#times between us

[quintessenceofdust88]

Tease Tidbit (birthday) Tuesday

Soooo I was tagged on TTT by my darling @bidisasterevankinard (thank you Diana love ♥) and I thought I'd take the chance to share the birthday present I wrote for @typicalopposite

Becca asked me to write a flashback of Tommy handling his pregnancy in Times Between Us for her birthday, and here it is! I hope you like it, my love, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ♥♥

- ⏳

Now

Tommy knows that Bobby wants a relationship with Mateo, and he knows it’d be important to his son to get to know his other dad. But it doesn’t make it any easier. Not when it’s been him and Mateo all his life. From the first moment he knew about him, it’s been just the two of them. 

—

Then

It’s been a long shift, and those have been particularly hard on Tommy lately. When he gets home, the first thing he does is put on some sweatpants (his jeans can barely close anymore) and stretch his legs on the couch, turning on the TV so the house won’t feel as silent. He’s nursing a bottle of root beer, which he’s allowed to have in moderate amounts, and thinking about what to do now that he’s starting to show. 

So far, there are only two people in the world who know about Tommy’s pregnancy: his captain and Sal. Telling his captain was something he did as soon as he was transferred to the 217, and he begged her not to tell anyone; she had been ridiculously understanding, and thankfully discreet. Sal has been just as understanding, but not as discreet. 

He’s been nagging Tommy to tell him who the other father is, but Tommy won’t. He has no doubt Sal would kick Bobby’s door and demand him to do right by Tommy, and he doesn’t want that. On the other hand, Sal’s been ridiculously helpful, but Tommy doesn't want to push it; he knows this is his own mess to take care of. 

“Not that you’re a mess, sweetheart” He murmurs to his bump softly, irrationally afraid that his negative thoughts might be heard by his sixteen-week old baby. 

He runs a hand on his bump, letting the thoughts of his little son relax his exhausted body. Tommy’s found out he’s a boy just a week ago, and his mind is still toying with a few names. It keeps coming back to Italian options to honor his mother’s family. Domenico, Lorenzo, Mateo, maybe Elio like his late grandfather. He’s been testing the names when he speaks to his bump, but still remains undecided. All he knows is the last name: just Kinard. 

“It’s you and me against the world, huh, little Mateo?” Tommy coos; he’, and then the unthinkable happens: a small pressure against his stomach, stronger than the flutters he’s been feeling for a few weeks now. 

It feels like something poking against him; like someone wants to make their presence known. Tommy sits up on the couch, his drink forgotten on the floor as he cradles his bump with both his hands, a small delighted smile coming to his face. 

“Hey, baby”, he says softly, trying to keep his tears at bay. “Are you saying hello to your daddy, is that it? Telling daddy to shut up with his whining already?”

The small movement, more than anything, is making this feel real, and Tommy has all sorts of mixed feelings. His surprise little one is already the joy of his life, and Tommy is eager to meet him, to have his son in his arms, to be a dad and be good at it (it’s not a matter of if; he already promised himself he’ll be the good father he’s never had to his baby), but. He’s not thrilled to be doing it alone. He could call Sal and tell him about the kicking, he knows his friend would make a big deal out of it, but it’s not the same. Sal has his own life to live; his and Gina’s youngest daughter is barely one year old, they’re thinking of moving out of LA. Tommy can’t be bothering him too much.

And besides, if Tommy’s honest with himself, Sal is not the one he wants to call. Today, more than ever, now that he’s felt his little one kick, he wants to call Bobby. He wants to call Bobby and spill it all out, tell him about the baby they’re having together, let Bobby know he’ll be a dad. 

He doesn’t. 

He doesn’t, because Bobby didn’t want to commit. He doesn’t, because Bobby hasn’t bothered to look him up after he left the 118; Tommy reasons that if he wanted to know how Tommy was doing, he could, and it wouldn’t be hard for him to put two and two together. 

But Bobby doesn’t want him, and he doesn’t want their baby. And Tommy has to be fine with it. 

The tears are running down Tommy’s face now, and he’s not able to stop them. He feels absurdly lonely, and the only thing keeping him from despair, tethering him to some semblance of hope, is the little being who’s still fluttering inside his womb.

“I know, Mateo”, Tommy says, using the name more firmly this time; if his son kicked for the first time when Tommy used it, maybe that’s the name he’s meant to have. “I know you’re here for Daddy, and I’m here for you, baby. I want you so much, my little tesoro, you are so loved.”

No matter what, Tommy will always reassure his baby that he’s loved. As for himself? 

Well, he’s used to the feeling of being unloved by now. He doesn’t really expect things to change.

No tags today since it's a birthday fic, but if you want to do TTT, consider yourself tagged! ♥

[lemongogo]

life of regret

[hinamie]

subject, specimen, spectacle;

should i say that you're dead?

[egophiliac]

since Eng is getting 7.5 soon(?), I felt motivated to go back to my Meleanor rig and make her a couple of lesson animations! ...except for alchemy, because the cauldron bubbles proved too hard to photoshop around, whoops.

maybe she just got lost on her way to the classroom...?

(credit: backgrounds are from the game, I just put her on top of 'em)

(aside from the backgrounds, this is not an edit, I drew her from scratch! please do not tag or treat as an edit!)

[puppppppppy]

who is your favorite AA character? 👁️👁️

ziska… I hope capcom brings her back someday

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

News spreads fast.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[prlssprfctn]

The first time, Tim notices someone observing them from afar, it is when they are all settled for a brief dinner together. It is the middle of the week, and Bruce gathered all of them together to... relax. Which is strange but not unwelcome. Everyone is so involved in chattering and bantering that they don't notice a lingering gaze through the window; they don't, but Tim does.

It takes him a few seconds to figure out that it is Jason.

He is not sure if Bruce reached for him to invite, and Jason just declined, or there was no offer to begin with, but Tim knows for sure Jason lurkes behind windows for a few minutes before disappearing in the night.

And the funniest thing? Tim understands him.

He thinks he is not Jason's replacement — never truly was, despite what the other thought — but in a way, they did swap their places. Because in the past, it was Tim, who hid on the rooftops, staring at Bruce and his family, listening to the snippets of their conversations. And now it is Jason.

It is still different, of course. Tim had a choice, and it was his... enthusiastic project, if anything — Jason doesn't really. But if anyone understands the feeling of standing far away from everyone, it is still Tim.

That's why the next time in happens, Tim reaches out.

It is after the particularly easy mission, when Tim spots the red motion on the rooftop. He slips away from Nightwing and Robin, who debate about something with Batman through the comms, and finds himself standing behind Red Hood.

The way Red Hood taps his fingertips on the balustrade makes Tim remember that he is not included in their comms anymore. He wonders how lonely it is, to hear the voices of his brothers, but never being able to grasp the whole conversation they have.

'Hood,' he calls for him.

To Jason's credit, he doesn't scramble in panic, even if it seems that he is surprised by his appearance.

'Red,' he mutters back, instantly defensive. 'What, came to mock me?'

Tim rolls his eyes; he wishes things would be easier with Jason, but they are not, and he can't really blame him for that.

'Had I ever mocked you?' He copies his stance, arms folding in the chest. When Jason tilts his head, almost asking, "Really now?" Tim rolls his eyes again. 'Okay, I did a few times. But it mostly were jokes about your death.'

Jason chuckles.

'Good one, punk. It changes everything.'

'You like jokes about your death,' Tim protests. 'And I know you allow Arsenal to joke about it, so it is not entirely closed topic.'

'I don't remember allowing you to joke about it, though.'

...

This conversation is so fucking stupid. Tim didn't even came here for this, but-

But fine. He still can win.

'So, you only allow it to your friends. Fine. Let's be friends,' Jason chokes on his own exhausted sigh. 'Do you need some friendship questionnaires to fill to be my friend? I can arrange that.'

Jason kindly flips him off under his breath before disappearing in the night, leaving him alone with whining Nightwing and irritated Bruce in his ear.

The next time he stalks down Jason, who in turn is stalking Damian and Bruce, he shoves in his hand twenty three papers filled with bunch of friendship questions — half stripped from internet, half made by Tim that involve the specifics of their jobs.

He doesn't expect anything to come after it, but in two weeks after Jason returns to the city after his mission with Outlaws, Tim finds these papers filled with surprisingly neat, calligraphic answers.

And he gets the printed copy of the same questions, with one page of an additional one, written in the same handwriting, and with a little sticky note atop of it.

Your turn, Timbo.

Tim smirks.

Oh, he will so drag Jason back in the family, somehow.

[hugs-and-stabbies]

The self-awareness on this guy 😞 someone pls send him an "are you bi?" quiz STAT

[starduststorm-art]

Because you're what's left, I suppose.

[quintessenceofdust88]

🕯️🕯️🕯️⏳⏳⏳

Hi Via my love! Ofc ♥ Let's start with some priest Tommy sentences for you! - 🕯️(cont. from here)

“Wow” The woman who Tommy is almost sure is named Wilson quips, and he’s suddenly reminded there are more people around. His cheeks blush, and Tommy’s not sure he wants to figure out why. “I know you’re a health food freak, but didn’t think a few zucchinis would get you this starry-eyed, Buck”

Evan’s eyes widen, and he looks at her with a blush on his cheeks. He chuckles awkwardly, rubbing his neck and looking down. 

“Starry-eyed?! I’m not… I just think…” He stammers, and trails off. “It’s neat, that’s all, that they’re planting and helping kids and all that. I thought church was just going to Mass on Sunday and call it a day”

Both the captain and the firefighter that Tommy thinks is named Diaz give him an unimpressed look, and Nash very pointedly looks from him to Tommy. That causes Evan to blush even more deeply, and he quickly raises his hands. 

“N-not that there’s anything wrong with Mass! I-I mean…” It’s clear he has no idea how to finish the sentence, and Tommy takes pity on him. 

--- (BobbyTommy under the cut!)

- ⏳ (cont. from here)

“So, do… do you think he liked me?” Evan asks nervously, and Tommy kinda wants to kiss him from how adorable he looks. With a pleasant jolt, he remembers he's allowed to, and he does exactly that.

“He definitely did. He went to sleep asking me when Mr. Evan can come to dinner so you can race him again” Tommy says, smiling as he remembers his son's enthusiasm. 

“Well, that'd be up to his Dad, I think” Evan says, and he turns pleading blue eyes to Tommy.

Tommy is two seconds from offering him the world when the doorbell rings. He frowns; apart from Evan, he wasn't expecting company tonight.

“Excuse me a second” He says, giving Evan a quick peck to his lips and walking towards the door.

He opens it to find Bobby Nash at the other side, looking slightly out of breath, staring at Tommy as if he's never seen him before, and Tommy feels a cold sensation take over his chest.

Bobby knows. He's completely sure. He doesn't know how, but he knows.

“Bobby…” He starts, not even sure what he planned to say, but Bobby doesn't give him the chance to continue.

“Is he mine?!” He asks, his voice trembling with emotion, and Tommy's heart feels like it's going to burst out of his chest.  --- There you go my darling, I hope you enjoy it! Love you ♥

[make me write]

[hellsitegenetics]

HEY CONGRATS??? ON BEATING ONE-TIME-I-DREAMT??? YOU DID IT???

i was asleep when this went down so you cannot imagine my surprise when i looked and found that we won by a margin of less than 1%

[wu-does-art]

thinking about Nico adjusting to letting himself miss and long for the people he loves. based on these bits from the sun and the star:

" As Nico and Will followed the trogs, he thought about how much he missed Hazel. He was learning to make peace with that feeling. It was okay for him to miss people because that meant he wanted them around in his life. That idea was *very* new for him- he was used to either pushing people away or watching them recoil from his presence." *

" That was the most surreal thing of all... Was he happy? Nico wasn't very familiar with the sensation, but he couldn't deny that he felt wonderful in Will's presence. He even longed for the son of Apollo when they were apart. A funny thing had happened as the two grew closer: Nico suddenly understood all those cheesy, sappy love songs he'd always hated."

[wanologic]

The Mansons have Infinite Money

[houseofwolves-v1]

updated post! western north carolina is very much still recovering from the effects of hurricane helene, we’re almost five months past when the hurricane hit at this point and there’s still roads in my area that only reopened for the first time last week, there’s still roads with mud caked along the sides that somehow still hasn’t washed away yet, there’s still debris stuck in the trees and along the riverbanks, still abandoned cars trapped in mud. and while a lot of areas that weren’t hit quite as hard have been able to mostly return to “normal” the landscape is forever changed, and so many people lost their homes and jobs and livelihoods. we’ve come a long way these past few months, but there’s still a long way to go.

so here are some mutual aid collectives to check out if you want to continue to help aid in our recovery!

•Pansy Collective

•Asheville Survival Program

•Rural Organizing and Resilience (also known as ROAR WNC)

•Holler Harm Reduction

•BeLoved Asheville

and if you want to stay up to date on recovery efforts, government assistance, etc, check out Blue Ridge Public Radio! they have given continued detailed reports on the hurricane and all the effects since then and continue to do so now, and they can offer a much more comprehensive view of the situation than i can

[egophiliac]

was this anyone else's first thought, or

[humming-fly]

I only just now realized what a shame it is we never got to see Al and Greedling really interacting