#and the chorus of get him back! reminds me of something but I can’t quite place it yet

[kingofmyborrowedheart]

The interesting thing about Olivia’s music is that sonically it reminds me of music I’ve heard before but lyrically it’s new and unique.

[aliaology]

NOW THAT WE DONT TALK

summary: jack realizes yns music is quite literally a call out, directed towards him, and his brothers egg it on. pt.3

series masterlist

“i called my mom, she said ‘that it was for the best!’ remind myself the more i gave, you’d want me less”

jack could’ve hit his head against the counter ten more times and the song would still be ringing through his ears like a splinter that wouldn’t come out of his hand.

quinns hand made contact with the back of jacks head. “knock it off, jack.”

jack groaned, shoving his head into his arms. he groaned again, this time the noise being muffled due to the his arm. “she wrote a song about me, quinn.”

quinn rolled his eyes. “you don’t know its about you” he told.

jack scoffed, head shooting up. “she literally called me out. the parties, that stupid red sea reference, even the chorus. its so obviously me. and then her newer single that dropped thirty minutes ago?’

quinn shrugged, “could be about trevor”

jack rolled his eyes, “no way in hell, quinn. they never hooked up and her newer one is about some guy hooking up with her later on—“

“you sound obsessed, jack.” quinn told. jack looked down, embarrassed.

“whats jack obsessed with?” trevor asked, walking inside the kitchen. he stole a grape from jack and popped it into his mouth.

“y/n’s song” quinn spoke.

trevor scoffed, “why are you so hung up on it? its just music.” trevor shrugged.

“hes upset because hes getting called out.”

jack groaned again, head hitting the counter.

quinn rolled his eyes again. “you’ve gotta stop doing that dude. listen— she probably made these ages ago and just now got to releasing them.”

trevor popped another grape in his mouth. “not too sure about that, but i know she started writing them when you two broke up.”

luke slowly walks in. “seriously? you guys are torturing the man talking about his ex.”

jack nods, signifying lukes words to be true.. luke goes into the cupboard to grab a plate. “just ignore it.” he shrugged.

trevor snorted. jack sent the boy a glare, causing his laughter to abruptly stop. “how can i just ignore it? shes getting big and her music is everywhere already.” he asked.

quinn gave him a look. “then face it, jack. you can’t keep putting yourself in denial for something you caused.”

jack let out an exasperated groan for the 100th time. “gee, thanks quinn. way to make me feel better.”

“dont start giving him shit, jack.” luke spoke.

jack rolled his eyes. “whatever, im going to my room.” he got up and went for the stairs.

all three boys looked around at each other. silence fell through the room. suddenly, the sliding door opens. “whats going on?” cole asked.

“quinn picked his side of the argument.” trevor spoke, slightly glaring at quinn.

quinn gave one back, “dont act innocent, trevor. you screwed her over too. you and jack need to own up to it and stop cowering like little kids. you are both in your twenties for fucks sake. grow up.”

quinn went off to his room, leaving a wide eyed group of boys behind.

jacks brows furrowed as he listened to the song in his earbuds. his girlfriend napped next to him as he sat up on the bed. he hates to admit it, but he kinda deserved this.

“lets fast forward to three hundred awkward blind dates later. if shes got blue eyes, i will surmise that you’ll probably date her. you dream of my mouth before it called you a lying traitor, you search in every model—“

he stopped the song, taking his earbuds out and tossing them to the floor. he cheated, and now was dating the girl he cheated with. it was sad, really.

fiona, she was a woman who loved money. jack, was a man who loved attention. maybe that’s why they were together. but she wasn’t horrible like people said, right?

quietly, he went to tik tok and made a fake account, that way she knew he didn’t stalk her profile. i mean— she has no idea he even uses it still.

jack searched fionas name up, ultimately clicking on her profile. she had one video up. he clicked on it.

ick ick ick ick

she was lip syncing that really terrible audio that went ‘he chose me, he dont want you. he chose me’ and honestly, jack was appalled.

but before he could open the comments, she started to wake up. he swiped out of the app and deleted it, tossing his phone to the side afterwards.

“hey baby.” he smiled.

now that we dont talk!

tags! @honethatty12 (if u want tags, just ask <3)

[sadhornyygirl]

Kinktober

Day 26: Cockwarming (billy loomis)

You were with Billy, or rather, Ghostface, on your Cam broadcasts.

"Can you be quite like you've been and keep daddy's dick warm, girl? Can you show everyone how I have the best girl who doesn't want to be away from me for a second? How is is mommy is so good to her son, even when she has her own job? He murmurs, his hand moving between your legs just to cup the top of your mound. “You can’t move like that, baby. Otherwise, I might end up fucking you on this broadcast.”

You bite your lip, but a small moan disappears anyway. You cover it up with a cough, but you can hear some of the fans. One of the ones you really like makes a noise that makes you think of joy, but it's hard to tell by the pounding of your heart in your ears. After a minute, you look back at the papers and comment softly. “You'd have to charge them for that, kid. Concentrate, they are asking questions.”

Billy growls softly, moving his hand from your mound to wrap around your waist, pulling you tightly against him. “I wouldn’t let them see me fucking my pussy. Not for all the money in the world.” He hears someone else ask a question, this time louder, before looking into the camera and smiling. “She's beautiful, but she also has a job that frowns upon that. It’s okay to date me, not so much to appear in my videos.”

There's a chorus of disappointment that leaves you laughing, shaking your head and managing to say something. “Sorry, I had the job before I met you. And I love him, but the money that is all mine is a little more important.”

No one blames you for this, and you swear you hear a scream before you stick the pen in your mouth. Billy's grip relaxes as he rubs just a hair at the sight of the pen. You don't comment on it, instead squeezing once more and releasing just as quickly. You know he feels it when you hear the inspiration. It's like that for another hour, with you're teasing and Billy teasing back while your fans eat it up. It's not a paid thing, and you're not necessarily doing anything sexual, but it's cool. Very rarely do you get to be a part of Austin's world like this, just do what his job is, but doing so almost makes you wish you could.

“I know, I know, I don't want this to end any more than you do, but we're past 30 minutes, and looking at what she's doing, I think she's at a really good stopping point. And I promised her a great lunch. He smiles at the camera, placing a kiss on your neck that makes you shiver slightly. “I have to call. Next month, same time. Maybe with her, we will also see how the schedule works. Love you all."

The second the camera cuts off, Billy's lips are on his neck, ripping off his hat with a flourish, reminding you how much of a showman your boyfriend can be. It would make you laugh if he wasn't already breathtaking. “Billy.”

“Such a good girl. You can already feel how difficult it has been. It's been so hard not to fuck my pretty pussy, not to bend you over and fuck you senseless while they watched. His words are murmured against your skin as you feel him rutting against you slowly. “I know we need lunch, but let me fuck you. Just let me fuck you. Let me give you a reward for keeping my dick so hot in your pussy. I swear I’m on fire.”

His head rests against his shoulder. “Be quick, and I will consider doing this again next month.”

“I’ll be so fast, you’ll call me Flash.” He teases, grabbing your hips and pulling you off his dick only to practically throw you back onto him, earning a moan from you.

[sunlightmurdock]

Okay but dilf Bradley losing it quickly (again) the first time he gets inside you because it’s been so long.

He’s so embarrassed and it’s adorable but he definitely makes it up to you before round 2

omg so I’m just imagining that with the logistics of you babysitting his kids, he’s been really struggling to get you alone again since the last time that the two of you hooked up. last time, he had tuckered the kids out to make sure they’d sleep well and left his blind date extra early to come home to you

🌶️ below the cut

it’s been three weeks since then, and as agreed, you babysit for him twice a week every week. That’s six occasions where he hasn’t been able to get you to himself. So, it’s quite the shock when you come sneaking into his home office mid-afternoon with a look on your face that is enough to already have him stirring in his slacks.

“What about the—“

“Asleep.” You tell him with a mischievous smile.

“Both of them?” He’s starting to wonder if you’re a miracle worker or you’re bribing them because they never listen to him as easily as they do to you, but he doesn’t care what your methods are — they work.

“Can we talk about how great I am at my job later?” You remind him, ditching your t-shirt and planting yourself down on his paperwork laden desk. He grins, standing up swiftly from the chair and taking a firm grip of both of your thighs.

The thing is, with the three week gap in action, Bradley has had a lot of time to let his imagination run wild — and it turns out, he wasn’t giving you enough credit. He’s not senile and he remembers how great you felt, but there’s something about a mid-afternoon surprise that makes it even better.

As he slides forwards that last little bit before he’s buried into you completely, you exhale a pleased little sigh right against his neck, and you feel his hands go tense around your waist.

“You okay?” You ask, smoothing your fingers across his broad shoulders as he wraps both arms around you to pull you close, his hips deadly still.

“Yeah, just— give me a second.” He mumbles, kissing your shoulder.

You hum compliantly, letting your eyes fall closed as he flurries warm kisses across your shoulder and up, onto your neck. Finally, he starts with slow, shallow rocks of his hips. They level out, staying slow but growing deeper, finishing with a snap that makes your stomach wrap into knots. You grab firmly onto his shoulders and moan out against his neck.

And Bradley just can’t take it anymore. He grunts sharply, his hips stuttering swiftly into yours as his arms go tight around you. Your lips twitch, realising.

“Fuck, I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry. Give me like — five minutes — I’m sorry,” He whispers, resting his forehead against your shoulder. He makes no effort to pull out just yet, breathing hard as he skims his hand along your back. “Next round I’ll —“

Both of you stop at the unmistakable sound of little feet hurrying along the floor overhead. Tearing apart, he fixes his slacks and finds his shirt while you get dressed once again opposite him.

“Fuck.” Bradley whispers, frowning at the sight of you no longer sitting half-naked on his desk. “Tonight. I’ll put them to bed, and then I’m going to make it up to you.”

“If you say so!” You say, just to tease him as you head for the hallway to intercept the inbound toddler. You’re lying in your bed that night, all tucked up in the guest suite down the hall from his room, when you hear two doors click softly shut — no chorus of ‘goodnight, daddy’ from behind them — so he got them to sleep.

You grin as he lets himself into your room. With this being his apology to you, he gives you your pick of how you want this apology to go. He has absolutely zero complaints about your wish to be fucked hard into the mattress, muffling your cries into your pillows. Now prepared, and no longer practically bursting at the seams, Bradley calls your little ‘if you say so’ bluff and definitely fucks the cockiness right out of you.

[magicxc]

Stay With You

Pairings: Trevante Rhodes x Black Reader x Aldis Hodge

Word Count: 1652

Warnings: double penetration, hand job, cream pies

BBJ Masterlist

“Y’all when I said let's go camping, I was thinking something along the lines of smores, maybe even a cute lil bonfire,” I ranted. “But to be out here in natures ass crack, the possible meal of a grizzly bear is where I draw the line. 

“Y/N, we’re in a makeshift tent in the backyard, I doubt a grizzly is making it this far into the city,” Aldis sighed. 

“And if he does, we’ll hear him,” Trevante added. 

“Was that supposed to make me feel better?”

“This is practice Y/N, you stay complaining like this on the real campsite and a grizzly will be the least of your worries.”

“Aldi, is that a threat?” I gasped. 

“No, it’s a warning, so take heed.” 

“Ohhh Aldiii, you giving out warnings now?” Trevante mocked. 

Deadpanning Tre, I look over to Aldis to assess what the problem really is. 

“Aldi, you know I don’t do the whole nature thing, but I’m legitimately trying FOR YOU." 

“You ain’t gotta try if all you gone do is keep complaining,” he protested. 

“I AM -“

“Hey hey hey y’all enough,” Tre interrupted. “Let's put a pin in it before one of us says something we can’t take back. 

Always the peacemaker that one. Trevante is quite literally the definition of lover not a fighter, whereas Aldis on the other hand is my little hot head. We tend to clash from time to time, but we’re learning which buttons not to push. 

He’s been begging us to go camping for a minute now and I finally gave in last weekend, opting to do this only if I could work my way up there. Tre is no more keen to do it than I am, but pushed those feelings to the side for all the times Aldis has been so willing to try something for us. I guess it didn’t help that I’ve been bitching since we crawled inside here. 

Sighing, I apologized for my earlier whining and creeped over to his side of the tent to seal it with a kiss. He accepts it with a grumble, but the scowl on his face tells a different story. 

“Baby, I am so sorry for not coming in here with an open mind and if you let me, I’ll have us all making noises a grizzly wouldn’t dare interrupt.”

I get a small smile in return, but it’s not the heart melting one I’m used to seeing. 

“Please, forgive me and come morning I’ll fix your favorite breakfast.”

“There are no stoves in the woods,” Tre reminded. 

“Right, well I’ll do whatever it takes to survive in nature,” I promised. “No soap, no toothpaste, just a knife and my killer instincts.”

A chorus of woahs follows from both men, Aldis urging me to relax, emphasizing the idea that living in nature surrenders the use of modern technology not hygiene. 

“Yeah well I’ll stay clean ONLY if you forgive me,” I bargained. 

Chuckling, he leans in and pecks me on the lips, formally forgiving my prior tantrum. 

“Moving forward, I don’t wanna hear no lip and you’ll do exactly as I say,” he demanded.  

Wrapping my arms around his neck I lean in for another kiss, mumbling a yes sir. Deepening it, I feel Tre’s palm run across my ass, caressing its curves in the softest way. 

Aldis’ arms wrap around my waist, pulling me in closer as his lips run over mine, trailing down to my chin, my neck, and stopping just shy of my breast. 

“Now, tell me more about those non interrupting grizzly noises,” he says through light pecks. 

Shuffling off the floor Tre gets behind me, locking me in between them, sprinkling his fair share of kisses along my back in agreement with Aldis. 

Turning so that my body faces forward, I rest my arms on the shoulder of each man; leaning firstly into Tre and then into Aldi to swap a little bit of spit. 

“Well, for starters we’d need less clothes.“

“Like this shirt for instance,” Tre proposed as he tugged it off me. 

“And these pants,” Aldis added, unbuckling them. “They don’t really serve much purpose do they?”

Shaking my head no, I help them shed the rest of the clothes by ridding myself of the remaining undergarments. Now in my birthday suit, I watch as each man's clothing finds itself in a pile next to mine. 

Tongue slipping between teeth and over my lips, I can’t help the jolt of excitement that washes over me as I ready myself for both my men. Leaning over to Tre, I sink my teeth into his skin as I suck on his sweet spot, no doubt leaving a hickey - eager to mark him in the sexiest way. 

He breathes out soft, shy pants and I reach down to grab his semi hard dick as I stroke it back and forth. Dribbles of precum ooze from the tip and I drag my thumb forward to smear it against his length, allowing me to jerk him off a little more smoothly. 

Tilting over to my left, I lean into Aldis and dip my head into the firm arch of his shoulder blade, peppering his jaw in open mouth kisses; spots of saliva left behind after each one. 

He then grabs my left breast, his mouth swirling around the hardened nipple as my head tips back at the delicious sensation, quiet mewling tumbling past my lips. Tre follows suit with my other breast, tweaking and kneading before taking the nipple into his warm mouth. 

Hand gliding down Aldis’ lap, I stop at his girthy member, tracing over each thick vein while I softly run my hand over his nuts. Bringing my hand to my face, I spit in the palm and return it back to his length, this time stroking him with ease. 

Breathy moans follow, but it comes out muffled around my nipple and I take this chance to speed up in pace on both men, hoping to see their creamy finish. 

“Tell me how good this feels,” I whimpered. “Matter of fact, cum for me so I know it’s real.” 

Heated lips run along my skin, tongues leaving wet trails in their paths while hands get entangled with limbs and moans get engulfed into the noiseless night. My body feels hot with desire, eyelids fluttering closed, and mouth ajar, I couldn’t tell who was doing what but my movements never ceased; eager to bring my men over the edge. 

Their heavy breathing becomes more erratic, my cooing and encouragement having them spill onto me as my hands come to a slow stop and I lick each fist clean. 

Grabbing the back of my neck, Aldis pulls me in for a kiss, thumbs spreading my lips open to taste himself. Pulling away, I turn over to Tre and dive in for another round of tongue twisting, saliva trailing down our chins as we pull apart. 

“On all fours Y/N, you know wassup,” Aldi directed. 

“Yes sirrrr, Tre you on the bottom baby?” 

“I’m wherever you want me,” he winked. 

Lying down on his back, he helps position me on top of him, dick in hand as he watches me slowly slide down his length. A heavy gasp leaves us both at the heated feeling of being connected. After we adjust, he gives me a lazy smile, mouthing a quick I love you to which I eagerly return it.

“Ready for me angel?”

“Go for it Aldi.” 

“I’ll be your genie, Y/N, every fucking day if you let me,” he confides, smearing his cum between my ass. 

“Your every wish would be my command,” he continued, entering first with his finger. 

“You’re my beacon of light honey,” he insisted, adding in another digit. “In an otherwise bleak and cruel world.” 

“You both reassure me that all is not lost,” he chanted, driving his fingers into me, the pace deliciously unwavering. 

“Y’all have given me the joy to call you guys family,” he admitted, removing his fingers entirely. 

“But this ass? Oh this ass Y/N is what I can call home,” Aldis ended as he thrusted to the hilt. 

No matter how many times he’s entered my backdoor, I can never get used to his sheer size. He always knocks the wind out of me and I find myself planted face first into Tre’s chest, his hands cradling my jaws as I seep back into reality. Sweet nothings are whispered into my ear but it’s the driving force of their dicks that fully reels me into the present. 

“There she is,” Tre snickered. “I got you baby girl, don’t you worry.” 

I barely recognize the sounds coming from me, my words now indecipherable, cockdrunk and drooling as they tear me apart. Aldis wraps his hand around my throat, drawing me in to plaster my lips with sloppy kisses while Tre takes a hold of my waist to drive his dick further into me, my pussy stretched around his dick as his tongue explores the shape of my neck. 

My fingers are embedded into skin, whose I don’t know, but the crescent shaped marks will reveal it sooner or later. Tongue sliding against Aldis’ while Tre’s fingers dance every which way across my waist and thighs, I can’t help the howl that escapes me; grizzly bear be damned, my body feels worked over past its limits. 

The peak that I hit seems never ending, my soul paralyzed and heartbeat accelerating, while everything around me ceases to exist. I come down just in time enough to feel them splatter my walls simultaneously which elicits a minigasm of my own. 

Loud, labored panting is all that I hear. Rough, calloused hands is all that I feel. Navy blue sky littered with twinkling stars is the view that meets me and I must admit that camping isn’t so bad after all. 

[catscidr]

// aquarium (i want you dead or alive) //  

i. note — hihihi enjoy this short thing i did as a warmup to get my brain juices flowing _(:3」∠)_ this was inspired by aquarium from funny boy matt watson (its a good song trust)…..heard the chorus n went "wow this sure does remind me of someone" ii. includes — modern au akademiya (university) student dottore, gn!reader  iii. cw — stalking and yandere tendencies, obsession, smoking, blood, homicidal thoughts. no dialogue; just dottore nd his thoughts. also not quite proofread ₍ᐢ. .ᐢ₎ iv. wc — 1k -> now also on ao3 (b˙◁˙ )b

It’s hard to ignore things when your brain is so hellbent on making you notice. 

Forcing your eyes to flit over every single inch of a room you walk in, making your legs carry you towards something that, unconsciously, caught your attention because they just happened to remind you of something. 

When it’s curiosity driven it isn’t too bad, since the worst that can happen is a slight pang of disappointment when your curiosity isn’t sated from your inquisition.

It’s an entirely different problem when the urge to look for something specific is caused by a deep-rooted obsession with something. 

Someone. 

And it’s even worse when you see things in places where they simply are not. 

Walking out of the Akademiya to seek shelter at the dingy bus stop the city can’t bother fixing, catching a glimpse of the poster on the side of it. A model posing with a bottle of perfume stares back, the advertisement almost mocking him as he stops walking shy of being under the bus stop’s roof. 

Its face morphs into one he’s all too familiar with instead of being a stranger’s, and his mouth inhales more air than it needs to. 

Stepping into the squalid convenience store near his flat to grab an energy drink and a pack of cigarettes, wordlessly paying for the items until the cashier says ‘have a nice evening’ in a tired, unenthusiastic tone. Hands faltering for a millisecond as he awkwardly grabs what he purchased, immediately taking out and lighting up a dart to exhale the agitation simmering inside his gut. 

The pitch of their voice was uncannily close to yours. 

Slamming his apartment door shut and kicking his shoes off, dragging himself into his room to make good use of the energy drink he just bought. Opening his laptop only to be met with the sight of sanguine boring into the screen before it dissipates and the screen lights up, displaying his hard work. 

Curtains drawn at all hours of the day, his bedroom was no stranger to gloom. Though void of any natural luminescence, multiple copies of your face smile back at him. 

He exhales smoke through his nose, tapping the excess ash forming at the tip of his cigarette into a tray and takes a sip of his drink, never blinking. 

... 

To him, not having any classes together didn’t matter at all. Didn’t even make a single difference. 

None. 

Because sitting in the same lecture hall as you wouldn’t matter or change a thing, since he would be just as far away in that hypothetical than if he were in a different class.  

Which he is. 

His grades are high enough that he can afford to ditch his class to loiter in the vicinity of your classroom instead. You don’t speak much, but he doesn’t particularly care since it allows him to listen. To memorize the sound of your chair screeching as quietly as it can behind you, memorize your tendency to be one of the first people to leave the class in order to rush to your next one. 

Memorize how you fail to take notice of your surroundings on days like these where you have a class right after the other, as he watches your legs work overtime to carry you to the other side of the building to make it in time. 

It lets him think, undisturbed. 

... 

He never musters up the courage to speak to you. You only spoke because he was careless and accidentally made himself noticeable in the sea of students one too many times, and he apparently looked so out of place that you sparked up a conversation with him despite not being the type to reach out first. 

Maybe God was playing with him by making you do something he hadn’t predicted. The conversation itself was brief, but long enough for him to want to talk to you again. 

And for you to want to talk to him again, too. 

...And talk to you again he does when you spot his minty bedhead in the library and sit across from him, making his poor heart leap out of his chest, bringing one hand down to close his laptop screen a little too harshly. Bile rose in his throat; too engrossed in his research, he hadn’t heard you approach him at all. A fault he’ll have to rectify later. 

After you apologize in his stead to the students that gave you both a side-eye for making noise, God how he wants to pluck each and every single one of their eyes out, you take out your own laptop from your bag and open it up to get to work alongside him. 

He tries to keep his mind at bay for now, wanting to enjoy his impromptu date with you. 

... 

Washing blood off his clothes has always been a hassle, especially considering how he had to walk to the laundromat to do so. He somehow always has a stain somewhere on his person, whether it’s from accidentally hurting himself or from his proneness to getting nosebleeds. 

Or other reasons. 

Standing over the sink, he watches the liquid drip from his nose down to the porcelain basin. Observing the pattern it makes as it slides down the drain, watching the vibrant red turn into slithers of watery vermillion. He clutches the edges of the sink tightly, letting himself fantasize about assaulting the students from a few hours ago. Cleaning their blood off of his shirt, then watching his clothes tumble in the washing machine in the laundromat. 

Now that he was alone, he shuts his eyes and sighs. He refused to let himself think anything less than pure thoughts around you lest you somehow gain the ability to read minds and decide to read his, if they could even be called that. 

They were more akin to promises than anything else. 

Opening his eyes, he’s met with more red than white, his nose’s blood having taken up more surface area than the sink itself. Some had even gotten on his previously pristine collar. 

Zandik glances up, staring at his stained button-up in the mirror. 

Maybe he wouldn’t wash your blood off of his clothes. 

[foodsies4me]

The trainees protecting Magnus is now immortalised as one of my fav head cannons to ever exist. Mostly cause Magnus deserves to be loved and protected and pampered. He has been doing this for others for centuries and secondly he deserves it cause he is just amazing and beautiful soul.

Secondly I actually got so emotional at all the trainees banding together to give him hugs and bring him snacks. Magnus really went from single bachelor with no soul mark trying his is unloveable to the being loved by a handsome Shadowhunter and his clan of protective lil beans. I can only imagine the scene after when Malec are alone and Magnus just breaks down cause ‘fuck, I really am adored for more than my magic’. Cue protective and soft soulmate Alec and just all the emotional reassurance cuteness ☺️

You’re honestly amazing. Like never miss a beat, always on point in ways I could never imagine ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As a (waaaaay too late) follow up to the Magnus getting hurt prompt and getting some trainees cuddles. (I am running so far behind on my prompts which I know all meant as prompts but they spark too many bunnies and then I want to write them.😂

Anyway here is the short follow up to that first prompt.💜

Magnus watches as the trainees walk out the door in pairs of two and threes. They’re all stalling, Hideaki “accidentally” forgetting five different pencils while Max forgets his socks, shoes and needs to pee before he runs out of excuses he can use. Clara is clinging to him, pouting and arguing with Alec that Magnus needs another Sad Pancake Day despite his injuries having entirely healed. 

Seeing the displeasure on their faces – the disappointed pouts that not even Aloysius and Ariadne manage to hide has something squeezing painfully in Magnus’ chest. Something warm and tender and painful, tearing and healing old wounds as Magnus struggles to keep his voice light and teasing.

Chairman Meow is pouting as well.

It’s not as visible as the crossed arms and downturned lips the trainees have adopted, but it’s visible in the way he’s swishing his tail and twining himself around the trainees’ legs, trying to stop them from leaving in a way Magnus doesn’t dare to.

“-okay Magnus?” Alexander’s voice pulls him out of his internal stewing. He’s looking at him, waiting for an answer. He has Clara and Steph hiked up on one arm while Leo and Barika are dangling from the other and he doesn’t even seem to notice it and the sight makes Magnus’ heart tighten again.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that darling.”

“I’ll see you tonight?” he repeats, rolling his eyes when the reminder Alexander will be back tonight causes another wave of protests.

“Now, now my darling beans – it’s only until Saturday. I’m sure you’ll all survive a few days without me there.”

“But we don’t want to,” Payton grouches this time around. “Can’t you just come live with us at the institute? And then Chairman Meow can come too and we don’t have to wait.”

“Alright, that’s enough out of all of you,” Alexander interrupts before anyone else manages to fit another word in. “We’re already late so say bye to Magnus so we can go home.”

The chorus of Fine’s that echo through his loft sound somehow even more unhappy and displeased than everything else the trainees have said before this point. They bid him goodbye with quick stolen hugs and promises to see him on Saturday before Magnus is alone again in his too-big and too-empty loft.

“Meow,” Chairman Meow complains when the door shuts behind Alexander, the sound high and whiny.

“I know, Chairman,” Magnus sighs, sitting down on his couch so Chairman Meow can climb onto his lap. His chest is still hurting, his heart overflowing with more emotions than he knows what to do with. “I know. I miss them too.”

If later that night he ends up with tears in his eyes when Alexander hands him the drawings and get-well cards the trainees made him, his heart too full of love and care, then that’s only between him, Alexander’s shirt and the privacy of his wards. 

[you-remind-me-of-the-babe]

An ask game for writers to procrastinate working on your WIPs

Thank you for tagging me @ic3-que3n @theearlgreymage @wellbelesbian @shrekgogurt @orange-peony @youarenevertooold @whatevertheweather @thewholelemon @cutestkilla @aristocratic-otter @monbons @emeryhall @valeffelees (wow everyone is out here playing huh?)

🦈Tell us the name of your / one of your WIP(s)

As of right now, I’m going with Back and Back and Back but that may change.

🍄Decscribe your wip / one of your wips in the format of “___ + ___ =___”

Past flashbacks in which Baz grows up being visited by an older Simon in the woods outside his house in Hampshire + current 7th year Simon suddenly finds himself traveling back in time to visit young Baz = both Simon and Baz trying to figure out what’s happening in the present, resulting in them falling in love in a mesh of past and present

🌍What tags or warnings will your / one of your wip(s) need if you intend to share it?

Soulmates, time travel, canon divergent, Watford-era, angst with a happy ending, kid!Baz, lightly inspired by Time Traveler’s Wife.

🧭An alternative title to your / one of your WIP(s)?

I mentioned this last week, but I quite like Start at the End, even though I don’t think it technically is accurate or describes the fic.

⚠️Which wip you’re most likely to finish or update next?

Idk, this one will be quite long, but everything else in my WIP folder are just attempts at starting a premise I liked, but none of them have gotten much traction, so probably this one? Hopefully?

💾What is your document of your wip / a wip called? (not the stories actual title but what you’ve saved it as)

Time Travel AU

🖍Post Any sentence from your wip

He whistles, looking around and finally taking the time to fully appreciate the tree house.

“Did you make this?”

“With help,” I explain. “Some from Father. Mostly from you.”

His eyebrows raise in surprise. That’s one thing I’ve yet to figure out, why he forgets. Sometimes, he remembers our past visits with more detail than I do. As if they’d just happened the day before instead of years ago. Other times, he can’t remember something as big as building a treehouse with me. He reminds me of my grandmother, when her dementia had its grips on her. She’d recall something from her childhood so clearly, and the next minute, she’d forget my name.

Father didn’t want me to call attention to it in front of her. He said it would only make her more confused. So I don’t mention it to him, either. We just sort of…dance around it, without mentioning it outright. (He’d fit right in with my family, honestly.) I just clarify things and then we move on.

♻️A scrapped idea for your current WIP

I was thinking about having the Humdrum be a time traveling younger Simon, or something like that, in addition to current Simon being a time traveler. Like, they discover there’s another version of him traveling, but I thought that would be too confusing. So instead, he’s just the regular ol’ Humdrum.

🤔What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?

I have a lil Drabble in my head about Baz being sad while his wedding ring is getting fixed by the jewelers for a week so Simon has to cheer him up. (It me. Rubbing my empty ring finger all week while it’s getting fixed and I hate it not being there.)

🤡How many Wips are you actively working on?

Actively? I think just this one right now. There are about 4 other half starts from earlier this year when I was just throwing spaghetti noodles at the wall to see what stuck. Some of them I may come back to if I get a burst of inspiration or something.

🛠Is there a scene or anything in the WIP you are struggling with right now?

(One of) the big reveals because the scene carries a lot of emotional weight, and I want to do it right.

❤️Not a question, just a second kudos to send.

And kudos to anyone who read this far!

Anyone else want to play? @facewithoutheart @hushed-chorus @iamamythologicalcreature @ileadacharmedlife @blackberrysummerblog @run-for-chamo-miles @mooncello @angelsfalling16 @artsyunderstudy and anyone else interested! 💜

[autisticlancemcclain]

Hunk is awoken, quite rudely in his opinion, by the slam of a door, an all-too-loud “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUNK!” and the unmistakably painful feeling of his dumbass best friend’s bony ass running and jumping straight on his poor, unsuspecting body.

“I hate you,” Hunk says, once he’s recovered his breath and his body no longer feels like one giant bruise. (How someone who is essentially a bean stalk can cause so much damage is beyond him.) “Like, not joking.”

Lance squiggles around until he’s lying comfortably (still on Hunk’s person, the little shit), grinning sunnily with his hands tucked under his chin. “False. You love me. You think I am charming.”

“I think you’re a menace,” Hunk responds, but doesn’t argue the first part. As much as Lance is a giant pain in the ass, Hunk really does love him.

Ugh.

“I will, however, judo flip you onto the cold hard floor if you don’t get off me in three seconds.”

Hearing the genuine threat in Hunk’s voice (it is not the first or last time Hunk has picked Lance up like a sack of flour and thrown him on the nearest soft surface), Lance scrambles to comply, sitting at the edge of the bed and pouting.

“You’re being mean. You’re a meanie.”

Hunk smirks. “Can’t call me names on my birthday.”

Lance rolls his eyes. “Whatever, butthead. Hurry up and get dressed so you can meet everybody in the kitchen for Birthday Boy Breakfast. I kept Shiro and Keith out of the kitchen at gunpoint, so the food is actually edible.”

Hunk thinks back to the thick black smoke that had filled the castle halls the one and only time Shiro was allowed near the stove, and the still-there hole in the ceiling from Keith’s only attempt.

“Good call.”

“Yep. Only the best for you, Hunky.”

———

Hunk gets ready as slowly as he possibly can, just to be contrary. Also as revenge for Lance body-slamming him, but mostly just because he thinks it’s funny. He is pretty excited, though, so he doesn’t take too long.

He likes celebrating with his family. They may be a group of weirdos who do strange things like break into his workshop at the dead of night to reorganise everything like nocturnal cleaning fairies (thanks, Pidge), but still. It’s always fun.

He’s greeted by a chorus of birthday wishes the second he steps foot in the kitchen, tackled by Allura and Pidge in a hug that nearly knocks him clean off his feet.

“Thanks, guys,” he says, grinning.

Shiro smiles warmly at him, patting him on the back as he sits down and sliding a slice of cake in front of him.

“Lance made sure I had nothing to do with it,” he promises. He glares playfully at the man in question, who has no qualms about sticking his tongue out like an eight year old.

“Everybody say ‘thank you, Lance, for ensuring we don’t get poisoned’,” Lance teases.

“Rude!” Shiro exclaims, at the same time everyone thanks Lance as loudly as possible.

Hunk is shaking his head fondly as he takes a bite, so he’s distracted, and so the flavour of the cake is something of a surprise. He has to close his eyes in bliss as the sharp sweetness reminds him so achingly of home.

“How did you manage to make this taste like pineapple?”

“That was me,” Pidge says, pushing her glasses up her nose and smirking. “With the endless and terrifying power granted to me by the universe, I created for you of my own magical hands a small taste of home —”

“She has been trying through trial and error to genetically engineer a pineapple for six months,” Keith interjects drily. “I was the taste tester. I have tasted some horrors that are truly beyond your comprehension. Happy birthday.”

“Hey!” Pidge complains. She looks to Coran. “Coran, he stole my thunder!”

Coran smiles. “Yes, dear. I heard.”

She glares as Keith smirks at her. “Do something!”

“What would you like me to do?”

“Well, you either ground him or I fight him, so there’s two options. And my fists are already up.”

When Coran fails to do anything other than snort in amusement, Pidge stays true to her word, lunging for Keith, whose expression shifts rapidly from smug to terrified. He shrieks (Pidge is small and Pidge is vicious), sprinting to hide behind Allura, who immediately says “I do not love you enough to take that particular bullet for you,” and shoves him back in Pidge’s direction.

God, space birthdays are the fuckin’ best. Nowhere else in the universe does Hunk get to watch this much stupid drama take place unironically as he eats cake.

He in Lance watch in amusement as Pidge does her level best to murder Keith without actually killing him as Allura shouts encouragement. Coran cuts himself a large slice of cake, totally nonplussed by Keith’s yells of betrayal.

It takes Shiro longer than usual to separate them. Keith must have pissed him off, recently.

“Best birthday ever,” Hunk says pleasantly, once everyone has finally made their way to the table.

He means it.

[aristocratic-otter]

Hey y'all! It's been a busy few weeks, but thank you all who kept tagging me since I last surfaced : @Iamamythologicalcreature, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, @monbons, @thewholelemon, @cutestkilla, @hushed-chorus, @whatevertheweather, @prettygoododds, @blackberrysummerblog, @thehoneyedhufflepuff, @ivelovedhimthroughworse, @mooncello, @rimeswithpurple, @emeryhall, @wellbelesbian, @bookish-bogwitch, @ic3-que3n, @shrekgogurt, and @cosmicalart 

I've got a bit from everything to share today. Though the snippet from Cupid's Shield has technically been posted now, as of this morning.

And yes, I can count, I know some of these are more than six sentences. Do I care?

No.

Lol, I hope you enjoy!

From Saving Simon Snow: 

Baz is dead to the world when I wake up. The clock on the dresser reads ten a.m., which surprises me a little—I can’t remember the last time I slept past seven (other than in my jail cell, where there were no clocks and sleeping was pretty much the only thing to do). It doesn’t surprise me, however, that Baz is still asleep. He’s always been sluggish and cranky in the morning. Besides, yesterday was…well, yesterday was a lot. 

I’m still processing everything that happened, but my stomach tells me firmly that processing is far less important than eating, so I slip out of bed as quietly as I can, and dig through our suitcases for something to wear that isn’t sweated–through or jizz covered. 

From the Heart in the Well

“Who are you?” I shout, and if there’s a faint tremor in my voice, it’s not enough for Baz or the unknown above to tell. (I hope).

The creature above doesn’t respond, at least not in words. Instead, it shakes its head and lets out a ringing neigh. It’s a horse! I stare, bemused for a second, before I realise that what I’m hearing isn’t a typical animal sound. Instead, the neighing takes on the clearly recognisable tone of…laughter. The fucking thing is laughing at us!

From Snow Fox

Fiona’s radiating pride. “Brave as a lion, just like his mum,” she says. “You’ll show that mangy Snow Fox what it means to take on a Pitch.”

I can’t help but imagine my aunt's reaction to finding out that Simon knows quite well how to take on a Pitch. 

On my knees, whenever possible.

The thought prompts an unholy burst of laughter to try to fight past my lips, but I’m a master at containing my emotions. Even so, my lips twitch, but I manage to turn it into a polite cough. 

From TikTok Dancer: 

Snow paces at my side in silence with a pensive expression on his face, his hands clasped behind his back. 

My curiosity about this man is burning inside me, and it churns sickeningly in my gut with feelings of betrayal and animal lust. I want him. I hate him. And I don’t understand him. 

But the one thing I won’t do is be the first to break the silence. 

From Stars, Flowers, and Children,

He starts breathing again, but doesn’t speak to me. Not at first. Instead, he rushes to pile wood on the fire and then fumbles desperately for his own fire starting kit in the pouch he carries tied ‘round his waist. I’ve turned to watch him, morbidly curious about how he’s going to react to my betrayal. And it was a betrayal, I’m not fooling myself about that. I knew that Simon desperately wanted a ship to come. I knew how much getting off this island meant to him.

And I denied him that. 

From Cupid’s Shield:

I would have known something was wrong regardless from the way his smiles disappeared (even if he’d never smile at me, he smiles constantly at most anyone else, and I soak his happiness up vicariously every chance I get). 

I was so disturbed by his misery that I was tempted to invite him home with me. I didn’t—my family would have eaten him alive—but I wanted to. 

That early winter afternoon, we were all roused from the torpor of pre-holiday ennui by screams coming from the great lawn. I was in our tower room when it happened, and when I looked out to see a dragon strafing the lawn and Simon Snow running to face him…well, I didn’t think, I just acted. 

I raced out of Mummers and climbed to the ramparts.

From my COBB project:

“Snow, what the fuck,” he says, his voice coming out as a wheeze because of the way I’ve got him squeezed under my own bulk. 

“Shut up!” I snap. “You idiot! You nearly broke [redacted]!”

Baz stiffens under me when I call him an idiot, but when I accuse him, his muscles go slack, meaning I sink into him before I can stop myself. I swallow hard at how nice he feels against me, but then I tense up. This is beyond inappropriate. 

Tags and : @chen-chen-chen-again-chen, @bazzybelle, @dragoneggos, @erzbethluna, @palimpsessed, @frjsti, @fatalfangirl, @letraspal, @martsonmars, @melodysmash, @moments-au-crayon22, @moodandmist, @mostlymaudlin, @onepintobean, @raenestee, @tea-brigade, @upuntil6am, @whogaveyoupermission, @messofthejess, @carryonsimoncarryonbaz, @krisrix, @shemakesmeforget, @larkral, @confused-bi-queer, @theearlgreymage, @j-nipper-95, @facewithoutheart, @best--dress, @nightimedreamersghost,  @thewholelemon, @youarenevertooold, @nausikaaa, @artsyunderstudy, @ileadacharmedlife, @angelsfalling16, @noblecorgi, @alexalexinii,

[runnning-outof-time]

Some Time Away | Modern!Tommy Shelby x Reader

Request: no - for @cillmequick ‘s 100 followers celebration

Pairing: Modern!Tommy Shelby x reader

Summary: (Y/N) manages to convince her partner to take the weekend off from work…the only kicker is that they can’t go anywhere because they’re currently in the midst of a global pandemic. But she still has some ideas in mind.

Warnings: language, smoking, drinking, sexual situations (interact accordingly!)

Word Count: 3183

A/N: congrats on 100 followers Alex (I hate that you’re shadowbanned atm…hopefully tumblr will fix it sooner rather than later!) I chose the prompt ‘placing their chin on the other’s shoulder’, and I had to make things a little spicy for you, of course. I hope that it isn’t cringey. Enjoy! :)

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in stories similar to this one!

———

"Have a nice weekend, Miss (Y/L/N)!" ... "Bye, Miss (Y/L/N)!" ... "Bye!" came the chorus of farewells from the students she'd been teaching through a screen for the past five hours. (Y/N) smiled widely at the children before she waved goodbye to all of them.

Virtual learning was still presenting its daily challenges, but (Y/N) was trying her best to make the most of it for her kiddos. Neither she nor them had asked to be put into this position, but they had to make it work for the time being.

Once the meeting was cleared of her students, (Y/N) ended the call and closed the Zoom application. She then exhaled a deep breath, something she did every day as a way to re-center herself after a school day. Regardless if it was in person or online, things always got a bit hectic. This was her way of making sure she didn't immediately start pulling her hair out.

She was greeted with a reminder to start grading the most recent assignment she'd assigned when she opened her eyes. After staring at it for a few moments, she decided to snooze it for now. It was the weekend after all...she didn't want to start it off with grading papers. Instead, she logged off of her computer and stood from the office chair. All she wanted to do now was see her partner.

As she exited her personal office, she gave herself a mental pat on the back for making the decision to have Tommy’s office right next to hers. Of course, she didn't envision that a global pandemic would strike just weeks after they'd finally moved in, but she was happy that she'd stayed steadfast on the choice because of it. Now she only had to take a few steps to see him.

(Y/N) (Y/L/N) and Tommy Shelby were getting rather serious with each other. She met him on a rare night out with some girlfriends, who ultimately pushed her into giving him her number. She was usually the hesitant type, but there was something about Tommy that almost instantly sucked her in. That, along with her girlfriends’ nudges, gave her the extra oomph to pursue him. Now, over a year and a half later, they had made the decision to move in together. They both relocated from their separate flats in the city to a tastefully sized home that was just a few miles from the bright lights. Given the current state of the world, they made the choice at just the right time.

She could hear him cursing the second she stepped out into the hallway. It sounded like he was going on about his computer again. Tommy was never good with technology, and now he had to rely on it. She took a deep breath as she grabbed onto the handle of his office door. It was unclear what she'd be walking into, and she wanted to be ready.

"Hey, T," she called to him, getting his attention as she stepped through the doorway, "everything alright in here?"

"Hey, love," he responded as his eyes moved from the computer in front of him to her figure. He smiled at the sight of her, but it was one that didn't quite reach his eyes. She could tell from it alone that he was tired. "Yeah...everything's fine," he answered her question then as his eyes shifted back to the computer screen.

"It didn't sound like it from out in the hall," she commented as she walked over to his desk. "It's a good thing these walls aren't thin...I don't think the eight year olds I'm teaching would appreciate hearing your colorful language," she added with a grin. Tommy only frowned in response to her joke, which made her sigh a little. She could tell from the lines on his forehead that he was stressed.

"'M sure they've heard it all from their parents," he brushed off her comment as he continued clicking away, "you'd be surprised at how foul mouthed people are nowadays," he added, his statement making (Y/N) chuckle as she came around to stand behind his chair.

"No mouth is as foul as yours, my love," she said in the most endearing tone possible as she leaned over slightly to rest her chin on his shoulder, her hands draping over his chest then. She glanced at the computer for a second before turning her head to the side so that she could press a kiss to the skin just in front of his ear. "You know I'm still not sure about this haircut yet..." she trailed off then as she stood up straight and brought her hands to the sides of his head. She ran her nails along the harshly shorn sides before carding her fingers through the longer strands of hair that sat on top of his head. "I mean...I know we can't go to the barber's at the moment, but I think you cropped it a little too thin this time," she added once she returned her chin to his shoulder and hooked her hands together atop his chest again.

"(Y/N)..." Tommy answered her in a warning tone, signalling to her that he wasn't in the mood for the teasing. She smiled anyway...sometimes it was fun getting under his skin. Silence fell between them as he clicked on a few more things. All was fine until an error message popped up on the screen. "This fucking thing..." he groaned, bringing his hands up to run them over his face as he tipped his head back against the chair's headrest.

"What're you trying to do?" (Y/N) asked him, squinting slightly as she tried to read the details of the message.

"Pol wants to do a Zoom call with me, John, and Arthur. Something about the recent acquisitions not fairing out to be as much as we thought they would, but I think I've gone and fucked everything up here," he explained to her, clicking on the screen a few more times only to be met with that warning ding the computer sends off when you're doing something that it won't allow. "Fucking hate technology," he muttered under his breath as he reached over to the side of his desk, as best he could with (Y/N)'s arms still around him, to grab his pack of cigarettes.

"Maybe this is the universe telling you that you should be done for the day," she commented on the situation he was now in as he went about lighting a cigarette, blowing the smoke away from her after he took a drag.

"It's four in the afternoon, (Y/N)..." he trailed off with a sigh as he placed the burning cigarette in the ashtray, "Pol's gonna have my head if I don't join the meeting."

"What if I text her and tell her you're having technical difficulties?" (Y/N) suggested, ready to grab her phone from her back pocket the second he told her to.

"You don't have to," Tommy brushed her offer off with a slight shake of his head, "I'll just have to hear about it from her later."

"What are you doing this weekend?" she asked him then as she stood straight once more. As much as she was loving breathing in the smell of the aftershave he'd used this morning, her back was screaming for some reprieve.

"Working," Tommy answered, leaning forward to balance his chin on the palm of his hand as he tried yet again to get himself out of the stalled website.

"On the weekend?" she asked him, a bit of surprise laced into her voice.

"Yes," he answered her, giving up on the computer problem so he could turn his chair to look at her properly for the first time since she'd entered the room, "business knows no days of the week."

"You own the company though, Tommy...you do have a say in what days you work or not," she pointed out, not dropping her argument just yet. "I was thinking that maybe you could take some time away from working this weekend...we could turn off our phones so that you and I could spend some uninterrupted time together," she pitched the idea that she'd come up with moments earlier, “and I know it’s not much…it’s not a private island or all-expenses included getaway, but it’ll be something, and right now, that’s what we need.”

"I've got some things that need to be sorted before our partners get involved," he told her, effectively shooting down her pitch without explicitly giving her a yes or no answer.

"You need some time away, T," she stressed to him, her last ditch effort to try and get him to agree. He then grumbled something about deadlines and the stress he was under from it, which made her sigh in defeat. "I'll be downstairs unwinding," she then told him as she began walking over to the door of the room, "I don't need to be dealing with anymore childishness after spending a whole day with children," she added before she opened the door and exited his office without letting him get another word in.

With a frown, she made her way downstairs and into the kitchen. She figured she'd start preparing what she wanted to eat for dinner, because it seemed unlikely that Tommy would be joining her with the way he was acting.

—

After washing up from dinner, (Y/N) poured herself a glass of wine and made her way up to the master bedroom. Tommy was back in his office, after surprising her by coming down and having some of the chicken she’d made, so she decided that she’d go and sit out on the balcony that their room had.

She sat and sipped her wine, enjoying the evening breeze and sun as it shined down on her. Once her glass was finished, she decided to go into the ensuite so that she could get herself ready for bed. She washed her face, changed out of her clothes and into a silky slip that she preferred to sleep in, and put a robe l over her body. She then pulled her hair out of her face with a headband before deeming herself ready for bed.

As she exited the bathroom, she noticed that the sun was setting through the open balcony doors. So instead of getting into bed, she went back out onto the balcony. This time, she decided to lean against the railing as she watched the sun sink down behind the horizon. This would make a beautiful picture, she thought to herself as she stood up to go get her phone. She wasn’t able to even turn however, because the second she was standing, arms wrapped around her waist from behind.

“Tommy?” she gasped slightly from the suddenness of his touch, her hands dropping from the railing to rest on his forearms.

“Who else would it be?” he questioned in a cheeky tone as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

“Thought you’d still be in your office for another few hours,” she commented, instantly hating that she still sounded a bit bitter. What could she do though? All she wanted was to spend the weekend with her partner, but he was being difficult about it.

“Ouch, that one hurt, love,” he hissed dramatically at her words, “it hurt right…” he trailed off, unwinding one of his hands around her waist before he poked the place on her chest where her heart was, “here,” he added for extra effect.

“Stop it, Tommy,” she rolled her eyes at his dramatic nature, grabbing hold of his hand so that she could return it to its previous spot. She was quite enjoying the feeling of being wrapped up in his arms, and didn’t want it to leave just yet.

“You know I was thinking…” he trailed off again, nestling his face into the crook of her neck, “I was thinking over what you’d suggested…about taking the weekend off,” he continued, his voice now muffled slightly.

(Y/N) was still able to hear him clearly though, and what he was saying was making her excited. “Yeah? And?” she anxiously asked him to continue.

“And I thought that maybe I should take the next two days off,” he told her, almost making her want to squeal at the news. “I like the idea of having you to myself for a few days,” he added then, a grin evident in his voice as he pressed a kiss to the skin where her neck met her collarbone.

(Y/N) didn’t let him repeat his actions though. The second she heard what he had to say, she managed to spin around in his arms so that she was facing him. “You’re really considering doing it?” she asked him, her eyes shining with hope.

“I’m past considering it…it’s a done deal,” he corrected her, his grin growing as she looked at him excitedly.

“Oh that’s great, T,” she cheered as she reached up and clasped her hands together behind his neck. “I think I’ll lock your office tomorrow so that you can’t go back on your decision,” she said then, her statement making Tommy chuckle and shake his head before he leaned in and locked her into a slow kiss.

The feeling of his lips on hers just about took her breath away, and she was thankful that she decided to hook her arms around him, or else she’d ‘ve melted into a puddle upon contact. A year and a half later, and this man still made her go weak at the knees.

“You know…” Tommy mumbled against her lips in between the kisses they were sharing, “if I’m taking a weekend away from work, I’d like to start it off properly,” he said as his hands moved from the small of her back to where the knot was tied on her robe. He worked on undoing it without his lips leaving hers, and only pulled away once he knew that he’d gotten it loosened. He watched as her robe fell open, exposing the navy blue slip she’d chosen to wear to bed that night. He bit on his lip to conceal his groan as (Y/N) took the lead and shrugged the robe off of her shoulders.

“You have something in mind?” she asked him with a coy grin, hoping that her words came out as sultry as she intended them to.

“Fuck…of course I do,” he answered her, his hands dropping to the swell of her ass as he gathered some of the thin material between his fingers.

“Whatever it is, I’d like for it to not happen on the balcony though,” she told him with a slight giggle as she rested her hands on his shoulders. She then pressed on them gently, her nonverbal way of telling him to back up into the room.

He listened to her cue and took a few steps backwards with her still hooked in his grasp. “As you wish,” he told her, his lips brushing hers as he backed up to the bed so that he could sit down and bring her astride his lap.

She held herself steady and pulled away from him, smiling as he squeezed her hips. “Take this off,” she mumbled, a grin forming on her face as she grabbed hold of his t-shirt’s hem so that she could bring it up and over his head. She then tossed it off to the side before leaning down to match her lips with his again.

Amidst their shared open-mouth kisses, Tommy grabbed hold of (Y/N)’s waist and lifted her so that he could stand again. She shrieked at the sudden movement, but managed to hook her legs around his waist before he could turn them and drop her down onto the bed. Their conjoined nature made him come down on top of her, and he was quick to put his hands on either side of her head so that he wouldn’t press his weight on her completely. She, however, made sure that their hips stayed connected so that she could have some friction where she needed it most.

“Tommy,” she gasped when his lips left hers so that he could kiss a line down to her chest.

“Yes?” he asked her, glancing up at her through his eyelashes.

“Please,” she breathed, her hands tangling in the longer locks of his hair as she grinded her hips up against his again.

“Of course,” he answered, knowing exactly what she wanted. He wasn’t one to deny the most beautiful woman in the world, so he made sure he got right into it after hearing her silent pleads.

—

Some time later, (Y/N) and Tommy were a mess of tangled limbs and panted breaths. They laid on top of their disheveled bed, with only the top sheet pulled over top of their bottom halves. (Y/N) had her head resting on Tommy’s chest, and Tommy was lazily drawing circles against her spine. “I think it’s safe to say that this weekend is off to a good start,” Tommy mumbled into her hair before pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“It most certainly is,” (Y/N) agreed with him as she moved her right hand down the side of his torso so that she could hold onto his hip.

She lifted her head from his chest then, her eyes meeting his as soon as she did. She always liked to look at them after they shared an intimate moment together. They’d slowly go from a darker blue to their normal, lighter color, like an ocean moving into the calm after a storm.

“Thank you for agreeing to this,” she said softly as she leaned in to press a languid kiss to his lips.

Tommy smiled against her lips and tightened his hold on her once she pulled away. “I think it’d be rather dumb of me not to,” he told her, his words making her smile as she rested her forehead against his.

He closed the gap between them again, pressing a slurry of short kisses to her lips before she pulled away completely to nestle her face into his neck. She made herself comfortable there as she curled up beside him, spending her time in silence thinking about what types of things they’d get up to in the next forty-eight hours. Somewhere between the meal planning and the possible movies they’d watch, she felt herself getting sleepy. So, she pressed one last kiss to the side of his neck before she closed her eyes and let sleep slip over her.

Tommy only smiled and tightened his grip around her as he felt her breathing even out. If this was a preview into what this weekend would look like, he’d have to take as much time away from work as possible in the future.

———

Tagged: @mgcllovdrms @the-anxious-youth @cloudofdisney @look-at-the-soul @golden-hoax @elenavampire21 @peaky-cillian @mrsalwayswrite @julkaamazing @evita-shelby @lilyrachelcassidy @notyour-valentine @easilyobessedbutflighty @shelbydelrey @december16-1991 @onlydeadcells @peakyswritings @just-a-blackhole @watercolorskyy @strayrockette @peakyduchesss @alexxavicry @captivatedbycillianmurphy @yummycastiel @dark-academia-slut @tommystargirl @stevie75 @lyarr24 @signorellisantichrist @zablife @anotherblinder @midnightmagpiemama @cillmequick @rangerelik @lovemissyhoneybee

MASTERLIST

[thesinglesjukebox]

BEN PLATT - "ANDREW"

"Andrew! Andrew! Andrew! You're gonna love meeeeeeeeee..."

[6.36]

Jeffrey Brister: Platt’s an incredibly talented vocalist, there’s no doubt there, and a good performance can do a lot to elevate average material -- like, say, a pleasant but unremarkable folky song about being sad and gay. His delicate falsetto dancing over top of the guitar, how the chorus blooms with yearning in a name, staying away from theatre kid pyrotechnics -- it’s a laundry list of good choices, and I’m just bowled over by its simple and straightforward beauty and earnestness. [8]

Alfred Soto: Depending on my diet that day I can embrace this unmitigated schmaltz or vomit at the sight of it. Neither the falsetto nor the lyrics have heard of subtlety. I am past the age when unrequited lust wears the drag of lachrymosity, but I hope I'm not callous enough to understand when young adults need it. [6]

Hannah Jocelyn: A friend and I made a list of songs about unrequited queer love, specifically when it comes to incompatible orientations. This is Ben Platt’s entry in the canon, and it’s the best song I’ve heard from him, the first that doesn't sound like rejected tracks from either Dear Evan Hansen or Blue Neighborhood -- it starts off very Simon & Garfunkel, but the more ambient Sufjan Stevens territory on the chorus fits him shockingly well. One problem: the Melodyne detracts from how sincere and pure the writing is (isn't Dave Cobb known for his authenticity?), to the point where Platt sings "if I can't get closer then I am destroyed" and sounds like a Dalek. Normally that would be a dealbreaker, and maybe I would dismiss this if I hadn't, in fact, had an Andrew or five. Cobb's production is gentle and tender enough that I can just lie back and think of all the pretty girls. [7]

Isabel Cole: I do appreciate the concept of this aching little ditty about the specific wrenching futility of crushing on a straight guy, and the idea of “wasting heartbreak” on someone who would never even be able to grant you the dignity of being rejected for your actual self is poignant. I can imagine the teen for whom this hits at exactly the right time, and that’s not nothing. But the first-love adolescent yearning of the lyrics fits oddly with the meandering melody and the folky arrangement (it’s giving Harry Styles Presents VH1’s I Love The 60s), and Platt… listen, whatever you think of  Dear Evan Hansen, no one’s ever denied that the guy can sing. Here, it’s hard to shake the sense that he’s deliberately trying to differentiate his solo work from his Broadway past by avoiding sounding too musical theater, choosing instead to flatten his clear, resonant tone into a dull, nasal drone that feels like he’s playing Barefoot Guy With Guitar in a mockumentary about hippies. It doesn’t really work -- his falsetto sounds grating, and like a lot of stage singers trying to branch out, there’s a certain mannered quality he can’t quite shake -- and the few more vibrant lines towards the end make me wish I could hear a version of this aiming for the cheap seats. [4]

Ian Mathers: As someone who has disliked Ben Platt in everything I've seen or heard him in, I was absolutely prepared to reject this song from its Cat Stevens-ass opening, but then I kept listening and... I don't know, I keep thinking about that classic tumblr post that ends with "I am cringe, but I am free." I listened a few more times and... it's kind of lovely? Something about it reminds me of Gordon Lightfoot? I remember how much songs that seemed to speak to my particular romantic torments meant to me as a teen and I can absolutely imagine the kid who is going to play this on a loop like I did Sloan's "Deeper Than Beauty" or whatever? Don't make me regret this, Platt. [8]

Nortey Dowuona: The frustrating parts of this song have nothing to do with Ben Platt's voice. Whatever his faults in Dear Evan Hansen, Ben has a mellifluous tenor that comfortably floats in the higher parts of his range, allowing certain lines that feel clunky ("what a time-wastin', sweet happiness-takin', self-esteem, mess-making, heart-breakin' shame") to float past so pleasantly that when your own voice begins to sing them, they jumble together in your throat until they all flow out with the delivery of "Andrew." Producer Dave Cobb's helium guitar chords are also not the problem -- they lift Platt's voice and remain so close to it that when they lean back and let him take center stage, they allow Platt to send his melody up and catch it comfortably. The frustrating thing is the drums; they are so thin and yet so rigid that when they enter, the song loses the butterfly subtlety it needed to soar. Derrek Phillips, who has played with Vanessa Williams and Rahsaan Barber, somehow had to anchor the song in a way that would give it heft and keep its light, breezy charm, but instead he reinforces the dull structure of a second-verse drum groove, and all the hard work done by Platt and Alex Hope is squandered. A bolder choice by Platt or Cobb would've been to lean into the acoustic guitar arrangement by adding the bass and keyboards, and maybe the percussion (also done by Phillips) would act as the anchoring factor. Instead, the rigid structure kills probably the second-best thing Ben Platt has done. [7]

Jackie Powell: Ben Platt has had difficulty translating his vocal talents from film soundtrack music (the Pitch Perfect trilogy) and show tunes (The Book of Mormon and Dear Evan Hansen) into pop music. On songs like “Grow as We Go” and “Rain,” he sounded like slightly more adult versions of the characters he played. He’s leaned into motivational songs without any sort of foundation. “Andrew” works better than his previous pop offerings because of the story he paints of falling for a straight (or maybe not) friend who has led him on. A lot of these stories are coming out of the woodwork as of late with tracks such as Reneé Rapp’s “Pretty Girls” and Fletcher’s “Two Things Can Be True."  These stories need to be told and provide a certain type of respite for queer people who too have felt a similar level of pain. Platt calls the situation a “cruel joke” and self-deprecates in a witty but incredibly depressing bridge. He’s not questioning whether falling for “Andrew” wastes his time but rather declares the infatuation as a time vampire that robs more than it gives. What’s less than desired, however, is the Simon & Garfunkel cosplay he attempts in the verses. The Auto-Tune that helps layer his vocals isn’t needed. The folksiness in “Andrew” is a step in the right direction for Platt in his journey to translating better into pop. I just wish he could have paid homage to Simon & Garfunkel in a way that didn’t come across as just another Broadway character he’s playing.  [7]

Taylor Alatorre: I feel the exact same way listening to this as I do when reading the Urban Dictionary definition of any relatively common male first name. [3]

Katherine St. Asaph: What is it about guys named Andrew that inspires plaintive folk songs? Having no longings for any Andrews, I can only connect to these songs through my nostalgia, and thus Platt's is my favorite because it navigates those channels best -- which is to say it sounds exactly like Simon & Garfunkel. [6]

Mark Sinker: Not sure I remember a song where the jump from chest voice to head voice for the high notes feels so extremely foregrounded as a DECISION NOW BEING TAKEN. AND IT'S DONE! I can imagine arrangement where this works with the content: except here’s it’s like literally everything else about the song is funneling your attention to this choice instead, and I don’t think it’s what I’m meant to be thinking about? You have a nice voice mate, sorry your crush didn’t work out, that sucks.  [5]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Every time I've tried to write this blurb it's come out too ironic -- couching my appreciation for it in my disbelief that Dear himself could make such a perfect rendering of the version of Sufjan Stevens' music that exists only in the minds of 2014 Tumblr users, things of that nature. But let me meet sincerity with sincerity and say that "Andrew" wrecks my shit completely every time I listen to it, every achingly beautiful guitar arpeggio and breathy note from Platt activating all of my sentimental impulses. Most of all I admire the commitment here -- there's never a moment of performance from Platt or his producers that shies away from the full teenage gay melodrama of the lyrics. Weaker souls would have tried to subvert the maudlin stuff here. I'm glad they didn't. [9]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[perfectpaperbluebirds]

Sick of It

Prompt from @chestcongestion  "The siblings and their partners had just purchased their property and were trying to get moved in, only for JB, Theo, and Padma to start coming down with something while the property didn't have proper heating.“

Sick ones (as requested): Theo (primarily), kinda JB and Padma

Caregivers: Audra (primarily), kinda everyone. 

Inspiration: This post about drunk sneezes and this post about being happy-drunk. 

This takes place just before the Tenbusch family builds their homestead, so later-ish in the timeline, about 5 years before what I'd consider "present day". Thalia and Padma, age 25 here, are not even in their "official" relationship quite yet. (They have been FWB on and off since college.) Theo and Audra are 30, getting settled in their professor roles and looking to get tenure, and JB and Thad will soon be starting their own consulting firm. This is a fun and exciting period, but also a very stressful one for everyone. They try to make the best of it as always. 

CW: Drinking, being drunk, and hangover descriptions. Emeto-adjacent, but doesn't actually happen. 

"Ready?" Audra whispered to Theo as they approached the door of the restaurant, a teasing smile on her lips.

"Ready as I'm gonna be," he laughed, wrapping his arm tighter around her for a quick hug. "I've heard they're determined to get me drunk, so my glass is never leaving my hand." 

"Good idea. I'll help you guard it. I refuse to let you be hungover tomorrow. That would ruin everything." The pair paused at the threshold, looking back toward the others.

~~~

"Ready?" Thad asked JB as the taller man unfolded himself from the passenger side of the car. "I'm sure you're dreading this. But I really appreciate you coming."

JB rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "I'm an introvert, not a vampire, Thad. I'm not afraid of bars and groups of people. Honestly, I'm somewhat looking forward to this. We haven't gone out for drinks in forever. And I'd never miss your brother's birthday party."

"Birthday party part one," Thad reminded him, locking the car.

"Oh trust me, there's no way I could forget," JB sighed, checking to make sure the ladies were right behind them.

~~~

"Ready?" Thalia asked Padma, squeezing her hand as her eyes danced with excitement.

"I hope so," Padma said serenely, though Thalia thought she saw a flicker of anxiety deep in her eyes. "I am sure we will have fun. It will be a great weekend."

"Especially because you're here," Thalia murmured, bumping her shoulder against Padma's."I still can't believe you agreed to all of this."

"I'm so glad you invited me! I am happy to be here for your brother's birthday with your family. It is all very special for me." 

"Oh it'll be special all right," Thalia laughed. "Just wait and see."

~~~

The six converged in the entryway, removing their coats and giving each other a final once-over. They made a fine set, dressed as they were in all shades of the rainbow: Thalia in a slinky red cocktail dress, Padma in a flattering little black dress, Thad in a classic olive jacket and khakis, JB looking sharp in a camel suede sport coat and a cream turtleneck, Audra in stunning emerald, and Theo in a navy suit with a pink shirt.

"Thanks for coming along, gang," Theo said. "It'll be nice to have some familiar faces around. Stuff like this is so not in my wheelhouse." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. 

"We know, Theo–" Thad laughed.

"It's not in most of our wheelhouses," JB interjected. 

 "--But you only turn thirty once, little brother," Thad continued, "and we're going to make sure you make the most of it."

"So I've been told," said Theo. 

"Stop stalling and let's go," Thalia called. "While the night's still young."

"Okay," Theo sighed. "Here we go." Squaring his shoulders, he pushed open the restaurant door.

"Happy Birthday, Theo!!" called a chorus of voices. Directly to the left inside the door was a banquet room that had been rented out for the occasion, and inside were dozens of Theo's fellow professors, not only from his department but also from several others. 

"Thank you… thank you all very much," Theo laughed, leading the way in with his family trailing behind. Theo began making introductions, shaking hands, and accepting well wishes immediately. His birthday weekend had officially begun.

~~~

Drinks flowed and time flew by. The bar restaurant served amazing food, the servers never let a glass go empty, and everyone enjoyed the company. There were seats for all the attendees at the huge table that occupied the room, with the Tenbusch family situated at the head. However, no one really stayed seated and there was much milling about the room. Theo, one of the youngest professors at the university, was very much a favorite, and no one let him have a moment's peace, calling him here and there to take part in every conversation in the room. 

It wasn't until just before the cake was served that he got to sit down for a breather. He flopped down into Thad's empty chair beside JB, immediately removing his jacket and rolling up his shirtsleeves. Thalia's empty chair was on his other side, with Padma in the chair beside that. The rest of the family was elsewhere. His attire adjusted, Theo had barely taken a swallow of his drink when the chair beside him was suddenly occupied, but not by Thalia. 

"Loogk at this, I found a seat by the guest of honor! Habby birthday, young mban!"

Theo turned with some trepidation, but summoned a warm smile. "Duane. Glad you could make it. I heard you were out sick yesterday."

"Oh, God, yes, and today, too. Caught sumb godawful bug and was hagcking ubp a lu'g. Cand't lecture whed you cand't breathe. But I'm doi'g bedder than I was. And I would ndever mbiss your party!"

Before Theo could reply, a group of servers arrived with much ado, singing loudly and carrying a huge birthday cake, topped with lit sparklers. The party goers joined in the happy birthday chorus as the cake was placed in front of the young professor, and he smiled and flushed appropriately. He made a good show of trying to blow out the candles as everyone laughed before the servers took pity on him and dunked them in a bowl of water, then took the cake away to be cut. 

They had hardly cleared the door when from beside Theo a staggered, gasping breath was heard: 

“hEHH-! hH’EHHSSHH’ooo! ESSHHH’ooo! ITZSSHH’uhhh-!”

It was the wettest, most spraying sneezing fit Theo had ever heard, and his stomach plummeted. He was quite sure he'd felt some spray mist his cheek, and he scrubbed it against his shoulder awkwardly. JB and Padma also moved, Padma to swipe at her arm and JB to wipe his hand on his pants, both shifting away from the sick man in their midst.

"... Bless you!" Theo said, ever the gentleman. "That was… big."

"God, sorry! Thadt jusdt came oudt of nowhere. I thingk it was the smoke from those ca'dles. Yeesh, ndow I ndeed to go find a tissue. Excuse mbe…." The older man darted away in embarrassment, but the damage was done. Theo, Padma, and JB exchanged looks, unable to believe that had really just happened. 

Thalia breezed in at that moment, flopping into her seat just as Theo had done, then knocked back her drink as she flipped the hair away from her forehead. 

"Whew, it is WARM in here! I think I need something frozen to drink next. But why are y'all sitting over here being antisocial?"

"We're waiting for them to cut the cake," Theo said. "Gimme a break, Lee, this is the first time I've sat down all night." 

"I guess I'll allow it. What's your excuse?" she asked, craning her neck to look at JB. 

"I guess I don't have one," he laughed. "You and Thad haven't been by to socialize me in a while."

"I see, blame it on me. Well that just means you get to be our bodyguard when we go get more drinks and listen to the band, then. C'mon, both of you."

She gently took Padma's arm and gave JB a pointed look. He stood willingly enough and let himself be led to the bar, giving Theo a smile and a shrug. Theo watched them go with a smile of his own, overwhelmed with fondness for his people. 

He felt a kiss on the top of his head a moment later, then Audra slid into JB's vacant chair. 

"I'm glad to see you smiling," she said. "You must be enjoying yourself."

"I certainly am. I appreciate everyone going to all the effort to do this. They're being very kind."

Audra raised an eyebrow. "That sounds to me like polite BS. Are you having fun or not?"

Theo shrugged. "This isn't personally my idea of fun, as you know. But I'm not having a bad time. It's enjoyable enough."

"But you can't wait to get home to the peace and quiet," Audra finished for him.

"I won't deny that," he laughed, but the laugh slowly faded into a frown. "Though it's nice to be too warm instead of too cold for a while."

"Tell me about it," she sighed. Then she gave him a look, swatting his arm. "But hey, no pouting allowed on your birthday weekend. I can see you're already getting worked up about it. Don't let our cold house ruin your night when we're not even there right now."

Theo's frown deepened for a brief moment, then faded. "You're right. As usual. No point in thinking about it. No negativity tonight." 

They shared a small smile just as the servers returned, bearing slices of cake on little plates. Theo and Audra were served first, and each took a forkful right away, tapping them together in a little "cheers" before happily digging in.

~~~

The Tenbusch siblings were new landowners as of the prior Thanksgiving weekend, almost exactly three months ago. Thad and Theo were the primary cosigners, but they had big plans for the land, and the plans involved all three siblings and their partners. Their new property was mostly undeveloped forest, and that was the way they intended to leave it. However, they had no desire to “rough it”, either. As soon as the frost broke, construction would start on their big, beautiful house. Their dream home. The plans were drawn, the loans were approved, the contractors were hired, and the land was cleared. They were all but chomping at the bit for spring, the true start of their new lives. 

Of course, this had not been a cheap endeavor, and Theo regularly had nightmares about how much debt they were holding. It had taken all of their cumulative resources and then some to afford the down payment plus the construction loan, and with the monthly payments there was no extra money for a lease in the professors' budget. Luckily, even before their dream home was built, the property was able to house them. Other than forest, the property held one important feature: a massive, old, Victorian home.

The huge structure had been the primary residence of the previous owner of the property, and he had (somewhat) modernized it. The big appliances were all at least ten years old, the roof and siding needed updating, and the insulation was lacking, at best. However, the plumbing and electricity were solid and the bones of the house were perfect. Per several inspectors, there was no reason why people couldn't continue to live there after it had been cleaned out and sanitized, so that’s exactly what the professors decided (were forced, really) to do. 

There was one huge drawback to the old house, though, that Theo had complained about all winter long: it didn't have central heat, and was instead heated via a coal stove in the center of the house. The coal stove was a decent, modern unit, but it was nowhere near big enough to heat the house adequately, especially coupled with the poor insulation. The three important rooms on the main floor (dining room, kitchen, and living room) and some of the second floor bedrooms stayed at a livable temperature for the most part, but the rest of the house had to be kept at least twenty degrees cooler. To save on coal, even the main rooms were kept five to ten degrees cooler than Theo would have preferred, and he was sick of all of it. 

He complained every time he had to fill the stove. He complained every time he crawled into bed between cold sheets. He complained every time he had to go to the unheated parts of the house. He complained about having to wear an extra layer all the time. Audra was fed up with him and told him as much time and again. They had more than one fight about the situation, which always ended in Theo crawling back to her, sheepishly apologizing. He knew he was being an ass. He was really an easygoing person overall, but being cold was one thing he didn't tolerate well, and he had been cold since October. He did his best to keep his attitude in check these days, but the situation was wearing him down. 

His birthday weekend was a welcome distraction. His wife and siblings planned to go all-out, hosting a big house party in "the Lodge" as they'd taken to calling the Victorian, inviting all their college friends and local friends and any family in the area. It was going to be an all-night murder mystery party, and the booze would be flowing liberally. Best of all, Thad, JB, and Thalia, plus Thalia's guest, were coming to stay at the Lodge with them for the weekend. With the other siblings still finishing out leases in other parts of the country, the big house felt bigger and lonelier when it was just Theo and Audra rattling around inside. A house full of company, even for a few days, would be wonderful. 

For that reason, pulling up to the Lodge after the office party ended late that Friday night didn't depress Theo like it usually did, because two more cars pulled up behind him, and he was soon surrounded by the people he loved most in the world. The moon was bright and the snow was deep and crisp. They hadn't gotten any fresh snow in a few days, so everything was cleared and plowed, but the heavy, white carpet over everything made the air fresh and still. They had all been in and out of the house throughout the day, dropping off bags as flights arrived and changing into their evening wear. Rooms were already chosen and tours had already been given, so all that was left to do was settle in and relax. Their breath gathered around them in a cloud as they made their way inside as one, the faint smell of alcohol lingering. No one was drunk, but they were all buzzed and warm, and all was right with the world. 

Once inside the door they all scattered, hanging up coats and kicking off uncomfortable shoes. Theo ran upstairs to change immediately. Once he was in casual clothes, he began to tend to the stove, shaking it down and filling it with more coal, being sure not to grumble. The others changed into various forms of pajamas as well. Since it wasn't long until midnight, it was proposed to make a round of hot chocolate before bed so they could toast to Theo at 12:00 when his official birthday began. There was a flurry of activity as this plan was executed, but enough mugs were located, everyone was gathered together, and the drinks poured with only minimal spillage just as the mantle clock began to chime the hour. 

"Happy birthday, Theo!" they all chorused. 

"Thanks, you guys," Theo grinned. "It's been a great birthday already."

"Here's hoping he best is yet to come," Audra said, wrapping her arm around his waist and giving him a squeeze. "For your birthday weekend and for your life."

"We're wishing you nothing but health and success and happiness. Your future is bright," JB said in his quiet, earnest way. 

"To plenty more nights you'll never forget and mornings you wish you could forget," Thalia teased. 

"The thirties are way better than the twenties, I can tell you that from experience. So enjoy, little brother. May you always savor good wine, good company, and good memories," Thad said, lifting his mug. "To Theo."

"To Theo!" everyone repeated, tapping their mugs together. 

"To Theo," Padma said clearly. All eyes turned to her at the unexpected interjection. "I have only just met you today, but I can already see you are a good and kind person with a bright spirit. I am so glad to be here for your birthday."

Teary-eyed, Theo swiped away moisture from behind his glasses, but his smile never wavered. "Thank you all. I really am surrounded by the best people. I'm so thankful for all of you."

Thalia interrupted the round of smiles that followed in her usual, brusque way. "Okay, okay, no more mushy stuff, or else Theo will really get going. So… what are we doing next?"

"Theo's birthday. Theo's choice," said Thad. 

Everyone looked at the man of the hour expectantly. 

Theo rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. “Well… I don't want to be boring but… I was planning to head to bed after I finished my drink. I'm beat. And tomorrow is going to be another long day."

“You are looking a little peaky,” Audra agreed, kissing the top of his head. “You probably should go to bed. I know today was a lot of people-ing for you. And there will be even more tomorrow.” 

“Exactly,” Theo sighed. “Sorry, guys.”

Once more, Padma spoke up before anyone else: "I am also very tired. It has been a long day of traveling for me. I think I would go to bed, also."

“We’ll call it for tonight, then,” Thad said. “We’ll have plenty more shenanigans tomorrow.” 

The cocoa party broke up shortly thereafter, and everyone started to go their separate ways for their evening routines. Before turning in, Theo checked the stove one last time to ensure it would go through the night. For once, he smiled to himself as he made sure the old house would stay warm, because for the first time since they had moved in, the Lodge was warm in other ways. For the first time, it felt like a home. 

~~~

The house was a flurry of activity beginning surprisingly early the next day, considering the previous late night. Audra, Thad, and Thalia had been working overtime planning Theo’s birthday bash, and they each had a lengthy to-do list for the day. However, they made sure the guest of honor had a wonderful breakfast waiting when he awoke, and the family enjoyed a delicious meal of pecan butterscotch pancakes and bacon before scattering to their assigned tasks. 

At first Theo, JB, and Padma tried to make themselves useful, but their partners quickly exhausted the list of easy tasks they could help with, so the three of them found themselves aimlessly wandering around the house before noon. Exasperated, the party planners shooed them away. 

“Find something to do or somewhere to go,” Audra said, helping Thad organize the props for the story. “We’ve got it under control here. Just be back a few hours before it starts so you can get ready.”

JB and Theo looked at each other, at a loss. Then Theo’s eyes lit up. “Hey, have you checked out all the trails around here yet for the sleds? Audra and I have found a lot of fun ones recently! If we can get them groomed, they’ll be amazing.”

JB grinned. “Nope, not yet. I wasn’t even here when you showed Thad the ones you knew about a few months ago, so I’d love to see them.”

“Awesome, let's do that. Some fresh air sounds great.”

“Perfect, yes, go play outside for a few hours and leave us in peace,” Thad laughed. 

Padma and Thalia were in the next room getting started on the decorating during this conversation. Theo saw Padma was listening closely, and a wistful look crossed her face once the snowmobiling plan was set. Smiling, he approached her. 

“Padma, would you like to join us to go snowmobiling?”

Her eyes lit up in a flash. “Oh, could I? I would like that very much! I have never gone, but it sounds like so much fun.”

“Of course you can come. Do you have warm enough clothes?”

“If not, you can borrow mine,” Thalia interjected. “I came prepared for anything.”

“As usual,” Theo laughed. “Perfect. We’ll meet out back in fifteen minutes, okay?”

“Oh, yay! I can’t wait!” Padma said, her eyes shining in anticipation. 

~~~

There were currently four working snowmobiles on the property, two of which were much better than the others, though Theo made sure they all ran reliably. It was in the plan to attain at least six nice ones eventually, but it was part of an extensive list of things that were needed in the next few years, and the priority on the sleds was low. Nevertheless, once the trio had gathered outside, garbed in thick clothes and helmets, the gentlemen offered Padma her pick of the sleds, but she quietly declined to drive her own, asking if it would be possible to ride with someone else instead, this being her first ride. 

“You can ride with me, Padma,” JB said. 

“No, you’re riding with me,” Theo said. “First, because I know the trails better, second, because she wouldn’t be able to see over you, and third, because I would guess you weigh more than the two of us put together,” Theo laughed. 

“That’s a bit of a low blow, calling me fat, even if it is your birthday,” JB said mildly, though his eyes twinkled. 

“That wasn’t a fat jab, you’re just excessively tall, so I’m sure you have a lot of bone mass,” Theo said. “Also, you could probably bench press me if you wanted to, and muscle is even heavier.” 

“You’re right, I could,” JB agreed. “I was trying to be polite. But you make a good argument. You two lead, and I’ll follow.”

“Is that okay with you, Padma?” Theo asked, turning to her deferentially. “Riding behind me, I mean?”

“Yes, that is fine,” she said sweetly. “Whatever you think is best.”

“Awesome. Then let’s get going!”

The trio spent a pleasant afternoon zooming over the Tenbusch property, exploring trails and potential trails. Part of their long-term plan for their acreage was to renovate the Lodge and turn it into a B&B for snowmobilers and other winter sports enthusiasts who wanted to explore some private land. For that reason, establishing trails that could be groomed and maintained was practical as well as fun, though this side business likely wouldn’t materialize for several years. 

Thalia had thoughtfully packed them a sack lunch of sandwiches and hot drinks, so at the extreme end of the property, almost directly opposite from the Lodge, they found a clearing with some handy logs to serve as seats and got off the sleds for a bit of rest and food. The gentlemen spent the time getting to know Padma a bit, having just been introduced to her the previous day. They had heard her name a few times from their sister, and knew the pair had been close during their later university years, but after graduation Padma had moved away and it seemed their contact had lapsed. However, Thalia had started mentioning her again within the last six months or so, and it was very telling to the brothers that this tiny, quiet woman had flown halfway across the country to spend a weekend at a family party. They could tell Thalia adored Padma, and the affection seemed to go both ways. Strong-willed, independent, flighty Thalia needed to find someone to settle down with and start a life with sooner or later, and Padma was the first person whom Thalia had brought home to meet them in years, so the siblings' hopes were high, especially since Padma seemed so lovely. 

She was a willing conversationalist, answering and asking questions easily, and words flowed the entire time. (As did noses. The cold air and hot drinks wreaked havoc on their sinuses, and every other word seemed punctuated by a sniffle from someone.) Quiet but self-assured and exuding an undeniable aura of peace, the brothers were charmed by Padma immediately. By the end of their mini lunch break, the three felt like old friends, bonding in a way that only introverts can. 

It was too windy and loud to talk while riding, but Theo and Padma found they could communicate easily with gestures and taps, and by the end of their tour, Padma was pointing out trails from afar that the other two missed. In this way, they stumbled on several charming little spots that they could sense would be breathtaking in the green seasons. JB carried a surveyor map of the property and marked the things they found as they went along. In all, they had a most delightful time, and all three were smiling later that day when, back at the Lodge, they disembarked from the sleds and removed their helmets. 

“Thanks for tagging along, you guys! That was wonderful,” Theo said. “A perfect way to spend an afternoon.”

“It was our pleasure,” JB said. “I had a great time, too.”

“Oh yes!” Padma said. “Thank you for letting me join! I hope we can do it again another time.”

After they shared one last smile all around, Theo turned, helmet under his arm, and began to head toward the house. However, before he reached the door he stopped to cough, long and harsh, his breath billowing up into the cold air. As soon as he could somewhat breathe, he turned to the other two apologetically, face red and eyes streaming from more than just the temperature. 

“Sorry, too much dry air,” he gasped, still wheezing slightly. “Don’t worry, I’m okay.”

JB and Padma nodded, but glanced at each other in concern as soon as his back was turned. A cough as thick and chesty as the one they’d just heard wasn’t caused by dry air alone. 

~~~

The Lodge was still topsy-turvy from the party preparations upon their return, so the snowmobilers made themselves scarce right away, going up to their rooms to shower off the gasoline smell and change into their party clothes. In the end, with nothing much else to do, all three ended up taking naps as well, the fresh air having had its way with them. They were all awakened by their significant others not long before the guests were due to start arriving, and the snowmobilers found themselves very groggy and disoriented. JB complained of a headache upon waking, and took another quick, cool shower to try to wake up, which did little to help. Padma was even quieter than usual, saying her throat was dry and sore from the wind when pressed. Theo’s cough had worsened as he slept, and his voice was already going, much to his chagrin. On top of that, all three were still congested and drippy, not to mention tired. However, the party couldn’t go on without the main family group, especially Theo, so they pulled themselves together as best they could, plastered on smiles, and prepared to greet the guests. 

There was no snow predicted in the weekend forecast, which is exactly what the party planners had hoped for. Travel was safe, so every single person that had been invited showed up, eager for any excuse to break the dull monotony of an endless Midwest winter. They all arrived over the course of an hour or so, bringing booze and food and gifts and props, not to mention overnight bags. It was understood that the party was going to last most of the night, and there was an open invitation for the guests to stay the night at the Lodge if they wished. The family had gotten the whole house warmed up over the course of the day, building fires in every fireplace and opening all the furnace vents for the first time all winter, so there was plenty of sleeping room for guests who wished to drink without having to worry about driving home or to a hotel. The house quickly got very warm and very loud, and the under-the-weather snowmobilers were at first overwhelmed. Theo was in the toughest position, because much like the night before, he was expected to greet every guest and talk and laugh and act the host. Two nights in a row of this would have been difficult regardless, but all of it on top of a burgeoning cold was something he never would have wished for. 

The cold they were brewing seemed to be a nasty one, too. Within a few hours Theo went from sniffly and drippy to thickly congested and sneezing heavily. JB and Padma fared a bit better and didn’t worsen at the rapid rate he did, but both were sick enough in their own right, forced to keep tissues pressed to their nose or near at hand the whole night. Padma was found swallowing a hearty dose of cough syrup at one point for a wickedly sore throat and persistent dry cough, and JB was alternating Tylenol and Ibuprofen through the whole event for a headache that never eased up. Theo had these on top of his nasty coughing and sneezing, and in short he was a sickly, pathetic mess in no time. 

Yet somehow, miraculously, or perhaps by sheer force of will, they all had a delightful time despite their obvious illness. The food was delicious, the company was excellent, the booze was strong, and the house was warm. Was everything perfect? Of course not. (A few examples: Early in the evening, a try of full shot glasses was dropped, and most of them shattered. The story book for the murder mystery was misplaced for an hour or so, and Audra was convinced people were passing it around to see “whodunnit”, since there was a lot of conspiratorial whispering later when it turned up. The lack of door locks in the old house caused a guest on a quest for the restroom to accidentally barge in on a nearly-naked couple as they changed into their costumes for the event. The intruder was beyond embarrassed; the couple took it in stride and teased him endlessly for the rest of the night.) Yet no one minded. If anything, the mishaps only added to the fun, familiar atmosphere and made it a night no one would ever forget. Looking back later, Theo privately wondered if the house itself didn’t add its own bit of magic to the evening. After all, this house was built and designed to house guests and parties. Perhaps being full and warm again made the house feel just as alive as its inhabitants. There was no other good explanation for the undeniable delight that permeated the celebration. 

Whatever the contributing factors, though, Theo couldn’t have imagined a better 30th birthday. Once he resigned himself to his fate, he firmly decided to make the best of it. After all, having been born in February, in the heart of cold and flu season, it wasn’t the first time he was sick on his birthday, and it wouldn’t be the last. The food, friends, and fun were here, so here was where he wanted to be. In order to ease the discomfort of his disgusting cold, he set out to get comfortably drunk instead, which he found to be the perfect remedy, and from there proceeded to thoroughly enjoy his evening. 

He was never able to remember much of that night, as everything faded to a warm, bright haze of congestion and intoxication (Even without the drinking, the cold would have made his memory and focus weak at best), but he did remember being happy and feeling loved. He tried to rein in the ticklish explosions of his sneezy cold, but they got worse, not better. Yet no one seemed to mind, even when he sneezed directly on them or next to them. His reflexes were shot from the start, so he was rarely able to get a tissue or even his arm to his nose in time to catch the blasts, but people just laughed over his slurred apologies and patted him on the back fondly and handed him a belated tissue to clean up the mess. There was always someone nearby to hand him a glass before he realized he was thirsty. (Sometimes it was full of water. Usually it was full of liquor.) Every time he sneezed he was blessed by at least a dozen people. Soon it became a joke, and people would cheer as he blew his nose before knocking back a shot, because eventually even shots started making him sneeze. By the end of the night they were laughing every time he sneezed, and he was laughing right along with them. 

Yet all good things must come to an end, and little by little the guests trickled out as the night grew later. When ⅔ of them had gone (or gone to find a place to sleep), Audra took Theo to bed. He was hardly conscious, sitting in a congested stupor next to the stove, so he let himself be led easily. She helped him undress and made sure he had all the supplies he might need. He was aware of none of this, though, and was snoring away before she left the room.

~~~

The celebratory atmosphere from the night before had all but vanished as the household began to wake the next morning. The sobering light of day tends to have that effect, unfortunately, even for the guest of honor. When Theo opened his crusted eyes late the next morning, he wasn’t sure at first what had awakened him, because the house was very quiet, or at least his bedroom was. Audra was nowhere in sight. Then the events of the previous evening (or his foggy memory of them) came crashing down, and he realized how truly unwell he was. His cold had not improved in the slightest– in fact it had likely worsened– and now he was hungover to boot. Not a big drinker, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been hungover, and he remembered now why he avoided this state at all costs. Absolutely everything hurt, from his head, to his eyes, to his throat, to his stomach, and so on down. Judging by how dry his mouth and eyes were, he was desperately dehydrated, but the rolling in his stomach made him leery of swallowing anything. His nose and ears were stopped shut, his chest felt thick and tight, and his throat felt like sandpaper after breathing through his mouth all night. In short, he was in the roughest shape he’d been in quite a while, and that was saying something. 

He was also freezing. He half imagined he could see his breath in the air due to how cold this room felt. Everything in him wanted to roll over and go back to sleep for the rest of the day, and he probably would have, except that his bladder was screaming to be emptied. This, he realized, was what had actually awakened him. Wishing not for the first time since moving into the Lodge that chamber pots were still in fashion, he clumsily untangled himself from the sweaty blankets (How was he so sweaty and still shivering so hard?), struggled into his robe and slippers as the room slowly spun, and staggered out the door and down the hall to the bathroom. 

The bathroom was unoccupied, which was a mercy because he honestly wasn’t sure if he would have been able to hold it long once he was standing. After the most urgent need was met, and since he was already in the bathroom, he attempted some of his morning grooming routine, hoping it would help him feel somewhat human. He wiped the sticky sweat off of his neck and chest, brushed his teeth, wet down his hair and combed it, and took a hearty dose of cold medicine, praying to whatever gods were listening that it would stay down, though the nausea was staying at a manageable level for now. But, to improve his chances, he also took some of Audra’s anti-nausea medicine washed down with a few swallows of the Gatorade someone (also probably Audra) had left by his bed. 

Now Theo had a decision to make. He knew he would be forgiven if he chose to go back to bed; he would hardly need to make a case for his illness. One needed only to look at him to see it. Yet there was a prideful, stubborn streak that ran deep in the Tenbusch family, and Theo hated the idea of being the person who was too hungover after his birthday party to get out of bed, shocking cold notwithstanding. It was his duty as the host and guest of honor to see his guests off, and by golly he was going to see it through. Also, he knew he wouldn’t feel much better lying in bed versus sitting up, miserable as he was all around. And lastly, the lower level would be warmer than up here. It had to be, because he was still convinced he could see his breath up here. 

Steeling himself, and clutching tight to the railing, a very sick Theo made his way down the main staircase, through the living room, and into the dining room, where the coal stove was housed. Now that he was more awake, he realized the house wasn’t as quiet as he’d thought while in the bedroom. There were quite a few people milling around in various states of wakefulness and health. Theo was certainly not the only one feeling the effects after a night of drinking, and his was not the only pale, sweaty, slightly green face to be seen. He tried to politely nod to everyone he passed, knowing his voice would be all but gone and not wanting to use it until he absolutely had to. He made his shaky, determined way to his favorite chair by the coal stove, and was happy to find the furnace full of fuel and roaring with heat. He eased himself down with a husky cough, wrapping a nearby blanket around himself. 

Audra appeared at his side moments later, her eyes full of surprise and concern. 

“What are you doing up, honey?” she whispered. She pressed her hand to his forehead. “You’ve been running a fever since last night. You were as good as dead when I tried to wake you this morning. I assumed you would be in bed all day.”

“We have guests. I didn’t wandt to be rude by ndot sayi’g goodbye,” he rasped. “I already toogk lots of mbedicine, and I’ll go bagck to bed once everyone is gone.” 

“That’s really not necessary, love. I can handle it,” she murmured, worry creasing her brow. 

“I know you can, budt I wandt to helbp,” he insisted. “Id was mby pardy.”

Audra shook her head. “Alright. If you’re sure, crazy.”

“I’mb sure,” he said. “Budt can you gedt mbe sumb ginger tea?”

“Absolutely,” she said, going to the kitchen right away. 

Accompanied by his tea, Theo held court in the dining room for the next several hours as their guests began to head out in twos and threes and fours. Everyone made sure to pass along to Theo their wishes for a good year ahead and hopes for his good health. He smiled and nodded at each one (in between trying not to sneeze on anyone), but (much like Bilbo Baggins at Lake Town) in deference to his awful sore throat, he limited his responses to “Thangk you very mbuch.”

By the time noon rolled around, the house had been emptied of everyone but the main family group.  Once they were alone, the six sat in the dining room in silence for a while, nursing mugs of coffee or tea, along with their various ailments. Thad and Thalia were hungover, JB and Padma were sick, Audra was exhausted, and Theo was all of the above. Yet it seemed no one was quite ready for the true end of the party to come, and no one wanted to be the first to announce they were going back to bed, though it was at the front of everyone's mind. 

"Thank goodness we all have tomorrow off," Thad finally said. "I think we'll all need it. I've never seen a sorrier bunch. Bless you, love," he added as JB stifled a sneeze into his elbow.

"Amen," said Theo, though it sounded more like 'abend'. "Whadt a weegkend."

"You can say that again," Thalia groaned. "It was a great party. Everyone kept saying it was unforgettable. But the most unforgettable part was that they're all going to get sick. You sneezed SO MUCH, Theo. You literally sneezed all over everyone and everything, so many times. And JB and Padma weren't much better, no offense. You all made quite the group, let me tell you." 

Theo reddened. "Did I? I was hopi'g I'd imbagined thadt pardt."

Everyone shook their heads. 

 "You were a mess, love," Audra said, smiling fondly. "But you were a happy, adorable mess, so no one minded. I haven't seen you so happy in a long time." 

"I do reme'ber thadt," Theo nodded. "Bei'g habby. Bei'g warmb."

"If that's what you remember, then I call the weekend a success. We'll blame the house for the sneezing. You've been cold all winter and finally got sick because of it. The timing was just unfortunate."

Theo shook his head. "We can blame Duane for the cold." He glanced at JB and Padma who nodded vehemently, to the confused looks of the rest. "We'll explain later. Budt because of the house, we could hosdt this pardy, and for thadt I'mb grateful. Id was everythi'g I could have hoped for." 

"So your feud against the old place is over then, eh?" teased Thad. 

Theo shrugged. "For ndow. Budt you're in charge of taki'g care of the stove until you leave. As mby birthday presendt."

His older brother laughed. "You've got a deal. The faucet you've got for a nose right now would probably put it out anyway. 

Theo scrubbed at his dripping nose self-consciously. "Exactly." 

JB slowly stood and stretched, wiping his own red nose with a cough. "I don't know about the rest of you, but the only thi'g I'mb hoping for is a few more hours of sleeb."

"Or days," Audra agreed, also standing. 

With much scraping of chairs, everyone stood, murmuring their agreement. In the shuffle, no one noticed Padma dart to Theo's side to give him a quick hug around the waist. 

"Habby birthday again, Theo," she said. "Resdt well. I hope you feel bedder sood." 

He smiled at her, his tired, red eyes and cold-damp nose matching hers. "Thangk you, Padma. You feel bedder, too. Gedt sumb good rest." 

As she pulled away, Thalia was right behind her with a hug of her own for her brother. "Since I'm doomed to catch this from one of you, I guess I can give you another birthday hug. Feel better, Theo, for all our sakes."

Not one to miss a trend, Thad, too, had a one-armed hug for Theo. "Get well soon. I don't want you to spend the rest of our visit in bed."

"I'll do mby besdt," Theo laughed, moving on to hug JB, making sure he was included in the ritual. "Feel bedder, brother. You loogk exhausted. I hope you sleeb well." 

"Same to you," JB replied, willingly reciprocating the hug. 

At last Theo shuffled to Audra's side, leaning against her heavily. She kissed his shoulder and began to lead him toward the stairs, with the rest close behind. 

"Thangk you for a wo'derful birthday weegkend," the professor croaked to his wife. "You did an amazi'g job. I'mb sorry I spoiled id by geddi'g sigck."

"You didn't spoil anything. You were wonderful, too. You're probably pretty sick of people by now, though, huh?... No pun intended. Well, maybe a little intended."

Theo laughed outright at that, though it was cut short by a cough. "Surprisi'gly, ndo. Tired, yes. Sigck in a different way, obviously. Budt I'mb surrounded by people who wandt to spend time with mbe even when I'mb contagious. Who could ask for anythi'g mbore than thadt?"

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Down the Rabbithole, Part 2

First

Damian frowned confusedly.

He had been doing so since he had woken up in the arms of a woman he swore he had only ever seen in passing, and even then that was on TV, during news reports that had been skipped over as his so-called-siblings searched desperately for their favorite channels. But, eventually, he managed to pull the memories from his hazy mind, and he remembered that he had been essentially kidnapped by his brother and two random superheroes he had enlisted to help him.

That didn’t explain their surroundings, though. The area around them was liminal, to put it in simple words. Box-like, and yet round. Colorful, but the color white pressed in on him from all sides. Silent, but buzzing with an energy he could feel deep in his bones. He could feel the group moving, his body bounced just slightly with every step, and yet nothing around them seemed to move.

He hated it. It had the same feeling of wrongness that the Lazarus Pit did.

He made a strange sound in the back of his throat that he didn’t remember making before and Ladybug jumped, her shoulders hiking up to her ears.

A new face filled his vision and he blinked up at Drake. His brother’s domino lenses were wide with terror as he looked over Damian, head just barely shaking back and forth as he scanned him up and down repeatedly.

Damian struggled to free a hand from its blanket prison. It took an embarrassingly long time, but he managed to wiggle his hand out. He did not, however, manage to assault his brother. His hand refused to smack Drake despite his best efforts, instead it waved in a way that somewhat reminded Damian of the old men in cartoons that would shake their fists to get children off their lawns. Not what he was intending in the slightest, but still a rude gesture, so he would take it.

It must have worked, because Drake moved away on his own accord. Fine. He will live, then. For now.

“Someone else want to carry him?” Ladybug asked, pulling his attention away from where he was glaring at his brother, who was squinting right back at him. “Red Robin?”

“I don’t think he likes me, so no,” Drake said, like a coward. But a smart coward. Damian would have been sure to make his life hell if he had dared to touch him.

She sighed lightly. “Chaton?”

Chat Noir held up his hands. “I can’t. Because. Um.” An ornate black box with red designs swirling over it materialized out of thin air and dropped into his waiting hands. “My hands are full! Sorry!”

Ladybug rolled her eyes. “I swear to the gods. Chaton, take the kid. I want to get this drool off of me.”

He was not drooling! Especially not on someone else –!

He screeched and pulled his thumb from his mouth, staring at the slobber covering the offending appendage.

He held the hand out for everyone else to inspect, a silent ‘are you seeing this?!’ because his mouth refused to form coherent words. Unfortunately, the action was met with snickers from the miraculous holders and a full on cackle from Drake.

He found himself, somehow, even more offended than he had been just a few seconds prior. They’re laughing at him! He is suffering here!

Chat Noir grinned, and Damian noted idly that his teeth were just a smidge sharper than was normal. “I think you’ve got this, M’lady.”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“I could take him,” a voice nearby crooned… though calling it a voice was quite an understatement, when the person spoke it sounded more like a chorus of people talking at the same time, their words overlapping into something that he both struggled to decipher and yet understood perfectly. Every hair on Damian’s body – admittedly there were less of them now than there were a few hours prior, but the point still stands – seemed to stand on end. His head jerked to look at them, wondering how he had missed such a presence.

The person had vibrant, almost definitely dyed red hair. They wore a similar costume to Ladybug, but theirs was a mix of white and pale blue. An umbrella of the same color was perched over their shoulder as they walked, leading the way through the space, and Damian couldn’t tell whether the person was spinning the umbrella or whether it was simply shimmering with magic. They walked backwards, likely to keep an eye on the people around them, or maybe they just knew their way around the space so well that they didn’t need to look, though Damian couldn’t imagine how someone could know or understand a place like this. They seemed self-assured, judging by their smile, though, so maybe they did.

Their blue eyes were strange, too bright and yet unfocused even as they stared at him. They were unsettling. They made him want to run.

The effect of it all was only somewhat nullified by the bunny ears sitting in their hair.

Bunnix. The cryptic (bitch) bunny that Ladybug had mentioned.

The arms around him tightened. He might have protested if he wasn’t extremely thrown by the new ‘person’. While Chat Noir and Ladybug were so odd that he was sure he would be able to pinpoint them as metas in the middle of a crowd even if they were in their civilian identities, they still felt human. They still joked around and laughed and panicked and behaved in ways that made Damian okay with being around them. Bunnix was not the same. It didn’t feel like Bunnix was even of this world, they moved in a way that was too fluid to be normal, smiled in a way that screamed that they knew more than you ever could, spoke in a way that bounced against the walls as if desperate to escape, as if Bunnix was only just contained in the body they were using now of their own sheer will, and that they were more than willing to drop the act at any moment.

“No. The offer is appreciated, though,” Chat Noir said, smiling politely.

Well, at least Damian wasn’t the only one that was thrown. If even the people that apparently worked with Bunnix often seemed uncomfortable around them, then maybe it was okay for Damian to be so as well. At least upon initial introduction.

He wasn’t scared anymore, though. He may have been given a severe disadvantage by being shrunk down to the size of a baby and then robbed of his motor functions, but he was sure he could still beat the meta.

He just… was choosing not to. Richard had been teaching him about ‘mercy’ recently. He has decided to take those lessons to heart.

Bunnix tipped their head to the side, giving a mock pout that looked strange on their face. “Fine. I guess we’re here, anyways.”

Damian looked around. He wasn’t quite sure where ‘here’ was. They looked no closer to anything than they had been when he had woken up. He frowned confusedly.

But, maybe, he should have stopped expecting for things to make sense when he had watched someone get banished to the shadow realm. Because they were spinning through the air, his stomach swooping as gravity switched abruptly. Neither Chat Noir nor Ladybug looked all that perturbed, but Drake was quickly turning green as they spun in place.

“Ready?” Said Bunnix.

Absolutely not, please explain what you mean by that.

Drake sighed deeply, clutching the bag in his hands closer to his chest as if trying to comfort himself. “Yeah, I guess.”

Oh, the fact that Drake was resigned did not bode well.

Bunnix grinned widely and flicked their wrist at him, a kind of ‘go on’ gesture, and Drake began to plummet rapidly towards one of the many spots of color decorating the white void they had found themselves in. His high-pitched scream got fainter and fainter as he fell, longer and longer until his yelling was little more than a quiet whisper in his ears, but it took another three seconds before his brother disappeared, the world around them rippling as he breached the surface of the dimension he had been dropped into.

Damian would have laughed at his brother’s screaming, but unfortunately he was pretty sure that he was going to be doing the same in just a few moments.

It was silent for a beat.

“You’re still here,” Bunnix said carefully, just barely rocking on their feet as they looked between Ladybug and Chat Noir, seemingly trying to decipher something from the pair’s expressions.

“We are!” Ladybug said, her voice sounding strange. It buzzed in Damian’s chest and he was unable to suppress the tiny gasp he gave at the strange sensation. She blinked and looked down at him, then gave a slightly sheepish smile. The buzzing cut off abruptly in favor of a mumbled “Sorry.”

He squinted up at her, trying to figure out what exactly the buzzing had meant.

“Oh, if that’s weird for you, you are going to have quite the experience in our world, now, aren’t you?” She teased, pinching his cheek. He tried to bite her fingers, but unfortunately he only had gums. She still cringed a little, though, so he was going to take the win.

Chat Noir grinned, sitting down on a not-floor and setting the ornate box in front of him. Light flickered beneath his hands and he gave Ladybug a meaningful look. She snorted and nudged it with her foot.

The box popped open, revealing jewelry that shimmered strangely in the brilliant white of the void.

“What’re you doing?” Bunnix tilted their head to the side, one of their ears flopping.

“Oh, you know…” He pulled out what looked to be a choker and glanced at Ladybug, who nodded her agreement. “Just getting the miraculous that would suit Red Robin best…”

Bunnix’s eyes narrowed even more, somehow. “You can do that later, can’t you?”

“We could,” said Ladybug.

Chat Noir stuffed the necklace into his pocket and slammed the lid of the box shut. “But that would mean that we couldn’t do this.”

Chat Noir threw the box at Bunnix’s head. They dropped their umbrella to catch it on instinct, but seemed to instantly regret it as their eyes blew wide. They said something in a language that even Damian didn’t know, but it was definitely some kind of curse – though Damian wasn’t sure whether it was of the magical variety or just the rude variety.

That seemed like an overreaction at first, but then the red of the designs on the box started to glow. Brilliant red light sept out of the designs and then started snaking its way over their hands, curling itself around their wrists like manacles.

“Enjoy the curse,” said Chat Noir, doing a two-finger salute before tipping backwards. And then he was diving towards the speck of brightness that Drake had disappeared through.

Bunnix screamed, a wordless cry.

“This is what you get for being cryptic and annoying!” Ladybug yelled, a gleam in her eyes as wings unfurled from her back.

And then she was shooting downwards after her partner. Damian turned to bury his face in her shoulder despite his pride, squeezing his eyes shut tight so they didn’t water.

Ladybug yelled something after Chat Noir as they passed, using that same strange language Bunnix had just spoken in, and he could hear a sound that Damian was pretty sure was an agreement.

And then his ears popped.

After the strange nothing-everything of the void, the sudden burst into reality almost hurt. Sounds danced around in his skull and he gave a high scream as it pressed in on him on all sides.

The falling sensation stopped, and he heard the quiet crunch of gravel and a curse from Drake and there were cars and a quiet buzzing and some weird crackling sound and a low rumble and people talking in frantic whispers that he couldn’t even close to understand –.

Something fitted itself over his ears and the world disappeared, muted until it was little more than a faint hum.

He still couldn’t stop crying. It was as if the tight lock he kept around his emotions had been broken and the tears that he normally would have held back with ease had taken their first chance to escape. He struggled to breathe through all of the crying, his chest shook with every sob.

The arms that had been holding him for so long that he had almost started to feel like they were a part of him let go, and he gave a keening cry, sure he was about to fall, but then he found himself being hugged by someone else. He was pressed close to someone’s chest, his head tucked under their chin, and then he was simply held.

And, horribly, mortifyingly, he found himself relaxing. Fingers combed through his short hair, and it was so so soothing. Calmness that he hadn’t been able to achieve on his own was almost pushed onto him, and while he was perfectly happy to accept being content, he didn’t like that the two times he had cried so far as a baby he had needed help to stop. It could be a coincidence, or it could be the start of a very disturbing pattern.

He slowly pulled his face out of the chest of the person, still sniffling more than he would ever admit. The world around them was bright and swirling with colors that made him tear up again, so he forced himself to unfocus his eyes and find something close to look at instead. He found something easily, seeing as he was currently being held by Drake.

His brother looked down at him, giving a tentative half-smile.

Damian’s gaze found its way to the bright red and black things on his brother’s ears, not wanting to think too much about the soft look in the man’s gaze, and he blinked at the large, black headphones covering his ears.

And then he pulled a hand up to his own head. After a few clumsy attempts where he smacked his head and almost sent himself into another wave of tears, he found his way to his own ears. He had a set of headphones on, too. That explained why things had suddenly cut off.

A shadow passed over them all and Damian looked up to find something dark leaning over them to provide a kind of shade. The smoky mass stretched longer and longer until it almost surrounded them, leaving them in a bubble of inky darkness with nothing to provide light other than luminous green eyes that floated around the shadow.

Drake hesitantly tugged at his headphones, and then heaved a deep, relieved sigh. He pulled down his headphones and then removed Damian’s for him.

The world wasn’t nearly as quiet as it had been when he had been wearing the mufflers, but it wasn’t painful anymore.

A person awkwardly cleared their throat. Damian looked over and his eyes widened when he found a… well, to say a regular person would be a stretch, his eyes were still slitted and his teeth were pointy and his nails looked deathly sharp, but his super suit had disappeared. He was left in a black off-the-shoulder sweater and bright white jeans. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, white fingerless gloves easy to track in the darkness. “Sorry, we forgot how… much this world can be for humans at first.”

“Yeah, let me call Pegasus so he can get us to our apartment,” Ladybug said, and his eyes found their way to her. She, too, had lost the superhero aspects of her appearance, instead standing there in a ruffled, red romper. A plastic pin of a ladybug was fastened to her chest. She pushed her heart-shaped sunglasses up to rest in her hair, showing off bright white eyes and a smattering of freckles on her cheeks, so she could press her yoyo to her ear without it disturbing her glasses. “That should be better for acclimating them.”

“That sounds like we’re fish that you’re trying to get used to a certain temperature of water,” Drake joked, but his voice was weak and shaky.

Chat Noir gave a too-sharp smile and made a so-so motion with his hand. “I mean…”

Drake gave a gasp full of mock offense. Damian was actually offended. He shook his fist at Chat Noir.

“He’s an angry lil guy, huh?” Chat said, leaning closer with amusement when he should have been terrified.

Drake nodded. “You should see him when he’s older. Glares at everyone. All the time.”

This was embarrassing. He was being insulted. To his face. And he couldn’t even find a retort for it because his mouth had decided to give up on him. This was the worst possible timeline.

“Hey,” Ladybug cooed into her phone. Then, she huffed, resting her free hand on her hip. “I don’t only call you for help, you know…” There was a beat. “Maybe,” she said, somewhat sheepish. “We’re at the station. You’ll see why we’re not walking when you get here.”

There was a blink of light behind them and every head whipped in the person’s direction. The new person, a man, snorted at all of their shocked expressions. Their dreads were pulled into a ponytail, but this may have been the coolest thing about them. Everything about their outfit screamed ‘nerd’, from the suspenders to the khakis to the sweater vest to the thick glasses. A disk of what seemed to be pure light was pressed to his ear.

“I’m here,” he said helpfully, clicking something on the ‘phone’ and shoving it into his pocket.

Chat Noir sighed deeply, peeking his head out from behind Ladybug. His hair stood on end. “Hey, Pegasus.”

Pegasus winked. “Nice to see you again. Chat Noir. Ladybug.” His eyes found their way to the pair huddled on the ground and then blew wide. “Holy… are these humans?”

“Yep. They’re going to be staying with us for a while.”

Pegasus turned to the pair of miraculous holders, looking like he was only just barely stopping himself from staring at them with open-mouthed shock. “I know you two wanted to stay even after all the Hawkmoth stuff, but I thought you were just bored, did you actually fall in love and have a kid?”

Ladybug pressed a hand to her mouth to hide a laugh. “Absolutely not.”

“It’s complicated,” Drake put in when Pegasus opened his mouth with a frown, clearly about to ask. “But, no, we’re not dating. We’re just… raising a kid together.”

There was a collective wince. Yeah. That sounded like they were dating. Poor Ladybug and Chat Noir, no one should be subjected to dating Drake. But, also, far more importantly, Damian was sure they were not at all suitable partners for his adoptive brother.

Pegasus snorted. “Yeah. Okay.” And then he tipped his head back. “K?”

A tiny horse head popped out of nowhere. It made a whinnying sound that couldn’t have been words, and yet it must have been because Pegasus responded with ease:

“You up for transporting everyone?”

The horse gave a huffing sound. More horse parts appeared. A tail. A leg. A single hoof. Piece by piece, ‘K’ came into being and started assembling themselves into a kind of body.

Once it was complete, the world around them blinked, and they were dropped into a new place.

Drake made a quiet ‘mph’ sound, his grip tightening momentarily, and then he sighed. “Teleportation…” He removed one of the hands he was hugging Damian with (which should be a crime, really) to rub at his temples. “This is all…”

“A lot?” Pegasus offered, smiling lightly. “Don’t worry, we all take a minute to adjust. You should have seen Chat Noir when he was first invited, he was stumbling over his legs like a little foal.”

The horse made a snorting sound.

Pegasus huffed. “Shut up, K.”

The inky blackness retreated, revealing… what looked to be a regular apartment, thank god. Sure, he could still see some of the weirdness even here – the bed was less of a bed and more of a mass of blankets, the place was littered with what he assumed were electronics considering how closely they resembled the ‘phone’ Pegasus had been using, and the ceiling looked more like a jungle gym than anything. But at least it had a familiar layout to the safehouses he and his family often used.

His standards were rapidly lowering, apparently.

The smoky being condensed into something that looked almost solid. It came to rest around Chat Noir’s shoulders, curling around him like a scarf. It meowed.

Chat sighed. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll burn something for you later. Go ahead and sleep.”

The cat-thing seemed to settle at that. Bright green eyes winked out and it began to purr quietly.

Ladybug sighed lightly and a few glittering coins materialized in her hand. “So, how much do I owe you?”

“Nothing, if you let me talk to the humans,” Pegasus said, long eyelashes fluttering ‘innocently’ behind his glasses.

“Nope. Is twenty okay?”

Pegasus huffed, but nodded, taking the coins. He counted them out carefully before tossing them in the air. They disappeared.

Damian wasn’t sure why anything surprised him anymore.

Pegasus yawned, stretching his shoulders. “Right, well, if that’s all you need, I’ll be going.”

“Bye Peg.”

Chat Noir winced. “You have to stop calling him that.”

“Then explain why!” Ladybug pouted. “I looked it up last week! There is nothing wrong with the word ‘peg’.”

“I wouldn’t say wrong… it just… has a new meaning that might give off the wrong idea…” Chat Noir said, biting his lip nervously. He glanced at Drake, as if he could somehow help.

Drake shook his head. “I’m not explaining that to someone. I have a baby in my lap. I’m exempt.”

Pegasus and Ladybug gave each other confused glances. Pegasus shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll ask someone about it later,” he said.

“Do not.”

“Too late!” He held up a peace sign, and then promptly disappeared.

Ladybug seemed unperturbed, and Chat Noir’s distress seemed to be due to the fact that Pegasus and Ladybug might find out about pegging in an unfortunate way than because his friend had dematerialized in front of him, so this was probably fine.

Ladybug yawned, rubbing white eyes. “We’ll have to get you used to this place before we can even think about taking you shopping to get things set up… I’m guessing you’re not letting them in the bed, Chaton?”

“I’d rather die.”

She sighed and, even though she had no pupils or irises by which to gauge this, Damian was sure she was rolling her eyes. “Fine. I’ll make a bed, too, while I’m busy constructing an entire room.”

The ladybug pin revealed itself to not be a pin at all, fluttering off of her and floating in front of her face. It was the exact opposite of the cat that had curled itself around Chat Noir’s neck, which looked like a smoky mirage that was one breath away from disappearing, because it looked almost too existent. Plasticy and fake.

Ladybug grinned at it. “Yes, Teeks, I would appreciate your help.”

The ladybug didn’t make a sound, but Ladybug nodded as if it had said something insightful nonetheless.

Damian reached a hand for it and the ladybug came to rest on his hand. He did not giggle when it started crawling around on his palm. Shut up.

“So, uh…” Drake started carefully, leaning over Damian’s head to peer at the ladybug as well. “What’s up with the weird animals?”

“They’re our gods,” Ladybug said with a small shrug, as if this was totally normal and fine.

“Those can’t be gods,” Drake said, frowning.

Ladybug raised an eyebrow, amused. “Oh?”

“Yeah. I’m Jewish.”

Chat Noir turned to snicker into his hand.

~~~~~

Next

@hammalammadamdam

[unchataparis]

A Review of Destruction

Fun fact of the post! The English lyrics of the opening song are "In the daytime, I’m Marinette, just an ordinary girl with an ordinary life. But there’s something that no one knows about me yet, 'Cause I have a secret", but the French lyrics are "Je m’appelle Marinette, une fille comme les autres. Mais quand je dois lutter contra les forces du mal, je devien-", which translates to 'My name is Marinette, a girl like any other. But when I have to fight against the forces of evil, I become–" and the chorus comes in with the resonating MIRACULOUS LADYBUG call.

"Ladybug, once I get that last Miraculous, you’ll disappear forever", Gabriel says in his evil monologue. Chat Noir goes back to not existing.

Another rational decision to ask Orikko immediately to grant Gabriel the power of time travel. Orikko’s powers are so bizarre, both Orikko and Ziggy’s powers are bizarre. They suit Marc and Nathaniel, since they are both artistic creators given the power of limitless creation, but these powers encroach a little too much on Ladybug’s territory. The two of them combined, technically could create their own Lucky Charm.

They’re doing a great job of irritating Gabriel.

How does a Holder have such oppressive powers against their Kwami? Who made this rule? Does the Holder have control over the Kwami because they possess the Miraculous Jewel? How does a human-made jewel have sun a reign over a formless concept?

That’s clever! Going around the restriction by forcing the Kwami to tell Gabriel where Ladybug lives. Reminds me of a similar get-a-round that happened in Vampire Academy.

Sabine has real snazzy pyjamas.

This episode on nonsense filler Latin.

So, Kwami can lie to their Holders.

Props to Alya for reacting so quickly.

Alya’s interruption is a good idea. Normally, Monarch would’ve been quicker to doubt and less likely to accept the fact that Marinette knows nothing but the keychain. But with his position outed and Ladybug likely on her way to apprehend him from terrorising random innocent citizens, he doesn’t raise as much questions and just want to get away.

Miles Morales.

So both Phillippe and Véronique, Véronique more, were in on the plan to help Ladybug.

This was a pretty solid strategy. Restrained, caged in, can’t risk making any hasty movements unless Monarque want the power of unlimited destruction coursing through his veins.

Ladybug bothering to explain how she knew Monarque was on her trail significantly reduces risk for Marinette.

The American dub focuses heavily on the characterisation that Monarque is a moth. The French dub refers to him as "papillon" only.

The only mistake Ladybug and Chat Noir made was underestimating the depths of Monarch’s desperation.

That really was a solid plan. Usually with Miraculous tactics, I can point out obvious fallacies or much sounder routes which would be ignored in cartoon settings in favour for pizzazz. But, here, I couldn't find a single foul in the plan to criticise. And Monarque could only get out by dealing himself the final damage.

I would not have felt any guilt in this scenario at all. As far as I'm concerned, Monarque dealt himself the blow.

Someone bothered to throw in "Lady Ice", but not the rest of the sentence? What’s going on? This is something so easy to do. Are the animators prevented from doing anything that’s not directly related to the plot?

The ribbon animation in this scene was great! They were bouncing and fluttering with Ladybug’s movements, I can’t remember if that has ever happened before.

All these events happened in one day? So, the true reason why Gabriel agreed so easily to Adrien wanting to quite modelling isn’t because he does want Adrien to have a shot at autonomous freedom or because he could just digitalise his son, but because he’s dying and wants to right all wrongs?

This episode really does set up the rest of the season, just like its predecessor. It introduces Gabriel's new facets of power. I don’t think there any special reason why Gabriel re-made the Miraculous into the shape of rings – there’s no link meant to Chat Noir, to clarify – it’s just the easiest way for a man like him to carry around 16 Miraculous without being too obvious about it. The next time Marinette spots him, she could point out, "why are all of your new jewellery the same exact Miraculous I lost?", but a really easy in-universe explanation could be that Gabriel manufactures faux-Miraculous jewels, like Lila’s fox pedant. Gabriel is supposed to be an avid Ladybug supporter. 

The audience comes to understand how Tomoe and Gabriel’s collaboration came to be –

And Gabriel has a new Miraculous Box and transformation. The over-wrapping lace is certainly – a unique touch. I like his previous Monarch look better, but this ingrain the more sickly aspect of his villainousness. His appearance oozes venom and tainted desire. It’s curious how Gabriel has blue pupils now. His 'Miraculous Box' is very personable, a ferris wheel cage, trapping hope like he traps the joy of his son. If Gabriel doesn’t have rights to it, he’ll just steal and build his own to contain it, basically. Very capitalistic mindset. Suits a fashion mogul.

[gaps-between-stories]

Fic Preview

A sneak peek of my OFMD/36 Questions AU.

The crackling of the recording filled the silence that had been suffocating Stede in the cabin of the car for the better part of twenty minutes. The radio signal had cut out around Terrace and he’d just now finally managed to get his iPhone hooked up to the aux cord after a fair bit of swearing, and, in a moment of weakness, bargaining to a higher power he hadn’t spoken to in years. 

When he'd first lost the radio signal, he’d tried the novel idea of sitting in silence with his own thoughts for a whopping total of 7 minutes before he started rummaging through the glove compartment for the aux cord he knew had to be there, dammit. 

The sound of rain falling on the rooftop had once been soothing to him – notoriously he’d fallen asleep in the passenger seat on many a road trip, greeted by plenty of ribbing from Ed when he would eventually wake up, hair somehow tasseled as if he’d slept all night. The number of accidental naps he’d fallen victim to on a rainy Sunday, Ed using his chest as a pillow as they cuddled on the couch, could rival any housecat. 

Back when life was still simple. Deceptively simple. The irony of that statement wasn’t lost on Stede. 

But now, as he sat hunched forward over the steering wheel, downing his fourth cup of coffee this afternoon, eyes straining against the dimly lit backcountry roads even this early in the evening, the rain was maddening. Like, an itch under your skin that you just can’t scratch, the sound of water dripping from somewhere that you can’t locate, broken smoke alarm maddening. 

After his desperate attempt at getting his Apple music working proved to be a more futile effort than getting an FM radio station out here, he’d settled on shuffling through the dozens of recorded voice memos he had saved. 

Anything to break the silence. 

Sighing, he gently turned the volume up as Ed’s laugh came through the car speakers. 

“Alright alright, I’m pretty shit at these things, and you all definitely want me to stop talking so you can get back to drinking. But I just wanted to say good job, crew. I’m proud of you all. Have fun, enjoy yourselves, and I'm gonna go make out with my smokeshow fiance.” 

A chorus of laughs, quite a few vocal groans, and at least one wolf-whistle followed his declaration. Someone, Lucius? shouted about 'getting a room.' 

The company holiday party was always a boozy affair, although Ed managed to make it through his speech with minimal slurring, no less boisterous for all of his efforts.

“Hey you.” Quieter, closer, more familiar. A voice filled with so much love it made Stede nearly burst at the seam. A voice reserved just for him.

“Hi,” recording Stede laughed, breathless 

Stede swallowed the lump forming in his throat, clicking through to the next recording, where he was greeted with his own voice. 

“Reminder to self: ask Lucius to look into the original owners of the Queen Anne's – " 

Click. 

“Can you repeat that?” recording Stede asked, voice clearly smug. 

Ed laughed, a sound Stede would do anything to hear right now. “What are you doing?” He asked, suspicious. 

“I’m just getting this as evidence that you said you were fine with a small wedding – city hall, no guests.” 

“Okay, yeah, fine, I want a small wedding. Although I’m pretty sure we need a witness or something.” 

“Well that’s just small details – oh.” There was a muffled sound of surprise, followed by a pleased laugh pressed between lips, before the recording cut off. 

Click. 

The sound of a waterfall. Their first anniversary, a trip to Snoqualmie. Stede had wanted to see the falls – the Pacific Northwest was still so novel to him then, he'd felt like every time he turned around there was another stunning view of mountains or harbors or evergreen forests. Ed had found his excitement amusing then, humoring him with trips up and down the coast. 

The sound of running water filled the car cabin for another minute before crunching footsteps interrupted the tranquility of it all. 

“Are you recording right now?” Ed called out in the distance.

“Mhm. I just want to remember it all!"  

There was a pause – Stede remembered that Ed had wrapped Stede up in his arms, the two of them watching the waterfall in front of a sunset that should have been painted. 

“Do you ever listen back to any of these?” Closer now, softer. That damn voice again. 

Stede hummed. “Not yet.” 

“Will you?” 

“Maybe when I miss it.” 

Click. 

Stede knew three things to be true: 

Today is July 28th, 2009. 

His name is Stede Bonnet. 

And he had been lying to his husband since the moment he met him.