#and so i know how to ride them for like...transportation reasons

[a-memory-a-distant-echo]

i know that it's at partly just that i do not generally post when i ride, but fang duobing, bounciest boy on the screen at all times, posting incredibly dramatically, is very funny and charming to me. he really wakes up and is like 'fuck yeah, every day is leg day, work them thighs!'

like, sir. please. you're gonna die. how far are you riding. how can you possibly sustain that, you cannot, it is impossible. how will you walk when you get off that horse. your thighs will be of steel, by which i mean utterly incapable of moving.

[h2llish]

i've been following your blog for a while and absolutely adore your writing!

if its okay i'd love to see something with either leona or jamil (up to you!) and a reader who falls asleep on their shoulder during some sort of nrc road trip.. i'm not sure if nrc would have buses per say considering all the magic and stuff but the concept of an nrc school trip seems super interesting to me so if you're up for the request by all means just have fun with it!! i do notice that your requests are semi open so feel free to decline ofc !

— ☁️

⁀➷ ˖ ROAD TRIP DROWSINESS

notes ─── hi anon! i’m so happy you like my writing! i don't think they'd have buses at nrc because of the mirror, but crowley would probably spring a sudden road trip on them which would just confuse the students, because why? (i also imagine their bus would probably be a bit fancier? idk how to explain it but nothing like the busses i'm used to.)

LEONA KINGSCHOLAR ─── a wave of drowsiness leads you to find comfort on his shoulder ♡ fluff, gender neutral, can be read platonic or romantic, not proofread

transportation for students at nrc was not hard, all they had to do was enter the dark mirror and then they found themselves safely at their destination. so if it was that easy, why in the world was the headmage so adamant that they boarded this bus like they were kids back in middle school? ─ a road trip was his very (might many students say stupid) answer.

the only person who seemed to not have a problem with this sudden turn of events, was the magicless prefect from ramshackle. you didn't give any complaints or groan about using the easy way to get to the destination. you just nodded when the headmage announced the decision.

students were chosen at random, names drawn from a hat (a method the headmage seemed to rely on often).  and as the prefect, and the designated scapegoat for everything crowley did, you were of course among that group, with your dire beast other half. 

“i don't get it,” grim frowned, sitting on your shoulder as you approached the bus, where many familiar faces waited to board. “why can't we just use the mirror?”

ace was walking alongside you, being one of the people drawn to join the group. he had decided to met you at ramshackle, knowing you would inevitably have to board the bus as well. “i think the headmage called it some sort of bonding experience. don't know how a hours-long road will be a bonding experience.”

grim grumbled, turning his head to look at your face. you have yet to say anything to add to the conversation. “whaddya’ think, [name]?”

“what?” you blinked, sending a glance to the dire beast before looking ahead of you once more. “what do i think about what?”

“were you even listening to anything we just said?” ace sighed. 

you hummed, “i’ve learned to tune you guys out the moment you start speaking.” ─ and then you were wincing as the two of them shouted, leaning your head away from the monster as he and ace expressed how offended they were.

you sighed, this was going to be a long ride.

and right you were. 

things were okay (as okay as a group of irritable teenage boys with magic on a bus could be) during the first hour. but as the first hour turned to half, and you found yourself growing drowsy, you attempted to doze off, at least for a good twenty minutes. you were unsuccessful, as the moment you closed your eyes, you were quickly opening them to glance at a yelling grim.

epel and sebek, also being among the names drawn, were sitting next to you. epel and grim looked ready to pounce on an unnamed student who seemed to have picked a fight with them. ace didn't do much to stop the argument, in fact, he was actively encouraging it. and sebek, while he made an attempt to hold back a seething grim, was not of much help either. 

you sighed, but made no move to stop it ─ you expected something to happen eventually, and you weren't all that up to being the “reasonable” one of the group. you aren't sure what the argument was about, but neither did you care. if grim got in trouble for attacking a student, it would come back to bite you, but that was something for future you to worry about.

you glanced around the bus, before your attention landed on the savanaclaw housewarden sitting alone. ─ your friends continued to argue with the random guy, and you were sure they had no intention of ending the argument anytime soon. and you would rather sleep off some time on the road rather than listen to your friends go back and forth with someone you didn't even know the name of. you stood from your seat, uncaring of whether or not it was okay to do so as you approached the empty seat. 

leona had his head down, probably napping, the same thing you wanted to do. when you sat down beside him his ears twitched and he lifted his head to look at you, probably intending to scowl and scare off whoever had been stupid enough to sit beside him, until he realized it was you.

“what are you doing?” he frowned at you, but you went unfazed.

“sitting next to you, obviously.”

leona rolled his eyes, “why?”

instead of giving a verbal answer, you pointed at your friends, where sebek now had a grip on the scruff of grim’s neck, keeping him from jumping at the student. ace was laughing, offering no help to the half-fae. epel was no better than grim, with sebek’s arm held out in front of him, keeping him from doing anything.

"so you came to bother me instead?" he asked, and you looked at him straight-faced.

"yup."

leona sighed, but he didn't tell you to scram (not like you would if he did). he didn't say anything else, only close his eyes again and turning away, likely to try and nap. you weren't offended by his lack of reply, leaning your head back against the seat and trailing your eyes over the bus and your peers.

the longer you sat in somewhat silence ─ save for the incoherent yelling from your friends, you had for the most part zoned out, and the chatter of those on board ─ you found yourself falling to the drowsiness that have been interrupted before. you closed your eyes and let the movement of the bus guide you to sleep.

leona was awake, annoyed by the bus and those on the bus. his ears twitched when he heard your breathing slow beside him and he lifted his head, just as your head lolled to the side and you leaned against his shoulder.

he sighed, but made no move to push you off, glancing around you at the rest of the students of nrc, who were all either sleeping themselves, or chatting with friends. he leaned his head back, eyeing you as you shifted for a moment before relaxing again.

"where'd [name] go?" leona could hear your friends ask, no longer distracted by the argument that they were having with the random student.

he looked back at them, just in time to catch ace's eye, who was the first to see you sleeping against leona. he looked ready to say something, but leona narrowed his eyes on the first year. ace immediately shut his mouth, grinning awkwardly as he turned back to his friends.

leona huffed, looking back down at you to make sure you didn't stir. he adjusted in more comfortable position, an arm resting behind you on the seat, allowing you to lean closer, and hopefully, be more comfortable than leaning against his shoulder the way you had. and then he closed his eyes and joined you in a nap for the rest of the ride. (at least until they stopped for a break.)

this wasn't proofread so there will be probably be mistakes, i'll try to come back to edit later!

do not repost, translate, copy or run my writing through an ai

[shhhsecretsideblog]

Anniversary To Remember

RP / story written with @tbgblr2 Thanks for taking on the challenge of this idea and my attempt to find an inconvenient birth location that hadn’t been written before. (9.5k words)

“Wha… NO!” you snapped as you looked at the sign in front of us.

“Please?” I asked, with my best doe eyed expression. “I booked it specially for us last year… I know things have changed, but it's perfectly safe.”

“I’ll fall through.” You groan, admittedly giggling at the thought.

“No you won't, they’re not like the old days with wicker baskets, they’re proper, metal structures designed to hold 10 times our combined weight.” I retorted.

It was our second wedding anniversary today. When we discussed it last year, the day after our one year anniversary, it sounded like a great way to celebrate our second. We were going on a hot air balloon ride over the city into the countryside and staying for a romantic meal together with a night in a log cabin to follow.

Only our desires got the better of us, and here we were looking at the sign for the balloon place with you holding your hands under your blossoming belly – 9 months of it.

You had forgotten all about it with all the baby commotion, but when I pulled up to the venue near the airport, it all came flooding back.

“The doctor said you weren’t due for another week, and this will be the last chance we can do something crazy like this before the baby comes. It makes lots of sense to do it now and cross it off our bucket list… plus I can’t get a refund.” I tried to reason with logic.

You shook your head. “I think my belly is almost the size of that balloon the way I feel.” Despite your protest you’re clearly thinking about it and, warming up to the idea, you eventually smile at me.

“That’s my girl” I grin “Don’t worry, it’s only 3 hours”

~•~

I roll my eyes but my lips pull into a smile. “Okay, let’s do it. Here’s hoping we can both fit in there.” I joke, rubbing the swell of my heavy stomach.

Leaving the house was the last thing I wanted to do today, and taking a romantic hot air balloon ride? Complete madness. But you were just so excited, this was something you’d always wanted to do for as long as I’d known you. And those doe eyes, I really couldn’t say no.

As we stood and waited for the stewards to set up the balloons, I grimaced at the twinge flaring in my back.

“Oof-” I huff out, and attempt to hold up my bump that’s weighing heavy on my hips and cramping my spine.

“Baby kicking you in the ribs again?” You ask, noticing my expression.

“No… it’s just really heavy. Hoooo- I’ll be glad when this pregnancy is over.”

“Not long left to go sweetie. Here, let me try something.” You stand behind me, arms snaking my waist, and you lift up the large bump containing our baby. My head falls back against you with relief. “That feels wonderful.” I murmur, enjoying the momentary feeling.

After a couple of minutes of respite, you gently let go and the weight returns to my pelvis and I groan softly.

“Are you sure this is safe?” I ask, taking another deep breath, rubbing my belly subconsciously. “I’m not sure I’m up for this…”

~•~

“It’s the safest thing in the world” came the voice across the way. One of the representatives of the balloon company came striding up and shook my hand. “How can I help?”

I picked up my phone and scrolled through to our online voucher. “I’m here for our booking?” I asked, showing the details to the man who approached.

“Ahh!” came the reply. “You’re here to fly. Got your transport right over here. Flying it myself today. Names Jimmy. I couldn’t help but overhear the discussion earlier, let me tell you, kids are the best thing in the world, and once you’re up in the air, you’re going to have stories to tell them to get them to sleep for years to come. Just checking…” he sounded slightly unsure “are you safe to fly in your condition?”

“I have the medical certificate here, got it last week.” I announced. Jimmy looked it over.

“Good all seems to be in order, if you’ll follow me… our chariot awaits!” Jimmy was enthusiastic, I’ll certainly give him that.

~•~

I was glad when Jimmy directed us further across the field, I needed the opportunity to walk off the cramp rippling my stomach. The braxton hicks had been happening on and off today, which wasn’t particularly unusual, but I didn’t want to tell you as I knew you’d only worry. I didn’t want to ruin this once in a lifetime experience for you.

My eyes widened when I saw the basket we’d be riding in; it was huge and a lot taller than I anticipated. It was higher than my waist.

“Erm… how am I going to get in that?” I ask uncertainly.

Jimmy produced a stepping stool, presumably he was used to getting people in and out the large basket but perhaps never someone quite this pregnant before.

~•~

It took a few false starts, with you stepping on, trying to get your leg over the top, giving up, repositioning, trying again and again, but eventually you were able to use my shoulder as support as I lifted you up over the edge of the basket. “Maybe I should have gotten in first and lifted you over?” I suggested, as I scrambled in behind you.

You huffed out a breath as you smiled “I am in no condition to be lifted thank you!”

It was quite roomy all things considered. There was a small cabin to one side where the pilot could sit and do his thing without directly interfering with us. I looked over and saw the laptop computer affixed to a small tray against the wall.

Our area was open sided, exposed to the elements, but thankfully it was a nice day and aside from higher winds when we got up to a decent height, we were expecting clear views and plenty of lasting memories.

We cuddled together as Jimmy announced he was lighting the burners – the whoosh of the gas and the heat of the flames announced we were getting ready to go. I hugged you from behind and as there was a quick lurch from the balloon lifting off the ground I felt your usually soft belly harden under my fingers. “What was that?” I whispered to you.

~•~

“What was what?” I reply casually, keeping my eyes forward at the ground that was slowly disappearing beneath us.

You say my name with a hint of a scolding, knowing I knew exactly what you were referring to. My belly was still contracting under your fingers and I could see in your eyes that you could feel it too.

“It’s nothing, just another braxton hicks that’s all. Don’t worry. Look at this amazing view” I try to distract you “we’re already so high.”

~•~

I calm a little as I feel the tension ease around your middle. Taking your hand in mine we walked over to the edge of the basket. We spend a good 5 minutes with the wind ruffling our hair as we stare out over the city. “There's our house!” I excitedly point out into the distance. “There’s your parent’s place. Oh and mine.” I’m lost in the giddy enjoyment of this, holding your hand tight and don’t notice your grip tightening and tightening more on mine as the next contraction starts to grip your middle.

“If we need to get down, how do we do that?” you asked Jimmy.

“Sorry, nothing much we can do now until we’re outside the city. Nowhere clear to land. Figure we need about 2 hours minimum with this wind speed. Afraid we can’t just turn these things around and head home.” He was smiling but didn’t even look up at you as he responded, he was too focused on twisting the knobs on the gas bottles to get the mixture right and tapping his route onto the laptop to let air traffic control know where we were heading.

I turn back around and grasp you around the waist – your bump pressed in tight against me as I cuddle you close to me. I don’t notice the strained tension that had gripped it a few moments before. Kissing you I whisper “Happy anniversary. Here’s to lots of years and lots of babies!”

~•~

“Lots of babies eh? Let’s see how we get on with this one first before you start planning for a whole football team.” I shift my hips subtly side to side, trying to not think about just how low the baby felt in my pelvis.

“You were right; it is really magical up here. You can see the whole city.” I say wandering as much as I can in the small space, needing to move, looking out at every angle towards the horizon. The sun was shining brightly illuminating the tiny buildings below, clouds littered the perfectly blue sky, but it was the silence that made the experience otherworldly. It was so quiet up here. Just the sounds of the breeze and the occasional whoosh of the gas canisters keeping our balloon in the air.

I ended up leaning against the adjacent wall of the basket to you, each of us looking out at the impressive scenery, but I’m pulled out of the experience but a forceful contraction squeezing and tightening my belly. My breath hitches, pain pressing more urgently now through my body. I try to steady my breathing, long deep breathes through the pain, that’s what they say don’t they? My fingers grip the padded railing and my head dips slightly. Stay calm, just breathe, I tell myself. This might not be labour.

~•~

You suddenly feel my hand rubbing your back. “You ok?” I ask, concern in my voice looking at your white knuckles gripping the side. Your eyes dart between my face and what I’m looking at, suddenly releasing your grip.

“Yeah, fine. Just baby’s really low. Probably just the change in gravity because we’re so high.”

I caught my laugh, sniggering through my lips. “No, you’re just very, very pregnant.” My hands grip either side of your hips and press, the moan escaping your lips echoed out across the wide open air.

I lean in close and whisper so only you can hear “Just breathe through it, we’ll be on the ground in a couple of hours.”

~•~

“You know?” I whisper my reply, turning my head slightly to find you nodding, a grin twitching your lips. “Damn, I thought I’d been more- hooo-subtle.”

Slowly, I turn around to face you, holding on to your biceps as I find myself needing both the physical and emotional support.

“Ooohhhh- why now?” I quietly moan against your chest.

“Shhhhhh it’s okay.” You whisper into my hair, rubbing my back before pressing deep into my hips again. “How long do you think you’ve been in labour for?” You ask.

“Mmmm- I’m not sure. My body’s always aching and cramping these days, I- I didn’t think anything of it….” I reply softly, my breath hitching again with another contraction. My heavy rounded belly is squashed between us and I’m almost certain you’d be able to feel it through your shirt, tensing and contracting against your stomach.

~•~

The next contraction builds without warning as you grab hold of me tight, your fingers digging into my shoulders as you press your forehead into my chest, desperately resisting the urge to scream, knowing it would likely cause chaos with our pilot. My hands grip into the small of your back and you press back into them, you’re suddenly bent at the waist, your feet spread, hips swaying side to side as you groan quietly into me.

My forehead rests against you and to the outside world - or specifically Jimmy at this moment - it just looks like we’re embracing and enjoying the moment.

Suddenly there’s a splash between your legs and you find your dress is sticking to your legs. You go wide eyed. There’s no mistaking it now…

~•~

“Oh my god…” my voice is barely a whisper as I stare up at you in shock. Your expression mirrors my own.

“Erm… is everything alright guys?” Jimmy asks in an upbeat tone that feels alien to the both of us right now.

“Not really no…” I say to our bewildered pilot, before turning back to you. “Honey, I think I need to sit down.”

Your hand is around my waist as you walk me over to the small cushioned bench sitting one end of the hot air balloon basket, you steady me as I awkwardly lower myself down.

“Are you okay here for a minute while I update our pilot on what’s happening?” You ask quietly, one hand affectionately rubbing my stomach.

“Mmmm- yeah… I think so. Thanks.” I reply and watch you walk over to Jimmy to presumably tell him that I’m in labour.

Everything feels different now I’m sat down; my hips ache, my pelvis feels full and my stomach seems to sit further out forcing itself to sit between my thighs. The baby had definitely dropped and was making its arrival known.

Why now… why here… I thought to myself, this baby has a really warped sense of timing. I closed my eyes and rubbed slow circles around my stomach. I tried to stay calm and reassure myself that everything would be okay, but my broken waters continuing to leak from me served as a constant reminder of my advancing labour. My heart raced and it felt like I couldn’t quite catch my breath through the rising panic…

~•~

I look Jimmy straight in the eyes. “We need to get down. Now… if not sooner.”

He shook his head “I wasn’t lying when I said we couldn’t. You guys knew the issues before you got on. I’ll put an SOS out so the medical facilities will meet us when we land, but it’s going to be around 2 hours.”

“Shit” I cursed under my breath, as you groaned loudly, the first vocalisation of a rapidly accelerating labour.

I dashed to you and skidded down to my knees, inadvertently sliding through your amniotic fluid in the process, cursing all the way. I grasp your hands as you grip mine - hard - as your eyes look at me pleading, struggling to catch your breath.

I talk you down, calming whispering tones as you catch your breath and groan through the rest of the contraction.

Jimmy struggles putting 2 and 2 together as he asks “what’s happening?”

“We might well be pushing out a baby at 2000 feet if you can’t get this thing on the ground” I summarise.

“Fuck” came the blunt reply from our pilot.

~•~

We stay in that position for the next few contractions - offering me your hands to hold or shoulders to squeeze. Meanwhile, Jimmy is nervously pressing buttons on his map and contacting the base on the ground, trying to find any nearby suitable location to land - his laidback persona starting to fray at the edges.

“Hooo- the baby feels so low…” I huff out after a particularly fierce contraction. “I don’t think… I can sit anymore. Feels like I’m sitting on their head. Need to- oof- stand. Help me up?” I ask holding out my arms.

Your large hands hook under my arms and slowly aid me to standing. My balance is thrown off, the baby even lower, and I stumble a little but you’re quick to react and hold me steady.

“How are you doing love?” You ask me with concerned eyes.

“Okay… as well as I can b-be in the circumstances.” I attempt to joke, motioning to the basket and the open skies around us and the ridiculous situation we’ve found ourselves in.

“I guess of all places to labour, this has definitely got the best views.” You tuck a sweaty strand of hair behind my ear. You’re barely even looking at where we are - eyes focussed solely on me.

“I’m sorry… I ruined this experience for you.” I murmur quietly to you, feeling guilty that you were now missing out on enjoying this bucket-list activity.

“What? Don’t be silly. You’re having my baby, there is literally nothing more important to me than the two of you.” You kiss my forehead and pull me closer.

Before I can respond another contraction steals any words I could say and I’m left with only deep groans coming from my mouth.

The pain and pressure rages through my very core, my hands scramble to hook themselves around your neck as my hips sway and my knees bounce, pulling myself downwards against your sturdy frame, releasing a low moan against your chest.

When the contraction fades and my ability to speak returns I ask “do you think we should maybe start… hoooo… timing them?”

~•~

“Let’s give it a go” I say, glancing at my watch. At this point I’m just playing along as I’d been timing them since I first realised you’d been having contractions. We focus on each other through the course of the next few minutes not even staring out at the view at this point - you’re deep breathing, head buried in my chest and my hands roaming your body trying to rub - anywhere - to make the pain go away.

As the next contraction builds bringing you back into your previous position, hanging low off me and moaning loud through the worst of it, I’m counting in my head. The numbers reach high enough that I just give up as you finally come out the other end and look at me.

“So you know in the birthing class when they say come in when they’re less than 5 minutes apart and last longer than a minute?”

You nod, signalling me to go on.

“I think we should have been there for quite some time now. That was 3 minutes from the last one and lasted at least a minute - lost count after 50 seconds”

Jimmys face, watching all this from afar went white.

I turned and noticed. “Hey you said you’d had babies before. Any tips for this bit? All my knowledge is from videos at this point?”

He shook his head. “No. I couldn’t handle it. Seen my wife in stirrups, seen her bulge as the head came out and I passed out. Came to as she had a baby to her chest and 2 nurses fanning me looking on concerned”

I shook my head. “Great…” I wasn’t sure how much of that you had took on in you slight state of delirium, but either way, the next contraction was building and you held on tight.

~•~

On learning that we should already be at the hospital by now with how close together the contractions were coming, I wiggled out of your hold and moved away. Needing space… to process, to not be touched.

“No…. That can’t- can’t be right. Hoooo-“ I breathed heavily, hands gripping the edge of the basket in the absence of you. Unsure if it was the increasing pressure or the very real possibility that I was going to have this baby in a damn hot air balloon, my brain went into complete denial.

“Babe, I’m sorry. We can time some more to be sure, but this baby is definitely coming, sooner than we want.” You stand next to me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder which I shrug off with a gruff. I know this isn’t your fault, just a case of really unfortunate timing, but the constant pressure and pain has me taking my frustrations out at you.

“Fuck… ohhhh my back….” I whimper, leaning over the railing and jutting my hips backwards. The baby must be pressing on a nerve that has my spine screaming.

Despite snapping at you and shrugging off any contact, your hands grasp my hips and you press your thumbs deep into pressure points in my lower back. The relief is instant, pain reducing to a level that didn’t make me want to vomit, and I exhale a moan into my elbows.

“Did we- find anywhere- else to- land?” I pant out.

You turn to Jimmy, who also heard my laboured question.

“Yes I did, it’s sooner than our original landing spot, but with the wind speed and direction we’re travelling… erm it’s still going to be at least another hour and half…” Jimmy admitted to us.

~•~

“I don’t think she’s going to last an hour and a half!” I rant at Jimmy while rubbing your back. He looks at me with an apologetic look in his eyes but didn’t say anything.

“Is there anything in here that we could use? A first aid kit at least?” I ask.

Jimmy digs under the shelf where his laptop sits and pulls out a tiny first aid kit. Leaving you for just a moment I take the first aid kit from Jimmy and open it - inside a small roll of gauze, some tape and a pair of round ended scissors.

“No idea if these will even be sharp enough to cut the cord… not that we could tie it off properly if we could.” I at least sounded like I knew what I was talking about though inside I was panicking at this point.

“Quick…” you groan as the next contraction builds and I rush over to hold your hand, feeling you squeeze tight.

~•~

I take your hand, gripping hard, and twist around towards you curling into your embrace. I hang on to you as the contraction takes hold, the pain sharp and the pressure constant. You notice the sounds I’m making with each contraction are getting deeper, now lowing instinctually with every peak.

A minute slowly passes but the contraction doesn’t fade. I’m still shifting and groaning in your arms.

“Hoooooo- No…. Oh no no no…” I suddenly whimper, panting erratically.

“What is it?” You ask worriedly.

I lift my head up, seeing the apprehension in your eyes. “I- hooohooohoo- no…. not now….”

“Baby, talk to me. I need to know so I can help you.” You plead, cupping my face.

“I think… ooohh- I think I need to push…” I say as I bite my bottom lip, breathing heavily through my nose.

~•~

It was my turn for my face to go white. “Now? No! God, no… not now!” I pleaded to the open air around us. You weren’t listening, or at least not responding, deep breaths being sucked in and puffed out to try and regain a moment of calm before the contractions happen all over again.

“You can’t push. No one has checked you… are you dilated? You might injure yourself. You have to wait until we land!” I’m rambling at this point. Instinctively I know there’s nothing we can do to stop it and it happens when it happens but the only thing going through my head is ‘we’re all alone up here.’

“Please baby do your best. You can’t push… please” I plead.

~•~

The contraction eventually begins to fade, and taking with it the urge to push. I can’t help the smile that pulls my lips hearing your string of panicked questions and your flustered demeanour. Placing a hand to your chest, I calmly say “Honey, breathe.” Echoing the words you’ve previously said to me. “It’s okay, it’s passed now.”

“Oh god, you scared the life out of me.” You pull me closer, wrapping your arms around my waist. “So… you’re doing okay now?”

“Yes, I’m okay now, we both are.” I reassure you, holding the swell of my stomach that’s nestled between us.

You crouch right down so you’re eyelevel with the bump, both your hands splayed wide across its surface. Looking up at me over the swell you mutter “Can’t believe we’re going to meet our baby.”

I giggle, placing my hands over yours. “I know, hopefully not too soon though.” My breath suddenly hitches with a sharp inhale. “Oooohhhh here comes another one. Quick, hold me-” I manage to spit out before the contraction steals my speech and buckles my knees.

~•~

You sink down to your knees, your head nestling into the crook of my neck as you flop your arms over either of my shoulders and leave them draped down my back. I feel your fists clench and release through the bouncing of your forearms as you let out a groan, muffled by the fabric of my tee shirt.

I whisper close to your ears “You’re doing great, keep on doing that, resist that urge to push.”

I feel your head bobbing into me, nodding as much as you could, not able to give me a verbal response.

Your knees are spread wide and I can only hope at this time that your stance being wide doesn’t foreshadow anything happening between them.

I glance to the side to see Jimmy moving towards us to push past my back. He was fiddling with a few ballast bags on the side of the basket, pulling them in and pushing them to the opposite side of the basket.

He didn’t say anything, but after shoving the bags over the other side, re-securing their fixings and letting them out over the edge he went back to the gas controls.

Suddenly we felt the unmistakable feeling of descent, the slight jump in the pit of our stomachs.

“Are we nearly there?” You asked. The contraction was ebbing away and your voice was croaky, only barely loud enough to hear.

“Sorry” came Jimmy, and once more he sounded genuinely apologetic. “We need to drop down a bit to catch a different wind current to get to the new destination. Still got an hour or so.”

Your head dug back into my shoulder. That wasn’t what you wanted to hear.

~•~

“An hour?! Hooooo- I don’t know if the baby is going to wait that long…” I whisper quietly in your ear, not wanting to admit it too loudly as that would make it real.

“Shhhh, it’ll be okay baby.” You quietly reply as you rub my back. “You’re doing great, keep resisting the urge. It’s not time to push yet…. It can’t be” you added so quietly, whispering to yourself. Hoping.

“The baby feels so so low…ughhh… even without a contraction the pressure… so much pressure.”

“I know darling, but you’ve got this. We’ll be back on the ground before we know it. Just hold on a little bit longer.” You look skyward, pleading to the universe. You really didn’t want to have to deliver this baby at 2,000 feet.

As the balloon dropped to its new level, the basket got caught on a rogue strong gust of wind, jolting everything and everyone inside as it swayed abruptly. With our arms wrapped around each other, we nearly toppled over but managed to stay upright as we both instinctually widened our knees for balance.

“Are you okay?” You ask me, our hearts thumping in shock.

I could only nod as another contraction started not long after the basket steadied itself.

“Jeeze, Jimmy what the hell was that?!” You shout towards our pilot.

“Sorry guys, that was a bit of a rough one.” He joked, readjusting his equipment that had dislodged

Meanwhile the contraction raged through me, every muscle seemingly tense and solid. My hips were screaming, forced apart by the large head barrelling towards my cervix. The pressure… it was too much. My knees were too wide. I couldn’t hold off any longer, I had to push…my body deciding to act of its own accord. Bearing down, a long and low grunt suddenly rattles from my throat against your neck.

~•~

I’d been paying careful attention to your grunts and moans over the past hour or so as concern grew and grew, but the new noises you were making were different. I looked at your face and saw your scrunched up eyes, the blown out cheeks and I suddenly realised.

“No!” I snapped. You didn’t respond. “Don’t push, baby, you can’t. You need to be checked. You know you can’t push until you’re fully dilated. Please… don’t want you to get injured.”

The end of the push came, you opened your eyes. There were tears there, frustration, pain, panic… who knows but all you could answer in response was “I have to push right now!” Soon you’re at it again.

~•~

“Can’t- help- it…mnghhhhhh!” My hands claw at your shoulders, using you to balance as my hips sink lower and my body pushes hard. “Oooohh… I can feel it… baby is moving…down!”

“Shit. Okay, okay.” You try and rationalise and plan, working out what the hell we were going to do now. “Baby, is this it? Is this really happening now?” You ask me.

“Ughhh! I think so… feels very real to me hooo!”

“Then we’ve got to take your panties off. We need to see if you’re fully dilated, if you should even be pushing right now.” Your brows furrow with concern and sympathy with every hitch of breath and groan of pain, knowing this was about to escalate very quickly.

Your hands disappear under my dress and find the dampened fabric of my underwear from my broken waters. You roll them down my thighs but keep them hidden from view beneath my knee-length dress, not wanting to alert Jimmy to what was happening. It was just you and me right now.

“Tell me when this contraction is over, then I can try and see if I can work out how dilated you are.” You say softly, trying to keep me calm and reassured in this far-from-ideal situation.

I nod in understanding, grunting once more in an uncontrollable push before gasping for breath at its end. “Hoooo-hoooo I think it’s passed…” I croak quietly to you.

~•~

I look up to check and see Jimmy occupying himself with his duties, not looking at us. Blowing out my own breath to calm myself I lower you down, so you’re on your hands and knees in front of me.

I stand up and move around behind you. Lifting the back of your dress up, I roll it up to expose your ass, your wide opened legs stretching your panties around your knees.

I let out an involuntary gasp. It’s not lost on you.

“What is it” you gasp. I describe the scene in front of me. Whilst your lips hadn’t yet parted, the baby’s head was definitely bulging, sitting just inside of you. I’d no medical training, but could only presume that we were at the stage where each push had the head begin to show and retreat as you stopped the effort. I explained to you that we were well past the point of needing to check your dilation, and right now we need to get you more comfortable to push… first task will be to get those panties off you so you could open up freely.

I looked up and that’s when I saw Jimmy looking straight at us, wide eyed like a deer caught in the headlights.

~•~

“I hope you’ve got some blankets or something up here Jimmy, cos this baby is going to be born before we reach the ground.” You warn him sternly, snapping him out of his panicked staring.

Ignoring our pilot, you focus your attention back to me - shifting and squirming on hands and knees, the dress still lifted showing just how close the baby was to this world.

“How are you holding up darling?” You ask quietly to me.

“Mhhhh- like there’s a bowling ball stuck in my vagina-” I snap with a gruff.

“Right let’s get those panties off before the next contraction so you’re free to move.”

My hands and knees were planted so heavily on the floor of the basket, I couldn’t move. The idea of raising either of my knees to free my underwear seemed too Herculean a task. You had to manoeuvre around me, holding me steady and pulled the garment free from my legs.

As soon as I was free my knees automatically spread opening up my hips further to ease the unbearable pressure in my pelvis. I know you wanted to move me for the next contraction, but I could already feel it approaching. Pressure was building and building, the baby pushing against my opening. With my ass still on full display I went down to my elbows, my forehead almost kissing the floor with my hips up pointing to the sky, and I succumbed to my instincts and pushed.

You held me steady as I pushed, watching in fascination as the bulge got bigger. The sounds I was making had turned primal, instinctual, and you could tell I had mentally retreated into myself and on the job I had to do.

“Oh my god… I think I can see the head!” You cried out after a forceful push showed the smallest sliver of the baby’s head appear just behind my lips.

~•~

My exclamation caused you to lose your focus, immediately stoping pushing and causing the sliver of the head to slide back in. Biology won out though as you were forced to push again only a few moments later and once more the first glimpse of our baby was clear to see again.

You grunt with relief as the contraction finally passed - with the head slipping back out of view again - but you were buoyed by my enthusiasm.

Jimmy, taking a moment to interrupt with a cough managed “sorry no towels or anything… it’s not intended to be used for ferrying the sick, wounded or I guess labouring mothers to be”

“Help me up” you gasp as you pull on my arms. I move around to grab you under the armpits and heave you up, you dress slipping back down your legs covering your modesty again.

“Here it comes” you grunt as you echo the position you’d been in only a moment ago, your arms under my armpits, one hand holding the other wrist, the other gripping tight to my tee shirt in a balled fist. You planted your legs wide and almost growled with effort as the next contraction ramped up.

~•~

My body trembled against you as I pushed, my arms so tight around you grasping at your clothes. Your frame the only thing keeping me upright, the smell of your aftershave the only thing keeping me from panicking. It was an effort to get up but I needed the gravity, something telling me to stand up, to bring the baby down.

“Oh god…” I moaned out heavily against your neck “I can f-feel the head…” my knees squatting slightly during the push, opening up for the baby to peak through.

But when the contraction was over, and the pushing stopped, the head slipped backwards and I whimpered a sob on your shoulder.

The effort of pushing had dampened the back of my neck and hair with sweat, and beads of it glistened on my forehead. Though it was early evening the sun was still bright and warm in the sky, making my temperature soar. Every pore of my skin seemed to tingle, aggravated by the fabric of my dress. My entire being was overheating. I felt like I couldn’t quite catch my breath; the air too hot, my skin too tacky.

I shifted in your arms, uncomfortable, frustrated. I needed to do something but couldn’t find the words. You noticed me pulling at the hem of my dress and knew what my subconscious was trying to do. Still holding me upright, your hands roamed my back and found the zip of my dress, pulling down, helping to free me from the cotton prison.

~•~

Your eyes opened as I reached down and grabbed the base of your dress, suddenly realising what I was doing. You stretched your arms out, hands placed lightly on my shoulders as my body raised up, pulling the dress with me as I went.

The first thing I noticed was the bump stopped the dress from coming up. I had to tug it a little to get it unstuck. I pulled it up over your breasts and over your head, then releasing it from one arm to the other until it hung loosely from my fist, draping on the floor.

The sigh of satisfaction as you felt the cool breeze rush over your exposed, overheated skin, instantly cooling you was palpable. You were now naked except for your sports bra you had put on this morning for comfort.

You gripped hard on my shoulders again, the next contraction building as you managed to grunt out “that feels so nice… but don’t you dare lose that dress. I need it to get home.”

~•~

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” You whispered back to me with a laugh.

I held on tight to you as the contraction took hold; my body pushing, squeezing, opening for the baby.

“Keep going baby, you’re doing wonderfully.” You offered words of encouragement against the moaning I was making in your ear.

“I don’t feel like I’m making any- mnghhh- progress.” I say releasing the push with a huff.

When the contraction had waned I shifted out of your hold a bit. Holding the underside of my low bump I swayed gently, facing outwards towards the stunning horizon, letting the cool breeze wash over my skin in the break I was given.

“How long til we land now?” I dared to ask our pilot, who’d been giving us a wide birth since I started openly pushing.

“We’re getting closer, I’d say just under 45 minutes.” Jimmy answered simply, completely avoiding looking in my direction.

“Do you reckon - hoooo… we’ve got any hope of making it to land before this baby c-comes?” I ask in vain, taking one hand off my bump to hold the side of the basket, my hips shifting round in wide circles.

Your hesitation gives me all the answers I need. Still you reply “Whatever happens babe, you can do this. And I’ll be right by your side.”

“Well you’re not exactly going to go anywhere.” I joke before a contraction suddenly strikes and I hiss through my teeth.

Standing in the a corner of the basket I grasp the padded railing with both hands, gripping the cushioning so hard my knuckles whiten. The baby presses lower and lower and I rock, and groan and push alongside its efforts. My hips jut backwards towards you, my back flat as I lean into the baskets edge, nearly wailing with the efforts of the push.

“Can- can you see… ohhhh…. Is it coming out now? Mghhhhh!!!” I cry out mid-push.

~•~

“I can see it baby, I can see it!” Even against all of my natural instincts to panic I’m getting invested in your progress and can’t help but get excited as things show progress. The bulge between your legs was now significantly bigger than when I had first noticed it, and whenever you were pushing, the head was forming into a genuine teardrop shape, though still not holding its place when you stopped.

“Shit” came the voice from Jimmy. Panicking, expecting to get some bad news, my eyes shoot over to him just to see him staring straight at you, focused clearly on the dark patch between your legs.

“Don’t you dare freak out or feint… there’s 4 of us in this basket relying on you to get us safely on the ground” I admonished. Jimmy in turn shook his head and thanked me, breaking his reverie and focusing back on the laptop.

Focusing back on you, you grunt as you push again. “You’re doing so good baby. I can see the head a lot when you push. Keep focused… if you want, you can reach down when you push and feel it yourself”

~•~

I tentatively release one hand's grip on the barrier, the excitement in your voice making me desperate to feel the baby. But I can’t seem to let go, the effort of pushing is too consuming and I’m scared to let go of the support. I give a loud grunt with a big push, feeling my lips starting to burn with the stretch.

But then it’s over, contraction faded, and I bring myself back up to standing. Feeling more confident without a contraction to let go of the support, I place one of my hands between my thighs and I can feel it; just behind my slightly parted lips is our baby.

“Oh my- wow!” I exclaim, making first contact with our child. “I can feel them, that’s our baby.”

“I know, and you’re doing wonderfully darling. We’ll be meeting them soon” You say, grinning ear to ear and stepping towards me.

“It’s got hair!”

“That’s not surprising, considering the amount you’ve got.” You joke and stroke the thick locks of hair that cascade past my shoulders, tucking wayward strands behind my ear.

“Do you think it’ll be a boy or a girl?” I ask, my fingers still delicately stroking the bit of head that’s peaking out.

“I’ve told you I don’t mind. As long as they are healthy and happy.”

“I know, I know…. I’m kinda hoping for a girl though…” I admit.

I feel the next contraction brewing, but I don’t want to remove my hand from my crotch. Instead I back into the corner of the basket, keeping one hand on my baby and the other flying out towards you for support.

My body sinks into a squat when the contraction hits and everything squeezes downwards. I take a big gulp of air and push… hard, feeling the baby’s head inch forward into my palm.

~•~

My hand reaches out to you, your hand on my shoulder and my hand in turn resting just under where your bra strap rests. As you sink down I follow you, ultimately ending on my haunches so I’m eye level with you. Whilst you’re desperate to close your eyes during the push you fight to keep them open and look into my eyes, my smiling demeanour giving you a level of comfort in this trying time. Suddenly I lean forward and place my second hand over yours so we are both cupping your lips. I feel the roundness of your hand as it envelops the bulge there and get in close. “Push!” I urge.

There’s no stopping you, your cheeks are puffed out and your brow is furrowed but you keep your eyes on me. Your mouth is wide and groaning as you make the effort but still we keep that connection.

My hand is pressed outwards as is yours as your lips part and your fingers rub the slick, surprisingly spongy mass slowly making its way out from between your legs.

You suck in your breath as you need a moment to get your strength as I say “again?” and you’re back at it, groaning loud and low, the hand on my shoulder grasping hard.

~•~

It was just you and me at that moment, the rest of the world completely shut out. You and me, together bringing our baby into the world.

My chest heaves with every rasped breath, my breasts resting atop the large pregnant swell that hung between my open thighs. My boobs had gotten bigger as I approached the end of this pregnancy and this bra was the only one that didn’t pinch.

Your eyes light up as we both feel the head sliding forwards into our hands. But the pain is astronomical and I’d lose myself entirely to it if you weren’t beside me right now. The baby fills even more of my palm and I can’t help but cry out “…Hurts…. Burning…” in between my laboured breaths.

The contraction starts to ebb away but I don’t want to lose this progress. It’s almost too much to bear if the baby slides back again now. I give a final long grunt, pushing as hard as I could while the contraction was still present, huffing as I release the push and hoping the baby stays put.

~•~

I watch in awe as I see you put incredible effort into a push, your face both incredibly contorted and at the same time, focused on it’s one task. Your hand moves away from between your legs, batting mine back at the same time. It twists and grabs my fingers, as my eyes sink down to the area that was previously covered.

Your hand squeezes my fingers as you let out a roaring sound, unlike any I’d heard so far. The hand on my shoulder digs in to the point where I’m certain your nails will leave embedded marks, but still my eyes focus between your legs.

In front of my eyes I see your lips spread around the head moving out, red, firey skin moulding outwards, spreading like a petal on a flower. The teardrop shape of the head, expanding outwards.

You gasp. “Burning… burning… burning, hurts” it’s almost incoherent babbling at this time, but whatever you were doing had some positive effect, as once I see your shoulders sag, right there between your legs was the most perfect oval of darkened, matted, soggy hair that I had ever seen.

“You did it baby!” I yell in triumph. That’s when I realised that you weren’t paying attention. It’s clear that at this point, there’s nothing you can do but focus on the ring of fire between your legs. It’s all consuming at this point, your knees are quivering trying not to lose control, your hands are squeezing and digging nonstop. Your eyes are closed and scrunched hard.

Youre gasping “Pull it out! Help me!” There’s nothing I can do at this point but sympathise as you struggle at this most gruelling stage of the process.

~•~

I can’t think, I can’t speak, I can’t move. I’m entirely lost in this moment; blinded by the pain of being stretched far beyond anything I thought possible. But it was more than just the spreading of my sensitive lips - my hips were wrenched apart, the baby shoved against my pelvis, the nauseating feeling of being so… full. I couldn’t take it.

My body started to tremble, you could feel it beneath the hold you had on my ribs and you could see me shaking in front of your eyes.

“I can’t do this!” I wailed, eyes scrunched and tears leaking past my lashes. “It’s too big! Uhhhh- fuck. Help me.”

“Oh baby…” you whispered, your heart breaking at seeing me in so much pain. “I know, but you are so close. You can do this.”

“I c-can’t!” I sobbed.

“Yes, you can. You are the strongest, bravest woman I have ever met. You can do anything, and you can do this. Just a little bit longer, I promise. Then when the next contraction comes, you push with everything you’ve got, okay? The head is almost here…”

I nod. That’s all I can manage. My head lolls forward, both my hands clawing at your shoulders, my entire body trembling, and we wait. We wait through agonising second after agonising second for the next contraction.

~•~

Soon it’s upon you. “It’s coming” you manage, before gripping me tightly again and dropping your chin down, closing your eyes and giving it all you’ve got.

I watch the oval shape between your legs quiver and a few seconds later start to move. You gasp, taking a breath and start again, still in mid contraction. More movement.

“Go! Go! Go!” I’m chanting, it seems to help. Finally your lips turn white, all blood drained from around them as they are stretched to their widest point.

You gasp and start panting, something primal in your memories from videos we have watched telling you to pant out the last push, and suddenly there’s a rush. You jump. There’s a gush of more fluid. My eyes go wide, and teary, what I’m seeing seems both the most natural thing in the world and at the same time the most unreal thing ever.

Deep in your squat, dangling between your legs, is the back of a baby’s head.

Your hand lets go of mine and reaches down to hold it. You’re bewildered, somewhat exhausted and sore, but you’ve accomplished a major milestone.

~•~

Gasping, my fingers delicately roam the whole circumference of the head that’s now outside of me. “Oh… hi baby.” I say softly to our child.

I look up at you and see the tears in your eyes. “Oh my god… oh my god…” I sob through my smile, not quite able to form any other words through the relief and awe of what’s just happened.

Your hand joins mine, cupping the head together as you lean forward to kiss me. It’s salty with my sweat and tears. “You, are incredible.” You whisper, our foreheads pressed together.

In no time at all, the respite is over and I’m squirming and shifting again in your arms from an approaching contraction. Letting go of our baby’s head my hands brace against my thighs.

“Hooooo- babe, need to move…” I groan, my legs and ankles suddenly protesting against the deep squatting position.

“Do whatever you need to do, where do you want to be?” You ask, trying to second guess what I’d want but also knowing I was acting entirely on natural instinct.

I couldn’t speak, instead my hands used your torso as a ladder - lifting myself up and getting down onto my knees, my feet pointed behind me in a v-shape. I felt instantly more stable, more in, kneeling so close to the floor.

The baby was on its way, its arrival immanent, I could sense it. Some primal instinct in my very DNA unlocked. I needed less physical support while on my knees so my hands released you, instead reaching behind to unclasp my bra. In my haste to remove my final layer of clothing, I forgot where we were for a moment and it was only on seeing your raised eyebrows I realise I’d whipped my bra off and casually thrown it overboard.

~•~

I couldn’t help it. I knew instinctively that I should be looking at you, but something made me follow the trajectory of your discarded underwear as I watched it soar over the side. My eyes followed it over the edge and as I lifted myself up off my haunches back to standing, I noticed the ground was very much closer than what I had expected.

“Jimmy… what’s happening?” I bellow out to our pilot. My brain went ‘he’s fainted, we’re going to crash’ and my natural instinct was to panic, but my eyes were drawn back to you, kneeling on the ground, hands back between your legs supporting the head of our baby. I couldn’t turn and look for him. Thankfully he returned the question with his own shouted answer.

“We’re nearly there. School field is just over there.” Relieved at his response, I briefly turned my head to look at him, to look at where his hand was pointing. I followed the direction and I saw blue lights in the distance. I saw a wide open area, which was the football and athletic fields of a school. I didn’t recognise it, but I knew we were nearly down. Your bra had landed in some unfortunate persons back garden. Might be some explaining to do for the occupants later.

I heard you grunt as my attention was drawn back to you. You looked radiant, like some sort of primal goddess, nude and backlit by the sun. I saw the baby had turned and you had started to push. Your grunts were audible as you pushed your hips forward, opening up the passage for the baby, your hands gently cupping its head.

Another grunt, and the first shoulder was free. A second grunt and the second shoulder. I dashed forward and skidded to the ground, stopping just in front of you with my hands skimming the ground between your legs, and more importantly directly under the baby which was out to its torso.

And with a triumphant yell from you, it flopped down into my hands, slick, covered in vernix, remnants of blood, and flooding my hands with yet more amniotic fluid.

“You did it baby…” I’m almost shocked thinking it’s all over.

~•~

Pure relief flooded through my entire body as the baby slipped into both of our awaiting hands. My mouth was dry, my brain in shock, and I’m only able to mumble “baby… baby…” over and over as I pick up the slippery newborn and immediately bring them to my bare chest. The need to see, to hold, to nurture was completely overpowering.

When the baby made its first gurgling cry against me I thought my heart may explode. I sagged back into the floor, exhaustion taking hold, and stared at the baby in my arms. Their little scrunched up face as they cried, their tiny hands with ten little fingers, their small feet with ten tiny toes. I had to see every inch of our baby, to check they were okay, and when I readjusted them against the curves of my body I announced “It’s a girl!”

You knelt next to me in the corner of the basket, looking over my shoulder totally transfixed and enamoured with our newborn. “You did it baby, I’m so proud of you!” You cupped my head and kissed the side of my face, my cheek, my shoulder, and eventually my lips. You couldn’t stop the emotional wave washing over you at the sight of your wife and newborn daughter beside you, wrapped in your arms.

I couldn’t quite believe it was over - the baby was here. Born in the basket of a hot air balloon. I stared down at our daughter and giggled to myself.

“What is it?” You asked, not able to wipe the beaming smile off your face.

“I can’t believe she’s here. That that just happened. That I just gave birth in a bloody hot air balloon!” The stress from the situation and relief that we were all alright had turned to exhausted hysteria, I simply couldn’t help the laughter.

“I guess she just wanted to make a grand entrance into this world.” You cooed, looking down at the infant already nuzzled against my breast.

“I think she might be a little troublemaker.”

“Just like her mother then.” You teased, kissing me again.

~•~

“Hang on tight” comes a call from Jimmy giving us a few seconds of warning where I grabbed hold of you as the balloon finally touched the ground with a thump. I threw your dress over you to cover your modesty as I got up to walk over and thank Jimmy for how well he had done in outrageous circumstances.

As I saw 2 paramedics dash towards the balloon as the gas valves were cut and the balloon itself started sinking to the ground behind us, I heard you give another groan.

“Baby?” I turn and look at you.

“I don’t know… another contraction.” You replied.

I dashed over. “No, can’t be. We had scans… there was only one baby in there.”

As the first paramedic threw their bag over the side of the basket at vaulted over the top I looked at them pleading.

“I don’t know what’s happening. The baby is born but she’s still having contractions. Is something wrong?”

“Let’s take a look see and figure this out, I’m sure it’s fine” came the professional sounding reply as his partner came on board.

They knelt down and looked you over, checking over the baby and declaring that everything was ok. They took a moment to clamp the baby’s cord, and rubbed your belly a little.

“Ok my dear… this looks good. Give me a good strong push” they instructed.

I gasped “is there another in there? We didn’t know.” The stress of the day was getting to me.

“No sir. Your wife is just ready to pass the afterbirth.” As he said it, he collected the placenta from between your legs and checked it over for completeness. “Well done, looks like this is about as close to a textbook delivery as can be… you know except for flying through the air whilst doing it.”

To say I breathed a sigh of relief would be an understatement.

[cookinguptales]

Can I ask you to do a post about Disney & disability please? You mentioned it and I’d love to know more!

Well, my notifications can't get any messier, so why not?

This post got very, very long because I ended up talking about a lot of the accessibility solutions in detail (and... ranting about how accessibility at Universal was so bad that I got physically injured there) so I'm putting it under a cut for you.

To preface this, I have mobility issues (as well as a lot of food intolerances/allergies) and general chronic illness, my sister is Deaf, and I have friends who regularly attend the park with autistic family members with high support needs. These are the disabilities I have experience with, so while I've heard a bit about others (such as portable descriptive devices for visitors with visual impairments) I can't speak as much about those accommodations.

I have also traveled quite a bit, mostly as a disabled adult. I can work from anywhere and my family enjoys traveling, so I've been very lucky in this regard. I also used to live in central Florida, not too far from Disney, and benefited from their FL resident rates.

So I'm coming at this from a person who has a lot of experience traveling while disabled and a fair amount of experience going to WDW, though I haven't been nearly as often since I moved out of Florida.

(Good fucking riddance.)

So know that I am speaking from experience when I say I have never, without exception, been to a single place half as accessible as Walt Disney World. It is literally the reason my family would go there; it was one of the only places we could all safely go together. One of the only places I've been on earth that even approached their level of thoughtful accommodations is Barcelona, which apparently did significant renovations throughout the city in order to prepare for the 1992 Paralympics.

(Hey, if anyone is reading this from Barcelona: I teared up the first time I used one of your curb cuts in my wheelchair, just so you know.)

Going through those parks in a wheelchair is a breeze, though you will probably have to fight a lot of clueless parents with strollers who are hellbent on using resources intended for wheelchair-users and then glaring at you when you try to use them yourself. Level ground, spacious sidewalks, accessible transportation, well-kept gradual ramps, roomy buildings, lots of accessible restrooms, alternate entrances at many rides for wheelchair users, special wheelchair rows in movie theaters that we're loaded into first, accessible queues in most rides designed or renovated in the last fifteen years, special viewing areas for shows/parades/fireworks so you don't end up staring at able-bodied butts for a half hour...

Like, structurally-speaking, the parks are very easy to get around in if you're a wheelchair user. That was built in and you can see a lot of very mindful design choices. As far as the rides go, most of their rides actually have special cars that you can load into while still in a wheelchair. They're pretty neat. I can transfer, but that means often leaving my wheelchair and/or cane with a cast member during the ride. They are always, without fail, waiting for me on the other side of the ride, no matter how far the exit is from the entrance. I have never once had a problem with this. A cast member will be there to put my assistive devices in my hand before I even have to think about getting up. Guaranteed.

Wheelchair users always used to be able to skip the line, but there was unfortunately a problem with able-bodied people pretending to be disabled to skip lines (because god forbid they not have access to a single thing we have to make our lives livable) so now there's a system where if you cannot wait in a line, they'll basically give you a special time to come back that's equivalent to the length of the line. Which feels fair to me as someone who often cannot be in even an accessible line for extended periods. (I have problems with sunlight, heat, and often need emergency food or restroom.)

More important than all this, though, is the fact that cast members are impeccably well-trained in all of this. Any disabled person can tell you that the most accessible design on earth isn't worth shit if the people working there aren't well-trained. (More on this later, when I take a giant shit on Universal Studios.) But Disney trains their employees, many of whom are disabled themselves, incredibly well.

Every employee will know where the accessible entrances are. Every employee will know the procedure for getting a return time. Every employee will know about first-aid centers, and every employee will know where the quiet areas are for people with sensory issues. Every time you make a reservation for a meal, hotel room, transportation, etc. they will ask for all accessibility needs and they'll be ready for you.

Every waiter you have will be incredibly careful and knowledgeable when it comes to special dietary needs, and chefs will often come out to discuss them with you. They often have specific menus for different dietary needs, and they are scrupulous when it comes to allergens. I have a few intolerances that suck and allergies that could kill me and I have always felt very safe in their hands. This ranges from fancy sit-down restaurants to quick service burger places.

And -- honestly, I have just always been treated with respect. I know that sounds like a low bar, but most people do fail to clear it. Disney has their employees very well-trained on how to interact with disabled guests. People speak directly to me, never to the able-bodied people over my head. They never treat me like I'm a child. They never ask invasive questions or make uncomfortable jokes. They never, ever get impatient with my accessibility needs.

The few times I have misjudged things and have injured myself or gotten extremely ill, they were professional and caring as they provided much-needed first-aid. It's kind of embarrassing to be doted on by a costumed character while you wait for a doctor to come help you sit up again, but also kind of endearing, I'll admit.

They also, in addition to captioning all videos in the park, have some of the best sign language interpreters in the world, bar none. They're very personal and professional, they're easy to reserve, they will always be in a visible place during shows, and they're incredible performers as well as being very technically proficient. In addition to the professional interpreters, many cast members, performers, and characters can sign as well.

In addition to that, and this brings me to my next point, you'll meet a lot of disabled employees throughout the park. In front-facing positions. Deaf employees, employees using mobility aids, etc. They're well-known to hire disabled people and treat them well. This is. Fuck, this is incredibly rare, I say as someone who was never able to find a job in Florida with my health conditions. It's the moral thing to do to hire disabled people, but also -- selfishly, there's something so heartening and normalizing about seeing people who look like you working at the park. I'm happy every single time.

I have a little less personal experience when it comes to accessibility for neurodivergence, despite being neurodivergent myself, but I've been told that Disney is very, very accommodating for people on the spectrum. A lot is done to lessen crowding, waiting, sensory overload, etc. for autistic guests. Cast members are usually super good at this; finding designated quiet areas, helping autistic guests avoid more crowded areas, keeping them out of long lines, making sure they have access to any particular experiences that are special to them, etc.

For folks who need help from their group, whether that's an autistic child who needs to be with a parent or a disabled adult who needs someone to push their wheelchair or anything else, Disney has a rider switch-off model. In other words, if you're there with both of your able-bodied parents, for example, and you need one of them to be with you at all times and you don't want to be on the ride yourself, Disney will allow one person to go on the ride while the other waits for them to finish, then will allow the second person to go on without any additional wait. This makes sure that everyone in the family gets equal access without leaving disabled people alone. (Which... can be a very shitty feeling, I assure you.)

I know that Disney has also pioneered a lot of assistive technology. The accessible rides, obviously, which can be ridiculously cool (like Toy Story Midway Mania has an accessible car with alternative "guns" for people with dexterity limitations so they can play the carnival games as well) but also handheld assistive devices for visually impaired guests, etc. Like they are literally inventing new forms of accessibility technology, which is so cool.

And honestly, I'm always learning about new ways they assist disabled guests. I've stayed in Disney's accessible hotel rooms before (they're very nice!) but I don't like to swim so I've never been in the pools. But even just this week, someone told me that Disney has pool lifts for disabled guests, which I had never even considered. That's so cool.

The best part about accessibility at Disney is that in some ways it's very casual. A lot of their design decisions are so intuitive that you never even notice how accessible the parks are until you go somewhere where that's... not the case.

Like -- just so you don't assume that any of these things are industry standard, let me tell you about the two times I went to Universal, a park very close to Disney. I went there once for an event and once with my family.

The first time I went was for an event at the opening of the Harry Potter park. (This was before JKR made her most appalling views public, to be clear.) It... was frustrating. Guests asked if there would be food and drink available for people with special dietary restrictions (such as sugar-free butterbeer) and were pretty much told that no, that was not something they were interested in pursuing. It became very obvious very quickly that the park itself was so narrow that it only barely fulfilled ADA standards -- when empty. We were told that JKR had actually specifically insisted that it feel "cramped". Which is a nice way to say that I couldn't actually get around in any of the stores while people were in them.

It was overall a frustrating experience, but it was like. One night. I figured it was probably a fluke and they were still ironing out all the details. So I ended up going back with my parents later.

Y'all, it was a shit show.

Broken elevators that prevented disabled guests from accessing rides. Performers being up on raised platforms/sidewalks so disabled guests couldn't get to them. Sidewalks being made inaccessible by putting movable signs directly in the middle of them. Stores (even outside of the HP part) that were so damn narrow that I actually ended up getting hurt trying to navigate one of them. And no -- it was not easy to get first aid.

And my god, was the training bad. We went to one of the new HP rides, asked if there was a specific entrance for disabled guests. We were told no. We waited for a very long time in a line that honestly I shouldn't have been waiting in, but I wanted to be a good sport. I was pretty sick by the time we got through it, and the line itself had some very dangerous inclines/turns for wheelchair users. We get to the front of the line -- and the employee asks why we didn't just use the accessible entrance. 🙃

(Side note: several of their rides are also just unrideable if you don't fit within a pretty narrow body type of thin and able-bodied, so... there's that.)

We'd asked repeatedly and gotten incorrect answers, and I'd been put in physical danger as a result. Wild. I started to notice that if you asked different employees, you'd get different answers about almost anything, really. Just exceptionally poor training. Even stuff that should've been a no-brainer, like loading wheelchair users into a stationary movie theater, ended up creating chaos when they did it incorrectly and we had a giant wheelchair pileup.

Like -- let me stress to you that many of the things that happened could have caused actual injury to people. Some of these situations were dangerous. And some of them were just alienating, like when I'd have to wait outside a store while my family could go in.

I never went back after that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We just kept going to Disney.

One thing that'll probably show how good Disney is at accessibility is the whole Make-A-Wish thing. A lot of people know that it's a popular Make-A-Wish request, and you're likely to see at least a couple kids with Make-A-Wish buttons during your visit if you keep an eye out. One reason for this, is that, y'know, Disney World is fun. Kids want to go there. But more important, I think, is that Disney can accommodate people with at-times severe medical needs. Those kids can safely go anywhere and do anything in those parks that able-bodied kids can, and that's important.

All in all, the parks are just so accessible and you will never, ever be made to feel like you're lesser for needing those accommodations. You will be treated so well and you will not have to worry about accessibility because the cast members are always doing it for you. They'll usher you into the correct entrance as soon as they see a mobility device, and they'll do it with a very warm welcome. It's one of the very few places on earth where I have never felt like a burden.

Again, y'know, I know that Disney does not have a perfect track record on a lot of issues. I would never defend them from rightfully earned criticism. I strongly support labor action against them, and I do think they should be criticized whenever they fuck up. I have been uncomfortable with the sheer amount of power they have both in Florida and in the entertainment world just because no one should have that much power. But I am far more uncomfortable with that power being stripped away for blatantly discriminatory political reasons.

I do have some loyalty to Disney just because there is no other place on earth where I've been able to safely have fun with my friends with so little agony. That's... I mean, it's important, really. To be able to just exist in public without getting grief for it. And I have some loyalty to them because they were a safe space for me as a young, queer kid who was not safe being out in other areas of my life.

(Like, I am talking about actual literal safety. I kept seeing notes on my post saying that Disney didn't care about creating a "safe space for queer people" but as someone who lived in Florida for the entirety of my teenage years? It was the safest goddamn place there.)

I do not have enough loyalty to defend them when they do immoral bullshit, but I do have enough to make sure that people know the good that they do as well.

I want other businesses to follow Disney's model for disability. I will praise them forever for what they've done in that regard because if I don't, there's no reason for other companies to follow suit. I want to praise them for the good things they've done so they have incentive to keep doing it, and other companies have an incentive to do it as well.

Like bro, I just wanna be able to move around and be treated with some dignity, y'know? My bar is so low. lmao

But yeah. That's why you always see so many disabled guests at Disney. It's literally the only place some of us can go to have fun.

[teapartyprincess4two]

Corner Store - C. Sturniolo

pairing: Employee!reader x Coworker!Chris

classification: fluff

warnings: use of y/n, slow build up & slight cursing

summary: Chris is your annoying coworker who always manages to make your shifts a little more miserable than necessary, but it turns out he has a misunderstood crush on you.

—

“That’ll be $10.32,” you say, scanning the last item and looking towards the customer awaiting their form of payment. Your shift seemed to drag on, you had already been here 6 hours and still had 1 more to go before your shift was over. Not like you would be able to leave right away anyways, you always had to wait until the next person scheduled arrived to relieve you. When you checked to see who was scheduled after you, you noticed that Chris, one of the few other people who worked here, was scheduled today. Chris was always late.

You watched as the customer in front of you dug through her purse, struggling to find the correct amount of change. “I swear I have the 32 cents,” she mumbled, fishing around for the loose coins scattered at the bottom of her bag. Your fingers tapped against the counter impatiently as you watched her. How had you gotten yourself stuck in this dead end job?

“Here,” she says, finally finding the correct amount of change. She hands you a quarter, a nickel, and two pennies. She waited for you to cash her out, not realizing that she had yet to hand you the ten dollars. “Hello?! I need the receipt,” her voice holds an impatient tone as her hands point towards the receipt machine aggressively. You sigh, knowing that this interaction could go south quickly if you didn’t choose your next words wisely.

You wanted to reply with, ‘Hello?! I need the ten dollars,’ but your shift was almost over and there was no reason to pick a fight now. “I still need the ten dollars, ma’am,” you replied, using your customer service voice at its fullest potential. She facepalmed, realizing her mistake before responding, “Oops! You’re right, sweetie.” Her hands returned into her purse, this time pulling her wallet out and handing you a ten dollar bill. Without a word you take it from her and cash her out, making sure to hand her the stupid receipt. “Keep the change,” she jokes. The joke feels like a slap to the face, there was no change. There was never change. You wanted to bang your head against the wall.

“Have a good day,” you say, chuckling a bit at her sarcastic joke and offering her a fake smile. She walks out with all her items in hand, the ring of the doorbell letting you know the coast is clear. Once she’s gone you slump back into your stool, pulling your phone out to check the time. 30 more minutes and you’d be free.

You’re about to turn your phone off when you notice a text from your coworker Chris.

Chris (WORK): hey you think you can cover for me? I’m running late lol. I’ll be there in like 30 minutes :p

You were fulling expecting him to be late, but 30 extra minutes sounded like actual hell. You groan, running your hands through your hair in annoyance before replying.

y/n: really bruh :|

Why was it so hard for him to get to work on time? He didn’t even live far, you had dropped him off a few times on the rare occasion you were scheduled to work the same shift and he didn’t have a ride. He lived like a full 5 minutes away, 10 minutes if he walked. The text bubbles would disappear and reappear, indicating that he was typing up his response.

Chris (WORK): sorry, I’m waiting for my brother to pick me up. he’s my ride

Another groan of annoyance escapes your lips, annoyed at the fact that a grown man was still relying on others for transportation. The haunting sound of the doorbell rings again suddenly and catches your attention. A couple had just walked in hand in hand. “Hello!” You greeted them quickly using your standard go-to customer service voice as you watched them disappear to the back of the store. You hated greeting the customers, they always ignored you.

y/n: you always do this bro. you could literally still get here on time if you started walking right now

The customers in the back of the store were laughing loudly, causing you to once again look away from your phone and in their direction. They were horse-playing, pushing and pulling each other playfully around the store. As cute as it was, you could only think about them possibly tipping something over and making a mess. The last thing you needed right now was a big mess to clean up.

Chris (WORK): that’s not true.

Chris (WORK): and nah I’ll just wait for Matt to take me

You didn’t even bother replying to his last message because no matter what you said he would still be late either way. A loud crash echoes from the back of the store, the couple gasping right after. You sit up from your stool and tiptoe, trying to see what they dropped. ‘Hopefully they didn’t break anything,’ you thought, but you knew they had. Before you could examine the situation, the couple was running out of the store giggling and laughing.

When you walked over to where they previously were you saw it, an entire 6-pack of Coors Light busted on the floor. You wanted to scream, the only thoughts running through your mind being about how much you hated this job. Somehow this all felt like Chris’s fault because his shift started in five minutes and if you weren’t so busy texting him back you might’ve caught the couple in time to warn them to stop.

“Stupid Chris,” you whispered in annoyance as you bent down to pick the beer cans up. The beer dripped down your arm and onto the floor as you rushed it over to the trash can. You really, really hated this job right now.

—

By the time Chris finally arrived it was well over 45 minutes since your shift was meant to end. You were still cleaning up the mess from before, using bleach and the dirty mop from the supply closet to try and remove as much of the sticky residue as possible.

Chris rushed inside, buttoning up his uniform shirt in the process. Once inside he immediately looked around, trying to find you to let you know he was there and you could leave. “Y/n, where you at?” He called through the store, peering easily over the shelves as he tried to find you. But because you were hunched over scrubbing as hard as possible to clean up the liquid mess on the floor, he couldn’t see you.

He walked down the aisles, picking up a bag of chips on the way. He opened the bag, popping a chip in his mouth as he continued to the back of the store. When he found you, he didn’t even comment on what you were doing, instead letting you know that you were free to go, “hey thanks bro, you’re good to go.” You stood up straight with the mop in your right hand and the bleach bottle in the other as you rolled your eyes at his comment.

A chip fell from his mouth, landing on the floor. This irked you even more. Not only was he 45 minutes late, but now he was actively adding to the mess you were trying to clean up. “Here,” you say sternly, shoving the mop and bleach spray towards him and snatching the bag of chips he was holding.

“Hey! I was eating those!” He exclaims, attempting to grab them back from you. “Bye Chris,” you reply, already beginning to walk off, eating a chip in the process. You quickly learned that you didn’t even like this chip flavor, but you couldn’t stand looking at Chris’s face right now so you took them simply to mess with him. “Wait! You didn’t finish cleaning this up!” He called back, looking between you and the mess on the floor. The mop felt so foreign in his hands, he never mopped. You or one of your other coworkers always did that, but never Chris.

“I’m good to go!” You replied, quoting his own words as you pushed the front door and walked out, the doorbell ringing in the process. You threw the bag of chips away on the way to your car. Now it was Chris’s turn to be haunted by the doorbell.

—

The next day you were off so you decided to focus your energy on studying and binge watching your favorite tv shows. You had a few exams coming up so you made a mental note to specifically study for those. You hadn’t even reached the end of the first day when you received a call from Chris.

You debated on whether or not you should answer it, knowing it had to be a work related call. ‘Someone probably called in,’ you thought. You weighed out the pros and cons quickly in your head. ‘Pros? I answer this call and get more hours. More hours equals more money,’ you thought. On the other hand, the cons were never ending. ‘Cons? everything.’

After letting it ring five times, you picked up the phone and placed it on your ear, “Hello?” You could faintly hear the hum of the convenience store refrigerators in the background along with loud chewing. Chris was definitely eating yet another snack. “Y/n, Marcus called in again. Do you think you can come in?” Chris asks, getting straight to the point.

Why was everyone at your job so unreliable? “Umm I don’t know, I’m pretty busy right now,” you replied, staring at the exam notes sprawled out in front of you on your bed. “You don’t sound busy,” he said sassily and followed it with loud crinkling noises as he tried reaching the chip at the bottom of the bag. “What’s that supposed to mean?” You sounded offended but Chris didn’t notice. He mostly wanted you to come in so he wouldn’t have to get through this shift alone. Of course he could’ve called someone else to come in, but for whatever reason he found himself calling you.

Today was Friday and although your store was generally slow, Fridays tended to pick up around 5pm when everyone was either getting off work or picking their kids up from school. “It means that you don’t sound busy,” he replied again, still crinkling his chip bag. His fingers were so greasy at this point that he kept missing the last chip every time he almost had it.

“I mean, what are you even doing right now? Studying?” He asked again. It was a rhetorical question, but the answer was yes. A loud crunch was heard through the speaker, he finally found that one straggling chip and was now incessantly chewing on it. ‘Lucky guess,’ you thought as you began piling all your notes together in embarrassment. “I’ll be there in 20,” you replied, wanting nothing more than to end this conversation.

“You’re studying aren’t you,” he chuckles, crumpling the chip bag, creating a make-shift basketball. He sits in the stool, shifting his body in the direction of the trash can that sat in the corner so he could throw his bag away. “Shut up,” you grumble, getting up from your bed to start getting ready.

“KOBE!” He shouts, throwing the bag in the direction of the trash can with a swift flick of his wrist. He missed terribly and the bag hit the floor with a soft thud.

—

You arrive to work 20 minutes later, mentally preparing yourself for the long 8 hour shift ahead of you. When you walked inside you noticed Chris had a long line of customers forming, all of them holding a multitude of items. Dread filled your body as you realized that you actually had to work and couldn’t just sit there as you waited for your shift to end.

You made your way behind the counter and situated yourself to the right of Chris, motioning for the next customer in line towards your register. “I can help who’s next in line,” you said loudly. The next customer quickly shuffled over to you, dumping all their things on the counter for you to scan.

The rush doesn’t last long, both you and Chris checking customers out quickly and efficiently in order to get them out the door as fast as possible. “Thanks for coming in,” Chris finally says, watching as you grab a box of candy from under the counter. The box is heavy, causing you to heave slightly when you pick it up. Chris notices this and quickly sits up off his stool to help you with the box. “Yeah, it’s whatever,” you reply nonchalantly, allowing him to help you pick the box up.

He’s now holding the box with ease before inquiring what your intentions with this box of candy were, “you gonna stock up?” You hum in response, ready to take the box back from him so you could begin stocking up the now bare candy shelves around the store. He notices this and offers to help carry it around for you. It was the least he could do after calling you in on your day off. “I got it,” he says, adjusting his arms so the box is comfortable enough to carry around.

“Thanks,” your reply is simple, they always were. Chris had never been able to break through to you on a personal level. Throughout your shifts you would always make small talk to pass the time and he was able to learn small details about your life, but he was never was able to learn anything truly personal about you. On one occasion, for example, he learned that you were working here to pay for your school, but he never learned what you were going to school for. Another time he also learned that you had a dog, but you never told him its name.

All your other coworkers had opened up to him with ease, sharing personal details about their life and even trauma dumping a few times. He wondered why you were always so distant. He wanted to get to know you better, but he didn’t know how.

Chris follows behind you as you stock up the shelves, watching as you organize the rows neatly before moving on to the next. He catches sight of a package of Twizzlers, deciding he was going to use this as his talking point. “These are my favorite candies,” he comments, handing you the package so you can organize it onto the shelf. You don’t even respond, you just continue working like some type of task bot.

He sighs quietly, wondering if he should’ve asked someone else to come in for Marcus. Chris wants to give up, but he decided to try again, “What’s your favorite candy, y/n?” The question causes you to pause. ‘If I wanted to be quizzed, I would’ve stayed home to study,’ you thought, already wishing that these next 8 hours would just be over.

“Um… I don’t know? M&M’s are okay, I guess,” you respond, providing him with a half-ass answer in hopes that he’ll take the hint and stop asking questions. He doesn’t.

“What color M&M is your favorite?” He asks, thinking about the different M&M characters from the commercials. “I don’t know, they all taste the same to me,” you quipped back, trying to focus on neatly organizing the shelves in front of you. He was still trudging behind you and although the box he was holding became lighter with each candy you removed, it was still heavy. He adjusted the box again and pulled it up higher against his chest.

“No, I meant like the characters,” he laughs, his mind replaying all those funny commercials where the M&M’s are getting into trouble. You were silent, seemingly confused with whatever he was talking about. “You know! From the commercials!” He sounds excited, hoping that you know what he’s talking about so he doesn’t sound like an idiot. You don’t remember but decide to just go along with him for the sake of your own sanity, “oh yeah, the red one was pretty cool.”

He scoffs at this response, pretending to act offended, “the orange one was clearly the best.” You chuckle at this and it instantly puts a smile on his face. Finally he was getting somewhere with you.

Chris would be lying if he said he didn’t find you pretty. You were the prettiest girl who worked here, which really wasn’t saying much considering the only other woman who worked here was a 65 year old named Gladys, but he’d been around town and he could never find a single girl hotter than you. So, yes, he’d sneak a few glances your way here and there and was always excited to come into work when you were scheduled. Sometimes he would even come in on his days off to buy a soda for an excuse to see you.

You found Chris attractive too, but you mostly found him annoying. He had a pretty terrible work ethic and every time you worked with him it felt like you were stuck doing all the hard labor. Not to mention the fact that he was always running late, forcing you to cover for him until he arrived. Plus he was always snacking on something and leaving his crumbs all over the place for you to clean. Despite all this, he did have his few good moments. Like right now when he’s helping you carry the heaviest box in the store.

“I knew I could make you laugh,” he comments, handing you the last package of candy in the box. You roll your eyes at his comment before responding, “it doesn’t take much to make me laugh, kid.” Your comment was meant to push his buttons, but he didn’t mind the challenge. “Is that a challenge?” He asks, a small smirk growing on his face as he wiggles his eyebrows at you. This earns him another eye roll from you.

“I’d like to see you try,” you respond with a cheeky smile as you take the empty box from him so you can throw it away. Chris watches as you walk away, feeling absolute smitten by you and confident in his skills to make you laugh at least one more time in the next eight hours.

‘This is going to be fun,’ he thought.

—

Chris spends the next 8 hours of your shift trying to make you laugh. He tells bad jokes, pulls silly faces, and even does stupid little dances all in an attempt to see you smile. You laughed at his first joke, but it was quiet enough for him to miss it. You were grateful for that because it egged him on.

“C’mon y/n! Just one little laugh, one giggle, a chuckle even,” he pleads, walking closer to you from behind the counter. You shake your head playfully as you sit back in your stool and face him. He inches closer once again as his mind comes up with the perfect plan of action to get you to laugh,, “what if I do this!”

He pounces on you, using his fingers to poke at your sides as he tickles you. Immediately you burst into a fit of laughter as you attempt to push his hands away, but he uses his strength to keep them in place. “Chris! Stop!” you say in between laughter. He has the biggest smile on his face because he finally got to hear you laugh after so many failed attempts.

Chris continues to tickle you, failing to notice how your body is beginning to slide off the stool. Before he knows it, you’re leaning backwards and heading straight for the floor beneath you. You shriek at the feeling and reach forward to latch yourself onto Chris’s arms to prevent yourself from falling. He immediately stops tickling you and grabs you firmly by the waist, catching you before you can slip off the chair completely.

At this point his forehead is flush against yours, both your eyes locked in a heated stare as your breath fans against his lips. You tried catching your breath, both from the laughing and from the scare you’d just gotten. The moment feels so intense and intimate, all Chris can think about is how easy it would be to kiss you.

‘Fuck it,’ he thinks as he closes his eyes, ready to lean forward and capture your lips in his before he can psych himself out. You do the same, too lost in the moment to realize that you were about to kiss Chris, your coworker who you found annoying up until a few hours ago. Before your lips can meet, the sound of the doorbell rings through the store causing you to break away as quickly as possible.

You both look towards the front door, fully expecting a customer to be standing there but you’re met with nothing. It was just the wind from outside, it had pushed the door open slightly and triggered the doorbell.

Both of you cough awkwardly, deciding to avoid each other for the rest of your shift.

—

Finally, your shift is over. You and Chris worked together silently to close the store up and restock any bare shelves. Once you grab your things you prepare to walk outside and over to your car. Chris was outside already on the phone near the gas pumps. He was calling his brother to pick him up, but he wasn’t picking up.

When you make your way outside, you use your keys to lock the doors behind you. As you fumble with the keys you hear Chris muttering something under his breath before groaning. You turn to walk over to your car, ready to leave without Chris, but as you reach for the door handle you stop to look in his direction one last time. He’s now sitting on the curb, looking in the opposite direction of you. He’s debating in his head whether he should ask you for a ride or just walk home in the dark.

You watch as he gets up abruptly as he decides he was just going to walk home. He couldn’t bare having to sit in a car with you after what happened today. The guilt ate at you, causing you to offer him a ride. “Need a ride?” You shouted in his direction, waiting patiently for him to turn around and acknowledge you. Immediately his head turned in your direction at the question. He silently thanked God for your offer because he really didn’t want to walk home, but he was to embarrassed to ask for a ride. This also meant that you probably weren’t as upset with him as he thought you were. In reality you weren’t mad at all, but you did feel a little awkward.

He jogged over to your car, standing in front of the passenger side door awkwardly almost like he was waiting for permission to get in. “You getting in?” You asked as you opened the your car door and hopped in. “Oh. Um, yeah,” he stutters before following suit and getting in the passenger seat.

The ride to his house is silent, the only noises being the radio and the sound of the car engine. Considering he doesn’t live far, it doesn’t take long for you to arrive to his house. You pull up to the side of the street and place the car in the park, waiting for him to thank you and get out like he always does when you drive him home. He doesn’t immediately get out though, instead he sits in the passenger seat quietly as he rubs his clammy hands against his thighs to relieve some of the anxiety building up inside of him.

Chris’s mind is racing a mile a minute as he thinks of all the possibilities this night could lead to. He could get out of the car, leaving you with nothing but a simple thank you and then let your relationship return to normal. Or, he could do the unthinkable and gain an outstanding reward in return. Whatever he chose, he knew he’d have to deal with the consequences and right now he was willing to gamble.

“You good?” You ask him as you shift in your seat to gain a better look at his face. He looks so nervous that you almost don’t recognize him because it completely contrasts his usual energetic and confident demeanor. “Yeah, I just-“ he’s struggling to find the right words, afraid to say the wrong thing and ruin it all. “You just?” You push, wanting to know what he’s getting at.

Chris sighs, taking one last pause to gather his thoughts before completely shifting towards you. His eyes pierce into yours as he searches them trying to gauge whether his next move will affect his chances at a future with you. Upon further inspection, he decides to just do it.

“I just-” he begins to say but cuts himself off by planting his lips on yours. You’re caught by surprise at his actions, eyes widening in shock and arms falling stiff to your sides. His hands move up to your face, cupping your cheek in an attempt to get you closer, but once he realizes you’re not kissing him back he completely pulls away from you.

It took you a while to process what had just happened; Chris just kissed you! Despite your reaction, you were satisfied with the outcome of the night. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have-” he begins to apologize, but you interrupt him this time. Your lips are back on his, both your hands cupping his face to keep him as close to you as possible. A sigh of relief escapes him, his warm breath landing on your lips. He melts into your touch, placing one of his hands on yours that rested on his face. Chris tasted like candy which only made you want the kiss that much more.

Finally you two pull away from the kiss, letting go of each other slowly. He has a goofy smile on his face as he stares at you, taking in every aspect of your being. “Stop looking at me like that,” you giggle, covering your face in embarrassment.

He laughs along with you, pulling your hands away from your face before replying, “see, I told you I’d make you laugh.” You roll your eyes, moving your face closer to his once again.

“Shut up,” you whisper, kissing him for the third time that night.

—

A/n: I wrote a Matt story so yk I had to write a Chris story. Nick is next don’t worry lololol. Also, I’ve seen your requests/ anon messages and trust that I’m gonna respond to those too! Thanks for reading 🩵enjoy girlies!

- L.A.M.B👼🏻💗

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

Here's a fun (modern au) one: full hc for the M6's airport/airplane flight experience >:3

The Arcana HCs: M6 at the airport

~ loosely referencing this old ask arcana post from the nix hydra era - @themushroomgoesyeet hope you like this friend! I had so much fun writing it!! ^.^ ~

Julian

Does Julian love the concept of flying through the air as a mode of transportation, travel, and adventure in general? Sure!

Does that mean he does well with it? Not at all

Major flight anxiety and will cope with it to varying degrees of healthy depending on who he's with and what his options are

If you're the sort of person to pack soothing gummies and noise cancelling headphones with pre-downloaded guided meditation tracks and some sleep meds, he'll be all over them

If you're the sort of person who doesn't mind a drink or two before a flight just to soothe the nerves - well - he won't say no to that, either. Just make sure he's sober by the time you land, so he doesn't take a ride on the luggage carousel out of relief

Can and will grip your hand during take off and landing and then apologize when it briefly cuts off your blood circulation

Always offers to put up at least three people's luggage for them in the overhead bins and drops at least one on his head

Asra

They are one of those very weird people who think airplanes, airports, and any public area of transportation are relaxing

He's in tie-dye loungewear, a neck pillow, crocs, fuzzy socks, hair pushed out of his face with a sleeping mask-turned-headband, a rolling duffle bag dragged by one hand and a snack in the other

They are v i b i n g

Misses flights way less than you would expect him to, mostly because he's so familiar with all the major airports at this point that he has boarding just in time down to a fine science

And when they do miss a flight, it turns into an extended chillout session because they know all the best hangout spots there

His capacity to fall asleep anywhere, anytime works in his favor on cramped flights beautifully

They've started a new tradition with you of looking through all the available in-flight entertainment and picking what promises to be the cringiest movie, just to make you laugh with their commentary

Nadia

Her usual reason for flying is business, which is exactly how she approaches the entire traveling process

Her luggage is all one elegant, efficient set (she has bought you a matching one) with personalized tags for ease of spotting

Always purchases business class tickets, refuses to take any chances on missing her special traveling experience and arrives at the airport three hours early as a result

There are multiple reasons for this - first, less stress at security, second, she has one of those fancy passes that gets her into just about any exclusive club lounge in the world

Enjoys the hour or two pampering you in the lounge with nothing else to do more than she does any other part of the travel

Won't hesitate to critique/send back her meal on the airplane if she doesn't like it, tends to load up on sleeping meds for longer flights since the fluctuating air pressure triggers her migraines

Brings an extra skincare routine for you to do during the last hour

Muriel

Look at him. Do you see him? Look at him. Now look at the size of an airplane interior. Look at him again. Now look at the amount of available legroom. Look at him again. HE IS 6'10.

Muriel would prefer almost any form of transportation to flying. It's busy, security makes him move too fast, all the signs and bustle of the airport are hell on his anxiety, and that's before boarding

Always tries to get an aisle seat because that lets him expand into the walkway if he needs to, and so he's less likely to glance out the window and see just how far away the ground is

The ground belongs right here. Under his feet. Not a terrifying drop down through the clouds!!

The airplane experience is sensory hell for him in general, the deafening sound of the engines, the constant vibration, the recycled air, the ways his ears pop, the stiff seats, the armrests -

Really the only way he'll get through this is if he knows there's no other options and if you're next to him as his emotional support

Portia

An airport champion

And it's really not from that much experience. She's traveled enough to know she likes it, but it's still so exciting every time she gets the chance to fly somewhere! Especially with you!!

Has done all of her research ahead of time and is packed for everything. Her massive mom bag has pockets for snacks, documents, meds, chargers, electronics, drinks, travel cushions ...

Does get restless before a flight and will drag you all up and down the terminal to take a look at every single shop and restaurant

The type to start chatting with whoever's in line with her, whether in security lines, bathroom lines, coffee lines, or boarding lines

Will befriend whoever is sitting next to/across from her and spend half the flight getting to know them and trading stories

Will offer to hold any nearby crying baby if said baby's caregiver could clearly use five minutes to use the restroom or eat

Takes so many pictures out the airplane window

Lucio

Traveling is one of those things that he tries (and fails) to hide his excitement around. In his mind, this is something that he as a worldly, well-traveled person should be nonchalant about

He is not nonchalant. He is thrilled to be doing something fairly exciting and to spend a whole day with excuses to be in close quarters with you - and to book a first-class ticket

The only issue is that (if it's left unchecked) his FOMO will prompt him to try to squeeze every single thing to do out of the terminal before he boards the plane, which can end in missing his flight

Massage chairs! You two should definitely get a massage

A massive perfume section! You two should sample five each

Gets extremely impatient during the boarding process and will start grumbling and fidgeting in place when the person in front of him is taking forever to put up their luggage

Laughs loudly enough at the comedy he picks to watch for the whole airplane to hear him

[pestorik]

Hello! Can you give some crumbs on Trey in the twst adventure time AU? I love his concept so much and I want to hear more on it even if it isn’t a lot 💚

-Starved Trey fan looking for crumbs :>

i aim to please, anon!

there would be an episode where garden prince, ace, and deuce all go to treys house for a sleepover, in an effort for GP to live out all the childhood experiences he never got to have bc of his mother. it is then revealed trey snores like a hibernating grizzly bear and the rest of them are unable to sleep so they stay up all night playing party games.

treys employees seen in the character art are: spike the potted plant, marigold the bird, cay cay the carrot (i wonder who named him), and dan the durian. in one episode dan the durian gets broken open and smells so bad that he drives away customers and trey guiltily puts him on leave until his shell grows back. cue dan storyline where he wanders Ooo searching for a way to mask his stench.

it is revealed at some point that he has an entire armory hidden under his bakery, which he seems embarrassed of.

garden prince at one point coerces him into taking up the position of a knight in service of the garden kingdom. trey considers himself a pacifist (he's not, its just an excuse to not get involved) so he's very reluctant. he spends the entire episode walking around the kingdom looking for knight stuff to do, at the end of which he and GP agree that the garden kingdom doesnt really have any threats and he goes back to his bakery.

people think cater was the one who ended their relationship bc he cant handle commitment but really it was a lot more complicated on both ends. most ppl dont know the full details, including riddle, who is wary of cater bc he thinks he hurt trey. cater and trey remain awkward friends without ever addressing the elephant in the room, lowkey avoiding each other.

has a weird friendship w rook, nobody understands it not even trey. rook stops by at extremely inconvenient times asking for favors. there isnt any obvious reason for the favor (a carton of eggs, a sack of flour, etc) and trey doesnt ask questions. in exchange rook doesnt cause problems for him.

recruited deuce to deliver for him bc he knew deuce was trying to be a better person and felt like having a job would help him. ace also frequently calls him to get them out of trouble, he's like their big brother who has to pay their bail.

his parents are retired and he took over the bakery from them.

at one point he has to visit a neighboring kingdom to get some special ingredients. he doesnt usually travel so needs transportation. cater offers a ride on his skateboard but trey doesnt like heights so ace and deuce let him borrow their caterpillar. entire episode is him not knowing how to direct the caterpillar and it takes him through the woods where he gets beat up by nature and does not get his ingredients.

that's all i got for now! give me enough time and there will eventually be more

[jasntodds]

hey pooks. as an Okie trust me i get the tornado watch and im so sorry. but to kinda tie that in how would jay react to a very southern reader. like accent and all. grew up in rodeos. was one of the rodeo girls where they do the performances between rides and all that. i need more non-city representation. 🫶🏼

Ugh I’m so sorry I’m sure you have to deal with them way more than I do!! I hope you like this though!! As someone who’s lived in the middle of nowhere for 20 years, we do need more non-city representation 😭

masterlist | tag list | requests: open

As a city boy, born and raised, his general knowledge of anything southern US mostly comes from the occasional person he’d run into or things in books or movies which aren’t the most accurate sometimes. So, when he meets you and you actually want to talk and get to know him, it opens him up to a completely different world than the one he’s used to.

Of course, the first thing he notices is the accent. It’s wildly different than the typical New Jersey accent he’s heard his entire life. The accent catches him off guard at first but in a way that nearly makes him smile. He finds it cute and as typical as it sounds, he even finds it charming but especially on you.

Jason’s not much of a talker to be begin with, especially just getting to know people but the drawl of your accent has him hooked. He’s got the biggest heart eyes, hanging onto every word that leaves your mouth.

When you tell him about the rodeo, he does a double take. Of course, he knows they’re real but they do not have them in Gotham and they’ve seemed like such a foreign concept to him. You mention it more off-handed as something you’ve always enjoyed and it’s where you grew up, going all the time but that sparks a very long discussion with Jason asking a ton of questions about the different events.

And him finding out you were a rodeo girl, he’s somehow even more fascinated. Prior to you explaining it, he didn’t know that aspect of rodeos was real. He wants to know everything there is to know about it and he just lets you ramble while he’s taking mental notes. He might even have a curiosity if you still happen to remember any of your performances.

You describe this completely different world to him even outside of the rodeo like having to take backroads most places and public transport not being widely accessible. You describe a world that’s quiet and not always so bright. Crickets and the occasional goat or horse making noise are all that fill most evenings. The moon and stars illuminate the sky most nights. Maybe a bit inconvenient being out of the city sometimes, but overall incredibly peaceful, something Jason has always craved. that he’d never really thought too much about.

He’s a city boy, born and raised and he never questioned it all too much. But hearing you talk and learning what, at least part of the US south can be like, he’s finding himself more and more interested. He’d definitely be making plans to find a reason to go south just to see it all for himself and to experience it with you.

[kenandeliza]

A Marvel Family Fantasy AU

A few days ago, I randomly dreamt of Drawing Billy and Tawny in a fantasy setting.

Billy was this kid wizard and Tawny was his companion (or an animal to ride on like a horse)

Then it got me thinking, maybe in this setting, Mary could be someone of high status in this fantasy setting (since she's in a rich family in the golden age comics)

I'm inclined to think Freddy would be a captain of a ship for irony-sake but I have a feeling pirates and fantasy settings don't match well?

It's just funny for me to think of him with a peg leg xD

After further discussion with @the-brash-spud :

Warning: Too many text :>

These are the ideas we have so far (if there are quotation marks, those ideas belonged to @the-brash-spud ):

—

Maybe Billy and Mary were prince and princess separated by birth, (i'm not sure if its a kidnapping or the baby got lost on his own) but the wizard founded billy and trained him.

At the ripe age of (insert young age below a teenager's), The wizard decided to grant him the power of shazam to turn him into the world's mightiest Wizard!

Captain Marvel!

Wizard dies and then Billy and Tawny have adventures together, maybe helping people along the way (maybe somehow found out that Mary is his sister :p idk)

“ I think you could go angst if you made the wizard get brutally hurt in a battle to protect Billy and the rock of eternity so in a last ditch effort he transports the rock to its own pocket of existence and then giving Billy powers of shazam because its as ready as he'll be able to make the kid :) and it's his last effort for Billy to be protected even if he has to do so himself because he has failed :)) made Billy cry as Wizard turns into dust in Billy’s hands :)))”

—

Uncle marvel can be a con-man/thief who took pity on Billy or realiz, teaching Billy that the world isn't always honest and he's like, "Billy, don't always give money to the poor on the streets, sometimes they faked their illness to be lazy”

" Billy: "The man in the shadowy corner needs my help."

Uncle: "No, the hell he doesn't!”"

—-

How Billy Met Freddy

Billy probably met Freddy in a bar fight. How did the kid get into a bar?

Billy looked at the man exiting the pub with a bottle.

Billy: Ohh! So this is where you get refreshments here! I wonder If they have enough Milk for Tawny..

Pub sign written NO KIDS ALLOWED!"

*Billy can only read magic scrolls and not regular alphabet*

Cue him meeting Freddy (who's armwrestling with one of the people there)

(Insert Bar fight for some reason because The child decided to drink a white cocktail thinking it was milk and the fact that Billy is a Kid)

“Freddie is definitely that kid having his ass thrown out of the bar/pub/inn”

I'd like to think he and his brother are a team, prolly sailed a ship together.

“Yes, they target slave ships. Unless you wanna go different routes. Then, he is focused on certain nations' flags that have a whole lot of red in them

Also, he goes to the bars just to start bar fights over drunks being mean/nasty to the landlady. The landlady doesn't appreciate it bc now she has a broken table and four broken chairs”

Freddy faces the Captain Nazi equivalent of a pirate [Captain Arian? Like Aryan?] XD, Freddy lost his leg the same way, from his encounter with Captain Arian.

Kit (probably a necromancer or a ghost who's cursed to be bound in the ship Freddy's in, making Freddy more attached to the ship) can still summon crewmembers.

Maybe they both meet mary during the birthday ceremony parade

Maybe Mary snuck off from her family (disguise herself as a regular girl, i know, generic plot) and then meet Billy accidentally

Billy: It's my birthday today!

Mary: What a coincidence! It's mine too!

The-brash-spud: “Billy, in his innocence, thinks ,"There must be something to us sharing birthdays!" While Freddy calls him stupid, Billy tries to get a look at the princes and then cue the lung-fu panda rocket incident, but maybe something else more fitting with Freddy being pulled along”

On an unrelated note, i think Billy knew about Freddy's peg legafter either a pirate slashed it clean and Freddy just used it to bonk his head.

Billy is still screaming from the shock and immediately casted healing spells (i'd like to think everything about billy is lightning based- so yes getting struck by lightning is a healing spell for him :D) Freddy got shocked lmao

And what about boarding Tawny on the ship?

Billy:"Please???"

Freddy: "I'm not letting a tiger into my ship."

Kit who absolutely adores animals: "YES"

Freddy:"NO!”

Kit:" Does he love belly rubs??"

Billy:" yes but you have to ask him politely for his permission-”

Freddy rolled his eyes, realizing he has to clean cat fur everyday off from the furnitures.

___

How did Mary, a royalty tag along with a kid wizard and a pirate?

“Yeah, I guess forced separation would work better. Hell, go with a scenario that will allow them to have Mary with the parents' blessings as long as she's kept safe (she isn't, but that's because she is the danger herself)”

Mary and Billy: "Yay adventure"

Freddy: "Oh great, now I have to take care of two kids and a tiger in my ship!?"

*Freddy looking at Kit and the kids + a tiger playing together, kit seems happy*

Freddy: "...i guess it's alright..”

___

How Freddy and Mary found out about the wizard?

“Hmmmm, maybe Billy takes them to the rock because they were in a pickle, and unforeseen effects happen?

They got surrounded maybe?

Also I can see the aftermath

"You were raised by THE Wizard!? THE Wizard?! A Wizard of legends so often told he is recognisable even if his name was lost?!"

"Oh, his name is Shazam-" *BANG*”

____

Hopefully i could draw these AU ideas, I don't plan on making this into a story, i just like the concept that my dream gave my a few days ago and I’m just expanding it. Sorry for too many text xD

I don't mind if you want to add something to this silly lil AU, It's just a fun thing for me to do :p

[t34-mt]

kyhuine mount, after so long (1 year?) ive finally updated its look + their name gets an update too: kriihan in kyhuine, sometimes called mamui ("our gift") in maanul

the "beak" is actually their front teeth, each year a new layer of keratin grows on top. They might be "related" to maanul in kyhuines, by that i mean like how lemurs and humans are both from the primates family but widely different/distant from each other.

kyhuines are around 110-120 cm on average (3 feet 11 1/4 inches or whatever that works), and their mounts are around 2 meters (6 feet 6). Maanuls couldn't be able to ride them as they were almost the same size as the mounts.

kyhuine mounts are used to transport people and materials, keep livestock protected as when having one or two live alongside herd of other domesticated animals will protect them as they consider them a part of their "flock", small breeds (prob the size of a male maanul) also used as mobility assistance pet in some regions as they're easier to train for that than kitri are but they take much space so in the city of kaar'kchir it would be complicated to own one in streets while in large open villages or in semi-nomadic kyhuine villages it would be easier to have one.

They can be used as animal sacrifices in some regions, animal sacrifices aren't a thing every kyhuine population does it's mainly an eastern one. Though kriihans are rare to see in sacrifices as they're so useful for many reasons, if sacrificed it's an old individual that will be.

Late AOS, first contact, kyhuines gifted some of their mounts to maanuls, which is why maanuls might call the mounts mamui "our gifts". And while for the most part, they weren't so useful since maanuls spend their time at sea, and live at cliffs. They were useful to people who would travel out in the land like for example "botanists" or central north maanuls who are half nomadic and will travel to 2 spots per year because of season and temperatures. But they could only transport materials rather than people with the kyhuine mount.

Thus northern maanuls made their own breed, much bigger so it could transport people. Tho, they would keep many kyhuine breed ones around to just transport materials. And have several maanul breeds only to transport young tired maanuls or maanuls with mobility issues that would prevent them from walking/walking long distances when migrating, before they had mamui central north maanuls used a sort of pulled rickshaw to transport people when migrating. it is still quite common to see because not every central north colony has mounts, and in general pulled various types of rickshaws are common on altuyur.

I will try to take inspiration from the Belgian Draft Horses when i design them, a maanul's kriihan would look like a behemoth next to a kyhuine. i still don't know how saddles work, i need to figure out how a dinosaur shaped creature would ride another dinosaur/ostrich shaped creature

[staytinyville]

Stay Alive (23)

BTS poly!ot7 x Reader

Magical Creatures AU

Series Masterlist

Warnings: smut (MDNI), piv, unprotected sex (we don't do that here), Jungkook is kind of out of it, heat like symptoms,

A/N Yall ready for this??

Walking into your work area and finding your boss speaking with the nurses was not what you were expecting. You felt your chest tightened, being reminded what it was this man was doing to all those people underground. You knew he left you unsettled for a reason. You had no reason not to trust your gut instinct. And now that the boys made everything come to light you knew why that was. 

You still tried your best to give a smile though, forcing your lips to pull up. The other nurses were chatting just fine with him, which made you wonder if they too knew what he was doing. You realized they did if one of the nurses knew about Yoongi’s eating habits. Were you the only one who didn’t know about the whole thing?

“Ah, good morning, (Y/N).” Hanseol smiled at you.

“Sir.” You greeted, bowing your head. 

“How was your commute?” He asked you, walking over to your desk.

You breathed deeply, not wanting to meet the man in the eye. The hair’s on your arm seemed to have raised, causing you to frown at the obvious fear. You didn’t want to show it and you hoped no one noticed it. 

“It was fine.” You nodded at him. “Public transport at morning rush hour, as you can imagine.”

“Oh yes.” Hanseol grinned. I” could never ride on a public bus. No, thank you.” He scoffed lightly, causing those around you to laugh. 

You smiled, adding in a light laugh. You noticed how he seemed to keep his eyes on you, not moving from your area. “What brings you to the office?” You asked him politely. 

“I've come to speak to you.” He smiled like he had been waiting for you to say something. “Do you mind if I walk with you?” He placed his hands behind his back

You cleared your throat, gathering all the papers you need for Namjoon and Jungkook. “Not at all.” You told him.

You really were trying your best not to give him a reason to suspect him. Hopefully he was thinking of something else when he came to see you. This was the fourth time you’ve seen him in the past couple of weeks. All of which he seemed to have called for you. If he was going to fire you, you really hoped it was because of something else and not because you were thinking about breaking the boys out. 

He quietly was humming to himself as you took the elevator down, feeling a bit awkward over him standing next to you. He wasn’t a large man. He looked exactly how you would think a villain who had a larger partner would. The man was someone of science, so he looked exactly how you would imagine. 

You kept your eyes on the doors, but you could feel his stare on the side of your face. He squinted his eyes at you before making small talk. 

“Humans are such fragile things.” He started. “Anything can hurt them.” 

You turned to him with your eyebrows pulled together. “I can snap my fingers and you can die in an instant.” 

Your eyes went wide. “I'm sorry?” You questioned, breath caught in your throat. 

You felt fear seize in your chest, stopping your heart for just a fraction of a second. 

“Humans.” He tilted his head to the side. “They are so weak.” 

He grew closer to you, quickly taking a hold of your wrist. You gasped trying to pull yourself free. You began to wince as his fingers tightened themselves around your skin, making sure to leave marks. 

“You're human, (Y/N). Right?” He asked himself, trying to get you to look into his eyes. 

“You're hurting me.” You whimpered, pulling at your hand again. 

“Exactly.” He scoffed. “That's the point.” 

He raised up his other hand, sticking his pointer finger out as his nail seemed to grow into a sharp point.  The elevator had stopped at that point, opening up to the lobby of the facility. However he kept you in the lift, his hold tight. 

“A little knick here and you will bleed to death.” He spoke, dragging his nail lightly down your arm in a vertical line. “But I won't do that to you.” 

He quickly pulled back, not before giving the inside of your wrist a scratch deep enough to cause blood to drip down. You flinched back, feeling the warm liquid drip. It felt like a slice on a knife from washing dishes.  Essentially the pain went away the moment he pulled back. It wasn’t even half an inch long, but it was enough to cause a wound.

“You're too precious to those boys.” He dragged the pointed finger down your cheek, causing you to sob silently. 

“You won't do anything to jeopardize your job will you? No, of course you won't.” He tutted. With a harsh tug of your cheeks, he made you look into his red eyes. “You're a hard worker, (Y/N). Thank you for what you do here.”

Your shoulders suddenly dropped as everything from your body slipped away. Your mind went blank and you were left an empty shell. However you quickly came back, frowning when you noticed your boss in front of you. You hadn’t remembered what it was you were doing with him but once again you were unsettled. 

“Of course.” You answered him. “You're welcome.”

“Run along now.” He patted your shoulder, stepping out the elevator. “You're gonna want to get that fixed up.” He pointed to your arm.

You frowned deeply when you noticed the small on the side of your wrist. You couldn’t remember getting the injury, which left you baffled. “Yeah.” You whispered. 

You made your way to Jungkook’s room, rushing to make sure you didn’t spill any of your blood onto the floor. You held your hand over the wound, wincing a bit from the pressure but it kept the liquid from dripping and pouring out more. 

As you walked into the boy’s room, he was quick to run towards you and take your hand at the smell of blood. He was baffled at the fact that Yoongi hadn’t smelled it the moment you walked past his door. 

“(Y/N)! What happened!?” He cried. “Who did this to you?”

“I—I can't remember.” Your bottom lip trembled, feeling like you did the other day when Hobi told you about the spell mark. “I was talking with Doctor Hanseol-”

“How dare he touch you!” Jungkook’s growl startled you, making you flinch. “He probably erased your memory.”

The boy began to hold onto your hand tightly, eyes growing wide at the sight of the bruises forming on your wrist. It only seemed to make him more angrier as he turned away from you to shout and grip at his hair. 

“Kook, calm down!” You shouted, rushing towards him as he started to throw things off his bed. You gripped onto his shoulders, turning him towards you. “Hey, look at me.” You grabbed his cheeks with your hands, not caring about the blood staining them. 

“Let me heal you.” He spoke softly, breathing returning to normal.

You looked at the small cut. “I can wrap it myself.” You told him.

“No, my saliva.” He shook his head, grabbing your wrist softly for fear of hurting you more. “It has healing properties. It'll close.” He looked at you, waiting for you to tell him it was okay.

He looked at you with the softest of eyes, tears building up in them almost. You sighed, nodding your head. “Okay.”

He held your arm in a gentle manner, wanting to make sure you were comfortable. With a soft touch, he raised your wrist to his lips. His hands touched the blood that was seeping out down your forearm but he didn’t bother with the mess. 

Instead, you paid close attention to how he tentatively stuck his tongue out to softly lick at your wound. His warm muscle touching your skin made a shiver go down your back, the cold of his saliva entering your wound. He gave it about three kitten licks, pulling back to watch the wound. You looked over at it, watching as the skin quickly formed and it healed over with a scare. 

You pulled your hand closer to you, trying to understand the healing that Jungkook was able to do. As he watched you pay close attention to the new skin, he tilted his head to the side. 

“Are you okay?” He asked you.

You turned to him, giving him a small smile. “I'm trying to be.” You whispered. 

“I'm sorry he did that to you.” He pulled some shirt from the floor, moving to wipe up the blood from your hands and arm. 

You gladly took his offering, wiping off what you could. “It's okay, you fixed it.” You told him, holding up your arm. 

When you looked up, he still had his eyes fixed on your bruising wrist. You could see how disappointed he was. There was nothing he could do about that because it was an internal wound. You smiled sadly. 

As your eyes drifted across his face, you took note of blood you left from your hands. “You have blood on your cheeks.” You spoke, turning the shirt around to be able to wipe at his face. 

You grew closer to him, allowing the boy to place his hands on your waist. As you got to cleaning off his cheeks, your eyes kept drifting down to his lips. You noticed him swipe his tongue out, his own eyes drifting over your face. 

There was a sudden heat surrounding the both of you. It made you gulp. 

Jungkook slowly leaned down, touching his nose with your own. Your lips fell open, breath touching his own. It gave him the courage to connect the two. His lips were soft on yours, and he kissed you with a tender passion. 

He didn’t want you to leave his space, so he would try to pull you closer to him. You began to grow hot and not from your own temperature rising. Jungkook was extremely warm, much warmer than he normally was. The heat he radiated made you dizzy but in a good way. 

Your hands fell onto his shoulders, fingers twitching to drift under the collar of his shirt. He pulled away from your lips for just a moment, only to take off his shirt. You didn’t get the time to take a look at his body before he quickly pulled you back to him in a searing kiss. 

You honestly had no clue what had gotten into the man, but you didn’t know if you wanted it to stop. You pouted as his hands seemed to roam over your scrub pants, down under your bottom and to the back of your thighs. You gasped as he suddenly pulled you up, wrapping your legs around his torso. 

He didn’t bother to talk more to you, he only seemed to lay you down onto his bed, hovering over you with loud pants coming out of his mouth. 

“Jungkook-” You called, trying to pull him away from your lips. 

He kept licking into your mouth, pressing his body over yours. “Jungkook.” You told him more sternly, pulling his head back harshly by his hair. 

The boy whimpered loudly, tongue hanging out almost as he continued to huff from the heat. “Jungkook, are you okay?” You asked him, sitting up as you took in the hazy look in his eyes. 

Your eyes went wide as you began to worry something was happening to him. You sat up but he only moved closer to you, grabbing you by your hips and pulling you down into his own. You gasped out when his bulge connected with your core, hands gripping his shoulders tightly. 

“I don’t–I don’t know what’s going on.” He whimpered, lips skimming over the skin of your neck. “I just–I really need to be inside of you.” His hips rutted into yours, holding you still over the edge of the bed. 

“Hey, Jungkook.” You spoke up, pulling him to look at you. You almost began to cry at how tears seemed to well up in his eyes. 

“Please.” He cried. 

You sighed, dropping your hands down to the bottom of your scrubs. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to do it; it was just that Jungkook didn’t seem like himself. Not anymore at least. You lifted your shirt over your head, exposing your bra to him. 

His tears seemed to stop as his eyes went wide staring at your breasts. You touched his cheeks again, gaining his attention. His eyes were still glossy but he looked at you in wonderment. “Are you okay?” You asked. 

He nodded his head slowly, looking back down at the top of your chest. He looked back up at you, waiting for permission. You sighed, dropping down onto the bed to get comfortable. As you did, Jungkook didn’t waste time to attach his mouth to your breasts, taking mouthfuls of skin to suck on them. 

He seemed to be in a trance as his body relaxed, allowing his mouth to suckle on your skin. He kept trying to move your bra from around you, but was too shy to actually go all the way. So you moved it for him, unclipping your bra from the back to remove it. 

He gasped out as more of you was offered to him, quickly attaching his lips to your nipple. You jumped at the stimulation, having sensitive nipples. The gasp you let out only made him suck harder. The tip of his tongue was running along the hard surface. 

While his hips held yours down, his hands moved to your pants fingers slipping under the band. He popped off your breast, pulling back to look at you. He pouted, toying with your scrubs in a way of asking if he could take them off. 

You shimmied your hips, allowing them to pull down. He took that as the go ahead and helped you to remove that scrubs. The seamless underwear you wore had a wet spot on them, causing you to blush. Jungkook however didn’t seem to mind as drool began to pool in his mouth. 

This time he didn’t bother to look at you for permission. Instead he quickly fell to his knees and stuck his nose into your core. 

“Jungkook!” You gasped, sitting up and pushing his head away. 

When a growl broke from his chest, you pulled back and shifted on the bed. You looked down at him wide eyed as his own looked up at you sheepishly. He had a grin on his face but he didn’t move from his spot between your thighs. 

“Please?” He asked you. 

You huffed out, falling back onto the bed. He grinned to himself, moving back to nose at your heat. You moaned out as he seemed to suck over your underwear, trying to close your legs but he was quick to hold them open. 

His fingers dug into your thighs, the man making himself comfortable on his knees in front of your core. Once he made your underwear even more wet than originally, he was quick to pull them off you. You weren’t able to see but his pupils grew large as he took in your sweet scent. It was like an aphrodisiac for the wolf. 

So like a starved man, he was quick to move open mouth kisses onto your clit and his tongue dragging down to dip into your hole. You gasped out, almost choking on your spit. Your hands flew to his head, pulling at his strands of hair. Jungkook growled as you began to move your hips from how much you were withering. With one arm, he draped it across your hips, stilling your movements with his strong grip. 

You continued to moan out, head pulling back as you clawed at his arm to allow you to squirm. But he didn’t let you up, only sucking harshly on your clit face digging harder into your core.

You felt your orgasm approaching, panting even more. “Jungkook-” You cried, wanting to tell him that you were close. 

However you hadn’t needed to when he was quick to pull away from you and began to pull his sweats down along with his boxers. You flinched back when he had left your heat, frowning as you suddenly missed his tongue. 

He didn’t give you time to dwell on it though as he quickly made his way on top of you. You groaned when you felt his length nudging your thigh. Your hips jerked up, trying to get him to move his cock in the right direction. 

“You’re so needy, Tokki.” Jungkook whispered in your ear, licking the shell. You shivered, letting out a breath. 

Jungkook moved his hand between you, gripping his length in order to guide him inside of you. Just as you expected he was extremely warm. The warmth from your own core already hot, his only adding to the heat. You were sure that the inside of your thighs were covered in sweat. 

When you felt the pop of him pushing all the way in, you let out a moan, back arching into his chest. He growled as he continued to shove himself the rest of the way in, giving you a moment to adjust. As he gave you the time, he began to kiss and lick at the junction between your shoulder and neck, marking that area. 

As you began to whine and move your hips along his, he took the movement to start thrusting. Your mouth hung open as moans and gasps fell from your lips. It only seemed to spur Jungkook on as he began to snap his hips faster. 

His forehead was dropped on your collarbone, watching as your breasts moved along with you body as he kept slapping his pelvis against your own. He could also see himself disappear into you, which only seemed to pull growls from him. 

His fingernails dug into the flesh at your hips, pulling at your skin. He could feel his nails wanting to make an appearance but he kept trying to pull them back to keep from hurting you. What he did instead was bite into your shoulder softly, his lips tightly suctioning themselves into your skin. 

Your walls were squeezing him tightly and he was trying hard not to come before you. It was the first time he had experienced something like this with a woman. He’s had relationships with his other coven mates but it was nothing like this. This was different. It was new. 

He knew he wasn’t supposed to leave you unsatisfied; the wolf wasn’t going to allow that. So he wanted you to come along with him. He picked up his pace, trying to get you stimulated enough. He even moved a hand down to rub at your clit, having been told what it was by the others. 

“Jungkook!” You screamed, your walls throbbing around him. 

“Cum for me, Tokki.” He huffed out. “Please.” He begged.

You began to moan louder, huffing as your back arched and your hips seemed to move on their own. “I’m coming.” You cried out, chest pushing up into his. 

As your walls tightened around him and your legs clenched up, he allowed himself to quickly pull out stroking his length for a few moments before ultimately finishing on your thighs in a groan. 

His seed was hot, and for some reason Jungkook began to shiver as he kept his hands on his cock. He quickly looked down, finding his knot forming causing him to curse. He got up from the bed, moving to the bathroom to get things to clean you up. He picked his underwear up as he went, trying to hide his problem from you. 

As he came back, hand still holding his shaft, you looked at him worried. You allowed him to clean you up with one hand but still tried to get him to stop. “Kook, what’s wrong?” You asked, glancing down to his hand. 

“It’s a werewolf thing.” He smiled sheepishly. “I just have to be careful with it.”

He handed you one of his shirts, the smell of pine and wood. You pulled it over your body, scooting over in the bed to give him some room. He made himself comfortable on his back, pulling you onto his chest. 

“What is it?” You asked. 

“It’s–ah–It’s a knot.” You sat up, looking at him as if he was joking. 

“Those are actual things?” You asked him. 

“Don’t laugh.” He knocked your head over with his fingers. 

“I’m not!” You pout. “I just didn’t think the whole werewolf genetics from stories were real. You going to tell me that alphas and omegas are real next?” You giggled. 

“You’re laughing at me.” The man pouted.

“No! No.” You giggled, moving up to give his face kisses. “I like my big bad werewolf just the way he is.”

Jungkook began to blush, his teeth showing as his lips pulled up into a grin. Your lips fell onto his, giving him a quick peck which he thoroughly enjoyed. However there seemed to be a problem now. 

His bed was not up to par with the comfort he wanted to feel. He needed more blankets. 

Series Masterlist

[waklman]

Like A Princess

summary: more glimpses into your relationship with rooster where you give him the princess treatment instead.

pairing: bradley bradshaw x female reader.

warnings: very brief allusions to sex. 18+ blog in general.

a/n: continuance/epilogue to princess treatment (read for context!) missed this duo so i decided to bring them back but more extensively this time :). indepedent bf x princess treatment gf trope.

word count: 2.8k

something ‘bout you masterlist.

“Get on.” 

“What?” Bradley watches in confusion as you turn your back towards him. But he quickly catches on once you start to bend your knees, lowering yourself in front of him. You want to carry him into the house.

“Nope. Absolutely not,” he shakes his head, waiting for you to get back up. But you don’t. “I am not getting on your back. Are you kidding me?” He scoffs, sounding almost offended. 

“You saw me bring in twenty bags of groceries just last week, without making a second trip back to the car,” you proclaim proudly, still squatting in front of him. “So c’mere,” you call out to him again, blindly reaching behind you, searching for his legs.

“So?” he huffs, pushing himself further in the car, moving away from your yearning hands. Bradley’s well aware that putting up a fight is going to get him in trouble, but there’s no way in hell that he’s letting you transport him inside. “If you give me a piggyback ride, it’ll send us both back to the hospital again,” he protests. 

You stand back up at his statement, spinning on your heels to face him, with two hands planted on your hips. 

Bradley gulps, seeing your fingers drum against your hip bone–you don’t plan on taking no as an answer. “Tell me how you’ll get inside with that ankle then,” you press him, eyes drifting down to his injury. 

The kind nurse—who you spent most of the night with, tightly bandaged him up, but it’s obvious that his ankle is still swollen under the wrappings. 

Bradley takes notice of the glint of remorse in your eyes as you assess his sprained ankle. The ‘playful’ wrestling from earlier had taken an unexpected turn once you sent him flying off the bed, resulting in a last minute trip to the emergency room. 

And though Bradley insisted that it wasn't your fault, you still found it hard to swallow back the guilt you felt every time you looked at him. 

Bradley sighs, carding a hand through his hair—unsure of how to talk you out of this, he knows you're just trying to make up for the accident, in your own strange way. “Honey, if you lift me, we’re both going right down,” he tries to reason with you. 

“You don’t think..I’m capable?” You pretend to deflate. If insisting won’t work on him, maybe some light manipulation would. 

Bradley begins to sputter–just as you predicted, reeled in by your pout. “What? No of course not–Honey I just–”

Bradley bites down on his tongue—not wanting to say the wrong thing. 

You take it as a chance to cleverly bat your lashes at him as he gives you an empty stare, trying to weigh the decision in his head. 

And like always, Bradley can’t muster up enough willpower to combat your pleading eyes. “Let’s give it a try,” he sighs, admitting defeat.  

You automatically spin around before he can change his mind, biting down on your bottom lip as your mouth stretches into triumphant grin.  

“But if you can't even lift me, I’m walking on my own, okay?” he clarifies, hesitantly wrapping his arms around your neck. You hum, agreeing to his rule, attaching his legs onto each side of your hips–clamping two hands around the back of his thighs to support his weight. 

After sucking in one deep breath, you easily lift him up in one go. 

Bradley can barely process what’s going on as you begin taking determined steps towards the intended destination. “What the hell?! How are you—What?!” Bradley gawks at your strength, snapping his neck to look behind him, seeing his precious Bronco grow further from his vision.

“Holy shit, have I been dating the she-hulk this whole time?” He asks in disbelief, hung onto your back like a koala. 

“..I told you..I could…do it,” you answer through short breaths, lugging him up the front steps. “Yeah…remind me to never get you mad," he lowly mutters, resting his chin on top of your head. The vibration of his throat can be felt against the back of your head.

You’re both in front of his door now. “Bradley,” you whine. “I would never lay my hands on you.” 

“Okay? So who had me in that deadly headlock earlier?” He scoffs, still sour that you won the round with that move. 

You give his thighs a quick squeeze through the denim. “Okay? So who wanted to fight like WWE wrestlers in the first place?” You remark. 

Bradley blows air through his nose. “Whatever," he whispers under his breath. You don’t even have to see him to know he’s rolling his eyes too. 

“Whatever," you mock him, imitating his deep voice.

“Now let’s get you inside, princess,” you finally declare—putting an end to the bickering. You hoist him further up your back, and Bradley gladly lets you, despite his protests from earlier. 

While you remove one hand from him, searching for the keys in your pocket, Bradley moves to press a ‘sorry i’m being so stubborn’ kiss to your cheek. 

You smile, feeling him rest his cheek onto your shoulder next. “..Thank you for takin’ care of me babybear," he shyly mumbles in your ear.  

“What do you think you’re doing back there missy?” Bradley asks, eyes still trained onto the tablet in his hands. 

“Nothing..” you mutter, halting all movement. But there’s really no point–your hands are already half way up his back, lifting up the back of his shirt. You’d been slowly trying to slip off the cotton tee–since getting him hooked onto the romcom, How to lose a guy in 10 days. 

After strategically placing the device in his hands, it didn’t take long for Bradley to start making comments on how Matthew Mcconaughey’s character is a jerk for being annoyed by his girlfriend’s purposeful attempts of sabotaging their relationship. ‘Baby I’d so let you name my dick Princess Sofia if you wanted to–I don’t get this guy’s problem with it. He’s mad for no reason,’ he said.

You didn’t have the heart to tell him that he’s most likely the only man on earth that would let that slide.

Bradley’s attention is momentarily pulled away from the movie dialogue, feeling you move your hands around to his stomach, playing with the pudge there. Bradley hadn't been on base recently, due to his ankle–so he hasn’t been keeping up with the extensive workouts that came with being an aviator either.

His abs were quickly replaced by a little pouch, which you loved. “Can I rub your back?” You ask, looking over his shoulder to see his reaction to the scene.

Bradley purses his lips, reading over the subtitles. “Is that why you’re tryna’ distract me with this?”

“Is it working?”

“Maybe.”

“So can I? Rub your back?” You ask again, pinching his belly, seeing that he’s fully absorbed with the movie's climax point now.

“Only for a few minutes...” he absently mumbles, not realizing how you easily coaxed him again. You let out a light laugh at the face he makes towards the screen, the two characters are currently in an intense argument, there’s a spout of harsh words being thrown back and forth—and it’s causing Bradley clear distress. 

You tug at the hem of his white tee, and Bradley swiftly pulls the shirt over his head, giving you free range with his naked back. The piece of fabric is quickly forgotten on the floor as he reaches for the tablet again, eager to see what happens next. 

You start by working out the knots located on his shoulder blades first. The way he instantly rolls back his shoulders, leaning into your touch, makes you smile. 

He doesn’t notice how much time has passed. You’ve been kneading his back in sections for more than just a few minutes at this point.

“Not there. A little higher please.”

“Look who’s enjoying himself,” you tease, kissing over the spot you just rubbed your thumb over.

Bradley frowns, dropping the tablet as the credits begin to roll. He reaches behind him, peeling your hands off his shoulders, now aware of how long you’ve been massaging him. “You spoil me,” he lets out a breath. 

He adjusts himself on the couch, so that he’s facing you now. Bradley wastes no time, reaching his hands under your shirt, swiping his calloused thumbs over your tummy. “Your turn,” he says, grinning down at you.

“Hey.” You squint at him. “You just want my shirt off.”

Bradley raises his eyebrows at you. “So you will take your shirt off?”

“I think the stache is okay now, honey.” Bradley tries to convince you again, making sure to not move his lips too much. 

You’re perched onto the bathroom counter, with him standing between your legs—Bradley’s hands are playing with the waist band of your shorts while you trim his grown out facial hair. 

After learning that his first day back to work is tomorrow, you were set on preparing him for the special day, as if he was going back to school–and not preparing to join in on a serious mission instead. 

“I want it to be perfect,” you coo, trying to line up the scissors to his mustache again. 

Bradley’s gaze drops down to the tongue that cutely sticks out your mouth, you’re razor focused. “Doesn’t have to be,” he lamely replies. 

“Yes it does,” you pout. “Wanna make it look just like your dad’s,” you settle, looking back down at Bradley’s phone on the counter. You made him pull up a picture of his father, so you could replicate the shape of the mustache onto his face. 

Bradley tries to match the smile his dad is sporting in the picture, hoping it’ll get you to see the resemblance in facial hair. He squeezes your hips with his large hands, wanting to hear approval from you.

“Nice try,” you detect his ploy with squinted eyes, grabbing his jaw. 

“It looks fine to me,” he retorts, shifting his view to the mirror behind you, checking himself out. 

You furrow your brows, noticing a stray hair you forgot to trim off. “Not yet.” You slip your fingers back into the scissors again, snipping off that one piece of hair. 

He replicates his dad’s smile at you again. “How do I look now?” 

“Pretty. Like a princess,” you answer, leaning in to kiss the tip of his nose. 

Bradley can’t help but to crinkle his nose, you kiss him so softly that it tickles the skin there. “Thank you for doing this for me,” his eyes soften, voicing his appreciation for you.

“I could spend the rest of my life doing this for you, if you just asked me to,” you answer honestly, sweetly smiling at him. 

Bradley just blinks at you in response. The rest of my life. The simple confession that slipped your mouth rings out in his head, making him feel dizzy. 

You start to play with the hairs of his mustache, brushing your fingers over the little bristles there, unaware of how your statement made Bradley feel like he got shot by cupid’s arrow. “I packed lunch for you by the way baby. Make sure to grab it before you leave tomorrow,” you remind him. 

“..Bradley?!” You’re alarmed—not by his silence—but by the way his skin suddenly flares up. He’s completely flushed all the way down to his neck, and his pupils are severely dilated. 

You panic, pressing your cold palms against the red splotches of his cheeks, holding his face in your hands—desperately trying to cool down the hot skin. “Hello? Earth to babygirl?” 

“What’s for lunch?” 

Bradley unwillingly scoots over, making room for Hangman to squeeze himself between him and Bob. “Nothing for you, if that’s what you’re asking.” Bradley grunts, defensively moving his lunch away from the blond. 

“What did she pack for you, babygirl?” The blond taunts, slapping a hand against Rooster’s back. 

Irritated by Hangman’s use of your pet-name for him, Bradley briefly gives him a look, before returning to his food, bringing an outstretched hand over his lunch box, obstructing Jake’s view of his meal for today.

Natasha coughs in her cup, pulling it away from her face. “Babygirl…? I thought she called you princes—”

“Protein wrap and strawberries cut into hearts.” Bradley abruptly announces, shoving the largest strawberry he could find into Phoenix’s already open mouth, shutting her up. 

She roughly swallows the massive piece of fruit, throat bobbing as it travels down to her stomach. “Hint taken,” she says through clenched teeth, elbowing Bradley’s side. But it doesn’t affect him at all, he barely moves at Phoenix’s rough jab. 

Everyone else at the table starts to snicker amongst themselves, reminded by the pet name they overheard you call him in the car awhile back.

“I think it’s sweet,” Bob speaks up, coming to Rooster’s defense, patting his mouth down with a napkin. 

Every pilot at the lunch table snap their heads to Bob, intrigued by his decision to join in on the conversation.

Bob clears his throat, trying his best to not mind everyone’s eyes on him. “It looks like she was careful enough to pack something healthy for him, plus it’s the correct portion size to fill someone of his stature too. My momma—she uh, always said making food for someone should be considered a love language in itself.” Rooster smiles at him appreciatively, in which Bob timidly returns the gesture. 

This had to be the most the quiet pilot has ever contributed to a conversation, and it causes a stir amongst everyone having their lunch break. Bob’s shared perspective makes everybody think to themselves—When was the last time someone packed them a lunch?

The rowdy table of aviators has fallen quiet, until Hangman decides to speak up first. 

“Hey so, you and your girl,” he starts. Across from him, Coyote is desperately trying to catch his best friend’s attention, making faces at him, begging him to stop his sentence there. 

“Have you guys thought about havin' a third?” 

At first, Rooster doesn’t react. He just absently looks ahead at Fanboy, who starts sweating bullets, as if he was the one who asked the question.

Everyone else at the table pretends to be busy, deciding to watch the scene unfold from the corner of their eye, silently chewing on their food. 

It’s spine chilling—the way Bradley starts to slowly twist his head to face Hangman. For a second, Natasha expects his head to spin all the way around, like the girl from the seventies horror film, The Exorcist.

“If I wasn’t freshly healed, I would mash you into Payback’s potato salad to the point no one could detect what chunk is Jacob Seresin and what chunk is a piece of potato,” he warns, coldly—causing Payback to drop his fork at the imagery.

"..So that's a no."

"It's a no." Bradley reiterates.

“Now where did you find a girl like her?” the familiar voice fills his ears.

Bradley knows exactly who it is, smiling to himself as Maverick slips onto the bar stool besides him. “Not sure, but I sure feel lucky.” 

“Two beers then?” Penny asks, seeing the two men wait together. 

Maverick nods, smiling politely at her before looking over to where Rooster has been staring off at. 

Across the bar, you’re laughing along with the rest of the team. Each person has a rose tucked behind their ears, which you individually placed. This is your first time meeting his team, and you wanted to make a good impression, bringing everyone a flower as a thank you for looking after Bradley when you’re not around. The scene makes Bradley’s chest warm. 

“She reminds me of dad.” Bradley quietly confesses, recalling the times his father brought his mother flowers to show his love. Bradley might be a carbon copy of his father physically, but you act more like Goose in every other way. 

If this was a couple years ago, this would’ve made Bradley feel sad. Back then, any mention or reminder of his parents made him itch in discomfort, it was a sore spot for him for awhile. But that was until you came into his life. 

You were unlike anyone Bradley’s ever dated. At first you were shy about it, not wanting to scare him away with the unusual way you took care of your partners. 

But after a while, he noticed that you began to buy him flowers at any occasion. You even made an effort to open the door for him instead, refusing to follow the rules of ladies first. And you insisted on driving the Bronco, convincing him that he deserves to be a passenger princess too. 

Bradley came to a quick understanding that you weren't doing it to people please, no. You did it simply because you felt like it, it was effortless the way you loved him. 

At first, it was strange for him, being looked after like that. Bradley wasn't used to receiving gentle treatment. But with time—he learned to love the dynamic of your relationship, because it reminded him of his parent’s marriage. You took care of him the way four year old Bradley remembered Goose took care of Carole. 

“Maybe he sent her your way, kid.” Maverick smiles, seeing the resemblance as you hook Hangman under the flap of your arm, messing up his perfectly combed hair.

And to their surprise, Hangman lets you do it, smiling ear to ear as everyone laughs harder, holding onto their stomachs. “I’m never the best at advice but,” Maverick chuckles. “..you should consider putting a ring on that, she’s special.” 

“I plan to.” Bradley confirms, reaching into his pocket, holding onto the fuzzy box, containing a engagement ring inside.

He could spend the rest of his life with you too.

gif credits

update- happy to announce that this blurb turned into a series, read more on babybear and bradley here.

thank you for reading, and as always-reblogs are greatly appreciated!

taglist: @pono-pura-vida @teaminator @alana4610 @angellwingsss @nataddz @deliriousfangirl61 @lonelysoul50 @bookchik26 @little-wiseone @blueoorchid

[chqolan]

general ed headcanons

A/N: i thought it'd be nice to just share some ed headcanons that i think about quite often for some odd reason

TW: hmm nothing really ! maybe some typos cus i didn’t proof read anything , yolooo

starting this off with a banger; ed can’t drive.

but it’s not his fault! when he thinks about it, he’s never had a reason to drive. being raised by balrog would mean that he also benefited from the boxer’s wealth.

and of course, balrog would always have both him and ed in fancy cars or limos getting transported wherever they wanted.

even though he’s older and more dependant on himself, ed settles on using public transportation to make his way around town.

he’d never admit to anybody how often he used to get lost on the subway when first getting used to travelling on his own though…

this might be expected, but ed also has pretty bad eating habits. if he’s not accidentally starving himself (busy with travelling, working, lack of appetite, etc), he’s treating himself to a bunch of sweets and snacks.

it’s canon/confirmed that ed hates vegetables and loves sweets, so expect him to just be snacking on things like chocolate mint ice cream, licorice (both are his confirmed favourites !), candies, pastries etc.

since ed was in balrog’s care growing up, i doubt that he knew much of his own german heritage. it’s believable that he was quite out of touch with german culture until meeting falke.

since meeting his older sister figure, he’s learned to speak/understand quite a bit of german and enjoy german food ! (which isn’t really much a headcanon considering this is confirmed and very much canon)

falke definitely made him use duolingo to help teach him german, and ed can confirm that he despises the look of the duolingo bird. something about the way it looks… it rubs him the wrong way.

ed isn’t very into social media, but he has an account created on most platforms. he’s a huge lurker online too.

his accounts are somewhat anonymous and he’ll never have pictures of himself posted anywhere.

all his accounts are private with 6-10 followers who are just his neo shadaloo friends, balrog and probably you/world tour avatar.

on some occasions he’ll post pictures of snacks or meals that he’s eating, but even then it’s still not much.

however, he does follow a handful of accounts that post things he’s into. and due to that he’s adjusted his algorithm on all apps to show content related to boxing, pool/billiards, baking and pastry videos etc !

ed is a hot head and he can’t stop himself from arguing in comment sections—he always has to speak his mind.

even if he’s not arguing with people, he’ll sometimes leave small comments under certain things he’s fond of.

there’s a video of a candy shop tour? he’ll watch the whole thing in awe and comment something simple like “i gotta visit here some day”.

ed most likely has a small 1 bedroom apartment in metro city. it’s not the cleanest home, but at least he finds it comfortable.

he has charts scattered with pins, messy handwriting, photographs and more that helps him keep track of the shadaloo bases that he and his team find while saving other test subjects.

he’s only really home when it’s time to sleep.

in public spaces, ed prefers to keep to himself unless somebody is actively trying to get his attention.

since ed is always on the subway, he makes sure to be ready with lots of games to play on his phone. it’s no shocker that he’s a fan of pool games! it’ll keep him occupied no matter how long his train rides are.

adding a small bonus since it’s father’s day while i’m writing this…

ed totally celebrates with balrog every year on this occasion. knowing both of them, they probably think it’s too sappy to consider it as them celebrating father’s day.

but deep down they’re both aware of it and they’re grateful for each other ! truly the best father-son duo !

[shekeepswriting]

A Little More Heart (2)

[Syverson x Reader]

Word Count: 2821

Summary: You head home after a night at the bar.

Warnings: self-defense related anxiety

A/N: Thank you guys so, so much for all the kindness and support. I was blown away by the responses, and I truly appreciate it so much. So I’ve decided to keep going. I hope you’ll come on this little journey with me. I took the liberty of tagging the people who said they wanted to see more (it didn’t let me add some of you, but I did try). If you’d like me to take you off the list, just let me know!

Previous Chapter

You focused on taking deep, slow breaths as you walked along the side of the road, debating whether it was worth it to lose what little night vision you had by turning on your phone flashlight. You didn’t love the idea of not being able to see outside of the little circle of light it would provide, but you also didn’t love the idea of being hit by an unsuspecting car. 

You don’t know why you had walked to the bar in the first place. It wasn’t like you. But your cousin had called when she heard you were in town, sounded so excited to meet up with you after her shift at the hospital and promised to pick you up from the bar at 10:00. You didn’t know her very well anymore, hadn’t been a part of her life in a long time, but you’d had no reason to distrust her. 

After lingering in the parking lot for a good fifteen minutes with three calls gone to voicemail, you really hadn’t had any other choice but to start walking. In a town this small, there were no cab companies or ride shares to call. People  relied on family and friends to get them around when they found themselves without a car. And you were short on both.

Just as you pulled your phone from your pocket, headlights pierced the darkness, carving yellowed wedges of light onto the wet pebbledash road. A vehicle was approaching from the way you came. You moved even further off the road into the grass, and the driver flashed their headlights twice, acknowledging you. 

You raised a hand in gratitude as the truck rolled past you, but the light feeling was short lived as it pulled over in front of you. You sighed. 

It should have been a relief, an alternative to your long walk in the pitch black summer night, but instead it called to mind the first two minutes of every crime procedural you’d ever seen. And you really weren’t in the mood to be murdered. 

No one got out, but the cab light turned on, and you heard the passenger side window roll down. You took a moment to weigh your options, kneeling down for a moment in the damp grass as if retying your boot while you slipped the small utility knife out of the sheath you kept strapped around your ankle while traveling. You’d been raised to be prepared for the worst, especially when alone or around men. Anyone who wanted to harm you was sure as hell gonna bleed first. 

You approached the truck with slow steps, keeping your hand angled to hide the knife along the line of your thigh. 

“Now I know you didn’t survive traveling this long on your own by walking on unlit country roads at night.”

You heard him before you saw him, brows furrowed in confusion as you drew even with the passenger window. 

Sy. The guy from the bar. Under normal circumstances you can honestly say you would’ve been happy to see him again. But the current setting had you very on edge and reluctant to let your guard down.

“Not my preferred transportation,” you said carefully, looking him over.

For his part, it seemed like he was doing his very best to be nonthreatening, all the cab lights were on now, and he was leaning over slightly so that you could see his face fully lit and framed in the window. His hands were open, empty, and visible, one on the wheel and the other on the dash. 

“Everything okay? Didn’t see a car broken down, but it’s real fuckin dark out tonight.”

You blew out a breath, hand flexing around the knife handle as you tried to decide how honest to be. 

“Uh, yeah… my ride was late, and I got tired of waiting. Figured I’d get a head start.”

Sy frowned a little, eyes glancing at the rearview in search of other headlights. His fingers tapped restlessly on the dash.

“What are the chances you’d let me give you a ride?”

“Not great,” you admitted. “I mean, I enjoyed hanging out with you, but as much as we talked, we never got to topics like… your stance on murder and body disposal.”

Sy nodded slowly.

“Understood… You could take a picture of me if you want. And my license plate. Text it to everyone in your contacts.”

You raised an eyebrow.

“You’d be okay with that?”

“Hell, I’ll sit in the truck bed and let you drive yourself if that’s what it takes to get you home safely. I’m not feeling too great about leaving you out here by yourself.”

You hesitated for a moment, looking up and down the road again. Still no other cars.

Fuck it.

“Alright…” 

Sy held perfectly still while you raised your phone and took his picture, sending it to your grandma, useless cousin, sister, brother in-law, and editor for good measure. Your phone’s flash blinded you for a second as you took a picture of the license plate moments later and sent it to the same list.

“You wanna drive?” Sy asked, leaning across the passenger seat to push the door open when you finished. 

“No thanks. Are you armed?”

“No, ma’am.”

You gave a final nod before climbing into the passenger seat. Sy’s brows raised when he clocked the knife in your hand, but he chose not to comment. 

“Where am I driving to?” he asked as you closed the door behind you. 

“My grandma lives down on Azalea. I’ll tell you where to turn.”

“Got it.”

Sy pulled his truck back onto the road, and your leg started bouncing almost instantly. You forced yourself to take a few deep breaths. It was clean in here, at least. Surprisingly so. Smelled like leather and pine, without the help of a green paper tree hanging from the rearview mirror.

Sy’s eyes flickered towards you for a second before returning to the windshield.

“Anything I could be doing right now to make you less nervous?”

“Don’t think so,” you sighed. “Sorry, it’s not that I distrust you specifically, I just…”

“I know. I get it.” 

A few minutes passed in relative silence before he tried again.

“You always carry a knife with you?”

You raised an eyebrow, turning away from the window to stare at him.

“Knives. That’s what you wanna have a conversation about right now.”

He scrunched up his face in a way you fought hard not to find endearing.

“Knew as soon as it was outta my mouth…”

“So stupid,” you laughed quietly. 

“I’m just not used to seeing a woman carrying anything bigger than a pocketknife, is all.” 

“I think you might be surprised. Concealed knives may not be conventionally ladylike, but they make us harder to murder. I think it’s a fair trade.” 

“Making yourself harder to murder… Inconsiderate.” 

That surprised a laugh out of you so abrupt and genuine it made you honest-to-god snort. Sy glanced over at you with a rapidly growing grin of his own as you struggled to speak.

“So fucking rude,” you agreed through your laughter, your stomach giving a little flip as the low sound of his laughter joined yours. 

And just like that, as your laughter faded to giggles and Sy’s to a charming half smile, the tension left your muscles for the first time since exiting the bar. It was back to how it was before, back to glances and smiles and a strange level of comfort between strangers.

You felt kind of…. Well, not stupid. But silly maybe. 

“I’m sorry for, um…” You gestured vaguely backwards, and Sy shook his head.

“Don’t be. Trust me, I get it. You gotta do what you can to keep yourself safe. Not always easy to know what that is.” 

You thought about the silver chain you’d glimpsed earlier. Retired military, he’d said. Of course he’d get it.

“It sucks that you get it,” you said.

He shrugged.

“It sucks that you have to do it in the first place.” 

“Yeah…” you said softly, looking down at the knife you were now holding loosely in your lap. It was too dark for you to safely put it away. You didn’t love the idea of accidentally stabbing yourself in the leg. 

When you lifted your head again, you caught Sy in the process of looking away. Before you could call him on it, you noticed a small pond drawing closer through the windshield. 

“Take this next turn,” you said, pointing. “And it’s the third house on the right.”

Sy nodded, following your directions without comment. 

You smiled a little to yourself as you looked out the window again. Your grandmother had lived in the same house in the same little neighborhood - if you could even call it that - for your entire life. Even with the old globe streetlamps so few and far between, you knew exactly what was out there in the dark night. The road sat high, built up to avoid pooling and flooding with the frequent rains, and the houses sat far back from the road and low enough in elevation that the rooftops were barely even with the street level. The road and the properties were heavy with tall, skinny pine trees, taller than any you’d seen anywhere else. As a kid, you’d have sworn they helped hold up the sky.

Your grandmother’s house sat at the edge of the neighborhood, and a dense forest started at the back of her property line, held at bay by a wrought iron fence that circled the whole yard, complete with a gate across the driveway, blocking access to the patio, carport, and yard. It was the only house in the neighborhood with a light on by the front door, the only house still waiting on someone to come home.  

“You can stop here,” you said as Sy approached the top of the driveway.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I don’t want the dogs to go crazy and wake my grandma up.”

“Okay,” he said, putting the truck in park. “I’ll just wait up here until you make it inside, if that’s alright.”

You gave a nod, reaching for the door handle when he spoke again. 

“And I... Sorry for scaring you. Hope I didn’t make you too uncomfortable.”

“You did everything you could’ve done to make it easier,” you said with a small shrug and a smile. “And for the record… if there were more men like you around, I probably wouldn’t have to carry this so often.” You tapped the hilt of the knife. 

Sy didn’t seem to have any words to add to that, just gave you a slow nod.

The cab light clicked on automatically when you opened the door, and you took advantage of the light, crossing your ankle over your knee and tugging up your pant leg to replace the knife in its small sheath, adjusting your sock and boot to keep it stable. Sy watched the process without comment, finger tapping idly on the steering wheel and eyes lingering slightly on your ankle even after you’d pulled your pant leg back down. He cleared his throat and looked away as you hopped out of the truck. 

“Have a good night.”

“Yeah, you too. Thanks for the ride.”

“Any time,” he said, a small smile crossing his face just long enough for you to believe he actually meant it. 

 You gave one final little nod before closing the door and turning to head down the long driveway. Despite the late hour, everything about it was familiar. The smell of pine and wet concrete. The nighttime symphony of crickets and frogs. The flicker of fireflies far back near the fenceline. You took a deep breath as you approached the gate, drawing the spare set of keys from your bag. You didn’t know how long you were going to stay, how long you even could stay, but if it was “heart” your editor was after, a nice soak in nostalgia certainly couldn’t hurt.

You let yourself in the back door, the same way everyone in your family did. The kitchen light had been left on, and the dogs were already standing there waiting for you, giving soft little woofs of greeting as they crowded your legs. You gave them their required pets and scritches, hushing them as they followed you through the dark house to the front door. You turned the outside light off, watching through the peephole as Sy’s truck drove away moments later. 

As you walked down the hallway to the guest bedroom, you sent the all clear texts, assuring everyone you’d made it home safely. Almost immediately, your phone began to buzz, signaling a call from your editor Bonnie. You took the last dark corner at a jog, closing yourself in the guest room before swiping the screen to answer.

“You’re up late,” you said quietly, feeling blindly for the light switch. “Do you ever actually sleep or do you have caffeine in an IV?”

“I’m always awake when my favorite talent is in mortal danger,” she said matter-of-factly.

You smiled. 

“Favorite talent or least annoying talent?”

The staticky sigh that followed was a very intentional non-answer. 

“You made it safely to Louisiana I assume? And are not currently being murdered by a genetically blessed serial killer?”

“Yeah, I made it fine,” you laughed.

“And the genetically blessed non serial killer is…?”

“Just a local I met. He gave me a ride home when my cousin bailed.”

There was a long silence.

“…And?”

“And…. He didn’t murder me. For which we should both be grateful.”

“Avoiding the details. Interesting.”

“Bonnie.”

“You’re a details kind of woman. The absence is noteworthy.”

“Fine. I met him at the only bar in town, and we talked for about an hour. I left alone. My cousin never showed up. He passed me walking down the side of the road like an idiot and stopped to help. Satisfied?”

“Did you draw him? I bet your readers would love him. Remember that detective you met a few months back? They lost their minds over that handsome face. Half of them wanted you to marry him on the spot.”

“Uh, yeah, I did draw him, but I didn’t keep the picture. It was just for fun. Besides, I wasn’t looking for a story or anything. It was just… bar talk, ya know? Nothing noteworthy.” You tried to keep your tone light, knowing how much Bonnie hated a missed opportunity. 

“Hmm. Well, if you see him again, maybe try and find something interesting there.”

“You asked for more heart,” you reminded her. “Which is not something I’m gonna find talking to a random guy. That’s why I’m at my grandmother’s in the first place, remember?”

“Have it your way,” she sighed. “Anyway, just wanted to check in and make sure you didn’t run into any trouble.”

“I appreciate it,” you said. “I’m okay.”

“I’ll let you get some rest, then. Since unlike me, you still sleep.” 

“Thanks,” you snorted. “I’ll have the draft of the next post ready for you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight.”

The call ended before you could respond, just as it always did, and you were in the process of plugging in your phone when you heard a soft knock.

You peeked out the door to see your grandma standing in the dark hallway, wrapped in her purple housecoat and holding a small flashlight.

“Got up to use the bathroom and heard you talking,” she said in a whisper. “Wanted to say goodnight.” 

You smiled, holding your arms out for a hug. She squeezed you much tighter than it looked like she had any right to, pushing the air out of your lungs.

“Goodnight, Nana. Sorry to disturb you.”

“Nonsense,” she said. “Did you have fun?”

“Kat never came. I think she forgot. I had fun anyway though.”

She pulled back from you with a frown.

“You didn’t walk all that way home did you? Oh, that girl is getting an earful from me in the morning!”

“It’s alright,” you laughed, rubbing her shoulder. “Someone gave me a ride. I sent you a picture. You can tell me all about him in the morning.” 

“Him who?” she asked quickly. “Do you know his family name?”

“No, sorry. He said his name is Sy?”

“Oh,” she said with a deep exhale, her shoulders relaxing. “Well, that’s alright then. He’s a good boy.”

“Yeah?” you asked with a smile, trying not to laugh. 

“Oldest Syverson boy, right? Big beard?” 

“Yes.”

“Alright,” she sighed again. “I’ll invite him to dinner tomorrow to thank him. Goodnight, darlin.”

Your eyes widened as she kissed your cheek and turned to head back to her room.

“Oh, I don’t think you need to do all of that! I said thank you!”

She kept walking as if she hadn’t heard you.

“Sweet dreams, my love.”

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Thanks for reading, friends! I hope you all enjoyed it. Would love, love, love to hear from you!

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[parasolyaa]

give me rtc character hcs for being in the subway for the first time

i love how this implies that they’ve never been in the subway before. well, since most of them almost never left uranium, this checks.

ocean — she always advocated for public transportation (and for some reason believed it wasn’t widely used, probably because she assumed everyone could use a car and subway was for noble people who cared for the environment), but if she ever went to a big city, she never stayed there for long, and usually walked by foot. when she actually used the subway for the first time, she decided to hand out flyers that said something like “thank you for choosing public transit! here are some other ways you can help the planet (…)”. ended up absolutely overwhelmed and in a taxi, wiping tears with the flyers no-one seemed to like. wonder why.

noel — romanticized the shit out of paris metropolitan, said he researched all about it and prided himself on being more knowledgeable of it than a local. when he got to go to france (probs a family/school trip when he was a teen) he bought an overpriced graphic t-shirt with the metropolitan map and confidently entered the underground. immediately got disappointed it wasn’t all gothic catacombs, and accidentally sat on a wrong train. had to take off his t-shirt and figure out where he was, and after two hours of being chest naked in the french underground and hopping from one wrong train to another even wronger train a kind passer-by pointed out that the print on his tee was of marseille, not paris. he spent an extra hour figuring out the correct map and asking for directions in broken french (the locals despised him). he entirely missed the drag show he waited for, and ever since then grew to hate the french underground.

mischa — is in on a ukrainian inside joke about metro in odesa. successfuly convinced all choir that there’s metro in odesa. there is no metro in odesa.

there’s also a ukrainian book called toreadors from vasyukivka, where two boys want to build a metro in their village, so they dig a big hole in their yard and a cow accidentally falls into it. safe to say their idea doesn’t stick. at some point these boys get to kyiv and immediately get lost in metro there. that’s 100% mischa. he did this i was the cow.

also he always finds ways not to pay for his ride: jumps over the tourniquet’s, crawls under them, squeezes in with a person in front of him etc. sometimes gets extremely bored and hides in a train wagon when it reaches the final stop, and stays in it when it goes to depo.

ricky — his parents drove him everywhere by car, and told the tales about toronto subway being inaccessible, dangerous and full of freaks. he never believed them. at some point (maybe in a trip with the choir) he got to travel by subway himslef. it was, in fact, a bit of an unpleasant experience, but he found out that it sucks on his own terms and was lowkey proud.

also he was listening to some cringefail furry music (i do not know if furry music is a thing but it will be now) and realised his earphones disconnected and he was blasting it to everyone only after he got home.

penny — had a secret hiding spot in toronto subway where she could keep her things and return to see them intact. she and ezra hid there often and spied on people, sometimes picking up what fell out of their purses — like pieces of candy or pennies (get it? penny? pennies? penis?). they never stayed there for long tho cause it was too overwhelmingly loud.

one time she went to that place and realised some construction workers occupied it. she was emotionally devastated.

constance — always saves the seat for the elderly, disabled and other people who might need it, and people always thank her plenty when she does so. actually never ever sat on a train seat unless the wagon was mostly empty. however, one time she had a horribly tiring + devastating + bad day and decided to sit down for once. got called 10 slurs by an old guy who didn’t see there was another free seat and ocean then told her she should have thought about others first. when she got home she wrote an angry vent in her musical diary (yk, the ones that open with a password and then play a one direction song or smth) with a fluffy pen.

+ talia — she is a subway rat. has a love/hate relationship with obolon station. has beef with pochayna station. she herself is from solomyanka region of kyiv where there is no subway. considers it her curse.

thank you folks for reading this, feel free to send me asks for headcanons!

[yearningaces]

(Too shy to say off nonny, sorry.) But I love your writing. Especially that it explores more than the sexual side of romances. I love to interact with the world in a way less driven in such a manner. It's a lovely change to see your writing in my sphere.

But also:

We have you meeting Nyx's family and fitting into his world, but what about trying to fit him into yours?

(never apologize, anon is on for a reason 👍)

I'm so so happy my blog can offer that for you! It's such a bummer each time I find some romantic buildup "plot sweet fluff they fuck." "Plot wholesome- they did this all just to fuck." "Romanc- they did it for sex."

And that's no problem! If people enjoy that then they can there's nothing wrong with enjoying sexual things, but as an asexual who is romantically attracted to folks(monsters mostly) it's disheartening to have almost every story end the same way so I have to skip huge chunks or just not read.which really minimizes how many stories I really have available

As for the idea you have!

Writing about families is far less reader inclusive so what I'm going to do is a brief overview that mostly is gonna focus on Nyx just being brought into the more human side of the world.

And with that in mind!

It takes time. And patience. Nyx is a bundle of nerves, and he loves you his wonderful human so much! But he's still terrified. Because you're sweet and good and know how to be gentle. Not every human does, and telling them apart is difficult at first.

Having to watch you and every other human tear through meat down to the bone at some restaurants (I'm craving ribs) takes him some time to not feel like he's about to fly out of his seat. So you compromised, he would never ask you not to eat something, but you do offer to cut whatever meat you're eating off the bone cause it seems to help his nerves.

The swarm and crowds of humans are so much larger than him, and so very loud for his delicate rabbit ears. Headphones and earbuds don't exactly work given his... Ear shapes.

What does work is a beanie he can tuck his ears into, or a crochet scarf(grandpa bun at it again) wrapped around his ears and head enough to cover them. It muffles the sounds.

Carry him. Please carry him, his legs are rabbit legs, his hind paws are rabbit paws no shoe can fit that and he refuses to wear dog shoes. Pavement is hot. Piggy back ride or sling him over your shoulder, if he's off the ground he's happy. (moreso if you show off that human strength)

Hates transportation at first. It's different, he walks or hops everywhere and now he just has to sit still and wait to get there? No. Give him the backseat to move around or find a bus that's not crowded so he can stretch his legs, y'all will not survive otherwise I'm sorry but ultimate "gotta move" attitude.

Other humans will scare him. You do, but in the attractive "this is my partner and they're so capable I love them so much" kinda way. Other humans set off danger alarms 24/7 that you only set off 11/7. It takes a good amount of time and slow buildup in exposure to combat this. If any human gets too close and doesn't hear him when he says to leave him alone(something you and him did practice) then he will fall on instincts and just bolt. So once you lay someone out in the asphalt, you gotta find the bun.

General aside, into family's. This is based around a loose idea of mother father siblings just because that's what I'm most familiar with

Absolutely prey fear in his eyes. Deer in the headlights when your folks opened the door to greet y'all together for the first time. You might have to actually carry him into the house and just sit with him for a few minutes, cuddle him a bit somewhere alone because he's in a human den of unknown humans. He needs to adjust to the many different scents and sights and sounds. And even if you vouch for them, these humans aren't you- he doesn't trust them the way he trust you and his instincts are absolutely screaming. 0/10 experience for the first few minutes.

Let him take his breaths and he'll gather his nerves to greet your family- but the best way would be to do so one by one. Otherwise it's another overwhelmed break time.

Eventually he might relax enough to rest around them, but Nyx absolutely will never sleep around any humans if you are not actively attached to him in that moment. He'll lay and lounge if he's really exhausted but will never sleep around your family or friends or any human if you aren't actively holding him or just close enough he can feel or at least smell you.

Humans are scary, they won't ever feel safe to him, that's just instinct. But you're his human, his partner. He'll sleep like a baby in your arms if it's just the two of you, and even if he wakes and has a heart attack because why are your eyes dilated in the dark and staring at him?

He's always gonna be a bunny boy. Always gonna be a bundle of nerves and hardwired red flag instincts because he is prey.

He can grow to trust and care about your family, but only really because they're an extention of you, selfish as it might seem.