#he got so upset when the red crayon broke

[nakunatta-fujihana]

Grimmy~

[aggressive-positivity-network]

Okay, so you said I could send an ask for headcanons about the childhoods of some specific merc(s)... I think I would really like to read your headcanons about Soldier’s and Engineer’s childhood :)

Thanks in advance and I hope your well.

Ooooh…I’ve been waiting for this! And thank you for being specific and not just saying “the rest of them.” Sometimes I get overwhelmed with nine specific mercs to write for. Your specifics are much appreciated.

****************

Soldier:

Soldier doesn’t talk very much about his childhood - whether it’s because something happened or he just doesn’t remember it, no one can tell. It’s nowhere in his file, either…he refused to do anything except tell fantastic tales of a fictional youth.

However, in a rare streak of almost lucidity, he spouted off the entirety of his younger years, much to the team’s surprise. Usually, if anyone asked directly, he changed the subject.

But now he described everything in vivid detail. And, with a bit of research from Miss Pauling, everything fell into place.

Apparently he had been born in a small military town in Georgia. His father was overseas, leaving he and his mother alone in their small yellow house.

In order to make ends meet, his mother worked at a nearby factory, mostly leaving Soldier to fend for himself and the house.

“Can you be a big, strong soldier like daddy for me?”

Soldier would always agree, finding his own food, his own entertainment, and his own friends. No matter what happened, he never bothered his mom. If anything, his job was to protect her.

That’s why, when his stomach started hurting and his arms and legs ached, he said nothing about it.

When he forgot the chores he was supposed to do and even the names of his friends, he didn’t bring it up.

When he felt tired all the time and some days could barely get out of bed, he just chalked it up to laziness like his mother did.

It turns out the factory they were next to was polluting the water next to the house with dangerous amounts of lead, which soon overcame Soldier’s immune system of steel.

He could barely remember anything anymore, and he became more and more distraught every day. Sometimes he would forget where he was and run outside, then get lost in the woods, only coming back once he remembered where he was supposed to be.

Soldier began to wear one of his father’s old helmets after his mom commented on his red eyes and the dark circles around them. He didn’t want to worry her. Besides, it helped bring back a few memories if he ever got lost again.

Finally, it got to the point where he didn’t even remember his mother, or his promise to her. He began to wander farther and farther away from home.

One day, he didn’t come back at all.

Out in the world with not a single memory to his name, Soldier wandered far and wide. He usually slept in barns and old, abandoned houses, cut off from most people.

Occasionally, he would find a family that wanted to “raise him as their own,” only to turn him away after finding him too difficult to care for.

He had frequent nightmares, ate little due to his unresolved stomach issues, and could barely walk ten feet without forgetting where he was going.

If he accidentally wandered into the same house twice, he would be chased out with either a broom or a gun - usually the latter.

He became “the demon child” in some counties, and “g*psy kid” in others, due to his long, unkempt hair, hidden eyes, and odd habits.

It even got to the point where Soldier couldn’t sleep on anyone’s property because he would be actively fought off like a wolf or a bear.

His only pleasure was an old movie theater that, as he recovered from his lead poisoning, remembered the location of and frequently snuck into.

The only thing that played were romance movies - which, like many children, Soldier hated - and war movies, which he watched over and over again with starving eyes.

Because of these movies, a single memory from his mother’s house came to him. A woman, tall and muscular from hard labor, giving him a shiny badge to hold, asking him to be a strong soldier like his father.

And thus began his life-long dream of becoming a military officer.

He trained according to what he knew from the films…which was mostly running, doing jumping jacks, and occasionally rolling around in the mud.

This only served to distance him further from his fellow human beings, but he didn’t care. Soldier had a mission, and he was going to do it well.

But the biggest change was his hair.

He had started cutting it off with sharpened rocks, but he was always saving up coins he found for a “proper army cut.”

Finally, he had quite the collection in a dirty mason jar, and marched into the barber shop in his town to ask for a haircut.

The manager was appalled, and at first refused, but Soldier stood his ground.

“Civilian, I’ll have you know that by denying a soldier with a haircut, you are denying America one of its best fighters! I can’t curdle the enemy’s blood looking like a hippie!”

After a short yelling match that, of course, Soldier won, the manager decided it would be in his best interest to comply.

He walked out of that shop with no hair on his head, but a huge grin on his face. Next stop, the ranks.

Soldier went from draft office to draft office, applying for and being denied entrance to the army for his obvious lack of mental stability.

This is when the personal retelling ended, since Soldier became very upset by the memory of his recruitment failures, but Miss Pauling concluded that he just bounced from state to state until Mann Co. found him, quote, “sitting in an alleyway, eating army draft paperwork while sobbing uncontrollably.”

Engineer:

Engineer also never really talks about his childhood, but both Medic and Spy (Spy knows everything about everyone on the team) know that’s for a good reason.

He grew up in a trailer community near an almost ghost town in Texas.

His father was an abusive car mechanic with a mean streak a mile wide and a shop full of failed inventions. His mother wasn’t any better - she was bitter and reclusive, only really coming out of her room to pick a fight with her husband.

However, what Engie lacked in family, he more than made up for in friends.

He had a rag-tag, Rugrats-esque team of pals from all walks of life: Rhapsody, the daughter of a struggling porn star; Tom, the son of two farmers wiped out by blight; Cici, an adopted girl that could barely walk into her trailer without a black eye and a string of slurs; Quinn, the nervous child of a single mother that serves as guidance to the other kids; And Fred, who didn’t seem to have any family, but had become a greaser big brother to all of them.

Together, they explored the desert near the trailer park, pooled their resources to feed and support each other, and used their individual strengths to get through each day.

Engineer, whom everyone affectionately called “Big Dell,” snuck parts from his dad’s workshop for his own creations.

By the time he was twelve, he could make a small, running engine for the soapbox cars his friends frequently raced.

No toy, piece of clothing, glasses, or tool was out of his line of expertise.

One day, though, upon finding that some of his parts were missing, Engineer’s dad gave him a terrible beating that broke a few of his fingers and left a huge gash near his eye.

Since then, he refused to fix, make, or even touch a tool.

He wouldn’t tell anyone what happened, but they could make a pretty good guess, since they knew where the scraps and parts had come from.

The whole group was furious with Engineer’s dad - their Big Dell was funny, smart, and was more loving than every family member they had combined. Even Quinn was red in the face.

They wanted to break into his dad’s workshop and destroy all of his inventions, just to teach him a lesson, but they knew Engineer would take the fall for it.

Instead, they rummaged through trash cans, searched their toy chests, and looked under their trailers to find things Engineer could use.

They waited until his birthday to unveil the massive pile of supplies they had stowed away.

Engineer immediately dropped to his knees and began to cry, and everyone else dogpiled him for a huge hug.

As the creme de la creme, they gave him a pair of welding goggles - the same welding goggles he wears to this day, having modified them so they still fit his growing body.

With his healed fingers and renewed spirit, he made each of them a gift: a toy car for Rhapsody, a skull ring for Fred, a full set of candle wax crayons for Cici, a chewable necklace for Quinn so they wouldn’t chew on their collar, and a mini-planter for Tom.

But Engineer was given the greatest gift - confidence in his own abilities and that he can be and was appreciated for more than his services.

This gave him the drive to build bigger and better things, which his friends happily assisted in creating.

Engie’s best memories are with that motley crew of scrawny, beaten-up kids.

But, as he became a teenager, the abuse grew worse by the day.

He was often kept in his dad’s garage to fix cars in sweltering heat and with nothing to show for his work except threats of what would happen if a customer complained.

His mother finally grew bitter enough to pick on him, wondering aloud and pointedly if she had made a mistake by having him, then immediately contradict herself by wailing in his arms about how she’s the most awful mother in the world, and how she would be gone soon, and then nobody would have to deal with her anymore.

Engie grew more and more distant from his friends as they either moved out, ran away, or, in Rhapsody’s case, died.

He thought of just shutting the garage door and turning on a car a couple times, but he would always return to his memories of the hidden cave of goodies his friends had collected or the many inventions they had helped him build.

It just wasn’t worth it.

On a night when his depression and self-doubt was especially bad, he decided to build a personal invention for the first time in years - a small, robotic chicken made out of bent gears and empty oil cans.

He worked on it for a few weeks, but made the mistake of leaving it on a work table once it was finished.

Engie came to work the next morning with his dad ready to chew him out. But, before any finger could be lifted against his son, he was interrupted by a sweet older couple that was having their tires replaced.

“Now, Ethan, ain’t that just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen in your life?”

“Hm?”

“That there chicken statue over there! It looks like it could very well get up and start peckin’ for worms, don’tcha think?”

Engie looked at the couple, then at his dad, then at his chicken. He slowly lifted it from the table and turned the key.

It started to slowly lean forward, then took a few steps on it’s long, spring-loaded legs. The neck went down, and the chicken’s rusty beak began to scrape at the pavement.

Now he had the husband’s attention.

“Didja build that yourself, son, or did your daddy help ya?”

Engineer looked at his dad for a split second before answering.

“My own sweat ‘n blood, sir. My daddy says I should stop wastin’ time on ugly thing-a-ma-jigs an’ put my hands to somethin’ worth doin’.”

The man smiled. “Well, this ‘ugly thing-a-ma-jig’ shows real skill. We could use somebody like you, once we train you up a bit.”

“Now hold on a damn - !” his father interjected, but was silenced with a cold stare.

“We’ll put ya through a state-of-the-art school, then put ya straight inta the work force. You can build whatever you like…and you’ll have a lot better materials than rusty tin. Whaddaya say, son?”

Engineer just nodded, and the man grabbed his hand and shook it.

“We’ll keep in touch.”

Engineer left that trailer park at age seventeen, leaving his fuming father and drunken mother behind.

He only stopped to visit Rhapsody’s grave before embarking on his new life.

There is still a stone plate with a message carved into it next to the headstone. If you brush off the leaves and dig out the moss, you can see Engie’s parting words:

“A friendship with you and the rest of the gang is the greatest thing I ever built. -Big Dell”

[thebadgerclan]

Discipline

Pairing: Severus Snape x reader

Requested by Anonymous

Summary: You’ve always been light on discipline with your daughter...

Severus entered the sitting area of his rooms to find his daughter, Iris, with a large lollipop in her hand, a smile on her face.  “Where did you get that?” he asked, sitting next to the little girl.  “Mommy gave it to me!” Iris said happily, sucking on the lollipop.  Severus sighed, getting to his feet and searching for you. He found you, sitting at your desk in the bedroom, papers spread out before you.

“Hey love,” you greeted, smiling, but Severus was frowning.  “Y/N, darling, what happened to no sweets before dinner?”  Your smile fell and you set your quill down.  “Oh Sev, she really wanted a lollipop!”  “I’m sure she did, love, but we have rules for her for a reason.”  This wasn’t the first time you’d bent the rules for your daughter, and Severus knew it wouldn’t be the last.

 You tended to give Iris anything she wanted, and when she broke a rule, you were fairly light on a punishment.  You preferred to have her sit in the corner for 10 minutes where Severus might take away a toy for a day, putting your husband in the role of disciplinarian.  It wasn’t intentional; you just hated to deny your daughter anything and hated even more to see her upset,  But Severus knew this couldn’t continue, otherwise, Iris would think she could get away with anything.

You sighed, rubbing your forehead.  “I know that, Sev.  I just hate saying no to her.”  “I understand that, my love, but we can’t keep doing this.”  “By ‘we’, do you mean me?”  Severus laughed, stepping closer to you.  “Yes, but you get my point.”  You stood, walking into his open arms, resting your head on his chest.  “I do.  But won’t she hate me?”  “No, my darling, Iris won’t hate you.  She might be upset for a little while, but she won’t hate you, I promise.”  You nodded, resigning yourself to the fact that you’d have to be a little tougher on your daughter.

***

The very next day, Iris was found scribbling on the wall with her color-changing crayons.  Severus, from his desk in the corner of the sitting room, shot you an encouraging look, mouthing You can do this.  You breathed deeply, pushing all thoughts of going easy on Iris from your mind.  “Iris,” you said firmly, and your daughter whirled around to face you, crayon held behind her face.  Her face was the picture of innocence, but she was flushed red.  You held out your hand, and she timidly handed you the crayon.

“You know better than this, Iris, do we color on the walls?”  She shook her head, tears welling in her eyes.  “No.”  “What do we color on?”  “Paper.”  “That’s right.  So why did you color on the wall?”  You’d never been this hard on Iris, and your heart was shattering; seeing the tears in her eyes and knowing you were the cause.  “I don’t know, Mommy.”  Sparing a glance at Severus, you saw that he was nodding minutely, and he gave you a thumbs up.

“Iris, you’re grounded.  No potion playset for two days.  Go to your room.”  “But Mommy-!”  “Go to your room, Iris.  We’ll talk in 15 minutes, when we come to get you.”  Iris let out a small sob, disappearing down the hall into her room.  Once she was out of sight, you let your shoulders sag and sighed.  “Merlin, I feel terrible,” you said, and Severus got to his feet, opening his arms to you.

“I know, dearest.  Come here.”  He pulled you into his arms, holding you tight against him.  “Does it get easier?”  “It does,” Severus replied, swaying side to side gently.  “It still breaks my heart when I have to yell at her, but it does get easier, after a while.”  You nodded, letting Severus lead you to the couch, sitting down and pulling you into his lap.  “I feel like she hates me now.”  “Shh, none of that, love.  Iris does not hate you, you’re her mother, she will never hate you.  I promise.”

You nodded again, relaxing against your husband’s chest.  “Thank you, Sev, for encouraging me.  I love you.”  “I love you too, Y/N.  It will get easier.”  After a moment, small sniffles were heard, and Iris peered around the corner.  “Mommy, Daddy?  I’m sorry.”  Your heart melted, and you held your arms out to your daughter.  “Come here, baby,” you said, and she climbed into your lap, snuggling against yours and Severus’ chests.

“I’m sorry I was bad, Mommy, I won’t do it again.”  Both you and Severus knew that likely wasn’t true, but you nodded nonetheless.  “Thank you, sweetheart,” Severus said, squeezing her shoulders gently.  “But we still have to punish you.”  She sniffled again.  “Like Mommy said, no potion playset for two days.”  Iris nodded, resigned to her fate.  “We love you very much, Iris, you know that, right?”  “I know, Mommy, I love you too.”  You hugged your daughter tight to you, content with the knowledge that she didn’t hate you.

[starlocked01]

Dyeing to Meet You

AO3

Masterpost- Previous- Next

Summary: When your eyes could be the color of any shade of hair dye, Roman is positively upset his soulmate won't change colors. Especially since his color of choice is black. Content Warning: brief mention of kidnapping

Day 27 Prinxiety, background Intrulogical- Your eye color matches the color of your soulmate's hair, even when they dye it.

Roman kinda really hated his soulmate. Most people had brown or yellow eyes. His grandmother had silvery eyes that sparkled in the light. Remus had been a bit surprised when his rosey auburn irises went bleach blond for 3 months and then disappeared completely for a week. It had been pretty good evidence his soulmate was on the swim team so he'd started flirting with all of them, looking for brown eyes with a silver streak.

For the past four years, Roman’s eyes had been jet black. They never lightened, never sparkled, and he was convinced they were costing him leading roles in the school productions.

Roman decided to get even with his soulmate.

First, he got his hair bleached. After two weeks of rehabilitation, he had his hair dyed a bright bloody looking red. ---- Virgil woke up and found that his eyes had changed from bleached to the coolest shade of red ever. It worked so perfectly with his favorite red and black eyeshadow designs. Anytime someone pissed him off, all he had to do was stare at them and they left him alone quickly.

His soulmate had the best taste in color. ---- After a month, Roman’s hair had faded mostly pink and his eyes were still demonic. Not even slightly less black. Perhaps red had been a bit too natural. Next, he bought a bottle of dye and went full purple. It was a terrible job but it had to get the message across. ---- Virgil loved his soulmate. The purple with streaks of pinkish-yellow was absolutely edgier than the red that had faded so quickly. He wondered why the colors were changing so rapidly after natural brown hair for so long but shrugged it off. Perhaps his soulmate was just exploring his own identity. ---- Remus had managed to find Logan once his hair started growing back in its natural color. He was probably more enthusiastic than Roman was about his soulmate. The jet black eyes were still bothering him. It was time to get drastic. ---- Virgil stared in the mirror. One eye was still purple but the other was green. A wide grin broke across his face and he hoped his soulmate kept this style for a while. It was a shame he hadn't found anyone with such wild hair colors yet. Patton was watching for him too but it wasn't easy to find a soulmate unless they did something crazy.

He really wanted to meet them though. ---- Roman was at his wits' end. Nothing got the message across. Nor could he find anyone with wildly colored eyes and jet black hair. He decided it was time for his most daring attempt yet.

He went and got his hair bleached again. After 2 months of getting it progressively lightened he finally had platinum blond hair and was ready for the ultimate revenge.

Full Rainbow.

Roman adored his new look, as gay as he could make his hair, and he laughed every time he thought of his soulmate with rainbow eyes he couldn't change. ---- Virgil had an aesthetic. His eyes were no longer playing by his rules and looked gay as fuck. He guessed his soulmate was a gay boy who was probably very very flamboyant. Well, he wasn't flamboyant but he could match the energy of his tie-dye rainbow eyes. He started wearing rainbow eyeshadow instead of black, citing his eyes as the reason why.

He smiled, knowing his soulmate couldn't get to him. He kept dying his hair black with bangs long enough to hide behind if he didn't want his splash of colors immediately seen. ---- Remus was amazed he'd managed to drag his no-nonsense boyfriend and utterly preppy brother to a music festival. Although he might have been the only one enjoying himself. Logan was standing stoically still as Remus tried to get him to dance along or mosh or anything.

Roman sipped on his drink and stared at the sea of dyed hair, frightened of what kind of person might be his soulmate when Logan pointed out someone and whispered to Remus. Remus dashed off into the crowd and came back dragging another boy about their age with jet black hair and long bangs, head tilted down, and a scowl on his face.

"Let me go! I don't know you and I will press charges!" the boy shouted as Remus brought him back.

"Oh hush up and let destiny work its magic," Remus scolded, shoving the boy towards Roman, "look Ro, he could be your soulmate."

"Remus, you should have talked with him first. That was kidnapping," Logan glared at Remus.

"Eh, what's a felony conviction when true love is on the line?"

"I don't believe in true love, can I go back to my friend now?" the boy stared down at the ground. Roman found him fascinating, everything about him was as black as his own eyes and his sour personality had Roman intrigued.

"What color are your eyes, stranger?" Roman tried to ask warmly. He could see the movement as the boy's eyes flicked to look at him through his bangs.

"Your head looks like a box of crayons, what are you even doing here?" the boy smirked.

"I'm here with my friends, Count Monochrome," Roman scoffed.

"I'm pretty sure you guaranteed I'm never monochromatic," Virgil looked up, tossing his bangs to the side, eyes and eyeshadow on display.

"Oh my…" Roman stared into dazzling rainbows that perfectly matched his hair. Logan elbowed Remus with a smirk.

Virgil laughed, "look, I really dig the purple, and the green, and the red, basically all of it. Please never go back to brown."

"Well, only if you change to something less terrifying!" Roman found his voice again and laughed at Virgil’s shocked expression.

"Wait, you don't like the black?" Virgil asked nervously fingering his hair.

"Look at my eyes and tell me you would," Roman scoffed.

Virgil stepped closer, staring into Roman’s eyes, "I love them. Your eyes look so cool and edgy and mesmerizing. Yeah of course I would like black eyes."

Roman stared back helplessly, breath caught in his throat because of Virgil’s colorful gaze.

"Oh just kiss already!" Remus interjected, snickering at the two.

"Pass," Virgil raised a hand and shot a look at Remus.

"Why not?" Roman asked quietly.

"Uh, we just met. I don't even know your name. And it's possible someone else out there has rainbow hair and black eyes so like, we can't know for sure, right? Not until one of us changes," Virgil took a step back, not liking that he had to explain his thought process.

"You're right, I'm sorry… would you be willing to test the theory with me?" Roman backed off. He liked this rainbow-eyed emo and couldn't put his finger on why, "I'm Roman, what's your name?" he offered a hand to shake.

Virgil ignored the offered hand, "Virgil, and sure. We can try. What did you have in mind, Roman?"

"Well, you dig the purple, right?" ---- Roman was much better at dyeing other people's hair than his own. Virgil let him bleach out a swath of black and color it with the purple Roman had leftover. They avoided each other’s eyes until the dye was set and Virgil had rinsed and washed it well. He came out of the shower with his black skinny jeans on and a towel wrapped around his shoulders, stained black and purple from years of use. Roman looked up and met his eyes.

Virgil gasped. Instead of pure jet black eyes, Roman now had purple irises rimmed in black, similar to his hair. And he thought they were just as stunning as before.

Roman quickly pulled out his phone to check and gasped as well.

"Sorry, if I had known you didn't like the black, I wouldn't have changed a thing," Virgil grinned as Roman stood and walked toward him.

"Thank you for trusting me, Virgil," Roman smiled and held out his arms for a hug.

"I'm just glad you were right," Virgil blushed but accepted the hug from his soulmate.

It was a lot more fun to decide colors together.

Tag List: @stoicpanther @ifrickenhatedeverythingaboutthis @idontgiveafuckaboutshit @tsshipmonth2020

[caysophia]

Illyana x Reader (f)- "No way in hell"

(f/c)- favorite candy

Y/n

"It is now 7:30, everyone should be awake now and getting ready for the day. At 11:30 everyone should meet in the consulting room, then you are free for the day. It is now 7:30 everyone should be awake now." echoed in the small concrete room.

   I groaned and got up, putting on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. I brushed my hair and waited for Dr.Reyes to open the door. About 5 minutes later all the doors opened and were able to get ready for the day.  I walked down the hallway to go to the canteen, I needed some caffeine at the moment.

"Hey y/n." I heard from behind me and a familiar sweatshirt sleeve was thrown around my shoulder, I looked up "good morning sam." and hugged his waist with one arm, he stared at me weirdly as we walked to the canteen "what's wrong?" he asked "you gave me just a 'good morning sam' not a ' hey bitch' or 'hey fucker' or even a 'hey Kentucky' so what's up, honestly." he pulled me to the side of the hallway and stared and me dead in eyes.

"Nothings wrong, why? Just because I don't say a certain thing doesn't mean I'm not fine." I said and rolled my eyes and Sam squinted his eyes "umm no, you have always for the past year  so, I will ask again. What is wrong." he grabbed my hand and said sternly.

"Do you want to know, is it bothering you that bad?! I know you're like my brother but you don't have to be my father," I said and pulled my hand away and started to walk away, leaving a very sullen sam. And went to the canteen.

   When I got to the door I looked around seeing who was here, Roberto was at a table eating, Danielle and Rahne were at a table talking about who knows what, and Illyana was not here yet. 'Probably in her room still' I thought to myself, so I went over to the counter and grabbed a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee and went to sit down. "Are you gonna tell me now?" I heard from behind me "Dear god sam!" I shouted almost spilling my breakfast, the group turned towards me and Sam "Stop staring" I said to the group and they turned around.

I turned towards Sam " no I'm not, stop it." and walked to a table, the same of course following behind.

I sat down and started eating, Sam doing the same sitting across from me like we have done every day for the past year, yeah I feel bad not telling him about what's bothering me, but to be honest I don't know either. I took a sip of my coffee looking up to see that Illyana finally entered the canteen.

3rd person

Y/n and sam sat at the table in complete silence, Rahne and Danielle have left by now, Roberto had his headphones on and was washing dishes.

The door opened and Illyana Walked in. She scanned the room and her eyes fell on Y/n. 'why hello kitten' she thought to herself as she grabbed a banana and sat down next to her.

"Hey, kitten." Illyana said in her sassy tone, Sam looked up "Why are you here?" he questioned with a harsh tone of voice. Y/n glared at him "hello Illyana." y/n greeted the blonde before taking another sip of her coffee.

"Why the long face," Illyana said, taking a bite of her banana looking at y/n, she sighed and ignored her question. Sam looked at the girls "I'm going to go, bye y/n, Illyana." he glared and stood up and left, not in a good mood. That's basically because my sister won't talk to him.

"What's wrong, doll?" Illyana asked y/n now with a softer, and nicer tone. Y/n sighed " nothing, just a bad night. How are you?" she said looking at the blonde, Illyana smiled "I had a fine night, sad you weren't there though." she said and did a fake frowny face, y/n laughed "yeah I bet." y/n grabbed her hand "I guess we'll just have to fall asleep in the attic more." she laughed, Illyana looked down.

Y/N POV

"I guess we'll just have to fall asleep in the attic more." I laughed, Illyana looked down. I grabbed her chin before making sure Roberto had left to go get ready for the day. "What's wrong, you're never upset." I looked at her and gave her a quick kiss on the lips "you can tell me, please." Illyana looked up "why can't we just tell the others? Like how Rahne and Danielle did? Why do we have to hide us." she said in a sad tone.

I looked at her, her eyes focused on Lockheed, her purple dragon puppet. I thought about my response, I know we could tell the others but it's more of a rules issue. No patients are to be in relationships.

"You know why you're the one who didn't want to tell anyone about us in the first place." I Said a harsh tone, not meaning for it to be that harsh " I know I said I didn't want the others to know! And who cares right now, Danielle and Rahne aren't hiding their relationship for Reyes or the guys! So why do we have to?" she yelled " I'm going, I have to get ready." and with that, she left the room, but not without stopping at the door. Illyana held Lockheed to her ear and turned around "are you coming kitten?" She asked with a small attitude, I smiled and threw away my trash and ran to her "of course doll."  I grabbed her hand and we walked to do the bathroom to get ready for the session the group has every day.

3rd Pov(at the session)

"So, who's gonna go and talk about their powers," Dr.Reyes asked the group in front of her. No one answered, Sam stared at Y/n and Ilyana 'what is going on with them' he asked himself before looking down at his lap and slouching in his chair. Everyone looked at each other and said, "I think Roberto should go!" Illyana said in a sarcastic tone looking at him. He scoffed, "I think Sam and y/n should be talking about why they're so mad at each other." Y/n glared at Roberto and Sam did the same.

"Is there something going on with you two?" Dr. Reyes asked looking at Y/N and Sam "No!" they both yelled at the same time. "Sam, what is going on?" Sam looked at the Dr. "nothing's going on, she just has an attitude. That's it." Dr.Reyes looked at Y/n Looking for an answer" nothing's wrong, just had a bad night." She smiled and looked at Sam. 'I'm going to have to tell him about Illyana.' Y/n thought to herself.

1 hour later

"Okay, everyone. You can leave now, you do whatever today." Dr.Reyes said and everyone stood up and walked out.

Illyana and Y/N walked together down the hall " You were right." y/n stated "we should tell the others. But can we tell Sam first?" Illyana stopped and looked at her "why sam first, why not everyone all together in the attic?" she questioned and then thought to herself "Oh! Yeah of course." Illyana smiled at y/n.

"Okay great, I'll go find him." Y/n kissed Illyana and ran off to find sam. Illyana watched her leave and started walking to the lounge.

SamPOV

I sat on the second clothes washer, talking to Roberto" so you just throw away your shirts or something?" I questioned and laughed. I heard someone running down the hallway towards the room. The person skidded and then opened the door, Y/n.

"Sam, can I talk to you? In private please?" she gasped, out of breath. I jumped off of the washer "yeah sure, come on. See yeah man." and I walked out with y/n.

We walked in silence for a while, till we reached the lounge. I looked around and Illyana was covering something with crayons "this isn't private, Illyana is here why don't we just go to the attic?" I went to go turn out until "Actually, we have to tell you something. Important." Illyana looked up from her paper.

I looked at the girls, 'I know what's going on, I think.' i thought to myself. I threw myself onto the couch. y/n sat on the couch as well, Illyana staying on the ground.

"Can I guess what's happening first?" I looked at y/, she looked at Illyana and they both nodded.

I looked at the girls "ok, you guys either broke something or are dating. So which one." I chuckled out. " this is gonna be easier then I thought," y/n said to herself "we're dating, and have been for about a year. Or well be a year in a month." I nodded "so this is why you had an attitude this morning?"

Y/n's POV

"so this is why you had an attitude this morning?" Sam joked, I nodded at him" yeah, kinda. I was just worried and it has been on my mind to tell you for a while, it's not like I wasn't gonna tell you. I just, I didn't want you to be mad." I looked down, I heard Illyana chuckle "why would he be mad? He's your brother basically, you worry too much dollface." I glared at her while Sam laughed, or well wheezed. Sam stopped and calmed down" it's fine that you too are dating I don't mind. Everyone already knew it was kinda obvious. You two fell asleep in the attic together." My face went red, Illyana smiled knowing she was right the whole time.

sam looked at me "and I just got $20. Thank you." and he pushed my arm, I gasped " With who? How dare you... Can I have (f/c)?" I asked, Illyana silently dying. "If we get out of here, then you can," he said and I hugged him.

"Thank you." and he returned it.

"Can I ask what's up with the nickname 'kitten'?" Illyana sat up fast "no way in hell."

[kaitycole]

chapter 3: what are friends for?

Summary: Two little friends have always desired one thing: to end up as siblings. So when the chance presented itself after a finalized divorce, who were they to decline such an opportunity to finally bring their parents together?

Pairings: Bokuto Kōtarō x f!Reader

Word Count: 3344

Warnings: Angst. Fluff. Mentions of divorce, cheating, cussing

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters portrayed in this series. Part of the @babythotshq​​​ Dearest Daddy Collab

Tags: open (send me an ask to be added!)

April 2025

Bokuto is bouncing around as he waits in the lobby at the airport. For the twentieth time in three minutes, he pulls out his phone to check the time. Of course, he had gotten to the airport earlier than he needed to, but these last two months were the longest in his life. No amount of phone calls, video chats, or text messages could compare to having Seiko there with him. It was like his life felt empty without her, an emptiness that he hadn’t felt since the day he found out he was going to be a dad.

*                      * July 2019

She jumped on Bo’s back, laughter ringing in his ears as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He carried her back to his apartment after spending the afternoon down at Osaka Bay; visiting the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan and ending the day at the Tempozan Ferris Wheel. The day was spent with fingers interlocked, heads resting on other’s shoulders and enough laughter to brighten anyone’s day. Jess made them take pictures at every booth, saying they both needed copies to remember the day; they were stuffed in the back pocket of her jeans.

Moving to Japan was the first big decision Jess had ever made without backing out. Her parents tried to dissuade her from moving so far, telling her that just changing cities would suffice; she knew it wouldn’t. Mark seemed to find his way to wherever she was, but she knew she was safe at her current distance. Plus she had Bo now and she couldn’t imagine not having him in her life.

He tapped the sides of her thighs telling her to jump off his back so he could grab his keys. She hopped off, leaning against the wall by his door. It was still a shock to her that the two of you had become so close in just nine months. It had taken her longer than that to get close to Mark, but then again there were totally different reasons with that.

Jess followed him into his one-bedroom apartment, slipping off her shoes before sitting on the couch. He excused himself to his room to quickly change; he opted to wear jeans while went out but he hates jeans. He threw on some sweatpants and a MSBY t-shirt. He smiled when he saw Jess, slightly curled up on the couch with the blanket she bought him draped across her.

Bo loved how comfortable Jess was at his place and he at hers. She looked like a natural being by his side and maybe if things had been different, if he had somehow gotten closure with you, maybe he could’ve tried with Jess. Given her a fighting chance if anything more than platonic ever arose between them. Bokuto’s own hesitation came from not waiting to even try to compete with Mark and he could almost guarantee that Jess felt the same about you.

The thought left him with a sinking feeling in his stomach, how many great individuals would end up right in front of him for him to turn away because of you? You, the love of his life. The married love of his life. Sometimes it hurt to see those around him in great relationships, having families of their own while he still held on to imaginary hope that you might be his one day.

He talked to Akaashi about it, who asked him if being just your friend was worse than potentially losing you and of course Bo frantically told him he’d stay friends forever if it meant having you in his life. He knew the former setter was sincere, after all he had been around for most of Bo’s one-sided relationship and had even been the one to encourage him to at least try back in high school.

“Wh—no!” Jess let out a sound that mixed together a gasp and a sob. He watched her pull her knees up under her chin and her body start to shake. Bo practically ran over to her, banging his knee against the coffee table in the process.

“Jess! Jess!” He sat next to her wanting to pull her into him, but something about the way she looked told him not to. He watched her chest begin to rise and fall rapidly as she choked out sobs while trying to catch her breath.

Bokuto kneeled down in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders to try to stop her trembling. He felt helpless, what could he do? How could he help? Something was hurting her, someone he cared about more than himself and he was at a loss. What felt like forever passed and Jess finally looked up to him.

“Mar…married!” She let out another sob, turning her phone so Bo could see it; it was a picture of a tall blonde man in a suite with a woman who looked very similar to Jess next to him in a white dress.

He knew the feeling that Jess felt right now; that soul crushing agony. The massive weight being dropped on you, making you feel even more inadequate than you had been. At least you married someone who looked opposite of Bo, Mark practically married Jess’s twin. He remembered feeling empty when he got your wedding invitation; crashing at Akaashi’s because his empty apartment felt like it would swallow him whole if he was there alone.

“I’m so so sorry, Jess.” He climbed up on the couch beside her, pulled her into arms and after a few moments of resisting, she let herself relax in his arms. His thumb rubbed circles on her back and he gently rocked her back and forth. He wasn’t even sure this was helping, but he didn’t know what else to do.

A few minutes passed in silence before she looked up at him, her green eyes lined with tears and her face red and blotchy. Her expression was completely broken, like a porcelain doll that had been dropped and cracked from the impact. Bokuto used to think the day he watched you get married had truly broken his heart, the day that he knew he’d never have a chance to confess his feelings, but in this moment seeing someone as lovely and pure as Jess this way; today was the day his heart actually broke.

“He wasn’t ready for a relationship but he was ready to get married. Heh.” Jess let out a humorless laugh as she wiped the tears off her cheeks.

“You’re too good for him, Jess.” Bo placed his hands on her cheeks, looking into her eyes. “I mean it, that woman couldn’t hold a candle to you in any way.��

Jess felt her cheeks heating up underneath Bo’s touch and she offered him a small smile. Part of her wondered if he had felt this destroyed and fragile when you got engaged, got married and he had to watch. How selfish could people be? Jess wanted to believe that you were ignorant to Bo’s feelings, but she found that hard to believe with how straightforward he could be. Her eyesight was still blurry from her tears and her head was throbbing, but she wasn’t completely unaware of what her next move was.

In a blur, Jess’s lips crashed into Bo’s unsuspected lips. He was stunned at first, it wasn’t like he’d never kissed anyone before but certainly not Jess. When she pulled away, Bo thought his heart had stopped, she was looking at him, biting her bottom lip.

“Jess, you’re upset.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t want…I’d hate for you to do something you’d regret or that would hurt you.”

“Bo.” She looked at him, her eyes pleading with him; begging him for a closeness only he could give her in this moment. Fresh tears filled her eyes, “Please.”

It took three heartbeats for him to react to her words. He grabbed her wrist, pulling her onto his lap, his lips pressing into hers. Her arms wrapped around his neck as his tongue slipped between her lips causing her to deepen the kiss.

The smell of sandalwood washed over her as peonies and vanilla filled Bo’s senses. He pulled away just long enough to place his lips on her jaw before kissing along her jawline, traveling down her neck. She stopped breathing, shuddering against his chest as a knot tightened in her lower stomach. She unwrapped her arms from his neck, intertwining her fingers in his hair and pulling it slightly.

He let out a hiss between his teeth, his breath danced across her shoulder. She trailed a hand down his chest, her fingers slipped under the bottom of his t-shirt. His skin heated up as her fingers ran across his firm abs, he pulled back from her. His eyes met hers and after she nodded, Bokuto swiftly stood up with her legs wrapped around him before carrying her down the hall; he kicked the bedroom door shut with his heel.

*                      * October 2019

Jess found herself having trouble lifting her hand to knock on the door. It’d been a year since she met Bokuto and he had become her best friend; maybe that’s why this was so hard. There’s an uneasy feeling in her stomach, a lump in her throat as she let out another deep breath. She could do this, she was an adult and adults face their problems head on. Suddenly though, Jess doesn’t want to be an adult and part of her wants to go back to being five years old when her biggest problem was which crayon to use.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Before the door opened, Jess chickened out and started walking back towards the staircase. She couldn’t do this, she’d come back and tell him another day.

“Jess?”

She squeezed her eyes shut breathing harshly out of her nose. When she turned around, she saw a confused Bo; her heart sank. How could she do this? She couldn’t and of course the one time she hoped he wouldn’t be home, he was.

She heard him call out for her again before she turned around. She walked slowly over to him then headed into his apartment. He immediately picked up on her demeanor, offering her various snacks and drinks; trying to make her comfortable.

She mumbled something causing Bo to kneel in front of her, asking her to repeat herself. Her green eyes met his golden ones and she knew this was it. That once she said it out loud, once he learned of her secret, everything would permanently change.

“I’m pregnant.” She bit her bottom lip, a wave of nausea hitting her and it wasn’t from the baby.

Bokuto, over time, had become slightly predictable to Jess. He was loud and tended to invade one’s personal space without warning and that’s the Bo Jess knew well. But this Bo, the one who was silent, who had scooted back from her and had a blank expression on his face was new to Jess.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?” The huge smile that appeared on his face threw her for a loop. “This is the greatest news anyone’s ever told me.”

“You aren’t mad?”

“Mad? Why would I be mad?” He jumped to his feet, fingers running through his hair, with the same huge smile plastered on his face. “I’m gonna be a dad!”

Jess felt herself laugh, the anxiety, fear, dread all disappeared and left her wondering why she was even worried to begin with. This was Bo after all and if she could do this with anyone it would be Bo.

“You’re gonna be a dad, Bo.”

“And you, a mom.”

She gasped as Bo scooped her off the couch, spinning her around. He quickly sat her feet to the ground before she saw him drop to one knee. “Jess, marry me.”

“I’m sorry, what?” She grabbed his hands. “Stand up.”

“I mean it Jess.  Marry me.” He shook his head, “I know this isn’t proper, but I love you and want to do what’s right for you and the baby.”

She smiled at her favorite person, squatting down to be eye level with him. “Bo, I love you and love that you’d offer, but we don’t love each other in that way.”

“But we could try.” A pout covered his face, hair slightly deflated.

She shook her head, “You know it doesn’t work that way. I don’t love you in the way I love Mark and you don’t love me like you love Y/N. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

He pulled her into his chest, “I just don’t want to mess anything up, I don’t want to lose you either.”

“Lose me? Sir you are stuck with me forever now.” She felt him laugh against her shoulder. “We’ll figure things out as we go, I promise.”

“I’m gonna be a dad.” Tears fell down his face, a new type of happiness washed over him. “I have to call Akaashi.”

*                      * April 2025

The loud sound of the airport intercom brings Bokuto back to the present, looking up and his eyes land on Jess. He smiles when his eyes land on the little brunette who is proudly pulling her suitcase behind her. Bo squats down when the pair of them get closer to him, his face twists into confusion when Seiko stops walking.

She passes her suitcase handle to Jess before throwing her arms opening, “HEY! HEY! HEY!”

Bo’s face lights up as she rushes into his arms; he wraps his arms around her, picking her up, and spinning her around. He kisses her forehead, squeezing her tightly until she burst into a fit of giggles, trying to make up for the last two months. Jess smiles at the display, watching the two of them together was Jess’s favorite sight.

“Was that your idea?” Bo says to Jess, readjusting Seiko to rest on his left hip as his right-hand grabs Jess’ suitcase.

Jess just smirks as they walk out of the airport. Seiko’s arms wrapped tightly around his neck, unwilling to let go of her dad. Seiko loves her mom, she enjoyed spending time with her and her grandparents in California, but Seiko is a daddy’s girl.

** Seiko has all of her gifts on the coffee table, Bo looks at Jess who just holds her hands up in defense. Seiko is extremely hard to say no to, at least for Jess, Bo on the other hand claims to have invented the pouty look so he’s immune to Seiko’s antics.

“These are for Haruki! I got him a book about California, this tie-dye shirt and these gross jelly beans!”

“Gross jelly beans?” Bo looks directly at Jess who is laughing.

“They are odd flavored; booger, dog food, and others.”

“Anyways!” Seiko shouts, “I got Uncle ‘Kaashi this fancy pen and Misaki a matching tie-dye shirt to mine!”

“I’m sure they will love them!” Bo says excitedly, he leans back in his chair, welcoming the noise that fills his apartment; he’s missed it.

Seiko grabs a wrapped box she’s been hiding, handing it to Bo. “This is for you Daddy.”

Bo eagerly takes the box and unwraps it, Seiko is bouncing up and down as he starts to open it.

“Do you like your shirt, Daddy?” She beams at him, her eyes wide like a kid on Christmas morning.

Bo raises an eyebrow and Seiko immediately slaps her hand over her mouth. He smiles at her before removing the tissue paper and pulling out the shirt Seiko just told him about. He holds up a light blue shirt that has an owl with the words ‘papa owl’ underneath it.

“I love it!” He watches Seiko hold up her finger before running to her room.

“She’s really excited about this.” Jess says to him, sipping her tea.

Seiko comes rushing back into the living room, having changed her shirt to a matching one to Bo’s with the words ‘baby Owl’ on hers. “They match Daddy!”

“They sure do!”

“And this is yours too!” She hands him a small gift bag, but this time she acts shy about it. Bo pulls her into his lap and opens it. It’s a keychain with a picture of her on it, she holds up one of that has a picture of Jess on one side and him on the other. “For when you have a game away from home. So you don’t forget me.”

He wraps her into a hug, “I couldn’t forget about you even if I tried.”

*                      * October 2025

“Coming! Coming!” Bo shouts at the frantic knocking on his door, he looks at the clock on the wall: 10:15PM.

“I know it’s late. I should’ve called.” You start talking a mile a minute as soon as the door opens, your son leaning against your leg half asleep. “Can you watch Ruki?”

He blinks a few times, trying to wake up himself. “Yeah, sure, come in.”

You and Haruki enter into his apartment; Seiko comes around the corner, the noise having woke her up; tightly clinging to her favorite blanket. Seiko drags her feet towards Haruki, she takes his hand and they both walk over the couch. He rests his head on the arm of the couch as Seiko drapes her blanket over him.

“What’s going on?” Bo asks, still looking at you in confusion, reaching out to put a comforting hand on your arm.

You look around before stepping closer to Bo, leaning in to whisper in his ear. “Youta came home late, drunk, and yelling. I’d just rather Haruki not be around for that.”

Bo’s jaw clenches, in all honesty he’s never thought Youta was good enough for you. Not because he has feelings for you, but if you had to be with someone else he’d at least want it to be someone who deserved you.

“Of course, he can stay here. Maybe you should stay too.” He shrugs, “at least until tomorrow.”

You shake your head, biting your bottom lip. “I think it’s best if I handle this now. I’ll let you know when I’m on my way back.”

“He can stay the night. I’m sure Seiko would love it.”

The two of you glance over at the couch, Seiko and Haruki huddled together, barely covered by Seiko’s baby blanket. It had been a gift from Akaashi, a simple blanket with owls on it and even as she gets older, the blanket follows her; Bo has to take it and wash it while she sleeps.

You look at him, nervously looking at the clock. “Are you sure? I’ll come back first thing in the morning so he doesn’t mess up any plans.”

He puts a hand on your shoulder. “Take your time. He’s fine here. I promise.”

“Thank you.” You wrap your arms around him, giving him a hug before placing a quick kiss on his cheek. Smiling up at him, you feel thankful for him, for everything that he’s been doing for you since the locker mix up; he truly is your best friend.

“No worries. That’s what family does, right?”

You nod at him as you quickly rush over, placing a kiss on Haruki’s forehead before leaving. Bo lets out a deep breath, running his fingers through his hair before heading down the hall. He grabs the extra futon from the hall closet, setting it up in Seiko’s room. Going back to the living room, he scoops up Seiko first, tucking her into her bed, but when he heads back into the living room, Haruki is sitting up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.’

“Uncle Bo?”

“Yeah buddy?” He stretches his arms out for Haruki to climb into them so he could carry him. He rests his head on Bo’s shoulder, his voice lagging from the sleep setting back in.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything, what’s up?” Haruki climbs onto the futon, Bo pulling the blanket up.

“What’s a divorce?”

Previous/ Masterlist /Next

[oh-for-fic-sake]

Tadpoles And Eggs

Masterlist

Henry returns to work with no confirmed pregnancy but is that really the case? Warnings: Swearing, Fluff

A/n: so here is another Fluff piece yay!! part three of house to home, I hope you like these I'm a little unsure who to tag so im just trying to tag everyone who asked to be tagged in my superman/ henry fics excluding Trophy if you want to be tagged or un-tagged just let me know as always i hope you enjoy xx

Taglist : @two-unbeatable-beaters​​ @thatgirly81​​ @angelofthorr @iloveyouyen​​​ @magdelen69​ @jessevans​​

Tadpoles And Eggs

You walked behind Henry to the kitchen. He was leaving in a week so was just relaxing around the house. You sighed moving to hug him from behind, you hadn’t been successful. You wasn't pregnant and it wasn't for lack of trying. You pressed your forehead to his back, you'd had four months and nothing! You were deflated already thinking there was something wrong with you, mind wandering 'maybe one was enough?'. You felt Henry sigh and twist round wrapping you up in his arms.

"I know love...I know look we can try again you are coming out to visit on set to, its not the end of the world... Maybe we are just trying to hard? To fixed on it you know how these things are?" You sniffed you couldn't describe how you were feeling, not really if you had to put it in words you felt...like a failure? You let Henry down, you both wanted another baby but Henry more so, he had a large family and knows the joy of having a house full of siblings and wants so desperately to give that to Paige, Paige is also getting impatient and wants her baby brother now. She didn't mean to but it upset you when everyday without fail she asked when her brother was getting here.

He moved he knew what was going on it was getting you down, making you ill and the stress of it all was making you irregular which made it much harder to figure out when your ovulating.

"I know ..I just, it was so easy with Paige...You know? We didn't even have to try...I just want to have another, it must be a woman thing...My clock or something but seeing Paige grow up I realized that... In September I’m going to be alone in the house day in day out I wont have someone to look after throughout the day and I’m going to miss that and I...it just got to me is all." He moved back kissing you deeply, you hadn't told him that before...He knew that you held back a little when he was gearing up for a long filming session, you didn't want to overload him with baggage.

"Look I will be home by then...If we still haven't then we can get another pet.. You wanted a bird? We can get one someone to keep you company and don't forget Kal will be here...I don't take him to shoots anymore so he can guard you two" you moved back from him taking a breath.

"We can't get a bird...I cant bring it with me when I visit not like I can kal" he sighed oh yeah.He remembered now that was why you hadn't already got one. He nodded solemnly then placed his hands on your tummy rubbing it slowly.

"It will happen, they are just going to make us wait" you hummed nodding and kissed him again.

Later that morning you both sat at the table, Henry was reading through the script at one end, coffee in hand and Paige was furiously scribbling 'notes' on her page. You blinked she looked very...Irritated she hadn't even touched her bacon sandwich with was unlike her she loved her bacon..Bacon was life and she had a t-shirt that said so. You waved at Henry getting his attention he looked up and looked to Paige and frowned. You moved over to the table and set your cup down.

"Paige love what are you doing?"

"A letter of compaint" you blinked and shared a look with Henry. Okay?.

"Complaint? To who poppet?" She growled and looked up angrily to her father blues eyes blazing

"To amazon! They haven't delivered mummy's baby seed! So I haven't got my brother yet and they best pull they finger out!" You laughed as she quoted you, your laugh got a fierce glare from the little girl. But Henry stopped whatever she was going to say.

"Baby seed?" You sighed rolling her eyes

"Yes daddy! Baby seed for mummy to eat and grow a baby in her tummy! Then she can poop it out and I get my baby brother!" Henry tired oh bless him he tried not to laugh but the child's explanation was to cute. She frowned and slapped the table in a huff.

"DON’T LAUGH S'NOT FUNNY!" You moved sitting across from her.

"Honey...That’s not how babies are made" she tilted her head confused.

"But things grow from seeds mummy...like the fruits and veggies in the garden...they were all seeds" you smiled finally understanding how the idea of a 'baby seed' came about. You shook your head at her.

"No sweety babies don't come from seeds delivered by amazon"she looked stumped and tilted her head looking to Henry then you.

"Huh? Then where do babies come from?" Paige broke off into a gasp looking to her daddy shook his head jumping up from the table swearing loudly as he knocked over his coffee. He moved the script just in time clutching the papers tightly then in a panic he swerved to the side and tripped as his foot caught on the leg of the table, you both winced as he landed heavy on the floor grunting, he moaned quickly as Paige watched squealing at the show her daddy was putting on for her. He quickly went to scrabble up and away to escape the kitchen. You growled at him racing around the table to stand before him pointing to his chair.

"SIT YOUR ASS DOWN!" Paige laughed as he daddy tried to reason with you but was shut up with a look. He grumbled sitting back down reluctantly and you moved to the sink throwing down a cloth in front of him to clean up the coffee.

"We agreed Henry, you do the baby talk and I take care of the birds and the bees and lady bits!" He groaned holding a hand out to your daughter who sat still kicking her legs waiting for her answer.

"Cant we leave it? Look she is happy and and she doesn't need to know know..Its embarrassing" he sputtered going red himself you raised an eyebrow at him

"Really...This embarrasses you ...after all the the shit you’ve been grunting out at me when we-"

"OH MY GOD BABE?! sshhh little ears" he hissed waving his arms around going even brighter, you smirked and you crossed your arms after a few moments of staring you caved unable to resist his puppy eyes.

"Oh for fuck sake- fine just back me up...You owe me,fucking superman my arse your a fucking wussy" you sighed shaking your head as he grinned like an idiot nodding. You turned to Paige and gulped, okay you can do this...Just tell her what your parents told you easy. Isn't it?. You cleared your throat.

"Well you are right that babies do come from mummies tummy’s, but we don't err eat a seed." Henry snorted loudly blushing.

"Well.. Sometimes" you glared at him snarling ferociously making him jolt back in he seat eyeing you carefully.

"You really wanna go there Henry?" He shook his head looking genuinely frightened

"Then...How does it get in your belly mummy?" You looked back to her your face softening.

"Well, when a mummy and daddy really really want a baby they have a really special cuddle-”

"Is it sex?" You and Henry both choked and stuttered mind going blank and you got flustered.

"What whe-where did you hear that word honey bun?" She shrugged blinking up at you then leaned forward resting her face on her hand twiddling her crayon.

"Rose.... She told me mummy's and daddy's have sex to feel good....And sometimes it makes a baby...And it has something to do with a daddies willy" You and Henry shared a look your minds blown you were frozen unsure how to proceed. Henry was the first to recover.

"Is that right? What else does  Rose say?"

"She said its loud and sounds like her mummy is being smacked on her bottom like her daddy does when shes been naughty...And that mummy's poop out babies" you both chuckled knowing full well what Rose had been hearing .

"Rose tells you a lot of things huh poppet?" Henry deadpanned unsure if he wants your little precious nugget to play with this Rose anymore.

"Yes..right well err Rose is right I suppose.." you looked to Henry for more help but he just held up his hands shaking his head.Fuck no.

"Soo anyway yes a daddy is needed to make a baby... For the special cuddle to work....And the special cuddle is called sex..."

"But what does he do?" You blushed wishing in that moment that you'd just let her think amazon gave you a fucking seed! Henry must have noticed your  regret as he leaned back chuckling smugly.

"Yeah babe whats my part in all this?~" you kicked him swiftly under the table and steeled yourself Paige nodded looking at you pointing to Henry

"See daddy don't know what to do! What does daddy have to do with it?" You smiled as Henry snapped his head to his daughter.

"Your right baby, daddy doesn't know what to do" you ignored the glare Henry sent your way sipping your coffee.

"Right..Daddy has...He has...Tadpoles? that he puts inside of mummy and they swim up in to my tummy, where mummy has teeny tiny....Eggs and once they get to mummy's eggs the egg turns into a baby and after that tiny baby starts to grow in mummy's tummy and nine months later she goes to the hospital and the doctor takes the baby out...And that's how babies are made" she frowned at you both.

"But how does the baby come out?" You cursed having such an inquisitive child!

"They take it out of the mumm’y belly.." her eyes widened and she placed her hands on her belly.

"Soo daddy puts his tadpoles in mummy to hatch an egg?" You and Henry nodded to her as she reviewed getting the basic concept which was good enough.

"And then...A baby grows and you got to hospital to have it taken out...I KNEW YOU DIDN'T POOP ONE OUT! NO WAY A BABY COULD FIT! ROSE IS A LIAR!!" She got down from the table making her way to the kitchen door and stopped turning back and ran to the table collecting her bacon sandwich

"’I’m going in then garden to play with Kal" she smirked turning to look at you both.

"You stay here and have sex....Make me a baby brother" you both gaped as she strutted out of the kitchen calling Kal.

You and Henry stared in stunned silence. Hearing her shouting calling kal as she made it further and further away.

"Did she just?"

"Yep...she did" you both too, a moment sitting at the table awkwardly

"Should we?" You snapped your head to him your look was the answer he needed and he quickly chuckled backtracking.

"No no sorry my bad stupid!" You sighed shaking your head he chuckled after a few moments at you snorting, you raised a brow at him.

"What?”

"Tadpoles? Really babe?" You hissed at him as he laughed out loud slapping his leg.

"Fuck off you wasn't exactly a great help! Swallowing seed?" He moved around to the top cupboard laughing at his own childishness stretching up pulling out your amaretto and two glasses

"That’s bad? my daughter just said I don't know how to fuck my own wife... and you agreed! You'll pay for that later" you scoffed

"That was pretty funny...Should go in the memory book" half filling them he arched looking out the window to see where kal was as Paige was still looking for him giving up he turned to you frowning placed one in front of you.

"Thanks...I think that went well...didn't it?" You said as you both sipped your drinks slowly not caring that it was only ten am after that shit show you both needed something. He nodded slowly and pointed to you with his glass in his hand.

"We didn't lie" you nodded to him agreeing

"Yep exactly we didn't lie... So how long before she realizes we had sex to make her?" you both laughed at that but soon stopped as you heard a very clear, very loud shout in the back garden.

"KAL THERE YOU ARE!  GUESS WHAT? MUMMY AND DADDY ARE HAVING SEX IN THE KITCHEN! WE WILL HAVE A BABY SOON!" you dropped your head to the table with a thump groaning as Henry cracked up full belly laughing.

It was eight weeks after Henry left to film batman vs superman when you took the test. You stood at the sink washing your pee covered hands you’d been so nervous you were shaking. You really wasn't sure, honestly you were hoping you was pregnant and there was nothing else more sinister going on.The thing was you had been having periods, but they were shorter and just not right, they wasn't as heavy or frequent and it really wasn't like you the odd one or two being out of wack you could take but this is just coming up for four and four on the trott being fucked up? something was up you knew your body.

You scrubbed at your hands looking at yourself in the mirror. Were your breasts different? firmer? Maybe you couldn't really tell you haven't been paying attention...If Henry were here one squeeze and he could tell right away...Fuck that sounds bad. You kept looking and rubbing the soap into your hands just trying to distract yourself. You didn't want to sneak a peak at the tests on the counter or get your hopes up,you'd done two just to be safe and had three more in the drawer.

You may have gone overboard but this was a big deal and you wanted to be certain. Once rinsing off and drying your hands you lowered the lid of the toilet and sat down letting the pregnancy test have its time. Finally looking at your phone you took a deep breath. It was time. Slowly you inched your hand to the small expensive sticks. You closed your eyes looking down and... Pregnant 3+ weeks.

You gasped stepping back sitting down on the toilet. Pregnant. You'd done it...Henry had gone eight weeks ago...so you were atleast eight weeks...nearly a whole trimester! and you hadn't even known! You moved over crouching and cried tears of joy.

Your soft cries brought Kal and Paige to the bathroom. Kal nudged your hands away placing his head on your tummy, something you now understood..It also explained  why he had been off when you walked him, your sweet loveable boy had growled at a man who accidentally bumped into you the other day, overall the Akita was more alert and stuck closer to you, you could kick yourself! You'd ignored so many signs. You couldn't stand the smell of certain foods anymore you had back ache and was always getting bouts of nausea.

Paige padded across the room to you placing her small hands on your head lifting herself to he tip toes and kissing your head.

"Its okay mummy don't cry...I miss daddy to" you sobbed louder pulling her closer,  she wrapped her tiny arms around you instantly making you calmer she rubbed your back kissing you sweetly trying to cheer you up.

"Oh baby these aren't sad tears... They are happy tears...Mummy has just...I mean we...You remember the talk we had before daddy left or work? About where babies come from?" She nodded still uncertain looking worried, you didn't blame her she very rarely sees you cry.

"Well look...Mummy just did these tests to see if there’s a baby in her tummy...And there is." She looked to the small stick

"Pree prr Parnt paranat pranet" you chuckled wiping your eyes.

"Pregnant...That’s what having a baby in my tummy means.. It means I’m pregnant" she moved inspecting the sticks then patted your leg laughing bouncing on the spot.

"SO DADDY AND YOU DID HAVE SEX IN THE KITCHEN? AND HIS TADPOLES HATCHED YOUR EGG? HE PUT A  BABY IN YOUR BELLY? REALLY? WHEN CAN IT COME OUT MUMMY I WANNA SEE IT??" You chuckled at her settling her down.

"Yes baby he did...And I'm not sure when the baby will be here but I will phone the doctor and you can come with me to take pictures of them how does that sound?" She squealed practically vibrating on the spot then stopped picking up one of the tests trying to figure out how it worked. You picked up your phone flipping it on to the camera taking a wide angle photo.

"Hold that up for a photo ready Say baby!" Paige quickly looked up holding the test in view the photo was cute Paige beside you grinning from ear to ear and Kal sat between our legs leaning gently on your tummy looking up into the lens to panting away happily.

"Right just do one thing for me baby" she nodded to you.

"Anything mummy"

"Well you know we are going to go see daddy soon? I want to keep this a a surprise  for him. So we cant tell anyone...not even Micah or Miss Bou you have to pinky promise" she nodded quickly linking fingers with you smiling. Then she began prodding the test.

"Oh no baby don't touch that bit, no quick that has pee on it!"

"EWW MUMMY YOU PEED ON IT?!" You laughed as she dropped the test like it had burned her and tried clambering up the counter to the sink. You sighed helping her up and washing her hands as she began to heave.

You moved quickly diving off the sofa to the small downstairs wash room crouching over the toilet heaving. Yes you remembered this. The morning sickness that isn't actually just in the morning. You sighed moving grabbing some toilet roll and wiping your mouth throwing it in the bowl and flushing it away.

You turned feeling eyes on you, Paige stood their with her juice bottle Kal sitting beside her wagging his tail.

"You okay mummy?" You smiled at her sitting up right nodding.

"Yes honey, the baby didn't like mummy's lunch is all" she blinked at you slowly and offered her juice to you. You smiled at her and shook your head.

"No thank you honey bun..quickly we have to leave you got our shoes on? Good girl"It had been another two weeks and you were finally getting our first scan today, Paige had be amazing, helping you around the house and remarkably she hadn't said a word...Even when you all had video chats with Henry.

But today was the day you had a slight suspicion you were around twelve weeks not ten as you had a little bump that had just started to show. Paige had pointed it out asking if there was where the baby lived and now she wont stop rubbing it and talking to it.She now spends the evenings laying near you with her head on your tummy watching tv, she said she likes listening to the baby but your unsure he can actually hear anything but it keeps her happy.

You got up taking her hand swinging it back and forth. You grabbed your bag and  made your way out to the car buckling her in it she was thrilled. It was only a short drive to the hospital and before you knew it you were in the room laying back on the bed.

You'd explained that the father was away filming so had asked for a chaperone to come in and film the scan of you and your daughter on your phone wanting to document it for him. Luckily the sonographer was an understanding woman and agreed calling a nurse to stand in the corner and film the whole thing.

"Whats that stuff mummy?" You smiled at her

"Its jelly she puts it on my tummy so we can see the baby" the woman held out the bottle to Paige to look.

"Here hold out your hand...it wont hurt you promise.....see its cold huh?" You both chuckled as she hissed at the cool gel placed on her palm and quickly wiped it off on your top.

"Paige you little monkey" you laughed and held an arm around her holding her steady as she stood on the chair beside you so she could see. The woman got the wand and moved across your stomach and pressed a button suddenly the small pumping sound of the baby's heart engulfed the room. You watched Paige’s face as she frowned looking around for the sound.

"Mummy?" You smiled smoothing her hair back.

"That’s just their heart beat...See its fast because its so small" she giggled shaking her head.

"No mummy its excited for us to see it!" The women in the room awwed at the little girls statement. 

"How far did you say you were?" You frowned looking to the screen seeing what looked like a close up of the fetus.you held your breath was something wrong, was it okay?

"Ten maybe twelve weeks... Why is there something wrong?" She hummed and pressed a button zooming out.

"No....Nothings wrong you said you and your husband were trying for a while right" you nodded rubbing Paige's arm trying to sooth yourself and her as there was a tension in the room.

"Your not twelve weeks....Or fourteen...I can tell you right now Mrs Cavill you are sixteen weeks along...Do you want to know the gender? Its right there." You gasped looking at her.

"Sixteen...Are you sure? He only left ten weeks ago....symptoms didn't start- we couldn't figure out when I was ovulating but we were still...oh." She nodded  knowingly .

"You couldn't figure it out because you was already pregnant...Some women have periods or spotting until there later months...Its completely normal I see it all the time" you nodded leaning back. Sixteen weeks. You’d been pregnant  for over three months! How could you not know!?

You were pulled out of your thoughts to Paige tapping your arm

"Mummy look a bean!" You looked the woman had moved again rolling the wand over the baby again this time slower double checking.

“Its not a bean that’s the baby look...see the arms and legs and there its head”

You could see clear as day the little heart arms and legs.Paige was quiet in awe of the screen, you'd told her she would just see a blob.

"Mummy its not just a blob like you said why?" You all chuckled at her.

"The baby has been in mummy's tummy longer than mummy thought" she smiled and bounced a little.

"So they were playing hide and seek?! Wow he's really smart" you grinned at her the sonographer spoke up again after doing a thorough check.

"Nope definitely sixteen weeks, we can't see the gender until at least sixteen weeks and I can definitely tell what it is" you looked to her smiling but deep down you were still in shock.

"I...Id like to know, Paige what do you think shall we find out if its a boy or a girl today?" She snapped her head to the sonographer gaping at her.

"We can do that??" The woman nodded

"Yes mummy I want to know!" You smiled and nodded to the woman.

"A boy, your having a son due in... Give me a second to work this out...Your baby boy should be here around... The third of November give or take a day or so" you smiled but was brought out of your daze by Paige's sniffles.

"Hey baby whats wrong? I thought you wanted a baby brother?" She hiccuped and threw herself across your chest.

"I-I do mu-mummy I-I’m just so h-happy!..I want him now mummy!" You hugged her tightly as she poked her head to the side as the woman began moving over the baby showing you and Paige their arms and legs and head again answering all of Paige’s questions. You smiled as your daughter stared in awe at the screen. She refused to let you hold the printed photos just staring at them the whole way home as if in a trance, she was completely and utterly enthralled with them.

Once at home you placed one in the baby book you and Paige had started and the other in an old photo frame and placed it beside Paige’s bed, she kissed it every morning and every night just like she did to your bump.

You sighed trying to move as fast as you could huffing and puffing trying to keep your shit together. You hated traveling well no you hated jet lag but you did what you had to do. You pushed past everyone thanking the gods that Kal was a good boy and walked on the lead nicely. Paige kept up with you pulling her own little suitcase behind her. You were onset going straight to Henry's as it was closer than the hotel trailer to drop off your things then going to see him shoot a little...Tho you were excited today was the day you told him...Showed him.

Some may have thought it was mean to keep it from him but you knew Henry...You knew he would come home for the pregnancy and put filming on hold which you wasn't going to let him do. So instead you and Paige had recorded everything doing the photos per week from sixteen.. Better late then never, you filmed all the scans and mile stones, filmed and photographed the nursery and everything Paige had done for the baby you'd documented everything for Henry to see so he wouldn't miss a thing!. It may have been to ,much for four weeks but in a way you were making up for lost time.

You sighed when you finally dropped the bags in his trailer. You and Paige were actually staying in a nearby hotel Henry was going to join you for a few weeks as he would be able to pop over to set when he was needed it wasn't that far.

"Mummy can I change into my top now?" She whined she was hot and irritable and just wanted her daddy.

"Please wait a moment Paige mummy only has two hands.... and she needs to pee..." you stopped noticing you’d snapped at the poor girl she looked at you upset

"I'm sorry baby mummy is just tired and her back hurts...Here you get it out while mummy uses the bathroom and put on your shorts you’ll be to hot in jeans" you said nodding to her case leaving her to et out her new shorts and 'super girl' t-shirt. You quickly used the bathroom and changed into your matching 'super mom' top and cropped maternity leggings then grabbed your hand bag and the huge card you’d had printed for Henry from Paige.

You and Paige found yourselves dragged across the set by Kal who had picked up his dads scent like the loyal pup he was and was marching you straight to him. You stood on the sidelines sneakily holding Paige’s cardigan over your bump hiding it.. At eighteen weeks your bump had started to grow faster as your son was gaining a little weight. You walked up to Zack the director who you’d met a on your visit to set when filming man of steel, he hugged you then pulled back as kal jumped up at him not aggressive but he just used his frame to push the other male away plopping right between you both. But Zack had felt why, he gave you a look then to Henry you knew what he w as asking you shook your head.

"No he doesn't its why I wanted to come earlier, wanted to tell...Show him and don't worry filming here stops when Im at 30 weeks so he wont be putting anything on hold" he smiled knowing Henry was going to be over the moon.

"Congratulations, he has been mentioning off offhandedly that you were trying again..." he turned to Paige.

"And you must be Miss Paige? My look at how big you’ve got?!" She stayed close to you looking at him confused

"We met before?" He chuckled

"Well no not really last time I saw your mummy you was in her belly." She scrunched up her nose then looked to you who nodded.

"Really? That was forever ago!" She said ,making you both laugh you smothered out her fringe, it had just had a trim and was already in her eyes again curling this way and that. She whined pushing your hand away fussing wanting to run to her daddy watching impatiently tapping her foot as they pulled him down from the apparatus that they used to film his flying scenes.

You flushed hormones going into overdrive as your man jumped down in his sexy tight supersuit. His ass was spot on! Definitely showed of the tight little peach you knew and loved. He looked up as Ben and Amy pointed you out to him. He yelled and waved over to you.You moved handing Paige the card and smoothed out her hair.

"Remember If daddy cries?"

"They're happy tears" you nodded enthusiastically released her and Kal who both ran to there dad full speed. You closed your eyes taking a deep breath. This was it."You okay there?" You smiled to Zack

"Nervous..I hope he isn't angry" he smiled patting your shoulder

"He wont be, go on go we are finished with him for the day" He said and pushed you forward a bit giving you the nudge you needed to move over to Henry.

Paige ran hands out to Henry who picked her up spinning her around giving her kisses Kal jumped up getting a stroke licking away at his hand and arm.

"Oh look at you baby! So big! You’ll be taller then mummy soon!" He chuckled throwing her in the air and settled her on his hip.

"Look daddy! Look we match!" He smiled kissing the top of her head.

"Yes I can see that! But I thought you liked batman now?"  He said twisting so Ben and Amy could see her they waved at her making her blush

"Yes I was looking forward to meeting a little batgirl?" She blushed harder going shy tucking her face in his neck as Ben spoke to her.

"Sorry Mr batman Mummy made me! So we could all match!" He laughed waving her off.

"Its fine kid I forgive you." Henry smiled at Ben he had told him all about how Paige was a batman fangirl and to be prepared. Amy was next to speak up.

"Oh sweety look at you! So cute!" She tilted her head at the woman

"Did you see me in my mummy’s tummy to?" She smiled nodding

"Yes I did! You know your daddy showed everyone the picture of you from inside your mummy’s belly! And this time he has been showing off your pictures from his phone when you were planting all your veggies!" She looked to Henry sighing

"Daadddyyy! Not pictures! Nooo!" He scoffed at her throwing her up and holding her above him with one hand making her scream.

"Yes pictures have to show off my cute little lady now don't I? everyone has said that you are the cutest nugget they've ever seen!" She whined covering her face with the massive envelope as Ben and Amy agreed Henry looked over at you confused as you made your way slowly over to them.

Paige moved making grabby hands to 'batman' who took her quickly.

"OH wait..Here daddy this is- I did it for you!" She leaned over passing Henry the card, he frowned and opened it slowly it was just a plain card from moon pig with Paige’s drawings printed on it.

Then he smiled looking up to you as you stopped next to him as he opened it causing the small gift to fall out, Amy and Ben looked and quickly snapped their gazes to you now noticing that your stomach was covertly covered. The reason why you had gotten such a huge card was to hid a gift inside. A tiny superman babygrow you’d had made saying super boy coming November 3rd.

He frowned looking down picking up the tiny garment and read it, you saw him freeze then snap his head to the inside of the card doing a double take there was a blown up ultrasound photo inside you watched him as he quickly flicked his eyes to the other side reading the message.

To daddy

You did it! After you left mummy got sick so went to the doctors and she has my baby brother in her belly...He was here when you went away but was playing hide and seek so we didn't know he was there. He is eighteen weeks old and the size of a artichoke! That’s really big! And he will be here for Christmas! See!

Lots of love Paige and Kal!’

He looked up at you holding the tiny babygrow shaking his head trying to catch up. You could see him trembling with excitement and disbelief reading and rereading the message, you were pregnant?  And it was a boy, he was having a son.

"What? We-were not? Are we? But how?" Paige nodded wriggling from Ben who almost dropped her, she ran to her daddy pulling his arm to see the card.

"Yes daddy you putted my baby brother in her tummy! Good job! He's getting big now see!...Mummy show him your tummy!" By Paige’s outburst you felt all eyes on you as you moved your carefully placed bag and Paige's cardigan to reveal the bump.

"Surprise?" He dropped the card running both hands threw his hair laughing speechless his shoulders trembling.

"You?! And oh my god really?" You blinked at him motioning to your stomach

"What?!...No babe I wearing a fat suit! Of course I’m pregnant! Fucking Idiot!" He launched him self at you hands smoothing your tummy.

"Really really? A boy? We're having a boy when? How? I thought that we? " he swallowed dryly as tears streamed down his face and he just kept circling his hands across your bump almost as if it would disappear. You nodded.

"Its why we couldn't time things...I was already pregnant, he is healthy and kicking he's due the third of November, and don't worry we have videos and photos of everything...And Paige has been making a baby book and telling him all about you...I'm sorry I didn't say anything, I didn't find out until I was fourteen weeks.. It took two weeks to get the first scan and Paige and I were told the gender then he was sixteen weeks! That was two weeks ago its why I wanted to rush out here and see you, but preschool wouldn't give Paige the time off and I had to have a doctors note and- and I'm so sorry I didn't tell you please don't be mad?." You finished breaking down crying he was quick to wrap himself around you.

"Hey whats wrong? Shh shh come here hey its okay I'm not mad" you sniffled as he tucked his face down to yours moving one hand from your stomach to wipe your tears away kissing your cheek.

"Y-you not?" He shook his head pressing his forehead against you.

"No of course not, you didn't know and when you found out you got here as soon as you could...You wanted to tell me in person and surprise me how can I be mad at that sweetheart?" He moved forward hugging you tightly kissing neck Paige moved between you pushing at him.

"No not to tight you'll hurt him! Daddy no!" He chuckled picking her up as she beat at his side and smooshed all three of you together. He rocked you from side to side and pulled back.

"I love you... My special girls" he moved his hand down to the swell of your bulge.

"And my little man" he lowered down pressing a kiss to where the baby laid you twitched as you felt them shift you sniffled again wiping the stray tears from your face.

"H-he knows your there he just moved" he smiled resting his head on your tummy Paige joined in pressing an ear to it and you smiled down at them. Nothing could describe the feeling of that moment even Kal ran up and leaned on your leg guarding his family. You all froze when you heard a smartphone camera go off you blinked at Amy who'd nabbed Henry's phone capturing he moment and waved it in the air.

[mydearestreaderfanfics]

Rather Be (Keith x Reader)

Warnings: swearing, alcohol, pining, light angst (with a happy ending)

Word Count: 4,858

Prompt/Request: wb an imagine with my boy keef and a childhood best friend crush,, bonus for blushy flustered keef lmao

Summary: An old promise from their childhood brings back old feelings. When both Keith and the reader fail to communicate, though, will the promises from the past be kept?

Author's Note: Rather Be by Clean Bandit is the musical accompaniment for this fic. What do you guys think, should I add on a song for all fics/fic requests?

Author: Mod Alex

“Keef!”

The young boy dropped his toys and turned around to see his best friend. Although he’d never admit it, he loved the way they mispronounced his name, it was… cute. “(Y/n)! What are you doing here?”

“I came to make a deal.” You held out a paper to him, an adorably serious look on your face.

“A deal?” He took the paper, looking over the crayon written words. The writing was messy and mistake-ridden, but it didn’t matter to Keith, what mattered was that it was a proposal to Keith, a marriage proposal.

“You are my bestest friend ever. So, I’ve decided that if I’m not already married in twenty years, which is like a million years away anyway, then we should get married.”

Keith’s surprise turned into a smile which turned into a laugh. “(Y/N), you’re only 7-”

“And a half! You're only 4 months older anyway, I’m basically 8 like you!”

“Okay, you’re 7 and a half, but shouldn’t you wait until you're older to get married.”

“I am, didn’t you read it? It says 20 years away,” you pointed at a large blue 20, “see? Right there.” You huffed crossing your arms and looking down, your serious face crumbling as you toed at the dirt.

“Okay.” Keith figured if he did want to marry someone one day it should be you.

“Okay?” You looked up, failing to mask your surprise.

“Yup. Oh, I think we need to sign this, right?”

“Oh, right!’ You fished two crayons out of your pocket, handing him the red one, and keeping your favorite colored one for yourself. After setting the paper on the sandbox’s lining you both signed, sealing a contract that would be forgotten for a long time. 19 years to be exact.

-

You were going through some old things of yours (your parents had asked you to come home to see what you wanted to keep and what you wanted to toss as they needed your old room cleared since they were planning on moving). As you were in the process of going through your childhood stuff, you stumbled across your old treasure chest filled with drawings, toys, and crumpled at the very bottom-- a wedding certificate. You laughed as you pulled it out, flattening it as best as you could. Keith absolutely had to see this. After tugging out your phone you sent him a quick message to hurry over.

Keith got there not even twenty minutes later looking for you somewhat panicked. After an apology and a brief explanation, he calmed down. Actually, he was pretty amused. “I can’t believe you told me I was going to marry you.”

“Hey! You’re the one that agreed.” The both of you were laughing as Keith looked over the paper.

“According to this, we’re supposed to get married in a couple weeks.” Keith grinned at you, blushing slightly from what you assumed was second-hand embarrassment from your younger selves.

“Oh gosh, so it does.” Your giggle fit picked up again, as you continued to speak through it. “Guess we have to get married. A contract is a contract, as they say.”

“I’ve never heard that saying, I’m not entirely convinced you didn’t just make that up.”

You held your hand to your chest, barely containing your grin. “Are you, Keith Kogane, saying I’m making things up?”

“Oh absolutely.” He smiled, not even trying to hide his smile.

You gasped dramatically. “How rude.” The paper in your hand caught your attention once more. “Why did you sign it? Way back then, I mean.”

“Why?” Keith took the paper from you, smoothing out some of the worst folds and eyeing it fondly. “How could I not? You came up to me that day and I vaguely remember feeling intimidated-“

“What?! By me?! Your friend?!”

“Well, sure. You came up to me holding this sheet of stark white printer paper- which has seen better days now, but back then it looked official-“

“Kind of what I was going for,” you laughed.

“Right. So any way you come marching up with an official-looking piece of paper and then basically declare that you were going to marry me. And I was intimidated. I mean there was this person I liked-“ Keith fumbled over his words, speaking more quickly after his accidental confession, “and they were asking me to marry them. It was a time of very strong intimidation.” He laughed awkwardly, hoping you hadn’t caught his blunder. “Anyway what are you going to do with this?”

“Wait! You liked me?!”

“I- um- yeah…” He fiddled with the edge of the paper before handing it back to you, noticeably uncomfortable.

“Wow.” The word came out as more of a sound than an actual statement. “I’m just- I can’t believe it. I guess since we signed this I’ll have to keep it. Just, y'know, in case I don’t fall madly in love with some rando within the next three weeks.” You spoke clearly, although your voice did have a slightly teasing tone. It wasn’t mean, though, far from it, if anything it sounded kind of flirty. You hoped Keith understood you were being genuine.

He flushed. “Yeah, maybe… Hey, I’ve got to head out, Shiro’s having this thing and he asked me to go. I’ll see you later?”

“Sounds good. Maybe Sal’s tonight?”

“Sure.” Keith grabbed his bag and basically bounded out of the room, face aflame.

You felt a little guilty about flustering him so much, but really you were feeling quite overwhelmed yourself. Keith and you’d been friends since basically the day you were born and yeah, you’d had a crush on him, and yeah, maybe you still did. But you couldn’t just come out with it. Besides, there was no way he liked you still anyway. You’d gotten a rise out of him for your own amusement (and maybe to see if he still had feelings for you), but you were certain it was just his embarrassment at the situation that made him so flustered. You were a little crushed, to be honest. To be completely truthful you wanted to do nothing more than bottle your feelings up and binge video games all night to forget the awkwardness you’d just set in place, but no, you had already asked Keith to meet you at Sal’s.

-

By the time evening rolled around and it was time to head to Sal’s you had worked yourself into a pit of guilt and regret. Keith wasn’t there when you got there. So you took up residence in the lone booth at the back where the two of you usually sat. Ten minutes had passed before you saw your friends Shiro and Matt walk in. Keith still wasn’t here so you waved them over. They seemed happy enough to see you, you were happy to see them too, even if you had been hoping they had Keith with them. They didn’t.

“(N/n), hey! Is Keith with you?” Shiro grinned, leaning down to side hug you before sliding in opposite you. Matt slid in next to you pulling you into a hug that quickly became a noogie.

“Gah! Matt what the hell, what are you five?” You shoved away from him, giving him the bird as you turned back to Shiro. “No, he was supposed to meet me here like half an hour ago, I thought maybe he was with you.”

“I haven’t seen him since this afternoon.”

“Shit. Did he seriously stand me up?”

“Oh? Did you two finally confess your undying love for each other? And here I thought we had something, (N/n).” Matt lounged against you and you grumbled despite smiling at the dramatic man.

“First of all shut your mouth. Second of all, you know you’re the only one for me.” Shiro barked with laughter and Matt nuzzled in closer to you and you rolled your eyes playfully at the act. “Jesus, you’re being worse than usual, are you drunk?”

“He’s got a buzz.”

“Ah. That makes sense then. Matt, my darling lover, I need you to get your bony ass elbow out from my rib cage.” He laughed as he sat back up.

Though he had been smiling at the antics of his friends only moments prior, Shiro was quick to take up the serious role. “Wait, so you haven’t seen Keith since this morning.” You nodded. “Did something happen between the two of you?”

You flushed, this was the conversation you were hoping wasn’t going to happen. Still, you couldn’t lie to Shiro, the man was pretty much a human lie detector to his friends. “Kind of… I found this dumb thing from when we were kids this morning and I think it upset him.”

Shiro cocked his head to the side. “But Keith loves looking through things from your guy’s childhood.”

“Well, I think maybe it was more so what I said about it. I may have been a bit out of line with my joking.”

“What’d you say?” Math looked at you, eyes widened.

You buried your head in your hands to hide your face. “I may have implied we should get married.” Both Matt and Shiro broke into a fit of laughter at your expense and you groaned. “Guys shut up! Look I didn’t know what else to do, he told me he used to have feelings for me and I guess I was just feeling bold. I’ve been beating myself up for it all day.”

Shiro caught his breath, quietening his chuckles momentarily. “He told you that? And I assume it’s safe to say that you're referring to the fake proposal back in- oh gosh, I want to say first, maybe kindergarten?”

“Second-grade, and yeah. I mean, what would you do? You know how I feel about Keith and it was like he was saying the very thing I wanted to hear for basically all of my life and then he bails the second I reciprocate. The only thing I can think is that I fucked up, which honestly let's be real, is probably the case. And now he’s uncomfortable around me, and I don’t know what to do.”

Shiro blinked, face going slack. “Oh, wow. Okay. I can’t believe he actually told you. I don’t think you scared him off, (N/n), I think maybe he wasn’t expecting you to say anything like that and he didn’t know how to handle it. I’m sure if you give him time he’ll work it out himself. Until then you need to stop beating yourself up over it.”

“Easier said than done.” You crossed your arms, slumping in your seat.

“I know, but you’re going to have to trust me on this one.”

-

Keith had never shown up to Sal’s and honestly now that a few days had passed with him one wording you, Shiro's advice was getting harder and harder to follow. You were in your apartment, putting everything from your old room away when you stumbled across the object that caused this whole situation. You crumpled it, tossing it aside. “As if I needed the reminder.” Your birthday was rapidly approaching, with only little over a week left until the day. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but it only served as a reminder that Keith was avoiding you. You glared at the piece of paper laying crumpled pathetically at the floor. A sigh escaped you and you sunk to the floor, grabbing it again. It hurt sure, but you felt bad just tossing it aside like that. Why couldn’t life be as easy as you thought it would be all those years ago? You’d always loved Keith, that much should have been obvious from your proposal. But the idea that your feelings had been reciprocated and that they may not be anymore crushed you; even more than that, the idea that you’d ruined your friendship with Keith completely wrecked you. Even if you couldn’t have him as your significant other, you would always want to be friends; he was your other half.

Your phone rang and you jumped, startled by the sudden noise. The caller ID said it was Matt. Decline. You just couldn’t deal with his silliness right now. The phone rang again and you were irked to see Matt’s face pop up again. Decline. You pressed down on the screen as if the more aggressive action would keep him from calling again. A moment later a message popped up. It was from Matt.

Answer my call D:

You rolled your eyes. A second later the phone started buzzing again. You slid the answer button, annoyance written in your words as you clipped out a curt “What?”.

“About time, I was wondering if I’d have to come to your house to tell you.”

“Tell me what?!”

“Now, now. Is that any way to talk to someone with good news?” His voice was a singsong that only proved to grate on your nerves further.

“You know what, I don’t care.”

His laughter faded. “Okay, okay, sorry. Yeesh, this whole thing has really gotten to you, hasn’t it?” He was quick to take on a more empathetic tone, it was much appreciated on your end.

“I’m sorry, I’m being kind of an ass, aren't I? But, yeah, it has. Anyway, what was your news?”

“Shiro has a surprise for you!”

“Wait, what?”

���Can you meet us at his place?”

“Yeah-- wait, Matt, what’s the surprise?”

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, now would it?” You tried to speak again, but the line went dead. He’d hung up.

You wanted to ignore the phone call, but you know if you did the curiosity would linger much longer than you’d like. So instead, you huffily slipped on your jacket and shoes and headed out to Shiro’s place.

For having a surprise for you, Shiro wasn’t very quick to answer his door. When he finally did open the door he was red in the face and looked like he had just been running laps. You guffawed. “Are you good?” Too breathless to answer, he just nodded, stepping aside to let you in. “What were you doing-- the hell is this?”

“Oh that, that’s nothing. You look great, but hey have you thought about going out, like with us?” You blinked slowly at Matt who was trying to pull your attention from reusable grocery bags that were spilling out streamers and other various decorations.

“What are you talking about?”

“We’re going to go party and you’re coming with us. No more moping. But maybe you might want to get a little more dressed up, that’s on me, I should have told you before. I was just worried you wouldn’t show up.”

"I wouldn’t have. Matt, I don’t want to go out partying. Besides you’re a little early, my birthday isn’t for-”

“We know! But you needed a pick me up, look it won’t be one of those shitty bars, okay. Somewhere more laid back.”

You rolled your eyes again. “What's wrong with what I have on now then?”

“Pwetty pwease. Look, we even bought you a gift!”

Matt pulled out a nicely wrapped gift box, Shiro must have wrapped it.

“Go on, open it.”

So you did, pulling the ribbon and tearing the paper off. Inside the box was an outfit, and despite your earlier protests, you smiled. It was a number you’d been eyeing for a while now. “Thank you both. Fine. We can go party, but just for a little while. Let me go get ready first, yeah?”

“Sounds good.”

-

The place they ended up taking you was Oriande, a place that landed somewhere between a club and a bar. It was classier than most of the bars on the road, but it also still had a dance floor giving it a more casual atmosphere as opposed to the high-class lounges up the road. It was still early in the evening, the sun just barely touching the horizon when you went in. Pastel neon lights engulfed you, the soft yet bright pinks blues and purples inviting you deeper into the establishment. Honestly, you were surprised you hadn’t been here before, it was just your style. Shiro ushered you over to a table nearer the back that looked like it had been decorated for an event. Oh, dang, were you here for someone else's party? But you didn’t even bring anything-

A cheery lady approached you. “You must be one of our bachelorxs!” She clapped a hand on you back and before you could get a word in edgewise she continued. “Now, your hubby-to-be isn't here yet, but that doesn’t mean the fun can't begin right?” She laughed friendly, before continuing, barely a breath in between her last sentence. “So," she stretched out the 'o' so that it sounded more like 'ooh', "we’ve set up a nice little bar section for your party, and of course since it's your party there's an open bar. Your planners were very thorough! If you need anything just holler!” And like that she had run off to attend other matters.

You rounded on your friends who were looking particularly guilty. “What the hell did you do!?”

“Look before you say anything-”

“No. I-” You pinched the bridge of your nose. “I get that you wanted the discount or special treatment or whatever, but did you really have to rope me in?”

“Well actually-”

“Shiro? Why’d you ask me to meet you here? Isn’t it kind of loud--...” There was Keith looking a little worse for the wear than when you’d last seen him, but he had still cleaned up well. Your attention immediately left Shiro.

“Keith?” His face paled as you approached him, eyes darting away as if searching from an exit; your heart clenched painfully. When he realized he couldn't so easily dart away he begrudgingly looked up at you, face a soft pink, although it might have just been the lighting-- it was hard to tell.

“(Y/n)... Hey…”

“It’s nice to see you again.” Even though you don’t want to see me, you thought bitterly. “Did Shiro invite you? It looks like it’s somebody’s party.” This caught him off guard.

“I... it is?”

You shrugged. “I’m assuming, although I think Shiro,” You yanked the fleeing man over, grip iron clad on his arm, Matt had already made his getaway, “and Matthew are running a bit of a con, but there are free drinks so...”

“Oh, my gosh, you two are so cu~ute! You must be our bachelor, I'm sure your fiance must have filled you in, so if you need anything let me know. I’ll let the bartender know that you’re both here.”

You watched in mortification as the chipper woman from before clapped a hand on Keith’s shoulder, effectively labeling him as your fiance. His face was burning with a blush, you were certain it wasn't the lighting this time. “No- that’s not--”

“Berry! We got an issue!” Someone from behind the bar shouted at who you assumed was the chipper lady. She frowned. “Shoot. Sorry, I gotta go handle this, enjoy your party!” Your anger from before you saw Keith had been reignited with a vengeance.

“Okay, so maybe I should explain…” Shiro looked beyond nervous.

“You think?!”

“It was Matt’s idea. Well, okay so originally we thought maybe we could pretend to be getting engaged for a couple of free drinks but then you two… well, you’ve both been a mess and refused to confront each other… So Matt came up with this idea, which in hindsight is kind of a shitty one, but hey now you can talk and there's plenty of pre-paid liquid courage to help you.”

“Shiro!”

“I’m sorry that we put you in this situation, but I’m not sorry I tricked you both into coming. Who knows how long you two would’ve gone on avoiding each other? And I can't deal with you both being upset over the same thing just because you don't want to confront each other. You both have been beating yourselves up, and waiting around for the situation to just magically right itself. So if it takes alcohol to get you to talk, then so be it." Shiro had taken on that authoritative aura of his and you huffed. You hated it when he was right, and he usually was.

"Fine." Your voice sounded cold even to your ears. You hadn’t meant for it to and you couldn't stand the thought of seeing if Keith reacted to it. Honestly, you weren't sure if it would hurt more if he did or didn't. Instead of looking you stubbornly grabbed his hand and dragged him to somewhere you could talk without shouting. You ended up finding yourselves alone in the hallway to the restroom, the music was still blaring but it was far enough away that you could actually talk. You finally let go of Keith’s hand, turning around to face him. It was almost too much, after so many days of having been rejected by him. Your nerves gripped you with a renewed sense of terror. You couldn’t talk, instead, you felt your throat tighten. Fuck. You were gonna cry. You hadn’t dragged him all the way over here just to cry in front of him. A strained whimper left your lips when you made to speak and you quickly snapped your mouth shut, turning away in embarrassment. Why now, of all times did your emotions have to be getting the better of you.

A shaky hand wiped your tears away. Your eyes shot to meet Keith’s. He looked unsure of himself like he would dart away at any second and yet, he still stood before you, gently brushing away the tears that refused to stop flowing. “H-hey, (N/n), hey… No, no, fuck. Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t-- I didn’t mean to make you cry.” That only made you cry harder and soon enough Keith had awkwardly pulled you into his arms. It was no unknown fact that physical affection was one of the quickest ways to comfort you and as your childhood best friend, Keith knew this better than anyone. “I,” He cleared his throat, “I know I fucked up. I never wanted to hurt you. I’d rather die.” He paused and for a moment you thought that he was done talking and tried to focus on recomposing yourself. You never left his arms though, afraid that stepping away would mean you’d never get to be this close to him again. “But I- I didn’t know what to do… I was scared. My feelings for you were laid out and I couldn’t be sure what you were thinking.” Something wet hit the top of your head-- Keith was crying too? “So, I did what I do best and I ran away. I shouldn’t have, but… What else was I supposed to do?” His voice wavered, his question coming out near breathless and timorous.

“I don’t understand? Why were you scared? I don’t care if you used to have a crush on me as a kid! I’m sorry if I scared you off with that stupid comment, I just… I don’t know. I thought maybe…” You had pushed back, this wasn’t a conversation you could very well have with your face smooshed into Keith’s chest. Regret clenched around your heart like a chain, but you’d already froze before. You forced yourself to meet his eyes, the beautiful violet-grey causing a short-lived wave of calm to wash over you. They were familiar, and yet the tears falling from them were not. Keith rarely cried. Acting on instinct alone, your hands made to wipe his tears away. He let you, watching you with a piercing gaze that was trying to dissect your every movement, find answers in the space between your words and your actions. He couldn’t find any hidden meanings, but he couldn't find any answers either.

“Comment?”

“What?” Your voice croaked out, sounding just as confused as he had.

“You said stupid comment? What comment?” Was he serious? Hadn’t your flirting been what caused this all to spiral?

“When I was flirting with you! Isn’t that what ran you off? I mean I didn’t actually mean we had to get married, just like a date or- or whatever…”

“Wait you were flirting with me?!” You felt like screaming, how had you managed to get yourself into this predicament of giving Keith your feelings on a platter thrice in your life now? Regardless of whether he knew or not, you felt like vomiting from the nerves.

“I thought it was obvious?” You laughed, but it came out strange and garbled, “I mean, shit Keith, I only propositioned you for marriage twice now.” The idea was both incredibly embarrassing and way too funny.

He seemed to feel similarly as a snort left him, quickly preceded by a fit of laughter that you too couldn't help but join in on. The both of you sounded delirious, and honestly, you kind of were. Tears flowed freely as you laughed, making you feel as though you may have lost it. When the laughter finally died down you were left shaky and almost numb. But the weight was no longer on your shoulders so that was something. “In your defense,” Keith’s hands had come to wipe away your tears again, completely dismissing his own, “I’ve technically never refused your propositions either.”

Your hand met his on your cheek, stopping the motions but also stopping him from leaving. “I mean, you did run away the second time…”

“But I never said no.”

“Are you saying you want to marry me?” Your brow arched, eyes searching his for a sign that he was joking. Surely, he wasn’t actually saying he wanted to marry you.

His eyes widened and he glanced to the side bashfully. “Maybe not a week from now… Honestly, though, I don’t think I could ever even imagine myself spending the rest of my life with anyone else? Like you’ve been my constant since basically day one and I’ve… I’ve had feelings for you for almost as long.” You could feel the tremble of his hands, letting your grip tighten slightly afraid he might run again if you didn’t. Your other hand moved to press his ridiculous fringe out of his eyes.

“Oh, Keith.” You couldn’t help the soft smile that found its way to your lips. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

He bit his lip. “That depends on what you think I’m saying?”

“Keith… Please don’t make me wait any longer to hear it.”

He laughed, although you could still feel the slight tremble in his hand. “(Y/n) (L/n), I have wanted to be with you since we were in second grade, maybe longer, and that’s never changed. If you’ll have me, I’d love nothing more than to be with you.” He paused a beat. “Oh, but, um, I do think marriage would be rushing it... “

You giggled, though he sounded monotone, you knew he was joking. “I’ve waited this long, I think I can wait a while longer if that’s what it takes.” The two of you shared a laugh and before you knew it, Keith had gently tugged you back into his arms. With your face pressed firmly into his chest, you could feel the erratic beating of his heart. “But really, Keith. I’ve had feelings for you for as long as I can remember. I’m glad we finally get to be here like this.”

“Speaking of, do you want to dip out and go somewhere-”

“Less loud?”

“Yeah.”

“That would be lovely.” With your hand in his, Keith led you through the crowds, neither of you bothering much to say goodbye to the now tipsy Matt and supervising Shiro, instead of finding your way outside into the crisp evening air. It felt like you could breathe finally, although you suspect part of it was because you no longer felt the crushing pressure on your chest of hiding your feelings for Keith. In fact, you realized with delight, you could now… “Hey, Keith?” You stopped on the sidewalk, with him by your side, eyeing you curiously. “Can I try something?”

“Okay?”

Letting the last of your nerves roll off of you, you took your moment of boldness and leaned up to press a chaste kiss to the corner of his mouth. Keith startled, after a moment his hand left yours, instead, finding purchase on your waist to tug you closer. “(Y/n), can I try something?” His voice was barely audible, but it still sent shivers through your spine.

“Okay.”

He smiled softly before moving to capture your lips with his own. The kiss was tender and filled with love. His inexperience showed, but it was endearing and you found yourself leaning in to kiss him again after he pulled back. You were left breathless under the lamplight, grinning just as brightly as that day on the playground when Keith first agreed to be yours. And now that he’d agreed once again, well you couldn’t be any happier.

[dragonotaku-justineverything]

Single Mom AU: (is hopefully completely different from the single father AU) Blake is a single mother that just got divorced from her abusive ex-husband, Adam. Her and her son move to the new town of Argus and they meet the owner of a local hole in the wall restaurant named Jaune.

Sure! It’s Blake’s turn to have some spotlight in an AU. This one can maybe focus more on Blake and her son rather than Jaune.

AU accepted!

Blake had done it. She was free from the monster. She’d wanted to leave him for over a year, but she’d been too afraid. That was until he struck their five year old son Kilo. For no reason other than SHE hadn’t been their for him to hit after he got angry…

She started the divorce process months ago, something Adam hadn’t been exactly happy about. Now it was finally over. Her and Kilo were now in Argus, far away from Adam now. 

They were safe now.

…

And also broke.

…

While Adam may have been an abusive monster to them, he was also their only source of income. Blake was the stay at home mom for Kilo and Adam worked to support all of them.

She had managed to stow away quite a bit of funds after she first realized her wish to leave him. She was scared, but she wanted to be ready in case she ever got the chance to get her wish. Adam smugly signed the divorce papers, thinking that Blake would just come crawling back after she realized she didn’t have the money to support herself. Especially when she also had their kid, which is how she got full custody. He thought Blake was dependent on him both financially and mentally.

Well he was wrong. The same day Adam signed the papers, Blake grabbed Kilo, all their personal belongings that Blake could fit into two suit cases and a duffel bag, her stashed funds, and bought two tickets as far away as she could.

In hindsight, that was a very poor decision. Just the tickets almost depleted all of the money Blake had saved. Then she had to pay for a hotel room for a few days since she had no living plans and food to sneak into the hotel room to eat. They weren’t big meals, snacks more than anything, but they were better than nothing.

It had been three days now. Each day Blake went out to hunt for a job, Kilo having to go with her as she searched all around Argus. She couldn’t get one. Wherever she went, either they were not hiring, they were too far away, or she didn’t have the skills for the position.

She tried not to consider the thought that they turned her away because she was a faunus.

Either way, three days passed with no luck, and Kilo asked if they could go to the park instead of walk around again. Blake looked to her son and his pleading eyes. Her poor boy had been put through the ringer the last few days, he deserved a break. So Blake relented.

The went and spent the whole afternoon in the park. He played on the playground, climbed a tree (much to high for Blake’s liking), and they rested under a tree together while Blake read a story to him. It was only when the sun started to set that Blake realized how much time had passed. So she took her son’s little hand and started to head back to the hotel. 

As they walked towards the front entrance to the hotel, they passed by a restaurant. Kilo tugged on her arm. “Hey Mommy! Mommy! Can we get some food please!?”

Blake looked to where her son was pointing. The restaurant was named Jaune’s. It didn’t look very expensive. However, Blake didn’t want to spend any more money than necessary. She looked down to tell her soon no, but her traitorous stomach growled. It wasn’t her fault the snacks she’d brought to the park weren’t very filling…

Regardless, Blake followed her son as excitedly ran towards the door to Jaune’s. As it was late, the place wasn’t very busy. It was also probably close to closing for them. Luckily for them it meant that they got a booth all to themselves. 

Her son happily doodle away on his kids menu with the crayons that came with it. He asked their waitress very politely if he could have the crispy chicken fingers and fries. Blake ordered the cheapest thing on the menu, a grilled chicken sandwich with cheese, lettuce, and mayo. Blake also got a vanilla milkshake for the both of them, much to the joy of Kilo.

The meal was good. Great actually. It also helped that the food was relatively cheap, cheaper than what the delicious food could have been charged for. It cost nothing like the dinners that A-….Adam took them to…

They eat in relative silence, only talking briefly in between bites. Though they took their time, enjoying the peacefulness of the meal as the last of the patrons around them left, leaving them as the only customers left. When they were all done and the trays were taken away, Blake had to face the part of the dinner she was dreading. Paying the bill.

‘O-okay…. 22 Lien…..not that much at all… Maybe I just won’t leave a tip…. I don’t like it bu-…oh no…’ While Blake stared at the check, she had pulled out her wallet and opened it.

She didn’t have enough. The 20 Lien card she thought she had was actually a 10…she only had 15.

“K-Kilo sweetie, can you wait right here for a minute? Mommy will be right back okay?”

“Okay Mommy.”

Blake left her son sitting in their booth as she walked up to her waitress, a young blonde girl named Sara. “E-excuse me…I h-have a small problem.”

The kind girl looked at her with a smile. “What is it ma’am? Did you want something brought to your table. Or was something wrong with your meal?”

“N-no no. Nothing any of you did wrong. I-it’s just that I….don’t have enough money to pay for our meal…”

“The waitress’s smile faltered, but she kept it up, though it was much weaker. “O-oh. I-I’m not…uh sure what uhhhh…. I-I’ll go get my boss. Please,” She put a lot of emphasis on the please there, “Wait here.”

The girl quickly hurried to the back of the restaurant and disappeared as she walked into the kitchen. A minute later, she came back into the view. With her came a tall blonde man whose was taking off an apron. The waitress pointed to Blake from the kitchen doorway and the man said something to her before walking out of the kitchen and over to Blake nervously fidgeting form.

As he approached, Blake saw just how much taller than her he was, by almost a full foot! Though when he spoke, his voice wasn’t angry or annoyed. It was pleasant, if only a little curious. “Hello, I heard you had an issue with the check?”

“N-not with the check itself… I just don’t have enough Lien to cover it.”

“Oh. Well, how much was the check?”

“U-uhhh…22 Lien….I only have 15. I-I have more, b-back in our hotel room….but no wait, I need that to pay for the room! I-I can pay you back once I get a job, though I don’t know w-when that’ll be. I’ll pay you back I promise, j-just p-p-”

The man’s eyes widen as he watched as the woman in front of him started to breathe heavily and frantically while she rambled on. It even looked like tears were about to start falling. 

“I’ll pay you back I promise, j-just p-p-please don’t call the police. I-I’ll-” A hand on her shoulder snapped the brunette faunus down out of her panic. 

She noticed the tall man looking down to meet her eyes. “Woah woah woah. Please calm down ma’am.”

Blake took a shaky breath and rubbed the build up of tears from her eyes. “I’m s-sorry. I’ve never done this before. I’m not doing this on purpose I swear!”

“And I believe you. Unless you just one heck of an actress, no one would be this upset over being 7 Lien short on a check. Something tells me that more to this….so I’ll make you a deal.”

“A….a deal?”

“Yeah. It doesn’t make sense to call the cops over 7 Lien, so I won’t. I’ll cover the bill for you, but only if you tell me what’s got you so upset.”

Blake blinked at the man “W-what? Why?”

“Why cover the tab or why do I want to know why you’re upset? For the first one it’s only 7 Lien and for the second, I don’t like seeing people upset, especially in here. This is a place where people come to have good food, chat with friends, and to forget about their troubles for a little bit. So, do we have a deal?”

Blake glanced back over to her son in the booth. He’d gotten up to moved to the other side where she’d but her belongings on the bench and had pulled out the book from earlier and started flipping through it without a care in the world. She wasn’t sure she should be so trusting of this stranger, but he seemed to be very kind and understanding. The air he carried around him seemed, almost comforting...

She looked back to the tall man and nodded. “Yes. Thank you. Can we do it over there so my son isn’t left alone?”

He smiled warmly and nodded himself. “Of course. By the way, Sara said he was a really polite boy too.”

“O-oh...thank you.”

Blake walked with the man back over to the booth. Kilo kept looking at his book even as she slid into the booth. He definitely was her son. “Kilo?”

He finally looked back up, looking slightly surprised that she returned, and definitely surprised to see the new man stand at the end of their table. “Yes Mommy?”

She gestured to the tall blonde man. “This is.....ummm I’m sorry sir, but I don’t even know your name.”

The tall man blinked owlishly at her, then he started to chuckle nervously and scratched the back of his head, a light dusting of red spread across his cheeks and nose. “Oh haha, yeah I guess I never told you my name huh? Hehe.” He dropped the hand from his neck and offered his other one out to her. “M-my name is Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, the ladies love it.”

[junghoseokit]

DAYDREAM - a BTS love triangle

1 - AIRPLANE

Once upon a time, life made a lot more sense.

Life was simple. School was easy. My biggest day-to-day worry was what I’d eat for dinner. I spent my days playing outside with my best friend, Jung Hoseok - known as Hobi to his friends. 

Wake up, go to school, hang out with him all evening. Repeat. It just made sense.

We met shortly after I moved to Gwangju, South Korea for my father’s job. He worked as an English teacher at a local primary school while we lived there. My mother died shortly before the move, leaving it to my dad to raise me on his own.

Hobi and I are two years apart to the day; February 18th. It's a funny coincidence, and it’s actually how we met. About a week after my father and I moved to Gwangju from my hometown San Francisco, we were celebrating my fifth birthday. I hadn’t made any friends yet, so I spent the day on the front porch blowing bubbles, scribbling on the wood in red crayon, and whatever else my five-year-old self did for fun.

But throughout the day, I noticed cars stopping at the house across the street. Various kids emerged from them, walked up to the door, and disappeared inside. I was tempted to go over and see what was going on, but I stayed put, watching from afar. 

My dad brought me back inside to talk to some family members over the phone, have cake, and watch a movie while he unpacked boxes. Eventually, my curiosity got the best of me again. I wandered back outside just as the sun began to disappear over the horizon. 

The cars came back around to pick their respective kids up. One by one, all the children from before excitedly bounced out of the house and went home. In the end, there was one boy left in the driveway. He had dark, short hair, framing his head in the shape of a bowl. His face was plastered with a big, enthusiastic smile that I could clearly see all the way across the street. He waved goodbye to the last car, and once it was gone he turned to walk back into the house. 

That’s when his eyes fell on mine.

He waved at me, and  I waved back with a small smile. He jogged over to my yard.

“Hey you’re the new girl, right?’ The boy said once he reached my house.

I dropped down from the porch and nodded my head. “I just moved here from America. Why did you have so many people at your house?” 

“Because today is my birthday!” He said matter-of-factly. He shot up seven fingers and waved them in my face. “I turned seven today!”

I began to jump up and down. I remember I was ecstatic that an older kid was talking to me. “It’s my birthday too! I’m five-years-old!” 

“Really? How come you didn’t have a party like me?” The boy frowned.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I have no friends yet.” I paused, a wave of shyness washing over me. “My name is Juniper.”

He stuck his hand out.

“I’m Jung Hoseok. But you can call me Hobi. Wanna be friends?”

And we became inseparable. Hobi and I ended up going to the same school, the same dance academy, and walked home together to hang out every single evening. I never spent another birthday alone.

We danced together, sang together, celebrated holidays with each other’s families. This was our life. Our friendship was natural- it just made sense. For the longest time, it was me, Hobi, and no one else. 

Until everything changed.

Eleven-year-old me sat cross-legged on my bed, talking on the home phone with thirteen-year-old Hobi, complaining about my day.

“Like, Hobi, I told her I didn’t know the answer! So why did she still make me go to the board?” I grumbled into the speaker.

Hobi snorted. “Because she wants you to learn! You can’t learn if you don’t pay attention-”

Hearing three soft knocks on my door took my attention away from the phone. My dad let out an exasperated sigh, and a long, slow creak followed by the sounds of his footsteps. “Hun? Are you in here?”

I could tell from the look on his face it was serious.

“Hobi, I'll call you back,” I said before slamming the phone on its stand.

That was when my father informed me that we were moving back to San Francisco. He needed to get his doctorate so he could start making more money. I knew we were struggling financially, but I didn’t realize it was so serious that we couldn’t afford to live overseas anymore. 

I cried, yelled at him, and threatened to run away, as any eleven-year-old kid would do. There were hundreds of reasons why I didn't want to leave. I’d be leaving behind the life that I built here. I’d have to start all over again. And, most importantly, I didn't want to leave behind my best friend.

I never called Hobi back. I couldn't bear to face him. It broke my heart.

I avoided him all day at school the following day, running away every time I saw him. I spent most of my lunch break on the roof, looking out at the city that I would likely never see again.

After classes had ended for the day, I stormed past the spot where we would meet up and walk back home together. I didn’t want to face him. I couldn’t tell him that I was leaving.

I thought I was free, but I heard footsteps run up behind me. “Juni, wait up! What’s going on? Are you upset?”

“I don’t want to talk right now, Hobi.” I looked over my shoulder to see his worried expression.

“But why? What did I do?” He started walking towards me.

“Nothing!” I shouted, voice cracking. I know I have to say something, but what? I opened my mouth to speak, but the right words didn’t find me. Instead, hot tears poured down my face and dripped from my chin. “I’m sorry,” was all I could manage. 

I turned on my heels and ran home.

That was the last time I laid eyes on Jung Hoseok.

When we left, we lost all contact with him and his family. As far as I know, I’ll never see him or hear his voice again. 

I wish I had told him what was going on. I wish I had said goodbye. These regrets stayed with me all throughout middle school, high school, and long after I graduated. 

Part of me knows that my chances of ever running into him are slim. But, even as I board the plane to begin my dream job in Seoul, another part of me still holds out hope that I’ll run into him again.

I wonder what he’s up to these days.

AN- ahhh and here is the first chapter! Please go check the rest of the book out on Wattpad (link below) thanks so much for reading🥰💜

[clean-bands-dirty-stories]

Birds ~ Stan Uris (Part 6)(final)

A/n: Yes we did finally get here haha! Here's the conclusion :) Sorry it took me so long! I really am the worst oof

MASTERLIST

Word Count: 4100+

I wanna watch from somewhere undisturbing- quiet, calm, still. Sit right here and gaze at the unknown...

It had been an accident. Everything seemed to be these days.

The other Loser had kept Y/n and Stan up way past either of their bed times. Maybe you think that's silly but they were the kind of people that needed certain amount of hours of sleep to be functional, and it was far, FAR too late to be awake. The others had separated, leaving Y/n and Stan alone because they were being especially touchy tonight. With their sleepiness clouding their brains, they didn't have the usual things stopping them. 

Hesitance. Self doubt. Shyness. Awkwardness. Even now, as they walked, they were hand-in-hand, fingers twitching and brushing as they interlaced them to remind themself and the other that they were there. Their voices were low and their words sweet and affectionate as they lightly teased and flirted - something they never did in words like now. Stan had walked home on autopilot and Y/n had followed him without thinking. So now they stood in front of Stan's house at the ripe hour of three a.m., hand in hand and blushing and grinning and giggling and trying to stay quiet. 

Y/n sighed, their free hand raising to brush Stan's cheek. "I guess this is where I go."

"You don't have to," Stan blurted. "It's really late and something bad might happen if you're alone. Maybe- maybe stay here for the night?" All he was thinking was he didn't want them to go. They were warm and soft and adorable and glowing with sleepiness.

Y/n was thinking along the same lines. Stan's whole body was relaxed, eyelids nearly closed he was so exhausted. His smile was enchanting and contagious and the thought of turning him down and having it go away was unacceptable. "Okay," they whispered without really thinking about it or making the decision to. Not that they wanted to go, but a part of their brain was still sensible and knew this was a bad idea- if for no other reason than their parents would be pissed tomorrow if they never came home tonight. Despite knowing that, Y/n still accepted and didn't even think about turning back when Stan took their hand and began pulling them after him into the house, into his room, and towards the bed. "Are you wearing jeans and a polo shirt to bed?" Y/n asked, hesitating on getting into bed.

Stan thought for a second. "No," he more hummed than spoke, sighing as he said the word. "And you shouldn't have to sleep in your clothes either. Here, I'll give you some of my pajamas. Is that okay?" Y/n nodded, smiling. Stan pulled out some pajama pants and his most comfortable t-shirt and handed them to Y/n before moving into the bathroom. "Be right back."

Y/n began to change, shrugging before deciding that the best time to change would be here and now. They reached behind, hand finding their collar before pulling, tilting their head forward so the shirt came off smoothly. Next was the pants. As they put them on and then began to put on the shirt as well, Stan came out with clothes in his hands, topless. Both froze upon seeing the other not quite as dressed as they were used to being and seeing each other. Y/n cleared their throat, pulling the shirt the rest of the way down and stopping down to pick up their clothes. "Where do you want me to put these?"

Stan snapped out of it at the sound of their voice, moving to a basket in a corner to grab a plastic grocery sack from it. Y/n then noticed that Stan's room was perfectly clean and organized. Well, mostly. The closet was like some rich middle aged single man's from some corny movie; the floor bare and cleaned. Stan walked with socks, shoes tucked neatly in a corner on the floor by the door. The bed was made, the books all in a place on the shelves so that it looked like a one-shelf library. However, despite all the otherwise cleanliness and organization, there was a single writing desk in the corner that was covered in all kinds of writing utensils - pens, pencils, crayons, highlighters; the works - and books and papers. Some books were open, some were stacked willy-nilly in piled ready to tip over. Some books even had oddly bent papers shoved into them, out of line with the binding as if they'd been hastily shoved in as a bookmark maybe, before the book was closed, leaving the paper only to bend were it passed over the middle inside binding. Some papers looked old; some new. Some were single pieces; some were stapled or held together with a binder pin. The desk was all kinds of messy, looking wild and out of place and odd in the otherwise spotless room. Like seeing a wild, overgrown jungle in full swing with the insane climate and dangerous wild life and everything- in the middle of a suburb that, outside of the jungle, was casual weather and normal people all wearing the same generic clothes and working the same generic job.

Stan noticed where Y/n was staring and turned a deep shade of almost-purple red, dropping the bag at Y/n's feet to trip over himself as he tried to cover the mess on his desk. Without thinking, Y/n dropped their clothes on top of the bag, still on the floor, and moved to catch his hands. "I- I'm sorry about the mess. It makes sense to me but it bothers me too, I just don't really have a place for all of this and if I misplace anything because I'm used to it being in this specific place on my desk I might actually go crazy- like, it's this weird thing where everything has a place and these things kind of have made their own place before I could find them a proper, actual space and, God, I'm so sorry-"

It was the sound of the light giggle, full of adoration, that caused Stan to grow quiet. Y/n moved over to him, their hand rising to gently caress his face. He was suddenly warm, melting into the touch and smiling, his gaze turning super dreamy and lovey as he looked at Y/n. "It's okay," they whispered. "I think it makes me feel less like I'm going to break something if I touch anything if there's at least a little mess. Let's get into bed, yeah? It's late."

Stan nodded, suddenly completely at ease for some reason. He climbed under his covers, Y/n following after him. They lay there a second, shoulders an inch apart so they weren't touching, before Stan snapped. He turned to face his crush. "Can I... hold you? Like, cuddle?" He had such a hopeful look in his eyes, but that wasn't what got Y/n to say yes. They wanted it as much as he did. Soon Stan was pulling them close, their back to his chest and his arms wrapping around them. Y/n rose their hands so their and Stan's fingers interlaced. Their legs tangled just a bit to bring them closer and make the situation even more comfortable. "Good night," Stan whispered after a second.

A contented sigh came from Y/n before they whispered, "'Night, Stan the Man." They were asleep before either could think any further about it.

The next morning, waking up next to each other was amazing. Stan was awake first, his arms tightening around Y/n as his mind slowly recalled the night before. Y/n pressed closer against him and he closed his eyes, trying to keep the moment for a few seconds before his anxiety got the best of him. Maybe he had nodded off again, or had just not been awake enough to properly register the passage of time, because it seemed only a second that he had blocked out the world, but when he opened his eyes again, it was much brighter and Y/n was facing him now, where they’d had their back to him before as he held them close and against him.

As if sensing Stan's being awake this time around, Y/n opened their eyes. Upon seeing Stan looking back, they smiled. Stan's whole body grew a degree warmer, buzzing a little like he had just drunk a lot of caffeine. "Good morning," Stan whispered. The moment was almost reverent. He was scared of disturbing it by talking too loudly.

Y/n seemed to agree. "Good morning," they whispered back just as softly. There was a while where they just sleepily smiled at each other and said nothing before Y/n broke the comfortable silence to speak again. "I like waking up next to you."

Stan was sure he was blushing. "I like it too. Especially because it means I can..." he deliberated on maybe not saying what he was thinking a second before adding, "Hold you. When we sleep. You're warm."

Y/n's grin was enough to wipe all the doubt from Stan's mind. "I like your morning voice."

Now Stan was DEFINITELY blushing. "I like your bed head," he shot back. The two still spoke just as softly as they'd begun.

Suddenly Y/n got much more serious. Not quite shier, but more genuine. "I like you."

Without any hesitation, Stan replied. "I like you too."

Y/n frowned, which isn't what Stan was expecting them to do. "No, Stan." They sighed. "I LIKE like you. I think about holding your hand and kissing you and wonder what it would be like for you to be my boyfriend. Like, romance like you."

Stan's smile had wavered before but now it returned back brilliantly. It was Y/n's turn to be shocked. "I know. Me too." He paused, letting Y/n process that. Right when they were about to say something, he threw them off yet again. "You know, my dad says that there's a difference between like and love. You can love someone but not like them, because you have loyalty and long term care even if you sometimes don't want to be around them." Another, shorter pause. "I like you." He smiled wider, his voice growing even softer as if what he said next was a secret for just them. "I also love you." In a way, it WAS a secret. But he was tired of it being a secret that he kept from Y/n.

The longest pause yet stretched as Y/n processed that. Stan waited patiently. Y/n didn't lean away or push Stan away or seem to be upset on any level. Stan knew that Y/n at least liked him. Wanted to date him. There wasn't anything for him to worry about, really. Or maybe he was still tired. Maybe he'd think about this later and wonder what had possessed him to be so reckless. 

He wouldn't regret it, though. He didn't know how he knew, but he did indeed know.

And he was right.

Y/n finalized their thoughts with a nod, snuggling even closer. "May I kiss you?" Stan mirrored the nod they had done and the two teens moved their faces closer, pressing their lips together softly. Stan didn't realize how tense Y/n was until they melted into him, body relaxing as the tightness caused by anxiety slipped away. Worry he, for some reason, just wasn't feeling. When they parted, Y/n stabilized their breathing before whispering, "I love you too."

For a moment, time stopped. They didn't age. Nothing mattered. There was no past or future- only now. Them. Here. Together. And it always would be them, here, now, like this. And it was perfect.

I don't wanna fly in the sky, I just wanna be alone. It's not a big deal, or anything... I just wanna be alone.

The little girl squirmed until the adult set her down. The second she was able, she shot off like a rocket and began scrambling onto the playground. The man next to the adult who had originally been holding the small child sighed, shoulders sagging. "I guess I was wrong. She doesn't like it after all. She's too young."

The other adult didn't agree though, watching the small girl climb and shoot right past slides and poles and everything else she usually so adored. Until now she'd never been able to deny the pull of them, but now they seemed to mean nothing as she climbed the jungle gym with a purpose that neither adult could quite pin point the source of. Until, that is, she reached the very top. She looked at the tree the man had been pointing to only a few moments before, pulling her binoculars from resting around her neck up to her eyes. The adult that had been holding her before laughed. "Ah, wrong after all! She just wanted to get higher up to see better!"

The man was glowing. "I'm right again!" He turned his gaze to his spouse. "Will you ever get tired of being wrong about matters like this? The pull of birds is strong- to those of any age!"

"Oh, heaven, Stan." The other person's head tilted back as they laughed. The light made their skin glow and the happiness on their face reminded Stan of how wonderfully attractive his partner was. "Must you always remind me when you're right?"

Stan nodded firmly, his pride lessening as his fondness overpowered his smugness. "If I don't, who will?" Y/n hummed, eyes returning to the child as if they were actually considering it. Stan knew better though, not expecting another word for a while. The conversation had ended and a comfortable, familiar silence fell between them. Y/n leaned close, resting their head on Stan's shoulder. His arm found its way around Y/n's waist, his cheek resting on top of their head.

When the small girl returned, this time it was to Stan. She yawned and Y/n chuckled. "Think it's time for bed?" They asked Stan. He simply nodded, as Y/n had already stood and gathered things so they could go.

By the time they got home, the girl was asleep. It was Y/n who unbuckled her as Stan went inside to make sure the house was quiet and the path was cleared to allow Y/n to walk without tripping over anything they wouldn't see around the girl in their arms. As Y/n passed the living room they nodded at an enthusiastic Bill who was sitting next to Mike. Across from the two men were Ben and Richie, with Eddie leanings against the back of Mike and Bill's couch and Beverly perched on the arm of Ben's seat. Ben had a hand over Richie's mouth and no one was moving.

When Y/n was gone and they were all sure the sleeping child wouldn't wake if they were quiet enough, Ben lowered his hand. Stan crosses his arms, his glare deep even if it was tainted by amusement. "What are you all doing here? We gave you an extra key for emergencies only."

With a sheepish smile, Mike held up a chip bag that Stan hadn't noticed at first. "It WAS an emergency," Eddie piped up, as quiet as Stan.

"We needed munchies man!" Richie input. Ben nudged him- he hadn't lowered his volume. He chuckled. "Sorry." This was quieter.

Before Stan had to pretend to be mad for too long, Y/n returned. "Are you guys just here for snacks again?"

Bill laughed, covering his mouth. "Actually, we're here to kidnap you two," Bev piped up. "Ever since Laila was brought into your little family, we haven't seen much of you guys."

"Actually, we haven't seen much of each other at all," Mike sighed. "When was the last time we were all in the same room together for an extended amount of time? Your guys' wedding? That was YEARS ago."

Y/n rubbed the back of their neck. "Well, we have a kid now Mikey. We can't just up and leave her alone."

Bev slid off the arm onto her feet, hands on her hips. "I called Kay. I told you guys about her right?" Stan and Y/n nodded. "Well, she said if we can convince you guys to come then she'd be more than willing to babysit Leila, as long as you're both okay with it."

Stan looked slowly, hopefully at Y/n. He tried not to give anything away. If Y/n was too tired or not up to it he didn't want to get too excited because then he wouldn't be able to hide his disappointment and then Y/n would feel guilty- or, even worse, would force themself to go. Y/n was grinning though. "Aw I'd love that! You know I've been dying to meet this special friend of yours for a while now. What did you have in mind?" At 'special friend' Y/n winked. Bev blushed.

Richie was next to stand up. "Remember when we used to go the Quarry?"

Y/n actually giggled. "You are too old to be jumping off that cliff!" they joked. Y/n and Richie had been teasing a lot about age recently, to make it seem like less of a problem. It was easier to ignore things when you simply just laughed at them.

Richie rolled his eyes. "I am NOT. We're bigger now; it's not as tall. And we can stay until the morning and wake with the sun rise!" He said this very dramatically, making the others feel a kind of childish excitement.

Stan rubbed his hand along his partner's back. "It took us hours to convince Mike and Eddie," Bill piped up. "Honestly you'd be the worst if you didn't come."

Y/n rolled their eyes. They were convinced the second Bev mentioned Kay babysitting, wiping Leila from their worries and opening the possibility to actually have some fun. Therefore it was unnecessary for Stan to lean close and whisper, "How romantic would that be? It would be like when we were kids. Except now I can take work off tomorrow and spend my time doing something much more fun than catching up on homework." COMPLETELY unnecessary, but TOTALLY welcome and encouraged.

Grinning, Y/n nodded. "You know, it sounds like a good idea."

No one else had heard, but there was an instant reaction from the others. Ben and Mike exchanged amused expressions as Richie yelled, "DAMN Stan the Man! GET SOOOOOOME!" on the top of his lungs, causing Eddie to throw his hand over the other man's mouth, hissing quietly to remind him of the sleeping child not too far away. Y/n and Stan got ready as they waited for Kay to show up. Here, Bev energetically introduced her girlfriend finally to the people who used to be her closest friends. Her family. Who had seemed to be far away of recent.

After that, it was time to go. On the ride there - Mike was driving, Bill in the passenger seat - everyone got caught up. Bev told about the divorce from her abusive ex husband and how Kay helped her get over him... leading Bev to fall in love with Kay. Mike and Ben were engaged, but they hadn't decided on when exactly the wedding would be quite yet. Richie and Eddie were thinking about adopting, since Richie was Y/n and Stan's number one go to babysitter and Leila's presents had them both baby hungry. Bill laughed as we poked at him for being the only one of us still single, eagerly updating us on his newest novel and how happy he was just... chilling, for now.

The time at the Quarry was just as fun and light hearted. Just like when they were kids. They stripped down to boxers and bras and jumped from the top. Richie and Y/n antagonized Eddie and Stan into a dunking match, nearly killing Ben in the process. Bill absolutely refused to do a chicken fight, causing everyone to tease at doing it the rest of the time, cracking up when he'd panic just a little without fail each time. They were shoving and screaming and cursing and Y/n and Richie were insulting each other so much that the others wondered for a second if one of them was actually mad. But no. They were just idiots. Nothing unusual.

For dinner they had a picnic, and then it was time to bundle up and dry off as they watched the sun set before making a small fire and starting up dessert. There was something unearthly about s'mores amongst friends when you were all laughing until you couldn't breathe and were acting like you were thirteen.

Ben stood up to begin telling ghost stories, only to be matched by Bill, who kept adding or giving input and making it even better. The two went back and forth before Bev and Y/n winked at each other, cutting in purely to top their fairly good story telling with ridiculous dramatics. This got Richie started, which then had Stan rolling his eyes as the chaos as Mike lost his mind laughing in the background.

After they calmed down from the 'storytelling' they all got in sleeping bags. Stan and Eddie had pushed for tents but in the end the others had won out- they wanted to sleep under the stars. ("With the bugs too?" Eddie had inputted, but he was a lot more chill with things like this than he had as a child so the others didn't worry about it too much.) One by one they began to fall asleep in the quiet chatting. The day took a toll on Ben first, Mike soon following as Ben's even breathing and heartbeat got to him. Next went Beverly and then Eddie.  Richie was mumbling but Bill shut him up and after a few seconds his speaking was replaced by soft snoring. It was kind of adorable that the loud Trashmouth had such a soft snore. Y/n was sure Stan had finally succumbed too, despite being determined as he lay on Y/n's chest, picking at grass.

Just as Y/n was dozing off, Bill spoke. "Anyone awake?"

"Me," Y/n hummed lightly.

Bill waited a few seconds, seeming to see if anyone else was too. No one else responded. "Y/n can I ask you some advice?"

"Of course Billiam. What's up?"

Bill snorted at the old nickname Richie had dug up again early that day, but soon turned serious again. "If you're in love with someone... well. What should you do?"

"Go for it," Y/n answered immediately. "It's so much better to have it off your chest and know the answer than waste time not being with them if they like you back, or wondering what could have been if you had spoken up. Eve if they reject you, at least you'll know."

Quiet again, for longer this time. "What if they're with someone else?" Y/n didn't respond to that for a second. "What if they're one of your best friends? And you may sort of also love the person they're with?"

Y/n smiled. "I think you should talk to both of them about it. Initiate it. Just establish that you have feelings for both of them and see how they react. I mean, you don't want to break them up right?"

"No," Bill answered immediately. Y/n imagined that his eyes were large, offended.

"I thought not. Make sure they know that. You can always move on - though dear lord that sounds so much easier than it is - but, I mean, what if's are the worst. That shit'll follow you forever."

Bill sighed. "Would you be down for a movie date with me if they reject me?"

"I'll bring the ice cream."

"I'll bring the tissue." This came from Stan, surprisingly Y/n and Bill both.

Y/n laughed. "See Bill? We've got your back."

Bill murmured a, "You have no idea how much of a relief that is."

Stan hummed in doubt. "Though, you should totally tell us who it is now. It's obviously not us, since we were your go to plan if you failed. So spill, Big Bill."

Y/n giggled. Stan smiled fondly. Bill watched them, his eyes falling slowly to Eddie and Richie. Y/n saw. They hummed knowingly and Bill looked away, blushing. "Yeah. Anyway. I'll let you know what happens."

After thinking a second, Y/n said, "I think we all had some crush or another on you at some point Bill. I'd be astonished if they didn't both jump on the idea of being the ones to win you in the end." They winked at Bill who blushed. Stan just agreed quietly, causing Y/n to laugh again. Stan and Y/n cuddled more into each other, falling asleep and leaving Bill to think.

Wherever the rest of their lives took them, they'd always find each other again. Just as they always did. No matter how long or what drama tore them apart, in the end: Once a Loser, always a Loser.

In the morning, birds woke them up. Stan was staring at them, a curious smile on his face. "Good morning," he whispered, and no one replied because they all knew he'd been greeting the birds. As they all packed up and headed out, back towards Stan and Y/n's, Stan leaned over to his partner, whispering, "You know this trip has me thinking. Maybe we should go on dates more often."

Y/n grinned. "Bird watching?"

"What else?" Stan shot back immediately, grinning.

Y/n had never been more grateful for the little, feather beings than they were now. Without them, where would they even be? Looking at Stan, they pushing possibilities out of their head. It didn't matter. They were here. What else could they ask for? What more could any of the Losers ask for?

-

Tag List: @campcampie @cedricisnotonfire (I can't seem to tag you but I'll send it to you!)

[ericsonclan]

Coping

Summary: Marlon comes across Tenn drawing a peculiar subject.

Read on AO3:

“Hey Tenn, whatcha got there?” Marlon asked as he walked toward the younger boy who was sitting at the picnic tables.

Tennessee looked up from his paper and crayons, giving Marlon a soft smile. “Hey, Marlon. Just working on a drawing,”

“Oh, can I see?” Marlon glanced down only for his eyes to widen in horror and his face to fall as he saw the subject of the drawing. It was Sophie and Minnie, dead and bloody, their bodies sprawled across the ground. To see such a thing in any form was frightening, but to see it drawn in crayon by a child, by their own brother… Marlon cleared his throat roughly. He’d have to tread carefully here. He didn’t want to say anything that might hurt Tenn or let it slip that the contents of that drawing were a falsehood.

Before he could say anything further though, Tenn spoke up. “I guess it’s sort of weird, huh? Brody saw me working on it earlier on the stairs of the admin building and it made her really sad. That’s why I moved over here – to make sure she doesn’t accidentally see it again,”

Shit, Brody. The only other person who could let the truth slip out. It had been about six months since they had run into those raiders and been forced to give them the twins. Brody had been a nervous wreck ever since. Sometimes she would wake up in the night screaming, saying they were coming for her. Marlon would always rush to her side in those moments. On the outside it might appear that he was comforting her, but Marlon knew with a sick certainty that he was always the first there to make sure Brody didn’t tell the others that it wasn’t the walkers she feared but the raiders.

“Marlon?” Tenn’s voice broke him out of his thoughts. “Are you sad too now? I’m sorry if the drawing upset you.

“It’s not that, it’s just… doesn’t seeing them like that make you sad too, Tenn? I would’ve thought you’d do anything possible to never think about that day,”

Tennessee shrugged. “Even if I didn’t think about it, that wouldn’t mean it didn’t happen. Drawing it helps it feel more real. It helps me realize that they won’t come walking through the gates again. I know it’s been a while now, but sometimes I need reminding of that,”

Marlon put a hand on Tennessee’s shoulder, feeling utterly lost. How could you comfort someone for deaths you knew never happened? At the same time, maybe by now those deaths were a reality. That woman, Lilly, had said her people needed soldiers for a war. Any war was bound to bring casualties. It could be that by now, after all these months of hiding the truth from the other kids, that this picture was in fact the only truth that remained. Marlon took a seat beside Tenn, his legs suddenly feeling heavy.

“Would you like to draw too?” Tenn offered. Marlon took the paper and crayons with a faint smile. It was a habit of Tenn’s, inviting others to draw even if they didn’t have a lick of talent. By now he’d accumulated a stash of drawings by all of them, some of the best displayed proudly on his walls. Seeing Marlon with a given task, Tenn seemed satisfied and resumed his drawing. The particular red crayon he was using was only a nub at this point. It made Marlon wonder if this wasn’t the first time Tennessee had depicted such gruesome subject matter.

Marlon found himself unsure of what to draw. He couldn’t draw humans for shit and there wasn’t anything else in particular that came to mind. Glancing up at the sky, he caught sight of the Ericson flag, an old t-shirt flapping proudly in the wind on this breezy morning. That was it. He could draw the school. Buildings were just a series of straight lines, right? He could handle that. Grabbing up a brown crayon, Marlon set to work outlining the frame of the main building.

As he worked, Marlon noticed Tenn was still focused on the details of his gruesome illustration. Tenn glanced over, seeing Marlon’s interest. “I don’t know how long you and Brody stuck around when it happened. You guys don’t talk about that day much so I’m not sure if this is how it really went,” He’d given a neck wound to Sophie while Minnie was bleeding from her side. Their skin had been colored as well, a sickly gray. Marlon realized with horror that Tenn hadn’t simply drawn their corpses, he’d drawn them in the midst of turning. The thought made Marlon feel as though he’d be sick.

The truth was he remembered that day in excruciating detail. The way his hands had trembled from having his bow drawn for such a long time, knowing if he fired a single arrow it would mean his own death. Sophie pinned to the ground, a boot on her back while the sleazy man held Minnie in place by a fistful of her hair. Brody’s presence behind him, utterly helpless to stop the horrible things happening before her very eyes. He hadn’t had a choice. It was two right then or all of them. If he was taken, Marlon had known they’d break him, hurt him until he gave up the location of the school. He couldn’t let that happen. He’d sacrificed two to save the rest. If it had been the right choice though, why couldn’t he look back on it without feeling his very soul writhe inside him?

“Oh, you’re drawing the school. It looks really good,” Tenn’s voice was so calm, trusting. Marlon couldn’t believe he was sitting here and playing further into the lie he’d woven in the boy’s mind. But he simply kept on going, his body unwilling to do anything else.

“Yeah, I figured it would be easy enough. I guess it’s more complicated than I expected though,”

“Are you going to try to show the broken windows?” Tenn gestured toward one to the far left of the building. “I remember when Sophie broke that one. It was during that soccer game she and Louis put together,”

Marlon remembered. For one glorious day, they had set aside their fears and daily tasks to do the most normal thing ever: play a game. It had been wonderful. Competition between the two teams had been fierce, leading to the broken window Tenn mentioned when a kick by Sophie went wild and flew off toward the school. They continued on after that mishap; no one really cared about broken windows anymore. The game had stopped however when a particularly strong kick by Marlon had sent the soccer ball flying over Ericson’s walls. Mitch had climbed over the wall to retrieve it before anyone could plan a better approach and had almost gotten bitten in the process. After that Marlon made a decision: soccer was banned from the courtyard. It wasn’t worth risking their lives for a simple game. It was an unpopular decision, but the other kids had learned to accept it, the remaining soccer balls being kicked around indoors rather than outside.

“It was so much fun,” A small smile was upon Tenn’s face. “I’ll never forget that day,” He glanced up at Marlon who was looking at him in confusion. “What?”

“How do you do it? Talk about happy times in the middle of drawing that?” Marlon immediately wished he could bite his tongue. It was callous to ask something that personal so bluntly.

Tenn didn’t take offense though; he never did. Instead he sat there thoughtfully, looking at his drawing. “I guess it’s because both are real. They both happened, the good and the bad. It’s nice to remember the happy times, but this helps too,” He fidgeted with the corner of the paper. “It’s not my only drawing. I have lots of them. Happy and sad. I did one a while back of Sophie and Minnie having a fishing contest, just like they used to. Wherever they are now, I bet they’re still doing that. We had to make empty graves though. Drawing how they died, even if it sometimes makes me sad, feels like a good thing. Death isn’t as scary when you know what it looks like. And it’s not like it’s them anymore, just their bodies.

Marlon stared at the child in dumbfounded horror. What could he say in response to that? He wanted to tell Tenn that death was very scary, that it was downright horrifying. But what good would delivering that message do? Right now Tenn was happy or at least as much at peace as anyone could expect. He couldn’t take that away from him, not when he was the reason his sisters were gone. “Wow,” he murmured, looking down at the table. “Guess you’ve thought about this a lot,”

“It’s all I can really do for Minnie and Sophie now – think about them,”

Marlon cleared his through roughly, feeling tears prick the corners of his eyes. “Scuse me, Tenn. There’s something I gotta go do,” Without another word Marlon rose to his feet and walked off. He didn’t dare to look back. He made it just round the corner of the school before he couldn’t hold it back anymore. He puked, his shoulders heaving as his vomit spilled upon the ground. Looking round quickly to make sure no one had seen him, Marlon quickly wiped off his mouth, his hand shaking slightly as he did so. He should go back up to the headmaster’s office and reexamine the map. Look for entry points to the school that needed to be better guarded, maybe draw back the safe zone a bit. He couldn’t risk running into those raiders again. What happened with Sophie and Minnie was a tragedy, one he couldn’t repeat. He couldn’t lose another one of these kids. He’d protect them all or die trying.

[girlmeetsliv3]

K-12: Kindergarten

~ Inspired by Melanie Martinez’s K-12 ~

No one said school was easy nor that it was a fun place. However, Tentoria academy was not a place for the faint of heart, mind, or soul. It’ll be a miracle if you survive your first day - not to mention 12 years. Oh well. Battles to the death, demonic summoning, and interdimensional travel is all part of growing up…right?

Word Count: 1857

Release Date: October 14, 2019, 7 pm (GMT-4)

It was a rather peculiar dream even for you. Granted your five-year-old standards weren’t too high, but it was different from your usual dreams: those were plagued with death, cryptic messages, and content that might have another other child screaming for their parents. You had tried before, but Mommy was always passed out after taking several sips from her special sippy cup and Daddy was never home. This dream was too bright, cheerful with clouds that contained bright rainbows, and sweet music that traveled through your ears. It also smelled sickeningly sweet like the way you felt after eating too much cotton candy after going to the fair by yourself. It was a bit scary for you. That everything was so happy and joyous. You felt it wasn’t going to last. “You need to get going soon.” You turned around to see a beautiful woman decked out in a gold silk dress and braids falling down her back. “Who are you?” you asked, in awe of how pretty she was - almost like an angel. Instead of answering she simply smiled, crouching down to be at eye level with you. 

          “Wake up you’re going to be late.”

           You heard the alarm clock, the metal stick rapidly clashing into the bells in order to emit a dreadful sound. The second your eyes peeled open the clock flew from its position on your bedside table to halfway across the room. You immediately sat up, glancing around the room to see what could have caused such a thing. Was that me? Your eyes focused on the clock, now laying on the floor, and willed it to move. You concentrated so hard that your head began to hurt, it was all a little too much for your small brain to handle. Knowing it wouldn’t do you any good to remain in bed, you stood up walking towards the giant calendar on your wall. Under today were written the words: ‘first day of hell.’ Grabbing your red crayon on the table beside you, a heart was drawn around the words. Your suitcase had been packed the night before, Mommy has been in a good mood, and your uniform was neatly ironed for you to put on. The uniform consisted of a pink frilly dress with white stocking and closed shoes for girls, while it was a light blue collared shirt and blue shorts with dress shoes for boys. You didn’t like pink and the dress was a bit boring, so when your mommy had given you the money to go out and buy the uniform you had bought a purple one instead. One with pretty flowers embroidered into the sleeves. 

           Opting to prolong putting in on and sealing your fate, you went to the bathroom to brush your teeth. Recalling that one dream you had where you opened your mouth and all of your teeth fell out as a red thick liquid filled your throat. You had it after seeing grandma take off her teeth during dinner one night when she didn’t want to talk to Mommy anymore. You counted to up to one hundred and twenty before finishing and going back to your room. You got dressed, grabbing the backpack and suitcase before heading to the kitchen. Mommy was asleep on the couch, drool falling from her open mouth onto the pillow. So you made yourself some breakfast, cereal with milk, before walking to the bus stop. You wanted to say goodbye to her before you left, but she would only be upset that you had woken her up. The walk to the bus stop wasn’t long, only fifteen minutes of you walking at full speed. Thankfully the sun wasn’t out yet or it would’ve been a lot worse. 

           From the distance, you could see someone else standing at the bus stop. A bright green suitcase with heart and unicorn stickers practically everywhere. “Rosé!” The young brunette turned around with shock in her eyes before she recognized your figure running towards her at full speed. Rosé was your only friend in town, her parents were much nicer than yours, but she had once told you that her parents hadn’t really wanted a second child. So she was the scrap compared to her older sister. “Are you excited?” She asked her voice high and squeaky something that happened when she was nervous. “Not really.” Both of you stayed quiet after that, neither knowing what was the right thing to say. It was when the bright white bus filled with screaming kids inside approached that the two of you locked hands. “Do you think we’ll make friends?” you asked, your hand turning white from how tight your grip was. “Hopefully, but we have each other and that’s all that matters.” The two of you exchanged a kind smile, as the bus pulled in front of you and opened its doors. The two of you grabbed your stuff and hauled onto the bus where only two seats at the center remained open.

           It seems no one had paid much attention to either of you prefer to talk loudly amongst each other and make obnoxious noises. That was until you felt something hit the side of your head, and you saw a paper plane fall onto the ground. Picking it up, you opened it before handing it to Rosé. “What does it say?” She sounded it out before turning around and screaming at the boys in the back, “Real mature.” Everyone began to laugh, but from the way you felt all their eyes on you, it wasn’t because of a good thing. Then they all began to chant a specific word, one you had heard your mother say to you when she was upset at you. “Freak.” The words seemed to trap you until you felt the familiar feeling of tears strolling down your face. “Aw does the little crybaby need some tissues?” One of the girls further down asked in a mocking tone. All of her friends laughed before one of them whispered back. “She probably has some in her bra.” Rosé comforted you as best as she could, but with the incessantness of their bullying, it was difficult to. The bus driver was viewing everything from the rearview mirror but didn’t see a point in stopping it. Wasn’t in his job description nor payroll. 

           Eventually, they stopped, getting bored and seeking entertainment in other ways. A child’s attention span wasn’t very long anyway. The bus had left the city and was now entering a highway, after a while, you saw a sign that read: Tentoria Academy K-12 Sleepaway School. The only time you would get to see your parents from now on would be on the weekend, which wasn’t a big deal since you barely saw them whilst you were at home. The bus slowed to a stop as it picked up the final kid, a young boy with chubby cheeks and a bright smile. The second he stepped on with his blue backpack with small frills on the ends, you felt your heart flutter. “Oh my god, Y/n. You’re blushing.” Rosé poked fun at you. Your stomach hurt and your heart began to race, but it wasn’t because of what you ate. Nor was it due to the way the other kids treated you; it was all him. Tentatively you stood up and opened your mouth to greet him when you were interrupted. “Jimin!” A taller boy pushed past you and embraced Jimin, the two of them laughing. 

           “I thought you weren’t going to come.”

��          “Duh, loser. How could I not?”

           The two boys engaged in a playful banter completely ignoring the world around them. Dejectedly, you fell back into your seat. A full-on put had formed on your lips and the space between your brows wrinkled. “Are you okay?” You nodded at Rosé, simply staring outside the window. You hadn’t even arrived at school and already you hated it, wishing something anything could happen to stop the bus. Your prayers were answered when the bus driver suddenly turned on the road, causing the bus to start spinning uncontrollably. Screams from both you and your peers were so high, they practically shattered the glass windows. Thankfully they didn’t, for when the bus spun so much it broke through the railing and went straight into the lake. Those windows were the only thing that prevented your imminent death. The bus driver was passed out a large gash on the side of his head. You glanced around frantically as Rosé tried to get the door to open for everyone to swim out. The school bus was drifting to the bottom of the lake, the pressure keeping the doors jammed. “We’re gonna die here!” One of the girls screamed out. “I don’t know how to swim.” echoed another. 

Rosé and you looked at each other before grasping each other’s hands. You both closed your eyes and softly began to pray. “I wish this bus would float. Float so high it went up to the sky.” You don’t know how or why the two of you were speaking those specific words, but they felt right. So you kept repeating them. Repeating them until it was practically second nature to you both, then you both opened your eyes. At first, all you saw was white, so much that you assumed you were in heaven. Once you saw the dewdrops forming on the glass you realized something else - “They’re clouds,” Rosé spoke awe clear in her voice. Everyone else had gathered trying to look outside. The bus was floating so high above that it was difficult to make out the things on the ground, slowly though it was going down. No one dared speak, it was as if it was a dream and everyone was afraid to shatter it. The school bus got closer and closer to the ground until the wheels hit the solid pavement and it caused such turbulence it made everyone fly from their seats. It even woke up the bus driver. Coincidentally, it seems you had been dropped off right in front of the school.

It was rather large in size. A pearly white with high arches and accents that instantly drew you in, but something felt off about the place. It was too picturesque and beautiful, something was bound to go wrong. Nice things always turned sour fast. Everyone hurried to get off the bus, while Rosé and you lingered behind; waiting until everyone had gone inside. As you climbed down the steps, you hesitated a bit before stepping on the ground. Feeling that once you did, you might never be able to go back. Rosé gave you a slight nudge which encouraged you to take that final step. “Everything will be fine.” You said, mostly to yourself. “Of course it’ll be. What’s the worst that could happen?” Rosé was trying to be strong, but you could hear the nerves in her voice. She’s right. What’s the worst that could happen? So the two walked together until you reached the giant school doors. You entered feeling prepared for whatever might come your way.

[getuponthehydrasback]

Fragmentary Memories: Fanfic Preview

This is still a work in progress but I promised yall a rewrite with all of my head canons and its  HAPPENING. Gotta love me my Trans! Sora The fic, pairing is SoRikai, with moments of every combination! PS This fic also includes REAL TECHNIQUES FOR DEALING WITH PTSD and Panic attacks 

Tap Tap Tap the distant sound of rock against glass persisted againstthe calm sound of rain outside of the small room. On the bed sat a petite feminine figure of a person, crouched in a corner, their back pressed against the walls of their room, and their gaze fixed upon a tan paper, ink etched into its surface. It had become a nightly routine for the ‘girl’ to jot down her thoughts; it helped with the nightmares. On pages she could map out her deepest fears, that which were inarticulable to even those she held dear. The emotions that still ruminated in her soul, and weren’t yet ready to make themselves known. It was a practice she found to be almost sacred in that aside from being the arms (or sometimes plopped down ontop of or in between) of her two dearest people, eased the ever growing fear that nestled in her heart. Though this practice was sacred, she found herself snapped out of the moment by in incessant tapping.

“What on earth is that sound” she exclaimed as she pushed the curtains aside only to see a water drenched boy standing a story below, looking up solemnly at her. “Sora! What the hell are you doing out in the rain, you’ll freeze to death!” She exclaimed as she quickly opened her window.

“I know…it’s stupid but please …” he didn’t have to finish his sentence, Kairi saw the desperation in Sora’s eyes a look she hadn’t seen since the night that changed all of their lives. Without hesitation Kairi held her hand out to him knowing he could make the jump up into her window without rousing the attention of her sleeping grandmother a few doors down.

Sora backed up and ran towards the side of the house, skillfully using the leverage to jump up and grasp Kairi’s hand. Within a few moments he stood, soaked in the middle of her bedroom. “Thank you” he whispered softly, his voice husk and devoid of its usual playfulness. Kairi could make out the puffiness and faint red tint in his eyes and faint salt streaks along his cheeks almost washed away by the rain. Without saying a word Kairi reached out, clasping her hand in his giving him a gentle affirming squeeze. She didn’t have to know what happened or what was wrong, she only knew that whatever it was, it had shaken him to his core.

“Of course, is there anything you need right now, you’re soaked let me get you something to change into”. Kairi offered as she turned to go to her dresser. The suggestion sent a wave of nausea to the boys stomach and itch under his skin in protest; however all he could externalize was a faint defiant tug at her hand.

Drawing her attention back towards him Kairi tilted her head in confusion. Sora’s expression had quickly changed. There was a quick flash of fear, and storminess in his eyes, sending a wave of concern throughout her. Though she began to become increasingly worried about what could have possibly caused such a reaction out of him, she knew that remaining calm would be the best way help her friend. “No worries” she said softly, giving his hand another gentle squeeze. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

Sora’s grip on her hand seemed to tighten at that statement as he averted his gaze. His body was tense, his breathing beginning to become increasingly shallow, as echos and images flashed in his mind.

We’ve had enough of this. You disappear for god knows how long doing god-knows what and you expect us to be okay with it? You’re delusional. You don’t know what youre walking about all of that stress has gotten to your head!

The voices and images of his parent’s anger continued to resonate over and over. His precious belongings, gone, his clothes gone everything. He couldn’t stop the recent memories, they replayed on repeat until he felt a gentle squeeze on his hand again, tethering him to the reality before him. Bringing him back into his body. His gaze darted around the room, taking in their surroundings.

“You’re safe” Kairi whispered softly as to not startle him.

“Sorry” he managed to choke out, worriedly “Sorry…sorry sorry” his words seemed more like expressions to himself, or an invisible other rather than to his friend as he repeated the words.

“It’s okay, I’m not upset, you’re safe…I will stay here with you as long as you need” she responded quietly. “Is it okay to hug you?” she asked to which Sora’s eyes widened and he frantically shook his head.

“Sorry” he replied again, his breathing growing more erratic.

“It’s okay, do you want to try some grounding exercises?” she asked, knowing that Sora’s condition would most likely escalate if he wasn’t able to ground himself soon.

Sora thought for a moment, or rather attempted to gather his scattered fragments of thoughts before slowly shaking his head.

“Okay, what’s five things you can see?” Kairi asked quietly, as she gently ran her thumb along the back of Sora’s hand in a soothing pattern.

Sora couldn’t formulate words but merely pointed to a few items in the room, each item slowly drawing his focus back from the fear ridden fog it had been in. He looked around, noticing the dimly lit lights, he pointed to the note book perched upon Kairi’s pale pink cotton sheets, the Crayon drawings of their adventures hanging on Kairi’s wall, the way Kairi’s face though relaxed, still showed concern in the faint furrow of her brow, the pale pink color of her nails as they brushed against his hand. Sora could only point at the things as Kairi gently urged him on.

“Good, what’s four things you can hear?” she asked again.

Sora closed his eyes for a moment taking in the sound of the rain pounding against the window, the sound of his own slowly stabilizing breathing, his occasional coughs and sniffles, the buzz of the heater, and the calming sound of Kairi’s steady breath. For each thing he heard he managed to choke out a single word indication.

“That’s excellent” she gave his hand another gentle squeeze “What’s three things you can feel?”

Sora thought for a moment, he could feel the gentle caress of Kairi’s fingers stroking his hand, their consistent motion soothing his racing thoughts. He could feel the fuzziness of carpet beneath his feet, as he’d ran over barefoot, and he could feel the cling of his damp clothes against his skin, and the tight nylon fabric of a binder pressed against his chest.

“I-I think…I’m okay…” he managed to respond, as he gave Kairi’s hand a gentle squeeze.

They stood just like that for a few moments in silence, as Sora gathered his thoughts, his breathing had stabilized and his incoherent memories began to solidify. After a few minutes he finally uttered.

“They threw out everything…they hate me…they’re…they’re going to disown me.” His voice cracked at the statement as tears began to fill his eyes. “Everything! All of my clothes, all of my belongings anything they thought was too boyish my parents through out! They screamed at me!”

Kairi felt a wave of anger course through body at Sora’s distress, at the way his usual happy kind eyes seemed so defeated, and broken. She clutched her free hand in a fist, trying to swallow her anger to be fully present for Sora but she couldn’t.

“Listen to me, they’re wrong. They are so incredibly wrong, whatever they think whatever they say, they’re wrong for treating you like that you hear me Sora?” She placed her hands gently on Sora’s cheeks to direct his gaze to her.

He stared back at her, eyes wide with tears. “You’re one of the strongest, kindest, loveliest boys I know, and if they can’t see that, if they can’t see all the things their sonhas done then theyaren’t worthy of you. You’re the boy who saved the universe for crying out loud. And they’re mad because what? They got your gender wrong? I’ll fight both of them goddamit.” Kairi tried her best to manage her anger.

Kairi’s words broke the floodgate Sora had been suppressing in his whirlwind panic. Relief, fear, sadness, hatred, visceral pain all bubbled their way to the surface as Sora reached towards Kairi, burying his face into the crook of her neck in a half attempt to muffle his sobs. Taking Sora’s lead on physical contact, Kairi wrapped her arms around him, gently placing the flat of her hand on his back, and gently rubbed circles into the damp fabric.  They stayed like that for a few moments, Kairi’s arms firm around him as he fell apart.

Kairi had always known Sora’s parents did not approve of who he really was even before their journey across worlds, but she never imagined they’d do something as drastic as disown him. During their time on the islands when they were younger, Sora always passed himself off as a tomboy much to his parent’s disapproval. But spending so many years away from them, meeting new people, new places, had allowed Sora the freedom to be himself. No one questioned, no one knew, except her and Riku. Sora had grown into the young man he was always meant to be, and yet, his parents could not see him for who he really was. The thought angered Kairi, the pain they caused him sent her into a rage, but more important than her rage was her ability to comfort her dear friend. She continued to simply breathe deeply and rub soothing circles into the boys back.

After nearly twenty minutes, Sora had cried himself dry. All that he could make out were faint whimpers and sniffles. He’d tired himself out emotionally, his head throbbed and his eyes were puffy and red, contrasting against the electric blue of his irises. “I’m sorry for causing so much trouble…I should probably head back” he managed to whimper out.

“Heck no” Kairi responded adamantly “you’re staying here tonight, or going over Riku’s but no way are you going back to that hell house. You’re no trouble at all I’m glad you came here, and that you’re safe. I will always be there for you Sora, you know that” she gently cupped his cheek with a soft smile.

Sora glanced up at her, his gaze meeting hers for a moment. Her tender smile sending an ache in his chest, the contrast of her kindness against a growing wound he carried, her warmth contrasted against his own. He hadn’t quite realized how warm she was. In their years a part, the quiet girl, had grown to become a kind warm protector. The tenderness of her touch and the gentleness of her smile enveloped him in a sense of safety. Content with her offer he simply nodded and snaked his arms around her in a grateful squeeze.

“I can even call Riku if you want, and make it a sleep over.” She suggested as she began to shift around looking for her phone. “Though god I don’t know what would stop him from not storming over to your house and fighting your parents on sight if he finds out.” She said with a slight chuckle to lighten the mood as she began to step away to grab her phone. However her actions were stopped by Sora tugging her back closer.

“In…in a moment…” he responded softly, not wanting to lose the warmth surrounding him. He felt far to tender and exposed to break the moment.

Kairi let out a surprised huff, before settling back into him, wrapping her arms around him again. Sora in response nuzzled into her and closed his eyes.  

Pt 2

[gasters-story]

Chapter 38

Word Count: 1,925

Compared to the other humans, it's been a long time since one has fallen down. Gaster spent his time waiting after he was done with his experiments. There wasn't much more for hum to do besides giving some blueprints and parts for adding onto the CORE every once and awhile. It wasn't enough to cure his boredom fully.

He still ignored Rocksan and Anton when they came by. He didn't care if it upset or worried them. He just wasn't in the mood for talking anymore. How could he be?

Gaster found himself pacing different rooms of the lab, muttering to himself. Usually no one was there when he did this, though if anyone did come by he'd stop and normally be silent.

One time it was Papyrus who came by, racing up with a paper in his hand. Gaster's red scarf was neatly tied around his neck, as it always seems to be since the first day Papyrus managed to get to wear it.

"Look at what I made!" Papyrus exclaims, shoving the paper in the other's blank face. The paper had a crayon drawing with Gaster, who was drawn fairly tall with the purple scarf on, in the middle. Sans and Papyrus were at his sides, Sans wearing his blue jacket while Papyrus had the red scarf and a yellow jacket. All three of them were smiling on the snowy scenery with Snowdin's decorated tree Papyrus loves a lot.

Something probably should have clicked inside Gaster, yet nothing did. "That's nice. Did you show Sans yet?" He simply responded, knowing Papyrus won't stop bothering without any answer. He was used to that fact by now.

"Yeah!" Papyrus answered. That was a fair one since he was probably next to Sans when he made it.

"Then go ask him where you should put it." Gaster responds, making Papyrus nod and run off. The scientist rubbed his face once the kid was gone, now having forgotten what he was pacing and muttering about. Papyrus had thrown him off track.

Gaster just decided to leave the labs for now and take a walk to Snowdin. Maybe he just needed fresh air, as fresh as it gets at least.

He didn't know exactly what he was going to do once he got to the snowy forest area but he just knew that's how far he was going to go. It wasn't until he walked past Anton's that he decided he would go in.

The place was it's usual warm feel and customers. The only difference was a more dim looking Anton, Rocksan sitting next to him, and the fact they were talking about Gaster. The scientist could read it on Anton's half even if he couldn't hear Rocksan's half. Gaster walked up anyways, sitting one stool away from Rocksan while Anton essentially was in the middle on the other side of the bar.

"Don't you have anything better to talk about?" Gaster asks when he gets there, making the two surprised. Rocksan sat up straighter, looking at the royal scientist, before looking away from the slightest bit of shame.

'Ah, hello Gaster. Surprise to see you here, but good as well.' Anton wrote, seeming tired compared to his normal mood.

"You seem dull." Gaster says, not really properly responding to the other. Anton silently sighed.

'It's been a long set of days, however many it's been. You know how it is.' Anton writes in response.

Gaster didn't say anything for a moment. "Can I get a water?" He asks, not following the previous topic again.

'I dunno, can you?' Anton cracks a grin of his own smart reply. 'Just kidding. I'll get you it.' He continued after seeing it didn't really have an effect on Gaster.

It was silent as Anton got Gaster his glass of water, Rocksan being not really sure what to say. Gaster didn't mind it as he sipped his water, though it clearly bothered the other two. The scientist just got up when he was done with the water to leave.

'I hope you visit again sometime.' Anton writes. Gaster just did a slight nod before checking the now beeping device in his pocket. Something wrong with the CORE, an urgent problem. With everyone already switched to using the CORE as their main power source rather than trying to manage just some temporary solutions, it would be terrible if the CORE shut down now. They already had to make ways to keep it cool, more problems wouldn't be good.

Gaster now walked with urgency compared to the sad, disappointing sack of bones he was earlier. Now he had a purpose to follow to the end. Honestly it made him feel a bit better to have something to do.

He made his way into the CORE, where the most recent addition was being made. Some workers were watching some exposed wires spark occasionally, clearly unsure what they should do. They became relieved when they heard and saw Gaster coming over.

"What's the problem here?" Gaster asks as he walks up. The head of the workers move forward to explain.

"Looks like something destroyed the panel and damaged some of the wires along with a special part we don't have access to. Whatever had bumped into it is going to cost us a bit for this section of the CORE." At least it was just for this section.

"I'll take a look then." Gaster says as he pushes past them to look. They were obviously right. Gaster paged Sans to deliver what he needed and waited for the skeleton to appear.

When Gaster saw Sans heading over he put on his electricity resistant gloves and took the parts and materials from the other's hands. Sans stayed next to the workers after. They all watched as Gaster cut off damaged wiring to make his way to the damaged parts behind. He'll weld the wires together with new ones once he's about done with this ordeal.

The main problem was getting the broken part unstuck. It was wedged in when it got snapped in half so Gaster had to use a screwdriver to try wiggling it out. The first half popped out just fine but the other was having trouble. It was most likely due to gravity not helping with the piece.

This then caused a big mistake on Gaster's part. He jammed the screwdriver in too hard trying to pry the part out that it broke it more and made a huge spark. It must've reached past the gloves, for the next thing he knew, he felt a large jolt through his soul. The spark managed to catch the edge of his magic system and shocked his soul like it would any other.

The shock of course hurt a lot, making Gaster hiss out a curse. His vision went blurry, worse than before at least. He was near-sighted, so usually it wasn't much of a problem, but now it felt like there was barely a point to any vision at all.

Sans and the workers started asking Gaster if he was okay but the royal scientist never responded to them. He just tried to power through what little vision he had so they just went quiet and watched as he ripped out the part with his gloved hand. He now could replace the broken part, since nothing else was hurt, and repair the wires. Once that was done he could replace the broken panel to cover it all.

"Th-there." Gaster almost wheezed out. He seemed so weak after the shock. Sans helped him up, worried that something was wrong with the other.  Gaster pushed away from him and stumbled. He leaned against a wall only inches from vanishing into a large, white void, one that can surely swallow him whole if he fell in.

Gasps of fear and shock sounded off because of his location. They were barely audible due to the loud ringing only Gaster could hear. Sans and the workers crowded around him, trying to help, but he pushed himself forward and made it halfway across the bridge over the white void.

He was refusing help. Sans had to approach from behind to not provoke the other. "Look, Gaster. I know you don't normally accept help from others but, please, let us just this once help you get back to the lab. After that you can take care of yourself. Please." Gaster still refused.

"I-I can get there m-myself." He muttered, causing Sans to worry more when he moved to keep going. Sans figured he could catch him in time since fighting wouldn't be worth it in the end.

Gaster made it past the first area fine, even if there were close calls. His bones started to shake as he got to the second area, causing more worry than before.

He won't make it past the second area at this rate. Sans realized this quick and tries to convince him again. "I really think you should let us help-"

"No!" Gaster yelled, turning his head slightly to look at Sans. He kept refusing help yet moving forward. He looked ahead and began to stumble again. The strong skeleton that could carry massive burdens was gone, as if being crushed by it. It was clear he was going to collapse soon from exerting himself.

The scientist teetered near the edge as he tried to keep walking. Sans tried to get closer but ended up making Gaster whip his head around and lose his balance. Next thing Sans knew, he had to reach over the edge to catch Gaster by the wrist.

He wasn't fighting this time. Instead, he stared up at Sans with his blurry eyelights. He didn't grab onto the other, though, to keep from falling. He just watched as he slipped from the other's grip slowly. Sans grabbed him by the soul with his magic as he heard gasps and the work crew running to get help.

Sans never really used his magic often like Gaster did. Maybe occasionally he would teleport past a door or downstairs to be slightly lazy, but it wouldn't have much effect on a moment like now. He struggled to hold Gaster up without straining himself.

"J-just… let go…" Gaster mumbled and closed his eyesockets. "D-don't hurt yourself over me."

Sans tried to argue, wanting to insist it was the lack of energy getting to his head. "If I let you go now, you won't be back. I'd bever be able to forgive myself then."

"And Papyrus n-needs a brother more than he needs me. You f-falling with me won't help the situation at all, w-will it?" Gaster sadly had a point and Sans knew that. He wished the other didn't, even if it would be strange that way. Tears began to form in his eyesockets.

"What about the people that don't want you to go?" Sans asks, trying to pull the other up although his lack of magic nade the other heavier. "They're getting help anyways, so I just have to hold out a bit longer."

Gaster let out one of his trademark sighs. "This wouldn't be the first time I've hurt people around me. It's just finally time for the final one. For it all to stop." He opened his eyesockets and stared at the other. Sans stared back as he made the hard decision to take the other's request seriously.

He let go and watched Gaster continue to fall into the white void, almost looking peaceful. He could almost hear the doors open behind him.

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[Index]

[codyswritings]

Reliving Summer

Brunswick Farms. Finally, a place to rest and get away from this snow. It was a little eerie how it was abandoned, but at this point, Ruby figured it was better than nothing.

They entered the farmhouse, and were greeted with silence. The inside looked just as abandoned as the outside, with dusty old furniture, broken, boarded up windows, no sense of light anywhere. 

“Well, it’s not pretty, but it’ll do for now.” Qrow commented, taking another swig of his flask.

“At least we’re finally out of that snow.” said Blake, rubbing her arms to keep warm despite wearing a coat.

“You’re telling me!” Maria agreed, already making her way down a hallway across from the entrance.

“Where are you going?” Yang asked.

Maria looked back and answered, “To find myself a bath.” and left of her own accord.

“We should all try and find rooms.” Qrow suggested. “It’s gonna be a long night.”

Everyone broke off in search to find their rooms. A farmhouse this big had to have a lot. Thankfully, they were right, and they each managed to find their own to sleep in. After a nice, hot shower, Ruby was grateful to finally be able to get some rest. Though, she was sad their weren’t any bunk-beds this time.

She was also upset she couldn’t sleep. So much happened in such a short amount of time, it was hard to push it all away. Ozpin and Salem, the Gods, immortality and reincarnation, so much was shown at once the moment Ruby spoke Jinn’s name.

The relic stood on a nightstand beside Ruby’s bed, emitting a soft blue glow like its own personal night-light. Ruby kept her eyes on it, watching it, wondering exactly what the final question she should ask be.

Salem was immortal, there was no beating her. Ozpin lied to them with no plan of attack. The most important questions she had were already answered. What else was there?

A knock on the door broke her thoughts, “Ruby?” Yang’s voice called from behind.

“Come in!” Ruby answered, shifting over to sit on the edge of her bed.

The door opened, and in walked the rest of her team, closing the door behind them. Yang, Weiss and Blake stood around Ruby, eyeing the relic.

“Have you thought about what to ask it next?” Weiss asked.

Ruby took a moment, “No.” and hung her head low.

“Well, if you ask me,” Yang spoke, crossing her arms, “I think we should it what to do with Ozpin.”

Ruby shot her head to protest, “Yang...”

“Ruby, he lied to us! He signed us up in a war against Salem, and she can’t even be killed!”

Though they both didn’t like it, Blake and Weiss had to agree. 

“You saw what Jinn showed us.” Blake added. “And you heard what Ozpin said.”

Ruby hung her head again. She understood her team’s feelings, she felt them too. She was angry, and confused, and sad at the same time. How can they fight someone who can’t be beaten? How can they trust someone who constantly lied to them? Ugh, it was all so frustrating!

Weiss must’ve known what she was feeling, as she sat next to Ruby on her bedside, and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder.

“I know it’s not easy to comprehend, Ruby, so maybe you can ask the relic a question that doesn’t...” she glared at Yang, “...deal with immortals and Gods.”

Yang could only look at her boots.

“What kind of question should we ask it?” Blake wondered, kneeling down to eye-level with the relic.

“I’ve got one.” Uncle Qrow’s voice took their attention. Of course, he was drunk again. Pushing himself off the doorframe, Qrow stumbled and slurred, “How about you ask it why I spent my life... following a pathological liar. Or, how about why that liar... lied to me? OR...”

“QROW!” Ruby exclaimed, standing up from her bed. Qrow stopped in his tracks. The small leader sighed, “I know you’re all angry. I am, too! But this is something I need to think about! So, please, let me think.”

Every went silent. Qrow sighed, “Do whatever you think is best, kiddo.”

Ruby turned her attention to the relic, taking it in her hands. After a deep breathe, she spoke the name, “Jinn.”

From her hands, the relic floated, stopping at the center of the room. From the blue smoke, the blue beauty Jinn appeared, just as coy as before. “My, this is a surprise! I haven’t been summoned this before! So tell me, what knowledge do you seek?”

Ruby took a moment to think. If she couldn’t ask about Ozpin or Salem anymore, than maybe... “Jinn, you can answer any question.”

“Correct, little one. As long as it’s not about the future.” Jinn crossed her arms.

Ruby’s hand hovered above her chest, her eyes locked on her cape that was neatly folded on the nightstand behind her, next to where the relic was previously. “But you can show the past.” she brought her attention back to Jinn.

“Of course.”

“Than...” it was now, or never. “Can... you tell me... what happened to my Mom?”

The mood in the room skidded and crashed. Everyone was shocked, Yang, Weiss, Blake. Qrow’s flask fell from his hands, crashing to the floor with a clink and a thud. “Ruby...” was all he could say, before everything went white.

“Ruby...?” he called out into the void. “Ruby!” but nothing was there, until a wall of blue smoke ascended around him. After a moment of clarity, Qrow finally began to see where he was. He recognized the wooden structure, he recognized the kitchen, he recognized the furniture and the pictures...

And he recognized the white hood. “No...”

There, standing at the center of the living room with Tai, was Summer Rose.

“Mom?” Yang said in a state of shock. It had been so long since she’d seen her and Dad together.

“Do you really have to go?” Tai asked in concern.

“I’m sorry, Tai, but Ozpin needs me on this mission, and you and Qrow need to look after our daughters.”

Qrow was frozen. Summer was there, right there. He instinctively went to reach out for her, but pulled back remembering, even in his drunken state, he couldn’t touch her.

Tai sighed, lowering his head. “I don’t like it. I should be there with you.”

Summer placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and smiled. “I know, honey. But you’re needed here. Besides, Yang needs to make sure you and Qrow are kept in line.”

They both shared a good laugh. Qrow actually forgot what her laugh sounded like. It nearly brought tears to his eyes.

When they calmed down, Tai only put his hands around her shoulders and said, “Just... be safe, okay?”

Summer smiled, “I promise.” and they both embraced. They would’ve stayed in each other’s arms forever, had Yang not ran in.

“Mommy! Mommy!” the little blonde in the orange t-shirt and pigtails shouted in excitement, a little Ruby behind her looking nervous. Yang was still, taken aback by how young she and her sister looked. But other than that, “I remember this day.”

Breaking away from Tai and crouching to look at her daughters, Summer asked, “What is it, sweetie?”

“Ruby wants to show you something!”

Summer’s eyes lit up, and her attention was on her littlest one, “What is it, Ruby?”

Yang’s heart strings were suddenly being tugged, “No...” she didn’t want to see it again.

The little Ruby, in her own red t-shirt and black skirt, held a piece of paper in her hands. She looked nervous, as if she was afraid her Mom wouldn’t like it.

“It’s okay, Ruby. You can show me.” Summer assured her, giving Ruby a smile neither Qrow nor Yang had seen in so long.

With a whimper, Ruby held out the piece of paper to her Mom. Summer accepted it, turning it over to see what it had. When she saw, she gasped. It was a drawing of her, and Ruby... together, with the words, “My Hero” written in crayon. 

To anyone else, it would’ve looked crude and sloppy, bu to Summer, it was a masterpiece. One that brought tears to the Super Mom’s silver eyes.

“Oh, Ruby... it’s beautiful. I love it.” she brought her daughter in for a hug.

“Can-can I be like you, Mommy?” little Ruby’s voice tugged at Qrow and Yang’s heart even more, like they were being ripped out of their chests.

“Of course you can, my little petal. And when I get back, I’ll make you all the cookies you want!”

Ruby gasped, her little eyes lighting up with joy, “Really?!”

Summer separated from her daughter, “Yes, sweetie. I promise!” she then looked to Yang. “And you, Yang...” she placed a gentle hand on her daughter’s head. 

Yang didn’t want to hear it again. “Please, don’t say it, Mom.”

“Promise me you’ll look after your little sister, for all your days. Remember, you’re my sunny little dragon, and Ruby is your treasure.”

“Don’t worry, Mommy, I’ll be the strongest dragon ever!” little Yang exclaimed, pumping her arms up like a champion.

Those words brought Yang to her knees.

“Yes, you will!” Summer giggled, and brought her beloved, laughing children in for a group hug.

Another cloud of blue engulfed the world, and Ruby found herself in a field. Only... the field was black, littered with... Grimm! 

Ruby suddenly jumped at the sound of a beowulf’s roar, turning around to see it hovering over her, standing on its hind legs ready to strike. Whether on instinct or habit, Ruby went to reach for her scythe, but stopped when she saw a white blur zip past her, cutting through the beowulf like a knife through butter.

The Grimm fell in half, joining the pile, and standing tall, her own scythe in hand, was Summer Rose. Qrow watched his former teammate walk past with such confidence, it was almost scary. So many lay dead at her feet, and she barely had a scratch on her.

An army of Grimm stood before her. Beowulves, Ursa’s, Nevermore’s in the air, boarbatusk’s. It didn’t matter, in the end. As they charged towards the Silver-Eyed Huntress, Summer continued her stride, not a shot of fear evident on her face. She didn’t care how many there were, they would all fall.

To Qrow, watching Summer fight again was like reliving the past. It was as if he was there with her again, as teammates, as partners. The way she sliced off an Ursa’s head, jumped up into the air and manage to cut off a Nevermore’s wing so it crashed into a group of three beowulve’s, and spun on her back like a dance move to use her scythe to slice apart any Grimm that dared to get close... 

For Yang, watching Summer only reminded her of Ruby. The way she moved, the way she fought, the way she smirked in the face of danger. Watching her Mother use her own scythe as a spear to chuck into two Beowulve’s and an Ursa, and somehow manage to dodge every oncoming strike around her like a cat, and then use that Grimm spear to flip herself over to smash it into a charging boarbatusk like a Grimm hammer...

It was like watching a ghost.

A number of Grimm still remained, and Summer found herself swarmed. With no other option left, she decided to bring out the big guns. Flashing her eyes open, just as the Grimm were ready to pounce on her, Summer’s silver eyes flowed, and a flash of light engulfed the area around her. When the light dissipated, all that remained was black dust, floating in the air, forgotten. Summer confidently walked through the darkness, stopping directly, coincidentally... in front of Ruby.

For Ruby... watching Summer... was the hardest thing to do. This was her Mother? This was Super Mom? A Silver-Eyed Warrior? Feelings of pride, of sadness, or joy, and sorrow, they all fought inside Ruby the same way Summer fought off the Grimm.

Summer phased through Ruby, the smaller Huntress never taking her eyes off her Mother, as she confidently made her way down the trail. A puff of smoke appeared in the distance, and in its place, was a massive cave.

Not a second later, the blue smoke took Ruby inside the cave, following her Mother. No source of light shined aside from the entrance, but the deeper they went, the darker it got. After a long trek inside, something rumbled. Ruby, startled, jumped when she heard a deep, menacing growl from the darkness.

That was when the eyes opened. Ruby gasped, watching those all-too familiar yellow eyes dart up high into the air, followed by a menacing claw just barely missing Summer as it stomped its way into the ground. From the darkness, Ruby could finally see what awaited her Mother...

A Grimm dragon.

The beast let out a menacing roar, while Summer readied her scythe, and her eyes started to glow. Ruby watched the whole thing as if it were in slow-motion, her Mother and the dragon charging, head-to-head, in a battle of light and dark, when her Mom’s Silver Eyes bathed the cave with light.

It took a second for the light to dissipate, but once it did, Ruby was left confused. She was... back in her room? Her team and Uncle Qrow with her?

“Wh... what happened?”

Jinn answered, “I showed you what happened.”

While Ruby was still overcoming her confusion, Yang was the first to speak, tears still running down her face, “What do you mean?! That can’t be it! You have to tell us what happened!”

Weiss and Blake were too shell-shocked to say anything. Qrow was left staring at the floor, still trying to come to grips with what he just saw.

Jinn answered, “I can’t show you what happened, because that’s all there was to show, and since you’ve already asked your third and final question, I’m afraid I have to leave now.”

And just like, Jinn disappeared into the relic, an angry Yang darting for her, “NO! YOU CAN’T JUST LEAVE US LIKE THAT! SHOW US WHAT HAPPENED!”

“Yang...?” Blake went to reach for her partner, now on one knee in a crying fit.

“Show us... please...” was all Yang could say.

Weiss turned her attention to Ruby, who hadn’t moved since they returned. She looked so... confused, broken. The red-headed Huntress had this look on her face Weiss couldn’t figure out.

“Ruby?” she carefully stepped towards her partner, just as Blake did for Yang. “Ruby? Are you okay?”

Ruby’s thousand yard stare scared Weiss. Where there was once the happy-go-lucky leader and friend she knew, now there was this... broken, speechless little girl, who couldn’t even form words, as tears ran down her face, and suddenly, the walls Ruby had kept up for so long, suddenly broke down, and she collapsed into Weiss’ arms.

Weiss could do nothing but hold her partner, as close as she could. Blake could only do the same. Qrow could only stand there, watching his nieces break down in front of him, unable to do anything, but pick up his flask... and take another swig.