#10/10 would adopt again

[ahalfbakedbagel]

My first try at Megumi with a quick Yuji sketch on the side. These are my sons, I love them so much 😭

[mentalhealthpsychologyblr]

Actually so proud of river (11) (feet) for tolerating the other cats. I always see cats turn into a ball of fighting (claws and all). Rivs never done that he might give a hissy or a deliberate claws completely retracted slap on the head (wow he doesn't even do that for humans!)

(sitting with Sven)

He likes Polly (dustbin cat) more, sometimes I see him go to sit 60cm away from him on purpose🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

[lannisterdaddyissues]

socialized a feral kitten while volunteering at the animal shelter today and i am so proud of myself :')

[hexjulia]

people like to bring up things like "all your loved ones would die before you" as a concern re: immortality. But the real danger for me would be that i'd literally never get anything done again. I'd adopt the elvish lifestyle immediately. Not doing anything in a week that could be done in a century. Not getting anything done in a century that can be done in 10 centuries. Spending the next 100 years reading 1 book very slowly because i have infinite time and don't care.

[sunsetsover]

my god babe is so tragic and fucked up and traumatised and his trust in other people and the world and even himself is completely shot and none of it is his fault and yet he's the one who's going to have to carry the weight of what other people have done to him forever.

[makenna-made-this]

Happy TWO YEAR Caught Ya-versary to the sweetest little bog daughter. Can't believe this bird was free.99. She's literally priceless<3<3<3<3

Happy "Caught Ya!" Day to Ivy bird! A year ago today I wrangled a scared, abandoned leghorn out of a poison ivy bog in the woods. Now it is like she's always been part of the family💕

Happy adoptiversary Ivy! 11/10 would yoink ya out of a bush again

[bighitfics]

jeon jungkook fanfics that deserve to be turned into kdramas and selling books.

(a recommendation you badly need) ⭑.ᐟ

Sauvage ౨ৎ by @tljunglebook

— grumpy x sunshine, cold and detached jungkook (who turns into a whipped puppy later on) office romance, slow burn.

(starting off strong! this book’s got the most delicious slow burn to ever exist! screaming at how sexy, down bad & protective jungkook’s for oc in this fic ugh the wattpad girlies already know that they’re my adopted parents)

10 Seconds ᥫ᭡ by @deepdarkdelights

— yandere jungkook, abduction, stalking, stockholm syndrome.

(this series is my first love, i would do anything to read this for the first time again!)

Penpal 𓍯𓂃 by @laughing-with-god

— yandere prisoner jungkook, stalking, breaking in.

(gotta contact some directors and producers to turn this into a drama! it would slay so hard with its refreshing plot line! and tbh no words are enough to describe her writing abilities, she’s a pro✨)

Risqué ✧˖° by @mercurygguk

— age gap, forbidden romance, smut, angst.

(the time stamps and drabbles are the essence of this fic, the smut is so well written! ALSO THE SEGSUAL TENSION AND OVERALL YEARNING MA’AM!? can someone already turn this into a mini netflix series please!?)

About Time ִ࣪𖤐 by @yoonia

— time travel au, major angst, second chances, smut, fluff.

(if i had the chance to devour a book, i’d eat this one (obviously) it’s one of the best books of my life, i would die to see a live version of this)

I Want You To Stay ʚɞ ⁺˖ by @ahundredtimesover

— ceo jungkook, strangers to lovers, slow burn, angst, smut.

(no slow burn ever slow burned the way this story slow burned! lemme warn ya’ll this fic will keep getting better as you read it!)

Bride Of Devil ♰ 𓏲 ๋࣭  ࣪ ˖ by @jasminefanfics

— dark romance, gangster au, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, age gap, kinda yandere husband jungkook.

(my youtube fanfic girlies assemble! this is the best mafia jungkook fic i can recommend for ya’ll! the bgm is so addictive and perfect)

An Abundance Of Luck And A Sprinkle Of Fate 𐙚 by @borathae

— strangers to lovers, romance, found family, smut, angst, healing.

(I remember being unhealthily obsessed with this lord, aaol!kook & oc will forever be my babies TT this book tugs at your heart in a way that’s inexplainable)

ps — have a good read girlies <3

follow for more.

[dcxdpdabbles]

Can we have more crazy antics of Oldest Batkid Danny!?

In particular order, here are ten things Danny "The Mence" Fenton-Wayne has done after being adopted by Bruce when his parents sold him to a lab:

1. Danny once flooded Wayne Manor before he found out Bruce and Batman were the same person. He thought Batman was a vampire and the running water would stop him. If they all drowned in the process, they at least would not suffer being vampire food.

2. Alfred has a rule that every Wayne needs to work part-time to be humble and appropriate working class. Danny created his own business of leading people on ghost tours and made SURE they always saw one. He purposely pointed at people in school after word got around and whispered, "The spirits want you." Everyone freaked.

3. Dick made ONE comment of people being mean to him in school for being raised in the circus. Danny cut the power in Gotham Academy and released laughing clowns animatronics waving chainsaws into the hallways. They were programmed to avoid "Fellow Circus folk" painting Dick as a hero when he walked his terrified classmates out .

4. During a live interview, Danny twisted the questions on the host, who was attempting to make Bruce look like a bad Father. He then painted Bruce as someone showing severe signs of depression (overly drinking, too many smiles, giving people too many gifts, vanishing from the public eye, and searching for comfort in someone's arm) and then making the host cry by psycho-analyzing him.

5. Organized a protest for affordable housing and kept kicking the gas grenades back at the cops when they were called on him. It took seven people to get him into a cop car in handcuffs, and he was hissing the entire time. When Bruce attempted to bail him out, Danny moved the funds to get the innocent people out and refused to get out of the cell until the cop who punched him cried.

6. He shaved Clark's head because he couldn't scare him with a knife. Clark was more impressed that he did it without him waking up. He left oniomous messages written in what Clark thinks is blood on his walls, saying, "Stay away from my Dad. Keep it in your pants."

7. Armed with a clipboard, Danny habitually throws people out of Bruce's galas. He doesn't even explain himself; he just pops up, points at someone, and shakes his head. A security team swarms the person and tosses them out before they can get a word in. Bruce did not hire that security team. (Danny throws out people flirting with Bruce)

8. He was accused of being Batman or working with him once. He responded with a smile and a gentle, "If I were Batman, I wouldn't have let any of them live." Everyone agreed there was no possible way he wouldn't go for the kill if he had the chance and never questioned him again about it.

9. He Got the words "Peace was never an option" tattooed on his back by a Crime Alley tattoo parlor. Bruce had to then bail him out again when Danny fought off a gang who attempted to mug him as he was leaving the alley with his new tattoo. He had proof it was self-defense and spent the entire news coverage gushing about the tattoo artist's skills instead of the mugging.

10. Every time Bruce brought a new kid after Dick to the house, they were under the impression Danny was a violent, unreasonable person. They were shocked to learn he's the most in touch with his emotions, regularly does self-improvement, keeps up with his therapy, and is so soft with them; he is the walking embodiment of Doting Big Brother. In his hero persona, he is just as gentle and fondly looked upon by the masses. It took them a moment to realize that Danny had copied Bruce's idea of keeping his hero and civilian ID separate. The only difference is that his Hero version is the Brucie, and his Civilian version Is the Batman.

[river-taxbird]

AI hasn't improved in 18 months. It's likely that this is it. There is currently no evidence the capabilities of ChatGPT will ever improve. It's time for AI companies to put up or shut up.

I'm just re-iterating this excellent post from Ed Zitron, but it's not left my head since I read it and I want to share it. I'm also taking some talking points from Ed's other posts. So basically:

We keep hearing AI is going to get better and better, but these promises seem to be coming from a mix of companies engaging in wild speculation and lying.

Chatgpt, the industry leading large language model, has not materially improved in 18 months. For something that claims to be getting exponentially better, it sure is the same shit.

Hallucinations appear to be an inherent aspect of the technology. Since it's based on statistics and ai doesn't know anything, it can never know what is true. How could I possibly trust it to get any real work done if I can't rely on it's output? If I have to fact check everything it says I might as well do the work myself.

For "real" ai that does know what is true to exist, it would require us to discover new concepts in psychology, math, and computing, which open ai is not working on, and seemingly no other ai companies are either.

Open ai has already seemingly slurped up all the data from the open web already. Chatgpt 5 would take 5x more training data than chatgpt 4 to train. Where is this data coming from, exactly?

Since improvement appears to have ground to a halt, what if this is it? What if Chatgpt 4 is as good as LLMs can ever be? What use is it?

As Jim Covello, a leading semiconductor analyst at Goldman Sachs said (on page 10, and that's big finance so you know they only care about money): if tech companies are spending a trillion dollars to build up the infrastructure to support ai, what trillion dollar problem is it meant to solve? AI companies have a unique talent for burning venture capital and it's unclear if Open AI will be able to survive more than a few years unless everyone suddenly adopts it all at once. (Hey, didn't crypto and the metaverse also require spontaneous mass adoption to make sense?)

There is no problem that current ai is a solution to. Consumer tech is basically solved, normal people don't need more tech than a laptop and a smartphone. Big tech have run out of innovations, and they are desperately looking for the next thing to sell. It happened with the metaverse and it's happening again.

In summary:

Ai hasn't materially improved since the launch of Chatgpt4, which wasn't that big of an upgrade to 3.

There is currently no technological roadmap for ai to become better than it is. (As Jim Covello said on the Goldman Sachs report, the evolution of smartphones was openly planned years ahead of time.) The current problems are inherent to the current technology and nobody has indicated there is any way to solve them in the pipeline. We have likely reached the limits of what LLMs can do, and they still can't do much.

Don't believe AI companies when they say things are going to improve from where they are now before they provide evidence. It's time for the AI shills to put up, or shut up.

[syn0vial]

#beviin is the same age or younger than luke/leia according to his wookipedia#i think it's actually fair that boba doesn't consider him a parental figure on this one yall#hes technically young enough to be BOBA'S kid

while beviin is younger than boba, i believe the exact difference in the novels is said to be ~10 years, so saying he's young enough to be boba's kid isn't quite correct

boba's friendship with beviin in the expanded universe is so funny. he's like, "yes, this is my best friend beviin. he has colossal dad energy, adopts practically every orphan he comes across, and constantly refers to me with a term of endearment that only my father ever used. he's the platonic ideal of a mandalorian in my eyes and his is the only opinion i care about. his armor's color scheme is literally the inverse of my father's. if you attempt to psychoanalyze me about any of this, i will kill you with explosives"

[recallback-art]

OK I swear I'll get back to posting art from my unposted art backlog, but I was curious.... are adoptables something anyone would be interested in possibly? I've done a good few of those chibi anthro's for things like JJK and CSM and my own ocs, and I was wondering if anyone would buy adoptables in that style....

If so, what kind of things would people like to see? Specific types of animals? General themes? Color schemes?

[dunmeshistash]

Ryoko Kui Exhibition & ''Delicious in Dungeon'' Exhibition

"Delicious in Dungeon" Artwork

Cover illustration draft, vol. 1

Since this was the first volume, I tried out a few different drawings and had the editor and designer choose which ones they wanted, then made small adjustments. I personally liked the top-down draft, and the one of the cooking processes (back cover) the best. But looking back, I sincerely think it's good that we didn't go with those. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 2

The format was decided for volume 1. So, volume 2 came together quickly. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 3

I thought it might be cool to make the character Chilchuck darker in the foreground, and the background brighter! But it didn't quite work out the way I had imagined. I think it could have been a bit better. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 4

I remember that the overall shape of volume 4 came together very quickly. The character Senshi's hands didn't fit nicely, so I moved them backwards and to the side. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 5

I thought people might start to think "how many have I bought?" so I wanted to create a slightly different impression with this volume. I decided to put the character right in the center and try putting it together all in blue and green hues. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 6

With the Red Dragon defeated, have we reached the halfway point in the story? With this in mind, I thought of how many volumes were left to go, and the number of characters, and decided to pair up the characters Namari and Shuroiro. In hindsight, it would have been fine to have them on one cover each. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 7

The image is of focus lines converging on the character Izutsumi. This is the kind of cover, with upside down characters, which I've always wanted to try once(?) I submitted it as a trial, thinking that at this point the cover wouldn't dramatically influence sales. However, in the end, we decided it would be better not to have it upside down. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 8

I tried blurring the mushrooms in the foreground, then I accidentally saved over it, and couldn't go back to the original. I remember apologizing that it was probably tacky, when I submitted it. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 9

I don't think snake meat is marbled at all, but if it has an unfamiliar look, people might not recognize it as meat… so I made it look like beef to make it easier to understand. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 10

I thought it might be interesting to have more than one of the main characters on the cover again, so I added the character Falin. I remember it wasn't badly received, but it still ended up just being Thistle on his own. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 11

I wanted this cover to be covered in shiny gold. After I finished it, it didn't have enough color, so I painted the tablecloth green, and it ended up looking like Christmas colors. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 12

Up to this point, the covers have featured one of the main characters holding cooking utensils in the foreground and a monster in the background, but I thought it might be interesting to reverse the format just before the final volume, so I drew this cover with that in mind. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 13

volume 13 was meant to be the final one, but it was too thick to be published as a single volume, so we decided to split it into two. The question of “so, what should I draw next!?" may be at the forefront of volume 13. (Kui)

Cover illustration draft, vol. 14

I had decided that the final cover definitely needed to have everyone eating together on it, but because I was publishing two books at the same time I was pressed for time, and it was difficult to have a cover with so many characters on it. I also submitted a rough for an illustration that didn't need me to draw any crowds, but such obviously easy ideas are never adopted. (Kui)

TV anime "Delicious in Dungeon"

About the ending illustration.

I drew these based on the director's instruction "This kinds of pictures." I hardly ever have the chance to draw color illustrations, so it was a valuable experience for me. (Kui)

[Kui's commentary is from the english pamphlet]

[queeniewithabeanie]

The Nappers

Dpxdc Prompt #10

Danny was really excited to spend the summer with his second cousin(?) he didn't really remember, but apparently Jack Fenton's cousin was Gotham billionaire Bruce Wayne, a serial adopter.

Jazz had discovered the connection and gave him a call to see if he'd mind Danny staying over for summer because Danny decided he was going to tell his parents at the end of summer about his ghost problem, and Jazz wanted him to have a safety net.

He didn't really have a big family at home, with his parents being largely... absent and Jazz moving to Gotham for college. It would be great to be in a house that wasn't empty again.

Now if only his newly discovered family could stay awake long enough for Danny to talk to them.

"So how's living with our cousins?" Jazz asked him through his Fenton-phone. He flopped onto his bed and groaned.

"They're all seem nice but I haven't really seen enough of them to know yet."

"Danny, you've already been there a week, shouldn't you know them at least a little bit? You usually warm up to people quickly, as long as they aren't trying to kill you."

"Man I kinda wish they were out to get me, then I'd probably see more of them than I have already."

"..."

"..."

"Okay Danny walk me through our family, and what you know so far about them."

"Well first there's Dick, he apparently lives in Bludhaven and supposedly comes back to Gotham to visit fairly often, haven't seen any of him yet though."

"Then there's Jason, I've seen him come over after dinner a couple of times, but he's seemed in a really bad mood and I'm getting weird vibes from him so I haven't talked to him much yet either."

"Cass, Steph, Tim, Damian, and Bruce are the ones that actually live here at the manor and outside of when I first arrived I haven't actually seen them awake enough to talk to me. Anytime I've caught a glimpse of them they're taking naps and I'd feel bad waking them up, Tim especially (he looks like he needs the rest)."

"What are they, nocturnal or something?

"That's what I thought too! But the Manor is even more dead during the night than the day. If I had wanted to live with a bunch of zombies I'd have spent summer in the zone, not come all the way here."

"The only people that have stayed awake long enough for me to actually get to know them are Duke and Alfred! Duke's great, but he seems to have a day job so I only see him for breakfast and dinner and any time I can catch him before he sleeps after. Alfred's amazing, but he already has so much to do around the Manor, I feel bad bothering him."

"It is only the first week you're there, and there was a huge Arkham breakout your first day so everybody around Gotham is a bit tense while the Bats are trying to recatch everyone. Could you give it another week for me? See if it'll be an option for if our parents react badly?"

"For you, Jazz, I'll give it another week, but I can't just trade one empty house for another."

"Thanks, little brother."

"Love you, Jazz, bye."

Danny hung up the phone and sighed, he new there was something off with his cousins, but he couldn't quite place it. Constantly napping, disappearing during the nights, but always on guard when they were awake.

He had a week to figure it out, but if he didn't there'd be no real lost love. He'd come up with some excuse, stay with Jazz for the summer or something. If his parents reacted badly and he didn't have this safety net, it'd be difficult sure, but Danny and Jazz would figure it out.

Danny thought it would be nice to have some other family that had his back for once, but hey, maybe he just had shitty luck when it came to blood relations.

[sparrows4bats]

If Jon falls first, he would be so awkward at first. But the moment Damian reciprocates or shows any sign of feeling the same? All restraint is gone. Jon Kent is a simp and not afraid to let anyone know. He is gonna prove to Damian Wayne that not only is he an amazing boyfriend but he will be an even better husband.

He is giddy. Everything Damian does makes him blush and stutter. It's not just because Damian is cool and smart and handsome. He is all of those things, a degree of gorgeous and competent that leaves Jon in awe.

But he realises he likes Damian when they are arguing, and no matter how angry Jon gets, Damian never flinches at his red eyes. He never wonders for a moment if Jon will hurt him. Because Damian Trusts Him.

Jon thinks it may be a crush when Damian protects him after he is sent flying into a building during a mission, and Jon knows that even if he is Superman, Damian will always see him as Jonathan Kent.

Jon realises he is in love with Damian because of how kind he is, watching him with Lizzie and his pets. Even though Jon knows how hard it can be for him sometimes. It makes his chest ache with sweetness.

He decides to do something about it after he notices he's not the only one who has noticed how amazing Damian is. Kids at school, people at galas, and even other heroes look at his Robin like he's something they can have. It's unacceptable.

So he asks his Dad for help, and Clark explains some of how he convinced Lois Lane to marry him. (Clark Kent still considers it the best and hardest thing he has ever done. It doesn't stop him from laughing at his son for 10 solid minutes when he tells him. Bruce is going to be soooo pissed when Jon succeeds. It'll be hilarious)

Jon starts small. He invites Damian on missions and listens for any animal related emergencies Robin can come to. His Dad helps by distracting Batman while Jon sneaks into the Manor. (Clark trusts his son to call if he needs help, not that he would ever willingly put Damian in any real danger) Damian is confused by his change in behaviour but is happy to come along.

After long missions, Jon invites him to stay the night with him at his apartment or the farm. He delights in Damian wearing his clothes and being all sleepy and vulnerable. They share his bed, and Jon wakes up to Damian asleep on his chest. (Jon wants to wake up like this forever.)

So Jon starts to touch Damian more outside of half conscious cuddling. He hangs around his personal space like a cloud. Jon had thought Damian would hate it, but he accepted the closeness with ease. In fact, he melts. He doesn't hug back as tightly but leans on Jon in a way that makes Jon feel stronger than his powers ever have.

Next, he starts to do little things for him, like drop off coffee, and when Damian starts working to become a doctor, Jon makes sure he eats and sleeps between studying. Jon doesn't take in much information during Damians' study sessions, too focused on how Damians nose scrunches when he's concentrating, and how he blushes whenever Jon praises him.

Jon starts giving Damian little gifts; trinkets from wherever he travels, and pretty daggers he finds thanks to Diana. Damian receives each one with a smile and soon starts giving Jon gifts, too. Pieces of art he drew or food he finds in Gotham that he thinks Jon might enjoy. (Each drawing and painting is carefully framed in heat vision proof glass.)

Surprisingly, It's Damian who kisses him first. After Jon gives him a kitten that Clark saved from a tree. (Bruce said Damian couldn't adopt any more pets he said nothing about accepting them as gifts). The kiss is soft but full of passion, and Jon can't help but deepen it.

"I love you." Jon tells him when they pull back to breathe.

"Good, because if we do this, I couldn't bear it if you left me."

"Never, I'd fight the world to stay with you."

"And I'd defeat death to keep you at my side, Habibi." Jon kisses him again because he finally can. (Damian is even more handsome when he is under him, and Jon sends a silent thank you to whatever God is listening for letting him see it.)

(Clark was right, Bruce was pissed when he found Jon naked in Damians bed the next morning.)

Damian names the cat Clark after his future father in law. (Bruce will get his revenge, he swears, on BOTH Supers.)

[lotus-lost-n-found]

Some Batfam Headcanons because the brain never stops;

Jason hates being called "Bruce's Son". But he hates it more when hes called "One of Wayne's Orphans/Wayne's child" because fuck you I'm his son-! wait no--

With the exception of Damian, they rarely refer to Bruce as "Dad/Father". Either it didn't occur to them/didn't see the need to/thought it would be strange. But when Dick/Jason/Tim/Cass are tired or injured it might slip out. And Bruce might just crumble a bit at it

Doesn't mean they don't say it to their siblings when Bruce is out of Earshot.

"Dad said you couldn't." "What do you mean Dad said I couldn't use that mug? It's my mug!" "You snooze you lose Timmy Boy-" "Jason don't be an asshole-"

That being said Bruce says "son/daughter/child" at every available opportunity he can after he knows that they have acclimated enough that they wouldn't be uncomfortable/know they can tell Bruce that they don't want to be called that.

First time Bruce called Dick "son" in a way that meant "You are my kid" and not in a "This police officer just called me son with a brow furrow" way Dick grinned and carried on with the conversation. Later he wondered if his dad wouldn't like someone else calling him Son; but Dick thinks about the life he was given because of Bruce and thinks maybe his dad wouldn't mind.

Calling Jason "son" is a hit or miss situation, even before he died. The first time it happened he was confused, he didnt think that was the relationship they had and it made everything change for him. He got frustrated--not angry--with himself and Bruce at this sudden emotional turmoil. Wasn't he just the kid Bruce picked up in an alleyway? Wasn't he just some street rat in bright Robin clothing? (He lets himself believe that he can be Bruce's son. If for only a little while).

Tim cries after Bruce is out of earshot, it would've been a year or so after his parents died and he was adopted. He didn't think he could have been wanted like that again. Even if you think the Drake's had A+ Parenting or not, I don't think he would have gotten a lot of confirmation of being wanted otherwise.

Cass smiles, emotions carefully concealed under her expression. She's grateful she found Bruce and he doesn't mention it if she leans a bit closer in a request for closeness.

Damian doesn't expect anything less, he only appears satisfied. But also relieved that he has gotten the confirmation that yes, Bruce wants and accepts him.

EDIT 10/11; hiii, i have added Duke, Steph & a Bonus in a reblog you can find on the same blog under my 'batfamily headcanons' / 'sore rambles' tag. have fun :)

[randompiecesofwriting]

Don't Be a Stranger (pt 2)

Summary: You end up in the hospital after your neighbor’s kid has a minor accident, guess who you run into while there!

Pairing: Jack Abbot x Reader

Word Count: 3.3k

Warnings: Dead brother, medical inaccuracies, no gore or anything specific

Author’s note: Here’s part 2! I had fun with some new characters here so I hope y’all like them! As always I cherish every bit of feedback y’all send so please please please flood me with more (it’s your fault anyways for spoiling me up to this point lmao)

Part 1

The emergency department of the PTMH was not exactly where you envisioned spending your Saturday, but you supposed you didn’t have much else going on.

A large crash from next door had you sprinting out of the house without much thought and finding your neighbors teenage son Jamie splayed awkwardly on top of a few of the bushes that lined the side of their house had you ushering him into your car without any consideration as to what you were wearing.

That was how you found yourself shivering slightly in the waiting room of the PTMH in an oversized t-shirt and shorts that usually never saw the light of day. Jamie had knocked out after the first hour, leaned back dare you say comfortably in one of the waiting room chairs with his ankle elevated on your knee to keep it from hurting, you were truly impressed with the kid’s ability to fall asleep anywhere.

You hadn’t even thought to bring anything to pass the time while you waited, had only grabbed your phone, wallet, and keys before you left with Jamie, who spent the whole drive complaining that he was fine from your passenger seat. Now that you were on hour three and your phone was nearly dead though, you were really starting to regret it.

With 10% to spare Jamie’s name was finally called and you were ushered back and onto a bed with a curtain pulled around to offer some privacy, thus starting the second period of waiting.

Again, just as you were about to reach your breaking point, Jamie perking right up after his afternoon nap and containing far too much energy for his fourth hour within the hospital, the curtain was suddenly pulled back and a familiar looking face was emerging.

“Robby?” The name startled the man who had been looking down at the tablet in his hand, his gait stuttering as his head whipped up to connect his gaze with yours.

“Y/N?”

You couldn’t help but chuckle at the surprised look on his face, admitting to yourself that when you had met him wearing scrubs the other day you’d hardly thought you would see him here either “I swear I’m not stalking you”

He laughed appreciatively at that as he sat down in a backless roller chair “I hope not it’d be incredibly boring” he joked before giving his hands a small clap and rubbing them back and forth “now what brings you and uh-“ he frowned slightly as he turned back towards Jamie who was sitting back with a mischievous smirk, eyes dancing eagerly back and forth between you and the doctor, you could practically see him forcing together puzzle pieces that didn’t fit in his mind.

“Jamie” you supplied the name for Robbie as he trailed off, sending a glare at the kid himself in warning, silently begging him to behave.

“Jamie right” Robby nodded as you watched him wrack his brain for Jamie’s name, clearly looking for the connection between the two of you “Sorry I just didn’t know you had a son”

Your eyes went wide at his statement, panicked gaze turning to Jamie to see the exact expression you had feared on his face, nothing short of pure malevolence and barely contained glee.

“Please no” you groaned under your breath, Robby turning a confused look to you just in time for Jamie to start spouting off.

“You’re adopting me!” He pitched his voice loud enough to draw the attention of everyone in the area, a wide grin on his face as you buried yours in your hands to hide your flaming cheeks.

“You have no idea how much this means to me” the kid was pulling out all the stops, dabbing his eyes to keep the fake tears at bay, Robby taking in the whole display with bewilderment and poorly contained amusement.

“come on mom, bring it in” he brought it home by holding his arms out wide to you, and though you complied by stepping into them you made sure to supply a loud fake gag as you squeezed him too tightly.

“Please never call me that again”

Separating yourself from Jamie you stood by his side by the bed, sending Robby what you hoped was an apologetic smile, though based on the smirk on his face he didn’t think one was necessary.

“Jamie is my neighbor” you supplied finally, giving the kid a soft elbow in the side that made him laugh gleefully “his mom’s at work so I came running when I heard a sudden crash from next door”

“And the cause of this crash?”

Robby directed the question at Jamie with a raised brow, and though you had hoped the kid would be at least a little sheepish beneath the doctor’s gaze he instead answered with a gleeful smile. “fell off the roof”

Your head was in your hands with an exasperated groan as soon as the words left his mouth.

Robby was doing his best the swallow back his chuckle as he nodded in understanding.

“and why were you the roof in the first place Jamie?” You asked sweetly, pointedly ignoring the glare he sent your way.

“I don’t think we need to bother the doctor with-“

“I do” you cut him off with a grin and a raised brow, a silent threat sent that had him folding immediately.

“I was smoking pot”

“Ahh” Robby hummed in understanding, standing back up to begin typing notes on the terminal, the pieces all finally falling into place.

“but since my mom is right here we obviously don’t need to notify anyone else as to why I was on the roof tonight right” Jamie tried desperately, putting on his best charming smile that made you snort.

“Nice try kid I called her as soon as we entered the waiting room”

He narrowed his eyes back at you in response “I changed my mind I don’t want to be adopted by you anymore”

“Feeling’s mutual” you responded stoically, turning your attention back to Robby “left ankle is tender and swollen, but mostly I wanted to get his head checked out. He claims he feels fine but-“

“but never hurts to check” Robby supplied easily “you did the right thing we’ll schedule a CT to check and in the meantime I’ll take a look at your ankle, go ahead and scootch back”

Jamie complied with the request without a word, you jumping in to help him carefully raise his leg while Robby snapped on some gloves.

Carefully taking the joint in hand he examined it delicately, poking lightly at the swollen area before addressing you softly. “Jack know you’re here yet?”

“why would Jack know I’m here” you asked, Robby’s gaze snapping up to meet yours with a furrowed brow.

“You two haven’t talked yet?”

You shook your head, still failing to see why you would need to notify Jack that your neighbor was in the hospital. “Not since I gave him my number a few days ago” You watched Robby’s frown deepen, suddenly feeling the need to defend Jack “I told him it was no pressure, so I get it”

“No I know I just thought-“ he trailed off suddenly, light frown still present on his face as he searched your expression for something.

Jamie took the silence as the perfect opportunity to jump in with a shit eating grin “who’s Jack?”

You glared back at your neighbor, ignoring the cough Robby used to try and disguise his laugh as Jamie grinned back at you. “keep talking and I’ll make sure you leave this hospital in crutches one way or another”

“Doc” Jamie protested to Robby through his laugh “you going to let her abuse me like that, didn’t you take an oath or something”

Robby shook his head in response as he took off his gloves, making his way back to the tablet “since she’s your mom not much I can do”

You barely had time to properly revel in your victory when the curtain somewhat surrounding the three of you was pulled back again revealing the man of the hour himself looking slightly frazzled behind it.

“Jack?” his name was spilling out of you before you could think better of it. You could practically feel Jamie’s grin get wider at the news.

“Front desk said you were here what’s going on, are you okay” he asked quickly, eyes already scanning you head to toe for injuries, clearly not realizing you weren’t the one on the bed in a gown.

“no I’m good” you assured him, gesturing with a tilt of your head to Jamie as you said it “not here for me”

Not quite satisfied his gaze stayed on you for a second longer, silence lingering for just a tad too long before he turned his gaze to Jamie, a kid who was on a roll with filling these awkward silences “so you’re the famous Jack I’ve heard so much about”

Robby hadn’t even tried to contain the snort that came out of him at that statement, Jack’s gaze whipping around to glare at his friend while you turned on Jamie with a threat “I will disown you”

He grinned back, clearly reveling in the embarrassment he could see rising within you as he fought back “I just think if he’s going to be my new dad-“

“Finish that sentence I dare you” you threatened with raised brows, Jamie happily shutting his mouth as he recognized that he got the important bit across.

Turning almost reluctantly back to the two doctors you made eye contact with Jack first, his brow furrowed as he cast his gaze back and forth between you and Jamie just as Robby had done initially, his friend watching his confusion with as badly contained mirth as Jamie had.

“I’ve actually never met this person before” you tried weakly, “Actually I think I’m in the wrong place entirely” you ignored the loud cough Robby used to cover up his laugh, Jack’s gaze pinning you to the spot with a curious expression, the silence lingering just long enough for Jamie to decide he needed to fill it again.

“You know, this one” he threw an arm over your shoulder and jostled you dramatically “will not stop talking about you. It’s always Jack this and Jack that-“

“Okay and that’s enough out of you” you pushed his arm off of you as laughter spilled out of Jamie despite his best efforts to tamp it down as you sent Jack a desperate look and nodded back out into the hallway “can we”

The smirk on his face was much too smug for your liking but he complied nonetheless, following you out of Jamie’s curtained off area leaving the teen alone with Robby who you were fairly certain was giving him a fist bump as the two of you exited. You were almost out of earshot before you heard him yell out after you “Wait Jack we need to talk, what are your intentions with my mother”

“I’m going to kill him” you groaned in exasperation.

“As a mandated reporter I have a pretty good idea on how I can help you get away with it”

You snorted at the quick response, shaking your head softly as you looked up at him, properly getting a good look at the man for the first time, not realizing the two of you had been silent until it felt like it was too late, the two of you trying to break it at the same time.

“I didn’t know-“

“Jamie’s my neighbor’s kid”

The two of you stopped as soon as you recognized you were talking over the other, you chuckling softly while Jack smiled down at you.

“sorry-just-before you make the same assumption Robby did, I’m just the neighbor, was there at the right time”

“he’s lucky to have you” he spoke soft enough you almost felt the need to lean in further, encroach further on his space, you held back for now.

“He won’t think so when his mom shows up and learns he was smoking pot on the roof”

He chuckled softly at that “you two seem close”

You nodded at the implied question, a smile growing naturally on your face at the thought of it “after my brother died they kind of took me in, his mom’s the only real reason I stayed fed for months straight”

His smile dimmed slightly at that but he nodded, gaze cutting back briefly to Jamie’s room before returning to you “It’s good to have someone to lean on”

“Yeah it really is”

Another short silence stretched, you couldn’t help but notice that with Jack they hardly ever felt awkward, before he broke it “Listen I meant to call you-“

“You don’t owe me an explanation” you cut him off with a wave, Jack frowning back at you in response.

“Really I was going to call. I am going to call”

“I told you it’s fine”

“You know most people let it go after one insistence” the smug smirk was back as he threw your words back at you, you hated how well it suited him.

“Well I’m not most people”

There was a pregnant pause, Jack searching your gaze for a moment, you offering a soft huff and a smile as a silent invitation to properly end the cycle “I don’t know how he could ever stand you”

You chuckled softly at that, shaking your head, giving it a moment before responding “you know that’s a really fucked up thing to say to someone who’s brother died”

You didn’t even try to keep the smirk off your face as you said it, Jack huffing back in response as he shook his head, the corners of his mouth ticking up in response as well.

Another silence, a small comfort.

“I usually work nights” he offered up the information softly “or whenever they need me. It’s a little hard to find time to talk during the day for me”

“It’s fine whenever you find the time works” you assured him just as softly “plus I have a shit sleep schedule so don’t be afraid of calling too late”

“4am work?” You snorted in response, the speed at which he did this to you always catching you slightly off guard.

“May have to shift a few things on my calendar but I think I can pencil you in”

Jack smiled back at that, a small silence falling over the two of you before a newcomer whirled in and broke the bubble that had formed around the two of you.

“Y/N sweetheart” Jack hadn’t even realized how close he’d gotten to you until he was jumping back at the sound of the stranger’s voice, clearing just enough room for the woman to swoop in and throw her arms around your neck. “I got off as soon as I could”

“Marnie it’s okay Jamie’s fine” you were assuring her quickly with a tight hug, giving the woman a small rock before the two of you separated “he’s been a pain in my ass for the past four hours believe me the kid will live”

“Oh that sounds like him” Jamie’s mom nodded, giving your arm a final squeeze “Where is he?”

Jack, for some reason, decided it was time for him to jump in, pointing back down the hall towards Jamie’s bed “He’s just down the hall bed 20”

This seemed to be the first time the woman acknowledged his presence, her eyes widening slightly as she turned to Jack “Oh I’m so sorry you are?”

“Dr. Abbot” he introduced himself with a polite smile, extending his hand to Marnie who immediately pushed it aside.

“Oh you saved him” she exclaimed, Jack immediately recognizing where Jamie got his theatrical spirit from, before she wrapped her arms around his middle in a bone crushing hug catching him completely off guard.

He heard a muffled cackle from over the woman’s head and looked to find you hiding your laugh behind your hand. Sending you a glare as he awkwardly patted the woman’s back, Jack carefully extracted himself from the tight hug. “no actually that would be by colleague Dr. Robinavitch, he’s with your son now” he gestured down the hall towards Jamie’s bed again “he’s a huge hugger though” he added with a wink in your direction as he watched you attempt to swallow back another laugh from behind Marnie.

“Oh well thank you still” Marnie brushed off the mistake easily, giving his arm a soft squeeze before turning back to you and hooking her arm into yours, giving you little choice but to follow back to Jamie’s bedside.

He did his best to bite back the grin on his face as he heard the flurry of questions you were fielding from Marnie on the way back about the “tall, handsome doctor” but given the wolfish grin on Dana’s face when he returned to the nurses’ desk he didn’t do a great job of it.

“Worth coming in early for right?” She asked with a teasing tone, enjoying way too much the small smile on Jack’s face even as he shook his head disapprovingly.

“You’re trouble”

She cackled in response. Just as he was looking up at the board trying to choose the case that would get him away from her for the longest time possible Robby came swooping in, a slightly haggard look on his face that had Jack chuckling “I see you met Marnie”

“Do something nice for the man and he sic’s his future mother-in-law on you” Robby grumbled under his breath, Jack doing his absolute best not to choke on air at the title.

“I didn’t ask for either of you to do something nice to me” he protested as he crossed his arms over his chest “I don’t need your help”

“Clearly you need it considering you never called her” Robby sent a glare in Jack’s direction, Dana immediately jumping in with a disappointed admonishment.

“Jack”

He pointedly ignored them both, deciding instead that the next patient he laid his eyes on would work just as well.

“Dana, Jack does still keep that napkin with her number on it in the pocket of his scrubs correct” Robby asked facetiously.

“It’s either that or he’s just happy to see us”

“It’d be a little more obvious if I was just happy to see you” Jack cut in stoically, not taking his eye off the board as he spoke.

“Not sure it was us he’s happy to see” Robby ignored him with a smug grin.

“This why you called me in early, so you two could practice your comedy routine?”

“Come on what’s the issue” Dana tried to steer the conversation back on track “she’s cute, she’s single, and she’s clearly into you”

“She didn’t give me her number for that” he brushed Dana off entirely, the bitterness in his tone rose to a noticeable level for the first time that conversation making Dana and Robby share a glance “she gave me her number to talk about her dead brother, who was my best friend”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean-“ Robby tried but a yell from across the Pitt cut him off.

“Bye Jack!” Jack whirled around suddenly at the call of his name, chuckling slightly as he saw Jamie waving at him eagerly, clearly for the sole effect of embarrassing you further. Something that was obviously working as you elbowed the kid sharply to make him stop, mouthing out a silent sorry to him from across the room.

“He needs our help” Robby muttered behind him to Dana who snorted in response with a nod

“he needs our help bad”