Santa, ‘just in case Scully and Hitchcock forgot again’.

Who's grin grew impossibly huge each time he’d said the words ‘our apartment’ since the move three days ago. A man who couldn’t get over Amy after that very first crush - no matter how hard he tried - because just like when Terry met Sharon, and they talked about Meatloaf until the bar closed around them; your heart always knows when you’ve found The One.

Jake had grown into someone that finally understood how worthy he was of love, and had a world of it to give in return. A man that was clearly ready to marry the love of his life - the one and only Amy Santiago - and her eyes already sparkled with an unspoken yes to any question of forever.

He thinks about the conversation they had that day in the squad car, racing to find escaped convicts and venting about wasted acrylics; and Jake’s muttered ‘Cool. Basically telling me to never get married or have kids’ in response. Terry hadn’t been lying - a march towards the closet does begin with a single step - but he’d neglected to mention all the great things that came with that closet.

Like coming home to see Sharon and the girls dancing to Destiny’s Child in the living room, or late afternoon naps with tiny heads snuggled into your side. Chaotic mornings filled with stress that melted away the instant you heard “I love you, Daddy”; and treasured moments of peace with Sharon, the couch, and a bottle of wine.

Terry would give up all the acrylics in the world for a hundred more moments just like that - and as the last drop of whiskey drains from his glass, he knows exactly what he needs to do.

***

Terry calls Sharon on the way home - waiting until he’s said goodnight to each one of his angels before telling her his plan. “So. I think Jake should propose to Amy.”

He can almost hear her smile down the phone line, and it makes him wish they’d be back from Sharon’s mother’s sooner. “You do?”

He shrugs into the otherwise empty interior, flexing his grip on the steering wheel out of habit. “Yeah. They’re clearly in love with each other, and … you know. He has that look.”

Sharon laughs - the same laugh Terry heard from his kitchen one morning, a year into their relationship, and just knew that he wanted to hear it for the rest of his life - before asking, “What look?”

“You know. The one I kept giving you when we first started dating. Like I’d finally found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. So excited and completely scared that somebody could try and take it away.”

“Mmm, I know it well. And when it comes to Jake and Amy, somebody almost did .. right?”

Nodding, Terry thinks of the afternoons he’d find Amy crying in her car, the devastation of another day not knowing where Jake was hiding too hard to conceal for another minute. “Yeah. Almost.”

“Well … if you didn’t try and play cupid, you wouldn’t be the man I married, Terrence Jeffords.”

Terry’s shoulders bounce as he breaks into a tiny happy dance, and he grins. “Terry loves love, baby. Almost as much as Terry loves Sharon.”

“I love you too, baby. And we’ll be back home the day after tomorrow, just in time for you to hatch a plan on how to play matchmaker with my god-husband. I have a pretty good instinct he’ll make a great actual husband … and hopefully it’s someday soon. I am ready for a night of serious dancing.”

* * *

Terry wears his lucky red tie the following Monday, settling into his desk to focus on paperwork as the question of exactly how his plan will unfold remains unanswered at the back of his mind.

Before it’s even 10am, he manages to catch five not-so-secret glances between the two lovebirds (a private joke of some sort dancing in their grins); and pretends to be pre-occupied with his work when Amy sneaks in a quick good luck kiss before Jake leaves for the interrogation room. Terry watches it all with a suppressed grin, switching between several versions of his How To Encourage A Proposal plan as he signs off on the last form in his tray.

These two were clearly in love - and Terry couldn’t wait to see them take that next amazing step.

He catches Jake in the kitchen an hour later, watching as the detective rescues the puzzle section of Scully’s newspaper from certain destruction, placing it on Amy’s desk with a grin. As they stop to discuss Ocampo - a dealer that Jake and Rosa have just begun to tail - all of Terry’s pre-conceived plans of a casual topic change fall quickly by the wayside. As it turns out, telling a person they should propose is not something that comes up easily on it’s own.

And then he opens the fridge for his next scheduled snack, and realises that all this time, Terry’s inspiration was waiting in the very things he cherished the most.

The blueberry and vanilla yogurt containers feel cool against his fingertips, and with his stomach growling at the promise of a delicious meal, Terry nudges the door shut with his hip and calls out to his detective.

“Hey, Jake. Let me show you something amazing.”

(Terry really does believe that yoghurt is the solution to everything.)

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

How the Phantom Thieves saved Christmas

(‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a-)

Akechi: WE’RE IN YOUR HOUSE!

(Bowser Jr wakes up to see the Phantom Thieves in his bedroom)

Bowser Jr: Wait, why are you here? I was waiting for Santa!

Joker: Santa filed a defamation suit against us because we told everyone he was stealing presents and people! (Which he totally was.) But we didn’t have proof, so the judge said that we have to do his job now.

Kasumi: Yep! We’re here today to deliver presents to children all around the world in just one night! You’re number 864! Are you ready for your present?

Bowser Jr: But you’re not supposed to wake me up! You’re meant to sneak in and put the presents under the tree!

Joker: Yeah, but Santa’s lawyers say we have to get you to sign for delivery. We can’t do that while you’re asleep.

Yusuke: We’ve tried…

Haru: We’d ask you what you want for Christmas, but we have Santa’s bag! It’s magic! It already knows what you want!

(Morgana digs into Santa’s bag for a moment and tosses out a bunch of Bob-ombs)

Morgana: Uh, is this what you asked for?

Bowser Jr: Woah, cool!

Makoto: Wait, that’s an age restricted item! You’re not allowed that-

Joker: Um, it just says “deliver present.” It doesn’t say ”what” present.

Bowser, outside the room: Junior, what’s going on in there?

Futaba: We’ve been made! Hide!

Yusuke: Quick, in the closet!

(The Thieves dash into the closet to hide. Joker, Ann, and Ryuji stay hiding in the room)

Joker: Bravo 6, going dark.

(Joker turns out the lights as Bowser enters the room)

Bowser: Junior, is there someone in here with you? It sounded like there were people in here.

Bowser Jr: Um…

(Ann, hiding behind Bowser, signals Junior to say no)

Bowser Jr: Uh, no, I was just… Uh…

(Ryuji hits Bowser over the head with a bat, knocking him out)

Bowser Jr: DAD!

Ann: WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?

Ryuji: I don’t know, I panicked!

Ann: This is the fifth time he’s done that!

Makoto: Someone take the bat!

Ryuji: No, it’s mine!

(The Thieves chase Ryuji around the room)

Joker: Sorry about your dad.

Bowser Jr: It’s ok, can I play with my present now?

Joker: Uh, sure, just sign the form.

(Junior signs the paper as the Thieves get the bat away from Ryuji)

Joker: Well, that’s it for this house. See you next year!

(In a puff of smoke, the Phantom Thieves disappear. Junior runs to the window and sees the Thieves driving away in the Mona Mobile, on their way to the next delivery)

[theyreonlynoodlesmike]

request thingy: poly lost boys with a femSO: the SO teasing the boys until they just finally snap so to speak ;)

Ohhhhhh ho ho. Let’s get into it! Obviously, this is gonna be nsfw

Poly!Lost Boys x Fem!S/O That Teases Them Until They Snap

Warning: NSFW

You want to tease them? Them? Honey, you must have a death wish. Or, at least, a wish for a limp for the next week. You’re dating four of the most terrifying, and needy, boys in Santa Carla. The minute you walk onto the boardwalk in a bikini top, and a short skirt, their eyes either fall to your legs or your tits. You play it off by holding a beach bag and a having a new tan, as if you just spent your entire day sunning at the beach.

Paul will let out a loud whistle when he sees you, and he’ll practically yell, “Damn, sugar, what’s the occasion?” He runs right up to you, ready to pull you in for a kiss, and, when you give him nothing more than a peck before pulling away, he’s practically whimpering after you. You give each of the boys a hug, pressing your chest against all of them and it has varying effects. David narrows his eyes down at you, and he clearly knows that you’re up to something. He doesn’t give you more than a hug. Marko will wrap his arms tight around your waist, pulling your chest even closer against his so he can feel your tits. He might even reach down to give your ass a soft squeeze. Dwayne will give you a peck on the cheek before commenting that you look pretty. It’s like he completely doesn’t notice the attire that you’re in, but really he’s too respectful to say anything. You know some of the boys will be harder to crack than others, but you came prepared.

You have a different way to crack each boy, but Paul is the easiest. Now that he’s seen skin, it’s obvious that he wants you. The best way to tease is to deny him what he wants. You slap away his hands, ignore all his one-liners, and shower the others in attention instead. At first, he’s whining and pouting like the big baby that he is. He never gives up and he still tries, and it’s not until you tell him that he’s being naughty that he finally catches on. The slight suggestiveness of your voice, the change in tone, makes him realize that you’ve been teasing him. Wrong move, babe. He snaps like a twig the minute he realizes, and he’s dragging you into the nearest alleyway. You want to play? He’ll play. He gets on his knees and wraps your legs over his shoulders. He dives in-between your legs and flattens his tongue as he drags it slowly against your clit. He savors your moans and he smirks to himself. Yeah, that’s what he thought. He makes you come and then he’s trading his shoulders for his hips. Paul does his best to make sure all of Santa Carla can hear his hips clapping against yours, and he rips your top down just so he can watch your tits bounce. He whispers dirty words, saying, “Oh, I hope we get caught, sugar. I hope someone else sees just how fucking slutty you look for my cock. Say my name, sugar. I want all of Santa Carla to know who’s fucking you.” Afterwards, he doesn’t even try to help you clean up. He’s plopping you right back on your trembling legs, fixing himself up, and then waltzing out of the alleyway so you’re the one that has to trail after him. You have to go to the bathroom to clean his load off from where it was dripping down your legs, and when you slap his shoulder he tells you, “Should’ve worn underwear then, sugar.”

Marko is a little bit harder, but not by much. He’s even more of a tease than you are, and the second you walked onto the boardwalk he knew exactly what you were trying to do. He responds by teasing the shit out of you right back. You press your ass against his crotch? He somehow manages to sneak a quick twist of your nipple. You scratch your nails down his stomach? He’ll nip you right under your ear. You kiss his neck? Be careful or he’s reaching under that skirt. If you tease him too much, he’s not afraid to finger you on the rollercoaster. He slips his hand underneath your skirt and growls when he finds that you’re not wearing any underwear. He’ll suck hickeys into your neck and make you come on his fingers, and you can disguise your cries behind the screams of the other riders. While you two wait in line for the ferris wheel, he’ll wrap both his arms around your waist and grind his hips against your backside ever so slightly. He doesn’t care who sees. He just wants you to know that by teasing him, you’re signing yourself up for a world of trouble. Especially since he hasn’t gotten to get his rocks off yet. When you two get in the carriage, he barely waits for the attendant to start spinning before he’s yanking you onto his lap. You want to tease him? Fine, then you’re doing all the work. He has you ride him, and he’ll say, “You better move those hips quick, dollface.” He doesn’t care if anyone sees, and he might use a few mindtricks on the attendant just to make sure he gets to finish before the ride stops. He pulls you off so he can finish in your mouth, and you better not try to drag it out. He’s got himself back in his pants and is completely satisfied by the time you two step out.

Dwayne is one of the harder nuts to crack. He simply just doesn’t want to assume that you’re dressing that way for his benefit. Even if he does think you look rather ravishing. He prefers to think that girls can dress however they like, and it’s not until he finds the panties that you snuck into his pocket that he realizes oh, you’re definitely doing this on purpose. You had said you wanted something to eat, ice-cream was your go-to, and Dwayne was the one to take you. It was placed right in the pocket with all his cash, where you knew he’d find it. He’ll arch a brow at you when he’s fishing for change, and stare at you with a look that just says oh, you are so dead. He has to somehow manage to get his cash out without pulling out your pair of panties with it, and he’s thoroughly embarrassed by the time he’s paid for your ice-cream. He’ll look over to glare at you, just in time to watch you give the treat a long, suggestive lick. Even though he just bought that for you, he’s ripping it from your hands, throwing it to the ground, and dragging you into the nearest building. It just so happens to be a clothing shop, and he drags you to the dressing rooms. He locks it behind you two, presses your front against the mirror, and is slipping inside you before you can even help him get your skirt up. He has to fuck you quick and quietly, and he slides his fingers in your mouth to keep you silent. He groans softly against your shoulder, and you’re in heaven when you feel the way his hips snap against yours. He pulls down your top so he can twirl your nipples between his fingers, and you whine around his fingers. He only delves them deeper into your mouth, and he whispers into your ear, “Is this what you wanted, huh?” And he has to bite down on your shoulder to keep himself quiet as he comes. He was *this close* to breaking skin. He empties himself inside you, and fishes your underwear out of his pocket. He lets you wear it, just to stop it from leaking out down your thighs. He won’t admit later that knowing you’re walking around with his come inside your panties turned him on enough that he almost considered a round two.

David is by far the hardest to crack. He knows you’re up to something, and he doesn’t like to be teased. He ignores you for majority of the night, clearly suspicious of your change in attire and attitude. He lets you play with Marko, and watches in amusement as Paul trails after you looking more and more pouty as each moment passes. He’s even amused by how Dwayne seems to be completely ignoring all your advances for the sake of thinking he was imagining them. Then, he notices how each boy sends you a satisfied smirk. He watches Paul take a handful of your ass, and this time you don’t swat him away. He watches Marko whisper in your ear. Finally, he sees Dwayne give your ass a rare pinch. David realizes, in that moment, that he’s next. 

He watches you walk up to him, and he narrows his eyes down at you. You know that he’s not someone to be messed with. Teasing him is asking for a punishment. All you have to do is reach down and ghost your fingers against his clothed groin, and he’s snatching your wrist. “You’re being a bad girl, kitten. Are you sure this is how you want to play?” He asks, and there’s a clear warning in his voice. When you give him a wide smile and lean into him, pressing your tits against his chest, and say, “Why, you gonna punish me, daddy?” And there was the final straw. You were only ever allowed to call David that when you were back at the cave, and when you two were completely alone.

David has you ride with him back to the cave, and he tells the boys to give him a two hour head start. David shakes his head when you smirk into his shoulder on the ride back. He drags you to the couch, throws you over his lap, rips up your skirt, and spanks you until your ass is a sorry shade of red. He doesn’t stop until you’re nearly in tears, and he fingers you nice and slow once he thinks you’ve learned your lesson. He spends the first hour drawing it out, and he doesn’t even let you come. The second hour is spent with your wrists tied above your head and to the headboard as he fucks you into the bed of your little cot. He doesn’t touch you and he doesn’t kiss you. No matter how much you whine and beg, the only skin-on-skin contact he gives you is his hands holding your legs open wide enough that it aches. He doesn’t let you finish, and he paints his come all over your stomach and chest. He pulls away with a satisfied sigh, and says, “Only good girls get to come, and only good girls get my come inside him. You don’t get either, kitten.” 

When the boys come crashing down into the cave, David sends you a cruel smirk. He climbs off the bed, leaving you tied up and bare. “Have at her, boys.” He says as he stalks back to his wheelchair, content to watch with a cigarette between his lips as the other three vampires are quick to pounce on you.

[my-northern-downpour]

Otherwise Engaged

This is my (late I’m sorry) Maribat Secret Santa gift for @kitsunebell! It’s a Timari story and contains fluff, some very slight angst, but a happy ending for all! My first time writing this couple and I had a hard, but good time. I really hope you enjoy and have a Happy New Year!

@maribat-secret-santa-2020 AO3

To say Tim was nervous would be the understatement of the century. Today was Christmas after all, and it was his girlfriend’s favorite holiday. And she loved literally almost everything about it. From the decorations, to the lights, to the cooking and smells that came with it, to gift giving and hanging out with family.The one thing she didn’t really care for was receiving gifts. She always accepted them with a smile and a thanks, but she hated the idea that people spent their money on her, even if some of them were billionaires. And this was what made him nervous. Because this year he had gotten her a gift, breaking their promise of no gifts for each other. And he had a plan to go along with it.

He had all day to get everything set up just the way he wanted. It wasn’t anything elaborate, but because his family was just the way they were, there was always something that can and probably will go wrong. He had already set up a private area in the Wayne Botanical Gardens, her favorite area with the tropical flowers in a variety of colors and smells. It was her go to area when in a design slump, and the location of their first date. He smiled as he recalled that day.

“Tim! Where are we going?” asked a young 18 year-old Marinette who was currently blindfolded and being led somewhere in her new home city of Gotham. Tim had been ecstatic to learn that his long time friend, crush, and now new girlfriend had decided to attend University in Gotham for their fashion courses. He knew a little of that world, but Mari had been a willing and patient teacher whenever he asked questions on why she was doing a certain stitch when and how she just knew what kind of fabrics to use. And in return, he was always willing to explain his business knowings her when she asked anything.  

“You’re so very impatient you know that?” replied an excited 19 year-old Tim Drake. He had never thought he would get the chance to take her out on a proper date, but now here he was, ecstatic and leading her to their first date location that he hoped she would love as much as he did. It was his favorite part of the botanical gardens and he knew she would love it as well. “It's our first official date and I want to take you somewhere special, so therefore it’s a surprise. You’ll just have to wait and see,” he chuckled at her sigh and tightened his grip on her hand slightly to signal her to pick up the pace a little. He, too, was getting impatient but he wouldn’t let her know that.

They entered the gardens and his excitement turned to nervousness. What if she didn’t like the location? What if she was allergic to these types of flowers? What if… He shook his head and didn’t think to much on it anymore. This was Mari he was talking about. She loved all types of flowers and he knew she loved places with color for inspiration. This was a foolproof plan… He hoped.

As they entered the tropical area of the gardens, he let go of her hand and turned around to face her. “Are you ready?” he asked. She nodded her head, excited to see where he had taken her. He reached up to untie the blindfold from her face and watched her face as she looked around. Her eyes lit up and her smile grew wide. She looked around the room, falling in love with it more and more. The red and yellow flowers contrasted against the green fauna made her inner artist squeal and add in the purples and oranges and she was a goner.

Marinette took another look around the room before turning back to Tim and placing a chaste kiss on his cheek. “This place is amazing. Thank you for showing me this place.”

It was at that moment that Tim knew he was goner as well.

Returning to his project at hand, Tim had started to set up a little picnic area for them to enjoy together after the big Christmas family dinner. Alfred had made up both of their favorite snacks and desserts and had also packed a bottle of champagne. Tim never really was one to drink these days, but he did indulge every once in a while.

21 year-old Marinette had been up all night waiting for Tim to get home. He had said he was going out with some friends earlier to a bar for a few drinks. She knew it wasn’t his patrol night, so that’s not where he would be. She had tried calling him a few times, but stopped after the third time, not wanting to seem overbearing.  They had just moved in together into their own apartment not too long ago and everything had been going great so far. Marinette was almost done with her college courses and was on track to open her own little boutique here in Gotham, and Tim had started to take on some more work load for Wayne Enterprises. She knew how stressed he could get at times and a few drinks had always seemed to help him out. But he had never stayed out this late before. At least, not without letting her know he was okay.

And so, in order to occupy her mind, she pulled out her sketchbook and began to mindlessly draw some designs. Tikki would come by to check on her every now and then, but even the little goddess got tired and found herself snuggling up to Marinette to fall asleep. That was at 2 am. And it was now going on 5.

Just as she was about to give in and go to bed, she heard the jiggling of keys, the turning of a lock, and then the sound of the door opening and slamming shut. She carefully removed Tikki from herself and jumped out of the chair to run to the front door.

There stood Tim, alive at least, but looking worse for wear. His hair was crazy and wild looking and his usually neat shirt was wrinkled and had a few stains on it. She could smell the alcohol on him a mile away. She said nothing as he looked up at her and smiled before tripping over himself and landing against the wall with a thud. After helping him to the bed and removing his shoes, she set a glass of water and aspirin on the nightstand and left him to sleep on the couch.

The conversation that followed was fairly typical. She asked where he had been and why he didn’t at least let her know he would be back later than expected.  He told her he was sorry to worry her and that his phone had died. He explained that he ended up at his friends house where they continued the party after the bars closed and that was it. Then he promised to not do it again.

Except he did it again. It was two months later, but it happened.

And then again and again and again.

He continued to go out and stay out on his off nights and even sometimes skipped his own patrols.

And then one night/morning he came home expecting her to be there, but she wasn’t. Instead he found a note on her side of the bed, claiming she was at his father’s house for the foreseeable future. She couldn’t keep doing this, waiting around all night for him to come back and worrying about where he was at or if he was okay. She wrote that she loved him and wanted to help him get better, but she needed a break for right now. Because she didn’t know how to help him.

It didn’t really set in that she was gone until he looked around the room and saw that it looked empty. Her side of the closet contained only bare hangers and her sketchbooks and extra fabrics were gone. He looked around to try to find the tiny flying goddess or any of the other kwami that she guarded, but couldn’t find them at all.

When he laid down, it was to a cold bed and he knew he had royally fucked up.

Shaking those thoughts aside, he took a look at the picnic area and smiled. Now all he had to do was make sure his family didn’t interrupt him this evening after they left the manor.

~~~

Christmas dinner went as smoothly as expected. Marinette’s parents flew in to spend some time with everyone and, of course, brought along some of their macarons. Gifts were exchanged and pleasantries were passed along. Time kept creeping ever closer to his time with Marinette, and Tim was feeling nervous again. He knew she loved him, no doubt about it. She wouldn’t have put up with him for almost 7 years if she didn’t. And he loved her more than he could ever convey. So why did he feel this way?

Ahh, yes. It was his brothers, who were currently trying to set up a way to sneak into the gardens beforehand and not get noticed. The only ones he wanted there were him, his girlfriend, and the gaggle of kwamis that were always around her. But even they were in on it, so they were going to make themselves scarce. Dick and Jason had set up cameras earlier, but Tim had found them and knocked them out. Damian, who really opened up to Marinette over the past few years, had tried to sneak a peak at the ring so he could give his approval, but it was moved before he could find it. Even Bruce had had thoughts of trying to get in, but Alfred had pulled him aside for some last minute details on something that needed his attention right away.

He looked at the clock in the living room. 9:30. It was time to go. He began to get up and walked over to Marinette who was sitting with her parents just chatting away. He felt bad for taking her away from them, but this was important. And her parents knew.

“Mari, babe. Let’s head out. There’s some place I want to go before we head home for the night,” he said to her as he laid his hands on her shoulders. She turned to look at him and smiled before turning back to her parents.

“Maman, Papa, is that okay if we go?” Her parents eagerly agreed, saying they would talk later and to have fun tonight. And with that, Tim and Marinette had grabbed their coats, said their goodbyes, and went on their way.

“So, where exactly are we going Tim? You seem really excited for this,” she inquired from her seat, Tikki sat on her shoulder and grinning widely.

“Now, where’s the fun in surprises if you know about them?” he chuckled as they pulled up to botanical gardens. He quickly got out of the car and ran to her side to open the door and let her out. Taking her hand, he gently kissed the back of it before closing the door behind her. “Now, I do have something for you to wear before you can go in.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a blindfold.

“Really? I know almost every inch of this place?” she giggled. “But, if you insist, go right ahead.”

Tim then covered her eyes and started leading her into the gardens. They passed through every single area until they reached her favorite room. This was it. Now or never. He reached up to take the blindfold off, but instructed her to keep her eyes closed until he told her to open them. He pulled the ring out of his pocket and got down on one knee.

“Okay, you can open them.”

Marinette opened her eyes and smiled at the room. It was always lovely to be here. It made her happy and always quieted her mind. She looked for Tim in front of her before looking down and gasping. There he was, kneeling in front of her, with a simple yet gorgeous floral ring.

“Marinette,” he began, “you’re my best friend and my favorite person. I’ve gotten to spend 7 years with you and for that I am the luckiest man in the world. You were there for me in my darkest time and you never stopped believing in me. You were there even when you had every right to leave me behind and never look back. You have no idea the hold you have on me.”

“I want to continue to wake up next to you, and to share your struggles, frustrations, and celebrate your achievements. You’re the only one for me and I want to let everyone know that. So will you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, do me the honor of marrying me?”

Marinette’s heart was beating so hard at that moment. Her eyes began to water and she began to smile. “As long as you can handle the constant screeching you’ll get from my friends for not telling them about this, then yes. Tim Drake-Wayne, I would love nothing more than to marry you.”

His smile turned so bright at her words and he took the ring out of the box. She handed him her left hand and slid the ring into place before pulling her in for a passionate kiss…

That only lasted a few seconds because not long afterwards did a bat boy seemingly fall out of nowhere.

“Really Nightwing?! I had the perfect spot to record it all!” Red Hood shouted up to the ceiling where a chorus of laughter rang out. He pulled himself up before turning to the happy couple and whipped out his recording device. “Don’t mind me. Just recording this for prosperity’s sake, you know?”

Marinette laughed and Tim sighed before turning back to his fiance (Fiance!) and pulled her back in for another kiss, ignoring all the catcalls and whistles from up above.

Years down the road, Tim was grateful for the video, even though he would never tell anyone that.