#yet here she is... spoiling me with lego sets

[eta--piscium]

Soooo. It's almost valentines day and my gorgeous waifu @schattensaenger surprised me with a lego set and I.LOVE.IT.SO.FUCKING.MUCH. THANK U MAKO!!❤️

[joeys-babe]

Joey B Imagines: Two Of Us*

Summary: More Father’s Day festivities!

(Part Two to - Part 1)

Warnings: Fluff, LITTLE angst, smut (f & m receiving oral)

Pairing: Joe Burrow x reader

Imagine Universe: Into The Mystic

June 16, 2024 - Continuation of part one!

After dinner was done, I was setting the table while Joe tiptoed into the living room to wake the twins up from their post-swimming naps.

A blissful grin formed on my lips as Joe bent over and lightly ran a big hand over Tyson’s back.

“Hey, bubba. Dinner’s ready.” - Joe

Tyson started squirming around, letting out soft toddler grunts before leaning up and looking up at his dad. He rubbed his little eyes before lifting his arms and making grabby hands towards Joe. Joe easily tucked his hands under Tyson’s arms and lifted him into his chest, Tyson immediately melting into Joe when he laid his little head down onto his shoulder.

Joe used one arm to support Tyson before bending down and gently ruffling Miles’s hair. He got up quicker than Tyson, immediately peeking up when he smelt food. The way he stood up with a big sniff made Joe and I laugh, and soon, we were all sitting down at the table.

I left the music on but turned the volume down, so it was a lot softer. Joe had just settled next to me when Two Of Us by The Beatles came on. Hearing the love song start playing, Joe reached over to my lap and laced his fingers with mine.

During dinner, Tyson recalled the crazy dream he had where he and Joe fought a dragon to save the kingdom they lived in.

“Were you the king?” - you

“No. That’s Daddy!” - Tyson

“If I'm the king then you were a prince.” - Joe

Tyson nodded his head, thinking about what more he could say to add to the dream. Of course, it was obvious that after a certain point, he was just making it up as he went.

“And Daddy could fly!!” - Tyson

Joe gently nudged me with his elbow under the table, and I couldn't help but laugh. Something about Tyson making up more to the story made it sweeter.

After dinner, I made Joe sit on the couch so that I could give him his gifts. I sent Miles and Tyson off as well to grab what they had made for him. By the time they came back, I was sitting next to Joe, sneaking a few kisses with him before the boys could see.

“You guys go first.” - you grinned

Tyson and Miles handed Joe the cards they made, and I watched his heart melt before my eyes.

“Aww. Thanks, guys.” - Joe

Joe pulled them both into a big bear hug, pressing a kiss to both of their heads before they ran off to play. Though the boys lost interest fast, when my gaze left their little bodies running up the stairs and back over to Joe, I noticed that his eyes were misty as he looked over the cards.

“You okay?” - you

I reached out and rubbed his back. Joe only pretended like he didn't know what I was talking about and shrugged before sniffling.

“Me? Yeah, I'm perfect.” - Joe

“Aww, baby.” - you

Chuckling, I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and pulled him into me. I gave his forehead a few kisses before pulling away and grabbing his three gifts.

“Woah, you spoiled me.” - Joe

“I wouldn't say that yet. You could not like everything.” - you

Joe rolled his eyes and shook his head, and I put his first gift in his lap. A smile formed on my lips as he slowly pulled it out of the bag. It was just a plain cardboard box on the outside, so he looked at me rather confused.

“What is this? Is there a bomb in this?!” - Joe

I laughed at his super-animated scared face, which immediately ended when he joined in with my laughter.

“No bomb. It’s a custom LEGO set. It’s our back porch, including all of us in character form. I even got a baby character even though she isn't here yet.” - you

“That’s sick. Can we build it tonight? After the boys go to bed? I was thinking we could do a little date night in bed. Last night, I looked up how to make some cool mocktails. We can try a couple if you want.” - Joe

“Sounds fun. I made pumpkin pie, too. We can eat that in bed and put a movie on while we sip on some mocktails.” - you

Joe nodded, happy that we'd get to have a little makeshift date. It was then that I handed him his next gift, and Joe gasped when he opened the velvet box to see a dainty yet masculine gold chain necklace in it. It had five alternating stones, and Joe looked up at me for an explanation.

“It’s your birthstone, mine, the twins, and baby girl’s. So hopefully she doesn't decide to come early or late.” - you

“It’s awesome. I love it. It was probably very expensive, though. You didn't have to do this for me.” - Joe

“Of course I did. You deserve everything and more for all you do for me and those boys.” - you

Joe just looked at me, not exactly knowing what to say in return, so he put the chain back in the velvet box. I grabbed his last gift and handed it to him moments later.

It was a velvet bag, and when Joe opened it, he pulled out a silicone wristband. It was plain orange, so again, he looked at me for an explanation.

“Look on the inside.” - you

He did as I had said, smiling when he saw what was there. In a black block letter font, it had my initials, the twins, and the baby’s. I knew he wore his wristbands 24/7, so he would have a piece of us with him all of the time, especially on the field.

“This is so cool. It’s like I’ll always have you guys with me.” - Joe

“Mhm. Exactly.” - you

“Thanks, baby. I love everything.” - Joe

Joe leaned forward and pulled me into a hug. I leaned into him for a few seconds before pulling back and giving him a quick kiss.

“I was right when I said you spoiled me.” - Joe laughed

“We aren't done with the spoiling just yet! You have one last surprise. It’s in your office.” - you

I laughed when Joe bit his lower lip and wiggled his eyebrows at me, knowing his office was where we would sneak off during the day because the twins would think Joe was working if they noticed we were gone.

“Not that!” - you

After lightly slapping his bicep to tell him to cut it out, we both got up from the couch and made our way to Joe’s office. Joe, of course, had to give me some assistance to get up, but I couldn’t complain about my handsome husband using his football muscles to help me.

“Is something gonna jump out at me?” - Joe

I rolled my eyes at his silliness before pushing open the door. Joe plopped down on the leather couch facing the projector screen, waiting patiently for his last surprise. When I rolled out a little cart, Joe was completely confused with what he saw.

“What is that? Is… is that lube??” - Joe

Again laughing at him, Joe looked at me with pure seriousness.

“It’s a gel, Joe. It’s an at-home ultrasound machine.” - you

Joe’s jaw dropped open at the surprise. Though he always tried to make it to every single one of my appointments, there were times that he couldn't make it due to football or brand partnership-related things. Knowing that I had to go into an ultrasound alone made him feel devastated every time, even going as far as to question if football was even worth it.

This was the last thing he expected, and it was so thoughtful that he couldn't help his eyes getting watery. It took me a minute to notice, but when I did, I walked toward the couch and wrapped my arms around his shoulders.

“Aww, baby.” - you

Joe buried his head into my neck, muffling his sniffles.

“Thank you.” - Joe

“You’re so welcome. Do you want to try it out? You can be my ultrasound tech.” - you giggled

After looking through the instructions and getting it working, along with figuring out how to work it, I laid back on the couch, and Joe was lifting my shirt.

“You good?” - Joe

“Perfect.” - you nod

I watched as he applied the gel to my stomach before placing the transducer on it. He started moving it around, recalling everything he'd watched during my ultrasounds. I couldn't help but giggle at the focused look on his face as he searched for the heartbeat, and a few moments later, we heard the familiar whooshing sound.

“I did it!” - Joe

Joe did a little happy dance in his office chair, drawing a laugh from my lips before my eyes were glued to the monitor.

“If this whole NFL thing ends badly, I could always do this.” - Joe

I rolled my eyes at him before he leaned down for a kiss. We wrapped up a few minutes later, and Joe cleaned my stomach up for me.

We shared an embrace for a few moments, just giving each other light touches as we held on to one another.

“I love youuuu.” - Joe

“I love you too.” - you grinned

-

Thirty minutes later, we all subsided into the living room to watch a movie before the twins had to go to bed. I was sprawled out on the couch on my back, Joe lying on his side with his back against the back of the couch as he tucked himself into me. Joe had his head on my chest, his arm thrown around me just above my bump.

Now and then, I’d lean over and press a kiss on his forehead. Joe, in turn, would cuddle deeper into me. I had one arm around his shoulders to go between playing with his messy curls and rubbing his back while my other hand gently rubbed the arm of his that was draped over my middle.

I loved cuddling with Joe. I never took it for granted, feeling thankful that I had a man who loved laying with me just as much I loved laying with him.

Joe slowly started falling asleep, and I grinned when I felt his eyelashes flutter closed against my neck.

The twins were both on one of the loveseats, intently watching one of their favorite movies, Ratatouille. A blissful smile spread on my lips as I watched the reflection of the TV in their baby blue eyes.

-

When the movie ended, though it was nine o'clock, the twins still seemed to have all of the energy in the world. They ran around the dark living room playing what they called ‘jungle’ where they were both tigers - “Like the mascot for Daddy’s team” - running through a deep jungle.

I was surprised that Joe hadn't woken up yet because they weren't necessarily being quiet. It had been a long day, and I was feeling tired, so I let my eyes close for a few minutes.

I reopened my eyes when the room fell silent, a clear sign that the boys were up to something. My eyes snapped open to see Miles and Tyson standing at the foot of the couch. Miles was holding my phone, pointing it toward Joe and me.

Miles would do this regularly. Taking my phone and videoing or taking pictures of Joe and me. I smiled when I saw the little grin on his lips, and Tyson was standing right behind him with a matching expression.

He angled the phone back down, seemingly done taking the video but not quite figuring out how to stop it.

“Mommy, help.” - Miles

Miles toddled over to me, handing my phone back to me, and I gasped when I saw my screen.

He hasn't been videoing. He was live on my Instagram. Miles was attached to my hip 24/7, so he knows how to take a video on Instagram stories. If you go to the camera and swipe to the end, you're on the live option. He must've pressed the button thinking it was starting a video, but instead, it started a live video that thousands of people were watching.

“Holy shit.” - you mumbled

I quickly ended it after that, but it was too late. Gracie Mcpherson sent me a text quickly after I ended it.

One of the boys livestreaming you and Joe’s cuddle sesh?? 😂

I guess so!! Did you happen to screen-record it? I need to see the damage. 😭

Attachment: 1 Movie

Thankfully, you can't see the messiness of our kitchen in the background. What you can see, though, is Joe fast asleep on my chest while I rubbed his back.

He's gonna get so much shit for this, you thought. Because of that, I started getting nervous, so I shook Joe awake.

“Mph..” - Joe

“Joe. Wake up.” - you

I continued shaking his shoulder till he leaned up, rubbing a hand over his face before locking eyes with me.

“What’s up?” - Joe

Handing him my phone with Gracie’s screen recording up, Joe’s eyes went wide when he realized what he was watching.

“Oh my god. Is it Miles recording?” - Joe

“Mhm.” - you nodded

I was honestly worried to see what his reaction would be, nervous that he'd be mad about it. I’d understand if he was, though. Joe was a private person, and his wife cuddling him was just live-streamed for everyone to see, and that's including his teammates, who will surely give him shit for it.

After the video ended, Joe handed me my phone back with a sigh.

“Are you mad?” - you

I searched his eyes for any sign of emotion, along with reading his body language. He seemed more tame than I expected.

“No. I'm not mad. Would I have wanted that to be out there? No. But it is, so that's that. Nothing I can do to go back in time and wipe it.” - Joe

“I shouldn't have closed my eyes for a couple of minutes. Miles wouldn't have taken my phone then.” - you

“Hey, hey. No. We’re not gonna do that, okay? This isn't your fault.” - Joe

I looked up at Joe with misty eyes, my raging pregnancy hormones making me feel even worse than I should.

“I just feel bad because you're so private, and such an intimate moment was just shown to everyone. You're probably gonna get made fun of by the guys, too. The media- they'll say stuff too. I'm sorry, Joe.” - you

Joe pulled me into his arms, my head going onto his shoulder as he ran his fingers through my hair and shushed me.

“It’s fine, baby. Seriously. If I get made fun of for cuddling with my wife, then so be it. In my eyes, that's a pretty amazing thing to be made fun of for.” - Joe

My crying slowed down, and I pulled away from his neck with a sniffle.

“How are you acting so okay about this?” - you

Joe chuckled, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me back into him before he pressed a couple of kisses to my forehead.

“It’s not that big of a deal to me. A year ago? I probably would've freaked. But I'm in a mental state right now where I don't care about what people say about us or me. My relationship and marriage with you are my number one priorities. So why would I care if people see that?” - Joe

I didn't know what to say. I thought Joe would have the complete opposite reaction, so I was distraught.

“I’m gonna put the twins to bed, okay? We can have our little date in bed after. Just relax, Mama. No big deal.” - Joe

“Are you sure?” - you

“I’m so sure.” - Joe

Before he climbed over me to get off the couch, Joe’s lips met mine in a soft kiss. Joe tried to put as much comfort into it as possible.

I watched him scoop Tyson up in one arm while holding Miles’s hand with the other as he walked up the stairs. After watching his tall frame disappear, I got up off of the couch.

I walked (waddled) into the kitchen and grabbed two slices of pie and the can of whipped cream for Joe and me before going upstairs and into our bedroom.

As I was walking there, I passed the bathroom across from the twins' room, where the door was wide open, and the scene inside made me grin.

Miles and Tyson were sitting on the counter, both holding their toothbrushes in their mouths as Joe stood in front of them, demonstrating with an imaginary toothbrush and walking them through brushing their teeth. I watched only for a few moments before I continued walking to the end of the hall.

-

Around twenty minutes later, Joe came striding into the bedroom with a smile on his face. His smile was infectious, so I couldn't help but match his expression.

“What’re you smiling at?” - you

“My gorgeous wife and that piece of pumpkin pie.” - Joe

I giggled as he rubbed his hands together and launched into bed next to me. Joe got comfortable under the covers before I put the plate of pie on his lap. He got a piece on his fork and was bringing it to his lips when he abruptly stopped.

“Fuck.” - Joe mumbled

“What’s wrong?” - you

He put the plate back on my lap and got out of bed, doing a silly run out of the door. He was gone for a few minutes before he came back with two drinks in his hands.

“Okay. If it’s bad, it’s definitely my fault. Everyone in the comments under recipe loved it.” - Joe

“Good to know.” - you

Joe crawled back into bed, finally taking a bite and making appreciative groans when he did. The first couple of sounds were normal before he started making louder, more exaggerated noises in hopes of making me laugh.

“Is it good?” - you laughed

He put a finger up before dramatically chewing up his bite and slapping his lips together before answering.

“Yes.” - Joe

“Alright.” - you chuckled

I grabbed the can of whipped cream off of my nightstand to put it on my slice of pie. Before I put it back down, Joe tapped my shoulder. I turned back towards him to see his head tipped back and mouth widened, asking for me to spray some in his mouth.

Giggling to myself as I shook the can up again, I pointed the top of the can into Joe’s mouth and sprayed a bunch in there. I watched his eyes go wide when I hadn't stopped a few seconds later, the whipped cream tower now touring out of the confines of his mouth.

When I pulled the can away from his mouth, Joe tilted his head up and let the mountain fall into his hands, some landing on his adorable face.

“What the hell, baby?” - Joe chuckled

He got up and went into the bathroom, probably to wash his hands, and while he was away, I took a sip of the Shirley Temple drink he had made for me.

“Mmmmm.” - you

Joe walked back into the bedroom, whipping his shirt off before pulling his sweatpants down his legs as well.

“Taste good?” - Joe laughed

I hadn't noticed his presence yet, so my eyes went wide when I looked over to see Joe only in his boxers. My gaze moved from his perfect face down to his torso before they moved lower. I shamelessly let my eyes linger on his crotch for a few heartbeats before I looked back up to his eyes. A knowing smirk found its way onto Joe’s face. He knew exactly what I was looking at.

Joe pretended to yawn, running a hand through his hair and purposely flexing his bicep. My eyes widened once again, and Joe had to chuckle when he got the reaction that he wanted.

“You’re so cute.” - Joe

He crawled into bed a second later, and we shared small talk as we ate our pie and drank our drinks.

“Did you have a good Father’s Day?” - you

“Are you kidding?! I had the best Father’s Day. Thanks for everything, baby.” - Joe

Joe leaned in and pressed his soft lips to mine. It was an innocent, sweet kiss at first, but when he pulled away, I smashed my lips back into his. He was taken aback at first at how quickly things heated up, but he went along with it because I had initiated it.

We were just starting to let our hands wander when Joe’s phone started ringing. He disengaged his lips from mine with an audible pop before rolling over and getting his phone off of his nightstand.

“It’s Ja’Marr.” - Joe

“You should answer then. If he’s calling this late, it's probably important, right?” - you

Joe nodded and answered the call, immediately rolling back over to me after saying a greeting. He attached his lips to my neck with his phone on his ear, one of my hands making its way into his messy curls. Joe, knowing my body like the back of his hand, found my sweet spot and made sure to suck on it. I gripped his hair, and he groaned into my neck.

It was after that that he detached his lips to mumble, “Yes. I'm in bed with y/n.” As soon as he finished his sentence, he went back to kissing my neck.

A few moments later, Joe pulled his head away after Ja’Marr said something I couldn't quite hear. Joe pulled the phone away from his ear and put him on speaker.

“Alright, you're on speaker.” - Joe

“Okay, thanks. Ya know I've gotta address it, Mrs. B. Does Joey B always cuddle on your chest like that?” - Ja’Marr

I giggled at the question, and Joe rolled his eyes, laying his head on my shoulder as he held the phone to my mouth.

“What if I told you he's doing it right now?” - you

Joe rolled his eyes yet again, and I heard Ja’Marr laugh.

“So he does it a lot?” - Ja’Marr

“Yup. I love it, though.” - you

“Ohhh. That's good. I was thinkin’ that girls weren't into that. Like they liked layin’ on our chests. Not the other way around.” - Ja’Marr

I grinned as Joe rubbed his cheek into my shoulder, my hand combing through his curls as I thought of what to say back to Ja’Marr.

“You have a lot to learn when it comes to women Ja’Marr. Joe and I can teach you, though.” - you

“Nah. I’m not trying to get married and be boring just yet.” - Ja’Marr

“Marriage isn't boring.” - Joe

Ja’Marr only laughed, and there were a few seconds of silence following it. During those seconds, my gaze fell on Joe’s perfect lips, so I leaned down to kiss him.

“Y’all have kids and shit. You can't have fun anymor- are you guys fuckin’ kissing??” - Ja’Marr

I pulled away from Joe with a giggle, immediately noticing his flushed cheeks.

“Yeah, and? Joe’s my husband. I'm allowed to kiss him. And Ja’Marr… you realize I'm pregnant now right?” - you

“Yes…?” - Ja’Marr

“And you know the twins are two. So that means they were here when I got pregnant.” - you

“Yup. I don't know where you're going with this, Mrs. B.” - Ja’Marr

“You know where babies come from right?” - you

I heard Joe laugh into my neck when he realized where I was headed with the joke.

“Yes ma'am.” - Ja’Marr sighed

“So if I got pregnant while already having two kids… that means that Joe and I are still having fun even if we have kids.” - you

I dramatically gasped to add to the effect, and Ja’Marr went silent on the other line. He usually teases the hell out of us when he notices a hickey on either of us or sees us kissing, so it’s funny to see him go silent over the same subject.

“I don't need to know about y'all havin’ sex. That's nasty.” - Ja’Marr

“Are you sure? You don't want to know about how much Joe loves it when-” - you

“No no no no!! Bye, guys. Goodnight.” - Ja’Marr

Joe and I erupted into laughter as Ja’Marr quickly hung up. Joe rolled over and put his phone back on the nightstand before he pulled me back into his chest and pressed his lips to mine.

“Let’s continue, shall we?” - Joe

I never fully answered and just pulled his face back to mine. We made out for a while before Joe groaned and pulled away to catch his breath. He was getting too worked up to keep going.

After watching Joe’s heaving chest for a moment, I rolled over, reaching over on my nightstand for the bottle of whipped cream.

“I kinda want more dessert.” - you

Joe looked up at me when I said that and noticed that I was shaking up the bottle of whipped cream.

“Do you want me to grab you another slice of pie?” - Joe

“No. Thank you, though. I'm feeling something different.” - you

“Well then. What're you thinking of?” - Joe

I looked Joe up and down, making sure the trail of my gaze to his feet was an anticipatory slow movement before I flicked my eyes back to his. Sending a loaded look Joe’s way, his mouth fell open when I said my next words.

“Take your boxers off.” - you

“W- what?” - Joe stammered

“I said I wanted dessert. Didn't I?” - you

My words went right to Joe’s crotch, and the amount of blood rushing to his dick was making it hard for him to think straight. After finally blinking after twenty seconds, Joe whipped his boxers off and tossed the covers off of him.

His cock was about semi-erect, all because of me just referring to his dick as dessert. I scooted over and got comfortable between his legs before reaching out and wrapping a hand around his erection. After a few strokes, Joe was fully hard and ready for action. I took the bottle of whipped cream and spread some on his balls.

Meanwhile, Joe was mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen. The woman he was obsessed with and so down bad for was about to lick whipped cream off his balls.

What he kept repeating in his head?

Don't fucking cum as soon as her tongue touches you. Don't fucking cum as soon as her tongue touches you. Don't fucking cum as soon as her tongue touches you.

I leaned down and licked a long stripe of the cream off of him, Joe throwing his head back and immediately letting out a loud moan at the feeling.

“Holy fuck! That feels amazing.” - Joe moaned

I kept my hand on his cock, pumping away as I continued to lick the sugary product off of him. The whimpers and moans leaving Joe’s lips were loud and continuous, a byproduct of the pure pleasure he felt.

“Fuck… fuck… fuck.” - Joe panted

Joe couldn't help from moaning out. The feeling was overwhelming and insane. After getting all of the topping off of him, I continued to alternate sucking one of his balls into my mouth while I quickly jerked him off.

“Oh- oh fuck.” - Joe whimpered

I grabbed the can and once again smeared the topping on him, even trailing a line up the underside of his cock from base to tip. Though my hand wasn't fully wrapped around him, I kept my thumb on his tip and teased the slit in a way that had Joe whimpering.

“Please…” - Joe moaned

Teasing him for a few more seconds, after I was content with the way he was squirming, I leaned down and started licking everything off of his cock.

“Fuck! Oh my- fuck!” - Joe whimpered

I started with one of his balls before licking it clean and moving to the other one, repeating the process before licking a long stripe up the underside of Joe’s erection.

Joe was gripping the sheets, and his hips started bucking off of the bed, a telltale sign he was close to orgasm. The look on his face was something I'd never seen before, and I could tell he was trying his hardest to hold on as long as possible.

Noticing that he was close, I closed my mouth around his tip and slowly moved down his length inch by inch.

“Fuck, baby.” - Joe grunted

It only took a minute or so for him to throw his head back with a moan, immediately warning me that he was falling over the edge.

“Shit- I'm cumming.” - Joe moaned

Seconds later, he shot his load down my throat, and I watched him through my eyelashes as he moaned and whimpered through his climax. There was nothing hotter than that very sight, where every muscle of his was flexing and glistening with sweat, veins were popping out of his neck, chest, and arms, his chest was heaving, and his adorable face was scrunched up.

I loved knowing that this Joe was purely mine and that I was the only person that's ever seen him and had him like this. All mine.

After a few moments of cockwarming him with my mouth, I pulled off and rolled back into my spot on the bed. Any other time, I’d get a wet rag and clean him up. Right now, though, I'm almost nine months pregnant and am frankly too tired to spend five minutes trying to get up.

It took Joe a few minutes to get his breathing back to normal, but when he did, he got out of bed and went into the bathroom to clean himself up. He returned moments later and put his boxers back on before sliding back under the covers. When he did, he faced me with a dirty grin on his face, his top teeth biting his lower lip.

“Yes?” - you giggled

“Can I have extra dessert too?” - Joe

My pulse picked up when I realized what he was insinuating, and Joe crawled over me to where he was between my legs after pulling the comforter back.

“What do you have in mind?” - you grinned

“I think you already know, Mama.” - Joe

Joe sent a dirty wink my way as he wrapped his arms around my thighs and pulled me closer to him, pulling my panties down with his teeth once I was in the position he liked.

After tossing my panties on the floor behind him, Joe helped me lean up, and he took his shirt off of my body. He tossed that as well, and the stupidly sexy smug grin formed on his lips when he propped my legs up and spread them wide. His icy stare was shooting bullets right at the heaven he believed was between my legs.

“Joey.” - you breathed out

Joe grinned at the breathlessness in my tone and grinned up at me, his eyes finally meeting my own.

“Yes ma'am?” - Joe grinned

“You’re gonna have to do this fast.” - you

“Yes ma'am.” - Joe repeated

Another wink was sent my way as Joe started to lower his head, but I abruptly stopped him, and he leaned back up. I grabbed the whipped cream off of my nightstand and offered it to him, thinking he'd want to reciprocate what I did to him.

“No thanks. You already taste perfect.” - Joe

Butterflies filled my stomach - and other places - at the words leaving his lips and the gruff, hoarse voice he spoke in. Probably due to how loud he was moaning just a few minutes ago.

“Can I start now?” - Joe

I nodded, and Joe lowered his head after licking his lips. He was acting like a kid in a candy store.

“Happy Father’s Day to me.” - Joe grinned

Authors note: IDK what to say. There wasn't supposed to be smut but Joe’s been too hot lately. 😜

This came from my own head!

Hope you enjoyed!! 🫶🫶

[thelovelymissbigbadwolf]

Angeal and his grandma mentality

After long three hours dealing with paperwork after his shift was over, all Zack wanted was some rest, some good, well deserved rest, and for that he first passed by Angeal's apartment to pick up his children he had left with Angeal for him to tend while he was working.

"Hey, man. Sorry it took so lo— WHAT THE HELL?!" Zack looked at the sheer chaos his mentor's house was in. Vanitas was running around playing Nerf while his brother Sora who was building targets with his new gigantic Lego set and Angeal was sitting down by Xion who was playing restaurant with him... Thing is... None of this toys belonged to his kids before he left to work.

"Dad, dad! Check it out!" Vanitas managed to shoot Zack right between his eyes with his Nerf.

"Ow— what the... Who the heck gave you these?!" Zack asked while looking at the clearly expensive Nerf.

"Look daddy! I made a gun out of Lego! Pew pew!" Sora said excitedly, the little boy with brown hair and blue eyes had the most excited of looks on his face.

"The hell..." Zack looked at it and at the giant box it came in. "What the— that set's expensive as hell!" He said completely dumbfounded.

"Daddy! Here!" The little girl with black hair and blue eyes, Xion, approached his father with plastic cookies. "For you!"

"Oh, uh, thanks sweetie." He took the plastic toy, looking not only at the little toy oven, but the entire kitchen set. "Hm, delicious, hunny." Zack said while glaring at his mentor who was clearly responsible for this and was purposefully avoiding to look at Zack.

"It's a hundred gil!" She raised her hand towards Zack with a big smile, albeit missing a tooth.

"Wait— you teeth fell?!" Zack kneeled and looked at his daughter's mouth.

"I fell and broke my teeth! So uncle Angie bought me a kitchen!" She then ran to hug Angeal, who tried to keep his stern face. "Thank you, uncle Angie!" Xion sweetly said.

"Y-you're welcome, Xion." Angeal said trying to keep his cool, though Zack's death glare wasn't helping.

"Alright, why don't you kids go get your stuff while I talk to uncle Angie?" Zack said trying to keep calm.

Once the children left, Angeal stood up.

"Alright, I can explain—" Zack interrupted him.

"WHY?! JUST— WHY ON EARTH?! THAT NERF'S OVER TWO THOUSAND GIL, THE KITCHEN SET OVER A THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND THE LEGO'S ALMOST TEN THOUSAND!" Zack yelled completely out of his mind.

Angeal looked away. "... They said they wanted it..."

"And because of that you thought it was reasonable to buy them all those expensive toys?!"

Angeal kept quiet for a moment. "They played dirty, they kept making puppy faces for me..."

"OF COURSE THEY WOULD! Why didn't you keep firm?!" He looked at the expensive sets. "You always complained I was financially irresponsible, but who, between the two of us, spent over twelve thousand Gil on toys because the children said they wanted it?" Zack asked with a serious tone. "I'm not angry you bought them toys, just why such expensive ones?! They understand the concept of 'not worth the price', why didn't you just explained it to them?!"

"Oh, grow up, I told you already the moment these children would be under my supervision I would spoil them rotten." Angeal scolded Zack.

"YOU DON'T SPEND TWELVE THOUSAND GIL ON A MONTH, YET THE FIRST MOMENT I LET YOU ALONE WITH MY KIDS YOU SPENT IT NO TROUBLE!" Zack scolded him back. He took a deep breath to calm down. "Look, I know you love them, but when you want to gift them toys, try first seating down and talk to them about looking for something more reasonably priced. They can accept a 'no', you know?"

"Bold of you to assume I wouldn't say yes in a heartbeat." Angeal replied without even thinking twice.

Zack sighed frustrated, he looked to the side and saw his kids eavesdropping, Vanitas left the room closing the door behind him, he walked towards Zack and gave him his Nerf.

"Here. I don't want it." Vanitas said with a calm look.

"Now look what you've done!" Angeal complained to Zack.

"Shut it." Zack said sternly to Angeal, he then turned his gaze towards Vanitas and kneeled to his level. "Why are you giving me this?" He calmly asked his son.

"I don't want uncle Angie to go broke because of toys." Vanitas said seriously, Zack had to hold back his laughter. Vanitas then turned to Angeal and pointed at him. "He needs his retirement home money." Vanitas said innocently.

Zack couldn't take, he started rolling on the ground laughing at Vanitas downright calling Angeal OLD without even thinking twice, while Angeal himself was there dumbfounded at being called old by the kid.

"... I'm just nine years older than your father, Vanitas." Angeal said serious.

"... Old." The little boy calmly replied.

[mochegato]

The Road to Asphodel is Paved in Pink

Meet Cute Monday for @boldlyanxious  Hope this makes you smile!

Pink boxes, pink bags, pink dolls, pink instruments, pink goo, pink Legos, pink cars, pink, pink, pink. Everything in the aisle was pink. A hundred different shades of it filled the shelves of the aisle.  Everywhere he looked was pink.  They even put down a pink covering on the floor just to complete the look.  Honestly, it was starting to hurt his eyes.  “Who knew there were so many shades of pink,” Jason grumbled rubbing his eyes.  

He heard a chuckle from down the aisle.  “Trust me it’s worse when it’s an aisle of the same shade of pink.  Like some kind of never-ending fuchsia tunnel to Asphodel.” She shuddered slightly.  “And I like pink.”

“I take it you have experience with this?”  He vaguely motioned around the aisle.

She bobbed her head to the side and hummed noncommittally.  “My friend’s twins will be six this year.  I get them things from time to time just because, so I end up here sometimes.  I’m looking for their birthday this time.  I was thinking of instruments they could play with their moms or their grandpa, but just realized they probably have so many instruments already, so now I’m looking for inspiration.  But the only inspiration I’m getting is pink. Annoying really.  Because apparently that’s the only color girls respond to.”

“I think it’s damaging my retinas,” he chuckled looking back at the shelves of pink.

She chuckled and nodded in agreement before returning her attention to the shelves around her. Jason looked back over at her as she searched the shelves.  He really should be focusing on Lian’s gift.  Her party started soon so he didn’t have time to waste flirting with random women in the toy aisle, but his eyes kept wandering back to her.  It could be because they wanted a break from the sea of pink attempting to sear his eyes, but more likely it was because she was stunning and looking at her made him feel lighter.  

After a few minutes she quirked her head to the side and grabbed a box.  She puckered her lips as she looked toward it, her eyes unfocused and her brow furrowed as though planning.  Jason watched her face run through a few expressions as she thought through whatever she was planning, each expression cuter than the last one. Finally she gave a quick nod and dropped the box into her shopping basket.

“Finally figured it out huh?” he smiled at her.

“Yeah.  They like playing with hair so I’m going to get this hair glitter and chalk set and some of the Hello Kitty brushes I saw by the entrance and make a bunch of barrettes and headbands.”  She grinned proudly at him.  “And not one of the damn things will be pink in retaliation against all of this.”  She motioned around them.

He barked out a laugh and nodded appreciatively.  “Damn. That’s a really good idea.  But Lian isn’t quite there yet.”

She smiled and moved so she was standing closer to him, close enough now that he could run his fingers along her jaw if he wanted.  Well, not if he wanted because he did want, rather if he thought it would be received well.  His fingers twitched to try until he finally had to clench them into fists to stop them.  “Okay, well… what does she like?  I mean, if you want some help.  I know you didn’t ask…”

“No!  No, please.  Please help me.”  He gave her a charming smile before reminding himself what her question was.  He sighed and pulled out his phone to check his texts. “I don’t know…  He said she likes ‘girl things’.”

“Girl things…” she repeated slowly with an unamused raised eyebrow.  “Like saws and computer programs and syringes?  Or things girls didn’t invent just enjoy?”

Jason stared at her for a few seconds before chuckling and looking back at the toys with a sheepish smile. “I don’t think that’s what the idiot meant.”

“So I take it this isn’t your daughter?”

“No.  My best friend’s daughter.”

“Okay, well, your best friend is no help at all.  No offense.” She gave him a smirk that suggested she didn’t really care if she did offend. He smiled back at her and nodded in agreement with her assessment.  “What do you know about her?” she continued.  “How old will she be?”

“She’s turning four,” he started slowly, trying to order all his memories into a useful resource.  “She’s smart.  She likes engines and coloring and painting.  She LOVES cats.  Her favorite color is red.”

Marinette nodded.  “She sounds very smart and artistic.”

“Yeah.  She is constantly painting pictures for me.  My first thought was a book, a children’s classic she could keep for a while, but she recognizes letters but can’t read yet. So that’s out,” he grumbled.

“I don’t know, it sounds like you have two perfect gifts there.” He looked at her questioningly.  “More paint so she can paint more pictures for you,” her voice became increasingly excited as she thought through the gift. “There are art kits a few aisles over or there’s an art store a few doors down.  Or a book, just because she can’t read it doesn’t mean you can’t read it to her, and I bet she’ll think that’s even better.  Or you could do both.  I’m sure there are tons of kids’ books about painting or colors that you could get along with some paint.”

He nodded as he thought about what book to get her and what art supplies.  “That’s…” his words trailed off as he looked back up at her. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement and the only thing he could think was “…perfect.”

She cocked her head to the side and watched him curiously.  “Hmm?”

He shook his head quickly. “Your idea, it’s perfect.  Thank you for helping me.  I’m Jason by the way.”  He held his hand out to shake hers.

She shook his hand with a brilliant smile.  “Hi Jason. It’s nice to meet you.  I’m Marinette.”

“Which would you recommend for the art supplies?” He asked, hoping to draw out the conversation.

She puckered her lips as she thought about it.  “Depends on what she has already and how seriously she takes her art.  There’s plenty here for a four year old.  But, if she knows the difference between shades and gets upset she can’t get the exact color she wants, like I did at that age, you might want a more complete set than is available here.  Or if the brushes aren’t doing what she wants, there will be more options at the art store.”

He grinned at the thought of a four year old version of Marinette stomping her feet in frustration because she couldn’t get the right shade of pink on her painting.  “Sounds like you were really into art.”

Marinette laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, I was very… particular.” She shrugged and brushed her bangs behind her ear.  “Still am.”

“So you’re an artist,” he prompted her.

She gave him a relieved smile, grateful for a change in topic.  “A designer, yeah.  You?”

“A… uh… bodyguard.  So you know, if your body needs guarding, let me know.”  He waggled his eyebrows at her.

Marinette laughed and shook her head as she looked down.  “I’ve got it covered but thanks for the offer.”

He pouted slightly. That was one of his better lines.  Clearly a different approach would be necessary, one less superficial and more honest, one more conducive to starting an actual relationship, which he didn’t mind in the least.  “What do you design?”

“Clothing.”  She smiled brightly up at him.

He shot her a crooked smile and leaned closer to her.  “Ah… so you’ve been silently judging my outfit for the last five minutes or so.”

“Longer than that,” she smirked at him.

He perked up and shot a smug smile at her.  “Sounds like you haven’t been able to take your eyes off of me.”

“Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself,” she consoled him wryly.  “Your outfit isn’t that bad.”

He pursed his lips for a moment before bursting out into laughter.  “Can I talk you into helping me pick out some paint supplies and a book? Maybe I can repay you somehow?”

“Yeah, I can do that. No repayment necessary.  I want to make sure Lian, was it?” She looked to him uncertainly.  He nodded at her.  She nodded with a smile.  “I wouldn’t want Lian to end up with something in terrible taste.”

“Hey!  I have great taste.”  He objected with a mock offended scoff.

She looked him up and down playfully.  “Yeah, sure you do.”

He laughed again, his laughter echoing off the pink around them.  He took a step closer to her.  “Did you want to come with me to the party, too?  You’re helping pick out the gift after all.  It’s only fair you get to join in the spoils.”

She smiled shyly, but didn’t back away.  “No thank you.  It sounds like a really special event for your friend.  I don’t want to intrude on that.”

“You wouldn’t be intruding. I’m sure my friend would welcome another adult there to help corral the chaos, but I understand not wanting to go.”  He moved a step closer again, his eyes becoming softer.  “But, since you’re going to miss out on the cake and food, how about I take you out to dinner instead to thank you for your help?  I really would have been lost if you hadn’t helped.”

She smiled brilliantly up at him.  “I’d like that.”

[bts-reveries]

young one | 24

“Honey, how are you doing in your classes?” Your mom asks you. You’re currently in the living room, playing with Sian. You just picked him up from school not too long ago. With your parents helping out often, you were able to finish all your school work early. Giving you lots of free time to spend with your son. 

“I’m doing great actually! Ever since we came here, my grades have gone up,” you say, smiling at your mom. 

“Would you say this has been a good decision?” Your mom asks you warily. 

“I- I think.. So?” You say. You look down at your son, who was quite focused on the lego set the two of you are working on. “What do you think, Sian? Was moving here a good choice?”

Sian looks up at you, then at his grandma. He nods, looking back at you, then back at his toys. 

“That’s a yes I think,” you laugh, looking at your mom. 

“But I do miss daddy,” Sian says quietly. You turn your head quickly at him.

“You do? Do you want to call him?” You ask, taking out your phone quickly.

“Daddy might be busy, it’s okay,” he tells you, putting on the last piece together. “Done!” 

You didn’t know what to say, you looked at your mom instead.

“So have you heard from him?” Your mom asks, referring to Jungkook. You nod your head.

“Yeah, we call him often. For Sian--”

“No, I mean, have you heard from him. Is he missing you? When are you planning to come back? Are you planning to go back?” She continues to ask, you furrow your brows, confused.

“Hey! You finished it!” Your dad exclaimed, looking down at Sian’s lego set. “You want another one? We can go to the toy store right now--”

“YAY!” Sian exclaimed, getting up and running to get his shoes, making his grandpa laugh. You sigh. 

“Dad,” you say, standing up, “you don’t have to keep spoiling him, you shouldn’t spoil him. Just--”

“I have been waiting to spoil my grandson for so long but you moved so far away. Let me have this,” he says, petting your head. “I never got to do this with you when you were younger, let me just do this for him… while you’re still here.”

“Fine… thank you,” you smile, hugging your dad before he left with your son.

You and your mom watch the two leave before you continue your previous conversation. 

“While you’re still here and when are you planning to come back?” You ask, turning to your mom. “I thought you both wanted us to live here?”

“At first-”

“At first?” you repeat, questioningly. 

“Let me finish,” your mom says, holding up a finger. “At first, when I heard your struggles in school and work, I figured you and your little family should just move in. Just like how we planned it from the beginning but you know, you loved being independent so much. Your father and I thought it would be a good time for the three of you to move in. Then we would get to spend more time with Sianie… you wouldn’t have to worry about work, focusing on school instead.. And maybe Jungkook would get a job with the help of your father. And most especially, you’d be close to family. Both you and Jungkook.”

“But… then why did you say you just wanted Sian and I to move here? You didn’t want Jungkook coming with us…” You ask, confused. You went to sit down on the couch where your mom followed and sat next to you. 

“I heard you and Jungkook weren’t getting along. And you would think it would be a good idea to take you both out of Seoul and bring you here since the friends you’re fighting about are there. But actually, it’s not going to fix anything for the both of you. For you maybe, but not for Jungkook. By having just you and Sian here, it helps you out by getting what you want, and Jungkook out by getting what he wants... partly.”

“Mom I’m still confused,” you say, turning your whole body towards her. “You wanted us three here to help us out. I got that. But then you heard about Jungkook and I’s argument and figured it would be best for us to spend time apart to get what we both want. Him more time with his friends without responsibilities and me, help with my responsibilities.. I got that.. but I thought we’d be staying here for awhile… but instead I’m starting to get mixed messages from you mom,” you say sheepishly.Your mom sighs.

“You two, Jungkook and you, aren’t very good at dealing with problems such as these.. Right?”

“We’ve never had problems like this,” you admit. 

“So you two avoid it as much as possible, and that’s not working,” your mother says. “One of you is waiting for one to give up what they want.” You furrow your eyebrows.

“What do you mean?” You ask. 

“You’re waiting for Jungkook to give up his friends, because once he does, all will be well right? It’ll be back to normal, just how you want it to be. And…” she says, “Jungkook is waiting for you to accept his friends, because once you do, all will be well… am I wrong?” You shake your head. “One of you is going to have to sacrifice if you don’t want to compromise.” You tilt your head to the side, attempting to process this whole situation when the door suddenly opened. 

“Yn! I’m glad I was still able to catch you,” the woman says, leaving the door open as she comes to sit by you. “I was afraid you’d be gone by the time I was able to visit.” 

“M-mom.. I--” you turn to your actual mom, then back at her. You wouldn’t call her your mother-in-law as you and Jungkook aren’t married yet, but you had called her your mom ever since you and Jungkook started dating. “Why does everyone think I’d be gone by now? It hasn’t been too long.... I’m starting to think none of you want me to stay,” you laugh awkwardly. 

“Hello?” Another woman walks in.

“There you are,” Mrs. Jeon says. 

“My son called,” she says, sighing as she sat down, “you’d think by now Jimin would know to put cream on little Mingyu’s tush.” She shakes her head, laughing. Suddenly, you were surrounded with the Busan moms… grandmas… and you looked at the door, as it was still open, wondering if Yuna’s mom was to walk in next. 

“Oh Mina you forgot to close the door,” your mom says, pointing to Jimin’s mom. 

“Oh, sorry, I forgot,” she says, going to close the door. “For some reason I thought Yunhee was with us, I forgot she cancelled last minute.” Yunhee is Yuna’s mom, you nod your head. 

“Well… hi auntie, hi mom, umm… can someone fill me in on what’s going on…? Why does everyone think I’d be gone by now?” You ask, turning to the three older women surrounding you. 

“You’re not the only one with a group chat,” Mrs. Jeon says as she elbows your side. 

“Huh?”

“My little Mini made one for us,” Mrs. Park says. “Him and Taehyung actually.”

“Who’s in this group chat?” You ask. 

“Well it’s me,” Mrs. Jeon says, pointing to herself, “Mina, your mother, Yunhee, basically the Busan moms, and… all of you actually. Joonie and Byul, Jinnie and Mae, Yoongiah and Sohyunie, Hoseokie and Sarangie, Jiminie and Yuna, Taehyungie and Bora.” She counts with her fingers. “Yes everyone but the two of you.” Wow.

“Why aren’t we in it? What exactly did they say, what are they saying about us,” you say, your eyes squinted.

“The whole situation between you and Kook. They wanted our help,” Mrs. Jeon says, you smile shyly at her. “And the reason why we were wondering if you are still here or not is because of the kids’ little plan.”

“Plan? What exactly is this plan..? You ask, still confused. 

“They didn’t like how Jungkook was acting and they were worried about how hard you were pushing yourself,” Mrs. Park says. “They thought that it would be a good idea for you to move here with your parents so that you would get the help you needed, some weight off of your shoulders, and more time with Sian.”

“Then, with you gone, maybe Jungkook would realize how much of an important part you are to his life,” your mom tells you, putting an arm around you. “I know you felt like it was selfish of you to actually go out here for the sake of your well being, but we assure you.. It’s not.”

“Well I hate to burst your bubble,” you laugh awkwardly, “but I don’t think he’s realized. Is that why you three were wondering why I’m still here? Because he hasn’t asked me to come back or anything if that’s what you three were hoping…”

“He can be oblivious sometimes,” Mrs. Jeon says, scratching her head, “he gets it from his dad, of course.”

“I beg to differ,” Mrs. Park says, quirking an eyebrow at Mrs. Jeon. 

“Whatever,” she laughs.

“Ah... and I have no plans on going back any time soon either as I thought I would be staying here for a while…”

“Well, you know the plan now,” your mom says. “What are we going to do with it?”

“And like I said, I don’t have any plans on going back home any time soon. But I- I don’t know… I do miss my life back in Seoul. At least, the way it was,” you confess. “I love it here, it’s easier here, but I miss Jungkook and the three of us being together. I miss my best friends as well. But like what we’ve been saying… you can’t go back to the past. That’s what we’ve been trying to tell Jungkook. Wouldn’t me wanting things to go back to ‘the good old days’ be the same thing as him wanting his time with his friends back?”

“Then just don’t go back to the good old days,” a deep voice says. The four of you turn to the door, looking at your dad and Sian who’s holding onto his hand.

“Oh we didn’t even hear you come in,” Your mom says.

“Is that my Sianie?” Mrs. Jeon says.

“Oh yeah.. Sian, come say hi to grandma,” you say. Sian smiles widely and runs to her. She gives him a big hug and Sian turns to hug Mrs. Park as well.

“He’s gotten so big,” Mrs. Park says. You nod.

“He has,” you say, then you turn to your dad. “Wait, dad what’d you say?”

“I didn’t say anything,” he says. “I’m just standing here.” 

“No, you said something about the good old days. Like a minute ago,” you say. Your dad furrowed his brows and then his eyes widened.

“Oh yeah, I overheard you all talking about the past and blah blah blah. I just said don’t go back to the good old days. Stop thinking about the past and think about your future instead. Focus on the present in order to have a better future, instead of wasting the present for the past that you’ll never get back. I know that’s what you’ve been having in mind which is why you’re working hard in school and work, but if you want a better future with, not just Sian, but with Jungkook too, you have to think about him as well. You’ve just been thinking of having a better future for Sian, but what about you and Jungkook? Do you want to be together in the future?”

“Yeah.. I do,” you say.

“Then go back to Seoul, don’t wait for him to come here to fix things. For all you know, he’s thinking about it too and is hesitant because he thinks you wouldn’t want it.”

♛♛♛♛♛♛♛

young one

♛ part twenty-four: a better future ♛

pairings: photographer, dad!jungkook x hostess, mom!reader

a/n: progresS?

taglist: @kookietsukkie @brinnalaine @chocobetterknot @silentlyimpractical @aianloveseven @jayhope88 @preciouschimine @noelitaaaa @butterflylion @yogugui @jikachoo @samros95 @yoongis-cumsock @strwberry-jam @sope-and-shine @cosmicdaylight @eatjeanjin @rjsmochii @i-swear-im-a-soft-stan @peoplejustcanthandlemywierdness @prdshobi @marmaribelarova @ramyagovindraj @casspirit0705 @ssyubb @smauslut @taexmichi @codeinebelle @cecedrake2217 @hellotherehoneybee @ddofa @winterwidow27 @ephyra1230 @heartfeltscribblings @nightapple4jk @applejuice5000 @salty-for-suga @lemonteacyst @princessjazzyjazz @bamboozled-jaykay @bigimpression @dammit-jjk @kookie-sun0097 @kookoo-kachoo @waddlebby @taekookcaneatme @jikooksgirl19 @tanumiki @strawberryforever25 @hobiismyhopeu

TAGLIST IS CLOSED!!

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[realcube]

karasuno boys spending christmas with you 🎄

;tw// christmas (?), santa ig, extreme fluff, shoplifting, underage drinking, violence, ennoshita, kinoshita and narita exclusion 😞

(a/n): ik the gif isn’t hq but look how cute it is (○｀ 3′○). also i’m aware that i wrote a rather western-washed version of Christmas (despite the characters in question not being western) but as someone of an asian ethnicity, imo western traditions surrounding Christmas are a lot more..festive (?) which i hope that isn’t offensive considering that Christmas was popularised by the west. so, in short, sorry the traditions aren’t those that are celebrated in japan (or asia) but i just found it i had a lot more inspiration to write it this way. :) perhaps i’ll make a part 2 with aoba johsai or nekoma celebrating Christmas with japanese traditions

Shōyō Hinata

you spend christmas at his house bc he wants to be with his sister on the day

and any sibling that you live with, he insists that they stay over too 

but if you don’t have any younger siblings then y’all just spend the whole day spoiling natsu

hinata absolutely adores how well you get on with his sister, it just makes him so happy seeing his two favourite people having fun together 

although, it did make him a bitter when he asked natsu if she likes the doll he bought her and she said,

“Yeah, thank you. But look at the Furby (L/N) got me! It’s pink and so fluffy, feel it! And it talks, it’s eyes move and-” Then she continues to rave on about how amazing your gift was.

honestly, y’all spend the whole day pampering natsu; making sure she has the best christmas possible

y’all made gingerbread cookies with her, helped her built a snowman (or rather, a snowwoman because she insisted that it was a lady), snowangels, opening presents, christmas crackers, watching movies - the whole shabang.

probably the only time in the day were she was sad was at 10PM when hinata insisted that she goes to bed

natsu looked at you to back her up in her argument that she should be allowed to stay up late on christmas but you kinda just stood there like 🧍‍♀️/🧍‍♂️

not wanting to get involved in their family drama (unproblematic liege 😍😩)

eventually though, natsu did go to bed and as soon as she was sound asleep, you and hinata spent the night cuddling while watching more christmas movies as you were both too tired to do anything else

you ended up falling asleep in his arms and it was a christmas miracle that his arm didn’t get pins and needles like it usually did while cuddling for a long period of time

Tobio Kageyama 

i’m a firm believer that he doesn’t celebrate christmas

not that he doesn’t like the concept, it’s just doesn’t understand the hype

plus - other than going to nationals - there isn’t much he wants and from what he knows, santa can’t make that happen

but as soon as you come over to his house on christmas day with a tub filled with cookies shaped and decorated like volleyballs, suddenly christmas is his favourite holiday

he invites you inside to eat the cookies with him and you notice that he’s watching a volleyball match on the TV

you giggle at how passionate he is about about the sport and offer to cast a Christmas movie from your phone onto the TV

he says yes since this is probably the 10th time he’s rewatched the same match 

you scroll through the list of christmas movies available on Netflix, “Wanna watch Arthur Christmas?”

“No.”

“How about the Grinch?”

“Eh, no.”

“Ooh! What about the Nativity? I love that movie-”

“No thanks.”

So you ended up watching Frozen and Frozen 2 (on a different streaming site) because Kageyama didn’t like any of the Christmas movies available on Netflix

You figured that Frozen kinda counted as a Christmas movie because..there was snow :) 

anyway, you already knew Kageyama tolerated Disney Movies so Frozen was your best bet

and as it turns out, he was oddly engaged by the movie which gave you an opening to slip into his arms, stifling an evil snicker the whole time

as we all know, when Kageyama is into something he is into it.

so whenever the climax of the movie comes up (or any part with high suspense) you feel him squeeze you slightly and tense up 

AND IT IS THE MOST ADORABLE THING PERIODT 🥺😩

so yeah your christmas with him is not overly Praise The Lord but it very fun and cute since it mostly consists of Disney movies

(also Barbie: A Christmas Carol because it gave you both overwhelming nostalgia since he has a big sister who i now headcanon to be a barbie movie addict ✋)

Kei Tsukishima 

the biggest grinch™

mostly bc every year he drops hints to both his mum and brother that he wants new headphones but every year he still gets a snowglobe from his mum and something dinosaur related from his brother

even though his brother is aware that he is ‘too old for that shit’ now 

but Akiteru just loves seeing his brother’s pissed off face whenever he opens his gift (which is a similar size to a headphones box) to find something like a Jurassic Park Lego set

anyway, backstory over - in short, Tsukishima very much dislikes Christmas

So when you appear at his door with a gift, he slams the door closed

“Tsukishima!” You roar as that was quite rude - even for Tsukishima - since it was snowing and you were clearly freezing, “Let me in! I’m freezing my tits off out here!”

Eventually, he did let you in and gave you a hot chocolate as an apology but as soon as you tried to hand him the give, he refused to take it

“No.”

“Why not?” You whined, clearly upset that he wouldn’t take the gift you went through so much effort to get your hands on.

“Because I didn’t get you anything.”

You rolled your eyes, “You got me this hot chocolate - now, take it. It’s seriously not much.”

Upon eyeing the wrapped box in your hand, he realised it was about 9x9″ - the same size as the tub you usually deliver food in, meaning that the gift was probably some sweet treats

“Alright.” He sighed, accepting he gift as he figured that he could easily pay you back by making Christmas cookies with you or something

He hummed, delicately unwrapping the gift and his heart skipped a beat as he noticed the present inside was in a black box rather than a clear tub which you normally gave homemade treats in

nevertheless, he persevered in unwrapping the box 

when he finally finished, his heart dropped yet he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with joy

“Wireless headphones.” He muttered to himself, doing everything in his power to resist the smile tugging on the corner of his lips but it was challenging, to say the least

“Yeah!” You chirped, “Don’t worry about the price though, I got them on a Black Friday sale.” You lied, aware that it was usually considered rude to talk about the price of a gift you’ve given but knowing if you didn’t say anything, Tsukishima would assume you paid full price (which you did smh) and immediately empty his bank account in order to pay you back

You could almost envision the situation already; “Would you like it in cash or cheque?”

“Neither, Kei!” 

“You seriously got me branded headphones?” Non-imaginary Tsukishima asked, unable to pry his eyes off the long-awaited gift in his hands

“Y-Yeah.” You stuttered at his unusually sinister voice. “I wanted to buy you noise-cancelling headphones and Google said these were the best ones available that weren’t selling for millions of y--”

“I love you.”

You did a double-take, “Huh?”

“I love you.”

You did a..triple-take.. “I-I don’t think I heard you correctly.”

“I’m not saying it again, dumbass.”

now, tsukishima wasn’t a very affectionate person but considering you paid full price for headphones (yes, he knows. you’re not a very good liar 😐) for him, the least you deserved was forehead kisses 

plus, he was determined to make you as happy as you made him that day

so can get all the kisses you want, all the hugs, all the cuddles, all the smiles, all the cookies-  everything!

but that’s not to say that he’s not going to get you anything in return as subtly through the day he was gathering info on what to get you 

by the end of it, he had a whole list but unfortunately - after looking at his bank account - he realised that the only thing he could afford was an easy-bake oven (┬┬﹏┬┬)

Tadashi Yamaguchi

y’all spent Christmas at your house because Yamaguchi was absolutely entranced by your massive Christmas tree

he also slept over because you both wanted experience the Christmas morning buzz together 

also because your parents were working on Christmas day and Yamaguchi didn’t want you to be alone 🥺

(he didn’t tell you that though as he didn’t want you to think that he felt bad for you or anything)

after you both completed you morning routines, you raced downstairs (quite literally raced; you won.) to open the presents

the milk and cookies you both hand left out for ‘Santa’ was gone because your parents chugged the milk and scarfed the cookies before they left for work

“Open the presents I got you first!” You urged Yamaguchi, pointing to the two presents wrapped in Sanrio wrapping paper

 Yamaguchi did so; sitting on the floor cross-legged to open the larger, box-shaped gift first

“Candy!” He chirped with a smile, gently shifting through the selection of sweets you got him, his grin stretching as he did so and once he was finished, it was beaming ear-to-ear. “You know me so well, thank you so much, (L/N).” 

You giggled, a light blush crossing your features at the praise - then motioning to the second, smaller, thinner gift.

Yamaguchi accidently tore the wrapping paper off to reveal basic, charcoal face masks.

You quickly interjected to explain, “You said that you were embarrassed about how the animal-themed face masks your mum bought you were too childish and that they just made your skin more oily so bought you those; less embarrassing and supposedly good for oily skin.”

Yamaguchi’s heart fluttered upon hearing how much attention you paid during his random rants, “Thank you, babe!” He enthused, hugging the mask to his chest.

After that, you opened the gift he bought you and were over the moon when you realised that it was a box full of adorable stationary 

“I noticed how you kept complaining about your pens running out of ink during class and..yeah..I hope you like it..”

You obviously loved it and expressed that by giving him a big bear hug and many kisses (づ￣ 3￣)づ (*≧︶≦))

By then, it was around Midday so you had time to play in the snow for a bit before Yamaguchi had to go home to spend the rest of Christmas with his family

but of course he came back on Boxing Day to binge watch movies and cuddle with you 🥰

Daichi Sawamura

okay; I am going to say this and you aren’t going to argue with me bc I know that I’m right:

if you have any younger siblings or cousins staying in your house for Christmas (and I mean younger like 5 or less) and the kid isn’t a little shit

daichi (with your assistance) will dress up as Santa and you will dress up as an elf to surprise the child with a visit 

daichi would be like ‘ho ho ho!’ and you’d be like ‘shut up, santa, you fatass.’ 

and the kid would be like ✪ ω ✪

y’all would take pictures and shit before santa dips 🚶‍♂️🛷

after that, you both would head back to his place to celebrate a kid-free christmas 

you don’t open gifts because you both mutually agreed not to get anything for each other this year since you had ‘grown out of presents’ (tsk).

but you did get a RingFit Adventure from one for your relatives for Christmas so you and Daichi spend an hour or two playing that 

it’s surprisingly taxing though so you’re both puffed afterwards

so you decided to make spaghetti for yourself and Daichi and a Christmas miracle occurred..he got off of his ass to help you cook 🤩

usually he’d hide his fear off fucking up under toxic masculinity but today he actually let you teach him how to make food and he was a natural chef tbh

however, his habit of grabbing your ass or holding your lower back wasn’t especially helpful while he had tomato sauce all over his hands

you changed into a different pair of bottoms as the spaghetti cooled down

then, a second Christmas miracle occurred

Daichi gave you both permission to eat in the living room, on the couch, so y’all could watch a movie or something as you ate

every other day of the year, daichi would have to be killed before he let anybody eat in the living room - forget on his new couch 

but today was a special so he let it slide

originally, the plan was to watch a Christmas movie but then you noticed that a new episode of y’alls favourite show was out - House Hunters - so you just watched that instead 

hey, it made you both happy so why not?

especially with daichi’s running commentary which you outwardly expressed annoyance to but internally loved

“Andromeda will never be Suzanne, rest easy.”

“That house is so ugly, next.”

“Why’s their budget so low? May as well just buy a caravan.”

“They are so fucking picky.”

“Her face annoys me.”

IT LIKE HIS ALTER-EGO IT’S AMAZING

anyway, merry christmas to the daichi stans and that is from me, not daichi - he actually forgot it was Christmas at noon

Kōshi Sugawara

SUGA IS DOMESTIC LIKE DAICHI BUT MAKE IT ❄ FESTIVE❄

y’all bake christmas cookies together, exchanges small gifts, bake carrot cake, watch The Polar Express, bake pudding, kiss under the mistletoe, bake-- yeah, there was a lot of baking

get ready to work out twice as much and start dieting if you don’t want to develop an illness due to the amount of sugar you consumed

to be honest, Suga was kinda lost for things to do on the actual day of Christmas bc y’all were so hyped preparing for it so he had no idea how to top that

I mean, you both went on romantic, late night car drives to buy a tree

cute couple trips to the store to purchase decorations 

planning out and putting the decorations around the house (and with both of your keen eyes for design, the house ends up looking gorgeous ofc)

you ornamented the tree in his living room but it was so tall that he couldn’t reach the very tip to put the final decoration on top

so you hopped onto his shoulders and stuck the star on top with a smile

but he wasn’t done with you yet, he rushed around the house with you on his shoulders while you clung onto his hair as if your life depended on it 

he did most of the festivities with you before Christmas but he saved one special one for the day

“(Y/N), let’s bake something.” 

You sighed, shooting him a weary smile, “Suga, we’ve been baking all day.”

“Just one last thing! It’s not even baking actually, more like assembling.”

You quirked an eyebrow at his statement, “Hm? What is it?”

“Let’s make our dream houses with gingerbread!”

Of course you agreed. Not just because he is the cutest thing you’ve ever laid your eyes on but also since it sounded rather fun

“What are those?” You pointed to the weird rectangular designs on the roof of his house

“Solar panels.” He hummed, elegantly icing the sides of his house, “I want my future house run on that energy.”

“Anyway, what’ve you got on your house?” Finishing off the final swirl on his door, he turned to look at your gingerbread home and deadpanned 

A sheepish grin formed on your lips as you noticed his blank expression towards your ‘dream home’ which has walls garnished with golden, edible glitter and sugar paper sanrio characters on the roof along with many other extremely unconventional things 

“Hey,” you shrugged, “Let me have my dreams.”

“Of course,” Suga agreed, his usual sweet smile returning, “Although, in an ideal world, I thought we’d end up living together and starting a family. However, I don’t think we can do that if you planning on putting a horse head on our front door.”

“IT WAS JUST LYING THERE, KŌSHI! IF ANYTHING IT’S YOUR FAULT FOR GIVING ME ACCESS TO A MARZIPAN HORSE!”

“I DIDN’T THINK THAT YOU’D DECAPITATE IT, (Y/N)! I THOUGHT YOU’D USE IT FOR A STABLE OR FARM OR SOMETHING!”

“YOU SHOULD KNOW ME BETTER THAN THAT!”

Asahi Azumane 

you both spent christmas day in your respective households, promising each other that you’d spend boxing day together 

until around 7PM when you had to come over to his house bc he called you, extremely puzzled at the fact that random mutuals from school (and the whole volleyball team) were on his instagram page, facebook, snapchat and any/every other social media platform wishing him a happy birthday

“I don’t get it.” He spoke through the phone, confusion and anxiety apparent in his voice, “My birthday isn’t for another six days. Why do they think it is today? Is this a joke?” 

“Uh, can I come over? I’d love to see you.” 

“Um, sure.” He replied, even more confused that you didn’t answer his question and instead asking one yourself

you spent the rest of the day with him, trying your very best to distract him from social media by doing various activities 

you both baked, watched movies, played board games (he’s a beast at battleships) then you moved on to other games like charades - basically every bs excuse you could come up with to get him to stay away from his phone

but that’s not to say you didn’t enjoy every second of it bc you did

he is so cute like whenever you are doing an action which he can’t interpret, his automatic guess is ‘are my beautiful gf (Y/N) (L/N) who i love very much? (= ❛ ᴗ ❛=)’

PRECIOUS 💓 

and then you are just like, ‘yes, i am, baby. but i am also optimum prime. your turn.’

anyway, by the end of the day there was no way you were able to prevent him from finding out about the joke now

so you just decided to tell him - figuring that it’d be better for him to hear it from you rather than someone else

“See.. y’know how jesus was allegedly born on christmas day? well, the joke is that..you kinda look like what people assume jesus would’ve looked like..”

Asahi had to do a double-take at what you just said, “Th-they..think I look like jesus?”

“yeah.”

Ryūnosuke Tanaka

you’re both broke af so you spend Christmas day pretending you are a rich couple

you slept over at his house too so you could start early in the morning and by that I mean 10:30AM

firstly, you and tanaka flick through an Argos catalogue (which you found on the ground, so there were a few mud stains on it 😶) to select the gift(s) you were going to buy for your ‘children’

but really it was just you and him going through it and circling all the toys y’all wanted as kids but couldn’t afford/didn’t get

“I super badly wanted one of those kiddie monster trucks that you could control with a remote as a child so my son is going to need one of those.” Tanaka said, circling the monster truck with a marker

“Yes, of course. And I asked for Monster High dolls every year as a kid but my parents said they were everything god hates so let’s buy that because we stan satan in this house, apparently .”

“Of course, of course.” He said in his best ‘rich person’ voice which was actually just an english accent

After resenting your parents for around an hour, you both moved onto the next activity of your rich person Christmas which included reading your horoscope in an english accent

that only lasted a few minutes though because both of you couldn’t be bothered to read

you also planned to look at the stock market (just like all rich people do on christmas day, obvs) but it was so boring

you took a glance then just went ‘okay, bye.’

next, you had caviar - just like rich people eat for every meal of the day, i think.

except it was actually black pop rocks  

“ah, yes. scrumptious.” “the flavour is immaculate.” 

then, as dawn drew close, you and tanaka preformed your final rich person activity 

no, it wasn’t being rude to minimum wage workers

no, it wasn’t being ungrateful

no, it wasn’t exploiting the working class under capitalism

no, it wasn’t being generally stuck-up and cocky

instead, it was going to the grocery shop and buying everything rather than shoplifting :)

“what should we get, babe?” you asked tanaka, in awe at how many different brands of toilet paper were on the shelves. “Have you ever noticed how spoiled we are for choice when it comes to toilet paper?”

“uh, no.” he replied in reference to the toilet paper question, “Hm, how about some gingerbread men or something?”

his suggestion was just met by a blank stare and silence

“JUST KIDDING! WE’RE TOTALLY BUYING BOOZE!”

“Hell yeah!” 

luckily, because tanaka looked a lot older than 17 and also since the cashier was too tired to check his ID, you both managed to buy the drinks without getting caught

“Merry Christmas, Ryū.” You hummed, fidgeting with his hand which was interlocked with yours as you walked through a rather prestigious neighbourhood and admired all the extravagant christmas lights

“Merry Christmas, (Y/N). Love you.”

Yū Nishinoya 

you and noya spent the whole day in his backyard and since it was a white christmas, you were able to spend the 90% playing in the snow

at first, you both went outside with the intention of making snowangels and taking cute couple photos in the snow 

but the weather was just so inviting that you had to stay for a little longer even when you did finish taking pictures; so you made the ‘ultimate’ snowman  

by that, it was just the biggest snowman y’all could make without it falling apart with stones for eyes, spiking out twigs for hair and an empty Monster Energy can for a nose 

once you had completed the snowman and basked in it’s glory for a moment, you went to head inside - but then you felt something hit your back

you turned around to see noya snickering, a mischievous grin on his face which you couldn’t stand

so what started out as him playfully throwing a snowball at your back, eventually turned into a full-on snowball battle to the death

there were snow forts, piles of snow ammunition, mini snow-warriors guarding the edges of your fort, a snow-princess which you were trying to steal from each other’s fort to win (basically like capture the flag but colder..) and a few brunch bars in the middle of the battle field for snack breaks 

it was all going smoothly until Noya ran up to your base, obviously with the intention to steal your princess 

“stay away from her, you fiend!” You yelled, jumping into an offensive stance - your neighbours must hate you bc of all the noise you and Noya made.

Noya screaming his battle cry as he rushed towards your fort, batista bombing you to the ground before you had a chance to attack him with a snowball

now that you were out of the equation, he scurried over to your princess which was perches on a little snow podium you made for her

he grabbed it, lifting it above his head like a trophy and letting out a loud victory cry “I win!”

he then turned to you and laughed upon noticing that you had your face buried into the snow in shame, “You have been defeated, (L/N)! And the great Rolling Thunder prospers!” 

“That’s a stupid nickname.” You groaned, outstretching your arms to allow him to pick you up, “Now take me inside, I’m tired.”

“Alright, babe.” He spoke softly, seemingly coming down from his adrenaline high. 

He strolled towards you, scooping you up into his arms - off the snow - and carrying you inside

unbeknownst to him, you had fallen asleep as he held you and once he put you down on the couch and noticed- i- my man almost died of happiness

“Oh my god, (Y/N)! You’re so fucking cute! (❤´艸｀❤)” he hollered, peppering your face in kisses

“Shhh..” you hushed Noya, sticking your bottom lip out to form a pout 

Noya nodded understandingly before hopping onto the couch beside you and snuggling up 

[delwrites]

Dating Tom Holland Headcannons

if you’d like me to expand on any concepts, drop me a request! I have loads of ideas oof

also, these are just my opinions and thoughts! so there will definitely be some ooc and we may disagree, but do feel free to tell me which points you disagree with! would love some feedback :)

right i’m sorry I’ve no clue why but I just see him as quite an emotional person? like him being so mature that he’s just fully intact with his feelings and doesn’t ever feel the need to hide them around you because he knows you wouldn’t judge him. like him having a lot of rough days but as soon as he sees you just instantly perking up a little bit

or literally just collapsing in your lap when you’re trying to watch something on the sofa and him just letting it all out for you to listen to as you hug his head to your chest and run your fingers through his hair

him being so scared he’s gonna lose you as you’re literally a goddess in his eyes so he always makes sure you’re happy 

him always letting you choose whatever you guys watch (as most of the time he will concentrate more on you than the tv)

he would build you both a blanket fort with fairy lights and pillows and it would be the most comfy thing ever

if you choose to put on a scary film, expect him to be stuck to your side like glue, hiding his face in your neck/ chest in the scary scenes because he doesn’t care about being a mAnLy MaN

he would DEMAND that you carry him up to bed because he insists that if he leaves the cocoon of warmth that your providing, the monsters may get him

him being the bigGEST MAN-CHILD WITH YOU OH GOD

like you two literally just playing games and stuff

playing just dance and him being surprisingly good?

but then beating his behind at Mario kart

also side note but you and paddy would get along SO WELL and you’d spoil the life out of him and play games with him, and whenever you play Mario kart with him and Tom, you’d let paddy win, you’d be in 2nd place and Tom would be all the way back in 11th absjdjd

“well, at least I didn’t lose?”

and both playing animal crossing together and visiting each others islands and his is a mess whilst yours is all vibes and lovely

you and him having FIGHTS over monopoly BSIDHSHS that game RUINS friendships I swear

DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON LEGO HSCGIYSEGCI

him buying you a promise ring AWWWEEE and then claiming it’s because he wants a part of him on your person at all times (so naturally, you never take it off)

him going shopping with you because he’s the biggest hype man and always going in the dressing rooms with you so you end up buying loads of outfits because he assures you that you look incredible in all of them

him carrying majority of your bags and holding open all of the doors for you (which would admittedly be a bit of a struggle with the amount of bags he ends up carrying for you VUGJYBEK)

the pap pictures this would provide!!!

also you going on dog walks with him and Tessa and him always insisting you take his coat if you ever forget yours

always visiting him on set whenever you can

whenever he has free days spending them not doing anything just cuddling into your side

him trying to teach you basketball but you always being clumsy and dropping the ball

if you ever trip best believe he wouLD NOT LAUGH ITS LIKE YOU’VE DIED

RDJ literally adopts you because we all have daddy issues and we all need that in our lives

then tom and his dynamic becoming so much more like Tony and Peters dynamic HDSBDYAB

tom asking rdj for permission before doing practically anything with you 

“um, sir, could I borrow your daughter? for like, the rest of our lives?” FUHIFUEHIUFH

rdj being so protective of you oh lord

and you always going to him for advice because he’s a wise soul who can always help you, especially with relationship advice 

tom getting low-key jealous pretty often, like although he has full trust in you, he (as previously mentioned) views you as a goddess who is just the definition of beauty and love and believes that you could have any man in the room (which you can queen go off) and constantly being nervous that something will happen

him being really good at not showing it though

death stares from across the room and then giving you the sweetest smile if you look (like seriously, too sweet, suspiciously sweet)

I feel like when you both get alone his demeanour just instantly changes and he goes really cold and distant all of a sudden, it’s almost as if he deflates, the drive home being so tense and him going directly to his room when you get home, but later on he gets sick of ignoring you and goes to you to talk about it properly and makes it up to you

your confidence sky-rocketing when getting with him because he gives the most obscure and yet heartfelt compliments at any chance he gets, so you know they've come from heart with how random they are 

“yes darling work that top!”

“love, I don’t think I’ve ever told you this, but you ears are really pretty?”

right I know this is literally everywhere but lets be real here, he ADORES you in his hoodies. sharing clothes is so intimate to him, and each time he sees you walking about so casually in his clothes, he falls that little bit more in love with you (no matter how much he thinks that that isn’t possible)

you accidentally walking in on his lives and either saying the most chaotic or the most lovely things, and the chat absolutely living for it

“Love, are you busy? I was just thinking about taking Tessa on a walk, to that park she loves?”

or,,, “THOMAS STANLEY HOLLAND! IF I HAVE TO TELL YOU ONE MORE TIME TO TAKE YOUR DIRTY PLATES TO THE KITCHEN, I WILL SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST! I AM NOT YOUR MOTHER, NOR YOUR CARER, SO DON’T TREAT ME AS SUCH!”

the chat blowing up being little shit stirrers like ‘oooohhhh she called him by his full name he’s in troubleeee’

Tom just pointing at his phone timidly being like “darling.. I’m live right now..”

“I DONT CARE! SORT YOURSELF OUT, YOU CAVEMAN”

him getting so embarrassed BDKDNDJD

also I’m sorry right but bathing together after a long and difficult week, or after not seeing each other due to contradicting schedules and what not, not in a sexy times way or anything but just being so intimate and comfortable around each other

and obviously this little pamper night would call for doing face masks together and painting each other’s nails

him finding it so fun to paint your nails (even though they end up really messy BDJDNDJD)

he is a magnificent chef and no one may tell me otherwise

having the arrangement of him always cooking dinner and you always washing up the dishes

but after he sees you dancing around the sink, ending up joining you (after watching you for a minute of two with heart eyes, of course)

even though he is an incredible cook, being such a bad baker. like, for one of your anniversaries, he tries to bake you a cake, but it ends up literally bubbling in the oven and spilling over the sides and never cooking all the way through and it just being a mess

you trying it out of pity and ending up getting ill, so he stays in with you to take care of you because even though both of you fail to admit it aloud, it was him who made you poorly

you decide to do all the baking at that point

every time you do decide to bake anything, always saving him the biggest and best piece

and don't even get me started on how well you’d get along with his family

like the first time he introduced you to them they were all so so so welcoming and loving and literally just took you in as their own (not as much as rob did though rdj is number one)

again, always playing with paddy

teaching paddy how to bake AWWW and always getting him the best presents

you, harry and sam literally just embarrassing tom with stories

you and harry deciding to prank tom together because tom pranked you once ages ago but after your reaction, decided never again, so of course you have to get him back

Tessa loving you so much, and tom always being able to tell when she misses you (mainly because he can relate)

having an argument that he didn't think was a big deal and where he thought you were overreacting but then hearing you call him Thomas and it setting in that it is a big deal to you and fixing it

again, please do send me an ask or pm me if you'd like me to expand on any of these! im just overflowing with ideas for this incredible man, so do ask :)

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About The Mitchells vs. the Machines

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is up there as one of the best installments of the MCU. Sure, the action and CGI sucks, and the season finale could use a bit more polish, but there is so much more of what it does right. It brings up an engaging discussion through Karli; the bromance between Bucky and Sam is incredible; Zemo's surprisingly a riot, and U.S. Agent is a character whose inner psychology is something I would like to study. Plus, the series really dives deep into the themes of race and the realistic hesitance that comes with making a black man Captain America. It's easily an 8/10 series that is worth an in-depth discussion.

But f**k that s**t, because I'm talking about The Mitchells vs. the Machines instead!

I know it might be questionable that reviewing a movie starring a predominantly white family of idiots saving the world instead of the TV series about the powerful journey of a black man taking the mantle of an American icon...but this movie is fun, alright? And yes, I'm going to spoil it to explain how. So if you still have a Netflix account, I highly suggest you check it out when you have time.

Because, random people on the internet who most likely won't read this, this Ordinary Schmuck who writes stories and reviews and draws comics and cartoons is going to explain why The Mitchells vs. the Machines might just be my favorite film of the year (steep contest, I know).

WHAT I LIKE

The Animation: Let's get this out of the way right here and right now: If a single person ever tells you that this movie has awful animation, or the worst animation they have ever seen, just go ahead and assume that person is an idiot. Because holy hot cheese sticks, does this movie look amazing!

Say what you want about most of Sony Pictures Animation's movies, but you have to admit that they nail making a CGI movie looking like it could be in 2D. And The Mitchells vs. The Machines is the peak of that style. Every character in nearly every frame looks like they could work well if the movie was hand-drawn, and I love it. I am addicted to seeing films that look 2D with a 3D makeover because there has to be ten times the amount of effort to get that look just right, what with modeling each character in unique ways to nail that style wherein a hand-drawn film, you could just, well, draw it. Not to mention that the cell-shading and certain hand-drawn elements also add to the aesthetic.

Plus, there is so much attention to details, such as most of Katie's character model being covered in sharpie, or how you can see a hint of Eric and Deborabot 3000's drawn on faces even though their black screens are showing something else. Seriously, you can listen to any criticism this movie gets, but don't you dare let someone get away with telling you that it looks awful. It doesn't. It's incredible, and I SO wish that I could have seen it all on the big screen.

The Comedy: On top of being incredibly well-animated, this movie is also incredibly funny. Like, really funny. I shouldn't be surprised since it's made by the same people responsible for Clone High and The Lego Movie, but yeah, I found myself laughing, chuckling, and snorting with nearly every joke in the film. Not every joke works, to be fair. But because of the fast-paced humor, the bad jokes are almost immediately followed up with better ones soon after. What's even better is that the writers know when to take a break with the humor and let some surprisingly compelling drama take over. And even then, when there are jokes during the dramatic moments, they add sincerity to the scene rather than take anything away. Looking at you, The Amazing World of Gumball...I mean, I love you, but sheesh, you need to learn to let a solemn moment play out.

Anyways, the comedy is hilarious. And while I won't spoil every joke, I will go over some bits that might have gotten to me the most.

Katie Mitchell: Let's just go ahead and add Katie Mitchell to the list of characters I highly relate to on a personal level (which is getting longer by the minute, hot damn). But jokes aside, I really like Katie. Her love and desire to make movies is something I identify with, and her goal to just go to a place where she feels like she belongs is easy to understand. Trust me, if I found out there was a group of weirdos who like the same things I do and enjoy the things I make, I’d be willing to pack everything I have and go to them as fast as possible too. Plus, I feel like a lot of us can relate to a character who lives in a household where people question if our career goal is something we can make a living with. I remember two years ago when I told my aunt that I wanted to make my own animated series, and her reaction is a little too similar to Rick's when Katie showed him her movie. They mean well, but sometimes it's for the best to have a cheerleader rather than a critic, especially if that person is family.

Now, Katie isn't perfect as her enthusiasm can get a little annoying at times, and her desire to leave can be conceived as a little too harsh as well. Still, she's pretty cool and serves her role as a protagonist pretty well...also, if the movie gets a sequel, let's hope she and Jude become cannon by then. GIVE KATIE A GIRLFRIEND, DAMN IT!

Aaron Mitchell: But as great as Katie is, it's this goober that earns the reward for my favorite character. At times it looks like Aaron is nothing more than a source of comedy, but he handles some dramatic moments really well. Partial credit goes to Michael Rianda for that one. Yeah, having a child actor would have made Aaron sound more like a kid, but no other voice could have fit him better than what Michael offers as he comes across as weird but never obnoxious.

Also, let's give the writer points for making a character who is clearly neurodivergent. Yet also refraining from having him be annoying or useless to the rest of the cast. No one ever really disrespects or belittles Aaron and instead chooses to work with him rather than against him. Especially Katie, who forms a solid sibling bond with Aaron as a fellow weirdo. It's genuinely sweet to see, and I loved every minute that the writers showed that just because someone acts on a different wavelength doesn't mean they shouldn't be treated any less because of it. You get that with Katie, a little bit, but I see it much more with Aaron, for some reason. And I love him every minute, so that’s a win.

(Plus, I may or may not have had a dinosaur phase when I was younger, so go ahead and add him to the list of relatable characters too.)

Rick Mitchell: This is probably a character you will either love or hate, and I can see both sides of that argument. Because on the one hand, I really like Rick Mitchell. His motivation is clear and understandable from the first set of home videos with him and Katie, both near the beginning and the end. Sure, he messes up a lot, but he is still a man who cares deeply about his daughter, as well as his entire family. He gets to the point where he would make great sacrifices for all of them, especially Katie. Plus, it's just pleasant seeing a cartoon dad who isn't a complete idiot or overprotective regarding his daughter's love life.

However, there are times when Rick comes across as an irresponsible d**k. When he does things like smash the family's phones without telling them or giving them screwdrivers for "presents," you're either gonna find that funny or you won't. Personally, I enjoy Rick and his antics, and I have no problem with irresponsible cartoon dads. As long as they don't cross the line toward Modern-Peter Griffin territory, I've got no problem with dads like Rick, who I believe has never even got that bad. Still, some people might think differently, and I can't blame them. Because after getting great cartoon dads like Greg Universe, I can understand if some people won't be interested in characters like Rick Mitchell.

Rick’s and Katie’s relationship: Alongside the top-notch animation and gut-busting comedy, Rick and Katie's relationship is what I consider the movie's most essential asset. These two are the main characters of the film, and as such, they develop through each other. And what's crazy is that they have very conflicting goals. Katie wants to escape and be with her people, where Rich just wants one last chance to have a good memory with Katie before she leaves. To do so, they first have to understand each other. Katie has to learn why Rick is so desperate to spend time with her, and Rick has to realize why Katie is, well, Katie. What I love most about it is that they try. These two don't spend the entire movie arguing and being at each other's throats until a sudden "Oh" moment in the end. No, there are actual moments when they genuinely try to understand one another and fix their relationship. It's nice to watch, and I especially love when it cuts to Linda and Aaron celebrating each time Katie and Rick get closer to each other. When recommending this movie, I'd say come for the animation and comedy, stay for the phenomenal relationship building.

Monchi: There are probably people already comparing Monchi to Mater or the Minions due to being a comic relief with nothing else to add...but gosh dangit, do I love this little gentleman. Maybe it's because I'm a dog person, but I find Monchie to be incredibly adorable, and I will fight anybody who disrespects this king of kings. Probably not physically, 'cause I'm a wuss, but I will verbally. So WATCH IT!

“HeLlO. i Am DoG.”: Have I mentioned that this movie is funny?

Rick’s videotapes of him and Katie: And right there. Rick's motivation for everything is set in stone through a solid case of visual storytelling.

PAL: The writers do almost everything they should have with this character. PAL might not have the most creative evil plan in the world, but to me, a villain can have a generic scheme as long as they're funny. Thankfully, PAL is funny. Not only is the idea of a smartphone ruling the planet hilarious in all the right ways, but Olivia Colman delivers such a great cynical energy that the character needs. The way PAL reacts to people explaining why humans are worth living is just the best, and her flopping around in a fit of rage successfully gets to me.

If I had to nitpick, I'd say that I wish PAL had more of a meaningful resolution to her character. The movie builds up that she makes a big deal about Mark dropping her, so it feels weird that neither of them really get any actual closure with each other. I'll get more into that in the dislikes, but I wish PAL had more of a fitting end than just dying after accidentally getting dropped in a glass of water. Other than that, she's a great comedic villain for a comedic movie.

PAL MAX Robots: These guys are the funniest characters in the movie. Half of it is the bits of visual humor, while the other half comes from the solid line delivery from Beck Bennett. Especially with Bennett's and Fred Armisen's Eric and Deborahbot 3000. These two are definitely the comedic highlights, as nearly every line they say is both hilarious and kind of adorable at times. And just like with Monchi, if you dare disrespect these characters, I will fight you. Because they are funny, and I will not hear otherwise.

PAL demonstrating what it’s like to be a phone: Have I mentioned that this movie is funny?

(Don't disrespect your phones, kids. Otherwise, they'll try to take over the world.)

PAL turning off the Wi-Fi: Again, have I mentioned this movie is funny?

“I love the dog. You love the dog. We all love the dog. But at some point, you’re gonna have to eat the dog.”: It's the sick jokes that get to me the most. Everyone booing Rick afterward is just the cherry on top.

Attack of the Furbies: Have I. Mentioned. That this movie. Is funny?

Seriously, if you haven't lost your s**t during every second of this scene, then you never had to deal with the demonic entity that is a Furby. In a way, I commend you. But you also don't get to appreciate the comedic genius of all of this. So I also weirdly feel bad for you.

The Mitchells deciding how to celebrate: You don't have a real family if you spend more time arguing about how to celebrate after saving the world than you do about how to save the world. I don't make the rules. I just abide by them.

The PAL MAX Primes: There's not much to say about them. The PAL MAX primes look and act pretty cool, are brilliantly animated, and raise the stakes while still being funny at times. I love 'em, but I don't have much to analyze with them either.

The origin of the moose: ...I'd make the "I didn't need my heart anyway" joke, but to be honest, it's still shattered after WandaVision.

(For real, though, this is a really effective scene that establishes why Rick makes a big deal with the moose and why he might feel hurt that Katie is willing to disregard it completely)

The Theme of Technology and Social Media: There's a theme about how family is important, and working hard on making things work is worth the effort. But that's a bit too generic for my tastes, so instead, I'm gonna talk about the equally important message this movie has about technology. Because as twisted as she is, PAL makes a great point. The technology we have today helps us in a variety of ways. It's especially useful with sites like YouTube, allowing content creators like Katie to reach out and share their voices. The only issue with technology is how people use it. Take note that the main reason why the Mitchells stand a chance against PAL is by using her own tech against her. Yes, over-relying on all the advancements around us can be dangerous, but if we're smart with how we use them, we can get by just fine. This movie isn't about purging all technology like most robot apocalypse stories are. Instead, it's about using it correctly and not being helpless sheep the second the Wi-Fi gets turned off. Which might just be the most unique thing this movie has going for it story-wise (more on that later).

The Climax: The Mitchells vs. The Machines has everything that I think I climax should have. First off, it utilizes callbacks and jokes that I wouldn't have thought twice on actually coming in handy for how the Mitchells win the day. But showing that Monchi causes the robots to malfunction turns a pretty "eh" joke into a solid case of foreshadowing.

Second, everyone does something. Some characters do more than others, sure, but the fact that every Mitchell, even Monchi, has a hand in beating PAL and her robots is a great sense of writing to me. It shows that you really can't cut anyone from the main cast, as they each add value to how they are essential to the plot. Even Aaron, who arguably does the least in the climax, still manages to be the catalyst to what is easily the best scene in the movie. Speaking of which...

Linda Kicks Ass: By the way, that's the actual name on the soundtrack. I'm not even kidding. Check it.

Anyways, for the most part, Linda seemed like a decent cartoon mom. She's insanely supportive but still has the common sense to keep her foot down, like agreeing with Rick to stay safe in the dino stop the second the apocalypse starts. A pretty fun character, for sure, but nothing too noteworthy...but the second she loses her s**t, Linda Mitchell frickin' SKYROCKETS to the best-cartoon-mom territory! Believe me when I tell you that seeing her slice and dice robots like a middle-aged female Samurai Jack is as awesome as it is hilarious. Does it make sense how she can suddenly do this? No, but at the same time, who gives a s**t about common sense?! Because this moment was epic, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching it over and over again.

Rick Learning How to Internet...Again: I consider this the funniest moment in the movie. Trust me, the Furby scene is a close, close, CLOSE, second...but I think this scene was funnier.

The final goodbye: This is what I'm talking about when I say humor adds to the dramatic moments. The Mitchells saying "I love you" in moose is pretty funny, but it's also a sweet moment given that this is absolutely how this family of weirdos would say goodbye to each other. And, yeah, I got a little misty-eyed during this scene. Especially when Rick saw Katie pocketing the moose. That s**t just cuts deep, man.

Alex Hirsch Voices a Character: ...That's it. I look up to Alex Hirsh as everything I want to be as a creator, and the fact that his name is on this movie fills me with joy. He's also a story consultant, so that can also explain why the movie turned out as great as it did...although there are some imperfections.

WHAT I DISLIKE

Katie-vision: What's Katie-vision? Well, throughout the movie, we get to see how Katie views the world as there are these hand-drawn elements that look like effects Katie would add if she was the one who made the movie. At times it can be subtle and cute, like when this little beating heart appears when Katie is talking with Jude and her other friends. It's when the movie is in your face with Katie-vision does it get annoying. Like showing how Katie is lying about being certain she can drive up a vertical ramp or signifying what is the Rick Mitchell Special. Even if you justify that this would be how Katie would edit the movie, it still doesn't change how obnoxious these moments can be. For instance, Monchi is justified to be essential for the plot, but that doesn't mean people won't hate him...I'll still fight them if they do, but that's beside the point.

I can totally accept this being a personal issue, as I'm sure some people enjoy it. As for me, I think Katie-vision works best when used subtly instead of crudely.

The Meme humor: It's something similar here. Because some people like meme humor...but I don't. To me, it just dates your story if you reference memes even once. Now, a show, movie, or book being partially dated is nothing new. We Bare Bears, a series that I love, reference memes, apps, and social media constantly. Yet, the show still has a timeless feel to it as it doesn't rely on those references too much. The Mitchells vs. the Machines doesn't rely on memes as much either. But even then, that doesn't make a difference about how annoying that gibbon monkey joke was. Seriously, what the f**k was that? And how is THAT the joke that gets used twice!?

Underutilizing Mark Bowman: It really bothers me how this guy barely does much. I mean, Mark Bowman is the main reason that anything happens in the movie. Because he mistreated PAL, Mark acts as the catalyst for events to come. So the fact that he could have been written out the second PAL takes control doesn't make sense to me. It's worse since I could see more potential with his character through his relationship with PAL. These two could be anti-Rick and Katie, as Mark and PAL show what happens when people disrespect their family. So separating them halfway through the story, and keeping them as such, is a huge mistake as it results in neither having a proper resolution to their arcs. Like I said, Rick and Katie develop through each other, and the same could have happened with Mark and PAL. It doesn't, making it something that I can't help but feel disappointed about.

The Poseys: These are characters I feel like work better with multiple appearances. Sure, they only have the one joke about being a perfect family, but at the same time, you can make a joke like that work. Look at Yvonne from Shaun of the Dead (Which might just be my favorite movie). That's a bit-character whose only purpose is showing how better she is than Shaun despite being in an eerily similar situation. But she works well as we constantly see how great she's doing in every instance we see her. The same could be done with the Poseys, as using a similar joke for one scene is underutilizing great potential to make an already good movie into a better one.

Plus, if you're gonna shoehorn in a romance between Aaron and Abby Posey, the least you could do is have more than one scene developing that...just saying.

Katie’s and Rick’s “Oh” Moments: I want to make it clear that I actually like these scenes. They're well written and effectively emotional. My problem is that they also happen two seconds apart. There's nothing wrong with having a character realize the error of their ways through a tear-jerking moment. It's a popular tactic for a reason. And given how both Rick and Katie are the protagonists, they both need their own "oh" moment. But you gotta space them out, as it makes things easier to see the emotional manipulation that you're clearly trying to pull on the audience. They work, but putting them back to back is an issue easily solved with at least two minutes of padding, not two seconds.

Katie’s Death Fakeout: This is one of the few instances that a joke doesn't work in the movie, made even more annoying with the fact that I could see the punchline a mile away and kept thinking, "Just get to it already." I'm pretty sure no one bought this, especially when Katie didn't look like she could have gotten killed in any way after throwing PAL. It's poorly handled and proof that even the funniest comedies have a stale joke every now and again.

Nothing New is really being done here: Keep in mind that in terms of style, this movie is incredibly innovative. And here's hoping future animated projects can take notes. But narratively speaking? Yeah, there's nothing really new that this movie is offering.

A story about how technology will be the death of us? Been there.

A story about a group of idiots miraculously saving the world? Done that.

A story about a father forcing their teenager on a road trip so they can spend quality time with each other, thus ruining the teen's chance of hanging out with their girlfriend? Believe it or not, I have seen A Goofy Movie...multiple times...both as a kid and as an adult.

Now, I have no issue with a movie's plot being a bit by-the-books, and in some cases, cliche. If done effectively, and if I still have a good time, I don't think there’s much to complain about. And there isn't with The Mitchells vs. The Machines. The problem lies with that I'll forget this movie along with the dozens of others like it in a couple years. Which might just be the biggest issue any film can have.

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

Overall, I'd give The Mitchells vs. the Machines a well-earned A-. It has nitpicks, sure, but it's still a blast to watch. It might not be innovative or groundbreaking as movies like the last Sony Pictures Animation movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. However, it is fun. And when the world is burning down around us, it's nice to have a fun movie that can distract us from all of it. So feel free to log in to Netflix the next time you're in the mood for a film that is great for the whole family. You won’t be disapointed

(And I will talk about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier pretty soon. I just needed to get this out of my system first.)

[adenei]

Soccer Mom

The Romione Discord strikes again! Please enjoy this lovely fic as a result!

***************

It was a perfect autumn day for a soccer game. It always baffled Ron that Hermione thoroughly enjoyed watching the kids play muggle sports, when she always seemed to complain about quidditch at school. But she was always the first one to sign them up when it came time for the season. 

Rose loved everything about the sport, and was always begging to get to practice early so she could be out on the field longer. Hugo, well, that was a different story. He truly was his mother’s son. He’d much rather be inside reading a book, or playing with those lego sets Grandma and Grandpa Granger always got for him. Yet, even knowing how similar she was to her son, Hermione still signed him up and made him play. Maybe she hoped he’d grow to like it as he played more. Or maybe...no that couldn’t be it, Ron thought. She wouldn’t force Hugo into this stuff so he’s less like her...would she?

Ron had clearly gotten lost in thought during Hugo’s U8 match, but was brought back by Hermione berating the coach. “Why is he sitting on the bench! All the other kids get to play!”

“Hermione,” Ron muttered, trying to talk her down. “Every kid takes turns on the bench. They can’t play the whole game!”

“Yes, but Hugo’s been out for the entire half!” Hermione complained.

“It’s fine, Mum, really, I don’t mind!” Hugo called as he happily swung his legs as he watched his teammates play.

Hermione huffed and continued to grumble under her breath. Ron decided against telling her the real reason Hugo was probably sitting out. He’d spent a good amount of time during the first half studying the clump of wildflowers on the far side of the field instead of paying attention on defense. Not that they really needed him, since his team had kept the ball on the other side of the field for most of the half. But it wasn’t exactly something to be criticizing the coach for. Ron would have done the same thing. Maybe that’s why Hermione didn’t push the issue.

Things continued to go smoothly as Hugo’s game ended and Rose ran off to join her own team for warmups. Hugo grabbed his bag and sat behind his parents on the bleachers, and Ron smiled when he took a book out of his gym bag and began reading. He was reminded of all the times he’d look over at Hermione in the stands at Hogwarts, reading instead of watching. 

Rose was the star forward for her team, and as always, had taken the field by storm at the beginning of the game. Ron beamed with pride as he watched her play. She didn’t have the confidence issues that always seemed to plague him on the Quidditch pitch. Thank goodness for that. 

Though, perhaps he spoke a bit too soon, as he watched his daughter completely bulldoze a defender on her way to the goal. He heard the whistle sound and saw a yellow card issued to Rose.  Well, alright then, I suppose she deserved that. She did blatantly shove that girl down to the ground. This wasn’t rugmy...or whatever that other muggle sport was called. It looked like they were about to resume play when Hermione began shouting. Oh, here we go…

“A yellow card? You can’t be serious! Where was the foul! She had the ball. So that defender got in her way! You’re just choosing sides! You’re favoring the other team. This is ridiculous!” Hermione was shouting as she placed her cell phone in her pocket.

Did she really just look up the purpose of a yellow card? “Hermione, stop, Rose just ran over that defender. She should have dribbled the ball around her, but she didn’t. It’s justified.”

“So? I’ve seen you play in games, and it’s a lot rougher than this!” Hermione turned and looked like she was about to harass the ref again, when Ron grabbed her arm.

“Hermione, they’re ten! Let it go, or you’re going to risk getting thrown out of the game.”

Hermione looked incredulously at her husband. “Throw me out? I’d like to see them try!”

At this point, Rose’s coach turned around. “Mrs. Weasley, please listen to your husband. The ref does have the right to kick you out of the stands,” he said warily. 

“Mom! Stop!” Rose said as she was looking equal parts embarrassed and angry from the field. Hermione sat down in a huff and the game started again.

The rest of the game continued and was, for the most part, uneventful. There was one instance when a handball was called on the other team. Hermione started muttering under her breath about how the ball was kicked into the girl’s hand and it wasn’t her fault, until Ron reminded her that it was called on the opposing team. 

Hermione quickly recovered with, “Oh! Well, I guess they could use the helpful call, we are winning with a fair lead, aren’t we?” Ron thought he saw Hugo look up and roll his little eyes at his mum’s unnecessary enthusiasm.

Finally, the game ended with no more outbursts from his wife. Rose ran over to them and Hermione hugged both her parents as they congratulated her on the win. As Ron hugged his daughter, she said, “Will Mum ever stop? Or should I just stop asking her to sit quietly and cheer only when it’s appropriate?”

Ron couldn’t help but chuckle. “Rose, be nice. Your mother loves watching you play, even if she’s a bit...intense sometimes. You’ll miss this when you’re off at school, and we won’t be able to come and watch. There’s only a few more games in the season.”

“I know, it’s just embarrassing sometimes,” Rose lamented.

“Good, that means we’re doing our job,” Ron smiled at his daughter.

“Rose! Hey, Rose!” One of her teammate’s was calling her. “We’re going for ice cream! Can you come?”

Rose looked at her parents. “Can we go? Please?”

“I don’t know…” Hermione said hesitantly. “We haven’t eaten dinner yet.”

Ron laughed at the familiar banter. He knew what came next. 

“Please, Mum? I promise it won’t spoil my appetite! The team always celebrates a win. Hugo wants ice cream too, right Huey?”

“Ice cream?” Hugo said as he looked up from his book. “Oooh, please Mum?!” Both kids had inherited Ron’s sweet tooth.

“Alright, alright, but only a small portion. And I’ll expect you to eat your entire dinner later on,” Hermione said sternly.

“Yes, Mum!” both kids said as they packed up their things and headed for the car. 

Ron smiled as he watched them take off ahead of him, and he put his arm around his wife. Just another day in paradise.

[babybottlepop96]

Jorogumo Chapter 2

Warnings: none that I can think of

The drive to the “murder” sight was short, only about another twenty minutes from the motel the group stayed at. You just listened here and there to the conversations around you while taking in your morning caffeinated drink. Jean and Connie were talking about some new video game they were playing called Nioh? Nile? Lego? You weren’t really paying attention, video games were a forgein concept to you. Levi was yelling at Hange because she put her dirty chucks onto his dashboard, Armin and Eren were discussing something about cheeseburgers? Ymir and Krista were cuddling and talking about whatever they were going to do when they got back home and Mikasa was sitting across from you, talking about something that, you once again, weren’t paying attention to. 

Levi waking you up at seven in the morning was somewhat of a struggle. You really should be used to it by now from how many times you and your friends convinced him to take time off work to drive you halfway across the country, but you could never really get used to waking up that damn early.

“Levi! I’m hungry!” Connie whined, scrunching his face up as if he was dying from hunger pains.

“I told you to eat the free breakfast the motel offered before we left.” Levi spoke, his voice sounding bored and irritated at the same time. 

“But they didn’t have waffles!” Connie continued to whine, plopping himself down on one of the bunks.

“Quit your complaining and eat this.” Ymir said while tossing him a protein bar. “Next time, listen to what the old man tells you to do. I don’t have the patience to sit here and listen to you bitch about fucking waffles.” This caused the entire group to laugh, even Levi chuckled a bit, though he tried covering it up with a cough. 

“Oh! Look! Were here! Levi pull over there! We can set up in that clearing!” Hange spoke excitedly, pointing her finger to the open spot where the truck from ten years ago was found.

“Fucking finally! That was one of the longest road trips ever!” You sighed out, to which Jean put his arm around your shoulder.

“Come on sis! Let's go take a quick look before Captain Levi decides to make us sanitize the dirt before he sets up the chairs.” He whispered into your which caused you to giggle.

“Yeah, let's go before we have to bleach the air.” You and Jean walked towards the wooded area, two small crosses stood in the dirt, Emilee and Jason’s names each written on one. “It's sweet.” You spoke after a moment, a soft breeze flowing through your hair.

“What is?” Jean asked, looking at you quizzically. “The fact that people died and vanished here?”

“No you ass butt.” You lightly pushed him.

“Don’t you dare go quoting Supernatural to me! Especially with how Cas-”

“No! Shut up! Don’t spoil it! I haven't finished it yet!” You covered your ears and you let out a laugh. “No, it’s sweet that even though no one knows what happened to Jason, that they still decided to memorialize him with the girl he loved.” You smiled gently, still looking at the small wooden crosses, small purple and orange wildflowers scattered amongst them.

“Yeah, I wish to find love like that one day.” He grinned.

“Stop being a fuck boy and maybe you will.” You shoved him as you finally entered the wooded area. 

“Over there.” Jean spoke, pointing to a specific patch of land.

“How do you know that's the spot?” You questioned, crossing your sweater clad arms across your chest.

“Did you even look at the crime scene photos I printed out?” He asked in disbelief. 

“Yes! Of course I did!” You huffed and looked away. “But just tell me anyway.” Jean groaned at your ability to not do anything for yourself at times.

“The bushes and the trees to it, it's the exact same as this photo.” He pulled out a folded up piece of printer paper that showed a photo of the crime scene after the body had been removed. 

“Oh, I see it now.” You walked up to the spot on the ground and touched the soft, dried soil there. “And she was just… drained of her blood? It is almost like a vampire. Did you get any toxicology reports? Could you find any? Maybe there was something else that could’ve caused that?” You asked, looking at your brother.

“Armin got that covered, you know, computer nerd and all.” He shrugged.

“Stop calling him a nerd!” You smacked his arm, causing him to laugh.

“What? Someone got a crush on blonde haired, blue eyed, computer wiz?” He teased, causing a small blush to tint your cheeks. 

“No!” You defended but Jean saw right through you.

“You do!” He wheezed, “Oh my Walls! You have a crush on computer boy!”

“Stop! I do not! And don’t quote anime to me you weeb!”

“A proud weeb, thank you very much.” He smirked while you huffed and willed the growing blush on your face to go away.

“Hey! Brats! Get over here and help set up this shit!” You two heard Levi shout from the edge of the woods. 

“Come on, let's go before Levi has an aneurysm.” You groaned, the two of you leaving the crime scene behind for now.

~~~

“Come on Sasha! Share some of those candies you got! I’m still hungry!” Connie whined, he was on his hands and knees practically begging his girlfriend to share her candy. 

“No! You should’ve gotten your own!” She smiled smugly and continued to munch on her snack.

“Connie! You're getting your pants dirty! You’re not getting into my RV with dirty ass clothes.” Levi scolded as Connie quickly got up and brushed his jeans off. “Here, use this.” Levi tossed him a small travel sized bottle of hand sanitizer.

“Damn, you really are a germaphobe aren’t ya, Levi?” Connie jokes, but all he received was a glare in return. 

Set up went smoothly, or as smoothly as it can when half the guys were goofing off and the girls were getting pissed off by the lack of help. Levi was about to commit another murder in the same spot that happened ten years ago.

“Okay, now that we have everything set up,” Armin spoke from his spot at the bench underneath the awning, laptop and other equipment set up around him. “Do we want to check out the crime scene?”

“Actually, I think (y/n) and you should stay here and look over the toxicology reports you found. (Y/n) was asking about them when we first got here. Isn’t that right, Sis?” Jean smirked as you slapped him subtly, he snickered. “The rest of us will go to the two sights, the one were Emilee died and the spot where Jason vanished.”

“I’ll stay and get lunch started.” Levi stated, he was NOT going into the woods.

“Oh, sounds good!” Armin smiled and moved over for you to take a seat next to him. As you sat down next to Armin, Jean sent you a subtle wink, which you replied with a not so subtle middle finger. Jean laughed as he and the others walked to the woods or to the spot where the truck was found.

“Okay, so what did the toxicology reports say?” You asked Armin as you scooted closer, shoulders just slightly touching each other’s, eyeing the laptop. Armin let out a small cough, cheeks tinting a light pink as he brought up the report.

“Well, obviously, the strangest part was the vampire or spider-like bite on Emilee’s arm and the fact that her blood was drained. Completely dried up, not even a speck of blood was found on the ground.” You nodded as Armin spoke, listening intently. “Now, something else I found was never disclosed to the public, was the fact that there were traces of an unknown poison or venom of sorts found in her organs.”

“Like a spider or a snake bite?” You asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion and concentration. 

“Yes, exactly! But the spaces between the bite wounds are too far spaced out to be a normal spider or snake. It’s about the width between a human’s canine teeth.” Armin further explained. “And the venom or poison or whatever was found at the bite mark, meaning that that is where the poison was given.”

“Couldn’t the ‘bite’ wounds just be from a needle? Because it would be impossible for a human to have something like that in their teeth.” You suggested.

“Already thought of that, there are no known needles to have that big of a width, the bite was from a human. But no one in the area or any one anywhere has natural or unnatural teeth like that.” He spoke, closing the laptop. “Oh, I should also mention that the venom they were able to get from the entry wound was found to be similar, not exactly, but similar to the properties of the venom from a Joro Spider. But they are normally found in places like Japan, China, Korea and even in Georgia here in the United States.”

“But none have been found here?” You asked, taking in all the information Armin just dumped on you.

“No, not around here. So that’s another mystery, if it was a murder, then how the hell did he even comit the murder since there no logical answer, and where the hell did he go? We live in a time where it’s almost impossible to be like the Zodiac or Jack the Ripper. Another question is what form of toxin was put into her body? We know it's similar to the Joro spider, but it has too many different differences to be from that spider or any known spider itself.” Armin sighed as he leaned back in his seat. 

“Maybe we are dealing with the supernatural.” You teased the blue eyed genius, he laughed at your silly notion.

“Fortunately, there are no such things as the supernatural. Everything can be explained through logic and facts.”

~~~

“So, Armin and (y/n), huh?” Eren asked Jean as Hange looked over the spot where Emilee was found. 

“They totally like each other. It's so obvious!” Jean smiled as he tried to peep at the two through the threes, which was practically impossible. 

“I think they would make a cute couple.” Hange spoke as they moved some dirt and foliage around and Sasha looked up into the trees as she snacked on some chips.. “They would be like, the nerd and the adventurer. The nerd makes sure his girl is well knowledgeable in anything she decides to do before doing it. Protective. Like a knight in shining armor, except his armor is his laptop and big brain.”

“She would be good for Armin. He has had a lot of trouble with girls, but (y/n) is nothing like the bimbos Armin usually goes for.” Eren confessed, crossing his arms as he looked around. “What exactly are we looking for, Hange?” 

“Anything that shouldn’t be here. I know the police and the forensics team already did a thorough sweep through the area, but that still doesn’t mean they didn’t miss something small.” She got practically nose deep into the dirt, eyeballing each individual grain, surely Levi will be pissed to see her face covered in woods. 

“Something like this?” Sasha came back to the others holding something shiny in her hand.

“What is that?” Jean asked as Sasha shrugged and handed the object to Hange.

“It's… It's a locket!” She exclaimed, opening the dirty piece of silver. “It's Emilee and Jason. Where did you find this!?” Sasha pointed to the nearby tree.

“It was in a hole at the base of the tree trunk over there.” Hange ran past them and began her search around the area Sasha pointed out.

“Nice work Detective.” Jean joked and Sasha smiled proudly.

“All in a day's work!”

~~~

Later that evening, everyone sat around the campfire, roasting hotdogs and making smores. They all discussed what they found, Connie, Ymir and Krista found nothing around the spot where the truck was left, Levi obviously didn’t do any searching so he was just listening to everything else, Armin and yourself explained what you discussed about the toxicology reports and your questions and conclusions, and Hange rambled on about the locket Sasha found. “Okay, Brats. Let's get this shit cleaned up so we can go to bed.” Levi spoke and everyone did their part of the cleaning.

“Hey, Connie.” Sasha whispered, getting in close to Connie’s ear. 

“Yeah, babe?” He turned to look at her, smiling bright as always when he looked at her.

“Want to see the spot where I found that locket?” She asked, obviously she was excited she was the one who found an important piece of evidence missed in the initial search.

“Yes!” The two snuck off towards the woods while the others piled into their respective beds and couches.

“No fucking in my RV! I’ll cut your asses off and put them above my fireplace!” Levi shouted from his place in the front seat. 

“Levi, you’re no fun.” Hange teased from the bunk behind his seat.

“Shut it, four eyes.” Hange giggled at the stupid insult Levi gave her back in their college days.

“Where’s Connie and Sasha?” Krista asked as she slipped into Ymir’s warm embrace on the pull over couch.

“I saw them sneaking off towards the woods.” Jean said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“As long as they aren’t fucking my RV, I don’t care.” Levi grumbled, closing his eyes letting his eyes rest. Suddenly, the RV door swung open and slammed against the counter behind it. The group looked towards the door to see Sasha, wide eyed, panting and covered in something red.

“Holt shit! Sasha!” You jumped up from your designated bunk and ran to your friend. What happened?!” Sasha stayed silent.

“Wait, Sasha?” Sasha turned her head towards Jean. “Where’s Connie?” Everyone looked at the brunette girl, eyes wide and ears listening. 

“Gone.”

[mollymauk-teafleak]

the one who blooms in the bitter snow (final part)

Oh my god have I dragged this out. Sincerest apologies on how long this happy ending took to get here

--------

Caduceus often talked to things that couldn’t talk back. He talked to his plants, encouraging them through the winter and complimenting them on their leaves and shoots. He talked to the army of mismatched mugs he used in his cafe, admonishing any who spilled things or who strayed from their intended arrangement on the shelves that made sense only to Caduceus. He talked to the clouds in the sky, thanking them for much needed rain. He talked to the insects that visited his cemetery, any worms found on the path that he would gently pick up and promise to see safely back to the soil, any bees that roamed the flowering plants, even any lizards he found sunning themselves in the rockery.

He didn’t say anything wrong with talking to things that could give no reply. It wasn’t as if such a minor detail meant such things couldn’t listen. Often, in fact, he thought it made them much better listeners than anything with a voice box.

However, one thing he hadn’t ever really found himself doing was talking to the dead.

It would have made sense, as much as talking to rotting corpses beneath the ground could ever make sense. Caduceus was surrounded by them every day, after all, a patchwork family of people all united only by the fact that the Blooming Grove had become their final resting place. He tended them, wreathed them in wilderness, watched over their loved ones in his cafe whenever they would come to visit them. Keeping them safe was the calling he’d chosen. But he never spoke to them.

Perhaps he’d just come to the quiet conclusion that the dead were past caring about his words. They’d left the cares of the living world behind them and nattering on to them about it would spoil the reverence they deserved, interrupt the sleep they’d earned.

They were the Wildmother’s now, after all.

But now Caduceus found himself with a pressing need to cross that line he’d set for himself. He needed to talk to one of his residents, whether they replied or not.

And he got the feeling they would want to hear from him just as desperately.

Caduceus had to smile weakly at the surname, however nervous he was.

Tealeaf. How appropriate.

He cleared his throat awkwardly and sat cross legged at the foot of the grave. It had been there long enough for the grass to grow back over the turned earth, as lush and tall as everything that surrounded it but it was still clearly one of the newer ones. The stone wasn’t yet weathered by time, perfectly readable, still cool grey marble that shone faintly in the morning light.

Mollymauk Tealeaf. Beloved husband and father.

No date. That was passing strange. Though maybe seeing the scant handful of decades Molly had been allowed when he should have had so much more time to be a father, time to be a husband, would just be too painful.

The insignia of the Moonweaver was artfully carved below the short epitaph, a sign that was rarely seen in the graveyard. Of course, godly symbols were on nearly every headstone but it was always the more common, more acceptable gods. The All Hammer, the Raven Queen, the Dawnfather; dependable, parental gods that people wanted to guard them through their lives and walk with their loved ones into the next realm.

The Moonweaver was light, love, laughter, frivolity. Did she feel lost in a place like this?

Caduceus cleared his throat, unsure how to start. He had the depressing realisation that even in a conversation with a dead man, he was still on the back foot in terms of social skills.

“I...I’m not sure how you feel about me, Mr Tealeaf,” he eventually sighed, “I don’t think I could blame you for hating me. Resenting me, at least. You know the kind of thoughts I’ve had about Caleb.”  

Habit made him pause, though he knew he’d get no reply. So he just sat silently with his guilt for a heartbeat.

“But...I think you’d agree he wasn’t coping well before I met him. I know that must break your heart. Same as it breaks mine.”

The wind picked up a little, a mournful sound through the trees up above.

“I can’t lie and say I don’t have feelings for him. But the last thing I want to do is hurt him more or… or push him into something he isn’t ready for. And… if I thought my loving him would do that, I would have stopped immediately. But something tells me he...he could...I mean we could…” Caduceus spluttered to a stop, giving up with a heavy sigh, “But after last night… I don’t know anymore. Maybe I’m just sitting here talking to the wind, telling myself what I want to hear.”

He felt tears sting his eyes and blinked quickly to try and clear them, “I don’t want to feel wrong for loving someone. He’s yours, Molly, he will always be yours but couldn’t I just… look after him? Until he goes to join you? Just a turn…”

His voice choked off and he had to swallow hard to get the next words out.

“Am I wrong to want that?”

The wind died down and Caduceus was left with next to silence. He felt a tiredness crash over him, so deep and heavy, that for a long moment he felt certain he was just going to curl up on the ground and cry for a little while.

What distracted him was a bird call. It was shrill and sudden, like nothing normally heard in the gardens and Caduceus knew the names of every bird who visited the Blooming Grove throughout the year. He tried to place it but it only rang out the once. There was something almost exotic about it, something unusual. Caduceus thought for a moment, considering all the birds he knew. It was almost like a cockatiel or a parrot or maybe even a peacock.

He frowned. What on earth would a peacock be doing in his graveyard?

He stood up, brushing himself off. He knew he should do a round, just in case someone’s exotic pet bird had escaped and needed to be brought back home.

Anyway, it was clear Mollymauk Tealeaf had nothing to say to him.

Caduceus rarely wore any kind of coat, his fur kept him plenty warm, but the weather had grown so cold recently that he’d dug out the fleece lined, faded, patched coat he kept in reserve for the days when the city froze solid and there was ice on the pavements.

Despite the closed sign on the door, it was warm inside the cafe. Caduceus felt ever so slightly better once the cold leached out of the tips of his ears and the very end of his nose, replaced by the gentle music, the warmth, the scents of caffeine and sugar that he knew so well. It wouldn’t fix things, he knew that, but it gave him the sense that he’d entered somewhere safe.

Sighing softly, Caduceus shrugged out of his coat and made to hang it on the hooks by the door, all of them charmingly mismatched as everything was in here. The hooks that should be empty, seeing as he’d had no customers since the day before yesterday.

But it wasn’t.

Caleb’s scarf was hanging on the furthermost hook, looking sad and bedraggled after being soaked through in yesterday afternoon’s rain and drying out in the air.

It must have been hung up there as Caleb had stripped down, set aside from the rest of his clothes, forgotten in his hurried flight from the cafe.

Caduceus let out a long, tired exhale, trying to accept this new information without bitterness or resentment, without exasperation or anger at something he couldn’t change.

But gods above, it was hard.

He was nowhere near ready to face him again. Since everything that had happened, less than twenty four hours ago, he wasn’t even sure Caleb would want to see him ever again, he certainly didn’t look the type to face up to an awkward situation, more the bolting and hiding like a frightened animal type. And he had no clue what he himself wanted.

All he knew right now was that the thought of Caleb without his scarf, without the thing he clung onto tightly when he couldn’t cling onto the person he’d lost, broke his heart. And he had to fix it.

Above all else, Caduceus was a fixer. Even when it meant risking his own feelings.

“Are we gonna go to the cafe today?”

Caleb looked up from stroking his neck sadly, feeling the horrible, gnawing absence of his scarf, and tried to focus on his son, sat on the carpet with a picture book.

“No, liebling, I don’t think so. It’s...it’s so cold out,” he said awkwardly, tripping over the lie.

Trinket frowned, plucking at the pages of his book, “But we go on Fridays. We go after school.”

His little boy was fiercely attached to patterns and routine, just like Caleb himself.

“I know, Trinket,” Caleb struggled to muster the energy to mollify him, curled up tightly on the sofa, feeling lost and disconnected, “Papa’s just not really feeling it today, okay?”

Trinket paused at that, looking at him with familiar, wide red eyes that would never fail to shake his papa to the core when he saw them. Leaving his picture book behind, he pattered up and hugged Caleb’s leg tightly, the one that was dangling listlessly over the edge of the sofa.

“It’s okay, papa,” he said, voice muffled by Caleb’s pant leg, “Its okay to have a sad day.”

Caleb often thought his son was magic. Not in the way his papa was- not yet- but magic in his own way where he could make the world seem like it wasn’t ending.

Trying not to cry because then the floodgates would open and he’d truly be in trouble, Caleb ruffled those purple curls and smiled shakily, “I love you, Trinket. You know that, right?”

He smiled brightly, “Sure! I know! I’m gonna go play with my legos, papa, okay?”

Caleb nodded fondly, his son had been obsessed with building things and quickly destroying them for a good few weeks now, “Sure. Call me when you’re done and I’ll help you clear them away.”

Happy with that, Trinket scampered off, probably already imagining himself crashing through newly constructed towers like a lavender godzilla. Caleb watched him go, a tender smile on his face until he disappeared from view, when it slid off his face.

He felt like all he did these days was wait for 3pm. Like as soon as he waved goodbye to Trinket at the school gate everything froze and went into stasis, everything straining towards that hour where he could go back and have Trinket by his side again. He knew he adored school, he knew he was safe there.

He knew he was crazy to feel this way.

But it didn’t stop the feelings.

Caleb told himself every morning at a quarter to nine that he shouldn’t be doing this. It was far too much to put onto his young son, it was unhealthy, it was unfair. He deserved a life of his own, Trinket needed him to have it too.

But every time Caleb thought it, he thought it in Caduceus’ voice. And, since he’d messed up so badly yesterday, that was a problem.

He had messed up. He’d messed up more spectacularly than he’d ever messed up before which was really saying something for Caleb. He’d hurt the first person in years who’d made him even begin to think that he could be loved again in that kind of way.

He’d always suspected that Molly was a chance in a million, some high level miracle. Actually finding someone so wonderful, someone who could see some good in him. But then it had actually happened again, when he needed it most.

And both times he’d completely ruined it.

He’d lost Molly. He’d lost Caduceus. He’d lost his scarf which, he knew was silly, but it felt like the first loss all over again. Though maybe it was a fitting sacrifice for what he’d done.

How many precious things could he lose before he was just deemed too careless to live? How long until whatever curse he had infected Trinket?

Caleb could almost feel all the progress he’d made in the last few weeks unravelling like a trailing thread he’d worried far too much falling into nothing. He sat there and rocked gently, trying to take in deep breaths and stay in the room but it was getting increasingly difficult.

Especially when a knock came at the door.

Trinket didn’t hear it, he was behind his bedroom door, singing loudly to himself, a happy little nonsense song he’d clearly just made up to amuse himself. So Caleb forced himself to stand and go to the door, mentally slapping himself, telling himself to get a grip.

All that went out of the window when he opened the door and saw Caduceus.

“You’re...you’re here,” Caleb said dumbly, throat feeling numb like he’d just swallowed a mouthful of ice water.

“I’m here,” Caduceus returned awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot.

There were snowflakes melting in his hair. When had it started to snow?

“I didn’t think…I mean, I didn’t expect you to ever…” the starts of sentences crowded in Caleb’s mouth, none of them accompanied by ends. He didn’t want to sound whiney, he didn’t want to sound like Caduceus was wrong to be mad at him.

“You didn’t think I’d want to see you again?” Caduceus finished it for him, tilting his head to one side.

“Yeah,” Caleb bit his lip, feeling his cheeks burn despite the cold air sweeping into the apartment alongside Cad.

“Of course you did,” the firbolg said quietly, “You’re you.”

Caleb didn’t know what to say to that, he just kind of took hold of it like a present he hadn’t been expecting.

“I brought your scarf back,” he produced it from one pocket, carefully folded and clearly having just come through the dryer, back to full fluffiness, “You must have left it yesterday.”

Caleb felt a rush of relief, a compulsion to gather it into his arms and clutch it to his chest, inhale the scent of vanilla and anise that wasn’t there anymore but he could imagine it was.

And then he felt guilty.

Was he going to spend the rest of his life chasing after things he could only half remember rather than seeing what was in front of him?

“Thank you, Caduceus,” he murmured, “I really, really appreciate it.”

That brought a smile from the firbolg, even if it was a little strained at the edges, “Yeah… I guess I also came over because I was hoping we could talk?”

Caleb nodded, thinking anxiously of Trinket but he could explain to him that Caduceus was here for a visit. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been here before, dropping off homemade baked goods or little gifts like the scent bags that had soothed his anxiety so well and helped Trinket with his bad dreams. Trinket had always been happy to see him before, showing him whatever he’d built that day, showing him the art project he’d made at school from the leaves they’d gathered together at the Blooming Grove.

Caduceus was always so soft and gentle with Trinket. He always seemed to know just what to say, to answer his million a minute questions, to soothe him when he stumbled into some uncertainty, to make him giggle so hard he had to sit down. Caduceus was exactly the kind of caregiver Caleb wanted to be. He was exactly who Trinket deserved.

“Can I get you a drink?” Caleb asked as Caduceus sat on the sofa, holding himself a little stiffly like he wasn’t sure where to put his gangly limbs.

“Um…sure?”

Caleb let himself sink into a kind of automation as he got cups, boiled water, found teabags from the collection that had been growing ever since Caduceus had come into his life. But then there were soft billows of scented steam to breathe in and he woke up again, reminding himself to be present. Caduceus deserved better than that. And maybe he did too.

“Here,” he passed one mug to Caduceus, slightly regretting that it was patterned with badly faded cartoon characters but their selection wasn’t great, “I, um, I used the cinnamon tea you gave me yesterday. You were just out in the snow and I don’t want you to get sick.”

The smile was more genuine this time, warmer, like the starting embers of a fire, “Thank you, Caleb. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

He nodded, sitting down beside him, hands curled around his own cup to stop them shaking. There was a long moment of silence, as they both sat and remembered another evening much like this one. Eventually Caleb opened his mouth but Caduceus got there first, spilling his words out like he couldn’t bear to hold them inside himself any more.

“Caleb, I…if I made you feel pressured yesterday or…or I pushed you into kissing me in any way, I’m so sorry…”

Caleb blinked for a second and then found himself laughing, “And you were so sure I’d be torturing myself…”

Caduceus’ ears flattened and he chuckled uncertainly which Caleb took to be the fur covered individual’s way of blushing, “Well, we can both be as bad as each other.”

“I kissed you, Caduceus,” Caleb shook his head, “It was my choice. And… I know how it ended and I wouldn’t blame you for not trusting me but it really was you I wanted to kiss. I promise.”

“Really?” Caduceus fixed him with dark, wet eyes. The doubt stung a little but of course, he knew he deserved it.

“Really,” he nodded firmly, “You’ve been so good to me, to Trinket. You’ve made one of the hardest times in my life feel… bearable.”

Caduceus only nodded, a crease of concern appearing between his eyes. He simply waited for Caleb to say more.

Caleb looked down into his drink, “I thought time was supposed to heal me, I thought it was supposed to make it easier. But the further away I get from losing him, the more part of me holds on. It’s like I don’t want the pain to go because then… then I really will have nothing left of him.”

“When you’ve felt a certain way for so long, it’s hard to let go of it,” Caduceus said slowly, thoughtfully, “Because then you don’t know what would be left if you took that part of yourself away.”

Caleb nodded, “Exactly. And… and it was the same when I started having feelings for you. That would mean letting go of at least some of my grief and stepping into uncertainty. And the idea terrifies me.”

Caduceus gave a soft sigh, “I would never ask you to abandon your grief, Caleb. It’s important that you always mourn Mollymauk. All I want is for you to have something happy alongside that.”

Caleb felt his lower lip wobbling dangerously, “I want that. I really want that, Cad.”

The words made an old, angry guilt twist inside him but it was a relief as well. And as the seconds went by, as he realised the truth of what he’d just said, the guilt lost its fury. It lost its anger. It shrank a little, the slightest, smallest amount into something that couldn’t be ignored but could at least be carried.

“We can go as slow as you need to, Caleb,” Caduceus’ voice was tender and he leant forward, looking like he was itching to hold him and press him close.

But he didn’t close the gap between them. And he never would, not until he knew Caleb was completely okay. Years could and would pass between them and Caduceus would never lose that respect for him.

So Caleb took the front of his moss green shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. And he would, time and time again.

Though, a hair’s breadth after their lips met there came the sound of a muffled but still loud crash from Trinket’s bedroom, followed by a loud excited whooping from the young boy.

“Oh dear…” Caleb murmured anxiously, eyes on the door. Though whether he meant the crash and the inevitable mess it had led to or the realisation that he would have to explain to Trinket why Caduceus was here and why he was kissing him, he wasn’t sure.

Caduceus seemed to read his mind, those dark eyes always seeing more than what was in front of them, “Caleb, if you’re happy, I’m sure he won’t mind. He’s a smart kid. After all, he’s yours.”

Caleb had to laugh softly at that, blushing a little. It was true, he could compliment his son to the stars and often miss the fact that most of the things he was praising were inherited from him. But the depths of kindness he almost couldn’t fathom, the understanding and gentleness that was going to make him delighted that his papa had found someone new to love, that was all Mollymauk.

And as long as Caleb had Trinket, Molly would never be gone.

[mishaandthebrits]

Date Night

Pairing: Loki x Reader (feat. Natasha)

Growing up around the Avengers had been hard, they didn't respect your privacy, they bothered you day and night and you were constantly gone on missions, so your social life was basically non existent. The good side were the friendships though. You had found a family in the team and just like every other family you looked out for each other. This looking out however was what you didn't need tonight. A guy you had met in the library had asked you out after texting for a while and you reluctantly had agreed. The team didn't know about it though because you just didn't want him to have to deal with the Asgard brothers, Tony, Steve and/or Tasha on the first date. "Guys I'm leaving! I'll be back.", you smiled at them pretending to go visit Peter. You knew he would be staying home with Ned today because the new Star Wars LEGO set had been published. Not giving them a chance to reply you stepped into the elevator and left the compound soon after. 

Half an hour later you sat in the restaurant you had agreed to meet and waited. You were supposed to have met 14 minutes ago but there was no sign yet. Call me. You received a text from Natasha and groaned quietly. Now. Another one right in that moment. Don't roll your eyes. It's a code red. She kept texting and you frowned at the last two words. Quickly getting up you headed for the toilet and pressed her contact. "Thank god you're okay!", you head Natasha speak while driving. At least it sounded like that. "Why? What's wrong?", you asked confused as you looked at your reflection in the mirror making sure your makeup was still okay. "Well Peter showed up at the compound. Long story short, the guy you planned on meeting is Hydra.", NAT explained and you kept quiet. "He is?", you mumbled annoyed and she agreed. "Fuck, that's just my luck, isn't it? A guy that's interested in me and he's hydra! URG! Like seriously?! He probably didn't even like me.", you swore trying to mask your pain. "Hey language... and it's okay. I'm on my way to get you. Can you stay somewhere safe till then?", the girl on the other end of the line spoke. "He's Not even here yet, he stood me up.", you shrugged making sure you sounded neutral. "Oh darling. He didn't even deserve you anyway. You know you could've just talked to me and I would've found you a date, right?", Nat spoke just when the car stopped so you exited the bathroom. "Oh yeah, cause the guys are basically queuing up to go on a date with me right?", you sarcastically spoke as you spotted the guy talking to a waiter. "Well I know a handful that like you.", Nat shrugged and you heard the grin in her voice. "Well you got to give me that list later because the dude just showed up, so I'll end the call, okay? I'm gonna need both hands for that now.", you neutrally spoke and ended the call before she could protest. Quickly you put the phone away and plastered a fake smile on your face while walking up to him with your hand on your gun already. "Oh hey! I was worried something might've happened!", you faked being concerned and he smiled softly. "Just a little Traffic Jam.", he lied. Not very convincingly if you may say so, even without your powers to know lies you could've told that. "Well shall we sit down then?", you offered after he stayed quiet and he nodded. You followed him and sat down after him. Not a gentlemen. "Okay, I'm tired of this. Who ordered you to do this.", you asked your gun pointing at his knee under the table. "I don't know what you...", he started but interrupted with a smile. "You didn't read my file? Don't even try to lie, I know when you do and my little friend here does not appreciate lies.", you hissed loading the gun so he heard the sound. "Are you fucking Crazy?", he asked with wide eyes pretending to be afraid. "Oh quit the bullshit or I'll just hand you over to Steve or Nat.", you groaned slowly growing annoyed. After the still didn't spill you rolled your eyes and used your second power to freeze time for the people around you two. Catching him off guard you maneuvered him out of the bar and handed him over to Natasha who had been waiting there for you after seeing you had it all under control. "He thinks he's being smart.", you remarked with a shrug giving him a little push against the car. "Well well, I'll take care of him, you get back inside to actually enjoy your date.", the woman opposite of you smiled and tilted her head towards the big window where you now saw Loki sitting. "Loki?", you raised your eyebrow looking at him. "Guy fell hard for you, believe me. Made sure to give him the talk and rules in advance, but he told me not to worry.", she shrugged with a small smirk making you groan. "Oh come on, do you have to give everyone the talk?", you asked her annoyed to which she only nodded with a proud grin. "First of all, rather me than Tony, second of all, he's still here, so he's worth a shot.", she explained and nudged your shoulder gently. "Now go get him. The poor guy wants to spoil you.", she ended then get into the car mumbling something along the lines of "He better not mess this up".

"Loki?", you asked as you approached the table and immediately he shot up with a gentle smile on his face. "Hello Y/N, you look beautiful as always.", he complimented and pulled back the chair for you to sit in. Thanking him with a smile you sat before he copied and watched you. "I know it's not right to say this, but I am glad your date turned out bad because I was too afraid to actually ask you out.", he mumbled actually blushing a bit and you giggled. "It's fine Loki, really, I am glad too. Although you should have asked me, how could I possibly turn the god of mischief down?", you explained and heard him sigh. "Thinking a lie possibly? Or that I'm having some evil plan, I don't know.", you heard him speak and gently grabbed his hands over the table. "Loki, you don't know my powers do you?", you asked and grinned upon seeing him shake his head. "I can tell lies and manipulate people and time. I would know it if you lie even with you being the god of it."

[anastasiaskarsgard]

Meeting Roman Godfrey

Chapter 1

Warning - cursing.

I never thought I’d miss traffic and noise. I always took it all for granted, hated it even. But now itd be a welcome old friend. Instead here i was, in a town with a handful of stop lights and not even one mall. You had to go on a road trip, to experience civilization, but I loved my uncle and he needed me... even if he wouldn’t admit it. 

I spotted a Barnes and Noble and actually squealed in excitement. i pulled up in my big body Benz and looked a little bit out of place, but i didnt care. My car was understated low profile over the top. With its clear panoramic sunroof, so much technology, and ambiance lighting, id always kid with my uncle that i needed it for my mental health. Really I was terribly spoiled and I knew it, yet I appreciated it and never tried to rub it anyone’s face and NEVER bragged.

inside there was a shockingly big lego display and i remembered how much i used to love assembling complicated structures, while most girls played wth dolls. People never interested me, like how machines and structures did. While most little girl wanted to play with dollies and imagine scenarios about their weddings and husbands, I was trying to improve my laptop (catching a few on fire in my early years).

I walked over and spotted a gigantic Death Star set and clapped in delight, when i heard a chuckle behind me. I turned around to find the best looking man I’d ever seen, dressed in a very nice suit for New York, let alone this shit hole town. He didnt waver or look away when i looked at him and almost looked as though he were daring me to look away. My god he was shockingly gorgeous but looks never have intimidated me, not much of anything does.

“What’s funny?” I asked looking him dead in the eye.

“You.” He smirked.

“Your face is funny.” i huffed and rolled my eyes. Who did he think he was? Green eyed, puffy lipped bastard.

To my surprise he laughed and looked me up and down. Assessed me like i was livestock. sizing me up and trying to decide if he could break me. 

“I’m Roman.”

“I’m American.” I replied.

“No my name is Roman.” He laughed heartily. An amused twinkle in his eye.

He really had the best smile, and I really have a thing for noses, if you think about it, its the most imprtant facial feature. A nose can make or break a face, and his cute little slightly upturned nose with its perfect symmetry was for sure making it. combine that with gorgeous green eyes, long lashes, defined bone structure and standing at least 6′3″ he must be one of the biggest pains in the ass, this side of the Mississippi!

 If i was the type to give a shit, I might feel self conscious in my velvet Juicy track suit with my hair in a sloppy pony tail and not even a stitch of make up but luckily i was not. Why pretty boy wanted to trade names, probably had nothing to do with me, and much more to do with what he could get out of me. I usually didn’t pay much attention to anyone of the opposite sex, I just didn’t have the patience or interest, but something about this one...

“Generally when I tell someone my name, they oblige me with their own.” He said staring into my eyes with such an intensity that I reacted almost involuntarily.

I have a defect. If someone tries to tell me what to do or control me, I am not fucking having it. Authority has always been an issue, and this was no different. I bet he isnt used to being ignored, and i do enjoy helping people expand their horizons so i turned around and acted like I hadnt heard him.

He walked in front of me, blocking my view of the legos and ducked down a bit to get eye contact. He’s either crazy or incredibly confident. I raised my eyebrows as if to say “can i help you” and I know my face was absolutely sassy.

His face hardened “tell me. Your. Name.” He said slowly and deliberately.

Now it was my turn to laugh. I looked at him to see the smile or just kiddding , but it never came... WOW. So I leaned my face a couple inches from his face and I said “ha. Ha. Ha.”

The look on his face was absolutely priceless and just as I was about to walk away victorious, his nose began to bleed. Probably a coke head, i thought but I was pretty bored in this town so I figured I’d give him the benefit of the doubt and help him out. 

“Oh shit, your nose is bleeding.” i said lookinbg around for any type of tissue, when i noticed we were right next to the restrooms.

“What? Seriously? Can you get it?” he implored looking all frightened, dare I say fragile.

Without any hesitation, I wiped the blood from his face. “Come with me, we need tissue, bathroom is right here. Look up and hold your nose.” I grabbed his hand and recieved a shock. static electricity stayed with me a lot and often scared people but he didnt even flinch. He laced his fingers in mine as if it were the most natural thing in the world and i led him to the bathroom.

Once inside, I grabbed some tissues and directed him to stand over the sink. I wet some paper towels and wiped away the blood and then took took the dry tissues and pushed his head back and crammed little tissue torpedos in his perfect little nose. 

“Gotta admit, this is new.” He quipped, admiring my handy work in the mirror and laughing in spite of himself. 

“What? Bloody nose or a girl not being putty in your manicured hands?”

“Um.... all of it. You don’t listen, you’re kind of rude, but then when theres an issue, you dont hesitate to help and then you’re taking better care of my nose bleed than anyone. no one really takes charge with me.... and now I’m in a bathroom with a woman and we aren’t fucking.” He laughed again.

“Fucking. Classy. If I didn’t know any better I’d swear you were the Godfrey asshole everyone keeps telling me about.” Ever since I’d arrived at Hemlock grove, I’d heard Godfrey this and Godfrey that. Their name was on everything and I’d heard the son was like a 21 year old gorgeous ladies man that was as kind as he was humble. 

His face fell into a frown.

“I see that’s the general consensus about that guy. Cheer up Charlie, your nose stopped bleeding most likely, let me just pull these out. i gently pulled the tissues from his nose and waited for blood but none came. “Boom mothafucka its on!” i laughed at my own ridiculousness before turning and washing my hands.

“You are ridiculous” he stated matter of factly. 

Roman stood there quietly thinking. I could almost feel the wheels turning in his head. His mood had completely changed at the mention of the Godfrey kid.Maybe his family had lost everything because of them too or the guy stole this guys girl, i felt a little guilty so i relented a tiny bit.

“Hey listen, Roman was it?” He nodded and bit his lip. oh he knows what hes doing. boy he was trouble “I’m sorry if the Godfrey’s are a sore subject. I don’t know anything about anybody here. I’m just helping out my crazy uncle that fell down his basement stairs and broke his hands and neck. I’m from the west coast and this dreary fucking place isn’t exactly my cup of tea. I don’t know why I’m rude before I’m polite but it’s involuntary. My name is Letha, it’s like Lisa with a lisp and now I’ve officially over shared.” I could feel my face turning red. Why was He making me such an awkward mess? My God this WAS new.

suddenly he grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled me in stopping just an inch away from my face. “Who put you up to this?” He asked with such venom in his voice it made me flinch. “WHO!?!?!” He screamed in my face.

I tried to push him away but he wouldn’t budge. My mind raced and I began to panic. No one has ever screamed in my face like this and I didn’t like it and yet, the way his eyes searched mine and the tenseness in his body and just sheer panic made me do something I hardly ever did. Especially to a crazy stranger in the bathroom, but I had the overwhelming NEED to hug him. I fought past his hands trying to hold my shoulders in kind of a silly slap fight and grabbed him around the waist and buried my head in his shoulder. He smelled so good.This was outright crazy behavior for me, and i was confusing myself but if i tried to not think, it almost felt nice. A tense minute passed with me holding him as he calmed his breathing with his arms raised. If anyone walked in, it’d be pretty weird.

“Nobody sent me you nut job! Hug me back, you need a hug. And I am NOT a hugger.” i squeezed even harder, nuzzling my face into his collar, his chin gently resting on my head.

His arms hesitantly closed around my back and then he crushed me into a deep embrace. He really did need a hug. “You ok now crazy?” I asked trying to pull back to look at his face but he held me fast. He started to shudder a bit and it was then I felt the moisture hitting my forehead. 

Was this crazy ass dude crying? Oh no he was really crazy. Shit shit shit. Good job Letha, you’re gonna get murdered in a bookstore bathroom in shit hole Pennsylvania on a Friday afternoon. Why did you hug this fucking guy? Are you crazy?

Roman loosened his grip and looked deep in my eyes searching for something. What? Im unsure, but he must of found it, because he laughed and looked almost sweet, except tears were running down his face and a moment earlier he screamed at me. Boy I can pick em.

“Well Ms Letha, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’d love nothing more than to take you out this evening wherever you want to go. Before you refuse, I assure you I’m not crazy, it’s just I had a cousin named Letha, which I’m sure you’re aware is an unusual name, that I loved very much and she passed and I’m sorry. It caught me off guard.”

I had heard about that Letha. Everyone that found out my name, told me about Letha Godfrey, the Godfrey girl that was as kind as she was beautiful, but tragically got knocked up and lost her mind talking about angels being the father, and dating some weirdo outcast. when she went to give birth in the familys intimidating skyscraper medical facility, she mysteriously died and so did her baby.

“You’re the Godfrey kid.” I practically whispered staring at him with wide eyes as I tried to recall what I’d said about him TO him.

“Hardly a kid anymore I think.” He smiled. He was so handsome, it was freaking me out. “What’s your phone number? I have to run to the white tower, and then I’m all yours.”

I knew better. He was too good looking and too rich and too everything but something told me he needed me. I know it sounds crazy but I believed in my heart and soul, this perfect beautiful fucking legend of a man needed me. I can’t explain why. I told him my number and turned to walk out of the bathroom, but he grabbed my hand.

“Please answer.” He pleaded pressing a kiss to my hand. He wasn’t trying to make me do anything now. He was giving the power over to me and i was honestly taken aback a bit by the almost desperate look in his eyes. I knew in my heart, he genuinely needed me, but for what?

I can’t explain the feeling I felt in that bathroom with this man, but when I say I felt a deeper connection to him than I’d ever felt in my 22 years on this earth, I mean it. It was thrilling, and scary, and strange. I smiled at him and nodded my head.I tried to lie to myself and act like i wasnt going to answer but dammit I so was. 

Maybe it would work in my best interests favor that my uncles’ home was 50 miles outside of town in a very isolated area so I doubted once I told him where hed have to pick me up, he’d actually follow through.

He didn’t follow me out of the bathroom and I just made a bee line for my car. I had to go. I couldn’t help smiling from ear to ear. The cashier smirked at me with what I suspect a knowing glance. Boy oh boy did I know better than to get involved with this guy, but what was the worst that could happen?

[hymn2000]

Hope I’ve Got Something To Lose - MCU AU fanfic - C4

Story overview: Peter has an accident, and Tony makes a drastic decision. In the midst of everything, a face from the past reappears - but Peter isn't too sure about reconnecting after everything that's happened.

Previous chapters: 1 2 3

Part of my irondad and spiderson series.

Warnings/themes: injury, hospital stuff, hurt/comfort, mental health stuff

You can also find me on AO3

Chapter 4 - Better Get It Together

-

Tony put a box down on the breakfast bar in front of Peter.

“What’s this?” 

“Well, you kept making out you've got nothing to do, so here you go” Tony said. “Build Big Ben out of Lego”

Peter looked at the box. “This says sixteen plus”

“So? What, you think it’s too hard? I’ll take it back if you don’t want it”

“No!” Peter protested, clutching the box to his chest.

Tony smiled triumphantly. Peter looked down, and then up at his dad, and then off to the side.

“...Thank you”

“You’re welcome, kiddo” 

He hesitated, and then ruffled the boys hair. Peter didn’t wriggle or push his hand away. Tony breathed out in relief. 

“Get building. I’ll check on you later”

-

“Mr Stark?”

Loki looked up from his clipboard.

“Is that your phone?”

“Hm? Oh, yes, thank you” he took his phone out of his pocket. “Excuse me for a minute: it’s my husband”

He handed his clipboard to the nurse and stepped out into the corridor to answer his phone.

“Hello, my love” he said. “Is everything ok?”

“You’ll never guess what just happened”

Loki sighed silently. “Tony, if this is about your gravity resistant solar operated something-or-other..”

“It’s not, and that was Peter’s idea. No, it's Peter, you see. So, he’s been saying he’s got nothing to do, right, so I thought, hey, what do kids like? So I bought him a Lego set, and-”

“Oh God, Tony, how much did that cost?! Those things are ridiculously priced”

“Calm down, it was about $230. But that’s not the point” Tony said. “He actually spoke to me! He was a little funny, but he said thank you, and I’ve just sneaked a peek at him and he’s actually working away, little mug of tea beside him, stereo on. Oh Loki, he’s so cute! Let’s get him more Lego”

Loki laughed. “Oh Tony, chick, you’re adorable. You’ve only just got him this set, and maybe buying his forgiveness - or acceptance - isn’t the right way to go about this”

“Yeah, I know, I know. He’s still being a little funny - I don’t think we’re there just yet. But it’s so nice seeing him playing with something a little less sciencey for once, yknow?”

“Tony, you’re literally a scientist, and he’s basically your protege”

“Yeah, but he’s a little kid. No, look, I was thinking - and it’s not about buying his forgiveness or spoiling him. No, you see, I was thinking, if we give him something else to occupy him, something to focus on, then maybe he’ll be able to accept me taking the suit a little easier”

Loki was quiet for a moment. “Ok, I think you could be right there, but don’t go getting anything else just yet”

“They’ve got some great stuff, you know. I’m thinking of getting the Roller Coaster or the Carousel next”

“Tony, hold off for now. He might have said thank you, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to talk to you yet. Sweetheart, go and get your work done, and see if you can get the sprog fed before I get back. Now, I’m going to have to love you and leave you: I’m needed”

“Alright, gorgeous, I’ll let you get on. Are you still due back at four?”

“Maybe a little bit later, closer to five. I’ll let you know when I’m on my way back”

“Thanks love. Talk to you later. Love you”

“Love you too. Bye”

“Bu-Bye” 

-

Tony stayed quiet when he went into the kitchen. Peter was busy with his Lego, and barely glanced up. Tony set about doing what he was doing, and soon set a plate down on the breakfast bar beside Peter. Peter looked at the plate.

“Oh” he looked up. “Thank you” 

Peter put the Lego pieces he was holding down at a safe distance and pulled the plate closer. 

“Good lad” he said quietly, squeezing the boys shoulder. “I’ve just got to pop to the shop on the corner. Do you want anything?”

Peter thought for a moment. “Peanut butter KitKat chunky”

“Sure thing, hun. I’ll be back soon. Ten minutes tops. Do you need anything before I go?”

Peter shook his head. “I’m fine. Thank you, though”

Tony ruffled his hair and left the room to grab his coat. He sighed happily to himself. Maybe Peter was starting to come round.

-

Loki arrived home late afternoon, feeling pretty drained both emotionally and physically. He put his stuff down and went to get himself a drink. He made himself a mug of tea, and, deciding that the house was suspiciously quiet, went to track down his husband and son.

He found Peter and Tony on the futon in the back room. Tony was sat working on his laptop. Peter was leaning against him, legs up on the futon, reading a book. They both looked up when Loki came into the room.

“Dad!”

Loki couldn’t help but smile. “Hey, sweetheart”

Peter moved aside so Loki could sit down next to Tony, and then climbed onto his lap. Loki hugged him tight with one arm, holding his tea carefully so as not to spill it on the boy. Tony shut his laptop and put an arm round Loki.

“Evening gorgeous” Tony looked at the way he was holding Peter. “Rough day?”

“Mm” Loki mumbled, taking a mouthful of tea. “You remember that lady I told you about? The one with quintuplets?”

“The IVF one?” 

Loki nodded. “She went into labour today...”

“She wasn’t due yet, was she? How- how did it go?” he asked.

Loki held tighter to Peter. “Two stillborn. Another one died an hour after birth”

“Oh Loki” Tony rested his head against Loki’s. “It must have been dreadful”

“It wasn’t great...”

Peter looked up at him. Loki took another mouthful of tea, swallowed hard, and gave Peter a squeeze.

“Don’t look so worried, chick. I’m just being a sentimental old fool” 

“Have you ever thought about going any further with your training?”

“Ah” Loki passed his mug to Tony. “Well. I have thought about it. Lots. I very nearly started a paramedic course”

“What?! When was this?”

“A while ago” Loki said vaguely. “I went out as an observer with a crew for a few shifts. I had a great time. But when it came down to it, I decided it wasn’t practical”

“Why not? You’d be so good at it!”

“Maybe, but I don’t think my health would allow it. And besides, I’m busy enough with my volunteering without adding twelve hour minimum shifts to the rota. I’m happy with what I’m already doing. I like doing something I’m mostly in control of. Plus, I need to be here to look after you, don’t I?”

“I’m not a baby”

“Really? Could’ve fooled me” Loki shook his head. “No, as much as you might think otherwise, you need lots of looking after and keeping an eye on. Those broken ribs of yours are proof enough of that”

Peter frowned. “They’ll heal”

“I know, and then you’ll be back to your reckless old self” he ruffled Peter’s hair. “You’re a law unto yourself”

Peter sighed. “You worry too much. Anyway, there’s a seal on the house, and I’ve had my suit stolen from me, so how much recklessness do you really expect me to get up to?”

“Woah woah woah, stolen?” Tony cut in. “It’s confiscated, not stolen”

“Usually when you confiscate things, I get them back”

“Usually is the key word there, kiddo” Tony said, shaking his head. “Hey, who gave your bottom lip permission to wobble? We’ve been through countless times already”

Peter whined and buried his face in Loki’s chest. “It’s not fair”

“It’s not raining either”

Peter just whined louder. Loki laughed, and shook his head.

“Right, I’m knackered, and I’m going to bed. So budge”

Peter did as he was told. Loki stood up and grabbed his mug from Tony, who frowned.

“What about tea?”

Loki checked his watch. “It’s not really tea time yet, is it? If you’re hungry, I’m not stopping you from cooking. I’ll eat later. Now, I just need to rest for a while. My head keeps going fuzzy”

“Oh Loll, you’re not heading for another flare-up, are you?”

“I hope not. We’ll see” he gave Tony a quick kiss. “See you in a bit”

“Ok, ok. Sleep well, Lolly”

Loki nodded, kissed Peter on the cheek, and wandered off. Peter looked at Tony. Tony felt himself being watched, and looked at Peter. He gave the boys nose a tweak.

“Maybe you need a nap too, grumpy-gills”

“I’m not a baby” Peter said.

He yawned, flopped down on the futon, shoved a cushion under his head, and soon fell asleep.

-

Loki found Tony in the lab the next morning.

“Who gave you the new code?” Tony asked.

“You’re incredibly predictable” Loki said, closing the door behind him.

“You know I don’t like you being in here”

Loki looked left and right. “I see no welding tools out”

Tony rolled his eyes. “What do you want?”

“I fancy a bit of retail therapy. I have a few things I need from the high street”

“I don’t need anything”

“I wasn’t offering” Loki said, raising an eyebrow. “No, I was wondering if I could take the sprog with me”

“Oh” Tony stopped what he was doing. “Are you sure he’s strong enough?”

“I think so. He’s still a bit sore, but he can take some painkillers if need be. Besides, it’s only shopping: it’s not like I’m taking him go-karting”

Tony thought for a moment. “Have you asked him if he wants to go?”

“Not yet. I thought I’d check with you first”

“If he wants to go, he can go. Fresh air would do him the world of good. Just keep him close. I don’t want him wandering off”

“I’ll keep a close eye on him, don’t you worry. He’s not getting hurt on my watch”

-

Loki knocked on Peter’s bedroom door and opened it. Peter was sprawled on the bed watching YouTube videos. He looked up when the door opened.

“Hi, dad”

“Hi. Do you want to come shopping with me?”

Peter looked at him skeptically. “What kind of shopping?”

“High street shopping. Are you coming or not?”

“Am I allowed?”

“I wouldn’t be asking if you weren’t”

Peter closed his laptop and sat up, wincing a little. “Ok. I just need a few minutes to get ready”

“Of course. I’m going to have a cup of tea. I trust you’ll be ready by the time I’ve finished”

“I’ll try. I’m not gonna rush too much. Ribs, yknow?”

“I know. How are your big cuts?”

“A bit sore”

“Take your painkillers. Have you eaten?”

“I had some cereal earlier”

“Good. Right, get ready. I’ll wait in the kitchen for you”

-

Peter had a quick wash, redid his teeth, took his painkillers, put on some proper clothes (going out in joggers and an oversized tshirt didn’t feel quite right), pulled his boots on, and joined Loki in the kitchen.

“Ok?” Loki said. “Do you need a drink or anything before we go?”

Peter shook his head. Loki shrugged.

“Suit yourself”

He downed his tea and stood up. He rinsed his mug, set it on the draining board, and zipped his coat up.

“Ready to go?”

Peter nodded. Loki grabbed his keys, checked he had his phone and wallet, and took Peter’s hand. 

“Let’s get going, then”

-

It felt good to get outside. It wasn’t the warmest of days, but there was something refreshing about that. Peter breathed in the cold air, closing his eyes for a moment. It felt so good. He was glad to be with Loki, who generally liked taking the long route when walking to the main high street, as it gave him more time to savour the walk.

“What do you need from town?”

“Oh, nothing much” Loki said. “Socks and shoes, mainly”

“Really?” Peter said doubtfully, thinking about Loki’s vast collection of both items. 

“Well, let’s call it useful retail therapy”

“What’s that meant to mean?”

“It means I’m getting useful things, but not necessarily stuff I’m in desperate need of” Loki said. “Well, I do need a couple of things. Toothbrushes. A few bath and shower bits”

Peter looked at him. “Ok, I get the toothbrushes, but you’ve got loads of bath stuff”

“I don’t have any bubble bath left. Or anything other than the essentials”

“Oh what, so you want Lush bath bombs or something like that?”

“Perhaps. Definitely bubble bath though, and potentially some bath salts. Oh, I might get some more of that Dirty Springwash shower gel if we’re going to Lush”

“Ooh, that’s the minty one, right?” 

“That’s right. I liked that one. How are you doing for bath stuff?”

Peter shrugged. “Hey, can you slow down a bit? It’s hard to keep up with you, and it’s kinda painful too, jogging”

“Sorry” Loki said, slowing down. He frowned at the way Peter was clutching his ribs. “Maybe we ought to get you some muscle soak or something”

“I don’t think it’s my muscles that are the problem”

“It wouldn’t hurt to relax a bit, though. I know you’re still hurting quite a lot. Your father’s noticed too”

“He’s still overreacting about everything” Peter pouted. “He’s still insisting I can’t have the suit back. We had another argument about it last night”

Loki sighed heavily. “Maybe you need to take a step back. You nearly died, remember? At least try to act like you understand our feelings”

“I do understand! What I don’t understand is why he’s taking away my free will. I know my rights. You’re a medical man - kinda. You know that, if they’re of sound mind, people have a right to make their own decisions - even if you don’t personally think they’re wise” 

“Don’t you start quoting medical ethics at me, young man” Loki said. 

“But it’s a good point!”

“Do you want to know what else is a good point? You’re fifteen, so as your parents, in a hospital or otherwise medical environment, we’re allowed to make decisions about your healthcare on your behalf”

Peter blinked. “But this isn’t a medical environment”

“I know that. But to reiterate, we’re your parents, and as such we have some - shall we say, control - over you. A hierarchy, I suppose. If your dad thinks disallowing the suit is the best way to keep you safe, he’s within his rights to do that. Even if you’re not happy about it”

Peter went into a huff, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Now now, don’t you go getting all moody on me, chick” Loki said. “Why don’t you try to forget about it, just for a few hours? Act like the kid you are and just drive me mad by can-I-’avin’ in every shop”

“You might just regret saying that”

Loki grinned at him. “I’m sure I will”

-

Peter soon cheered up. His painkillers kicked in, and his mind turned to the task in hand, and he managed to forget about the arguments and the loss of the suit hanging over his head. Loki was great to shop with. Most of the time, if he was shopping with Loki, it was for household stuff. It wasn’t often he got to do high street shopping with him - and it was lots of fun. They spent hours looking in all the shops that appealed to them, be it clothing shops, shoe shops, chocolatiers, or otherwise. For once, Loki wasn’t shy with his debit card, potentially because he was still feeling very sorry for and protective of Peter after the accident. Peter wasn’t usually one to scrab, but he didn’t protest quite so much if Loki offered to buy things for him this time round. He worried for a moment about what Tony might say, but Tony was generally worse than Loki for buying him elaborate presents, so he probably wouldn’t say anything much at all. 

-

Peter started to get tired. They’d been out for a while now. Loki was slowing down a bit too, which could have been down to the fact he’d insisted on carrying all the bags so Peter couldn’t strain himself. He kept telling Peter to stay close, which Peter found odd, but wrote off as him just being overprotective. 

Loki stopped to look in the window of a jewellers and watch shop. It was one of Loki’s favourites. Peter got bored after about thirty seconds, but he could tell Loki was going to be a while. Checking that he’d been forgotten about momentarily, Peter carefully slipped away and went for a wander. There was a good shop nearby that did coffee and bagels, and he rather fancied both of those things now. His bowl of cereal that morning felt like days ago. He was on auto-pilot, not really paying attention to anything around him. He stopped and pressed the button at the crossing, and was suddenly brought back to reality with a start.

“Peter?”

Peter froze for a moment, and spun round on his heel. He felt his blood run cold when he saw the owner of the voice, who stood looking at him in what seemed to be a mix of surprise and confusion. Peter stared at them for a moment, barely believing they were really there.

“Liz...”

*

[thesffcorner]

Ready Player One Review

Ready Player One is a sci-fi action adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted from the Ernest Cline eponymous book. It follows Wade Watts, a teenager who lives in near future Earth that is plagued by massive overpopulation and resource crisis, and people spend most, if not all their lives in the virtual reality of the Oasis; a place where you can be anyone and do anything.

Wade is a gunter or a hunter for the easter egg that the Osasis’ creator Halliday has hidden somewhere in the Oasis that grants the entire proprietary rights of the Oasis to the first person who beats the three challenges and gets to the egg. The challenges are hidden in clues connected to Halliday’s life, childhood and most importantly, the pop culture and media Halliday absorbed all his life.

It’s been a long time since I read Ready Player One, and I remember it being one of those books with a cool premise, but an excruciatingly annoying main character, dull romance, and lots of references to stuff I too grew up with, which were the coolest thing when I was like... 15-16 when I read the book. However, as I’ve grown older, more and more things about the book started bothering me; the lack of mention on any media that might have been made for and enjoyed by girls, the poor world-building, the focus on gate-keeping, memorizing and regurgitating pop culture instead of engaging and understanding it, the lack of meaningful consequences for the real world, the weird underlying homophobia and of course the romance. But I’m not here to discuss the book; I’m here to talk about the movie and in my humble opinion it is by far the superior version.

Steven Spielberg, for all his faults as a director knows how to make an entertaining film that will tug at your heartstrings. In many way that’s the message he derives from Halliday’s contest and pushes as front and center here; the whole point of the Oasis is the fun and creativity people exhibit in it, the love and joy of playing games and friendly competition. This is a man who loves film and the art of film-making and takes great joy in bringing this world to life, and it’s apparent from every scene in the film.

From the levitating ballroom, to Mount Doom, to the brief glimpse at Minecraft World, Spielberg makes sure to make the Oasis as grand and impressive as possible, a place where people really would like to spend most of their time. Helped by the technology being advanced enough to allow for tactile feeling with gloves and full body suits, and it was like a less extreme version of the technology in SAO (which isn’t the only comparison I’ll make to that show, just you wait), but the entire look and feel of the technology was so close to what we already have that I had to enjoy it. The VR goggles and helmets, the gloves, the gaming rigs, drones, cameras, tablets; honestly there is no better time to adapt this book than now, when the gaming world is actually undergoing a VR resurgence as the technology becomes more accessible and sophisticated. I was very impressed with Spielberg and his crew for keeping such good tabs on what would be a realistic enhancements to this technology and it made that side of the world building that much more believable.

Spielberg is an excellent visual storyteller, and my favorite example of this is Wade making his way down from his trailer in the Stacks to his van/rig/set up. The way he climbs down from the various stacked vans and trailers was an excellent way to show how these people live, even if I am having a hard time believing the Stacks as a real place. That’s kind of a problem with the world building; the real world doesn’t feel that realistic. How come all these people who live in trailers stacked on top of each other in what is presumably a semi-legal establishment afford or even just get internet that is fast and stable enough to endure the connection that the Oasis would require? Do none of these people have jobs or lives outside of being jacked into the Oasis?

Then there are things about the Oasis that I found kind of unbelievable. This is a place where you can build anything and be anyone; the only limit is the human imagination (since there don’t seem to be any software or hardware restrictions). And yet, not only are people’s avatars the most boring ones possible (like ok, I’ll believe that there would be 7 Master Chiefs, but no one wanted to be Lara Croft? Darth Vader? Any Dark Souls character? A meme?), and even the original designs are so uninspired! Wade’s avatar is literary a half-Naavi, half-anime version of himself, which in fairness fits with his boring personality, but he already has the name Percival; why not give him a knight design? You know like Artorias, or Lothar? 

Artemis’ design is equally boring, a pink anime style pixie And of course, the two Asian characters’ Daito and Sho are a samurai and ninja respectively. The only character design I found both creative and fitting to the character was H, even if she did look like Cratos and an Uruk-Hai had a child.

This lack of creativity applies to the Oasis itself, and while I can’t entirely blame it on Spielberg, it’s still exacerbated by his direction. All the worlds we visit were expected; a big dance club with a gimmick. A race track. You bet your ass that if WB had the rights to Star Wars or Destiny the ending would have been an awesome space battle, but instead we are stuck with the most boring version of Mount Doom. We also don’t get to see many worlds either, because we are following Halliday’s easter egg hunt, which is entirely tied to his life, so there is only so much leeway the filmmakers have to make it creative. 

The challenges are one aspect that I do think were done right. The race was expected, but the trick to winning was really clever and an actual callback to a gaming trick (though Spielberg over-explains it to the point of meaninglessness). The challenge was compared to me to the Clockwork Mansion Level in Dishonored, and while in premise they are similar, RPO doesn’t take advantage of it, and the execution is pedestrian. 

The second challenge is the most involved and creative one, and it was a blast to watch. I won’t spoil anything about it, but just know that it alone is worth the admission price. 

The third challenge is split between the final battle Nolan and Wade’s forces, and the actual challenge; playing a perfect game. Again, I loved the twist and I won’t spoil it; it was creative and made me very emotional as a little bit of history about the development of arcade games. 

Now, let’s talk about this film’s biggest failure; characters and writing. I know a lot of people won’t care about either; they are here to watch how many references can be cramped into a 90 min run-time. I’m not that person; I want to see a good story and Ready Player One is as basic as it gets. 

Wade Watts is the most boring protagonist I have seen since Bella Swan. He has no personality, no charisma and the only reason we follow him instead of ANY of the more interesting characters around him, is because he knows the most about Halliday. I like that the film tries to explain that he not only knows most, but also UNDERSTANDS Halliday the best out of everyone, which is why he can beat the challenges (and a common criticism of book Wade who just... memorizes the most like studying for a test) but this is just another wasted opportunity to explore why Wade and Halliday are so similar and maybe give Wade an actual struggle to deal with social anxiety and difficulty relating to people. 

Instead, he meets a hot avatar of presumably a hot chick and falls in love with her, IMMEDIATELY. I hated this in the book two, and the film does mitigate a lot of the worse aspects of Samantha and Wade’s relationship, but this aspect alone made me cringe. Again, what a missed opportunity to play around with gender and expectations, to maybe make Wade’s foolishness have consequences, or have him face his own prejudices. Instead Art3mis really is just a hot white chick, who they have the gall to give the thinnest of reasons to be sad because she has a FUCKING BIRTHMARK over her eye that looks like smudged make up. This was worse than Gerard Butler Phantom, or Alex Petyfer’s make up in Beastly. 

To make matters worse, Art3mis is so much better, more interesting and developed and has an actual real world reason to want to find Halliday’s egg, other than just wanting to be the very best or whatever Wade’s motivation is. That’s another big problem; he doesn’t have motivation to want to win other than he’s just the main character and he has to. This wasn’t as egregious as in the Lego Movie where Wyldstyle is literary so much better than Benny, but it was close to it. 

The only time the movie gets creative is with H, who is in fact Hellen and she was the best character here, hands down. She is cool, she can mod anything in the game, she drives a sick van, she is scared of horror films... can we just have another Ready Player One but with Hellen as the main character? 

Sho and Daito were interesting, but they do this really weird thing with Daito where... I don’t know if he like... meditates? Because he’s Japanese and that’s what Japanese people do before battle? And of course he knows karate in the real world, why wouldn’t he,... did I mention he’s Japanese? Maybe if you bothered to give him more than 2 lines of dialogue and 1 admittedly cool scene towards the end he wouldn’t be this much of a stereotype. 

And then we get to the villains... oh the villains. 

I just want the record to state, that I frickin love Ben Mendleson. He will play any terrible villain role and make it AMAZING and here is no different. He plays the CEO of IOI, a just.., plain evil corporation who wants control of the Oasis so he can put in ads, loot boxes and micro transactions. As far as stakes are concerned that’s pretty low, but what makes his character hilarious is how far he’s willing to go and break the law to get this. We’re talking hiring a militia to blow up the Stacks and kill Wade’s aunt and hunt down an actual real life resistance to arrest and imprison people there for debt. I... what? 

Nolan’s actual character was fun (I liked that his design was like a weird mix between Lex Luthor and Clark Kent) as he is an older man who has the best rig in the world, but has to write down his password to log in. His sidekick is I-R0k, played by TJ Miller who has all the best and funnies lines and a legitimately cool looking WoW inspired character design. But IOI... I was on board until they started killing people over access to proprietary software! 

Another issue I had with the film was how bad most of the dialogue was. There are entire sections that are just full of exposition that we don’t need. The two worst examples are Wade’s voice over at the start of the film that runs over that great scene I mentioned of him leaving his trailer in the Stacks. Another, even worse one is when he is walking next to the Curator who explains how to access Halliday’s memories after literary saying not even a min ago that WADE KNOWS ALL THIS AND IS THE MOST FREQUENT VISITOR IN THE MUSEUM. 

The twist in the first challenge? I really want to hammer home how bad the writing is in this film, so I’ll spoil it. Skip this paragraph if you care. 

The twist is an old school game thing; when you spawn in a level run in the direction opposite to what you’re facing to find either some hidden loot, or a shortcut, or a bonus. The hint is, Halliday saying why can’t we go back, just once. But then they HAMMER IT HOME by having Halliday say go back in time, go backwards, just once, really fast, like Bill and Ted. Like... we get it!

The problem with that type of referential humor and writing is that it only works if you know how to do it. You make the reference and whoever catches it, catches it. The people who didn’t won’t appreciate it if you explain it to them any more than they would have not knowing, and the people who did catch it and know it will get annoyed that you are treating them like idiots by going see guys? That was a reference! Did you catch it?

I have so much more to say about this movie, but I hope this was enough. I do recommend watching it so you can make up your own mind about it. But I think Film Brain put it best in his review; if you liked the book or just the idea of seeing this movie, go watch it and you will probably love it. If you didn’t... this movie won’t change your mind. 

[demonwriterx]

Lego Ninjago Movie Drabble #1 (bit of spoilers)

“Lloyd’s birthday”

Ninjago Fanfic

Lloyd Garmadon found himself in a famous sushi restaurant in Ninjago with his friends around him, his mom and a birthday cake in front of him. He was finally getting the birthday party he always wanted, with no one to spoil it for him just for being the son of Lord Garmadon.

“Here Birthday Boy!” Kai said loudly, elbowing Lloyd playfully in his side. He pushed the large red wrapped present in front of Lloyd. “Me and Nya got something for you.”

“Yeah!” Nya exclaimed. “I mean I was the one who found it, but you know-go on open it!”

Lloyd chuckled. “Alright, alright-” He ripped open the wrapping paper and tore open the box. Inside, he pulled out a video game. “Oh man! It’s the new racing game! Thanks Kai, thanks Nya, this is so awesome!”

“No problem!” Kai laughed before stuffing his face full of sushi. Lloyd chuckled and got a nudge from Cole who handed him a mix tape. “Here dude, I made you some tunes, old-school.”

“Whoa, sweet Cole…now I need to find tape player.”

“Ill hook you up bro.”

“Oh me next!” Jay said and pulled out a bag. “I hope you like it, but just in case you don’t, the receipt is in the bag.” He said softly, fiddling with his claw hands.

“Aw come on Jay.” Lloyd said with a smile. “I’ll like anything you guys give me.” He pulled out a green cap. “Sweet dude! Seriously I love it!” He put on the hat make Jay smile in relief. Lloyd turned to Zane, who was quietly sitting and observing with a permanent smile on his face.

“What about you Zane?” Lloyd asked.

“Oh, I didn’t get you any object Lloyd. Instead my gift is being here.”

“Of course it is, Zane.”

“Yes. I am a great friend.”

Lloyd smirked. “The best.”

Lloyd’s mother Koko gave her son a kiss on the cheek and slid another present across the table. “I got you something too sweetheart.”

“Ah mom, you didn’t need to get me anything.” Lloyd said, knowing how hard his mom works to save money for the two of them. Being a single mom and trying to provide for him, she works in three jobs. It’s hard work but she makes it work. “Hey, I saved up, just for this occasion. Go on, Birthday Boy!”

Lloyd ripped open his gift and saw a set of small keys with a green ornament attached to the key ring. He hummed and raised his brow. “Umm, is this new house keys? I love it, its cool.” He said not trying to hurt his mom’s feelings. She let out a scoff and slapped her son’s back.

“No silly! These are the keys to your new moped!”

Lloyd whirled at his mom. “No way! You mean you got me an actual moped?!”

She gave him a wink. “You deserve it, after all-you did save Ninjago!” Lloyd immediately gave him mom a hug.

“This is the best, mom, thanks!”

“So lucky bro!” Nya exclaimed. “Hey we should totally take it for a spin after dinner, I’ll teach you some of my sweet tricks.”

“Lets not get too excited now.” Koko said nervously, knowing Nya they might just crash his new moped. “We should get started on cutting his cake.” She said picking up a knife. Lloyd stopped her.

“Wait Mom, um…dad isn’t here yet.”

“Oh.” Koko eyes narrowed. “I told him to be here at six o'clock sharp and yet its…” she glanced at her wrist watch. “Wow! 8 o clock…typical.”

“I-I’m sure he’ll be here. After I saved him today, he said he really wanted to be here so maybe he’ll be here soon.”

“Hmmm-” Koko crossed her arms and glared at the cake. Lloyd pulled at his shirt collar by the heavy tension his mom was putting out. She still has mixed feelings of Garmadon coming back into their lives by being more active in his role as being Lloyd’s father. In truth, Lloyd believes that his mom is still disappointed in Garmadon for leaving them when he decided not to change his villainous ways. Now, it seems that it was too late for her.

“Hey Lloyd-” Kai said making his friend turn to him. He pointed to a plate full of sushi. “Can I have your dad’s food?”

“Dude, no.” Lloyd said, grabbing the plate and pulling it away from his hungry friend. “He’ll be here, I just don’t when.”

“Well wait no longer, Luh Loyd!” Announced a booming voice and everyone whirled to see Garmadon strolling in. Immediately, Koko glared at Garmadon who mistakenly took her harsh gaze as some sort of flirting.

“Hey Koko-butter! What’s up? Oh you into sushi now, that’s cool, I like sushi too.” He winked, making her groan and turn away. He took his seat besides Lloyd and gave him a playful noogie. “How’s my son doing? Now the party can really start!”

Lloyd pulled away and chuckled softly. “Yeah actually, it started like three hours ago…”

“Three hours?” Garmadon repeated, holding a blank face.

“Yeah, like we only have a half an hour left before the restaurant closes.” Lloyd slid the plate to his dad. “But we saved you a plate!”

“Oh I’m not hungry. I just ate.”

“Dibs!” Kai yelled, snatching the plate and immediately devouring it.

“What?” Lloyd gave his father a scowl. “Is that why you were late?”

“Yeah. I saw this sweet ramen shop on the way over here and I was like “oh man, I gotta try that!” And so I did and boy am I stuffed!” He said, patting his swollen stomach.

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope, Oh and I also got you this for your present. Catch!” He threw a set of keys at him which he caught easily. His dad smiled widely when Lloyd looked at the set of silver keys, with an ornament that looks like his dad’s face.

“Uh what’s this?”

“Your new keys for your new car. Duh.”

“What!” Lloyd shrieked, making his friends slam their hands on the table in surprise. Koko gasped softly and glared angrily at Garmadon, who took a slice of Lloyd’s cake.

“Yeah, I got my science nerds to build you one after I threatened them.” He took a bite out of his cake.

“B-but what about my moped?”

Garmadon spit out the cake, making everyone cringe in disgust. “What! Sell it! pssh, a car is way cooler and you can drive your little ninja-nerds around!”

Koko immediately stood up.

“Wow! Thanks dad! But-” Lloyd was cut off when his mother grabbed Garmadon’s helmet and dragged him aside. Lloyd sighed and lifted up the two keys in his hands.

——————————–

“Ow! Ow! Let go!” Garmadon protested and Koko obliged by throwing him against the wall. “Whoa babe! If you wanted to spar, can it wait after Luh Loyd’s party? I know how you get grabby.” He winked, giving her a smile. Koko shook her head and growled.

“You knew I was getting Lloyd a moped, and yet you come waltzing in and one up me by handing him keys to a brand new car?!”

Garmadon gave her a small frown. “Yeah? I mean it’s a bit of a no brainer. You buy your son a car and you get unconditional love after, it’s a win-win!”

Koko slammed her hand over her face. “Lloyd doesn’t need a car Garmadon! It’s too expensive!”

“And what do you expect me to do?” He said, trying to defend himself from her anger. “Just take it from him and say “sorry sport, your jealous mom said I can’t give you a car!” And I take the keys?!”

“I’m not jealous!”

“Koko…I know you’re jealous face when I see it. Can’t I give my son this one present! This super cool present which is the only present I have ever given him in sixteen years!” He shouted and punched the wall, breaking right through. He breathed slowly and sighed. “Since I never gave him his fifteen others…”

Koko’s glare slowly softened and gave him a sigh. She placed her hand on Garmadon’s arm, making him look up at her. “Garmadon, I’m sorry…you wanted to make up all those missed birthdays by giving a car to Lloyd…that was very sweet of you.” She admitted.

Garmadon snickered and brushed his hand across her cheek. “You know, the whole time you were talking…you had bits of rice on your face. That’s embarrassing.”

Koko rolled her eyes and slapped his hand away. She walked back to the table with Garmadon trailing behind. Lloyd ran up to them.

“Hey I actually made a decision!”

Koko placed her hand on Lloyd’s shoulder. “I understand if you don’t want the moped anymore…”

“What? No I’m keeping your present mom.”

“What?!” Garmadon shouted. “But what about the car?”

“Easy. Its for mom.” He placed the keys in her hand, making her blink. “I know you always take the commute to go to your three jobs and I know how tired you get when you come home late…” Koko felt her eyes water. “You deserve this mom, it’s more convenient for you than it is for me.”

Koko wiped her eyes and gave her son a tight hug. “I love you Lloyd.”

“Aw Mom. Its no big deal.”

“Hey mama’s boy!” Nya shouted, waving him down. “Time to eat cake, I can’t hold Kai back forever you know!”

“Oh right! Coming!” He pulled away from his mom and ran back to the table. Koko stared at the set of keys in her hand and couldn’t stop smiling. She blinked when Garmadon shuffled beside her.

“You have three jobs?” He asked, in a whisper.

“Yeah, well…being a single mom is hard.” She put the keys in her pocket. Garmadon frowned.

“I didn’t know. I’m…” he rubbed the back of his head, almost shamefully. “I’m sorry. I-if I knew that I would have…helped you out. You know?”

“I didn’t want to beg.”

“You really are still prideful.”

“I could handle myself and my son.”

“I know, but still…” he kicked a piece of trash aside. “It was selfish of me.”

“Well…you’re here now.” She said giving him a smile. Garmadon mirrored her.

“Anything you need! Rent, food, whatever! I got the cash, baby! Like literally I got a volcano full of gold!”

“Sure sure, now let’s go eat some cake or are you still stuffed?”

“I could eat!”

They both made their way to the table just in time to grab a slice before Kai could get to it.