#then i went home and read a book in my hammock

[lichen-soup-scribe]

it was worth it. it was so worth it

Fuck Ticketmaster, I only do the set-an-alarm, refresh-the-website-20-times, have-my-credit-card-handy thing for preorders from the local wonton truck

[xxgoblin-dumplingxx]

what’s it like to be around science experiment!reverse reader when something really sweet surprises them? please a tiny fluff for our hearts?

Jason wound his way through the woods, following one of the interminable trails he knows that you take to get to your clearing. Why you're back there today, Jason isn't sure.

He only knows that you are.

He woke up in your bed by himself and you left him a note telling him that that's where you'd gone. Which was progress he supposed. It meant that you weren't just disappearing.

How did you do this? Were you like a homing pigeon? Did you have landmarks you followed? Or had you just cut your way through in a haze so many times that you just did it the way dancers went on pointe? Muscle memory.

When he got there, thankfully, you weren't in mid-explosion. He didn't think he could handle that. But there was a definite... Buzz in the air. It reminded him of white noise. It felt like a miasma of... neutrality. Like walking through a mall on a Saturday. Things-feelings that just... were.

Odd but not unpleasant. Taking up all the empty space in the air but not suffocating him.

And he stopped in the gap you used as a door and waited for a second, waiting for you to finish what looked like replacing a hammock that a storm had ruined and slipped in. "Hey, baby girl," he said, "you good?"

"Yeah," you yawn, "Just needed to move." You take a deep breath and go to pull yourself back into line. Into control and wince. It's nice to let it out and just stop holding on to it all.

Jason moved closer to you and wrapped his arms around you, squeezing you tenderly. "You don't have to do that, you know?" He kissed the side of your head, "I wanna bounce my head off the nearest wall when Bruce talks too long. I can only imagine what it feels like when it's like that from EVERYONE all around you all the time."

"I don't read minds," you remind him.

"Still," he snorted. "It's the closest I can get." He kissed the side of your head again and rubbed your arms. "I don't want you to feel like you have to hide how you're feeling from me. Not like you do everyone else."

"It's just... a lot sometimes."

"I know," he admitted. "But- We- I especially get worried that it's getting to be too much for you to handle alone."

"I get really lonely," you murmur.

Jason nodded. He could understand that too and it made him kiss your temple. "I brought a picnic," he tried, face heating. "It's mostly brownies. And some green apples and nutella. And I brought a book to read I thought if you wanted we could-"

And when soft lips collide with his as you wrap your arms around his neck, it feels like taking a bite of a hot chocolate chip cookie on a cold winter day and the first like of a snow cone on the hottest day of summer. A quiet, simple joy. Laid over the feelings he knew you felt for him. The ones that popped like firecrackers in his chest. And he smiled against your lips. It was a good thing you replaced the hammock- a snack and a nap in the sunshine would be nice.

[heartfullofleeches]

Hey did you ever end up posting that yandere plants one with the bee reader and I missied it?? Was looking forward to that one

(I have not. A drable for you, chief)

The queen has requested another harvest.

What impeccable timing.

Climbing from rubble and frayed vines, vegetation and ash falls from your hair and shoulders. Extra care is put into your wings as you brush them off for the flight ahead. Held by a loose spine, you blow the decades of dust off your new find - kicking spray particles into the air. Through water eyes you read the books cover - fuzzy tension building at the base of your nose.

It's another picture book.

They're going to love this one-

"Ahh... Achoo!... 'Cuse me."

Apologizing to the thin air around you, you unhook the fine straps of your satchel and toss the book inside. You turn your gaze to the hole in the ceiling as your wings flutter, feet kick-starting your ascent as you rise. The mellowed glow of the fog casted sun greets you first as you exit; a jungle of greenery and constructs waiting the earth below and as far as the eye could see. You climb up onto the ledge of the building and leap off into a nose dive for the ground - wings swooping into mobility before your body hits the trees. Flying lose did have its risks, but nothing beats the floral air in your hair when heading home - reminding you of those counting on your return.

Scouting the known galaxy for resources, your crew landed on this planet in a time you no longer recall accurately. Overtaken by plants of all variety, it seemed like the perfect harvest - until it wasn't. As unaccounted cargo, you were sparred the horrors they faced at the hands of the planet's few remaining natives. Asleep during the bloodbath you woke crowd by the new inhabitants of this land - sentient creatures grown from rich soil and crimes against anatomy.

Their creators feared what they had created and went to war destroying what they had birthed with their own hands - wiped out in the end by their superior strengths and numbers. Despite this carnage, they were a peaceful race and tried to rescue your crew, but failed. Finding your journals tucked into your sleeping arms they enlisted your aid as a florist in the upkeep of what remains of their home in exchange for their pollen and a roof over your head.

Base in sight, you speed through the thick fog in your descent to its open doors. A planetarium with an open ceiling has come your home in this time. You missed your comfy bed, but a hammock under the stars surrounded by those you now held dear was just as nice. You enter the building, breath fleeing as your snatched from behind. Not a step through the door and you're suspended in the air at the waist by hanging vines.

"And just where have you been, my sneaky little pest?"

Thorn-like claws grace your cheek, curving up to the crown of your head where they cautiously prod at your sensitive antennae. Amused, they chitter in delight as you struggle in your blinds - most likely held by another member of the collective. Beyond the palms of their woven hands, this one was covered near entirely in stained prickles. Violet petals spiked from the upper half of their hair and draped over their mocking grin

"You know you aren't allowed to leave without a guide. What ever would we do if our heart was taken by those savages, hm? I think a punishment is in order, don't you?"

"Seems so if they can't obey simple rules. With that lovely picture on knot tying they brought us the other day, I'm sure we can get up to lots of fun before the others figure out where we are."

Lowered closer to the floor, strong arms embrace you from behind and lead your head against their chest. Small, hanging buds sprouted up the lengths of their arms mark their class - their reddish yellow hue staking their typing. Cooing ever so cloyingly sweet in your ear, it rubs the humanoid half of its face against your cheek.

"You were scheduled to start the day with us. Don't you love us anymore? We may not be as approachable at the others, but we adore you all the same."

You swallow hard, trapped between a wall and thorns. "Thistle.... Honeysuckle.. but I can never find you two."

"But we're always watching. Can't let you get into trouble. Or pick a favorite. If you accept us as your guards for the rest of the week maybe we'll let you go. If not...."

The vines tighten around your hips - released almost instantly as they're snipped by an unseen party. You stumble forward, caught and picked up by another pair of arms.

"What have I told you two about picking on them? One more time and I'm sending you both to the greenhouse.... Are you alright, darling?"

Bright as the golden sun, their petals almost blind you as you look up. The leader, and the first floral creature you met - Marigold was your sworn protector even from those with you in their care. A strict, yet understanding calm to the storm life in the compound was. As they set you down, Thistle scoffs.

"Always the spotlight stealer. Would you keep it down before the others realized they've returned?"

It's a bit too late for that.

"Y/n? Y/n back?!"

"Oh, I was so worried I fear I may start wilting!"

"Y/n, Y/n! We have a ripe patch of peaches for you!"

From the shadows of the trees and handmade structures comes the entire horde. They push through each other getting to you and overwork your brain with their chatter. Over a dozen bodies crowded around your lone figure. Through the sea, the shortest of them swims through the crowd and manages their way up to you - head centered at your navel. Head cocked, they seem to be staring to your lips.

"Cuckoo? Is everything alright?"

They smile. Grabbing your shirt, you're bent forward into an open mouth kiss. All the commotion ceases immediately as a wave of surprises washes over them all. Patting the walls of your cheeks their segmented tongue, Cuckoo only pulls away when they're torn from you. Lifting the smaller flower by its shoulders, Thistle clenches their teeth tight.

"What on earth was that?"

The question was genuine. None of them were fully traversed in the act of kissing beyond brief tellings in the books you brought to learn more about the planet left behind for them. Agriculture and construction were common reads, but if they got lucky you'd find old story books, comics and novels. Cuckoo holds up a page from one of those very stories - the couple displayed entangled in a heat of passion with lips locked. Heads staring over their shoulder snap in your direction. You'd used the direction to scramble away and travel further into their lair.

"I wanna try..."

Even Marigold couldn't save you now. Taking advantage of your gift of flight, you dart into the air aiming for the second floor where your bedroom stood.

"I would love to help you all, but I need to get started on my letter for my queen. She has requested more pollen, and I wasn't able to get one out in the last run. As soon as it's out of the way, I can come back and we can - Ah!"

Fashioning a lasso from their vines, you're dragged down into the frenzy with no escape in the near future. As is your life with the horde.

-

A queen sits alone on her throne. Letter opener gripped in her palm, she stabs it though her throne as the words describing your escapade slash through her heart. Stomping the battered floor, her veil of submission cracks.

"This has gone on for too long. My garden is in shambles and so will this kingdom until their return."

The servant at her feet keeps their voice low. "My queen... Their service there is doing quite the opposite. Our reserves are at maximum capacity and with the treaty there's no need for war and needless casualties. I know of your bond and I am sorry for your lost."

Like an arrow, the queen's dagger rips through the air and anchors in the wall behind the servant. Golden blood beads in a line across their cheek. Unbridled rage and disgust seeps from her icy glare like poison. She refuses to look directly in their eye, staring off at the shoulders behind them.

"Get. This. Traitor- OUT. RIP THEIR WINGS AND LEAVE THEM FOR DEAD. if they aren't on my wall by dawn, I will take yours as payment."

Eyes wide, the servant lunges for her robes as the guards take their arms. "My lady, please! You cannot do this! I was trying to make things better! Y/n will never forgive you!"

She spits.

"And cut out their tongue."

Screams echoing down the halls, the queen curls up in her throne - clutching the pillow you kept every night and the flower you sent in your distress. Her sweet idiot of a bumblebee. Why did you have to run off? Sure she was stressed, but with her prized florist and sweet little bumblebee she could've conquered the universe. Someday you'll be in her arms and garden again - laughing the night and dawn away.

Someday

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Saturday linkdump, part the sixth

On September 12 at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.

On September 14, I'm hosting the EFF Awards in San Francisco.

I usually write this blog 5-6 days/week, but every now and again, I take a break, and when I do, I get massive link backlogs of stuff I want to write about, but lack the time to address in depth. When that happens, I turn my Saturday edition into a linkdump. Today, I present the sixth in the series – here's the other five:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

Why was I offline and away from my blog? I went to the dirt rave. Yes, I was one of the 70,000+ people stuck in the mud at this year's Burning Man, and when I emailed my editor at the New York Times to say I might be late on the op-ed I was working on, she asked me to write about what this year's mud crisis meant:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/06/opinion/burning-man-flood-playa-climate-change.html

tl;dr:

Bad weather is normal at Burning Man (it's a feature, not a bug);

Mostly burners leapt to the occasion, which is what people almost always do in disaster situations;

This is the second Burning Man heavy weather year in a row;

The climate emergency is tipping the Black Rock Desert from "extremely challenging" to "impossible";

This isn't the last event, place and tradition that will have to be radically reconsidered in light of the climate emergency;

But now I'm home, in my hammock, with all the laundry done – just in time to leave again. I'm about to head back to my hometown of Toronto for a book launch. The Internet Con, my latest nonfiction (from Verso Books) came out last week, and I'll be appearing at Another Story Bookshop on Tuesday:

https://anotherstory.ca/events/29283

Internet Con is a "Big Tech disassembly manual." It explains how Big Tech got so big (lax anti-monopoly enforcement, which led to regulatory capture, which let Big Tech abuse our privacy, labor rights, and consumer rights), and how we can use interoperability so it's no longer Too Big to Fail, nor Too Big to Jail:

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3035-the-internet-con

You can read a long excerpt from the book in Wired, which lays out some of the shovel-ready legislative, regulatory and technical proposals that are the book's main purpose:

https://www.wired.com/story/the-internet-con-cory-doctorow-book-excerpt/

You can also hear me read the whole introduction and first chapter of the audiobook on my podcast:

https://craphound.com/internetcon/2023/08/01/the-internet-con-how-to-seize-the-means-of-computation-audiobook-outtake/

That comes from the audiobook, a DRM-free, independent edition that I financed, produced and narrated myself. You can get the audiobook everywhere except Audible, Apple Books, and Audiobooks.com, all of which have mandatory DRM policies. You can also get it direct from me:

https://transactions.sendowl.com/products/78992826/DEA0CE12/purchase

The DRM-free ebook is available everywhere ebooks are sold (Kobo, Kindle, Nook, etc), as well as in my own DRM-free ebook store:

https://transactions.sendowl.com/products/78992801/9C4FC2B8/purchase

Verso's books are sold in bookstores around the world; you can support your local bookseller by buying it through Bookshop:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-internet-con-how-to-seize-the-means-of-computation-cory-doctorow/18771891?ean=9781804291245

If you'd like a signed copy, there's stock at Book Soup:

https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245

Now, it was inevitable that I would do a book event for Internet Con in Toronto – I've never had a bad event there, and I love my hometown – but the timing of this event was driven by a non-book-related factor. Talking Heads is appearing together at TIFF, to support the re-release of Stop Making Sense, the greatest concert film in human history:

https://pluralistic.net/StopMakingSense

People often ask me what my favorite book is, and I always tell them that you should never trust people who have one favorite book, as it inevitably turns out to be The Bible, The Fountainhead, or Mein Kampf. But while I don't have a favorite book, I have a clear and unambiguous favorite band.

If I was forced to listen to no music other than Talking Heads for the rest of my life, I would be perfectly happy. Ecstatic, even. Throw in David Byrne, Tom Tom Club and Casual Gods and I probably wouldn't even notice anything missing.

There's a running joke among my Burning Man campmates that whenever I'm in charge of the music, I'm just shuffling Talking Heads rarities, and whenever someone puts on anything else, I demand to know which Talking Heads album it came from. Which is all to say: I have tickets for the Talking Heads event at TIFF and I could *not be more excited.*

Continuing on the Canadian theme, one of the annual highlights of Canadian media is the Massey Lectures, a series of public lectures given around the country and rebroadcast on CBC. These are always great, but recent years have been superb – Ron Deibert's 2020 series was unmissable:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/10/dark-matter/#citizenlab

This year's Masseys are shaping up to be the GOAT. They're presented by Astra Taylor, an activist rock-and-roller turned documentary filmmaker who is one of the founders of the Debt Collective, fighting for student debt cancellation. Everything Astra does is amazing and her profile on CBC Ideas gives some background on the role that unschooling played in making her the powerful activist she is today:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/astra-taylor-interview-2023-massey-lecturer-1.6959320

There's no question that things are messed up right now, but Astra and people like her shine out like beacons of hope. 17 years ago, self-described "democracy nut" Tom Stites gave one of the seminal lectures on the role news media play in democracy:

http://citmedia.org/blog/2006/07/03/guest-posting-is-media-performance-democracys-critical-issue/

17 years later – and from his perch as editor at the essential International Consortium of Investigative Journalists – Stites presents us a long-overdue, extremely pertinent followup: "Building Civic Energy is the Goal, Not Saving Old News Business Models":

https://banyanproject.coop/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Hope-College-speech-for-Banyan-website-1.pdf

Stites's intervention is extremely timely, because policymakers all over the world have made the mistake of thinking that Big Tech is stealing the news media's content, which is absolutely untrue. It is good, actually, to index news stories and let people discuss, quote from and link to news stories. News you're not allowed to talk about isn't news, it's a secret.

But Big Tech is stealing from news. They're not stealing content – they're stealing money. The Google/Apple duopoly rakes 30% off every subscription payment collected in an app. The Google/Meta duopoly rakes 51% out of every ad-dollar (and maintain that death-grip through creepy, privacy-invading surveillance ads). Meta and Twitter hold social media subscribers hostage, forcing publishers to pay to reach their own subscribers.

We don't want the news to be Big Tech's partners – we need them to be Big Tech's watchdogs. "Link taxes" and other profit-sharing arrangements between the media and tech cut against the civic energy Stites wants to build.

(You can read more about this – along with policy prescriptions for halting Big Tech's rent-extraction from the news – in "Saving the News From Big Tech," my EFF white-paper:)

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech

If your spirits are lifted by stories of principled activists achieving important – and improbable – victories, you could do worse than to attend the EFF Awards on in San Francisco Sept 14 (I'm the emcee). This year, we're honoring Alexandra Elbakyan for her founding of Sci-Hub, the Library Freedom Project and the Signal Foundation:

https://www.eff.org/awards/effawards/2023

In more activist news: Mozilla produced a startling and astoundingly good – if demoralizing – report on the state of digital privacy and security in the automotive sector:

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/its-official-cars-are-the-worst-product-category-we-have-ever-reviewed-for-privacy/

Entitled, "It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy," the report reveals just how absolutely terrible the automotive sector is when it comes to privacy practices, collecting (and selling) (and giving away) information about your sex life, your geneology, your genetic characteristics, and your smell (no, seriously).

Their recommendations for which new car you should buy boil down to "don't buy a new car." I have been urging consumer research groups to release a report like this for a decade. There are whole categories of gadgets – like, say, "smart speakers" – that are unsafe at any speed. At a certain point, reviewers need to have the guts to say that every manufacturer in an entire sector is a dumpster fire and they should all be dragged in front of a firing squad – or at least a Congressional committee.

Cars, after all, are nightmares of privacy invasion and rent-extraction, the source of autoenshittification on a massive scale, a mobile form of technofeudalism:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

The fact that cars score so badly on privacy is especially ironic given the campaign Big Car waged against the 2020 Massachusetts Right to Repair ballot initiative, in which car manufacturers held themselves out as the defenders of driver privacy from unscrupulous third parties who couldn't be trusted to handle the vast troves of data your car collects with every hour that God sends:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/03/rip-david-graeber/#rolling-surveillance-platforms

This is a familiar refrain: monopolists often claim that any check on their absolute authority over their users will expose those users to privacy risks. Apple has run a global ad-campaign claiming this, and while Apple does prevent Facebook from spying on iPhone owners, they also secretly spy on those customers in exactly the same way that Facebook used to, and lie about it:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

It turns out that giant companies just aren't good proxies for their customers' interests, and that the power they amass through monopolization shouldn't be counted on as a source of user safety. Monopolists won't reliably defend user privacy – that job belongs to democratically accountable regulators. That's an argument I developed in detail with Bennett Cyphers in our EFF white-paper "Privacy Without Monopoly":

https://www.eff.org/wp/interoperability-and-privacy

That is, rather than getting privacy by "voting with your wallet," you need to get it by voting with your ballot. "The market" is an election that you vote in with dollars, which means that the people with the most dollars always win. When there are zero cars on the market that are safe to drive, you can't vote with your wallet by buying a good one.

On a related subject, the DOJ Antitrust Division has brought the most important tech anti-monopoly case of the century, charging Google with monopolizing search:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/06/technology/modern-internet-first-monopoly-trial-us-google-dominance.html

Part of the DOJ case turns on the fact that Google goes to extraordinary lengths to keep you from every trying another search engine, paying out more than $45 billion every year to be the default search on every device, program and service you might use. In other words, Google spends entire Twitter's worth of dollars every year, lighting it on fire to keep you from finding out about rivals.

Google argues that this is fine, actually, because these are only defaults, and users can dig through their settings to change their search engine. Sure, Google – and the first 20 search results you serve are only defaults, and it wouldn't matter if you were ordered to put them ten screens down, because users could always scroll to see them.

But search defaults aren't the only way that Google locks in searchers – and then harms us by invading our privacy. Google's ubiquitous Chrome browser ties Google's search to Google's invasive, nonconsensual, total surveillance. Chrome turned 15 this year and Google made a huge PR splash out of the anniversary:

https://blog.google/products/chrome/google-chrome-new-features-redesign-2023/

But all that puffery conspicuously failed to mention that Google had quietly rolled out its long-discredited, new surveillance technology, FLOC, which it pretended to kill in 2021:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/22/ihor-kolomoisky/#not-that-competition

FLOC is back, rebranded as the Topics API: this is a system for spying on you so advertisers can target you. Google is spinning this as a privacy improvement because it might someday replace "third party cookies," one of the creepiest web surveillance systems.

But as Ron Amadeo writes for Ars Technica, Chrome is the last major browser to support third party cookies – both Safari and Firefox block them by default. So Google is basically saying, "We are going to improve your privacy by changing how we spy on you, even though all our competitors don't do this kind of spying at all":

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/googles-widely-opposed-ad-platform-the-privacy-sandbox-launches-in-chrome/

This kind of gaslighting, where Google pisses in all our mouths and tells us it's raining, is the hallmark of a decrepit, arrogant, crapulent monopolist that needs to be shattered in the courts. Kudos to the DoJ for doing the people's business here – and kudos to DoJ antitrust boss Jonathan Kanter for promising that he will not go into corporate law when he finishes his stint in government.

The DoJ isn't the only public agency that's serving the American people. The FCC just announced proceedings to force cybersecurity labels for "smart" devices:

https://www.fcc.gov/consumer-governmental-affairs/fcc-proposes-cybersecurity-labeling-program-smart-devices

This is long overdue, and it's a welcome action from the FCC, which was hamstrung for years because cowardly Democratic senators joined with homophobic, libelous Republicans in blocking confirmation hearings for the amazing Gigi Sohn:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/15/useful-idiotsuseful-idiots/#unrequited-love

After years of abuse, Sohn bowed out. Now, Anna Gomez has been confirmed to fill that fifth FCC chair, turning the FCC into a fully operational battle station:

https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/senate-votes-approve-anna-gomez-5th-fcc-commissioner

The fact that there's all this great stuff going on in the administrative branch is easy to lose sight of amidst the circus of federal electoral politics, in which Donald Trump has retained his role as ringmaster and chief distractor.

Thankfully, we have expert Pantsless Emperor skewerers like Ruben Bolling around – his latest Tom the Dancing Bug revives his brilliant Calvin and Hobbes-inspired Trump gag:

https://boingboing.net/2023/09/06/tom-the-dancing-bug-a-calvinesque-and-hobbesian-look-at-taking-a-mug-shot.html

Well, that's me signing off for the weekend – I've got to pack for my flight to Toronto. If you're looking for more weekend fun, check out the trailer for Fractured Veil, the video game my old pal Chris DiBona has been working on for seven years and which is heading for Steam early access next month:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjNd3QQnENU

Just watch it. I mean. Wow.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/09/nein-nein/#everything-is-miscellaneous

Image: Roel Schroeven (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/roelschroeven/45413895

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

[mooncalvin]

I thought you would never (George Russell)

Summary: just some friends to lovers fluff.

George had always been passionate about Racing. From the moment he sat behind the Wheel of a go-kart as a child, he knew that it was what he was meant to do. And as he escalated through Formula One, he had never felt better.

Signing a contract with Mercedes was something he could only have dreamed of, but as the 2022 season started, he couldn’t feel but feel disappointed. The car was slower than he had hoped, and he was struggling to keep up with the other drivers. 

It was in Bahrain where he met her. She was the daughter of one of the new engineers in Mercedes, and as he entered the garage after the race  he saw her talking to Toto and her father about how nervous she was of meeting Lewis Hamilton, not even acknowledging him. The only thing he could think was how cute her enthusiasm was, laughing about how he had been euphoric too when he had met his favourite drivers as a kid.

He didn’t really want to speak to Toto after, knowing that he had only achieved P4 because of the issues with the Red Bull car, but he went either way, his curiosity about the girl winning over his common sense. 

“Hi”, he said and cringed instantly, feeling like a teenager again.

“Hello George, you already know Mr. Gomes and this is her daughter” Toto introduced them. George noticed how she had stopped talking when he arrived looking away bashfully. He shaked her father’s hand and smiled at her not really knowing what to say next.

“You did great out there” he complimented him with another smile.

“Thank you, but it could’ve surely been better” he laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

“It sure could have, we need to work through it” Mr. Gomes said and Toto nodded.

After all the fuss of the race, the only thing he wanted was going back to the hotel. After he arrived he decided to go to the rooftop of the hotel, not feeling tired enough to go to bed yet. There she was, sitting in one of the hammocks reading a book. She looked up and smiled almost instantly when she saw him.

“Hi” she greeted him.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were here, I can go if you want” he excused himself.

“No, don’t go, you can stay here if you want, I should be the one going, I don’t want to be a bother”

“No, it’s okay” he took a seat in the hammock to her right. After five minutes, he broke the silence.

“Have you met him?” he asked.

“Met who?”

“Lewis. I heard you talking to your father and Toto about it when I entered the garage” he didn’t actually know why he had said that.

“Oh yes, it was great. I'm a big fan of his, and now that my father works for you I knew I had to convince him to bring me here. I’m sure he thought I am crazy or something like that.” she laughed.

“I was freaking out when I met him too”, he laughed with her.

“It must be amazing to be you” he blurted.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Being here, doing what you have always dreamt and working with your idols, I would love it” 

“Mind if I ask you what you do?” he said, genuinely curious.

“I am a journalist, I write for the newspaper back home” she answered, and he saw how her face shifted, sad smile on her lips. He looked ate her, not really knowing how to handle the situation. She noticed him and changed her mood almost instantly “Don’t worry, I really love my job, it’s just that I would really like to try new things you know?”

“Yeah, I feel like that sometimes,” he stated.

“I don’t believe you!” she joked.

“Yes, it wasn’t true,” he laughed with her.

That was the first of many nights together. Every race that she was in, they always ended like that, talking and joking into the early hours of the morning. At a certain point, this ceased to be enough, and they spent even the days when they were not in the same place, Catia at home and George at wherever the race was that week or at home in London, talking through facetime or texting as if they had been friends forever. 

It wasn’t a secret that they had feelings for each other, but it seemed that they were the only oblivious ones. Her parents couldn’t help but laugh when they saw her smiling at the phone and she told them that it was only George and George was more distracted than ever, that got him a couple scoldings from Toto.

It was in Brazil, after a hard season, that he won his first Grand Prix, and she was there to celebrate it with him. Just after getting off the podium she went running to him and as they embraced each other their hearts started beating faster. They looked at each other’s eyes and everything stopped around them, but it didn’t last long, as George was taken away from her by his team. 

He didn’t see her until later that night at the team party to celebrate his victory. He went out to have some air and he found her at the club’s terrace, she seemed absorbed in her thoughts. 

“Hey” he greeted her, feeling the tension between them.

“Hi” she smiled weakly. After a minute of silence she spoke again “congratulations, I just  realised I haven’t told you before”

“Thank you for being there, I was so happy to see you”

Another silence.

“George, do you like me?” it took him by surprise how bold she was.

“Yes, I like you, otherwise we won’t be friends”

“I’m serious George” she rolled her eyes.

“Isn’t it obvious?” he looked her in the eyes

“I don’t know, you tell me”

“Of course I like you, almost since I met you” he said sincerely. That surprised her.

“Well I like you too”

“Nice”

“Now are you going to kiss me or something?”

“I thought you would never ask”

[mistydeyes]

HI i had such a cute idea— what about gaz with a s/o who wants to see the night sky without light pollution so they could see all the stars/galaxy clearly, so he takes them out to a dark sky site or a rural area (surprise or otherwise) and they stargaze!!! i hope this is specific enough, thanks🫶🫶

a/n ANON u have my heart! this was such a cute idea <3 I love little fluffy Gaz moments :)

a blanket of stars

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summary: Despite never being able to fully see the stars, you still romanticized the idea. In fact, it was something that endeared Kyle to you when you first met. You would always think your fascination was silly but Kyle makes a plan to let you see the beauty the universe has to offer.

pairing: Kyle "Gaz" Garrick x gn!Reader

warnings: none :)

┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊

Growing up in London didn’t offer you many opportunities to see the shining night's stars. The light pollution was to thank as you often struggled to even see the North Star. If there ever was a freak blackout, the clouded atmosphere was so thick that almost no stars could pierce through. Regardless, you loved the stars and even got a tattoo of Orion’s belt on your arm.

Gaz knew of this fact and loved your amateur interest in stargazing. Miraculously, you both had been able to take a vacation to Brecon Beacons National Park. It was almost as if the stars aligned for you both. The park offered a converted stable to stay in and you enjoyed the privacy and comfort of the home. You laid on Kyle’s chest in a hammock as you stared at the porch’s wooded ceiling. The warm summer air flowed gently around you as you swung slowly. Kyle stroked your hair softly and was humming an old song. You began to drift off into sleep when you felt him tap your shoulder. You perked up and looked at him questioningly. “Hey Love, let’s take a late night hike, yeah?” he said and you couldn’t help but be a little bewildered. “Kyle that’s how people get murdered!” you exclaimed and he laughed in response. “Babe you think anyone would want to murder us when I’m a STRONG BRITISH SERGEANT,” he stated and made sure to emphasize the last part to any would-be-murders. You rolled your eyes at his antics but decided he wasn't going to be satisfied. You slowly got off the hammock and went inside to grab your hiking gear as Kyle began to lace up his boots.

Kyle effortlessly navigated you through the tall grass and dense trees as you walked in the moonlight. He said his training was to thank for his superior navigation skills. You were glad that it had built him to be strong as he carried the backpack without any complaints. Eventually, you reached a large lake. "Crai Reservoir," he said breathlessly and took off the pack to pull out a blanket. You helped him find a suitable spot as you smoothed out the warm fabric. He sat on the blanket and allowed you to sit in between his legs. "Look up, Love," he whispered and your eyes rose to the night's sky. You gasped as you saw some of the most brilliant constellations twinkling against the blanket of night. You admired how the glittering dots perfectly contrasted with the violet, pink, and dark blue colors that slowly moved as the Earth rotated. You could feel Kyle's eyes on you as your gaze moved erratically, taking in everything you were seeing. "That's 'The Plough'" he said and your gaze followed where he was pointing. You noticed the seven stars that formed Ursa Major in the night's sky. You traced it with your finger as Kyle continued to name off various other constellations. "When did you have time to learn all of this, Love?" you asked as you stared up at him. You could see his dark eyes shimmer with the sparkle of the stars. "You'd be surprised how many books you can read while deployed," he said and placed a gentle kiss on your forehead. The rest of the night, you both named the various stars and planets that laid overhead. This was one of your favorite moments and Kyle would never forget how you were the brightest star that night.

[cwcthzl]

i’m hiding from a tornado so you should share stozier headcanons 🥺

oh i'm so sorry to hear that. be safe all at costs!!!!!!!!! but i'm glad you wonder my hcs because IM FULL OF THEM >:3

first of all, stan gets along so well with richie's parents. maggie loved him from the time richie first introduced him to his mother when they were in kindergarten. she trusted stan more than richie most of the time, and every time richie left to do something maggie would ask if stan was there. after a while of every answer being 'yes', she just started telling richie to say hi to stan for her. maggie tells richie every time that keeping stan as his best friend was one of the few good decisions he made. richie would roll his eyes every time but he knew it was true.

wentworth likes stan because of his unique sense of humor and because of how teachable he is. he would be fixing up his truck and 11 year old stan would sneak up beside him, watch him for a few minutes, bring wentworth the tools he needed and do it as good as he can when wentworth gave him the tools and instructed him. stan would love wentworth's special sandwiches and sometimes wentworth would send richie to the market to buy stuff he needed for his sandwiches when he heard stan was coming over.

richie would be extremely ticklish and stan would use that to his advantage everytime. told something dumb? poke him in the stomach. boy's laughing. being overly flirty with someone? give his neck some tickling and boy is wheezing. it was incredibly fun for stan and richie would punch his shoulder every time he did it. it didn't stop stan though.

when they were alone in the club house, they would lay together in the hammock with richie's head on stan's chest and stan's arm around richie's shoulders as he read whatever book he brought. richie's radio would be softly playing in the background while stan gently played with richie's hair and read his book.

richie realized he liked it when someone played with his hair because of stan.

but when he let the people he dated touch his hair, it didn't give him the same sensation and the relaxation he got from the times when it was stan who played with his hair. his body went all limp when stan brushed his fingertips on his scalp or untangled his locks by running his fingers through his hair, but he just felt uncomfortable when someone else did it. he didn't know why for a long period of time.

richie is clingy in his sleep and he needs to contact someone physically in any possible way.

also richie sleeps like a fucking dead man. like, play a trumpet over his head and he won't wake up. he is a night person so he needs to sleep until 11am AT THE LEAST, when stan is a very light sleeper and wakes up to the tiniest sounds and prefers mornings.

richie is a pepsi and stan is a coca cola gal. don't even ask

they would get random albums from any place they could find and go home, listen to it and rate it. i can easily picture them sitting in richie's room doing their own thing while music plays in the background and richie stopping whatever he was doing just to say 'that bar was ass' and stan nodding 'would be better if she rhymed it with 'swan'' and continue.

my brain is %97 stozier so. don't hold back about asking for hcs and other things. its not even the beginning

[babygirl-diaz]

Samtember Day 05: Fishing | Camping

818 words | Rated G | @samsseptember

((I chose camping for this prompt and made it a bit of an au))

Sam swung side to side on the hammock with a book in hand, his twin toddlers on either side of him, and a look of concern on his face. He wasn’t actually reading the book. He was instead busy watching his husband trying to put together the tent and failing miserably at it. 

“I got this, Sam,” Steve had insisted. “You just go ahead and read to the boys.” 

And so Sam did. “Do you need help?” He asked around 10 minutes ago. 

“No! I can do this!” Steve replied, a little angrier than he probably intended to sound. 

Sam put up his hands in surrender and went back to reading until the kids fell asleep. Sam loved his husband with all his heart, but the guy was terrible with directions and more stubborn than necessary. First, he got them lost while driving, and now Sam’s city-boy husband was trying to put together a tent he clearly did not know how to put together. 

Sam could see when the tent left Steve exasperated and close to tears. But he still didn’t ask for help. Stubborn to a fault. So Sam took pity on him and carefully got up, which obviously woke up the twins. They stared at Sam with their big brown eyes. “Boys, do you wanna help Daddy put together the tent?” He asked them. 

“Yes!” the boys said together and scrambled to get out of the hammock. The older one, Riley, almost fell, but then steadied himself and went over to Steve. Sam put James on the ground before getting out of the hammock himself. 

“Eight hands are better than two,” Sam told Steve, who looked like he was ready to protest once again. 

Steve sighed, and his shoulders dropped in defeat. “Fine,” he mumbled. 

Between the four of them (more like the two. Riley and James got bored after 2 minutes and started chasing each other instead), they put the tent together with a lot of help from YouTube and a minimal amount of crying and screaming. 

They spent the rest of the night playing with the kids in the lake and then reading to them until they fell asleep, asking more questions than either Sam or Steve could ever answer. 

Sam got out of the tent and went to sit by the lake, a couple of feet from them, and look out at the dark night sky. It was so peaceful here. Such a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of their daily lives. Sam enjoyed being Captain America. He did. But sometimes he wished he could just take a break. 

A couple of minutes later, he felt something on his shoulders and looked up to find Steve putting a blanket on him. 

“What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?” Steve asked as he sat down beside Sam. 

Sam rested his head on Steve’s shoulder, as he said, “I’m not a camping guy, but I sure do wanna start now.” 

“I can’t believe I turned you into a camping guy,” Steve teased. 

“You didn’t, city boy. But this trip sure did.” 

“Hey!” Steve huffed, offended, but then laughed. “I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have yelled at you, and I should have asked for help. I just wanted to be the one to do this, you know?” 

Sam looked up at Steve and frowned. ‘Why?” 

“You’re Cap, but you’re also so much more. You can do so much more. But my identity starts and ends with that damn shield. It’s been 7 years since I retired, but I haven’t been able to make anything of myself.” 

“I thought you enjoyed being a stay-at-home dad,” Sam said, worried. 

“No, I do,” Steve was quick to assure him. “I love being a stay-at-home dad. I love looking after the two rascals. But I also wanna be able to put a tent together, you know?” Steve ducked his head as he added, “I’m not making any sense, am I?” 

“No, you are, babe,” Sam told him. “Let’s make one thing clear. You are much more than that shield. You are a dad, a husband, a goddamn pillar of our Delacroix community. Just because you can’t put a tent together, doesn’t mean that you’re any less. Today, your sons saw you asking for help when you were stuck and you know they learned?” 

Sam stopped and looked at Steve, who shook his head. 

“They learned that it’s important to ask for help when you can’t do something by yourself. Kids are visual learners and now when they get stuck on something, instead of trying to figure it out on their own, they’ll ask for help.” 

Steve said nothing for a while, but then he grinned and said, “Why are you so smart?” 

“You really scored yourself a deal, didn’t you?” Sam joked. 

“That I did,” Steve replied and captured Sam’s lips in a kiss. 

[nightmaremp]

Weremayhem: Song of Beasts, ch2: The Band Crash Over

  At Nora’s sister Hannah's house, the doorbell rings. Nora opens the door to see Animal holding some yellow flowers that he had pulled from the ground, with the dirt and roots together. “Hi” he said as he held the flowers up to the black haired female. The drummer was wearing a yellow ripped up shirt with a boat on it. His spike collar with its long chain was shining a bit in the sunlight. He also had some brown ripped pants with a rope as a belt. The drummer never wears shoes so he was barefoot. 

Lips come into the house with a lunge and he mumble. “Lady, I’m home.” as he carries the black box in. “Whoa! Wait, wait, wait,wait.” said Nora in a panic. Zoot was right behind the blonde haired male with his camera and took a picture of Nora. Janice comes in with her light blue yoga mat with a smile on her face. “It’s like stepping into a house catalog,” said Floyd as he walks in. 

“I said I’ll contact you” said the black haired female as she looked at teeth who just walked in with a brown bag of food and other things. He was wearing his striped shirt with his white cuffs that look like it was part of a queen’s dress. His red hat with a cheetah print around it and an orange feather sat on his head. The ginger haired male was also wearing blue jeans. 

“Isn’t it great?” asked the doc as he didn’t hear what Nora said. “Excuse me” she asked. “Hi” said Animal, still outside the front door. Nora just looks at the drummer in shock. Lewis comes up behind Animal with his little sister in his arms. “This is going to be a long day” he groans. Nora turns back to the other members of the mayhem. 

“Aren’t you crashing with a friend?” she asked. “Indeed we are.” replied Dr. Teeth as he turns around and faces her. “Much obliged for the hospitality, friend.” replied the good doctor with a smile on his face. “No,no,no,” Nora quickly said. “Hi,” Animal said in the background. “Where can we hang our hammocks?” asked Floyd as he held a light blue and white hammock over his shoulders. 

“Yeah, and which room is best for pants-free hot yoga?” asked Janice. Lewis peaks into the house and slowly heads back to the van. He could tell that Nora didn’t want them at her house. The ginger-haired boy sat his little sister back into her little bed and picked up his book to keep reading it. 

“None of them,” Nora said to Janice. “Hi,” the drummer said again. Nora turns to Animal. “Hi. Hello, sure, come on in. Why not? Everyone else has.’ replied the black haired female. She takes the flowers from the drummer before he comes in. “Okay” he replied. Nora shuts the door and turns around. She held up the flowers. “Okay” she said after taking a deep breath. 

Meanwhile with Hannah, she was in her room. Hannah was doing a makeup stream. “So, for my brows, I like to go in with this brow product that I-” she started to say as she held the makeup product in her hand. Lips and Zoot come in. “Hey” said the saxophonist. Hannah gasped in shock. “Nora, Nora” she called for her sister in panic. Lips and Zoot look around in the room. “I’m in the middle of a live stream here.” she said. 

“What the deal?” Hannah said. “Hannah, come, come, please.” replied Nora in a nervous tone as she grabbed her sister’s arm and lifted her out of her chair. “The band. Band. Hannah, my sis…Assistant.” Nora quickly says. Hannah raises her hand up. “Hi,” replied Animal. “Who was just leaving to pick up my juice cleanse.” she said as she moved her sister to the front door. 

“Bye” said Animal. “Hannah, please” said Nora to Hannah. “Just trust me, I have a foolproof plan. Thank you so much. I love you. Bye” said Nora as she opened the front door and her sister went out. “Bye!” Animal said again as the door shut. She clears her throat. She turns to the mayhem. “Okay. it begins” said Nora. Animal was looking at a hang up,  reddish pink light sign that is a H. “Let’s put a pin in your living room. While we go over my plan to take you to the top” said Nora. 

“W” said Animal. “Very good, Animal” replied Floyd. Nora raises her eyebrow. “He’s learning the alphabet.” said the red haired male. Nora noticed that Dr. Teeth aren't anywhere to be seen. “Where is Dr. Teeth?” she asked. “Oh, he spotted the hot tub out back.” replied Floyd Pepper. Janice nods her head. “So…” Nora started to say. 

“You know, like he has that thing. When he sees a hot tub, he has to, like, go to the hot tub and then soak in the hot tub because, like, hot tub.” replied the blonde haired female. Meanwhile, Dr. Teeth as in the hot tub. He let out a relax sigh. He still had his hat on his head. He wasn’t wearing any clothes, he was naked. Scars over his body were shown. Three large ones on his stomach. Two on his left arm, one on his right. Some on his legs and thighs. There were some on his lower back where his tail bone is. 

“Hot tub” said Teeth in pure relaxation. Nora comes outside and sees the doc in the hot tub. “Hi, sorry to interrupt, but I need you back inside for a band meeting.” she said. Nora noticed the bunch of scars over the good doctor’s body, the scars look like they were from an animal attack. “Mai-tai?” asked Teeth as he held up his mai-tai. It was in a coconut with a flower and a small umbrella in it, along with a straw. 

“Where did that even come from?” she asked as she raised her eyebrow. “That doesn’t matter.” she quickly said. “Hey look, you’re the frontman. So, it’d mean a lot if you got onboard with my plan.” said Nora as she walked over to the hot tub. “It would be of great neglect to not inform you that we, the Electric Mayhem. Do not subscrubulate to a frontman's disposition.” replied the good doctor. 

“What?” asked the black haired female. “We're all the frontman.” replied Teeth. “Yeah, you can’t all be the frontman because that doesn’t work.” replied Nora. “How do you decide anything or make plans?” said Nora. “No plan is the plan” replied the doc. “No one has no plan as the plan.” she replied. 

“What if the plan is to never plan the plan to begin with?” asked the ginger haired male. They just look at each other in silence for a bit. “I’m gonna need that Mai-tai,” said Nora. Dr. Teeth now has two mai-tais, out of nowhere. “Well, all right” He replied with his famous smile. “Where do these keep coming from?” she asked in confusion. 

“You know what, it doesn't matter. If it’s a group decision, then towel off and come back inside” Nora said. She turned around. “You got it.” he replied. “Oh! Mind grabbing me a bathing suit?” Teeth asked. Her smile faded when she realized that he was naked. “Great” she thought to herself. 

When Nora got back inside the house, loud music was playing. There was a massive party in her sister’s house. A lot of people were there, some playing games and others just dancing or sitting around. There was even a DJ there. Lips were dancing like there is no tomorrow. Zoot and a woman were looking at a red book which was Nora and Hannah’s family photos over the years. 

“How did this happen? I was gone for two minutes.” Nora said in shock as she walked next to Janice who was posing for an ice sculpture. “No,no,no. So much damage in so little time.” she said to herself. Moog came up behind her with a giant hose. “The party has arrived,” said Moog in joy. “Moog!” everyone yells. He chuckles. “Hi, excuse me? Mayhead guy?” she asked. 

“Oh hey, newbie. What’s up?” he replied. “You tell me. What is all this?” she asked, clearly upset. “Oh! This is a classic Mayhem kickback. Yeah, welcome to the entourage.” replied the black haired male. “No, I’m not a superfan! I work in music” Nora replied. “Who doesn’t?” he replied. 

“Oh! I got a hot demo if you know anybody who’s looking for a chart-topping genius.” said Moog. “Hey, that’s the lady from this comic book” said Zoot was on the couch behind Nora and Moog. She turned and noticed that he was holding her family photo book. “Oh! More like precious family memories. I’ll take that, sorry.” Nora said as she took the book from him. 

“Hey, excuse me, sir! That couch is not yours to move!” She said as she noticed a guy moving a couch. “I’m just making room for a wrestling ring,” the man replied. “Billy Corgan?” she asked in shock that Billy Corgan was here at her sister’s house. “Wow” she said. Floyd comes through some people. He was wearing a pink hat with a pink ripped shirt with green bandanas on his wrists and he had a green cape. He grunts. 

“You’re about to get your pumpkin smashed, Billy boy.” said the red haired male. “Brother, your smack talk needs some work,” he replied. “I know, I’m sorry” replied Floyd as his head went down like a dog when they did something that they shouldn’t have. “To be clear, there’ll be no smacking or smashing of any kind.” Nora quickly said. 

“Everyone needs to leave before my-” before she could finish her sentence, speaking of the devil. Her sister was back. “Nora? Nora Singh! What is going on?!” Hannah asked, very upset by the party in her own house. “Hey. Look who it is. It’s my sis-sistant.” Nore replied with a nervous smile. “Don’t even! This is what you call figuring it out?” she replied angrily. 

“I promise, I have it under control. I have a plan” Nora replied. “Well, I hope that plan involves getting these randos out of my home.” Hannah replied. Moog turned to the two sisters with his hose. “Did somebody say foam?” he asked before he sprayed Hannah with white foam from the red hose. Everyone cheers in joy. 

After everyone was kicked out, the van quickly moved away from the house. Everyone was covered in foam except for Lewis and Annie, who was in the van the whole time. Lewis kept Annie from eating the foam off their dad’s shoulder. “Okay, you are correct. You do not like a plan.” Nora said. “That's why I’m pivoting to a new approach, which is one step at a time.” she said. Lips mumbles something as he lay a hand on Nora’s shoulder while his hand is covered in the foam. 

He removed his hand from her shoulder. “I’ll pretend that was encouraging. Thank you” she replied. “Okay so, step one, the label has a place for you to live.” said the black haired female. “I just need my boss’s approval.” she said. “Your boss? I thought you said you were the boss” replied Floyd as he looked up from his newspaper. 

“I am,” she replied. He nods his head before sticking his nose back into the paper. “But, I mean, even bosses have to report to their bosses.” Nora said. Lewis noticed a flower on his antlers was glowing after Nora said that then Janice sneezed. “Was she lying?” he asked himself but shook his head. “Probably something else” he said to himself. “Bless you. And mine is Penny Waxman.” she said. 

Dr. Teeth’s eyes get wide. “Penny? That’s a name I recallize” replied the doc. “Yeah, she’s a legend in the biz, but one tough cookie.” the black haired female replied. “So, you wait in the van, while I go in and work my magic.” she said. “You can pull over here” she said while pointing. 

“No. No can do, Label Lady. If we stop the van, don't start.” replied floyd. “Yeah, the only way out is slow and go.” replied the good doctor. “A what, now?” Nora asked. “At first we slow, and then you go.” replied Dr. Teeth. “I’m not jumping out of a moving van.” replied Nora with widened eyes. The doc chuckles. 

[pbandjesse]

I am a little bit exhausted tonight. I did not sleep well last night. I was very happy to have James home but my back was aching and I couldn't get comfortable and was up well past 1am. It was not fun.

James apparently also didn't sleep well. And they were really exhausted. When they got home I was really happy to see them but then they got all worked up because they thought they accidently threw away the gift they got me in New York (they didn't I found it in the backseat this afternoon. It's the little flag pictured below and I love it). And then I was upset because they got so worked up. And we had to have a long talk about catastrophying a small situation. So I think in the end we were both just to wound up to get good sleep.

In the morning I was pretty unhappy. It was entirely to warm. I was so spoiled by sweatshirt weather last week. And I liked my dress but I was just a little uncomfortable all day. My hair isn't as dry, because I'm doing oil treatments, but I just hate the length. I was just feeling a little low about myself which was making everything feel kind of bad and weird.

But I was happy to go to work with James. Despite their sleepiness they drove us to camp after getting breakfast. And we got there around 8:00.

We would walk over to the lodge to find Charlotte so that James can say hello and we waved a couple other people. And then it was just sorting out stuff at the art building. Thankfully I had already really done most of it so it wasn't like we were in dire straits. It was just getting a couple more materials together and then we were just chilling.

We went for a little walk around camp after checking James in at the office. We went to see the animals and said hello to the goats but they were acting very skittish today. I'm assuming that the rain upset them. But they let me pet their heads and that's all I really wanted.

And then Hannah, the CIT that will be with me this week, came and chilled with us until our first group. I wanted so good today. It was nice to have a cup of campers that I've done this project already and they liked the variation of having the frames as an option. . I had a lot of fun hanging out with them and it was nice talking James there and Hannah is a very good energy. She was working on friendship bracelets for her art who. And I worked on my knitting and I got to show off my blanket a few times. It was a very positive morning.

I didn't realize that but there was a storm coming in this afternoon that was going to be very bad. Kieren and told us that there was a plan in place to have daycare go home at 3:30 before the storms started. I didn't realize that it was going to be scary bad. When I checked my phone it said that it was a rare category 4 or 5 storm. I didn't exactly know what that meant but it seems very scary. So I was very glad that we were going to be leaving at 2:00 and missing all of it. I love a little bit of adventure but not with how scary the storm was last year. I did not need to be under a picnic table again thinking I was going to die.

Lunch was kind of terrible. It was weird burritos but the vegetarian option was just rice that tasted like Thanksgiving spices and nacho cheese that was just like cheese with sauce and it was bad and upset my stomach. And then the chef had very bad energy and kind of yelled at the counselor for not making the burritos up at the front instead of at the tables and it was very strange. James didn't even eat anything and I sat outside with feeling that and then coming out and we're just kind of talk about how bad the people was. Annabelle joined us and we had a really nice little conversation and we tried to figure out who could possibly have filled the orange paint with water because they ruined it and we're very confused about why someone would do that. But soon me and James headed up to arts and crafts to rest.

I read my book for a while and James laid on the picnic table.

And I was super comfortable. I love my hammock. And it was just really good being with James and then our last group of the day came and they did a very good job and they were very fun. The one child that was there on Friday that complained at me endlessly about here how he never finishes his art was there and I was like are you getting finished this time and he said he would do his past and then he proceeded to continue to wipe very wet hands on me because he thought it was funny and I was not really doing anything to stop it. We were just being very silly and goofy.

We're done and we cleaned up and James got hammocks inside and we got all materials inside and locked down the building so that whatever the storm did it wouldn't ruin any of my stuff hopefully.

We left after stopping at the office to say goodbye. I wish them luck for whatever storm happened and made sure Alexa knew I wasn't going to be there so that she wouldn't be worried about my safety hiding in the art building. And then we went to my appointment.

It's not a horrible drive but it is kind of long. It's like 40 minutes and I worked on my knitting throwing the ride and then when we got there James went to get groceries while I went into my appointment almost an hour early.

I had a very funny little chat with a man in the elevator about being early and he told me he was getting his foot looked at visit was hurt and I said I was going to the rheumatologist and hopefully they would let me in. It was just a nice little interaction after waiting for the elevator for a very long time.

But when I got to the doctor's office I was very sad to find out that Dr Fatima move to California last week. So she's not my doctor anymore and I really liked her so I'm very sad about it. But I got to meet my new doctor whose name I do not know how to spell but she was very nice. I only had to wait in the waiting room for a few minutes and then I went back and I lost a couple more pounds. Which is good because I would like to be back down to 160 and I'm closer to it than I was but I didn't really do anything so it is only slightly concerning. And then I got my injections after having a very nice chat with the medical assistant and the person who does the injections. And then the doctor and the nurse practitioner came in.

We had a very long chat. We went over all of the blood work that I never called about. And I told her all my things and my backstory since she's going to be my doctor now and she was very nice and very receptive and had some great advice and gave me free samples of heating patches for my neck and I told her about my hypermobility and how I'm very flexible and how that sometimes leads to over exertion and my knitting and I got to show my blanket to her and how I can do so much more art than I used to be able to and just all those little things that make my relationship with my rheumatologist so strong. Make her see me as a full person. And we decided since we don't know why my liver enzymes were so high a couple months ago that in a few months will test them again but I have to monitor my weight and a couple other things just to make sure that I'm doing okay. She also gave me a prescription for a muscle relaxant and then I'll pick up in a few days when Walgreens gets it in. But fingers crossed that everything continues to go in a good path.

And my neck is feeling a lot better. It's still sore on the sides but I can turn my head pretty well now. Hanging upside down from my aerial silk helped a lot. I ended up putting a pillow behind my back while I did it and then that made it a lot more comfortable. I don't know why I've never thought to do that before.

And then I went outside and found James sitting in the parking lot. And they were very tired and very sweaty and they really just wanted to get us home.

And so we came back here and they took my picture outside and we got upstairs and they were going to do the laundry right away but then they discovered that they forgot to get up quarters at the grocery store. And they were very upset with themselves but they would head out to get that done and I would change and take a shower and felt a lot better.

Once I was clean I would get dressed in a silk night gown and got on the couch to read for a while. I read until right before James got home. And then they got into doing laundry and soon you could tell that a storm was coming in.

Everyone at Camp was apparently already in basements and it apparently got very scary there. CJ just told me that a tree went through the dining hall and the nurses office. Day camp has already been canceled for tomorrow. And apparently it was very scary. But everyone is safe and that's all that really matters.

Here though the sky turned green which is a sign of tornadoes. And we tried to get all of the plants that are on the fire escape into a safe position so that they wouldn't blow away and I covered up all of our windows with towels since they don't close. And I just tried to make sure that everything would be safe and dry.

Once the storm calm down a little bit after being pretty scary and heavy for a few minutes I open the back door just to watch it. Watch the lightning and the rain. James worked on finishing the laundry and eventually this guy cleared up and the sun came back out.

James made us dinner. I had corn on the cob and vegetarian chicken nuggets and they had a pizza bagel. And then I would make my little cinnamon snail rolls to have for tomorrow. And I have just been resting since then. James painted their nails and I just tried to have a nice evening.

Now I'm laying in bed. Trying to cool down in the air conditioning. I am very grateful and thankful that I was safe here and not terrified at camp. I'm hoping that there are good ways that I can help fix everything tomorrow. And I hope that the destruction is not as bad as I am picturing it to be. It could have been very very scary and very very bad. It seems to be just very scary and very bad. I hope that tomorrow the cleanup can go smoothly.

Now though it is time to sleep. I am hoping that I can sleep easier tonight. And that James can't get some rest because they really need it. Tomorrow I am ready for some intense picking up and taking care of things. I hope that you are all safe and that tomorrow is a good day for you. Let's hope the power comes back on at camp quickly. Good night everybody. Until next time.

[fandomfrenzy625]

Christmas special

Hi 

this story and others can be found on my books “the tokoyamiverse” on wattpad but I was so proud of this chapter I wanted to share it :) 

(yes the main star is tokoyami) 

Tokoyami gazed outside where white flakes fell from the sky and down onto where green grass was now smothered with the reflective and fluffy pieces of the cold sky

although the Christmas break was meant to be a festive time he never was one to get into the mood

don't get him wrong he enjoyed spending time with his classmates and little Eri celebrating the joyful time

eating gingerbread cookies, dressing up the tree, throwing snowballs (which Darkshadow may or may not have gotten too into with the bakusquads hair still being filled with snow)

yes he has had a fun time, even with the cold getting worse and worse, he and asui making themselves home in shoji's hammock of hands when it got too cold

unfortunately, everything good had come to an end when they were told to leave to spend time with family

Tokoyami had asked if they were allowed to stay on the behalf of Dark shadows curiosity but Aizawa said since all teachers and staff were going home they wouldn't due to security

so it was back to...

Tokoyami waved everyone off as they made their way home, allowing each hug as it came his way, once being swung around in a bone-crushing hug by both Denki and Mina, they enjoyed embarrassing him, yet he couldn't help but laugh at their antics

once he bid his farewells he picked up his bags and began walking

slowly making his way into the forest where a desolate little cabin laid

it was his and his grandfathers, "away from all the ruckus" he used to say when he was brought to live with him

he had so many fond memories of his grandfather, he had taught him discipline and kindness, showing him as they took care of all the animals and taught him how to read and write

but now, his criminal parents were his only family

his grandfather was 97 when he passed, he was 10

his grandfather said not to bother with a funeral, to only be burned and his ashes to be planted in the soil of their favourite tree where they spent many hours reading stories

it was a lot for a 10-year-old, but an old friend of theirs before he died agreed to help the raven with that final wish

he also told him to never tell anyone of his passing, except for the old friend who also had promised to never tell fumikage of anyone, as he knew had only had a few last days left in the world

as cruel as it sounded the grandfather did it with good intentions, not wanting the little raven to be taken back to his parents or anyone else, having a horrible experience with orphanages and "fake families" as he called him exploring him simply for money,

he wouldn't have that for his grandson he used to declare

and so with the knowledge, he had gained and with darkshadow, they learned to live independently

gathering only essentials but heating and electricity was never to be used, fearing he would be caught without parental supervision and taken back

water being caught from the wells but the food he needed to go to the supermarket

and that's where he saw it

the advert for U.A highschool

he knew there were heroes, every kid knew, but to become one he never really knew the details of

but in his mind heroes didn't get taken away, they save people and were free!

darkshadow wouldn't stop pestering me since

and then, well, you know the rest

and yet after all of that

he found himself back in this cabin where the only thing that remained was dead memories

"Well, merry Christmas" Darkshadow grumbled jealously

"oh hush, we need to get food and hang the blankets before it gets too dark" Tokoyami grumbled as he dumped his bags

they would collect their money from the bank the only parental love he was given by his parents

he remembered one night in weakness he went to try and see them, and they wanted absolutely nothing to do with them, not out of protectiveness to keep tokoyami away from prison life, but just because they never wanted him

he never did try again

so he grabbed the money and went on his way without a second thought

2 weeks, and then they could leave once more, if they were lucky the snow wouldn't fall too heavy and the extra blankets he brought would keep him warmer-

the door was open

Tokoyami halted and the dark shadow growled

they never left the door unlocked, and they knew wildlife could never make the door gap that wide

"Intruders" Darkshadow continued to growl

"be on the guard" Tokoyami ordered, could just be a homeless person who found the cabin when they left, he had to fend off back before going to U.A, but that had been only a couple

so with a shakey breath with darkshadow covering his body he stepped in to see what had gotten in

but what he saw was something he never saw coming

there standing in the living room was his homeroom teacher and mentor

"Mr Aizawa, Hawks" Tokoyami greeted hesitantly, the shock still leaving his body

"Tokoyami" Aizawa greeted with his usual tone

the silence between the two parties was deafening

"What are you two doing here?" Tokoyami continued with unease, wondering if it was too late to run

"I'd ask the same but I fear I already know the answer" Aizawa stated as he looked around the cabin

"kid, be honest with us when I ask this" Hawks said softly as he began walking to the raven, placing his hands on the raven's shoulders as he saw him try to back away

"Are you homeless?" Hawks asked

Tokoyami couldn't help but roll his eyes, he knew what it looked like, but it was more complicated like that, his situation just being pushed into a simple and single category didn't sit well in his stomach

"no this is my home" Tokoyami answered as he swatted the hero's hands of

"ok, but where are your parents" Aizawa interjected

Now that was what caused tokoyami's heart to jolt, knowing any answer was going to lead to more questions about his "home life"

so he decided to simply tell the truth

"they're in prison, I used to live with my grandfather before he died, I was 10 and I've been living here since" Tokoyami announced, unable to keep his emotions from building, dark shadow would have been growing if Aizawa wasn't keeping an eye on him

he spouted all this information because he just wanted this investigation to be over with, he hated being reminded of his past, but what was the point in keeping it secret anymore, he was officially caught

and now it was up to the heroes he both admired and at this very moment, feared

"all right, grab your stuff, we're leaving" Aizawa announced before seeing the fearful look in his student's eyes

"you're not in trouble and you're not going to be expelled, but we want to find you a more suitable place for you to live, we don't want you freezing in this weather, no matter how long you've been living as this" Aizawa finished with a calmer and reassuring tone, hoping that they wanted what was best for the raven

Tokoyami merely nodded as Hawks lead him out with a kind hand on his shoulder and Aizawa was the one to take his bags

"Please, we don't want to go into a home, our grandfather-" Darkshadow began to cry before being patted by his host and telling him to be quiet, even if the two heroes defiantly heard it

"Can I ask, how did you find me?" the raven asked to try and distract them from his quirks outburst

"I've been suspicious of your homelife for a while now, why they never came to parents' evenings and the signature to be living at the dorms looked a bit too familiar, I alerted hawks who after talking with you was also suspicious" Aizawa answered as they were being lead to a little black car

Tokoyami nodded as he entered the car, they said he wasn't in trouble but he felt like a fugitive being taken in

"where are we going?" Tokoyami asked as he continued to pet his host's head to calm both of them down

"We're going to Aizawa's, the guy has a spare room, which is more than me sleeping on my company sofa" Hawks answered, using humour to cover his real worries, it was much too close to his home situation and for his little chick to go through anything like that just broke his heart

he wanted to ask the raven a question but he needed to get things ready first

Tokoyami merely nodded once more

"kid, you're not in trouble ok, we just want to keep you safe" Hawks tried to persuade, he knew tokoyami tended to get in his head

"you two are mad with me" Tokoyami mumbled, feeling like he was a little kid who had just smashed a window of their home and their mum ready to scold them for a lifetime

"we're not mad tokoyami, we are upset you didn't say anything sooner but we understand in cases we understand it can be difficult to trust others with personal life" Aizawa assured with understanding

"But we do trust you" Darkshadow whispered with a whimper

Hawks merely pulled the kid into a side hug, deciding they didn't want to push the raven anymore

the ride continued in silence until they finished at their destination

Tokoyami hesitantly grabbed his bags as he was led inside, hawks still at his side, continuing to provide comfort which dark shadow doted on as she left their head on hawks

when they entered they were greeted by the warmth of an indoor fireplace and the smell of gingerbread, along with a familiar and positive figure

"Hey guys, don't mind I just need to finish these off" President Mic commented happily as he continued to string something in a bowel before quickly going back into the kitchen

when tokoyami looked at his homeroom teacher, Aizawa was giving him a nod meaning that the loud cockatoo already knew what they were planning

so instead they went into the living room until he was ready which luckily wasn't for long

"all right, ready now" President Mic agreed as he sat down

"Right, so first tokoyami, we've talked and if you're ok with it we wish for you to spend the Christmas break with us until we find you a proper home that you will be comfortable with"

Tokoyami didn't know how to respond

"that's too generous of you I can't-" Tokoyami began to panic with emotion before the voice of a little girl from the corridor

"Tokoyami's staying for Christmas?" Eri whispered with excitement

the little head of a silver-haired girl was seen looking in with curiosity

"sweetie, I asked you to give us a second" Mic sighed

"I'm sorry" Eri apologised

regardless Aizawa still allowed her to walk in, allowing her to sit on his lap

"but are you?" Eri asked Tokoyami with a look of hopefulness

the raven was still unsure, hating to be a burden, especially with it being so close to Christmas, Eri's first proper Christmas

but observing the encouraging smiles from the heroes and Eri and even the voice of dark shadow he sighed

"I would be honoured to be allowed to spend Christmas with you" Tokoyami bowed as he gave his answer

"glad to hear it, now Eri can you help Mic with those cookies while we help Tokoyami get his stuff sorted," Aizawa asked Eri who nodded just as excitedly

the three figures watched the two leave with a fond smile before making their way to the spare room giving him a quick tour of the house before telling him to make himself comfortable

the best that he could at least with what he brought

all he did bring was blankets and clothes and the food he had recently bought, not that any could be heated

(no wonder he was so skinny when he first came) Aizawa couldn't help as he put the food to the side, the raven agreed he was ok with them putting it in the cupboards

hawks promised to bring the pictures around the home from the cabin, everything else that was in the cabin had already been brought to the room in the dorms, and hawks agreed to bring some important stuff like his laptop

"Hawks" Tokoyami announced as he finished hanging up his clothes

"yeah, little chick?" Hawks answered, tokoyami had given up on the winged hero in calling him that, he just wouldn't

"When you go to the cabin, would you just take picture of a tree, it's the third one behind, it's just important" tokoyami requested bashfully, to which the winged hero nodded

"course kid, oh speaking of I gotta get going, or else Rudolph's nose starts glowing bright red" Hawks laughed as it was clear he was commenting about endeavour who was banned from the Christmas festivities

"bye," Aizawa said with no emotion

"don't sound too sad, I'll be back soon," Hawks said sarcastically

"cya kid, keep talking k" Hawks finished saying bye, making sure to get a yes from the raven before exiting from the window

Tokoyami stared out of the window before a voice from downstairs alerted them

"tea time!" Mic shouted

Tokoyami and Aizawa subconsciously looked at one another before making themselves downstairs

tokoyami did his best to make himself useful by asking if they wished him to put the cutlery down and plates but was quickly ushered to the table and for them to handle the rest, keeping Eri company as she drew

"what are you drawing eri?" Tokoyami asked, not wanting to feel awkward

"a Christmas tree" Eri announced as she showed off her drawing

"pretty" Darkshadow complimented

"thank you, would you like to draw?" Eri offered

Tokoyami shook his head but Darkshadow happily agreed as they grabbed a sheet of paper and a crayon

"maybe wait until after tea, it's being dished up"

"aww, fine" Darkshadow groaned

Eri laughed as she patted the quirk's head, quickly getting rid of their bad mood as the teachers came back with food on plates

gathering the scattered paper and colours away the group sat down to eat

it was ramen with chicken broth, dumplings, green onions, an egg and chicken

Tokoyami took a moment to stare, it looked breathtakingly delicious, but he always had problems eating ramen due to his beak

Aizawa must have seen his unease as he quickly put two and two together

"would you like a spoon, we also have straws" Aizawa offered

"I would appreciate that, yes please" Tokoyami agreed gratefully

"oh shoot, sorry, forgot about the whole beak thing" Mic stated with an awkward laugh as he rushed to the cupboards, finding a spoon for his ramen and even bringing a straw for his water, it may have been a curly straw but tokoyami would much rather that then dribble in front of his hosts

"thank you, sir" Tokoyami thanked as he received the offerings

the rest of the dinner was surrounded by a comfortable aura

Mic and Eri talked about what she had been up to today and told Aizawa and tokoyami who decided to simply listen, they were not really in a talkative mood, and darkshadow sometimes commented on the conversation

leaving tokoyami to also get lost in his head, unable to believe what he was in the middle of, as a little kid he's wished for a normal family life like this, and yet he couldn't let himself enjoy it

he knew it was temporary, everything always was, after these two weeks they won't have to be as compassionate as they were taking him in and he'll find himself alone once again, at least he had darkshadow, perhaps it was the universe's small mercy for all that he experienced

"tokoyami?" a voice called his name

Tokoyami was brought back to reality once more by the sound of his teacher

"you doing all right there kiddo, you haven't touched much of your food," Mic asked with concern

"worry not sir, lost in thought, I apologise" Tokoyami whispered meekly as he stared at the ramen, it looked tasty but thinking about eating was making him stressed

"you don't have to finish it all if you're full" Eri assured, remembering what Aizawa and Mic told her when she first came to their home

Tokoyami nodded, he had gotten better at eating since he got to U.A, Shoji sato, koda and Asui made sure of that, but he still had a way to go

"we'll save it for when you're hungry tomorrow, but tonight if you do get hungry we have plenty of snacks in the cupboard" Mic assured as he and Aizawa began to put the plates to the side to wash

Tokoyami once more offered to help and this time Mic agreed, sensing that the raven wanted to "earn" his stay, not that the teacher would do such a thing, but he believed that it might make him feel better

tokoyami was just given the role to wash the plates and Aizawa dried and put them in the right area, so tokoyami could also see where everything went

afterwards, they needed to get Eri to bed and themselves but told tokoyami that he could watch some tv quietly downstairs if he wasn't tired

Tokoyami appreciated the thought but after a day like he said he'd just go to bed

he got his usual plain black pj's on and till everyone had finished with the bathroom, he didn't like brushing his teeth publicly with how his beak and teeth made it harder than needed

after all of that, the lights were turned off ready for bed

all except for the ravens

one because he didn't wish darkshadow to go rampant in his teacher's home, he'd hate himself to make any damage with how hospitable they were being to him, in the cabin he didn't mind if darkshadow became rampant, at least he'd know he wasn't alone, that's why he intentionally forgot his nightlight to calm the beast

but also because despite everything today threw at him, he wasn't tired

he was anxious and nervous and scared

he was so lost, they had no idea of what his teachers were planning and where he would end up

he hated feeling out of control

so in a hazy mind, he decided to bring that control back

looking to the window and outside he began to think

(no one would know, no one was awake and no one would see us leave)

Darkshadow gave out a whine of displeasure but he couldn't think straight, he just didn't want to end up somewhere, where they would be-

Tokoyami didn't finish the thought as he decided

going to the window he opened it fully, telling darkshadow to use a black fallen angel to give flight in the night

only for a little voice to stop them in their tracks

"Tokoyami"

looking behind them was little Eri, once more peaking in with a worried look

"oh, Eri, what are you doing awake?" Tokoyami questioned as darkshadow instantly unwrapped around his host and pay attention to the little horned girl

"I was thirsty and I thought you'd be cus, you like the dark and the night is dark"Eri mumbled as she looked down to the two glasses filled with water, one once more with a curly straw

tokoyami couldn't help but chuckle at that logic as he rested back on the bed

"you've got a very impressive deducible and kind mind" Tokoyami complimented, earning Eri to laugh as he took the glass carefully, she always said Tokoyami had a funny way of talking, like midoriya but slower and the words were even longer

"are you going to fly?" Eri asked as she remember seeing what the raven was doing as she entered

"That was the plan" Tokoyami sighed as he was about to close the window, the anxiety filling his body had begun to lower, but the feeling of fear still lingered, perhaps on the second time he wouldn't be caught so easily he thought only for Eri to climb on his bed

"Could you please take me with you?" Eri asked with an excited smile and gleaming eyes

"you wish to be one with the wind," Tokoyami asked with confusion

luckily Eri was slowly understanding what tokoyami was saying

"yes please, it looks like fun and Deku always says how cool it is to see you fly and always mumbles when he sees you fly" Eri confirmed with an explanation

Tokoyami smiled, Eri was slowly getting out of her shell and being more expressive and interested, but he was confused with the midoriya part, why would someone as great as he is in awe as someone like him

Tokoyami shook his head, he wasn't going to go down that path with little eri in the room

"very well, but get your coat and gloves and warmest shoes, don't wish you to catch a cold so close to Christmas" Tokoyami agreed to earn a giggle as she nodded and walked out to grab her outfit

leaving tokoyami to think once more

perhaps he was foolish to think like that, he had just instructed Eri to be better prepared when he was ready to fly off in simply his nightwear, and thinking further he'd have to go back to U.A to fulfil his dream, his teacher would pick him out, and even if he did decide to run away from U.A, there would be an army of heroes on his tail, he just saw how easy it was for Aizawa and hawks to track him to his home, what was going to stop them from doing it again

they did care if they went to see him in the meer assumption that his homelife wasn't to their standard

it made tokoyami want to cry, why did he have to be such a nuisance to everyone around him, why did they care for someone that not even their parents wanted, he wasn't special he was

"tokoyami can you please help zip my coat," Eri's voice asked as she re-entered the room

he was so distracted he didn't even notice, not the best choice for a hero

regardless he still smiled at the ray of sunshine and did as she asked

"Where are your warm winter things?" Eri asked with concern for the raven

warm things were expensive, even in U.A he had to be careful of what to buy, especially after spending huge amounts to even go to U.A, everything "expensive" in his room like the sword was a family heirloom, and even if he could make some money of it he wouldn't, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself

"ah yes one-moment" tokoyami excused himself as he found the only fluffy thing he had, his coat

"what about your gloves and scarf?" Eri questioned almost like a scolding mother

"my feathers keep my head warm and with gloves I need to make sure I can hold you properly when we're flying" Tokoyami answered honestly, thanking his bird genetics for again that one small mercy

Eri nodded but jogged off to another room

Tokoyami was a little worried, with all the noise being made he was sure Aizawa or Mic would pick up on it

was this even a good idea, bringing their daughter out in the middle of the night for a random midnight flight

oh god he didn't get their permission

he was going to be thrown to the nearest home as soon as possible

darkshadow watched his host with deep concern, the anxiety levels kept rising and falling and he was sure this rate he was going to go into a panic attack

the quirk was doing its best to stop exploiting fumikages vulnerability for power but the rise in emotion was making it more difficult, she tried getting the raven's attention each time and telling him it was going to be ok, but it seemed like he couldn't hear them

Eri came back in with a scarf in hand

and either to complete obliviousness or strategic thinking put the scarf in the raven's hands to bring him back to reality

which once more to dark shadows relief had worked

"dad says it's too dangerous to leave without a scarf, and I don't want you to get sick so close to Christmas" Eri explained as she used the raven's words against him

"well said" tokoyami laughed lowly as he patted the girl's head affectionately before tying the scarf around him

"ok, we'll start low and work ourselves higher, but anytime you feel like you want to go down or a little lower just tell me ok" Tokoyami instructed as he wanted to ensure Eri's safety and wellbeing

Eri nodded affirmatively as she allowed herself to be picked up by the raven and dark shadow, hands and claws holding her closely and supportively

stepping out the window tokoyami gained their position keeping a sturdy ground until it was time to take off

...

Eri gazed in wonderment as the wind licked her face and they became airborne

"woooooahhh" Eri gasped as tokoyami gained a steady speed and into the streets and very soon the town

the lights twinkling past, sparkling golds, emerald greens, ruby reds, icy whites and electric blues all dazzling in her eyes

"Are you ok Eri?" Tokoyami asked with concern

"this is amazing" Eri exclaimed with joy

"wish to go higher?" he asked

"yes please" Eri agreed

thank god for hawks flying permit to go as high as he wished when joining the agency

and so they went higher and higher, each time Eri getting more and more excited as she could make out what the lights were trying to make a pattern

tokoyami loved hearing Eri's gasps of excitement, with how many years without making a noise of such joy made it more worthwhile when she did

but she wouldn't be so joyful if she got too tired to enjoy it as he saw the clock become midnight

"all right Eri, I believe it's time to get back" Tokoyami stated as he began to swirl back to where they came from

when no answer came tokoyami became worried

"Eri?" tokoyami questioned as quickly flew back down to the surface

"is she ok?" Darkshadow asked with concern

tokoyami observed, only to see a little smile followed by tiny snores

"she's good, must have fallen asleep" Tokoyami whispered as relief filled his body

"We should be too" Darkshadow murmured as he felt feel tired and thus themselves

"agreed, luckily I remember there's a shop todoroki took us to once that was close

"yeah the 6th in the culdesac, number 25" Darkshadow reminded

thanks to their hero training and bird genetics he'd grown to have a well-developed memory

and so tokoyami with Eri's hand was brought back to the sky and back to the house, flying low so as not to disturb Eri's blissful sleep

Memory had proven right as they entered the window once more, stepping carefully and quietly since it was 1 in the morning, walking into Eri's room which was filled with whites and reds, a table of drawings and hairclips covering the surface and a plush little bed where tokoyami placed the sleeping one, quickly removing the shoes and winter wear so she didn't get uncomfortable or overheated in the night, covering the kitty styled PJ's with kitty covered bedding

"good night little goddess" Tokoyami whispered fondly as he left the child to rest and closed the door slightly so she still had some comforting light

satisfied tokoyami crept back to the spare room and kicked off his shoes and coat, covering his bedding with his favourite blanket and did his best to block out the light, a reminder to himself to ask if he could get his nightlight from school, perhaps text hawks, he didn't know when he was going so it would be best to remind him

he allowed these notes to fill his mind as he fell into a deep sleep, darkshadow wrapping around him like a cat upon his chest

...

"breakfast!" the loud Mic screamed as he woke the raven to a startle

he had to take a moment to remember where he was before remembering the events of yesterday

"you ok fumi?" Darkshadow asked as his worry continued to increase for her host

"I'm all right" Tokoyami sighed as he rubbed his feathers

only to remember he forgot something very important

"dammit!" tokoyami groaned, placing his head back into his pillow

"we forgot feather gel, didn't we" darkshadow chuckled, his form not being affected by the loss of hair glue

"must still be in my bathroom in the dorms" Tokoyami groaned again as looked to his flip phone to see his reflection

he looked like he had just been dragged through a bush and back his feathers were that dishevelled, it usually didn't get this bad but for some apparent reason it decided it didn't want to play ball today

"bbbbreakfast!" Mic began to remix louder

"so loud" Tokoyami grumbled but got out of bed, deciding on his cargo pants and a hoodie, pulling up his hood, deciding he'd ask Aizawa if he could get some from the shops

walking down he was greeted by the odd stares of the family, looking at him curiously

"so much black it puts you to shame babe" Mic laughed before being elbowed by his husband

"you feeling ok" Eri asked as he sat at the table

"yes I'm fine, sorry, my feathers are being unruly is all" Tokoyami assured

"ah hair trouble, don't worry I got ya" Mic stated as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a jar of hell jell

"Always keep a spare" Mic announced proudly as he finished his bowel, scooping eris so they could do hers

leaving Aizawa and tokoyami to eat theirs, they had given the raven some of Eri's coco puffs, a good choice as they had never met a person who didn't like the cereal

leaving them in silence before Aizawa informed the raven of some key information

"Eri enjoyed the midnight flight" Aizawa stated before taking a bite of his cereal

leading to tokoyami almost chocking on his food

he knew

of course, he bloody well knew, he was Aizawa afterall

"she did?" Tokoyami asked as he did his best to stop shaking in his seat

"yes, said she saw many snow-filled hills with snowmen and angels, she especially loved the lights and the snow," Aizawa told as he continued eating his shreddies

Tokoyami was expecting to be scolded to heaven high, to pack his bags right there and now

he didn't however expect what happened next

"she's been having trouble with getting asleep, Mic says because she's excited about Christmas, which is one reason" Aizawa began to explain as he dropped his spoon to look at tokoyami directly

"but the other reason is that she still experiences nightmares from her time with the Shie Hassaikai...when I heard her last night I knew that she had another, I expected her to come to our room, but she went to you"

Tokoyami blinked with confusion but allowed Aizawa to continue

"you worked hard to get her to trust you, especially with the...resemblance...and it clearly shows with how she went to you for protection, even if you didn't know why she truly went to you, it's clear she sees you of someone that can provide comfort and did so by taking the mind of her past, and for that, I have to thank you on that" Aizawa said as he was glad Eri was able to find more and more people to let in who were trustworthy and kind, he knew his student and was glad his judgement wasn't wrong

"but next time write a note" Aizawa finished with a tired groan

"shall do sir" Tokoyami nodded sheepishly, yeah he kinda forgot about that, his mind wasn't with it

but saying that, something didn't add up

"but what about the glasses, the water? she said she was up because she thought I was awake and thirsty" Tokoyami questioned

"Eri likes to make excuses as to why she wishes to come to someone, she doesn't like to be reminded of her past" Aizawa explained

Tokoyami nodded, understanding that reasoning

"Now, hawks will be here shortly with the rest of your stuff, he also wants to take you out" Aizawa stated as he finished his bowel

tokoyami wasn't too far behind just a few more scoops

"where to?" tokoyami questioned

"Not sure, he didn't leave a note" Aizawa finished as he walked out with a playful smirk

Tokoyami chuckled, he guess he had that coming, at least he knew Aizawa wasn't mad at him, it was slightly odd seeing his teacher not being so tired and cold as he usually is but all his class knew he had a secret soft side for them, tokoyami did have to admit he saw it a little more, mainly cus he wasn't too much of a "problem child"

regardless he finished his bowel, cleaned it and hurried off to his room to get ready for the hawk's arrival and to fix his feathers

...

a knock on his window alerted the raven of the familiar face that was his mentor

"There's a door you know" tokoyami murmured as he lifted the window and allowed the hero to enter

"eh, can't be bothered with smiles downstairs, sides, it's faster this way" hawks reasoned with a shrug

tokoyami didn't get a chance to argue as a bag was brought into the room

and tokoyami was pleased with what was given, and even more so

all the pictures, including the one of his favourite tree, we're here, his laptop and charger and pleased to see hawks had gotten his feather gel, his nightlight and even dark Shadow's favourite plushy, he had almost forgotten that

"thank you hawks" Tokoyami thanked with relief as he held the picture close, darkshadow squeaking his plushy happily

"no prob fledgling, now let's get going, you're well with flying through the window I assume" Hawks quickly said as he gave the raven a knowing look

"you heard" tokoyami groaned sheepishly

"I saw, need to work on your observation, not just down bellow kiddo" Hawks continued to tease before jumping out of the window

Tokoyami shook his head as he followed him, knowing hawks wasn't going to let him forget that soon

the two flew to where hawks were leading them

"what are we doing here," tokoyami asked as the Christmas markets came into view

"Well, I thought we'd celebrate some Christmas stuff together" Hawks answered with his signature smile

"why?" Tokoyami questioned, wondering why his mentor was suddenly being so...he wasn't sure what hawks were being

"thought it be fun, all the sidekicks are gone for the Christmas and it was only little crimes that happened around this time, think the villains agree to give it a break at Christmas" Hawks couldn't help but laugh

tokoyami didn't think it funny but decided to go along with it anyway

"fine, where to then," Tokoyami asked as they landed, just before hawks ruffled his feathers

"First we sort that attitude out, it's good being a serious hero but as a mentor, my goal is to get you to let loose, especially around the season apparently" hawks chuckled as he watched the little chick grumble and fix his feathers for the second time today

"and on that note, we're getting chocolate covered-" Hawks began to declare

"apples" darkshadow and tokoyami interjected excitedly

"...well I was gonna say marshmallows and strawberries but we can get those too" hawks agreed with a grin, happy seeing it was already working

their first stop was the chocolate-covered goodies which hawks happily paid for

tokoyami was told let to simply leave it all to "mama bird"

another nickname which tokoyami had failed to stop hawks from using

so instead they carried on with their day

going into the grottos and looking at the trinkets, something the two birds had to agree was always a spectacle to see

getting hotdogs and fried chicken as they watched a pantomime take place "Aladdin" the two taking a deep interest

tokoyami pulled hawks aside as he decided to embarrass him as he tried to get them to get a gift with the cue of toddlers

and to tap it all off was when they had finished their cotton candy

"oh I went on these once" tokoyami stated as he pointed to the teacup ride and put the sticks in the bin

"you wanna get on," Hawks asked, surprised by the raven's reaction to the teacup ride

"Maybe not, Iida wasn't too pleased after going on with me, too fast he said" tokoyami murmured, quick to deny himself of fun

not that hawks would have any of that

"Really? jet engines for legs said you were too fast? oh, now we gotta go on!" Hawks stated excitedly as he grabbed the raven's wrist, gently pulling him into the cue

but when they saw it was hawks they allowed him to go straight on with fan girls trying to get some pictures in

but hawks was too focused on his little fledgling having a fun time to bother, his wings blocking out those who tried to get in with them

after all, Christmas time was for fam-

the bells rang saying the ride was ready

"ok little bird, show me what you got" Hawks encouraged as they began to move

and hawks was once more impressed

the raven was so focused and the speed was top-tier good stuff, to others he guessed it would be nauseating, but for him it was perfect

but he didn't want his protege taking up all the fun

"Great work little chick, but how's about we both give it a shot and see if we catch flight

"What?" Tokoyami questioned with susceptibility

"hell yeah!" darkshadow yelled as they also placed her claws on the wheel

and so the three spun the wheel around

and much to tokoyami's horror and hawks and dark shadows' delight they did end up going so fast it flew off their hinges

sending them to the other side of the ride

"you....idiot!" tokoyami was the first to break the silence

at first, hawks was worried he took it too far before the sound of growing laughter turned to ones of mirth, causing the winged hero to burst out chuckles of his own

of course, hawks paid for the damage but it was all worth it to hear tokoyami's laugh, it made him even prouder to know he caused it

"Now that is what I call Christmas fun" hawks exclaimed as the two left the ride, right after hawks signed it for the ride worker so he didn't have to pay full price

"agreed" tokoyami nodded as he finally got his laughter under control

"Now I promised Aizawa we'd be back before tea, anything you wanna do before we head out?" Hawks asked

"Can I go into that shop?" tokoyami asked

"yeah sure kiddo," hawks said as he was about to step in before a claw stopped him

"Without you" tokoyami ordered

"ohhh, wanna get me a Christmas gift?" Hawks smirked leaning his weight against the raven before being shoved off

"Eri actually, I don't want you spoiling it for her" tokoyami concluded

"tokoyami, I'm the second hero, you think I would know how to keep a surprise," Hawks said with a fake hurt

"you'd think so" tokoyami smirked as he walked inside and closed the door

(little jerk) hawks laughed to himself as he did as asked

tokoyami quickly came back out with a black bag protected by a little dark shadow

"all right ready to fly," hawks asked

"yes" tokoyami assured

"race-" hawks began but a flash of darkness set of

tokoyami knew what the hawks were going to say, he did tend to do it

hawks were quick to catch flight and in the race

tokoyami knew he wasn't going to win, but he would have fun trying he had so much fun today,

he loved spending time with hawks, since their relationship strengthened after the rocky start he had come to respect and look up to the winged hero, trusting him with his entire soul, and would do all he could to help him

this was very evident when it came to their encounter with Dabi

Hawks admitted he was very worried about the raven's self-sacrificing and kept a close eye on his little intern, perhaps creating more of a stronger relationship than hawks had ever imagined having or even thought possible to having

he didn't deserve tokoyami in all honesty, he was too good, too loyal, too pure, no one deserved him, but he didn't mean that literally

the rage he felt for tokoyami's parents was unbarable, he hated how he was dealt with a bad hand

and yet he stayed such a good kid, after everything, he wasn't cruel or bitter

hawks in honesty were in awe of the little raven and wanted to see him grow to become a strong and justice-filled man

and hawks wanted to do all he could to help

tokoyami was so close, although he was confused as to why hawks hadn't caught him yet

was he taking it easy on him because of Christmas or something

if so then he wouldn't allow it

tokoyami turned around to see hawks staring into nothingness

getting distracted? not wise

hawks were quickly brought out of his thoughts as he felt an impact crash onto the back of his wings pulling him down

a pair of arms he saw had wrapped around his neck gently

"and you're caught, better luck next time hero" the voice of darkshadow crackled as it was a reminder of the first time hawks found tokoyami distracted

hawks chuckled as he learnt his lesson

tokoyami had thought he won only for his body to feel like it was tipping upside down

hawks had turned around midair and unhooked the raven's arms

before the raven could catch his fall with darkshadow something else caught him, keeping him upside down as hawks turned back upright

"need to go harder if you think that's gonna catch a villian little chick" Hawks laughed as he watched the raven squirm in his grip

"I'll keep that in mind" tokoyami laughed as he was turned right back around but still held against the winged hero's chest, just like how their first flight went, but perhaps with a bit more care than how he simply carried him like a sack of potatoes back then

they got to the house where hawks wasted no time in plopping the teenager onto the bed

"you jerk" tokoyami laughed as he got up, doing his best to calm himself

"Nah, I'm the best" Hawks chuffed earning a roll of the eyes

"anyways, I've got to get back to patrol, and no I don't need your help" Hawks began before cutting himself off, knowing what the raven was going to say, evident by the sheepish look he was granted

"I've got some paperwork to do but I'll be here on Christmas" Hawks assured although he wasn't very much looking forward to that paperwork

"When is that again?" tokoyami asked

"Christmas eves today so tomorrow" Hawks answered, slightly disappointed to see that hadn't caused some excitement in the bird, but more confusion, he looked like he didn't realise how fast it had come, but back on track, with what he'd been told, Christmas would be just another day to survive, if not a painful memory

"Hawks, I enjoyed today, but I don't want you worrying about me, you should be spending Christmas with family and friends" Tokoyami urged with concern

this earnt hawks to ruffle tokoyami's feathers, but this time more softly and slowly

"Trust me, kid, spending time with you is the closest family I'm gonna get" Hawks reassured with a low laugh

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about" Hawks began only for the voice of Eri call from downstairs

"Tokoyami! are you there?"

"be down in a sec" Tokoyami yelled back

but as he turned he was shocked to discover the winged hero was gone

"That was weird, even for him," Darkshadow said with confusion

tokoyami nodded in agreement

unknown to them hawks was flying back to his agency

(I'll tell him later) hawks repeated with certainty, he just needed to find the right words

...

tokoyami walked down to where Eri was decorating the rest of the house, the tree may be done but they didn't want Eri to run out of Christmas activities

"oh Eri had the ramen for her lunch since you were out, hope that's all right" Mic was quick to say when he saw him

"That's fine, sorry I didn't have the rest of it when it was first made" Tokoyami apologised but Mic didn't mind

"Think nothing of it, if you can't eat, don't force yourself" Mic assured as he was given his bowl of soba to quickly have for tea, a small portion which tokoyami was grateful for as he was able to finish it

"tokoyami, want to help with the decorating" Eri offered happily as she saw he was finally finished with his tea

"I'm good Eri" Tokoyami stated as he placed the bowel in the dishwasher, after all, it wasn't his house, he couldn't think he could take such a privilege

"Please," Eri asked once more, flashing those adorable red puppy dog eyes, making tokoyami sweat under the pressure

"yeah, you're staying for Christmas, meaning you're part of helping out now" Mic joked as he placed a Santa hat upon the ravens head

(my feathers can't take a break) Tokoyami laughed to himself as shoved the hat just above his eyes

he was surprised by how big the hat was, they usually couldn't hide his head due to his pointed feathers

he was also surprised to see it had the same design that Aizawa had given him back when U.A was celebrating

speaking of his teacher he was currently sleeping in his signature yellow sleeping bag, but also wearing a Christmas hat to complete the look

but his eyes drifted away when a golden snowflake sticker was placed in his hand and told to put it anywhere in the hallway, darkshadow got herself some stickers so she could place them higher

Eri laughed as tokoyami and Mic scolded the quirk for putting them on the ceiling who simply laughed

"Are you excited for Santa eri?" Darkshadow asked as they finished decorating

it looked amazing with the baubles, and twinkling fairy lights dazzling the corridor

Eri nodded excitedly

"daddy and dad said we need to put down a cookie and milk to appease the big red demon" Eri announced

Tokoyami held in a snort, if that wasn't his influence then he was unsure of what was

"Eri, we told you he isn't a demon" Aizawa sighed as he announced he was awake, but still resting his eyes

"Indeed, you are believing in Krampus" tokoyami subconsciously told,

"who's Krampus?" Eri pondered innocently

"I'll tell you when you're older," Tokoyami said as he felt the disapproving stares of his teachers

"yeah, but for now we need to get ready for him" Mic stated as he beckoned the kids into the kitchen

"We need to decorate these cookies and pick one out for Santa" Mic explained as he gave them multiple colours of icing

Tokoyami felt like a kid in primary again, decorating the cookies that he would bring back to his grandfather where they would sit by the fireplace and he would tell stories as he happily ate in wonderment

"you ok tokoyami?" Mic asked as he saw the raven's eyes begin to water

"yes, sorry, just remembering fond memories," tokoyami said as he wiped the tears away

"no need to be sorry kid, would you like to share those memories," Mic asked kindly

tokoyami was a very well-reserved person, right now, he just wanted to remember the man who helped him and loved him till his dying breath

telling them of the tradition he had with cookies, cutting down the trees, building snowmen and the stories, so many stories he was told

and mic, eri and Aizawa listened attentively, giving the raven their full attention, which may or may not have encouraged the bitter-sweet tears rolling down his face

Aizawa placed a reassuring hand on the raven as he finished his retelling

"well your grandfather sounds like a good honest man and raised one himself" Aizawa declared proudly, eri and Mic nodding in agreement

"thank you, sir" Tokoyami cried as Aizawa brought the raven into a hug, knowing that he needed it, Eri joined in as she hugged the raven's leg and was acknowledged by a caring hand resting on her head

when the teenager regained his breath they went to finish the cookies, Eri picking a star-designed one as the rest were ready to be eaten, 1 tonight and the rest for tomorrow as too much sugar meant they would be too tired for the big day

"oh and a carrot for the reindeer!" dark shadow exclaimed as he got it from the fridge, which no one objected too

"all right, everything's all ready for Santa which means you need to get into bed" Aizawa stated as he tiredly got back up from the couch

"can't I see him, dad," Eri asked sadly

"that's unfortunately not the rule kiddo," Mic said as he watch Aizawa hold the girl's hand

"wait, can tokoyami tell me a story before I go to bed," Eri asked Aizawa who proceeded to look at the raven waiting for an answer

"of course, if that is what you wish" Tokoyami smiled affirmatively

"I'll call him in when it's time" Aizawa assured as they walked out of the living room

"psst" the voice of mic whispered to bring the raven's attention to him

"hey kid" mic continued to whisper, pulling him into a side hug and crouching down to his level

"yes?" Tokoyami asked with confusion

"you need wrapping paper?" Mic asked with the strange tone

"you sound like your about to sell us drugs in a dark alley" Darkshadow commented with an annoyed glace

"doesn't answer the question, ya dig," Mic asked as he wasn't stopping this little tangent

"fine yes please" Tokoyami huffed

"coolio, but, you're not from the-" Mic was about to continue before tokoyami gave him the most dead-eyed look he'd seen and he was married to Eraserhead of all people

"Sir" Tokoyami glared dangerously, finding this charade weird and annoying

"all right all right, jeez, if looks could kill" Mic laughed as he threw a tube of gold and red paper a box of labels and sellotape at the raven which darkshadow caught with ease

"the scissors are in the top draws on the left" Mic finished as ran excitedly off, most likely to get the presents

so with a shrug tokoyami grabbed his supplies and got to work

...

after a good few minutes of cutting and sticking he had 5 ready to go presents that he placed under the tree

he didn't care that he wasn't going to get anything, they had been so nice to him that he would have felt guilty if he hadn't

"Tokoyami" Aizawa called as it was clear Eri was waiting on her story

not wanting to keep her waiting he grabbed his water and walked upstairs where Aizawa said to have a good sleep before walking downstairs, clearly to do the act of Santa

tokoyami placed his water quickly in the bedroom and into eris's room where she was hugging a kitten plushy

tokoyami sat at the edge of the bed and thought of a story

then he remembered one he was told a lot as a kid and one he could rehearse word for word

"ok eri, ready" tokoyami asked

"yes, but don't you need a book?" Eri asked with confusion

"fear not, the brain holds more stories than any book" Tokoyami concluded as eri giggled once more at his wording

"Once upon a time, there were two poor brothers who did not get along

but one day something changed their lives forever

a god with golden rings surrounding their head and a flowing white robe came into the world and met with the two

the two were astonished but bowed in greetings

when looking up they saw the god was offering two gifts

one hand held a flower

the other is a crown

the older brother chose the crown which lead to an unfathomable amount of wealth, it's only condition was to use this wealth to help the poor and needy

the younger brother chose the flower leading to a life of unconditional love and healing, the only condition was to share it unconditionally and to spread the kindness

both brothers agreed to which the god began to leave, saying one day they would come back to see if they kept to their word

50 years passed and the god returned

only to be disappointed to see the older brother used his money for selfish gain, giving his fortune to only those who could give him something in return and keeping it to himself

the god came to the older brother who looked with no fear

he paid an army to protect him if the god were ever to return

but as many darts, arrows, cannons and swords tried to piece the god figure it merely phased through

the army shook in their boots, but the god phased by them, they were under the influence of greed and the god took patience in understanding it was not their fault but the provider, the brother

"you fight, because of guilt, consequences are to be met" the god stated to the fearful brother

the brother begged and pleaded for the god to show mercy

to which the god tapped the brother's chest

the god said that unless his younger brother's gift of unconditional love would forgive him he would become charcoal, to convey the darkness of his soul

and so the older brother left his palace hurriedly to where his brother was to be

only to be met with the villagers saying the younger brother had used his gift well until his dying breath

the power of healing took a lot from the brother in effort but he did not mind

when on his death bed he asked for his blood to be drained and to be sprinkled into a field of flowers, providing healing abilities to all that ate them

the older brother was brought to tears, how he could have been so selfish as his younger brother had been so selfless

crying as his charcoal covered his chest

this was his reward for his actions

only to be interrupted by a little girl

he wished for you to have this" the child said as she handed the older brother a heart-shaped flower

eating the flower the darkness surrounding his heart disappeared

looking to the sky in gratitude declared he would use this second chance for good

using his wealth as truly intended

and when he died his only request was to die next to his brother within the cavern they once shared as children, hoping that in the next life he could make amends and be a better older brother

the last this the brother saw was the god as they placed the crown upon his head and a bunch of his younger brother's flowers in his statued hands

after years the cavern was left and protected by the villagers and the descendants in remembrance of this story

the flowers however did not last, but legends say that the only place they grew was within the younger brothers' palms"

Eri looked in sleepy awe at what she was told

Tokoyami's grandfather did always link stories to morals, to always choose love over wealth but to be kind and forgiving

traits he'd hope to pass on to his grandson

and what tokoyami could hope eri would continue

"That was sad but happy" Eri admitted

"I guess the ending was bittersweet, sorry, perhaps it was not the best one to sleep to" Tokoyami apologised as he thought perhaps for Christmas eve it wasn't the most cheery and she was still quite young

"no I liked it, that heroes can help make people better people and the god sounds very patient" Eri explained

"indeed little one, sleep tight," Tokoyami said as he was glad eri got what he had hoped to tell, and so he began to leave so she could sleep

"tokoyami" Eri called before the raven left

"yes?" Tokoyami asked

"Can you sing something, I like your singing voice?" Eri asked as she snuggled into her bedding

"you've heard me sing?" Tokoyami asked curiously as he walked back to the bed

"you were outside reading a book and singing a song, um, two birds on a wire?" Eri explained

tokoyami's feathers poofed in embarrassment, he mustn't have realised

"well ok, but you'll need to sleep soon" Tokoyami said as he began to lie down on the bed next to Eri who happily hugged him, he was tired and honestly sang better when lying down

"what do you want me to sing?" Tokoyami asked

"I don't mind" Eri admitted as she began to close his eyes

so tokoyami thought about what songs he could remember

he wasn't going to start screaming heavy death music at a 6-year-old so other than apple-bottom jeans which Mina made him rehearse to tears there was one more he remembered at this very moment

and so he began to sing silent night

his deep voice, smooth as caramel helped to keep the melody calm and light

singing themselves to sleep as darkshadow returned to his respected sleeping spot

the three being found in blissful sleep and a picture taken by two proud-looking parents

...

"Tokoyami!" the screaming excited voice of Eri awoke the raven with a start

jumping on the bed and moving the raven himself as he blinked awake in a haze, wondering what on earth was happening

"Santa's been!" Eri quickly explained as she began pulling both tokoyami's and dark shadows wrists downstairs

Tokoyami merely allowed this as they hurried down the stairs in which Santa had truly had been

carrot and cookie eaten with crumbs as proof and a half-drank glass of milk, footprints of snow covering the floor and of course

the presents

Aizawa was there holding a cup of coffee in hand as Mic readied Christmas breakfast

"morning and merry Christmas kids" Mic announced happily which Aizawa nodded as enthusiastically as he could

"good morning" Tokoyami and Eri bowed

"After we eat breakfast we can open presents" Aizawa stated as he saw the excited gleam in his daughter's eyes

"which is ready to be eaten so dig in" Mic stated as he finished putting the food on golden plates, a Christmas privilege, along with glasses that had candy cane-designed straws with them

5 of them are to be told

tokoyami was about to question before a figure came flying in

"Merry Christmas all" the voice of hawks welcomed

"hawks" eri, tokoyami and darkshadow in unison questioned with surprise

"I said I'd be here for Christmas" hawks reminded as he sat himself down

that was true, but tokoyami didn't believe he would this early, not that tokoyami was complaining, he was happy to know he wasn't just coming and leaving

so without complaint, there was a new addition to this widely happened Christmas family

finishing breakfast and like a cat, with a laser pointer Eri ran to the living room

the rest are not too far behind

the first gifts were of course from "Santa" as eri received plushies, drawing and writing books as well as some puzzle games and playsets which also held the name of her dads, which made eri give plenty of hugs

then came the more personal presents

"the ones in red and gold are from fumi" Darkshadow called as Eri found a different the coloured present with her name on it

with a nod from Aizawa, she opened the present carefully

revealing a big thick book with pictures of ancient and mystical beasts covering the front

"I believed you'd have some interest and this book will explain what the ancient beasts are along with their tales" Tokoyami explained as eri held the book close

"I love it, thank you tokoyami" Eri thanked as she rushed to hug the raven

"you can call me fumikage if you wish" tokoyami offered as he believed they had grown close enough to be on first names by now

"thank you fumikage!" Eri repeated as she was happy to be so close

the adults smiled as they moved from the couch and towards the tree where it was revealed to have a second sack of presents

only this time, it was for tokoyami

"Sirs I-" Tokoyami began to refuse before they cut him off

"These are from Eri, eraser and me, we want you to have them" Mic stated as they knew what the raven was going to say

"thank you but I couldn't possibly, you've already done so much" Tokoyami tried humbly only for hawks to squeeze his shoulder, providing comfort and allowing Aizawa to say his words

"kid, for once just relax and let yourself be treated, no strings attached, we want to do this just because we want you to have a nice Christmas" Aizawa confirmed

Tokoyami looked around as he watched the encouraging faces awaiting him to enjoy the gifts in front of him

maybe for once, he could let himself be spoilt

so tokoyami reached in for one present and began to open

all the gifts were fully appreciated and beautiful

a new fluffy coat with matching gloves and scarf, a purple sword that glowed purple, courtesy of a gift Eri picked out along with a silver necklace with a ruby designed like an apple, purple and black coloured skull candles, a black notebook and fluffy black snake plushie for darkshadow

"thank you, I'll cherish them all" Tokoyami declared tearfully before quickly running to get the last of the gifts and handing them out to the rest of the teachers

The mic was given a small crystal orb that when someone singed electricity bounced against the walls

Aizawa was given lavender-scented candles that didn't stain clothes or in aizawas yellow sleeping bag

and finally for hawks

he was given a picture frame that had a raven on the left side engraved, a hawk engraved on the right and a fire engraved on the bottom middle

combining all of hawks' favourite things together

hawks looked at this gift in awe

"I'm sorry it isn't much but I hope you like them" tokoyami bowed in the hopes

"it's perfect" hawks whispered as he held the frame like the most delicate feather in existence

"agreed, thank you tokoyami" Aizawa added as he planned to use the candles as much as he could in class

"I'm glad you like them," tokoyami said as he watched hawks place the frame carefully on the table, glad he didn't have to worry about being so worried about money for once and was able to spend it to provide joy to others

"but don't think I forgot kid, it's just my gifts back at my flat" hawks began

"you have a flat?" darkshadow questioned sceptically as they were being patted by Eri, who was very much stuck in her book

"yeah, decided to get one, thought it be better to separate work and my job life" Hawks chuckled

"that's fair, are we going today?" Tokoyami shrugged before asking

"yeah, when you're ready to take off," Hawks said, although he did seem to be getting nervous

"We don't have any plans left till dinner for Christmas lunch so you two get going" Aizawa advised, giving hawks a stare that only the two knew meant

and so the two were off once more

...

tokoyami was glad that Hawks was finally taking care of himself

how many times he'd get back from patrol and see his mentor practically asleep as he wrote on the computer

tokoyami hoped this would help him to separate home from work if all his stuff was the food was in a different place

but it would be still as lonely

tokoyami hadn't forgotten how his mentor said he was the closest thing he had to family

they were two birds of a feather in that sense, tokoyami couldn't help but chuckle bitterly

to be dealt with such familiarly bad cards

these two weeks had been the best, but he couldn't expect Aizawa or Mic to do anymore, they already had Eri who was dealt with even worse cards to provide for, it would be selfish to expect them to take him in, even awkward as eraser was his teacher, after all, so no, even if they did offer he wasn't sure he could accept or would accept

but if-

the raven's thoughts were interrupted when two sets of hands covered his eyes

which in the air made the raven panic

"relax chic, just don't wanna ruin the surprise" hawks reassured as he lead the raven to land

tokoyami trusted his mentor

had grown to care for him like a weird older brother or uncle figure, maybe a father? he wasn't sure, after all, he never had any

but even with one of his senses covered, he couldn't help but trust him

"ok kid, open your eyes" hawks whispered as he lifted his hands

it took the ravens eyes to adjust but when they did he still couldn't believe what he was seeing

they were on the top of an apartment, where twinkling golden lights covered the railings, pronouncing the arrival of a strong and very familiar tree, no leaves and covered in glistening white snow

"what is this?" Tokoyami questioned as he looked in disbelief

"you said the trees are important to you and I don't want to say but there was word of a construction crew going to try and make more houses, I didn't-" Hawks began to explain shakily

only to feel a sudden impact at his side

the raven hugging him tightly as he began to cry

"oh buddy" hawks muttered as he held the raven close

"I'm sorry buddy, I didn't mean" hawks began to apologise, he honestly didn't want this to upset the raven

"no, I just, I love it, thank you, it means a lot" Tokoyami interrupted as he expressed that they were not tears of sadness but of joy

"Anything for you kid" Hawks promised

then gathering his courage he did what he wanted to do after all these days of sticking his head in the sand, he was ready

"speaking of" Hawks began

"yes?" Tokoyami asked

"I've been kinda nervous asking you this but I was just wondering" Hawks continued shakily, trying to stay calm

"yes?" darkshadow asked this time

"Well, um, the truth is I meant what I said when I said you're the closest thing to a family, one I've never had and, well, I see you as my chick, I've always said this, but, I do mean it kid...so...um, if you want to, would like to live with me? here and be a sort of family, together" Hawks offered, shaking with sobs

a moment of silence filled the void before a big smile came upon the raven's beak

"yes! yes, I would love that!" Tokoyami exclaimed as tears of happiness

and so the two hugged each other, crashing to the floor on the knees, too weak to stand anymore

"oh thank god" Hawks cried as he held the raven closer

snow swirling the two as they cried and laughed with the promise of a better life for the two

as a newfound family

...

(1 year later)

"Eri, your cousin and uncle are here" the voice of Aizawa called as he saw two familiar faces appear in the window

"fumi!" Eri yelled as she ran to where the door opened revealing the two birds all bundled up in their winter gear, the raven refusing to wear any other coat than the one before

"hello Eri, how are you this merry eve?" tokoyami asked as he picked the little girl up as she began to tell him all the gifts she had gotten, leading him to her pile

"Hi hawks, how ya doing" Mic greeted as he watched the kids walk into the living room

"we're doing good, just got back from the todoroki's, endeavours been allowed back but as long as we came so I could annoy him, but nice to see toko talk with that shoto kid, two sides of the same coin" hawks joked as he put his coat on the bannister

just thinking about their family situation made him shudder, at least with tokoyami there wasn't too much

he went into a courtroom, asking to adopt the raven and by the end of 2 weeks last year he was officially his kid, the money from his family was cut off so tokoyami never had to have any contact with them ever again, and they were over the moon

"well I hope you didn't stock up on food while you were there" Aizawa grumbled as he began to place the plates and Christmas crackers

"he had a bucket of chicken" dark shadows voice peaked concerning the conversation

"I'm not raising a grass!" Hawks said with a sing-song tone

"Well I hope you're wearing your loose pants cus tea is finished" Mic stated as dinner was set

filled to the brim with pigs in blankets, mash, gravy, carrots, parsnips, stuffing and all the goodies, although no sprouts as everyone refused to eat them much to Aizawa's annoyance, even at Christmas he couldn't escape being a dad to problematic children, and that included the number 2 hero and his husband

regardless everyone sat down and began to dig in

"Can I have some more parsnips please?" Tokoyami asked as it was clear his appetite was much better

even hawks who were now in the mindset of a parent realised living on KFC wasn't the healthiest decision and also asked for extra carrots

in between the meal they began to pull their crackers, filled with horribly punny jokes, little toys like bouncy balls and hopping frogs and of course the Christmas hats

"Merry Christmas fumikage" Hawks with a red crown whispered as he placed a purple coloured crown on his child's head

"Merry Christmas Keigo" tokoyami whispered back as he pushed the hat up properly

"who's ready for CAKE!" Mic screamed as he pulled out a triple chocolate cheesecake

"Mic let their food rest first" Aizawa scolded as the rest laughed at the blond's antics

the laughter filled the room as the two birds matched the very picture that was placed in the bronze picture frame given the very first Christmas they had together, hands around shoulders and hugging each other close, eyes closed and mouths opened echoing the laughter of mirth for many more years to come

[druggeddraccus]

i thought of going out today but i went out yesterday so i think i’d rather just stay home.

yesterday i went to ross and bought some crop tops that i actually liked on myself (i have never bought crop tops before so i hope i’ll still like them and wear them) i also went to barnes and noble and bought a few more books lol and i’ve decided that i’m gonna write the year/month bought on them from now on—in the inside cover. i wish i’d done it before lol though there are some on my shelves that i know i bought last year and i can write in the year if not the month

it’ll help me keep track for when i should probably be rid of a book lol

i’ve been reading little women still and i’m loving it so much. i’m over halfway. i spent some of the morning outside in my hammock and i moved it to the shade in case i started to fall asleep lol and i did sleep for a bit lol now i’ve showered gonna finish my laundry and start reading again

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The Lost Cause prologue part IV

I'm coming to Minneapolis! Oct 15: Presenting The Internet Con at Moon Palace Books. Oct 16: Keynoting the 26th ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing.

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a rollicking solarpunk adventure about defending the Green New Deal from seagoing anarcho-capitalist wreckers and white nationalist militias; Bill McKibben called it "a chronicle of mutual aid that is politically perceptive, scientifically sound, and extraordinarily hopeful":

The book comes out on Nov 14 from Tor Books and Head of Zeus, and I'm running a Kickstarter campaign to pre-sell the ebook, hardcover and (especially) the audiobook (Amazon refuses to carry my audiobooks, so this is the only way to get them into readers' hands); you can back it now:

http://lost-cause.org

To whet your appetite, I'm serializing the book's prologue, which really kicks things off:

Here's part one:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/06/green-new-deal-fic/#the-first-generation-in-a-century-not-to-fear-the-future

And part two:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/07/met-cute-ugly/#part-ii

And part three:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/09/working-the-refs/#lost-cause-prologue

And now, part four:

A couple of my friends were working on an AP science project—­ they’d made an enzyme they thought would break down polyethylene at room temperature—­and I’d promised that I’d help them after school. Walking home past Verdugo Park, I ran into some more friends sitting in the grass and chatting, so I sat with them, watching the kids on the playground and the dog-­walkers and the swordfighting class boffing each other with foam swords, and hours slipped by.

By the time I headed home, the sun was low and the day was finally starting to cool off. I remembered that I’d forgotten to pull the blinds before going out and imagined how hot and stuffy the house would be. Maybe Gramps had gotten back early enough to lower them. Otherwise, I could lie in the backyard in my hammock and do some reading while I waited for the house to air out some.

The blinds were drawn. I went in through the back door and dropped my bag on my bed, stripped off my tee and pulled on a fresh one, and headed to the kitchen for a snack.

“Gramps?”

He didn’t answer, which I figured meant that he was playing his podcasts through his hearing aids. They were supposed to be smart enough to pass speech through, but they struggled with people shouting from other rooms. I grabbed some more iced coffee and went into the living room.

Gramps was sitting in his spot on the old sofa, staring out the window. “Gramps?”

He didn’t look around. I moved into his line of sight and then drew back. His face was set in a mask of rage I hadn’t seen since I was a kid and came to live with him, the face he’d make before he’d hit me. He hadn’t hit me in a long time, not since he’d raised a bruise where one of my middle-­school teachers could see it and she’d called CPS on him. They’d made him do a month of mandatory anger-­management classes.

“Gramps?” I reached for him but didn’t touch him. He was quivering.

He fixed his gaze on me. Glared.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

He stood up. He was shorter than me now, and couldn’t quite straighten up, but it still felt like he was towering over me. “Kid, you know exactly what’s wrong, and don’t pretend otherwise.”

Oh.

“Gramps, he could have killed me. I saved his life. I know he’s a friend of yours—­”

“Shut the fuck up about that, kid. Don’t talk about my friends. Don’t talk about who I know and who I don’t know. You know what that dumb asshole Mike Kennedy is up against? Forty years. Seven felony counts. Most of ’em to do with you: kidnapping, assault, attempted murder. Death penalty shit. Don’t think that the DA isn’t going to use that, the feds have got a hard-­on for anyone who doesn’t toe the line on their Green New Deal bullshit. They’re gonna tell him that either he testifies against his friends or he’ll get a lethal injection. Kennedy’s no genius, either. He’ll cave. You just watch.”

“Gramps—­”

“Shut up, I said. You think saying my name on your viral video is gonna help anything. Shit, kid, why didn’t you just turn me in yourself?”

“Come on, Gramps. I didn’t plan this, Mike did.” I wanted so badly to leave, but Gramps was between me and the door. “Tell you what, let’s go visit him. They’ll let him have visitors in lockup, right?”

Gramps sagged back down into his chair. “Kennedy’s not in lockup. They let him go an hour ago.”

“Oh,” I said. “Well, that sounds good, right?”

He shook his head and gave me a disgusted look. “No, kid, that doesn’t sound good. That sounds like he ratted everyone out already. In which case he’s a fucking dead man.”

I took a deep breath. Gramps was clearly on the brink of losing it altogether and telling him he was being overly dramatic would definitely push him right over the edge. “If that’s true, then maybe you should talk to your other friends, or maybe him—­”

“Just shut up, okay? Don’t talk about shit you don’t and can’t understand. Look, if Kennedy sold out his friends then he’s got what’s coming to him and besides, there isn’t a damned thing in the world I could do to stop it. But what’s more likely is that he didn’t say a word, but they’ve put him on the street so that people get the impression that maybe he did, and now he’s in fear for his life and the only way to save his skin is to run back to the station house and start talking. It wouldn’t be the first time they tried that stunt. And the fact is, it doesn’t matter which one it is because he’s gonna get shut up before he can do that, because everyone understands what’s going on here and what’s at stake. So me calling that sad sack now would just make me the last person who spoke to the victim before he turned up dead.”

“That’s terrible.”

“No, kid, that’s life. What’s terrible is that my own grandson is involved in this ugly stupid mess, and that every dumbass on the internet is trading clips with my name in them, doxing me, associating me with this ridiculous garbage.”

Now I was starting to get mad. “I didn’t do it on purpose, you know. Your friend threatened to kill me. I didn’t tell him to get up on that roof or fill his Super Soaker with hydrochloric acid.”

“Yeah, you didn’t, that’s true.” He picked up a beer from the table next to him, finished the last swallow, set it down. “You didn’t. But you were and you did and now—­” He shook his empty beer. “Ah, shit. Brooks, listen, you know that my friends are okay, but some of their friends . . .”

I knew. I’d sometimes spot Gramps’s friends marching with the Maga Club groups, carrying ugly signs, conspiracies and racism and “demographics are destiny.” Or set up with a table on Magnolia on Food Truck Friday, showing videos about “the great replacement” and “socialist tyranny.”

“I know who you mean.”

“None of ’em ever liked you. They didn’t like your father even before he went to Canada with that woman. When he did, well, that sealed it for ’em. To leave America and go work for the socialists? Kid, it’s a good thing he never tried to come back here, I’ll tell you that much. Far as they’re concerned, the only good thing that rabbit flu did was kill a bunch of foreign commies, agitators, traitors, and climate bed wetters. By which they mean your father and mother. And by extension, that means you. Your sex thing doesn’t help either—­”

My head filled with that buzzing sound I heard whenever Gramps tried to talk to me about sexuality. The fact that I wouldn’t call myself straight made him crazy. The fact that I wouldn’t say “gay” or “bi” or any of those old-­fashioned terms made him absolutely bugfuck. “Queer” was okay with me, or “pan,” but honestly, who the fuck cared? Why would my grandfather need to know which people I wanted to fuck and which people I did fuck? I’d explained this to him calmly and I’d had shouting matches with him about it. My other friends had problems with this stuff, sure, but their parents were able to at least pretend to understand. Gramps was a generation older and not only didn’t he understand, he didn’t want to. “Just pick one, kid,” is what he’d say, and then I’d overhear him saying worse to his friends when they took over the kitchen to play poker or the living room to watch a game.

“Jesus, Gramps”—­that buzzing sound was blood, of course, coursing in my ears as my rage built and built—­“would you just shut up about that bullshit? I don’t care what your asshole friends want. In case you didn’t notice, one of them nearly murdered me last night—­”

“Shut. Up.” Loud, in that boss voice he used when he was getting everyone else to listen to him, whether it was on a jobsite or during an argument over cards. “Yeah, one of my friends just about murdered you last night, but he didn’t, did he? You know why? Because of me. Because of who I am in this community. Our name, Palazzo, it goes back a long way in this town. We’re Lockheed originals, thanks to my own dad. That counts for something. You’re safe because you’re my grandson, that’s what I’m trying to explain to you. But it’s not a get-­out-­of-­jail-­free card. You’re not untouchable.”

“Thanks for letting me know.” I hated it when Gramps acted like he was in the Mafia because he and his friends were the kinds of assholes who periodically got drunk or disturbed enough to commit some act of idiotic vandalism.

“Kid—­” he started. I left.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/10/weaponized-interdependence/#super-soaker-full-of-hydrochloric-acid

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful novel of the climate emergency. Amazon won't sell the audiobook, so I made my own and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter!

[teyumbar]

About a Good Boy

We drive up to the simple wooden two storey sitting by a brook halfway up the hill. The servants rush to unpack our luggage; she makes no move to leave the car. I start the engine and drive out into the field slowly, peering at her through the rear view mirror. 3 kilometers in, she unravels the leash expertly wrapped around the strap of her purse. My cue to park on the edge of the clearing we just happened on. I get the door for her then turn, tugging down my shirt collar and bending to her height. Her perfume fills my nose as she fastens the leash to the black leather collar around my neck. I close my eyes and my mind. When they reopen, I am no longer in control. I drown in color, and smells, and curiosity... I leave my cares and safety to her. Till sundown, we play all kinds of games. Running, catching, rolling in the grass... She calls me a good boy. It makes me so glad that she feels that way about me. I believe her the way she says it. I am a good boy...

We drive back to the cabin where it is all quiet; the servants retreated to the city once they had unpacked and readied the rooms. I get the key from the fake rock and we head inside.

For three nights, and four days, she lets me take care of her. I clean the cabin, wash her clothes, cook her meals.

She's sitting naked on the edge of the couch as she types and stairs out through the balcony archway. Her tummy swollen from cleaning out a plate of beans and plantain I set before her an hour ago.

Soon, she will sleep. I set my book down to go freshen the bed. On my way back, I bring a pot of jasmine tea, which I set on a coffee table at her elbow. She sets her computer aside, throws on her pink robe, then stalks off to the bedroom. Ignoring my offering. I wince. Acknowledging... too far, too eager... I must rein it in. I didn't best three other only to lose to myself.

I take my place by the wall and look through the holes cut in the eyes of the painting I found... this mistress had a sense of humor and anticipation. She slept with luxurious hair encased in the silk I presented her, hands shaking, on The Morning of First Impressions. I let the warmth flame of delight course through my body, knowing she fashioned the bonnet herself.

I saw her needlework on a painting in a badly lit comedy pub. Later, I recognized I was drawn to her work with knots on the front sign of the funeral home. I didn't then know they were hers and yet, both filled me with a yearning to know. And the more I knew, the clearer my intentions became to myself. When I told her what they were, reading her face through hooded eyes, cringing at the sound of my own voice. I was relieved to find in her eyes a fascination mixed with a touch of amusement.

I went to the kitchen to make some kenkey. The mix was ready to be wrapped in corn husk. I day-dreamed about tomorrow morning, When she'd wake up to a bubble bath and a nice bowl of sativa. I'd have laid out. Whenever she felt hungry, be it after an hour or half the day, she'd traipse into in the kitchen, and I'd offer a plate of kenkey, shito, fried freshly caught cod and tuna with a salad of spicy ground chili. After that, a she'd drink a double expresso with a cookie.

We'd a walk through the fields later. Up to the clearing where we played only a couple days ago. We'll picnic on wine and cheese, or she'd swing in the hammock, reading a book while I stalked off collecting brambles for a fire to roast corn we we'd eat with butter and dry coconut.

It would be such a beautiful end to these pleasant days. I sighed, knowing that none of my preparation would matter if she woke up in a foul mood. I had to take care today that she might be positively disposed tomorrow.

Ice pressed against my nipple soaks my shirt. She wraps one arm around me from behind then bites my back. I sigh... this kenkey will overferment and be ruined... but how can I say no to such a clear summon? My hesitance is rewarded with a smack across the face. I grow hard in seconds. I look up, and she is walking away.. I pulled her back, and helped her up the counter. She spread her legs and raised her knees... I reached for both breasts...

[wang56]

Fiction 2: The door of heart

It was a sunny early morning. The sound of dragging a suitcase is waking up everyone in the town.

“Who’s that?”

“It’s so annoying.”

“Is anyone moving in?” Tons of complaints was popping out of the houses.

It was Jamie. She’s a beautiful girl with long brown hair. She was moving to the town for her dream house.

Jamie just landed and was about to opened up the door of her house.

A stylish grandma walked by and said hi, “Hi sweetheart, are you new here? It’s my first time seeing you.” She smiled.

“Yes, I am Jamie, nice to meet you.”

“Beautiful name Jamie, I am Rosie. Welcome. If you need any help, tell me.” Rosie then handed Jamie a piece of paper with a phone number on it.

“Sure, thank you.” Jamie took it and whispered, “Rosie.” She then got the key out of her pocket and walked into the house.

“Wow. Gorgeous.” She laid down on the ground and closed her eyes. The sun light shone on her face through the cracks in the branches.

Grandma Rosie slowly walked home and whispered, “That girl looks like Emma…” Her eyes welled up with tears.

Two weeks passed away. Jamie never went to meet her neighbors except one time, asking

about where to get a puppy in the town. The rumor was starting to swirl around the town –

Jamie is a hedgehog.

“Jamie is pretty but she never talks.”

“I know right, she looks cold. Like a hedgehog.”

“Did you talk to her?”

“Nope, but I know Rosie did.”

“How?”

“I think Rosie loves her. She told me that Jamie looks exactly the same as her granddaughter.”

“Is she cold too?”

Jamie could barely hear any of those because she rarely left her house. She loves staying home reading books and playing with her puppy yoyo. She also planted lots of flowers in her front yard. They grow fast.

Image credit to ADOLFO VAZQUEZ

It was three months later. The flowers were much taller. Jamie was lying in her hammock. Suddenly, a phone call shattered the peace.

“Jamie, your mom fainted. Come to see her.”

Jamie was so nervous and booked the flight in the same day. But she quickly realized that how about her puppy and her flower? Jamie was pacing in her front yard.

“Oh yeah, Rosie!” She rushed into her room and looked for Rosie’s phone number.

“Hi Rosie, this is Jamie.”

“Hi Jamie, how are you?” “Good, I mean not good…My mom…she fainted and I need to go and visit her tonight…” “Do you need any help?” “Yes…thank you so much Rosie. Could you help me to look after my flowers and my dog? For 3 days.” Rosie thought for a brief moment and said, “Sure, trust me, Jamie.”

Jamie packed her stuff and left.

After her mom got better, Jamie went back. As she walked home, she heard the neighbors talking.

“Really? Rosie took care of her dog for three days? I thought she is afraid of the dogs. God.”

“She does.”

A pang of acidity rushed up Jamie’s nose. She ran to her house and opened the door.

The wind breezed. Rosie was trying hard playing with her puppy in the front yard. Jamie ran to Rosie and hugged her. They sat together and talked till the night.

Image credit to Ridofranz

[staliamazing]

tag game <333

this is just for fun as im in bed this morning :)

name: sarah

age: 20

location: australia

and now, think about your childhood and tell me -

did you have a nickname and is it still used? sare is used very often still! not so much sare-bear or anything sickeningly cute like that. i wish people called me sarz still </3

what did you want to be when you'd grow up? a baker for a while. i never had a clear vision i just flitted from random activity to the next hoping something felt long-lasting. still not there :)

your favourite cartoon: my little pony. i had a PHASE. i dont really like cartoons anymore at all though

your favourite TV show: dance academy and doctor who! also i would walk home from the bus every day and immeditaly put on gasp on ABC3 and rip open some arnotts scotch biscuits

your favourite book: i loved every book i ever read but diary of a wimpy kid, enid blyton, mr men anything! i started reading from a very young age (# autism # hyperlexia) and its always been one of my favourite things to do because escapism.

your favourite toy: i have two special plush boys from when i was a mere baby but i also loved la la loopsies, and barbies! i had a big purple bin of toys and some were in a hammock above my bed too.

your favourite thing to eat: i have been a picky eater forever but there was this fucking Fantastic restaurant near us which was a buffet! id get roast veggies, cheese, ice cream, custard and whatever was on offer and id go home sick every time, whoops!

your favourite school subject: all of them. take me back to the youthful desire for knowledge. our eco class was a special fave though where we'd go into the bush and learn about the land and how to care for it.

how did you spend your summers? i don't really remember tbh! going to dads parents, playing on my ipod, making up dances. i hated the summer holidays with a burning passion. school is where its at

did you listen to music? if yes, did you have a favourite band/artist? i listened to whatever mum or my sister listened to which ended up being a lot of aussie artists (ben lee, kasey chambers) and my sister bred my love for the emo trinity somewhat early on also.

and lastly, tell me something you did as a kid that your parents still don't know about: in kindy i faked being sick and went home on PYJAMA DAY (?!?!). i have no clue why but i think it had something to do with not enjoying being out of uniform. again - autism. my poor little goody two shoes heart probably couldn't help but feel like it was doing something wrong