#happy writing 😈

[distinctlywhumpthing]

Let's scare whumpee and caretaker!

Halloween (or year round!) whump prompts:

Accidental whump

Whumpee gets lost

Someone threatens whumpee

Whumpee has nightmares

Caretaker needs caretaking

Someone from whumpee's past

Caretaker learns something horrifying

Something scares whumpee

A disastrous misunderstanding

Whumpee home alone too long

Something goes terribly wrong

Whumpee has a flashback

A frighteningly close call

Send me a number and character(s) for a drabble!

[gentlebeard]

If I could hold you for a minute, Darling, I’d go through it again

For @edsbacktattoo & @stedesearring 💕 Show: Our Flag Means Death - Season 1 & 2 Music: Francesca by Hozier YouTube

[batsyvie]

14 staying on Earth has SO many opportunities for angst. He needs to visit the companion support group! He needs to reunite with them all! Making amends with Martha and Mickey, his old face returning to Jack, apologising to Rory’s father for failing to bring the Ponds back, meeting Yaz again and telling her that yes, he still loves her, and he’s sorry that it’s not enough.

I need him to find the families of those he couldn’t save and to give them closure! i need him to wake up in a cold sweat and let thousands of years worth of hurt spill out so that he can be looked after!

i need him to look at Rose Temple-Noble and be haunted by how her smile and enthusiasm is all too similar to Rose Tyler. For him to look at Donna and mistake her for another red-headed best friend he once had. For him to feel a gaping hole where Clara Oswald had once made herself at home during his past lives whenever he passes a brunette. To see a puddle of water and be unable to restrain himself from peering in and praying he sees a glimpse of Bill in there. 14 visiting a museum and remembering there was a time where he would just point and laugh at archaeologists. now he just hurts.

[crypticreid]

-----KINKTOBER ANNOUNCEMENT-----

insert beyonce voice: i said i want something big. i want something that says i'm here....

Let's have some fun this October! I haven't written or posted fics in what feels like a million years, so I thought it'd be exciting to break in my brand new blog with a whole month of fics.

Starting October 1st I will be posting two fics every week (every Sunday and Friday), each one exploring a different kink. And leading up to Halloween, starting on the 27th, I'll be posting every day! Check out the read more for a schedule of events.

THIS IS KINKTOBER. IT IS MEANT FOR 18+ ONLY. MINORS DO NOT INTERACT.

October 1st – Praise

October 6th – Phone Sex

October 8th – Begging

October 13th – Virginity

October 15th – Breeding

October 20th – Spitting/Choking 

October 22nd – Edging 

October 27th – Overstimulation

October 28th – Bondage 

October 29th – Femdom 

October 30th – Squirting

October 31st – SURPRISE

*topics may be subject to change*

[dreamkidddream]

Mammon sending his crows to watch over you when he can’t be with you in the human world 🥹

It was bad enough that you had to go back to the human realm, but it was even worse that he couldn’t go with you. He’s your first man! The one that’s suppose to be keeping an eye on you and making sure that you stay out of trouble-protecting you. And how is he suppose to do that if he’s down here and you’re all the way up there?

He pouts when he sees that you still haven’t responded to his messages. He tries to hide his disappointment when he goes to show you something and remembers that you’re not here to see it. He tries to ignore the stinging pain in his chest when he turns in for the night, never really getting to sleep since you’re not by his side.

He’s restless- it’s hard for him to relax when he can’t see you, hear your voice, feel your warmth, see you smile, hearing how softly you say that you love him…

Mammon’s trying to come up and quick- there’s no way he can’t wait until you come back yourself, and he’s too impatient to wait for Lucifer to allow them to visit- he’s trying to put up a front and pretend that he’s totally fine, but he doesn’t know how much longer he can handle this.

Then he gets an idea. A smart idea.

Crows are his familiars, and there just so happen to be plenty flying around in the human world. It wouldn’t be the first time that he’s asked them for some favors dealing with you. And it’s not like he’s breaking the rules anyway. Lucifer said that they aren’t allowed up there- he didn’t say anything about his crows seeing you.

And the best part- he doesn’t have to share with his brothers. It can just be your secret. Something private between the both of you without anyone else knowing.

One is already perched on the window sill, head tilted in curiosity as Mammon whispered a few commands, sliding something in between its claws as he sent it off.

He’s trying to steel his nerves, but he can’t help it as he tries to imagine how you react. No doubt that you would be surprised- he can picture now how your eyes would light up, gushing over his familiar as you flash that same smile that would get him blushing-

He tried to ignore how his stomach was filling with butterflies as he shooed his crow away.

—

It became a regular occurrence to have a crow sitting on your window sill.

At first you were a bit confused- it’s not like you left food out for them to peck at and your summoning spell wasn’t that strong to summon a living being…yet. Could it be a weird side effect of your magic? You’ll have to ask Solomon to see.

However, it wasn’t until you noticed what they had clutched in their claws when you began to suspect that it wasn’t just a random visit.

Folded notes with messy handwriting scrawled on it, a shiny bracelet that strangely resembles the same one you liked in the Devildom, and more items that convinced you that it wasn’t just a coincidence.

And everything clicked when they would stare up at you expectantly, like they were…waiting for something? It wasn’t until you would softly rub the top of their head as thanks and hearing them make the same purr as that one familiar demon would make anytime your fingers grazed his scalp.

Of course Mammon would be behind this- and just like him, his dear crows found themselves wanting praise for their actions. No doubt he would deny it if you asked him (or Diavolo forbid make up some wild excuse), but the act still made your heart warm.

The next time you call him, you play coy about the gifts and you can just see the grin and how his chest swells with pride at the mere mention of them- but you also hear him choke on his words when his crows just so happen to plop his own present in his lap. He can’t keep the tough act up for long, and as the conversation goes on, his tone softens as he finally admits how much he misses you.

But even being worlds apart wouldn’t stop him from watching over you.

[thesandsofelsweyr]

AK Jay lying prone on the bloodstained floor of his makeshift cell beneath Arkham, his abused shoulders screaming with pain, unable to move his arms after they were forced out of their sockets from dangling by his weak wrists for hours. He can barely move his legs, but chooses not to since even the smallest of movements sends agony flooding through his battered body from his broken right ankle and dislocated left kneecap. All he can do is weep into the floorboards while he prays (futilely) that he’ll pass out sometime soon.

Out of the corner of his blackened eye he catches the hint of movement. His weeping dissolves into sniffles as a tiny mouse creeps up to him. He has seen this mouse before, but it had always skittered away from him, even when he had offered it a few crumbs of moldy bread that he had hidden for it beneath one of the photos of Batman and Robin that littered the floor.

His entire being is still overwhelmed with immense pain, but he takes a tiny bit of comfort in the appearance of his now emboldened friend.

Days turn to weeks turn to months of nonstop suffering, but his only friend in the world continues to visit him. It's the only thing he has to look forward to in this hell.

[nodirectionhome-ao3]

Eclipse

Written for the @jilytoberfest prompt 31: "An Alternative ending for 31 October, 1981." This is also a @jilymicro-oops using the prompt words: Blip, Flip, Clip, Rip, and Trip.

Oh...also...this is definitely a sneaky prequel to Kindly Stopped for Me, but it can easily be read independently of that fic!

Summary: On 31 October, 1981, James faces his worst fear, Lily does the impossible, and one friend is left to pick up the pieces.

Read now on AO3

Snippet:

[goferwashere]

Can’t make a whole fic out of this one cut scene (well yes I can but I’m very busy rn) but for my AU I’m just picturing a scenario between SMM and Don where Don is still on bad terms with Joe and doesn’t know how to fix it. He’s more annoyed than actually upset, with basically no remorse for his actions.

He doesn’t treat Joe with the respect of an equal (clearly) and— being a fellow monster, he asks how he keeps “his human” (dragon chan (his BOYFRIEND)) “in line”.

Oh boy does that set Macho off.

He is geniunely upset because he loves him and that’s why they’re together?? Like

“He’s mine, but he’s not mine.”

The fact that Don viewed Joe as more of a pet than a friend becomes very apparent to Macho. And that is very eye opening for him.

Don views all monster-human relationships that way, and the fact that he would ever think of him and Dragon that way made him sick.

Macho is rightfully pissed off and tells Don that… you know… that’s his problem. Joe obviously figured that out in some capacity and doesn’t like being treated that way.

Don blows him off at first, but once he sits and thinks about it for a while, the gravity of how he’s been treating him all this time sets in. He goes into a full on panic.

also sorry if you don’t want to be tagged in this @oohbuggypie since it’s not a whole fic or anything but I know you were curious about everything that happened between Joe and Don in my fic so here’s a lil insight 👁️👁️

[curiouselleth]

Veil of Starlight

It's well decorated. Cozy... and lived in, he observes as he steps over the threshold, faintly smiling at the vase of lily of the valley, milkweed and cyclamen on a mantel above the hearth. Elwing always loved picking flowers.

It had been so, so long since he had seen his little sister. His little cuen. And his breath caught for a moment as he watched her come around the corner. She's so grown up. Without us. Elured thought, tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Ah you must be King Gil-galad! Suilad! It is so wonderful to finally meet you!"

"Ahm," he cleared his throat, "yes, it is wonderful to, meet you, too. I'm so glad we finally got the chance..."  he trailed off.

"How goes matters on the Isle? Good? Well..." she chattered on, but Elured was barely listening.

He worked rapidly to drop the enchantment disguising his identity, in denial, No, it must be the enchantment, that must be why she... why she doesn't- he thought frantically as it finally came down. 

But she didn't react. She kept on speaking about how things were in the Havens, until she noticed his lack of response, and pauses.

She takes a uncertain step forward. "Are... are you part maia as I am?" She haltingly asks.

"I. I am, yes, as you are." Elured hesitantly answers. Is this it? Is she starting to recognize me?

But she takes his hesitant response as him not wishing to speak of it, "I'm sorry, I did not mean to pry, and you need not explain. I too understand having a past too painful to speak of."

Elured nods, shocked and despairing. She didn't know him. His little sister doesn't know him anymore.

[aheathen-conceivably]

What do you mean they're not going to be happy when it's the 1930s and the Great Depression just started and they're moving to a new state far away from where they used to call home? I'm shocked. Flabbergasted. Just astonished. (I'm actually excited for the drama really, I love your writing a lot and it's so fun to tune in and see what you've come up with) - LGL

GASP! LGL, are you an a creature of immense sarcasm just like myself?!

AND you’re telling me the 1930s aren’t an era known for their bucolic pastoral best life vibes?! Well now I’ll be damned.

[citrinesparkles]

worth it

barbara gordon x gender neutral reader. 367 words. notes: my first take on babs for @batwngs birthday (a few days late 😮‍💨). hope it was incredible and this year is a great one!! warnings: n/a, as far as i can tell!

this part was easy.

you watched barbara turn the page of her book, a calm focus evident in the way her eyes raced across it.

she was a world away, but she was relaxed. her shoulders were loose, her brow furrowed in curiosity instead of the stress that so often- too often- found a home there, and her right pointer finger trailed down the edge of the page ever so slowly, prepped and ready to flip it as soon as she finished scanning it.

you were pretty sure it was a murder mystery.

the fun kind, with fictional homicide.

you were very sure that watching her was more interesting than the story itself.

the fun kind, without the strain of oracle lingering in her features.

she handled her work well, carried it with grace, but the stakes of it all got to even the great, battle-hardened barbara gordon. who could blame you for enjoying the sight of her enjoying a morning off?

you watched as her eyes sped across the page and back again, over and over, as though the words may escape before she could get to them. as though anything could escape her pull.

you sighed quietly, happily, and she glanced up at you in that very barbara way that convinced you she was an oracle, that she could predict your next moves.

"can i help you?" she asked, fond amusement thick in her voice.

"i just love you, is all."

she chuckled. "oh, that's all. a small thing."

"you know what i mean."

"i do," she said, her smile crinkling her eyes (and sending warmth to your heart like an arrow finding a target). "i love you too."

every moment of stress and exhaustion and worry was worth it, you decided. every single one. you would relive every single stressful night her "job" had brought her, if it brought you back to this.

she hadn't dropped your gaze yet.

you wondered if she knew what you were thinking.

it must have shown on your face, because her smile softened and she set her book down. "come here."

you did, and found yourself being kissed with a warm hand on your cheek.

yeah. worth it.

[livelaughwhump]

HOW DID I NOT REALIZE THAT A COUPLE DAYS AGO WAS MY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF STARTING THIS BLOG?!?

HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?! I FEEL LIKE I JUST STARTED LAST MONTH!!

[hanmajoerin]

Summary: Post-cannon one shot for @inukag-week. InuYasha had a little girl, and she was going to be the most precious being in the entire world.

A/N: Holy macaroni and rice, I actually finished my InuKag Week piece and I finished it early, so I thought I'd give you all a head start on being able to read it as well!

II AO3 || FanFiction.Net II

-X-

"For Her"

Miroku told him before that childbirth was one of the world’s greatest wonders. InuYasha couldn’t wait to punt that bozo across the village for even saying that. A wonder of life? The most curious thing to it was that anyone who went through it could live past it. And no one was happier than InuYasha to have a wife like Kagome who was living past it. 

InuYasha knew about tradition, that to a man labor was meant to remain a “wonder of the world”, but tradition had never been Kagome and his style. Two years ago, she left her family to be with him. On the other side of the Bone Eater’s Well, Kagome’s mother was doubtlessly minding her day without realizing that the two were having this baby. He owed it to her to be there for Kagome, right? It was a loose justification, but good an excuse as any to leave Miroku, Shippo, and the kids in the dust after what was probably a nasty contraction on Kagome’s end. She’d never made a sound like that before–it almost scared the shit out of him–and he panicked, flying past the door and scooping up her hand so tightly. Kaede, Sango, and Rin tried kicking him out. As if they’d ever gotten him to listen once his mind was made up. So the half-demon stayed, perched beside his priestess. He held her hand and dabbed a cold compress across her face every now and again. The whole time, he thought he’d vomit. He kind of still wanted to. Everything was loud, there were so many scents, and his own home felt like a cramped den. He had a rotten time–couldn’t stand feeling so useless while Kagome endured wave after wave of incomprehensible pain. But it was over now, and crying was the only sound he processed.  

They hadn’t spoken a word to each other since those cries began, and yet, somehow, InuYasha and Kagome managed to tell each other that their life as two was officially and entirely over. After placing the compress back into the bucket behind him, InuYasha’s hand traced up the side of Kagome’s face, until his fingers split by her ear. He brushed the side of her forehead with the pad of his thumb, trying his best to smile down at her. It was probably just sweat, but Kagome was glowing. The half-demon could’ve stayed like that, once Kagome’s hand held his in place, forever. 

“InuYasha, come and bring your daughter to Kagome,” Kaede said. The half-demon’s mind scrambled, trying to get on track. There really were three of them which meant he couldn’t only focus on Kagome. Her lips curved up at him as he turned away, and InuYasha quickly squatted down to dip his hands into a boiling bucket of water Rin poured. 

“My daughter…” InuYasha trailed, time lurching oddly in response to this second realization. InuYasha had a little girl, and she was going to be the most precious being in the entire world. He thought he was moving slowly toward the old hag, but no sooner was he faced with a swaddled newborn than he was able to mentally say his child's name for the first time. It was Moroha. He and Kagome agreed that regardless of who Kaede would hand off to them, it’d fit. 

Kaede placed her into the half-demon’s arms like it was nothing. And he guessed she was always putting babies into people’s arms. For InuYasha though... he’d never held someone quite as small as his daughter. She was magnificent, a red flush overtaking every scrunched up feature on her face. Screaming, she was screaming so loudly but he didn’t mind it. Moroha stopped once InuYasha began walking anyway, her tiny brown eyes blinking up at him curiously. “That’s it, your old man’s got you,” InuYasha told her, crossing the hut to kneel by Kagome, “and your mama’s right here.”

“Oh, Moroha,” Kagome whispered, arms already outstretched. InuYasha placed Moroha there gently, and when he could see his wife and child together–it made him blink, a lot. The fire’s warmth must’ve finally made it over to them, too, since he could finally feel it. InuYasha watched Kagome guide Moroha to her breast, she latched on eagerly and he couldn’t stop a small chuckle from escaping. Being born must’ve worked up an appetite. 

InuYasha watched her for a few moments, taking note of the fine black hair on her head and the funny way it dried from when Kaede washed her. It swirled up, kind of like it was in a very tall ponytail. His eyes traveled higher until they locked with Kagome’s. Their entire story seemed to play in the tears lining her eyes. It was getting hard to ignore the stinging in his own. He wondered if Kagome could see what he did: The time he dropped her off of his back when he thought she was useless, the moment the Sacred Jewel shattered, finding a home in her without even realizing it, falling in love with her, her staying by his side, the day he nearly lost her forever, and the three years he really had.

“InuYasha,” Kagome said, shifting Moroha to her other breast. 

“I know,” he replied, reaching out to smooth a stray hair of Kagome’s before lowering his hand to Moroha’s head. It was hard to believe that InuYasha used to live alone or that he spent any amount of time obsessing over power and magic jewels instead of a moment like this one. 

Moroha cooed, her fingers curling and uncurling themselves in the air. He brushed his thumb lightly across his baby girl's hair, mindful of his claws. She blinked over at him as she continued with her first meal, and InuYasha swore he caught the faintest trace of amber mixing with the brown there. It only made sense for his traits to make appearances since she was apart of her parents’ story, too. Although Moroha didn't understand any of it–wasn’t sure how much she’d care to hear when she got older–it was there. Kagome and InuYasha would always be there.

Kagome shifted their baby to rest in only one arm. “InuYasha, you’re crying,” she pointed out before pulling the sleeve of her sleeping robe over her hand to wipe at the tears. 

“Didn’t even notice,” the half-demon confessed. His hands searched past the robe; he wanted to hold his wife's hand–he wanted to pull both of them to him.

InuYasha’s past had never seemed so unreachable, but gazing over at his own daughter made it impossible to stop remembering. There were slurs, rocks, fights, and beds made in hollowed trees. Then there was finding Kikyo and losing her, the pain from her arrow, his own demon power, and Naraku. 

Moroha’s hands flapped while her fingers kept opening and closing. InuYasha intertwined one hand with Kagome’s while offering his index finger to Moroha. She grabbed it, and he knew. He knew how every bad part of his life was worth enduring since it led to Kagome, but that he’d only live it over and over and over again for her: Moroha.

-X-

A/N: If Sunrise Studios gets to make no damn sense for two whole seasons of an InuYasha next generation spin off series then I can take some creative liberties and let InuYasha hang out with Kagome while she’s working hard to give birth to their child. Needless to say, this has like negative two ties to the Yashahime narrative, lol. I took Moroha with me to my own ever after where InuYasha and Kagome live very boring lives in Kaede’s Village. I began writing this piece back in November after a YouTuber I watched put out a video for the birth of her children. It made me wonder how I’d write Moroha’s birth. I listened to a lot of “Chopin - Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2” while writing this piece; hopefully you guys enjoy this submission for InuKag Week!

[queenofbaws]

Hey Queenie! Happy, fluffy prompts for NYE you say?🧐 You know I'm gonna shamelessly use your generosity to push the Laura/Max agenda, right? I've gotta say, I like the look of prompt No.1 on that OTP NYE prompt list (about the resolutions) and Oneliner No. 9 (NYE proposal)... Pick whichever you like better (or find a way to combine them if you dare😈) - Most importantly: have fun with it! I hope you have a great time over the holidays and throroughly enjoy the last week of 2022!💕

“Am I going to sound like a total Grinch if I say I’m glad we’re not going the party route this year?” Laura asked as she stretched out on the couch, her fuzzy pjs rumpled and her hair still messy with sleep despite the afternoon sun filtering in through the apartment’s blinds. “It just takes so much pressure off, not having to drive to and from someone else’s place in the dark, not having to make small-talk with a million people…not having to put on pants,” she added with a laugh, the sound turning into a groan when Silas, their not-so-puppy-sized Labrador pup hopped up onto the couch to lie right on top of her.

“Doesn’t make you sound like a Grinch at all, hun,” Max said, the size of the apartment making it so he barely had to raise his voice for her to hear him from the bedroom. “Buuut mostly that’s just because the Grinch really only cared about Christmas. You could be a new Grinch, though! One that, uh…shoot, okay, hang on, how would you go about ruining an entire village’s New Year’s Eve?”

She scratched Silas’s big, floppy ears as she thought on it. “I could…replace all the confetti with glitter.” From the bedroom, she heard Max pull in a scandalized gasp, and that had her laughing all over again. “That’s more of a long game, though. It’d probably be really pretty in the moment, it’d just take them until the next ice age to clean up after. If I really wanted to ruin the night itself, I could…um…ooh, sneak into all their little Who-Houses and block New Year’s Rockin’ Eve on all their tvs.”

“Don’t even joke about that – I heard they got Ariana Grande this year.”

“Oh, can’t miss that,” Laura kidded, craning her head back to watch him as he joined her in the living room. “Whatcha got there?” she asked when she spotted the piece of loose-leaf Max was looking down at, his fingers absently folding and unfolding it along a middle crease.

He didn’t look up from it, but his mouth turned up in a smile all the same. “Right, like I’m going spill my New Year’s secrets to the Grunch.”

“I…okay, hang on. No.”

“It’s a no on the Grunch?”

“It’s a no on the Grunch. Can we try another vowel, maybe? Like…how do we feel about the Granch? Hold on, no, that one’s…also bad. The…Gronch?”

“The Grench is probably easier to rhyme stuff with. For the song. Wrench, bench, drench, silen…ch…?”

“Grench it is.” Laura gave Silas one last hearty ear-scratch then wriggled out from under him, standing and stretching as she joined Max. She set her chin on his shoulder, but before she could get even the sneakiest peek at what was on the paper, he folded it shut tight and angled it away from her.

“What did I just say? Go Grench up someone else’s stuff.” He leaned in to press a kiss to the bridge of her nose before laughing, unfolding the wrinkled paper again. “This is…incredibly embarrassing, but…I was going through my drawers just now and I think, uh…I think I found last year’s list of New Year’s resolutions. Or this one’s? The ones I thought I’d do this year, let’s put it this way.”

“Uh oh.”

“I mean, okay, it’s not…it’s not that bad,” he said, his defensiveness purely for show. “Look, I definitely did this one! So I can cross that off, no prob! Do you have a pen? Here, let me find a pen…”

Laura snatched the paper away from him as she felt him move, and by the time she’d straightened it out in her own hands and interpreted the worst of his scribbly chickenscratch, she could hear him rummaging around in the kitchenette’s junk drawer. “Well one thing’s for sure,” she snickered under her breath, “cursive wasn’t a priority this year.”

One, read the sheet, Learn Spanish. Two, Work out more. Three, Train Silas. Four, Less fast food, more homecooked meals. And then, perplexingly, Five, DO THE THING!!!

Laura flipped the sheet over a couple times, just to make sure there weren’t any other surprises written on the other side. She turned as Max came back, pen in hand, but when he went to grab the list from her, she held it out of reach as he had a moment ago. “I’m sorry, which one of these do you think you did?” she teased, leaning further and further back the more he reached out towards her. “Cuz I gotta be honest, Max, I…don’t think any of these happened.”

“And that’s why you’re the Grench.” He made another swipe for the list, and when Laura ducked out of the way, tongue stuck out, he turned to the dog lazing on the couch. “Okay, you’re gonna make me pull out the big guns, huh? That’s fine. Silas! Sic her!” Max pointed an accusatory finger towards her as he gave the command, and Silas did perk his ears up…for all of a second. Then he went back to lying down, his tail thumping against a throw pillow. “C’mon, boy, we talked about this…”

With the brattiest grin she could manage, Laura held the list back out to Max, giving her fingers a teasing flourish when he grabbed it up. “Well, I guess we know which one you didn’t do…”

“All right, all right, perhaps I overestimated some of the intensive guard dog training we’ve been doing all year.”

“Uh huh.”

“Every single day.”

“Okay.”

“We wait until you’re at work or asleep, and then all bets are off.” He laughed, crossing something off the list before shaking his head down at it again. “Hey, since I totally didn’t judge you for sounding like the Grunch earlier – ”

“Grench,” she corrected, probably a little too quickly, given how awful the name was to begin with.

“ – am I going to sound like a total sap if I tell you I’m actually kind of…I dunno, disappointed that I didn’t do this stuff? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know pretty much everyone drops their resolutions like a hot box of rocks after February or whatever, but…it’s still sort of a bummer.” He glanced her way again, and that time she wasn’t so sure his defensiveness was of the joking variety. “That’s probably dumb, huh?”

She blew a raspberry as she tied her hair back out of her face, peering back down at the list with him. “What? No way! There’s nothing dumb about it, babe – feel your feelings.” Her eyes slowly moved down the list once more, and as she tucked herself against his side, his arm instinctively wrapping around her to bring her closer, a plan began to hatch.

Something resembling a plan, anyway.

“You know what?” she asked, jabbing a finger at the list. “This is what we’re going to do today.”

“What?”

“Yeah…yeah! We don’t have a party to go to, we don’t have people expecting us to show up and be social, so…yeah! Let’s resolve some resolutions!”

Max brightened at that, giving her waist a squeeze. “And the Grench’s heart grew three sizes that day…I’ll save this New Year’s, the Whos in Whoville all heard her say…”

It was with a playful shove that she slid out of his grasp, rolling her eyes and flapping her hand like a sock puppet. “Put some shoes on, I think I know how we can kill a couple birds with one stone,” she said over her shoulder as she headed for the bedroom, trying to decide which of her jackets would best hide her pjs. “Oh, but hey,” Laura added, pulling open one of the dresser drawers to rummage for a pair of socks. “What’s ‘The Thing?’”

“Uh?”

“The…The Thing!” she said again, rolling her eyes at herself that time. “On the list! Number five said ‘Do The Thing.’”

“Yeah?”

“Sooo,” she drew the word out as she pulled her socks on. “What is it? The Thing? That’s what you crossed off just now, wasn’t it?”

“Oh. Yeah. I’ve got no idea.”

She walked back out of the bedroom to find Max lacing his snow boots, and all she could do was sigh. “You don’t know? It was on the list!”

“Well yeah, but I mean…I think you’ll agree, it wasn’t particularly, uh, descriptive.” He flashed her a sheepish grin when he caught the look on her face, the one that was only pretending to be exasperated. “Look, whatever it is, or was, I think it’s pretty safe to assume I probably did it. Right?”

The jingle of his leash had Silas bounding after them. Laura bent to clip it to his collar, shaking her head the whole time. “For sure. For sure.”

---

To his credit, Max hadn’t complained once during the outing to the pet store. Those bags of dog food weren’t exactly light, but he’d handled them like a champ, even when their detour down the squeaky toy aisle lasted longer than expected. The grocery store, however, turned out to be a different story.

“When my arms fall off, please promise me you’ll tell my mom I lost them doing something heroic,” he grunted, wincing as Laura put yet another two-liter of soda into the handbasket he was holding. “Or, I don’t know, super masculine at least. Like…oh, like arm wrestling a lumberjack.”

“Oh, hi Mrs. Brinly. Yeah, the arm thing. It’s…kind of hard to explain. So we were buying pancake mix, you know, like you do, and there was only one box left. Max went for it at the same time as this huge, rugged, beardy guy wearing flannel, and wouldn’t you know it, next thing I know, they’re arm wrestling on a crate of flour.”

“Geez, you’re good at that. Too good.”

“Why thank you!” To even him out, she placed a bottle of juice in the other handbasket, wrinkling her nose up in a mischievous grin as she got a good look at everything they’d picked up so far. “That’s probably enough for a New Year’s in, don’t you think? We got the drinks, we got snacks, we got…”

“An anvil…”

“An anvil,” she agreed. “Aaand…all the fixings for, say it with me, a good old-fashioned homecooked meal. Instead of fast food. Between that and all this heavy lifting, I think you’ve totally earned two more checkmarks on that resolution list.”

Max didn’t need to be told twice – the instant ‘That’s probably enough’ had come out of her mouth, he’d turned on his heel, making for the cash registers. There was a hot second there were he wobbled with the weight of the baskets, but he caught himself just as quickly, shooting her a look that made it very clear he was awfully proud of his own resilience. “Totally.”

“Totally!”

“This is more working out than I remember doing last year.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” she joked, snagging a big box of Christmas tree-shaped chocolates from the discount rack. She’d had every intention of carrying it herself – really! – but Max made a dramatic ‘ahem’ sound and attempted to lift one of the baskets, so she wedged it in there to appease him. “And let’s be real, most people are definitely ordering pizza or something tonight, so us having a nice sit-down dinner? That’s gotta count.”

“Gotta,” he agreed. “Now, I’ll be the first to tell you I don’t really see how we’re going to swing the rest of the list, but…”

“Now who’s being all Grenchy?” She watched him struggle to lift the baskets up to the checkout counter for all of five seconds before she took pity on him and his overtaxed arms, scootching close to begin pulling each item out one by one to put on the cashier’s conveyor belt. “Don’t sweat it,” she said with a peck to his cheek. “I’m resolved to resolve these resolutions.”

“How resolute of you.”

She laughed when he set the empty baskets down and dramatically began rubbing his biceps, his relief brought to an abrupt end as she teased, “Can’t wait to see you carry this stuff all the way back to the car.”

---

There was a certain sort of joy that came with hearing your very grown-up boyfriend following very closely along with Dora the Explorer. She wasn’t sure it was a sort of joy she had a name for, exactly, only that it more or less had the same effect of getting the giggles in an important class – if she didn’t pour all of her focus into something else, it was too easy to collapse into delighted laughter. Already her stomach hurt, and it’d only been one episode!

“Sounds like you’re making good progress in there!” she called into the kitchen, taking it upon herself to pick up the resolution list from the side table where it’d been left, crossing out numbers two and four.

“Gracias,” Max called back over the sound of a singing map and the sizzle of cooking chicken. “Which is Spanish for thank you.”

“You don’t say.” Laura stood back up and ambled to join him in the kitchen, walking up and wrapping her arms around him from behind. “Smells good,” she said, stealing a quick finger-scoop of mashed potatoes. “Have you figured out how to say ‘smells good’ in Spanish yet?”

“No,” Max pretended to sigh, flipping a piece of chicken and stepping back into her as he dodged a small spatter of oil. “Which, if you were wondering, is Spanish for ‘no.’”

“Amazing.”

“Right? I really feel like I’m expanding my horizons here.”

“You know, I was thinking about it just now, and didn’t you take, like…three years of Spanish back in high school? Why do I remember you taking Spanish in high school?”

“Uh, that would be because I took three years of Spanish back in high school. I just had…other priorities.”

“Wow. Artful way to say you didn’t pay attention.”

“Thank you! Er, gracias. It’s nowhere near as good as your lumberjack story, but it gets the job done. Can you pass me the pepper, maybe?”

She groaned into the back of his shirt as though letting go of him was a physical pain, resisting for as long as she could. “Si,” she laughed, dropping her arms from his middle and turning to look around until she spotted the pepper shaker on the countertop. “Which, just fyi – ”

“I know what ‘si’ means, Laura.”

“Are you sure?”

“Si. Which is Spanish for ‘duh.’”

“Oh, is it?”

“Mhm. It is.”

“Learn something new every day.” After she handed him the pepper, she turned back around again, looking down at Silas as he lay in the doorway, his head on his paws and his big, dark eyes melting her heart with that puppy-dog begging he was just so good at. “I sure hope you have ideas for how you’re gonna train this one to do anything before the year’s out in a few hours, because I’ve got nothing.”

Seeming to sense he was about to get attention – or, even better, some of that chicken – Silas lifted his head up, his tail giving a tentative wag. It wasn’t that he wasn’t a smart lil’ guy…if anything, he was maybe a little too smart, since he always seemed to know exactly how to get his way with the least effort possible. It’d been sheer dumb luck that’d gotten him to walk on a leash; everything else was pretty much a no-go, from the simplest tricks to basic obedience. The idea of teaching him to do…well, much of anything before the clock struck midnight wasn’t just far-fetched, it was almost ridiculous!

Max hardly seemed daunted, though. Maybe crossing everything else off his resolution list had inflated his confidence. “Oh, c’mon, it can’t be that hard,” he said, very, very pointedly ignoring the look she gave him in response to that. “Right, bud? You’re trainable, aren’t you?”

Silas’s tail thumped a little louder against the floor.

“See? He’s down.”

“He’s down with that chicken, that’s what he is.”

“And that’s all we need! Now, watch and learn…” He cut off a sliver of chicken and checked to see whether it was cooked. It must’ve been, because he blew on it a couple times to cool it off, then held it up where Silas could see it. “Okay, you ready for game time, boy?” Max asked, grinning Laura’s way when Silas got up onto his feet, not just his tail but his entire back end wagging back and forth at the promise of sweet, sweet chicken. “How about…sit! Sit! I, uh…no? Okay, uh…paw?” He held his other hand, the one not holding the chicken, out towards him, wiggling his fingers. “Shake?”

Laura couldn’t help but grin right back, folding her arms across her chest as she watched the spectacle. Not that ‘spectacle’ was the right word. ‘Spectacle’ sort of suggested something was happening – anything. That wasn’t really the case.

“Roll over?” Max tried, his voice taking on a plaintive tone. “Uh…speak? Speak! Um…” Again, he shot a look towards her, his grin significantly more sheepish now. Something must’ve occurred to him then, because she swore she could almost see the cartoonish lightbulb appear over his head. “Okay, boy, how about this? Just stand there. Don’t do anything else. Stay! Stay.”

They paused for a beat, the two of them, just watching to see what Silas would do.

And when he did absolutely nothing, Max tossed him the piece of chicken and beamed. “Good boy! There, see? Totally trainable.”

“I can’t believe I doubted you. You know, maybe this year one of your resolutions should be building us some shelves for all the dog show trophies he’s definitely going to win.”

“Maybe it should,” he laughed. “But hey, could you do me one more favor and get some plates down? It’s definitely that I need to flip this chicken again, by the way. Has nothing to do with my arms feeling like wet spaghetti noodles. Because they don’t. At all.”

She hummed in agreement, stopping to pet Silas’s head before reaching up to the cupboard where they kept the plates. “You should workout less next year, while we’re drafting new resolutions. Give yourself a break, you know? You really pushed yourself this year.”

“Tell me about it.”

---

It was crazy how quickly the day had flown by. Laura felt like it’d only been a minute ago that she’d been lazing on the couch with the sun on her face, but as they sat surfing channels while waiting for Ariana Grande’s much-anticipated New Year’s performance, the world outside their blinds was pitch black except for a few fat snowflakes drifting by every so often.

She stretched her arms out with a groan of exertion, then snuggled back against Max’s side, tucking her feet underneath the blanket they kept draped over the couch’s arm. “So, whaddya think?” she asked as they breezed past the millionth commercial for the millionth gym to be played in the past three minutes. “Who had a better change of heart – me or the Grinch?”

“Hmm,” Max hummed, the arm draped around her shoulders moving just enough that he could curl a piece of her hair around his finger. “The Grinch.”

“Um, excuse me?” Playfully, she pushed his hand away, angling herself to stare him down. “Explain yourself.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you. I worked some crazy New Year’s miracles today! Or, some crazy New Year’s technicalities, anyway. Which are pretty much the same thing, honestly.”

“Okay, fair, fair.” Without her cuddling up beside him, Max laced his fingers behind his head and rested back against them. “But…to be totally fair…look at it this way. The Grinch? Brought Christmas to a whole town.”

“After stealing it from them,” she pointed out. “In the dead of night. And like, lying to a child. And eating all their Who-hash. Whatever that is.”

He acted as though he hadn’t heard her, his gaze taking on a distant cast, as though he were really thinking about the comparison. “You, on the other hand, I will admit, definitely saved my year by helping me cross off almost all my resolutions, but – ”

“Wait,” Laura said, sitting up a little bit straighter. “Waitwaitwait. Almost? What’s this almost?” When he didn’t immediately answer, she threw her arms out to her sides. “We crossed everything off your list, Max!”

His eyes snapped back to her, his expression one of abject doubt. “Uh. Okay, only, weee…didn’t.”

“We did! I…we did!” Only now he had her doubting herself, too. One by one, Laura raised her fingers, counting resolutions off on them. “You worked out more, sort of. And you taught Silas a trick, sort of. You learned Spanish…sort of. And we had a homecooked meal instead of fast food! Oh, and you did The Thing, I guess. Probably. Whatever that was.”

“Whatever that was,” he agreed. “But hun, that’s only five.”

She rolled her eyes to him, searching his face for any sign he was kidding around. As far as she could tell, he wasn’t, but…but that couldn’t be right! It’d been a minute since she’d looked at his list, sure, so it was possible that she was forgetting something, and yet…

Instead of arguing with him, she untangled herself from the blanket and walked over to the side table where they’d left the list. She picked it up and scanned it again, and while Max’s handwriting was just as terrible as it had been that morning, no matter how many times she read over it or flipped it to its other side, there were only the same five resolutions.

“Max,” she sighed, turning back towards him with the list in her hands. “Babe, there’s only fi – ” Only Max wasn’t on the couch anymore; he must’ve gotten up when she had, because he was standing right in front of her, that same sheepish smile on his face as he plucked the list from her hands and folded it over, sliding it into his own back pocket.

“Okay, actually, I sort of fibbed a little,” he said, and something about his tone, or how quickly he was talking, or something, gave her heart a tiny flutter. “There weren’t six. There were just five, like you said. Buuut…uh, I crossed one off sort of, um, let’s say prematurely? So I kind of…need your help with that one too. Since you’ve been helping me with the others all day.”

“Oookay,” she said slowly. “I…wait, is this about ‘Do The Thing?’ You liar! I knew something was off when you were all ‘Oh, I probably did it!’ There was no way you forgot what it was! I should’ve…” Her words ran dry, though, as Max took her hand in his and, with the other, brought out a small box from the pocket where he’d stashed his resolution list.

“It…is about ‘Do The Thing,’” Max admitted. “Except, like I said, I sort of…need your help on this one, so…” Squeezing her hand tighter, he used the index finger of his other hand to lever the box open, revealing the ring nestled inside. “Do you wanna…do the thing? With me? If it’s, y’know…not too cliché to propose on New Year’s Eve?”

She didn’t even need to think about it.

Laura grabbed Max’s face in both her hands, pulling him into an exuberant kiss he gladly returned. “Yes!” she laughed, grinning so hard her cheeks began to hurt. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Let’s do the thing – let’s do the thing!” And just like that, he slid the ring onto her finger, she pulled him into another kiss, and on the tv behind them a crowd cheered as the clock rolled over to midnight, the new year starting off precisely how it was meant to.

[alchemiclee]

I didn't like blade at first for some reason. too edgy and emo and seemed generic like a sasuke (I never liked sasuke lmao) when I learned about yingxing, I really liked him but still didn't like blade. now I like both for some reason even if yinxing is a dumbass who did this to himself. but blade grew on me somwhow, and someone really needs to gently hold him or something. that poor man. he's so broken. give him a break 😭

[welcome-to-green-hills]

I’m pulling an all-nighter to finish editing my work. If y’all want—and I’ll prolly need a break in between—to spam my inbox with fun nonsense, feel free to!😎