#almost changed my lockscreen but

[ikigaisvt]

officially back in my seungcheol era!

[thiagodasilva]

rules: post your lock screen, wallpaper, last song and last picture of an animal/something pretty

tagged by lovely @doinggreat 🤍

I have multiple lockscreens at once (4 rn) because I like rotating and switching it up so collage for my lockscreen 🤭

tagging: @wyn-n-tonic @yoursselo @pernillecfcw @portraitofadumbassonfire @bellcza if you want, & anyone else who’d like to, and say I tagged you-so many of the moots have done it already so sorry for any repeats 🫶🏼

[shirtshawaiian]

gale being my favorite bg3 companion SUCKS what do you mean whenever i see him i wanna say "IM GONNA BLOW UP 💥💥💥" but its entirely because im full of too much love

[jockpoetry]

after 8000 years I finally changed my home screen so now my phone is just my boys ❤️

[breebird33]

For the ask game: 📷 please

....................heh

[stormduck]

[rosegolden13]

Pictures TF-141 have of you on their phones!!

cw: stalking (but not malicious I promise)

Gaz is definitely a professional photographer. He’s just artsy like that. He’ll take the most perfect photos of you and you don’t even have to train him. He just knows how to do it. Honestly, it kind of makes you jealous how talented he is and he’s so nonchalant about it, too. Maybe it was an ex-girlfriend that taught him all this? (It wasn’t, he just has sisters, he’s a sisters kind of guy for sure). The lighting is always perfect and he’ll even help you pose, guide you into position with his hands. Is it mostly an excuse to touch you? Yes. Do the pictures always come out good? Also yes. His favorites are the more domestic ones: you wearing his shirt in the kitchen with the morning sunlight filtering through the window, you cuddled up on the couch with two blankets and a hoodie with a goofy smile on your face. These are the ones that are printed out, folded into his pocket and accidentally put through the wash, or tucked into his wallet.

Simon only has pictures of you that are as unnerving as they are sweet because you have never seen him take *any* of these but he has almost a thousand all in its own album dedicated to you. Yes, some of them are your regular selfies or posed pictures of you next to a pretty fountain or across the table on a date. His favorites are of you and him together- he likes the reminder that you’re really his. But the large bulk of the pictures are taken from strange distances… You at the bar laughing with your friends at girls night when you’re absolutely positive Simon was supposed to be at home waiting for you… and then there’s the one where you’re on your morning jog… The only explanation he gives you is a casual shrug and a gruff "It's for your protection, love." Just be glad you didn’t scroll to the very top of the album because there’s some from before you two were dating. Ahem… enough of that creep…anyways…

Price has the most terrible pictures of you. I’m talking god awful. Like most of them are of you in your pajamas, unshowered, messy hair, no makeup, and to make matters worse, it’s taken at the worst angle known to man. Of course, a few of them are decent because they’re ones you have sent him but if he’s taking the picture? He’s bound to zoom in way too much and get the strangest angle THEN he’ll even coo at the picture, proud of himself. In half of them, you’re trying to smack the camera away- he always chuckles at those ones when you look through them together. When you try to insist that he delete these, he genuinely frowns, entirely confused like they’re not the most heinous pictures. “What do ya mean, love? Look at that, that’s my girl. I’m keepin’ ‘em all.” Lovesick man tsk, tsk. Don’t ever tell him that he can change his lockscreen from the default or it’ll absolutely be the most embarrassing picture of you imaginable.

Soap is also artsy and can take good pictures of you but half the time, he chooses not to. He likes to capture the chaos and there is some beauty to that, too. So, yes, he’s got some cinematic pictures of you on hikes overlooking a view or on the beach where you're lounging in the sun. But mostly his camera roll is filled with blurry selfies from when you two were drunk at the bar or videos from when you two got scolded at the grocery store for pushing each other down aisles in grocery carts. His personal favorite and lockscreen is a picture of you with your face all scrunched as he squeezes your cheeks between his thumb and forefinger. There's also a scattering of sketches he's drawn of you on classified documents and then secretly snapped a picture of. He'd be in deep shit if Price found out about those... "Keep 'em a secret, lass, will ya?"

Okay just one more of these cuz they're so fun hehe. Yes, ik Price is probs great at tech from being in the military but I like to imagine he's sucky at an iphone- it's so endearing.

[meadowfics]

lockscreen

namgyu x f!reader

who wouldn't put their cute boyfriend as their lockscreen?

warnings: mentions of drug addiction. angst into fluff

this was requested <3

loving namgyu is never hard.

it was the easiest thing in the world, really.

what was hard was watching him destroy himself, knowing that no matter how much you loved him, no matter how much you wanted to save him, he had to want to save himself first.

those first months together were some of the hardest of your life.

namgyu was drowning in his addiction, and you were barely keeping your head above water trying to pull him out.

you spent too many nights waiting up for him, only for him to stumble through the door smelling like alcohol and smoke, eyes red and unfocused.

there were arguments, slamming doors, nights where he passed out before you could even say goodnight.

still, you stayed, because you loved him.

because you saw the man he could be, even when he couldn't.

love alone wasn't enough to fix him.

eventually, after one too many broken promises, one too many nights spent crying yourself to sleep,

you made the hardest decision of your life...you walked away.

not because you stopped loving him, but because you loved him too much to watch him keep destroying himself.

it was during that time apart that namgyu finally decided to change.

he checked himself into rehab, cut off the people who enabled him, and found a new job...one that didn’t have drugs and alcohol in every corner, one that didn’t drag him back into temptation every night.

you didn’t know all of this at the time.

all you knew was that, after months of silence, he showed up at your door sober, steady, and more sure of himself than you had ever seen him.

he told you he was clean. that he had been for months.

most of all, that he still loved you.

taking him back wasn’t a decision you made lightly.

when you looked into his eyes, really looked, you saw the man you had always believed he could be.

that was all you ever wanted.

now, three years into your relationship, things were different.

they were better.

namgyu still had his moments of doubt, but he had grown so much.

he smiled more now, genuine and unburdened.

he let you love him without questioning why you did.

he loved you in return in a way that left no room for doubt.

the two of you never minded using each other’s phones. there were no secrets, no reason to hide anything.

so when namgyu needed to check something online and his phone was charging in the bedroom, he didn’t think twice about picking yours up from the coffee table and unlocking it.

what he didn’t expect was to see a picture of himself staring back at him.

it wasn’t a picture he had taken or one he even remembered being taken.

as he looked at it, his breath caught in his throat.

it was from when you both visited your family in your home country over a year and a half ago.

the golden hour sun cast a warm glow over his face, softening the sharp lines of his jaw.

his black hair, always brushed, looked almost blue under the sunlight.

he looked… healthy.

he remembered that trip well.

it had been just three months into his sobriety.

he had been shaky then, still learning how to exist without numbing himself with substances, still wondering if he even deserved to be happy.

he hadn’t realized you had captured him like this...at a moment when he was still struggling, still doubting himself.

yet, somehow, in this photo, he looked at peace.

he stared at it for a long time, fingers hovering over the screen as a strange feeling swelled in his chest.

“when did you set this as your lock screen?”

his voice came out quieter than he expected, almost hesitant.

you had just stepped out of the shower, towel wrapped around your body, damp hair dripping onto your shoulders.

at the sound of his voice, you glanced up, eyes flicking to your phone in his hands.

when you saw what he was talking about, a soft smile tugged at your lips.

“i’ve had that as my lock screen since the evening it was taken.”

namgyu blinked. he looked down at the picture again, then back at you.

“wait, really? but that was… that was over a year ago.”

you nodded, walking over to him.

“yeah. i never changed it.”

namgyu felt his throat tighten. of all the pictures you could have chosen, you had chosen this one.

a picture from one of the most vulnerable times in his life.

a time when he still wasn’t sure if he was worthy of a second chance, of happiness, of you.

yet, you had seen something in him then that he hadn’t seen in himself.

setting your phone aside, he reached for you, wrapping his arms around your waist and burying his face in your neck.

you smelled like shampoo and warmth and everything safe in the world.

“you’re a great photographer,”

he mumbled, his voice muffled against your skin.

you let out a soft laugh, running your fingers through his hair.

“and you’re a good model.”

he huffed out a small chuckle, shaking his head.

“nah. you just make me look good.”

“you make yourself look good,”

you murmured, pressing a kiss to the side of his head.

“you always have.”

namgyu tightened his hold on you, his heart full in a way it hadn’t been in a long time.

he had spent so much of his life convinced that he wasn’t enough.

that no one would ever look at him and see something worth loving.

but you did.

you always did.

masterlist

[cosmicbucky]

wallpaper

summary: bucky finds out how to change the wallpaper on your phone, and takes every opportunity he can to do so. until one day he doesn't have the heart to

pairing: bucky barnes x female reader

word count: 1000

warnings: fluff, nonspecific friends to lovers, this was just a dumb idea i had

《《《《 ♡ 》》》》

The first time Bucky changed the wallpaper on your phone, it was an accident - kind of. He sat on your couch, lazily scrolling through the photos of Alpine you insisted he looked at, because you simply couldn’t resist having a Halloween photoshoot with her while he was off on yet another mission, leaving her in your trusting hands. He was happy you were in the kitchen, because he would never let you see the smile he wore as he browsed the album, chuckling silently to himself over how elaborate these photos were. His mood swiftly changed when he swiped incorrectly, an array of different options suddenly presenting themselves to him. He swore under his breath as he tried to make them go away, but he only made it worse as the option to change your wallpaper came up. With an annoyed huff, he just kept tapping, figuring that eventually he would get it back to how it was. After a few more grueling seconds, he sighed in relief as he was once more face to face with Alpine sitting inside a jack-o-lantern candy bucket - how was he supposed to know that photo was now both your lockscreen and homescreen?

“Did you change my lockscreen?” you curiously asked when you finally sat back down beside him, taking your phone and checking it for any new messages.

“Did I what?” he asked in confusion, his head snapping up from his own phone to look at you with a scrunched brow. 

You could only laugh lightly, turning your phone to display the new photo brandishing your screen. The second Bucky saw it, his eyes widened almost imperceptibly as his face flushed ever so slightly. 

“I, uh- sorry,” he muttered, scratching the back of his neck. “I didn’t mean to, your phone is just - it’s different than mine.”

You couldn’t help but chuckle fondly, your chuckles growing into more laughter as you realized it was also your homescreen. “It’s okay, Buck,” you assured softly, laughing quietly as you changed the photos back to their precursors. “It could have been worse, at least it’s not an embarrassing photo or something.” 

You were too busy fixing his mistake to notice the glint that sparkled in his eyes, a smirk growing on his face as your words gave him the most incredible idea he’s had in a while. 

The second time Bucky changed your wallpaper, it was very much not an accident. You left him your phone so he could look at the photos you took on your latest trip, unpacking your bags as he split his attention between listening to your stories and scrolling through a seemingly endless array of new pictures - which he truthfully enjoyed, but he was on a secret mission for the perfect, nondescript one to choose. 

“Again, Buck?” you giggled, flopping on the bed beside him as you took your phone back. 

“What?” he asked, just innocent and clueless enough to not raise any flags. 

“You and your fat thumbs, I swear,” you mumbled under your breath, changing the photos back once more, completely oblivious to his proud little smirk.

It took three more times for you to suspect that Bucky had started doing it on purpose, but your suspicions weren’t proven correct until he took a photo of you to display.

“Did you- when- really?” you stammered as you looked between him and your phone, half annoyed and half impressed because when did he even take this photo? 

He only grinned in response, laughing about how long he was able to do it under the pretense of it being an accident before running away in a fit of giggles, dodging the pillow you threw after him.

From that moment on, it became a game for him. 

Any opportunity that presented itself, Bucky snatched your phone and changed your displays to the most embarrassing and ridiculous photos of yourself.

A sunset was changed to you mid-sneeze. Alpine was changed to you post-nap. You partying with the gang was changed to an extreme close up of your face in that very photo. Louisiana docks were changed to you mid rant as you yelled at him to give you your phone back. A cherry blossom was changed to you passed out on the couch, wrapped up in a hoodie you stole from him and drooling all over the sleeve of it. 

As time went on, you stopped being surprised whenever it happened, and you grew to enjoy it. It was a silly thing, but it was a silly thing that only you and Bucky shared. It was a special thing, a cherished thing. It was your favourite thing.

Neither of you realized how the dynamic between the two of you started morphing into something else right in front of your very eyes. It was slow. It was gradual and complex and delicate and went unnoticed for almost a whole year. 

It was only noticed now, as Bucky took the opportunity to grab your phone as you slept soundly against his chest. It had been a while since he was able to get a chance to do this, and so he eagerly unlocked your phone, already running through different ideas of what picture to use. 

He was caught off guard when the picture staring back at him was from a few weeks ago. It was the day you finally convinced him to let you drive his bike after months of endless asking. It was a photo neither of you knew Sam took until later that night, when he sent it to both of you. 

It was you, sat in front of him on the bike and wrapped up in his arms, one securely planted on either side of you as his hands rested on yours, guiding you through everything as you both gleefully laughed at the fact that you actually managed to convince him to do this. 

For once, Bucky didn’t have the heart to change it. 

He couldn’t. 

It was his wallpaper, too. 

[lcriedlastnight]

Ok so I got a request pls 🙏 🥹

Maybe Oscar's or Max Fs sister and Lando with the prompt "I'm your lockscreen?" - "you weren't supposed to see that"

I hope that's enough if not I can come up with a longer one

no this is so prefect! i love this so much!

tw: fem!reader, swear, lmk if you want me to add anything.

w/c: 933

max was a great brother. he was a little protective but overall he was the best. he had gone round all of his friends, every time he made a new one, telling them you were strictly off limits.

of course this also applied to lando, too. no matter how rich they were, or how famous or how pretty they were. yeah, you maybe had fallen victim to lando norris' charm. you had no idea what it was because he literally had no game, what so ever. you just thought he was cute, it made you feel like a teenager with a crush on your brother's best friend. half of it being true.

you had been looking forward to max's birthday celebrations, not to celebrate his birthday. no but to see his pretty, curly-haired best friend. you had not been this excited in a while. it was a little embarrassing but you just played it off like you were excited to be with your brother. maybe you were a little excited to see him too, you had not actually seen him in a while as he was almost just as bad as lando with being all around the world all the time. you were jealous, you always wanted to travel.

you arrive at max's house just after lando does. you two are the only guests that have arrived so far. seeing as max had asked you both to come a little earlier to help him prepare that did not surprise you. you do not even bother knocking, instead you just walk inside and announce aloud that you were here. you hear a muffled shout from the other room- well two muffled shouts to be exact, alerting you that both boys were in the kitchen. lando's laugh could be heard from a mile away.

max greets you as soon as he notices your presence while lando just stands in place, grinning like a fool. you do not understand him sometimes but you smile back at him anyways, never one to be impolite.

"hi. what exactly do you need help with, max?" you asked, setting your things on the counter so you could help him with the getting ready prospect of the party.

an hour later and you wished you had never bothered responding to your brothers desperate text messages last night, pleading you to come help him set up. both boys had ended up slacking so you had put mostly everything together. max complained "why should i have to set up? it's my birthday." but lando was quick to humble him, "you're the one who decided to throw a last minute party in your own house."

after a lot of of complaining from both boys, they eventually did end up pulling their weight and once all the balloons and banners were set up to max's liking he gave both you and lando the go ahead to begin getting ready. unfortunately because you knew you were getting ready at max's you had to haul a heavy bag full of your makeup and outfit options for the night in a tote bag. on the bright side though, lando offered to carry it up stairs for you and you got to see the way his muscles bulged as he strained to carry the bag.

for some reason lando had refused to leave your side as you got ready, claiming it was relaxing to watch you get ready. how you did not know this boy was down bad for you was unbelievable. he literally offered to let you play music on his phone while yours charged on the opposite side of the room. he watched on with a pretty smile as you scroll through his liked songs on spotify, trying to find the one that sets the mood of how you were currently feeling getting ready.

lando makes small talk as he lays on the guest bed behind you, just catching up with you really, as you follow the steps in your makeup routine. the song catches you off guard but you physically recoil as it plays. "i fucking hate this song!" you exclaim, the pre-game drinks settling in a little. you tap lando's phone screen to change the song when you catch a glimpse at his phone screen. it was a glimpse because it faded to black before you could really study it. you did not need more than a glimpse to recognise your face staring back at you.

"i'm your lock screen?" you ask lando. you turn to face him on the bed, you can see the panic in his eyes as your words register in his mind.

"what?" he laughs lunging for his phone like that would do anything. the damage was done now. you had seen the picture. there was no going back. "that's not- uh."

you smirk as lando tries and fails to dig himself out this.

"you weren't supposed to see that." lando blushes a little. it is the first time you have ever seen lando blush. you suppress the urge to grab your own phone and snap a picture of him, all pink cheeked and starry eyed. maybe you would make it your lock screen.

"it's fine. it's cute. now i want you as my lock screen." you smile at him desperately wanting to calm his nerves. lando just grins at you.

you had then made it that night's mission to take the cutest picture of lando to set as your own lock screen. you succeeded but not without a mouthful from max on what the fuck you thought you were doing.

[jsluvtzu]

who’s protecting who?

park jihyo x fem!reader

summary: in the midst of attempting to keep jihyo from getting hurt, you ultimately forget about yourself

cw: none, men dni

wc: 5k

a/n: first fic in a while hooray!! my friends and i beat the pickleball pandemic and caught the volleyball virus instead, so enjoy this fluffy vb themed fic :p (this might be my longest one yet)

as you finished ringing up the last customer of the usual lunch rush, you felt your phone buzz in your back pocket. hurriedly assuring the customer that their order would be out soon and excusing yourself to the back, you asked your coworker to take over the counter for a bit while you took a small break from standing for so long.

pulling your phone out of your pocket and into your hand, you saw a text message flash across your screen, slightly blocking the lockscreen picture you had of your girlfriend kissing your cheek.

jihyo 🩷

y/nnn i think i wanna try volleyball and learn how to be as good as u :pp

smiling as your eyes flickered between reading her text and reminiscing on the exact moment the photo on your phone was taken, you tapped on the message and replied.

okay love i"ll teach u lol

knowing jihyo had a busy schedule consisting of both work and her 12 different hobbies, you didn't want her to overwhelm herself by taking on yet another one. nonetheless, you were excited to have her join you in something that you've always imagined the two of you doing together.

u sure ur not too busy tho?

it'd been about 2 years since you first picked up the sport as a pastime with a couple friends. eventually it turned into friendly tournaments on the weekends at the local community court with other groups, which then turned into trying out for professional leagues and miraculously making it into one.

jihyo 🩷

i can always make time silly

unfortunately, your break time was now quickly coming to an end, so you rushed to type out a response and carelessly shoved your phone back into your pocket.

we can go after i get off work then :) wear something u can freely move in and put on ur most comfortable shoes. i love u see u soon ml

speedrunning through the last few hours of your shift was excruciating when all you could think about was finally being able to show the girl you loved most how to play the sport you loved most. the anticipation of coaching her into becoming a better player than you made it impossible for you to focus on making a drink as simple as an iced latte.

"oh shit-" you whispered to yourself, realizing that you'd almost overfilled the cup with the caffeinated liquid.

as you clocked out and drove home, you couldn't stop yourself from mindlessly humming and calmly dancing to the music you had playing in your car. your coworkers even stopped to ask you, "what's got you in such a good mood?" multiple times.

and to no surprise, jihyo was already packed and ready to go the minute you opened the door to your shared apartment. the oversized backpack on her shoulders was filled to the brim with snacks and water for the active evening ahead. her sporty outfit was exactly what you'd imagined your girlfriend would wear. a slightly loose fitting muscle tee, athletic leggings, and her new favorite pair of running shoes on her feet to top it all off.

you couldn't help but melt at her eagerness as you took your shoes off and set your keys down onto the table by your shoe rack.

"hi baby," you said amusedly, "you're well prepared i see."

she beamed at you with her doe eyes and hummed in agreement as she skipped towards you to greet you with a kiss. her warm lips made contact with yours in a desperate manner, almost a silent message to relay just how much she'd missed you since you left for work early in the morning. you pulled away just enough to where your lips barely grazed each other, "let me change first and then we can be on our way, okay?" you pecked her lips again and once more to her cheek as you walked away to your shared bedroom to free yourself of your coffee reeking clothes. jihyo quickly set her backpack down onto the couch and followed behind you shortly.

you changed into your team's white long sleeved compression jersey with your custom number on the back; a bright pink "21" for jihyo, of course. soon after, you slid into your spandex shorts and turned your head to the side to see jihyo leaning up against the wall next to you. the sunlight shining through the open blinds accentuated her features perfectly. she was smiling proudly as she watched you morph into a different version of yourself that she only saw at your games.

"what're you looking at.." you said shyly, suddenly feeling self-conscious under your girlfriend's gaze.

she only giggled in response and lifted herself off the wall to fill the room with a loud smacking sound as she slapped your ass and made her way over to your bed, plopping down and facing the ceiling. you immediately let out a loud "oww!!" and rubbed over your burning cheek to soothe it.

"so, who are we playing against today? anyone i should be worried about?" jihyo asked. you walked over to the full-sized mirror in the corner of the room before answering her question, still focused on the stinging pain she left. "hm? oh, actually we aren't playing a real match today. i'm just gonna be showing you the basics and whatnot," you replied, tying your hair into a messy low bun at the same time.

a couple seconds of silence passed, concerning you enough to make you look behind you through the mirror and see your girlfriend who once laid flat down suddenly pin-straight up glaring at you. her posture was something out of a horror movie the way her back was perfectly aligned and her hands were beside her knees. you gulped and almost genuinely got scared until you glanced down to see her feet barely touching the floor. that's when you choked back a laugh at how cute her attempt at intimidating you was.

you finished up doing your hair and walked towards your pouty girlfriend. "what's wrong? why are you making a face like you just came out of one of those insidious movies?” you asked, pulling out a few strands to frame your face.

she whined in response, "i don't wanna learn the basics.. that's so boring. i wanna learn how to really play volleyball. not that kiddie stuff for the youth age group." you reached a hand up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "hey! that 'kiddie stuff' is really important, you know. you can't just go right into spiking without knowing how to hit and jump correctly first," you grumbled. jihyo looked at you confusedly, "..spiking..?" "exactly," you huffed.

jihyo groaned as she launched herself backwards onto the bed, the sheets rustling under her and beginning to surround her as she sunk further into the mattress.

"trust meee, it's for your own safety, love. i just don't want you getting hurt if i let you go right into a game not knowing what to do, that's all. a one-on-one session is always the best option for beginners," you reassured her, grabbing both of her arms and slowly pulling her up towards you. when you heard your girlfriend groan at you again, you realized it could be something else bothering her.

"ohh, or are you just annoyed that you have to be alone with me?? is that what this is??" you asked teasingly. but as soon as she heard that, jihyo stopped her whining immediately and scrunched her eyebrows up in a questioning manner, shaking her head aggressively.

"w-what? no! why would i be not wanna be alone with you! i just wanna be good already! just like.. let me skip the tutorial or something pleaseee," she pleaded. jihyo removed her arms from your grip and wrapped them around your waist, pulling you closer to her. you mockingly nodded your head and sarcastically spewed out "uh huhs" and "mhms" repeatedly, letting your girlfriend continue tightly hugging you and begging you for a free pass.

-

during the whole car ride there, it was impossible for you and jihyo to spend more than 2 seconds without touching each other in some way. whether it be her insisting she hold your hand while she secretly gushed at how attractive you look driving one-handed, or her switching to playing with your fingers while she asked more volleyball questions, or even kissing at each red light, there was never a single moment in that car where you two weren’t expressing your love in a form of touch.

as you pulled into the parking lot of the court complex, jihyo remembered the long nights and hours upon hours you would spend at these courts — it was practically your second home. that thought suddenly worried her that she might’ve been taking away your precious practice hours.

“baby, don’t you have practice today? if you do, you have to focus on that, not teaching me how to play. we can always do that some other time,” jihyo rambled.

you softly laughed at her flustered state knowing that you never told her the season was over yet. “no, love, don’t worry. it’s off-season for now, i don’t have any practices to go to,” you said reassuringly, squeezing her hand in yours to help settle her down. “plus, i would skip out on practice any day if it meant i could be with you.”

she sighed contently as you parked in an empty spot and turned the car off. before jihyo could even reach to click her seatbelt off, you teleported over to her side, opening the door for her and holding your hand out to help her up from your low sedan seats. your girlfriend mewled at the chivalrous gesture, grinning from ear to ear as she peeked her head out of the door. and to make sure she didn’t bump her head against the doorframe, you shielded her head with your hand as she came up.

popping the trunk open, you grabbed your backpack that was filled with volleyball gear and swung it over one shoulder. you made sure to grab jihyo’s as well, throwing hers over your other shoulder.

“you see that building over there with the big 2 painted on it?” you asked, pointing to the right side of the complex, “that’s where we’ll be. it’s a smaller court though since it’s only a practice gym.” jihyo looked in the direction you pointed at and hummed as she took in the size difference from the competition gym on the left and the practice one you mentioned.

while you were leading her to the unlocked doors of the practice court, jihyo kept pestering you to let her help you with one of the bags you were carrying, but of course you never let up. it even got to the point where you accidentally whacked your poor girlfriend with her own snack-filled bag while twisting and turning in protest of her need to help you.

“oh fu- sorry! i’m sorry, it was an accident i swear!” you frantically apologized, pulling jihyo into a messy hug. the heavy bags on your shoulders slipping off your arms as you held her close to you.

jihyo faked a hissy fit and jokingly pushed you away, “no i get it, you just hate me,” she said firmly, turning her head sharply and crossing her arms.

you paid no mind to your girlfriend’s antics, only catching up to her to hold open the door and watch her stomp past you in a sulk.

“i love youuu,” you chuckled.

her reply was barely audible, but you heard her mumble out an “i love you too” back.

-

setting your things down on the floor along the sidelines, you grabbed out an extra pair of knee pads you'd packed for jihyo. "come here love, let me put these on you," you ordered. it was difficult to slide the pads onto her legs with her shoes still on, so you helped her take them off for the time being, placing the pair neatly beside you.

kneeling down in front of her, you gently lifted one of jihyo's legs up at a time, skillfully adjusting the protective pads around her knee and taking extra precaution to make sure her legs were still able to move properly. you then sat back on your knees and admired your work, wondering why you felt like there was something missing.

"hmm.. i think.. i have something else for you to try on too," you pondered, digging through your bag once again to discover an old pair of extra small knee pads that didn't fit you anymore.

standing up with the gear in your hands, you held your girlfriend's forearm out as you stretched the material to enclose around her limb.

you snickered slightly at your spontaneous idea, "these are makeshift elbow pads specially designed for you." the pads were big enough to fit comfortably around her arms, protecting her exposed elbows from any potential harm.

jihyo allowed you to put them on her with no complaint, but soon began her whining when she began to feel the restricting feeling around her arms that was slightly limiting her movement.

"noo y/n, i don't need these. and they're so uncomfy!! i think i would play better without them.." she argued, scratching at the inside of her elbows to relieve the itching it caused.

knowing that your girlfriend was bound to try something outside of her comfort zone once she got into the flow of things, you decided it was the right decision to do everything in your power to help keep her from hurting herself while doing so. "just wear them please ji, i would feel much better seeing those on you," you refuted. it was true. you felt at peace knowing at least your girlfriend's precious joints were protected if not anything else.

she sighed out annoyedly, but ultimately complied to your requests only because she didn't want you to worry about her.

"thank you, my love," you said in satisfaction. you then reached into the cart of volleyballs behind you as jihyo slipped her shoes back on, squeezing a few to determine which one had enough air in it. grabbing the one you felt was best, you warmed up your wrist a bit by dropping the ball in front of you and striking it straight down, catching it once it came back up a couple times.

"okay, so first things first. you're gonna learn how to serve the ball," you said, leading her to the middle of the court facing the net. "the goal is to hit the ball over the net and onto the opponent's side of the court so that they can receive it and keep it in motion," you softly explained, repositioning her arms and legs into the perfect position for a proper serve.

jihyo picked up the skill quickly as you explained each step to her in full detail, making sure to critique her mistakes and show her the better way of executing her moves. within about 15 minutes of the first lesson, your girlfriend was already on her way to becoming the next star player for your team.

once she got at least 3 serves over the net, you decided she was ready to move onto the next step; receiving the ball. you showed her the proper way to hold her arms together and how to position herself under the ball to pass it to a teammate in front of her. you could tell jihyo was a natural at the sport as she was with any other activity she's ever tried.

after about an hour or so, her form was starting to get smoother and her reaction times were getting faster. but your energy needed replenishing and so did hers.

taking a short break together on the bleachers, you both had a water bottle in hand and shared the protein bar that jihyo had prepared earlier.

"do you wanna try peppering with me? i think you could be pretty good at it at this rate," you asked, sensing the way she was getting antsy to move onto something more advanced.

jihyo had no idea what exactly it was that you were asking her about, but she was eager to try it anyways. you put it in simple terms for her, explaining that it was a back and forth process of hitting and receiving the ball to each other. and just like that, hearing that she would be able to play against you in a way got jihyo excited again, the adrenaline giving her more energy than that protein bar ever did.

"okay! let's do it! come on!" jihyo exclaimed, throwing her bottle to the side and skipping back to the court while grabbing the ball. you smiled at how endearing she was and followed her soon enough, joining her across the same side of the court.

after another hour and a half of you two going at it, jihyo was seriously improving with the minimal coaching she had from you. it was honestly impressive how quickly she adapted to the flow of the game, but you expected nothing less of her.

deciding it was alright to push her a little further since she had all the protective gear in the world on, you picked up your pace a bit and spiked the ball harder, giving her less time to react and training her reflexes. obviously, jihyo played along effortlessly, getting herself hyped up by her newfound skill at volleyball. you could hear her cheer for herself everytime she successfully received the ball and sent it back in your direction.

but what you soon failed to realize was that the once amateur jihyo you knew 3 hours ago was gone. her alter ego had now taken over and fueled her with that insane ambition she had hidden away. as your eyes were too focused on watching her in case she fell, you completely failed to see the flying ball coming at your face at the speed of light.

bam.

you don't really remember what happened next, but it seemed like everything was happening in slow motion. the world faded into a quick darkness as you felt something pushing against your face. that's when reality hit. or better yet, that's when you were hit.

jihyo had gotten carried away with her strength and sent the ball directly towards your lovely face with a perfectly executed spike. not knowing she was capable of that, she screamed out in pure terror when she saw your body fall backwards onto the shiny hardwood floor.

"holy shit! y/n!! oh my god, oh my god!? are you okay??!" she panicked, sprinting over to your side and crouching down to lay you onto her lap.

you could only croak out in pain and kept your eyes sealed shut as the bright fluorescent lights above you were too intense to take in at the moment.

jihyo repeatedly muttered out small apologies and cradled you as she looked over your face to see a big red spot that she left across one side.

"y/n, please.. i'm so sorry baby, please talk to me. do you know who i am?! how many fingers am i holding up?? what's your name? how old are you!" jihyo cried in distress. she cupped your cheek and gently tapped it with her thumb to try and get you alert and awake again.

slowly opening your eyes at the feeling of her soft touch, you blinked your eyes slowly as you adjusted to the bright lights, making out the faint figure of your girlfriend in front of you. "i'm fine, ji, don't worry," you whispered in between groans. you reached a hand up to your forehead, feeling the tenderness as you ran your fingers over the surface. wincing slightly, you regained enough composure to inch your way up off of jihyo's lap, her arms coming behind your back to support your body.

"is there anything i can get you? maybe an ice pack or something?" jihyo said meekly. you could tell even through your disoriented state that she was feeling guilty. before you could even think of an answer, you could only bring yourself to thoughts of hurrying up and recovering so you could show her that it’s okay.

"uhh, yeah. yeah, there should be a um- gel pack in the freezer in the uh.. coach's room across the field," you stammered, squinting your eyes closed when the lights became too much again.

with no hesitation, jihyo got up and ran towards the door to follow your directions as you told her where to get the ice pack.

"you stay right there, okay? don't move," jihyo demanded. you could only nod your head weakly, shifting yourself to slowly lay back down on the cold tile beneath you. the sound of the metal door closing behind jihyo reverberated throughout the open space.

the pain across your face was getting worse as time went by, the throbbing you felt on your eyebrow in sync with your heartbeat.

as your mind started to process what just happened, your brain began to flash images of the ball smashing your face in repeatedly, making you cringe at how dumb you probably looked. with your knees propped up and your feet on the ground, you held your hands to your face and rapidly kicked the floor in a temper tantrum, simultaneously wailing at the replaying moment in your head.

you silently cursed yourself out for allowing yourself to be so careless and possibly giving your girlfriend the ick by seeing you get your face contorted with the sheer force of impact.

shooting your body upright, you slid backwards on your hands towards the wall, leaning against it and rummaging through your bag to find your phone. after you found it, you quickly switched to the camera app to check the damage, already sensing how big the knot on your forehead was going to get in the next hour. sure enough, the large red and tender spot on the left side of your face was growing a lump. being in pure disbelief, you moved the camera further away to get your full face in frame, staring at yourself in shame and embarrassment. after a couple more seconds of examining yourself, you could only conjure up a scoff and put your phone down as soon as you heard the door open loudly again.

jihyo, who came in sprinting to your aid with an ice cold gel pack, was leaving a trail of condensation behind her as it was thawing in her hands. once again, you could only think about how dangerous it would be if she were to slip and fall on the water, but the continually throbbing pain on your face was making it difficult for you to speak up and scold her to be careful.

"here, put this on it for now. it should help the swelling go down," jihyo panted, clearly out of breath from running around outside trying to find the coach's office while being worried sick about you at the same time. she ran her thumb over the small bump forming on your eyebrow and cooed at how much pain you must've been in.

she gently pressed the ice pack to your forehead and kept whispering small apologies, her pretty face scrunched into the cutest concerned look you've ever seen. you weren't usually the type of person to like being taken care of like that, but seeing jihyo like this only made you want to get hurt again just to see that look on her face. but looking down slightly at her arms, you couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous she looked with those makeshift elbow pads she still had on.

"what's so funny? do you really think you should be laughing right now?" jihyo reprimanded.

you almost cackled in her face at her sternness, but quickly stopped and winced in pain instead when the pain in your face prevented you from forming a real smile.

jihyo tsked at you and told you to shut up, adjusting the ice pack to cover more area on your skin. "stop moving, would you?" you cleared your throat, "sorry it's just- you look crazy with those elbow pads on," you said, stifling a laugh. suddenly a slap landed on your shoulder which you didn't see coming since jihyo had both of your eyes covered with the ice pack. "don't be annoying right now, y/n. you were the one who made me wear them anyways.."

she took the ice pack off your face to quickly slide the stupid pads off her arms, which she struggled to do. you helped her wiggle them off and threw them to the side as she pressed the cold pack back to your skin again.

"alright, alright," you surrendered. "wait. isn’t it me who’s supposed to be the one mad at you right now? given that you were the one who hit me in the face in the first place.."

your girlfriend paused and rolled her eyes at your smart comment, "why don't you just shut up and hold that to your busted ass face, how about that?" she said sarcastically, grabbing your hand to take over holding the pack against your head.

jihyo was pretending that she was okay by making jokes and getting annoyed at you, but in reality, you knew that she was beating herself up inside with the guilt of getting too carried away and hurting you. she's always wished that her competitiveness wasn't so intense since it could result in someone getting hurt just like you did.

besides the point, jihyo helped you stand up and grabbed your things and hers, sneaking away your keys from your bag's outer pocket with her empty hand.

she linked arms with you while your other arm was stuck covering the left side of your face with the freezing cold pack of blue gel. "let's go home and get you fixed up," jihyo said, reassuring you that she would make you feel all better. "oh, and i'm driving us home," she added, clearly not leaving any room for an argument.

"what? no. i'll drive," you argued anyways.

"y/n are you insane? you can't even see out of one eye right now, angel. i'm driving." jihyo made sure to emphasize the last part to you, unbeknownst to you as she already had your keys in her pocket.

the both of you continued arguing the whole way to the car, jihyo ultimately winning as she managed to get you towards the passenger side. but in the middle of your bickering, a familiar voice stopped you dead in your tracks.

"oh! isn't that?-"

it was the same friend who you ditched earlier with the excuse that you were "too tired" to join her and your other friends in a scrimmage today.

"hi, stacy!" jihyo greeted, waving at your friend enthusiastically.

you hid your face away from stacy as you heard her voice get closer, already expecting her to tease you about your injury.

"hellooo, y/n! what are you guys doing here this late?" she asked innocently, inching her neck downwards to make eye contact with you since you had your head held down. "and- what happened to your face?"

you sighed, knowing there was no escape from this now. "oh i just.. i…" you stuttered, looking to jihyo for help.

she picked up your signal immediately, "oh! that? y/n just fell and hit her head, that's all," jihyo laughed awkwardly.

"uh huhh. so this is why you were 'too tired' to scrim with us tonight then, huh?" stacy asked sarcastically, getting uncomfortably closer to your face.

while snickering, you slapped the gel pack on stacy's face, causing her to wipe her face and gasp out in shock.

"shut up," you teased, playfully pushing your friend away.

after a few minutes of catching up, you three eventually said your goodbyes and waited to see stacy drive off before turning to open the car door.

"wait- what did she mean by you were 'too tired?'" jihyo asked, pulling you back by your arm.

"oh, yeah. i told the group earlier that i was gonna take the day off since i was tired. we were supposed to play a practice match against some teams today, but, i got to spend my time doing something better instead," you said, smiling down at her and admiring the way the moonlight reflected against her glassy eyes, moving a sweaty strand of hair from her forehead.

jihyo couldn't help but pull your face towards hers and smash your lips together, completely forgetting about the fact that your whole face was in the early process of bruising. your eyes widened and you moaned painfully against her lips, attempting to pull away from the grip she had on both of your cheeks.

luckily, she realized it and released you, apologizing hectically once again. "oh shit- oh my god i forgot! i'm sorry baby, you were too cute and i couldn't help myself," she explained.

"haven't you hurt me enough today??" you asked in an annoyed tone. you quickly regretted it though once you saw the pouty look on her face and the way she said she didn't mean to in that little whiny voice.

"i knowww, i know. i'm just teasing you, love," you reassured her, pulling her sweaty body in for another hug.

"you know, maybe you should wear the elbow pads next time. seems like you need them more than i do," jihyo mumbled against your chest.

her comment made you scoff incredulously, "i-" but before you could even formulate a comeback, she opened the car door and forced you into the seat, blocking out whatever you managed to say with ''lalala" and shushes instead.

as she closed the door on you and made her way over to the driver's seat, you sulked into the leather cushion and chuckled at the way the tables turned on you.

turns out you were the one needing the protecting that night.

[berriblossom]

Cold hands and warm love

[Date with Death : Casper x Reader] [i am positively obsessed with this man that he's making write again| spoilers for endings#3 btw and the story.]

There's something so oddly soothing watching Casper sleep with Azrael in his arms, all snuggled up without a care in the world. His ghostly white locks sprawled against your shared bed sheets. His eyes ever so softly flutteribg against his pale cheeks, the rays of sunlight dance across his face, almost creating his own personal golden hour.

You chuckled at the idea. Casper wasn't a huge fan of super bright things. Even when you managed to convince him to walk outside your apartment with you, he dons a pair of black shades and scowls at everything. Now that you think about it, he's even more like a black cat than anything, rather than a sign of bad luck but rather for his sassy attitude and his dislike for certain things.

As you quietly watch from your desk, with your pet sitting in the empty sunny spot of the bed, you think back to how long its been since tou winning the bet and being a somewhat embodiment of life while your sweet little now former Grim Reaper is the opposite.

Goodness, one small picture shouldn't hurt? Besides, Casper can't argue with how many not-so-sly pictures he has taken of you randomly as of late. Even changing his profile pick of you sleeping with Azrael while you napped on your bed after work. He tried fighting it off, saying he mainly picked the picture because Azrael looked so good in it while you just happened to be there....no other reason...(he said this while fighting off a flustered face while gazing back at the picture. He then denied making it his lockscreen too.)

You picked up your phone and began to open the camera feature and angle the camera to get the best picture possible. Hell you even move from the desk to hover slightly over Casper and your pet to get the best angle. "Stay right there pretty boy....just perfect..." you mumbled while snapping a few silent pictures. You went to adjust his snowy hair to move from his beautiful face. Just as you touch his cool face, sleepy red eyes flutter open and the iconic pout appears on the reapers face.

"Sunshine....what are you doing? Why do you have your phone like that..." Casper's eyes flutter as he fights off the sunlight beaming through the blinds, all while his sour pout turns into a playful one. Your pet scatters away while Casper tries to snatch your phone away to see the sneaky pictures you've taken of his sleeping figure.

"Ah ah ah! Nope, absolutely not pretty boy, if you can take pictures then so can I!" You shuffle off the side of the bed while Casper jumps up to grasp your hand and to get those pictures. You tease and weave yourself away from him and the bed, sitting on the edge you laugh at how pouty and upset Casper is.

His frustration only exceeded when you decided to flash him the adorable and beautiful picture of him in his sleeping form. As casper has told you before, reapers do not need to sleep or eat. But the idea that he was so comfy in your blanket and bed, cuddling Azrael closely. It just made you want to tease your little reaper to bits. Though sadly your teasing and fun was put to an end.

Suddenly, you felt two strong cold hands wrap around your torso and squeeze you gently. You could feel Caspers lips against your neck as he mumbked for you to please delete the picture. As adorable and pretty as he could be in those moments...the little rat decided to try and tickle you to get you to give uo your phone.

Luckily you were quick enough to slip from his grasp again(heh get it) and make your way back to your bed while cherishing your sweet victory. "Sorry casp, but you look too good! I might make this my profile picture on the chat room too!" His frustrated groans on embarrassment only fueled your decision.

"Sunshin pleeasseee....just....atleast make it your lockscreeb to while your at it...since you can't stop looking and staring at me. Just can't get enough, silly mortal.." ah his ability to bounce back is incredible as ever. But still it was fun while it lasted. Casper came to join you on the bed while bringing you back close to him...somethibg about "being warm." But you did not mind.

You'll never mind, your soul brings him warmth, his perfect heater if youll say. You chuckle as he scrolls through his camera roll whie trying to find a picture of you(an god awful one) to place as his profile picture on the chatroom. Yeah its going to be a long day. But you never minded.

[tmrwsuns]

(❆⋆.˚) the secret ingredient !

✶⋆.˚꩜ .ᐟ [hirota riki x reader] ...୨♡୧... wc. 2.3k w. curse words! fluff ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ

maki was slightly upset.

well, slightly wasn’t the right word, but he would never admit how upset he was at the fact that his sister had somehow managed to be stuck in the middle of nowhere during christmas eve when they were supposed to carry out their tradition and make their infamous christmas cookies. had she no respect for the art of baking yummy cookies and decorating them like they were being judged by pierre hermé himself?

he scoffed as the thought crossed his head, his arms securely crossed against his chest as a sign of annoyance as he sat on his bed, a random show playing on his screen as he awaited for the only person who could cheer him up at the moment.

you.

maki believed you were some type of magical being, maybe an angel of some sorts. it was the only explanation his mortal little brain could come up with, really. there was nothing else that could make sense as to how much better he felt immediately after seeing you. no matter where he was, the cause of his annoyance, or how upset he was, the moment you walked into the room everything banished. his world was suddenly tinted pink, he could only hear your voice and smell your exquisite cinnamon perfume that matched every single season of the year as if the world only changed in order to not be left behind by your constant, beautiful, evolution.

hell, even thinking about it had already made him feel better.

he hummed softly as he tried to erase the smile off of his lips, the image of your smile that wandered around his head almost making him forget why he was so upset in the first place. what was it about christmas cookies? oh, right! his stupid sister and her abandonment tendencies.

the boy tried to focus back on the show after checking the time on his phone for the eleventh time in the last five minutes as an excuse to look at the pretty picture of you that adorned his lockscreen. how much longer would it take you to get there? he was having withdrawals, and it was his fault for listening to you and not going to pick you up himself like he initially planned.

he should just text you, right? you always said you loved when he was clingy anyways.

just as he picked up his phone again, there was a knock on the door that could not be anyone by you. he stood up a little too fast than he should have, but still ran towards the door as fast as his socked feet allowed him too without slipping even if he was currently seeing colored dots in the air.

“hi babe,” you laughed softly as his body practically slammed into yours, his arms enveloping you and pressing you to his chest in a bear hug. maki swore he could cry when his senses were filled with your scent and your hand tangled in his hair like it always did when he hugged you like that.

“hi, pretty,” he smiled once he broke away from the hug, taking your face in his hands and peppering kisses all over, making sure not to leave a single centimetre unkissed.

“what’s up?” you asked after leaving a small peck on his lips, getting into the house and closing the door behind you. maki almost forgot to answer as he watched you slip off the various layers of clothing that were unnecessary in the heated ambiance of his apartment.

“my sister is still stuck, but outside of that everything is fine,” he muttered, a lovesick smile on his face as he watched you.

“that sucks, i’m sorry,” you sympathized as you took your hand up to his face to caress his cheek, feeling your heart melt at how adorable he was.

“it’s fine, i’m just annoyed that i can’t show you how good our christmas cookies are,” he pouted, looking even more like a puppy than he always did.

“are you sure that’s what you’re upset about?” you asked, an endeared smile adorning your pretty lips.

“what else would it be?” he asked, genuinely confused as he furrowed his eyebrows.

“maybe, just perhaps, you’re upset because you might not spend christmas with your sister this year? you’ve never spent it without her and you have been missing her a lot, haven’t you?” you suggested, looking at him with that softness in your eyes that was characteristic of them when looking at your puppy like boyfriend.

maki thought your words over for a few seconds. you were right about him never spending christmas without his older sister before… also about missing her more lately….

“no, it’s about the cookies,” he concluded, making you roll your eyes affectionately.

“you’re impossible,” you commented, and he felt his heart race at the thought of being able to see the love your eyes harbored everytime they were looking at him.

“but you love me, don’t you?” he asked, even when he knew the answer.

“more than anything,” you smiled and left a quick kiss on his cheek. “now, can we go watch a christmas movie? i’m thinking the grinch,” you said after moving away from him and beginning to walk towards his bedroom. 

maki stood there entranced by the way you walked around his house as if you owned it, as if it were your home, too. it made him think of the future, when his house would have you in it permanently and the aroma of cinnamon lingered naturally in every place you went, not only on the side of the bed you took every time you slept over.

he shook his head softly and followed you into his room, cooing at the sight of you already settled on his bed, remote in hand as you browsed through his tv.

“do i have to send you an invitation through mail or are you gonna join me already?” you asked as you raised your eyebrow, making the boy roll his eyes before jumping into the bed and tugging you close to his chest.

...୨❆୧...

“no way you’re crying, we’ve watched that movie so many time,s” you laughed as maki wiped the tears that ran down his cheeks.

“it’s not my fault you’re heartless, you know,” he complained, playfully pushing you from your shoulder, his strength making you fall on the bed with a laugh.

“aww, my baby is just sooo sensitive,” you cooed teasingly while you moved up, grabbing his face and squeezing his cheeks together.

“you’re so annoying,” he laughed affectionately as he let you squish him as you pleased.

“you love me,” you smiled and kissed his nose “what do you want to do now, my love?”

maki thought about it for a few seconds, weighing his options in his head. “do you want to make cookies?” 

you felt your heartstrings being pulled at the way his eyes softened slightly as he asked. maki was such a gentle soul, and even if he tried to mask it, the fact that his sister wasn’t there to continue their lifelong tradition was breaking his heart a little.

“of course,” you smiled like what you hoped would be reassuring “i might not be as good as your sister, though.”

“don’t even worry about that, i’m the secret to why our cookies are so good, she’s just there for moral support,” he said cockily, making you roll your eyes humorously.

“sure, mister baker,” you patted his head as you stood up, walking to the kitchen and knowing he would follow.

“i’m completely serious,” he insisted, starting to prepare all the materials needed to bake as soon as he got to the kitchen. “the cookies would be nothing without me.”

“whatever floats your boat, maki,” you said, knowing that it annoyed him when you agreed with him like he was a little kid.

“whatever floats your boat, maki,” he mimicked you with a stupidly high pitched voice and a silly tone, sticking his tongue out at you like the child he was.

“you’re so childish,” you muttered, trying to bite back the smile that fought to take place on your lips.

“and what does that make you, huh?” he teased, looking at you with a raised eyebrow “i bet you didn’t think about that one.”

you groaned lightly and decided to ignore him, partly because you had no comeback to that and partly because you were unable to act annoyed when even the slightest thing he did elicited a giant smile from your face.

“let’s start, do you have a recipe?” you asked as you tied your hair up to avoid its intrusion on your field of vision and possibly in the batter you were about to make. you were concentrated in your actions, which led you to miss the way maki looked at you, with a lovesick smile and shiny eyes.

“of course, first we need some flour…”

...୨❆୧...

maybe baking wasn’t your strong suit as a couple.

you had never been very good at the art of baked goods. your skills were limited to measuring the ingredients and maybe cracking an egg that would most likely end up going into the mix with some eggshell along with it. your lack of talent was an issue for the given situation, but at least you had the decency to admit your own uselessness. 

on the other hand, your boyfriend claimed he could make christmas cookies that would join armies, even without his sister being there to “aid him with the utensils”. there would be no issue with him recognizing his skill if he actually had one, but based on the current lack of perfectly shaped cookies and the dough that looked a little too gooey to be edible, maybe he was stretching it a little when he called himself a god.

“you have to trust the process, baby,” he said, for what seemed to be the nine hundredth time in the past hour as he kneaded the slimy dough with his hands. “see, the flour is preventing it from sticking to my hands.” 

the flour wasn’t preventing jack shit, but who were you to tell him that?

“hmm, i see,” you hummed as you watched the dough move along maki’s fingers as if it was store bought slime that had been overused. “and at what part does the dough actually form?”

maki glared at you playfully before sticking his tongue out to you, taking his hands out of the slimy mixture and heading straight for the sink to remove the rest of it off of his hands. “we just need to add more flour, that’s it,” he assured.

once he finished with his hands he turned back around to face you, already aiming to try and salvage the cookies (along with his pride) when a splash of white powder landed on his chest.

“is that enough flour or should i add more?” you asked with a playful smile, and if maki wasn’t too thrown off by your action he would have probably taken his time to properly gush at how attractive you looked in that moment.

“no way you just did that,” he breathed out, still shocked as he watched you with his mouth slightly agape. 

“i’m sorry, mister baker, i misunderstood what you meant by putting more flour into the mixture,” you played innocent, feeling way too smug at your own joke. if you hadn’t been so busy gloating, you would’ve predicted the fist full of flour that collided with your chest a few seconds later. “oh, you’re so on!” you exclaimed as you charged at your boyfriend at full strength, looking for things to throw at him without a single care in the world apart from beating him. the kitchen had already been a mess even before your little food fight had started, and the eggs and cocoa that began being thrown around didn’t help much either.

whatever, you would clean it up later.

...୨❆୧...

“i’m sorry to say this, but those are the fugliest cookies i’ve ever seen in my life,” you commented once maki had taken the batch out of the oven. 

you both stood in front of it, staring wordlessly at the deformed, broken and slightly burnt cookies that rested on the pan. 

“there is no way we did that bad," maki muttered, more to himself than to you as he reflected on what went wrong in the process. he had followed every single rule and instruction perfectly like he had done for years on end, and there wasn’t a single batch that ever end up like this one.

“i’m sorry to break it to you, but we did do that bad,” you chuckled softly.

“maybe the decorations can salvage it?” the boy asked, pointing at the many different candies that stood waiting on the counter to be used as christmas decoration.

“i don’t think anything can salvage them at this point,” you defended, your nose furrowed at the smell of the burnt cookies.

maki sighed in defeat when he heard your words. he knew there was nothing left to do, and now he had to accept that he was not in fact the secret master of the recipe. 

“i´m sorry we couldn’t get them to be perfect." you mumbled, getting closer to him and hugging his torso.

“there’s nothing to say sorry about, baby,” he smiled and hugged you by your shoulders, not caring how dirty your clothes were because of the earlier incident, placing a soft kiss on your forehead. “now we know baking isn’t our forte,” he chuckled and leaned down to steal a quick peck from your lips.

“definitely not, imagine if we had agreed to do the stupid gingerbread house competition…” you giggled as you left a kiss on his shoulder, making maki laugh softly and shook his head.

that’s a disaster waiting to happen.

𐙚 blue's corner ;; my first ever andteam work ! i know many people follow me for xikers content and i promise i will keep it coming but still, the andteam boys deserve it too. this is a part of the love actually series that i'm doing with both my blogs, so be sure to check it out ! 𐙚 taglist ;; @tiramisumin @astrasng @chiiyuuvv @nicholasluvbot 𐙚 back to the masterlist. 𐙚 please do not copy, adapt or steal any of the content !!!

© tmrwsuns, 2024

[woso-dreamzzz]

Questions

Aitana Bonmatí x Codina!Reader

Summary: You vs Carla the social media manager

You see her coming, eyes wide in fear.

Your teammates haven't seen her yet, wrapped up in their own conversations.

You turn to go but Lucy's got an arm thrown over your shoulder, wrapped tightly around you like an iron bar.

You try to wiggle out of it but you can't.

"Girls," Carla says as she approaches, phone already out to capture content," What's your phone lockscreen?"

You breath a sigh of relief that it's a tame question.

You never quite knew what Carla wanted from you so you thought it best to just ignore her sometimes.

"Me and my sisters," You say plainly.

"Can we see it?"

You think for a moment. "No."

You walk off.

"Oh! Come on, y/n!"

You laugh as you go, waving teasingly as Lucy's caught showing her own lockscreen to the camera.

Carla is your frenemy. You're not the happiest on camera. You don't really enjoy being put on camera and asked silly questions. You're never quite sure how to respond or what kind of response she wants from you.

Carla knows this and you both like to make it a game to see how many times she can catch you out each week.

You're winning at the moment, escaping from her nine times out of ten this week including a fairly daring escape where you leapt over the barriers and climbed the fence to get away from her.

She filmed that too and it circulated through the staff and team groupchat. Someone even sent it to Laia in England so she called you just two nights ago to laugh at you.

But, still, she kind of caught you this time and you're not going to be happy about it.

"Carla get you?" Aitana laughs as you enter the locker room with a frown on your face.

You huff. "I don't want to talk about it."

It's a little embarrassing to talk about it with Aitana. You've been crushing on her for years at this point and you know it's mutual too.

Just neither of you has made the first move yet. This dancing around each other is so you and Aitana that you're not too sure why you would change it.

Aitana can be the one to make the first move.

"You know," She says," You can just admit defeat."

You scoff. "It's almost like you don't know me at all. The day Carla gets me to admit defeat is the day that you finally go on a date with me."

Aitana laughs, winking. "Maybe you should hurry up and admit defeat then."

Your mouth falls open. "Wait, are you being serious?"

Aitana grins, a soft kiss being pressed to your cheek as she disappears out of the room. "Am I?"

You don't have much time to dwell on Aitana's words because training starts and by the time you get home, you've all but forgotten about them.

Your life is blissfully Carla free in the coming days and she doesn't resurface again until Thursday, when you're walking in with Aitana talking to you, one hand around your arm as the other is used to gesture about what's got her so excited.

You spot Carla make a beeline for you and you know that you can't do one of your daring escapes again unless you want to shove Aitana away and you never want to do that.

So, you stay with her and admit defeat to Carla for once in your life.

"Which team member would you not let date your daughter?" She asks and you sigh.

"Er..." Aitana says," Maybe Cata."

"And you, y/n?"

You shrug. "Aitana. Because my daughter can't date their other mother."

Carla laughs, lapping up your answers before sending you both on your way.

Aitana's frowning though and you bump her with your hip.

"Something wrong?"

"Did you mean it? About your kid not dating me?"

"Our kid," You correct with a shrug," Besides, I allowed Carla to ask me a question. I think this means you owe me a date."

Aitana rolls her eyes. "Pick me up at seven. I'd like dinner at some place fancy."

You grin. "You got it."

[kortac-sweetheart]

good morning im thinking abt horangi today

i think whether he’s your bestie or your partner he’s your #1 hype man for (almost) whatever you want to do! he’ll encourage you to chase your dreams and be unafraid of falling because he’ll always be there to catch you.

(except for gambling, he will always try and dissuade you from it. it’s also why he hates gacha games i think, “you don’t even get money if you win? what’s the point then?”)

if he’s taking a liking to you then congrats he’s your new tiger bestie.

restaurant got your order wrong? he’s calling someone over immediately.

(walking, talking embodiment of “THEY ASKED FOR NO PICKLES”)

you feel like you don’t look good in your outfit? he’s hyping you up! gives genuine compliments on how it fits you and how the color suits you. but if that doesn’t work, he’s chill about it, he can always buy something else that you feel good in.

someone’s mean to you? good lord, horangi is not afraid to tear the perp a new one before walking away, fuming, with you in hand.

he’s very comfy around you if you’re like könig, he doesn’t mind standing up for you at all, it comes second nature to him. buuuuut— if you actually do stand up for yourself he’ll be so proud of you!

“wow! good for you 자기야! seems like i’m rubbing off on you eh? we should hang out even more then haha!”

said with a big slap on your back before he pulls you into a tight side hug.

likes getting matching things with you, yeah he knows that he should avoid looking around the in trinket shop he knows you like but he couldn’t resist.

matching rings? done.

matching earrings? of course!

matching tiger keychains? absolute no brainer.

from the outside it looks like tigers are your new favorite animal thanks to horangi. (and maybe they are becoming your favorite because of him)

listen, i will die on the hill that if you cook korean food for him he’ll want to marry you on the spot. sorry, not sorry, he misses his home and the taste of it everyday. if you bring him a little slice of home then he’ll begin to associate you with home.

the first time you handed over a bunch of home made kimchi you made yourself, he stood there stock still for at least a few seconds. (brain rewiring itself) before running over to you and pulling you into a big hug and sloppy kiss on your temple.

always, always looks forward to saturdays when you and him spend cooking new dishes to share. (it’s almost like a date) he’s always so upset when he has to cancel because of work, but when you show up on base with his share of it (plus side dishes), he looks at you like you hung all the stars in the sky.

one saturday he invites you over to his place instead, and when you show up he’s already finished cooking and plating your favorite food from your cultural background. you’ve never seen him so nervous before, trying to hold back from saying something before letting out an annoyed sigh (not at you, never at you.)

“자기, i— i love you! will you be my partner?” he’s on the verge of passing out from anxiety and excitement in his seat, poor man. please end his misery and seal the deal with a big kiss on his lips.

after you two official become partners nothing about your dynamic really changes too heavily, except for the increased use of pet names and pda. everyone on base knows that you’re together even he never officially says it aloud, his lockscreen is you of course. he’s calling you everyday and always referring to you as 자기, 여보, 애인, 내꺼, etc. sorry, you’re never hearing your name fall from his lips ever again (unless he’s being super serious).

if that wasn’t enough, there’s always one thing on his person that matches you. every single day, without fail his rings, earrings, keychain, shirt, etc. will match with yours.

he always loves the daily texts/photos you send him too, to keep him updated about the daily happenings in your life— keeps him grounded and gives him something to look forward too.

doesn’t send photos as much as you do, there’s not much beauty to be found on military bases after all. but will send you the occasional cute animal on base and obviously post gym pics.

(has you saved as 자기야♥ on his phone! he loves you very very much)

[megalony]

Pretty Please

This is a new Eddie x Buck x Reader imagine I've come up with, based on a few different requests I've gotten. I should be doing a follow up part to this if anyone is interested. Any feedback would be amazing.

Taglist: @lunaticspoem@butlegendsneverdie@langdonzvoid@jennyggggrrr@rogmeddows@radiob-l-a-hblah@rogertaylorsbitontheside@chlobo6@rogertaylors-lipgloss@sj-thefanthefan@omgitsearly@luckytrashgooprebel@scarsout@deaky-with-a-c@killer-queen-ofrhye@bluutac@vousmemanqueez-blog@jonesyaddiction@milanosaurus@httpfandxms@saint-hardy@7-seas-of-fat-bottomed-girls@mrsalwayswritex @rogerina-owns-me  @hellsdragon@im-an-adult-ish@crazylittlethingg@allauraleigh@onceuponadetectivedemigod@ceres27@avyannadawn@noonenuts@sleepylunarwolf@coverupps@justagirlthatlovedtoread @musicistheway @avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @luula @missdreamofendless @bradleybeachbabe @woderfulkawaii @topguncultleader @amberpanda99 @daggersquadphantom @marvel-and-chicago-fan @angryknightstatesmantrash @minjix @lyjen

911 Masterlist

Summary: Eddie and Evan used to be single parents, but not anymore. Now, alongside (Y/n), they're co-parenting their kids, Chris and Lottie, and are about to move in together.

Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you okay? You've been looking at your phone every five minutes," Evan pushed his weight down onto the pull-up bar, swaying his feet back and forth in the air for a few seconds before he dropped down to the floor.

"I'm just… my boy likes it when I pick him up from school, and I'm not, so,"

A gentle smile formed on Evan's lips as he watched Eddie wave his hands about before he settled them back on his thighs and stared down at his phone. It was a look Evan had worn quite a few times over the past year, one he wasn't used to seeing on anyone else.

"So, you're hovering?"

"I guess. He's got a new home and a new school, and now it's not always me getting him from school. It's a lot to get used to, and it's just us now." Eddie tried to smile but he couldn't find it in himself to do so, it was too hard contorting too many muscles when all he wanted to do was sigh and go home. "Doing this alone ain't great- I don't expect you to understand,"

Pulling away from the weights, Evan wiped his hands on the towel before he plonked himself down next to Eddie on the bench in the gym. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, tilting his head to the side to look at his new work partner with a perplexed look.

"You're not the only single dad here, you know." Evan tried really hard to keep the snarky tone out of his voice but he couldn't quite manage it.

Something inside him told him to be protective, put his defences up around someone new. Someone who didn't know Evan like the rest of the team. But if they were going to be partners, they may as well open up and share a few things.

"You have kids?"

Evan reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone, tilting it so Eddie could see his lockscreen. "That's my baby girl," A calmer, more soothing tone came to Evan's voice and he cracked a smile when he looked at the picture. It was a more recent picture, he had only just changed the lockscreen. For the past year and a half the picture had been the same. The picture Maddie took of Evan the first time he held Lottie.

Now she was a bit older, Evan finally changed the photo to a selfie of them both where he finally got her to grin at the screen after almost twenty minutes of trying to take a good photo of them both.

"She's sweet… sorry, I uh, I didn't think you…" Whatever way Eddie worded it, he was going to sound rude. When he looked at Evan, he didn't think of him as a dad, but then again people probably thought the same thing when they looked at Eddie.

"No one here believed me when I told them, either. And I get it, being here is hard when you just wanna be home, and when you're all they have… it's tough."

Part of Evan still had a tiny, miniscule bit of anger towards the team, despite how much he loved them all like his own family. He was angry that after working with them for three months, none of them took him seriously when he said he was going to have a baby. And Evan understood why. He had fucked around a lot since before he started at the 118 station and he couldn't remember half the girls he slept with.

So when Leigh turned up on his doorstep and said she was pregnant, Evan hadn't been as thrilled as he should have been.

But he thought the team would have been more considerate and he had blown up when they acted like it was a joke.

"Her mum's not in the picture?"

"Nah, I'll admit I wasn't great at the time, I fucked around and I thought I was careful… Lottie proved me wrong though." He clasped his hands together in his lap and bowed his head. "My ex wasn't happy. And you know I tried, I went to the scans, I sorted my shit out and I was there when Lottie was born. But Leigh left. She seemed to take one look and just… just decided she didn't want her. But I did."

Evan knew if Leigh had the choice, she wouldn't have chosen Evan to be her baby's father. He barely remembered her name when she showed up on his doorstep, he didn't even remember that he'd brought her back to his apartment- more than once.

From the moment she told him, Evan cleaned up his act. He tried harder at work, he stopped sleeping around from the moment Leigh showed up. He attended all her appointments and he had been there when Lottie was born. Maddie made him do a DNA test, she didn't trust Leigh but when it came back positive Evan didn't care. It could have said he wasn't Lottie's father and he would have kept her anyway.

When she was in his arms, his world slotted into place. And Leigh's world fell apart.

"One week later I had sole custody and I haven't seen her since."

It had been the right thing for all of them. Evan wanted his daughter, Leigh didn't and they just drifted immediately. After one week, Leigh was certain a baby wasn't what she wanted in her life. She signed all the papers and Evan didn't have a contact number or a forwarding adress, and that was how he wanted it. If she didn't want contact, Evan would make sure Lottie knew that all she needed was him and her aunt Maddie. No one else mattered.

It was just the two of them against the world.

"Buck?" A tender smile flitted across Eddie's lips as he leaned over the back of the sofa and looked down at his partner. He clasped both hands on Evan's shoulders and pressed a kiss to his temple, jolting him back to the waking world. "If you need some sleep, go in the bunker room."

"I- no, that was a two minute power nap, I'm good." He groaned through the words as he pushed himself up so he was sitting upright instead of slouched down on the sofa. He had barely nodded off for five minutes, his watch proved it. He didn't mean to fall asleep, he just got comfy, slid down and then he was out.

"Aren't you getting enough sleep at home?" Eddie jested as he slouched down next to him on the sofa and took a gulp of coffee.

"Not when Lottie's coughing her lungs up in my ear I don't."

He usually slept like a log and Lottie was at the stage of sleeping fine through the night. Until four days ago, when she got a chest infection. Since their trip to the doctor, Lottie had been sleeping in Evan's bed and she only managed to sleep when he wrapped her up in his arms and snuggled her against his chest with a blanket. And then she would cough and splutter and wake herself up, going into fits of tears.

She fell asleep properly just two hours before their morning alarm and screamed when Evan told her he had to go to work and she was going to spend the day with Maddie.

He hated leaving her when she wasn't well and she made it impossible for him to leave. Now he was regretting not calling in sick and just spending the day in bed with Lottie. It would have calmed his raging nerves to know that she was tucked up safe with him and that she was alright. Being at work just made him panic that she was getting worse without him there beside her.

"Chris used to get a lot of infections. In the end he'd just spend hours in the bath, the hot water worked best for him."

"Do you remember the last time you were round my house at bath time? My daughter somehow believes she'll get sucked down the drain." Evan had never heard his daughter scream as much as she did when bath time was over and it wasn't even in a tantrum or protest.

Lottie had a horrible fear of going down the plug, she thought as soon as the water started to disappear that she would also get pulled down the drain and be lost in the pipes forever. Either Evan had to get her out the bath first, or he pulled the plug and risked her launching herself on him and harming them both so she could get out as quickly as possible.

And she wasn't even three years old yet.

"Then it's a good job my place has a shower," Eddie grinned around his coffee cup and drained the last drops while he jabbed his elbow into Evan's side in jest.

In about two weeks, Evan, Lottie and their partner (Y/n) would be moving in with Eddie and Chris. It was going to be a big step for all of them and a change for the kids.

Chris couldn't remember the time when his parents had lived together, it had been years and he was only a toddler when Eddie and Shannon split up. And for Lottie, all she knew was Evan. No one else had ever lived with them, she had her dad and that was it. Now, Lottie was going to go from having one parent to gaining two more. She adored Eddie and she seemed to attach to (Y/n) whenever they were in the same room, but living together was a new experience for everyone.

Eddie's last relationship was his marriage and that ended horribly. (Y/n)'s previous relationship hadn't been enjoyable and she had never lived with any of her partners before. And Evan had lived with only one girlfriend before and that had lasted all of three months before he found out about Lottie and the relationship ended on the spot.

All three of them were praying this move would be the right choice for everyone and that it would go smoothly.

"Buck… I think you have some visitors,"

Evan's hand found Eddie's knee and he gave a light squeeze before he leaned his head over the cushion, rapidly looking around to see where Bobby was. He found the Captain at the top of the stairs, smiling as he pointed over his shoulder to signal where the visitors were.

He could feel himself livening up as he jumped up from the sofa and headed over to the stairs. There weren't many people it could be visiting him and he had a sneaking suspicion it was his daughter. A bubble of panic burst to life along with adrenaline in Evan's stomach at the thought of it being Maddie and Lottie turning up. That had to mean Lottie was getting worse if Maddie was bringing her down to the station to see him.

He scooted past Bobby, trying not to trip as he hurried down the stairs towards his sister who was just walking past one of the trucks.

She was smiling at him which was a good sign and calmed down one of Evan's many nerves. She had Lottie's bag on her shoulder and the two year old bouncing on her hip, clinging to her as she coughed into Maddie's neck.

"Hi babygirl,"

The moment Lottie registered Evan's voice cooing at her, she lifted her head and her pale lips pulled into a smile, briefly obscured by another cough. She stretched her arms out and whined, bashing her feet into Maddie's stomach and back until Evan was close enough to scoop her up.

He flashed his pearly whites, grinning like a shark when he picked her up and reeled her into his chest like a fish on a hook. His large hand smoothed up and down Lottie's back, rubbing soothing circles to try and help ease her cough. Evan could feel her nimble fingers scrunching up in his shirt and she smothered her face against his exposed neck, bending his collar out of her way so she could breathe crackling breaths into his neck.

"Poor baby," Evan mused with his lips meshed into her wild sandy curls that resembled his own. His nose ruffled her curls and he turned his head, squishing his cheek against the top of her head as he started to sway her side to side.

When his eyes locked on his sister, he could see the exhaustion on her face and it made him feel bad. He definitely shouldn't have come to work today. Lottie played up for anyone but Evan when she was ill. If she was her usual self, she would be a Godsend, never made trouble or put a toe out of line and she loved spending time with Maddie. Just not if she was sick.

"How's she been?" He wasn't sure he dare ask and when Maddie pursed her lips and raised a brow, Evan winced.

"Mostly coughing and crying which wasn't a problem at all… it was the screaming when I tried to use this that nearly made her pass out." Fumbling around in her bag, Maddie found the inhaler and spacer that had caused such havoc between her and her niece.

"Oh dear."

When Evan took Lottie to the doctors a few days ago, they could see how congested she was and how hard she was finding it to breathe. So the nurse suggested trying an inhaler but with how young she was, she would need a spacer to go along with it.

A spacer was a plastic tube that the inhaler slotted onto and once the inhaler was pressed, the tube spaced out the steroids so Lottie could inhale it much slower rather than one bout of medicine all at once.

But it did look frightening. She barely let Evan use it with her and when Maddie tried, all she did was scream and say her aunt was being mean. She acted as if Maddie was trying to hit her with it or as if it was full of poison that would kill her instead of make her feel better.

She needed to use it to feel better, she had barely been breathing due to coughing so much. And when she started to scream, her little face went red and she fell down, lightheaded and close to passing out. The only thing Maddie could think of doing was bringing her to the station to see if Evan- or possibly Eddie- could get Lottie to use it. He always managed to calm her down and she knew an hour with him would settle her enough until he finally came home from shift.

"Pass it over, I'll give it a try." He leaned his chest back, tilting Lottie further into his chest so he could reach out and take the inhaler and spacer. Hiding it behind his thigh so Lottie wouldn't see. "Come on baby, let's go watch tv while Maddie gets a drink."

Evan looked over at Chimney, then back at his sister. He knew if he took Lottie for a bit and gave Maddie a break, she could have a drink with Chimney while Evan tried to work his magic on his daughter.

He kept his lips pressed to Lottie's head, smiling to himself when she started to mumble 'daddy' over and over into his neck. His eyes locked with Eddie when he got upstairs but the moment Eddie clocked onto the inhaler, he whistled and raised a brow as he passed to go towards the kitchen. On his way past, Eddie pressed a quick kiss to Lottie's temple, muttering a round of 'good luck' to Evan on his way past.

"You're not sitting with them?" Hen leaned around Eddie as she watched Evan move towards the sofa in front of the tv that was blaring out the latest news. She thought Eddie would have sat with them and made the most of Lottie's visit before they had to get on with their work.

"Oh I'll be able to hear her scream just fine from over here," He dumped his cup in the sink and leaned his forearms down on the kitchen counter. Arching his back out as he looked over at his partner across the kitchen. He wasn't standing close if Lottie was going to try and use her inhaler.

When Evan first tried to get her to use it, Eddie had been on the phone and Lottie had screamed so much Eddie thought he had gone deaf. He heard her call Evan a meanie and cry and wheeze until Evan was almost crying that she was about to turn red.

Eddie would rather wait until Evan had tried his luck with the inhaler before he went to sit with them for a little while.

"Alright babygirl, deep breath for me." Evan sat down on the sofa, hiding the inhaler behind his feet as he perched Lottie on his lap. He pressed a hand to her back and one to her chest, feeling her crackling lungs when she tried to inhale deeply, ending in a cough.

Lottie tilted her head back to look up at Evan, wheezing and tensing her shoulders to try and smother another cough. Her eyes were already watering from the need to cough and she looked paler than she had this morning when he left her. Just looking at his poorly girl made guilt rack up in Evan's stomach and sent him reeling.

"Alright baby, you need to have some medicine."

Evan pursed his lips as he glanced over his shoulder, catching sight of Hen, Bobby and Eddie all looking at him with smiles and nodding his way. They weren't going to help, only spectate.

He lifted Lottie up and set her down next to him so he could slide off the sofa and kneel down on the floor in front of her instead. She tucked her legs up beneath her and held onto her little legs, leaning back and forth as she continued to cough and croak. Her tiny button nose crinkled at the end and she shivered.

Her little eyes stayed closed for a few moments which was long enough for Evan to clip the inhaler into the spacer but once Lottie opened her eyes, she paled and leaned back.

"No! No daddy."

Evan predicted Lottie would try to swat at the spacer which was why he held it up above his head, out of her reach. He held his free hand out and gently grabbed her hand as he shook his head.

"Hey now, I thought you liked magic?"

"S'not magic. Nasty, don't want it,"

"It is magic because it will help you breathe better. Come on, be a big girl. Look, I can do it." Evan pretended to press the inhaler and pressed the spacer against his nose and mouth. The last thing he wanted was a deep breath of steroids he didn't need but he would happily play pretend if it got Lottie to go along with him.

He told her it was a toy when she first saw it and pretended to speak into it so she would do the same. But when he pressed the inhaler and she took a deep breath, it tickled her throat and made her chest ignite. It helped, she had enough air to scream at Evan and she didn't trust him after that. Every day since, Evan had to bribe her to try and use it and it was trial and error with her.

Lottie shook her head and leaned as far back into the sofa as she could until Evan reached his arm around her and pulled her back towards him.

"No!"

Eddie winced and hid his grimace behind his hands that were clasped together in front of his face. He could see the pain in Evan's eyes from this distance when Lottie tried to scream but all she ended up doing was slouching forward with a horrid gargling cough.

"Please babygirl? Come on, where's Lottie gone?" For a brief moment, Evan pressed the spacer near his eye, acting as if it was a binocular he was trying to look through.

That was enough encouragement for Lottie to lean closer, apprehension vivid in her eyes but when Evan asked where she was, curiosity got the better of her.

As quick as anything, Evan pressed the inhaler and puffed out his chest, trying to get Lottie to copy him and take a deep breath. He held his breath and puffed out his cheeks that curved into a grin when Lottie tried to breathe into the tube. Her eyes snapped closed and her small fingers scratched into Evan's arm as she tilted her chin down into her chest and squirmed. The deeper breath she took, the more her chest hurt and tickled and it felt like something was physically expanding her lungs for her.

But it helped. She coughed before taking a crackling breath and itching around in Evan's arm until she could push the spacer away. Her head flopped forward onto Evan's shoulder and she curled her arms around his bicep, clinging to him as she took deep breaths.

She felt his arm coil around her waist and his large hand engulfed her hip so he could pull her up into his chest while he kissed the back of her head.

"See? You're so brave. One more for me, just one more then you can go see Eddie, hmm?"

Evan balanced on his heels, feeling a pain burning in the back of his calves from crouching for so long, shifting from his toes to his heels. He kept his left arm around Lottie, holding her against his chest and shoulder and wrapped his right arm around his front until the spacer was near her face. He would gladly cuddle her and hold her close if she would try the spacer again. If he could get her to use it tonight before she went to bed it might help them both sleep better.

She tilted her head from side to side, grumbling and whimpering until Evan pressed the inhaler and held it as close to her nose and mouth as he could manage.

It didn't quite cover her mouth properly and Lottie clenched her hand around Evan's hand that held the spacer, preventing it from completely pressing into her face. She breathed as quickly as she could, inhaling half of the air she was supposed to from the spacer but it was enough for now.

"That's my baby, all done. Good girl," Evan placed the spacer down on the coffee table behind him before he scooped Lottie up in his arms and stood up.

He let her bury her face between his shoulder and chest and curl her legs around his broad chest. Her arms tightly cocooned around his neck until Evan had no choice but to lean forward or have his neck snapped. He kissed the top of her head and pressed his free hand to the back of her neck, smoothing his thumb up and down her cheek as he walked over towards the kitchen.

"See? Didn't I tell you she was brave?" Evan bounced her on his hip, raising a brow when Eddie reached forward to take her. He wasn't so eager when she was screaming but as soon as she returned to the little doe-eyed girl, Eddie was all for her.

"Hi Lottie-cake," Eddie kissed the top of her head, wearing a broad grin when she easily slid from Evan's arms and into his.

He missed having a toddler. He had missed out on a lot of Chris's early childhood and it had taken a lot of trial and error after Shannon left, but Eddie wouldn't have it any other way. Getting together with Evan and (Y/n) had been one of the best things to happen to Eddie. And he got another child in this new relationship. A little girl to spoil, which was exactly how everyone felt when they met Lottie.

"And she's asleep." Eddie wasn't sure whether he was insulted or proud as he looked down and realised her eyes were closed and she was breathing evenly into his neck. He could feel how croaky she was and little grumbles and huffs left her lips every now and then, but she seemed very settled.

"Can you stay like that for the rest of the day? Pretty please?" Evan slumped himself down onto the counter and ran his fingers through his hair while he looked lovingly over at his boyfriend.

Couldn't Eddie just stay at the station for the remainder of their shift and hold Lottie? If she was sleeping in his arms like that, she might just get a good rest and feel a bit better. She would wake up as soon as Eddie let her go and when she realised Maddie would be taking her home soon, she would start crying and screaming again.

"I wish. Go sweet-talk Cap and see what he says," A proud smile lit up Eddie's face and he leaned his hips back against the counter, smoothing his free hand through Lottie's mess of curls. He couldn't resist kissing her head and he started slowly swaying from side to side, lightly bouncing Lottie in the crook of his elbow to try and keep her settled and drifting off to sleep.

Evan knew one thing for certain, he wouldn't be at work for the rest of the week if she continued to be this sick.

***

Eddie hummed a quiet tune at the back of his throat to try and keep himself awake, but he could feel his eyelids flagging and his view of the bathroom was starting to blur and become obscured.

He coughed and let out a small grunt before he went back to humming and looked down at the little girl in his arms. Every few seconds, Eddie jostled his arms up and down, moving Lottie up and down while he kissed the back of her head and hummed into her hair.

He trailed his lips down to kiss her cheek and tilted his neck so he could check and see if she was still awake or not. She had suddenly gone rather quiet in his arms.

It had to be sometime around one in the morning.

This was the first time Evan, Lottie and (Y/n) were staying the night with Eddie and Chris. They were all moving in next week so they were doing a trial run for two nights to try and get the kids used to being under the same roof and see how things went.

The night would have gone a lot smoother if Lottie still wasn't down with a chest infection. She loved her room here which was almost finished and she had been so tired she fell asleep during the movie with them all in the living room. Evan put her to bed and every hour or so, one of them checked in on her.

The three of them actually managed to go to bed and get two hours sleep. Then Lottie woke up.

She had been crying and coughing so Eddie gave her some medicine but she suddenly started to croak and wheeze and then she could barely breathe. He had resorted to the bathroom to try something new. Eddie filled the sink with boiling water, put some vapour drops in the water, lathered Lottie in vapour cream to try and clear her airways. And now he was holding her over the sink, getting her to breathe in the steam to clear her chest.

He thought she would scream at him like she did with the inhaler, but the steam seemed to help straight away. Her coughing got worse but in a good way, it was deeper and allowed her to take proper breaths.

Almost twenty minutes Eddie had been doubled over the sink with Lottie in his arms and he felt like he could sleep standing up. But she was keeping him awake on his toes, if he stopped bouncing her in his arms for more than ten seconds, she would whine and bat at his hand to make him continue.

"Atta girl Lottie-cake." He spoke quietly, grinning when he realised she was asleep. Her head lolled onto his bicep and she snuffled, croaking as she dozed off in his arms.

As gently as he could, Eddie lifted her and turned her around in his arms until she was settled on his chest. Her head fell just beneath his chin and she slumped against his upper chest with her palm pressed over his collar bone. Eddie left the sink full and turned off the light, he was too tired to deal with it now when he could tidy up in the morning. After they all got some sleep.

"You can come sleep with us," Eddie kissed the top of her head and made his way to his room. He knew what would happen if he put Lottie down. She wasn't fully asleep yet and if he woke her whilst trying to put her in her own bed, she would start to cry. It would be easier to let her stay with them tonight and try her in her new room again tomorrow.

When Eddie padded back into his room, he carefully eased himself back down onto the bed, making sure Lottie stayed motionless against his chest. He laid out on his back next to (Y/n), inhaling slowly to adjust to the new weight on his chest. Lottie snuggled up until her head was pressed right beneath his chin near his Adam's apple and her arms secured around his neck to keep him close as if he was going to try and escape.

A smile worked its way onto his face when (Y/n) pressed her face up into his shoulder and draped her leg over his, rubbing her foot against his lower leg.

"Goodnight,"

***

"Come on, breakfast is ready!"

Evan jolted forward when a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and nudged him until he moved off balance. His eyes snapped open and he gasped as he rolled from his side and onto Eddie's chest, promptly scaring his partner awake in the process.

"Breakfast!" Chris whined again, nudging Evan until he groaned and ran a hand up and down his face to try and wake himself up.

"W-what time is it?"

"Where's Lottie?" Evan pressed a hand against Eddie's chest and pushed himself up until he could sit up in bed. He ran his fingers through his hair while he looked around the bedroom. Early in the morning he remembered Eddie going to check on Lottie so he and (Y/n) didn't have to and an hour after that, Eddie found Lottie snuggled in bed with them.

Every now and then when she coughed, Evan had reached out to rub his hand up and down her back or kiss her temple if he could reach her. She had climbed over all three of them, moving between who she wanted to lay with.

When Evan's words sank in, Eddie's hands moved to his chest that suddenly felt light and empty. Lottie kept coming back to lay on him during the night, he hadn't realised she had left the room. And so had (Y/n).

"They're making breakfast."

"Alright, we're coming," Eddie pushed up, stretched his arms above his head and climbed out of bed behind Evan. It seemed like the girls had gotten up and got breakfast sorted while the rest of them stayed in bed. Chris's hair was all over the place and he was still in his pyjamas.

A grin took over Evan's features when he padded into the kitchen, still rubbing his hands over his eyes to wake himself up.

There was Lottie, perched on the kitchen counter beside the fridge, a teddy in her arms and (Y/n) stood beside her with a spatula in hand and plates of food all served up around her.

"Morning girls, what are we making?" Evan wrapped an arm around (Y/n)'s waist and reeled her into his side like a fish on a hook. His bare chest pressed up into her back and he tucked his face into her neck, pressing a tender kiss there just to feel her shiver against him.

His free hand moved out to cup Lottie's chin and he brushed his thumb across her cheek, smiling when she grinned up at him.

"Bacon and eggs."

"Buck… aren't you forgetting something?" A smirk flooded Eddie's face as he picked Chris up for a morning hug and leaned across to put the kettle on to make some coffee. He watched his partner tilt his head and frown in confusion that mixed in with tiredness.

Reaching out, Eddie grabbed the spacer and inhaler from the counter and waved it over at him. He grinned when Evan's jaw slacked and his shoulders slumped before he dropped his face back into the crook of (Y/n)'s neck and curled around her like he was pretending to disappear.

Morning and evening, Lottie needed to be encouraged to use the spacer until her infection cleared and she wouldn't let anyone but Evan use it.

He smiled shyly into (Y/n)'s neck when she turned her head to press a gentle, wet kiss to his forehead. They all knew he needed to be more awake and alert if he was going to bribe his daughter to take her inhaler. Breakfast would have to come first to ensure he woke up.

He was glad they all had the next three days off together.