#also wanted to change her eyes a tiny bit. i think she might be cuter this way but idkkk.. wat do we think

[bunnykitty13]

soooo out of practice with my wacom but i want to use it more >_< so i doodled an evangeline

[crimsonkenjii-writes]

heyy it's the giyuu simp hiding in your request box ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ mind if i sneak in another request :> just gonna slide this with a belated valentines day card

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may i request a giyuu x reader headcanons? where its just giyuu and the reader living a peacefull and happy life with their kids, just fluff of how their every day life goes and giyuu with his kids :D maybe even some headcanons of the other pillars meeting the kids and his s/o (feel free to change the idea ofcc i don't mind if you write it at all (~^.^)~)

Hello fellow Giyuu simp lolol

This sounds really cute! Of course I’ll write it! ʕ◡ᴥ◡ʔ♡

This turned out to be very long haha hope you don’t mind :)

Giyuu x Fem!Reader with Kids!! ♡

AU: Life Without Demons

♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ° 𐐪𐑂 ♡

♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ° 𐐪𐑂 ♡

Giyuu was the first to ask for kids. It was a shock since you’d figure he’d be too nervous and insecure to think he’d be able to be a father. But he loves you too much to not have children with you. He just can’t picture his life without you and both of your guys’ children in his future.

“Y/N...” he approaches you timidly, “I have um something to ask you...” he kept fidgeting with his hands and struggled making eye contact. His cheeks starting to burn. “What is it, Giyuu??” He sat there a bit, his brows knitted together as if he’d trying to figure out how to compile his sentence. “Let’s have children!” He finally bursts out boldly. You were taken back for a second but smiled wide and hugged him, agreeing with all of your heart.

Giyuu didn’t want too many kids. He only wanted about two children. (Maybe three children he’s thinking on it 👀) And that’s what you both had. One boy and one girl. The boy took more of your looks but also had a good mix of Giyuu as well. He ended up taking his eyes and messy hair but had your hair color and overall facial features. The girl was a very good mix between the two of you. The boy was the eldest child.

Giyuu was the type of parent to spoil his children a lot. You often had to stop him because it got hard for him to say no to them a lot of the times. But when it came down to it, he knew when to be strict and stand his ground. Like if one of your children throws a tantrum for not getting the toy they want, Giyuu would have a stern tak with them about how they need to learn the importance of being told “no” and to handle it like a “big boy/girl”

Giyuu would also do whatever it takes to help you with anything around the house or with the kids. He’d also do anything to spend as much time with his children as possible.

Giyuu also secretly loved it when his kids would get nightmares and ask to sleep with the both of you. He really loved sleeping next to his family and would often invite the kids into the futon even if they didn’t have a nightmare that night. They’d always get really excited and join without hesitation. He also LOVES holding their hands. He loves how tiny and soft they are in his large, calloused ones. He also really loved having them ride on his shoulders

When it came down to being the good cop bad cop, you both had an equal share between it. I can see Giyuu being pretty strict but not to the point where it’s suffocating. He’d still take extra precautions to make sure his kids are safe and don’t get into trouble. He also tries to come to complete understandings with his children when they’re in disagreements with him. He’d sit and talk with them and make sure they don’t feel invalidated or hurt. Sometimes though, he’ll have to put his foot down and tell his children to listen to them and not question his thinking. He’ll often try to come back to them later and explain again.

Kamboko Squad and Pillars’ Reactions to First Born (and general interactions with kids)

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎

When the news got out to everyone that you both were expecting children, they were all so very excited.

You were a few weeks pregnant and Tanjirou (and the rest of the squad) came by to visit and he was able to smell it off you. You were a little shocked how he was able to notice until he explained how his mom smelled a certain way when pregnant with his siblings. Then it made a bit more sense. Kind of.

Poor little boy teared up because of how happy he was for the both of you. He was so happy to see Giyuu with the love of his life and now starting a family. Inosuke got all those fluffy things around his head. He was very soft and gentle around you and it was really cute. Sometimes he’d just stare at your bloated stomach and it seemed like he was having a psychic conversation with the baby lolol.

Nezuko was very excited to meet the new baby and couldn’t wait nine months! Zenitsu was really happy for the both of you and it really warmed his heart to hear the baby’s heartbeat. He also got very scared for you because he heard that giving birth if very painful and he’d never want to go through something like that either.

They all saw your kids as their own little siblings, especially Tanjirou. Tanjirou is very good with kids so they ended up liking Tanjirou a lot and would often beg you to let him visit more often so they could play with him. Nezuko also saw them and her own siblings and would always volunteer to knit/fix their haoris if they ever got damaged. She always brought snacks (usually toasted rice crackers) for the kids when she visited. She also helped with cooking dinner when she visited.

Zenitsu loved playing with them. Until one day your son found a worm and showed it to Zenitsu and he freaked out and thought it was a snake for a second. He started to become more wary of your son from then on.

Inosuke shared his boar mask with them and would let them ride on his back as he ran around. He also visited one day with a nicely wrapped box (wrapped by Tanjirou) and gifted it to your kids. You and Giyuu were very confused to see that it only had acorns in there.

You had Shinobu do regular check ups with you to make sure the pregnancy was going well. Despite her constant teasing, she actually told Giyuu how happy she was for him. This really warmed his heart and he couldn’t thank Shinobu enough for all her help. She helped with both the pregnancies/deliveries

Mitsuri was so so SO excited to meet the new babies!! She seemed more excited than you and Giyuu! She loves babies and thinks they’re really cute. And the fact that it’s going to be yours and Giyuu’s baby??? Geez, that just makes it 10x more adorable!! She really really wanted to be the first friend to hold the baby so you granted her wish. She was crying so much, she was so happy.

The baby’s cheeks became very red from how much Mitsuri pinched them. She nicknamed him her “Little Mochi” because of his squishy cheeks. (and she nicknamed your girl her “Little Sakura”)

Obanai kept trying to deny how happy and excited he was. “Hmph! I don’t do babies. Not at all.” But then he saw its cute, little chubby cheeks and couldn’t resist. He then vowed to be the greatest uncle to your baby boy (and girl once she visited the world)

Kyojuro was really excited to meet the baby too. His booming voice scared the baby and made him cry so Kyo learned to be more quiet around him. He was so nervous holding the baby but then got more use to it and didn’t want to hand him back. He wanted to hold on to the little boy forever!!

Muichiro was mostly dazed out but waved his finger in front of him and your little baby boy held onto him. Muichiro got very happy. “Y/N, Y/N! Look! He’s- he’s holding on to me!!” You’ve never seen him smile so wide. He’d often visit and be like, “Can I play with him today? I’ve missed him.” And he’d play with him for hours! He was the same with your little girl as well once she came around.

Sanemi kept trying to act all tough. “No! I don’t care about kids! Least of all babies! I couldn’t care less about Tomioka’s stupid ba-“ his eyes widened when he saw the baby. Then you saw the most softest smile on his face for the first time. He hugged the baby tight to him and didn’t let go or move for a while. He might or might not have teared up. But you swore with him that you saw nothing 👀 He’d make plenty of ohagi for the kids and make some extra for you and Giyuu. Giyuu was very happy to see Sanemi opening up a bit more and glad he became better friends with him as well.

“Tch, don’t get too comfortable, Tomioka. I’m only here for my niece, nephew and Y/N.” He was teasing he loved Giyuu too.

Tengen and his wives were all over the baby! His wives loved the baby so so so much!! They even planned out a baby shower for you when they heard the news so a lot of your baby stuff came from them! Once he finally joined the world, all of them teared up from joy. They all took turns holding the baby, playing with him, bouncing him on their laps. Tengen said that if you or Giyuu ever needed help, him and his wives were right there anytime.

The wives loved playing with your daughter! They’d often do her hair and make it really pretty. They’d also often spoil her with new pretty kimonos and hairpins and always said, “Once she gets older, we’ll always have girls nights out! Do all kind of girl talks and girl things! It’ll be so much fun!!”

Tengen got the baby a whole bunch of shiny jewelry and was like, “Ha! Now your baby boy shall be flamboyant! Even more flamboyant than he was before!!” He also secretly found it extremely adorable how he looked like a little baby Giyuu at first. Then he grew to have more of your facial features and it just made it even cuter for Tengen. He had a little soft spot for your daughter because he thought having a daughter would be very precious so he’d literally do anything for her (and would protect her with his life)

Gyomei was SO happy!!! He of course teared up too and was very very gentle with him. It was kind of cute seeing such a large man hold such a tiny little human. It’s like he could fit them each in one palm. He was one of your go to nanny’s and he’d always wear a pink apron when looking over the kids. He’d spoil them with lots of baked sweets. Everytime he visited, he always had a new beaded necklace to gift them. They ended getting too many and he stopped at one point. But he still gave them one on their birthdays

Shinobu found babies/kids a bit icky since they do have many bodily fluids they can’t control and sometimes don’t wash their hands but she still did normal check ups with them and was very good with them. She’d often visit with some new toys for the kids. She even got your daughter and little butterfly clip. Your son felt left out so she got him one too. For a while both your kids refered to her as the “Butterfly Lollipop Lady” since she gave them lollipops after every doctor visit. She’d just smile chillingly at Giyuu and say, “Tomioka-San, I figured you’d at least teach them my name after all I’ve done for you and your wife.” She was just teasing, she secretly loved her nickname

Shinobu also really loved listening to the baby’s heartbeat through a stethoscope. She also loved putting her hand on your belly and often talked to the baby. She’ll never admit to anyone else but she really enjoyed doing these things with both your pregnancies

[hwauas]

✨: "taste of heaven" pt.1

> collaboration with ma sweetheart @nateezfics 💕

> part 2 (here) on her blog!

kang yeosang (강여상)!

you were born in the wrong place in your opinion. you never chose to be a princess. you never chose to have a high statute. you never chose to have this much duties. but you had to go through this. you had to live with this. you have to deal with this everyday. and everyday seemed to be the same for you. waking up every day at the same exact time. having everyday the same breakfast. having the same toilette every morning. and working on tasks the parents gave you, thinking you were able to achieve them as a princess. you could get some tasks about a tiny area in the country with problems to solve, or you could get task about servants' and maids' timetable. your parents got you very ambivalent.

     but little did they know, you were tired about this. the only free time you could have were afternoons here and there. the rest of the time, your statute got you busy with different tasks.

you wanted a significant change. you wanted to be free. you wanted to escape in aim to live. you wanted and needed a whole another life.

     the garden aback the castle was your way out. a place a little bit wild, way less tidy. the greenery was free to crawl everywhere. around a pond, there were water lilies, and different type of flowers and plants. the pond seemed to be wild with all those plants. and around this pond, there were stone benchs and arches. creepers were crawling around the different items in the place: on the bench legs and all around the arches.

the thick foliage of the trees was reducing the sun light in the place. the whole atmosphere was softer, the dim light was creating an atmosphere o so relaxing and almost romantic. spending time there was your favourite activity. you could focus on yourself, things which were important to you, and you could dream and breath.

     today, you managed to have some time for yourself. you needed to be somewhere you felt secured in, and somewhere you could relax. somewhere you could take off your crown for hours.

today again, the sun was shining through the foliage, making the place look magic. few rays of sun were illuminating the pond and were reflected on the foliage above. the water, where the sun shone, looked like myriad of diamonds. the birds were chirping around you. the plants seemed to be a little bit greener with the few rays of sun.

     it was a perfect place, at a perfect moment.

     what you didn't know, a man was approaching.

he was your opposite : independant, even though he had duties, and free, even though he had a statute.

he was breathtaking: sharped jawline, plump lips, little nose, thin eyes with brilliant pupils, eyebrows decorating perfectly his forehead, and bangs falling gracefully on his forehead, giving him a slight of mystery.

his body was perfectly sculped: large shoulder, thin waist, developped chest, sharped collarbones, long legs. you could have said his body was sculped by Greek gods themselves.

     but he was the actual god.

herald of gods, he was also a protector: merchants, human heralds, orators, travellers, but also thieves.

pacing up and down the whole world to deliver message was his main activity. he was excelling at it.

     his footsteps got you out of your thoughts. you were fully aware of your surroundings to localise the person approaching as soon as possible.

from the corner of your eyes, you could distinguish his figure approaching yours. few rays of sun lit up his body. few of them also lit up his brilliant pupils on you.

     “it's the very first time i'm seeing such a beautiful person here.”

his voice was soft. it was like a lullaby to your eyes.

     you turned your head over him. his brilliant pupils were looking deep inside yours. his gaze seemed to be more precious than anything else. and the thin smile on his lips was adding more preciousness to his face.

as soon as your brain totally assimilated his beauty, your heart almost immediately reacted: it was beating so fast. you never felt this way before. you never felt your heart react this much to someone unknown to you

     “really? aww, i'm sorry. but since this little place is behind the castle i live in and this place is owned by my parents.. i guess you can see me here pretty often.”

you offered this man your prettiest smile.

     “oh, so i'm walking in a private area? oh, i'm sorry, i don't have any permission..”

you giggled, making you look even cuter in front of him.

     “i give you my permission.”

your eyes were glued in his. you couldn't look somewhere else. something was pulling you closer to him. and without you could even take the control over your brain, you were in front of him.

“i hope you're gonna use this permission wisely.~”

     “may i offer you.. my company?”

you could blush at this precious look on your face. he was looking at you so tenderly. you could say he was as mesmerised by you as you were mesmerised by him.

     “this is a good answer.”

     because of a breeze, your dress brushed his legs, and mixed up with his own clothes. few strands of your hair slowly flew, coming in front of your face. and the man in front of you didn't waist time to push them away your face, behind your ears.

     the man then put a hand on your waist, and invite you to sit back on the bench. he was so gentle with you, and led you to the bench like a real gentleman. his hand on your waist, his gaze on your face, a smile on his lips.

he sat besides you, yet was facing you. he was admiring you, like you admire a deity. his own heart was beating irregularly. and just as you, he never lived something like that before.

     “who might you be?”

your voice was a little bit shaking because of shyness. you were looking down to the pond. yet this time, you were really blushing since you were feeling his sparkling gaze on you.

     “i'm Yeosang. Kang Yeosang. i was supposed to pass by quickly for a mission but.. i don't wanna live now i know someone as stunning as you is here.”

     “a-a mission?”

his compliment got you stuttering, and going redder — he was indeed succumbing to you. you were even playing with your fingers. your heart was still beating fast.

     “yes. i am gods' herald. but this message can wait, and will wait.”

Yeosang slightly tilted his head to the side. gently, he grabbed your chin and made you look straight into his eyes.

“and you? who are you?”

his pupils never left yours. the tenderness in his eyes was warming you up, and he soon felt like home to you: you didn't have to be shy anymore around him — plus, he was in the same estate, right?

     “princess y/n. Lee y/n.”

     “does the princess believe in gods?”

Yeosang looked next to you, where you put down your crown. he took it, and gently put it back on the top of your head.

     “now, she does. she has a god in front of her, how could she not believe in gods now?”

you were first looking at his eyes after he put the crown on your head, but your gaze eventually wandered over his face: his forehead, his nose, his cheekbones, his cheeks, and his plump lips. your gaze stayed there for a moment. and Yeosang noticed it.

     “and does she want to kiss this god?”

     “she's craving for it. but is this sensible?”

your eyes quickly went back to his pupils. the sun was shining over his face. his skin seemed to be smoother with the rays of sun.

     “i've fallen for you, even though we just met. is this sensible?”

Yeosang softly grabbed your chin between his thumb and forefinger. he kept your face up, looking in your eyes. the birds weren't chirping anymore, and the whole place was quiet. it was as if the whole world stopped to look at you both.

“it's not. but i'm not trying to hold myself back. if my whole soul suddenly started to scream out your name, then i'm happy to say i'm not wise anymore. nothing is sensible now i've met you.”

     “shut up and kiss me. it's a royal order.”

     “what my princess wants, my princess gets.”

     Yeosang softly leaned over your face. his lips gently touched yours. his lips moved against yours perfectly, as if both of your lips were meant to be against each other.

you slowly came closer to him, as if he was a magnet you were attracted to. your hand wandered over his thigh, and upper to his chest. your whole body was screaming his name out: the heart beating fastly, your skin getting hotter, the palms of your hands getting clammy.

     but the kiss had to end. you — sadly — couldn't stay suspended to his lips for ever.

     “if nothing of this is sensible, let's be unreasonable.”

your eyes were showing off distress, pleasure and love.

     Yeosang was everything you wanted, needed, and had everything you were craving for — freedom. you wanted and needed to have him by your side. him, for what he was, and what he had, was what you had to have by your side.

     “is this.. an another royal order, princess?”

his warm hands wrapped up your shoulders. but slowly, they were wandering down your arms to your hands.

     “it is. do it.”

     slowly, Yeosang started to kiss your forehead. his kisses went down, again and again — your temple, your cheek, your jawline, your neck, and your collarbone.

     the next moments would be animated.

[buckyownsmylife]

Catch me - Tom Hardy smut

The one where you’re Tom’s neighbor and he comes to your place after he’s locked out of his house on a rainy night. Requested by anon. + Dry Humping also requested by different anon ask

Warnings: smut, unprotected sex, cursing

A/N: okay, so here it is! My Tom Hardy requested smut! I’d also like to announce that I’ll be attempting to partake in this years’ Kinktober, and this is my first fic, fulfilling the prompts dry humping + face sitting. I’ll post the list of prompts I created for myself, along with the characters they are paired up with, a bit later. I also say “attempting” because I actually had a pretty bad accident last night and I’m still unable to do regular things like sitting or walking, so it’s been a struggle to get this done. If in anyday I am unable to write, I won’t force myself to do it. But that’s all, please enjoy this fic and let me know what you think of it! My requests are now empty, so feel free to send me any ideas you might have - I can either integrate them in one of my fics for the kinktober challenge or work on them in November.

Tom’s P.O.V.

I had watched with only partly concealed interest as the new neighbor slowly grew more comfortable at her place right next door to me. At first, it truly was just a slight curiosity founded in my observation of just how beautiful she was. But then, one day, right after she moved in, she caught me staring, and opened up the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen. Just like that, I was stuck with a teenage-boy crush that left me blushing and stuttering every single time she so much as looked my way. 

If there was one thing people knew about me, was that I was not the blushing, stuttering type.

But things only got worse as time went on. She turned out to be just the perfect neighbor, usually coming around to offer me cookies or other baked goods precisely when I needed it the most.

“How do you always know when I’m feeling down or hungry, sweetheart?” I even ended up asking as I accepted yet another tray of brownies from her tiny hands. Her sweet little giggle went straight to my pants, instantly hardening my severely ignored member.

“It’s not that hard to figure out, Tom. Anytime you get back home this late, I can pretty much assume you barely had anything to eat all day, and it’s very clear you won’t have the energy to whip up anything right now.” My eyebrows raised up at her comment, but before I could satiate my curiosity, she quickly added, “And before you ask, no, I don’t spend my life looking out of the eyehole, you just have pretty loud steps when you’re tired, I can easily hear from my living room when you walk the hallway during the evening.”

Chuckling, I nodded, granting her that. I knew that she meant no harm, but I couldn’t help but to feel embarrassed. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’ll try to be more mindful next time.” Her eyes widened at my apology, and she immediately waved my words away, clearly mortified by the fact that I had interpreted it as a complaint.

“Gosh, Tom, no, that’s not what I… Please, don’t worry about it. I’m just a terrible insomniac, and I have good ears. It’s not like you’re waking me up every time you come home or anything. That would be a bummer, but also highly improbable, since I’m a very heavy sleeper…” I had come to understand that she was very capable of maintaining a conversation completely by herself, but everytime she took notice of it, she scrambled to get out of my sight. I figured someone in her life must have told her she talked too much, but personally, I’d do anything to witness her little monologues at least a bit more. She just seemed so interesting, and selfless despite the constant stream of consciousness that poured out of her lips whenever she was nervous.

I liked knowing I made her nervous. It made me feel less terrible about wanting to know more about her. Did that make me a creep? Hell, probably. But I couldn’t pretend like I gave a damn. I felt this inexplicable attraction to her, her personality and body, and that was it. I wanted to uncover what it was about her that had me so engrossed.

And one night, the opportunity presented itself to me. I had gone out of my car in a hurry because of the rain that had decided to pour all over the city and didn’t look like it was stopping any time soon, so I only noticed that I had locked my keys on the trunk of the car when I was already in front of my own apartment’s door, dripping all over the hallway. 

Fuck, that was just so typical of me. Why did I even bother to get my backpack out of the car, when I was already arriving home close to midnight and would be back at work early in the morning? It wasn’t like I would have the time to use my computer or anything. 

Sighing, I ran a wet hand over my face in an effort to figure out my next move. Obviously I would need to get someone to open my car for me, but in the middle of the night, it’d be hard to know who would come. It would definitely be easier to find someone in the morning, and I could very well get an Uber to some cheap motel and spend the night there. 

I was about to do just that when suddenly the door behind me opened, and a delicious smell of lasagna filled my nostrils, making me aware of just how hungry I was. “Tom?” Her sweet, sweet voice instantly calmed my tense muscles, making me open a smile at the sight of her despite the series of events I had just lived through. “Is something wrong?” 

A low chuckle escaped my lips at the awareness of just how pathetic my situation was, but there was no real humour in my tone. I looked down at my wet shoes before gathering the courage to look her in the eye again, giving her a small smile. “I locked myself out,” was all I said, and before I could even further explain my situation, her eyes had widened and she was reaching out to me, holding me by my wrist and pulling me inside of her place. 

“You poor thing. And right on the worst night for it to happen? Here, sit down while I go look for something you can change into. Wouldn’t want you catching a cold, would we?” I briefly considered offering some kind of protest, explaining how I intended to go spend the night in a motel, but the truth was, I didn’t want to. It was late, I was tired and I was really fucking cold and just by being in the close proximity of this beautiful creature, I already felt a little bit better, so I’d just shut up and wait to see how this would play out for me. 

She came back with some sweatpants and a large cotton shirt, a bashful look on her face. “I bought these sweatpants from the male’s department because they’re usually comfier than the ones I find in the female department, they should fit you well.” I accepted the small bundle of fabric she offered, one eyebrow raised as I stared down at her in curiosity.

“What about the shirt?” I asked, and she blushed five different shades of pinks and reds, making her just that much cuter. It made me want to eat her whole, and the fact that she stood a few good feet under me didn’t help that at all. I knew I could break her so easily.

Y/N’s P.O.V.

I felt like I could slap myself over how silly I was behaving over something so ordinary. Why would Tom care about me having an ex? It was only natural, it’s not like I was a blushing virgin nun who never did anything slightly out of the ordinary. Sex was ordinary. I’ve done it before. I’m sure Tom wouldn’t assume I hadn’t.

Oh, what am I saying? There’s no way he has even considered this subject when it comes to me. Why on Earth would he be thinking about my sexual past? What is going on with me? I feel like I’m going insane. 

I could feel just how warm my face had gotten, but I still had some amount of pride in me to salvage the situation, so I managed to roll my eyes as I pushed Tom further inside my house, in the direction of my bathroom.

“You’re a smart man, you can figure out where the shirt came from.” His chuckle shouldn’t be so sexy, but what about this man wasn’t?

“That’s not the answer I hoped for.” And with that mysterious sentence, he locked himself in my bathroom and left me alone with my thoughts. Granted, most of them revolved around him, so I couldn’t really say I was that alone, but the lack of someone to talk to only meant that my mind was swirling and a lot of different things I shouldn’t be thinking about managed to dominate my head. 

Just what did he mean by what he said? Could it be that he… No, of course not. There was no reason for him to be jealous of me. It’s not like he could possibly want me. Right?

I spent the entire time he was taking a shower stuck in the same pattern of thoughts, so much so that I didn’t even notice he had come back to the kitchen and was watching me from the doorway until he cleared his throat, making me jump out of my skin while carrying a plate full of very hot lasagna.

“Oh,” was all I said as I felt some of the sauce spill on my hand and my chest, some even managing to get on my face. But Tom’s rough ‘Shit’ brought a giggle to my lips, despite the discomfort of the slight burning sensation on my skin. 

“‘M sorry, sweetheart. I thought you’d noticed me standing here.” While he assured me of his lack of intention to hurt me - as if I didn’t already know- he had grabbed the plate I was still holding onto and placed it on the counter, quickly procuring an already dirty rag and eagerly starting to clean me up, first my hand, and then…

Before he pressed the fabric to my chest, he looked up at me, his beautiful eyes catching mine and making me suck in a breath. “T-that’s alright,” I managed to get out, trying to look away from his hypnotizing gaze. “It doesn’t really hurt that bad. I think with a bit of cold water it might calm down.”

He nodded, agreeing with my words, but his gaze still searched mine for something I didn’t understand. “I sure hope so,” was all he said initially, his eyes finally dropping from mine to focus on the task at hand. “But I must say, I’m very disappointed.”

The comment puzzled me, rendering me useless for the time being. I could only tilt my head as I looked down at him, still crouching in front of me to clean my chest before he finally stood up on his full height and grabbed my face, gently engulfing it in one of those huge palms of his.

“I was really hoping that you were single, but I guess that would be expecting too much from the universe, considering how beautiful you are.” My eyes grew twice their normal size as I immediately tried to push him away and hide my face from his view, suddenly incredibly shy. But of course, he didn’t let me, instead pressing me against the counter and his very hard body, while he very carefully wiped away the few drops of sauce on my cheek.

For a few seconds, I let him work in silence, still trying to gather my nerves so I could say something. I should say something, shouldn’t I? I mean, here lies an opportunity that I never thought I’d experience, and here I was, being all silly about it. Finally, when he had at last finished slowly rubbing the rag against my skin, and seemed to be about to separate himself from me, I sprung into action, pulling him to me again by his forearms. 

“I-I am,” that’s all I managed to say, immediately cringing at my own lack of social skills. “Single, I mean.” Very smooth. Well done, Y/N. But despite my stupidity, it seemed that I was able to achieve my intention, since my sentence made Tom finally get rid of the rag and hold my face between both of his hands now, his thumbs softly running over my cheekbones.

“Oh, is that so?” He breathed out against my skin, our lips inches away from one another, and I shivered against my best wishes. That reaction caused a predatory smirk to appear on his face, and I knew then and there that I was in way over my head. “Good to know,” he whispered, and then his lips were on mine, forcing me to accept his tongue, eating me whole. 

He tasted like peppermint and coffee and I was already addicted to his taste, hoping to God I tasted as great to him as he did to me. At least, he didn’t complain. In fact, by the way he sucked on my tongue, forcing his deep inside my mouth, I’d go as far as to say that he did like what he tasted. 

Before long, he had pulled me up on the counter, his hands holding me by my waist as his lips ventured from my mouth to my jaw, until they found a spot on my neck that made me gasp and hold his shirt tightly, and then he was sucking, rolling his tongue on the spot where I could already feel a bruise forming, before his teeth carved their own impressions on my skin, imprinting himself on me.

My head swirled with the force of the emotions bursting through me. My legs wrapped themselves around his strong body, and I was happy that my hands knew what to do when my mind hadn’t still managed to catch up to this turn of events. When his tongue came out to lick right over my collarbones, the response gasp he elicited from me came out sounding much more like a sob than anything else.

“You’re so sensitive, princess,” He teased me, still otherwise occupied with marking my skin as his. “I’ve barely even started and here you are…” His hands ran through the expanse of my body, like he was showing his proof to an audience. “... a mess already.”

He wasn’t wrong. I was somehow dripping already. I could feel it, dripping from inside of me, slowly ruining the panties I was wearing. They were so not appropriate for the activities I was currently partaking in, but how the hell would I have known this was going to happen?

All I knew was that Tom had lit the fire inside of me, and now the flames were threatening to swallow us both.

Tom’s P.O.V.

She was just too cute, so out of breath and trembling with desire with the little I’d done to tease her. It just made me want to ruin her even more. My little neighbor, so perfect and sweet, so needy for me.

She didn’t even realize she had started to grind herself against me, in search of some sort of release. Well, I wasn’t about to cut her off. Unstead, I took advantage of my grip on her, pulling her body until I was the one keeping her up, trapped between my body and the counter.

“Rub your tiny wet cut against my jeans, love,” I ordered in a demanding whisper right on her ear, making her shiver. She obeyed without any sort of hesitation, looking up at me underneath her eyelashes with her eyes glazed over with lust. “That’s it…” Fuck if the pressure wasn’t exactly what I needed to help ease up some of the tension from the need I was feeling in my veins. “Rub yourself against my hard cock, don’t be shy.”

My words seemed to be gasoline for her, giving her the push she needed to grind herself even harder against my bulge. I decided to help her, pushing her more firmly against the counter and following the movements, rejoicing in the pleasure gasp that escaped her lips as the added pressure provided more friction to her clit.

“Fuck…” She whispered, and I think that in the entirety of the four months of conversations I’d entertained with her, that was the first time I’d heard her cuss. The four letter word I was so familiarized with had a new, unexpected effect on me, making the situation inside my pants so difficult I had to stop my movements and slow hers down by her hips, so I wouldn’t just jizz on my pants like a fucking teenager. 

But Y/N didn’t stop, despite accepting my silent request to decrease the fervor of our activities. When I finally managed to get control over myself again, I realized why. She had gripped the counter behind her and was using it to better control her movements, and it was clear by the way her head hung back and her mouth fell open that she was about to cum just like that.

“Shit,” I cussed just as the realization hit, and it felt like all of the control I’d managed to build in the last few seconds I closed my eyes had suddenly escaped through the window. My cock was painfully hard again, and all I could think of was that I needed to get out of these fucking jeans.

Who could blame me, though? When she looked like that, creaming her panties with her clothes still on? Shit, I couldn’t wait to get her naked and underneath me. I needed to feel her from the inside, explore her wetness with my hard cock.

But first, I was desperate to get a taste of her. So as soon as her breathing came back to a somewhat regular pattern, I was careful to put her on the ground again, making sure she was able to stand on her own legs, before dropping to my knees in front of her.

“What are you… Oh.” I couldn’t help but to chuckle at the innocence of her mind that stopped her from immediately understanding what I intended to do, but then I was pushing her skirt up and away from my view and her panties were in front of me and they were drenched, absolutely ruined by the sticky liquid that made my mouth water. 

“Fuck, princess…” I moaned as I carefully peeled the cotton fabric down her legs, keeping it pooled around her ankles as I pushed her legs open as far as they could go. She was dripping, a single line of her wetness connecting both of her thighs, making me groan at the sight. “You might just kill me…” I commented before reaching up to pull her to me, effectively burying my face on her.

“T-Tom!” The sound of my name escaping her lips with that reverent tone left me even hungrier for her, as did her exquisite taste. It painted my tongue with its sweetness, embedding itself in my cells, making sure I’d never be able to forget it. I already knew I’d be hungry for her again the second I pulled away from her cunt.

Nonetheless, I forced myself to stop for a moment to gather my senses, as her taste made it harder and harder to control my need to relieve my aching member. I needed to be inside of her, and quickly. 

Abruptly rising up to my full height, I picked her up by the back of her thighs so she’d wrap her legs around me and took us to where I’d assumed her bedroom would be, considering I was familiarized with the general layout of the apartments. The second I laid her on the bed, my hands were struggling with my own belt, as I watched her pull her dress over her head, now completely bare before me.

“You’re so fucking hot.” When my pants dropped to the floor and my cock slapped my lower stomach, I pounced on her immediately, crawling on the space between her legs and pulled her by the back of her neck to connect our lips once more. “Do you want to be railed tonight, pretty neighbor?”

She fucking whimpered in response, repetitions of “yes” and “please” escaping her lips as she tried to pull me closer to her by the legs she embraced me with. Not having it in me to stop this moment any longer, I gripped my member with one of my hands while I held her hips down with the other, briefly rubbing the blunt head of my cock over her sensitive clit before pushing myself completely inside of her.

“Oh, fuck,” I groaned, blindsided by the tightness, wetness and warmness that now surrounded me. “I knew your cunt would be fucking delicious.” I watched her as I pulled out until just my tip was inside of her, only to push it back in as forcefully as I could.

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, her hands flew up to hold my shoulders, almost as if she wanted to push me away or tell me to take it easy, but as her legs continued to pull me even deeper inside, I knew what she really needed was to be properly fucked.

Y/N’s P.O.V.

Tom was not exaggerating; he really did pound me against my mattress, immediately setting up the most brutal of paces. It hurt, especially with how much he was stretching me, but it felt too fucking good to complain about it.

The only thing I could do was to relax and accept this invasion, this possession of my body by my next-door neighbor. I knew I must have been quite a vision, my arms thrown up in search of something to hold on to, spit escaping the corner of my lips by the intensity of the thrusts, my breasts shaking as he pulled me back to meet his thrusts by my hips. I hoped I’d have some bruises on the shape of his fingertips to remember this night.

Not like I would ever be able to forget, anyway. Only a lunatic would expel the visions of Tom looking like this while fucking them, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, the sweat gathering over his eyebrows. I wanted to kiss it away. I wanted to taste its saltiness. 

Just as my head began to twirl in time with the growth of arousal in my lower belly, Tom’s eyes travelled upwards from the point where his cock was buried inside of me to find my breasts, one of his hands immediately following suit. When his pull on my nipple was accompanied by the feeling of his warm mouth engulfing the other one, I screamed as I came all around him, my head thrown back and eyes closed as I relished in the feeling of being so perfectly filled, so perfectly touched.

“Fuckin’ tight.” Tom fucked me through my orgasm, but at the sight of my eyes blinking back open, he pulled out, easily manhandling me into turning around and rising on all fours. “This fucking ass… Do you have any idea how long I dreamt about fucking you like this?”

I didn’t know how, but his words and the way his huge hands sprawled over the cheeks of my butt reignited the flames that had just been fed, and I found myself pushing back against him, offering myself up to him. Anything to get his cock inside of me again.

“Please…” I all but begged, and I heard his breath hitching behind me. “Just… please keep fucking me.” Perhaps that was all that he needed, because in a second his cock was tearing me open again, so fucking deep that I could feel it in my stomach. 

“Fuck… If I had known how it would look to have my little perfect neighbor begging for my cock, I would have fucked you ages ago.” Every single thing that came out of that man’s mouth was like sin. He wrapped my hair around his fist, suddenly using it to pull me back to him as he raised one of his legs to the mattress, the new angle making each of his thrusts hit that spot inside of me that made everything just a little more satisfying. 

I could feel tears running down my cheeks, falling on my spread out hands as I struggled to keep breathing through his assault on my senses. “Are you gonna cum again, love?” I could hear him asking, and I wanted to answer, I really did, but every time I opened my mouth, only sobs came out. “Are you? Here, let me help you out.”

The feeling of his rough fingers softly caressing my clit was such a stark contrast to the way he was still brutally pounding into me that instead of trying to push him away from my much too sensitive lower region, I opened my eyes in surprise as another orgasm took over me, somehow even stronger than the previous ones.

“Yeah, that’s it… Fuck. Come for me, sweetheart. Wanna feel your cunt milking my fucking cock.” His words did nothing to help ease my arousal, and just when my arms started to give out, I felt him spilling inside of me. “FUCK!” He shouted, following my body’s motions until he was covering me with his own torso, still very much inside of me.

His thrusts finally coming to a stop after he had slowly fucked his cum inside of me, I felt his thumbs caressing my hips as I remained face planted on my mattress. “Well, this isn’t how I expected this night to go, but I can’t say I’m not satisfied.”

A snort was all I could give him as he finally pulled out and allowed his body to fall by my side, giving me a quick kiss on the shoulder that was closer to him. “You ok?” He asked, and I snorted again.

“More than okay. You still haven’t eaten though.” It was the truth. After all of this… incredible distraction from my cooking plans, he still hadn’t gotten around to eat dinner. I heard him take a deep breath next to me as he pondered his answer. 

“Really? ‘Cause I remember eating some very delicious pussy a few minutes ago.” It took me a few minutes to process what he had said, but when I did, I turned around to playfully hit his chest while feeling my face warm up from the reality of what we had just done.

“You’re impossible.”

“And you’re hot.” And when he put it in such simple terms, as he pulled me in his arms so that I could cuddle his chest, how could I feel embarrassed?

[brutal-nemesis]

E&T-Caring For Your Tiny Test Subject

Welp. (⓿ ◡ ⓿) I made more. Maybe real content will resume soon, but until then...tiny Erebus

←Previous - Masterlist

Ingredients: noncon partial stripping/nudity, noncon touching (unsexy)

“You know,” Neteri mused as she turned Erebus over in her hand, “you’re kind of filthy from your little adventure. Maybe I should-”

“No-”

“Yeah.” She tightened her grip as Erebus squirmed, looking down at him with a devilish grin. “Let’s get you cleaned up, lil guy.”

“I-I can do that myself Neteri you don’t need to-”

“I do need to because it will be so absolutely adorable.”

“That’s the dumbes-” Erebus’s protest was silenced as she placed one of her fingers over his mouth. He glared at her, debating biting her for a moment. She’d only have herself to blame if he drew blood...still, the last thing he needed was for his situation to get any worse. As per usual, Neteri was going to get what Neteri wanted and he’d just have to suffer through it. Even so, this...this was not going to be easy. Already, an awful feeling was stirring in his gut at imagining her…bathing him. He shuddered, trying to just put it out of his mind for now.

Once they got back to her office, Neteri plopped him back into the jar and screwed on the lid before taking him back to his cell. She set the jar on the desk and crouched down to his level. “I’m going to go get everything I need, and then I’ll be back, so you just chill until then, okay?” Erebus just quietly nodded from where he was seated with his arms wrapped around his folded legs. He tried to take deep breaths once he was alone, trying not to let himself get freaked out before it even started.

He would be fine. Neteri was always gentle with him as long as he was cooperative, so he wasn’t too worried about this experience hurting. He was far more worried about how much she was going to be touching him, about how exposed he was going to be, about how helpless he was going to feel. Not that he wasn’t already helpless right now, stuck inside a glass jar, but there was a whole new level of powerlessness in being held tightly in her hand. When he’d been his real size, he could always take comfort in his significant height advantage over her, the vague idea that he could easily overpower her if he tried. But now, she could do whatever she wanted with him with just her bare hands, and there was nothing he could do to fight back.

By the time she had returned with a relatively shallow bowl and a large cup, he had steeled himself for what was about to occur. Still, when she reached her hand in the jar, he pressed himself back against the glass, because he didn’t want this. “You’ll be alright little guy, the water’s nice and warm for you.”

“T-that’s not what I-hey! I can take that off mysel-”

“I’m sure you can,” Neteri said as she pulled his shirt off over his head, his struggles doing absolutely nothing to slow her down. “But this is more fun.”

“Not for me.”

“Who owns who here, Erebus? Now stop wiggling or I might take off more than your pants, and neither of us want that.” Erebus grumbled but stopped trying to resist, feeling his face flush at her bare hands against his skin. She poured some of the water from the cup into the dish before gently setting him down in it. He felt himself relax despite everything; the water did feel good and it’d been so long since he’d had a bath. Probably not since...since he’d lost everything. Maybe this would be alright…

Yeah, it felt sort of nice as she poured the warm water over his head with a thimble and started to wash his hair with two of her fingertips. He leaned into her touch just a bit-no no no wait this was Neteri she’d shrunk him and this was humiliating he wasn’t supposed to enjoy it, and even if he did, there was no way he’d let her catch on to it. He put on his best glare and hugged his knees close to his chest. Neteri laughed. “You always look so cute when you’re angry, but now that you're tiny it’s even cuter! You’re just perfect like this, huh?” She tilted his chin up, and he tried to turn away, but she forced him back. “Keep your head tilted back, I’m going to rinse your hair and I don’t want it to get in your eyes.”

“Fine.” She was always so unfairly tender with him, and part of him wished she would be rougher, that she would stop making it so hard to hate this. Even when she pried his arms away from his legs and forced him to uncurl so she could wash the rest of him, she was never anything but gentle. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately? He wasn’t sure), the feeling of her fingers scrubbing his body ended up being more uncomfortable and invasive than nice, and it was easier for him to hate it. 

And he...he hated it, really hated it, so much so that he didn’t know how much more he could take, because he just wanted her hands off of him, not all over his bare skin, over all of his scars, at the same time. Erebus tried to squirm away, but there was firmness behind Neteri’s gentle grip, rendering his attempts futile. He was just as helpless as he had feared being, and he could hardly bear it. She was almost done, she had to be, she’d gotten just about everywhere and he wasn’t sure if his face could get any redder, if the awful feeling in his stomach could get any worse.

He fought back an audible sigh of relief as she started rinsing him off, glad that this experience was almost over. Once she was done, Neteri slid her thumb under his chin, tilting it up. “There, you’re all clean now.” She stared at him a moment more, stifling a laugh. “You’re all embarrassed it’s so adorable. I do wish I could keep you like this.”

“You’d better not-”

“No, no, I can’t, that would use up far too much of my magic power, shrinking you every day. And doing procedures on your tiny little body would be way more difficult and not worth it at all. But, a girl can dream,” she sighed. He rolled his eyes, relishing the fact that she’d have no idea that he did it. She released him, looking around on the desk. “I forgot to get a towel for ya; let me go grab one from your bathroom.” 

Erebus eyed the edge of the bowl as soon as she turned around. The sides weren’t that steep, and he could probably climb them, which would earn him a little moment of freedom, not stuck inside anything or held back by her giant hands. He stood and sloshed towards the edge, deciding it would be best to just try to crawl up the sloped sides. He stepped out of the soapy water, feeling confident enough in his first step that he immediately tried to take another, trusting all of his weight to his foot on the sloped side of the bowl.

A mistake he soon paid for. 

Still coated in soapy residue, his foot slipped on the smooth surface of the bowl, and his forehead immediately slammed into the ceramic. He managed to catch himself before his face slid into the water, and he just stayed on his hands and knees for a moment, staring at his reflection in the water as his head throbbed. Of course he couldn’t even escape from a bowl. Of course. Tears of frustration welled up in his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away as Neteri returned.

“What was that sound, Erebus? You okay?” she asked as she picked him up, examining him.

“It was nothing. I’m fine.” He crossed his arms, hoping she’d just drop it.

But this was Neteri, who rarely dropped it, and seemed to have a sixth sense for this sort of thing. “I dunno bud, you have a lil red spot on your forehead. Did you-” a mischievous grin spread across her face, “did you try to climb out and hit your head?”

“I-so what if I did? It doesn’t matter.” He looked away as she laughed, his face once again burning an unfair amount.

“It does matter ‘cause that is the cutest thing, oh you poor little dear.” She ruffled his hair with one of her fingertips before picking up the cup of clean water. “Alright, close your eyes while I rinse you off one last time.” When she was done, she set him down on the towel she had brought over and got to work drying him off. He let her, just wanting this whole thing to be over with. The towel felt so much rougher now that he was small...that was another thing he missed about home, how soft the towels always were. His sheets and pillows had always been so comfortable, too...he missed his father and everyone, of course, but sometimes he couldn’t help but think about all of the little things. 

Once he was dry, Neteri dropped him back in the jar before throwing a set of small, clean clothes on top of him. “Here, I shrunk those for you, and I think I was able to do it so they’ll get big when you do like your other clothes shrunk with you the first time. Just let me know when you’re done.” She held out her hands to cover the side of the jar facing her, eyes squeezed shut for good measure. 

“You’re good, Neteri,” Erebus called once he’d gotten changed. “Are you going to leave me alone now?”

“Absolutely I will not.” She picked up the jar, holding him at her eye level. “You are at your most cutest ever in the world and I want to be here for every second of it.” Her stomach growled. “Also I have just realized that I forgot about food and neither of us have eaten since this morning and it is definitely past lunchtime so I am going to go get us some food.” She grinned as she set the jar down. “I can give you tiny food oh I’m so excited!” She dashed out the door, calling “I’ll be right back!”

Erebus couldn’t say he wasn’t happy to get something to eat, but he could do without the way Neteri watched him the entire time, occasionally gasping at stupid things like him ripping off part of the chunk of bread she’d given him. She’d shrunk most of his food, so he ate it like normal, but for some reason she tore off a piece of her normal sized flatbread and gave it to him, and there was no way he was just going to bite into something so big. He’d lost a lot of his dignity over these past few months, but he still wasn’t a savage. Besides, she was making him drink out of a thimble, which was demeaning enough. 

She put him back in the jar while she took care of their plates and cleaned up from bathing him. He laid on his back and stared at the ceiling, wondering what stupid thing she had planned next. It would be foolish to assume she wasn’t going to spend the rest of the day bothering him and teasing him and holding him in her hands, since she’d made it very clear how much she was enjoying this. Nothing would be worse than the bath, though. He hoped. 

Once she returned, Neteri picked him up from inside the jar and just stared at him intently. Erebus narrowed his eyes. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m just trying to decide what to do with you next.”

“You could put me down.”

“Or I could hold you in my hand forever.”

“No.”

“I think I will do that.” She sat down on his bed and laid back, pressing Erebus against her chest, her hand on his back pinning him down on his stomach. His wiggling was, as always, completely useless. He sighed, trying to make himself comfortable and pretending he was just lying on a bed or something. Neteri rubbed her thumb soothingly up and down his back, and soon enough he...found himself...getting tired...

~~~

Neteri resisted the urge to jump up in delight as she watched little Erebus fall asleep on her chest. She’d just wanted to lay down and hold his tiny body for a few minutes, but she’d expected him to struggle longer or glare at her the whole time, not take a nap. Not that it was unwelcome, not at all, he was so precious like this, and there was no way she’d move until he woke up. She continued stroking his back, smiling down at her little test subject. 

She was going to enjoy every moment she had left while he was small.

Tags: @as-a-matter-of-whump @yet-another-heathen @galaxywhump @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @whumpasaurus101 

[mudhorn-djarin19]

Mission: I Do - Chp. 1 (Agent Whiskey x f!reader)

Summary: A new mission has come up and you are sent off on it with Agent Whiskey as your partner. However, you have to go undercover as his fiancee. What will this mission mean for you and your harboring crush on him? This chapter is the set up to the mission. Rating: General (will change in future chapters) Warnings: None but some fluff AO3 Link | Masterlink | Join my taglist via here!  More chapters to come soon (will be added here)

You sat at the big long table amongst the other Statesman as Champ handed out the reports for your next missions. A bunch of reports have come up across the country of some trouble so he was having you agents partner up and travel to each destination that showed trouble.

“Agent Sangria and Agent Whiskey. Here is your file. You two will be partnered up together for this mission.” Champ says, sliding a file folder over to each of you.

You sigh slightly. You love being partnered with Whiskey when you can cause it meant more time around him, time to get to know him better and etc. He may get on your nerves a lot for he’s a big flirt and sometimes likes to push people’s buttons but deep down you found the man attractive. You’ve been growing a crush on him for a while but you knew nothing would ever come from it. He was such a big shot within Statesman, he probably was the same outside of work too. You open the file fold and start looking over your information for the mission when you spot some information that surprises you.

“Everything okay Agent Sangria?” Champ asks.

“Sir… I’m going undercover as… Whiskey’s fiancee?” You question.

“That’s right. You and Agent Whiskey will be going undercover as a couple for this mission. The culprit has been found kidnapping brides and sometimes bombing venues. We need you two to go to a bridal convention held in Dallas where he was last heard of being. I am sending you two cause you both work together well and seem to have the best chemistry out of our agents. I’ll let the rest of the details for you two to go over together.” He says.

You gulp and slightly look up at Whiskey who has that typical dumb smirk he always has on his face as he looks at you. “Well… seems I’m gettin’ hitched again. Who knew it’d be so easy.” He chuckles as he elbows Tequila sitting next to him who also chuckles. 

Champ had let you both go home shortly after the meeting to gather up all your supplies for your trip. Whiskey said he’d come pick you up later this evening before your flight out. You sit down on your bed and groan into your hands. This is going to be a tough weekend you think to yourself. Not only are you going on a mission alone with Whiskey again but you have to act as his fiancee all weekend?! The thoughts of what could go on cause you to feel sick with nerves. You shake your head and get back up and start rummaging through your closet finding what you can for the weekend. Some nice dresses and jewelry, some casual but cute clothes, and even some of your cuter sets of undergarments. Just in case you think. Just as you finished packing everything into your suitcases you hear your doorbell ring. You open the door to see Whiskey leaning up against the door frame.

“You ready for our weekend getaway darlin’?” He winks at you.

You sigh in response and motion your hand over to your suitcases and bags. “Care to help me load this into your car?” You ask

“Certainly.” He says stepping into your place, slinging your bag over his shoulder and grabbing both the suitcases in each hand. “Didn’t forget anything did ya?” You stare at him in disbelief. “Uh no. I got everything. Also… I can take one of them, you don’t need to take them all for me.” “Nonsense. This ain’t nothin’.” He says as he makes his way down the tiny walkway to his Bronco parked out front, placing them into the back seat. You shake your head in response and check to make sure all the lights and appliances are off before grabbing your keys and locking up, meeting him at the car. 

“Ah ah… allow me future Mrs...” He smirks, opening the car door for you. “Oh yea and before I forget Champ gave me this for you”

He grabs your left hand and slides a sparkly diamond ring onto your ring finger. Your eyes go wide in how fancy it is. “Can’t be my fiancee without a way to show it off.” He chuckles, walking around to his side of the car and then starting it.

“Y-yea..” You say, staring at it and twisting it between your fingers to admire it more.

You arrived at the airport and got all checked in okay with the tickets Champ got you. The flight didn’t take long, only a few hours. You two slept most of the way. You got your rental car, luggage loaded in and headed off to the designated hotel where you would be staying for the weekend. 

The bridal convention and events you were to attend for the weekend were being held at a local convention center so to stay close to the action in case anything went down and to blend in a bit more, Champ had scheduled for you guys to stay at a hotel nearby. 

Jack helped you with your bags out of the rental car, taking more than he needed to. You two walked up together to the check in counter.

“Good day sir and ma’am. Checking in?” The lady at the counter asks.

“Yes ma’am. Reservation should be under Joseph Daniels.” Jack says giving his partially fake name assigned to him for the weekend.

“Ah yes here we are. Joseph Daniels and Elizabeth Wallace?” The lady asks

Jack nods, handing her the company card to pay for the room. She hands you both your key cards and information packs on some things for the area. 

“I take it you guys are in the area for the bridal convention? Seeing as you have the honeymoon suite booked?” She smiles.

“Yes indeed.” He smiles, wrapping an arm around your shoulder, pulling you close. You smile back nervously. 

“Well congratulations to you both! Let me get you the information packets for the event as well then.” She says, grabbing them and adding them to your pile.

You two gather your belongings and make your way to the elevators up to your room. You figured since the honeymoon suite was booked for the weekend it was going to be fancy but you had just no idea how until you opened the door. Flower petals littering the floor, candles surrounding the tub in the bathroom and chocolates on the little table inside the door with a congratulations note. You feel like this was some sort of tease to you about your crush with Jack. Did Champ know and send you on this mission for that reason?! 

“Uh…” You stutter out, taken by surprise.

“Champ sent me a message earlier telling me what room we had. Said everyone attending the event has these rooms, makes us blend in better and might help us run into the culprits better.” Jack states. 

“Oh, okay.” You say quietly, setting your bags down. “So um… look darlin’ I don’t want to make you uncomfortable this weekend. So I’ll sleep on the love seat over here. You can have the bed to yourself.” “Whis-” You start to say. “Jack. He replies. “I know we are used to calling each other our codenames but this weekend call me by my real name. Unless out on the field you know but, still. Hell, you can do so even not when on this mission.” He chuckles.

“Jack. You don’t have to sleep on the sofa. Your back’s going to be killing you afterwards. I don’t mind taking the sofa instead. We can um… share. It’ll be fine.” You say shyly.

“You sure? I really don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” He says, stepping closer and looking down into your eyes. “It’s fine. You’re not going to make me uncomfortable. A lot more is going to have to happen between us this weekend I’m sure and sharing a simple bed is at the bottom of the list of awkwardness for me.” You chuckle.

“Alright. If you say so.” He pats your head and works at unpacking his suitcase while you head off to the bathroom.

You just finished your shower and changing for the night when you stepped out into the bedroom to see Jack laying shirtless in nothing but flannel pj pants on the bed watching the local news. You stop in your tracks, admiring at just how handsome he looked. You must have been standing there staring for a bit too long when he looked over at you and called out.

“Everything okay? Did you change your mind about sharing? ‘Cause if so I can still move and go to the sofa.” He asks

You shake yourself out or your dazed state and start heading over to the bed and crawling, in under the covers. “No no. It’s okay, stay where you are. Sorry I was just thinking about um… something else.” “Alrighty then. Also if me being shirtless bothers you I’ll put one on. This is just how I usually sleep.” He says looking down at his torso. For being such a flirt and a nuisance at times he was surely a gentleman deep down inside. Always checking with you on if things were okay and making sure you were comfortable.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind.” You reply, get snuggled in under the covers for the night. “We have a big day ahead of us so I’m going to get some shut eye.”

“Sounds like a plan. Me too.” He says, shutting off the tv and lights, crawling under the covers with you.

Taglist: @sarahjkl82-blog​ @ickleronniekinsemotionalrange​ @blackberries45​

[hitsuackerman]

What in the World? (Akaashi Keiji x Reader) pt.7

Part 7 of WINTW? :D Enjoy! there’s a bit of a trigger warning here but only very minor~

Akaashi’s lineup: @alluring-akaashi​ @oikawalmart-hq​ @extrasugafree​ @bbykiyoomi​ @apricotjihyo​ @simpformiya @colorseeingchick @something-that-idk (i have no idea why i can’t tag some of you :( huhu )

links: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 8

It was a rather long ride and with Bokuto being your seatmate, it was impossible to feel drowsiness. With the onigiri long gone, the both of you were now chatting about random things. Occasionally, the two of you would snicker and high five at certain topics. The rest of the team found it amazing how you had managed to keep up with their hyper owl of a captain.

“Then I was like ‘baammm’ but the opponent touched the ball and then their setter went ‘whoosh’ and tossed the ball to their spiker!” Bokuto’s eyes were shimmering with happiness at the chance to relive a few of his earlier matches.

“Were you able to stop the ball, Bokuto-san?” In all honesty, you were genuinely curious. Listening to an athlete play the sport he loved, without the use of quirks or support gears was amazing.

“I did!” He pumped his fist into the air. “I ain’t an ace for nothing!”

When he winked, you were positive about what he was going to do next. Imitating his action, his smile grew even wider. Together, the both of you did his phrase.

“HEY HEY HEY!” Followed by laughter.

“Oh!” You reached out for your phone and clicked on the camera app. “Let’s take a selfie, Bokuto-san! I have a friend and I think she’d die when she sees your sitting beside me~”

“That’s evil, (y/n)...” He paused dramatically. “I LIKE IT!”

Meanwhile, 3 rows behind, the same person who had just lost Y200 began to fiddle with his fingers once again. His eyes focused on the seat beside his childhood friend’s. He had to admit that you were handling Bokuto like a seasoned zoo keeper, though. But when it came to the point where you asked for a selfie, both his and Haruki’s ears reacted.

“Oho~ That might just be a cover up, my dear calm kohai~” He nudged Akaashi’s elbow.

“It’s just a picture. And she said it’s for her friend.”

“She said her ex was Ushiwaka, right?” Hearing a hum, Haruki closed his music app and opened the PortraitBook. “Tendou from Shiratorizawa sent me this. Said that they rarely took pictures together but this one had to be Ushiwaka’s personal favorite.”

Furrowing his brow, Akaashi asked permission to hold the phone. Zooming on the picture, he stared at your smiling face and how you looked so tiny compared to the ace of the other school. Tilting his head, he zoomed in and out of the picture. His mind showing pictures of your smile.

“If you zoom in anymore, Ushiwaka might come to life, Akaashi.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” He handed the phone back and leaned on to the back rest.

“But, like, are you chill with Bokuto and her though?”

“I see no need to be annoyed. Bokuto-san knows I li-” Snapping his head towards the smug libero, he cleared his throat and closed his eyes. “Bokuto-san is just doing that to rile me up.”

“It’s definitely working.”

“I’ll give credit where credit is due.” He lowered his voice and peeked at Bokuto’s broad shoulders. “It is.”

“ACHOO!” Bokuto sneezed onto his elbow. He knew exactly what was happening. “Someone’s talking behind my back!”

Grabbing a tissue from your bag, you handed it to him. He looked like a small child blowing his nose. Wanting to cheer him up a bit, you decided it would be alright to play with your quirk a little bit.

“Bokuto-san~” Gesturing him to come closer, the big man followed. “I have a secret~”

“What? What? What?” His golden eyes were wide with anticipation.

“I’m a magician!”

“EHHH?!”

Pretending to rummage in your bag, you showed him your palms and he nodded that you weren’t holding onto a string or anything. Letting him feel your palms, you couldn’t help but giggle at his focus. His palms were also very calloused from all the practices.

“So I have nothing on me, right Bokuto-san?” He hummed and nodded his head like a puppy. Waving your hands around his face, his irises followed your palms. Making sure that only a minuscule amount of your quirk will be used, you pressed your palms together. “Look~”

When you showed him your palms, little glowing orbs of yellow began to dance as you delicately, but awkwardly, waved your hands. It was adorable seeing his reaction shifting from surprise, wonder, amazement and disbelief at the sight before him. Pressing your palms back together, you focused all the tiny orbs into one slightly bigger orb. Revealing to him the little ball of light, you could hear the happiness in his voice.

“THAT’S SO COOL (Y/N)!” He was bouncing up and down his seat. “Where and how did you learn that?”

“Just had a few friends in UA who liked magic as well.” Rubbing your palms together, the ball of light disappeared.

“Does Akaasshi know you can do that?”

“Nope~” You gave him a teasing smile. “This’ll be our little secret, Bokuto-san~”

“Your secret is safe with me (y/n)!” Giving you a fist bump, you happily responded. Before any of you could speak up, the coach gave an announcement. The gym was now an estimated 2 minutes away so it was best to prepare your luggages for faster processing and unloading from the bus. Everyone followed suit. “Gah. I can’t wait for you to meet the others, (y/n)-chan~ I’m sure you’ll like all of them! Make sure to go to gym 3 later! I think Akaashee would be even more energetic if you were our ball person~”

“I highly doubt that, Bokuto-san~ All of you have more than enough energy as it is.” The small tingling feeling in your stomach was there again. Waving it off, Bokuto merely ruffled your hair and shrugged at your statement.

When the bus finally stopped, the coach gave a few last minute instructions. Each member finished his sentences knowing full well what they had to do already. Not even complaining, the coach chuckled and told his little nest of owls to scurry their asses off to the registration area.

Following the two women, you were now settling into your tiny area. Not long after, the doors opened once more and you were face to face with a cute blondie and a ridiculously beautiful girl who wore glasses. Yukie and Kaori told you to come over and introduced you.

“You can call me, Yachi!” Yachi extended her hand to which you accepted. “This is my second camp for this year~”

“I’m Kiyoko, nice to meet you.” You felt like dirt accepting her hand. Yet, she was exuding a very kind aura so there wasn’t much to worry about. “Let’s have fun with our time together~”

Nodding at her statement, you couldn’t help but feel as though you’ve heard her voice somewhere. Maybe not in the same range of tone but it was something you couldn’t place. Deciding that it was nothing, all five of you were now changing into your clothes. The two managers from Karasuno couldn’t help but stare at your battle scars.

“No need to apologize, you two.” You shook your palms as they bowed to apologize. “It’s not like I’m ashamed of these anyway. Just shows I survived and made it through the rough times.”

“How did you really get that scar, (y/n)?” Kaori asked. Her tone a little held back.

“I was on my way home one night. It was already a bit late since we had to finish a school project. A few blocks from my school, I kinda began to feel that I was being followed. So, when I made a run for it, my thoughts were confirmed. I wasn’t that active then so the man caught me and tried to touch me.” This wasn’t the best story you could make considering how others could have experienced the whole thing. However, this was also the most probable situation you could think of that was enough for them to actually believe you. “I kicked him in the balls but it only angered him. Next thing I knew, I was screaming and luckily there was a convenience store nearby.”

All of them were speechless. It wasn’t everyday they would hear stories like that first hand like that.

“C’mon now~” You tried to brighten up the mood. “That was years ago and it only made me stronger.”

After a few guilt infested encouragement, all of you were now heading to the main gym. From afar, you could already hear the sounds of volleyballs slamming the floor, sneakers squeaking, praises and yelling.

The gym doors were wide open so all of you simply walked in. When you did, all eyes were on  you. It was a sight to behold. A gym with sweaty athletic men. Not even UA prepared you for being feasted upon so many eyes.

“That happens when there’s a new manager.” Yukie whispered. “You’re in for a lot of questions when it’s break time later. Be prepared.”

Heading to Fukurodani’s court, Bokuto waved for you to be on his side. Following instructions, you positioned yourself ready to catched the balls. And you had to admit, you had the best view of all. A close up of how the BokuAka works during a match.

To say the least, it was jaw-droppingly beautiful how the two opposites worked together. The level of trust between them was admirable. This was also the day where you got to see Bokuto’s infamous emo mode. There were a few giggles with how he was acting but overall, the game went well and Fukurodani won by 25-23.

Gathering a few stary balls, you crouched down only to have your fingertips brush with another person’s.

“Well aren’t you even cuter up close~” Looking up at the stranger, you were met with messy bed hair, cat like eyes, and a very flirty smile. Yet, the reason for the blush reaching your cheeks was not due to the Nekoma player’s good looks. It was due to the familiarity of his voice. You could tell that voice from a mile away.

‘Holy shit. HE SOUNDS JUST LIKE HAWKS.’ Your mind was in shambles. In front of you was the captain of the Nekoma team, Kuroo if you heard it right, and his voice was exactly like Hawks. Fangirling for a hero that no one knew of, you cleared your throat and stood up.

“I’d look starstruck too~” He winked. Only to have you blush even more.

‘Oh god. I can’t unhear Hawks. He’s way taller but aahhh~’

“(y/n)-chan?!” Bokuto snapped you out of your thoughts. “You okay? Your face is pretty red!”

“I-I’m fine, Bokuto-san.” Scratching your nape, you sneakily activated your quirk to lose the acquired heat. “I, uh, I’m not used to being hit on. That’s all.”

“Such a shame~ We can change that if you’d like~”

“Kuroo.” Your breath hitched. Darting to the source, you were met with the Nekoma setter. Black roots now taking over his blondeness. “Karasuno is ready for our match with them.”

Swallowing your saliva, you stared at the setter. When he captured your gaze, he blinked a couple of times before looking away. Slapping his friend’s back, Kuroo laughed at Kenma’s little episode of eye contact with some random manager.

“This is Kenma!” Slapping Kenma’s back once more, the shy boy merely bowed and ran away rather quickly. “Anyway~ Let’s continue this small chat later~ Drop by gym 1 and witness the cats and crows practicing.”

Watching as he caught up with Kenma, you finally let go of the breath you had been holding. Fanning yourself, Bokuto studied you like a lab rat as Akaashi and Konoha approached you two. It was a mystery how the captain was silently eyeing you up and down.

“AAAHHH!” Three of you took a step back as he began to flail his arms. “HAVE I BEEN WRONG ALL THIS TIME?!”

“With what, exactly, Bokuto-san?” Akaashi questioned. Even he wasn’t sure what was going on in his brain.

“I always thought that (y/n)-chan was interested in a certain someone from our team.” His golden orbs locked on Akaashi. “But maybe I was wrong. (y/n)-chan! D’yu have the hots for Kuroo?”

“Pain-in-the-ass Kuroo?” Akaashi repeated. Konoha simply listened and waited eagerly for your response.

“Ha?” Your jaw dropped. “Of course not! It’s just that he has the exact same voice as my crush back in Musutafu. And Kenma’s voice reminds of my childhood friend’s before he got whacked with the puberty stick.”

“Hooo~ What was the name of your crush?”

If by some insane miracle, there’s a Hawks in this dimension, you were more than ready to drop everything, drag your ass to Fukuoka, and search for quirkless Hawks. But the question stood open. You had no idea what his name was. Sure, he would carefully flirt with you knowing you were still a student but he couldn’t help it. You were too beautiful.

“He goes by the name Hawks.” You shrugged. “But, eh, it’s just a crush. He’s like 5 years older than me.”

Nodding their heads, you changed the topic and pushed all of them away. It was now time for their matches and you wanted them to prepare with the ample time left. Following them towards the designated court, your thoughts wandered back to half and half.

“You okay?” Akaashi quietly asked. Eyes still locked forward.

“Yeah. Kinda miss my old home.” A small smile with nostalgia formed. “Not gonna lie, I was pretty paranoid and scared shitless with having to live in this dimension. But, it’s honestly not that bad. I kinda like it here.”

“It’s safe to say that the Volleyball team will always have your back.” He nodded at his own statement. “No matter how childish or silent they may be.”

“What about you?” You elbowed his arm softly. “Will you have my back?”

“No.”

Scoffing, you pouted and walked a bit faster. Before you could take another step, you felt his large hands delicately grab onto your wrist. Standing still, you felt it. The way your heart began to beat frantically, how you were certain your cheeks were slowly showing tints of pink, and how you were unconsciously yearning for his touch. Feeling as if time had slowed down, you made sure that your quirk was stagnant, to which it was. His gunmetal blue eyes were intense. If anything, the butterflies in your tummy were now raving.

“Whatever direction or dimension, I’ll always be there.”

~

“Recovery Girl!” Momo yelled. “(y/n)’s heart rate! It suddenly spiked up!”

The 2-A girls had visited you during their free period. They were chatting about what they would do once you were to wake up. It was a happy time till the ECG machine began to show signs of sudden increase.

Quickly moving, Recovery Girl checked the rest of your stats. The more she studied your condition, the more she was left with questions. Such as this scenario. Your vital signs were okay. Sure there really was an increase in your heart rate and blood pressure but other than that it was all stable.

Observing your sleeping body, she squinted her eyes. Rubbing her eyes, she was now sure that there was redness on your face. Checking your temperature, it was nowhere near the degree of fever. Giving it a few seconds, she watched as it faded and the abnormalities finally went back to normal. Grabbing your medical file by the bedside table, she scanned through the previous reports and closed the file once more.

“Is (y/n)-chan okay, kero?” Tsuyu asked. Her big eyes laced with worry as she held onto Momo.

“Yes.” She replied. “It seems as if her brain activity is also affecting her blood circulation but other than that, she’s as stable can be.”

Thanking her for the constant care, the old nurse watched as the girls began to leave the infirmary. Once she heard the door closing, she made her way back to your bed. Reaching for the medical file again, she went over the occurrence of similar activities. There was no pattern at all but she knows it when she sees it.

You were blushing.

- - - - -

a/n: i dunno bout yall but this was a bit chaotic to write xD hope yall liked that cheesy line <3

[dresupi]

Simply Irresistable - Darcy/Dean

1,096 words Rated T Simply Irresistable - Robert Palmer

~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re sure she’s gonna be okay with us just showing up?” Dean asked.

Sam sighed. “It’s Darcy, Dean. Of course, she is. We call her multiple times a week and she’s always asking us to come to see her whenever we’re in the area. We’re in the area.

“Well, yeah, but she’s also like... never met us face to face,” Dean replied.

“I’ve facetimed with her,” Sam replied and shrugged. “She looks normal to me.”

“I wasn’t saying she wasn’t!” Dean countered as he turned into the office building parking lot. “I was just saying--“

“Oh, are you worried she’ll think you look weird or something?” Sam asked.

“No,” Dean scowled. “I’m just saying. We didn’t call. It’s kinda rude.”

“Her office is there in forty-one-ten,” Sam said, nodding towards the positively tiny building tucked into the corner of the right angle of the town square. “Let me out and go park. Meet me inside.”

“Fine.”

Dean left Sammy outside the door and went to drive somewhere to park. Once he had, he got out and walked slowly to the tiny office.

A bell rang when he opened the door and Sam and a short brunette looked up from a desk along the far wall. Sam, he was prepared for, but the brunette?

He stopped in his tracks, eyes widening as he stepped inside the tiny office. If Sammy hadn’t been standing there, he’d have wondered if he was in the wrong building.

Because there was no way Darcy had ever looked like that in any of the profile pictures she’d had over the years. And he’d never bothered face-timing with her up close, so he couldn’t attest to her looking like that in facetime sessions either.

“Hi,” he said dumbly, swallowing as Sam shot him a look that made him want to knock his stupid smug grin off his face.

“Dean Winchester. I’ve only ever seen you from afar,” she said, grinning and revealing this gap in her front teeth that made his heart clench.

Fuck.

“Umm... yeah. Same. Same. Same.  You’re a lot cuter than your profile pics though.”

Great job, dumbass.

“Am I?” she asked, grinning wider and glancing over at Sam. “You didn’t tell me he was such a charmer.”

“Yeah...” Sam shot him a look that basically said the same things Dean was saying in his head. “He’s a regular Prince Charming.”

Taking a deep breath, Dean moved up to the counter beside Sam, hoping that he could keep it together long enough to see what she could scrounge up for them on this name that kept popping up everywhere.

“You know you could do a background check on these guys and get pretty much the same material that I get, and in half the time.”

“Yeah, but do background checks cost the same as taking you out for dinner?” Sam asked, clearly teasing, but somehow it got under Dean’s skin anyway.

“You are assuming I’m a cheap date, Winchester?”

“I’m sure you’re not,” Dean interjected.

“Oh yeah?” Darcy asked, leaning over, propping her chin in her hand, and her elbow on the surface of the desk. “What about me screams good taste and high prices?”

“I just meant if someone was to date you, they shouldn’t assume you’d be a cheap one.”

She peered over at him. “I’ve decided to find you adorable, Dean. Don’t blow it.”

“If you’ll give that a look, I’m gonna talk to my brother over here for a minute.” Sam grinned and gripped Dean’s arm, dragging him away from her desk and turning him around so Sam wasn’t facing Darcy anymore.

“Dean. What the fuck is your problem?”

“You’re flirting with her?” he asked, glancing back at her for a long moment. “Isn’t that a little unprofessional?”

“You’re licking her shoes, how professional is that?” Sam asked, and Dean had to get that image out of his head before he could properly respond. He supposed he could always find out new things about himself. He just wasn’t expecting that particular thing.

“I’m not licking anything. I’m just---“

Sam smirked suddenly. “Oh. I get it.”

“What?” No, you don’t.”

“Yeah...” He nodded. “Yeah, you’ve never actually seen Darcy before. And then the first time you see her, you get lovestruck.”

“I don’t get lovestruck.”

“Yes, you do. And I think you should take her out after this is all over.”

“I can’t do that. I’m not someone who---“

“Darcy’s not either.”

“How do you know?”

“She talks a lot. I listen. You know how it is. Anyway, you should ask her out. She bakes. A lot. Cherry pie, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Are you trying to kill me?”

“No, I’m trying to get you laid. You’re nicer when you get laid.”

“Not cool, Sammy.”

“Are you asking her out?” he asked.

“No, I’m---“

“Okay, I’m gonna, then.”

“Wait a minute, no you’re not. I will. Shut up.” Dean did not miss the triumphant look on Sammy’s face as he moved back towards the desk.

“I’ve got a little bit, but I might need longer to find anything substantial,” she said absently, still looking at the computer screen.

“Yeah, that’s fine, you always do great work, I’m not worried,” Dean said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “So, um... if you’re not busy later, I could take you out to dinner or something?”

“Is this in payment for my services?” she asked, smirking.

“No! No. Just because I want... I want to take you out. And you said I was cute, so...” He smiled in what he hoped was a dashing kind of way, and Darcy grinned back in response, chuckling a little before she responded.

“Yeah, okay. Just know, I’m not a cheap date, Dean Winchester.”

“Wasn’t expecting you to be.”

“Fine,” she said, turning back to the computer screen. “Now take your fine ass out of here so I can get some work done. Come pick me up later.”

He preened a little and went to leave.

“Idiot,” Sam muttered under his breath, but he was smiling and Dean couldn’t be angry with him.

“I know you think you’re hot shit for tricking me into going out with her, but you didn’t. I was going to anyway.”

“Sure you were.”

“I’m older than you and I have a car, I can make you walk back to the hotel,” Dean warned.

“You would never do that to me,” Sam teased, but Dean knew where the car was parked and Sam did not, so he soon changed his tune. “Dean.  Dean, come back.  Dean!”

[stevenbasic]

I had just started to feel a little better. Takeoff was a success and we weren’t going to die. Melissa’s right hand was still on mine, now on my left thigh, holding it there to comfort me through liftoff. But she had since turned to look out the window - and had given me the chance to ogle her huge tits in profile...an opportunity I surreptitiously took. Lord god they seemed bigger every time I saw her. This fine morning, en route down south to our conference, she looked absolutely ready to burst out of her tight white top. I’d been outright staring at her chest for nearly a minute. 

"Everything looks so small from up here!" she marveled, gazing down at the disappearing cityscape as we climbed into the clouds.  Christ, her breasts were enormous. “I like small things, don’t you?” she asked as she casually arched her back, completely unaware that I was still absolutely goggling in wonderment at the bulge and projection of her giant breasts. 

Small? I mused, lost in the reverie of this private, furtive moment I was sharing with her knockers. There is -nothing- small about this overgrown girl…

Wait. Had she asked me a question?

“Uhhh…” I began. If she was expecting a reply, it didn’t seem to trouble her. 

“Everything is cuter when it’s smaller, right?” she quipped, still distracted by the view out the window as I continued to be captured by the view of her mind-blowing torso, “Like, kittens. Cats are cuter when they’re smaller, right? Just like little cars...super cute. Little tiny purses, carrots, brilliant little doctors...cute, cute, cute when they’re smaller.”

Wait what?

I tore my eyes off her chest just in time to avoid being caught as she quickly turned back to me, smiling with mischief. Jesus! Obviously she saw a reaction on my face that gave her pause. 

 “Oh, I’m sorry…!” she said with sudden concern, eyes going wide, “We really haven’t been able to talk, since Friday...are you okay?”

“Wh-what...what do you mean?”

“The...the ‘little doctor’ comment,” she began to explain with chagrin, “I was just trying to be funny…”

“Yeah thanks for reminding me,” I said, chuckling, recovering. It may sound weird but over the past couple days, since the ignominious measurement fiasco at the department store, I’d actually come to a certain peace about my height,or new lack thereof. I was not the (almost) 5’11” I thought I was. Somehow, since I last remember my height having been measured, I’d lost two inches...at least.

If I knew then, sitting in the plane, what I know now I would be mourning much more than a lost couple inches. Any sane person - especially a medical professional like myself - wouldn’t be going to a conference with their busty co-worker: they’d be rushing to get investigative testing. But the idea, the fact that I was 5’8” was beginning to bother me less. I was actually a little proud of myself, being so relaxed about it….what’s the big deal, right? I now realize, though, that my psyche had already been deeply changed, an early part of this whole process that’s brought me..here, to where I’m speaking to you today. I was just none the wiser.

“Really, everything’s fine, it’s normal,” I assured Melissa, fiddling with my seat belt and convincing myself I sounded brave and unperturbed, “these things happen when one gets older.”

“Omigod you are not old,” she howled, slapping my shoulder with her free hand, “you’re only…” Her eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Uh…”

“...more than ten years older than you,” I said wryly. 

Is there a reason she’s still holding my hand?

She smiled, eyes glittering, inspecting me. “Yes, but…” she said, “Three inches though?? That’s...weird, right?”

”Well, sure. But the last time I measured my own height was probably, like, many years ago,” I said, hoping I was sounding calm, “so it’s happened slowly, over like five or ten y-“

“I dunno,” she interrupted, “I feel like you've definitely shr...gotten shorter just since I’ve known you.” She looked me over, up and down. “But maybe it’s more...me.”

”What do you mean?” I asked, as I noticed her adjust her bra over her left shoulder and then turn to look again, wistfully, out the window. 

“Oh, nothing…” she replied, “It’s just that with this new little growth spurt I’m having, maybe my perspective is…”

Just then, the tall, blond flight attendant showed up aside me. “You two look like you need some champagne,” she offered, lowering a tray of well-filled flutes down between us. 

“Oooo yes!” Melissa squealed as she turned back, smiling, to take a drink, releasing my hand. I took a glass as well.

After the stewardess had moved on, we clinked. 

“Cheers,” Melissa giggled.

After a brief pause, and a sip, she continued. “But, really, what about you, Dr. J?” Melissa asked, as she pivoted a bit more at the waist towards me, “You seemed scared the other day, when she told you that you were 5'8”. How are you feeling?”

She really wanted to talk about this, huh? ”Oh, u-uh...heheh..” I began, “I don’t know about “scared…” My mouth suddenly dry, I took another swig. “I mean, nobody liked to be told they’re sh-shorter than they think they are…”

“Especially a guy, right?” she added earnestly, ”it must be sort of...emasculating.” She bit her lower lip, as if eager for my answer. 

“Well, I was never a big macho guy so…” My voice trailed off, as I looked at Melissa. I was able to keep eye contact, for a bit, but I was slowly being struck by, well, her size. The physicality of it. She was taller than me, probably stronger than me, just all-around bigger than me. And suddenly, in that moment, I was becoming overwhelmed by the feeling of being...lesser. 

I glanced down, at my drink, into my lap. 

"Hey, c’mon, you never know,” she said, easily reading my reaction, “there may be some positives! Even if you do get even smaller.” She leaned into me, playfully bumping me with her right shoulder, giggling. 

“Positives?” I asked.

"Yes!” she continued, eagerly, “You heard the sales lady the other day. Girls all want shorter boys. It’s true, totally. It’s fashionable to be with a smaller guy, to be seen as a couple like that. People love size in women these days…” Almost imperceptibly, Melissa straightened in her seat. “That’s why you see so many women in the gym, getting big, bulking up,” she explained, “They want their big butts, big backs and shoulders and arms. It’s all to make their man look small.” 

It’s funny. I had heard this, other places. Read about it. “a-and...you?” I asked, hating immediately the prurient interest in my voice, “y-you go to the gym a lot?”

At that she laughed, and turned to look out the window again. I watched as, through her tight, long sleeve tee, her back muscles bulged, swelling against her top. I took the second to appreciate her muscularity, the dramatic “V” of her torso, fit shoulders tapering down to tiny waist. As I watched, her lats flexed, bulging further. It was subtle but also dramatic, this display of their obvious strength, more bulk than you might immediately think, looking at her. She was by no means “thick”; the musculature looked absolutely feminine and alluring. But was she doing it on purpose? Showing off a little?

“I do go to the gym a lot,” she mused, turning back towards me, “I’m lucky, I get big quick.”

“Y-you do, huh?” I answered dumbly.

“Yeah, I do,” she continued, “It’s all genetics. My father was some sort of athlete, I guess. When I was modelling I had to be careful. I was told I could be a bodybuilder. But...” At that, for some reason, she stopped herself. Almost like she was about to say too much. “But now I don’t have to worry.”

Ashamed at myself, I wanted to hear more...even at the risk of sounding too engrossed. “Y-you like that look?” I asked, “Getting...bigger?”

“I dunno,” she replied with a disarming smile, casually shrugging, “But like I said, It’s totally in, that look, big girls. My gym is almost all women now, most are the same. You don’t see guys as much.”

“R-really?”

“MMhm,” she answered, sipping her champagne, “Know why? It’s the thing, little skinny guys. No one wants a meathead these days. So, look on the bright side:  if you’re smaller, three inches, you’re just getting cuter. More attractive.”

“Oh stop it I’m married,” I reminded her, feeling myself both blush and recoil. My skin crawled, thinking of Sheryl, of where things had gotten between us.

“Well, she may not say it but I’m sure Sheryl likes it,” Melissa countered, “When they go out with their guy every girl wants to look fashionable.”

What was she doing? Painting a picture for me where my wife and I strolled into a restaurant, Sheryl towering over me by six inches with a huge smile on her face? Melissa knew how chilly things were in my marriage. What was she saying?

“And, anyway…” she continued, “maybe you’d like it, too, if you were a little smaller. If it just means everything else, everyone else looks bigger...”

“Wh-what?”

“C’mon...” she said, as a subtle waft of her perfume found its way up into me. Her voice had dropped. I noticed now that we had leaned in already, closer to one another like conspirators, and this just drew me in closer. “I mean, there are more and more guys on the internet every day who are really into that sorta thing. Guys being smaller....smaller than their girlfriend, smaller than their wife. Smaller than women in general.” She took another sip of her drink, waited for me to follow and take a sip of mine. “Some guys want to be a lot smaller than women,” she continued, cryptically, “It’s crazy..."

She looked at me. Raised her eyebrows. Regarded me.

“R-really..?”

"Yeah…” she replied, “I get messages you wouldn't believe..."

================================

Agh, okay. Finally. Thanks again everyone for your patience. This one was hard fought, and I’m afraid through all this they’ll still be slow to come. But hope you all enjoy-

[aleteia-ff]

A Decade To Find You - 3

Also Read On: AO3 | FF.net

Thank you everyone for the support! Unfortunately, school started again, so this update came in a bit later, but I'm definitely finishing this story! My current expectation is that it will end at 5 chapters, perhaps 4. This one turned out a lot longer than I'd anticipated, hence me coming back from my earlier estimate of 3 chapters!

I hope you enjoy!

Summary: Astrid didn't think much of the guy she bumped into just after midnight on January 1, 2010. It was just a hasty apology, a quip and a lop-sided grin from his side. It wasn't supposed to be special.Hiccup felt the same way. That was, until he locked eyes with her again one year later. And the year after that. And the next.But somehow, their destinies only seemed to intertwine that one night a year... On New Year's Eve.

Hiccstrid, New Year’s Eve Fic. Spanning the entire past decade.

Chapter 3: New Year’s Eve 2016

December 31st, 2016

Life came with a lot of difficult choices. Hiccup knew that all too well. Batman, Superman, or simply admitting that the DCEU, especially after Suicide Squad, didn't quite hold a candle to the MCU? It was a shame, really. He'd always loved Batman, had reread many of his old comics since 2014, even saw the humour in George Clooney's Batnipples. But perhaps Justice League would prove everyone wrong in 2017. Hopefully.

At least it hadn't been difficult to choose between Team Cap and Team Iron Man. As much as he adored Spider-Man, his father's opinion was simply more important. And Steve Rogers was their guy.

He felt silly to be spending energy on those dilemmas, but after all the shit he'd been through, it was a breath of fresh air to be worried about stuff that was simple. To have his life on the rails, to no longer be forced to sort through his father's will and figure out how to handle all the insurance and ownership documents. He'd even felt comfortable enough to go and study abroad, having spent the best part of the last half year in Melbourne while Gobber, Snotlout and Uncle Spite took care of what was now his house.

Uncle Spite had told him that it was fine if Hiccup wanted to sell it, that he would find a trustworthy real estate agent who got him his money's worth. It would allow Hiccup to buy an apartment in Hopeless, closer to university, and leave Berk and all the painful memories there behind.

He'd seriously considered the change of scenery, because of course it was difficult to forget what had happened when so many people around him knew. Not just the small family that remained. But also Mrs. Ack from down the street, who kept bringing him leftovers, because his thin frame had led her to assume he wasn't feeding himself properly. The Bog family, who lived a few houses away and whose eldest daughter, Camicazi, frequently stole his garbage bags long and put them at the side of the street for the truck to pick up. Everyone knew what had happened to him, and wanted to do their utmost best to support him. He didn't need it, and had told them to stop several times, painfully elated and awkward, rubbing the back of his head so hard he was surprised he hadn't gone bald yet. But Berkians were stubborn, and persisted nevertheless.

And the more time he'd spent in Australia, the more he'd started to miss Berk. He didn't know what it was about the town that had been his family's home for seven generations. But the moment he'd set foot in it again after returning from the other side of the world, it had simply felt like home. And for now, he had no intention to leave.

He didn't know what it was, exactly. Tuffnut and Ruffnut weren't around much, their band now touring the country and only returning as a service to Gruffnut, who had given them the necessary spotlight by booking them last New Year's Eve - although the way the twins told the story, it was Gruffnut who owed them, not the other way around. Fishlegs was studying at the Hopeless Institute of Technology - the name of which was a HIT with students in exam weeks - like him, so Berk wasn't where they saw each other most. Hiccup had grown closer to Snotlout however, some of his cousin's obnoxiousness having faded after his father passed away. Or it was simply being channelled into the roles he played with Berk's local musical theatre company.

Still, Hiccup felt something was keeping him in Berk. He didn't mind it, not in the slightest, it felt good, like he'd finally found a fragment of inner peace. But he didn't know what it was exactly.

And he didn't have time to think about it, since a voice snapped him out of his tragically derailed train of thought.

"What's on the menu?"

He had only heard it one time before, seven years ago. Yet he recognised it immediately.

He turned his head, looking right into the beautiful blue eyes of the woman next to him. He had to look down at her now, unlike on the first day of 2010, but felt incredibly tiny nevertheless. He'd thought he'd blown it when she'd fled from him last year, having rejected her himself the year before that one. But here she was, smiling at him with a teasing smirk on her face and making the ground underneath his feet disappear, sending him into a free fall.

"Hey - uh - hey -" He laughed sheepishly when he finally remembered how to form words, rubbing the back of his head, and her grin only widened. "Hi," he concluded more sternly, as if it would miraculously make up for his earlier stammering.

She bit her lower lip, laughing still and making his insides contract because he'd thought she couldn't look cuter, a dark blue beanie pulled over her ears, but of course she kept surprising him. "Hey."

For all the times he'd imagined spending time with her, he now realised he'd put embarrassingly little effort into what exactly he would say to her when the stars finally aligned.

There were a million thing he could say, but now that he had the chance, he couldn't come up with anything. His eyes flicked back to the wooden stall in front of him, to the choice he'd been trying to make, and he finally realised that she had already asked him a question he still had to answer.

"All of this is on the menu," he told her, widely gesturing at the space in front of him, a holiday market stall selling all kinds of New Year's treats and drinks from around the world. "I don't even know half of it, but I figured I should try something."

"How about you let me pick?" she proposed. "And I'll pay for it too, in case it's horrible."

"Only if you have it with me," he smiled, her smirk contagious. "And let me buy you a drink in return."

"Deal," she nodded, instantly stepping forward to examine the shop's showcase, her brows furrowing as she focused. Occasionally, she made an adorable sound when she not-so-silently judged the different kinds of food, and Hiccup found himself staring at her, cherishing the moment.

Because she hadn't disappeared yet.

He quickly pretended to be studying the sign that listed the available drinks when she glanced over her shoulder, shooting him another smile.

"Glühwein?" he asked, his voice shooting up as if he'd gone straight back to puberty.

"Nah." She shook her head, looking away from a moment. "I don't drink." She paused before adding: "Not anymore."

"I can respect that," he nodded, thinking back to the times he'd seen her considerably less sober. Despite only catching a glimpse of her, he was sure just last year had been one of those. And he couldn't deny that while he respected anyone enough to let them make their own decisions, she hadn't looked as well as she'd done the years before. As if there had been a little less light in her otherwise bright eyes.

She pulled up an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah," he shrugged, gesturing at his head. "Hangovers suck. Kills your brain too. And booze doesn't even always taste as good as people pretend it does."

"I'm glad you agree," she hummed.

"You make it sound like I'm special."

She took him in for a moment, as if she was seizing him up. "I guess you are. Most of my friends at university disagreed."

"Seems like you need better friends."

"Which is why I'm here." Her lips settled back into a smile. "And I think you still owe me a mug of hot chocolate."

He couldn't help but grin. "Sounds like a plan."

He ordered two mugs of hot chocolate with whipped cream on top while Hot Chocolate Girl - her name, he had to ask for her name - picked out a snack she liked. They walked away from the stall with what she laughingly informed him were called 'Dutch doughnuts' - huge balls of deep fried dough with raisins in them, covered in about a pound of powdered sugar.

He asked her if she wanted to sit down.

"Of course," was her simple answer.

They zigzagged through the crowd, her leading so he wouldn't lose sight of her - not again - until they reached one of the market's squares. He thanked the Gods Luktuk had gotten spiteful and had organised its own winter market this year. Meaning it was a lot less busy and that there were actually some free spots. He had already started to dread the prospect of having to go and sit back with Snotlout. Not that Snot wasn't good company, but from the corner of his eye he could easily see his cousin, already sufficiently drunk, draw Barney Stinson's hot-crazy scale in the air, challenging Fishlegs and the twins to determine where Hot Chocolate Girl would land.

So much for Snotlout losing some of his obnoxiousness.

They sat down across from each other at one of the wooden picnic tables, and for a moment, Hiccup felt himself caught in how unreal the situation felt. He had thought of this girl for years, imagined what she might be like, chased by the notion that seeing her every year on one specific day couldn't be a coincidence. And now he had the chance to confirm that suspicion.

He laughed at himself for his superstition. He had no idea if she even had the same ideas about him. But she chuckled, too, and their eyes met again.

"What's your name?" he asked, curling his fingers around his mug.

"Astrid. Astrid Hofferson." She - Astrid - slowly moved her spoon, mixing the cream into the hot chocolate. "You?"

He blinked, somewhere surprised that she didn't know it already. That he had forgotten that she knew as little about him as he did about her. "I'm -"

He was going to offer her the formal introduction he gave any stranger. But that didn't feel right.

"People call me Hiccup."

Astrid - such a pretty name - pulled up her eyebrow. "Hiccup?"

"It's a nickname," he shrugged. "People close to me have been calling me that for as long as I've known. I was quite small as a kid." He held out his hand next to the table, at the same height his hip would now be. "Dad called me a little Hiccup, and it stuck. First with my cousin, who was in the same class as me in elementary school… And you know how kids are."

"Assholes," she noted.

"Definitely."

She reached for her pocket, whisking out her phone. She bit her lower lip as she started to type. "Are you Hiccup on Facebook too?"

He gave her a sheepish grin. "No, I actually don't have Facebook. Nor Instagram. Or Snapchat."

"Whoa. What century did you come from?"

"I'm not much of a social media guy," he tried to explain. "Not a fan of Mark Zuckerberg getting his hands on all my data."

"Yeah, he is a bit of a creep," Astrid nodded. "Shame I can't go without Messenger."

"Call me old-fashioned, but I can give you my number instead," he proposed. "I do have WhatsApp."

She frowned. "Didn't Facebook buy WhatsApp like two years ago?"

"Just an introduction to how consistent my principles are," he quipped.

"At least you have some. I'm just a regular sell-out." She swiped around on her phone for a moment, before handing it to him. She had opened a new contact, the name already filled out.

"Fake Foot Guy?" he laughed.

"It's not much worse of a nickname than 'Hiccup'," she shot back.

She'd had a nickname for him too. "Can't argue with that."

He typed his number into her phone and handed it back to her, feeling awfully giddy at how easy it was to talk to her. Astrid tucked it back into her jeans, and pointed at the curious snack in front of her. "After you."

"Whoa, Astrid," he objected, putting his hands up in the air. "You picked it out."

"Fine, I'll be the brave one," she joked, and lifted the doughnut, making a toast with it. "Bon appetit."

She took a bite, looking pensive as she chewed calmly before finally publishing her verdict. "It's not too bad, actually."

Encouraged, he began to eat as well, taking a big bite to show he wasn't a coward.

"You're right, not as bad as it looks."

"You doubted me?"

"Not even for a second."

She shook her head at him, working the rest of the doughnut down with impressive speed. She propped her head up on her hand as she waited for him to finish, playfully cocking her head and tapping her fingers on the table while grinning to herself.

"Hey, at least I'm taking the time to enjoy my food," he defended himself.

"Oh, that's now why I'm laughing," Astrid grinned. "You just have some sugar on your face."

"Where?"

Astrid gestured to her own face, drawing a circle in the air. "Everywhere."

Way to make an impression, Haddock. He hastily grabbed his napkin, but when he looked back up he found Astrid leaning over the table, tentatively reaching out to him with hers.

He sat there, frozen when she carefully wiped the tip of his nose as if it was the most obvious, the most natural thing to do. With her so close, he could count the few freckles on her cheeks, her entire presence kissed by the sun in a way people in Berk so rarely were. His eyes fell to her soft, pink lips, slightly chapped by the cold, and he considered hooking his finger underneath her chin and finding out if she still tasted like sugar too. But he figured she always did.

It felt like it was supposed to. It felt right. As if he'd never done otherwise. As if he was lucky enough to get to gaze into her beautiful blue eyes every single day.

While the truth was that he hardly even knew her.

"What do you do?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

"Huh?" Astrid blinked, then looked at her hand, her eyebrows shooting up as if she hadn't realised it belonged to her. "I'm sorry -"

"No, don't be," he told her as she backed away, already missing the closeness and sheepishly cleaning the remaining sugar off his face to occupy himself. "I just meant, what do you do on, you know, other days than New Year's Eve?"

"Oh." She sat down, wiped off her hands and tucked some of her hair back behind her ear. "Mostly volunteer work, these days. Trying to help people where I can."

"That's great!"

"Yeah, it's very satisfying." Her voice trailed off, making him raise an eyebrow.

"Sounds like there's a 'but'."

She smiled slightly. "It's not exactly long-term. I need to find an actual job eventually so I can move out and become an actual adult."

"Any ideas on that yet?"

She shook her head. "That's the issue. I went to uni to become a doctor so I could help people, but it wasn't for me. So this past year, I've been trying to figure out what I want to do instead."

"I don't see how that's an issue."

"Because it's not the way it's supposed to go!" Astrid exclaimed. "I always thought gap years were a waste of time, and now here I am, doing exactly what I vouched I never would."

"Life hardly ever goes how it's supposed to," he shrugged, taking a sip. "And it doesn't seem to me like you're not doing anything."

She cocked her head at him. "What makes you so sure?"

Because I feel like I've known you all my life. "You don't seem like the kind of person to lie in bed watching Netflix all week."

"Of course not," she snorted.

"And you probably volunteer like ten, twenty hours a week…" he murmured, trying not to grin.

"Thirty. At least," she corrected him. "Fifty maybe, if there's a kickboxing tourney in town."

"Okay, public service announcement, don't pick a fight with Astrid," he quipped, painting the words in the air. "Although it's unlikely kicking your ass fits her schedule, because she works so godsdamned hard."

Astrid gave him a determined look. "I can always take time out of my day for special cases."

"Lucky me, people have been telling me I'm very special all my life," he mock-gaped. "What are the odds!"

"About the same as those of living in a town with one hundred thousand people, but nevertheless seeing the same person eight New Year's Eves in a row?"

He froze and looked at her, the way his blue eyes peered into his, searching for something. "You realised it too," he gaped, his voice suddenly a lot softer.

"Of course I did," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I may be a drop-out, but I'm not stupid."

"Didn't meant to imply you were, just…" he laughed at himself. "I thought I was the weird one."

"I don't think you're weird," Astrid reassured him. "Just a dork."

"Do you…" he started, his throat suddenly dry. "Do you think it's a coincidence?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

He was staring at her again, wondering if leaning across the table and kissing her would be an acceptable way of 'figuring it out'. If she would find it inappropriate, or if she would wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him back until their position inevitably became uncomfortable.

He could get up and walk to the other side of the table, sit down on the bench next to her and pull her into his lap, curl his arms around her and hold her until the clock hit midnight. So she wouldn't vanish, not this year. Ask her to come home with him, or meet him again tomorrow, because they had only barely talked and he already couldn't imagine never hearing her voice again. Because it had been enough to catch a hint of how she was brave, passionate, selfless, and smart. And he wanted to know everything else there was to learn about her.

He was snapped out of it by Astrid clearing her throat. "So what about you?"

He blinked profusely and sat back, not even realising he'd been leaning forward. "Huh?"

"What do you do?"

"Oh, I -" He took a deep breath, trying to push away the heat in his cheeks through sheer force of will. "I'm still studying. Trying to become an engineer."

"What kind?"

"For a long time, I wanted to do something with aviation," he elaborated, studying her face for a trace of boredom but finding her eyes opening up instead. "Like, my room is full of sketches of rockets, air planes, flight suits."

"Flight suits?"

"Yeah, you know, so people can fly themselves." He moved his arms, demonstrating the idea until she laughed and made him realise how stupid he made himself look. "It'd probably be a regulatory nightmare though, given that airports already aren't happy with people flying drones." He grinned. "So naturally, I got myself one for Christmas."

Astrid leaned forward, giving him a knowing look. "Does it fly yet?"

"No, but -" He continued, despite Astrid's chuckles. "That's only because I'm making some modifications."

"Sure," Astrid teased.

"It's true! Sticking to the basics takes all the fun out of it."

"Basic planes do sound a lot safer to me, you know," Astrid countered.

"Well, you're in luck, because that's what I was getting to," he explained. "I've loved planes all my life but recently, I've been giving a lot of thought to this thing. You know, what gave me my superhero name." He grinned, vaguely gesturing to his left foot. "The longer I live with it, the more ideas I get to improve it. So maybe I should do that instead." He shrugged. "Help people like me."

Astrid smiled softly. "I think that's a wonderful idea."

"Me too."

He could only smile back as a silence settled between them. It wasn't uncomfortable - on the contrary, he felt he could do this all day, simply look at her, the sounds of the busy market around them seemingly non-existent. Suppress the urge to reach out towards her, unwrap her delicate fingers from around her mug just so he could study them.

He felt like Tarzan - minus the dreadlocks, broad chest and any other kind of muscle definition - wanting to pull off just one of the gloves of his Jane. Not that she was his, of course, he barely knew her name, for years he had known nothing more than that her smile warmed his heart and that every moment they shared seemed to last forever. Besides, he was a 21st century man who didn't believe women to be his property in any way. In fact, he didn't mind a woman who looked like she could kick his ass instead.

But he cherished the thought of carefully taking her fingers in his, treat them delicately despite her obvious strength, and press their palms flat against each other. To get a sense of just how real she was, her warm skin against his, treat her as if she was the first woman he'd ever laid eyes on. Because in a weird way, it felt like it. Then again, everything about this was weird, but in a way that made his heart beat faster.

He could do it. Take her hand, wrap his fingers around it and simply hold them. He would settle for that, and not let her go for the rest of the night. Not even when the fireworks started. He wasn't concerned with those. He was just wondering if they would also go off in his head the moment he kissed her.

Or he could finally realise he was staring at her like a fool, way longer than any sane person would. He blinked profusely, and she cocked her head at him, clearly amused as she took another sip.

He cleared his throat, trying to come up with something smooth, or another topic, but he found himself speechless. "There's so much I want to ask you," he laughed, embarrassingly awkward. "But I can't think of anything."

"Really?" Astrid teased. "Nothing?"

How old are you? Do you prefer dogs or cats? Sushi: overpriced raw fish or actually quite okay? How do you feel about Brangelina getting divorced? Who is your favourite character in Friends? Will you think less of me if I admit I exercised almost every day last Summer, but that ninety-nine percent of that was walking around town catching Pok émon? What even is Brexit?

Do you feel like there 's something here too? Do you like me, even a little bit?

"I just don't know where to start," he shrugged.

"Perhaps you could Google it," she grinned, seemingly content with letting him drown.

"You know, there are actually lists for that," he pointed out, pulling another useless fact out of his repertoire. "Questions to ask on dates."

"Oh?"

He treasured the fact that she didn't ask whether this was a date. So he leapt again. "Yeah. Like a list of 36 questions that 'guarantee' two people will fall in love with each other."

She snorted. "Now that sounds like yak dung." He opened his mouth to agree, but she added: "So go ahead."

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, like a confused goldfish, not having expected to get this far. "I don't know them by heart…"

"You don't do this often?"

He liked the twinkle in her eyes, the way she consistently teased and challenged him. No, he loved that.

"But there was this one question that stuck with me, regardless," he continued. "If you were able to live to the age of ninety, and retain either the mind or the body of a thirty year-old for the last sixty years of your life…. Which one would you want?"

Astrid answered nearly instantly. "Body."

Well, if I had yours, that's what I'd pick too.

"And that's not to sound vain," she elaborated before he could comment. "It's not about that at all, but the thought of becoming so old that I can no longer move around on my own, that I'd need help to get everywhere, or that I simply don't have the energy to do the things I love anymore… I'd hate that. I would lose my independence, my freedom. I don't know what it's like to be thirty yet, of course, but if I got to live the next sixty years feeling like I do right now, but with more and more experience as time goes by, I'd sign up for that." She grinned. "And of course, not getting any wrinkles, or menopause, is an upside too."

"Not sounding vain, right?" he quipped, earning him a punch in his shoulder.

"I gave you a serious answer!"

"I know, I know!" He put his hands up in the air. "But hey, don't blame yourself for being gorgeous."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Hiccup…"

He liked the way she said his name. He hoped she would do it again. "Look, if you can't take a compliment, that's not my fault."

"Fine." She rolled her eyes. "You're not bad yourself either."

He tried not to bask in that comment, in the knowledge that she might like him, even a little bit. He did his best to wipe his grin off his face and continue where they left off. "But I get what you mean, I suppose. People say that you need three things to live a happy life." He counted on his fingers. "Time, energy, and money. If you're young, you have time and energy, but no money. When you're a proper working adult, you have energy and money, but no time. And once you've retired, you've finally got time and money, but no energy. So I don't think your choice is that strange at all. Let alone vain."

"Well, that's one way to get depressed," Astrid huffed.

He gave her a wry smile. "Leave it up to me to brighten the mood, I guess."

"No worries, it won't keep me up at night," Astrid shrugged. "So what about you? What would you pick? If you remembered the question, you probably thought about what you'd answer too."

"I did," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "It's… interesting, but I always thought the answer was obvious. Then you made some really good points, and -"

"And I'm interested in yourreasoning, not your backpedalling."

"Okay…" He shifted, pushing his bangs back. "I'd choose mind. I'd never thought about those things you mentioned, about the whole 'walking around with a walking frame' part of getting old. Especially with my leg and all." He vaguely gestured beneath the table. "Whenever I think about reaching those ages, my mind always goes to the documentaries, the news reports about people with dementia. Because I just find them so incredibly… scary."

Astrid nodded at him and he briefly chewed on his lower lip before he continued. "The thought of getting Alzheimer's, of digressing until you forget yourself and the people around you… I don't think it runs in my family, at least not the early version of it, as far as I know, but I know that doesn't make me immune and it's just -" He sighed. "I know we all die eventually, that's inevitable. But I wouldn't want to go like that."

"Me neither," Astrid softly said, glancing at her hands. "Can I still change my pick? No use in feeling fit if you don't remember what to do with it."

"Or we could team up," he joked, wanting her to smile again. "One preserved body, one preserved mind."

"Sounds like a plan," Astrid laughed. "When I'm old and senile, you just tell me what to do and I will carry you around when you can no longer walk yourself."

"Perfect!" he agreed, grinning. "Match made in heaven."

Astrid cocked her head, observing him as her lips settled back into a slight smile. "It'd seem that way."

Had they both just implied they'd still be in each other's life years from now? Was he reading too much into that? Into the way Astrid's eyes seemed to soften the longer she looked at him, in how he was struggling to remember the last time he'd felt both this excited and this at ease?

He should just ask her. Show that he wasn't afraid to step up and declare he liked her more than he should like anyone he'd talked to this shortly.

"Do you -"

He was interrupted by a loud crash, a shout coming from the other side of the square, the world suddenly larger than just the two of them. He twisted his head to see a guy with fiery red hair stumble backwards, reaching for his eye.

"Dagur!" Astrid jumped up, sprinting in the direction of the sound as the man - Dagur? - balled his fist.

And punched the guy Hiccup only now recognised as Snotlout right in his nose.

"Fuck," Hiccup muttered, rushing after Astrid.

Snotlout recoiled, grasping his nose, blood seeping out from between his fingers as he ran into Dagur shoulder first. Ruffnut and Tuffnut cheered as the two fell over, crashing into the bench Fishlegs had been sitting on until a second ago. What the Hel had they gotten themselves into?

Astrid reached them before Hiccup did, shouting in exasperation at the men rolling around on the ground. "What the fuck are you doing!?"

No one gave her nor the small crowd that had gathered the answer they were looking for. Astrid rolled her eyes, digging her nails into Dagur's leather jacket and pulling him off Snotlout with a show of strength that seemed to surprise Dagur too and left Snotlout on the ground, wide-eyed.

Dagur tried to rush back in, but Astrid yanked him back. "Nope, you're not ruining my night, not this year." She twisted his arm behind his back when he moved again, making him yelp. "You can go berserk in your own time!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Dagur sputtered, his left eye blue with something Hiccup didn't know was a bruise or a tattoo. "He hit me first!"

"You were asking for it!" Snotlout yelled, coughing as blood streamed into his mouth from his obviously broken nose.

"Nah." "Not really." The twins countered instantly, crossing their arms.

Hiccup rushed over to Snotlout as he got back up, and put his hands on his shoulders. "Whoah, Snot, calm down."

"Move over," Snotlout insisted. "Let me at him!"

"Dude, your nose's broken," he argued as calmly as he could, trying to use his height advantage to prevent Snot from moving.

"You know him?"

He looked back over his shoulder at a sceptical Astrid, her eyebrow pulled up, Dagur's efforts to squirm out of her hold futile. He didn't know whether to yell at Snotlout or simply stand there and be impressed with how well she handled guys two times her size. Make a bad and inappropriate joke about her handling him, sometime…

"My cousin," he shrugged, trying to make clear that he also didn't ask for this. Out of all the nights Snotlout had to be, well, Snotlout…

"Nice family you got there," Astrid snorted.

"Right back at you."

"Nope." Astrid shook her head. "Best friend's brother."

"Oh my Thor… You broke my nose!" Snotlout suddenly yelped, as if he'd only just realised it.

"Heh. You kind of sound like Hiccup, talking through your nose and all," Tuffnut commented.

"You gave me a black eye!" Dagur yelled.

"I'm gonna sue you!"

"Playing the lead role in a local production of Grease doesn't make you an American, Snot," Hiccup bit, trying to glance over Dagur's shoulder, where Astrid was trying to hold her grip. "Astrid -"

"Is there are doctor around!?" Snotlout whined.

"I hope so, cause you need one, to fix your head!" Dagur bellowed.

"Guys, fighting doesn't solve anything, please stop…" Fishlegs tried weakly.

Dagur surged forward with such force that the last thing Hiccup saw was Astrid tumbling backwards on the ground, right before Dagur collided with him and Snotlout. They landed in a pile of limbs, both real and fake, Hiccup's elbow landing right in Snotlout's stomach and Dagur's knee digging into his thigh. He cried out in pain, trying to push Dagur off him but ending up as the heavily abused third wheel, caught in the crossfire while neither Snotlout nor his assailant paid any actual attention to him.

"Alright, fine, then we'll try it this way."

His misery was interrupted by a few flashes of blond, followed by pained yelps from Dagur. Finally free, he sputtered and rolled off of Snotlout. He pushed himself up, glancing around to thank his saviour and finding Astrid next to him, perched up on Dagur, holding his arms behind his back as he was lying face down on the floor. Looking uncannily comfortable, as if she was doing this every day.

"We should probably get out of here before the cops get here," she casually remarked.

"If I didn't know better I'd think you were currently undercover," he grinned, distractingly offering Snotlout a not-so-helping hand while keeping his eyes on the most badass woman in the world. He was happy she wasn't with the police though. He didn't need the idea that she could end up like his father.

"You caught me," she laughed. "I'm trying to get a breakthrough in the curious case of cute guys who only appear on New Year's Eve."

He could feel his face change colour. Along with his hand when Snotlout gripped it, leaving it sticky with blood as his cousin hauled himself up.

"Geez, can no one hand him a tissue?" he asked, agitated. Ruffnut shrugged as if there was no other sensible option, zipped open her coat and tore off part of her shirt, handing it to Snotlout, who promptly pressed it to his nose.

"Astrid -"

"Oh Gods," Snotlout gasped, glancing at the piece of fabric and seeing how red it had gotten in mere seconds. "That's a lot of blood."

"- this is not how -"

"Am I dying?"

"- I thought this would go -"

"I'm definitely dying."

"- but thank you, and -"

"But I'm too young and handsome to die!"

"And I think you should get your charming cousin to the ER," Astrid smiled, softly patting Dagur's head when he struggled again.

"I'm sorry," Hiccup tried. So this was how it ended. His first true chance in seven years.

"I'll call you tomorrow," Astrid reassured him with yet another smile.

That phrase stayed with him as he told her goodbye, dragging Snotlout away from the crowd, the others following in his wake. It was echoing through his head when the clock hit midnight in the waiting room of the hospital and Snotlout lamented this being the worst New Year's ever, his complaints unheard because Hiccup himself simply disagreed. He was on cloud nine despite the hospital smell, despite having to explain to the twins that bringing booze into the ER to 'have a bit of a party after all' wasn't socially acceptable behaviour, despite being semi-traumatised by Fishlegs Googling every single medical condition a nosebleed could be a symptom of. No matter how often Hiccup pointed out that there was a direct correlation between the position of Snot's nose, the unstoppable force that had met it and the voluminous amount of blood.

Astrid's words were still with him when he woke up the following morning, feeling like he had a hangover despite not having drunk any alcohol. But in a good way. The best way. The kind that made him giddy and excited, anxiously glancing at his phone while he tried to go about his day.

And they didn't leave him until by the end of January, Astrid still hadn't called.

[sumeshi-t]

the idea of making hc’s of children is sosososo cute. i’ll follow ur steps chloe @akaashit-baeji lolol this is gonna be really self-indulgent buuut my excuse is that it’s my birthday so here it goes... i'm writing the last half of this with a hangover and a bad case of dysmenorrhea... sucks 2 be me

Oikawa Teru (及川 輝)

his name “輝“ means “bright”, and this boi lives up to it because, let’s face it, he’s gonna be like his dad. he embodies this “brightness”, in a way that he’s smart, and he makes sure he and his team’s (or whichever team he’s going to be in) will shine on the court

wavy/curly hair and a victim of my and his dad’s astigmatism. always has this cheeky smile, and he gets my brimming energy so he’s really approachable and charming

very good with words; it’s like he always knows what to say

when he plays he also wears contact lenses

but don’t be fooled. in their generation, it’s him who has to put iwaizumi’s son in check. he knows everything about his teammates too, he knows more than what he lets on (which sometimes, they find creepy, but they all know he means well)

anyway, unlike his dad, he doesn’t really mind having geniuses around. instead, he watches them very closely; something like “mutualism”. he knows what he lacks and he knows he can learn from them too, vice versa.

is into horror games. in his free time, he and his sister take turns playing. and they decide it by seeing who can last the longest without flinching/screaming. he’s annoyed because his sister’s better at it 

has fans, ngl. i mean look at him. however, the female fans especially, are pretty on guard. he’s approachable, but anytime they see him with his sister... they back out. he doesn’t mind, he loves his sister and it actually amuses him. he’s the same when it comes to the boys who hang around her too!

basically protective siblings who are always there for eo

is very neat. can’t concentrate when something is out of place. he keeps his nails short, has a somewhat flowery scent. yes, he uses female perfumes because he despises strong smells.

bug-catching was his childhood hobby just like mine’s was. used to sneak beetles in iwaizumi’s son’s backpack back then

he will never admit it but he actually asks his sister for fashion tips because his taste sucks ass so bad

basically his major problem or issue in life is getting compared to his father (he’s also a setter). he hates that so much, being hidden in the shadow of his dad, and when people just recognize him for being oikawa tooru’s son.

something he and ushijima’s child relate to so strongly. they’re friendly rivals; might end up being teammates in their career hmm

so when he’s the one stressed, he skips practice for a day just so he could recollect his thoughts. usually stays in the library to read books he picked up based on the titles; might either open up to iwa or his sister later on, it depends. then when he’s okay, he doubles the amount of training

Oikawa Rie (及川 麗恵) it’s /ri-ye/ oki

so the kanjis are: "麗" meaning, beautiful and "恵" is blessed. tooru thought of this name obviously

also has curly hair like mine. has that tiny mole below her eye just like i do. actually has lots of moles over her body; one time she fell asleep on the couch her brother drew connecting lines between the moles on her arm and called them constellations. it was nice she thought but still, the next day, teru had to wear a band-aid over his nose bridge.

she’s just a year younger. is less “vibrant” than her brother, a bit more serious. has a resting bitch face and she’s not even sorry about it and i love her for that

she’s actually relieved she looks like that, or else she knows the girls in her class would flock to her just to get in her brother’s pants. usually brushes them off with “ask him, not me” or “do you think that’s any of my concern?” 

her tongue her words damn never get to this baby girl’s bad side she’s gonna burn you alive. like fr when she’s angry, oh she’s gonna show you that she’s angry. but tbh she's very sweet, leaves little notes or little gifts to her friends every now and then

she just doesn’t want her brother’s heart to be broken (she’s heard stories from her mom about her dad’s many hs exes), and she knows teru’s struggles

therefore

doesn’t really like volleyball that much. it’s because she didn’t get to grow up with her dad around, she felt like it separated her from him. she’s not mad at him though. she’s very supportive of him and her brother.

used to play vb though when they were kids. but that’s all it was for her

she’s the team’s honorary manager lol the occasional “i brought you guys sumn” or “something-kun, a girl from my class says she likes you so do your best” etc

the team’s lil sister how bout that

despite being tolerant of horror games, this girl is vvvv squeamish. she cries at the sight of internal organs or blood. biology lab was the worst time of her life 

when she dug up my hs videos she was shook to discover i once did theater. and thus begins her interest in theater too

and??? baby girl is actually???? really really good???? 

the girls she used to shut down nicknamed her “prima”, short for “prima donna” she hates it. hates it more when her closest theater buddy was the one who spread that around

immediately went to the gym to spike some balls from her brother. baby girl was crying because she was just so pissed.

she was given ice cream and sweets afterwards. ugh it’s so cute idk she’s baby to the team skksksk they protecc

in that upcoming play, her first ever performance, the whole team got front row seats and howled when she came on during curtain call; it was vvv sweet and memorable even if the guys were kinda reprimanded afterwards lmao

which is why, in return, boiis also have a hard time approaching her because damn??? the vb team as your knights???? excuse me??? 

oh have i mentioned she has a sweet tooth? mygod. she has a stash of sweets in her room. teru has had to sneak some away because she might get tooth aches or diabetes

her pastel nail polish is arranged by shade, her body clock is fucked up lmao she hates the mornings; has succulents by her window which she names after various characters from books/plays etc she’s for sure gonna be a theater actress tho

asks help from iwa’s son for math. even her brother’s 0% help. teru is smart but a terrible teacher. she’s an above-average student and that’s all that matters for her. she can leave the spotlight to her brother because she only craves one type of spotlight

Miya Seiichi (宮 聖一) and Miya Seiji (宮 聖二)

their names literally mean “聖” sacred then “一” is one, and “二” is two

atsumu thought it was funny. when they were kids, seiichi’s nickname was “juan” and seiji’s was “tutu” (i gave them the nicknames)

when the twins discovered the meaning behind the nicknames, they hated it. especially seiji, he despises it vvv much

so when they were hs, seiichi = chi, seiji = ji for the people they're close with

as we can see here, the twins unfortunately got my curls. seiichi likes his hair as is. he doesn’t like the thought of dyeing his hair just to be differentiated from his twin. in fact he enjoys twin jokes, enjoys tripping people up about it. seiji on the other hand, grew tired of his brother’s jokes and by the time hs started, he sacrifices his soft hair. 

between the two, seiji is the one who has my ugly eyesight. add to the fact that he reads a lot (once he starts he can’t put it down. so he reads in the dark, in a moving car etc)

the piercings was a thing that happened between them, and their cousins (which were also twins wtf)–it was a 2v2 vb thing and they lost

surprisingly, the cousins weren't pleased bc atsumu didn't scold them for getting piercings (but for playing half-heartedly). seiichi wanted the piercings tho tbh it was the perfect excuse. ngl, seiji also wanted them.

first let's talk abt seiichi, aside from the fact he also got my mole (he feels it makes him look cuter tho)

seiichi's into vb, but not a setter. he's the ace. may or may not push through with it as a career. he hasn't decided yet. is actually a bit sad that seiji didn't join the vb club in hs, he wanted them to be like his dad and uncle.

seiichi doesn't have any uh, quirks like shutting the whole cheer squad up like his dad does. but he usually dribbles the ball five times before any serve (this is something i did before) and he likes the 'ooooh hey' thing the crowd does when he goes for a serve

his side of the room doesn't have much stuff going on except workout equipment. he follows what exercise plan i give him as da PT mom that i am, and he is very strict with his diet and with what he eats–he's close to not needing a calorie counter anymore; but not a picky eater. he loves his uncle's cooking very much and he is jealous he can't cook even if he tries

he can do beatboxing, he learned it through youtube lmao his spotify playlists are da bombest; he learns a lot in youtube tho in his free time. his current interest is magic tricks and french (he thinks he can use it to woo that girl from class 4)

he hates insects, and hates mess. he has had to scold his twin about it that it escalated to them having this imaginary line in the middle of the room

anyway, he's straightforward. but not rude. he just doesn't like any pretenses so he says what he thinks or feels is right. may or may not have led to some misunderstandings, but he owns up to his mistakes if he crossed a line

next, seiji

even if he looks like a nerd with his glasses tbh he is not he actually hates studying. you can love reading without having to love studying right? he's that dude

the only time that he regrets dyeing his hair was when he realizes couldn't change identities so his brother could take his exam for him

his side of the room is littered with his sketches, notes from books, pencils everywhere – he drew a bunch of ants one time on a paper and made it look like they're real ass ants and placed it on seiichi's pillow

to solve this problem, atsumu has planned to give him a tablet for his next birthday

quits vb in hs because he kinda lost interest? he still finds it fun but he doesn't wanna be put under the pressure that his dad and uncle left for them lmao

he's in art clubs tho

he designs banners/posters for the team anyway. they use his strategic mind from the shit he's read for any plays and stuff so when he's not drawing, he's thinking

he might look like he has no emotions, but tbh he is more emotional and empathetic than his brother. he cries easily over the simplest things, like those grandparents vids, or rescuing animals and stuff

and thats why he doesn't let people in too much bc he knows he'll be hurt (dw seiichi knows this vvv well, and even if they do have arguments, he loves his lil bro and helps him about this)

has once begged to have a cat at home–seiichi didn't want bc he knows his twin is gonna leave him for clean up lmao

he can cook period.

he's gonna either be an architect or an animator, still hasn't decided.

his music taste sucks lmao. his youtube recents are filled with cooking stuff; in constant conversation with his uncle abt cooking lol it be cute sometimes atsumu is jealous bc he feels his son is closer to his brother than with him

he is forgetful that's why his stuff is messy lol he keeps misplacing stuff, sometimes it's literally in front of him and he's just 'where????'

but remembers dates well, remembers plays well. he's good at nitpicking tiny nearly insignificant details. just anything outside studying? he's good. dw he passes his classes but he hates giving effort for that shit lololol

[seanfalco]

I saw pictures of Sheehan with dogs/puppies and now I want to know what Aevryn would do if Valdo surprised her with a puppy as like an anniversary gift or part of proposing or somethig? Or if it doesn't work for you vision cus cute fluffy pets aren't punk or he's a cat person, maybe something with Valdo and the reader and a dog? If you want, ya know. Or just so you know those pictures exist and can drive yourself mad deciding which is cuter him or the baby dog.

Fandom: The Witcher Punk!AU

Pairing: Punk!Valdo x oc (Aevryn Swift) / Platonic!Valdo x Reader

Word Count: 1732

Rating: G

Taglist: @ficsandcatsandficsandcats @nevadawolfe @magic-multicolored-miracle @coffee-and-stories @whatevermonkey

a/n: Bless nonny, this was so cute and just what I needed.  (Also fluffy pets are hella punk rock ;p)  Also also guhhh Robert + dogs *heart eyes*

Aevryn always looked so beautiful in sleep, her usual vibrant exuberance melting to peaceful vulnerability, and as Valdo watched her, her chest rising and falling softly, his fingers combing through her wavy hair, he felt he might drown in the depth of his affection for her.  

It had been nearly a year since she’d given him a second chance and they were happier than ever; each day a new opportunity for him to prove he deserved it.  However each day it also became harder for him to keep holding back the proposal that he’d already planned in minute detail, wanting every part of it to be absolutely perfect – which was why it was crucial for him to wait just a bit longer.  

In the meantime though that didn’t mean he couldn’t do something just as special for their anniversary.

Aevryn stirred in her sleep, and half awake pulled him closer, not articulate enough to chastise him for watching her but knowing she wanted him near, and he settled in without complaint, a smile on his lips as his soft curls pressed against her cheek.

——

Valdo Marx was always fashionably late, so when he’d asked you to meet him at eleven, you knew he wouldn’t actually arrive until closer to eleven twenty, and sure enough there he was, right on time.

“Ah, [Y/N], I hope you weren’t waiting long,” he exclaimed as he crossed the street, pushing his sunglasses up into his mess of hair and greeting you with a slightly awkward hug.

“So what is this terribly important task you need my help with?” you asked, a grin tugging at your lips as Valdo shifted uncomfortably.

“Well, I actually need your help picking out a gift for Aev,” he admitted, and you gaped at him with surprise.

Certainly he would know Aevryn’s tastes a little better than you – it wasn’t as if you weren’t her friend as well, it was just that Valdo had known her considerably longer, and besides, the man usually gave such lavish presents that you doubted how much help you’d be.

“Uhm, okay, what sort of gift?” you asked, trying to get an idea of what you were working with here.

“I want to get her a dog, well, a puppy to be precise,” he answered, “she’s always wanted one.”

“Wouldn’t that be something you should pick out together?” you wondered aloud and Valdo frowned, thick brows drawing together.

“I suppose, but I wanted to surprise her.  Our second first anniversary is swiftly approaching and Aev’s not exactly big on jewelry,” he explained.  “Though there is one piece of jewelry I think, well, I hope she’ll like,” he muttered and your eyes grew, a mischievous smile lighting up your face.

“In the shape of a ring perhaps?” you pressed.

Valdo’s rueful expression gave him away and you gasped in excitement.  “Do you already have it?”

“Would you like to see it?” he asked, and you were already nodding your head aggressively.

He chuckled at your enthusiasm and reached into the depths of his coat pocket, pulling out a little velvet box, snapping it open as you leaned in closer.  The delicate engagement ring nestled inside the box was obviously finely crafted, the band designed to look like a sliver twig and the modest diamond topping it glittered in the sunlight; a matching stackable wedding band accompanied it, decorated with a tiny silver leaf.

“It’s beautiful,” you whispered, glancing up to catch a glimpse of the pride in Valdo’s bottle green eyes.  “She’s going to love it.”

Clearing his throat Valdo closed the box and carefully returned it to its hiding place.  “Thank you,” he exclaimed, practically beaming.  “I certainly hope so.”

“Just how long have you been carrying that around?” you queried, cocking an amused eyebrow at him and Valdo flushed, glancing away.

“Only a couple months,” he muttered sheepishly.

Stifling your laughter behind your hand you decided to stop your teasing.  “Okay!  So, puppies,” you announced, clapping your hands together to change the subject.  “Does Aev have a favourite breed?” you asked, getting down to business.

“Uhh…” Valdo looked lost.  “Our neighbor when we were children had this shaggy golden beast that Aev was particularly fond of.

Having a feeling you knew which dog he was talking about you brought up a photo on your phone.  “Is this it?” you asked and Valdo’s eyes lit up with recognition.

“Yes, that’s exactly it.”

“That’s a golden retriever.” 

“Perfect!” he exclaimed, “So where do we get one?”

——

Having steered him away from any pet shops that no doubt sold puppies from puppy farms, you walked into the local animal shelter, warning him that he might not find a golden retriever, but that another dog in need of a home might catch his eye and Valdo agreed anyway, eager to scope out the canine selection.  It wasn’t long before Valdo’s delighted gasps could be heard at every new kennel he passed, though his discerning eye kept him moving on.

“Hmm,” you mused, glancing around, “it doesn’t look like they have any golden retrievers here, would you like to try somewhere else?”

Your question was met with silence.

“Valdo?”

That’s when you saw him, a little french bulldog clutched in his arms happily licking his face as Valdo laughed delightedly.

“[Y/N]!” he cried, turning to you.  “I think I’m in love!  Look at how cute he is!”

You couldn’t help the laugh that burst from your lips and you quickly snapped a photo to show Aevryn later, certain she would want to see this.

“[Y/N], do you think Aev will like him?” he asked, smiling down at the wiggly dog in his arms.  “Or should I keep looking…?”  He asked, clearly depressed by the thought.  “I mean, clearly he’s not a golden retriever…”

Valdo trailed off and your heart almost broke at the crestfallen expression that crossed his face as he put the dog down.

“Hey,” you said, quickly placing your hand on his shoulder.  “Y’know, goldens get pretty big and neither you nor Aev have ever had a dog before, why don’t you start out small while you learn the ropes and then you can always pick out a golden puppy together later?”

Your words seemed to make up his mind and Valdo’s grin returned.  “Yes, that sounds like sound reasoning to me.  Did you hear that little guy?  I think you’re the one,” he addressed the dog, who gazed up at him with his little tongue lolling.

As Valdo carried the dog out to the car, happy as a clam, you couldn’t help but smile as well, wishing you could be there to see Aev’s face when she saw him.

“Okay, now we have to get everything he might need.  And only the best!”

“Are you going to name him or let Aevryn do the honors?”

“Oh, I’m letting Aev choose his name.  He is my gift to her after all.”

Sure, you thought as you watched him fuss over the little bulldog.  As if he wasn’t already completely enamored himself.

——

As sneaky as possible Valdo set the dog up in one of the spare rooms, hoping against hope it wouldn’t bark and ruin his surprise until he was ready for the big reveal.  He barely slept through the night, constantly checking in on the little guy.

The next morning Valdo woke early, carefully extricating himself from Aevryn’s arms to get breakfast started and to let the puppy out. 

Soon he was carrying a tray piled high with all of Aev’s favourite breakfast food back to the bedroom and setting it on the dresser before crawling back in bed to wake her with a kiss.

Aevryn hummed, pulling him closer.  “Something smells amazing,” she murmured, a soft moan slipping through her parted lips as Valdo continued to trail kisses along her jaw and neck; his curls brushing her skin as he moved.

“Happy second first anniversary,” he said softly, peering into her eyes before capturing her lips in another firmer kiss.

Aevryn laughed, wrapping her arms around him in a crushing hug.  “I can’t believe it’s already been a year,” she replied, never wanting to let go.  “Knowing you, I have a feeling you have all sorts of things planned for today.”

Loosening her grasp she let him pull back.  “Of course, love,” he purred, “starting with breakfast in bed, and then I have a little surprise for you.”

“Oh?” Aev asked, tilting her head to watch him get up and bring the tray of delicious smelling food over.  She could remember when he could barely make scrambled eggs without burning them and now he was making crepes and eggs and bacon and toast all on his own.

Breakfast was followed inevitably with a steamy repeat of what had happened the night before and Aev whined as afterwards Valdo slipped out of her arms and out of bed to retrieve her surprise, placing the puppy in a large box with a bow for the quick trip across the house.  When he returned to the bedroom he was met with a pout which swiftly turned to curiosity as she eyed the box in his hands.

“What, pray-tell is that?” she asked, crawling closer as he set the present on the bed.

“Open it,” he prompted, crawling back under the covers next to her.

Eyeing him excitedly she pulled the lid off and covered her gasp with her hand, a high-pitched squeal still escaping as the puppy looked up at her with his big brown eyes.

“Valdooooo,” she cried, pulling the dog out of the box to hold in her arms.  “Did you really get us a puppy for our anniversary?”

The pleased smirk that crossed his face only grew as the puppy wriggled excitedly, licking Aevryn’s face to her shrieks of laughter.

“I take it you like him?”

“Like him?  I love him!  He’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen!”  Aev exclaimed, throwing herself and the puppy into Valdo’s arms.  Landing amongst their pillows in a heap, the puppy barking excitedly, Valdo laughed, pressing a kiss to Aev’s temple.

“I’m glad, love.”

“What’s his name?” she asked, stroking his little nose with her finger as he settled on top of Valdo’s chest.

“I figured you could name him.”

Scrunching up her nose in thought Aev suddenly smiled.  “You look like a Romeo to me.”  

[jacksonxschuester]

Not Cut Out for This | 29/11

Who: @asherkarofsky and Jackson (And a robot baby)  Date: November 29th, 2020 Description: Jackson attempts the baby assignment alone, but discovers very quickly that he probably should have asked for help from the start. Luckily, Asher happened to stop by to check in on his friend when he hadn’t heard from Jackson for a few days. Asher was crucial in helping Jackson rebuild enough confidence to keep going with the assignment.  Notes: This is the accompanying para for Jackson’s robot baby assignment.  CONTENT WARNING: Jackson locked the baby in a closet. Thankfully it’s just a doll, but I’m putting a warning for it because it can be potentially upsetting. Also, as with most Jackson paras, there are some strong themes of depression, grief, and passively suicidal thoughts. 

Jackson hated this assignment. It wasn't just difficult, it was impossible. The baby hadn't stopped crying for well over three or four hours. Jackson was exhausted. It was only his second night with the baby and he hadn't slept even a little bit. Neither had the baby. He'd tried feeding it, changing it, all the obvious things. But it still wouldn't stop. So he did what any sane person should do... he wrapped it in five or so blankets and shoved it in the closet and curled up on the floor and covered his ears. If he couldn't hear it, it wasn't there, right?

Asher hadn't heard from Jackson for a few days and honestly he felt the absence. He had pulled out his phone earlier intent of just sending a text, but in the end he'd decided to drop by, maybe see if he wanted to go for a walk. He gave a quick 'shave and a haircut' knock and waited. There was a strange muffled mechanical wailing coming from inside and when no one answered the knock he started to get worried. He was prepared to just knock the door down, but made himself check the doorknob first. It turned so he knocked again as he opened the door. "Jackson? Door's open. Is it a'right if I come in?" He did just that, following the wailing sound deeper into the suite. In the bedroom, he found his friend curled up on the floor. Running the last few steps he was soon on the floor next to him arm wrapping around his back. "Jack! Sugar, you okay?"

Jackson didn't hear the knock. Or Asher's voice. He didn't hear anything until Asher was right there in front of him, and his surprise was obvious in the way he jumped. "S-sir! Hi... um... it... it won't stop. M-make it stop..." he said, pointing at the closet with a trembling finger.

The jump only proved that Jackson was very out of it. He hadn't heard anything until he was right on top of him. He regretted the fright he'd given him. "Okay... okay, just take a deep breath for me a'ight? I'mma take care of it." He followed the shaking finger to the closet, from where the mechanical wail was coming, even louder now. He swung open the door and started unpiling blankets. He folded them neatly and set them aside. Ah, one of these things. His church had done this at some, the month after Silas left. It was supposed to be some sort of abstinence lesson, but he only had fond memories of it. He'd been missing his brother painfully and then he had this little mechanical creature to take care of. It had felt good and unknown to anyone he'd hidden in a closet and cried the day they had to turn them in. He smiled and picked it up. Dressed in a simple onesie and a pink hat it was actually kind of cute. He cuddled it and started to rock, putting his finger to it's lips. Depending on how all out the school went it might or might not accept that as a bottle. The way it started to quiet down, the wail softening and softening until all that could be heard was a whirring sort of sound that he assumed was supposed to be simulate the sucking sound a real baby would make. He sighed in relief and turned his attention to his friend. This was just a hunk of plastic and circuits. Jackson was real and his pain meant a shit-ton more. He came closer and sat down, cradling the baby pointed away in case it started to cry again. "Hey... hey, all quiet now. No more noise."

Jackson watched intently as Asher dug the baby out, the wails grew louder in the absence of the blankets and his hands found their way into his hair to pull at it. He was an absolute wreck... but then suddenly, the cries began to quiet. Jackson looked up again. How was Asher doing that? It didn't take long for it to stop entirely, and when Asher sat down beside him he just stared. "How... How did you do that?" He asked.

Poor kid looked a mess. He wished he could let go of the doll and just love on him for a little bit, but having seen what the loud noise did, kind of made him think better of it. "I did this thing a couple of years ago. I know all the tricks." He winked and when the whirring sounds stopped lifted the doll on his shoulder and started to pat its tiny back. It started to cry again and he involuntarily started to make shushing sounds and rock a little. It made what he assumed the makers thought sounded like a burb but really was more like a record scratch and then quieted completely. "Alright, so let's figure this out. You got another room in this place right? We'll make that the nursery. Won't be so loud for you when it starts up to cryin' again." What he did next he did without thinking, without worrying about what it meant at all. He reached out and took Jackson's hand. "Wish I'da known you had this assignment. Ain't an easy job for just one. Damn near impossible really."

"You did?" Jackson asked, weakly. He wished he had known that... maybe he would have asked for help "I... yeah I have a spare room." He said. He wiped at his eyes and took a deep breath. "Assignment said i can do it by myself and I just assumed..." that he'd have to do it on his own cause he does everything on his own, is what he wanted to say. But he knew that sometimes his gloomy outlook on life made other people uncomfortable. He looked down at where Asher had grabbed his hand, a little startled to realize he hadn't even noticed when that had happened. He tightened his grip a little though, not wanting to let go now that it was there. "I-I'm really bad at this." He said, emotions overwhelming him again. "If that was a real baby I would have killed it just now..." he realized, the thought making him almost hyperventilate.

"Yep. Had to do it for church youth group. They figured havin' to take care of a crying robot for a week would cure us of ever having sex." He shook his head. "Sure, technically you can do it alone, but dang it it's one hell of a job." He took a deep breath and squeezed the hand in his for a moment before letting go and readjusting the 'baby' in his arms. It looked a damn sight more realistic than the one he'd had. The school could afford the good ones. She was cute as a bug in a rug. He rocked it back and forth. "Well, thing is, you know it ain't real. Your brain knows that. Now I ain't sayin' if it was real you woulda magically known what to do. I spect not, but you wouldn't a done that either. You woulda brought it to someone you trusted. Your mom most like. But see you knew that it wasn't a real baby and you knew you couldn't bring it to your mom and you also knew that it was driving you damn near crazy right?" He didn't want Jackson to think that this was somehow akin to murder. It hurt him just to hear the pain in his friend's voice. "You got thrown for a loop no doubt about it, but you got some back up now and we'll figure it out yeah?" He hoped that he wasn't overstepping any boundaries. "Let's go see if we can make a cradle or crib or something for the little darlin' They're a damn sight cuter when they ain't squalin' ain't they?" He tipped her up toward Jackson, now that she was 'sleeping' peacefully. "It can be anything really. Laundry basket, empty drawer." In the corner of his mind he pictured building a cradle out of beautiful oak.

Jackson didn't know who would ever trust him with a real baby. He certainly wasn't ever going to accidentally end up with one of his own, that was for sure. He'd never given much thought to whether he ever wanted to intentionally have any, but if this experience was telling him anything, it was that he probably shouldn't. Ever. He was shaky as he wiped the tears from his eyes again. He only got a good look at the baby when Asher tilted her up so he could see it better. She was actually kind of cute, he had to admit... "There's a laundry basket over there that I've been using." He said, pointing to a basket that had a few blankets lining it for padding. "I.. Thank you." He said, and then he frowned. "Why are you here anyway?" He asked, "Not that I'm not grateful..."

Asher looked over at the basket. "Perfect. See you were gettin' the basics right. It was just the crazy noise that threw you. Why don't you get the basket and I'll carry our little sweetie." He hadn't really meant to say our didn't even really notice he had. He just smiled and stood up, rocking back and forth. "Oh.. well, hadn't heard from you in a couple of days and," I was worried about you, I missed you, I really missed you "I figured I'd come say howdy. Wouldn't be much of a friend if I didn't say hey and check in on the regular. I know you got a lot going on. Hope you don't mind I mighta wanted to check in and make sure you're doing alright. Also wanted to see if you might be up for a walk. But seems like we're gonna have our hands full."

Jackson blinked. Our? Why did that sound... kind of nice? It wasn't supposed to. Jackson wasn't supposed to think like that anymore. After a moment he stood, and went to retrieve the basket. He carried it to the spare room with Asher following behind. "Oh. I'm sorry I haven't been in touch. I've just been..." Busy. Overwhelmed. Depressed beyond belief. "Well. This." He gestured to the baby. "I don't think a walk is in the cards, they didn't provide a stroller or anything anyway." He said dryly. "You um... you don't have to stay if you've got other things going on." He said, wanting to make sure that was clear.

"Busy with this crazy thing. I know." He chuckled as he bounced the baby gently in his arms "Don't fret over me. You been a real friend to me. Just let me know if I get too... well too much I suppose. I ain't had too many friends. Might not be to versed in how to do it." He nodded. "That's alright. It's bit frosty out anyway. Might be snows comin'. Inside suits me just fine." He ticked his head to the side. "Nah, like I said this suits me fine. I'd like to help you with this little lady as long as you'll have me." When the made it to the spare room, he looked around. Alright well it ain't nearly far away to need a baby monitor or anything of the like, but it's far enough away from the livin' room to make the crying less panicky. Besides you got me to deal with that stuff. Maybe you can be the organizer though. Babies do real good when you got a routine. I ain't ever been good at charts and such. Think we can use this sleeping time to write something up?"

Jackson didn't think Asher could ever be too much, at least not in a bad way. If he'd met Asher a couple of years ago, he could easily see them having been best friends almost instantly. As it was, Jackson was pretty sure Asher was his best friend now anyway. He'd fallen out of touch with Jamie and Nick, and it was awkward to talk to Mateo for obvious reasons. Adam had moved away and Beau almost never spoke to him anymore. That left Madeline and Asher, and who was it that had thought to check up on him after only a few days of non-contact? Jackson set the basket up on the bed, and stood back so Asher could place her in it. He wasn't brave enough to touch the baby again just yet. He was pretty convinced she hated him. "Charts? Um... Okay." He said. Routine was something he could definitely relate to. That didn't sound so hard... Once the baby was tucked in and they'd made their way out to the living room, Jackson took a breath. It was quiet in the suite, finally. After hours of screeching and yelling... it was quiet. He turned and without thinking, he just threw his arms around Asher and hugged him tightly. "Thank you, Sir." He whispered, scared that anything louder might wake her up again.

Asher quietly and softly laid the baby down in the basket and practically tip toeing out into the hall. He was about to make some joking remark when he suddenly found himself with an armful of Jackson. It was far from unpleasant. Very far indeed. He paused for only a second before closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around him and hugging back. "You're welcome Sugar," he whispered. "It's my pleasure. Promise. I got your back."

Jackson stayed in the hug for another moment or two, before he pulled back and wiped his eyes again. He was a bit of an emotional wreck lately, especially with the lack of sleep. He led the rest of the way to the living room where he grabbed a piece of paper from a nearby notebook and a pen. "Okay... Charts." He said, and stared at the blank page. "Charts... Start with feeding maybe?" He mused out loud, and then stifled a yawn.

Ash found himself breathing in Jackson's scent - clean and fresh. When he let go, he had the weird urge to reach up and wipe those tears away. It as probably the paternal instincts brought up by the baby. He shook his head and smiled as he followed Jackson into the living room. Sitting down he nodded. "Yep. Feedings are a great place to start. When mamas breast feed the ain't as regular since it's a bonding time too. But for formula you gotta stay pretty regular. Then you can use a binky between feedings to soothe 'em. Here let me check how often we should feed her." He tapped away at his phone. "Okay I'mma assume she's not newborn. Seems bigger'n that, but probably not older than six months. Let's decide she's four months. It says one to two ounces every three to four hours. Even says you should keep the schedule even if you gotta wake 'em up." He turned his wrist out so he could look at his watch. "Alrighty we just 'fed' her so should we go every three and a half hours from now?"

It was a lot of information to take in all at once, but Jackson did his best, he jotted down the amounts and drew out a set of blocked time slots. He filled in feedings three and a half hours apart on the schedule and stifled another yawn. "Okay... there's some "formula" in the bag they sent. You've got to mix it up to feed her." He said, and yet another yawn threatened to break his chain of thought again.

"Oh yeah? Cool. I might let you do the mixin' and I'll do the feedin'." He made a mental note to see what they had given them to work with. "Now if I remember right, the things the doll measures most is feedin', diapers, burping, and holding." So let's work in a diaper checking schedule. If'n she gets to crying and nothing else stops you gotta change the diaper even between schedule times, but if we schedule changes might be we can head off the worst of the cryin. How's about every hour during awake times?"

"Every hour?! Really?" He said, realizing he'd already been doing that part very wrong. "And this is just one infant... A lot of people have to do this with two or three." He said, despair evident in his voice. He penned a not about hourly changes during her awake hours, but since he didn't know yet how much she'd be asleep for or for how long yet he didn't put it in the actual schedule. The lines were starting to blur together on the page but he shook his head to keep himself awake.

Asher nodded and laughed. "Can you imagine? I'm one of three. Me and my mama got a complicated relationship, but I know my pops didn't change one damn diaper. I gotta admire that she did all that by herself." He could hear the note of panic in Jackson's voice. "Most times it's just a little wet and modern diapers absorb right quick. Don't imagine these little critters make poops, but I guess I don't know." He moved from the chair across from him to the one next to him. "We're a team. Not gonna leave you to do this all by yourself. You'll find the stuff you're good at and I'll do the stuff I'm good at. By the end of the week, you'll actually be sad to see it go." He chuckled. "But you'll be happy that screeching is gone that's for sure."

"They really went hard on the "realism" thing." Jackson sighed. "They poop." He'd not been thrilled to make that particular discovery. He frowned. "Your poor mother..." He said, though as he said that he realized he wasn't actually sure how hands on his own father had been when they were young. He certainly wasn't very hands on now, anyway... "Do you want to stay here all week?" He asked. "You might want to go home and pack a bag at some point, in that case." As he made the suggestion, he realized how much he really wanted Asher to stay. He didn't want to be left alone with this thing, he was really scared he'd try to kill it again. He hoped it wasn't going to report that little incident... He was trying to keep his grades up enough that he wouldn't make his father look bad to the school board.

He chuckled. "Well, I'll be on poop duty. I've done enough messy jobs that I'm not bothered by it none." He nodded without even bothering to think about it. He wasn't going to abandon Jackson now. He didn't even want to. "I can stay. I don't even need much. Later when she wakes up we can walk on over. Babies love going for walks. I'll grab some clothes and we'll be set. You, me, and baby. Hey, that reminds me. Does she have a name?"

Jackson shifted on the couch to lean against Asher, feeling immensely grateful for his friend right now. "Thank you..." he whispered. "Um... no. She doesn't." He hadn't even really picked a gender for her until Asher decided it was a girl, so a name hadn't even occurred to Jackson. Were other people naming their electronic babies? Was that a normal thing?

He smiled softly. "Might help to make it feel less... roboty. Do you have a favorite name?"

Jackson shook his head. "Not really, I guess. Never really thought about it." He shrugged. "What about you? Any favourites?"

Asher thought about it for a while. "When I left home, I wasn't some kid or anything, but I'd never been away from home. Never been away from my church and every awful thing I'd been raised with. I was lost and alone and had no idea what to even do. I'd used every dollar I had to buy a bus ticket to get me as far from home as I could. But then what? I had no idea. I was sleeping on a park bench and stealing food out of a dumpster out back of a restaurant. One day the lady who owned the restaurant caught me at it. She coulda chased me off. Coulda ignored it. But she didn't. She cleaned me up, fed me, and gave me a job. Her name was Zadie. That's a real pretty name ain't it?"

"Zadie..." Jackson repeated. " yeah, that could work." He didn't think he'd ever name a really kid that, but this was a robotic doll that he would only have for another 4 nights. And Zadie was a cute name. He liked that it had significance to Asher, for some reason.

"Well there we go. Zadie." He winked. "Bet she's the cutest robot baby at the whole school." He took a deep breath. "Now how about you get some rest. It's gonna hard to get as much sleep as your used to. I remember overhearing a mom at a diner telling her grown daughter to always sleep when the baby sleeps. Seems like good advice." He planned on staying awake and making sure the baby didn't scream and wake him for at least a little while. November 16, 2020

Jackson didn't bother telling Asher he was fairly used to a small amount of sleep lately, but he'd never experienced a lack of sleep due to a screaming infant before which somehow made him more exhausted. "Sleep sounds good." He said softly, his eyes already closing.

Ash smiled. "It does." He moved closer and with gentle hands guided Jackson to lay down, reaching up to the back of the couch he grabbed the throw blanket there and started to tuck it lightly around the boy. The action filled him with a strange, unfamiliar kind of warmth. Unfamiliar, but not unpleasant at all. The baby was starting to make some noises though so that feeling would have to be looked at some other time. He hurried down the hall and picked up the baby, putting his finger to her mouth to quiet her before going to look for the bag of things. Before long he found a largish duffle bag that didn't look like it belonged. Inside he found some baby things. "Bingo Zadie. Now let's make a deal. I'mma change your diaper and good long cuddle to your next feeding time if you agree not to cry and wake up your daddy. Alright?" He tip-toed past Jackson and set up in the spare room to quietly do baby duty.

Jackson was asleep before Asher had finished laying him down. And he continued to sleep for at least two more hours. When he finally stirred, he  found the suite to be relatively quiet. It was nice. He wasn't sure where Asher was though... did he leave? He stood up and decided to go check on the baby first, then worry about Asher. But the sight that greeted him in the spare room was almost too precious for words. Asher was cuddling the doll, sitting on the bed... it was rather sweet to see. Jackson was almost a little jealous about how good at this Asher seemed to be. He didn't say anything as he moved toward them and crawled onto the bed himself. He settled himself next to Asher to look over his shoulder at the baby.

Asher wasn't sure how long he was at it. Some part of him felt some shame that he was enjoying this so much. How sad was it that he was a grown man, supposedly a big, strong Dominant and here he was having a damn good time, taking care of his friend and a doll. But he was. He'd been rocking the baby, occasionally going to check on Jackson, smiling when he saw him sleeping soundly. It gave him a sense of peace and security being there. He was just finishing getting ready to feed the baby when Jack came padding in. "Hey," he said quietly. "Have a good sleep? I was just about to feed her." He tilted his head and smiled gently. "Want to give it a try? I'll be right here."

Jackson shrugged. "I slept, so... that's the bar, I guess." He didn't remember what good sleep felt like. "Uh... maybe you'd better do it." Jackson said, biting his lip. He wasn't ready to even hold her again, let alone feed her. His confidence (not that he had much to begin with) was totally destroyed. Logically, he knew it was a robot and he couldn't actually hurt it, but still... What he'd done had scared him. What would  he have done if it was a real baby?

He filed that comment away for further investigation later. He was getting the distinct feeling that Jackson wasn't getting enough sleep. "Tell you what, we'll do it together. Here, scoot on over." He gently wrapped an arm around Jack and scooted him closer. "I'll hold her and feed her, but she'll really like it if you talk to her. Maybe rub her little toes." It seemed like a way to ease his friend into touching the baby and trusting himself.

Jackson scooted in a little closer, clearly still very wary and unsure of himself. He didn't speak to the baby, and he didn't reach out for her little toes either. He just sort of stared at her, at the thing he'd tried to kill only hours before. He could feel the familiar bubble of panic rising in his chest, but he forced it down by clenching his hands into tight fists.

Jackson was clearly not ready for all that yet. That was okay. Things took time, especially after the baby practically cry exploded as soon as he'd gotten her. Asher didn't push anything. He held the bottle to her lips and listened for the 'sucking' sound again. He didn't have a free arm anymore though he really wished he could put an arm around him. He started to hum and then lightly sing, as much, he hoped, to ease Jackson as to the baby. "Down in the valley. The valley so low. Hang your head over and hear the wind blow...." He started to rock side to side, hoping that he would actually be rocking Jackson. "Did you have a favorite song when you were a little polywog?"

Jackson just watched and listened. The baby was so life like, the way she took the bottle in her mouth and actually drank the liquid inside. It was surreal. And Asher's voice singing a soft little lullaby, it was a bit wild to think that this was real. It was probably the closest he would ever get to domestic life. In a few years Jackson would be a slave and suddenly he found himself wondering if he'd be made to look after someone's children as a slave. He'd be terrible at that... He thought of Lucia, the slave who looked after the Sylvester children, and wondered if she ever thought she'd be in that position when she went to the auction house. He shook his head in response to Asher's question. "No... My dad sang us lots of songs though. Mom too. Mostly show tunes or classic rock... My dad has this obsession with Journey that none of us have ever really figured out." He shrugged.

Asher chuckled. "Journey? Well, I can't say as I dislike 'em." He looked over at Jackson. "There's places in this country where the only thing on the radio are revival tent preachers and Journey." When the baby was done with the bottle He set it aside and lifted the baby to his shoulder. "Okay, now I know you're feelin' awful worried 'bout this baby, but I'mma take your hand and we're gonna burp her together. Promise, I won't let anything bad happen. No cry explosions." He winked, and took Jackson's hand lacing their fingers together. "Ready?"

Jackson definitely didn't like that idea. "Are you sure? I'm pretty sure she hates me..." He said, but his protests were useless as Asher was reaching for his hand and once he had it, Jackson didn't want to let go. "No, I'm not." He said, but despite not being ready, he knew it was going to happen anyway.

"I know. Spent most of my life not bein' ready. Just keeps coming though don't it?" He held on to Jackson's hand and lifted both hands to his friend's chin lifting his head so he's looking up at him. "Just look into my eyes. Just keep lookin'" He looked into those impossibly large eyes, blue as a summer sky in Montana and didn't look a way as he moved their joined hands over to the baby on his shoulder and patted just hard enough to percolate the bubbles up. Zadie makes a little hiccup sound and he laughs. "Success. And by the way... she don't hate you. Pretty sure no one, even a little robot could ever hate you."

Their eyes locked and Jackson forgot for a moment about Zadie and the point of this exercise. Nothing seemed impossible as he stared into Asher's eyes and when he heard the little noise the baby made he blinked in surprise. They did it... That wasn't so hard. He broke the eye contact to look at the doll again. Jackson took a breath, "I locked her in a closet and ignored her for three and a half hours." He pointed out. "She's got to resent me at least a little..."

Something shifts inside of Asher when Jackson blinks and has a look of wonder in his eyes. And then speaks with such heartwrenching honesty. The shift is small and maybe he missed it or maybe he ignored. Anyway, he doesn't stop to think about it that's for sure. "I know, but I promise, it's just a doll. Looks real, sounds real to give us practice for the real thing. That's all. This is just practice." He cocked his head to the side. "Not gonna lie it's gonna be a long week, but I think you're gonna be proud of yourself at the end of it. Just you wait and see."

Jackson chewed his lip. He knew Asher was right, it was just a doll. Nothing more than a training tool... He has no logical reason to be as shaken up by his experience so far as he has been. He released a breath and just rested his head against Asher's shoulder. This was more physical affection than he'd received for a long time, and he was almost starved for it. "I'll just be happy if I pass the assignment at all." He said softly, setting the bar low for himself. He didn't need pride or success, he just needed enough to get by.

"You will." He had no doubt about that. He thinks if he'd not barged in that Jack would have figured it out, but he is there and he's going to do everything in his power, whatever that is, to make his friend to not only get that good grade, but also feel successful. "Nothing wrong with feeling bad about the closet thing. Feelin' bad about a thing is how you make sure not to do it again." He can remember being at protests at soldiers funerals and having a shamed feeling in his stomach. He knows now that the feeling was teaching him that what he was doing was wrong. "But there's also nothing wrong with forgiving yourself." He released Jackson's hand so he can turn the baby, who is now making cooing, contented noises. "Huh Zadie?"

Jackson gave Asher a skeptical look. It was pretty hard to forgive yourself for Almost-Homicide. Zadie was making really cute noises right about now though and Jackson couldn't believe how happy she was with Asher around. He finally lifted a hand and reach out to take one of her little hands in his, ever so gently. That was about as brave as he was getting, for now.

Ash felt a swell of pride for Jackson. Thing was in this world people just never seemed to recognize the small, but actually big braveries. He's seen those small/big braveries. He's seen Silas, answering their father's questions first and fast, knowing that Asher wouldn't be able to talk stuttering until his father would strike out. And now Jackson, pushing past his own feelings of shame and fear to touch the little 'baby'. Might not look like much to someone else, but he knew how big it really was. He put his arm around his friend without even thinking about it; without thinking how they might look like a family if someone was to snap a picture just then.

Jackson settled further into Asher when he felt the man's arm come around him. This was comfortable... almost too comfortable. But Jackson wasn't ready to let it end just yet. He felt his eyes closing again, surprisingly feeling sleepy once more.

He felt Jackson relax against him more and he stayed right there, holding firmly so that he could hold him up if he fell asleep. He was definitely going to have to talk to his friend about whether he was sleeping or not. He'd let him and Baby Zadie rest and they'd deal with some dinner after. "Roses love sunshine, violets love dew. Angels in heaven, know i love you If you don't love me, love whom you please. Put your arms round me, give my heart ease. Give my heart ease love, give my heart ease. Put your arms round me, give my heart ease." He continued to sing very quietly. He knew it was just a silly assignment, but it was just about the best time he'd had yet at school. It beat some silly old dance by a country mile.

Jackson listened to Asher sing, his voice was soft but he could feel every note in the man's chest. It was calming, peaceful... He didn't know the lyrics, but it sounded like a sweet little song. Perfect for a little baby, even a robot one... After a bit he pulled in a  breath and shifted to sit up a little bit, not wanting to fall completely asleep and trap his friend there for who knows how long. "Are you hungry, Sir?" He asked, "I can make dinner..."

Asher looked over as Jackson sat up. "Matter of fact, I'm feelin' hungry as a hippo. I'd be awful grateful for some dinner." He was hungry, that was true and he had also grown very fond of Jackson's cooking, that was also true. However mostly he felt that getting them both into a routine would do them and the robo-baby well. "Think the little angel's asleep for a bit. We can have an adult chat." He winked and moved over to very carefully place the doll into the improvised crib.

It was all he needed to hear to get up off the bed. He didn't want Asher to be going hungry while he was a guest in Jackson's house. Especially after how helpful he'd been today already. Once the baby was secure in the "crib" Jackson led the way out to the kitchen, where he began to assemble the ingredients and supplies for... Well it looked like they were having pasta tonight. Jackson hadn't gotten his weekly grocery delivery yet. Past was all right though. Jackson could often dress up a pasta dish to seem a lot more fulfilling and interesting than your typical spaghetti-and-tomato-sauce type of deals. "Do you prefer pesto or alfredo?" He asked, trying to decide.

Ash followed after watching with interest as the other man pulled this and that out of the cabinets. "Oh, gosh, don't know if I ever had a favorite between 'em." He chuckled. "That alfredo one is the cheesy one, yeah? Makes me kinda want to pick that one, but I'm trying to grow myself a little. No sense being a dumb hick my whole life. Let's try pesto. Do me some good to have green things right? Don't think I ate much vegetables before you made me all those awesome meals."

Jackson chuckled, "Alfredo is more creamy than cheesy, sometimes. but you're probably right about needing more green things." He concurred. Although 'dumb hick' was probably the last phrase Jackson would ever use to describe the man. "Pesto it is." He set to work getting the water on the stove to boil for the pasta, and then assembling the ingredients for his homemade pesto. It was luckily pretty easy to make, and he kept a few pots of fresh growing herbs in his kitchen so he never had to worry about not having them. He pulled a few stems off the plants and began to chop them up finely.

Asher sat at one of the breakfast bar chairs, absolutely fascinated watching Jackson work. There was nothing more attractive and impressive than a person who wasn't just competent at what they did, but confident. He watched his fingers fly and smiled at the beautiful aromas that were already filling the air. "That smells amazing Sugar. Don't know if I ever smelled something so good. 'Cept that one time I was working on a fishing boat. But after a stint on a fishing boat a plain old piece of toast smells like heaven. He chuckled. Wasn't well cut out to be fisherman."

Jackson smiled at the compliment. He'd really not done much beyond just cutting herbs yet, and while they did smell amazing, he couldn't but feel Asher was just looking for reasons to compliment him for nothing. Pity compliments, surely. "You worked on a fishing boat?" He asked, steering the conversation that direction. "Are there any jobs you haven't done, Sir?" He chuckled softly, feeling this had to be about the third or fourth occupation Asher had told him about.

Asher nodded and laughed out loud. "Feels like it sometimes. In the beginning, when I first left home I just kept moving. Didn't really need to, but, well my pops threatened me with the cops the one time I called home and I was such a dumb kid." He shook his head remembering how paranoid he'd been. "But you know, kinda grateful now. Learned how to do all kinds of things. Hopefully I can be handy when... if I can get myself a claim. Not really the kind of jobs people admire though huh?"

Jackson felt that redirection to the word "if" in his soul. He of course had no doubts that Asher would find a claim someday, it would be impossible for him not to. He was sweet and charming and conventionally attractive. But he knew the fear behind that "if" all too well. "I think it's great that you have all this experience, actually." Jackson said genuinely. "Useful for all sorts of things really." He pointed out as he moved on to measuring out the pasta now that the water was boiling - fusilli, instead of spaghetti. He always felt it went far better with pesto than the longer stringy pastas ever did.

"Don't know what job I'd like to settle on. Woodworking I suppose. Maybe making furniture or something." He steepled his fingers. "How about you? Do you got an idea what you'd like to do for a job?" He watched Jackson's sure and confident fingers working and wondered what it would be like if the other boy was encouraged to have this kind of confidence in other areas of his life. He knows of course the broad strokes of what recently happened with the Dominant Jackson loved. He supposed that kind of thing broke your confidence. It made him feel pretty angry on his friend's behalf if he let himself.

"You'd be really good at that, Sir." Jackson said with a smile. "That easel you made me has held up really well, I use it all the time." He told him. "Oh um..." He honestly hadn't thought that much about his career path lately. He'd sort of just began to assume he wouldn't ever have one. He'd be lucky to find a claim at all, and if he did manage that by some stroke of luck there was no guarantee his future dominant would be okay with him working. He shrugged. "I guess something with art? But it really depends on whether I ever find a claim or not, I guess."

Ash perked up. "Oh yeah? I'm real glad. You deserve something good for your art. I was worried it would fall apart on you." His brow furrowed. "Oh... 'course. I'm still new to a lot of this. Seems a little unfair, but seems like submissives kinda end up having to leave some of this stuff up to their Dominants." His expression turned thoughtful and a little confused. He looked up finally and focused on Jackson. He wanted... really wanted to make sure his friend was protected and got everything he wanted out of life. "You're gonna be a hell of an artist. Probably famous and everything." It actually didn't occur to him that Jackson wouldn't get a claim. He was so smart and so sweet. Who wouldn't want to scoop him up and make him their own?

Jackson shrugged as he stirred the pasta in the pot. "I don't mind the idea of leaving some of it up to a Dominant." He said, "In theory, anyway. In an ideal world my future Dominant would know how important art is to me and would let me pursue it professionally. But realistically... I may end up having to settle for a Dominant who wants a stay at home sub and doesn't want me pursuing any profession whatsoever. Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose."

Asher listened and nodded. "There's so much more to learn about the system and all these dang choices everyone has to make." As a child he was completely shielded from the system except to think of it as evil. And as an adult out on his own he really only just saw it like a stranger looking in a window. "There are a lot of compromises people gotta make huh? Really want you to be able to be a chooser Jackson. If it was me I'd be proud for you to keep doing your..." He was interrupted by a sudden piercing cry. "Oops. 'Nother country heard from." He hopped off the stool and hustled back to the spare bedroom.

"Sometimes I forget you didn't grow up with this stuff like I did..." Jackson said softly. He was about to carry on with that thought when he heard the cry, and instantly he tensed up a bit. He hated that noise. He was happy to let Asher deal with it while he finished up with cooking supper, and by the time Asher returned he had their meal ready and  served on the table.

Asher scooped up the baby and started talking nonesense to it tickling her tummy and rocking back and forth as he came in. "Oh my lord Zadie, your daddy sure can cook." He hoisted the baby onto his shoulder and as he sat down. "This really does look delicious Jackson. Thank you. Swear I'mma happily put on ten pounds eating your food." He used one hand to eat while the other continued to jiggle the baby who just made some cooing noises. Seemed she might be one of those babies that liked to move around. For his part Ash couldn't help making a few pleased noises himself. He hadn't been so sure he'd like the green sauce, but it was amazing. So many flavors all in each bite. "Did you learn to cook from your mom or dad or didja teach yourself?"

Jackson tried to hide his grimace at the fact that Asher once again referred to him as Zadie's daddy. It was pretty clear, Asher was the natural parent here, and Jackson had absolutely no parental instincts whatsoever. "My mom." He answered. "She got me started, anyway. Food Network and Youtube did the rest." He said as he tucked into his own plate. He watched the baby as Asher held her against his shoulder, admiring Asher's ability to multi-task.

Asher smiled brightly. "Can't tell you the things I learned watchin' a Youtube video." He chuckled. "Sometimes I done failed too, but mostly it's a good way to learn something when you ain't got someone to teach you." He stopped talking for a while so he could just enjoy the meal. When he stopped to readjust the robobaby to the other shoulder to give his arm a break, his mouth was finally free to speak some of the thoughts that had been rambling through his mind. "Your mama seems like a real nice lady. She was awful nice to me when I first got her. Made me feel real welcome." He huffed a laugh and looked over at Jackson through his lashes. "Now your dad... for a friendly lookin' fella he sure can be intimidating when he sets his mind to it. No offense meant of course. I'm sure he's a real fine man. 'Spose he's got to be stern with the students though."

Jackson smiled at Asher's kind words about his mother. He knew he was lucky to have her in his life. "Yeah, my mom's pretty great." He said softly, but he couldn't hide the grimace that clouded his features at the mention of his father. "Dad gets a little intense about his job... Before I enrolled here I was his son and things were all right, if a little rocky at times, but now... I'm just another student." He shrugged. "I know he doesn't want to get accused of playing favourites, or anything, but... It's almost like he doesn't care unless I'm making him look bad."

Ash frowned not expecting what he heard. He'd thought he'd find out all the ways Jackson had a different perspective on his dad. "Well, far as I can tell, his kid deserves a little favoritism." He wanted to bring some lightness to it, but he could tell it fell flat. "I get it. Your pops don't want people thinking his kids are getting special privilege's or anything, but ain't anyone here would think it's weird y'all are his favorite. Y'all should be. That don't mean he's giving you something he won't give all of us. Just means you're his kid and he loves you." He does take a moment to admit that he maybe has outsized, romantic ideas about parent and children and the love between them. There was none of it with his parents so he'd latched onto it as an idea.

Jackson just shrugged. Everything Asher was saying was everything Jackson wanted, not special treatment or clear favouritism, but some acknowledgement that he was Will's son and he was still loved even as a student of his. But allowing himself to wish for it, to miss what he wasn't getting... that was opening a dangerous door. Jackson had spend nearly three years now building walls. It had started with compartmentalizing, separating the father he knew growing up from the Headmaster who sent his children into a dungeon knowing full well they'd come out emotionally scarred for life. And then he'd had to start building more boxes, separating his grief over losing Steven from the demeanor his teachers expected of him to move forward. And then those boxes started to form together, behind a wall Jackson built to keep them all contained when he had a glimmer of hope that someone could love him and build a life with him. And then the biggest wall of them all, when that too was taken from him. There was no room for doors. No windows, no cracks... But of course, walls crack anyway, especially when they bear a lot of weight. That was where it was very clear to see the amount of pain he was in underneath it all. There was something about Asher that seemed to make his walls crumble just a little more every time they hung out, no matter how hard Jackson tried to keep them standing. "Think we can squeeze in a movie tonight?" He asked, changing the subject, "Or will it be too hard to do that with the baby?"

Asher ticked his head toward his shoulder, just watching the expressions that crossed his features. There was a whole lifetime of emotions there for him to read if only he knew the language. It was a book written in some language he'd never even seen before, but wished he understood. "Oh sure we can. Let's take her for a little stroll to get my things. e nice for all of us to get some fresh air.  Then we come home and feed and change her. Full tummy and a warm cradle and she'll sleep like a bug in a run. Then movie time. Is it wrong if I leave you to clean up these dishes while I do baby time. Feel like I'm monopolizing all the sweetheart's time." He smiled brightly, giving him a wink.

"That sounds like a good plan, Sir." Jackson said, already standing to collect the dishes. "Not wrong at all, you can have as much time with her as you want." He assured, "As soon as I'm done the dishes we can head over to your place."

Asher wouldn't have said, hell wouldn't have been able to find the words or even the self-awareness to say how much he was enjoying this slice of domesticity. He smiled at Jackson as he stood from the table and started to bounce the baby on his shoulder sing-songing every nursery rhyme he could dredge up from his memory. It speaks volumes about who Jackson is and how Ash feels about him that he doesn't even feel embarrassed.  It's not even a conscious thing. It's just as though deep down where all of the really true things are his subconscious trusts Jackson. He has 'Zadie' laying down on the couch pinching her toes and describing what each piggy would do when his friend finished the dishes. "And this little piggy cried wah, wah, wah all the way home." On the last words he crawled his fingers up to her stomach and tickled her. In his mind he could hear little baby laughter. He looked up over his shoulder with a wide grin. "All set Sugar."

Jackson had to admit, it was pretty cute to hear Asher singing to the baby, playing little games and just really embracing the whole thing. It was pretty clear that Asher was going to be a father someday, and a damn good one at that. The dishes didn't take very long, and when he was done he approached Asher and the baby to see if they were ready to go. "Let's get going then." He said with a soft smile, and he grabbed his coat from the hooks by the door as well as some shoes. "Wait, I think there's a little coat in the bag for her. She's temperature sensitive, apparently." He recalled being told by his teacher when he'd picked her up. "And maybe we should take a blanket or something too, just in case?" They wouldn't be outside for very long, but she was pretty small and it was pretty cold out that evening.

Asher had planned on putting the baby into his Jacket to keep her warm, but Jackson jumped in with all the solution they needed. He nodded and grinned. His friend was picking up on things faster than he figured he knew and thinking like a parent. Jack was so hard on himself. It made Asher want him to be so, so successful and see his gigantic worth. See it just like he did. When he returned with the jacket, he carefully guided the baby's arms through while the blanket was retrieved. "Do you wanna hold her? I feel like I really am being a baby hog."

Jackson hesitated again at the prospect of holding the baby. He was still really nervous about it, he knew he shouldn't be, but he was. "She likes you." He said, "I don't mind if you keep holding her." He figured maybe if he phrased it that way, Asher wouldn't pick up on the fact that he was still too scared to hold her.

Not ready yet, Well that was alright. Asher wasn't going to push Jackson. He had a feeling that he'd been pushed his whole life in one way or another and he just really didn't want to be another person who did that. Jackson had a whole week. There was no need to pressure or push him. They had lots of time. He'd agreed to help with this and that meant they were a team, supporting each other to support the baby. He didn't let any of these thoughts show on his face though. It was easy enough because he really did love playing 'daddy' for a while. He pulled the jacket hood over the baby's head and grinned. "All set." He set a strolling pace. Looking up into the darkening sky. "Feels like a storm coming up. Gonna get a bit of snow I think."

Jackson led the way out of his suite, locking the door behind them and then followed Asher out of the switch building and onto the path. He took in a breath. "Yeah, I think that's what the weather report said." He agreed, shivering a little. "It's kind of nice out right now though. Quiet, and I like the way it smells right before it snows..." He admitted. He was in a minority of people who actually kind of liked winter.

Asher nodded enthusiastically. "And then after a really good snow, when you go out before anyone else and everything sounds so.... crisp. Like you can hear just about every gosh darn thing. Quiet enough to hear the birds a mile away." He has the distinct urge to take his friend's hand, but that wasn't something friends did right? It's just because it's cold out, but yeah probably better not to. "Always liked the snow. Now mind you it can sure get in the way of work, but," he shrugged. "well, it's awful beautiful."

Jackson smiled, glad someone finally understood, rather than being shocked and almost offended that he liked the snow. "One of my favourite things is curling up with a mug of tea or hot chocolate and watching the snow fall from the window." He said. "Especially at night, when the streetlamps are lit." He got a warm feeling just thinking about it. It really was the little things that kept him going sometimes, and he had to remember to hang on to those feelings more often. They soon arrived at the entrance to the Dominant building and Jackson held the door open for Asher.

Asher nodded, smiling and cuddling the baby to resist reaching out and putting an arm around Jackson as much as anything. He listened to the submissive understanding completely. "I'm more of a coffee man myself." He winked and chuckled. "You know most people don't see it like that. They see the trouble, y'know, but it ain't trouble, it's beautiful. People just movin' so fast they miss the beautiful things just because they take a little more time." He shook his head.

"Coffee's okay, but I'm not supposed to have a lot of caffeine." He explained, as they walked down the hall to Asher's place. "I mean, I don't necessarily blame them... Snow can be a pain to travel in, and lots of people don't like to be cold, but I'd much rather be too cold than too warm anyday." He shrugged.

He nodded. "'Spect with taking medications for OCD, caffeine would play havoc, hmm?" He probably should learn more about those things so that he can be the supportive friend he really wants to be. "Sure, sure. Like I said, I never was a fan of working in the cold, but still.. no reason not to see the good of it right?" He couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up. "Couldn't agree more. After all, you can put on more clothes but ya can't get more naked."

Jackson grimaced, "Yeah... the medication definitely doesn't react well with caffeine. Same reason I can't have any alcohol or anything either." He said. Once they were inside Asher's suite, Jackson realized he had two choices here, choice number one was to take the baby while Asher gathered his own stuff. He wasn't particularly fond of that idea, but choice number two was to gather Asher's stuff for him which the other man might see as a slight invasion of privacy or too burdensome. He said nothing, and decided he'd let Asher make that decision.

He nodded in sympathy. "Well, way I see it, you ain't missing anything with the alcohol. I try to avoid the stuff more'n a beer or two now and again." The times he'd gotten drunk, he did not like the person he became. Too much like his father. Ash unlocked his door and flicked on the lights. He started down the hall but stopped at the painting. "Look Zadie. Your daddy painted that. Ain't it just the prettiest thing." He looked over his shoulder and looked a bit abashed. Though his words were true. Continuing down the hallway he used his foot to open the door that was already slightly ajar. He lay the baby on the bed and turned to Jackson. "Don't suppose robo-babies can roll right? Think she should be safe." He turned in a full circle trying to figure out how to do this as quickly as possible. "Think you can help me get some things." He pointed to the dresser. "Just some jeans, shirts, and somethin' to sleep in. I'll get my.... uhh.. my bathroom things and skivvies." He blushed a bit, not something he did often.

Jackson followed Asher down the hall and was pleasantly surprised when the Dom came up with a third option Jackson hadn't considered. He smiled and nodded, "Yes, Sir." He replied, even if Asher hadn't meant it as an order. He started to select some things out of the dresser while Asher went to go round up stuff from the bathroom. He picked stuff he thought Asher looked good and/or comfortable in, but he was only half done when the doll began to cry. Evidently, she had noticed Asher's absence. Jackson turned to look at her, hesitating. "Um... Sir?" He called, but his voice was drowned out by her increasingly loud wails. He felt a bubble of panic rise in his throat and he approached the baby, clearly very unsure of himself. Finally he reached out and picked her up, for the first time all afternoon. He awkwardly patted her back but she just kept growing louder and louder.

Ash heard the baby cry and finished grabbing things and throwing them into his kit bag. He stopped when he saw Jackson had the baby. He waited a moment, but when the cries only grew he knew he wouldn't leave him to handle it alone. However he also knew that he couldn't just keep hogging all of the baby time and ruining the experience for Jack. His compromise was to come close and start to rock side to side next to his friend. "Like this. Like you're dancin'. Just side to side, up and down." He smiled and nodded encouragingly. Together they'd get her settled down.

Jackson wasn't a dancer. But he tried to follow what Asher was telling him anyway. Anything to make that noise stop... but it wasn't working. She cried and cried and Jackson could feel his own panicked emotions getting in the way of actually calming her. He turned and damn near forced the baby into Asher's arms. "T-take her, she likes you, she'll calm down for you." He said, believing his words with every ounce of energy he had.

Ash took the baby without any argument. He knew how hard this was for Jackson. The baby was definitely in a full cry mode. "I think she's hungry." He bounced the baby and reached out to squeeze his shoulder. "Can I tell you a secret?" "We left the formula back at my place." Jackson said despairingly, dreading the idea of hauling a crying baby back all that way. "W-what?" He asked, wondering how the hell Asher thought now was a good time to divulge a secret.

He moved the baby to cradle in his arms, putting the tip of his pinky finger to her lips, waiting for the sucking sound before giving his attention to Jackson. "I, uh... Remember how I told you I done this before? For church? It didn't go so smooth at first. Thing cried so much my pop smacked me upside the head." He made a face and quickly moved on away from the bad part of the memory. "Anyway, reason I'm so good with her is I kept that other baby a whole week longer then I was s'posed to." He chuckled. "Ain't no magic ability. Just practice. I loved that doll something awful. Skipped school so I could stay home and figure it all out. Pretty damn stupid thing for a guy to be doing. Leastways that how I felt then. Way my folks saw it men don't do babies, but Jackson, I loved that baby doll something fierce. Didn't have nothing else really, so I really pretended it was real. Thing is you're smarter'n that. Smarter'n me for sure. You know it's just a noisy doll. A real noisy doll. Don't be so hard on yourself. 'Kay? You'll figure it out. Just need some practice."

Jackson listened and watched as Asher managed to pacify the baby with only a finger. He knew that wouldn't last long though. She was hungry and the formula was back at Jackson's suite. They needed to get her back there, and soon. He finished gathering clothes for Asher while the Dom spoke, needing to keep his hands busy. There was something about Ashers words that struck a chord with him though. Jackson didn't have much else either, he'd pretty well closed himself off to most of the relationships in his life and perhaps it was possible that he was even closing himself off from bonding with the robot baby. Was he really so broken he couldn't even love a doll? His hands were shaking as he finished folding Asher's clothes and he realized he still hadn't even said anything. "Its not stupid." Was the only thing that stuck out enough for him to comment on. "Just means you're more compassionate than most." He said, matter of factly. "Did you get all your stuff? We need to go if we're going to get her fed on time..."

"Yep. That's more'n enough for me. Let's get this little lady back to your place so we can get her fed up." He smiled at Jackson, thankful for his simple kindness. The thing is that he didn't think his friend would say something simply to say it. He was an honest soul who didn't do that whole subtext thing that so many people did. He headed back out to the living room and to the door wrapping the blanket back around the baby as they stepped into the drafty hallway. "It is tiring though ain't it? Can't imagine having three of 'em to take care of." He knew that sooner rather than later, Jackson was going to see how nurturing he was and how he had so much to give to a baby.

Jackson carried Asher's bag for him, since the Dom was carrying the baby. He followed out into the hall and as they walked he replied, "I can barely handle one, let alone three." He shuddered. It wasn't likely he would ever have to deal with this again though, he realized. It wasn't super likely that children were in his future at all. Unless he was purchased as a nanny slave or something, he realized. But even then... he probably wouldn't live that long. He wondered why he was still hanging around as long as he had, knowing he had no future. But as he walked a little bit behind Asher and watched as the Dom carried the little bundle of blankets so carefully, talking to her and the way the moonlight bounced off them both... maybe he was hoping that someday things would change. Maybe in ten years he would be watching his Dom carry their child under the stars. Whenever he envisioned a future where he had a Dom lately the person was always faceless. Nameless. It was hard to picture anything good. He tried not to let himself picture much of anything at all, though.

The stars were shining brightly over them now as they walked back. He speaks without thinking. "I'mma show you the stars in Montana someday. It's like there are nothing but stars. Just a big ole sky packed full of 'em." He rocked the baby, looking over his shoulder at Jackson with a giant grin on his face. He rarely just felt simple happiness. No shadows of his childhood. No worries about who or what he was. He just felt content. "So what movie should we watch?"

Jackson felt something within him when he saw Ashers smile. He couldn't quite identify it yet, but perhaps many months from now he might describe it as more cracks forming in the walls. "Are you opposed to Christmas movies in November?" He asked, "I think I'm in the mood for The Polar Express."

"I ain't opposed at all. My parents, well, we celebrated Christmas a little different. Think I got a lot of catching up to do. Si is talking all about parties and mistletoe and what not." His smile didn't fade as he slowed a bit for them to walk abreast. "Polar Express. Think I've heard of that."

"How did you do Christmas before?" Jackson asked, curious. He had a feeling he wouldn't like the answer. He didn't like most things he heard about the Karfosky family.

"Church mostly. Protesting. Santa and all that was considered devil stuff, you know? Pops would 'celebrate' his own way." He shook his head and laughed. "It ain't really as bad as I make it sound. Had a roof over our heads, food in our bellies. Might not have done the whole presents and traditions things, but goin' to church instead of gettin' presents ain't the worst thing a kid's gone through by a long stretch." He smiled and nodded his head. "'Sides, now we get to experience all that stuff new."

Jackson blinked, "Santa was considered devil stuff?" He asked, and then chuckled at a memory that popped into his head. "I mean I used to be absolutely terrified of Santa, but I never thought of him as being Satanic. We just had a big Assembly about Stranger Danger in school and I thought it was just wild that now we were supposed to let this strange man into our house, through the chimney of all places. Why couldn't he knock on the door like a proper guest?" He shook his head at his childhood self as they reached the door to the Switch building. He held it open for Asher as they entered. "This'll be Dave's first Christmas here too, won't it?" He asked. "Silas is going to have a blast." He was happy for Silas that his brothers were here, finally. They may not talk on a frequent basis, but Silas was one of those people Jackson could reliably say was his friend no matter how long it had been since they last talked.

"You know, thing is with my mama, most everything is devil stuff. She caught me looking at a lady's shoes at the Piggly Wiggly and I got a whooping for being 'Satan's Puppet'." He chuckled. "I was nine, hardly knew what kissing was, never mind what a foot fetish was." He listened with a happy smile as Jackson described a childhood memory of Santa. He chuckled picturing a very small Jack making a smart argument as to the safety or lack thereof of letting some old guy they don't know just shimmy on down the chimney into their house. "I 'spose so. Don't know how he feels about that. Yeah, Si's already making plans I think. There's a party apparently. He pulled the blankets down some now that they were inside the switch dorm. "Do you got any special traditions? Seems like that's what the holidays are mostly. Traditions."

Jackson's eyebrow raised at the story about the lady's shoes. He led the way up the stairs to the second floor, where his suite was. He unlocked the door to his suite and let Asher go in first, before following him. "She didn't even consider that maybe you just liked shoes?" He asked, half joking to try and keep the mood light, but half feeling quite upset on his Friend's behalf. "A party, hm? I know that's not your thing, but I hope you have fun anyway." He said genuinely as he set Asher's bag down by the sofa. "Oh... Um, well I haven't really gotten to do too many of our family's traditions since I came here. Everything's changed so much, you know? This year I'm sure Layla's going to be enjoying her first Christmas with Lucas. I might go have dinner with my parents on christmas eve, but other than that, don't really have a lot going on right now."

"They were shiny," Asher confirmed. "Just kinda drew my eye. But that's just not the world she lives in." He thinks that if not for Silas being the brother he was and also leaving they way he did, he might have been drawn into that world. Maybe he would have been strong enough to fight it on his own. No way to know he supposed. He's just glad that he broke free. He's pretty sure Jackson wouldn't like him one bit if he was like that. He shrugged his shoulders. "Si promised I can step out if I need to." He shrugged again, kind of hating that his brother is still having to protect him. "Layla's your sister and Lucas is her claim, right?" He'd been doing a little bit better getting to know people. "Well, I ain't got any traditions at all. Maybe you can teach me some of yours." He waited for Jack to open the door before pulling away the blanket entirely. "Well, should we fix little miss her dinner? She's had lots of cuddles and adventures so I think with a clean diaper and a full tummy she'll sleep through at least a movie."

Jackson was already gathering the supplies needed to mix up the formula as he listened. "Yeah, that's correct. Layla and Lucas only claimed a little while ago. They're happy." He said, and while he was genuinely happy for his sister, there was an element of sadness to his voice. After all, he wasn't as important a figure in his sister's life anymore. He often felt she got very swept away by all the amazing good things in her life that sometimes she failed to stop and realize how much Jackson needed her, or anyone, to meet him at his speed and just spend a little time with him. "Sure, I could teach you a few." He said as he tested the temperature of the formula in the bottle. "There, that should do it." He said as he passed the bottle over to Asher.

Asher nodded. "Nice to see your sibling happy, right? Seein' Silas smile makes me feel real good." He watched as Jackson mixed up the formula and check the temperature. Ash took the bottle but then held it back out. "Wanna give it a try?" He was riding the edge very carefully. He didn't want to push Jackson to do anything he wasn't ready for, but he also didn't want to hold him back. November 27, 2020

Jackson hesitated, the memory of the baby screaming in his arms but calming down almost instantly with Asher still fresh in his mind. That shouldn't bother him as much as it did... he stepped a little closer, almost brave enough to try it, but - "Are you sure I should? I'm positive she doesn't even like me..."

Asher took a seat on the couch and ticked his head to gesture Jackson over. "Sometimes I 'magine people find out about the OCD issues they get jittery like and them bein' all nervous probably sets somethin' off in you. Like they bein' nervous makes you feel awful nervous. Might be Zadie's got something like that. Ain't that she don't like you. Nothing like that at all. She's just feelin' you feelin' nervous. That's a'right. You both feelin' nervous and a little scared. Seems like that's probably how it is for real parents." He gently transferred the baby to Jackson's warm arms. "You can tell her how your feelin'. Seems like there ain't no one better to talk to."

It was kind of remarkable that Asher seemed to know that, about his OCD. He wondered if Asher had done some research, or perhaps he'd known other people with the disorder. He followed Asher to the couch without a word, regardless. Something in his was telling him to just do it, and that maybe spoke to how much he trusted Asher without realizing it. Before he knew it he had the baby in his arms and he swallowed down the anxiety that built up in his throat. This was ridiculous, his brain told him. She was a robot. She couldn't sense anything from him, and he couldn't really sense anything from her, either. Maybe that was the problem... maybe with a real baby things would be different. Jackson didn't want to tell her how he was feeling. He didn't really talk much about his feelings anymore to anyone, and with Asher right there, there wasn't much he could say without feeling completely exposed. He glanced  up at the Dom and so far, Zadie hadn't started screeching yet, so that was a win. He reached out to take the bottle from Asher and took in a breath as he offered it to her. Before too long, she was happily suckling away at the bottle and Jackson was starting to feel a little bit more okay about this.

Asher gave Jackson the bottle and just settled back to give his friend some space. The truth was that while he maybe had done some research about OCD and anxiety, there was no way on the whole wide Earth for him to completely understand Jackson's perspective or the way he felt. However he did know that the robot baby didn't have negative feelings toward the other boy. It was... well, just a robot, but Jackson had negative feelings about Jackson because of what had happened when he'd first brought the baby home. He knew that he needed something positive and needed it right quick. He was silently praying that the baby didn't start squawking. He held his breath and didn't let it out until she starting making happy, sucking noises. He smiled at Jackson. "See, you're plenty good at this. Good as me leastways." He winked and leaned his head back against the couch, giving Jackson the space to have this moment.

Maybe he could do this, he decided, as he watched the baby eat. Not alone, absolutely not. He needed Asher there, that much he was willing to admit and honestly... it felt kind of nice to have someone there for him right now. But he wasn't quite feeling like it was a lost cause anymore. He didn't feel like shutting the baby in a closet and covering his ears and hoping it would all go away on its own. "Thank you, Sir..." He said suddenly. "For coming over, I mean. If you hadn't have showed up I..." he had no idea what he would have done. "Just... thank  you."

He nodded and smiled. "You're welcome. Been my pleasure honestly." He loved taking care of the baby, but more than that he was just enjoying being there with Jackson. "I think you woulda worked things out, but I'm real glad I came by. Don't think parenting is one of those things anyone is supposed to do alone. Takes a village and all that stuff, right?"

[harryswanderlust]

Locker Room

warnings: smut!! & cursing

requested: nope

I hope you guy enjoy 4k words of gym! shawn!!

A sigh escapes her lips as she fills the water cooler for the third time in the past hour, secretly hoping she won't have to fill it more than the eight times she usually does during her shift. She prefers it over having to pick up the dirty, sweaty towels off the gym floor to throw into the wash, but neither thing is glamorous in her opinion. Her job isn't too bad, she really doesn't have to do much, and Y/n really needs the money. It was either here or the coffee shop on the corner, and she doesn't know a thing about making coffee.

She's been working here for about two weeks, and the worst thing she's had to do is help all the clueless people understand the terms of their membership. She'd rather bang her head against a wall, but most days are relaxing for her when she doesn't have to deal with that. She mostly gets to hide in the background completely unnoticed since everyone seems to know what they're doing and goes about their business like usual.

She gets a nice view sometimes, and one of these days she knows she's going to get caught staring at the cute guys that walk in. She can't help herself, once they take their shirts off she gets a front row seat to their toned abs and back muscles and how could she look away from that? No one really pays much attention to her except to ask for a towel or for her to refill their water bottles though. Every day is basically the same routine, but today's shift was going to be a little different for her.

She makes her way back to the front desk, resting her chin on her fist as she reopens her book to continue reading it. The day has been slow so far, not a lot of people coming in, and it's relatively quiet except for the clinking of weights. She's been waiting, watching the tiny hand tick by on the clock, for her lunch break. While her job may not hard, it's certainly not invigorating and sadly her lunch break is the most exciting part of her day.

When she hears the bell on the door ring, she looks up from her book, letting it close on the counter as she gets ready to give whoever's come in the usual "Hi, welcome to Fusion Gym," greeting, but the words manage to get caught in her throat.

She's unable to do anything but blink, taking in the sight of the stranger that just walked in. She thinks she's dreaming at first as her eyes roam his entire his body, noting the heading that's pushing back chocolate brown curls and shorts that are exposing a pair of thighs that she swears are sinful. Sure she's seen some well fit, attractive looking young guys come in. She works in a gym for goodness sake, but him? He puts all of them to shame.

She jumps out of her chair, smoothing out her shirt and fixing her name tag. She rakes her fingers through hair, trying to make herself look nice or at the very least presentable. She never put much effort into how she looked for her job since she only had to interact with a handful of people and her boss didn't care. But today has made her want to try a bit harder.

He makes his way over to her and is about to say something when Jeremy, the gym's best personal trainer, comes up to him.

"Hey, Shawn. It's been a while since I've seen you, where've you been?" He asks, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him into a type of bro hug. He gives a couple pats on the back before releasing him, one hand still on his shoulder.

Shawn.

She kind of liked that name.

The kind of name she'd like to scream.

"Been busy writing that album and stuff. You know how it is," he tells him, shrugging as he pulls his gym bag off his shoulder. She watches as his biceps flexes, and she restrains herself from biting her lip. A few tattoos on his arm catch her attention, and if she didn't have a thing for them before then she sure did now.

Also, writing an album? Did that make him a singer? She's never heard of any singers named Shawn, but being away at college has really managed to take her out of the loop.

"Yeah, I no worries man. You want to make it a leg day?" Jeremy asks him, and Shawn nods in agreement. Y/n doesn't catch the words that are passed between them next because she's too busy daydreaming about the tall, amber eyed boy in front of her with the a smile like sunshine. Thoughts swirling through her mind about how someone so perfect could exist. Which she realizes is impossible because no one is truly perfect, but damn did he sure come close.

It makes her wish she'd starting working at the gym sooner.

She's fully aware that there's work she needs to do, and standing here gawking at people isn't going to help get it done. It's probably time for her to wipe down equipment or clean one of the bathrooms, but that all seems so insignificant to her right now.

"Hello? Excuse me, miss?"

Gasping, she's pulled back to reality. She blinks a few times, silently cursing at herself for appearing like a fool in front of him. He's standing right in front of her, patiently waiting for her to say something.

"Yes, I'm sorry. Hi, can I help you with something today?"

Like maybe taking off your shirt?

"Yeah, could I get a towel please?"

She nods frantically, like somehow she can no longer behave like a normal human being. She walks back to the closet where they keep the towels and has to stand on her tiptoes to get the only available ones on the top shelf.

"Sorry about that," she says sheepishly when she's back behind the front desk, "Here you go."

She hands him the neatly folded towel, their hands touching when he grabs it from her. A slight chill runs through her, and she has to close her eyes for a minute to calm herself. She doesn't know why she's getting so worked up over a guy. An inconceivably hot guy, but still a guy.

"I appreciate it," he thanks her, his face lighting up with a smile and Y/n's knees go weak at the sight. "I've never seen you here before. I'm Shawn."

He offers her his hand to shake and she takes it, her thumb tracing over the bird that is inked onto it. She ponders over it, considering what it might mean before realizing she hasn't said anything back.

"I..I'm new," she sputters, shaking his hand way too eagerly. He lets out a small laugh, one she'd find endearing if it wasn't caused by the dumb mistake she just made. "I mean, I'm Y/n. Obviously new isn't my name. That would be...that would be stupid...obviously..."

Her focus shifts to anywhere but his own, unable to handle how embarrassing she's being right now. She's word vomiting all over herself, and she'd say that it's the reason no one's ever asked her out. She can hardly say anything remotely intelligible around good looking people so it's no wonder why she can't keep anyone around.

"Cute name for an even cuter girl," he says, winking at her, and her heart almost stops beating.

Was that–did he just compliment her? She had to have imagined that right?

"Guess I'll be seeing you around more often," he waves and turns over his shoulder to join Jeremy in the workout room.

She mutters a "guess so" under her breath and jumps giddily where she stands when he's no longer facing her. She wipes her clammy palms against her jeans, trying to get of all the sweat and sits back down in her chair. Opening her book, she tries to get back into it and stop herself from watching Shawn. But it doesn't work once the weights are picked up and the shirt comes off, his entire physique on full display for her.

He could literally choke her with those thighs if he wanted.

After a while, she's still trained on him. Sweat glistens against his chest and forehead, his eyebrows drawn together as he concentrates. For Y/n, this is more entertaining than anything she could see at the movies or on tv. She'd pay to see this everyday, even if the boy never developed any interest in her.

She didn't know it yet, but her luck was about to start changing for her.

･ﾟ✧･ﾟ ✧ ･ﾟ✧ ･ﾟ✧

The low hum of music from the speakers above flows through the gym, a yawn seeping past her lips as she rests her chin further against her fist. She blinks several times, tiredness taking over her body. She's been fighting off sleep for the past three or four hours, trying to stay awake for the night shift she's been stuck on. It was the only time she was available to work this week, having to have mornings and afternoons free for her college midterms. And if she wasn't already occupied enough with all that, it sure didn't help that Shawn has been on her mind the entire time.

It would have been wise to take the whole week, but her desire to see him again was greater than her need to pass her tests. He's started coming in every day since they met, or on nights like tonight if that's when Y/n's working. She didn't know what to think of it really, or of herself for that matter. It wasn't like he was anyone special, if you take away that fact that he's a talented artist and is a walking dream, yet she's developed a crush on him in such a short amount of time. She even took her hair out of a ponytail for him, letting it fall loosely around her face and over her shoulders. She would've brushed it, but she didn't want it to seem like she was trying too hard.

Not that it mattered because Shawn definitely noticed her. He noticed her from the moment he laid eyes on her, even if she was about to fall out of her chair. It was adorable, and what's more adorable is the amount of times he's caught her staring at him while he's in the middle of working out. He'd be lying if he said he didn't love the way he's able to put on a show for her. It's an immediate confidence booster for him when she gets flustered, turning back to the towels she folding or book she's only half reading. And when she's busy and needed elsewhere, he's watching her too.

Slowly, they've both been noticing that the only attention they want is each other's. There have been plenty of girls in the gym that have taken their shot at flirting with Shawn–there being one in particular that Y/n remembers named Olivia. She works at the gym alongside her, and she had to watch the pathetic scene unfold in front of her while refraining herself from killing the girl. Everything from shoulder touching, hair twirling, and all the way to fake laughing. She thought she was going to be sick, but luckily Shawn wasn't paying any mind to her. He's used to the affection, but now he only wants Y/n's.

She releases a grunt when her head slips from her hand, hitting her forehead on the counter. Her fingers tend to the pain, rubbing tenderly to help ease it before she decides to clean the equipment in order to keep herself from nearly falling asleep again. If there's anything she's learned from this night, it's that four cups of coffee fails to do the trick.

Right now there's two things she'd love: either a nap or to be underneath Shawn while he's doing push ups in the workout room with Jeremy...or for other reasons. The way his muscles are flexing is making her hot, and the a/c in this place is always cranked up on full blast.

"How many is that?" Shawn asks, grunting as he pushes himself up from the mat. A bead of sweat slides down the side of his head, his damp curls sticking to his neck.

"That's thirty," Jeremy answers, smacking on a piece of gum. His gaze wanders the room, stopping when he sees Y/n wiping down a weight bench. "Hey, Y/n. I'm going to go fill up my water. Make sure he doesn't stop while I'm gone, would ya?"

He doesn't wait for a response, already making his way towards the water cooler. She glances at Shawn who relaxes before he stands up. The air is thick around them as he moves to stand in front of her, bringing his hand up to brush a piece of hair behind her ear. Skin tingles where he touches her, feeling electric as it runs down her spine.

She'd love for him to touch her all over.

She'd love to get to touch him all over. And his shirt's already off, making him half naked...

"You're not really going to make me do any more are you? I think I deserve a break don't you?" He asks, quirking a brow and cocking his head.

She draws in a weary breath, unsure of what to say as she grabs his hand and pulls it away from where it hovers above her cheek. She holds onto it, looking at where their hands meet and letting a second pass before she snaps herself out of whatever trance she's in.

"I...I guess?" She says questioningly.

He shakes his head. "You know what? What if you helped me instead?"

Her brows knit together, confusion gracing her features. "What do you mean?"

There's no one around except for the two of them and one or two other employees, most people having called it a night ages ago. The room is calm and quiet with it only being the two of you. That's why Shawn doesn't have a problem pulling her down gently to the mat, climbing above her and positioning himself to do more push-ups. Fear ignites behind her eyes as her back presses against it, their chests all but touching. He grasps her chin, getting her to look at him.

"For every push-up I do right I'll kiss you," he explains, and he has no idea where any of this came from but he's glad it did. He has wanted to ask her out over the past week. He's wanted to ask her out from the minute he saw her behind the front desk, but he's chickened out every time he's considered going for it.

"Wait what?"

She's hoping Jeremy doesn't come back anytime soon, not finding this situation to be one she'd enjoy explaining her way out of.

"Think of it as a reward," he persuades her, pushing himself down so his lips ghost right over her ear, "For both of us."

His locks dangle over his lashes, tickling along the side of her neck. She resists the urge twirl a curl of it around her finger. She's wondered what it feels like. Probably

"But how will I know if you do one right?" She whispers.

"I guess that's up to me to decide," he breathes, already bending down to start. His warm breath fans across her face, his nose lightly brushing hers. Her body is suddenly begging for him to kiss her, anticipating him pressing his warm lips to hers. Her head swirls and eyes flutter shut.

He's about to steal one from her. Claim the reward that's well earned for both of them, but she puts a stop to it.

"You know, I like your songs," she blurts out, dissipating the moment. She sucks her bottom lip between her teeth, angry that she just ruined things as the heat was turning up. Her words come out so rushed she's hoping he didn't understand a thing she said–she's not even sure she understood what she said.

"What?"

"I like your songs," she repeats, more clearly this time. "I looked you up on Spotify the other night and I think your songs are...are cool."

'I looked you up on Spotify?' 'I think your songs are cool?'. Seriously? She listened to all three of his albums and that's what she has to say about it? That's the best she could come up with? It's better than telling him she spent over two hours listening to his music instead of studying for her classes, but still.

"Oh, thanks," he says, and there he goes again with that lovable laugh that has no business making her like him so much. "Do you have a favorite?"

She shrugs, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "I guess I really enjoyed that one song...Nervous I think it was...?"

A deep shade of crimson blossoms over Shawn's cheeks, and he coughs before shaking it off. His embarrassment begins to falter, and she notices a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Is it because I make you nervous, princess?"

She freezes, her pulse racing.

Princess?

That was new. She's never been called that before, but she liked hearing it come from that mouth of his. Now she wants to know what else it can do. Kiss her lips? Or maybe the ones a little further south?

She's so lost in her mind that she's totally surprised when he finally decides to go for it. Next thing she knows his lips are on hers, moving gently. It's fervent, it's insiste. Each one deeper than the last every time he pulls away and comes back. He relaxes, his body melting into hers as she winds her arms around him. They're flush against each other now with no room to consider the possibility of someone walking in on them now.

One hand tangles in her hair, the other pinches her hip causing her to squirm and her mouth to part. Her heart beats faster and faster, body spinning as she savors the saccharin taste of honey. They're making out for the entire world to see–they're lying in front of a wall of windows–but that's the last thing either of them care about. The world has fallen around them, and the only thing left are the helpless moans they're pulling out of each other.

She tugs teasingly at his bottom lip, hissing when he grinds his hips against her own. A hand slips under her shirt, splaying over her stomach, but before he can move it any further something halts his actions.

A bottle drops to the floor, the sound of it ringing through the room alongside a string of curses. Shawn swiftly rolls off of her, the two of them sitting up as Jeremy approaches. Realizing their messy appearance, he peers unsurely at them.

He clears his throat. "Ahem, I think we should call it a night," he says, fixated on the way they're so close to one another, "It's getting late, yeah?"

Shawn nods, already halfway stood up. "Yeah, I'm gonna hit the showers."

They exchange goodbyes while Y/n drowns in a sea disbelief. Never in a million years would she have pictured herself making out with a pop star on a grime infested floor. Granted she didn't initiate it, but she made no effort to stop the situation either.

Jeremy's long gone and she chooses to follow Shawn's lead by standing up as well, but when she does she trips. He's quick to catch her as she stumbles into his chest, and he gestures towards the lockers rooms. There's a split second of misunderstanding before she picks up that he wants her to join him, which sends her into a minor panic.

Is he really going to try and hook up with her in a locker room?

Is she really finding herself okay with that?

Could he at least buy her dinner first?

Within no time they're in there and he's all over her again. Dropping his bag and towel, gripping her waist and attaching himself to her neck once more. It's no surprise he's strong, and it's no surprise that a wave of excitement rushes through her when he roughly pushes her back into the side of the lockers. He skims the hem of her shirt, working to pull it off of her.

Her pants are next, and then his own shorts. She's desperate for him when she feels his hard on poking the side of her thigh, mere inches away from leaning into the place she wants him most. Whines fill the air as they leave red and purple marks along skin. Shawn dips down, his mouth roaming her chest while his arm snakes around to work on the clasp of her bra.

He groans, taking in the beautiful sight of her. "I like this view," he says, "I could get used to this."

She can't believe how she's gotten here. Naked and sandwiched between Shawn and the cold metal of a row of lockers. She can't believe it when his mouth leaves her collarbone and attacks her nipple, his fingers fumbling around with the other. She can't believe the way she's shuddering when he carefully drops down to his knees. He leaves sloppy kisses on her on his way down, making her want to crumble.

There's a tingling feeling where she's aching for him when he levels with her center. She's wet. Beyond wet, and he's barely done anything to her yet. He's positioned himself between her thighs, his thumbs rubbing gentle circles into them, and she wants to come undone at the sight of it alone.

Her body lurches forward when his nose nudges her clit. She becomes a whimpering mess when his fingers dance along her thighs and make their way up to her heat. They slide through her wet folds, circling her entrance before slipping one in. His tongue is on her next, eliciting a scream from her as it swirls her clit.

Groans leave him as he sucks on her bundle of nerves, causing vibrations that make her tremble. Her legs shake, and she's already beginning to drip all over his chin.

"Fuck," she whines, loving the way he's stretching her more and more with each pump.

He pulls away, muttering a "you taste so fucking good," beneath his breath, eyes glossed over with lust, before burying himself in her again. He's relentless, pushing deep inside her all the way to his knuckles and picking up his pace to bring her closer and closer to the edge. Her back arches into him, and she moans at the way he's touching every place inside her. Licking, lapping, sucking–every movement, everything more magical than the last.

He continues to mercilessly eat her out, floating from how her pussy tastes. Soft cries can be heard as she's on the brink of release. She's in awe at how goddamn amazing he is at this. There's no way he hasn't done this before, but she doesn't care because she didn't know someone could make her feel this good. Her head leans back on the lockers, her eyes hooded as she watches herself spill all over his chin.

"Such a pretty princess when you're about to cum for me," he mumbles, moving faster to finish her off. And the way he says 'for him' does things to her. She's not just cumming, she's coming for him. And he's making her.

Her hands slam to the lockers to keep her steady.

"Right there. Please right there," she begs as he brings her to her hilt. Her orgasm starts to wash over her, unraveling right in front of him. He marvels in it, refusing to slow down or let up as she succumbs to pure bliss.

He licks every drop of her, cleaning her up as she writhes. He's never been so satisfied from making a girl cum with only his mouth. He's never been more confident in his abilities, and he'll be the first to admit he wants to do it again. He plants one last kiss to her clit, listening to the way she giggles as he stands back up.

He presses another one to her lips to allow for her to taste her sweet self on him. "How was that?"

"You," she breathes, "were amazing."

Thanks for reading! Feedback is appreciated!! Please like and reblog if you enjoyed! :) xx

[missorgana]

pride and prejudice and robots

pairing: bruce banner/thor (marvel cinematic universe)

rating: general

word count: 2333

summary: Thor makes the (questionable) decision to follow his brother's advice, and for once, things actually don't go all that bad in the end. (aka a thorbruce high school + library au no one asked for cause i'm a mess)

(my birthday gift for my love Elijah / @nevillelongsbottom happy birthday perfect!! ilysm and hope you enjoy this mess 💕)

read on ao3

Today is the day. What day, you ask?

Well, you probably wouldn’t believe it when you looked at him, but Thor enjoys spending time at the campus library.

Sports is a large part of his life, and he wouldn’t trade that for anything, but even he needs some peace and quiet, after all.

Well, as peaceful as a library full of anxious and/or sweaty high school students can be.

When Thor first learned Shakespeare was on the curricular, a collective sigh could be heard through his class.

But Macbeth was far more thrilling than he could have ever imagined.

Once he finished it, he spent many free periods in the nooks and corners, in the trashed, weird smelling beanbags scattered throughout the library, devouring Romeo & Juliet.

That is, until he found a distraction.

Said distraction wears a nametag marked Bruce, and is a student from the science department who works in said library part time.

Thor first spotted him from his reading corner, during the mundane act of shelving books from a metal cart.

Why would this boy be a distraction from classical literature?

Because he’s cute.

The kind of cute that creates a weird knot in Thor’s stomach and makes him think of said boy all day, instead of homework.

Bruce wears glasses and odd sweaters that are slightly too big.

Bruce has a mop of curly, dark hair that jumps up and down as he wanders through the corridors.

Bruce taps his left foot and scrunches up his nose when he can’t find what he’s looking for.

Maybe watching a person this much without actually interacting is unhealthy.

That’s what Val told him.

“Quit being weird and just tell him he’s cute.” was her exact words.

“But what if-” Thor would start, until she interrupted him, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?"

“I could die!”

This earned him one of her signature eyerolls.

Okay, maybe he had been a little, tiny bit melodramatic. And he understood her point.

So today, he has decided, is the day.

He’s going to talk to Bruce.

Thor’s grabbed a copy of Sense & Sensibility to check out, cause he might as well kill two birds with one stone.

That’s what Loki says, anyway.

Jane Austen’s works has become his newest obsession, after discovering Pride & Prejudice.

Steve, Sam and his other friends from the football team didn’t really understand his endeavors in literature, but supported him nonetheless.

They’d probably be ecstatic if they knew Thor has a crush, cause they’ve tried, and failed, to set him up with someone for ages.

Guess romance isn’t really his strong side.

Bruce gives Thor a polite, indifferent smile - which he returns, nervously, of course - before lifting his brows in mild confusion.

“Jane Austen, huh?”

Thor feels like screaming, but he has to remain calm, goddamnit, say something and don’t stare at him like a weirdo!

“Uh, is uh. Yeah, uhm. Is something the matter?” he manages to stutter out.

If Val was here, she would slap him.

“Oh no! I mean, sorry.” Bruce replies, seemingly just as awkward as Thor is. “I was just surprised. You don’t really look the type to read romantic novels. No offense.”

Thor finds himself chuckling, a bit more relaxed, and shrugs, albeit a bit stiffly.

He bites his lip before saying, “None taken.”

Bruce doesn’t reply, but simply checks out the book and returns it to Thor.

“Thank you!”

That was too excited, calm down, it’s just a book.

Bruce smiles warmly, readjusts his glasses, “Uh, no worries. I mean, it’s my job, so.”

Thor nods awkwardly.

“Yeah. Of course. Uh, I’ll see you another time, then.”

He doesn’t give Bruce the opportunity to answer, but simply turns on his heel and walks out in embarrassment.

Val isn’t going to be happy with him.

But hey, that was a start. Right?

...

So, Thor may have asked the infamous Tony Stark, who he’s learned is Bruce’s best friend, about what literature said cute boy enjoys.

This idea came from his brother, and really, things usually don’t go well when Thor follows Loki’s advice.

But this doesn’t involve fire, breaking and entering, or nudity, as most of his other ideas do.

So it can’t be that bad, can it?

And Tony had been more than willing to lend Thor the information.

“My Brucie’s got an admirer! Thank fuck, finally!” he all but yelled in the middle of the hallway.

Thor’s used to Loki shenanigans, but it always surprises him to see traits similar to his in other people.

So today, Thor’s on a quest, searching for something called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Huh.

Not exactly a catchy name in his opinion.

But he’s learned to never judge a book by it’s cover. Or title. Or resumé.

“You looking for something in particular?”

Thor jumps and tries to play it off casual, which just ends up making him look like an idiot, he imagines.

Bruce is looking at him with brown eyes and a semi-awkward stature.

To be honest, most of him comes off as awkward.

Which is in no way a bad thing. In fact, it just makes him even cuter in Thor’s mind.

When he expressed this to Loki, it was responded by an exaggerated “ugh” noise.

Most of what he says has this reaction, really. Typical Loki.

“Oh, uh Bruce!” Thor says, probably a tad too loud for a library, but Bruce doesn’t mention it. “Well, actually, yes! You know where I’ll find this title?”

Bruce’s mouth turns into a shy smile when he reads the paper slip.

“I sure do.” he replies, and releases something similar to a giggle.

God, he’s adorable. Thor’s mind needs to function normally.

Get yourself together!

“Come with me, it’s in the science fiction section.” Bruce says, already walking, with Thor in his heels, “It’s one of my favorites actually.”

“Really?” Thor exclaims dramatically, like he totally hadn’t snapped up this exact information from his close friend to get this awkward boy to notice him.

The things he does for love.

“Yeah” he replies, in a quiet voice, but his eyes are lighting up, as if he feels he should be hiding his excitement.

Why would you ever hide your passion?

“Anyways, here you go,” Bruce interrupts his brain blabber, “You wanna stamp that out right away?”

“Oh well! Now that you’re here, maybe you could help me with some other titles?” Thor hesitantly ends his sentence, and proceeds to rummage his pockets for the rest of his sticky notes.

Bruce simply nods and eyes him curiously.

“Ah!” He finally says, hands Bruce the notes and tries not to fidget with his hands too much.

Bruce’s smile grows in size, lifts an eyebrow, and responds, “Lucky for you, we’re in the right section now.”

He turns around and pulls out one book after the other.

It’s quite mesmerizing, the way this boy clearly knows the many shelves like the back of his hand.

Once he’s done, he hands them to Thor and pushes his glasses up a bit, scrunching his nose.

Oh god, can he get anymore adorable?

“You have a strong theme going on here,” Bruce says with a chuckle, “All classics.”

Thor tries to act casual.

He likes to think he’s succeeding.

“Well, uh, I’m trying to be more cultured, you know?” he finally says, mentally slapping himself two seconds later. Cultured?

Val will be extremely disappointed in him.

“But uh, uhm, I’d like to check these out then!” he continues, and quickly turns to the desk before Bruce can get another word in.

This is what he gets for taking Loki’s advice. He acts like an idiot around the boy and then flees instead of doing anything about his feelings. What Bruce must think about him, not good things surely.

Thor should've known better.

...

It’s been two weeks since the incident.

The incident being his last interaction with Bruce.

Thor’s decidedly avoiding going to the library now, his place of comfort, cause his anxiety about the shorter boy is getting the best of him.

Besides, he’s got plenty of reading to distract him now.

That’s a good thing. Right?

Loki doesn’t think so.

In fact, he’s just been all but thrown out (from his own room) by his younger brother.

“I can’t concentrate with you moping around! And reading those weird ass books!” he yells behind the slammed door.

Thor wonders how much concentration is needed to listen to that sad music Loki’s so fond of.

But he also makes his own costumes - cosplays?

They’re quite cool, Thor thinks, and he knows Loki appreciates his compliments on them, as much as he tries to hide it.

“But I need to study!” he answers his brother, “My laptop’s still-”

The door’s opened once more, the dark haired boy pushes the laptop into Thor’s arms, then says, “You can study in the library. And take that guy out, what’s his name, Brian?”

“Bruce,” Thor mumbles as an answer, “But he doesn’t-"

“Don’t you dare.” Loki says, giving him a cold glare and shutting the door in his face. “How would you know?! You can’t say he doesn’t like you when you haven’t tried!”

Thor wants to say more, but ultimately gives up with a sigh.

If there’s anything he’s learned from their childhood, it’s that Loki will never, ever let him win an argument.

And he does have a point, admittedly.

So ten minutes later, the blond boy finds himself at the library front desk.

It feels almost nostalgic.

After two minutes of slightly uncomfortable, silent waiting, Bruce emerges from an unmarked door behind said desk.

Ugh, he’s still cute, Thor decides. No change there.

The curly haired boy looks slightly startled by the sight of him, but relaxes once more.

“Thor.” he states, flashing a small smile. And boy, he can’t help but smile back fondly.

“Hey! Hi, I mean… You know my name?” Thor ends up saying.

He’s met with a faint chuckle.

“Yeah, I do. You showed me your library card, to check out, remember?”

Oh, right.

Thor can imagine Loki and Val giving him a double eye roll.

“Right!” he exclaims, shaking his head at himself, “That, uh, that was a stupid question.”

Bruce shakes his head, but switches the subject, “So, you enjoying the books you got last time? Haven’t seen you in a while.”

He noticed he hasn’t been around?

Thor almost wants to blush. Get yourself together, you fool.

“Oh, yes! Science fiction might be my new thing.” he chuckles lamely, trying to be funny, “I’ve finished the book about androids, actually. It’s quite fascinating”

Bruce nods, “It really is. I’ve always liked that stuff a lot, robots and that.” he pauses. Lifts his shoulders, sinks them again, seems like he doesn’t know what to say, but tries anyway, “You know, the note you showed me? With all the books we found?”

Thor nods hesitantly. Should he flee now, like he always does? He can’t really say what’s coming.

“They’re all favorites of mine. And I, uh, told Tony - Tony Stark - my friend, about this, cause I thought it was funny you suddenly wanted to read all these. Cause it’s not your usual genre.” he pauses again, licks his lips.

Oh no.

“Bruce! I, uhm, I’m sorry.” Thor says.

Might as well admit to his stupidity before the short boy goes any further, save himself the embarrassment.

“Sorry?” Bruce asks, raising both eyebrows in confusion, “What are you sorry for?”

Thor takes in a breath, “I kind of, sort of, asked Tony for a list of your favorite books. To impress you.”

He frowns at himself. Bruce frowns.

“Why would you want to impress me?”

“I like you.”

A moment of silence.

“What?”

“You’re cool and smart and cute, fuck it, you’re adorable, and I’ve been too scared to talk to you, and Val’s told me for three months now to talk to you, and I thought this would start conversation, and now-”

“Thor!” Bruce exclaims, quickly realising his voice is far from the level appropriate for a library.

They receive a judgmental look from a group working at a nearby table. He collects himself, “Hold up, three months?” he asks, now almost a whisper, “You… like me. You’ve liked me for three months?”

Thor nods, not daring to look the brunette in the eyes.

Bruce smiles. A huge, wide smile. Looks like he’s going to burst out laughing.

It’s like looking at the sun, almost.

“I like you too.”

Thor can’t help but widen his eyes at that statement.

Bruce continues, “Thor likes me. One of the school’s top players likes me!”

“You like me?”

“Yeah,” Bruce says, almost like a happy sigh, “I’ve liked you since, like, first semester.”

Thor can’t believe this.

He feels like pinching himself.

Surely, he’s going to wake up from this dream to his brother trying to shave all his hair off. Again.

“You have?”

“Yes, you idiot! I mean, I… I never thought you’d notice me, really.”

Thor shakes his head now.

This can’t be real, but it is.

And now he returns the bright, wide smile to the shorter boy, feeling like he might combust.

“Bruce,” he says, taking the boy’s hands in his, giving him the most serious look he can muster, “Will you go on a date with me?”

He nods to himself, looks to their hands, up to Bruce’s face once more, lets out a tiny “Please.”

“Of course. ‘Course I will, you know that.” the brunette replies.

Thor literally jumps and does a weird, excited dance, which earns them more looks from the other students, but he could honestly not care less.

“Great! Perfect! I- Yes! Thank you.”

Bruce chuckles, grabs a sticky note, and puts down what looks like a phone number.

Thor gladly takes it.

“I like ice cream.” he tells him, and Thor nods eagerly.

“And robots?” he guesses, feeling proud when Bruce nods and squeezes his hands.

“And robots.”

[adoxographyy-gurl]

I Promise

I didn’t know how to post on AO3 (whoops). So I decided to post on here. So @thefruitloop-chan here is my entry to your DFO contest. No matter what, if I win or not, I will try to figure out AO3 and make this a multi-chapter fic. 

Izuku opened up his blinds in his room. He was full of energy, even though the city of Shizuoka was still asleep. The sky was ombre of colors, from a dark midnight sky to a slight peach color. Young Midoriya throws off his All-Might covers and runs out of his room to his parents.

“Dad,” Izuku exclaimed as he climbed up on his parents’ bed. They lay together, big arms wrapped around a small waist. His mom was tucked into his dad’s chest, the only indication of her being there was the plume of green hair sticking out. Izuku’s dad’s face twitched, hearing his son’s voice disturbing his peaceful slumber.  “Dad,” Izuku whined this time. His tiny four-year-old hands poke at his father’s cheek. “Dad, you promised.”

“Five more minutes,” Hisashi groans and squeezes himself into Inko. He hears a sniffle and a quiet “Okay”. Goddamn, the kid can pull on some heartstrings.

“Hisashi. I really don’t want to wake up with you still in bed and our son sitting on the floor with tears on his cheeks,” Inko mumbled in Hisashi’s chest, “Or that will make me real furious.” Even in her sleep, her mommy radar is on. Hisashi feared her. He really does. But he also loved her with all his heart, and he agreed, hearing (and worst of all, seeing) his son sad was horrible and made Hisashi want to hunt down whoever harmed his son. Hisashi leaned down and kissed her head, hearing her give a purr of approval. He rolled over and was instantly hit with guilt. There, sitting on the ground, was his son pouting. His big green eyes that he inherited from his mother was filled with tears, some already spilling out of his eyes. His eyebrows furrowed with deep sadness and his lip jutting out a bit as he counts up to 300 (with a stumble here and there due to only learning how to count to 100 recently).

Hisashi was pathetic.  “You ready to go,” he asked. As if he flicked on a light switch, Izuku’s expression changed. His eyes were shinning as if there were diamonds in his eyes and his face lit up like a Christmas tree. Izuku nodded his head with rapid speed. “Well let’s change out of our pajamas and we can go, okay?” Izuku got up and ran towards his room.

~~~

The promise.

It was a good promise, something Hisashi really enjoys doing with his son.

The promise he gave to his son was that every Monday morning (around 6), they will go out in the city and watch a hero fight (or what Izuku adorably says “Bad Guy Smash”). For Izuku, it’s a way for him to see up and coming heroes come into the scene. Most of the heroes are helping to stop petty crimes like theft and simple assault. For him, he gets to see, who could be the new big hero.

However, for Hisashi, he goes to see what is on the market. The villain. Does he have a motive? A real motive. Not some stupid thing about wanting to get rich but to show how unfair society was to people who have lesser quirks than those with amazing ones. Does he have a flashy quirk that would actually benefit him in the long run or something that is weak with no potential. You see, Hisashi Midoriya was, and still is, a big villain in Japan. However, he isn’t known by Japan. Just to a select few people.

           “I wonder if we get to see All Might today,” Izuku asked with a big grin. He sat on the hardwood floor, taking off his All Might bunny house slippers for his tennis shoes. They were a vibrant red that also lit up. Hisashi makes a face. It’s no secret in the Midoriya household that Hisashi doesn’t like All Might. The reasoning behind it varied, depending on who you talked to.

           Inko knows a portion of the truth. She knew that Hisashi is older than he looked (some longevity quirk he mentioned offhandedly). That All Might’s predecessor was a real prick to her husband and his family. She knows enough. As a paralegal, Inko insisted she wanted to know somethings but not everything. She does know that her husband is a villain, but she made him promise never to mix work and family ever. (He wasn’t going to but sometimes he likes it when Inko berates him).  

           Izuku idea changes every time you ask him. One day he says it’s because his dad’s favorite color is black, and All Might has three. Another day could be that his dad hates how loud All Might is compared to his quiet tone. Or once he said it was because his father’s hair was unruly, and All Might’s was manageable.

           Hisashi could tell his son the truth about himself and why he hates All Might. Izuku (even for his age) could keep a secret. But…he didn’t want to crush his son’s hopes and dreams. Hisashi was gone for two weeks and when he returned, he learned the truth. That his son was quirkless.

           Now in some other timeline or universe, this could make Hisashi hate his son and his wife and for him to leave the family. But in this universe, Hisashi just remembers that he lived in a generation that people were just getting quirks. That people with quirks were the minority. It made sense on why his son didn’t have one. He also remembered his younger brother. His brother and his son were identical on their attitudes on life and how much energy they both showed. Though his brother was sick, which caused him to be weak. His son was the opposite. He was always health (barely ever getting sick) and even without a quirk, he was strong. Strong willed and strong minded. They had the same idea of justice and believed in a better future. And Hisashi couldn’t bear seeing his son and him having a rift between them. So, he keeps his son naïve. For now. He’ll tell his son when he’s older.

“Son, why do you favor All-Might?”

Izuku gets up from his spot and clinks his heel on the floor. “I don’t know. I think I like him because no matter how bad the problem is or gets, he always has a smile on his face. He appears happy which makes me happy.” Izuku looks up from his shoes and takes his two index fingers and put them on his cheek, pushing them up to emphasize his smile.

Hisashi stares at his son for a minute than repeats the action back but with a frown. Izuku frowns back and tries to fix his face, telling him he has to smile and to “turn that frown upside down”. Though the action was something that started from Nana Shimura and has been passed down to All Might, it made Izuku look 30x cuter. But to think that he only likes All Might just because he…smiled, was weird. Must be a 4-year-old thing.

“But All Might isn’t my all-time favorite hero.”

“He’s not,” Hisashi questioned. This was surprising.

“Nope,” Izuku smiles and looks at his dad, “It’s you.”

Hisashi’s heart swelled. And that’s why he didn’t want to tell his son. He is his son’s hero. If he were to tell Izuku the truth, he wouldn’t smile so carefree anymore. Hisashi smiled down at his son, “And you’re mine.”

Izuku beamed and lifted his arms up to picked up. Hisashi chuckled and picked up his son. He opened the door only to come face to face with one of his helpers (who looks more like a butler), Kurogiri.

           “Good morning A-Hisashi,” Kurogiri says with a slight bow.

           “Oh, good morning Kurogiri. What brings you out here?”

Before Kurogiri could speak, Izuku inserts himself into the conversation. “Hi Mr. Kurogiri,” Izuku said with a grin, “Are you coming with us to see heroes?”

           Kurogiri’s yellow eyes widen as they dart between Izuku and Hisashi, “Um…no. I have an important matter that I need to discuss with your father.” Izuku looked down at Hisashi, with a pout, “But you promised.”

           “You’re right Izuku, I did promise,” Hisashi tapped Izuku’s shin, “So Mr. Kurogiri is coming with us.” He places Izuku back on the ground. “Now aren’t you forgetting some more things?”

           Izuku looked confused, “No?”

           “Son, I’m taking you to school after this and you don’t have your backpack or your lunch. And you’re going to leave without telling your mother bye?” Izuku’s eyes widen at the scandal he was about to commit, and he ran from the front door to prepare for the day. Hisashi smiled as he watched his son run but quickly let his eyes dart over to Kurogiri. Kurogiri stiffened, knowing what was about to happen. All for One has explicitly told him to never bring anything work related to his household, especially if Izuku is around.

           “Kurogiri, this better be important,” All for One glared.

           “Oh yes, sir. It is very important and time sensitive.” Hisashi crossed his arms.

           “And what is it?”

           “I found Nana.”

           Hisashi stiffen but relaxed, “So you ARE wasting my time. Because here’s the thing. Nana has been dead for the last, I don’t know, 20 years. So what yo-”

           “No sir. Not Nana herself, but her next in line, or really, her grandson.”

            “How did you know that Nana had kids?”

           “She had put her son up for adoption due to how risky being a hero is,” Kurogiri says, “He’s grown now and has a son of his own. Her grandson has a quirk that lets him decay things if he lays his a hand on it.”

           “How did you find him?”

           “The son kept his surname, even after getting adopted. I was listening to the dispatchers, like you told me, and I heard that the apartment building over on the rough side of town had caught on fire. Apparently, Nana’s son was the landlord there. They said the Shimura Apartment Complex. But when you look up the name on the internet, it comes up as All Apartments.”

           Hisashi smiled a devious smile. His mind raced, all the possibilities. To have Nana’s grandson under his wing. The son would be preferable but considering the fact that he is an adult, he would be hard to manipulate.

           “Well done, Kurogiri,” Hisashi chuckles and put his arm around Kurogiri’s shoulders, “But next time, call me.”

           “I will. I’m sorry.”

           Hisashi gave a thunderous laugh and smacked his hand on Kurogiri back, “It’s fine.” He heard tiny pitter-patter of feet coming towards him. He sees his tiny ball of sunshine trying to hurry to catch up before all the bad guy fights are over. “Kurogiri, if you don’t mind, can you make a portal for us?”

~~~

            “Aw that sucks,” Izuku whines from his father’s side. They visited an apartment complex, similar to theirs, that was burning. Instead of a hero with a water quirk or one with a wind quirk, they brought Endeavor. “I hate Endeavor.” The fire hero was always rude to his fans and never let anyone help him whenever a situation could be solved by multiple people. Yeah, the hero was immune to fire and could go into the fire and save people but did they not think about the smoke and how that could burn his lungs? Apparently not. And again, this could be a two-person team up.

           “Dad, who do you think should have been the one saving the people,” Izuku looked up at his dad only to see that he wasn’t beside him. It was some unfamiliar man. Izuku turned to his left and saw old woman holding her fat cat. Izuku felt fear. His breathing quickened and he felt his eyes getting wet. He was about to scream for his dad when he saw something shift in an alleyway. Now Izuku can think logically but in his muddled, scared brain, he headed towards the alleyway.

           In the alleyway was a small kid, lanky, and slim. The kid was pale and had white hair. The kid had made himself into a ball, his shoulders shaking. Izuku could hear the kid sniffle. Izuku walked closer and was going to ask if the kid was okay until he stepped on an empty bag of potato chips. The kid stopped crying and looked up from his ball. His eyes were crimson like his friends, Kacchan, however, they were bloodshot due to the crying. He had a mole on the right side of his chapped, uneven lips. Blood was seeping out from the left side of is mouth and from his right eye.

           “W-w-who are you,” the kid asked. He was older, maybe by 5 years or so but from how small he looked, he could be confused as younger, “What do you want?”            “I was wondering if you were okay,” Izuku asked. He leaned forward, reaching out to try and wipe the hair from the kid’s face but his hand was swatted away.

           “Don’t touch me or you’ll die,” the kid warned. Izuku gulped. He didn’t want to die. He was only 4. But the kid looked like he needed a friend or, at least, a shoulder to cry on. Izuku tried again, the kid leaned back until his head tapped the wall behind him. He was trapped. He closed his eyes, waiting for the newcomer to turn into dust when he touched his face. Light fingers touched his cheek and moved his hair to his ear.

           “You have a big booboo on your face,” the Izuku said. He wiped back and brought out a small packet of tissues. “My mom does this all the time. I don’t think it really works but I don’t want to hurt her feelings.” He wets the tip of tissue and places it on his wounds. The blood seeps onto the tissue and instantly soaks it. Izuku tries again and again to no avail until he runs out of tissues. “I’m sorry. That’s all I have.”

           “It’s fine.”

           “My name is Izuku. Izuku Midoriya,” Izuku stuck out his hand, waiting for a handshake. The kid looked down at Izuku’s hand and brought his hands closer to his chest. Izuku blinked but changed his hand from a handshake to a fist bump. The kid raised his right hand and bumped Izuku’s with hesitation. “Um, my name is Tenko Shimura. It’s nice to meet you.”

           “It’s nice to meet you too,” Izuku beamed, “Is it okay if I sit with you?” Tenko looked at his side and pursed his lips. Tenko really doesn’t know the limit to his quirk. Was it only just his hands or was other body parts? Does he have to touch said thing or can said thing touch him and turn to dust? Before Tenko could answer, Izuku sat next to Tenko, crisscrossed, with his yellow backpack on his lap. He opened up his bag and ruffled through his things, trying to find what else he needed to take care of Tenko.

           “Where are your parents,” Tenko asked, frowning.

           Izuku froze. In a way, he kind of forgotten that he lost his dad and he didn’t know how to retrace his step to go home. “I lost my dad in the crowd from the fire and my mom is at home. Where are yours?”

           Tenko stiffened a little but lets out a quiet sigh, “I think still at the apartment building. They said run and I did. They’re probably freaking out right now.” He gives a small chuckle. To be honest, they probably died in the fire that he accidently caused. He doesn’t mind though, they were trash anyway. The two kids sat in silence for a while, the firetrucks and the constant yelling from Endeavor filled the silence between them. Suddenly, in unison, their stomachs growled.

           “I guess you didn’t eat breakfast either,” Izuku asked. Tenko chuckled, his face turning slightly red. Still pale but it has a little color. He nodded his head. Izuku digs into his backpack until he finds the bento box his mom packed for him. He opens it and sees that she made him 3 rice balls shaped like All Might. “Here. You can have some of my lunch.” Izuku tries to pass the dish over to Tenko, just for him to stare at the container. His fingers fidgeted but they stay where they were. Izuku takes a rice ball and places one in Tenko’s hand. Tenko pulls his hand close to his body and used his other hand to pick up the rice ball. He had his pinky raised when he eat the food. Maybe he’s British.

           “You can eat the rest if you want. I can eat breakfast when I get to school,” Izuku pushes the box closer to Tenko.

           “Izuku!”

           Izuku perked up like a dog and try to pinpoint the voice. He looked at the mouth of the alleyway but saw no one. He looked back at Tenko but he was too distracted by the food, his face giving a sour look.

           “Izuku! Izuku where are you?” His dad’s voice sounds closer but suddenly sounded like it was far away, like he was turning around.

           “Dad,” Izuku jumped from his spot by his new friend. “Dad!” He felt tears well up in his eyes. He sniffled then felt a drop of something wet hit his hand. He was crying. “Daddy!!!”

           Hisashi pivots and runs back to the voice of his son. When he saw his son, he ran and kneels. He grabs his son and give him a bear hug. “Izuku, are you okay? Are you hurt?” He patted his son everywhere. He saw a small splatter of blood on his hands. “Are you bleeding? Where are you bleeding?”

           “No Dad, I’m fine,” Izuku said in his father’s shoulder, heaving in breathes of air. That’s when Izuku remembered his new friend, “Dad this isn’t my blood. It’s Tenko’s blood. He’s hurt real bad.”

           Hisashi unwraps himself from his son and looks and the kid his son is talking about. He stiffens. It’s the boy he was looking for. How did his son find him? Nevermind that. Izuku said the kid was hurt. There were two cuts on the boy’s face, caked with trash from being in the alley. If not treated soon, this kid might get an infection. Hisashi tries to step towards him but the boy makes himself into a ball.

           “Wait Tenko, you can trust him. He’s a good guy.”

           Tenko started to hyperventilate. There were too many people now. The man was big and burly. Tenko’s father was big too and he always hurt Tenko. Izuku’s father was going to hurt him and he couldn’t even defend himself because he was breathing too fast and the world was going a little dark and-

           “Breath.”

           Tenko stopped. He looked to his side and saw Izuku beside him. He had started mimicking some breathing exerises. Tenko stared at Izuku for a bit but resumed breathing. “You’re going to be okay. This is going to pass,” Izuku kept reassuring Tenko.

           Hisashi was…impressed. Unfornately, maybe all those times Izuku came home beat up, paid off. The kid looked like he was calming down, his breathing following Izuku’s and his eyes trained on him.

           “This is my dad, Hisashi. He just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Izuku said. Tenko glanced over at Hisashi. “Is it okay if he looks at your face?” Tenko waited a beat than nodded his head. Hisashi scooted forward and lightly touched Tenko’s face. Tenko stiffened. Hisashi didn’t move, waiting for Tenko to get use to his hand on face for a bit. Tenko relaxed. Hisashi gently moved his face left and right, up and down.

           “You have two cuts on your face. They are pretty deep,” Hisashi mumbled, “You might need to go to the hospital and get stitches. Where are your parents?”

           “They’re back at the apartment building,” Tenko mutter. Something was off about that statement, Hisashi noticed, but wouldn’t worry about it until later.

           “That’s fine. Izuku and I will just take you to the doctors ourselves.”

           “We can’t do that,” Izuku explained.

           “Why not?”

           “What if his parents are looking for him? We can’t just take him.” Tenko flinched. Yeah something to do with his parents. Maybe he doesn’t want his parents to find him? Hisashi used one of his many quirks and looked into Tenko’s mind. He sees a man looming over Tenko with his hands balled into fist. His mother was standing by the counter and was sipping glass of water, talking on the phone with a friend. Her face was scrunched up like she smelled something foul. Hisashi felt sick. He popped out of Tenko’s mind and gave a tight smiled to his son.

           “I don’t think they’ll mind that we are taking him to get help.”

           Izuku looked at his dad with disbelief. “I’m serious. How about this, to ease your worried mind, we can leave them a note. Does that sound good to you?” Izuku thought the idea through. If they left Tenko behind, his parents could find him but his wounds could get worse. If they take Tenko with them, they could get him help but also risk his parents missing them and thinking he was lost or kidnapped. But if they take him and leave a note-

           As son was muttering the pros and cons of the situation, Hisashi looked back at Tenko. He was sitting on the ground waiting for something to happen.

           “You killed your parents?”    

           Tenko tensed, “Yeah. They were bad people.”

           Hisashi sighed, “If I was in your situation, I would’ve done the same thing. Did you ever report them to the police?”

           “I did. Multiple times. But my parents were good at lying. They never got caught.” Tenko let out a hiccup, “I thought a hero would save me.” He started to cry, the tears mixing with the blood. “But no one came to help me.”

           “Except Izuku.”

           Tenko stopped talking and look at Hisashi. Hisashi smiled, “Did you know my son is quirkless?” Tenko’s eyes widen. Someone being quirklesss? That is a very uncommon attribute someone to have. “My son has always wanted to be a hero. But when the doctor told him he can never be one, his heart shattered. I told him all the time he doesn’t have to have a quirk to be a good person and help out. But I don’t think my words helped. Once his classmates found out he was quirkless, they started to bully him. Which is funny considering they are all kindergarteners. But nonetheless, he still wanted to be a hero. Society has weird double standards. You wanted a hero to save you and no one came, not even the regular people. And yet, my quirkless son found you and saved you. Isn’t that something?”

           Tenko looked back at Izuku in a different light. He was a true definition of a hero. He helped someone random stranger without anything in return. He didn’t care about the other things going around, he made sure that Tenko was always safe and comfortable. Izuku never wanted fame or fortune, just a…friend?

           “We can take you home with us,” Hisashi started, “Taking you to the hospital is too dangerous and I don’t want to risk a pro trying to wrangle you to foster care. That could make your living situation worse. My wife can help clean the wound a bit and see if you really need stitches. If you do, I have a doctor friend who can do things on the slide. What do you say, Tenko?”

           Tenko stared at Hisashi then looked back at Izuku, stilling muttering up a storm, “Will Izuku becoming with us?”

           “Of course. He’ll be with us the whole day. And besides, Izuku’s clothes are a mess. My son gets teased as it is, I don’t want to give the kids another reason to beat him up.”

           Tenko sighed but nodded, “Okay, I’ll come with you.”

           “Excellent,” Hisashi smiled and clapped his big hands, making thunder like noise in the alleyway, “Than it’s settled. We’ll take you to the house and get that nasty gash fixed for you. Izuku, stop muttering we have to take Tenko with us to the house.”

           Izuku stopped muttering but confusion was evident on his face, “I thought we were taking Tenko to the hospital?”            “We were but Tenko just told me he’s afraid of doctors and would prefer to stay with us and have your mom fix him up.”

           “Oh okay,” Izuku smiled and rushed over to his dad’s side. He tucks on his dad’s sleeve and raises his arms up. Hisashi sighs but with a small smile and picks up his son. “Wait, Dad. What about the note?” Hisashi looks around and picks up Izuku’s backpack. He opens the bag and see one of Izuku’s many hero notebooks.

           “Is it okay if I write a note from your notebook?”

           “Um…I guess,” Izuku muttered, pressing his heel into his father’s shoulder, “But don’t mess up my notebook. It’s very important to me.”

           “I wouldn’t dream of it.” Hisashi writes a quick note for All Might (or to whomever it may concern) saying that they have lost a valuable player. He’s thankful at the moment that Izuku can’t read that well. He’s smart, yes, but can’t read everything properly or accurately. He showed the letter to his son, “Does that look good to you?”

           Izuku scrunched up his nose, trying to decipher the handwriting. He’s concentrating so hard, his tongue is poking out. When he was satisfied, he nodded his head and gave a thumbs up to his dad, “Looks great to me.”

           Hisashi chuckled and tore the page out from the book. He placed the note on a heap of garbage. If no one picks it up, oh well. He straightens up and starts walking to the mouth of the alleyway and heard small footsteps right behind him. He stops and waits for Tenko to catch up with them.

           “Come on Tenko, don’t be a slowpoke,” Izuku shouts from the top of shoulders.

           Hisashi gives out his hand for Tenko to grab. Tenko looked at the hand and scooted back a little. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Tenko muttered.

           “Don’t worry. Dad doesn’t bite,” Izuku gave a wary smile, “but I can hold your hand.”

           “I don’t think that’s necessary,” Hisashi answered in a hurried, “and like Izuku said, I don’t bite. You can hold my hand.”

           Tenko looked between Izuku and Hisashi, pain all over his face. Tenko let’s out a tiny exhale and let’s his hand fall into Hisashi’s. He held his breath, waiting for the screaming and the dust to fall in between his fingers. All he felt was his hand getting tight. He looked up toe see Izuku and Hisashi looking at him with smiles on their faces. For different reasons, of course, but smiles nonetheless.

           “Okay boys,” Hisashi looks towards the exit, “Let’s go home.”