#i will definitely be going back to this breeder to get another later

[kedreeva]

I love her little self soothing palp movement and how she tippity taps things.

Today was the first time she's been out in about 3 weeks- she holed herself up in a nice hammock to molt and just came out a week ago. I fed her once she kicked the molt out, and I've been sitting with her with the cage open daily since. Today she was brave!!

She's also practically doubled in size! She's SO big now compared to her i8 size. She's supposed to move into the bigger enclosure but I still have a few things to get and put in before she can go in, and she couldn't go in there until she was willing to come out of the sling box. I'm hoping she'll come out for a little daily now that she remembers it's okay, so I can move her in before her next molt.

[goldenkoos]

well, i certainly fell behind on my giffing for breeders, didn't i? had some important things in rl i had to tend to and all that, yk yk. but, here's my thoughts about the finale:

luke yelling and cursing at jay? saw that coming from a mile away. the way he was getting more and more frustrated and high-strung, i absolutely knew he was going to mirror his father at one point or another. and the fact that paul was witness to it? and probably had so many memories come back of how awful he was with his anger? oh yeah. ouch. (another turn 'round the sun. nothing changes, nothing new.)

but ... i do also think it was brilliant. bringing the show to a close the exact same way that it started, completing the cycle: except, instead of paul and ally pushing back and forth over who's going to tend the baby, they do it together. i think that speaks volumes, especially with how rocky their marriage was at the beginning of the season / end of season three. it was an excellent way to end the show, right back where it started, all these years later. and, paul and ally definitely didn't have the support circle they needed when they first had luke and ava, but now they're able to give that to luke and take some weight off of his shoulders. is luke younger than they were when they became parents? absolutely. but, having his parents there for him while he's still struggling to adjust to being a dad and all the frustration that comes with it, having support there to hold him up if he needs it ... these characters have gone through so much growth over the course of the show, and paul especially.

something that hit me hard was jackie, and the way her memory was declining with her dementia / alzheimers. now, my own parents are about paul and ally's age, and i'm only the ripe age of 23. but, my grandmother on my father's side is going through the same exact thing, and it's awful to see her declining right before my very eyes. she's also in denial, and still wants to stubbornly remain independent. but, she constantly forgets words for things, or something she spoke with us about on a prior phone call. she isn't bad yet, but she will be, and i hate to think what it'll be like then.

do i think breeders ended happily? well, relatively speaking ... yes. everything ended up relatively okay, and that's just life. that's what breeders was: it was life. shit happens, it is what it is, and you keep on going anyway. you find solutions. you do what you need to do, and sometimes, you can't work shit out. but, sometimes you do find a way. things will never be perfect, but that's damn okay. life doesn't always have a happy ending, and that's okay, too.

what i'm trying to say here is: i originally watched breeders for martin himself. but, god, i fell in love with the show and its characters. each renewal for a new season filled me with so much joy, and each season finale left me eagerly awaiting for the new year so i could see more. i fell in love with the worsleys, and their imperfect lives. i'll miss this show desperately, and you know what? i think i'll start my rewatch from the beginning very soon, because i'm not ready to let go just yet.

[depressedhouseplant]

🔞 In Darkness I Found You 🔞

Chapter 9

Tags: Mentions of miscarriage

A/N: This one goes out to the Taekookers

Yoongi was taking a nap in Hobi’s lap when his phone dinged. It was Tae.

Need your input. Do we have space for another Breeder in the house?

Hobi read the text several times before replying.

What do you mean?

Tae: Got a Breeder in at the hospital this morning. Bad shape. Wouldn’t let anyone near him except me b/c I smelled like Yoongi. Haven’t been able to do anything other than clean him up.

Hobi: Guest room is free again. I can get Yoongi to sit in there for a bit to make it smell like Omega. Is he pregnant, too?

Tae: No idea. Like I said, he won’t let anyone examine him.

Hobi: Bring him & we’ll take care of him.

Tae: Thx x 1000

Hobi: We’re suckers.

Tae: LOL definitely.

Hobi: See you when you get home.

“What was that?” Yoongi rolled over and looked up at Hobi.

“We’re getting a new addition,” Hobi said.

“What do you mean?” Yoongi yawned.

“A Breeder ended up at Tae’s hospital this morning. He didn’t let anyone near him except Tae because he smells like you,” Hobi replied.

“Did he know his name? I might know him,” Yoongi said.

“I don’t think they’ve even gotten that much out of him. It sounds like he was pretty spooked,” Hobi said.

“So was I,” Yoongi smiled when he sat up.

“I’m gonna need you to sit in the guest room for a little while without me. We’re going to put him in there and I want it to smell as little of Alpha as possible,” Hobi said.

“I can do that. Though pup’s favorite spot is my bladder right now,” Yoongi replied. He’d hit the 6 and a half month mark and was looking very pregnant. Hobi put his mouth next to Yoongi’s belly.

“You need to let Omega daddy sit still for a little while. We need to help Uncle Tae. Okay?” Hobi said and kissed the bump. Yoongi laughed. “What?”

“You’re gonna be a great dad,” he said.

“Thank you. Now let’s try and make the newest member of our family welcome,” Hobi smiled back.

Tae got home a few hours later & texted Yoongi this time.

Can you come outside?

“Looks like it's time,” Yoongi said. Hobi was across the hall in their bedroom.

“I’m here if you need me,” Hobi said. Yoongi got up and waddled his pregnant self out to the driveway where Tae was waiting. There was a young Omega in the front seat looking at the floor. Yoongi recognized him, but couldn’t place him. He was just as thin and ragged as Yoongi had been.

“He kept saying ‘they left me to die’. Do you know what that means?” Tae asked.

“Unfortunately I do,” Yoongi replied. “I’ll explain later. Let’s get him inside first.”

Tae opened the door and the Omega flinched. Then he stopped when he smelled Yoongi.

“I know you. You’re the one who escaped,” he said.

“I am. My name’s Yoongi. What’s yours?” Yoongi asked.

“Jungkook,” he said quietly.

“Let Tae help you in the house. I’m not in the best shape right now,” Yoongi gestured to his belly. “He won’t hurt you. He’s been taking care of me and the pup for almost 4 months.”

“Okay,” he said. Tae picked him up and carried him into the house. Even though they went straight to the guest room, Jungkook started to whine when he smelled Hobi.

“It’s okay. That’s my mate, Hobi. He won’t hurt you either. They’re good Alphas,” Yoongi assured him. Tae put Jungkook on the bed. “What does he need?”

“A full checkup including a pregnancy exam,” Tae replied.

“I’m not pregnant,” Jungkook said.

“We need to be sure,” Tae told him.

“I miscarried about a week ago. I think I was 4 months,” he replied.

“So they put you out,” Yoongi said. Jungkook nodded and wrapped his arms around his stomach.

“What does that mean?” Tae asked.

“If a Breeder can’t get pregnant or stay pregnant after a certain amount of time, they’ll get rid of you. They strip you naked and dump you in the middle of nowhere to die of exposure or starvation. They were never short on creativity,” Yoongi explained. “How’d you survive?”

“I found a trail that led to a road. Then someone dropped me off at the hospital,” Jungkook said. “It was my third miscarriage.”

“How long were you there?” Tae asked.

“Two years. I think,” he said.

“It’s August 17, 2019,” Tae said.

“About 2 years then,” Jungkook nodded.

“How old are you?” Yoongi asked.

“Twenty. I’ll be 21 on September 1,” he replied.

“I know you just miscarried, but let him check anyway. I had a stowaway,” Yoongi patted his belly.

“Okay. You’ll stay, right?” Jungkook asked.

“The whole time,” Yoongi assured him.

Yoongi sat up against the wall and Jungkook nestled under his arm.

“Let’s do the worst part first,” Tae said.

“You can do it,” Yoongi said. Jungkook warily pulled down the scrub pants he was wearing and opened his legs only wide enough for Tae to get his hand in.

“Well no wonder you keep miscarrying. You’ve got a cyst the size of a walnut in there,” Tae said.

“A what?” Jungkook asked.

“It’s basically a benign tumor,” Tae clarified.

“Can you get it out?” Jungkook questioned.

“Not with my bare hands,” Tae said. “You’ll need surgery to get it out.” Jungkook squeaked.

“No one’s making you do it right now,” Yoongi said.

“It will have to come out eventually, but it’s not an emergency,” Tae explained.

“Okay,” Jungkook relaxed slightly.

“Let’s get these back on,” Tae helped him pull the pants back up.

“Is it a boy or a girl?” Jungkook asked as Tae continued with the exam.

“Dunno. Decided to be surprised,” Yoongi replied.

“Everybody talked about you after you escaped. No one could figure out how you did it until they changed the pen,” Jungkook said.

“What did they do?” Yoongi wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.

“They made it concrete and smooth. There’s barbed wire at the top now,” Jungkook told him.

“Did you go in there?” Yoongi asked.

“Only twice. I didn’t fight. I just gave up,” Jungkook said.

“I guess in your own way you escaped,” Yoongi said. “They think you’re dead.”

“I think they stopped looking for you or maybe just stopped talking about it where we could hear them,” he replied.

“You stumbled your way into the right hospital, Jungkook. Tae is the best there is,” Yoongi told him.

“Just doing my job,” Tae said, but Yoongi didn’t miss the hint of a smile. It was the first time Yoongi had complimented him. “Speaking of, we need to get some food and water in you. What do you like to eat?”

Jungkook stayed glued to Yoongi’s side the rest of the evening. They briefly ventured to the kitchen for dinner. After Tae got Jungkook to eat, Yoongi took him back to the guest room.

“You want to meet my mate?” Yoongi asked.

“Okay,” Jungkook said tentatively.

“Hobi, you can come out now,” Yoongi said. Hobi opened the bedroom door and came out into the hall. Jungkook shrunk more into Yoongi’s side. “It’s okay. Jungkook, this is Hobi. He’s my mate. He’s the one who saved me and this pup. I was going to die and Hobi took us in. He didn’t even blink.”

“I couldn’t exactly leave you half dead in my yard, now could I?” Hobi grinned. Yoongi took his hand.

“Nope, you couldn’t,” he smiled. “They’re good Alphas, Jungkook. Not like the ones we’re used to.”

“Hi Hobi,” he said quietly.

“Hi Jungkook,” Hobi replied.

“It hurt so bad,” he said.

“What did?” Yoongi asked.

“Losing the pups. I didn’t get a break because I didn’t give birth to a full term pup. It still hurt. I still hurt. They were so rough…” he started to cry.

“You’re safe here. I promise. They can’t hurt you anymore,” Yoongi hugged the shaking younger Omega. Hobi looked at him sadly. Less than 6 months ago that had been Yoongi, but there hadn’t had another Omega to comfort him.

“I can sleep by myself tonight. I’ll live,” Hobi told them. Yoongi nodded as Jungkook cried into his shoulder. Omegas who miscarried regularly had it the worst. Especially good looking ones like Jungkook. He may have looked like he’d been on a Breeder farm for 2 years right then, but once he filled out he’d be very handsome. Yoongi understood why he’d been so horribly mistreated. He was probably one of the most desirable, but he was physically incapable of carrying to term. Yoongi knew the surgery to fix it would be minor. Tae mentioned them periodically. The unspoken caveat was Jungkook would need to have it removed if he ever wanted to stay pregnant. There was plenty of time for that. Right now he needed to feel safe.

“Come on. Let’s get you into something not hospital issue,” Yoongi said.

“They smell like Alpha, but they should fit,” Tae came down the hall with some of his old clothes. He was slightly bigger than Hobi and so was Jungkook.

“Thank you,” Jungkook said as he took them.

“My room is upstairs, but I’ll stay down here tonight in case you need anything,” Tae said. “The couch is very comfortable when the dogs aren’t hogging it.”

“Thanks Tae,” Yoongi said. “Go get changed.” He pointed Jungkook toward the bathroom.

“What’s your expert opinion?” Tae asked.

“He had it rough, but in a different way. I’m sure they bred him like crazy and then blamed him when he lost the pups,” Yoongi replied.

“That cyst will have to come out eventually whether he wants to get pregnant or not,” Tae said. “I’m surprised it isn’t causing him any pain.”

“It might be and he doesn’t know it. We suffered a lot and it’s hard to tell what hurts and why after a while,” Yoongi sighed. “As the rest of him heals, it might start to hurt.”

“Then we’ll talk about it,” Tae said.

“Exactly,” Yoongi replied.

They heard shuffling behind them and Jungkook had come out of the bathroom holding the scrubs.

“Thank you,” he held them out to directly to Tae rather than passing them through Yoongi. Yoongi remembered that feeling - a paralyzing fear of Alphas, body in so much pain you can barely move, but the smell. The smell that cut through all of it. Tae smelled similar to Hobi, but that wasn’t unusual for siblings. He had the same warm, spicy undertone. Jungkook had gotten a whiff of it and there was no going back.

“You should sleep,” Tae said.

“I’ll stay with you,” Yoongi said.

“Tae can stay,” Jungkook looked at Yoongi.

“Are you sure?” Of course he was sure, he was drunk on Tae’s scent.

“Yeah,” Jungkook looked at Tae. “What Yoongi said is true, right? You’re a good Alpha?”

“I’ll sleep on the floor if you want me to,” Tae said.

“I’ll let you two sort this out. Pup’s on the bladder again,” Yoongi said.

“Good night,” they said.

“I thought you were bunking with Jungkook tonight,” Hobi said when Yoongi came in the bedroom.

“Jungkook has fallen victim to the intoxicating fragrance of your younger sibling,” Yoongi replied.

“Oh really?” Hobi said.

“Not all that different than my first night here,” Yoongi got into bed.

“What do we smell like?” Hobi asked.

“Warm, comforting, safe,” Yoongi replied.

“And you say I stink like an Alpha,” Hobi got behind him and wrapped his arms around Yoongi’s belly.

“A good smelling Alpha,” Yoongi said.

“I’ll be interested to see how this turns out,” Hobi said.

“Me too,” Yoongi agreed.

When they got up the next morning, the door to the guest bedroom was still closed. Hobi motioned for Yoongi to open it. After flailing back and forth at each other, Yoongi finally cracked open the door. Jungkook was nestled into Tae’s chest with Tae’s arms wrapped around him. Hobi peeked in over Yoongi’s head.

“I think pup has another uncle,” Hobi whispered.

“I think you’re right,” Yoongi said quietly as he closed the door back. Yoongi didn’t mind at all.

[the-crazy-echidna-lady]

I have lots (of cats on the property that are my aunt's, 26 or something, so I'll take pics of the ones in MY house)

These two are (left to right) Cali and Trixie. Here's some more of those two

(trixie's looking at Frankie. She actually likes him now, he was just a wiggly wild puppy at the time so she was like "wtf is that thing")

Trixie in my baby blanket as a kitten (she was like 7 months or something idk we had just moved to Missouri)

Trixie in the window

Trixie and Cali

Cali

Uh I had a bunny when I was little. her name was Binkie, she was a Flemish. She was a baby here (and so was I LMAO)

You can see Trixie in the back of this one (Trixie, we didn't have Cali at the time, never really bothered the rabbit. Sometimes would sleep next to her cage, but that's it.

Here's Binkie itty bitty I could hold her in one hand at age 11.

Lily, our border collie. (she is purebred actually, we have her papers, I have NO CLUE where they went. We got her for $500. The only reason we wanted to make sure she's purebred is because we wanted to know what illnesses and things she would be prone to, as well as making sure WHERE she came from. We had no need for show dog or farming (though she still runs around like a maniac and herds Frankie like a cow (maybe if he'd stop mooing at 3AM it would help her realize he's not a cow))

Literally my fav pic of Lily she looks so goofy

Another fav

Frankie and Lily in the bg. We're unsure what Frankie is, but we've gotta assume he's got lab and pit in him.

demons. Frankie was so little in that one omg

Lily and my mom

Frankie

The white parakeet is no longer with us (guilty me, I was too fast putting my hand in to feed them and he- uhm. Yeah it wasn't good.) Closest to farthest, Pip, Jade, and Azule. Jade and Azule are besties and despite both being male um- they're definitely bi at least- (Their ceres hadn't fully darkened yet in that picture, but all 3 were males.)

This may sound odd, but Buddy, the Cockatiel, is probably my most relatable pet. He's grumpy, freakishly skittish, and talks to himself in the corner. Also loves screaming for attention, which I reluctantly give. (It's also worth noting the breeder we got him from was a JERK and threw him in a brown bag. I almost cried when I saw that. It's been like 11 years (we got him at like 3 months old) and I'm STILL trying to hand tame him, he's so mentally damaged from his past life it's sad. But, as long as no hands are involved, he loves to talk and get up practically face to face. With me anyways. He's just terrified of hands, and I feel bad to force him around them, so unless I'm working with him, I keep my hands behind my back or to my sides. He still gets the love and attention he needs, he just doesn't need the hands too. I can even give him a kiss on the beak. (Not full on, because I don't wanna make him sick ofc)

Shout out to this toy- as in don't get it because Buddy managed to get his damn foot stuck in it and I DID have to grab him and he was terrified of me for a whole ass week. (it was for the parakeets, but Buddy's not always 100% there so he decided to give it a shot-) An honorable mention is Buster, Buddy's mate. I'll try and find a picture for later. She passed away, but she was a sweetheart and pretty well hand tamed. (Came from great breeders, they loved all their birds, even the ones they were going to sell, they still treated like family pets) Buddy and Buster had a baby named Chip, but he sadly passed away too, because we had no clue what to do despite quickly researching, and neither did the birds. (they literally left him to die)

I almost already have 1000 followers and Idk what to even do. This seems like a big ass milestone but I'm boring and idk why you guys are here Like Do what do you want for a special Should I do a video or something idk

[eldritch-spouse]

Can I get uuuuuuh reader who quickly figures out Breg is jackin it over the phone and proceeds to order him around & tease him?

As always, you're a fucking gift to all of your horny fans Pinnie 💕 thank you for being a glorious beacon of debauchery. Rereading your stuff is getting me through my second case of rona. Bless 🫶

--🍆🩲

[Yikes. Hope you're doing well, I only had it once. Fem reader. This a little shorter than usual.]

[Based on this post.]

He looks at the phone in pure agony.

Come on Breg, it's been, what... Half an hour longer than you said you'd be home?

It's natural to be worried, of course, but the breeder knows he could probably just text you to make sure everything's alright. Thing is, he hates texting. It's harder for Breg to read and write than the average person. And how could it not be? He learned those basic skills much later than he should have. It's only natural that he struggles sometimes, that he'd prefer to call you, which doesn't involve spelling- Aka, the bane of his existence.

Plus, he wants to hear your voice. F-For no specific reason...

It's not like he's getting lonely. It's not like he hasn't been thinking of bending you over in his hands and stuffing your holes until- Fuck.

Breathe. Think.

The whole house reeks of you, and he's getting antsy. Breg feels sorry that he's so sexual in nature, that you have to deal with this. That he's not strong enough to just turn away from the phone and jerk off like your run of the mill pervert. Nah, he's done that too much already while he was waiting for you to come back. Now he needs more. Dropping the used shirt the monster was twiddling between his digits, Breg reaches for the device and speed dials basically the only person he bothers to use the thing for, his free hand dropping to his slit in shameless preparation.

Takes a while before you pick up. As if you were debating whether or not to do it in the first place.

" ... Yes? "

Finally! His tail immediately starts wagging.

" Angel! "

There's a pause, then a very tired sigh.

" Breg. "

It's more of a groan than a greeting, something that definitely has the monster biting his lip, purposely misinterpreting the noise. His fingers drift up and down his slightly slick opening.

" Hi. "

It seems he's gone stupid. Or maybe it's just that he's focused on exposing himself.

There's the sound of shuffling from your end. " Uh, yeah- Is something going on? "

Well... That's about as far ahead into this endeavor as Breg thought. Time to toss random shit at the wall and see what sticks. The monster dips a finger into his slit and sighs quietly, the sound easily going unnoticed.

" Uhm no- I mean, yes! A-Aren't you late? You should be home by now. " He stresses.

" Mm? Yeah, I'm just doing some maintenance shopping, I'll be there soon. "

Not soon enough for his tastes.

Two fingers are now dipping into that sheath, rubbing and coiling until they find the tips of his cocks. He shivers a little, jolting at the first real touches to his members. " Do you have to do that now? "

Silence.

" ... Yes? Why? "

The breeder exhales again, this time in frustration, insistently coaxing his lengths out. It's a bit hasty of him, and Breg whines at the stretch of his unprepared slit when the roots of both cocks pop out, then relaxes back onto the couch cushions.

" Breg? You there? "

Shit. What did he say again?

" Uhhm- " Ah! " No, it's just that, I mean, we can do that tomorrow, right? You're not working then, so... Come home? " Very persuasive, that'll work.

There's another long pause of pure silence, one he's not too happy about, since the sound of your voice was helping him feel good just moments ago. The monster lightly strokes his left shaft, waiting, breath picking up slightly.

" Be honest, did something happen? Because it sounds to me like you fucked up again and you don't want to tell me. "

Breg gets a brief flashback of the handful of incidents where he set something in the kitchen on fire and quickly scrambles to soothe you. " No no, I swear! " He stops touching himself for a second. " I- I didn't do anything. "

But what if he had done something?

What if he purposely broke some of your stuff, what if he said he tossed all your plates out the window? Would that make you get home faster? Would you race here just so you could yank the breeder down and put him in his place? Punish him. Hips jut as he resumes pumping, circling the head of his cock with a thumb while he pictures you forcing him to the ground, smothering him for endless time as discipline for being bad. Fuck, he can almost phantom the sensation-

" Breg! "

The monster startles, a whine escaping him at your tone, tough he quickly coughs afterwards. It was far from a smooth maneuver. Never once does he risk stopping the flow of continuous pleasure, switching to his right dick while the left one twitches for more.

" Hhn- Y-Yes? "

" Have I been talking to no one all this time?! "

Not at all. The monster may not have gleamed a single word of your monologue, but he was very attentive to the familiar melody of your voice throughout it. " I'm... " He has to muffle another noise, tail thrashing against the coffee table. " I'm sorry, I got distracted. "

" Doing what? "

Oh, the usual, fucking myself to the thought of you. " N-Nothing. "

Idiot.

This next pregnant pause feels intentional, as if you're pressuring him. " Mhm, yeah. Well, I'm hanging up. "

" NO! " Breg shouts, half in anger half in dread, before he realizes that might have deafened you a good bit. " Please, just don't... "

There's a noise like a snort from your side, then more rustling. " Uhuh, why? "

Well fuck. What can he say now, if not the truth? He's never been good at lying, and you know that as well. He'd rather just tell you the truth and deal with the consequences than try to keep up a ridiculous charade. Breg grips the base of his shaft, pulsing.

" You're jerking off. " It's not even a question.

" I- I just wanna hear your voice... "

Painful quiet.

The breeder flusters, suddenly quiet. " No. N-No, I'm not. " Flawless, you must have been totally convinced by the awful crack in his voice.

" I've been hearing the slick of your hand on your dicks for minutes now. "

Breg halts instantly. Is... Is it really that noticeable? He's not quite sure what to say, maybe apologize? Yes, it feels like you're mad at him.

" Why have you stopped? It's not as if I'm going to ground you for beating off. " A hum, it sounds like you're moving something. " Even if you're a gross degenerate that can't keep it together. "

The insult wounds him a little, though bounces right off when he processes your first words, throbbing against thin air. " You- You want me to keep going? " The disbelief is palpable.

" Do you want to keep going? I didn't start this. "

The ambivalence you're displaying does nothing to calm Breg down. It's as if you expect this from him, which honestly, he can sort of understand when he thinks about all the other less-than-adequate situations you've caught him in. Still, the fact that you'd so nonchalantly let him get away with this is exhilarating.

" I want you here... " The pale monster whines out.

The laugh that rings out is jovial and marvelous, making him shiver and squirm. " Well, I'm not there, so make do. Don't let me stop you. "

Breg's not even sure what he's thanking you for. The fact that you haven't hung up? That you're letting him touch himself to your voice? Who knows... His pace resumes, a little more fevered this time, the breeder makes no effort to muffle his heavy breathing.

" Thank you, angel! "

" C- Can you keep talking? " He requests, in that voice where you'll be able to tell he's wagging his tail like a pup.

" Ugh, so needy... " You click your tongue. " What do you want to hear? "

" Just say things. "

Once more, very helpful of him. But it's not like the monster can spare much thought to eloquence when he just wants to orgasm.

" You know Breg... " The breaks between each word sound measured, either his mate is making an attempt to listen to him or you're just teasing for the sake of it. " Jerking off on a call, licking my used clothes, fingering me in my sleep- I don't think you deserve anything nice at all. "

" N-... No? " His cocks jump anyway, it's not as if he enjoys getting reprimanded, but the breeder is intrigued nonetheless.

" Nope. " You chirp. " What are you gonna do to make it up to me? "

Ohh fuck, anything! Anything anything anyth-

" W-Whatever you want! " If he wasn't pistoning into his own hand before, he is now, whimpering in the back of his throat. Why can't you be here??

" Yeah? " Breg nods, then belatedly realizes you can't see it. " And what do you think I want? "

A series of images flash through his mind's eye like a reel show of senseless depravity. It stuns him. Breg gives a full body shudder, tail tensing upwards while he immediately starts scrambling for words to describe half of what he sees.

" I- I can- Do you want to f-fuck my face? " He's been plagued with thoughts of it lately. You forcing him to kneel as you grind yourself over his features, spreading your scent and your mark on him. " It- I promise it'll feel good, I'll make you feel so good, I love the taste of your sweet pussy I'll- Ahn! Mmf- " A frustrated little moan derails his speech as the breeder gets too lost in his own fantasies, as usual.

" Just talking about it gets you in that state? " There's a bit of incredulity behind your tone.

" Yes, yes- Can you please come home? Please? Angel, I need you... " Words cease altogether as the monster parts his mouth in mounting pleasure, furiously chasing his climax, beads of drool splattering to his chest while he groans nonsensically, a sort of pathetic displeasure that you're not there to help him along. Or lick his cum off, fuck, you always look so hot when you do that.

" Hey, hey- Hands off your junk. "

Breg almost wants to scream. Instead, he hisses quietly, the noise tapering out into a muffled snarl.

" Don't give me that growling! "

Well, you weren't the one told to stop out of nowhere!

" Buh- But you said I could! "

A huff. " I said you could keep touching yourself, not that you can cum. "

" But I wanna... " He pouts. As if that wasn't obvious enough.

" Oh, so you don't want to cum in me then? " It's like you enjoy twisting words, and frankly, that might just be the case.

" N- Wait-! I want to, I want it, please please I'm sorry- "

" Then stop. "

Another grumble.

" Breg. " You warn. " Plug that sopping slit and don't move a fucking muscle, you hear me? "

" ... Yes. " The monster doesn't want to ruin his high, but he's also very much driven to please, sinking two fingers into the space between his opening and the members that stand tall and swollen with need.

" If you can follow those simple instructions, we'll do what you said when I get home, okay? " Breg picks up on another sound from your end, jingling keys, then the revving of an engine. Your car.

His tail is a swishing blur.

" Okay. " Anyone can tell he sounds miserable about staying still however.

There's a hum of approval. " What do we say? "

His cocks pulse. " T-Thank you. "

" Good boy. "

When you hang up, the breeder almost wants to cry, rutting into his own digits as he waits.

He's a good boy.

[blubushie]

have you talked about how you got misty? i feel like you have but i dont remember

I got Misty at the very very start of 2022 from a breeder out near Chico CA (I was going to get a shelter dog because I love shelter dogs but unfortunately they wouldn't adopt to me because I live in a van). The breeder was not responsible and when Misty was given to me, she had fucking parvo. I spent six hours with her and she never stopped vomiting even after we'd been parked for four hours (I thought that maybe it was just carsickness, my childhood dog got carsick when I first brought her home).

But no, four hours later she didn't improve. So I drove her straight to the emergency vet because they were the only one open at that hour, and they immediately took a parvo test. And guess who came up a hard positive. They took her in and I camped out in the carpark until morning. She was stable but her outlook wasn't good ("critical but stable") and I then had to make the drive another hour to a different vet who could hold her in-house and treat her, as the emergency vet was only open at night. She spent ten days in ICU and then she came home, and she spent a month in quarantine at the house. It sucked because I couldn't even pet her with my bare hand due to risk of contamination to my older dogs. I spent less than six hours with my dog before she was taken from me by a preventable disease.

The breeder was fucking horrid. Kept claiming she didn't know she had parvo, but I don't buy that for a second because I asked why Misty was damp when I picked her up and she said it's because she bathed her. Either the woman was drying off Misty's vomit (and thus, as a breeder, must have at least suspected parvo) or she was outright washing the vomit and diarrhoea off of Misty, which would've been a near-definite positive for parvo in a 10-week-old puppy. And the breeder, upon finding out how dire Misty's condition was, insisted I just bring Misty back instead of taking her to a vet. She was very fucking insistent I not take Misty to a vet. I am fully convinced that if I'd brought Misty back she would've just been allowed to die.

Anyway I informed the vet of all this, and then informed animal control when they showed up to take a statement, and last I heard from the officers on the case the breeder is now blacklisted from breeding for the next five years due to not fitting California standards when it comes to disease control and prevention and negligence to provide veterinary care (which is required by law in California for breeders). The vet attested that Misty's stomach was completely empty and she hadn't eaten in at least three days, so there's no way the breeder hadn't known she'd given me a sick and dying dog. And she was content to let it run its course and kill said dog.

Anyway, I got my money back, Misty recovered, and the breeder can no longer breed dogs. I had some behavioural issues with Misty at first because it's incredibly hard to train her--she's headstrong and unfortunately because of her parvo situation she's been very wary of food ever since and she's not food-oriented in the slightest. (This is why she accepts so little treats. It took multiple Macca's runs before she'd accept even a piece of the meat). She nipped a lot, but I've never counted that against her because she's half-Aussie and that's completely normal for her breed and I knew what I was getting into with a herding-retriever mix.

For her it was mostly just training. Sit, stay, heel, things like that. She's learnt as time goes on and she's heavily influenced by praise, but I can't give her too much or she gets too excited and then distracted. She can sit, she's still learning to stay, she can heel (and knows not to jump up on people) but getting her to stop barking once she's riled up is a nightmare. But much like my first dog she picked up my visual cues while working immediately. A rising whistle is "come to me," a short chirp means "look at me," and a simple tilt of my head tells her which direction we're going to go in. It's very useful when she's stopping to sniff something, and she doesn't run off. I left her off-lead in the bush but she always stays on lead around roads except in Outback towns, where she free-roams and goes says hello to people while I do things. One of the funniest sights I've ever seen is walking out of the Daly Waters Pub and whistling for her, and from up the track comes Misty, Kevin the lab behind her, Blackface the goat behind him, and Polly the horse a short distance behind them. All in a row. She's got a massive crush on Kevin. If I park in Daly Waters and open my door she launches over me and bolts off to go find her boyfriend.

This is the first time Misty's been back in California since I got her and she's very much enjoying it, more than I am :]

[booklindworm]

A rant against Karen Traviss' understanding of history and her FAQ answers

Did you base the Mandalorians on the Spartans?

<cite> No. I didn't. </cite> Fair enough.

<cite> I really wish history was taught properly - okay, taught at all - in schools these days, because history is the big storehouse that I plunder for fiction. It breaks my heart to hear from young readers who have no concept even of recent history - the last fifty years - and so can't see the parallels in my books. You don't have to be a historian to read my novels, but you'll get a lot more out of them if you explore history just a little more. Watch a history channel. Read a few books. Visit some museums. Because history is not "then" - it's "now." Everything we experience today is the product of what's happened before. </cite> Yeah, I do to. Please, Ms Traviss, go on, read some books. Might do you some good. And don't just trust the history channels. Their ideas about fact-checking differ wildly.

<cite> But back to Mandos. Not every military society is based on Sparta, strange as that may seem. In fact, the Mandos don't have much in common with the real Spartans at all. </cite> You mean apart from the absolute obsession with the military ["Agoge" by Stephen Hodkinson], fearsome reputation ["A Historical Commentary on Thucydides" by David Cartwright], their general-king ["Sparta" by Marcus Niebuhr Tod], the fact that they practically acted as mercenaries (like Clearch/Κλέαρχος), or the hyper-confidence ("the city is well-fortified that has a wall of men instead of brick" [Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus])...

<cite> A slightly anarchic, non-centralized, fightin' people? Sounded pretty Celtic to me. Since I went down that path, I've learned more about the Celts (especially the Picts), and the more I learn, the more I realise what a dead ringer for Mandos they are. But more of how that happened later... </cite>

The Celtic people are more than one people, more than one culture. Celtic is a language-family! In the last millennium BC nearly every European ethnic group was in some ways Celtic, and they were not one. Later, after the Germanic tribes (also not one people, or a singular group) moved westwards, the Celtic cultures were still counted in the hundreds. Not only Scotland was Celtic! Nearly all of Western Europe was (apart from the Greek and Phoenician settlers on the Mediterranean coasts). The word “Celts” was written down for the first time by Greek authors who later also used the word “Galatians”. The Romans called these people “Gauls”, and this word was used to describe a specific area, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the Cévennes and the Rhine: “Gaul”. So the Celts, the Galatians and the Gauls were all part of the same Celtic civilisation. "Celts, a name applied by ancient writers to a population group occupying lands mainly north of the Mediterranean region from Galicia in the west to Galatia in the east [] Their unity is recognizable by common speech and common artistic traditions" [Waldman & Mason 2006] Mirobrigenses qui Celtici cognominantur. Pliny the Elder, The Natural History; example: C(AIUS) PORCIUS SEVERUS MIROBRIGEN(SIS) CELT(ICUS) -> not just one culture "Their tribes and groups eventually ranged from the British Isles and northern Spain to as far east as Transylvania, the Black Sea coasts, and Galatia in Anatolia and were in part absorbed into the Roman Empire as Britons, Gauls, Boii, Galatians, and Celtiberians. Linguistically they survive in the modern Celtic speakers of Ireland, Highland Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, and Brittany." [Celtic Culture: a historical encyclopedia. by John Koch] "[] the individual CELTIC COUNTRIES and their languages, []" James, Simon (1999). The Atlantic Celts – Ancient People Or Modern Invention. University of Wisconsin Press. "All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae live, another in which the Aquitani live, and the third are those who in their own tongue are called Celtae, in our language Galli." [Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico] <= I had to translate that in school. It's tedious political propaganda. Read also the Comentarii and maybe the paper "Caesar's perception of Gallic social structures" that can be found in "Celtic Chiefdom, Celtic State," Cambridge University Press. The Celtic tribes and nations were diverse. They were pretty organized, with an academic system, roads, trade, and laws. They were not anarchic in any way. They were not warriors - they were mostly farmers. The Celts were first and foremost farmers and livestock breeders

The basic economy of the Celts was mixed farming, and, except in times of unrest, single farmsteads were usual. Owing to the wide variations in terrain and climate, cattle raising was more important than cereal cultivation in some regions.

Suetonius addressing his legionaries said "They are not soldiers—they're not even properly equipped. We've beaten them before." [not entirely sure, but I think that was in Tacitus' Annals]

Regarding the Picts, in particular, which part of their history is "anarchic"? Dál Riata? the Kingdom of Alba? Or are you referring to the warriors that inspired the Hadrian's Wall? Because no one really knows in our days who the fuck they were. The Picts’ name first appears in 297 AD. That is later. <cite> Celts are a good fit with the kind of indomitable, you-can't-kill-'em-off vibe of the Mandos. Reviled by Rome as ignorant savages with no culture or science, and only fit for slaughter or conquest, the Celts were in fact much more civilized than Rome even by modern standards. </cite> That's how the Romans looked at pretty much every culture that wasn't Greek, Roman, Phoenician, Egyptian, or from Mesopotamia (read, if you want, anything Roman or Greek about the Skyths, the Huns, Vandals, Garamantes...).

<cite> They also kicked Roman arse on the battlefield, and were very hard to keep in line, so Rome did what all lying, greedy superpowers do when challenged: they demonized and dehumanized the enemy. (They still used them in their army, of course, but that's only to be expected.) </cite> They were hard to keep in line, but they most definitely did not kick Roman arse on the battlefield. Roman arse was kicked along the borders of the Roman Empire, such as the Rhine, the Danube, the Atlas mountains, etc. And mostly by actually badly organized, slightly anarchic groups, such as the Goths or the Huns (BTW the Huns were not a Germanic people, even though early 20th century British propaganda likes to say so). Though they were also decisively stopped by the Parthians. Who were very organized. Ah well. <cite> While Rome was still leaving its unwanted babies to die on rubbish dumps - a perfectly acceptable form of family planning to this "civilisation" - and keeping women as chattels devoid of rights, the barbarian Celts had a long-standing legal system that not only gave women what we would think of as equal rights, but also protected the rights of the elderly, children, and the disabled. They had a road network across Europe and worldwide trade long before the Romans ever got their act together. And their science - well, their astronomical calculations were so sophisticated that it takes computers to do the same stuff today. </cite> See? You even say yourself that they weren't actually anarchic. Also you're not completely right: 1. women (of most Celtic cultures, with one notable exception being the Irish) were not allowed to become druids, e.g. scientists, physicians, priests, or any other kind of academics, so they did not have equal rights. Also, as in other Indo-European systems, the family was patriarchal. 2. the roads they had were more like paths, and did not span the entirety of Europe; the old roads that are still in use are nearly all of them Roman. Had the Celtic inhabitants of Gallia or Britannia built comparable roads, why would the Romans have invested in building a new system on top? 3. world-wide? Yeah, right. They traded with those who traded with others and so were able to trade with most of southern Eurasia and northern Africa, as well as few northern parts (Balticum, Rus), but that's (surprise) not the whole world. 4. most people use computers for those calculations you mention because its easier. It's not necessary. I can do those calculations - give me some time to study astronomy (I'm a math major, not physics) and some pencils and paper. 5. and - I nearly forgot - the kids didn't die. That was a polite fiction. The harsh truth is that most Roman slaves were Romans... <cite> So - not barbarians. Just a threat to the empire, a culture that wouldn't let the Pax Romana roll over it without a fight. (Except the French tribes, who did roll over, and were regarded by the Germanic Celts [...]) </cite> WTF Germanic Celts? What are you smoking, woman? Isn't it enough that you put every culture speaking a language from the Celtic family in one pot and act as if they were one people, now you have to mix in a different language-family as well? Shall we continue that trend? What about the Mongolian Celts, are they, too, proof that the Celts were badass warriors? I think at this point I just lost all leftover trust in your so-called knowledge. <cite> [...] as being as bad as the Romans. Suck on that, Asterix... </cite> Asterix was definitely a Celt, and unlike the British Celts, he was not a citizen of the Roman Empire.

<cite> Broad brush-stroke time; Celts were not a centralized society but more a network of townships and tribes, a loose alliance of clans who had their own internal spats, but when faced with some uppity outsider would come together to drive off the common threat. </cite> They might have tried, but they didn't. The first and only time a Celtic people really managed to drive off some uppity outsider would be 1922 following the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921*. The fact that France, Spain, Portugal speak Romance languages and the British (or Irish) Isles nearly uniformly speak English should be proof enough.

*Unless you count Asterix. <cite> You couldn't defeat them by cutting off the head. There was no head to cut off. </cite> You mean unlike Boudica and Vercingetorix. Oh wait. Tacitus, in his Annals, said that Boudica's last fight cost 80,000 Britons and 400 Romans their lives. He was probably exaggerating. But it definitely stopped much of the British resistance in its tracks. <cite> To the centralized, formal, rather bureaucratic Romans, for whom the city of Rome was the focus of the whole empire, this was a big does-not-compute. The Celts were everything they didn't understand. And we fear what we don't understand, and we kill what we fear. </cite> While that is totally true, it's also completely off the mark. The Romans demonized the druids, not every Celt, and they were afraid of what was basically an academic network. That had nothing to do with war. <cite> Anyway, Mandos....once I took a single concept - in this case, the idea of clans that operated on a loose alliance system, like the Celts - the rest grew organically. I didn't plan it out in detail from the start. </cite> That's really obvious. Maybe looking at some numbers and remembering that you weren't planning a small, local, rural, medieval community would have helped, too. I mean lets have a look at, say, Scotland (since you specifically mentioned the Picts): they still have less than 6 mio. people all together, and that's today. Mandalore is a sector. A sector of Outer Space with at least 2000 inhabited planets. How do you think that translates? It doesn't. <cite> I just asked myself what a culture of nomadic warriors would value, how they would need to operate to survive, and it all grew inexorably by logical steps. The fact that Mandos ended up as very much like the Celts is proof that the technique of evolving a character or species - find the niche, then work out what fits it - works every time. It creates something very realistic, because that's how real people and real societies develop. </cite> Celtic people were usually not nomadic! And, once again, non of them were predominantly warriors! It's really hard to be a nomadic farmer. I believe the biggest mistake you made, Ms Traviss, is mixing up the Iron Age (and earlier) tribes that did indeed sack Rome and parts of Greece, and that one day would become the people the Romans conquered. And apart from the Picts they really were conquered. <cite> So all I can say about Mandos and Spartans is that the average Mando would probably tell a Spartan to go and put some clothes on, and stop looking like such a big jessie. </cite>

I'd really like to see a Mando – or anyone – wearing full plate without modern or Star Wars technology in Greece. Happy heatstroke. There is a reason they didn't wear a lot (look up the Battle of Hattîn, where crusaders who didn't wear full helmets and wore chainmail* still suffered badly from heat exhaustion). [Nicolle, David (1993), Hattin 1187: Saladin's Greatest Victory] *chainmail apparently can work like a heatsink CONCLUSION You're wrong. And I felt offended by your FAQ answers. QUESTION You're English. You're from England. A group - a nation - that was historically so warlike and so successful that by now we all speak English. A nation that definitely kicked arse against any Celtic nation trying to go against them (until 1921, and they really tried anyway). A nation that had arguably the largest Empire in history. A nation that still is barbaric and warlike enough that a lost football game has people honestly fearing for their lives.

Also, a Germanic group, since you seem to have trouble keeping language-families and cultures apart. If we were to talk about the family, we could add on the current most aggressively attacking nation (USA) plus the former most aggressively attacking nations (the second and third German Reich), also the people who killed off the Roman Empire for good (the Goths and Visigoth), the original berserkers (the Vikings) and claim at the very least the start of BOTH WORLD WARS. Why did you look further?

Some other sources:

Histoire de la vie privée by Georges Duby and Philippe Ariès, the first book  (about the antiquity) I read it translated, my French is ... bad to non-existent

The Day of the Barbarians: The Battle That Led to the Fall of the Roman Empire  (about the Huns) by Alessandro Barbero

If you speak Dutch or German, you might try

Helmut Birkhan: Kelten. Versuch einer Gesamtdarstellung ihrer Kultur, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien

Janssens, Ugo, De Oude Belgen. Geschiedenis, leefgewoontes, mythe en werkelijkheid van de Keltische stammen. Uitgeverij The House of Books

DISCLAIMER

I’m angry and I wrote this down in one session and thus probably made some mistakes. I’m sorry. Or maybe I’m not sorry. I’m still angry. She can’t know who reads her FAQ and at least two of her answers (on her professional website) were offensive to the reader.

[echoalyssa]

Hey, sorry to bother you but I was wondering if I could make a request for Jaden Hossler or Chase Hudson where he cheats on the reader cause he thinks him she is cheating on him when she's actually planning a surprise b-day party or something like that...

I’m SO sorry about the wait, though this was an amazing request and I had so much fun writing this, though it is a tad sad lol. I chose Chase solely because I kinda have a soft spot for him and love him just a tad more than Jaden. Though if you ever want to submit another one for Jaden or have me re-write this one but with Jaden or a slightly different plot PLEASE let me know.

There is language and some slightly explicit mentions so beware! Nothing graphic though.

Chase’s POV

She’d been gone a lot in the past week, giving him stupid excuses as to why she was. She’d stopped answering her phone and had started sending his calls to voicemail. It was like they weren’t even dating. She’d call him late at night, or during the strangest hours and he had no clue why. She had also turned off her location so he couldn’t see it and when he had asked her she claimed she hadn’t done anything, though he had checked with her best friend and found out that she could still see it.

Chase had tried bringing it up to his girlfriend, but she’d come up with excuses about why she couldn’t talk. She’d always have something else to do instead of hanging out with him. And she used to be at his house every single day.

He’d had hope that it was just a misunderstanding, at least until he saw the snapchat posted by her best male friend, the two of them together, her whispering in his ear. And that had sealed the deal for him. He just knew. She was cheating on him. It was the only reasonable explanation.

He thought he trusted her, at least before this. And now, he most definitely didn’t. She’d given him a reason not to... right?

Y/N’s POV

You’re knee deep in the planning for your boyfriends 19th birthday. Everything needed to be perfect. He’d given you so much, made you happy again, and had done everything to keep you happy. He gave you his all and you gave him everything that you could in return.

Besides just the regular planning, you wanted to get all of his far away friends and family to him. Which meant coordinating flights and accommodating times for people.

Then, you wanted to get him his dream snake. You’d found the perfect breeder. Reliable with a good reputation and animals that were kept in good conditions. The snake was beautiful, you’d hand picked the snake. Knowing exactly what color, size, and gender that Chase was hoping for.

He hadn’t gotten his hands on one because of just how expensive they were. Retailing for more than he could comfortable spend in one setting. Plus he hadn’t been able to find a breeder. You only had because of just how much research, time and effort you had put into this.

You’d had to withdraw from your boyfriend, for the mere fact that you were bad at keeping secrets and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he KNEW about it. You’d even turned your location off because if he checked, the secret would be blown. And of course you missed him terribly but you’d get to be back to spending every single day at his house as soon as you got this all figured out.

Every time you turned around, something would go wrong that you’d then have to fix.

The party was tomorrow, and you couldn’t wait to pick up your boyfriend and surprise him.

Chase’s POV

He knew exactly where to go. The girl that had always given him too much attention, the girl that he knows Y/N despised. He’d always blown her off, made it clear that he wasn’t available or interested but now, now he could go to her.

He strategically posts on his story about being at his favorite burger joint. And barely minutes later, her snap comes in. She asks if she can hang with him. Normally Chase would ignore the message and show Y/N so they could both roll their eyes together.

But this time.. he says yes and sends her the exact location.

And, she shows up. She’s in a top thats way too revealing, and she immediately clings to him, dragging her disgusting fingertips through her hair in a way that feels nothing like hers. He grimaces, but when she leans in to kiss him... he lets her. And of course she gets the entire thing on camera. He knows that it’ll be all over the internet ridiculously soon and that his girlfriend would see it soon. Which is exactly what he wanted. To throw her the way that she did him.

Y/N’s POV

It’s her best friend that brings it to her attention, a somber look on his face. He holds his phone out to her and she knows exactly what shes seeing but at the same time she doesn’t know. It’s her boyfriend... but its not her. He’s... not kissing her. It’s the girl that he’d always trashtalked and shut down. The one that he was always telling her not to worry about.

You hear the broken noise that leaves you, and then a feeling of anger washes over you. Here you are, putting your all into something for Chase and he dares disrespect you this way? All the years the two of you had together thrown away for... for what exactly? Her? The shallow girl who wanted fame and wanted to spread her legs for him. What did he even see in her?

In an instant you’ve reached over, grabbed your best friend and pulled him into you. Your lips touch his and you kiss him roughy, sliding your hand up his shirt. You need to exact revenge upon your boy- well, you suppose that after this he isn’t your boyfriend anymore. Your best friend is tense as your other hand reaches for his belt and you pull.

And then in an instant he’s yanking away from you, wiping furiously at his lips.

“Y/N, you’re hurting. I know you dont mean this.” And then he moves back next to you, wrapping his arms around you. You collapse into him sobbing.

“C-cancel all of-of it. It’s o-over.”

He nods and rubs your back sympathetically.

~~~

You’re standing at Chase’s door, trying to hold in the tears. You’ve bribed yourself by putting on makeup, as a way to keep you from losing it and beginning to ball in front of him. He needed to see you strong. Next to you are the trash bags full of the stuff that he had left at your house. As well as clothes that he’d given you and you had taken from him, and all the gifts from over the years.

You had planned to just leave it at his door and run, but some small part of you needed closure. You needed to know WHY. Why he would through years away for this random girl. And just how long had it been going on between the two of them?

With a shaky hand, you press the doorbell. It rings with a loud clang. Seconds later, the door opens revealing a very ragged looking Chase Hudson. His eyes go wide when he sees you and then they go cold.

“What the hell do you want?” He spits at you.

Immediately your voice rises in pitch. “Excuse you!? How DARE you talk to me that way after all that you’ve done.”

“Are you kidding me? What about what you’ve done?!”

“What have I done Chase? PLEASE tell me what I’ve done so badly to make you throw away our entire relationship!”

“You cheated on me!” He yells, at a volume that the entire neighborhood can probably hear.

“Only AFTER you cheated on me!” You scream back.

“Don’t play dumb with me Y/N, you know you did. That entire week, distant, you were acting suspicious because you were cheating on me!”

“I was planning a surprise birthday party asshole!”

“Y-you-“ he stutters.

“YES! Yes I was Chase. Setting up flights for your family, tracking down your snake, monitoring every detail, for you. And then YOU cheated on ME. I only kissed him after he showed me the picture.”

Chase stutters and you gesture at the bags on the ground.

“That’s your stuff. We’re over. Screw you Chase.” And you whip around, striding down the steps and holding your breath in an attempt to keep the tears at bay.

“Wait!” He calls, but youre at your car now and you dont want to have to listen to anything he has to say.

You fling your car door open, jumping inside and starting the engine. You release the parking brake and speed out of his driveway, in the process you hit one of his garbage cans and it goes flying but quite honestly you could care less.

You speed away from his house, away from the boy you loved. For what very well could be the last time.

[idnek83]

Hey it’s angst o’clock: before Kaz and Gundham get together, when they still kinda hate each other, 2 of the Devas have babies and everyone takes turns babysitting the litter while Gundham works. Kaz’s turn comes and he finds one of the babies has died and fREAKS THE FUCK OUT. Like sobbing cuz he’s never had a pet before let alone seen one die and so he takes the baby and flees and everyone thinks he just straight up stole a baby but really he’s fucking horrified and terrified to tell Gundham cuz he fucked it up and the baby is dead cuz of him somehow. And someone, maybe Sonia, finds him and talks him down and they go to Gundham who is more upset that Kaz “stole” a baby but once he realizes what happens he understands. Being a Breeder he probably sees animal death a lot unfortunately. But he helps comfort Kaz and forgives him and lets him help with the living babies and maybe that’s how they start becoming actual friends and sometime down the line they realize oh fuck I’m actually in love with this dude when did that happen IDK SHOWER THOUGHTS WOULDNT LEAVE ME ALONE I HAD TO TELL SOMEONE SORRY

You think you can come onto my blog and just rip my fucking heart out, huh? Right in front of my mutuals? You think you can just rip my heart out and force me to write something sad so everyone else has to feel sad too?

Good. Cus you 100% can lol.

TW: animal death - It’s mentioned repeatedly and is the central theme of this, so please just skip this one if you think you might be uncomfortable reading it. 

Gundham comes into the class one day and he’s super proud and showing off the baby hamsters to everyone. He’s a little embarrassed to ask for help, but he’s working on a very important conservation project or something, so he asks if anyone would be willing to keep an eye on them for an hour or two at a time over the next few days, insisting that it wouldn’t be hard, all they really had to do was make sure they didn’t escape and call Gundham if something went wrong. At least like half the class offers cus the babies are just so damn cute, Soda only offers cus Sonia did and he’s trying to impress her.

Gundham sets up an enclosure for the hamsters in the classroom, and everyone picks a time to come by to watch them.

When Soda’s turn rolls around a few days later, he’s secretly a little excited. He’s been complaining about it the past few days to keep up appearances, can’t have anyone suspecting that even tough he can’t stand Gundham, he also kind of has a soft spot for him (What? Dudes handsome), but he’s actually pretty psyched to get to spend some time just chilling with the baby hamsters. He’s never had his own pet, but he’s always wanted one.

Anyways, when he gets to the class he checks on all the babies and as far as he can tell they’re all good. He gives pets them for a bit, but then they seem like they’re trying to go to sleep so he leaves them and sits at a desk to play around on his phone for a while. Like 40 minutes later he gets up to check on them again.

They’re pretty much all huddled up, and Soda thinks it’s super cute, but he notices one lying down a bit away from the rest. He assumes it must have rolled away in it’s sleep, or that it got kicked out since its the smallest one, so he goes to move it back over to the hamster pile.

It’s cold when he touches it.

He knows pretty much right away what that means, but he doesn’t want to believe it. He pokes it a bit and tries to scratch it’s whiskers to get it to react, but it doesn’t move. He’s already crying, but then he starts thinkin about how it was probably something on his hands that killed it. He didn’t was his hands after finishing up in his garage, and he must have had oil or something on his hand when he was petting the hamster and now it was dead.

He’s hyperventilating.

He’s worried he killed them all, but looking at the hamster pile, the rest of them all appear to be breathing still. He’s too scared to touch them to make sure.

He’s sure its his fault. His fault for touching the hamster with dirty hands and his fault for not paying more attention. The hamster was probably acting weird before it died, if he had just been paying attention he could have called Gundham and it would still be alive.

He’s a murderer.

Sonia was supposed to be the next person watching the hamsters. He couldn’t let her see the dead baby hamster, couldn’t let her know he killed it. He looks around the room and finds a little box to put it in. He’s chocking on his sobs as he picks up the hamster, and he nearly drops it because his hands are shaking so bad. Once it’s in the box he has to take a moment cus he thinks he might vomit from how guilty he feels. 

There’s like 10 minutes before Sonia is supposed to get there, so he takes one last look at the other hamsters, picks up the little box that has no right feeling as heavy as it does, and leaves.

He doesn’t really know where to go so he just heads up to the roof to get some fresh air and think, sobbing the whole way. He’s pretty sure he saw Sonia down one of the hells on his way up, but he just prays she didn’t see him and that she doesn’t remember how many hamsters there were.

He sits with the box in his lap, shaking. 

He thinks he feels it shift.

His chest seizes up. Was it alive? Had he really not killed it? He can feel the hope swelling up inside him as he slowly opens the box-

It’s dead.

It’s definitely dead and now its lying on its side and its little eyes are staring right at Soda and it takes him a minute to realize his sobs have turned into screams of agony. The hope made it so much worse.

He closes the box again and sets it down so gently beside him, before curling in on himself and just sobbing and screaming into his hands so hard his whole body is shaking from it.

He’s a murderer. He killed a defenseless animal. A baby. It was only a few days old and he killed it.

Suddenly there’s a warm hand on his back, rubbing just a little and bringing him back down to earth. His sobs slowly get weaker and he manages to look up, though his vision is still blurred with tears. He can make out dark clothes, pale skin, and a bright purple scarf. He assumes Gundham is there to punish him.

Gundham just asks him what’s going on, says Sonia called him because one of the hamsters was missing and she thought she had seen Soda running away from the classroom earlier. They assumed he had taken one of the hamsters for himself, but that didn’t explain why he was crying on the roof.

Soda realizes that the only reason Gundham isn’t beating him senseless is because he doesn’t know the hamster is dead.

“I killed it.” He starts sobbing harder the second the word leave his mouth. He feels Gundham’s hand tense on his back

“What.” Gundham definitely sounds pissed now. He’s not yelling, but his voice sounds deadly. Soda accepts that he’s about to get the shit kicked out of him, accepts it even. He deserves it.

“I-it must have been the oil on my h-hands or something, I don’t know. I s-should have been paying more attention, but when I looked at them gain it was-” his voice is cut off by another sob, and he’s just waiting for Gundham to hit him. To his surprise, some of the tension in Gundham’s body dissipates.  

“Where is the poor creature?” Gundham doesn’t sound angry anymore and Soda doesn’t understand. He just gestures towards the box, he’s too much of a coward to even look at it again.

Gundham gets up and opens the box. Soda hear him exhale sadly after a moment, before returning to Soda.

“It would seem we have both been mislead.” Gundham sits beside Soda and starts rubbing his back again. He explains that Soda did not kill the hamster, it seemed like something must not have developed right internally, and it simply died of natural causes. There was nothing either of them could have done to save it. Soda is just amazed how calm Gundham is being.

He asks him why he isn’t more upset, and Gundham sighs and tells him that it’s unfortunately something he sees a lot, so over time he’s just gotten used to it.

Soda’s just like “That fucking sucks.” and Gundham kind of laughs sadly and say “It fucking sucks indeed.” Soda’s kind of startled by Gundham swearing and it forces an awkward little laugh out of him. 

They’re both quite for a while, then Gundham tells him he’s touched by how upset Soda was over the hamsters death, and that he’s sure the hamsters soul appreciated him mourning it, but it is simply part of the circle of life and death, so he shouldn’t get too fixated on it. Soda’s still crying a little but he nods and says he’ll try, Gundham keeps rubbing his back.

They stay up on the roof for a while longer. Soda has mostly stopped crying, but Gundham’s hand is still on his back and he tries not to think too much about it. When they stand, Gundham picks up the box before Soda can even think about it and motions for him to follow him.

They bury it in some nearby woods, Soda insists on leaving some flowers. He asks Gundham not to tell their classmate about how much he cried. Gundham just says ‘of course’, as if they didn’t spend most their free time looking for new ways to get under each other’s skin.

Later, Gundham insists that Soda comes to see the healthy babies, telling him it will help him feel better. Soda is scared to be left alone with them, so Gundham just stays by his side the whole time. Even after Gundham finishes his project and brings them back to his place, he invites Soda over to see them. He starts teaching Soda about proper hamster care and they slowly grow closer and closer.

Sometimes Soda gets a little teary eyed while looking at the other hamsters, and he’s worried Gundham will make fun of him. He never does, he always just silently rubs Soda’s back, until one day he pulls him into a hug as well.

Months later, their relationship has completely turned around. They’re both constantly talking to each other and hanging out, they even occasionally refer to the hamster babies as their children haha. The rest of the class starts making bets on when they’ll realize they’re into each other, but for the time being they’re both happy they were able to finally become friends.

[immortal-dreamer-aes]

I have an obsession with gemstones and military men lets do this

Grif: orange calcite, tries eating plants, plays dead when lunarians arrive, has pieces of almadine to replace lost pieces

Simmons: Almadine Garnet “almadine”, statistics of battles nerd, good at running, replacement arm made from silver alloy (gave up pieces for orange calcite)

Sarge: red jasper “jasp”, laughs during battles, can and will abandon partners to fight lunarians, most likely to be broken by choice, wants a bigger sword than anyone else

Donut: pink diamond, missing right eye but didn’t ask for a replacement, likes helping red beryl with fashion, violently caring to the flowers outside the school, throws their sword a lot

Lopez: Cassiterite, never fully learned how to speak, loses their head a lot, responsible for architecture and weapon repair, sick of everyone’s shit, understands admirabillis but no one believes them

Doc: Alexandrite (violet for doc, red for o’malley), never leaves the school, helps organize medical supplies, gets picked on a lot or just ignored, wants literally one day of rest

Church: Lazulite, breaks a lot, specifically knows what memories are stored where, already been broken a lot but reassembled, lost for a while before returning as a lunarian (ch. 95)

Tucker: Aquamarine, probably looks at some lunarian illustrations and thinks, “they’re hot,” spends too much time arranging their hair, has an adopted admirabillis (junior), has the accidental highest number of gem to lunarians casualty ratio

Caboose: Blue Diamond, talks to every plant and animal along patrol, brings them all home and takes care of them, like seriously their room is a lot of dirt and bugs with birds sitting at the window, scratches their finish a lot, wants a shiro in its full form

Tex: Bort Diamond, has purposely broken other gems if dared, one scratch=death to every living thing in a ten mile radius, only pieces left after most fell into the ocean

Sister: honey calcite, hates Aquamarine’s guts, regales a lot with orange calcite, stands by the chord shore a lot while bored, would also fuck a lunarian or moon gem (diopside)

—————————

Carolina: blue topaz, never leaves a fight with a scratch, judges based on hardness, volunteers for winter shifts, takes after bort but hates them being mentioned, stays with lunarian lazulite

Wash: Celestine, winter gem, formerly super awkward but became battle hardened after losing several partners, trains the younger houseki, everyone loves them

York: citrine, extra with their sword techniques, likes annoying Celestine, former partner of blue topaz, missing left eye (replaced with pearl)

North/South: amethyst twin crystals (slight pigment difference), both sneak out at night, north tries talking to animals and holding them, south tends to scare them away, eventually split apart and get taken to the moon separately

Maine: howlite, definitive proof that low hardness does not mean weakness, og Celestine partner, cassiterite level of mute, never hesitates to take an arrow or spear for others, sleepwalks during hibernation

CT: hawk’s eye, nighttime patrol, sits alone most of the time, secretly watches the winter shift, LOATHES the hardness hierarchy

Wyoming: albite, good at dodging, makes up jokes as a pastime during patrol, also very extra with sword tricks, never stays with a partner for long

Florida/Flowers: turquoise, handmade weapons, the only gem that laughs at albite’s jokes, usually quiet otherwise, briefly partnered with aquamarine before being taken

The triplets (ohio, iowa, and idaho): sodalite cluster, the only trio partnership, all three somehow managed to survive a trip into the ocean, play hypothetical games a lot in boredom, never saw a lunarian until it was too late

—————————

Kimball: euclase, command speaker, former partner of Zircon, cracks at the thought of them now, demanding, needs a damn nap, mom friend of the entire chorus group

Doyle: barite, current partner of Euclase, can barely lift the lightest blade, flinches at the slightest bit of movement in the field, euclase has definitely almost broken them in rage

Palomo: green fluorite, lost partners but barely notices, whines during tasks, stutter of the gods, surprisingly still on earth

Jensen: grossular, likes helping with building and architecture but usually breaks something/someone by accident, also hates going outside

Andersmith: Haüyne, everything is symbolic, pats heads for comfort, parent friend, cracked by zircon once

Bitters: Marcasite, sleeps on patrol, doesn’t move when butterflies land on them, has tried eating plants and failed

Matthews: Pyrite, youngest houseki, listens to every command without question, repeatedly broken during battle but always comes back in one piece, covers for Marcasite’s naps

Grey: sugilite, main doctor, scares Alexandrite, psychoanalysis for life, delays fixing to look into individual pieces, desperately wants to dissect lunarians but chooses not

Locus: Diopside, moon gem, refuses to give up pieces of celestine, prefers larger blade but anything works, scares lunarians to a haunting degree

Felix: zircon, moon gem, knives, purposely tries keeping other gems in pristine condition to break them later, lives for annoying diopside

Sharkface: pyrope, moon gem, has tried breaking zircon multiple times, hangs around admirabillis on the moon, wants to see the ocean one day

—————————

Dylan: lunarian, writes about the gems in-depth, tries her best to save any pieces not crushed to dust yet, sneaks between moon and earth

Jax: admirabillis, everyone really wishes he couldn’t speak but he does, tries eating moon dust to Dylan’s dismay, also sneaks between the moon and earth on sunspots

Temple: chrysocolla, lives alone in the ocean trying to find the pieces of orange fluorite (Biff), washes ashore after a while and harasses lunarian Lazulite, breaks another gem to try and negotiate OF being returned

Genkins: lunarian noble, wears as much jewelry as possible, like symbolic pieces (lazulite, bort, etc.), will swing a weapon at any lunarian or gem without warning

Chrovos: lunarian noble, admirabillis breeder, crushes/sculpts gem pieces, adores Pink diamond (makes them a little eyepatch)

—————————

One: azurite, lives for sparring/training, makes jokes about the older gems, hotheaded, easily runs into battle even against orders, likes being partnered with Spinel

East: spinel, fastest of the squad, also hates the hardness scale, first year almost lost to the ice floes, missing torso pieces, coddled by heliodor (in their own way), hates being partnered with Azurite

Raymond: sphene, most likely to cuddle a shiro until it reforms, forgets the hardness of others half the time, that comes at the consequence of crashing into harder gems and breaking, very jumpy but coordinated

Axel: pyrope, former partner of red diamond, original arms missing replaced with gold/platinum alloy (ice floes trying to save spinel), pun-king, also likes tending to plants

West: heliodor, leader of shatter squad™️, protective of spinel (saw them born from the chord shore), strict to the hardness scale, dad friend, has seen a lot of gems lost

Tiny: yellow topaz, lives for architecture and weapons maintenance, also furniture builder, has cracked a few gems with hugs, the best card player

Diesel: dumortierite, moon gem, lotta different pieces, agate legs, different varieties across body (synthetic and captured), barely remembers their name half the time because of it, has a huge soft spot for red diamond and spinel

Phase: spinel (twin crystal), synthetic in torso holes, good at delivering precise damage, never sticks with one hairstyle or outfit, refuses to be seen on earth, takes everything to hold back smashing Azurite

Zero: red diamond, former partner of Pyrope, it’s big sword or no sword, wants to be the last houseki standing on the moon and earth, former winter shift, sleepwalks

[eldritch-spouse]

Hi Pinnie.

Dumb idea: Person and Breg still in awkward roommate phase. They haven't boned yet. Person accidentally sees Breg jacking it. Evidence suggests he's thinking of her. She sneaks off, pretends she hasn't seen it.

Later, they're watching TV poop like Love is Blind or something DuMb on the couch. Person is in a dress or skirt or something with her feet on his lap. Then she starts to nonchalantly touch herself. Doesn't acknowledge it at all, just continues watching TV. What does that boy do?!

[You want to murder this idiot, don't you?]

That's an apt sort of punishment for him.

Breg is so careless, right? It's never a secret that he's fucking himself when you can hear him groan and growl through the walls, when he leaves the door to his bedroom constantly ajar, when he comes back out for dinner looking sweaty or tuckered out. It's just glaringly obvious that the breeder spends a good portion of his free time choking it out.

And, at first, you're likely to not want to bring that to attention. You need someone to help with rent, and Hell, you don't know that much about monsters to begin with! Some of them probably have higher sex drives than humans, and they have to deal with it somehow, right? Maybe Breg just isn't used to living with another person and having to be subtle about these things. You're definitely getting tired of hearing this dude whimper his brains out...

Hearing him say your name or finding your clothes on his room is what clues you in probably. No matter how dense you are, that's such a glaring red flag that you'd have to be legally blind to miss it.

It's torture, isn't it? Knowing this creep spends hours bringing himself to orgasm at the thought of you. Flattering, but so very torturous, teasing. You've even got Breg's pattern down. He'll be sitting next to you, suddenly you do or say something that gets him hot and bothered and, not even two minutes next, the breeder excuses himself. And you hear his bed creaking.

So, why not give him a taste of his own medicine, right? It makes sense. Serves him right.

Lord, the look on Breg's face when you start touching yourself... He was already not doing too hot, having direct contact with you in such close proximity. This is just the killing blow. He's constantly looking back and forth between your face and the motions of your hand, hoping that maybe you'll say something. Are you- Are you doing this on purpose? For him? Is he even awake right now? Breg would make an initial effort to stay very still, perhaps not to ruin the view he may be unintentionally receiving (who is he kidding-), but all of that self-control goes to shit when the scent of your arousal hits his tongue.

Very carefully, he's going to edge the hem of your dress/skirt upwards, just so he can get a better view. By the point Breg pulls your underwear aside, he's probably already drooling and panting with the effort to keep himself in check. You'll definitely feel him harder than diamonds beneath your legs.

It's only a matter of time until he bats your hand away and finishes the job himself, feverishly asking you if it feels good, if the two of you can do this more often. Do you want to touch him too? He doesn't mind. Can he eat you out? Please? Just one time. Do you want to come again?

I hope you know what you just did, what you just invited into your dynamic with Breg.

Because now, he's going to think it's okay if he just starts playing with his cocks right next to you.

Have fun with that.

[maybeimamuppet]

city of love

hello friends! happy wednesday! this is a request fill for NoaAvrahami6 on Wattpad, who requested the art freaks going on a long vacation/ road trip, and there's a scene to fill a request from aster-alpine on Wattpad (@deadbreadrunning here) who requested them swimming with dolphins :)

also, quick note, I have done absolutely nothing they do in this story, so I apologize for any inaccuracies. I have definitely learned the lesson that is 'write what you know'. I did as much research as my brain could handle and now I know more than I ever wanted to about the Venus de milo.

quick tw for panic attacks, but otherwise, enjoy.

-

Janis is scheming.

Cady is a week away from completing her PhD in mathematics. All she has left to do is defend her dissertation and publish her work, and then she’ll find out if the last four years of work have been worth it. She deserves presents.

Janis has two ideas. The first, is a dog. They have a cat, which Cady had agreed to adopting as a get-well present when Janis had broken her arm several years ago. Elvira is well-loved and very spoiled, but Cady has been begging for a dog. No time like the present. Janis found a reliable rescue breeder who recently had a litter of golden retriever puppies, and would be taking Cady to pick one soon.

Her second idea is a trip. Cady loves to travel, but has been so busy for the last several years that they haven’t gotten an opportunity to go any further than their trips back home to Illinois since their honeymoon in Kenya. Janis has family on her father’s side in France, that she also hasn’t been able to see in several years.

So, she’s booking a flight, also deciding to let Damian come as a surprise. He had recently landed the lead role in a revival of Little Shop of Horrors on Broadway, so he deserves a present too. He doesn’t start rehearsals for another few months, which gives Janis the perfect window of opportunity.

She finds a flight with a few seats available for the evening Cady will (hopefully) receive her degree; a miraculously non-stop flight to Marseille, where her family lives. Janis figures they’ll stop there for a few days, and then travel to Paris to see some of the more iconic sights.

Janis books the tickets, figuring it’ll either be a happy surprise or a consolation trip, and knowing it’s very likely to be the former. She clears her browser history after, in case Cady gets an urge to snoop. Then, she figures she should probably let Damian know to prepare for an international trip in a week.

danis: hey u wanna go to france??

jamian: What did you do

danis: booked us a trip to france

jamian: Janis

jamian: Why

danis: bc my wife becomes a doctor in a week and deserves a gift, and i want you to come. and also bc you got seymour and deserve a gift too

jamian: Oh

jamian: That’s actually really sweet, Jan

danis: it’s my yearly act of goodwill

jamian: I figured lmao

jamian: When are we leaving?

danis: flights on friday at 7, i’ll pick u up. i wanna surprise caddy at her school and then we’ll go right to the airport

jamian: Aww how cute

jamian: Do you need Aaron to watch Ellie?

danis: oh shit yeah i forgot about that

danis: tell him i’ll bring him back whatever he wants as a thank you and a sorry i can’t bring you with us

jamian: U really forgot your whole cat

danis: no!!! i just forgot we can’t bring her!!! i’m a good cat mom!!!!!

jamian: You give her potato chips

jamian: Like on the reg

danis: because she likes them

danis: and i don’t give her enough to hurt her

jamian: Press x to doubt

jamian: Aaron said he’ll cat sit for some chocolates from France and lots of photos

danis: tits i can do that

danis: oh shit caddy’s home i gtg love u

jamian: Love you too tell her I say hi

danis: 📷

“Hey, Peanut, how was your day?” Janis asks gently. Cady lets her exhausted glare answer. “That good, huh? Do you want snuggles?” Cady nods, but signs that she wants to take a shower first. Her day must have been rough if she won’t speak. “Of course, baby, go ahead. I’ll wait for you in the bedroom.”

Cady signs a thank you in return, pecking her gently in greeting and scratching Elvira before heading into the bathroom. Janis decides to go the extra mile today and lights a nice candle in the bedroom, and pulls out a book to read to her. Cady loves the sound of Janis’ voice, so whenever her day has been especially tough they have story time, squeezing in as much of Janis’ voice and good snuggles as they can.

Cady doesn’t return until nearly 45 minutes later, in a set of Janis’ pajamas and with her hair neatly braided over her shoulder. Janis reaches for her, pulling her into a tight cuddle and squeezing gently in case she’s also having a sensory overload.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” She murmurs softly, scratching Cady’s scalp gently in the way that always makes her practically melt in Janis’ lap.

Cady sighs, burying her face in Janis’ chest further. “Just... a lot, today. I have a lot to do, and a lot is riding on this week. I’m gonna be stressed until Friday. And maybe after that, if I don’t make it.”

“You’re gonna make it, baby. You’re a genius, you did two degrees in the time most people do one. And you’ve been working so hard and carefully, I know you’re going to do it. And if you don’t, everybody at that school is catching these hands,” Janis replies.

Cady chuckles at that, finally poking her face out. She grunts slightly as Elvira suddenly jumps onto her back, joining their cuddle puddle happily. “Thanks, Bluejay. You’re... you’ve been the best partner I could’ve asked for, through all of this. I wouldn’t have even made it this far without you.”

“Yes, you would have,” Janis says. “But I’m glad I could be here for you. I love you.”

Cady inches her way up to Janis’ face so as not to disturb the cat snoozing on her back, but makes it and leans in for a kiss. “I love you too. Are you gonna read to me?”

“Yeah, if you want,” Janis replies. “Figured it might cheer you up a bit.”

Cady nods happily, cuddling into her and resting her head on her shoulder. She’s sound asleep before Janis even reaches the third chapter, so Janis sets an alarm and joins her in an impromptu nap.

————-

Cady barely speaks for the next few days, frantically studying, rehearsing, and proofreading everything. Janis is worried, but knows there’s not a lot she can do. She stays out of her way and brings her caffeinated teas and snacks from time to time.

The day before D-Day, Janis makes waffles for dinner, Cady’s favorite. Cady is still at the desk in their bedroom, where she’s been for nearly six days straight.

“Hey,” Janis says gently as she comes to drop off her plate. She usually eats her own dinner on the bed, spending time with Cady as she studies. But this time, Cady snatches her wrist once she sets the plate down and won’t let her leave. “You okay?”

Cady hasn’t looked at her yet, but doesn’t let go of her arm. She just stares at her massive book, clutching Janis’ wrist like a lifeline, like it’s the only thing holding her to Earth. Suddenly, she lets out a choked sob.

“Baby, hey,” Janis says softly. “What’s the matter?”

“I can’t do this, Janis,” Cady cries desperately. “I-I dont-I can’t-“

“Hey, shh,” Janis hushes. “Come here, get away from this for now.” She picks Cady up from her chair and carries her to the bed, letting Cady lock tight around her and sob into her shoulder. “What’s going on?”

“I can’t do it,” Cady wails. “It’s not good enough, and I’m- and I’m out of time, I can’t- I can’t do it!” She suddenly starts crying much harder, and is practically gasping for breath in between sobs.

“Baby, hey, look at me,” Janis insists, cupping her cheeks to look into her eyes. They’re wide and frantic, she looks terrified. She’s having an anxiety attack. Janis quickly tries to remember what she does for her own. The countdown strategy pops into her head, and she decides it’s worth a try. “Focus on me, okay? Tell me five things you can see.”

Cady chokes another sob and clings to her desperately, but manages to splutter out a reply. “Um-um... you-your face, and um-and... um... cat, and... the-and your p-painting, and the cl-the clock, and your tattoos.”

“Good, Butterfly,” Janis says gently. She holds Cady’s face again gently when she tries to look back to the desk. “No, hey, don’t look over there. Tell me four things you can hear.”

“There’s a-there’s a siren, outside,” Cady sobs. “And... and a bird, and... um... you talk-talking, and the-the cat. Chat-chattering.”

“You’re doing good, angel, breathe,” Janis says. “Three things you can feel.”

“Hold-holding me, you-you holding m-me,” Cady chokes. “And the-the bed. ‘S soft. And-and your hair. Tickles.”

“Another breath, baby. Two things you can smell,” Janis coaxes gently.

“Dinner,” Cady whimpers. “And you-your shampoo. Apples.”

“Almost done, baby, what’s something you can taste?” Janis asks, holding her tighter.

“Tea. From earlier,” Cady sniffles.

“Good job, Butterfly. Are you feeling any better?” Janis asks quietly, laying them down and squishing Cady on top of her. Cady nods slightly against her shoulder.

“A little,” she says quietly. She’s still crying, but sounds much less frantic. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, angel, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Janis says as she kisses her forehead. “Can you tell me what’s happening now?”

Cady takes a deep breath, trying to gather her thoughts. “I’m scared. I’ve had years to get this right, get it perfect. It’s not. I don’t... I’m scared to defend it, what if I mess up, or... stutter or stim too much and I don’t pass?”

“If you don’t pass for stuttering or stimming during your speech then everyone grading you is fucking ableist and I will fight all of them,” Janis growls protectively. “But we can figure something out later if it worries you. And I’m positive your dissertation and thesis are wonderful. You’ve been working so hard, non-stop, for years. It may not be perfect, but if you’ve been doing anything but your best work all these years I’ll be stunned. You’re going to pass, and you’ll be Doctor Heron, and then I have a surprise for you to celebrate.”

“A surprise?” Cady asks quietly with a sniffle. “What did you get?”

“It’s a surprise, Peanut,” Janis chuckles. “You’ll find out tomorrow. But I think you’ll like it.”

“Okay,” Cady says so sadly that Janis wants to spoil everything now. But she manages to resist, knowing her reaction tomorrow will be better. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, baby. Eat with me, you need a break,” Janis says as she grabs Cady’s plate from the desk. “Bed picnic.”

Cady reaches for her just barely warm waffles. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Janis says as she leans over for a kiss.

“Can I try to guess what you got?” Cady asks with a bit more energy.

“Sure,” Janis chuckles. “But even if you guess it I’m not gonna tell you.”

Cady groans. “I wanna knoooooow.”

“And you will know tomorrow,” Janis giggles. “Guess away, Butterfly.”

“A puppy?” Cady asks.

Yes, Janis thinks. “No.” She says.

Cady pouts. “Um... did you paint me something?”

“Nope,” Janis chuckles as she takes another bite of her waffles.

“Hm... a... can you give me a hint?” Cady pleads. Janis tries her hardest to resist the puppy eyes.

“Fine, one hint,” Janis groans. The puppy eyes still haven’t lost their magic. “Think bigger.”

“Bigger... um... two puppies?”

“No,” Janis laughs. “Just eat. You’ll find out in less than a day, you can live with not knowing for that long.”

“Fine,” Cady grumbles. She finishes her waffles quietly and cuddles back into Janis. “Can you stay? I need to proofread it again but I don’t want to be alone.”

“Sure, Kitkat. Let me wash the dishes and I’ll be right back,” Janis replies. She rushes through scrubbing their plates and everything clean, then grabs her easel and joins Cady in the bedroom. She paints away while Cady reads, both of them working in comfortable silence. Janis has always loved these moments, where the silence doesn’t need to be filled, and they’re both content to just be with each other.

Cady finishes several hours later, closing her book with a deep sigh. “Jay?”

“Mm?” Janis hums in reply.

“You said we could figure something out. To stop me stimming,” Cady says as she turns to face her.

“I never said I’d stop you stimming,” Janis says, stepping around her easel. “I just meant that we’d find a way to make it less obvious, if you’re so worried about it.”

“Oh.”

Janis reaches for her. “Why are you so worried about it?”

Cady comes to nuzzle into her embrace quietly. “I dunno. It’s... it can be embarrassing, sometimes. I’ve done all this stuff, I’m hopefully about to get my PhD, but I still have to... curl my toes a certain way or flick my hands or fold myself up like a pretzel to get my brain to work like everyone else’s. And people stare, you can tell they think I’m childish.”

Janis hums sadly. “I get it, but it shouldn’t be something to be ashamed of. It doesn’t make you any less professional, or brilliant, it just helps you regulate, right?” Cady nods against her chest. “Yeah. You have all this knowledge in your brain now, it makes sense it needs a little wiggle to help kick it in gear and sort it all out.”

Cady chuckles. “Thanks, Jayjay.”

“And it feels good, remember when I tried all your favorites?” Janis says. “Satisfying.”

“Oh, yeah, it feels so good,” Cady laughs. “But what plan do you have?”

“Pick what you’re gonna wear tomorrow and make sure it has pockets,” Janis replies. “Big ones.”

“Where are you going?” Cady calls as she roots through her closet.

“Nowhere, hang on!” Janis calls back from the living room. She comes back with a necklace, a small cube, and a few other small stim toys she had ordered. Cady looks at them curiously as she pulls out a formal blue jumpsuit and blazer from the closet.

“What are those?” She asks as she rests it on their bed.

“Stim stuff. I made this one,” Janis says as she holds up the cube. “Julie sent me some of her old Legos, and then there’s a spring inside so it’s a little button. And it doesn’t make any noise or anything.”

Cady takes it curiously, pushing the button in the center a few times. “You made this? For me?”

“Yeah, of course. I made this too,” Janis says as she hands over the necklace. “I ordered the charm, it’s a chewy one, and then put the beads on so it’s not, like, obvious it’s a chewy necklace. I figured you could have it on if you wanted, it might help.”

Cady takes the necklace too, gnawing on the charm gently to test it out. Janis thought ahead, the chain is one she can handle. “Thank you, mpenzi.”

“And then I bought these. You can have them in your pocket and use them there, nobody would know if you didn’t want them to. They’d just think you were holding your hands in your pockets,” Janis says rapidly. “Oh, and you can borrow some of my shoes so you have room to move your feet inside, that won’t be noticeable either.”

Cady throws herself at Janis, knocking her backwards onto the bed and kissing her hard. “I love you so much. You’re perfect. Thank you.”

Janis kisses her back just as hard, tangling her hand in her hair and resting the other just above her bum. “You’re welcome, Butterfly. I love you too.”

Cady kisses her again gently, brushing their lips together a few times. “I’m sorry, by the way. I know I’ve been ignoring you this week, you don’t deserve that.”

“Babe, you’ve barely slept this week, and you only eat when I bring you food, I’m more worried about that,” Janis chuckles. “I get the rest of my life with you, wifey. I can handle a week for you to work every now and again. After tomorrow we get to spend more time together again anyway.”

Cady smiles at her. “We’ll do something special. I’m gonna shower, but I wanna cuddle you all night tonight. You’re right, I need more sleep anyway.”

“Okay, Kitkat. Have fun,” Janis says as she pushes her wife towards the en-suite. “I’ll be here.”

-

Janis remembers she forgot to feed Elvira her own dinner when she comes to plop onto her lap.

“Sorry, Ellie, I forgot to feed you,” Janis chuckles as she scratches her ear. “Let’s go.”

Elvira trots off to the kitchen, Janis following quickly behind her. Ellie meows at her when they finally reach the fridge, stretching up to peek in as Janis opens it.

“Hold on, you get a new can tonight,” Janis says in response to Elvira’s questioning chirp. She heads to the closet to grab one, noticing the air mattress on the top shelf they had bought for a camping trip. “Hm.”

Janis scoops out some of her food into her bowl and puts the can in the fridge, then grabs the air mattress from the shelf along with the pump for it.

“God, why is this thing so loud? Some of us have mattresses to blow up in secret,” Janis hisses. Once it’s done, she realizes she probably should have done it outside as she tries to shove it through the door. She grabs some sheets from the closet and the blankets from their bed, making a lovely little nest on their balcony.

Cady comes out of the shower as she’s fluffing the pillows, calling for her as she brushes her hair out.

“Jay? Are you okay? I heard noises,” she says as she comes out wrapped in her bathrobe. “What happened to our bed?”

“I’m fine, put on something warm and come here,” Janis calls from the other room.

“Okay,” Cady says nervously. “What are you up to?”

“God, you set a bunch of chickens loose in a school one time and suddenly you can’t surprise anyone anymore,” Janis jokes. “Just come here, you’re gonna like it.”

“I like your surprises, but you can be a little extra sometimes,” Cady teases. “Oh my god.”

“You like it?” Janis says. “We haven’t been able to do this for a whi-ack!” She grunts slightly as Cady leaps into her embrace, smooching all over her face.

“I love it, and I love you,” Cady says. “So much.”

“I love you more,” Janis teases as she carries her outside.

“No, I love you more,” Cady responds as she’s laid down gently. “I love you most.”

“Mm, you can’t win this fight, Peanut,” Janis hums, getting cut off as Cady pulls her down to kiss her hungrily.

“Then let me show you.”

————-

The next morning, Janis wakes up with Cady (very early) and makes a special breakfast with lots of fruit and protein. Cady eats happily but silently, once again giving a last proofread of all her materials.

Janis gives her a big hug and sweet kiss before she sends her out the door, Cady dressed in her fancy outfit, Janis’ shoes, and with her pockets full of stim toys.

Janis has to pack quickly once she’s gone, carefully but hastily packing their suitcase and carry on bags based on a list she’s incredibly thankful she had the foresight to make.

-

In the late afternoon, Janis picks Damian up in their Uber to Cady’s school to surprise her. He puts his suitcase in the trunk along with what looks to be a poster.

He shakes with excitement as he climbs in next to her, and they both chat excitedly about their plans for France. Before they know it, they’re at Cady’s university and ready to surprise her.

“Aww, you made her a sign?” Janis asks as she finally hugs him.

“Yeah, duh,” Damian says, showing off his ‘Congrats Doctor Heron!’ poster. “And it’s reversible in case of disaster.” He flips it around and shows it says ‘Good job anyway!’ on the other side.

“She’ll love it,” Janis says as she starts bouncing anxiously. “She’ll be happy to see you, too, she doesn’t even know we’re here.”

“Aww. I’m excited to see her reaction, do you remember when you threw that picnic before we graduated high school? That was nothing compared to this and she was so fucking excited,” Damian says.

“Yeah. She’s so cute,” Janis says. Her phone starts ringing suddenly. “Oh, it’s her, this is it.”

Damian squeals as she picks up and switches to speakerphone.

“Jay, I did it!” Cady calls loudly through the speakers. “I did it! I got it, I’m a doctor!”

Janis and Damian both start jumping up at down at the same time. “Congratulations, baby! I’m so proud of you!” Janis says. Damian stays quiet but is visibly trying to hold back his own comments. They see her come bursting out the doors then, running down the steps. “Hey, look to your right. No, other right.”

Cady looks to see her wife and best friend waiting for her and bouncing to get her attention. She runs towards them, laughing happily. “What are you doing here?! Oh my god, you made a sign and everything!”

“This is your surprise!” Janis laughs as her wife jumps into her arms. She spins her around a few times before Cady reaches out for Damian, so he pulls her into another tight hug to congratulate her.

“My best friend is a doctor!” Damian calls loudly as he also spins her around before wrapping her up protectively.

“Why do you guys have suitcases?” Cady asks confusedly, slightly muffled as her face is squished against Damian.

“Because we’re going on a trip!” Janis answers. “I told you to think bigger yesterday, this is it! Our flight is in a few hours, we have to go to the airport.”

“A trip?” Cady squeals happily. “Where are we going?!”

“France,” Janis tries to answer, barely getting the word out before she’s cut off by the most adorable squeal she’s ever heard and her wife leaping into her arms again. “Are you excited?”

“Yes! Of course I’m excited, oh my god!” Cady shrieks. “This is the best day ever!”

“Good! I packed a comfy outfit in your carry on, you can change at the airport,” Janis laughs happily as Cady kisses her over and over.

“Okay, come on! Let’s go, let’s go let’s go! I wanna go to France!” Cady calls, lugging them both towards the parking lot.

Janis and Damian both laugh as they’re dragged away. “Peanut, slow down, we have time.”

“Oh. Oops,” Cady says sheepishly. “But come on, I’m excited, let’s go!”

“We can tell, Cads, just slow down,” Damian pants. “Be excited at a reasonable speed.”

Cady’s bouncing now that they’ve stopped walking, having to get her excitement out somehow. “Janis, carry me, I can’t slow down.”

“Okay, come here,” Janis laughs, carrying Cady piggyback to their next Uber.

————-

Cady heads into the bathroom once they’ve passed security to change out of her formal outfit, but she leaves the necklace on and has the stim toy Janis made for her in her hand. She’s trying to gently stuff her poster in her bag as she walks back. She insisted on keeping it, even though Damian said she didn’t have to. Miraculously, she manages to make it fit without too much damage.

She tugs her carry on backpack back on as she approaches Janis and Damian again. “Where are we going in France?” She asks once they’re back together. Damian also looks at Janis curiously, she hasn’t told him either.

“Marseille, first. My family said we can stay with them for a few days, they have a huge house with tons of rooms. Then we’ll go to Paris and look around there,” Janis says. Cady gives yet another excited squeal and hugs her again. “Do you want Cinnabon’s? They’re right over there.”

“Oh, can we? I haven’t eaten since breakfast, I’m starving,” Cady says. She’s still bouncing and her hands are flapping happily, but she’s calmed down just a touch.

“How-wha-how do you have that much energy on just breakfast?” Damian asks with something akin to awe.

“I’m excited!” Cady almost yells, prompting several glares from those around them. She shrinks into herself slightly in embarrassment. “Oops.”

Damian chuckles. “Let’s go, my treat.” Cady perks up a bit and tugs her wife after them. She happily scarfs down her cinnamon roll and chatters excitedly about France.

They head to their gate to wait for their flight for a while, when Cady suddenly realizes something and scrambles for her phone. “I forgot to tell my parents! What time is it?”

“Almost exactly six,” Janis says. “So five for them.”

“Okay, they should both be home by now,” Cady says with relief. She dials her dad’s number, and he picks up on the first ring. “Hi Dad! Is Mom with you?”

“Hi Cady, she’s in the other room. What’s up?” Her dad replies.

“Get Mom, I wanna tell you together,” Cady insists.

“Okay,” her dad says, slightly confused. “Honey, it’s Cady, she says she has something to tell us.”

“Hello Cady,” her mom calls loudly through the speaker. “How are you, dear?”

“I’m good Mom! How are you?” Cady chuckles. For tech savvy people, they never quite got the hang of speakerphone.

“Good, hon. What’s this news you have?” Her mom replies.

“I got my PhD today! I’m officially a doctor!” Cady says, and quickly has to block the phone speaker with her arm to muffle the volume of their cheers and congratulations. Once it stops vibrating quite so much, she pulls it back to continue talking. “Thanks! Oh, and I won’t be able to call you for a little while. Janis surprised me with a trip to France, we’re going to see her family. And Paris.”

“Oh, that sounds lovely,” her mom sighs. “Take lots of photos for us.”

“I will. I love you guys, bye!” Cady calls, and hangs up before either of them can get off on a tangent and keep her there for an hour. “There.”

“Everything handled?” Damian jokes.

“Yep. Oh, that reminds me, Janis, can you... give me a rundown of your family again? I haven’t quite gotten everyone down,” Cady says shyly. To be fair, Janis has a lot of relatives and their names sound quite similar in a lot of cases.

“Yeah,” Janis chuckles. She knows Damian probably needs a refresher too, the last time he got to come visit everyone was in high school. “My homophobic great-grandma finally died when I was in college so we don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

“Jay! Be nice,” Cady scolds. She’d heard bad stories about the woman, but speaking ill of the dead still doesn’t sit right with her.

“I’m just saying. Anyway, Nana Annette is her daughter, my grandma. She’s, like, eighty-five, but she’s chill. She might say some offensive stuff because she’s either senile or just old, but she means well most of the time. Her husband died when I was a baby, I barely remember him, so hopefully he won’t be around. Then there’s the aunts and uncles.”

Cady pulls out her phone to take notes, this is where things get dicey.

“Jean-Luc is the oldest, he’s the funny one. His wife is Béatrice, she’s... tense, but nice. The next one is Charlotte, she’s the single one who I’m convinced is a closet lesbian, you remember? She’s hella rich and just shows up sometimes with presents. Anyway. Next is Gabrielle, and her husband Charles, he’s the English guy. My dad was next, then Phillipe is the youngest, and his wife is Jeanne.”

Cady blinks, already terrified. “And your cousins?”

“They’ll understand if you don’t remember them all, don’t worry,” Janis chuckles. “Jean-Luc and Béatrice have Josephine and Jacques, they’re twins. Then they had Annalise, and then Luca, they named him after my dad. Gabrielle and Charles have Bella, Celeste, and Clara, Celeste is a bitch but the other two are nice. Jeanne and Phillipe have Emile and Sylvie.”

“Jesus Christ,” Cady groans, trying to keep everyone under wraps.

“Some of my cousins have babies too now, do you want their names?” Janis teases. “Don’t worry about it, guys. They’ll understand and I’ll make sure you learn everyone’s names. And we probably won’t see all of them, either.”

“Oh, babies? Yay,” Cady says. “I might as well learn them too.”

“Yeah, there’s a few that are still actual babies. Josephine and her husband just had Hugo a few months ago, and then she has Anabelle and Charlise, they’re like... four,” Janis says. “And then Bella has Benjamin, he’s a year old or so.”

“Aww. Okay. I’ll have to study on the plane,” Cady says, sending her list to Damian and shutting her phone off.

“Little Slice, no, I’ll study for us and fill you in,” Damian says. “You’ve studied too much in your life. Doctor.”

Cady smiles at the reminder of her new title. “Fine. Oh, is that us?”

Janis listens to the voice ringing out over the PA system. “Yeah. They’re not boarding us quite yet, but we should be ready.”

“Oh, yay!” Cady says happily.

—————

Once they finally board, Cady begs to have the window seat. Janis and Damian are both afraid of heights and let her have it willingly.

Cady wiggles happily as the light comes on to fasten their belts, looking happily out the window as they prepare to take off. Janis pops some gum in her mouth, and offers a piece to both her travel buddies. Cady takes hers and then takes Janis’ hand, squeezing it to comfort her. Janis squeezes back thankfully.

Cady offers her one ear of the headphones she has so they can watch a movie together. Janis takes it and rests her head on Cady’s shoulder, flipping up the arm rest and cuddling into her wife. Damian flips up his own and lies down over both of them, his head ending up in Cady’s lap as he does his own thing on his phone. Cady just laughs and plays with his curly hair.

After three movies, Cady falls asleep with her head on Janis’ shoulder. They’re about four and a half hours into their seven hour flight, and it is now around Cady’s bedtime. Janis finds Damian also asleep on their legs, and decides to let him stay even though hers are going a bit numb.

She turns her head slightly to kiss Cady’s hair, thinking about the events of the day. Twenty-four hours ago she had fallen asleep on an air mattress on their balcony after a wild night, held securely in the arms of her favorite redhead. Now, she’s several thousand feet in the air, cuddled up with two of her favorite people on their way to another country. Life is a hell of a thing.

—————

Janis is startled awake by the announcement that they’re about to land, and wakes Damian and Cady so they can fasten their seatbelts again. It’s about two in the morning according to their body clocks, so they all blink groggily and rub at their eyes.

“Janis?” Cady asks suddenly as they start to descend.

“Hmm?” Janis hums exhaustedly.

“Who’s watching Elvira?”

“Aaron,” Janis yawns. “He just wants chocolate as payment.”

“Mmkay,” Cady hums. The plane finally touches down and she gives an exhausted “Yay.”

Janis chuckles. “Come on, my cousin is picking us up and then we can sleep in a real bed for a while.”

“Which one?” Damian yawns.

“Annalise,” Janis replies. “She’s a morning person, she’s the only one they trusted to come get us.”

They trudge through baggage claim and out of the airport, down a long line of cars waiting to pick people up. Suddenly, a clear “Janis!” rings out with a brisk French accent.

Janis greets her cousin, who laughs at their exhausted faces. “Bonjour, Anna.”

They have a quick catch up in French as they load all their bags into the car, and Damian’s eyes suddenly go wide.

“What happened?” Cady asks in concern.

“Nothing,” Damian says hastily. “I... forgot they’d actually speak, like, French here. I thought I was just too tired to understand them for a second.”

They both laugh as they climb in, Cady squished in the middle since she’s the smallest. She’s not complaining, this way her head will land on someone’s shoulder when she inevitably falls asleep again.

—————

She wakes up several hours later in a soft bed in a room she doesn’t recognize, spooning Janis. She checks the adjusted time on her phone and finds it to be about one in the afternoon, which isn’t terrible. They have a few hours left in the day to get things settled.

She leans down to kiss behind Janis’ ear as lightly as she can, murmuring a quiet “J’taime tellement,” into her ear before cuddling back into her wife. Apparently she wasn’t quite gentle enough, because Janis stirs and turns to face her with a grin.

“J’taime aussi, mon papillon,” Janis hums as she leans in for a kiss. “How did you sleep?”

“Pretty well, I don’t even remember getting here,” Cady replies.

“I carried you in, you looked exhausted,” Janis says. “What time is it?”

“Just after one,” Cady says as she strokes through Janis’ short hair. “I still love this haircut.”

“I can tell,” Janis chuckles as she cuddles in closer. “You don’t miss the blonde, though?”

“I do,” Cady hums thoughtfully. “But this length is so satisfying to play with. And your shave is in an easier place to reach now.”

Janis had continued sporting the side shave, and stretched it to an undercut at the back of her head as well when she cut the blonde off. Cady loves running her fingers over the buzzed areas, and Janis certainly doesn’t complain.

“Guess I’ll keep it like this then. Should we go get Damian?” Janis says as she leans in for another sweet kiss. “Can’t let him sleep too much longer.”

“Yeah. Are we doing anything today?” Cady asks as she follows Janis out of bed.

“I don’t really have anything planned from this point, I just figured we’d walk around and if you find something you want to do, we’ll do it. But maybe we should start tomorrow,” Janis replies. “Nana’s definitely gonna throw some family reunion type thing tonight and make a shit ton of food, we should save our energy for that.”

“Aww. That sounds fun,” Cady says. “But also tiring, you’re right.”

“They are usually pretty fun,” Janis hums. “And Charlotte is coming, she tells good stories, you’ll like those.”

“Is she the one who told that story about the time you fell into that lake and came back to a picnic totally drenched and told me to watch you around water at our wedding?” Cady asks.

“Yeah,” Janis mumbles sheepishly. “I can show you that lake, if you want. It’s nearby.”

Cady nods excitedly. “Of course. Oh, and hey, guess what?”

Janis turns from the door she’s approaching to leave their little room. “What?”

“I love you,” Cady says, pulling her down for a kiss. Janis has to fight a squeal.

“I love you too,” she replies after a second. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you,” Cady whispers against her lips. “I don’t say it enough, but I’m proud of you too. I want this trip to celebrate all of us. Not just me and Damian. You deserve this too.”

“Okay,” Janis whispers back. “Thanks.”

Cady chuckles. “You promise you’ll tell me if you see something you want to do, too?”

Janis kisses her soundly one more time. “I promise.”

“Good. Let’s go get D,” Cady says with a final peck.

“Okay.”

—————

“Damian!” Janis calls as she leaps onto his bed.

“Cheese and crackers!” Damian yelps, throwing himself to the ground. “Janis!”

“Jay, I swear to god,” Cady groans from the doorway. “That is not what I meant by ‘wake him up’.”

“It worked though,” Janis says as she helps him up. “Morning!”

Damian glares at her. “Hello, Jan. Is it actually morning?”

“No, it’s almost two in the afternoon,” Cady replies. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Damian says as he brushes himself off.

“Good. Janis says there’s gonna be some sort of big dinner thing, can you help me study everyone?” Cady asks.

“Yeah,” Damian answers.

“Oh, hold on a second,” Janis says, running from the room. She returns with a framed photo of her whole family from a few years ago. “Here. It’s old, but everyone looks pretty much the same.”

Janis sits in between them and points everyone out so they can match names to faces. Cady looks a bit overwhelmed, but eventually can point everyone out.

“I’m gonna go shower, if you stay here nobody will bother you guys,” she says once her part is done. “Have fun.”

-

By the time Janis is put together enough for a family gathering, Cady and Damian know all her relatives by name and how they relate to one another. Janis is kind of touched that they both put so much effort into learning everyone in her family.

She hadn’t quite been expecting every member of her family to show up, but they all make an appearance at some point. Cady isn’t big on crowds and Damian hasn’t spoken French since high school, so they both stick around her throughout the meal.

Her aunt Charlotte shows up fashionably late as always, with gifts for the three of them. She greets Janis with a hug and hands her a set of incredibly expensive oil paints, and then looks around for Cady.

“Where is the doctor one?” She asks in fluent but heavily accented English. Cady peeks up from where she’s crowded by all of the younger cousins, coming over to say hello.

“Bonjour,” she says shyly. Charlotte greets her and hands over her gift, which looks to be a tasteful diamond bracelet. Cady frantically leans in to whisper to Janis. “I can’t take this, this had to have cost at least a thousand euro.”

Charlotte, evidently, hears her whispers and laughs. “Nonsense, Cady darling. You are smarter than anyone here, you deserve my money even more than my dear Janis. I am glad she is spoiling you.”

Cady blinks a few times, before begrudgingly accepting her beautiful gift. “Thank you, it really is beautiful.”

“But of course. Now where is darling Damian?” Charlotte responds. Damian comes over from the kitchen to say hello as well, and gets a very soft cashmere sweater.

-

Janis struggles to guide her wife and friend through a family dinner, and Cady collapses on their bed by the time they’re excused.

“Did your dad actually punch your great-aunt in the stomach?” She asks with a slight chuckle. “Just, like, no warning, full force?”

“I’ve heard that story from a minimum of five relatives, so I think it’s probably true,” Janis responds. “But he was only about five. And I think the stories explain a lot.”

“Do you miss him?” Cady asks quietly. “Your dad?”

“Yeah,” Janis says. “But I don’t think I miss him in the same way you miss your brother. Like, I wish I had gotten to know my dad, and I wish I had grown up with a decent father figure. But I didn’t really get to know him well enough to miss him as a person.”

Cady hums empathetically. “From what I’ve heard, you’re a lot like him anyway. But I wish those things too.”

“Thanks,” Janis mumbles. “I’ll take you around town tomorrow, we can see all the places from the stories.”

“Okay,” Cady grins. “J’taime.”

Janis smiles back as she cuddles into her wife. “J’taime aussi. Bonsoir.”

————-

The next morning, they both wake around eleven, starting to adjust to the time difference. Janis takes both Cady and Damian on a walk around the nearby area.

Cady laughs happily as Janis explains stories and where they happened, pointing out the shop where her mother met her father, the lake she had fallen into as a child, the tree her aunt had carved every family member’s initials into.

Cady stays behind for just a second at the shop, brushing a hand over the wall to thank it for sparking the events that gave her her beloved. She can almost feel the history inside.

For the time of year, it’s a remarkably cool day, and once they’ve stopped for a quick break Cady and Damian both ask to keep going. They go a bit farther than they had anticipated, into a larger area of the city.

Damian wanders off for a second, having spotted a sign on a building nearby. “Cads, come here, you read French better than me.”

Cady approaches, leaving Janis behind for a moment to join him. “Swim with... I don’t remember this word.”

“Dolphins,” Janis says suddenly from behind them, making them both jump.

“Swim with dolphins?” Cady asks. “Oh, that sounds fun! Can we, Jayjay? Pleeeeease please please?”

“Of course, Butterfly,” Janis says with a grin. “I’ll see what they have for tomorrow.”

“Oh, yay!” Cady squeals, hugging Janis tightly. Damian just cocks an eyebrow at them and joins the hug.

—————

Janis has to pin Cady to the bed to get her to sleep that night. But somehow by morning, their positions are reversed. Janis wakes up to her wife happily straddling her back, drumming her hands against her cheeks to wake her up.

“Caddy. What are you doing?” Janis groans sleepily.

“It’s dolphin day! I’m waking you up,” Cady responds far too brightly for eight in the morning. Janis grabs and pulls her back to cuddle.

“Go back to sleep,” Janis grumbles. “G’night.”

“Fine,” Cady chuckles. She should’ve known better, Janis never would’ve woken up this early anyway. She’s too excited to go back to sleep herself, so she rolls onto her side and watches Janis sleep. It’s rare that she’s awake when Janis isn’t, so she tries to memorize the way Janis looks while she sleeps whenever she gets the chance.

-

Janis finally stirs about two hours later, smiling as she sees her wife looking at her. She kisses her gently before she stretches. “Did you go back to sleep?”

“No,” Cady says. “I’m too excited.”

“You’re too cute,” Janis says, voice still rough with sleep. “It’s not ‘til three, babe.”

“Ugh,” Cady groans. She rolls on top of Janis again, straddling her front this time. She leans down to squish her face against Janis’ neck. Janis feels more than hears the words, “I wanna see them. Dolphins are so cute.”

Damian comes in then to get them up for breakfast. “Y’all-whoa! Okay bye.”

“Dame, come back! We’re not doing anything,” Janis calls. “I’m not that stupid.”

“I wouldn’t put it past you,” Damian grumbles. “Breakfast is ready, your grandma made crepes.”

“Ooh!” Cady squeals, flying out of bed to get ready. Janis follows quickly, pushing Damian out the door so they can get dressed.

-

Cady eats more happily this time, now that she’s not surrounded by quite so many people. But now Janis has to keep her occupied until they get to go to the dolphins.

Cady is chattering excitedly, and poor Damian still looks exhausted. Janis knows he’s excited too, dolphins are his favorite animal, but he’s very much not a morning person. Janis isn’t quite awake herself. Time for some drastic measures.

“Peanut, do you want to look at some old pictures? I know Nana has some around here somewhere,” she says, griping internally.

“Like baby pictures?” Cady says excitedly. “Lemme at ‘em.”

“Stay here. I’ll be back,” Janis grumbles. She returns a few minutes later with a photo album. “This is from just before we moved to America, I think.”

Cady makes grabby hands for the book and flips excitedly to the first page. Damian perks up a little and sits on her other side. Cady coos when baby Janis makes an appearance.

“Your little cheeks! Oh my god,” Cady squeals.

“Have you not seen any old pictures of Janis before?” Damian asks in confusion.

“Not this little, the only ones she’s let me see are from five and up,” Cady says as she turns to the next page. This one features baby Janis chewing on one of her feet. “Oh my god, look at you.”

“I’ve seen them, Cads, I’m good,” Janis chuckles. Cady flips the page again to one of her dad holding her.

“Is this your dad?” Cady asks quietly. Janis nods with a grin.

“Yeah,” she says. Cady looks back and forth between the photo and her wife.

“You look like him,” Cady says after a moment. “Dame, look at their jawlines. And-oh, Jay, smile. See? Exactly the same.”

“Shit, yeah,” Damian says, looking back and forth. “And the... is it their noses?”

“Yes! That’s what it is,” Cady says. Janis is confused, but happy that there’s such a strong resemblance. “My god, you were so cute!”

“Were?” Janis jokes.

“Oh, shush. You’re always on my case for calling you cute,” Cady says, gently flicking her ear.

“Yeah, yeah. I need to go shower, y’all can keep looking if you want,” Janis says, gesturing to Damian behind Cady’s back to keep her busy. He nods.

—————

By the time they’re outside the dolphin place, Cady and Damian are holding hands and bouncing up and down in excitement.

“Come on, dorks, let’s see some dolphins,” Janis says as she leads them into the massive building. It spans the area of several blocks, and a vast majority of it are large tanks and pools.

A lady welcomes them at the main desk and introduces herself as Bernadette, handing over their life jackets and taking them on a short tour. Upon seeing the slight confusion on Damian’s face, she switches to English and explains how they take care of the dolphins.

Cady looks relieved when she explains that the only dolphins here are ones that wouldn’t survive in the wild, and that they do rescues to help injured ones to eventually release back into the ocean. The tanks are absolutely massive with plenty of room to swim, and the water is kept at the perfect temperature.

Finally, they’re lead outside to one of the massive pools, and Cady gives a quiet squeal when she sees the dolphins swimming around happily. Damian follows Bernadette into the water first, yelping at the cold temperature.

“Ooh, it’s cold!” Cady squeals, walking around on her tippy toes until she gets used to it. The three dolphins suddenly swim over, sort of circling around her curiously. “Oh, hello.”

Janis follows after Cady, but the dolphins won’t leave her wife to greet anyone else.

“They seem to like you,” Bernadette chuckles. She swims over to introduce them. “This is Poséidon, and Daphné, and this here is Corail.”

She gives a command and one by one, the dolphins pop up on their tails and wave to them. Cady squeals when she gets splashed as they go back down, but claps for them at their impressive trick.

Bernadette guides them over to Damian with a bit of effort, and gives another command for Corail to pop up and kiss his cheek. He gasps in surprise since the command was in French, but chuckles at the sensation. “Aww! Bonjour, Corail!”

“Is that the first girl you’ve kissed, D?” Janis jokes.

“Actually, yeah,” Damian says. “Except you.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, what?” Cady insists. “When did that happen?”

“We were like, eleven, and trying to work out if we were actually gay so we kissed one time,” Janis explains quietly. “And we agreed not to talk about it again, Damian.”

Cady is laughing so hard she’s only held up by the life jacket, forgetting to tread water to keep herself afloat. “That’s so cute. Oh, bonjour!” She says when the dolphins return to her side.

“You may pet them if you like,” Bernadette says, pretending she didn’t hear the story. “All of you can.”

Cady happily reaches out to brush a hand over their smooth backs, in awe at the sensation. “Ooh! They’re so smooth! That’s so cool. Guys, come feel them!”

Janis and Damian swim over to pet them too, and Janis yelps a little when she first makes contact. “Oh, that’s weird!”

“They’re so cute,” Damian coos. “It’s a really nice feeling.”

“Their skin regenerates almost every two hours to help maintain the texture,” Bernadette explains. “Much faster than humans, to say the least.”

“They feel like wet rubber,” Janis says. “They are cute though.”

“Many people say that, that is a good way to describe it,” Bernadette laughs. She gives another command and Poséidon pops up and kisses Janis on the cheek. Janis yelps slightly and jumps back, but swims close again when Cady reaches for her. “Oh, I should have warned you, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Janis chuckles. “Bonjour, Poséidon.”

He pops up again, seemingly waiting for something. Bernadette laughs. “He wants you to kiss him back.”

“Little man-whore,” Janis grumbles, but leans in to smooch his beak. Cady leans in on the other side too, prompting an excited chirp as he swims a happy lap around the pool.

Corail and Daphné seem jealous and also pop up for kisses from Cady, who obliges with a delighted laugh. They chirp happily and kiss Cady’s cheek in return.

“Aww, you have competition, Jay,” Cady coos.

“You’re gonna leave me for a fish?” Janis calls.

Cady gasps indignantly. “They are mammals.”

“Whatever, they live in water and don’t have legs, they’re close enough. You’re gonna leave me for a water-dwelling mammal?” Janis pouts.

“Of course not,” Cady says. “Come back, they’re sorry.”

Janis swims her way back over for a kiss from her wife. “You taste like dolphin.”

Cady laughs. “So do you, fish face. What happens now?”

“They can tow you around the pool by their fins, if you’re interested,” Bernadette offers.

“Does it hurt them?” Cady asks worriedly.

“Not at all, they actually seem to rather enjoy it,” Bernadette responds. “You only add a touch more pressure to the fin, if you don’t grab it too hard.”

“Oh. Yeah, that sounds fun!” Cady cheers. Bernadette shows them all how to gently hold the fins, each of them getting their own dolphin. Damian gets Poséidon, Cady gets Corail, and Janis gets Daphné. Once they’re all securely but carefully holding on, Bernadette gives a cue and the three of them set off. They go slower than Janis had thought they would, but she’s grateful that she’s not getting splashed or lugged underwater.

“Ooh. This is nice,” Damian says, cuddling into Poséidon a little closer. “Relaxing.”

Janis paid a fair sum for this experience, but she thinks it’s worth it for the tow. It is quite relaxing, and Cady is laughing brightly the whole way.

“That was so fun!” Cady calls when they’re done.

“I’m glad! If you would bid the dolphins a quick adieu, we can now move on to the shore activities,” Bernadette replies. She leads them out of the tank and offers them each a towel, and they return their life jackets as they dry off.

Once they’re not dripping anymore they follow Bernadette inside to a kitchen area, and are immediately confronted with the smell of fish. Damian has to tap out and waits for the girls outside. Bernadette greets and has a quick chat with her co-worker in French before grabbing a couple buckets of prepared fish and heading back out of the room.

“My apologies for the smell, but you get used to it after a while,” Bernadette says to Damian. He nods shakily and follows them back to the dolphins. They all rush up when they spy the buckets, almost begging like little dogs for a treat.

“Aww,” Cady coos. “Water puppies.”

Janis links their fingers together and leads them to the edge. Bernadette explains that she’ll have them do tricks, and then if they want to, the three of them will get to feed them the fish as a reward. Damian sits far away from the smelly buckets, opting to just watch.

Bernadette gives the first command and the three of them all hop up and wave their fins, and they wave back happily. Cady and Janis toss each of them a few of the small fish. She gives another cue and they turn away, facing lengthwise down. They pick some speed up and suddenly leap into the air, diving a couple times.

“Holy shit!” Janis yelps at the height they can get. “That’s impressive.” Cady and Janis toss them more fish.

Bernadette continues giving cues, prompting the dolphins to dance, come up for pets, shake hands, give more kisses, and even hop up next to them on the shore for a split second. Cady even gets to play fetch with Poséidon for a while with a small ball.

Once they’re down to about a quarter of the last bucket of fish, Bernadette stops giving the dolphins commands. They swim around the area contently, calming down after the exercise.

“Now, I understand you are an artist, Janis?” Bernadette asks, heading to a nearby cart.

“Um... yeah,” Janis says anxiously. “Kind of.”

“Nonsense,” Bernadette chuckles. “Your wife tells me you are very good.”

Janis looks at Cady in confusion. “Does she?”

“You are! You teach art to kids, for the love of god,” Cady says. “Just wait, this is awesome. You’re gonna love it.”

Bernadette chuckles and heads to a nearby cart of supplies, returning with several pieces of paper, brushes, and a few colors of non-toxic paint.

“Our friends here enjoy art as well, you all get to help them create their next masterpiece,” Bernadette says. Janis looks very excited. She got to paint with elephants in Kenya, so she’s excited to do art with another animal.

Bernadette places the brushes into a sort of hoop shaped thing, and instructs them to pick what colors they want for the paintings. Janis picks purple, blue, and grey; Cady picks yellow, pink, and green; and Damian picks black, pink, and orange.

The colors are squeezed into pallets, and they dip the brushes into the paint. Then, the hoop attachments are slipped gently over the beak of the dolphins, and they’re instructed to hold the canvas over the dolphins’ heads. All three wag the brushes back and forth, making bright streaks on the canvas.

The process is continued until all three colors are used up and the canvases are mostly covered, then they turn to see the beautiful works of art the creatures have made for them. It’s rather abstract, obviously, but they are very beautiful.

Unfortunately they now have to say goodbye to the dolphins. They kiss and pet each one before they have to go, waving goodbye sadly. Janis buys all of the photos taken of their experience, and also buys each of them a commemorative shirt and a stuffed dolphin from the gift shop.

Cady and Damian are both still shaking with adrenaline as they head home, chatting excitedly about their favorite parts. Once they get there, though, they start to crash. Cady’s almost totally asleep by the time they make it through the door.

Janis carries her up the stairs, Damian following closely behind them. He slugs his way to his own room, all of them deciding to take a nap before dinner. Janis has to wake Cady to get her out of her swimsuit, and Cady just tugs on Janis’ dolphin t-shirt and flops into bed, crawling under the covers and cuddling her stuffed dolphin.

Janis changes into other comfortable clothes since her shirt was stolen and crawls in after her, spooning her wife gently. She’s not quite tired enough to sleep, so she contents herself with holding her girl and remembering all the fun they had.

——————

A few days later, they head to Paris. Janis’ grandmother threw yet another dinner for them to celebrate, and insisted they come back for another visit soon. Cady promises they will, and Janis agrees.

Janis’ cousin takes them to the train station to see them off that afternoon. It’s about a six hour trip, so they’ll be at their hotel at around seven in the evening. Cady looks out the window the whole way, and Damian looks a bit green. He’s never been great with motion.

“So what do you want to see in Paris, Bluejay?” Cady asks, munching happily on the croissant she had gotten off the cart.

“The Louvre,” Janis replies instantly. “More than anything. And the Eiffel tower, I guess.”

“Oh, I would love to go to the Louvre,” Cady says happily. She’s interested in the art there, of course, but she loves seeing Janis in her element. “I’m excited to eat.”

“You’ll get plenty of opportunities,” Janis chuckles. “What about you, what do you want to see, Peanut?”

“I want to see the historical stuff. Like the Palace of Versailles and the Arc de Triomphe and stuff,” Cady replies. “Dame? You okay?”

“Mmhmm,” Damian hums. He’s looking better now that he’s eaten. “I just want to go to Disneyland.” Cady suddenly looks very excited.

“I forgot about Disneyland! That would be so fun,” she squeals. They’ve managed to get Cady caught up on Disney movies and shows, but haven’t had a chance to take her to any of the parks yet. Now they have to go.

Finally, a lady’s voice announces their stop, so they all hop up and grab their bags. Once they’re above ground again, Janis barely manages to get them a cab to their hotel. Cady gets stuck in the middle again, but keeps leaning over them so she can see out the windows.

“It’s so pretty,” she sighs happily. She spins around as they’re dropped outside their hotel, staring up at the sky. It is rather beautiful, with the city bathed in the light from the setting sun.

Janis leads them in and checks them in to their rooms. She’d booked Damian one on a different floor, for his own sake. They are in the city of love, after all. Janis plans to make full use of it.

Cady enters the room first, immediately rushing over to the window. “Jay, come here.”

Janis comes up behind her, kissing her cheek and hugging her from behind. “It’s beautiful. That’s the top of the Eiffel tower over there.”

Cady turns in her embrace. “It is beautiful. But not as beautiful as you.” She giggles as Janis blushes. “I love you so much. Thank you for bringing us here.”

“I love you too, Butterfly. I’m glad I could. What did you think of Marseille?” Janis asks, pulling Cady next to her on the large bed.

“It was beautiful,” Cady replies. “And your family is... so lovely. I loved hearing all the stories and seeing the places that are important to your family. It was wonderful.”

“Good,” Janis grins as Cady leans up to kiss her. “Should we get D and find somewhere for dinner?”

“Oh, yes! Can we walk? It’s so nice out,” Cady replies, dragging Janis up by the hand and towards the door.

“We should change first, but sure, baby,” Janis says. “Come on.” They put on fancier clothes and Janis switches their positions, running down the long hallway towards the elevator and hauling her laughing wife behind her. The doors close behind them as they both try to catch their breath. Janis brushes her hands through Cady’s curls to smooth them back down. “Have you ever had escargot?”

Cady pulls a slightly concerned face. “No. Those are snails, right?”

“Yeah. They’re not bad, though, I think you’ll like them,” Janis replies. The doors open when they reach Damian’s floor. Janis leads them to his door and knocks. “D, we’re gonna go get dinner, do you want to come?”

He answers the door already wearing the hotel robe and with a sheet mask on. “Can I have a second?”

Both girls laugh and nod. Janis sighs when the door closes again. “We’ve been here for ten minutes.”

“It’s Damian,” Cady giggles in reply. “And skincare is important.” Damian comes back fully dressed and sans mask. Cady grabs his hand as well and leads them both back to the elevator.

Janis finds a restaurant within walking distance that has very highly rated escargot. She knows Damian hasn’t had it either, and wants to know what they’ll think of it.

-

They get to the place right as dinner service is beginning, and are led over to a table.

“They’re all so close together,” Cady says, having to wiggle her way in.

“They have a lot of people to fit in,” Janis replies. “Just how it happens here.”

“I’m glad we changed. Everyone here is so fancy,” Damian mumbles.

They continue making light conversation as they wait for the food Janis ordered to arrive. Finally it arrives, and Cady and Damian look more than a little concerned.

Janis pops some of the snails out of their shells, eating one herself and offering the others to Damian and Cady. They take them, looking to each other for confidence and eating them.

“Oh!” Cady says. “Thats way better than I thought, that’s so good! Way better than snake meat.”

“I told you,” Janis laughs.

“It’s like ravioli,” Damian says as he reaches for another. “But... snails.”

“Yeah, that’s a good way to put it,” Cady giggles. “How do you get them out?” Janis shows her how to use the fork to pop them out, and Cady follows suit once she knows how.

-

Many hours later, Cady cuddles up to Janis in bed, finally ready for sleep. “How long are we here, Jay?”

“We’re in Paris for a week,” Janis replies.

“A week?!” Cady says in shock.

“I wanted to make sure we had time to see everything you both wanted to,” Janis says. “And I have another surprise when we get home. But that’s kind of for both of us.”

“Jay, you’re spoiling me,” Cady whines. “Can I know the other surprise?”

“Nope,” Janis hums. “But I’ll tell you right once we’re back in America. And you deserve to be spoiled, Peanut. You’re a doctor, you’ve worked so hard.”

Cady grins at her. “Fine. Will you tell me what we’re doing tomorrow?”

“I don’t have anything planned,” Janis says. “What do you want to do?”

“The Louvre,” Cady replies with a smile. “I want you to tell me all about everything. I won’t even need a tour guide.”

Janis smiles back, leaning down for a kiss. “Sounds like a plan.”

Cady cuddles in close, nuzzling into her chest. “I love you, darling.”

“I love you too, Butterfly. Sweet dreams,” Janis replies, holding her closer.

————-

Janis wound up being the one with trouble sleeping that night, struggling to fall asleep and waking up early. She decides to return the favor Cady pulled on the dolphin day.

Cady, as always, is asleep on her belly, so Janis rolls to straddle her back at her waist and drums on her shoulders. Cady gives a sleepy groan and pops an eye open to look at her.

“Jay.” She grumbles crankily. “Wha’ you doin’.” Janis leans down to kiss her cheek and around her ear.

“Good morniiiiiing,” she hums. “It’s Louvre day, I’m waking you up!”

Cady groans into her pillow. “Go back ‘sleep.”

“No, I’m too excited!” Janis says. “Come on, don’t you at least want breakfast?”

“Wan’ sleep more,” Cady moans. She shifts and Janis falls off her with a yelp, thudding to the ground.

“Hmph. I see how it is,” Janis grumbles. “Fine, you can sleep in, cranky pants.”

“Thank youuuu,” Cady calls into her pillow, and is snoring gently again within minutes.  Janis giggles and slides back into bed, stroking a curl away from Cady’s face and watching her sleep. She is actually too excited to go back to sleep, so she decides to make slightly better use of her time.

She heads to her carry on bag and pulls out the sketchbook and pencils she had brought along, before opening the window to sketch their view. She flips past the ones she did of Marseille to a blank page. The rooftops seem to stretch for miles, and she can just spy the top of the famous tower a ways away.

Cady groans sleepily behind her as she’s finishing shading in the skyline, rolling over onto her back and throwing her arms over her head. Janis decides she needs to work on sketching people more. She perches herself on top of the wardrobe and sketches her life, smiling lovingly at the little snuffling noises she makes every now and again.

“G’morning,” Cady groans as she finally wakes up, stretching and yawning before rubbing her eyes.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Janis chuckles, hopping down as Cady reaches for her. “How did you sleep?”

“Good, until someone sat on me,” Cady says, glaring at Janis.

“Just returning the favor,” Janis chuckles. “Let’s go get breakfast.”

“No way. You haven’t kissed or cuddled me yet, you’re not going anywhere,” Cady demands, pulling her back.

Janis laughs and cups her face, leaning in to press their lips together. “Can that hold you over until we eat?” Cady leans in for one more sweet kiss.

“I suppose.”

—————-

Janis takes Cady and Damian to a nearby bakery for some breakfast croissants. All of them eat outside, enjoying the way the whole street seems to smell like fresh bread and baking sweets.

Cady asks to walk again, wanting to see as much of the city as she can. Surprisingly, Damian agrees, even though he’s never been one for much physical activity. The Louvre isn’t particularly close by, but Janis also agrees to a walk. Saves having to pay for a cab.

“Shit,” Janis murmurs in awe when they finally reach their destination. “It’s big.”

“It says here it’s seventy-three thousand square meters,” Cady says, holding up her phone. “So yes, it is very big.”

“Very astute observation there, Janjan,” Damian teases. “Let’s go in, come on.”

“They have tours, should we do that?” Janis asks, pointing to a sign.

“We don’t need to,” Cady says, lacing their fingers together. “We have you.”

-

Once they’re past the impossibly long line to get in, Janis instantly heads off, hauling Cady and Damian behind her. She follows the signs to the area with the Mona Lisa first, knowing there’s going to be a large crowd for them to work through to see it up close.

“Wow,” Damian says when they make it in. There is a massive crowd in front of it, but they can still just barely see. Except Cady.

“Hang on,” Cady grumbles, grabbing their hands and somehow weaseling her way through all the people until they’re at the front. “There. Short people tricks.”

“Nice, babe,” Janis says, staring in awe at the famous painting in front of her. She rattles off all the facts about it she can remember from her years of study, before they move on to look at other things.

“Oh, that’s in Animal Crossing!” Cady says happily, pointing to a painting nearby. “What is this, lovey?”

Janis laughs at her excitement over finding the real versions of something from her favorite game. “That’s called The Summer. This guy did a few like that, with the faces made out of fruit and stuff.”

“It’s... nice,” Damian says confusedly. “Why did he do that?”

“Hell if I know. Most of the people who did these paintings were probably on some drug or another,” Janis says in reply. “Neat though.”

Janis leads them from area to area, explaining and listing facts about whatever Damian or Cady point to. It works well enough for all of them. They get to see all the famous works, Janis gets to see everything she wants, and Damian and Cady get explanations and extra facts from Janis.

“Wow,” Cady says when she spies the Vénus de Milo. She breaks away from them and wanders over to get a closer look. Janis follows her and leads Damian after them, since Cady is small and easy to lose.

“That’s the Vénus de Milo,” she hums in Cady’s ear. “She’s supposed to be one of the Greek goddesses.”

“Which one?” Damian asks.

"Nobody really knows,” Janis replies. “Most people think Aphrodite. Venus was her Roman counterpart, so that’s where the name came from.”

“Her dress is falling off,” Cady mumbles distractedly, making Damian and Janis laugh. “What happened to her arms?”

“Fell off,” Janis shrugs. “There’s a lot of theories about that too. They probably were just too heavy and broke away at some point. Some people think it was a shipwreck or something, I can’t remember specifically.”

“Hm. That’s interesting,” Cady says. “Oh, her foot is gone too.”

“Yeah, she’s lost a lot of stuff over the years. She had jewelry and stuff originally,” Janis replies. “Just lost to time one way or another.”

Cady leans back against her and turns her head to kiss at Janis’ jaw. “You’re so smart. I love you, art freak.”

Janis grins. “I love you too, math nerd.”

“Okay, time to move on! Chop chop,” Damian insists, wanting to get as far away from their sappiness as he can.

—————

“That was... really fun, Bluejay,” Cady yawns once they’re finally back in their hotel room, freshly showered and ready to sleep. “I love seeing you with art.”

“I’m glad you had fun,” Janis replies as her wife spoons her. “Go to sleep, Butterfly, we have to be up early tomorrow.”

“Why?” Cady yawns again.

“I’m not gonna tell you, or you’ll never sleep,” Janis says. “It’s nothing terribly exciting, but they open early. We should be there pretty soon after it does.”

“Oh. Mmkay. G’night, love.” Cady mumbles, seeming content with Janis’ surprises for once. Janis had toned it down slightly, they were going to Disneyland Paris tomorrow. She’d talked it over with Damian, and agreed that he got to pick what they do tomorrow.

“Goodnight, Princess,” Janis says, secretly giving a little hint.

——————-

She kisses Cady awake the next morning around eight. “Good morning, Butterfly.”

“Good morning,” Cady yawns. “Where are we going today?”

“I’ll tell you in a bit,” Janis replies. “I made sure we had cuddle time today.”

“Good,” Cady replies, pulling Janis down on top of her. “How did you sleep?”

“Good, actually,” Janis replies. “I think I’ve finally actually adjusted to the time shift. How did you sleep?”

“Good,” Cady says. “Nobody sat on me to wake me up today, I much prefer kisses.”

“Noted,” Janis chuckles. “For the record, so do I.” Cady gives a chuckle that says she already knows but has chosen to ignore that information.

“When do we get breakfast?” Cady asks after a long, peaceful moment.

“On the train,” Janis replies. “My cuddles not enough for you?”

Cady flicks her nose gently. “Yes, they are, but unfortunately I can’t live on cuddles alone. The train. That means somewhere pretty far away.”

Janis checks the time, it’s been about a half hour since they woke up. They should probably get ready now. She sits up, and rolls off of Cady so she isn’t thrown to the ground again.

“Dame and I decided we’re going to Disneyland today,” she says gently. As she expected, Cady flies out of bed with a delighted squeal and starts dancing around the room. Janis just watches her with a smile, until Cady leaps on her from above and kisses everywhere she can reach.

“Disneyland! Let’s go, come on, we have to get ready!” Cady calls, lugging Janis out of bed to shower and get dressed. She’s almost as excited as she was when she found out they were coming to France in the first place.

“Baby,” Janis says lovingly. “Breathe. You have an hour long train ride to get through first, we can’t have you leaping out the window when we’re going several hundred miles per hour.”

Cady comes back down to Earth a bit then. “Oh.”

“Come on, let’s get ready, Peanut,” Janis coaxes, turning the shower on.

-

Half an hour later, both ladies are showered and dressed in loose clothing and good shoes, before they head down to meet Damian. Cady leaps on him before he can even open the door all the way.

“We’re going to Disneyland!” She squeals when he yelps in surprise as a small redheaded rocket suddenly barrels into him.

“Good morning, Caddy,” he chuckles affectionately. Janis grabs her wife back, picking her up to carry her to the elevator.

“Come on, Peanut, let’s go,” she tuts lovingly as Cady clings to her with a delighted giggle. “Gonna have to get a leash for you.”

“Kinky,” Cady teases. “I’ll calm down.”

“No you won’t,” Janis retaliates. She doesn’t really want Cady to calm down, anyway. “I know you, wifey.”

“Fine, you’re right,” Cady agrees. “But I won’t run away. I need you guys to show me around anyway.”

“Happily,” Janis says as she finally sets her down.

—————-

Cady is already spinning around in awe when they’re finally outside the gates. Janis links their fingers together as she buys their tickets, and Damian grabs Cady’s other hand before Cady tugs them forward.

Janis buys their way into the park and squeezes Cady’s hand. “Where first, babe?”

“Oh, I don’t know! There’s so much,” Cady says happily. “Oh, can we get ears?”

“Sure,” Janis says. “Well, you can.”

“You don’t want ears?” Cady pouts. “They have a bunch.”

“Under no circumstances am I wearing Mickey ears,” Janis replies. “But you pick some, they’ll be cute on you.”

Ten minutes later, Janis is wearing ears. Cady has some on that look like Simba’s, Damian has a pair designed to look like Mulan’s costume, and Janis has been coaxed by her wife into a Maleficent themed pair. Cady takes a selfie of all of them with their ears, making kissy faces at the camera, and one with their normal smiles.

“Yay! Okay, I wanna see the castle,” Cady cheers as she puts her phone away.

“There’s a dragon too,” Janis says.

“A dragon?” Cady asks. “In the castle?”

“No, underneath,” Janis says. “This way, come on.”

Sure enough, the shortcut Janis takes leads them to a very large animatronic dragon deep in the belly of the castle.

“That’s so cool,” Cady says as she watches it move. “Look, you can see it breathe.”

“The wings move too,” Damian says, pointing to one. “And its feet.”

“Wow,” Cady says. “Can we go in the castle?”

“I think so,” Janis replies. “Line might be a bit long, but we can if you want.”

“It’s so pretty,” Cady sighs happily. “The waterfalls.”

Damian leads them inside and up to the second floor, where there’s a series of large and beautiful stained glass windows depicting the story of Sleeping Beauty. Cady leads them around to peer through each.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful up here,” Cady says. “But let’s go ride stuff, we can come back here later.”

“I wanna go on the Ratatouille ride,” Damian says quickly. Cady nods rapidly, and Janis is also intrigued, so Damian takes their hands and leads them that way. “It’s super cool, they’re not on a track. It’s all computers.”

Cady looks more than a little apprehensive at that. “And they don’t crash into each other?”

“No, they all have programmed routes, every car is different. Don’t worry,” Damian replies.

“Oh. That sounds fun,” Cady cheers. The lines are usually decorated with some sort of theme to match, and Cady looks around excitedly. Janis contents herself with watching her wife until they’re led onto the ride.

Janis has to admit that it is more fun than she had anticipated, it actually makes you feel like a little rat running around. But the best part is still Cady and Damian’s laughter throughout the whole thing.

“Where do you want to go, Jayjay?” Cady asks once they finish, still giggling slightly.

“Hyperspace Mountain,” Janis says immediately. “I don’t know if you guys would like it though, it goes pretty fast.”

“I’ll try it,” Cady says.

Damian says, “Hard pass,” at the same time. “You guys go, I’ll just look around.” He holds their ears and bags as they go to wait in line.

“Cads, are you sure you want to come? It’s a roller coaster, you didn’t like them last time,” Janis asks once they’re in line.

“That was almost ten years ago, love. Maybe I’ll like this one,” Cady says. “I’ll try anything once. And anything for you.”

Janis grins and leans in for a chaste kiss. “If you’re sure. I love you.”

“I love you more,” Cady retaliates.

“No, we’ve been through this!” Janis insists.

“And we’ve never reached a conclusion, so what’s your point?” Cady says with a chuckle. “This could continue until the end of time.”

Janis kind of hopes it does. They continue bickering until they’re fastened in. Cady goes quiet when she realizes where she is. She’s excited, but still nervous. She doesn’t have a great track record with roller coasters so far. Janis takes her hand and kisses her knuckles to help calm her down just before they shoot forward.

Cady’s hair is entirely poofed out by the time they get off, and she’s shaking slightly.

“Did you like it?” Janis asks as they head back to Damian.

“Uhhuh,” Cady says shakily.

“Are you lying?” Janis asks, knowing her wife.

“Uhhuh,” Cady says again. Janis laughs, but hugs her gently once they’re out of the way.

“You don’t have to come with me on anything else, it’s okay,” Janis chuckles as her wife clings to her. She seems better this time, she’s not shaking quite so hard and doesn’t look near tears. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Cady replies. “Just... maybe shouldn’t go on anything for a little while. I’m a little overwhelmed.”

“That’s fine, baby,” Janis says. “I’m hungry anyway, let’s find something to eat.”

“Oh, yay!” Cady cheers, always excited to eat. “Oh, Damian has something.”

“Hey guys!” Damian says as they finally reach him. “I found crepes.” He hands each of them a Nutella crepe he had gotten off a cart. “Nice hair, Cads.”

“Thanks,” Cady says, knowing she resembles a lion. She grabs her Lion King ears back to complete the look, before she ties her hair back in a ponytail to make it more manageable. “Ooh, this is good!”

“Yeah, for Disney it’s not bad,” Janis agrees around a mouthful. “Where d’you want to go now?”

“There’s a little Alice in Wonderland maze thingy over that way, it looks cute,” Damian says as he finishes his own snack. “And would be a good way to recover from the coaster.”

“Yes, please, let’s go there,” Cady says, already setting off. Janis and Damian hurry after her towards the maze.

They decide to split up and see who makes it out first. Cady winds up winning, jumping up and down as her wife and friend come out after her. “I win!”

“Nice, Cads. Must be some Kenya left in you,” Damian congratulates, ruffling her hair. “Where now?”

“There’s a pirate thing over that way, I can’t remember if it’s Peter Pan or Pirates of the Caribbean,” Janis replies. “That’s pretty chill.”

“Oh, that sounds nice,” Cady says. Janis leads them over to it and hugs Cady tight as they wait in line.

“Are you having fun?” She asks quietly as Damian sings along to the music playing.

“Yeah, I really am,” Cady grins. “Are you?”

“Yeah,” Janis says back. “I am. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Cady replies.

-

By the time the sun is starting to go down, they’ve gone on everything they wanted to, eaten almost every food offered around the premises, and taken pictures with just about every character they could find.

They have enough time to stay and watch the fireworks before they have to catch the train back. Cady has exerted all of her energy, so Damian and Janis switch off carrying her piggyback around as they finish doing what they want to.

Janis has her as they watch the fireworks, bundled cozily in the matching Mickey Mouse hoodies they had bought when Cady got cold. Cady squishes their cheeks together as they both look up, their Mickey ears clacking together gently.

“I love you so much, Janis,” Cady says quietly as the last firework pops off in the sky. If Cady wasn’t so close Janis wouldn’t have heard. “More than words can say.”

“I love you too, Cady. More than any language can say,” Janis replies. Cady nuzzles into her neck and drifts off to sleep, so Janis just adjusts her grip and chats with Damian as they head out towards the gates.

—————

A couple days later, they head out to see the Palace of Versailles. They’d taken a day to recover from Disneyland, just staying in their hotel and spending quiet time together.

Cady has read up on the history of the palace, and is rattling off facts about each area they visit. Janis is very interested in the beautiful murals on some of the walls and the gorgeous statues scattered about. Damian is more interested in hearing about the royals who built and used to live in the palace. Cady tells them about everything they want to know.

“What if we had a garden like this at home, Jay?” Cady asks as they stroll around the sprawling grounds. Damian had wandered off and got stuck on a tour, so they’re waiting for him to be released.

“We would be very tired trying to maintain it,” Janis responds. “It’s so big, I’m tired just looking at it.”

“True,” Cady giggles. “But I think if we were rich enough to have something this big we’d be able to pay someone else to take care of it. Just think of how much hide and seek we could play here. I’d never run out of hiding spots.”

Janis laughs. “That’s why you want such a massive place? Just to play hide and seek?”

“Why not? What else are you supposed to do with it?” Cady asks. “Just walking around it must get boring after a while.”

“I don’t know that it would, it’s so beautiful,” Janis hums. “You could take a different path every day.”

“You could paint a different part every day, too,” Cady says. “And it must look different in every season, you could do four for each part!”

“You want four paintings for each bit of this place?” Janis chuckles.

“I always want your paintings,” Cady says quietly. “They’re part of you.”

Janis is almost stunned silent. “Thanks, baby. That’s why I love everything you make.”

“Even that shitty plate I tried to make you?” Cady giggles.

“It works! It’s a plate,” Janis insists. “I can still use it. The lumps are good for holding salsa and stuff.”

“And you say you’re not cute,” Cady responds. “I wonder how much this has changed since people lived here. Like, someone from two or three hundred years ago could have walked this same path.”

“I don’t think it’s changed much,” Janis says. “Maybe we walked it before. Past life, or something.”

“Could be,” Cady hums pensively. “You think we were together in a past life?”

“I don’t see why we couldn’t have been,” Janis says. “I definitely feel like I’ve known you a lot longer than I actually have.”

“I feel that way too, I just thought it was a cheesy ‘our souls are connected’ thing,” Cady giggles. “Oh, there’s Damian. Poor thing, he looks so confused.”

“I don’t think that tour he got stuck on was in English,” Janis laughs as they wave him over. “I told him he should keep studying French, but no.”

“How was it, Dame?” Cady asks as Damian finally makes his way to them.

“The bits I could understand were quite interesting,” Damian replies. “Lot of walking though, this place is big.”

“It’s massive! And everything is so detailed, I think I could walk around here every day for ten years and still miss something,” Cady says happily.

“Right? I almost plowed some people down because I kept staring at the ceilings,” Damian chuckles. “Anyway, have you ladies seen what you want to see? I’m hungry.”

“When are you not?” Janis jokes, earning her a whack from her wife. “Ow!”

“Be nice,” Cady scolds. “I’m ready to go, I’m hungry too.”

“I’m nice! This is just how we treat each other,” Janis insists. “You’ve known us for ten years, come on!”

“Yes, and I’ve been constantly exasperated with you two ever since,” Cady sighs lovingly. “Now come on.”

—————

They head to a chocolate shop on their second-to-last day in Paris, so Aaron can get the freshest sweets possible. Janis is slightly worried that they won’t be able to bring them on the plane, but she decides to cross that bridge once they get there.

“So what kinds of chocolate does your boy toy like, Dame?” Janis asks, looking at a small bag of truffles that she’s very interested in for herself.

“Anything, really, he loves candy,” Damian says. “Where did Caddy go?”

“I dunno, she said she wanted to see something,” Janis replies. “She went that way.”

“Hm. Okay,” Damian says suspiciously. “God, everything smells so good.”

“Fresh chocolate,” Janis responds. Familiar arms suddenly wrap around her waist from behind. “Hi, Peanut. What have you been up to?”

“Nothing,” Cady hums in a tone that says she’s definitely been up to something. “Did you pick something?”

“Damn, why is this so expensive?” Damian asks suddenly, holding a case of chocolates of varying flavors. “All of the stuff here is.”

“Because it’s handmade,” Janis says. “They make new stuff every day.”

“Jesus,” Damian sighs. “He’d like this, though.”

“Done,” Janis says as she takes it, working her way over to buy them with her wife still clinging to her. “Now, what did you really get up to, Butterfly?”

“I might have signed us up for an eclair making class,” Cady mumbles. “They said we get to eat the rejects, I couldn’t resist!”

Janis laughs. “That sounds fun, babe, it’s okay. When is it?”

“Now,” Cady says shyly as a man suddenly emerges from the back and greets them. They’re led to wash their hands and put on gloves and hairnets.

The chef gives the instructions in French, so Janis translates as quickly as she can. “Oh, shit.”

“What? We haven’t even done anything yet, what could’ve happened already?” Damian asks frantically.

“He says if ours are good enough they’ll sell them in the shop,” Janis explains. “Or at least use them as a display.”

“Ooh,” Cady says excitedly, paying even closer attention.

“Why is a little bread thing so complicated?” Janis asks in slight fear, as the chef adds flour to a milk mixture and cooks it out.

“But they’re so good,” Cady says, restraining herself from eating all the caramel ingredients and tasty chocolate within her reach. “It’s worth it!”

The chef instructs them through the process of making a sort of caramel custard while the eclairs bake. Damian has started taking notes on his phone.

They’re set loose then, to replicate what the chef has taught them from scratch. Cady starts what she remembers from making the pastry, adding milk and a few other things to a pan. “This already doesn’t look right.”

“Shh, no, it’s fine,” Janis says quickly. “Just keep going, it’ll be fine.” Miraculously, she’s half-right, by the time everything else has been added and combined it almost looks like the one done by a professional.

Damian helps Janis load the dough into the piping bag, Cady watching anxiously off to the side. Janis gets to pipe them out on the bakeware, trying to remember how the chef did it.

She butchers the first one. It turns out sort of lumpy and misshapen, but for her first try it’s not terrible. Unfortunately, the improvement for the others is rather minimal.

“What are you doing? The fuck is that?” Damian calls as she pipes one and twists the end the wrong way.

“My best! I’m doing my best,” Janis calls back. “Look, we can fix it, it’s fine!”

“It’s not fine, oh my god,” Damian says. Janis suddenly hits an air bubble, making one of the eclairs much shorter than it was supposed to be.

“And you’re not helping!” Janis says, piping a little more out. Cady is bent over double laughing at their interaction. “Get the egg wash ready, dork.”

Damian helps Cady get the wash ready, brushing it over the piped pastry and shaping them back to something approaching decent.

“There,” Cady says as she brushes tears of laughter from her eyes. “Good job, guys.”

Janis huffs as she rests the piping bag down and glares at Damian. “Thank you. I tried very hard.”

“I never said they were bad,” Damian defends as the chef helps them clean up to prepare to make the filling. He’s also laughing, apparently having understood most of the recent conversation. “I just criticized your every move.”

“And I appreciate that so much,” Janis says sarcastically. “You fixed them, they’ll be fine.”

Cady gets to make most of the filling, with the chef watching protectively nearby in case of disaster. For her first time making caramel, she does remarkably well. She yelps a little when it puffs up as they add the cream to make it a custard, but recovers quickly and keeps going.

“There, see? Much easier,” Cady says, looking meaningfully at her wife and friend. The caramel is only slightly burnt, but the chef tasted it and said she could get away with it. That was her goal all along.

The eclairs come out of the oven looking remarkably good, and Cady helps Janis prepare the piping bag for the filling. The chef watches them in amusement, and Cady suddenly realizes they’ve made a terrible error.

“Jay?” She asks as Janis fills the bag, blissfully unaware.

“What?” Janis asks.

“We’ve made a mistake,” Cady mumbles, trying to hold back laughter.

“What? What did we do wrong?” Janis asks sadly.

Cady giggles hysterically. “When is the tip supposed to go in?”

Janis’ eyes go wide, and Damian bursts out laughing.

“Shit. Um... how do... what do we do?” Janis asks.

“Take the filling back out so we can put it in?” Cady suggests. Janis takes the bag and scrapes the caramel custard back into the bowl frantically while Cady hunts for the piping tip. “There, problem solved.”

“How are we so bad at this?” Janis mumbles as Cady puts the tip in and holds it for Janis to refill.

“We’re American,” Damian answers. “And eclairs are, like, famously tough to make.”

Once the filling bag is properly constructed, Cady hands the bag to Damian so he can pipe the eclairs full.

“You’re doing it wrong,” Janis teases to get him back. “Look, you have to fill them more! What are you doing?”

“Okay, point proven,” Damian grumbles as he pipes in more on the other side. Cady covers them with the same custard once they’re all full, and then a piece of chocolate is rested on as decoration.

“Yay, we didn’t do that bad!” Cady cheers. “They don’t look that different from his.”

“Yeah, but how do they taste?” Janis asks. She grabs what is clearly the worst looking one and takes a bite, and her eyes go wide when it’s actually quite good. “Oh, shit. Guys, try it.” Cady takes a bite too, and she dances happily at the taste. Damian goes next, giving a surprised hum.

The chef tries one of his own, hiding his surprise well. He informs them that they’re not quite good enough to sell, but they look good enough that they can pick one to put in the window. They pick the best looking one, and get to take the rest home.

“Well that was certainly an experience,” Damian chuckles. “Nice pick, Cads.”

“Thanks! That was fun,” Cady says happily. “And we get eclairs!”

Janis chuckles at how cute her wife is. “Let’s go eat them all.”

—————

On their last full day in Paris, they finally get to go up the Eiffel tower. Damian and Janis are more than a little anxious, since it’s so high, but Cady promises to keep them both safe.

The sun went down a few hours ago, and the stars are out in full force. Cady leans up against the railing and looks out over the rooftops of Paris, thinking back on all the experiences she’s gotten to have over the last week and a half or so.

Janis comes up to hug her from behind as she spies Notre Dame, making her jump. They were warned about pickpockets, so they gave everything important to Janis to keep in her inner jacket pockets. Cady still gets startled.

“Sorry,” Janis says quietly. “Just me.”

Cady leans back against her and turns to smile up at her. “Just my favorite person in the world.”

Janis chuckles. “You’re pretty high on my list, too.”

“Good, nice to know,” Cady giggles in reply.

“Was this a good trip?” Janis asks, kissing her cheek and looking out. She can see the candy shop they got Aaron’s thank you present from the day before, and their hotel. It’s all lit up, and very beautiful.

“A great trip. I loved every minute,” Cady replies. “I don’t want to go home.”

“I don’t either,” Janis says. “We’ll come back soon.”

“We better. We can actually go places now that I’m not in school anymore,” Cady replies. “Thanks for bringing us here.”

“Of course. Dame, come here,” Janis says, reaching for him. He comes to join the cuddle, forming a group hug.

“I love you guys,” he says quietly. “Thanks for the trip, Janjan.”

Janis sniffs, crying slightly. “Both of you stop it, this is too mushy.”

“Aww, Jellybean,” Cady coos. “Come here.” She pulls Janis and Damian in tighter, both of them bending down slightly to cuddle into her shoulders. “I love both of you so much.”

“I said stop,” Janis whines. “God, I love you guys so much.”

“We are in the city of love, Jan, you can’t stop it,” Damian chuckles. “I don’t even want to think about what you two did in that room.”

“Damian Hubbard!” Cady scolds. “Behave.”

“Sorry,” Damian says sheepishly. “I’ll give you guys a moment.” He heads to the other side then, looking out over a different part of the city.

Janis pulls back from her wife and wipes her eyes gently, Cady cupping her face and running her thumbs over her cheeks.

“J’taime tellement,” Cady whispers, leaning up to press their lips together. Another thing to check off their bucket lists, making out on top of the Eiffel tower.

“J’taime aussi,” Janis replies between kisses. “Tellement.”

“We’ll come back someday,” Cady murmurs gently, ghosting the words against Janis’ lips. “We do have to go home.”

“Do you want to know your other surprise?” Janis asks. “Make going home a little easier?”

“Yeah,” Cady says excitedly. Janis grins.

“Remember how when you were trying to guess what I got you in the first place, you asked if we were getting a puppy? And I said no?” Janis asks. Cady nods. “I lied.”

“Really?” Cady squeals. “You’re serious?”

“I don’t kid around about puppies. I found a breeder who just had a litter of golden retrievers a while ago, once we get settled back home we’ll go choose one,” Janis replies, giggling as Cady kisses her passionately again.

“Oh, golden retriever puppies are so cute, yay,” Cady says, bouncing happily. “Elvira gets a sibling.”

“Oh, she’s gonna hate that,” Janis chuckles.

“She’s still young, she’ll learn to like them,” Cady says. “She’s only two.”

“Yeah, that’s, like, a lot of cat years,” Janis says. “She’s a moody teenager.”

“God, yeah,” Cady chuckles. “Sleeps all day too. Oh well, we’ll pick a puppy with a similar personality.”

“I think you’re right, though. They’ll get used to each other eventually,” Janis says.

“We’ll work on it,” Cady replies. “Good job, love, now I almost want to go home.”

“Good,” Janis laughs. “But for now, kiss me again.”

“Gladly,” Cady purrs, popping up on her tippy toes again.

————-

A week later, they’re back in New York and almost adjusted once again to the time change. Time for a puppy.

They’d gotten all the supplies they would need the day before and set up the living room, deciding to keep Elvira in the bedroom until they were ready to be introduced face to face.

Cady shakes with excitement almost the whole way, frantically fiddling with a few of the stim toys she’s recently added to her collection.

When they enter the shelter, they’re immediately swarmed by a flock of puppies, wagging their tails happily and sniffing their shoes. One hops up on its hind legs to sniff Cady better.

“Oh my god,” Cady squeals, in a higher pitch than Janis has ever heard from her. “Oh, you’re all so cute, how am I supposed to pick?”

Janis sits down and laughs as several clamber onto her lap, trying to kiss her face. Cady follows suit, shrieking in surprise as about seven suddenly swarm in and knock her onto her back. One makes it to her face first, sniffing curiously at her nose before settling in on her chest for a nap.

“Oh. Who’s this one?” Cady asks, waving the others away from her face and cradling the one resting.

“That’s Salt. You can change her name if you want,” the breeder replies. “She’s the smallest, and pretty lazy, but she’s very gentle.”

Janis comes over carrying three others in her arms, trying to keep them off her lap. She extends a hand for Salt to sniff and chuckles when she chomps gently on her fingers.

“What do you think, baby?” Janis asks, looking at her wife.

“I love her,” Cady says happily. “Look at that face! We have to go now or I’ll take all of them, get me out of here. I want this one.”

“Sounds good, Butterfly,” Janis laughs. “Come on, let’s go get everything sorted.”

“Okay,” Cady says, scooping up her puppy and following them. “Bye guys! Oh, god, all of you are so sweet.”

“Okay, Salt here is already spayed and microchipped, mostly housebroken, but she’s not trained in any other way. She’s also had all her vaccinations to date, and here’s a recommendation for a vet,” the breeder says. “We notify on our social media whenever one gets adopted, so if you’d ever like to meet up with any of her siblings you can get in touch with their families that way.”

“Aww, that’s great, you’ll get to see your brothers and sisters again,” Cady coos. “Now we get to take you home!”

Janis manages to wiggle the puppy into her new harness and clip the leash on, leading her wife and new addition out once the puppy has said her goodbyes.

“What should we name her, Cads?” Janis asks as the puppy sniffs at a tree.

“What was the name of that shop? From Marseille, where your parents met?” Cady asks.

“La Jonquille,” Janis replies.

“What does that mean? I forgot,” Cady says with a chuckle as Salt runs out of leash and falls down.

“The Daffodil,” Janis says.

“Aww! What about Daffodil? That’s cute,” Cady squeals. “And we could call her Daffy.”

“I like it,” Janis replies. “Come here, Daffy! Come here!” Daffodil comes running over and bumps into Cady’s legs. “Aww, she likes it too, she responded to it.”

“Yay,” Cady says, picking her up and laughing as Daffy licks her face happily. “Oh, goodness, we love you too.”

“Okay, you ready to go home?” Janis asks, scratching behind Daffodil’s little ears.

“Yeah,” Cady grins, taking the leash and holding hands with her wife with her other hand.

But I’m always home with you.

-

does one of the characters in this have my real name because I am just that lazy? yes. this work was a challenge for me, but so much fun to write. hope you enjoyed!

our status for requests is the same as it was in the previous work. I am still taking them, but be aware that it will be July until your work is released.

thanks for reading!

lots of love,

ezzy

[tobebugjewce]

MONSTER BREEDER - fun times with yet another neil cicierega creation

todays web surf led me down town on the rabbit (worm)holes of neil cicieregas tumblr pages, twitter pages and various other little neil cicierega type things. i sifted through the entirety of his windows 95 tips blog, which i highly enjoyed. i didnt get around to reversing the CLOUD.MID audio clip but i will another time. 

he briefly adds in something about a twitter page in the windows 95 tips page, so naturally i clicked it, looking at the photos and finding myself really captivated by his (probably never going to be finished) retro video game which he called icon architect 1.0 i was really sad to find out he’d been working on it for a good while, then just suddenly... stopped. oh, neil, you whippersnapper!

anywho i then explored all 25+ pages of his slideshare gems (nightmares from slideshare.net) tumblr, which had some truly entertaining stuff thats gonna lead me down another rabbit (worm)hole later, as i want to delve a little more into the slideshare website and perhapsably post some stuff i find interesting/bizzare myself.

then after thoroughly scrubbing through those pages with my eyes, i went on to another neil cicierega brand blog, google suggest. a shorter one, and a smidge less entertaining than the others, but still great nonetheless. its gonna definitely get me to google some shit later when i have nothing to do.

my tangents wouldve been tied up if it werent for my exploration in the extremely stupidly fun flash(?) game neil made called MONSTER BREEDER. holy shit its a lot of fun. dont know how or why but ive spent hours on this shit already, i have over a hundred discovered crossbreeds but it only adds up to a measly 9.1% of all discoverable breeds! so thats what im gonna be doing all night tonight, while probably finishing up my walten files notes in between.

gonna drop some fun little tidbits here, like how breeding beetlejuice and michael myers makes michael keaton. that shit sent me to mars and back i was laughing so fucking hard.

i also stimmed wildly when i captured hannibal lecter. but i sadly lost him to a police raid. stupid fucking neighbors reporting me for my monster stables conditions... fuckers.

i also really just loved the combined design of the crossbreed between a skeleton and slenderman, aka slender bones

look at em,, what a cutie :3

then i just loved some of the beetlejuice dialogue and commentary so i saved those to plop here as well

he also has one that says “im the monster that says F*ck” which i found funny but forgot to take a screenshot of

breeding the ghosts with literally anything is almost guaranteed to create some hilariously ridiculous shit with fantastic fucking commentary. examples A and B; count ghostula, and GUMBY

“will suck” “boo bee!” youre so intelligent, count ghostula. i too enjoy sucking and also boobees.

WELL thats gonna do it for todays longshitpostupload, im definitely gonna probably add more things i like about monster breeder either onto this post or just make a whole new one. and now, im off to breed more monsters, avoid more cops and make FAT cash. cya!!!!!!!!!!!

...

fucken gumby.

[imjeralee]

Wallflower: Chapter 16 - Your Hugs are the Best

Raihan x F!Reader

Disclaimer: Do not own Pokemon

Note: I remember typing this chapter. It was a nightmare XD

Summary: You’re an unassuming Pokemon breeder who works at the nursery in the Wild Area and he’s Raihan, the fearsome gym leader of Hammerlocke who has more than a million followers. You don’t want anything to do with him but he’s…persistent.

Rating: Mature/Explicit

Warnings: Lemon, smut, violence, language. 

YOUR HUGS ARE THE BEST

...

...

Eli's brought to the room in handcuffs with two policemen escorting him.

He's got a visitor and he's not sure who it could be because he's not expecting anyone else to visit him. Bede came earlier, just to see how he was getting on and to drop a few insults which he was used to. Bede will now become Chairman Rose's right hand man, a role which the youth had wanted for some time but didn't realise he would get so soon and without any drama considering Eli's own (and uncalled for) undoing. His mum also came to visit where he found out a rather unpleasant truth.

Numb inside, he finds his feet moving on their own accord and when the door is opened, he's nudged in and he sees Raihan sitting in the empty seat, wearing a rather morose expression which doesn't suit him.

So Eli snarls out, "What are you doing here?"

Raihan's really the last person he wants to see. He took everything from him. Everything. He's extremely fortunate; he's a gym leader, he's rich and he has a girlfriend. That's what really grinds Eli's bones. He has everything whilst Eli has nothing. As though oblivious to Eli's growing disdain, Raihan says, "I'm here to visit you." It's the obvious truth which frustrates Eli more.

Regardless, Eli shuffles over, dragging the chair out and the legs scrape across the cold hard floor with a squeal; Eli plops himself down, furious. "Why? Have you come here to gloat?"

Raihan looks confused. "No. Why would I do that?"

”Then what do you want?”

”I just came to see how you were.”

Eli lifts up his handcuffed wrists. “What do you think?”

Raihan slides his gaze to the cuffs then says, "...I spoke to your mother.”

There's a brief silence and Eli lowers his wrists, throwing his glance to the window before he scoffs. “...The old bag isn't even my real mum. I don't know where I come from or who I am." He mutters under his breath, “...What a joke. My entire life is a joke. What else could go wrong?”

He's facing ten years in prison, that's what could go wrong.

”Eli, you helped Chairman Rose all those years and he doesn't blame you for what you did. We can reduce the sentence.”

Again, he scoffs. ”Look at me, Raihan. I'm right where I belong. I'm a criminal. Since the day Rose told me I was no longer going to be Hammerlocke's gym leader, Team Rocket took me under their wing and I infiltrated Galar for them. Don’t feel sorry for me. The only people who truly appreciated me was Team Rocket.” Eli replies, before he says loudly, “One day, you'll also realise that Rose is nothing but a selfish bastard and by that time, it'll be too late."

"Rose can be difficult, but....he wants to help you.”

"It's fine, Raihan. No-one needs to do anything for me. I got what I deserved."

Raihan looks somewhat conflicted. "That's not true."

"Don't bother with me anymore. Just leave me alone. Don't you know how lucky you are? Don't you know how good you have it?" Eli replies, before he throws a glance over his shoulder, "Guard, take me back.”

”Wait."

”What?”

“...You’re one of the first people I met when I joined the Pokemon League.” Raihan says, as Eli moves to stand, “You were a good friend to me; I'll never forget that.”

Eli blinks in silence, stunned. His fists curl but he says nothing and the policemen return, ending the short visit. Eli does nothing as the men grab him and bring him to the door and out of the room. Raihan watches his retreating back silently.

The guards show Eli to the cell, uncuffs him and he steps inside, glancing around his surroundings. He'll be here for a long time. Eli's lip trembles as he sits down on the cold, hard bed and the barred door is slammed shut and locked with a loud creak, he stares quietly at the ground.

Then he promptly bursts into tears.

....

After leaving the station, Raihan returns to the stadium. The city's pretty quiet today in general but it could be due to the closure of the gym and the cancellation of gym challenges for a week so there's less tourists. Along the way, he receives several messages and when he checks the screen, his brows furrow when he realises they are from someone he didn't want to hear from, or think he would hear from either: his ex-girlfriend.

The message preview says: I miss you.

He should tell his girlfriend should he get the chance, just in case any misunderstandings arise.

Nevertheless, he makes his way inside the gym and to the locker room where he spots the Hammerlocke gym team - his proteges Sebastian, Camilla and Aria, and the cheerleaders. They're all waiting for him; some of them are on their phone until he steps inside and they hastily put away their devices, all attention focused on the gym leader.

"Morning everyone." He gives them a grin, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his thick hoodie as everyone seats themselves down on the benches, "Today's meeting is gonna be fairly short. I'd send a message to the group chat but I thought speaking to you guys face to face would be better. You've probably seen the news - all gyms are to be closed for a week, re-opening next Monday. However, you're welcome to use the pitch for training as long as you've still got your keycard."

There's an excitable hubbub amongst the group but they soon dissolve into silence as Aria lifts up her arm.

"Yes, Ari?"

"Raihan, why did Eli attack Chairman Rose?"

Raihan lifts one hand to scratch at his headband; he forgot that some of the team and proteges were new and wouldn't know. "Eli was originally meant to be Hammerlocke's gym leader." He says. Whilst Sebastian, Alicia and Camilla nod, the others look noticeably confused. "But Chairman Rose decided Eli wasn't a good fit so I was given the gym leader position instead."

"Thank Arceus!" One of the cheerleaders exclaim, "We can't imagine anyone else being Hammerlocke's gym leader except you, Rai."

"Yeah, I agree!"

"Definitely not Eli, he's awful!"

The cheerleaders are quite vocal about their opinions whilst his proteges merely nod amongst themselves and Raihan laughs, "Alright, calm down, everyone." And the cheerleaders simmer into silence.

Sebastian lifts his hand up this time. "The news says you and your girlfriend stopped him." He mutters, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

"Yep, that's right. You've probably seen her around."

A cheerleader giggles loudly, "Yeah, I saw her mop the floor with Alicia!"

Immediately, Alicia frowns and scowls at her. "I-I went easy on her!"

"I heard she's an EV trainer."

"Has she been to any of your matches, Rai?"

"Not yet."

"Can we meet her????" asks another cheerleader and whilst Alicia and a few others scowl at her, the proteges look quite interested.

"Sure. I can bring her round one day."

"Yay!”

"Any more questions? Anyone?"

The group goes silent and everyone throws glances to each other but overall, there's nothing, so Raihan adjourns the meeting and everyone goes off their separate ways. As he takes his belongings out of his locker, Rotom sounds off again and he checks the screen. It's from his ex again and it says: I miss you, please come back to me.

....

Later.

There's a spot in your home where you go when you want some peace and quiet, to clear your mind. It's not the kitchen sink cupboard either, it's the tree stump in your front yard. Luckily the weather is good with a gentle breeze in the air so you've sat there whilst waiting for Raihan to come back, staring up at the sky with Espeon curled up in your lap.

You stroke her head and back absent-mindedly, preoccupied with your thoughts. You had woken up this morning, remembering all too well that Raihan has seen you sleeping under the kitchen sink in the middle of the night and you thought you had turned him off big time but you were surprised to wake up and he was still in your home. He didn’t mention anything though and you carried on as normal - you both took a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast and then Raihan returned to Hammerlocke.

Many people in your life came and went. They could deal with your emotional issues, or issues in general - but only up to a certain point. After a while, people just seemed to have displayed no interest in listening and stopped lending their ears. You soon discovered that people were more interested in themselves and were only out for themselves.

That was a cold, hard truth you learned quickly in life.

Used to being misunderstood, being disappointed by those you poured your trust and faith in... the only person you confided in and still maintained contact with was your friend who has been with you through thick and thin and vice versa - and now you have found out that she’s been involved in an accident in Castelia City; she's been admitted to the Community Hospital and she hasn't woken up. Her mother called you to let you know, even though she's a few days late. That explains why your friend never made it to Rose's party.

If that wasn't distressing enough for you, your boss then messaged, informing you that she will be taking indefinite leave and the nursery will be closed for a week on account that the gyms are closed, too.

However, during her absence, you're going to get a new boss - someone from the Route 5 nursery. Your boss sounded uncertain when you asked her when she was going to return, so now you can't help but feel that she's decided not to come back, if at all. She tells you not to worry about the nursery during your break.

You have decided that Phantump will continue to stay with Allister; your boss cannot bring herself to face Phantump at the moment. Perhaps in due time, she will take him in.

Then you saw this online article and it's about Raihan and you and the comments range from how ugly and fat you are and how you don't deserve Raihan, how poor you are and that you're a gold digger, how he deserves much better and that you should go back to where you came from.

Emitting a huge and heavy sigh, you try not to let the comments from complete and utter strangers get to you but they are so mean and hurtful...and now you're questioning everything: why are you here? If you think about it more clearly, you haven't really had a good time.... you haven't made any new friends. Your family are in Johto, you miss them a lot, and now your friend is hurt and in hospital. Your job seems secure to a certain extent but you're not sure what's going to happen from now on.

The only good thing to happen to you since you came here is meeting Raihan. Aside from that...you don't really have anyone or anything else. It was your choice to work abroad... but you didn't realise it could be so lonely.

And before Raihan left to Hammerlocke, you had told him everything that had happened and how you will need to visit your friend in Unova. After Unova, you will go to Johto to see your family. You asked him if he wanted to come because since you both have a week off, you think it is really a good idea to make the most of it if possible.

To your utmost surprise, he agreed and that he would look into last minute flights. Leave it all to him, he said. You felt bad about that but he said he would take care of it.

The thought of going home actually makes you happy and you turn to Espeon. She opens her large eyes and blinks up at you, then she reaches up and rubs her head and ears and whiskers over the side of your cheek affectionately. You giggle, wrapping your arms around your lilac furry baby, fingers smoothing over her soft fur. She purrs with content, closing her eyes as you hold her tightly in your embrace. You remember when she was just a little Eevee, so tiny and cute.

You chuckle under your breath just as Poliwag sticks his head under your arm and eases it off Espeon, burying himself into your arms. He trills happily and you're surprised to see him outside the bathroom which is nice for a change. Drifloon floats over too, wrapping his little strings under your chin and settling over the top of your head.

"Hmm, I'm missing two more." You say, throwing a glance over your shoulder to Dreepy and Goomy - however, you're quickly taken by surprise when Dreepy vanishes from his spot and materialises on your shoulder, rubbing his head over your cheek.

That leaves Goomy, who's fast asleep under a neon mushroom a few feet away from your group until he's gently picked up. It's Raihan; he's returned, standing behind the small gate of your front yard. With Goomy in his grasp, he makes his way over to your group. "Hey."

Your face lights up at once. "Hey, you're back. How did it go?"

"All good. Sebastian and the others are fine. The cheerleaders too." He leans forwards and you exchange a brief kiss before breaking apart. Raihan moves to sit cross-legged in front of you on the grass with Goomy snoozing away in his lap. "The stadium's officially closed." He adds, "I got the tickets. Everything's all booked."

Your jaw drops as he pulls out some tickets from his pockets and presses them into your hand. He's gotten cruise tickets for the Royal Unova andplane tickets. "Rai! These are...how did you even get these??? It’s so last minute! Thank you so much." You smile widely at him and he leans forwards once more; you follow his cue and your lips meet again.

"It's no bother at all."

"How much do I owe you?"

"You don't owe me anything, princess. It was my pleasure." He says, cupping your cheek with his large hand, "The Royal Unova will take us from Hulbury directly to Castelia City, then we'll catch a direct flight from Mistralton to Johto."

You gawk at him wide-eyed. He's got everything figured out! Sweet Arceus, why is Raihan so perfect?!

"I'll head back to pack." He adds, snapping you out of your thoughts.

"Okay. Shall we meet at Hulbury?"

He nods, pressing his lips against yours briefly. "Yep." You smooch again until he says, “Before I go, I need to show you something.”

”What?”

He takes out his phone and shows you his messages screen. You don’t see anything wrong and you’re not sure why he’s showing you it until you see a “I miss you” message from his ex.

At first, you blinked blankly at the message, then your expression turned dark. What the hell. I miss you? You begin to quietly seethe with rage; you see that he’s received several messages too, and not just the one. So....his ex wants to get back with him?

He returns his phone back to his pockets once he notices how you glower at the screen. ”I just started receiving them this morning. I didn’t reply, and I’m not going to.” He mutters, “I thought I should tell you.”

Oh, Raihan. Raihan, Raihan, Raihan. What a sweetheart. You smile widely, reaching for him and pulling his headband up where you plant multiple kisses on his forehead. He chuckles in response when you proceed to wrap your arms around his head, holding him close to you.

”Thanks, I really appreciate it.” You say, “It’s fine, honestly.”

Raihan leaves and you grab Goomy; it sucks that Raihan’s ex has messaged him, trying to worm her way back into his life and even trying to steal him away from you - but Raihan has shown you the messages and even told you he won’t entertain her.

With more important things to think about - like your trip for example - you rush back into your cottage with your pokemon and into your lounge and they leap out of your arms as you shut the door before you pull out your Rotom phone to message your mother:

You: Hi mom i have a week off so im coming home. Raihan is coming with me :)

Looking up from your phone for a brief moment, you pause, then hastily start typing again.

You: Ps can u hide my Steven Stone fan art and those fanfictions I wrote about Lance?

...

Later.

This is your first trip with Raihan.

How exciting!

Also, you're getting to go home! You'll be able to see mum and Glenn - and it's then you randomly remember that mum had wanted you to go to Celadon City and not Galar, to train as a flower girl in Erika's gym but knowing that she only specialised in grass and welcomed 'attractive' pokemon only, you had refused because your entire team apparently didn't qualify.

Time is of the essence here and you're determined to make the most of your allocated time - so the itinerary is very simple: the Royal Unova is a luxurious cruise ship that picks up passengers on various harbours around the world and in Galar, and as Raihan mentioned, the harbour is at Hulbury. It will subsequently dock at it's final destination which is Castelia City, thus efficiently depositing you where your friend's hospital is. It won't even take long either, just a few hours onboard. You've been wary of sea travel after seeing what happened to the S.S. Anne but hell, it can't stop you.

And after you visit your friend, you will then head to Mistralton City to take a flight to Johto and from Johto, take a return flight to Galar. Unfortunately, you really don't have any time to do much sightseeing in Unova with Raihan. Maybe next time.

The cruise ship is arriving tonight at eight o'clock and you've got to pack. Whilst Raihan has returned home to pack his belongings, you both video chat each other. Even though he's not physically in your house, you feel he is still with you. You will meet him three hours in Hulbury prior boarding time; he's given you heads up to pack a swimsuit.

You hastily return all your house'mon into their pokeballs and deposit them into the PC for safekeeping and for access when you get on the cruise liner. You will keep Metagross, Chompy, Tyranitar, Salamence and Haxorus with you on person. You keep Poliwag with you too; he'll be your companion.

At home, you pull out the suitcase you took with you to Galar, giving it a quick wipe with a clean and hot cloth before grabbing some clothes to pack. You're not going away for long so it's not necessary to pack too many items but for some reason you're wanting to pack ten pairs of panties with you in case you run out of underwear. Once you're done, you ensure all your gas, electricity and water and heating has been turned off and make sure everything else is in order, then head for the door.

"Goodbye, house." You say, giving your cottage one final look before closing the door and locking it.

The Corviknight taxi takes you and Poliwag to Hulbury and it's been a while since you and Poliwag have really hung out but it's nice for him to be outside your bathroom for a change.

Since Poliwag is not very good at walking, you carry him. He looks a little frightened by his new and different surroundings but you assure him that he'll be fine and you both make your way to the harbour where Raihan is waiting for you; he's inside the ferry terminal, looking at his phone whilst seated on a bench with three suitcases by his side.

At first, you thought he would be overdressed but he's looking rather casual - he's wearing a windbreaker, a white t-shirt with a dragon claw print on the front, black joggers and white trainers with a red streak on the sides. In an attempt to be as inconspicuous as possible, he's even propped a beanie over his dreadlocks and a pair of sunglasses. Luckily, no-one seems to pay any attention to him; you weave through the crowd of passengers who are waiting to board the ship and when he sees you, he stands, putting his phone away.

"That's a lot of suitcases." You point out as you stop in front of him.

"Yep." He says, peering down from his shades to wink at you; he scoops your hand with his, giving you an affectionate squeeze, "Let's go, I got all the travel documents."

Nodding, you join the queue with your suitcases and stand in line amongst other fellow passengers who chatter to each other excitedly whilst their Pokemon play with each other. You can also hear people comparing the amount of ribbons their pokemon have and the number of contests they've won. Outside, the ship can be seen bobbing up and down gently in the sea where a few Dewgongs leap around and frolick in the waves. The ship is so huge you can only see one window and the side of the ship is covered in Binacles.

To keep yourself occupied whilst you queue, you watch as a few youngsters play around with their pokemon whilst a couple in the corner kiss passionately; Raihan nudges you with a grin and you turn away, cheeks reddening. You grab the brochure, opening it and checking the entertainment onboard - there are a few shows going on, namely Pokemon Karaokemon and Pikachu's Jukebox which you want to watch.

When it's finally your turn to be served, you both check in, the agent breezes through your travel documents and passports where you and Raihan end up comparing your ID photos. The agent then weighs all your luggage and attaches tags on them; finally, she prints out your onboard identification passes, room key and payment card and you're finally ready to go in. The agent tells you that the ship will be docking in Castelia City next morning.

You almost forgot how exhausting the entire ordeal could be when you and Raihan make your way hand in hand down the corridor that will lead to the ship. A steward with a Poliwhirl dressed up with a sailor's hat stands at the very top and they both welcome you onboard with a synchronised salute. The steward provides instructions how to find your room and when you look at the ticket, you realise Raihan's booked a VIP suite which doesn't surprise you at all.

With Poliwag in your arms, you and Raihan find your room - which is far away from the common folk and it's a massive room with an equally huge king-sized bed slap bang in the middle. The room's decor is seriously exquisite - consisting of gold drapes and red furnishings and an ensuite bathroom that's fitted with a jacuzzi. It's a shame you're only staying for a few hours, but you are going to make sure you relax and enjoy your time here with Raihan.

Whilst Raihan tests the bed, you and Poliwag check out the bathroom, glimpsing around the beautiful marble interior. You're interrupted when a tannoy goes off and it's an announcement from the captain; you feel the ship is beginning to move and you are now free to explore the ship to your heart's content.

The first thing you do is hit the VIP pool; it's Raihan's idea, of course.

With a towel, a pair of flip-flops and your swimsuit in hands, you and Raihan head to the VIP area where you both split up once you reach the changing rooms. Poliwag finds an empty cubicle for you - you're going to meet Raihan at the pool - and you quickly change out of your clothes and into the swimsuit you packed. Cripes, it's tight. You stand awkwardly in your flip-flops, tugging and pulling at the straps and pulling down on your panties before locking away your belongings into a locker and grabbing the jelly bracelet and key, strapping it around your wrist.

Turning to Poliwag, he looks eager to hit the pool and follows you outside, promptly jumping into the pool first.

You stop at the pool's edge, peering over and glimpsing into the clear blue water and you sense a presence approaching you from behind. Spinning round on your heel, you see it's Raihan and he's about to push you into the pool as he creeps up but you're quick to grab his arm as he reaches for you and you pull him forwards.

You end up tumbling into the pool with a loud splash. There's a few patrons - mostly old ladies and gentlemen along with their Pokemon (ranging from Horsea, Swanna to Snubbull) leisurely swimming around and they don't look impressed with your arrival, giving you dirty looks.

The pool's extremely deep; under water, you see Poliwag swimming closeby with someone's Buizel, before you hastily return to the surface with Raihan; he grins at you as he sweeps his damp hair away from his eyes before he grabs you - and he inadvertently brushes his hand over a ticklish spot - you end up curling into a ball that would put a defense curl to shame and squeak with laughter, trying to get away from him.

Raihan grins and goes after you in the pool; you're splashing loudly in the water and flailing around, swimming away from him until he finally chases you all the way to a quiet corner away from people; it's the section with the jacuzzi, the water bubbling around you and Raihan slips his bare arms around your waist, bringing you close to him.

"Got you." He murmurs, as Poliwag swims beside you both, kicking his little feet in the water before the bubbly water carries his little body up and he bobs around you in a circle. Your face grows red as Raihan leans over and nibbles the shell of your ear, pressing you against the slippery tiles of the pool. "What do you think of everything so far?"

"It's great," You utter with a smile as you drape your arms over his bare shoulders, running your hands over his smooth skin and muscles; he's so close your noses are touching and he nuzzles you affectionately. “This is my first time on the Royal Unova.”

“Mm, then we should do this more often. There's plenty of other vacation spots out there - Hano Grand Resort in Alola, for example."

"Actually, I'd love to go to Melemele Island, or visit Floaroma Meadow."

He chuckles before he leans forwards, his lips finding yours. You kiss him in response and he grins against your mouth, pressing his lips tightly against yours until your ears pick up the sound of pounding music a distant away; when you break apart, you glimpse over his shoulder. "What's up?" He asks, following the direction of your gaze.

"It's kinda noisy over there. Wonder what's going on."

"Wanna check it out?"

"Alright." You mutter, and Raihan leaves the pool before promptly lifting you out.

You grab Poliwag; following the source of the noise, it leads you to an entirely new area - you both peer over the ledge to see a massive pool one deck below filled with tonnes of people cheering and whooping and dancing whilst a DJ and his booth stands at the very end, blasting out heavy dance music with his Loudred and Exploud; there's a few stewards weaving through the crowd carrying champagne glasses.

A sign in the corner says:

Pool Party, Venue - Lower VIP Deck VIP members only **Strictly NO Electric-types allowed** PS. No Magikarps either.

It's not too late to turn back but Raihan's expression lights up at once at the scene and you sigh under your breath. Guess it can't be helped. “...Alright, let's go have a closer look."

Grinning widely, he takes your hand and leads you downstairs towards the lower VIP deck. There's no bouncer and you stray further inside where the music is becoming louder; in fact, it is so loud, it hurts your ears. Poliwag waddles beside you, looking around cautiously and trying not to get his tail stepped on.

Glancing at the pool, you see half of it is separated by a net - there are attractive young men and women playing water volleyball with their Vaporeon and Sharpedo and other water-types, screaming with laughter and cheering wildly. Holy crap, you are so uncomfortable here, being surrounded by so many attractive fit people in their tiny bikinis and shorts. You accidentally glance at a few couples on couches who are making out intensely and fondling each other in intimate areas - and you turn away immediately. There's so many people dancing and drinking booze and you cringe when you realise this is nothing but a gratuitous frat party.

And this is definetely Raihan’s scene.

In fact, he is totally at home here. It's so crowded, you can hardly breathe; almost every space of the deck is occupied by someone or a pokemon. There's barely any room to move around freely and if it wasn't for Raihan holding your hand tightly, you were afraid you would've become lost amongst the crowd. You give his hand a tight squeeze, clinging onto him for dear life but he merely smiles at you reassuringly.

"Do you want a drink?" Raihan asks, gesturing to the bar where a few staff members are busy making cocktails. "I'll get you one."

"Sure."

"What do you fancy?"

You shrug. "Nothing too strong, please. I'll wait for you over there." You gesture to an empty deck chair near the pool.

"Alright." He kisses your knuckles and makes his way towards the direction of the bar. Along the way, you notice a lot of girls ogle him, which makes you highly uncomfortable.

You stand on your own with Poliwag in your arms,  looking rather out of place. Oh well, time to hit the deckchair you mentioned. You head over, but some girl beats you to it and plops herself down on the plushy seat.

"Sorry, this one's taken." She says abruptly.

Fine then. You turn away to find another chair, weaving through the crowd, trying to locate a spare chair until you come across a small table with three seats and one is already taken - although you're not inclined to share, you don't see any other seats available. The person in the other chair is a woman in a white bikini with her sunhat conveniently placed over her face. Though you cannot see her face, you can tell she's attractive - she has a very slim, hourglass figurine with large breasts.

You ask, "Excuse me, are these seats taken?"

You wonder if she's asleep but she raises one sinewy hand and lowers the hat and your eyes widen; it's Raihan's ex-girlfriend. She observes you for a split second and whilst you freeze up all over with shock, she sits up properly and smiles. "No, there's no-one sitting here."

Shit, you should get away from her as quickly as possible. However, your feet are rooted to the spot and ultimately, it's too late to make a hasty exit now. "....Thanks." You end up croaking out, seating yourself down with Poliwag in your lap. He looks eager to jump into the pool, straining and struggling in your grip so you let go of him and he hops onto the floor. "Be careful, Poliwag."

He nods and with a cheerful trill, you watch as Poliwag waddles towards the pool and hastily jumps in, causing a splash which makes some patrons whoop and yell and follow his example, cannonballing into the pool. You're left with the ex-girlfriend.

"What a cute Poliwag," She coos, snapping you out of your thoughts and you turn to her, "Is that an Everstone tied around his tail?"

"Oh, uh, yeah."

"Sorry, could you say that again? I couldn't hear you over the noise."

"...Um, I said, yes, that's an Everstone." You croak out, raising your voice slightly higher so she could hear you. Is she being nice or fake-nice? You cannot tell and it doesn't even matter because you have no intention in getting to know her better or becoming her friend. You find that you can't stop staring at her; she's so pretty and perfect, with her sleek and shiny long hair, sharp features and big, soft eyes and long eyelashes and perky lips. You're feeling like the ugly Ducklett all over again. Ugh, how terrible, how awful.

"He doesn't want to evolve?" She asks curiously and it's then you see various guys a fraction of a distance away, and they're all staring at her, checking her out.

"Yeah."

"Why not?"

"He likes being a Poliwag."

"What level is he?"

"Seventy two. I've had him for a long time." You mentally kick yourself, pondering why you are still conversing and being so civil.

"A level seventy two Poliwag? I've never met a trainer who dedicated so much time in....in..."

"...In training a Poliwag up to level seventy two?"

"Yes," She giggles lightly, eyes creasing with delight. “Sorry, it's just... never mind. Anyway, fancy seeing you here. How are you?" She says, reaching for a champagne glass and lifting it off the table and earnestly, you're surprised she even recognises you.

"I'm fine, thank you." You grunt out.

"Here, have one." She gestures to the spare champagne glass and you stare at the pearly, golden liquid bubbling inside. "It's Champagne Brut Millesime."

"No thanks."

"I saw the news - you saved Chairman Rose along with the gym leaders and Leon." She adds, and a part of you is wondering why she is chatting to you as though you have known each other for a long time and as though you are very good friends. "That was very brave."

"I didn't do much."

She waves her other hand dismissively. "Don't be so modest. Everyone knows what you did - it’s on the news and it’s all over social media. So, what brings you here?"

"We're going to Unova."

"Is Raihan with you?"

You hesitate, then nod. "....Yeah, he is."

She glances around before she spots him at the bar, "Ah, I see." A wide smile appears on her face then. Chuckling to herself, she leans comfortably against the deckchair to stretch and you can't help but stare as she crosses one long leg over the other. Her skin is milky white and perfect, likeporcelain. "I don't think I properly introduced myself back at the party." She tells you her name and how she is a gym trainer at Elesa's gym in Nimbasa City and how she is also a social media model, beauty blogger, travel vlogger and makeup artist. All of these you already know, of course.

"That's crazy. I-I mean...wow." You're not sure what else to say in response to her feats but she seems pleased with your reaction anyway. You tell her that you're a Pokemon Breeder.

"I wanted to work in a daycare too because I love baby pokemon, but I like travelling more and I can't stay in one place for too long." She utters; you're busy looking around as she speaks and you spot a group crowding around a high table and you can see they're snorting berry dust up their noses. "Do you have a social media account? Give me your username and I'll add you."

"Huh? What? Oh...I-I'm not on social media."

"That's a shame." She mutters, looking rather confused, "You know...Raihan and I used to go to these kinds of parties all the time. We always had a good time....and he would always get me anything I wanted. It was really sweet of him. If I asked him to get me something, he used to drop everything and I mean everything, just to do it, just to make me happy. You should do the same too."

You give her an incredulous stare in response as she proceeds to take a sip from her champagne.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to go on like that." She rummages around her side and pulls out two thin cigarettes... or what you thought were cigarettes. "Want one?"

Your eyes grow wide. "Is that..."

"Yeah." She says with a grin, and as she attempts to find a lighter, you start feeling nauseous. "How are you two getting on?"

"We're fine."

Unable to find her lighter, she huffs and says, ”Alright, what do you like about him?”

You wonder why she is asking you this. “Everything. He’s perfect. I love his smile. Oh, and his hugs are the best.” You reply, without thinking too hard.

”Aw, how cute. You know, when he falls in love, he falls, hard. I'm sure you realise that by now," She then says, looking at her polished fingernails, "He was such a little flirt; he went after me like a Lycanroc on steroids. And when we broke up, his heart was crushed. I'm sure of it. I guess it can't be helped. But even then.... he managed to pick himself back up and start all over again....because now he's with you. And it's like I never existed."

You're not quite sure what she's trying to say.

However, now is a good chance to confront her and tell her to leave Raihan alone. He is your boyfriend, not hers. You need to get your message across, to mark your territory and claim what is yours, big time. Go on, tell her to leave Raihan alone.

"Look, I know you've - "

"Remind me again: how did you meet Raihan?"

You don't recall telling her how you met him. You should tell her how you met Raihan at a club and later had hot sex at his hotel room. Wait... maybe not. Some things should not be said and that is definitely one of them. You don't want to tell her anything because quite frankly, you are not obligated to tell her anything.

Before you can reply however, a familiar voice says, "We met at a club and then spent the night in a hotel room."

You turn round with your mouth agape to see Raihan standing behind you; when your eyes meet, he grins widely. "Rai!" You exclaim.

"What?"

"You can't just say these things out loud! People are going to get the wrong idea!"

He chuckles loudly whilst the ex-girlfriend stares silently at the both of you. He's got Poliwag with him and you take your tadpole pokemon off him and into your arms. Raihan then glances at his ex.

"Good to see you." He greets her before he leans down, cupping your chin with his hand and tilting your face up to his level, pressing his lips against yours in a soft kiss. As your heart thumps wildly, he lets go of you and his ex-girlfriend stares at your interaction before she opens her mouth, about to speak. However, Raihan quickly says, "We were about to go. Isn't that right, princess?"

"Yes! Let's go right now." You say hurriedly, although you wonder why Raihan doesn't seem interested in the party any longer.

"Wait." His ex-girlfriend rises from the chair to stand, "Raihan, can I talk to you? Alone?"

There's a short silence; Raihan glimpses between you and his ex-girlfriend, and you and Poliwag blink blankly at him in response. To your dismay, he nods. Planting his hand on your shoulder, he gives you a squeeze and grins at you, "I'll be right back."

Raihan pecks your forehead and promptly leaves your side. You watch as he joins his ex-girlfriend and they disappear through the crowd; you're left on your own and Poliwag slaps you on the arm gently with his tail and makes a loud noise, before using his tail to point at them unwaveringly.

"Follow them?" You utter, and he nods furiously. ".....No, we don't need to. I trust Raihan. Let's just wait for him to come back."

But Poliwag shakes his head and begins waddling towards the direction Raihan and his ex headed off to.

"Poliwag, come back!" Now you have no choice but to go after him, scrambling off the chair to chase after your pokemon.

He's quite small so you have a hard time trying to catch up, occasionally losing sight of your round boy but the telltale signs are his smooth and shiny blue head and tail bobbing around so eventually, you follow him all the way towards the direction of the VIP Observation Deck.

Along the way, you politely excuse yourself as you make your way through the crowd and suddenly, Poliwag stops and you finally reach him; lifting him up and back into your arms. Poliwag points again using his tail and you see Raihan and the ex-girlfriend; they haven't ventured too far at all. You immediately duck and hide behind the nearest pillar you can find before peeping out; you haven't been spotted and luckily, you are within earshot. Unfortunately, you're a bit late so they're in mid-conversation and you thought they were smoking joints together or whatever but they're merely staring at the ocean.

You can hear Raihan saying, "She means a lot to me."

The ex-girlfriend turns to him, placing her hand on his bare arm. "That's not true. You haven't been together for long. She cannot help you, Rai. She's a nobody and she's a stick in the mud. We had so much fun when we were together; remember when we went to Undella Town? Lilycove? The Resort Area in Sinnoh? We did so much together."

He gently removes her arm off him. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you didn't reply to my messages and I miss you; I saw you at the party and I remembered how much fun we had. Let's go back together. We were meant for each other." She says, "I can call my engagement off; I miss you a lot. I really do. I know you still have feelings for me too - come back to me, please."

She smiles at him wistfully before she attempts to embrace him; however, he stops her, holding her back at arm's length, "You're wrong. And I don't feel the same. You've met a nice man who treats you well. I know you'll be very happy together."

There's a brief silence. She goes silent at the rejection, staring up at him with her large eyes. However, in the span of a second, her expression turns to ice as she glares at him before turning away from him with her nose in the air. "You'll regret this, Raihan," She sneers, "You two won't last long. And when the time comes, don't come crawling back to me because I won't take you back, even if you begged."

"Wasn't planning to." He calls after her as he lets go of her and she stomps away.

Your jaw hits the floor.

Poliwag struggles in your grip and lands on the ground, waddling out. "Poliwag!" You exclaim before you can help yourself, completely blowing your cover in progress as you attempt to grab him.

At the sound of your voice, Raihan turns round and you freeze up at once as he looks at you and Poliwag. You stand up properly as your gazes meet. Poliwag walks up to Raihan, chirping at him cheerfully and Raihan grins, scooping him off the ground and into his arms, holding him high into the air.

"Sorry, Rai, we weren't...I didn't mean to..." You mutter sheepishly as he heads over to you, and you take Poliwag from him.

However, Raihan merely smiles and plops his hand atop your head, "It's fine. She won't message me ever again."

He's chosen you over her, even though she tried to get back with him and you glance at the direction the ex-girlfriend stormed off to. "What you were talking about just there - she can't talk to you like that and just walk away though."

Yep, you're going to march up to her, tell her to stay away from Raihan. He's with you now. You're his girlfriend, not her.

However, he stops you by grabbing your arm gently. "Don't waste your time." He drawls, wrapping his arms around you, pulling you into his chest, enveloping you into a tight hug. You hear him sigh gently before he presses his lips over the top of your head. You close your eyes, encircling your arms around him tightly and he does the same, burying his face into your hair.

”You’re too nice.” You mumble; you don't think that's the last you have seen of her.

“Kill ‘em with kindness. Gets them every time.”

You sigh helplessly in response. Even when people are horrible and mean to him, Raihan just smiles and takes it or shrugs it off. "But I don't want to see you get hurt or get taken advantage of."

"This is the kind of world we live in, princess." He replies, and you lower your gaze to the ground. Raihan chuckles at your response, ruffling your hair before he hugs you tighter and you bury your face into his nape, snuggling into him. “C’mon. Let’s go back to our room.”

You nod; he scoops your hand with his, clutching you firmly and you both make your way towards the direction of the exit. That's enough drama for one day.

...

Finally, you've made it to Castelia City.

It's your first time here and it's way bigger and busier than you had anticipated and the moment you left the ship, you and Raihan spent a few seconds gawking at the grandiose of it all. There is nothing in Galar that remotely resembles this city and hell, you thought Wyndon was pretty big but Castelia takes the cake. Quite frankly, you feel like a little country-bumpkin Morpeko all over again. The horizon is dotted with numerous skyscrapers that stretch so high you have to crane your neck just to look up properly. Blown away by the view, you open up the brochure you took from one of the stands near the ticket kiosk and pull out the map.

"Hm, let's see. Casteliacone shop - nope. Art Museum - nope. Aha! The hospital is somewhere in Mode Street." You mutter, whilst Raihan takes selfies of himself in all manner of poses and from all possible angles. You fold the map back up, slotting it into your bag, "Rai, are you done taking pictures? We need to go."

He puts his phone away, trailing after you; he's occupied with looking at the scenery and sights but stays close. You know he wants to sightsee now that you're here.

Luckily, the ship operates a left luggage service so you leave your suitcases and you can collect them later. You begin your journey to the hospital with your gift card and gift basket in hand, dodging the businessmen and tourists alike who are running up and down the streets in a hurried fashion. And here you thought Kanto's cycling route was bad. This is worse - even though there's not a bike in sight.

You do your best to avoid people by darting left and right but it's inevitable that you end up bumping into a few folk along the way. As you continue down the frantic street with Raihan, you see how manic it is - triathletes run with their Hitmonlee, parasol ladies are walking their Furfrous and Manectrics, a cleaner hoses down windows with his Quagsire team and a small group of construction workers takes up half the sidewalk with Gurdurrs and Hariyamas.  It's so lively here but space is limited, making you feel that you take Galar and the sparse Wild Area for granted.

You could also get a taxi but the street is just two blocks ahead and when you finally arrive, you're panting and you see that the hospital is a standalone building and you and Raihan enter; it's as busy as the streets outside with Chanseys and Blisseys rushing around. Your friend's mother has given you the ward number beforehand so you follow the signs and ride the elevator up, stepping out once you reach the correct floor.

You register at the counter and hurry in, spotting your friend's mother, her Bellsprout and a familiar purple-haired young man standing a bed by the window, conversing quietly. Once they spot you however, they stop discussing and wave to you immediately.

"Leon?" Raihan says, stunned by the Champion's presence here.

"Hey, Raihan." Leon replies, before he greets you also. You greet him in response; it's nice to see that he's not in his Champion gear - he's wearing a plain white sweater with a Charizard on the front, dark blue jeans and white sneakers. A black snapback with a red motif sits atop his fluffy hair.

"What are you doing here?"

"My friend was meant to be introduced to Leon." You quickly explain, though you're surprised to see that Leon actually came to visit.

"Yep, that's right." Leon replies, grinning.

Your friend's mother smiles widely also as you introduce Raihan to her. "Thanks for coming. This means so much to her."

Everyone glances at the bed where your friend is lying still, eyes closed. She looks terrible - her entire right leg is bandaged and hoisted up in the air by a sling attached to the ceiling, and she has a brace around her neck. It hurts you to see her like this; your friend is a good person. Why do bad things happen to good people? You move to join her mother, sitting beside her on the spare chair. "....How is she?"

"She's stable now; she's in a lot better condition than a few days ago and the doctor says she'll make a full recovery."

You breathe a sigh of relief, "What happened?"

"A car hit her when she was crossing the street and drove off. The police are looking into the incident. I called her workplace and they've decided to let her go. They said they can't afford the statutory sick pay because they don't know when she will wake up."

Your nose scrunches up with revulsion. You knew your friend didn't like her work and the company sounded awful, but you didn't realise they'd be this dodgy, either.

She nods gently, sighing under her breath. "...I'm afraid there isn't much we can do. We'll just need to wait for her to wake up, but...never mind, she is better off not working for that dreadful company any longer. I was getting so worried."

"I think so too." You mutter. Maybe it's a sign?

"Anyway, how are you, dear?"

"I'm fine; I brought a gift." You reply, holding up your gift basket and card and as you place it down on the bedside table, you chat with your friend's mother for a brief moment whilst Leon and Raihan talk quietly in one corner.

Unfortunately, you can't afford to stay any longer due to your flight to Johto so you say your goodbyes, your friend's mother thanks you again for taking the time to visit and you wish your friend a speedy recovery. She doesn't budge in any way, completely unresponsive. After the visit's over, you leave the hospital with Raihan; Leon will be staying put in Castelia for a while, which makes you happy considering you thought it was a shame that your friend didn't get to meet him yet he's come to visit.

Hand in hand, you and Raihan make your way towards the direction of the ship where you will collect your suitcases before heading off to the airport.

"I hope your friend gets better." Raihan says, noticing your forlorn expression.

"Me too. Thanks for coming with me." You murmur, "And it's nice of Leon to visit, I didn't think he would."

"Mn, I agree."

"I hope they go together," You add, smiling, "I have a good feeling about them."

...

[thelittlestcheshire]

Self Para 006: But It'll Be a Long Road Together Word Count: 1734 words Note: I’m as emotional in the club over this as Ches is, in all honesty. This is considered mostly fluff, I think? It’s fluff in my definition of it, at least. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to dm me, but I’m pleased to welcome Clover to the Luxor family. TWs: None! I know, it’s a mcfreaking first for me.

After all of this time, Ches couldn’t believe today was the day. When had they started this process? How many times had they sat down with the administration to discuss things, how many months had she talked to a trainer and breeders and looked for a suitable candidate to ensure that they were setting her up for success? Even now that Ches was finally going to bring home her service dog in training, it was hard to wrap her head around. She was finally taking that next step. All those months of research and working towards this had finally led her here, and she was excited.

She knew it was going to be hard work; she knew that, but she kept running through the list of things she needed to do today. She’d gotten her dorm room completely puppy-proofed, and the lake house and she’d already had plans in place for places like Elliot’s room, and when she dropped by The Driskells’ rooms. Toys, travel bags, the crate set up. Now all she needed was the dog.

“Are you nervous or excited?” Emmett asks her as they drive. She’d considered asking Zander, or Balo, or even Elliot if they’d go with her, but she was glad that he’d said he could go. She didn’t have to drive, which she appreciated, because that meant she could focus on Clover on the way home.

“Both.” She answers, honestly. “Excited this is finally happening, nervous I’m going to fuck it up. A lot of owner-trainer’s first dogs wash...”

“You’re not technically owner-training,  you have a professional who specializes in service dogs helping you every step of the way. With how much this means to you, I’m not worried about it.” Emmett brushes off, and while she knew he had a point, she was fortunate to have so many tools at her fingertips, guidance she knew people would kill for, hell the fact she was even fortunate to be in the position that Luxor was allowing to have a service dog in training on campus - that she had an extremely strong support system there with her in the process. Yet, there was still that voice reminding her that if she fucked up - her dog would wash. There was a chance her dog could wash even if she did everything perfectly, and she was going to have to live with that if it did.

But that was only more motivation to do her best. “Everything could be stacked in my favor, and we could find out in two years she’s just not suitable for this line of work. There’s a lot to keep in mind.” She reminds him as she reaches forward to turn up the music. “Thanks for coming with me.”

“I wanted to talk to you about prom anyway...” Emmett shrugs, and he starts to ask her questions about the event as he drives, and she answers them. It wasn’t hard, she’d actually enjoyed prom. Other people having dramatic falling outs wasn’t her business and while she had friends involved in the chaos, it wasn’t really her business unless one of them brought it up to her. She could comfort them without getting in the middle, right? And she doubted Sav, Maddie, or Marcello wanted her in the middle, and if they did, they’d tell her about it themselves. So, she’d turned it all off, focused on Elliot, tried not to panic despite the fact chaos made her uneasy. Chris and Alek being missing was already concerning enough to make her sensitive to that sort of thing, so it was better not to acknowledge it. Plus Elliot was amazing at grounding her, he always made events easier to survive through.

When she got her service dog fully trained, it’d be even easier. Elliot couldn’t always be there, no matter how much she appreciated him. This was a good thing, she knew that. Her doctors wouldn’t have suggested it if it wasn’t.

Now she just had to hope she wouldn’t mess this up.

—

“You know when you said you were getting a puppy, I expected her to be younger.” Balo points out when she comes to visit for the first time.

“She’s only 12 weeks you know, she went to my trainer’s home first, evaluations, wanting to make sure she’d actually be a fit for me.” Ches shrugs, “apparently it’s easier to test her if they’re living with her for four weeks or something.” And she didn’t mind the help honestly, Clover seemed to be doing well with the crate so far. Although she was still working with her on that just in case - after all, it was better to make sure she was actually okay for when Ches went to classes, as Clover wasn’t ready for that kind of environment.

Honestly, she probably wouldn’t be by the time Ches came back to school in the fall, either. But it was a work in progress, and at least she had Luxor working with her in the meantime. For now, the focus was on making sure Clover was an obedient puppy. Tasks, public access, those were hurdles for later in the summer, maybe even fall. Right now the priority was getting the housebreaking down, and the at-home behaviors, before she worked up to seeing if she could get Clover to pay attention to lessons in outdoor dog-friendly places, and then eventually moving up to indoor dog-friendly places, so on and so forth.

“You’re clicker training.” The blonde notes, gesturing to the clicker beside Ches. “That seems like a good plan honestly, positive reinforcement and all.”

“She’s food-motivated, makes my life easier. Good girl.” Ches gives Clover another piece of kibble from her pocket as the golden retriever chews on one of her own toys, ignoring the look that Balo is giving her. “My trainer says we should reward desired behaviors. I desire her to calmly chew on her own toys, and yes, this is what she meant - she specifically told me to reward her for this. She’s technically earning her lunch by just doing dog things I like so... She shrugs. It seemed like an effective way to handle it so far honestly. “Training sessions for breakfast, puzzle-box for dinner, it’s been working really well so far.”

“When do you guys start on tasks?”

Ches shrugs, “the first step is the foundation work, the second step is starting to teach her tasks, third step is protecting her mental development until she’s old enough for full-time work. Fall, I think? But I won’t be able to rely on her that much for a long time. Her brain won’t fully be developed until she’s two.”

“That’s so long, I guess it makes sense though. Why’d you start with a puppy though? Wouldn’t it be easier to go through a program or start with an adult dog for it?” Easier was a word for it, definitely, but as much as she wished she could speed up the timeline there really wasn’t much of a chance to do that. Not with what Ches needed from a service dog, Clover needed to work with her, and they both needed to work with a trainer, and the best chance of success really was with a puppy so here she was.

“I need a psychiatric service dog, and every trainer I’ve seen online, or in person, all agreed that they need to be owner trained. Plus, programs really don’t do much for civilian adults anyway. They only like working with minors and veterans.” She explains, “so here we are, owner-training with the help of a private trainer who specializes in this specific type of service dog. And since I’m so lucky I’m even able to do this at all, my lucky Clover.” She gestures to the dog, turning her attention back to Clover.

Oh no, she shouldn’t have glanced away and Ches immediately reaches for a toy and whistles to get the dog’s attention before she could actually get into trouble. The puppy comes running over, and Ches starts to play with her again as she listens to Balo respond; “oh! That makes a lot of sense then. So you are going to be working with her on the foundation stuff like sitting and staying and stuff over the summer and then you’ll move onto task stuff?”

“Yup! Basic puppy stuff, staying focused while working with me, behaving on a leash, working in dog-friendly locations, socialization, that sort of thing, and the start of tasks but nothing she’s expected to actually do at this point. Like I could start deep pressure with her but not in actual situations she’d actually need to do it because she’s nowhere near old enough but we’ll get to that when she’s a bit older.” She continues to play with Clover, “I’m hoping I’ll be able to commute next year, that way it’s a bit easier. She’ll have more room to play and stuff, less people going in and out, that sort of thing. But, we’ll see.”

“You’ll still hang out with us if you commute, right?” Balo asks as if that was ever a question. For a moment, as she continues to play with the dog, she glances at the blonde.

“Of course I will, you’re one of my best friends. I’ll leave the Mercedes with Zander if I have to.” She technically was already doing that, anyway. She turns her attention back to Clover quickly before she continues. “No matter what changes next year, you’ll still have me. I love you.”

“I love you too.” She can hear Balo heading towards the door to her dorm’s door. “I’m going to leave you two to it, but thank you for answering my questions.”

“Thank you for coming over.” Ches knew Balo wasn’t a fan of dogs, on average she tried to avoid them, and Zander had warned her a golden retriever especially could set Balo off, but, she appreciated that Balo had come over and tried at the very least, even for a short while, to be around Clover and ask some questions.

“I’ll see you later!”

After Balo’s gone, Ches grabs a second toy so she can alternate between them now that Clover had her undivided attention. She knew this was going to be a long road, but she was on the right path. She was just going to hope she remembered that when things got rough again.

[doberbutts]

I’m getting a puppy from a breeder with the hopes of it being my next service dog. I’ve already asked the breeder all kinds of questions, and I trust them to make a good recommendation from the litter for me (I get priority pick since it’ll be a service dog prospect). But I don’t know what I should check for myself when I meet the puppy. Is there a checklist for things a puppy should do with you when you first meet them? Like eye contact, offered behaviors, etc? I imagine it would act 1/

differently with me than it would with the breeder. I trust the breeder to be honest but I also want to evaluate the puppy myself when I meet it just to be absolutely certain. Also, the breeder offers an early training program so I’d either meet the puppy at 8 weeks and then pick up at 12 weeks, or I would meet and pick up at 12 weeks (depending on the current state of things). So maybe a checklist for both ages? Or if there’s a link to where I could find that information? Thanks! 2/2

Once again a response that probably won’t net me any tumblr points but my recommendation is to stop overthinking things.

To me, unless the breeder is really shit at reading temperament (which some are!) there’s really not anything you’re going to see in a puppy in that 1 hour or so timespan of your first meeting that the breeder hasn’t already seen in the 12 weeks they’ve been raising it. When I first met Creed, I wanted his brother because his brother was happy and friendly and plopped himself in my lap and gave me good kisses and in the meantime Creed was busy aggressively ignoring me after saying hello and determining that I did not have food for him. Six years later and his brother is an absolute monster in protection, highly suspicious, defensive, angry, sharp, very ready to start a fight with another person or dog if given the command... correct for a doberman. Not so correct for a service dog! If I had chosen based on my evaluation instead of trusted my breeder’s choice, I would not have a service dog today because I would have probably had to give him back. She definitely picked the right dog for me!

And if you do see something concerning- fear, aggression, whatever... that’s a sign to walk away from the litter, rather than to pick a different puppy.