#bet he asked if the fish is fine and you said ''yeah sure lol''

[baby-xemnas]

bepo turboshitting in the bushes is somehow their fault as well

[dandylovesturtles]

The separated AU poll (@tmntseparatedaucompetition) featuring my AU "100 Feet and a World Away" along with "New Phone Who Dis" by @callmehere-iwillappear is TOMORROW. We're up against Life Mission: Empyrean Bloodbath so I fully expect us to lose lol BUT I did say last time if we tied with NPWD I'd give us the next part of the "April takes the boys' pictures" saga AND SO! here! is April taking Leo and Mikey's pictures!

Vote for us tomorrow (if you want to)! All of these AUs are absolutely incredible so whoever wins is fully deserving~ Regardless, I will try to finish the saga with Raph's picture + Splinter getting to see them as soon as I have time (though it may take a bit because I have... bitten off a bit more than I can chew lol, and I need to get some other things accomplished).

Anyway enough rambling HERE'S THE FIC:

~~~

"April!" calls Mikey the moment she walks in. He scurries across the plywood bridge from his rock to the edge of the pool and hops off the concrete separating wall, and hurries over, buzzing around her excitedly. "I'm so glad you're back!"

"Well I said I would be, didn't I?" April grins, fishing in her bag for the strawberries she's brought them. She gives two of them to Mikey, and watches as he shoves one in his mouth, smiling as he chews.

There's a splash and when she looks back, Leo is sitting on the containing wall, watching her like a hawk. She wishes she could hug Mikey, but she knows if she tried to so much as touch him, Leo would be on her in a second.

Something to work on, but not today.

"Let's get this over with," he says. "I got the info Donnie wanted."

"That's great! Good job, Leo!" she says. All she gets is a scowl in return, but she tries not to let it get to her. "But before we talk about that, there's something else I want to do." She pulls out her phone and waves it. "I'm gonna take your picture!"

"Whoa, really!?" asks Mikey, clearly excited, but before she can reply, Leo is inserting himself between them.

"No."

April has to take a breath to steady herself; she knows he doesn't want to hurt her, and she knows he's just a kid. But when he moves like that, stands over her and tenses his muscles and looks down over the top of his snout at her, she can sense how easy it would be for him to kill her, and her instincts tell her to run.

But April O'Neil doesn't run.

She exhales and speaks, voice steady. "Leo. I understand why you're concerned-"

"Do you?"

"-but I promise you, I'm not going to do anything bad with them. I just want to show them to your dad."

"Still saying you know our dad, huh?" he says, the suspicion clear.

"I do know your dad, Leo." She takes another deep breath and lets it out slowly. He has every right to be cautious, she reminds herself, even if this is eating into their time tonight. "Look, Donnie already let me take his picture. He trusts me not to do anything with it."

"Yeah, well Donnie-" Leo starts, but then he seems to remember Mikey is there, and drops it mid-sentence. Which is good, because April can handle Leo being a jerk to her, but if he started badmouthing his brother they would be having words. "I just... worry he hasn't thought it through," he fixes it to.

"But Dee's a genius, right?" says Mikey. "I bet he has. He probably has some way to make sure she can't do anything bad with the pictures!"

That's not true, or at least, April is pretty sure that's not true (she did give him the phone, though, so maybe...) but if believing that will help them be comfortable with this she won't correct them.

Leo hesitates again, and she can tell he's struggling with his doubt over Donnie's intentions and his self-held rule of trying to keep Mikey's opinion of his brothers positive. Apparently, the latter wins, because he sighs and folds his arms and says, "Fine. But you're only taking a picture of me."

"Awww, Leo, come on," whines Mikey, but Leo ignores him, staring April down.

April wants to argue, too, but she knows if she pushes, Leo will just refuse to have his own picture taken too, and they won't get anywhere. Furthermore, he has info Donnie needs - if he becomes completely uncooperative then she won't get that either.

Deciding to cut her losses, April sighs and nods. "Deal."

Mikey looks thoroughly unhappy, but Leo seems to untense just slightly at the agreement. "Okay. Let's get it over with, then."

He walks over to the wall where their scale and measuring devices are stationed and raises both of his arms the same way Donnie had. April bites back her second round of nausea tonight and shakes her head.

"Nope, not like that. We're gonna do something more natural."

It's easier in here without the fence to deal with. She considers for a moment, then nods at the pool and says, "Sit on the steps. I'll take your picture there."

"Ugh, fine." He moves to do what she says, flopping on the steps with an annoyed grunt. It's such a teenager thing of him to do that she almost laughs, but she quickly swallows it before he gets more annoyed with her.

"Great! Now... sit however you want to... yeah, that's fine," she says after he pulls up one knee and leans back on his arms. She pulls her phone up with the camera on, adjusts the framing, then says, "Fair warning, it's going to flash." He shrugs. "Now... do you want to smile?"

He thinks a second, and then he smiles - closed lips, no teeth, more of a wry smirk than a full smile. But the way he tilts his head as he does it is so natural.

She takes the photo. Then she gets in closer and takes another. Then she pulls them up to look them over.

Like with Donnie the lighting is dim, but Leo is still plenty visible, and April can't help but smile.

"Dang, Leo... I have to say, the camera loves you."

"Ooo, lemme see!" says Mikey, and April turns the phone so he can look. Immediately his eyes are sparkling as he leans in to see more clearly. "She's right. You look great, Leo!"

Leo is trying to look uninterested, but she sees through him in the way he approaches. She doesn't make him ask, just flips the phone screen his way so he can look, too.

He leans in, and she something appears in Leo's face that she hasn't seen since she's come to visit him. Something soft and vulnerable and wondering - something she's sure he'd never intentionally show her, but something in the photo has brought it out of him anyway.

"That's... me?" he says finally, like he doesn't believe it.

"That's you!" she says cheerfully, even as she's trying not to think about how sad that question is. Come to think of it, there are no mirrors in here, and any reflective surfaces would likely show them a distorted image - this might be the clearest way Leo's had to see himself in years. "Pretty handsome, right?"

Leo's eyes flicker up at her just a moment, then they go back to the picture. "Handsome..." he repeats, reaching up and running his finger over the markings on his face. Mikey is watching him, with an understanding in his eyes that seems way, way too old for a thirteen-year-old, and, not for the first time, April realizes he isn't as naïve as he acts.

Even though her time for the night is dwindling, April doesn't pull the phone back until Leo finally looks away. Almost immediately his expression is back to being as annoyed as ever, but she knows that's just a mask. One day she hopes he can take it off, but for now she lets him keep it.

"You said you took Donnie's picture, too," said Mikey. "Can we see?"

"Of course!" she says, and pulls up Donnie's selfies, picking her favorite to show them. "Here we go; I had to let him take these himself 'cause of the fence."

Mikey looks, his eyes going wide, and Leo comes to join him, something less open and more complicated in his expression.

"Look, Leo, he has the same color eyes as you!" says Mikey, pointing. "And a matching scar!"

Leo's fingertips brush over the scar on his face, but he doesn't comment on it. "We all have the same color eyes, Mikey."

"We do? Oh, oh, and look," he continues, barreling on without waiting for an answer, "he has purple markings on his arms! I think his snout's longer than ours, too."

"Yeah, guess so."

"And what's up with his shell? Why's it look like that?"

"He's a soft shell." Leo frowns. "You didn't remember that?"

Mikey blinks once, twice. "Uh, I think I did, actually. Uh, maybe." He's still staring at the photo, but April can see his eyes starting to get glassy. "I... maybe I knew that, but I never really thought about what it meant? I... I forgot what he looks like."

He sniffs, harsh, and then the tears start rolling. "Oh, baby," says April softly, while Leo just tucks Mikey under his arm.

"I forgot what my own brothers look like," Mikey says, his voice thick and wet. "I forgot... and if I forgot... I'm sorry."

"Nothin' to be sorry for," says April. She reaches out and puts a hand on his arm, glancing at Leo, but he doesn't do anything to stop her this time. Mikey hiccups at the touch but doesn't pull away. "What is it?"

"I just... did they forget what we look like, too?" He glances up at Leo, then sniffs again. "Will they even recognize us?"

April decides this isn't the time to bring up how it'd be hard to confuse them for anyone else, because, while true, it's not really the point. What she goes for instead is a different but still practical answer: she waves the phone at him.

"I'll show them the pictures, okay? So now they'll remember, too." She looks up at Leo again. "That okay with you, Leo?"

He jerks his head as he looks away from Mikey, and she can practically see the gears working while he comes to a decision. Much as April hates making Mikey cry, it seems it's worked in her favor.

Because Leo sighs, and says, "I guess if you're doing that you need to take a picture of Mikey, too."

Mikey's eyes go wide in surprise, before he sniffles loudly and then turns and jumps onto his brother, who holds onto him with a good-natured chuckle. "Thanks, Leo!" he says, his tears still trickling down his face, and Leo just sighs and pats his shell until he eventually stops.

April takes Mikey's picture, and he and Leo ooh and aah over it just as much as they had Leo's. She gets the information she needs, and gives a promise that she'll show the pictures to Donnie and Raph as soon as she can.

Raph... well, she's pretty sure he won't actually know what he's looking at. Honestly, April still isn't even sure if he can see.

But she knows Donnie is going to be ecstatic. She can't wait to show him.

[theficblog]

hi it's me filling up your ask box :) pls block me if i get too annoying it's completely understandable,even I would block myself tbh

Anyways,thank you for including my fanfic little bro 😭 for this plot i will be called Park Teddy lmao cause imagining mark calling me Teddy makes me want to sob

Like

"So,um,I'm Mark." My roommate said with a smile,hand extending in an open invitation. "Mark Lee. Nice to finally meet you..."

"Teddy." I replied just as his words trailed off,probably asking for a name to complete it before taking his hand in a simple shake. "I'm Teddy Park,and it' nice to meet you too Mark Lee."

Hnggg please how dare u set me up with mark lee and not expect me to make it into some cringe overused roommate attraction 😩

And Jeno being that character people mistake as the one sleeping around and being a jerk is just big brain YA author energy/genius vibe right there bae like what are you on?? And THANK YOU FOR ALSO BRINGING A FINE ASS MAN LIKE THAT TO ME TOO DAMN you are so considerate as a writer 😭 if it were me mc would not have a social life aside from teaming up with her brother to solve some freaky mysterious academy secrets

lmao blocking you is the last thing i would do lol no bad idea..

and and and then you guys shake hands when you introduce yourselves but none of of you know what is the right amount of time to hold hands and look in the others eyes 😭😭😭

and so you keep on shaking the hand and start to get lost in the eyes.. mark has those stars in his and i bet yours are even prettier!!

and then he asks you which one of the two beds you want and values your preference, then he goes to his and unpacks stickers and banners and stuff OH AND HE ALSO BRINGS HIS GUITAR!

"Oh, do you play?" Teddy's eyes were mor curious than her words, like a little kid intrigued by the aquarium fishes.

"Oh umm.. yeah.. not like im a pro but i can give it a try for sure!" Mark replied, the calm air of the room comfortable enough to let go of his awkwardness.

The two of them found a friend that day.

ASHHH 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 and then he wears his glasses and starts to play whatever you ask and then you start harmonizing with him as well

and no we would give you a social circle ash make more friends haechan cant be the only one

[joeyjoeylee]

Hey :) can't wait for the final chapter of "both sides of the law"... do you know when do you plan to release it?

( No pressure 😬 )

Hi Anon, this is really nice, thank you! I'm back on my usual bullshit re: angst over word count yada yada yada substantially complete but edit! needed! blah blah, etc. Best case scenario with the holiday weekend I'd say Monday but more realistic scenario (lol) later next week! (Completely pessimistic scenario - I'll tinker with it forever, finger hovering over but never actually pushing the post button.)

In penance for blowing yet another deadline and because I have missed tags for the last couple WIPs tag games - I'm gonna kill two birds with one stone AND also include a snippet (but under a thingie for mild spoilers/sheer ridiculous length).

“Who’d the judge appoint to represent Eddie?” he asked, concentrating on spearing a piece of fish with the end of his chopstick. These little fuckers were so slippery sometimes.

“One of the best litigators in Detroit, even if his practice isn’t primarily criminal,” Gretchen answered, after a pause.

He looked up and made an impatient keep going motion with his chopstick when she paused again. Gretchen actually had the nerve to wince at that as though he was flinging rice all over her pristine oak desk.

She didn’t say anything. Just kept regarding him thoughtfully, in a way he recognized was her trying to figure out the best way to proceed – to try to manage him.

Finally, she closed her eyes for a long moment in resignation, put-upon and martyred, as if this all was just going to be so so very difficult.

“Eugene Katz,” she said at last.

For a second, Rio couldn’t place the name or why Gretchen would say it with such a long-suffering sigh, like she was bracing herself for a reaction from him that was going to be nothing but unreasonable.

Then.

Eugene…Katz?

Katz?

Professor Fucking Katz?

He dropped his chopsticks with a clatter, earning him another wince, and sat back in his seat incredulous.

“You ain’t actually being serious right now, Gretch –” he began, scowling, but she cut him off immediately.

“I know, I know, you had him at school – me too, by the way – and you think he is quote ‘crazy’ unquote, but the fact remains that he’s been litigating almost as long as we’ve been alive. Yes, his practice is predominantly family law but you can’t run a small litigation firm for 30 years without doing your fair share of criminal and personal injury work too.”

He was still shaking his head no. Violently. No. No.

Gretchen narrowed her eyes at him. Then she steepled her fingers together and sat back in her own chair to do battle.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she mocked, pointedly, “I thought we had agreed these kinds of decisions were my department? No?”

Rio ground his teeth. She was right and he hated that.

He’d learned to defer to Gretchen’s expertise and counsel on issues like this. She was the one over at the courthouse every other day, the one who was vice-chair of the Criminal Law section of the Wayne County Bar Association, the one with all the connections with the criminal defense bar, not to mention the prosecutors, the bailiffs, the sheriff’s deputies.

Still, it annoyed the shit out of him to concede to her on this, especially since Gretchen knew exactly how he felt about that lunatic. So even though he already knew he was probably going to end up agreeing, he still made her work for it.

“Yeah?” he lounged back even further in his chair and folded his hands across his stomach, “well, convince me then, Counselor. Lay out your case.”

Gretchen sighed dramatically. Then started to tick off the reasons one by one on her manicured fingers.

“First, it’s not like this is going to difficult for him, the prosecution’s case is mostly circumstantial and it’s just a simple possession charge, a felony, yes, but the most baby felony of felonies,” she held up her index finger for Reason 1, “next, your unreasonable prejudices notwithstanding,” she dropped her index finger and held up her middle finger – Reason 2 – then held it aloft alone for just a beat too long until he snorted, “we wouldn’t be able to find anyone better connected. His ex-law partner from back in the day is Judge Cuccinelli and Judge Berry worked as his associate 20 years ago – they’re both on the bench over there now. And he’s taught at least half the rest of the judges on that court at one time or another, either at school or in continuing legal education classes.”

Rio rolled his eyes. All that all of that proved, in his opinion, was the very sad state of the Wayne County judiciary.

“And Reason 3 – the most important one – juries love him.”

He sighed and shook his head again, but without the heat from before.

“Rio, Eddie’ll be fine, trust me. And it’s not like I’m not going to be involved,” Gretchen’s tone had switched to sweet and conciliatory now that she sensed victory in her grasp, “I’m drafting up a joint defense agreement to be couriered over to his office. We can share thoughts and strategies and still maintain the appearance of separation between our respective clients.”

He knew he’d lost by then but he had to get one last dig in.

“You sure he can handle the workload, Gretch? Ain’t gonna drop dead before we get to trial? He gotta be 100 years old by now.”

It was Gretchen’s turn to roll her eyes.

“Exaggerate much? He can’t be more than 65 or so, and from what I’ve seen in court, still well in possession of all his mental faculties.”

That was a very low bar in his opinion, but he let it go.

Gretchen tilted her head, then leaned forward and put both elbows on her desk.

“Besides,” she said, and it seemed to him that suddenly she was watching him intently, “he won’t be handling it alone. He’s hired a new associate.”

Rio picked his chopsticks and bent back over to concentrate on wrangling his sushi again. He had already exhausted what little interest he’d ever had in talking about Professor Katz.

He expected Gretchen to keep on with her nagging and lecturing and low-key gloating about getting her way.

But there was only silence.

He looked back up to find her watching him still, her chin now resting on one hand.

She looked expectant.

“I bet you’ll never guess who it is,” Gretchen prompted. Her voice sounded a little odd to him. Almost gentle somehow?

Rio shrugged. That was a good bet on her part. It wasn’t like he gave a shit any which way, other than the passing thought of God help the poor little bastard who was going to be working for that lunatic.

Gretchen still didn’t say nothing. Just kept regarding him thoughtfully.

Damn, she could be so dramatic.

“Well, I’m definitely dyin’ of suspense over here now, Gretch,” he told her sarcastically, “so tell me – who?”

She was watching him so carefully, with such laser focus, that the second before she said the name, he knew who it was going to be and he almost, just almost, had time to brace himself before –

“Beth Boland.”

[ambivalent-anarchy]

Body

Part 1 of 2

Part 2

Masterlist

Gender: Female

Pairing: Peter Parker x reader

Warning: None

Anon requested- can I get a one shot where the reader does the body positivity trend with the new megan thee stallion song and the reader is insecure about how ppl will react to it?? Most importantly how peter will react to it?? K thanks

Awww I love doing smol readers and where Peter's actually the one that has it together lol sooo thanx for this

The TikTok is that new body positivity trend with that Megan Thee Stallion song. Couldn't link it because tumblr acts weird about links but part 2 will have a video for Peter. Also reader will be 18 (senior in high school) cuz some people think minors shouldn't participate in the trend lol

A/N: Either a motivation fairy hit me in the middle of the night or I'm really just that bored to the point where I had no choice but to get my motivation to write back. Either way I'm happy lol. Enjoy! Thanks to @yumings and @kelieah for helping me feel confident in this lol

Will definitely be a two parter🙂

---------------------------------------

Body oddy oddy oddy oddy oddy oddy oddy-

You'd finally finished editing the video.

It was a simple, short collage of all of your favorite selfies and pictures that showed off your body well. There was a new trend going around on TikTok and when you saw it you just had to jump at it headfirst.

People would take their favorite pictures of themselves, ones that showed off their bodies just the way they liked, and they'd put it to the sound of Megan Thee Stallion's song "Body".

You looked through your entire phone gallery to find pictures that you were confident enough to post, some you'd forgotten you even took in the first place.

When you were done, you threw in the simple caption that everyone was using.

Heard we're using this sound to show off. My turn then😜

Yeahhhhhh, the caption sounded much more confident than you actually felt.

You actually thought about deleting it from the minute you posted it. Insecure wasn't even the word for it. And even with your followers there to hype you up, you couldn't help but feel self-conscious. So, albeit hesitantly, you went to your friends for support.

The first person you showed was Michelle.

"You killed that," she said in math class as she passed you the phone underneath the table so that the professor wouldn't see.

"Thanks," you said. "I was honestly kinda nervous about it." You noticed her incredulous look and explained yourself, toying with the loose strings on your jacket. "Like seriously, I don't wanna fish for compliments, it's just that there are so many better ones out there."

Michelle gave a lopsided grin. "That's just you being insecure, you dork," she retorted. "You look hot." She gave an uninterested glare at the teacher when they told her to be quiet. Then she turned towards you with a smile. "You shown Peter yet? I bet he'd agree."

You shifted in your seat nervously and MJ immediately caught on. "What, you don't wanna show him?" She gave you a look when you took a while to answer. "Dude he's literally your boyfriend. I'm pretty sure he'll like it."

"MJ, we haven't even-" you looked around secretively. "-we haven't even taken our shirts off in front of each other yet. There's literally a pic of me in my sports bra and I.." You shrugged, a little embarrassed by the conversation topic. "I-i just don't know how he'd react."

You and Peter were a fairly new couple and were taking it slow. You'd only ever kissed, cuddled, and held hands so far. Plus, you were a major causal clothes wearer. Sweatshirts and jeans, those were your specialty. The two of you were in no rush and you were both fine with that, but you had no idea how he would react to seeing pictures of you like that.

And, though it wasn't the most feminist approach, you kinda wanted to impress him. Was that so bad?

MJ, forever the voice of patronizing reason, rolled her eyes at you. "So, let me get this straight. You're not fine with your boyfriend seeing sexy pictures of you, but you're okay with literal strangers seeing you instead?"

"Look, I know it's-"

"No, no I totally get it," she said with a sympathetic smirk, before laughing. "I just wanted to show you how dumb it sounded though."

The bell rang, signaling the end of class.

"Look," she said, standing up and getting her things. "You have nothing to be worried about. Peter practically worships the ground you walk on. He'll love it."

When you showed Ned, he genuinely didn't give a shit.

"Oh my God, there's a new Megan Thee Stallion album?!"

"Uh, yeah."

"I have to listen to it right now!"

"Yeah okay, but do you like the-"

He was already plugging in his headphones before you even finished your sentence.

You showed Harry next. If anyone was gonna rate you unabashedly, it'd definitely be him.

He was the only friend you had in your lunch period, so you met up with him every day. Towards the end of lunch that day, you'll pulled out your phone and asked if he wanted to see the video. He enthusiastically agreed.

He watched the short video with an amused expression, bopping his head to the music all the while.

When it ended, he handed you your phone back and gave you a high-five. "Damn girl!," he praised. "Just throwing it out there, if Peter fails you, I'm hella available."

"Heh, thanks." You smiled as you felt your entire face heat up. "Ya think he'll like it?"

"What, you haven't shown him yet?" You shook her head, giving a nervous smile. "Oh-" he nodded confidently. "-he'll love it. Trust me."

"Are you sure?," you asked.

"Yeah," he responded with a shrug. "Why are you so worried?"

"Because he's not-..he doesn't really seem-" You couldn't find the right words for it. "I dunno, I just really want him to like it!"

Harry scoffed. "Look. Let me tell you a little secret about Peter Parker," he snickered. "Or practically all guys for that matter."

"Okay?," you said, curious as to where this was going.

He smirked. "You remember when he introduced himself to you at my party last summer?"

You nodded.

"Well, hon..." Harry lowered his head to where he was whispering in your ear. "Your personality wasn't what he was noticing from across the room.. catch my drift?" He chuckled when he saw you blushing as you caught where his eyes had wandered. "Just sayin'."

Seeing your incredulous expression, Harry continued. "Peter likes to act like he's not checking you out every second of the day, but I promise you he is. That little "I'm so respectful and bashful" crap he has going is complete B.S."

You smirked and rolled your eyes as he pulled away from your ear and kept walking. "You're an ass."

Harry shrugged. "True, but I'm a realistic ass." The alarm on his phone sounded which marked his time to start heading to his next class. Standing up, he smiled down at you. "Seriously, if I could take back all the time spent listening to Pete go on about how good you look in your jeans, I'd be one well rested guy."

You rolled your eyes, but it betrayed the small smile growing. After all, he wouldn't be Harry if he wasn't a flirtatious dweeb. "Bye Harry."

"Show him the video, [Y/N]. He'll love it. You know I'm right."

And then there was one...

Later in the day, you were talking with MJ after school, waiting because Peter always insisted on driving you home because chivalry was not going to die as long as he was alive to keep it going.

When he finally showed up, the first thing he did was take you by the hand and give you a quick peck on the forehead.

"How are you guys doing?," he asked as your little trio started to walk.

"We're good," you chirped, ever so conscious of the phone in your pocket that you were suddenly very hesitant to pull out.

MJ noticed and nudged you. "You got anything you wanna show anybody, [Y/N]?," she asked with a smirk, causing Peter to look at you curiously.

You stayed quiet, but MJ still wasn't putting up with it. "I think you may have a video that you made..."

You remained silent and Peter looked at you, a lot more confused now. MJ frowned. "Um... cough.. cough."

Peter laughed and stopped walking. "Okay, what am I missing?" He looked to you and when he didn't see your expression falter, he looked to MJ. "What's going on?"

Michelle shrugged. "[Y/N] wants to show you a dumb TikTok she made but she's scared about how you'll react."

"Michelle!," you scolded.

She shrugged again. "What? You weren't going to say anything anytime soon."

"A TikTok?," Peter questioned. "Cool, which one did you do this time?"

You could feel your face heat up for the hundredth time that day. "It's a...um.." You stared down at the ground. Jesus, this was hard. "..It's a body positivity trend."

His eyebrows went up at that. "Oh, well um.. is it cool if I see it?," he asked.

You blushed. "Sure." You pulled out your phone and opened the app. When you got to the video you quickly shoved it into his face before you had a chance to second-guess yourself.

Both you and Michelle watched Peter's face as he watched the video.

His cheeks immediately turned red but his expression was unreadable. He had to have watched it over 5 times before MJ pulled the phone out of his hand. "Helloooo, earth to Peter Parker?"

She snapped into his face several times and he started to blink wildly, apparently being pulled out of a trance. "I...um- heh.."

You gave a small, nervous smile. "..did you like it?," you asked, growing confused as stared at you, his expression still the same. "Um, Peter?"

Suddenly, he smiled and let out a little chuckle. "Sorry... just..." He laughed again and scratched his head, unable to keep eye contact. "You're just- like.... really hot."

You blushed. Fuck. "You're not just saying that are you?"

"No, really like-" He looked back at the phone. "...Damn." He bit his lip. "How on earth did I get so lucky?"

"Okay, can we please get in the car before I throw up?"

The two of you looked at an uncomfortable MJ with embarrassment riddled on your faces. "Yeah, totally," you said with an awkward cough. "Sorry."

"Nice video [Y/N]," Peter murmured bashfully, opening the door of his car for you, his face still beet red. "Really nice..."

Tagging: @allegra-writes, @allegra-soleil l, @yumings, @hey-its-grey, @spideyyeet, @sunkissedspidey, @tommyunderoos, @chaoticpete, @snarky--starky, @sovereignparker, @thesherlockianavenger, @bubblebucky, @eridanuswave, @ithoughtthiswastwitterbutfr , @kidney9-9, @gwenvrse

[leiasfanaccount648]

The 3 Times Kenma Didn’t Get What You Wanted for Your Bday & the 1 Time He Did

(Kenma Kozume x Fem!Reader)

Summary: Like all friends, they remember what is most important to them, especially one another’s birthdays. However, Kenma seems to be struggling with finding you that perfect present year after year.

A/N: This is for the absolutely lovely @briswriting​!!! I’m so happy to call you my friend, that you got me into Animal Crossing, and I hope you have an amazing bday today <3 :)

Warnings/Contains: Fluff, birthdays, the tiniest amount of angst. Disclaimer, I did some research on the video games I mentioned in this but none of the release dates match up lol.

Word Count: 2033

Elementary School; 5th year

“Happy Birthday, (Y/N)!”

“Wait, what?”

Kenma looked up from his GameBoy as he heard people talking by the door of the classroom. He saw one of his neighbors that he had bet through Kuroo talking to some of her friends and receiving some gifts and snacks from them.

Kenma looked at the desk in front of him and saw a few more trinkets and such from people in other classes. They may not have known each other for that long, but (Y/N) was the first friend of his that actually wanted to play video games rather than volleyball like Kuroo.

(Y/N) was nice, and had great taste in games; he would gladly call her his friend. So what do friends of a couple months get one another for their birthdays?

“Good morning, Kenma!” (Y/N) brought him out from his thoughts as she walked over and sat down at her desk, facing him with a bright smile. “What’re you playing?” She peered over his desk to try and catch a glimpse at what game was on the screen.

“I, um,” Kenma glanced down at his GameBoy as Pokemon: Red and Blue was still playing. He didn’t get to answer as (Y/N) already saw the screen with a gasp.

“Are you about to play the battle against Professor Oak?”

Kenma couldn’t explain it, but he felt his heart jump at her knowledge of the game. He knew that she played it, but he thought that she had just gotten it a couple weeks ago. “Yeah, I am.” He smiled shyly and quickly paused the game so he could talk to her properly. “Happy birthday, by the way. I’m sorry, but I didn’t get you anything.”

(Y/N) shook her head, waving her hands in front of her as well. “No, no! It’s totally fine! Trust me, you didn’t have to get me anything.” She smiled, moving her hair out of her face shyly. “Honestly what I keep getting from my friends gets to be too much of a hassle.”

Kenma smiled a little, finding her reasoning quite amusing; however he could tell during lunch she definitely enjoyed eating the cookies that someone had made her. He tried to think of something he could do for her, but he trusted her word to not worry too much. Besides, there was always next year.

--------

Middle School; 3rd year

It was late, almost too late to Kenma’s liking as he had just finished volleyball practice and wanted to do nothing than go home and finally get some rest before the weekend started tomorrow. However, he had one last thing to do.

Kenma had been hearing (Y/N) raving about the game for weeks, and he had managed to get it pre-ordered and delivered the day that it came out. Now he stood outside her apartment, hoping that she would like it.

He texted her to come to her door, and it was obvious that she was confused, but did so nonetheless. She smiled as she saw him, about to greet him, but he beat her to it, holding out a small, wrapped box for her to take.

“Happy birthday, (Y/N).”

“Oh my god, Kenma you didn’t!” (Y/N) grinned wide as she noticed the shape of the wrapped box her friend had handed her. She opened it without hesitation, expecting to see Pokemon X and Y, but instead saw Animal Crossing: New Leaf. She felt touched that he remembered how much she wanted that game, but still looked up at Kenma with sorrow.

“Kenma, I am so sorry,” she laughed nervously, starting to feel guilty. “But my parents got me the game already along with a new 3DS.” (Y/N) knew that there was no way that he could have known, but she felt guilty nonetheless over the fact that Kenma had spent his money to get her the game.

Kenma on the other hand felt nothing but embarrassment. He realized his mistake and that he should have asked her parents if she was going to be getting the game. “I’m sorry. I should have asked if there was more than just that game that you wanted.”

Like she did back in elementary school, she shook her head. “No, you’re fine, Kenma.” She laughed softly to try and lighten the mood, but she could still tell that Kenma felt awkward about getting her a game that she had been gifted not 3 hours ago. Then she smiled. “Wait! Now that you have the game, we can play it together!”

Kenma tilted his head a little, confused. “I thought it wasn’t a multiplayer game.”

“It’s not, but we can still keep up with one another’s progress and stuff. It’ll be like when we play Pokemon and see who can defeat the boss quicker!”

Although it wasn’t Kenma’s ideal choice of game style, he still kept the game and played with (Y/N) both online and while they hung out together. Soon enough, he became addicted and got a whole level ahead of (Y/N) despite their agreement to build their islands and such together.

--------

High School; 2nd Year

It was raining after school, and Kuroo had decided to cancel practice due to the weather scheduled to get worse throughout the evening. Kenma felt grateful for two reasons. One, he could go home and finish his homework early before playing some more Animal Crossing. Two, he could see (Y/N) before she had her club and give her the batch of his mom’s homemade brownies that he promised her a few days ago.

Kenma was on his way towards the room where he knew she would be at, however he didn’t expect her to be sitting outside the door. He saw her phone in hand along with her backpack leaning against her. Then he caught sight of her face and rushed over as soon as he saw the tears in her eyes. “(Y/N)?”

(Y/N) looked up at the sound of her name, instinctively reaching up to wipe below her eyes before putting on the best smile she could muster at the last second. “Kenma!” She chuckled and stood up quickly to straighten herself out. “What’re you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at practice?”

“Kuroo cancelled it due to the weather planning to get worse. So I decided to bring you the brownies since you said you wanted them for your birthday.” Kenma reached into his bag and pulled out a small container that contained the sweets. (Y/N) didn’t say another word, just stepping forward and bringing him into a hug.

Kenma froze as she did so, not sure how to react. “(Y-Y/N)?”

“Just,” she took a deep breath to keep from letting out any tears. “Let me have this, please?”

Kenma looked at her, wondering what it was that was causing her to be so upset, but he knew that she would tell him on her own time. For now, all he did was hug her and he practically felt the tension and nerves in her body melt away, ignoring how his heart raced rapidly due to her being so close and for so long.

That year, Kenma was the only one who had remembered (Y/N)’s birthday.

--------

College; 1st year

It was a couple days before (Y/N)’s birthday and Kenma was stressing beyond belief. Ever since high school, Kuroo he had begun to realize that he had developed feelings for her and he never knew how to express them into words or actions. 

He remembered the day that Kuroo pointed it out to him because they were playing an online game together and Kenma had managed to lose against both him and Bokuto. Needless to say it was obvious that something was bothering him and Kuroo needed to know (even if he already did).

Either way, he wanted to do what he thought would make her happy for her birthday. Some had been flops while others he felt like haven’t been the right gift, but he still did what he could.

This year however, he wanted to know exactly what she wanted.

The two of them were in the middle of playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons when Kenma thought he’d just ask via the game while they were fishing on his island.

‘btw, what do u want 4 ur bday?’

Since they were at different universities and couldn’t physically see each other, (Y/N) assumed that he would just craft/give her something in the game.

‘a cat to cuddle & love 4ever’

Kenma chuckled at her reply, smiling to himself as he typed out one himself, but (Y/N) added another response.

‘even though it’s not in the game XD’

Oh.

Kenma froze for a moment as he realized how (Y/N) interpreted his question. But he still got an answer and wasn’t going to take it for granted. He quickly got on his laptop and pulled up Amazon. Lucky for him, he found a cat plushie that he knew (Y/N) would like that would arrive the day before her birthday.

On the fateful day, Kenma headed to her dorm as he knew she was spending her birthday on a different day with her family and would most likely be cooped up side playing games (much like himself). Once he messaged her to come outside and was met with a ‘read’ text, he knew she was on her way down to greet him. When (Y/N) saw him with the stuffed cat in his arms, she ran over and hugged him tightly as she could.

Kenma almost lost his footing and fell, but he managed to stay standing and hug her back. “I know what you said you wanted a cat, but I didn’t want you to get kicked out of your dorm.”

(Y/N) laughed, shaking her head at his words before pulling away. She also took the cat plushie from him to get a better look at it before holding it in her arms. She smiled shyly at him. “Kenma, I was talking about you.”

“Wait, what?” Kenma’s eyes widened, repeating the words she said a couple days ago in his head. He felt his cheeks start to turn pink as (Y/N) spoke up again.

“All I wanted was to spend my birthday with you.” She glanced to the side, starting to feel flustered. “You’ve been my best friend for years and you’re so nice and considerate, not to mention cute,” she giggled, pausing briefly. “It’s practically impossible for anyone not to be around you and,” she met his gaze again. “I like you, Kenma.”

Kenma didn’t know when he did or what made him think it was a good idea, but he reached out with one hand and held the back of her head as he pulled her in for a kiss, which she gladly returned a second later. Once he pulled away, he smiled shyly as though silently apologizing for being so straightforward and sudden.

“Uh,” Kenma cleared his throat, letting go of her so she could have some space. “Would you like to go get some dinner?” It was obvious that he wasn’t sure what to say or do at the moment.”

(Y/N) simply shook her head, reaching for his hand and leading him into the building in which she stayed at. “I’d much rather spend my birthday eating takeout and playing video games with you. How does that sound?”

“But, it’s your birthday.” Kenma followed her to the elevator, still holding her hand.

“Exactly, so that means we’re going to do what I want.” (Y/N) giggled and kissed his cheek before stepping inside the elevator with him and pressing the button for her floor. “And I want to cuddle you while we eat and play Animal Crossing together.”

Kenma smiled, squeezing her hand to let her know his thoughts on her plans for the rest of the evening. “Sounds like a plan.” He was thankful that he decided to bring his Nintendo Switch with him.

“Oh, and that means that I want all of the turnips you bought yesterday, too.”

“Wait what?”

[chironshorseass]

29 and 30 fluff for perachel or percabeth? Hehe I like both ships don’t @ me. Love your writing btw!

I kinda managed to do both...kinda lol. This was fun to do :) Sorry in advance for the bad puns.

writing prompts

“Detention? Again?”

“Look, I can explain.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes and sat back on her bed, too tired to stand up and listen to what Percy had to say, most likely.

“Sure you can.”

They’d been Iris Messaging for a few minutes now. Percy, exhausted from a day of school and homework, had taken the first chance off to fish out a drachma from his drawer and call one of the people he’d missed most since the summer.

It had slipped his mind that New York and San Francisco had different time zones. But luckily, Annabeth was still awake. He’d found her in her bedroom, curls pulled into a messy bun and eyebrows scrunched up in concentration as she read some textbook, still studying for the exam she’d talked about a week ago.

Despite her initial complaints about Percy interrupting her, he knew that she didn’t mind.

“So?” she asked, bringing him back to the present.

She pulled her legs under her and stared at him expectantly.

He blinked. “Huh?”

She raised an eyebrow, and Percy thought—in the back of his mind—that she looked unfairly pretty. At night, with the fairy lights illuminating her hair and her face, like an angel.

“Why’d you get detention?”

“Oh. That.”

“Yes, Seaweed Brain. That.”

“Uhm…” Percy scratched the back of his neck. “It’s kind of a funny story, I um…”

“Spit it out.”

Now that he thought about it, maybe he shouldn’t have said anything at all. Maybe he should’ve thought this through, to avoid any arguments. Or confrontations. Or another cold shoulder. They weren’t as awkward now that the school year had started, but the mention of her always put Annabeth on edge, anyway.

“You see, I was with, uh...Rachel.”

He paused, noticing the way she gripped her textbook tighter, slightly wrinkling the pages.

Why did I think this was a good idea? Stupid.

“I was with Rachel, and she sort of, um...” he laughed nervously, already cringing. “Made a bet?”

Technically, he’d made the bet. But that wasn’t important for Annabeth to know.

/

Chemistry, in Percy’s opinion, was the most boring class Goode had to offer. Useless. Irrelevant.

Confusing, most of all.

At least he was partners with Rachel. It was one of the few classes they had together. They sat at the very back, so they were rarely noticed anyway, mostly spending the forty five minutes of lectures about chemical equations doing little drawing games on their notebooks and playing hangman. Percy lost most of the time.

The teacher wasn’t that great, either. Most of the school knew her as Mrs. Jones. She was a short lady in her late sixties with thin, badly dyed hair who had a concerning addiction to gum—so to Percy and Rachel—she was known as Mrs. Gum-Gum. She turned to the board for some explanation that Percy had completely lost interest on since the first five minutes of class. Rachel let out a low moan, hands on her forehead.

“Kill me now,” she muttered.

“Sorry, I can’t. My sword doesn’t work on you.”

“I hate you.”

“Yeah,” he grinned, leaning backwards and tilting his chair. “I know.”

She hit him in the shin. “You’re going to fall one of these days, and the class will never let you forget it.”

“Eh,” Percy shrugged. “At least they’d get a laugh and you wouldn’t be so bored.”

Her green eyes twinkled with humor like she’d just remembered something. She snorted. “Okay. So this one time, a girl was doing the same thing as you, leaning back and all—and she like, fell. It was hilarious, because she just lay there, with her feet in the air.”

“Rachel Dare,” Gum-Gum called, narrowed eyes cast on them. She kind of sounded like a wounded hyena, in his humble opinion. “I sure hope you and Mr. Jackson are discussing the worksheet that I gave out.”

Rachel nodded and threw her a thumbs up, while Percy held a fist to his mouth to stop the smile forming on his face. Gum-Gum left her alone and went back to her lecture.

The class kept its monotone routine of worksheets and notes, so as a distraction, Rachel grabbed his arm and popped the lids off her sharpies, drawing little figurines. She was on his second tattoo when an idea came to him.

“Hey, Rach?” he whispered, making sure the teacher was facing the board.

“Hmm.”

“We should play truth or dare.”

She grabbed the green marker and spread the ink from side to side across his skin. “Mmm...No.”

“Come on,” he whined. “I’m bored.”

“Yeah, but we’ve done truth or dare so many times now. It’s gotten old. Besides, you’re such a pussy.”

“Am not.”

“Yes, you are. Remember that time I dared you to eat the gum from under the seat?”

Percy made a face. “That was so fucking gross. Nobody in their right mind would’ve done that. Maybe Mrs. Gum-Gum, but I am not on her level.”

“I figured, after you blatantly refused. And then there’s the time when I dared you to kiss Mary Andrews. On the cheek. And you couldn’t do it.”

“Oh my gods, I can’t just kiss girls. That’s leading them on.”

She exhaled, long and deep and stared at him as if he were a lost cause. “Okay. Whatever.”

She went back to drawing on his arm.

“If anyone’s the pussy right now,” he whispered. “It’s you.”

“Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that. You just wish you were as marginally cool as me.”

“Um...Then why won’t you play truth or dare?”

“Like I said: bo-ring.” She leaned closer to his arm, creating tiny details with the thinner side of the sharpie. “And don’t tell me I don’t do the dares, ‘cause I do. My last name’s Dare, after all. It would be a complete dishonor.”

“How long have you waited to say that?”

“Oh, you don’t wanna know. Now hold still. You’d look good with tattoos, by the way.”

He sighed. Okay, fine. She had a point, he wasn’t that great at doing “cool” stuff, likely because he was traumatized by the getting-kicked-out-of-schools thing he had going for him. You know, maybe it was that.

As Percy watched her work with her sharpies, he realized: maybe there was a way to prove to her that he could do daring stuff. A once in a lifetime thing. And in the process, he could make her smile.

“Fine,” he said. “If you don’t wanna do something, then let’s make a bet.”

“Depends on what you want to bet on, but go on.”

“How much money would you give me to flip this table, right here, right now, in the middle of class?”

The read-head stopped creating the swirly lines of the little wave she’d been working on, making his skin tingle from the loss of the pointy marker. She lifted her freckled face, watching him with raised eyebrows.

“Nah, you don’t have the guts.”

“Psh. ‘Course I do. I’m Percy Jackson.”

“Ohhh! Percy Jackson. I’m Rachel Dare, nice to meet you.” She lifted her hand like she wanted Percy to shake it.

He slapped it away. “Shut up. I can totally do it.”

“Do you not care about getting in trouble with dear ol’ Gum-Gum?”

“I’ll make it seem like an accident.”

“Nothing you do seems like an accident to teachers.”

“Good point. Still be worth it, though.” He lowered his voice even further. “Besides, I gotta prove to you that I can do cool stuff.”

Rachel snorted. “Now I could literally ask you to do drugs and you’d do it, apparently. Peer pressure is a dangerous thing, my dude.”

He grinned. “And I want your money. You’re like, rich, Dare.”

“Thanks for the reminder, Jackson.”

“No problem.”

Gum-Gum shot them an admonishing look, and they pretended to do their work.

“So,” she said after a few seconds passed. “How much money?”

“I knew you could work with me.”

“Ugh, I’m getting second thoughts from your dramatism.”

“You love it.”

They held gazes, green on green. Rachel narrowed hers and sighed. 

“Again, how much money?”

Percy shrugged. “You decide.”

“Fine.” She flipped some of her fiery curls over her shoulder. “I’m betting on a hundred bucks.”

He whistled under his breath. “Damn. You want me to do it that badly?”

“I do want to see everyone’s reaction to Percy Jackson losing his shit.” He shoved her, but she continued. “Especially Gum-Gum’s. But I know we’re getting in trouble, so we might as well go all out. What? It’s true! But at least you’d get your money.”

Percy shook his head. He’d probably regret this later.

Then he thought, what would Annabeth think?

But he couldn't dwell too much on that. At least it would be funny.

“We need to clear the desk, though.”

“Duh.”

So they worked, as quietly and discreetly as they could. When they’d finished, Percy turned to Rachel and nodded. She put a hand against her mouth to muffle her laughter.

On the third count, he flipped the desk. The table crashed with a resonating bang.

Rachel leaned backwards and let out a sound of surprise, probably because she’d half speculated that he wouldn’t pull through with it in the first place.

Immediately, everyone craned their heads to the back of the room. Some jumped at the sound. Others gasped or snickered, especially at the sight of Mrs. Gum-Gum. She yelped and dropped her marker, slapping a hand to her chest and retreating a few steps as if she were about to go into cardiac arrest.

“Percy Jackson!”

He winced a bit, but all in all, he thought he was keeping a straight face. But then he caught onto Rachel’s expression, arms crossed. He doubted they’d get off freely, just as she’d said.

/

As they shouldered their backpacks, heading for room 1345—detention—Rachel slipped her hand in the pocket of her paint-splattered uniform skirt.

“I didn’t know I had the money with me, but it seems as though he fates are in your favor, Jackson,” she said, taking the dollar bills from her pocket and handing them to him. They both knew all too well that she didn’t care for it. Daddy issues, he recalled.

Percy raised his eyebrow. “Thanks, Rach. Now, I can finally buy a new skateboard.”

“Nice to know that this was worth it.”

“Especially since now you have to do something...daring.”

She tapped her index finger to her temple mockingly. “Oh, I see. That’s why you wanted to do that bet. So then we could be on even ground.”

“Do you agree, Dare?”

“My gods, you’re so corny. But sure. Though let's not get ourselves a detention pass the next time, hmm? I feel bad for you. How many have you gotten this semester?” She clicked her tongue. “What will your mom say?”

1343, 1344 ... 1345. This was the place. Through the window, he could see many of the students already settling in, giving the teacher the strip of paper that he and Rachel had in their pockets.

He exhaled. “I don’t want to think about Mom just yet. But honestly, I don’t mind detention. And I don’t think she would, either. Better than getting kicked out.”

“Mmhmm. And I don’t really mind spending some more quality time with you. Even if we get in trouble, I kinda think you’re nice to be around, Jackson.” She smiled and held her arm out for him to pass. For some reason, that comment made his chest feel warm and fuzzy. “Gentlemen first.”

“Isn’t it ladies first?”

“Chivalry is dead. Now go on.” She nodded towards the door. “I like being fashionably late.”

“And you say I’m the dramatic one,” he grumbled.

[ashyblondwaves]

Thoughts

First of all please write that enemies with benefits thing that “stupid fucking bitch” and “red bastard” shit killed me. Like little vignettes of them hurling insults while they try not to break their kiss AND while they’re trying to get naked as fast as possible?? Immaculate.

Second of all do you think they wear some kinky ass outfits in the bedroom sometimes? Like full leather and whip type shit? I could see dom Wanda whipping Vision. Or Vision dressing as a professor by putting on a blazer and glasses? Whooo boy.

Can Vision take a whole one of Wanda’s titties in his mouth at a time? Does he try his best to do it with each of her ass cheeks?

Does Wanda like getting her hair pulled? Does Vision put on his human disguise so Wanda can pull his hair?

Which one likes calling/being called a dirty slut more?

Have they ever fucked in public in an alley or something after a battle bc adrenaline?

Vision in leather chaps?? Thoughts?? A cowboy hat would also be acceptable?

What are Wanda and Vision’s craziest fantasies individually? Have they had some of the best sex of their lives because they tried something new?

Are Wanda and Vision the hottest parents on the PTA?? Are they each oblivious to how hot they themselves are but stare daggers when the hoes are staring at their spouse who is objectively hot AF??

Fun possible angst trope/ idea/hc?

Fun fluff idea/hc?

New and fun smut idea/hc??

Any no powers AU ideas?

In what scenario(s) could you imagine either Wanda or Vision being super overprotective of their partner/family?

Do you have any hc’s for either of them coming home from a mission and the other one breaks down because they thought they might never see them again?

Are they as obsessed with each other as everyone thinks? Are they touching at all times? Do they know?

Do they have any matching outfits? My headcanon is that the whole family wears matching sweats or tshirts or something every year for a picture. And when Wanda is pregnant with the boys or with Flo, her shirt/ sweatshirt says big bird and everybody else’s is a different Sesame Street character.

Also when Wanda was pregnant with the twins she had some sort of one fish two fish red fish blue fish or some other kind of twin themed outfit on. Vision repped Dr. Suess in some other way.

Does Wanda jump Vision whenever she gets the chance? Like is he washing dishes she sneaks up behind him and whisper some nasty shit to let him know it’s on? Does Vision do this to Wanda?

Have the team ever been looking for Wanda and Vision just to find them curled up in the blankies with everything covered but still naked and Vision is just snoozing on a titty?

Would Wanda ever get her nipples pierced? I’m projecting lol this is a goal of mine to get them pierced soon.

Would Vision get his human nipples pierced? Would he stan Wanda getting hers?

Where is the weirdest place they’ve found hickies on their bodies?

What is the weirdest place the team has seen hickies on their bodies?

Has anybody ever seen bruises on Wanda’s wrists or neck from Vision’s big ass hands and asked if she was ok and she’s like oh yeah they’re not those kind of bruises so she blushes and leaves?

Has Wanda accidentally read someone else’s mind while she and Vision were fucking because she lost control of her powers? Was it some weird shit?

Have a fun night!!

Second of all do you think they wear some kinky ass outfits in the bedroom sometimes? Like full leather and whip type shit? I could see dom Wanda whipping Vision. Or Vision dressing as a professor by putting on a blazer and glasses? Whooo boy. You just put your finger on the pulse of one of my kinks. The professor kink. Professor Vision. YES PLEASE.

Can Vision take a whole one of Wanda’s titties in his mouth at a time? Does he try his best to do it with each of her ass cheeks? That’d have to be one awfully big mouth to do that, so probably not!

Does Wanda like getting her hair pulled? Does Vision put on his human disguise so Wanda can pull his hair? Yes and YES. Sometimes Wanda just needs a handful of that blond hair while he’s going down on her or really getting in there with some good ol’ missionary.

Which one likes calling/being called a dirty slut more? I’m not sure either one do but I had to choose, probably Vision.

Have they ever fucked in public in an alley or something after a battle bc adrenaline? Kissed? Absolutely. Groped? You bet! Full on fucked? Not yet but probably one day at the rate they’re going.

Vision in leather chaps?? Thoughts?? A cowboy hat would also be acceptable? Let’s go with assless chaps, no hat and maybe a lasso?

What are Wanda and Vision’s craziest fantasies individually? Have they had some of the best sex of their lives because they tried something new? Vision wants to be tied up and edged while Wanda recently discovered she wants people to almost catch them. She’s always trying to get Vision to do something where people might see or catch wind of things. After years of being secretive, she’s done with that.

Are Wanda and Vision the hottest parents on the PTA?? Are they each oblivious to how hot they themselves are but stare daggers when the hoes are staring at their spouse who is objectively hot AF?? Absolutely yes! They both hot and they’re Avengers. Can’t really get much hotter than that. The commoners want in on that Avengers swag, but it’s not gonna happen.

Fun possible angst trope/ idea/hc? There was a scare during the twins’ pregnancy. Wanda went an entire day without feeling either of them move and spent that time thinking the absolute worst. Then she had some spicy food and it woke those boys up.

Fun fluff idea/hc? Vision doesn’t understand football. I mean, he understands the rules and the strategy and can appreciate that but he just doesn’t get the point of throwing a ball around. He does it though for the boys sake and they love him for it.

New and fun smut idea/hc?? Now that I brought up Wanda wanting to do it and almost get caught I have this idea that they rent a hotel with a big window. Think of the window in IW and they just fuck against this window for anyone walking by to see if they look up at the right time.

Any no powers AU ideas? Besides The Playlist? Nothing at the moment but that can change with the tiniest of pushes LOL.

In what scenario(s) could you imagine either Wanda or Vision being super overprotective of their partner/family? It’s all about those big bad guys they fight. They want to protect the boys from that world at first, until the boys show their powers and they realize there’s no shielding them from it. As it was said in WV, they were born for it.

Do you have any hc’s for either of them coming home from a mission and the other one breaks down because they thought they might never see them again? This happens a lot. Almost every time one of them goes on a solo/mission without the other. Anxiety and bad thoughts take over, even for Vision and his logical self. So the minute either of them walk in the door, they’re right there to greet them in relief and tears and unrealistic promises to always come home to the other (cause who can promise that for real? :’()

Are they as obsessed with each other as everyone thinks? Are they touching at all times? Do they know? I mean it sure as hell seems like it. Something that I headcanon is that Hex Vision is the real Vision in the sense that, this is who Wanda knows. She created him, afterall. That side of him we see in Westview is still him, just that side Wanda gets and he may have kept hidden from others. But that’s just my headcanon.

Do they have any matching outfits? My headcanon is that the whole family wears matching sweats or tshirts or something every year for a picture. And when Wanda is pregnant with the boys or with Flo, her shirt/ sweatshirt says big bird and everybody else’s is a different Sesame Street character. That’s so cute! They definitely coordinate outfits for pictures and maybe all wear cheesy things for holidays (Vision’s idea, let’s be real) like matching pajamas.

Also when Wanda was pregnant with the twins she had some sort of one fish two fish red fish blue fish or some other kind of twin themed outfit on. Vision repped Dr. Suess in some other way. Thing 1 and Thing 2, yo! Not that the boys are “things” but you know. To stay with the twin thing.

Does Wanda jump Vision whenever she gets the chance? Like is he washing dishes she sneaks up behind him and whisper some nasty shit to let him know it’s on? Does Vision do this to Wanda? Wanda is ready whenever Vision does anything domestic. Washing dishes is a big one for her. Those sleeves are rolled up, he’s looking fine as hell and Wanda definitely takes advantage. Vision returns the favor too, usually during more quiet moments where he can tell her how beautiful she is but then get really dirty about it.

Have the team ever been looking for Wanda and Vision just to find them curled up in the blankies with everything covered but still naked and Vision is just snoozing on a titty? Snoozing on a titty lmao. That’s great. I bet the team has totally found them in weird states of undress before. That’s just the risk you take when two Avengers get together.

Would Wanda ever get her nipples pierced? I’m projecting lol this is a goal of mine to get them pierced soon. I could see this. Maybe in the AoU days or something, just a spontaneous decision to do something a little wild. Good luck on your piercings. Sending you good vibes to heal perfectly.

Would Vision get his human nipples pierced? Would he stan Wanda getting hers? I don’t see Vision being a nip piercing kind of dude but he would absolutely support Wanda if she decided to do it.

Where is the weirdest place they’ve found hickies on their bodies? Wanda has found them all over. Weirdest place, right under her armpit.

What is the weirdest place the team has seen hickies on their bodies? Nat saw some mark on Wanda’s inner thigh that she knew were hickies or bite marks. Wanda said they were bruises from training but then eventually spilled the beans.

Has anybody ever seen bruises on Wanda’s wrists or neck from Vision’s big ass hands and asked if she was ok and she’s like oh yeah they’re not those kind of bruises so she blushes and leaves? Nah. Vision is typically gentle with Wanda with his hands, knowing how easily she would probably bruise if he used more strength. He wouldn’t leave her to walk around with actual bruises on her wrists or anything. Maybe on her ass from holding her while she rides him, but that’s about it.

Has Wanda accidentally read someone else’s mind while she and Vision were fucking because she lost control of her powers? Was it some weird shit? Not yet but it could always happen ;)

Have a fun night!! You too! Thanks for stopping by with fun questions for me!

[dbzebra]

A Son Family Christmas

A/N: Ok so this was originally a secret santa present from years ago, that I recently rediscovered and made some new additions and cleaned up some things. As usual this takes place in the End of Z era, this time 9 years after Majin Buu. And lots of cute family+ship fluff. might need to go to the dentist afterwards lmao

Words: 3721 (i got carried away lol)

Pairings: little bits of Gochi, HanVi, MarTen and K18. 

Mostly a Pan focused fic though! 

enjoy :)

Christmas Eve; Age 783. 

A blizzard howled and whistled from outside, covering the grassy mountain in a sparkling sheet of white snow. 

Mt. Paozu was pitch-dark, except for the lights that came from a small cottage deep in the woods. 

This was the home of Earth’s greatest hero.

The Son family decided to throw a Christmas party for themselves at their little mountain cottage. Goku invited Krillin and his family as well. The former monk was already pretty much family to Goku anyway, only more so when Goku and Krillin’s kids started dating each other the previous year. 

It was the day everyone was looking forward to, but nobody was more excited than Son Pan. 

Pan was three years old now, and could finally understand the concept of the holiday, as well as the magic and excitement behind waking up the next morning to find presents underneath the Christmas tree.

The toddler stared around at her grandparents’ fully decorated house in wide-eyed wonder. Garland wrapped around the railings and banisters; little models of Santa and reindeer on the countertops, a wreath on their front door, and so much more. Chi-Chi always loved going all out, it was her favorite holiday. 

But what really had young Pan’s attention was the big, beautiful Christmas tree sitting in the foyer, filling the house with the strong but familiar scent of the forest.  It dwarfed little Pan by several feet, but she wasn’t scared.  She loved it.  Lush green branches were adorned with ornaments of all shapes and colors. Rainbow lights twinkled in mesmerizing fashion. High above her head, at the very top of the tree, sat a big, shining golden star -- a decoration she got to add herself.

Every year, the Son family had a tradition to go out on Mt. Paozu and cut down the perfect tree. Goku knew the best spots. He always did -- even as far back as before Gohan was born. But nowadays they had to find two trees. One for Goku and Chi-Chi’s house, and the other for Gohan and Videl’s next door. 

Pan sighed. She just wanted it to be bedtime so it could be tomorrow! She wanted presents! Every minute felt like an hour to her. The little girl tiptoed around, looking for any hidden presents but found no luck. She frowned. How was she even sure Santa would really come?! She had to keep her mind off that tree and the eventual presents somehow or she’d go crazy! 

The three-year-old trotted into the kitchen to see what everyone else was up to. 

The adults were all hard at work preparing the feast. Chi-Chi, Videl, 18, and Gohan busied back and forth to create the feast. Krillin and Goku did what they could, but usually ended up making things worse so they were ordered to stay put at the dining room table. If Goku was out in the wilderness, he could cook meat or fish just fine. But using a stove and all those utensils just wasn’t his thing. 

Goku spotted his granddaughter looking around and called her over. “Pssst… Panny…”

The toddler tilted her head curiously to the side and went over to him, smiling as wide as could be. “Hi, Grandpa!” 

Goku flashed one of his signature grins in response. He then put a finger to his mouth, still smiling, signaling the little one to be quiet. Pan covered her mouth to stop from giggling. Secrets were fun!

Pan blinked as Goku momentarily glanced to his wife to see if she was watching. Luckily, she was too preoccupied. When the coast was clear, he reached into his pockets. 

“I got somethin’ for ya.”

Pan’s eyes sparkled with wonder. “What?”

 “Don’t tell Grandma, okay? It’s a secret…” Goku grinned mischievously as he pulled out a small bag of cookies. He had stolen a few when Chi-Chi wasn’t looking; the wait for the food combined with how good everything smelled was too much for him. Krillin just shook his head with a smile.

She happily took them from her grandpa and stuffed them all in her mouth in one bite. With her full cheeks puffed out, she grinned back at her grandpa and Goku returned it.

The toddler hugged Goku and smiled before trotting over the counter where Chi-Chi was cutting food and occasionally stirring something in a pot. Pan tugged on her dress lightly, peering up at her. “Grandma?”

“Yes sweetie?” Chi-Chi cooed, stopping what she was doing to face her darling granddaughter.

“Can I helps you?”

Gohan ruffled his daughter’s hair as he helped make a dish. “Pan, don’t bother Grandma when she’s cooking; we’re all working really hard on this meal for everyone. Why don’t you see what Marron and Uncle Goten are doing?” He felt bad, and spoke calmly to not upset his young daughter, but he knew more than anyone that Goten was better equipped to preoccupy her right now.

Pan pouted. “Fine.”

“Oh hush, Gohan. Everything’s on schedule,” Chi-ChI replied, making her granddaughter smile again. “And of course you can help, Panny. You can help stir for me!”

Pan floated up and gently stirred the hotpot, happily singing ‘la la la’ like she had heard her grandmother do in the past. “How long does this take? All the food is in this big bucket?” As it turned out, this wasn’t nearly as fun as she thought. 

“Should be all done in about thirty minutes.” Chi-Chi said, gently patting her head.

Pan’s mouth went into a small ‘o’ shape, trying to count how long that was on her fingers. It took her a bit to get to thirty “That takes too long. This is boring!” Pan replied.

Goku and Krillin tried not to laugh as she floated back down to the wooden floor. Their wives shot them a quick look and they both turned away, innocently whistling like they didn’t make a sound. Two peas in a pod, those two. 18 and Chi-Chi just giggled to themselves. 

Pan shrugged her shoulders, scurrying back to the living room to see if she could find her uncle. Goten always had the best video games to play! 

“Uncle Goten!! Where are ya!!?” Pan called out to him. 

No answer. Pan frowned. “Is he hidin’ from me?” She noticed the television was still on, and his phone sat on the couch. But no Uncle Goten. But then, she caught something out of the corner of her eye from the other side of the Christmas tree. 

Pan tiptoed around the tree, when she finally saw them right in the middle of a soft, tender kiss. Above their heads was a small mistletoe, hanging over the archway. In that moment nothing else mattered to them except each other.

Until...                     

CLICK

“Great shot, man.” 

The sound of a camera shuttering followed by the voice of Krillin broke the two teens out of their tender embrace. Goten’s jaw dropped, and then he just facepalmed with both hands. Marron followed his line of sight to see his father standing there, camera in hand. She should’ve expected this...

“Dad!! W-What are you doing?!” Marron practically shrieked. The blonde’s whole face went red from ear to ear, shoulders shaking. Steam was practically coming off her face. It was embarrassing enough her parents were so lovey-dovey on a regular basis, but now she got caught in the middle of her most awaited special moment with her Goten of the holiday season! 

“What does it look like? I’m capturing a special Christmas moment of my daughter!”

CLICK

Krillin  got another picture at their flustered reactions. “But that one was just for fun.”

“Your mother will get a kick out of this!” Goku added, sporting a wide grin similar to his oldest friend. 

“Grandpa! What’s that leaf over Uncle Goten’s head? Why were him and Aunt Marron playing kissy-face?” Pan asked eagerly. It looked like something she’d find on the ground before the snow came. She didn’t get why it was so special.

“It’s called a mistletoe, Pan. When two people get caught under it, they have to do that.”

“Misty Toe? That’s a dumb name!!” Pan broke into giggles again. “Uncle Goten is under a big toe!” 

Eighteen came out to the living room, ignoring the two former Turtle School fighters who were still carrying on about their kids. Marron and Goten didn’t find it so funny! 

“Marron, could you help me in here for a moment?”

“Sure!” Marron said, finally shaking off her flustered state and went to the kitchen. Any way to be away from this scenario. 

Shrugging, Goten turned on the PlayStation to kill some time. The familiar start up sound soothed his ears and he sat down to play. He let Pan play on his phone in the meantime.

“Hey Uncle Goten…?” Pan climbed up on the other side of the couch after getting bored rather quickly. 

“What’s up, squirt?”

“Is Santa Claus really comin’ tonight?”

“Definitely.” He grinned at her childlike innocence; it reminded Goten of himself at that age. “You gotta be asleep, though. He won’t come if you’re awake!”

“How does he know?”

Goten patted his niece’s head. “It’s ‘cause he’s magic, Panny.”

“Magic? Is that like how Grandma always knows when Grandpa does something bad?”

“Somethin’ like that.” Goten chuckled. For a three year old, Pan was much more aware of things than she let on. 

Coming back to the living room, Marron plopped down next to Goten, leaning against his arm. Now that she was over the embarrassment of getting caught by her father and Goku, the blonde wanted to make up for lost time. She watched him play for a bit, and then turned to him with a sly smirk. “Bet I can beat you.”

“Yeah you probably can, cause you’re a big cheater.” Goten replied with a cheeky grin, not keeping his eyes off the screen. 

“Hey! I am not a cheater!” Marron huffed, her bright blue eyes narrowing at him. “It’s not my fault you just get so easily distracted!”

“That’s why it’s cheating! You always play dirty by kissing me right when I’m about to win!!” 

“You call it cheating, I call it strategy.” 

Goten normally would never say no to a kiss from his beautiful girlfriend, but she’d always steal the win while he was still reeling from the kiss! It wasn’t fair! One time, Goten tried the same trick on her, but it didn’t quite work the way he intended. It backfired entirely, actually. As she just kissed him back and they both ended up completely  forgetting about the video game soon after that.  

Marron’s frown turned into a sly grin. If that’s how he wanted to play, fine. She knew exactly what buttons to push. “Fine. I just won’t kiss you ever again. How does that sound?”

“N-No, w-wait! I, uh...” Goten gulped. His mouth became dry, the words getting caught in his throat. He really did this time. Was this his worst fear coming true?!

The blonde giggled at his adorable panic-stricken face, satisfied with herself. “That’s what I thought, dummy. But still, lucky for you, I don’t think I could ever give this up~” Marron kissed his cheek again, leaving her boyfriend reeling as she went to the bathroom to freshen up before dinner. 

Goten put his head in his hands and let out an audible sigh of relief. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand girls…”

From across the couch, Pan started giggling. “Uncle Goten did something bad!” She didn’t really get what the big deal about kissy kissy was to begin with, but seeing her uncle all flustered like that had the toddler tickled pink.                                                  

The next twenty minutes rolled by quicker than ever, and finally, it was time to eat. 

The adults all came out carrying multiple trays and large bowls. The plates and silverware had already been set as the ever-growing Son family all took their seats around the table.

“Wait, Dad’s not here yet.” Chi-Chi said, looking worried. “Do you think he got stuck in the blizzard?”

“He’ll be here. I can sense his energy. Besides, he’s the Great Ox King! No way some storm is gonna stop him.” Goku confirmed, easing his wife’s worries. He winked at her and Chi-Chi smiled. 

And like clockwork, a few minutes later the door swung open. The cold wind blew snow onto the floor of the house, when in came a giant, jolly looking man with a grayish beard. He wore a large red coat and carrying lots of presents. “Merry Christmas, everyone!”

Pan gasped, practically standing up in her chair. A large jolly man with a big belly. Red coat. A beard. And carrying presents. That could only mean one thing… 

“Santa!!!?”

But she thought she had to be asleep! 

Chi-Chi hurried to the door to greet the man.  “Dad! You made it!”

“Hi, pumpkin!” Ox King hugged his daughter.  “Am I late? Sorry I missed the cooking, it’s like a blizzard out there! Can’t see a thing.”

Goku grinned. “You’re just on time. ” He went up to his father-in-law who brought the Saiyan into a big bear hug, followed by doing the same with his two grandchildren. 

Pan tilted her head to the side, more than a little confused. “...That’s not Santa?”

“No, honey. It’s your Great Grandpa Ox! You remember him, right?” Videl told her. Pan thought about it for a second, and the name was familiar! Her expression lightened when she remembered. Pan flew over to him and gave him a big hug.

As the adults got Ox King set up, Pan the conversation no mind as she stared at the pile of presents on the floor in awe. She gently tried to shake each box to try to guess what was inside but didn’t have much luck. 

“Mama, Papa, can I open them now??” She asked, barely containing her joy.

Gohan and Videl exchanged a look and sighed. “You can open Grandma and Grandpa’s present after dinner. The rest will have to wait ‘till tomorrow morning.”

“Okay!” Pan replied. That was good enough for her!

                                                                   And so with everyone in attendance, the feast could finally begin. 

In typical Saiyan fashion, the Son boys filled their plates far above regular capacity. Little Pan tried to mimic her grandpa and uncle and put as much food on her plate as her little hands could grab.

Krillin did his impression of Yajirobe for the others, especially Pan who never heard it before. 18 spoke her new job as a school teacher, and Videl’s new case as Satan City’s top detective, with her right hand man Great Saiyaman.

Meanwhile, In record time, Goku finished his plate and went back for more. Goten wasn’t far behind him. 

“More please!” 

“Me too!”

Father and son respectively said.

“I wants more too!” Pan said, and then remembered the thing to say that her parents taught her. “Um, peas!!”

Chi-Chi smiled. “Of course, angel.” And then turned her gaze to her younger son. “Oh, and Goten, you really should behave yourself in front of your future wife. It’s not polite to eat like that!” 

Gohan cracked a grin. “Yeah, Goten. Listen to Mom.”

“Not helping!”

Videl lightly slapped Gohan’s arm. “Oh stop. You’re one to talk, aren’t you? I distinctly remember a time when you were the one getting flustered whenever someone brought up our relationship.”

“Well that’s-”

“No excuses. You were a nervous wreck on our first date, remember? You wore your pants inside out!” Videl playfully poked his shoulder. She turned to Goten and winked. 

At least somebody was on his side….

Chi-Chi suddenly gasped. “Oh, I forgot the wine! Excuse me for a second.” She got up and went into the kitchen. She returned a moment later with a large bottle. She poured a glass for each of the adults, minus Goku and Gohan. Goku didn’t like the taste, but Gohan wanted to try it.  

“Mom, can I have some?” Gohan asked.

“Absolutely not, mister! You know what happened last time. You dressed up as Saiyaman and put a performance on for everyone!  And you have Pan now, you need to be a better influence!” Chi-Chi scolded him, but the smile never left her face.

Gohan hung his head as Goku patted him on the back while Goten snickered.  “I’m sorry. I got carried away last time because everyone was having so much fun.”

“I for one loved it.” Videl gushed. “It reminded me of when we were still teenagers~”

“R-Really?!” Gohan said, blushing. 

“Oh fine, here.” Chi-Chi caved and handed her older son a glass. After a story like that, she couldn’t say no. 

When Goten went to reach for the bottle afterward, Chi-Chi gave a stern look to her younger son that practically screamed ‘don’t even think about it!’ 

Goten frowned, dejected. Every time he tried that, and every time he failed. And now it was Gohan’s turn to snicker.

Chi-Chi couldn’t help but laugh. Even though they were grown, her sons still had that little brotherly competition. 

“Boys will be boys...” Videl said and Chi-Chi nodded in affirmation. Especially her boys. 

Krillin took the bottle next. He put too much in his glass and then downed it. 

“Okay, lisssten up! I haaaave to make an announcement!!” Krillin declared and then burped.

Eighteen sighed. “Here we go…”

Everyone stopped to listen to him, with various degrees of amusement written all over their faces. Goku most of all. He  put down his food to give his best friend his full attention. Oh, he had been waiting for this. 

“Oh no, not again....” Marron said with a fearful expression, preparing for the worst. She was already embarrassed by him once. But twice? She’d rather bury her head in the snow outside. 

“What’s the matter?”

“When my dad drinks, he gets a little too happy and starts blurting out embarrassing things.” 

Krillin cleared his throat and began to speak. “I...I looove my wife!!”

“Huh?!” Eighteen was caught off guard by his confession as if it were the first time hearing it. 

“She’s sooo pretty… And so n-nice… And so cool!” Krillin hiccuped, putting his empty glass on the table. He hiccuped again, his goofy smile only getting larger. “She acts real tough, but… she’s a.. She’s a biiiiig softie! Like a---”

Eighteen covered her husband’s mouth before he could finish, her face turning the same crimson as her daughters did earlier as everyone laughed. “Krillin, s-stop it you idiot! W-We’re in public!”

“S-Stooop what? The party’s just getting started.”

Eighteen handed him a glass of water to get him to sober up before he blurted out something else. It didn’t take much to get Krillin loosened up, but he sobered up quickly as well. 

That big dork, blurting out something so embarrassing like that. She had a reputation to uphold! How was she supposed to freak Trunks and Goten out if they knew her ‘stone cold’ persona was just a big act?! In her own mind though, Eighteen swooned. But she wasn’t about to let anyone know! In public at least. 

Dinner wrapped up soon after. Not a single morsel was left over. 

“Time for presents!!” Pan said and then plopped down on the carpet in front of the tree, 

At the sight of her daughter, Videl’s couldn’t help but feel giddy. She was the same way at Pan’s age, and Pan’s joy was absolutely infectious. 

“This is a special present from me and Grandma.” Goku handed his granddaughter a large box. He wrapped his other arm around Chi-Chi and she rested her head on his shoulder as he kissed the top of her head. Nothing was better than being altogether as a family, watching her granddaughter open a present on Christmas Eve 

Pan ripped off the wrapping to find a plain white box inside. She curiously stared at it, and even shook it to try to hear what was inside. It didn’t sound like a toy, for one. Hearing nothing, she slowly took off the lid. 

Instantly Pan gasped. 

It was a small, red colored martial arts gi with matching belt and wristbands, and small blue fighting boots. 

Pan’s first gi. 

“This is the bestest present ever!” Pan’s entire face lit up like a star. “Can I go try it on?” 

Pan flew upstairs with her new gi, returning a few minutes later wearing it, still beaming. “Look at me, Papa! I look like Grandpa!”

Pan couldn’t be happier which made Gohan and Videl happy. 

“Oh, Pan, look, there’s something else in here.” Gohan pointed to the red object poking up of extra wrapping paper.

Pan then came face to face with a small red pole inside a sheathe, tied with a fresh rope. “What is this?” She stared at the mysterious item, confused. She liked it; it felt familiar. “Is it a baseball  bat?”

“No, sweetie, this is the Power Pole.” 

“Power Pole?”

“It used to be my grandpa’s. He gave it to me when I was little. And I took it all over the world looking for the Dragon Balls. I almost lost it a few times, but it always found it’s way back to me. One way or another. It was only natural to pass it onto you.”

Pan put the Power Pole around her shoulder. With a puff of her cheeks, Pan flexed her muscles. For the first time, Pan felt like a true fighter. 

“You look just like me!” Goku knelt down and held out his open hands. “Give it a shot.” 

Pan looked to her father, who nodded. Smiling, the toddler punched Goku’s open palm. 

“Yup, she's my granddaughter alright.” Goku grinned. “She’s got some serious power behind that punch.”

“Next present!” Pan exclaimed.

“Nope. Sorry, Pan. The rest have to wait till tomorrow, remember?” Gohan said.

“Aww, okay. But I bet those wont top this!” She waved the Power Pole around. It was best they didn't tell her it could grow just yet. 

Throughout the night, the sound of laughter could be heard coming from a small house deep in the woods. It could still be heard echoing in the valley, late into the night. Inside, the room was aglow with the love that is shared between family and friends. 

Pan’s first Christmas Eve was truly a night to remember for them all. And one she would never forget.

[meowdymista]

Van der Driscoll Pt 7

Part 6 - Masterlist

Part 8

This is a bit of a filler chapter, which is stupid for the ratio of original wording to in game script ratio. Next one will be more engaging, I promise. Also sorry for the long wait; I took time off from writing last week because it was my birthday, and then England swept into a second lockdown so it’s been poo trying to prepare especially in work because I process somms for small-medium businesses but whatever. No one is getting much for Christmas this year lol

****

You find, much to your relief and Arthur’s annoyance, that Sean’s chaotic charm and energy swallows everyone’s attention over the next few weeks. He’s loud, boastful and brash: The Irish Terrier as Arthur and his adopted fathers call him.

You can’t help but find his totally unapologetic nature comforting. Whilst washing shirts, you overhear him get Molly to admit she considers him no better than a chimney sweep from the local bog - and immediately crucify her for it, calling her “snotty nosed” and a “right little madam”, much to her dismay. After the weeks of dirty looks (despite little to no actual confrontation), Sean brings a breath of fresh air. With him nearby, you know exactly where you stand and whether anyone in the vicinity is plotting against you.

“Please, Y/N,” groans Arthur into his hands one evening. “Please tell me you ain’t makin’ friends with that bastard.”

“Why?” you ask, genuinely surprised. “Isn’t he like a little brother to you?”

“Yeah, but not in a good way.” He moves his hands to give you a look of despair. “What’s wrong with Lenny? Or Tilly? Or Mary Beth?”

“Karen’s fun,” you muse, earning yourself another groan.

“Always with the loud drunkards,” he grumbles.

“Mmhm, and what was it Dutch said? When you go missing he checks the saloon, and if you’re not there he checks the jail?”

“Shurrup.” He wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you onto his body, grinning as you protest, laughing.

“Don’t play innocent - Hosea’s been telling me stories!”

“Ahh, don’t go listening to him. He spins stories for a living, and anyway I was a kid in most of them.”

“And the stories I’ve heard from Lenny?” you smirk, still fighting despite it proving futile with you laughing so much. He growls, peppering your exposed skin with kisses as you wrestle playfully.

You cry out when a flailing limb makes contact with one of your swollen breasts. Arthur immediately releases you, watching you with concern as you try to rub out the punch without swearing.

“Y’alright?”

“Fine,” you huff. “Just sensitive is all.”

“I’m sorry - shouldn’t be playing so rough with you when you’re… in the way tha’ you are.”

“It’s fine, Arthur,” you repeat firmly, staring him down. “I’m fine. You didn’t knock my stomach, so we’re fine. Like I said, I’m just sensitive.”

He hums doubtfully.

Following a shootout with the Pinkertons and the law in the middle of Valentine, Dutch had ordered the camp out of Horseshoe Overlook and ushered you south east into the state of Lemoyne. On the other side of Dewberry Creek, Arthur and Charles had scouted a hideout chistened Clemens Point. Arthur hadn’t been the keenest to tell you that story, but you had weaseled it out of him.

Micah had recommended the dried out river bed, but when Charles and Arthur had arrived to scout it, there was an abandoned camp nearby, complete with a dead body. Whilst trying to assess the location’s risk to a group of outlaws should they move in, Arthur had moved some crates to find a woman with her two children.

“I guess I saw you,” he mumbled sadly, avoiding eye contact. “An’ the mess I might leave you in one day.”

You rubbed his shoulder patiently. “What happened?”

“I told ‘em to go ‘cause we needed the land.”

You were confused by the guilt still plaguing him and told him so. With a heavy sigh, he described how the girl translated her mother - that their father had been kidnapped and how it took Charles insisting otherwise to convince him to go look.

“So it’s really thanks to him we found this place,” he says gesturing at the open space bordered with woodland and lake.

If anything, you prefer this new destination to Horseshoe Overlook, and not just for the absence of bad memories. You love the sense of freedom swimming gives you: how it makes you weightless, how easy it is to tilt your head back and listen to the low rumble of the earth and water. You also enjoy that the road is more than a stone’s throw away here. A wanderer would have to purposely go out of their way to discover the camp, to hear the noise or see the light of the campfires. Clemen’s Point made you feel safe, even with the occasional canoe sailing by with a wave.

The new location lifted everyone’s spirits. So much so, Dutch dragged Arthur and Hosea out fishing. They returned hours later - singing and surprisingly sober - with deputy badges and a boat load of fish. Whilst the shiny badge continues to earn Arthur a lot of gib from you and everyone else in camp, Dutch insists the news is beyond fantastic.

“We are inaugurated in the local law!” he cries during one of his many speeches. “Hiding in plain sight!”

Still tired and snacking throughout your waking hours, you are relieved to find your morning sickness has passed its peak. Whilst you feel like your veins are popping out of your skin, Arthur insists your stomach is beginning to curve. You accuse him of an overzealous imagination until you try (and fail) to button the jeans from your past life as an O’Driscoll and your shirts that still fasten offer little to no breathing room.

“Think a trip to town is in order.” You jut out your bottom lip, demonstrating the distance between the buttons and their corresponding holes as your lover looks on laughing.

“I think you might be right.” You don’t resist as his fingertips tilt your chin up to plant a kiss on your lips. “Let me go see if Pearson’s got a list and we’ll head out. Think they’ll do another couple hours?”

“Don’t really have a choice,” you grumble, stealing Arthur’s worn blue shirt from under the cot. You can hear Sadie and Pearson bickering even from the edge of camp, so it doesn’t surprise you when Arthur’s tone cuts through the noise.

“-ain’t cooking work?”

Looking over, you see Arthur has taken the expostulating Mrs Adler aside. You look away quickly - there’s no reason to ruin an acceptable day by agitating her enough to start shouting at you too. Her and Pearson have been at each other’s necks since she’s pulled herself out of the worst of her depression, almost as though he has become the target of her grief.

You focus your attention on preparing the cart. A trip to town means a trip for supplies, and with so many mouths to feed, horseback wasn’t a viable option.

"How are you, Miss?"

You turn around, surprised at being addressed directly by someone other than Arthur. Seeing Kieran’s familiar pastiness relaxes you a little. As an ex-O’Driscoll himself, you trusted him the most not to stab you after Arthur and the little boy, Jack.

"Fine," you reply flatly, brushing out the tangles of the shire’s mane.

"We ain't really had much time to talk since we was in Tall Trees a few months back, have we?" You hum in response, trying not to flash any amount of flesh by moving too much. The poor boy was skittish enough. He immediately begins to help you, being the horse fan he is.

"I never even suspected a thing, Miss,” he gushes. “So I bet you anything Ol' Colm won't have neither."

"So you two were close, huh?" You barely contain the sarcasm.

He shrugs off the question awkwardly. "Which feller was you again?"

"Well I must’ve been good if you have to ask." You feed the shire a carrot, avoiding eye contact. "I was Thomas," you admit quietly. The following silence is prolonged. Doubtful.

“Thomas Donoghue?” You shrug your shoulders. “So you were friends with Paeder then?”

“Peter?” You respond coolly. “Never knew him.”

He opens his mouth as if to argue, but Arthur is marching across camp, shouting back over his shoulder to Mrs Adler. Spooked, Kieran bolts to a safe distance, doing nothing but look on as Arthur helps you up onto the back of the cart.

Acknowledging you with a sneer, the other woman takes her place on the bench up front. “So I’ve graduated from choppin’ vegetables to shopping?”

“Shut your goddamn mouth…” grumbles Arthur, reins in hand as the cart moves off. You give Kieran a small, apologetic wave farewell, but it’s difficult to contain the relief of your companions’ timing. Paeder was a private matter, and one which you had no desire to discuss out loud. You’re sure the shaky man meant no harm, but some things were better buried.

“You cooled down then, yet?” Arthur asks the widow, distracting you from your thoughts.

“I guess,” she grumbles. “And I ain’t no scullion! And I sure as hell ain’t takin’ orders from that sweating halfwit!”

You can almost hear his eyes roll. “Well I guess we all gotta do our share, princess.”

“Where’s that letter?”

“Oh, you reading his mail now?”

Sadie throws him a dirty look. “Robbing and killing’s ok, but letter reading’s where we draw the line?”

You stifle a smirk as Arthur pulls it from the inside of his coat, knowing he’s been had. “Here.”

“Dear Aunt Cathy-”

“You are somethin’ else…”

“I haven’t heard from you in some time, so I prayed to the Lord above that your health has not deteriorated further… bla bla bla… s’boring… Oo! Wait a sec, listen to this! Since we last corresponded, I have travelled widely, making no small name for myself.” You all laugh out loud. “Before you ask, I am still yet to take a wife, but I can assure you it is not for lack of suitors.” Arthur barks out laughing again as Sadie giggles. “He ever actually talked to a woman he ain’t paid for?” she asks in disbelief.

“Look, we’re all hiding behind something.” Whilst his tone advises the limit of fun has been reached, the smile is still audible.

“And what’s this? Return to Tacitus Kilgore?”

“Oh that? That’s Dutch’s idea. All mail to be sent to the same alias. Whenever we set up somewhere new, Strauss, he heads into town, tells them to start expecting mail from a Tacitus Kilgore or whatever they changed it to… Here, gimme that back. We got work to do.”

You all sit quietly as the cart rolls into Rhodes. The locals watch you, wary of the unfamiliar faces, but you keep your head high. Strangers smell weakness. It’s better to come off aloof and avoid trouble than to present as vulnerable and be beaten down at every turn.

“Ok, here we are.”

“So what’s the plan?” Mrs Adler points a pistol at the side of the building, squeezing one eye shut as she gauges the iron sights. “I shoot the shopkeeper, while you-?”

“No! You insane?”

“Well I thought we was outlaws…?”

“Outlaws! Not idiots!" he hisses, pushing down the gun as he looks around for any witnesses. "We rob fools that rob other people! These people- they’re just tryna get by! So you head on in there, and you buy us some food to eat. And no guns.”

“Are you sure?”

“This time.” The two of you share a look again as he helps you down. “There’ll be plenty o’ time for killin’ soon enough.”

“What are you doin’?”

“I’m gonna go check the mail, nothin’ exciting.”

Sadie shrugs and saunters off. Arthur sighs and shakes his head, touching your arm. "You gonna be alright?"

"Here's hopin'."

"Any trouble, holler. Stay outta her way best you can though, alright?"

Knowing that his concern lies with your companion's open hatred for anything remotely O'Driscoll rather than your ability to defend yourself, you nod. Blowing him a cheeky kiss, he waves back at you with a grin as you enter the general store.

"-flour, oats, salt, eggs, apples if you have them..."

"Sure, not a problem,” responds the shopkeeper as he begins to gather the goods. “Big family, have you?"

"Somethin' like that." Mrs Adler barely spares you a glance as the titter of the doorbell announces your presence. "And you sell clothes?"

So Arthur had explained to her your purpose for the journey. You're flattered, if a little bewildered at this kind gesture. From the looks she’s been giving you, you’re surprised she has buried the hatchet of your past so quickly.

"We do. Not the widest range of ladies fashion, I'm afraid."

"That's alright. I'll look at everything you got."

"Of course, Mrs…?"

"Kilgore," she smirks, turning to bat her eyelids at you. You realise then that her request is completely unrelated to you. Why wouldn’t it be? You’re not the only person that has been swept into the Van der Linde gang with little more than what you were wearing on your back. From Arthur’s story, she escaped with nothing more than her wedding ring and her nightclothes, so it’s only natural that she is also in need of a new wardrobe. "What? You don't even trust me to handle the shopping by myself?"

"You're not the only one in need of new clothes, Mrs Ad- Kilgore." You force a polite smile at the sales clerk whilst Mrs Adler browses the shelves dully. "What are the biggest sizes you have in stock? Any maternity wear by chance?"

"Ain't many women round here makin' babies," he sighs, pulling out a few options. You can feel Sadie's eyes burning past you at the pile. "You're best tryin' Saint Denis or ordering outta the catalogue. There's a tailor in Blackwater I heard is pretty good for that sorta thing, but it's quite the journey-"

"Too far for me, I fear." You flick through the pages as Mrs Adler leaves to try a few things on from the pile in front of you. Writing a quick list with estimated sizing, you purchase the largest button up shirt and skirt for sale. The trousers will have to wait for another day - you know investing twenty dollars in a pair that you'll breach the waistline of in a matter of weeks is a luxury you can't especially afford right now.

Mrs Adler on the other hand spares little expense with a sturdy pair of jeans. Finally out of the cumbersome skirts, her whole character changes and suddenly you feel the same pit of dread you did when faced with a full camp of spitting Van der Lindes all those weeks ago.

Intimidated, you step outside whilst she settles the bill. You take a short wander up the main road, taking in the familiar buildings with apathy. Who would have thought you would end up here again? Now you’re not so apprehensive about your life span, you can see how rundown this dusty crumbling town is. The few shops that are open have seen better days, and the best kept building is the bank. You feel your skin crawl as you spot the large parlour houses on the horizon. Of course this place is struggling to survive - anywhere that profited from slave labour deserved to rot. Part of you hopes it’s slow perilous march to abandonment continues: it would be disappointingly merciful to see a place be lost to one good shoot out.

“I’ve birthed foals with more strength than you!” Mrs Adler’s cursing sinks your stomach as you navigate your way back to the store where a man is helping her load the cart. “Hell, my sister’s newborn had more strength than you and he came out bright blue!”

“I’m trying.”

“Try harder!”

Spotting Arthur, who is strolling back himself, fills you with relief. The shopkeeper walks back to the porch, checking the list before walking back. “I think this is everything,” he says, swinging the sack of salt on the cart.

“Thanks… here, take that for yourself, okay.” She flicks a silver coin and he catches it out of the air, scowling.

“Thanks,” he spits.

“Well, give it back then! Jesus! I didn’t ask for his goddamn help..." She pushes the sack on more securely to stop it rolling off when the cart moves. “OK, get on. I’m about done here.”

“Why don’t you drive?” suggests Arthur coolly after making sure you’re sat safely amongst the supplies. “C’mon lady, get a move on.”

She scowls as she takes the reins. “I like Sadie, not lady.”

“I know. So you get everything?”

“I think so.”

“And some… new clothes, I see?”

“Don’t start,” she sighs, the heat returning to her voice. “I can wear what I damn well want. Like I told you, my husband and I shared all the work. I wasn’t some little wife with a flower in her hair baking cherry pies all day.”

“Yeah, I don’t doubt that. You sure look the part now. Won’t be long before you’re smoking cigars and playin’ the harmonica.”

“I’ll have you know I used to love playing the harmonica before… well… my house and everything I owned got burned to the ground.”

“I know... I’m real sorry. About what you… you know. Maybe I’ll keep my eye out for another one.”

“I don’t want no pity,” she snaps. “Just… treat me equal and know… nobody’s taking nothing from me ever again.”

Arthur hums in comradery. “Just don’t kill the camp cook…”

A horse gallops up alongside you. “Hey there! What are you folks up to?”

“Just heading home,” says Arthur casually, adding a quiet “keep it cool, Sadie”.

“You’re in Lemoyne Raider country. You need to pay a toll to pass through here.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?” The hairs on the back of your neck prickle at the anticipation of conflict. You realise with a sinking stomach that you’re completely unarmed. “How about you pull over right now?”

“Pull over?” he repeats incredulously. Your eyes scan the bags and boxes around you. There has to be something here that can double as a weapon of some kind.

“That’s what I said.”

“Hey!” calls Sadie coolly. “How’s about this?”

A pistol cracks and the Lemoyne Raider cries out in pain. She ushers the horses on with a Go, go, go! as Arthur stands up, drawing his revolvers and firing. You duck down as bullets fly over your head, your hands scrambling for anything that could be of use.

“What the hell was that?” cries Arthur furiously.

“They was gonna rob us!”

“A new pair of pants and you think you’re Landon Ricketts!” He curses loudly as more men run out in the road ahead.

“I’m gonna run this son of a bitch down!” she shouts, pulling the wagon over one raider and off the road.

“Well you wanted to see some action, lady, now you got your wish!” Arthur slings his longarm from his back and shoves it in your direction as he continues to fire. You can see more men coming out from between the trees and you take aim, knocking them down one by one as Arthur clips off any extras over your head.

“You alright there, Sadie?” you shout over the gunfire. Arthur is still firing behind you, but she’s out of your line of sight from where you’re crouched behind sacks of grain.

“Of course! You think I can’t handle these fools?” You don’t retaliate and you can almost hear her voice aim at Arthur. “Told you I could shoot a gun, didn’t I?”

“I don’t remember asking you to prove it,” he grunts, tossing you extra ammo just in case. The last bastard is fleeing south down the dirt track. You take aim, but he’s out of range.

“Yeah you run, you goddamn coward!” screams Sadie before taking a steadying breath. “I think we’re good here. Nice shooting. I’ll drive us back-”

“No! Pass those reins here!”

“Why?”

“Because you’ve caused enough trouble already.”

She doesn’t find grounds to argue, instead looking back at you, her face straight and unreadable. “We showed those bastards, huh?”

“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Arthur scowls.

“They was clearly plannin’ to bushwhack us!” she argues, facing forward again.

“You did good, but that’s a lotta mess to make near camp. Hope it don’t bring anyone sniffin’ around.”

“Are you gonna tell Dutch?” she asks mockingly.

“Maybe… if he asks. But, maybe not.”

“So who did they say they were? Lemoyne Raiders?”

“Yeah, somethin’ like that. Who knows… Anyway, don’t you go ribbing Pearson about that letter.”

“How dare you? I wouldn’t dream of it!”

“Riiight, you wouldn’t…”

“I have travelled widely, making no small name of myself…”

Arthur laughs. “I won’t be giving you no mail to post any time soon, that’s for sure.”

She chuckles too. “I just wanna peak in that journal of yours. The mind boggles.”

“Not a chance…”

“You didn’t get yourself killed then, Miss Adler?” calls Pearson, strolling over smugly as Arthur pulls up near the horse station.

“Not quite,” she responds truthfully.

“Well, I’d like to say I missed your refined conversations, but I’d be lying.”

She accepts the box shoved into her chest without complaint. “I… I enjoyed myself out there.”

“Yes, we err… Mrs Adler did ok!” He holds up his arms and lifts you down gently by your waist.

“At shopping?”

“Yes, at shoppin’...”

The double meaning doesn’t go unrecognised by Sadie who thanks him with genuine gratitude.

“Don’t mention it. I would ride with you again, Mrs Adler, if you will ride with me.”

“Maybe,” she laughs. “If you prove you can handle yourself.”

“Well, they say I lack finesse, but I ain’t afraid of gun smoke.”

“We got this, Arthur. You’ve already done me a big favour today.” Turning to you with a smile, Arthur accepts the repeater you proffer. It’s best to remain unarmed for now - there’s no need to risk one of your lesser fans finding an excuse to regard you as a threat. “Okay, Miss High and Mighty. And… nice pants by the way.”

“You okay there, Y/N?” He wraps an arm around your waist, pulling you in close to his side. “You manage to find something too?”

“Just about,” you admit. “Had to put in an order. How long do you think we’ll be around here for?”

“Until we can’t most likely. Everything alright? They didn’t catch you or nothin’, did they?”

“Of course not, Arthur.” Your weak smile is genuine and heartfelt at his concern. “I’m not above shouting when I’m shot.”

“‘Course not.” He rubs your back, leading you back to your shared tent. “You gonna try them on, or what?”

“Nah, I figure I might as well make the most of still being able to fit in this stuff, even if it’s only for a few more days.”

He laughs, pulling you into a big hug. “Fair enough.”

From under his arm, you spot the rousing attention of Herr Strauss nearby. You nudge him in warning, but it’s too late.

“Ah, Herr Morgan! How are you enjoying yourself out here?”

“Well enough, I guess,” he replies gruffly. “And you?”

“Well, it turns out the pursuit of freedom is not a cheap business. Not for us, and not for some of the locals.”

“Sharking, already?”

“I prefer to call it banking.”

“You ain’t the one handing out the beatings,” snarls Arthur.

“No, but I am the one feeding the women and children in the camp,” he retorts. “What choice do we have, Mr Morgan?”

Arthur sighs. “Ah, I don’t know. Well, come on then! Tell me who…”

You stop listening as Strauss reads off a list of names, and only tune back in to hear Arthur ask how many he expects to be able to pay.

“With enough encouragement, both of them!” he chuckles, his black eyes twinkling from behind the round spectacles.

Sighing, Arthur returns to where you’re sat on the camp bed. “I’m sorry, darlin’. I’d best be gettin’ on.”

“Don’t worry about it.” You stand up to kiss him. “The gang comes first.”

He grimaces at that, but doesn’t dispute it. You give him another kiss for good luck and wave him out camp before dropping the flaps, not missing the glare of bitterness from Sadie across camp.

[titaniumblender]

Happy HK secret Santa  @emmmmiru !!! I hope you don’t hate this lmao, I’ve discovered I really need prompts when writing christmas fics so I combined like several and I think it sort of worked???  Also plz excuse my ER/hospital knowledge it’s very outdated because my reference hasn’t worked in an ER for like years so I did my best lol. So, without further ado plz have Doctor Toshiro/Nurse Karin and mistletoe, for some reason I really just like RAN with the mistletoe thing!! 

Karin was twitchy. She’d been waiting in the Starbuck’s line for a solid fifteen minutes before her order was finally taken. Now here she was, stuck waiting another ten minutes for the actual drink to be made. There were four people in front of her too.

Today was her first day at her new hospital. She was finally escaping the shadow of her brilliant family at Karakura General Hospital, KGH. Both her father and brother were well known and highly sought-after doctors. Ichigo, a renown neurosurgeon and Ishhin, probably one of the best ER doctors around, training a number of great pupils in emergency medicine. Even her own twin sister was well known, Yuzu was one of few dietitians in Karakura and a good one at that.

Karin herself was a damn good nurse and she knew it, but she got rather fed up with being known exclusively as Kurosaki Junior. Yuzu didn’t seem to mind the nickname as much, but of course Karin wasn’t as nice as Yuzu.

So, here she was, a town away at a brand-new hospital starting her first shift on Christmas Eve, just her luck.

And now her need for Starbucks and caffeine was going to make her late.

“Venti gingerbread latte for Karin.” The barista finally called out and Karin practically sprinted to the counter.

Quickly grabbing a lid and pushing it onto the cup Karin briskly turned around ready to get to the hospital ASAP. Only to run smack dab into someone, immediately spilling her precious gingerbread latte all over this nice someone’s crisp white dress shirt.

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” She asked before looking up at the very attractive man she had spilled her hot drink all over.

He was probably one of the most attractive men she had ever seen with white hair, piercing blue eyes and a very attractive face. An attractive face that was decidedly unimpressed with situation as his white shirt dripped latte. He brought a hand up to his face, pinched his nose and muttered, “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“Wait, Toshiro?” Karin asked, his unimpressed scowl triggering a memory of that very same face but much younger lecturing her about proper hospital etiquette.

“Karin?”

“Yes! How are you? It’s been so long; dad really misses you.” It was really her who missed him, but he didn’t need to know that.

“I’m doing just fine Karin, but I think I’d be much better if we could have this discussion when I don’t have coffee all over me.”

“Ahh right! Let me get you a paper towel, I’ll be right back.”

And then she disappeared quickly, trying her best to calm her heart rate.

Toshiro Hitsugaya had been one of her father’s most promising medical interns and Isshin had loved him so much he became part of the family. Did a young nursing intern, happen to find him very attractive? Yes. Did that same intern also happen to develop a huge crush and sulk for weeks when he finally left to pursue his career at a different hospital? Also, yes. But she still had her dignity dammit!

The current twenty-five-year-old Karin was not the same as twenty-one-year-old lovesick Karin, she would not be caught pining over Toshiro Hitsugaya. She was better than that.

Grabbing a wad of napkins, Karin returned to Toshiro and resisted the urge to dab at his well-muscled chest with them. Instead, she handed them to him before seeing the time. “Toshiro, this was great, but I really have to go, I’m late to my first shift!”

Toshiro had no chance to respond before the dark-haired beauty was gone and he was left still sopping wet with latte. Classic Kurosaki.

Karin barely managed to make pre-shift, sliding into the nurse’s station just as the charge nurse started giving everyone the basic rundown of how the shift would work.

Karin knew the brief layout of the hospital and how it worked from her few training shifts, but she wasn’t sure she was entirely ready to be thrown into a Christmas Eve shift just yet. Unfortunately, another nurse had come down with a nasty flu and Karin was forced to cover for her. Since Karin had never worked a Christmas or Christmas Eve shift before she had absolutely no idea what to expect.

She really hoped Christmas Eve wouldn’t be as insane as it was on Gray’s Anatomy.

After pre-shift ended Karin approached the charge nurse to let her know of her newbie status. She was a kind older woman named Yuki and Karin knew immediately she’d like her.

“Oh, don’t worry too much dear. Christmas Eve usually isn’t that busy, this is probably a good first shift for you to learn how we work here. But just to be safe I’m going to assign you to beds 6-12, they’re usually not as hectic as the trauma room. The doctor on tonight is also one of our best. I’m sure you’ll have no problems but if you need anything don’t hesitate to ask him. He’s very thorough in his work so I’m sure he’d be more than happy to help you learn the layout here.”

As Yuki finished speaking Karin spotted a messy head of silvery-white hair walking towards them and she quickly realized exactly who her ER doctor would be tonight. Just her luck.

“And speaking of, there he is. Karin, this is Dr. Hitsugaya and he’ll be the doctor in charge of the emergency room tonight.”

She could have kicked herself; she really should have put the pieces together. What was the likelihood she’d run into Toshiro at the coffee shop next to the hospital before her night shift randomly? Very slim.

“Hello again Karin.” He said with a small smirk, and she couldn’t help but notice the new green dress shirt he was wearing underneath his white coat brought out those piercing eyes of his. He was really so unfair.

“Toshiro.”

His eyebrow twitched; an annoyed reaction Karin was thrilled to evoke.

“Karin how many times do I have to tell you it’s Dr. Hitsugaya.”

“Oh, you two have already met then?” Yuki interrupted innocently.

Yes, yes, they had. She had an embarrassing schoolgirl crush on him, thought their weird sexual tension might lead somewhere only for him to leave after his residency never to be seen again. She was only a little bitter. But it was FINE.

“Yes, we used to work together at another hospital.” He smoothly replied and Karin was thankful he didn’t bring up her family and exactly which hospital they’d worked at. She didn’t want to be known as Kurosaki Junior again and he seemed to understand.

“Well, I hope we have a good shift Toshiro.”

His eyebrow twitched again, and she couldn’t help but feel pride at how she could drive him so crazy in such a short amount of time.

As it turned out Karin did have a pretty good shift with only a few hiccups. Thankfully, nothing too insane happened and as Yuki promised beds 6 to 12 were pretty relaxed. The most notable patient was a man who had smashed his hand through a fish tank.

Karin was forced to carefully tweeze out the glass while one half of his family yelled at him across the bed about his recklessness. From what she could gather the two sides of the family were arguing about some family recipe and it had led to an all-out brawl.

She was a little chagrined when the other half of the family arrived twenty minutes later with his cousin who had third degree burns from cooking said family recipe.

Overall Christmas Eve wasn’t that bad. Karin had learned about the hospital staff more than anything. Mostly that they were a bit crazy. At first Karin hadn’t immediately noticed the mistletoe pretty much EVERYWHERE in the hospital but the more she paid attention the worse it got. Every doorway, archway, hallway, and windowsill were covered in the plant. There was even some hanging off the light fixtures. She privately thought it was a terrible fire hazard but whatever.

After hours of encountering, it at every corner of the hospital during her shift she caved and asked what it was about on her lunch break. Matsumoto, an impressive veteran ER nurse whose only goal in life seemed to be to drive Toshiro insane, was more than happy to let her in on the hospital gossip.

Only for Karin to find out it was all over some ridiculous wager. Apparently, there was a longstanding bet in the hospital about who could catch a certain white-haired doctor under the mistletoe first.

In four years running, not one had ever been able to kiss him. Doctors, nurses, and X-ray techs alike had all tried their hand but to no avail. Not a single soul had ever gotten near him.

Karin couldn’t help feeling a little pleased about this. So, what if she still harboured a little crush on the man and was smug no one had snagged him yet? Who could blame her, he was hot.

It was widely believed Toshiro was some sort of ninja in his spare time because he’d never been spotted near the mistletoe which was an impressive feat seeing as how it covered every possible surface.

“So why does everyone want to kiss him so bad? Other than the bet of course?”

“Karin have you seen that man, who wouldn’t want to kiss a face like that?”

“Fair point.” She was willing to admit he was indeed a very fine specimen.

“So, who are you betting on this year Matsumoto?”

“You.” And with that ominous answer, Matsumoto winked, grabbed her empty tray and left the cafeteria.

Karin could only gape at her back.

The rest of her shift was just as relaxed as the beginning and for that Karin was thankful. Her mind was now completely filled with Matsumoto’s last words. What was she supposed to do with that? Why would she have a chance of winning that bet with Toshiro. Did Matsumoto know something she didn’t? Sure, they’d shared some heated looks at her old hospital and yeah, people usually told them to get a room whenever they argued but that didn’t mean he was interested in her right? She definitely would have known if Toshiro Hitsugaya, star ER doctor had a crush on her. Or would she?

It was these thoughts that occupied her mind as she put on her street clothes and exited the hospital for the night on complete autopilot. There was no way she could have missed her first love liking her back. No way. Or at least she really hoped not.

And it was these very same thoughts that caused her to make her way down the main stairs in a daze. As she turned onto the empty sidewalk right outside the hospital, she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she failed to notice the black ice covering the previously snowy sidewalk. She promptly slipped and fell onto the concrete and after that she really didn’t think of much at all.

Woozily looking up, Karin heard him muttering to himself, before her blurry vision became clear.

“Injured slipping on the sidewalk, trauma to the head, likely has a concussion.”

And then he looked up from her chart and finally noticed just who his patient was. “Karin, for fuck’s sake.”

“Hey Toshiro.” She awkwardly waved and after a moment added, “You know you have a terrible bedside manner.”

His eyebrow twitched, “It’s Dr. Hitsugaya.”

“Ya, Dr. Hitsugaya whatever, what’s my prognosis, can I go home? I want to go to bed.”

“Too bad. You’re not sleeping until I know your brain is fine or someone’s there to wake you up every two hours.”

Unfortunately, Karin’s list of people to monitor her for concussion symptoms was very short and consisted solely of Yuzu. Yuzu, who was also conveniently at her boyfriend’s for Christmas eve. Her brother and father were both working tonight and she was unsure when they’d be off. Toshiro seemed to sense this because he started to open his mouth, probably to suggest she stay at the hospital and she immediately cut him off.

“I am not staying at the hospital tonight so you can forget that.”

He gave her a withering look before responding.

“Karin, I can’t just release you and you know it. Stop being stubborn and just stay here.”

“No.”

There was a long-suffering sigh in response and then, “I guess it’s up to me to keep you entertained then.”

“Aren’t you the only ER doctor on right now? Don’t you have like other patients to deal with?” She asked defiantly, she would be going home to sleep even if it was the last thing she did. Which, it very well could be if her brain was seriously injured but she didn’t really want to worry about that.  

His eyebrow began to twitch again at this. “Yes, Karin but they’re all in stable condition for now and contrary to popular belief we’re not usually that busy on Christmas. Besides my shift is almost over anyways. I was just going to go chart for the last half hour.”

“So, I can go to sleep then?”

“No, you can nap on the couch in my office and I’ll wake you up and take you to Ichigo’s. Rukia should be home if he isn’t.”

She almost argued back but then she saw the infamous unimpressed look on his handsome face and knew not to bother. This was not an argument she would win.

“Whatever.”

Karin was momentarily confused when instead of responding Toshiro left the room, practically sprinting through the archway to avoid the mistletoe. She eased herself off the bed to follow and quickly became aware which parts of her body had taken the brunt of her fall: mainly her butt and her head. What a great Christmas eve this was shaping up to be.

She managed to settle herself just as Toshiro appeared around the corner rolling a wheelchair. “Toshiro, no.”

“Karin, yes.”

This conversation repeated several times before Toshiro simply took it upon himself to forcefully shove her into the wheelchair and Karin found herself being awkwardly wheeled down the hallway. Today was definitely not her day. She supposed having one of the most attractive doctors in the hospital dote on you wasn’t the worst thing to happen.

Toshiro’s office was exactly what she expected it to be like, overly organized and painted in different shades of grey and blue. He brought the wheelchair to a stop next to his predictably grey but very comfortable looking couch. He moved to help her to the couch, but she waved him off.

“I’ll be back I just have to go collect some paperwork. Take a nap and I’ll wake you when it’s time to leave.”

She didn’t need to be told twice, she had already maneuvered herself onto the plush couch and was ready to conk off. The last thing she saw before her eyes closed was his scowling face as he ripped a sprig of mistletoe out of the doorjamb.

She woke next to blaring hospital lights as she was once again wheeled down the hallway, this time towards the parking garage. “Do I want to know how you got me back into this wheelchair without waking me up?”

“With great difficulty Kurosaki and that’s all you need to know.”

“Yeah, I definitely don’t want to know. So, there’s no way I can convince you to just drop me off at my apartment, right?”

“Not unless I stay the night Karin and to be honest me sleeping on the couch in that situation is not how I had imagined that would play out.”

Was that flirting? That was definitely flirting but she wasn’t going to call him out on it. She didn’t have the presence of mind to verbally spar with him right now. But clearly her sleep deprived brain had other ideas.

“So, tell me Toshiro who do you think is going to win the hospital mistletoe bet this year?”

 Why did she bring that up????

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He replied easily as they arrived at his black BMW.

“Yes, you do, and quite frankly I’m impressed I’ve never seen someone literally somersault away from a group of nurses.”

He groaned as he courteously opened her door before helping her inside his of course perfectly clean car.

“Karin it’s not funny, it’s gotten to the point where I dread the Christmas season. I considered an extended leave of absence for the whole month of December.” His face as he started the car told he was 100% serious.

“Why don’t you just kiss someone then?” She asked as he started the car, making his way towards her brother’s apartment. His unenthusiastic grunt was her only response.

“You could even rig the betting pool; I’d bet Matsumoto would help you and you would make bank.”

“Of course, you’d suggest something like that Kurosaki.”

“Yeah, just so long as I’m in on it, I want a piece of the cut.”

This time she got an amused look in response instead of annoyance.

“No but for real just pick a cute nurse, give her a smooch and it’s all over. Four Decembers is a long time to deal with this.” Somehow, she managed to refrain from suggesting she herself be this cute nurse, but she was sure if he really wanted, he could figure it out.

“They usually start in November.”

“Even worse.”

The rest of the ride was spent in their usual amicable silence. A few times Karin almost nodded off but was pleasantly awoken by a swift smack in the arm each time. Stupid doctor Toshiro.

They arrived at her brother’s apartment soon enough and she nearly had to fight Toshiro so he wouldn’t go inside and apprise Rukia of the whole situation. “I may be tired but I’m not tired enough not to let Rukia know I probably have a concussion.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyways thanks for taking care of me, I owe you a favour.” She said as she dragged herself out of the warm car and around towards the building entrance. She was about to give one more wave when the driver’s side window rolled down and Toshiro beckoned her over.

“Can I collect on my favour now?”

She gave him what she was sure was a very confused look, what could he possibly want from concussion Karin at 4 am on Christmas morning?

She bent down closer to the window to ask him what the hell he could possibly want from her when suddenly her sleepy brain was made aware of the fact that Toshiro Hitsugaya was suddenly holding something above her head, and it was mistletoe. Her eyes went back and forth between him and the plant for several seconds before she finally spoke.

“Really this is your big move. I’ve been waiting for this since I was 21 stupid.”

“Whatever Kurosaki are you going to put me out of my misery or do I have to spend the next 4 Decembers avoiding this stupid plant again.”

He looked entirely too pleased with himself but really Karin could deal with it if she got to kiss one of the hottest ER doctors. Who could complain?

The next morning Matsumoto won the betting pool and was seen discreetly sharing her earnings with a certain white-haired doctor and his new girlfriend in the break room a few days later.

[barnesandrogersfanfics]

Rose Coloured Glasses - Part 6

A/N: Some Defending Jacob Spoilers ahead! 💕 (Taglist is open).

It had been a month or so since the Vermont trip and Andy never brought up what happened (or hadn't happened) between us which I was grateful for!

We were actually getting along really well now, so i put it behind us and chalked it up to him being a bad drunk! If he didn't remember what he had said.... it was best to leave it that way. Work had been busy keeping everyone occupied and in my free time.... well Frank took up all my free time.

"Hey, i was thinking we could go out tonight, a couple friends of mine are getting together" Frank said Early Friday morning as we both stood in my bathroom brushing our teeth.

"You want me to meet your friends?"

"Yeah why wouldn't i?" he scoffed spitting toothpaste into the sink before rinsing.

"I don't know, i just thought you were all about the sex. Keeping it casual, having fun" i shrugged taking my turn to spit and rinse my mouth.

"This still seem casual to you? I don't think I've ever spent this much time with the same woman..... its like i'm hooked on you sweetheart" he mumbled as he pulled me into his arms burying his face in my neck "Your like a drug" he traced kisses up my neck, my phone started ringing from the bedroom, the ringtone for Andy causing Frank to groan.

"Does he know when i'm trying to get you into bed?" He moaned as i turned to go and answer the phone, Andy never called this early so it must be important.

"Hey Andy" i said sitting on the edge of the bed holding my phone against my shoulder as i pulled on a shirt and started with the buttons.

"Morning, sorry to call so early"

"Thats fine i was just getting ready to leave"

"Im on my way to you, court got moved up on that Malloy case"

"The class A possession?"

"Thats the one, you've got the case files right?"

"Yeah i had everything ready to go"

"I'll be with you in 5".

He hung up and i started rushing around grabbing my bag and slipping on my heals.

"Frank i gotta go! Court got moved up and Andy's on his way" i called looking out the window seeing the black Audi come to a stop outside "Shit! His here i gotta go!" I rushed towards the front door and Frank caught me on the way out giving me a quick kiss and then i was out the door rushing over to Andy's car, as soon as i was in the car the car was moving.

"I can't believe this shit!" Andy moaned speeding along the road "they must have a bigger case coming in later"

"It'll be fine, you've got this".

Just as i thought Andy had it in the bag, he was in there 10 minutes tops. We walked outside the court house to Bobbys coffee cart, a regular stop off while we were here.

"All right, you're due back in for a session in 15 minutes. Then meeting with Lynn, her office. I think she wants an update on the Willis case" i read off to Andy as we waited for our drinks and he looked over items on the cart listening to what i was saying.

"Oh, that makes two of us. Bobby you guys outta Peach?"

"Could be, let me check the back" Bobby replied handing us our coffee's.

"Thanks. How's the hip?"

"Oh you know, worse than yesterday, better than tomorrow" Bobby replied before moving round the back of the cart. I couldn't help but laugh a little at the older man before picking up where i left off "you wanted a conference with Judge French in Chambers. His clerk says he has a 2:30, if you want that" i finished saying just as his phone started ringing in his pocket. Andy held the paper cup in between his teeth as he fished his phoned out, i quickly reached out to take it from him before he spilt it.

"Thank you" he smiled before answering the call "hey".

I watched as Andy listened to call, he closed his eyes briefly, shaking his head.

"Oh jesus, okay. Where?.... okay, yeah. I'll meet you over there". He hung up slipping the phone back in his pocket.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"You're a lucky man Mr B, only got one left" Bobby came back out handing Andy his Peach yoghurt.

"Thanks"

"What is it?" I asked again seeing the look on Andy's face.

"We gotta clear the rest of my day...." he reached over taking his coffee back "i'll tell you about it in the car" he said walking towards the carpark at a pace i struggled to keep up with.

"Andy? Whats going on?" I asked once we were both in the car.

"That was Detective Duffy on the phone"

"Okay...."

"They found a body in the woods this morning, 14 year old boy".

"Oh my god.... thats awful...."

"I need to get over there"

"Sure, you should go straight there.... i'll grab a taxi back to the office and clear your day"

"I can drop you at the office before i go"

"No you should get over there, i'll be fine. Call me later?"

"Okay"

"Don't worry, i'll take care of everything else, you go"

"Thank you Y/N, your the best".

Once i was back at the office i cancelled all Andy's appointments and meetings, rescheduling what i could. Then spent the rest of the afternoon just answering calls and taking messages. Around 4pm the calls finally stopped and i spent the rest of the afternoon sitting around waiting to hear from Andy.

Frank: Hey, u still okay for drinks tonight?

Y/N: Hey, i think i'm gonna have to reschedule Frank. Today has been awful... i'm not really feeling up to drinks.

Frank: oh... really? Maybe it will cheer u up?

Y/N: Not likely lol you can still go though right? Go enjoy yourself. Think i'm just going to head home once i'm done here.

Frank: ur working late, everything okay?

Y/N: Not really. Like i said its been a day of it.

Just as i sent the last message to Frank my phone started ringing and Andy's name flashed up.

"Hey, how you doing?" I answered quickly tapping my pen nervously on the desk, Andy sighed quietly but i still heard.

"Hey, i'm ok.... just been a tough day. The kid, Benjamin Rifkin, he was Jacobs year at Archer. He was found stabbed three times in the chest...."

"Jesus....Who could do that to a kid??"

"I have no idea, but we'll find them don't worry. We found a partial print, but no matches so far."

"You sound exhausted Andy"

"Yeah"

"You should go home and get some sleep, do you need me to do anything else before i leave the office?"

"Wait your still there??"

"Yeah i had stuff to do and i wanted to make sure you didn't need anything else"

"Im on my way up there now, just getting in the elevator so i might loose you..."

As if on cue the call disconnected.

A couple minutes later Andy walked in and dropped into the chair across from me, he leant back in the chair rubbing his hands over his face.

"Can i get you a coffee or something?"

"That would be great actually" he said with a smile shrugging his jacket off and rolling up his sleeves.

"Today has been awful"

"I bet, did you have to talk to the parents?"

"Yeah i just came from seeing the Rifkin's.... god" he shook his head.

"That bad huh?" I said standing in front of him and putting the coffee on the desk.

"Worse" he looked up at me with tears in his eyes, i could tell he was trying so hard to keep it together but it was getting to him. I stepped forward wrapping my arms around his shoulders, his arms automatically wrapping around my waist and holding me tight, his head resting just above my stomach. If anyone would have walked in it would have looked so bad.

"Now I've gotta go home and talk to Jake, probably get 20 questions from Laurie....."

Shit! His wife!

"You should go home Andy" i said trying to step away from him but he held on tight.

"Just.... give me 5 minutes"

"5 minutes" i agreed running my fingers through the short hair on the back of neck.

"This is the best i've felt all day" he mumbled "i always have to be the strong one you know....."

"You don't have to with me, you ever need someone to talk to i'm here".

"Thank you Y/N".

Everything taglist: @jesseswartzwelder @dumblani @barnesandrogersworld @patzammit

Rose Coloured Glasses taglist: @readermia @princess-evans-addict @jennmurawski13 @matsumama @ex-bloodjunkie @kaithezaftig

[wide-eyed--wonderer]

Hey there! I just found your blog recently and its so good! Would I per chance be able to convince to write a newsies fic where Jack gets sick and the boys (or Davey) have to take care of him? Your work is sooo good, and I honestly think I fell into a little pocket of newsies writers because I seem to have found a lot of you this week lol Its totally fine if you don't want to write it! Thank you so much, and I love your Koi picture!

Hey! First of all welcome! Hope you enjoy our little corner of the Newsies fandom! I certainly love it. Also, thank you so much for this prompt, a had a lot of fun with it and it kinda got a little away from me (it's over 2100 words).  I’ve put the story under a keep reading.

And I love the Koi fish too!

It wasn’t even winter yet, which was why Jack getting sick was such a shock and huge worry for all the newsies. 

It wasn’t unusual for Jack or any of the newsies to get sick in the wintertime, and all the boys usually were able to sell more papes during the season to help cover the board of anyone who couldn’t sell. 

But nobody has any sympathy for Newsies during autumn when the temperatures are milder and the paper headlines are usually less exciting. 

So to say the newsies were worried (and frankly a little scared) when Jack, out of the blue, got sick one September, at a time where paper sales were average at best, and there was no cold weather to excuse the sudden decline in Jack’s health, would be a massive understatement. 

“Al, I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing right now.” Race ranted to his friend. “I’m running myself all over the city trying to sell double the papers to cover Jack’s board as well as mine. And with Jack, all laid up like this with God knows what, I’m supposed to be in charge of all the Newsies too. And we have a union meeting next week. I can’t speak at the union meeting! And I-”

“Race, hey Racer,” Albert Interrupted, “look at me, and take three deep breaths.” Albert exaggerated his breathing, trying to get his best friend to follow. Once he decided Race’s breathing had calmed down, he continued. “First of all, you don’t have to cover Jack’s board all by yourself, split the cost between a couple of us, and that’ll lessen the burden on you.”

“But -”

“I’m not done yet Race. Second of all, all the newsies love you, ‘specially the littlies, you are doing a wonderful job of that so I don't want you to worry about that. And about that union meeting, Davey’s vice president, and he doesn’t have the nickname mouth for nothing. Race, I'm sure he’ll speak if you don’t want to.”

“DAVEY'' Race exclaimed, interrupting whatever Al was planning on saying next. “Al, you’re a genius, if anyone knows how to help Jackie, it’ll be him.” Race ran downstairs to the communal floor where all the newsies were resting in between selling the paper. “Specs! Can you go get Davey, let him know what’s going on with Jack, see if he knows how to help.”

“On it Race!” Specs got up. “Romeo, you wanna come with, say hi to Les?” 

“Ooh yes please!” The younger newsie replied, and the two of them ran out of the lodging house.

Race turned to Albert, and Al could see the fear still present in his best friend's eyes, even if it had been dimmed but the hope that Davey promised. 

“Hey Race,” Al whispered leaning in close to him so none of the other newsies could hear. “Have you seen Jack yet today.”

“I -” 

“Go see him Race. Jackie always makes you feel better. I’ll watch the boys for ya.” Race shot Albert a grateful smile and he shot up the stairs to where Jack was laid.

He stopped out the door to catch his breath before he walked in. Jack was always calm and reassuring when he or the other Newsies were sick, and Race wanted (needed) to be that way for him too.

His resolve was harder to keep up when he walked into the room. 

Jack was laid out on the bed, eyes closed. Jack wasn't exactly tan on a good day, but he was paler than Race ever remembered seeing him. There was a thin sheen of sweat covering his head, which Crutchie was currently dabbing as with a wet cloth. 

And if Jack was asleep, Race figured he really didn’t have to be strong, and let the silent tears fall. 

“You wanna come sit Race?” Crutchie asked softly, patting the space on the bed next to Jack. Race quickly nodded his head and went and sat next to Jack’s feet. 

“Hey there Jackie.” Race sniffed, “you got everyone real worried you know? But don’t you think about the rest of the newsies right now, ok? I got them. You just get better.” Race started running his hand along Jack’s leg in what Race hoped was a soothing motion. 

“How you holding up, Race. ?” Charlie asked, looking at Race, whose eyes were yet to leave Jack's face. 

“I sent Specs and Romeo to get Davey, he’ll be able to help you Jackie.”

“You didn’t answer my question Race.” 

“What do you want me to say Crutch?” Race finally tore his eyes from Jack to look at Crutchie. Allowing Crutchie to get his first real look at Race. 

Race, who even with fresh tears on his face, looked like he’d cried his eyes out overnight because his red-rimmed eyes were surrounded by bags. In short, he looked horrible. There wasn’t much more Crutchie could do for Jack, but there was plenty he could do for Race. 

“You wanna swap places with me?” Crutchie asked, already moving to sit on the bed. Race sat numbly on the edge of the bed, until Jack moaned from the loss of the cool cloth, prompting Race to leap into Crutches old chair and replace the cloth on Jack’s face. 

“Shhh Jackie, it’s okay. We’ve got you. Shhh.” Race soothed, tears subsiding now that he had a way to help Jack.

“Race, that you?” Jack croaked, his eyes flickering open. 

“Yeah, it’s me Jackie.” Race replied, dabbing the cloth on Jack's neck.

“Thank you for looking after me and the boys. I love ya.” Jack finished before his eyes closed again and he returned to sleep. Race’s hand shot for his neck, finding Jack’s steady pulse point and holding his finger there. 

“He’s ok.” Race murmured to himself “he’ll get through this.”

“Breathe, Race,” Crutchie's voice interrupted Race before he could spiral. 

“Why does everyone keep telling me that today?” Race huffed out a small laugh and followed Crutchies instructions. 

“Cause sometimes, your brain moves too fast with too many thoughts and it forgets to tell ya to breathe.” Crutchie shot a small smile at Race, coming up with another idea to help his brother. 

“Hey, you gonna be okay alone with him for a minute?  I needa use the bathroom.” Race nodded, eyes focused back on Jack. 

Slowly Cructhie left the room and went and found Jojo downstairs with the other newsies.

“Heya Crutchie, how’s Jack holding up?” Jojo called once Crutchie was in earshot.

“Jackie-Boy’s doing fine, I was wondering if you and Al could do me a favour actually?”

“Sure. Hey, Al get over here for a minute.” Jojo called to Al, who was entertaining some of the littlies on the other side of the room. 

“Yeah, what’s up guys.” Albert lowered his voice, “how’s Race and Jack holding up?”

“Not much has changed for Jack. He woke up a little when Race came in though.” Crutchie shook his head fondly. “Its Race I’m worried about.”

“Me too,” Albert chimed in, “he looks like he’s falling apart at the seams with worry.”

“He’s trying to become our leader overnight,” Jojo continued, “that coupled with Jack getting sick has not been good for him.”

“I know. That’s why I called you two over.”  He paused, lowering his voice to a whisper, “How do you two feel about taking a walk up to Brooklyn?” 

Whatever Race and Spot had going on in Brooklyn was an open secret between most of the older boys, but there were some newer newsies that didn’t need to be let in on it. 

“Of course,” Albert said nodding his head. “Let’s go, Jojo.”

Satisfied that he’d done all he could for both his brothers at the moment. He headed back up to Jack’s room. 

He walked back in to find that Race hadn’t moved from the chair, although it did look like he’d stopped crying. 

Crutchie wasn’t sure whether to count it as a win or not. 

“I’m back,” he announced softly. Race looked up. “I checked on all the boys while I was out. You’re doing a good job with them.”

“Thanks,” Race sniffed. “I wish there was more I could do…” He trailed off looking at Jack, whipping the cloth along his forehead.

“Everything your doing is helping Jack, Race.” Crutchie put his hand on Race’s knee, causing him to look at him. “Jack is so proud of you, and I bet he can’t wait to tell you when he gets up. And I’m super proud of you too.”

“Thanks, Crutchie.” With that, both boys' eyes returned to Jack’s, and they sat in silence, with Crutchie continuing to rub circles on Race’s leg. 

“Hey boys,” Davey's voice interrupted from the doorway. Eyes travelling over the three brothers lingering on Race before finally landing on Davey.

“Davey,” Race sighed, “can you help?” Race pleaded, causing Davey’s heart to break just a little bit. 

“I’ve got 10 years of experience looking after Sarah and Les, I’m gonna do everything I can.” 

Race flung himself at Davey.

“Thank you,” Race whispered. Davey let him cling a little longer, before carefully pulling away.

“You can stay there Race,” Davey said, pointing to the chair Race had previously been occupying. “I can work from over here,” Davey said, gesturing to the opposite side of the bed. 

Race nodded and sat back in his chair. Crutchie moved to stand behind Race, putting his hand on Races shoulder. Race leaned his head on it. 

“Hey Jackie,” Davey smiled down at his best friend. “Specs told me you weren’t feeling so great, but I think he undersold it.” 

“Dave?” Jack called from the bed, attempting to turn his head toward the sound of Davey’s voice. 

“Yeah Jackie, it’s me. You just lay there and rest, You got the fellas real worried but I’m gonna make sure you get better.”

“Kay Davey, I trust ya.”

Race and Crutchie watched on nervously as Davey did his assessment. Neither boy really knew what Davey was looking for, but it certainly made them feel better than someone they (and Jack) trusted was looking over him.

“Hmm,” Davey muttered to himself, “definitely fever, glands are a little swollen, pulse steady.” Davey frowned. “Hey Crutchie, Race, when was the last time Jack ate?” Race looked up at Crutchie, trying to recall the last time they’d seen Jack eat. 

“Well, we haven’t managed to keep much food in him since he got like this 2 days ago, but the last proper meal was probably when he took Kath out for dinner to Jacobi’s the night before.” Crutchie looked back down at Race, “that sounds right to you Race?”

“Uh. yeah, I think so, I wasn’t really... Um..  around.. that night?”

Davey smiled at the two (younger, if only slightly) newsies. 

“Well, the good news is I think Jacks just got a stomach bug. Should clear out of his system in a couple of days. Meanwhile, I brought this.” Davey pulled a small flask out of his bag and placed it up to Jack’s lips. “Hey Jackie, Imma need you to sit up for a minute and drink this. It’ll help you feel better, promise.”

Jack, who was clearly too weak to say much more than a noncommittal grunt, accepted Davey's offer and took a sip of the drink.

“What’s that Davey?” Race asked.

“Just an old secret family soup recipe. My folks make it for me and my siblings when we get sick. Helps us feel better, and I bet it’ll work wonders on him too.” Davey stopped talking as the church bell rang. “That’s my cue to go boys. I’ll come back tomorrow after school to bring more soup for Jack. In the meantime, you too make sure Jack drinks plenty of water” and with that, Davey got out of his chair and made his way towards the door, only to be stopped by Race, who'd come barreling into him. 

“He’s really gonna be ok?” Race asked his arms tight around Davey's midsection. Crutchie came up behind Race and sandwiched him between himself and Davey, resting his head on Races shoulder.

“Should be, you’re doing an awesome job Race. See you, tomorrow boys.” And with that Davey turned and left the lodging, and Crutchie and race took back up their positions around Jack's bed. 

And later, when Spot came around, neither boy commented when he pulled race onto his lap and rested his fingers in his hair. 

And when Jack woke up two days later, fully better thanks to Davey’s miracle family soup (and time, Davey kept attesting, which Race, Jack and Charlie all protested) he couldn't have been happier to see his two younger brothers, asleep head on each other's laps, hand still firmly clutched around Jack’s.

Let me know what you think. Hopefully, this filled in what you were looking for!

[lannister-slings-and-arrows]

do #14 from the punch in the gut list! i like my drama with a happy ending!

Oh oh oh! This is something actually super similar to something I already had planned for my multi chapter Frankie fic! So you know. Enjoy the preview I guess? lol.

14. "I can’t keep pretending like I’m okay with being just your friend when I want you in my bed.”

“You trying to hit on me, Frankie Morales?” Molly asked, a bright smile on her lips, a laugh dancing in her green eyes. Frankie looked at the liquor bottles on the shelf behind the bar, and saw the reflection of the deer heads on the wall behind him in the mirror, shrugging slowly.

“And what if I am?” He flicked his eyes to her, as she sat next to him at the bar with an empty beer bottle in front of her and a shot glass full of whiskey in her hand. “You’re lookin’ gorgeous tonight; if you don’t want me sayin’ so, you shouldn’t wear those tight ass jeans.” Molly threw her head back and laughed, that rough nasally caw that he had grown to love nearly as much as the happy sounds that Veronica made in the mornings. She tossed the shot back and signalled to the bartender for another of both, raising an eyebrow at Frankie who shrugged again. She pointed at his near empty bottle and the bartender nodded.

“Bet you say that to all the girls,” she dismissed with another chuckle. “I suppose puppy eyes like yours even need some help sometimes.” She threw back the new shot and passed Frankie’s new beer to him and he wanted to shake her and to leave and never see her again.

She whacked his arm gently (Frankie suppressed a shiver only through the pure stubborn determination that had been drilled into him for decades in the special forces) and Frankie very deliberately did not look to see if his arm now sported a deep red burn in the shape of her fingers. It wasn’t real, just like every time she touched him and he felt that stinging, hot feeling soot through him from point of contact to the tight ball in his stomach that had started forming on that day in the parking lot of P.J’s. It was only in his imagination, just like every flirtatious smile she threw at him, and every lingering glance and suggestive remark. He was barking up the wrong tree, and it hurt.

“I haven’t seen you around the house in the past few days,” she remarked, hand still on his forearm. Frankie wished, desperately, that he hadn’t worn a tee shirt today. That he had sleeves to protect himself from feeling how strong her fingers were, how cool they felt compared to his skin. He wished that he didn't know that if he said that to her she would roll her eyes and pretend to be offended and say that ‘she didn’t have cold hands, he just ran too hot for this kind of climate’. He wished that he had been able to hide better at that table in the back of the bar by the ancient jukebox, that she hadn’t spotted him almost as soon as she sat at the bar and hadn’t grinned and nodded at the seat next to her.

“Yeah, uh, I finished with the porch and the door hasn’t come in yet, so I figured I should get started on the stuff that needs doin’ around the barn while I waited.” She squeezed his arm and let go to grab her new beer, and Frankie took everything back. He wanted that touch back. She swallowed and he couldn’t help watching the way her throat moved.

“Normally you come up to the house for breaks though, I was starting to wonder if you were mad at me or something,” she explained, laughing casually, eyes surprisingly serious as they finally caught and held his. “And then you’re holed up in that corner tonight, jeez Fish, you’re gonna give a girl a complex,” she admonished him gently, eyes not leaving his face, even as his dropped to the floor.

“Sorry,” he muttered. All confidence from earlier gone, all the hurt that he had been nursing since he had seen her get into Caden’s truck last week bubbling to the surface. “Just busy fixing up the ranch. Like you pay me to do.” Molly set her beer down with a thunk. “Listen,” he said, picking up his own beer and sliding off the stool and onto his feet, still not looking up at her. “Thanks for the beer, but I’m not really in a great mood tonight, I’ll just see you later, ok?” He started to turn away when she grabbed a handful of the back of his shirt and snapped,

“Ok what the hell Frankie, you’ve been blowing hot and cold on me for a week now, and I’m fucking sick of it.” He pulled against her hold gently and she yanked harder, forcing him to either rip his shirt or sit back down. He sat and she let go, instead putting both of her hands on his knees and squeezing gently.

“What’s wrong Fish? Is it the baby? Is she sick or something?” He shook his head and heaved a sigh.

“Nope, Veronica’s just fine.” Molly dug her fingers into his knees a little harder.

“Ok well then have I managed to step on some more southern toes again? I swear this time whatever I did was unintentional,” she tried to joke. Frankie didn’t smile, he just slid further back on the seat, forcing her to let go of his knees. He looked up briefly to find her staring at him intently, brow furrowed.

“No, you’re fine, I’m just tired, ok? I think I’m going to just head out.” He set the beer down on the bar and made to leave again.

“Fuck, Fish, I thought we were friends, if I’ve fucking pissed you off at least be a man about it and tell me so I can god damned apologize!” Molly was starting to get pissed now, Frankie heard it in her voice and he didn’t care, he was done, he couldn’t do this anymore, he was angry too, angry that one more good thing had popped into his life to merely wave on its way out. It seemed like every time he thought that finally things were starting to turn around something went to shit, and there wasn’t a thing he could do to stop it. And if she didnt’t stop looking at him with those big green eyes, hurt and confused and mad, he was going to-

“Well maybe we aren’t!” Fish hissed back.

Do that. Frankie would do that. Molly sat back quickly, startled.

“Aren’t what?” She licked her lips and Frankie clenched his fists. “Aren’t friends? Well that’s fucking news to me, Fish. Last time I checked, it's your favorite brand of beer in my fridge not anybody else’s.” Frankie scoffed and glared at the chipped and stained surface of the bar, fingers going to the label of one of the empties near them to start scratching and peeling at it.

“Really? No one else's? Not even Caden’s?” Molly was silent and he told himself that he didn’t care. That this was fine and that he was going to get over this latest disappointment just like he had all the others. He had survived Redfly’s death. He had survived the loss of all that money, and Veronica’s mother leaving them, this was fine. It wasn’t like they were even together. Molly hadn’t ever made any sort of indication that she even liked him like that, it was all in his head and really, he should have known better, she wasn’t planning on staying anyways, this was better, this was fine.

“No, why would I keep beer in the house for him?” Molly asked quietly. Frankie tore half the label off and angrily rolled the freed piece into a ball between his thumb and forefinger. “What do you mean, we aren’t friends Fish? What’s gotten into you?”

He threw the ball at the garbage can behind the bar and missed entirely. He finally met her eyes and sighed, tapping his fingers on the brown bottle in his hand.

“I can’t keep pretending like I’m okay with just being your friend when I want you in my bed,” Frankie finally said, absorbing the surprise in her face with resignation. “And I saw you go home with Caden last week, you clearly don’t feel the same way that I do, and that’s fine, I just,” he paused and shook his head. Frankie let go of the bottle, now ruined for deposit, and stood. “I need some time. Probably a lot of time.” Molly looked like she wanted to say something and he cut her off. “I’ll see you around, Molls.”

Frankie turned away from her and walked out of the bar, heading to his truck and the joint he knew was in his glove box. He knew he shouldn’t, that the recertification agent could piss test him whenever he felt like it for the next two months but he needed to chill out before he drove home to his aunt and the baby.

He sat on the tailgate of his truck for the next ten minutes, listening to the faint sound of the country music from the bar he had left abruptly, smoking and staring at his boots as he swung his legs idly. He groaned and slid forward, intending to jump down and leave when a beat up Vans sneaker flew through the air and smacked him in the chest. He stared at it, sitting in his lap, and blinked slowly. That was a new reaction to pot. He was 99% sure that that hadn’t been one of those weird joints Pope had brought with him last time he came to visit. He should not be hallucinating things right now, that had to be a real shoe in his lap. He looked up slowly to find Molly standing in front of him, hands on her hips, scowl on her face, one foot shoe-less.

“You shouldn't walk around a bar parking lot barefoot,” he told her quietly, holding her tiny sneaker in his hand. “You’re going to step on glass or something and get tetanus” He jumped down and held the shoe out to her. She continued to scowl at him as she took it roughly from him and smacked his arm with it. He tried to dodge her but she just hit him again.

“What the fuck, you asshole?!” She shouted at him, dropping her shoe to the ground and stomping her foot into it. “What the hell is your problem, you big baby?! You just drop a bomb like that on me and leave?!” He knew as soon as he opened his mouth that he should shut it again and not speak but,

“Dropping bombs was kind of one of my specialties, remember? It's what your tax dollars paid to train me to do.” Molly looked like she was ready to gut him.

“Stop talking. You are just high enough not to have the self preservation of a goose, and I would feel bad if I killed you before I got to do this.”

And she leaned up and kissed him.

Frankie stood parade rest still, eyes wide open and watching her face. She pulled back and sighed.

“If you wanted something more with me you should have just said something, you fucking dumbass.” She leaned in to kiss him again and he stopped her.

“But wait, aren't you with-” She slapped her hand over his mouth.

“I said no speaking. I don’t know what you think you saw or what, but I proimise you, you’ll be the first guy I fuck south of the Mason Dixon line.” She removed her hand and kissed him again, hands knocking his hat to the bed of the truck and tangling in his sweaty curls.

[obscureoperations]

yeah.....!lol was thinking of patrick fucking martin....

Hold on.. hol on... Hold on! Nah! You cant be doing shit like this. 🤔😂I mean I had no idea how I could make this work. I decided to be an ass and ignore other asks just to see if I could get this going. I did, But it’s shit imo. I tried. and now here we go!😬

Patrick was so livid, he was on the verge of tears by time nine thirty rolled around. They had been waiting for their appetizers for almost an hour. He was at least relieved for the liberal amount of drinks. He had finally swung a reservation to Dorsia, the hottest restaurant around--it only took him a little over two months. The second he entered the place he was slightly underwhelmed. It was nice… but he already preferred the atmosphere of Del Posto.The lighting was dim, a large chandelier hung in the main hall, the music was faint and ambient. It was a reservation for six. Himself, Evelyn, Bryce and his date. Luis Caruthers and Courtney Rawlinson. He swirled the last of his j&b around in his glass before he downs it with a visible wince.

“God Patrick… maybe we should just leave. I’m sure they’ll give you a refund.” Evelyn huffs

“No.. we’re staying. I didn’t stay on that fucking waiting list for two months for us just to up and  leave.”

Bryce began to laugh as he downed the rest of his martini, he was already beginning to go off on one. Patrick almost wanted to pull him aside and demand that he get his shit together. He’ll be damned if he gets them all kicked out. Instead he whistles through his teeth getting the man’s attention. He tapped his left nostril twice, gesturing over to the bathroom. Bryce seemed to immediately sober up.

“Excuse me… I’m going to go find that waiter.” Patrick  said as he rises from the table.

“I’m… gonna go head to the bathroom…” adds Bryce.

Evelyn rolls her eyes. “Just say the two of you are gonna go do a line. The way you’re acting, it’s like you want to run off together.” She quickly fishes a cigarette from her purse, before turning her attention to Courtney. Patrick briefly runs his fingers through his hair, straightening his tie as he turns to leave. He brushes his hand over his inner jacket pocket to feel the large serrated knife firmly in place. By the time that they left, he would have to find their waiter..Matthew? He couldn’t remember the kid’s name. All he knew was that he had embarrassed him in front of his friends. He would take care of him quickly enough in the alley.

The two men practically power walked their way over to the bathroom, nearly running into someone as they turned the corner. It was that kid.. The waiter, who clutched a menu to his chest--apologizing profusely with wide brown eyes. 

“You…” Patrick sneered.

“I-I’m sorry for the delay sir.. The kitchen is extremely backed up.. W-were short staffed. Feel free to order all the drinks that you need, they’re on the house.” 

“Oh, you can bet that we will…” Patrick growls, stepping in closer. Each syllable is punctuated by a sharp jab to the young man’s chest. 

The boy shrunk away at the blatant abuse, as color rose to his face. He continued to stammer his apologies as he kept his eyes averted and the menu nearly slipped from his grasp. 

Bryce finally pulls Patrick away and into the bathroom, laughing to himself under his breath. “Fuckin kid… he’s practically begging for it.”

“What?” Patrick asks as he absentmindedly eyes his reflection in the mirror-- adjusting his tie and tilting his head. His fingers prod at his jawline. No carbs tonight…

He can hear Bryce snort obnoxiously behind the stall “Ah. god… That’s the shit right there…”

Patrick couldn’t help but roll his eyes. If anything he craved a cigar himself. He began to riffle through his pockets. 

Bryce emerges from the stall looking refreshed although a bit ‘squirrely’. He runs his hands through his already slick hair, adjusting his collar in the mirror. “Alright man… wooh! Lets go…”

“What were you saying about that kid a few minutes ago?” Patrick asks absentmindedly.

“Huh?”

He begins to do a half hearted jig in the mirror, pointing at himself obnoxiously. Yeah that’s right… He was already planning on bagging his date. 

Patrick grits his teeth, as he presses his hand against the knife. This is Bryce...jesus Patrick..calm down.

“You said something about that kid.. The waiter.”

“Oh yeah, he was definitely checking you out. You shoulda saw the way he was leering at you when he replaced your drink.” He shudders dramatically “It was weird man…”

Patrick could feel his heart hammering against his ribs, a fine sheen of sweat forms across his brow. He knew he wasn’t imagining the way the young man looked at him as he continued to apologize profusely. He was frightened, that much he could tell. Patrick always tried his best to portray an intimidating image. The fear, for both his physical well being and the security of his job. But still, there was something else. The boy’s eyes darkened just a bit. Martin! His name was Martin. 

“Whatever…” Patrick mumbles as he washes his hands at the sink,the plan already formulating in his head. He had fully intended on getting the kid fired, if not just outright gutting him in the back alley. But now a different sort of idea formed in his brain, one that might be even more rewarding.

It was less than five minutes after the two of them had resumed their seats that Martin returned with another waiter. Martin held the appetizers, the man behind him held the main dishes, the two of them swiftly began to arrange the plates on the table. Not a single mix up, each of the appetizers matched the dish and the owner. As the two waiters began to leave, Martin shot Patrick a final apologetic glance.

~~

He was cagey, he barely  even touched his steak, he only picked around at the kale and arugula salad. His mind was racing, they were all supposed to visit a club nest, how would he be able to politely excuse himself? He still couldn’t decide if he wanted to wait for him in the alley and take his frustrations out the easy way. The large serrated knife felt like a lead weight in his pocket. He bet he was even more beautiful when he was bleeding. 

“So Bateman, you’re gonna tell me, you spent all your money on this shit--and you’re not even going to eat anything?!” Bryce laughed already reaching for his plate.

Patrick grips his wrist like a vice. “Touch any of it, and you’ll draw back a stump.”

Bryce yanks his hand away, quickly loosening his tie. “Hey calm down there buddy… what no Shiatzu this morning?”

“Evelyn… ask for a doggy bag or something… I’ll be right back.”

“Patrick!” Luis calls.

“Excuse me…” 

~~

Patrick managed to slip into the employee area with an ease that he didn’t expect. He grabbed an apron off a rack and tied it around himself accordingly. He even slipped on a spare face mask. In his suit and tie, he could easily be mistaken for a health inspector. He scans the hallways which for the most part appear completely empty. A door swings open and his back presses against the wall. Two large burly men carry a large slab of meat--probably a cow back to a set of double doors. He was about to step forward again, when the doors burst open. Two women wrangle a cage full of live chickens between them, following the men into the back room.

So. this was Dorsia

Patrick was just about to turn back and meet up with his friends at Levels. He should probably just let it go. Evelyn probably had a few too many and decided to take an uber home. He could schmooze with Bryce for about an hour. Get Luis too shitfaced to drive home. Then it would be just him and Courtney. That was his plan after all.

 Any plans or rational thought seemed to slip from his brain the second Martin crashed in through the doors. Large silver plate in hand, it rests right up on his shoulders, he nearly drops it before placing it on the ground. He surveys  The strange man’s appearance. He looks so familiar, his heart starts to race

“A- are you with the health department?” He asks. The hairs already begin to stand at the back of his neck.

“No...silly” Patrick begins to laugh as he simultaneously removes his face mask and draws the blade from his pocket. The large brandished knife seems to glint in the light. For a moment, Martin catches a glimpse of his own reflection. He instantly bolts down the hall, Patrick cusses beneath his breath as he tosses the mask to the ground.

~

 He was quicker than he expected. Patrick was actually winded, he felt like he was nearing the end of his Monday morning aerobics class. The young man seemed to know all the ins and outs of the building,all the hidden doors and staircases. He had no idea how the two of them ended up on the roof on this exceptionally windy night.  

Patrick could feel the smile play across his lips in an almost foreign upturned line. He had to pause for a moment to get himself together in the bathroom. He had just a brief snort just to keep himself up to par. He imagined he looked like a complete psychopath. Cheshire cat grin, sweating profusely all the while he continues to brandish the knife. Martin was crouched down behind the chimney, his cheek resting lightly against the brick. He looked fully resigned, simply watching Patrick as he continued to laugh and babel to himself.

“Wha--What am I doing?!” His head points towards the night sky as the knife falls from his hand. It lands onto the cement with a resounding clatter. Martin eagerly scrambles for it, before tossing it to the far side of the roof.

Patrick turns his back for a moment, quickly snorting another line from his index finger.. At this point, he had no idea how he could get past this. He had actually  chased the young boy onto the roof. He had three options, he could shove him off. He could fuck him (as he previously intended) Or he could finally hurl himself off the roof. All three options began to seem increasingly appealing. Then Martin began to speak.

“You’re going to kill me aren’t you?”

Patrick eyes him almost quizzically. He looks like a frightened cat hiding behind a tree. 

“I-- I- don’t know.”

He was being honest for once, at this point he had no idea what he wanted to do to Martin.

He can hear Martin’s nails scrape against the brick as he stands.He didn’t recall his face looking so pale, almost ghastly. His cheekbones were gaunt and pronounced.“ Well then kill me now or just let me jump…” 

His eyes widen for a moment. 

“Just let me jump…”

~

His entire body was on fire he could do nothing but aimleslessy grasp at the boy’s hair. His knife was lost somewhere in the corner, his dick was buried between two immaculate cheeks. At times a breeze would shift in, reminding him that he was completely nude on the rooftop of Dorsia. His friends were most likely already over at Level’s he didn’t mind. All that mattered were the sounds spewing from the young man beneath him. It was supposed to be torture, the harder he would yank his hair, more lewd noises spilled from his lips. 

Patrick could clearly see the city below him, it would be so easily to simply toss the boy off the edge of the building. The rewarding sound of him spattering across the pavement would be too dull given the height. Various apartment lights flickered on and off like fireflies in the otherwise crisp black sky. He shifts his focus to the sight of his dick plunging into the well worked hole of his former waiter. Glistening in the light, he still couldn't get over how freely the boy offered himself over. Luis would be jealous, this was exactly what he wanted. But Patrick never desired Luis, he desired him.

A strange, sort of  guttural noise alerts him once again to Martin’s existence. He layed limply against the brick, it was obvious that he had just came. His hand reaches beneath them, harshly groping at Martin’s quickly softening and over sensitive member. He ignores the boy’s pleads for him to stop, instead pistoning his hips in full. It wasn’t long before he bottoms out completely, beads of sweat drip against Martin’s back. A strong gust of air once again reminds him that he is completely bare.

He begins to dress as the waiter still lies limply against the brick. Gaping, he can see pearly white seed leaking out of him. For a moment it reminds him of Courtney, so pretty, almost perfect looking.  He reaches into his pocket, drawing out a card. 

He tosses it onto the young man’s back as he turns toward the fire escape.  “Call me if you want. I might answer. Maybe not. I’m at work all the time”

[no6secretsanta]

warming up

for: @flat-san

from: @iwatch-theworld

Happy holidays! Here is a sort of modern-ish AU fic that I hope qualifies as “super schmoopy fluff” :) Getting to write Safu and Inukashi was a delight, as well as writing their group dynamic with Shion and Nezumi, lol. I hope you enjoy, and have a wonderful holiday season & rest of the year! <3

***

            “How lame,” Safu sighs.

            “Seriously,” Inukashi agrees. “That’s probably the worst I’ve ever seen.”

            “Like a grade schooler made it.”

            “My dogs could do better.”

            Nezumi narrows his eyes at the two idly making prodding remarks and leaning casually against the wall of Karan’s bakery. Safu is wrapped up in her baby pink scarf, arms crossed, snug and cozy, and Inukashi is wearing a black jacket so long it reaches their knees, their hair loose and messy. “All your dogs can do is turn the pure white snow into a putrid yellow,” he retorts. “This is nearly perfect.”

            “Perfect, he says,” Inukashi scoffs.

            “The head. It’s off 4.1 centimeters on the left,” Safu points out.

            “Are you serious?” Nezumi laughs, disbelieving. “You can tell just by looking?”

            Safu furrows her brow. “Of course.”

             “Well, if you don’t like it, make one yourself instead of standing there uselessly.”

            “You’re the one who said you could do it. We’re testing your skills.” Inukashi smirks.

            “Shion and I are already experts,” Safu retorts, not looking at him, examining her fingernails. “It would be unfair.”

            “Is that so? One of the boy genius’s many talents is that he’s a master in snowman-making?” Nezumi retorts.

            “Don’t turn your anger on me, Nezumi,” Shion says, squatting, examining Nezumi’s ever-so-slightly lopsided snowman. “There’s no shame in not being good at something you’ve never done before.”

            “Hey, wait, who said it’s not good? And why would I be ashamed of something so—”

            “There you go.” Shion grabs a handful of snow, smooths it into the side of its head. “I bet that feels better, Mr. Snowman. We’ll get you some arms and eyes soon, too.”

            “This is ridiculous,” Nezumi mutters.

            “Don’t be a sore loser,” Inukashi jabs.

            “Shion, that’s not fair. He was supposed to do it himself,” Safu says, lifting herself off of the wall and walking over to where Shion and Nezumi are. Inukashi follows closely behind.

            “He made most of it. Besides, wouldn’t you feel bad for the snowman if we just left him like that?”

            Safu eyes Shion for a second, hesitates before saying, “I suppose so.”

            “Well, there you go. It’s done,” Nezumi says, shrugging his shoulders. “We’re finished here. I’m leaving now.” Without waiting for a response, he turns his heel to start heading away.

            But Shion reaches out, places a hand on his shoulder. Nezumi freezes. “Wait. I just said he still needs a face. You can’t quit partway through.”

            Nezumi almost sighs, catches himself, says, “And where are we getting its face?”

            “My mom has some raisins she said we could use. I’ll be right back.” Shion removes his hand from Nezumi’s shoulder, and Nezumi watches him as he walks back to the bakery. Once inside, Nezumi turns his attention back to the snowman, blank-faced and empty, for a few moments, but feels two sets of eyes boring into him. “Can I help you two?”

            “What a brat,” Inukashi says.

            “Childish. Immature,” Safu agrees flatly.

            “Doesn’t know a damn thing.”

            “You’re the ones who suggested this,” Nezumi shoots back. “Why do you care so much about my snowman crafting abilities? I bet you don’t even know either, Inukashi.”

            Inukashi sticks their tongue out.

            “Simple-minded. Foolish,” Safu continues.

            “Vague. Pointless,” Nezumi retorts.

            Safu sighs. “I never cared for doing this,” she gestures to the snowman, “but Shion loved it when we were little. I don’t know why. Personally, I think snow is much more interesting when you look at individual flakes under a microscope—”

            “Yeah, yeah, you’re a huge geek, we know.”

            Safu continues, unruffled. “And the point you’re not getting is that this is something fun Shion likes. And you’re not taking advantage of it.”

            “Like a big dummy,” Inukashi teases.

            “Enough from the peanut gallery,” Nezumi snaps.

            Tongue again.

            “Inukashi’s right,” Safu asserts. “At least act like you’re having fun. Instead of being a… a boring…moody—sort of—”

            “Dummy!” Inukashi helps.

            “Dummy,” Safu agrees.

            Nezumi sighs for real this time. Dealing with Shion is one thing, an ordeal in itself, a not depleting but still relatively significant toll on his energy reserves. Inukashi used to be a small annoyance, like a buzzing fly, miniscule and easily swatted away, not too difficult to handle, but ever since their group expanded and they became friends with Safu, the two had become a tiring pair to deal with.

            But while Inukashi was a brat, like a kid sibling, Safu was someone more on equal footing he could exchange quips with, and he respected her insight.

            Most of the time. Like when she’s not calling him a boring, moody dummy.

            “And what? You two are trying to create some sort of romantic atmosphere with snowman building and insults? It’s working wonders so far. As you can see.”

            “It would be easier if you had a better attitude,” Safu says.

            “And it would be easier for me if you weren’t here.”

            “We’re just helping you get it off the ground,” Inukashi says.

            “A sort of friend-hangout-turned-romantic-date thing,” Safu adds.

            “Didn’t ask for your help,” Nezumi says.

            “You need it, though,” Safu counters.

            “You—”

            The bell above the door of Karan’s bakery jingles, and Shion returns, a small basket in hand. “Sorry I was gone so long,” he says. “Mom actually didn’t have any spare raisins—raisin bread has been popular lately, for some reason. But we found some dried apricots instead.”

            “…Great,” Nezumi says, completely unable to care about the dried fruit.

            “I’m glad you found something, Shion.” Safu smiles, any trace of harshness from the previous conversation vanished from her expression, replaced only with the gentle warmness she always has around Shion. “We’ll leave the finishing touches to you boys, then. Inukashi and I have other plans.”

            “Plans? You two?” Nezumi queries.

            “She’s gonna help me identify all the dog breeds I have,” Inukashi says, grinning, obviously excited. “Don’t know ‘em myself. Just know which ones are the fluffiest, best blankets, which are siblings, stuff like that. Don’t know anything about breeds.”

            “Didn’t know you were a dog person,” Nezumi says to Safu.

            “I’m not partial to any particular animal. But Shion’s interested in ecology, and I’ve helped him study sometimes. I know all the different kinds of both domestic and wild dogs and cats, a variety of fish, rodents, trees, fungi, and more.”

            “It’s true,” Shion says. “But she’s lying about not being partial to particular animals. Safu loves cats.”

            Nezumi’s not sure why, but Safu almost immediately blushes, as if embarrassed by her fondness of cats. “Well, anyway, we should be going. See you later.” She grabs Inukashi’s hand and starts powerwalking away. Inukashi sticks their tongue out at Nezumi one last time as they’re pulled along.

            Nezumi makes no reaction, just turns back around to face Shion, and as soon as he does Shion grabs his wrist, his fingers ice-cold, and puts a piece of dried fruit in his palm.

            “We’ll start with his eyes,” Shion says. “And try to make it as symmetric as possible. For Safu.”

            Like she really cares, Nezumi thinks, but instead he says, “Hey, maybe you should be wearing some gloves. Your hands are freezing.”

            “Oh. I hadn’t noticed.”

            “Hadn’t noticed? Jeez, what an airhead you are. Would you not notice yourself freezing to death unless I said so?”

            “Of course not. I was just…caught up in the moment.”

            “Don’t be so ‘caught up in the moment’ you get frostbite.”

            “We’re almost done. I’ll be fine.”

            Nezumi clicks his tongue. “Stubborn, this one.”

            “You seem like you’re in a worse mood than usual today,” Shion notes.

            Suddenly, without prompting, Safu’s voice enters Nezumi’s head then: Dummy. It would be easier if you had a better attitude.

“Who has fun out in the freezing cold like this?” Nezumi defends, jamming the apricot Shion gave him into the right side of the snowman’s face.

            Shion places the left eye on. Then starts putting the mouth pieces below. “It’s possible. But you have a point.”

            As Shion places the apricots on one by one, Nezumi can’t stop staring at his hands. As Shion places the last one, Nezumi reaches out, on impulse, automatically and without thinking, to grab Shion’s still-frozen hand.

            “Let’s go somewhere warmer,” he says, tightening his grip on Shion’s hand, “before the both of us start freezing to death.”

            Shion holds his gaze a moment before saying, “You really hate the cold, huh.”

            “Of course I hate the—” Nezumi starts. Almost sighs, doesn’t. “We finished the snowman, didn’t we? Let’s go somewhere else now.”

            Shion snaps a picture of the snowman on his phone with his free hand. For Safu, Nezumi thinks, finding it amusing that Shion was misinterpreting Safu’s interest in the snowman for interest in the thing itself, and not her interest in Shion. Though of course he thought that way. It was Shion.

            “If you’re cold, I know a place we can go that’s really warm,” Shion says, reciprocating Nezumi’s hand squeeze.

            Nezumi’s first instinct is to argue, to be the one to take the lead, choose the place, but he remembers his earlier sharp remarks, remembers Safu’s voice in his head, and he decides Shion can at least choose the place, and Nezumi could figure out what to do there, as long as they were out of the damp snow and frigid air.

            So he says, “Alright,” and Shion starts leading him away from the snowman, their hands still linked, slightly warmer than before.

***

            “And this one is a Golden Retriever—obviously, ‘cause its fur is gold—and this one is one of our warmest, a Bernese mountain dog, bred and raised in the Bernese mountains themselves—”

            Inukashi is going on and on about all their different dogs, proud, smug, Safu grinning, amused, by their side, Nezumi and Shion standing in their doorway, a crowd of dogs surrounding them, eager to greet the new guests. Shion is kneeling on the floor to pet some of the smaller puppies. Safu sits on the stairs with a Pomeranian in her lap. Nezumi is looking off to the side, nonplussed, his hands in his pockets.

            Inukashi is holding some light brown fluffy puppy, saying, “This is some mutt, not even Safu could tell, but she thinks it’s some kind of lab mix—”

            “Shion, we really had to come here? We just escaped them,” Nezumi says in a low tone.

            “There’s no place warmer than Inukashi’s,” Shion says, as one of the dogs Inukashi recently identified as a Chow Chow licks his face.

            “And this one—”

            “We’re just here to warm up,” Nezumi interrupts. “So if you would kindly show us your warmest, furriest pooch, that’d be great.”

            Inukashi, still excited over their newfound knowledge, ignores Nezumi’s rudeness and says, “That would be this ol’ boy,” patting a large, white and very fluffy dog. “He’s a Great Pyr—Great Pire?—Great—”

            “Pyrenees,” Safu helps.

            “Great Pyrenees!”

            “We’ll take him,” Nezumi says.

            “Then take him and go. You’re the one who interrupted us. Me and Princess Science were having a perfectly good time without you, you know.”

            Nezumi sees Safu blush slightly at the nickname, and he can’t help but be amused. For all her haughtiness and brainy-ness, there were times where she was strikingly girlish, and the book-smart rich kid melted away to reveal the normal teenage girl she was underneath. Shion was like that sometimes, too, rattling off complicated theories one second, caught up in something small and human the next.

            Safu catches him looking at her, and her expression changes from sheepish to annoyed. She looks like she wants to say, What are you doing here, anyway?

            Nezumi smirks, ignores Inukashi, turns back to Shion. “Shion, do you hear any yapping from a tiny, unruly pup?”

            Shion looks up, distracted, from the growing crowd of puppies at his feet. “What? No, all the puppies here are so well-behaved. I’m impressed!”

            Nezumi facepalms. Inukashi laughs.

            The Great Pyrenees, now in front of Nezumi, gives a low, soft, “Boof!”

            “The old man’s waiting on ya,” Inukashi says.

Without hesitation, Nezumi nods to the stairs, says, “Let’s go.”

            The old dog slowly leads them up the stairs, into the guest bedroom, used to the routine. He stops, looks back at them, and once they’ve entered the room, plops itself not on the soft mattress of the guest bed or the plump love seat in the corner, but on the floor.

            “Cheapskate.” Nezumi clicks his tongue. “Only one dog for two people, and it wants us to sit on the floor.”

            “Don’t complain. It’s better than being outside in the cold still, right?” Shion sits up against the wall on the floor by the dog, and the dog moves over to Shion and licks his hand, his face, then promptly sits on him. Then looks expectantly at Nezumi.

            Nezumi, still feeling stubborn, doesn’t want to sit on the floor, but quickly it dawns on him that they’re finally alone (not counting the dog), and even if the pup and Safu are in the same place, they’re downstairs  and away from them, and this is probably the closest they’re getting to alone time today.

            “Alright, old man, you don’t have to give me those puppy eyes.” Nezumi sits down next to Shion, and the dog adjusts itself so it’s now spread out on both of them, a cloud of cotton puff. Nezumi and Shion are shoulder to shoulder, Shion’s arm moving up against Nezumi’s as he pets the dog.

            “Petting dogs is relaxing. If you pet him, maybe it’ll help your bad mood. It’s scientifically proven.”

            “I’m so sure.”

            “It is.”

            “I’m not in a bad mood today,” Nezumi asserts. “This is my normal self.”

            “You’re usually grumpy, that’s true. But today you seem even grumpier.”

            “It’s that damn Inukashi’s fault. And Safu’s. Their stupid snowman trial.”

            “Like I said earlier, there’s nothing to be ashamed of—”

            “I’m not ashamed.” Nezumi sighs. Why was he in such a bad mood today? It was Inukashi and Safu’s antics, and layered beyond that, all the previous prodding from Safu about Shion, that Nezumi should be doing something more for him. Something like what? Something to meet her standards, her romantic ideal for Shion? What did she know, anyway? He thought she would give up once he and Shion got together, but ever the perfectionist, she seemed bent on making sure Shion was happy in the way she wanted. As if she could tell him what to do? Screw that. She can take her controlling, pretentious ideas and shove them—

            Suddenly, Nezumi felt something warm on his hand. It was Shion, taking his hand and bringing it to the dog’s fur. “Then relax. Pet a dog. We might as well enjoy it while we’re here.”

            Their hands joined again, Nezumi is brought back to the moment, here at Inukashi’s, under their dog, because Shion brought them here. Swept away from one thing to another, first in Safu and Inukashi’s plans, then Shion’s. So much for him taking the lead. His hand between the smoothness of Shion’s skin and the softness of the dog’s fur, he notices Shion’s hand is much warmer now, and relenting a bit, he’s glad they came here. After all, he wanted Shion warm, wanted them alone, and here they were, ready for Nezumi to finally do as he wished.

            So Nezumi slides his hand out from under Shion’s, gently lifts Shion’s fingertips with his own, kisses Shion’s knuckles. “As you wish.”

            Shion’s ears redden. The dog on top of them yawns, stretches, nods off to sleep. Silence lingers a few moments, and Nezumi begins to retract his hand, but Shion quickly grabs tight onto his fingers. Without words, they’re holding hands again, wrists resting on the dogs back, moving slightly with the dog’s steady breathing.

            Shion leans into Nezumi. Nezumi places a subtle, quick kiss onto Shion’s forehead. Then he says, “Next time, however, I want to be alone. Completely. Not even in the same house with someone else.”

            “No argument. But when we are with the others, try to at least be civil.”

            “No promises.”

            “Nezumi—”

            “Okay, okay. I’ll try. But only if they do.”

            Shion sighs. Rubs his thumb along Nezumi’s hand. Nezumi tenses slightly at the gentle motion, then lets himself relax. An innocuous gesture. An innocuous desire for civility. So simple, so silly, so breakable, vulnerable, fragile. Safu is in Nezumi’s head again, telling him to do more for Shion, telling him to have a better attitude. In this quietude, this warmth, with Shion idly resting beside him, his guard loosens, and he starts to think: she’s right.

            Not that Nezumi’s done anything wrong, exactly. But maybe Safu has a point.

            Because when Shion’s desires are simple, to make a snowman, for peace among loved ones, to relax and be together, maybe Nezumi can try to comply a little easier, without fighting everything first, without trying to escape.

            Muffled, he hears Inukashi’s raucous laughter downstairs, Safu’s Hey! followed by a few dogs barking excitedly. Here, in the guest room, tucked away from it all, shoulder to shoulder with Shion, Nezumi finally gives in.

            “Man, I’m beat,” he says. “This pooch really is warm. I could take a nap.”

            “You never take naps.”

            “True. But I wouldn’t mind staying here, until this guy wakes up.” Nezumi pauses. “Or…for as long as you want.”

            He waits for a response. Gets none. He looks to Shion, wondering if he’s said something strange—at the very least, he’s said something uncharacteristic.

            But Shion is asleep now, breathing steadily in time with the dog. Nezumi sighs.

            Oh well. Screw it, he thinks. Giving in, he closes his eyes, too, rests his head against Shion’s, letting himself relax into the warmth of the two sleeping bodies. Oh well…