#I have a picture of my friends old fish that I printed and cut out on my wall

[peach-pot]

an important part of being a teenager is putting the stupidest shit on your walls as decor

[ofmermaidstories]

Hey, Merms! 👋

You always do such a good job avoiding physical descriptions when writing the Y/N's, but lately I've been wondering: what kinds of clothes do you personally imagine them wearing? You once mentioned your "headcanons" for the kinds of perfume they might wear, and I thought that was super fun. Also, you always describe clothes so beautifully! The parts in something where Kenzo, Kihara, and Scribbles are going over the Hero Gala outfits are some of my favorites.

On that note, I'm especially curious about Scribbles' wardrobe, since Deku's poor fashion choices are always a point of major contention lol.

I love getting to play with clothing, in writing, because beyond just liking clothes, personally, narratively they serve such an important function in world/character-building. Clothes are so telling of a person! Which is why I find it so necessary to avoid it as much as humanly possible with a Y/N, unless there’s a narrative/meta reasoning for it (getting a new coat, scarf; being kitted out for a formal event. Indulging in high-end lingerie to showcase you do think about what you’re wearing, at least intimately, and thus giving you a reason to be judgemental of someone else’s poor tastes in fucking cargo pants). But okay, I’ll play. 👀 Putting everything under a cut, so those of our friends who don’t want the fun/fantasy of the Y/N they imagine ruined don’t have to see my subjective taste in fashion, LOL.

Let’s start off with my baby, Weedsy-woo.

Weeds would wear a lot of natural fibres, like 100% linen pants or dresses, woollen tops for the cooler months. Weeds was raised by Granddad, so Weed’s style would be unconsciously conservative, (high necklines, for example) especially on days when Weeds is working in the shop (which is most days lmao). Granddad was a practical man, though! So even though there’d be a unintentional romanticism in Weed’s choices (a lot of flowy cuts in the dresses and skirts), they’re made knowing that Weeds has to stand or work in them, and that they need to be comfortable and be able to handle, idk, getting wet from dripping flower ends, be about to get dirty and easily washable. There’d be a lot of soft colours (beiges and pale rosy pinks, sage greens) with the occasional vibrant pop of colour (a fun print of fluro pink and yellow and orange, for example, on a top maybe; or the red coat Akane gifts Weeds for Christmas, the yellow scarf from Katsuki). Once Katsuki comes into the picture and has carved out his own permanent space, some of his jackets would start appearing slung over a shop chair, or wrapped around Weeds in the early morning hours of the freezing warehouses of the flower markets.

Okay though, let’s talk my troublemarker Scribbles.

Scribbles is sloppy. Wide-leg men’s pants, fished out from a 200-yen bin at an op-shop. Old, well-worn band t-shirts that have given so much in slack they slip over the shoulder. A sarong from a little Bali-import store that Scribbles finds in Mum’s stuff, when Mum moves to New Zealand. Oversized mens shirts, fished out from that same op-shop, layered over crop tops and silky singlets. Scribbles would like cuts that show cleavage, because why spend good money on lingerie if you’re not going to show it off somehow?

But mostly, I don’t think Scribbles would really overthink things. Because Scribbles spends like, idk, 17 hours or something bent over a tablet/lightboard, trying to draw, the pieces Scribs wears have to be comfortable (cue the wide pants, the oversized shirts). Scribbles crawls out of bed at 8 am (after coming home at 4am), crawls into the first pair of pants that smell clean and then idk, a random top pulled from a basket, before throwing on on old painter’s overcoat, because the aircon can get kind of chilly. But because Scribbles is an artist (an artist raised by a model mother who adored fashion), Scribs has an unwitting eye for it—every piece in Scribble’s wardrobe can be mixed and matched. I’ve always, always, from day one imagined Scribbles to be the kind of Cool Girl that can make anything work, from sheer attitude alone, but I think the deck was stacked from the beginning for Scribs, too. I think it makes it doubly unfair that Scribbles is so mean about Deku’s choices LOL, because Scribbles just takes it for granted that of course people can dress well, so wtf is he doing with all those cheesy t-shirts? That kindergarten colour-blocking he has going on with the hero merch? Disgusting, pull yourself together, Deku.

[ikarus-wax-wings]

Depression Room

This mess, You don't know how to look at it; This bumbling pile, So spread with chaos- It could almost be in motion- Terribly, Secretly- These parts switch out/ Those appear-

But let me show you: As an artist knows each brush stroke in some way- Though sometimes somewhat forgotten- You see the big picture: the monster in it's grand frightfulness: Claws and teeth, Enormous hide, Starving red eyes, Such bulk- Such unmountable horror- A hill you go to die on- But: I know the details: The mind and the smallest hairs and scales;

( Maybe as a murderer knows it's victim's insides more than the victim ever can, what sweet irony that the one to destroy knows so well the details, almost lovingly)

So let me guide you now: First, Look upon the spilled wax: Red and marring different surfaces: - This painting- unfinished- - Stacked upon this book, - Stacked upon this sketchbook-- Stacked upon: -This old table: Wobbly legs akin to Atlas'-- - Dripping down to the carpet

Oh- Now- Here- Here, this pile of books: Bought in the summer, Opened for less than five minutes each; They stand as a pillar on the left

And- Here- The floor- No, watch it again- Watch it again: Polluted like the sea, Bloated fishes swimming sluggish through plastics and silts and- The small bits: Unidentifiable- too small and quick- moving as a mass- This sea bed is layered. Layered. An archeological find each level down/

See this?

The paper, so overwhelming, but- Notice how they are all different: - Cut pieces from white paper, - Cut pieces from coloured paper, - Tiny crumbs of paper, - And paper with holes: Outlines of some printed shapes stolen from their home- their 2d world- - Here, blank printer pieces: my dutiful soldiers standing at the ready- -Cardstock thrown there Pieces, pieces So many little cut pieces

Then here: - Spilled salt mingling with dirt and dust, And there- - The fallen bodies of markers and pens-

A moment of silence.

- A glue gun: it's cord wrapped like a noose around itself- - An empty box of tic-tacs: a gaping casket; - A bandana: disregarded bandage- // Was it used? // - The page of a book, torn out- - A box, wooden- - A box, cardboard,

Pieces, pieces,

A moment of silence // Two moments of silence- For the war I've brought to this room.

Sadistic nature (must be) what makes me smile Almost smile? This neurotic display: It looks like blood. How funny- Almost funny- When it has been brought about by something so silent: Depression's slow, seeping gasses; No guns to fight their whispering fingers- How lovingly they hold you, How achingly sweet they slip around each part of you, Filling you, Filling you, Loving each piece of you with such devoted tenderness, Touching each part of you- And this action: so slow and soft: Doesn't feel like a war at all // Until they constrict. And you realized you never had any chance- Their tendrils have entered your lungs-

And here the battle scene: Piles and piles of mess; Layers and layers: A collage of Destruction, Corpses of your own failings, Piling high, Piling higher, Step into the mess: Up to your ankles, In blood and mud: (All this litter)

And you're so silly. Really, quite deranged, Or quite stupid- Really- To think of your little disaster Like a war, Like a monster, Like an ocean, And a tragedy, And something horrific, And something not quite inevitable-- Something horrible because it wasn't quite- Inevitable. No, these human horrors, They're never quite inevitable,

But you are inconsequential: You are dramatic- Look at this: // Let me speak to you: Like a dog Who's chewed up my shoe- // Look. At. This. You made a mess. A stupid, silly, mess. Stop crying. Stop saying you can't breathe. Your Depression- Imaginary friend- Poltergeist so convenient- They cannot be blamed. Clean up this mess.

Repeated, repeated Command, criticism, --plea? Clean up this mess- These piles are not funeral pires; Not corpses; Not fallen soldiers; Pick it up Pick. It. Up. Pick it up? Why can't you? You can. How dare you not

How?

Clean. This. Mess. ... (please) (please?)

Piles high,

Piles higher-

A moment of silence-

Two

moments

of

silence

. . .

[madlymine]

Episode 9 - Recap

♠ CHARACTERS: Aono the ghost (ML) Yuri the airhead (FL) Fuju the victim (ML's best friend) Mio the horror-enthusiast (FL's potential best friend) + Midori the psycho (FL's older sister) + Okasan (FL's mother) + Hirose the kindhearted (another friend of Aono)

+ Barefoot lady in red (I got chi~lls) https://youtu.be/wTdZbbx53uk

♠ EP9: back to the conversation that was cut-off on the pervious episode between Aono and Fuju.

Aono: "she is like a baby-chick. I helped her, she fell for me. If you helped her instead, she would have loved you." Fuju: "don't say that!" Me: "well, it's the truth."

[in looney-town: FL's house] it's a family meeting! Midori tells Okasan-shark that she found condoms in Yuri's room (which she planted..)

O: "you've been playing around lately. you're always out." Y: "I have tomodacheese!" M: "I saw you hugging a boy last night. I guess he's into your new hairstyle. That's Fuju, right?" Y: "how do you know him?" M: "my old classmate has a sister your age and she told her about the rumors." Y: "he is just a friend!" M: "sex friend, huh?" Y: "NO! I liked a different boy but he died. we didn't even hold hands.." O: "what about these condoms?" Y: "they are not mine! I've never seen them before." M: "oh, so I'm lying! that's mean! mama, you can't forgive this."

[FL's bedroom] Yuri gets depressed and thinks of cutting herself again to end her misery. Then she sees Aono's match textbook and hugs it, which makes her snap out of her dark thoughts. She messages the Blue Cheer Squad for a meeting.

[Mio's Livingroom] Yuri tells Fuju and Mio that she wants to collect things that can keep Aono's memory alive. Photos and personal items. Anything.. Fuju agrees to help and leaves the house. Then Mio apologizes for not being able to save her friends the previous day.

Mio: "I tried leaving the house but I started feeling sick.. I'm really afraid of going outside. I don't know the reason behind it. I really wanted to help you out but couldn't stand up."

Yuri is actually surprised to hear this! Can she be more self-involved?

Y: "you've been so helpful all along. even if you can't help, I consider you my friend. but I didn't notice your sufferings. that makes me sad. so don't apologize."

[at school] Yuri tries to find photos of Aono by asking classmates. No one helps and they make fun of her hair. Calling her weird and mocking her for wanting photos of her ex, when she is rumored to be dating Fuju now.

HIROSE shows up to save the day. He has pictures on his phone and also decides to help Yuri with her mission, being a friendly guy, they collect many from others too.

Then Fuju and Hirose tell Yuri that Aono always flashed a fake smile for taking pictures. Then Yuri wonders if he was also was fake smiling, when they dated cause she no longer remember.

[Aono's grandparents house] Fuju gathers all of Aono's stuff from school and Yuri prints the photos she got, then they go to Aono's house to hand everything to his grandparents. Aono lost his parents at a young age but we still don't know anything about his younger brother.

After the visit, Yuri is more calm and she tells Fuju that she finally realized that Aono is gone. BUT! Mio sends a video on Blue Cheer Squad chat that was taken by Fuju. The video shows Aono coming out from a supermarket and eating a fried fish (something) and laughing with Fuju. WHICH makes Yuri miss him and want to see him again.......

[during class] Yuri still thinking about Aono, until he appears! She stands in shock and everyone is surprised.

Aono: "you're being tricked. everyone is lying to you." Sensei: "what's wrong?" Classmate: "must be the curse! Aono is here, right?"

a vase gets broken and all students freak out.

Sensei: "be quiet! why are you making a fuss?!"

Aono standing by the door now and talking to Yuri: "I'll tell you the truth. come."

Yuri follows him to the hall and it's definitely his demon form. the hall gets darker as shadows of hands coming out the him move towards Yuri's feet.

END.

the real joke would be not getting any answers from the finale and that there is another season coming. which is HighLy likely D;

a year ago

[absolutepokemontrash]

The Brothers and Side Characters Go on a Road Trip!

So, Diavolo, Lord of the Devildom, wants to go on a road trip for reasons unknown. You know what? Screw it, the reason is because Dia wants to do a fun human thing because MC brought it up during tea time. No one can defy the king, so TIME FOR A ROAD TRIP!

Shut Up! HE DOESN’T NEED DIRECTIONS! (Lucifer)

He was going to turn that car around. That’s it, he was going to leave. Someone else drive.

I hope your MC likes staticky traffic updates because that’s what Lucifer constantly had on the radio.

Obviously, some of the brothers complained, so Lucifer put on Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9. HELL YEAH TURN IT UP DJ!

Lol JK no one can car-dance to classical music. Just go back to the staticky traffic updates…

Lucifer would have preferred it if MC or Barbatos were riding shotgun next to him, but Diavolo ended up getting it. Dia is constantly asking Lucifer to stop so he can take pictures of the most mundane shit.

Lucifer stopped stopping after the first fifteen requests.

“I’m not stopping at McDonalds- hang on. Hi McDonald’s employee, one black coffee please.”

In true father fashion, Lucifer got lost and REFUSED to ask for directions. They were lost for five hours before Diavolo finally asked:

“Lucifer, you can turn on the GPS right?”

“Yes, but I don’t trust it.”

Everyone screamed in frustration and were all fully prepared to abandon Lucifer at the side of the road.

Please… can someone else drive? Anyone else…

Are We There Yeeeet..? (Mammon)

Okay, so, Mammon was one of two ways on that road trip. One: complete ADHD daydream zoned out. Or type Two: AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRREEEEE WEEEEEEEE THEEEEEEEEERRRRRREEEE YEEEEEEET???!

He wanted to stop and go to all the tourist traps, by the end of the road trip Mammon wanted to open his own.

The Avatar of Greed loves driving, problem is, he’s used to driving off into the sunset as a lone bachelor, not with his friends and brothers in the car as well.

He only got to drive once, and it was awful. 0/10 would not recommend. Luke thought MC was driving and called shotgun…

Mammon just turns on the radio for music and hopes something good is on at least ONE channel.

STOP WEAVING BETWEEN LANES YOU MORON-

Not all of Mammon’s time driving was bad, the combined powers of Luke and Mammon meant that everyone stopped at a petting zoo at the side of the road. Everyone had a good time, even though when they got back into the car they all smelled like a farm.

Did anyone else hear that oinking in the car-

*Vibes to Music in the Backseat* (Levi)

After being cruelly dragged from his room and placed in this stupid van… he just climbed into the backseat and put on his headphones.

Maybe anime openings could drown out this problem…

Levi only drove for fifteen minutes, it was the most terrifying fifteen minutes of everyone’s lives.

Mario Kart is not a substitute for proper driving school!

Listen- Levi actually saved the entire trip, after stopping at a gas station everyone noticed that Levi never complained about what was on the radio because he was wearing headphones, so everyone bought their own pair and the car trip was so much more pleasant…

No matter how many times Lucifer told Levi to get his feet off the seat, he wouldn’t listen, he was GAMING and they took him away from his gaming chair! HE NEEDED TO SCRUNCH HIMSELF UP LIKE A GOBLIN TO FOCUS DAMMIT!

Whenever the car would stop so everyone could get out and take a picture or look at something, Levi had to be practically dragged out of the car and manually posed for the pictures.

“Is this one of those vans with TVs in them? I brought the first five volumes of TSL on DVD!”

While Satan was driving they stopped at a lake, and Levi burst out of the car and made friends with all the lake fish.

He was still soaking wet when they had to leave.

I’m a Responsible Driver- IS THAT AN OLD BOOKSTORE?! (Satan)

Satan, we believed in you…

Our favourite nerd wanted to stop at any and all historical spots or cool looking bookstores he saw.

When everyone went to buy headphones, he got a pair with cat-ears on them! Because obviously!

Satan’s a responsible driver, and he’s not as prone to road rage as one might think. He has patience, remember in the Jobs event when he worked in customer service? Those kinds of jobs take a godlike amount of self control to do.

Asmo called shotgun and Satan got to have the wonderful experience of having his ear chatted off by his dear brother.

Satan was not about to have fast food for the eighth time in four days, if everyone wanted food, he’d stop at a restaurant.

He was terribly sorry to anyone who needed to use the restroom, but they should have gone at the last rest stop.

When Satan stopped at the lake, he gave everyone a long lecture on the historical significance of the place, then noticed that Levi was being crowned king of the lake and decided he should cut his history lesson short before Levi abandoned his family to chill with the fish forever.

I wanted Satan to be the normal chill one with the radio… I really did… but deep in my subconscious I feel like Satan would put on one of those language learning DVDs so he can learn another language on the go like a total dork.

Road Rage (Asmodeus)

No one saw this coming but- Asmo gets some B A D road rage. Someone cuts him off? “Hi hello dear, WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SHOVE MY FOOT UP YOUR ASS?!” Someone doesn’t use a turn signal? “YOU BRAIN DEAD MORON! LEARN TO DRIVE!” Someone just pisses him off? “*prolonged horn sound*”

It’s just… the car trip was so taxing on the poor Avatar of Lust… he was crammed into the middle seat for the majority of the trip… he had to give his sleeping mask to Belphie… Beel was getting crumbs all over him and he couldn’t move over… just so tragic…

Solomon called shotgun and it was the greatest couple of hours of his life. He got a front row seat to Lucifer and Barbatos dragging Asmo back into the car because he tried to pick a fight with another driver.

Asmo wasn’t having a good time…

He didn’t want to stop for any gas station food or go through a drive-thru so it was another expensive restaurant trip. Rest In Peace to the gang’s wallets.

When he wasn’t driving, Asmo was loudly talking with MC or talking on the phone. It was a blessing in disguise when they went through an area with bad phone reception and Asmo finally had to shut up.

Oh well… at least he got a few nice pictures for Devilgram.

MCDONALDS! MCDONALDS! MCDONALDS! (Beel)

We all know Beel is massive, right? His head is touching the ceiling and every speed-bump hurt.

He’s the one begging to stop at every gas station or fast food place they pass by.

Beel’s section in the car was covered in empty bags of Doritos by the end of the trip.

When Beel got to drive, Belphie got shotgun! Hell yeah dream team!

Poor Beel, he got distracted and ended up somehow popping a tire. He pulled over next to a farm, changed the tire, then got back in the car and kept driving.

Uh… there was an awful lack of snoring next to Beel- OH FUCK THEY LEFT BELPHIE!

Belphie was found sleeping next to the cows on the farm they had stopped at earlier.

The cows didn’t want to give their sleepy god up so easily…

After that… Beel didn’t want to drive anymore…

“Look, cows.” (Belphie)

I really need to stop with the cow jokes but I CAN’T

*snore*

Belphie’s crammed between Beel and MC for most of the trip and is probably drooling all over poor MC’s lap or shoulder.

Beware, he jolts up randomly and looks around in a panic before he realizes he’s in a car. This happens every three hours.

Belphie’s not allowed to drive, he’d fall asleep. But when Lucifer takes the wheel and puts on that fucking staticky radio, Belphie forms an idea.

“*ahem* four thousand bottles of beer on the wall, four thousand bottles of beer,”

Mission success, Lucifer wanted to tear his hair out.

Belphie ended up asking to stop when they get to a stretch of road with no streetlights, everyone got out of the and stared at the stars.

…listen, it’s a miracle no one got axe murdered but the stars were gorgeous.

Remember when I said Satan put on those language learning DVDs? Yeah uh…. Belphie woke up from his last nap of the trip almost fully fluent in Spanish. At least one person gained a new skill on this trip…

Oooo, Look at Thaaaaat! (Diavolo)

Even though the side characters were in a different car most of the time, sometimes people would switch to the other car if they met up at a gas station.

By the end of the road trip Dia looked like one of those tourist dads, Hawaiian shirt and all.

Dia can’t drive

He’s absorbing human culture… and human culture involves ordering everything at this random Wendy’s.

Diavolo’s camera roll is so unbelievably full by the end of the trip and he refuses to delete ANY of the pictures.

Most of the pictures are of really weird and boring stuff, like traffic signs and trees, but the picture he ends up printing out and putting in a picture frame is a picture of the whole group at the petting zoo having a grand old time.

He wanted to take home a baby goat but Barbatos said that wasn’t a good idea :(

Help. (Barbatos)

So, it could have been worse for Barbatos, he could have been stuck in the car with the brothers and MC.

Dia always had the seat up front, but when he left the car to go hang out with the dude-squad, Solomon got the passenger seat.

Solomon decided it would be a good idea to pester Barbatos to go faster and take weird shortcuts through (probably not legal) backroads and creepy forest paths.

Good thing Barbatos, Luke, and Simeon had functioning brain cells and knew that’s how horror movies began.

Barbatos stopped for fast food once and only once. It’s not healthy!

He’s the only driver to take suggestions for music, meaning that the side characters’ car was the best one of the two.

“SOMEONE GET THE BARF BAG!”(Simeon)

He’s just… he’s just trying his best not to vomit…

Simeon thought the car would be a good place to get some writing done while they drove down long stretches of road. Simeon was wrong in that assumption.

With his head down way too much while the car zoomed down the highway, Simeon felt himself getting *very* sick about four hours in.

He was worried he may have accidentally eaten something of Solomon’s… but nope. The angel was carsick.

Luke had the important job of patting Simeon on the back as he leaned over the barf-bag while Solomon dry heaved up front.

Hurry and open the windows before Solomon barfs too!!!!

Other than the car sickness, he had the job of making sure Luke was entertained, there was a good hour of eye-spy until they just got to a stretch of forest.

After that, Simeon realized that he could just give Luke free permission to ramble about whatever he wanted and that would keep the little guy entertained for HOURS.

What do You Mean I Can’t Legally Make This Turn?! (Solomon)

Shifty bastard can drive, problem is, he doesn’t care about the laws of the road.

He ended up getting pulled over after breaking approximately 11 traffic laws in less than ten minutes.

“License and registration.” “Yeah yeah yeah…” “…sir, this license expired in 1989.” “…shit.”

Solomon gunned it and managed to use his magic to hide the car and evade the very confused traffic cop.

Luke was completely aghast at the flagrant law breaking, but Solomon’s excuse was that the 80s were a lawless wasteland and he completely forgot he legally had to update his license.

He’s an equally obnoxious passenger as he is driver, but at least no one in the car is bored.

“You know, back in the day cars didn’t have seatbelts.” “Solomon put your seatbelt back on.”

…Can we keep it? (Luke)

He was against this from the start. A road trip? With those nasty demons? No! Never!

Okay fine… maybe he wanted to see some more of the human world… he agreed to go.

After helping Simeon through his car sickness, he misheard the other car say that MC would be driving, and Luke wanted to hang out with his third parent 🥺

That’s how he ended up riding shotgun next to Mammon. It started out rough, but when the two spotted the petting zoo it was all sunshine and rainbows.

Luke made friends with all the animals! He was like a little Disney Prince. He got especially attached to this one piglet, it was a surprise to Simeon that the goodbye wasn’t tearful.

Luke smuggled that piglet out of the petting zoo and they were all over fifty miles away before anyone noticed.

Of course, everyone was just shocked that Luke had stolen something, but he looked so cute holding the little piggy… awwww…

The bros obviously joked that Luke had gone to the dark side and was totally evil because he had taken the pig, much to the poor kid’s dismay.

Simeon tried to convince Luke that he needed to return the piglet but Luke was adamant that he could totally take good care of it.

Welp, time for Lucifer to fix this.

“Luke, you need to go put the pig back, it’s not yours.”

“No! I’ll take good care of it!”

“That doesn’t matter, you stole it. It’s not your property, do you want to end up a scummy thief like Mammon?”

“No not at all. Let’s go return the pig.”

“THAT’S ALL IT TOOK?!”

[desertdollranch]

Caroline Delivers the Mail

It’s just after sunrise, and Caroline is on her way through Sackets Harbor, delivering the mail! She volunteered to do it for her friend Seth, so that he can go right away to join the fight against the British. Mama was worried about her delivering the mail all alone, but Caroline is excited to have this small adventure. Grandmother made sure that Caroline had everything she needed before she set out. Pictured above are the things she has brought: a warm shawl, a lantern, and Seth’s big mail bag, with mail and a bag of lunch tucked inside!

I made this accessories set for Caroline as an ongoing project to fill the gaps in her too-small collection. American Girl only kept Caroline around for three years, and in that time they missed a lot of opportunities to give her small accessories or much else besides clothes and a few big-ticket items. Her books feel so much like the old-fashioned Pleasant Company stories, and it would have been nice to see her collection given the same respect, with multiple items tied to each of her stories. 

These are a few things that I imagine would have been available had Caroline been released a decade or two earlier than she was in 2012. 

Her knitted wool shawl keeps her warm until the sun is high overhead and the morning is still cool. To make her shawl, I cut the sleeve off of a sweater and into two pieces that I joined at an angle. 

Seth’s waxed canvas mail bag is illustrated in a small vignette illustration in Caroline’s fourth book, Caroline Takes a Chance. I cut canvas into a long rectangle, folded it into three sections, hemmed the edges, and then sewed two thin rectangles to the side openings. I then painted it with a mixture of glue and food coloring, which is more transparent than acrylic paint and so looks more like a natural dye.  

It fastens with buttons so it can open and close easily. 

Inside she has some letters to bring to the residents of Sackets Harbor. These are folded rectangles of paper and sealed with “sealing wax”, actually hot glue that I let cool and then colored with a red marker. I did try to make real sealing wax by melting a candle, but petroleum wax is different than the beeswax used in Caroline’s time, and so it just sort of spread around and stained the paper.  

The mail bag is big enough to hold this red toile drawstring bag, in which Grandmother has packed her a lunch. This was a fabric scrap I sewed into a bag shape with a casing for the drawstring.

Here’s what it looks like fully open. I love this pretty print.

Her book lists what she had packed: a piece of bread, some homemade cheese, and some smoked fish. These are all made from painted clay. Her napkin is a square of white fabric that I bordered with an embroidery stitch on my sewing machine. 

In her story she actually doesn’t carry a lantern, she carries a candle, but here it is anyway. I cut four pieces of clear plastic and painted with a mix of glue and yellow food coloring, which creates transparent paint. I cut 8 small pieces of wooden craft sticks, glued them at 90 degree angles to make four corner pieces, and varnished them with glue and food coloring (mixing green/red/blue/yellow makes brown). The base and the top were also made with craft sticks. The handle is a piece of zip tie painted black. Inside is a real candle, held in place by a metal eyelet that is superglued to the base. 

After Caroline finishes the last mail delivery by noon, she knows Mama expects her to head straight home. But while she’s so far from town, she can’t resist taking a small side trip to her father’s old fishing camp. What she sees there is far beyond what she ever expected to find.... 

[yamithediaperdork]

My Little Brothers revenge Part 1

My little brothers revenge

The Hickman's were for the most part a average middle class family. both the parents worked and they had two children.

A 12 year old named Justin who had natural blond hair in a brush cut though he currently had it dyed indigo blue to go with his icy blue eyes. He had a jock's build (well as much as one could have at that age) and wasn't scared to use his physical power to his advantage.

his little brother Alex was short for his age and was always being mistaken for a 6 year old or worse when he was 9 and a half. He had red hair that went down to his shoulders and he kept in a pony tail and his checks were sprinkled with freckles.His slim body meant he was last to be picked for any sports though unlike his brother he was a strait A student and actually sometimes had to help his older brother with his homework, a fact that neither of them enjoyed.

It was their mother Anne (who Alex took after in appearance) who insisted that he help his big brother and it always ended with Justin pissed off and Alex hanging from a bed post by his sponge bob underoo's.

Their father who Justin took after in appearance refused to believe his little all star could be such a bully and so it was usually left to Alex to figure out a way to hold his own or go and whine to their mother, getting him labeled a mama's boy.

Still all brothers fight, it was just a fact of life and it might of all just gone this way with them being a semi happy family till the day the bully of a big brother took things a step too far and Alex decided that Justin had to be put in his place once and for all.

Alex had been hanging out with his friends Saturday afternoon, playing video games in the living room and having semi pissed off Justin who had wanted to watch a movie with HIS friends.

But mom and dad made sure that the TV time was shared and that both boys got a block of time and with their parents just down the block, Justin knew better then to try and strong arm them out.

Said friends were Kyle and Lyle, twins from down the block who had a semi creepy habit of finishing each others sentences and had light caramel skin and black hair in matching mushroom cuts. it was easy enough to tell them apart as by a semi quick of fate Lyle had brown eyes while Kyle had green.

Missing in action because he'd gone fishing with his dad was Max, anther shrimp who had dirty blond hair in a short Mohawk (his attempt to look cool which had backfired) and was so white he looked pale most of the time.

being shrimps themselves they had hit it off well with Alex and had formed a semi losers club of sorts, though Alex wasn't found of the name the twins who loved anything Steven king had insisted and he was out voted 2 to 1 since Max had joined the group after.

the boys were doing a retro gaming session of sorts, playing downloaded old games on a new machine and the game of choice for the moment was Ninja turtles two.

"Man, this game is so bad.." Lyle spoke up, playing as Leonardo.

"That it's almost good!" Kyle finished and was playing as Ralph.

"heh, that the fun part of these old games..you know they were giving it their all but just were limited." Alex said.

all three of them were seated on the hard wood floor of the living room though they had spread out a blanket since despite the chill of the October air his parents had refused to turn on the heat yet.

the twins nodded and Alex went to say something else when he hear the booming footsteps of his brother then a familiar stink hit his nose.

'No way, he wouldn't!' Alex thought.

"Hey Little Alexandra, Didn't mom tell you to toss out your pissy wet diapie when you got changed this morning? It's bad enough your a bed wetter, do you have to leave your soggy huggies around?" Justin asked.

and indeed Justin was holding out a totally soaked Spider-man print diaper in front of him, holding it with just a finger and his thumb and holding his nose.

Behind him were his friend Adam (Nicknamed grizz or grizzly because of his girth and wildly unkempt brown hair) and Rayne, actually a year younger then the other two but a head taller and so very, very much stupider. Rayne kept his head shaved because he thought it made him look more like the pro wrestlers that he so so loved.

"is that-" Lyle asked, pausing the game and turning to look.

"-A diaper?" Kyle finished, raising a eyebrow.

"JUSTIN! Mom told you not show people those! and I DID toss it out!" Alex huffed and whined, his cheeks going crimson then adding. "And DON'T call me Alexandra!"

"Whatever you say pamper pisser. Look, I went to go into our room to get something and was assaulted by the stink of your bed wetter pants." Justin said and then tossed the soggy thing at Alex, hitting him in the face and knocking him over.

the truth was Alex KNEW he'd tossed the diaper out this morning, he wasn't allowed to toss his very much needed bed time diapers out in the house trash because Dad and Justin would raise a fuss about it stinking up the house and he'd had to wait five minutes because the paper boy had stopped to talk to Mr. Johnson next door.

"JUSTIN GROSS!" Alex whined and sat up, whining and now smelling like stale pee.

"Whatever dork, go and toss your diaper out then take a shower..me and the guys are gonna start our movie early. Wonder twins, I'm sure you don't wanna stick around and hang out with a pamper packer like my little brother right?" Justin said.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Lyle huffed and went to put a supportive hand on Alex's shoulder, but then pulled it back.

he was with his friend but that didn't mean he wanted to get any of the ick on him.

"What he said! Everyone matures differently! Heck, Lyle only just stopped needing a night light this year!" Kyle said, then pout his hands over his mouth as his brother glared at him.

"...Pfffftt BWHAHAHAHAHA!" all three big bullies broke into gut busting laughter.

"I'm not the one who has to suck on a pacifier during thunder storms!" Lyle shot back and blew a raspberry at his twin who huffed and glared.

the bullies naturally were loving it as the twins only dug themselves in deeper and Alex just face palmed.

"Guys, you're NOT helping yourselves." He pointed out.

"Oh my god, it's a group of BABIES! No wonder they all get along!" Grizz laughed, slapping his leg.

"I bet their next sleep over is gonna have them in a crib." Rayne added.

"Alright pamper packers, out of the living room, this movie is PG 13 and I don't want you all blorting your pants when something scary happens. Wonder twins, get your asses home. Alexandra, go take a shower AFTER you toss out your pissy diaper." Justin said, unable to believe just how well all of this had worked out.

"Whatever jerk.." Alex huffed and got up.

he saw his friends off though the twins were still semi huffing and fighting, shoving each other as the walked away and Alex got his wet diaper tossed out without anyone seeing him.

as he went upstairs and got his shower ready one thing was on his mind.

'This means war. I'm gonna make him feel EXACTLY how embarrassing being seen in diapers around your fiends is.' Alex vowed to himself.

Ok, he had no idea HOW he was going to do so, but while Justin may of won the first battle, it was going to be Alex who won the war and prove his Brain's out did his brother brawn.

The movie was going about as well as could be expected since they had to keep pausing it to have anther laugh at just how dorky Alex and his friends were.

Of course Rayne and Grizz had known for awhile (even if Justin technically wasn't suppose to of told them) about Alex being a diaper filler. (and he might of exaggerated what all Alex used his diapers for)

Maybe a SMALL part of Justin had felt sorry for Alex being humiliated like that in front of his friends, but Grizz had actually come up with the idea and he didn't wanna look like a pussy in front of the guys.

Besides with it coming out that the twins were just as big of dorks as his little brother any real guilt had vanished and he toyed with the idea of dragging out Alex's old play pen out of the basement for the next time he had all his dorky friends over.

'heh, get some pacifiers to shut'em up..put them all in Alex's diapers and take lots of pictures. boom, homework and chore bitches till I graduate.' Justin thought with a smirk and chuckled.

"what's so funny? Oooo and I know that look. Someone's had a evil thought." Grizz asked.

"Heh.. How would you guys feel about making some diapered nerds do our homework for us?" Justin asked.

"well, could be funny, but where are we gonna find some?" Rayne asked.

"..." Grizz roiled his eyes

"...Rayne buddy just smile and listen." Justin said semi sweat dropping.

"I can do that!" Rayne said with a big toothy grin.

Shaking his head Justin started to explain his evil plan, and his friends laughed and chuckled, and were MORE then on board.

Getting out of the shower and drying off, Alex got dressed in a pair of black jogging pants and a t-shirt then sat on his bed with his laptop.

He tried different google searches trying to figure out just how to get his brother back in diapers but for the most part it ended up giving him story link's that he bookmarked to look over later and see if there was anything usable.

He did find a forum called little brothers revenge and it had some really wicked ideas for the most part, but only two threads popped up when he searched for diaper.

the first one was clearly bull with it talking about how this kid had pooped in a diaper and hide it in his big brothers room and gotten the big brother in trouble (and even if it wasn't, Alex would hold off crapping himself as a weapon of last resort.)

the other thread was old, and had been posted just before Christmas of last year and had a little brother talk about how he had set his brother up to look like he wanted diapers for Christmas and his dad had fallen for it, and so had the rest of the family.

Of course there was a lot of disbelief in the read over that and one guy commented 'pics or your full of shit!'

As Alex scrolled down, he pretty much thought the same but then his jaw dropped as there was a picture of a sleeping boy, in a t-shirt and thick diapers and sucking on a paci and a younger boy was in frame too, it was a semi selfie and was smirking and giving the peace sign. the caption under the picture read 'Believe me now bitches?'

"Hoooly shitttttt." Alex said, this guy was his hero!

he didn't seem to be activate on the forum anymore though, there were a bout a dozen replies and a few more comments from the guy but then he vanished.

his user profile did have a e-mail attached to it and so Alex snagged it and went to write the guy a e-mail.

From: Alexander_the_awesome@gmail.com

To: Ben_better@Hotmail.com

Subject: DUDE YOUR MY HERO!

Hey just wanted to say, I saw your post on Little brothers revenge and wanted to say how awesome that was and also I was wondering if you had any advice or tips on getting a big brother in padding. mine's being a total butt hole lately and just ugggghhh @_@

I had one idea about maybe like peeing on his bed after he gets up to frame him for bed wetting, what do you think? hope to hear from you soon!

E-mail written Alex clicked send and then went to kill some time play a few games online, never once suspecting that while he was trying to plot his big brother diaper doom, he was likewise plotting out Alex's downstairs.

It was a hour latter when Alex heard the ding that told him he'd gotten a reply and he switched tabs to go and take a look.

From: Ben_better@hotmail.com

To: Alexander_the_awesome@gmail.com

Subject: Re:DUDE YOUR MY HERO

Heh, thanks for the high praise though I gotta warn you, first of all this is something you've gotta be reallllly careful with. Diaper humiliation is a double edged sword, trust me. Had a friend named Ken who tried this and now he's in diapers.

Anyways just taking a leak on your big bro's bed is dumb, you'll get busted for sure! what I'd recommend is making use of laxatives and pee pills in increasing doses till he's wetting his pants all the time and blorting them too. It's a longer game but better results.

what made you wanna get his butt back in diapers anyways, and FYI i expect 'baby pictures' when your plan works.

Alex thought about that for a second and couldn't help but wonder if maybe this 'ken' was really Ben, but pushed that thought out of his head as he started to write his reply.

From: Alexander_the_awesome@gmail.com

To: Ben_better@Hotmail.com

Subject: Re:Re:DUDE YOUR MY HERO!

Oh well, I'm a bed wetter and the butt hole went and fished one of my soggy diapers out of the trash and threw it at me while I was hanging out with my friends, trying to say i never tossed it out. so trust me, he totes has this coming.

I really got nothing to lose if I get busted since I'm in huggies every night so I'll try out your plan. it works out because he likes to make me get him drinks and snacks.

as for the picture of him once he's back in huggies heh, sure. thanks for the advice and I'll let you know when the plan starts to work.

E-mail sent Alex closed his e-mail and his game tab then went searching online for the best med's to get to reduce his brother to a helpless pants wetting stinker, only to pause after a few minutes recalling that Max had gotten in trouble awhile back for causing a series of messy accidents around school.

'nggggh..no way he'll be back yet though. I'll go and talk to him tomorrow.' Alex thought and set his laptop aside and laid back on his bed, thinking about just how much fun he was gonna have and ended up conking out.

which was unfortunate as he hadn't put on one of his spider-man diapers and with in ten minutes a wet patch was starting to grow on the front of his jogging pants, which while the dark color would hide it, the tan covered blanket he was laying on wouldn't.

"So when do you think we can do this?" Grizz asked.

the movie was basically forgotten but had been kept on to cover up their voices on the off chance Alex came downstairs (Small chance of that) or if their parents came back early.

"Welll that's the tricky part. I have to have all four of the dweebs here AND have my parents gone. they're going on a weekend trip in about 2 weeks though so I'll try and convince the dweeb to get the loser's club all over here." Justin said.

Rayne, who had just shut his mouth like he'd been told to raised his hand like he was in class.

"heh, Yes Rayne?" Justin asked.

"Aren't they into that dice game, Dragons and prison or whatever?" he asked.

"..Dungeons and dragons, yeah." Justin chuckled.

"Same difference. anyways, say you've been reading up on it and wanna try your hand at hosting a game, but just want them over before you embarrasses yourself in front of us.Most nerds I know love to play and will jump at the chance." Rayne said and smiled.

"Sweet fucking cthulhu. Rayne had a good idea." Grizz chuckled and to patted the bigger boys head. "good boy!"

Rayne beamed and was clearly proud of himself and Justin chuckled.

"Ok, I'll just have to learn enough about this nerd stuff to fake it and get them over. you guys will have to be ready to help though, I don't wanna risk one of the losers getting away." Justin said nodding.

"Hey, as long as I don't have to change any shitty asses I'm in." Grizz said.

"Wait, your gonna make them USE the diapers?" Rayne said and then laughed lots. "Gross!"

"Heh, well the best blackmail is a sobbing little brat in a stinky diaper blackmail. no way the dweeb will risk him in all his smelly glory ending up ALL over town."

"Man, I am glad your not MY big brother." Rayne said, never mind the fact Justin was pretty sure if he tried anything on the semi giant he'd be the one in huggies.

"Eh, No worries. you'd be a awesome little bro. Now all we need to do is go and pick the perfect pampers for them."

"Oh, I got it! There's this discount store my mom drags me to because they have her cream of wheat and other junk she likes cheap, but they got in a shipment of over night diapers for big kids, boys and girls. the boys has rockets and stars on them and are blue." Grizz said, setting up the best part.

"Oh, this is gonna be good." Justin smirked.

"the girls has unicorns and rainbows and are pink!" Grizz finished and cackled.

Plans set for his brother's diapered humiliation, the boys finally turned they're attention back to the movie.

After the movie it was getting late and so Justin sent the guys home as technically speaking they weren't suppose to be over, only him or Alex could have friends over for the most part if mom and dad weren't home. (Weekend vacations were the exception, though their folks made it clear the house had been be clean when they got back)

Whoever had their friends over was also suppose to clean up after them and after a chip fight in the living room Justin smirked, knowing he could get Alex to clean the mess up, since it would be Alex and his friend getting blamed for the mess.

Of course Justin usually made Alex clean up after him and his friends anyways but that always took a little bit more effort in the form of using the dorks undies to bounce him like a yo yo if he didn't listen.

He toyed with leaving Alex sulking in their room where he been since the shower and just letting the dweeb get in trouble but since it was Justin's turn to start dinner so it'd be ready and he didn't feel like cooking, he had to get Alex downstairs anyways to be a good little chore bitch.

"This will be SO much easier once I have the blackmail on him." Justin sighed to himself as he made his way up the stairs to the boys shared bedroom.

Opening the door he went to go and say something but was hit by the stench of piss and a quick look confirmed the little bed soaker had gone night night without a pamper on.

"Hey dork face! wake up! you pissed the bed!" Justin said in a loud voice.

"Ngggh a gigi boo..Five more minutes mommy.." the still mostly asleep dweeb said, trying to shoo Justin away.

"heh, baby talk? really? Wow, just when I think you can't lower the bar any more Little bro.. ALEXANDRA! WAKE UP!" Justin said then cupped a hand to his mouth and yelled.

Alex jumped sort in bed then sat up, eyes wide and panting, looking around.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" He growled once he locked eyes on Justin."ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK?!"

"No, but you had a wetting attack dork." Justin said and pointed.

Alex went to say something then looked down and went from pissed off to blushing and tried to cover himself up.

"Ah crap crap crap crap!" Alex whined and got up off the bed.

this was NOT good. not good at ALL! Dad was already riding him on the bed wetting and if he found out Alex had soaked the bed from a little nap he would NOT hear the end of it, or worse, dad would make him wear ALL day tomorrow!

"Ah..ah..Justin big brother who I love ever so much.." Alex started, swallowing and trying to put on his best 'I'm so cute help me' faces.

"Save it dweeb. I'll keep my mouth shut about your little..well BIG accident as long as you go and be a good little chore bitch and get the living room cleaned up and start supper." Justin said and leaned on the door frame, a evil smirk on his face.

Considering his options Alex just hung is head and then did a small nod.

"Butttt to show you I'm not totally heartless..I got some clothes that need to be washed so you can do them and wash your sheet at the same time as a cover up. I know, my kindness knows no bounds. just be thankful mom got you that rubber sheet or you'd be going to sleep in a soggy bed tonight." Justin said and laughed.

'gee he's all heart. letting me do his landry and clean up AND cook.. ' Alex thought but it WAS better then trying to explain the sheet alone.

"Yeah ok.." He said finally and went to strip stripping the bed.

"ah ah ah, what do you say to your kind and wonderful brother for helping you out?" Justin said, milking this for all it was worth.

'He has to be..ok no, I know him better then that.. just keep digging your grave jerk.' Alex thought then took a deep calming breath.

"Thank you for letting me do your landry big brother." he said, clenching a fist.

"Anytime dork. not get to it, you don't have a whole lotta time. my clothes are in the hamper in the bathroom." Justin said and started to walk away, then poked his head back in. "Oh and dweeb? next time don't forget to put on your diapies when your going for your afternoon nap."

and with that he walked off laughing.

"...I'm SO going to enjoy getting him in diapers." Alex huffed.

Changing into a pair of clean spider-man shorts and a captain America t-shirt, Alex got the load of landry started and then went to work cleaning up the living room while keeping a eye on the time.

the chips were everywhere and every time he though he was done he'd spot some more and wondered how much the three bullies had actually managed to get in their stupid fat mouths.

Between the cleaning and getting landry switched over he didn't have time to make anything too special so he went with the old stand by of making macaroni and cheese with hot dogs as it was quick and simple and his parents never really expected Justin to go all out when he was cooking anyways.

Dinner was ready and the landry was finished by the time their parents got home, Alex just had to go and get it out of the dryer but he figured he'd have time to do it stealthy after eating.

"So, what did you boys do for fun today?" Dad asked as they were sitting at the dinner table, a small grimace on his face at the prospect of eating the old stand by.

"Oh well-" Alex started by Justin cut him off.

"It was pretty much same old same old for me, went out and played some football with the guys and had fun. Came back though and I think The twins brought over some super sugar loaded snacks or something because Alex and them where have a chip fight and trashed the living room. it was cute though." Justin said and smirked, winking at Alex who's jaw hung open.

"Alex, you didn't!" Mom signed and shook her head. "After supper you'll be cleaning up the living room!"

"Oh don't worry about it mom, I know little guys like him just need to get it out of their systems. after the twins went home he was super pooped though, think it was a sugar crash so let him go and take a nap and I cleaned up the living room." Justin lied.

"Well that was was nice of you Justin, but in the future leave the cleaning for Alex to do." Dad said and shook his head at Alex. "Alex, we've talked about this."

Alex for his part was stuttering now, trying to think of a way to prove his innocence without getting scolded but first shots had been fired by Justin and there was nothing he could do now.

"Alex did you say thank you to Justin for cleaning up after you?" Mom asked and her tone made it clear if he hadn't she expected him to now, but again Justin spoke up.

"Oh, he's already thanked me for something else. see somebody was just SO sleepy when he went for his nap that he forgot to get his bed wetter pants on and well, Let's just say it's a good thing I had to do a load of landry anyways." Justin said as Alex,'s jaw dropped.

"Y-You said..you.." Alex stammered.

"Alex! what have I told you about not going to sleep without one of your diapers on?" Dad asked in a sharp tone.

"N-Not to do it again or..or.." Alex whined, looking down and feeling ready to cry.

this wasn't fair! he'd done everything Justin had asked him too and he was still gonna get punished!

"Or you'll be spending the next day in your diapers all day. Now I was hoping NOT to have to use that punishment but clearly you've left me no choice. you can still use the potty of course, in fact I encourage it, but you WILL be in diapers all day tomorrow." Dad said.

His tone left no room for argument and feeling hot tears start to slid down his cheeks Alex looked down at his bowl of food and sniffled.

"Yes sir."

After supper Justin offered to do the dishes if Alex would go and get the landry out of the dryer, but mom said since Justin had already cleaned up after Alex, made supper and did the landry for the most part he could go and relax and watch TV with their dad while Alex got the landry out and folded it.

Justin smiled and kissed his mom's cheek and asked if she was sure, but she insisted and so he went and plopped down on the couch, ready to watch some hockey with his dad and giving Alex a shit eating grin as the huffy and tear stained cheek dork started to stomp his way up the steps till dad called for him to knock it off unless he wanted to go to bed early.

'Oh my god. this worked out even better then I could of hoped! Mom and Dad are just too easy!' Justin thought, having to bite his tongue every so often to keep from laughing.

the dweeb had done all the work and yet here he was sipping on pop and munching on chips with their dad while the dork was off folding his undies and was gonna be a crinkle butt the next day.

'It'll be a nice little preview of whats to come.' Justin thought and let out a little chuckle despite himself.

"what's so funny?" Dad asked.

"Oh, just thinking of how silly Alex and his friends looked this after noon. they were like sugar crazed toddlers." Justin lied.

"heh, Next time you should try and get a video of it, I bet it looked cute." Dad chuckled.

Upstairs Alex was mentally cursing up a storm, pissed off and fuming like crazy as he folded pair after pair of his brothers skid marked undies.

'Son of a bitch! son of a bisket eating bitch! I'm not just gonna get him in diapers, I'm gonna make him the biggest dumbest big baby loser of all time! I'm gonna have him in the halls of his school in nothing but huggies and a bib and bonnet!'

of course a small part of Alex knew that going that far likely wasn't gonna be possible, it was a warm thought that helped him keep from just having a melt down fit that would of gotten his bun's blistered and him put to bed before it was even 8 pm.

He should of know better then to think that Justin was gonna hold up his end of the deal, or he should of spoken up about getting the landry done but nope. He'd trusted his big brother and was paying the price for it now in spades.

'And now I have to wear a diaper all day tomorrow..Maybe I'll wait till Monday to go and talk with Max.' Alex thought.

it would mean putting his plans on hold for a bit but he really didn't wanna waddle the block and a half over to Max's with pampers on under his pants.

Finishing up the folding and putting the clothes away Alex checked to make sure that his rubber sheet was dry and tugged in his blanket he'd hung out the window to dry (as it would of taken up too much room in the machines to do Justin's landry too) and with it dry he started to make his bed.

'God, what did I ever do to deserve a asshole like him for a big brother.' Alex whined mentally and finished making his bed, looking it over and then jumping and letting out a girlish shriek as a hand came on his shoulder.

"heh, Relax sweetie, it's mommy." Came his mother voice, sounding a little amused.

"That's ok, I didn't need that heart." Alex huffed, blushing and turning around to face his smirking mother. "what's up mom?"

"Well I wanted to come up and check on how the folding was going and to help you get ready for bed." She said with a smile.

"...Mom it's not even 8 yet, and it's a Saturday night.." Alex said, not liking where this was going.

"Oh You can stay up and everything till 11 like normal, but I just wanna make sure you don't conk out with your 'special armor' on." she said, using finger quotes.

"Mom I think I'm quite capable of putting my own diaper on." Alex huffed, feeling a hot blush cover his face.

"And yet you soaked your bed earlier." She cheerfully pointed out.

"T-That was different, I was just all tired and didn't realize I'd be conking out!" Alex whined, sounding more like a fussy toddler the the big kid he was trying to be.

"I know sweetie, but it kinda goes with my point. what if you just conk out again tonight? do you really wanna have to go to school on Monday in a diaper?" She asked, and the ruffled his hair.

The mental image of it stopped Alex's whining in it's tracks, picturing himself in a bib and spider-man diaper and sucking on a paci in the halls.

"No way! I'd Dieeeee!" Alex whined and shook his head no A LOT.

"well then let mommy help you out. And also if your gonna keep being so tired maybe we'll lower your bedtime for awhile." She added, then smirked and winced at the glare Alex gave her. "Now now, no using your super pouty powers on family."

"Moooom!" Alex huffed but resigned himself to his fate, when she got like this there was no getting her to back down.

He reached under his bed and pulled out his pack of spider-man diapers and noted that he was running low, and started to tug down his shorts when mom spoke up.

"Oh Alex, before we get your in your bed time diaper, do you have to use the potty?"

"mom, I know I wet the bed but I THINK I would know if had to take a leak or a dump you kn-" Alex started and then there was a loud 10 second poot out of his bottom and his tummy was gurgling.

"You were saying?" Mom asked, holding her nose but smirking."

"I-I'll be back.." Alex said in a small voice, blushing SO bad as he went past her he was shocked his hair hadn't caught on fire.

As she watched him go and had to fight the urge laugh, the little guy's undies had a fresh skid mark appearing on the back.

'Maybe I should look into getting him some of those washable training pants.' She mused.

One trip to the potty later and with Alex realizing what's he'd almost done in his undies, and the fight was all out of the little guy at least for the moment.

Zero fight was put up as he let his mom take his shorts and briefs and then proceed to diaper him, numbly just going along with her requests of butt up and the like.

"Are you sure your feeling alright? Maybe I should of checked your temperature before getting the diaper on." Mom asked, putting a hand to Alex's forehead.

"N-No I'm fine..just I dunno, Tired." Alex said, wincing.

he had to be the only boy his age to still get his temperature checked via the back door and it's wasn't that fun of a experience.

"Hmmm I think somebody better lay off of the sweets for awhile if it leaves you JUST drained after." Mom said and then started to tug Alex's blanket up on him.

"M-Mom what are you doing?" Alex whined, looking at the clock, it was 7:51 PM!

"I think you've had a big day, and your just not feeling that good. it would explain all the huffing and whining too. if you be a good boy and go night night for me now I'll see what I can do to get your father to back off with the all day diaper punishment tomorrow. I have to take you shopping for more diapers anyways with you almost being out and you get embarrassed enough as is when your in your undies."

Alex whined and whimpered a little but after a few seconds just signed and nodded.

"Good boy." She said and leaned down, kissing his forehead and then went and got one of his stuffie style Avengers from their display shelf and handed him Thor.

Lacking the energy to fight back Alex just took the offered stuffie and snuggled into it as his mom turned off the lights in the room and paused at the doorway.

"Night night little guy. Mommy will leave the door open a crack for you so you don't get scared. Love you and see you in the morning." She coo'ed/

"..Love you too mommy." Alex said, blushing.

He hadn't been scared of the door in like ages but somehow mom had the impression he still was and the only reason he wouldn't accept a night light was Justin would complain.

She left the little guy to go to sleep and Alex listened to her footsteps.

'This is bull shit. I'm not some little baby! I bet I don't even fall asleep till 11 anyways.' He huffed, crinkling and squirming in his bed.

Five minutes later he was snoring softly around his thumb as he sucked it in his sleep.

"So did Alex give you much of a fight?" Justin asked as Mom came downstairs.

"Just a token one, he's already gone to bed. I don't think he's feeling well and I think that should excuse him for needing his punishment tomorrow." Anne said, though the last part was more directed at her husband.

"Look, rules are rules, and if we start g-" Jackson started but was cut off.

"Excuse me, but who's idea was the rule that a D or worse meant no TV or computer time, and yet Justin who got a D on his last English test is watching the game with you?" She asked sweetly.

Justin gulped now and turned to his dad.

"Uh..you know..I think mom's right, we can't punish Alex if he had his accident because he's sick!" Justin chimed in.

"Heh, Nice try buddy but your mother is right in a way. I can't really punish your brother and not punish you. "Jackson said

"Soooo Alex isn't wearing a diaper tomorrow?" Justin asked hopefully.

"try again buddy, but do it in anther room so I can finish watching the game." Jackson chuckled and ruffled his sons hair as the 12 year old pouted.

"Finnne, I'll just go to my room an-." he started to huff and went to get up.

"ahhh nope. First of all I know you well enough you'll just go on your laptop." Anne said. "and second of all your brother is sleeping. Don't worry though, we have LOTS of board games you can play with me."

"Geee, spending Saturday night playing board games with my mom. aren't I lucky." Justin groaned

One mind numbing night of games later and Justin went to bed, taking note of the fact that Alex had semi drenched his pillow in drool and was still sucking his thumb.

'Heh, He's kinda cute...Still gonna make him a big dumb diaper nerd chore boy..but he's cute.' Justin thought before going and climbing into his bed.

as he went to go to sleep he had the most wonderful evil idea that could at the same time be played off as just being a nice big brother and help get 'revenge' on Alex for making him miss the end of the game.

'Hehehehe damn I'm so smart!' Justin chuckled and dropped off to sleep.

[kythed]

circus mirrors & stereo hearts

sugawara koushi x reader

this one goes out to my new friend, @twat-101 :) it’s a bit long, but I hope you still like it ! sending lotsa love your way <3

synopsis: (y/n) is struggling with her mental health so her best friend suga-san invites her over to study. general chaos and dumbassery ensues.

warnings: some swearing, mentions of mental health struggles, suga’s tone deaf singing.

word count: 4,226

--

Koushi always kept his windows open. Always.

In the winter, this transformed his room into a tiny Antarctica, replete with stray snowflakes, but in the summer, it meant cool tradewinds cutting through the typically stifling heat, creating a little pocket of the ideal climate. You often found yourself there in these warmer months, perched on the corner of his bed, contently listening to him blithely gossip about his teammates or playing a giggly game of Connect Four rife with not so subtle cheating.

Today, a sunny August Saturday, was no different. Koushi sat cross legged on the carpet. Sprawled out across his pale blue comforter, which smelled of fresh linen and that familiar Old Spice he’d been wearing since the eighth grade, you listened to him recite a chapter from your history book, something about post World War II foreign policy. Struggling to remain attentive, however, you found yourself spiraling into those cheerless resignations of hopelessness that had been far too frequent for you lately.

“--which resulted in Europe’s economic recovery chiefly in terms of raw materials, food, and fuel. The Soviet Union soon attempted to replicate a similar plan but ultimately-- hey, (Y/N)?”

You blinked hard and sunk back into reality, turning onto your cheek to look Koushi in his big brown eyes full of rather matronly concern. “Hmm?”

“Do you know what we’re learning about right now?” he asked, sounding both amused and disapproving. A strand of grey fell in front of his face and he quickly blew it away, smiling slightly. “Because it seems like you’ve been zoning out for the last ten or so minutes. I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, but Mr. Shishido specifically said this chapter was going to be on the test.”

“Uh… something about muzzer Roosia?” you joked with an exaggerated accent.

Koushi rolled his eyes and flicked your forehead. You yelped and glared at him reproachfully. “We were talking about the Marshall Plan. The United States’ recovery aid program for Western Europe after wartime devastation.”

“Right, right, I knew that,” you protested as Koushi tugged on your forearms and you toppled off the bed, nearly landing right on top of him. With a soft laugh, he extracted his limbs from yours and plopped his head into your lap like he used to when you were kids, resting beneath the boughs of that little oak tree in his backyard, listening to a choir of cicadas croon under a late afternoon sun. The ghost of a grin flitted over your face as you looked back on those halcyon days of your childhood. Usually Koushi’s mom would come out onto the porch with a couple of already-melting lemon popsicles in hand, and the two of you would scramble out of each other’s embrace and tear towards her, breathlessly racing for a priceless reward of sweet smiles and sticky hands.

What you wouldn’t give to go back to that time of gleeful oblivion, before your world became characterized by that all too persistent self-consciousness and excruciating anxiety. What you wouldn’t give to once again feel worthy of Koushi’s innocent adoration…

“--(Y/N)!”

For the second time today, you shook yourself awake. Koushi gazed up at you, brows furrowed. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

“I was asking if you needed to take a little study break. Obviously, you do. I swear, your attention span gets shorter every day.” He pointed somewhere behind you. “Mind grabbing my phone? It’s on the bed.”

You leaned over as far as you could without disturbing Koushi’s position, head still nestled in your lap, and swept your hand over the covers before it bumped into his phone, which you promptly snatched and dropped onto his stomach. He gave a soft “oomph” at the impact before pulling up his Spotify and selecting a playlist, the cover of which was a selfie of the two of you at last year’s spring carnival. A blurred sakura tree provided the perfect backdrop for your smiling faces pressed cheek-to-cheek to fit in the frame. Sugar dusted the corners of Koushi’s mouth, the last trace of the powdered donut you’d shared right before.

“What’s that? I don’t think I’ve listened to that one before.” You reached for the phone, but Koushi held it out just out of reach as music began to play, batting your hand away. “I look awful in that picture; you could’ve chosen something a little more flattering.”

“Oh, shush. You looked pretty that day, wearing that blue sundress with the little flowers on the hem… blue really suits you, you know.” Koushi smiled fondly at his screen, and you blushed despite yourself. “It’s a compilation of all our songs. I listened to this a lot last summer when you were in France with your family for a month. Whenever I missed you. You were off climbing the Eiffel Tower or making croissants and I was lounging around here, bored out of my mind and wishing you were home so we could be bored together.”

“You sappy bastard,” you said, though you really felt quite touched. “I didn’t even realize we had a song.”

“Not just a song,” he corrected. “Songs. Plural. Most of the songs we’ve ever listened to together, I reckon. Anything that reminds me of you, I put on here.”

“Why in the world would you do that?” you asked, aghast at his effort.

Koushi laughed at your surprise. “You’re my best friend, (Y/N). And believe or not, you mean a lot to me. I just like remembering the stuff we’ve done together.”

You nodded slowly, letting your fingers rest on his forehead and gently play with his grey locks. His eyes closed as you settled into a brief, comfortable almost-silence, tainted only by the soft, muffled melody trickling from tiny phone speakers. You cocked your head. “What song is this?”

“You don’t remember?” Koushi asked, sounding almost offended. He turned the volume up a few notches and held the phone closer to your ear.

Let's Marvin Gaye and get it on

You got the healing that I want

Just like they say it in the song

Until the dawn, let's Marvin Gaye and get it on

“I don’t know if--” you cut off as it dawned on you. “Wait… no way. This isn’t…?”

“It is.” Koushi laughed as your face flushed a vivid crimson. “Uchimura’s party.”

Though embarrassed, you grinned, remembering that night. “The song that played at her twelfth birthday while we were in the closet during seven minutes in heaven.”

“We were way too young for that dumb game,” Koushi said with a smile, shaking his head. “God, I was so nervous. That was my first kiss, you know.”

“It was mine too,” you admitted. You remembered sitting on the carpeted floor of Uchimura’s rather cramped closet, knees touching, just barely able to see the outline of Koushi’s face illuminated by the smallest sliver of light shining through a crack in the door. He’d leaned forward, taking your hand in his own small clammy one. “It was really just a peck, though. It might not have counted.”

“It counted,” said Koushi firmly. “Whenever I get asked about my first kiss, I say it was ours. I say it was the best one I’ve ever had, too.”

You shook your head with a soft laugh. “Now, I know that’s a lie. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.”

“Neither did I,” agreed Koushi. He caught your eye, crinkling his nose cutely. “That’s what made it so sweet. It was innocent. I tasted your bubblegum chapstick on my lips afterwards.”

“Bubblegum chapstick, huh?” You rolled your eyes and poked him softly in the ribs. “I couldn’t look you straight in the eyes for like three weeks after that.”

“I remember. You kept running away whenever I tried to talk to you.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m not sure we would’ve even stayed friends if Ms. Miyato hadn’t partnered us up for the volcano project at the end of that month.” You recalled those afternoons spent in Koushi’s kitchen, newspapers covering every visible surface and a huge, paper-mache volcano resting on the dining table, splattered with orange and yellow paint and smelling strongly of Elmer’s glue and vinegar. Oftentimes, work sessions would dissolve into paint fights, staining your school uniforms with small, colorful hand prints.

“Nah,” said Koushi confidently. “I wouldn’t have let you go that easily.”

“Maybe you should’ve,” you said under your breath.

Koushi stared at you for a second, sighing. Then he reached up to grasp your hand, interlocking his fingers with yours and softly stroking his thumb across your palm. “You know, it was Uchimura’s eighteenth last weekend. You didn’t come.”

“Yeah. I had to study.” That was a lie. You just hadn’t thought anyone really wanted you there. Uchimura had been a friend of yours for years, but she had plenty of other friends to celebrate with. Probably didn’t even notice you weren’t there…

“She asked me where you were,” Koushi continued. “I said I didn’t know because you didn’t answer my texts that night.”

“Sorry,” you said quietly, avoiding eye contact. “Studying.”

“On a Friday night?” You didn’t answer, and Koushi squeezed your hand. “I had to choose Daichi for my charades partner… do you have any idea how shit he is at charades? He flopped on the ground and started convulsing, so I guessed ‘epilepsy.’ Guess what the word really was.”

“What?”

“Orgasm. The word was orgasm. You’d think he could just execute a simple pelvic thrust and make a face, but no, he had to go ahead and act like my great uncle Kaito when he had that heart attack at his ninety-fifth birthday last year.”

You cracked a small smile, imagining Daichi violently wiggling on the floor like a fish out of water. “Sounds like I missed out, then.”

“You really did,” said Koushi, eyes twinkling. He suddenly got solemn. “I missed you. Would’ve been a million times more fun with you there.”

“I doubt it.” You fiddled with the edge of your shirt, smile fading. “I can be a real killjoy sometimes.”

“Not to me,” said Koushi. “Whenever you walk into the room, suddenly that’s the only room I wanna be in.”

Your breath caught in your throat and you swallowed thickly. “Koushi… why are you telling me this?”

“You’ve been avoiding me,” he said simply. He took your hand again, the one that had been playing with his hair, and held it to his chest. You felt his heart beat erratically beneath your palm. “You’ve been avoiding all our friends in general.”

“That’s not true,” you protested, though your heart sank. He had noticed. You wished you didn’t have to drag him into all your problems. “I’ve just been busy.”

“Busy with what, (Y/N)? Homework? Our physics teacher came and talked to me at my locker after school, asking if you’ve been struggling with any personal issues, because apparently you haven’t been turning in your assignments.” Koushi glanced up at you. “It seems like you’ve just been locked away in your room whenever you’re not in class. Not doing work, not going out. Remember a couple weeks ago, when I asked if you wanted to go see that movie with me at the drive-in? You said you had a family dinner in town, but later I passed by on my bike and your bedroom light was on. And today, it took four separate phone calls before you finally picked up and I managed to invite you over… I’ve been worried.”

“Maybe I’m just changing,” you protested weakly. “That’s a thing that happens. People change.”

“I agree, you have been changing. Just not for the better.” Koushi squeezed your hand again, his skin warm on your own. “I haven’t seen you smile, really smile, for ages. You’re always faking these days. What’s going on?”

“I…” you trailed off, trying to think of some excuse. The last thing you wanted was for Koushi to see what was really going on inside your head.

“The truth, (Y/N).”

You relented, shoulders sagging. “Just been tired, I guess.”

“Tired of what?”

“Tired of…” Your eyes grew moist despite your best efforts and you fought to keep from choking on the sob rising up your throat.

“Tired of…?” he pressed on, eyebrow raised.

Your next words tumbled out in a rush. “Just tired of being me, okay? It’s like… it’s just like, whenever I look in the mirror… I don’t like what I see. I don’t like myself, so I don’t want to be me anymore. I’m so tired of it. And I feel like everyone else is, too. Everyone is tired of my shit, so I thought I’d just do you all a favor and disappear.”

Your words stunned Koushi into silence. He remained resting in your lap for a few long seconds before he felt something hot and wet roll down his cheek. A tear. But not his own.

He looked up just in time for another one of your tears to land on his face, right underneath his eye. Quickly, he sat up and tenderly cupped your face in his hands, gently brushing the tears away with his thumbs. “Oh, (Y/N)... c’mere. That’s such bullshit.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” you hiccupped as he pulled you into his lap by your waist-- facing him-- and gingerly tucked your head into the crook of his neck. “I’m sorry you have to see me like this. It’s gross, I know.”

“It’s not gross,” said Koushi, fiercely hugging you to his chest. “It’s much better than watching you try to pretend like you’re fine. I don’t care if your snot gets on my shirt-- that’s a small price to pay. So long as I can be there for you right now.”

You cried harder, immense guilt racking your body at his inexplicable kindness. “I’ve been treating you terribly these past few months, but you’re still so good to me. Goddamnit, Koushi. I don’t deserve you.”

Koushi pulled you back by the shoulders, narrowed eyes searching your face, though tears continued to stream down your cheeks. “(Y/N). You don’t have to earn my love.”

“I-- love?” you asked, eyes wide. You snatched a tissue from Koushi’s bedside table and blew your nose loudly.

“Yeah,” he said firmly, without missing a beat. “I said it. I love you. And don’t ask if I mean in a friend way or a girlfriend way, because the answer is neither. I love you like you’re the person I wanna spend the rest of my life with. I don’t care if that means as, like, your husband or just as your best friend. Whatever I can get, I’m happy with, because I love you like you’re a part of me. Unconditionally. I thought you knew that.”

“Please, don’t say that,” you sobbed, covering your face with your hands. “I’m not good enough for you. I’m really not.”

Koushi pulled your hands away so he could look you in the eye. “What don't you understand about the term ‘unconditional love’? It’s unconditional. There is literally nothing you nor anyone else can say or do to change that. Unconditional love is not a feeling, it’s a choice, and I’ve made that choice. I’ve had nearly two decades to think about it, so now I’m telling you I will love you no matter what. I always have, alright? This isn’t exactly how I wanted to say it, but it’s true.”

You stared at him, disbelieving. You hadn’t known he’d felt this way. Of course, you two had been partners-in-crime your entire lives, and you couldn’t count the number of times he’d materialized at your side as soon as you were in the slightest bit of trouble. Whenever you were a dollar short at the canteen, he’d stuff a five in your hand and push you towards the front of the line. That time you went camping with his family and you forgot your sleeping bag, he’d given you his and spent the night shivering. He always carried an extra pen for you because yours often inexplicably ran out of ink in the middle of a test. He’d been there for every crush, boyfriend, and breakup, cheering you on and drying your tears when the time came. He’d been there when your pet dog died and you planned a funeral in your backyard, complete with a little cardboard headstone, holding an umbrella above your head when it began to rain but you weren’t done mourning. He’d just always been there when you needed him.

You’d tried to be there for him, too, because, as you had begun to realize, his pain was your pain and vice versa. That time when you were six and he’d lost his favorite stuffed animal (a giraffe) it had felt like you’d lost yours too. That day in junior high when he fell out of the oak tree trying to retrieve a stray frisbee and broke his arm, you swore you felt the same pain in yours. Last year when he got dumped outside the gym on Valentine’s Day and you found him sitting in a corner, trying to hide the fact he’d obviously been crying-- you’d stayed late to crack stupid jokes and eat the chocolate he meant to give to his girlfriend, because he deserved a girl who would eat the damn chocolate. Not stomp on his heart and leave it to bleed. I love you like you’re a part of me. You understood.

“It’s okay to not be okay sometimes, but it’s not okay to bundle it all up and bury it deep inside when you have someone right next to you wanting to help you bear that burden.” Koushi’s voice shook just slightly. “It just… it hurts to see you like this, okay? (Y/N), if you love me back, then let me help you. Let me be there for you. Please.”

You were silent for a moment, staring into his pleading eyes. Those beautiful brown eyes.

Then you took a deep breath and started laughing through the tears. You were sure you looked insane, puffy eyes, red nose, and mascara running down your cheeks, but it didn’t matter. “I do. I love you, too. I love you. I didn’t know I loved you before, but now I do, because if you were torn away from me that heartbreak would probably kill me. No, it would definitely kill me. And it would hurt like a motherfucker while it did.”

Koushi let out the breath he’d been holding then, after a brief pause, began to laugh with you as you laced your arms around the back of your neck. “Oh, yeah? Well, losing you would probably hurt like a father-fucker to me.”

“Is that worse than a motherfucker?” you asked, giggling at the ridiculousness of it all. Here you were, bawling on the floor of your best friend’s room while you confessed your love to one another and cussed each other out at the same time.

“For sure. It’s a million times worse than a motherfucker. It’s like, if something hurting like a motherfucker is the equivalent of getting shot by a Nerf gun, something hurting like a fatherfucker probably feels like getting run over by a tank.” Koushi intertwined his fingers with yours yet again and smiled.

“You’re a dumbass,” you said, but you laughed anyways as Koushi looked proud of himself.

“I know,” he said softly, affectionately. “But I’m your dumbass.”

You sighed and shook your head. “I’d love you to be. But you could still do so much better than me--”

“Will you stop saying that, already?” Koushi took your face in his hand, stroking his thumb right beneath your eye. “You’re the most radiant person I’ve ever met. Notice how I didn’t say ‘beautiful’ because the word beautiful doesn’t even begin to cover it. Although you are that, too.”

“Oh, goodness. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again-- you’re so sappy.”

Koushi rolled his eyes with a smile. “Yeah, I am. You like it though.”

“You caught me,” you said as he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to your forehead. You leaned into it, savoring the warmth of his lips on your skin. “I do.”

“But really, (Y/N),” he said seriously. “It astounds me that you don’t realize that.”

“Don’t realize what?”

“That you’re cool! You’re so cool and fun and awesome. And a zillion other adjectives I could sit here and list out for hours. You’re the only person who can make me laugh when I cry, and you make the best hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted, and you’re a literal god at Mario Kart, and you’ve got the prettiest eyes I’ve ever had the privilege to look into.” You flushed as Koushi thought for a moment, chewing on his lip before his eyes widened. “It’s kinda like a circus mirror, I think.”

“What?” You furrowed your brow.

“The way you see yourself is like someone looking into one of those circus mirrors. It makes you look too tall, or really squished, or just bent out of shape in general. And if that was the only mirror you’d ever looked into, you’d probably think that ugly, distorted reflection is how you actually look in real life. You can’t see yourself for how amazing you really are-- but everyone else can.”

“Well, aren’t you just full of relevant analogies today?” you teased. A circus mirror. Now that was something new. You had to give Koushi credit for the comparison-- it actually did kind of make sense.

“What can I say?” he said, puffing out his chest. “I’m a poet.”

“So I guess that would make you my real mirror then?” you offered shyly. Koushi looked confused for a second. “If the way I see myself is supposedly ‘distorted,’ then you can reflect to me how I supposedly really am.”

“Oh, yes!” he said happily. “I’m the mirror. I like that. Quit talking like you don’t believe me, though. You’re incredible. A little thick-skulled sometimes, yes, but incredible nonetheless.”

“It’s going to be hard for me,” you said quietly, gently running a hand through his hair. “Really hard. I haven’t liked myself for a long time.”

“I know. I know. But someday, you’ll be able to understand what a beautiful human being you are. I’m sure of it. I need you to promise you won’t give up until that happens.”

He held out his pinky for a pinky swear, something you two did frequently as children. You smiled and laced your pinky with his. “Alright. I promise.”

“Good.” Koushi stood up, brushed the wrinkles from his pants, and offered you his hand. You took it and he pulled you up. “Listen. Do you remember this song?”

His little playlist had been playing this entire time. You hadn’t noticed. You strained to catch the lyrics. “Turn it up a little, I can’t quite hear.”

...a stereo

It beats for you, so listen close

Hear my thoughts in every note

“Koushi.” A slow smile spread across your face. “Tell me this isn’t Stereo Hearts.”

“Oh, this is Stereo Hearts alright!” he responded gleefully. He took your hand and spun you around like a ballroom dancer, catching you before you tripped over his bedside table. “You remember when we--”

“When we performed it at the junior high talent show and got booed off the stage?” You giggled, remembering that awful night that was somehow hilarious in retrospect. “I still have nightmares about that.”

Koushi continued to swing you around in some sort of clumsy dance, pulling you this way and that while you laughed wildly. “It’s ‘cause you were such a shit singer.”

You gasped in mock offense. “No way! You’re a much worse singer than I am. At least I can carry a tune.”

Koushi just rolled his eyes and grabbed a hairbrush from his shelf, using it like a microphone. He sat you down on the edge of the bed and began to serenade you in his terrible, tone-deaf manner.

Make me your radio

Turn me up when you feel low

This melody was meant for you

Just sing along to my stereo

“God, you really do suck at this,” you said, but he just smiled and kept singing. You had to admit, it was sweet. As silly as the memory associated with the song was, it remained a nostalgic favorite even now. You had to join in a few times, just for memory’s sake.

I only pray you never leave me behind

Because good music can be so hard to find

Koushi sat down next to you and wound one arm around your waist, leaning close.

I take your hand and pull it closer to mine

Thought love was dead, but now you're changing my mind

You turned and leaned in too, nearly touching noses.

“Hey,” he said in an almost whisper. “(Y/N) (L/N), I love you.”

“Hey,” you whispered back, gaze flitting down to his lips and back up again. “I love you, too, you sappy bastard.”

...so sing along to my stereo

“I know.” He closed the remaining inch of distance. Your hand tangled itself in his hair while his tugged your body a little closer.

The kiss was almost as good as the one in Uchimura’s closet all those years ago. Almost.

[bangingoutthetunes]

Snowfall.

A drabble in which you walk home with your boyfriend in the snow and get to cuddle + braid his hair. 

Word count: 2.3k

tags: hair braiding, fluff, bokuto is a human puppy 

~

“Come on, (name)-kun! It’s literally so cold out here I might die!” Kotarou pulled your hand forward and you almost tripped at the sudden jerk. He looked back over his shoulder, puppy-dog eyes wide and shining. A cheerful grin had found itself onto its face at your smile. 

“It’s not like I want to be out here in the cold, Kou! I just need to catch my breath, we’ve been running for the past ten minutes and although you’re wearing pants, I’m wearing a skirt and tights. Gimme a break!” If just for a moment, you felt burningly jealous of the pants the Fukurodani’s boys uniform required; they would’ve definitely kept you warm. Panting from the exhaustion, you trembled in his grip a little bit. He walked over to you and pulled you into his chest, chin resting on your hair and arms wrapped around your waist. He smelled like soap and vanilla and like the best parts of cold December afternoons. 

Peering to the left of his arm, you took in the scenery around you; snowflakes had begun to blanket rooftops and adorn the naked trees, minivans would drive by full with mothers and their children’s friends, bike riders would exhale dragon puffs of condensation, and some other classmates were huddling at a corner shop to pick up some hot chocolate and coffee to continue on their way. 

Having moved from the Miyagi prefecture in early March of this year, you hadn’t gotten to experience snow in a small town on the outskirts of Tokyo. This was of the first times you got to enjoy the gentle fall of friendly snow without having to worry about negative repercussions, and in this moment you wouldn’t rather be anywhere else or with anyone else than Bokuto Koutaoru, the six foot puppy that wanted to take you to his house through the long route so you could catch sight of all the wonderful sights his town had to offer. It was bitter cold outside, but the warmth inside of your chest, slowly spreading to your limbs, was enough to keep you running. 

“Are you ready to keep going, princess?” he mumbled into your forehead, absentmindedly doodling on your back with his mitten-covered fingertips.  

“Yeah, I’m all warmed up now!” You smiled into his chest, burying your nose into his vest and planting a kiss there as a silent thank you. 

“Great, because tag,” he booped you on the forehead with his index finger and stepped back,” you’re it! Last one home owes a cherry soda!” He laughed, brilliant like the sun stretching its fingers through the clouds. The corners of his eyes crinkle and he wrinkled his nose,  clearly pleased with himself. 

“Oh, it’s on!” You chased after him, having committed the route to memory from walks home so many times before. You ran at a quick pace, but your legs were so much shorter and his training was so much more intense that you could barely stay at fifteen feet behind him. Damn  him and his stupid volleyball captain gig! 

He slowed down, if just for a moment, to let you catch up to him. He stretched his hand out to you, beckoning for you to hold it. “Come on, let’s get there quicker!” Once you laced your fingers into his own, he yanked you forwards. In no time, you made it to his doorstep. He fished for his keys in his coat pocket and unlocked the door with his left hand, tugging you into the warmth as soon as the door flew open. A gust of hot air flew out of the house, peppering your face in kisses and very welcomed heat. Kotarou stepped inside, and you followed suit behind him, the two of you placing your bookbags on the floor. You began to kick your uniform shoes off when he sneaked up behind you, wrapped his hands together at your belly and pulled you up into the air. “H-hey!” He laughed at your surprise and pulled your back into his chest,  waddling with you towards his room. 

“Give me a sec, I’ve just gotta get the door-” he placed you down on the flooring while he fiddled with the handle and the door slid open at the kick of his foot. He ushered you inside. “Come, sit on the bed! Get comfortable and change out of the uniform, you’re probably freezing right?” Concern laced his voice as he walked over to where you sat and he cocked his head to the side. “I think I’ll get into something more comfortable, thank you baby!” You reached over to grab his hand and gave it a kiss behind his knuckles,  and you could swear you saw him shiver from the ghosting of your lips. 

“You’re welcome! I’ll be back in a bit, I’m just gonna get some clothes from the dryer and bring us some snacks. I went out with ‘Kaashi the other day and we picked out some things for you!” Before he walked out of his room, he turned back to wink and blow you a kiss. You giggled at him. God,  you’d be damned if he wasn’t the cutest thing to walk this earth. Stretching your arms above your head and wiggling out of the cold, you looked around his room to try and figure out where exactly he had his pajamas. You took a shot at his dresser, and it took a bit of digging but you found the perfect outfit: an oversized grey shirt with old sweatpants would do just fine to warm you up. You slipped out of your blazer and wiggled the skirt off while admiring the decorations in his room; he had some volleyball posters, some framed pictures of him with his sisters, and atop his dresser you saw some papers that made your heart flutter; he had your first movie ticket, Weathering With You, framed and the post-its you’d slipped into his locker decorating the outside of the frame. To the left, he also had a printed out picture he took of the two of you on his phone while you shared a chocolate ice cream cone (with extra sprinkles, of course). 

You’d been to Koutarou’s house before, but you hadn’t gotten the chance to walk around his room; since his parents were out working, you’d come after school (on the rare days he didn’t have practice) and cook with him. One of your favorite memories of trying to cook with him was when you tried teaching him how to finely dice scallions; the poor boy couldn’t cut thinly if his life depended on it, and whenever he saw the knife get close to his thumb he would flinch. 

You wiggled into his shirt and plopped onto his bed. He had a plush vabo-chan and a horned owl plushie resting in between his pillows. You kicked his throw blanket up so it could cover your legs and shut your eyes for a bit, nothing on your mind except for your angel’s smile and his kisses peppering your forehead. You could feel yourself slipping into a comfortable vibe and it was so nice to be able to rest your body after running in the snow for such a long while. At a knock on the wall, your eyes fluttered open and your gaze traced your boyfriend’s form, hair damp (but drying) against his forehead, long-sleeve shirt tight against his chest, eyes blown wide and smiling, and packs of sour gummies and dark chocolate in his hands. He bumped his body against the light switch to turn the lights in the room off, allowing only the soft glow reflected from white snow to enter from his window.

He ran over to the bed and threw the candies at its foot as he wrapped you in a bear hug. “You look wonderful in my clothes, baby!” He chirped, voice dripping with adoration, as he admired you in his clothes. He was so warm and soft against you, and you wrapped your hands together at the base of his neck and pecked his lips. They tasted like hot chocolate and chapstick and felt surprisingly soft for the cold weather. Even if his lips were chapped, you still wouldn’t have wanted to kiss anyone else’s. You pulled away from the kiss to gaze into his eyes, color reminiscent of sunflowers and sunshine, and your heart fluttered in your chest as his gaze lidded and his eyes smiled. 

“What do you want to watch, princess? After all, movie night was your idea!”

You thought for a second, “Hmm, I saw that there was a cool documentary on netflix about international chefs! We could learn a thing or two from it so we can cook the best meal ever, right?”

He threw his head back in laughter and scooched closer to you on the bed, wiggling his feet beneath the blanket and pulling it up so it could cover the two of you.  He turned the TV on, remote in hand, and clicked through the buttons until he saw the Netflix app. Flicking over to the Documentaries, he paused when he saw some about food. “Is it the Street Food one?”

“Yeah, baby. We can watch a couple of episodes, the order doesn’t really matter anyways.”

“Cool! I want to watch the one about Argentina! I’ve heard they have amazing steak down there.” For some reason, you hadn’t expected his favorite food to be steak and instead for it to be something more like pure sugar. It had nothing to do with his energy level…

In spite of the absolute fact that he was always riled up and lively, in this moment with his head rested on your right shoulder, he looked at peace. His eyes were glued to the screen (or so you thought, because his gaze was really fixed on your arm as he tried to count all of the freckles there), his breathing was even, slow, and his fingers were gently grazing against the side of your left arm. He really did look like an angel, a piece of expired heaven that fell into your lap and promised to be forever yours. You smiled down at him in a lazy fashion and bent your neck to give him a kiss on his scalp. It smelled crisp and clean, and your belly fluttered when he looked up at you from quirked eyebrows. His hair looked amazing when it was down and, if anything, you almost preferred it to the spiky owl look. 

He shifted his weight so he could instead lay his head on your lap. You laced your fingers into his two-toned hair and lightly scratched his tresses. He had been gifted with many things, and among them was a thick head of hair; his locks were silky and plentiful; every meander of your fingers led to more strands  resting between them. He seemed to lean into your touch and sighed contentedly when you scratched at a spot at his head that was left of center. He really seemed to like when you would twirl his locks on your fingers, and it made you wonder…

“Kou?”

“Hmm?”

“Could I braid your hair?”

He let out a hearty laugh and turned his head to look up at you. “I’d love nothing more, (name)-kun. Go ahead.”

You sighed, running both hands through his scalp and feeling the silk slide in between your knuckles was so unexpected but so so welcome. He leaned into the touch and tilted his head forward to let you play with more of his hair. 

“(name)-kun, it tickles!” He laughed at the foreign sensation and his eyes crinkled shut. He was the sun. 

Scratching his head with your fingerpads, you ran the fingers of your right hand up his arm to let him know that he was safe and that the  new sensation was just that, something he should begin to get used to. He leaned into your touch, trusting, peaceful, calm. You separated three locks in between your knuckles and began to twist the center and right pieces together. Then, you twisted the right and left ones together, then the left and center. It was difficult because of his shaggy layered haircut, but you could tell from his staggered breathing and the nuzzling of his nose into your thighs that he was absolutely loving this. The first braid looked so pretty because of the contrast between his black roots and silvery locks, and you took a scrunchie from your wrist to tie it in place. Granted, it took five twists and the braid looked SUPER clunky, but you felt like that gave it so much charm. You tugged on the hair behind his right ear and began to weave it together like Arachne weaving her master tapestries, and braid begot yet another until the right side of his head was all tied up in a knot that you would (hopefully) be able to detangle. Hair tucked behind his ear, you noticed that he had a dusting of freckles on the pinna that trailed down to the nape of his neck. The black dusting of freckles against pale skin looked like stardust. He was beautiful. 

His breathing steadied, and it seemed like he had fallen asleep at the behest of your touch. A smile was painted onto his face, his nostrils flared and his lips half-parted as if he were having a pleasant dream. This was too much, it was too cute. You shifted around for your phone and took a picture of him in your lap, face glowing from the chatter and brightness of an argentine street restaurant. He looked perfect. You sent his phone the picture and saw it buzz on the bed, screen illuminated with a picture of him giving you a kiss on the forehead. You began to smile, and a look out the window proved that the snowfall had gotten heavier.  Your own exhaustion from the day began to settle in and take you prisoner. In between the soft whirr of the heating, Kotarou’s steady breathing, the soft background noise of steak sizzling and Spanish chatter, and the delicate dance of the snowflakes outside, you began to slip into a peaceful slumber. This would be the first of many naps with Bokuto to come. 

[weasleywinchester]

Not A Shrine

Eyyy Ohh! First fic for Mr. Marcus Magnet Hands Moreno! I’m excited to jump into this universe because there are just so many ways to go! This fic is mainly banter between (Y/N) and Miracle Guy (Whom I’ve decided to name Murphy Jones). Hope You enjoy! Also this is probably my last fic for the next week as I will be out of state for my birthday!!

Miracle Guy x Reader (New Friends)

Marcus Moreno x Reader (Romantic)

Summary:

You’re a huge fan of Marcus Moreno: leader of the Heroics, sword fighting, ass kicking extraordinaire. You got to see him once after he and Miracle Guy completed a tough mission, capturing your favorite moment between the two. But that was a long time ago when you were just an intern, now you’re part of the team that helps Heroics transition from the spotlight to civilian life. Miracle Guy happens to be on your list, and when your work partner points out your collection of Marcus photos and memorabilia to him, he’s dead set on embarrassing you just a little.

P.S. I think this might will get a part 2, because there’s just not enough Marcus tbh 💙

 “Shannon, I bought coffee, lord knows we’re going to need it.” You set her coffee on the desk, sitting across from her. She squeals in delight, taking a big gulp. She’s not going to tell you she’s already had a red bull, because coffee is just so good. She claps her hands together and takes a deep breath, practically vibrating.

“WOO! Well I’m going over the roster of Heroics, and it looks like a lot of them are ready to start planning, but most are not ready to actually retire.” She hands you a print out of the current full time Heroics. You scan the list, which she has already split between you and her, when you see-

“Miracle Guy?” you sigh, squeezing your eyes shut.

“I knnnoooow. I tried already to bring up the planning phase and he’s not budging. I thought you could take a crack at it?” She begs.

“Fine. On one condition.” 

“I already assigned Marcus to you.” She shrugs playfully. Marcus… assigned… to...you? Your mouth goes dry as you gape like a fish.

“(Y/N)... You can do this!” Shannon pounds the table. You’ve had a crush on him longer then Shannon has known you. And he’s been single for a long time, you’ve been single for a long time, you’re both amazing, you just need a nudge.

“The job ya, but… how am I supposed to focus if he’s so close.”

“You don’t have to be nervous, I promise to be nice.”

You turn to see the one and only Miracle Guy himself, one Murphy Jones. He’s got his signature smirk on his face, but otherwise he’s out of costume for once.

“Miracle Guy! What a surprise.” Shannon bubbles, shuffling some papers away.

“Shannon, lovely as always. Ms. (Y/L/N), I’m ready to talk retirement.” He gestures widely with his arms, as if he’s Jesus. You roll your eyes and lead him back to your office, gesturing for him to take a seat as you organize your desk.

“Ok so what exactly did you want to start talking about?” You turn to him, notebook at the ready.

“That I’m not ready to retire, and never will be.” He smiles like he just told you you won the lottery.

“Murphy, Wheels is ready to start taking over the family business. Which means you need to get ready to let go.” You laugh. 

His smile falters a little. Being a Heroic, and in front of the camera, is what he’s always wanted to do. He’s done a lot of amazing work that he’s immensely proud of. And the people of the world love him, he can’t abandon his fans. Although it would be nice to have time to teach Wheels new things, and actually do stuff with his wife.

“This is what I know how to do.” He states, looking at the floor.

“Yes, but now we can move those skills into other areas. Take Marcus for example.” You ignore the eye roll from him, “He’s technically retired from the Heroics central team. But he still works here, using his skills to help the team in the field. Teach, train, and coach from a distance.”

“Well, hooray for him.” 

“Murphy, You can’t physically fight monsters forever. Unless you want Wheels to have one parent. Why don’t we explore options. Marcus chose to observe from the main office, to use his highly trained mind to anticipate and analyze attacks. We could do the same for you.” 

“I don’t do behind the scenes.” He growls. This face? Meant to be in front of a camera, meant to be saving the world crowds at a time.

You hold your hands up in mock surrender.

“Hear me out. Maybe we can have you as a spokesperson. You love doing all the ribbon cuttings, first pitches at baseball games, kissing babies and hugging old people. Work with the image side of the Heroics, the press. You’re a fan favorite! That’s not going to stop anytime soon, and an easy way to do the parts of the job you love, and to lower the chance of immediate death.”

You take a sip of your coffee as you watch him. He’s twiddling his thumbs, trying to nitpick your proposal apart. What he doesn’t know is you’ve been researching possible jobs for him ever since he stormed out of Shannon’s office a month ago. You had talked to the press team, the board and Ms. Granada; everyone thought it was brilliant. 

“Hypothetically, if I agree to this plan, when does it start?”

“It’s just planning for a while. We have to go through everything with a fine tooth comb. There’s no shortcuts, once we establish a plan you are 100 % satisfied with, then the actual transition will start. But since the new generation are still very young, it’ll be a while.” You smile, trying not to look like you won the war.

_______

It’s been about two months since Murphy agreed to your retirement plan. And he’s been in your office at least twice a week, which makes you think he’s just coming to annoy you. Both you and Shannon have a bigger case load than normal, most of the new generation is the same age, so quite a few of the current team are ready to let them take the reins. You’re in the middle of Shark Boy and Lava Girl’s files when Murphy knocks on the door. You open your mouth to tell him to come in but he’s already plopped into the chair across from you.

“Moreno said he’s doing all of his planning via email.” Murphy states, slightly annoyed.

“Well good afternoon to you too.” You raise your eyebrow at him.

“I never got that option.”

“Like you would give up the opportunity to harass me in person.” You laugh, turning back to your paperwork. He frowns at you as your reach to grab something from your bookshelf. He wouldn’t say harass… more like friendly banter. That’s what you two were by now right? Friends?

“Well you’re never going to get him to notice you if you don’t actually meet in person.” He smirks, that should get your full attention.

You read the same line about Shark Boy’s request to be able to swim at the aquarium three times before your brain processes what Murphy just said. 

“What.” You blink, slowly looking up at him.

“You, Moreno, meet.” He claps his hands together, a cheshire grin spreading across his face.

“You talked to Shannon.” You grit your teeth. 

“That, and when she mentioned your shrine...”

“It’s not a shrine.” You clench your jaw. You want to punch Miracle Guy in his miracle face, but it would only hurt you and make him laugh.

“You have a collection of photos, limited edition merch and even a few newspaper clippings about the guy. It’s a shrine.”

“Not a shrine!”

“Anyways, I noticed you didn’t have anything signed by him. So, get him in your office!” Murphy throws his hands in the air, exasperated. You mentioned Marcus constantly, and Murphy can’t stand the guy on a good day. But oh man when the shire was mentioned, that meant he could tease the heck out of you.

“I’m going to kill both of you.” You put your head in your hands, taking a deep breath. You can’t hurt him, it’ll only end badly for you.

“Well that’s a bit harsh. I thought I was an excellent retired Heroic.”

You can hear the smile, but it’s not Murphy talking. You peak from behind your fingers to see Marcus Moreno standing in your doorway. You shift your eyes to Murphy, his stupid smirk on his stupid face.

“Mr. Moreno, I didn’t realize you were coming by.” You smile, sitting up straight. You hope he can’t hear how fast your heart is beating.

“Since when do you call him mister? How come you don’t call me mister?” Murphy says, feigning outrage. He can see the steam shooting out of your ears. Perfect, his suspicions that you had a Class A crush were correct.

“Mr. Jones, our meeting is over.” You answer. He grumbles while he stands; as he passes Marcus  you swear you hear him say, she’s a very big fan.

“Mr. Moreno-”

“Marcus, please.” He smiles, sitting in the chair Murphy just vacated. God, his smile… you could stare at him all day.

“Ok. Marcus, what can I help you with today?” You bring out his file, everything neatly organized and prepared. Unlike all the other files you’re working through, which have sticky notes and scraps of paper that you scrawled on sticking out from every angle.

“I just wanted to make sure everything was still going ok; since I was switched from Shannon’s roster to yours.” Not that he minded. Shannon is great, but something about the way you talk to him over email and the phone is... different. He always wants to keep talking to you, but he’s not sure how to jump from retirement talk to more personal stuff. And then Murphy showed him a super cute picture of you and he felt things he hasn’t felt in a long time.

“Oh, uh, ya everything is still on track. Shannon just had some… other cases that became more complex than we originally thought. Plus she’s making me deal with Miracle Guy, so my reward is you.” And you immediately regret the last part. Oh god, now he thinks you’re weird.

“I mean... your plan is pretty much done, so simple case.”

“Good. I guess it helps to get a head start.” He laughs. 

“That it does. I’m also handling Missy’s transition into fill time Heroic, which is also very much on track. Father like daughter.”

He smiles, a far away look in his eyes. He's so proud of her. She’s strong, brave and every bit just like her mother, and him. He’s glad you're helping her, you’ve already helped him so much.

“I’m glad to hear that. Well, I don’t have anything new to add, so...” He stands from his seat, as do you. He wishes he would have stayed seated, asked you about your day or if you wanted to take a walk with him. 

“Uh ya, I’ll let you know if there’s any changes or if I have questions...” You look just past his arm to see both Murphy and Shannon waving their arms like idiots. Shannon is gesturing writing on a piece of paper, and then pointing at Marcus. Murphy is mouthing ‘ask for his number’ while folding his hand into a telephone shape and holding it to his ear. 

“Is there something on my arm?” Marcus looks down, moving his gaze to try and look behind. You quickly grab his bicep, which is very firm, and you both freeze.

“No, just looked like there was a hair, but I don’t think it’s there anymore.” You stammer. He gives you a look, and you realize your hand is still touching him; you quickly let go and gesture to the door. When his back is turned you swat your hand at your friends, telling them to go away.

“I’ll tell Missy you said hello?” He smiles at you.

“Ya, that would be great.” You smile back. He waves and walks down the hall to the elevator. You let out a long breath, going back into your office and collapsing into your chair. “Did you have him sign anything?!” Shannon squeals as Murphy asks “Did you ask for his number?” 

“You two need to stop.” You mumble, rubbing your eyes.

“You literally had him in the palm of your hand.” Murphy snickers as Shannon nods furiously.

“Look, I’m his retirement planner. And he’s probably not looking to date anyone. I’m here to do my job, as a retirement planner.” You shake your head at them both.

They share a look and Shannon goes back to her office. Murphy stays seated, watching you put your belongings in your purse. He was so sure you two would get talking, you drool over Marcus all the time and Marcus actually mentions you a lot. You tend to be the center of conversation between them, which oddly enough has reduced the friction.

You stand, opening the door and gesturing from him to get out. He gets up, silently walking with you until you get to your car.

“I think you two would be good together.” Murphy says to the floor.

You’re not sure what to say. You always thought so, but you also think you’d make a good match with that one guy from Game of Thrones. Also, since when did the great Miracle Guy care about your love life and Marcus Moreno’s?

“That’s really nice of you to think that Murph. But just because I’m ready, doesn’t mean he is.” You give the man a big hug. You always knew there was a kind person under all the swagger; and you’re very happy he’s now a friend.

_______

Two Weeks Later

“Alright. Shark Boy and Lava Girl are about a quarter of the way through their plan. Which is major progress. You said Blinding Fast is still slow going, ha, but that-”

“OOHHH MY GOOODD” Shannon squeals.

“What?” You ask, your blood pressure skyrocketing.

“I am SO PROUD of yooouuu! You finally asked him!” She squeals, clapping her hands together.

“Asked who what?” You scream back. She gives you a look, gesturing to your wall of Marcus behind you. 

“See I told you it would be fine! He probably thinks you’re a bit fangirl-ish, but that’s fine, you are working with him now...” She continues to ramble as you turn around. You scan the wall, your eyes landing on your favorite photo of Marcus and Murphy. It now has the two very recognizable signatures.

“So congrats” she claps again.

“Oo, what are we congratulating (Y/N) on.” Murphy walks in, throwing a smirk at you.

“She finally asked Marcus to sign her favorite picture!” Shannon claps again, her glee very overwhelming at this point.

“I didn’t.” You look between her and Murphy. Shannon frowns, now just as confused as you.

“I did.” Murphy shrugs. Your jaw drops to the floor, you look over at Shannon to see her face mirrors yours.

“I didn’t hear about any fights amongst the Heroics.” You sass. Murphy mocks you in response.

“Well, I guess I should congratulate you then.” Shannon laughs.

“You should.” He winks at Shannon before turning to you, “ I don’t remember that picture being taken. It’s after the spiro monster attack according to our suits.”

“OMG! You never told him the backstory that you repeat all the time?” Shannon howls. You roll your eyes, glancing back at the picture.

“It was my first day as an intern here. I was an intern for the director’s assistant so after the spiro monster mission I was allowed to be in the debrief. You two had taken the mission together, fighting back to back; it was incredible. But you two had sat on the platform while the director was saying what a fine job you two did. I thought to myself fine? They did a kick ass job! Except I said it out loud instead of in my head.”

“I remember that actually.” Murray laughs. 

“The whole day was amazing, filled with moments like that. Back when the team acted like a team.” You smile at the signatures that now decorate the picture, reminding you that friends always have your back.

“How did you even get it out of my office?” You frown, spinning to look at your friends. Shannon immediately drops her gaze, mashing her lips together.

“I had no part, and the piles of paperwork are calling me.” She bows out of the room, leaving you and Murphy alone.

“It did leave its place in the shrine briefly… but I wasn’t sure you would want the original print signed on the front.”

“That’s why Wheels asked for the digital file.” You laugh, he said he needed it for a project the kids were putting together.

“Yes. So That is technically one of three prints.” He takes a folder out of his bag, opening it to reveal a second copy. “I was hoping the artist would sign this one.” He smiles. You grab a marker from your desk, and take the print. You hesitate, you’ve signed plenty of your own art, but Murphy went through the trouble of printing these, just so you could have a signed one. You smile and sign it in a flourish. 

“Will it hang in your house now?” You smirk.

“Actually, ya. And if Marcus is a smart man, it’ll hang in his too.”

“What?”

“I got three printed you dork, one for you, one for me and one for-”

“Marcus.” You smile and shake your head.

_______

Paperwork, it just never ends. You’re up to your eyeballs in it, and you’re not sure when, if, you’ll ever get out. You’re ready to shove all of it into the trash and set it on fire when a gentle knock pulls you out of the stress spiral.

“Hi.” Marcus gives you that super adorable smile.

“Hi.” You smile back.

“I was wondering if I could entice you to dinner.” He nods behind him. Your brain comes to a halt, did he just? He frowns a little when you don’t answer right away, making you realize the screaming yes over and over is only in your head.

“Yes, that would be great.” You laugh, his smile returning. You gently scoop everything back into the folders, and let him guide you to his car. 

________

“Welcome to… I would say the best restaurant around but that’s not true.” He laughs as you pull into his driveway.

“Missy?”

“Is at camp for the week.” He slides out of the drivers side and runs to open your door.

“So what brought this on?” You ask as you reach to take your stuff from him. He waves you off, gesturing for you to walk up the pathway.

“Just decided to branch out my circle of friends, retirement leaves a lot of free time.” He unlocks the door, shuffling you inside. It’s been cleaned, like deep cleaned. There’s not one hint that a tween girl lives here.

“I can see you’ve already utilized the time, pre retirement.” 

He shrugs in response, setting your things down and walking into the kitchen.

“Before you get to watch the master chef cook, I wanted to ask you something.” He leans on the counter across from where you sit. You nod for him to continue. “Will you tell me the story of this picture?” He brings out a folder identical to Murphy’s, opening it to reveal the picture. 

“Of course.”

“And will you sign it for me?” He holds out a marker to you. You take it and quickly sign the photo. He smiles and leans it against the fruit bowl, the two of you looking at it as you recount the story that goes with it. 

And of course you don’t notice, but he’s looking at you, not the picture. If it weren’t for Murphy, out of all people, he wouldn’t have given a thought about anything romantic with you. Granted he’s not sure how ready he is for something romantic. But Missy is gone for a whole week, plenty of time to figure out if his stomach fluttering every time you look his way or say his name is something that is more than a day dream.

[colemacgrathtkz]

Ah, memories

Disclaimer: I went past the character limit. This one might be hard to read due to formatting.

Previous. Next

[Human realm, three weeks BBI]

Luz crouched close to her task. Eda's lesson really came in handy. Picking a door lock, she never thought she'd be so grateful for an unmodern store. Standing by her side, only perceivable to her, the empress stood watching her progress.

Empress Luz: "I know you want to say it, just say it. What do you want?"

Since they came back, Luz's glyphs hadn't worked once. At first, she thought magic didn't exist here. But if that's the case, why was her angry counterpart still stuck to her.

Luz: "How come you're still here? I mean, my dream of being a witch is dead on this side, right?"

Empress Luz: "Ok, let me put this in terms you can understand. Congratulations, chica, you're an astronaut. Let's think of the Boiling Isles as earth and magic is the air we breathe. This side is the moon. On the Boiling Isles, magic is everywhere. Here, looks like we're S.O.L."

Luz: "So, you're what?"

Empress: "Holding my breath for you... to finish the job."

The tumblers finally obeyed the thief working on the outside. Luz didn't have much aside from some old clothes from home and the Empress' outerwear. The store inside should have some cash and new stuff to try on. She needed to avoid being recognized. Also, she kept getting glares when she entered stores during the day.

Luz: "Does that mean, if I wait long enough, you'll die?"

An note of optimism was detected.

Empress Luz: " You should be so lucky. No, I don't think so. I'm the only magic you brought over. So, WE'RE holding our breath."

The cash register was the first task they needed done. Emptying the register, they now browsed their options.

The place didn't look like anything exceptional. But one jacket caught Luz's eye. She put it on and felt... something.

Luz: "What do you think?"

Empress: "A little big, don't you think? And do you really like the color green that much?"

They both realized what this jacket was to her. For whatever reason, this jacket made Luz miss the others less. Almost like a sort of comfort cloth.

Man: "Who's there?!"

A flashlight broke through the dark and nearly blinded Luz. She dove for any cover that would keep her out of sight, bumping into something.

Empress Luz: " What are doing?! Let me tak..."

Almost like hitting the mute button, something landed on Luz's head. In that instant, she noticed her partner disappeared. She raced out the door and as far away as she could get. Once she was clear, she examined the hat on her head.

Empress Luz: "Stop ignoring me!"

The instant she took off the beanie, her partner reappeared in front of her.

Now there was some magic.

It would be another three weeks before she'd make it back to Bonesborough. But they were clearly on the right track.

[Present day, Blight manor]

Amity stirred awake in her old bed. She felt like she'd dreamed about something important.

The first thing she noticed was her old room, not remembering how she got there.

Luz: "No, wait, you can't!"

Her girlfriend's voice echoed from somewhere in the manor. She bolted out of bed and ran out to find the source.

Willow: "It's only fair. After all you put us through, this is the least you can do."

Gus: "I wouldn't call myself a 'vengeful guy'. But I do want to see this."

Amity practically jumped the stairway to see what was going on. Luz sat, tied up by vines, while her friends stood around her. Willow had a pair of memory tweezers while Gus held a memory print.

Amity: "What're you doing?"

Willow: "Luz wants to make amends. This is it."

Gus: "But you should be here, too. Take a look at this."

Snickering, he handed Amity the prize in his hand.

Luz: "No, come on, give me a break."

Willow: "If we wanted to settle things, once and for all, we could go fishing in her memories. That's what she said."

Gus: "We didn't find anything nefarious. But we did snag these nice beauties."

Scratch that, he handed her the prizes in his hand.

A few memories of Nevareth Bladestrife, teen Prince of Angstmore. Amity didn't say a word as she examined the recollections in her hand.

Luz: "Ames? You ok, linda?"

Amity: "So, who's this?"

Luz( visibly nervous): "No one, really. He's not even real."

Amity: "You sure? It looks like you think about him a lot. You had an imaginary boyfriend?"

Luz: "He's just... not even worth mentioning. I mean, he's got nothing on you, Ami."

Unfortunately, Amity flipped the print to reveal a small note written in ( what looked like) Luz's handwriting.

Goodbye, flawless pecs

Amity stared Luz down with one of the most menacing glares she'd ever seen.

Amity: " Well, if you say so, then it's fine. If he's not worth mentioning, he's not worth remembering, right?"

She lit a small fire in her other hand and dangled the pictures over it.

Luz: "Wait! You don't want to do that."

Amity: "Why not? You want to make amends, right?"

Luz: "Right! Let me out of this chair and I'll tell you all the truth."

Willow and Gus stopped snickering amongst themselves. Luz's proposal seemed like something worth seeing. Her friend undid the vines and let Noceda take a step forward.

Luz: "The truth is..."

In a swift moment, she surprised Amity with a kiss. Stunning her girlfriend, she swiped the memories back and placed one arm around her.

Luz: " We're official! Amity and I are dating. There's no reason to bother with these. So, I'll just take them back and we don't have to talk about him ever again. Agreed?"

Luz would later understand the wrath of a Blight, later. For now, she pocketed the memories.

Gus: "Wait, when did you figure it out?"

Luz: "Well, last night...wait, what do you mean by that?"

Her two best friends looked at each other, awkwardly.

Willow: "It just seems like... you were the last to know."

Luz: "...."

Gus: "You kind of already acted like a couple. I mean, when did you find out she liked you?"

Luz: "Right after..."

Her pause might have made anime fans proud.

Luz: "Point is, we're both where we want to be. Right, Ami?"

Amity: "When did you start calling me that?"

Luz: "Last niiiiiiiiiight."

Last night? Last night was a blur. She remembered grudgby and dancing but that was it. She didn't even recall how she got back last night.

Gus: "Um, speaking of last night, are you just getting out of bed? It's past noon."

Looking down at herself, she was wearing an orange and white striped pajama top with purple pants.

Amity shot a death glare at the last person she remembered being with.

Luz: "I swear, I didn't do anything weird! You were really tuckered out. I carried you home and that's it, I swear!"

She redirected her wrath to the others.

Amity: "Don't you all have somewhere to be?"

Gus: "Not really."

Luz: "You told me to quit my job."

Willow: "My boss didn't come in this morning."

Amity: "Get out!"

Just as they were leaving, Luz sheepishly tried to be cute.

Luz: "So.....stripes?"

And with that, Willow had to pry her boss off while Gus pulled Luz to safety.

[Last night, Hexside's gymnasium]

Luz: "I think I want to tell you where the staff is."

Taking a step back, Amity knew she was being sincere.

Amity: "Where is it?"

Luz: "With you, carino."

Not realizing what she meant, Luz poked her forehead.

Luz: "In here, with the witch I trust the most."

Amity had mixed feelings about this.

Amity: "No, you need someone to cast that spell on you. Who pulled you out? When did you even do that?"

Luz: "I'm kind of two for one package deal now. Not to mention, a quick study. Remember when you caught me in your room and I sent you a snoozing? It was after that."

Amity: "You knocked me out and went into my head?!"

Luz: " I'm getting the impression you're angry."

After taking one deep breath, she grabbed Luz by her face and pulled her close.

Amity: "Just, please, give it to me and we can go from there."

She was being pretty bold tonight.

Luz: "I can't say 'no' to that face. Especially like this, keeper of the staff."

Knowing full well that was a bad joke, she proceeded with Amity's request.

Amity(thinking to herself): "Please don't do anything weird. Please don't do anything weird. Please don't do anything weird. Please don't do anything weird."

Luz(echoing in Amity's head): "You know, I can hear you, in here. It's really a lot like what I've been living with on a day to day.."

Amity: "LUZ!"

Luz: "Right, right, we can talk about that later."

Popping out, Luz stood in front handing out the staff.

Luz: "One sure fire proof of my trust of you.. for you."

Her most trusted companion took the gift in her hand.

Amity: "It's the real thing. You actually meant it."

There was no mistaking the smug look on the latina's face as she placed her hands behind her head.

Luz: "Yep, we can be honest with each other."

Amity cut her off by raising her arm up. Now, the room had a serious tone shift.

Luz: "What're you doing?"

Amity: "You'd never lie to me, right? With or without this thing?"

Luz: "Bebe, this isn't funny."

Fear, once again, gripped a member of the Blight family.

Amity: "I order you to tell me the truth, what are you doing here?"

Luz: "I'm on a date with you."

Luz couldn't stop herself from answering, but she tried tweaking her answers.

Amity: "Why did you come back to Bonesborough?"

Luz: "I wanted to be with you all again."

Amity: "Are you planning something behind my back?"

Things were getting worse as it became apparent that Noceda didn't want to answer.

Luz: "Our second date, maybe. Now, can you give me that back, please?"

Amity: "One last thing, the empress is still in you, right? Neither of you are going to hurt anyone, right?"

This time, Luz covered her mouth, muffling her response.

Amity: "Take your hands off and tell me the truth!"

This feeling of once again not being in control of her own body; brought tears to her eyes.

Luz: "I don't want to hurt anyone. But I can't say the same for her."

Empress Luz: "GET THE STAFF!"

Amity found herself gripped from behind by a giant abomination hand. She looked back to see the Otabin mutant was still there.

Amity: "Wait, how are you doing that?"

The empress simply took back her staff and looked disgusted at what just happened.

Empress Luz: "I think I'm done answering questions."

Luz: "I pulled out all the stops for you, carino. It's my own 'little' mix of abomination, plant, illusion, and potion. Something that can keep on going, even if my finger stops spinning."

She just gazed at the object in her hands.

Luz: "I gave this to you because I trusted you."

The goo around Amity hardened; preventing her from moving a finger.

Luz(sadly): "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?"

She reached into the almost solid goo and searched Amity's pocket. Pulling out the tweezers just before the muck became rock hard.

Luz: "Thanks for the date, bonita. I'll be sure to remember it."

She held Amity's head still as she pulled out her memories of the date. Contrary to her pleas, Luz burned the ones that held the night's closing events. Her girlfriend felt the effects and passed out.

Empress Luz: "We'll have to clean this up."

Luz: "Hold on, I don't want to leave her like this. This could seriously damage her mind."

Luz used the tweezers on herself and pulled a couple memories. She done this before, unbeknownst to anyone else. When Willow's memories were burnt, her personality changed. Luz discovered that she could sort of keep that from happening by putting place holders.

After she had done the deed, she picked up the sleeping green haired witch in her arms, princess style.

Empress Luz: "Even after all that?!"

Luz: " You feel the same way, right?"

The two had gotten unbelievably good at switching control between them.

Empress: "What about the staff?"

Luz: "It can wait. I want to take her home and just forget this ever happened."

To her dismay, she knew her partner wouldn't simply "forgive and forget".

Empress: "Before we go, I think we should check her memories. I mean, it's only fair after what she just pulled."

Complying with her internal partner, they discovered the two other conspirators. She took the staff and hid it. She also took Amity home, but not before she made sure the coast was clear.

Willow and Gus would have no memory of their findings. They would be left to believe their investigations had come to a dead end. Reporting to Amity only that Luz Noceda had nothing to hide.

Author's note:

I just want to make two things clear.

1.) In "Understanding Willow", Willow's brain appeared to be faulty after her memories were burnt. I figured Amity might unknowingly experience something similar AFTER Luz left her in her room. No funny business. Amity was half asleep and disoriented when she changed into her new attire.

2.) I've wondered, how Amity might react to Nevareth or Luz's other crushes? I just wanted to throw that idea into the hat.

[allisonxmoynihan]

always be my baby ~ p. moynihan

Request: could you write something with any of the boys moynihan where you see him after a really bad break up and memories come flooding back in and you end up talking and he says if he could go back and do it all over again with you he would

Word Count: 7391

Note: This was previously posted on my old account but with a different title. After posting I thought this title was better suited. But I wanted to repost this because I got a lot of requests for a part two, so that will be in the works soon!

You were sitting on your bed with your dad’s gift sprawled out in front of you: a picture collage of you and him throughout your 18 years of life, your baby photo smack dab in the middle; the picture frame was decorated in vintage buttons, something you knew your dad would appreciate. You were trying to figure out how to wrap it as you were on a facetime call with your best friends Kelsie and Olivia.

“Yeah, I don’t know Kels, it’s really weird that he asked for your opinion on what to wear if he was only going to ask Jenna out like three hours later,” you say finally selecting on the wrapping paper that says ‘super dad’ and ‘my number one hero’ all over it. 

“That’s what I’m saying, girl we’re gonna find you someone though because no one is gonna treat one of my girls like that,” Olivia sasses.

“Thanks girls. Hey, y/n what time is the barbeque? Your mom just said to come today, but like when? Because I don’t wanna be late, but I gotta get ready so I look good. Oh! Lemme show you the dress I’m gonna wear!” Kelsie exclaims, running over to her closet.

You laugh, “you can come whenever, I’m going down to help my mom cook in a little bit anyway. My dad’s fishing with the little troublemakers right now, so it’s going to be a surprise.”

You pick out a blue and green braided ribbon to compliment the wrapping paper as the girls explain that they’re going to get ready and head over right away to help you and your mom. Grabbing your dad’s gift, you walk downstairs to the kitchen where your mom stands fumbling over a recipe book.

“I don’t know why they make the print so small when older people are the ones that cook!” she exclaims, “y/n, get over here. Can you read this for me? Does it say ¾ tbs.?”

You crinkle up your face, “mom, what the heck, it says ½ a teaspoon.”

“You know, one day you’re going to be just like me needing your kids to read recipes to you.” She pauses when she looks up, her face softening when she sees you in your white floral dress with your hair curled and held back in a half up half down style. A wide smile blossoms on her face, “oh, sweetie, you’re so beautiful,”

Your face grows red in embarrassment at your mom’s compliment, “mooommm,” you whine causing her to smile back at you.

“Come on, are you helping or what? We have almost fifty people coming in two hours, and where are Liv and Kels?”

As if on cue Olivia and Kelsie come in through the front door and into the kitchen, gift bags in hand.

“Hello!” They sing together.

You smile at your best friends as your mom directs them on how to help prepare various dishes for the party. 

By the time the food tables are neatly organized by appetizers, main dishes, and desserts, guests come flooding into your backyard and find themselves preoccupied with cornhole, chit chatting, or gossiping about the neighborhood kids.

Your little brothers Luke and Nate come running into the backyard, “He’s coming!” they squeal, hiding behind the slide so that they can scare your dad.

When your dad rounds the corner and sees everyone he starts laughing as everyone yells a big, “surprise!” 

Your brothers come up to you and your friends asking if you guys can go to the front yard to play basketball, and you happily oblige to their request. The three of you let the six year old boys outrun you and score over and over again as they giggle and boast about how great they are. The moment is cut short when you look up to see the Moynihan clan approaching your driveway. You feel your throat begin to tighten as you turn around and run inside to the bathroom. 

Your family and the Moynihans were close, so you knew it was inevitable that you would eventually see him again. You’ve been dreaming up the different ways this exact moment would happen, but nothing could prepare you for this. You cuss at yourself for thinking you were actually over the only boy you had ever really loved. It’s easy to think you’re over someone when you don’t have to see them every day, but seeing Patrick getting out of the backseat of his mom’s car had everything come flooding back in. And that’s when it finally hit you: you were still madly in love with him.

~*~

It was the first weekend of December, a light snowfall dusting the grounds of Millis that you and Patty found yourselves downtown Boston for the annual tree lighting ceremony. The cold winter breeze caused your body to go numb, but you were thankful for the hot coco patrick had bought that was keeping you warm. 

You were standing in front of him with your back pressed against his torso towards the front of the crowd, his hands wrapped loosely around your waist, his chin resting on your shoulder. He was gently swaying you back and forth as dusk was fast approaching.

“Do you wanna come over and help decorate sugar cookies after the ceremony?” patty asks, pressing a gentle kiss to your cheek. 

You feel a blush creep onto your cheeks. Knowing you didn’t want this night to end you accepted his offer. Baking with patrick was something you always wanted to do but never really had the guts to ask to do. It’s not that you thought he wouldn’t do it with you, because you had him wrapped so tightly around your finger, the boy would do absolutely anything for you if you asked. 

“Awesome,” he grins, “we just have to stop at the grocery store on our way home then. Mom said we need frosting and food coloring.” you nod, a shiver coming over you. “You cold?” he asks, and without waiting for an answer he takes off his scarf and wraps it around your neck smiling at you, “looks way better on you,”

You roll your eyes playfully at him, “you’re such a loser, you know that right?”

He chuckles, “oh yeah? A loser that you love”

The two of you stand in silence as the stars become visible and the skyline becomes illuminated in the shadows of the night. You and patty stare up at the enormous tree in the middle of Boston Common, the mayor starting a countdown and everyone eagerly joining in. And before you know it the tree is sparkling and the ornaments radiate and reflect the light. An older couple offers to take your photo with Patrick in front of the lit tree, and you couldn’t be any happier than right here in this moment with your boyfriend.

On the car ride to Shaw’s you and Patty are blasting Luke Combs and singing along. Patrick turns up the volume when Beautiful Crazy comes on, “Alright ladies and gents, this song is dedicated to the one and only love of my life,  y/n y/l/n, my beautiful girlfriend that I love more than anything in this world.” You laugh at his pretending of giving a concert as he starts to belt out the lyrics, “She's unpredictable, unforgettable, It's unusual, unbelievable, How I'm such a fool, yeah, I'm such a fool for her…” Pat scream sings, closing his eyes and tilting his head back on the headrest. 

You giggle at the sight, taking over the next line, “The way that she dances, ain't afraid to take chances”

“And wears her heart on her sleeve”

“Yeah, she's crazy, she's crazy, she's crazy”

The two of you look each other in the eyes, smiling widely as Patrick finishes off the song, “But her crazy's beautiful to me”

Back at the Moynihan household Mrs. Moynihan takes out a container of six cookies for you two to decorate, “you’re lucky the girls saved some for you two,” she smiles, starting to mix different food colorings into separate bowls of frosting. “Let me know when you kiddos are done and I’ll clean up while you take y/n home, okay?” Mrs. Moynihan says as she pats Patrick on the back before walking into the family room to join her husband. 

“Thanks mama,” Patty calls out after her.

You grab a cookie and some light blue frosting, getting ready to make a snowflake and accent it with the white pearl sprinkles Mrs. Moynihan took down for you. Patty starts singing holiday tunes as he’s bopping his head up and down to the beat of the songs, “y/n don’t be a grinch! Join in!” he laughs, throwing a handful of sprinkles at you.

“Patrick!” you hiss, as he starts singing Jingle Bells.

“Come on y/n, I know you know this one!” you shake your head but join in anyway.

You finish your snowflake cookie, glad that it actually turned out and wasn’t ugly. You go to show Patrick, but in the process you see his creation. “Uhh, what is that?”

He looks up at you confused, “A hockey stick, what else does it look like?” he scoffs.

You raise your eyebrows looking at the crooked black lines that are scribbled on his cookie as he works on filling it in, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, clearly in deep concentration. 

“I don’t know, it kind of looks like a mangled spider leg.”

He looks at you with a hurt expression on his face, “I can’t believe you just said that to me.”

You smile, “Yeah, well at least you’re good at something, Patty… but it’s definitely not this.”

~*~

You walk out to your backyard to see your mom waving you over to her and some of the book club moms.

“y/n why don’t you tell everyone about your plan to go to New York,” she smiles encouragingly.

You hate the attention your mom brings to your project all the time, but you’re also thankful that she’s supportive and proud of your hard work and dedication.

“Oh, it’s nothing really. I’m in a film class at school so I’m going to New York in a couple of weeks with Kelsie and Olivia to make a short film to bring attention to the homeless and ways we can fight it together.”

The moms look at you all impressed, “Oh wow, that’s very nice. And where do you go to school again honey?” one of the moms asks you.

“Tufts,”

“Oh, how impressive,” the moms turn back to your own mom and begin gossiping about the next thing that comes across their mind. 

You turn on your heel to go look for Liv and Kels to save you from all the parents boasting about their kids’ accomplishments and gossiping about the rebellious neighborhood kids. And that’s when you see it, and your heart sinks all over again. At the table you see Patrick and your dad talking. Patty says something that must have made your dad laugh because your dad throws his head back, slapping his knee, as Patrick chuckles softly to himself. You feel hot tears sting your eyes and threaten to spill as you try and fight them back.

You try to ignore the memories of the weekly disney marathons at your house that Patrick would come to, but to no avail the memories come flooding in all over again. The two of you snuggled up on the couch, him rubbing soft circles on your back and kissing the top of your head. How he wasn’t afraid to cry at the sad and ugly parts, but how’d he laugh and make jokes at the other parts. The way he’d run to cover Luke and Nate’s eyes when a kiss scene would appear on the screen. You would give everything back for just one more night like that, to be back in his toned arms where it felt like home.

You feel tears start to slide down your cheeks, as you zone back into reality, your dad and Patty still conversing with each other. and before you know it Olivia and Kelsie are guiding you up to your room, away from the party and guests outside. 

“y/n, come on, you know you can talk to us,” Kelsie coos rubbing your back as silent tears stroll down your cheeks.

“I just d-didn’t think seeing h-him would be this h-hard,” you hiccup, a loud sob escaping your mouth.

Olivia pulls you into a hug, “oh honey,” Kelsie joins in, rubbing your tears away.

“I don’t know why, but I just really miss him still,” you cry out, finally letting all your built up emotions pour out as you bury your face in Olivia's shoulder, your two best friends just holding you close and wiping your tears as they fall. 

~*~

Patty 🥰

I’ll come pick u up after practice

y/n

What time?

Patty 🥰

7 i’ll see u soon baby i love you sm

y/n

I love you too patty

You put your phone down on the counter, trying to hide the inevitable smile that was occupying your face.

“Why are you so happy?” Your mom asks coming into the kitchen, “Something with Pat, huh?” she asks, laughing to herself as she goes over to wash some dishes.

You open the refrigerator to get some orange juice, “we’re going on a picnic tonight for our two year anniversary.” 

“Oh, how sweet, do we need to get anything for your picnic?”

“No, he said he’s got everything taken care of”

Your mom nods, going over to the stove to dry her hands on the towel that hangs off the oven door. “And what did we get lover boy for your anniversary?”

You take a sip of your orange juice, “I made him a scrapbook of everything that’s happened in the last two years between us and at the back i wrote him a letter,” you explain to your mom how you made sure to include all the cringey parts from the beginning of your relationship, like the time you tried to impress him at the eighth grade dance by wearing heels you could not walk in to save your life. 

She smiles, “I’m sure he’s going to love that, it sounds very sweet y/n.”

“Thanks mama,” you say, leaning into her side as she presses a kiss to the top of your head.

“What are we wearing tonight?” she asks, fashion was always your mom’s favorite thing and she was ecstatic when she found out she was having a baby girl so that she could dress you up all cute and do your hair. 

You shrug your shoulders, “I haven’t really figured that out yet,”

Your mom glances at the clock on the wall, “Well his practice is over soon, so why don’t we go look at some outfit options.” you follow your mom up to your room and she instantly goes to your closet searching through the thousands and thousands of clothes that occupied the hangers and shelves.

You sigh, “I don’t know what he’s wearing though, like I don’t want to be too dressed up but I don’t want to look like a slob either,”

Your mom nods, “Well, a little birdie told me what he packed in his bag to wear, and I think this dress would be just darling on you tonight,” your mom says holding up your long sleeve yellow dress with the pink and white little daisies printed on it. “And wear it with those brown slide on sandals, you know, the ones we got last month.”

You smile up at her, “thanks mom,” you say getting off your bed and grabbing the dress from her and heading into your bathroom to change. You smooth the dress over your body and start straightening your hair. By the time you’re done getting ready you hear the doorbell ring and you feel the butterflies in your stomach take off. You run into your room and slide your shoes on before grabbing Patty’s gift and running downstairs.

Patrick is standing in the foyer talking to your dad. You’re happy to see that Patty is also dressed nicely for the occasion.

“Luke, Nate, and I are making nachos and watching some baseball, Mrs. y/l/n has book club tonight so we’re having a boys night,”

Pat smiles, “Ah nice, yeah my dad and I definitely had our fair share of those when the girls all left,” He laughs, glancing up at the stairs before looking back over at your dad. His eyes dart back over to you as his jaw drops, a light blush creeping up on his cheeks. 

 Your dad pats his shoulder, “Be safe tonight, okay, and don’t do anything stupid. Make good choices, alright?” He points his finger at Pat before planting a kiss on the top of your head and walking into the living room where your brothers are. 

Pat smiles down at you, “you look absolutely stunning,” 

You blush smacking his shoulder playfully, “you don’t look too bad yourself moynihan,”

He laughs, grabbing your hand and leading you out to his car. On the car ride Pat is telling you about his last practice with Nobles, how their last game is coming up on Tuesday, and how you totally have to be there for it.

“You know I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” you say reassuringly

He smiles, pulling into a parking spot, “So, the spot i found for us is a little bit of a walk, but uh, it’s not too far.”

You nod, “okie dokie,”

Pat grabs the picnic basket and grabs your hand, interlacing your fingers with his, as he guides you down the paved path towards the little pond in the nature preserve. Patty lays out the picnic blanket in front of the pond, and the two of you find yourselves smiling and talking about everything and anything over your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and strawberries. You slide the scrapbook you made over to him, and you see a wide smile, the one you’ve come to love so much, spread upon his face. He opens it up and starts looking at all the pages, documenting your love story from eighth grade to now. 

“Thank you, baby,” he smiles, closing the scrapbook and digging deep into his pocket. “Here, give me your arm,” he says as you hold your arm out to him. He takes out a bracelet that he clasps around your wrist. You look down and smile at the infinity chain bracelet that now adorned your wrist.

“You have my heart forever and always baby,” he says, putting his hand on top of yours.

You lean over and press a kiss to his cheek, “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I’m so lucky to have you in my life.” 

You find yourselves lying on your backs, hand in hand, looking up at the sky, the sun almost disappearing, as the sky was a canvas of pinks, blues, and oranges. This night was everything you asked for and more, you felt like you were on top of the world, and to top it all off you had the best guy in the entire world by your side. Hours pass by and you and Pat find yourselves snuggled up, looking at the night sky and stargazing.

“Look it’s the big dipper,” he laughs, lifting his arm up and pointing at a constellation.

You giggle, hiding your face in his chest, “Pattt, that’s orion’s belt, oh my gosh,” 

He laughs, looking down at you with adoration filled in his eyes. His eyes flick down to your lips and back up to your e/c eyes before leaning in and placing a soft and slow kiss to your lips. You smile into the kiss, readjusting so you’re straddled over his hips. Patty’s lips trail down your skin, peppering your neck with kisses as he nips at the skin just above your collarbone. Your hands find themselves tangled in his hair, tugging loosely at the ends. Pat’s hands slide up your dress and rest on your bare skin as he kisses back up your neck before pressing a passionate kiss to your lips. 

Patrick turns you over as he lifts your dress up and over your head, before reconnecting his lips to yours. You feel him growing hard above your throbbing core, you grind your hips against him and he lets out a throaty groan, letting his hands roam your body. You two separate for a moment, your forehead pressed against his, your breathing hard and heavy.

“You’re sure this is okay?” he asks, sincerity filling his voice.

You nod your head, “I love you patrick,” you say as you pull his shirt off, pulling him into a deep kiss. His hands move down to kick off his khakis as he trails kisses down your skin, “I love you too baby girl,” he hums against your skin. The small, quiet whimpers leaving your mouth causing Patty to smile against your skin. He presses a final kiss to your abdomen before sliding your underwear down to your legs and inserting two fingers into you. You let out a soft moan, digging your nails into his biceps as he thrusts his fingers in and out of you, quickening his pace. You feel a knot forming in your stomach as you squint your eyes shut. Patty removes his fingers before sucking on them. 

“Patty,” you whine

He smiles at your desperation as he nonchalantly removes himself from his boxers before lining up with your entrance and thrusting in. He sucks on the skin of your neck as he continues his thrusts, tiny grunts escaping his mouth as you moan out his name. 

“Patty, harder,” you grumble as you tug on his hair.

He’s biting down particularly hard as he pushes harder. You start lifting your hips up to meet his thrusts making it easier for him. 

“You’re so good baby,” he mumbles against your skin, his thrusts getting sloppier and sloppier, “I know you’re almost there, baby girl.” The knot in your stomach tightens, as you release, a throaty moan leaving your lips. Patty smiles, kissing up your neck and kissing you on the lips once more. His pace continues until he’s releasing into you, planting kisses all over your skin. 

“Happy two years y/n, I can’t wait to spend the next eighty with you by my side,”

~*~

Olivia and Kelsie convince you to leave your room after you’ve calmed down a little.  “Come on, you need to eat, okay? It’ll make you feel better.”

“And we’ll be there the whole time to keep you distracted!” Kelsie pipes in, the two girls guiding you back outside. 

You grab a plate of some of your mom’s famous mashed potatoes and a cheeseburger heading over to the seat at the table in between Liv and Kels.

“Oh my gosh, did I show you the dress my sister picked for her wedding?” Kelsie squeals, grabbing her phone and scrolling through her text messages. You and Liv share a knowing look before hovering over Kelsie’s screen.

“Oh my gosh, that’s beautiful!” you and Liv say in unison. 

Kelsie locks her screen, “42 dresses later, right?” she laughs, continuing to fill you two in on all the wedding details. You hear your little brothers squeal and you whip your head around on instinct. Upon doing so you lock eyes with him for the first time since he turned around, walked out, and never came back. You feel everything around you freeze, your breath hitches in your throat, and the cup of water in your hand falls to the table and spills. All the hurt and pain comes creeping back into your life as you lose yourself in his clear blue eyes. You feel a tear slide down your cheek as you remember the beginning of the end, where everything started to fall apart. And once again, you begin to wonder how you could have saved your relationship with the only man you ever wanted to be with.

~*~

After months of begging, your parents finally agreed to let you fly out to Michigan on your fall break so that you could see Patrick. It was his final year with the ntdp before leaving for college, and you and some of his teammates were at a diner grabbing some food after one of their games. It’s all fun and games, his teammates and their girlfriends quickly growing fond of you and including you in all the jokes. 

Next to you Chelsea taps Fran’s shoulder, “look who it is,” she says, rolling her eyes at the group of beautiful, tall, skinny, blondes that come strolling into the diner. You turn and look at her, “Who are those girls?” 

Fran laughs, shaking her head, “They’re the popular group at school, think they own the place.” you wrinkle up your nose, knowing a handful of girls like that at your own school. 

You go to tell Patty something and that’s when you notice him checking out one of the girls, his eyes following her as she bends down to pick up her dropped phone. You swallow the lump that formed in your throat, blinking away the tears, as you shove a fork full of mac-n-cheese into your mouth. You couldn’t understand how every other guy at the table couldn’t care less about the group of stunning blondes that strolled in, but your boyfriend of four years couldn’t get enough of them. 

Back at his billet house the two of you are alone up in his room, scrolling through netflix to find something to watch.

“y/n what’s wrong? You’ve barely said a word to me all night.”

You shrug, scrolling through instagram on your phone.

He throws himself down on his bed, leaning over to press a kiss to your cheek but you turn away from him.

“What the fuck, babe, what’s going on?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that my boyfriend paid more attention to the stuck up blonde bitch at the diner than me all night” you retort

He looks taken aback, “what the hell are you even talking about?” his tone getting defensive.

You give him an ‘oh come on’ face, “really pat? You had googly eyes, motherfucking googly eyes at her and she winked at you. Winked. Did you think I wouldn't notice?”

Patrick scoffs beside you, “oh and you’re just a saint, right? You never look at any guys because you’re innocent and you’re totally committed to me”

“Are you seriously trying to turn this on me right now?”

“Don’t think I don’t know about aaron the infamous soccer player,”

“Jesus christ, I was failing biology and he was my tutor, there was nothing ever going on between us” you huff.

“I don’t get why you’re getting so upset right now, so what i checked out another girl?”

“You don’t get why i’m getting upset? Patrick, you promised me you would stay loyal to me and the minute I get here you’re looking at any other girl you can find. Am i that big of a joke to you?” the tears come streaming down your cheeks and Patty pulls you into a hug, you sobbing into his chest. 

“Baby, i’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”

~*~

You, Olivia, and Kelsie are gathered at the fire pit, roasting some marshmallows for s’mores when you look over to find Luke and Nate playing cornhole with Patty. You smile softly, knowing how much your brothers adored him and looked up to him. You swear, the amount of times you heard one of them say they want to be just like Patty when they grow up was too many to count. 

Kelsie starts talking about her dorm assignment for the following school year and how she got the bad dorm, and Olivia sympathizes with her. The three of you bounce around your favorite high school memories, sometimes gossiping about random kids in your grade.

“Oh my god, did you guys see Marty and Miranda had a baby and now they’re engaged?” 

“What the actual fuck” olivia laughs, smushing her marshmallow between chocolate and graham crackers. 

You steal another look at Patty and see your brothers dangling from his arms, a wide grin on his face. 

“Higher Patty,” they cheer as Patrick lifts his arms higher and higher, giggles and screams flooding from their mouths. Patrick drops his arms suddenly and the two young boys squeal, as he begins to lift his arms up once again. 

He lifts his head up, seeing you watching him, and offers a smile your way. You nod your head, turning back to Kelsie and Olivia who are now talking about the vacation the three of you have planned in late July.

“y/n, did you find a cute swimsuit yet for our Bora Bora trip?”

You shake your head, “no, we’ll have to go to the mall and get one. I need your opinion anyway”

Your eyes wander back over to Patty and your brothers who are now playing a game of tag.

“Oh my god,” olivia gushes.

“What” you and Kelsie ask impatiently,

Olivia goes red, “uh, nothing” she says going to toast another marshmallow.

“No, tell us!” you laugh

Kelsie smiles, “wait, awww”

“What,” you groan

“y/n, he’s stealing glances at you as he’s playing with Luke and Nate”

~*~

You and Patrick were sprawled across his family room couch watching Marley and Me with his sisters. You and Pat couldn’t help the uncontrollable laughter that escaped your lips.

“Would you two quit it?” Cayley hisses, throwing a pillow at the two of you.

“Sorry,” you giggle, handing your phone to Patty who chuckles and throws his head back at the picture on your screen.

“Shut up,” Ciara shouts, whipping her slipper at him.

“Stop, they’re in love” Corey says

“God, they make me sick,” Ciara groans.

You and Patty ignore them, “want to go back up to my room?”

Ciara gags, “ew, please don’t be too loud”

“Use protection, I’m too young to be an aunt” Cayley calls out.

Patty flips them off as he snakes his arm around your waist, guiding you up to his room.

Once you’re up there you jump onto his bed sprawling out in the middle of it. Patty lies down on top of you, “did you bring the goods?”

You laugh, “yes, they’re in my bag” 

He rolls over and grabs your bag, pulling it into his lap and sifting through the contents. He smiles pulling out your one direction t-shirt, a head band, and a denim skirt. “Oh yes,” he smiles.

“Okay, but where’s mine?” you say, sitting up excitedly. 

Patty leans over the side of his bed and grabs a pile of his clothes, throwing it up to you.

You smile, “your Nobles hockey sweatshirt, your nike sweatpants, and a bruins hat? Perfect!” 

The two of you spend the rest of the afternoon talking about how excited you are for the halloween party at one of his teammate’s houses while watching Mulan on the tv that stood on his dresser. 

“Mulan saved china,” he mumbles,

You smile, poking his cheek, “yeah, and you can’t even score a goal against the easiest team in the conference”

He squeezes your sides and you squeal, “i’m kidding, you definitely did score a goal that the ref decided was off of a penalty so they took it away”

“That’s right, but holy shit she saved china”

You laugh, shaking your head, snuggling into his chest.

You wake from your nap to Patty shaking you lightly. 

“Good evening sleeping beauty,” he jokes,

You smile, rubbing at your eyes and sitting up, “hi,”

Pat stands up, “we should probably get our costumes on so we can head over to the party,”

You stand up, replacing your clothes with patty’s clothes he picked out for you and he does the same. He laughs looking at you, “aren’t we just the cutest couple”

You smile as if you’re a five year old on her birthday, “no one will know who is who! This is the best costume idea ever!”

When you two burst through the door of his teammate’s house, Patty is strutting, shaking his hips side to side as you attempt to walk, shaking your shoulders like you see all the boys at school do. 

“would you look at the golden couple” someone shouts as all eyes fall onto you and Patty.

~*~

When Patty told you that he was able to be home for your prom, you were beyond excited. All of your friends had dates and you really didn’t want to be the only one that didn’t have a guy to go with. 

You, Liv, and Kelsie were in Olivia’s room, curling your hair, doing make-up, and painting nails. The three of you had had a sleepover the previous night to make today easier. 

“I can’t wait for pictures,” Kelsie says, pulling out her tube of mascara

Olivia starts fanning her hand over her toe nails, “I can’t wait to see the guys,” she laughs

You smile, “I’m just happy to see Patty again,”

“See, this is why I want a boyfriend. That’s cute, and what? I’m going to prom with the senior quarterback and I’ll never hear from him again!” Kelsie laughs.

The three of you finish fine tuning your look before going and getting your dresses on. You have Olivia zip up your blush pink ball gown prom dress that’s decorated with a silver beaded sash around your waist. You smile as you slip on your heels, and look in the mirror at the three of you, “wow, we look so good” Kelsie smiles, snapping a photo.

The three of you walk outside to the waterfall fountain in Olivia’s backyard. Your heart skips a beat when you see Patrick, his hair was longer than you remember, but he still looked as charming as ever. Patrick looks up and sees you fast approaching and his face grows soft, a deep red brushing his cheeks, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. He pecks your lips, “you look beautiful y/n”

You, Pat, Liv, Kels, and their dates are dancing on the dance floor, laughing and having the time of your lives when Perfect by ed sheeran starts to play. You and Patty freeze, as he places his hands on your hips, your arms going up and wrapping around his neck. The two of you gently sway to the music and he presses his forehead to yours.

“I’m so happy you were able to come tonight Patty,”

“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,”

“You’ve really made me feel like a princess tonight” you laugh, suddenly feeling goofy for saying that.

He laughs, “good, you deserve to feel like a princess every day” 

You tilt your head up and kiss him gently. There’s nothing more that you could ever want than to be here in his arms, on this perfect night.

“I can’t wait for our wedding night,”

~*~

You once again found yourself in Michigan visiting Patty for spring break. After one of his home games the two of you find yourselves sitting in his car in the parking lot of the hotel you were staying at. You weren’t sure what it was, but there was some sort of tension between the two of you that made you worried.

“Patty, i know you lost the game and you’re upset, but come on, what’s wrong?”

“I hate when you fucking call me that” he snaps, his voice cold and sharp.

You look at him confused, “o-oh, sorry,”

He pulls out his phone, tilting the screen away from you as he types out a fast text message and puts his phone away again.

“Why do you keep coming out here to visit?”

“What do you mean? You’re my boyfriend and I miss you, of course i’d come and visit you,” you notice him flinch at the word boyfriend and you place your hand on his, “Patt-” he pulls his hand away and tears sting your eyes, “wh-what’s going on?”

He scratches his head looking out his window, mumbling something under his breath.

“I can’t hear you,”

“I said I fucking cheated, what do you want me to go and scream it to the world,” he rolls down his window leaning his head out of it, “HEY EVERYONE I CHEATED ON Y/N” he yells. In that moment it feels like someone is suffocating you, and you can’t breathe.

You feel hot tears spill down your cheeks, “why?” you somehow manage croak out

He turns to look at you, his eyes watering up at the sight of you for an instant before he goes back to suppressing his emotions, “I don’t know,” 

“You. don’t. Know.” you say hitting him hard on the chest after each word, “how can you not know? What’d you do? You didn’t go all the way, did you? You didn’t kiss her, did you?”

His lack of an answer is enough for you to know that he betrayed you and went against everything he ever promised you.

“What the hell patrick, how could you? You promised me forever”

“I never loved you, you know that right?”

“Do you even hear yourself right now”

“You know the funny thing y/n? You sit there and act like you’re so perfect, like you have everything together, that no matter what happens in this world you’re going to come out on top.”

“I-is that r-really what you think of me?” you cry out.

He holds up his finger, “But I know what you’re really like. You act like such a saint because you’re scared people are going to find out how big of a slut you really are.”

“Excuse me? You’re the one that fucking slept with someone else while I was back home in Millis 100% devoted to you Patrick.” you scream,

“Yeah, well at least i don’t act like everyone is in love with me. After this, you’ll have no one. No one.”

“Shut the fuck up patrick”

“I can’t believe I wasted all this time on you”

You sit there in disbelief, your cheeks stained with tears, anger boiling inside you. “So what, we’re together for four and a half years and you’re just going to throw it all away? You don’t even want to try and fix it?”

“Jesus christ y/n get it through your head, there’s nothing worthwhile to fix”

You cry out ugly sobs, “Patrick, please, no, please don’t do this. Please don’t go. I’m sorry, please tell me what i did wrong, i promise i’ll make it better.”

He shakes his head, starting the car, “it’s over, okay? I don’t love you.”

Your hand is shaky as you place it on the door handle, “patty, i’m so sorry,” you say before getting out of the car and running into the hotel, not even bothering to look back at him.

Watching the best part of his life walk away, Patty drops his head into his hands, finally letting out his own tears fall as loud sobs fall from his mouth. “Mom, i really need you right now,” he cries into the phone.

~*~

“y/n,” a familiar voice sings, “y/n? Earth to y/n” you turn your head and see patrick. 

“Oh. um, hi?” 

He smiles, “hey, uh, can we go inside and talk?” 

You look over at Olivia and Kelsie who nod at you encouragingly. “Sure, I guess,” you say, standing up and walking back up to your house. Patrick follows close behind and when you stop in the middle of your living room and stare at him expectantly he just stands there.

“Well, what did you want?”

“I miss you” he blurts out and you’re instantly shocked.

You regain your composure, “It’s a little too late for that,” you go to walk past him, back outside, but he’s quick to grab your arm. “y/n, wait, please just hear me out”

You stand there and wait for him to go on. He takes a shaky breath before continuing, “y/n i love you, i still do, hell i always have. I treated you like crap and i’m sorry, but i know it’s me and you in the end, just like we always said. And we’ll have kids and grow old together, like we talked about, and we’ll travel all over europe like we planned-”

You interrupt him, “Patrick, stop.”

“Baby, please,” he begs, “you know if i could go back and do it all over again with you, i would in a heartbeat.”

~*~

Back in Millis, you felt more alone than ever even though you were surrounded by your family and friends. You just felt so broken, and you can’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, love isn’t real. If patty could get up and walk out on you after everything, you knew love couldn’t be real. 

y/n 

Hey, how are you? It’s been a while…

Your mom comes up and knocks on your door, “hey honey,” she says, coming in and sitting beside you on your bed.

You start sobbing hysterically, “mom, i really miss him”

She rubs your back, “i know you do sweetie, i know you do. But if it’s meant to be you guys will get back together,”

“Mom we were going to get married, you know that right? We talked about it, we made plans to stay in Millis and raise a family, we even picked out the house we wanted,”

“Oh honey”

“And when I looked in his eyes I saw the next eighty years of my life. I don’t want to be with anyone if it’s not him.”

“y/n, you’re young, you’re only 18. There are going to be so many other guys out there, and you’re going to Tufts in the fall. Honey, Patty isn’t the whole world”

“Mom, he’s my whole world though”

Your mom wipes away some of your tears, “honey, he’s just one guy, and there are going to be so many other guys out there. You are beautiful, talented, smart, and extremely kind. Any boy would be beyond lucky to have you, do you hear me?”

You nod your head as your mom kisses the top of your head, “i’m going to go cook some dinner, okay, i’ll call you when it’s ready.”

y/n

Patrick, please. I just feel so alone. And you’re right, i have no one. Please can we try and fix it?

You wipe more tears away as you wait for a text back. When nothing happens you try calling him, “hey it’s pat, sorry i missed you but if you leave a message i’ll call you back”

You break down at the sound of his voice, remembering all the nights you heard that same voice whispering sweet nothings in your ear, goosebumps crawling all over your skin. 

y/n

Patty please, i’m so broken

y/n

I miss you

y/n

Please come back, i need you here with me

y/n

Please, i love you

Patty 🥰

y/n stop contacting me.

You chuck your phone across your room, falling into your pillow to muffle the loud sobs that were escaping your body, and that’s when it finally hits you: Patrick Moynihan was gone and out of your life for good.

~*~

“Patty, I’m sorry. You know i love you, i always have and i always will. But i just can’t do this again.”

“y/n, please, just give me a second chance. I’ve changed, I can be the guy you’ve always deserved to be with. I can be that guy, just, please, give me a chance.”

“Patty, we both agreed I wasn’t good enough for you, remember?”

His eyes start to water up, but he’s quick to shrug it off, “baby, please...”

The tears start falling down your cheeks and he goes to wipe them away but you turn from his touch, “Patty, I’m sorry. But it’s better this way,” you go to walk back out to the backyard, leaving Patrick in the middle of your family room realizing he really messed up and he didn’t know how to get you back, but all he knew was that he needed you in his life.

[bubmyg]

try three times - myg

pairing: yoongi x reader

genre/warnings: lawyer!au, established relationship, fluff, angst (with a happy ending!!), the introduction of seokjin’s character, nonchronological with my other lawyer!yoongi drabbles (linked on my masterlist!)

word count: 4,027

summary: yoongi doesn’t want to admit that seokjin knows what he’s doing or the one about three different weddings and where he proposes (kind of) while smelling like fish.

It’s easy to be in a room full of people and feel as though you’re the only one that doesn’t have their shit together. 

For example, the banquet hall was filled with twenty-somethings who had probably ate ramen out of peculiar objects more than they had with proper cutlery in the past six months, but you couldn’t tell it at first glance. The twenty-somethings tucked into tightly collared shirts and lace hemmed dresses mixed among actual adults, family and friends of the wedding party becoming one moving machine, sipping alcohol and munching on weirdly shaped cheese poked onto the end of toothpicks. 

Yoongi’s conscious didn’t have the heart to remind him that no one has a clue what the hell they’re doing, too overcome with the way he was clutching his champagne glass and trying to figure out an equation in his head for the amount of time spent at a friend’s wedding versus how many people you were supposed to interact with for it to be considered acceptable. 

This is Seungcheol’s fault, his conscious instead convinced him, eyes narrowing on the aforementioned groom as he gripped a tight hand with a brand new diamond band strapped on one finger around his bride’s waist. Of anyone in the room, the bride and groom seemed to have their shit together. Seungcheol was graduating a semester early. They’d just moved into an apartment together. His wife had recently gotten a full time position with her summer internship. 

Yoongi, on the other hand, had just switched his major, twice, only to end back up in what he originally started in. He would be a semester behind on credits because of it. He’d spent a strange three months in a fraternity. Law school entrance exam textbooks occupied every square inch of his desk. His shortlist of schools had only been narrowed to ten. He hadn’t touched his personal statement since high school. 

And then there was you, a year old addition in his life that seemed to fill in all the puzzle pieces of things he wasn’t. He glanced at your empty chair to remind himself that you’d disappeared twenty minutes ago to get more to drink and to grab him a slice of cake, only to be held up in three separate conversations. He’d made it to get more champagne in less than thirty seconds. 

He gulped at the sparkling liquid in his glass to feel it bubble in the pit of his stomach. 

A paper plate appeared in his peripheral, something white with pink and gold chevrons racing down the center of it, geometric patterns cut off by the slap of white cake resting on the center of it. There was a plastic fork curling out of the treat, fingers gripped on the end of it as the utensil tore off a sizable chunk and lifted into the air. 

“Mingyu cut the piece for me,” You muffled through the bite you plopped on your tongue, handing him back the fork to plop back into your chair, “Told him it was for you and he gave you a deluxe piece.” 

Yoongi hummed, absently replacing your grip on the fork. He drug one pointed prong through a small blotch of icing that had fallen away from the cake. “I’ll have to tell him thank you later…”

“I told Jihoon to mix up the playlist a little bit.” 

You were referencing the auburn headed audio engineer major who was hidden behind an array of open laptops and a giant headset at the front of the reception hall. Yoongi had a feeling he knew what you meant, but he glanced at you from the corner of his eyes anyway. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” You leaned forward in your chair, nudging Yoongi with a soft grin, “I wore closed toed shoes for a reason. Need some non-toe breaking slow dances with my man.”

“Nice try, but I don’t think you’re going to get Jihoon to leave his equipment all alone, especially not with a drunk Soonyoung lurking around—”

You giggled a little bit but there was a sizable amount of offense held in the downturn of your eyebrows as you caught the apex of Yoongi’s elbow and tugged. When he glanced at you, cheeks full of cake, you shook your head, “I meant you, nerd. I want to dance with you.”

Yoongi paused in the next bite of cake he was cutting, blinking at your intense gaze. Something inside him panicked even if his outside demeanor remained calm. The mix of emotions within him clearly rained confusion in you, especially when he cleared his throat and went to set his plate aside. 

“You know, I have to take that practice exam tomorrow morning. Jin is supposed to drive with me and I don’t want to, you know, hold him up or anything,” He averted his gaze the more hurt yours grew. He wrung his fingers together in his lap, uncrossing his legs to lean forward, still avoiding your eyes, “I was thinking we leave here in a second, if that’s okay?”

“Sure,” Yoongi heard it in your voice. He didn’t need to look up. After a moment, he saw you stand, dress fluttering past your knees in his peripheral, “Are you done with your cake?”

His eyes closed, knowing he couldn’t salvage your feelings by changing his mind, sucking it up, and asking you for a dance. Without a word, he nodded. 

You disappeared with the plate in hand just as the first slow song of the night began to play.

“You have to work,” He told the string of fairy lights currently suspended by a few stick on hooks. Deft fingers continued to fumble at the battery packs, turning the batteries inside a second time, forcing the lids shut, nail curling into the on and off switch. Nothing. 

Frustration made the battery pack, the heaviest part of the entire device, slip from his grasp, tumbling to the mountain of pillows pressed against your headboard and effectively yanking all his hard work with the lights from the wall. All that was left was a sad wooden shadow of your initials, nailed into the apartment walls. With no lights.

Yoongi had spent the greater part of the day decorating. The extensive list on your planner in the tiny kitchen said you wouldn’t be home until after dinner and he’d been determined to get something done. 

It’d only been a few weeks since you’d moved into your first place together, just a week since he’d started his first required internship of law school and just a day since your classes had returned. Thus, plastic coverings still sat taped to the television and the window of the microwave and the pull on the blinds. Unpacked boxes made a mountain where there was supposed to be a dining table, an item you didn’t have nor could you afford. 

But Yoongi could afford his day off to dig through the boxes to find all your favorite trinkets (picture frames, fairy lights, candles, the tiny porcelain cat you’d bought him as a joke) and arrange them accordingly. He’d finally set up the printer in the room you’d designated the office just to print off some of your favorite pictures together, losing a few nails along the process but managing to stuff the pictures into frames and scatter them along the walls. 

The pair of your initials next to each other had been his own touch, a quick trip into a craft store where he felt rather underwhelmed by the selection and overwhelmed by the price he’d covered with his debit card. He’d hung them above the bed, center on the wall and the headboard, the dark wood matching the navy pillows you’d stacked to give, as you’d said, some sense of put togetherness. 

A thought had entered his mind when he was shuffling through the options in the middle of the craft store. It would be so much easier if we shared initials. Just one giant M in the middle of the room…

He’d shied away from that thought when he finally located the curve of your surname. 

Yoongi mounted the bed with a wheeze from both his lungs and the worn mattress springs, effectively ruining the decorative pillow mountain as he dug for the string of fairy lights. A similar strung together list of curse words left his lips as he pried at the battery pack again, the flower shaped lights dancing against his short clad legs until there was a gentle knocking on the bedroom door and he dropped them again. 

“Bubs?” You took one step into the room before pausing, aweing around the space. There was a glint in your irises, one he could see from his compromising position, “What are you doing?”

“Can’t get your fairy lights to work,” Yoongi offered shyly, pink creeping to the back of his neck. “I think they’re the ones that were in your dorm, but—”

“If you used the batteries that were already in them, that’s why. They’re like three years old,” The mattress swayed as you clambered on to stand next to him, touching his hand where it had curled around his neck. You laced your fingers together, letting your arms dangle between each other as you again did a sweep of the room. “You did all this?”

An embarrassed sound of affirmation left Yoongi’s throat, watching you carefully. He nearly stumbled into the wall and his carefully hung lettering when you looped your arms around his neck, holding him tightly. 

“Thank you,” You murmured, kissing his throat. 

Yoongi was hesitant in the way he fit his arms around you, subconsciously leaning into your touch. 

Just as soft, he nodded, “I’m trying…”

No amount of wine seemed to moisten his tongue where it was stuck to the roof of his mouth. 

You were effortlessly gorgeous, as always, wrapped up in some emerald sequins number and a devastating smile that made his heart hurt worse than he could ever properly articulate. Yoongi’s cheeks hurt from introducing you, always coming with a shy yet wide smile when his classmate in question made some sort of playfully snide comment about how you were far too beautiful for him. 

At Seokjin’s wedding, it was a bit easier to feel less overwhelmed. Yoongi didn’t know everyone, but he knew a lot of people. Despite Seokjin’s career path not exactly diverging to where Yoongi’s seemed to be going, they were still classmates and thus still shared a lot of the same acquatences, professors, advisors, coworkers. He knew what he was doing for the foreseeable future. He’d recently passed the certification exam, marking him as someone who could now, legally, practice law. He had a job waiting and available for him, one while not exactly ideal would suffice to get his foot in the door and his rent paid for the next few months. 

Yoongi knew you’d be there, too, in his future. Even if his tongue dried every time he thought of how. 

Except he didn’t have to ponder the never ending question of rings and proposals and weddings while attending a wedding. He just had to figure out how to ask you to dance. He’d never forgiven himself for hurting your feelings at Seungcheol’s wedding. 

It was you that was trailing him the entire evening, him being the connection between most of the people at the reception and yourself. You were the stranger this time, not each of you mutually connected to the guests at the wedding. Yet, it didn’t stop you from becoming fast friends with Yoongi’s classmates and professional connections alike, dragging each of you into twenty minute long conversations about the state of nonprofit litigation and the staggering rate of black cats put down by animal shelters. 

Breaks between people gave Yoongi the opportunity to wet his tongue with a splash of sacchrine wine, poke his tongue around the tulip shape of his lips, and attempt to ask, no matter the music playing through the loud speakers overhead, only to be interrupted again. And again.

And again. 

Yoongi thought you were free by the time you’d nearly circled back around to your table where Taehyung and Namjooon were engaged in some sort of debate that involved the plastic knives from their baked chicken. He stopped you before you could sit, dragging crooked fingertips down the inside of your wrist to lace into your fingers and tug. 

The muscle felt heavy inside his mouth and he couldn’t bring himself to hold your eye contact as his heart hammered wildly inside his chest, reminding him suddenly of all the things. Nearly five years together. Two apartments together. Both of your names on the car lease. 

“Yoongi,” Your thumb swiped over his knuckles, immediately calming the roar of blood in his ears. A frown had slowly worked into the creases on either side of your lips, and you tugged back on his hand. “Is everything okay?”

He was a half second away from blurting out his impulse request, not caring about the nagging part of his subconscious that noted your open toed shoe choice for the evening when your grip was falling away from his. 

“Sorry, Yoongi!” Seokjin cheered as he spun a drunk circle in the opposite direction with you curled tightly in his embrace, “I have to steal a dance from your girlfriend.”

Yoongi watched as happiness easily overtook your features, clinging to Seokjin’s shoulders as you threw your head back at whatever rambles were leaving from his friend’s stupor. 

“Just wanted to know if you wanted to dance,” Yoongi murmured to himself, letting his arm fall limp to his side, “I hate myself for hurting your feelings every day that I can’t get my shit together and just—”

“Yoongi,” It was Namjoon saying his name, waving around his plastic knife. “You okay?”

Taehyung ignored the obvious discomfort on his friend’s features as he approached the table with dragging steps, still muttering to himself. 

“What do you think about sporks?”

“Where are you going?”

The droopy bucket hat in Yoongi’s grip crumpled more, keys still clinking together where they dangled from his free hand. He turned cheek to shoulder where you stood in the threshold with your arms crossed. 

“Fishing with Jin,” He lamented, “I told you that a week ago.”

“A week ago we didn’t have a closet full of laundry to do. Or a sink full of dishes to get done.”

You bristled at his involtunary check of his watch. “It’s only seven in the morning. We have all day to get those things done. I’ll help you when I get back…”

“I have to have our loan papers into the bank by tomorrow morning. Are we going to finish those too when you get back?”

“Yes,” Yoongi said simply, “There isn’t that much left to do on them.”

“For yours there isn’t. You’re the primary signee. I have virtually the entire packet left to complete,” After a second of staring angrily at him, you shook your head, “You know what, I’ll just do it all while you’re gone. Have fun.”

He knew you weren’t upset about a packet of questions you had to complete in order to approve you as a secondary individual on the loan for the house you two were planning on purchasing. You were upset about having to fill out an entirely different set of paperwork based on your relationship status. You’d voiced it tightly while handing him a second pen the night before when the ink in his had ran out. 

“This would be so much easier if we were married,” You’d tried to smile when his gaze flicked up to yours but he caught it anyway. He was hurting your feelings. Again. Not because of the paperwork. Because of what the paperwork implied. 

Because of the contents of the tiny velvet box that had been shoved into the front pouch of his laptop bag for the better part of six months, idle, without a finger to reside on. 

The shut of the door behind him was just as soft as his pained, “Bye…”

Yoongi, numbly, let the reel release, watching the reflection of the blue tinted line as it soared into the water, landing yards away from him with a soft plop. He set the reel in his hands, gently turning as he watched the end of the line where it disappeared into the lake create tiny ripples as it slowly came back toward where he stood on the shore. 

“How did you know?” Yoongi blurted suddenly. 

Seokjin didn’t miss a beat, “Well, generally, the fish is big enough that you can feel it tug back on the line. You have to set the hook so it doesn’t get off but don’t let it swallow it because that’s not good and—”

“No,” Yoongi stopped spinning the reel to drop his pole into the stick made stand he’d pushed into the mud on the bank. Both his fingers went to his face, dragging down on his cheeks. “How...how did you know when it was right to propose?”

“Ohh,” Seokjin stayed silent when he cast his pole again, clicking gentle as he turned the tiny device. “That’s what this is about. Has she said something?”

“No. She doesn’t have to. I can just tell.”

“Is marriage something you’ve talked about?”

“Yes.”

“Is it something you both want.”

“Yeah…”

“Do you love her?”

Yoongi’s hands fell away from his face and his features screwed up starting from his nose and ending at the part of his mouth where he, almost offended, affirmed, “More than anything else.”

“Then what’s stopping you? You could elope tonight, if you want,” Seokjin eyed Yoongi as he brought in an empty hook, letting it dangle from a second in mid air before tossing it back out into the water, “We’ll be your witnesses or whatever—”

“I’m scared.” Seokjin stopped talking upon Yoongi’s blunt statement, quietly turning away at his reel until Yoongi continued, floodgates now let loose, “I can’t hurt her feelings like I continue to, but what if it’s worse when we get married. There’s never been anyone else and there won’t be anyone else. I have no fucking clue what I’m doing because of it.”

“You’re a lovesick fool,” Seokjin confirmed, “Hey, your pole is jiggling and as much as your my friend and whatever, I’d rather not lose it, so—”

Yoongi begrudgingly picked up the pole where it was bouncing around in the makeshift twig holder, slow at first in turning at the handle but releazing whatever was on the other end was going to need more effort from him. He grunted into the next few turns, “I can’t even fish right.”

“You never could. You waste my bait everytime we go out,” Seokjin shrugged, “But you try. And I love you, in like, a brotherly way. That’s all I care about when I ask you to come along with me.”

“Is this your weird analogy to tell me that I won’t know until we try and that love is all that matters in the end?” Yoongi stumbled in trying to tug back on whatever the massive object was he was bringing in. 

“No,” Seokjin sat aside his pole, striding across the bank to slide the pole from Yoongi’s grasp. “I’m telling you to go propose to your soon to be wife while I get this moss off.”

“How do you know it’s moss and not a record breaking catfish?”

“It’s moss. Go.”

Yoongi found you curled up on the couch surrounded by half folded laundry, your eyes clearly lined in the slightest tints of pink and red, the loan application half open on the floor. He wasted no time, not wanting to hear your garbled inquiries as to whether he’d had fun or not because frankly, with how you were at the moment, he didn’t deserve to have had fun. 

“I’m not giving you this, yet.”

Your attempt at a friendly expression morphed into a confused squint. “What?”

He dug the box from his sweatpants pocket, flicking it open to show you a glimpse of the glittering jewelry inside. “I’m not giving you this, yet,” He repeated. He approached you, knocking aside a stack of his hoodies to kneel in front of you, hand engulfing your knees while the latter placed the ring box on your thigh, “but I’m going to. Soon.”

You laughed in spite of yourself, gentle at first and then bitter on the end, “I’m not upset because you haven’t proposed to me yet, Yoongi. I don’t like the implications of that.”

“I know I’m hurting your feelings. All the time,” He lifted a finger when you went to protest, “You don’t have to spare my feelings, of all things.”

“I try really, really hard for you. All the time. But that’s not a guilt trip, I know I need to do better. I’m trying right now, to give you a glimpse of what I should have done a long time ago.”

“I know that,” He let you interrupt him this time as the tiniest of tears lipped down the slope of your nose, “I’ve never doubted that. I just thought you’d changed your mind.”

Yoongi wanted you to vocalize your feelings, so he squeezed your knee and offered, “Changed my mind about what, love?”

“About us. Our future,” You shrugged, casting your gaze aside, “Not that marriage is the end all be all or that it’s just a title that helps with some tax information it’s just...”

“What you want for us,” Yoongi nodded, “It’s what I want too. I haven’t changed my mind.” 

“I didn’t really think you had it’s just...hard to not let myself think those things sometimes.”

“I’m sorry I ever made you doubt any sort of commitment I want to have in our relationship,” Yoongi leaned forward to chastely kiss away the droplets of tears clinging to the pouted round of your bottom lip. “I’m sorry I haven’t been trying hard enough for this, either.”

“I love you,” You cupped his cheeks, keeping his lips a fraction from yours. 

“I can’t wait to propose to you,” He countered.

“And I can’t wait to say yes.”

Yoongi didn’t hear the words the DJ was projecting through speakers stationed at all corners of the reception hall. He was too focused on the swirl of lights on the dance floor, ones that had dimmed into a glittery gold and ceased to move in the calculated circles they’d previously been completing. The back part of his mind wondered did we pick that color? Gold matches pink...and then he glanced at the baby pink bow tie clipped onto his collar, one he subconsciously straightened as the DJ continued to chatter on. 

He contemplated the color of the lights and the flavor of the cake icing and the extensive guest list in which half hadn’t RSVP’ed for the reception but now milled among everyone else and kept taking him away from you to chat. It was silent now, no one around him except others members of the wedding party around him, and he didn’t have to contemplate whether to seek someone out for conversation or search his subconscious for the name of your cousins’ significant other. He knew his next move, bending at the waist in front of the high backed chair you perched in and holding out a gentle palm for you even as the DJ continued to chatter over the soft applause of the guests. 

“Hey,” Yoongi murmured.

You smiled under the gold lights as they cast shadows down the contours of your features, “Hi.”

“I like your ring,” His fingers crooked when you placed your hand in his to fiddle at the diamond studded band. 

“I like your last name,” You squeezed his hand. 

Yoongi’s lips covered your fingers, gentle in pecking each one, spending extra time on the one where diamonds reflected in the gold. 

His voice muffled on the bend of your digits. “May I have this dance?”

You stood at that, gripping his fingers tightly. 

“I thought you’d never ask.”

[lesbiancarat]

Ahh my fish slapping comment xD lolol I am happy it makes you laugh but no reference. It's something I just have been saying since like, oof I was like 14 and on the internet? I truly don't know how or why I started saying this but I randomly did and it stuck with me ever since. Sadly not a cool backstory to the fish slapping

True, true. While you will spot similarities (as they are under the same company per se, that also means the manufacturer who creates the merch has things set up for not just one specific artists always) its how they do make it unique for said fandom. It is the first round of the new hybe rebranding so let's see how it goes for sure! I have some minor worries but I'm being optimistic! Oohhh that si also a good idea! I do know bighit did this for bts and school luv affair if memory is correct. The re-released that album for its anniversary as limited edition and I think there was some small merch for it as well. I do think that will be cool for the boys as well but as you said, we may have some minor issues with the repriting. Sometimes that can be solved but other times that cannot so sadly we don't know. I believe you can(?) Still get their older albums. Granted last time I saw this was during oh my era so I haven't checked since then via online stores.

Oohh no that makes sense! Doing bday merch isn't all too bad (granted not a western artist thing from what I have seen) but it is just well, capitalism lol. I do think they could have done the scoups (and possibly future members) differently. Like a book with pictures isn't a bad idea but idk...give me some pizzaz ya know? Like I get the simple design and I respect that but like you said, make it be related to the members personally like a cherry for cheol or tiger themed for hoshi (it would be chaotic but I would be here for it) if it is meant FOR fans. Make it seem like it has some thought besides just wanting an extra $$$ ya know? Apparently I saw that the scoups book has the letter H on the spine so some theorize that all together you get "happy birthday" spelled out which is unique if true! I just hope it is a bit ya know, something more. Not the worst but I hope you know what I mean! Ahh gotchas, gotchas. No, no thay makes sense with the svt ring merch. I think doing rings isn't a bad idea but it could have been a bit more unique to "carats" so have the ring be in either the official svt colors (so one in serenity and another in rose quartz) with something like "say the name! Carats!" Engraved into the ring, that would be I think a cute idea? A way to connect to the boys while being something unique? Of course it could be a bracelet or a necklace with a small pink or pastel blue diamond instead with a little charm with the engraving I suggested. Being too close to the rings the boys wear I think is slightly stepping lines but making a ring that is different but related to svt would be a good balance? Again just my suggestions (which am curious on your followers on what other merch would you like to see? I feel like you could so so much here! Just please no more plastic water bottles xD)

Oof yeah I think for me it is a similar time? Plus I sadly am not doing great money wise this week so I sadly have to miss out on it. But to those that will, have fun! I watched the 2018 one and it was fun (granted many stuff was cut? K believe the special solo stages weren't shown in the official vlive video) but it was a fun time so enjoy this year's caratland!

dhfjf that's fun though! the fish slapping does make me laugh 🤣

yeah i have hope for merch in the future as well! as far as old albums go i just bought my first "old" album this summer which was YMMDay and I ended up getting it used... a lot of sites have YMMDay and other old SVT albums listed but they're all sold out and as far as I know pledis isn't still printing new albums except for those on weverse shop (so like an ode onward. although i just checked and an ode and hitorijanai are sold out on WV shop too rn, idk if that's temporary or if they're permanently sold out too...). honestly this is why I'll probably keep buying svt's albums as they come out just so if i want them in the future i don't have to search for it, in hindsight i really wish I had just bought YMMDay back when it came out 😭

yeah exactly, i just wish they'd put more effort/personalization into the design rather than making it an obvious cash grab... it would be a cute design feature if the spines spell out happy birthday! and yeah exactly instead of the ring they could have done something else with its own meaning 🥺

I'm also interested in other carats merch ideas... whenever i see ppl talking about it i feel like they have such good ideas. and there are some carats on like twt and such who do merch resigns or theoretical concepts just for fun and they always look soooo good. honestly pledis/hybe just hire some carats for your merch team... DHGKGJG

caratland has come and gone which once again shows how long it took me to answer this DHFKGJ i know i don't have to explain myself but just to give you an idea of what I've been up to i was on the road for a week coming back to the Midwest and then going my sister's graduation ceremony and seeing family i haven't seen since before covid, then i moved into my apartment and spent a week settling in and catching up w a few friends i haven't seen since before covid, and today was my first day of classes! so I've been a bit busy and socially drained (but in a good way!) the last few weeks. but i did enjoy caratland! especially perf. units cover of chocolate, that lives in my head rent free DHFKGJ i think the links i posted before got taken down though, I'll need to update those at some point... did you have a favorite part from caratland if you watched it? (or from any clips you've seen djfkgjg)

[hearteyesemergency]

The Day In Which Buck Receives Nothing But Pictures From The Diaz Boy’s

Request: I know the prompt 153 ("stop sending me weird pictures") means something else. But I couldn't help but think Chris stole Eddie's phone and it's sending Buck all types of weird pictures. Maybe ones that were already on his phone, maybe his taking new pics himself. Eddie doesn't know, and thinks he lost his phone or something. Buck doesn't know either and this is actually Eddie who sends him the pics.

A/N: When I tell you I damn near screamed at Chris texting Buck from Eddie’s phone without his knowledge... this was the best request ever, thank you so much! I really hope you enjoy this. It didn’t get long enough when I just did Chris sending photos, so I added a little segment at the end of Eddie sending photos too, a little nsfw. And also a few point of view changes in this one as well.

Summary: Eddie thinks he’s lost his phone, Buck has been receiving really weird photo’s from him all day. Something doesn’t add up, and there’s one cheeky little human to blame for it. Later, Buck decides he’s going to send his own interesting photo’s to Eddie, and Eddie might just send them back.

Warnings: Mild sexual themes.

Buck pulled his arm out of the warmth of his covers, and reached over to where his phone had buzzed three times against the side table. He groaned as the cool air hit his bare skin, and quickly retracted it, phone in tow.

He frowned when the screen lit up again. A little picture box was joined to the text notification, but he couldn’t quite make out what it was. He took notice of the contact being Eddie before he unlocked the phone and took a closer look.

The first picture was of a seatbelt, the next a blurry picture out of a car window, another almost too blurry to make out, but Buck was sure it was of shoes. He figured maybe Eddie hadn’t noticed his phone was unlocked, and he had accidentally texted him a few times.

When no more notifications came through, he figured Eddie had realised and locked his phone, and Buck decided to try his best and go back to sleep. He still had a couple of hours before Maddie’s check up that he insisted on accompanying her to. Buck hadn’t slept much since he‘d been back at work, so he thought he best take this opportunity to catch up.

A few hours went by before Buck got another text message. This picture was of a rack full of school bags, and the man frowned. It was unlike Eddie to have his phone out on a job, but that was the furthest thing from his mind. All Buck could think was god he hoped that no children were in danger wherever Eddie was. The worst jobs were always the ones with kids.

The next message he received a half hour later while in a consult with Maddie, and he couldn’t help but smile. A hand printed in paint on a piece of paper, drawn around like a flower. Buck wasn’t too sure what game Eddie was playing with him today, but he had to admit, he kind of liked it. In a way, it made Buck feel like he was right there with him. And if there was anything in the world Buck hated, it was being away from work, and being away from Eddie.

As the day went on, Buck got more and more photo’s. One of a sandwich, one of a middle aged woman he’d never met before. There was a play ground, a library, a basketball court. He decided not to ask his best friend about it now, he’d call him when Eddie’s shift would be over, in the meantime, he thought he’d send him a teasing text.

He hoped Eddie would read the lightheartedness, but just to be sure, he added an emoji.

‘Stop sending me weird pictures 😏’

~

Eddie had damn near turned his locker upside down looking for his phone. He knew he had taken it in the car with them this morning when he left home, but he hadn’t been able to find it since.

Maybe he had left it at his Abuela’s, he thought, but it was so unlike him to go anywhere without it. What if Chris needed him? Eddie pushed the thought that brought panic with it down, and slammed his locker closed. Maybe one of the other 118 firefighters had accidentally picked it up.

He ascended the stairs up to the dining area three at a time. His hands had started to sweat a little, and he was panicky. He certainly couldn’t afford a new phone, and he couldn’t go without one in case his son needed him. He had to find it.

“Has anyone seen my phone anywhere?”

“No, why?” Hen asked,

“Did you lose it?” Cap assumed,

“I can’t find it anywhere, maybe it’s under the seat of my truck-“

Eddie was cut off by the sound of the alarm, and forgot about his cell completely as he and the team raced to put on their gear. He’d have to check underneath the seats later.

By the evening, Eddie still couldn’t find where his phone had gone. When he had picked up Chris, all safe and sound, he tried to retrace all of their morning steps, but with no luck. He didn’t want to be lectured, so he had tried to do so as subtly as possible.

He hoped that Buck would be home, and that he was okay with visitors, because they were coming over whether he liked it or not. Chris needed some Buck time today, and honestly, so did Eddie. Eddie made a mental note to memorise Buck’s number later, in case there was ever a next time. In the meantime, he hoped Buck would have an old phone he could borrow.

The smile on Buck’s face when he opened the door to them put Eddie a little at ease. Chris flew right into his arms, and Eddie may as well have done the same right afterward. Buck seemed a little taken back, though hugged Eddie anyway, comfort still breaking through the confusion. Buck was warm, and Eddie really didn’t want to let go.

~

“Hey, guys! Wasn’t expecting you,”

“Sorry,” Eddie apologised as he pulled out of Buck’s arms, “just thought it’d be nice to spend some time with our Buck,”

“Always... Did you not go to work today?” Buck asked,

“Of course I did. Why?”

“You were sending me pictures all day,”

“No, I wasn’t, I can’t even find my phone- Wait, pictures of what? What if someone stole it?”

Eddie was back in the man’s personal space as Buck fished his phone out, and scrolled right back up to the first photo before he let Eddie have a close look. He scrolled quickly, and then slowly, before he paused, head shot in the direction of his son.

“Chris, did you take my phone today?”

“Yeah,”

“Why?” Eddie demanded, “I’ve been looking for it all day, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Oh, sorry, Dad. I didn’t know,”

“Wait, then why were you sending me pictures all day?” Buck wondered, as they made their way over to Chris,

“You said one day you wanted to take me to school, but you never had time because you were always at work with Dad. So I thought I would show you.”

Buck’s heart melted out on the floor beneath him. This kid had the biggest heart in the world. Though Eddie had started to lightly scold Christopher again, telling him that next time he should just let Eddie know that’s what he’s doing, Buck pulled him into a tight hug.

He heard Eddie sigh behind them, and knew that he had let all his anger go surrounding the situation. Buck hugged the little boy a little tighter before he picked him up, and sandwiched him between himself and Eddie. Chris laughed, and Eddie hugged back, trapping his son between their bodies.

The rest of the night went by much like that. Lots of laughing, nonstop smiles, piled together on the couch with video games and funny YouTube videos. Buck was on cloud nine, these were the nights that he lived for, and he hated the late hours when he had to say goodbye.

Buck’s phone buzzed a few minutes after the Diaz boys left, and he smiled when he noticed a text from Eddie’s number. He opened it to find a selfie the two boys had just taken pulling crazy faces. He laughed, and before he had really thought about his words, sent back a text.

‘I love it. Awesome selfie, miss you guys already. Drive safe, I love you’

With the little woosh sound of a sent text message, Buck’s stomach sank. Fuck, not only had he just used the word love in the context of Chis and Eddie, but he’d done so twice. He hoped Eddie wouldn’t notice, or if he did, that he wouldn’t bring it up.

He panicked for a few minutes before his phone buzzed again. He took a deep breath to calm himself, then unlocked it with only one eye open. He was met with another selfie, this one darker than the other. It looked like Eddie was stopped at a red light, both boys eyes toward the camera, blowing Buck a kiss.

He chuckled, and the tension melted out of his shoulders.

‘We love you too, Buck’

He may have hugged his phone to his chest after that and smiled like an idiot for an hour, but if you asked him, he’d deny it.

~

Eddie put Chris right to bed when they arrived home, and promised that he would ask Bobby if he and Buck could have a morning off to take Buck and show him around Chris’ school. Probably not the best thing to promise an over-excitable kid right before bedtime, but Eddie got through it, and eventually managed to relax him into unconsciousness.

He couldn’t help but look back on the day now and laugh. It wasn’t funny at the time, but honestly his son had a heart of gold- Eddie wondered where he got it from, it was far too big for one person. All Eddie wanted to do was protect him, and he was so grateful that Buck had taken Christopher’s attachment to him so well and seriously.

At the thought of Buck, he retrieved his phone off the kitchen bench, and thought for five minutes before he even had the start of a text message to Buck. He typed and backspaced nearly thirty times before he just left it at ‘hey.’

He was nervous as he waited for a reply. He wasn’t sure why, probably because he had absolutely no reason to speak to Buck, yet here he was, fishing for a conversation.

‘Buck: Hey... No weird photo’s this time? 😉’

‘None. Promise’

‘Buck: Too bad’

Eddie’s stomach did a flip. What did that mean? What was he supposed to send to Buck, was there some kind of game between them now that he had missed? He twiddled his thumbs above the screen as he thought, did he have a photo he could send? What did Buck expect?

Eddie was drawn out of his brain when a photo popped up on his screen, and he enlarged it instantly. It was of Buck, a selfie, he was half sprawled across the couch, shirt pulled half way up, abs on full display. He had pulled a face, but Eddie wasn’t focused on that in the least.

This was a very specific photo. He could’ve just sent a stupid face, a remake of a photo Eddie and Chris sent earlier, but no. Buck had gone to the effort of getting half his body in the shot, and it wasn’t a coincidence.

Eddie wasn’t sure how he was supposed to reply, with another photo he assumed, but what if they weren’t thinking on the same wavelength. What if he took Buck’s selfie way out of context?

After a few minutes of contemplation, Eddie decided to just go for it, and take a shirtless photo in the bathroom mirror. At least if he’s read the situation wrong, he could brush it off as a joke, like he was just proving his abs were better than Buck’s- and they definitely were.

He stripped his shirt off as he made his way into the bathroom. He focused way too hard on the pose and the lighting, but eventually he forced himself to hit send before he obsessed over it any longer. It was Buck, not a model recruitment agency.

Eddie threw his phone across the bed as he kicked out of his jeans and tossed them aside with his shirt. He stretched, trying to dissolve some of the tension he felt in his shoulders. He couldn’t check his messages fast enough when his phone buzzed, near tripping over his own feet as he searched for it.

He opened the text up and flushed red. Buck was shirtless now too, off the couch and in bed, his sweatpants far too low on his hips, showing off enough skin to make Eddie’s cheeks burn. If they were any lower Eddie would’ve seen his- the thought sent a shiver through him. Now he had to find a way to one up Buck.

He wasn’t sure he was ready to go all in with this, but he didn’t have anywhere else to go photo-wise before he wasn’t wearing any clothing at all. Eddie settled in the end on a video, from collarbones to the waist band on his jocks, sat slightly higher than Buck’s had been. He really tried to catch the definition of his muscles in the low light. He had noticed Buck seemed to be very intrigued by those when they worked out.

Eddie had gotten far more into whatever this was than he had expected. He found himself waiting uncomfortably for whatever Buck would send next. When his Snapchat notification came through instead of a text, Eddie was pretty sure what he was about to be met with. Yet still, when he opened the video he felt like the air had been knocked out of his lungs, and a pit of fire started in his stomach.

~

Buck didn’t know how to start a conversation with Eddie as they stood in the kitchen area together. After last night, he wasn’t sure what they were, or how into it Eddie was. The only thing he was really sure of was that Horny Buck didn’t deserve rights. He put present Buck in a very uncomfortable position, and he wasn’t good with awkward.

“So... we should maybe talk about last night,” Buck suggested,

“Yeah,” Eddie nodded, “yeah, I guess we should,”

“It was nice, right?”

“Not sure they’re the words I’d use,” Eddie admitted,

“What words would you use?”

Eddie blushed.

Buck wasn’t sure if that settled the panic in his stomach, or set it off. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought it up, maybe it was just a one time thing for Eddie. Just a spur of the moment, go along with the game Buck started because he didn’t want to be rude, thing.

“We didn’t really think about the consequences of this last night, did we?”

Buck shook his head, “no, we didn’t,”

“Yet now that’s all I can think about... well... not all, but...”

Buck finally looked to Eddie at his side. Did that mean? No, maybe, who knew anymore, he just needed Eddie to say something.

“Alright then I’ll talk, but if this gets weird, it’s all on you,” Eddie pointed an accusatory finger at Buck, “what we did last night... I really liked it,”

Buck let go of the breath he’d held, and slipped into a smile, “yeah... yeah, me too,”

“And I wouldn’t be mad if it happened again,” Eddie admitted,

“Me either... or you know, like... in person,” Buck toed at the ground.

The air between them was silent for a moment, and then he felt Eddie take a step closer, hip pressed to hip. Buck dared a look up, and was instantly met with Eddie’s eyes on his. The air was thick between them now, and Buck wasn’t too sure what to do with it. He knew what the old Buck would do, but he wouldn’t risk ruining whatever this was.

Eddie stepped into him, bodies briefly pressed together as Eddie placed a light kiss on Buck’s lips and then backed off.

“Really? That’s it?” Buck looked at him,

“We’re at work, what else do you want me to do?”

“You really wanna know?”

“Buck,” Eddie scolded, “later.”

Eddie started to walk away after that, and Buck called out to him. Later, what did that mean? What was this now? Buck would have to wait an agonising few hours before he could find out, but he sure wasn’t disappointed when he did.

[dani-luminae]

Creative Writing: Fiction Short Story

@deafchild2000 Since you expressed interest in reading this, here’s my Creative Writing fiction short story. Below the cut, so I don’t clog anyone’s dash (this is 10 pages long, according to Microsoft Word.)

Written from the viewpoint of a fictional Andrew Sorenson.

There is briefly descriptions of blood, and a ghost.

Ms. Marguerite Worthington

Most of my friends don’t come to my house anymore, because sometimes Ms. Marguerite Worthington forgets she’s dead and answers the door before any of us living can get to it. No matter how brave you are, if most of our town were anything to go by, the sight of a woman in an 1880s wedding gown with blood down the front of it would give you quite a fright.

She doesn’t do much to make herself scarce in our home, so even if my friends do make it over the threshold without a ghost encounter, they’ll probably encounter her one way or another, perhaps sitting on her favorite rocking chair in the old nursery room (though how she can sit in that chair with that bustle on her skirt, I’ll never know), or wandering the halls peering into each of the rooms where my brothers and I could be as she passed by.

To be fair to Ms. Worthington, once you learn to ignore the blood down the front of her dress, she’s not a terribly frightening ghost. She fits the cliché of the “tragic, ghostly bride,” with a lovely ruffled white gown and a long veil that ripples behind her when she walks. She has dark hair pulled up on her head and a young face. She was only about twenty-two years old when she died.

And when I say when she died, what I really mean is when my something-great-uncle murdered her.

Back in the 1880s, Ambrose McLaren was already an accomplished thief even at eighteen-years-old, when he climbed through the window of Worthington Manor. He intended to rob the richest family in the county blind. Whatever he ended up doing was holding a bride-to-be at knifepoint, on her wedding night, and then, when Marguerite Worthington was found dead in her boudoir later that evening, Ambrose McLaren was the only suspect. He was arrested and found with only two of the dozen items of stolen jewelry. The rest of it, he had already sold to a man who skipped out of town before the authorities could capture him.

So, with their only daughter dead on her own wedding night and a part of her dowry stolen, the Worthington family mourned. Marguerite’s fiancé, however, one Mr. Richard Aubergine, pledged vengeance, and somehow got the entire McLaren bloodline cursed. If Mr. Aubergine couldn’t get a happy marriage with the woman he loved, none of the McLarens could. Ambrose McLaren was hung for his crimes, and that same day, his brother Elbert’s marriage to his wife fell apart. She left him and left her two children with him.

And Marguerite Worthington reappeared, still bloody, but a shockingly kind ghost. Instead of being vengeful and angry, Marguerite cared for the descendants of the McLaren line the way she might have cared for the children she once wanted to have. She’s been in our lives ever since, generation after generation, even as the family name has changed countless times, marriages fall apart inexplicably and without fail, and children are left without one or both of their parents.

Today, the name McLaren hasn’t been used for centuries. We’re the Sorenson family now, but the legacy and the curse live on. Ms. Marguerite Worthington resides in our old family house, the same one our family has been living in since Ambrose first committed that wicked crime. My brothers and I have been without a mother since the three of us were six years old, but Ms. Worthington has been here as long as I remember, like a spectral nanny.

And, as I said, an accidental guard dog. Very few people will approach our front door for fear of meeting a ghostly face. Ms. Worthington was a socialite in life, and her friendliness hasn’t faded in death either. Or her forgetfulness. “Ms. Worthington, you scared away another delivery-man!” was a common scolding in this house, and it usually came from me, because I was the oldest of the three triplets who lived here and took on most of the responsibility for taking care of the house and my brothers.

Still, with Dad almost constantly absent – either searching for jobs, or drinking – Ms. Worthington was nice to have around. She’d figured out how to turn on the heating system in the cold months and how to turn on the stove in the mornings, so it was already heated and ready to cook breakfast on by the time I woke up. Such was the case one cold late-November morning when I ran downstairs, having woken up fifteen minutes later than usual, zipping up my jacket frantically as I rushed to get everything together and get my brothers and I off to school.

Ms. Worthington was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper on the table in front of her. “I turned down the stove when I realized you would be late,” she said, looking up as I rushed past her, into the kitchen. “It’s still warm, ready for cooking, I’m very certain.”

“Thanks, Ms. Worthington,” I said, a little breathless from all the rushing, as I fished a skillet out from the cabinet next to the oven. I couldn’t stop to have a leisurely chat, unfortunately. “Of all the days to be late – it’s school picture day, and today is the day I oversleep?”

“Oh, dear,” Ms. Worthington said, frowning. “Shall I go wake Brandon and Carter?”

“Please do.”

Ms. Worthington got up out of her seat, smoothed a few wrinkles in her dress, and walked up the stairs, humming cheerfully, like she thought she was the ghostly Mary Poppins or something. I started some eggs on the stove, frying them in a pan – as many as I could manage at once, trying to make up for the lost time. I hurried over to the toaster and shoved some slices of bed into it to toast, then raced back to the stove, just as Ms. Worthington returned.

“Brandon and Carter are getting dressed now,” Ms. Worthington said as she re-entered the kitchen, her skirts rustling loudly on the linoleum floor. “I reminded them that its picture day, so they’re getting out their best clothes.”

That wasn’t reassuring to me. My brothers loved loopholes, and thanks to an interest in theater, they had some frankly ridiculous clothes in their closets. “If they come down those stairs in coats and tails…” I smiled and shook my head as I imagined my brothers in top hats, bow ties, and spats. They’d done it before.

“It will be quite a sight, won’t it?” Ms. Worthington said, looking genuinely amused.

“Fair enough,” I said as I dumped a panful of scrambled eggs onto three plates.

Ms. Worthington picked up something else from the table – a plain white envelope that I hadn’t noticed sitting half-hidden underneath the newspaper. “I managed not to scare away the postman earlier this morning,” she said, and she sounded proud of it as she offered the mail to me. “Your father sent a letter. Seems he’s taken a slight break from job-hunting in Cooper and spotted something in a pawn shop.”

I pulled the halfway-burnt toast out of the toaster, threw it on a plate, shoved two more pieces of bread in to toast, then turned around and took the envelope from Ms. Worthington. I slid my fingers under the fold and popped it open. Inside were two items: one was a colorful rectangle of cardstock, a postcard; the other was a printed-out picture of a pawn shop display, featuring a gorgeous necklace with multiple strands of pearls, arranged on a cloth bust. My mouth dropped open at the sight, realizing what I was looking at. “No way!” I whispered. It felt too good to be true. “Is that…”

Ms. Worthington looked over my shoulder at the image and smiled. “Well, it certainly looks authentic – and I should know, considering Ambrose took it right off of my neck at knifepoint,” she said. She stretched out an image and pointed at a certain spot on the picture, tapping it with her finger. “You can even see where he cut the cord next to the clasp, so I’d say it’s the real deal.”

Why are we psyched over a necklace? I’ll tell you. The curse came with a pretty standard dissolution clause: we undo the wrongs are family committed, the curse gets lifted and we can marry happily again. Obviously we can’t bring Marguerite Worthington back to life, but we can recover all the stolen items that Ambrose sold off and his buyer fled town with. For generations, our family had slowly and surely been recovering these items – rings, bracelet, brooches, and assorted jewelry – and returning it to what remained of the living Worthingtons. We had recovered all but one item: the grand pearl necklace that Ambrose had literally cut off of Ms. Worthington’s neck. And here it was, in the photo, in a pawn shop in the next city, not even twenty miles away.

“Marguerite, do you know what this means?” I exclaimed. “This is the last piece of stolen jewelry we have to get back to your family, then the curse will be broken!” Well, that news was redundant. I’m sure she already knew that that meant. “My family can be happy again, and you can pass on and not have to worry about us anymore.”

Ms. Worthington smiled kindly and raised an eyebrow. “Now, Andrew, you think going to heaven will stop me from worrying about you?”

I looked up from the photo with a scoff, thinking she was just trying to spare my feelings. “You’ve had to look after your murderer’s family for a century and a half,” I pointed out, “You deserve to be free.”

“Yes,” Marguerite said patiently, “But then who would look after you and your brothers?”

I shrugged. “Uh, me? Maybe a stepmother?” I suggested, but I saw the gaping hole. Who would take care of us? Dad was away so often. I didn’t know. I tried to focus on what should be a positive for everyone. “But the curse will be broken, which means hopefully our family’s marriages will be happy and lasting again,” I said.

Ms. Worthington just kept looking at me and saying nothing.

“I just don’t see why the ghost of a murdered woman would enjoy looking after her murderer’s family’s descendants,” I said, shaking my head and dropping the letter on the counter as I turned to take the now-cold toast out of the toaster. “I mean, you’re only here because of the curse, right?”

Ms. Worthington tilted her head, frowning slightly, as if she’d never considered that herself. “Perhaps,” she said vaguely, returning to her chair at the table. “I’m not sure myself why I came here. Perhaps I thought the curse was unnecessary. Perhaps I thought this family needed someone to help it. Perhaps I still wanted a chance to take care of children, even if they’re not my own, and this family was simply my best option for that. Whatever the case, I don’t remember why I’m here. I made that choice long ago, and I don’t regret it at all.”

I shoved two more pieces of bread into the toaster, and then realized what she meant. “You chose to come here and help us?” I said, almost in disbelief. Almost.

Ms. Worthington smiled serenely. “I believe I did.”

“And you don’t want the curse broken…”

“That’s not for me to decide,” Ms. Worthington said sternly. Then she changed the subject. “What else has your father written?”

I picked up the postcard from the counter again and, struggling to decipher my dad’s scrawl, read aloud the most relevant portions of it. “Necklace is really cheap… I bought it, and I’ll be bringing it home when I come home next week, so we can give it back to the Worthington family. Tell Marguerite.” I shrugged and tossed the letter aside once more as I grabbed the last pieces of toast out of the toaster.

“Next week?” Ms. Worthington echoed.

“You don’t sound like you’re looking forward to that,” I commented.

“No, I don’t think I am,” Ms. Worthington confirmed, but there was no anger or urgency in her voice at all.

“Marguerite, my brothers and I are sixteen,” I reminded her, trying to get her to not worry so much. “We turn seventeen next week. We can handle ourselves.” I paused. She didn’t look very reassured at all. “You really don’t want to leave us alone, do you? You’re really worried about us.”

“Yes, I am,” she said instantly, with no hesitation at all. I stared at her, slightly surprised, and she rushed on, almost rambling: “But I mean, if we break the curse, I become unnecessary either way, don’t I? There will be no reason for your family to constantly be missing parents, to have children that need me around. I won’t be needed anymore.”

“Marguerite –”

“But this is what’s best for the family, I suppose.”

“Can we make a deal?”

Ms. Worthington stared at me like I had shocked her. “A deal?” She repeated.

I amended my words. “An agreement, at least. Dad brings home the necklace… and holds onto it for a few years,” I suggested. “We don’t break the curse just yet – not until my brothers or I choose to get married. Then, we break the curse so we can have happy marriages, and by that time, my brothers and I will be adults – old enough that you don’t have to worry about that. Alright?”

There was a few second of silence as Ms. Marguerite Worthington considered it. And she smiled, apparently in agreement. “Perfect,” She said.

“So you still have a few more years of taking care of us,” I said.

“I look forward to it,” She replied with a smile.

I heard my brothers coming down the stairs, coming to get breakfast. As I grabbed the plates and moved them to the table, I said to Ms. Worthington, “After school today, I’ll write to Dad and explain the plan.” I turned around just as my brothers entered the dining room, and I stopped at the sight of them. Fighting back a grin and some laughter, I shouted “You are not wearing top hats and bow ties to school picture day!”

My protests were useless. Brandon and Carter did indeed wear top hats and bow ties to school picture day. And Brandon wore it again when he was the first of us to get married to his high-school sweetheart at the age of 22.

Two weeks before Brandon’s wedding, the three of us Sorenson boys – Andrew, Brandon, and Carter – all walked up the steps of the grand old Worthington mansion and were met at the door by Katherine Worthington, the matriarch of the family and Marguerite’s great-grand-niece. She took the pearl necklace from us with a thankful nod. No words needed to be said. The curse was broken.

When we went home, Ms. Marguerite Worthington was nowhere to be seen.