#jack might be the one cooking for the next week or two...

[visro]

just frypan doing everyone's top surgery in the glade

[goldengleams]

🫧Can you do "is that my shirt?" with Luke Hughes?

You hummed along to the Taylor Swift song playing from the speaker. You were finishing up making dinner at Jack and Luke’s apartment. It had been two months since you had last seen Luke, so you were thrilled to find out that your spring break lined up with a week that he would be playing at home in New Jersey. He had invited you to New Jersey and paid for your flight, of course, and you had been enjoying the week with him.

Since him and Jack had a busy off day with practice and media, you had opted to stay in. You knew Jack and Luke were always busy and rarely got to clean their apartment, so you had done some cleaning, laundry, and had decided to end your day by making your favorite recipe.

You heard the lock click on the door and quickly heard Jack’s voice as he was on the phone. He dropped his bag near the couch and passed you in the kitchen, waving and disappearing into his room.

Luke followed him shortly after, walking in and taking stock of the apartment.

“Woah,” you heard him say. He was around the corner, but you could tell he had noticed the blankets folded neatly on the couch cushion and the cleaned living space.

“It smells amazing,” Luke said as he came into the kitchen. He had his eyes closed as he took in the scent of the food you were cooking and you swore he was about to let out a moan.

“Just thought I’d treat my favorite boys,” you grinned. “Come taste the sauce, Lukey.”

Luke gladly came up next to where you stood at the stove and tried your sauce, nodding emphatically at the taste.

“Yes, that is like, the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth, Y/N,” Luke said happily.

You giggled at his excitement and went over to the sink, leaning over it to turn the water on. You swayed your hips to the song a bit and could feel Luke’s eyes on your back. You couldn’t blame him, this week had felt amazing after being apart.

“Is that my shirt, babe?”

You looked down and realized you had one of Luke’s old Michigan shirts on. His number adorned the sleeve and the large size made it extra comfy for you to wear. It was one you had stolen from Luke back at Michigan before he left for New Jersey.

“It might be,” you said slyly. You only had on a pair of shorts underneath, so Luke was enamored by how tiny you looked in his shirt.

“You look adorable,” he mumbled, a little lost for words. “I haven’t seen that shirt in months, but I guess now I know why.” He came up behind you and you didn’t protest when his hand traveled up underneath your shared shirt to find your waistband.

“Well now that you’ve seen it, I guess you won’t mind taking it off of me tonight,” you teased, playing right into his flustered disposition. You turned around to kiss Luke passionately and he leaned further against you, making you miss Jack’s footsteps towards the kitchen.

“I leave you guys for five minutes and you seriously can’t stop acting like horny teenagers?”

[happiest-hotch]

Mother's Day

Summary: Jack has a very important, surprise gift to give you on a special holiday for your inaugural celebrations together

Paring: Aaron Hotchner x Fem!Reader (Fluff)

WC: 1.4k

Whenever he can, Aaron leaves work early to get Jack. Thankfully, with Strauss's return, he's not still stuck doing two jobs, so he finishes his work in time to get Jack from school. You also love when he has days like that because it means he'll cook something delicious and homemade, maybe even dessert if Jack has anything to say about it.

Jack gets into the car like any other day, but what he says isn't the typical comment about his day or request for an afternoon activity. "Did you know it's Mother's Day this weekend?" Jack asks.

Aaron's heart clenches in his chest. Mother's Days, birthdays, Christmases, and the anniversary of Haley's death are all especially hard days for Jack, and Aaron tries his best to support his son. "Do you want to talk about mom?" He asks softly as he drives. Since Jack doesn't remember a lot of it, Aaron fills in the blanks and answers the questions.

"No, I might want to talk to her tonight, but I want to get a present," Jack explains.

Aaron frowns a little but accepts it. "We can do that. What do you want to get her?"

Jack's thinking face looks like his dad's, something you were the first to point out to Aaron. "I don't know." He admits. "You always get roses for Y/n so maybe I can get her flowers?"

That really throws Aaron, and it rapidly occurs to him that he and Jack aren't talking about the same person. "You want to get a present for Y/n?" He clarifies.

Jack shifts uncomfortably in his car seat, clearly nervous at his father's reaction. "I'm sorry. Is that wrong?"

Aaron can't shake his head fast enough. "No. No, of course not, buddy." He assures his son, reaching back with one hand to touch the boy's foot for extra reassurance. "I think she'd really like that. What made you think you want to get something for her?" He tries to ask it in a non-judgemental, casual tone.

"Well, in class, we were all talking about what we love about our moms, and a lot of the things that my friends were talking about are things that Y/n does for me." He explains, and Aaron feels his heart clench in the best way that time while he bites down a wide smile. "Mom is still my mom, and I'm not forgetting how she used to do those things for me, but Y/n is there for me too."

Aaron notices what he's emphasizing, and he's immensely proud of Jack for being able to express those feelings, understanding that appreciating his mom and recognizing your role in his life aren't mutually exclusive.

Then he's thinking about you as he absorbs the confession. And how lucky he is to have you. You have been a constant source of support and love, a beacon of hope and stability in the wake of their family tragedy, never anything but good to them. He feels so much joy and a tiny bit of sadness. He knows Haley would have loved you and appreciated how much you care for Jack, but he wishes she was there to see it.

He's choked up as he goes to speak. "Jack, that's very sweet of you, and I think, no, I know, Y/n feels the same way about you. She thinks you're the most amazing kid ever."

Jack smiles softly. "She does? Really?"

Aaron can't nod fast enough. "Yes, she always tells me how great she thinks you are."

"So we can get her a gift for her?" Jack confirms, looking hopeful.

"Absolutely." Aaron agrees, taking a right turn to the mall rather than a left to their home. "Whatever you want."

~

It's been such a long week of work and Saturday mornings are Jack's soccer games, so as soon as your Saturday movie night is over, you're fast asleep next to Aaron.

Like usual, he stirs beside you first on Sunday morning, but when you go to get up with him, he softly whispers for you to go back to sleep and that's very easy to do.

When you next wake up, the sun is creeping through the blinds at a different angle, signaling that you slept in for longer than you usually would.

There's a soft knock at the bedroom door before you can properly wake up and get out of bed, and you softly call out for who you expect to be Jack to come in.

You're right in your guess that it's Jack, who quickly jumps up onto the bed with you, followed by his father who has a breakfast tray with a big vase of flowers on it accompanying a delicious-looking plate of French toast.

"Wow, you've both been busy this morning." You mumble sleepily as you sit up to hug Jack who's jumping into your arms.

"Happy Mother's Day!" He cheers joyfully, and you're taken off guard by the greeting, completely shocked.

Your eyes dart to Aaron's to make sure you heard Jack correctly, and his wide smile confirms you have. He's looking between you both with so much love and tenderness, his heart so full it feels like it's bursting.

Your eyes fill with tears as you realize the enormity of what he's just said. "Thank you, Jack." You squeeze him even tighter in a hug, not wanting him to slip away from this perfect moment.

He pulls back and smiles at you before turning back to his dad. "Can we give it to her?" He asks.

"Sure, bud." Aaron agrees, setting the tray down over the top of your legs. He sits near the foot of the bed while Jack snuggles into your side.

Jack reaches forward to pick up the little box next to the breakfast. "Here." He hands it to you. "Happy Mother's Day. Thank you for caring so much about me."

You kiss his forehead, holding him tighter to his side as you gladly accept his thoughtful and unexpected gift. "You're very welcome. I love you, Jackers."

Whatever he has for you has to be jewelry from the small, flat shape of the box and the designer jewelry stamp. You open it up, and your heart melts more, if it were possible. What's inside is a gorgeous gold bracelet with a flat, circular charm, engraved with the letter J.

Jack touches it as your finger does. "It's a J for Jack."

You nod so you don't start crying too much. You're so overwhelmed by gratitude and happiness that you can't help but let one tear slip out.

"Thank you." You finally get the words out. "It's perfect and I love it so much. I'm going to wear it every day, so you're always with me."

Jack's grinning a proud grin, clearly proud of himself for picking it out. Aaron had told him how much you would love it, but seeing it confirms it for him. "I think it'll look beautiful on you." He tells you adorably.

You chuckle a little. "You're a sweet talker just like your dad, you know?"

Aaron laughs next to you, but Jack's confused at what your compliment means, and his attention is drawn elsewhere. "Daddy and I made French toast for me as well. Oh, and I got you flowers."

It's a gorgeous bunch of flowers, beautiful colors, and lovely smells. "Thank you so much. Both of you." You repeat to them, making sure they're feeling the reciprocated love you're feeling.

"You're welcome," Jack says politely.

Aaron leans over to kiss your forehead. "I love you." He whispers.

You whisper it back before looking back at your breakfast plate. "There's a lot of French toast here, so I might need some help eating it." You say suspiciously, looking between Jack and Aaron.

Jack's eyes light up like he's been waiting for you to offer him some of it, and you can't blame him, it looks and smells like restaurant quality and you know breakfast foods are Aaron's strong suit cooking-wise.

"I am kind of hungry." Jack agrees, smirking at you softly.

"Eat up then, bud." You say, offering him the first spoonful. "We've got lots of fun stuff to do today."

[lululandd]

problem;

pairing: simon ‘ghost’ riley x f!reader

word count: 712

warnings: self-doubt, anxiety, insecurity, eventual fluff

note: i really dont wanna paint könig, im mad procrastinating

summary: the unspoken ‘with me’  hangs in the air.

 “You packed.”

His curt tone made you flinch as you gingerly put groceries in the fridge. You tried as best you could to not look his way, hoping Simon would let the matter go. You had broken your leg and fractured your wrist in the most uncool way possible, slipping on ice. He had warned you beforehand, knowing how frail normal human bodies could be. Unlike his apparently, sometimes you wonder if he sees himself as indestructible just because he’s 6 '3.

His hand came to view and you froze, shoulders curling into yourself as you tried to subtly move away from him. Sensing your tense demeanour, he slowed his motions and gently grabbed the fruit from your hand, put it inside the fridge himself, and leaned on the counter. Not daring to look him in the face, you decided to try and continue packing your groceries. 

Sighing, he dragged your chair away from the fridge and closed it.

“You’re going to your parents?” his voice was barely above a whisper, but it scared you so bad he might have as well have shouted. “What’s wrong with staying here?”

You were on the verge of tears, not knowing why. Simon’s always busy with work, he barely comes home, and the one time he had a three month long break from it you stupidly slipped on some ice. He has to take care of you, instead of having fun and going somewhere or doing whatever he wants on his time off.

Stupid.

Useless.

“I just didn’t want to bother you with broken leg and hand stuff. My parents' place is closer to the doctor’s office and the physical therapy place anyway.”

He visibly tensed and you know you fucked up. 

“Physical therapy is after you’re fully healed.” he remarked, you saw a flicker of indignation in his eyes, “Are you planning to stay there the whole time I’m here? Every time I go to work you complain that I’m never home and the one time I come home for longer than a week you do this.”

You stared at him wide-eyed, a muted gasp twists your face. “It was an accident, Simon! You say that like I fell on purpose or something!” You say in a raised voice, appalled at his words.

He presses both palms on his eyes, “No, that’s not what I meant at all.” He squatted next to you–you never knew men that big could do that–and placed a large hand on your thigh. “By ‘this’ I meant going to your parents. I will be here for three months, and you want to stay with your parents for however long it will be. What’s wrong with being here?”

The unspoken ‘with me’  hangs in the air.

“Oh.” A wave of embarrassment flowed through your veins, you had thought of the worst of him when all he wanted was to spend time with you. With uninjured you, preferably. “Sorry.”

“You’re still not answering any of my questions, love.”

Weighing your words, you realised you can’t weasel your way out of telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

“I don’t want to bother you, Simon.”

“Bother?” He breathes.

A shiver of apprehension travelled up your spine at the way he spoke. You’ve heard that tone before, but never directed towards you; it was always towards people bothering you two. Does that mean he sees you as a bother right now?

“You don’t have a lot of time off, and I don’t want you to waste it… here.. taking care of me while I can’t do jack shit. You have to carry me up and down the stairs, you have to carry me to and from the car when we go outside,” you gestured with your good hand, “you have to go with me to the doctors and my physical therapy, you have to do most of the cooking and cleaning, and you have to sit down and listen to me bitch about this broken leg from 1am to 4am.”

He stood up and cupped the back of your neck, his thumb slowly drawing soothing circles as he kissed the top of your head.

“You’re listing things I already want to do, with or without your broken leg.”

[helpinghanikan]

Domestic December:COD

Day 5: Konig, Cooking

DD Masterlist

Konig does many things before leaving on a campaign. First, he lets you know. Second, he spends a few hours in the kitchen.

This wasn’t to say you couldn’t cook for yourself. Leaving you with plenty of meals was Konig’s way to take care of you. Since he couldn’t be there himself he might as well make sure that his lovely woman didn’t go hungry.

Konig is king of cooking in your relationship. Much of his youth was spent hanging off of his mother or aunt’s apron strings. Their big strong boy who can reach the top shelf no problem and was always eager to learn a new recipe.

“Open,” Konig orders, wooden spoon pointed at you.

It was a beef stew with spices and rabbit. The kind of dish the wives of lumber jacks would make during hard winters.

“Good? I know it’s good.” He says while you still savor the taste.

“Really good.” You agree, “There’s no way that’s going to last me a week.”

Konig chuckles at that. Turning down the stove and pulling out the Tupperware underneath the counter.

“Not to worry, I will make you enough to last the whole month.” He says, already focused on his next creation. He’s so focused on what to make next that he doesn’t notice the way your face drops.

Trying to find out how long he’ll be gone is a game of subtlety. You can’t just outright ask how long this campaign is going to be. Instead he’ll drop little hints that you can pick up and put together.

He’ll be gone for at least a month. Considering that he called his mom he’ll also be somewhere without service or access to a phone. Those were the only two hints you found so far. Not a lot to go on but enough to give you an idea. Maybe it would be enough to trick yourself that his next campaign could be a safe one.

“Next up…chicken,” Konig says with emphasis.

This was how you spent that day before his campaign. Sitting at the kitchen island, watching him work, and getting a taste when offered.  

[precious-little-scoundrel]

A little devil’s lettuce

Sarge 2nd Gen, Summer 1983

Elvis Presley fanfiction

Summary: In the hustle and bustle of the day before Jesse’s wedding to Donna, Elaine finds time for a little bonding with her eldest boy and then her husband

Warnings: Fluffffyyy Mcfluffy! but really this is just goey soft, warnings being diaper changes, some heavy/smutty flirting between Elvis and Elaine, the sneaky use of marijuana by Jesse and Elaine, stoned silliness talking about mermaid holes and “little scarves” and making a baby at 42

Graceland is abuzz with wedding preparations, every flat surface seems cluttered with tulle or flowers or programs, and every table not full of that sorta rubbish is supporting refreshments for the out of town friends and family swarming the place.

Only Elaine Presley would think entertaining people for a week ahead of a wedding was an easy thing to do.

Despite it being preparations for his own wedding, Jesse finds himself mildly overwhelmed by the sheer abundance surrounding him. Abundance of noise and people and flowers and shit lying about. He made one attempt to squirrel away upstairs in his old room and was summarily dragged away from that attempt by Marie who wanted to take pictures of him and Donna. Then take pictures of him and Jack, citing what a rarity it was to have the whole of them together. Jack had a ugly black eye on him, he cites a bar fight in california but oddly, no story of victory is forthcoming so Jesse assumes he got licked and made no further inquiries.

Donna is now preoccupied with Ella and with Tracey Cooke, laughing and squabbling over choosing boutonniere combinations like it really matters how much baby’s breath gets pinned to a fella’s chest. With Daddy, all large belt and white pants and glowing tan presiding over the floral squabble, Jesse has little doubt that Donna will win by choosing whatever he decides would suit her cheeks best.

Thicker than thieves those two already.

Jesse sees his chance and he ducks out of the living room and books it through the kitchen, receiving a taste test of some icing from Mary as he goes, and finally lets himself out the back door.

He slumps to a seat on the garage steps, and knowing time is precious, he lights up the blunt he stashed in his pocket for times like these. A harmless little pastime he’d probably get decapitated by Daddy for if he found out, but it does the trick and it don’t hurt anyone while he’s homebound and off the road.

A few minutes later the door cracks open behind him and Jesse goes to smash the blunt beneath his boot until in an air conditioned gust he sees it’s just his mama. Elaine smells the stink of grass and makes a little sympathetic noise before closing the door behind her and sitting down next to him.

“But Mama -your shorts!” Jesse protests, her pale blue linen getting soiled by the steps.

“Eh, it’ll brush off.” she grins and bumps his shoulder in that way he knows she’s about to conduct a check up on him. Sure enough after watching him take a few puffs she asks sweetly, “You alright, Butnin?”

He grins at the nickname and his laugh is a cloud of green tinged smoke, “Yeah mama, just tired, took awhile to get to sleep last night.

“What kept ya up?” Elaine asks, knowing with the wedding there might be all sorts of nerves to account for. But Jesse has never exhibited even the slightest hint of unsurety about marrying Donna. He’s had to wait four years and now he’s finally getting what he wants and there’s never been a more lackadaisical groom about his hitching himself to the old ball and chain. Elaine reaches out and ruffles his long hair anyway and smiles at the way there’s a sheen of reddish chocolate amongst the black locks when she tousles them just so.

He hands her the blunt and to be perfectly frank, Elaine has been feeling that old craving for champagne to dilute all the craziness and so she draws on it, letting the smoke burn her lungs and rush to her head.

Jesse’s been puffing for a good bit by now and feeling uninhibited in a way he’d never be even two puffs in -which is sorta the point of the smoke anyway- but it serves to loosen his tongue until he answers her without prevarication, “Mermaid holes.”

It’s true, it’s kept him up. Probably brought on by a chat with Jack and furthered by Jesse’s confusion over his brother’s lack of dating since the Great Gardener Debacle. He knows the kid isn’t embarrassed, not as much as the rest of them, so it serves to reason he’s got a dolphin harem to keep him occupied or else…mermaids. But then, how do mermaids…work?

Elaine glances at the blunt she’s already puffed on and wonders at its strength, wonders if a little relaxation is gonna turn her into seeing pink elephants or talking like an idiot.

“Mermaid holes?” she repeats, the subject suddenly a little more intriguing that it was before her last puff. Her head feels light and her aching toes are a removed sensation and suddenly everything seems quite fascinating, even the beetle crawling up Jesse’s jeans and the curiosity of mermaid anatomy.

This stuff is way better than champagne, she thinks.

“Yeah mama, where do they go?” Jesse insists with his cherubic face puckered up in grave contemplation.

She stares at him concerned while taking another hit before passing it back. “Where normal holes go?” she mutters but even to herself it’s a flimsy speculation.

“Maybe they grow legs n’shit.” Jesse decides. “Like when ya pull ‘em outta the water, maybe they grow legs.”

“Ah that makes sense.” Elaine nods, her face puckered too, and if anyone caught them at this moment it would be like finding carnival twins, so mirrored are they in expression and carriage. “Or maybe it’s higher up!” she suggests eagerly, “Like a belly button.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Or- maybe the scales pull back.” Elaine warms to the theory.

“Ooh,” Jesse draws his exclamation out with admiration for his mama’s sharp mind, “like daddy’s scarf, or some shit.”

“Yes!” Elaine gushes, entirely baked alongside him and utterly unrestrained, “they’ve got shiny little scarfs to keep them safe! Keep out the sand and salt, keep them safe from being aggravated and chafed.”

“Oh lord, mama,” Jesse laughs suddenly, “do you ‘member that time daddy got sand in his scarf? At the beach?”

They both start snickering at the memory from ‘62. “Yes!” Elaine agrees, carefully running a finger below her eyes to collect the smearing mascara as her eyes fill with tears of mirth, “I do but…he caught that frisbee, didn’t he?” she giggles.”And he looked so good in those red shorts. Tiny little things.”

“Mhmm, but at what cost?” Jesse agrees and mother and son lapse into another fit of laughter, not at Elvis’ expense but in that fond way of sensible people who humor their insane beloved ones.

“And Rosalee wantin’ to cut it off so it didn’t hurt him no more!” Jesse wheezes beside her in reminiscence.

“Daisy had a k-bar from Rex, she was ready.” Elaine recalls.

“And Jack was hopin’ it was fatal.”

“He was not!” Elaine slaps Jesse’s arm lightly even as she giggles, “You all act like he was a terrible child but he wasn’t! He was sweet!”

“To you.” Jesse clutches his belly. “To the rest he was pretty fuckin’ scary for awhile there, made ‘Elvis’ shit himself sometimes.”

“Language!” Elaine reprimands without any heat, “Y’all didn’t see all the mornings that little darling would wake up and laugh his heart out with Daddy playing shark under the covers. They loved each other…at times.”

“Hmm, Mhmm, i’guess.” Jesse concedes, “Jack’s a lot more tolerable now he’s got his own thing going.” he adds.

“Yes, always good to establish yourself, especially with someone like that, so headstrong both of them.” she murmurs with a sigh, “No house was built for two Elvises.” and she starts snickering again at that thought or whatever scenario it inspired inside her head.

“Maybe he’s chilled out ‘cause of the mermaid harem.” Jesse suggests because Jack is still Jack and having his shit straight ain’t in his wheelhouse. Not all of it, at least. Something’s gotta be up, Jesse can feel it, clear as the kid’s black eye.

“Those dimples would make any mermaid grow legs.” Elaine giggles.

“No mama, it’s a scarf, we decided it’s a shiny scarf.” Jesse reminds, nearly falling off the stair that he’s seated on from his wooziness.

“Yes a little scarf.” Elaine recalls as the door behind them opens and Jesse’s soon to be wife, Donna, steps out and observes them and the skunk grass fumes wafting around them.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me -Ms. Elaine!” Donna gasps in glee at this little rebellion in her otherwise entirely circumspect mother in law.

Elaine spins round with the blunt still between her painted lips and pulls it out in a gust of smoke, a wavering grin on her face. Donna’s not sure she’s ever seen her look so young, though she gets that way around Jesse, like he takes her back to her early mothering days.

“Don’t tell daddy!” Elaine vacillates between a beg and a threat but her smile grows and Donna wonders how the stoned lady intends to keep this a secret but she makes a motion of zipping her mouth anyway.

“Won’t hear it from me!” she swears, “But Elvis is asking for you, he’s halfway through a diaper change and can’t find any wipes. He swears you’ve got the disposable kind somewhere. Johnny tried to find them but he’s given up, too.”

“Oh lord, little Desi uses them to ‘remove her makeup’ so- who knows where they might be.” Elaine refers to her eldest grandchild, Ella’s little girl who likes to mimic her grandmother in all ways. Elaine stands up with a wobble that is steadied by Jesse’s shoulder and Donna’s waiting hands. “Wait, who’s getting their diaper changed?” She asks, suddenly confused by the request, “Did Danny soil himself? Thought we were past that.”

Danny is three and potty trained and as independent as he is loving, and much as Elaine is proud of her toddler’s successes, she misses having a baby, a true baby, in the house.

“It’s one of the neighbor kids, Danny’s friend-“ Donna explains, “-they brought their baby sibling along, no more than a year old I bet. The mom’s at work or something.”

“Oh, alright then.” Elaine shrugs, accustomed to strangers in the house, and she opens the door.

“You’re going in?” Donna asks in some surprise and a little alarm.

“Yes, Elvis needs me.” Elaine answers and that’s not something anyone can argue against and so Donna steps aside and makes certain her mother in law doesn’t trip over the threshold in her heeled sandals.

“Do you really give a damn about those boutonnieres?” Jesse asks his girl as soon as mama has closed the door

“Oh not really.” Donna murmurs, “They’re gonna be gorgeous either way. Elvis is seeing to that.”

“Then don’t go back inside.” Jesse suggests with a drunk grin and his blue eyes beg with such softness as he pats his lap that Donna has no choice but to plop atop his legs and stay with him in the muggy heat.

Miss Mary watched Elaine sashay through the kitchen with narrowed eyes, she’d not seen such a hip swinging gait to the lady of the house in years. A decade perhaps, not since the house used to rock with parties and before the champagne had been used like medicine.

“Lordy Miss Laney, you alright there?” she asked carefully, amusedly watching Mrs. Presley stand atip-toe and rummage in a cabinet, pushing aside spray oil and vanilla.

“Yes, grand, just needing that emergency stash.” Elaine assured over her shoulder and Mary paused in whipping the icing lest she be needed to catch a teetering boss lady. “Aha.” Elaine pulled out a package, “Of these!” she explained as she turned round, presenting the new fangled package of disposable wipes.

Stashed behind the cooking oil. Sure, why not.

Miss Mary grinned back and shrugged, “You’ve got dirt on your behind, Miss Elaine.” she pointed out and the elegant lady of the house was swatting at her plush derrière with a bashful grin as she traipsed out of the kitchen in search of Mr. Elvis, still swaying and jovial.

Entering the somewhat crowded dining room, Elaine found a group of people congregating with outstretched hands and feebly helpful concern around her Ella’s Johnny who had Rosalee standing on his shoulders, switching out a bulb as if they couldn’t afford ladders.

“ ‘Lee?” Elaine questioned it with even less reproof than usual, fully used to such bizarre occurrences and entirely baked by this point, Jesse’s weed having turned everything to middling interest and zero concern, even the picture of Rosalee a good ten or more feet in the air and swaying precariously with feet planted on Johnny’s broad shoulders.

“The bulb’s out!” Rosalee explained with a face red from straining to reach the high mansion ceiling despite her human stepstool and her inherited long limbs.

“Oh, the bulb’s out.” Elaine repeated softly, processing as she stared out the dining room windows at the bright sunshine glaring through.

“Hey Mrs P!” Johnny, tried to turn his neck to face her but Rosalee wobbled from the movement and so he went back to parade rest. “Elvis was looking for ya, needed the wipes for a diaper. I couldn’t find them anywhere, I swear Desi buries them in the potted palms or somethin-“

“Oh I’ve got some right here.” Elaine smiled and waved her package in front of his face enthusiastically.

“Oh. Great.” Johnny’s frown lines deepened in confusion at her enthusiasm. “I uh, I tried looking behind the dog food, Elvis said you keep one there.”

“This one was behind the cookin’ oil.” She whispered conspiratorially and Johnny gave his brief, aborted giggle that had made Elaine like him the instant Ella paraded him through the doors.

“Behind the cooking oil. Naturally.” He quipped and Elaine swatted him with the package causing Rosalee to shriek and beg for stability. “Hey Ella. Mama’s found some wipes!” Johnny called to his still searching wife.

“Where were they, mama?” She asked, coming into view and pushing her hair from her face, not even surprised by the bulb changing.

“Behind the cooking oil.” Elaine tapped the side of her nose and giggled while Johnny and Ella shared a bewildered look between the two of them.

“Where’s my fella?” Elaine purred, looking around the semi crowded room as if it were possible to overlook Elvis Presley. Only at Graceland, during one of Elaine’s parties and surrounded by a horde of children was it possible for Elvis to be anything but the center of attention.

“He’s in Rosalee’s room, mama.” Ella informed her, which in turn had once been Gladys' little lilac refuge. It had taken ten years for Elaine to ease Elvis into using it but eventually a long succession of single, halfway liberated teenage children ended up sleeping in it before moving out to seize life by the horns and pave their own lives and pay their own rent.

It would be quite a few years before Marie had need of it, if the sweet little girl ever even needed it, so devoutly home enjoying as she was, Graceland or Circle G, Texas or California, it all was the same to Marie so long as she was with family. Graceland would sooner be seen giving Marie Presley the boot than Marie Presley voluntarily taking leave for good.

Elaine moved her way through her crowded home with a pleasant smile on her face and a discrete hunch to her shoulders that enabled her to slip past the various conversations wishing to clutch at her, an old art of being able to get from one end of a crowded place to the next when needed by husband or child, that she had honed to perfection.

She felt dizzy and tasted a strange surge of anticipation the closer she got to the tucked away little room downstairs, it might seem silly, but she missed him. Everything had been so very busy the past few days that she had seen her own husband about as much as everyone else had, across crowded rooms or smashed together on sofas, wonderful instances that were topped off every night with a bed crowded with children and grandchildren and adopted God sons and daughters.

There had not been a moment's peace practically, and in a girlish moment of someone newly assured of affection, Elaine felt her fingertips tingle when she reached for the knob and opened the door.

He had pulled the shades and the blindes, which with the glare of the rest of the house was hardly a surprising choice, and only the lamp was turned on in a room that was now no longer Gladys’ soft lilac but now Rosalee’s light sage painted walls, copious English ivy plants spilling over the tops of wooden bookshelves lining the walls. The floor was a plush ivory carpet and Elvis sat on it with one leg tucked in and the other stretched out, his white linen shirt and pale blue slacks looking perfectly at home in Rosalee‘s habitat, blending well with the academic and whimsical atmosphere. Elaine leaned on the knob and appreciated the sight of a stranger's little baby, no more than a year old surely, laying on its back in the vee of his long legs, disposed of diaper safely out of reach, midway through a process that had been stalled by lack of wipes.

Not to be thrown by such unforeseen occurrences, Elvis had waited it out until his Tink came for him as he always expected she would, and in the meantime he was making earnest conversation with the infant about the Christmas list, even though it was currently summertime. They were weighing whether or not a chainsaw could be made to size for such little hands, Elvis’ own lean, tan and long fingers squished a doughy bicep playfully and insisted that the child was almost capable.

“Awww looooook at youuu.” Elaine cooed, leaning heavily on the door knob and clutching her chest at the sight, the raucous outside the room having disguised the sound of her opening the door to Elvis’ ear.

He looked up with a disoriented look as if having quite forgotten the world outside him and the baby’s Christmas plan until his eyes landed on Elaine in the doorway and his grin flashed, the old natural one, all cheesy teeth and lips tucked in. “You got my wipes?”

“I do.” She preened.

“Well, hand ‘em over woman, I’m bout ready to gag over here.” he beckoned, rings still glittering on his hand and Elaine didn’t doubt that one day the baby would tell stories about how Elvis Presley changed their diaper without even taking off his bling for it.

Elaine closed the door behind her and traipsed over to him on jelly legs, her heeled sandals sinking precariously into the deep shag of the carpet, she steadied herself on his shoulder and handed down the wipes.

He looked her up and down with curious amusement, as if something was amiss but he couldn’t place it, yet with diaper stench so close he didn’t spend time on it. Elvis took the wipes and began to complete his task, Elaine sank down to her knees beside him and put her chin on his shoulder, watching him work, wrapping her arms around his waist like a clingy little koala to his back.

“Who is he?” she asked her husband about the baby he was tending so naturally. It wasn’t uncommon, their house being constantly full of strangers and friends of friends and their children’s buddies. She had seen Elvis caring for a kid or two like this before, or else baths or a good hosing off or, without fail, he provided them snacks at the least suggestion of hunger or even boredom. But she didn’t know this little one and something about seeing Elvis at this task when their Danny was too grown for it -it made her sentimental and she held on a little tighter, squeezing her appreciation for the sight into his flesh.

“Kid brother of Clarke, the kid two blocks over?” he explained, “The one Danny invites? Yeah, apparently their mama’s workin’ double shift today and the babysitter stepped out and Clarke thought he’d come on here since the house was empty. Poor little feller must’ve been scared stiff.”

“You mean little Clarke walked all that way carrying a baby?” she gasped.

“Yeah,” Elvis grunted. “I sent Sammy H. to go stay at the house and let the mama know her kids ain’t been stole by that trash sitter. Poor woman.”

“Poor woman.” Elaine echoed, neither of them ever quite getting used to the tales of hardship they were uniquely situated to hear of day after day. “Well, you tell her Elvis, tell her we’ll watch him from now on, Clarke too. Danny needs more friends his age besides. -What’s his name?” she asked after a minute of babbling to him herself.

“Dunno, but he responds well to buddy.” He shrugged, “Ain’t that right, buddy, huh? I ain’t forgot about lettin’ you play the piano, Buddy, no I haven’t, Uncle Elvis keeps his word, yes he does.”

Elvis could feel her grin grow behind his back and like clockwork her anticipated finger came and scritched at his right sideburn with her nail. “I’ve missed seeing you with babies.” she whispered with a giggle.

“We have a baby.” Elvis let out that staccato, huffing laugh of his.

“Danny is three.” Elaine pouted.

“And you’re four—ty…twooo.” Elvis goofed as he propped the newly changed and docile little boy up on his roly-poly legs.

“I’ve already had a baby as a grandmother.” Tink mused and she cocked her head to the side and watched the baby wobble towards Elvis with his entire little hands clutched onto Elvis’ index fingers like handlebars. “But I married such a pretty boy.” she sighs as if out of nowhere and drags her hand admiringly right down the length of Elvis’ bicep, in appreciation for the flexed muscle beneath linen.

Elvis let’s out a little squeak of surprise and turns on his ass to give his wife a more searching once over. She stays grinning on her knees, long tanned legs tucked beneath her in those light blue shorts that coordinate with his trousers, loopy grin on her face.

“Lord have mercy,” he falls back a little, taking the baby with him in his scramble till they look like little lambs being watched by a ready to pounce cat, “Aunt Delta spike the punch again?”

It’s not that Elvis doesn’t appreciate when Tink gets…admiring…but she sure does pick the queerest times for it, in his mind. The hell was so dreamy about wiping shit? He’s yet to understand her in many ways but from over twenty years of marriage, he knows those glossy eyes ain’t from eye drops.

“No, nobody’s touched the punch.” she giggles and begins to crawl closer, dyed auburn hair falling forward in large, barrel rolled curls.

The baby boy begins to laugh, thinking she’s playing tiger. Effortless Elaine switches into the role he wants and raises a hand like a claw and makes a dive for the baby's round little belly and Elvis ducks and rolls, taking him with him.

“Careful, careful, Laney, there’s a diaper -“

-somewhere.

He’s not sure where, it’s a mercy his back doesn’t squash it or his head thud in its foamy fullness as he rolls away from his wife, a stranger's kid giggling like mad while braced to his chest. He throws a halfhearted karate kick at her and the angle is awkward with being mid roll and on his side, she grabs his leg anyways and proceeds to tickle his ankle and he aims his kicks in earnest in response. Elaine straddles his leg as he lays on his side and she crows like it’s some victory, then sways in confusion, like she’s second guessing her own success.

He can practically see the slow as molasses thought process in her airy little head. The hell did his wife take? There’s no liquor on her breath and she swore -they made vows to each other, each giving up the drugs and booze that had gotten them estranged from each other and themselves. He knows she wouldn’t. “What now?” he asks her in dry amusement and after much thought and no production, she shrugs and slips off his leg, landing with a wince inducing thump by his side.

“I dunno.” she admits and closes her eyes, small smile on her lips as they lay panting on the floor, the clink of Elvis’ rings the only immediate sound as the baby plays with them between the married couple. “I just missed you.” she says.

“Well, I missed you too.” he melts, throwing his arm out and running his fingers through her splaying hair. She leans into the touch, grin fully breaking out.

“Our boy is getting married.” she murmurs, as in the production of the whole thing, the significance has dwindled except for the quiet moments.

“Strangest thing, that it’s time for that.” Elvis agrees, softly. “I ‘member him just this age, rollin’ ‘round with me on the floor in Bad Nauheim, got more carpet burns than him. Now…Gettin’ married.” he let out a long whistle and scratched at Elaine’s scalp. “I don’t feel that old.” he admitted after awhile.

Whatever mood Tink was in, whatever goofy laziness had imbued her with such sangfroid about her duties and her guests, it served for a much needed little heart to heart and Elvis snuggled closer to her on the shag carpet and let the baby climb over his shoulder and pull at his hair, wincing at the small tortures but determined not to be a wimp.

“I don’t feel old either.” she agreed and her eyes popped open, the grin suddenly going from dreamy to having a decidedly vampiric quality. Elvis had often seen that look on his wife right before he got eaten alive.

“Sweet Jesus -no, simmer down, simmer down. Tink!” he tried to avert the plans swirling in her glossy eyes.

“Doesn’t my pretty baby wanna make me happy?” she cooed to him and between the actual baby tugging at his hair and the wife patting his cheeks it was all a guess to Elvis whether he was a father of a twenty something son or Elaine Presley’s pretty boy, ever at her disposal.

“Mamas, if you needs…some…tenda lovin’ care…” he gave her a significant look of expectation to understand his child-proof code, “then we can go find ourselves a little space in this house and uh…tend to it. Bed’s been real full, I know.” he soothed.

Elaine clutched her heart dramatically again and sighed, staring at the ceiling before propping up on an elbow again and gripping his chin with her hand, she put her face next to his and whispered with throaty care, “What I want, pretty daddy, is to maul you.”

And with that she laid back down beside him, after having watched her words register and the punched out moan of his gust over her lips. She stared back at the ceiling and sighed. “It’ll have to wait, but…soon.”

Elvis licked his dry lips with a tongue that had suddenly gone equally arid. “O-o-okey mamas.” he stuttered out in a whisper that ended with a wheeze as the baby hoisted themselves to dance on his belly like it were a trampoline.

“I’m very wet right now.” Elaine began again after he thought they’d shelved it.

“Laney!” he begged.

“I am!” she hissed petulantly, kicking up a leg and shaking her foot at the ceiling, “It’s making sticky noises when I walk.”

“I-I-I highly doubt that.”

“It is!” She insisted.

“Alright. It is. If you say so…ok.”

“Nothing to do about it though.” she sighed.

“No.” he agreed warily.

“What would you name him.” she asked suddenly, turning on her side and offering her hand as stability for the baby balancing on Elvis’ stomach. Good thing he had muscles of steel or else he’d be a mess right now with the digging little footsteps.

“Name who?“ Elvis sputtered, bewildered by the changes in topic.

“This baby. If he was ours.”

“Oh.” He sniffed. “I dunno, actually. Baron, maybe?”

“Hmm..” Elaine was unenthused.

“Who says we’d have another boy though?” he argued suddenly, “I mean who says this hypothetical baby we ain’t gonna make -no we ain’t mama’s, you’re crazy- would be a boy. What if it was a girl.”

“I’d name her Peace.” Elaine didn't skip a beat.

Elvis pondered that, fingers back to stroking the curls splayed on the carpet, “Mm. Shiloh.”

Hope y’all enjoyed! I’ve missed these babies and I’m grateful for y’all’s patience. Your “bugging” and “screaming” is music to my ears, fuel to my fire and keeps me writing, please never hold back -this is a safe space for feral little Elvis loving rodents…like you and me. 💋

@prompted-wordsmith

@powerofelvis

@crash-and-cure

@elvisabutler

@heartbrake-hotel

@stylespresleyhearted

@thatbanditqueen

@crazymadpassionatelove

@myradiaz

@ash-omalley

@steph-speaks

@burningloverdoll

@angelface-555

@lookingforrainbows

@missmaywemeetagain

@coolgirl462

@kingdomforapony

@18lkpeters

@richardslady121

@from-memphis-with-love

@lillypink

@artlover8992

@pennyroyalcreep

@notstefaniepresley

@ellie-24

@waiting4brucewayne2adoptme

@presleyenterprise

@marriedtopresley

————————-

@dkayfixates

@vampireindistress

@ashtag6887

@i-r-i-n-a-a

@obsessedvibee

@peskybedtime

@goth-cowgirl-03

@stephthestallion

@fav-fanficssss

@loving-elvis

—-

@honeyorangess

@soloangel

@xenaspace3-blog

@60svintage

@dragonkingsdaughter

@presleysgirl6

@that-hotdog

@mydarlingelvis

@presleysweetheart

@50sexyshadesfashionista

@sexystarfish

@whatstruthgottodowithit

@suraemoon

@lialocklear

@elvispresleywife

@presleysgirl6

@ipostwhtifeel

@jaqueline19997

@queenheartz

@starryschoolgirl

@elvisalltheway101

@azzypog

@ab4eva

[thedivineflowers]

Pt2. Of after the overblot. 😈😈😈😈 MWUAHAHAHBHABAHAGAHHAAGHAAHAHABSUSJSNJDHRGDJJX

You woke up in the infirmary as usual. But you oddly felt calm, too calm. You felt a warmth forming at your stomach and you looked to see Malleus standing beside you with his hands above your tummy. "You're awake, child. How are you feeling?" He asked as he gently lifted your body up and had you sit up straight on the infirmary bed. "I feel fine. And my stomach feels weird." You said as he chuckled. "That's just the spell that I placed. Don't worry. You're supposed to feel that way." He said as he helped you out of the bed. "How did I get here?" You asked him "You collapsed in Crowleys office. You're body was feeling exhaustion even though you've slept for two weeks. If you had slept longer and not force yourself to wake up you probably wouldn't have fallen." He said as he helped you put on your slippers. "What time is it? Where are the others?" You asked him as he guided you to the door. "They're waiting for you. Would you like to see them?" He asked as he guided you out of the infirmary. "yeah..."

Heartslaybul:

Dawg everything is happening at once. One is crying and is hugging you to their head. The other is posting photos of you looking better and well. one is just standing idly next to you and the other is fussing over you while another one of them is trying to feed you cookies.

Guess the order 😈😈

Savannaclaw:

Jack is giving you like protein bars and stuff (maybe a small cactus plushie idk 🤫🤫) and Ruggie is giving you one of his grandmas homemade donuts! Meanwhile Leonas keeping his tail around you arm so he can keep an eye on you and so you don't get hurt again. (He might bring Cheka over for a visit. And maybe he bought some things that you mentioned that you wanted, maybe.)

Octavinelle:

Before you came to see them Azul was whipping up a storm of potions for you. One to help you with your magic, one to help you with any side effects from your magic, one to boost your energy, and another to call for him for anything! When Azul gave it to you you fell to the ground with the potions. He used a spell to make the bag lightweight and he gave you some food to eat while Jade and Floyd guarded you and gave you some expensive gifts from who knows where.

Scarabia:

You and Kalim are running at each other full force. But not without Jamil 😡😡. As Kalim and you squeezed each other tightly Jamil as stuck trying to breath and asking you if you were okay. Once that was finished Kalim dragged you to your room that you had in the dorm along with Jamil. Kalim had given you multiple boxes full of things that you were to scared to open. While Jamil just gave you a nice meal and your favorite drink. ( He cares about you just as much as Kalim but he knows he doesn't have the money or energy like Kalim to show it. So he cooked for you and stayed close to you both. ( Y'all ended the night by you and Kalim sleeping on the floor with multiple pillows. Jamil stayed up a bit to watch over the both of you.)

Pomefiore:

Vil is fussing over you while also doing your makeup. Epel is waiting next to you so you both can goof around in the mud and Rook is doing your hair. Once your deemed decent enough your dragged off to go eat while Epel salutes to you. You both ended up eating unknown greens and kid safe vitamin gummies. But Vil then took you to go practice your magic while Epel and Room spectate. You almost cut Rooks perfect bob cut if it weren't for his hat. You and Epel then eventually get to go and goof off but you both came back with very noticeable nose bleeds and Vil scolded you both.

Ignihyde:

Idia has you take a small visit to STYX (? Is that how you spell it) and he tries to figure out the reason of your sudden overblot and magic formation while Ortho distracts you with games that match your interests. Then once the testing for the day has ended you three go into Idias room and play games while you and Idia make battery acid drinks.

Diasomnia:

Lilia is a bit weary of allowing you near the three of them because of the overblot but you were a kid! And you of course couldn't harm Malleus because you barely had control over your magic so he pushed it aside and greeted you with warm arms as he tried feeding you his ravioli with some weird sauce. Silver stepped in and gave you some sweets to snack on while Sebek stood guard to protect you and Malleus. Who simply sat next to you and watched over you just in case your magic acts up.

Grim:

He had slept next to your bed while you were resting. He tried using some magic to help you recover faster but he just sighed and slept next to you as well after your body rejected his magic. He was so happy to see you well after your overblot and collapsing that he dropped all of your gifts he had for you and hugged you. He always followed you everywhere and even helped you adjust to your magic.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHAJWJNEBENSJSNEN

[fuckyeahdindjarin]

Palomino Masterlist

COMPLETE | Explicit 🔞 NO minors allowed

Jack Daniels x F!Reader

Series tags: Dude ranch cowboy Jack AU | mini-series | solo travel romance | lots of horsey details | self-indulgent AF | set in Wyoming | no physical descriptions of Reader

Note: You guys voted for Palomino to be the next WIP after Consent, and who am I to refuse? But honestly, thank you for voting for Jack, because I've been dying to write this story. If you'd like to be tagged, please comment, reblog or sign up at my taglist.

Part 1: Palomino

Unable to get a refund for a week-long horse-riding pack trip you'd booked with your ex, you decide to go solo. As it turns out, a rebound with a cowboy named Jack while traversing the wild landscapes of Wyoming might just be what you need.

Part 2: Buckskin

It's an eventful first day on the trail, to say the least.

Part 3: Dapple Grey

Tinder is a dangerous game. So is Never Have I Ever.

Part 4: Strawberry Roan

Jack pulls out all the stops for your birthday. All of them.

Part 5: Appaloosa

You and Jack play house for a day.

Part 6: Mustang

On the fifth day, you leave the Halfway House behind, and the conversation turns homeward.

Part 7: Fleabitten

You and Jack spend your last night together in the mountains - for now.

Part 8: Silver Pony

And just like that, your week at the Statesman Ranch comes to an end, leaving you grappling with the prospect of saying goodbye to Jack.

Part 9: Warmblood

The hardest goodbye you’ll ever say.

Oneshots & drabbles

Deleted scenes from the series that I didn't have the word count for.

Bernaise: You watch Jack cook. Deleted scene from Part 4 - Strawberry Roan.

If Only: Jack smiles and brushes a thumb across your cheek. If only you knew.

Peeks into Jack and Darlin's life after the end of the series.

Pressing: Jack marks you as his in an unexpected way.

Real: You call Jack after running into your ex at a wedding.

Cowgirl Aesthetics: 'This dress won't last ten minutes in a real horse yard and you know it, darlin''.'

Headcanons

Miscellaneous headcanons - some requested, some no one asked for.

Silver Pony | Jack’s moustache | Jack and horses | Jack's guilty pleasures | Jack is king of the two step | Jack's allergies | Teak the artist

Visuals

Mostly made/commissioned for A Palomino Farewell.

Special edition chapter banners

Horses of Palomino

Palominogram: About last night

Palominogram: The cellar

Commissioned art

Belt buckle inspiration

Moodboard: Buckskin

Moodboard: Palomino

Horse girl representation

Recipes

Mama Daniels' express chili: featured in Fleabitten

Poppy's chocolate & rum cupcakes: featured in Strawberry Roan

Chapter sneak peeks: two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight

Bonus content

Art and misc. generously gifted by my sweetest friends ❤️

A Palomino Farewell

Palomino playlist

A birthday message from cowboy Jack and Cowboy yearning by the most talented @guiltypleasure-art

Palomino edit by the loveliest Heidi @wildemaven

Moodboard by the sweetest Keira @k-ra

Playlist by sweetest Sil @psychedelic-ink for A Palomino Farewell

Palomino-inspired cocktail recipe by darlin' Skye @iamskyereads

I can't believe that Palomino now has its own cocktail!!! I'm so honoured that Skye created and shared this recipe with us. All the elements are perfect, from the Campfire whiskey (Darlin's favourite time of the day - snuggling with Jack by the fire), apple (If Only reference) and Ginger (who convinced Darlin' not to cancel the trip). I cannot wait to try this cocktail myself, thank you so so much my love ❤️

More notes: This is a very personal story to me as I grew up loving and riding horses. I've been lucky enough to go on several horseriding holidays, and I'm writing directly from experience - except the hot cowboy part, sadly. Even if you don't ride, I hope you enjoy this story, and I will be the happiest writer if I impart to you even a fraction of the joy of exploring the great outdoors from the back of a steady (or speedy) steed.

{ Inspo }

{ Main Masterlist | Taglist }

[toomanystoriessolittletime]

Remember me

Summary: You haven't been able to reach Jack since he left for a business trip, making you worried. Having no other way to contact him, you decide to drive to Statesman, unprepared to find him walking out of the building perfectly fine. You question your relationship, asking yourself if he would just ghost you after so many years of friendship until a Cowboy finds you crying in your car, and tells you everything about Statesman. And what happened to Jack.

Pairing: Agent Jack Whiskey Daniels x fem. reader

Wordcount: 2.5k

Rating: G

Warnings: memory loss, Friends to lovers, little angst, some fluff

A/N: This has been sitting in my drafts since December. Hope you like it (cause I'm not sure I do lol)

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“When will you be back?” you listened to his steady heartbeat, your ear on his chest. 

His arms were around you, cuddled under the warm covers of his king sized bed. 

“A week. Tops,” he hummed and you felt him kiss the top of your head. You smiled, pressing your lips to his chest. 

“I’ll miss you,” you mumbled. 

“You won’t even notice I’m gone, sugarplum.”

“Hello, This is Jack. Leave a message after the…”

You sighed, ending the call. Again. It’s been almost three weeks. 

Three weeks in which you hadn’t seen or talked to Jack. He usually finds a way to let you know, if his job takes longer. 

You did not know exactly what he was doing, but you had your suspicions. He was often gone for weeks, not being able to contact you. 

Which was a surprise when you first learned about it, being under the impression that he  was the CEO of a whiskey distillery. 

“One day I’m gonna tell you everything about it, sugarplum,” he used to say. And for whatever reason you trusted him that he would. Even way before you both finally realised that your friendship was way more than that. 

You hadn’t been together for a long time. 

But you had known Jack for years. 

The little coffee shop you owned apparently lay on the way to his work and he started stopping by almost six years ago when he moved to a little town just outside of the city. 

You would always remember the first time he stepped into your little café. 

You had seen your fair share of cowboys throughout the years but Jack? Deep down you just knew he would be trouble.

You just did not know if in a good or in a bad way. 

He had ordered a plain black coffee and a muffin for breakfast. 

“Surprise me, Sugarplum,” he’d smirked at you when you asked him what kind of muffin he wanted. And yeah, that southern charm was trouble from the first day.

After that he came in every single day on his way to work. You’d only learn that he sometimes stopped by in the afternoon too much later, one of your employees telling you that he seemed a little disappointed when he did not see you. 

He had only asked for your actual name almost half a year later.

The friendship that had formed between the two of you always lingered on the line to becoming something more. 

It started with him inviting you to go out to the farmers market out of town one saturday. 

Then you invited him for a home cooked dinner which quickly became a weekly Thursday night thing.

You started spending time at his farm outside of town too. He had beautiful horses, some cows and chickens. 

He taught you how to ride and care for the horses.

You would have thought he had a dog too, but instead he had two cats called King and Queen. 

Two very cute fluffy white cats who followed him wherever he went once he got home. 

They loved to sleep on top of Jack when you had movie night. There might be a folder of pictures in your phone just of him with the cats. 

It would take more than five years of friendship until one drunken night left you sleeping in his bed, waking up the next morning in his arms, his lips brushing over the back of your neck, asking is this okay to which you only nodded while he kissed himself down your neck until you turned in his arms so he could kiss your lips for the first time. 

He took you out for your first date that very same night. 

You had talked to each other every single day in the last months, even when he had to get away. You practically had moved into his house, leaving your apartment in the city just for the occasional nights when you were too tired to drive back to his place after work. 

Or you stayed there when Jack was gone. His house feeling way too big and empty without him. 

But earlier today you had been at his place, finding it as deserted as it had been the last weeks.

You had no idea how to contact him outside of his phone number. You did not have any information on contacting his family or friends. The latter only being two men you had met briefly throughout the years. 

What you did know however was where he worked.

You took a deep breath, exhaling through your mouth as you looked at yourself in the mirror as you got ready for work. 

You missed him. 

You loved him. 

Maybe it was time to drive to Statesman across town to finally get some answers. 

You had been staring at the entrance for an hour. 

You hadn’t planned on staring at the entrance for an hour. 

You were about to get out of your car and demand answers but then you saw him walk out of the door. 

Jack. 

He was smiling as he talked to another man, one of his friends you had met whose name you had already forgotten, before you saw him climb into his Bronco and speed off. 

Why was he ignoring your calls?

Why didn’t he let you know that he was alive and well?

A constant stream of questions seemed to go through your head, only stopped when someone knocked on your car window. 

You blinked your eyes before you let the window down, an older man, another cowboy, looking at you. 

“Evening Ma’am. I noticed that you have been waiting here for a while and I was wondering if you need any help?” he asked. 

You sighed. 

“Yes… No. Sorry. I’ll… I’ll leave,” you mumbled, still confused. 

“Are you okay?” he asked and you huffed a laugh. 

“Just asking myself if my boyfriend decided to ghost me on purpose. He’s working here, you know? Haven’t seen him in almost a month, haven’t talked to him, but I just saw him walk out of those doors, looking perfectly fine to me.”

You were rambling. 

“I haven’t even told him that I love him. I think he loved me though. We’ve known each other for a long time. Used to flirt shamelessly with me every day when getting a coffee.”

“Now hold on there  for a minute there,” the Cowboy said and your lips pressed shut, looking at the man. 

“You don’t happen to be talking about a tall Cowboy with a preference for banana strawberry muffins from that little café across town?” he asked you. 

“I bake the muffins myself,” you whispered, looking at him. 

The man sighed. 

“Jack didn’t tell me he finally got his head out of his ass and made a move on you. You might wanna come inside with me? I think you deserve some answers.”

You were staring again. 

This time not at the entrance of Statesman, but at the door of Jack’s Farmhouse. 

The house that had become a home to you more than your own apartment was. 

Agent Champagne, Champ for friends, had explained to you that while Statesman was still a distillery, it always was a front for a secret organisation. 

And Jack was one of its Agents. One of the best apparently. 

Something had happened on his last mission and the short explanation was that he had come back from the dead and might have lost more memories than the agency first thought. 

Champ had encouraged you to drive out and visit Jack. He’d apparently been talking about stopping by the next morning at the café. He had only been released from the medical wing today.

He didn’t almost die, he had been dead. 

For almost three hours before they could bring him back. 

You took a deep breath before you got out of your car, walking the familiar path towards his house. Out of habit you reached for the key he gave to you to unlock the door, stopping with a head shake before you brought your hand up to knock on his door. 

The time it took before you heard footsteps behind the door seemed like hours, giving you time to school your face into a neutral expression when the door opened, revealing Jack standing in front of you, dressed in dark sweatpants and a faded Game of Thrones shirt. Your shirt. 

His face lit up when he saw you. 

“Sugarplum, I wasn’t expecting you,” he said with a smile and you felt tears welling up in your eyes, as you smiled at him. 

“Hi Jack,” you whispered as you looked up at him and as if it was pure instinct he opened his arms for you as you took a step towards him, his strong arms wrapping around your body as he kissed the top of your head. 

“I missed you so much,” you mumbled into his shirt, feeling his arm tighten around you.

“Are you sure, you’re okay sugar?” he asked and you took a deep breath before you looked up at him, finding his eyes looking down at you with concern. 

“I think we need to talk,” you said quietly. He frowned, but nodded, before he released you to close the door. 

King and Queen were sitting on either side of you as you sat on the sofa, waiting for Jack to come back from the kitchen. He’d offered to make tea and you had agreed, using the time to gather your thoughts. 

King was climbing into your lap as Jack came from the kitchen, your favourite mug, the one he had bought you only a couple weeks ago in his hand, your favourite tea in it. 

He set the mug down on the coffee table before he sat down on the couch next to you. 

“These two usually hate people,” he hummed, his hand stroking over the fur of Queen who meowed before she laid down in between the two of you. 

“I’m not just any people,” you smiled a little and Jack smiled back. 

“No you’re not,” he said warmly. 

“How was your work trip?” you asked and if he was taken aback by your question he did not show it. 

“Longer than expected but okay in the end. I’m actually gonna stay for a while now. Got some time off,” he explained and you nodded. 

“Did I tell you about leaving town?” he frowned in the next moment.

“You did,” you whispered, your hand stroking King on your lap who was puring by now. 

“Jack, what’s the last thing you remember? About me?” you asked.

He seemed confused before he took a deep breath. 

“I… I think the last time I saw you you were cooking in my kitchen? Some roast that burnt…” he murmured. 

You nodded. 

“Okay. That was… almost three months ago. It was your birthday. And I promised to make your favourite dish,” you said as you carefully took the mug of tea to drink some. 

He looked at you as if trying to figure you out. 

“We watched Star Trek after and you told me how you hated the new ones,” you continued, but he just kept looking at you. 

“I… I don’t remember?” he said and you closed your eyes, releasing a deep breath. 

“Jack, I talked to Champ today. And he… he told me what happened to you,” you whispered, sucking your bottom lip in. 

“Why would he do that?” he asked. 

“Because usually when something happens to an Agent on the job their family or spouse is informed. But we… you hadn’t told anyone. About us yet.”

“Us?” he asked, looking at you. 

“We’re… We’re together. Or we have been until you had to leave for your last job? I’m not really sure what we are now. I mean you can’t remember me…”

“I do remember you. I just… this is…”

“A lot. I know,” you sighed, fighting down the tears as you looked at him. 

“We both… Really? I finally told you how I felt?” he asked after a while and you huffed a laugh. 

“Not really. We were both drunk and I woke up in your bed…. we kissed the first time tight then in your bed,” you explained and he nodded. 

“I was wondering whose clothes were in my wardrobe,” he said with a huff and you nodded. 

“I… you actually asked me to move in with you before you left.”

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. 

“And you had no idea what happened these last weeks. I’m so sorry,” he reached over, squeezing your hand. 

“You’re very relaxed for someone who just got told he has a girlfriend he can’t remember.”

He chuckled. 

“Let’s just say, worse things have happened on the job.”

“Gee thanks,” you rolled your eyes with a smile and he grinned. 

You sighed. 

“Well, I’m just gonna grab some stuff and leave you alone,” you gently put King from your lap, standing up. 

“Why?” Jack asked, also standing up. 

“Because you can’t remember me, Jackson,” you smiled sadly.

He shook his head. 

“I do remember you. I remember everything about you. Just not… the most important part. The part where I finally got you in my life like I’ve wanted for a long time,” he whispered, taking a step closer towards you. 

You sighed. 

“What if you help me remember?”

“What are you proposing?”

“They… They use triggers when getting someone back. They always use a picture of my late wife that usually gets my brain back in the right lane. And it worked to some extent.”

“Just not for me,” you could not help the tears escaping your eyes now and Jack came even closer, his hands framing your face, as he wiped your tears away. 

“I knew something was missing. I just did not know what,” he whispered. You closed your eyes. 

“I know that I’m in love with you though,” he said and you gasped, opening your eyes. 

“I have been since the day I took you out to the farmers market. When I saw you in that beautiful dress I’m sure my heart stopped.”

“Jack,” you smiled through your tears. 

“So you see, I do remember you. I remember everything about you. I just don’t remember finally being with you.”

“You haven’t even told me you loved me yet,” you whispered and he groaned. 

“Pre Memory loss Jack was a real dumbass,” he grinned and you chuckled. 

“Can I kiss you?” he asked. 

“Yes,” you breathed and then his lips were on yours. And it was if no time had passed, your arms wrapping around his broad back as you melted against him, his lips moving on yours, his moustache tickling you, making you grin against his lips. 

“I love you sugarplum,” he whispered against your lips and you smiled. 

“I love you too, Jack.”

[heavyhitterheaux]

Concept for adult Jack & FL : FL goes out shopping and invites little baby since Jack and Urban didn’t want to join her.

“You two promised me that you would be done playing almost an hour ago!” You exclaimed looking at both your husband and best friend as they were playing 2k.

All they did was share a glance before looking over at you.

“Don’t even try to get out of this because you both promised me!”

“I was probably high when I told you that.” Urban said and you immediately rolled your eyes.

“I’ll take you out tomorrow, baby. Promise.”

“No! I have a full day tomorrow and today would be the only day that I get to go!”

“Babe, we can go in the morning!”

“You know what? Never mind and don’t ask me to bring you two back anything because you aren’t getting a damn thing.”

You grabbed your purse and keys and made your way out the door slamming it behind you.

"Why is your best friend so dramatic?" Jack asked Urban and he did a double take.

"She might be my best friend, but you're the one who married her so you knew what your ass was getting into."

"Touché. But do you think she really won't bring us back anything?"

"I'm texting her now to bring me a pretzel from Auntie Anne's."

"Oohh. Tell her I want a cinnabon."

Big Whore- Bestie bring me a pretzel and bring Jack a Cinnabon

You- Fuck off Wyatt

Not even thirty seconds later you sent him another text.

You- Extra pecans for hubby and extra salt for you?

Big Whore- 😌

You- Still don't like either of you and I'm not cooking for a week

Big Whore- NOW HOLD ON A MINUTE

You- Bye 👋🏽

It was around 10 PM when you came to the door to see them both still sitting in the same place you left them in and Clay was behind you bringing in some of the bags. This caught Jack's attention.

"What is the accidental child doing here?"

"JACKMAN!" You exclaimed and he simply shrugged while Urb was trying not to laugh.

"For your information your wife asked me to go with her since you two wouldn't."

"Surprised you survived it." Urban muttered and you smacked him in the back of the head.

"OW!"

"And that’s why I ate your pretzel Urb and Jack…."

"If you ate my Cinnabon, I'm knocking all this shit over."

"Should've went with your wife."

"BABY! You let him eat our snacks?" Jack asked as you were unwrapping your latest purse from a high end boutique.

"Maybe next time you two promise me to do something you'll do it."

All you did was roll your eyes before pulling out multiple bags of food for them and set them in front of them.

"You two are lucky she loves you because she went back to get more including what you had asked her for." Clay said as both Jack and Urban started eating.

"Thank you, baby. Love you."

"Bestie always comes through."

"Now you my husband are coming with me next weekend to Sephora and I don't want to hear SHIT!"

"Umm can't Neelam go?"

"Last time I checked I wasn't married to her and Jack bring your black card."

"Fuck." Jack quietly muttered to himself while Urban stifled a laugh.

"Urby, just for that you're coming too."

"NOW WHY AM I IN IT?"

[allzelemonz]

He’s Warm: Kieran Duffy X Male Reader

Pronouns: he/him, Reader referred to as ‘man’ and ‘boy’ Physical Sex: None Mentioned Rating: T/Language Warnings: Reader is friends with Micah, friendly banter and teasing, the gang is a family, people mistrust Kieran, cuddling, huddling for warmth, background relationships: Arthur/Charles, John/Abigail, mild Sean/Lenny Summary: Going back up North to hide makes the gang share a one room cabin with limited space. As a trusted member of the gang, you’re made to watch over the less trusted members.

Going back up North was Hosea’s idea, insisting that the trek back West needed to happen and the gang needed to give it a few weeks for the Pinkertons to lose the scent. Just a few weeks, no robbing, just surviving. For once, Dutch listened. The gang packed things up, getting the hell away from the two rich families whose gold seems like a lost cause. But as you look over the small shack it doesn’t seem all that great of an idea. No one thinks going back to Colter is a good idea, never reuse a camp if you can help it. So the one room shack will have to do.

You help Arthur and Sean, throwing out the unneeded furniture to make sure everyone has a space on the floor. Kieran and Bill are trying to make some sort of covering for the horses. Charles and Javier have already gone out hunting as Pearson finds the best way to cook with the fireplace. John is chopping wood, Miss Grimsahw is fussing over where to put everyone’s bedrolls. Everyone is doing what they can.

“Excuse me, gentlemen.” Miss Grimshaw comes up just as you and Arthur throw the table from the shack onto the snowy ground.

“Yes, Miss Grimshaw?” Arthur asks. “Somethin’ ya need?”

“I have been trying ta find agreeable sleeping situations.” She sighs. “But, as I’m sure you two are very well aware, not everyone is so inclined ta be near one another.”

“Oh, tha’s a nice way ta put it.” Sean chuckles as he walks by with a chair.

Miss Grimshaw huffs. “I have little Jack and a few us older folks by the fire, the girls are all together, and I put the younger ones by the door.”

Sean looks over at her. “When ya say younger-”

“Yourself and Mister Summers.”

“We’ll freeze!” Sean cries. “Just ‘cause we’re young don’t mean we should be set to early, icy graves.”

“Oh, hush, Mister MacGuire.” She snaps, turning back to you and Arthur. “I need you two of you to keep an eye on the degenerates.”

“Who are the degenerates?” You ask, already half knowing the answer.

“I don’t trust Mister Bell so close to everybody.” She holds her teeth so they don’t clatter. “And that O’Driscoll.”

Arthur sighs. “I’ll keep an eye on Micah, Miss Grimshaw.”

“I’ll watch Kieran, not that he needs watching.” You huff, turning back to the cabin,

“Thank you, boys.” Miss Grimshaw calls after you.

Later in the day you find your things near the front wall, surrounded by Kieran, Arthur, and Micah. It’s like being the good student in the school house and having to sit next to the troublemaker to calm them down. Not that that sort of thing ever works. Micah is sitting on his bedroll, not many other places to go, sharpening his knife, Arthur is talking to John who is fussing over Jack being warm and Kieran is still out with the horses.

“Stuck with the worst ‘a us, ain’t ya?” Micah asks as you sit down on your bedroll.

“You’re not that bad when you shut up, Micah.”

He chuckles and gestures to the closeness of your and what must be a new bedroll for Kieran. “I ain’t gonna have ta worry about all that, am I?”

“Am I gonna have to worry about you cuddling with Arthur?”

Micah snorts and you smile as he shakes his head. “Good one, cowpoke.”

“You never know. You might get cold.”

He glares at you from under his hat. “Nothing would ever make me cold enough fer that.” Then his expression lightens a bit. “But you… you been lookin’ fer an excuse.”

“Shut up, Micah.” You say, playfully kicking his leg.

He chuckles. “Careful, wouldn’t wanna ruin yer reputation.”

“I’d be doing that anyway.” You nod to Kieran’s bedroll. “I don’t know which Miss Grimshaw would hate more.”

“Yer only jokin’ with me and I ain’t no O’Driscoll.” Micah grins to himself. “It’s Dutch ya need ta worry about.”

“You always say that.”

“If ya get all sweet on that O’Driscoll boy, people ‘round here are gonna start questionin’ yer loyalty.” He clears his throat. “Just how things are.”

“We can be delinquents together then.”

“Ol’ Grimshaw’d never let us near each other again.” Micah raises his arms to mime. “She’d think we was schemin’ some grand plan.”

You smile, laughing lightly. “It’ll be fine. I’m not getting into anything right now, not with everything that’s going on.”

“Wise words, cowpoke.” He taps his hat’s brim with his knife. “Great minds think alike.”

“Sure, that’s why you’re not with anyone.”

He chuckles. “I am exactly where I wanna be, cowpoke. No better place.”

“How flattering.”

Arthur stops near his bedroll, kicking off his boots. “He botherin’ you?”

“Jealous, Morgan?” Micah drawls, peering from under his hat.

“Just talking, Arthur.”

Arthur looks between you before he sits down and rummages through his satchel. He’s always been clueless. The only one that has ever picked up on your attraction to Kieran is Micah and no one has picked up on your friendship with the most questionable of the gang. Arthur has no chance of interpreting what’s going on around him tonight.

Miss Grimshaw points Kieran in the right direction when he comes inside. He looks nervous as his eyes wander over the crowd of the gang. You always seemed nice, but sleeping so close to Micah makes him nervous. Arthur tortures him all the time and just past him are Sean and Bill who actively terrorize him. Nevertheless, he thanks Miss Grimshaw for giving him a bed and steps carefully around those laying in his path.

“O’Driscoll!” Micah greets, half mockingly. “Welcome ta the bad boys’ corner.”

Kieran avoids his eyes as he sits, just trying not to catch too much of Micah’s attention because he knows how he is.

“Shut up, Micah.” You mutter. “Just let the kid sleep.”

“All of ya shut it.” Arthur mumbles, already drifting into a chilly slumber.

“So sorry, Morgan.” Micah mocks.

Arthur groans and buries his face into his makeshift pillow.

“Don’t mind the idiot, Kieran.”

Kieran looks over to you, a bit of relief that you’re the one next to him. “I got no problem doin’ that.”

You laugh lightly, looking at Micah for the inevitable annoyance.

“Lucky yer outta arm’s reach, boy.” Micah says, sighing as he relaxes against the wall. “I wouldn’t sleep too deep if I was you.”

“I’ll protect you from the big, bad wolf, Kieran.” You mutter, glaring at Micah with a hint of a smile. “He’s not as tough as he looks.”

Kieran blushes a bit, hiding his face as you and Micah exchange somewhat friendly banter. Arthur groans again, standing and dragging his bedroll down by Charles. Not that you needed his help ‘watching’ the ‘degenerates’ anyway. He probably wanted to sleep next to Charles to begin with.

“You actually gonna sleep tonight?”

Micah looks at you and shrugs. “Ain’t plannin’ on it.”

“Can you behave then? So Grimshaw doesn’t get onto me for not watching you.”

“I’ll try my best, cowpoke.”

The grin Micah gives you lets you know he’s joking around. He’ll just sit there and mess with his guns like he always does, maybe read that newspaper clipping he keeps about his old bounty. You know he’s not gonna do anything that’ll make Grimshaw mad at you, he wants people mad at him. You lie back, getting as comfortable as you can in the extra layers of clothes and on the hard wooden floor. Not many are still awake, so it’s the sound of the fire and the occasional click of Micah messing with his guns that you drift off to sleep with.

You wake to a jolt in your leg and with it you look down you see Micah nudging you. The sun is starting to peek through the windows and you can hear the light shuffles of people working up the energy to get out of bed.

“Ya best move if ya don’t want anybody ta see.” Micah whispers.

Then you realize what position you’re in. Kieran is cuddled up to your chest and your arm is tightly fixed around his middle. He looks peaceful, comfortable, and most of all, he’s warm. It’s like he’s a human fire, heat radiates off of him in comforting waves that fight off the cold. You don’t want to move, you want to pull him closer and kiss his head and make him feel as safe and warm as he’s making you feel. But Micah is right, people would whisper and ask questions, and you’re right too, you can’t get into this right now with everything how it is. So you slowly pull away and sit up against the wall next to Micah, just a foot away from the peacefully sleeping stable boy.

“Thanks.” You mutter.

Micah nods. “You’d do the same.”

Not that Micah will ever be in a situation anything like that, but yes, you would. You look over the sea of sleeping or half-sleeping figures. Most have kept to themselves but the Marstons are all huddled together, the girls have a bit of a tangle, Sean and Lenny are huddled back to back. And then there’s Arthur and Charles, clinging about as much as you and Kieran were.

You nudge Micah and nod to them. “Think we should help them?”

Micah chuckles and shakes his head. “I ain’t liftin’ any more fingers.”

You pick up an empty can from the pile of your things and toss it at Arthur. He stirs against Charles’s arm and it looks like he wakes up. You at least want to give him the choice of whether he’s okay with people seeing him like that or not. He looks around for a minute, then Charles tugs at his arm and pulls him back into sleep.

“Told ya.” Micah mutters.

“No, you said you weren’t gonna help.”

“One good deed is enough fer the week.”

You kick lightly at his leg and he moves it away. He’s slowly becoming an annoying sibling at this rate. The gang wakes up and shuffles around to make coffee and talk things over. Kieran stirs once most of the gang is awake. He rolls onto his back and blinks up at the ceiling for a while before he sits up. He gets coffee and comes back to sit and drink it while the gang gets their jobs going. Most people leave the cabin, only a few remain in the opposite corner when Micah sits forward.

“Hey, O’Driscoll.” He whispers.

You watch him, holding a map in your hand, distracted from your task now.

“Mister…” Kieran mutters, glancing at him nervously.

Micah looks at you with a wicked grin and before you can stop him he says it in a low voice. “He’s sweet on ya.”

“Micah!” You whisper loudly, kicking him hard this time. “I told you-”

“Ya got all snuggly right after ya fell asleep.” Micah grins, pushing you back. “I ain’t never seen such love birds.”

Kieran’s face goes red as you give Micah another kick, making him stand and retreat.

“Sorry, cowpoke.” He shrugs, picking up his hat. “Got bored.”

With only a few people left in the cabin, Micah has an easy escape route and your little fight didn’t garner much attention. Kieran stares at his coffee cup, his mind swimming with a hundred things. You look at him, eyes darting over his body to try and tell how he feels.

“Micah’s an idiot.” You say, sitting up straight and trying to get a look at Kieran’s face.

He glances at you and you can see his pink cheeks, darkened by a mix of cold and embarrassment. “So he was just jokin’?”

There’s something in his voice that makes you think you should be honest. “Not joking, just being stupid.”

“So…” Kieran’s eyes look around rapidly. “So he waddn’t lyin’?”

You glance over at the cluster of people in the other corner, they pay you no attention, so you move back to sit next to Kieran.

“He was telling the truth.” You whisper, nodding. “I don’t wanna embarrass you, Kieran.”

“No, no!” He shakes his head. “Ya ain’t- I mean, I ain’t- But-”

You catch his gesturing hand and pull it down to hold it. Kieran goes quiet as a smile works over his face and he stares down at your hands.

“He was just messing with me.” You mumble.

Kieran squeezes your hand. “I don’t mind… now, I don’t mind.”

Then the door bursts open and you both pull your hands back as Javier steps inside and looks over at you. “Dutch needs you.”

You sigh, giving Kieran a small smile as you stand and make your way over to Javier. “Did Micah go anywhere?”

“I don’t think so.” Javier shakes his head. “Saw him over by the wagons a minute ago.”

“I’ll find Dutch in a bit. Something I gotta do first.”

Javier stops you before you open the door again. “Are you gonna hurt Micah? Can I help?”

A twisted smile covers his face and you nod. You give Kieran one more smile that he returns before you leave the cabin. He sits on his bedroll for a little longer, his eyes looking over your space next to him until he has to go check on the horses.

[pixeldistractions]

The group of them hung out sometimes after climbing, when their energy was spent and the sunlight began to fade. They grilled red meat for protein and drank Gatorade by the gallon. Nessa brought more food from home. The kids ate while still wearing wet bathing suits, and the climbing crew stretched and relaxed and laughed into the twilight.

“Eat up!” Nessa said, laying out a spread of potato salad, baked beans, and even waffles.

“Wow, you made all this?” Maya asked.

Nessa laughed. “Oh no, my mother-in-law is the chef. You don’t want to see me in the kitchen. In fact, everyone, you’re all invited to Thanksgiving. She’d love to have a really full house and lots of people to cook for. It would mean the world to her this year.”

Jack nodded in agreement. “It’s been a rough time, but the distraction would be good. They were married for forty years, and this is her first holiday without him.”

Everyone was so sorry to hear that, but unfortunately, most everyone also already had plans.

Tyler politely declined. He had a bittersweet history with the Phoenix family, thanks to a rough breakup with his high school girlfriend, Summer. They always said he was welcome in the family any time, and though he and Summer made their peace, he had his own family to focus on now.

Kristoff declined for no stated reason. Darren was a maybe? And Jordan?

“Oh, Thanksgiving?” It had been a very long time since Jordan attended any sort of Thanksgiving gathering. Togetherness was not really Colette’s thing. She liked to take the boys somewhere expensive and foreign, where Thanksgiving didn’t exist. Even when his dad was still alive, it was usually just the two of them and a store-bought meal in front of a football game, which was wonderful, but small.

Funny enough, when he and Maria first met, when she found out that he usually spent the holiday alone, she promptly invited him to her family’s Thanksgiving dinner. The gesture was appreciated, but they had only known each other a few weeks, so he politely declined. This year, she was coming to visit him. The November weekend that Maria got off work, the only good stretch of time she could spend here, was over Thanksgiving weekend. They hadn’t talked about what they would do, only that they would be together.

“I don’t know what my plans are,” Jordan said. “My girlfriend is in town that week.”

Girlfriend, he said, which brought a foolish grin to his face. The word filled him with such a warm and bubbly feeling. He hadn’t called someone his girlfriend since the ninth grade. He never even called Colette that, always just “the boys’ mom” or by name, except for the occasions he called her his “ex.” Jordan had a girlfriend now, and it was the most wholesome thing. “I’ll have to ask her. You know, because she might want to cook our own thing.”

“She cooks?” Nessa sprung up from the table with wonder in her eyes.

“Yeah, she’s great at it,” Jordan said.

“We don’t have any other foodies in the family. Sophie would love her!” Then Nessa paused. “Oh! I don’t mean to put her to work. No, she’d absolutely be a guest. Just, for Sophie to have someone to talk food stuff with who knows better. Please. Let me meet her, I’ll beg.”

“Ha, I don’t think you’ll have to beg,” Jordan said. “But sure, I’ll see what she thinks of the idea.”

So they settled talk of Thanksgiving for now. They dug into those burgers and potato salad and homemade cookies. They ate and laughed and carried on as the evening turned to twilight.

Jordan was perplexed at how he ended up here, part of all this, especially since he’d spent the better part of his twenties alienating himself and pushing people away. Now his family was part of all this, too, before they even got here. These people hadn’t met Maria yet, but already they loved her. They hadn’t met his boys yet, but already they were expected to share a bunk room with the other children in Japan next winter.

These people were warm and welcoming. No one was left uninvited. No one was left behind. No one was allowed to give up. These people were wild and brave and unstoppable, and Jordan hadn’t met so many people like this in his whole life. They understood each other. They didn’t question each other’s priorities or ambitions. Nobody thought of him as frivolous or irresponsible for wanting to do this.

You want to climb mountains? Well, of course you do! Let’s go do it!

Jordan wasn’t looking to find his tribe here, but they scooped him up, folded him into their world, and adopted him anyway.

It was everything. Almost.

— from “boxes and squares #4.3: then fall in love” (3/5)

[ladylooch]

Another guy hitting on Liv and Luca going into protective boyfriend mode.

A/N: Let's use this to introduce Ryder a bit more... 😈

Luca is putting the finishing touches on his blue, game day suit as the outgoing FaceTime jingle fills the room around him. He licks his bottom lip as he adjusts the knot of his tie to his throat. He smoothes the red fabric down as Liv answers.

“Hi!” She is breathless. He looks down at his phone on the bathroom counter. Liv is diagonal across her bed towards her nightstand. The hallway leading from her bedroom is dark behind her but light is visible from the kitchen at the end.

“Hi.” He smiles back at her.

“Sorry, I had my phone in the other room. I almost missed you!” Luca can hear her unclip her phone from charging as she walks out of the room.

“No problem. Are the girls there? You eating girl dinner and getting ready for Legally Blonde?” Luca picks up his phone and heads to the bathroom to grab his final touch- three sprays of cologne. 

“No.” Liv’s face immediately turns down.

“What happened?”

“They all bailed.” She shrugs. Luca can tell it bothers her by the way her eyes dim on the screen.

“I’m sorry, baby… I know you were looking forward to that.”

“Yeah.” She sighs dejectedly. “But! Ryder stopped by with a new book for me to read and offered to hang out with me instead. We are going to watch your game.” Luca pauses his last spray of cologne at the mention of New York Islanders center, Ryder Hughes, son of current Devil front office staff member, Jack Hughes.

Luca sucks his cheeks in as Liv looks off camera, presumably at Ryder. She walks back into the kitchen, raising her eyebrows as she asks the Hughes boy to repeat his question.

“Does this look done to you?”

“No, it is supposed to get way darker than that. Not golden brown but like, we should be worried it might be burnt. Banana bread is weird like that.”

“You’re… making banana bread?” Luca calls to her. 

“Yeah! I’m showing him how to make our recipe. He can’t cook either, so I told him he could probably bake like you.” Luca watches as Liv comes over to the stove. Ryder comes into view… shirtless… with light grey sweatpants hanging low on his hips. Luca takes in Liv again, knitting his eyebrows together when he sees the thin straps of her tank top. Only two straps are shown, so she definitely isn’t wearing a bra. He wonders what is on her legs. 

“Is it hot in there? You don’t look dressed for winter.” He tries for a laugh but it comes out like a cough. Luca adjusts his knot again, a little looser, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. He checks his reflection in the mirror, then turns the bathroom light off. His dress shoes clack against the wood floor of his hallway. When he reaches the open concept main area, he grabs his wallet off the counter and stuffs it into his suit jacket.

Liv is distracted with Ryder. They are lost in conversation about where he can find certain things to make a specialty cocktail he has been working on perfecting. He wants Liv’s opinion on it before he makes it for a team event next week. Luca pauses his getting ready. Is he watching his girlfriend on a date with another man? He sure as shit thinks so. He isn’t sure whether to shout at them in anger, or hang up. 

Luca has known about Liv’s blossoming friendship with Ryder for awhile. It doesn't bother him. She is free to be friends with whomever she wants. He isn’t insecure enough to not allow her to hang around other men when he isn’t around. But something about the way this interaction is going, rubs Luca the wrong way. He watches as Ryder teases Liv for her packed cupboards of chips and candy, but lack of fresh fruit.

“I haven’t gone to the store yet!” She grumbles, smacking Ryder’s bare bicep. Luca chomps on the inside of his cheek aggressively.

“Baby.” Luca quietly calls to her, pausing with his elbows on the kitchen counter, phone held out in front of him with one hand.

“Sorry! Oh my god, yes! Babe! The building heat is on override and maintenance like… can’t get it to stop heating the whole building. We are boiling lobsters in here. Actually, do you mind if Ryder uses the shorts you left here?” 

“Uh sure.” Luca says tightly. “Hey Liv, can you go into the bedroom for a second?” Liv straightens immediately at Luca’s tone. To Ryder, it sounds friendly, but Liv can hear the edge. Luca doesn’t think his innocent, sweet girlfriend realizes what is happening right now. She is too blasé about this entire thing. Luca glances at his Rolex, seeing he needs to leave in two minutes. 

“What’s up?” She asks as she closes the bedroom door.

“Livy.” Luca chuckles at her clueless face. “You realize you’re on a date right now?”

“What? No! What makes this a date!?”

“Yes.” Luca’s anger dissipated at her horrified reaction. “You’re baking together… you’re barely wearing any clothes.. he’s making you a special drink. Let me guess, he ordered take out and paid for it?” Liv’s face gets pale. “You’re on a date.” 

“We are just friends…” Liv trails off, confused. “He knows you and I are together. He suggested watching your game together!”

“You may be friends with him, but he definitely wants more than that.”

“You think?”

Luca takes a moment to drag his gaze along her beautiful features and the top swells of her breasts. Liv looks down, following his gaze, gasping at how low her top has fallen. She hikes it up quickly. 

“Yeah, baby. I think he’s into you. What’s not to love?” He quips with a smirk. “Pull that down again for me.” He wiggles his eyebrows. She stares back at Luca through the phone, looking a little ill at what he must think of her.

“I… Should I make him leave?”

“Up to you, babe.”

Luca doesn’t like it, but he also isn’t too worried about it.

Liv loves him. 

And she’s coming to see him next week. It’s his arms she’s going to fall asleep in.

And it’s him who’s going to make love to her until she’s moaning for him not to stop. 

So what is there for Luca Fiala to worry about?

[tisorridalamor]

I have been making this breakfast sandwich once a weekend for like... 5 weeks now? It's REALLY good! Read below for my BDG breakfast sandwich tips ✨

First things first, all of the ingredients for this freeze and thaw really well so if you're worried about buying like a bunch of sausage and not getting enough use out of it just cut patties and throw it in the freezer :) I've been keeping the buns, sausage, and bacon in the freezer and then thawing what I need the night before I plan to make it (the frozen hash browns just go straight in the pan, the bacon could too but I'd recommend thawing the sausage). The official ingredients list is:

Buns

Sausage

Bacon

Egg

Frozen hash browns

Cheese

Ketchup

⚠️ INGREDIENTS ALERT ⚠️: There's quite a bit here and you can use less sausage and hash browns especially than you think you might need. This sandwich is quite heavy for me so I think less can be more for this one. Of course this varies person to person so measure with your heart 🫶

I don't have a nice long flat pan like BDG has in his vid, but I managed just fine with a standard nonstick skillet and had my smaller skillet on another burner be the "warming zone". I can confirm that after a few times this sandwich only takes about 30 min to put together (even for two people) + clean up. Just start with the bacon and sausage to get the juices flowing, then throw down the hash browns and finish off with the egg and toasting the bread.

HASH BROWN TIPS: Easily the hardest part of this is getting the hash browns correct so here is some advice:

Get em in the pan early and let them sit. They will take the longest out of all the items if you want to get em real crispy since you're probably taking them straight from the freezer

DON'T MESS WITH THEM. LET THEM SIT. Even with this advice though I had a hard time getting them to stick together in a patty (maybe it's the brand I'm using? 🤔) so...

If you're having trouble getting them to stay together, use a bit of egg or melt cheese on top to force them to stick :)

If they do end up falling apart, you can still use them on the sandwich: put the ketchup on the bottom bun as glue and sprinkle your hash browns on top and they won't fall off the sandwich, then top with the other ingredients.

My personal modifications: The best part of cooking is doing whatever you want so here's my personal shake ups:

Pepper jack cheese cause it's the best cheese

I don't scramble my eggs cause I love a runny yolk - the technique to still getting a "patty" out of the egg is to have the pan real hot then crack it at the edge of the pan and carefully flip it over itself so you cook the whites around the yolk, tilting the pan and using the wall to help maneuver the egg. Yes this results in a far messier sandwich. No I don't care.

PEPPER!!! Crank that shit babyyyy (for context I have a pepper grinder)

Genuinely don't remember if BDG does this in his vid but I like to toast both sides of the bun and kinda squish it down a bit. Due to the egg this has the potential to be a tall sandwich so this helps reduce the height

Overall an excellent breakfast sandwich to me as someone who is a breakfast sandwich connoisseur. I was skeptical about the hash browns and ketchup but they really do add some good flavor to the sandwich. I recommend making it once or twice matching BDG's recipe before getting silly with it (I think it's important to start from the beginning if you can to learn what YOU think works and what doesn't before making a bunch of changes. I would not have used ketchup if the recipe didn't call for it but it's a great addition and I always use it now). I think he also has some great tips - the one about letting the sausage patty cook a bunch on one side, then flipping and using the crispy to flatten it out is so genius. I ❤️ lazy cooking

FUTURE RESEARCH: I have some ideas for what to do next with my sandwiches personally. I'm looking forward to trying these and you should like this post if you want to hear about my future endeavors:

Using cheap croissants as the bread. I love cheap crappy croissants, they're SO GOOD on breakfast sandwiches so I need to try them here

Removing the bacon or sausage. Like I mentioned, I think this is a pretty heavy sandwich and I don't think both are needed (though they are REALLY good). I might get just as much enjoyment without both personally

Adding avocado. I love avocado + bacon + egg sandwiches so this would be perfect for me personally with the has browns

I should possibly try thawing some hash browns to see if they stick together better when thawed first...

(unrelated to the sandwich) I now have a massive bag of hash browns in my freezer cause these don't come in small amounts. I've personally never been a big hash brown person... but making them real thin and crispy for this sandwich has opened a new door for me. I will be cooking them more to see what else I can do with em

[toomanyanimefanfics]

MHA General Dorm Head canons

General Headcanons of life in the Class 1A dorm, _______________________________________________ SFW//Fluff?//purely domestic and friendship dynamics// (read more for long post) _______________________________________________ The main living area has one communal blue tooth speaker- it's constantly causing fights- and is the main tool for trolling and annoying everyone in the 1A dorm...

-There's constantly some two students fighting over who connects their playlists to play, (Denki and Mina mostly).  Everyone agrees to have a shared Dorm playlist, Jiro ends up making this playlist and adds everyone's favourite songs and bands to keep everyone happy...

This however has been used for purely chaotic actions like - Kaminari playing Smash mouth (original -_-) at  2am after a dare gone wrong... Bakugou definitely made enough noise to drown out the speaker, and the speaker was quickly confiscated by Aizawa the next morning. 

Jiro will practice her instruments, however she often still gets shy- so she always has an ear jack plugged into her bedroom door and if she hears footsteps close she immediately stops playing and gets flustered. She'll sit and wait for the traffic to stop before she continues. The class discovered this and now is extremely quiet so they don't throw her off, and so they can hear her amazing music through their thin dorm walls (they love their punk rock classmate so much!)  

Everyone, both boys and girls have a silent pact that they protect (mostly) the girls' rooms from Mineta. Todoroki and Deku have unfortunately on numerous occasions caught Mineta outside one of the girls' closed dorm rooms, eavesdropping on their sleepovers. Let's just say Mineta backed right off after that, quickly realizing that he wasn't going to get anywhere with the strongest and talented boys and girls in the school breathing down his neck for being a creep. :(

Deku has a huge whiteboard on wheels in his room that Todoroki stole from general studies for him so he can right and erase notes as he pleases, Sometimes Deku will roll it into the main living room and use it for study sessions, -

Iida bought him nice, coloured whiteboard markers after deku’s one single black marker got harder and harder to read as he kept squeezing in more: "important notes and information" onto the one board.

Also with the whiteboard. - While Midoriya out training, Tsuyu, Tokoyami, Uraraka and Todoroki will draw little scribbles and cute sketches over it in the spare spaces, Midoriya hasn't erased any of them yet, and when he has to, he always takes photos of them before he takes them off!

The Dekusquad and the Baku-squad constantly having super smash bros tournaments on a friday night, however with an overwhelming skill gap towards the bakusquad; Sero and Kaminari will often jump and play for team Deku instead. The best super smash bros players being Sero, Kirishima, Bakugou, Todoroki, Denki, Deku, and Tsuyu is very good at playing exclusively, kirby.

Mock cooking shows with Sato, where Sato often tries to get his classmates to bake something edible while avoiding disaster..... Kaminari is now banned from using the oven and stovetop...

(I believe i've seen this written somewhere else before, but I live for this one so i'm carrying it on) Sero and Mina always have their dorm room open through the day so anyone can come in to talk or vent, and of course mostly chill. However only a few certain people have hammock privileges in Seros room.

Iida and Momo have made a copy of all of their notes combined across all classes, they got Midoriya to help organise it into a binder - that sits on the kitchen counter so anyone can use it to study or review notes they might have missed. It was mocked for about one week for being the nerdiest thing ever- but now Kaminari and Sero fight over who gets to use it and it's now the dorm room's ‘bible’.

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

I love domestic and slice of life headcanons so this was a treat, I would write this stuff forever so feel free to request more!

Lowkey will write more on my own accord anyway

[inkovert]

Things I want to do in 2024

I've never been the type to make resolutions and I know we tend to put more weight on them than they actually are meant to have, hence why we never follow through with them. So! I am attempting to just make a list of things I am hoping to do in 2024. very low stakes. not going to think of these as goals, just things I want to do. and hope that I follow through with some of them.

Health-related

Planning my meals and keeping a food journal: I've been on a health journey for about the past year and I want to try to get back on track with that and be more consistent with it. I've been trying to be more consistent with preparing home cooked meals rather than relying on frozen meals/eating out, eating 3 meals a day etc, and that's been going well so far, but it could be better. I think one way to help myself be more consistent is planning my meals out (not like meal-prepping just literally being like this day I'm going to eat these things so I have a more structured "menu" vs throwing things together in my head the day of). I think I also want to start keeping a food journal. I peeped that iOS added a Journal app to the new software and I might try that out to see how useful it would be for food journaling, doing things like documenting my mood around the times I eat, what I eat etc.

Find a new dentist and start flossing: When I say I've been on a health journey over the last year I really mean in every possible way you can think of lol. Dental health was one of them. I've made a lot of improvements but I'm so prone to getting cavities that I think I could make a few more. I am one of the 60% of people who do not floss every day bc I found it hard/time-consuming/unnecessary. But I started doing it a couple weeks ago and... it wasn't so bad? I was pretty consistent with it until I went home for the holidays and that fell to crap bc I couldn't find the floss I had packed. anywho. I want to continue to be consistent with that and make that a habit, in addition to finding a new dentist bc the last one I saw was a bit too...assertive and I didn't like their staff so decided never to go back there again.

Personal/things that actually make me excited

Decorate my room: lol. Can you believe I've lived in my apt for two years and I've yet to decorate my room (even the bathroom has some stuff hung up on the walls). I literally have the decorations sitting in a pile by my bedroom door collecting dust. So yeah. I wanna actually do that. Tbf what stopped me before was that I wasn't confident I'd be able to stay in this apt for long. I thought for sure after a year they would jack up the price and I would be forced to move. But, we're now going on three years and things have been fine so I should actually properly decorate the place.

✨ Get a tattoo ✨ The sparkles are because this is probably the thing I'm most excited about on this list. I have wanted a tattoo for as long as I can remember. And I finally decided last year that I was going to say fuck it and get one. But unfortunately the finances weren't financing so it got delayed. But it's happening this year!! For sure!!! Hopefully in the next few months!! I need to stop delaying it and just do it!! So yeah. I've made my best friend keep me accountable each step of the way so I can stop procrastinating. So she gave me a deadline of Friday, 1/5 to at least have a list of tattoo artists I'm considering. We're doing this!!!

Actually leave my house and spend time in places I enjoy: Since my two closest friends moved away last year I haven't had a lot of incentive to go out and do things. So I've just been spending a lot of time at home by myself. And solitude is so nice. So comfortable. So blissful. But I need to end that. Or at least cut down on it a little. There are things I actively want to do in my city but every time the weekend comes I end up staying in my house doing nothing for 2 days straight. And it's been great. But I need to push myself to actually go out and do things by myself. Go to live music concerts, hang out at bookstores or coffee shops. Just something to have a change of pace and environment. I know I will be better for it. I'm gonna challenge myself to go out by myself at least once a month. If I do more? great. But we're starting small.

Writing-related

Track my writing: I'm not going to push myself to have word count goals or anything like that because I think that would be counter productive and take the fun out of writing for me. I actually wrote a lot last year (I just calculated it - 174, 817 words according to Scrivener; kinda insane can't remember the last time I wrote that much in a year) so I don't think I have issues with word quantity or writing enough and if it ain't broke don't fix it! But I do want to track my writing a little more closely. I just think it could be fun tracking the stats behind it and looking back at it at the end of the year. and also maybe help me continue this consistency with writing that I've suddenly developed?

Write something for fun: I can't tell you how much it hurts me that I don't have any fun/silly projects that I can work on on the side that I don't care about getting perfect. I think it will be nice and freeing and challenge my writing chops a bit to write something completely out of my comfort zone, totally absurd, and purely for my enjoyment. I've just been too crippled with fear to even try and idk why. I want to do it so badly but I struggle with coming up with ideas (and with working on more than one thing at once). We'll see it if it happens. this is just a list of things I want to do who knows if I'll actually do them.

Finish the second draft of MDE: just gonna throw this one in here out of obligation. refer to the last sentence of the previous bullet point. I wrote half of it in a year, maybe it's possible to write the other half in a year?

If you made it this far, thank you for reading. gonna come back to this in 6 months and see if anything I listed here actually panned out lol