#and my mum keeps putting my stuff away in completely the wrong places

[miloformula123fan]

okay like 2 months ago, I put out this moodboard, and @evans-dejong replied to it, and im gonna be honest that kind of inspired this whole fic

so

carlos sainz x male!royal!reader

Please keep requesting - y'all have awesome ideas we agree on a lot of stuff :) - my guidelines are here, and if you want some prompts, they are here.

also feel free to come in and start chatting to me in my asks, would love to get to know y'all better

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carlos sainz x royal!reader

2022 Spanish Grand Prix

“AND George Russell has locked up at the final chicane and Carlos Sainz sails on through BRINGING HIM ONTO THE PODIUM OF HIS HOME RACE ON THE LAST LAP OF THE SPANISH GRAND PRIX. AND WHAT A RACE THAT WAS. Max Verstappen crossed the finish line first, followed by his teammate Sergio Perez, and rounding out the podium we have Carlos Sainz for ferrari.”

It had been a hard race, Carlos spinning in the first 8 laps. But he’d done a very good recovery drive, getting up to the podium.

Y/N couldn’t help but clap his hands as he saw a ferrari and a spanish driver on the podium from the back of the Ferrari garage. He saw himself on the screens, and flashed a winning smile. His mum looked at him with exasperated fondness as he hopped around waiting for the drivers to get on the podium, so she could hand the trophies over. He’d been looking forward to it all weekend, the previous highlight being handing off the pole position award to the other ferrari driver.

“And now to present the trophies to the drivers on the podium, we have Crown Prince Y/N, representing the Spanish Royal Family.”

Y/N could almost feel his hands shaking as he picked up the 3rd place trophy and prepared to hand it over. He ran himself through what he was supposed to do

‘Pick up the trophy, display it to the cameras, don’t drop it, first to the person closest, they’re 3rd place, hopefully you’ve picked up the correct trophy Y/N, then as you’re handing it over, shake their hand, congratulate the spaniard, pose for a photo handing over the trophy, and then walk back. Repeat for 2nd place, they’re the one furthest away, not a Spaniard, repeat for team, it’s the mechanic who looks hella awkward on the really small podium, and finally do it for 1st. Then get out of the way before they start spraying champagne.’

And it almost entirely went to plan. He had nearly kissed the Spanish driver on the podium, because damn he was hot. But otherwise it had gone to plan. 

Well, until, while trying to get out of the way and completing his task, he had gotten sprayed on the back of his new shirt. Damn.

He heard the cheers and yelling stop as everyone realised that he had been hit. Y/N snickered in his head at the thought that people were scared of him, worried that because he’d been hit by some champagne, that everyone would be executed. Instead he laughed it off, grabbed Carlos’ bottle and took a chug before wandering off the podium, laughing at the ruined shirt. His mother chastised him and fussed over him as he walked away laughing.

The Spanish ferrari driver was hot, sue him.

---

2022 Silverstone

“AND IN HIS 150TH RACE, CARLOS SAINZ WINS THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX. HIS FIRST VICTORY IN F1”

Y/N could hear the cheers, the announcement was a little blurred as he hugged Carlos O, Carlos’ cousin and manager, after waving the spanish flag through a gap in the fence, yelling and cheering over the noise of the engines. There wasn’t a lot of celebration in the garage, as Charles, who was contending for the championship, had had a horrible race, but who cared? Carlos had won, at least Red Bull hadn’t won, they were still contending for the championship.

“And what a day for Ferrari, but they won with the wrong car!” Ted shouted into his microphone as the celebrations kicked on.

“I’m sorry?”

“Uhh, sorry to everyone at home we now have Crown Prince Y/N from the Spanish Royal Family. Now Your Royal Highness, what did you say?”

“Well first, my title is Prince of Asturias. Not this ‘Your Royal Highness’ bullshit that you’re trying to lower my status to…”

“Sorry, language for the kids at home.”

“Oh, says you, Ted Kravitz. Hi Kids, my name is Crown Prince Y/N, or the Prince of Asturias, and I’m going to give you a… what’s the word…unbiased view of the grand prix today. Charles and Max were struggling today. Then there was a safety car, and Carlos was given a better strategy. Now, keep in mind kids, this was because Charles was not having a great day. Then Carlos was once again screwed over by Ferrari strategists, however for once in his life he stood up for himself, and made himself a good strategy and won himself the race. His first race win, after 150 race starts. There is no wrong driver to win with for Ferrari, and Carlos deserved that win as much as Charles did. Thanks Tommy.”

“It’s Ted…”

Y/N waited in Carlos’ driver room for him to arrive back from the media. Carlos meanwhile had been told by his cousin that Y/N was waiting for him, and tried to pass off his impatience as excitement over the win. He had barely seen Y/N since the win, being celebrated with his team, but he had spotted him on Carlos O and Carlos Sr. shoulders, cheering with the other Ferrari engineers, and butchering his own national anthem, which was always fun to watch. But he hadn’t seen him properly, been able to hold him and scream and kiss him.

And he couldn’t wait for that.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he reached the door of his driver room. He could sense Y/N behind that door, actually he could hear him, chatting to what he assumed were his younger sisters and parents.

He slowly opened the door, pushing it with his hips as his hands held his water bottle and his trophy.

He watched for a second, not wanting to disturb Y/N, especially if he was saying something royal that he wasn’t supposed to hear. 

Y/N was lying on his stomach on the massage bed, his feet hanging off the end as he had propped his phone up against the wall. His feet were kicked up in the air, swinging backwards and forwards, as his head, which he was holding up by his hands, was bopping side to side as he talked to his family.

“Yeah, so just waiting for him to finish his post race debriefs and media and then he’ll be here soon, and I’ll hang up then, I don't want to scare Leonor again. By the way, Leo, how’s Gavi going? Feel like the last I heard was from some media article about how he wanted to focus on football and didn’t want a girlfriend distracting him, but I'm sure you’ve managed to persuade him otherwise…”

While Y/N was teasing his younger sister, he was cut off by  his (quite unmanly) screams as Carlos grabbed him from behind and hugged him to his chest, swinging him back and forth.

Once he had reassured both his family and the bodyguards who had burst into the room with their guns drawn that he was fine and Carlos had just scared him, he hung up the facetime call and snuggled in with Carlos on the small massage table, and admired the trophy.

“It’s pretty…” his hand hovered over all the details “like you mi amor.”

“...huh, most people would describe me as handsome rather than pretty, mi vida”

“Not me, you’re my pretty boy.”

---

Silverstone 2023

“Hello! You must be Lando!” Y/N walked towards the Mclaren boy and gave him a hug.

“You're the crown prince of Spain.”

“Wow, he’s observant eh Chilli?”

“Mate, i mean this in the nicest way possible, how the fuck did you manage to bag the crown prince of spain?”

“I think the real question you should be asking is how I managed to bag the most attractive f1 driver?”

“Have you seen Fernando?”

“Good point. The most attractive Spanish f1… no no, that doesn’t work. Uhhhh, the second most attractive F1 driver.”

“what?”

"nothing darling, good luck for your race Lando and nice to meet you!"

---

Singapore 2023

“AND RUSSELL IS IN THE WALL. GEORGE RUSSELL IS IN THE WALL AND CARLOS SAINZ IS GOING TO TAKE VICTORY FOR THE SECOND TIME IN AMAZING CIRCUMSTANCES. SO FAR THE ONLY NON RED BULL DRIVER TO WIN A RACE THIS YEAR”

“OH MY FUCKING GOD!” Y/N couldn’t help screaming through the ferrari garage as the entire ferrari garage erupted as Carlos crossed the line first. His bodyguards were clearly trying to reach him, but he didn’t care as he gave a massive hug to every mechanic and an even bigger one to Fred as he kept screaming his head off.

“OH MY FUCKING GOD YES! VAMOS YES!”

He was gonna lose it. Carlos had won a race. And this one for so many more reasons felt better than the Silverstone win. No disputes about team orders or who was the better driver.

Carlos had done it all on merit.

Once again he was hoisted up on the Carlos’ shoulders to horribly butcher his own national anthem. He could see his bodyguards trying to push through the throng of mechanics, but the mechanics were pushing back equally as hard. Well if his bodyguards couldn’t get through a crowd of overexcited mechanics, then maybe that was a sign he needed new bodyguards. First one’s who could get through a crowd when necessary, but also ones who understood that he could do what he wanted. He saw the cameras, flicking between the 2 of them singing to each other horribly, but he didn’t care. So what if these photos and videos were all over the tabloids tomorrow. 

Tonight was their night.

And nothing could change that.

nothing.

---

Spain 2024

Y/N walked onto the podium again, remembering how 2 years ago he had walked onto this stage and met the love of his life at that time.

Except this time, he was standing with the spanish flag around his shoulders, on the P1 spot, instead of the P3 spot as he was 2 years ago. His smile was bigger, and the cheers were louder, especially with Fernando Alonso in P2.

As Y/N handed off the P3 trophy to a grumpy Max Verstappen, a P2 trophy to an elated Fernando Alonso, who gave him a massive hug and shake as they jumped up and down. Very different from 2 years ago. 

And after giving a constructors trophy to a confused team member, finally it was Carlos’ turn. Y/N smiled as he handed over the trophy, adoring the goofy grin on his face. He also hugged him, and Y/N only cringed slightly at the sweat that was now on his suit.

It’s okay. He was never expected to wear this suit again.

He barely got out of the spray zone before the champagne spraying had begun. At least as he thought.

He let out a very unroyal scream as he felt the cold champagne trickle down his back, turning around to the silence with Fernando having a cheeky grin on his face (this seems hella clunky). The rest of the paddock and the podium was frozen, as if worried that he was going to order Fernando’s execution. Instead, he held his hand out, as his mother passed him a bottle of champagne that he proceeded to spray straight in Fernando’s face.

And then as the champagne started to drain, Carlos leaned over and kissed Y/N square on the lips. First official show of affection, and as Carlos pulled away and flashed the cheeky grin at Y/N, he thought about how the royal PR people would be scrambling to confirm that yes, Carlos was courting the crown prince of Spain.

But he didn’t care

So he leaned in and kissed him again.

Y/N walked onto the podium again, remembering how 2 years ago he had walked onto this stage and met the love of his life at that time.

Except this time, he was standing with the spanish flag around his shoulders, on the P1 spot, instead of the P3 spot as he was 2 years ago. His smile was bigger, and the cheers were louder, especially with Fernando Alonso in P2.

As Y/N handed off the P3 trophy to a grumpy Max Verstappen, a P2 trophy to an elated Fernando Alonso, who gave him a massive hug and shake as they jumped up and down. Very different from 2 years ago. 

And after giving a constructors trophy to a confused team member, finally it was Carlos’ turn. Y/N smiled as he handed over the trophy, adoring the goofy grin on his face. He also hugged him, and Y/N only cringed slightly at the sweat that was now on his suit.

It’s okay. He was never expected to wear this suit again.

He barely got out of the spray zone before the champagne spraying had begun. At least as he thought.

He let out a very unroyal scream as he felt the cold champagne trickle down his back, turning around to the silence with Fernando having a cheeky grin on his face (this seems hella clunky). The rest of the paddock and the podium was frozen, as if worried that he was going to order Fernando’s execution. Instead, he held his hand out, as his mother passed him a bottle of champagne that he proceeded to spray straight in Fernando’s face.

And then as the champagne started to drain, Carlos leaned over and kissed Y/N square on the lips. First official show of affection, and as Carlos pulled away and flashed the cheeky grin at Y/N, he thought about how the royal PR people would be scrambling to confirm that yes, Carlos was courting the crown prince of Spain.

But he didn’t care

So he leaned in and kissed him again.

---

taglist: @leosxrealm, @tallrock35, @wolf-knights, @janeholt3, @badblondebisexualboy, @ghostking4m

[flamingo-writes]

Comfort — Hobie x Reader

I believe I didn’t mention the reader’s pronouns at all so, GN!Reader

A/N: this is merely a comfort fic for myself. This is a fic I wrote for myself to deal with the events of my day. When I have bad days like these, I tend to dissociate a lot and deal through fictional scenarios in my head. And this was what came out of that dissociative episode.

Warnings: mentions of death, losing a pet. Also not proof read. I’ll eventually proof read this, today is not the day for that.

Hobie knew right away something was wrong when you weren’t in your flat. Sure the lights were on, your stuff from work in the living room, and the window unlocked as usual for him to climb inside. But you were nowhere to be seen.

That only meant you were on the rooftop.

And unless you were with him chilling, it usually meant you had too much on your head and had gone up there to get some fresh air.

So he went up there. And at the smell of smoke he knew right away you were there. Leaning against the balcony. Staring at the city lights forming constellations on the ground. And listening to the cars playing an orchestra of their own. Your kind was lost in nothing, your body completely still. Between your index and middle finger rested your consuming cigarette, as you idly bit your thumb nail from that same hand.

“Hey,” Hobie purred. The silence was broken as he walked up to you and kissed the top of your head as you finally moved and looked at him, smiling softly.

“Hey,” You replied in a low whisper and brought the cigarette to your lips.

“What’s wrong?” He whispered softly, as he watched you take a drag and blow the smile up into the air.

“My mum called earlier…Do you remember the old family dog?” You began, shaking the ash off the cigarette.

“Oh no…”

“Yeah…It was very sudden apparently…I mean, we knew he was old but…we thought he still had a few months more…and it was very sudden…the dog was fine this morning and then…” You sighed deeply, feeling the tears creep up on your eyes, squeezing them tightly, as you held your breath in an attempt to keep yourself from crying.

You put off the cigarette tail on the stone balcony and sighed deeply.

“Shite, sweetheart…” Hobie said kissing your temple and hugged you. “I’m so sorry…I know you loved that dog…” He purred.

Your arms wrapped weakly around his torso as you buried your face in his chest.

“I did…Very much…I missed him so bad when I moved out of my mum’s” You sobbed gently. “But the worst part wasn’t losing the dog, was seeing everyone’s heart breaking when we realised he was gone…” You cried softly. “My brother was devastated, my mom was heartbroken…And I keep telling myself…we gave that dog a good and long life we took care of him till the very end…And he looked after us in return…Always kept an eye on the house, you know? And now— I went to my mom’s place as soon as she called…And the yard feels awfully empty without him…” you kept crying against his chest, letting out the tears you’d been holding in all day long in your chest, not realising how much you needed to actually cry. You saw everyone cry, you’d heard your mother freak out on the phone when she called you to tell you the dog wasn’t breathing.

Hobie’s arms tightened around you, as his hands rubbed your back. “It’s okay, luv…Cry all you need…” He whispered. “I’ve got you. And you and your family are gonna get through this, okay? Hold on to those cute memories of your dog, and think of how even when he’s gone, that joy you felt in your memories will remain, and no one can take that away from you, okay?” He whispered.

He remained there, holding you tightly, letting you cry. He was more of a cat person, but just the idea of losing one of his cats was more than enough to make him nauseous, he could only imagine how you felt. He kissed your head and kept reassuring you, hoping that his warm arms and sweet words helped soothe the pain.

They did. For the most part at least. Sure this new found emptiness was going to take a while to heal, and for the next few days you’d have to assimilate that every time you went visit your mum, there wasn’t going to be a dog to greet you like it always did. But you knew you’d eventually learn to deal with that pain and eventually heal.

For the time being, Hobie’s arms were tight enough to keep you from falling apart. His love was more tender than any velvet blanket. His words far more calming than any lullaby.

He kissed the top of your head once he noticed you’d stopped sobbing. “It’s okay, luv, I’ve got you…” He reassured you.

[ddejavvu]

Hi! I hope you're doing well! I love everything you write for Aaron Hotchner! I am so in love with this mannnn. I especially love the way you write dfd!hotch and all the lovey Hotch stuff.

So, anyway... in regards to this fic you wrote about aaron x fairy!reader (https://www.tumblr.com/ddejavvu/714841274143948800/fairyreader-with-hotch-hes-somewhere-in-the?source=share)... i am OBSESSED! Could you continue this story? Maybe where the reader and Aaron fall in love, he takes her home (loves on her hehehe) and introduces her to Jack. He would love his magical mum so much, would tell all his classmates..

With Aaron, she would be so cute and innocent and shy 🤭

Anyway, that's just what me and another person in the comments of the fic thought.

Would you consider this for a fic? Mvm or any other day, whenever you find the time, babe.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. Sorry for ranting 😬

Love,

Peanut

today is multiverse monday, send me any au you can think of! :)

thank you for being so kind! i'm glad you like my writing <333

--

"That's him," Aaron stops in Jack's doorway, whispering only loud enough so that you can hear him where you're perched on his shoulder, your hands gripping the collar of his shirt.

You'd stayed settled in his pocket for the jet ride home, which was entirely too loud, and the drive back to his office, but once he'd gotten you into his apartment, you'd fluttered up beside his head.

"He looks cozy," You note, the little boy's cheek pudged up and rosy against his pillow. His blonde hair is mussed slightly, and his fleece dinosaur pajamas are clinging tight to his frame.

"Mhm," Aaron nods, shutting the door behind him as he makes his way down the hall to his own bedroom, "Did it get cold in the forest? How'd you keep warm?"

"Mostly feathers and leaves," You hum, kicking your feet lightly back and forth against his chest, "I never got too cold. Sometimes the wind would pick up, though, and it'd all blow away."

Aaron hums sympathetically, and the hand that's gripping his collar, pressed up against his throat, feels the vibrations. You inch slightly closer to his face, but you're not sure that he notices while he rummages through a dresser drawer of his.

"Okay," He grabs fistfuls of socks, all neatly folded and crisp white, chucking them onto a chair in the corner, "You can sleep here, I'll leave it open if you want to move around."

You flutter into the empty drawer, intent on settling down onto the wood, but his palm slips beneath you just before you can touch the brown material, cupping you in his hand instead.

"Wait," He chuckles, "I'm gonna get padding for you. Did you sleep on the wood of that birdhouse this whole time?"

"Yeah," You shrug, hands braced on his palm while you lay on one hip, staring inquizitively up at him, "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," He assures you, a kind smile on his face as he fishes two t-shirts out of a lower drawer, "It just probably wasn't as comfortable for you as this is about to be."

He settles the shirts into the base of the drawer, putting them side-by-side so that they fill the space completely. They're folded, and add three or four layers of padding for when you'll eventually go to sleep.

"There, and-" He struggles to grab one of the pairs of socks without jostling you in his palm, smoothing out the lumps in the fabric and placing it into the drawer, "How's that for a pillow?"

He doesn't dump you off of his hand like you're worried he will, instead he lets you crawl off of his palm and onto the shirts. You test out the bed he's made for you, noting that the shirts smell a little bit like the forest you'd just left, woodsy and rough. Your head falls gently against the makeshift pillow, and the fabric of his rolled up socks is gentle on your skin. It's softer than anything you'd had available in the forest, even the fluffy feathers from the birds that fluttered through your woods every winter.

"I like it," You wriggle happily over your bedding, snuggling your face into the socks and grinning up at Aaron, "It's really comfy."

"I'm glad," Aaron hums, smiling down at you from where he's standing over your drawer. He looks handsome with a smile on, his face soft and sweet as it looms over your own.

"Aaron," You rise to your knees, reaching for his cheeks with both of your hands, much smaller than the surface area you put them on. His eyes shine, glittering just like your wings as he raises his brows, humming down at you with the softest voice you've ever heard.

"Thank you. For helping me with my house, for taking me with you, for making me comfortable. Just... thank you."

"Of course," He smiles, lashes fluttering as he blinks, "I'm glad I could help you like you helped me."

You flutter your wings in response, shaking some glitter off onto the shirts below you, but you don't mind. They propel you upwards, and you end up face-to-face with Aaron, your lips puckered primly to kiss the tip of his nose.

It's different from the first time you'd done it, more familiar now, but he still blushes just the same. His skin heats up beneath your palms as you thank him for his help, backing away far enough to catch the gaze of his pretty brown eyes.

He reaches for your face next, with only one finger to tilt your chin up. You comply easily, your own eyes shining as he puckers his lips.

His are much bigger than yours, and it's hard to aim for your nose. What he catches is a stripe across your entire face, cheeks and all when he aims for the tip of your nose.

The sensation of his lips over your face makes you giggle, and your laughter spurs on his own. Then you're just giggly together, standing in the dim light of his bedroom, your hands on his cheeks and his finger beneath your chin, laughing an inch from each others faces.

"Goodnight," He bids you, the same lips that had just stamped over your cheeks curving into a smile. You wish him the same, and you miss his presence the second he steps away to change his clothes.

He peeks into your drawer when he gets out of the closet, finding you already bundled up beneath the first layer of one of his shirts, neckline pulled up to your chin. You've shut your eyes, clearly tuckered out from your long day, and he slips under his own blankets with a similar fatigue.

It's only when his light snores begin to fill the room that you open your eyes again, peering carefully over the rim of the drawer you're in. He's flat on his back with one arm thrown over his head, so you flutter across the room to stand carefully on his chest. His breathing is even and he doesn't wake at your presence, which gives you the o-k to sneak a hand beneath the neckline of his shirt, slipping beneath the hem just like you had in your drawer. This t-shirt, the one that he's wearing, smells even more like the forest you'd left, and you wonder if that's just how Aaron smells.

His skin his warm and soft as you lay yourself flat over it, tucked carefully into his neckline and sprawled out over his chest. It's much easier to fall asleep here than it had been on the sock-pillow, but that's no insult to Aaron's laundry-folding abilities. The socks couldn't possibly have produced this same euphoric serenity that's coursing through your veins now as you lay with Aaron, and your eyes flutter shut with little regard to how he'll react to having piles of glitter on his chest from your wings. That's a morning problem, and this is a nighttime solution.

[raceweek]

Alex Albon: Williams driver says ‘you need to be a fighter to be a driver’

BBC SPORT: Andrew Benson

Alex Albon knows what it's like to think he's at the end of the road.

"You're right on that mental edge of panic and worry," he says. "I sat on that worry for so long that you start to not care. You can't panic forever. You can't worry about it forever.

"And I think: 'Well, l've only got to give it my all. I've only got to put everything on the table.'

His story is one of resilience - of numerous knocks through his life from which he has drawn on remarkable reserves of self-belief to bounce back each time.

On his respiratory failure and being dropped from red bull:

"In terms of setbacks, it's a small one really," he says. "I've had very good doctors around me, who were in Italy, to get me back into a good place. I feel very fortunate."

Two years ago, it looked as though Albon's career was coming to an end before it had really got going.

The decision was tough to take.

"I would be lying if I told you I didn't expect it," Albon says. "I felt like I didn't perform that season. I knew there was a strong chance of it happening.

"I had dreamed of being in F1 since I was four years old, almost completely obsessed with it. You inevitably hit this heartbreak where it is like, almost: 'OK, is this the end? And you've only spent two years in it.'

"It's a brutal business - and how quickly everything came about. It was a true fast-track from Toro Rosso into one of the very top teams in the sport and then out. And it was like: 'Wow, OK. It did hit me hard, as it would anyone."

Albon's voice falters as he talks, and his eyes well up a little.

"I remember the meeting," he says. "I remember everything as clear as day. And I have to say, first, I have a very strong network of people. My family. My friends. And people around me that you see today.

"Very quickly, I was back to work. I was in the simulator very early in January. 'OK, what's my job, how am I going to get back into F1?' And I kind of had a goal and a plan to do that.

"I would say I want F1 more than any other driver. Everyone will say that. But I genuinely believe it. And I knew I had to really do what it takes, in a way that was quite strange because I can't actually prove myself. It was almost like, what can you do without driving the car?"

On 2012:

This was far from the first setback of Albon's career. For many years, he had struggled to keep things on track.

Born to a British father - former racing driver Nigel Albon - and a Thai mother, he'd been a Red Bull-backed driver early in his career, but lost their support after an indifferent season in Formula Renault in 2012, caused by a major personal upheaval.

His mum Kankamol - with whom he is particularly close - was jailed for fraud, leaving a 15-year-old Albon to look after his younger brother and three sisters.

He still doesn't like to talk about it. But in the first series of Netflix's Drive to Survive series, he admitted it was "by far the hardest year l've had in my life", recalling how he "saw her get locked up and taken away".

Albon says now the difficult road "helped" when it came to rebuilding his career. "It's just because l've gone through it," he says.

"I've had it before, personal stuff, as well as I had it in Formula Renault, where I wasn't going to race the year after and we scrambled along and pretty much got a budget together within, like, two weeks of the first race.

On his personality and determination:

In person, Albon is modest and unassuming. It's hard to square such an apparently gentle character with the steel he must have required to get where he has.

"The general public get me wrong," he says. "They think I'm this happy-go-lucky kid constantly, and that I'm not hungry; maybe too nice.

"They will never see the fiery side because they don't have a headset. They don't listen to me when I'm driving. I am naturally quite happy. I do love what I do. It's the reason why I wanted to be in F1 so much. And I felt like I've learnt to enjoy and relax about it. But you definitely need a fiery side if you want to be in F1."

I tell him that what got him to this point seems more like steel than fire, and he says: "It's both. It's the resilience and at the same time it's determination.

"As a driver, you almost need to be a fighter. When you have a helmet on, you're fighting other drivers. And I am fired up. I really am not a nice person when I have my helmet on. Speak to the engineers here and they'll tell you that."

On fighting for his return to the grid:

Albon's answer was to throw himself into work behind the scenes with Red Bull. There were weeks, he says, when he would spend six days out of seven in their simulator.

He prepared a data sheet that proved, he said, his results at Red Bull were better than the general perception and "well in line with the people who I took over from or replaced me".

Albon said they showed the 2020 car "wasn't that easy".

At the Austrian Grand Prix in July 2021, he met Williams chief executive officer Jost Capito and gave him the data as he made a pitch for the drive. The sheet, he told Capito, "showed not just what I can bring but also on a pure performance side, I'm a good driver and you should take me".

Williams knew they would need a replacement for Russell, who was being promoted to Mercedes for 2022. In the background, Russell was making Albon's case to the team.

"He played a part for sure," Albon says of his close friend. "He got my name on the map.

"I've raced against George for a lot of my career and I'm in a very thankful position where he does respect or believe in my ability. He did mention my name a few times to Jost and the board; I joked about it but it is true, almost a bit too much, to the point where they said they wouldn't listen to him!"

Marko and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also weighed in for Albon. "I know that they both also convinced Jost to take me," he says. "I'm sure - I know - that they also told Jost the job that I was doing.

On his support system and marketing:

Outside the car, Albon has revamped his support structure, taking on a manager, and forming a new relationship with a performance coach.

With them, he says he can "talk about offloading marketing stuff as much as I can".

Williams have turned Albon's distaste for marketing activities into a bit of a running joke on their social media channels. He smiles and agrees, but adds: "It's a genuine thing. There is a lot of noise in F1 and I think I most probably got caught up in it a bit too much in 2020. There was a lot of firing going on and I was trying to avoid all the bullets.

"Red Bull were very good to me and were trying to help me and support me, but having that circle around me has allowed me to really focus on the driving side - the thing that I really like.

"I'm much more of a quy who is comfortable with the engineers than in front of a TV camera and that kind of thing.

"With stuff like Daniel and Oscar, to be able to drive with so much talk going around, it's not an easy thing to do," he says. "I think as a rookie, even in 2020, I wish I could tell myself the stuff I know now. But you can't, so hindsight is a wonderful thing."

On 2022:

His performances have been so good it's almost as if Williams have lost Russell and replaced him with the same driver. Albon's advantage over team-mate Nicholas Latifi is almost identical to the one Russell had.

Albon says his focus right from the start at Williams was getting himself back to being the driver he always believed he could be.

"I had a vision of the areas I wanted to work on from back in 2020," he says. "I was like, 'OK, I want to fix my areas almost first and really understand. I've got to get comfortable with the team and all that kind of thing.'

"That's almost slightly separate to the performance of the car and where it was at. I've got to look at myself and really... I wouldn't even call it shake off the rust, but really focus on my development."

In the end, all this introspection and hard work has paid off.

"I can only say that I feel comfortable," Albon says. "I feel confident in the car. I feel confident with myself in the team and I know for a fact that I'm driving better than I did in 2020.

"If I look at it almost selfishly, independently, I feel like the year has gone as good as I could have hoped for."

He hopes, he says, he has proved a point.

[rubypond]

some extracts from stuff I was reading but didn't put in my gardens post...having thoughts about them...

its residue of family history and nostalgia -> "I used to hate apples, so my mum put faces on them."

private comfort sharpened by contrast the terror of invasion by alien spirits -> "Something came a while ago to hide. It's still hiding," + "it's been eating away at your life for a long time now."

an uncertain, disintergrating order that transcends the limits of rational separations -> "two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together"

gardens actually needed to involve "a fall from somewhere or something" -> "Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of a box" + the Doctor accidentally leaving Amy behind being presented as a fall from grace + "He'll rise higher than ever before and then fall so much further," + Demon's Run is an honorary garden because the Doctor leaves Amy behind again (it's also a place of life+death, false safety, the Doctor's failure):

linking your garden post because it's incredibly relevant

Been doing some digging of my own and etymology overlaps between the words "garden" and "paradise" are quite astonishing. A semantic connection was to be expected (well duh), but I found out that both words circle back to "enclosure". [Old Iranian: pairi (enclose, surround) + daeza (wall) & Indo-Germanic ghordo (fence, enclosure)] I don't know... curious how the equivalent of bliss is to be described as a sharply defined environment above all. What's the main goal? To keep in or to keep out?

The garden paradox... exceeding the limits of known reality and yet remaining within a specific realm because once the line is crossed the garden is risking forest status, something about it will inevitably be altered. (forbidden fruit anyone?) Amy's childhood garden functions as a metaphor for The Runaway Bride Amy AND as a conscious barrier designed to keep her behind the walls of the same story, in which case Amy encapsulates the garden symbolism once again. (and that fits the theme of 5x01 screenshot you shared)

Then there's this:

I think the shots above are the touchstone of these ideas, it's a story swallowing itself whole. (goes for both scenes individually and their relation to one another) Amy in her wedding dress (traditional motif) covered in (artificial!) flowers that gradually disappear as you get further away from her heart (she is everything the garden represents) and then slowly reappear again as you reach the hem of her skirt. (her arc is repetitive, it always leads back to that garden hence her last appearance) Her door resembling the Tardis, white nightgown, white wedding dress... Everything she does has to have its twin moment, everything she does is enclosed by something she understands, but can't prevent from happening (overgrown garden framing both of those shots) even and especially if it's harmful. (Cassandra!) The garden is sacred, the garden is a prison... Amy is a piece of galactic fabric taken right from the crux of everything (Amy Pond as the heart of the TARDIS... nobody look at me) and yet, she's constantly pushed into scenarios that demand for her to make a definite decision. She's completely unfamiliar with common mechanisms of beginnings and endings (...she's always waiting... she doesn't make sense...) and her story is nothing but peppered with beginnings and endings. This is why she thrives in the frozen timeline! (re: The Wedding of River Song) Time works in her favour only when there's something wrong with it, when everything that ever happened ceases to exist chronologically. (this unites our non-narrative gals once again, because for the TARDIS, non-linear timestreams ARE the one true reality, I love taking the alien metaphors of DW to an imaginary level I myself invented) oh and if anybody is interested, this is (one of the online places) where Ivy and I talk about Amy being the embodiment of the TARDIS (X)

"A residue of family history and nostalgia" is something that can also be said about graveyards and well... you know.

Also the first and the last time Amy sees the TARDIS it's right after it's suffered a malfunctioning of sorts -> fall from grace.

I love the idea of definite shapes and objects being crowned irrational and fictitious in this setting because it's Amy! Everything is bookended... nothing ever ends... Dr saying "Amelia Pond, get your coat!" in AGMGTW...

[faofinn]

No. 11 “911, WHAT’S YOUR EMERGENCY?”

@whumptober

@whumptober-archive

Sloppy Bandages | Self-Done First Aid | Makeshift Splint

Set in the aftermath of Sheila's Injury, because the boys don't have enough to worry about.

“No, Finn, your angle is wrong.” Fao said, looking at his brother. “You’re coming in too high, that’s why you’re missing the vein. Lower your hand down a bit.” 

"If you'd stop wriggling around, I'd be able to get it." He grumbled, frustrated at himself. 

“You’re overthinking it.” Fao told him. “Close your eyes, deep breath, then try again.”

"I know how to do it!" He snapped, before apologising quickly. "Sorry, I just don't understand how I can't get this one."

“My veins are shit. You nearly had it that time, try again.”

"I got it before."

“Go on, I believe in you.”

"Yeah, I don't."

“So grumpy.” Fao teased. “Try again, go on.”

"I'm trying."

“Do you want to try another?”

"I want to give up on this. It was a stupid idea anyway."

“I didn’t think you were a quitter.”

"Yeah, well. It would have been better if I had."

“Let me talk you through it.”

"I don't want to do it."

Fao sighed, reaching across to undo the tourniquet around his bicep. “Fine, we’ll take a break.”

"There’s no point to any of this. Harrison can come back down, I'm going out."

“Hey, come on. I’ll make you a cup of tea.”

"I don't want tea!" He snapped, storming off.

“Finn, come on!” Fao called, hopping down off of the bench. 

"No!"

“Just come and sit down! You don’t have to leave, we don’t have to do this daft shit anymore. I only offered in case you want to practice. We can just sit, put the tv on.”

"It's just stupid, Fao. It's pointless. I can't do anything."

“Don’t be daft, you can do loads.”

"Yeah? And what did I do with mum? Nothing. I just got in the way."

“You did loads with Mum. I couldn’t have done what I did without you.” 

"You had Harrison."

“And I needed you, too.”

"Could have done fine without me."

“I’d have been in the shit without you.”

Finn didn't answer for a moment, chewing on his lip. "You'd have been fine."

“No.”

"You would. I need a drink and some meds. My head is killing me."

“Do you want me to get you some?”

"No."

Fao sighed. “Alright. Go take some space.”

Finn softened as Fao gave in. "I won't be long."

“Take your time, I’ll be down here. Do you want to keep practising after, or should I clear it away?”

He hesitated. "Just leave it. I'll sort it later."

“I’ll chuck the spent stuff, then. Leave the rest out.” Fao said.

"Fine." He shrugged, heading inside. He knew he ought to practice, knew it was good to keep doing things to stay busy, but the constant failure on top of everything else had started to overwhelm him. With everything going on, he just needed a break. Ideally, a few weeks abroad would be nice, no issues or seizures, just peace and quiet. 

It was nice to imagine for a moment, but, as was often the case with the Daniels, it didn't last. Fred had been out on a lead, the first promising in a while. He’d quickly realised his mistake, too many people to fight off himself, and too crowded a place to fire a gun and get away with it. 

They'd gotten him with a knife to his back, his arm twisted to prevent him getting away. He was stripped of his gun, pushed down an alley and set upon. 

Despite his best efforts, he ended up bloodied and bruised, a split lip and a black eye forming. He pushed himself to the wall, taking a few minutes to just breathe and take stock. 

His head hurt, of course it did, as did his fists and ribs. What he wasn't expecting, though, was his ankle completely giving out as he tried to stand. He swore loudly as he clattered to the ground, bracing himself on already bruised wrists. Well, fuck.

He glanced around, trying to find something, anything to help. Some scrap metal that was roughly straight stuck out at him, and he shuffled over awkwardly. He could probably just about get away with it, he figured, if he managed to get something to wrap the makeshift splint around his leg. 

In the end, he used his belt, wrapped as tightly around his leg as he could manage. For once, he was glad he'd brought the automatic, as there was no way he'd be able to drive manual. Realistically, he knew he shouldn't even drive that, but he had to get home. He spent a few quick minutes sloppily wrapping some bandages around his bloody knuckles, more concerned about the state of his interior than the injuries themselves. 

By the time he'd made it home, his head was spinning. He'd thrown up somewhere on the way home, quickly swerving to the side and the door thrown open. He didn't bother to call ahead, figuring at least one of them would be in the basement. He hoped it would just be a sprain, but the amount of pain kept him realistic. 

Whilst Finn was gone, Fao cleared away some of their spent supplies, rubbing his arm where Finn had tried to get at his vein. He didn’t mind, though, they needed the practice. 

He went and checked on Sheila, making sure she had everything she needed. She did, thankfully, and he topped up her painkillers. She asked after Finn, worried about him, but Fao brushed it off. They’d be fine, Finn just needed time. 

He was sat catching up on some work when he heard tyres on the gravel outside, and frowned. Was Fred finally back? He hoped so. He knew he was working hard to find out who’s been responsible for hurting Sheila, but he’d been gone so long now that it felt like he was never home. Fao felt almost as though he had to be the boss in his absence, and he hated it. Especially with having to look after Sheila at the same time. 

Fred could barely see straight, dizzy with pain. He struggled down the hallway, staggering on his ankle. Each step sent a jolt of pain up his leg, making him whimper now he was out of the public eye. 

Finn caught sight of Fred as he left the basement, frowning at his dad. He didn't need this, he really wasn't sure how much more he could take. 

"Dad?"

"Just give me a hand, will you? Save your lecture."

Finn moved quickly to his side, wrapping an arm around him. "What happened?"

"Got ambushed." He groaned, swaying in Finn’s grasp. 

"Come on, just to the basement. You can make it."

Fred muttered something, but it was lost as he collapsed, a dead weight in Finn’s arms. 

"Fao!" He couldn't carry Fred by himself, and he didn't want to cause any more damage to his dad. "Fao!"

Fao’s heart sank when he heard Finn shout. Was Finn having an aura, about to seize. He wouldn’t be surprised if he was, he’d had so many seizure triggers stacked on top of each other. With a sigh, he set his pen down and sprinted up the stairs. 

“Finn?!” He called, reaching the landing. 

"Dad’s fucked himself. I need your help."

“Fucking hell, I thought you were about to have a seizure.” Fao breathed, finding Finn with Fred in his arms. “Here, let me.”

"Would probably have been better if I had."

“At least I was expecting that. Jesus Christ, what has he done?” 

"I don't know, but he's fucking heavy." Finn grumbled. "Said he got ambushed and then went."

“Sheila said the other day he was going to do something stupid.” Fao complained. “I’ll help, let’s get him downstairs.” He said, helping Finn to carry him.

"Of course she did, she's always right." Finn frowned. "We're gonna need Ollie."

“Let’s see what we’re dealing with, and I’ll call him in after.” They headed carefully downstairs, Fao glancing around quickly.

"Is it Finn?" Sheila called, her view blocked by the curtains. 

"Uh, not quite!" Finn called back, pulling a face at Fao. "We're okay!"

“Just one of the men!” Fao said. Wasn’t technically a lie.

"You can tell her, I'm not." Finn hissed, getting his dad on the bed. 

“Let’s just see where we’re at.” He muttered. 

"I'll cannulate, can you check his ankle?"

"No." Fred pushed Finn's hand away. "No needles."

“You’ll be in a world of pain without it.” Fao warned him, fumbling to unwrap his makeshift splint. 

"No." He shook his head, already queasy as Finn prepared his hand. 

"You're fine, dad. Just relax. Happy thoughts."

Fao shrugged. He’d soon forget about the cannula once he started checking over the ankle, and he was somewhat less than gentle as he removed the splint. “Sorry, sorry.”

"You fucker." Fred hissed, trying to scoot up the bed to get away. 

"Sharp scratch, dad." 

While the ankle had distracted him, he still felt the needle. He turned his head away to retch, but made the mistake of checking over on Finn. The sight was too much, and his eyes rolled, going limp in the bed.

"Eh, that's one way to do it."

“Whatever gets the job done. I thought the ankle might be enough to do it.” 

"Hit him with both, I guess. Least we can get pain relief in now. What's it looking like?"

“Pretty shit, honestly.” Fao admitted. 

"Are we gonna call Ollie?"

Fred groaned. "Fucking hell."

"It's alright. I'm gonna give you some antisickness and pain relief, yeah?"

“I’m gonna get some imaging first, then I can send it across when I call him. Makes it easier.”

"Fair enough. How much pain are you in, dad?"

"Not too much."

“Don’t lie, it’s honestly not worth it.” Fao told him, reaching for the kit he needed. 

"It hurts a bit."

"Yeah, I'm not listening to you." Finn muttered. "Keep breathing, you're gonna be spacey."

“Sorry, this is gonna hurt.” Fao warned, shifting Fred’s ankle to get it ready for X-ray. 

Fred shouted in pain, mainly unintelligible. He fought clumsily against Finn, who just carefully redirected his hands.

"At least he won't remember this bit."

“What did you give?” Fao asked, wincing as he shouted. 

"Fent and midaz."

“Oh, he won’t remember shit.” Fao agreed. “Probably for the best. I’m ready to get this x-ray, step back for two seconds?”

Finn followed his instructions. "Yeah, I saw the state of the ankle."

"Boys?" Sheila called again, louder and frustration bleeding into her tone. "Will one of you tell me what my fucking husband has done this time?"

Fao winced. “Uh, give us five.” He called back, quickly getting the imaging he needed. 

"Fao, you can tell me what's going on!"

“I’ve sort of got my hands full right now, Sheila. We’re looking after him.”

"I'll get out of bed." 

"I'm not dealing with her." Finn whispered to Fao. "I'm already terrified of her."

“She’s your fucking mum.” Fao shot back, his voice low. “He just got a bit battered, we’re sorting it!” 

"And she'd eat me alive!"

"What's he done?"

“We don’t know yet, let us work and we’ll tell you when we know!”

"Useless." She muttered. "He's absolutely useless."

“Fucking tell me about it.” Fao said under his breath, reaching for his glasses to check the X-ray on the screen in front of him.

Finn hummed from beside him. "Oh, that's a break."

“Yeah, just trying to see if there’s anything else there too…” He murmured.

"It seems pretty simple."

“Just don’t want to miss anything else.” He said, and eventually nodded. “Fine. Looks like just that, I can’t see anything else, no other fractures. I’ll call Ollie and send that image over.”

He grabbed his phone, messaging Ollie the images before he called him, giving Finn time to work on the rest. Fred’s pulse in his foot was good, he wasn’t too worried about getting Ollie down there immediately. They had some time to sort everything out. 

Ollie agreed to come down, based on the conversation he’d had with Fao and the images he’d got. He wasn’t quite sure if it would need surgical intervention, but at the very least it needed manipulation. He slipped back into the room, pocketing his phone. 

“Ollie’s on his way.” Fao said. “Where are we with everything else, where do you want me?” He asked, trying to take in as much as he could. There was a lot going on.

"I think he's mainly alright. His ribs seem a mess, but there's nothing out of the ordinary lung wise. He's got a few little lacs here and there, but I think it's just his ankle."

“Any head injury?”

"I don't actually think so. His nose is busted, but he seems to have got out of it pretty lightly."

“God, he is lucky. Maybe a bit of a concussion, if they’ve busted his nose like that.”

"Hopefully just a little one."

“Hopefully. Let me give you a hand, I’ll sort out these lacs, any you think need stitching?”

He hummed. "Maybe this one, but he could probably get away with just looking after it…no, who are we kidding? Just stitch it, it'll be easier."

“Might as well just sort it, so we’re not dealing with an infection and a mess in a few days time.” 

"Exactly." Finn muttered. "What was Ollie thinking? Surgical?"

“Manip at the very least. Re X-ray after and possibly ORIF but difficult to say just off one X-ray.”

"Ugh. Dibs on not telling mum." 

“I heard that!” Sheila called. 

Fao groaned. “Hate you.”

"It's alright, mum, Fao’s gonna come over and fill you in!"

“You can do those stitches, then.” Fao shot back. “I hope he comes to a bit and realises it involves multiple needles.” He smirked, and headed over to Sheila’s bay, a little sheepish, and sat on the edge of the bed. 

"Why do you think I dosed him?" Finn called. "So much easier this way."

Fao rolled his eyes, and then turned his attention to Sheila. “He’s alright. He’s gotten off lightly.”

"Has he?"

“All things considered, yeah. I mean, look at you.” Fao pointed out. “A few cuts and scrapes, a pretty decent black eye too. I reckon he’s broken some ribs, and he’s taken a fair few punches. The worst is the ankle, which is broken, but Ollie’s coming in to look at it. We’ll do a manipulation and then it’s up to him how to proceed.”

"This happened because of me."

“This happened because he’s an idiot and he went on a mission alone without backup.”

"Because I got hurt."

“You got hurt because some cunt attacked you. That doesn’t mean Fred can just go and do whatever he wants like an idiot.”

"That's just Fred, though."

“That’s not your fault though.”

"I should have been there."

“Don’t be daft.”

"I'm not." She said simply. "If I'd not got hurt, he wouldn't have either."

“And if I’d not got hurt all those years ago, I wouldn’t be here with you. Sometimes bad shit happens. We can’t change it.”

"Is he going to be okay though?"

“He’ll be alright, he’s got the pair of us looking after him. And Ollie, too.”

"So he'll be out of action for a while."

“Yeah. Absolutely he will.”

She allowed herself a small smile. "Well that's a slight positive.'

“We’ll keep him shut up in here with you.” Fao said with a crooked smile. “Do you need anything?”

"No, thanks. I'm okay."

“We’ll be around if you need us, but you might have to shout.” Fao said.

"Okay. Let me know what Ollie says?"

“Course. You can see the imaging later if you want, too.” Fao told her, and gave her a quick hug before he left. 

"Thank you."

[m-talks-shit]

23/11/22 - 26/11/22

It's me again. T came over, we were both feeling pretty shit the night before so we just wanted to see each other. We watched Final Destination and cuddled. We were both laughing our asses the whole time and then laughing about the fact that we probably shouldn't be laughing.

It was really great, I love spending time with him. He had to leave pretty early to help out his mum since she's disabled. He's such a sweet and caring soul. Before he left I made it really awkward since I had an overwhelming need to cry so it just burst out. He asked me if I was okay and tried to help but I explained that it just happened sometimes and it wasn't anything in particular, I just really needed to cry in that moment.

I reassured him as best as I could and as soon as he left I sat on the floor and started sobbing, wondering what's wrong with me. I texted him afterwards to apologise for making things so weird and he told me it was fine but I still feel really embarrassed.

The next day I got my paycheck from the single shift that I worked. I immediately spent most of it, on things I needed of course.

The day after that I went out to eat with my sisters. At this point, both my sisters and my mum had spotted whats left of the hickeys and of course they knew it was T. I usually never talk about stuff with my family but I felt the need to share T with them. He's just special and I think there could really be something there. Which is of course why I started to feel insecure about whether or not he felt the same.

I saw a post of him and his friends hanging out, including my ex, our mutual friend, and the mutual friend's friend who I know for a fact used to and maybe still does have a thing for him. I hate being the jealous type, I know he wouldnt do anything, but I can't help it. I try to keep it lowkey most of the time which is why I didn't even get mad about that.

Instead I started to pick a fight with him about the fact he hasn't told his friend, my ex, that we're dating. I completely understand why he hasnt, and I completely understand that I was overreacting which I did acknowledge and apologise for later on. However, in the moment my mind came to the conclusion that he hasn't told him because he feels like there's no point since he thinks we're not gonna last.

Yeah, my brain loves to jump to insane conclusions.

Anyway, I quickly backtracked on myself and said I was sorry for acting crazy over nothing. If I was in his position I wouldnt want to do it either. In my mind he would either stop talking to him entirely or try to turn him against me. There's no scenario where I can imagine him being okay with it. I mean, when I was with him he was always really insecure about T and thought he would steal me away from him.

Well.. yeah... I understand why he doesnt want to tell him.

I feel awful but I cant help that I simply didn't have feelings for him. I really tried so hard to summon feelings. He seemed like my soulmate on paper, we were practically the same person. Maybe that's what was off-putting in the first place. Regardless, I tried to let him down as gently as I could and he victimised himself and then cussed me out to all his friends constantly after we broke up. He was always really childish and manipulative, that was the first red flag I saw, a valid excuse for simply not having feelings for him.

I always felt guilty for having romantic feelings for T when I was still with him. Of course I didnt act on them. I tried to be friends with him for a while, I remember asking our mutual friend about it constantly, begging them to tell me if he said something about me. And he did, he said that it was weird that I would constantly text him. I knew he thought it was weird, I would always be the first one texting and he would always give me pretty dry replies. After a while I just stopped texting and then we didn't speak again until he asked me out.

I did question him about it. He tried to explain that he did like me but he just didnt want to betray his friend, plus he was drunk or high almost all the time back then and totally hooked on some girl that was stringing him along. I told him many times that he deserved better. What I really wanted to say wad that he deserved me. I would treat him better. Now that I finally can, Im not sure if I am. I mean, Im very mentally unstable, he knows that. He knows what he signed up for. He has issues too, I dont care, we can work through it together.

I hate to say that I'm obsessed. I think about him all the time, I'm seconds away from confessing my undying love at any point, I check his instagram following and his snapscore, my brain imagines the way he smells all the time. He smells so freaking good. I feel like I'm scaring him away, I have confessed that to him and he said that I wasnt, that he liked it but he just wasnt used to it.

I know that he's emotionally unavailable. I'm used to that. In fact my daddy issues scream whenever I think of it, especially considering that he's so similar to my dad it's crazy. They would get along so well. I've mentioned that to him before and he hates the thought of it. Freud would have a field day with me.

It really sucks that we live in different towns. I just want to be with him all the time. We had a very intense sexting session which included the exchange of several photos and videos. It also fed into several of my kinks which have never really been satisfied before. It made me go absolutely insane that I couldn't have him right then.

I really think he might be the one. Not in a delusional, obsessed way. I genuinely do believe it. So much so that I can't imagine our life together. Every time I've been in relationships, I create a delusional fantasy of us living the rest of our lives together. I don't need to do that with T, because I actually believe that we'll live through it. I don't want to imagine a fantasy and then not have our real life live up to the expectations. I believe that this will happen. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't, I see no reason for why it would fail.

I dont want to jinx it, but I really feel like I can spend the rest of my life with him.

[marcsalmonds]

my parents are away so I treated myself to putting my bowl in the right cupboard

[jennagrinsoverml]

Do you have any Adrien-centric angst fics? Like, fics that will completely gut you emotionally and you have to lay down for an hour after you read it just to decompress?something like that?

I've recced angst fics before, but let's have some SADRIEN hours around here, shall we?

a fight that you were born to lose by @captainkirkk

When the prosecution starts throwing around the word victim in reference to Adrien, he has to stuff his hands under his thighs to keep himself from bolting out of the courtroom.

Adrien had felt unsafe during those last few weeks, but, until he had woken up and seen Father silhouetted in his bedroom doorway, that had only been paranoia. Father was controlling and cold, but he wasn’t hateful. Adrien was isolated. He was often hungry. And some weeks ago, when he had snuck out to visit Nino, sitting thigh-to-thigh on his bed while Adrien cried in that silent, crumbling way of his, he hadn’t argued when Nino put a hand on his shoulder and said, tentatively, That’s abuse.

But Adrien remembers being small and Father touching his hair after he’d aced another test; Father holding his scribbled drawings like they were something precious, and framing them around his office; Father, dressed as Hawkmoth, his eyes wild behind the mask, lashing his sword against Adrien’s baton; Father, collapsed against Mum, crying into her ashy hair.

Adrien finds out Gabriel is Hawkmoth, and Gabriel gets to bring his long-waited plan into action.

One-shot. (But a LONG one-shot--it's 18k.) This one really digs deep into the abuse that Adrien suffers at Gabriel's hands and the emotional fallout from that. Gabriel is really, really, really terrible here. Worse, I don't think it's OOC at all. This fic is gorgeous, but it's a hard read and it goes to some dark places.

Anhedonia/When Adrien Met Marinette... by @mikauzoran

Chat Noir hadn’t been lying when he told Ladybug he’d moved on. It was only when he found out that Ladybug was Marinette that he realized he was wrong. Meanwhile, Marinette thinks that she’s missed her chance when Adrien insists that he’s gotten over his feelings. Now, they’re roommates and making themselves miserable as they pine for one another, thinking the situation’s hopeless. Things finally come to a head, and they’re forced to sit down and have an honest conversation about their feelings.

One-shot. Adrien's just so sad and lonely and pining here, and I'm here for it. I really found myself getting swept away in his feelings as I was reading. This isn't dark and doesn't get into any heavy issues like some of the other fics on this list, but I found that it was very relatable and evoked a lot of emotion.

Adrien and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by @vickyvicarious

Chat Noir's used to bad luck - it kind of comes with the territory. But detransforming in the middle of a crowd of reporters is a little worse luck than he’s used to having.

And he hasn’t heard a thing from Ladybug since.

(AKA the "everyone finds out all at once" angst fic no one asked for.)

One-shot. Oof, does this one ever hurt. Adrien's painfully in-character, and the way he's trying so very hard to stay positive even as his life is completely falling apart and everyone keeps hurting him...it's so him and it packs a punch.

The Importance of the Black Cat by @chatonne-rousse

Plagg gets down almost two full wedges of cheese before Adrien sits down on the edge of his bed with a heavy sigh.

“Hey, Plagg?” His voice is quiet but doesn’t betray any emotion yet. That’s actually more worrying.

Steeling himself, Plagg swallows the last big bite of cheese and zips from the desk to perch on top of the globe, facing his holder. “What’s up?”

He heaves another sigh before looking up into Plagg’s eyes, emotions still unreadable.

“How important is the black cat?”

*****

Adrien has a lot on his mind - concerns, questions, doubts. And right now, he has only one being to confide in. There is not enough cheese in the world to make Plagg want to handle this situation, but his holder needs him, and he knows two things with certainty: his very important place in the world, and that no one hurts his kitten. Not if he has anything to say about it.

One-shot. You want some season 4 flavour Adrien angst? How about some post-Optigami wallowing? I love the portrayal of Adrien and Plagg's relationship with the mix of light and heavy. Pretty sure I still owe Rosie a sequel to this one because I wanted to see more resolution afterwards and made the mistake of sharing my thoughts on that 🙈 It's just very thought-provoking!!

Working Past It by Taitai83

Chat is deeply hurt by Ladybug's actions, and he needs to process those feelings. He finds that confiding in a friend is helpful in finding clarity.

One-shot. Here, have some more season 4 angst! This one is shamefully overlooked. Go read it and help fix that!! Remember when Gang of Secrets came out and we all wondered how Chat would react when he found out Ladybug told someone her identity? This was an early stab at that, and I found the reactions and thought processes here to be so in character. Plus there's some nice marichat hurt/comfort, though purely platonic.

Timetagger 3 by rosebud1000

Years after Hawkmoth's defeat, Marinette and Adrien encounter Timetagger for the third time. And this battle hits closer to home than any other.

One-shot. Here we have some more of the fallout from Gabriel being a shitty parent, only we have an adult Adrien who is a father himself struggling to reconcile how his father acted with his own parental feelings. As a parent, I really felt this one.

Chat Noir's Family by fleurjaune

The thing is-

The thing is Adrien doesn’t actually mean to lie. Not at first anyway, but they have to keep their secret identities secret don’t they?

And his family, well, their tragedy is out there for the world to see and the world did see it.

One-shot. The more Chat lies about his life and his family, the more we learn about Adrien and see how he wishes his life was. And that chasm...really fucking hurts. I wish this sweet boy could have the kinds of relationships and family dynamics he lies about.

Partners by @karkalicious769

"Um." Alya fidgeted nervously as her earrings beeped their countdown. "Ask me a question that only Ladybug would know the answer to."

Chat Noir barred his teeth, and— Were they always that sharp? At least he wasn't growling again. "You are not Ladybug," he snapped.

"Just do it!"

It was all Alya had to go off of and she really needed to pull this partnership together before the akuma got any worse. She wasn't deluded enough to think that she could do this without Chat Noir.

One-shot. SPOILERS FOR HACK-SAN!!! And yet some more season 4 feels because let's be serious, this season is putting our kitty through the ringer. And this fic definitely does it, though by playing with the episode a little. Although we've got a tight Alya POV, Adrien's hurt and suffering is palpable, and made all the worse by how resigned he is. Read this and sufferrrrrr.

[noforkingclue]

Hey, if you write for Natasha, could I request something with her and a single mother reader?

Here you go anon. Once again this turned out a lot longer than I expected! Hope you like it!

Title: A Happy Family

MCU tag list: @geocookie21, @greeneyedblondie44, @purebloodwitch

Everything tag list: @greenrevolutionary, @imjustassaneasyou

“Let me help you.”

“Oh,” you looked over your shoulder, “There’s no… need.”

Your voice trailed off as you looked at the woman behind you. She raised an eyebrow and you felt the blush slowly creep up your neck. She was beautiful and she looked familiar but you couldn’t put your finger on it. Your daughter looked up at you and tugged on your coat distracting you for a moment.

“Mum,” she whined, “Hungry.”

“Not long now,” you said as you turned your attention back to her, “Just a moment.”

“Here,” the woman took one of your shopping bags, “I’ll help.”

“There’s really no need,” you said embarrassed, “I can manage.”

“I’m sure you can,” she gave you a small smile, “But you are blocking the doorway.”

“Am I?” realisation dawned on you, “Shi- I mean, oh no. I didn’t to.”

The woman didn’t reply as she helped you carry in your shopping.

“I’m y/n by the way,” you said awkwardly, “Thanks for your help.”

“Natasha,” she replied with a small smile, “Nice to meet you.”

*

It was one of the rare days when you parents were looking after your daughter. You loved her dearly but sometimes it was nice to have a day to yourself. You hunted for your door keys in the pits of your bag when you heard a familiar voice,

“Hello again.”

You glanced over and you hand grasped your keys. You hurriedly pulled them out of your bag as you felt yourself once again get hot under Natasha’s piercing gaze.

“Natasha right?” you said, “Hey.”

“No daughter?”

“Oh no,” you muttered, “My parents are looking after her for the weekend. They love spoiling her and they want me to give some time to properly relax.”

“Can’t your… partner help?”

“Ha,” you let out a bark of laughter, “Him? He’s useless, doesn’t want anything to do with her. We’re better off without him anyway.”

“Must be tough,” Natasha walked over towards you, “Being on your own.”

“It is,” you admitted as the two off you walked out of your apartment building, “But seeing her smile is worth it. You know, I never actually thanked you for the other day.”

“You did at the time.”

“That’s not what I mean. Would you like to get a coffee some time?”

“Coffee?”

“Yes.”

You felt yourself get slightly uncomfortable under her gaze. It was like she could see into your soul and was able to read all of your thoughts. Once again you could feel your blush rise up to your cheeks. You never knew that another woman could pull this reaction from you.

“I’d like that.”

“You would?”

“Yes,” she held the door open for you as the two of exited into the crisp fresh air, “Although I’m busy today. Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow is good.”

“I’ll see you then. We can work out details later but unfortunately I have work I need to complete.”

She waved goodbye and headed towards two people who were clearly waiting for her. Your eyes followed her and suddenly your blood turned cold when you realised who was waiting for her. One of them was Captain America.

You had just asked out Black Widow on a date.

*

“Do you ever regret it?”

“Regret what?”

“Asking me out?”

You looked over at Nat. You daughter was currently asleep on her lap and Nat was looking down at her with soft eyes. You scooted closer to her and rested your head against her shoulder. Nat wrapped an arm around your shoulder.

“No. Do you ever regret accepting?”

“Not at all.”

“Even though I have a daughter?”

“Why should that bother me?”

You sighed deeply before saying,

“Most people do care. They don’t want someone with ‘baggage’.”

“Is that how people treat you?”

Her grip on you tightened slightly and you hesitated slightly. Your daughter shifted on Nat’s lap and the two of you looked down at her in concern.

“Sometimes,” you said quietly, “They can’t see passed the fact that I have a child and that she’s one of the most important people in my life.”

“I understand.” said Nat softly

“And you don’t care?”

“No. You treat me like-“

Nat cut herself off and looked away. You saw uncertainty flicker across her eyes and you sat up quickly. You turned her chin so she was facing you.

“What’s wrong Nat?”

“You treat me like anyone else,” she said quietly, “Despite everything I’ve done.”

“Oh Nat,” you rested her forehead against hers, “The person you were in the past is not the same as the person you are now. You help people Nat, you’re an Avenger and I… I love you.”

For a moment Nat didn’t reply. Anxiety curled in the pit of your stomach as you worried that it might’ve been too soon.

“You don’t have to say it back,” you said quickly, “I understand-“

Nat cut you off by gently pressing her lips against yours. She pulled you closer to her and she remained close when she broke the kiss. She stood up and lifted your daughter into her arms and you quickly followed you. While Nat didn’t always vocalise her feelings towards you she clearly showed them to you in other ways and you wouldn’t have her any other way.

*

“Got any milk?” said the man in your kitchen

You rubbed the sleep out of your eyes before glaring at the figure. You walked quietly over to the fridge and pulled out the carton and handed it to Clint.

“It’s early,” you said, “Do you know what time it is?”

“You’re awake already,” said Clint as he made the two of you a cup of coffee, “Hope you don’t mind me crashing here.”

“It’s not like I have much of a choice.”

Clint handed you the cup and you quickly took it. You had learned that Clint made a far better cup of coffee than Nat and it was one of the few things you liked about his visits. The two of you stood in silence for a moment before you said,

“What are you doing here?”

“Like I said, needed a place to crash.”

“It’s not too far to the tower.”

“Right.”

“Don’t bullshit me Clint, I’m not stupid.”

“I know.”

Silence once again fell between you. You rolled your eyes and walked towards your sofa. You were finding your apartment strangely quiet whenever Nat was away.

“Nat asked me to keep an eye on you,” said Clint from your kitchen, “She worries about you.”

“Keep an eye on me?”

“She has a lot of enemies, we all do.”

“And you’re what? A bodyguard.”

“Better than a stalker.”

You snorted before looking back at your coffee cup. It was very Nat to ask Clint to look after you. It would explain a lot of strange things that had been happening lately. You ran your thumb along the rim of your mug as Clint moved to sit next to you.

“I never sleep well when she’s away,” you admitted, “I worry about her.”

“I can tell,” said Clint, “You look like shit.”

“Thanks.”

“If it helps, she’s alright. She’ll be back soon.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“Can’t.”

“Confidential?”

“Yeah.”

“Clint?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. My daughter will be happy to know that her other mum will be back soon.”

*

You sat on a park bench as Nat pushed your daughter on the swing. You smiled at the domestic nature, a picture so perfect it looked like it should belong in a picture book. A tap on your shoulder made you look over as Steve offered you a cup of coffee. You gratefully took it as he sat down next to you. You looked at your hands nervous around the America hero.

“She make her happy,” he said at last, “You’re good for her.”

“You’re not the only person who’s told me that,” you said, “Do you have to leave?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“It’s complicated. The less you know the safer the both of you will be.”

“Can’t I come with you?”

By now Nat was looking over at you and Steve. You gave her a pained looked as she walked over to you, your daughter excitedly running up to Steve.

“I’ll let the two of you to talk.” Said Steve

Once he was out of earshot, and distracting your daughter, you turned back to Nat.

“Please,” you said taking her hand, “Stay or at least let me come with you.”

“I can’t,” said Nat as she sat down in Steve’s place, “You’ll be safer out of my world. Our daughter will be.”

You closed your eyes forcing yourself not to cry. Nat cupped your cheek and brushed a thumb over it.

“I’ll be back,” she said softly, “I’ll never leave you alone. I love you, y/n. I’m not going to abandon my family but I need to do this.”

“I know,” you said, “But it hurts being away from you.”

“Same.”

“Nat, promise me one thing.”

“Yes?”

“Stay safe.”

“For you, anything.”

*

A pounding at your door caused you to run over it to. You dropped you mug and heard it break as it crashed on the floor but you had bigger concerns. You flung open the door and Clint turned around. For a moment it was like nothing had changed, the awkward silence settled over you, before you flung your arms around him.

“Clint,” you said, “It’s been too long. I heard about your family… I’m so sorry. Are they…”

“They’re back.”

“What a relief.”

“Uncle Clint!”

You let go Clint as you daughter ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him. Clint couldn’t help but smile as he lifted her up.

“You’re getting big now,” he said, “To big for this old man to lift up!”

“You’re not thatold.”

“Thanks kid.”

He put her down and ruffled her hair as she looked behind him. The was one person missing from your happy family as Clint said,

“Hey kid I need to speak to your mum for a bit.”

“Can’t I hear?”

“It’s adult stuff.”

“I am an adult!”

“Now dear,” you said kneeling down, “Listen to Uncle Clint. I’m sure if you do he’ll treat to you an ice cream later!”

“Promise?”

“Never broken a promise to you kid.” Said Clint

“Alright!”

As your daughter ran off to the backyard you folded your arms and said desperately.

“Where is she Clint? Where’s my wife?”

Clint put a hand on your shoulder and said,

“Why don’t you sit down? We have a lot we need to talk about.”

[moririki]

⤷ AN EIGHT-LEGGED PROBLEM

OIKAWA TOORU & SAKUSA KIYOOMI & HAIBA LEV & MIYA ATSUMU X READER -> 1.8K
you save your boyfriend from a massive problem which is currently in the corner of your bathroom )

REQUEST -> n/a
CONTAINS -> spiders, bugs, you picking up said creepy crawlies, hq boys being no! help! at! all! (but that's ok bc we love them for it), fanon-ish sakusa cos i haven't read the manga and he had like 5 seconds of screen time so i'm just going off of what i've read + seen, clear favouritism despite the fact that i know basically nothing about sakusa, manga timeskip spoilers in sakusa's
MORI'S THOUGHTS -> haven't seen one where the reader is the one in the relationship who takes care of bugs so since i'm a #girlboss who throws spiders out of my room whenever i see them without breaking a sweat i'm writing that into a fun lil thing with the haikyuu boys that i strongly believe are scared of bugs. also besides the point but look at the pretty colour palette that their banners make fjfjfjdj will go back to writing the requests after this! inspiration just struck

❍ OIKAWA TOORU

-> omg this fucking guy

-> don't let his pride fool you this man HATES bugs with a burning passion

-> he'll never admit it though

-> between you and the aoba johsai team he would never hear the end of how the great king oikawa would cower at the sight of a moth doing laps around a lightbulb

-> so when you pretended not to hear the shriek that left your boyfriend when he saw something flying around the bathroom light and he declined your offer to get rid of the moth for him, this left oikawa in a pretty difficult situation

-> it was just him alone in the bathroom, trying to brush his teeth while eyeing the bug warily

-> you came in a few minutes later, getting ready to go to bed as well

-> "you know, babe, that moth's been there for quite a while," you teased him

-> oikawa hummed in response, his eyes never leaving it as it continued its circumnavigation of the light fixture

-> "oh, you know. who am i to kick someone out of their home? i'm no monster"

-> you almost snorted at how poor of an excuse that was, but ruffled your boyfriend's hair anyway

-> "i'll take care of it, ru, you just finish getting ready"

-> "but y/n-chan, that moth has feelings! don't be mean to it!"

-> you gave tooru a very blank stare at that

-> "so do you want me to leave you alone with your new friend?"

-> "......no"

-> "that's what i thought"

-> you went up to the moth, managing to trap it in your hands before releasing it from a window

-> oikawa shuddered as you came back to the sink, giving your hands a quick rinse before resuming with brushing your teeth like nothing had happened

-> "you're so brave, my love"

-> "anything for you, babe"

❍ SAKUSA KIYOOMI

-> bless this poor boy

-> so it's no secret that sakusa isn't the fondest of germs

-> and that extends to bugs and spiders too

-> besides a normal amount of disgust that he held for them, the thought of where the insects had been or placed one of their many feet on never failed to make his skin crawl

-> that's where you, his wonderful significant other, comes in

-> as much as he loves you, he just can't understand how you always stared at bugs with wonder in your eyes

-> you'd even pick them up, cooing at the way they crawled up your arm while sakusa just stared at you in disbelief with a can of bug spray in hand

-> tonight was one of those swelteringly hot summer nights

-> you know, the ones where the air seems to be still no matter how many windows you open and every insect in a mile radius is actively trying to enter your home

-> you were spending the night at your boyfriend's apartment, ready to have a relaxing night in with him since your schedules had finally synced up and allowed you both to enjoy a day off at the same time

-> it took months of trust before sakusa finally admitted to you how much he enjoyed doing skincare

-> so whenever you two spent the night together, you decided to start the evening with some face masks and idle binging of a tv show

-> against his half-hearted protests, you had insisted that sakusa wore a headband while this happened (one that had a very cute duck face printed on it)

-> just to keep the curls out of his face, of course

-> whenever he caught you sneaking a candid of him with facemask and duck headband on, he just shot you a halfhearted glare and threatened you to never send that to atsumu or the rest of the msby team

-> (you set it as your home screen instead)

-> anyways, i digress

-> so tonight you decided to cool down from the heat with a few facemasks and cuddling in your boyfriend's heavily air conditioned living room

-> but he kept all his skincare stuff in the bathroom, so you went to go get them as he set up a show to watch along with some snacks

-> you flicked on the light, going to his cabinet when something in the corner of the room caught your eye

-> there was a fairly large spider, desperately trying to crawl up the smooth tile wall

-> you decided to take pity on it and release it

-> but when you had it cupped safely in your hands, you decided to terrorise your poor boyfriend just a little

-> "hey, omi, look what i found!"

-> your boyfriend perked up at your signature nickname for him, though his eyes narrowed as he saw your clasped hands held in front of you

-> "no"

-> "but baby, you haven't even seen-"

-> "no"

-> you giggled at how defensive he had become

-> "come on, don't you want to name it? it's very cute"

-> "i want you to throw it out, y/n"

-> "alright, alright"

-> you took the spider to a window, releasing it back outside before heading back to the bathroom and grabbing a few masks for real this time

-> sakusa gave you the cold shoulder as you sat down next to him, humming as you gave him a face mask and putting it on without a word

-> "aww, baby, i'm sorry"

-> "..."

-> "i'll give you a head massage if you stop ignoring me?"

-> sakusa turned to you, his eyes narrowed in thought as he stared you down

-> the act soon broke, though, and he smiled against the sheet mask that was on his face

-> "it better be a good one," he huffed as he tugged the duck headband off, already sighing at the sensation of your fingers against his scalp

-> "omi, come on, what do you take me for?"

❍ HAIBA LEV

-> ngl lev gives off equal amounts of being terrified of like the tiniest spider or just finding bugs insanely cool vibes

-> it's funnier to imagine this 6-foot-something guy scramble away from a fucking crane fly in terror though so this is how it's going to play out

-> when you invited your giant of a boyfriend to your flat, you didn't anticipate just how small he made everything appear

-> he even towered in your doorway, having to stoop to step through into your hall

-> "woahh, i love your place!"

-> it was his first time staying over for the night, and lev was making sure to drink in every aspect of your interior design

-> you found it sweet of him, and watched as he stared in wide-eyed wonder at the little trinkets you had collected over the years to make your small apartment seem more like a home

-> you didn't expect him to scream at the top of his lungs and practically run back to you, though

-> you jumped at the sound, watching as he scrambled away from your lamp and pointed back at it with a shaking finger

-> you squinted at it, making out the very menacing form of a crane fly as it bumped into the lampshade and continued on its path

-> "lev, you big baby," you giggled, heading to the kitchen to grab a glass and trap it

-> "y/n, don't leave me alone with it!" he yelped, and you rolled your eyes at his antics

-> you came back, smoothly capturing the insect and throwing it out of a nearby window

-> lev was sat on your couch the whole time, hands covering his eyes as he curled in a ball

-> "is it gone?" he asked, and you you giggled at how childlike he was acting at the moment

-> "it's all good, baby" you smoothed his hair and lev gratefully leaned into your touch, a sigh of relief leaving him

-> "thank you, y/n"

-> "i'll get rid of all the bugs in the world for you, lev"

❍ MIYA ATSUMU

-> gives off the vibes that he used to eat bugs as a child i'm sorry but

-> have mercy on his soul lmao

-> so twins are supposed to be identical right?

-> anyone who spends more than a few minutes around the miya twins know that that's a complete fucking lie

-> and you've had the misfortune of being friends with them for a very long time

-> like your mums were friends and you were all born around the same time

-> you've been pulled into their shit before you could walk or talk

-> so you're well aware of just how different these mfs are

-> even though they were both absolute bastards, osamu always had a slightly more mellowed out approach which would always end up with atsumu getting the blame for what they got up to

-> especially as a child, osamu loved to terrorise his twin with the unwilling help of you

-> one of the ways was through osamu exploiting one of his twins' fears

-> that being bugs and spiders

-> he always cackled at the sight of atsumu screaming and trying to run away from him due to the spider he was holding

-> as they both grew up, this became less of a frequent thing for osamu to do

-> you also somehow started dating atsumu, but nobody could exactly pinpoint a moment that signified a beginning to your relationship

-> but since you're dating the world's biggest manchild in disguise, and osamu gets annoyed with atsumu quite easily, you would have to swoop in to rescue him from time to time

-> recently the twins had been getting a little snappy with each other, and it had yet to sort itself out

-> from what you had heard your boyfriend was in the wrong this time, but you still listened to him whine and rant about it

-> you were going to the inarizaki school gym to say hi to your boyfriend and best friend before practice started, only to see absolute chaos unfolding

-> with kita yet to arrive, the twins were effectively unleashed and that much was clear with the way atsumu was practically screaming his head off as he ran around the gym

-> your eyes took in the rest of the players- aran had his head in his hands, suna was snickering with his phone out to record the newest miya twin fight, and osamu's deranged laugh could be heard above everything else as he chased his brother, hand held out in front of him

-> only one thing was capable of making atsumu scream like that, so you already knew what was happening

-> atsumu quickly spotted you hovering in the doorway, and made a beeline to where you were

-> his eyes were panicked, and you were quick to wrap him in a hug as you shot osamu a nasty glare over his shoulder

-> literally this lmfao

-> "that's enough, 'samu"

-> your best friend paused, before a smile spread across his face as he dangled the centipede in front of him

-> "you know it was rubber, right?"

-> you felt your boyfriend tense in your arms and you bit your lip to stifle a small giggle

-> but at least they would be back to normal by the end of today

back to the menu - ,, 🕷 ·˚ ༘ ꒱

[farfromharry]

Mini Valentine | Stepdad!Tom fic

Summary: Your valentine’s plans with your fiancé get slightly set back when you get called in to work, leaving Tom to spend the day with your daughter.

Word count - 4,017

Warnings - One brief mention of throwing up, i think that’s it?

Unfortunately for you and Tom, you’d been called into work on the morning of the 14th, based on ‘emergency’. It was all very last minute and caused a lot of stress for your fiancé, even if he tried to promise you that it wasn’t a big deal and he could sort something, but anyone would be stressed while finding out their plans for the day had been spontaneously ruined that same morning without warning.

You originally had plans to go on a family trip to the zoo during the day, wanting to show Scarlett all the adorable animals that she’s never had the pleasure of seeing in person. Then you were meant to be heading to a romantic dinner with Tom at the same fancy restaurant he took you to, to propose. All while his mum watched Scarlett for you so you both got some well deserved time together.

“I’ll just shift the reservation, it’s okay,” he promised you, kissing your shoulder as you tied back your hair to keep it out of your face.

“You’re an angel,” you whispered, making sure to press a lasting kiss to his lips. You could tell he was exhausted, and you didn’t blame him, it was barely even four in the morning and you were already up and ready to leave the house.

You couldn’t leave without making a hundred percent sure he was okay with you heading in, moving over to where he’d tucked himself under the covers again, trying to shield his bare upper half from the cold morning air.

He’d planned on getting some more sleep before your munchkin woke up and decided she needed her stepdad to feed her instantly, something she did often.

“I still feel bad, ‘m sorry.” He shook his head, cupping your cheek with his large hand.

“You have nothing to worry about,” he chuckled, finding some amusement in the idea of you feeling so guilty about something you couldn’t control, especially when the issue was so easily resolved.

You rested your head on his bare chest for a few seconds, just until you really had to leave so you wouldn’t be late.

“I’ll take Scarlett out somewhere, still got to win her over.” You rolled your eyes at his words, pecking his lips one more time before standing up.

“You know she loves you already,” you mumbled, referring to all the moments the two had shared over the few years you and Tom had been together.

“No, she loves my cooking.”

You scrunched up your nose, feigning disgust. “I don’t know why.” Tom scoffed, his heart fluttering when you let out that silly giggle that he adored.

“Y/N?” he called. You hummed. “Happy valentine’s day.”

You placed one more kiss on his lips, taking your time to study his face as you pulled away. “Happy valentine’s day Tom.” You waved goodbye without letting him say anything else, not wanting anymore distractions that could risk making you late, closing your bedroom door behind you.

“Mummy?” You turned your head at the sound of your angel’s sleepy voice, seeing her standing in her bedroom door. She looked like the cutest little thing, hair all messed up from the way she’d slept, in her Disney pyjamas, rubbing her tired eyes with her first while her teddy bear was squeezed as close as possible to her chest.

“What’s wrong bub? You should be asleep.” She waddled over to you, wrapping her arms tightly around your legs. Your fingers threaded in her hair, trying to tame the flyaway strands, tucking them back into her scrunchie loosely.

“I heard you awake,” she mumbled, almost falling asleep in the position she was in. You pouted, leaning down to kiss her head.

“Mummy has to go to work,” you said, seeing the frown forming on her face. “I’ll be back later, but that means we can’t go to the zoo.”

If she had the energy she probably would’ve thrown a tantrum right then and there, but taking into account the utter exhaustion consuming her tiny body, meant she didn’t have the effort to argue. All she could do was flash you her typical pout and puppy dog eyes, but even those weren’t enough to win you over this time.

“Why don’t you go get in with Tom for a bit, get some cuddles?” You were always trying to encourage her to do more with Tom, praying that she would get along with him well enough to accept him. She did at least like his cooking, so that was a start.

She hummed, placing a sloppy toddler kiss on your cheek before shuffling down the hall to your room. You chuckled to yourself, grabbing your keys, jacket and any other necessity, leaving your daughter and fiancé to spend the day together.

Tom couldn’t fall asleep until he knew you were on your way, his subconscious telling him that he couldn’t let you be late by getting distracted with something in the house.

That meant that Tom felt the tiny body that was crawling onto the large bed, climbing under the covers on your empty side.

“Hi,” she whispered, laying her head on your pillow. The man laughed silently, noting how much she was like you with her mannerisms. He asked if she was okay, checking she wasn’t in here because of a nightmare.

“Mummy said I could come get cuddles.” The girl often liked Tom more when she didn’t have the energy to be mean, so at times like this she was often very affectionate towards him.

“Of course, c’mere.” She shuffled closer to him, curling her body into his chest while her head rested on his shoulder. Tom pressed a light kiss to her temple, soothingly rubbing her back until her breathing evened out and he was sure she was asleep.

He wasn’t too far behind her, letting his own wave of exhaustion crash over him until he was back into the deep slumber he’d been in before it was interrupted by your phone ringing.

»»——⍟——««

Tom and Scarlett ended up getting out of bed around 10. He’d sent the girl to the bathroom to do her business and brush her teeth while he made her breakfast, going over some ideas of what they could do for the day in his head.

“How do you feel about going to the aquarium today?” he asked, slipping a pancake onto her plate, letting her decorate it however she wanted. Her eyes widened and she rapidly nodded her head. Tom chuckled, preparing some breakfast for himself, taking a seat next to the girl at the kitchen island.

“Can we see the penguins?” she asked, filling the silence with the innocent question. She let out a squeal when Tom nodded, thanking him with the same amount of energy.

She finished her breakfast quickly, bouncing in her seat as she waited for Tom to tell her she could leave. “Go get dressed, we’ll go in a little while.” She didn’t have to be told twice, jumping down from the seat to run to her room.

Tom left to get dressed a few minutes after her, changing into some jeans, a plain white hoodie and a coat on top.

He waited by the front door for more than a few minutes, confused about what was taking the little girl so long.

Tom didn’t want to impose, he knew she was capable of getting ready herself, but he also didn’t know if something else had possibly gone wrong.

He headed to her room, knocking on the door before pushing it open. “Hey bug, what’s taking so long, you okay?” He could see the tears on her cheeks as she sat in front of the mirror, a hairbrush and a hair tie to her right. “What are the tears for?” He asked softly, bending down beside her to wipe them away.

“I can’t do my hair.” She sniffled, looking up at the man with those big eyes that looked exactly like yours. He was such a sucker for those eyes. “Do you want me to try?”

She nodded, handing him the stuff he needed. He brushed through the strands of her hair as carefully as he could, making sure to avoid brushing any tangles harshly, and apologising if he caught any anyway.

“Ponytail?” he asked. She nodded in confirmation. Tom wasn’t exactly a pro when it came to hair, he’d grown up with 3 brothers, so he didn’t really have anything to do with long hair until he spent those nights when you were drunk. He would always carelessly throw your hair into a bun or ponytail to keep it out of your face when you threw up, receiving a mumbled thank you from yourself.

You’d helped him learn the basics a while ago, teaching him how to do a simple braid and how to do a quick ponytail, but that was all he knew. He was never sure if his versions of the hairstyles would be up to Scarlett’s standards.

He pulled all the strands in, making sure there were no loose ones before wrapping the hair tie around them all, keeping them in place at the back of her head.

“Is that okay?” he asked. She nodded, standing up from her spot. Tom raked his eyes over her outfit, making sure socks were matching and everything was on right before guiding her to the entrance of the house.

She took a seat next to him on the stairs, swinging her legs while she waited for him to pass her, her shoes. She easily slipped them onto her feet, right then left, just like you always did when you were here.

“You think you can tie them yourself?” he asked. She nodded her head, grabbing a hold of the two pieces of white string on her left shoe.

“I’m a big girl,” she argued. Tom raised his hands in defense, muttering an okay.

Her big girl mindset didn’t last for long when she realised she in fact didn’t know how to tie her shoes. Tom tried to hide his smile, knowing this was going to happen.

“Tom?” She asked. He hummed, looking up from where he’d been putting on his shoes. She pointed down to the little converse that were on her feet, the laces messy and undone. “Can you do them, please?”

He tried his best to show her how to do it, but the girl got easily distracted, rambling on about all the different fishies she was going to see. He couldn’t be annoyed, finding it completely adorable how she babbled on.

“Alright, up?” He didn’t want to pick her up if she’d rather walk, not wanting to risk the girl throwing a tantrum so early on in the day. However, to Tom’s surprise, she agreed. She stood on her tiptoes, reaching her hands up to the sky, a signal that she wanted to be lifted up.

Tom scooped her up into his arms, resting her on his hip while he collected everything he needed to head out for the day.

Scarlett busied herself in playing with the chain around Tom’s neck, finding it intriguing for some unexplained reason.

He carried her out to his car, having to follow her instructions on how to get her into the car seat, it seemed to be a struggle for Tom everytime.

Once he was sure she was safely in her seat, Tom climbed into the driver’s seat, sending you a quick text to tell you they were heading out.

At one point during the short drive, Tom glanced through his mirror to see Scarlett quietly singing along to the radio, which he turned up so she could hear better, kicking her legs in her carseat happily.

The aquarium wasn’t too far away, and before Tom knew it they were inside and ready to look around. Scarlett complained about how it felt like it’d taken forever, clutching Tom’s hand with her tiny one as she dragged him towards what she thought looked most interesting.

“Look at that one!” she gasped, pointing to the vibrant coloured fish. Tom nodded, grinning down at the pure happiness on the little girl's face. The sudden vibration in his pocket made Tom jump. He pulled out his phone to see your contact lighting up his screen. He took a few steps back from her, so she was still in his eyeline but her loud squeals weren’t heard in his ear everytime she spotted a pretty fish.

“Hello?”

A smile creeped onto your face just at the sound of his voice, it was all you needed to hear to convince you you could make it till the end of your shift.

“Hi.”

“How are things?” You let out a sigh, glancing around the ward with a bored look.

“It’s okay, I guess, nothing much happened after this morning,” you explained. “How’s it going with Scarlett?” Tom smiled to himself, watching as the girl stared in awe at all the vibrantly coloured fish swimming in the tank.

“I didn’t take her to the zoo because I know you wanted to go, so I brought her to the aquarium you’ve been to before.” Your heart soared. The fact that Tom both listened to your stories about your daughter and respected the things you wanted to do with her were just more things to add to your ‘why Tom is the perfect man’ list.

“Are you having fun?” There was an underlying hint of sadness in your voice that Tom quickly picked up on.

“Yeah, but it’d be even more fun if you were here.” You could hear him quietly talking to Scarlett in the background, something about spotting a certain coloured fish. The girl responded with a squeal of excitement when she found out, gushing about how pretty it looked.

“She sounds happy,” you commented, pulling Tom’s attention away from the girl again.

“I think she is, this is the warmest she’s been with me.”

You bit your lip to try and hold back your smile. You’d both been waiting for the moment she’d decide she was ready to accept Tom as her dad, and it’s been a long journey to get to that point.

“Well, I should go, but i’m glad you’re having fun.”

Scarlett ran over to Tom, clutching his legs and asking who was on the phone. When he responded with a simple ‘mummy’ she decided she needed to talk to you right that second.

She ended up occupying you on the phone for much longer than you’d intended, finding it impossible to get away from the girl while she was ranting about all the different animals and fish they’d seen.

“I don’t want to keep you then, tell Tom to have fun too okay?” She mumbled a quiet okay. Tom was watching her with an amused grin, finding it adorable how large his phone looked pressed against her head. You said your I love you’s before hanging up to continue wallowing in your own self pity.

»»——⍟——««

The picture Tom sent you around 1 was the thing that kept you going, but was simultaneously the thing that almost made you cry in the middle of the hospital.

The two were sitting in the restaurant at the aquarium, the girl cuddling some kind of fluffy penguin teddy that you were sure Tom insisted he buy for her, while grinning at the camera.

He followed it up with a little message afterwards that basically confirmed your suspicions.

‘She loved the penguins and I couldn’t resist, this is Oswald x’

You giggled at the name, an obvious reference to the time Harrison came over and let her watch Batman. You ended up setting the picture as your lock screen, clicking your lock button to see your baby’s face light up your phone screen.

Your eyes drifted up to the clock on your phone, seeing you had at least another 2 hours left of work.

You wish you could say those last couple hours flew by, but it felt like they were never going to end. You spent most of the time being handed more and more tasks to do that you were scared you wouldn’t finish before the time you could go home.

Thankfully you did, wanting to practically scream with relief once you climbed into your car. You felt like you had more energy now that at any point during your day, which was very confusing considering the long almost 10 hour shift you had.

You heard the excited yells of your daughter the second you walked through the door of your home. She’d quite clearly seen your car pull up outside and just couldn’t wait to greet you.

“There she is.” You were almost tackled into a hug by the four year old, the girl beaming at you. Tom helped you slip your jacket off once Scarlett decided to let go of you.

“So, how was it?” She was more than happy to tell you again every single thing her and Tom did, going as far as describing almost each and every one of the fishies in detail.

Tom joined in at random parts with bits of information that seemed to slip past her excited mind. He watched you both with a smile, silently laughing at you when you realised you’d probably be here for days if you didn’t stop her.

“That sounds like so much fun, but you need to go and get ready for when Nikki comes.”

She still hadn’t taken up calling Tom’s mother Grandma yet, but you reassured her that it’d come with time, exactly the same as your reassurances to Tom.

She ran away to her room to do as you said, leaving you and Tom a moment alone before you got ready for your date.

Tom’s hands made a beeline for your waist once she was out of sight, bringing you in close to him until you were pressed up against his chest.

“Hello handsome.” A faint blush creeped onto Tom’s cheeks, the man trying to hide it by burying his face in your neck. He placed soft kisses all over the skin there, earning him a pleased sigh from you.

Your hands trailed up the expanse of his muscly back, eventually residing in his mess of hair. Gentle tugs on the short curls were what brought his attention away from your neck.

He smiled at you, resting his forehead on yours. Your noses occasionally clashed from the close proximity, but neither of you cared enough to pull away. He was the one to close the gap between you, slotting your lips together in a slow kiss. It wasn’t hungry or needy in any way, more so screaming that you’d missed each other.

“We should get ready,” you mumbled onto his lips, unwilling to pull away just yet.

He hummed. “We really should.”

Neither of you made an attempt to move. This time it was you who couldn’t stand not kissing him, placing such a soft peck on his lips that he was sure it almost didn’t happen.

“I love you.” You grinned, rubbing your thumb over his unruly eyebrow, eyes flickered over the tiny features of his face. He took the time to study your eyes while you did so, noticing the little flecks of different colours that didn’t match your overall eye colour.

You finally looked into his eyes, those golden, honey orbs that just made you melt inside everytime they stared at you with just so much adoration.

“I love you too.”

He let you go and get ready after that, pouting adorably as he watched you strut your way to your bedroom. You picked out your outfit before hand, pulling the hanger with the gorgeous silver dress out of your wardrobe, laying it on the bed.

You knew Tom would probably sneak a look at it, but seeing it on a hanger wouldn’t even compare to seeing it on your body.

You took a lot longer getting ready than you expected to, purely due to the long, hot shower you took that felt like a necessity after your work day, and also the fact you hadn’t truly gotten yourself dolled up for something in a while, something that you greatly missed.

Tom was there as soon as you were finished to make you feel even better about yourself, throwing compliments at you left and right that left you a flustered mess of butterflies.

At some point Scarlett had creeped into your room, looking at your pretty dress in awe.

“Doesn’t your mummy look pretty?” She nodded her head rapidly, complimenting you profusely. Your fiancé knew you were getting flustered, trying to cover your face to hide from your own embarrassment. He placed a quick kiss on your head, his hand slipping down to the small of your back to guide you to the front door.

You gave Scarlett a tight hug, telling her to behave, while Tom placed a kiss on her head.

“Thank you again,” you gushed, making sure to give Tom’s mum an extra tight hug before you left. She always told you that she loved taking care of Scarlett, even if she wasn’t her biological granddaughter.

Tom led you out of the house with a lovesick grin plastered on his face, making you rather suspicious about what he was up to.

“What are you so smiley about?” you asked. He simply shrugged, placing a kiss on your knuckles as he told you absolutely nothing.

“Just happy to finally have to myself.”

»»——⍟——««

The small body of the girl barreled towards you as soon as you stepped through the front door. She surprisingly almost knocked your balance, forcing a giggle out of your slightly tipsy self.

You were able to scoop her up, holding her on your hip.

“I know, we’re home,” you whispered, cradling her to your chest. She tucked her head into your neck, trying to not let sleep consume her so she had more time to spend with her favourite person.

While you were snuggling your baby, Tom was once again thanking his mother, telling her a little about the lovely night you had at the restaurant.

Nikki could see in his eyes as he watched you, just how much adoration he felt for both of you. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen her son look like that.

“Missed you,” she mumbled, muffled by the way her mouth was resting on you. You responded with a simple kiss, noting how her eyes were so desperately trying to flutter shut.

You couldn’t blame her, you had accidentally woken her up at a ridiculous time in the morning and she was still only a toddler who often took multiple naps throughout the day.

“Let’s get you to bed.” She whined in your ear out of protest, shaking her head in your neck. Her head raised, looking around the room until her eyes landed on Tom.

She twisted in your arms so you were only holding her by her stomach. Scarlett made grabby hands at Tom, a sleepy pout on her lips when he didn’t instantly come over.

“Can daddy put me to bed?” she asked, so innocently.

Tom froze, his heart growing in size as he stared at her. You and Nikki shared a look, one that told the other you were happy you could experience this moment.

He didn’t exactly know what to do, becoming a bit of a stuttering mess. He’d been waiting at least over a year since you’d gotten engaged for her to say that one word, a sort of confirmation that she was happy he was there.

You could see the tears lining his waterline as his mind replayed the 6 words she just uttered. It seemed to take him a few seconds to come back down to earth, nodding his head. You helped transfer Scarlett from your arms to his much stronger ones, the male making it look like lifting a feather. Scarlett shifted slightly, sighing as she got comfortable in his hold.

“Yeah, of course, daddy can put you to bed.”

»»——⍟——««

tom holland taglist - @seutarose @lmaotshollandd @photoshopart15 @hopelessly-harry @bvttercupbby @call-me-baby-gir1 @fallinfortom @strawberrytom @siriuslyslyslytherin @musicalkeys @itstaskeen @icyhollands @tpwk-grande @zspideyy @chrisosterfield @givebuckyhisplumsnow @lowkey-holland @hollandcrush @wizkiddx @sannie-san-shine @sonnydoesrandomshit @hopeless-romantic-baby @dummiesshort @itsbieberxholland @lillucyandthejets @piscesparker @mymilliefrommarketing @spideyspeaches @kujokura @l0velyevans @jess-holland23 @holland-parkers @earthlyholland

[the-fiction-witch]

first time together

REAL LIFE  COUPLE TBS X READER RATING: SMUT

I smiled nervous but excited sitting in the sofa in his very nice newly renovated house every so often sipping my glass of wine trying to not think about the tension in the room. We had been dating a good while now and due to work and such we hadn't really seen each other my h recently and one of those things when you can't see each other in a relationship is communication. He'd been working on some new things top secret so he couldn't tell me much but he'd been away alot and we'd been chatting mostly over whatsapp and phone calls. I had noticed our conversations some evening turn form our usual 'aww I miss you too', 'ill have to give you a huge hug when I get home' more to things like 'I wish you were here with me… if I had you here in this big bed maybe I wouldn't feel so lovely x', 'i miss you so badly, maybe when I get home you can stay over all weekend ;)' And so here I was with the intention to be staying l weekend, I had stayed the night before here and there not often as while it was getting revocated he was staying with his mum and sister so we didn't stay the night together too often. And more then anything the tension was there because as long as we've been dating, we hadn't had sex. We just hadn't yet been busy, and with all that was going on with work, and his house and the move it was all so busy and we just kinda never found the right time. It didn't bother me and honestly I don't think I bothered him that we didn't but I think we both need that this weekend it was probably gonna happen. And I was excited to say the least if a little worried. He wondered back from dropping something off in the kitchen and leant on the living room doorframe in his blue suit pants, light blue button down his hair fixed as usual even if I had been messing with it tonight, he smiled at me but with a little yawn I almost awwed it was kinda cute like a sleepy little puppy "Oohh sorry. Don't know what's up with me" he says "It's alright if your tired tommy you've had a long few days" "You wanna head to bed?" "Sure" I nodded I got up going to take my class but he stopped me "I'll deal with this and I'll lock up you go on up" he says kissing my cheek I smiled handing him the glass and heading up the stairs all the way to his bedroom I could tell he had cleaned it and made the bed with all fresh sheets before I got here I kicked my shoes off putting them close to my little suitcase with my stuff I tried getting at the zip to my dress but I was struggling damn stupid back zip "need some help?" He asks as he too arrived in the bedroom "Ohh uhh yes please" I blushed I heard him step over, I felt the heat of his breath on my neck his hands rested on my waist and slipped up to the back of my dress and the to of my zip he gently pulled the zip down making sure to be slow and tender he stopped about half way down my back just an inch or so below my bra clasps I felt him move closer and press a kiss to my shoulder "... We don't. Have to do anything you don't want to. You know that right?" He asks I blushed s little and turned to face him wrapping my arms gently around his neck to give him a cuddle "I want to. You've waited long enough" "It doesn't matter how long I've waited. If you don't want to we won't" he says giving my nose a kiss "okay kitten?" "I know but I want to" "Yeah? You… really want to?" "Very much. I've missed you" "Umm I've missed you too" he smirked almost moaning he was so excited pulling me as tight to him as possible kissing me rather hard I kissed back as fast as I could trying to keep at his speed his hands stroking the small of my back as we kissed he pulled back a moment getting some breath I smiled and took the opportunity to slip a hand down and begin undoing the buttons on his shirt he smirked looking down at my hand gently biting his lip he looks back up at me licking across his bottom lip before pulling the rest of the zip down "you uhh you look really nice tonight" he muttered almost like he'd forgotten about saying it "Thank you. You do too" I giggled "Can I?" He hinted tugging on my dress a little I nodded as I had now undone his shirt completely gently stroking on the smooth skin I had exposed. He pulled my dress off me gently making sure not to hurt me or damage my dress till it pooled at my ankles he looked me over "fuck." He gasped "you look amazing" he said almost unable to stop looking at me but within a second his hand moved to my neck and cheek "come here" he smirked pulling me close kissing my lips with so much passion and energy he pushed his shirt off throwing it to the floor with my dress and took both his hands away to work at his belt and pants our kisses quickly turned more passionate with tounge and heat in each kiss once he kicked his pants off his legs he held me close again I giggled a little pulling back and moving to kneel on the mattress maybe a millisecond after he joined me I sat up a little excited but nervous before I spoke "Did you need me to-" He interrupted before I even finished taking my hands in his intertwining our fingers "no thank you, I uhh I'm hard enough" he nods "Are you?" I giggled with a little bit of a smirk "Why don't you find out" he smirked pulling me gently back to a kiss I smirked into it moving a hand down to stroke across his boxers "fuck" he gasped as I stroked gently across his shaft thought the thin elastic fabric he didn't waste Time both hands slipping up to gently fondle my breasts "fuck you feel so good" he muttered between kisses before pulling back "you uhhh… I'll" he nodded I was a bit confused before he moved to his side of the bed going for his draw I then understood and gently kicked my panties off as he pushed his boxers off and got the condom sorted out "damn thing how is both ways wrong!" He complained "Theses only two options Thomas' "Yeah and apparently both are wrong" "Blowing on it helps" "Does it?... Ohh yeah a little bit I think it's that way." He muttered "ha! Got it how did you know something I didn't?" "How so?' "I imagine I've been putting on condoms a lot longer then you have?' "Ehh maybe, but teenage boys where always useless at it honestly I felt better doing it anyway atleast I knew it was right" "That's fair. I wonder if I was useless like that as a teenage boy?" "Maybe" 'i don't know. I don't think I was. Then again we used way more because my at that time girlfriend she had a thing with using the flavoured ones. Said she didn't like how my dick tasted" I giggled a little and gave his vock a gentle kiss "I think it's fine" I smiled "Umm well your welcome to give it a kiss anytime you want my little kitten" he cooed "Sorted?" "Yep. Sorted. So uhhh" he blushed a little "missionary? Cowgirl?... Doogy? It's up you kitten" "Missionary." I nodded "Umm okay." He smirked I laid down excitedly and he happily climbed ontop of me "you want me to stop, or slow or anything you just tell me okay?" "I will" "Promise?' 'I promise" "Okay" he smirked leaning down to kiss me I happily kissed him back gently opening my legs out he happily got snug between my legs wrapping them softly around his hips it seems odd to day but I barely felt him push inside he was so slow and gentle and the moment he got one little inch the rest just sort of slipped on in until he was hilt deep inside me, he waited a moment softly stroking my hips and stomach "fuck…. Uummmm kitty. Y/n christ you feel so fucking good" he moans pulling almost completely out and then diving hilt deep again I tightened my grip on him a little and he got faster barely stopping now between thrusts, I gently moaned everytime he pushed in as he seemed to rub so nicely on my inside every time so much I could feel his close it was making me his movements only winding me up more, his moans didn't stop either lost in his own little world. "Thomas…" "Yeah y/n?" "Faster" "Yeah? Faster? No problem kitten." He smirked getting much faster being a little mercilous on me kissing down my neck but I think part of what was to stop his moans I knew how close I was dancing at the edge of pleasure feeling it bubble every time he barely moved I tightened my legs around him often scratching his back a little between our kisses and moans I could hear his harsh breaths and the sound of the bed hitting the wall oven and over the slight squeak of bedsprings under us until I hit it grabbing him hard and trying not to scream but I'm not sure I did to well "Uuuuhhh! Uuhh ahhhhh!" I squealed feeling the waves of pleasure overwhelm me Only a few more and I felt him suddenly stop deep inside me "uughhh! Uuuuhhhhh!" He groaned rather loudly his eyes rolling back a moment before he pulled out and collapsed down next to me on the bed both of us getting our breath back after all that a little sweaty and overwhelmed "did I do okay?" "Spectacular" I giggled patting his stomach as my arm was all I was able to really move and it's the first place I reached on him "how did I do?" 'brilliantly y/n." He smiled holding my hand "ow. Oww. Ahh!" He complained "You okay?' "Yeah it was on a little tight that's all." He says tieing the condom up and throwing it in his bin "I am going for a ciggertte, you want anything?' "Could I have a glass of water?" "Of course. Back in a minute kitty' he smiled giving my lips a kiss before he climbed out of bed pulling his boxers back on and wiping his hair a little as he went off into the house I got up and slipped my bra off getting my panties back on and slipping on my cute little nightie before sitting back in bed, he returned handing me a glass of water "Thank you" I smiled taking it and having a little sip "Your welcome" he says before going to his window opening it and sitting on the windowsill rolling himself a ciggertte "Why don't you go out like normal?" I asked "Because I wanna be in here with you" he says "do you want me to go out with it?" "No it's okay" I smiled "You look cute in my bed" he says lighting his ciggertte up "I've been in your bed before?" "Yeah. Just… you look cute." "Perhaps it's a post orgasum glow" I giggled putting my water back "Might be" he chuckled "you did actually… right?" "Why?" He just shurgs "I like checking. Have a habit of… not always making girls cum' "We are complicated thing" "I know. This things a child's little four button wheel toy. That is a fucking enterprise control panel" he explained making me laugh "I like asking. I know I don't always do it and especially… the first time we ever, did it." "I did thomas. And I enjoyed it very much' I smiled blowing him a kiss he smiled and blew me s kiss too "... Sorry. Guess I kinda get a bit paranoid. My uhh my ex girlfriend used to fake it. When she wanted it to be over. Guess I kinda get a little worried" "Ohh I can't fake it I'm a terrible actress.' I laughed making him chuckle too "if I ever don't you shall be informed" "Okay. You do look amazing though" "Thank you I did my best" I giggled "it was a little hard with the bra there kinda bigger today then usual" "They look great" "Thank you Thomas. You look lovely too" I smiled as he finished his cigarette and came to bed "Thanks, I did my best tried to be colour coordinated had a fight with my hair to try and get it to do..m something that isn't this?" "Did you loose?" "I did loose" "Well" I smiled giving him a kiss "you fought bravely" "Your too sweet to me kitten" he cooed "you ready to get some sleep?' "Yeah, let's get some sleep" I smiled he turned the light off and we slowly got cosy "Goodnight y/n" "Goodnight Thomas" I smiled.

[daggryet]

okay since i was very overwhelmed last night because of eriksen and what happened, i didn’t really have the clarity to think clearly, so i’m putting my own thoughts under the cut, just to get them out

What's been grating on me since I watched the stream and the Twitter drama erupted, is how people were talking about how Tommy "clearly wanted to avoid minority issues, accountability, education" when that's, especially after rewatching, the complete opposite of what he's saying? He's saying he fucks up and that he's sorry, he says multiple times throughout the stream that now he said the wrong thing again and that he's sorry, that he doesn't know how to correctly say things (he's not an activist, how would he have learned the proper way to phrase these things - and he especially doesn't know when he's tired and stressed), and that he wants to learn, he wants the community to be a better and open space for everyone - and AGAIN, he says he wants to be better. Wilbur also very clearly intends to help him realise the nuances of the situation (yes, the minorities finding the joke hurtful are valid; yes, tommy feeling stressed about being tweeted at negatively by thousands to the point of you trending in several countries is valid), and Tommy clearly wants to learn. And that's, to me as a Jew, what's so important about most younger CCs today: that they want to learn. And in this situation: Tommy wants to learn, he doesn't want to fuck up, he doesn't want to be ignorant, he wants to know what to say - he doesn't want to be an activist, but he wants to learn more, so he doesn't offend people accidentally. That attitude should be encouraged, not shunned. That's not how you motivate people to care about issues.

Personally, I don't like Schlatt. I don't like his persona he portrays in videos, and to my knowledge he has complete control over that persona - so I don't like him. However, I also realise that Tommy, Wilbur, Tubbo, and everyone else who's friends with him from the SMP (especially, since it's their fanbase this video is talking about) know the Schlatt that isn't for cameras but the "real" him. I realise the jokes that Tommy has made about Twitter can come off as mocking people disliking Schlatt for actually valid reasons, and I personally have never found them funny and just sighed whenever he’d make them, but I do think it's a case of intent not being equal to the impact. Tommy's intentions were probably to poke fun at those people he sees in his QRT's all the time, telling him to get away from his friends who also do this whenever anyone interacts with Schlatt. However, the impact of the tweet was that minorities felt hurt, and they did deserve an apology which is what he tried to do last night, though he was too tired and stressed to keep it coherent. Because the most of the discussion about his stream happened on Twitter, it was bound to get derailed. Where a lot of poc and other minorities affected by schlatt tweeted actually well worded and educational tweets where they just wanted an apology for his jokes and for him to understand why they were hurtful, they were buried amongst all the thousands of tweets of absolute dog shit and straight up hate. they (twitter) ended up trending "Tommy neg" in the US on the day he did the joke - and then yesterday, in both the US and the UK. That's fucking stressful to a degree I can't even imagine, seeing your name trend internationally; that's not going to teach anyone anything. And that's honestly something the Twitter community needs to be better at realising; like Bad said in his stream, one tweet is a pebble but all the thousands of tweets being posted equal to thousands throwing rocks at a person at once, and that’s not going to educate anyone. When CCs criticise Twitter they're not going after the people trying to educate them, especially not Tommy who repeatedly says - he wants to be better and make his fanspace safer, they're criticising the toxic people and unfortunately there's a Lot of toxic people on Twitter. And even though on Twitter there are Good people, when something goes wrong and tags start trending - they're unfortunately not the only ones speaking.

I'm glad he's taking time off of Twitter because while Twitter is a place where a lot of its userbase wants to bring attention to social issues and important events, it's also a place where the algorithm promotes sensationality and "breaking news" over information, where character limit limits room for discussion and grey areas, and also where a lot of people take one or two quotes and 30 seconds clips out of context and then run with it. Twitter can bring awareness and introduce you to social issues, but you need to do research yourself, look for credible sources, find ressources to properly understand stuff, listen to educated people and activists who actually know what they're talking about. That's how you learn, privately, in a calm setting, where the point is to learn not to get attacked. I'm sure he's gonna have a lot of good conversations with Wilbur, his mum as he's said previously she's very involved with social issues, and hopefully he'll reach out to people with actual knowledge about these social issues and look up ressources. He doesn’t want to nor does he need to become the next activist, but being introduced to ways to look information up and understand why what you said was wrong - that’s going to be very helpful to him, to anyone really. Researching the world you live in, the issues going on right now, it’s always important and it’s always gonna be time well spent.

And lastly, I hope he'll also be able to get better with his anxiety now that he isn’t going on Twitter because while there Are good people, there’s also a lot of shit that he shouldn’t see about himself. I hope this break does him well

[hillnerd]

WAKING UP- CHAPTER 5

Rating M      A03   ff.net   [ Previous Chapter]  [start at the beginning] 

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CHAPTER 5 - QUEEN OF CLUBS

Ginny didn’t have a very large room, and it felt even smaller as Hermione tried to ready herself to go to a club, of all places. She wasn’t the club ‘type.’ She couldn’t say for sure, as she’d never been to one, but what little familiarity she had made it sound awful. Loud noises, skimpily dressed, dancing as if she hadn’t a care in the world seemed… exhausting. And pointless. And dangerous! Fleur, Angelina and Ginny were trying on a myriad of dresses and asking for the group's approval. While the wireless played raucous tunes and the other girls giggled, Hermione spent her time packing and repacking her beaded bag. 

The extension charm was still firmly in place. She hadn’t figured out a way to keep things more organized within it, though, so the canned goods she’d placed there kept falling over. She wasn’t going to forget food again, that she knew. She hadn’t located a new tent yet, but she needed to prioritize that soon. She had just finished repacking some of her clothes when she heard Ginny ask, “What are you doing?”

Hermione snapped the bag shut, not knowing how to explain her preparations in any way that made her seem of sound mind. 

“Just wasn’t sure what to wear…”  It wasn’t a complete lie. She wasn’t sure what fit her anymore. 

“Well, you can never go wrong with a little black dress,” said Ginny pointing to a thin-strapped sundress Hermione hadn’t had reason to wear in well over a year. 

She nodded and went to a corner, turning her front away from them as she changed into the dress. As she wiggled her jeans out from under the dress she noticed the other girls showed no similar discretion, happily throwing dresses off in the middle of the room. 

Hermione gave a speculative look in the mirror, tugging a bit at the neckline of her sundress. It fit differently than before, bagging around her waist and chest in an unflattering way, and the straps would not stay in place. 

“I can do alterations to dresses if anyone needs them,” said Fleur, grabbing a book from within her bag, discreetly catching Hermione’s eye. Arachne Salavarrieta’s Little Book of Sewing had a few good spells for altering clothing on the fly. All four of them looked over the text for just the right spells to take in, let out, and shorten dresses. 

Ginny, still underage and unable to do magic, begged them “you’ve got to shorten my skirt once we’re there!”

“Why not have us do it now?” Angelina asked, propping up a magically enlarged hand mirror on the roll top desk.

“I have four older brothers downstairs,” Ginny said with a sour look.

“Why should that matter?”

“One of those gits will take the piss in front of Mum if I look remotely sexy. That is, if Mum doesn’t already notice all on her own. I don’t know! Either way, just help me with the hem at the club, please? I don’t want to be the only one there looking frumpy!”

“From-py?” Fleur asked.

“Unfashionable, old-fashioned, overly modest and drab,” Hermione provided, fairly certain the term had been liberally applied to herself over the years.

“You look far from from-py, but we will help with the skirt,” Fleur assured Ginny. 

“And if any brother gives you shit at the club, we’ll hex them for good measure too,” Angelina added, bringing out a pair of curling tongs and prompting Ginny to sit in front of her.

Hermione pulled at her dress some more, not sure how much to alter it, and not sure if she wanted to bother. A pernicious guilt gnawed at her as she pulled the dress taut to her body. She should be doing something that mattered, not fretting over a dress. She should be in Australia. She hadn’t earned a rest, let alone a ‘fun time out.’ She’d taken no steps forward. She’d not found her parents’  location, she’d not earned money, she’d not even checked to see if her old childhood home was still standing.

“Hermione, is everything alright?” Fleur quietly asked, coming to stand beside her at the long mirror.

Hermione forced a smile onto her face.

“Oh you know me… I’m never sure what to do with fashion and all that. I’m more at ease in a library.”

Fleur gave her a searching look she’d seen before at Shell Cottage. It was a look that sought truth behind idle chit chat. It brought a sisterly sort of comfort that Hermione had not thought Fleur capable of a year ago. She had found the French woman to be condescending and too effortlessly beautiful to warrant any attempt at friendship. The war had given her an appreciation for Fleur, though. They were something akin to friends now.

“I just…” Hermione said in a low voice only Fleur could hear as the wireless yowled another rock anthem. “This feels so silly when there’s so much to do.”

“We’ve earned a bit of silly, do you not think so?”

“You all might have…”

“Hermione,” she said, putting a tentative hand around her shoulder. “You ‘ave done more than most anyone.”

“Since The Battle I’ve done nothing! Everyone is helping rebuild and all I’ve done is sleep! And my parents are still in Australia, and I’ve…I’ve done nothing to get them back.”

“Ron told us of your parents and the memories… Will you be needing any help?”

“No,” Hermione quickly insisted. “No. I just need to make a plan and get them back here. Once I have a plan then it will all be alright.”

“You are meaning to bring them back here in England… To the home you lived in before?” 

Hermione nodded, and saw a look of concern wrinkle Fleur’s otherwise flawless brow. 

“Hermione… Have you been to your home since the war ended?”

Hermione shook her head. “I’m planning on checking on it soon.”

“This is why I asked. You can not do that alone. Many Muggleborn homes were cursed after the war. Some are no longer standing,” said Fleur, her voice ringing with intensity despite the lyric tone.

Hermione was aware that many a Muggleborn home had been razed to the ground, but refused to believe the same could have happened to her childhood home. 

“Even the Burrow needed much curse breaking,” she continued. “We do not know each other well, but I am happy to help you with this.”

“Oh you don’t have to!” Hermione said with a shake of her head.

“Oh poppyrot!” Fleur said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Hermione let out a long breath, her gratitude forcing her to not correct Fleur to the word ‘poppycock.’ “It is my pleasure!” 

“You two alright?” asked Ginny giving the two a sidelong look as Angelina continued to curl her hair.

“We are,” Fleur said, looking to Hermione who confirmed this with a head nod. “Just helping out with fashion. It is a ritual we women do. The girls gather and dress and help one another to look more beautiful, while the men do nothing.”

“Maybe they shower,” Angelina added with a laugh, “but probably not. They never put in half the effort we do!”

“You see? It is the way of it,” Fleur said, giving Hermione a small squeeze and a meaningful look. “I can help whenever you like.”

“Thank you, Fleur…” she said with equal import. When the other girls looked at her with curiosity she continued, “I don’t have any of my usual things like makeup or hair products.”

“I have a ton of stuff in my bag,” Angelina offered. 

“As do I. We girls help one another,” Fleur said, grabbing a comb and some bottles of French products Hermione didn’t recognize. She continued with the faintest whisper, “You can send a message or Patronus to me when you are ready to enter your old home.”

Words failing her, Hermione put a hand on Fleur’s and gave it a small squeeze. Fleur said nothing, but the warm smile she sent in the mirror reassured her that the French woman completely understood.

After an hour of sewing alterations, primping, squealing, and many changes of clothes by each of the ladies, they decided they were almost ready enough to leave. 

“Oh! Jewelry! I forgot about that,” Ginny moaned, looking through her small box of earrings. 

Angelina and Fleur were eager to help her, but Hermione wasn’t sure she could take another debate about fashion. She was grateful for the silly hour she’d gotten to spend with them, though. Despite her hair still being a bit wild and curly, Hermione had to admit she liked how she looked in the mirror. The black sundress fit her perfectly now. She almost looked like she had a figure again. Between the dress and the makeup, and a bit of product from Angelina to keep her hair from frizzing, she looked almost pretty. She felt a touch of excitement flurry in her stomach at the thought of looking nice in front of Ron. It almost made her forget how nervous she was to be out of the safety of the Burrow. She gripped her beaded bag close to her side.

“I’m going to wait with the boys, if that’s alright.”

The girls waved her off as they held different earrings beside Ginny’s face. 

As Hermione stepped into the hallways she immediately ran into a thin, though sturdy, body and let out a small exclamation of alarm. She quickly muffled her sound when she saw it was only Harry.

“Are you all ready to go then?” he asked, craning his neck to catch a glimpse of Ginny behind the closing door.

“We’re almost all ready,” she said with a fond smile. “You know girls, it takes them forever.”

“You’re a girl too, according to Ron at least,” said Harry, giving her a wry grin. Harry was looking rather sharp in Muggle clothes that actually fit, and his hair was looking mysteriously untidy. 

“Did you do something to your hair?”

“What?” he asked, putting a hand to the back of his hair and patting at it. “It doesn’t look bad, does it?”

“No,” she laughed, seeing the panic in his eyes. “Just not as wild as usual.”

“Yeah, well it took like four spells and I think they’re already wearing off.”

She studied his hair and could see one by one little hairs slowly moving into disarray, almost like someone had rubbed an invisible balloon against it. 

“You’re trying to look extra nice for Ginny,” she teased.   He frowned, but a blush began to form around his jaw. “Yeah, well, we’ve never gotten to properly go someplace together, have we? You did the same for Ron, right?”

He had her there. 

“Speaking of, where is he?”

“Downstairs, I think,” he said, hand going to his hair again. “Is it looking bad again?”

“It’s looking more like it usually does, if that’s what you mean.” His face scrunched in disapproval. “Really, it looks fine. Your hair fits you best when you do nothing to it. You look perfectly nice.”

“You too,” he said with a glance at her, before heading towards the bathroom. “Ok, I’m going to try to spell this one more time.”

She knew it was a lost cause, but didn’t have the heart to tell him as he eagerly tried to preen. 

As she reached the bottom steps of the stairs, she could hear the low rumble of men’s voices.

“They’re taking ages,” Charlie sighed. “I don’t see why it takes them so long.”

“Women wear more?” said George. 

“Harry’s hair has taken almost as long,” Lee said with a snort.

Hermione looked around the corner and saw the men all sprawled around the room, shoes up on tables and couch arms in a way they’d never dare if Mrs Weasley were in the room.

While everyone lightheartedly bantered with one another, in the corner sat Ron. His brow was creased as he silently played chess with Lee. He looked haggard, and for the eleventh time that evening, Hermione wished they weren’t going out. She’d much rather spend the evening wrapped in Ron’s arms, as she had that afternoon. 

Her nerves had frayed at the thought of sleeping beside him, worried he would catch her in a nightmare. Silencing spell in place, she had feigned grumpy tiredness when he asked her questions. There had been no need to worry, though. Cuddled up to him she fell asleep as surely as one did on sleeping draughts, and somehow her nightmares were kept entirely at bay. It was the best sleep she’d had in months. The only thing that could have improved it was waking up beside Ron. He’d been gone when she’d woken, with no one knowing where he was. He’d come back from the village looking worn out giving excuses of ‘getting supplies’ which didn’t hold up to real scrutiny, when she thought of the timeline he gave. Ron Weasley was up to something, she just didn’t know what.

As if her thoughts drew him to her, Ron’s eyes rose and met hers.

The furrow in his brow smoothed, his scowling expression softened, and a boyish smile of his tugged at the corner of his mouth. 

“Who’s winning?” she asked, approaching the chess board.

“Ron was, but I think my luck’s about to change,” said Lee, a few of the men joining him in laughter and elbowing Ron, seeing his rather besotted look. Usually he’d turn beet red and curse at them, but his face remained mostly impassive as he met her eyes and smiled. The only sign of his discomfort was his ears going a tiny bit flush.

“Check mate,” said Ron, moving his bishop across the board, and rising from his seat.

“No it’s not, is it?” Lee asked, looking at the board. “Damn!”

Ron gave the lot a two fingered salute and led her from the living room to the kitchen, where his mother was doing some tidying and listening to the radio.

“I wasn’t sure about the dress,” she mumbled. Ron’s eyes traveled down her and she suppressed the urge to readjust her neckline, though she wasn’t sure in what direction.

“Well you look amazing in it,” he said, looking her in the eye and making her stomach do a tsukahara flip. 

“Thank you,” she managed. A pleasurable rush of nerves ran up her spine. Despite looking very tired, he looked handsome. He was wearing an untucked dress shirt she’d not seen before, with the sleeves rolled up his arms in a way that made the nerves in her spine turn to jolts. Given the darker color scheme of it, she assumed it was a hand-me-down from Bill. She quickly realized all of him was looking rather polished, with the exception of his beat up boots. She wasn’t sure what to say to him. He was so sensitive about clothes, and the last thing she wanted was to cause additional stress on him, but she also knew he was a bit insecure and it might be nice to compliment his appearance.

“So how long until the rest of the girls are ready?” he asked. 

Well there went that opportunity.

“Soon, I think. They just had to pick out earrings for Ginny,” she said looking up into face. His eyes looked so weary. “Are you doing well?”

“Course,” he grunted, immediately turning from her. “Mum, do you need help with that?”

Mrs Weasley turned from the dishes and assured him she didn’t. Despite the assurance, he started putting dishes in the cabinets. He didn’t spare her another look, not when the rest of the girls came down the stairs some ten minutes later, and not when they gathered on the edge of the property.

“Before we go,” George announced, beginning to hand each of them a playing card, “here is a Muggle I.D. for each of you.”

“Why do we need an I.D?” Ginny asked, inspecting the playing card in the waning light of the sunset.

“Because they check to see if you’re old enough to drink at clubs and such and can’t just put up an age line,” answered Bill.

“Why didn’t you transfigure these already?” asked Hermione, looking at her playing card, the Queen of Clubs.

“I’d have to know what Muggle I.D.s look like to do that. This just has a spell to register as an I.D. to Muggles. Pretty clever, if I do say so,” George said, smiling to them all as he finished handing out the cards. “Getting the dates right was tricky. Just make sure you say your birthday was in 79 or earlier. The card will match up with whatever date you say.”

“Where are we apparating to, George?” asked Angelina.

“My hotel room’ll do,” he answered.

Hermione felt Ron unexpectedly stiffen beside her. 

“Everyone but Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Fleur knows where to go. So you all can pair up and side-along there. Here, Gin, come with me,” said George, waving Ginny over.

Ron made as if to grab Ginny back, but George had quickly disappeared with her. One by one they all disapparated, leaving her and a distracted Ron staring at the space George had just occupied.

Ron licked his dry lips and scrunched his brow in determination. “Right… Okay then, I guess we better go.”

“We don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” she said, gently putting her hand in his. “We could just stay in, you and me.”

His shoulders slumped. “Merlin, I wish I could take you up on that.”

“Why don’t you?” she said, giving his hand a squeeze. “I’ve been dreading going out.”

“You too?”  “I packed and repacked my bag, just in case,” she said, giving the beaded bag a small shake that made its contents give a crash. “Damn. That’s probably the books again. I really need to find a way to make things stay in place!” 

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” he said with a fond look on his face. “But we should go. It’ll be good to get out, plus with G— nevermind.”

“Plus what?”

“Look, I really want to tell you, but I’m just not up for it all right now.” Her face must have given away how frustrating she found that. “I will, I swear I will! Just not tonight. Let’s just— let’s just pretend we’re okay and go out and try to enjoy ourselves.”

It went against every instinct in her body to agree to wait to know something, but she nodded her acquiescence.   His large hand moved to her back and the tight feeling of being compressed overtook her as he Apparated them to George’s hotel room.

In moments they reached their destination and the feeling of her breath being stolen didn’t stop, for Ron’s fingers grazed her side as he took a pace back from her. 

When they arrived they received a good amount of teasing for taking their time to arrive, heavily implying the two had been snogging. Neither teen corrected them. As everyone made small talk, Ron was completely silent and looked about the room with seeming purpose. He had shown immense concern about George right before they left, had that intense conversation with him earlier, and she had to admit George smelt like a bar when he arrived and looked like he might have been sleeping on the floor of one. She had no idea what Ron was looking for, except perhaps empty bottles. The room was sparse, and only a tray of food, and a small bag in the corner showing any signs someone had been living there. 

No one seemed to notice his actions except George who fixed him with a glare when no one was looking. Ron looked far from sheepish, and instead stood tall and locked eyes with his brother.

“Let’s get going. It’s just a few streets over,” George announced to the room, looking away from Ron.

Nerves shook Hermione as they travelled down the grimy London street. It did not look much different from Tottenham Court Road. The last time she had been near this part of London they’d ducked into a grotty cafe and been cornered by a pair of Death Eaters.

At least then it had been a less obtrusive group, with only her, Ron and Harry. Now they were a large boisterous group with so many redheads they stood out like a flock of goldfinches. Most of them were loudly talking or laughing, and many a passerby smirked at the boisterous group. If someone wanted to target them, they’d be all too easy to spot. She gripped her beaded bag so harshly one of her nails chipped. 

Thankfully George was quite correct about the distance being short. In minutes they arrived at a large dark building with music dimly pulsing through its walls and a line to get in. 

A large barrel-chested man with the thickest neck Hermione had ever seen stood at the door. The eldest Weasleys along with Lee and Angelina were let through with barely a glance at their playing cards, but as soon as he spotted the younger members of the group the bouncer began to look like an agitated bulldog. 

He eyed Ron and Hermione’s cards closely, but gave a much more scrutinizing look towards Ginny and Harry as they handed their playing cards to him. He held a small flashlight to the Jack of Spades and Queen of Spades, and even ran a fingernail along the edge. 

“What’s your birthday?”

“1979!” Harry offered, before wincing at his volume. Ron let out a chuckle, while Ginny rolled her eyes. The man’s glare intensified. “Er… July 31st 1979, that is.”

“Hmm… And you?” growled the Bouncer, sourly looking to Ginny.

“Tonight’s my birthday, actually!” she said with a winning smile. Hermione nearly protested, but Ron gave a small shake of his head. 

“Ah, happy birthday!” said the man nodding at the card before handing it back to her, looking much less ornery. “Let Teresa know about it, and they’ll do ya something special.”

“Your birthday, huh?” Harry asked Ginny as soon as they were through the door.

“Much easier to have a good time and get some free drinks that way, isn’t it?” she said, giving a conspiratorial grin he shared.

“But it’s not your birthday!” Hermione protested, irritation prickling down her neck.

“I’m not eighteen either,” Ginny breezily pointed out. 

“Well you’re lucky the card was able to adapt to that when you hadn’t said an actual date,” Hermione persisted. She clutched her beaded bag closer to her chest. “We don’t want to stand out.”

“Why not? It’s a Muggle club. It should be fun.”

“Well, it might be a Muggle club, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely safe.”

“You worry too much,” she said in an infuriatingly calm and understanding voice.

“No! We have to make sure we stay low profile and don’t say anything wrong, because all it takes is one wrong word and then everything falls apart!”

Harry looked to the ground, his eyebrows knitting together. He had to be thinking of the Taboo and the Snatchers as well.

“It’s just a bit of fun, Hermione. We’ll be okay,” said Ginny with a smile, looking around to spot the rest of their group, taking Harry by the hand towards a corner table. “Ah there they are!”

Hermione had never felt more like shaking her friend. Didn’t she understand how dire things were? They’d met Death Eaters at a Muggle cafe in London last August, and Fenrir and those Snatchers in the woods. All it took was one small mistake and then hell would rain down on them; they could end up beaten or cursed or stabbed in the chest.   “Hermione…” she heard Ron’s voice quiet and low in her ear. “There isn’t a Taboo anymore…”

“You don’t know that!” she almost shouted at him, painfully gripping her beaded bag. 

One of his large hands gently started unwinding her fingers from the bag, before taking it from her and putting it in his jacket pocket. He started massaging her fingers. Under the pink and orange lights she could just make out the imprint the bag had left on her hands.

“I can feel the Taboo’s broken, and I bet you can too if you concentrate on it,” he said, continuing to work her hands until they became limp in his. “But if you want to leave and go back to the Burrow, we can right now.”

His quiet earnest words brought her eyes up to his. He saw right through her. He didn’t give her empty platitudes. He gave her a common sense answer to why things would be different, and an out if she was uncomfortable. She felt the overwhelming need to kiss him, and despite the crowd she decided to indulge herself. She stood on her tiptoes, and he took her lead leaning down to brush his lips against hers, hands still holding hers. How had they had so many years together without kissing? 

For years she’d had to sit near him, with careful scrutinization over every action and inch between them. Was sitting too close to her friend? Would her leg pressing to his be too much? Would he notice how her eyes were fixated on his mouth a good three minutes as he grinned and told her about the mad thing he’d seen earlier that day? Did his hand around her shoulder linger longer than a friend’s hand would? When he’d tiredly leaned his head into her, had it meant something to him?

Now she could kiss him whenever she liked, and melt into his strong form, and let her hands be caressed, and get the anticipation of more ring through her body, and know it might be fulfilled later. The only thing she struggled to hold back was blurting out how very much she loved everything about him.

“Alright?” he asked as their lips parted. 

She nodded, biting her bottom lip to keep herself from saying ‘I love you and actually yes I’d like to go home, but only because I want to snog you until both of us can barely breathe.’

“Ready to have ‘a bit of fun?’”

“I think I can manage,” she said with a smile. As long as he was by her side something akin to enjoyment of the evening could happen.

They went to a back table that didn’t nearly have enough seating for them all. This didn’t seem to matter as half of them strategically placed their jackets and purses so strangers would know it was occupied, while the others went to the bar to get drinks for everyone. Their table butted nearly up to the bar, and Ron perched on one of its stools. 

“Do you want something to drink?” Hermione asked, looking at a menu. 

He shook his head. “Someone needs to stay sober. Might as well be me.” He took the menu from her and eagerly pointed to it. “But I could do with these fried cheese things!”

She got in line, ready to order and pay when George stepped in. “Put your cash away. You’re not buying a thing, tonight! We’re here to celebrate you three, after all!”

Grateful not to have to spend the meager amount of cash she had, she put in her order for Ron’s food, and her wine. She’d never drunk much in her life, but she experienced the occasional wine with her parents.

She had worried the evening would be tedious, but seeing everyone looking giddy, toasting one another, and even dancing made her rethink the evening. 

Ron had kept a close eye on George, but his brother was looking at ease and jubilant surrounded by family and friends. Hermione enjoyed the warming tang of red wine as they chatted away and seemed more relaxed than they’d been in years. The wine soothed her nerves as well.

“Was your skirt that short when we left?” George asked Ginny after she did a twirl to the music that accidentally flashed a cheek of her knickers.

“Yes it was,” she coolly answered. “And even if it wasn’t, there’s nothing you’re going to do about it, is there?” 

Harry, already looking sloshed, looked down at Ginny’s legs, his mouth slightly open.

Ron gave a chuckle before flicking his friend’s ear. 

“Righ’, sorry,” Harry said with a nod. Despite all the spells he’d done on his hair, it had reverted to its normal disheveled state.

“Let’s dance!” Ginny said, grabbing Harry’s hand. If it weren’t for the few rounds of shots, Hermione didn’t think they’d be able to get him on to the dance floor, but in his current state he happily followed his girlfriend to the bright lights and thumping music. This seemed an adorable prospect until they actually saw him dance.

“Oh shit… Someone needs to hit him with a stunner or something,” Ron laughed, as Hermione leaned back into him. 

Harry had no sense of rhythm at all, and his stiff-armed movements made many people wince. Ginny didn’t seem to care, and was happily dancing beside him. Her effervescence seemed to drown out Harry’s sad attempts at movement.

Ron guffawed, and shook his head in amusement. Seated on a bar stool, he was only a half a foot taller than Hermione, which made for much more convenient kisses with no tiptoes needed. She had finished her second glass of wine and had a hot pleasant sensation buzzing through her. She put her head back and closed her eyes, feeling the vibration of his deep laugh and the music thrumming. 

“Hmm… Y’should dance with me,” she murmured, though she made no move towards the dance floor. Instead she rubbed her hands down his legs that were on either side of her. The lights on the dancefloor shifted to green for a moment, and the cozy peace felt strangled. She glanced up to Ron, and thought of the one thing that really made her feel nothing but warmth. “You should snog me.”

He chuckled a bit, and she felt the back of his fingers graze her cheek. 

“Dance or snog— Whichever you want,” he replied in her ear. “Though it seems you’re going a bit legless for dancing.”

“I am not!” she protested, pushing herself off of him and nearly stumbling. She stood very tall and made firm eye contact. “I am far from inebriated and do not like the implication that I am inebredated!”

“You mean inebriated?”

“That’s what I just said!” she said, grabbing his hand. “C’mon, let’s dance!”

He gave a shake of his head, but followed her onto the dance floor, where most of their group were dancing. Despite the yellow and orange lights, they were a vibrant group that stood out. Hermione couldn’t think why she’d been worried about it, though! And Ron was actually a very good dancer. She’d discovered this at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, and was happy nothing had changed. He had a grand sense of rhythm and the way he held her close and moved about with her made her feel like one of those ladies from an old musical. Roger Gingers? No, that wasn’t it… 

“You make me feel like a lady!” she shouted over the music. “I mean, a lady from a musical that dances and such! Y’know? Like with Astaire and all those old ones in the movies?” 

Ron gave a nod, and she nodded along happy he knew the reference. Yes! He and she were meant for one another. He knew what she meant when she said things. Oh no, that couldn’t be right. Fred Astaire was a Muggle! There was no way he knew that reference!

“Wait! You don’t know who Astaire is!”

“Nope,” he replied, an amused grin making his dimple appear. 

“Then why did you nod along?”

“You’re supposed to smile and nod at drunk people and irate girlfriends— and you’re the best of both!”

She laughed as he spun her around. She could do this forever! Just spin and spin, his hands on her, the bright lights bringing out odd colors in his hair, his warm smile, the invigorating feeling of just being alive...

“You dance as well as you snog!” she yelled, right as the song stopped, making many on the dance floor snigger, but she didn’t care. It was true. And he was hers, not anyone else's, and she got to snog him whenever she wanted. “Let’s get another drink!”

She bounded to the bar, and added another wine to the tab George had started. 

“I think you might’ve had enough,” said Ron, sidling up beside her.

“Then you drink it!” she said, holding up the wine before taking a sip. He gently took the wine glass from her, and put it on the bar.

“Ever since I drank that poisoned mead, I’m not much for drinks from people I don’t know.”

“I just drank from it, though, so you know it’s safe,” she said, holding her hair up and away from her too hot neck. 

“And I need to be sober so someone can get us all home at the end of the evening.”

That was a very good point. “You should snog me in the club’s bathroom,” she countered. 

“That is very very tempting,” he said leaning in and giving her a peck on the nose. “When you aren’t sloshing about I might take you up on that.”

“M’not!” she said, grabbing her wine glass. 

“Another round?” George asked, holding out a tray of shots. “For the trio! And the birthday girl!”

“Oh yes, let’s drink to my birthday!” Ginny crowed, grabbing what was at least her shot glass. There was a quick clearing of a throat from behind her from Bill. “Oh come oooon! Can’t I have some fun?”

“You can have plenty of fun. Just might want to be able to remember it tomorrow.”

“Don’t be mummish!” she replied, downing her drink.

Harry tittered at this, and she put a hand over his shot glass before he could get it to his lips. “You might want to hold back.”

“Mummish,” Harry laughed, with a shake of his shaggy head. 

“How much has he had?” Charlie asked.

“A couple of shots and a beer,” said Lee with a shake of his head. “Complete and utter lightweight.”

“I want another shot,” Harry protested.

“Sorry, sloppy, leave this to the professionals,” George said, downing it before Harry could stop him. Hermione caught a grim look pass between Ron and Bill, but dismissed it as a good song came on and the other girls dragged them all onto the dance floor.

The party continued until Ron insisted they take a water break. Hermione slide into the booth next to him, wobbling only slightly, yet she gladly snuggled into him.

There was a gauzy blur to everything, with only the center of her vision having much clarity. It was nice. Her blurred cameo-vision settled on Ron. He was very handsome. And tall! 

She told him so.

“Thanks,” he said, not seeming to take her seriously.

“I mean it, though! You’re almost pretty,” she said with a firm nod. “I’ve always thought so. You have the bluest eyes… They’re so… Blue! And I love your hands. They feel nice too.”

“Uh huh…” he said with a smile. “I think we best get you home soon… Here, have some water.”

“I don’t want water, I want more wine,” she said, taking the water and drinking it. “But I do mean it. You’re very good looking. And you have a cute bum! I haven’t told you that, but I should. I should tell you these things! I mean to, but I wait too long, and then I can’t tell you. Like with your clothes tonight! You look extra dishy and I can’t tell you because I don’t want you to think I’m not nice about clothes to you, ya know?”

“Well in that case, thank you?” he said, pouring her some more water that she angrily sipped at. 

He’d taken off his jacket and rolled his sleeves up again at one point. She trailed a finger along a brain-scar on his forearm.  She liked that. There was something about it that made her squirm in a good way.

“I like your arms…  But to my point!!” she said, sitting up straight and poking him in the chest. “There’so much I can’t tell you! I’m the best secret keeper in the world. It’s like… It’s like my words are Fidelius charmed! And I don’t know how to tell you the secret! I want to, of course, but if I did and you didn’t say you love me back then I’d be so upset, and so I don’t say anything!”

She closed her eyes and leaned into his chest.

“You make it hard to not say things when you’re so pretty and good. You’re so good, Ron Weasley. I want to… I want to bottle you up and marry you and be the only one to touch your bum.”

His chuckle pleasantly hummed through her. He braced her against him a bit then kissed her forehead. 

“I want that too,” he said, almost so quietly it couldn’t be heard over the music. She felt him stir beneath her head and let out a huff. “What?”

She cracked open an eye to see Harry gormlessly staring at them.

“I’m so glad you didn’t die. You’re like… the most important people in my life and I love you both so much,” said Harry, pointing to somewhere a foot or so to the left of them.

“No more alcohol for you, Harry,” said Ron, making Hermione sit up. 

“I mean it!” Harry belligerently stated. 

“We love you too, Harry,” said Hermione, putting a hand on him. “You’re like a brother to me! If I had brothers. I don’t. But if I did, you’d be my little brother.”

“You’re like an older sister that I love like a sister. And we’re both not dead,” Harry said with a nod. 

“Merlin’s balls. We’ve got to get out of here,” Ron muttered, grabbing a glass of water and thrusting it into Harry’s hand. “Chug that and try not to be such a melancholy arsewipe, yeah?”

“I can’t help it. I had a bad childhood until I met you and Hagrid…” Harry said, looking so sad Hermione wanted to cry. 

“You did! Ron, he DID have a bad childhood!”

“Yep, I’m aware,” said Ron with a sigh getting up. “Harry, where’d you put your glasses and jacket?”

He gave a sad shrug. “I don’t have a family. I don’t even have glasses now.”

Hermione nodded. “He can’t SEE, Ron.”

“I’m legally blind.”

“He’s blind, Ron!”

“Oh my GOD! I’m going to find the glasses!” Ron exploded, a hand going to his hair. “I’m getting bloody tired of dealing with drunks, you know that?”

“But he’s blind, Ron.”

With a wild gesture of frustration he started looking around the various points in the bar Harry had been to. Harry murmured about a lot of sad things, and Hermione told him about Ron’s bum which made him snigger. She leaned her head against the back of the booth, closing her eyes for just a moment. 

She heard Charlie, Bill and Fleur bowed out for the evening, citing business they had to do the next day. Bill pulled Ron aside for a moment. She could just make out the low voiced words of ‘George,’ ‘rest’ and ‘bail’ beside her. She cracked open an eye and saw them both glancing at George, who was still bouncing on the dance floor with Lee and Angelina. Hermione listened to hear more, but the thrum of music drowned them out. 

Hermione woke up an indeterminate amount of time later lying in their booth, head curled up on a conjured pillow and Ron’s large jacket draped over her.

She blearily rose and blinked to see Harry finish a shot beside her.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to be drinking anymore,” she managed to rasp even though her tongue stuck to the top of her mouth. She smacked her lips and looked for some water. The nearest pitcher seemed miles away even though it was a mere few feet.

“Y’were sleeping in the booth and there’s was noone to stop me,” said Harry with a triumphant smile that morphed into an unpleasant low belch.

“How long have I been asleep?” Her head was aching. She should have drunk more water.

“Mmm… An hour or so?”

“Where’s Ron?”

“He tucked you in,” Harry answered. She warmed at the thought of giant Ron hunching over to tenderly make her comfortable.

 Harry put his chin on his hand and stared at her. “He fancies you.”

“Well I quite fancy him as well.”

“You fancy him,” he said with a sloppy dismissive hand, “but not like he does you. He’s all…” A series of soft pats rained down on her head. “And you’re all…” He pointed a finger at her face, nearly poking her in the eye. “Ya know?”

“Oh well that makes sense,” she humored him. “Where are your glasses? Didn’t Ron go to fetch them ages ago?”

“Search me…” he said, putting his head on the table before slurring. “I need a nap…”

Ginny, Lee and Angelina came panting off the dancefloor.

“Where’s George?” asked Angelina, gulping down some water and making a loud noise of satisfaction when she’d finished.

“Wasn’t he with you?”

No one knew where George or Ron were. They were about to start searching when there was the sound of a mic turning on, and the DJ announced, “and now one of our guests wants to make an announcement.” 

There was a horrid feedback noise and a scuffle, but then a familiar voice began to ring through the crowd.

“Hello everyone!” said George into the mic. 

“Oh God, who let him have a microphone?” said Angelina, shaking her head.

“I’m George and I’m here to celebrate my little sister’s birthday! So everyone, say cheers to her!”

Many of the crowd raised their glasses and Ginny was happy to wave to them and give a small bow. Hermione spotted that she was wearing Harry’s glasses on top of her head. She turned to point this out to Harry but he was letting out a series of small snores.

“Also we’re here to celebrate my brother Ronnie, and his two best friends. I can’t tell you what they did, but they are being honored for their services and it’s pretty impressive shit, so cheers to them!” The crowd cheered again. “That’s right. He’s very impressive. Didn’t think he would be, but here we are! Didn’t think he’d make it out of a war alive, but he did. Not a fucking scratch on him, ‘cept some missing fingernails.”

Hermione looked for Ron, and found him standing to the side of the DJ booth. He looked like he was saying something, and George’s face went dark and surly. “No, I don’t feel like going home.”

“Get off the mic!” someone from the crowd hollered, and few people let out a resounding ‘woo’ in agreement.

“Yes, thank you for your support!” George said with a wave. “What was I talking about? Oh yes! The war! My other brothers all made it ok, but I lost an ear, and then my twin brother got fucking killed by a bloody wall. How stupid a way is that to go?”

The DJ tried to get George to hand over the mic, but he was belligerently holding it low and crowding the DJ out. Ron looked like he was saying something. He put a hand on George’s shoulder that was violently shrugged off, prompting Angelina and Lee to run over to intervene.

Hermione didn’t want to crowd them and was fairly certain she couldn’t get there fast enough to help anyways. Ginny had a hand to her mouth. 

“None of you know how much we sacrificed to keep you all safe, you know that? On the run all the time, nearly dying every day, and you lot just went about your lives having no fucking clue. People died. My brother is DEAD! And you’re all having a bloody good time, but he’s dead and everything is fucking ruined and—”

The thick-necked bouncer moved in and started pointing a beefy hand in George’s face.

“George, don’t!” came Ron’s holler, just barely picked up by the mic.

Hermione heard a chorus of yells beside her as, in front of the entire Muggle club, George whipped out his wand and brandished it at the bouncer.

“Take another step and I’ll drop you,” he snarled.

Hermione gave a yell of her own as Ron put up his hands and stood in front of George’s sparking wand.

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

Chapter 5 Author’s Note- 

Chapter 6 is already written and in the editing process.

I actually split Chapter 5 into two parts as it was epically long. So next chapter will be from Hermione's POV

oh, and it will have some smut

and angst

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

Giant thank you to:

@abradystrix​ and @divagonzo​ for betaing and being so supportive and wonderful.

CHAPTER WARNINGS:

cursing, depresssed/anxious thinking, talk about eating & weight gain/loss, evidence of PTSD, drinking and drunkeness, threats

Previously, in 'Waking Up'

Hermione is on edge about her parents and is having trouble with anxiety in general- also worried about Ron not saying 'I love you' yet

Ron was exhausted from tending to George the night before- he's running on fumes- and is devastated that Hermione doesn't seem to care for Harry joining the Aurors- He fills out paperwork and gets sick with anxiety

Needs a quill and sees Hermione needs money for Australia

Goes to the village to get a job- gets lost in dark memories

Comes home to everyone giving cheers to him and the trio for Order of Merlins and Auror offers

They're all gonna go out to celebrate

[chudleycanonficfest]

the hippogriffs and the flobberworms

Day 23, Post #2 by @accio-broom

Title: the hippogriffs and the flobberworms Author/Artist: accio-broom Pairing: Arthur & Ron Weasley (platonic) Prompt: slice of life Rating: T Trigger Warning(s) (if any): Mentions of sex lives and STDs, very cringe-worthy.

Arthur whistles as he roams the ground floor of the Burrow, searching for his youngest son. Ron’s best friend Hermione is due to arrive any day, ready to spend the latter part of the summer holiday with the Weasleys, but there are some things Arthur needs to speak to Ronald about before Miss Granger joins them.

He’s probably left this conversation a little late—Ron turned fourteen a few months ago—but this is the first time the youngest has shown any interest in the opposite sex. With the rather exciting activities coming up for their fourth school year, including a ball, it’s only inevitable that different feelings will start to stir.

Chuckling, Arthur reminisces about the conversations with his other sons. Bill, always cool as a frost salamander, kept his focus on his old Dad without any outward discomfort, even though Arthur made a complete mess as he told Bill about the facts of life. All of Arthur’s words came out in a massive jumble—he couldn’t even use the correct terms for various body parts and used all the wrong euphemisms. Arthur had been trying so hard to be a cool dad that he got himself far too worked up to make any sense. 

His second son, Charlie, was dismissive and didn’t seem interested in the mechanics of making love, which was disappointing given the amount of time Arthur had spent rehearsing, determined to get it right that time. Percy approached the conversation with logic and appropriate questions, discussing it as he would an important Ministry policy before thanking his dad then leaving the room without a backwards glance. In stark contrast, the twins cracked inappropriate jokes and turned the tables on Arthur, making him feel awkward as innuendo after innuendo spewed from their mouths.

Ron will be Arthur’s last chance to do “the talk”. Molly is responsible for dealing with Ginny, and they’ve probably already started. He doesn’t baulk at the female aspect of puberty, having lived with a woman for almost twenty-five years, he’s well versed in the potions and muggle contraptions they need to use, but he thought it only fair that Molly gets a go of this, too. It’s one of the essential parts of being a parent, after all. 

Although Arthur is well-seasoned in explaining the facts of life without going overboard with the detail or using cringe-worthy phrases now (although the twins did teach him a few new idioms), he has decided to step away from the ‘cool’ dad persona and go full-on over the top this time. 

He could make this easy for Ron, but why would Arthur want to spoil his own fun?

A flash of red hair leaving the broom shed catches his attention out of the kitchen window, and Arthur’s grin widens. It’s a beautiful day, the sun is shining, but there is a light breeze, keeping the air fresh and cool. It’s the sort of day that would lead to him fishing in the lake at the bottom of the garden, but he has a task at hand that he needs to deal with first. 

Maybe there’ll be time for him to get his rod out later.

Pouring two glasses of lemonade from the jug Molly has left on the side, Arthur uses a cooling charm on them then steps out from the backdoor and onto the patio. 

“Ron,” he calls, smiling as his son turns his head around faster than a niffler chasing gold, looking like Arthur has caught Ron doing something that he shouldn’t. Probably skiving from the long list of chores Molly gave him this morning. “Come up and have a chat with your old Dad.”

Arthur eases himself into the bench under the wisteria with a groan. Although he isn’t all that old, having seven children and living through a war takes its toll on a guy’s body. Now, every joint clicks and complains every time he moves. Forget getting somewhere in a hurry; slow and steady is now the way to go.

Ron settles in the seat next to him. 

“What’s up, Dad?” he asks, smiling at Arthur. He takes the offered drink, gulping almost half of it in one go before letting out a loud, satisfied sigh.

“Hermione is coming to stay with us before we go to the World Cup, I hear? But not Harry?”

Ears turning pink, Ron turns his head to look out at the garden. “Y-yeah. We’re going to collect Harry in a few days, remember?”

“Oh, yes. I’m very excited to be visiting the Muggles. Will they tell me about eckeltricity? Should I take my battery collection?”

Ron laughs. “I don’t think the Dursleys will be too impressed with batteries, Dad. They use them every day.”

“Shame.” Arthur sighs, then turns his eyes to gaze the same way as Ron’s. “So, Hermione is a girl.”

“Er, yes, I guess so.”

“A girl you’re attracted to?” Arthur glances at Ron, whose face has turned as white as a ghost.

Ron reacts with a knee-jerk response, but the look on his face indicates that he’s not telling the whole truth. “No!”

“Are you sure? You and her have gotten close lately. Mum and I like her.” Arthur waits a moment for Ron to take back his first response, then tuts when he stays quiet. “Well, I’m sure you’ll find someone you do like soon. Anyway, as you already know, she’ll be staying in Ginny’s room with your sister, and I’m sure you’re clear on the rules of the house. Your Mum does not want any sneaking around or late-night visits.”

Arthur doesn’t hold the same views as his wife. Sure, he doesn’t want the kids to be sleeping in each other’s beds, but he remembers the conversations he and his friends had during the early hours of the morning when he was their age. If the children wanted to get up to something, Arthur would rather it happen under their roof where they’re safe than have them take unnecessary risks. He and Molly were young once, too, although it feels like a lifetime ago now.

“I know, Dad.”

“Good. And so you know, if you ever find yourself feeling conflicted or wanting some advice on how to ask a lady out, you can always come to me. Because being a teenage lad is a very confusing time, and the magic will heighten this, as well as the fact that you live in proximity to some charming young women. You might not feel it right now, but you’re on the precipice of being a man. Your voice has started breaking. Sure, it’s a little later than the others, but I’m sure that’s nothing to worry about. Everyone develops at their own pace, after all. Pretty soon, you’ll have hairs sprouting all over the place, even in places you wouldn’t expect it. I can’t remember when all of this started happening for me, but it was around your age. And don’t get me started on the wet dreams…”

“Merlin,” Ron sighs, now squirming in his seat, trying to make himself as small as possible. When Arthur checks again, his youngest is looking into the depths of his glass as if considering whether he could drown himself in there.

“Sex is healthy, son, especially if it’s with someone that you admire and love, whether that be a girl or a boy, Your mum and I don’t mind as long as you’re happy. And if you find the right person, then it can be amazing.”

A low groan emits from Ron’s mouth as he pushes himself further down the bench, attempting to put some distance between him and Arthur. 

“Please stop talking,” he pleads with bright red cheeks.

“Having a good sex life is nothing to be ashamed of, let me tell you. The seven of you weren’t delivered by the hippogriffs, after all. Not that we only have sex to procreate. Having you kids out of the house has done wonders for our love life. 

“While we’re on the subject, if you can’t get a partner, then there’s nothing wrong with taking matters into your own hand. Masturbation is very beneficial, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. It’s important to explore your own body and learn the kind of things you like so that you can recreate those moments with a partner. I can tell you some useful charms if you need them—ones for when you’re with someone, and others for when you’re alone. Of course, there are some spells that are vital for you to learn. Safety is sexy, and you don’t want any little accidents happening.”

Ron runs his hand over his face as if trying to erase his dismay. “Dad. Please stop. I know all of this already. Not that I wa-I mean, do that sort of stuff.” 

He crosses his legs with a gulp, and Arthur feels a rush of joy. He’s succeeded in making his youngest son feel as awkward as possible. You have to take delight in the smallest of moments, especially the older you get. 

“Who told you?”

“I have five brothers and live in a dorm with four other boys. Also, Flitwick taught us the contraceptive charm last year.” Ron is still focused on his glass, looking like he wants to be a million miles away.

“Oh, right. ”

An irrational surge of disappointment crashes over Arthur. He should have realised that kids are far more advanced and talk much more than they did in his day. He should have bit the bludger earlier and nabbed him last summer.

“Well,” Arthur continues anyway, determined to see this through, “contraceptive charms aren’t the only things you need to learn. You need to ensure you protect yourself from Sexually Transmitted Diseases, or STDs, as well. Some of these can make you a little itchy, but others can be dangerous. You should go and see Madam Pomfrey if you think you might have one. Of course, you could always get some muggle con-domes. Fantastic little invention they are. Rather than trying to remember a load of different spells while you’re in the heat of passion, you can whack on a rubber and get to it.”

He doesn’t allow Ron’s small squeak to put him off his speech, now he’s in full flow again. “Talking about getting to it. Consent is important. When you decide to take that step, or even before when you snog someone, you need to make sure they want to do it too. Every step of the way. If they say no, you stop right away, even if they said yes only a minute previously. You must understand that. Never force yourself on someone, especially if they are drunk or otherwise intoxicated. If they can’t say yes, it’s a no-go. Got it?”

“I-I d-do,” Ron stutters, his voice strained under the embarrassment of the situation. “C-Can I go now?”

“Yes, yes, of course. But don’t forget that I’m here if you need anything, son. Even if you think it might get you into trouble. And look after Hermione, even if your feelings for her are only platonic. I admire the way you, her and Harry have formed a little group. The three of you are good for each other.”

Arthur reclines on the bench and closes his eyes, letting out a sigh as the sun warms his face. There’s no point getting one’s wand in a knot over spilt potion. He still managed to get Ron squirming like a flobberworm, so it was mostly a successful mission.

The bench shifts as Ron rises to his feet. He finishes his drink with a gulp and sets the glass down on the floor before shuffling away.

“Dad?” a small voice asks.

When Arthur opens his eyes, he spots Ron towering over him. When did he get so lanky? Ron is going to be the tallest of the family, for sure. There’s a smile on his face, though he still can’t meet his Dad’s gaze.

“Yeah, Son?” Arthur asks, shielding his eyes from the sun.

“Thanks for trying.”

Ron shrugs, then wanders back down the garden, his gangly frame hunched over. Arthur marvels at Ron’s response. You think you fully understand your children, and then they do something that knocks you off your broom. But Ron is a decent lad, and Arthur knows he will go far, like the rest of them.

With a happy sigh, he leans back and closes his eyes again. He’s done an okay job at this parenting thing. As long as none of them gets arrested or tries to break into Gringotts, he can die a happy man.