#Jason likes to open his up like 'I got the goods' to show several snacks & weapons lmao

[puppetmaster13u]

I wasn't going to do any designs for when the robins were older yet but I was sleep deprived and just started sketching, so have a Red Hood.

Au belongs to @phoenixcatch7 and you need to check them out <3

[makilovescofi]

Sleep - Tim Drake x reader

Tim and y/n are sleep deprived mfs

I finally left my room after hours of editing my essay to perfection. I looked at myself in the mirror, jeez I need to take care of myself. After staring at shit for a hot minute, I fixed my posture, brushed my hair and washed my face to refresh myself.

I miss my boyfriend so I drove over to the mansion. Yes, it might be a little late into the night but I'm sure Tim is in a crappy physical or mental state right now. I knock on the door and was met with the best butler to ever exist across all universes.

"Miss Y/n, it's a pleasure to see you this evening, you're here for Master Tim, yes?"

"Yes that's right, it's good to see you too." I make a lame attempt to smile, trying to defy my tiredness, at Alfred and he let me by.

"Master Tim is in his bedroom," I briefly thanked him and make my way to Tim's room.

"Tim?" Knock knock "Baby?"

A muffled sentence managed to make its way through the door. I took that as a sign to enter. The door opened effortlessly when I've only turned the doorknob.

"Tim?" I saw a small tuff of his hair just over the chair he sat on. Gamer boy. He has several illuminating monitors, they were the only thing lighting the room.

"Hey baby," his late response didn't even feel like it was directed to me. I proceeded to walk next to him. I turned around and leaned against his desk, my face facing his.

"You look like hell,"

"Yeah?" He spared me a glance, "I just got back."

I crossed my arms, "I assume 'I-just-got-back' was several hours ago." His pupil twitched to the bottom of the screen to check the time.

"Shhit"

"Ya shit, come on, let's go to bed,"

He opened his mouth to protest, "I'm almost-"

"Liar, you take another hour to finish up with work,"

He grumbled like the baby he is. He didn't say anything, soon after there were a few more clicks and taps from the keyboard and mouse.

He pushed away from his desk and turned to me, "happy?"

"Very," I smiled to him and gave him a peck on his forehead. "Thank you baby~."

"Ya ya, don't blame me if there's a war I could've prevented." I can't tell if he was kidding. I gave him another kiss.

He's got really dark eyebags, his eyelids are getting red too. Beneath the red and the black, he's got fair, pretty skin. He's so handsome, very pretty-. Well he hasn't been out in the sun for a solid 24 hours. Touch some grass dumbass.

I completely forgot that I was staring at him. "Y/n?" Oh he said my name.

"Yes?" I stared for too long.

"Quit staring, I'm going to the bathroom, we can watch a movie if you want?" He's so cute omfg-

"Of course!" I quickly kissed him and went to the kitchen.

After he washed up and I grabbed some snacks, we sat down on his bed to watch a movie. We sat there for 20 minutes deciding what movie to watch.

Kidding.

We decided to have a Matrix marathon. We watched it plenty of times, we both know the goal is to sleep. But why sleep when I can look at his pretty face.

No, no, I need sleep.

Tim glanced at me, "You're staring again. What's with you? Take a picture already." He smiled nervously. He's probably wondering if there's something on his face.

"Nothing, I just love you. You're an idiot for not sleeping."

He looked at me weirdly, "What does that mean!? You can't say shit about sleep either."

It wasn't long before we ended cuddling in the couch, legs intertwined. Tim's warm breath settled on my skin. It was so calming, I didn't realize I feel asleep with him.

-Jason's pov

Tim hasn't shown his face in the past 10 hours. That's not a problem, but he normally comes out of his room at this time.

'Watch him be dead in his chair.' I mentally groaned. It's time for him to touch grass. I walked to his room and saw an odd lump close to his chest. Upon further inspection, it's clearly y/n huddled against his chest, and the 3rd movie of the matrix was playing. I grinned to myself.

Get it ig🤷‍♀️.

I took my time taking photos, making sure they looked good. I can't wait to show it to everyone.

[battymommastuff]

Ghost

Prompt: Batmom is haunted by the ghost of her dead son Jason every time she is in Wayne Manor. That is until she is reunited with the very same ghost.

TW: SUICIDE ATTEMPT

It started as a chill going down your spine. At first you thought it was just you being cold, or a breeze coming in from the windows, but eventually you realized it was more than that. Walking through the halls of your home, you would hear the sound of his laugh.

Sometimes you swore you saw him peaking at you from behind corners, or through the window when you were outside.

Your second son, Jason Todd. Out of the entire family you took his death the hardest. After Dick left to live his own life there was a void in your heart. You spent years raising, and taking care of him...and then he was gone. Of course he still visited, and called you to ease your soul.

Then Bruce brought home Jason

~Flashback~

"Bruce? Who is this?" You ask after walking into the batcave to greet your husband. You saw a little boy standing with him looking very upset.

"Jason Todd...he tried to steal the tires." Bruce explains removing his cowl. He had a amused glint in his eyes when he saw your face. You were giggling softly making the upset Jason even more upset.

"It's not funny!" He yells making you giggle even more. You walked closer to him and knelt down to his level. He was wearing a torn red jacket with dirty jeans. His shoes had holes in the sides and toes. He had dirt on his face which held an annoyed glare.

"I'm Y/N Wayne. It's nice to meet you Jason."

~Flashback end~

Jason warmed up to you very quickly after that. He never wanted to admit it, but he became quite a Momma's boy. He would burst through the doors of the Manor to show you his good grades, or ramble about his new favorite books. You two spent several nights reading in the Library. Alfred always made sure you two were well equipped with snacks, and drinks.

The night he went on his first patrol, you paced trenches in the Batcave. Alfred watched with amusement at you antics. It'd been awhile since he'd seen you like this. Not since Dick's first patrol.

Then it all went wrong...

You remembered it like a nightmare...

The yelling, and fighting...Jason storming out.

Then the days of stress trying to find him

and then...

The nightmare set in...

You watched as your husband carried a white sheet into the Batcave. You could see the blood soaking through. Your entire body with stiff when he approached you. Slowly you removed the top of the sheet, and saw your son's face badly bruised, and void of life. A gut wrenching scream erupted from your mouth and you collapsed to the ground clutching your son in your arms rocking back and forth slowly.

You ran your fingers through his hair slowly praying to every deity, and higher power out there to bring him back, but he never opened his eyes.

Now here you were...being haunted by him. Every you went his was there. Pale face...soulless eyes. It was a nightmare.

The day it all changed was the day you decided to get some fresh air on the roof of Wayne Enterprises. You looked up at the moon, then at the city knowing that your husband and son Tim were down there keeping people safe. You tensed up when that chill went down your spine. You turned around slowly to see your son standing there with his ghostly face. You shook your head and covered your eyes turning back to the city. You wanted it to stop, the nightmare was driving you insane. The pain in your heart that never healed.

Slowly you got onto the ledge of the roof. The wind made your balance unstable, but you managed to steady yourself. Tears ran down your face as you looked up to the moon again. It was so beautiful...

"Don't jump!"

Your eyes widened when a robotic voice startled you. You turned your head to see a man with a red helmet. You saw the red bat symbol on his chest and frowned. Who is this man? It didn't matter. Not anymore.

"Just leave me alone, I want to be alone."

"Why?"

"None of your concern."

The stranger tilted his head then pulled out his grappling gun. He shot it towards you and the cord wrapped around your waist flinging you back towards him. He held your arms as you tried fighting his strong grip. Eventually you stopped fighting, and just collapsed in his arms sobbing.

"Please? I just want it to stop." You beg hitting his chest weakly, "I'm so sorry Jason..." You whimper when you felt that chill again. The stranger let you go and you fell to your knees covering your face silently sobbing. The stranger watched you then dropped to his knees in front of you.

"Ma?"

You froze and stared at the ground in pure shock. Only one person ever called you that. You heard clicking sounds and a red helmet fell to the ground. Slowly you looked up to see a man with black hair and a small white patch. It couldn't be...

Your shaky hands reached up and removed the domino mask on his eyes. There he was in the flesh. You cupped his face in your hands then gripped his shoulders, "Please be real. Tell me you're real." You beg in a whisper then rest your forehead on his chest. Jason wraps his arms around you and nods.

"It's me Ma, I'm real I promise."

[mochegato]

Hope on Board

Chapter 8 – Walking My Baby Back Home

Chapter 1     Chapter 7

“Are you sure you should be lifting that?” Dick asked anxiously.  “Maybe I should…” He reached out and grabbed the bolts of fabric out of Marinette’s hands. Marinette squeaked in surprise as the weight of the fabric was suddenly lifted, nearly falling backward from the shift in weight.  Dick groaned under the unexpected weight, not expecting fabric to weigh so much.

“What are you doing?” She asked amused.

“You’re pregnant.  You shouldn’t be carrying this much weight,” Dick insisted.  “How were you carrying this much weight?  I swear this weighs more than you do.”

Marinette chuckled.  “This? This is nothing. I grew up in a bakery and helped stock the flour. Do you know how much one of those bags weighs?”  She looked away with an indulgent smile to look through more fabric.

Dick cocked his head to the side to think about her question.  How much did industrial sized bags of flour weigh?  He honestly had no idea.  But the idea of Marinette, little tiny, pixie-sized Marinette carrying heavy loads didn’t seem possible.  “No. How much?”

Marinette blinked a few times not expecting the response to her rhetorical question.  She wrinkled her nose as she thought about it.  Dick smiled at her expression, wishing his hands were free to pull her into a tight hug and snuggle.  “Um... I don't know in American measurements. But a lot. Like… 1000 hooves.”

Dick blinked at her a few times this time.  He looked at her uncertainly.  Was that a French term?  Was it a mistranslation?  That couldn’t have been what she meant to say.  It had to be a baking term.  “Hooves?”

“I don't know. I made up a unit, just like Americans do.  So, 1000 hooves.” She nodded in confirmation.

Dick leaned his head back to fully laugh, eyes crinkling, chest rocking.  Marinette took a moment from her search to appreciate how gorgeous he was when he laughed.  “Wow.  That much huh?” She nodded solemnly.  “I apologize for doubting you.  Now quit foal-ing around.  What do you think of these fabrics?  Yay or neigh?”

Marinette stared at him open mouthed for a few seconds.  “No.  Nope. Nuh uh.  I already have to deal with Papa and Adrien.  You are not allowed to make puns too.”  

“So you’re saying I need to reign it in or you’ll bolt?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.  She rolled her eyes at him but couldn’t stop herself from giggling and he laughed again. He stared at her for a few more seconds before sighing.  “I wish I wasn’t carrying these so I could kiss you.”

Marinette looked back in surprise until a sultry smile overtook her lips. “You could always set them down on the cutting table over there, you know.”

Dick followed where she was pointing and grinned back.  He quickly made his way to the table to drop off the bolts and rushed back to her side, picking her up as he rushed to her, then backed up between two overstuffed aisles.  Marinette let out a surprised giggle that turned into a full belly laugh at his excitement.  Dick’s watched her dreamily as she laughed.  “I hope our baby laughs like you.”

Marinette quieted immediately and looked at him in awe for a few moments. She smiled lovingly and traced the smile on his lips.  “I hope the baby has your smile,” she looked up to peer in his eyes, “and your eyes. You have the most beautiful eyes and the most captivating smile.  Your smile makes it hard to remember my name sometimes.”

Dick gazed at her, studying her features and thinking again how lucky he was to have her.  How amazing she was, kind, thoughtful, brilliant, creative, brave… he could list attributes all day.  “I like your eyes and smile better.  I guess we’ll have to have a second so they can have yours.  And that one can have my laugh.”

Marinette gaped at him, her face turned deep red.  “Um… how about we get this one out before we plan the next one.”

Dick’s face fell.  He’d pushed too far.  He’d gotten carried away again.  He was going to scare her at this rate.  He stopped when he felt Marinette’s kiss on his lips.  He melted into the kiss and moved to deepen it.  She pulled away after a few moments.  “I like that combination though.  And once I don’t feel like throwing up constantly, maybe we can think about starting to practice for the next one.”

Dick’s face lit up and he nodded excitedly, but quickly became concerned. “How are you feeling now?  Need to sit down?  Need water or food?”

Marinette giggled and pecked his lips quickly.  “I’m okay for now, but I anticipate needing something in my stomach in like… twenty minutes.”

Dick furrowed his brow.  “We should probably get going then.  It’ll take that long to find someplace and order.”

Marinette looked around anxiously.  “Good point, but I’m not done.  It’s… I need more time.  I don’t want to have to come back.  I’m actually feeling not terrible for a few moments today.  I can push it a bit.”

Dick shook his head and leaned his forehead on hers.  “The baby doesn’t like being pushed.  It’s quite insistent.  I’ll grab something quick and not messy from the store next door.  That should give you a bit more time, right?”

Marinette looked up at him relieved.  “Yes, thank you.  A snack should help.”

“I mean, I’m already right here,” he gave her a sly grin.  She cocked her head to the side in confusion.  “I’m a snack and I’m right here for you.”

“Oh my God,” her cheeks flushed and she buried her head in his chest.  She shook her head and gave him a playfully dirty look as he folded over in laughter.  “Believe me, I agree.  You are. But, how about one the baby can appreciate, not just me?”

He smiled and kissed her temple.  “Of course. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay. It should just be a few more minutes. Like… thirty minutes?” She offered apologetically.

It was not.  It was two hours and several snacks later by the time she had finally compared, sketched, tested, and finally selected the fabrics and taken them to get cut.  But that wasn’t the end of it like Dick expected. That just led to the next phase in shopping, the accessories.  She scrounged through all of the buttons, zippers, clasps, inserts, thread, and ribbon.

Dick had never known there was this much thought in an outfit.  And this was supposedly just a quick trip.  He couldn’t imagine a full trip.  He would have to make sure to be busy when that happened… unless she wanted his company or asked, in which case he’d say yes.  He sighed at himself.  He was whipped.  He looked over at Marinette’s shining face and couldn’t bring himself to care that he was. He would happily be whipped for her as long as he got to see that smile and be a cause for it.  No matter what she said, he hoped their baby had her smile. All of them.

“Hey, there’s a good little diner around here.  Want to get lunch there?” He asked when she was finally done and had arranged for them to drop it off later.

Marinette nodded happily.  “Yes.  I think the little one wants food now.  No more snacks.”  She absentmindedly rubbed her flat stomach.  The motion made Dick smile.  She was already so protective of the baby, which he could understand, he was too, of the baby and her.  He pulled her closer into his side and leaned down to kiss her cheek.  She looked back up at him with a brilliant smile and oh yeah, he was gone.

As soon as they walked into the diner, there was a loud, enthusiastic greeting for Dick from an older woman and a smile from the man in the kitchen who had peeked around to see him.  “Dickie!  It’s been too long.  How are you?” She brought him in for a hug.  Before he could answer she looked over at Marinette with a kind smile.  “And who is this?  Don’t tell me someone has finally caught you.”

Marinette smiled back at her and waved.  “Hi.  I’m Marinette, madame.”

The woman moved quickly to pull Marinette in for a hug as well. “Now, none of that.  I’m Kora.  Any friend of Dickie’s is family here.”

Marinette giggled and looked up at Dick with an impressed gaze. “Dickie is that good, huh?”

“Best teacher my grandson ever had.  Only one to get him interested in something constructive. But, come, come.  You didn’t come here to chat.”  She showed them to a table.  “Here are a few menus.  Let me know when you’re ready to order.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind catching up for a second.  How is Eddie?  How about Rachel?” Dick spoke up before she could get far away.

“Oh, you know Eddie.  He’s trying to stay out of trouble, but not too hard.  It doesn’t help that the police keep an eye on him constantly.  Makes him jumpy.  Makes all of us jumpy.  Rachel is doing great.  Eddie’s making sure she stays safe.  More responsibility than a young kid should take on, but what else can you do?  She loves school.  Taken a liking to clothing if you can believe it.”  Marinette perked up instantly.  “Decided she’s going to start designing them at fourteen.  Saves money I suppose.”

“Would she like to see someone do it?  Design I mean?”  Kora looked at her questioningly.  “I’m a designer.  I actually moved here because I’m working on designs with Wayne Enterprises.  I could take her with me to a meeting, if they are okay with it.  There’s some top secret things going on, so they might not want anyone else there, but if they’re okay with it, I can show her the process.”

Kora looked over to Dick looking for his input, but Dick was too engrossed looking at Marinette in awe to see Kora’s inquiry.  Kora laughed at him.  That was endorsement enough for her.  “Yeah, I think she’d like that.  I’ll give you my number.  We can arrange something.”

Marinette smiled excitedly and bounced in her seat.  “That sounds great!”  She looked back over to Dick as he took her hand.

“We better order before you start feeling sick.  Know what you want?”  When she nodded, they both placed their orders.  

“I was fourteen when I started entering design contests,” Marinette said excitedly.  “Hey, do you think Tim would be interested in sponsoring a design contest for kids?  I think kids like Rachel and me at that age, would really love it.”

Dick smiled proudly at her.  “I really think he would.  And I think Jason would probably be willing to help out too.”

Marinette nodded decidedly.  “I’ll talk to Tim about it at our meeting on Monday, the contest and Rachel.” She looked to the side for a moment and returned her gaze to him with a sly look.  “So… you teach gymnastics to kids?”

Dick looked down shyly.  “When I can. I haven’t in about a year because of other obligations, but… I miss it.  I really liked doing it.”

“I would pay to see that.  I bet it’s adorable.”

He smiled at the memory of the kids.  “Yeah they were.”

“Them too.”  She smirked and took a drink of her water, enjoying the sight of Dick blushing.  Her expression slowly morphed to more dreamy. “Maybe you can teach our baby.”

Dick perked up at the idea.  “I can’t wait.  I started when I was in diapers.  I’d like to pass that on to my kids.  Oh, speaking of that, I was wondering if you might be interested in doing some pregnancy yoga classes or we can YouTube it and do it at home.”

“We?”

He shrugged.  “I thought it might be something we could do together.”

“Yeah.  I think that might be fun.”  She squeezed his hand and blushed when he pulled her hand up to his lips to kiss the inside of her wrist.

They pulled apart when Kora came back with their food.  She gave them a knowing look as she set the food down for them.  “Young love. You two are adorable.”

Marinette blushed but Dick grinned.  “Hey, Kora?” Dick spoke up before she could turn to leave.  “What do you mean the cops are keeping an eye on Eddie?”

Kora sighed out.  “It’s like they’re waiting for him to mess up.  They’re constantly watching him.  We try to make sure he’s never alone and there’s always surveillance cameras somewhere but it’s just about impossible.  Honestly, I almost trust the gangs more.  At least they’ll try to keep him safe.”

Dick shook his head.  “I didn’t realize it was that bad.”

Kora shrugged.  “No accountability and a gun.  Who’s going to stop them?”  With that, she walked away to let them eat, leaving Dick to consider her words.

<><><><><> 

“So you’ve been doing gymnastics since you were in diapers?”  Marinette prompted Dick as they walked hand in hand through a park on their way back to her apartment.

Yep,” Dick confirmed doing an aerial front flip without breaking his stride.

Marinette pulled him to a stop so she could gape at him. “Oh yeah, by all means, pretend that’s completely normal.”

“What?” Dick asked innocently.

“Don’t give me that, show off.”

“What that ?  Oh!  That. That was nothing.  You should see what I could do if I was trying.” Dick shrugged casually, but the smug grin on his lips gave him away.

“Oh yeah, I could do that too, if the idea of being upside down didn’t make me want to throw up.  But just wait, in 10 months or so, I’ll show you a cartwheel that will knock your socks off,” she mock threatened him.

He grinned, a sincere, warm look in his eyes. “I can’t wait to see it.”  He did a side flip into a walk out without losing his breath.  “I’m going to have our baby out doing you by the time he or she is one.”

Marinette playfully narrowed her eyes at him. “Okay Mister gymnastics is in my blood. Let’s see what you can do when you try.”

Dick grinned and leaned down for a quick kiss before moving a bit away to start.  “Don’t blink, you’ll miss some amazing moves,” he winked at her before launching into a completely unprepared gymnastic routine.  He did flip after flip, moving through the air with an ease she didn’t even think she had even as Ladybug.  He jumped on the back of a bench with a single fluid movement, using it to launch into a double summersault flip. It went on for a few minutes at dizzying speed before his finale, using a water fountain to give him enough height for a triple flip.  Only he didn’t quite land it right.  He landed in an awkward, painful looking roll until he was laid flat out on his stomach.

Marinette stopped breathing as she waited for him to move. After a few seconds he still hadn’t moved.  Her heart faltered.  “Dick?” her voice was weak and uncertain.  “Dick?  Are you… are you okay?” the anxiety was becoming more apparent with every word. “Dick!” she ran to him, cursing herself for encouraging him and pushing him.  “Dick!”  Her hands were trembling as she turned him over to face her.

He looked up at her with a radiant smile.  “I guess this means I fell hard for you.”  

She stared at him for a few seconds while he curled up from laughing so hard. Tears started falling down Marinette’s cheeks while Dick continued to laugh.  He immediately froze when he heard her let out a sob.  He looked up at Marinette but she wasn’t kneeling above him anymore.  She had backed up a few feet and was sobbing into her knees.  “Marinette?” He reached out for her tentatively, her whole body was shaking.  “Marinette? Are you okay?”  He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest. “I’m sorry.  That wasn’t funny.  I’m sorry,” he whispered over and over again in her ear, breaking it up with the occasional kiss to her temple.

After a few minutes her cries started to quiet.  Dick brushed her bangs out of her eyes and wiped away her tears.  “I’m sorry, Marinette.  I wasn’t expecting you to take it so seriously.”

Marinette’s eyes flashed from distressed to anger in the span of a second. She backed away and shoved him in the shoulder.  She wanted to punch him instead but she wasn’t at a good angle to punch his perfect jaw and even as upset as she was, she knew that wasn’t okay.  “Seriously?  I wasn’t supposed to take it seriously?”  Dick stared at her in confusion… and pain.  That seriously hurt.  “I thought I pushed the father of my baby into killing himself.  I thought you got hurt or broke your neck because of me.  I thought you were hurt and I caused it,” she repeated again, tears starting to form again.

Dick’s expression softened and turned to guilt.  He was an idiot.  She was pregnant.  Her hormones were going crazy.  Not that he was stupid enough to mention that in his apology.  He watched her cry over a commercial the other day, not even a particularly sad one.  She was not in the frame of mind to accept jokes like this.  “I’m sorry,” he said again as he rubbed her arms and pulled her back into his chest.  “That was thoughtless and mean.  I’m sorry.”

After a few minutes she pulled away just enough to look up at him through glassy eyes.   “No, I’m sorry.  I absolutely should not have shoved you.  Normally I would have just rolled my eyes and pushed you back down, but these damn hormones.”

Dick nodded.  Again, not something he wasn’t going to agree with verbally though.  “Maybe I’ll do it again later.”

Marinette scoffed but pushed further into his embrace.  “Nope that one is done.  You’re going to have to come up with a new one.  I’m sure you can do something with flipping or flopping or making your heart do cartwheels.”

Dick grinned and hugged her closer.  “You’re taking all the best ones.”

Marinette smiled back and wound her arms around his neck.  “I already have the best one.”  She pulled him down for a kiss pushing all her anxiety and relief into it.

Chapter 9

Tags:

@dickinette-february @demonicbusiness @ichigorose @iloontjeboontje @ladybug-182 @toodaloo-kangaroo

[bebepac]

Pop’s 🌎 World

This is a very special Mia’s 🌎 World. It’s kind of a stand alone, as you could have not read the previous series and know what’s going on here.  It’s about a father’s love for his daughter.  But if you are curious to go on a binge read:

Book One:  Pop’s Place

Book Two: Mia’s World

I’m also participating in @wackydrabbles​ prompt # 91 picked by  @ofpixelsandscribbles​ “I’m worried about you.” which will appear in bold. 

Original Post Date: 04/20/21 at 7:03PM EST.

The Book:  TRR (this is typically a crossover, but none of the crossover characters appear in this chapter) 

Pairing:  Mia x Jaiden  (TRR MC x M!OC)

Word Count: 1976

Warnings: Pops laying on all kinds of Daddy Fluff.  Brief mention of pregnancy complications, with no specific or graphic detail. 

Summary:  A glimpse into the past, present and future of Pops. We will be getting to know, the softer side of Pops Jones.

A/N: Writing is truly one of the ways that I have dealt with a lot of unsettling feelings I’ve had over the years, and this one is very cathartic for me.  I never had the best home life growing up.  Pops is the personification of the father figure I wish that I had growing up in those more formative years.  He does remind me a bit of my Grandfather, but he passed away when I was young.  So I write my Mia having the strong base that I wish I had.  And maybe some things would have turned out differently.  

A/N2:  I don’t own the rights to the poem “I Trust You’ll Treat Her Well”  by Dan Valentine which the words will be bold and italic throughout this episode.  I did modify a few words to make it representative to Mia and her family, as Mia does not have blue eyes and light brown hair.   

Song Inspiration for this Episode:  I Loved Her First by Heartland

I don’t own the rights to the music.  

Jaiden and Mia were staring at each other in awe as if they were in their own little private universe.

Tears welled in Pop's eyes as he watched Mia.

Pops never thought he was super sensitive until that moment. But seeing Mia, his baby girl, slow dance with Jaiden in her wedding dress, tore his heart to pieces, in a good way. Together Gloria and Pops had raised a beautiful, intelligent, strong young woman, who had found the love of her life.

Their very first dance together as husband and wife was breathtaking, and the newly married couple had nothing but smiles and a few tears for each other, and whispered sweet nothings in each other's ears.

Maybe not so sweet.... as whatever Mia had whispered caused Jaiden's cheeks and ears to flush a rosy pink, as he gently tugged at his collar a bit. 🍋🍋

"She picked a good one, Pops. He'll take care of her. He always has." Gloria whispered in Pops ear.

"I know. It doesn't make it easier. I loved her first."

Pops stood before them with a smile. Since they were done with the formal pictures, Pop's tie was completely gone, and the first few buttons of his dress shirt were unbuttoned. Pops was a simple man. But his feelings about that day were anything but simplistic. Pop's soul was a storm of emotions inside his heart: happy, melancholic, and bittersweet, because not only had he given his daughter away to be married, but he was also gaining a son, whom he loved dearly.

His eyes met with Mia's from across the room. She smiled at him, but as he refocused on her, he saw the little girl that loved to play dress up in Mommy's clothes and makeup.

Clearing his throat, Pops began to recite the poem that he picked for today. His confident voice was already shaking as he gazed across the room at his little MJ, his eyes already beginning to tear up.

"Dear World,

I bequeath to you today one little girl… in a crispy dress...with two brown eyes… and a happy  laugh that ripples all day long...and a flash of black hair that bounces in the sun  when she runs. I trust you'll treat her well."

He never knew the person who would completely change his whole entire world, his heart  was a little bouncing baby girl that weighed seven pounds and twelve ounces when she was born.

When he found out Gloria was pregnant, Kelvin wanted a boy. That's all he thought about. Someone to play ball with, and fish with. He got the shock of his life when he heard those three words. It's a girl.

Mia was born a week before Christmas.  Gloria went into labor while they were at a Christmas party neither one wanted to attend. Labor was a fitting excuse for the pair to leave early. The one time in Mia’s life she showed up early to benefit her parents. 

Gloria’s due date was Christmas Day.

When he first saw Mia's big brown inquisitive eyes, he knew she would be special. And Mia was, and she was the light of his world.

Mia’s first word was Pop.  The reason everyone called Kelvin “Pops”  was because of Mia.  When Mia started talking she said it repeatedly.  And it stuck with EVERYONE!

Mia was definitely a Daddy’s girl. 

Mia took her very first steps following behind Pops. He had walked into the kitchen to make Mia a snack, when he glanced up from the counter seeing her toddling towards him.

"Pops!" Mia exclaimed enthusiastically as she took her slow and deliberate steps towards him.

Pops immediately knelt, opening his arms smiling brightly at her.

"Come to Pop Pops."

Mia made it to his arms. He picked her up and spun her around planting kisses, and raspberries on her cheeks and tummy.

He wanted his little MJ to stop growing.  

Even though he loved Mia dearly, Pops thought about the possibility of them having another child.  He thought then having one of each would be perfect.

But sadly the lightning never struck again for them.  

Gloria sat on the side of the bed in tears.  

“We weren’t even trying when we got Mia, and now that we are…. Why isn’t it happening?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe we just got it perfect on the first try, my beautiful Morning Glory.”

“I know you want a boy Pops.”  

“I wanted our child Gloria.  Mia is our baby.   I wouldn’t trade a thousand little boys for our Mia.”

He wiped Gloria’s tears.

“I’m worried about you.”  

“I feel like I'm failing you.”

“You’re not, you gave me Mia.  She’s more than we could have ever asked for.”  

Mia had asked several times for a baby brother or sister.  Until a sweet family with a little dark haired boy moved next door.  

Daniel and Mia were inseparable.  

“Prim and proud she’ll wave her young and independent hand this morning and say “Good bye” and walk with little lady steps into the school house.”

It was  Pops that cried the first day of school when he waited with her at the bus stop.  They had always had a very special close relationship.

“For five full years now I’ve been her sage and Santa Claus and pal and playmate and father and friend...”

Mia had her “Mommy time” with Gloria but as Mia aged, she liked to fish with Pops.  She enjoyed being in the kitchen with him.   At age ten Mia called out her first order to Pops that day taking the first step of creating ‘their special language' they talked to each other to this very day in the kitchen. Mia sat at the table with her book watching the waitress in front of her, listening closely to the order.

She called out the order to Pops loud and proud.

Pops glanced down at the order that Ginny handed him, as Mia recited in her own language what the customers wanted.  He smiled at her, it made sense to her, and to him.  

“I’m on it, MJ!” His voice boisterous.  Little Mia learned the menu and started calling out all the orders to Pops. 

His mind drifted to Kyle.  Mia’s first serious boyfriend.  The one he had basically thought he was so proud of Mia for finding.  Kyle appeared to have it all.  He came from a good family, and he appeared like he loved Mia.  

Pops mentally took off his rose colored glasses and looked at his daughter’s relationship with him.  

Pops saw all the warning signs he had been oblivious to the first time around.  The sadness in his daughter’s eyes, she was trying to hide.  The crash dieting.  Mia wasn’t insecure before, but he now saw all the hints of it.  And he had been afraid to ask. Why did he not ask her what was wrong? When he had such a good relationship with his MJ.

“Today she’ll learn for the first time not all who smile at her are her friends….”

Mia found the courage in herself to end that relationship.

And with the ending of that relationship ended another one.  Daniel’s father was transferred to North Carolina.   Mia was devastated with her friend moving away.  But, it was very short lived, as Daniel’s father Jonathan let Pops know of a restaurant that was for sale in their area, that would give Pops the chance to branch out completely on his own and have his very own place.  

Pops took a chance and packed up his family and moved to North Carolina and bought that little restaurant that the community now fondly known as Pop’s Place. 

He remembered the first time he saw Mia interact with Jaiden.  The two were very friendly with each other talking and laughing.   Jason Brooks elbowed him.  

“There is something special blooming between those two.”

Pops laughed looking at the two of them again.

“I doubt it seriously.”  

Mia’s dance card was full, between Drake Walker, but Pops had his money on Liam Rys walking away with Mia’s heart.

“Twenty bucks says they’ll be dating before the end of summer.”  

“You’re on Brooks.”  

Pops lost that bet.  

Watching the love blossom between his daughter and Jaiden made him feel young again.  The love and the heartache.  

The sweet little gestures of love and understanding.

*^*^*^*^*^*^* Fast Forward a year after the wedding *^*^*^*^*^*

"I think I finally got it right now. Hi MJ, hey Jaiden. Can you all hear me now?”

"We can hear you now fine Hey Pops, where's Mom?"

"I'm here, I had to take dinner out of the oven."

They talked for a few minutes.

"MJ you look like the cat that ate the canary. What's going on?"

"So we didn't agree on how to do this.  We both wanted to tell you face to face but we didn't want to wait until Thanksgiving."

She looked at Jaiden.  He smiled nodding.

"Mom, Pops…..”

Pops saw the tears in Mia's eyes.

"What's wrong?"

She held up a single picture.

Both her parents screamed in joy.  

“It’s a boy!!!”  

“We wanted to tell you sooner.”  

Jaiden’s eyes filled with tears, as Mia leaned into him.  His grip tightened around her.

“We had to wait a little bit, because we had some complications. I had to take some time off work. But we’re okay now.  All three of us.”  

“This is the best news I’ve ever heard!!!!” Pops was laughing and crying at the same time. 

“You can't tell anyone yet. We’re telling Jaiden’s parents a little later on this evening.”

"We understand."

“So that means Pops, when we have the baby you’re getting on a plane and flying out here.  Mom’s not going to let you drive cross country.”

“It will be fun, we could rent an RV like we did that summer.”

“NO Pops. NO!!!”  Gloria and Mia exclaimed in unison.

“That summer was a nightmare, Jaiden.”

For MJ, when it was time, he got on that plane.  The simple man who lived between North and South Carolina his whole life, had raised a girl that loved adventure, and was living her life now in California as a fashion designer  with her successful architect husband, and about to give birth to their first child.  

Jaiden walked out of the delivery room with a proud smile on his face.  

“He’s here.  Six pounds and two ounces and twenty one inches long.  He’s perfect in every way.”

Jason went to hug his son.    

Later that evening, Pops and Gloria went in to see the baby.  

Mia had been in labor for over twelve hours, but you couldn’t tell it from the serene smile that was on her face, as she held their first child in her arms.  

Jaiden took the baby from her arms.

“Pops, meet your grandson.  His name is Kaiden…. Kaiden Riley Brooks.”

(Author’s Note: yeah…. I know, I said Riley Brooks would never exist in a place where my MC is not named Riley…. But you know…. I had to mix things up. Technically this is NOT your Riley Brooks.)

Pops held Kaiden in his arms.  The little baby opened his eyes to look at him. And in that moment Pop’s life was changed again by another little baby, this time, weighing six pounds  and two ounces.  

He kissed the top of his head gently rubbing Kaiden’s head full of dark brown curls.

“We finally got our boy Pops.”  Gloria whispered as Pops rocked Kaiden in his arms.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Fast Forward  *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Time flies as time always does.  Pops and Gloria were visiting during the first week of school.

Pops grip on Mia’s hand tightened as she held her youngest child Luna on her hip, watching little Kaiden walk down the driveway to the bus.

Mia softly gasped as Kaiden stopped, turning around to her, and  waved goodbye to her, and his little sister, and his Poppy; Mia was holding back tears.

“I know how you feel.”  

“Does it get easier Pops?”

“You’ll always see him….them the way you do now.  They will always be your babies. It’s how I see you. I’m so proud of the woman you’ve become Mia.”

“Thank you Pops.”

“So, world, I bequeath to you today, one little boy… in a little blue and gold uniform…. With two hazel eyes and a flash of curly brown hair that bounces in the sunlight when he runs.

I trust you’ll treat him well.”

Tags in the comments!!!!

[awhitehead17]

The the prompts: how about some Dick and Tim brotherly bonding? Maybe with some snuggles?

After reading this I had an idea and ran with it. I really enjoyed writing this one and I hope you will enjoy reading it! :D 

Without much thought, Dick opens his bedroom door with a smile and allows Tim to enter his room. His smile quickly falters however when all Tim does is hum in greeting and enters the room wordlessly.

His little brother stiffly walks over to the bed where he promptly faceplants the mattress as soon as he’s in reach of it. He lets out a long groan as he lies there not moving.

After closing the door Dick moves over to the bed and hovers there, observing the scene with both amusement and worry. He doesn’t know what’s gotten into Tim, when they had spoken not three hours ago, Tim had been completely fine and had been extremely excited for their movie night. Obviously something’s happened within that short time frame for Tim to be acting like this.

“Tim? What’s the matter?” He asks eventually when the younger doesn’t offer up an explanation for his actions. Dick immediately wants to fret over him and make sure Tim’s okay, but he’s not yet sure on how his mothering will be taken.

With Tim it’s always between accepting the care instantly and melting into it or he blatantly refuses any form of care and shuts himself away from the world. It depends on the situation really. Until Dick can work out what headspace Tim is in, he’s going to have to wait to see what the best way to approach his younger brother with care and affection is.

Letting out another dramatic groan, Tim flops over onto his back and sprawls out across the bed. His tiny 5’5 body doesn’t take up much room on the king-sized bed that Dick has, it almost looks like the covers are swallowing him whole.

“I’m so sore! How is that even possible considering what we do?”

At hearing this whine Dick allows himself to relax now that he knows it’s nothing major. Tim is just being dramatic. He sits on the edge of the mattress looking down at Tim with a raised eyebrow. “What did you do? You were fine when we spoke earlier.”

Tim groans again and reaches up to cover his face in his hands like he’s ashamed. “I made the mistake of training with Jason today. He was in one of his boot-camp, SAS, moods. My legs no longer function.”

Dick winces at the sound of that. Only once has he even been on the receiving end of that mood from Jason. After that one experience he vowed to make sure it never happened again and by the sight of Tim, he’s glad he’s missed out this time.

Without saying anything he observes his brother a little longer, an idea forming in his head as he does. The plan for them that night is to watch a few movies and binge some snacks and just generally hang out. What Dick is thinking about can still fit into that plan if Tim accepts it.

Instead of voicing his idea to Tim, Dick decides to just go ahead with it. He gets up from the bed and goes over to his draws, after picking out a loose pair of shorts he chucks them at Tim. “Put those on. I’ll be back in a second.”

Ignoring Tim’s questions, Dick heads to his ensuite and digs out a certain kit from the back of the cupboard under the sink. Once he’s got it he goes back to the bedroom and finds Tim still sprawled out over the bed but now with the shorts on.

Tim lifts his head and stares at Dick in question. “What are you doing? Aren’t we going to watch some movies?”

Dick places the kit down on his bedside table and nods. “Yes, but while the movie plays, I’m going to give you a massage. At least your legs, it’ll help with the muscle soreness.”

Tim blinks at him for a long moment like he’s trying to comprehend what Dick had just said. After several beats go by his brother shakes his head. “You don’t need to do that Dick. I’ll be fine.”

Dick hums, not taking any notice in the protest. “While I massage your legs, you can watch the film. Once I’ve done both then we can settle for the evening.”

His brother opens his mouth, probably to protest again, but Dick sends him a look, one that tells Tim he isn’t backing down on this. Knowing that he isn’t going to win, Tim shuts his mouth and waves his hand around, silently gesturing Dick to ‘go ahead’ with it.

After deciding on a film, they put it on and Dick starts massaging Tim’s legs. He takes his time with it, regularly checking in with Tim to make sure he’s not hurting him and that he’s hitting all the correct spots.

Other than the check-ins it’s silent between the two of them, not that there needs to be any conversation between them in that moment anyway. It happens to be a comfortable silence that fills the room, the two of them being at ease with one another which makes it easy to relax.

It wasn’t until Dick finishes right leg and moves onto his left that Tim speaks up, breaking the spell between them.

“How do you know how to massage people?” His voice is soft and seems like it’s almost floating.

At the question Dick glances up at the rest of him to find Tim lying there with his eyes closed and the rest of his body relaxed into the mattress underneath him.

Continuing on with the administrations Dick answers him thoughtfully as he reminisces. “I first learnt about it when I was in the circus. Being acrobats we were quite prone to injuries, so after most training sessions and especially after shows, my parents used to massage one another to help their muscles. My mom used to do it to my dad more than the other way around.

Anyway, of course seeing this I picked up a couple bits here and there. They never did it to me, didn’t need to as I just stretched more than anything and of course being a kid meant I didn’t need it like that.

After I moved to the Manor, I once mentioned it to Alfred that my parents used to massage their muscles after exercise. When mentioned it I was a little older and was already Robin, but Alfred had offered to teach me some in-depth massaging techniques that could be used on the body. It was a thing between us for several years until everything went sideways.

When I moved to Bludhaven I lost track of it and basically dropped it. I had become too busy to focus on that sort of thing. It was when Bruce decided to adopt more kids and I was suddenly gaining a wide range of younger siblings that I picked it back up and even took some professional classes. I figured it was a good opportunity to get back into it and then I can help anyone out in this way if they happen to need it.”

As he works his hands down Tim’s calf Dick gets lost in those memories and the journey of what this skill has taken him through throughout his life.

Tim props himself up onto his elbows and studies Dick, Dick simply blinks back and continues with the task. He’s almost done now. “Guess it’s come in handy now after all.” Tim laughs lightly.

“It’s certainly taken long enough,” he retorts back with a grin. Within minutes he finishes up and pats Tim’s legs. “There you go, all done. You’ll still be sore tomorrow but it hopefully shouldn’t be as bad. Would you like a shower to wash the lotion off or are you good?”

Tim slumps back down on the bed again, a smile adoring his face. “I don’t think I could move even if I tried.”

Dick rolls his eyes but is smiling nonetheless. “Sure. I’m going to go wash my hands and then we can settle down finally.”

Now he’s finished, Dick packs up the massage kit and takes it back to the bathroom to put it away. He washes his hands before heading back to the bedroom to find that Tim still hasn’t moved from his sprawled-out position on his bed. Dick raises an eyebrow at him. “Are you planning on sharing any time soon.”

Tim makes a face before shaking his head. “Na, I’m good thanks.”

“Alright have it your way…” with that Dick promptly falls onto the bed, purposely landing half on Tim despite how big the bed actually is. The action makes the younger squawk in protest and he immediately starts trying to squirm out from underneath Dick.

Dick lets him struggle futilely for several moments before finally moving and allowing Tim to breathe easily once again. He wastes no time in manoeuvring them so they are propped up against the headboard cuddling into each other’s sides.

Tim smacks him in the chest, calling him a jerk but Dick sees the smile he’s attempting to fight off and doesn’t think anything of it. He’ll let Tim keep his dignity (or some of it at least). They settle together and start to properly watch the film which is about three quarters the way through by now.

“Hey Dick,” Tim says getting his attention, when Dick looks down at him Tim is watching him fondly, “thank you. Not just for the massage, which by the way felt amazing, but for sharing about it too.”

Dick ducks his head and presses a kiss to Tim’s hair. “Not a problem Timmy. Thank you for letting me help you.”

Tim smiles but doesn’t say anything more, not that there needs to be more words shared. They aren’t necessary anymore, they know each other well enough by now that their gratitude is there without being said.

The comfortable since returns as they settle into each other’s sides for the rest of the evening watching the movies they have queued and eating all the snacks they brought.

[caught-in-a-seesaw-stigma]

Map of the Soul, Drabble #1

Drabble #1 - The Legendary Virginity Incident

Pairing: Taehyung x reader

Genre: Angst, Fluff, Smut

Word Count: 8K+

Warnings: NSFW 18+ cursing, fingering, hair pulling, hand job, oral sex (m/f giving & receiving), unprotected sex (please be safe), loss of virginity, consensual sex, biting, scratching, soulmate shenanigans, and just a healthy dose of derpyness from these two

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

10 years may not seem like a long time from some perspectives, but when you're 15 and you've known your soulmate for more than a full decade, it's an epic feeling.

You and Kim "Elizabeth" Taehyung were attached at the hip ever since you met in kindergarten, and the two of you ran into a little trouble when his family had to move away the summer before you started high school. Luckily, you’d been able to convince both your parents and his that he should come visit for a week during the summer. A year may not sound like a long time, but it felt like a lifetime to you and Taehyung.

Once he arrived, you dragged him out of the house as soon as he dropped his bags on your bedroom floor. The week wasn’t going to last forever, and you had a lot of catching up to do. You were both walking around downtown looking for something to do and trying to make the best of this short time you had together.

"We should go to the beach," you exclaimed. "We haven’t gone in forever."

"Beach?" Taehyung replied. "Really? Sand and saltwater? That's how you want me to spend my time here?"

"I want fun in the sun, Tae-bear," you whined. "Let's go out and do something, yeah?"

Taehyung pondered your request and made a big show of propping up tilting his head and holding his chin up. Once his gaze landed on your pouty lips, he grinned and pulled you into his arms.

"Ugh, why are you so freaking adorable, babe?" Taehyung cooed. "I can't resist you when your lips get all pouty and your forehead creases up like that."

“Stop picking on me,” you pouted. “It’s summertime and there is no school. We can finally go and do stuff without worrying about any of our usual responsibilities.”

“Ok, ok,” Taehyung relented. “What can we do that doesn’t involve sand or saltwater?”

“Well, I want something outdoorsy,” you explained. “I want to become one with nature.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes at you and his smile settled into a sweet rectangular shape. Lately, you were obsessed with nature and animals and plants and flowers because you were reading Henry David Thoreau’s Walden and Taehyung just knew you were determined to follow Thoreau’s philosophical teachings of getting back to the simple pleasures of nature.

“Why don’t we go camping?” Taehyung offered. “There’s that awesome clearing near your house. We always said we were going to camp out there, but we never did.”

“Yeah, let’s do that!” you heartily agreed. “Want to go shopping for gear? I just got all that money for my birthday.”

“Absolutely!” Taehyung grinned. “Let’s go spend that bread, baby.”

Taehyung grabbed your hand and pulled you in the direction of the nearest sporting goods store and you started compiling a collection of camping gear for your upcoming adventure. Once you arrived home, your parents just blinked in confusion as you and Taehyung hauled several shopping bags and a large tent up the stairs to your room.

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

Once you’d organized everything into a corner of your room, you collapsed onto the bed and Taehyung joined you. You turned your body toward his and he tucked you into his chest by wrapping his arm around you. You played with the frayed patches on his shirt as he hummed a random tune.

“It feels so nice to be in your room again, ttalgi” Taehyung admitted. “There’s just something comforting about it.”

“Oh yeah?” you giggled. “Do all my collectibles and books lull you into a safe space?”

“Something like that,” Taehyung sighed. “You know, I thought all girls’ rooms would be the same, but yours is something different and I love it.”

“Just how many girls’ rooms have you seen, Tae-bear?” you probed. “You certainly never mentioned anything like that to me. Are you hiding things from your soulmate?”

“What? No!” Taehyung blurted out defensively. “Not really.”

You pushed off of Taehyung’s chest and narrowed your eyes at him. He couldn’t look you directly in the eye and you knew something was up.

“Ok, Elizabeth,” you spat. “Out with it. Why were you in another girl’s room and why didn’t I know about this? I thought we told each other everything.”

“We do, it’s just…” Taehyung trailed off. “It’s just something that happened before I came to see you and I didn’t know how to tell you.”

You gawked at the flush of pink spreading across his cheeks and you sat up, crossing your legs and bracing yourself against the headboard.

“What is it, Tae?” you prompted. “You know you can tell me anything.”

Taehyung sat up and mirrored your sitting position. He fiddled with his thumbs for a moment before taking a deep breath and exhaling loudly.

“Do you remember our last phone conversation?” Taehyung began. “The one after your Spring Break?”

“Yeah,” you said. “I told you about that asshole Jason who tried to force himself on me at the beach bonfire and how I broke his nose. Why?”

“Well, I didn’t break anyone’s nose,” Taehyung continued. “But something happened.”

“With who?” you demanded. “Was it with the girl you were talking to? What’s her name again? Madelyn?”

“Sadly, no,” Taehyung groaned. “Madelyn is 100% pure lesbian and she made that blatantly clear at our End of the Year Band Banquet. But I was a little bummed when she turned me down and her friend Ayla tried to cheer me up.”

“Cheer you up how, exactly?” you inquired venomously. “What did she do, Elizabeth?”

“She snuck me into her bedroom,” Taehyung admitted sheepishly. “Her parents were having a party in the backyard, so no one noticed. I only stayed for an hour.”

“A lot can happen in an hour, Taehyung,” you shot back. “Did you have sex with her?!”

“No, I promise,” Taehyung exclaimed. “No sex, just some hand stuff. It was my first time doing anything like that, so I was afraid to go any further.”

You sank into a deeply troubled pout at his words. Taehyung reached for your hand, but you pulled your hand back into your lap. Taehyung looked up to see tears brimming in your eyes.

“Please don’t cry,” he pleaded. “It didn’t mean anything, babe-”

“It’s not that,” you interrupted. “As long as we’re sharing, I have something I haven’t told you either.”

Taehyung’s frown deepened and he allowed you to collect your thoughts. Each passing second, he prayed that your tears would recede. He hated making you cry.

“I wasn’t completely honest about the incident with Jason,” you blurted out. “I wanted him to touch me, but he wanted more than I was willing to give. I only broke his nose because he was getting too aggressive, but I did consent initially. It wasn’t a random attack.”

“He still deserved to get hit,” Taehyung grunted. “No means no. Everybody should know that.”

“I know, Tae,” you sniffled as the floodgates opened on your face. “I just feel like I lied to you. I know we promised to always be each other’s first for everything, but I couldn’t help it.”

“Hey, hey,” Taehyung cooed while pulling you into his lap. “It’s ok, babe. It doesn’t matter. I think we can both admit that making that promise in the 5th grade was kinda stupid. I mean, we’re teenagers and we’re half drunk on hormones. Shit happens, right?”

“So you don’t hate me?” you mumbled into his neck. “We’re ok?”

“Of course,” Taehyung chuckled. “We’re always ok, my beautiful soulmate, no matter what happens.”

You wrapped your arms around his neck and leaned your forehead against his cheek. You had been worried about telling him the truth about Jason for months, but he seemed to take the whole thing pretty well. You could hear your mother calling the two of you down for dinner and you jumped off Taehyung’s lap to open the door to respond. Taehyung’s eyes were harboring hints of disappointment, but they quickly dissipated before you turned around to face him.

“Shall we head down?” you asked him. “I think she made Korean fried chicken.”

Taehyung stepped forward and offered his bent elbow to you.

“Well then, grab a wing,” he jested.

You rolled your eyes at his terrible joke, but still giggled as the two of you walked downstairs together.

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

“Tae-bear,” you called from your backyard. “Are you coming or not? We’re losing daylight.”

Taehyung bounded out the back door with a large ice chest and your mother waved as he joined you.

“Be careful, you two,” she smiled. “We aren’t too far away if you need anything.”

After she disappeared back inside, you gave Taehyung a questioning look and gestured at the ice chest.

“What?” he grinned. “She wanted to make sure we had enough snacks.”

You rolled your eyes and grabbed the handle of the fully stocked wagon. Without a word, you turned toward the wooded area behind your house and started walking away from his smug expression.

Ugh, why are you like this, Mom?

Once the two of you reached the clearing, you both started setting up the tent and organizing all of your supplies. Taehyung set up the lanterns around the campsite and started up the small BBQ pit your father had pulled out of the garage. It wasn’t enough to BBQ anything bigger than hot dog wieners or hamburgers, but it would make a great firepit for the two of you.

As you were arranging your snacks on the folding table, you opened the ice chest and gaped at the homemade sandwiches, bowl of pasta salad, and veggie and fruit trays inside.

Seriously, Mom? You never do stuff like this for me!

You spent the rest of the day snacking, exploring the woods, and playing games. You relished the purity of the woods and took a moment to absorb the peace and quiet and magic of nature. Taehyung trailed behind you picking up stray feathers, pebbles, leaves, and pinecones.

When you returned to the campsite, Taehyung decorated the ring around the BBQ pit with his treasures, and you sighed at how amazing and artistic your soulmate could be. The boy was an artist through and through, and part of you wondered whether anyone would be able to appreciate how incredible he was.

“Ready for dinner, ttalgi,” Taehyung called out after placing one last pinecone in his creation. “I’m thinking we should start the fire, roast some hot dogs and maybe some marshmallows? I bought stuff for S’Mores.”

“That sounds good, Tae-bear,” you agreed. “I’ll start the fire since I’m the Girl Scout. You get the food ready for roasting.”

“Hey,” pouted Taehyung. “I wanted to be a Boy Scout. I just couldn’t fit it into my schedule.”

“I know, baby,” you cooed while pinching his cheek. “My Tae-bear was too busy with his art and music lessons to be a Boy Scout.”

You kissed his pouty lips until they morphed into a cute little rectangle shape, and he giggled when you refused to accept his surrender. You continued to assault him with your lips while he pretended that your kisses were fatal. You both crumpled into a heap near the tent and your playful kisses started progressing into a heated makeout session. Soon, you were straddling Taehyung’s lap and slowly grinding your hips back and forth.

“Mmmm, you’re such a tease, ttalgi,” Taehyung chuckled. “Are you always this eager?”

“Just for you, Tae,” you murmured against his lips. “Your kisses make me crazy.”

Taehyung cupped your cheeks and smiled sweetly at your words. He knew you meant them, but there was still something gnawing at the back of his mind that wouldn’t go away.

It won’t always be me. There will be others.

Before the stray negative thought could coalesce, Taehyung pressed one last kiss on your forehead and patted your butt.

“Come on, babe,” Taehyung purred. “Food first, play later.”

You flashed him your signature Cheshire Cat grin and got off his lap to help him off the ground. Once you were both vertical, you began preparing things for dinner. Several hot dogs and S’Mores later, you both settled into your folding chairs and watched the cooking fire burn out slowly.

With twilight enveloping the campsite, the two of you snuggled closer together and just watched the small fire flicker against the imposing darkness around you. Only one lantern was left on inside the tent, and the rest of the campsite was enveloped in the coolness of the night. The sky was clear and full of twinkling stars and you released an exhale of pure joy.

“Penny for your thoughts, Tae-bear,” you murmured cutely.

He snapped out of whatever thought had possessed him and gave you a tight smile.

“It’s nothing,” he replied. “Just thinking about our conversation yesterday.”

You sat up in your chair and bit your lip nervously. You and Taehyung shared many firsts since your first kiss, but there had always been a hope deep in your heart that he would be the one to whom you would give your virginity. You were both already giving in to your growing sexual desires and it was a natural thing given your age. The hormones were weighing heavily on your brain, and it was difficult to differentiate that from what your heart desired.

The more you thought about it, the more you realized that this whole fantasy loss of virginity thing was just a childish notion. Real life wasn’t like that, not even close. In real life, you were just a girl who was attracted to all kinds of people, including Taehyung. In real life, Taehyung was just a boy who sometimes let his dick do the thinking for him, and that wasn’t his fault.

You’d played out the fictional scenario in your mind over and over again and the elements of the fantasy were just unrealistic. There was no way you could afford a fancy hotel suite with a massive tub and flower petals and bubbles surrounding your naked bodies while you entwined your hearts and souls together.

Real life is never like that.

As much as you wanted to wait until that fantasy could become a reality, you had to face facts and so did Taehyung. It was time to move forward, consequences be damned.

“Tae, listen,” you began. “I know we said we would wait until we were both ready, but I don’t think that’s realistic anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Taehyung gasped. “You don’t think I can wait?”

“It’s not that,” you sighed while looking down at your clasped hands. “I know you can wait. I would never question that.”

“Then what is it?” Taehyung probed. “Do you not want to wait for me anymore?”

“No,” you admitted. “I don’t.”

Taehyung inhaled shakily and you could see the hurt blossoming in his eyes. Before the first tear could fall, you quickly got up and kneeled in front of your crumbling soulmate.

“Tae-bear,” you cooed while cupping his cheeks between your hands. “I don’t want to wait because I want to do this now...with you.”

Taehyung’s breath stopped and his glazed eyes raked over your own. He could see the resolve in your pupils as they dilated and he felt a twitch in his cargo pants.

No, not yet…

Taehyung pulled you into his lap and wrapped his arms around your waist. The torrent of desire building at his center was kept a bay as he confirmed your proposal.

“Ttalgi,” he murmured against your cheek. “Are you sure this is what you want? I don’t want you to do anything that you might regret later.”

“Why would I regret this?” you asked. “This is you and me we’re talking about. I know we’re still young, but I don’t want to wander through the rest of high school worrying about who might or might not get into our pants first. I know I talk a big game, Tae, but let’s be honest. I’m dumb as hell when I’m attracted to someone, and so are you. I just want to make sure that I remember this as something momentous and not regret that it happened. I want to remember it as special. Who’s more special than my soulmate?”

Damn. She played the soulmate card.

Taehyung sagged back against the backing of the chair and tried to rub the broiling lust out of his eyes. Unfortunately, you saw the motion and thought it was linked to rejection and you quickly got up from his lap.

“Look, Tae,” you pouted. “If you don’t want to do this, that’s fine. I just thought that maybe we could share this experience together, just like we do with everything else.”

Taehyung groaned at your pouty face and hopped up from the chair to pull you back into his arms. You tried to resist, but you were no match for the bear hug Taehyung pulled you into. You burrowed your reddened face into his soft chest and whimpered, which pulled at Taehyung’s last heartstring. He really tried to convince himself that this was too soon, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that you were right.

You always were.

There was no telling what could happen over the next few years, especially since you no longer lived in the same town or went to the same school. You were miles and miles apart from one another and that distance was affecting your relationship, whether you both wanted to admit it or not.

How can I say no to my soulmate?

Taehyung reached up and pulled the scrunchie out of your hair and hummed at the silken tresses that cascaded across your shoulders. He slid his fingers into the luscious waves and leaned in to kiss your forehead. The scent of green apples assaulted his nostrils and he moaned quietly at the intoxicating scent of your shampoo.

“Why do you always smell so good?” Taehyung breathed out. “I swear whenever I smell something fruity, I think of you, ttalgi.”

“It’s apple scented, not strawberry, Tae,” you giggled. “Remember, I’m the apple of my parents’ eyes? That’s why my middle name is Eris, the bearer of the golden apple and Greek goddess of chaos and discord.”

“Enough mythology, babe,” Taehyung chuckled. “If we’re really going to do this, let’s get more comfortable.”

Taehyung pulled you in the direction of the tent and you both removed your shoes before getting inside. The stacks of blankets and sleeping bags made for a comfortable bed, and Taehyung was thoughtful enough to bring extra pillows for added comfort. You reached over and turned down the lantern to a dim glow as Taehyung zipped the tent shut. He shuffled back next to you and you both cuddled up in the middle of your makeshift bed.

“Hello, beautiful,” Taehyung smiled brightly. “Fancy seeing you here.”

You rolled your eyes, but you couldn’t stop the grin spreading across your lips. You took in the boyish features on Taehyung’s face and your breath caught when you saw him lick his lips. Taehyung’s eyes locked with your own and the sexual tension inside the tent escalated quickly.

He may look like a boy, but he certainly doesn’t act like one.

Encouraged by the hungry look in his eyes, you decided to break the tension by pressing your lips against his. What started out as a simple touching of lips quickly transfigured into a messy tangle of lips and teeth. You each tried to devour the other, and within a few moments, you found yourself straddling Taehyung’s hips and grinding your clothed center along his growing erection.

“Fuck, babe, slow down,” Taehyung whimpered. “If you keep doing that, I’m going to cum in my pants.”

“Can’t stop,” you mewled desperately. “Feels too good.”

You increased the friction along your clit and Taehyung gripped your hips in an attempt to slow your ministrations. When he realized that you were on a mission, he did some quick thinking and rolled you over onto your back. Before you could protest the change in position, you felt his fingers dipping into your shorts in search of your throbbing core.

“Oh my gods, yes, Tae,” you moaned. “Please touch me.”

“Holy shit, babe,” Taehyung exclaimed. “You’re so fucking wet. Is this all for me?”

“Mmm hmm,” you hummed while bucking your hips against his exploring fingers. “All for you.”

“Then I better not let it go to waste,” Taehyung mused while shifting onto his knees. “Mind if I take these off?”

Taehyung’s other hand was tugging lightly on the band of your shorts and underwear, and you quickly lifted your hips so he could slide them down your legs. He tossed them into the corner of the tent and made space for himself between your legs. You tried to slow your labored breaths, but watching Taehyung hover over your glistening folds with a hungry look in his eyes was absolutely breathtaking.

“Babe, can I go down on you?” Taehyung asked sweetly. “I’ve never tried it before, and your scent is driving me crazy. I need to know what you taste like.”

You nearly lost all of the breath in your lungs at Taehyung’s words, and all you could do was nod dumbly and spread your legs even wider. The sight of your dripping center was unbelievably enticing and Taehyung carefully lowered himself closer to get a better look. After inhaling the musky scent, Taehyung growled softly and gave your clit a tentative kitten lick.

“Fuck,” you squeaked. “That feels so weird.”

“Good weird or bad weird?” Taehyung asked. “I can stop if you want.”

“Good weird,” you confirmed. “Definitely good weird. Please don’t stop.”

“Ok, because I really don’t want to,” Taehyung admitted. “You taste incredible. Like it’s sweet but also not. I can’t really explain it, but I know I want more of it.”

“Then what are you waiting for, Tae-bear?” you giggled. “Get to work.”

Taehyung wiggled his eyebrows at you and leaned in to kiss your nether lips. You gasped when you felt his tongue sneak forward and start lapping up the essence gathered around your center. You tried your best to writhe with each delicious pass of his tongue over your aching clit, but he was cleverly holding you in place with his upper body and giving you no room to escape.

“Ah, Tae,” you moaned. “That feels amazing.”

“Mmmmm,” Taehyung hummed against your clit, causing you to squeak. “Does it really, babe? Are you going to cum for me?”

“I don’t know,” you breathed out. “Keep doing that and I probably will.”

“Challenge accepted, babe,” Taehyung teased. “Don’t scream too loud though. Your parents might hear you.”

With renewed vigor, Taehyung dove into your center, licking and slurping and dipping his fingers into you with surprising precision and skill. Taehyung was always a fast learner and apparently that applied to everything in his life, including sex.

Taehyung’s fingers began curling as they reached new depths inside you and the sensation of them grazing against your vaginal walls caused you to clench with a mixture of discomfort and delight. Taehyung picked up on your body cues and began twisting his wrist slightly to create more friction as he pulled his fingers in and out. You felt a sharp twinge inside your vagina and a tightening in your clit and you gripped Taehyung’s wavy locks and pulled harshly. The pleasure was definitely overpowering the pain, so you decided to just go with it.

“Right there, Tae,” you whined. “Whatever you’re doing, keep doing that.”

Taehyung moaned out loudly against your clit as you continued to pull on his hair and the vibrating sensation pushed you over the edge. You bit down on your lip to keep your screams from escaping as the most intense orgasm you’d ever felt broke out across your skin. You’d masturbated before, but the outcome had never been this intense. You turned your face into a nearby pillow and cried out as Taehyung helped you ride out the waves of your climax.

When you stopped twitching and started pushing his fingers away, Taehyung finally relented. You released your ironclad grip on his hair and he shivered as you extracted your fingers from his scalp. He shook the sensation out of his roots and gaped at you.

“I’ve never had anyone pull my hair like that before,” he admitted. “I think I liked it. I almost came in my pants, babe.”

You both started giggling at his newfound discovery. He collapsed next to you and tried to cuddle you, but your mind was swimming with lust and you switched positions so you could now hover over his crotch. The outline of his hardened cock was twisted across his thigh uncomfortably, and not even his loose cargo pants could hide his impressive size.

Taehyung shifted his hips nervously as you continued to gawk at him, and he had a sneaking suspicion that you were trying to reciprocate out of some type of misplaced duty. He quickly decided that maybe he should let you off the hook before he embarrassed himself.

“Babe,” Taehyung began. “You don’t have to. It’s ok.”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Elizabeth?” you retorted. “After what I just experienced, I have to know if I can do the same thing for you.”

Taehyung widened his eyes and snorted with laughter. He sat up to pull you into a sweet kiss and savored each brush of your lips across his own. You made little humming noises as he cupped your cheeks, but he chuckled and pulled away when you tried slipping your tongue into his mouth.

“If you really want to do this, babe, I won’t stop you,” Taehyung assured you. “Just go slow. I’ve never had anyone do this before, and I’m afraid that I won’t last very long.”

“Don’t worry, Tae-bear,” you sighed. “Just let me take care of you.”

You pushed at his chest until he laid back down against the sleeping bags. As you settled between his legs, you ran your fingers up his thighs and curled your fingers around the button holding his cargo pants together. You were gentle as you popped it open and pulled down the zipper. Taehyung’s bulging erection was poking at the top of his underwear waistband, and you nearly hiccupped at the sight of it.

Where the hell has he been hiding this monster?

Not being able to wait any longer, you leaned forward and started kissing and licking at his turgid length over his underwear. Taehyung hissed and pulled a pillow over his face to release a few shaky whines. You tugged his waistband down and wrapped your fingers around his stiffened shaft. The velvety texture and warmth felt wonderful as you squeezed it with your palm. The moan Taehyung released at your touch was music to your ears and you decided to test out a few things.

If he can learn on the job, then so can I.

After a few experimental strokes, you narrowed down the motion that brought the most delightful sounds out of Taehyung’s mouth. They were slightly muffled because of the pillow, but you could hear them nonetheless. You were about to try something else, but you noticed Taehyung clench uncomfortably and you realized that things were probably a little too dry for him.

He needs lubrication.

You licked your lips and smirked. You had all the lubrication he needed.

Brace yourself, Elizabeth.

You slowed your strokes and leaned in to sniff at the smears of precum spread across his bulbous head. The heady scent was certainly strange, but your curiosity got the better of you and you gave his slit a small lick.

“Oh, fuck,” Taehyung moaned loudly. “What are you doing, babe?”

Taehyung removed the pillow from his face and looked down between his legs to see your half naked form gripping his hard cock with your lips centimeters away from the tip. Your eyes met and he inhaled sharply when you winked at him. Before he could ask you anything, you pulled the head of his penis into your mouth and all sense of reality went out the metaphorical window.

“Holy shit,” Taehyung gasped. “It’s s-s-so w-warm...and w--wet.”

You continued to dip further down onto his solid length, stretching your lips, keeping your teeth hidden, and hollowing your cheeks, listening to each whimper and whine, figuring out the right combination of movements to bring Taehyung the most amount of pleasure.

“B-babe, s-slow down,” Taehyung begged helplessly. “I-I’m so close.”

Taehyung was so wound up from everything that he couldn’t hold himself together for much longer. His thighs were trembling and his fingers were clutching the sleeping bag beneath him. He wasn’t going to last if you kept up your current pace.

I've got him right where I want him. Let's see what pushes him over the edge.

In the spirit of exploration, each time you bobbed your head, you tried swirling your tongue around Taehyung’s shaft. After a few of those motions, Taehyung was clutching at your hair, trying to pull you off of his dick.

“Babe, wait,” Taehyung pleaded. “I’m gonna, I’m gonna-”

You grabbed his wrists and pulled his hands away from your head. As soon as he was distracted by that, you took him in as deep as you could. Taehyung released a deep throaty moan and warm spurts erupted into your mouth. You sucked and swallowed on instinct because, let’s face it, no one likes a mess (especially in a tent). When he started whimpering from overstimulation, you pulled back and wiped your mouth with your shirt.

Taehyung was gasping for breath, his glassy eyes wildly scanning the tent and his fingers reaching out for you. You nuzzled into his side and sighed happily.

“I can’t believe you just did that, babe,” Taehyung huffed out. “Not only did you give me the orgasm of my life, but you swallowed everything I gave you. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Are you kidding me, Tae?” you scoffed. “You know how much I hate messes. It just made sense to swallow.”

You allowed the temperature in the tent to cool, but the smell of sex in the air was intoxicating, as was Taehyung’s gentle strokes along your side and the sweet nuzzles along your forehead. Entranced by his affection, you allowed your own fingers to wander freely across his chest until hardened pebbles were poking through his thin shirt. Your hand slipped lower and you felt Taehyung’s dick twitch against your wrist.

“You’re hard again, Tae-bear,” you teased. “Haven’t had enough of me yet?”

“Not even close, ttalgi,” Taehyung chuckled. “There is so much I want to do to you.”

“So what’s stopping you?” you boldly challenged. “Show me what you got, Elizabeth.”

“First of all, don’t call me Elizabeth when we’re like this,” Taehyung admonished you as he nipped at your ear. “It kinda kills the mood. Second, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“How would you hurt me, Tae?” you asked. “You trying to get rough with me?”

“Not intentionally,” Taehyung affirmed. "But after fingering you, I'm not sure you can take me. You're so tight."

You stopped caressing him abruptly and sat up. Before Taehyung could utter a word of protest, you stripped off your shirt and straddled his hips. You had just enough time to unhook your bra before Taehyung sat up and stopped you. With the bra trapped helplessly between your bodies, you met Taehyung's concerned face with fiery resolve.

"You don't get to tell me what I can or cannot do, Taehyung Elizabeth," you stated firmly. "You learned that lesson when we were kids, or have you forgotten about the seesaw?"

Taehyung rolled his eyes at your reminder about an incident from elementary school and he began stroking your bare back in an attempt to soothe your anger.

"Babe, I'm not trying to tell you what to do," Taehyung claimed. "I'm just worried about hurting you."

"My body, my choice, Tae," you retorted. "I decide what I can handle, not you."

Taehyung opened his mouth to offer a rebuttal, but you shut him up with a kiss, slowly working your tongue past his lips. His self control crumbled when you reached up and tugged at his messy locks.

"Oh, shit," Taehyung whined. "I gave you a fucking weapon, didn't I?"

"Damn right, you did," you smirked while grinding your messy center against his throbbing cock. "You like it rough, huh, Tae?"

"Mmmmm, yeah," Taehyung groaned. "I'm as surprised as you are."

Taehyung's fingers found their way back to your creamy folds, and you moaned lasciviously as he plunged one and then two fingers into your swollen cunt.

The sharp lick of pain from earlier reappeared, but it couldn't compete with the waves of pleasure crashing and spreading across your nerve endings. You pushed back at his intrusive fingers, and your impatience was growing exponentially.

You reached down and wrapped one hand around Taehyung's fat cock and smeared the accumulated precum over the head and down the shaft. He felt so solid in your hand and you couldn't stop wondering about what it would feel like inside you.

It's time.

Without warning, you lifted your hips and brought one knee up. Taehyung was so focused on his own fingers that he didn't realize what you were doing until it was too late. You quickly angled his dick toward your clit and gathered up as much slick as you could. You slipped the head of his penis into your soaking entrance and immediately regretted your hasty decision.

What the actual fuck?! Oh, the pain…

In a slight panic, you tried to retreat, but it was too late. The warmth and wetness registered in Taehyung's brain and he bucked another couple of centimeters into you. You couldn't form any words, so you released a pained squeak at the intrusion and leaned in to sink your teeth into his exposed neck. Taehyung preened at your unexpected bite, relishing the sweet pain you inflicted upon him.

"Fuuuuuuck," Taehyung moaned loudly. "Oh, baby, you feel incredible."

Mistaking your squeak for enjoyment, Taehyung lifted your hips a bit and then pushed back in even further than before. You blindly clawed at his back and Taehyung reached down and tried to pull his shirt off, thinking that you wanted him more naked. In his haste, his limbs became tangled in the shirt and he began thrashing slightly to untangle himself.

Unfortunately, that just added to the assault his cock was launching on your swollen cunt. The stinging between your legs spread across your abdomen, and you clenched, clawed, and contorted your body, desperately trying to extract yourself from his clutches, but his dick was inescapable.

Somehow, you overcorrected your position and tipped sideways, drawing his thick cock out of you and earning a reprieve from the sharp pain ebbing from your dripping slit. You noted that although the pain was slowly subsiding, you felt an overwhelming emptiness inside.

Taehyung was still struggling to get the shirt off of his torso and head, so you reached over to help him. Much to your dismay, he was sharing your thoughts and leaned in at the same time, your skulls colliding harshly and drawing yelps out of both of you.

You both fell back against the soft pile of bedding and groaned with displeasure, your heavy breathing filling the atmosphere of the tent. The impact of his forehead against your own was reverberating through your brain, adding to soreness growing at your center. The entire situation was so epically ridiculous that you couldn’t even fathom your initial thought process.

Why did I think this would be easy and painless?

You huffed out in exasperation and considered posing the question to your soulmate. However, when you shifted your gaze in his direction, you realized that your adorable dork was still trapped in his shirt/straight jacket and he’d surrendered to its cottony grip. His soft belly was exposed, his chest was heaving with exertion and his erection was deflated in the aftermath of the heavy head butt you’d accidentally delivered. The bite on his neck was red and very noticeable and your ego inflated at the thought of leaving your mark on his perfect skin.

“Tae,” you giggled. “Would you like some help?”

Taehyung made one last attempt to disentangle his arms from his shirt, but ultimately gave up the fight.

“Please?” he begged. “My elbows are stupid and they won’t come out of the sleeves.”

“Well, you keep buying these tighter shirts,” you admonished him while pulling on the soft fabric. “Maybe you should go for a baggier look, babe.”

Once you pulled his shirt over his head and got his “stupid” elbows sorted out, Taehyung pouted at the mess you two made of your first sexual encounter. It was going so well until his shirt decided to betray him.

“Sorry about that,” Taehyung sighed. “I guess I ruined everything, huh? You were totally getting into it and I just had to play Houdini with my shirt.”

“Ummm, you may want to rethink that assessment, Tae-bear,” you replied. “I wasn’t getting into anything. I was trying to get away from you. I was in some serious pain and your shenanigans weren’t helping.”

Taehyung gaped at your confession and his frustration was quickly replaced by concern. He reached over and coaxed you into his bare chest.

"I was hurting you, ttalgi?" Taehyung murmured into your hair. "I'm so sorry. That was the last thing I wanted to do."

"You're not completely to blame," you admitted. "I thought I could take it, but obviously, I was wrong."

"Are you ok?" Taehyung asked sweetly. "Want me to check for any permanent damage?"

You giggled and slapped his chest playfully, and Taehyung only snuggled into your body even more.

"There's no permanent damage, you dork," you retorted. "I'm just sore. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

Taehyung sighed with relief and proceeded to trace little swirls onto your exposed skin. He began humming some unknown tune and the soothing baritone notes soon lulled you into a light slumber. You cracked an eyelid when Taehyung pulled away from you, but he was just gathering the fluffy comforter over your bodies to brace against the chill of the evening.

You sat up and turned out the dim lantern. When you rejoined Taehyung underneath the comforter, you both entwined your naked bodies together without hesitation.

Why does this feel so right?

The natural sounds of the forest and Taehyung's gentle snores coerced you to sleep, and visions of Taehyung's face contorted with pleasure wracked your dreams. You could almost hear the melodic moans and whimpers he'd released earlier, and you could almost feel his stiff rod probing against your sopping entrance.

Tae…

You gasped as you felt a hand at your breast, gently kneading and searching out your hardened nipple. You arched your back in response and a small moan escaped from your lips.

Such a good sex dream…

Or is it?!

The thought possessed your mind completely, and you tried to shake the slumber out of your mind in order to wake up.

Upon your exit from Dreamland, you found that Taehyung's hand was in fact on your breast, but he wasn't groping you. In fact, you could still hear the steady breaths behind you as the big spoon called Taehyung curled his smooth body around you. Your ass was sitting against his crotch and you could feel the heat and throb of a partial erection against you.

Still floating in an ocean of dream-induced lust, you unconsciously pressed your ass back into his crotch, grinding your growing wetness along his hardening shaft.

Fuck, that feels good. I'm still a little sore, but I seriously want his dick inside me again. Should I wake him up? Maybe we can try again? Maybe it won't hurt this time?

You tried rationalizing every possible scenario that would lead his penis into your vagina, but they all felt wrong. How could you even consider doing something while Taehyung was asleep and couldn't consent?

I can't.

You steeled your resolve and started to pull away from Taehyung, but the grip on your breast tightened and then pulled you back in. Taehyung's breath had increased in pace and it was husky and deep as he whispered into your ear.

"Why'd you stop, baby?" Taehyung grunted. "I was just about to get to the good part."

You released a throaty gasp as Taehyung's fingers slipped lower to circle your clit. The slick deluge he found only had his hips rutting against you with more enthusiasm.

"I can't stop thinking about your perfect little pussy, ttalgi," Taehyung hissed. "So perfect. So wet. So mine."

Two fingers found their way into your slippery folds and Taehyung was soon dipping both of them into your dripping cavern.

"Fuck, Tae," you whined. "That feels so good, don't stop."

"Wouldn't dream of it, babe," he chuckled. "Are you ready to try again? I'll be as gentle as I can, and this time, no failed magic tricks."

Taehyung moved his arm behind you so he could plunge his fingers back into you from behind. He drove them deeper and deeper, drawing out moan after delicious moan from your throat. The soreness was a distant memory now, and all you could think about was getting that fat dick back inside of you.

"Tae, please," you shamelessly begged. "I need you inside me."

"Ok, babe," Taehyung assented. "But you have to let me know if I'm hurting you, ok? I promise to stop and wait for you to be ready. There's no need to rush."

You looked back at his dilated pupils and pulled him into a smoldering kiss. After a few moments of stealing each other's breath away, you lifted your leg and gave him full access to the swollen sight between your legs.

"Ok, baby," Taehyung muttered while maneuvering his stiff cock to your entrance. "Here I go."

The head of his penis slipped in and you waited for the sharp twinge to return. There was a definite increase in pressure, but no overwhelming pain. Taehyung grunted against your shoulder and released a soft whine. You rolled your hips back against him and he slipped in a little further with an even louder whine.

"Fuck, babe," Taehyung whimpered. "You can't even begin to comprehend how amazing you feel. So tight and so warm and so fucking wet. I could do this all day every day and die a happy man."

"You're so big, Tae," you replied. "Give me a moment to adjust."

Taehyung nodded against your shoulder and waited. You pushed back against his hips and he slipped in a little more. After a few experimental attempts, you were getting restless. Taehyung's large slender fingers began circling your clit once more, enticing more arousal to seep forth and provide the necessary lubrication. You writhed in his grasp, and slowly but surely, Taehyung slid his dick in all the way to the hilt.

"That's it, baby," Taehyung coaxed. "Now, you're full of my cock. How does it feel?"

That was a damn good question.

How does it feel? I feel full and hot, but something's missing. What else could there be?

You leaned forward, pulling off of his lap slightly, and then ground your hips back against his. The tingle of pleasure that licked up your spine was all the answer you needed. Taehyung's throaty groan at your movement was so encouraging that you reached back and pulled at his hips.

"I think I'm ready, Tae," you cooed. "Go ahead and try moving. It doesn't hurt, I promise."

Taehyung pulled your chin over and placed a chaste kiss on your lips. You melted against his lips, but yelped when he pulled his hips back and thrust forward unexpectedly. The sensation was raw and unlike anything you'd ever experienced before. You both moaned out together and stilled your movements.

"Oh shit," you gasped. "I wasn't expecting that."

"Neither was I," admitted Taehyung. "I didn't think this could feel any better, but it does. I just want to keep doing this over and over again."

"Keep going, Tae," you pleaded. "Let's finish what we started."

The two of you proceeded to test out the waters of your sexual appetite. Taehyung discovered a fountain of stamina, you discovered new ways to bend your body, and you took turns exerting dominance over one another.

In the end, entwined in a sweaty heap of satisfaction, you and Taehyung sought out each other's lips, bringing the whole messy ordeal to a close.

"Well, we had a rough start," you giggled against his lips. "But I think we worked out the kinks."

"Speak for yourself," Taehyung grumbled. "I know there's more to me than hair pulling."

"Of course there is, Tae-bear," you confirmed. "You also liked it when I scratched your back and bit your neck."

"I guess I'm just a pain slut," he chuckled. "I can live with that."

You both settled into a comfortable position and pulled the comforter back over your bodies. The chilly night air was causing your glistening skin to erupt into goosebumps, so you snuggled together and drifted off to Dreamland with your arms wrapped around each other.

Perfect. -------------- "Babe, have you seen my laptop?" Taehyung yelled from downstairs. "I can't find it."

You unplugged the laptop and gathered all of Taehyung's accessories from the floor. Once you'd returned from your camping trip, you'd hunkered down in your room to chill and enjoy the last few days you had with Taehyung. You read your books, Taehyung drew on his laptop, and random episodes of your favorite anime shows played on your TV. It was absolute bliss.

Speaking of bliss, both you and Taehyung had a serious talk about your camping shenanigans before you made your way home. You agreed that although the whole experience was beyond amazing, certain rules needed to be set.

You both agreed that you were reckless by not worrying about protection. Sure, you were both virgins with almost no experience, but there were still precautions that should be taken. You decided not to engage in intercourse again until you had condoms and you were able to secure some type of birth control.

Teenagers can be so irresponsible.

That didn't mean you weren't engaging in other sexual activities behind closed doors. You both learned the value of pillows as a method of muffling moans and groans. You'd both experimented in your bed, and your parents were none the wiser. Things never escalated into the realms of intercourse, but neither of you cared. Pleasure was bountiful in other areas besides intercourse.

You also agreed that you needed to be completely honest with one another from now on. There would be no ill will if he or you decided to explore your desires elsewhere. There just needed to be open communication and no jealousy.

I am my own person and so are you.

The only other agreement you made was to continue your intimate relationship until one of you entered into some type of relationship. In the event of a relationship forming, all sexual shenanigans would immediately halt.

Soulmates just want each other to be happy. It's that simple.

You placed all of Taehyung's drafting tools and laptop back into his backpack and carried it downstairs. Your mom was lavishing Taehyung with homemade cookies fresh from the oven and a large glass of milk.

Ugh, spoiled brat.

You handed over the bag and he leaned over to place a small peck on your forehead. Your mother gushed at the small display of affection and made heart eyes at you when Taehyung walked away to place his backpack among his other belongings. You just rolled your eyes and grabbed a cookie from the plate.

Taehyung was going home today, but a part of him would never leave you. You became soulmates at the age of 5, but your actions at the age of 15 solidified your universal connection for eternity.

Whatever the Universe throws at me, at least I know I'll have my eternal connection to Taehyung to help me see it through.

#soulmates4life

Author’s Note: I really missed these characters. MOTS’ Kim Elizabeth Taehyung is one of my favorite self-created characters. I just adore him. I hope everyone enjoyed this as much as I did. Thank you to @xxxille-girlxxx​, my lovely Goguma, for Beta reading this for me. Borahae, soulmate!

MAP OF THE SOUL MASTERLIST

@caught-in-a-seesaw-stigma​‘s MASTERLIST

[hardknifeplays]

Daisy

Part III Jason x Gender-Neutral Reader as his S/O

Genre : Fluff, Slice of Life

Words : 1,7k+

 You have been living with Jason for two years. Well, you are not necessarily live in his cabin. At first, you came to see him three times a week. As time went by, you met him every day. That's when you know that you're ready to live with the man himself.

It was a breezy evening, you were sitting on the couch, reading a book that you bought yesterday. Your fingertips flipped pages by pages, your eyes focused on the book so much that you didn't notice Jason already standing by the door, watching you.

He stomped his feet for you to notice that he was home.

“Oh- hi Jason! You're back!”

You quickly closed the book and you got up from the couch, ran to Jason to give him a hug. He put his machete aside and gave you a big bear hug in return. You smiled widely, and you realised that you've been missing him so much.

He pulled out the hug and move his machete near the front door. Jason walked towards you, lingering his arms around your body. He smooched your face with his hockey mask. You giggled, and you kissed his mask. He lured you into a deeper embrace. You could feel the warmth of his body. He smelled like a the mixture of campfire and lavender, so warm and calming. You leaned your head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat.

“Whoa, your heartbeat is racing,”

I love you, I really do.

Jason placed his head on top of yours. Both of you were staying like this for a good five minutes. You intertwined your fingers against his; his hands are so big compared to yours. Jason held your hand firmly, he loves to think that you are fragile and needs to be protected. You are his priority.

❁ ❁ ❁

You and Jason were having a good time last night, but when you woke up this morning, he wasn't there. You checked your phone, and it was 7 A.M. He never left this early, where was he?

You jumped on your foot, looking out the window. There was no sign of him outside. You put your shoes on and rushed to the front door. You went outside and looking at the woods, and felt relieved after you found him stood alone by the lake.

You approach him, watching your steps carefully so you won't stumble over the traps. Standing by his side, you turn your body to face him, waving your hand to him.

“Good morning,” you say.

He waves his hand to you, signing, good morning too.

You glance over the lake and hear the birds chattering from some different directions. You smile when you remember that the one who owns this place is your boyfriend.

You feel your forearm being touched. You look up to Jason, and he tilts his head. “What's happening?” you ask. He points something on the ground.

You follow where his index finger is pointing at. He's pointing at a small group of daisies, and you find one odd-looking one. You raise one of your eyebrows and closes your mouth.

“Oh my God, Jason, look at that!” You are amazed, and crouch in front of it. You touch the odd one and chuckles. You look up to Jason and tell him to crouch beside you, and he does. Both of you are studying the daisy for a while.

“I think it's deformed,” you say. Jason immediately glancing at you. You glance back at him, slightly terrified of his response.

“I- I don't know what is it, the name of this. Is it deforming? Or mutating? Probably, but that's not the right word... Ah, yes, it's called fasciation.” the way you murmur to yourself confuses Jason, and he keeps his eyes on you.

What are you doing? Why are you talking to yourself?

“This stunning-looking daisy is having a fasciation. The daisy might be mutated, I don't know. I don't really understand how DNA works. From this point, you could see that nature works mysteriously,”

You smile to him. Jason shifts his gaze from you to the daisy and touches it. Jason also grabs your hand gently, and lead your hand to touch the daisy too. “Eh, It feels like just the rests of the daisies,” you say. Jason gives you no respond. He shook his head after that.

“Huh?” you ask, trying to figure out what is he trying to say.

Jason replies to you with gestures, We need to fix this.

You look at him, and you burst out a laugh. You pat his shoulder several times until you're tearing up a little. Jason looking at you in confusion, did he say something funny? Did he hurt the daisy? Why-

“Jason, my baby, my love. I'm sorry my darling but we cannot fix this. The daisy, uh, was born with it, and you see that it doing just fine. It grows well like the others.” you explain to him. Jason looking down to the ground before he looks up to you again.

But it's different.

“So what if it's different?” you laugh. You caress Jason's cheek and continue, “Look. I know that this one right here is different, but it stands out. The proof? You noticed it first before the other daisies. It's deformed, but beautiful.” You look away at the mutated daisy again.

Jason is stunned by your words. He knows that he is not one of the good-looking guys, he was so insecure about his looks. He wants to be that daisy. He knows that he got facial disfigurement, and he hopes people find him fascinating instead of strange or scary.

“To be honest, it reminds me of you.” you look at Jason lightly, and he gasps. You are reading his mind. He stays still, waiting for you to continue your sentence patiently. You are facing him now, put his hand on your palm, and give him an affectionate smile.

“Jason, my love, I want you to remember this. I love you, I see the real you. I see you as a whole wonderful human being,” you place your hands on his chest, pressing it a little.

“Your mom is right, you are a good person. You keep me from any harm, you protect me when I'm afraid of the dark and the storm. You never hurt me.”

You could see that Jason is tearing. He holds your wrist on his chest, he would never let you go. You are his favourite person after his mom. After you know Jason really well, whenever you come to Crystal Lake, you always go to Pamela's shrine and say simple things like, “Good morning Pamela, I love your son so much.” and giggle. You never did this when Jason's around, but he knows. When you are away back to your home in town, Jason sits near his mom's shrine and tell everything about you. His mom approves your relationship with him. Pamela thought that you are taking care of Jason really well. Living for almost 20 years alone was not easy for Jason. You are such a blessing for his empty, dark life.

You two had the first meeting when you wandering around the lake all by yourself. You went there because you needed a break. School, work, whatever problems in life, it was all sickening.

Some people around you ever mentioned his name, Jason Voorhees, a killer that become the myth and  the legend of Crystal Lake. Instead of being scared of him, you feel sympathetic when you read about his childhood. His father, Elias Voorhees, left him when he found out that his son had deformity and hydrocephalus. Jason lived with his mom, Pamela Voorhees, until he was 11. He drowned in the lake and believed that he was dead, and his mom took  revenge for his son and kill all the campers who dared step on the land of the camp. You started to look up where Camp Crystal Lake is, and you went there some time on the weekend.

Turns out that the place is peaceful. No disturbance at all. It’s a perfect place to relax, you thought.  You sat on the dock near the lake in silence. You heard the sound of a kitten, meowed so loud and you started to get up. You searched for the source of the sound, and you found a kitten with a limping back leg, laying on the ground. You scooped the kitten, whispering to it to make it calm.

You heard footsteps behind you. You turned your head around and almost jumped. Your eyes met the glance of a tall, massive looking man. He was wearing an green army-coloured shirt, grey jeans, and a pair of boots. His shoulder was heaving heavily. He was also wearing a hockey mask.

“Uh, hi? Is this your kitten, sir? I found it here and- and the leg... is limping.” you said. The man just stood there in distance, not responding to you at all. You started to get nervous. “Oh sorry, I think I need to introduce myself. My name is Y/N, I come here to get some break. It's so peaceful here. Is this your place, sir?”

Still, no answer. He was walking towards you, fast and terrifying. You walked backwards every time he got closer and closer. You closed your eyes tightly, and you heard that the footstep stopped.

You opened your eyes and found the man standing right in front of you. He studied your movements, your expression, and the kitten. The kitten stopped meowing and trying to get itself out of your arms. The kitten fell to the ground and walked slowly to the man with its severe limping leg. He took the kitten up and put it on his shoulder.

For a moment you thought you were about to laugh, he was so cute. Looks intimidatingly tall but become so gentle with kittens? And don't forget about the hockey mask too. Adorable.

You chuckled. “I could help you to take care of the kitten if you don't mind.” you beamed lightly. There was an awkward silence happening between you and the man. You didn't want to look into his eyes. A moment later he turned his back on you and left with the kitten without saying anything, disappearing into the woods.

You had no idea if the man that you met was Jason himself. You thought that he was only a man who wanders around the camp just like you. From that time, you started to bring some foods and snacks, left some of it on the dock for him. He never really showed up. Little you did know, Jason watched you all the time. He was just so shy to say hi. When you finally left and driving back home, Jason picked all the foods and snacks you brought. He brought them back to his cabin, and he secretly hoped that you would come back tomorrow.

And here you are right now, being his partner for life. Both of you are not married yet, technically... it doesn’t matter. Jason doesn’t care about marriage, as long as you are here with him, he’s fine.

“You may have deformities and bullies were making fun of you. They were literal a**holes. But you know what? To me, you are beautiful, Jason.” you say.

I'm not. I'm ugly.

You shook your head quickly. “I'm talking about you. Not how you look like. Got it?” you reassure him. He nods slowly and draws you into a hug. You laugh and hold his arms. He puts his cheek against yours, both of you are facing the 'deformed' daisy.

“You are different and beautiful just like the daisy, Jason. I want you to take care of it. Maybe this daisy exists for a reason, and the reason is to make you realise that you are unique!”

This daisy is my friend, I should protect.

[kevindayprotectionsquad]

I WAS trying to go to sleep, but I forgot my sleeping pills at home, and my brain won’t shut up about high school teacher/coach Kevin. So I’m finally getting this post done. I said I would, and now I’m doing it. Please enjoy my feral midnight ramblings.

I’m not saying Kevin doesn’t go pro and be the number one player in all of exy history, because he does. He’s dedicated so much of his life to not play exy for as long as he can. But the career times for pro athletes isn’t very long, and Kevin is no exception. He starts feeling the lingering pains of over use in his injured hand, and younger plays are starting to out run him, and he knows its time.

So here he is, a recently retired pro athlete, all the money and support he could ever want, and no idea what to do with himself. He’s got his hobbies, but photography, cooking, and reading can only fulfill so much. If he’s honest with himself, he misses exy. It was his entire life for so long, how could he just drop it one day and move on?

He thinks about coaching. The pro league loves that idea. It would make which ever team he signs with unstoppable, being coached by the son of exy himself. Kevin knows that’s what he should do. That’s what everyone thinks he should do, but he just can’t. It takes him a while to figure out why he can’t commit to just signing to a team.

Then it hits him: he doesn’t like pro athletes. They all think they know everything there is to know. They’re in it for the glory and not the game. (Not to mention most are former Ravens, and it’s always been hard for Kevin to side with them after everything.) That’s not why he plays, and it’s not something he can get behind.

So he starts to reevaluate everything he knows about himself, and what he wants. He knows he doesn’t want to be retired, and that he needs something he can really throw himself into.

It take him a little too long to remember he’s got an entire history degree, just sitting around not being used. That was five years of his life staying up late to do research and writing endless papers, just gone to waste so he could go pro.

If he didn’t work so hard on those papers, he wouldn’t be so upset it was a waste.

Kevin mopes around, reminiscing about his glory days, when it hits him. He could utilize both his passions. He worked his ass off to get his degree, and he worked even harder to go pro. Why not help kids realize their passions and teach them work ethic, at the same time teaching them both history and exy?

Kevin’s suprized it took him that long to come up with that. He just never realized his two favorite things, that seemed to have no correlation, could be combined.

He settles on the idea of teaching high school. High school kids are jerks, yes, but they’re minds are easier shaped than college or pro athletes.

He zooms through getting both his teaching and coaching certifications. The state doesn’t care if you’re Kevin Day, exy legend, you still have to be certified to teach/coach high school kids. It takes some time, but Kevin is happy to have something interesting to do.

Even though the state doesn’t care about his name, the schools sure do. He doesn’t go too crazy with applications, he wants to wait and see if he gets a good response before putting himself out there more.

He gets a reply back from every school he applied to, and being Kevin Day, he interviewed at all of them. And despite the face tattoo, he gets job offers from all. Being the son of exy, and having a high gpa on his transcript had its perks.

Kevin didn’t realize how hard it would be to pick schools. They offered him all kinds of benefits and salaries, but he didn’t care about all that. It was the kids that mattered, and which school needed him most. Perhaps he was getting to be too much like his father.

He finally decides on a school. It wasn’t the fanciest by any means, but it had the most diverse student body, and prided itself on providing equal opportunities for all students. That was something Kevin could get behind.

His first day finally roles around, and Kevin is NERVOUS. He can’t remember ever being so nervous in his life. So nervous to do well and make an impact on his students lives. He definitely calls Wymack on his way over, just freaking out and needing sound advice.

The coaching part didn’t scare him. He could handle that, he had a good influence. It was the class room part. He had no idea what to expect. It wasn’t like he went to a public high school and had at least seen it from the other side. This was his first time ever being in a classroom setting like that.

He gets to school early, like all teachers do. He’s still new and exciting to the staff, so as soon as kids start arriving, he books it to his classroom. He can only put up with so much small talk nowadays. He can hear kids talking excitedly to each other in the halls trying to find their first period classrooms, or talking about they did over summer break. He busies himself straightening up his desk and world history posters he hung around the room over the weekend.

The first bell rings to tell the kids to get to class, and they start coming into the classroom in little groups. Kevin has been around enough people to know which groups are the popular girls, which ones are the football jocks, which are the exy kids, and which ones would rather be alone but some how alway end up in a group together when the others take the desks to sit with each other.

There’s whispers among groups, and quick looks at Kevin. He lets them talk up until the late bell. It’s time for business.

He introduces himself as Mr. Day. He likes the sound of it. Sounds teachery and official. He thought about coach Day, but thought otherwise since he would be coaching all the students. Hands immediately shoot up, but others are less subtle.

“Are you really Kevin Day the exy player? My dad said there’s no way.” “Yes, I am, but now I’m Mr. Day, your teacher.”

“Why’d you quit playing? Jason said it’s because you broke your hand again.” “No, my hand is fine, I just thought it was time to retire.”

“Are you coaching the exy team?” “Yes.” “Good. We suck.”

Kevin lets them get their questions and comments out, he knows it’s exciting. When they’ve finally settled down, he asks them to introduce themselves and give him a fun fact about themselves. When they complain (because all students hate ice breakers), he tells them its only fair since they got to ask him questions.

There’s obviously some kids that want to try and be class clowns, and see how much they can get away with being heathens in class, but Kevin is well seasoned at the “cut it out” look thanks to being friends with Neil for so long. It doesn’t keep Neil in check, but it works wonderfully on the class clowns.

The rest of the school day flies by, going pretty much the same as that first period. Seasoned teachers come to check on him, though he thinks it’s an excuse to come chat with him.

After school means exy practice. Kevin hated that he missed the beginning of summer practice, but it didn’t take long for him to figure out the team definitely needed work, and it was going to be a challenge to get where he wanted them to be. The team had split into their own social groups, and severely lacked communication both on the court and off. There were arguments and unfair checks within the first few minutes of practice. Kevin couldn’t help but reminded of another team, and remained hopeful. The other coaches let him take the lead, and he could already see shifts happening in the team by the end of practice.

As the school year goes on, Kevin gets more confident in his teaching and coaching style, and becomes a quick favorite for students in the classroom and on the court. He has an open door policy and lets students stay in the classroom to study or vent or just hangout when they need to. He gives them advice and validation where they need it.

The students catch on pretty quick that if they bring up exy they can distract Kevin for the rest of the class period. He knows they’re doing it on purpose, but sometimes can’t stop himself. He’s working on it.

His favorite thing to do in the classroom is hands on learning. They’re constantly doing projects of some kind. He enjoys seeing what the kids come up with for projects, and is always impressed with their creativity. He’s glad they’re having fun learning.

But what’s most rewarding of all is seeing his kids come together and grow as young people. In the classroom, there’s no more specific social groups, all the kids talk and work together. He’s most proud of his introverted groups. On the court, his team is working together and winning games. They’re not perfect yet, and don’t get far into playoffs their fist season with him, but Kevin can see the improvement and is so proud.

(Sometimes Neil shows up to practices to get the kids excited about playing again. Kevin loses his flare with them over time. He’s no longer “Kevin Day Pro Exy Star”, he’s “Coach Day who makes us run laps when we’re bad but brings us snacks and tells us he’s proud after every game”)

Kevin doesn’t care what the press has to say about his team or his crazy new career choice, because he finally found something he truly enjoys doing. Making an impact and changing kid’s lives through exy as well as teaching, is way more rewarding than scoring the most goals in pro exy.

[ayashiki-i-i]

Last Friday, I had the absolute joy and privilege to see Be More Chill in London!

(Yes, last Friday, this has been sitting in my drafts for over a week because I couldn’t figure out how to appropriately convey my delight with this show, and also yes, joy and privilege, call me dramatic but I swear to god nothing on this Earth makes me appreciate my life quite as live theatre.)

I have loved this show for a very long time. Not quite since its first Two Rivers Theatre run, but very early on from when it caught the internet’s attention. I was at the start of what was to become a viral sensation, and I was with the show, rooting for it, hoping for it, ever since. I feel like I walked the journey from crossing million hits on Spotify to the Broadway alongside the cast and creators. I felt immensely happy and proud for these people I never met when they announced their off-Broadway return, and I honest to god cried the day they opened on Broadway. Needless to say, I was overjoyed, literally jumping with happiness, when they announced they will stage a production on West End. Or technically off-West End? I’m still very confused how The Other Palace is not West End and Victoria Palace literally around the corner is West End... Anyway. I have not walked into that theatre on Valentine’s Day with low expectations.

And my Mount Everest high expectations were far, far exceeded and shot somewhere into the stratosphere.

I really can’t with words describe how much I loved this show. Joes Iconis and Tracz managed to hit some very special spot with this musical. It’s truly hard to describe, but this show just makes you happy. It makes you involved and interested. And I gotta tell you, I think we hit the press night, because there was a bunch of people (very respectfully) scribbling on their pads and iPads during the show, so this wasn’t an audience primed and geared for this type of musical. And that’s not even counting all the parents chaperoning their teenagers. And I can guarantee you everyone had a great time. During the intermission I went to get a drink and witnessed several conversations between aforementioned parents that all pretty much amounted to “wow, this is actually good!” It’s honestly such a treat to be in an audience that’s genuinely enjoying themselves.

This show is funny, and heartfelt, and charming. So charming. It has somehow a vibe of a really well done high school production, which could maybe sound like a criticism but i swear it isn’t!

I haven’t seen much of the previous productions, except few clips from the Two Rivers bootleg slime tutorial, but I really tried not to watch too much, hoping against hope there will be a revival one day (I try not to watch shows I have a chance of seeing one day. I’m fortunate to have the chance of having the full experience live so I try not to ruin it for myself lol). I gobbled up all the official promo clips and videos from the NYC revival, being super unlucky and managing to plan my New York trip in that small window when BMC just closed Off-Broadway and before it got on Broadway. I haven’t even listened to the Broadway recording, because by the time it came out I knew they’ll be staging a production over here. So i went in quite blind. With all that previous ado, this is how it was:

The book is so good. So so good. Many times when I fall in love with an album, the actual musical doesn’t hold up because the book doesn’t compare (hi, Dear Evan Hansen). But BMC is as engaging and fun between the songs as during them. Tbh I don’t love the changes to the songs they made, but I don’t really hate them either... Now having listened to the Broadway recording they reverted somewhat back to the original album on West End and I’m happy they did, but still. Especially Pitiful Children did not deserve the cuts. But I mean its still mostly the same album and it’s brilliant and fun, and ok, Looser, Geek or Whatever is a bop.

(Although I always kinda liked that Jeremy didn’t have a typical big “hero song” because he keeps mentioning how he isn’t a hero and it was kinda ironic that his own show refused him the hero treatment, but the song is solid.)

This cast is EVERYTHING. I’m sorry all previous casts, I love you and I respect you but i really think the British cast is (so far) the peak? Obviously as I said I don’t have the full picture to compare, but honestly these guys are all so good and I can’t imagine anyone else in these roles, they set the bar so high. Yes, even Michael. Omg I’m so sorry George Salazar! This role is his in a very special way, and I feel blasphemous saying this! But that’s what makes Blake Patrick Anderson so special, because I didn’t think I will ever be able to accept another Micheal than George Salazar. But from the first moment Anderson appears on stage, you don’t think of George Salazar. This right here is a Micheal and that’s it. I think he’s slightly less... Manic, than Salazar, and more caring, but also more stubborn, and nerdy. My friend said after the first act the character’s problem is that he’s a bit too likeable and it’s almost unbelievable he would be a social outcast and she was right. The dude is so damn likeable! So charming, so positive. And then Micheal in the Bathroom hits and omg does it hit. Also Blake Patrick Anderson has a really long name is very pretty. A+ snack. I’m in love. Scott Folan is, uh, I don’t really love him vocally... Ok I liked him until Loser Geek of Whatever. I don’t know, maybe it wasn’t his day. Or maybe that song is just written for Will Roland and no one will ever measure up? Tbh I haven’t seen Roland sing it live so who knows, maybe it is one of those songs that’s hard to perform without yelling a bit. Praying circle for the West End cast album? However Scott Folan’s acting is a masterclass. He’s so awkward in the first act, so sad, but also sweet. Actually I said i didn’t love his singing but when his voice cracks all over in his first few songs it’s superb and also his “Christiiine~” is really beautiful and lovely, so, dunno *shrugs*. And then in the second half he totally sells his confidence and assholer-y and like... They seem like two different jeremys, the squipped and un-squipped one. But ultimately he just gives such good-kid vibes. He seems like the perfect midpoint between Will Connolly’s shy Bambi and Roland’s geeky recluse. This Christine is absolutely feral. Like, you have no idea. Some people commented on the video of I Love Play Rehersal from the rehearsals that this Christine is not chaotic enough, so I’m seriously worried how chaotic Stephenie Hsu was? :D In any case Miracle Chance I thought was perfect, the ideal mixture of quirky but relatable, sweet but strong. Also she is hilarious. I’m pretty sure she got the most laugh out of the audience, not just because the actress’s absolutely perfect comedic timing but also that role is so well written. Like you really can’t get the full idea of this character until you watch the show, you know? It’s very layered, but each layer is easy to get so she makes a really fun character to watch. The Squip is hot. Like so hot. And his costumes are wonderful. And I know I’m not the only one who didn’t love Jason Tam’s accent as Squip and like... I think I know what he was going for but it just doesn’t work for me. This Squip is a lot more like Eric William Morris, just more hot. Oh yeah I mean the dude is fantastic actor too, and his voice is something impressive, but mostly I was just thinking “hot” whenever he was on stage :D James Hameed’s Rich is vocally stunning. By far the best Squip Song I have ever heard. Also he has Pickle Rick tattoo?? It’s fucking brilliant I HATE IT! :D Millie O’Connel is perfect of course. She has such a presence on stage. It was hilarious when she came out after the show, with her hair down and make-up off and said hi and people mostly kinda ignored her cause... She’s really a hurricane on stage and when she dials it down just a notch I really think people don’t connect her to her stage persona :D

(Also like, massive kudos to The Other Palace’s stage door, cause they allow you to just hang around the bar where the cast has to go through to leave the place, so no dirty alleyways stage dooring in rain and cold and possible pickpockets around.)

I really loved the staging, and it’s very small, very minimal, which isn’t something I normally like, so well done! They definitely dialled back from the Broadway (the bean bags are back!) and honestly the minimal props and simple set really suit this show. It adds to that almost-like-a-really-good-school-play charm. But also they have this massive LED screen as the background so they can change and move and animate their backdrop and it’s honestly so impressive. The artwork is so perfectly in line with the show’s aesthetic. And it’s building up and up towards the show’s climax which I thought was pretty subtle and pretty neat creative decision.

Ugh this is so long I didn’t think it would be so long :D But I have one criticism I cannot not mention. And I kinda always had this, but seeing it live it jumps out on me more - I don’t feel Jeremy and Christine :| I mean don’t get me wrong. The actors have amazing chemistry, their added song is the one that I actually really like and it makes sense, there’s so much more meaningful interaction they have in the show than the songs wold suggest. But. It still doesn’t quite sit well. Besides the fact that I don’t think the show’s narrative is about Jeremy getting the girl - that’s not really his character arc. But also, although they’re not incompatible, he gets the girl he doesn’t even really know, and she definitely doesn’t know him. I think I would prefer if they just stayed friends at the end, but if there had to be romantic conclusion... Well, I mean who doesn’t ship boyf friends, but seriously if Michael was a girl I’m pretty sure he’d be the romantic endgame for Jeremy. You know the type, the old friend who was by the protagonists side and believed in him all along? Yeah. But besides that, i was surprised to find I kinda liked Jeremy with Brooke too? I mean they have the same problem as Jeremy and Christine, with not knowing each other and all that, but at least it’s mutual, and they seemed to have a spark. But maybe it’s just because I unexpectedly really, really loved Brooke (she doesn’t have much space on the album and no one ever really talks about her, why does no one really talk about her???). She defies a lot of her archetype, she seems like such a sweet person. I guess I would just like to see more of her, and more depth to her, which a romance with the protagonist would’ve given her.

But tbh the show devotes a lot more time than I thought it would for Christine and Jeremey’s relationship to develop and it isn’t unrealistic, so it ended up being a pretty minor issue, which i though would be a bigger one.

Tl;dr (oh my god why is this so long????) this show is everything I wanted and more. The West End cast is amazing, charming and delightful and each of them is perfectly cast to really embody their character, while giving some fresh outlook on characters I thought I knew very well and filling very big shoes of the original cast I thought couldn’t be replaced. Also I didn’t talk to any of them but they spend a long time hanging out with the fans after the show and seemed genuinely super nice and pleased with the love the show is getting. The book is more than an equal partner to the music I already was in love with (also Joe Iconis was at the show I saw! I didn’t talk to him because I’m me and I will forever regret it!). The Other Palace’s staging and direction is wonderful, and the choreography is impressive and very on brand with the rest of the show, very modern, very electro and robot. I enjoyed every second and the standing ovation at the end was well deserved.

Just to re-affirm how much I loved this show - just few days after seeing it I booked a ticket to go see it again almost immediately lol. So if anyone is seeing it this Wednesday 26th Feb and you can telepathically pick me in the audience come say hello!

(Or like, drop me a message like a normal person if you’re also going alone and want to meet with someone to seem less like a weirdo! :D)

[malcolmbrights-archive]

TITLE: “Don't worry, be happy.” 

WHO: Jason Reeves, Clover Cline

RATING: PG-13 

TRIGGERS: vomiting, pregnant complications, death of a loved one (not Clover)

FOR:  @outfromthesea

NOTES: Jason takes Clover to the hospital after she faints a few times.

Jason was excited for the baby he and Clover were going to have. Becoming a father was something wanted for an incredibly long time. Before Clover, he imagined himself settling down with his ex. But she had died suddenly, leaving him to move on without many answers. He often mourned over what that would be like and whether he would've been happy. But then he met Clover and suddenly what-ifs of life with his ex became a blimp in his past. 

[[MORE]]

He was happy that he was settling down with Clover. She was the person for him; the woman of his dreams. The love he had for her was a lot different than the love he had for Matilda. He loved her a lot, sure, but he was /in/ love with Clover and had never really been in love with Matilda. Jason hated thinking that way, since she was dead. But it was the truth and he had gone over these thoughts several times when Clover spent the night at her mother's and left him alone in a cold bed.

He was ready to start a family with Clover. Ready for a new phase in his life with her. What he wasn't ready for was her puking her brains out and eventually fainting. The sight terrified him. Made him tremble as he went to help her, his hand holding her head up for her as she opened her bambi brown eyes - which were dull looking right now, pupils having dilated. He knew that wasn't a good sign. And by the way she'd passed out suddenly and her body didn't sweat, Jason made the assumption that she was dehydrated from all the vomiting. He knew that because of that he needed to get her to a hospital sooner rather than later to protect her and their baby.

"Hey, Clove -- we really need to get you to the hospital. If something were to happen to you, the guilt would eat me alive," he told her softly, pushing her braids away from her face when she slowly sat up to look at him.

She gave him a smile that was feigned. One that made him know very well that she was going to tell him a lie. While she didn't lie often, and the lies she usually told were little white ones, whenever she did, that smile would make an appearance. "We can go to the hospital, sure. But I'm fine, okay? Don't worry about me. I think I've just got terrible morning sickness today. Other than the dehydration," A pause from her as she pointed at him, "-- which I know you're thinking about -- I'm again, fine."

Jason pressed his forehead against hers and then kissed her, quickly, even though her mouth tasted awful and nearly made him gag. But he loved her and he felt like that was the best way to show her. "I want to trust you on that, but the way you were vomiting was worrisome." He stood up, the grabbed her hand to slowly help her up. "Have you ever heard of Hyperemesis gravidarum?" He recalled reading a book recently on what women could possibly go through while pregnant and that was one of the things he'd read about. He never thought Clover would go through it though. He always assumed that her pregnancy would be healthy. 

Clover shook her head slowly.  Then worry made canvases her expression.  "Will the baby be alright?" She asked him. 

Jason nodded. "He or she will be all right and dandy. We just need you to go to the hospital." He's about to say more, but she passes out again, so he calls an ambulance. 

-------

A little after Clover gets taken care of at the hospital, Jason took it upon himself to go to the hospital cafeteria for some snacks. It's mostly healthy stuff like vegetable chips and sparkling waters. While sandwiches and baked chicken are the meal of the day. None of it looks pleasing to Jason but he got some chicken anyway and a bag of popcorn chips. He also buys bought himself a coffee because he's exhausted from waiting for the doctors to let them see his wife. He gets to see her now, so, with the food and coffee in hand, he walked through the blindingly white hallways and over to her hospital room, wiggled his eyebrows playfully at her once he's in her room.

 "I have bought a four course meal for my queen," he teased, bowing after he placed the food in her lap. From what he gathered, the chicken is a lot better than the meal the patients are given. It's also probably easier on her stomach. 

"Oh my god, you're such a doofus sometimes, Jay." Her eyes rolled but she smiled at him. "You know I can't eat the chips, right? Might make me throw up all over again." She sighed after saying that, pointing to her IV that's filled with liquid to hydrate her.

"I bought the chips for me, actually. The chicken's for you, since I know you like it and mashed peas and TV dinner steak is awful for almost everyone." He nodded his head enthusiastically, even though he was still very much worried about all of this. Then he sat beside her in her decently sized hospital bed. He nuzzled her shoulder a little before sitting up. 

She nuzzled him right back after, right before reaching to hold his hand. He took his hand in hers and squeezed it some. "I was really scared earlier. But you helped, like always." She kissed his cheek.

"Good, I want to help. You're the only wife I have. If anything happened to you I don't know what I'd do. I mean, circuses don't exist anymore so I couldn't emotionally join one anymore." He nudged her, hoping to make her smile.

"Well nothing's happening to me anytime soon, okay? Now that we know the problem,  we'll do as the doctor says and everything will be fine." A hard head nod from clover before she used her other hand to clasp over both of theirs. 

"We're a team. We have this," he echoed. "I'll do whatever it takes to make you comfortable, alright? Whatever it takes." He picked up their hands and kissed the back of Clovers hand. He really would do whatever it took. He lived her so much that it would be insane if he didn't. 

[melyaliz]

Canary 13

Canary Masterlist  

Fandom:  Marvel / MCU

Pairing: Loki x Reader 

Notes: This was going to be longer but my cold got it the way. 

All Masterlists @melyalizarchive​

Connect with me! AO3 / Instagram / Pinterest

DONATE 

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

“Why did you get sent here?” 

The question hung in the air for a moment like a thick cloud of smoke, dark and brooding. Both people laying under it looking at each other. Studying the other. She knew he didn’t have to answer her question but if she never asked she would never know. 

“Why I’m here?” his voice soft as he echoed her words like a soft breeze pushing away the smoke.

“I know Thor said you had done something but… what did you do?” Canary leaned forward whipsering “Did you try to take over another planet?” 

“No, more like an ogre’s mistress.”

“Oh please go on,” she said settling in propping herself up on her pillows this story just got 100% more interesting. “Should I get a snack?” Loki rolled his eyes looking up at the ceiling for a moment before looking back at her. Was it smart to tell your new lover about your old one? 

Not at all.

But here they were. 

Not that anything with this relationship had been normal or even smart. So why start now? 

“I met her because she has a wealth of information and is also a collector.” Loki couldn’t help but smile a little at the memory, “She had something… well, a few things I was interested in. When I met her, well I had never met a woman like her. She intrigued me and soon after we met we ended up...”

“Eating chocolate syrup off each other?” 

“Among other things yes.” 

He continued his story about the world he had lived in before coming here. Traveling the nine realms only to come back to the mistress. Bringing her back things to add to her collection. Both of them just enjoying the other’s company in her lavish home on the side of a cliff overlooking a beautiful lake. 

“This all sounds very romantic but why did you have to go into hiding?” 

“Well you see, she was the Ogre lord’s mistress. And he found us together and well… wanted me dead. Sent an army after me.” 

“You said she was his mistress, was he married?”

“Yes with several children.” 

“So you slept with another guy’s mistress and he got mad because the woman he was cheating on his own wife with was cheating on him?”

“Yes.”

“Doesn’t seem like he is justified in his emotions.” She said rolling onto her back taking in the information. It sounded like some romantic novel. Two stars crossed lovers traveling the universe taking what they wanted. Like space Bonnie and Clyde. Nothing in her life had ever been that interesting. 

“Unfourtionatly he can feel however he wants about it with the army he has.” 

“Bet I could take him on.” she chuckled glancing at him. It was weird thinking of her Loki, the one next to her sleeping with some space mistress who seemed to be a wealth of knowledge and probably rich stuff. 

Bet she’s gorgeous too. 

“I bet you could little Canary.” 

But thinking back she knew the Loki who had arrived would have done the things she said. That Loki she could see women throw themselves at him in his world. Loki traveling the nine realms sleeping with barmaids and mistresses. Fighting off Oger kings and riding dragons. 

Honestly, it sounded like a dream or something right out of the novels she loved so much. 

Especially that dragon part, which wasn’t part of his story but she was sure it was. I mean who DOESN’T believe Loki road a dragon. 

It was as if in the time he had come to now he had changed into someone else. She wasn’t sure who but someone else. 

A knock on the door broke into their conversation. Sharp and hard light a rock crashing a window glass shattering over them bringing them back to reality. Glancing at Loki panic in her eyes the little Canary realized that it was morning. 

And in that moment she also realized she was just like the mistress, hiding Loki. 

So getting up she walked toward the door opening it wide so Wanda could see inside her room. See everything, from the messy clothes strewn around to the books hanging off shelves,

To the god of mischief sitting shirtless in her bed, 

“I… uhhh oh good he’s here too” Wanda stammered,Your brother is coming back.”

For a moment Canary didn’t understand what she was talking about. What brother? What did she mean?. 

Then it hit her.

Oh Thor.

“Ok cool, see you in a bit.” 

Loki watched as his Canary nodded toward the witch before closing the door. Confused. She had just broken their secret. She showed her friend what she had been doing behind closed doors. 

No pomp. No fear. 

Had just opened the door, 

He wasn’t sure how to process that. 

And there was also the matter of his brother. 

Shit. 

- GET TAGGED - 

Tagging: @royslittleharper​​  @the-shadow-of-atlantis​​ @coffee-randomness​​ @werewitchling @xx3fsxx @daisyboobear​​ @  @jason-redhood​ @hello-i-lovespiderman-blr @ocelysium @pinkwitch21 @tomhncharliep 

Loki: @wayward-hell​ @winterssoldierrs

Canary: @baybay123455 @rizanendoza808 @dragonrosegardens @6-daughter-of-a-witch-6 @califorina-grown @2s0uls @oh-no-a-whovian @it-jinxed-us @pixiehex1985 @bolontiku

[thinkaboutdobrik]

First Kiss → David Dobrik

Requested by Anon: After a few weeks of meeting the reader (usc student?) and she’s hanging w the vs and slowly people go home until it’s just them and they end up talking all night and after a couple weeks of casually hanging and making excuses to see each other he tells her he likes her it’s Readers first kiss ever and David’s really sweet and understands her qualms about moving too fast and it’s just fluffffyyyyyyyy :)) love your work smmmm❤️❤️

a/n: i hope you like it! I switched it up a little bit, but not much. This was sooooo fun to write. thank you for requesting, dear anon. <3

-

It was finally friday night and you were hanging out at Davids house after he invited you to hang out with everybody, which you gladly accepted after being being exhausted from all the stuff you had been doing the past week.

Hanging out with him and the rest of the group was always fun. You felt so lucky to know them and enjoyed every single second spent with them. They were your best friends, and honestly, the best of friends you had ever had.

"We gotta get going. Trisha has an early glam session in the morning." Jason announced and turned his wrist to look at the time.

“K, see ya.” David replied before they headed out the door.

You, David, Josh and Jonah were laying on the couch. The muffled sound of a tv series you previously had been watching played in the background as you and the guys were chitchatting.

You laid on your side, cuddled up next to David with one hand on his chest and one leg tossed over him. He was laying on his back, relaxing as he held your hand on his chest, rubbing small circles with his thumb. His other hand was wrapped around your neck, allowing you to rest your head on it, as he played with your hair.

"I'm gonna fall asleeep.." you mumbled into David's sweater, feeling his fingers moving up and down your scalp.

David chuckled and smiled. "You could just stay the night if you want."

You closed your eyes and smiled. "I'd love that."

Your eyes closed slowly, making your eyelids feel heavier by the second. Unable to keep your eyes open, you felt yourself falling asleep to David's heartbeat and his slow, relaxed breathing as you felt his warm hand on top of yours.

Falling asleep next to David always made the best sleeping spot. You felt safe next to him. Calm. Loved.

You and David had gotten along very well recently. He had been texting you alot and made random phonecalls here and there whenever he could just to chat with you. Most of the time you’d end up talking for hours on the phone. He’d often call you at night just to ask about your day, which resulted in falling asleep to his voice everytime. He was always caring, doing whatever he could to make you feel better.  Whenever you had your down days he'd be the first you'd reach out to

It worked both ways. Whenever he was exhausted from all of his work, he’d often end up at your place. Your place was calm and quiet allowing him to really focus on his editing when he needed to. You didn’t mind. You always offered to help, whether it was with the editing or running out for a snack. It wasn’t rare that he ended up crashing at your place. You shared beds, and he'd always curl up to you to cuddle you at night.

This wasn’t new to his friends either. Everybody knew you and David had a thing going on. Both of you cared immensily for eachother and it showed. It showed whenever the two of you were away from eachother. It showed when you hadn't seen eachother in a while. And it showed when you finally got together.

"Hey.." you felt somebody stroking your shoulder. Slowly and carefully you opened up your eyes only to be blinded by the lights coming from the ceiling.

“Wake up.” the voice whispered.

After allowing your eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness they were focused on David’s big brown eyes looking at you.

“Everybody left. Do you wanna just sleep here on the couch, or do you wanna get in bed?” David asked as he sat down next to where you were laying on the couch.

You rubbed your eyes before stretching your arms out as far as you could as you let out a big groan from waking up your body. You were laying on the couch, surrounded by pillows, with a fuzzy blanket that had been thrown over you after you fell asleep.

“Wait, everybody left? When?” you asked in confusion as you sat yourself up.

“Yeah, after Jason and Trisha left Josh left after, like, half an hour, and Jonah just walked out the door.” he explained as he gazed into your tired eyes.

“Oh...” you shrugged. “Well, that sucks 'cuz now I’m not even tired anymore.” you complained and threw your hands in the air.

David let out a small chuckle and ran a hand through his hair.

“Wanna watch a movie or something? Or are you going to sleep?” you asked, now wide awake after your nap. You looked at the time. 01:32 am.

Guessing from the big smile that fell onto David’s face at your suggestion, you figured it wasn’t too late to watch a movie. David was always down to watch a movie. Your iconic comments every now and then, the way you laughed, the way you would curl up to David whenever you watched a scary movie - those were only a few reasons as to why David loved spending time with you, and only you.

Being able to crash at David’s house whenever you felt like it was the best. Not only were you able to show up at the house, unannounced, without him or Natalie caring too much about it, you and David had developed a special relationship. After a few weeks of being around eachother, whether it was during the day time for some filming or randomly showing up at eachothers doorstep in the middle of the night just because you missed eachothers company, a spark had developed between the two of you. You loved being around David, and him you.

“Okay,” David sang as he crashed onto the couch next to you, bringing two bottles of water along with him. “What are we feeling?” he asked, picking up the remote control to scroll trough the different genres on Netflix.

“I don’t know. Comedy?” you suggested.

David started scrolling through several different movie titles, naming a few of them and shrugging. “Grown Ups?” he asked as the title appeared on the screen.

“Ahh, yes. The iconic Grown Ups. I love that movie!” you cheered.

He pressed play and scooted closer to you, shimmying his way under the blanket that covered your body and sunk down into the couch as he rested his head on your shoulders.

“I’m super comfy now.” he smiled. You smiled in return and rested your head lightly on top of his as the TV screen lit up, starting the intro to the movie.

Half an hour passed filled with giggles and silly comments from the two of you. David was now sitting upright on the couch and his hand was draped around your shoulders as you were leaning your full body weight on his side, cuddling up to him, sharing bodyheat underneath the fuzzy blanket.

You felt your eyes drooping down again, lids getting heavier as your were rested up against his chest. A light nudge to your side sent a small wave of shock through your body. “Hey, don’t fall asleep again.” David whispered as he looked down at you.

“I’m not.” you whispered, peering your eyes at the screen.

You felt David’s gaze still on you and turned your head to look up at him.

“Thanks for always being so... nice.” he complimented as your eyes landed on his.

You smiled at him with a slight quizzical expression on your face at his random compliment.

“Y-yeah, you’re welcome?” you chuckled.

“No, but like, you’re by far one of the best people in our friend group.” David assured you.

Your eyes widened as you raised your eyebrows and smiled at him.

“I mean.. you’re so sweet, a-and so kind and just... so great. And I love being around you. You always make my day ten times better, no matter what.” he continued.

His gaze fell down to your lips, looking at them for a few seconds before landing back on to your eyes.

“Thank you, David. That’s really sweet. I love being around you, too.” you smiled, eyes no where near focusing on the movie.

“This might be very random, but I just have to say it. I really like you. Like, I really, really like you, Y/N. And not just as a friend. I mean, I-I like you as a friend too, but.... I don’t know.” he sighed. “You make me feel things nobody else makes me feel.” David confessed shyly, stuttering at almost every sentence, trying to use the right words.

You pulled away from him, sitting more up right, and smiled at him as you felt your cheeks blush. Looking at eachother for many seconds without saying anything you felt your heart beat a little faster, many thoughts running through your head. You leaned forward, eyes still glued to David’s. “I like you too, Dave.” you whispered.

“Would it be weird if I kissed you right now?” David asked while fiddling his thumbs, shocked at his own words.

You let out a small sigh as your eyes darted from David to your hand resting on top of David’s thigh. “I- uh..” you stuttered.

He furrowed his eyebrows as his face turned into confusion, unsure if he had made the right move or not. “Sorry, I-I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry. Forget I asked-” he stuttered.

“No, no. I’ts not that.” you quickly said, placing your hand on his chest. “It’s just that.. You want to be my first kiss?”

“Your first?” David asked in confusion. “Your first kiss? You’ve never kissed anyone before?” he smiled at you as a small giggle escaped from his mouth.

You felt your cheeks blush again and smiled into your palms that were covering your face as you shook your head.

“It’s okay. I just thought I’d ask. We don’t have to do it. Just forget I asked.” he assured you and smiled before returning back to the TV.

“No..” you firmly said. You boldly looked up at David who had turned his face towards the TV again, and placed your palm on his cheek to turn it towards you. “I want to do it.”

David’s eyes widened and a big smile fell onto his lips. He placed both his hands on your cheeks, cupping them. His warm hands felt good against your flushed cheeks as you looked into his beautiful brown eyes. He leaned forward, his nose barely touching yours, as he smiled into your eyes. His eyes wandered from yours and down to your lips as he licked his. Your heart was beating faster by the secound, almost skipping a beat even as you felt a swarm of butterflies in your stomach. Finally, he pulled you closer and placed a soft, warm, loving kiss on your lips. A spark sent shivers up and down your spine as you smiled happily into the kiss.

The kiss lasted a few seconds before David pulled away to look at you, smiling widely from ear to ear. “How was that?” he asked excitedly to hear your response, but more excited knowing he was your first kiss.

“Good.” you smiled and giggled as you looked at him.

You turned back to watch the movie, returning back to the cuddle position you were previously in. You rested your hand on David’s chest before looking up at him, smiling. “I really, really like you, too, Dave.”

[superlepato]

With Love from Memory Lane

I want to thank @benalras for correcting my grammar so I would be able to post the chapter today. I was going to actually post it yesterday, but I wasn’t ready.

You can say Hi in AO3 too.

I think I’m the only weirdo that is still posting stuff for the @harringroveweekoflove  

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2

Chapter 3

The next day was charged with excitement and expectations. Everyone knew where they belonged and today they were going to act upon it. Should Billy raise his chin? When would be the right time to posture? Would he be able to growl? He had so many questions that he didn’t ask his father, afraid of ruining the good time they were having, so he let them die in his throat at the moment.

His next worry was Stevie. He hadn’t seen him yesterday after the lecture. How were things between them? Would they change?

Billy went directly to his new locker. As the majority of things in high school, these were set according to the students' labels. The alphas lockers were first, betas (the majority) took the rest of the place, and in case that there were any omegas that year they would be located at the near end since they were a minority and were easy to accommodate that way.

The first class, Language Arts, was one of the classes that didn’t require separating the students by their designation. Stevie would definitely be there; maybe they could sit together.

He was indeed there, sitting next to the window close to the last row.

“Hey! My dad gave more money today. If we put it together with yours we could buy a pile of candy.” He was already imaging a pile of Laffy Taffy, Bubble Yum, and Jelly Belly. Maybe if there was something left they could buy a chocolate cigarette at the store after school.

Stevie was the one that bought most of the candies since his allowance was bigger and more consistent. If they put it together they could buy at least two candies from each of the brands they sold at school but Stevie didn’t share his enthusiasm.

“Dad didn’t give me any money today.” He grumbled on his desk, laying on his arms.

That was weird, one of the things Stevie was well known for was his parents’ money. What they didn’t know at the moment was that it would take three months for his parents to give him his allowance again.

In years to come, he will develop a theory of what must have happened in that strange period of time where Stevie came in a weird mood and without snacks. And also, what could have happened to Hannah.

It was universal knowledge that an alpha couple could only have an alpha kid, maybe a beta one if recessive genes came into collation. Still, they would never be able to have an omega child. Which Steve, unfortunately, ended up being -- only to accidentally prove the blatant infidelity of Mrs. Harrington. Steve just became collateral damage.

Billy could only imagine the fight that had to have been unleashed in that house after Steve showed them his test and schedule that needed to be signed.

Billy doesn’t know what kind of agreement they came up with, but the fact was the Harringtons didn’t divorce and still lived in the house. Well... they still stopped by the house when they were in town.

Frederick Harrington never denied Steve, never disowned him or physically hurt him after the events, but something changed after that day. The time he spent at work went on to the point of spending days or even weeks without setting foot in the house. His relationship with Steve started becoming uncomfortable, cold and denaturalized.  Understandable to a point if you consider that Steve’s presence reminded him of that infidelity and the fact that he raised a bastard all this time.

Martha Harrington was kind of a mystery. Nobody knew much about her past. She just showed up (a few times over the years she would share bits of her past with a glass of wine in her hand ). She wasn’t emotionally open, just a hard working woman even before meeting who would then become her husband, which might be why many of the adults at the time were surprised that she even had the time to have an affair.

He supposed that she did care for her son in her own way. But still, Billy wasn’t going to forget or forgive them easily for how they neglected Steve.

Those first weeks of school Billy took the lead and persuaded Stevie to play.

If the Harringtons home was chaos, the school wasn’t much better. You see, Billy wasn’t the only one that cared about displaying the proper behavior according to your designation. A few weeks after the start of school, you could see the attempts of several classmates to establish dominance over others and ensure a good position in the hierarchy of the classroom, and Stevie became an easy target as a result.

People weren’t prone to ignore the fact that Steve was the only male omega in the classroom, so a bit of taunt was to be expected. That was what he thought at the time, and why he didn’t intervene at that moment, mostly because he agreed with most of the things that were said.

I was a little bigoted shit, and again, I’m sorry, Steve.

They were playing basketball during recess and Stevie fell, scraping his knee. Not a big deal, it wasn’t the first time that any of them hurt a part of their body. He was wrong, because when the homeroom teacher found out, all of them were lectured on how they shouldn’t play so roughly with an omega, to the point of quoting the saying “you don’t touch an omega even with the petal of a rose”, which he always thought  was a stupid thing to say. Anyway, that crap ended up hurting Stevie more than any other game of basketball.

The teacher’s good intentions backfired after that day. Stevie wasn’t allowed to play with them, nobody wanted to be responsible for “hurting” an omega. Steve would end up being by himself all grumpy during recess until a teacher encouraged him to play with the omega girls.

Billy and Stevie would play together at Stevie’s home like always as if nothing had changed in their little world. They would still play outside and wrestle in the bathtub but Stevie never cried or decided to stop playing with him over a bruise or a scrape, and even though he knew that Steve was equally tough as any other kid, the boundaries were set, what happened at home stayed at home and what happened at school stayed at school.

Anyway, the teacher’s solution would never be permanent. First, because Steve didn’t have anything in common with those girls apart for their designation, and second, the “solution” only brought another problem -- Stevie was baptized with a new nickname after his new found fragility.

Stevie Queenie. It wasn’t a secret that Billy called Steve “Stevie” (it was that Steve called him Silly Billy), but he was the only one allowed to do that. After the taunting and some weak nicknames, that was the one that stuck in everyone’s minds.

Steve didn’t allow him to call him Stevie again after that.

One of the bigger problems at school was the fact that Billy didn’t do anything to defend him for a while, especially because for once Steve fought back. Maybe it was that Billy didn’t intervene, or how annoying and persistent the other could get, but Steve grew a backbone out of it.

One day, Steve just had enough of it.

It happened during recess. Billy was working on his homework so he would have less things to do at home. He tuned out the noise, so he didn’t know how it actually started. But basically, what happened was that a group of boys were talking about collectible cards or something, and that lead to what someone’s cousin said, which then led to that cousin’s job. This ended with them touching the topic of the future jobs they were going to have as adults, and then Michael told Andrew that he couldn’t be a professional football player because they were mostly alphas, the betas players weren’t as famous or popular to count. That lead to how betas would always marry other betas, until David, Jason or Mark (the name changed every time the story was told) said that the only omega that Andrew could have was Steve. Immediately, a series of eww’s, nooo’s and giggles exploded.

Billy doesn’t know how much of it Steve heard, but he did, and he proved it when he stood up from his seat and punched Andrew in the face, pushed Michael off his seat, and probably would have done the same with the rest of the group if Jason hadn’t stopped him.

Billy stood up when he saw Steve struggling and Jason about to do something while holding him. The teacher wasn’t there at the moment, so the fight easily went out of hand, and it didn’t stop until Jason was crushed under the two-door metal locker they used to store school supplies.

The only reason why the Millers didn’t take that incident to a whole new level was because legally confronting the Harringtons would’ve been unsuccessful, and because it would have to be made public that their son was being an asshole with a bunch of other kids to the only male omega in town (and were too cowardly to take full responsibility and do more than pointing fingers at each other), and also because Jason wasn’t seriously injured.

Everyone got a warning, the teachers got scared, and Steve wasn’t talking to him for a reason he couldn’t understand --I mean, I defended him, why was I having the silent treatment?

[chaniters]

ELDRITCH

New short, Fallen Hero : Rebirth. Sidestep meets Anathema for the first time. New made up villain too. Also, Sidestep gains a problem with addiction in the end.

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ELDRITCH

You take your a spot right next to the fountain. You like it here, and lots of people walk trough the park, specially on sunny days.

You set down your easel and extend your chair. Some of your previous sketches you set on display on the floor.

The easel was a good dumpster find, and you've been making a good living trough it.

You open your sketchbook and start drawing. You'r not the best artist, they just trained you to draw faces. And that's what you do most of the time.

But you'r also making a sketch of the park between sketches. You'r learning to draw buildings. Inanimate objects are harder to you, since they don't have a mind to tell you how they should look.

People are different. You can read their thoughts, see their features and draw them in the way they'd like to be seen. They'r so happy about it and your metal mug is usually filled with tips.

You wished you had thought of this before... begging on the streets made you feel like a parasite. At least people is happy with your sketches, and you'r happy to make them.

Today is a good day and you even manage to sell several of them. A guy comes to describe you some people he knows, and you take the images from his brain and draw them... He tells you that you must be very talented. Makes you blush, even if it's undeserved.

You stop a few times, for lunch and some snacks, but for the most part, the day is spent filling your sketchbook with faces and images.

By late dawn you'r done. You begin to pack your things. Time to get back to your place.

You put everything in your backpack, and get your hood and googles back on. You'll pick a different place tomorrow.. maybe by the beach.

"Fuck Olivia, I can't believe you did this."

You stop by, hearing the distant yelling even before you notice the minds.

"I did it for us baby! It's what you wanted!  Now It doesn’t matter that you lost your  job! We won't need to work anymore.. We can just take everything we need. You just need to take yours too!" she seems to be offering him a flask

"I was fucking joking! I told you that! And I never told you to take that shit! And i'm not going to take it either! Fuck.. we need to find you a hospital soon"

His mind is outraged and shocked... but Olivia's mind.. is something else. You sense an intense struggle... she's just simply being overcome by some form of hormone and chemical imbalance the likes you've never seen.

"I'm NOT JOKING! This is SERIOUS! I'll show you!" She extends a hand and to him... and it suddenly starts... changing.. before your eyes

"See? Look! I CAN DO THIS!" Her "Hand" now more loosely resembles a claw. A black exoskeleton is covering it before your eyes. And it's spreading trough her arm...

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?" he yells stepping back

"Jason! Stop! Don't run away!"

"Stay here Olivia.. I'll.. I'll go seek help!" he screams in panic.

"No.. No! NO you'r leaving me! I knew you where leaving me! EVERYONE... Is... always LEAVING!" she extends her claw... and it's now much longer than a normal arm. She takes hold of Jason's arm in an instant, pulling him closer.

"GAAgH!" You hear him scream, now in pain. There is a soft crack.. she's probably broken his arm with that claw. Some onlookers are taking pictures with their phones in the distance, but no one's doing anything. She closes the flask to his mouth as he tries to look away. Hero drugs obviously.

Fuck. You take your easel with both hands and sneak behind her

"AARGH! LEt me... Go!" Jason screams.

She's distracted... you lift your easel and take it down her face with all your strength.

"AWWW!" She yells turning on to you, her eyes changing color before you as he speaks "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" She realizes she’s dropped her flask “NOOOOO! I NEEDED THAT! WE NEEDED THAT!”

The exoskeleton begins to spread to her cheeks and the base of her skull..

Unlikely you can really hit her again after she’s totally covered.... her other arm is begining to look more and more like an insect's sting.. sharp and deadly. She gives you an enraged look...

FUCK... why do you keep getting involved...?

You don't answer. You just hit her in the chest this time, maybe you can... there!

She's out of air, and she lets go of Jason, who falls to the floor in pain.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" You yell at him

He manages to get up and take a few steps back.

"YOU WON'T DO THAT AGAIN YOU LITTLE BITCH!" Her claw takes hold of the easel and pulls with brutal strength... she actually tears some of the wood to pieces. Then she raises her needle and sends a powerful trust your way.

You see it coming, and dodge it, the needle tearing a hole in the pavement.

That's just great. You hate your life.

She pulls it again and charges at you. You duck as she swings her claw, then jump to her right to avoid the needle. Using the impulse, you get a get a hold of her leg, pulling it up... only she doesn't fall. Her shoe comes off in your hand, and you see claws beginning to form on her (Feet?)

Her other leg seems to provide more than enough balance, and she counterswings. You get hit by the claw and flung on your back.

You roll backwards, standing up. Her mind is a mess... you can predict her movements but not her intentions.. or her continuous mutations. A horn is now beginning to form on her forehead. She charges at you.

Once more, you dodge, and she impales a wall behind you with the now fully formed horn. Only took seconds and it's solid enough already.

Your hand goes to your backpack.. but it's an old habit. You don't have a gun these days ...tough honestly you'r not sure a gun would help against this kind of boost.

Hesitation doesn't sit well with Olivia. She frees herself from the wall and ... something lashes at you. Tentacles.. coming out of her shoulders. Trying to grab you...

You evade, but she is faster and faster.. until  one of them trips you... she raises her needle arm to stab you down. You close your eyes.

The stab doesn't come.. instead you hear a monstrous shriek of pain from her.

"Mind if I help?" You open your eyes, incredulous.

A hero... to your rescue.

He's holding the needle arm with one hand. The needle itslef is disintegrating, as if his touch was burning it.

Olivia shrieks and lets go, pulling her needle back in pain.

"Here let me help you up" He says extending a hand. You take it... and stand up.

"Are you new ? Outfit could use some work" the chubby figure chuckles.

"Watch out!" you yell. Too late... Olivia's claw, which seems to have doubled in size smashes him sideways, sending him flying into a lamp post.

"fuck... fuck..... Fuck!" You evade another killer blow. You've got to think about something fast.

Olivia.. Or the creature that was Olivia begins sending attacks with an ever changing body as you fall backwards.

You realize you'r not going to win this fight with strength. If you win it in the first place.  

“Never attack when your enemy defends, always behave in ways they can't expect... never show your true power until the end.” You mutter as you dodge, duck, and cover. Despite yourself you can't help remembering your trainers.

You circle the creature, evading attacks from it's (Limbs?) as It grows increasingly frustrated.

"Stoooop... Sidesteeping!" It screams in what seems five different voices. You'r not even trying to look too much at it now beyond dodging.. it keeps mutating before your eyes in truly disturbing ways.. reminds you of the bodies... the inhuman ones..

You realize you've got only one chance at this...

A single mistake by the thing... it's all you need. You jump, spiraling in the air, your left palm stretched... and it makes contact with the thing's Head.

It immediately makes a grab for you with it's arms (claws... tentacles.. stings..) and IT catches you... but that's no longer important. If this doesn’t work you’ll die either way. You'r not confident enough in your telepathy... that's why you needed direct contact.

A storm breaks trough your shields, enveloping you... blowing you away... You focus, reforming your own barrier, and digging into her's.

For a few seconds there is only chaos, and you can only feel the strength of her arms crushing your chest... but then you find her, and you'r no longer in your body, nor she in hers.

There she is... at the very bottom of the pit, surrounded by monsters of every imaginable form and shape, circling around in a hurricane of lighting, confusion and hatred. You dive in, as hard as you can... reach your hand for hers... Your fingers touch.

You feel your minds meld.

Calm. The storm dies out. The monsters go silent before your gaze. There is only silence. She looks at you.

"Help me" She says. You've got hold of her mind now... but something's not right.

"I'm trying! Hold on to me!" your mind tells her. You are trying to put a lid on top of the enraged emotions... You only need a moment..

"HELP ME!" She screams... the scream echoes and the air around you turns into broken glass.. the sound increasing exponentially. The Storm rages once more The monsters wake up again, striking at you. But the door is almost closed... almost.. You struggle with all your strength to seal them away and... and then you'r kicked out of her mind.. In force.

Pain. Darkness... familiar darkness. Back in your own body. You hate doing that, but you had no choice. You open your eyes.

The hero who saved you... He's looking down on you with concern.

"Are you ok?" he asks.

You try to contain the nausea.. and then ask her in return

"I don't know... are you?"

He smiles. "I'm Anathema. I'm Invulnerable! But that thing's strength is something else. It left me out of commission for a few seconds... whatever did you do to it ?"

You look back, trying to stand up while panicking

"Where is it?"

"Oh it escaped. You gave it a good scare tough... When you hit it with that palm attack... and it just broke away in pieces". She points at a mass of limbs and tentacles lying on the floor next to you "It just started cracking... parts falling off like they had dried away. And then this naked lady got out from within... seemed totally out of herself.. and she just ran away"

"Olivia" You say.

"What?" Another voice... You realize the two of you are not alone. You turn...

"Hey kid" You blink. It's Charge. Fantastic. This crapola again.

"Oh This is Charge! I got here first... i was the closest ranger."  Anathema explains.

"Yeah, i Know him..." You admit

"He's the brick kid"  

"WHAT, for REAL ?" Anathema helps you up "HAhaha! You'r a legend!"

"I'm not..." you look down. "I just wanted Mr. Molotov to get what he had coming.. uhm.. where is my... "

You walk down to where your easel is lying down, broken in several pieces. Your backpack is ripped as well. Your sketches are smudged with goo, and the sketchbook itself has a huge hole gooey going trough them all  made by the thing's needle arm.

You take a deep breath. And just sit down on the floor seeing if you can salvage anything.

"Oh no... " Anathema approaches you. "Was that yours?"

"Yeah." you say letting go. Useless. It's all just useless now. Only a few pencils survived. And your unfinished sketch of the park is crumpled and thorn.

You feel like crying again.

"Hey. These are very nice" he says putting two pieces together... a sketch of an old lady. She gave you 5 dollars.

"Not bad" Charge adds.

"I'm learning" you say. That's true... you'r trying to learn to do more than just raw sketches.

"Why don't you come with us?" Charge says "We can get you some new supplies"

"I don't need charity!" You state a little louder, pretending to be enraged. TRuth is you'r scared of being seen with them and have people identify you later.

"Hey it's not charity" Anathema says looking at you with a smile. "It's the least we can do. You dealt with Eldritch Olivia in one hit."

There is something warm and fuzzy about his mind that you can't quite describe. But you know this is a mistake... You should hide again ... go back to your place... stay away from the authorities such as them.

"Here, have one of these" he says passing you a wrapped piece of ... something.

"What's this?" You ask

"Chocolate bar" he shrugs

You open the envelope and take a bite.

"Whatever you did.. .it was incredible. .. how did you do it? Do you have a name already? Is that some sort of touch of death?"

Your tongue answers in direct contradiction to all logic.

"I'm ... Sidestep. And that's what I do.. martial arts.. pressure points... I knew i could weaken her if I hit her when her chi was out of balance" You answer. It sounds real-ish, right ?

"Pressure points? Martial arts?  Oh.. you'r one of those" Charge studies you.

"What's wrong with pressure points?!" You ask indignant

"Nothing, nothing!" Anathema Interjects

"Say... Sidestep." Charge pronounces your chosen name "If we can get you some new art supplies, can you make us a sketch of this Olivia? We still need to find her"

"It... depends" you speak in a serious tone.

"Hmm... ? On what?"

"How many more of these can you get for me?" You hold the empty envelope of your chocolate bar. "In the next 15 minutes?"

_____________________________

My Fanfics: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

[chronicbatfictioner]

A Real Boy - Chapter 7

The 'dungeon', thankfully, was not a literal dungeon. Or as Dick explained, it was once upon a time planned to be one; "but then the Salem Witch Trials happened, and the Wayne grandpa - or was it great-grandpa? I can't remember.. Anyway, he was so distraught by the blatant misogyny and stupid; he cancelled the building of witch-proof dungeon and instead built a wizard-safe laboratory of some sort like this. And by 'safe' I mean we can do things in here that no one beyond these walls would know, notice, or otherwise sense. Lo and behold!"

The last part of his story was emphasized by a sliding door that was hidden behind a grandfather clock. If Tim didn't see him pressing his hand on a panel nearby, he would have thought that the door was opened by magick. Behind the door was a dark, long set of stairs. Or maybe it wasn't that long, it just seemed like it because it was dark.

"Bruce will join us in a bit. Come on!" Dick prompted. "The light would come in after you're on step three..." he showed by going in. A single light lit up above his head. "See? Come on!"

"Hoookay..." Tim breathed. Jason has long since disappearing with Alfred to go elsewhere - presumably the library. Tim knew that there was the same amount of hexes and protection spells behind the clock - he could feel them, but did not feel threatened by them. "If I scream, Jason might pummel your face, just so you know." he reminded Dick, who waited patiently on the fifth stair.

"Oh, I know. He looks nonchalant, but inside he's actually very, very chalant." Dick remarked, straight-faced.

"What?" Tim nearly stumbled onto him when the lights behind him switched off and he rushed to catch up.

"You know, the opposite of 'non'-chalant?" Dick replied.

Tim rolled his eyes. "Really." he said dryly. "There's no such word..."

"Who's to say that? Language is fluid, Timber, I can create words today; and tomorrow, it'll be in the dictionary." Dick announced.

Tim managed to not roll his eyes, simply by realizing that if he does it again, he would stumble to the bottom of the stairs that was still long and dark and only illuminated as Dick stepped on the next concurrent steps. Dick eventually picked up speed and the lights got brighter until they reached the end of the tunnel to another door.

"Might want to shield your eyes. Babs hates darkness." Dick warned.

"Who's--" before Tim could ask who 'Babs' was, the door opened and light flooded the tunnel. Tim had to wince and squint to allow his eyes to adjust to the light.

Once his eyes adjusted, he gasped at the sight. There were rows and rows of servers, and if Tim didn't know better, he would have thought that he was in the server room of a corporate bank or something. But there were something about those servers that felt foreboding to him, as if they were using a different kind of electricity to power them, and Tim did not feel like they came from solar power or anything else he'd known to generate electricity.

"How..." he croaked, cleared his throat, and continued. "...how are these powered?" he asked, unconsciously glad that Dick seemed to see his uneasiness and remained within arm's reach.

"Oh, that's Babs' secret. You might want to ask her." Dick smiled. Tim honestly hoped that 'Babs' was a human being and not... some sort of ethereal or otherwise supernatural creature, e.g. a dragon who provided the electricity with its breath or something like that. Hey, he hasn't seen a lot of dragons. But nobody ever told him that dragons can't spit out electricity. If they can spit out fire out with their stomach acid, who's to say they couldn't spit out electricity? The general principle of electricity is consistent accumulation and friction of protons and electrons, after all. Even a small cat could accumulate static electricity... why can't a big dragon?

But said little voice that hoped for an electricity-spittin' dragon was squashed when they rounded a corner and found, among the massive set of monitors that stretched from approximately waist-high all the way to the ceiling, a chair and a keyboard on a desk, complete with coffee mugs and jars of snacks and several personal items. To his surprise, the chair was not actually a common computer chair, but a wheelchair.

"Babs?" Dick called. A voice called back from somewhere among the monitors that - frankly - fueled Tim's imagination of some sort of imp that fixes monitors or computers by physically going through it.

"Here, just a second." said the voice. After a few seconds, a red-haired person rolled out from under the desk. "Oh, hi, didn't know we had company!"

Tim blinked. Not only the person was 'regular' - as in non-magickal at all, she was also a familiar face. Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Police Commissioner, James Gordon. Barbara was a beautifully enigmatic, scary smart person with eidetic memory who could give Tim's brain an inferiority complex; and the proprietor of several renewable-energy initiatives that are being implemented by the city which, sadly, did not include dragon-based electricity.

"Was there an actual dragon-based electricity?" Tim's mouth blurted out before his manners could catch up. He promptly cringed and added, "I'm-- sorry. I'm... Hi, I'm Tim Drake." he introduced himself.

Barbara smiled and extended a hand. "Not as far as I've heard, but if you can find a dragon that can generate electricity and willing to do it for a small fee - preferably ones that don't include live creatures; do let me know!" she replied. "Also, if you can't hold up while I pull myself up to the chair, let me know. I don't want to pull you and we both stumble back to the ground." she added.

"Oh, no, I can... I think I can hold on." Tim replied and readied his stance as he accepted Barbara's hand. She apparently only needed Tim's arm as a hoisting point, because she pulled herself off the ground easily and maneuvered back into her wheelchair with such amazing ease that showed her upper body strength.

Tim was not surprised, really. He had seen interviews with Barbara that was taken after the incident that left her paralyzed from waist down. A former ballerina and martial artist, Barbara had patiently explained in the interview why she had the handles on the back of her wheelchair removed. She was not one who could handle pity and does not like to be pushed around without her explicit consent, she'd said, and Tim agreed. He might have never been physically disabled, but he knew how pity worked - and how many people have tried to pile it on him when his mother had died and dad got paralyzed. The 'pushing around' part, too, resonated aloud within Tim. 

"Okay," Barbara remarked once she was seated. "Didn't tell me you were going to bring guests, Dick. But nice to meet you, Tim Drake. Do you guys need something?"

"Bruce is going to explain what we do to Tim here and his familiar - if he can drag said familiar from the library." Dick told her, and then turned to Tim. "Barbara here is our personal Oracle, literally and figuratively," he explained.

And then Tim realized that Barbara was wearing a nearly invisible tiara. A magickal invisible tiara that emanated strong old-magick that made Tim's heart flutter all of the sudden. "Goddesses... you're literally the Oracle of Delphi!" he exclaimed. The tiara, he knew, was an artifact. His father had found it - or rather, his mother did and his father was the one who took the credit. He knew it well, because mother was not happy at the credit, and his dad kept claiming that she had found it accidentally, so it didn't count.

It took Tim his powers manifesting, along with mother's death, to realize that the discovery was not incidental at all. It should have been stored in the Gotham Museum, like everything else they had discovered from the dig. Tim knew it as a definite fact, because he was there - it was one of the very rare few times that his parents had brought him along to an event.

Tim's expression must have revealed his thoughts - somebody in Bruce Wayne's team must have somewhat 'repossess' the tiara and gave it to Barbara; because she suddenly gasped and commented, "Oh my, he can see-- you can see the tiara, can't you?"

Tim nodded slowly, his eyes still didn't leave Barbara's tiara. "It should've been in the museum." he stated darkly. "Why do you have it."

Barbara smiled, "I've had it for a while now, Tim. I didn't steal it, if that's what you're insinuating without even intoning." she said. "Your mother... Dick, did you know whose son he is when you got him here?" she suddenly turned to Dick.

Dick shrugged. "Sure, Jack Drake's son."

"Jack and Janet Drake's son. Jan's son!" her eyes was glistening when she turned back to Tim. "She was... Tim, your mother was a hero."

Tim shrugged, this time. "I know, she saved dad's life..."

"Oh no, no, no..." Barbara waved her hand. "Oh goodness... That was just... while saving your father's life is not less heroic, regardless of the result of her demise; that's not what I meant. Jan... Janet was one of us. But she always knew that she would not be around long enough to watch her son grow up.

"She gave me this tiara right after they discovered it, almost three years ago. The one at Gotham Museum is a fake that she'd glamoured - so that any magickal person who'd seen it would think it's the real deal. It's been... how many times now that it's been 'stolen'? Four?" she mused. "But I didn't steal it. She said I should use it to focus my sensitivity and that it will help me focus it. Here--" she turned toward the computer console and keyboards. "...I'm sorry if this would hurt you, but I've got the feeling that you won't let this go without solid evidence."

"Oh man, Babs, you sure...? It wasn't... I mean, I flipped whenever I see mine, even like, just a photograph. Why..." Dick sighed, protesting.

"He's not like you, Dick. He's Jan's son." Barbara cut him off and skimmed through a whole list of folders, and then opened a video file. "You can see here," she pointed to a monitor and handed him a set of headphones.

The video began playing, and Barbara fast-forward it to a certain set of time. It generally showed her in an office building that Tim didn't recognize. She was already in the wheelchair, and by that, Tim could tell that it was after her incident a year before his mother's death. He knew, from Barbara's hint and Dick's reaction, what to expect. But still, he gasped when his mother walked into the room and toward Barbara. It was a brief exchange, showing his mother handing something toward Barbara, saying the exact thing Barbara said earlier, "this should help with your sensitivity. Now that you're not going out too much, your senses would go all haywire, and this will help you focus it."

Whatever it is Barbara said, Tim stopped caring as he focused on his mother. Even in a video, her features have started to be out blurry and out of focus, as it would with other full-blooded fae when they have died. Tim knew that he shouldn't try to remember her face. The books said that when a fae was killed, they would only fully get the freedom of the body and the choice of whether or not they would want to return to the realm of the living once their descendants forget about their previous appearances.

"Why did you show him that?" Jason was suddenly beside him, covering Tim with his arms and wings and all. "and for goddess' sake, what the hell is it with the clock?? I had to wait for Alfred to open the thing!" he added, snarling toward Dick.

"Oh wow, he's... he must be--" Barbara gasped.

"...the familiar. Yeah. That's actually what I meant by not making him distressed. He kind of got a very protective familiar." Dick added. "Babs was just showing Tim how she'd gotten something from his mother." he explained to Jason.

"I'm al--" Tim's voice sounded a little too small, even for him. So he cleared his throat. "I'm alright, Jason. Just-- Sorry... I didn't think that seeing her again..." he blinked rapidly, trying to settle the tears that were starting to burn his eyes. "We're supposed to forget so she can be free, right? I'm... I couldn't even remember what she smelled like." A big droplet of tears stubbornly refused to get back in and fell onto Tim's cheek.

Jason hugged him tight, but his wings were starting to disappear. "I'm sorry," he said.

"Why?" Barbara asked curiously. "What does he mean by having to forget?"

"A fae would make everyone forget them once their physical self died." Jason explained. "And by 'everyone', I mean their descendants. Once they are fully and truly forgotten, then they would have the option to return again to a human life, or other things."

"Does that mean there aren't faes who are... Mexican, then?" Dick wanted to know, and then cringed. "Ugh, I sounded racist. Sorry."

Jason scoffed. "There are... just not the... recent ones with clear photos, I guess. They just need to kind of 'forget' the actual appearance. Like, if you have a mole on your left cheek and your great-great grandkid doesn't know it because your photo was taken as a right-side profile, you're good to go." he explained. "And yes, you sounded racist, jerk."

"He's... delightful. And a bit possessive of his Magi, huh?" Barbara observed. "I'm Barbara, do you have a name?" she asked Jason.

"Jason." Jason replied shortly, even without looking Tim knew that his eyes were fixated on Barbara's tiara. "Well, it's pretty rare to see someone who has control of the Phythia's crown." he commented. "Does it require a modern-day fog a.k.a. hallucinogens to work?"

Dick gasped and Barbara coughed a laugh. "Oh my, he's..." Barbara remarked.

"Salty, I was about to warn you that. Was that you or you?" Dick asked, pointing alternately between Jason and Tim.

"Both," they chorused, and Tim promptly cringed. "Sorry, it's just... history believed that the Phythias used some hallucinogens. I just want to make sure..."

"The earlier ones didn't," Jason replied. "The latter ones... let's just say they weren't blessed with the channel for Apollo's foreseeing abilities and were trying to not make the empire collapse."

"'Try' being the operative word, I presume..." Barbara quipped.

"Yeeeah, well... the tiara was lost after a while. Presumably hidden." Jason replied.

"Presumed correctly to be hidden. My mom didn't find that in Delphi or even near Delphi." Tim said. A thought randomly came to his mind and he took a single step away from Jason, out of his embrace. "By the way, is there an electricity-generating dragon?"

Jason glared at him. "Of all the exciting things you could ask while being in the inner sanctum of the modern-day Oracle, that's what you want to know?" he scowled.

"Yes." Tim replied, surprised to hear his 'yes' echoed by both Dick and Barbara.

Jason sighed exasperatedly. "Yes there is. Don't ask me if I can get to them or how to contact them, --do not ask how I know or if they still exist. Just-- can we focus on whatever this thing is Bruce wanted to show us and-or-you?" he snapped.

Barbara snickered. "Okay, then... I think Bruce is coming down in a bit, he's a bit surprised at you zipping past him down the hallway and was checking on us. But let's start over, shall we?" she told them as she wheeled her chair to the center of the room. And then she turned and stated enigmatically, "Gentlemen, welcome to the Oracle's Lair. How can I help?"

Bruce, who had just rounded the corner, intoned; "how do we stop the Untitled?"