#after some cheese and love and a potty break she decided my bed was the safest place to soothe her feelings

[imalayla]

Old greyhounds look like crumpled paper

[slafkovskys]

puppy love ▹ j. norris

my masterlist!

-

“he can’t be that mad, right?” you ask the two girls for the fourth time in the past thirty minutes. the little dog’s ear twitches and then she shakes which causes you to wrap her tighter in the plaid blanket.

turning in the passenger seat to look at you, kayla says, “you’re just overthinking it.”

and in reality, you probably are. there were obviously worse things you could’ve done other than getting a dog, but you hadn’t even talked about it. hell, josh had only moved in, like, a month ago. but once you saw the pretty, beady eyes of the french bulldog currently sat in your lap, you were a goner.

“i don’t think he’ll break up with you over a dog. is he allergic?” you shake your head. “does he hate dogs?” you shake your head again, running your finger over the little puppy’s head. “then you should be fine.”

you sigh as beth’s camry pulls into the driveway beside your suv. you look at the clock on the dash, “at least he has rehab until five. that gives me two more hours to figure out an excuse.”

the two girls laugh as you get out of the car, trying to handle both a dog and the shopping bags filled with some stuff for said dog. “bye, love you both.”

they say the same thing back in sync and you start to your door. “hey, y/n!” your head whips around to see kayla’s head poking out of the window. “if you don’t text the group chat by seven, we’ll just assume the worst and call the police for you.”

you shake your head and jam your key in the door. you sigh as you twist the lock on the door. you walk to the kitchen and maneuver the bags onto the counter. “do you wanna go explore?”

the dog, who’s name you’d settled on was pea, perked her head up out of the blanket at your voice change that was reserved for dogs, babies, and josh when he needed attention. you unwrap her and carefully sit her down on the floor.

she yelps and follows you when you scoot around the house, showing her things. you let her out into the fenced backyard and watch as she runs around. after a while, she got tired and ran to where you sat on the back porch. you giggle when she can’t figure out how to jump over the step and go to pick her up.

going into the kitchen, you pull out the dishes you’d gotten for her food and water and fill them both. she attacked the water one first before going to the food. once she’s full and satisfied, you put her bed in the living room.

“this is for you,” you pat it and she runs to it. she hops in and makes a circle a few times before plopping down. you sit on the floor for a few minutes petting her and then you decide to move to the couch.

you barely sit down before she’s out of her bed and look up at you from the floor. you smile before picking her up and setting her on your lap. she rests her little head on your thigh.

you sit like that for the next hour or so until you hear a car pull up outside. you look at the clock and see it’s just a few minutes past five.

“oh no.” you say as you carefully pick up the puppy in your lap and quickly make your way up the stairs. walking into your’s and josh’s bedroom, you sit the puppy down on the bed and put the blanket beside her. “just please be quiet and i will give you so many treats.”

you kiss her head and bolt from the room, shutting the door behind you. you make your way back down the stairs just as josh walks through the door.

“hey, babe,” you smile and meet him halfway. you don’t wait for his response before pulling his face down to meet yours. your lips interlock and you let him pull you into him.

“hello indeed,” he says when he pulls back for a breath. you pull him in again trying to buy more time because if you were honest, all you’d done since you’d gotten him was dote over the new addition. he pulls back out of breath, chuckling, “what’s gotten into you?”

“noth-’’ you’re interrupted by a shrill bark. your eyes widen as he looks around.

“what’s was that?” he asks looking down at you he moves back slightly, still keeping one hand on your hip.

“what was what?” another bark comes from upstairs. “i didn’t hear anything.”

he looks at you before looking up the stairs. “i never said i heard anything.”

this time a whine sounds and he moves around you. he bolts up the stairs, taking two at a time which shit on your one, and gets to the shut bedroom door. he pushes it open and walks in.

you squeeze your eyes shut, standing in the hall.

“y/n,” he calls, “why is there a dog in our bed.”

you finally muster up the courage and walk in, staring at the back of him. “i can explain.”

“please do,” he crosses his arms as he turns to face you, not looking at the puppy that was wagging it’s little tail and sniffing his sweatpants.

you look anywhere else but him at that point, bouncing from one foot to another. “so today was kayla, beth, and i’s biweekly girls day right? right. so we went for lunch at that place with the really good mac and cheese, you know the one?”

he nods, not looking amused in the slightest.

“ok, cool. so it’s right by the strip mall and there’s the pet store and we see a bunch of dogs outside so we’re like ‘let’s go pet the puppies.’ we do, obviously, because why wouldn’t you pet the puppies? then there’s this little one all by herself and she’s so tiny and cute and the lady’s like she’s the last of her litter and no one wants her because she’s smaller than normal and it made me really sad. so, i kind of like bought her and now we’re parents. surprise!”

you hold your hands up as you finish with an awkward smile. his eyebrows are raised and his jaw is clenching and unclenching every few seconds, which if the circumstances were different, you would find incredibly hot.

sorry, off topic.

“is she potty trained? what about when we’re at school? what about when we go back home? did you even think about that?”

“she’s only 11 weeks old, so no she’s not potty trained. she did run around in the backyard through and did her business a few times. i was gonna get stuff to designate her a little area in the living room when we’re gone and she travels, josh. she did fine in the car ride here.”

you move across the room and grab the grey puppy from the bed. she instantly melts into your hold and you scratch her head. “i’m serious about this. i already called the vet for an appointment on monday for a checkup. is it really that big of a deal?”

he sighs and sits on the edge of the bed. “it’s a big responsibility, babe.”

“i know,” you go in front of him, “i can handle it. besides, look at her little face.” you move your arms so he can see the puppy’s little squished face. “how can you say no to that face?”

he sighs again and reaches up to pet her.

“so, what do ya say, norris?” you ask. “will you parent this puppy with me?”

-

“she’s so precious!” a lady exclaims as she rubs the top of pea’s head. pea, laying contently in josh’s arms, is unbothered and welcomes the affection. “how old is she?”

“11 weeks,” josh responds with no hesitation and you look away from the paperwork and to him with a grin. “what?”

you shake your head and continue filling out the papers with all the information. the lady moves on and out the door with her gigantic dog a couple of minutes later. you go up to the counter and hand the receptionist the clipboard.

“you’re a good dad,” you say as you take your seat and lean your head on josh’s shoulder. pea perks up and grains her head up to lick your nose. “and you’re a good pea.”

and as much as josh would swear up, down, and sideways he was not the biggest fan of the dog, the fifty photos you already had of pea doing cute things had josh in them somewhere, grinning.

it was puppy love, plain and simple.

[obfuscateyummy]

Watch Your Back

HELLO! :)

So uh. I had an idea while I was on vacation a few weeks ago, and I couldn’t get it out of my head. Then I needed to take a break from writing Help You Forget (HELLO WRITERS BLOCK!) Then this happened 24 hours later. 

1,960-ish words if I remember correctly. This is also set a few years, after Help You Forget. 

Tagging @serendiptious-esparza @whatmarisays @dreila03 @imagine-hopper @madpanda75 @fall-out-harto I think ya’ll will enjoy this. 👀

“Papi! I don’t want you go work!” Your daughter clung to your husband’s leg as he was trying to grab his briefcase and walk out the door.

“Mace, mi mija,” Rafael said as he bent down to to talk to his daughter, “I have to go to work, okay? Please, be good for your mami, okay?”

You walked into the room rubbing your swollen stomach to see your daughter gripping to Rafael’s neck.

“Papi stay!” Macee began to cry harder.

“Mace, we’re gonna go shopping and have a girls day. If you let Papi go to work and go get ready, we can meet him for lunch,” you said as her green eyes sparkled and looked at you.

“Lunch with Papi?” She asked Rafael.

“Si, of course mija.” Rafael said as he moved her dark hair out of her face and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Go in your room, and mami will be right there to help you get ready okay?”

The child kissed her father goodbye, “Te Amo, Papi!” Macee screamed as she ran to her room.

“Te Amo, Princesa,” Rafael called after her as he walked up to you and put a hand on your stomach. “You be good for mami, too, mijo.”

The child inside you kicked Rafael’s hand. “I’m not sure if that as a yes or a no,” you said as you laughed as you placed your hand over Rafael’s. “I love you,” you said as you kissed him.

“Hmmm, I love you too,” he said into your mouth. “Both of you.” He broke away and grabbed his briefcase and headed out the door.

You walked to your daughter’s room to find her in a pink and purple striped shirt and a skirt with a flower pattern. “Look mami! I dressed! I ready!” Your daughter sounded so excited as she ran towards you.

You embraced her hug as you laughed. “You did get dressed baby, but you might get cold in that skirt. Why don’t you wear some pants?” You said hoping she would pick out a pair of less crazy pants.

Your daughter stubbornly shook her head. “Why mami?” Macee was whining.

The child inside you started moving like crazy. You decided to use it in your favor. You put your hand over your stomach, “Your brother doesn’t like it.” Macee was constantly trying to impress her little brother already.

“I think you no like it, Mami,” Macee folded her arms and glared at you.

God she looks and acts so much like Rafael you thought. “Then will you change it for mami? Lovey bear can come shopping with us.” You grabbed your daughter’s tan Build-a-Bear off her bed.

Macee grabbed her bear and hugged it close. Rafael and you had made it for her before she was born, a tradition which you were continuing with your son. It was her favorite toy. Your daughter quickly changed from her skirt into pants. Thank god she picked black leggings, you thought.

——

When Rafael got to work, he felt like he was already behind. As if the stress from the recent case he had wasn’t enough, the threats were coming back. Rafael felt like he couldn’t tell you about them and add additional stress during your pregnancy. He hated hiding it from you. His office phone rang.

“Barba,” he said as he heard static on the other end. “Hello?” He repeated.

“You better back off this case, if you know what’s good for you, you desgraciado.” The voice on the other end said before the line went dead.

Rafael sighed as he hung up. He called Olivia to report the latest threat, and see if the call could be traced. So far, there was no luck but it was worth a try anyways. Rafael hit the home button on his phone and stared at the photo. One of you and him with your daughter between you. He smiled, he had been at work not even a full hour, and was already looking forward to lunch with his girls. He decided to send you a quick text, ‘I love you, Cariño. Can’t wait for lunch with my girls.’

——

You had just put the car into park and turned it off when your phone went off with a text message from Rafael. You smiled when you read the text. “Mace, smile, we’re gonna send papi a selfie, okay?”

“CHEESE!!!” Macee screamed from the back seat as she smiled as big as she could causing you to laugh as you captured the moment on your phone. ‘We love you papi. Just got to the mall. See you soon.’ You captioned the photo as you hit send. You slid your phone into your purse. As you got out of the car, and removed Macee from her car seat. You took her hand as you walked into the mall.

For once, the mall wasn’t too crazy, for once. You had gotten a few new outfits for your children, and Macee picked out Rafael new cufflinks and a tie. You were getting ready to leave the mall when your daughter said she had to go potty. The two of you went to the restroom. As you were both exiting the stall you were in, a woman approached you. “Your daughter is beautiful, miss,” the woman said.

You smiled at the stranger, “Thank you,” you said as you and Macee both washed your hands.

“How old is she?” The woman asked.

“I’m 3!” Macee said holding up three fingers as the two of you walked to the hand dryer.

“I see you’re expecting too, congratulations. How far along are you?” The woman was starting to give you a strange vibe, but you didn’t want to come off as rude, so you answered.

“Thank you. I’m 7 and a half months,” you said as you grabbed Macee’s hand to exit the restroom.

The woman placed a hand on your shoulder as you walked away, causing you to freeze. She whispered in your ear, “It’d be a shame if your ADA husband never got to meet that child, now wouldn’t it? Watch your back.” The woman was gone in the blink of an eye and you started sobbing instantly.

“Mami, are you okay?”

You looked down at your daughter who was oblivious to what just happened, and you hoped to keep it that way. You nodded as you spoke, “Yes, princesa, let’s go have lunch with papi okay?” You wiped your tears away with your sleeve as you walked to the car. You put the bags in the trunk and Macee in her car seat before beginning the drive across town to Rafael’s office.

Macee fell asleep in the car clinging to her bear on the way to Rafael’s office. You tried to wake her up once you arrived but it was no use. You decided to carry her, and her lovey bear, up to Rafael’s office.

When you walked in Rafael rushed to take Macee from you, “Amor you should have called me so you didn’t have to carry her up here.” Rafael said as he took your sleeping child from your arms. “How was shopping?” He asked as he walked away to lay Macee down on the couch in his office.

You were replaying the events in your head, holding back tears.

“Cariño?” You didn’t respond. Rafael turned back around and saw you breathing deep and tears forming in your eyes. “Cariño are you okay? Sit down.” Rafael said moving a chair up to you.

You did as he said. He pulled up a chair next to you. Before he could sit down, you spoke to him. “Rafi, be honest with me,” you said, “Are you getting threats again?”

He rubbed his temples as he turned to walk to his desk, “I specifically told Nick not to tell you. I told him the stress wasn’t good for the baby.” He started to pick up his phone to make a call to your brother.

“Nick...he didn’t tell me.” You said as the tears began to flow down your cheeks. You moved a hand over your stomach and began to rub it to help calm your child down.

Rafael looked at your confused. “Then how..”

Before Rafael could finish you began to tell him what happened “A woman, she threatened me in the bathroom, at the mall” You were completely sobbing as Rafael was at your side consoling you.

“She threatened you?” Rafael asked as you nodded. “What exactly happened?”

“She commented how beautiful Macee was, and then asked how far along I was. Then she...she said how it would be a shame if you never meet our child. She said I should watch my back...and yours.” You said finally letting out the sob you didn’t know you were holding in.

“Shhh, Y/N, it’s okay, amor.” Rafael said trying to calm you down.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the threats?” You said resting your head down.

“I didn’t want you under anymore stress. You know it’s not good for the baby. You already worry about me so much. I’m so sorry. If I would have told you none of this would have..”

You cut Rafael off. “It’s not your fault babe,” you whispered to your husband as you kissed him.

“If anything were to happen to you,” Rafael placed his hand back on your stomach, “Both of you, or Mace, I couldn’t live with myself.”

“It’s not your fault,” you said as his emerald eyes met yours.

Macee started to stir awake on the couch. “Papi?” She sleepily said as she sat up on the couch.

“Macee, my princesa, did you have a good nap?” Rafael said to your daughter as she hopped off the couch and ran to his lap.

“Yes! Mami I and bought you things shopping too!” She said as she wrapped her arms tightly around Rafael. There was no doubt she was a daddy’s girl.

“Really?” Rafael’s eyes twinkled as he looked at you, “Your mami didn’t tell me that.”

“Did she tell you about the lady in the bathroom? Papi, she scared me.” Macee said as she watched her father’s face fall.

Rafael sat the child in the chair next to you and walked back to his desk.

“What are you doing?” You asked.

“What I should have done when I first started receiving them. I’m getting us police protection, and a safe house.” Rafael said as he dialed Olivia’s number.

“Then we eat lunch?” Macee asked.

Rafael nodded, hoping he would still be able to enjoy a lunch out with his family.

The minute Rafael hung up from talking to Olivia, Carmen walked into the office.

“Mr. Barba? These were just dropped off for you.” She said as she placed a file down on his desk and left.

“Papi! I so hungry.” Macee said.

“Soon, Mace, let me look over this real quick,” Rafael said as he opened the manila colored envelope. Rafael froze when he was what was inside the envelope. Pictures of you, and Macee, at the park. Both far away, and up close. There was also a note, with the simple phrase “Watch Your Back.”

You noticed the look on his face, and grew concerned, “Rafael?”

“Cariño, what day did you take Macee to the park?” He asked as his eyes never left the pictures on the desk.

“Yesterday, why?” You answered.

“I need to make another call.” Rafael said as he picked up his phone.

Rafael felt sick knowing the same people threading him had apparently been following the two of you for at least two days, that he knew of. He would do everything in his power to make sure no one would hurt you.

[w0lfbr0thers]

5 years takes time - parenting evak drabble

halla!! its 2.57 am and i just finished writing up this special drabble for @betchnaesheim :’) i hope she likes it and i hope u all do, too <3

When Isak and Even had first decided to adopt, they didn't read through the 'fine print' of what taking care of a child may hold. The first five years for them were the hardest - but considering they adopted a girl, they thought they had a clear mind set of what they were up against. But, boy, were they wrong, because over the course of the first five years of taking care of their daughter would really open their eyes to many things.

-

The first year;

Isak had just gotten Sol to sleep in her crib after having fed her a bottle of warm milk. It was a working cycle over the past few weeks since they had adopted her, but tonight Isak felt relieved since Even was home a bit earlier from his shift. He collapses onto their bed, Even chuckling as he heaves out a sigh, brushing some hair out of his eyes.

"I finally got her to sleep. Took some effort, but I did it," Isak grumbles, crawling up closer to Even who smiles at him, instantly wrapping his husband in his arms.

"You did good," Even tells him, placing a kiss on top of his head.

"You've told me that for the past five weeks since we got her," Isak huffs, burying his face into the crook of Even's neck.

"I'm not wrong," Even laughs. "It'll get easier."

"I just need a full night of sleep for once," Isak says as he pushes himself under the duvet, his eyes drooping closed and he can feel Even's fingers run through his hair. Isak allows his breathing to slow, his muscles relax as he tries to fall asleep but he moans as he can hear the loud crying coming from Sol's room. He moves to get up but he feels Even stop him and he looks up at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Just go back to sleep, I can handle it. Good night, Isak," Even says, placing a quick kiss on Isak's forehead before getting up from their bed and heading out of the room and into Sol's nursery and as soon as Isak closes his eyes again, he's fast asleep knowing Sol is being taken care of.

-

The second year;

"Sol, please, can I have the TV remote?" Isak asks cautiously, holding out his hand towards his daughter who currently is in the midst of throwing a temper tantrum.

"No! I just want to play with it!" Sol screams, clutching the remote close to her chest.

"But honey, daddy and I need it to watch TV," Isak coaxes and he hears Even laugh softly as he watches, causing Isak to roll his eyes.

Sol whines, stomping her foot on the floor, "I wanna play with it!"

Isak groans softly, "If you give me the remote, we'll let you watch cartoons before you head off to bed tonight."

"Promise?" Sol asks carefully, giving her papa a questioning look.

"Me and daddy both promise," Isak gives her a smile and eventually Sol steps forward, handing over the remote. "Thank you, sweet pea. You can go back to playing with your toys while me and daddy finish playing our own game, okay?"

Sol nods, giving a quiet response, "Okay... daddy?"

Even pipes up to attention, smiling brightly at his little girl, "Yes, baby?"

"Can you make your special macaroni and cheese tonight?" Sol asks innocently, giving her best puppy eyes that neither Isak or Even can say no to.

"Of course. Anything for you," Even says and Sol grins, turning back to her pile of toys behind the sofa and sits herself down quietly, continuing on with her own business. Isak smiles, letting out a soft sigh as he walks back over to Even on the sofa and they sit back down together.

As Isak sits down, he whispers, "You spoil her too much."

Even scoffs, "Me? Excuse me, but who bought her the biggest teddy bear in the whole toy store because she was throwing a tantrum the other day?"

Isak shoves his shoulder, "It calmed her down, didn't it?!"

Even laughs, "I suppose. It's just the terrible twos, love. They pass."

Isak rolls his eyes again, smiling as he picks up the PS4 controller, "Shall I continue beating you at FIFA?"

-

The third year;

"I hate my job so much," Isak whines as he sets his toothbrush in the small cup by the sink. "Who thought being a doctor would be so stressful?"

"Well, gee, Isak. I don't really know," Even laughs as Isak shoots him a look. "Come on, it's late. Let's get to bed, yeah?"

Isak nods, letting out a sigh as he and Even crawl under the covers and he instantly cuddles himself into Even's side, draping an arm over Even's stomach, "You're too good for me."

"I'm just a good husband, is all," Even replies, smiling at Isak in the dark and eventually they drift off to sleep holding each other.

Isak stirs around a bit come three am and as he opens his eyes and starts getting out of bed, he jumps and lets out a glass-shattering shriek and he can feel Even jerk away beside him and Isak lets out a sigh, rubbing his eyes as he looks down at Sol who's standing on the side of the bed, "Sol, what are you doing awake? It's late, honey-"

"Can I sleep here in bed with you?" Sol asks quietly, letting out a small yawn and rubbing her eyes.

"What's wrong, baby?" Even asks as Isak pulls her up and sets her down between them. "Bad dream?"

Sol shakes her head, biting her lip, "I had to use the potty and it was too dark in my room to see and I got scared."

"Aw, honey," Isak murmurs softly, stroking Sol's hair. "We'll have to buy you a night light, huh?" Isak offers her a warm smile and she returns it, nodding.

"Yeah..."

"Don't worry, baby. You can sleep up here with me and papa tonight and until we can get you a night light, okay?"

"Okay," Sol replies and Isak pulls up the duvet for Sol to crawl under and she does so quickly, closing her eyes and letting out a sleepy sigh.

Even and Isak lie back down again and lie awake, waiting for Sol's soft, steady breaths to even out and signal that she's asleep. Isak rubs her back while Even hums, and Isak feels as though he might fall asleep. Eventually, they figure Sol is asleep and Isak whispers, "I'll take her back to her room-"

"No, she's fine. Just let her sleep. To be far, you and I could use some sleep right now," Even whispers back and Isak couldn't agree more. "Goodnight, baby."

"Goodnight, Evi."

-

The fourth year;

"Isak," Even whispers quietly and Isak can hear the smile in his voice.

"What...?" Isak asks, half grumbling, half whispering.

"You need to wake up," Even chuckles, nuzzling his nose in his husbands hair.

Isak groans, rolling over on his side and burying his face in the pillow before he feels fingers poking his cheeks, "Open your eyes, papa!" Sol. Isak can't hold back his grin as he opens his eyes and finds his daughter smiling at him. "Happy birthday!"

Isak leans over and pecks a kiss on the tip of her nose, "Did you help daddy and gang up on me just to wake me up?"

Sol giggles as Isak picks her up from the side of the bed and sets her so she's settled on his stomach, "Yeah. I even helped him make birthday breakfast!"

"Birthday breakfast, hm?" Isak muses, looking over at Even who gives him a wink. "Sounds lovely."

"Come on, papa, you have to get up. I wanna eat birthday breakfast with you before I have to go to school," Sol exclaims, jumping up from sitting on Isak and slips off the bed, running back towards the bedroom door. "Daddy made special pancakes"

"Run along, sweet pea. Daddy and I will meet you in the kitchen in a minute - just be careful not to make a mess and wait for us, okay?" Sol smiles, bopping her head as yes before running out into the hall and into the kitchen. "Special pancakes, hm?"

Even laughs, sitting on the side of the bed next to Isak, "Of course. Everything is considered special on my baby's special day."

Isak rolls his eyes, swatting a pillow towards Even, "Shut up."

"Make me, birthday boy," Even dares and he grins as Isak pulls him down to him by the hem of his shirt, connecting their lips softly.

"Happy birthday to me, hm?" Isak hums, smiling up at Even as he breaks the kiss.

"Indeed. Now, come on. Pumpkin is in the dining room waiting on us," Even smiles, helping Isak up from bed.

"I think I could wake up to her poking my face every day."

"Sometimes she jumps on me when you're at work, it's a bit painful but it's the cutest thing to wake up to," Even smiles, placing a kiss on Isak's cheek as they walk into the dining room.

"I don't know what's better to wake up to, you or Sol," Isak questions, grinning since he already knows the answer.

"Both."

-

The fifth year;

Isak falls asleep in an empty bed tonight, a storm outside helping him to drift off to sleep - he hates when Even has business trips, but he manages. At midnight, he jolts awake as he feels someone jump on the bed at the same time a loud clap of thunder fills the sky and he finds a whimpering Sol next to him hiding under the duvet. He frowns, peeking under the duvet and he finds Sol curled up and her eyes shut tight, tears streaming down her cheeks. Isak reaches over and brushes them away, which causes Sol to open her eyes which are glistening from tears.

"Sol, what's wrong? Are you afraid of the storm?" Isak asks quietly, continuing to brush away the tears.

Sol nods, her bottom lip trembling, "It's so loud."

"Aw, sweet pea, I know. It'll pass by morning. Let's get you back to bed-"

"No! I wanna stay here with you, papa. I don't want to be by myself," Sol stutters, slightly choking on her words due to crying.

Isak smiles warmly as he pulls Sol closer to him, her head now on his shoulder and he can feel her shaking in fear, "Don't worry, baby, papa's right here. Just try and sleep, okay?"

"I miss daddy," Sol whispers, pulling the duvet over her head as lightning streaks across the sky and fills the room with light.

Isak places a soft and gentle kiss on her hair, "I know, honey. I do, too, but he'll be back tomorrow."

Sol lets out a shaky sigh, nodding, "Okay..."

"Let's try and sleep now, okay? I'm right here with you."

They both manage to eventually fall asleep, Sol cuddled into Isak and Isak's arm wrapped around her, holding her tight, and in no way is he letting go soon. As usual, Sol wakes way earlier than Isak in the morning but she doesn't bother waking up Isak. She just minds herself, sometimes playing with a curl from Isak's hair which calms her. Isak wakes a few hours later and surprises her by making special pancakes that Even makes her almost every morning and Isak makes the trip to Sol's primary school, sending her own her way with a kiss and a hug and an extra special one from her daddy.

[kylewritesaboutthings]

Riot Fest 2016 - Day 1

It is 12:30pm and it feels like a jellyfish is hugging my balls. “Does it look I’m hiding anything in my crotch?” I ask my girlfriend Rachel. My hangover tells me that I’m being more paranoid than I should be…this isn’t my first rodeo. As a Polish punk there are few things I love more than combining my passion for subverting authority with my love of saving money. Which brings us to this point: waddling through the security line at Douglas Park for the first day of Riot Fest Chicago with a half a liter of Jameson saddled between my thighs.  We’ll go ahead and skip past the other illicit substances safely concealed between my size 11 boot and right foot. Like my literary icon Hunter S. Thompson, I feel it is best to experience a story when seeing it from an array of angles, even if those angles are all within your own head.

Like every time before this, my shitty acts of smuggling go off without a hitch and we are now inside the park with the (surprisingly) rarest of Riot Fest beverages: the elusive brown liquor. Unfortunately the time spent waiting for the rest of our party to shuffle through the GA entry line has caused us to miss ska heavy favorites, Big D and the Kids Table, but we take solace in the fact that like checkered vans and skanking, they will be around until the end of time. With a shrug of ‘oh well, next time’ we cut our losses and head to the nearest beer tent to get the day started off right. As we’re nursing the poor decisions of the previous evening (hence the reason why we didn’t have a full fifth of Jameson), I take the time to appreciate the fine work of the folks at All Rise Brewery who once again came to the park to vend their quality, local, higher alcohol percentage beers before we settle into a weekend of $8 Tacate tallboys. Driven by the fresh breath of alcohol into my system and an inability to read a schedule like a normal human being, we split up and I head for the Rise stage because I am not missing a god damn minute of the manmade hurricane that is the Dillinger Escape Plan. As soon as I arrive at the stage I realize two things: this is where all the #summergoths are hanging out trying not to get any color to their skin and that Dillinger Escape plan isn’t going on for another hour. Oops. I take the inaugural sip of my whiskey pouch and head back to the heard, congratulating myself on my skills of shitty espionage and the money I will save because I’ll have Jameson with me alllllll day. What is the old saying about counting chickens? 

I find my friends watching Diarrhea Planet kicking off the Rock Stage, a large pop up stage that only a band with four guitarists can make look like the midsized club in whatever the hell town you’re from. Think the Subterranean in Chicago. Think the Triple Rock in Minneapolis. Think the White Rabbit in San Antonio. But that’s the price that DP pay to layer 4 guitars over one another, and they do it well. Ripping through song after song in their short 30 minute set, singer Jordan Smith takes a very brief moment to apologize “for being so terse”. This will become a theme over the weekend, as everyone but the headlining acts receive a smaller set than usual. Such is with festivals. But unlike most festivals, the bands at Riot Fest put the pedal to the metal and wasted no time with banter and pleasantries. Except for The Hives, but more on that in the next installment. 

After a little while we start to wander over to the Story Heart stage, tucked in the back corner of the grounds behind the Ferris wheel. This is where all those bands in small type that come at the end of a lineup announcement “who you haven’t heard but have totally heard of them” spend the weekend. This time it is the bad ass girls of Bad Cop/Bad Cop who, by the looks of the crowd upon arrival, have had a lot of people take the plunge to actually listen to them.  It’s a great thing to see, as they are lovely people who make ripping, catchy, harmonized pop punk. Their energy is contagious and the tides turned pretty quickly from ‘recovering from last night’ to ‘in it to win it’. While they rolled through favorites like ‘Nightmare’, ‘Rodeo’, and ‘Anti Love Song’, we rolled through whiskey and beer and high fives. 

Luckily the Rise stage, where Dillinger Escape Plan were set to melt faces in an ever setting changing of time signatures that would make a symphonic composer shit themselves, was a hop, skip, and a jump away. More beer, more whiskey, some air guitaring, and some 7/5 timed headbanging ensued. Have you ever wanted to give yourself whiplash? Try headbanging on time with DEP. Ben Weinman is an absolute madman and musically/theatrically they are one of the most interesting bands in metal. A little bummed that we missed the usual destruction that comes with a Dillinger set (it is RIOT fest after all), we meandered back towards the Rock stage to see GWAR do their murderous space alien thing. With a fresh set of politicians to eviscerate, we knew we’d be in for a treat. I can’t tell you what they played, but I can tell you that when you start a set with a decapitation of a president that soaks the first 30 feet of the audience in fake blood…you’ll be in for a good time. Hillary and Trump boxed, with the former ripping the intestines out of the later. 

We now reached the point in any good afternoon of day drinking where you realize that if you don’t eat, you will be in serious trouble. Luckily some holy deity created tacos and soon I had crammed three of them into my facehole while I caught at least one side eyed look of horror from the carne asada vacuum that I had become. Whatever. If you wanted to see someone eat gracefully, you should have come to a festival of thousands of drunk punk kids. Take that, whoever you were. It was not the time for napkins, it was the time for drunken nostalgia. Set Your Goals, the only acceptable twin vocalist band, was back and they were playing just a beer stand away from where we were currently located. It was about this time that my ‘stockpile’ of whiskey had completely run out and we were running on full cylinders…each cylinder being a 16oz can of Mexican PBR. 

Luckily I had been tipped off ahead of time that they would not be doing the ‘Mutiny’ album in full, so I was able to enjoy their career spanning setlist for what it was. They did hit a number of jams from that album, making me even more excited for their fall run in which they would go cover to cover on what is one of my favorite pop punk albums of all time. A great band for group vocals (see: two vocalists), the whole front of the crowd was a giant sing-a-long of big ole dorks like myself who were excited for the Bay Area favorites to be back in action.

The next few hours were pretty hazy, but this is what I remember of them: • Never get a gyro at a festival, it does not come off a spit and no matter how drunk you are you will be disappointed. • Jimmy Eat World still puts on a great live show and everyone ever still remembers all the words to ‘Sweetness’. • Refused is fucking dead and they should have stayed dead. • I still don’t get Ween. • The Flaming Lips play the same god damn setlist every time they play Riot Fest. Or at least that’s what it sounds like. Just play that song about the robot, already.

After giving up on seeing music for the day, I decided that the press tent was the place to be and snuck Rachel in with me, brushing past the security guard vigilantly checking wristbands with a mutter of ‘it’s cool, I’m with For the Love of Punk and she’s helping me interview Andrew WK’ or something of the nature. HST would be proud. After a short potty break, I then learned the three greatest words I would hear all weekend. Press. Happy. Hour. Less than 10 minutes into entering the press area we were posted up at a table with 5 beers each, or roughly $80 of #preferedsponsor tallboys. Somewhere, HST and my extremely Polish grandma were smiling down on us…proud in their own way. 

Taking those to go, we found the rest of our group and spent some time chatting with our good friends Max and Emily, who help make Riot Fest happen. I will take this time to apologize to Max if I drunkenly said something shitty about the lack of portapotties instead of congratulating them on their excellent layout, somehow reuniting the Misfits, and graciously helping our winter fundraiser for the Bernie Sanders campaign by providing two 3 day passes to raffle off. Sorry Max! More to come on the very large number of things Riot Fest did right this year. 

By the time we finished chatting them up, we missed our mark of leaving before the bands finished up, hearing Fat Mike yell something inaudible to a crowd already starting to head for the gates behind us. Like a boozy salmon in a stream of cheap beers, we flowed out of the park and into the evening…everyone fairly confused but optimistic that we were all going to get rides to wherever we were going. Luckily the fine folks at Five Star Bar had that taken care of, as we hopped about the shuttle service they ran all weekend from the grounds to their Pop Punk DJ night hosted by super-secret special guest DJs, who were not so secret after Set Your Goals announced mid-set that they would be there spinning tunes later that evening. 

As always, an absolute blast was had at Five Star Bar as everyone mingled, met out of towners, and subsequently talked them into shots of everyone’s favorite dumpster liquor…Malort. The gentlemen of Set Your Goals were very nice to oblige my request of ‘Detroit’ by Fireworks, to which I sang embarrassingly loud level. They also had the rap airhorn cued up next to Spotify and every so often (or all the fucking time) we caught a blast of BWOW BWOW BWOW that truly was the cherry on top of the evening. A 3am drunk uber later, we were in bed eating Kumas mac and cheese. And if that isn’t a great way to end an evening, I don’t know what is.