#making my cake now and if it doesn’t turn out well then we’ll know we should just give up now

[theamazingannie]

I turn 24 tomorrow so here’s the list I’ve compiled of songs that mention being 23 that make me not hate the idea of being 24:

right where you left me by Taylor Swift “she’s still 23 inside her fantasy” along with “did you hear about the girl who lives in delusion?”

What’s My Age Again? by Blink-182 “nobody likes you when you’re 23”

Late to the Party by Emei “21 without a Grammy or degree// too bad that’s sad maybe at 23” (spoiler alert: not doing so well at 23 either; in fact, I’m doing worse)

23 by Chase Atlantic-this whole song is depressing

I’m convinced there are no happy songs about being 23, so if anyone has any songs about being 24 that are a little more hopeful, I’d love to hear them

[crazyunsexycool]

My little love

Chapter 36

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Enhanced!Reader

Word count: 3.0K

Warnings: Fluff city, wedding planning, pregnancy announcement, Lottie's growing up.

A/N: I am so excited about this chapter. It's just a bunch of fluff and fun. I also had the idea with Steve in mind for a while now. I'd love to know what you think about it!!

Series Masterlist

“A dance m’lady?” 

“Of couwse.” Lottie takes Henry’s hands and they start to twirl around. She’s giggling as they dance around.

The ballroom you were looking at for a potential venue was huge. A bit too big for the small wedding you wanted to have but it was beautiful. 

“Thoughts?” The wedding planner you’d hired, Olivia, asked. 

“It’s beautiful.” 

“But?”

“It’s maybe too big?” Bucky says as he looks around before looking at you.

“Yes, this looks like we could fit 3 or 400 people. Our wedding is going to be so much smaller. And we’d like to have the ceremony outside.” 

“The ceremony space is why I picked this one out. Let me show you what I had in mind.” Olivia waves for you to follow her through long hallways. It’s almost a maze to get from the ballroom to the other side of the venue. 

“What do you think?” Olivia says as she opens the door.

It’s a huge greenhouse and while the flowers and foliage are beautiful, it’s not what you wanted. 

“Mama.” Lottie tugs at your shirt. 

“Yes, sweet Angel?”

“Not this one. I no see it.” 

That reassured you that this in fact was not the place where you would marry Bucky. You hadn’t really liked it to begin with but it was spacious.

“I agree. Buck?” 

“We’d like something different.” 

“Ok.” Olivia says. “I have three more venues we can look at today. What do you say?” 

“Of course.”

****

You drive all around looking at some possible venues but none of them seem to fit what you want for the wedding. This is the last one and if it doesn’t work you’ll have to go into the city which you don’t want to do. Henry and Lottie are also getting a bit restless.

“We’ll look at one more place and then we can do something fun.” You say as you unbuckle Charlotte and help her out of the car. 

She gasps as you set her down. “Oh mama, is so pwetty.” She says as she takes in the mansion in front of you. 

“It is so pretty.”

“This place looks great.” Bucky stands beside you, his hand coming to rest on your lower back. “It’s really nice.” He smiles.

Suddenly you’re starting to feel really hopeful that this place could be it. Olivia steps out of her car and calls you to follow her. 

“You know, most couples don’t bring their kids to these kinds of things. Are you wanting to make them part of the whole process?” She asks as you head up the front steps. 

“Yes, we would love for them to be involved anyway they can be.” 

“I’m sure we can find some other things they can be a part of, maybe cake tasting?” Olivia turns to watch Henry and Lottie nod eagerly.  

The five of you walk around the large home as Olivia points out areas that she would use and how. 

“Now, I know you want an outdoor ceremony but in case of bad weather we could use this space. What do you think?” 

She says as she leads you to a large living room. It’s free of furniture so Olivia explains the seating arrangement, where the aisle would go. 

“It’s a nice space if we had to do the ceremony inside.” Bucky murmured as he looked around.

 The room, while simple in color, was a great canvas to decorate however you wanted. A huge chandelier was the main feature of the room. Bucky takes your hand and pulls you to the front of the room. 

“This is where we would be standing as we say our vows. What do you think?” He asks with a loving smile.

“I really really like it.” 

“Well this is only the backup space. I’d like to show you the outdoor option.” Olivia chimes in. “It’s being updated but it will be ready way before your wedding date. Follow me.” 

“Mama.” Lottie gasps, wide eyed as she stops in the hallway.

“What is it, sweet Angel?” 

“I see it mama, is this one.”  She says bouncing on the ball of her feet. 

You beam at her and then Bucky who’s also sporting an excited smile. He takes your hand and the four of you walk out to the most beautiful garden you’d ever seen.

Your breath hitches as you step out to the garden. While some maintenance was being done, the garden was in full bloom with a variety of white flowers. The hedges were trimmed to perfection. It looked heavenly.

“I absolutely love this space.” Olivia says excitedly. “They only keep white flowers so we can bring in flowers in the color scheme you gave me to fill in the area. We could have an arch at the end with flowers and fabric draped down. The chairs would obviously go here.” Olivia explains with a smile. “Some rooms are also included in the contract so you could get ready here.”

“That would be great.” You turn to Bucky. “It would be less hassle getting the kids ready here too.” 

“So far this seems like the best option.” 

“Good because I want to show you where you’ll have the reception.” 

“Daddy, what's a reception?” Henry asks as you follow Olivia. 

“It’s like a dinner and a party to celebrate that your mama and I got married.” 

“Oh, can I go to the reception with baby?” 

“Of course bubs. You’re going to have a really important job at the wedding.” 

“Really?” Henry looks up, eyes wide with excitement. 

“Yup. You’re going to be the ring bearer. That means you will hold the ring mama puts on my finger and the one I put on hers.” 

“What about baby? Is she a ring bearer too?” 

“I take wings?” Lottie asks.

“No sweet Angel, you’re going to be the flower girl.”

“Sounds so pwetty. Can be flowe-uh girl.” 

Olivia shows you the huge ballroom. Like the rest of the venue, it’s perfect. 

“Now we have to test it out. Are you ready?” Bucky asks as he walks you back to the French doors that lead to the garden. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Just picture it. I’m in my tux, the room is decorated beautifully. You’re standing there as beautiful as ever, especially in your dress. Ladies and gentleman,” Bucky announces. “I’d like to present for the first time Mr. and Mrs. Barnes.” 

Olivia has the kids clapping and cheering so that you can get the full effect. Then Bucky leads you back toward the center of the room and pulls you into his chest. Butterflies took flight in your belly listening to Bucky calling you Mrs. Barnes.

“Now this would be our first dance.” He murmurs before he starts humming a slow tune. 

You’re looking at each other lovingly as you sway from side to side. Two sets of arms wrap around you and Bucky. When you look down Lottie and Henry are swaying with you. It couldn’t be more perfect. 

You both agree that this is the place you want. Olivia smiles again and heads out to make a few calls to get a contract for you to sign. 

“I can’t wait to marry you.” You look up at Bucky. 

“Neither can I.” 

In between planning the wedding there was regular family life and work. The shifts at the medbay and Bucky going on missions weren’t slowing down just yet. Lottie's birthday was coming up. This time she requested a tea party which you and Bucky happily agreed too. 

The truth was Charlotte was growing up so fast. Just a year before she was learning how to walk and talk. Now she’s more popular throughout the compound than even the Avengers. And just as a growing child does she changes all the time. From mannerisms to vocabulary, some of the latter really showing how much she’s grown. 

“I’m weady.” Lottie calls out from the top of the stairs. She’d chosen a pretty pink dress for her tea party. “Wook at my dwess daddy.” 

You and Bucky had been talking about the wedding when Lottie had called out and both your heads snapped in her direction. 

“What did you say, doll?” Bucky was in disbelief. 

“I said am weady.” 

“After that.” 

“Oh I says wook at my dwess daddy.” She says as she stops in front of the two of you and does a little twirl. 

When you look at Bucky you see tears in his eyes. 

“You can’t call me that.” He whispers.

“But you is my daddy.” 

“I’m your dada. You always call me dada.” Bucky says. 

“But am a big girl an big girls says daddy. An bubba says daddy too.” She defends herself. 

“I know doll.” Bucky picks her up and presses a few kisses to her temple and cheek. “But you’re my baby, you can’t be a big girl.”

“Daddy, I wanna be a big girl.” 

You chuckle as Lottie wrapped her arms loosely around Bucky’s neck. She gives him a beaming smile and Bucky’s too weak to say no. 

“Alright, I guess you can be a big girl and call me daddy.” He relents. “You look beautiful in your dress, doll.” 

“Tank you daddy.” 

Bucky puts Lottie down so that she can find Henry and show him the dress she has on. You hug Bucky as soon as you can. 

“I hate that so much. She’s growing up way too fast.” He says with a pout. 

“Next thing you know, she’s gonna come home from school talking about a boyfriend.” 

“That’s not funny.” 

You laugh at his scowl. “Let’s go celebrate our not so little girl’s birthday.” 

“This turned out great.” Molly compliments as she sits next to you on the couch. 

“Thanks. Charlotte is very into tea parties now. It just made sense to make her birthday this.” 

“Well you’re turning into a whole party planner, between this and the wedding. How is that going?” 

“It’s going well. We found the venue not long ago. Oh, now that we’re talking about it. How would you feel about being a bridesmaid?” 

“I would love to.” Molly gives you a half smile, half grimace. 

“But?” 

“We haven’t told anyone yet but it’s only fair you know. I’m pregnant.” She says in a whisper. 

“Molly, oh my god.” You exclaim. 

“Sshhh. You can’t tell anyone.” 

“I can’t believe this. I’m so excited. But why can’t you be a bridesmaid?” 

“My doctor wants me to be as stress free as possible.” She frowns a bit. “I would have loved to be up there with you.” 

“And weddings can be very stressful. Don’t worry about it. As long as you’re there and taking care of yourself.” You lean in and give her a quick hug. “Is there anything you need?” 

“No, I'm good right now.”

“Ok, I’m going to check in on the kids.” You smile.

“You’re going to tell Luke that you know?” 

“Maybe.” You giggle. 

“Go, it was his idea for us to tell you first.” 

You’re beaming as you get up and check in on how the others are doing. Eddie is playing a card game with Sam and Henry. Sophie and Josh are hanging out with Nat and Clint. You walked by and saw Charlotte with Olivia and Steve, talking to Duckie. 

“She started calling me daddy today instead of dada and I don’t think I’ll ever get over that.” You hear Bucky say. 

“Wait until she starts calling you by your first name. That was a fun stage with Liv.” 

“No way. I couldn’t handle that.” 

Luke chuckles. “Just imagine, ‘Luke, can I have a popsicle?’ Or ‘Luke read me a bedtime story.’” 

Bucky chuckles and shakes his head.

“Hey you two.” You walk up beside Bucky, letting him pull you into his side. “So…” 

“So?” Luke is looking at you amusedly.

You couldn’t help the excited smile on your face. Luke chuckles. 

“She told you.” 

“Who told what?” Bucky looks between both of you. 

“Molly’s pregnant.” 

“I’m so excited for you guys. Congratulations.” You pull your big brother in for a hug. 

“Thank you. We’re really excited too. Liv is over the moon knowing she’s going to be a big sister.” 

“Congrats man.” Bucky shakes Luke’s hand. 

“Hopefully you’ll be giving us the same news soon.” 

“Maybe after the wedding.” You say. 

**** 

The party continues for a while. You and Bucky both go around and make sure everyone is doing ok and have whatever they need before cutting the cake. 

Everyone gathers around the beautiful birthday cake Henry made for his sister. The room erupts in a loud rendition of happy birthday before Lottie blows out her candles. There’s clapping and cheering and Charlotte giggling at the attention. 

“Have another bite.” Bucky holds up the spoon for Charlotte. 

“Mmm, so yummy.” She murmurs before she walks away to where Olivia is playing. She goes back and forth until the cake is all gone. 

After gifts and some more games the party dies down. It happens just in time since Charlotte was losing her fight to sleep. You take her from Duckie, who Charlotte was sitting with, and start heading back to the house. Olivia comes with you since you had promised the girls a sleepover. 

Bucky had just slipped under the sheets of your shared bed and gotten comfortable. He was flipping through the pages of the book he was currently reading while you were thinking over the bridal party. 

“Did you ask any of the guys to be your groomsmen yet?” You turned to look at him.

“Not yet. I was going to do it tomorrow, why?” 

“Well Molly isn’t going to be a bridesmaid so now I have three bridesmaids to your four groomsmen.” You sigh. “I don’t know what to do.”

“What if I just ask three of the guys instead of the four I had planned?” 

“Maybe.” 

Bucky shakes his head. “We aren’t having this conversation again.” 

“Please let me have Steve on my side.” 

“He’s my best friend.” Bucky replied. “I’ve known him the longest. He’s literally my best man.” 

“But I’m his favorite best friend. It only makes sense if you think about it.” 

Bucky laughs. “It’s not happening. The only way it will work is if we cut him down the middle and share.” 

You huff a laugh before you get an idea. Bucky can see it with the way your eyes light up. 

“What are you thinking?” 

You had invited Steve over for coffee. The day was beautiful so you were out in the backyard watching the kids play. You and Bucky were working on the seating chart when Steve showed up. 

“So how’s the wedding planning going?” He asked as he took a seat. 

“It’s good. We have a lot figured out already.”

“Especially the wedding party.” You say with a smile. “But we need your opinion.” 

“Sure, whatever I can help with.” 

“I decided to pick Nat as my maid of honor with Wanda and Sophia as my two other bridesmaids. It was hard though, I wanted to pick both Nat and Wanda as maids of honor.” 

“I knew it.” Steve chuckles. “I knew you’d have a hard time choosing between them.” 

“Well I picked Clint and Josh as groomsmen but the best man was between you and Sam.” 

“Oh.” Steve’s smile falters a little.

You feel kind of bad for doing this to Steve but in the end it will be better. 

“After talking about it with Y/N I’m going to ask Sam to be my best man.”

“Yeah we kept arguing over who’s side you would stand on.” You start to explain.

“No, I get it.” Steve looks a bit dejected. 

“So we thought that you could stand between us instead.” 

“What?” Steve’s face scrunched up in confusion.

“You’re one of the big reasons we’re together.” You start to explain. 

“Since the moment you realized I was still alive you did everything possible to save me. And because of that I met the love of my life.” Bucky looks at you with a loving gaze.

“You’re our best friend and biggest supporter. We wouldn’t be here without you.” You add. “So we thought that instead of you being the best man, you could officiate the wedding instead. What do you think?” 

“You want me to marry you?”

“Yes. I think you’re the perfect choice. You know both of us so well and you’ve always been there to support us. We want you to have a special role on our wedding day.” Bucky says with a smile. 

“How would I even do that?” Steve asks. 

“I already looked it up and you can become an officiant online. So what do you say? Please say yes. It would mean so much to us.” 

“I would love to.” 

You jump out of your seat in order to hug Steve. There’s a delighted giggle that bubbles up as the two of you embrace. 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. The wedding is going to be so perfect.” 

“I’m just happy to be part of it and help you guys celebrate. After everything you’ve been through, this past year alone.” 

“I don’t think we could get married without you, punk.” Bucky is the next to hug Steve. “Seriously, this means a lot to us. Once Y/N said it, it made so much sense. Having you just as my best man wasn’t enough. You’re an important part of both our lives and having you officiate the wedding feels right.”

“Ok you’ve got to stop.” Steve blushes. 

“Just accept the compliments, Rogers. Now c’mon I’m gonna help you register and then we can go over a few things for the ceremony.” 

You sat back down at the table with Steve by your side. The three of you went over ideas and how the ceremony should go. The more you got done for the wedding the more excited you got. There were still a few things left to do of course but you were so happy at that moment. When you looked over at Bucky you could tell he shared your feelings. 

You were getting ready to marry your best friend and the love of your life. Nothing could be better than that. 

Ch. 37

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[clarkeylesbian]

The Frog-Off

[Sypnosis : you and arthur attempt at the clay tiktok trend]

The camera turns on, and Arthur is grinning at it with his usual mix of smugness and charm. “Right, so!” he starts, his excitement barely contained. “Today, I’ve got a very special guest—my girlfriend, Y/N!” He gestures to the side of the frame.

The camera swivels to reveal you waving shyly. You’re already covered in a layer of clay because, true to Arthur’s style, you didn’t prepare at all before starting the intro.

“We’re diving into the clay modelling challenge that’s been blowing up on TikTok,” Arthur explains, picking up two lumps of green clay. “We’ll recreate a model we find online, and then you all get to vote on who did it better. But let me tell you, it’s going to be me.”

You fold your arms and raise an eyebrow. “You’ve never even touched clay before, Arthur.”

“It’s all about confidence, babe.”

Arthur pulls out his phone and shows it to the camera. The model you’ve chosen is a cute frog sitting on a lilypad. Simple enough, right?

Wrong.

“Alright,” Arthur says, squinting at the clay like he’s about to solve a complex maths problem. “Frog on a lilypad. This should be a piece of cake.”

You are already deep into your clay, focusing intently. “You say that now, but I’m already feeling like I’m failing this frog.”

The camera zooms in on your work, which resembles more of a squashed loaf of bread than a frog. Meanwhile, Arthur is still staring at his clay as if it’s the love of his life.

“You know,” Arthur muses, poking at the clay, “frogs are naturally lumpy. So, this is just me capturing their true texture.”

The camera pulls back to reveal Arthur’s creation: a round blob with legs sticking out at odd angles.

“I don’t know what that is,” you laugh, “but it’s definitely not a frog. It looks like a rejected Pokémon, bless.”

“It’s abstract,” Arthur defends. “You’ve got to feel the frog, not just mould it. This is art.”

“You seem more in love with your attempt at a frog than me,” you joke as Arthur kisses you on the head.

“I could never.”

You try not to laugh as you add eyes to your frog, which only makes it look high. Arthur plops two giant clay lumps onto his frog’s face, but they immediately fall off.

“Well, that’s just offensive,” he grumbles, trying to squish them back on.

There’s a brief pause before you point at the mess with a grin. “R.I.P. to your frog.”

Arthur shrugs. “We still have the lilypad. This is where I can shine. I can make circles.”

He grabs another lump of clay, slams it down on the table, and flattens it with his palm. “Behold, the lilypad.”

The camera pans to reveal something that looks more like a deflated pizza dough than a lilypad. You’re carefully shaping yours into a leaf-like form, too focused to notice Arthur’s attempt.

Arthur dramatically announces, “Oh, babe, get ready to be amazed.”

He proudly sets his “lilypad” on the table and places his pancake-like frog on top. It stays put, though it doesn’t exactly look stable.

You glance over and start laughing, trying to keep your own frog intact. “Is that… supposed to look like that?”

Arthur looks at his creation proudly.

As he adjusts his frog, one of its legs suddenly breaks off. Arthur throws his hands up in mock defeat. “Well, it seems like my frog’s had a bit of an accident.”

[] []

With your frogs and lilypads (if you can even call them that) side by side, you both step back to judge the results.

“Alright,” Arthur says, rubbing his hands together like a game show host. “It’s time to compare. Let’s see who's frog reigns supreme.”

You both lean in to examine the creations. Arthur’s frog looks like it’s had a rough day: half-melted, one eye missing and legs that are on the verge of breaking again.

Your frog isn’t perfect, but at least it’s recognizably a frog. It’s lumpy with one leg too big, and the lilypad looks like it was made from Play-Doh, but there’s a certain charm in its beady eyes.

“Okay, I’ll admit it,” Arthur says, trying to hold back laughter. “Your frog is.. fine. It’s decent. But mine has character. It’s got a story. It’s been through some things.”

You cross your arms, raising an eyebrow. “Your frog looks like it’s seen the apocalypse.”

Arthur places a dramatic hand on his heart. “Exactly. It’s got emotional depth. My frog feels things.”

You both crack up as Arthur picks up his frog, and the legs fall off once more.

“Well,” Arthur shrugs, holding up the dismembered frog, “I think we all know who the real winner is here.” He turns to the camera. “But you guys, comment below! Who do you think made the better frog?”

You shake your head, still grinning. “Clearly me”

The camera zooms in dramatically on Arthur’s clay disaster as he whispers, “Art.”

“If you enjoyed this chaos,” Arthur says, trying to sound professional despite the mess, “don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell. And if you want more couple challenge videos—”

You jump in, “Please don’t make us do more clay.”

Arthur chuckles. “Yeah, we’re officially banned from clay. But seriously, let us know what you want to see next.”

“Vote for mi-” you attempt to say before the video cuts off.

[note: I've never made a fic before, so sorry it's not the best!]

[justasecretflower]

🤍- ouran host club with a Pregnant! S/o

Characters are all older.

Ouran! High school host club

~fluff.

Honey Senpai🍰

- He’s so sweet with you!

- you guys eat cake with each other 24/7

- offers to carry you everywhere if your feet hurt, he’s insanely strong and can lift you up easily.

- gets you all of your cravings.

- lets you hold his bunny when you have mood swings💕

- gets the baby their own bunny before they’re born with the name you picked embroidered on the ear.

- when you cry, he cries.

- you’re crying because you can’t have a craving? So is he, you’re crying because you just saw a video of a baby seal? So is he, you’re crying because you love the baby you haven’t even met yet? So is he, also he’s holding onto the ultrasound with a death grip

- speaks to your belly alllll the time like atp if people are around him they’d think an actual, real adult was speaking to him he’s so engaged in the little conversations with your belly.

“Hmm should we have strawberry or coconut cake first baby…let’s choose both!”

“You know I’ve been so excited to meet you, me and your momma. Look! Here’s a picture of you!” As he shows your belly and ultrasound

“Good morning baby, how are we feeling today?”

“Goodnight baby! Dont give your mommy a hard time this night alright?” He would whisper, kissing your belly goodnight with a bright smile.

- if someone makes you cry or feel insecure about having a big belly he just gives them a look and they run away.

-cries when he sees the tiny baby clothes.

Tamaki Suoh 🌹

- he’s so dramatic 🙄ughhh

- “are your feet tired my love?! You’ve walked 20 minutes already today! Your feet must hurt my baby must be kicking in there ready to rest!”

“Someone get my darling a foot massage and a back massage spa day booked right now please! She must be hurting all over!”

- he’s making sure you don’t move an inch.

- knows more about what you should and should not do pregnant more than you do?

- gets all of your cravings x10. Like, you want some corn? Suddenly, there’s fried corn, corn on the cob, corn off the cob, creamed corn, popcorn, corn and beans, corn on some mashed potatoes. Everywhere, and you best bet they’re the best corn that they could possibly get.

- he finds your bump so cute, you have new maternity pictures every month with a new theme he puts on the wall blown up in size.

- girl dad. Just saying…

- sometimes he just randomly stops his whole charming prince act, gets on his knees and hugs your bump, sighing in contentment.

- spoils the baby rotten before they’re even here.

Kyoya Ootori

-now..you’re not gonna like this but he’s a little disconnected to the child until he meets them irl.

- like, he just finds the kid a tiny bump on his wife’s belly.

-sometimes, you’ll catch him staring at the ultrasound, tracing the outline of the baby carefully.

- he hates getting woken up, but if you’re sick in the middle of the night he’s immediately at your side rubbing your back and asking for some staff to help.

- researches about all of your symptoms, cravings, mood swings, what happens to the body during pregnancy and during the after math in postpartum.

- already has a therapist and a calm down room for you if you get ppd or ppr so that you can simply feel at peace.

-he cares more about you ngl.

“My dear no- you can’t deli meat like that it’s highly risky for salmonella. Put it back now.”

Kaoru Hitachiin

- cries so hard when you found out. Just fell to his knees and started crying.

- he’s more open about his feelings, much softer than his brother, so he’ll talk to the bump and tell you everything he’s feeling, asking in turn how you’re feeling as well and if you need anything.

- very very understanding of your pain.

“I know, I know, you’ll be okay, I understand that it hurts right now though”

“Hey we’ll get through this, what do you need right now?”

When you throw up or are having severe back and feet pains.

- doesn’t let anybody comment or joke about your belly if it makes you insecure. He kisses it and tells you how much he loves you and your belly.

Hikaru Hitachiin

- you’ve never seen him so serious in your entire life.

-it’s like he’s a different person?,.

- he’s extra careful, makes sure you’re protected and feel safe.

-he jokes with you when you feel like you’re in pain or when you’re throwing up to make you feel better.

- finds you absolutely radient when pregnant lemme say..

“It’s so small!” When holding up baby clothes.

- puts his headphones on your belly to have your baby listen to music.

- when you try to do anything that you used to do like play fight or pillow fights he’ll barely even use strength.

“Come on Hikaru you seriously can’t even aim for me anymore?”

“I was! It just went the other way!”

“Hikaru it’s in the bathroom toilet.”

- keeps the ultrasound in his wallet.

Takashi Morinozuka

- 100% your #1 protector

- you’re not lifting a finger near anything that’s easily breakable or that can hurt you.

- one of the times you saw him break the non chalent act is when you first saw the ultrasound. He took a breath in and his eyes lightly lit up

- you’re never on the ground. Like, he’s always carrying you everywhere..

“Mori i can walk you know.”

Mori- “😒…”

- loves to feel the baby kick! He will literally sprint over to you if you say that the baby is kicking

“Mori do you think I’m fat?”

“No.”

“You😭definitely 😭 do😭”

“😟…”

Cuddles, cuddles, cuddles, he cannot get OFF OF YOU!!

- spooning you, he’s big spoon ofc, hugging you from behind, having your legs wrapped around his waist, carrying you bridal style.

Ritsu Kasanoda

-sobbed when he found out you were pregnant

-he’s such a softie like

- he crotchets the baby plushies

- gets the baby blankets, pillows, stuff for their wall, so much stuff, so many toys…

- when he smiles the biggest is when he’s leaning his head on your belly and stroking it gently, talking to the little one inside.

- constantly worried about what’s good or bad for you.

- “hi honey, how’re you feeling today?”

“My precious baby inside of this belly.”

“I’d burn the world for you and I haven’t even met you yet precious baby.”

-his staff is terrified, if they make even the slightest comment about your belly negatively.

-if someone does certainly they’re a rookie because nobody from his syndicate would say that.

- sobs when he goes to ultrasounds with you.

- reads parenting books. Tries to. He can’t focus for that long but when he can he’s reading parenting books.

need requests so bad

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[themaladaptivewriter12]

"Happy Birthday, Leona!"

Title: "Happy Birthday, Leona!"

Parings: Leona Kingscholar x Twisted Wonderland Male OC (Mirai Yuhara)

Summary:

With Leona's Birthday being tomorrow, Mirai, Grim, and the guys at Savanaclaw try to throw Leona the best surprise Birthday Party, but suddenly things go haywire with only three hours to spare. Will they make it in time, or utterly fail?

cw: A bit of crude humor, but nothing extreme. Kissing, surprise parties, flowers and their meanings, fluff and humor

a/n: It's been a while, gosh I miss writing for these two. This was so much fun to do, and it wasn't even supposed to be this long. The creative juices started flowing, and the next thing I knew, parts that I was supposed to keep short and sweet were flushed out, and the next thing i knew, this thing was twenty pages long and 7k words.

a/n: Idk why, but for some reason, the tune that came to mind while writing the rap was the tune to the Pixies rap from the Fairly Odd Parents lololol. ｡ﾟ(TヮT)

Happy Birthday, Leona! Thanks for coming home twice this month with both your SSRs! (*˘︶˘*).｡.:*♡ I'll also make a banner for this later.

Reblogs are appreciated, just use my custom tag, #TheMaladaptiveWriter12, if you do!  (─‿‿─)♡

Cross posted from my Ao3: TheMaladaptiveWriter12

Leona’s Birthday was in a couple more hours, and let’s just say, this was the calmest surprise Birthday party planning Mirai has ever done. Well, that’s what he thought. Now they were on a time crunch and he honestly didn’t know if they would make midnight on time. 

Everything was going great, smooth even, but then things went downhill after the first batch of cupcakes were left in the oven to burn.

“Guys?” Jaxton, a Jackal Beastman, asked wearily, “What’s that smell?”

 “I don’t know,” Garfield, a Cat Beastman, said. 

Mirai sniffed the air, stopping his task of tying ribbons into bows, trying to decipher what the scent was, when suddenly it hit him. “The cupcakes!”

Mirai, Ruggie, and a group of other Beastmen rushed to the kitchen to see the oven billowing with smoke. 

“Ta-Take them out,” Jack yelled.

Mirai ripped open the oven and reached in to grab the pan before a series of shouts stopped him.

“Wh-What? What?!” Mirai shouted, turning to look at the group.

“You were just gonna grab those with your hand?!” Jack yelled.

“Of course not,” Mirai yelled.

“You literally just stuck your hand in the oven,” Ruggie shouted.

“I was using my prosthetic!”

The room went silent, the look on their faces was as if they found the dumbest species on Twisted Wonderland.

“Ya’know,” Ruggie started, “I thought you were gonna say something that implied I missed the oven mitt on your hand or somethin’, but this just confirms your stupidity and my point.”

“Hey,” Mirai shouted.

“Guys,” Garfield yelled, “They’re still in the oven!”

“Shoot!” Mirai snatched the pan and whirled around, trying to figure out what to do with it. “Wh-What do I do with it?! What do I do with it?!”

“Put it in the sink,” multiple guys yelled, “In the sink!��

“The window! Throw it out the window,” others panicked.

Mirai panicked and just threw the pan across the room, and just his luck, it clattered out the window, burnt cupcakes tumbling out onto the floor, into the sink, and the rest with the pan onto the ground below.

“Why'dja throw it out the window?!” Jack shouted.

“I don’t know! I panicked,” Mirai cried.

“Y'all wanna wake the boss with all this yellin’?!” Sergi, a Serval Beastman, scolded, popping his head into the kitchen. “Keep it down!”

The group in the kitchen quieted, a shared look of embarrassment coloring their faces. It was true, if the burnt smell of cake didn’t wake Leona, their yelling sure would.

“I-It doesn’t matter,” Garfield said, after a beat of silence, “It smelled anyways! We’ll get it later. What we need is another batch of cupcakes!”

“I got it,” Mirai said, already grabbing the utensils. “There was some batter left over. We can use that, then make some more.”

“I’ll help,” Jaxton offered, grabbing the ingredients.

“Ruggie,” someone called, “We need some help over here!”

“Coming,” Ruggie answered, leaving the kitchen with a small wave.

Jack and a couple of others followed behind him, and as for the rest, they stuck around to help with the baking.

“We need to get this burnt sugar smell outta the dorm,” Azizi, a Kudu Beastman, said. “If we could smell it out there, there’s no doubt Leona can in his room.”

“Well, what do we do?” Jaxton asked, “If we spray some air freshener, all it's gonna do is mix. And Boss hates that stuff.”

“Baking soda, lemon, or coffee grounds,” Alfonz, a Leopard Beastman supplied. “I looked it up. We got any of that?”

“Baking soda! Here,” Azizi said, shoving the tin into Alfonz’ hands. “And Lemons!”

The Leopard grabbed a small bowl and dished out a couple of spoonfuls of baking soda and to top it off, shave a sprinkle or two of lemon zest on the top.

“Ima go set this outside his door and hope for the best,” Alfonz said, picking up the bowl. “You guys can set some out here and in the lounge. Be right back.”

Alfonz left the kitchen and Azizi went to litter the place with baking soda. Mirai on the other hand looked at the clock and gasped when it read nine thirty-seven. 

“We’re not gonna make it,” Mirai whined, furiously mixing a bowl of cake batter.

“If ya keep on talking like that, then we definitely won’t,” Rover, a Dog Beastman, gruffed as he rushed by the kitchen with some party supplies in his hands.

“Anyone else need to add a gift?!” Ruggie asked, stacking the gifts carefully on the gift table. “Because once I finish this, your gift goes on the floor.”

“Me! Me,” Mirai shouted, rushing to put the tray of cupcakes in the oven before rushing out the kitchen. 

In the Lounge things were a mess. Streamers and confetti was all over the place, balloons and ribbons hung precariously from the banisters, and there still was no cake. Grim, on the other hand, was no help at all, snoozing away on one of the vacant chairs, a pillow over his head.

“Here,” Mirai said, handing his little box over.

Ruggie smiled and placed Mirai’s gift securely on top of his gift tower. “Perfect.”

Mirai smiled looking around the room, yeah it was a complete mess, but who this mess was for made everything worth it.

“Has anyone seen the ‘Ps’ for the Happy Birthday sign?!” Luan, a Lion Beastman, yelled.

“Did you check the closet?” James, a Wolf Beastman, asked.

“I wouldn’t be asking if I did!”

“Where’s Chi-Chi?” Ikemba, a Boar Beastman, asked. “I need him to crawl behind the shelf to plug this in.”

“You calling me small?!” Chiumbo, a Meerkat Beastman, yelled.

“Well, I certainly can’t fit behind there.”

“Give it to me,” the Meerkat pouted, crawling behind the thing.

“Anything else you all need us to carry,” Jack asked, entering the lounge area, a group of stronger Beastmen following close behind.

“Not that I know of,” Raphael, a Mountain Lion Beastman, said from his spot on the floor.

 The fact that Leona had so many people who care for him, to plan a surprise Birthday party in the middle of the night, made the Prefect’s heart swell with joy. Thinking back on the day, Mirai couldn’t help but laugh to himself, wondering how they even pulled any of this off.

Ruggie started the day off cleaning His Royal Highness’ room. He wanted to make sure Leona felt as comfortable as possible for his big day tomorrow, and that also ensured that he could sleep undisturbed for as long as he wanted, without having to come in and clean. Also, for what was to come later, they didn’t need to be stepping on discarded homework, sweaty gym clothes, expensive jewelry that should not have been left on the floor, or Leona’s worn unmentionables. Ruggie wouldn’t do that to Leona, so to save the Lion’s pride, he picked them up and tossed them into the laundry basket at his hip.

“Whaddya doin’?” Leona groggily muttered, not bothering to open his eyes and or face Ruggie properly.

Thankfully, Ruggie was a great liar. “Heard a couple o’ guys talkin’ ‘bout how they wanna wash clothes today. I don’t wanna be stuck with having to fight over a washing machine all day, so I might as well do it now an’ get it outta the way.”

Leona just huffed a sigh, rolling over to face away from the rising sun, “Jus’ close the door on ya way out.”

“Will do, Boss,” Ruggie smiled. 

The Hyena continued to clean as quietly as possible and it wasn’t until he was just about done that he noticed Leona had fallen back asleep. Once his task was done, Ruggie slipped out the door, closing it slowly.

“Alright! task one: done,” Ruggie whispered as he made his way to inform the others.

Later that day, Mirai, Ruggie, Jack, and a group of Savanaclaw students made their way over to Sam’s shop to get some supplies for the party. Jack’s group was in charge of party favors, and Ruggie’s group was in charge of food, and as for the rest, they were here to pick Birthday gifts for their Dorm Head. Mirai had already secured his gift, the present arriving in town two days prior. All he had to do was pick it up and have it wrapped. That was a little event all in itself, but at least he wasn’t like the others, rushing to find a suitable gift with only one day to spare.

“What do you need from me?” Mirai asked.

“Actually,” Ruggie started, “I forgot to tell you the Birthday tradition for Leona this year.”

“Tradition?”  

“Does it involve food?” Grim asked.

“No,” Ruggie huffed. “Ya see, this year, each third year student gets honored with their own Bloom Bouquet, or Broomquet as we like to call it.”

“Oh, yeah! I remember now,” Mirai said, thinking back on Cater’s and a couple of his other third year friends on their own Birthdays

“Yeah, but the thing is, the dorm has to make it in honor of that student, we want you to make it.”

Mirai looked taken aback, “Why me?!”

“Well not “make it” make it, like we want you to assemble it.”

“Why not someone else? Like you or Jack?”

“There was nothin’ in it for me,” Ruggie supplied. “And we asked Jack if he wanted to do it, but he claimed his hands weren’t too good with small meticulous stuff like tying ribbons an’ stuff. So you’re the next best thing.”

Mirai bit his lip, deep in thought. “I can just get him one myself, it doesn’t have to be this particular bouquet.” 

“I know, but wouldn’t it be nice if Leona got a Broomquet made from his boyfriend this year?”

“Gross,” Grim huffed.

The fight in Mirai dissolved. Flushing, Mirai sighed, “Alright, alright. I’ll do it.”

Ruggie smiled, “Good. Now go find your flower to add to the Broomquet.”

Mirai made his way to the Botanical Gardens and over to the flowers, wondering which one to pick. Ruggie sent him a picture of a list of flowers that were already being added to the Broomquet for reference. 

“So yellow is the theme here,” Mirai muttered, looking at the picture of other third years from their dorm and their Broomquets.

“Why can’t we just pick a dandelion and be done with it?” Grim huffed.

“Because it's for his Birthday, it has to be special. You wouldn’t want some ordinary tuna for your Birthday, would you?”

“I guess not,” Grim grumbled.

“Thought so.”

Mirai wandered the gardens, looking at each yellow flower, trying to make sure none of his potential picks were repeated. As he followed the path, lost in his head, the Prefect stepped on something as he turned the corner to the next row of flowers.

“Why am I getting a sense of deja vu here?”

Mirai gasped, jumping a couple steps away only to find the man on his mind, lying between two low hanging willow trees. A single bright green eye landed on the Prefect, making the blonde’s skin prickle with goosebumps. “What was he doing here?” Mirai thought, “Wasn’t he supposed to be in gym class?”

“S-Sorry, Leona,” Mirai muttered, flushing from embarrassment. 

“Are you really? Cus it feels like ya did this before,” Leona smirked.

“A-And all those times were accidents, I-I swear!”

Leona chuckled, “Calm down, I was only messin’ with ya. Whaddya doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” Mirai shot back. “You’re supposed to be in gym class.”

“I went to gym class,” Leona smirked. “Vargas said I could make up for the days I skipped by running twenty laps around the field. I did, and then I left.”

“Leona!”

“What? Vargas never said I had to stay after I made up those classes. It’s his fault for not being more specific.”

Mirai sighed, exasperated.

“Well,” Grim said thoughtfully, “He’s not wrong.”

“No, he is wrong,” Mirai scolded, “And don’t be gettin’ any ideas Grim. We’re going to gym later today.”

“Awww.”

“You never answered my question, Herbivore,” Leona muttered.

“Huh?” Mirai gasped, eyes snapping back to the Lion.

“My question. Whaddya doin’ here?”

Mirai froze, he had forgotten Leona asked him that. Mirai’s thoughts were reeling as he tried to wrack his mind with what kind of story to come with. “I-I-I, uh, I wanted, I want some flowers to, to, uh, to…brighten up my room!”

“To brighten your room?” Leona questioned with a raised eyebrow, not buying a word the Prefect said.

“Y-Yeah, I-” Mirai’s eyes darted around the gardens until his eyes landed on a bright yellow Lily. That’s it! “I-I-I was feeling a little down an-and I asked Professor Crewel if I, if I could have some Lilies ‘cus, because they remind me of my mother.”

“But I thought we were getting flowers for that bouq-” Grim started before Mirai cut him off loudly.

“Yes, a bouquet for my mother! I know she’s not here, but it’s the thought that counts. It’s like she’s here with me, ya’know?”

Leona’s eyes immediately softened, his ears flattening against his head. Gosh, Mirai hated that look on the man’s face. He hated lying, and he hated the fact that he just lied about how he was feeling, but that was the only excuse he could come up with on the spot. But the Lily part was true though, Mirai loved Lilies, they always made him happy, and they always reminded him of his mother. Also, now he knew just what flower to add to Leona’s Broomquet.

Leona sighed, “Hey, I-”

Mirai shook his head hurriedly, hoping Leona would let him off the hook. “I’m fine, really. It’ll pass like it usually does. Lilies always remind me of her, and they always make me happy.”

Leona sighed and after a moment of silence, Leona spoke once more, “Stay?”

“Next time?” Mirai asked, clipping a couple of yellow lilies and placing them in a plastic bag. “I wanna get these in some cool water.”

“There better be,” Leona huffed, lying back down, and this time, tucking his tail in beneath himself. “Be careful on your way out.”

“Oh? Why should I? Is a big bad lion gonna get me?”

“He might. And if ya don’t wanna be stuck here for the rest of the day, I’d advise you to start walkin’.”

“Whaddya gonna do abou-”

Leona lunged forward, a playful growl on his smirking lips and Mirai squealed, grabbing Grim as he ran out the Botanical Gardens.

Back in his room, Mirai sat on the floor, trying to figure out where to put everyone’s flowers. He was artistic, but he wasn’t some prodigy. He wanted the Broomquet to look very aesthetically pleasing, but also, he wanted it to be fair. Like, he really wanted to put the lilies dead center, but he didn’t want it to look like he was putting himself over the rest of Leona’s dorm. And as much as symmetry would look pleasing to the eye, that’s just not how flower arranging was done. 

“What do you think Grim? Should the lilies go here, next to the orchids, or here, next to the rosebuds?”

“I don’t even know what those are! How am I ‘pposed to know where to put a bunch o’ weeds?”

Mirai sighed, flopping backwards onto the floor. He never was gonna get this done on time. He wanted this to be special for Leona. Mirai knew Leona had conflicting views surrounding his birthday, that he often didn’t see the want or need to celebrate his own birth, and Mirai could somewhat understand that. 

From Mirai’s own experience, he could understand not liking one’s own Birthday, for he didn’t like celebrating his own Birthday either. For Mirai, it reminded him of that life changing accident, it reminded him that his mother was no longer here to celebrate with him. Some days it felt as if he were the cause of it, and others felt as if he celebrated his own Birthday, he was celebrating his own mother’s passing. But since being here, Mirai’s thoughts have changed, not entirely, but slowly, and that’s what Mirai wanted for Leona.

Leona’s reasoning was light years away from Mirai’s own, but that didn’t make it any less damaging, and or unimportant. Leona didn’t didn’t have to change his view completely, because change didn’t happen overnight. One day couldn’t change twenty years worth of trauma, twenty years of feeling inferior, of feeling forgotten, hated, and like a burden, but if tomorrow made the lion reconsider his outlook on his Birthday, even by the smallest decimal, Mirai would be happy.

Mirai looked over the text message one more time, reading over their names and meanings, trying to get an idea from when it hit him. 

“I think I figured out how I’m gonna arrange them,” Mirai said happily.

“Don’t care,” Grim yelled from his room.

Mirai swore he was gonna bonk that cat on the head the next time he saw him. 

It was eleven twenty-two and things were still in utter disarray. The burnt smell was finally going away, the pan from outside was retrieved and the cupcakes were finally cool enough to be iced. They also decided to make a cake entirely out of cured meats. It was Azizi’s idea to use cured meats instead, saying how the smell of cooking meat would wake Leona up.

“Has anyone found the ‘PP’ yet?!” Luan yelled.

“Have ya checked your pants?” Jaxton cackled, making Ruggie and several other Hyenas burst out laughing.

Luan growled menacingly and Jaxton growled back.

“Guys,” Jack warned, “Now is not the time.”

In the lounge, things were coming together nicely. The majority of the decorations were up, but there was still much to do, not to mention all the stuff they had to clean. The snack table needed assembling, they needed to find the rest of the sign and the finishing touches to tie in the whole thing.

Mirai was slowly bringing over trays of frosted cupcakes. The white frosted ones were a vanilla cake topped with coconut cream frosting, the brown frosted ones were a spice cake topped with chocolate frosting, and the yellow frosted ones were a pineapple cake topped with a mango frosting.

Jaxton tailed him with a three tiered spice cake topped off with a buttercream frosting. It was beautifully iced, a diamond pattern etched into the cream topped off with yellow and brown sprinkles. Mirai honestly didn’t know how the Jackal did it with so much stress and such little time.

Azizi was last with the meat cake, the two tiered masterpiece made up of jerky, sausage, prosciutto, salami, and pepperoni. It was held together by caramelized maple bacon and toothpicks, the maple glaze sticky and savory sweet, and meat cake was topped off with a savory barbecue sauce that was dripped over the edge of the cake, tying it all in. The thing seemed to shimmer in the golden light of the Savanaclaw lounge, giving the tower of meat an elegant look. It almost made you forget it was made of meat.

“Found the ‘Ps’ for the sign,” Chiumbo called. “They were under the chair!”

“Give ‘em here,” Luan called, rushing over to the lost letters.

Finally the sign was complete. The back wall finally had the words Happy Birthday decorating it with its dazzling silver color.

“Time check,” Mirai called, arranging his cupcake display in a yellow, brown, and white pattern.

“It’s eleven thirty-five,” Ruggie called.

The room froze, all of their heads snapping to the nearest clock, as if to confirm the time for themselves. 

“Now’s not the time for sitting around,” Ikemba chided, “Pick up the pace.”

The room sprung into action. There were things being thrown, feet scurried across the floor, tails swishing behind them. 

“I need some help cleaning up the confetti,” Rover yelled.

“Coming,” Garfield.

“I’m adding the floating lights now,” Raphael said, “So no one’s allowed in the water.”

“Done stringing the lights,” Alfonz called.

“Has anyone seen my shirt?!” James yelled, running around the room.

“Why’dja take it off?!” Ikemba yelled.

“I was hot!”

“Balloons are done,” Sergi hollered from atop the banister.

“Meat cake is finished,” Azizi said, sprinkling the last touches of oregano and thyme leaves on the cake.

“The music is set,” Chiumbo chirped.

“Give me another minute," Jaxton said as he slowly placed a hibiscus flower atop the cake. “I’m almost done.”

“I’m lighting the candles,” Luan informed, casting the room in a warm golden glow.

“Whoever is done, start making your way to Leona’ room,” Ruggie called. “And remember to keep it down.”

The room began to thin out, the dorm making their way to Leona’s den. Mirai added the finishing touches to his cupcake display, placing a flower or piece of candy here or there. Once he was finished, whatever was left was added to the table display.

“You guys ready?” Jack called, holding a sleepy Grim in his arms.

“Y-Yes! I’m coming,” Mirai called, “Lemme just-”

Mirai didn’t finish his sentence as he rushed to the kitchen to grab the single cupcake that he had saved for this very moment. It was a one of the spice cake ones, topped with buttercream frosting and gold luster dust. Round pearly sprinkles decorated the top, one side encrusted with golden sugar crystals. The finishing touch was the candle, a small golden crown that took Mirai ages to find. It reminded him of Leona and Mirai hoped he liked it.

Mirai was one of the last ones upstairs with seven minutes to spare. Everyone was crouched in the hall, quiet as a mouse. Mirai couldn’t resist picking up the ghost camera that hung around his neck and snapped a photo. He wanted to capture every moment of this night, so they all could look back on this one day and smile with the same exact warm and fuzzy feeling the blonde had now.

“Alright, Prefect,” Ruggie whispered, opening the door so it was ajar, “you first.”

Mirai slowly crouched his way in, moving all the way around until he was smack dab in the middle. One by one the others made their ways in. Of course there was some pushing and shoving, and of course some tails were kneeled on, but slowly but surely, all the guys crowded the bed until Leona was surrounded by the occupants of his entire dorm. 

Mirai looked over Leona’s peaceful form as he snored away under the pale moonlight shining through his open bay windows. He looked devastatingly beautiful, it was almost ethereal with how he slept, chocolate tresses cascading down strong bronze shoulders. Something about it all, all of this, everything, made something like a mixture of love and sorrow well up in his chest. Mirai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but he swallowed the feeling down, he’d deal whatever that was later, but right now, it was Leona’s hour, his day. 

“Fifteen seconds,” Ruggie whispered, pulling Mirai from his thoughts, and the room went still in anticipation.

“Fourteen,” Jack whispered.

“Thirteen,” Raphael continued. 

“Twelve,” Jaxton smiled.

“Eleven,” Azizi added. 

“Ten,” Luan whispered.

Leona stirred in his bed, a glowing green eye cracking open.

“Nine,” Ikemba said.

“Eight,” Chiumbo counted.

“Seven,” James continued.

“Six,” Rover added.

“Wha-What are you guys…” Leona trailed off, rolling over to sit up.

“Five,” Garfield said.

“Four,” Alfonz cheered.

Leona’s reflective green eyes darted around the room wildly, reflective eyes of many colors staring back at him. “Wha-” Leona muttered, eyes widening when he noticed the amount of people shoved into his bedroom.

“Three,” Sergi called.

“Two,” Grim cheered.

Suddenly the room was lit by a small flame, the lighter hovering over the wick on the crown shaped candle before it came to life with a near silent ‘poof.’ Everyone’s gazes honed in on the single flame, then back at Leona was sat there in shock.

“One,” Mirai smiled widely. 

“Happy Birthday, Leona,” they all cheered. Confetti poppers sounded, party favors were blown, and pictures were snapped. Suddenly the bedside lamp covered the room in a comforting golden glow, and before Leona could say anything, his dormmates began a very unique rendition of the Happy Birthday song. Sound effects were added, someone was definitely off key, parts were too slow or rushed, a rap verse was added, and was someone singing in an opera voice? It was silly, it was loud, and it was goofy, but it was happy, it was loving and caring. Soon it came to an end.

“Happy Birthday! To! You,” They all finished, before cheering at their own monstrosity of a song.

“Now blow out the candle and make a wish,” Mirai smiled, handing over the cupcake.

Leona could immediately smell the spice and buttercream frosting. Taking the small cake from his hands, Leona stared at it, taking in the detailing of the clearly handmade treat. Opening his mouth, Leona went to blow, but he was immediately stopped by a series of shouts.

“What?” Leona asked, taken aback.

“C’mon,” Azizi protested.

“Make a wish,” Chiumbo urged.

“You don’t have to tell us what it is,” James reassured.

“Just wish for anything,” Rover said.

Leona sighed, “Alright, alright.”

Leona closed his eyes, thinking for a moment, and after several seconds, his green eyes opened once more, and with a breath, he blew out the melted crown candle.

The guys cheered loudly, blowing the party favors once more, confetti showering over Leona’s bed.

“You may eat,” Sergi urged.

Leona shook his head, a small smile on his face as peeled off the golden cupcake paper, and took a bite. Immediately, Leona’s taste buds had ascended. Leona groaned in delight as his tongue was met with the buttery soft buttercream frosting, not too sweet, but sweet enough to pair beautifully with the spice cake. He could taste the cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg, it wasn’t too strong, not too spicy, but it was enough to get that soft, rich and pillowy, spice cake flavor.

Leona forgot himself for a moment there, until he caught the snickers coming from his dormmates. Shaking his head, Leona scoffed without malice, “Go on, laugh. ‘S’not gonna change the fact that this cake is so frickin’ good.”

They all laughed as they watched Leona devour the last of his cupcake. Mirai laughed, snapping a picture of Leona, who had frosting on his cheek, and the corner of his mouth.

“Oi,” Leona shouted, the flash of the ghost camera alerting him of Mirai’s dastardly deeds.

“Oh, no,” Mirai smirked, “That one’s def gonna go in the scrapbook.”

“Scrapbook?!”

“Well now that that’s out the way,” Jaxton cheered, “Let’s party!”

“Woohoo! Party time!”

The mass of them pushed and shoved their way out of the room, and back down to the lounge and shortly after, loud music began to shake the floor.

“Party?” Leona asked, but his question fell on deaf ears as he was promptly pulled by his arms. “W-Wait!”

“C’mon, Leona,” Garfield said.

“Yeah,” Chiumbo agreed, “Let’s go.”

“W-Wait! Wai-O-Okay! Okay,” Leona rushed out, moving to kneel on the bed, his sheets falling away from his hips. “Lemma get dressed first.”

Mirai immediately turned his head towards the window as he had just gotten an eyeful. Mirai honestly forgot the Beastmen tended to sleep absolutely naked, especially during the warmer months.

“Yay,” the two cheered like small children before rushing out of the room to join the party.

“See ya downstairs,” Ruggie said with a chuckle, Jack hot on his heels.

The rest followed suit, giving their own waves, not a single one of them bothered the state of undress from their Housewarden.

There was a pregnant pause before Leona spoke again, “You still here?”

Mirai’s eyes darted in Leona’s direction, but his gaze never fell on the Beastman, “C-Can I look?”

“Sure.”

That ‘sure’ was too nonchalant, Mirai didn’t believe him, “N-No, are you dressed?”

“Aw,” Leona teased, “You didn’t want a show?”

“Leona,” Mirai warned, but his flush on his freckled cheeks made it less threatening.

“I’m dressed,” Leona chuckled, “You can look now.”

Mirai slowly looked his way and, yeah, he was dressed. Leona opted to wear just the top and the jeans to his dorm specific uniform, not bothering with the jacket or any of the jewelry he typically wore.

“Let’s go?” Mirai asked.

“Yeah, I’m coming,” Leona muttered following Mirai out the door.

The party had just started, but yet somehow in full swing. The music was blasting, the lights were dimmed, and the food looked good. Now that Leona was up, the guys decided to grill some meat on an open flame. Yeah it was kinda smokey, but fresh meat off a grill, slathered in an array of sauces was something you couldn’t beat.

Cake was served and it was delicious. Leona got the first slice, which he all but shoved in his mouth. His excuse, that the spice cake was “so dang good,” earned a blush from Jaxton, and teasing from the others. There were so many to choose from, but Mirai’s favorites were the chocolate frosted cupcakes he made, and Jaxton’s spice cake. Leona and the others practically ate everything they could get their hands on, especially Grim, but this was why they had seconds and thirds ready. 

The music was good, the bass rattling the lounge. Mirai couldn’t understand, for a bunch with such sensitive hearing, they sure did like loud dance music. Azizi and Garfield challenged each other to a dance battle, which Garfiled lost, then somewhere down the line, they got Jack and Ikemba to dance, which turned out hilarious. Raphael goaded Leona into dancing at some point, and after several minutes of badgering and whining, Leona danced. Let’s just say after that beautiful display, Mirai was smitten even more with the Lion.

The party continued, games were played ranging starting with dorm races. Luan, Leona, Rover, Ruggie, Raphael, Jaxton, and Alfonz raced for a good while. They started from the lounge and had to make their way around the dorm and back. Leona, Luan, and Alfonz were tied with three wins, Raphael and Ruggie were tied with two, and the rest with one. Mirai remembers seeing the look of sheer determination on Leona’s face as he sprinted down the halls, the Lion and the Leopard hot on their Housewarden’s tail, and when Leona crossed that line first, Mirai remembers screaming the loudest.

Ikemba was thrown into the watering hole by a couple of the guys at some point, and after Chiumbo went on an angry tangent, and was inevitably chucked into the water after the Boar, games of chicken were played. Mirai watched from the sidelines with a couple of others while they all splashed and yelled in the water. Chiumbo was on Ikemba’s shoulders, and James held Azizi. The Wolf and the Boar kept a steady hand as the two on their shoulders wrestled for a good while, the was no give, until the Kudu overpowered Chiumbo and sent the Meerkat into the water. 

When things began to simmer down, card games were played, and of course Ruggie, Garfield and Sergi cheated, which they denied with their cunning cat-like smiles. But when the others exposed their lies by pulling cards from their sleeves, seats and hair, the Servat, the cat, and Hyena just laughed. And where there were no card games being played, small conversation was being made. It was peaceful.

Mirai stood away from the group with a smile, snapping pictures here and there. This was probably one of the best Birthday parties Mirai had ever planned, this probably even topped his own Birthday party the guys threw him a month prior. Mirai was looking through his camera roll when a heavy hand grabbed his shoulder. Mirai gasped, head snapping to the perpetrator, it was Leona. 

“You scared me,” Mirai sighed, his heart pounding.

“That’s because you got the heart of a mouse,” Leona gruffed.

Mirai stuck his tongue out petulantly. 

“Or maybe a ferret?”

Mirai laughed, setting his camera down. “Having fun?”

“Yeah,” Leona said quietly, a small smile gracing his lips.

“I’m glad. We all spent so much time trying to do this for you, so I’m happy you’re enjoying it.”

Suddenly a siren sounded, and James, Raphael, and Rover come out with sunglasses on their faces, air horns in their hands, and a megaphone. 

“Weeeeewhoooooooo,” James yelled. “Are you ready for some live music?!”

“Oh no,” Leona sighed, pressing a thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose.”

“Oh yes,” Mirai smirked, pulling out his phone to record.

Jack grabbed Leona by the hands, pulled him to his chair. Leona couldn’t get himself together before the guys covered him in beaded necklaces and smacked a plastic gold crown on his head.

“This one goes out to you Leona,” Rover yelled, pointing at his Housewarden across the room.

“Happy Birthday, Housewarden,” Raphael shouted.

What followed after was a horrible rap about Leona and his Birthday. It was a bunch of nonsense. Rover kept howling, which triggered James to howl. Raphael was beatboxing, then when Rover continued to rap, James started breakdancing.

“Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! Today is your special day,” Rover rapped.

“Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! C’mon let me hear ya say,” Raphael continued. 

“Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday,” the wolf, dog and Mountain Lion chanted, ending their performance.

The guys cheered and clapped. Dogs barked, cats meowed, others trilled, yipped, and others roared and howled. They threw confetti, hooped, hollered, and made noise with their noise makers, the works. Mirai was cackling, tears in his eyes, and Leona looked thoroughly embarrassed from his seat. 

“Ay yo,” Raphael called, “Somebody send that to me!”

“Already on it,” Azizi laughed.

“That’s going on the cloud,” Ruggie laughed.

“I’m posting this and tagging every last one of us,” Luan guffawed.

“Do not,” Leona shouted.

“Alright,” Alfonz called, “I think it’s about time we opened presents.”

“Me first,” Jaxton yelled.

“Move it,” Luan yelled, shoving the Jackal, “He’s opening mine first!”

“I grabbed mine first, therefore he opened mine first,” Chiumbo squeaked.

“Hold on, guys,” Jack scolded, “You’re going too fast. We already picked the first gift, remember.”

“Oh yeah,” Rover yelled. “Where’s the prefect?!”

“Overhere,” Ruggie said, walking back into the room with the Prefect in tow. 

Leona looked up and spotted Ruggie and Mirai, who was holding a distinctly shaped wrapped gift.

“I, uh, it’s uh, it’s from all of us,” Mirai stammered. 

“But,” Ikemba urged.

“But they chose me to assemble it,” Mirai finished, passing over the large gift. “Happy Birthday.”

Leona stood up, taking the wrapped object by the smaller end. Leona already could tell what it was the moment they brought it in, Sevens, he could practically smell it from where he was standing. Unwrapping the gift, Leona slowly revealed what he suspected, his Broomquet. Leona stared in awe at the bright vibrant yellows and the deep reds and purples. Turning it around, Leona spotted a card, tied to around the base of the bouquet by a string.

“What’s this?” Leona muttered, picking it up.

“Read it,” Azizi urged.

On the card were all the flowers they chose and their meanings. Leona read it over carefully, taking in each and every one of them.

“You can choose whichever meaning you want,” Chiumbo reassured.

“We just wanted to convey how much you mean to us,” Garfield added.

“A thanks for being our Housewarden for these past three years,” Alfonz said.

“Thanks guys,” Leona smiled, placing the Broomquet beside his chair.

“Now that that’s over with,” Luan said, “Prefect!”

Mirai jumped, “Y-Yeah?”

“You’re up first!”

Mirai barely coughed the box thrown his way, the gold wrapping paper slipping in his hands. “I, no, I, i-it’s, it’s okay,” Mirai stammered, face flushed, “I-I can go last!”

“Nah, after that reaction,” Leona smirked, slouching in his chair, “Hand it over.”

Mirai flushed a pretty pink and slowly walked the small box over, “Happy Birthday, Leona.”

Leona took the box gingerly, and unwrapped it carefully, trying to tear the wrapping paper. Pulling it away, a black velveteen box fell into his hands. Leona looked up at the Prefect, his eyebrows raised.

A chorus of teasing ‘ooohhs’ and giggles rang out the room.

“Is that what I think it is?” Luan teased.

“Prefect,” Raphael teased, placing a strong arm around his shoulders, “I didn’t know you had it in ya.”

“I gotta get pictures,” Chiumbo squealed.

“I-It’s, it’s not like that,” Mirai hurried out, “I-If it was, I definitely would never do it posed as a birthday gift.”

Leona was silent as he pulled open the box. Placing it in his palm, he pulled out a gold necklace. 

“I uh, I wanted to give you something you could take with you, when you leave later,” Mirai muttered, playing with his earrings, “You don’t wear earrings, and I definitely couldn’t do matching rings, a-and I know you always were a necklace, so, yeah.”

Leona put the box down, to inspect the necklace. It was a small, thin piece of jewelry, dainty, compared to the adornments the Prince normally wore, and lighter too. In the middle of the chain was a gold sun, and in the middle of it, was a small red gem.

“Put it on for me?” Leona more like commanded, running a thumb over the vibrant red gem.

Mirai shuffled over, taking the necklace from his hand and unclasped it. Leona sat up straighter, his head tiling up to look the Prefect in the eye as Mirai gingerly moved his hair to clasp the chain around his neck.

“Th-There,” Mirai muttered, flushing, pulling a similar gold chain from his pocket to show the Savanaclaw Housewarden. The necklace was an identical pair to Leona’s, the only difference being the gem in the middle. Instead of the ruby colored gem that adorned Leona’s, Mirai’s was made with a blue and purple gem instead. “And when you go back home tonight, you have a little bit of me with you, and I, you.”

Leona stared at the Prefect for a moment before standing up from his chair. Mirai’s gaze flicked up to the Beastman, his heart stuttering, thoughts reeling. Before the blonde could get a word out, Leona slipped the chain from Mirai’s fingertips.

“You can match me tonight,” Leona muttered, clasping the necklace around Mirai’s neck, “when you accompany me for my Birthday party as my partner.” Leona’s fingers trailed along Mirai’s jaw as he pulled away, his green eyes boring into Mirai’s.

“Kiss him,” Luan whispered.

Mirai flushed, his head snapping to the others.

“Kiss him,” Ikemba followed.

“Kiss him,” Alfonz chanted.

“G-Guys,” Mirai stuttered, trying to quiet their teasing.

“Kiss him,” they all chanted. “Kiss him! Kiss him! Kiss him!”

“Guys! Seriously! I’m not gonna-”

Suddenly, Mirai was grabbed by the waist and pulled forward. Mirai's head snapped back to Leona who was looking down at him. The Prefect couldn’t even get a word out his mouth before a pair of warm lips were pressed against his. Leona deepened the kiss, and Mirai melted, resulting in hoops and hollers from Leona’s dormmates, and groans of disgust from Grim.

“I hate yall,” Mirai pouted, hiding his face behind his arm.

“Alright, who’s next?” Sergi asked.

The rest presents were given and opened, Leona accepting each and every one of them with an open heart. The Housewarden received things from new knee pads for his spelldrive uniform, to things like brushes and combs, and hair care products. Somewhere down the line, Leona received a pillow, a new blanket and an eye mask for sleeping, which the Lion greatly appreciated. 

By the time they finished, the sun was rising over the horizon. It was getting close to five in the morning and not a wink of sleep was had. The air was warmed and with the brightening sky, eyes were closing, so food was put away, tables and chairs were moved, and blankets and pillows were spread out across the floor. 

They all lay together like a Lion Pride that had retired for the day after a successful hunt. There was no more music, no more chatter, but the sound of birds chirping to start their day, the serene sound of the waterfall that constantly from above them, and the occasional snore or nonsensical muttering from unconscious lips. 

Chiumbo lay across Ikemba, using his body like a pillow, a blanket wrapped around them. Jack lay with James and the other wolves, and Ruggie with the other Hyena. Raphael and Alphonz lay with Luan and the other lion’s and big cats, Grim sprawled out next to them as they basked in the sun. Sergi and Garfield kept Rover company in the far corner, and Azizi slept by himself, closest to the water. Leona lay at the highest part of the lounge, curled up like a house cat in the midday sun, and in his arms lay Mirai. 

The Prefect laid there, his eyes tracing the hard lines of Leona’s collarbones, his gaze eventually wandering to the shiny gold sun pendant. It was beautiful against Leona’s rich skin, and Mirai swelled with joy. Leona had loved it, much to Mirai’s delight, it made all that fuss he made about finding the right gift those some odd days ago null and void. 

Mirai reached up to touch it when Leona spoke, “You can’t sleep if you’re looking at me.”

Mirai gasped, snatching his hand away from Leona’s chest. Looking up at the Beastman, Mirai saw that his eyes were closed. He wasn’t looking at him, but Mirai knew that he acknowledged him with the way his ears twitched. He knew Leona knew he was looking at him.

“S-Sorry,” Mirai whispered.

“Nothing to apologize about,” Leona muttered. “But if you wanna make it up to me, you can by closing your eyes and getting some sleep.”

“Alright, alright,” Mirai sighed, but didn’t move to go to sleep.

“Whaddya thinkin’ ‘bout?”

“You. Did you have fun?”

Leona sighed, opening his eyes to look down at the Prefect, “Yeah, I had fun.”

“Are you happy?”

“Whaddya on about?”

“It-It’s just, I know you really don’t like celebrating your Birthday,” Mirai whispered, playing with the collar of Leona’s shirt, “but I wanted to do something to make you happy, even if it’s for a little bit. You guys made me happy on my Birthday, so I wanted to share that happiness with you.”

“You did,” Leona muttered, rubbing his cheek against Mirai’s.

“Was it enough-"

They both froze upon hearing movement from someone. Leona and Mirai waited until the shuffling and mumbling stopped, and only when it did did the two let go of the breath they seemed to be holding.

"Was it enough to make tonight just a little better?” Mirai whispered. 

“Since you’ll be going with me, it shouldn't be too bad,” Leona smirked, “We can make fun of the snobby delegates and nobility, get drunk off of the champagne, and once the cake is cut, we can ditch the garish affair for a night to ourselves.”

Mirai chuckled, pressing his face into Leona’s chest to muffle his laughter. Leona yawned, his mouth wide, the noise deep in his throat and Mirai yawned shortly after him, seeming to catch the yawn bug. Getting closer, Mirai pulled his blanket around himself, tangling his and Leona’s bodies together, and Leona sighed contently, a quiet chuffing noise escaping his throat as he pulled the Prefect closer until his form engulfed Mirai’s smaller one. 

“Night Leona,” Mirai yawned. “And Happy Birthday.”

“Good night, Herbivore,” Leona whispered, “And thanks.”

[iamvegorott]

Magicians Don't Need Superheros Pt26

First: Link Prev: Link Next: Link

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“Looks like you two had a productive chat,” Wilford said as Jackie and Marvin went down the hall. He stood outside the examination room, door closed as if he knew they were due to arrive soon. 

“We’ll say that,” Marvin said. “Everyone still in there?” He gestured to the door. 

“Yep. It’s starting to run out of space in there with Maddy, Mare, and Phan showing up. 

“That sounds like a crowded nightmare.” Marvin scrunched his nose. 

“Oh, it is.” Wilford clicked his tongue. “I give ol’ Google about a minute until it becomes too much and he’s out here with me. So, before he comes in and shuts my idea down, I’d like to make a suggestion for our current problem.” 

“I didn’t hurt them, right?” Jackie asked, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“The only thing you bruised was Dark’s ego.” Wilford chuckled.

“What a shame,” Marvin said. 

“You and Dark will get along eventually. Braid hair and talk about cute boys as you had put it.” Wilford twirled his mustache with a finger.

“You weren’t there when I said that. Did Illinois tell you?” 

“Wasn’t I?” Wilford poked his cheek with a hum, lost in thought for a second before just shrugging. “So, my idea-”

“Wait, Did Illinois-”

“-I’m thinking of having Jackie take a nap so he won’t get scared,” Wilford spoke over Marvin as if he hadn’t in the first place. Marvin decided to bite his tongue and save that question for later. 

“Take a nap? You mean knock me out?” Jackie’s face showed that he wasn’t the most fond of that idea. “I mean, if you think it’ll make sure no one’s hurt. We’ve had some really close calls before. Like when I nearly kicked Google’s face but his glasses fell off and they got stepped on or the time Anti tried to get my shoulders and I headbutted his-” 

“I have an idea as well.” Marvin blurted out. Jackie’s rambling getting the thought to come to mind. “It doesn’t involve cotton candy anesthesia, but if it works, Chase is probably going to kick his own ass for not thinking of it himself.” 

“If it doesn’t work, I still vote on letting him nap,” Wilford said. 

“Calling it a nap doesn’t make it less scary,” Jackie muttered. The three of them stopped and turned when the door opened. Google stepped out, holding his phone to his ear and pausing at the sight of the others.

“Who ya calling there, Google?” Wilford nearly sang his question. 

“No one.” Google quickly answered. 

“Hey, Googs!” Bing’s distinctive tone came from the phone. 

“Calling Bing?” Wilford continued his singing voice.

“I’m catching him up,” Google stated before walking off, whispering into the phone so he couldn’t be heard. 

“How many cans of worms are there with this group?” Marvin asked. 

“I don’t have enough fingers to count,” Jackie said. “But that one is actually new to me.” 

“I can fill you in later,” Wilford said with a wink. 

“Yes, later, because I’m about to tear my own skin off with this dried mud on me.” Marvin walked past Wilford and into the room, hearing footsteps behind him and knowing that it was Jackie following him. 

“How are you still moving around caked in that shit?” Phantom asked. 

“Pure spite at this point,” Marvin answered. “Now, do we still need blood from me and Jackie?” 

“We have several running theories but in order to confirm or disprove them, we’d need a closer look at…” Mad’s sentence trailed off when he just got looked at. “Yes. We do.”

Marvin wasn’t staring at Mad because he was talking too much, he was looking because he noticed something was different about him. He could have sworn Mad’s eyes were a light brown but they were a dark purple and as he changed his sentence, his eye color changed as well, turning to a light orange. 

“Your eyes changed,” Marvin said. 

“Oh, yeah, they do that. I’ve been wearing brown contacts around you. Everyone else panicked when they saw them the first time and I didn’t want you to do the same. We came over here so fast that I didn’t have time to put them in.” Mad explained, the orange in his eyes getting brighter the more he spoke. 

“No need to hide them from me, I think they’re pretty cool,” Marvin said with a kind smile, seeing how the orange started having a redder hue to them as a tint of pink appeared on Mad’s cheeks. 

“We should focus on how to fix your and Jackie’s eyes.” Mad was clearly trying to turn the topic away from himself. 

“I have a plan. Henrik, do your usual thing to get what you need from Jackie.” Marvin looked over to where Jackie was talking with Illinois and Yancy. 

“I’m sorry for freaking out like that,” Jackie said. 

“Yous don’t gotta apologize.” Yancy waved a hand. 

“Everyone, well almost everyone, has their fears,” Illinois said. 

“Quit actin’ like you ain’t scared of something.” Yancy lightly slapped Illinois’ arm with the back of his hand. 

“It’s not an act.” Illinois grinned. 

“We’ll scare you one day.” Jackie chuckled. 

“Ready to try my idea?” Marvin asked, joining the group. 

“Oh, yeah, sure. Do I need to like do anything special?” Jackie already looked a bit worried. 

“Just sit on the end of the chair, facing that wall.” Marvin gestured to the spot he was talking about. 

“Okay?” Jackie followed the direction, watching as Marvin ushered the others to move, getting half of them out of the room and the other half to stay at the edge of the room. Dark looked like he wanted to protest but a quick whispered comment from Wilford got him to just roll his eyes and step aside as instructed. 

“I got this part.” Marvin took the disinfecting wipe from Henrik and started cleaning off the crook of Jackie’s arm. “So you know how you’ve been getting me to watch those superhero movies?” He asked Jackie.

“Yeah, we’re gonna watch Into The Spiderverse next.” Jackie sounded confused as he watched Marvin clean him off, toss the wipe aside, and then stand directly in front of him. 

“There’s a question I’ve seen online and I need your opinion. Tobey, Andrew, Tom. Who’s the best Spider-Man?” Marvin hoped the question would do what he assumed it would. 

“Oh! I’ve seen that talk before!” Jackie perked right up. “Like how sometimes there’s being a really good Spider-Man and being a really good Peter Parker and trying to find a way to do the other way since, like, yeah Peter and Spider-Man are the same person but there’s always the-” He went right into an excited ramble like Marvin had planned. Marvin shot a look at Henrik who thankfully caught on and got to work getting a blood sample while Jackie was distracted. Chase slapped his palm to his forehead, also proving Marvin right that he knew he should have thought of this sooner. 

“I think Tom does a younger Spider-Man really well and-”

“This is ridiculous,” Dark muttered as he left the room. “All it took was that.” His mutters continued until he was out of hearing range. 

“I think it’s like super cool how he actually has the webbing coming out of him while the others make their own webbing.” Jackie’s spiel continued without missing a beat, Henrik already halfway done with the blood draw at this point. 

“I could probably make that stuff,” Mad said. 

“You could!?” Jackie turned to look at Mad and Marvin quickly caught his head, both hands on his face and he guided him to look forward again. He was not about to risk him seeing the needle and panicking. Jackie had to take a second to recover from the gesture as Marvin grabbed Mad’s arm and pulled him over to stand beside him. 

“How would you make the webbing?” Marvin prompted. Mad perked up just like Jackie had done.

“There’s a lot of different methods we could use. We’d have to account for some variables if Jackie wishes to swing on the webbing.”

“I totally want to swing!” Jackie bounced a bit on his rear while Mad bounced on his feet. 

“I’d need your weight to make sure the webbing is at least strong enough to hold that and-” Mad rambled on with Jackie adding his ideas and thoughts. Marvin sighed in relief and sat himself in one of the chairs in the room. Anti chuckled as he moved to stand next to him.

“Looks like you’ve used his rambling to your advantage,” Anti said. 

“He’s a lot happier talking about his movie stuff.” Marvin had a smile while watching the two excited men planning a Spider-Man-themed experiment. 

“You like seeing him happy.”

“Of course.” 

“Isn’t that cute?”

“I will shave your head.” 

“All done,” Henrik said, cleaning off the spot and seeing that the small wound already healed by the time it was clean. 

“All done?” Jackie echoed, seeing Henrik holding a vial of blood. “All done?” He said again, looking at his arm and then at Marvin. 

“All done,” Marvin confirmed, giving Jackie a thumbs-up. 

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Illinois chuckled. “All it took was a new head to figure this out.”

“Nothing looks different at a surface level.” Henrik committed, beginning his observations. “We’ll need a sample from Marvin next.” 

“Could you get that one hair mask you mentioned?” Marvin asked Jackie, seeing him tense up. 

“Yep!” Jackie didn’t miss a beat and took off. 

“I’ll go bring him some juice.” JJ chuckled, already in the fridge and leaving the room, flashing a quick smile to Wilford as he passed.

“Let me help you.” Wilford offered and followed him. 

x~x~x

Marvin used Henrik’s bathroom to wash up while Henrik and Mad studied his and Jackie’s blood. He had to keep the door open and the others kept an ear out just in case there was a problem, thankfully, the shower had gone smoothly. 

Marvin didn’t feel any different. Yes, his eyes were still red but nothing felt wrong or off or anything that would raise alarms for him. During the peace of the shower, he did focus on his internal being, and while he felt his own magic, some other magic was in there as well. Maybe that was causing the redness in their eyes. 

Right now Marvin and Jackie sat together on the examination chair once more. Jackie needed to do something with his hands or, to quote him, ‘he’d die of boredom’, so he helped Marvin with applying the hair mask. Using a comb to make sure the product got to the roots of his hair. Marvin just went with it since it always felt nice to have someone playing with his hair but also knowing Jackie really needed something soothing to do after all he’s been through today. Physically and mentally. 

The other Ipliers were sent home. Dark stayed behind to relay any vital information once everything was done. The crowd was no longer needed since there weren’t any immediate signs of danger. Anti got bored and left and JJ excused himself to finish a task he had been working on before Marvin and Jackie returned. 

So it was Jackie, Marvin, Henrik, Chase, Mare, Phantom, Mad, and Dark left in the room. Still plenty of people but at least the crowd shrank somewhat. Marvin was just ready for all this to be done and over with. He was running out of time to get some proper reading done before bed. 

“Now can we confirm it was what I said it was since the beginning?” Phantom asked with a huff. 

“We have tested everything, so yes,” Henrik said. 

“What’s up with us?” Jackie asked, putting the comb down.

“It’s a curse,” Phantom stated.

“A-mother fucker.” Marvin grunted and rubbed his face. “Of course, it’s a curse.”

“Our eyes are cursed?” Jackie scrubbed his eyes with closed fists. 

“In a way.” Mare said. “It’s likely a warning of what the new Ego could do. The magic seems similar to what me and Phantom use. Chaos-based with a focus on illusion. We can dispel the curse right now or it’ll fade naturally within a day or two.” 

“I should have known it was just a visual curse.” Marvin was annoyed at himself for not catching it sooner. He could probably break the curse on his own but didn’t want to risk misreading it and causing permanent damage. “This is beyond anticlimatic.” 

“I’d rather it be something boring than a big problem,” Chase said. 

“I wouldn’t say boring,” Mad said. “Like Mare had said, the eyes were simply a warning. A sign that he is capable of altering our bodies. We don’t know the extent that he is capable of.” 

“Sorry, but-um-can we fix the eyes while we talk about this?” Jackie asked. 

“Dibs on the himbo,” Phantom said before going to Jackie while Mare rolled his eyes and went to Marvin. 

“It’ll take no more than ten seconds,” Mare said, holding his hands up and silently asking permission to use his magic on Marvin. Marvin just nodded his understanding and closed his eyes when Mare’s hands held his head, thumbs on his temples, and the rest of his fingers on the sides of his neck. 

Dark said something but Marvin couldn’t hear him, focusing on the magic surging through his head. Chaos magic felt like its name. Erratic, loud, fuzzy but there was a strange sense of control to it. A control that had to be formed or the magic would break anything and everything it could reach. The magic danced around before finding the string that connected to the curse and it snapped it. Marvin blinked hard a few times when Mare lowered his hands. 

“All clear,” Mare stated. 

“I keep forgetting how blue your eyes are.” Phantom chuckled. “Marvin’s got some blue ones too but his are more like sapphire while yours are ocean.” 

“Thanks?” Jackie tilted his head.

“That’s interesting,” Mad said softly to himself, his gaze on Marvin and a hint of green showing in his eyes. Marvin was going to ask what Mad meant but was cut off by Dark.

“Now, since that is all done.” Dark picked up his blazer and draped it over his arm. “Myself and the other Ipliers will handle our newest member.” 

“But Host said it’s supposed to be Jackie and Marvin.” Chase protested.

“I will need to speak with him about that. We do not crossover like this unless we are creating a new branch. Something is wrong and I will find the solution to it.” Dark turned his neck and cracked it. “Until then. Marvin and Jackie are not to make contact with this new Iplier.” 

“We can’t go against-you son-of-a-bitch.” Chase cursed when Dark left without another word. “I am going to shoot his dick off, I swear to God.” 

[changingplumbob]

Knightstone Household: Chapter 9, Part 1

3am, Chestnut Ridge, Winter

Pollock babbles and crawls around the bedroom he shares with his older brother who is inconveniently asleep.

Suzanna: Excuse me, where do you think you’re going

Pollock: wa up Sil as

Suzanna: Oh no, we’re not going to wake your brother, come here trouble. We’ll give you a quick feed then back to bed you go

Scooping up her youngest Suzanna takes the time to appreciate him being so small. It’s technically his birthday but no one ages up at this time of night so she will have a few more hours of him like this. When he’s a toddler she’ll get back to work but might take a day off now and then to spend with him when Adam has work. After she burps him she lays him o his back in the crib.

Suzanna: Sleep now Moondust, sleep. And may starships carry you through your dreams

With her soothing Pollock settles and falls asleep.

Turning around Suzanna can see her husband Adam has also popped in to tuck in Silas. He didn’t like the idea of having kids but he does love his sons. When he motions for the pair to head out the door she scoops him in to a hug.

Adam: Well hello to you to. What was that for

Suzanna: I just missed you between rotations, that’s all

Adam knows his paranoid wife has some weird ideas like mods and rotations. He’s found over the years it’s best not to question her or he’ll just blow his hot headed top.

Heading up to their bedroom Suzanna passes her collection of living aliens and frogs. She wants to add to the frogs but there’s not many spawn spots around. She also smiles at the cloning machine. She loves her crystal collection but is excited to see if she can gain the gemology skill and start cutting some to make a prettier display than the one that lies in the library.

When the day finally dawned Adam was reluctant to get up. His first task was to make a cake and he was sure something would go wrong and make him mad.

Adam: Starlight, how about we just lie here?

Suzanna: On Pollock’s birthday?

Adam: I can’t hear him, he must be fine

Then from the room below them came the panicked cries of a child alien.

Silas: OH MY WATCHER

Suzanna: Guess our other son needs us. Get up lazy bones

Silas: MUMMY! MUMMY!

Suzanna races in to find Silas panicking and Pollock watching him from his crib curiously. Scooping up the infant she turns to Silas.

Suzanna: What’s wrong Starshine?

Silas: Mummy! There’s a monster under my bed

Suzanna: *snuggles Pollock* a monster?

Silas: With awful long tentacles

Suzanna: Silas, Starshine, we’re aliens. Maybe the monster under the bed is as afraid of you as you are of them

Silas: *calming down* Do... do you think?

Suzanna: You might be the first alien it’s seen. Why not try introducing yourself

Silas: Okay Mummy. I guess... I could try

He sits down and begins to try communicating while Suzanna lifts Pollock up for a kiss.

Suzanna: Who’s birthday is it? Is it yours?

Pollock giggles and kicks his legs happily.

In the kitchen Adam is cooking. He was going to do the cake first but a glance at the stocks told him they were low on cereal. Cooked breakfast it is. He enjoys cooking, but between trying to manage the kids and establish himself as an art critic his skills are still only so so.

When he’s almost finished a sulky Silas comes in.

Adam: Pancakes are almost-

Silas: Daddy there’s a monster under my bed!

Adam: Have you tried punching it in the face

Silas: No...

Suzanna: He doesn’t need to do that, he can befriend it. For all we know it’s from Sixam like us

Adam: *sighs* Let’s eat

The family sit around the table and Suzanna grabs some banana slices for Pollock.

Adam: Surely if the monster scares him he should fight back

Suzanna: Adam not every problem should be solved with violence

Adam: Yet you built a simray

Silas: *sadly* I want a simray

Suzanna: You’re too young for a simray

Adam: Maybe we should wait until you’re a teen

Suzanna: Open wide Pollock, here comes the spaceship

Pollock giggles madly and waves his arms as the banana piece comes closer. After swallowing he smiles and blows a raspberry.

Adam: Okay, I’ll admit it, I might miss this having an infant thing

Silas: Can I get a second brother? Please Daddy please

Adam: *laughs* Oh no way in hell kid. One brother is your lot

Silas: But Mummy-

Suzanna: Daddy has decided, we are good as a four

Adam: Why would you need another one when you have me and Pollock

Adam pulls a funny face which makes Silas giggle while Pollock smooshes his food into his mouth. He does love banana.

Suzanna: Are you alright to make the cake

Adam: Yeah, and I’m sure Silas can help me

Silas: If the monster doesn’t eat me first

Previous (Woods) ... Next

[natashxromanovf]

ooo what about sneaking jj into your family mansion for a little sleepover and despite your better judgment the two of sneak into the kitchen for some midnight sundays? I do picture plenty stolen kisses from jj despite you trying to hurry the process along, man can't help himself nsjzn

Midnight snack

jj maybank x gn!reader

wc: around 600 i think??

warnings: mentions of “almost killing yourself” in a clumsy way (if that makes sense??), not proofread

a/n: thank you for all the requests lovely!! i had fun writing this one and i’m sure i’ll have just as much if not more with the others <33

-> sweater weather sleepover || writing hours masterlist

hearing a knock at your window you look up, a pair of blue eyes meeting your curious face. you immediately smile once you recognise the blonde boy, hurrying up to the window and opening it. he’s inside in a second, wrapping you up in a tight hug, slightly picking you up and spinning you around. you laugh at his actions, silently whispering for him to put you down.

“shh, you’re going to wake everyone up!” you silently exclaim, moving a little further from him to let your eyes properly scan his body.

“i won’t, don’t worry,” he assures, closing the window. once he’s back in front of you he places his hands on your waist, returning to the position he was in before. you silently stare at each other for a while before he quickly moves, stealing a kiss from you. you laugh once again, pressing your face into his shirt to quieten your giggles.

“i’m so glad you could make it,” you speak after calming down a little, taking his hand in yours and leading him to your bed. you both sit down, getting into a comfortable position.

“me too, it was hell climbing up here,” he jokes, even though there’s a little truth to his statement.

“yeah, i know, i almost killed myself trying to sneak out once,” you say, taking a quick glance toward the glass. “so, what should we do?” you change the subject, turning your head back to him.

“i don’t know, to be honest,” he replies, thinking you maybe have a better idea.

“you know what i really want right now?” you rhetorically question, making jj give you a curious look. “ice cream. i want ice cream, and a lot of it,” you confess, a chuckle escaping past jj’s lips.

“well, why don’t we go and get it? i know you have it cause you always have ice cream,” he suggests, already getting up.

“but what if somebody hears us? my mom is a very light sleeper you know,” you say, worrying someone would come to the kitchen for a glass of water or something.

“we’ll hurry up, i promise. all we have to do is take our ice cream, make ourselves some the way we want to and put it back in the freezer. piece of cake,” jj waves his hand, as if to say “we got this”. “besides, don’t you want a little adrenaline rush?” he raises his eyebrow, giving you one of those famous jj smirks.

“…okay fine,” you hesitantly agree, taking his offered hand and following him down the stairs. he leads you through the house and it almost seems like he’s the one living here, not you. he knows the layout like his own back pocket, even which stair creeks and which one doesn’t. i guess that’s what you get for dating someone your parents don’t approve of.

“we have to be really, really quick,” you repeat, very silently opening the freezer. once the ice cream is out you try and work as swiftly as you can while still trying to not wake the whole house up.

“i didn’t mean that fast, calm down a little lightning mcqueen,” jj whispers, spinning you around and pressing a sweet, long kiss against your lips. that relaxes you a little, forgetting about the dessert momentarily but the clouds around your brain disappear as soon as they come, making you look angrily at jj.

“j, i promise you can kiss me as much as you want when we’re back safely in my room but right now, i really need to just prepare the ice cream and get the hell out of this kitchen before my heart explodes,” you warn him, his arms immediately shooting up in defence. he takes a small step back as to say “do your magic” and lets you work.

soon the desserts are made, giving one to jj and keeping one to yourself, closing the freezer before once again taking the blonde’s hand, walking up the same path you came down. and before you know it you’re back in your room, managing to not wake anyone up. now you finally smile, taking a spoonfull of the delicious food, before pressing another kiss against jj’s lips. let’s just say this is going to be a fun night.

tags: @yoongisbiwife @hallecarey1 @lovelyjj @liltimmyst @eichenhouseproperty @tenaciousperfectionunknown

i hope you enjoyed this! don’t forget to like, reblog and/or comment, it really helps writers with motivation <33

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[nana-nana2]

Happy family

Fred Weasley x Fem! reader

Part 2 of Come back to me

 Summary: A few years after the War of Hogwarts and adjusting to parent life. You had twins, Fred and Geroge still had the Weasley Wizard Wheezes open although they no longer lived upstairs. This is about the Birthday of the Twins

Warning: fluff, mentions of pregnancy, maybe some curse words 

3 years after the battle of Hogwarts:

You were getting ready in your house's backyard for your twins' birthday party. Fred had gone back inside to get them ready. Today was their 2nd birthday. It was also close to the 3rd year of the Battle of Hogwarts and Harry finally defeating Voldemort. Now George was supposed to be setting up, but you convinced him to let you do it. “Y/N!!! You aren’t supposed to do anything, you're supposed to rest, Women your literally 6 months pregnant!” You heard Fred yell making you jump. “Fred hon-” You tried to say but he interrupted you “BLOODY HELL, GEORGE WHERE ARE YOU?” you knocked him on the head and said “Blimey Fred don’t scream, you’re scaring the kids” You went to your children and “Now S/n and D/n what do you think?” They started to giggle and look around. 

“Now where are my GRANDKIDS?” Mrs. Weasely yelled coming through the back door. “Sweet Y/n, how are you and the baby faring?” She asked you, and you answered “Good, although this one is a kicker doesn’t let me sleep much” Ginny and Harry were just coming through the back door, with Hermoine and Ron following them.

Life was good, although we lost some on the way to victory, we still remember them. There were days when I would have wished Cedric or Dumbledore lived to see the battle and our Victory or that I was powerful enough to bring them back. 

~A few hours after~

“Y/N!!” Harry yelled, “Help me, your kids are not letting me leave the house!!” you turned around and laughed seeing Harry trying to move with your twins on him. “Blimey mate, here, S/N down, and harry put down D/N” Ron rushed to him. “What are you going to name this baby?” Hermoine Granger asked, “Well if it’s a boy, we’ll call it Cedric,” You told her, “Like Cedric Diggory,” She said, you nodded and said, “Yes, like my best friend, he deserves it.” “And if it’s a girl?” Ginny asked, “I’ll name her, Delaney” you answered smiling, Ginny and Hermoine smiled knowing you were going to be naming your kid after a person special to you, your best friend, or your sister.

“Mommy, cake!” Your daughter screamed as soon as Lupin brought out the cake, with Teddy being carried by Tonks behind him. You laughed at her excitement and how Teddy was desperately trying to out of his mother’s arms to play with your son. Seeing Teddy, your daughter stopped looking at the cake and turned her attention to Teddy. Fred noticed and said “Sweets, time for blowing out candles or no cake!” That grabbed your children’s attention. 

Life has ups and downs, but the ups always overcome the downs. You may have lost many people special like Cedric and your sister, but you have gained a new sense of life with your children. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry, this was short, I didn’t have much inspiration to write this but I had to continue the story. 

[bloody-bee-tea]

Gift for me

1) I am not back into Mingcheng, I'm very sorry to disappoint on that. This fic has been ready to go for a year now, and I am kind of happy to finally get it off my desktop XD

2) Happy New Year, may it be filled with love and softness and laughter and happiness for us all

Part 1 (Happy Birthday) Part 2 (Selfish Gift)

It’s the third birthday Nie Mingjue spends with Jiang Cheng right by his side and by now he stopped expecting anything. Jiang Cheng blew him out of the water when he actually cared more about his birthday than about any New Year’s celebration and then a year later he did it again when he asked Nie Mingjue to move in together.

This year—well this year, it’s Nie Mingjue who has a surprise for Jiang Cheng.

He had wanted to give it to him in bed, when they were both still sleep-warm and relaxed but of course Jiang Cheng doesn’t stick to any kind of plan at all and isn’t in bed when Nie Mingjue wakes up.

“A-Cheng,” Nie Mingjue groans out, his hands grasping at already cold sheets and his mood already turning for the worse.

“I’m right here, my heart,” Jiang Cheng says with a smile as he sticks his head into the bedroom but he’s not where he’s supposed to be, which is warm and lazy in Nie Mingjue’s arms.

“What are you doing?” Nie Mingjue demands to know, mustering his best glare even though he knows it’s not much, this soon after waking up.

“We’re getting guests in about half an hour,” Jiang Cheng informs him and Nie Mingjue lets his head drop back with a groan.

“What? No. Why? What happened to spending my birthday in bed together?” he demands to know because this wasn’t the plan.

“But we woke up together all year,” Jiang Cheng gives back and at that Nie Mingjue throws him an outraged look.

“You think waking up together every other day gets you out of waking up together on my birthday?” Nie Mingjue is honestly lost for words how Jiang Cheng could arrive at such a horrendously wrong conclusion but he softens a bit when Jiang Cheng laughs at him.

It is still one of Nie Mingjue’s most cherished sounds.

“Not really,” he admits as he comes closer to sit on Nie Mingjue’s side of the bed. “But you know that Huaisang and Xuanyu are leaving for their holiday early tomorrow morning so we decided to have your birthday celebration a little bit earlier.”

“I preferred it when we celebrated my birthday a week late,” Nie Mingjue grumbles even as he pulls Jiang Cheng in for a kiss.

“Liar,” Jiang Cheng whispers back and kisses Nie Mingjue again. “Happy birthday, my soul.”

“Good morning, my heart,” he gives back, still a bit unhappy with how this day is going but he guesses he has to make the best of it now. “Will we have dinner alone, then?” he asks because so far Jiang Cheng at least made sure to always spend one meal a day with Nie Mingjue alone.

“Yes. I will kick everyone out after cake, don’t worry. We’ll do dinner and a movie on the couch, with all the cuddles you could want.”

It feels a little bit like a consolation prize with how cold the bed was when Nie Mingjue woke up but he will take whatever he can get.

“Fine,” he finally heaves out because what else can he really say and Jiang Cheng laughs at him.

“Don’t even pretend to be a grump, I know you too well,” he teases him and flicks his forehead for good measure too.

“You’ll still have to make it up to me,” Nie Mingjue decides as he gets out of bed and Jiang Cheng raises an eyebrow at him in question.

“And how would I do that?” he wants to know and Nie Mingjue gives him a devilish grin as he leans down to give him a much more heated kiss.

“You’ll simply have to wake up in my arms for at least a month straight,” he then tells him and leaves Jiang Cheng right there on the bedside as he walks off to the bathroom to get himself ready for their guests.

And to wrap up his gift in a different way, now that his original plan has been ruined.

Nie Mingjue laughs out loud when he hears Jiang Cheng splutter behind him and he has to admit that this birthday is still good, simply because Jiang Cheng is right there with him.

~*~*~

The day itself is busy. Nie Huaisang and Mo Xuanyu come over for brunch but leave early in the afternoon because they still have some packing to do. Nie Mingjue’s friends arrive shortly before Nie Huaisang and Mo Xuanyu leave but true to his word, Jiang Cheng throws them all out an hour after cake.

Nie Mingjue watches it with a smile but he lets him do it because it is what was promised and Nie Mingjue is now actually looking forward to a relaxing evening with Jiang Cheng.

He loves his family and friends but these celebrations are always a bit too much for him, especially if they are this stretched out.

“Tired?” Jiang Cheng predictably asks when he comes back from kicking the last lingering friend out and finds Nie Mingjue on the couch, his head tilted back and his eyes closed.

“Yes,” Nie Mingjue easily says because admitting to these things is always easy with Jiang Cheng.

“Too much?” Jiang Cheng asks next and stands behind the couch, so he can scratch lightly at Nie Mingjue’s scalp.

“Mh, no, just right,” Nie Mingjue admits. “An hour longer though—” he trails off, trusting Jiang Cheng to understand what he means and when Jiang Cheng laughs, he knows he did.

“And you would have started to murder people, I get it,” he chuckles out and then leans over to press a kiss to Nie Mingjue’s forehead. “But no murder on your birthday. Only relaxing stuff for us now.”

“Are you going to cook?” Nie Mingjue asks, and he reaches up to grab Jiang Cheng by the forearms.

Suddenly the idea that Jiang Cheng will cook in the kitchen and Nie Mingjue is left with nothing to do but watch him seems like the worst idea ever.

“Nope,” Jiang Cheng cheerfully tells him and simply flips over the back of the couch when it becomes apparent that Nie Mingjue is not going to let him go. “I thought we order in today.”

“Good thinking,” Nie Mingjue hums out, leaning over to steal a kiss and then wrangles Jiang Cheng around until he’s arranged to his liking, mainly in Nie Mingjue’s arms and with no way to run off again.

“Clingy much?” Jiang Cheng teases him but Nie Mingjue only hums because Jiang Cheng is fooling no one. He went boneless the moment Nie Mingjue pulled him into his arms and so Nie Mingjue simply presses a kiss to his head.

They doze off like that on the couch for a while, and Nie Mingjue has to admit that this is still good; it’s not waking up with Jiang Cheng in bed levels of good, but it comes close, simply because they get to share this soft moment together.

And even though it has been a year Nie Mingjue hasn’t quite forgotten what happened on his last birthday, so when Jiang Cheng’s stomach grumbles and basically wakes them up, Nie Mingjue laughs.

“You’re so rude,” Jiang Cheng grumbles, pawing at him to try and get away, but Nie Mingjue is not going to let him.

“And you’re so starved,” he teases right back, leaning in for a kiss when Jiang Cheng pouts at him.

“I’ll truly be starved by the time dinner comes around,” he complains and Nie Mingjue shrugs.

“Get some more cake then?” he tells him even though he has no intention of letting Jiang Cheng out of his arms any time soon.

“First let’s order something,” Jiang Cheng decides, fishing for his phone.

He makes quick work of their order and doesn’t even bother to ask what Nie Mingjue would like; they both have their favourites at several different delivery places and Nie Mingjue is content to simply be surprised by dinner tonight.

“Now let go of me, I’ll starve for real,” Jiang Cheng then says as he puts the phone away and he tries to struggle out of Nie Mingjue’s arms whose intentions haven’t changed.

“Nope, you’ll have to live off my love for you for a while,” Nie Mingjue tells him with a laugh that only gets deeper when Jiang Cheng flops around like a fish.

“You’re ridiculous,” Nie Mingjue says when Jiang Cheng finally exhausted himself and Jiang Cheng blinks up at him.

“You love me,” he says and Nie Mingjue will probably never stop marvelling at the fact that Jiang Cheng doesn’t doubt this at all.

It makes Nie Mingjue very proud to know that he loves Jiang Cheng well enough that none of Jiang Cheng’s insecurities can ruin this.

“That I do,” Nie Mingjue immediately says and drops a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s nose.

They get lost in trading kisses until it rings at their door and even the sweet promise of food is almost not enough to lure Jiang Cheng away from Nie Mingjue.

“Weren’t you starving?” he finally asks when Jiang Cheng makes no move to open the door and that finally prompts Jiang Cheng to get up.

“I was living off your love,” he throws over his shoulder even as he goes to retrieve their food and Nie Mingjue takes that little window of opportunity to dart into the bedroom to get his gift.

The gift giving part of the day is already over, but Nie Mingjue didn’t want to do this with everyone else around; this is just for him and Jiang Cheng, at least for today.

He makes a detour through the kitchen to bring supplies to the living-room and when he comes back Jiang Cheng is already unloading their food on the table.

“Do you know what you want to watch?” Jiang Cheng asks him as he works, not sparing a glance for Nie Mingjue.

“Yep,” Nie Mingjue says, even though a movie is very far from his mind right now and when Jiang Cheng expectantly turns around to him, he slips the gift onto Jiang Cheng’s plate.

He’s of course not fast enough to escape Jiang Cheng’s notice, so he immediately turns around to look at what Nie Mingjue just did.

“What the hell is this?” Jiang Cheng demands to know, crossing his arms in front of his chest and Nie Mingjue sits down on the couch, pretending that his heart isn’t about to beat out of his chest.

“What does it look like?” he innocently gives back and Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes at him.

“Like a goddamn present.”

“Then that’s probably what it is,” Nie Mingjue teasingly says and doesn’t shrink back under Jiang Cheng’s glare.

“It’s your birthday. Why the hell am I getting a gift?”

“It is, technically, a gift for me,” Nie Mingjue says and now the glare melts off Jiang Cheng’s face to turn into a confused frown.

“But I’m the one who’s supposed to open it?”

“Yes.”

“Mh,” Jiang Cheng hums out and gingerly picks the wrapped gift up.

He tries to shake it to see if it rattles and he seems surprised when it does.

“Am I going to break it?”

“I don’t know. Are you?” Nie Mingjue laughs out when Jiang Cheng continues to poke at it instead of opening it up but finally he rips the wrapping paper apart.

He is met with a cardboard box Nie Mingjue found lying around in their bedroom this morning and it clearly does nothing to solve his confusion.

“What the hell is this?” he breathes out again, working on getting the box open and Nie Mingjue leans forward in anticipation.

It seems as if Jiang Cheng’s impatience finally won out because he rips the box open the last bit and then he immediately freezes.

And Nie Mingjue slides off the couch, onto one knee.

“My heart,” he starts as he reaches into the box to get the little black box out and it seems as just that is enough to make Jiang Cheng cry.

“Yes,” he gets out, his voice all choked up and Nie Mingjue laughs.

“I didn’t even say anything yet, don’t be so impatient,” he chides him but he catches Jiang Cheng’s hand in his to press a kiss to his fingers.

“My heart,” he repeats. “Will you give me the greatest birthday gift of them all and marry me?” he then asks and flicks the box open to reveal a ring.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Jiang Cheng chants out, tearing his gaze away from the ring and cupping Nie Mingjue’s face in his hands. “I will marry you, my soul,” he whispers and when he leans in to kiss Nie Mingjue the tears spill over.

“Best birthday ever,” Nie Mingjue mumbles when they part and he takes that opportunity to slide the ring on Jiang Cheng’s finger.

“Best birthday ever,” Jiang Cheng agrees, marvelling at the ring now on his hand and Nie Mingjue isn’t sure if he’s ever seen him smiling so much.

But to be fair, he isn’t sure if he’s ever smiled so much in his life before either.

“I love you,” Jiang Cheng tells him, intertwining their fingers and Nie Mingjue feels as if he’s going to melt with all the love he has for this man.

“I love you,” he gives back even though that should be pretty much obvious by now and then he pulls Jiang Cheng in for a kiss.

Their food is—yet again—cold by the time they manage to part enough to remember it but Nie Mingjue thinks if this is the tradition they are going to set for his birthday then he’s not going to mind that much.

Not if being incandescently happy comes right along with that.

[martygraves]

There are days in which you don’t want to do much. You skip work, sit your ass on the couch, turn on whatever episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation your rewatch has you on, cover yourself in a blanket, and breathe.

And on those days, you usually remember you’re forgetting something. Have you eaten? You’re running low on toilet paper again. You gotta mail those cards to your siblings for whatever holiday this is. And the cat is almost out of food. Fuck. Shit. There goes Star Trek time.

So, you get up off your miserable ass and put on whatever pants you deem appropriate enough to walk out the door in. Keys. Wallet. Phone. You stuff them all in your pocket. You trudge out to your car. It’s starting to rain.

It takes a minute to get your car situated before you drive through the grey towards the store. Luckily, most people like to avoid this kind of weather.

The parking lot is almost empty, by the way. Almost.

It’s quiet inside, to the point where you can hear the CAKE song playing over the loudspeaker at every corner. The squeak of your sneakers echoes a bit.

So does the voice on the next aisle. He’s mumbling the lyrics. “At Citi Bank, we will meet accidentally, we’ll start to talk when she borrows my pen—”

Sometimes you trip over a wonderful situation, and sometimes, it trips over you.

And sometimes, you just trip.

Your wet sneakers slip out from underneath you as you try to hurry through the aisles. You bump into the products on the shelf land flat on your left asscheek, just knowing there’s gonna be a huge purple bruise there when you check later. As you lay on the ground, several boxes of cereal strewn about, some still landing on your head as you struggle to sit up, you hear the voice from the other aisle get closer.

“You alright?”

As if things weren’t already going south. Now you have a stranger witnessing your follies.

“Fine.” You shake your head, shuffling your body away from the wet footprints—well, streaks you left behind.

“Sounded like you took quite a fall.” He offers one of his hands out to you. “Looks like it, too.”

You can’t help but laugh. It’s an annoyed, huffy laugh, but one all the same. He smiles at you. “Come on, now.”

You take his hand in yours, feeling his grip tighten as he yanks you to your feet. And he really yanks. You’re surprised your arm didn’t fly off at one of the joints, but who cares. You’re standing now.

He’s not, though. He stumbles backward at the force of his own yanking, falling into the opposite shelf. He doesn’t make it to the floor like you did, catching his balance and grabbing one of the metal plates that make up the aisle.

You’re laughing again, covering your mouth as he flails and stands upright. You don’t know til much later, but he thinks in that moment it sounds like the most beautiful bell. Yeah, Taco Bell, maybe, you tell him later. He laughs at this. You both laugh a lot.

It’s just you and him in the cereal aisle, stumbling and falling, and helping each other back up. He asks you your name. You give him your number.

You get your groceries, pay at the self check-out, and head back out into the rain. When you get home, your cat is screaming at you for food, acting as if you’re just the absolute worst owner and didn’t feed her a couple of hours ago when she woke you up with the same screaming. All this before the sun was even up.

You feed her, get back on the couch with a bowl of cereal, and turn your show back on. Deanna Troi and William Riker are having another one of those will-they-won’t-they moments.

Your phone rings. Not a number you recognize. You answer. It’s him.

“Are you up to anything else today?”

“Just watching Star Trek. I don’t wanna get up off the couch again, though. I don’t wanna fall.”

He laughs, and tells you Star Trek is one of his favorites, and asks if he can come over. Against your better judgement, or perhaps because of it, you say yes.

He ate two bowls of your cereal that afternoon.

[fantastical-euphoria]

from the top of the stairwell in my house, i could hear my two big brothers discussing my big birthday party that was set to take place later that afternoon.

i was turning five, which apparently was a “big age,” according to them. i always thought a big age was 27, or 25, like them. mom always liked to use the word “milestone” when she talked about big ages. then again, she used that word all the time, not just in talking about ages. for instance, she always talked about milestones when she was jogging. she loved doing that.

henry and percy gained a baby sister when they were 22 and 20. i always asked them if it was weird. that i was basically still a baby to them. “nah, we love it,” they told me. “that means we get to permanently pick on you.” i think they were just messing with me when they said that.

“so, let’s see who we have here, maisie, aria, cooper, benny, kidd… i think that’s it.”

“yeah, they’re all coming over.”

“is that confirmed?”

“yeah. you talk to the parents?”

“i thought that was your responsibility?”

“psh, you know how anxious i get over the phone.”

“c’mon, man, we’re teachers. we have to talk to them all the time.”

“still doesn’t make it easy.”

“and… you picked up the blue monster cake that she wanted?”

“i called, said they were out of stock.”

“crap, then what do we do?”

“i’ve no idea.”

“we’ll think of something.”

“yeah, def.”

later that day, i could see several adults and several children come in through the door.

my brothers began to greet the grownups, socializing with them this way and that.

still, i observed from the stairwell, a bit shy to come down.

“yeah, we’re both teachers at the dreamers academy. it’s, uh, it’s a school. well, we do volunteer at the humane society from time to time.”

“well, i think i’m the only one still doing that.”

“it’s hard to carve time out of my schedule, okay?”

“while you’re doing what? binge watching hulu?”

“man’s gotta do what man’s gotta do.”

“i swear to god.”

i could hear several adults laughing.

“yeah, we set up a starbucks date sometime? maybe grab coffee and donuts? wait, does starbucks even have donuts?”

“yeah, absolutely, great to see you again! yeah, she’s getting big, growing up too fast.”

“i remember when she was little, well, she’ll always be little to us, but when she was little little, she’d follow us around all the time…”

“did it ever get annoying? no, we were mature about it.”

“she’s always been cute. always loved us.”

“yeah, absolutely. she’s five now, can you believe it?”

“hey, you know where she is?”

“did you call her down?”

“allie? where are you love?”

“maybe she’s with the other kids in the bonus room.”

“yeah, let’s check there.”

i heard their voices fade as they walked away from the bottom of the stairwell and further into the house.

we had a big house. it had three stories. the giant blue room that took up most of the third floor was mine. it used to be an attic, but then we moved the attic into a storage closet on the first floor. i think it came right after i was born.

my brothers were right in saying that they were both teachers. they were both naturally gifted with kids. the dreamers academy sounded like a strange name for a school, but it was all to appeal to the adults who wanted to send their kids away to a place where they could have fun and dream big while they learn. that was kind of their motto, anyway. and it attracted the kids, as well, because all the teachers were devoted, dedicated individuals who always prioritized the children they taught. and they made the lessons fun. and no day was ever challenging, at least, according to my brothers.

but they could often times be intimidating to someone as little as me. i only knew them, truly knew them, for two years. i only began talking when i was two. and they never really spent time around the house until i was around three. i don’t even remember being held by them. i did remember the following them around part, though.

i always thought of them as fun uncles. i never thought of them as my brothers.

but they had tender, caring hearts. big, big hearts. like they were giant, human teddy bears. soft, gentle and huggable.

but, at the age of almost five, i was shy. reserved. quiet. but that never bothered them. they said that maybe i’d grow out of my quiet demeanor, my shyness, but that if i didn’t, well, it wasn’t a big deal.

suddenly i heard voices shouting,

“allie?! allie?! where are you? the party’s down here, silly!”

“allie, come down, please, everyone’s waiting for you!”

a few moments later:

“allie, don’t make me count to three.”

nobody could see me because i was on the third floor, not the first. i was so high up that it wouldn’t be easy to spot me.

i liked to be elusive. but sometimes that got me in big trouble.

so i rushed downstairs and attacked both henry and percy’s legs with big hugs.

“ahaha, there she is!”

“hey, birthday girl!”

“kiddo.” i felt one of them rub the top of my head.

i said hi to all of my friends thag showed up. my brothers were all familiar with them, since they all attended the same school as me and we were all in the same classes. henry taught reading and math and percy taught gym. they looked kind of similar, but henry wore glasses a lot of the time.

“mr. angus,” (that was our last name and how the rest of the kids knew my brothers), “i want to play in the bonus room, can we play in the bonus room?”

i saw one of my friends tugging on henry’s wrist and hand with both their hands.

that made me laugh a bit.

“absolutely!” he chuckled when the tugging got to be so forceful it dragged his feet across the tile floor of the kitchen. “alright, alright, i’m coming!”

i looked up to percy, who was just about to join them before he looked down to me. “hey, allicat, ya comin?”

i giggled and nodded, following him into the big bonus room.

later on, both of my brothers, down on their hands and knees, got trampled on by me all my friends. we were using them like giant jungle gyms.

my friends’ parents liked to tease me a bit, saying stuff like “oh, you must be the smartest kid that goes there, you have two brothers who are both teachers there!” this wasn’t really true. i wasn’t realy that smart for an almost five year old. but my brothers didn’t mind.

later on, henry had gotten dragged into a different direction by the kids while i followed percy into the kitchen. he was going to call a bakery to see if they had another cake in stock for me.

“percy, i wanna show you my handstand! can you see it? please??”

he chuckled and sat down on the kitchen counter. “alright, let me see it.”

so i did it for as long as i could, never minding that my hands were touching a floor that so many feet had stepped on. but it was near-perfect. and i was quite proud of it.

“wow, look at you go! that was brilliant!” he clapped a bit, laughing. “well done! how long have you been practicing?”

i shrugged. “i don’t know, i don’t do it much, i just wanted someone to see it.”

“that was really good, allie, well done kiddo!” he got off the counter and bent down to rub the top of my head.

i frowned. “i want to show henry, but… i’m afraid he’ll laugh.”

“aw, sunshine, no he won’t. he’ll love it as much as i do.”

“you promise?”

“i promise.” he drew an x on his heart, smiling down at me to show that he meant it. “c’mon, you wanna go show it to him right now?”

suddenly i felt my cheeks turn bright red. suddenly i got all shy again. i shook my head.

“aw, why not? you shy?”

i nodded.

“allie,” he laughed, “don’t be shy. if you want, i can get his attention.”

i nodded, my smile fading.

his faded right alongside mine as he took a knee in front of me.

“aw, allie, what’s wrong?” he rubbed my back.

“what if i mess it up?” i whispered.

“you won’t mess it up,” he chuckled. “i know this.”

“i’m still nervous,” i smiled slightly.

“aw, you shouldn’t be nervous around him, allie, he’s our big bro, he’s got your back. always.”

suddenly i could hear henry yelling from the room next door, “percy! help me! they’ve got me trapped!”

percy and i both giggled as he rolled his eyes. “oh, boy,” he sighed out, then looked down at me with a smile, nodding in that direction. “c’mon, let’s go help him out, and then we can show everyone your impressive handstand.”

“it’s not impressive,” i muttered.

“well, i think it is.” suddenly he took my hand and ran off towards the living room, pulling me like a sled dog.

he always liked to do that with me, and every time it made me laugh.

right as we entered the room, however, the doorbell rang.

“oh, that must be the cake!” percy exclaimed. “hang on,” he held up a finger, “i’ll be right back.”

as i watched him run off towards the front door, i felt someone tug my hand in the direction of henry (the same hand tugger as before) and someone else shouting in my ear, “c’mon allie! we gotta trample him!”

“i’m already trampled, geez!” that was henry’s comical squeaky high pitched voice. of course, this made all the kids shriek with laughter.

a few moments later, we could hear percy’s voice from the kitchen:

“alright, who’s ready for cake?”

all the kids instantly hopped off of henry and stormed off, eagerly awaiting a slice.

henry and i had to both run to join them, henry sounding a bit out of breath.

after everyone sang happy birthday to me (i turned a bit red in the face, as my shyness sometimes couldn’t handle a bunch of people singing directly to me), and i helped percy cut the cake, and after we stuffed our faces with said cake, we eagerly ran back into the bonus room, with henry breathlessly following close behind. i knew percy probably ran to clean up.

“alright, now who’s ready for a talent contest?” henry asked all of us.

“ooh ooh!! me! me! me!” a whole bunch of hands shot up.

“alright, who’s willing to go first? well, actually, how bout we have the birthday girl go first?” henry gestured to me. “how’s about it, allie!”

“yeah, allie!”

“yay, allie!”

“woo, allieee!!!” everyone was looking at me, clapping at me.

“c’mon allie!”

“you can do this!”

“you got this!”

suddenly one of the kids had started up a chant. “al-lie! al-lie! al-lie!”

soon all of them joined in, clapping to the rhythm.

now, i was absolutely mortified. i knew i wanted to do my handstand, and this was the perfect golden opportunity, but… i still wasn’t feeling confident about it. i knew i could do it in front of percy, but… could i do it front of henry?

“n-no,” i shook my head, nervously clasping my hands together and fidgeting slightly. “i-i don’t wanna go…”

“oh, allie, why not?”

“yeah, are you afraid?”

“you scared?”

“you’re a chicken!”

“c’mon, allie…”

now, this was far, far worse than anyone laughing at me. this was teasing. jeering. bullying.

i looked over to henry, who was trying his best to settle the crowd down, holding his hands out in front and gradually bringing them down, a gesture to hopefully mitigate all the noise.

“guys, guys, hey, c’mon now, we’re not gonna make her feel bad now, right?”

“but she won’t do it for us!”

“yeah, like, look at her!”

“she’s a wimp!”

“guys! what did i say?”

but it was too late to change anything now.

“i-i’m sorry…” i choked out before i ran out of the room, the tears already stinging my eyes.

i could very faintly hear henry yelling “allie! wait! come back!”

but i’d already gotten to the front door, running out of it and finding a place to sit down at the far end of our porch.

i buried my face in my hands and began to cry.

i felt absolutely awful.

but what was probably even worse was that outside, it was freezing cold.

at least it was quiet.

suddenly i heard the front door open, and felt someone sit beside me, placing a gentle hand on my back.

“allie, what happened? why’d you run out like that?”

i sniffled, “i don’t wanna talk about it. they were making fun of me.”

“making fun of you?” his voice expressed nothing but concern, i could even hear it crack a bit.

i nodded, crying softly.

“aw, alliecat, c’mere,” i felt a warm sweater wrap around me and hold me tight.

“here, i’ll get henry for you and distract those other kids while you do your handstand for him. just for him.” his voice softened even more. “alright?”

i sniffled but nodded, looking up at him with teary eyes.

he smiled back down and swiped my nose with his finger. “atta girl,” he chuckled. “i’ll get henry, there’s plenty of grass here, you got this, champ.” he rubbed the top of my head again before he set me aside, getting up and going back inside.

my eyes followed him back in, and through the window i could see a perfect view of the bonus room. henry was getting toppled by the kids again, and he looked absolutely miserable. percy went running in, pulling kids off of him. i could very faintly hear him say, “alright, let’s give my poor brother a break from all your chaos for right now.”

i could then hear a collective “aww,” coming out of them.

“but! you get to beat up on me instead! how’s that sound you lot?”

suddenly there was loud cheers, percy saying an emphatic “alright!” through the cheers.

henry immediately got up and limped off to the side, shaking his head in bewilderment before putting his hands together and mouthing “thank you,” to percy, who flashed him a smile and a thumbs up in return.

percy must have told him prior that i had run outside and that he was going to check on me, and now he was telling henry that it was his turn to check on me.

before i knew it, i could hear the front door open again, and i saw henry come out. he sighed softly and muttered to himself, “phew, never thought i’d ever get away from those psychos.”

then he glanced over to the side of the porch i wasn’t on, before glancing in my direction. “ah, there you are,” i saw him point in my direction, smiling a bit.

he ran over and slid down beside me. “those kids scare both of us, don’t they?”

i nodded, shivering slightly. the cold was now starting to get to me.

“i’m sorry,” i whispered. “i wanted.. i wanted to show you my… my handstand but…” suddenly i broke out into an onslaught of tears all over again.

“no,” i heard him whisper, taking my hands in his and lifting me into his lap, “i’m sorry. i should’ve been paying more attention to you but… your friends wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“it’s okay,” i smiled slightly before it faded once more. “but… it’s also okay if you don’t want to see my, uh, my, um… i mean… it’s not very good…”

“no, no, i’m intrigued, let me see it.”

i shook my head.

“c’mon, alls, pretty please? just for me? just for your lame old brother? who can’t even do a handstand himself?”

i giggled a bit at this. “but… i’m not very good.”

“percy says you’re really good at it… and he usually doesn’t lie to me… i make sure of it.” he chuckled slightly. “now, c’mon, before we freeze to death, it’s getting cold and i’d like to head back in soon.”

i sighed. “okay, okay.” then i looked into his eyes sincerely, remembering something. “it’s okay if you laugh, too.”

“i won’t laugh, i promise. if you fall down, maybe, but you know i can’t help it. you do too, i know this.”

i frowned slightly.

“i’ll try not to,” he dropped his voice down, rubbing the back of my neck a bit.

i smiled. “okay.”

he clasped his hands together, before rubbing them in anticipation, “okay, c’mon, show me. i’m anxiously waiting.” he waved me off in the direction of the front yard.

so i went down the steps and into the yard.

and i tried to do one, but, i couldn’t quite stick it, and ended up falling down.

i felt my face turn red.

“i’m sorry,” i called to him, starting to walk back up to him.

“no, no, it’s okay, try again!” he waved me back to the yard.

the one thing i noticed was that he didn’t laugh.

so that made me feel a bit better.

so i tried again.

and again.

and another time.

and on the fifth try, i finally got my handstand to stick perfectly, like it did with percy.

suddenly i felt myself being lifted by the legs, spun around a bit before being flipped right side up and caught in an arm.

“bravooo!! that was all you? wowwwzzaaaa.” i felt my stomach being tickled by a few fingers. “clever girl.” he was bouncing me up and down now, and i was shrieking with laughter.

“seriously, bravo. that was incredible.” we were both inside now, the kids still playing in the bonus room with percy.

the way henry carried me reminded me of how a fun uncle would carry me, in the most irregular, not normal way possible. i liked that a lot.

“here, they’re gonna be a while playing tug of war or whatever, i wanna show you something really fast.” henry took me away from the living room and carried me upstairs, into his room.

i never got to see his room that much. mostly percy’s, because he’d sometimes invite me in case i had a nightmare. naturally, henry’s room always tended to be a bit messier, but that’s just how he liked it, i guess.

“so…” i coughed a little, half from the cold, half from the way henry was holding me. “did you… like my handstand?”

henry adjusted me so i was being held the proper way. “course i did, you kidding? that was freaking brilliant stuff. brilliant brilliant stuff.” he smiled and squeezed me a bit. “so proud of you, lil’ sis.”

i giggled at this as he set me down on his bed. “excuse the mess,” he rolled his eyes playfully as he sorted through a dresser full of old photos, taking a few out that his fingers stumbled across.

one of the pictures he showed me was of him holding what looked to be a one-year-old baby upside down, on the floor, with her hands touching it and their feet dangling in the air. “guess who taught you how to do a handstand?” he pointed to himself, beaming proudly.

“that was me?” i pointed at the baby.

“in the flesh.” he rubbed the top of my head. “you were always a hand-standing kiddo. we knew you had it in you.”

once again, i giggled at this. both my brothers knew how to put a smile on my face, always, and all the time.

when i ran back downstairs and i found percy getting out all the presents for me, i eagerly told him.

“yeahh, way to go, kid! i knew you could do it!” percy bent down to me slightly and showed his hand so i could give him a high five.

he then followed it up with another playful head rub and a bit of a side squeeze.

“can you do a handstand?” i asked.

“ha,” he scoffed, “i can try, but i can’t say i’m any good.”

“but you’re a gym teacher,” i laughed.

“yeah, a gym teacher who can’t do a freaking handstand.” he was laughing at his own self-deprecation. “anyway, i’ve got presents out for you, why don’t you start with the smallest one and make your way up to the biggest?”

all the kids had run back in afterwards, sitting down right beside me and watching eagerly as i opened up each individually-wrapped gift.

i couldn’t wait to play with all of them, but i knew that it had to wait until the next day, since it was getting late.

all the parents had arrived to pick up my friends, and so i waved and said goodbye to them.

i was greeted with a chorus of “bye allie! happy birthday!”

you had to admit, as chaotic as little kids were, they were obedient when prompted.

i watched as henry and percy gave each other a high five, both breathing a sigh of relief. “we did it.”

“phew!”

“glad we got that out of the way.”

“birthday party, done and done.”

i quickly ran up to them, taking each of their hands in one of mine. “i wanna play allie ball. can we? please?”

i knew that it was a game that they made up where they took turns throwing me to each other and catching me, as if i was some giant football. it was meant to be played outside, but it was fun for me as i got thrown around like a sack of potatoes.

“allie, it’s getting late…”

“aw, c’mon lad, it’s her birthday…”

“alright, fine, grab your jacket though, it’s freezing out and i don’t want you catching a cold on your birthday. you hear?” henry waggled a finger in my direction.

i giggled, “i hear.”

“good girl.” he smiled down at me.

so we went outside, and henry was first to throw me to percy. then right after percy caught me, after putting up with my deafening squeals and shrieks of delight, he’d throw me back to henry.

“this is the best birthday ever!” i screamed in the air, which earned a laugh from both my brothers.

then it was percy’s turn to throw me. this particular throw, though, he’d thrown me a bit higher than he normally threw, and a bit higher than i was used to.

“percy, wait, no, i’m too high! that’s too high!” i shrieked as i flailed myself in the air, right before landing into henry’s arms.

“woah, you alright there sun?”

i was shaking and trembling with pure fright. that was a bit too high up for my comfort zone.

“that was a a bit silly of him, wasn’t it? shame on him, he should know better,” henry chuckled slightly, scratching the top of my head a bit.

i started to sniffle a bit, “that.. he threw me.. it was too… high… up…” i was flat out sobbing now. i was still a bit fearful of heights. i clutched onto henry with all my might.

“i’m sorry, i’m sorry!” percy came running over frantically. “you okay sis?” i felt his hand run along the back of my head, on top of henry’s. “aw, i’m sorry. i’m… i’m sorry… here, want me to hold you?”

i shook my head, holding onto henry for dear life.

i didn’t like that game anymore. i really didn’t.

“way to go, way to screw up this time, yeah?” i heard henry mumble to percy.

“hey, i said i was sorry, okay? geezusss!”

i quickly took a glance at percy, and from what i could see through my blurry, tear-stained vision, he had the utmost hurt look on his face, his eyes never leaving mine.

“i’m sorry,” he kept mouthing, hoping to catch my attention.

every time i trembled slightly, i felt henry’s hand run along my back.

“great, now allie’s gonna have nightmares all night, thanks to you.”

“i’ll… i’ll try not to…” now i was starting to feel bad for percy. i know henry liked to pick on him, that’s just what brothers did, but still… i felt sorry for percy.

so i tugged on henry’s shirt.

“i want percy to hold me now.”

henry looked down at me a bit confusedly.

“oh, really?”

i nodded.

he chuckled, “alright, off ya go.”

i felt myself being passed off to percy, who held me a bit tighter than henry, making me cough a bit.

“hi, you,” he smiled down at me as he ran a hand along the back of my head, carrying me with his other arm.

“i’m sorry i cried,” i whispered to him, leaning my head against his chest. “i was just scared.”

“i know you were. and i’m sorry i threw you so high. i didn’t mean to, honest to god.”

i was beginning to get tired at that point. it was getting late, after all.

so when we got inside, percy let me down on the floor as i took off my jacket and hung it up, right before running upstairs to my bedroom on the third floor.

“wait, allie, don’t you want us to tuck you in?” percy shouted up to me, him and henry following me up.

they found me already tucked into bed, clutching one of my stuffed animals that i’d received for my birthday.

i shook my head, smiling. “i wanna tuck in myself now. i wanna be a big girl now.”

they both had fond, sweet smiles instantly plastered on their faces as soon as i said that.

“aw, alls, you’ll always be our baby sis.”

“yeah, you’re not ready to grow up yet.”

“well, we don’t really want you to grow up.”

“don’t rush it kid. not yet, anyway.”

“you have all the time in the world to grow up, you can start whenever you want.”

“but just not now.” i felt someone rub the back of my head. “alright?”

i nodded slowly, yawning.

“i hear ya,” henry chuckled. “sweet dreams, birthday girl.”

“yeah, sweet dreams. we love you.” i felt my hand being squeezed, once by henry, and once (a bit longer) by percy.

i knew i was in the safest of hands when they babysat me for the night.

[hannahssimblr]

Chapter Twelve

“The good weather is making me suspicious” Claire says to us as we spend yet another blazing hot afternoon on the deck of the mobile. It’s been weeks now without a drop of rain, and I have to concede with her that it’s weird. The grass is starting to shrivel up and turn brown, little whiskers of pale straw, and heavy, dense air oozes through the village like treacle. Everyone moves slowly as though they’re wading through it, anxious for a thunderstorm that never arrives to cleanse it. At night I lie with the windows open, skin glazed with sweat and hair still wet from a cold shower, but sleep doesn’t come easily. It’s rare that Ireland gets hot like this, but when it does it’s unbearable and though I rarely fantasise about wintertime I find myself imagining cold droplets of rain or snow flakes on my arms and face.

“How’s it making you suspicious?” Kelly has big sunglasses on and has turned her face up towards the sun, seemingly the only person who’s enjoying the heatwave. I wonder if she just pretends to, because it’s what Irish people are supposed to do; suffer through the misery of a hot spell because so much of our year is beaten down by rain and sharp winds, long, dark, bleak winters that go on for far too long, we should be thankful for every drop of sunshine that is served up to us.  

Claire fans her face with the book she’s trying to read. “Because it’s never this hot for this long, I’m starting to get awful sick of it.”

“Blasphemy.”

I know that there’s no end in sight yet for it. The forecast shows another two weeks of cloudless skies at least, and at this rate we’ll be into August before we see rain again. I agree with Claire, It’s all becoming too much, and only for my morning swims – which by now have become afternoon and evening swims too so that I can keep myself cool – I’d be really suffering. My pasty skin was never meant for this weather. 

“I’m bored.” she protests. “And there’s nowhere to escape to when it’s like this, I just feel sweaty wherever I go.”

“I’m not.” Kelly says somewhat defensively. “I always spent my summers like this, it’s fine, you just need to learn to relax.”

“But I feel like we didn’t make any actual plans, like Evie is the only one who even left the beach all summer.”

“Yeah to go to an art gallery, which neither of us would be bothered with.”

“And you really wouldn’t have been bothered with that one.” I say. “It was modern art.”

“Bleargh.” Kelly emotes. “I’d definitely rather not have done that. I don’t know why you’re complaining, honestly. This was what you agreed to do for the summer. Better to be doing nothing here than doing nothing at home in the midlands.”

“But it’s my birthday the week after next.” Claire protests. “My eighteenth.” She says this with wide, urgent eyes as though this is of dire importance, like this is the one significant birthday she will ever have. “We haven’t planned to do anything yet.”

“Well we could go to a nightclub.”

“I can’t, I’ll still be seventeen.” I remind them. 

“We’ll just get you a fake ID.”

“No.” Claire says. “I’m not dealing with that. And I don’t want to go to some nightclub for my birthday anyway. If I was at home my mam would have made me a big cake and had balloons and birthday banners up all over the house.”

“And what? A bouncy castle too?” Kelly jokes, and Claire rolls her eyes. 

“Well, what would you like to do?” I ask her, feeling like I should try to help to move the conversation into a somewhat more productive sphere. “I’m up for anything that’s like, not including clubbing or anything else that isn’t age appropriate for me.”

Claire looks away from us and out over the caravan park shrugging. “Well… maybe there’s something I’d like to do, but… it might be a bit late to plan it.”

“We can at least try to make it happen, even with short notice.”

She shrugs self-consciously “On the weekend of my birthday there’s a festival.”

“A music festival?” I echo, thinking that something like that sounds pretty cool to me, actually, and I don’t understand why she seems embarrassed about it.

“Yeah, it’s on up in Laois, and there’s so many good acts playing at it, I was looking at the website the other day.” She looks at me then. “And you don’t have to be eighteen to go. The age limit is seventeen, we could all go together no bother.”

“That sounds so fun!” I say, beginning to feel excited by the idea of going to a music festival; something that always seemed reserved to those older and much cooler than me. I start to think about all the things I will bring with me, and the outfits I might wear when Kelly interjects. 

“Where’d you hear about it?” She asks, her eyes narrowed a little in suspicion. 

Claire shrugs. “Everyone knows about it, it’s a big event, like.”

“Yeah but you didn’t seem bothered about going to it until now, that’s all I’m saying.”

Claire looks baffled, and rightly so, Kelly’s questioning seems absurd to me too. We glance at each other, Claire’s eyebrow is raised and I just shrug back at her. I don’t know what to say. 

“Um. Sorry I didn’t mention it enough times before now.”

“Yeah well I think it’s a bit short notice, we won’t get tickets.”

“No, they’re still for sale.”

Kelly shoots the kind of withering look at Claire that would make me feel like curling up into a little ball and wishing I would vanish, but she seems unfazed. “I think I’ll buy a ticket. If the two of you want to or don’t want to, that’s up to you.”

I pipe up nervously. “But you can’t go alone. Where will you stay? In a tent by yourself?”

“No she won’t.” Kelly growls. “My brother and his friends are going. She’ll probably bunk in with them.” She stares pointedly at our friend “Won’t you?”

Suddenly I understand everything. Kelly knew the entire time that Shane and the gang already had tickets to the festival. I see Claire glancing quickly away from us again, but I catch a pink blush on her cheeks before she turns. Is there something else I don’t know, I wonder? Did the gang invite her to come with them? The thought of this makes me feel miserable, as I start to ponder all the reasons why they might have asked her and not me too.

“I don’t know why we can’t just enjoy the summer with just us.” Kelly rants. “That was the point. You think I wanted to spend any time with Shane? I see him every day at home, I’m sick of it. I’m sick of him always being around and everyone being obsessed with him. Like, sorry now Claire, but is it too much to ask that I get to have friends that actually want to hang out with me instead of him?”

“That’s not true.” I say in an attempt to be helpful, but she just barrells on.

“Oh, Shane plays county football, Shane did eight subjects in the Leaving. Shane is so funny and has so many friends, and he’s going to get into UCD and do science. It’s so boring. I’m actually really bored of hearing about it if I’m being honest.”

“Maybe you should stop being so sour about it then.” Claire snaps back. “Everyone can tell that you’re jealous. So what if you’re not better than him at every little thing? Get over it. You’re boring.” 

There’s weight in the air after this that makes me want to hold my breath for fear that if I don’t all hell will erupt. I glance at Kelly to see her jaw set and her arms tightly crossed over her chest. Claire looks surprised at what she’s just uttered too, but it’s too late for her to go back on it now. She steadies herself and goes on. “It’s my birthday and you can’t even let go of your own jealousy enough to let me do what I want to do for it. If you just stopped needing to control everything then we’d all be having a better summer already, but I’m allowed to hang out with whoever else I want to hang out with, and I’m allowed to go to the festival if I want to. You don’t have to come. And actually, if you’re going to have that annoying face on you the whole time, I wouldn’t want you there anyway.”

“Well, I’m not going.”

“Good.” She stands up so abruptly that the chair rattles beneath her. “And Evie, I can buy two tickets or one. If you want to come you can.”

I blink, dazed. “I um. Nobody invited me.”

“I’m inviting you.”

“Neither of us want to go.” Kelly snaps.

“Are you her mam?”

Kelly’s face is pink and furious now. I’ve only seen her pushed to this point a handful of times and it makes me hot and prickly all over. My stomach feels sick and I desperately wish for the superpower of teleportation so that I can beam myself from this situation, but instead of things escalating any further, Claire just leaves. I watch her storm down the steps and across the caravan park, her blonde hair bobbing about her shoulders until she swings around a corner and she’s gone. I turn to look at Kelly, to say something placid and vaguely comforting to her but she’s not there anymore. Her seat is empty, and I realise she’s gone inside the mobile home to sit by herself, or to scream into her pillow or throw something against a wall as is her usual. The flimsy plastic door rattles shut and seems to echo through the park, and then I am alone out on the deck, ears ringing sweaty palms and heart leaping in my chest. 

Prev // Next

[jokerman9540]

So, by popular demand, we’ll be starting with Pizelle and Pizzano (please note that these starter pieces will be much longer than ask responses (for the most part))

Pizelle awoke to a cold wind catching the tip of his nose and gently blowing his moustache. He sat up and looked around, noticing Pizzano lying, still unconscious not too far away from him. He stood up, instinctively grabbing his hat due to the wind, and walked to the edge of the strangely shaped platform the two had landed on. He almost feel over when he saw how high up they were, letting out a small yelp.

This woke up Pizzano, who bolted upright, look of panic on his face, before noticing Pizelle and immediately getting mad.

Pizzano: “You!”

He cried, causing Pizelle to turn around in surprise.

Pizzano: “Where the hell are we!?”

Pizelle: “I don’t know! It’s not like I intended for us to get sucked through a portal!”

Pizzano: “Alway with the excuses…”

The pair glared at one another, completely silent until Pizzano broke it

Pizzano: “So, I’m guessing by the wind blowing my awesome cape…”

He flaunted it

Pizzano: “That we’re up pretty high?”

Pizzelle: “Yeah, we seem to be on some kind of tower.”

Pizzano: “Odd shape for a tower, but nevertheless! How do we get down?”

Pizelle: “Well, there’s something sticking out of the wall below that we could possibly use, but it doesn’t look very sturdy”

Pizzano: “Pah! What are you, a coward? The Great Pizzano laughs in the face of danger!”

With that, he takes a running leap down towards the protrusion, landing perfectly… at first. His foot then slips on its rounded edge and he lands on his stomach, clinging onto it with every limb, as if he were giving it a bear hug.

Pizzano: “S-see?! Piece of cake!”

Pizelle sighed as he began to slowly scale down the wall, noting how the colour of the wall itself changed when it reached the protrusion. Eventually he made it down, pressing himself against the wall to stay upright

Pizelle: “Y’know, this kinda looks like a face.”

Pizzano: “Yeah, and an ugly yet familiar one at that…”

At that moment, a pair of windows opened in what would be the “eyes” revealing two figures silhouetted against the dark rooms behind them. Pizelle saw them too, but they didn’t see him, as they both raised guns towards Pizzano

???: “Who are you!? And how did you get up here!?”

Pizzano: “Really!? You’ve never heard of the Great Pizzano!?”

???: “I don’t care if you’re the Great Fatso! Now, how did you get up here!?”

They both ready their guns, the sound of a revolver cocking and a mini gun barrel slowly beginning to spin were audible to even Pizelle, who had remained undetected. While he didn’t necessarily like Pizzano (In all honesty, he hated the guy) he knew that he wouldn’t make it out of this on his own, as he realised that now was his time to act

Hope that’s a good starter! Remember to send me asks to continue the story!

[easypeasylindyvesey]

APRIL 2027- PART 13

I go through the process of moisturizing my face and feet, putting on deodorant, brushing my hair, and staring at myself again in the mirror, this time fully clothed. I stare myself down until motioning to the door and unlocking it, as I step back onto the carpet. I walk over to the closet and hang up my halter top and dress. I throw the bra back in the suitcase, zipping it up and pushing it underneath my bed. 

I hear Jimmy make his way into the bathroom. “There’s a dinner menu on my nightstand if you wanna order,” he says. “All the options look good, so you can get me whatever you’re having. They can deliver it here so that you don’t have to go all the way downstairs.”

“Good,” I say, reaching over to my other nightstand, fumbling for the TV remote. “Don’t fall.”

He chuckles. “I’ll do my best.” With that, he shuts the door and locks it. “If I do, and I can’t get up, I’m giving you permission to break down the door,” he verbalizes once he’s in the bathroom.

“Yeah, then it’ll be your turn for permanent embarrassment,” I respond. He does a quick laugh before turning on the water. I hear his shirt and pants fall to the floor, followed by a grunt as I presume after taking off his underwear. I guess he’s got some strain too, doesn’t he?

Once I’m definitely aware that Jimmy’s in the shower and won’t be able to hear me, I quietly tiptoe over to his nightstand and peruse the menu. Damn, this stuff does look good. How can I choose? There’s shrimp scampi, chicken and broccoli alfredo, chicken francese, steak and potatoes, soup of the day, paninis, they’ve even got dessert. I stare at the menu until I disassociate. I don’t even know what I’m in the mood for. I end up going with chicken francese over pappardelle pasta and lava cake. I order the same thing for Jimmy and confirm it over the phone on his nightstand. They said it’ll be about a 45 minute wait, so there will be no better way to occupy myself through the excessive use of television. Flipping through the channels, I settle on “Law and Order: SVU” and rest up against the pillows, looking out the window. The sun is starting to set, with a slight breeze and a couple clouds rolling by. I tend to get lost in it that I don’t even notice Jimmy walking in front of me, fully changed out of his outfit. He’s got on a navy blue crewneck and gray sweats. I swear, I don’t care who the man is. Gray sweatpants will always do something to me. And no, I am not ashamed. 

I stare down at my forest green Denver, Colorado tee that I bought while shopping on an off day before playing the Avalanche, which now that the more I’m looking at it, the shirt feels a little too small. And the shorts, well, they’re appropriate length. But now it’s got me thinking how this man is not hot. Is he immune to showing any part of his body? Well, I guess not his feet. They’re on full display. His, unlike mine, do not look bruised.

“Congrats on not falling,” I acknowledge, returning my attention to the TV.

“Thanks,” he sarcastically replies. “Did you order dinner?”

“Yeah. Should be here in 35, maybe 40.”

“Good,” I hear him say. “I’m absolutely starving.”

“Me too.”

He leans to sit down on his bed, reaching for his phone, completely concentrated on whatever he’s looking at. I take that time to just look at him, observe the moments while he’s unaware of anyone paying some sort of attention to him. His hair is damp from the shower. I’ve never seen it look like that before. If I’m being honest, it’s kind of a look. He looks more content, a little less tense. I wouldn’t say he’s at ease, but it seems that he could fall asleep at any given moment. It’s only a little after 7:00, so who even knows when we’ll go to bed, even if we choose.

[ongreenergrasses]

🎟 please.

absolutely! i hope you enjoy 💜

There’s an enormous crash from the kitchen, and Nicky looks up from his laptop.

“Joe?”

“Holy shit,” Joe yells in response.

Nicky assumes that this is because he knocked over one of the many boxes stacked up in the corners. After they won the lottery, the first order of business was to find a new, better, more convenient apartment, and now they’re packing.

(Buying a house together seemed a little over the top. Nicky is not opposed to doing so, or generally just being with Joe and following him around for the rest of his life, but this is not something he would tell a roommate.)

“Is everything okay?” Nicky calls back.

Joe skids around the corner. “We have to go. Grab your stuff.”

“Okay,” Nicky says, and begins packing away his laptop.

“Not that. Well, maybe that. Whatever you can’t leave behind or be without. We have to go.”

“What?”

“Please, Nicky. We don’t have time.”

Nicky stares at him, and sees that Joe is shaking.

“Okay,” Nicky says, getting up and steering Joe to the bed, sitting down next to him. “Can you please tell me what is going on?”

Joe buries his face in his hands. Nicky hasn’t felt this helpless since he set fire to several pieces of onion that were caked to the stovetop and made the sprinklers go off.

“You’re going to hate me,” Joe says, muffled by his fingers.

“Joe! I could never hate you.” I love you, hangs on the tip of Nicky’s tongue. He swallows it back down.

“Okay. Okay.” Joe straightens up. “I have a brother.”

“Okay,” Nicky says slowly. He wasn’t aware of this before, but he knows Joe has a big family. “So do I.”

“My brother is crazy,” Joe says bluntly. “Not, you know. Clinically. But he’s completely insane.” It all comes out in a rush. “And we’re estranged, I love him but it’s for the best, but Samara told him about the money, and now he wants the money that we won. And he doesn’t have limits. So I’m worried he’ll do something to one or both of us to get the money, and we really have to go, now, Nicky.”

Nicky stares. “Your brother wants our money?”

“I don’t think he’s homicidal. But we need to go.”

“Homicidal?”

“Please, Nicky.” Joe turns the full force of his gaze on him, and Nicky never stood a chance, not against Joe’s enormous pleading (beautiful) eyes. “Let’s just go.”

Nicky stares around his room. He’s writing his dissertation. Will he need to leave school? Will he ever come back here? What if he stayed, and Joe left? Would he be safe?

He looks back at Joe. His mind has already been made up, long before this. He could never leave Joe. Not ever.

“Okay,” he says.

One of the perks of having an enormous amount of lottery money is that they’re able to get to the airport and be on the next flight out of the country without even making a dent in their finances. Nicky stares at the cover of his passport. He didn’t expect to ever leave the country again, let alone so soon.

Joe coughs next to him. Then coughs again.

“Are you all right?” Nicky asks, turning to face him.

“Why did you come with me?” Joe scuffs the toe of his shoe on the hideous airport carpet. “You could’ve stayed. This is ridiculous, I’m sure you would’ve been fine.”

“I…”

It’s the worst possible time for this. Nicky knows that. But Joe asked him a question, and this situation is entirely terrifying and entirely out of their control. The least that Nicky could do is answer honestly.

“I love you,” he says frankly. “And you said that we needed to go. So we’ll go.”

“You love me?”

“Yes,” Nicky says. His voice doesn’t waver. He’s never been so sure about anything. “And I trust you. So if you think that we needed to leave together, I know that it is for the best. For both of us.”

“I didn’t know that,” Joe says. His voice sounds very small. “I wish I had.”

“I’m sorry,” Nicky says, because the look on Joe’s face is spreading an icy, horrible feeling throughout his chest. “I should not have said anything.”

“No, I’m glad you did.” Joe looks at Nicky, then leans over, and tentatively takes his hand. “I - love you. Too. I love you too, Nicky.”

“Huh,” Nicky says intelligently. He looks around. There’s at least thirty people surrounding them at their gate, and they’re both wearing masks. It’s probably the worst possible time for this.

He feels Joe’s hand on his chin, tentatively guiding Nicky’s face back to his. “Can I kiss you, Nicky?”

Nicky whips off his mask so fast that he nearly tears it. He doesn’t care. “Yes, Joe, please - ”

Joe pulls his own mask down, and then kisses him, in the airport, in front of all those people. It makes Nicky feel as if he should be embarrassed, but all he feels is joy.

“I’m glad we have each other,” Joe whispers against his lips. “And that we’re doing this together.”

“Me too,” Nicky says, and kisses him again. He really did win the lottery, in more ways than one.

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