#plus it will be nice to have one that's officially part of this series

[dc-marvel-life]

Perfect Fit Part 10

Pairing: Natasha x Wanda x reader

Summary: Y/N is the new member joining the Avengers that came from a top-secret program in SHIELD that she was in all her life. Now that she has joined the team, she is experiencing life for the first time. She has caught the eye of the two most powerful women on the team.

Word Count: ~2.6k

A/N: I am so happy so many people like this series. I love this series because I like to read WandaNat and now I am making my own. After all this time I have planned out the series and it will be 20 parts!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

Y/N P.O.V

Wanda puts a plate in front of me that has a fresh homemade sandwich on it.  Wanda is truly a wonderful cook. She made fresh bread this morning and went out into the garden to get fresh greens. 

“Wanda, this is amazing like always. How can I repay you?” I say looking up at her with a pout on my face. 

“All you have to do is sit there and look pretty while I serve you food. I can say that you are doing a good job at it” she says then leans down and kisses my pout away. All of the team is either out on missions or decided to go into the city, so we had the compound to ourselves tonight. Which is nice, so we don’t need to hide.

“How about I repay you by taking you on a date?” I say hopeful. 

“YES! YES! YES! I would love to go on a date with you” Wanda says then slips into my lap and kisses my face several times. 

“Great,” I say looking into Wanda’s eyes, then I turn and look at Natasha, “Then I want to take you on a date. I want to go on a date with you guys. Plus it will be a lot of fun” I say softly to Nat. 

“I have been thinking the same thing,” Nat says with a wide smile on her face. I wonder what she is thinking about because Nat isn’t this open with any people besides us, but seeing her this vulnerable. It truly is a magical thing. 

“I think you should take Wanda out on a date, then I take you out on a date, then Wanda and I will go on a date, then finally Wanda and I take you on a date. To make it all fair so each of us will get our time together” Nat says then takes a bite of her sandwich. 

“I think it is a great idea. Hey Wanda, do you want to go on our date tomorrow night?” I turn to look at Wanda who has found a seat in my lap. 

“Yes, it will be so much fun!” Wanda says then pulls her plate closer to her and grabs her sandwich. She leans back so her back is against my front. I sigh in contentment and lean back in my chair getting comfortable. I wrap my arms around her waist and close my eyes. I don’t care that I haven’t taken a bite of my sandwich even though I am hungry. All I care about right now is making sure Wanda is comfortable. 

I open one of my eyes for a second to see Nat with her digital camera taking a picture of us right now. I am definitely going to ask about that later. 

For the rest of the day, we just lounge around watching movies and tv shows while cuddling on the couch. At the end of the night, I walked them to their room.

“I had a great day hanging out with you guys like always. Goodnight” I say then kiss Nat passionately on the lips. Then I turn to Wanda.

“For tomorrow night just wear something casual but cute just like you always do” I wink at her and she blushes. I took my opportunity and pulled her in for a passionate kiss too. Wanda opens her door and walks inside. Nat follows suit until I stop her for one last hug goodnight. She gives me a full embrace then goes inside her shared bedroom. I turn to go walk to my room and fall asleep.

—

The next morning I wake up and do my normal routine and head to the gym for my morning workout. For some reason, I am nervous about this date tonight with Wanda. I think it is because this will be my first official date.

I start my workout with full force trying to get out all this energy. After I finish my workout, I look at the time. Normally by this point, I would do my cool-down routine and head to have lunch with Wanda and Nat, but today is different. Today I need to get out of these nerves so I don’t mess up this date with Wanda. This day is the day that is going to determine how my future will be with the couple. 

So today, I decided to skip lunch and do an additional workout

I finished my second workout laying on the ground trying to catch my breath. After a few minutes, I get myself up and head to my room. Once in there for a few minutes, there was a knock on my door. 

“Come in” I yell from my closet. I hear the door open and close, and by the sound of it I know it is Nat. 

“So what happened to you today for lunch? Wanda was waiting for you to come and you never did. She was really worried for you.” Nat says and I come out of my closet. 

“I am so sorry. I wasn’t even thinking when I decided not to go to lunch. I was just too nervous for the date that I skipped lunch” I say and look up at Nat who is smirking at me. She then walks over to me and pulls me in my waist and kisses me.

“Do you feel a little better?” Nat says and I smile at her. 

“Okay, maybe that made things a little better,” I smile and kiss her again then lay my head on her shoulder. 

“It’s okay to be nervous. Trust me when I say this but we are just as nervous as you are. We don’t want to mess this up and lose you forever now” Nat says and she starts to sway from side to side while holding me.

“Trust me, you guys aren’t going to lose me,” I take a deep breath, “I am sorry for not commutationing that I wasn’t going to be at lunch today. I will do better next time” I say then Nat kisses the side of my head. 

“It is okay malysh. Wanda is just worried right now. Go talk to her to calm her nerves” Nat says and I look at her. 

“Thanks, Nat! How about after I talk with Wanda, I cuddle with you while you read?” I suggest while backing away.

“Sounds like a plan” Nat smiles and nods. I cheer and go and find Wanda. I head to the kitchen first and see her sitting at the table with my plate in front of her. I walk over to her. 

“I am so sorry for missing lunch today. I know how much time you put into making lunch for us.” 

“Do you still like me?” Wanda says in a low voice. 

“Of course I do. I like you and Nat. Why would you think that?” I ask her then grab her hands.

“Well you skipped lunch on the day that we are going on a date and I just thought that you didn’t want to go on the date or that you just didn’t like me anymore,” Wanda says and I rub my thumb over her knuckles. 

“Wanda please don’t think that. I am so happy to be going on a date with you and I do like you” I say and see Wanda physically sigh a relief.

“Good to know. I also can’t wait for our date today. Where are we going tonight?” Wanda asked.

“See now that is a surprise for you to figure out later” I smirk.

“Okay, I am willing to wait. Now I bet you are hungry. Let me go and heat up your food for you” Wanda then gets up and heats up my plate. We sit down and I enjoy my food while talking with Wanda. I know that I am never going to be tired of this woman.

After that, I went to hang out with Nat. We cuddled while she was reading a book and I was watching TV. Then it was time to start getting ready for the date. 

Once we both are ready, we head to the living room about to head out.

“Wait! Before you leave we have to take a picture” Nat says with her digital camera in hand. She takes a picture of us with my hand on Wanda’s waist and her hand lying flat on my chest. I give her one quick kiss on the lips and she starts to giggle. I hope Nat got a good picture of that. 

“Perfect! You guys look really good tonight” Nat says, eyeing us up and down. Wanda is wearing black leggings with a band tee shirt on. I am wearing jeans, a blue navy shirt with a brown jacket on top of it. 

We head off to the first part of our date

– 

We pull up to our first location and I get out of the car to open the door for Wanda. She takes my hand and we head inside the building.

“Hello, welcome to Sally’s cooking class. Are you guys joining us for tonight’s class” A worker says to us once we come in.

“Yes, I booked us a class and it should be under Y/L/N,” I say and the woman checks her computer.

“Yep! I see you! Follow me and I will get you prep,” she takes us to our station that has a sink, grill, oven, and all the ingredients that we need for today, “Here are your aprons and I will just need you guys to wash your hands. We will get started with the class in about 10 minutes,” the woman says and goes to help another person coming in the door.

“We are going to be cooking together!” Wanda says trying her best to hold back her excitement.

“Yes, we are. I wanted to learn how to cook so I can help you in the kitchen and maybe one night I can cook for you both” I smile at Wanda.

“Well you don’t have to but I am very happy that you want to. Trust me, I love cooking but cooking with someone else is even more fun. Do you know what we are cooking tonight?” Wanda asked.

“Yes, we are making cobb salad, crab cakes, steak, garlic mashed potatoes, and for dessert an apple cobbler” I say and I can see Wanda getting even more excited. I pull her closer and give her a caste kiss. 

The class starts and we get to work on cooking. It was an amazing time that I am happy that I got to spend with Wanda. The whole time we were giving each other stolen glances at each other, whispering in each other's ears, and soft kisses. At the end of class, we got to eat everything and it was delicious. After finishing cleaning up, we head out for the night.

“That was one of my best dates. Please don’t tell Nat that” Wanda giggles.

“Well don’t worry because the date is not over just yet. We still have one more thing to do” I grab Wanda’s hand and walk to our next location. It was only two blocks away so it wasn’t a bad walk. We get to our next place.

“Are you going to a wine and slip?” Wanda asks jumping up and down. 

“Yes, we are. I heard that you wanted to go to one, so I booked us a time tonight” I say and Wanda gives me a kiss and goes inside. 

We settle down in the place and have a few glasses of wine while painting fruit. I stop myself because I see that Wanda is drinking more than me. That is fine by me because I like to see her letting loose and having fun. After about a little over an hour we are done with our paintings with two and a half bottles of wine. 

I take our paintings and head to the car. Wanda is extra-handsy right now with me. I don’t mind having her hands all over me. We get into the car and head back to the compound. 

We get there and Wanda is still a bit tipsy. We headed to her room to put her in for the night.

“I had a really fun time today for our first date,” Wanda says outside of her door.

“Me too. This is my very first date and I can say it was my best so far” I say and Wanda starts to giggle. I couldn’t tell if it was from the wine or if I said something actually funny. 

“Well I am glad to be your first,” Wanda says and gives me a long, slow kiss. She breaks away from me and goes into her room for a second, then closes the door right away. 

“What’s wrong?” I say to her. 

“Natty is sleeping and I don’t want to go in there and bother her. Can I sleep with you tonight” Wanda says, smiling. 

“Sure, you can sleep with me tonight. You can wear my clothes to sleep” I say and Wanda leaps up yelling ‘yay’ and then running to my room. I laugh and follow her. 

Once we get into my room, I go into the bathroom and run her a shower. She tempted me by asking if I wanted to join her and I said no. I want to be respectful and not do anything while she has been drinking. Once she finishes her shower, I hop in quickly to take a shower and head out into the room. I see Wanda snuggled up in my bed wearing my shirt and boxers as short. 

“You look so sexy right now,” I say and get into bed with her. 

“I bet I can look even better, watch,” she says then starts to take off her shirt. I stop her from continuing. 

“Look as much as I would love to do this with you, but I want to make sure that you are sober and to make it special for the both of us,” I say and she smiles at me.

“This is why we like you so much,” Wanda says then cuddles into my side. We say goodnight to each other and go to sleep. 

I then woke up to a noise at my door. I open my eyes and see Nat coming into the room and head to my side of the bed.

“Hey Nat, what’s going on?” I say quietly so I don’t wake up Wanda.

“I am sorry. I had a nightmare and can’t go back to sleep” Nat says with a little shame.

“There is no problem. Come on in” I open up the cover and pat the bed. She crawls into bed and I wait to see what she does. I know she likes to be the big spoon with Wanda, but right now she seems shy and a little hesitant. 

“Are you okay? Do you want to be the big spoon? Or are you just not ready for touch?” I ask.

“I am fine. It is just,” she lets out a sigh, “ I am normally the big spoon with Wanda and when I have a nightmare she normally lets me hold her,” Nat says and I start to get the idea so I start to let go of Wanda. Nat stops me from doing that. 

“No, it’s not like that. I want to be the little spoon and be held” Nat softly while looking down. I lift her head up.

“It is okay Nat. I am more than happy to be your big spoon and hold you. Come here” I open my arms up to her and she snuggles into me. Wanda also holds me a bit tighter. This is honestly the best feeling that I ever had. For the first time ever in my life, I feel at home. 

Taglist: @tigerlillyruiz@marvelwomen-simp@smromanoff@whitewidowsbite @cd-4848@fxckmiup

Masterlist

[hils79]

Matz (Performance Version)

Favourite moments in every Ateez MV 34/?

[povlnfour]

ੈ✩‧₊˚ PADDOCK TO PADDOCK (LN) PART 6

series masterlist | prev part | next part

lando norris x fem!horse rider!reader

yourusername just posted stories ੈ✩‧₊˚

landonorris just posted a photo ੈ✩‧₊˚

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landonorris DOUBLE PODIUM BABY!!! thank you japan🧡

view all 10,639 comments

oscarpiastri 🙌🏻🧡

user3 GOAT TENDENCIES

user6 MY PAPAYA TEAM!!!!

user9 so nice to not see #her at a race for once😂

user11 no for real!!! i’m so tired of her

oscarpiastri wait till you hear they were on facetime all day

user7 LMAO OSCAR

yourusername that’s my fav smile!!!!!

yourusername miss ur face☹️

landonorris it’s been a week🙄 needy

landonorris but i miss you more🧡

texts with lando ੈ✩‧₊˚

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liked by landonorris, lilymhe and 197,402 others

yourusername last little stint before flying off again. pretty rough practice today (cuddles bc bean decided to throw me off and clearly feels guilty) but we bounce back!!! training is a go🩷

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user5 lando warned us he was a menace

landonorris hm wonder where you’re flying off to

user9 🙄 not again

landonorris @/user9 yeah it’s almost like i love her or something

user7 YES LANDO BITE BACK

yourusername @/landonorris oh

user3 wait🫣 DID SHE NOT KNOW THAT LANDO LMAO

user2 lando confessing he loves u in ur instagram comments is so real

texts with lily, twitter reacts, texts with lando ੈ✩‧₊˚

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liked by 9,306 people

y/nupdates y/n arriving at the paddock in qatar today! still no story posts from her or lando after the L Word Situation🫣

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yourusername i love you too, asshole🧡

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————————

taglist: @idkiwantchocolatee @vellicora @alessioayla @bborra @crimeshowjunkie @minkyungseokie @paolexsstuff @celestialpato @champagnelovers101 @loxbbg @hobiismyhopeu @tsukishitm-a @moonypixel

a/n: HI HI a few parts to go to finish off (plus a mini epilogue) but just wanted to say thank you SO much for all your support!!! officially writing my first one shot atm as well so that will be up soon (+ have had a banging idea for a charles au so….) but yes!! insanely proud of this series so far🩷

don’t be afraid to interact in whatever way you want! all the comments on the taglist form make me so happy, i love hearing you guys’ opinions🥹i realise this is soft ish and there’s not much drama but trust me i’m writing Drama for other bits now hehe

speaking of tag form, find it here

- giselle xx

[pathfuckery]

Pathfinder 2e New Player Resource Masterpost

Hey there! Looking to get into PF2e? You’re making a great decision, but you may not know where to start! I’ve put together a handy list of resources you can consult while getting into the game. As always, if you ever have questions about PF2e, please don’t hesitate to reach out! I love this system, and I love helping new players!

Official Resources

The Archives of Nethys are the official host for the PFSRD. You can find ALL of the rules of the game for free there. Literally everything that is not Golarian specific is on the Archives, and all of it is laid out incredibly well. It may not look quite as flashy as beyond, but its search functions and layout are superior. 

If you buy one product from Paizo as you get started, I HAVE to recommend to BEGINNER BOX. This thing is fantastic. It simplifies the rules, gives you GORGEOUS character sheets that highlight all of your abilities, and have a fun little adventure that dovetails nicely into either their Troubles in Otari or Abomination Vaults modules. (As someone who has run both of those now, they’re both fantastic as well and I highly recommend them.) 

Beyond the Beginner Box, I would also suggest picking up a Core Rulebook. It is true that all of the rules information is already laid out in the Archives, but having a CRB on handd is nice for the art, plus the book is laid out incredibly well. If you can’t afford a CRB at this time, though, you’ll still be good! You might also watch for Humble Bundles, as they often have great Pathfinder packs on there, and sometimes it includes Physical CRBs, in addition to a load of other great PDFs. 

When looking to GM, I recommend the following pages in the CRB first. I’ve also linked the corresponding Archive pages: 

Introduction, Pages 7-31. This will give you the rundown on key terms, how characters are created, the base flow of the game, and the action system (the best part of pf2e!)

Playing the Game, Pages 443-481. This is the longest section of the rulebook to read, but there’s a lot of great stuff in here. This will give you the rules for checks, combat, conditions, resolving actions, and the differences between encounter, exploration, and downtime mode. The most important is encounter and exploration mode, so you can feel free to only skim the downtime mode section of this part. 

The Gamemastering section has a lot of great stuff, but for a GM, your two most important sections will be the following:

Encounter Building, pages 488 and 489. The rules for building encounters work in this system, and they work WELL. Obviously, environment, terrain, and how a specific groups strengths and weaknesses compare to a monster affect things, but if you budget a moderate encounter, it can be expected to be moderate. Just be sure you recognize that Moderate encounters are still meant to be challenging in this system, and Severe encounters are potentially deadly. Extreme encounters should be used incredibly sparingly. Maybe 1 or 2 times per campaign.

DC Charts and Adjusting DCs. Pages 503 and 504.  If you ever need a quick DC, these charts are your friend. You don’t need to memorize them, but you’ll want to have them in an easy-to-reference spot.

Youtubers

There are a lot of great youtubers for PF2e. I’ll only be highlighting a few of my favorites here!

How It’s Played  is probably the best resource for a new player, and helped me a ton with all of the rules when I started GMing. They do close looks at different subsystems, and clearly break down how the rules apply. You don’t need to watch all of their content before you jump in and play, but if you watch a few of their main series on PF2e between each session, you’ll be a rules master in no time! 

I also really enjoy The Rules Lawyer. He always has well-reasoned takes on things going on in the hobby, and and has an enjoyable calm/measured tone. I highly recommend his “Combat Tactics” videos, as he highlights some of the major differences with 5e and what things are now expected to survive. A lot of common 5e tactics are a way to a quick death in PF2e, but you do have the tools to survive!

The final Youtuber I’ll be highlighting is Nonat1s. He’s puts out quite a variety of videos, including skits and other fun things, but is also a wonderful ambassador for the game and gives great character advice as well. I want to highlight his “Welcome to Pathfinder Second Edition” video, which is just perfect!

Other Resources

I can’t create a list of resources without calling out Pathbuilder! It is hands down the best character builder, and its available on desktop and mobile. It’s mostly free, with a small donation being required to unlock premium features. At this time, there is no crossover between the web app and desktop besides being able to save and access characters from google drive.

The Pathfinder 2e Subreddit  is a wonderful community of people, and it’s a great place for discussion. There’s weekly question megathreads, discussions about releases, people highlighting great builds and fun things in the system, and it’s probably the quickest place to keep track of announcements. There’s also a lot of love for 3pp there!

Speaking of 3pps, I LOVE the Battlezoo line! One of my players is OBSESSED with dragons, and they have a whole book that was tailor-made for him, and it’s incredibly balanced and fun. They’ve also got a whole bunch of other cool stuff that’s been kickstarted and will be releasing soon. 

What VTT should you use if you’re playing online? My hat is thrown into the ring for Foundry VTT. It’s my VTT of choice. It’s wildly powerful with the Pathfinder 2e system, and a wonderful community of devs have gotten the system almost entirely automated so you can focus on RP! It’s a breeze as a GM as well, and the only difficulty is in self-hosting, but even that isn’t too bad. Their site has a great set of guides, starting HERE with the ways you can host. If you choose to self-host, you only need to make a 1-time payment of 50 dollars for the software, and only one person needs to actually do the hosting. Split between a group? That’s incredibly affordable, especially considering there is no subscription!

I’m gonna shout MYSELF out here. I put together a List of Actions you can take in combat that isn’t just moving or attacking. Coming from 5e, it can be easy to get stuck in the loop of move and attack, but there are so many more options, and those options are very crucial. This isn’t comprehensive, but covers the basics characters can have access to with only minor skill investment.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results -- Gligglae

Sorry this is later than usual; traveling for the holidays makes it difficult to keep up with this sort of thing. The smart move would have been to write it up a couple days ahead of time, then on Monday just update it with anything new that had been posted since, but see, what happened was that I did not do that. Instead, I tried to type this up Monday evening in between various family obligations, realized I didn't have time to do it properly, and just shoved it in my drafts. Then all of Tuesday was taken up with the long drive back home from where my family lives, and now you're getting it on Wednesday.

(Also, don't worry, I followed all CDC guidelines appropriate for someone who had recently had covid, and wouldn't have traveled for the holidays at all if I hadn't been without a fever for 48 hours prior to departing. Plus I drove instead of flying, didn't visit anyone but immediate family, and had a mask the whole time, so even if I am still contagious somehow, exposure was pretty minimal.)

Anyway, the entry that our artists are working from is here:

And, of course, all previous material on this matter can be found at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting.

I think a larger number of people than usual identified the animal in question right off the proverbial bat, because this one has some pretty blatant tells, but as always I appreciate everyone trying to put it out of their minds.

So, anyway, in rough chronological order:

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) (thank you for providing your own alt text, I really appreciate it) brings us her usual impeccably medieval-stylized rendition -- the swirls and curves in this one give it a really interesting vibe, I think. We can see the Gligglae in full-body profile on the left there, and a group of them doing their cluster behavior on the right. The, like, griffin/cockatrice/vampire look is pretty great, also. I enjoy the overall design, which you can find some discussion of in the linked post. Gold foil also a nice touch.

Coolest-capybara also notes that the entry is very interested in the ways in which the creature is "almost, but not quite, entirely unlike a bird," and I can explain why that is. It is because this entry is in the Bird section of the bestiary, so officially this is a bird -- I mean, it flies, what else can it be -- but it's sufficiently un-bird-like that it really sticks out to the authors, so they need to explain the ways in which it's Doing Bird Wrong. Everything else in this section does X, so we need to point out that this one does Y, kind of thing.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has drawn an absolutely adorable little Gligglae. (Adorable if you have my sense of aesthetics, that is -- I suspect if you're among the portion of the population that finds aye-ayes more creepy-looking than cute, that might apply here as well.) There's an explanation of design decisions in the linked post, including a number of references to real animals that provided inspiration. I like the decision to play up the "lowly" and "mean" part of the description by making it small and kind of scruffy. And the general concept of blending "gliding rodent" with "nocturnal primate" to make an arboreal mammal with elements of both really worked out well here, in my opinion.

@aethereaii (link to post here) has done this beautiful piece in a style that kind of gives "19th-century naturalist" vibes. (Actually, it makes me think of James Gurney, but I suspect that association says more about my childhood reading habits than anything else.) This is a great design in my opinion, and you can find some brief discussion on design decisions as well as an earlier version of the Gligglae in the linked post. The earlier design is also very good, but I agree with Aethereaii that this one is a step up, particularly with the Anomalocaris-inspired faux-wings. I also really like the inclusion of the juvenile Gligglae (Gligglings?) clinging to their parent's back in the corner there.

@karthara (link to post here) decided to go in a reptilian direction with this one, which (a) works well and (b) caused me to spend a chunk of time reading about flying snakes on Wikipedia just now. So in this version, the "rowing motion with its skin" is a description of the Gligglae flaring its ribs and undulating through the air -- which I genuinely think really makes sense. The entry seems to legitimately disagree with itself about whether this critter has wings (or, taking it entirely literally, it has wings but flies through a completely separate method that specifically does not involve said wings, which I think we're justified in deciding is Wrong), so I think going with such a non-wing-like flight method works here. Also like the concept of making these very cuddly (and apparently loving, according to our bestiary author) creatures into a type of animal that usually isn't seen that way. The linked post also contains some brief notes on design decisions.

@strixcattus (link to post here) has, as per usual, provided a really excellent modern-naturalistic description of the creature they've designed in the linked post, and you should definitely go check it out right now. I'll wait.

... back? Okay good. I particularly like their interpretation of the "grape-cluster" behavior as a social group that's specifically not a kin group; and also the fact that said group is officially referred to as a "cuddle". The choice to make it a whole genus and show us several different wild and domesticated species, also very good, love it. As with several of these drawings, Strixcattus's Gligglae (Gligglaes?) are extremely cute -- which, really, does also fit the description provided in the entry. They're like tadpoles crossed with sugar gliders.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) credits Ken Sugimori's Pokemon illustrations as a stylistic inspiration, which I suppose explains why the Gligglae cluster seems to be hanging from a Sudowoodo. The linked post also draws certain parallels between medieval bestiaries and the Pokedex, which I think is actually pretty insightful. There's also a breakdown of their design decisions there, go read it. I think this is a pretty good rendering of something that is like a flying squirrel but distinctly not a flying squirrel, and I like the shaggy look of the fur.

Also, thank you for providing your own alt text.

@pomrania (link to post here) is, I think, the only person to take the bestiary author at their word that this animal has wings but flies through some other, non-wing-related method. You can see the tiny useless wings at the shoulder there. I really think that's fascinating as a concept: what evolutionary pressures would produce an animal that (a) has wings and (b) flies but (c) those two things are unrelated? Although this many appendages on a fur-bearing creature puts us firmly in the "alien biology" territory, so maybe it's silly to expect it to make sense by the standards of terrestrial biology. Regardless, I like it, and I think the decision to run with the "rowing" description by giving it those oar-shaped appendages is a good & creative one. The post linked above contains a fair bit of information on design decisions and the drawing process here -- there are sketches and everything.

@vindikat (link to post here) has interpreted this in a way I find really charming. The art is of course excellent, very well drawn, and I appreciate the effort that went into doing these different poses. However, I really like it from a worldbuilding perspective: this gives me the impression of a small species of griffin that's adapted to urban living, more pigeon/cat than eagle/lion. (Come to think, both pigeons and cats are examples of feral populations finding a successful niche, rather than wild ones that adapt to a city, so maybe we can speculate that these guys are also descended from domestic ancestors.) Also the Gligglae under the eaves there remind me of pictures of chimney swifts that have made the rounds on Tumblr.

The design is also generally very appealing; I think the extra wings and the long tail really work here. The linked post includes an explanation of the design decisions that I think is worth taking a look at.

@moustawott (link to post here) has given us another very cuddly version of the Gligglae. I particularly like the wing design here, how it's kind of a mammalian version of a pterosaur -- Moustawott indicates that they were specifically trying not to draw the animal that they're sure this is, and I think the pterosaur-squirrel design here is a great way to make something that could fill kind of the same niche while being an unmistakably distinct creature. The little round head and eye markings remind me of a chipmunk, also, which is cute.

@rautavaara (link to post here) continues to do interesting stylistic stuff with their contributions. I like how the limited color palette here makes this look kind of like a single-block woodcut or similar relief printing. Like, you could plausibly see this as a design someone's carved into a wood block, then printed on mustard-yellow paper with purple ink. (I'm actually not 100% sure that's not what it is; I would just be surprised if someone actually went the extra mile of breaking out the engraving tools for my little bestiaryposting thing.) Very dynamic scene, also, and a charming creature design; love the huge mouths with pointy little fangs.

All right, these are all the ones that come up on the search; if I missed yours, let me know please.

(I have to apologize here for another delay that's absolutely my fault -- I would have had this out a few hours ago, but I got derailed by impulsively deciding to check out that Hbomberguy plagiarism video everyone's talking out, and... yeah.)

Anyway, as a number of this week's artists indicated, this one was really easy to guess, so the reveal seems a little pointless, but we have a format, so:

Obviously, this was the sheep.

What? Look, you can't make assumptions with these things. Some of these medieval bestiary entries are really counterintuitive. Medieval Europeans believed there was a species of small, highly-social, flying nocturnal sheep native to Ethiopia.

Really, it's in Pliny the Elder.

...

Yes, fine, I'm just lying to you for fun. It's the animal you all think it is, there are no flying sheep to my knowledge. Here's the Aberdeen Bestiary illustration.

Yep, it's the bat. Oddly human face on that one, and generally I don't think this was drawn from life, but it's definitely a bat.

I do kind of find the way it's described in this entry kind of interesting, though. The confusion about whether bats count as having wings (even after having been placed in the "bird" category) is kind of odd, and the "rowing" description is not one I would have ever thought of. I very much like the declaration that the way bats huddle together is "an act of love of a sort which is difficult to find among men"; it's a sweet way to talk about a creature with a generally negative reputation, which contrasts interestingly with the fact that the author also thinks of them as "lowly" and "mean". You kind of get the idea of a creature that's a bit wretched but in a sympathetic way. "Scrungly", one might say.

[markantonys]

thoughts on the people of falme cheering over learning that the dragon has been reborn

1) their city was just getting blown up and now it's not. they're happy about this.

2) their city had been occupied by the seanchan for weeks (months?) and now it's not. they're happy about this.

3) the average layperson may not even recognize the dragon symbol; maybe they're just thinking someone's putting on a nice fireworks show to celebrate the attack being over.

4) but assuming they do recognize it, this is not unlike the immediate reaction to rand declaring himself in the stone in TDR. all the onlookers kneel before him and take up chanting "the dragon has been reborn!" it's not a celebratory moment, exactly, but it's far from a fearful one. it's only in the little coda afterwards that mat tells us the news is being met with both awe and fright as it's being spread; in the immediate moment, "awe" is definitely the main emotion.

5) there is book precedent for rand being welcomed into a city for whom he did a good deed, rather than being met with hatred or fear (illian). maybe the people of falme, in this immediate post-battle moment, care less about the vague future notion of the last battle and more about the fact that whoever's up on that tower did them a solid by helping get rid of the seanchan and the whitecloaks.

6) elayne noted that the people of falme act like they've been seanchan all their lives. perhaps their cheering for the dragon reborn who's just conquered their conquerors is meant to show a Series Theme about how the average layperson doesn't care about who's in charge or about what's going on in the world at large as long as their own individual life isn't affected too badly.

7) in the books, the idea that the general populace is afraid of rand/the dragon reborn really doesn't emerge strongly until TSR, after he's been publicly out as the dragon for more than 5 seconds. no reason to assume the show will never get to this idea just because it hasn't yet. this series has 1 million Themes and not all of them can fit in the first 2 seasons of the show. since everybody was going to be split up for most of this season, they chose "the vulnerability of isolation vs. the strength of togtherness" as the Focal Theme for the season and the big moment of togetherness in the final scene is the conclusion of this Theme. (and this was all necessitated in part by barney's departure; rafe said that the changes to mat's story are what made them decide to double down on the isolation theme for season 2.)

8) simple storytelling and Making Emotionally Satisfying Television reasons. season 2 was a very heavy season of isolation, despair, and loss (and i saw more than one mid-season critic review & show-only comment begging for some light because things had been so painful for so long). thus, they wanted to end the season on a note of unity, hope, and triumph, to give the audience some much-needed positive catharsis. the final scene being everybody screaming in horror and recoiling in terror from rand would've been, you know, kind of a downer.

9) even if the people are celebrating, rand himself is CLEARLY not happy. rest assured that the show is aware of the "it sucks to be the chosen one" Theme and is not going to make being the dragon reborn any less of a burden for rand than it is in the books (just in case the whole thing where he spent the entire season hating himself and having nightmares about killing everyone he loves didn't already give you that impression).

plus, just like in TGH&TDR, this season rand's inner struggle was only about being a male channeler because he had no idea his dragon reborn duties weren't over until the last few episodes. only now that he has officially taken up the mantle of the dragon reborn will it be time for us to see how much being the chosen one weighs on him. so, just the same timing as it was in the books. (and frankly, i think season 1's emphasis on rand having concrete plans for a future in emond's field which he now has to abandon already sold this idea more than the first 2 or 3 books alone did; as a show-only for s1 i was so upset about rand not getting to be a stay-at-home cottagecore dad, my show-only mom was so upset about it, and i've seen plenty of other show-onlys being upset about it too.)

[trungles]

A while ago I got to do some work for DC as a writer and an artist on a Wonder Woman short for Wonder Woman: Black and Gold (Volume 1, Issue 5). I started making comics without ever having any aspirations to work on superheroes. I still largely don’t; I’ve always known I loathe drawing crumbling city blocks and airborne cars, for example. Plus I have a lot of trouble thinking my artwork looks right for a superhero property. Ten years ago if an editor were to look over my portfolio, I’d expect them to go, “This is nice! I’m sure it’s great for your own thing, but it’s not quite appropriate for superheroes.” I still largely operate this way, but occasionally an editor might have a really specific vision where my work is part of the visual language, and it becomes exactly right for the project, and I think this was one of those stories.

I asked my editor if I could use a supervillainess that hadn’t been touched since 1948, the Meteor Girl known as Queen Badra, and I got clearance. I’ve always loved DC heroes like Starfire and Superman because their origin stories resonate with my diasporic and refugee background, and Badra’s origin really stood out to me because it also fell along those lines, but her appearance was so brief, and she basically disappears from popular consciousness. Badra has basically the same origin as Superman, and she arrives on Earth to eventually lead a gang of wayward young girls in a series of petty crimes. Badra is apprehended by Wonder Woman and the Amazons’ Kanga regiment (the Amazons canonically ride giant kangaroos, it’s great). In the end the Amazons take her in to rehabilitate her because Wonder Woman believes that her powers can be used to do good.

For Wonder Woman: Black and Gold, I expanded on Badra’s origins a little more while telling a story about Wonder Woman repatriating alien artifacts. I got to be a little art history nerd in a comic about Wonder Woman’s capacity to find the best in people who are hurt and lashing out. It was such a fun experience. I’m so proud to say that Badra is listed as appearing exactly three times as of today: once in an issue of Comics Cavalcade in 1948, once in a Wonder Woman official encyclopedia, and once in my little short comic.

[harlowcomehome]

Making it official:

Series link!

The day after you and Jack celebrated Valentines together you woke up with his arms wrapped around you. The both of you slept on your sides, your back was facing his chest and he was pressed against you.

He was shirtless, and his leg was wrapped around yours. You woke up first, but you didn’t mind. You didn’t want to wake him, so you laid in bed and scrolled on your phone.

He let out light snores, which you had to keep yourself from giggling over. Layla was already texting you, asking for details but before you could reply to her Jack was starting to wake up.

“Good morning handsome” you mumbled, still facing away from him.

“Good morning” he said as he stretched. “Why are you facing that way?” He laughed noticing you weren’t facing him.

“I don’t want you to smell my morning breath” you laughed. “I haven’t been able to get up yet because you were wrapped around me.”

“Morning breath huh?” Jack teased, letting out a laugh from deep within. You felt the bed shake and you started to laugh too.

You got up and went to the bathroom to brush your teeth. All while thinking about last night with a smile on your face.

When you came out of the bathroom Jack was sitting up in bed, waiting for you.

“Your curls are so cute” you giggled, walking over to him, running your fingers through a few loose ringlets.

He smiled before covering his mouth with his hands and quickly rushed over to the bathroom and shut the door to brush his teeth, you couldn’t stop laughing at how dramatic he was about it but he did a lot of goofy things like that.

When he came out of the bathroom the two of you ordered breakfast, and Jack made you the one in charge of picking a show to watch while you ate.

“Can we watch Desperate Housewives?” You asked as he went to the door to get your food delivery.

“Is that the one with Eva Longoria?” He asked cheekily. “ Did you know she’s my celebrity crush?” Jack gushed and you rolled your eyes.

“Don’t make me change my mind” you warned after you had just pressed play.

“Jealous type huh? I’m sure you have celebrity crushes too” He teased before he set your food down on the coffee table in front of you.

“Yeah, but I’ll keep them to myself for now” you stifled a laugh.

You thanked him for the food before the two of you were extremely engulfed in the show.

You had spent the entire morning watching episode after episode and giggling at Jacks unnecessary commentary.

You caught him staring at you from the side of your eye, that big goofy smile on his face never failed to be contagious.

You turned to look at him and before you could say anything he spoke.

“Be my girlfriend?” Jack blurted out between episodes which caused you to freeze. The apartment was silent, as the next episode was loading and Jack was embarrassed. He imagined that going way smoother in his head.

“I mean, will you-“ he let out a deep breath “we’ve just been- and I thought I better make it official“ he paused again “hold on- I swear I can put a sentence together” he laughed nervously which you found attractive.

“I mean it’s part of your job right” you teased and he immediately felt his face turn red.

Your cheeks hurt from how hard you were smiling. “Yes, I’d love to be your girlfriend.”

He went in for a kiss, and you deepened it. Your hands wrapped around his shoulders.

The only thing that finally interrupted you was a call from his manager.

****

After Valentine’s Day you and Jack hadn’t seen much of one another in person. You spent a lot of time on FaceTime or on the phone in general.

Jack had been doing a lot of promotion for his album and he had been busy flying here, there and everywhere for it all. He had filmed a music video and was super excited for you to see it, plus a few other things.

He consistently worried about how you were feeling which was nice and new to you.

You had never really been on the opposite end of giving reassurance, but it felt nice and you let Jack know you wouldn’t be going anywhere.

On February 27th, he asked to face time with you. He said it was urgent which you’d be lying if you didn’t admit it had your stomach in knots.

“Hey pretty lady!” He said excitedly once your face showed up on screen.

“Everything okay?” You questioned.

“Oh? Yeah. I should’ve worded my text better! Everything’s fine” he smiled, and you laughed in response.

“Okay, you seem happy! That’s good! What’s up?” You questioned and Layla realized you were talking to Jack so she waved her hello and goodbye before leaving the room.

“Hey Layla!” He waved before continuing “okay so, remember I told you about Pete?”

“Davidson? Yeah?” You pretended like him casually mentioning Laylas favorite comedian wasn’t a big deal, you were happy she had left the room because she would’ve freaked out.

“So he talked to some of the guys at SNL who are in charge of picking the musical acts and-“ he was smiling so big that you couldn’t contain your reaction.

“NO WAY! Oh my god! When?” You had jumped out of your seat which made his stomach do backflips in the best way.

“March 27th! And I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me?”

“Go with you?” Your heart was beating so hard you felt like your neighbors would be able to hear it.

“If you want to?” He tried to downplay it, unsure of your reaction. “I mean, I want you there but if it’s too much for you or you just don’t want to, that’s okay” he nervously mumbled.

You smiled, “of course, I want to babe! I’ll ask my boss about time off this week.”

“Don’t forget to ask about my birthday weekend too” he replied eagerly. “The thirteenth” he reminded you.

“I didn’t forget” you smiled, knowing damn well you had already got him his gift. “Oh! We are all good to go for that weekend! I got approval today” you giggled knowing he was going to be happy about that.

“Hope you’re ready to meet everyone” he winked and you felt a wave of nervousness already.

“I can still bring Layla right?” You asked for what felt like the millionth time.

“Yes. She’s on the list too. It’ll be fine. All my guys are chill” he noticed your reaction and you nodded.

“You already met Urb and believe it or not he’s the toughest critic” he laughed, scrunching his nose.

“You know it’s not your friends I’m nervous about” you bit the inside of your lip, you always did when you got anxious.

“My parents? Don’t worry about it! They’ll love you.” The glisten in his eyes made you believe it.

You nodded, “I hope so.”

“I miss you a lot” he changed the subject noticing you were uneasy and you couldn’t help but smile.

“I miss you too, but it’ll all be worth it” you reminded.

The way you spoke to him was exactly what he needed in this moment and you didn’t even know it, making him fall for you even more.

[gasolinerainbowpuddles]

A Fish Out of Water ║ ⒸⓄⓁⓁⒺⒸⓉⒾⓄⓃⓈ

| A FISH OUT OF WATER | part of the A Weight Off Your Shoulders collection ║ main masterlist ║ series masterlist ║ | PAIRING(s): Joel Miller x plus sized!fem!neighbor

| RATING: explicit material | 18+ | WORD COUNT:  4.1k | CONTENT: age gap (Joel mid 40s, neighbor late 20s), negative body image, negative self-talk, the torment of dressing rooms and trying on clothes, trying to get some healing accomplished and learn to love your body, Joel is a nasty lil slut who kneels at the altar of plus sized!fem!neighbor’s pussy

| SYNOPSIS: Joel invites you over for a swim, and your plain onepiece swimsuit  isn’t gonna cut it anymore. One new swimsuit later, and things get real wet. Spoiler: Splish splash bitch we gon’ smash.

✧this is the second installment of a oneshot collection but can be read as a standalone✧

✧◦◦║ Part 1 ║ Part 3 ║ Part 4 ║ Part 5 ║ Part 6 ║◦◦✧

When Joel invited you to go swimming, you considered claiming you had horrible stomach cramps and couldn’t make it. Instead, you did your best impression of a mature adult and accepted his offer. You wouldn’t have to see yourself in swimwear if you just didn’t look down, and you could ogle a shirtless Joel. All in all, there were worse things to endure.

You reluctantly unpack the single piece of swimwear you owned: a dowdy black onepiece. Black was the most slimming color, right? It wasn’t doing a whole lot for you on that front, but it was a better option than the usual old lady floral prints that plagued the onepiece section.

You liked to think of your suit as observing Victorian mourning etiquette: veiled in an abundance of black fabric, publically grieving a body that would never be the right type or shape for anything other than full coverage swimwear.

The smack of your flip flops against his concrete patio came to a halt when you saw him. There was your fine as fuck DILF situationship leaning over the edge of the above ground pool he’d got up and running once the idea of having you over for a swim had popped into his head.

You had anticipated “Dad Swimming Trunks”, the kind that had cargo pockets galore for no fucking reason and stopped at the upper calf. You’d assumed this just based on his age, but you should have known better. This man was always surprising you in the best of ways, and he was certainly not your average middle-aged man.

You drink in the sight of his quads where the hem of his trunks sit. It was a heaven-sent style that gifted you with more of his body to gawk at. God bless whoever convinced him to get those, although you know would be thirsting over him just the same if he had been wearing the official “Dad Swimming Trunks.”

He smiled and waved when he saw you, and he shifted right into his usual stance: hands resting on his hips with one slutty little knee popped out to the side. God fucking dammit. Was it too late to claim gastrointestinal distress? Joel whistled approvingly at your funeral shroud of a bathing suit, and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes and giggle. What this man saw in you, you couldn’t say. 

When you complimented his trendy trunks, this motherfucker had the nerve to act shy about it. His daughter had teased him about his “old man swimsuit” apparently and harassed him until he got something “cooler.” Ah, so you weren’t completely off base when you assumed he’d had the Dad Swim Uniform. 

Bless his little menace bully of a daughter you laugh to yourself. Your amusement fades when you consider that you are the only one in geriatric themed swimwear. You ignore the negative voice in your head and focus on the curves and dips of Joel’s body.

The two of you swam and relaxed in the pool for a couple of hours. It actually felt nice to be buoyed by the water a little bit as you wrapped your legs around Joel’s waist and made out, or when he grabbed you from behind and let you float back and forth with his swaying as you rested your head on his shoulder. It felt nice to pretend for a little bit that you were lighter than you actually were.

You hate how you still feel timid about yourself around Joel when he has only ever made you feel amazing - emotionally and physically. If anyone had earned you letting down your walls of insecurities, it was Joel. He always managed to reframe any negative thing you had to say or think about yourself.

Getting out of breath while you rode him? “Yeah, that’s right, baby. Workin’ this cock so good you can’t even breathe. Gonna fuck all the air right outta you, sweetheart.”

Frowning at the bold colored BMI number on your check-up report? “BMI is horseshit. Don’t mean anything. Thought that you’d know that, bein’ an expert at numbers and all.”

Trying to talk him out of getting ice cream because you couldn’t “afford the extra calories”? “Got you a swirly cone so you can pretend its my cock and show me how you wanna lick it before I fuck your brains out later.”

Not wanting to sit in his lap for movie night because you were going to smush him? “If you don’t come park that ass on my lap right this second, I’m not gonna pretend to like the romcom you picked.”

Not wanting to sit on his face because you would suffocate him? “Goddamn, wouldn’t that be a glorious way to go. Promise me you’ll put it in my obituary. Add somethin’, too, about ‘died doing what he loved.’”

Joel was in a league of his own in terms of how he approached your body and your thoughts about it. You’d never had such a neutral yet admiring partner. He never fetishized your figure like some guys had done in the past. “Chubby chasers” as they were known. The term was crude and minimizing of said “chubby’s” personhood, but it was unfortunately a fitting vibe for how most guys treated you and anybody over a size 12.

Joel never tried to claim that you weren’t fat. Fat was just something you had on your body; it wasn’t your primary descriptor, and it didn’t define you. “Come on, baby, you’re not fat!” was something you had heard so many times from hookups and boyfriends. But why was that such a bad thing anyway? Couldn’t you just be fat and it not be such a horrible thing? To just exist in your own body? It was a bit hypocritical to ask of them, of course, when you were your own number one slanderer.

Joel just saw your body as, well, your body. It wasn’t some complicated thing that needed to be navigated tactfully to avoid upset. It was just one facet of you, and he liked your body because it was a part of you. He so often paid positive attention to your body because he wanted to. It wasn’t some show of affection to help boost your confidence, although it certainly helped. He liked it just as he liked your sense of humor, your financial smarts, your taste in restaurants, your little quirks… 

It also didn’t hurt that he was an absolutely voracious lover, and a vocal one at that. He had some incredibly creative dirty talk that flooded your basement fast. This man could not get enough of you. New positions, new places, new everything. It was like he wanted to experience you in every combination possible, and you never turned him down.

And then that soft, tender side of him that was equally transfixing. The way he always pulled you closer to cuddle. The way he nuzzled kisses along your neck when he’d stop behind you for a moment while you were washing dishes at the sink. The way his large hands would trace mindless patterns against the inside of your thigh when you were sitting watching TV together.

The two of you weren’t officially an item,  but the “we sure do a lot of relationship things for two people who aren’t in a relationship” list was growing every week. You had a feeling that Joel was more than ready to head down that path, but you still had reservations about getting into anything serious after your last bad breakup. You’d been in a long-term relationship that was about to take a turn into wedding bells and honeymoons but instead took a sharp left into “I’m throwing this years long relationship down the drain because I want to fuck somebody younger, skinnier, and better than you.”

As much as you’d love to say that you had moved on and healed from the pain that your ex-fiance Michael’s cheating had brought you, it would have been a lie. It had swallowed you up and spit you out squarely into “I’m never going to be good enough for anyone” territory. Though Joel had never given any indication that he was interested in anything but you, the fear of rejection and abandonment still loomed.

But Joel had a curious knack of worming his way into your heart and sprinkling little bits of confidence there. That’s why when you were meandering through a big chain retailer, you took a quick peek at the swimsuits they had on display. The full coverage styles that you always went for were all the way to the back, where big girls could run and hide as they shopped with shame.

A bright pink something catches your eye as you lazily scan the offerings. You can’t make out the style very well over the display rack in the middle of the section, so you venture around it to get a better look. It was absolutely adorable. Hot pink with little embroidered daisies. Your face falls, though, when you realize you are looking at a two piece with very stringy closures.

You bet Joel would like it …. If he were here with you right now, he would all but demand you at least try it on before deciding you hated it. You sigh and grab the one furthest back before heading to the dressing rooms. 

God did you hate dressing rooms. There probably wasn’t another setting that had given you so many Vietnam style flashbacks than dressing rooms. Sometimes these assholes would even put in 3 slanted mirrors side by side so you had no choice but to observe yourself from more angles. Bunch of sick, twisted bastards.

You face away from the mirrors while you tie the strings around your hips and back. If you saw yourself getting into this thing, there’s no way you’d even finish putting it on all the way before you gave up. You spin with your eyes closed, facing the mirrors and counting backwards from 5 to work up the nerve to open your eyes.

Well, Joel would definitely like it, so at least there was that. The first thing your eyes flew to was your pudgy lower belly sticking out from the sides of the bottom. It butted right up to your round, jiggly, cellulite-speckled thighs. Adjusting the straps on your hips didn’t do much to magically shrink your bulgy bits, but it sort of looked like a sexy, teasing gesture when you did it.

You stand there with fidgety hands on your hips and scrutinize your reflection. You were so used to seeing yourself all covered up that this completely normal bikini made you feel like you were sporting two bandaids and a cork. A public indecency call would definitely be made to the police if you ever stepped out in this thing.

You sigh and tilt your head to the side as if it’s going to give you a more positive vantage point. The daisies looked so perfect against the pink. It was such an adorable swimsuit. You twist your hips side to side in a small swivel motion and take in the way the little neon pink strings dance across your skin, like they’re begging to be pulled until they come apart and make the bottoms fall to the floor. 

It was kind of cute. You try out that little pulling on the strings on your hips motion before letting them softly snap back against your skin. The way the strings grazed your hips was kind of nice. And maybe your tits actually sort of maybe looked good???

The trickling semi-positive thoughts were unexpected but welcome. Joel must be reworking your brain or something, rewiring it to be nicer. Like his reverence of you was being absorbed osmotically and making itself at home in your mind, internalizing and mimicking his adoration but in your own words and thoughts. You had your underwear on still to try on the bottoms, and it seemed like it would be enough of a buffer to brave taking a look at your ass in this thing. You turn and crane your head over your shoulder to see the back and immediately wish you hadn’t.

“UGH gross! You could eat a whole bowl of Cheerios out of those dimples on your ass!”

There was that inner voice of yours. No more trickle of nice, Joel-style thoughts. Now just a deluge of your well honed self-criticism.

You flip the tag in your hand and look over the print. It’s on sale. Before you can think about it too much and change your mind, you shimmy out of the suit and take it to the register.

Another scorching afternoon rolls around, and you work up the nerve to suggest some pooltime to help cool off.. 

“Hhmmm, how ‘bout we make it a skinny dip kinda thing?” Joel waggled his eyebrows up and down theatrically, but you know he is being dead serious.

“Skinny dip for you, maybe. More like a ‘chunky dunk’ for me,” you grumble. You are already letting the voice in your head get the better of your barely-there confidence.

Never missing a beat and always managing to reframe your disparaging commentary, Joel piped up, “Yeah I got a chunk that’s gettin’ chunkier thinkin’ about us naked in the pool, and I think I know just where I’d like to dunk–”

“Shutup and get changed, pervert,” you giggle as you stand from the patio chair. He joins in a chuckle and gives your ass a little slap before sauntering down your steps and over to his house.

“See ya in 5, sweetheart. Offer for skinny dipping is still on the table.”

You stifle another laugh and shake your head. God he was so goofy and adorable sometimes. You hope that his filthy, sexy side will be the one to emerge when you debut your new bikini. This time you would not be outright lying if you postponed your swim over tummy troubles. Your stomach flipped and lurched with nerves as you look yourself up and down in the full length mirror you keep shoved behind the office door.

You were never going to feel confident enough to march over there without a care in the world, so there was no use in trying to work yourself into that mental state. You simply ignore any thoughts about it and adjust your top one last time before slipping out your back door and trudging across your yard into Joel’s.

Your skin practically prickled up in goosebumps as it greedily drank up the warm rays of sun. You feel a tinge of guilt that you have never been kind enough to your body to let it just be free and feel the world around it. You always hide it away as best as you can, shoving it into this and covering it with that. As such, some parts of it have never known the warmth of the sun hitting it or a stray breeze delicately brushing by. Your body has done so much for you. It housed you. It let you play sports. It responded enthusiastically to Joel. Instead of being grateful for all things your body has done and continues to do for you, you lash out at it and admonish its existence.

Maybe you should take a page out of Joel’s book and try to treat it with some kindness.

Said man was already waiting by the pool with the hose running to fill it up a little more. He was so handsome. Maybe you needed to pull another Joel move and dole out some compliments to him more often, too. Always preoccupied with how ugly you must look, you probably didn’t offer up enough praise for him.

“You really do look so damn good in those trunks, Joel.” The warmth of your voice draws his attention over to you with a content smirk. If there was any time you wished you’d caught something on film, it was his reaction to you.

There was an old cartoon you used to watch as a kid that had a pretty redhead lady and a wolf in a snazzy suit that who was completely enamored with her. If Joel’s eyes had the ability to shoot out in cartoonish telescopic heart style, they would’ve shot right out at you.

His jaw hung loose as he turned to face you head on. His grip on the hose never faltered, and the water meant for the pool was now splashing all over the concrete patio. It was the sort of spirited response you had hoped for, and it gave you the confidence boost you needed to get flirtatious.

“Whaddya think?” 

You tilt your head to the side in a coy display. Joel licks his lips and zips his eyes over every inch of you. You take a few steps towards him and decide to lay it on a little thicker and see where it takes you.

“The pink is cute, right?” you press in a throaty hum. Your fingers glide down the strings over your shoulders and against the cups on your top. Joel’s arm drops all the way to his side, but a few of his brain cells have managed to collaborate and keep his hold tight on the hose.

“Thought you might like it.” You can see the crotch of his trunks starting to tent already, and you just can’t help yourself when you do that tug at the strings on your hips maneuver. When you let them snap against your skin, Joel drops the hose and closes the distance between you in a few hurried strides.

He stops just short of you, not wanting to get so close that he can no longer ogle. His hands hover in the air in front of you as if he can’t decide what to grab or grope first.

“Goddamn,” he breathes. His eyes widen like he’s trying to make more space for them to take in more of you. 

“Joel, cut the water,” you say, pointing to the forgotten hose spewing a steady stream onto the patio. Joel doesn’t move and opts to just stare at you with a wild, hungry look. You give a feigned sigh of annoyance as you brush past him and twist the spigot off. The little bit you had to bend down to turn the water off was apparently enough to send Joel over the edge because he’s on you before you know it.

“Inside.” His voice is needy and gruff in a way you’ve never heard before. No need to get into the pool to get absolutely drenched when you’ve got this feral horndog all but pouncing on you right here and now.

“Jesus, Joel, are you in heat or something?” you tease as he pushes you backwards into the house.

The way this man was reacting to your normal as hell bikini like you were outfitted in the nastiest lingerie you could find. To be fair, you never wore anything remotely sexy or revealing, so this was as close to lingerie as Joel had ever seen on you.

Joel is seizing handfuls of you as he grips and grinds into you. The urgency in his kiss is catching, and you dart your tongue against his in a frenzied dance. He’s rock hard against you. You can feel it through his trunks on your thigh. You swallow the groan rumbling up his throat when he presses you against the roll of his hips.

He guides you to the kitchen counter and spins you around. You catch yourself on the palms of your hands as Joel jerks your hips back slightly. He spreads your legs apart with a push of his foot against yours.

“Stay just like that for me, baby.” His gravelly command locks you in place, and you wait for his next move. He crouches behind you and settles onto his knees, grunting at the ache that springs up in them regularly. He runs his hands up and down your legs and finally splay them across the expanse of your backside before pushing, pulling, and massaging the flesh there. The back panel of your bikini bottoms is now swallowed into your crease, and a surprise gasp escapes you when Joel shoves his entire face against the fabric on your crotch.

A deep groan vibrates against your clothed pussy and sends molten liquid up your spine. Joel spreads your ass open and slides his thumbs just past the junction of your thighs. His pressure gets firmer as the up and down sliding passes reach your outer lips. Your breathing is as shaky as your legs, but you try to keep in place as he asked.

One of his thumbs gently slips under the fabric and pulls it to the side, revealing your slick covered slit. You start to say his name but it’s cut off when he spits a hot pearl of saliva onto your bare cunt. You jolt at the sensation and have no time to recover before the flat of his tongue is smearing across your heat. When your hips jerk a second time at that, Joel reaches both arms through your legs and hooks them onto your thighs to hold you in place. Your belly pushes into the counter as Joel darts his tongue in and out of you, swirling and nipping at your clit.

You’re close to climax when he suddenly pulls up and pulls you flush against his chest.

“Can I take you just like this?” he rasps.

Usually you use a condom, but fuck it. There’s no way you’re pressing pause on this.

“Take it however you want it, baby,” you whine back.

 Joel literally growls in reply, and you hear him shoving at the waistband of his trunks before seeing them fall to the floor and kicked to the side. You move to untie your bikini bottoms, but Joel’s hand stops you.

“No. Want ‘em on,” he grunts before lifting your leg onto the counter and shoving the fabric against your crotch aside once more.

Joel was always big to take, and his swift entry all the way to the base of his cock was a whole new feat. You were incredibly grateful that you were already so wet and sticky for him. You choke out a moan at the blissful stretch that stings just right. Joel pauses and offers a hurried apology, hoping he hasn’t hurt you in his rush to fill you up.

“Fuck me now,” you grit.

Joel does that, and more. His body has your leg pinned onto the counter while one hand is on your clit and the other going back and forth between your nipples with a pinch and a roll of his thumb and middle finger. Just like your bottoms, Joel leaves your top on and instead shoves his hands under the cups to touch you. You are grabbing at the cabinets and anything else you can find, just trying to hold on while receiving Joel’s punishing pace and thrusts.

“Ohh-ahh, Joel, I can’t-I can’t hold on,” you stutter. “Can’t hold on m-much more.”

“Make a fuckin’ mess of my cock, baby. Wanna feel you come on this cock. Pretty pink pussy in this pretty pink bikini. All fuckin’ mine.”

When he tilts your hips just so and bottoms out every pass, you careen over the edge and let out a broken sob of his name. The gripping, pulsing clench of you on his length sends Joel into his own release shortly after. He fucks you both through it and eventually slows to a sloppy roll of his hips.

He steps back enough for your leg to come off the counter but quickly steps forward again so you’re leaning against it once more. You can feel his hard pulls of air and huffs of exhales between your shoulder blades as he wraps his arms around your middle. 

“God-fuckin’-damn,” he pants with a laugh.

You are completely fucked out and can’t string words together to save your life.

“You been holdin’ out on me, sweetheart. Hidin’ this pretty thing,” he hums, pulling at the strings on your hips.

You mumble something incoherent that was supposed to express that it was new and you hadn’t been keeping it from him. Joel chuckles, “Fuckin’ cockdrunk. Just how I love.”

To that you shoot him a conspiratorial smile. He pulls out of you, groaning with satisfaction as his spend leaks out of you and down your thigh. “I think the only water activity today is gonna be a shower, sweetheart,” he chuckles against your ear. “We can save skinny dipping for next time.”

You laugh quietly, enjoying the happy dance of chemicals in your brain, and wonder to yourself if you’re ever going to make it into the pool with your new suit. With Joel around, chances are slim to none.

Thank you for the positive response to the first installment of these two (A Weight Off Your Shoulders). They are so fun to write, and based on the reception from AWOYS I just had to share this lil snippet I had already written. These two have really made a home for themselves in my brain!

Special shoutout to @thesailorofuranus for encouraging me to share more of these two with the world. I might just be working on a lil something she requested in the last one, so be on the lookout. 😈 Again ty ty ty for reading. If you wanna catch up on the series that I will be updating next, check out this link to Endless Night.

Catch ya later,

♥Puddles♥

[copperbadge]

I'm here! Well, I mean, I've been here for several hours at this point, but I've reached my lodgings and settled in. I hung up the next few days' worth of clothes, put my toiletries in the bathroom, took a shower, and am now running today's (which are also yesterday's) clothes through the small washer-dryer. We'll see if it actually dries them; if not at least I'm not doing this the hour before packing for Paris.

Went to Sainsbury's. You guys are not gonna believe the shit I found, but it's going to have to wait until my phone charges.

There have been a few hiccups on the road; the main one is that due to a complicated series of events, I have two USB ports I can charge all my gear from when I really could use four, and I'm not sure if I'll even have those two available once I leave London. I'm just going to have to be a little measured with my power use until I have more intel. In any case, most trains these days seem to have USB ports, so I'll just plug in whenever I can. As long as the phone stays charged I should be fine, and I can charge it like four times on my backup battery before the backup bites it.

Overall, despite Heathrow being a nightmare, it was a pleasant day -- I checked my luggage at the Tate Modern, did a loop of it, then went off to Pick & Cheese, the conveyor belt restaurant. I wanted one of everything but I know me, so I limited myself to three plates, which was enough to fill me up, although I imagine I'm going to have a snack before bed. (Hence Sainsbury's.) It was really, really good cheese and pairings, but I'm sure part of it was also that I hadn't had a real meal in roughly eighteen hours. The dinner they served on the flight was absolutely inedible; I had three or four protein/granola bars and a cup of Chobani, but that was pretty much it. It's fine -- Adderall is an appetite suppressant and normally it doesn't affect me because I'm home all day and like to eat, but actual hunger isn't an issue and as long as I make sure I get some calories in my face every few hours, blood sugar wasn't either. This is why I brought a literal dozen protein bars.

Still nice to sit somewhere and eat what amounted to a big plate of protein and sugar.

Everyone I've interacted with has been super nice, too -- people don't know how to walk on the sidewalk, which my midwestern-transplant soul found almost actively rude, but I chalked it up to tourists the same way we do back home. All the "staff" I've dealt with -- airport attendants, train officials, waitstaff, museum staff, the guy at Sainsbury's -- have been super nice. It reminds me that some cities actually want to be tourist cities, unlike Chicago, which begrudgingly admits we need tourists but really would rather they all die horribly. There's being a good customer service staffer and then there's actually being a nice person and I think most of the folks I dealt with are the latter.

Tomorrow I go to the British Museum, and I'm kind of glad that mudlarking fell through, because I feel like I definitely am going to need the morning to do a little recovering from all the walking. I'm going to ice my feet tonight and that should help.

So yes, here I am, in the new time zone, plotting a heist getting ready for tomorrow. I've successfully taken several different trains and a bus, and I know at least two of my payment cards work overseas plus my phone, so all of the major problems I anticipated are non-problems in the end.

I'm hoping tomorrow morning to go back over my posts and add anything that's needed and maybe post a few more photos from today, but we'll see. I have no idea what time I'll wake up tomorrow if I go to bed in the next half hour. Exciting to find out!

[irldiancie]

All Kagehina “proof” I know of

Ok i wasnt gonna post this but ive been told by a friend to explain why some might ship Kagehina so... try me. i dont exactly ship this myself but lets just say im a pro when it comes to this topic also it's not as bad as i thought it was there are worse ships idk why i was a hater also i lowkey got some of this from shipping wiki but most of it i knew already, plus NOT ALL OF THIS IS NECESSARILY REFERENCES TO THE SHIP it kinda just adds on to it anyways lets just get into it

ok so starting with common knowledge i think everyone knows that Hinata is the protagonist followed with Kageyama being the deuteragonist, they get the most screen time together and are pretty much paired MOST of the series, we get a lot of content with them together while also getting content of them on their own, they're known as the "freak duo," the "greatest teammates" and like 100 other names they've been called I've seen a lot of people intemperate their relationship wrong, I've seen a few say Kageyama was downright "abusive" to Hinata which I think is a little farfetched, but to each their own! They genuinely do care for each other and it shows, even at the end of the manga you can tell how far their relationship has come, even if they consider themselves rivals, they are without a doubt still friends Now a lot of people have said "well they're not gay they're just friends", while this is true, it has been referenced/implied officially in many places, including manga panels and english dubs, so while it isn't canon there is a few cute things about it which we know are official which is why I'm sharing this, I myself know it isn't canon, plus I didn't really make this to prove anything it was kinda for fun sorry if that made little to no sense but I'll start getting into more interesting stuff 1. at the tip of the iceberg we have the fact they're in so much official art together

theres like a 1000 more of these btw theyre often put near eachother even in official arts not based off them

I have like 1k more of these but i have more proof than this but i think you get my point some of this is probably promo art but that's also considered official art so 2. moving on i think another known one is that Ukai calls them lovebirds ONE TIME in English dub and I have no idea who approved that but I think it's funny and obviously this probably meant nothing but take it as you want video of it here 3. this is kinda randomly thrown in but the fact that they also trust eachother, they've mentioned it a couple times but I think it's nice to know 4. i dont remember when this was or what chapter or something but kageyamas grandfather said "somebody even better will come for you", which just happened to be Hinata of course 5. ALSO after that whole fight scene back in season two, Hinata says this

he didnt really consider kageyama as a friend, but he considered him a partner which i believe is more important to hinata. teammates/partners were always something Hinata wanted, as before he went to Karasuno, he didn't feel like his friends in Junior high were necessarily teammates. Meaning he valued Kageyama more because he was his partner.

(credits to triananero for these images) and when him and Kageyama started working together, they most definitely were perfect together, as they balanced each-other out, which made them become an unstoppable duo or whatever they called them 6. the fact that they have matching jersey numbers 9 and 10 moving on to less canon stuff, there is a light novel of Haikyuu called Haikyū!! Shōsetsuban!! which probably isnt close to canon but Furudate was a part of it even though it wasn't written by him, so it's at least somewhat official 7. anyway according to shipping wiki there is a chapter where Kageyama feels "fluttery feelings at the bottom of his stomach" when Hinata texts him, it's on volume 8 chapter 1, I REALLY WANTED TO SHOW YOU GUYS BUT I COULDNT FIND IT ANYWHERE ONLINE. i searched countless tumblr posts and websites but i could only find chapter five and chapter three so im fully convinced this is lost media LMAOOOO 8. also in Haikyū!! Shōsetsuban!! apparently there's a part where Hinata daydreams about him and Kageyama eating under cherry blossom trees i just found that cute AS MUCH AS I WANNA SHOW YOU GUYS I LITERALLY CANNOT FIND ANYTHING OF THIS LIGHT NOVEL ANYWHERE i just know it's real, if I ever get my hands on it which I doubt, I'll share proof it exists btw AND THIS IS REALLY RANDOM AND SOMEONE WANTED ME TO INCLUDE THIS BUT 9. Basically there was a ad for deodorant a couple years back, collabing with Haikyuu, where you could buy deodorants to “smell like them” or whatever, some shippers believe it’s a Kagehina reference as they also advertised Kageyama and Hinatas scents together as some like matching couple thing

and then there's this

And I think I've said enough, there's way more you can find out about this ship, but I hope with this post you've learned something new or whatever... I MIGHT MAKE THIS A SERIES should i do kenhina next or kuroken ANYWAYS DISCLAIMER I didnt look too much into most of these things but I can gaurentee this stuff is true also this was just for fun and not serious but i hope you liked my little post!

[crazyk-imagine]

The Good, The Bad, and The Working on It

Pairing: (Stepdad) Jake “Hangman” Seresin x Mom!Reader

Characters: (Stepdad) Jake “Hangman” Seresin, Mom!Reader, Edwin and Maryanne (the kiddos), Penny Benjamin, Amelia Benjamin, Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Natasha "Phoenix" Trace, Robert "Bob" Floyd, Reuben "Payback" Fitch, Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia, Javy "Coyote" Machado, Billy "Fritz" Avalone, Callie "Halo" Bassett, Neil "Omaha" Vikander, Bringham "Harvard" Lennox, Logan "Yale" Lee, Marty and Cody (the other bartenders)

Warnings: Fluff, minor angst, not enough communication (always communicate with your partner), minor cursing (very brief), drama, nicknames (gorgeous, darlin’, etc.), Fanboy is the man when it comes to photography, Bob is the best guy for the job of being a DJ,  Javy "Coyote" Machado is a good friend, Jake being a softie, Penny acts as a protective mother figure over reader, Bradley judges our favorite cocky pilot, everyone teases Jake, Cute quick Penny and Pete moment.

Word Count: 11,575

A/N: This can easily become a series, still thinking about it though (even though I have notes and drafts all revolving around this imagine and I made a header for it not even 10 min ago)

Answers to TGTBATWOI

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

Three and a half years ago…

After the father of your kids decided that he had enough of being tied down and left with little to no goodbye, it was safe to say you didn’t think or care about dating after that shitty experience. 

So, you can fully admit (as well as Jake and his pilot buddies) that it was no surprise when you met said pilot at the Hard Deck. 

You work there a little more than part time, being a bartender there is your “out of the house” job (as you like to say) and you do a type of telemarketing at home when the company you’ve been emailing with asks you too. 

Luckily it doesn’t happen all the time but sometimes it can be pretty inconvenient on days when your babies have a part in a play and they’re the lead star or when they have their first soccer game (it was a bit of a hassle to accomplish but you did it). 

And then again, it was no surprise when Jake was a jackass when you two first met. 

You (and anyone else, yes, including Bradley and Pete) can admit that it was nice when he actually started to act like a human being with emotions and not some douche with a huge ego. 

Today however, will be the test to see how everything will be if you and Jake decide to take your relationship (or pining) a step further… even though he hasn’t officially asked you out.

-

“Are you sure you can’t watch them for another three-ish hours?” You ask your babysitter and get a lame excuse saying she can’t because she has to study when she actually has plans to go out with her friends and her boyfriend (the kids told you yesterday about all this). 

You sigh, hanging up your phone before shoving it into your pocket. You rest your hands on the edge of the bar top, closing your eyes with your head down to the floor. 

“You, okay?” Penny asks. 

You quickly straighten your posture, “yep, all good.” 

“Your babysitter cancel on you?” 

You avert your gaze, “maybe.” 

“You get off early tonight, why not bring them here? Pete and the others will be here. They could go swimming.” 

“I don’t have any of their swim things and no sunscreen. Plus, I need them to focus on their homework right now. I don’t want to have another meeting with their teachers over something as minor as homework.” 

She nods, “alright. We can have them sit over at one of the tables until the lunch rush shows. And, before you say anything, breath. We’ll be fine. I’ve got Marty and Cody coming in for their shifts in an hour which will give you more than enough time to go pick them up and come back here… even though we won’t need you.” 

“I’m gonna ignore that last part because we both know it’s not true. Thank you.” 

You check the clock on the wall, “crap. I gotta go. I’ll be back soon.”

-

“Looks like your girlfriends not here,” Javy comments. 

“She’s not- shut up, man.” Jake shoves his buddy away from him as he enters the bar, immediately aiming for the center station. He can’t take these conversations seriously without a drink. 

“Where’s the only sensible woman Bagman hasn’t managed to sink his claws into?” Natasha asks, standing behind him. 

“He’s in one of his moods,” Javy says before leaning down to “whisper”, “she’s not here. Her car wasn’t in the parking lot.” 

“Guess she came to her senses,” she pats him on the shoulder. 

Logan, Billy, and Callie wave her over, pointing to the pool table. 

She walks away from the two, wanting to place some bets (knowing she’ll make a quick buck or two). 

-

“She’s gonna be here soon, you know. Don’t pout, man.” Javy pats Jake’s shoulder, not wanting to have to console the dude for something so minor but willing to do so anyway. 

“Would you stop saying that? I don’t care, alright?” 

His friend makes an attempt to respond but doesn’t because he starts coughing, choking on his saliva. 

“You good?” 

His buddy shakes his head, covering his mouth with a clenched fist, using his free hand to point over at you. 

The blonde turns, his eyes widen ever so slightly. “She has kids?” He mutters to himself, wondering who else may have known and if this is why you continue to turn him down. 

He thinks back to the times when he’s asked you out and if you wear a wedding ring or have mentioned having a boyfriend, but the answer is no.

-

“Alright, today we can focus on your homework a little more because Pen has a couple extra hands. We ready?” 

“Do we have to?” Edwin, Ed (or Eddie) asks with a whining tone. 

“Don’t give me that pouty lip, Mister. If we can get this done before we go home, I know for a fact you would feel better.” 

“What if I don’t want to feel better?” 

“You should.” 

You turn to your daughter, Maryanne, who’s older by three years looks back down at her own work. “Thank you, sweetheart, but I don’t need you to chime in with your insightful thoughts.” 

“But he needs to focus. He’s already gotten a warning from his teacher.” 

“He’s what?” You turn to look at your son, “Edwin, is this true?” 

He looks down, not saying anything. 

“Why did you get a warning?” 

“She wouldn’t let me ask my friend for help.” 

“Were you talking to your friend during class time when you know you’re not supposed to?” 

He purses his lips, “that’s ervelant.” 

“Irrelevant, sweetheart. How long ago did you get your warning?” 

“He got it on his first day and we’re on our third day of school now.” 

You turn to your daughter, “do you know if it was a verbal warning or is there something I need to sign?” 

She shakes your head, “the first one. It’s okay though. His teacher tells me what I need to tell you when I’m waiting for him in his class after school.” 

Your son is upset that you two are talking about and “acting” like he’s not even there. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here!” 

“Eddie, I need you to calm down-” 

“No!” 

You open your mouth to say his name again when he hops off the chair and runs off. Your eyes widen. “Sweetheart, you’re coming with me. Hold my hand.” 

“Mom,” she groans. 

“There is a small crowd already. I will not lose both of my children in it.” 

She lets out a dramatic, long sigh, “fine.” 

You grab her hand, “thank you.”

-

Javy opens the bathroom door, stopping when something bounces off his legs. He freezes when he sees a little boy sitting on his butt, looking up at him, ready to cry. “Oh no.” 

“Hey, what’re you doing? Get out of the doorway, man,” Jake says. 

“There’s a tearful kid in the way.” 

“What?” He looks over his buddy’s shoulder to find Edwin sitting there with a wobbly lip. 

“What do I do?” 

“Pick the kid- move out of my way.” Jake scoffs, “Coyote.” The blond bends down, holding his hand out for the little boy to take. 

Edwin hesitantly reaches up for the man’s hand. 

Jake helps him off the ground, giving him a gentle smile. “Atta boy, you’re looking better already. Is your mom or dad here?” 

He nods. 

“You want to point me in their direction-”

“Eddie! Edw-” Maryanne stops you, pointing to Jake. 

You rush over to the two, kneeling beside Jake. “Edwin, I’ve told you too many times, not to run off like that.” 

He sniffs, nodding his head. 

You sigh, wiping his cheeks before turning to find- “Jake.” 

“My favorite,” he glances between the two, “b-a-r-t-e-n-d-e-r.” 

“I can spell,” Maryanne says with slight attitude. 

“Maryanne.” 

“Sorry mama.” 

“These two are yours?” 

“Obviously.” 

“I’m really sorry,” Javy starts to apologize. “I didn’t see him and then he-” 

You smile, “Javy, it’s okay. I know you didn’t do anything on purpose. He just got upset and ran off.” 

“I’m still really sorry.” 

“We accept your apology.” You stand up, “why don’t you two go join the rest of your crew. We’ve got some work to do.” 

Your daughter pouts, leaning against you. 

He stands up. “You go,” Jake whispers to Javy. 

“Dude.” 

“Just go.” 

“Alright, alright.”

-

“So, what kind of homework do we have to do?” 

You shake your head, holding both of your kids’ hands, “no, Jake. You go join your friends. You don’t want to stay and help out with homework, that’s not what you came here to do.” 

“I came here to talk to some people, and I’d certainly enjoy talking to you three.” 

You scoff through your nose, shaking your head to hide the fact that your cheeks are on fire. 

“Let me carry little man and don’t tell me I don’t need to. I want to, gorgeous.” He lifts Edwin into his arms, holding the boy against his hip. 

Maryanne starts walking ahead, pulling you with her. 

You all settle into your seats, Jake across from you with the kids on each side of you. 

“I finished my writing assignment before we went looking for Ed.” 

You give her a small smile, “that’s good, what else do you have to do?” 

She pouts, “math.” 

You nod, “okay.” 

“I can help,” Jake offers. 

“You can?” You ask. 

“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that attitude and say yes.” 

“Since when were you a math whiz?” 

“Since I actually put in the effort to pass.” 

“That’s always nice to hear...” You smirk, resting your head on your palm, “were you being threatened with detention?” 

“Worse.” 

“No car?” 

“Bingo.” 

“I bet it would have been hilarious to see teen, skinny armed, pasty Jake riding his bike through the neighborhood.” 

“Oh, yeah. So, funny.” He turns to Maryanne, glancing down at her work, “you need help with math?” 

“Yeah… can you help me?” 

“Sure, I can. What are we doing today?”

-

“Is he actually being nice to kids?” Bradley mutters. 

“He’s obviously doing it to impress her,” Reuben adds. 

“I don’t think so. He’s actually good with kids. You should see him with his nieces and nephews,” says Javy. 

“There’s more of him? There are little bagman’s running around out in the world?” Natasha asks, catching the last little bit of the conversation. 

Javy dry laughs, “ha ha. Yeah, kind of. He just doesn’t want you all to see him as a softie.” 

“I feel like I’m watching a rom com,” Mickey says. 

“But it’s actually decent and well worth watching,” adds Bob. 

“How long have you been there?” Reuben asks. 

“A few minutes. I’m waiting on my soda.” 

“Anyone want to play pool?” Javy asks. 

“Or darts? Maybe next to them?” Natasha offers. 

Javy smirks, “let’s go.” He wraps his arm around her shoulders, pulling her with him. 

Mickey and Bob trail behind them, shaking their heads, not liking what the two may be planning. 

Reuben runs over to the bar to grab their drinks.

-

“And how are we today?” Javy asks, wrapping his arm around is buddy’s shoulders. He turns to Edwin, “sorry about running into you little dude.” 

“It’s okay and we’re good. Jake’s helping Maryanne with her math,” you tell him. 

“You’ve got the best guy to help her.” 

“How come we never met your mini me’s?” Mickey asks, pulling Javy away so he and Natasha can start their game of darts. 

“My babysitter canceled.” 

“That sucks. Why? If you don’t mind me asking.” 

“She’s in high school, has a boyfriend. Need I say more.” 

“Ah,” he nods, “got it. Well, if you ever need a babysitter, I’d happily offer my services.” 

“Well, aren’t you sweet.” 

Jake furrows his brows; he knows the kid isn’t hitting on you, but he can’t help but feel a little jealous very jealous. “Alright, that’s enough. Your partner in crime is calling you over to play darts.” 

Mickey snickers as he walks away. 

-

“You good, Seresin?” You ask with a raised brow. 

“Always,” he smirks before helping Maryanne with her homework. 

You smile, letting yourself daydream about a future with him and how nice it would be to be able to share a life with him, having family outings, potentially expanding your family, and growing old together… You shake your head, ridding your mind of these thoughts. You don’t want to get your hopes up (anymore, then you already have). 

He glances over at you and smiles. 

You fight the urge to smile for a second before you give up and give in, smiling with just as much, if not a skosh more happiness. 

After about an hour or so, Maryanne was able to successfully finish her homework. 

“You know if she gets a good grade on her homework, I’m gonna ask you to help her again. I can barely help her when she asks me. If it was me, I would have still been on problem two.” 

Jake chuckles, “I’d be happy to help her out as long as I get to take you out.” 

A nervous chuckle escapes you, “you mean like a- like a date?” 

“If you wouldn’t be opposed to it.” 

You bite the inside of your cheek, “I’ll see if I can find the time.” 

He shakes his head. 

You check your phone, seeing that it’s dinner time and you’ve been off your shift since- wow three hours ago. “Looks like it’s time to go home. I’ve still got to make dinner and figure out when I need to go grocery shopping. Do I need gas?” You push your chair in, helping the kids get ready. 

Jake getting out of his seat makes you realize you, kind of, forgot about him for a second. “Oh, sorry, I got too into my head.” 

“It’s alright, my sister is the same way.” 

“Oh, how is everyone? I’ve been meaning to ask but every time I want to someone else needs a drink.” 

“It’s okay. Maybe on our date we can talk more about things you’ve been wanting to ask me and… I can do the same.” 

“Yeah?” 

He nods, giving you a genuine smile, enjoying how he gets to see you all excited and jittery (and hopefully because of him, in a good way, of course), “yeah.” 

“Can we go now?” Edwin asks, rubbing his eyes. 

“Come on, let’s go.” 

“I’ll walk you all out.” 

-

“I’ll call you.” 

“You don’t have my number,” you point out. 

“Did you forget, I’m good with numbers.” 

You’re not impressed right now. “Just give me your phone.” 

“So bossy,” he teases, pulling his phone out of his pocket. 

“You love it, don’t lie.” 

“Maybe I do but, I think that’s more of a later date thing.” 

You return his phone back to him, “you think we’ll be going on more than one date?” 

He nods. “I know we will.”

You shake your head, “goodnight, Jake.” 

He leans in, giving you time to push him away; you don’t. He pecks your cheek. 

You close your eyes, inhaling his cologne (something else you’ve grown to like about him). 

He pulls back, opening the car door for you. 

You shake your head, remembering what you have to do. 

“Text me when you get home,” he says, leaning against the car and door. 

“Only if you do them same.” 

“’Course I will. Goodnight, gorgeous.” 

“Night, Jake.”  

-

After that night, he officially asked you out for a proper date and the two of you hit it off. 

He didn’t take you to a fancy restaurant (since he asked the others and Penny for a few different ideas on where you’d like to go). Jake did NOT want to screw up (what felt like) his one chance to take you out. 

The two of you found yourselves in his truck, laying in the back watching the stars, talking about whatever came to mind while you ate fast food. 

“This has to be the best date I’ve been on in- well, ever honestly,” you admit, staring up at the night sky. 

He turns his head, studying your side profile, “really?” 

“Without a shadow of a doubt.” 

He gulps, unsure if he should ask this now or ever. “I know this is too soon to ask and I might be overstepping some boundaries but, what happened with Maryanne and Edwin’s dad? Is he going to come back into their lives at any point in the future?” 

You scoff, leaning up to rest on your elbow with your head angled down towards him. “I can assure you that he will never come back into their lives until they turn eighteen then they can make the decision, but I will take the role of a bad guy if it means I keep that asshole away from them and out of their lives.” 

You sigh, resting on your back once more, “he decided that when Edwin was three months old, and Maryanne was close two and a half that he wasn’t cut out for the life of being a dad or being tied down, so he left, and I haven’t looked back since. He hasn’t called or texted since then so why should I go looking for him. He made his choice.” 

“And you made yours.” 

“What’s that?” 

Jake shuffles closer to you, cupping your cheek with his thumb brushing across your cheekbone every so often as he stares into your eyes. “You are raising two amazing kids all by yourself and you look damn good doing it.” 

You let out a quiet playful laugh. 

“I’m not gonna lie, a part of me wishes that they were mine.” 

“Yeah? What about the other part of you?” 

“Which one? I’ve got two more.” 

You raise your hand, placing it against the base of his neck, brushing your thumb back and forth against the edge of his hair, “what’s the second part of you say?” 

“How much I want to ask you to marry me even though it might be too soon.” 

“And the other?” 

“If it’d be stupid of me to ask if you’d be my gorgeous girl and let me in, help you raise those two troublemakers.” 

You sink your teeth into your bottom lip, preventing yourself from getting too emotional. “Seems to me like you just want to get in my house to see my bedroom.” 

“That would certainly be a plus, wouldn’t it?” 

“For you maybe.” 

“Damn straight.” He leans down, whispering in your ear, “I’d get to see what you wear underneath your pretty little clothes without asking you to strip for me.” 

You scoff, slapping your hands against his chest. 

He chuckles, pulling back to see you relaxed and happy, something he doesn’t think he’s ever seen before. “There’s another part of me that wants to do something.” 

“Like what?” 

“Kiss you.” 

You don’t realize it until a second later, but your lips tugged upwards, and you know you’re smiling. “Do it,” you whisper. 

He hums, blinking owlishly at you clearly coming out of his thoughts. 

You lean up and lightly brush your lips against his before pulling back. You switch from staring one eye to the next, waiting to see panic or disgust, only to find the stars twinkling in his eyes. “Kiss me.” 

“Are you sure? Because I don’t think I’ll be able to stop once I start.” 

You both lean into one another sharing a passionate first kiss (with many more to come).

-

Two years later...

“Do you think she’s gonna say yes?” asks Jake, to his friend who has a bored look on his face. 

“I hope so. I’m tired of hearing you complain and whine about “if she says no” and how you’ll “die” with whatever answer she does give you,” Javy slaps his hands on the blond man’s shoulders, “shut up. She’s gonna say yes.” 

Jake says nothing as he purses his lips, “I hear you but what if-” 

“Shut up,” Javy hands him a handful of darts, “and play. Have a drink, just do something- anything to calm your nerves… please. And you hear that? I’m asking you nicely.” 

He stares at Javy with a deadpan expression. “I’m talking to you in confidence. You’re supposed to boost me up and help me feel better.” 

“I am.” 

“You’re not being honest with me,” Jake complains. 

“I am.” He sees the look his fellow pilot is giving him out of the corner of his eye while he throws the dart at the dartboard, it lands, and he turns around. “Look, you’re an asshole-” 

“Thank you, keep telling me things I need to hear,” the blond says with sass. 

“But you’re an asshole in love and you’re,” Javy pokes his chest, “just too scared to admit it.” 

“Yeah,” he nods, until he repeats what his friend said in his head and glares at Javy. “I hate you sometimes,” he throws a dart at the dart board, it lands way off base from the center. 

“Yeah, yeah.” 

Bob walks over to the two, glancing over Jake with a concerned expression. “Is he okay?” 

“Him? Oh, yeah. He’s fine.” 

“He’s nervous she’s gonna say no, huh?” 

Jake spins around, using a dart to point at Bob. “No, I’m not.” 

Javy leans closer to the WSO, “he’s in the denial stage.” 

“I can see that.” 

“You two are messing up my concentration. Go gossip about me somewhere else.” 

“You know,” Javy pats his shoulder, “it’s okay to be scared.” 

“I’m not scared,” he denies. 

“Lying is only gonna make this worse.” 

“Can it, Baby on Board.” 

Bob raises his hands, staring at the ground with a slight smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. 

“Your girl’s here,” Billy says, handing Javy a drink and Bob his beer nuts. 

Jake spins around just as the dart hits the center of the dart board. A boyish grin tugs at the corner of his mouth, “yes, she is.” He hands Bob the third dart, “have fun boys. Oh, and use protection, especially you,” he points to the WSO before talking off. 

“What?” 

“Ignore him. He’s in love, you know, it makes people do and say crazy things,” Javy assures Bob.

-

“Hey, gorgeous,” he greets you, placing a hand on your lower back. 

“Hey.” You turn around, leaning into him. You see the guys standing there, watching the two of you. “Are we gonna go say hi?” 

He shakes his head, “nope. Come on.” He leads you towards the walls, wanting to get away from the crowd, not lose you in it. 

“Where are we going?” 

“I want to go outside and see how much more beautiful you can look tonight.” 

You scoff, smacking his shoulder, “you can be such an adorable suck up.” 

“Only for you,” he pecks your lips, “did it work?” 

You roll your eyes, “shut up.” You grab his hand, pulling him along behind you. You happily wave over at the three, who return “cool” waves, except for Bob (he always waves back with just as much enthusiasm as you do to him). 

Jake shoves you out the door, letting it slam shut behind him. 

-

He pulls you back, spinning you around once, and wraps his arms around your waist. “Hi.” 

You can’t resist his charm and smile back at him, “hi.” 

“Let’s walk along the beach, yeah?” 

You nod, “if that’s what you want to do.” 

“Come on,” he tucks you into his side and starts walking. 

You begin to wonder what he has planned. Jake usually doesn’t like to walk along the beach at night (he can’t see your gorgeous face as he likes to say whenever you ask… which is always). 

You turn to look at him, he’s nervous but you can’t tell why. You know there’s nothing important coming up such as birthdays, holidays, or anniversaries. The kids haven’t been giving him too much of a hard time (it’s a tough process but they do seem to act like they like him when he comes over or when you all go out). 

You’re left even more confused than when you first exited the bar. 

He stops, staring out into the ocean. 

You watch him, curious as to what’s floating around in his head, “are you okay?” 

He turns his head looking at you, wondering how he got so lucky to have meet you and hoping you’ll say yes because he wants the married life with you and to be another parent figure that Maryanne and Edwin can look up too. He knows he wants to live out the rest of his life with you and the kids. Jake gulps, “you should ring me?” 

You jerk your head back, blinking owlishly at him, “what?” 

“We should rings.” He closes his eyes with a clenched jaw, shaking his head. 

You tilt your head, “are you feeling okay?” You place your hand on the back of his forehead. 

He nods, reaching into his pocket, pulling the box out of his pocket, practically shoving it in his face. 

You grab his wrist pulling it down, out of your face and look down, realizing what he’s planning to do. “Jake?” 

“I don’t know how to say it.” 

“What- uh- what do you want to do?” 

“I think it’s pretty obvious what I want to do.” 

“Okay, smart ass. Get down on one knee and ask me.” 

“That’s the thing. I can’t figure out how to ask you.” He bends down on one knee, “I’ve got too much running through my head. and I don’t know what to say. Then before I know words just start spewing out of my mouth.” 

You take a deep breath, placing your hands on his shoulders, “what’s the first thing that pops into your head when you think about wanting to marry me?” 

“I don’t want to marry you. I am gonna marry you. So,” he reaches for your left hand, placing a gentle kiss on top, “you can’t get rid of me easily.” 

An emotional chuckle escapes you, “what a sap you are.” 

“The first thing that pops into my head when I think about us being married is how there isn’t going to much of a difference because we’re already a family. But there is one thing I do know and that’s wanting to grow old with you. You know, I want us to be the older fun couple who still act like they did their first year of dating and I want to listen to your old lady problems.” 

You smack his shoulder. 

He chuckles, “while you listen to my old man issues.” 

“Something tells me there’s gonna be a lot.” 

“Let me finish then we can add the commentary later… I also want to be able to help with the kids more.” 

“You already do so much.” 

“I know but, I think it’s best if we don’t have a lunch issue 2.0.” 

You nod, wiping your cheeks, “that’s very true. You almost got kicked out. They called me to make sure you were who you said you were.” 

“I told them not to.” 

“Oh, yeah because that always goes well when a strange man they hadn’t actually seen before says “don’t call their mom”. Really, Jake? I mean honestly.”

- 

“Ask her already!” Javy, Bob, Natasha, Bradley, Pete, and Penny shout. 

You two turn to see some of the gang standing there, waiting for Jake to pop the question. 

“If you don’t do it tonight, you’re doing all my paperwork,” Pete shouts. 

“I already do.” 

“Yeah, well… then you’ll have more.” 

-

“Can you guys turn towards me a little?” Mickey asks, holding up his phone. “You’re gonna regret it, if you don’t.” 

You two do as he asked. 

“Perfect, thank you! And… propose.” 

-

“What are we in a movie or something? Geez,” you roll your eyes. 

“I’m gonna ask you now.” 

“Okay, shutting up now.” 

“Will you marry me?” 

“Can I think about it?” 

“What?” He asks with his eyes nearly popping out of his head. 

“I’m joking, you idiot. Of course, I will!” You throw your arms around his neck causing the two of you to fall back. 

The two of you start laughing. 

You push yourself off him, opting to lay on your side. 

“Oh shit.” 

“What?” 

“Where’s the ring?” 

“Right here,” answers Bradley, holding the ring box up for him. 

“Give it to me.” 

“No.” 

“Give it to me, chicken.” 

“See that, that right there is exactly why I won’t.” 

“I swear to-” 

“Shut up,” Natasha snatches the box from him and hands it to Jake. “Don’t be an idiot.” 

“I wasn’t,” Bradley pouts. 

“Sure, you weren’t.” 

Jake lifts your hand up and slides the ring on, kissing your knuckles. 

You give him an excited smile, wondering how you got so lucky and he’s doing the same. 

Your scooped up before you know it, squealing until you find yourself taller than everyone else. “Guys,” you giggle, “put me down.” 

“Nope,” a certain mustached man responds. 

“Nat? Help?” 

“Mickey’s getting a good shot of you up there,” she says, looking over said pilot’s shoulder.  

“We can do a better photoshoot tomorrow. Put me down.” 

“Can I have my fiancée back?” 

“After the old timer,” Penny pats Pete’s shoulder, “buys a round for everybody.” 

You all holler, shouting excitedly. 

-

“Not the whole bar, right?” Pete asks his girl. 

She smirks, “no, only a lucky few. I promise… as long as your phone doesn’t wind up on the bar top.” 

“You’re a cruel, cruel woman.” 

“I’ve gotta be stern when running a bar.” 

“I was hoping that wouldn’t apply to me.”  

-

“Alright, one round on the old man then we’re outta here,” Jake announces. 

Numerous “aw’s” and “boo’s” come his way. 

“We gotta go home and get the kids ready for school.” 

“Who knew Bagman could be such a softie?” Natasha adds. 

“You couldn’t have done this on a Saturday?” 

“Shut up, chicken.” 

“I’m just saying, you should have planned better.” 

“And we’re out of here.” 

-

You let out a soft chuckle, squeezing his hand as you two exit the bar. “Jake, I wanted to say by to everyone.” 

“I did too, but they pissed me off.” 

“You’re such an old man.” 

He lightly pushes you against the car door, “hey, I’m your old man, gorgeous.” 

You smirk, “that makes me your old lady?” 

“Or if you prefer, my gorgeous.” He kisses your cheek. 

“That’s a bit of an open ending, don’t you think?” 

“No because you can add anything you want to it.” 

“You’re such a sappy suck up,” you tell him before reaching up to peck his cheek. 

“Only for you.”

-

“I don’t know how they’re gonna react.” You glance over at the front door of your shared home. 

"We don’t have to get married right away.” 

You look over at him, “Jake…” 

“No,” he shakes his head. “It’s not just because of Maryanne and Edwin, alright. I want us to take our time and plan it. Invite the people we actually want to be there because I can tell you no one from my family would actually come. I mean, my sister might but… I want to make this a special day for us.” 

“I don’t want to argue about this, even though all I have to say is that I know whenever or wherever we have this wedding it will be special.” 

“Now who’s a sappy suck up,” he reaches over the middle console to cup your cheek. 

“What are we gonna do if the kids don’t accept this?” 

“We’ll figure it out. We always do.” 

“I don’t want you to be the one who’s hurt.” 

He shakes his head, “I won’t be. If I can be a part of their life in any other way, I’ll do it. And I get their hesitancy towards me. I do.” 

“I know you do and that’s so, so nice of you but you don’t deserve to be treated like this.” He rests his forehead against yours, “like I told you, I would do anything to be in their lives.” He pecks the corner of your mouth, “and yours.” 

Jake pulls back, staring into your eyes. His thumb brushes back and forth against your cheekbone. “Let’s go inside, yeah?” He knows he can only distract you from your worries for so long. 

You nod, not wanting to worry about this anymore. “Okay.” 

-

A month and a half ago…

The credits play across the screen. The sound is off because he muted the TV, wanting to talk to you. 

"It happened again," Jake sighs. 

You quietly groan to yourself, rubbing your face with both hands before slapping your thighs. You scoot yourself into an upright position, legs still resting in his lap, "I'm sorry, honey. I can talk to them again or-" 

"No, it's okay. I- uh-” He gulps, “I was thinking maybe I should go stay somewhere else for a few days." 

You shake your head, "no. No, absolutely not." 

He doesn’t say anything for a few minutes. "Our kids don’t care about me." 

You scoff through your nose, "they do. How could you ever think otherwise?" Your chest puffs out with every breath you take, your vision blurs as tears pool in your water line. 

He cups your cheeks, "they're not going to warm up to me because they think I'm trying to replace their deadbeat dumbass of a father, or they think I’m gonna be exactly like him and leave. They’re not ready to trust me." 

"They know you’re not trying to replace him," you weakly argue. 

"You could be right, but they won't listen to you because you’re mom." 

You sniff, "please, don’t leave." 

"I'm doing this to save yours and the kids relationship." 

"You staying here and being a part of the kids’ lives hasn't changed that." 

"But it will." 

This is it. It feels like it’s the end of your relationship, but you know it’s not. You refuse to believe that you two won’t find your way back to one another and have a better improved relationship with yourself and the kids. His bag falls to the ground. 

-

You take a step forward and rest your head on his shoulder, silently crying into his shirt, bunching it in your clenched fists, "Jake…" 

He shushes you, wrapping his arms around you, pulling you closer. His hand finds its way up to its rightful resting place, cupping your cheek, "hey, look at me. Look at me please.” 

You lift your head up, with wet cheeks. 

His thumb sweeps across your cheek, wiping away your tears, “you know I love you, right?" 

You don’t think you’ve ever heard him sound so emotional (except for when he told you about his past and his family, the day he asked to marry you, when he repeated what you said about moving in, and the first time he said I love you). "Course I do.” You lean in closer, whispering, “I love you so much." 

It feels like you’re sharing a secret (which you are about Jake’s departure… from the kids for the time being). 

"I'll text you when I make it to my place." 

You nod, "okay." 

Jake leans down, kissing you, reminding you of how much he loves you. He takes a step back, one hand on your back as he leans over to grab his bag. 

You two stare at one another with tears in your eyes (yes, even Jake’s on the verge of crying- or maybe he already is but your own tear-filled eyes blur your vision, preventing you from seeing so). 

His hand slides off your back after he opens the door. He steps outside, feeling like a stranger on the porch of his own home. Jake tries to walk away before things could get even more depressing. 

You reach out, hand squeezing his bicep, silently pleading for him to stay. “Be careful?” 

The corner of his lips tug upward into a farewell cocky smirk, “always am, gorgeous. Always am.” 

You watch as he gets in his car and wave him off (breaking your hearts into a million pieces). 

Jake disappears from you view and you stand there for a few seconds, unwilling to move because if you do, you’ll be home alone… you’ll be alone. 

You close the door, resting your forehead on the wooden frame. Your shoulders shake as you struggle to keep your cries quiet. You raise your hand, covering your mouth; whimpers escape you before you can even try and stop them. 

As much as you don’t want to, you make your way to your bedroom. You swear you hear your heart break when you walk in. It doesn’t look like much has changed but you know if you open your dresser drawers and check the closet, his clothes won’t be there. You won’t be able to admire his uniform or shake your head at the way he organizes his sock and underwear drawer. 

You try to not to think about the little things you’ll miss while taking of your shoes. You lay down on your side, bending your legs, curling into yourself. 

After about an hour of laying down, you text Penny. 

SoonToBeMrs.S 

Hey Pen Sent Read 1:58pm 

PickaPenny 

Are you alright? You only say my name when something’s happened Sent Read 2:00pm 

SoonToBeMrs.S

All good here. Can you pick up Maryanne and Edwin? Sent Read 2:00pm 

PickaPenny

You got it. Sent Read 2:01pm 

PickaPenny typing… 

-

“What are you doing here?” 

Jake turns around, his shoulders sag, “needed a drink.” 

“Why am I getting a text from your fiancé about picking up the kids?” asks Penny. 

He gulps, “I- uh- I’m gonna be out of the house for a while.” 

“Oh, I didn’t hear you were deployed.” 

“I’m not.” 

The bar owner looks back at him after giving another customer her drink. “What did you do?” 

“I didn’t do anything.” 

“Did you break it off with her?” 

“No, God no. Penny I-” 

“You what?” 

“I’m doing this to save the family relationship.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“The kids don’t like me.” 

“I don’t think that’s true.” 

“They don’t listen to a thing I say and when I pick them up from school, they don’t talk to me.” 

“Have you tried talking to them?” 

“Of course, I have.” 

“No, no. Not ask them questions, talk to them about the whole situation?” 

“I’ve tried but they won’t put in the effort to listen. And, yeah, I know they’re kids and that’s how they are, but I want them to know that I’m not trying to replace their bio dad and I want them to stop thinking I’ll leave ‘em just like he did. I just- I can’t get through to them. And I’m not going to be the reason they hate their mom for marrying someone they don’t like. I grew up that way. My mom married someone we weren’t all huge fans of, and he didn’t care. He never tried to talk to us, not even after mom died.” 

“Jake-” 

He takes out his wallet, setting a few bills down. “Don’t tell her you saw me.” 

“Fine,” she sighs. “Can you at least tell me where you’re staying?” 

“I’ll be crashing on Coyote’s couch for a few days.” 

“And then?” He shrugs, “see you around Penny.”  

-

You open your eyes, glancing over your shoulder to see Penny standing there, and jolt. “Jeez!” 

“Sorry, hon. I tried to be gentle, but you wouldn’t budge.” 

You push yourself up, “sorry. I take it since you’re here, you picked the kids up?” 

“No, I left them to run the bar.” 

“You’ve been hanging out with Pete for too long. His- whatever is rubbing off on you.” 

She scoffs, “oh, please. If anything, it’s me making him less of an old man.” She sits down beside your legs, rubbing your knee in a comforting manner. “I saw him earlier.” 

You don’t say anything, your eyes shift downwards. 

“He looked really upset.” 

“Did he?” 

“He already misses you and the kids.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Don’t give me that fake “I don’t care attitude”. I know you’re upset he’s gone but it’s not like you won’t see him. He just doesn’t want to come between you, Maryanne, or Edwin but he still cares about all of you and wants to help out.” 

You wrap your arms around your abdomen, “I know that.” 

“Why can’t you two talk it out?” 

“I’ve tried to have us talk but no one wants to listen.” 

“Okay, okay. Breathe.” 

“I am but- it’s all gotten so complicated.”

-

Penny leaves before dinner time. 

You finish preparing their plates, setting them on the dining table. “You two start eating, I’ve got to make sure my makeshift office space is ready after dinner.” 

“Where’s Jake? We always have dinner together,” says Edwin. 

You freeze, handing the two their utensils. “Oh- um- he’s got- he got caught up with work and won’t be here for a little while.” 

“Is he gonna be, okay?” Maryanne asks. 

You slowly stand up, giving them a sad smile, “yeah, yeah, he is.” You exit the kitchen. 

-

“Is mama not gonna eat with us since Jake’s gone?” Edwin asks his sister. 

“I don’t know, Eddie. I don’t like this.” 

“Same.” 

“After dinner we can watch a movie. Maybe mama won’t be so busy.” 

He nods, “okay.” 

“Go pick a movie.” Maryanne pushes her brother towards the living room and realizes what she said. “No Ice Age!” 

“Ice Age is a good movie!” 

-

A knock on your door gets you moving faster, you pat your face dry, hoping the bloodshot look will go away soon. “Come in, Maryanne.” 

“How did you know it was me?” 

“You and your brother have very different knocks.” 

“Obviously if you can tell who’s who when we knock. Do you want- were you crying?” 

“No, what makes you say that?” 

“Your eyes are puffy. Is it because of Jake? Did he make you cry?” 

You chuckle, “no, sweetheart.” 

“Well, then where is he?” 

“I told you; he has a few work things he needs to do.”

“If he’s leaving like dad just tell me, I can handle it.” 

You swoop her into a hug after seeing the way her bottom lip quivers. You take a step back, sitting on the edge of your bed. “No, no, no. He’s not leaving. He’s just- he doesn’t want to- he says he wants us to have a better relationship with one another.” 

“We already do.” 

“You think so?” 

She nods. 

You sweep the hair covering her eyes out of her way, “what do you think of him?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Do you like him?” 

“I… yeah.” 

“Do you not like, Jake?” 

“He’s nice and tries...” 

“Can I ask you why you two are hesitant on letting him into our life?” 

She doesn’t say anything. 

“Do you think he’s gonna be like your dad?” 

“I don’t want him to leave,” says Edwin from your bedroom door. 

You open your other arm, giving him room to squeeze in. “Did you like him?” 

“We both do.” 

“Eddie!” 

“I’m tired of you not telling mama what you mean. We both like him.” 

“You do?” 

He nods, “uh-huh. But we don’t want him to be like dad.” 

“Oh, he wouldn’t-” 

“Where is he now?” 

“...He’s giving us space because he thinks you don’t like him.” 

“We do!” He bounces around, “we do! Call him. Make him come home.” 

“We can’t make him come home, if he doesn’t want to,” Maryanne points out. “Can we call him tomorrow?” 

“We’ll see.” 

“Can we watch Ice Age now?” You chuckle, “I’m not leaving you alone with Jake again. He’s corrupted your movie likes and dislikes.” 

The kids run out of your room. 

You change into something a little comfier before exiting the room. 

Maybe there is light at the end of this tunnel. 

-

Edwin was the first to fall asleep, you went out next, leaving your little girl to be the sole survivor. 

She grabs her phone off the side table, going to her camera app. She angles herself closer and takes a selfie with the three of you. 

LittleDarlin 

*image* Miss you Sent Read 8:39pm. 

Jake puts his shirt on, checking his phone before winding down for bed. His heart starts to race a little when he sees it’s from his little girl. He opens the message and his heart melts. 

SouthernSavior 

Miss you too, darlin Sent Read 8:41pm. 

Shouldn’t you be asleep? Sent Read 8:42pm. 

LittleDarlin

Eddie put Ice Age on Sent Read 8:42pm. 

SouthernSavior

 Not a good excuse. Go to bed Sent Read 8:43pm. 

LittleDarlin typing… Can you come home? Deleted 

LittleDarlin

Night Jake Sent Read 8:45pm. 

SouthernSavior 

Night darlin Sent Read 8:45pm. 

Before Jake turns his phone off and puts it on the charger, he sets the photo as his lockscreen. 

-

Three days later…

A knock on the front door alerts you. 

You’re confused until you realize it’s a school day and pop out of bed, running out of your room. You check their rooms, finding neither of them there. “Not in the living room or kitchen,” you gasp. “The kitchen.” 

-

You run in, seeing your kids putting their dishes in the sink. “Was no one going to wake me up?” 

“You know Jake takes us to school,” Maryanne argues. 

“He does but with everything that’s going on, I didn’t know what we were gonna do.” 

“I’m still on school duty.” 

You scream, jumping just about ten feet in the air. You bring your hand up, placing it on your chest, “don’t. Do. That.” 

“I have to get your heart pumping somehow,” he answers you with that damn cocky smirk you’ve grown to love. 

“Yeah, and I can send you to work with a foot up your a-s-s.” 

“We can spell,” your daughters chimes in. 

“Pretend you can’t.” 

“Come on, d- Jake. Let’s go before we’re late.” 

The two try to walk past you, until you clear your throat. 

“What?” 

“Hug your mother, kids,” he says, standing beside you. 

Edwin rolls his eyes and sighs in a joking way before launching himself into your arms. 

Maryanne walks over to give you a quick hug before dragging her brother outside behind her. 

-

Jake hesitates to place his hand on your lower back. 

You turn, almost automatically curling into him. “Hey there, sailor.” 

“Still not a sailor but, hello to you too, gorgeous.” 

“Can we talk later?” 

“Is it a good talk or a bad talk?” 

“Depends, are you gonna listen to me or not?” 

“When don’t I listen to you?” 

You arch your brow. 

“Fine, I’ll listen.” He walks to the door when you remember something. 

“Oh, wait! Edwin has early day today.” 

“What time?” 

“Like Thursday.” 

He quietly groans to himself, “I won’t be able to pick him up.” 

“It’s okay. I planned on picking him up anyway. I just wanted you to know so you’re not sitting and waiting at the school for too long.” 

“Are you always this thoughtful?” 

There it is again. You give him a sarcastic smile, “are you always a pain in my ass?” 

“I’d like to think otherwise.” 

“In other words, yes.” 

“If that’s what you want to call me then fine.” 

A car honk alerts the two of you. 

“I gotta go. I’ll see you later, yeah?” 

“You can count on it. Bye, Jake.” You lean up and peck him on the lips. You aim to head back into the kitchen when you’re pulled back. 

He cups your cheek, pulling you closer, “is this, okay?” 

“I’d say it’s more than okay.” 

The corner of his mouth tugs upwards, “knew you could never resist me.” 

“Shut up and kiss me.” 

“Yes ma’am.” His other hand wraps around your waist, bringing you closer to him. 

You place your hands on his arms, one hand slides along his shoulders, stopping at the base of his neck. You scratch the back of his neck near the edge of his hairline. 

He slightly shivers pulling back; he pecks your pink, wet, and swollen lips. “I gotta go drop them off,” his voice comes out hoarse and quiet. 

You nod, “mmhmm.” 

“You can kiss later! We’ve gotta go or we’ll be late!” 

You cover your mouth, hiding your laughter. “You heard the girl.” 

“Hey, I didn’t start this whole thing.” 

“Neither did I.” 

“Let’s call it a truce and you go take the kids to school.” 

“I’ll see you later.” 

“Bye, hon.” 

“Bye, gorgeous.” 

-

You and Edwin do his homework before you put on a movie (yes, Ice Age) for him. You turn your head to see the mess in the backyard. 

You sigh, getting up off the couch to clean it up. You were doing good, making a lot of progress until you didn’t. 

You fall, landing on your shoulder. You know you’re screwed, the pain radiating in your arm is too much, but you can’t freak out because your baby boy will freak out which won’t solve anything. 

You push yourself off the ground (with great difficulty) and enter the house. 

“Eds,” you whisper, sitting beside him with your arm close to you. 

“Yeah?” he asks, slightly distracted by the movie. 

“Can you call Aunt Penny for me and hold the phone to my ear?” 

“Why?” 

“I fell.” 

“Are you okay?!” 

You shush him, “breathe, sweetheart. Breathe.” 

“Where’s your phone? Where’s your phone?” 

“Look at the table beside you.” 

“Okay, Penny… Penny… Aunt Penny? Mom wants to talk to you.” He holds the phone against your ear. 

“Pen? Hey… can you come over and drive me to the emergency room? I fell and broke something.”  

-

Jake rushes into the emergency center, frantically searching for you with Maryanne holding his left hand. He stops when he sees Penny waving, letting him know where you and Edwin are. 

He rushes over to the two of you while the poor little girl is being yanked over to your bed. He makes sure Maryanne can hold your hand and get close to you before he sets his hand on top of your head. “Are you okay?” 

“I will be if I can get out of here.” 

He checks over you, stopping when he sees your arm resting across your stomach, “what happened?” 

“I was in the backyard cleaning up-” 

“I told you I would do it.” 

“Yeah, and that was before you…” you trail off unsure of how to say it without making it sound mean, ‘before you left,’ yeah, not the nicest thing to say ever. 

“You could have called me. No, you should have called me.” 

You open your mouth to respond when Penny moves the kids away from the bed, having them sit in the seats (she grabbed earlier) giving you two more room to talk. 

He reaches down for your hand without looking, letting you squeeze his hand, knowing you aren’t taking any of the morphine or other pain medication (because you don’t like how you feel afterwards). He leans down, letting you turn your head into his chest, “why didn’t you call me?” 

“I didn’t know.” 

“Didn’t know what?” 

You look up at him through your wet lashes, blinking repeatedly so you can see him. “I didn’t know how we were. After this morning-” 

“Hey, hey.” He brushes the few loose strands that cover your face back, “we are never gonna change.” He pecks your forehead before turning around. 

-

He takes a step closer to Penny, whispering, “can you take them somewhere else? Ice cream? Hospital cafeteria? Wherever. I don’t want them to see their mom in anymore pain. I know, Eddie is gonna have a hard time when we get home but I’m not letting them see any more of this.” He pulls out his wallet. 

She places her hands on his stopping him, “you don’t need to do that. I’ve got it besides I’ve been wanting to show them a few shells I found the other day.” 

He lets out a breath of relief, “thank you.” 

“You can thank me by taking care of your wife.” She turns around, facing the two. “Come on, kids. We’re gonna go back to Aunt Penny’s place and look at the few seashells I found, and we can prank Pete. How’s that sound?” 

“We don’t want to leave our mom, Aunt Penny,” Maryanne whispers to the older woman. 

“I know but Jake thinks it would be smart if you two aren’t stuck in the emergency center for hours.” 

The young girl glances over at the two of you, watching how Jake is consoling you and trying to distract you from the pain. She looks back at Penny and nods, “okay. Can we text Jake and ask him when we can go home?” 

“Of course, we can,” she holds her hands out for the two to hold. 

Maryanne looks back to see nothing but love between the two of you. Maybe she was wrong, maybe Jake won’t be like her dad. 

He came just seconds after Penny called him and made sure that both of them could see and touch you. 

She feels bad for how she’s been treating him and knows what she needs to do.

-

“You should have called me,” he whispers into your hair. 

“I wanted to.” 

“Why didn’t you? You know I would have been there in a second. Well, maybe not a second but,” he smirks but you can see the worry on his face. 

You scoff, rolling your eyes, “don’t make me hit you.” 

He hums, “it seems to me like you can’t.” 

“I can do other things.” 

“Oh, yeah. Like what?” 

“Well, if I tell you then it won’t be a surprise.” 

He sticks his bottom lip out, “come on, you know you want to tell me.” 

“No, I really don’t.”

-

Jake hasn’t removed his arm from around your waist since you were released (after texting Penny). 

“You can let go now.” 

“I gotta make sure my girl is taken care of.” 

“You are by making sure I can get to my car.” 

“That was never the plan because that’s a, dangerous and b, penny took your car remember. Seems like you’re stuck with me, gorgeous.” 

“Jake,” you start, ready to complain. 

“No, no. Don’t give me that attitude. I’m making sure you get home back to the kids safely. End of story.” 

You say nothing as he opens the door for you, letting you take your time getting the car. 

Once your seated, he helps you with your seatbelt before running to the back, grabbing a pillow to place under your arm (that’s in a secure sling) but that doesn’t stop him. 

The drive back to the house was quiet, at least, between the two of you, there was music softly playing filling some of the silence.

-

He jogs around to the other side of car, opening the door. He reaches in to unbuckle the seatbelt. 

You scoot to the edge of the seat, swinging your legs out of the car. Jake holds his hand out for you to take. You slap your hand on his, “I’m gonna need a little help getting out. Take the pillow, first.” 

He carefully removes the pillow, tossing it to the driver’s seat. He lets you push yourself out before he wraps an arm around your waist, pulling you closer. 

You take a deep breath, staring at his collarbone (since your eye level with it), your eyes slowly trail up his neck, past his jawline and cheekbone. 

It feels like you’ve lost your breath as you stare into his eyes, reminding you of when you two first started dating. 

He moves your hand onto his shoulder before sliding his other arm to your waist, pulling you closer to hug you. He rests his head on your shoulder before tucking his head into the crook of your neck. 

You slide your hand across his shoulder, stopping at his neck, brushing your thumb vertically against the base of his hair, feeling the top of his spinal cord. 

The two of you wet the others shoulder with your salty, relief ridden tears. 

He pulls back, staring at you without wiping his cheeks. 

You reach up and wipe away his tears. 

He does the same for you. “Let’s get you inside, yeah?” He removes one arm to close the car door, locking it right after. 

-

He unlocks the front door, gently shoving you inside, following after you. 

You let out a quiet breath of relief, you were scared he was going to leave after hugging you. 

The kids run out of the living room, stopping in front of you. 

You bend down, letting them hug your good side with Jake telling them to be careful and not tug your neck. 

Maryanne steps away from you, telling Jake to bend down. She wraps her arms around his neck, giving him a hug. 

Edwin does the same. 

You wipe your cheeks, not wanting to cry even though this is what you’ve been waiting for.

-

Three months later...

Maryanne stands in front of you, “mama?” 

“Yeah, baby?” You turn to look at her, seeing how she looks down at the ground. You furrow your brows, “what’s wrong? Are you feeling, okay?” You place the back of your hand on her forehead. She pulls your hand away from her forehead and shakes her head. “Did you break something?” 

“No... I want to do something for Jake.” 

You nod, smiling (happy to know no one’s hurt or sick). “Okay, like what?” 

“I- we want to do something for him for… Father’s Day.” 

The smile slowly falls from your face, “oh,” you gulp. “Did you two have something in mind? And know that just because we’re getting married doesn’t mean that you have to do anything. I know we’ve had a hard time adjusting with one another,” you move the few strands of hair that fell off her face. “He would be happy with anything whether we do something or not.” 

She pouts, “I know but we want him to know that we like him and- and that we want him to be our dad.” 

“And how do you plan on doing that?” 

“Can he adopt us?” 

You lift your hand up, covering your mouth, shocked at her surprising request. 

“Mama?” 

You shake your head, blinking your eyes rapidly to prevent the tears from falling. You wrap your arms around her shoulders pulling her in for a tight hug. “Oh, my sweet girl.” You detach yourself from her, holding her by her shoulders, “that is more than okay, sweetheart. And you’re sure this is something you and Edwin want?” 

She nods as a smile tugs at the corners of her lips. 

“We should start now if we want it ready by then huh?”

-

The wedding was a small one with only Jake’s fellow pilots, WSO’s, and other navy members invited. You both invited his sister, but she was pregnant with baby number four and was unable to fly over.

She was kind enough to call and say that she and her husband would drive over, but it’d take too long for them to arrive. You assured her that it was okay, and she would be missed (you were so close to getting to hear embarrassing stories about pre-pilot Jake).

You didn’t let Jake see you before the wedding (much to his displeasure).

You walk down the aisle with Penny and Amelia walking you down the aisle. When you asked the girls, it easily became one of the most emotional moments when it came to planning the wedding, but you have no regrets (even if the few photos of you three walking down the aisle were of the Benjamin girls crying the entire time).

It was something else when you two were married by Pete.

And, of course, Maryanne was the most adorable flower girl ever making sure used all the petals in her basket and Edwin was a handsome ring bearer.

Thank God you didn’t assign anyone with this task because when Mickey and Logan were asking you a while ago, they showed you the website where you could rent a bear. Of course, this was a joke… you hoped anyway but they did redeem themselves by helping out with all the guy’s suits (after giving them the “mom” look).

Almost everyone- that’s a lie, everyone was crying, no matter how hard you tried not to, you did.

The water works got worse when Jake gave his vows. The man may be cocky as hell, but the man knows when to put his heart and soul into something.

-

Jake could barely keep his hands to himself when Pete said, “you may now kiss the bride.”

“More like devour the bride,” Bradley mutters. Jake pulls back, needing air, knowing you need the same.

“Can it chicken, you’re just jealous.”

The mustache man scoffs, prepared to say something else when Javy pulls him off to the side, handing him a drink. “To the happy couple!”

Javy and Bradley are the first to raise a glass. “To the happy couple!”

-

“To my stunning and gorgeous wife,” he whispers in your ear.

“And to my charmingly cocky husband.”

“I see how it is. I compliment you and you insult me.”

“It’s all part of my charm.”

“You weren’t this mean when we first started going out.”

“I didn’t want to show you my dark side.”

“Sure, you didn’t.”

“Okay, enough you two,” Penny takes your drinks from you two, “it’s time for the first dance.”

You let out a dramatic sigh, “if we must.”

“Prepare to have your heels knocked off your feet.”

You place your hand on his shoulder, “play on the usual phrase, I see you’ve been studying with Edwin.”

He smirks, “’course I have. I wanted to impress you.”

“Oh,” you chuckle, “impress me? I see.”

“No more talking, more dancing.”

-

The song ends and you feel light tugging and look down to find your babies standing there.

“Looks like it’s time for family’s first dance,” DJ Bob announces, adding airhorns.

“I’m never letting baby on board DJ for us again.”

“Oh, c’mon, he’s doing good. Leave him be,” you tell your husband.

“This is a special request coming from the shortest guy here this evening and no, I’m not talking about Fanboy.”

Reuben, Natasha, and Billy cover their mouths to prevent them from spitting out their drinks.

Pete, Penny, Amelia, and Callie shake their heads.

Logan and Bradley shake their heads.

Javy and Bringham hold Mickey back from going after a power-hungry DJ Bob and Neil grabs the camera before the photographer of the evening, can drop it.

An Ice Age remix comes through the speakers and you three look down at Edwin, who innocently shrugs, “what?”

You and Jake glance back at one another and shake your heads, dancing until your feet begin to hurt.

-

Javy and Bob help back the car with wedding presents while Jake puts the kids in the back, letting them get comfortable and fall asleep.

-

“Thank you, boys.” 

Javy gives you a rare, sweet smile, “anything for the newly Mrs. Seresin.”

Your lips quickly tug into an upward smile, “I haven’t heard that yet.”

“It feel weird?” “You know what? It doesn’t.”

“What doesn’t?” The man of the hour asks.

“Nothing.”

“And… we’re done. You two ready to go?” Bob interrupts.

“We are. Are one of you driving the car back to our place?”

“No, we’re gonna leave it here for the racoons to rip open and bring to you later tomorrow.”

“Just because you’re Jake’s friend, doesn’t mean that I won’t hesitate to kick your ass, Machado.”

Your husband wraps an arm around your waist pulling you back, “okay and that’s enough excitement for one day.”

“We’ll see you two there.”

Bob waves to you with his usual, adorable smile dancing across his lips.

-

You wave back before Jake holds you against the passenger door. “How do you feel?”

“Like I’m walking on air, husband of mine.”

“Glad to know I’m not the only one. Let’s go home.”  

-

The day after the wedding…

You and Jake sit beside one another on the couch, looking through your wedding album, taking a break from opening presets.

“Aw,” you point to the photo Maryanne sent him a while ago. “When did we take this?”

“Our little darlin’ sent me this when we were- uh-” Jake scratches the back of his head, “away from each other.”

“Oh… why didn’t you ever show me this? Send it to me.”

“Can I never have a cute family photo for myself?”

You sigh, “I suppose you can.”

He shakes his head, “don’t you be trying to guilt trip me now, gorgeous.”

“Me? Guilt trip you, never.” You flip to another page, “wow!”

“Guess the kid is as good with a camera on the ground like he is in the air.”

“Yeah, I’ll say. We are so using him for the kid’s birthdays.”

You can feel the vibrations of him chuckling behind you.

“Guess that means we save a few bucks.”

“Don’t tell me now that we’re married, you’re going cheap on me.”

He scoffs, “never… I just didn’t expect Fanboy to be so good.”

“Wow, no wonder he was hesitant to ask me.” You shake your head, setting the album on the table and see the last gift on the table is the big one. “This one is from the kids, but we have to wait until they wake up.”

“What?” Jake whines.

“Please,” you plead.

“Fine, fine. Stop giving me those “sex” eyes.”

You scoff, “I am not giving you “sex” eyes. If anyone is giving those eyes, it’s you.”

“Wow!”

“I know, it sucks when your words come back to bite you in the ass, right?”

“I know something else that can bite you in the ass.”

“God! We just got married and it’s like you’ve become ten times hornier within twenty-four hours.”

“You just have that effect on me, gorgeous.”

-

“Did he open it yet?” Maryanne asks, scaring the shit out of you two.

You and Jake scream, the latter lets out an oof. “What happened? Are you okay?”

He shakes his head, holding his stomach, “no.”

You cringe, realizing what you did. “Oh, honey. I’m sorry, are you okay?”

“My poor, beautiful abs.”

You scoff, smacking his arm, “you’re fine.” You turn to look at the kids, “and no he did not. I wanted you two to be here with us.”

They run over to the couch, sitting on each side of him.

You grab the rectangular, thin box, handing it to him.

“You not gonna help me with this one?”

You shake your head, trying to hide your smile, “no, this one’s all you, honey.”

He narrows his eyes at you before looking back at the gift, ripping the gift open. He tosses the box to the side, holding a large manilla envelope. He stares at it with furrowed brows, “what-”

“Just open it,” you tell him.

He carefully opens it, pulling out the document. He starts to read it, “what-” his voice cracks. Jake scoots forward, setting everything on the coffee table so he can cover his eyes.

“Aw, honey,” you start.

The kids stare at you with wide eyes, unsure if this is a good reaction or not. They scoot off the couch, standing in front of him, wrapping their arms around his shoulders.

He returns the gesture. “I know we had a hard time gettin to know each other in the beginning,” he lifts his head, staring back and forth between the two, “but did you two really have to make a grown man cry?”

“We made you cry?” Your daughter asks.

“You should have been worried if I didn’t cry.”

“Fair point.”

You rub the back of his shoulder.

He looks back at you, “how long have you known about this?”

“Too long. I’m just happy your late/ early Father’s Day gift finally made its way to you."

“This is a- okay, new rule, give the old man a little warning so I have time to prepare myself.”

“Nah,” you shake your head, “this is better. We get the raw emotions.”

“Shut up,” he shoves your thigh.

You smile, leaning back against the couch.

“Let’s a movie… not Ice Age,” he pulls Edwin closer, “whispering”, “we’ll watch it when the girls aren’t here.”

The young boy nods, giggling, “okay.”

Maryanne settles in on your side with Jake on your left, an arm wrapped around your shoulders and Edwin on his left.

“Oh, wait. We need popcorn,” says your daughter.

“Let’s go.” Edwin pulls her into the kitchen, preparing the movie snacks.

-

He pulls you closer. 

“I told you they like you.”

He doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, “okay, maybe you were right.”

“I was so right, darlin.”

“Look at you trying to copy my accent.”

“Honey, I pull that accent off better than you.”

“Oh, is that how we’re playing it?”

“You bet.”

“How about we cut this competition short?”

“Oh, yeah. How’s that-”

He cups your cheek, pulling you in for a kiss.

“We’re done- ew!”

You can’t help but smile as you two part from one another.

“Alright, kids. Settle in,” he tells them.

They return to their previous seats.

You rest your head against his shoulder.

This is exactly how you pictured it, the family life with Jake.  

-

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TGTBATWOI Master List

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Taglist: @abaker74​ @ebonyhogan24 @shanimallina87 @starkleila​ @kurtkunkle17

[drrr-emporium]

What to do if Durarara over

I'm going to assume you've finished the anime and have not gone into anything else Naritaverse wise

So! You can read the novels. Since they're officially licensed by yen press, you can buy the soft cover books or get them as an ebook / kindle from barnes and noble or amazon. I don't really endorse this but I'm sure if you do enough digging around you can find old, still available, free translations like anni_fiesta who did a lot of translating back in the day. Here's the link to their Index of Translation. I still use it since it's the only place I know that has the white day story translated and it's one of my favorites (For Kadota Related reasons haha), plus a couple of other side stories.

(I think the internet archives have the novels if you do some poking around but for Narita Please Write SH 5 reasons, I'll ask you to dig those up lmao)

Speaking of Side stories, Kazinha-726 translated a bunch of drrr side stories But since they haven't updated in a while, you need to change the links from kaedesan721 to their new URL kazinha-726. I'll directly link what you need here

Izaya Spin Off Translations I don't think these are officially licensed for translation so it's fine for me to link. This is the story of Izaya now that he's been forced out of Ikebukuro, and there's two books as of writing this.

Durarara Gaidens It's some gaidens, but It's also a handful of translated convos from 3 way stand of alley relay, the links use that kaedesan721 link, so while I won't be fixing all those links for you, I can at least link the tag for all of them here. you can probably find audio for this game on youtube, though I'm not sure anyone's like.... fully translated? perhaps? Which ALSO reminds me of the relay manga

Durarara Epitome of Eighteen Histories Written along side the release of season 2, we've got some stories involving Kazane Kinomiya, who's the half sister of Shinra, and a reporter. They have all 18 listed there nicely EXCEPT the Erika and Walker Link is a little messed up, and if you search through the posts you can get to it but anyway here's the link to that story specifically

DRRR x Hakata Tonkatsu Ramens Actually I haven't seen HTR or read it so I can't really tell you about this one but if you're into that series--

There's ALSO MiniDura which are little gag comics of the durarara cast in chibis! there should be 4 books as of me writing this. Godspeed on finding translations they seem to be around.... but this post is long and I'm scared of losing it so I'll update later on how many chapters there are so you don't miss any, though I'm seeing up to 10 in my cursory search.

Shizuo, Izaya, and Celty are also in uh.... Dengeki Bunko's fighting Climax, which you might be able to find some stuff on on youtube. but since it's Dengeki Bunko you also have other series... I can only remember A Certain Magical Index / A Certain Scientific Railgun / the other titles in this series as being part of it whoops.

So you've done all that, what do you do next?

Well Narita has other series, like Baccano! which had an anime before DRRR did, which is 16 episodes. Since Funimation lost the license back in like... 2012 it's not officially uh licensed for viewing anywhere, so uh. wink wink. message me if you need more help here.

There's ALSO the novels which... there are so many more than there are for drrr, also available to purchase, though these are hardcovers! Last time I checked they had.... around 20 translated? Since I'm more drrr side I'd have to ask about fan translations and if I can still find them around. But again I don't really condone it since we want more written you know?

Narita also has a couple other series, but the one that's my favorite besides DRRR is Etsusa Bridge (It's pronounced Essa Bridge don't make the same mistake I did. )

And i NEED more people to read that one please please please please

Unfortunately, the person who did the fan translation closed their Blogspot to the public so uh. the first 4 books, and really what is the main story, is available on the internet archive here

Though I'm saying thank you to baka-tsuki for my life by having a page of links here, which includes the 5th book, 5656 part two (NARITA..... I NEED 5656 PART 2 PLEASE...... PLEASE)

and Vamp on the internet archive here and baka-tsuki here

I also know about Hariyama-san but i don't actually know... if anyone translated that one..... Narita has also written for Bleach and Fate Strange/ Fake if you're into those. Straight up just linking this wiki page in case you have any interest in other stuff he's written

And finally! Currently, Dead Mount Death Play (often shortened to DMDP) is a manga written (or co written?) by Narita! which is currently getting an anime and all of his attention.

All that being said I've been really into Trigun lately lmao

Anyone else feel free to add on or tell me what I may be missing

[jut-and-dae-enthusiast]

The Only Exception // s.c.b

pairing: idol!changbin x fem!reader I genre: fluff, friends to lovers, some angst, one sided love, 18+ I warnings: some talk of self-image issues, relationship trauma, explicit sexual content, unprotected sex (wrap it up kiddos), breeding kink if you squint, oral sex (f receiving), use of pet-names (babe, baby,princess), mc is unexperienced but not a virgin, aftercare, i am a huge simp for seo changbin, mc is plus sized (bc there aren't enough chubby y/n's in the world and this is my fic)

word count: 10.3k words

a/n: This is my first time posting a fic on here and I have no idea how it's gonna go. If you guys enjoy this, I already have more than enough ideas for a second part/make this into a series.

feedback and re-blogging is deeply appreciated!

synopsis: she's given up on love and decided to focus on building her career. However, meeting a certain member of Stray Kids may change things.

 

Everywhere you went, whispers followed. 

Everywhere you went, whispers followed. 

“There's the spinster.” “Did you hear when she said she’ll never get married?” “I wonder how many cats she has at this point.”

In the beginning, it bothered you a lot. You would lash out, cry, yell. People thought you were crazy, labeling you a psycho on top of all the other things they said about you. But eventually they left you alone. 

Now, even when you hear these whispers, you ignore it. Do you find it annoying that people talk like this even though you’re only 25? Yes. But you figured it was probably magnified due to your outspoken hatred towards the idea of marriage. 

“A man will only slow me down.” You would mumble passively whenever your employee’s tried to ask you about this mindset. “Do you think I achieved this much by this age because I was flirting with boys and going on dates?” Whenever you spoke like this, the awkwardness rose in the air like a swift breeze. “But that’s just my preference. Do whatever you like.” You tried to lighten the room, but it hardly worked. 

The thing you despised the most were the men who attempted to “tame” you. They were normally men who would recognize you from work and try to approach you at the bar. 

“Maybe you just need to meet the right guy.” Was a common line. 

“Are you implying that you are this mystical right guy?” You would retort and watch the fire snuff from their eyes. Because they were losers to start with, they were never persistent. They preferred cute, easy women. Women who would giggle at their jokes and smile brightly at them. If you thought really hard, you could remember a time when you were exactly like that. 

Seven Years Ago

“Why don’t you put yourself out there? The love of your life won’t come onto your doorstep!” Your friend teased, pausing the romance movie you had put on the tv. 

“I don’t know, it’s kinda scary. I think I’m okay with waiting.” You assured them, resuming the movie and tuning them out. 

Eventually, you gave in to their nagging and decided to go on a blind date. When you got there, you smiled softly to yourself. While he wasn’t the most handsome man you had ever seen, he had potential. A different haircut, maybe some better clothes. Something in your stomach felt weird, but you pushed it to the side, calling it nerves. 

The date went well. He was nice and made you laugh. You could immediately tell that he liked you more than you liked him just by the way he looked at you. Also, the way he practically begged for your number at the end of the date. When you got home that night, they texted all night. Even though you weren't crazy about him, you liked the fact that he gave you attention and figured it wouldn’t hurt to just see how it goes. 

Fast forward two weeks and you could feel yourself liking him more and more. Even though you were scared of how quickly your feelings were developing, you were comforted by the fact that he still seemed to like you more. He was still actively pursuing you and messaging you all day. 

A month later, your relationship still wasn't official. However, you had completely fallen for him. In the ways you weren't attracted to him before, you suddenly found him cute. you found his style endearing, his haircut adorable. Even when he was forgetful or late, you were just smitten with him. They had gone on many more dates during that time. They went to the movies, cafe’s, walks in the park, just about anything a college aged couple could do. 

“Hey, I think we should stop here.” He suddenly said out of nowhere as they walked home together after seeing a movie. 

“What?” you asked, confused at the sudden confession. 

“I just think that we shouldn’t see each other anymore.” It was quiet for a moment between the two of them, tears already spilling down your cheeks. “You’re such a sweet girl. You deserve someone better than me. I know you’ll find a guy who really cherishes you one day.” And then he left you crying in the middle of the sidewalk. you were hurt and confused. you didn’t want someone else, you wanted him. How could he walk away from you so easily when not even a week ago, he gushed about how perfect you were and how lucky he was to have you? Said he liked you so much over and over on the phone because he was so enamored with you. 

A week later, you saw him walking in the store. His hand was holding tightly to a girl who was small and cute and pretty. You ducked into an aisle to avoid making eye contact with him, frantically wiping the tears from your eyes. You remembered how he so adamantly told you he “preferred bigger girls” and didn’t even care about your size. You weren't massive by any means, but you looked big compared to that girl. You could probably fit four of that girl into the hoodie you were wearing right now. 

After a long while of convincing, you allowed your friends to set you up on yet another blind date. You decided to go into this one positively. Maybe last time was an isolated incident. Not every guy could be like that, right?

This time, you found yourself in a difficult situation. You had liked him from the very beginning. He was handsome and charming and said all of the right things. But he clearly only wanted one thing from you. He was respectful and gentlemanly for the first month, sweeping your right off of your feet. However, after they had their first kiss, you saw a different side of him. Begging for explicit photos, sending unsolicited photos of his own, and becoming sex crazed in general. Suddenly, they couldn’t even meet up without doing something. Whether it was intense makeout sessions or touching, he was always coming onto you. You felt conflicted because you did in fact like him and was okay with it most of the time. However, he only spoke affectionately to you when they were in the act of doing things like that. He only said he loved you when he was inside of you, which you realized when you would try to say it during the day and be hit with “oh yeah, me too.” He only called you pretty when you were naked, only wanted you if you were pleasing him. After six months of this, there came a time when you said no. They were sitting on his couch and his hands began to wander, as they always did, when you stopped him. 

“Babe, I’m not really feeling it tonight. Can we just cuddle?” You pleaded with him, your voice soft but your hands firmly moving him away. 

“Yeah, sure.” He pretended to be okay with it, pulling you in and kissing the top of your head. A few minutes passed and he huffed, clearly upset. Less than ten minutes after that, his hands started wandering again. 

“Babe, please. I asked for just one night.” You pleaded again, scooting away from him. He groaned and rolled his eyes. 

“You’ve been totally leading me on all night though.” He whined, jutting his lip out. 

“No I haven’t.” you were confused, knitting your brows together as you looked at him. 

“Yeah you have. You wore that outfit you know I like and you keep kissing me.” 

“I didn’t wear this outfit with the intention of doing anything to you. I just think it's comfortable. And we can’t kiss without going any further?” You could see him getting frustrated with you, his attention everywhere but on you as you spoke. 

“I just think you’re so sexy, babe. Look, I already want you so bad.”  He points to the bulge growing in his pants at literally you just sitting there. “It hurts so bad, baby. Please.” He moved towards you again, slowly. When you tried to push him back again, he groaned and rolled his eyes. “I guess we can just break up then, huh? You clearly don’t like me anymore.” He pouted, standing up from the couch. Your heart dropped, fear making your muscles clench. 

“I-I never said I didn’t like you, I just…” You sighed. “I feel like this is all you want from me. Can you promise that you like me for more than just sex?” He nodded eagerly, quickly climbing on top of you. The second you touched him, he moaned “Ah, I love you so much.”

The next day, he broke up with you. He said he needed to focus on himself for a while, telling you that you would eventually find someone who loved you more than he could. Just like the last one, he ended up with a new girl shortly after. 

This time, you not only felt heartbroken but also used. You felt like you got nothing from that relationship other than a different way to view yourself. Is that all guys would want from you? 

Every single relationship you had in the next two years ended on the same note. Eventually, you realized that men only liked you while you were convenient. While you either gave them what they wanted or until someone they wanted more came along. You were never the first choice, never the only option. Because of this, anger grew in your heart. You had shed tears for men who didn’t even remember you or want you. You were determining your value based on if these terrible men wanted you. 

“No, never again.” you muttered to yourself as you drug yourself out of your bed. You wiped the remaining tears from your eyes and decided that from that moment forward, you would no longer subject yourself to this. You would show each and every one of those jerks that you were a force to be reckoned with. That you didn’t need them exactly the same way they didn’t need you. 

Present Day

“Mom, we’ve been over this. No blind dates, no setting me up, no giving out my number. You know how I feel about all of that stuff.” you were exasperated, the phone call with your mother going the direction it always did. 

“You’re already 25 and aren’t married. I’m worried about you.” your mother was kind and soft, just like you used to be. However, your mother didn’t have to worry about the troubles herr daughter went through in regards to dating. Your mother was skinny and beautiful and could have any man she had wanted. She chose her husband in middle school and they’ve been together ever since. 

“Nothing to worry about here. I’m successful, rich, and happy. What more could I need?” You took a sip of your wine, looking out the window of your apartment. 

“Love.” your mother whispered softly. 

“I have that already! I love you and dad, my dog, my friends!” 

“Yes, but you know a love between a man and woman is different than all of those. It’s beautiful and wonderful all at the same time.” 

“Mom, I think you’ve seen too many romance movies. Love like that doesn’t exist for girls like me. I already tried that in college. My priorities are elsewhere now.” You knew your mom came from a good place, but you were tired of explaining yourself. You were tired of feeling like you were weird for feeling this way. If only people knew what had made you this way. If only they felt the fear in your chest when you imagined trying to date again. You would rather be alone for the rest of your life than have to feel that way ever again. 

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

It wasn’t new for you to meet celebrities in your line of work. Your company was a management company, primarily helping overseas artists who are touring in North America. They gave them additional support, set them up with translators, set up their catering, everything they would need to have a successful tour. And with the rise in K-Pop, you were meeting more and more Korean artists. BTS was among your favorites that you had met so far, their world wide fame clear simply from their charisma. 

You wouldn’t consider yourself a full blown kpop stan, but you enjoyed listening to their music. It was also a good outlet for you because they had to say that they loved and cherished you. That they wanted no one else but you. You didn’t need the attention of attainable men who were subpar when these gorgeous boys made you feel like you were everything. It was a perfect balance because they were just far enough out of reach that you would never get your hopes up. 

“Ma’m, our next music artist is here to meet with you.” Your assistant announced from the door. In confusion, you looked down at your schedule. Maybe you had forgotten. 

“Alright, let them in.” You remained composed and professional, even though you had swore you had no more meetings today. You sat up straight and pushed forward a smile, greeting the group as they walked in. Now, this was an adorable group of boys. You bet they were all extremely young. 

They all awkwardly took a seat, shuffling nervously around each other. 

“Let us introduce ourselves. 1,2, Step out! Hello, we are Stray Kids.” The leader spoke up. His dimples were cute. Even their intro was cute. you nodded, smiling. 

“It’s nice to meet you all. My name is y/f/n y/l/n. Can we go down the line and hear each of your names?” You always did this so that no one felt too uncomfortable or left out. So, they each introduced themselves. Bangchan, Felix, Han, LeeKnow, Seungmin, Changbin, Hyunjin, and I.N. Without much thought, you dove into the meeting. They discussed what the boys would like, need, and everything that would help them have a comfortable tour. The boys were polite, almost hesitant to ask for anything. You reminded them multiple times that their company was paying for our service, so they should make the best use of it. 

The meeting ended and you immediately got to work sending out emails for each of their requests to their respective departments. As you were typing away, you heard a few gentle taps on your door. “Yes, come in.” you called out, your eyes never leaving the computer. 

“Miss y/l/nt, one of the Stray Kids members wanted to mention something to you.” 

“Alright, let him in.” You figured it was the leader, Bangchan. He seemed very responsible and clearly cared very deeply about his group members. However, much to your surprise, it was not him. you glanced down at your notes, trying to remember where he had been sitting so you could recall his name. He cleared his throat as he took a seat in front of your desk. “You are… Seungmin?” you asked and your heart dropped when he laughed. 

“No, I’m Changbin. Sorry for bothering you, I just remembered something that I needed to bring up.” 

“I’m so sorry. Please go ahead. Whatever you need.” you were embarrassed now, your cheeks flaming red. 

“So, while we’re on tour, I’m going to need to be on a restricted meal plan.” your brows furrowed in confusion. He continued, “I need to lose some weight, so I have to go on a pretty strict diet.” 

“Why do you need to lose weight?” you looked at his figure, buff and healthy, and found yourself confused but also frustrated for some reason. 

“Oh, uh, I’m just kinda the biggest member in the group. And I don’t want our fans to be disappointed in how I look.” Without realizing, you stood up quickly. 

“Excuse me if I’m being too forward, but that’s ridiculous. You look strong and healthy, which I’m sure your fans would be extremely happy about.” you realized your emotions and slowly sat back down. “While I know that you are in control of what you do and how you live, I just think that you shouldn’t restrict yourself. You already know how stressful touring is on your body.” His eyes were wide with your sudden outburst. 

“You… You really think so?” He muttered, still shocked. 

“But uh that’s just my professional opinion. I would hate for you to pass out or fall ill because of something that could have been avoided.” you cleared your throat and shuffled through some papers. For the first time in four years, your heart was fluttering. Like it had back then. No, this was inappropriate right off the top. Not to mention not what you wanted. “I can, um, make sure that there are healthier options that will keep you on track without restricting yourself.” you began typing an email, desperately avoiding eye contact with him. You knew if you saw the way he looked at you, you would immediately blush. 

“I would really appreciate that. Thanks for being so helpful.” you glanced at him and the way he smiled made you want to melt into the floor. He quickly stood up and bowed. “I look forward to working with you.” And then left the room. You turned your back to the door and covered your now fully flushed face. What in the hell was that? Maybe because you haven't felt like this in four years, you felt it all at once. Yeah, it’s probably just because of that. 

“Thomas, are you messing with me right now?” your tone was stern, your brows furrowed as your grip tightened on the phone in your hand. 

“Unfortunately, no Ms. y/l/n. We’ve tried to find replacements, but are unable to hire anyone.” 

“Okay, what about interns? Anyone?”

“This isn’t the kind of thing we can trust an intern with. This is essentially the most important role, ma’m. And the tour officially starts tomorrow, so I’m worried things may start on the wrong foot if this position isn’t filled.” 

“Don’t they have management on their end?” 

“Yes, but they hired us so that those employees could stay in Seoul.” You thought for a moment, annoyed. They needed an artist manager, someone who would work personally with the boys to get them where they needed to go as well as ensure their safety. It’s what you had started out doing before starting this company yourself, seeing the need was great. “I apologize if this is speaking out of turn, ma’m, but I think you would be a great fit for this. The main issue is that we need someone fluent in Korean and you can fulfill that requirement.” you rolled your eyes. 

“I suppose you have a point there. Let me talk with the advisory board about it and see if the v.p would be willing to fill in while I’m gone. I’ll update you.” 

Everything went swimmingly, if you can imagine that. Everyone was more than okay with you stepping out for a few months, meaning things wouldn’t need to be as uptight (but they never told you that). That morning you met the boys at their hotel, explaining that you would be in charge of caring for them the entire U.S leg of the tour, stressing that they shouldn’t hesitate to ask for anything. Their comfort and happiness was the top priority. 

“I thought you were the company CEO, why are you doing a job like this?” The leader, Bangchan, asked as they were riding in the van to the venue. 

“I am the CEO. However, I’m also the only person who could fill this position on such short notice.” you answered politely, giving him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I’m more than qualified. I did this for a while before starting the company.” He nodded, flashing you a smile before one of the boys called for his attention in the seat behind him. 

After arriving at the venue, you jumped into action. Directing the boys towards their green room, sending the crew where they needed to go, and checking in with venue staff to ensure that everything was going according to the email that had been sent to them. Once things were handled outside, you poked your head in to check on the guys. 

“Is everything okay for you guys? Do I need to run for anything?” 

“Oh, no, everything’s perfect. Thank you miss…?” Bangchan was obviously unsure of how to address you. 

“Just call me y/n! We’re going to be spending quite a bit of time together, so no need to be formal!” you bowed and left, going to double check that things were in place for the boys, like water bottles, towels, other things. You felt the thrill of frantically running around that you had missed. Spending years in the office had made you forget how exciting it was to be on the scene. Maybe you would do this more often. 

You walked back into the green room to check on things, as you were working down your list, when you had clearly walked in on a conversation. When they noticed you, they switched from English to Korean. And you could tell he was talking about you. It was Han? The one with the puffy cheeks. You were still learning their names. 

“I wonder if she even knows what she’s doing. Like, how can a CEO know anything about what it’s like to actually be there? I bet she’s super overwhelmed.” 

“Ah, you weren’t in my van earlier when I explained it to Bangchan. I’m more than qualified, as I did this for a few years when I was in college. But I appreciate you worrying, it makes me feel very cared for. I hope you’ll continue to care for me moving forward.” You responded back in perfect Korean, which resulted in both of them looking at you with wide terrified eyes. 

“I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you! I shouldn’t have been talking like that about you.” Han ended his sentence with a 90 degree bow and the other member (I.N?) also bowed. 

“Oh, don’t worry too much about it! I’m not offended at all!” You flashed them a smile and continued doing your work, successfully instilling the fear in them that would make them behave for you on this tour. 

As you continued about my work, fluttering from here to there, you accidentally walked into where apparently the weights were. Bangchan and Changbin were doing some pump up reps to make sure their muscles looked good. Your eyes instantly went to the shoulder muscles that were showing through Changbin’s shirt and you had to force yourself to turn away and look anywhere else. 

“Uh, just checking in boys. You’ve got about 20 minutes until the VIP soundcheck begins, do you need anything from me before then?” 

“Oh, actually, it would be amazing if you could bring us a few bottles of water? We forgot before we started.” Bangchan asked politely. You quickly reached into your backpack and pulled out two bottles. You turned around to set them on a bench and had to avert your eyes. 

“Let me know if you need anything else. I’ll be around.” You bowed and then quickly left the room. Good lord, that's dangerous. 

The show went amazingly, of course. As you watched from behind the stage, a bundle of towels in your arms, you found yourself enamored by their energy. You usually never cared much to pay attention during shows back when you were younger. But back then, you would usually find a cute roadie and flirt with him the entire time. A waste of time by your current standards. Also, why would you want to miss out on this? When they came back for their first outfit change, they were sweating so badly that they seemed so grateful for something as simple as a towel. After a quick change, a few makeup and hair touch ups, they were back out there for more. When the end of the show came, you found yourself getting emotional for some reason. It was almost like you could feel the sadness of their fans (which you learned are called Stay) at them leaving. Like this night they had been waiting so long for was now over and they weren’t sure when they would see them again. The boys, however, were exhausted. You could tell they gave absolutely everything they had for this show. There's no way they would be like that for every single show, right? 

Around five shows in, you found yourself feeling more and more comfortable with the boys. And clearly they started to feel comfortable around you as well, the younger ones affectionately referring to you as “Noona”. At the beginning, they were nervous to ask for anything. Now, you couldn’t get away from them. 

“Noona! Can you take us to a convenience store? I want some snacks.” 

“Noona, will we have time to sightsee?” 

“Noonaaaa, we’re in Seattle, we need to get Starbucks.” 

And you honestly didn’t mind it. They were adorable and it was your job to get them whatever they wanted. You found yourself getting closer to Felix and Hyunjin, two people you didn’t expect to get close to in the beginning. Felix obviously warmed up to you pretty quick, as he was just so talkative and sweet from the start. You found yourself talking with Hyunjin about things like fashion and art when the two of them were together. 

There was only one problem- you sensed that someone was growing a crush on you. That someone, of course, was Changbin. And you already were against dating/marriage, but you also knew engaging romantically with a client was extremely inappropriate. And it took everything in you to shove these feelings deep down. Of course, he was cute. And kind. And a great person to talk with. And good lord he was hot. He also had this habit of subtly complimenting you that drove you absolutely crazy. “Noona, your hair looks nice today.” “It’s sweet how attentive you are to us.” “Noona, that eyeshadow suits you really well.” 

They were coming up on the end of the tour when you found yourself alone on the roof with Changbin, stargazing in silence. Silence wasn’t uncomfortable with him. 

“We probably won’t see you after next week, huh?” He suddenly asked out of nowhere. 

“Uh, yeah, it’s not likely. Unless we can't find someone when you guys come again.” You felt nervous as the air shifted between the two of you. He obviously had something he wanted to say and you had a feeling it was something you didn’t want to hear.

“Can I confess something to you?” 

“You probably shouldn’t.” You were trying your best to remain logical and level headed as you always had been. 

“You don’t want me to?” 

“It’s not that, but I don’t want you to get in trouble.” 

“I won’t get in trouble.” 

“Alright, fine. What would you like to confess?” You asked and your heart was pounding. You didn’t want to have to turn him down. To reject his confession of love. But you couldn’t let yourself fall into this trap again. While he seemed sweet now, there was lots of time for him to become like the others. Maybe he only feels this way because you're conveniently in front of him. 

“I… uh, I think I have feelings for you. I don’t even know why I’m confessing this to you, but I can’t go on pretending that I feel differently.” He looked at you expectantly. You took a deep breath, and looked out at the skyline. 

“Changbin, I uh, I’m sorry but, um, I don’t really want to date or get married or anything like that.” Your hands were trembling. You were scared of how he would react, if he would hate you now. You actually cared how he felt. 

“Can I ask why you feel that way?” He asked softly, looking over at you. Tears pricked at your eyes. No one has ever asked why. No one cared enough to wonder. 

“Um, I just have a bad past with dating. I’ve never been anyone’s first option. I had my heart broken alot and this is a way to protect myself. If I close the door completely, no one can come in and hurt me.” It was silent again, the only noise coming from the traffic on the street far below. 

“So… I just have to prove that you’re my first choice and that I want you for you?” A tear slipped down your cheek. How did he guess that second part? 

“I mean, you can try. I’ll allow that. But, it’s going to be a lot of work. I’m kinda messed up.” You admitted, swiping the tears away from your face. He nodded slowly from where he was. At this point, the men from the past would have scooted over and put their arm around you. Changbin stayed where he was and watched you carefully. 

“I think you’re worth it. And I haven’t even known you that long. I can’t imagine how much more I’ll think that the more I know you… But let's start as friends first, yeah? I won’t push you into anything.” Your head was spinning. How was a man this considerate? He had to be faking. There's no way this could be real. 

“Sure, let's do the friend thing first.” 

So, the two of you exchanged numbers. Once the tour ended, he kept texting you. You kept waiting for the day he would come on to you. Waiting for an unsolicited dick pic. Waiting for the “i can’t wait any longer”. But it never came. Changbin seemed more than content simply being friends. Every time you found yourself beginning to let your walls down a bit, the men of the past would flash into your mind. They said all the right things, made all the right choices. You were still hesitant about Changbin. Did he have some sort of ulterior motive? 

“Aren’t you sick of this?” You asked him one day on the phone. 

“Sick of what?” He responded, sounding confused. 

“Sick of me making you stay my friend. You probably already have feelings for someone else by now.” 

“No I don't.” He retorted quickly. “And I enjoy being your friend. If that’s what I have to do to be by your side, then that’s fine. I’ll be your friend forever if I have to.” You felt your eyes water.

“Why do you always say stuff like that? Are you trying to bring my guard down?” 

“I’m not trying to do anything, Noona. I only wish you could trust me.”

“I do trust you. I just don’t want you to expect anything from me romantically.” 

“You know that I don’t. I told you I’m more than happy being your friend.”

Months went on and you kept getting to know each other. You were waiting for the other shoe to drop at any moment for the first little while. However, you slowly realized how pure his intentions were. He never once crossed the line, never even tiptoed near it. He truly genuinely cared for you. And while he never crossed the line, he made it clear that he only had eyes for you. He said so many times that he was more than okay with playing the long game. Slowly trying to win your heart. If he didn’t get to love you, he wouldn’t get to love anyone else. 

One night, you were extra tipsy from a few too many glasses of wine and decided to give him a call. 

“Hey, Seo Changbin! How dare you make me like you! You came into my office that first day so handsome and kind and whatever. You wrapped me around your finger from the very beginning and that was so fucking rude of you.” You slurred over the phone. He quietly listened, chuckling to himself here and there. 

“Noona, did you have too much to drink?” 

“Maybe, but whatever! It’s none of your business!”

“Okay, then for your sake, I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear any of that and hang up okay? Make sure to drink some water please.” He was firm but reassuring. God he was so hot. 

“Changbin, do you still like me?” you asked quietly after a moment. 

“Yes, very much.” He replied almost instantly. 

“But I’ve made you wait so long…” It had been a year at this point since his confession. 

“It hasn’t been too bad, don’t worry.” He assured you and you could practically hear his smile. “I’ve gotta get back to work, but I’ll check in on you later okay?” His voice had dropped a little bit and you felt your heart thump even harder. 

“Um yeah, sure.” You couldn’t even think about what he said, the way he said it had the biggest effect on your drunk brain. When he hung up, you almost immediately fell asleep.

Changbin had become one of your closest friends at this point. You confided in him, laughed with him. But you wouldn’t let yourself feel anything romantic for him. You couldn’t. Even though they had known each other for two years at this point, you were scared he would suddenly change. 

The boys had come to LA for KCon (you only knew because you played a large role in the planning of the event) and asked to meet up with you for dinner. You obviously agreed, as you cherished them deeply. They had rented out a space for them to go out to and were already there when you arrived. They greeted you happily, running over to hug you. You smiled, happy to see them again and complimenting them on their most recent work. You took the open seat at the table, between Seungmin and Felix but was also across from Changbin. 

You ordered some pasta, not caring what they thought. Back when you were younger, you would have opted for a salad or something healthy looking so as to not look like someone who wasn’t minding your figure. However, now, you gave no fucks. You weren't trying to impress any of them in that way and you were hungry so you were going to eat. 

“You seem like you’ve been pretty busy since we last saw you.” Chan comments as we wait for the food. 

“Yeah, we’re doing a lot for KCon on top of other small artists doing tours. Thankfully I don’t have to do all the work.” You joked, chuckling. “But yeah, I’ve kept pretty busy. Not too busy to keep up with you guys, though. Just when I think you guys have reached your peak, you somehow go even higher. I’m very impressed and proud.” 

“Ah, Noona! You’re making me blush!” Felix shouted out from across the table, covering his cheeks. The food came to the table not long after that, so the conversation jumped around. you ended up sitting back and listening as they talked, enjoying your meal and the company. However, as you glanced in front of you, Changbin was observing you with a small smile on his face. 

“You ok?” He mouthed to you, his gaze soft and kind. You nodded and smiled. He winked and nodded before looking away. You could feel your cheeks begin to flush. But then your chest started to tighten. At the end of the night, they went to go their separate ways, a slightly tipsy Felix clinging onto you and whining about how he missed you already. 

“Aw, our little Felix is such a cute drunk.” you cooed at him, smiling sweetly. His smile widened even further as he nuzzled into you and hummed. You walked him to their car, where he slowly let go of you, pretending to cry as he climbed into the vehicle. “I’ll text you, Lixie.” You promised from outside, which made him smile again. Changbin hung back, clearly waiting for his turn to have your full attention. 

“Can you make some time for me tonight?” you asked him, wandering over towards him. He smiled and nodded, waving to the guys as they left. 

When you both got to your place, you knew it was time. You couldn’t deny the way you felt for him and he had waited so patiently until now. They were sitting on the couch and talking when you turned towards him and took a deep breath. 

“Changbin, I have something to say.” You announced, unable to look at him. 

“Oh, uh okay. Go for it.” He shifted nervously, eyes watching you intently. 

“Firstly, I just wanted to thank you for being so amazing to me this past almost two years. I really appreciate having you by my side as a friend.” You looked up at him to gauge how he was reacting. He was watching you, his brows knit together in concentration. You decided to continue.”I think… It’s time that I acknowledged my real feelings…” You paused for a second and took a deep breath. “I like you. So much. Like, everything you do drives me crazy and I want you so badly that I can’t even be afraid anymore.” Once you finished talking, the air was quiet between the two of you. You looked at him after a minute, afraid of what his reaction would be. Relief flooded over you when you saw his head turned to the side, a wide smile on his face and flushed cheeks. 

“Uh, is that how you really feel? You’re not just saying that for me?” You could tell he was trying to keep his composure, now wanting to spook you with his excitement.

“Yes, it’s how I feel.” You muttered, your fingers still trembling. 

“It makes me so happy to hear that. Like, I could die right now after hearing you say that. That was the cutest confession I’ve ever seen in my life.” He started gushing, unable to hold back. He quickly caught himself and cleared his throat. “Um, but I’ll do whatever you want. Like, if you wanna stay friends, that would be fine. If you want to date, I’m also very okay with that.” You laughed, feeling so safe in his vulnerability. 

“I want to try dating you, Changbin. I haven’t dated in a long time, but I want to give it my best shot.” He turned his back from you and squealed. Actually squealed. Like, kicked his feet and giggled. 

“Can I hold your hand?” He asked once he turned back around. You could tell that even though he was excited, he was conscious of your history with guys and wanted to be respectful. Without realizing it, you closed the space between them and kissed him gently, your hand softly on the back of his neck in an effort to pull him closer. When you pulled away, his eyes were wide. 

“Does that answer your question?” You teased, smirking. He immediately pulled you onto his lap and looked up at you lovingly. 

“Tell me when you’re uncomfortable. I’ll stop immediately.” He stated firmly, one hand rubbing small circles on your back. you nodded and cupped his face in your hands. “You are so worth it. Even if I had to wait five, ten, twenty more years. Getting to hold you like this and know that you feel safe with me makes it all worth it.” He whispered, smiling happily. You kissed his forehead, then each of his eyelids, his cheeks, his nose, his chin, and then his lips again. 

“How are you so perfect?” You whispered, resting your forehead against his. 

“I’m not. I just… love you so much.” He obviously felt awkward admitting it this soon. You had figured as much, since there was no way he could still like you at this point and not love you. 

“I love you too, Bin.” You confessed softly, your eyes closed. There was silence between the two of you for a moment, the only sound to be heard coming from their breathing. 

“Like I said, tell me when you want to stop.” He breathed, his eyes connecting with yours. Your lips met his and the hunger kicked in for the both of you immediately. 

His lips traveled down your neck, stopping every now and then to suck on one spot softly before moving on. You took this opportunity to feel him up like you had dreamed of. His shoulders, his biceps, his chest (oh my god). His hands roamed as well, gently caressing you as his kisses slowly followed the neckline of your top. In a swift movement, you removed your top. His jaw was slacked as he took you in and had come to the discovery that you weren't wearing a bra this entire time. “Baby, what did I do to deserve you?” He muttered, his eyes locking with yours. you smiled and leaned in to kiss him, guiding his hands onto your breasts. He groaned into your mouth, gently squeezing each one. You slid your hands under his shirt, desperate to make contact with his skin. He smirked and pulled his shirt off. His figure was so gorgeous you couldn’t help but gasp. 

“Don’t ever show this to Stay.” You mumbled, your hands grazing across his chest. He laughed and nodded. 

“It’s all yours.” You couldn’t help but smile, even though you were so vulnerable, you felt safe. As the two of you continued to kiss, your hips had ideas of their own, grinding against his growing bulge. The way he whimpered against your lips only encouraged you to keep going. You had never been able to imagine him sounding like that in your wildest fantasies. 

His hands slowly slid down your body and lovingly grazed across your thigh towards your core. He smiled when he felt your soaked panties, to which you bit your lip and blushed. “Such a good girl, already wet for me.” His voice was husky with lust. Combined with his already flushed cheeks and slightly swollen lips, you couldn’t handle how sexy he was. “You still okay?” He asked, his fingers resting tantalizingly close, just on your inner thigh. He made a point to make eye contact, patiently waiting for your answer. You nodded, caressing the back of his head softly. A question of how long this consideration would last wandered into your mind, but you cast it aside. If it was only temporary, you would deal with it later. But for now, there was no one else in the world but Seo Changbin. 

He slid your panties to the side, his fingers sliding along your slit to make contact with your core. He hummed happily, his head resting in the crook of your neck. He gently pulled away and laid you down, his hand resting behind your head as you laid down. 

“I’ve dreamed about tasting you for so long.” He seemed to be muttering to himself as he pulled your skirt off and removed your panties with it. You spread your legs wide for him, your heart pounding with excitement. “Ah, so pretty.” He whispered as he rubbed your thigh gently. You could feel your hips shift, desperate for his touch. He dove in face first, his tongue instantly getting to work. Your hands flew into his hair as you moaned. His tongue expertly flicked in and out of you, going faster than you could have ever imagined. You would forever view his rapping differently after tonight. His thumb made lazy circles around your clit as he lapped up every drop of you. Far too quickly, you felt that familiar knot tighten in your stomach. 

“B-Bin… I’m gonna…” You were embarrassed, as you were sure he was expecting more from you. 

“Cum for me whenever you’re ready baby.” He responded, kissing your clit gently a few times before sliding one finger inside of you. That was enough to push you over the edge, your legs wrapping around his head, your back arching, the most lewd sounds you had ever experienced coming from your mouth. When you finally rode out your high and released his head, he sat back for a moment, wiping the slick from his face. You instantly covered your face in embarrassment, your cheeks red not only from your orgasm. “Baby, what’s wrong?” He asked, softly. He kissed your knee softly and rubbed small circles on your thigh. 

“I’ve never done that before, so I didn’t think I would finish that fast.” You admitted, your face still covered. 

“Wait… No one’s ever given you head before?” He asked, shocked. You nodded and slowly uncovered your face. 

“Me finishing wasn’t the most important thing for the only other guy I’ve been with.” You explained, suddenly feeling shy at your inexperience. 

“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.” His eyes were sad as he placed reassuring kisses on your thigh. “That’s not how it’s supposed to be.” He explained, shaking his head. “In fact, you finishing many times is my goal.” he crawled up over your body until he was basically on top of you. He kissed your lips, gently at first. 

“But what about you?” you pulled back and asked, softly. 

“It’ll happen eventually, but I’m not worried about it. I want you to feel the best I can make you feel.” He kissed you again, hands gently rubbing your sides. “But before that can even happen, I gotta stretch you a bit.” His hand slid down your body and the rest of him followed, slowly inserting one finger inside your now needy core. “Oh my god, you’re so tight.” He hissed through gritted teeth. He slowly started thrusting, setting a steady pace for himself. Soon, it was two fingers, then three. 

“Want you… So bad…” you moaned, arching your back with your eyes closed. 

“Yeah? What do you want? Tell me. Use your words.” You looked at him in surprise. This cocky attitude was unexpected but so welcome. 

“W-want… ugh… want your cock in me.” you groaned, his fingers fucking your faster and faster while you begged for him. “Please, Bin.” you whined, reaching for him. He instantly folded, taking off his pants and underwear faster than you thought was possible. 

“Well, when you ask so nicely, I guess I have to.” He groans, dragging his tip against your slit. He lined himself up with your entrance and you glanced down in time to see how big he was. You worried for a second that you weren't stretched enough, but you were determined to take every bit of him with no fuss. “Are you ready?” He looked at you for confirmation, his breathing heavy but clearly still very much in control. You nodded, biting your lip in anticipation. He inserted his tip and groaned. Slowly, he slid himself in, making sure to take time to allow you to stretch around him. Meanwhile, he was kissing your neck softly and whispering encouraging words in your ear in between his own groans and whimpers. “You take my cock so well baby. Like you’re made for me.” “Almost there, princess. You’re doing so good. Being such a good girl for me.” He finally made it all the way in, your hips meeting. You felt so full of him but in the best way possible. He stayed still for a minute, allowing you to stretch around him and adjust to his size. You bucked your hips, wanting him more and more with every moment. “Be patient, beautiful. I’m gonna take real good care of you, don’t worry.” He cooed, kissing your gently on the lips. So, this is what it was like to make love, you thought to yourself. This is what it means to not be used for your body. You were ripped out of those thoughts by his shallow thrusts, the grunts coming from his mouth sending you over the moon. With every thrust, he pulled out a little more, setting a slow but comfortable pace. You wrapped your legs around him and your arms around his neck. you wanted him closer than close. You made out with him in the sloppiest way you had ever encountered, moaning into eachothers mouths while swimming in pleasure. Without realizing, you started to clench around him. This must have been something he liked, because his controlled pace started to get sloppy and you felt his cock twitch with every clench. “I-if you keep doing that, I’m gonna lose control.” He groaned through gritted teeth. “I won’t be able to stop.” His pace was quickening, arms on either side of your head to stabilize himself. 

“Please don’t stop.” you whimpered, the idea of him stopping right now being too much. You suddenly saw his eyes shift, where they were once calm and clear, they were now dark and lustful. Almost primal. He wrapped you in his arms and held you up while he pounded into your, hips snapping into yours with every thrust. You mewled as he hit your g-spot repeatedly, as if he knew exactly where it was. You felt the knot forming in your stomach, getting close again. Without much warning, you came around him, your grip tightening on his hair at the back of his head. He didn’t slow down however, still pounding into your faster and faster, growls coming from his mouth. You felt him twitch as you saw him get closer and closer. “Cum for me baby.” you groaned, kissing and biting his neck, hands roaming around his chest, torso, shoulders, back. With a loud groan, he finished, painting the inside of you in spurts. He looked at you with wide eyes as he cummed. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to finish in you.” He tried to pull himself out, but you wrapped your legs around him and kept him in place as he finished. 

“I honestly don’t even care.” you sighed, feeling full of him. He slowly pulled himself out, rubbing your thighs lovingly. 

“You did so well, baby. So so well.” He praised, kissing your thighs with a smile. He went to the bathroom to clean himself up and came back with a towel to clean you up as well. You reached to take the towel from him, but he shook his head. “This is my job.” which you also found confusing. Your ex just threw a towel at you, which you thought was standard. He slowly and gently cleaned you up, careful of how sore you were already. “There you go my love. Oh, don’t forget to use the bathroom too so you don’t get an infection.” He reminded, a soft smile on his face. You nodded and got up, hobbling over to the bathroom. As you sat on the toilet, you felt your cheeks flush. That wasn’t the direction you had imagined things going tonight, but you couldn’t be happier. 

As you climbed back into bed, you expected Changbin to roll over and go to sleep. So, you did the same. 

“Are you upset?” He asked softly, reaching out for you. 

“No, I just figured you were tired.” You commented, rolling over to look at him. 

“I’ll never be too tired to hold you.” He says matter of factly, pulling you in closer. “If I ever meet whoever your ex is, I’m gonna have to kick his ass.” He mumbles, kissing your hair. 

“Wait, why?” you chuckled, pulling back to look at him. 

“He clearly wasn’t very good to you. And he made you think all of that was normal.” He frowns. “I understand why you wouldn’t want to be with any guy ever again if you thought they were all like that.” You felt yourself melt a bit at his words. He spoke so matter of factly about feelings you had never disclosed to anyone, him included. As you laid together, he peppered your face with small kisses, whispering sweet things to you. You felt so comfortable, so safe. You started to drift off, your eyes feeling heavy. You woke up to the lights off and a cozy Changbin in front of you. His eyes were closed, but a small smile rested on his face. You decided to let yourself fall back asleep in his arms. 

When you woke up the next morning in an empty bed, your heart instantly began racing. Was he disappointed in your performance? Did the post nut clarity hit in the morning? You looked around and saw no traces of him. You thought maybe you had dreamed it all, but upon looking in the mirror, you knew that wasn’t true. Your neck was covered in hickies and your lips were still a little swollen. You wanted to be upset, but you couldn’t be. You decided to just throw on some sweatpants and a t-shirt before heading out to make yourself breakfast. However, as you walked into the kitchen, you were shocked to hear someone already there. You slowly poked your head in and felt your eyes widen at the sight of a shirtless Changbin cooking your breakfast. 

“Um, hi?” you rasped, your voice scratchy from sleep. He turned and smiled. 

“You’re awake! I’m trying to make you some breakfast.” you walked over and saw the scrambled eggs that he was so lovingly making were slightly overcooked, a little brown in some spots. However, that happened to be exactly how you liked them. “Sorry, I know I’m not a great cook.” He rested his head on your shoulder as you turned the heat off and moved the pan to the cool burner. 

“What do you mean? You cooked these perfectly.” you smiled and patted his cheek. “I make them like this on purpose.” He hugged you tightly from behind, giggling. 

“Wow, we must really be meant for eachother then, huh?” He kissed your cheek over and over, making your smile even wider. You felt tears prick the back of your eyes but tried to hold them back. However, Changbin was as observant as ever. He turned you around and held your face in his hands, brows furrowed in concern. “What’s going on, honey?” His voice was soft, his thumbs grazing your cheeks softly. 

“I just thought you had left, so I’m happy you’re youre.” you smiled softly at him as you spoke. He frowned. 

“I wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye. You’re officially stuck with me now, Noona.” He kissed your forehead gently and then flashed you a wide smile. “Let’s eat before it gets cold, yeah?” He gently guided you over to the food, where they both made a plate and sat down at your table. While they were eating, his phone started buzzing from the counter. He attempted to ignore it, saying it probably wasn’t important. 

“I bet it’s Channie-hyung. You should go answer it.” You took a bite of your food as you watched him walk over, giving you a wide eyed look when he saw you was right. 

“Give me a minute.” He whispered and stepped into the hallway to answer. Part of you wanted to eavesdrop, but you decided to focus on eating . He came back a few minutes later and sighed. “I have to leave here soon. We have a soundcheck in like 20 minutes.” Your eyes widened, as the venue was at least 10 from your house. 

“Shit, then we need to go right now.” You stood up, abandoning your food and running to find your shoes. 

“No, it’s okay! I’ll just get a driver to come get me.” 

“It’s fine, I can just drop you off.” You were already putting your shoes on and grabbing your keys. 

“But I don’t want-” He stopped himself, looking down. 

“Anyone to see me?” you stopped and realized this was the other shoe dropping. 

“Not for any reason you’re thinking. I just don’t want you to get hurt because you’re seen with me.” You handed him his shirt, which you had grabbed from the room, and nodded. 

“It’s all good. I understand.” Did you completely mean it? You weren't entirely sure, but you decided to be cool about it rather than making him feel bad. You knew you had issues that you needed to work on too, he didn’t need to deal with all of it. 

“You sure?” He seemed confused, trying to search for all of his stuff while also talking with you. You walked over to him and hugged him from behind. 

“Yes, I’m sure. Now, get outta here. You’ve got work to do.” You kissed his shoulder. “But I’ll see you later.” He turned his head in surprise. 

“You’ll be there tonight?” He asked with a wide smile. 

“Yeah! Perks of having my team basically handling all of the artists is I can get myself very good seats. You’ll be able to see me, no problem.” You giggled at his reaction, which was him quickly turning around with eyebrows raised and an amused smile on his face. “And I have a very cute outfit planned.” You added, which only made him smile more. 

“Can you come say hi to us before the show? The boys would love to see you.” He asks happily, clearly excited at this new development. 

“I’ll see if I can sneak my way in.” You wink, laughing. He gave you a kiss on the cheek before heading out the door to meet his driver. 

You put on your outfit: a black crop top with a hot pink harness, a black leather mini skirt, and some black knee high platform boots. You did some hella cute makeup and did your hair, making sure to wear your Stray Kids headband you had ordered, since everyone needed to know who you were there for. Once you were ready, you made your way to the venue, all access badge around your neck. You wandered into the back, stopping one of your staff members to ask them where Stray Kids' green room was. Once you got there, you knocked on the door three times before opening the door. You were greeted by a chorus of “NOONA!!”s, which made your heart very happy. Felix ran over and hugged you tight. 

“Noona, you look so pretty! I didn’t know you were coming!” He was so excited to see you, his smile was so wide. You sat down with Han, pestering him as he was trying to play a game on his phone. Only Felix, Han, I.N, and Seungmin were in the room at the moment. After Han finally gave up, you decided to chat with Seungmin. They were all sat on one couch, chatting about this and that. Seungmin saw your headband and decided to tease you about it, saying “You must really like us, Noona.” to which you agreed. 

“Where's the rest of your group?” You asked, confused. 

“Oh, they’re still getting ready. Hair, makeup, outfit. All that fun stuff.” Han informed, once again distracted by something on his phone. After sitting and hanging out, the other boys finally came back. 

“Bestie! You’re here!” Hyunjin exclaimed excitedly running over and hugging you. 

“You look so pretty.” You gushed, looking at his outfit. He laughed and nodded. 

“You do too. I guess we’re two pretty best friends.” He joked and then both of you cringed while laughing. 

“Ah, our y/n is here.” Leeknow commented as he walked in, a small smile resting on his face. You greeted him happily, to which he gave you a small bow and then found a spot to relax before their performance. Next was Bangchan, who was happy to see you and gave you a hug. 

“Changbinnie will be here soon.” He teased, winking at you. You felt your cheeks flush and tried to laugh it off. You couldn’t bring yourself to make eye contact with anyone, suddenly taking an interest in their fridge. 

“Old habits die hard.” You joked, straightening all the labels and pulling things forward in an effort to hide how nervous you are. Thankfully, the others didn’t seem to pick up on it, even though Chan kept trying to tease you. Changbin entered the room and instantly came over and wrapped you in his arms. 

“My baby is here!” He cheered, loud enough for everyone to hear. Your face flushed and you looked at him with wide eyes. “What?” He asked, confused with your reaction. You nodded your head towards the boys, who were looking at the two of you with intrigued expressions. “Oh, right.” He nodded and then turned towards them. “y/n and I are dating now.” He informed them, smiling widely. You didn’t think your face could feel any hotter, your hands coming up to shield yourself from the embarrassment. 

“Ah, so that’s where you were last night, Seo Changbin!” Leeknow pretended to scold, a mischievous smile on his face. You were so embarrassed, the boys laughing and heckling the two of you, that you were extremely relieved to see one of your staff members enter. 

“Miss y/n, I was asked to escort you to your seat so the artists can get ready for the show.” You nodded, jumping at the opportunity to leave the room. Changbin stopped you, pouting. His lip was jutted out as he pointed to his cheek. 

“Kiss please. For luck.” You could feel everyone's eyes on you, the embarrassment becoming almost too much. You rolled your eyes and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, which made the boys all scream. You quickly headed towards the door, turning once to give a weak 

“Stray Kids, fighting!” before rushing out the door. 

The entire show was great, the boys all making a point to come over and wave at you at one point or another. Changbin was extra, of course, blowing kisses to you every chance he had. The girls behind you were losing their minds, thinking it was for them. You smiled, happy that they were happy. But you also felt smug, knowing that you had him wrapped around your finger. You were excited for what the future would hold with him.

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

thanks for reading! hope you love it!

[captainsimagines]

pretty woman, this is me trying || four

Summary: Bucky Barnes does not like to be touched. He’s completely ready to live a distant life and give up when the time is right. Until Stark hires him his own personal pretty woman. Over time, Bucky Barnes begins to learn how to touch again. How to feel again. How to love himself again.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female SexWorker!Reader

Trope(s): Holiday Fanfic ; Slow-Burn ; Friends to Lovers

Based on the Song(s): sweet nothing by Taylor Swift and Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls

(4/14)

Mini-Series 

Warnings: references to past sexual abuse; the beginning of soft touches; strong language

Word Count: 2,200+

~

     Eating a breakfast burrito with a hot coffee in the middle of snowy Central Park was definitely something on your unwritten bucket list. Something that was too odd, too specific, to actually put onto paper.

But this.

This was the gentle gift of life.

You figured the super soldier beside you was thinking the same. Bundled in multiple layers and with a large coffee tucked near his chest, Bucky Barnes stared up at the sky. Soaking up whatever beams of sunlight bursting through the clouds. It wasn’t actively snowing, but the coldness was evident by the red of his nose.

There were barely any people around. Just the typical joggers and healthy commuters. You could hear the sirens from one direction and music blasting from the other. Typical New York morning.

Except, today, you had a companion.

Two, actually. Bucky named him Axel, named after the Father of Peace. They were practically inseparable yesterday, and Bucky did not hesitate to adopt the elder German shepherd.  He stuck his nose deeper into the doggy blanket, especially grateful for the sweater that kept his hips warm. Bucky hadn’t batted one eye when the shelter worker had told him Axel had arthritis in his hips. He had paid for the medication, stopped by the pet store, and purchased everything known to man that accompanied a pet.

Blankets, sweaters, a bed, food bowls, treats and food, even a damn raincoat.

You would have swooned if you could have stopped laughing from how serious Bucky was being. And good for him—having a pet made a human healthier. Less lonely.

Maybe adopting wasn’t such a tedious thing.

Bucky Barnes was now your companion. He officially accepted you yesterday, saying that you two could truly help each other. You, the money. Him, getting used to touch again. The experiment with the dogs was one thing, but he had plans to step it up a level. By the end of your time together, you figure you’ll be able to hold his hand.

“So,” you started, dusting your fingers of invisible crumbs. “You’ve accepted my services. We’re acquaintances now. Lay out the rules, Bucky Barnes.”

Bucky smiled gently, looking down at the top of Axel’s head as he did so. “I want to start with the feeling. Like, soft touches.”

You hummed, pulling your gloves back on. Looking around the park, you debated risking hypothermia for the next part. Tugging off your boots and socks, you made sure Bucky was watching as you extended both feet off the blanket, running them through the tips of the grass. The tendrils tickled and the frozen dew pricked, but it was necessary.

“See? Do this. Imagine the grass hair to be tiny, little hands. Grabbing at your tiny, little toes.”

Bucky snorted quietly, but listened to your directions. He took his sweet time as you stomped and rolled your ankles, warming yourself the best you could. He stretched a long leg into the grass, spreading his toes and testing the waters.

“Do the hands feel nice?”

“The hands feel nice.”

Axel moaned softly, rolling over onto his back. You stared at the dog in amusement, then at Bucky, whose eyes glimmered at the dog just the same.

“Can my toe touch your toe?”

If he was uncomfortable with that question, he didn’t show it. Instead, it looked like he was trying to hold in the loudest laugh. How else were you supposed to phrase that question? But making the soldier laugh, well, that had to be a major plus.

“We can try.”

You nodded, scooting closer on the blanket. Bucky leaned his shoulders away on instinct, but he caught himself. You didn’t want to make him too uncomfortable, but he did need to learn to remind himself that danger was not present. That danger can be avoidable during sweet moments.

You moved your leg over, watching his right foot remain perfectly still. Closer, giving him time to back out if need be, until your feet left but a gap. Bucky released a heavy breath, shutting his eyes for a moment.

“You know, I got my dad’s feet. Man didn’t give me much of an allowance or words of wisdom growing up, but he did bless me with these goddamn toes.”

Bucky’s eyes snapped open, and he practically broke his neck turning to face you. His lips twitched, involuntarily splitting into a grin, before he burst out laughing. You didn’t touch him yet. You were too mesmerized by the sound and length of his neck to continue your quest.

“You have nice toes,” he commented, wiping at his beard.

“With nail polish, yes. See me without it and you’ll be singing a different tune.”

Slowly, you tipped your foot and rested your pinkie toe against his. Bucky sucked in a breath, staring, paralyzed.

“Good?”

Bucky grimaced quickly. “Sort of.”

You moved your foot, wiggling your toes. “You can ask me questions too, you know?”

“Have I not asked you questions?”

“Eh. But I know you’re wondering why I do this. They all do.”

Bucky frowned again, scrunching his nose a little. “I wasn’t wondering why you did it. You said you do it by choice. I’m not going to question that. I guess… I want to know what attracted you to it.”

There was some difference in the questions, but it was still the same question. It was considerate of him to phrase it nicely, however. “I left my hometown behind. I came here to New York like a twenty-year old idiot and thought, ‘Working retail or fast food is going to pay my rent’.”

You wanted a new place to live, a new place to exist. Was it so bad to want something so extreme? It wasn’t so bad the first few months. But as the bills started piling up and the lonelier you got, you had to seek alternative routes.

“I met a woman named Lainey. She lived a few doors down from me and we always got coffee at the same time each morning. She told me about the escort business, how this website was truthful and all that. So I tried it.”

Bucky handed you back your socks. You slipped them back on, continuing your story. “My first client didn’t ask for sex. I just went with him to an office party. The second canceled after I had already bought a dress for this huge banquet ball. But the third…”

Bucky froze as he, too, tugged on his socks.

“He didn’t tell me he wanted sex. We went on a date, and then he asked me for it. I said no, but he offered me two thousand dollars. I needed that money, Bucky.”

You swallowed hard as you zipped up your boots. “So I did it. And I cried the entire time. After that, Lainey told me that I have to make sure they explicitly say what they want in their messages. That the private messages were a contract. Since then, I haven’t slept with anyone I didn’t want to.”

“Lainey sounds like a pistol.”

You chuckled. “Yeah. She was.”

“Was?”

You shrugged, suddenly sad. “She never told anyone she had cancer.”

Axel whimpered softly, kicking his leg gently on your stomach. You grinned down at him, rubbing your gloved hand across his fur. “Lainey loved dogs. I was going to take in her dog after she died, but I ran into her mother as she was cleaning out Lainey’s apartment. That woman needed the dog more than me.”

“I’m sorry about Lainey.”

You were sorry about Lainey, too. How long has it been since you spoke about her? Since someone besides Lainey entered your apartment?

“I’ve come to love this job. I’ve learned to navigate it. I don’t recommend it unless someone genuinely has questions, but they never do. They always bring it up like it’s a joke.”

“Was Lainey your best friend?”

“In the city? I suppose.”

“You would think, in a world full of aliens and superheroes, we would have found the cure for cancer by now.”

You snorted out a laugh, turning to face him. But he was looking down at his own hand, mere inches from yours. Pinkies just a small distance away.

“How did it feel discovering the cure for smallpox?” You moved your pinkie just a little, getting closer.

“Considering they founded the vaccine in 1796, I wouldn’t know.” His pinkie inched closer, too.

“I meant polio, then.”

His finger paused, and Bucky’s shoulder crumbled. He pulled back, sighing deeply. “Polio vaccine came out in 1955. Don’t really remember, but I know Hydra shot me up with it.”

You had a sudden urge to twist your own neck. Even though you had no idea that would trigger a memory,  you had to assume that mentioning things like that would get some reaction out of him. Is it entirely your fault? No. It’s Hydra’s. But could you have been a little more considerate with your words or knowledge of history? Maybe next time.

So you tried, “Did it leave a dime-sized mark on your arm? Because for me, I have no mark at all.”

Bucky adjusted his jaw, following your lead. “I think I do. I haven’t really checked.”

“Can I be frank?”

“Don’t see why not.”

“Because it may be a little out of line and totally ridiculous to say, but I think you should hear it.”

Bucky cleared his throat, laying a gloved hand over Axel’s paw.

“I need your permission before I put my foot in my mouth.”

“I’m a big boy, I can take it.”

You grumbled, fighting with yourself. You just had an internal battle with yourself for saying something, accidentally, out of line and here you were, about to do it again. But it had the potential of being a positive thing. A thing that could change the outlook of one horrible memory.

“That polio mark… I am not defending Hydra or making them seem like good people. It doesn’t have anything to do with them, really. But all the torture you endured, all the evil… They, at least, gave you something good. It’s not a defense for them, but for you. So, think about it like this. For just a moment, in the year 1955, something good happened to you.”

“It doesn’t erase the bad.”

“No. It doesn’t. It’s just a little bit mixed in there. Existing. Hiding.”

Bucky raised his eyes, meeting yours. “I’m not giving them that credit.”

You nodded. “Then don’t attach it to them. You were vaccinated against something bad, and that’s good. Period.”

“And you might have been broke in New York, but it led you to finding Lainey. Period.”

You smiled, teeth and all, thinking that Lainey would have liked Bucky. Would have probably stolen him from you. For a good reason, too.

Sticking out a gloved hand, you raised your pinkie finger. Waiting for Bucky as he did the same.

“Tell me, Bucky Barnes. Tell me what you want me to touch, and I’ll do it. Anything, as long as it won’t get me arrested.”

With a half-assed, impassive look, Bucky motioned for you to go on.

“Tell me what you want to touch, too.”

The soft breath that left his lungs swirled in the air as he exhaled, two strands from his hair bun escaping. He tucked one behind his ear, still keeping that one hand raised.

“I want,” he started, swallowing lightly. “I want to be able to hold someone’s hand. To pinky-promise. To hug them goodbye. I want to be able to see someone without clothing again, to not freak out when they scrape a knee. I want to be able to pass a plate to someone, to feel their warmth, to high-five. I want to own my body again. And I want people to know that I own myself.���

Something inside of you twisted painfully, deep in your stomach. His words felt like a reverse catapult, cannons slicing through your organs before they landed. When you first laid with someone for money, there was this awful feeling of neglect to yourself. To your own wellbeing. A feeling of raw, horrid guilt. Because you hadn’t chosen to do it fully. You hadn’t given yourself freely and completely. Half of you accepted it, while the other half writhed and begged you to stop.

After some time, you came to own these moments. To make them your own, pleasurable, chosen. You had decided the when, and the where, and the who. You owned it all.

Knowing that Bucky Barnes never had a choice… That feeling of raw, horrid guilt came rushing back—not attached to you, of course—but as an extension. As empathy. As understanding.

“I give you permission, Bucky Barnes,” you said, tucking your legs underneath yourself and facing him directly. “To touch me however you like. Whenever you like. To learn how to live again. And I promise, if I do not want to be touched, I will tell you.”

He watched your raised pinky curl, a question in his eyes.

“Cross one thing off that list,” you told him. “Accept my promise.”

So Bucky straightened his once crumbling shoulders, and wrapped his gloved pinky around your own.

~

[hezuart]

What’s your Rating when it comes to Hazbin&Boss’s Songs? I Love most of them and some not to much, I Love That Short Western song When Striker was Fighting M&M and sound so Awesome! but was switched to a Pop Song and it was long, Plus I wished they could have stick to one Song instead of switching to the other in That Episode and we really didn’t need that montage of Loona being chased by the vet, Do we? I don’t know 🤷🏻‍♀️ I wish there were full versions of the Songs tho, What do you think?

Oh my rating? Let it be known I am not a musician, so I'm mostly rating these based off catchiness, lyrics, and context.

For Hazbin, the new official songs aren't out yet, so I'll judge the pilot's. The first song with Charlie... the "I'm always chasing rainbows" is a cover of an old song, and I think it's quite beautiful and perfect for her character. It is unfortunate that the song that isn't even original catches my attention the most. Her song "Happy Hotel" is too fast-paced and the VA sings too high, I couldn't understand what she was saying through half the song so I don't like that one very much. Alastor's was fine, I actually love the first part of it, that one would probably be my favorite. Angel's "Addict" is extremely average, but catchy pop, the lyrics are pretty nice. The animation that goes with it was also very good as far as an AMV goes.

Helluva Boss songs: (First=most favored to last=least favored)

House of Asmodeus: I have friends who don't like this song because it goes on pretty long and isn't all that interesting, but I truly adore this song when Asmodeus and Fizz interrupt. It's jazzy, and it's Asmodeous scolding someone for not playing by the rules of his establishment- and maybe even hints at the irony of what they're saying because Fizz and Ozz have a relationship that maybe (at least confirmed now) they aren't ready to acknowledge. We also get to see Blitz and Stolas get verbally attacked in the club, putting their whole relationship into question when this was supposed to be the first date they've ever properly had which misled Stolas into thinking there was more- only for Blitz to become embarrassed when Stolas doesn't stand up for him, solidifying his fears of their relationship being a "thrust"- I mean I could go on and on but the context is just so ... deep????? and it involves all of our characters and was a major turning point for the series, a really good eye opener finale all around.

You Will Be Okay: It's a lovely lullaby with pretty lyrics and a sad context, one that hints at a future tragedy to befall Stolas. A song that reveals Octavia, Stolas's daughter, who is very attached to him, and her fear of losing him. Stolas comforts her, but in the way that... if he dies, she will be fine on her own- that when the time comes, she won't need him anymore. Only to smack right into the change of Stolas now no longer seen in a positive light in Octavia's eyes- feeling betrayed and confused and hurt by him. It's just a subtle but powerful song.

Stolas Sings: I acknowledge the lyrics are useless in the context because it reveals nothing about his character, and this is the episode that completely messed up his relationship writing with not only Blitz but also Stella........ if the lyrics were tweaked I think this would have been good, but... idk I know its not great but I actually really really like this song. It's just so pretty and angsty... I can't help but love it regardless of the nonsense

Vacay to Bonetown: Verosika is a popstar, so, of course, we gotta get a song for her. She mostly sings about smutt and self-care, so the song doesn't have a bigger meaning, but it is very relaxing lo-fi kind of style. The lyrics are interesting, though odd in some aspects- but the point is a double meaning. Singing about going on vacation too, I don't know, it just feels like a nice summer song in a way- if it weren't so R rated ksldgjlkfdg but this one has always been a top fav

Monster's Ball: This is like??? The PROPER song that Beezlebub should have sung? This is really good and has unique lyrics that help, in a quick way, describe Beezlebub's personality and ...career? It's average pop yeah, but parts of it are rather catchy. This song is actually pretty good. I have no idea what is going on though with the music of this episode because Kesha was initially part of it and ended up going through legal troubles against Spindlehorse and no one really knows why. So there was a lot of weirdness surrounding the music made for this episode. I wish I had more behind-the-scenes context but... I don't.

My World Is Burning Down Around Me: A short song that Octavia listens to. The lyrics are on the nose and the song itself is only in there for like... 30 seconds tops... but its angsty and catchy so here's a shout-out to it.

The Ballad of Striker: I really really like this country song, the Mariachi band and lyrics are really fun. But context just doesn't fit, unfortunately, because Striker is no longer a secret assassin but in fact a very well-known outlaw for hire in the ring of wrath... just doesn't feel true to the original character

Oh Millie: A pilot song, but it's sweet. Millie's contributions are actually cute. It's used as a funny gag, but it also shows an interesting Bonnie and Clyde romance, where Moxie, despite his logical nature, actually really enjoys killing and adores his wife for being just as vicious. And Millie is enamored with his softer musical side, and may not be as good with words, but she still loves to be part of it. I don't know... Millie and Moxie from the pilot are different characters from the official series. I miss what they were before. Somehow I think their romance is more believable and equal, revealing so much about their characters in a single song? Like it's just really good. I don't know how else to explain it.

Mustang Dong: A song Blitz is listening to in his car. It's a fun catchy rock song, and the lyrics are downright hilarious. Very befitting of Blitz. Very funny for such a short sequence.

Loo Loo Land: A silly jingle, I laughed with the running gag of "No copyright infringements ever seen." And He did mock Charlie's "Happy Hotel" song which was also pretty funny. It's got references and gags and it doesn't go on for crazy long, I think it's a pretty decent song for the episode, and the context fits perfectly- Stolas enjoying himself like a kid, but Octavia hating every second of it. It's an entertaining plot device- and the character who sings it is gasp- surprise! Involved with our main character Blitzo! What a mystery?!

Moxxie's Bad Trip: This is like an odd opera-poem reading- er... I really don't know the genre it's a bit confusing. Some of the lyrics seem off-tempo while some seem on tempo. The lyrics fluctuate though, between serious to comedic. It's a bit of a messy tone, but I like it. Feels like a classic Helluva Boss song. It's really unfortunate though, because this is Moxie confronting Blitz over his bad behavior, giving Blitz a mysterious nature to himself, a Phantom of the Opera parody- it just has all this unique inspiration and mysterious context- and this is the song where Moxie and Blitz are meant to have a confrontation and grow as people in a character arc- but this whole thing is happening in MOXIE'S HEAD... and they act like it also happened in Blitz's too... so the context is just kinda screwy unfortunately...

CHERUB JINGLE: Silly. It's fine- I actually love it when they harmonize, but it was a little awkward because Cleatus's voice is deep in the official song where in the show its super high pitched- they did the best with what they could, but when I first listened to it I was like "WHO IS THIS MAN???"

IMP JINGLE: Same feelings as above kind of- wish it were IMP singing this though, instead of just some dude. It was written mostly for the pilot so it was rough stuff.

Watcha thinkin bout now?: The first part where it's a country genre is really good and fits- but then we swap to pop, but it's unfitting, it's not funny, kinda takes you out of the scene because it causes tonal dissonance. Despite me adoring the first half, I will admit it has empty lyrics. It's sort of just repeating its title, and is too short to really be considered a full proper song so.... again, love the first half... wish it could have been longer and wish it had more interesting lyrics.

You Got the Power: Random guy singing a song for that weird episode where Moxxie is really out of character and Millie is just screwing around on stage performing for humans. The context is silly since its literally just imps punching and stabbing each other, there isn't really any "power" in a magical sense here, or other sense, I guess... idk, but it's a pretty nice rock song despite the context being bad!

Crashin a Muthafckin Wedding: A countryish kick ass song for Millie at Moxie's wedding to Chaz. I don't like this episode, but the song fits the action scene. It's actually quite decent, all things considered.

Til the Day We Die: A more boring Millie x Moxie song ... I mean hey, at least it HAS Millie in it, so points to that. Just a song about being in love... where the context is jsut bad... preforming for human money to buy street art? Who thunk this up, huh?

Striker's Song: I couldn't hear the VA at all, the music was too loud and he was too quiet. The lyrics are really arrogant and weirdly sinister towards Moxie, it just didn't feel natural, it felt like a forced conflict. I don't see Striker as an overtly arrogant dude, throughout the episode he's definitely competitive but he's rather humble and respectful towards everyone else. Naturally, that's a ruse, but even so... I just don't like this song.

Regular Joe: Millie's first song by herself and it's completely useless. It's just about her being boring and plain, and somehow people love her for it. (looks into the camera like on the office) With the context being she and Moxie are wasting time on a mission that Moxie is supposed to be in charge of. It's just an average song, the VA does a lovely job at least, very pretty voice... interrupted by annoying screaming fans in between the lyrics.

Chaz Time: Still processing this... episode... Chaz is so useless.... I actually couldn't understand the lyrics because his singer was whispering so quietly... maybe the music was louder than it should be?

Look At This: useless lyrics, causes tonal dissonance in the context, makes the other characters look stupid and incompetent, the genre of the song is all over the place, intermixing into techno, heavy metal, pop, opera, etc

Cotton Candy: completely useless lyrics, extremely average-sounding pop, doesn't give us an idea who Beezlebub is or what she really does, the lyrics conflict at certain points

If I missed any, then I probably didn't pay attention to them and therefore probably wouldn't care about them even if I relistened