#rockstar!Emma verse

[werepuppy-steve]

🐝 cj. 27. he/him 🐝

writer's tag | steddie ficlets | fic recs | wip posts | answered asks | ko-fi

ೀ⋆.🌷 ao3 fics ೀ⋆.🌷 (registered users only)

▸ darling, lets get old - G, 383, complete fluff, recreational drug use, marriage proposal

▸ Starry Eyed Love - G, 1.1k, complete outsider pov, corroded coffin gig, established relationship

▸ haunted by the ghost of you (take me back to the night we met) - T, 2k, complete vampire eddie, established relationship, post-s4

▸ the magic that we'll feel is worth the lifetime - M, 7.7k, complete post-s3, established relationship, fluff, eddie's birthday

▸ constant, pleasure - E, 3k, complete dom/sub, daddy kink, face slapping, spit kink, babygirl steve

▸ [ hiraeth; ] - series, WIP appalachian eddie, established relationship, eddie munson's extended family

▸ silent spark - G, 4.1k, complete animal crossing au, pining, fireworks date, platonic hellcheer, aspec steve

⚘ there's comfort in the panic - G, 1.2k, complete panic attacks, established relationship, lex's spicy six spring fanworks challenge, hurt/comfort

▸ she put her love down soft and sweet - E, 5.7k, complete modern au, dom/sub, aspec steve, transmasc steve, established relationship, daddy kink

▸ it's the spirit of the season - T, 3.8k, complete established relationship, christmas fluff, crack treated seriously

▸ they said it all comes down to you - T, 1.5k, complete demon eddie, sacrifice steve, soulmates

▸ sugar sweet as dixie crystal - E, 4k, complete established relationship, high school sweethearts, transmasc steve, ace steve, daddy kink

▸ a whole lifetime - E, 1.6k, complete rockstar eddie, older/married steddie, daddy kink, dom/sub, babygirl steve, birthday sex

▸ i'll be yours if you'll be mine - E, 1.9k, complete hand kink, spit kink, daddy kink, secret relationship

ೀ⋆.🌷 tumblr ficlets ೀ⋆.🌷

▸ farmer steddie - light dom/sub, steddie dads, older steddie, modern au ▸ tiny hands, little feet (snippet) - teen dads au, no upside down au, transmasc steve ▸ birthday blues - established relationship, fluff, steve's birthday ▸ the night before christmas - steddie dads, modern au, rockstar eddie, emma verse ▸ one more night - modern au, nurse steve, established relationship, injuries, hurt/cmofort ▸ if i ain't got you - arguments, making up, slow dancing in the kitchen ▸ promise you forever - appalachian eddie, established relationship, drunk dialing, fluff ▸ hold you close - transmasc steve, established relationship, fluff, comfort, descriptions of periods ▸ eddie's bad day - fluff, comfort, established relationship ▸ steve's bad day - fluff, comfort, established relationship ▸ night shift - nurse steve, modern au, established relationship, light smut ▸ it takes a village - teen dads au, uncle wayne, microfic ▸ can't you hear that scratching - microfic, established relationship, vampire eddie

🌈 the besties 🌈

@hammity-hammer ☆ @yournowheregirl ☆ @corrodedcoughin ☆ @tboygareth ☆ @starrystevie ☆ @inairbinad ☆ @courtjestermunson ☆ @flowercrowngods ☆ @steves-strapcollection ☆ @fireandgrimstone ☆ @starryeyedjanai ☆ @legitcookie ☆ @matchingbatbites ☆ @corrodedbisexual ☆ @wewilllivehappilyandstrong ☆ @thefreakandthehair ☆ @steddieas-shegoes ☆ @theheadlessphilosopher ☆ @stobinesque ☆ @potentialheartofdarkness ☆ @sidekick-hero ☆ @patchworkgargoyle ☆ @sentient-trash ☆ @vecnuthy ☆ @wormdebut ☆ @wynnyfryd

ೀ⋆.🌷 side blogs ೀ⋆.🌷

▸ doctor who - @rtd-who

▸ oceanography - @deep-deep-blue

▸ ac odyssey/ancient greece/mythology - @axhiiles

dividers & banners by: @saradika-graphics updated: 4/9/24

[spiderwomanfans]

Fan speculation: Great video on the upcoming Madame Web🕸 movie!

New Rockstars ▶️ Could Madame Web connect the MCU and the Spider-Verse??!!

If you want to know more about Madame Web in general; her powers, and which characters have held the mantle, this is a good 8 minute video to start with!

Also including speculation about the 2024 Sony movie cast for Madame Web; who is playing who?

And this speculation does seem to match with both Google and IMDB cast listing results:

Which means we are likely seeing:

•Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb (aka Madame Web)

•Sydney Sweeney as Julia Carpenter (aka Arachne, aka Spider-Woman, aka Madame Web)

•Isabela Merced as Anya Corazon (aka Spider-Girl, aka Araña)

•Celeste O'Connor as Mattie Franklin (aka Spider-Woman)

•Emma Roberts as Mary Parker (Peter's mother)

•Adam Scott as Ben Parker (Uncle Ben)

Madame Web is slated for release February 16, 2024

Re: Jessica Drew ▶️ no hint as yet she is in this movie, which leads me to believe Sony wants Jessica to helm her own movie (the one directed by Olivia Wilde) and we're just waiting on confirmation of this.

[sirensaves]

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : OOC ❨ out of character ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : OOC ❨ self promo ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : OOC ❨ promo ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : OOC ❨ public service announcement ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : OOC ❨ pinned post ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : OOC ❨ graphics ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : OOC ❨ savetag ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : GRAPHICS ❨ made by me❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : GRAPHICS ❨ mutuals can reblog ❩˙

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : IC ❨ answered ask ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : IC ❨ memes ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : IC ❨ meme answer ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : IC ❨ dash games ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : IC ❨ starter call ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : IC ❨ interactions ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : IC ❨ mains call ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : IC ❨ affiliated call ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : IC ❨ shipping call ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : IC ❨ closed starter ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : IC ❨ shitposting ❩˙

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : MIRROR MIRROR ❨ if there's a god˒ it's fucking me ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : AESTHETICS ❨ pretty little things ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : MUSINGS ❨ nevertheless˒ im fucking depressed ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : INTROSPECTION ❨ give me something beautiful ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : PLAYLIST ❨ alexa˒ play ❛ it wasn't me ❜ ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : WARDROBE ❨ give me back my hoodie ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : NSFW / USFW ❨ the way you fuck˒ the way you taste ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : IISMS ❨ i'll never know who i was before ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : HEADCANONS ❨ it's safe to say that the new me's here to stay ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : SHIPS ❨ i wanted to dress a blade up in red with both of our necks ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : SHIPS ❨ alice + bandit ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : SHIPS ❨ braeden + bandit ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : SHIPS ❨ allie + bandit ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : SHIPS ❨ drina + bandit ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : SHIPS ❨ jay + bandit ❩˙

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : VERSE ❨ wonderland ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : VERSE ❨ nevermore ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : VERSE ❨ main ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : VERSE ❨ rockstar ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : VERSE ❨ dead by daylight ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : VERSE ❨ misc. ❩˙

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : DEAD BY DAYLIGHT ❨ into the grey ❩˙

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : WONDERLAND ❨ my head is in the clouds˒ uʍop ǝpısdn ɯ‚ı ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : COLLEGE ❨ picking up the pieces of a broken career ❩˙

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : MAIN ❨ i'm not at home in my own bones ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : ROCKSTAR ❨ can you hear me through the white noise˒ friend? ❩˙

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : NEVERMORE ❨ i need you to see me for what i have become ❩˙

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : SUPERNATURAL ( show me your teeth )

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : MAIN ( i've seen the devil more than i've seen god )

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : FAVORITE PEOPLE ❨ alice liddell ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : FAVORITE PEOPLE ❨ braeden sinclair ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : FAVORITE PEOPLE ❨ allie fleur ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : FAVORITE PEOPLE ❨ ling yao ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : FAVORITE PEOPLE ❨ alexandrina hart ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : FAVORITE PEOPLE ❨ lucy warrem ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : FAVORITE PEOPLE❨ aniela sachael ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : FAVORITE PEOPLE ❨ dallas mcmeen ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : FAVORITE PEOPLE ❨ jay kuronuma ❩˙

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : luciel conti ❨ i was a wrecking ball & you were porcelain ❩˙

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : violent delights ( now i'm the devil˒ and their souls just went up in price )

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : BANDIT x LUCIEL ( way down would you say i'm worthy? )

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : BANDIT x EMMA ( show me where the delicate stops˒ show me what you've lost )

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : NPC ❨ ophelia silva ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : NPC ❨ ezra barlowe ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : NPC ❨ luna barlowe ❩˙

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : titel ❨ zitat ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : titel ❨ zitat ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : titel ❨ zitat ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : titel ❨ zitat ❩˙

╰ ⸻ ✟ 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖙 : titel ❨ zitat ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ name : titel ❨ zitat ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ name : titel ❨ zitat ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ name : titel ❨ zitat ❩˙ ╰ ⸻ ✟ name : titel ❨ zitat ❩˙

[shireness-says]

You Mean Everything

Summary: Even in the silliest moments, Emma and Killian always manage to find the beat together. A little lighthearted rockstar!Emma AU snippet. ~1.3K. Rated T for mild language. Also on Ao3.

Read from the beginning: On Ao3. On tumblr: Maybe I Won’t Die Alone, Second Verses and Happy Beginnings, Lullaby, Nobody’s Business, Have you ever thought about what protects our hearts?

A/N: Have you guys missed reading these? I’ve missed writing them. Thanks to @snidgetsafan for her beta services yet again.

This is completely inspired by that time some friends and I got a little tipsy and tried to sing along to “Come On Eileen” at the restaurant. And found out it’s damn near impossible. Seriously, there’s too many words for how much music there is. Anyways, it was a karaoke prompt waiting to happen. This fic takes place somewhere between the original fic and “Second Verses and Happy Beginnings”, after Killian’s song but before they move in together or get married or any of that. Title taken from the aforementioned song.

Tagging those who have historically like these: @kmomof4, @shady-swan-jones, @effulgentcolors, @onceuponaprincessworld, @mythologicalmango

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Killian groans as soon as the song starts. It’s unusual for him; after all the years of their acquaintance, platonic and intimate, Emma knows he’s not a man predisposed to complaining, and if he does it’s usually displayed on his face or with his words, not so inarticulately.

(Well, there are situations where she can get him to groan, Emma’s learned in the past 6 months they’ve been together, but they involve a lot more privacy and a lot fewer clothes. In the middle of the Jolly Roger on karaoke night is nowhere near the time or place.)

“Oh god. This is the worst song for karaoke, just awful,” he complains.

Emma listens closely for a moment, somehow managing to recognize “Come On Eileen”. Yeah, it’s the kind of thing that groups of drunk old white men would choose instead of Scarlet, but it’s kind of a classic. Sort of. It’s not horrible, at least. “I don’t know about that, it seems catchy. One hit wonder or whatever.”

Killian just glares at her incredulously, a bar towel slung over his shoulder in that way she not-so-secretly thinks is sexy. “Maybe it sounds fun, but have you ever looked at the lyrics, Swan?” he asks. “There’s far too many words for the rhythm provided. Listen:”

He has a point. The singer is practically tripping over his own tongue to get all those words out, and the tempo isn’t even fast enough to make it necessary. “Oh god, that really is bad.” Has she never actually listened to the verses before, only the chorus? The more she hears, the more likely it seems.

“Exactly,” he nods decisively. Know-it-all. “I’m just saying, anyone who chooses this song is unbearably cocky, unbearably stupid, or hasn’t heard the song in years. Or a fearful combination of the three.”

It’s a ridiculous statement, especially since one of Killian’s closest friends is the one currently trying to sing that mess. And failing. No one has ever accused the drummer of having good taste in anything but women, and Emma’s just granting him that because one of her friends is the woman in question. “What’s Scarlet then?” Emma asks teasingly.

“Oh, definitely the horrifying mashup,” Killian grins. “As if you have to ask.”

Obviously.

The more Emma watches, the more it seems like a caricature - Will busting out some terrible dance moves and bopping his hips back and forth, singing into the mic with more enthusiasm than Emma’s seen all night. But the more Emma watches, the more she also notices how all his ridiculousness is aimed right at Belle, like he’s trying to crack her up. It’s working, too; the brunette wears a wide smile across her face and tosses her head back in laughter as her boyfriend executes a particularly absurd butt wiggle.

“Maybe he’s doing it to make Belle smile,” Emma suggests softly, allowing the teasing to seep out of her tone. It’s not a laughing matter, after all; if anything, it’s rather sweet.

Emma can read on Killian’s face that he agrees as well, can see it in the way his own smile softens and the lines around his eyes set into a gentle crinkle. “Maybe that too,” he admits.

Regardless of why Will is making such a spectacle of himself, it’s a lot of fun to watch. Like always, Scarlet throws himself into karaoke like this is the make-or-break moment of his career, something that Emma always gets a kick out of. Killian’s right - it’s really not a good karaoke song at all. She’s a little right too, though, as it’s undeniably catchy. The crowd is loving it, and even Emma finds herself tapping a foot along to the beat on the rung of her bar stool.

Killian obviously notices too, as when the second verse starts, he extends a hand in Emma’s direction. “What do you say, love?” he offers. “Want to dance?”

Emma huffs a laugh in response, looking at him incredulously. “Weren’t you just the one complaining about this song?” It’s tempting, but she’s not even sure how it’d work with this music. Between that and his objections, any attempt at dancing seems a bit doomed from the start.

“Aye, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still a fun tune,” he argues. “C’mon, Swan, just a little turn around the floor.”

And somehow, she finds herself accepting.

Neither one of them is particularly graceful, as it turns out, but they make do with a silly little shuffle and sway back and forth. Mostly, Emma revels in the closeness of their position, with one of his hands low and tight on her back and her arm looped under his to hang on to his shoulder. Their other hands are grasped loosely, alternating between being pressed against Killian’s chest right above his heart in during their more sedate movements and propped out to the side, swinging back and forth, during more energetic ones. Killian doesn’t seem to particularly care what they look like, leading her in crazy circles and spinning her over and over again right in a row until Emma’s forced to brace herself against the dizziness. Probably his plan all along - to get her somehow pressed even closer along his body. The happy grin on his face and that eyebrow wiggle certainly suggests it.

That grin drops soon enough into panicked confusion and the song suddenly slows down. Serves him right. Emma can’t help but laugh as Killian practically trips over his own feet as he hurries to get back on beat. “Shit, I forgot about the tempo change,” he mutters, before pulling an embarrassed face as Emma lets loose another snort. She can’t help it - it’s always been adorable to see him flustered.

“Oh, like we were doing so well before,” she teases back.

“Oh hush, you.”

(And then it’s her turn to be a little flustered, as Killian punctuates the admonition with a little nip at her earlobe. Ridiculous, infuriating, sexy, wonderful idiot of a man.)

All too soon, the music is over and Will hops back down from the small corner stage to let the next singer get ready and to go kiss his girlfriend. Emma can’t blame him. Still, she’s a little sad the song is done. Even if she’d been reluctant at first, she’d really enjoyed twirling around in Killian’s arms. Their dancing was nowhere close to ballroom quality, of course, but there’d been a lot of laughter and a lot of fun. Proper waltzes probably don’t have enough twirls and spins in them anyways. They’ll definitely have to do this again sometime, she thinks.

“Still think it’s the worst song ever?” Emma asks, slinging her arms around Killian’s neck before he can move back behind the bar to help Merida. Not that he seems to mind, reaching for her hips on what must be instinct by now. Merida is handling the bar patrons just fine by herself anyways.

Killian snorts, seeing right through her teasing. He leans in close to nuzzle against her forehead before replying. Such a sap. “For karaoke? Yes. To make you smile? No.”

Even if she’s absolutely, definitely, completely charmed, Emma still rolls her eyes. She’s got to keep up her persona or whatever, after all. “Kiss-up.”

“Your kiss-up,” he whispers, dropping a light kiss to her lips. Not that that’s the end of it; maybe he would have left it there, but Emma’s more interested in dragging him into a proper kiss. Who needs to get back to work, anyways?

(Months and years later, Killian jokingly suggests they use “Come On Eileen” for their first dance at their wedding, recreate their first dance as a couple. They’re both willing to settle for putting it on the playlist and laughing all the while at their own private little joke. Killian never does remember the tempo change, but Emma thinks that might be what marriage is like anyways - working around the unexpected together.

They’ll catch the rhythm again.)

[girlsbtrs]

How Being a Woman in Hardcore Helped Me Learn to Love Myself

Written by Jen Moglia. Graphic by Laura Cross. 

Since this is my first piece written for Girls Behind the Rock Show, I figured that I should introduce myself; hi, my name is Jennifer, but most people call me Jen. I live on Long Island in New York, and my favorite things include my cats, the color pink, giving gifts to my Animal Crossing villagers, and watching sports. Above all else, however, I love music.

I frequently refer to music as the love of my life. It somehow plays a role in everything that I do. I got my first iPod when I was five years old, stacked with everything from Miranda Cosgrove and Avril Lavigne to Tool and Deftones. Some of my favorite memories growing up are sitting in my pink and purple bedroom singing and dancing along to Paramore’s crushcrushcrush and Fall Out Boy’s Thnks Fr Th Mmrs on the local alternative radio station. I danced for 12 years, played cello for seven, and am currently a wannabe ukulele rockstar after buying one on impulse and starting to teach myself how to play four years ago. Even on the simplest, barely noticeable levels, music has been everywhere in my life for as long as I can remember; even now, I can’t complete a basic task without a song playing in my headphones.

Music became an even bigger part of my life when I started attending live shows. I went to my first concerts at age 10, seeing my two favorite artists - Nickelodeon boy band Big Time Rush and classic progressive rock band Rush - within one month of each other. By the time I was 15, I had been to my fair share of arena/seated shows with one or both of my parents, from Fifth Harmony to Fitz and the Tantrums to Alice in Chains. My first general admission show was seeing the Foo Fighters at Citi Field with both my mom and dad when I was 12, but my first pop-punk general admission show (yes, they’re different) came a few years later. I had the typical list of favorite bands that you would expect from a young teenager getting into alternative music: Neck Deep, Knuckle Puck, Real Friends, and State Champs. 

In late 2018, I was able to see all four of these bands for the first time, and I am a firm believer that it changed the course of my life. I met, cried-during, and eventually got the setlist for Neck Deep at Stereo Garden on Long Island in September. I sang all of “Untitled” at the barricade for Knuckle Puck at SI Hall at the Fairgrounds in Syracuse in October. I had my first minor concussion scare (yay!) before Real Friends’ set at Irving Plaza in New York City in November. Finally, I crowd surfed for the first time during State Champs’ anniversary show for The Finer Things at House of Independents in Asbury Park in December. After just a few shows, I had fallen in love with this new brand of live music that I had just been introduced too. There was something so magical to me about skin covered in sweat and Sharpie marks, feet hurting from dancing in the pit all night, and meeting strangers on line outside the venue who would become your best friends and know your deepest secrets by the end of the night.

After making some friends at all of the pop-punk shows I was going to, they started to tell me that I should get into hardcore music. I was hesitant at first - the heaviest thing I had listened to at that point was nowhere near the snippets of hardcore that my friends had played for me - but, eventually, I decided to give it a chance. I was bored and home alone with nothing to do one night over the summer of 2019 when I listened to my first hardcore album, Laugh Tracks by Knocked Loose. Immediately, I got that gut feeling that you have when you know you’ve heard one of your favorite bands for the first time. I knew that this was something special that I was meant to find at this point in my life. For the rest of the summer, I worked my way through the rest of my friends’ hardcore and hardcore-adjacent recommendations, with Cost of Living by Incendiary, Stage Four by Touche Amore, You’re Not You Anymore by Counterparts, Time & Space by Turnstile, Springtime and Blind by Fiddlehead, Smile! Aren’t You Happy by Absence of Mine, Bad to my World by Backtrack, and Reality Approaches by Harms Way being some of my favorites. By the time the next school year started, I was hooked, and I already had tickets to my first few hardcore shows in the fall.

My first hardcore show was in November 2019, seeing Knocked Loose at Webster Hall in New York City - fitting, right? They were on tour supporting their new record A Different Shade of Blue, which I had become obsessed with the minute I heard it for the first time. Although I was ridiculously scared of getting stepped on and breaking all my bones (yes, that was an actual fear of mine), I had the time of my life at that show. There was something about this newer kind of live music that prompted a cathartic release, one that I hadn’t found anywhere else before. As soon as the show was over, I was counting the days until my next one.

My love for live hardcore music (and live music and hardcore music in general) has only grown since then, and that story sort of ends there. However, I want to go back to that first hardcore band that I listened to, Knocked Loose, and the album they put out that first summer that stole my heart. I was taken by storm as soon as the first notes of A Different Shade of Blue rang through my headphones, but something was different about the third track, A Serpent’s Touch, particularly the ending; I heard a voice that sounded a little bit more like my own.

This song features Emma Boster, who does vocals for one of my favorite hardcore bands right now, Dying Wish. When I heard A Serpent’s Touch for the first time, though, I had no idea who she was. I was used to the aggressive vocal delivery of frontmen in hardcore, particularly that of Knocked Loose’s Bryan Garris, but hearing it come from her changed my perspective on a lot of things. It’s not like the song was super angry and changed its tune to be lighter once the token girl came along; in her verse, Boster sings, “I watched the venom / Overcome your spirit / Jealousy holds you now / Distorting your appearance / Bleed out.” These were lyrics that held the same intensity that the lines screamed by the men held, and they sounded just as cool coming out of her mouth. As cheesy as it sounds, it had never even occurred to me that women had a place in this new world that I had discovered. The audiences in the live videos I watched (and eventually at the shows I attended) were made up of mostly men who looked bigger and older than me. When I did start going to shows, most of the non-man population consisted of my friends and I. Emma Boster, along with so many others, began to open my eyes to the fact that a place for people like me existed in this community. It didn’t matter that I had bright red hair or liked butterflies or wore pink - I was just as much a part of this magic as the men multiple feet taller than me with tattoo-covered arms, and I belonged there just as much as they did.

As time went on and I got more involved in the genre’s music and community, I discovered more bands with women in them, and it only fueled this fire of empowerment inside of me. When I felt insecure, I’d watch live sets from Krimewatch, a hardcore band from New York City, just half an hour away from my hometown. They have multiple women as members, including their energetic badass of a vocalist, Rhylli Ogiura. Year of the Knife became one of my all-time favorites, and their bassist Madison Watkins became a serious inspiration to me; the way that she can balance killing it on stage and running the cutest, most pink apparel brand I’ve ever seen (aptly titled Candy Corpse) amazes me. Even some of the bands I’ve found more recently have had an impact on me. I started listening to Initiate last year when their EP Lavender came out, and their beautifully colorful cover art caught my eye before I had heard any of their songs. Their vocalist, Crystal Pak, is also a woman, and she’s insanely talented. Discovering this kind of representation in this new universe that I had come to feel so at home in introduced me to a world of confidence and determination that I had never known before.

When people ask me why I love hardcore so much, I often give the easy answer; “the music sounds good.” If the person allows me to ramble on for a little longer, the answer becomes much more emotional and cheesy. Hardcore taught me that speaking up for what I believe in is important, and if there’s something I’m passionate about, it’s worth shouting about. I became familiar with this when listening to one of my favorite bands ever, Incendiary (the second hardcore band I ever checked out), before quickly realizing that politics are a pretty common topic within the genre - it’s what this music was practically built on. The first time I heard their vocalist Brendan Garrone singing about police brutality and injustice on songs like Force of Neglect and Sell Your Cause, I realized that there is so much more to music than just sounding good.

However, at its core, the thing I love so much about hardcore is what it taught me about being a woman. Growing up, I was the loud girl with the personality bigger than the room who always had something to say and had a never ending supply of excitement about just about everything. As I got older, I was taught that this was not okay. People didn’t like how enthusiastic I was about everything, or that I constantly had new ideas and new discoveries I wanted to talk about. As cliche as it sounds, I felt like everyone around me was trying to dull my sparkle, especially some of the men that I was encountering on a day-to-day basis. Even when I started to come to terms with my big and bright personality, in turn also coming to terms with my own femininity, I was told that this wasn’t how girls acted. I had to pick one - I could watch Disney princess movies and wear Hello Kitty hair clips, or I could be outspoken about my beliefs; but never both. The women that I mentioned earlier, along with so, so many more, helped me unlearn these toxic mindsets. Seeing someone like Emma Boster take the stage and scream ferociously for a full set helped me see that I could be a girl and still be a powerhouse. Following Madi Watkins around on social media showed me that I could love bands like Year of the Knife and also love heart-shaped purses and wear pink from head to toe. My aggression and passion didn’t make me any less of a woman, and my femininity didn’t make me any less of a force to be reckoned with. 

So, at the end of this love letter to hardcore and the women who run it, I say this; thank you for teaching me that I don’t have to shrink myself anymore. It has made a world of a difference.

[wistfulcynic]

Happy Holidays! I'm dropping into some of my fave creator's ask boxes and encouraging them to Spread the Cheer by Sharing What You Created This Year! Before a new year starts, take some time to reflect on the things you wrote or created to bless the fandom this past year. Remind us all of the awesomeness you put out there in 2019, and feel free to tease us with things to come in 2020! Then pass this along to your faves, so they can share in the fun!

Aaah! Thank you anon(s)! ❤️❤️❤️

2019 is my first full year of fic-ing, and according to AO3 I have written nearly three hundred and sixty-six thousand words, which considering that I was always the kid who submitted nine and one third pages for a ten page essay is kind of astounding. 

I had three fics begun in 2018 that carried on to this year, the first is Finding the Altar, my first attempt at the secret dating trope, mostly written last November but I wrote the epilogue for the 2019 January Joy. The second carry-over is Another Brick in the Wall, begun exactly a year ago and finished a few months into the year. It is the high school AU that I never meant to write but that ended up taking over my life, still one of my favourite fics because of how much I enjoyed writing it. Finally there’s also Both Are Infinite, which was started last September and is still unfinished. I am SO sorry for that, but I promise it will be finished. It is not abandoned!!

For things started in 2019 we have: 

The Key, an angsty, smutty one-shot written for January Joy

Their Way By Moonlight, the love of my life and my number one priority for 2020. It’s a 3B canon divergence in which Emma and Killian are soulmates who can share dreams, which leads to him coming for her and restoring her memories in New York in a very different way than in canon. There’s also a different curse on Storybrooke and a very different development for Emma and Killian’s relationship, along with loads of Captain Cobra and cursed Snowing, and an arc for Regina (including a partnership between her and Killian) that I really love.  

Honeysuckle, the purest thing I’ve ever written. Precious cinnamon roll Librarian Killian, and single-mother Emma who gets caught in a precarious situation until he comes to her rescue. Inspired by @shireness-says

Three Non-Blondes, secret-dating attempt number two. Very silly, but fun, with maybe my favourite version of Mary Margaret. 

The Depths of Love, another 3B divergence with no second curse. Emma trying to work out her feelings and Killian trying to protect himself from heartbreak. Also my very first collaboration with @thisonesatellite and honestly I’m not sure this story would exist without her. 

The smutty trio of Schadenfreude parts One and Two, and Steak and Something on the Side.   Voyeur Neal and Asshole Walsh. 

Osaka-shi Serenade, the most personal thing I’ve written. Based on how my husband and I met when we were teaching English in Japan. Still unfinished, but again, *will* be!

Two Sunday Mornings, a pair of angsty ficlets from each of their POVs, plus Brothers Jones. 

One More Kiss, a Lieutenant Duckling short fic that I didn’t love when I wrote it but has really grown on me, to the point where I might (*might*) expand it at some point. Quite angsty, but happy at the end. 

The Great Grammar Caper, a very very VERY silly future fic in which Deputy Jones is the hero we need but his efforts are foiled by a devious Granny. 

Rainbound, a take on the snowed-in trope, only with rain.  

The Parquet Man, absolutely and without question the most fun I’ve ever had writing. The storied romance that is Captain Floor, told from the POV of Killian (by me) and Floor (by @thisonesatellite, who writes unorthodox POVs like NO ONE ELSE). 

The Very Witching Time and its follow-up The Sleep of the Sun, written for @cssns and @cspupstravaganza respectively. My very favourite verse, in which Emma is a witch and Killian cursed in the form of a dog. There is magic and an extraordinary house with a sentient garden, and creepy forest, and more magic, and Cora with an evil plot, and even more magic, and some adorable and surprising children at the end. PLUS some absolutely stunning art by @mariakov81 to accompany it ❤️❤️❤️

How Not To Flirt, based on a prompt. Emma tries to flirt with Killian but he fails entirely to see it. 

Words Unspoken, a friends-to-roommates-to-lovers story full of mutual pining and very, very poor communication. 

The Ballad of Emma and Killian, in which they are not famous when they meet, but when their careers take off they stand by each other through it all. Rockstar!Emma and actor!Killian.  

On What They Fall, my magnificent octopus. Angry, damaged Killian who can’t see how much Emma loves him. Mutual pining, angst, Captain Book brOTP, and people working through their emotions, prioritising their mental health, and coming out of hard times strong and brave enough to allow themselves to be happy. Another personal favourite. 

abandon, a birthday gift for @kmomof4. Neverland sex-pollen smut, pure and simple. Well, simple anyway. 

come sit at our feast, a Halloween fic written for @csrolereversal Halloweek. Without question the most out-there thing I’ve written, with all the OUAT characters reimagined as supernatural beings who come together every Halloween to throw themselves a hell of a party. 

Drink The Wild Air, a birthday gift for @thisonesatellite which will be finished SOON. The Captain Duckling high-seas swashbuckling adventure tale I’ve wanted to write for some time. Featuring Brothers Jones 2.0 and CASTLE STORMING. 

Drabbles, a series of short fics of all kinds, written when I need to clear my mind. 

Across The Snowy Places, a Thanksgiving tropestravaganza. Featuring secret dating, snowed-in, only one bed, heater not working, favourite author, found families, matchmaking, and drunken affection/confession. ALL THE TROPES. 

To Keep It All The Year, my Christmas gift for @katie-dub. Final chapter coming soon! This story has just flowed out of me. It features angry, broken Killian, single-mother Emma, adorable wee bab Henry, and some extraordinary Christmas magic. 

WHEW!! I think that’s all of them! I’m a bit 😮😲😳🤯 looking at this list. It’s been a less-than-great year on the whole, to be honest, but at least productive on the fanfic front!! 

Thanks for the ask, anon, and I hope you have a great Christmas and a brilliant New Year!! 

- 

[yayimallamaagain]

Last Week in Fanfiction

Captain Swan fic roundup List #55 covering 7/1-7/7. As always, if I missed something let me know and don’t forget to like, reblog and/or comment, the authors love that stuff! Happy reading ❤️

MCs

By Starlight  ch.1  by @huffleporg

Thorn Among Roses  ch.3  by @totheendoftheworldortime

Fairytales  ch.31  by @kymbersmith-90

Pale Moonlight  ch.2  by @krustybunny

Met by Moonlight  ch.5  ch.6  by @thejollyroger-writer

Find My Way Back to You  ch.7  by @hopeduckling13

Red Skies  ch.5  by Daryah

Not Just a Deckhand  ch.25  by @sherlockianwhovian

Ethical Conflicts  ch.17  by @kymbersmith-90

Alternate Season 7  ch.13  by @captainswancygnet 

Forever  ch.2  by @wellhellotragic

Reputation  ch.32  ch.33  by @kymbersmith-90

Rescue Me (Show Me Who I Am)  ch.5  by truecaptainswanlove

Safe Harbor  ch.4  by Daryah

The Fugitive  p.1-6  by @searchingwardrobes

Figure It Out  ch.21  by @kymbersmith-90

Duplicity  ch.7  by @swanderful1

Where You Can Still Remember Dreaming  ch.1  by @welllpthisishappening

The Savior and The Scoundrel  ch.18  by @terreisa (complete!)

The Crucible Curse  ch.3  by @kymbersmith-90

Charades and Masquerades  prologue  ch.1  by @secretlessvicki

Far Across the Land and Sea  ch.2  by @darkcolinodonorgasm 

Adventures in Babysitting  ch.1  by @searchingwardrobes 

Anonymous  ch.3  by @kymbersmith-90 

Scoring Your Love  ch.13  by @seriouslyhooked 

Castle on the Hill  ch.14  by @secret-captain-swan-blog 

CSSNS

Alii Dimidium Lunam (The Other Half of the Moon)  ch.2  by @artistic-writer

Living in a Lunar Spell  by @sherlockianwhovian

—Image set  by @allons-y-to-hogwarts-713

The Man of Misthaven  p.1  by @branlovesouat

—Image set  by @hollyethecurious 

You’re in My Blood  ch.2  by @hookedonapirate

—Graphic  by @rouhn

Afloat on Shipless Oceans  prologue  by  @whumped-natascha-remi-ronin

Slayer  ch.7  by @kymbersmith-90

Seal of Fate  prologue  by @distant-rose

One/Two Shots

Killian Jones Meets the Mayors Son  by @hollyethecurious @winterbaby89 (DHCtS verse)

Netflix and Chill  by @captain-swan-coffee

Nobody’s Business  by @shireness-says (rockstar!emma series)

Pyrate-Technics  by @hollyethecurious

Prompt  Prompt  Prompt  by @wingedlioness

Just Stand Back and Watch the Sparks Fly…  by @startswithhope 

Time Has Brought Your Heart to Me  by @celestial-fire-writer

[cat-sophia]

Happy 35th Captain Swan Day!

the men they want to beHello My Friends!

@alexandralyman​ is talented and brilliant writer and i think most of you, my friends, know her fics. I love her stories so very much! And not only her MC - last week i rediscovered so many wonderful, amazing one shots that i read long ago and read even more for the first time. She wrote so many and every story, every verse she create is perfect!

Alex - thank you for all fics you write, thank you that you share them with us! I love words you create, historical times you show us - everything you write is brilliant and reading your stories makes even the worst day better! Thank you! <3

Beyond the Horizon -  AU: When Princess Emma's ship is captured by the Jolly Roger and Captain Killian Jones, she offers herself as a hostage for ransom if he will let the ship and the other passengers go. With Emma, Killian remembers the honour he once held dear, and Emma catches glimpses of the gentleman Killian had been. Against all odds, the pirate and the princess begin to fall for each other. 

Between Heaven and Hell  (Tumblr AO3) -  A Hook/Emma angel/demon AU. They hide in plain sight, the servants of heaven and hell. The angels and the demons, who can save your soul or damn it. They stand on opposite sides, they are the bringers of light and the agents of darkness, they are enemies in an eternal war, but what happens when an angel and a demon are inexplicably drawn to each other? 

I love this two MC - and i think most of you read them too - if not - i strongly recommend you to do so! (warning - highly addictive)

(bonus - read all one shots she wrote for this two stories - perfection!)

I also love her other stories:

Love Potion Number Nine -  After defeating the Wicked Witch and returning to the Enchanted Forest, a prince arrives with the goal of winning Emma's hand in marriage. He attempts to snare her with a love potion, but Hook intervenes and winds up activating the potion himself, causing Emma to fall in love with him. The effect is temporary, but it's going to be a hell of a ride until it wears off.

Two amazing WIP:

Faster, Higher, Stronger (Tumblr) -  Crown Princess Emma of Misthaven is considered the best hope for the tiny European country to win their first ever medal at the Summer Olympics, but due to security concerns her parents have sent her to Rio with two ex-British Special Forces private bodyguards, Liam and Killian Jones.

Liner Notes (Tumblr) -  CS rockstar/actress AU. Killian Jones, lead singer of the band Crimson Flag, has been burned in the past by love and turned his heartbreak into a hit album, Hook. But with his new single, I Still Do, he's ready to proclaim to the world that he still believes in love. All he needs is an actress to appear in the song's music video and he has just the one in mind - TV star Emma Swan.

hips don’t lie -  CS modern AU fic. Emma and Tink are used to their friend Ruby’s crazy ideas, so when she signs them all up for belly dance classes they don’t bother arguing and just go with it. Part 1 Part 2

Her perfect one shots:

Every Page is a Story (The Tales of Us)  ff.net collection of various Captain Swan themed one shots and drabbles.

*Canon and Canon Divergence*

CS drinking rum in New York City Serenade

Slow Dance (Tumblr)  Snow White has planned a large royal ball, but Emma just wants a night alone with her pirate. After all, it's not the dance, it's the partner that counts. (written after s3)

Killian buying Emma flowers

Enjoy The Ride -  What if Killian hadn't been in the cabin when Emma and Past!Hook came back to the Jolly Roger?

Killian and Emma after his heart is back

Forever Home  - Captain Swan fic with a Newfoundland puppy in the snow

Keep the Flame Lit - CS and Neverland

After 4a finale

Can’t Sleep - A little CS, post-Camelot ball drabble

Bed of Roses - CS after kiss in the middlemist field

at my worst, you are my best -  Killian gets split in two by Jekyll’s potion

Cleansed (Tumblr) -  After Killian's return from the Underworld, he and Emma go back to the house together to change and enjoy a little reunion in the shower before heading back out to face the newest threat to Storybrooke.

Anchor -  AU of the tavern scene in The Jolly Roger

My Kiss is Poison But My Love is True -  Hook's lips are cursed but hers aren't. Angsty smut set after "A Curious Thing".

Lives Never Lived (But Not Forgotten) (Tumblr) -  A little bit of canon divergence where Emma and Deckhand Hook had one night together in Isaac's version of the EF. He doesn't remember her, but he's the only one in this world who wants to.

Touch -  Killian with both hands on the date, written before the ep aired

gimme shelter - story set just after the end of season five

Now You See Me - Emma notices that Killian has to hold his cell phone away from him to read it. Emma thinks he might be farsighted. Killian ends up getting glasses.

skinny dip - CS and Neverland UST

"Swan! You're depriving me of a romantic gesture."

want, take, have -  domme!Emma smut (in canon)

mirror, mirror -  CS fic with Emma on one side of the mirror and Killian on the other…so here’s a little bit of angsty separation. Canon divergence where only Emma gets sucked into the mirror realm by the Evil Queen.

let slip your secrets, my darling  - written after 4a

*AUs*

Secret Agent Man -  Kingsmen inspired AU - Part 1 Part 2

Captain Duckling runaway bride AU

Put Another Coin in the Jukebox Baby (and dance with me) - Smutty Bartender!Killian AU.

CS street kids AU

Snowflakes and Starlight (Tumblr) - pure Lieutenant Duckling fluffiness. A princess with diamond stars in her hair, a smitten young Lt Jones, and a royal winter ball.

Lieutenant Duckling smut Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

A Dream of Spring on a Winter's Night (Tumblr) -  A wintery, melancholy Enchanted Forest AU, where Captain Hook is stuck in port during a snowstorm and whiles away the evenings at the Lone Swan tavern.

counting down (the weeks, the days, the hours) (Tumblr AO3) -  He counts down the time left until he's eighteen and can finally leave, join the Navy like his brother and get out of this damn town. She waits to age out of the system so she can live near the beach and finally have a real home. Lieutenant Duckling modern AU.

Falling through Time (and into your arms)  -  an Outlander AU -  Emma Swan-Cassidy has somehow managed to time travel from 2015 back to 1785 while in Ireland with her husband Neal. Everyone around her thinks she’s an English spy and she’s been forced to marry Killian Jones for her own protection. She wants to return to her own time, but she can’t deny her attraction to the gallant young Irishman.  

in this corner - CS boxing AU

pickup lines -  The standard “strangers meeting in a bar and hooking up AU”

fallen skies -  A little post apocalyptic CS AU

playing footy - CS AU inspired by Colin playing football

edit: @alexandralyman​ fics i read after i made this post:

christmas tree lot - a fluffy, christmas captain swan AU

compass rose - canon, future CS baby fic “He gets another tattoo the week after they bring their daughter home from the hospital.”

swordfight david versus goliath and the men they want to be -  canon, future CS, Captain Charming 

gifts of the magi - Canon, future CS

[werepuppy-steve]

cj/connor writer's tag | ficlets | fic recs | answered asks | tag masterlist | ko-fi

☾ ao3 fics ☽ - registered users only

🐾 darling, lets get old - G, 383, complete fluff, recreational drug use, marriage proposal

🐾 Starry Eyed Love - G, 1.1k, complete outsider pov, corroded coffin gig, established relationship

🐾 haunted by the ghost of you (take me back to the night we met) - T, 2k, complete vampire eddie, established relationship, post-s4

🐾 the magic that we'll feel is worth the lifetime - M, 7.7k, complete post-s3, established relationship, fluff, eddie's birthday

🐾 constant, pleasure - E, 3k, complete dom/sub, daddy kink, face slapping, spit kink, babygirl steve

🐾 [ hiraeth; ] - series, WIP appalachian eddie, established relationship, eddie munson's extended family

🐾 silent spark - G, 4.1k, complete animal crossing au, pining, fireworks date, platonic hellcheer, aspec steve

🐾 there's comfort in the panic - G, 1.2k, complete panic attacks, established relationship, lex's spicy six spring fanworks challenge, hurt/comfort

🐾 she put her love down soft and sweet - E, 5.7k, complete modern au, dom/sub, aspec steve, transmasc steve, established relationship, daddy kink

🐾 it's the spirit of the season - T, 3.8k, complete established relationship, christmas fluff, crack treated seriously

🐾 they said it all comes down to you - T, 1.5k, complete demon eddie, sacrifice steve, soulmates

🐾 sugar sweet as dixie crystal - E, 4k, complete established relationship, high school sweethearts, transmasc steve, ace steve, daddy kink

🐾 a whole lifetime - E, 1.6k, complete rockstar eddie, older/married steddie, daddy kink, dom/sub, babygirl steve, birthday sex

🐾 i'll be yours if you'll be mine - E, 1.9k, complete hand kink, spit kink, daddy kink, secret relationship

🐾 gold-skinned eager baby - M, WIP series rewrite, childhood friends, secret relationship

☾ tumblr ficlets ☽

🐾 farmer steddie - light dom/sub, steddie dads, older steddie 🐾 tiny hands, little feet - teen dads au, no upside down, transmasc steve 🐾 birthday blues - established relationship, fluff, steve's birthday 🐾 the night before christmas - steddie dads, modern au, emma verse 🐾 one more night - modern au, er nurse steve, established relationship, injuries, hurt/comfort 🐾 if i ain't got you - fight/make up, slow dancing, fluff 🐾 promise you forever - appalachian eddie, established relationship, drunk dialing, fluff 🐾 hold you close - transmasc steve, established relationship, comfort, menstruation tw 🐾 eddie's bad day - fluff, comfort, established relationship 🐾 steve's bad day - fluff, comfort, established relationship 🐾 night shift - nurse steve, modern au, established relationship, light smut 🐾 it takes a village - teen dads au, good uncle wayne, microfic 🐾 can you hear that scratching - established relationship, vampire eddie, microfic

☾ my friends ☽

@hammity-hammer @yournowheregirl @corrodedcoughin @tboybuck @starrystevie

@flowercrowngods @dangerous-disposition @fireandgrimstone @starryeyedjanai @legitcookie

@matchingbatbites @corrodedbisexual @wewilllivehappilyandstrong @thefreakandthehair @steddieas-shegoes

@theheadlessphilosopher @stobinesque @sidekick-hero @patchworkgargoyle @vecnuthy

@sentient-trash @wormdebut @wynnyfryd @spectrum-spectre @steddie-island

☾ sideblogs ☽

🐾 doctor who - @rtd-who

🐾 oceanography - @deep-deep-blue

🐾 ac odyssey/ancient greece/mythology - @axhiiles

🐾 pokemon - @lycanruff

dividers & banners by: me updated: 9/18/24

[profoundnet]

Header image from our new merch section, made by the wonderfully talented God (aka @cryptomoon ) You can use all those fancy emojis on our Discord Server!

The Masterpost is open for all creations by ProfoundBond members which are posted in entirety during the month of February.

Member Contributions for February 2018!

Masterpost below the cut.

noxlee - @nox-lee​ - noxlee

The Sweetheart Next Door Summary: Dean just bought a new house. And the next-door neighbor? Smoking hot. Tags: Neighbors AU, misunderstandings, awkwardness, fluff

katie (surlyboobies) - @surlybobbies - surlybobbies 

Porch Light Summary: Before he could think too much about it, Dean had reached over his duffel bag and skated his knuckles across Cas’s cheek, just once, before dropping his hand and his gaze. “I’ll leave the porch light on for you,” he had mumbled. (Dean and Cas reunite in Lawrence after meeting in Boston 6 months prior.) A square fill for spnfluffbingo: Meeting at the airport) Tags: Fluff, strangers to lovers, friends to lovers, AU

crypto - @cryptomoon - cryptomoon

Even Closer Summary: “I was getting too close to the humans in my charge. You”- Castiel Just a few instances of Cas getting too close to a certain human. Tags: fluff, deancas writing challenge

envydean - @envydean - Hollyblue2

SUPERNATURAL COLOUR CHALLENGE Description: SUPERNATURAL COLOUR CHALLENGE | Prompt: Dean Winchester + Lenurple NSFW? No

Church and State Link to the art! NSFW: No Summary: Dean calls Castiel sweetheart while at work in front of a patient which goes against their personal relationship rules and despite now being married, they still have to work through it. Tags: angst with a happy ending, Doctor!Cas, Nurse!Dean

Service Link to the art! NSFW: No Summary: Castiel Novak, murderer, cell mate and servicer. He doesn’t do it because he has to, he does it because he loves it. Nobody makes Castiel Novak do anything. Not in this joint. Tags: Explicit, dubcon, pain kink, Prison AU

Coming Home Summary: Dean left on deployment. Letters were sent, words exchanged along with promises, intentions and proposals and now Dean is coming home. Tags: Soldier!Dean, post-deployment, fluff, best friends to lovers

Icarusinflight - @candybarrnerd - icarusinflight

not your baby Summary: Cas has noticed that when Dean is outwardly affectionate, it doesn’t seem to be directed at him. He tried not to let it get to him. It still did. Tags: Canonish, Dean loves the impala

like a virus Summary: “I'd rather have you, cursed or not,” he'd said, and he'd said it in the moment, meant it with everything he had, even if it wasn't everything he wanted to say. Tags: pre-relationship, introspection, angst, purgatory

saltnhalo (Emma) - @saltnhalo

Heaven Talks NSFW? No

I Don't Know Why Summary: Dean gets home from a long job to find a note on his front step. He knows exactly who it's from and what it means; it promises fun and danger and a fucking good time, and there's no way he can turn down this invitation. He can never say no to the Angel. Tags: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Assassin Castiel, Spy Dean, No Strings Attached, Friends With Benefits, Injury, Hospitals, Confessions, Strangers to Lovers

lunastories - @lunastories - Lunastories

Sick Dick Summary: Castiel had plans for Valentine's day. He was going to do the full human experience and show his appreciation for Dean. His immune system had other ideas. Tags: established relationship, sick!cas, fluff, hurt/comfort, valentine's day fic, fallen angel!Cas

So sweet to me, to you Summary: Dean and Sam are working a case and they interview the owner of a flower shop. Or, the fic in which Castiel owns a flower shop and is very charming. Dean can't resist and Sam just wants to go home. Tags: canon verse, flower shop owner Castiel, fluff

Collaborations

You're Cute When You're Unconcious

Author: OsirisApollo - @osirisapollo - OsirisApollo Artist: Cryptomoon - @cryptomoon Link to the art! NSFW: No Summary: Dean is not really accustomed to waking up with someone in his bed... but he could get used to it. Tags: Established relationship, short and sweet, fluff, Hey Sweetheart Challenge

Flowers

Author: destimushi, cryptomoon, saltnhalo - @destimushi @cryptomoon , @saltnhalo - destimushi cryptomoon saltnhalo Summary: Three times Dean gave Cas flowers. Well. Kinda. Tags: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Holidays, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, Love Confessions, Getting Together, First Kiss

The Battle

Author: Hartless_ - @hartlessfiction - NadiaHart Artist: FoxyMoley - @foxymoley Link to the art! NSFW: No Summary: The silence should have been Gabriel’s first sign that something was off. When you have two six-year-old boys in the house, it should never, ever, not even for one moment, be quiet. Tags: Extreme Fluff.

The Cupcake Cupid

Author: destimushi - @destimushi - destimushi Artist: cryptomoon - @cryptomoon Link to the art! NSFW: Yes Summary: The door swings open before Dean can knock. Cas—wearing a sky blue button-down shirt, soft, black jeans, and an arrogant smirk—greets him. “Hello, Dean.” “Heya, Cas,” Dean greets. A strong hand fists the front of his shirt and yanks him through the door. The kiss is hot and demanding—a touch desperate—and it consumes Dean like wildfire. Cas shoves him against the door, slamming him into the solid wood as it bangs shut, and greedy fingers thread through his hair. Dean blinks, his jaw slack from shock, and Cas doesn’t miss a beat as he flicks his tongue along Dean’s lips. Cas pulls Dean’s bottom lip between his teeth, then lets go with a lazy, satisfied smile. “Welcome to my humble abode.” === When Cas asks Dean over for dinner on Valentine's Day, Dean doesn't know what to make of it. But he goes anyway because he'll take any chance to see Cas again. Tags: Valentine's Day, Hurt/Comfort, Baker Castiel, Rockstar Dean, Fluff and Smut, Destiel Valentine's Mini Bang

The Promise in a Kiss

Author: destimushi - @destimushi - destimushi Artist: Aceriee - @missaceriee Link to the art! NSFW: No Summary: It's Valentine's Day and the annual County Fair is in town. Dean uses this chance to do something he's been meaning to for a long time. Tags: hey-sweetheart challenge, Valentine's Day, Post-Canon, Kiss cam, Marriage Proposal, Cas loves bees

Love me to Death

Author: lunastories - @lunastories - lunastories Artist: envydean - @envydean Link to the art! Artist: uncelestieldestiel - @uncelestieldestiel Link to the art! NSFW: No Summary: There once was a man who feared Death. He feared him so much, he tried to seek immortality but his efforts were in vain. Eventually, he learned to love Death and everything he represented. This is the story of a mortal and a god and their love for each other. Tags: MCD, Death!Dean, brothers grimm au, fairytale au, angst, suicide, self harm

That's Why I'm Your Sweetheart

Author: Hartless_🍯 - @hartlessfiction - NadiaHart Artist: Crypto🥄 - @cryptomoon Link to the art! NSFW: No Summary: Dean didn't think his life could get any better. He had the mate of his dreams, a really nice apartment in the heart of the city, and a comfortable position at one of the leading architectural firms. At least that's what he thought when he stepped off the elevator after a long, late shift at the office. The smell of cookies baking is supposed to make a man feel happy and hungry, but to Dean's sensitive nose it sparks a warning bell. There's no other explanation for it, Cas is stress baking. Tags: A.B.O, Alpha!Dean, Omega!Cas, Stress Baking, Gratuitous Fluff, It's A terrible Life Verse, very lightly implied early stage Mpreg- non-graphic

[winebleeds-a]

REALLY  LONG  CHARACTER  SURVEY.

RULES.   repost,   don’t  reblog,   tag 10,   good luck! TAGGED.   nobody.  stolen from @justpawns​ TAGGING.   whoever.

BASICS.

FULL  NAME :   elizabeth marie spencer /  elisheva bat martha NICKNAME :   liz AGE :   25 BIRTHDAY :   june 25th LANGUAGE / S :   english, french, spanish, some german SEXUAL  ORIENTATION :   bisexual. ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION :   grey romantic RELATIONSHIP  STATUS :   single, though verse dependent CLASS :   middle HOME  TOWN / AREA :   shenandoah in virginia  CURRENT  HOME :   nyc (though this is verse dependent) PROFESSION :    associate information systems officer for the statistic division of the united nations (it specialist for any company within verse dependent city)

PHYSICAL.

HAIR :   near platinum blonde with golden highlights. normally, the length of her hair is just past her collarbone, she does wear hair extensions for fancier up-does or being able to flip her hair for high ponytails. she wears a lot of buns for work, then messier buns on lazy weekends. naturally, her hair is a lighter brown. EYES :   light brown, sometimes appearing honeyed. FACE :   tbh i am the worst at describing face shapes. but hers appears a little long (or ig oval?) with somewhat prominent cheekbones that are more noticeable with contour. LIPS :   pink & thin. her bottom lip is much fuller than her top. sometimes, the edges of her top lip disappears at certain expression. she curls her lips into her mouth a lot, where you can’t see them. she applies lipstick (business, formal, seduction) & lipgloss (casaul lipcare). COMPLEXION :   pale, but not overally pale (i sound like i’m writing my immortal here haha). is smooth but naturally dry. BLEMISHES :   while h.alston does have a beauty mark on her cheek, liz would not have one. her nose is prone to blackheads when she skips facial care. she has a birthmark under her right shoulderblade that appears like a spotty star. SCARS :   a medium scar at the left side of her head from the time  TATTOOS :   none, though can be different base on private verses HEIGHT :   5′2″. WEIGHT :   105 lbs, though she can fluctuate from 99 to 110. it very fickle base on her stress levels. BUILD :   at average, she’s barely a healthy weight. the higher the stress the lower the weight. she’s very petite.     FEATURES :   she has a sharpness about her that she uses to cut at her advantage. ALLERGIES :   n / a. USUAL  HAIR  STYLE :   it’s a different style everyday. thought mentioned in the hair section, her usually style are buns, either more formal or messier with loose ends. USUAL  EXPRESSION :   deadpan. while she tries to make herself hard to read, there’s either constant irritation or a hint of mischief.  USUAL  CLOTHING :    i’m linking her fashion board because it’s so vast & beyond my capabilities.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR / S :   closed spaces, lost of control ASPIRATION / S :   success. power. if i have to sum them up. but also protect who she consider underdogs (re: her siblings).   POSITIVE  TRAITS :   loyal,    level-headed,    cautious,    trustworthy. NEGATIVE  TRAITS :   selfish MBTI :   estj-a

Extraverted  60%        40% Introverted  Intuitive 32%        68% Observant  Thinking 72%        28% Feeling   Judging 88%    12% Prospecting   Assertive 58%        42% Turbulent  

ZODIAC :   cancer. TEMPEREMENT :   melancholic. ANIMALS :   she relates to horses, but she acts like a lizard cat. FAITH :   athiest. GHOSTS ? :   no. AFTERLIFE ? :   no. REINCARNATION ? :   she’s top tier what do you mean she doesn’t care ALIENS ? :   no. she’ll pull out mathematical equations as to why, even if they exist, it’s impossible to know. :/ EDUCATION  LEVEL :   master. (for au’s with her father dead, she will get a phd to become a professor in his honor, since he always wanted her to be a teacher).

FAMILY.

FATHER :   robert spencer : superintendent of rockingbridge county’s schools. liz’s role model, though he’s even able to hide just how cold he can be to people. liz is also clearly his favorite kid. while he appears to have a big heart (re : free ice cream to a grade when he visits the elementary schools when he was a principal), he’s pretty deadpan otherwise & does certain deeds for status. especially to his wife, who he hardly talks to. MOTHER :   martha spencer : vice principal of middle school. fairly stern like, all the time, but does so in care. while her & liz have more in common personality wise, this often clashes & the two don’t get along well. robert’s favoritism doesn’t help either, though she was already having favoritism over raleigh. early on, she would lash out at liz if she was mad at robert (who was often ignoring her), but changed that as liz grew older. SIBLINGS :   raleigh spencer (older brother) : he’s a doctor settled in nyc, living kinda close to liz. but they look & act complete opposite. he gets along with everyone, though he’s probably too trusting at times. does a lot of volunteer work, bikes, & goes to cons on his free time. hasn’t liz that (of course) he actually makes more money than liz, since they always had a mini rivalry (enforced by their parents). as said, they use to not get along, but now are pretty close.  madeline ���maddie’ spencer (younger sister) : currently a music major at jmu. she was forced to go to college by her parents (and liz, though she was more like ‘try it, & if it’s not for you then drop out’ sorta talk). while she likes college so far, she feels it’s because it’s a way to get away from her parents’ increase fights (and regrets leaving raphine, with the last spencer’s departure bring the fights to their apex) & her high school best friend is super supportive. while her goal is to be a rockstar, she’ll end up doubling major in music & education & become an elementary music teacher (and be the best at it). she also keeps telling liz she’s going to live with her at nyc because maddie looks up to liz. after all, with feeling like the outcast child for her parents, maddie jokes that liz raised her (to the point liz is ‘mom’ in maddie’s phone). EXTENDED  FAMILY :   more than my fingers & toes. like, on her dad’s side, robert had five siblings (four are still living), with one of them having seven kids; the other, including the deceased raleigh, has at least one child. heck, even liz’s ex married into the family. then, her mom’s side has a few relatives in nova (near dc) & boston. martha has three siblings: two in nova & one in boston with some cousins. like i said, it’s huge. NAME  MEANING / S :   ‘oath of god’   HISTORICAL  CONNECTION ? :   it’s her grandmother’s name, & her middle name is her grandmother’s middle name as well. in jewish tradition, its common to name offspring after dead relatives for their honor, & grandmother elizabeth died while martha was pregnant with liz, so the name felt befitting / that’s what robert wanted anyways. but  elisheva is the historical name of aaron’s wife from the torah.

FAVOURITES.

HOLIDAY :   she doesn’t have a favorite holiday, but her least favorite is christmas MONTH :   june. SEASON :   summer. PLACE :   a horse trail, either in the mountains or on a beach WEATHER :   a summer sunrise. SOUND :   brewing coffee. SCENT / S :   coffee. wine. clean linens. TASTE / S :   coffee. wine. apples. chocolate. FEEL / S :  silk. ANIMAL / S :   horse NUMBER :   3 COLOUR :   navy.

EXTRA.

TALENTS :   math stuff. coding.  BAD  AT :  art. literacy.  TURN  ONS :   flustering partner. praising. glasses. TURN  OFFS :    domination over her. aggression. HOBBIES :   equestrian. reading. cooking. overworking.

FC INFO.

MAIN  FC / S :   ha.lston sage ALT  FC / S :   none, but ca.rlson y.oung is her bodyclaim OLDER  FC / S :   na. YOUNGER  FC / S :   na. VOICE  CLAIM / S :   emma stone 

MUN QUESTIONS.  Q1 :   if  you  could  write  your  character  your  way  in  their  own  movie ,   what  would  it  be  called ,  what  style  would  it  be  filmed  in ,  and  what  would  it  be  about ?          A1 :    well, ironically, the movie would not be about them. liz is a side character. like, her main thing is being the wife of the main character in a distopia thingy (remember destiny?). however, if being the main in a movie, it would either be a romcom or a teenage drama. maybe a star wars spin off if you count the verse with sophie & charlie (and, then, eliza is the main character duh).

 Q2 :   what  would  their  soundtrack / score  sound  like ?            A2 :   pop folk music... does mumford & sons count?

 Q3 :   why  did  you  start  writing  this  character ?            A3 :   as a hetalia oc because i was having a bad time writing a canon character. and nobody was making a virginia & it’s my homestate so... yeah. it’s embarrassing.

 Q4 :   what  first  attracted  you  to  this  character ?  A4:     her crazy antic is fun to write. she’s so different from me that it helps getting into mindsets of characters i don’t relate to until i have something to relate to.

 Q5 :   describe  the  biggest  thing  you  dislike  about  your  muse.        A5 :    she’s so snobbish. like her interests (fashion) is beyond my expertise & it’s hard to add into writing when i can’t tell black & navy apart.

 Q6 :   what  do  you  have  in  common  with  your  muse ?            A6 :   the massive family dynamic & being an outlier of it. namely liz’s political opinion with her dad’s side of the family versus my opinions with my entire family. also, how we don’t really care about romance, though i’m a bit more open about it happen when it happens while she’s being against it.

 Q7 :   how  does  your  muse  feel  about  you ?          A7 :   she wouldn’t know i exist. and i would be scared of her

 Q8 :   what  characters  does  your  muse  have  interesting  interactions  with ?          A8 :   when she’s most uncomfortable, like around dogs & kids.

 Q9 :   what  gives  you  inspiration  to  write  your  muse ?          A9 :   ta.ylor sw.ift songs. music, definitely. i have a playlist of songs to help.

 Q10 :   how  long  did  this  take  you  to  complete ?            Q10 :   it over two days? because i get distracted & my migraine last night didn’t help. i work slow to begin with.

[strictlyoc]

Skyler verses

Title: Born a rambling man

Verse: Main

Summary: After being kicked out, Skyler set off on his own. He works as a road construction worker for now. But someday he’ll be able to fulfill his dreams of being a rockstar. He’s just gotta work for it.

–

Title: The silence

Verse: AU

Summary: Skyler and his brother Jace are the feared leaders of the notorious gang, The Silence, where they command the streets in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

–

Title: Things go bump in the night

Verse: Supernatural

Summary: After a siren killed his family, Skyler was set on trying to keep other people safe by hunting down monsters just so they didn’t go through what he did.

–

Title: Worst nightmare

Verse: Supernatural AU

Summary: Skyler grew up as a hunter and continues to hunt to this day with his dad and brother. The three are a pretty fearful team as they tend to shoot first ask questions later.

–

Title: Blood ties

Verse: American horror story

Summary: Their parents raised the Calhoun boys as hunters, dedicated to saving people from the terrors of the unnatural world. But when Skyler’s brother was murdered on a job by some unknown creature, everything in his life changed. Skyler is more dedicated to ridding the world of the supernatural and finding out what was responsible for killing his brother.

–

Title: Mission for the commission

Verse: The umbrella academy

Summary: Jace and his brother Skyler are part of the Temps Aeternalis, assigned to keep the timeline in order and must kill or arrest any one who threatens to change the course of events.

–

Title: A sweet symphony played over and over

Verse: Dishonored

Summary: After Skyler and his brother were kicked out by their father, the two got separated. Sky soon found himself alone on the streets of Karnaca. Running around, Sky never fit in until he ran into Emma Meyer and her friend Corvo Attano. He’d follow them around, until the end of the day. But one day Emma’s father found out and took him in as one of his own. Now Sky is a street performer, doing his best to get by and still hoping that his brother is still alive.

–

Title: The end

Verse: The walking dead

Summary: The initial outbreak of the deadly infection hit while Skyler’s band and another band, Death Omen, were on tour. Skyler and Aaron (the front man for the other band) were the only two who managed to make it out alive. After being able to reconnect with Jace, they had been set on going to Vegas for Jace’s family. That was until the group ran into the Saviors. Out gunned and out numbered, the brothers had no choice but to submit. Negan out of the goodness of his heart send a group to go get Jace’s family. Sky was apart of that group.

–

Title: The fungus is among us

Verse: The last of us

Summary: Sky and his brother Jace are smugglers working out of their Quarantine Zone. They often trade with some of the few zones standing as well as communities of survivors.

–

Title: Welcome to zombieland

Verse: Zombieland ( 1 & 2 )

Summary: Skyler, or Boston as he goes by nowadays, travels with his brother cross county. As they fight zombies, they move from community to community; and inform people of zombies kills of the year. According to sources, they started the ‘murrarying’ rumor.

–

Title: Blue Skies

Verse: Au

Summary: Sky and his brother Jace managed to escape from the city that the alien invaders where keeping them, But during their escape the got stuck running from the alien creatures the invaders brought with them. That’s when a woman named Emma helped them out.

–

Title: Don’t stop believing

Verse: Stranger things

Summary:  Back in his teens, Skyler found a lost teen girl, someone who claimed to have been kidnapped by the Hawkins laboratory. The two grew close and grew up together, where he’s done his best to keep her hidden from their grasp.

–

[thegladelf]

allons-y-to-hogwarts-713 replied to your post “Things I didn’t know I needed until literally five seconds ago: Once...”

YES! They could make it work somehow. *Hamilton cast voices*: rewind..rewind..rewind..

The more I think about it, the more I think they could make it work w/o any flashbacks.

Open with a prologue: Regina’s villain song as the Dark Curse is hitting, you get all her reasons right there, including an emphasis on Snow telling the secret and Daniel dying. Cut to right after Obligatory Awkward Birth Scene™ (or if you absolutely have to include it, have it happening in the background, WICKED style) and David sending Emma through the wardrobe. Cut to black with Snow crying over David’s body.

The main Act 1 story is S1. You have Henry showing up at Emma’s door and then cut to a rockstar version of “Belle” from BatB, only it’s titled Storybrooke and we meet all of the main players. Act 1 ends with the breaking of the S1 curse.

Act 2 is all about getting Emma her happy ending. Depending on where he ends in the show, you can make Rumple the main baddie, OR you leave him as the unwilling anti-hero and you introduce CORA as the main villain. Keep in mind, this means that we need to see at least a few scenes that set up her reputation so that we’re sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for her to show. 

Actually, you could make the intro villain song one that includes ALL the major villains of S1&S2, now that I think of it. You could totally have Regina and Rumple on one side of the stage singing a few verses about their reasoning. And then, Cora and Killian on the other side, plotting how they’re going to get to Storybrooke (we might need to tweak the original curse so this works without a realm hop) and get what they want. (For added irony, put awkward birth scene back center stage and have Killian sing a line about how finding love is impossible right before we cut to Happy Snowing family.)

Anyways, back to Act 2. It’s about Emma getting her own happy ending, while trying to defeat whoever is set up as the ultimate bad guy (Maybe Cora/Rumple are trying to bring back the original curse, I don’t know). Killian would have to defect to the heroes side pretty quickly, maybe third to halfway through, but you can have plenty of scenes with mucho sexual tension before that happens (and after). Ending of Act 2 is obs them defeating whoever the Big Bad ends up being (points if Neal die a tragically heroic death, maybe that’s the thing that makes Killian turn, who knows) and Emma admitting she’s in love with Killian (who has decided to leave revenge behind--cue sad ballad that will have all of us bawling our eyes out!).

TADA! Once Upon A Time: The Broadway Musical

You’d have to cut out a few charas, focus more on the main cast, truncate some of the story lines, move a few things up to make Emma and Killian’s story satisfying. But it would be amazing.

(GUys, I’m already picturing the heart-wrenching, emotionally charged ballad Killian would sing as he struggled with letting go of his old love for his new love. I am decease.)

[shireness-says]

Have you ever thought about what protects our hearts?

Summary:  Emma's written for as long as she's had words in her head, but some songs she holds closer than others. When you've left a bit of your soul on the page, it's hard to let anyone in to read them. ~2.5K. Rated T for language. Also on AO3.

Previous Rockstar!Emma installments: Maybe I Won’t Die Alone, Second Verses and Happy Beginnings, Lullaby, Nobody’s Business

A/N: Another snippet in my Rockstar!Emma AU verse - definitely go read those first. This particular piece spiraled out from a passing reference in the original to Killian finding a box of piano ballads when he helps Emma move.

Super thanks to @snidgetsafan, my phenomenal beta. Honestly, she’s the best, even when I throw unexpected stuff like this at her when I’m supposed to be working on Playing the Part.

I listen to a LOT of Ingrid Michaelson music when writing this verse, and a lot of those lyrics have found their way into this fic. I obviously own nothing - I just get Emma feelings listening. The title is pulled from "Breakable"; lyrics in this fic pulled from (in order of appearance, and one song per section): "Men of Snow", "Sort of" "Are We There Yet", "The Chain", and "Overboard".

I also maybe possibly made a Spotify playlist of all the songs that I imagine in this series, like for the karaoke and stuff, and will post that if demanded.

Tagging those I know particularly enjoy this series: @kmomof4, @shady-swan-jones, @mythologicalmango, @onceuponaprincessworld, @effulgentcolors. Holler at me if you ever want to be tagged in stuff.

Without further ado, enjoy!

Emma’s written for as long as she’s had words in her head.

She doesn’t have any grand intended purpose for them, no dreams of becoming an author or a poet or whatever else one does with their words, but they’re there and they’re hers and true ownership of anything is hard to come by in the childhood she’s living. They morph from poetic phrases and fragments of stories to songs in middle school when a particularly kind music teacher instructs Emma in the basics of piano during study hall, and Emma finally has the format to match all those bits and pieces of language running through her head.

She’s not even particularly organized about it in those early days, pouring out her feelings onto tiny scraps of paper and the edges of notebook pages and napkins and whatever else is on hand when she needs an outlet, needs to turn all her feelings into verse before they eat her alive. Given enough time, all those scraps - well, at least the ones she saves, the ones she’s actually satisfied with for their own merit instead of as cathartic release - form a layer of creative detritus at the bottom of her backpack as she’s shuffled from family to group home and back again.

Ruth Nolan is something else, however, something Emma can recognize even at 15. Ruth seems to see everything, eyes almost too kind and understanding to be real. It shouldn’t really surprise Emma that her latest foster mother - a woman trying to live up to that title in more than just name - sees her little hobby, if you could call it that, as well.

One day you will go away…

The older woman shows up with a notebook and a hatbox, the latter carrying that particular smell Emma associates with the antique stores Ruth likes so much.

“I thought you might like someplace you could keep all your pieces together,” Ruth says in that tone of voice Emma’s learning means she’s afraid she’s overstepping Emma’s boundaries. “Only if you want, of course. And then a pretty notebook too, for your writing or journaling or just school, if you prefer. What girl doesn’t need a pretty notebook?”

Emma’s wary to accept the gift - gifts are easy to take back when she’s inevitably sent back, so there’s no sense in getting attached - but she thinks Ruth might mean it genuinely. “Thanks,” she says, attempting a smile. “That’s a good idea.” Even if she’s hesitant to accept the gift, Ruth’s too good to hurt her feelings, so Emma makes the effort all the same.

“Oh, it’s nothing, my girl,” Ruth excuses, cheeks pinking as she busily fusses with the pillows on Emma’s bed, almost like she didn’t expect even that small praise. After a few moments, she seems to run out of things to do in that direction, straightening with a sigh to meet Emma’s hesitant smile. “You’ll let me know if you need anything else, sweetie?”

It strikes Emma for the first time that Ruth may be just as nervous about this working out as she is, but is trying so hard all the same to make Emma feel like a part of something. “Yeah, I will,” she reassures, before taking it a brave step further. “I thought maybe I’d come down in a few, if you or David wanted to play a card game or something?”

“I’d love that,” Ruth beams, sending a little shoot of happiness and pride through Emma that she was able to do that. “No rush, sweetheart, you come down whenever you’re ready,” she assures on her way out.

Just one more line, Emma thinks, quickly finishing out her thought before putting her pen aside to join the Nolans downstairs.

It takes months and months, but Emma figures out that Ruth Nolan is a no-backsies kind of woman, both with her gifts and her love. The adoption papers are certainly proof of that sentiment, though Emma has moved all her snippets into the hatbox even before everything’s official. She’s finally found a place of her own in this world - it’s time her words do too.

———

My love’s too big for you my love…

The words are a release, a way to express everything she’s feeling when faced with her first real heartbreak at the hands of her cheating ex-boyfriend. They’re never meant to be seen by anyone - hell, Emma’s not sure that she herself wants to read them a second time, bear witness to that pure expression of pain again. Yes, she’s fucking pissed at Neal, and no, she doesn’t want to rekindle things or remotely regret their breakup after finding him in bed with another woman, but she loved him, in that awful, consuming, first-love kind of way. And that doesn’t go away instantly, even despite her anger, even when given the ample evidence that it should. Writing it all down, Emma’s long since learned, is the first step in processing and moving forward.

Tell me what to do to take away the you…

What she doesn’t plan on, however, is Belle spotting the words where Emma’s left them on her dorm room’s desk when the brunette swings by with an impromptu question about their creative writing assignment. It’s far too late to hide them - the time for that was before Belle knocked, honestly, and any efforts now will just make it look like Emma has something interesting to hide. Even if Belle is a sweet girl, one that Emma doesn’t think would pry if she just snatched the page back, there’s no closing the barn door after the horse has already escaped.

“Is this for class?” Belle asks, understandably confused. It’s fairly obviously not a school assignment, since they haven’t been asked to complete anything in verse.

“No, it’s… a personal project, I guess,” Emma half-heartedly explains. “Just a hobby.”

Belle raises her eyebrows at that. “It’s really good. Is it a song?”

“Could be,” Emma shrugs. “I mean, I kind of wrote it like that, but I’ve never actually sat down and figured out the music that goes with it, so…”

“Still, it’s impressive,” Belle comments. “I’d go see a band who was putting out stuff like this.”

“Thanks,” Emma mumbles, feeling her cheeks start to flush pink.

“Thanks for not snatching it out of my hand immediately,” Belle grins. “Do you have any others you’d be willing to share?”

Looking back, Emma thinks the band was born that night - or at least the idea for one. Either way, before the year is out, they’re practicing with two other acquaintances-turned-bandmates in university practice rooms, trying to put together sounds and words that people will actually want to listen to.

(The hatbox remains sealed, however; certain things are just too private to put in front of the world.)

———

They say that home is where the heart is

I guess I haven’t found my home…

She probably should have figured Killian would find the hatbox when she asked him to help her unpack the boxes in the office - a task she’s been putting off for an almost embarrassingly long time. If there’s one thing she’s learned, it’s that Killian Jones is meticulous in everything he does, and helping Emma unpack her belongings and god-awful stacks of files is no exception.

“What’re these, then?” he teases, flashing Emma that grin that he thinks is charming (and Emma sometimes allows herself to find charming as well).

“Oh, you know. Just some stuff I’ve written,” she says, as vaguely as possible. It’s not that she wants to hide this box from him, or that she cares that he’s found all her scraps of songs, but there’s a lot of memories in that box, years of the feelings she hides so well behind her public facade, and they honestly don’t have the time to go through it all. Jury’s still out on whether Emma has the inclination to do so in the first place.

“I don’t recognize these,” he says, frowning in confusion as he scans the messy scrawl dancing across the pages. “Are they from the next album?” His face suddenly lights up with an excitement more characteristic of a young boy, not a grown-ass adult whose best friend will gladly give him a sneak peak of the drafts for the next album if he ever asks.

“No, God no,” she snorts. “Those will never see the light of day.”

“Whyever not?” he asks. The defensive part of Emma reads it as a demand, but her logic and ears at least are able to process his tone as actually pretty polite, though curious. “These are really good.”

Emma shrugs. “Not really our style. Those are meant to be just the piano and maybe an acoustic guitar.” They’re excuses, she realizes, and though Killian seems to be happy enough to take them at face value, Emma feels a twinge of guilt about not giving him more. He’s her best friend, after all; their trust is an implicit thing, strong in the knowledge that they’ll never judge one another. With that in mind, Emma scratches out a small hole in her walls to hand him more. “They’re… personal,” she elaborates, though that was probably already obvious. “I mean, those in the box were my emotional outlet for a while. They’re just too… close, if that makes sense? I don’t really want to share them with everyone.”

Killian drops the slips back into the box quickly, hastening to seal everything back up. “I’m sorry, love, I didn’t mean to pry,” he apologizes.

He really doesn’t need to. “Killian, it’s fine,” she smiles. “You’re not ‘everyone’. Or whatever. Something less corny.”

“Too late, Swan,” he replies, that smug look trying to creep across his face. “I’ll treasure those words forever.”

Emma rolls her eyes at him, but truthfully, she doesn’t particularly mind. She may have been hesitant to show Killian that little bit of herself, but it ultimately wasn’t nearly as hard or painful as she feared. Then again, things with Killian have always been easy - easy and comfortable.

She can’t help but think that maybe, now that they both live in the same city, they can finally explore that something that’s always been simmering just below the surface of their friendship.

They say you’re really not somebody

Until somebody else loves you

Well I am waiting to make somebody somebody soon…

———

Emma Swan isn’t, historically, a wallower, but it was a fucking stupid fight, and looking back, she’s entirely to blame. Or, at the very least, she can’t blame Killian for being frustrated - “her fault” makes it sound like she was out looking for an argument. But at the very least, she sees and understands why he was upset in the first place.

It’s so stupid in retrospect, the events that led to their fight. They’d run into an acquaintance of Emma’s, one of the sound techs that’s working with them on the next album, and it fell to Emma to make introductions - and she’d fumbled. Badly. To the tune of “This is my… this is Killian.” And yes, they were walking down the street with arms thrown around each other, and the techie totally knew that they were together, but still. Not a good thing that Emma’s still too screwed up to even call Killian her boyfriend.

“Don’t you think that hurts, Emma?” he asks later, begs later after she demands to know why he’s being so quiet. “We’ve been together for three and a half months, and I know you’re committed to this relationship - at least when it’s just us - but it’s like a little knife to the heart when you can’t or won’t let others in on that little secret, like this is something to be ashamed of.” He runs a hand over his face in frustration, before shaking his head and turning towards the door of her apartment. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I can do this tonight. I’ll call you later.” His hand is on the knob when he turns back for the last word. “Think about what you really want from this, Emma, because I won’t drag you into something you’re not 100% on board with.”

And then he leaves Emma to sort out the pain currently coursing through her chest.

I’ll never say that I’ll never love

But I don’t say a lot of things

(and you my love are gone)

Emma knows that she can’t fix herself overnight, can’t suddenly push past all the emotional scarring that’s caused all this blasted hesitance. But what she can do is try harder to show Killian how she feels, even if she can’t say the words yet.

With that in mind, she sits down to write another song, one whose words have just started popping into her head. The Lost Girls are planning to do a short surprise set at the Jolly Roger three weeks from now - maybe this can be added to the set list, this song just for Killian.

———

It’ll take more than just a breeze to make me…

Fall overboard just so you can catch me

“Writing me another love song, Swan?” Killian asks cheekily from where he leans in the doorway.

“You say that like you’ve been deprived,” Emma dryly shoots back. “And I know for a fact that’s not true.”

“Ah, well, a man can dream,” he teases, crossing the room to embrace Emma from behind, chin coming to rest on her head. “In all seriousness, what are you working on there?”

“Something for Ruby.”

Killian snorts at that pronouncement. “Oh, that seems premature. We just introduced her to Graham a few weeks ago, love.”

“Yeah, but I’ve got a feeling,” Emma insists. “They really hit it off the other week, and they both seemed smitten.”

“Are you sure you’re alright, Emma? Or is this some kind of body swap with your sister-in-law?” her husband teases, jokingly feeling her forehead for a fever. “Quick, tell me something only Emma would know!”

“Very funny,” Emma deadpans. “Just you wait, I’ll be singing this at their reception one day.”

“Whatever you say, my love,” he placates, dropping a kiss to the crown of her head before tilting his own in curiosity. “I don’t think I’ve seen the hatbox in a good long while,” he observes.

“Haven’t needed it lately,” she shoots right back. “What can I say, I’m becoming more emotionally healthy, or something.” It’s a quip, for certain, but there’s a certain amount of truth to it; Emma hasn’t had to turn to the hatbox and pouring her emotions out into words no one will ever read because she has Killian instead, who’s always there to listen when she’s sad or frustrated. She likes to think she offers him the same in return.

“I don’t think you were ever so bad as you make it sound,” Killian says, trying to temper her words, “but I’m glad to hear that you don’t need to depend on that outlet so much anymore.”

“Only because of you, babe,” Emma replies cheekily, meaning every word despite her teasing tone.

Killian snorts a laugh all the same, before craning around to drop a smacking kiss on her lips. “You’ll have to write me a song to prove it!” he calls over his shoulder as he wanders back out into the living room.

And who knows? Maybe she just might.

And I never thought I’d be the type to fall, to fall…

[shireness-says]

Happy Holidays! I'm dropping into some of my fave creator's ask boxes and encouraging them to Spread the Cheer by Sharing What You Created This Year! Before a new year starts, take some time to reflect on the things you wrote or created to bless the fandom this past year. Remind us all of the awesomeness you put out there in 2019, and feel free to tease us with things to come in 2020!

Hey, holiday nonnie! Thanks for dropping by - I wrote a lot this year!

Not All That (But Has Potential): It’s not love at first sight, far from it. But there’s something about Killian Jones that has potential…

Playing the Part: As a stage manager who’s clawed her way up from the bottom, Emma Swan can handle just about anything thrown her way. But does that include handsome lead actor Killian Jones? (started 2018, completed 2019) (link to last chapter, which includes previous links)

The Queen’s Librarian: As the palace librarian under Queen Emma’s rule, former Lieutenant Killian Jones gains a reputation for knowing not just what books his monarch wants, but those she needs. Perhaps when all is said and done, she’ll need the man himself as well. 

The Things This Desk Has Seen: Killian and Emma take advantage of an empty office. A smutty, 1950s historical AU.

If I Could See Your Face Once More: This time, there’s no celebration at Granny’s when the latest crisis has been resolved. Instead, they’re left to deal with the body of Killian Jones. A 5B canon divergence where Killian dies in Camelot, never becoming a Dark One. (link to last chapter, which includes previous links)

Ear-resistible: Emma may be out the night before Easter as a favor to Mary Margaret, but she didn’t expect to see Killian Jones in the center of town. After midnight. In a rabbit suit.

You Mean Everything: Even in the silliest moments, Emma and Killian always manage to find the beat together. A little lighthearted rockstar!Emma AU snippet.

What’s in a (Second) Name?: The arrival of a new family member should be a happy time. However, the birth of Henry’s little brother stirs up some unwelcome internal conflict. A sequel snippet to “Killian Jones and the Lost Boy”.

The Company Way: Stage Manager Emma Swan always has something to worry about, and right now the mess that’s taken over her balcony tops the list. And maybe some anxiety about all the ways her life is changing. (She’d rather focus on the boxes.)

Echo: Sharing a heart has unexpected side effects - but maybe they can help say the things that need saying. A 4a heart-sharing AU

A Drowning Soul Will Clutch at Any Straw: Though this is far from Killian Jones’ first encounter with a mermaid, he’s never met any quite like this blonde siren. Together, can they break a cruel curse?

Took My Soul, Wiped It Clean: Killian generally loves Storybrooke and its close-knit feeling, is happy to be raising his family here, but those close ties also often mean that everyone is sticking their nose into everyone else’s business. Can’t a man keep any bloody thing to himself?

Swan’s Seven: After two years behind bars, Emma’s out, and she’s got a plan in mind. Now to put together the perfect team… Let’s stage an art heist. (WIP - link to most recent chapter)

Smut Prompts: self explanatory.

A Reflection on Hats: There are some things you don’t understand understand until you become a parent. 

Ebb and Flow: There’s nothing like the motion of the waves - especially when dealing with a baby who just won’t go to sleep. Being married to a pirate with his own ship certainly has its perks. A fluffy and domestic sequel to “If I Could See Your Face Once More”.

The Song Remains the Same: The more things change, the more they stay the same - including Emma’s teenage crush on Killian Jones. Will she finally work up the nerve to act on it at their ten year high school reunion?

Heat: There’s only so much that one can do on a hot and lazy morning. Luckily, Killian has a wife to do it with. Or: CS honeymoon sex.

A Twelve-Legged Matchmaker: Killian Jones has an undeniable crush on Emma Swan. He just needs a little nudge from man’s best friend to act on it.

Election Day: This is, arguably, the stupidest thing her best friend has ever done. So how in the hell did Charlie Jones get dragged into it? A 5B Divergence ‘verse future snippet.

How can I forget your love?: Anne is used to not being noticed - except…  (A Persuasion modern AU snippet)

A Sparking Attraction: Emma just wanted a nice, relaxing weekend. Who knew her car trouble would be the ticket into her hot’s neighbor’s pants?

and he called her love amongst the snowflakes: Being a princess is no guarantee of a perfect Christmas. Spending the next two days snowed in with her brother’s hot bodyguard just might be, though.

hashtag holiday party: This isn’t Emma’s company, or her holiday party, or her idea of a good time. Is there any good to be salvaged from the worst date ever?

Here’s to more in the coming year!

[shireness-says]

Lullaby

Summary:  The house is quiet. There’s a good reason for that, however - a very small, still fragile reason who they’re all loath to disturb in any way. ~2.2K. Also on AO3.

A/N: Here’s another little snippet from my rockstar!Emma/bartender!Killian AU. After my last piece in this verse, several people wanted to know if there’d be a follow up with little Wiley. Ask, and you shall receive! Previous installments can be found on tumblr here and here and on AO3 here; I’d definitely recommend you check those out first so you get the background information. Unbeta’d, in the true spirit of the original, and rated G. Title and the lyrics at the beginning and end come from yet another Dixie Chicks song. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

How long do you want to be loved?

The little house is quiet, which is notable in and of itself. Any place Killian Jones and Emma Swan (Emma Swan-Jones, really, according to the paperwork, if not public memory) is typically notable for the sound reverberating through it, between her music and his penchant for chatter and their shared love for their stereo system. But it’s quiet now, even if it’s only three in the afternoon.

There’s a good reason for that, however - a very small, still fragile reason who they’re all loath to disturb in any way.

Wiley David Jones is a mere eight days old, but he’s already become Killian’s entire world - a sentence that feels entirely melodramatic, and yet is entirely true. Meeting Emma, falling in love with Emma, had felt like a missing piece being found and slotted into his soul - a feeling of contentment and completeness he wouldn’t trade for the world - but holding his son for the first time is a different thing altogether: feelings of pride and fear mixed together with the sense that his world has suddenly been blown wide open and become larger than he could ever have fathomed. It’s awe-inspiring, really, and especially amazing that those feelings can be caused by something so small.

Killian’s been assured that his son is a perfectly normal size multiple times - 6 pounds, 11 ounces and 20 inches at birth - but that doesn’t keep him from thinking that Wiley is unutterably tiny, all his features miniscule and appearing unimaginably delicate. He’s a handsome lad, though Killian may be biased on that front, with soft wisps of dark hair and the cutest little nose. Killian sees a lot of Emma in their boy, in his chin and the shape of his mouth and the way Wiley is always moving when he’s awake (and often when he’s not) - not unhappy, just determined to be in motion, like he’s trying to find where the action is. Emma, bless her, swears the exact opposite, that their boy is clearly taking after his papa (“Just look at those ears, for God sake”). Regardless of which parent little Wiley currently takes after, Killian finds a certain amount of wonder in knowing that as the years pass, their little one will grow into his own person, a mix of the two of them that he’ll make entirely his own.

Technically, Wiley is supposed to be napping. Technically, they both are - sleep when the baby does and all that - and Emma, at least, is wise enough to actually take that advice. But Killian had caught some of the little newborn gurgles coming through the baby monitor as he finished tidying up the kitchen, and the noise had called to him like its own kind of siren song. Creeping into the nursery he and Emma had so carefully set up and decorated with pictures of cartoon zoo animals, he can see the little lad wide awake in his crib, pedalling his arms and legs like he’s attempting to run a race no one can see. And honestly, as long as they’re both awake, what’s the harm of having a little cuddle?

There’s an art to picking up a baby, he’s learned in the last week, a series of careful maneuvers to ensure that one’s infant is safe and secure and supported in one’s arms. But after eight days, it’s starting to become instinctual, all the intricacies of weaseling a hand under Wiley’s little neck and bum before lifting him fully into the air and into his arms, and Killian is confident is will soon become an unconscious motion.

“Hello there, little one,” he coos, and God, when did he become a man who coos? “Are you not sleepy yet?”

It seems ridiculous to Killian that Wiley isn’t tired, considering the very eventful week he’s had. Being born ought to be stressful enough, suddenly facing a wide, wide world with only the comfort of a few familiar voices to know everything will be alright, but he’s had a steady stream of visitors ever since. Liam and Elsa seem to be over at the little house on some excuse or other every day, though they do bring various casseroles and other meals, so that’s ultimately welcomed (even if Killian would like a day with just his wife and son sometime in the near future, thank you very much). There’s been a steady stream of quasi aunts and uncles parading through as well, only increasing the chaos. Ruby had dropped by the hospital, promising the newborn she’d teach him everything his parents forbade (a declaration neither Emma or Killian is particularly surprised by, but will try to remember as Wiley gets older). Robin and Regina brought over flowers and a lasagna the day after everyone got settled in together at home, fussing over the baby in a way that Killian thinks suggests they may try for their own addition in the near future. Belle and Will had generously donated some of their more gender-neutral hand-me-downs to the cause of clothing the little lad, and stopped by both the hospital and the house a few days later to introduce their own little girl to Wiley.

(“We’re going to have our hands full, won’t we?” laughs Will, gently and confidently bouncing the tiny lad in his arms like the more experienced parent he is. He’s probably thinking of one child leading the other into trouble some day and how much of a pain that will prove to be, but Killian is struck with a silly grin at the thought of two dark heads hiding behind the sofa or giggling as they run up and down the length of the bar on an evening one of their parents’ bands play at the Jolly Roger.

They’ll certainly have their hands full, and Killian can’t wait.)

The parade of loved ones isn’t likely to stop anytime soon; Mulan will be in town to talk business at the end of the month, having been sent plenty of photos in the meantime, and Emma’s family is expected at the end of the week, graciously granting the new parents a chance to settle in before they fly over from the States and stage a well-meaning and affectionate invasion. Killian is grateful for all the support; he really is. It’s been heartwarming to witness the collection of people who already love his son. But he’s just as pleased for these small moments to themselves, just him and Emma and Wiley.

In all seriousness, Killian is exhausted, and had planned to join Emma in bed for that nap. But as long as Wiley is awake, it seems criminal not to take advantage of every single moment. His one concession is to lower himself into the nursery’s cushioned rocker with the lad and at least get off his feet for a few minutes. Even better, the rocking might put both of them to sleep.

Not right now, though. Right now, Wiley is reaching up at Killian with tiny fingers from the cradle of his arms, and really, it’s enough to make any man melt.

“Whatever shall we do, my little one?” he questions softly. “You and I will need to pass the time somehow.”

Wiley just stares back at him, jaw dropped open in a little O, that adorable infant expression probably born of lack of muscle control that always looks like he’s in a state of open-mouthed wonder over his papa’s words. Killian would be perfect happy just to trace that expression with gentle fingers all day, revelling in the idea that his boy loves his voice, when he’s struck with an idea. A terribly silly, totally delightful idea.

“You don’t know this yet, little love, but your mama is a bit of a rock star,” he whispers conspiratorily, hauling himself back out of the comfortable chair to cross the room and turn on the sound system that is definitely way too elaborate for a baby’s room. Scrolling through his phone on his way back to seated comfort, he finds the song he’s looking for easily. “And even though she’s a rock star, she loves me very much. She even wrote me a song. Do you want to hear it, my lad? Want to hear Mama sing?”

When Wiley doesn’t openly shriek in protest, Killian presses play, making sure to set the volume almost as low as it will go to protect little ears and not wake Emma up from her well deserved rest. The quiet strains of his song trickle through the nursery speakers - a recording he has of Emma singing it - and he could swear that his little boy perks up a little, hearing his mother’s voice over the sound system.

“Yeah, that’s Mama,” he coos, lifting Wiley to rest on his chest. God, he’ll never get over that newborn smell - baby powder and something new and fresh and pure. “Just think of all the songs she’s going to write you, my sweet boy.”

“Are you really trying to indoctrinate him this early, Jones? I think he’s a bit young to be a fan.”

Looking up at the interruption, he can see Emma in the door, barefooted and hair still tousled from her nap. With a soft smile on her face and an amused twinkle in her eye at her boys’ tableau, she looks beautiful, though she’d probably wave him off if he tried to tell her that.

“I think Wiley will be a fan of yours regardless, darling,” he smiles back. “After all, you’re his mum.”

It never fails to amaze Killian, that his compliments can still make Emma blush after all this time, but there’s a telltale red stain to her cheeks as she moves to take the baby from him and perch on Killian’s lap so that all three are curled in the rocking chair.

“He’ll be a fan of yours too, you know,” Emma tries to argue back in that adorable, stubborn way of hers that Killian loves.

“Well thank you darling, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re easily the more impressive of the two of us. I mean, bartender vs. famous musician? There’s a clear winner there.”

Emma shakes her head insistently, leaning back with the baby in her arms to more fully make eye contact. “Yeah, but you’re Dad. The other stuff isn’t going to matter.”

That thought alone is awe inspiring, and Killian finds himself tearing for the countless time this week. Because she’s right, isn’t she? Just like always. Their little boy isn’t going to particularly care about such trivial matters as their profession and whether or not they can sing or write him a song, as long as he grows up loved beyond all reason. And Wiley will be, as long as Killian has breath.

“Thank you, my love,” he smiles through teary eyes. He lets the moment sit for a bit longer, trading loving gazes with Emma as their son fights sleep between them, little eyelids fluttering to stay open. There’s a comfort to this, emotionally if not physically, holding the two most precious people in his life safe in the circle of his arms. Finally tightening his arms to draw them closer, the moment may have been effectively ended, but he relishes the chance anyways to hold his little family tighter and feel the weight of Emma’s head as it comes to rest on his shoulder.

“In any case,” he continues in a more light-hearted tone, “I wanted to introduce the little lad to one of my favorite bands. Their songwriter has an amazing voice, I’ve heard.”

Emma offers as much of a shove with her shoulder as she can without disturbing the almost-asleep Wiley in response to Killian’s teasing smirk, but her cheeks pink up again, which feels like its own kind of victory. “Shut up,” she mumbles, nestling closer into his body despite the words.

There’s so many things he could say - teasing comments and grand declarations and everything in between. He’s already lost count of the amount of times in the past week he’s thanked Emma for their son - needlessly, she claims, but Killian knows better. But the crux of the matter is this: when life is more perfect than you ever imagined possible, can words possibly express it? Is it even worth the effort of trying?

Maybe; maybe not. Killian decides that in this moment, it just doesn’t matter, and chooses instead to drop a kiss on the crown of her head. “As you wish, love,” he murmurs into the part of her hair, still happy to follow any command she gives him.

The song may finish, and the house may descend back into back into silence once again, but the little family remains cuddled together in the nursery for a while longer, even after Wiley finally falls asleep. After Emma lays the baby back in his crib and wanders back out to the main living space, Killian takes one final moment just to watch his son sleeping peacefully before joining her. It’s funny, the way one’s entire life can change in the course of a week; change infinitely and enormously and for the better.

The house may be quiet, but his heart sounds with joyful trumpets, ushering in years of roaring happiness to come.

Is forever enough? Is forever enough?