#one of my uncle has 7 kids (one is an adult and the rest are under 12) (some are children through marriage) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eddiemunsons80sbaby · 2 months

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Never Say Never

Chapter 16

Pairing: SingleDad!StevexReader

Summary: You are a 32 year old single mother, raising your seven year old son on your own. After being widowed at 30 and going out on awful dates with disgusting men for the past month, you have decided that you're giving up. You already had your great love. One person can't possibly get lucky enough to have two in their lifetime. But then your son starts playing baseball and the coach might just change your mind about that.

No posting schedule.

18+ only for eventual smut

Word Count: 7.9K

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Two weeks later found you at the baseball diamond for the boys first game of the season. Your group took up an entire section of the bleachers, everyone had showed up to cheer the kids on. You were squeezed between Robin and Janice, Matt on Janice’s other side. In front of you were Dustin, Lucas, Max, Nancy, and Jonathan. Behind you was El, Mike, Will, Nolan, Joyce, Karen, and Hopper. Jeremiah had a literal cheering section that was there for him and it hit you that now, so did Eli. Somehow, the two of you were not only lucky enough to get Steve, but also the entire family that came along with him.

You caught sight of Judith out of the corner of your eye, walking up, looking more out of place than a string quartet at a toddler’s birthday party. Who showed up to a baseball game in heels and a pantsuit? Judith did. You fought the urge to roll your eyes or hide. Judith’s eyes darted over the bleachers, looking for you, wincing at the raucous ruckus the dad she was standing next to was making as he loudly bragged about his son.

“Uh-oh…the she-beast has arrived,” muttered Janice, nodding in your mother-in-law’s direction.

“I saw,” you sighed, rising to your feet, waving your hand to make it easier for Judith to find you. There would be no hiding. Sometimes being the responsible adult sucked.

Judith somehow managed to look both annoyed and relieved at the sight of you. Sending one last scathing look toward the oblivious father, she made her way to your section of the bleachers.

“Judith!” exclaimed Karen, climbing carefully down, opening her arms in welcome. “You’re Eli’s grandmother. I’m Jeremiah’s grandmother. And so is Joyce.” She pointed to the petite woman who was currently holding onto Jonathan’s head to step down.

“So you’re Steve’s mom or are you Steve’s mom?” questioned Judith, her eyes roaming over the two, judgement evident in her eyes. You didn’t have to try too hard to imagine what she must be thinking. Joyce standing there in her baggy jeans and oversized sweatshirt and Karen all done up with bright makeup and a dress that, gasp, stopped above her knees and even showed some cleavage. Oh, the horror.

Karen laughed, her hand coming to her breast, Judith’s eyes about popping out of her head at the amount of bosom on display. Because heaven forbid a woman had the audacity to dress however she wanted, to be proud of her own body. And honestly, Karen had every right to show off. The woman was stunning.

“Oh no. Neither of us are. Steve’s parents aren’t really in the picture sadly. I’m Nancy’s mom.” She turned, pointing to the petite brunette who waved with a smile. “Nancy is Jeremiah’s mom.”

“And I’m actually Jonathan’s mom,” Joyce explained, pointing to her son who simply lifted his hand. “He’s Jeremiah’s stepdad but I’ve known Steve since he was just a young kid in high school and he’s practically a son to me. So it feels like I’m his mom, too.”

“Yeah, and I’ve known him just as long because him and Nance met in high school so he kind of feels like a son to me too. The poor boy went from having no mom to multiple moms who are always in his business whether he wants us there or not.”

Joyce shrugged, “Honestly, everyone here is family. Everyone you see behind you are Jere’s aunts and uncles.” They all waved, Dustin and Max a bit more obnoxiously than the rest. “Well, except for Hop. He’s my husband. So I guess he’s kind of like Steve’s dad for all intents and purposes.”

Hopper snorted and then shrugged, “I’ll guess I’ll claim Harrington if I have to.”

“How…unconventional of all of you,” Judith managed, her teeth gritted in a tight smile.

Your eyes slipped closed in frustration. Of course this woman had to show up and ruin what was looking to be a perfect day. She couldn’t fathom something like found family. She believed blood came before everything else. The very idea that all of these people could come together and be more important to each other than the family genetics had stuck them with was inconceivable for a brain like hers.

“Well, come on up,” Karen invited, giving her a wave. “We can all scooch and make room for you with the grandparents.”

“Oh, that’s alright. There will be no need for any…scooching. I’ll just…” Her eyes quickly scanned the bleachers. “I’ll sit right here. I’ll be fine.” Before anyone could argue with her, she dropped down in front of Max who turned, giving you a, can you believe this woman, look.

You rolled her eyes, letting Max silently know you could not believe her but honestly, you could. You'd learned to expect nothing less than constant judgement and absolute disdain from that woman. No one was ever good enough in her eyes. Judith raised her bar so high that no one, who wasn’t Justin, could ever manage to leap over it. And even he’d struggled to make that jump sometimes.

You zoned out as the boys began talking about their latest D&D campaign in front of you, your eyes drawn to the sight of Steve out on the field with the team. He stood, surrounded by boys in baseball pants and white shirts with green stripes. And god he looked good, fitted jeans that showed off the muscles in his strong thighs, a moss green short sleeved shirt, his rounded biceps peeking out from the hem as he leaned forward, hands on his knees to talk to the kids. A baseball cap sat on his head and she didn’t know what it was but you loved him in a ballcap, all those beautiful locks spilling out from underneath.

It was difficult to wrap your head around the fact that it had only been two weeks since you'd both been brave to utter those three little words, three little words with an impact big enough to change the trajectory of your lives. Two weeks of you feeling like you were walking on air, like nothing could possibly go wrong, floating in your own little bubble of bliss. It felt like so much longer. You couldn’t even remember what your life had been like before Steve had become a part of it, the endless days of just trying to make it through, and you didn’t want to.

The two of you had spent nearly every night together since that moment on the beach, much to the boy’s excitement. Not sleeping over, that was still something you were trying to move slowly with for the boys’ sake, particularly Eli. Steve had been incredibly understanding about you wanting to wait a bit before you took that step. But almost every evening the four of you ate dinner together, sometimes at your house, sometimes at his. You played board games, watched movies, went for a walk down to the local ice cream place or rode your bikes over to the park for the boys to play.

Steve had surprised you twice at work, showing up with lunch for the two of you. Dustin, Mike, Lucas, and Will had invited the boys over one night for D&D last week and Robin had offered to take them to a movie last night to allow Steve and you some alone time. It was incredible. You hadn’t just gained Steve but an entire village of people who just showed up and were there, ready to help at a moment’s notice, and you were so thankful for every single one of them. You'd never had anyone but Janice and Matt and having so many people who were willing to pitch in, who enjoyed your kid enough to want to spend time with him, well it meant more to you than you could possibly express to them.

Your attention on Steve broke with an elbow to your side. Looking over, you found Janice grinning wickedly at you, “What were you thinking about, huh?”

“Probably last night,” teased Robin. “I took the boys to a movie so she and Steve were all alone. Replaying the highlight reel of naked time in your mind?”

“Eww! Can we not?” Mike asked.

“Oh please.” Robin rolled her eyes. “Maybe I had to censor myself when you were thirteen but you’re twenty-six now. I think you can handle knowing how babies are made.”

“Babies? I didn’t know we were talking about babies.” El’s face lit up. “Are you going to have a baby? Oh, I miss babies. Jeremiah was such a cute little baby.”

“No one is talking about babies,” you replied, noticing how stiff Judith’s posture had suddenly gotten. She was only sitting a couple rows in front of you and there was no doubt she was listening to every word being spoken, stocking up ammunition for later. You did not need that woman to have one more reason to come at you. “Jeez. You guys are being ridiculous.”

“Not yet anyway,” teased Nancy, turning around. “But I heard the ‘l’ word has been spoken so you never know…”

“Oh my god!” Max shrieked, spinning completely around in her seat, Judith doing the same, her eyes shooting daggers at you. You braced yourself but Judith quickly spun back around as Max continued gushing. “Are you serious? You’re using the love word? I knew you were in love. You got all red faced at the coffee shop that night when the word was even mentioned.”

“When’s the wedding?” Lucas wiggled his eyebrows. “Because I look like a million bucks in a tux and the way Dustin is going, I might never get to be in another wedding if you two don’t tie the knot.”

“Hey! I will have you know that Heather and I are going on our third date tomorrow night,” Dustin stated, folding his arms.

“Ohhh…” Will crooned. “You convinced her to go out with you a third time? What’d you bribe her with? Oh, or is it blackmail? You got something juicy on her that she doesn’t want revealed?”

Dustin chucked a piece of popcorn at him and Will caught it in his mouth, grinning triumphantly as he chewed. Dustin shook his head in disgust.

“I don’t think Dustin needs bribery or blackmail. Heather has been talking about him nonstop at the office,” you told them, sending a wink Dustin’s way. “She really likes you. She said she had a blast at the Science Museum with you last week.”

“Oh yeah? I had a lot of fun too. What else has she said about me?”

“Hmm. Let me think,” you taunted, tapping your finger against your chin, relieved to be talking about someone that wasn’t you with Judith sitting and listening like a hawk. “That you’re adorable and funny. She thinks you have the best smile. She told me you’re one of the nicest guys she’s ever met and that you’re super smart. She says your big brain is one of the sexiest things about you.”

Mike, Lucas, and Will began gagging on cue, perfectly synced as if they’d rehearsed it first. Dustin glared at them all but you could see how pleased he was at the information you'd just relayed to him. And it was all true. You'd been teasing Heather all week about what a smitten little kitten she was. They were awfully cute together.

“And speaking of new romance,” you sang, bopping your elbow into Robin’s side. “How goes it with the lovely June?”

Robin’s face flushed a brilliant shade of scarlett. She grabbed onto a piece of her hair, toying with it, a coy smile lifting the corners of her mouth. Clearly Heather wasn’t the only smitten kitten around here.

“June?” came Judith’s voice loudly. “That’s a very strange name for a man.”

“Well, that would be because June is, in fact, a woman,” Dustin stated.

Judith made a sound like a throttled gasp, her eyes going wide, “A woman? So…you’re…one of those…?”

“One of what exactly?” challenged Max, leaning forward, elbows on her knees. “A human? A woman? An American? An Earthling? What exactlt are you asking, Judith?”

Your hands clenched at your sides, bracing yourself for an ugly scene. A scene that could destroy this beautiful thing that had been building around you. Why would any of them want you to be a part of their lives when that would mean this awful woman would be a part of it too? Judith’s mouth went tight at Max’s confrontation and you braced yourself, waiting for the nasty thing that was about to come out of her mouth.

But Judith simply stated, “Never mind. It’s none of my concern,” and turned back around. Huh. She must have realized she was outnumbered and didn’t like her odds.

“So anyway, back to the matter at hand,” Max said loudly, turning to Robin.

“Yes, we’re all dying to know,” Karen exclaimed, leaning into Robin. “Are there sparks?”

“I wouldn’t say sparks…” Robin began and when they all looked crestfallen, she grinned. “More like massive explosions that could level an entire city.” She giggled. “She’s amazing. I mean, we went to the movies and it was fun, but you can’t really talk much at the movies.”

Nolan snorted, “You? You talk through movies all the time.”

“With you guys,” she huffed. “But she doesn't even know me yet. Not really. I didn’t want to give her the full dose of how neurotic I am right out of the gate. I have to give her small doses until she’s just acclimated to it and doesn’t realize the extent of my craziness. Anyway, I thought that would be the end of it. You know? I told you guys it went well but I didn’t really expect anything to come of it. Then she called and asked if I wanted to go to dinner. So we went out Tuesday night again and we were sitting in the restaurant for six hours! Six hours! Can you believe it?”

“What in the hell do you do in a restaurant for six hours?” Hopper huffed. “I mean, after you eat what else is there?” Joyce swatted him and he looked over at her, bewildered. “What?”

“Just because you have no conversational skills doesn’t mean others don’t. They were obviously talking.”

“I have conversational skills. I am very eloquent with my words, thank you very much.” He grinned when you all laughed because nothing about this bear of a man screamed eloquent. “But six hours? What could you possibly have to talk about for six hours?”

“Everything,” Robin sighed dreamily. “She was asking me all kinds of questions and she didn’t even seem to mind when I rambled. She said she thought it was cute! Can you believe it? And I learned so much about her. She loves cats. She has two of them, Hoggle and Ludo.”

“What kinds of names are those?” Judith piped up and you fought the urge to throw one of your M&Ms at the back of her head. Hadn’t the woman said enough already? Why couldn’t she just shut up?

“She’s a Labyrinth fan!” you squealed, choosing to ignore your mother-in-law completely instead. “Great taste in movies.”

“Yes! And music…she loves Blondie, Bowie, the Beatles…”

“All solid choices,” Joyce replied.

“I don’t know,” Hopper mused. “I didn’t hear any Zeppelin or Stones mentioned.”

“You’re showing your age, Hop,” Will teased.

“The game is starting,” Judith interrupted loudly. “So maybe the inappropriate talk about love lives could finish now.”

“Damn, she’s really not any fun is she?” Robin hissed in your ear.

“You have no idea,” you mumbled back with a groan. You had to keep reminding yourself that Judith was Eli’s grandmother. No matter how frustrating she was, you were going to have to deal with her but only as much as absolutely necessary. Hopefully she would just head home after the game and save you all from her unwanted presence any longer.

The game went far better than you had expected for it being the boys’ first time. Eli actually managed to hit the ball and made it all the way to third before the other team’s player managed to throw it in. Matt may have cheered the loudest, jumping out of his seat, proud of the kid he’d spent so much time in the batting cages with.

Matt’s cheering had not come as a surprise but the way the rest of them all cheered for your son did. It wasn’t just a casual, yay Eli, an obligatory cheer because their friend was dating the kid’s mom. They seemed genuinely excited, celebrating his moments of glory just as loudly and proudly as they did Jeremiah’s. When Jeremiah ran into home, breaking the tie and winning the game, you leapt from your seat, you and Nancy high fiving and hugging, two moms sharing your pride in your boys.

Both boys came racing off the field, their cheeks bright red, flushed from both the excitement and the exertion. They were swept up in a flurry of hugs and high fives from the crowd of people who had shown up just for them.

“You boys were amazing!” Hopper yelled, pulling both boys in for a bear hug. Yeah, you could definitely see where Dustin got Smokey the Bear from this guy.

“Did you see me slide right into home, grandpa? I saw that kid grab it but I just knew I had time! Daddy says to take chances!” Jeremiah beamed, the smile on his face so wide it looked painful.

“I saw it, kid. You did real good. You took the chance and it paid off. You’re going to be the next Barry Bonds, just watch. And you!” He turned his attention to Eli, his massive hand ruffling her son’s hair. “That was a hell of a hit, kid. Making it all the way to third before they could get it. You gave them a run for their money. They were scrambling after that ball.”

Eli looked so proud that your heart could burst. Judith stepped forward. She’d been keeping to the outside of the group, clearly uncomfortable, uncertain how to make herself known. You had no doubt it was killing her to see Eli receiving so much positive attention from so many people that were not her. To see that he had other people in his life that were important to him, to not be the first person that had congratulated him on his game.

Just as she stepped forward and Eli spotted her, running into her arms for a hug, Steve was making his way over from the diamond, a large bag slung over his shoulder. When his eyes found yours, he gave you one of those smiles that came with a side of a very flirty wink that he seemed to reserve just for you.

“Good game, huh?” he commented, a quick kiss planted on your lips. “The boys did a great job.”

“That’s because they have a great coach,” you replied, your arms slipping around his stomach, smiling up at this man who always had you in a state of complete awe.

“Everybody still up for burgers and shakes at Benny’s?” Hopper boomed out over the cacophony of noise.

You glanced over to Judith who was purposefully keeping her eyes off of you and Steve. You really didn’t want to invite her but it would be the right thing to do. She’d driven all this way for the game.

“Judith, would you like to join us?” you asked, keeping your arms firmly locked around Steve because who cared what Judith thought. You had made it clear to her that this new future with Steve did not erase your past with Justin. The woman was just going to have to get used to it.

“Oh. I…no, I don’t think so.” She shook her head. “Henry is supposed to be getting back this evening and he’ll need dinner.” She looked around to the others, feeling the need to explain, “Work trip.”

Yeah. Henry had an awful lot of work trips. Justin had confided in you that he wasn’t so sure they were all for work but he could never prove it. And Judith chose to go through life blissfully unaware. As far as you knew, you'd never confronted him or questioned him. But the two of them had never exactly been the warm and fuzzy couple. There weren’t those moments of tender touches or warm glances ever. Their relationship seemed more like a business transaction, something that was mutually beneficial to them both.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah grandma. Benny’s has the best shakes!”

Jeremiah nodded his agreement. “Eli and I both love strawberry! And Benny always brings me ranch to dip my fries in.”

“Oh, that’s nice.” Judith smiled down at the boy, seeming surprised that he was taking the time to talk to her. She jumped when Joyce came up next to her, placing an arm around her shoulders.

“Come on Judes.” You brought your hand to your mouth to cover the snort that had slipped out at Joyce’s choice of nickname. Robin clearly found it just as amusing as she shoved her face into El’s shoulder, her body shaking with laughter. “It’ll be fun. And if these two crazy kids are going to be doing the family thing, then that means we all need to do the family thing, right?”

“Yeah, Judes,” Max agreed, grinning as if this were the best moment of her life. “We’re all one big happy family now. We all love Eli and he loves us. Right, kid?”

Eli leapt from the ground as he proudly exclaimed, “Yeah!” He turned to Judith. “Dustin and Mike and Will and Lucas all play this really cool game called Dungeons and Dragons and they’re teaching me all about it. And Robin took us to see this movie, First Kid. It’s about this kid who is the president’s son and he has a bodyguard. It’s so funny and she got us popcorn and Skittles because she says Skittles are the superior candy. And Max is teaching me how to skateboard! I fell off a couple times but I’m starting to get the hang of it. She says I’ll be a pro by the end of summer. And El came over and helped us make slime when we spent the night with Nancy and Jonathan. They let us stay up until midnight and we got to do s’mores over the fire in their backyard. It was so cool. And Hopper let us ride in his police car! He even turned on the lights and the siren for us and he brought us one of those pads to do fingerprints! And Joyce makes the best spaghetti. We went to her house for dinner and Will is an artist and he showed us all these cool things he drew when he was just our age!”

Judith looked a bit taken aback as Eli kept rambling, caught off guard at how large a part of his life each of these people were now. You almost felt sorry for her, the sadness in her eyes, knowing how she wished she was closer so she could be a bigger part of Eli’s life. Almost but not quite because the woman was her own worst enemy.

“I don’t know. Henry…”

“Is a grown man who can fend for himself,” you reminded her. “He’s fifty-six Judith. The man should know how to at least make a sandwich.”

Judith’s hands wrung together, an internal battle playing over her face. Damn. Was she really that programmed by that man or was her uncertainty coming from all the new people, the fact that she would be the one outside looking in instead of at the center of it all?

“Come on. It will be fun,” Karen urged. “My husband, Tedd, isn't here either. We’ll be two crazy ladies without their husbands. I mean, who needs them anyway, right?”

Judith laughed, her hand flying to her mouth, eyes going wide as if she couldn’t believe she’d just done that. You pressed your lips together in amusement. So there was a woman desperate for fun in there just waiting to break free. You could see it in the sparkle of those ocean blue eyes, so much like her son’s.

“Are you sure you want me to come?” she asked, the question directed at you.

You smiled, stepping forward, placing your arm around Judith’s shoulders, “Of course I do.”

Maybe this could work out after all. Maybe Judith wasn’t as awful as she seemed. Perhaps all that bluster and rudeness came from a place of deep fear. Fear not that her son would be forgotten, but that she would. Fear that you would move on and in turn, so would Eli, and she would be left with nothing after losing her only child besides a husband that was more boring than watching paint dry. Perhaps all of this had simply been because no one but Justin had ever really thought she mattered.

Judith’s mouth lifted at the corners, her entire demeanor changing with that subtle smile. It made her appear far more approachable and soft. She nodded.

“Okay. I haven’t had a milkshake in years. Do they have malts? Oh, malts were my favorite.”

“Mine too!” Hopper bellowed. “And you won’t find a better malt than Benny’s. Come on. You can ride with us old folks.” He pulled his keys from his pocket.

“Oh! That's quite alright. I don’t want to inconvenience you. Then you would have to bring me back here. I have my own car if you just want to tell me how to get there.”

“Nonsense!” Joyce looped her arm in Judith’s, tossing you a wink. “You are not an inconvenience. Us grandmas have to stick together. Come on. We’ll let the young ones be. We’ll have plenty of time to tell you all sorts of juicy stories about Steve this way.”

Steve groaned, his head rolling around his shoulders, “Or not!”

“You’ll love this one, Judith,” Karen laughed, taking her other arm as they led her toward the parking lot. “One time I found Steve climbing up the trellis of our house to sneak and see Nancy…”

“Great,” muttered Steve as their words faded, shaking his head. “Your mother-in-law is never going to like me once those three fill her head with every screw up I’ve ever made.”

“It doesn’t matter if she likes you,” you reminded him, rising up to your tiptoes to press your lips to his. “Because I do.”

“Besides, she’ll figure out for herself what a dingus you are before too long,” Robin snorted, yelping when Steve shoved her backward.

“So, how do you think this is going to go?” asked Janice who had always chosen to keep her distance. After one meeting with Judith, Janice preferred to not deal with her at all if she could, always saying she was going to open her mouth and piss the woman off if she said one more negative thing about you in front of her.

“With Judith…who knows…”

___________________________________________________________

But it went far better than Steve could have possibly imagined. He’d pictured Judith sitting there stiffly, staring them all down as she judged every single word they said. Or possibly offending every single person at the table with her words at some point. Or announcing to the entire table why Steve shouldn’t be with you. However, none of that happened.

Sitting between Karen and Joyce, the woman had loosened. As if the two others had slowly unraveled the strings that had been knotting her up for years and she could finally breathe. She smiled. She even laughed. And even though he’d only known her a very short time, it had even shocked him to see. He hadn’t been sure the woman was capable of frivolity of any kind. Forget actually enjoying anything.

And the best part of it was that you seemed to finally be relaxed. You sat at the other end of the table, Steve on one side of you and Janice on the other, keeping your distance from Judith. But every now and then you would look down at the woman and smile. Your two worlds were coming together and it wasn’t the horrendous clash you’d expected. They were actually appearing to meld quite seamlessly.

By the time dinner was over, everyone was heading out full and in good spirits. Judith had even smiled politely when Robin asked if Steve and you would want to double date with her and June soon. She swallowed down any bullshit bias she had. If she was going to be ignorant, at least she was following the golden rule and keeping her damn mouth shut if she had nothing nice to say.

After saying your goodbyes, Steve drove you and the boys back to his house. You fed Miles while Steve headed out back to get a fire going. The boys raced upstairs to play on the Nintendo 64 for a while. You stepped onto the back deck, sliding the door shut after Miles raced out behind her, instantly doing zoomies throughout the yard.

God, you were pretty. Even weeks after meeting, he still found himself in awe of you. Jeans that wrapped around each and every curve in a way that had his hands twitching at his sides, wanting to follow those familiar hills and valleys. You hated shoes and socks, lost them as soon as you could, something he’d learned about you over the past weeks, so bare pink toes peeked out from beneath the flared denim. The Bowie shirt you wore was cropped, a sliver of your soft stomach exposed. Your hair was up in a high ponytail, only accentuating your neck which was just calling to his mouth.

You tilted your head, those perfectly pink cotton candy lips pursing in a way that had him thinking so many thoughts that were not anywhere near the ballpark of holy. You were the most beautiful creature he had ever seen and he fought the urge to pinch himself, to prove these last weeks weren’t some fever dream that he was going to wake from.

“See something you like?” Your tone was light, playful, as he slowly made his way up onto the deck until he stood right in front of you.

“I most certainly do.” Fingers gripped your hips, tugging you into him until you could feel just how much he liked what he was seeing. “You have no idea the effect you have on me.”

“Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea right now,” you chuckled, hands tracing over his chest and shoulders to loop around his neck. “But sadly for you, there are children afoot so there is not much I can do about that at the moment.”

“You simply existing does it for me. You don’t have to do anything but appear, honey. That’s it. You laugh. You smile. You cross your legs. You tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. You take a sip of coffee. It all does it for me.”

“Yeah? Well, same for me. I swear I dreamed you into existence, Steve Harrington. I didn’t believe guys like you existed. I thought they were meant for storybooks and movies.”

Heat rushed over his cheeks at your compliment. “I’m no fairytale prince, honey but I promise to try to give you a happily ever after.”

Your teeth pulled at your bottom lip, your eyes widening just slightly at his words and he was doubting himself all over again. Should he not have said that? Was that pushy? But hadn’t you said forever? Hadn’t you said it just a couple weeks ago? That if you both were all in then you had to be planning on forever?

“Happily ever after? That sounds nice,” you murmured, pulling him in until your lips met, all his doubt vanishing like vapor on the air with your words.

His arms wound around you, lifting you up onto your toes, crushing your bodies together. You moaned softly, the sound swallowed by his lips, and his jeans felt painfully tight. You tasted just as sweet as you looked, chocolate milkshake met with cherry lip balm, a combination that had his head spinning.

Everything else ceased to exist for him when your lips were on his. Your tongue parted his lips, slipping along his own, and he couldn’t have told you what color the sky was or what month of the year it was. There was only you and him, locked in this moment that he wanted to make last until eternity. If this was how he would spend the rest of his days on this Earth, he could be okay with that.

But you did manage to think, pulling back, your lips now slick, curved into the prettiest smile, your eyes heavy with the desire that was racing under his skin. He wanted you. He always wanted you and with the boys, he never had you nearly enough. But the boys were right upstairs and he knew you couldn’t risk it. Those kids could be down and out the door before they even heard a sound.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” he asked, your questioning barreling through his brain fog. “You don’t have to thank me. I’ll kiss you anytime you want.”

“No,” you chuckled, swatting at him. “Thank you for today, for dealing with Judith. I know she’s…difficult. But I don’t know. She seemed a little different today. I have hope. It's a very small hope but hope that maybe she’s coming around. But I know she wasn’t very nice to you and the fact that you are willing to put up with her…I’m just really grateful because you don’t have to, you know.”

“Of course I do.” Steve slid his hand down your arm, locking your fingers together. He led you to the lounger, sitting and pulling you down in his lap. His nose traced your jaw, nuzzled into your hair. “She’s a part of your life and she’s a part of Eli’s life. If I want to be a part of your life then that means she’s part of mine too.”

“That’s…very kind of you.”

“No. It’s not.” He took your chin between his thumb and forefinger, turning your face to his. “Look. When I said I was all in, I meant it. I don’t get to be all in and then pick and choose what I am willing to handle. Anything that comes your way comes my way now too. Anything that’s heavy for you, you got me to help you carry it. Anything that’s hurting you, I will step in front of. That’s the deal. It’s not just you anymore. It’s us. We’re a team.”

“Okay coach,” you beamed, teasing but your eyes betrayed your lighthearted tone, shimmering with emotion at his words.

Wasn’t that what a relationship was supposed to be? Two people against the world? He loved this woman. He wanted to be in your life. He wanted to crawl inside your skin and live there the way you did in his. You had managed to slither your way inside. You were in the blood that ran through his veins, in every single beat of his heart, in the very cells that made up his skin.

Yeah. You came with baggage but who didn't? And he was more than willing to help you carry that load because you were more than worth it. You were everything he hadn’t even known he’d been searching for. He’d looked for so long, in all the wrong places, never knowing that the one that would finally fill in all those hollow places inside him already existed in the same town as him.

Maybe it was wrong, maybe it was an awful thing to think, but it felt like fate had brought you together. He was so sorry that your husband had died but maybe this was the course your lives had to take for you to find one another. He’d thought about what if he’d been first. What if he’d stumbled across you when you were out with your friends thirteen years ago? It had made him feel like an absolute piece of shit, but he couldn’t help but wonder what life would be like if he’d been the one.

But then there would be no Jeremiah. There would be no Eli. You wouldn’t have known the love she already had with your husband. He wouldn’t have gotten the thump on his head that he needed for him to see you, truly see you, to understand how lucky he was to have you. Maybe the two of you had to go through all that heartache and disappointment to come to this place, where you could truly appreciate what you had. So you would never take it for granted, never throw it away, or treat it carelessly.

So yeah. Maybe Steve hadn’t been your first but he had every intention of being your last. Your last boyfriend, your last love, your last kiss, your last everything. Because he’d chosen wrong so many times before, yes, but he hadn’t this time. He knew it like he knew his own name, like he knew the sun would rise tomorrow, like he knew the beat of his son's heart. He’d chosen right this time and there was nothing that would make him walk away. He would spend the rest of his life showing you just how much you meant to him. He would never take for granted this amazing gift that had somehow walked right onto his baseball field and into his life.

“So, can I ask…I think you were going to tell me that day at the lake but we got a little sidetracked. What is the deal with you and Judith?”

Your head tipped back, eyes tracking the stars as you inhaled deeply, “I don’t know. There was never a specific moment or an event. It’s not like we had a falling out. She’s just always been like that with me. From the moment Justin introduced me to her, she treated me like I just wasn’t good enough. I was never enough for her precious son, you know?”

Steve snorted, “She’s nuts. Has she met you?”

“You’re sweet but I don’t think there’s anything I could ever do that would be enough for her. She always wanted to be the most important to him and I feel like she saw me as a threat. I mean, it’s insane. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work? You raise your son to be a good man. You hope they find someone who will see that and love them. They choose their person and that person should come first. I mean, it’s the logical order of things. But she never saw it like that. It was like she always had to find a flaw in me to prove that she was better, that she loved Justin more, that his love for her outshone his love for me.”

“Did he…”

“No.” You cut him off, shaking your head. “No. Absolutely not. He took off as soon as he could. That’s why he joined the Marines, to get away from her. He told me he felt like she was smothering him and he couldn't breathe in that house anymore. He also didn’t have the best relationship with his dad. I think Henry cheats on Judith all the time. I’m pretty sure that’s why he goes on so many ‘business trips…’” You air quoted the words. “I think they’re far more pleasure than business. Justin thought so too. He just had to get away from it.”

“Well, I understand the need to get away from toxic parents. Mine weren’t smothering…quite the opposite actually. They just were indifferent unless I was disappointing them. Did you two even see her very much if their relationship wasn’t the best?”

“Not really.” Your fingers trailed along his hand, running over his knuckles. “Holidays, birthdays…you know, the required stuff. But she would be Judith and Henry, well, when he was actually there, he would pick apart Justin. He thought he was a waste, going into the military instead of going to college. Justin was always in a horrible mood when we left. He would put off seeing them for as long as he could.”

“What about Eli? Did they want to be around when he came along?”

“Oh yeah. Well, Judith did anyway. Saw him as her second chance at getting someone to love her best. But Justin kept her at arm’s length as much as he could. He hated seeing what having her around did to me. She questioned everything I did, judged me, picked me apart. She always made me feel like an awful mother. When Eli was first learning to walk, he fell. You know how they are at that age. Their heads are too big for their bodies and they’re like a weeble wobble. He fell and smashed his forehead into the corner of the wall. He had a huge goose egg and I was panicked that he had a serious brain injury. We took him to the E.R. Judith showed up and immediately started telling me what an incompetent mother I was, questioning what I’d been doing when he fell, why I wasn’t watching him. Justin lost it. He blew up at her right in the middle of the hospital. That was the moment he told her that if she couldn’t respect his wife and the mother of his child, then she was no longer welcome to be a part of our lives. I’ve never seen her so put in her place. She had no idea how to respond. Anyway, we didn’t hear from her for about a month after that. It was a bit better then but things with her and I have always been a bit…precarious.”

“Jesus. She sounds awful. And she’s clearly no fan of mine but that’s alright. I don’t need to impress her. The only person I care about impressing is you.” He wiggled his eyebrows, planting a soft kiss on your lips.

“Oh, I am very impressed Mr. Harrington. Very impressed,” you mused, your arms winding around his neck, nose nuzzling gently over his own.

Steve was overcome with the desire to keep you there, to never let you go. Every night, when he would have to gather his things or watch you gather yours, it left him with a hollow ache. Maybe it was soon but who decided how soon was too soon? Was it too soon when all he could think about when you weren't around was seeing you again? Was it too soon when he laid in bed, inhaling the scent of vanilla and pear that you left behind, craving the warmth of your body curled into his?

“Stay,” he whispered, a plea sent on his breath to your skin, his nose tracing your cheek.

“What?”

“Stay. Stay the night with me.” His fingers wrapped around your biceps, holding you against him, willing you to agree. “I know why you’ve wanted to wait. I understand your reasons but your reasons aren’t really reasons anymore.”

“Steve…”

He was losing you. You were going to rationalize your way out of this and he couldn’t let you. He was overcome with an irrational need to get you to stay, to sleep curled up in his arms, to cement the decision that you were real, that this was it. That he was enough for you. That you wanted this as much as he did. He was pushing and he knew it but he couldn’t stop himself. He needed to know. He was in so deep here. He needed to know that you were in it too, barely keeping your head above water, sinking into the depths with him.

“No. Look, the whole reason you wanted to wait was because you didn’t want Eli getting his hopes up just for this to all end. You didn’t want him to see this as serious with him already assuming things. But this is serious and this isn’t ending. Right?”

“I mean, I don’t plan on it but…”

“No. No buts,” he insisted, hands sliding down your arms to wrap around your hands, holding them against him. Bowing his head, he brought your knuckles to his lips, brushing a kiss over them. “This isn’t ending. I’m not going anywhere. Do you plan on going anywhere?”

“Well no…”

“So then why not?”

“I don’t know. I mean, do you really think it’s appropriate for us to share a bed with the boys in the house?”

“Did you share a bed with your husband when Eli was home?”

“That’s different and you know it.”

“Why? Because we’re not married? Marriage is a piece of paper, honey. It’s a piece of paper that doesn’t mean anything because it can be torn in half and discarded so easily. I love you. You love me. The boys want this to happen. I’m not saying let’s get down and dirty.” He grinned devilishly, his cheek running over yours. “Not that I don’t want to. But would it really be inappropriate to sleep in the same bed? When we move in together, we’ll be sharing a bed, right?”

You pulled back, a look of sheer anxiety across your face, “When we…when we move in together?”

“I mean, eventually, right? That would be the logical next step. It’s silly to keep two houses when we spend most of our time together. I mean, whenever we’re apart all I can think about is the next time I get to have you in my arms. I know it may seem soon but really, we’re the only ones who get to decide what soon is. And the way I feel about you, I know it got intense pretty fast but…”

His word died in his throat as he felt the shift in you. Your chest rose and fell rapidly against his, your heart beating a rapid tempo against his skin. Releasing your hands, he grabbed your face, attempting to get your eyes to focus on him. But they were glazed, wide, staring off into nothing as you descended into a full blown attack, an attack he’d caused.

“Hey, hey…you’re okay, baby. Look at me. Come on. Just breathe with me, honey,” he urged.

You were gasping, small little squeaking sounds emitting as you struggled to take in air. Jesus Christ. What had he done? Exactly what he’d sworn he wouldn’t do. He’d pushed you, ran up behind you and shoved you off the ledge before you were ready. And now you w were free falling as he ran underneath you, trying to catch you but failing.

“Shit! Baby, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You don’t have to spend the night. We’re not moving in together. It’s okay. I’m moving too fast. I do it all the time and I’m sorry. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Just breathe for me, please.”

But you wouldn’t. You couldn’t. He grabbed onto your hands again. They were ice cold. Your skin was damp, clammy, a sheen of sweat coating your forehead and upper lip. And then you were shaking, trembling and he grasped your arms, pulling your body against his but it wouldn’t stop as you wheezed.

This had gone on for too long. It wasn’t stopping. You weren't coming back down. Your breathing was only getting worse if that was even possible. He had to do something.

“Boys!” he screamed as he cradled your quivering body against him. “Call 911!”

Chapter 17

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targcrazies · 9 months

Text

Moonless, Dark Night. Pt. 3

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x OC!Strong (half Targaryen) Words: 3.6k+ Warnings: Violence and Graphic Descriptions, Emotional Distress, Mature (ish) themes, Mentions of Self-Harm and Su*cide, Adult Language, Incest.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

Sansa was shaken awake by Jace. For a moment, she struggled to recall where she was. Because back at home, she had her own chamber at the Hand’s Tower, a large bed instead of so many small ones. The air tasted like mold and sweat, unlike salt, and the nights were darker because the moon never found its way to her window. They were young, so young. Jace was barely seven, Sansa was ten. Yes, Laena and Laenor, both had passed, and they were at Driftmark.

“Someone’s stolen Vhagar!”

“What?” Sansa muttered, still incredibly sleepy. She realised that Baela, Rhaena, and Luke were already rushing out the door, sneaking out quietly. Jace pulled her to her feet, took her hand, and ran. She ran beside the younger boy, still failing to register what had transpired to cause such concern among them. How could someone steal Vhagar? Vhagar was so huge. The only way to steal the dragon would be to ride him. Who would bother claiming a dragon in the middle of the night?

“Aemond!” Sansa’s voice was loud, causing Jace to stop in his tracks and shush her, “Jace, it’s Aemond, he’s claimed Vhagar! He wasn’t in there, it must’ve been him” Sansa was then completely awake, happy at the thought of Aemond finally having what he’d desired so all this time.

“But, but that’s wrong!” Jace argued, “Vhagar was Aunt Laena’s, their mother’s. Rhaena was meant to claim her!”

“Dragons are not passed down to children, that is not how it works, Jace. A dragon belongs to the one who claims her.” Sansa reasoned with Jace, “You must stop them from getting into an unreasonable fight. I will alert your mother and the Queen.”

Jace nodded before running off and joining the rest. She first went to look for Rhaenyra, however, Rhaenyra was not in her bedchamber. She did not want to awaken her mother, but she did not want to meet the Queen on her own. She still made her way to the Queen’s chamber, hoping to find anyone who might be of help in this regard. Soon enough, she found one of the Cargyll twins, “Ser!” she called out to him, “Ser, could you, please, awaken the Queen?”

“Lady Strong, why are you roaming the castle so late at night?” He ran up to the child, kneeling before her.

“Aemond has claimed Vhagar and the others have rushed to detain him-”

“Others? Who are the others?” Ser Cargyll seemed alarmed, he knew he was in for quite the reprimanding later.

“Jace, Luke, and Uncle Daemon’s daughters. Oh, and Joffrey, too! He must’ve been the first to chase Aemond down, for I never saw him.”

“Where is Prince Aegon?” Ser Cargyll held the girl gently by her arms, “Do you know, Lady Strong?”

She remembered the tall, lanky boy in his bed, asleep on his stomach. “He never woke up!”

“Lady Strong, you’ve been the most brave. You may go back to bed, I shall take care of the rest.” He left her alone and ran downstairs. Sansa heard the door to the Queen’s chamber open, and she turned to greet her, to only find her older half-brother, Larys.

“I thought I heard you,” He muttered, “Your Grace, it’s just my sister.” He looked back inside, smiling.

The Queen exited the chamber, bending down to Sansa’s level, her hands placed affectionately upon the child’s shoulders, “Dearest, how come you’re up? Are you looking for your Mother?”

Sansa went on to describe what had happened, watching the blood leave the Queen’s face. Soon enough the whole castle had been awoken. The kids were escorted in, save for Aemond, who was carried inside. He was sat before the hearth, several Maesters crowding the boy. Sansa pushed past the men, to congratulate Aemond for having claimed the biggest Dragon of them all. The sight that followed was horrific, his eye was swollen shut, blood pouring endlessly. “Aemond!” she screamed, taking the boy's hands in hers and kneeling before him, “Aemond, who did this?” Sansa couldn’t think who could have pulled something so horrific. In her head, it was Vhagar who had hurt the boy so badly. But, where did Vhagar get a dagger from?

“It was one of the Strong boys," he hissed as one of the Maesters started dabbing his engorging wound with a brown, thick liquid, “It was Luke!” he spat venom with the name and Sansa’s blood ran cold. The Queen had arrived by then, wearing a dressier gown. She began to cry when she saw her son’s injury, attempting to gently push Sansa away. However, Aemond held on to her hand tight, refusing to budge. The Queen did not argue.

Much of what happened later was a blur to Sansa. Luke’s nose was broken, Jace's forehead bled profusely. Joffrey had cut his fingers, too. The girls were largely unharmed, just a few bruises here and there. Rhaenyra had returned by then, from a long walk. Daemon stood quietly by the door, watching the events unfold. Uncle Daemon must've accompanied Rhaenyra, she thought. She looked at the boys quietly, trying to soothe them with her eyes alone. Aemond released her hand, “Go to them if it pains you to see them hurt.”

“I want to be here, please.” Sansa pled, finding Aemond’s injury grave, deciding that he could do more with her support than the Velaryon boys. She took Aemond’s hands in hers, and though he didn’t hold hers anymore, he did not refuse her touch. The King came next, glowering, shouting interrogations at Aemond’s face. He did not wince once at the sight of his son having lost his eyes, his concerns regarding the maiming had somehow disappeared the moment Rhaenyra accused Aemond of having besmirched the boys’ and her name by implying their illegitimacy. She sat so close to Aemond that she could see his features harden, his jaw take form in his round face. The King then moved to Aegon, who somehow still seemed pretty clueless regarding what had happened. The King yelled at the older boy, questioning him where he had heard such obscene rumours, the boy looked at his mother, and Sansa turned her head back to find the Queen shaking her head softly.

"We know, Father. Everyone knows. Just look at them." Aegon’s words seemed to have knocked the anger out of the King, replacing every sentiment with deranged anguish. He then spoke as their father, their grandfather, their uncle; he pled for them to get along, to let go of all disputes and be family. He also made sure that the Velaryon boys’ status was never put to question, threatening to cut off anyone’s tongue who may speak ill of their birth. Princess Rhaenyra seemed pleased with the jurisdiction, thanking the King, addressing him as “Father”. However, the Queen was not happy with the outcome, she said through angry tears that a debt was to be paid. The King rejected his wife’s notion of taking out one of Luke’s eyes, hoping to walk away from the ordeal, for he felt like he had it all settled. Sansa felt thankful that her father had never treated her as secondary, despite having sons from his first wife, and loved her all the same as her brothers. No one had awoken her mother, she realised, her being ill must have been taken into account.

Sansa looked at Aemond, whispering, “I will speak to Luke, get him to apologise to you.”

“You won’t, Sansa. No apology can undo the maiming. I have lost an eye forever, do you know what it’s like?” he muttered quietly, “It’s like losing a father.”

Before Sansa could say anything, perhaps an apology, the Queen had grabbed the King’s dagger and lunged herself forward to take Luke’s eye. Rhaenyra wrestled the woman backward, and it looked like all she was trying to do was stop the Queen. Luke’s screams could be heard all over. Her uncle, Daemon, sprinted forward when he saw Cole ready to interject. The two mothers were muttering to each other things no one could make out, and when the Queen finally dropped the dagger, Daemon and Corlys stood beside Rhaenyra, watching her hand bleed like rain, creating a large pool underneath.

Aemond left Sansa’s side, walked around her to hold his mother, “Mother, do not mourn. It was a fair exchange. I might have lost an eye, but I gained a dragon. What’s an eye to a dragon?” She felt like he had changed in a matter of an hour. From a boy, he had begun to speak like a young man. Gaining his dragon gave him the kind of confidence one could never feign, she thought.

Sansa was sent to her Mother’s chamber for the night, quietly lying down beside her. She watched her mother’s face, quiet and peaceful. Her mother had become especially detached from the ongoings at court ever since her husband and Harwin died. Her health had taken a hit. Sansa was hopeful that she would recover soon. The Seven couldn’t be so unkind as to take her mother away from her.

When Lady Visenya Strong woke up the next morning and found her child asleep beside her, she enquired vociferously about what had gone so wrong. When informed, she requested to see Aemond herself. The Queen, despite efforts, could not convince Aemond to hold an audience, not even for his aunt. The Queen abashedly made apologies for her son’s lack of qualms but also reasoned that she did not want to be so harsh on the boy, given what had transpired the night before. Lady Visenya understood, nodded, and left with her daughter quietly. Then she visited Rhaenyra and the boys, making inquiries about her horrid cut. Rhaenyra hugged her aunt before wrapping her arms around Sansa. “I am not upset with you,” Rhaenyra quietly reassured the child, “You were very smart and very brave.” She faced her cousin, “Jace told me that it was your idea to awaken me, I am so sorry I was not there, dearest.” She looked up at her aunt, telling her that she was raising a lovely, intelligent child, before hugging Sansa again. Sansa looked at the three Velaryon boys, huddled together. They smiled at her, letting her know that they held nothing against her either.

The next time she saw Aemond was after a whole month had passed. He then wore a silk patch where his eye had been. Rhaenyra and her sons had left for Dragonstone for good. Rhaenyra wanted to bring Sansa with her, however, Sansa insisted that she wanted to be with her mother, whose health debilitated every day. When she saw Aemond, she carefully walked closer to him. She had gotten lonely. With the Velaryon boys gone, Aegon being mostly avoidant toward anything he couldn't ogle at, and Helaena preferring her solitude; Sansa had little to do than read. She enjoyed reading, but she also appreciated respite from it. Then, she had none.

“Aemond,” she called out to him, waiting for him to turn and face her. However, he only slowed his pace. “I haven’t met you in so long. I wanted to see you, every day, but the Queen said that you did not wish to see anyone.” Sansa had begun to walk with Aemond to catch up with him.

“Yes, I wished to be left alone. Why?” Aemond did not spare her a glance, continuing in his path.

“I was worried.” She replied, taken aback at his reservation, “Does it hurt?”

“It’s gotten better, so no.” He curtly replied, “Have you anything you’d like to ask? I am getting late for training.”

“No…” she looked down, somewhat struggling to match his steps, “Can I come and watch?”

“You can do whatever you like, I do not care.” That stopped Sansa in her tracks, watching him leave on his own, disappear from sight as he took a turn right. She had never felt more alone. People around her only died and left and she wondered why could she not do the same.

Aemond refused to speak to her at length, not meeting her eyes even when she tried. Her mother tried to speak to Aemond as well, “Dear nephew, how have you been? Oh, how you grow every day. Soon enough the ladies will be lining up! So handsome you are, my boy.” He was always cordial, but he never spoke any more than absolutely necessary. He once doted on his aunt, loved her attention. Then, he could not bother to speak to them. Soon enough, it was well understood by everyone that his refusal to speak to them stemmed from their being “Strongs”. Sansa’s heart broke, for she hadn’t hurt him, she hadn’t taken out his eye. She stayed kneeling before him the whole time, and held his hand as they tended to his wounds. Her heart sank every time Aemond saw her and pretended that nobody was there.

One morning, she was awoken by the Queen. It had been only eleven months since her father and brother had passed, and she dreaded the day the earth would have finished its course on it. The Queen took Sansa’s hands in hers, “My sweet child, the most awful has happened.” The Queen cried, “Lady Visenya has passed away, my dear, in her sleep.” before Sansa could even register what had transpired, she was hugged tightly by the King, who sobbed terribly at the loss of his only sister. Sansa could not find it in herself to cry or shed tears. She sat quietly. The Queen wrapped her mother for her funeral, and she quietly assisted. She was asked by the King to claim her late mother’s dragon, Verasys. When she walked up to Verasys, it seemed like the dragon had taken it upon himself to claim the child rather than the other way around. She secured herself in the saddle, and the dragon flew her to Dragonstone. Rhaenyra and the boys were already mounting their dragons to leave for the Red Keep when they found Sansa atop. Rhaenyra broke down in tears, held the child in her arms, and mourned the loss of her aunt. “Dearest, you must come back with us. I cannot let you live in that dreary place on your own. You must, must come back with us.” Jace, Luke, and Joff all insisted the same. Daemon picked Sansa up, observing the child’s face, “It’s a relief you look like her. How very dreary it would be otherwise.”

When they all returned and stood before the pyre, she could not find it in herself to command the dragon to burn her mother, her voice small voice. Daemon refused to put her down, carrying her the entire time. “I had to do this, too, sweet one. I know how difficult it is. But, dearest, you must.” Rhaenyra comforted. Daemon whispered to the child, "I had lost my mother too young to even understand. It never gets easier. We can only try to make things work with what little we have. It's alright, dearest, or at least, it shall be."

“Dracarys!” Her child-like voice sprung and Verasys followed the command, despite a certain halt in his gait. She watched her Mother’s pyre burn, unable to tear her eyes off. Rhaenyra later returned with her to her bedchamber, packing up all her belongings with the help of her maids. Sansa noticed Aemond standing by the door of her bedchamber, observing for a while before taking off. Soon enough, the Queen was escorted with her personal shield, Criston Cole.

“What is all this?” she inquired, “Where are you taking her?”

“To Dragonstone, your Grace.” Rhaenyra refused to look at the Queen, “I believe she should be under my care now that Aunt Visenya has passed. I don’t see any reason for the child to stay here on her own.”

“I do not understand. Sansa is under my direct care here, she is attended to at all times. How is she alone?”

Daemon rose from his place in the chair, “My sister wrote to us regularly, your Grace. Sansa has been mostly by herself ever since Rhaenyra and the boys left for Dragonstone. Prince Aegon now has his own... indulgences, Princess Helaena does not prefer the company of anybody as much, and my one-eyed nephew has forsaken his friend altogether. Sansa must come with us.”

The Queen’s face hardened, her lips pursed in a straight line, her one hand clutching the other, “The King will not allow it. He adores Sansa, I hardly believe he can tolerate another loss.”

“How is it loss? The child now has a dragon, she can see Father every week, if she desires so.” Rhaenyra held Sansa’s face gently, drinking her face in, “She will stay with me.”

The Queen had gone red in the face, “I must speak to the King before I can allow this.”

Daemon laughed sarcastically, “Allow? I mean no offence, your Grace, but who are you to allow me to bring in my niece under my care?”

“My Prince, you seem to forget that I am the child’s aunt, too. Sansa and Aemond were weaned by the same wet nurse. She grew up before me, she is like mine own daughter.”

“She has the blood of the dragon in her, not yours.” Daemon refused to spare the Queen any other explanation, expediting the process of packing then.

“Ser Criston, please alert my husband of my step-daughter and my brother-in-law’s intentions and escort him here right away.” Sansa was aware that were it a man, Daemon would have punched him to no end. Daemon only glared at the Queen and Rhaenyra refused to dignify her with a reaction.

The King came next, his body leaning against the support of his illustrious cane, “Rhaenyra, I know how you feel. After your mother’s death, Visenya was like a mother to you.” He began sympathetically, “I must urge you, however, to not remove Sansa from my care. Visenya left her in my- our- care.” He corrected himself when his wife shot him a subtle look.

“Father, do you know how lonely Sansa’s been here? Aunt Visenya wrote to me often and she told me that Sansa has not been happy here. Were it not for her health, I’d have brought both of them with me. Now that Aunt has passed, I believe that it would be in Sansa’s best interest to stay with me, Daemon, and the boys. At least, she’d have company.”

“You forget, Rhaenyra, that Sansa has Aemond and Helaena here, two children closer to her age than your sons.”

“My half-siblings are all wrapped up in their own antics, Aunt Visenya had expressed her concern regarding this, letter after letter, Father.” Rhaenyra took hold of Sansa’s shoulders, “Please, I implore you, do not fight me on this.”

“Of course, you always get your way.” The King muttered to himself, his face contorted in anger. Everyone knew what the King meant. Rhaenyra and Daemon had married shortly after Laenor Velaryon’s death, an event that had angered much of the Court. However, Sansa’s mother had dealt with the news differently, “Viserys should have allowed them to wed when Daemon asked for Rhaenyra’s hand. This was to happen, sooner or later.” "When did that happen, Mother?" Sansa was the most surprised at the prospect of her uncle and her cousin marrying. "You couldn't possibly remember, my love." Her mother smiled.

Rhaenyra sighed heavily, “Let me keep her with me for a few months then.”

“Specify.” The King commanded.

“Six,” Rhaenyra spoke, “She can spend the rest of the year here.”

“No, she spends a month with you, then returns indefinitely.”

“Brother, you’re being unreasonable-” Daemon interjected.

“I AM NOT BEING UNREASONABLE.” It was clear then that he had stopped speaking to them as kin, and then he spoke as their King, “Visenya died leaving Sansa in my care, and she will remain in MY CARE. Sansa can spend a month at Dragonstone, she might enjoy the change. But on the fourth of the next moon, I want her here. Your King commands it.” Sansa's eyes drifted off to find Aemond standing quietly by the door, uttering not a single word.

—

Sansa returned when she was commanded, being met with the King’s and the Queen’s embraces, Otto Hightower’s warm welcome, and Helaena’s and Aegon’s apologies for not having been more present. Aemond greeted her after she had freshened up, watching quietly as she put back her gowns in the cupboards.

“How was Dragonstone?” He finally asked.

“It was lovely. I had a great time.” She did not spare him a glance, carrying on with her task.

“I missed having you here.” His tone bore no emotion, he merely watched her move around comfortably in her own space. He had to admit that she seemed better-adjusted, self-affirmed even. He wondered what might have changed that for her.

“How come? You’ve barely spoken to me in almost a year.”

He remained quiet for a minute before he spoke, “I felt like you were on their side.”

“Their? Who are they?”

“You know, the Strong boys.” Aemond’s voice quivered as he spoke of them.

“They’re Velaryons, Aemond, not Strongs. Don’t let your father hear that. I’m sure he’d not like maiming his own son any further.” She walked up to him then, facing him, “Why would you make assumptions about me? Have I ever sided with them, unjustly, even when we all were together at Court?” Aemond remained quiet, refusing to answer, “I stayed by your side the whole time they stitched you up, yet you doubt my loyalty to you.”

“Are you loyal to me?” Aemond raised his eyebrows, looking at her closely.

“I suppose, but I’d really prefer you returning it.”

“You have my loyalty, Sansa.” He took off his eyepatch, revealing a hollow, dark socket where there was once a lilac eye.

She studied the scar, “It’s healed well, I see.”

“Mother made sure that the best Maesters in King’s Landing attended to it.” He admitted coyly.

“That reminds me, I do have something for you.” She opened a chest of her belongings, bringing over a small box to him, “Mother’s left me quite some dragons and gold. I took the liberty to buy something for the four of you. For Helaena, I bought breathable glass containers for her insects. For Aegon, leather boots. For Daeron, an armour. For you,” she opened the box, “This sapphire. It’s been coated with harmless metal, won’t affect your flesh. The portion not coated will be facing outward, for your benefit.”

Aemond took the stone in his hand, “Father would love this.”

“Aemond the Bejeweled.” Aemond thought she was making light of the situation, but when he looked at her, he found her to be smiling rather sincerely. He felt like hugging her but held himself back.

#game of thrones #hotd fanfic #house of the dragon fanfic #aemond targaryen x oc #aemond targaryen imagines #aemond targaryen smut #aemond one eye #aemond targaryen #aemond targaryen fanfics #aemond the kinslayer #aemond targaryen x cousin!reader #aemond targaryen x strong!reader #hotd imagine

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organicbabybattles · 1 year

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Round 1, Side A, Poll 8

Rebekah Jakobs-Hammerlock ( @wainwrightjakobshammerlock ) VS. Sawyer Hale ( @thewikiplayer )

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( art by wainwrightjakobshammerlock )

What is your baby's name? Pronouns?: Rebekah Jakobs-Hammerlock, she/her

Is your baby from a fandom or original?: Fandom - the Borderlands game series

How old is your baby?: 5 in my post canon alternate universe (7-8 years after Borderlands 3)

Tell us about your baby!: She's the testtube biological baby of Sir Hammerlock & Wainwright Jakobs (which basically means she could aim and shoot a pistol at the age of 4) and has 4 siblings (one of which is also an oc, but is an adoptive kid, and the rest are canon characters who got adopted). She has a big plushie collection (some knitted or sewn by Wainwright, some crocheted by Hammerlock, some being gifts from extended family or the Crimson raiders) and also fucked up eldritch powers beyond human comprehension bc her parents are abominations from beyond the veil (my Borderlands rewrite AU is a mess haha) which she primarily uses to teleport all over the house, causing an understandable amount of problems. Clay is her weird uncle and she loves him. She's kinda based off Wednesday Addams because autism. Also she is autistic, the nicest weirdgirl on Eden-6, swears an unusual amount for a 5 year old (being around Wainwright del Frisco Jakobs-Hammerlock will do that to you) and often swaps between her Edenian (space southern) and her Hermesian (space british) accents bc yknow. Just listen to her dads speak and you'll see.

Anything else you want to add?: (1) Most people call her Reb for short but Wainwright calls her Rebby because yes. (2) She eventually grows to inherit the Jakobs corporation and generally sorta girlbossify but that's extreme future timeskip stuff I don't talk abt often because I feel cringe about it. (3) Her name continues on the general theme of Jakobs related things having biblical symbolism - Rebekah is Jacob's mother in the book of Genesis (if i remember correctly). (3) Her voiceclaim is Lili Zanotto from Psychonauts :D (4) She calls Hammerlock "Papa" and Wainwright "Daddy"

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( art by thewikiplayer )

What is your baby's name? Pronouns?: sawyer hale, he/they/xe

Is your baby from a fandom or original?: completely original!! the universe name is "turnabout tech"

How old is your baby?: 16!!

Tell us about your baby!: [MOD NOTE: TW for father death]

sawyer hale is a kid who had a pretty hard knock life in a cyberpunk dystopia city. after deciding his dad kinda sucked, sawyer ran away and emancipated himself at 16 and moved into a different, nicer city and became a hermit for a while. afterwards, he proceeded to save the world twice; once he saved a cyberworld from the big bad capitalists and second he saved the universe from collapsing via terrible creature. as he goes through these adventures he learns how to be comfortable and happy with himself again.

also he destroyed his dad when he possessed a robot body. go kid!!

sawyer super loves tech but he gave it up for a while because Shitty Dad Ruining It For Him, but he eventually finds his passion again and makes phenomenal inventions. also he is the embodiment of Baby because all the adults around him want to scoop him up and carry him around for being a little issues boy with issues. they love singing and the arts in general, and they're very open-minded, which makes them a pretty good friend.

oh yeah all his adventures kinda messed up his biology so he's partially made of code now. and also has wings made of code. he can design them however he wants like retexturing game assets. YIPPIE!

Anything else you want to add?: I'M SO SORRY FOR THE PARAGRAPH. GODSPEED

#thewikiplayer #wainwritejakobshammerlock #round 1 #side a #organicbabybattles

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notesoncrocs · 1 year

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ms. worldwide 1: the passport

passport appreciation post!!

y'all have definitely overheard me being stressed over not having a valid passport one week out from my flight to cdmx. during finals week, not only did i become a (debatable and mediocre) expert on machines and how they learn, but i also became intimately familiar with mozart's violin concerto no. 3 because i was on hold with the number of the national passport center for hours. this was on me for not planning ahead and renewing it in time, but it came last thursday! hooray!

now i have a lot (like three) passports on hand. here's the story:

Passport #1

newest passport! 2023-2033.

wow, classic and timeless front cover. they switched things up with the design inside though: the first page with your id is thicker and like the card of a license, and the color scheme of the background of the rest of the pages is greener.

since i got this as an adult, this will last me 10 years, thank god. all the visa pages are blank; 0 countries visited with this one. i'll change this soon!

Passport #2

second passport! 2018-2023.

stunning cover, i feel like a real american when i hold this in my hands. i remember getting this summer after freshman year of high school (2018). i expected to use this more and go back to visit family in china more often, but the pandemic happened, so i'm going back to see them this summer on the new passport.

here are the stamps:

i used this passport for one trip to china in high school (2019) and my iap trip to europe (2023).

the french didn't stamp my passport as i went through the paris-cdg airport (maybe because i was coming from madrid and leaving for milan, which is considered "domestic" for eu reasons?). the shanghai-pudong airport gave me a stamp both for the date i entered (入) and the date i exited (出), while madrid-barajas gave me a stamp the day i entered and milan-malpensa gave me one the day i left (likely because they're both in the eu and traveling around the eu is simpler this way, and maybe the dates correspond to the day i need to leave the eu / the day i am allowed back in the eu?).

STATS:

3 visa pages used

3 countries gave me stamps

4 countries visited

2 trips from the us

Passport #3

third passport! 2014-2019.

graphic design is their passion. this passport has some cool and important features. first, my picture. say hello to renee from fifth grade:

i still remember taking this picture — it was at costco, because we went there to get photos printed, and i was so, so angry at my dad, to the point where it was difficult to get a decent picture of me. i don't remember why, but my mother says as a kid i would only get upset for good reasons, so i was probably right for it.

this passport is also important because it has my chinese visa, which i need to enter and stay in the country for a max of 90 days. i think generally, anyone from the u.s. going to china needs a visa from an embassy with very few exceptions (something like if you enter through hong kong or macau and stay only for a week or so), but they're good for 10 years. mine expires in 2027 so we're all good.

here are the stamps:

i used this passport for one trip to japan (2015) and maybe three trips to china? this is where things get confusing.

it seems like i entered shanghai-pvg 6/13/2014 and left 6/16/2014, but then reentered the country two days later on 6/18...? and then left for good 7/12/2014? there's no stamps anywhere to explain where i was 6/16-18, but for sure i was outside of china. i'm so confused. i have an aunt and uncle in the hong kong/shenzhen area, so maybe i went there for a couple days? does hong kong not have a stamp? (the political implications...jkjk)

i also think the japanese stamps are funny. they used stickers as well as stamps and have a qr code and extra slip of paper and everything. also cool that i can read and understand the kanji (which reads like traditional chinese to me) they use.

STATS:

3 visa pages used

2 countries gave me stamps

2 countries visited (+/- hong kong...?)

3 trips from the us

BONUS: Boston Public Library Passport

everyone should get this! it's so cute! saw it on @tumblasha's desk while they were packing and the next day, after missing the movie blackberry (don't worry we watched it the next day) @anas-bizarre-adventure and i walked into the public library in chinatown and got these passports and also a boston library card.

when you open it, this is what you see:

there's a table of contents of all the locations of the boston public library.

between each branch, they recommend a route for you via walking/T.

when you get there, they have a space for you to get a stamp (by going up to the desk and asking, they're really nice). also a place to sit down and take notes / doodle!

now when i go out into boston i have to carry this with me everywhere just in case we end up near a library location. me and ana were thinking of going through all the locations in a day! we'd learn a lot about the different neighborhoods and communities in boston and how the libraries help to serve each one.

passports — of all shapes, sizes, and kinds — are important. they help you prove that you are a person of some age who is allowed to be here, help you make it to your misti internship (in less than a week), your mother's apartment, and your grandparents' place, and help you travel the world. but some of them also encourage you to explore your own home and city. i'm excited to see the world this summer, both the world far away and the world very close to me. go passports!

#ms worldwide #love letter to passports #time to travel!#the boston library passport is my favorite one by far kjsdfkjfsd #so thankful to my parents for dealing with passport stuff all my life #anamp #dashac #actual ihouse

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bunnygirl678 · 3 months

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I just realized today is my late granny's birthday, so y'all are gonna get some fun facts about her

she was born in the 1910s (she was already almost 80 by the time i was born, so most of this is either from her stories or stories from various relatives)

she was half native american, her father was a wealthy merchant who fell in love, this was not super normal for the time so for my granny's protection he paid off the records keeper to change her birth cert.

her father was wealthy as i mentioned so she lived a posh life, (until the money ran out), when she was 17 she drove a fancy car into a ditch and she didn't drive again for the rest of her life (she may have been drunk) again this was the early 1900s

She was married to 7 or 8 different men (the number is fuzzy)

She had between 14-24 pregnancies, 13 of those made it to adulthood, the youngest of which is my father

my favorite photo of her is her two oldest daughters holding their babies and her holding my father, my father has nieces and nephews that are in fact older than him, they sarcastically call him uncle

she got into a bar fight and ended up hooking one of the guys in the holding cell up with her oldest daughter (they were married for 60ish years before he passed, great guy, he was older than my mother's father lmao)

her and my grandfather (and possibly some other relatives) used to go to ummmm those shows that are x rated, peep shows, i think they're called,

she firmly believed in fairies, (perfect timing with the whole walrus thing) and most things supernatural, a lot of my family has carried that on, myself included (maybe not fairies but ghosts and some other stuff like El Chupacabra)

she was an expert seamstress, all the grandkids have cool dolls she made us, still have mine

She and my grandfather were divorced and remarried 3 different times, they died married

ironically both my grandparents were raised wealthy but all of the money dried up before they were adults (i'm talking generational wealth)

She was very pious, church was important, but she also wasn't judgmental, had no problem with her gay grandkids (again this is hearsay she was extremely old by the time i knew her)

she drank a glass of whiskey a night (sometimes more lmao), she took it neat, lived to be in her 90s! she didn't smoke but my grandfather was a notorious chain smoker, he was in his late 80s when he died (2 months after her)

Extra fun fact, my grandfather was a code breaker during ww2, he wouldn't speak around this certain part of houston where there are a bunch of phone lines and power lines, like he would just go silent, when asked about it he'd say classified soooooo idk, he also believed in aliens something that rubbed off on a bunch of us, he had 2 kids with granny, and adopted one of hers who didn't find out she was adopted by him until his funeral, she thought he was her bio dad

ALSO they both died in a house that is still owned by family, i have 100% heard them talking in the room they died in, the dogs (new ones that weren't around for them i was a teen when they died) refuse to go in that room, and other people have reported hearing them or seeing things in the room

#bunny talks #rip granny happy 1XX bday #hope your ghost is having fun

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msookyspooky · 2 years

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Im watching The Lost Boys for the first time !! I wanna watch more horror movies, i only started watching the ones not for kids like last year sksksk so i have some catching up to do

And i think theres no one better to ask for recs than you spooky, so please send me your favorites !

Besides the scream franchise and, as of like yesterday, the first two Halloween movies i actually haven’t seen any big classics

I saw that AND Near Dark fuck yeah good for you!! You're getting a damn good head start lol Thanks for giving me this honor bc adgwadhfa I swear that's so nice of you 🥺🖤 Sadly, I really haven't found too many like Near Dark or Lost Boys. You could consider Fright Night or Vampires or Interview with a Vampire but imo they still don't have the same feel.

I'm elaborating on certain ones bc I think you'll really like them.

Cult Classic's with a decent following here on Tumblr so you can look at Fanart/fanfics afterwards:

- House of Wax (2005)

You'll like this one! Pretty decent sized fanbase here on tumblr, new content all the time even for it being almost 20 years old. Listen if you liked Severen in Near Dark...You'll probably like Bo cause not only do they look like they could be long lost cousins or brothers (I need a crossover that Severen is the Sinclair's like great-great-great Uncle or something and they run into each other while looking for food one night) and the Sinclair's got that thick Louisiana accent that's hot af especially if you thought Severen's Southern accent was hot 😏😤

Simping aside, the story is pretty good. It's a little morbid but in a good way, really great backstory for the villians and you know somethings off with this town right away. It also has Paris Hilton in it and Brian Van Holt plays both Bo and his twin brother Vincent. Oh, and Wade/the protagonist boyfriend is Sam from Supernatural.

- Jennifer's Body (2009)

- Ginger Snap's (2000)

- Texas Chainsaw Massacre

This one is different for everyone bc they made so many...So freaking many and none of them match up together. Not really, lmfao! I like the 2003 remake and 2006 remake prequel the best, then the original from the 70s, then 2 and 3 and 4 I lump together bc they are some campy wild as fuck rides. I laughed through most of them and then was mortified and then laughing again. It's truly peak camp horror. I personally dislike the newest one and the 3D one was *okay* but you can honestly pick and choose to watch any of them and it won't matter bc none of them relate to each other like they should. I would watch the original and the remake and whether you want to watch the remakes prequel in 2006 or number 2 onward etc is up to you!

- Childs Play & Bride of Chucky (1988 and 1998)

- Rob Zombies Halloween Remake

I think you should watch this one if you liked the original Halloween's it's a gritter remake and honestly this Michael scares me even more than the original. He's freaking like 7 feet tall. I have not watched Halloween Kills or any other newer ones with Jamie Lee Curtis and I need to! But I definitely think you should give this one a chance if you liked Halloween. If you ever see RZ Michael Myers on here in prompts or imagines; this is the Michael they're talking about.

- Evil Dead (1981)

*This one is a classic its as campy and gorey as it got for back then but be warned there's a SA scene you can skip where she goes out into the woods. When you see the vines wrap around her...SKIP. The rest is fine.*

- Fear Street (2021)

Honorable mentions that don't really have fandoms but should definitely be watched at least once:

- Pumpkinhead (1988)

It has Jesse from Near Dark/Lance Henrikson as the main character! I grew up with this one and it has that Appalachia horror vibe that's near and dear to my heart. It's about a man getting revenge for his dead son by a witch that lives deep in the mountainside. He pays her debt to summon a hellish demon to take revenge on the young adults that accidentally kill his little boy and leave him to die by the road but then Lance/ The Dad has to try and stop it when it goes too far.

- Tremors (1990)

- Night of the Demons (1988) *Flash Warning*

LMFAO my face when she stuck a lipstick tube through her... 'skin' 😦

I qoute this all the time 👹TeLL mE Im Preettyyy👹 lolol it's fun! Point blank, it is FUN! They were so dumb and decided "Let's open a portal to hell in an abandon funeral home on Halloween" 😃

- I Know What you did Last Summer

This isn't one of my favs bc Julie/the main character gets on my nerves so much. She is so fucking useless most of the movie...BBUUTTTT her friend Helen/Sarah Michelle Giler really makes up for it. It's very similar to Scream that they're being killed off one by one and have to figure out who it is before it's too late but it's not nearly as good as Scream imo. It was kind of a trend after Scream for movies like Valentine, IKWYDLS, Urban Legend etc to try and copy what Scream had and some are good! The Curve is an example! But none of them are Scream to me, not even close but It's worth a watch tho.

- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Yes, the movie 1992)

- Trick r Treat (2007)

- The Craft (1996)

- Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971)

- Salems Lot (It's getting a remake this year!!)

- House on Haunted Hill (1999)

- Ghostship (2002)

- The Skeleton Key (2005)

Horror Movies that are my favs that I found scary or creepy or were just that good:

- Pet Semetary (1989)

This is probably my all time favorite horror movie. It is so...Unnerving and eerie and gross without hardly any jump scares and zero cgi for the time. It's all just wonderful acting and special effects makeup and story telling. To this day as an adult, Rachel's sister in the bed makes me uneasy. Anything by Stephen King is usually good but this is by far my all time favorite. Other favorites by him are Carrie, Christine, Sleepwalkers, Firestarter, Children of the Corn, IT, Sometimes They Come Back, and The Shining just to name a few.

- Rosemary's Baby (1968)

- Orphan (2009)

DO NOT LOOK AT REVIEWS. I'D GIVE MY LEFT METAPHORICAL NUT TO REWATCH THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME ALL OVER AGAIN!! Don't ruin it for yourself! Just find it, watch it and enjoy

It's ggoooddd, even tho I've only watched it twice, that was something else.

- The Descent (2005)

I'm claustrophobic and yes whats in the cave is scary but she gets STUCK at one point and I couldn't breathe. I was biting my nails like it's scary but couldn't be me cause I'll never go cave diving ever never ever. The cave itself was scarier than the creature im js.

- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

- Us (2019)

- Suspiria (2018...I've never seen the original but it's on my list)

- The Others (2001)

- Jeepers Creepers (2001)

THIS ONE. It's probably going to be considered a classic in a few decades. It's this...THING stalking ppl for their body parts. It all could have been avoided if ppl minded there business in this case 🙃 They had the sister being the smart, brave one while the brother was more sensitive which was a nice change of pace for a horror movie

And they are the most realistic sibling duo I've ever seen in a movie too. No overly mushy, 'love you bro/love you sis' vibes. They call each other names but don't hesitate to save each other either while calling each other names. And did I mention the Thing/Creeper is scary af? I live near a cornfield. My parents would point to the sky and be like "OMFG WHAT IS THAT?!" KNOWING this thing terrified me and lil me was screaming and ready to windmill any demon coming from the sky or cornfield after me.

There might be a fandom for this but it's small if there is.

There's so many but I some are good, some are forgettable, some are downright out bad. I just tried to include ones like Scream or Near Dark or that I think you would like! Hope this helps and any followers feel free to drop any recommendations too!! 🖤

#i have ssooo many but these are just off the top of my head and with a quick google search on dates

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mr880fan · 10 months

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A Prayer for Our Kids to Follow Christ - Your Daily Prayer - July 22

A Prayer for Our Kids to Follow Christ By Kristine Brown “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6 ESV) Psalm 23 is a place I’ve turned to many times in my life when my heart ached, and I didn’t have words to say. Times when I longed for something only God could provide because the hurt cut deep, and nothing I did on my own would ease the pain. Somehow the psalmist David knew the words I would need. Each verse of Psalm 23 feels like it came straight from my longing heart. So when I turned to this familiar psalm the other day to read it again, God surprised me by bringing to mind something different. I expected to be drawn in by God’s promise to “restore my soul” like many other times. I also expected the truth, “he is with me,” to offer needed comfort. But with every line, I couldn’t focus on my own situation. Instead, I pictured the faces of my children. True to God’s nature, he revealed a new thing through something I’d read at least a hundred times. More than anything, I wanted my kids to know this same comfort. I wondered if they turn to Psalm 23 in times of trouble. If they know God “leads them in paths of righteousness” and prepares a table for them, right in front of their enemies. (Psalm 23:3,5) Do they understand the hope available to them? We want the best for our kids, and we know it’s our job to teach them about God and his love. So, how do we know we’ve done enough? It’s fun snuggling up with their favorite books about Jesus or watching them say sweet prayers before bedtime, but what about when they grow up? We want assurance that they will continue to follow Christ through their teens, young adult years, and beyond. It’s hard to rest knowing their spiritual choices are out of our control. But through the gift of praying for our children, God gives us a promise. He is faithful, and when it comes to our kids, that’s all the assurance we need. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 says, “But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.” Yes, our children will experience difficulty. There will be hard days when they will “walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” but we can speak the truth of Psalm 23 over their lives and ask God to be with them. Just as he has brought us through, he will do the same for them. God calls us as parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles to sow seeds of faith in our children’s lives. He encourages us to talk about him day and night. (Deuteronomy 6:7) However, without prayer, our efforts will be fruitless. Thankfully we can call upon God and pray for our children to follow him all the days of their lives. As we pray, let’s insert our children’s names. Let’s pray: Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for the love you have for my child. I can’t fathom the depth of your love, but because of your sacrifice, I know there is nothing more important to you than your children. You’ve made a way for my child to know you as Lord. You are a good Father. Forgive me for my mistakes as a parent. Forgive me for feeling like my efforts aren’t enough. You are in control, not me. You have good plans for my child. You are my “faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keeps his commandments, to a thousand generations…” (Deuteronomy 7:9) I pray the truth of Psalm 23 over my child today. I ask that you lead her beside still waters and also in paths of righteousness for your name’s sake. May she know you are with her, and that your rod and staff will comfort her. I pray your goodness and mercy will follow him all the days of his life, and that he will dwell in your house forever. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen. Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Liderina

For more spiritual growth resources, check out the 5-day email study Walking with Rahab by today’s devotion writer, Kristine Brown. You’ll find weekly encouragement to help you “become more than yourself through God’s Word” at her website, kristinebrown.net. Kristine is the author of the book, Cinched: Living with Unwavering Trust in an Unfailing God, and the companion workbook. Teach Us to Pray is a FREE prayer podcast hosted by iBelieve writer Christina Patterson. Each week, she gives you practical, real-life tips on how to grow your faith and relationship with God through the power of prayer. To listen to her episode on What to Pray in the Morning for a Worry-Free Day, click below!

Now that you've prayed, are you in need of someone to pray for YOU? Click the button below!

Visit iBelieve.com for more inspiring prayer content. Source link Read the full article

#christ #daily #faith #follow #for #gratitude #july #kids #our #prayer #uncategorized #your

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xoxo-teddybear · 3 years

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The Bakugou Kids - Bakugou Katsuki

(Dad)Bakugou x (Mom)f!reader

Warnings: Fluff, Crack, Cursing

Summary: Bakugou and Y/N love their son with their entire beings, but sometimes, parents need a break. Especially when those parents are responsible for creating a literal demon spawn. He is kind, well behaved, and cute of course! But he does have Bakugou blood in him. With Y/N already away on a girls trip, Bakugou has to find out how he’s going to deal with his (now) many, many kids.

A/N: You passed down your duplication quirk down to Katsuo.

BAKUGOU’S MASTERLIST

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” You asked your husband as you stood at the doorway. “Katsumi may be a calm baby but she’s still a baby. And Katsuo’s quirk just kicked in and it is mine. I would know how difficult it can be to manage.”

“Stop worrying, Babe. It’s just a duplication quirk. And he’s only 5, how powerful can it really be?”Katsuki said, wrapping his arms around you. “Just go on your little girl’s trip with Ponytail and Racoon Eyes. I can handle the brat.”

You looked at your husband with a raised brow and smile before rolling your eyes and giving him a kiss. “Alright then. I’ll see you in a few days!”

With that, you walked out of the house and into the cab to meet your friends at the resort. Katsuki chuckled before walking back into the house to find his son napping on the couch. His spiky, blonde locks were all messed up with bed head while his E/C eyes he inherited from you remained shut. Katsuki walked over to his newborn daughter and picked her up while he took a seat next to Katsuo’s sleeping form, rubbing at his soft hair until he woke up.

“Can’t be all that bad, right Katsumi?”

The baby girl merely cooed with sparkling ruby eyes that mimicked her father’s.

—

Wow. Wrong. He was so wrong! It had only been 2 days since your departure but things had already gone so wrong! When you said your quirk was difficult to manage, Katsuki thought it would be difficult for Katsuo to manage. Not him!

Katsuki should’ve known his son would’ve taken the opportunity to act out while his mother was away. He had always been your little angel while Katsuki saw him as his little gremlin. With Y/N gone, Katsuo has been pushing all kinds of limits. Limits that had Katsuki beat.

Katsuo had been fortunate enough to inherit a quirk. And not just any quirk, but your quirk. Duplication. Basically, he can create copies of himself. When you were his age, you could only create 4, max. Katsuo was different though. He had Bakugou blood flowing through him. He was advanced the second he was born. So now, Katsuki was stuck looking after Katsumi, Katsuo, and Katsuo’s 16 other copies.

“Aye! Number 15, you’re gonna break that lamp! 11 and 8! Don’t wrestle in the mud! Go take a bath! NUMBER 3 GET OFF THE KITCHEN ISLAND! KATSUMI!” The adult blond screamed, looking for his infant daughter, eventually finding her sleeping in her little rocker on the living room floor. “Oh right, you don’t talk yet.”

Katsuki sighed as he slumped down next to his daughter, and leaned his back against the couch. He looked around the room and saw the 17 Katsuo’s making a ruckus around the house. All he could do was question how the hell is 3 month old daughter could possibly sleep through all this.

Katsuki almost lost all hope for humanity until a knock was heard on his front door. Knowing exactly who was there, he quickly got up from his place on the floor and ran to the entrance. “You idiots are finally here!”

Katsuki pulled in his 3 friends, the boys of the Bakusquad, and slammed the door shut. The 3 friends all stood in shock at the sight of the house. Not that it was overly messy or anything. It’s just that there were about 16 more figures in the house that aren’t usually there.

“You gotta help me!” Katsuki said, running infront of them, shaking his best friend’s shoulders. “I love my kids! I do! I love Katsuo, I swear! BUT I DIDNT SIGN UP TO BE A FATHER OF 18 FREAKING DEVILS!”

“Okay! Okay, relax man. We’re here.” Kirishima said, patting his friend’s shoulder as he wept. “How the hell are we gonna take care of 17 little Bakugous?”

“Right? We thought 1 Kacchan was a lot. Then you brought another one into the world, who apparently brought some unannounced friends.” Kaminari joked.

“They’re demons!” Katsuki exclaimed. “This has to be some fucking Karma for the shit I did. I knew I should’ve listened to my old hag better. Now shits came back to bite me in the- HEY! PUT YOUR SISTER DOWN! SHE’S NOT A FOOTBALL!”

Katsuos number 7 and 5 placed a sleeping Katsumi back in her rocker with an annoyed pout before running off to play something else.

“Welllll, there’s nothing that 3 cool uncles can’t fix!” Sero enthusiastically said. “Hey kiddos! Who’s ready to have some fun?”

All the mini blondes stopped their movements, some freezing mid-air, and looked to the slim man. They all shouted in joy at the sight of their uncles and ran to pounce on the 3 men, including their father. From the point of view of the boys in the Bakusquad, it looked like a Bakugou stampede.

“Run, run, RUN, RUN, RUUUNN!!!!” Kaminari screamed as the boys all ran for their lives to escape the herd of Katsuos. This was going to be an interesting day.

—

Safe to say after the day had passed, the boys of the Bakusquad were completely exhausted. Sero had half his clothes torn, Kirishima’s hair fell from it’s great spikes and even lost some red hues, Katsuki’s eye bags had never been heavier, and Kaminari was just straight knocked the fuck out. They were all thrown across the couch as Katsumi rested in Katsuki’s arms.

“What do we do?” Kirishima exclaimed.

“I don’t know.” Katsuki said, looking at his scrambling son(s). “There’s just too many.”

“And we’ve already lost a soldier.” Sero said pointing to Kaminari’s sleeping form. Katsuki and Kirishima followed his gaze and bowed their heads in respect towards the defeated Kaminari.

“Well now what? Is Bakugou just supposed to live like this for the next 3 days?” Kirishima asked.

“Hell no. If I do, there’s not gonna be anymore Katsuki. I’ll just be some body without a soul because my damn gremlins sucked it outta’ me.” Katsuki said with his head dropped down.

“Well how do we get them to calm down?” Sero questioned.

“I don’t know. They’re all mini me’s. Nobody could get me to relax.” Katsuki said in defeat, but that’s when Kirishima had a lightbulb go off for him.

“Except for Y/N!” The red head said, popping up from his seat on the couch.

“Uh, if you haven’t noticed Shitty Hair, this all started because she’s away on her trip.” Katsuki said with sarcasm as he looked at his friend as if he was an idiot.

“I know that! But Y/N wasn’t the only one to tame you, Bakugou!” Kirishima said in excitement.

“So then who else?” Katsuki asked.

“You know,” Kirishima smirked. “Denki’s favorite person. Y/N and.........”

It took Katsuki a second before his eyes popped when he finally got it. “No!”

“Yes!” Kirishima said.

“No way! We’re not going to her!” Katsuki complained.

“Who?” Sero asked.

“Nobody!” Katsuki screamed.

“Oh it’s somebody alright! Somebody who was able to tame the beast in Bakugou the second he was born!” Kirishima said.

“Who?” Sero asked. Katsuki finally sighed before he gave in, realizing this was his only hope for sanity. He grabbed his phone and made a quick call before explaining to his dark-haired friend.

“The demon of all demons...”

—

The door opened to reveal a tall standing brunette and an elder feminine blonde.

“...My mother.”

—

The boys of the Bakusquad all sat lined up on the couch as Mitsuki stood at Katsuki’s end and smacked her son’s head.

“You idiots! Y/N leaves for 2 days and all hell breaks lose?!” Mitsuki screamed at the 3 young men.

“You old hag! Quit hitting me! Ima’ grown man for crying out loud!” Katsuki screamed as he rubbed his head. Masaru simply bounced the sleeping Katsumi in his arms as he watched the scene play out.

“Well if you’re such a grown man then why can’t you manage your own kids without your wife’s help?!” Mitsuki argued, leaving Katsuki silent as he grumbled. The eldest blonde sighed before continuing. “Alright listen, I’ll watch these little devils for the next few days until Y/N comes back. I’d love to spend some time with my grandbrats. Why don’t the 3 of you go take a break and-“

“THANKS! Let’s go losers!” Katsuki said dragging his friends to the exit. Mitsuki and Masaru only laughed at their son’s behavior as they began tending to the kids.

The boys of the Bakusquad all quickly walked out of the house and headed for their cars as they all walked together.

“So, where to?” Sero asked.

“We could go head up that new resort in Tokyo!” Kaminari suggested.

“Naahhh. That’s where Y/N’s having her girl’s trip. Wifey would kill me if she saw me there instead of at home with the kids.” Katsuki said with his hands in his pockets. Kirishima raised his brow at this.

“Oh? So then, maybe we should go back and-“

“You know, on second thought,” Katsuki said with wide eyes once Kirishima made the suggestion. He took his hands out of his pockets and placed them behind his friend’s backs to keep them moving. “Maybe she won’t kill me..if I’m lucky..and wish..upon a shooting star....a million times over. Hah.....yeah. TO THE RESORT!”

As they walked, Kaminari attempted to look at the house once more, prompting Katsuki to turn his friend’s head back around. “No, no, no, don’t look back, they can smell fear.”

1K notes · View notes

starlitmark · 2 years

Text

Pairing: dad!kino x mom!reader

Genre: smut, fluff

Rating: R 18+ MINORS DNI MATURE CONTENT AHEAD

Warnings: the kids refer to other adults as aunts/uncles with no blood relation, language

Smut Warnings: dry humping, mentions of exhibitionism, mentions of mirror sex, dirty talk, unprotected sex, breeding kink

Word Count: 2.4k

It was quite a common thing for all the members to have dinner together, and bring their families along. All of your kids running around enjoying their time together while you, Hyunggu, and the others enjoy relaxing for a little bit. Jinho and his wife had dismissed themselves to finish making dinner (his son had started complaining a few minutes ago that he was completely starved). It didn’t take long for your son to crawl into your lap in the midst of your conversation with Wooseok’s partner. You could hear your husband picking on his younger friend for being so panicked while holding his infant daughter still but pay it no mind in the end. Shinwon sits forward suddenly next to you making you jump and hold onto your son tighter.

“Babe,” he calls, “where are the boys? It's too quiet.”

“They’re probably playing with Daiyu, you know how much they love her.” she brushes it off.

Shinwon gets up and starts wandering around the house, “No, no, I know my sons, they’re up to something.”

“They better not be if my daughter is involved, she’s my perfect little angel, never does anything wrong.” Yanan gushes.

“Don’t lie, she’s 7 she’s a terror sometimes and you know it.” his wife calls from the kitchen.

Not much long later the food was finished and it still took a good ten more minutes to corral all the kids to the table. Wooseok carried his daughter as if she would fall through his arms at any given moment despite his partner saying she would be fine if he walked normally. As always, your son insisted on sitting between you and Hyunggu as if his life depended on it. It hadn’t even been 5 minutes of sitting at the table when Changgu’s son was crawling under the table and pretending to be a cat. Which, of course, made Changgu climb under the table trying to get him out instead of just calling him. There was never a dull moment at your group dinners. You’re 99% sure Shinwon’s twin boys switched clothes again to mess with him, you’d never ruin their fun though, you’re the “fun aunt” in their opinion because of it. Finally a moment of peace passed over the table and everyone was eating with rather calm conversations flowing in the air. Though, you should’ve known something was coming, between your husband, your friends, and all the kids something was bound to happen. That’s when you turn to your son and see the gears turning in his head.

“Where did Uncle Wooseok get the baby? Can I have a baby too?” he suddenly pipes up in his small voice, causing Wooseok to choke on his chicken, “And Jihoon has a little brother,” he references Hoetaek’s older boy, “Why can’t I have a sister? Can I have a sister mom?”

Now you hear your Hyunggu start to choke just when you need backup. You can feel yourself blush but smile at your son. Jinho struggles to stifle a laugh when he sees how flustered you both got and only stopped when his wife hit his arm lightly.

“Um, sweetie, that’s not really something you can choose. Ask your dad if you can have a sister.” you quickly deflect to your barely recovered husband.

Hyunggu gives you a look that could kill because of your statement. Your son however looks up at him with big sparkly eyes, full of hope.

“Maybe bud, mom and I need to talk about it first.” he keeps his answer short.

The rest of the meal passes by rather uneventfully somehow, though you won’t complain about it and you know no one else would either. Just as you start to gather your son’s things you hear three sets of excited feet running towards you. When you turn around you are faced with your son, but also Shinwon’s boys as well. You can already feel the question before it’s even said out loud. Luckily both Shinwon and his partner are right there too so there was no need to call them over.

“Can I sleep over with Sunghoon and Minjun? Please?” he begs, “It’s been so long.”

Hyunggu looks over at Shinwon who just shrugs, showing that he didn’t mind either way, “It’s fine with me, why don’t you go ask the boys’ dad.”

You smile seeing how all three of them light up at his agreement. They bolt off towards the couch where Shinwon was currently holding Wooseok’s baby. You can see all three of them practically vibrating with excitement. Your son bolts back a moment later asking for his things, which you quickly hand him, and he’s back off to play with the twins. Shinwon passes the infant to his partner before walking over to you both. There’s a teasing undertone to his smile and you have a feeling you know where it’s going.

“I’m doing you two a favor and I expect one in return, maybe of the same thing, rather soon. Have fun, not too much fun though.” he starts to walk back towards the couch, “Maybe even consider giving your son that sister he wants.” he teases as he walks fully away from you both.

You shake your head and don’t give him any response you’re sure he wanted. Hyunggu simply reaches past you to grab his coat, he brushes a kiss against the shell of your ear, his hand gently resting on your hip just to make his actions more clear. The feeling sent shivers down your spine and if any of your friends noticed it they didn’t say anything. Though, it was highly possible none of them saw it considering how preoccupied many of them were with their own things. You knew exactly what was on his mind by such a simple touch. But as if that small kiss wasn’t enough to tell you he whispers something before pulling away.

“I have an idea for what we should do when we get home.” his voice is raspy and has a very strong undercurrent of arousal, squeezing your hip for extra effect.

You let out a shaky breath and you know he’s smirking when he hears it. He shrugs on his jacket and helps you put yours on (your mind clearly clouded with other thoughts from his point of view). The both of you quickly bid goodbye to the others, before finding your son (who was playing with the twins and Hongseok’s daughter) and saying goodbye to him. He honestly couldn’t care though, he was much more excited to have a sleepover with his friends. With that, you were out of the house and on your way home.

The minute you’re in your doorway though, Hyunggu shuts the door as fast as he can and has you pinned against it in a heated kiss. You let out a slightly surprised noise but quickly bury your hands in his hair, and kiss him back. His hands start wandering from your hip down your thigh, bringing it up around his waist.

“It’s been so long since we’ve had the house to ourselves.” he mumbles against your lips, “I can fuck you as loud as I want without worrying about being interrupted. God,” he sighs, pressing his erection against your clothed core, “I can’t wait to hear you moan nice and loud for me.”

You whimper at the feeling of him pressed against you combined with his words, “Hyunggu, please,” you start kissing his neck, “bed, now.” you nip at his neck trying to get your point across.

He groans again as he continues his ministrations, “Why do that when I can fuck you right here. Remember all those fun places we fucked before we were parents? Right out in the open on the beach during our honeymoon, during a midnight run to the convenience store and you were so fucking desperate we fucked in that dirty bathroom with you bent over the sink.” he taunts you, “How about when we fuck in front of that wall of mirrors we have for our closet door, you love it when I fuck you there. Shame we can’t do that.”

You lift your other leg up and he quickly takes your thigh into his grasp. You don’t respond to his taunting, you just continue to bite small marks into his neck and attempt to grind down against him. Though you quickly grow tired of being against the door simply dry humping your husband.

“Hyunggu, if you don’t take me to bed right now you aren’t getting anything tonight.”

He giggles at your comment, “You’re so demanding. Maybe I should put another baby in you tonight. What do you think about that, dearest?”

He pulls you off the wall and carries you to your bedroom mentally making a note to thank Shinwon for taking your son for the night. It doesn’t take long for your back to be against your mattress and your husband’s hands to be under your shirt. You barely break the kiss when he pulls your shirt off your body. Normally you have sweet quiet kisses but now it’s a kiss full of lust and hunger, you never get nights like this anymore and you were going to take advantage of it. Your hands snake down to undo his jeans and he helps you shake them off his body before taking the rest of your clothing off for you. You drag his shirt off his body too, finally leaving you both completely bare in front of each other. He dives back down to meet your lips again, you can feel his member brush against your wet opening causing you to gasp into the kiss.

“I was being serious earlier, baby, I’d absolutely love to put another baby in you. You’re so fucking gorgeous when you’re pregnant, and you’re such an amazing mom already.” he gushes between kisses, “Plus, you look so pretty with my cum leaking out of you. It’s one of my favorite sights in the world.” he smirks, starting to attack your neck with kisses. “Will you let me put another baby in you, pretty girl?”

“Please, Hyunggu.” you breathe out slightly lost in the pleasure of the moment.

He scatters kisses across your skin as he finally pushes into you. A small whimper escapes your lips as you feel him finally inside you. He thrusts shallowly while murmuring by your ear how tight you feel around him. Your fingers claw at his shoulders as he continues his excruciatingly slow pace, as much as you love when he takes his time with you, you want nothing more than for him to move faster right now. Bucking your hips up in his direction you hope to get your point across, a light chuckle rumbles through his chest as he sees (and feels) your action. He pulls back so he’s standing rather than leaning over you. He holds your thighs so they’re as widely spread as possible, and presses his tongue into the side of his cheek. You feel another gush of arousal flood you when you see him do so, you have no idea how you could be so lucky as to have him. He gives a particularly hard thrust making you moan louder than you had all night so far. By instinct your hand flies over your mouth to quiet yourself. Hyunggu had other plans though, for a short moment his hand moves off your thigh and moves your hand away from your face.

“I want to hear you, baby, be as loud as you want.” he tells you before ducking down for a short, sweet kiss.

Though the sweet moment doesn’t last long, he starts pistoning his hips into you with more vigor than you realized he had. You cling to him again and let moans fly freely from your lips. You continue hearing your husband say the filthiest and sweetest things to you all within the same breath. Before you can even think about how good he was making you feel, a familiar knot starts forming in the lower part of your belly. You move to help your orgasm build and toy with your clit but Hyunguu smacks your hand away with another smirk resting on his lips.

“You’re only cumming from my cock tonight, I know you can, you’ve done it so many times before.” his smirk widening, you whine just wanting your high as fast as possible, “Don’t whine about it, I know you love it.”

You clench around him hearing the way he’s talking to you in such a condescending tone. He’s looking down at you with a facial expression like he would eat you at any moment. Between the way he was thrusting into you, his words, and his facial expression you feel like you could cum at any moment. You try to warn him but you were far too lost in pleasure and bound to interrupt yourself with moans and whines. You’re almost positive he knows you’re about to reach your high though by the way your moans rise higher in pitch and his pace increases impossibly. You pull him down to your chest holding him against you, feeling his heartbeat against your chest. You feel your orgasm wash over you and your thighs spasm on either side of your husband. He moans right in your ear when he feels your walls fluttering around him. His own high was triggered by yours and you feel his cum flood inside you. You whimper and dig your nails into his skin trying to stay sane somehow.

“You think we’ll get a girl this time?” he asks with a chuckle, then pulling out, “See, look how pretty your little pussy looks leaking my cum.” he taunts again, you throw a pillow at him.

“Shut up, we don’t even know if I’ll get pregnant.” you say with a slight laugh in return, “Either way go get a damn towel to clean up.” you smile at him.

He walks over to you after throwing on a pair of grey sweats, “Anything for you,” he kisses you gently, “Even if you didn’t get pregnant this time that just means we get to try over and over again.” he winks, running out of the room with a giggle before you can throw another pillow at him.

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itsclydebitches · 2 years

Note

reading the commentary notes about the ace ops makes me wonder if the writers know those characters are supposed to be in their 20s-30s and not 15.

I feel like the Ace Ops severely messed with our understanding of age and maturity in RWBY, right when I was finally beginning to accept what we were told vs. what we were shown (regardless of how much I disagreed with it). As is evident by my earlier recaps, I very much considered the group to be “kids,” literal ages aside, just because that’s how the show treated them. Ruby as our leader is two years younger than the rest and Oscar as our host, arguably the most important fighter in this war now, is at least two years younger than her. Everyone attends a school that’s framed more like high school than college, with Ozpin emphasizing that they’re “just children” and Ironwood asking if his, “children can win a war.” When things really go to hell, they react precisely how we’d expect a bunch of inexperienced, terrified, still-growing fighters to react. This one is still under the thumb of her father. This one instinctively leaves to go back to her parents. This one is recovering in bed while her family cares for her and this one made the incredibly foolish, immature decision to leave for a dangerous mission on a whim. What says “kid” more than the literal plot point of running away from home, leaving only a ‘Bye, Dad!’ note behind? Ruby needs her uncle to stealthily follow behind and take care of various problems because the show establishes that even with three friends at her side, she’s just not equipped to be out in the real world by herself yet. Everything from “Weiss doesn’t have the power to refuse her father’s demands. She’s literally locked in her bedroom” to “The group barely got started before losing their map of all things, rookie mistake” characterizes them as young teens stumbling their way through a dangerous world with little experience and fewer resources. This is a story about growing up.

Things only continued to spiral through Volume 5 and the beginning of Volume 6: Yang demonstrates a petulant, childish attitude at the birds reveal and makes demands she can’t uphold herself, they react to the Relic’s priceless questions like they’re a party favor (treating this whole war like a fun adventure, not a dangerous responsibility), Ruby continues to ignore the important questions about her mother and her eyes, few of them have compelling motivations for throwing themselves into this fight, and when push comes to shove they act precisely how the adult said they would, crumbling under the threat of Salem’s immortality. Everything we see continues to paint them as willfully ignorant, inexperienced, or immature. Which is a good thing. I may not personally like how long this went on, but that’s some deep and complex setup to take the characters from the kids they’re currently acting like to the heroes they could very easily be. I kept waiting for them to wake up, realize their mistakes, and start taking their shortcomings seriously.

Instead, Volume 6 gave us the “We don’t need adults” speech, ridiculous airship theft, and by the time we reach Volume 7, the group has not only had their mistakes brushed aside, but were making even more while being made into licensed huntsmen. Despite refusing to allow the group to grow up, the story insists they're now the most mature, talented party around.

Okay. I fundamentally disagree, but at least I was starting to wrap my head around that idea. But then, we got the Ace Ops.

Despite introducing them as the more talented fighters who are clearly succeeding with their way of doing things, their professionalism is then immediately treated like a character flaw, re-emphasizing that the group’s Power of Friendship approach trumps everything else by default, not matter how often it fails, or how often the plot needs to bend to make allowances for it. Yet despite that distance, later the Ace Ops are shown to be the most emotionally volatile too, with Harriet and Elm in particular becoming furious to the point of ineptitude in battle, despite the fact that their detached nature is what the show was originally criticizing. So what, it’s both? RWBYJNOR is simultaneously better because they don’t take a professional approach to saving the world, but are also capable of remaining more professional than the actual professionals?

And then there’s Marrow. Marrow who is treated as the newcomer and the least experienced of the bunch, despite the fact that he has had much more training than our heroes and is at least several years older than them. He’s nevertheless treated as the baby out of everyone here (prone to too much excitemnent, put in his place by Robyn and Weiss, needing to be rescued and guided)… which is a characterization that gets really weird when, later, he’s the one to mourn about “kids” entering battle. Again, which is it? RWBYJNOR aren’t any older than Neon and Flynt—they’re possibly younger—so if it’s a tragedy that they’re fighting for Atlas, why the hell is it heroic for Ruby to try and lead the whole war? And if Marrow is characterized as the youngest and most inexperienced of the Ace Ops, who is he to be shaking his head at other, still growing fighters defending their kingdom?

RWBY has created a world where the protagonists are better simply by virtue of being protagonists. We spent years establishing them as the young, upstart fighters with incredible hurdles to overcome… only to, in the span of less than half a Volume, suddenly insist that they’re already perfect. And yes, that’s how the story acts, no matter how many times Ruby might say she’s made mistakes. What we’re shown is entirely different and, notably, that doesn’t even take into account how often another character (Qrow, May, Yang) will come in and insist that she’s wrong. She did do everything right. Nowadays, the group is characterized as superior to every other ally they encounter. They know better than Ozpin who has fought this war for over a thousand years. They know better than Qrow who kept them alive throughout this journey. They know better than Ironwood, general and headmaster of Atlas, who was already developing a new plan while they were just getting told the basics. They know better than the hand-picked professionals with years of training and experience. They’re more powerful than those professionals too. Pietro was told off for wanting his daughter not to die, Maria gave her self-imposed guilt trip and announced that the group is better than her despite having never seen them fight at this point, likewise ignoring that she left this war after losing her eyes. Would Yang have thrown herself back into the fray simply for the good of the people? No. We have confirmation that she's only here for Ruby. Then, both Maria and Pietro are forgotten by the story, rendering them insignificant on every level. So unless Theodore is written staggeringly differently from the rest of the adult cast post-Volume 4, there is quite literally no one else for the group to seek guidance from, look up to, or even treat as equals. The Ace Ops came along in a post-“We don’t need adults” version of RWBY, which means they had to very quickly lose their impressive stature. They’re not actually mature adults with a wealth of experience fighting grimm and people alike. They’re mindlessly obedient fuse boxes whose skill can be acquired through a few training sessions and who don’t understand that real power comes from believing in your allies. Unless they disagree with you, of course. Then you just need to lie to them, assault them, or ignore them until they fall in line. If they don’t? They’re not worth the effort. Division, according to the story, is only a problem if you try to divide when there’s no “good” reason to. If you don’t like what’s happening though, then yeah, reject allies whenever it suits. Don’t want to send your friend into her own kingdom alone? Don’t want to own up to the property you stole? Don’t want to take a risk on trust despite demanding the same of others? Don’t want to give up the powerful object in the name of world safety? Don’t want to be arrested after betraying your allies? Don’t want to compromise on the best way to save lives? Don't want to do anything hard? Well then, division is just fine! Our group died last Volume in large part because they refused to compromise and tried to go it alone, but I have no faith at this point that the story will recognize and extrapolate on that.

The Ace Ops should have been the middle ground. If RWBY really wanted to do a next generation story, the Ace Ops were the bridge between the incredibly optimistic, but inexperienced heroes and the flawed, but powerfully out of reach adults. Here’s a team that looks like what Team RWBY might have been if they’d been allowed to finish their time at Beacon. If they had even more years to grow close to one another. If they were older, a little wiser, and had learned to weather the sort of storm this war was now throwing at them. The Ace Ops could have been mentors, like I thought they would be during the geist fight. But that requires acknowledging that RWBYJNOR needs to improve, so instead we got a crazed Harriet trying to bomb everyone and Yang angrily insisting that they’ve done everything just fine. The Ace Ops are made to be weak and immature so that RWBYJNOR can look better in comparison, so how badly is our title team doing if the comparison is this level of illogical insanity and ineptitude? All the mentors that RWBY has introduced—Ozpin, Qrow, Maria, Pietro, the Ace Ops—have to quickly be made lesser in some way because the idea of our heroes looking up to someone and aspiring to be better is just not on the table.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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blazedbakugou · 3 years

Text

taking the bakusquad to the carne asada

a/n: shoutout to all the latino homies out there, this is for us 😤✊

side note: this has been sitting in my drafts for weeks and I’m by no means proud of it but I’m just posting this til I can finish my demon!katsuki fic for you guys

genre: crack

warnings: alcohol, swearing, food, children, aged up characters

word count: idk I forgot to keep track

pairings: katsuki bakugou x gn!reader, eijiro kirishima x gn!reader, denki kaminari x gn!reader, mina ashido x gn!reader, hanta sero x gn!reader

e. kirishima

Very polite young man, makes sure to dress appropriately yes this means you had to give him a list of clothing items he absolutely could not wear around your family unless he wanted to be known as “croc’s boy” for the rest of eternity and has been practicing his spanish on duolingo for the past week

Will shake everyone’s hand and introduce himself the way he was taught as a child but becomes very flustered when all your tías start kissing his cheek as a greeting

Hits it off with your uncle’s almost immediately, they even trust him to watch over the grill on his own while they go off and disappear for the next hour or so

He’s too polite to say no but is definitely freaking out the entire time because it’s too much responsibility for the poor guy and he doesn’t want to make a fool of himself

Will guard the grill with his life and even learned to marinate steak in beer from one of your tíos

Overall experience: 8/10 could bring him again but please don’t leave him alone with your uncles, he can’t handle the responsibility of watching over the grill

k. bakugou

Doesn’t want to be here at first, big social gatherings aren’t his thing and he’s not used to seeing so many kids run around

He’s wearing boots and a matching belt with a buckle that’s obnoxiously big, a true vaquero thanks to yours truly you refused to let him embarrass you in front of your family with his stupid saggy pants

Greetings are odd for him, takes everything in him not to scream everyone’s head off when they come up to hug him but ultimately… he thinks it’s kinda nice to receive such a warm welcome not that he’ll ever admit it out loud of course

Practically drools at the sight of the food table(s), and before you know it he’s eating everything in sight, he’s never seen this much protein in his life and best believe he’s taking advantage of it

Pesters Kirishima at the grill and begs him to let him grab a piece of meat fresh off the grill but Kirishima refuses to let down your uncle and shoos him away

Overall experience: 7/10 a bit stiff at first but he means well, eats a bit too much and gets a lot of odd looks because of it but lowkey fell in love with you while dancing with you that night

d. kaminari

Walks in like he’s known everybody for years but gets a little shy when your tias make comments on how good looking he is

Quickly realizes he’d much rather spend his time in the jumper than chatting with the adults, no offense to your family he just doesn’t want to talk about sports

Once he’s got two cans of Fanta Orange in his system and a few tacos, this guy is bouncing off the walls with energy and tips over the bounce house with your cousins

Forms a little army of children and commands them to annoy Bakugou, who unfortunately was told to be on his best behavior and that meant not tossing a four-year old half way across the yard

First in line for cake and helps himself to all the flan he can get without getting yelled at by you or Bakugou

Overall experience: 7.5/10 pretty harmless guy who likes to have fun, though the family does think he’s a bit weird for hanging out with the kids

m. ashido

She’s having the time of her life

Knows how to party and appreciates the fact that your family does as well

Doesn’t mind that she doesn’t understand the lyrics to the songs that are playing, if she can shake some ass to the beat then she is happy

Is very good at dancing el caballo dorado and is the only one who lasts through the entire song much to your tía who previously held the title’s dismay

All your cousins think she’s very pretty and ask if she’s secretly a princess, to which she obviously tells them yes

Overall experience: 9/10 very fun girl to party with and wishes you’d bring her back soon cus she’s got some new moves she wants to show off

h. sero

Everybody loves this guy, he’s got charm, a great smile, and plenty of chisme to share

Spends the entire time chatting with your tias about what your friend group gets up to and any embarrassing stories

Will help serve food and always refills people’s drinks, somehow gets appointed the role of bartender as well as dj

Another man who can dance, pulls some dramatic move just to make you nervous and smirks at you like a true asshole you secretly love it though

Stays after the party to help clean up and knows better than to mix the recycling with the garbage

Overall experience: 10/10 please bring him back oh my god your family is already booking dates for your future wedding

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n00dl3gal · 3 years

Text

Like Old Times (Father-Son Bonding AU)

A direct sequel to the “Expiration Date” fic, which I’ll link in a reblog. I’ve also posted all my fics in this AU to AO3!! Thanks again to @thetriggeredhappy for their help and just generally being a cool dude, and the Scoutsune Discord server for indulging my brainrot

No warnings beyond family schmoop!

Less than an hour after the bread monster incident, the Administrator called for a ceasefire. “Only while your base is repaired,” she said over the TV screen. “BLU is quite disappointed in this negligence- as am I. Regardless, you may use these three days as you see fit. Go home, stay here- whatever you do, no more bread monsters.” The screen turned off with a click.

Scout exhaled through his nose. He was thankful there was no mention of him or Miss Pauling’s woodchipper.

Spy decloaked behind him. “Less time than I wanted, but c’est la vie.” Scout looked at him over his shoulder. “I’m meeting with an old contact during our break,” Spy said in Italian. “Would you like to come along? It’ll be like old times.”

Scout’s brow furrowed, but he nodded. At least this way, he’d get out of helping Engie and Heavy with repairs. And possibly meeting Miss Pauling’s woodchipper.

“Excellent. Our flight is at 7 AM tomorrow.”

“We’re flying commercial?” Scout asked, also in (more hesitant) Italian.

“Our destination is continental. We’ll leave the base by 5:30.” Scout groaned as Spy started to leave. But- wait, he hadn’t-

“Oi, where are we going, anyway?” he called back in English.

Spy paused to look at him and smile. “Boston.”

“Why do we always get the ass-crack-of-dawn flights?” Jeremy asked groggily, reclining his seat.

“They are the ones with first-class seats available,” Raphael replied. He took a sip from his mimosa.

“Yeah, cuz God forbid you fly coach for once.” Jeremy shifted, trying to get comfortable. “Hey. Have I ever been to Boston before?”

Raphael didn’t answer immediately. His lip sucked in, as if in thought. “Yes. When you were very, very young. You wouldn’t remember.”

Jeremy nodded. He wanted to ask more, there was something Raphael wasn’t saying but… well, he was never a morning person. He fell asleep before the plane even took off.

. . .

It was mid-afternoon by the time they landed in Boston. Jeremy was never fond of long flights; having his legs cramped like that for extended periods of time was murder. He was half tempted to take a jog around Logan International. Raphael, on the other hand, was ushering them both to the car rental. “Can’t even get a stretch in, huh?”

“Unfortunately, we are expected by 4, and I would hate to keep my contact waiting,” Raphael explained in French, accepting the keys from the girl at the counter. “She’s not a very patient woman, in some regards.”

Jeremy huffed but didn’t argue. He just followed his father to the rental, tossing his suitcase in the backseat. “Y’know, the girl at the counter-”

“We will not have time for you to go out on a date, Jeremy.”

“No! No, it was- her accent’s kinda like mine, it’s weird,” Jeremy said. Raphael started the car. “Cuz I’ve only been here as a baby, and I got mine from TV and shit. It’s just… really strange, is all.”

Raphael made a quiet noise of agreement. “Some of the shows you watched as a child were filmed here. It’s not as complex as you think it is.”

“Yeah, probably not…”

The pair lapsed into silence as Raphael drove. Storefronts and high rises morphed into houses. It had been a while since they were in a residential area. RED, for understandable reasons, kept away from civilians.

Raphael took the roads with practiced experience. Sure, it had been implied he knew the area. If he had a contact here- one with a house, presumably- he must’ve spent time here. But this- this was far too familiar. A bit suspicious, actually.

Eventually, Raphael slowed in front of a more rundown Brownstone. Still quite nice, just needed a little work. It felt… welcoming, in a way Jeremy couldn’t name.

“Lotta cars,” he observed as Raphael parallel parked. “Must be a party going on somewhere.”

“Hmm, perhaps,” Raphael said, turning the car off. “Would you mind ringing the doorbell for me? I need to grab something from the trunk. Ask for Sara Jane.”

OK, now Jeremy knew something was up. He was never the one to make the first contact, that was always Dad’s job. Jeremy might be a full-grown adult, but there were some things that didn’t change. This was one of them.

Still, he nodded. He climbed up the front steps and ringed the doorbell. He heard- multiple voices from inside, predominantly male, but they quickly silenced themselves. A TV, perhaps? They really ought to get that flower box on the second story window fixed-

The woman who opened the door was a bit shorter than him, though not by much. She was wearing a simple dress, hoop earrings, and flats. Her hair was dark, curved to her chin. But her nose and earlobes felt… achingly familiar. Like Jeremy saw them all the time.

“Um, hi, I’m looking for Sara Jane? My name’s-” The rest of his speech was knocked out of him as the woman launched herself at him. Jeremy braced for an attack, but quickly realized she was… hugging him.

She was hugging him, sobbing, and choked out the word “Jeremy.”

Wait. He knew that voice. He had only heard it a few times in his life, few enough he could count them on one hand, but he knew it. “M-Ma?” he whispered.

The woman- Sara Jane- Ma looked up at him, still crying. Her hands found his face as she observed him. “Y-yeah, sweetie, it’s me, it’s-it’s your ma,” she said.

“Ma!” he laughed, tears of his own dancing down his cheeks. He hugged her back, practically lifting her off her feet. “Oh my God, Ma! I-I never thought I’d-”

“Oh Jeremy, sweetie, look how tall you’ve gotten! Last I saw you, you fit in my arms! My baby, my handsome baby,” she spoke over him. She rubbed circles into his back as they embraced. It felt so, so right.

Jeremy laughed even harder. “Are you kiddin’? I got it from you, you’re beautiful, Ma!” He stared at her, trying to commit every mole and wrinkle and perfect flaw to memory. “I can’t believe- oh my God, I’m actually meeting you!”

“It was long overdue,” another voice said, as Raphael joined them on the front stoop. “I had put it off for safety reasons, but considering our current, ah, situation… I felt it was worth the risk.”

Sara Jane squealed, pulling Raphael into the hug as well. “You’ve been taking good care of my boy, you promise me, Raphael?”

“Don’t worry Ma, he’s the best dad I could ask for, considering,” Jeremy teased.

“Oh, don’t I know it. Called me up last night and told me to get the whole motley crew together. Even managed to get Melvin to bring his twin daughters, bless his wife’s heart,” she explained.

Jeremy blinked. “Uh- Melvin? Daughters?”

Sara Jane laughed. It sounded so much like Jeremy’s it practically hurt. This was his mother. Lord, he’s finally seeing her. “Melvin’s your older brother, sweetie. Eh, sixth oldest. Bobby’s the oldest.”

“I have a brother?”

“Oh honey, you’re the youngest of eight,” Sara Jane said plainly.

“...fuck,” Jeremy whispered.

. . .

He didn’t just have seven brothers. He had seven brothers, four of which brought their wives, one who brought his boyfriend, and three who brought their kids. And the kids totaled to an additional six, counting the babies.

It was… an admittedly tight squeeze in the living room.

Sara Jane introduced Jeremy. Jeremy had been expecting to be treated like a stranger. He had vanished when he was a baby, after all, and his younger-older brothers probably wouldn’t remember him at all.

And yet, it was like he knew them all his life.

They teased him and punched him playfully and acted so friendly, so familial it nearly made Jeremy break down. He was still crying from meeting Ma, but being dogpiled with so much affection was suffocating. In a good way. He had seen on sitcoms the intrinsic bond between family, and while he felt it with Dad, they also risked their lives nearly daily. But it was real, it was here, and it was wrapping him in a warm blanket.

Despite the chaos and the sheer number of people, Jeremy didn’t feel overwhelmed. He laughed and played along with their jokes, cracking some back when he could get a word in. Scott ragged on his dog tags, he countered by pointing out the hole in his pants. Michael told him he was still a shortass, he replied with “it takes one to know one.” Elliot and Ricky were the closest to actually getting hurt, and that was only because Jeremy elbowed them both so hard they nearly fell over.

For the first time in 25 years, Jeremy understood what “home” meant.

The kids were especially curious, eager to meet their uncle and step-grandfather. Within seconds, young Rebecca- only four years old- was challenging Jeremy to a race around the house. “I’m the fastest kid in the world,” she bragged, puffing out her chest.

“Oh yeah?” Jeremy asked. “That a fact?”

“You wanna test me? I beat Johnny Three-Legs at running, and he’s got three legs!” Jeremy laughed and stood from the couch, letting her lead him outside. “On the count of three, OK?”

“You’re on, pipsqueak,” Jeremy teased.

“Onetwothree GO!” Rebecca yelled, taking off in a sprint. Jeremy knew that, by all accounts, he should beat her. His legs were longer, she didn’t have the proper running stance, and it was his job to be fast. That’s what he got paid to do. But some small voice was telling him to let her win, so he did. “Ha! I told ya!”

“Ya sure did,” he replied, mock panting. “Look at you, a freaking blur on the green. You’re goin’ to the Olympics, kid.”

Rebecca beamed and hugged his leg. “Promise, Uncle Jeremy?” He nodded because, after that display, there was no way he could speak without squeaking like a chew toy.

Rebecca skipped back inside, past Raphael, who was watching on the stoop. “You’re a natural with children,” he observed. “I used to do the same thing when you were that age.”

“Wait- wait, really? You sure fooled me,” Jeremy said.

Raphael rolled his eyes. “What’s my job again, mon lapin?”

“Yeah, yeah…” Jeremy leaned against the railing, watching Raphael’s cigarette smoke in the wind. “Hey. Uh… thanks for arranging all of this. You really didn’t need to.”

“But I did. I meant it when I said this was overdue. I’ve been wanting to introduce you to the rest of the family for a while, but have been unable. Then that whole ordeal with the supposed tumors, and-” Raphael exhaled slowly. “It wouldn’t have been fair to you if you died without knowing them. I would’ve never forgiven myself.”

Jeremy punched his shoulder lightly. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, pops. It all worked out, we’re still kicking, and that roast chicken Ma’s making smells incredible. Everything’s perfect.”

Raphael finished his cigarette and smiled. “Oui. It is.”

. . .

While Sara Jane had been able to get the rest of the family here, it was a school night. Kids needed to be tucked in by 9:30, so most of Jeremy’s brothers were gone by 8. Elliot was staying overnight, as was his boyfriend. Otherwise, the house quickly went from bustling to barren.

It gave Jeremy a chance to explore his would-be childhood home.

He made his way upstairs, pushing open one of the doors. It led- to little surprise- to a bedroom. It was set up like a nursery, with a crib in one corner and a toddler bed in the other. Toys were scattered about across the floor.

He heard Sara Jane sigh behind him. “This was your room, you know.” Jeremy turned to look at her as she flipped the light switch. “That crib… I had put you to bed the night your father planned to fake his death. I was in on the whole plan, naturally. He wanted to hold you one last time, so I said OK. When I woke up the next morning… you were both gone.” She exhaled slowly, grabbing onto his shoulder. “I wrote both of you off as dead, but I knew what had happened. Honestly, should’ve figured it out before then. You hadn’t woken me up crying,” she joked. Her eyes were watering.

Jeremy hugged her, pulling her close. “You never took the crib down?”

“By the time I was ready, Bobby’s wife was pregnant, so I kept it up for my grandbabies. I knew- I knew you were out there, sweetie. Both of you.” She kissed his cheek, squeezing him.

“I-I never got to be a normal kid, really,” he confessed. “I mean, Dad did his best, gave me comic books and board games and stuff, but-but I never went to school or made friends or anything like that. I-I didn’t even know I had a family. It took me forever to even realize I had a Ma. An-and everything I did-” The tears were flowing again, more freely than earlier. “Ya missed me losing my first tooth, and potty trainin’, and all that stuff parents should know about. I-I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Sara Jane wiped his cheek dry. “Don’t apologize for what your father did, Jeremy. And definitely don’t apologize for me not potty training another kid. Besides… hold on, I’ll be right back.” She made her way down the hallway. Jeremy didn’t follow, instead deciding to examine the crib. This was where he grew up. It was a simple crib, obviously well-used. Not worn-down, mind, just… used. It had a history. A history that Jeremy wanted to decode, but unlike his dad’s ciphers, he didn’t have the key.

“Took me a second to find it,” Sara Jane said. She handed him what appeared to be a scrapbook. “Raphael- he wrote when he can. Taught me some basic codes, would send out letters whenever you’d leave a town. Never left a return address, but…” Jeremy flipped through the pages, moving to sit on the small bed. The letters were all coded but appeared to be about how much Raphael missed Sara Jane. Updates on Jeremy’s growth. Letters from a father to his lover and son’s mother.

One page jumped out to him, though. “I remember this,” he said, running his fingers against the paper. It was a simple drawing of a young boy, holding a catcher’s mitt, and a taller man next to him. “I drew this after Dad took me to my first baseball game, for my eighth birthday. I thought I lost the drawing after we skipped town, but- he sent them to you?”

Sara Jane nodded. “And I kept them all. Oh, honey, the day I first heard your voice on the phone- Mikey can tell you, I damn near fell over. You sounded so happy, and even if I couldn’t see you, that’s all a mother wants.” Jeremy leaned against her and she shut the book. “That’s all a mother wants, sweetie. To see her kids be safe and happy.”

“I am, Ma,” he assured her. “I promise.”

They sat like that for a while, with Sara Jane commenting on various letters and drawings in the scrapbook. Apparently, Raphael sent her money when he could- more frequently now that Mann Co. paid so well. She also had a rough idea of their current occupations. “I figure, if you and your father are working for the same company- with his skills, there’s gotta be a whole lot of nonsense going on out in that desert.” Jeremy laughed at that because she wasn’t wrong. “But I also figure since he raised you right, he’ll keep the both of you safe.”

“I keep him safe too, don’t worry,” Jeremy added. “Uh- listen, it’s touching and all you kept the crib, but I don’t have to sleep in it, right?”

They both had a good chuckle over that. Their laughs were in perfect harmony.

. . .

The next two days were a mix of learning the family history and exploring Boston. It was the offseason, so there weren’t any games going on at Fenway, but Jeremy still got a picture in front of the park. Sara Jane took the pair to a restaurant that served “the best damn clam chowder in the contiguous United States.” Which, incidentally, led them to discover Jeremy was allergic to clams. Thankfully they didn’t have to go to the hospital- he just sort of immediately got sick before it passed- but it did suck.

It was damn good chowder, though.

They went down to the harbor where the Boston Tea Party happened. It was crowded with people, resulting in them not staying long. Jeremy was a bit better with crowds than Raphael, but neither was great with them. Came with the job. Getting overpriced memorabilia from a nearby gift shop, though, went over much more smoothly.

When not out on the town, Sara Jane dug out more scrapbooks and photo albums, catching Raphael up on what his stepsons had been up to. She showed Jeremy pictures from Ricky’s first school play to Scott opening up his butcher shop. Graduation pictures, wedding pictures, baby pictures- it was all there, and Jeremy devoured it. He wanted to know these people. He wanted to know his family. And he did. He learned about Michael’s stint in the Navy, Melvin meeting his wife, how Bobby’s son could dribble a basketball for twenty minutes straight. He learned about how his parents met. How Raphael loved each of Sara Jane’s children, even if they weren’t biologically his. How Jeremy wasn’t planned- few of the kids were - but they were both so, so happy to realize he was coming.

He also learned that, while diner food would remain the undisputed king, homemade meatloaf came pretty close.

. . .

The only problem came when it was time to leave. It wasn’t that Jeremy didn’t want to return to work, or leave his Ma behind. Sara Jane wasn’t even torn up over losing her son and lover again. It just felt like there was so much left to say, to do. There was uncertainty as to when they’d be able to return. “We get time off for Smissmas, I know that’s months away but I’ll be here, I promise,” Jeremy swore, hugging Sara Jane for the eighth time.

“You better,” she said, squeezing him tightly. “You have 25 years worth of gifts to catch up on, not to mention birthday gifts-”

“Ma, you don’t have to go that far,” he whined. He was touched, sure, but the thought of that much luggage was truly frightening. Oh God, he was going to have to get gifts for everybody, wasn’t he? What do kids even want for Smissmas?

“Hush, let me spoil my baby,” Sara Jane told him, kissing his cheek. “Oh, Jeremy…”

Jeremy nodded. “I know, but I’ll call. I’ll write, too. Send pictures if I can.”

“I’ll make sure he does,” Raphael assured her. Sara Jane stood to kiss his lips, with Jeremy looking away pointedly. “You have my word, ma petite chou-fleur.”

“Alright, alright- now get going, I don’t want you two missing your flight. That boss of yours sounds like she’ll tear you both a new one if you’re late,” Sara Jane said, shooing them away. “Love you boys!”

“I love you too, Ma!” Jeremy shouted back, for the very first time.

The drive back to the airport was quiet. Jeremy stared out the window, watching his hometown- he had a hometown- pass by. “Hey, dad?” he asked, still looking outside. Raphael grunted to acknowledge he was listening. “One of these days, our contracts with Mann Co. are gonna expire. We’re gonna have to find new jobs.”

“Yes, that’s correct,” Raphael said. He tapped a rhythm against the steering wheel.

“And-and I was thinking when that time comes… maybe we could come back to Boston. Find some gigs out here,” Jeremy suggested.

Raphael sighed. “Unfortunately, being a spy means that you don’t have the option of retiring, Jeremy. Not until you’re unable to complete your job. At that point, though, you’ve probably died a dozen times over,” he explained. “Even if I could retire, settling down somewhere so close to people I care about- I would still have enemies.”

“Right. ‘Course,” Jeremy said. “It’s OK.”

“That being said,” Raphael continued, “you have the luxury of youth and not being tied down to such a career. If you want to find a job in Boston after we finish with RED, there’s nothing stopping you.”

“But people will still be after me, since I’m your son. And you wouldn’t be around.”

“Every child leaves their parents someday. And you’re strong, Jeremy. You can protect yourself and your family.” Raphael smiled. “I don’t believe Sara Jane needs much protecting, but I do worry.”

Jeremy laughed. “I mean, did ya see the muscles on Scott and Michael? Guys can probably bench press a tractor!”

They both chuckled before settling into quietude. Eventually, though, Jeremy had to break the silence. His voice was barely above a whisper. “I love you.”

“I love you too, mon lapin.”

“...so your nickname for Ma is fucking ‘little cauliflower?’ What the hell, Dad?”

#father-son bonding au #Team Fortress 2 #team fortress 2 au #tf2 #tf2 fanfiction #tf2 scout #tf2 spy #tf2 scout's mom #dad spy #thetriggeredhappy #spy x scout's ma #noodle writes

90 notes · View notes

bts-reveries · 3 years

Text

expect the unexpected | 3

“Minseok! Soojin! Time to go!” you yell, checking your phone for the time. With three kids, it’s always a struggle in the morning. But you all manage to get things done and going.

You turn your head to see if the kids were coming out of their rooms yet but the first one you saw out was your youngest son. He smiled up at you right when he saw you looking and you laughed, pointing behind him.

“Can you call your brother and sister please? They’re going to be late for school.” Haneul turns around and runs to his brother’s room and yells ‘mommy says wet’s go!’ and then runs across to the other room to yell the same thing to his sister. Who you hear scream ‘I’M COMING!’

“Are you ready?” Jin says, walking up behind you. You both had a free morning so the two of you decided to take Haneul out on a little date while his older siblings were in school. You haven’t asked him where he wanted to go, but knowing your son, his ideal date would be auntie Sohyun’s bakery and the playground. It’s all a three ish year old wants.

“I’ve been since 6:30,” you replied. “KIDS LET’S GO,” you yell one more time. Now the two finally came running to the front door with their backpacks on.

“Got everything?” Jin asks.

“Yes!” Soojin yells, grabbing the door knob and walking out, followed by her older brother.

“Yeah we got everything,” Minseok replies. Haneul watches the two walk away and looks up at you.

“Where’s mine,” he says in a little voice, patting his shoulders.

“You’ll grow broad shoulders like mine when you’re older,” Jin says, “let’s go, Minseok and Soojin are going to be late.” Both you and Haneul held the same expression as you frowned up at him.

“Honey, he’s talking about his backpack,” you tell him, pointing to Haneul’s backpack that was hung up by the door.

“I knew that!.. I was just--,” Jin replies, grabbing the bag and handing it to his son, “here.”

“Be good like always, we’ll see you later okay?” you tell your kids as you drop them off.

Minseok and Soojin give you and Jin a kiss before getting out of the van.

“Bye bye,” Haneul waves, Soojin and Minseok hug and kiss him goodbye too.

You lowered down the window and yelled, “Love you!” as they walk away from the van.

“Love you too!” They yelled back, waving at you and Jin. Jin leans over you and yells out your open window.

“SOOJIN-AH MAKE SURE YOU STAY AWAY FROM BOYS!” Jin yells. Your eyes widen and you push Jin away.

“Shh--”

“REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TO HANA--”

“JIN!”

“I only like Yeonjun oppa!” Soojin yells back. Jin’s eyes widens.

“YAH!”

“Uncle secretary strikes again,” you laugh. “Calm down and let’s go, Haneul’s getting hungry.”

“That’s it, I’m grounding her until she’s married.”

“You’re letting her get married?” You ask. “I’m surprised you’re even going to let her date.”

“She can date.”

“And when will that start?”

“After she’s married of course.”

Haneul tilts his head. “What?”

“Auntie Sohu!” Haneul yells as soon as Jin opens the door to the very iconic, 24/7 Heaven.

“Oh Haneul you’re back!” Sohyun happily says, stepping out of the counter to greet you three.

She kneels down to Haneul’s level and he runs to give her a hug.

“I have money,” your son says with a smug smile, slightly pulling away from Sohyun to show her his ₩10,000. Sohyun laughs, standing up straight.

“Wow! Go ahead and get whatever you want then,” she says, Haneul immediately runs off, grabbing a tray from the counter.

It was a bit high for him but with some tippy toeing and a few jumps, he was able to grab one on his own.

“Wah, I wonder where he gets that appetite from,” Jin says, shaking his head. You look at him, furrowing your brows as you see him with a tray of his own, already piled on with a few pastries.

“When did you get that we just got here?” you ask. Sohyun laughs, walking away from the two of you and following Haneul.

“Is there anything special you want Haneul-ah~” she asks, bending down to Haneul’s height as he looked through the glass case filled with pretty and cute cakes.

Your son smiles and points to a chocolate cake.

“Haneul I don’t think your money can pay for a whole cake, maybe just a slice?” you say, walking up to him.

“Just one?” he asks you, looking up at you with those puppy eyes. You smirk, reaching out to ruffle his hair.

“Those eyes don’t work on me any more buddy, your siblings overused that already.” He pouts, turning back to the cake.

“Just a wittle one please,” he tells Sohyun. She laughs, getting up to go get his little request.

“You got it,” she says.

“Is Yoongi in the back?” Jin asks, putting his tray on the counter, ready to pay. Sohyun shakes his head.

“He’s at his studio. He might be busy for a while, rumor has it, he has a popular celebrity that came by the other day that wants to work with him… but you didn’t hear that from me,” she winks. You put your hand over your mouth.

“Omo.. is it someone we know?” You ask. Sohyun, disappears behind the counter to get the cake slice for Haneul.

“Yeah I want to know too,” Jin says, you both wait for Sohyun to answer. She laughs when she turns around and faces you two, seeing your dumbfounded expressions.

“I would love to tell you,” she says and you both lean in to hear what she says next. “But that jerk won’t tell me either,” she rolls her eyes slightly. “All he told me was that he won’t be working as often in the bakery because of it.”

“Aww,” you pout, “that’s so cool though, imagine being surrounded by a celebrity all the time?” Jin frowns down at you.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he replies, “so is it just you right now?” The bakery wasn’t empty, but it wasn’t busy either. So you weren’t too surprised that it’s just Sohyun working this morning. As of now, it’s just your family, a couple sitting by the window, and a couple of university students.

“No, Rina is in the kitchen and Taehyung should be coming in soon,” she says.

“Oh Rina is here?” you say happily, stretching your head to the side. Sohyun smiles at you nodding.

“Auntie my cakkee~” Haneul whines, placing his tray on the counter as well. You and Jin got caught up with your friend that you forgot why you were there in the first place.

“Oh, sorry baby,” you say sheepishly. Jin bends down to pick him up, having him sit on his hip.

“You have your money?” Jin asks, looking at his son and brushing his hair back. Haneul digs into his pocket, taking out his money, waving it around.

“Let me just ring this up,” Sohyun says, she then looks up at you, “do you want anything Yn?”

“Oh, yeah, just a mocha latte please,” you say, your best friend nods, punching in the numbers.

While Jin and Haneul pay for their food, Rina comes out from the kitchen and instantly lights up when she sees you three.

“Auntie Rin!” Haneul yells, pointing at Rina.

“Hi buddy! Are you having a date with mommy and daddy?” Rina asks. Haneul nods his head, smiling at her.

“Hey, can you make a mocha latte for Yn?” Sohyun asks as she packs the food into boxes.

“Sure thing, what size?”

“Just a regular,” Sohyun responds, handing you the box full of the pastries your boys chose.

“Thank you~”

The three of you were now at the playground at the kids’ favorite park, the one by the bakery. You and Jin sat on the bench, eating croissants and drinking coffee while Haneul made friends on the playground.

“Can I have a bite?” You ask your husband, already opening your mouth. He brings a hand up to brush your hair away, before giving you a bite of his croissant.

“You literally have one for yourself in your hand,” he says, as you take two big bites of his.

“But yours is ham and cheese, mine is chocolate,” you say, mouth full.

“After 18 years of being together, you’d think I’d learn to buy two of each,” he says, eating the rest of his food. You crinkle your nose.

“Saying the years make us sound so old. Our dating anniversary is a whole adult,” you say, eyes widening. Jin laughs at you, turning to grab a napkin.

“Well I just like to remind myself that we started dating young and that we have a three year old to not make it seem like we’re so old,” he says, putting a hand on your chin and wiping the sides of your mouth. “I feel like I have another child,” he mumbles. You frown at him pushing his hand away.

“Says you.”

“Daddy!” Haneul calls as he runs to the two of you. It looked like his friends had left with their parents already. Jin dusts off his hands and wipes his mouth as he gets up from his seat.

“What is it buddy?” he says as he picks up Haneul when he gets to him.

“Swings!” He says, pointing to the empty swing set.

“Okay, let’s go.”

As the boys left for the swings, you got up to throw all your trash away so you could join them.

Jin puts Haneul on one swing as you come running to sit on the other.

“Push us,” you say, looking up at him with a big smile.

“Yeah yeah yeah!” Haneul yells, kicking his feet.

“Okaay~” Jin says, walking up behind you and pushing you off of the swing.

“Jin!” you yell as you stumble onto the floor. He doesn’t help you but instead walks over to Haneul and does the same.

“Hey!” he says, pouting and you don’t know if he’s about to laugh or cry.

“Yah, you said to push you so I did!” Jin says, backing away as he says this. You go over to Haneul and help him up.

“Let’s chase daddy,” you whisper to him. Haneul’s pout turns upwards into a mischievous little smile.

“What?” Jin says, looking at his youngest.

“IMMA GET YOU,” Haneul yells before sprinting off, you run after and the two of you start chasing Jin around the playground.

“Yah, you really think you can get me,” Jin laughs, running faster around the slides and jungle gym. Physically, yes, he’s much taller, has longer legs than the two of you, but was he smarter?

As Jin runs away from Haneul, you run the opposite direction to meet him at the other side as you three are just running in circles.

He wasn’t even looking forward, but laughing as Haneul tried to catch him with his little legs.

You managed to get in front of him without him seeing and you immediately wrap your arms around his torso, pushing your weight against him and bringing him down.

“Mommy got you!” Haneul laughs. Pointing at Jin as he caught up.

“What should his punishment be Haneul?” You ask, sitting on top of your husband. The whole scenery actually was quite strange now that you think about it. You were sitting on top of your husband… near a slide of the children’s playground… asking your three year old for punishment ideas.

Let’s just say good thing the other kids left and it was just you three at the moment.

“Tickle tickle?” Haneul says, his knee bent as he slowly walks towards his dad. Hands up and fingers wiggling.

“Y-yah, don’t get close to me,” Jin says, squirming beneath you. You laugh at Haneul as he creeps closer toward his dad.

“Tickletickletickle,” your son mumbles, tickling his dad’s sides. While Jin is distracted, you slip a hand into his pocket and take his wallet.

“Haneul quick, take this and run!” You say, handing the wallet to your son. You watch Jin’s eyes widen and he pushes you off as soon as Haneul runs off, screaming with his dad’s wallet.

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH” Jin yells, running after Haneul. You sit there on the floor laughing as you watch them run off, knowing darn well that Haneul was running towards the bakery.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

expect the unexpected

♡ part three: tickle tickle? ♡

pairings: ceo, dad!jin x interior designer, mom!reader

a/n: sorry for the super late update! still struggling in school lol, this update has helped me destress tho?

taglist: @silentlyimpractical @jillianmarie @waddlebby @cecedrake2217 @ddofa @samros95 @sope-and-shine @joonjoonsmiles @codeinebelle @aianloveseven @chamchamcham @princessjazzyjazz @notvantaes @casspirit0705 @ramyagovindraj @brinnalaine @ephyra1230 @betysotelo18 @thoughtfultaledreamer @salty-for-suga @cosmicdaylight @dreamcatcherjiah @kookoo-kachoo @nightapple4jk @josierosie @jayhope88 @butterflylion @hobiismyhopeu @momma-said-that-it-was-oke @shinyplaidbagellamp @catspancake @somewhereofftheglobe @strawberryforever25 @rjsmochii @prdshobi @beeeb05 @eatjeanjin @taekookcaneatme @Cheeely14 @kookietsukkie @anpanman-sonyeondan @glitteringcoffeefreak @chocobetterknot @alpaca1612 @ohmy-fandoms @liljooniecutie @Jikachoo @preciouschimine @fan-ati--c @Joondala @httpmuffin @dammit-jjk @jikooksgirl19

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awritingtree · 4 years

Text

Never Enough (1/7)

Sirius Black x daughter!reader

Summary: You were content with your life, living with your cousin while the whereabouts of your father, Sirius Black, and his wellbeing remained unknown after escaping . But that all changed when you had to move into 12 Grimmauld Place for the summer. The worst part of it all? He was there too. (Wow I suck at summaries)

Words: 1.7k

Warnings: angst, shitty father-daughter relationship, mentions of abandonment, tell me if there are any others

A/N: Yes, I know I changed the timeline up a bit to fit the fic. Please don’t be the asshole that points it out. I had to adjust it slightly for the plot. My heart broke writing this but it was too good an idea to pass up. I abandoned writing all my other fics for this. And all I can say to you is I’m sorry.

Series Masterlist

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

All those years, you’ve felt lonely. The Tonks were a wonderful family, raising you as one of their own. But there was always an empty feeling, a missing spot in your life that only your father could fill. If he’d come to you after he had escaped from Azkaban with an explanation, you would’ve welcomed him into your life with open arms. Therefore, when you found out he’d escaped and had been in contact with Harry all this time, not even bothering to check up on you once and the fact that you had to go live with this said person for the rest of your summer, away from your family, you went livid. You’d trashed your room; lamps broken, chairs and desks overturned, all your books had caught fire from not being able to keep your emotions, hence magic, in check.

But Aunt Dro and Dora had reassured you that it’d be fine, Dora even promised to stop by every day to check up on you without fail.

“It’s for your safety,” Uncle Teddy had said as they dropped you off.

You loved him, of course you did, he was your father. Though you had no fond memories of him, he seemed like the person you would get along greatly with. You’d heard a lot about his days at Hogwarts from your aunt. You were very much like him; just as reckless, having a knack for pranks (though people usually took it as a form of bullying or you being mean only because you were a Slytherin, even if your pranks were not as bad as those executed by the Weasley twins), and just as hot-tempered if not more. That’s why everyone should’ve this coming. It had started off as a normal day, waking up and having breakfast before getting to cleaning the grim place you were currently living in. All the house’s occupants were in one of the unkept rooms, getting rid of objects, which you thought had to be filled with dark magic.

You didn’t know when it happened; when the argument broke out. Ginny and Hermione were only asking you about your life all these years with the Tonks. Everyone should’ve seen it coming but no one had any inkling that it would escalate to this.

“You left me! You left to get revenge, without thinking for a second what would happen to me. And you came back for revenge, to protect your godson. That was enough motivation for you to leave that prison after 13 years, the rat’s picture and his safety. I wasn’t a good enough excuse to have escaped years ago, the thought of me, alone, wasn’t enough for you. I was never enough, was I!?”

Your words echoed through the silence of the house, everyone still, dumbfounded. Not even the portrait of your grandmother made a sound. The impact of your words far too great.

You knew he had escaped, but you never met. Not until this summer when you were forced to move into your ancestors’ house. He hadn’t come looking for you back in your 3rd year - he had come looking for him. The boy with the lightning scar marking his forehead from the night you lost your chance at having a life with your father. The boy who wasn’t here, for his own protection. The boy everyone seemed to drop everything for and for some that included their own daughter.

You don’t know when the argument had broken out and escalated this far, no one saw it coming. The previous playful atmosphere that hung in the air disappeared, replaced by an ambience that reeked of agony and anguish.

You, a Slytherin, a disappointment in his eyes. But truly, he was the disappointment. He left you all alone in this horrid world with no one.

“You had Remus.”

“Right,” you scoffed folding your arms across your chest, “I had a godfather who decided he couldn’t take care of me and abandoned me, not even bothering to keep in contact.”

Remus visibly flinched at the pure venom directed towards him through your words.

“That’s not my fault. I wasn’t here, what could I have done?” Sirius spoke back frustrated, throwing his hand up in the air.

“That’s the thing, you weren’t there. But it’s always James and Harry isn’t it? Harry and James,” you said defeatedly. Your shoulders slumped down as you looked down to the ground, trying to hide your tears from the rest who were staring at you, astonished but with pity. You quickly spun around on your heel and walked away, heading towards your room in this dark, repulsive house, a house that in another life you would’ve called your home.

And no one came after you.

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

That was two weeks ago, and things hadn’t gotten any better. You would stay in your room when you weren’t helping Mrs. Weasley out with the cleaning. You’d sit with everyone for meals, but a tense air would surround you every time you were in the same room as your father. He hadn’t made any move towards reconciling with you, towards having a relationship with his only child. After all that you’d said that day, you really thought he would. But you were left disappointed once again.

Just when you’d thought things couldn’t get worse, Harry had arrived a few days ago. You didn’t have anything against the boy, but watching your father dote over him every second of every day hurt you more than you cared to admit.

It was currently dinner time. You were sitting next to Dora who was changing her face to sport a pig’s snout upon Ginny’s request. You found it funny, you did, but you had no energy to laugh or even muster up a smile. You felt drained. The past few days made you feel like you were suffocating in this dreadful place. Your throat felt like it was constantly constricted, refusing to let air fill up your lungs, refusing to let you breathe and let go of the heavy weight that seemed to have made its home on your chest.

“You know, I thought the first thing you’d when you got here was ask about Voldemort.”

Your father’s conversation with Harry suddenly piqued your interest. The name caused a chill to run down through everyone’s spine.

“I did!” exclaimed Harry, “but everyone said we’re not allowed in the Order. That we’re too young.”

“You are too young,” reprimanded Mrs. Weasley.

“He’s been trapped in that Muggle house for over a month! He has the right to receive answers about his questions.”

That brought about an uproar from the rest of the kids.

“Harry’s not even of age!”

“Why does he get his questions answered!?”

~“That is up to your parents.”~

“But we’re of age!”

“Harry will tell me and Hermione everything anyway!”

You stayed silent through it all knowing anything you said wouldn’t change the minds of the adults in the room. There was nothing that you could contribute that would work in your favour.

After a row between Sirius and Mrs. Weasley (in which some out-of-line things were mentioned), it was finally decided that Ron, Hermione, Fred and George would stay as Harry got to know what had been happening. Ginny, on the other hand, was to go upstairs. Though she did not go without a fight - blazing and fuming, she reluctantly made her way to her room.

“Y/N, you too. Go upstairs,” said Remus.

“I’m not going anywhere. If they can stay so can I,” you said, looking up from your uneaten dessert.

Sirius looked away from Harry towards you, appearing to just realize you were in the room as well.

“Moony’s right. Go upstairs, Y/N,” he told you.

You stayed in your seat, going back to picking at your unappetizing dessert. Your silence and staying put began to tick Sirius off.

“Y/N, I told you something,” said Sirius, trying to keep his temper in check.

“I know, I heard you.”

The silence carried on. You stayed planted on your seat, refusing to move an inch.

“Y/N Black, you are still underage, and I am your father. So upstairs, now.”

You huffed, slamming your fork down on the table as you stood up abruptly. The chair scraped back and fell onto the floor from your sudden action.

“Fine,” you said through your gritted teeth, looking directly into your father’s eyes; eyes so alike yours. Sirius felt like he had actually been scorched by the fire burning in your eyes, contradicting the sickly-sweet smile you shot at him before storming out of the room, slamming the door shut behind you.

You made your way towards the room that was temporarily yours; one that could’ve been your room if only… You shook your head trying not to dwell on such thoughts.

You were done.

Your trunk slammed against the stairs as you dragged it down, waking up Walburga Black’s portrait, screaming at everyone:

“Half-breeds, mudbloods, and blood-traitors in my house! If I was alive-,” you tuned her shouts out.

“Y/N, dear. What are you doing?”

“What I should have done a while ago,” you replied, looking up to see Mrs. Weasley, who had just escorted Ginny up to her room, peering over the banister.

You walked towards the front door through the unlit hallway, a migraine forming from the shrieks of your biological grandmother and the screeching of your trunk dragging across the floor.

You opened the door, stepping out into the summer night. The quiet took over as soon as you shut the door behind you. Your throat finally let up and expanded as you breathed in the cool summer night air, allowing your lungs to fill with large volumes of air; air that you had been gasping for the past few weeks. The heavy weight on your chest dissipated, making you feel lighter than you had ever felt; as if you could walk on clouds.

A loud ‘pop’ sounded through the empty street a few seconds after you’d raised your wand out in front of you.

You climbed onto the bus, not once looking back at the house that no one around could see, except you.

Not even when you heard a voice call out into the empty street as you disappeared along with the Knight Bus with a ‘pop’.

“Y/N!”

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

Taglist: @heloisedaphnebrightmore @pregnant-piggy @approved-by-dentists @kashishwrites @remmyswritings @angelinathebook @idont-knowrn @coffee--writes

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