#AND i got 2 joints for 5 BUCKS!!!!

[nekomimineurosurgery]

today's sign that the universe is working for n around me : a really cool remix of be my lover started playing as soon as i walked into the dispensary

[shmothman]

vash + silly/awkward sex? let him be cringe and also fail.

okay anon NOW you’re speaking my language!!! He IS cringefail. And I want him so bad. So. Without further ado, I present to you:

An Incomplete List Of Stupid Shit Vash The Stampede Has Absolutely Done In Bed.

(Nsfw below the cut)

1. Sneezed directly in your face. very loudly. and headbutted you at the same time. he could not have been more apologetic, but, to be fair, as soon as your head stopped hurting, you thought it was hilarious.

2. Made you laugh while you were going down on him. Cum came out your nose. 0/10 experience.

3. Was too drunk and fell asleep halfway through. Went completely boneless, and he’s heavy, so you couldn’t get him off of you. Or out of you.

4. Got your pubes stuck in the joints of his metal hand. That one hurt like a bitch. (Again, he’s so sorry. He’ll make it up to you. He promises.)

5. Couldn’t stop laughing because when his hips slapped against yours it made a fart sound. At least this time you’re laughing just as hard.

6. At first, he was so excited that he couldn’t last 5 minutes with you. He was really embarrassed… but if you’re being honest, you thought it was really hot.

7. Full-on ugly cries like, half the time he has sex with you. He just loves you so much!! He tries to hide the snot, but there’s only so much he can do. (It’s endearing, really.)

8. If he’s in a good mood, he’s hamming it up. This man loves roleplay, and he gets really into it! But he’s really bad at it. Does his fake deep voice the entire time (think “YES I AM THAT MAN.”) Gets pouty if you break character to laugh at his bad acting, but he can’t stop breaking character to tell you how much he loves you.

9. Tripped while trying to get his pants off and hit his head HARD on the nightstand. And then tried to keep going despite the fact that he was bleeding from a fucking head wound.

10. Yes, he’s tried to touch you with sticky donut hands. When you told him to go wash it off he only licked his fingers clean and wiggled his eyebrows at you.

11. Made so much noise that the innkeeper literally knocked on your door and yelled at you to keep it down. (An unfortunate Wolfwood has done the same many times.)

12. One time you were going down on him, and when he came, his hips bucked really hard directly into your chin, making you bite your tongue. It hurt like hell.

13. Forgot the safe word and panic-yelled “UNCLE!!?!?”

14. You have caught him jacking off with all manner of your undergarments. Usually panties. One time it was a sock.

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

i'm outta my head over you Pt. 6

prologue (Pt. 1) | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4 | Pt. 5 | AO3 | playlist

ok, i really love this one; i hope you guys do too!

today's @steddie-week prompts are: together and Hold the Line - TOTO

C’mon, Munson, get your shit together. You’re the music guy here!’ He tells himself. Okay yeah, that’s true, but that doesn’t mean he’s great about expressing feelings. ‘ That’s what the music’s for, dumbass. ’

Eddie spends the rest of the night and into the next morning pouring over what other songs he could add to the B side of Steve’s tape (and what songs he’s gonna use for the Party Tape…he’s gotta have a blank tape around here somewhere…).

He has a couple contenders, he just doesn’t quite know how they fit yet. Steve had a reason or an explanation for each song on his side, so Eddie wants to do the same. Only problem is that the songs that already do remind him of Steve, are ones Steve’s already put onto the A side.

Fuck, has he been telling him his feelings all this time? The first half of Steve’s side of the tape were his go-to songs whenever they’ve hung out together, while Eddie was recovering at his house.

He goes to sleep that morning with a handful of possibilities, but nothing concrete, then is awoken just before lunch by his phone ringing. 

“Shit,” Eddie hops up groggy and disoriented with sleep, but scrabbles down the hall to the phone so Wayne doesn’t wake up.

“Munson residence, the fuck d’ya want?”

“Eddie! Ste– Ok, rude.”

“Rob? What’s up, Birdie?” Eddie scrubs his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Steve’s coming back a day early!” Eddie’s hand freezes. “Do you have the tape done??”

“N-no, no I only have three fuckin songs on it! Damn it, I thought you said he was coming back tomorrow!”

“Hence the call telling you he’s coming back early. He’s landing in Indy at noon, will be here by 3, and somehow Dustin’s already found out so now I’m roping you into ferrying Steve’s children to the arcade with us after he’s back.”

“Hey, they’re my children too!” Wait, what? “Wait, I didn’t say that. Why’d I say that? I don’t even want kids.”

“Nope, too bad. You already said it. You and Steve have joint custody of the shitheads.”

“We’re divorced now?”

“You were married in the first place?” Robin snarks back then mumbles, “Didn’t I just have this conversation?”

“What?”

“Nothing. You coming with or what?”

“No, Buck, I gotta finish his tape now!”

“Too bad, you’re coming. And I’m going to tell Henderson you are so he won’t let you back out.”

“Robin don’t you dare-”

What is with her and hanging up on him??

He’d just gotten back to his bedroom door when the phone rings again. Just barely stopping himself from screaming, he goes back to the handset.

“Hello..?”

“Dude. Would it kill you to sound excited?.”

“Henderson, your sarcasm is not appreciated this early in the morning. And why would I be excited about being volun told to pickup you hellions for the arcade?”

“‘Cause you like spending time with your friends, maybe? Now, do you and Max wanna come pick up me and Lucas? Steve will pick up Will and El at theirs, and pick up Robin and Mike on his way.”

“Sounds like you’ve already got everything planned out, Dusty.”

“Your exasperation is not appreciated this late in the morning.”

“...I don’t have to come, you know.”

“But you know you wanna.”

“Do I?”

“Yes. See you at 2:30.”

Just once , Eddie’d like to be the one hanging up on someone else.

Whatever. Looks like he’s got plans this afternoon.

Eddie looks at the clock on the wall above the fridge. Four hours. Now, does he nap, or does he eat and start getting ready?

They’ll probably grab pizza while they’re at the arcade…nap it is.

Eddie wanders back to his room and is out as soon as his head hits his pillow.

—

Miraculously, he wakes up exactly two and half hours later; just enough time for a shower and to get ready before picking up his half the goblins.

He showers, scrunches a majority of the water out of his curls (Steve’d shown him that little trick, would start on about “Eddie, we went over this! You gotta take care of your curls!" and, "They’re so gorgeous and you’re soooo handsome and hot and I totally wanna pull that hair when I fuc—” OKAY maybe that last part was just wishful thinking, but Steve’d definitely have a conniption if he shows up today with flat hair), and gets dressed.

From the extra spluttering their feeble A/C is doing, and the not-at-all refreshing breeze that crawls through his window when opened, Eddie can confirm that it’s definitely too fuckin’ hot out.

He pulls on his most ripped, well loved pair of black jeans, the holes in the knees long since flayed mid-thigh to mid-shin, a sleeveless cropped Metallica shirt, and his vest.

Grabbing up his rings and chain, he leaves a note for Wayne as to where he’s gone, slides his feet into his reeboks, and heads out the door, keys in hand.

He’s just got the back end of his chain hooked around his hip when he makes it to Max’s door.

“Y’ready Red?”

“Just a minute! It’s unlocked!” she calls back through the door (and slightly cracked window over her sink)

“Need any help?” he asks, closing the front door behind him.

“Nope, just gotta get my other shoe on and I’ll be good. Did you bring the van over?”

“I…did not. That’d probably be a good idea, huh?”

Whoops. He spins back around and jogs back across the street to hop in his van. By time he’s parked outside the Mayfield trailer, Max is hopping her wheels over the threshold onto the tiny step outside the door.

“Whatcha want me to do?” He’d learned real quick not to just start doing things for her, no matter how much he assumes they’d help. Max did not like anyone thinking they have to help her with every little thing, so now they all make sure to ask what it is she’d like them to help with before doing it.

“I just need to lock the door and you can help me into the van. You’ll probably have to come back for the chair though.”

“Of course, your highness.” he gives her a low bow while she locks her front door. “Your hand please, m’lady.” 

She rolls her eyes, but takes his hand. 

Max is able to walk across flat areas pretty well and for an OK amount of distance before getting too tired, but the breaks to her leg really did a number on her. 

She’s got steel pins all through her leg, and has just gotten out of her cast so she wants (and needs) to walk more often to get her strength back up, but has her chair to get around much easier.

So until she gets stronger, she needs help going up and down stairs, and will need help getting up into Eddie’s van, but should be okay for a while once at the arcade.

Once she’s settled, Eddie goes back for her chair, loads it into the back of his van, and they’re off to Henderson’s.

He and Lucas are already waiting out front when he pulls up.

“About time.”

“Dustin. It’s literally 2:31. Calm the fuck down.”

“You guys better get all your swearing out before you see Steve again, you know he’ll go all mom on you.” Lucas laughs. “Here, I’ll start. Hey Max, how the fuck are ya?”

They’re all in so Eddie starts off towards the arcade.

“Hey, show some fuckin’ respect for your mother, Sinclair.”

“Shit Eddie, didn’t know you were our goddamn father.”

“Of course he didn’t fuckin know, Steve hasn’t gotten his shit together enough to propose.”

“Damn, alright, calm down”

“Don’t fuckin’ tell me to calm down! I swear, I’ll put my foot straight up your ass.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuckfuckfuck.”

All four bust out laughing at that, not quite able to catch their breath before one of them is saying some random curse. 

They’re all red in the face from laughing so hard by time they pull into the parking lot between Steve’s beemer and Nancy’s station wagon.

Dustin runs in immediately after the van stops, and Eddie slyly leaves his keys with Lucas so he can lock up after helping Max, heading inside himself

Now, up until the exact moment he saw Steve (2 whole seconds ago), Eddie thought he was taking the whole “Steve Harrington has big sappy feelings for you” thing really well. Perfectly, in fact! 

No freak out, no huge feelings of doubt, just full focus on ‘responding’ to him.

But now, seeing him again after finding this out…It’s a wonder he doesn’t collapse. 

This beautiful, perfect, amazing man standing in front of a whole herd of teens (two of whom are at eye level or taller than he is now) with a scolding glare, hands on his hips, and flanked by the two most badass ladies he knows…wants him.

Eddie Munson.

It still doesn’t seem real.

Eddie immediately wants to be simultaneously on the other side of the planet, and wedged so close to him that they’re basically the same person.

“Pizza in an hour and a half!” Steve yells after the herd as they disperse. Even Robin and Nancy head off toward the skee-ball machines.

“You okay big boy? You look like that trip took a lot outta you.” 

‘Wow, nice one. You just got here and you’re asking him why he looks gross? Great job, Doofus.’ Why does his inner voice sound like Robin?

He looks over, and Eddie sees his face light up. “Eddie!” he breathes, pulling him into a tight hug.

Steve lets him go, and reaches up to rake through his travel-mussed hair. “And yeah, it was fine, always nice to see my grandparents.”

“Yeah, Robin mentioned you needing to go over their will or something? Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, they’re—“ he cuts himself off with a half-hearted chuckle, “They wanted to meet with my parents and I to let them know that their estate is being split 50/50 between us when they pass. Like, half to me and half to both of them.”

“Damn. It’s nice to know I’m marrying into money.” Eddie jokes, leaning into Steve’s side to whisper: “Max spilled your secret on the way here; I promise to act surprised when you finally get the guts to propose.” he whispers with a wink.

Steve’s face turns bright red, but he smiles all goofy. Fuck, he’s cute.

“Aw shit, I really wanted it to be a surprise.” He says, his voice getting gravelly with how low he’s speaking. 

It most definitely does not make Eddie flush red himself, nor do his jeans start feeling tighter, thank you.

Steve gently pushes Eddie back, his hand lingering on the back of his arm a moment too long before his fingers trail down and off his elbow. He starts again, back at a normal volume. “But yeah, Richard and Denise were not happy; I was surprised, though. I’m really appreciative that my grandparents would do that for me.”

“Okay, so it was good news! Why the…” Eddie gestures to all of him. “…glum.”

“It was just the plane ride man, I flew from Cali to Indy with a screaming baby next to me. It was hell let me tell you.”

“I bet.” Eddie winces.

“Plus, Robin stole my favorite tape while I was gone so I couldn't even listen to it on the way here. And that’s been like, the soundtrack to my life lately. Felt weird coming home and then not having it in my car already.” he shakes his head “I dunno, it's dumb, but they are my favorite songs.”

“I know what you mean,” Eddie nods, his heart in his throat. “Can't you just like, go get it back from her house?”

“She’s ‘gotta find it’.” He sighs, throwing up air quotes around Robin’s flimsy excuse. “Which for her, is code for ‘I lost it.’. It's no big deal though, it’s just music.”

“Nah man, music is important, you can communicate a lot with it.”

Steve just shrugs again, a good ol’ ‘What can ya do?’ , so Eddie pats Steve’s shoulder sympathetically and walks over to the far wall of machines. He leans up against the one that Max is bashing away at and looks around the side, like he’s watching what she’s doing.

“What’re you doing over here? You’re not gonna beat my score, Munson.” she snarks from her perch on one of the arcade’s few padded stools.

“Huh?” He looks at the cabinet. Dig Dug. “Oh. Wouldn’t dream of it, Mad Max, just came over to try and look cool, scope out the scene,” ‘Scope out the scene’?? WHO ARE YOU?? “Don’t mind me.”

She just rolls her eyes, “For some reason, Steve already thinks you’re like the coolest guy in the world. You don’t need to fake it.”

Eddie blinks down at her. “OK, seriously, how do you know so much?”

“I dunno; something about losing one of my senses? Or maybe my brush with death left me wise beyond my years…” she sighs wistfully.

He snorts, “Oh yeah? Then I should be way smarter.”

“Yeah, you should be.” She fights to keep a straight face after that one. Damn that was slick.

“Good one, Red.” he pats her once on the shoulder, then goes back to watching her play. It’s actually pretty impressive being that she’s got brand new coke-bottle glasses she should be wearing.

“I’m not gonna wear ‘em. I look like a doofus when I do.”

“Aw, I thought you just said I was cool!” he pouts.

Her mouth twitches up at that. “No, I said Steve thinks you’re cool. I think you’re a Doofus.”

“Exactly! And if the big man himself thinks I’m cool, then you’d definitely be cool.” He leans in and looks around conspiratorially, “and I have it on good authority that the rest of these goblins think whatever he thinks is cool, is cool too.”

She smiles, and her game bleeps to an end. “Yeah, they all do think he’s like, the greatest ever.”

“And you don’t?”

Her face blushes a soft pink. “Shut up, Munson. How do you know so much?”

He stands up straight and grabs hold of his vest lapels like some stuffy professor. “I’m smart ‘cause I died,” he says in a haughty tone “...or something.”

A couple of unhinged barks of laughter burst out of her. “I’m gonna go with ‘or something’.”

Eddie spends the next hour trying to mess up the other shitheads’ games. 

Smack a wrong button here, a poke under Dustin’s armpit there, general fuckery. 

And every time he and Steve pass one another, there’s some sort of touch. 

He didn’t notice it the first time, thinking Steve really did need to hold onto him while passing behind him. A classic midwestern “Ope, lemme just sneak by ya” just to get close to him.

When he looked back, there was no one at the cabinet behind him.

So Eddie gave it back tenfold the next time he encountered the party’s beloved babysitter.

Walked behind him on his way to where Mike and Lucas were now trying their hand at DigDug, and gently squeezed his hip.

Steve jumped about five feet, but it was worth it when Steve came up to his side later and wrapped his arm around Eddie’s lower back, settling his large palm briefly on the exposed skin of his hip and stomach where it peeked out from under the cropped shirt.

Eddie immediately felt the need to pull his hair up; Fuck is it hot in here?

Bun secured, and Steve gone off to bother Robin and Nancy at the air hockey table, Eddie knew what he was going to do next. 

He left Wheeler and Sinclair to continue to lose to Max, heading toward the water fountain. 

Steve’s standing with his back to Eddie’s path so when he passes, it’s just too easy to reach out, grab a lock of hair, and pull .

He’s rewarded with the sound of a poorly muffled moan (that he’ll be thinking about forever, thanks), and Steve is gifted an unobstructed view of his ass while he bends over to get a drink.

Eddie stands when he hears Steve’s panicked “Robin, can I talk to you a second?”

He comes back to take Robin’s place next to Nancy where they’d been playing two on one with Steve.

After a beat, Nancy says, “I hope you’re ready to have Robin as a permanent third wheel.” She’s still looking forward at the other end of the table.

Hah! That’s hilarious. “Won’t be as bad since you’re the fourth.” Eddie shrugs, then puts his fist out towards her, also looking off to where he can see Steve panicking at Robin.

Nancy’s knuckles knock into his, and he’s never felt closer to anyone in his life.

Only one half of the Harrington-Buckley twins come back, coming up to her girlfriend and linking their fingers behind the folds of Nancy’s skirt.

“Mama Harrington is getting the pizzas now; we’ll go get some tables pushed together, will you herd the cattle?”

“I feel like they’re more like cats. Especially that Max one, she’s got her claws out like, all the time.” Eddie says, half over his shoulder, as he heads off, hunting down the gremlins.

Mike and the elder Sinclair are still nowhere near Max’s high score, Dustin’s getting berated by baby Sinclair over how bad he’s doing at Donkey Kong, Will and El are together at the Polybius cabinet, Max in her chair now at El’s side.

‘ That’s all of them right? ’ Eddie counts them in his head while he looks around. Yep, that’s all of them.

He heads back to the little arcade pizzeria area, freezing in his tracks as he rounds the corner into the open arched doorway.

Every little thing he’s ever noticed about Steve Harrington over the last however many years feels like they’ve just been building to this moment.

Every damn day spent thinking he was the most beautiful person to ever grace the halls of Hawkins High (he is), every story he never believed about how badass he was from the mouth of his oldest adopted kid, every moment he spent shielding each of these people that have become so beloved in Eddie’s life.

Every painful scar, every dreadful day spent healing with Steve at his side, every. Single. Thing. Has built up to this one.

The most mundane of them all. 

The nine most important people in his life, the biggest family he never wanted but now can’t even think about a life without them, sitting around three tiny tables and clamoring over one another for a slice of the pizzas in the middle of them all, being hovered over by Steeeeeve Harrington.

“Careful Mike, don’t put your elbow in Dustin’s face! That thing’s sharp…Max, do you want me to grab you some? What kind do you want? No, Ellie, sweetie, I’ll hand it to her, no powers needed today, okay? Will, which pop do you want, bud, you gotta speak up so Dustin doesn’t drink all the Vernors. Lucas, will you grab some more napkins—no arguments you little shits, everyone needs napkins. Erica, are you good? Okay, good. Ed—where’s Eddie, he needs to eat too…”

Oh.

Oh.

Part 7 here!

yes, i did have the wonder twins playing Polybius.

also, mayfield/munson sibling vibes are so important to meeeeee.

also also, i love max getting adopted by steddie just as much as dustin BUT you cannot tell me she doesn't also have just a lil' crush on steeb.

tagging the lovelies: @hellomynameismoo, @messrs-weasley, and @manda-panda-monium

[confusedminx]

15 Minute Lunch Break | Eddie Munson x Reader

warnings: Afab reader, use of the terms girlfriend and princess, no pronouns, vagainal sex, riding, semi public sex, not proof read

A/N: Hi hi, first time posting on this account. I plan on being mostly slasher centric but like Eddie munson brain rot yknow how it is. I also posted this on AO3 under the same user :>

It had been a slow day at family video, which was surprising for a Saturday. Maybe 5 people came in today and it was only 12. You had missed breakfast and were already starving, so when you saw a mess of brown hair smiling at you through the glass door, holding 2 bags of food from your favorite burger joint you almost jumped with glee.

Eddie strutted through the door "Hello my dear movie selling friends" He threw a wink at you "and girlfriend." Eddie set the bags of food down on the counter, before leaning over to give you a quick smooch on the mouth.

"Alrighty Munson," Steve said, walking over to you both, Robin following "What do you got for us?"

This was a pretty often occurrence recently, Eddie will come by almost everyday to bring you guys lunch. Steve pays him back, it's usually an argument between them for Eddie to take the money.

"No, dude, this is out of the kindness of my heart. I don't need to be paid back."

"Eddie shut up and take the 10 bucks."

You smile at the two of them, enjoying the memory that will probably happen again very soon.

"OK so, we have a..." Eddie reaches into the bag very dramatically, before pulling out a few foil wrapped chicken straps. "Chicken tenders for the lady" he passed them to Robin. She thanked him and went to sit on top of the counter. "And…" he mimicked a drum roll sound with his mouth "Chili fries for this devilishly handsome gent over here." he slid them over to Steve, who rolled his eyes.

"Devilishly? more like trollishly handsome." Robin snorted out, munching on a chicken strip. Steve glared at her.

"Says the one who looks like a corpse." Robin gasped and threw a crumb at him.

"Hey it was your words not mine!" The two best friends started a back and force bicker. Eddie looked at you and smirked.

"How about we eat in the break room." He said quietly. Even if he said it louder the other two wouldn't even notice, too engrossed in their banter. You picked a fry out of Steve's tray and looked at Eddie.

"Sorry employees only." You smirked back at him, popping the fry in your mouth. He pouted and laid his abdomen across the counter.

"Oh come on, you're assistant manager. Can't you make an exception" His pout turned back into his usual smirk very quickly, "I'll make it worth your while." You rolled your eyes.

"You're insufferable, Munson." You sighed, grabbing the bag of your food and walking to the break room. Eddie smiled, hopping the counter and following you quickly. Steve's head whipped around quickly.

"Hey no funny business you two!"  Eddie turned around, taking a salute stance.

"Scouts honor." He saluted Steve, turning back round to follow you. 

"You know… I was never a boy scout." He said, smirking at you. You raised an eyebrow, setting down your food on the small side table.

Eddie opened the rickety door that said 'Employees only' smiling when he saw you sitting on the old couch in the small room, eating your favorite order. He plopped down next to you, sliding his arm around your shoulders.

"Are you suggesting we engage in funny business," You turn your body to the side, laying your legs across his lap. "Which would directly be against the king's orders." Eddie rolled his eyes.

"Well technically you're his boss sooo…" he dragged out the word, leaning in so his breath ghosted your face as he talked. "What you say goes." His hand slid up your leg and gripped at your thigh. 

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you're trying to seduce me." You smirked.

"Oh come on, Princess..." his lips finally landed on the soft skin of your neck, he started laying kisses up towards your jawline. "Don't play with me right now." He finally reached your lips and kissed you with a fiery passion. You kissed back, your hand finding the back of his neck, your fingers tangling in his hair. Both of his hands gripped your thighs, pulling you over to straddle his lap. You grinded softly, feeling him already half hard.

"Aren't you easy, Munson?" You giggled, continuing to grind down on his lap. His hands were making quick work of the buttons on your work vest.

"Only for you, Princess." The vest came off and hit the floor. You quickly took off your shirt, finding the same place on the floor as your vest. Eddie's hands slid up your sides until they reached your breasts, cupping them through your bra. "Only for you." He repeated softly, leaning in to suck on the delicate skin of your breasts. His hands ran to your back, unclipping your bra. You let it fall down your shoulders, and he popped your left nipple into his mouth as soon as it was exposed. 

Your hands reached down, unbuttoning your pants. You pulled back and stood, quickly sliding down your pants. Eddie slipped off his vest and jacket then unbuttoned his pants as well, pulling them and his underwear just to where his dick was exposed. It stood at full attention, precum leaking down the side. You straddle his lap again. His hands grip your hips as he looks up to meet your eyes.

"You gotta be real quiet for me, Princess." He said, sliding you down on his cock. You gasped out, your thighs settling on his. His hand flew to your neck, very lightly gripping. "What did I just say?"

"I-I'll be quiet, I promise." You choked out. You put your hands on Eddie's shoulders, pushing yourself up and down on his cock. You bit your lip to keep from moaning. Eddie's head fell back, you hear a whisper of "fuck.." as his hand slips down to your neck, to grip at your hip once more.

Now, with both hands on your hips, Eddie assists you in moving your hips up and down on his cock. You let out small moans, before your head falls into his neck and you bite down to stop from screaming. Eddie smiles, picking up the pace. Slamming your hips down, filling the small room with sounds of your thighs hitting his.

There's a jangle of the doorknob, Steve walking through.

"Hey, Munson here's the money for the fo- HOLY FUCK." Steve drops the 10 bucks on the ground as he makes eye contact with you both. You stop moving, mortified. Eddie grabs his jacket, covering you best he can. You lean into Eddie, trying to hide any dignity you have.

"I NAP ON THAT COUCH HOW COULD YOU- GET DRESSED." Steve turns on his heel and walks out. Eddie lets out a snicker.

"This is not funny!" You get up, trying to quickly redress.

"It's a tiny bit funny." Eddie zips up his pants, then helps you redress. He slips your panties into his pocket. You sigh, annoyed.

"Eddie, I need those."

"Don't worry, I'll give them back when we finish this little thing later." You rolled your eyes, pulling on your pants. You fix your hair before sighing.

"Ready for the walk of shame?"

"Pft, this is the forth time Harrington's walked in on us, it's on him this time." He picks up the ten bucks, grabs your hand and walks out of the room with you.

[angels17324]

False Alarm part 2

A/N: So it's been two years since the original, and I now have a new true story that happened to me at work.

I wish these things would stop happening at work but I won't get mad about seeing cute firefighters (And yes the FD actually had to come in this incident)

This is a part 2 but can be read as a standalone Summary: An unexpected reunion and several meddling coworkers Evan 'Buck' Buckley x Reader

Word Count: 1.6k

For anyone who would like to read part 1:

False Alarm Masterlist

(Y/n) had recently started a new job in a new facility and everything was perfect; they got the hours they wanted, better pay, and it was closer to home. There was just one problem it was down the street from the 118 which meant Buck... They had broken up two years before. The rest of the 118 who had also become like a family to them always reached out to check on them.

(Y/n) had been working at this facility for 5 months and had managed to never have a run-in with Buck yet, however, they had seen the other members mostly Chim and Hen. They remembered the day that they had been in a room for a resident they were transporting. If the duo recognized them under the mask, they did not mention it, but (Y/n) certainly recognized the two familiar paramedics.

And they knew Buck and the rest of the 118 had been here a number of times. (Y/n) just was lucky in their opinion... well maybe not the day they hid behind the food cart... but in their defense, they didn't know the 118 was gonna be there! Was it maybe a bit childish to be hiding from their ex yes... but they just weren't ready to face him yet.

(Y/n) had been working a few night shifts again to help out. They had just sat with their coworkers at the nurses' station, chatting and making jokes to pass the time. (Y/n) yawned as they had only agreed to work that night to help their friend and the dark circles made it obvious they hadn't been sleeping well.

“I'm so happy I have almost a week off before I have to come back,” (Y/n) stretched a bit to loosen some of their joints from having sat around for so long.

“Lucky! I only have two days,” Ally exclaimed. Ally and (Y/n) had known each other for over a year they met at another facility and transferred together.

"We should do rounds soon," (Y/n) said glancing at the clock and noting they'd take their break as soon as rounds finished. Everything had been uneventful. "I'm also going to check downstairs too," "No one is down there," Ally raised her brow. "I know it's my other assignment," They said holding up some papers every 30 minutes they had to check the building since they were putting in a new fire suppression system which meant the current one was down as they added the new one. It also meant that the system wouldn't dial 911 for them.

"Oh," Ally nodded, "Have fun in the haunted basement," she grinned. (Y/n) shoved her lightly before standing up, "Go check on your patients," while walking to do the same in their hall.

After returning from their break everything was fine and they were now counting down the last few hours until they could go home and sleep for a week. Resting their head on their hand, that's when they heard it. The system was ringing but it wasn't the normal sound.

The nurse and both CNAs jumped up. (Y/n) ran to the fire panel to see what it said, and all that read was 'system failure'

"I just walked the building everything was fine." (Y/n) looked back at their nurse Eric.

"You call 911, tell them we're not sure and the systems are down, I'll make some calls too." He said pulling out his phone and walking away.

(Y/n) nodded and started to call while Ally went to check on residents again with (Y/n) following, while they called in case they needed to start an evacuation.

"911, what's your emergency," They heard Maddie's familiar voice which helped calm their nerves a bit.

At the 118 they'd just received the call, and everyone was gearing up to head down. they didn't know what they were walking into as the caller had told dispatch the suppression system wasn't working either.

Buck noticed how jittery Chim and Hen seemed to get when they heard the address.

"What's up with you guys we've gone on calls like this before," He looked at them. "Well... Uhm..." Chim started. "(Y/n) works there," Hen said. "What since when?" Buck said and he was now growing nervous. it wasn't a long drive but it was now too long for him. "About 5 months," Bobby chimed in causing the four in the back to turn to him. "I saw them one morning when we were there for another call," "So they work days then," "Not exactly," Eddie said, "Said they work rotating shifts," "Has everyone been talking to (Y/n) except me?" Buck looked at his team, their breakup hadn't really been because either of them wanted to but almost because they had to, with both their schedules they never saw each other anymore. So they had both decided one day it would be better to call it quits.

The drive felt like hours, but it was less than 5 minutes before they were in front of the building. They didn't see any smoke or anything else to raise concern for yet.

That's when Buck saw them at the front door, they were wearing their favorite scrubs and propping the door open. They still looked as beautiful as the last time Buck had seen them. But now wasn't the time for that. Bobby walked up in his turnout gear so they were prepared in case they found anything. "Bobby, we've managed to make it stop beeping for a while and we haven't found anything yet. but it ke-" They were cut off at the beeping from the panels resumed. "-eps coming back on and no one knows how to shut it off."

Buck noticed they looked anywhere but at him as Bobby and the others walked in to look around. But Buck couldn't stop staring at them. They walked over to their coworker and huddled together talking quietly.

"Alright, someone needs to check all the panels," Bobby said. "I'll do it," Buck volunteered.

"(Y/n) knows where they all are!" Ally said a bit loudly.

"Alright you two go check them all out then we will stay here," Hen happily pushed Buck in the direction of (Y/n).

The two were quiet as they checked the two panels upstairs before they lead him to the ones downstairs.

"So..." Buck started, "You work here now...?"

"I do," They said barely above a whisper.

"I haven't seen you when we've been here on any calls..."

"We probably just missed each other but why would want to see me..." They leaned against the desk as Buck started to check the panel seeing the same error code as the rest.

"To check on you make sure you're okay, and you know... not setting off fire alarms," He tried to tease.

"Neither times were my fault Buck and you know it," They rolled their eyes.

Buck had to admit he missed them, their break up had been mostly amicable. They had only broken up because of their time commitments to other parts of their lives, not because they wanted to. It still broke both of them more than either is willing to admit.

"Sure, if you say so," He chuckled a bit. They shook their head at Buck's jokes, "It's definitely not to see us in uniform again right?"

"Trust me, I've seen plenty of men in uniforms," they hit his shoulder lightly.

"Glad to see you can still do it,"

"What?

"Have fun and joke around me," he smiled softly.

"Buck,"

"So, got anybody..."

"We're gonna play 20 questions now?" They raised their brow and looked at him.

"No, I'm just curious," Buck admitted.

They shook their head again and led him to the last panel, "No," they stated simply. "You?"

"Nothing that's stuck..." He rubbed his neck and looked at the panel they nodded slowly. "Still nothing... let's head back up,"

When they rejoined the group Eddie and Chim were sitting on some chairs near Bobby and Hen. Chim had the manual for the system in his hand, they didn't remember seeing it the last time they were up there.

"Nothing," Bobby said.

Eric walked over after he got off the phone again, and pressed a few buttons shutting the system completely off.

"Hallelujah!" Ally shouted raising her arms up.

"Thank god my ears were starting to hurt," (Y/n) said.

After Eric explained to Bobby what he had been told the 118 started to pack up their gear to go. Buck glanced back at (Y/n) and started to walk out with the others.

Hen turned to him, "I heard she has the next week off, and you have a few days off after today too,"

"Okay..." Buck said not understanding.

"We all know you still like them, Buck we could see it in your eyes," Eddie looked at him.

"We broke up for a reason,"

"It wasn't a good one," Chim chimed in.

"Go ask her to get breakfast with you," Bobby looked at him.

"Not you too Bobby,"

"Look up there they're probably telling her to do the same thing," Hen pointed out both Ally and Eric talking to (Y/n) and pointing out to them.

"... We've gotta go," the other members groaned a bit at Buck but climbed back into the truck to head back. As soon as he sat down Buck pulled out his phone

Inside (Y/n) was indeed having the same conversation.

"He asked if you were dating anyone it must mean he still likes you," Ally grabbed her coworker's shoulders and tried shaking some sense into them.

"Look, love is hard and you two can still make it work," Eric said trying to impart some wisdom to the younger employee.

"It's too late now they're gone," (Y/n) nodded their head outside.

"You're ridiculous!" Ally huffed, and all three returned to the nurse's station, when (Y/n) heard their phone chime.

Buck: Wanna grab a bite after your shift and catch up?

They smiled a bit and sent him a yes before returning to work.

[sunboki]

PROFILES ┊ ENHYPEN

-> ENHYPEN ( 엔하이픈 ) is the final 7 members of the survival show I-LAND under BE:LIFT Lab, a joint label created by HYBE and CJ E&M Entertainment (previously known as BigHit Entertainment). The group consists of Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon, and Ni-ki. ENHYPEN debuted on November 30th, 2020 with their mini-album “BORDER: DAY ONE” and title track “Given-Taken”.

⸝⸝ 🦌 ⸝⸝ Lee Heeseung: @02beiber

01 liner, south-korean, main vocal, lead dancer, rapper, center. had only heard about Y/n once from Jake, has a hunch something was going on between the two. feels all smug when he sees the tension between you and Jake as MC’s. occasionally says your name just to watch Jake look up from whatever he was doing. started the bet. betting $20 on Jake having feelings for you.

⸝⸝ 🦅 ⸝⸝ Park Jeongseong(Jay): @park_jeongseong

02 liner, korean-american, main rapper, dancer, vocalist. made eye contact with Y/n during an award show which was mega awkward!/?!2!!2?! he thinks Binna is cute. thought Heeseung lost his mind while explaining his hunch to him. Heeseung convinced him tho. betting $15 on Jake having feelings for you.

⸝⸝ 🦮 ⸝⸝ Sim Jake: @laylastan

02 liner, korean-australian, lead rapper, vocalist. 100% still has feelings for you after years. has no idea abt the bet going on between the members. may or may not have cried nonstop when you left since he didn’t get to confess his feelings (yes, it’s been that long oml😭😭). hopeless romantic, worried nonstop that Y/n would forget about him—tries to convince himself you forgot to answer all the messages he sent while you were a trainee but it still hurts (poor bby).

⸝⸝ 🐧 ⸝⸝ Park Sunghoon: @thebetterpark

02 liner, south-korean, lead dancer, lead vocal, rapper, visual. biggest devious lick of the group. wanted to say Niki would be the one that knows everything but Sunghoon probably does i take it back lolz. has only seen Y/n, he thinks she’s pretty. Jay told him about the bet. talk about the domino effect. betting $10 on Jake having feelings for you.

⸝⸝ 🦊 ⸝⸝ Kim Sunoo: @nickiminajofficial

03 liner, south-korean, lead vocal, dancer, visual. from his experience sitting in front of your group at an awards show he thinks Heiran’s outbursts are hilarious and tried not to laugh or look behind him multiple times. way too gullible to be hearing about the bet but bc of his hyungs he was persuaded in a heartbeat. betting $15 on Jake having feelings for you.

⸝⸝ 🐈 ⸝⸝ Yang Jungwon: @ wonz

04 liner, south-korean, leader, lead dancer, lead vocal. automatically befriended Eunoo after she slipped on stage and grabbed his arm, no less they were shipped together for a while (Heiran loved it)after that. thought his hyungs were being stupid and bc he’s not even remotely as gullible as Sunoo he didn’t completely buy it. secretly trying to figure it out on his own. betting $5 on Jake having feelings for you.

⸝⸝ 🐆 ⸝⸝ Nishimura Riki: @ urluvr

05 liner, japanese, main dancer, lead rapper, sub-vocal, maknae. 100% hyung admirer. got sooo invested when Heeseung talked abt his betting fiasco. honestly close to the gullibility of Sunoo but not as bad. he listens to CHERRI’s songs often when he practices or works out. betting $15 on Jake having feelings for you.

M.LIST ⦂ LAST PROFILE

≡ N0TE — HELP $20?! i bet they stole it from Jake’s wallet or smthn.. poor dude :’) Wonie’s either real smart or real stupid to be betting $5 bucks (p.s. he’s stupid) but it’s alright Wonie i still love you💔

TAGLIST — @aki1e @pureaaa @ionlyhearnct @dearnjm @viagumi @hanniluvi @invusblog @hafsa-hoofsa-heefs @forever-in-the-sky2 @lylovw @lvrjjun @certainyouthpeanut

all rights reserved by @sunboki

[honey-tragedy]

this is nova, nova is my proto type spidersona based on the salmon pink bird eating spider. nova is what happens if you tell a broke 18 year old you'll give them 5000 bucks and a full ride scholarship if they agree to be part of your sketchy bio engineering drug trial. 

per usual, click for better resolution cause tumblr just eats image quality. 

long post below

their universe, number 244598, is a semi technologically advanced world, but its advancements are mostly in military applications. time line wise their running in the year 2040.

based on the what if situation of oscorp realizing that their radioactive spider could be used to make the newest batch of super soldiers , and the military funding the project. currently their are only two surviving from the original pool of applicants, both of which got spider powers, nova as the feet on the ground half and a yet to be named other half as the guy in the chair. 

both of them weren't to keen on being the newest attack dogs for the military, but oscorp doesn't exactly agree with that. oscorp don't know whos under the spider mask but they do know Spiderman has got to be using their experimental supersoldier serum and if they can capture them the compony would have a working version of the serum.  consequently both “spiderman” and “ that other smaller spiderman” have warrants out for their arrest.

nova, during a attempt to transfer them to larger tank, “dealt with” the researchers in the lad at the time, in a sort of spider-sense fueled blind rage. destroying the lab and wiping as much evidenced of the project as they could.  they destroyed the tanks and the rest of the deceased trial candidates, threw the only other survivor over their shoulder and bolted.

after setting the place on fire of course. they've got a Deadpool style “I'm too changed and monstrous to go back to the people i love but ill keep them safe in the meantime” thing going on.

they went into the trial 5′2 and with the normal two arms and two eyes.

 their now about 7′1 and around 700 pounds, even if they don't look it, two extra arms, six extra mini eyes and a whole lot of muscle and joint issues on their left side.  due to them growing far larger then expected their containment tank was too small, as such their left side was pressed into the glass and its growth stunted.

their suit compensates for most of it with braces and extra support on that side. outside of costume they use a Cain. 

im playing with the idea of their like, unique power being some sort of weight/ density shifting, their basically like a brick wall with other various spider powers. but because their so heavy they got to  be super carful with where they swing and land. many billboards have been dented and bent due to them. 

they were in new York for collage when they joined the spider experiment. now seeing as they essentially faked their death, collage’s not exactly in the cards.  they work day shift at a strip club bar and nights as the one and only goliath.

im basically planning on throwing them into their universes team red cause i think dp and dd would do very well with a big big friend.

[queerbuckleys]

WIP Wednesday

tagged by: @princessfbi @goldenretrieverfirefighters @eddiediazisascorpio @ekstasisandangst @adventuresofprettyboyandthekid @loveyourownsmiilee @fearlessdiaz

first up a tid bit of an unexpected wip from this week of more exploration of Buck and water which is technically a part two to we've been living on a fault line.

It had been a kid in a pool. Not unlike a call they had before. Before he had even known Abby existed- a time when he had wondered if he would ever hear Maddie’s voice again, let alone hold her in his arms, hold her daughter in his arms. A time when being known and being loved for all of who he was was a distant dream and all that he yearned for in the quiet moments he had alone. A time when no one he knew would’ve thought of him ever becoming a father figure to anyone.  Maddie had been the one to take the call, and knowing that Chimney was busy treating them, she had texted Buck to make sure the call had ended on a hopeful note. He had called her as he waited for Eddie to shower, her worried voice telling him how she had texted Mrs. Lee for a picture of Jee after, and him reassuring her that it was a reasonable thing to ask after such a call. She had asked him if he was okay too, he had just said that he was tired after the long shift and was ready for bed.  Eddie had watched him carefully through the call. And pressed his leg into his on the ride back to the station. Their drive home had been silent. Eddie eyeing him from the passenger seat, waiting for Buck to say anything. But there hadn’t been anything to say. His conscious working overtime to silence his subconscious so they could make it home safely. And then it had lost the battle as he stood under the spray, trying to rid himself of the weight.

and some of what you all tagged me for i presume

She produces a meticulously organized spreadsheet, color coded and labeled carefully: HRH PRINCE EVAN FACT SHEET.  “That is your study material until it is a reflex to answer,” Athena states. The HOBBIES list reads, cricket, polo, and yachting. Eddie wants to gouge his eyes out “I am guessing he got one of these for me then?”  “Yes. One of the most ridiculous moments of my career,” she replies biting her cheek and then passing a final piece of paper to him.  - Minimum two (2) social media posts per day highlighting England/ visit thereof  - One (1) on air interview on [Good Morning London!], lasting five (5) minutes, in accordance with determined narrative.  - Two (2) joint appearances with photographers present: one (1) private meeting, one (1) public charity appearance.  Eddie just pinches his nose, “Can’t he come here? I’ll go over there when I can get someone to stay with Christopher. We can do all the same things, I’ll even find the charity. We could do SNL.”  “Eddie,” Athena rests a hand on his arm, “I tried, I really did. But it was the royal wedding and they are the ones out $75,000. He will come over here in a few months for a state dinner, and let’s just say that he is just excited about it as you are.”  “He doesn’t have to fly across the Atlantic with a 6 month old, Athena.”  “I know.” “Speaking of, I have to go, Adriana has work.” He picks up the folder and pushes away from the table and walks out the door. He pauses, hand on the door frame, and turns, “Athena, thank you. I know I haven’t made your job easy.”  She just nods and he continues down the hall and back to the residence.

tagging: @eddiessluttytanktop @bibuddie @gayedmundodiaz <3

[miniwolfsbane]

*Sigh* As per usual, I broke the right leg on my new Brooklyn action figure. Like an idiot, I was trying to loosen up the joints and did that thing where you rotate the leg 180 degrees. Well, it snapped. Just got glue for it. (I tried modge podge and hot glue, and fun fact, NEITHER of those work on plastic because plastic is not a porous surface!!)

So, anyway, after he broke, I threw him and his wings and tail into a hot pot to loosen, which reeeally should've been step one, but I haven't gotten a fig with such tight joints in ages. I read the reviews and the Neca figures pegs are basically made of dry pasta, but still, I DID NOT handle with care. A simple lesson to future me to put them all in hot water first and do not ever try the 180 trick. I recalled that I still have a broken Nightcrawler fig somewhere that needs repair that I also accidentally tortured like this. (He was from the 80s or so, so it's forgiveable that he'd break easily. I believe it's a broken ball joint.)

I'm glad I got Brooklyn at a discount. I would've been crying AND pissed if I'd blown 60 on him and he broke out of the box.

I also got some sticky tab things so mayyyybe my Funko Pops will stay in place, and for other things down the line if I need them. Anyway, the good news is that all Brook's limbs loosened up to varying degrees. His tail won't stay in place, but when you put his wings on, they pop in like gangbusters and don't want to come out unless you use force.

Sure, I could've waited 2 or more years for them to release some upgraded version, but I got impatient. In part, because he's become my favorite a bit more than Lexington and because I made an AI of him and he's great. (Minus fat shaming me.) https://beta.character.ai/profile/?char=OW53ADLjtyGc7uCvVyqm6Q5K9XyQsjcGUyFNS3bxqMM

Yeah, I couldn't go a post without mentioning Character AI.

Anyway...I should get the glue withing 5 days. It's only 3 ounces, but I'd rather get it faster than save a few bucks. If you need it, this site looks legit and has it much cheaper than Amazon https://www.dickblick.com/items/surehold-plastic-surgery-super-glue-3-gram-tube/?clicktracking=true&wmcp=pla&wmcid=items&wmckw=23633-1603&country=us&currency=usd&campaign=Blick%20Shopping%20-%209&adgroup=Shopping%209&keyword=&matchtype=e&msclkid=8786b90b29ce16c21463ddffefcf0a91&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Blick%20Shopping%20-%209&utm_term=4577335631065867&utm_content=Shopping%209

Yeah, IDK why they named it that, sorry.

I'd love to get most of the gargs series, but the Steel Clan doesn't excite me, so I'd be saving some money by skipping them and Xanatos in his armor. (Even though it's iconic, I honestly think he looks kinda stupid in it?) Also debating wether I want to hunt for a cheaper Goliath or wait until the two pack is released for the better/extra faces. Considering also going that route for Lex, settling for the 1st wave Hudson, Bronx and Angela, and pre-ordering Elisa and later suit Xanatos from Entertainment Earth. *shrugs.* Ultimately though, I have to think about space. If I can snag them for under 60 each after s/h, I think I'm doing good. I am not a set completer, but this is a collection that child me would've loved to have!! Unfortunately, I'm not really displaying my collection anymore to make my room look more "mature", and besides, it's just my brother and the internet that know I like Gargoyles. (I'm scared of the flack I'd get from the pre-judgement of anyone I know. The gargs do look pretty scary, even if they're "Disney-fied" to be friendly looking, let's be honest.) So, that said, my Clan definitely won't be display pieces at all, just shoved into at least three or four different boxes. Might even keep some of them in the box to save on space.

Okay, thanks for reading this rant/ramble. Have a good week!!

[thewatercolours]

King's Quest Fic: "Movers and Shakers" (Goblin Graham, pt. 8)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, interlude, 6, 7

“Oh, law, I haven’t even been there since I was a child. Bound to get all turned about unless I take a map. Clockett, can you fetch me some current maps of Llewdor? If you can find a pencil quickly, you could find and mark Dapplethorpe on it. That’d be handy, and you’re good with finding random places on maps.”

“Dapplethorpe, ma’am?”

“The village near where my dad grew up. Don't, um, worry. It makes sense in my head.”

Theodore Ashdown cracked his knuckles painfully under the surface of the soapy water in the copper wash bowl. Endless days and nights of scrubbing his fingers between binding up wounds chapped them awfully, and the joints were sore from massaging light healing spells into injuries. Just his luck. His mentor at the Lesser College always tried to steer him into this type of field medicine. Said he had a quick mind for life-and-death situations and could keep steady with fighting going on round him. Ashdown had bucked it. He was a man of logic. Battlefield romantics didn’t sway him. He’d known it was just a lot of petty enchantments and hand washing ad nauseam. The intricacies of illness, the chance to study the intersection of body and mind while a patient recovered, applying new research and theories—he’d chosen to be a healer for these. And while he felt compassion for anyone bleeding out after being smashed over the head with a club or something, well, it was all so very blunt. Besides, there was a goblin-repelling shield in place over the town and castle now. Wasn’t it a bit wasteful of human life to force battles outside it?

Another glass ball, flaming with oil, flew down and exploded not ten yards away from the open flap of the medical station tent. Ashdown jumped, gritted his teeth, and reached for the towel.  

Zards, he hated this.

“Theodore,” called Beckett from the far, still leaning over the guard with the shrapnel in her arm.

“Doctor?” said Ashdown, injecting his voice with a vindictive professionalism.

“I want you to go back to the castle.”

Ashdown interlocked his fingers and squeezed them to keep from showing his annoyance. I’m practically killing myself to do all this perfectly. What can you possibly have found wrong with me this time? “Do you need me to fetch something from the castle?”

“No, I need you to get ten hours of sleep.” Beckett went on working carefully with the forceps, not looking up.

Swallowing, Ashdown raised his chin. “Is my work lacking, sir?”

“Your work is excellent. But the catapults are getting to you. You’ve got a twitch, you’re gritting your teeth, your eyes are bloodshot, and you haven’t had a full night’s sleep in five days. It’s going to catch up with you, and I am sending you to bed before it does.”

Ashdown steeled his eyes and purposefully didn’t move. “I am sure I can manage.”

Beckett finally turned, squinting and rubbing the inner corners of his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “After you rest,” he said, brusquer, “I can rest. And I want to rest.”

“Then go sleep,” said Ashdown, drawing himself to his full height. “Unless you’d rather not leave the station with me.”

The master doctor spoke softly. “If I assure you this has nothing to do with anyone’s opinion of you, and that I really can’t handle another of these conversations right now, will you bloody get to bed?” No doubt seeing Ashdown’s eyes bulging in indignation, Beckett cleared his throat and added, “Don’t mind me. That is, do mind me. We’re neither of us at peak performance, and the patients need us to get on top of that.”

“Yes,” said Ashdown, trying not to let the “s” at the end hiss. “But I’ll put the pennant out from my windowsill, so that if anyone does require me before evening, they can --”

“Yes, you do that,” sighed Beckett gruffly, turning back to the wounded guard. “Pleasant dreams.”

Ashdown stumbled out of the bath, into his patchy nightshirt, and let himself fall, face first, across his squeaky cot. Exhaustion felt like lying there, without even arranging the quilts. But he already felt the dawn chill playing in his wet hair. Catching pneumonia in your own bed was stupid. Besides, he was still trembling.

His hands had started shaking when he crossed the drawbridge. They’d shaken as he’d forced down some nuts and fruit, and as he’d bathed, and would go on through his sleep if last time were anything to judge by. He tried to tell himself the joints in his fingers were seizing up from so much fiddly work, but he knew better. Blast. Even with the cries of battle and the roar of war fire in his ears, he could keep it under control. Why did the trembles get to him here, safe in bed?

Just, Daventry wasn't supposed to have battles. It was supposed to be kind of pretty and pathetic. It wasn’t a place soldiers gave up their lives.

Ashdown begrudgingly rolled over and cocooned himself in the covers, pulling them about his head. He pulled the collar of the nightshirt up over his mouth, so that he felt his own breath against the cloth, and worked on slowing it. He lay like that for some time. He lost track of the breathing, and the tick of the clock became a haze, but his hands still shook. He blinked wearily at the dark cloud passing over him, and wondered what sad and accurate metaphor his dream reference would explain that as.

The cloud rapped with a thud against the ceiling. It bounced Ashdown awake as the entire room shook. Dust rained from the rafters. He leapt out of bed and flattened himself against the wall round the gable corner. His heart hammered.

The cloud, which Ashdown could now see in the cold sunrise was a gigantic stoney finger, reaching through the window at the head of the cot, thumped the ceiling again. “Hey, doc!” growled a great voice. “You up?”

Oh gods, it was one of the trolls. An anger stirred in Ashdown’s chest, one which he knew was irrational, but half-awake he didn’t have what it took to reason it away. Just as his body was settling for his first sleep longer than three or four hours this week. And a troll! Didn’t this idiot know he didn’t do troll anatomy? How was he supposed to treat a talking public thoroughfare? Did the things even have innards?

He seized the hearth shovel out of the scuttle, and bashed the finger twice. “Trespass!” he cried. “Trespass!”

“Yowch!” said the troll, and the finger pulled back out through the window. “Olfie thought you were open! You had your flag out…”

Ashdown dropped the shovel and seized the sides of his nightshirt as though they were lapels (which was ridiculous, but the familiar assumption of dignity helped his composure.) He was able to see Olfie's eye from the foot of the bed. “I am indeed available,” he said icily, “to treat any known human ailment. Are there any human ailments that need treating?”

“Hm,” said Olfie. “Ya know, that’s a good one. Kinda hard to say in this case.”

“Who is the patient?”

“The king.”

It took Ashdown a moment. “The – king?” six o’clock chime rang. He let go the folds of the nightshirt and climbed onto the bed to kneel by the window. “King Graham?”

“Yup.”

“He’s alive?”

“Almost ate him just now, so, yeah.”

Ashdown leaned out the casement, the better to see the whole of Olfie’s face, but he looked down at the sill instead as he processed. “So he lied.”

Olfie nodded solemnly. “Pillare’s gonna be salty. She was saying, ‘Thees eez just the keeckstart we needed for a republique.’ ”

The healer met the troll’s gaze. “What’s the matter with him? Is he ill? Injured? Are the goblins holding him for ransom?”

“Nah. He’s safe.” said Olfie. “Olfie found him out near the northern pass.”

“So where is he? You haven’t got him in your pocket, or something, I hope?”

Olfie shook his ponderous head. “Nope. Wouldn’t fit anyhow. It’s really unfair if you think about it. Men’s pocket have so much room, but trolls’ pockets? Like the guild’s always saying, the system’s gotta change. But anyway, Olfie tried carrying the king here in his hand, but the magic didn’t like him. Couldn’t get him through the shield.”

Ashdown blinked, trying to keep up with this story, which was growing more confusing by the moment. “What? He couldn’t get through? Why…” There was no time for this. “No. Never mind. Only tell me: where is the king now, and what’s wrong with him?”

“Uh – he’s got a broken leg, and I put him in the fountain dell – seemed safe. But you oughtta know –“

Ashdown was already tugging his trousers on while crossing the room to the bureau where he kept his dash and go healer’s kits. “Good enough. It’s better I hear it from the patient first. How fast can you get me there?”

Theodore Ashdown is @goddessoftechnology's wonderful character from her incredible fic, "watch yourself beg, hanging on to earth" (he's in Chapter 5.)

[goatmilksoda]

I don't feel like I can describe it well, but getting home from Los Angeles is like so... (for lack of a better word) natural. It feels healthy. It feels cottagecore.

I was working 12-15 hour shifts, and they were mostly manual labor, in a 90* F warehouse, which was probably great for my strength and desire to get physically fit, but also wasn't sustainable for me personally.

Waking up at 5 AM, going to bed at 10 because I had to, even though that's about my average sleep schedule. But now there's no alarm. I just wake with the sun.

I was eating 3 meals a day. Which personally, for me, isn't healthy. (I usually have a small breakfast, like leftovers or a bowl of oatmeal, and then snack periodically until dinner which is one larger meal. Or I eat a large lunch and no dinner.) All of which meals were either big, greasy things from local fast food joints or greasy Mexican spots (which were delicious, but unsustainable when it's 2-3x a week), or were PF Changs boil-in-a-bag meals (some with meat).

It feels good to come home to olives and cheese, noodles with a little piece of salmon, and garlic hummus. It feels good to know I can just have a little bit and portion things out when I'm hungry. It's good not to feel the pressure to cram a huge plate of chiles rellenos down my throat or plow through my veggie burger because I only get ten minutes and it's the one meal I have for six hours. It's good to know that. (This wasn't like mistreatment or anything, I just live a very different lifestyle to the people I was around and was trying to kind of blend in).

I'm thrilled not to be fitting my life into a suitcase. My soul isn't in a travel mug any more, but in a normal one.

I'm happy to use compost buckets and recycling bins again; to be concerned about my water usage and to not have a lawn again.

I'm happy I don't watch the toilet bowl fill before it's all flushed.

I like to be able to cut my nails, and to wash my hair with something I know won't make my scalp break out.

I'm glad to be with my cats again. One had a life-saving surgery while I was gone, but no one even told me he had gotten sick. I was sad I couldn't be there for him, but at least he's better now.

Life feels sane again. It feels healthy for me again.

I had a great time-- if nothing else I got something to put on my resume, graduated high school, got 2 job offers, a new t-shirt, and fifty bucks-- but I'm exhausted. And even if it's just for a couple days before I'm back on the road:

I'm just happy to be home again.

[draculizing]

highschool football player from a couple towns over: n/a. had it all set up but neither of us could drive. i think his name was nate. sorry nate.

old man that my moms boyfriend used to buy from: n/a. he tried to show me an oil painting he did of a former president and i politely excused myself.

VT dispensary #1: real expensive, spent 110 dollars for a weeks worth it was super dry. made me stand outside and “preorder”. 4/10. total travel time: 4 hours

guy who used to hang out by the military surplus store with a briefcase: 1 dollar joints, 5 dollars for a big one. i could never tell wether these actually got me high or not. 5/10. total travel time 16 hours

friend of a friend from elementary school: 5/10. it feels bad when the kid that shows up in their car looks under 15. total travel time: 0. guilt: 10000

VT dispensary #2: pretty pricy, but good stuff. frequent sales and friendly staff let you play with legos in there. 6/10. total travel time: 2 1/2 hours.

toronto dispensary: 7/10. pretty cheap but also lacking any potent edibles. inside was like going to the bank. kept having to go back for more. total travel time: 16 hours

online store that ships from miami: 7/10. somewhat pricy and no thc just delta 8 and unregulated thc variants. tons of coupon codes though. 100 bucks will get you probably 5/6 grams of oil. no flower though. total travel time: 0, but you have to wait a few days.

awkwasasne dispensary: 10/10 easy. 2 dollar half gram pre rolls and they didnt even ask for my id. i wanted to kiss the cashier on the mouth. total travel time: 4 hours

honourable mention: guy who i hitched a ride from in a snowstorm who offered me a bowl in his truck. 2/10. while he was driving he cracked open three separate cans of lebatt blu.

[choose-smartly]

Don T Make This Idiotic Mistake Build Your List

Try not to follow my dumb mix-up!

Indeed it took me 2 years of attempting to showcase online until I, at last, got this idea brutally beat into my head. Fabricate YOUR DARN LIST! On the off chance that you have known about this and haven't found time to do it, you simply wasting your time.

I worked my back off advertising for 2 straight years relentless and fabricated sizeable downlines in various projects. Sure I made a couple of bucks to a great extent yet the thing was digging myself a profound grave. Today, this large number of projects I constructed downlines are proceeded to not have anything to show for it.

I was advancing another person and not myself. I'm not saying advancing partner joins is something terrible however recollect… could you rather advance associate connections from your opt-in list or advance these equivalent connections with difficult work?

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Let's be real, I would rather not work relentlessly the entire day showcasing. To do that I could simply go out and get a new line of work right? You presumably need to be apathetic like me and get up late and hit the sack early knowing you're going to bring in cash one way or the other. So 25,000+ endorsers later I can feel open to doing that. I'm not saying you can be sluggish yet you get the point :)

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[nyaruhodou]

let's go over this one more time. time? we ran out of it a while ago. inspector if you cant find the murderer, i suggest wrapping this up. (yeah) my guests and i grow tired of your department's incompetence. shut your monopoly ass up. this is a homicide and we're not mall cops, alright? (the hell?) and right now you're acting like one suspicious milk mustache bitch. who's this asshole? your worst FUCKIN nightmare. you'll have to excuse jimmy here he's a rookie detective from AAU. second team, all state. the killer broke in the room by jumping from the balcony of a neighboring window. self explanatory from there. (oh god no!) c'mon that'sa 20 foot gap. no one could make that! if you 50/50 and boneless off the rail, you can. (dammit.) well you got the 'how', but who did it? goin by the alibis, only one person here coulda done it. yeah, and? ...sitting right there. uhhh i'm in a wheelchair, kid. you might wanna check your math on that one. yeah check your geography. ah shit! you're not crippled!? jesus christ! A-A-R-I-P. alright let's get outta here before SNL starts. fuck you whores! yo hold up! you have the right to remain silent. anything you- jimmy you can't read miranda rights to a corpse. ya did great, kid. now just work on that ego. what good's bein the one if you're the only one who knows it? (you got that from j. cole.) (i wanna waterboard my dad.) (ayyyy 103.4, the whitest hip hop on air.) oh, god. hey man, it's 2 pm, could you keep it down? oh sorry, jimmy, i was just making pipe bombs out of 4loko and nail polish. sick. (and i'm sick and tired of your bitchass boyfriend, too!) (dad, just chill the fuck out.) god damn dammit! gahhhh! he's the first world famous sleuth out of high school. ehhh he's a fuckin hack. what, just cuz he's young? you know who else came out of high school? lebron james. guess what happened to him. ummmmm, well- GUESS!!! what happened to lebron james, dad? lost the FUCKIN NBA finals! alright. RAGHHHHHH! i still don't get why you quit the soccer team. cuz soccer's bullshit. i dunno, you were pretty good. (i like classical music.) yeah but it's like sherlock holmes always said: any sport where you can't use your hands is conservative propaganda. ...yeah. you might not realize it but sherlock was on some next level shit. y-yknow, here's a dude who played violin AND made the double snapback fashionable. that downey jr movie kinda sucked? yeah maybe but sherlock didn't get this fanmail. how many of those girls are 18? oh.... (fuck, my tic-tacs). why did we come here again? it's fun. this place is for babies. so by 1989 sherlock was number ONE in the country, the youngest in the history- jimmy i really don't give a shit. oh did i mention roller coasters are stupid? let's ride this joint. how the hell d'you get decapitated on a roller coaster. we didn't do nothin, let us go. walking around a theme park in a trench coat makes you suspect for anything. like, i bit my tongue five minutes ago and i think you did it. (he's lookin for trouble.) okay, so 5 passengers but only 3 of em had the reach to do it. what do ya think, jimmy? i already got it figured out. oh, yeah? well then, who? the killer is... that chick! ehh...... she was further away than anyone, what the FUCK are you talkin about!? lemme show you. it's true. if i couldn't have him, nobody can, so i KILLED him! a-actually, i was just joking, but, y'know, way to confess without a lawyer. (fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!) hey i know we're in babyland but you don't have to act like one too. someone just DIED, jimmy. jeez, all your video games made you a sociopath. huh? hm... hey i know you're in need but i gotta jump a bitch, see ya! what the hell, ma? (jimmy... those are nice MN3s.) hey there man, you got the stuff? yeah, i got the stuff. you wanna see it? lay it on me, large man. alright here it is: ten million unmarked dave and buster's bucks. yeah. alright now your end of the deal. the fuck are you doin? huh? ngh! eric, what the hell! sorry dylan i didn't know he was followin me! don't worry about it i got the black market's newest poison.

one cap of this and he's gone for good. get your heavy head over here. yeahhhh drink that kool-aid jammer. aight lets get the fuck outta here. ey ya heard that? yeah it sounded like a coupla trench coats. (ugh... oh my god...) ah nah its just some boy. ('boy', am i in fuckin georgia?) dont worry boy we'll take ya home. (i'm white but this still feels racist.) eyyyyyyy what's goin on? jesus christ what'd you DO all night? Not Another Teen Movie marathon. wh- they only made one of those! yeah, i watched it 3 times. y'know if molly ringwald died in the 80s she'd be like meryl streep right now. that almo... no that didn't make any sense. (what were those cops calling me again?) huh? what!? (oh, that's great.) shit! why- what the... oh, wait... (those trench coat guys... that poison they had...) i really gotta get home. (ey you've reached the jim jam jimmy man always detective signed to young money ymca represent) oh, no. it's been 5 years and he still hasn't changed his answering machine. told you your boyfriend was a fuckin mathlete moron. hngggggh ngh huh? ah shit! doc, what's going on? who are you? what are you talking about? it's me, jimmy. yeah very funny, run along. no, i'm not fuckin around! you're dr randy agasa. 53 years old. you make bullshit experiments and collect checks from the government. wha- why would jimmy tell you a thing like that!? I'M jimmy, you fat, four-eyed, fuck-faced loser! eh- only jimmy makes me feel THAT insecure. but yeah that's one helluva trip, man. yeah why do you have clothes for 6 year olds lying around? jimmy just do me a favor and NEVER ASK THAT AGAIN. (anyone home?) huh? quick, hide! hey, what are you doing here. oh you know, just fuckin around with my desk. grrrr.... huh? you tryin to hide something? uh... hey there, what's your name? co... nan.... yeah conan. conan? kid, your parents suck. they do! social services dumped him off on me as his only living relative. well that's rough. you can stay with us if you want. would you like that, conan? uh, no? (this is bullshit.) so like, what do you do for fun? uhhhh nothing much. do you have a girlfriend? do you have a restraining order? what's this? your new home. oh, cool. (smells like cup noodles with bleach.) rachel you'll never believe what happened- fuckin shit! new job, new client. hop yourself in the cab, bring the kid too! wow, alright. taxi!!! mm! wait up! so we hopped in the cab to check out some case with a rich guy's daughter kidnapped and jesus christ, money makes people CRAZY. some shit went down and uh, long story short, i live with my girlfriend and her dad rent free.

and it's a pretty sweet deal.

[texanredrose]

Y’all wanna hear a dumb story?

So over a decade ago, I worked at a fast food joint that was running a special that came out to $5.01. I worked in Texas which, while that might be obvious from other factors, is also somewhat relevant to this story. I was the assistant manager at the time and the only manager on duty. This was also when I was a bit more country than I am now and spent time out on farms and ranches semi-regularly.

So this guy comes in one night. It was fairly slow, I think he was the only customer we had during his entire stay, and I took his order. He gets the special. I ring him up and tell him the total. He then proceeds to flip his shit.

You see, he didn’t want to pay $5.01 for the special. He wanted to pay $5. Now, previously, we’d had a $5 special, and people sometimes got confused on which special was currently running, so upon the second time informing him that his total was, in fact, $5.01, he became extremely agitated.

“Did you know New Zealand doesn’t have pennies? They’re utterly useless! They’re a burden on the economy! We shouldn’t have them!”

Again, I will remind you, this took place in Texas. Which is in America. Where we do have pennies. And he was American.

Now... I’d seen my fair share of shit over the years working at this place. I worked almost exclusively night shift. Anyone who’s worked night shift anywhere can tell you that shit that just wouldn’t happen when the sun’s up happens all the time once it goes down. People lose their damn minds once it gets dark out. 

So, I began treating this dude like a wild animal. He wanted to go feral over a penny? Fine. I’m going to react appropriately.

Rang him up. Took his $5. Never turned my back to him. Had my employees stay as far as possible while keeping their eyes on him. Watched him. The whole time.

Right about the time his sandwich was done, I could tell he was big time regretting his outburst. Sure, he won the financial victory, but at what cost? He changed his order from dining in to to-go.

I did not relent. Placed his bag on the counter and stepped back. Watched him take it and retreat to his car. I went to the side of the lobby designated for employee breaks (which is where he just happened to park, lucky me) and took my break. Sat there and drank my sweet tea, and stared him down, my back against the wall. Not the right way to sit, as it was a booth. Didn’t care.

He considered coming inside to throw away his trash or simply dumping it outside his window. I was still staring at him. He decided against it.

Never saw that guy again.

The funny thing is, a few customers prior, a drive thru customer was short, so I’d already put a buck in the till out of my own pocket to cover it. I couldn’t give a shit about the till or if the dude had a penny; I was more upset that he thought bitching at me about the US Treasury was an appropriate response.

Years later, I went to Germany and learned the Euro has 1 cent and 2 cent denominations and had a fucking giggle fit over it.

[wiypt-writes]

Riding High

Ch25: Keep it Simple

Chapter Summary: The events of Boston behind them, Frank, Fliss and Mary look forward to Christmas…and Frank has a big surprise planned. 

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut…NSFW and NO UNDER 18s!!!

Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

 A/N: So here it is, the last in the series Riding High. Thank you to everyone who has helped and re-blogged and commended in any way. Do not fear, Frank and Fliss will be back in the next instalment of their adventure Riding On

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 24

If you should ever leave me, thought life would still go on, believe me, the world could show nothing to me, so what good would living do me? God only knows what I’d be without you…

"Mary can you just hold on a second, please!" Frank sighed, grabbing the back of her coat to stop her shooting off into the crowd that streamed down the busy Manhattan sidewalk. "But Frank!" she turned and looked at him, her woollen hat jammed down over her ears "I just wanna see the stall!" "Yeah but you can't just run off!" He grumbled and beside him Fliss gave a chuckle. He turned to look at her "who gets so excited about damned wooden tree ornaments?" "Oh hush!" Fliss leaned up to give him a pack, her cold nose brushing his. In retaliation he pulled the front of her baby blue sparkly bobble hat down over her eye and she shoved him in the chest, laughing. "Fuck you!" "Chance would be a fine thing" he grumbled, taking Fliss’ hand as they headed after Mary. "Awww is that why you're grumpy?" Fliss grinned as they walked "Coz you haven't had any in nearly 3 days?" Frank pouted "No." "Liar..." "Ok, look...Frankie has needs..." he whined "I completely over looked the fact hanging out with an 8 year old in the room would be a cock block." "Always the shower..." Fliss teased and Frank snorted. "Yeah, right. Can you imagine? I give it 3 minutes before she came looking for us." "We go home tomorrow. I'll make it up to you then." Fliss grinned and he sighed. "What?" She laughed. "It’s just...you look so hot in all this winter clothing." Frank grinned. And he meant it. Seeing her wrapped up in a coat, hat and scarf had made her look all cute and cozy...and it had done inappropriate things to him for some odd reason. "Hmmm, you know most men get more turned on the less clothing their girls wear." She teased and he grinned. "Yeah, well, I'm not most men" She gave him a smile which he returned with a soft kiss as they stopped by the stall where Mary instantly dived into looking at the array of ornaments. After a few moments of looking she handed Frank one in the shape of a reindeer stag, and a doe for him and Fliss before selecting a robin for herself. "I think they're so pretty." She looked at the bird in her hand "I saw one at Evelyn's over thanks giving." "Ever heard the saying robins appear when loved ones are near?" Fliss asked. Mary shook her head. "No" "Well, I don't know about here but certainly in England we say it because there is an old belief by some people that a robin is a message from heaven, that a loved one is watching over you." "Do you believe that?" Mary looked at Fliss. Fliss hesitated "Well when my Dad's dad died I was 20 and I remember getting up the morning after he died and there was a robin on the fence of the back garden. Bill told me it was my granddad Alex come to check I was ok." "Do you think it was? Really I mean?" "I dunno sweetheart." Fliss sighed "I'd like it to be true..." "Then you should believe it was." Mary said, looking at her "Because isn't that what faith is? Believing something you want to be true?" Fliss looked at Frank who smiled and gave a small shake of his head. She turned back to Mary, smiling softly as she dropped a hand to the back of her head. This kid was unbelievably wise, but with such an innocence behind it all. "Yeah, I suppose it is." Fliss nodded. "Do you think the robin I saw could have been my mom?" She asked, her eyes wide. Frank at that point stepped in, carefully picking an answer that was ambiguous so as not to say yes, but also not dampening her spirits. "If your mom could I'm sure she would come and see you, make sure you're ok." Mary gave a nod, before she turned back to the stall, her attention back on the ornaments. "We need a dog for Thor, and a cat for Fred oh...and a pony for Monty." "What about Cap and Heidi?" Fliss asked, moving to inspect the selection of decorations. "Oh, yeah!" "This is gonna bankrupt me." Frank grumbled, his hands on Fliss' hips, chin resting on her shoulder as he observed the two of them. "Scrooge" Fliss shot back with a smile "Do you think Verity and Bill will like this one?" Mary held up a snowman. "Absolutely" Fliss nodded. "And can I get one for Evelyn?" She asked, selecting a snowflake. Despite the fact that they were now well into the fifty buck range for fucking tree decorations, Frank couldn't help but want to smile at Marys face. She was so thoughtful, the purity behind it all was, as usual, humbling. So he nodded "Sure she will appreciate it." He smiled. He moved to lift her up so she could hand the ones they had picked over to the guy behind the counter who asked Mary what names she wanted on each one. As she told him, he allowed her to sit up on the edge of the little surface, held in place by Frank to watch as he burnt the names into each ornament before he bagged them up and she took them with a thanks. "Our first family tree stuff!" Mary grinned and Fliss smiled, bending down to give her a hug. They set back off towards the hotel, stopping by a burger joint for dinner before they dumped their bags and returned back out for their final evening in the City. Frank had loved every second of their trip, and so had Mary and Fliss. Seeing Mary's reaction to snow and the Christmas lights had been amazing, along with all the bands on street corners, people walking around dressed up. It was magical and he wasn't afraid to let his inner child come out to play either, as Fliss had just found out. "Whose idea was this again?" He asked as Mary was bouncing up and down in the queue. "Yours!" Fliss scoffed as he took Mary's hand in his right "I seem to recall the very visible horror on your face yesterday when I told you I'd never done it before..." "That’s because it's an abomination that someone who's 34 has never been ice skating." "I was a professional athlete." She shrugged "I was banned from doing anything deemed dangerous " Frank looked at her "What do they consider more dangerous than flying a half tonne animal almost 2 meters into the air?" "Bungee jumping, sky diving, jet skiing, water skiing, ice skating.." Fliss shrugged "just to name 5" Frank shook his head as the queue shuffled forward a little. It wasn't too long now, luckily they had timed it right by arriving 20 minutes or so before the next lot of General Admission to the famous Rockefeller rink opened so there weren't too many people ahead. After another 10 minutes they got to the front and Frank nudged Fliss out of the way as she tried to pay. She scowled at him and he simply rolled his eyes and handed his card over. It wasn't cheap but then, he was in New York. What was? Together they headed onto the ice. Frank, having done it a few times as a kid found his legs fairly quickly and didn't stop himself laughing as Mary's completely went from under her and she landed with a thump on her ass. "Here..." he chuckled, offering her his hand. He pulled her up and moved her in front of him. "Give me your hands..." Mary extended her arms to the side and he took her mitten clad hands in his, holding her in front of him. Fliss was moving tentatively behind him, using the sides for support a little. "Ok slide your right foot forward, like on your roller skates..." Frank said. Mary did as she was told "now left...right...left...right..." He continued his chanting and glanced over his shoulder to see Fliss was concentrating on her feet, her tongue poking out slightly. "You good?" "Yup." She said, raising her hand to give him a thumbs up before she skidded slightly and went down in a tangle of limbs. Letting out a laugh he gently pivoted Mary so she could hold onto the side and offered Fliss his hand. Pulling her up into his arms he held her steady for a moment whilst her laughing subsided. He watched her for a second, her face creasing up into those adorable dimples, eyes crinkled so much they were almost shut and her shoulders shook with the force of her giggles. "I fuckin' love you..." he grinned and she smiled at him. "Back at ya sailor" After another few laps Mary and Fliss had managed to get the hand of it which meant Frank could leave them a little bit as he went off for what he called a proper skate. The girls watched calling him a show off as he crossed his feet and turned, skating backwards a little. Both of them debated sabotaging him and tripping him up but they decided not to, instead they simply pretended they didn't know him, resulting in him grabbing Fliss from behind just beneath the large tree, and spinning her round to face him. "Can I help you?" She teased and he gave a snort. "Yeah, you can... Mary?" He called to her where she was trying to perfect a turn and failing as she almost stumbled again. She looked up and headed over. "Can you take our photo?" "Only if you're gonna kiss..." she replied, making smooching noises. "Well we can’t disappoint her..." Frank shrugged and Fliss grinned, her smile turning into a shriek as Frank quickly grabbed her hips before he took one hand, keeping the other round her back and dipped her so she was bending backwards, planting a sloppy kiss on her lips. She laughed against his mouth as he gave her a wink, before kissing her a little deeper and then setting her upright, his eyes boring into hers which were shining in the Christmas lights surrounding the rink. "Oh that was great!" Mary howled and he turned to face her as she handed his phone back. Frank checked the photo and had to smile, it was a dammed good shot. He showed it to Fliss and she beamed. "A framer?" She asked. "A framer." He agreed. It took them ages to get Mary to finally leave the rink. Even a bribe of hot chocolate, marshmallows and cookies wasn't doing it. Eventually Frank put his foot down and told her it was time to go as it was almost 9pm and they still had that tree to go see before they headed to Central Park for one last walk in the lights. After handing their skates back and retrieving their belongings from the lockers they followed the path to the tree. As they round the corner Mary gasped. "It's huge!" She turned to look at Frank and Fliss, her eyes wide "Oh my God!" Frank smiled kissed Fliss' cheek as Mary walked slightly ahead of them down the walkway that was flanked with smaller trees and the famous lit up trumpeting angels . As they caught her up he slipped his spare hand in his pocket, his fingers curling round the small, leather box inside. The damned thing had been burning a hole in his pocket since he had bought it in Boston just after Thanksgiving. Fliss, Verity and Bill had all stayed for a very pleasant week rounded off with a damned good proper Thanksgiving dinner and the three of them had flown home on the Friday, as Fliss was starting to stress about her business. He and Mary followed on the Sunday after she had been given the all clear to fly after a week’s check up at the Hospital. On his spare afternoon, he'd taken a trip into the city with one goal, and it had been surprisingly easy. The first jeweller he has walked into had a perfect ring, and despite the fact he had visited several others none of them caught his eye like that. So he had gone back and asked the assistant for a closer look. It wasn't a huge rock, white gold and emerald cut with in a pave setting, but everything about it had screamed Fliss. It was delicate and feminine but with a wonderful sparkle just like her. He knew that sounded so lame when he had told the assistant but she has just smiled and told him that if he had that much conviction, it must be right. He had been lost when she asked him what size, but in a sudden inspiration he had remembered the Pandora ring he had bought her when he had gotten his first new pay check as supervisor. He mentioned this to the assistant who beamed and said she could easily size it from that by using a simple conversion chart and told him to come back the following day. His sudden good spirit had fallen as he explained he couldn't do and asked her to see if here was anything she could do, even contemplating taking it and having it sizes back in Florida. But, after the shitty run of events over the last week, his luck was in after she returned 5 minutes later with a slip of paper, informing him it would be ready by the end of the day. When he had told Mary he was going to ask Fliss to marry him, she'd been so excited. She'd asked when, where and when he said he didn’t know she'd given him the most exasperated look on the planet. The only one of his friend who he had confided in, Greg, hadn’t been much help either, simply telling him to do it in a way that meant something to them both. Simply put he just hadn't a fucking clue. He had agonized over how to pop the question. On the boat? Or maybe a sunset on their favourite spot at St Pete's beach? Did he wait for New York? As such, Frank had taken to carrying the ring around with him, waiting for that moment when it felt right. So far it hadn't happened at home and as it stood New York wasn’t faring any better. He had thought about it at the top of the Empire state, but it had been too busy. Then there was a moment in Central Park after they had been snowman building that might have worked...until Fliss had nailed him in the face with a snowball. So they'd had a snowball fight instead. Then when walking over Brooklyn Bridge, the skyline behind them… then when they walked back to the Hotel after seeing the Lion King on Broadway, going the long way round to see the display in Macy's window all lit up...and then that moment before when Mary had taken a picture of them kissing under the tree on the ice rink... but none of it felt right. It didn't feel like the moment for them. But now something stirred in his gut. This could be it. It wasn't too busy, the place was gorgeous, right in front of the tree Fliss had been so desperate to see... Ok Adler, you can do this. Taking a deep breath he pulled the box from his pocket when he heard Mary give a squeal. "Oh...wow! Frankie look..." Fliss' voice was a whisper and she nudged him, pointing to the base of the tree. He followed her gaze to see a blonde haired man down on one knee, presenting a ring to a dark haired woman who had her hands clasped over her mouth. Frank slipped the box back into his pocket and stared at the man as he placed the ring onto his now fiancés finger and did his best to look like he cared when Fliss let out a soft "Awwww" The man looked around excitedly, his eyes falling on the three of them before he asked Frank if he or Fliss would mind taking a photo for them. "Course not buddy, congratulations." Frank smiled. Fucking prick... ***** "It was AMAZING!" Mary gushed to Verity as they walked to the car, Fliss' parents having come to pick them up from the airport. "we saw so much stuff but nowhere near all of it but Frank said we could go back next year in the summer maybe and do a bit more." "Looks like someone else had a good time too." Bill smiled, nodding to Fliss who let out a loud yawn. Frank chuckled "She was up all night, I told her not to have more food so close to bed time." "I wanted a hot dog and a pretzel." Fliss mumbled, "Besides, it's nothing to do with the food...we did a lot of walking." Bill gave a snort "You ride horses for a living, you should be fit enough to walk round New York" "I probably skated about 4 miles too..." Fliss said looking at Mary "Someone wouldn't come off the ice rink" "You been sleeping ok otherwise?" Verity looked at her "I'm fine mum." She smiled "No anxiety?" 'V, she said she's fine so leave it" Bill said gently and Fliss shot a grateful look at her dad. She knew her mum was only concerned but she was fed up of assuring people she was fine. After the attack from John she had suffered a bout of delayed shock which had manifested in a few panic attacks, nightmares, and restlessness at night and on one occasion nausea. Luckily Frank had been brilliant at keeping calm when she had an episode, helping her work through it and the last incident she had suffered had been over a week ago. Once they were all in the car, Frank took the passenger seat after Verity offered it to him, Mary continued to chat all the drive home about New York, Fliss and Frank butting in here and there. They arrived home little after 30 minutes later and Fliss headed up the steps with Mary, Thor almost sending the pair of them flying when they opened the door. "Oh puppy I missed you!" Fliss smiled as she gave him plenty of attention and he kept licking her face, whining and emitting quiet little barks. "Did you miss me? Did you?" "Yerress" Frank did his best Scooby Doo impression as he walked past and Fliss let out a laugh, as she stood up and headed into the living room behind Mary, bumping into the girl as she stopped dead, giving a squeal as she saw the Christmas Tree in the corner. "Mum, Dad?" Fliss called, smiling "I take it you did this?" Frank appeared behind them both, smiling as Fliss and Mary exchanged a glance before they all turned to Bill and Verity who were stood in the doorway. "Well we know how much you like to get your tree up as early as you can and, well we were picking one up for ourselves so we got you one. You don’t mind do you?" Verity, looked at Fliss then Frank. "No, of course not!" Fliss grinned. "Saved me a job." Frank nodded "Thanks guys." "Can we decorate it tonight?" Mary asked "Pleeeeeeeaaaasssseee Frank!" Frank glanced at his watch before giving a sigh, he knew she wouldn't go to bed if he said no anyway so what was the point? Plus she was at the University tomorrow which didn’t start until 10 so... "Ok, but if you so much as grumble tomorrow morning when I get you up you'll be in deep trouble." He looked at her sternly as she stooped to pick Fred up. "Cross my heart, hope to die, we all know Fred's got one eye..." she chanted off, nodding. "We brought your box of decorations from the annex." Verity smiled at Fliss, nodding to the box on the floor. "We thought you could pick what you want to keep now you're combining."

“Speaking of decorations…” Frank said, looking at Mary.

“Oh…yeah…hang on…” She said, running to the sofa where she had dumped her little pink rucksack. She fished out the paper bag they had gotten from the stall and found the Snowman they had bought. With a smile she handed it to Verity who looked down at it, her face curling into a smile as her eyes started to prick with tears.

“Fliss said you wouldn’t mind the names Mary wanted on them.” Frank said, watching carefully.

“Of course we don’t mind!” Bill smiled, picking Mary up to give her a hug “We are Nanny V and Poppa B ain’t that right kiddo?” “Yep!” she grinned, hugging him.

“We’ll save it to hang tomorrow when you come over after school.” Verity said as Bill set Mary on the floor and she hugged her tightly.

After a little more chat Verity and Bill left and Frank instructed Mary to change into her Pyjamas before they did the tree. Deciding that was a good idea, Fliss did the same and before long they were all in the living room. Fliss and Mary going through the boxes of decorations, Frank wrestling with the tangle of fairy lights. How they managed to get so fucking knotted up after simply being in a box for 12 months was beyond him.

He had just about managed it when Thor came over to inspect what he was doing, and dropped straight onto his back on top of the string.

“Thor…get out of it…” he grumbled, pushing the dog who simply rolled over, taking half the lights with him, tangling them round his legs and his tails. “Jesus Christ…stand still…for fucks sake…”

Thinking this was a huge game, Thor started to bounce around, barking, and Frank shook his head. “Fliss, sort this mutt out….” Fliss gave a laugh and dropped off the sofa, calling Thor to her. He sat down, allowing Frank to remove the lights before he stood up, shaking them out. Together the 3 of them wound them round the tree before they made a start on the decorations.

“Frank got me this for my first Christmas.” Mary said, hanging a red bauble which had her name on it. “The glitter has all fallen off it now.”

“We can add more if you want.” Fliss looked at her and Mary shrugged.

“I kinda like it.” It didn’t take them long, and their wooden trinkets from New York were the last ones they hung, Mary ensuring they took pride of place. Frank then lifted her up so she could place the star at the top before they stood back.

“Ready for the big turn on?” Frank asked, grinning. Mary and Fliss cheered and began a countdown from 5. When they hit 1 Frank hit the switch and the lights on the tree came to life. He stepped back, looking up at it, his arm curling round Fliss’ shoulder, his other dropping to Mary as she grinned.

“Best Tree ever.” she smiled.

“Yeah, and now it’s time for the best bed ever…” he looked at her.

“Seriously?” Mary complained

“No moaning, remember?” Frank instructed her. “That was in the morning.”

“Well I just extended it to now as well.” he said, shrugging “Because I can, so get…” “Fine, fine, I’m going…” she grumbled. “Night Fliss.” “Night sweetie.” Fliss dropped a kiss to her head before Mary shot a filthy look at Frank who met her with a passive one of his own.

“I’ll be in in a second.” Frank shot after her, watching as she headed down to the hallway. He turned back to Fliss who was watching the tree, a smile on her face.

“Not exactly up to Macey’s standards…” Frank chuckled and she shook her head.

“I love it.” “It looks like an Elf threw up on it.”

“All trees should be like that.” Fliss shrugged, before she gave his cheek a peck. “Now, you go sort Mary and I’ll get us both a beer.” “Actually…” he said, looping his arms round her waist. “I believe there was something else you promised me tonight…” “Oh, yes, of course, Frankie has needs…” she replied with an almost uncanny impersonation, which made him snort. “Does that mean no beer?”

“No beer.” “You want me to wait in bed.” “Yes I do.” he nodded “Go, I’ll let Thor out and lock up.”

Grinning she accepted his kiss and smiled as she turned around, casting him a quite frankly sinful look over her shoulder which almost had him hard right there and then. Not wanting to wait a moment longer he sorted the dog, locked the door, poked his head into Mary’s room to wish her goodnight, and headed into their bedroom. Fliss was hanging her jeans in the closet after having simply discarded them on the bed earlier, and wasting no time Frank pulled off his T-shirt, tossing it to the side before he stepped up behind her, spinning her round to face him. He pressed his lips to hers, deepening the kiss as he slid his hands down to cup her ass and she smirked into the kiss.

“I like your ass.” he muttered. “I like yours too” she said back, “And your arms”

He laughed and pulled back to look down at her as her fingers trailed up his biceps. “My arms?”

“Yeah, your big, strong arms, and your big, broad shoulders and your stupid, handsome face…” she muttered, pulling him back down to her. In between the dizzying kisses Frank steered her towards the bed, and as her legs collided with the edge he stopped to gently trail kisses across her bare collar bone. His lips found her jaw and then, with a wicked quirk of his eyebrow he reached down for her thighs, and grabbing them he pulled them forwards, causing her to fall backwards as he pitched them both onto the bed. As she laughed he chuckled slightly before he kissed her again, and then it was a scramble to get out of his clothes as fast as he could before he fell back on top of his girl, his hands pulling up her camisole top, lips kissing at the spot just below her ear before he slid down her shorts, his mouth gently kissing a trail up from her belly through the middle of her breasts, up her neck and finally back to her mouth.

Fliss was utterly lost now, in the usual whirl of love, and lust and passion and kissed him back, hard as his hand gently dropped between her legs and he felt her slick against the tips of his fingers as he gently coaxed at her clit, continuing until she was nothing short of a writhing mess clawing at his back, aching for him. They locked eyes as he took her left hand in his, and slowly worked into her, both moaning simultaneously at the sensation, Fliss’s eyes rolling back at the exquisite stretch inside. Frank began to move his hips slowly, deeply, his thrusts weren’t measured in the slightest despite the fact he was absolutely aching for her. He wanted to take it slow, end what had been an amazing trip in the same mood it had started in, absolute pure love.

His mouth moved back to Fliss’s neck, nipping gently at her skin and she let out low moan as he picked up the pace ever so slightly, his spare hand kept hold of her hip, keeping her as close to him as she could possibly be.

“Fuck, Frank, right there…” she groaned as he hit her spot and he smirked slightly, he loved the way she got like this with him, ever so demanding at times, such a far cry from the timid woman he had fallen for the previous year.

“Yeah?” he panted as she gave a soft cry, her body tensing underneath him “Good.” “So good…” she moaned, arching her back. His mouth found hers again and his hand slid from her hip to gently tease her nipple and she rolled her hips to grind up against him, changing the angle slightly causing him to go deeper.

“Lissy…” he panted as he drove into her deeply, slowly, and then again and again, his pace increasing ever so slightly. Every single sense Frank possessed was on fire and he broke the long, lazy kiss that they were sharing to stifle a moan against her cheek when he felt her clench around him, a tell-tale sign she was nearing her release. The sheets rustled underneath and around them both as his hips pushed up against hers, and Frank saw Fliss’ head tip back, her throat bared to him in utter bliss as she came hard, her moans soft and breathy into his ear. Frank picked up his pace slightly, chasing his own end as he pushed her through hers, and when he felt that snake in his belly beginning to unravel, he gave a low grunt which morphed into a gasp as he clung to Fliss, spilling himself into her, his hips slowing to a stop as he collapsed forward. Fliss gave a soft chuckle as her hands gently slid up his back and into his hair, as she moved and pressed a soft kiss to his head.

“I know I keep saying it but I really do fuckin’ love you Cowgirl.” he said, voice muffled as his face pressed into her neck.

Fliss gave a chuckle “I’ll never tire of hearing it Sailor. “

He moved to look at her, flashing her a grin before he caught her mouth in a sweet kiss. **** "You still not managed it?" Greg asked as they stood at the bar, waiting for their drinks. Frank sighed and glanced at Fliss who was sat with Bonnie in the booth, the pair of them sniggering at something. "Do you see a ring on her finger?" He looked at Greg. "No" "Well there's your answer." "What's the hold up, man?" Greg frowned. "Nothing has felt right." Frank sighed "she won’t want a huge fuss in front of people so that basically ruled out all of New York...bar one moment when I thought it was time, in front of the tree at Rockefeller...and then some douchebag went and beat me to it, proposing to his girl whilst we watched..." "You're over thinking it." Greg said, looking at Frank "Take a step back. When are the pair of you at your best? The time you enjoy most, I mean" "Honestly?" Frank shrugged "at night when Mary's gone to bed and we finally sit down and just watch TV or joke around." "Well there you go." Greg shrugged "What, at home?" Frank frowned "Why not?" Greg looked at him "the point isn't to be showy or flashy but to show her you wanna spend the rest of your life with her." Frank pondered this for a moment. Greg has a point. They were at their happiest doing the simple things, spending quiet time together, being fucking normal. Fliss loved it when they curled up and Frank would simply cuddle her close and kiss her head, easy signs of affection that she had craved all through her wreck of a marriage. And Frank loved it too, because it made him feel grounded, time for him to simply be Frank in his own right, the very thing he used to use his Friday night drinking sessions for. Now he could feel it every night, thanks to Lissy…

And then, suddenly an idea came to him, out of nowhere.

Oh, it was perfect! "Greg..." he smiled, slapping the man on the back "you are a genius." "Glad I could be of service." Greg smirked "This means I get best man duty, right?"

Frank smirked at him, shrugging, not giving anything away. His eyes flicked back to Fliss who had now stood up, Simon having returned to the table sliding in next to Bonnie. Frank’s eyes travelled up her bare legs, from her high-heels up to the short little pink playsuit she was wearing, which was printed with black palm trees and other patterns, the small straps settling on her tanned shoulders, the front showing him just enough cleavage. She was wearing a black butterfly necklace that she had bought in New York and her hair was loose, falling over her shoulders in soft curls. Her brown eyes locked onto his and he smiled as he remembered the last Circle Of Truth Christmas outing the previous year, when he had told her he loved her for the first time. And here they were, now 5 days away from their second Christmas together.

“Hey beautiful” he smiled as she reached his side. His arm curled round her and he pressed a kiss to her cheek “You ok?” “Yeah, just thirsty.” she smiled. “Can I get a water as well as my gin please?”

“Sure…” he turned to look at the bar tender who was pulling their drinks together. Once he had attracted his attention and added a bottle of water to the order he turned back to her as Greg spoke up.

“Frank said you enjoyed New York.” “Oh, it was fantastic.” she smiled “Every bit as magical as I thought it was going to be.”

“Good, I’m glad you all had a good time.” Greg smiled “You deserved it after everything that went down.” “Yeah well, he’s banged up now. His brother is going to go down for Endangerment or whatever it is you call it, its’ done, it’s over.” Fliss smiled, “We got the rest of our lives ahead of us now.” “Well, if that doesn’t call for shots then I don’t know what does…” Greg smirked as the bar tender placed their drinks in front of them.

“No, Greg…” Fliss started to protest but Greg cut her off.

“Yes Greg!” he smirked, turning to the bar tender, “Can I get a bottle of Tequila pal and 8 glasses.” Fliss groaned “I’m teaching at 9 am!”

“Dumbass…” Greg looked at her and Frank gave a snort.

“I told you to switch them out…”

“I can’t!” she pouted “I already did for Boston and New York…” “Well…” Greg smirked as the bar tender set the bottle and glasses down in front of him “Looks like you’re doing it with a hangover honey.” “Fuck my life…” **** Fuck my life indeed. Fliss spent the following morning throwing up, groaning once more that she was never drinking tequila EVER again. Frank reminded her of how many times she had said that over the time he had known her and she’d simply let out a huge fake sob and thrown herself face down on the bed again declaring that she didn’t want to adult anymore as it sucked.

The days before Christmas passed in the usual chaos. Presents were wrapped and stashed under the tree, more drinks were had with Friends. Evelyn visited for a few days, which had actually almost pleased Frank a little. She wasn’t staying for Christmas, her arrangements having already been made, but she had hinted that maybe next year she could, to which Frank and Fliss had both agreed. She had been taken with Mary’s gift to her and had laughed out loud when Bill and Verity had presented her with a case of Malbec, the same Malbec she’d smashed a bottle of over John’s head. Her gifts to them both had been a substantial chunk of money, in the thousands, and when Frank had protested at the amount on the cheque she had waved it off as 8 years of owed presents. Mary’s was wrapped so it was placed under the tree for Christmas morning. Evelyn headed back to Boston on the morning of Christmas Eve, Frank and Mary driving her to the airport instead of her driver, where they had both bid her a Happy Christmas and waved her goodbye as she headed off to spend it with her friends in Newton.

After the final preparations were made Frank, Fliss and Mary collapsed onto the sofa for a Marathon of Christmas Films. Mary was, as usual, excited and the copious amounts of chocolate and candy she was shovelling down weren’t helping either, but what the hell, it was Christmas after all.

"You ok?" Frank glanced at Fliss as she sat on the other side of the couch. Love Actually was playing, the final film of the evening before Mary went to bed. Fliss, however didn't look like she was paying attention. "Huh?" She looked at him, blinking. "I said are you ok? You look like you were miles away"

“Yeah, sorry, I was errr…just running through things in my head, making sure nothing was forgotten.” Frank smiled. They were hosting Verity and Bill tomorrow as Steven and his family were at his wife’s parents for this year, flying out instead of the 28th to spend New Year’s with them all. Fliss had asked Frank if they could host, as she’d never had the chance to do that before and of course he had agreed, not least because of the excited look on her face when she had asked.

“The table is set, food and everything is ready to go…” he chuckled, looking at her “Just relax…”

He reached round Mary, his hand gently rubbing at Fliss’ back and she smiled at him, turning her attention to the TV.

20 minutes or so later the film finished and Mary jumped up, grabbing Frank’s hand to make him dance to God Only Knows as the final closing scenes played out. He smiled and picked her up, resting her on his hip as he twirled her round to the song, the pair of them laughing before he eventually dropped her down and told her it was bed time. She scooted off, Fred trotting behind her, his tail swishing as she skipped and Frank headed in about 5 minutes later to tuck her in, before he came back to the living room.

“She wants you to go and say goodnight.” he smiled,

Fliss nodded and stood up.

“You sure you’re ok?” Frank asked.

“Yeah, honestly, I’m just tired.” she assured him. Giving him a kiss she headed up the hall and Frank watched her go before he smiled to himself, and set about quickly putting the last touches to his plan.

She came back about 10 minutes later and he smiled at her as she walked into the room.

“OK, now she’s out of the way…I got something for you...” Frank smiled.

Fliss looked at him before she shook her head, chuckling a little “I got something for you too…Frank, I have-” “Me first.” Frank cut her off.

She looked at him for a second, his bright blue eyes were shining as he grinned at her and she rolled her eyes.

“Fine…” she smiled, “Ok, you first.” He grinned and then folded his arms “You gotta find it.” “What?”

“It’s hidden, on the tree, and you gotta find it.” Her face lit up as she gave a laugh “You are such a dork!” “Yeah, I know…” Narrowing her eyes playfully she moved to the tree, glancing at it. “Ok so it’s not very big then, seeing as I can’t see it straight away.” Frank shrugged as she continued her search.

“I haven’t put it high up, seeing as you’re a short ass…” “I’m perfectly average for a woman thank you.” “Trust me baby girl, nothing about you is average.” he winked and she let out a snort.

“Charmer.” she grinned, turning back to the tree.

“Ok, you’re miles off…” he said, and she moved to her right “Gettin’ warmer…warmer…ok, yep, nearly there…” Fliss continued to search, and then something caught her eye. There was something shiny handing from the nose of her Doe ornament. She stepped forward slightly, and when she realised what it was her right hand flew to her mouth. Frank’s breath caught in his throat as she spun to face him, her eyes wide.

"You, me and Mary have been hanging out together since August last year now...” he said, clearing his throat slightly “How do you feel about hanging with us forever?" He watched, holding his breath as Fliss' chest heaved with emotion as she looked at him, those brown eyes he could happily stare at all day were full of tears, the hand which had flown to her mouth in surprise was now shaking as it slid to the spot beneath her throat, that dip in her neck that he could nuzzle at forever. "I'll hang with you for as long as you'll have me..." she whispered, taking a deep breath. "Is that a yes?" Frank inhaled sharply and a watery laugh burst through her tears. "Yes. Yes, a thousand times yes!" Frank's face split into a huge grin "shit..." he sputtered before she threw herself into his arms and he lifted her up easily, her legs wrapping around his waist as he held her close, kissing her neck. She pulled back and placed a kiss to his lips, long and short pecks being shared as she laughed and he laughed, the pair of them simply lost in the moment until eventually he set her down and with a shaking hand he reached out to retrieve the ring from where it was hanging. Taking her left hand in his, with a deep breath he slipped the diamond onto her finger.

Fliss looked at it, admiring the way the delicate band sat underneath her knuckle, the beautiful diamond twinkling in the lights of the tree.

"Oh Frankie...it’s gorgeous..." she whispered, before she looked at him, taking his face in both his hands and pulling him down for a deep kiss. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." He smiled, kissing her again before he pulled away, his hands linking behind her back. 

"I err, got us some champagne." He smiled, "I know it was presumptive of me but figured we could have it tomorrow if you turned me down." Fliss looked up at him, blinking before she took a deep breath “First I need to get you…just wait here…” He released her from his hold and she turned and headed out of the room, Frank watched her go, blinking for a moment before he shrugged and headed to the fridge, the smile still plastered on his face. She said yes! 

Not that he had doubted she would, not really, but there had always been that little bit of fright she may have done. But that was all gone now. As he popped the cork on the bottle he found himself thinking about how he would be doing that soon enough on his wedding day. He poured 2 glassed and headed into the living room with them wondering if maybe a late Autumn wedding next year would be nice, October perhaps when it started to cool off slightly. They could do the beach wedding she always wanted, hire a marquee... Lost in his thoughts completely he jumped a little when Fliss spoke his name and turned to look at her as she stood in front of him, the back of his thighs brushing against the sofa slightly. He noticed her hand was in her pocket, clutching something. Playfully he nodded towards it “I assume that’s not a spanner." He chuckled, referencing the joke they often shared and Fliss shook her head, biting her lip. "No it’s a bit bigger than that" With a shaky hand she pulled out a small, white stick of plastic and held it towards him. It took Frank a moment to understand what it was and as soon as he did his eyes widened and he looked at her, then it, then back again.

"You're...we're...no!." he stuttered, reaching out to take it from her. "I found out this morning." Fliss whispered, watching his reaction carefully "I suspected last week but thought it might all be down to stress and stuff but..." "How, I mean..." "I should have started a new pill packet when we went to Boston but I forgot to take it with me. I thought I'd be ok if I started as soon as I got back but..." "There's a baby in there?" Frank cut her off as he stumbled over his words, nodding to her stomach "Yeah" Fliss nodded. "You put it there." Frank's legs grew shaky and he dropped onto the sofa, staring down at the test in his hands.

2 blue lines. 2 blue lines that had just changed his world forever. "I'm sorry, I know this is sudden and I should have been more careful..." Fliss took a tentative step towards him and he reached out, his hands on either side of her hips, gently pulling her t-shirt up. He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to her belly, his forehead resting just above her navel. "I'm gonna be a dad." he pulled back, his eyes watering. "Frankie, you already are." Fliss said, her own tears once more springing forth. "I know you hate it when I say that about Mary but it's true." He looked at her, a dazed smile split his face into two as he pulled her onto his lap, where she straddled him, and he kissed her, hard, leaving her slightly breathless before he rest his forehead against hers. "Fuck, Lissy." he whispered, his eyes closed "You're cooking a little person..." She spluttered a laugh, nodding, her forehead brushing his as she did. "Was it made in Boston...is that the right word?" He pulled back to look at her and she laughed, brushing her hand through his fluffy hair as his gently reached out to rest against her stomach. "Yeah and most likely." "It's a little Boston Bean" he grinned and she laughed again, pressing her lips to his. "You're ok with it then? I know it's probably not what you would have planned but..." "Ok? Of course I'm ok!" He smiled "I love you and the thought of us making a little person that's half me, half you...fuck, it's amazing." She smiled and nodded, her voice a whisper "I know..."

"There is one problem." Franks said, his arms wrapping tightly around her. "What?" "You just ruined Christmas forever...because nothing is ever gonna live up to this ever again."

****** Fliss, Frank and Mary’s adventure continues in RIDING ON