#warm up snippets

[spoofymcgee]

"It's no use," Jamie says, singsong, because Roy hasn't got the message the last ten times he'd said it but maybe this one will get through his thick, old-man-skull.

It's a bit weird, that, because Jamie'd always thought old people had weak bones, but Roy could smash a brick wall with his head if he tried.

Metamorphically, like, because if he did a real one his doc would get on his case about it and Jamie'd get upset too because just 'cause Roy's old doesn't mean he should be trying harder to kick it. Plenty of great things about being old, like eating what you like. Football is worth it, but man, does Jamie miss cake.

He gets about half an hour down that thought train before Roy throws his hands in the air and finally comes over to shut him up, so all in all, he thinks it's a pretty good afternoon.

[neonmoonster]

“Of course I didn’t want you!”

Anakin recoiled like he had been slapped.

The anger he had felt only moments before towards the man in front of him dissipated and reformed into the keenest hurt he had ever experienced.

He had known this, of course—had known it forever, and he had prepared himself for the day the truth finally came out, building walls around his heart and forcing distance between himself and Obi-Wan for this very inevitability—but actually hearing it, actually hearing Obi-Wan say those words aloud? 

Nothing could have prepared Anakin for this moment.

I didn’t want you. 

Obi-Wan was still talking, ranting, but his words seemed far away, distant, like he was standing at the end of a tunnel, miles away from Anakin, who felt lightheaded, unsteady on his feet.

“—ster had just died, the Sith were back, and here was this boy,” Obi-Wan’s voice, tight and forceful, floated in and out of the air, “This boy for whom my master discarded me without a second thought, this boy, who was now my responsibility to raise and train.”

Anakin couldn’t look at him. Didn’t want to see the resentment in the set of his mouth, the long-buried hatred in the furrow of his brow. 

“My responsibility—me, a barely knighted Jedi, practically a padawan myself.”

Obi-Wan let out a bark of disbelieving laughter, a sharp edge to it that sliced Anakin to his core.

“I could barely take care of myself in the days after Qui-Gon died, let alone another human being. And now I had the duty to fulfill my master’s dying wish to train this boy on the off-chance that he would save the galaxy.” 

Do not cry.

Anakin willed himself to keep looking down, to stay impassive, to not raise Obi-Wan’s ire higher than it already was. If he betrayed how much these words cut him, how deep a wound they inflicted on his heart, then the magnitude of his attachment would be revealed, and that would only make Obi-Wan hate him more. 

And Anakin didn’t think he could take any more of Obi-Wan’s hate.

Do not cry.

He heard Obi-Wan take a steadying breath, audibly reigning himself in. When he spoke next, his voice was softer, yet reverberated through Anakin's mind as if he had screamed them.

“So, no. I did not want you.” 

He sensed Obi-Wan, his accursed, beloved former master, take a step towards him. Anakin stilled, a horrible thought overtaking him.

Would he strike him? Obi-Wan had never—would never—but he had also never said anything like this out loud to Anakin before. He had finally crossed the line.

Done the un-take-back-able.

Anakin had always walked a thin line with Obi-Wan, pushing and prodding, bringing out Obi-Wan’s frustration, his rolled eyes, dry jabs, and sometimes disappointed frown, but he had somehow avoided tipping the scales all the way over—at least, not until now.

Now, when he had finally pushed too far. 

Fuck. 

Do not cry. Do not cry—

A hand fell on his shoulder. It took everything in Anakin not to flinch.

“But don’t you ever think,” Obi-Wan said, the fierce passion back in his voice and Anakin’s stomach sank, sank sank. “Not even for one second, that you were not the best thing to ever happen to me.” 

Anakin’s head snapped up in shock. The very thing he had wanted to avoid doing at all costs, but surely he had misheard, surely Obi-Wan had not just said what he just said—

“You are the best friend I have ever had,” Obi-Wan said, and there was still that hard edge to his words, but now that Anakin was looking at him, he saw that his master's eyes were not filled with anger-hate-bitterness like he had feared, but simple determination.

A serious expression, but one that was interlaced with a gentleness that Anakin could only describe as fond.

“It has been… the honor and delight of my life to teach you,” Obi-Wan said, and Anakin couldn’t move because the truth of it was ringing in the Force, unmistakable and passionate and firm. “And now to fight and live beside you as equals.”

Was Anakin dreaming?

A flicker of a smile crossed Obi-Wan’s face, like he was lost in remembrance and, oh, Anakin’s heart couldn’t take it, couldn’t handle this emotional whiplash, his greatest fear and most secret hope come to life over the course of a single conversation.

“It only took you about a day and a half to win me over. I was petrified every day that I would mess you up, leave you worse than I found you, let you down, Qui-Gon down, the galaxy down—but not once did I regret you. Not once would I have traded you away from anything.”

Obi-Wan squeezed Anakin’s shoulder and Anakin shuddered, letting out a choked whimper that he immediately wished he could take back, but Obi-Wan’s eyes softened, and through their bond Anakin could only feel kindness, affection, maybe even—

Obi-Wan's expression shifted once more, for the first time his steadiness in the force wavering, and he swallowed, appearing nervous, if Anakin didn't know any better.

"I do not always find it easy to express myself with words, like this. It is... difficult for me. But it appears that it is necessary today."

Anakin stared at him helplessly.

“I am unbearably sorry that I have ever made you believe otherwise. That you could ever think that you are not my favorite person in the world.”

Anakin could not stop the tear from falling down his cheek. And Obi-Wan Kenobi, high general of the Republic Army, one of the strongest, most respected masters in the Jedi Order, and Anakin's former teacher, gently caught it with the pad of his thumb and wiped it away.

"You are," Obi-Wan's voice came out rough and tinged with something that made Anakin's breath catch in his throat. But then just as quickly, Obi-Wan gave him a small smile, his voice clear once more, even dry and teasing.

“I hope that's alright with you.”

Anakin's answering smile was watery, but it could have lit up the entire galaxy anyhow.

[kakushigotofanclub]

Sanemi and Obanai have the most important character dynamic in KnY to me right now and I so badly want to write queerplatonic saneoba fic but I feel like my writing style depends so strongly on dialogue that I just can't do it because it would 100% be an unsaid thing. Like I envision their relationship would be something like...

'I hate everyone, but I can tolerate being around you. I might even. I might even LIKE being around you, actually. But there's no way in hell I'm gonna admit that, so we're just gonna pretend it's a coincidence we spend so much time together. We just happen to be in the same place all the time. But I'm not attached to you and I don't get worried about you or anything like that. At all. Ever. That would be stupid, so don't get any wrong ideas (but god just please be careful I don't know what I would do if I lost you.)'

You know. Like cats.

[yujeong]

Vegas rarely looks at himself in the mirror. While at the hospital he never took a glimpse of his reflection. He didn't think he'd be able to handle it, the rotten shell of the nothing he had become. There was no need, anyway. Pete was taking care of him, helping him dress and shave, even helped him brush his teeth once when the pain was so intense Vegas almost passed out. Now, their house doesn't have any mirrors. The bathroom has one hidden behind cupboards - no surprises for Vegas to stumble upon at night in his attempt at taking a piss, making a fool of himself as he crawls there, short of breath, his head pounding. Pete knows. Vegas doesn't know when he figured it out, but he sees it on Pete's gaze, on how he looks at him when he puts on clothes like an embarrassed teenager. Because he is embarrassed, of course he is. His skin pale, cold and ruined, nothing like what he saw after what happened at the auction: fire and smoke and a predator ready to pounce.

Snippet based on the prompt "Every time you look in the mirror, you see a different reflection."

[fanfic-lover-girl]

I can't stand hypocrites

Same user constantly crossposting using the anti tags. Not just for one post but basically all their Percabeth and Annabeth defence posts.

I have asked them to fix their tags, but I don't think they will update them. Talk about projection and hypocrisy.

[monstrsball]

Iwaizumi doesn't know what to think when he finds his boyfriend in the entry way of their apartment, soaked from head to toe and clutching his jacket to his chest.

"I'm home." Suga says with a sheepish grin while he clumsily tries to get his shoes off without using his hands.

“You’re soaked,” Iwaizumi frowns, pushing his wet bangs back out of his face and eyeing the barely noticeable trembling of his shoulders. “Why aren’t you-”

Suga’s jacket meows.

Suga frowns down at the jacket in his arms. “You were supposed to let me do the talking first.” He says lightheartedly, his words are met with another slightly more indignant meow.

“Koushi, we talked about this.” Iwaizumi says.

“It’s raining, Hajime. The poor thing was soaked, I couldn’t just leave her out there.” Suga says, his tone soft. “Can we just keep her here for tonight? Until it stops raining? And then I’ll take her to the shelter.”

Iwaizumi wants to stand firm but his resolve slowly melts away when he looks at the cat again. She’s shivering just as much as Suga, the now soaked jacket likely not helping her keep warm. She’s nuzzling into his chest in search of warmth and it tugs at Iwaizumi’s heartstrings. 

He glances back at the door to the balcony. Still raining. 

“Okay,” Iwaizumi relents. “She can stay for tonight. Until it stops raining.” 

He has a nagging feeling that ‘for tonight’ is going to turn into indefinitely but the pure joy lighting up Suga’s face distracts him from this fleeting thought. 

“Yeah, yeah. You need to get out of those clothes.” Iwaizumi reaches out to take the cat from Suga’s arms. She's oddly compliant for a stray. “I’ll dry her off and get her some food and water. I think we have some canned tuna in the cabinet.”

“Ooh,” Suga whistles, gently depositing the little tabby into Iwaizumi’s open arms. “You hear that, baby? He’s spoiling you.” He coos. 

“It’s the only thing we have,” Iwaizumi rolls his eyes, readjusting his grip once he has the cat safely in his arms. She nuzzles into the newfound warmth immediately.

[whitepeachrum]

The Sleepover

Fandom: Hetalia (personified) Pairing: Arthur x Kat (EngUkr/UkrEng) Content Length: Short (~1100 words) Note: Italicized words are French words written in English for optimal reading.

Kat’s eyes flew open as she heard the sound of a whimpering child calling out for his parent in the dead of night. Without hesitation, she hurried from the bedroom to see what was happening.

“Papaaa~,” Mattie sniffled and continued to cry in search of his father.

“Mattie buns, sweetheart. What’s the matter? Are you okay?” Kat knelt beside the sad child who had been wandering the halls with his blanket in tow. She rubbed his shoulders to try to comfort him as he hiccuped and whimpered.

“Papa!!!” he cried again, louder this time.

Kat scooped him up and gently rocked him, attempting to comfort him as best she could.

“It's alright, baby. I'm here with you. It's all going to be alright. Shhh.”

Arthur’s sleepy voice emerged from their bedroom doorway. “What's going on..?”

“I don't know yet. He keeps calling for Francis, so he’s probably missing him.”

“Makes sense,” Arthur grumbled.

“Don't worry, I got this taken care of,” Kat said, shooing him back to bed.

Arthur glanced at Mattie, whose crying had suddenly softened as Kat rhythmically patted his back and his thumb found its way to his mouth. Mattie knew he was a big boy now, but sucking his thumb still helped calm him down. And if that kept him calm for the night, the adults didn’t mind.

“You are quite loud this time of night, Matthew. Are you aware of the time? Boys your age should not be awake at this hour. It hinders their growth and well-being.” Mattie listened to Arthur monologue, sighing heavily as tears continued to stream down his cheeks like ants in a line.

“You know what? I think the glow-in-the-dark stars must’ve scared him,” Kat said aloud, grasping for an explanation as her mind raced.

“I don't think it was that, love.”

“Maybe the bed’s just uncomfortable for him...”

Arthur eyed Kat, monitoring her panicked state, then looked back at Matthew.

“He might’ve just had a nightmare. I don’t think there’s anything wrong about the guest room.”

“I don’t know…”

“Well, if you will need my help, just call me.”

“We’ll be fine, Arthur. Go get some sleep.”

“If you say so, I’ll get some shut eye,” Arthur said, returning back to bed.

“Okay, honey.”

Kat slowly walked over to the guest room where they had set up the bed for Mattie. She laid him down, then curled up beside him, pulling the blanket over them both and patting his back softly. Once settled, Mattie began to sniffle again.

“You must've gotten scared waking up alone like that,” she said gently.

“Papa…” Matthew’s voice cracked softly.

“I'm sorry, sweetheart. I won't do that again. I won’t leave you like that.”

Mattie looked at her. He didn’t understand everything she said, but her kindness was clear. She gave him snacks earlier in the day, spoke a little French like Papa did, and never raised her voice. She wasn’t Papa, but maybe he could find comfort in her presence. The sadness still lingered as he wished for a more familiar face.

“Kata…?”

“Yes, baby? What is it?”

“Will Papa come back…?”

“Papa…? Yes, he will come back tomorrow. You have to sleep, sleep, then Papa will come in the morning for pancakes. Okay? The morning.”

Kat brushed his golden locks away from his face to better see him and he nodded, not understanding her words, but understanding that his dad would come back for him. Maybe not now, but soon.

He sniffled, wiped his nose with his arm, and curled up tightly, inching closer to Kat to fall asleep to the comforting, steady thump of her heartbeat.

Kat hummed softly and continued patting his gentle little back until his breathing slowed and evened out.

“Phew…” she sighed quietly in relief. The sound of the floor creaking in the hallway let her know that Arthur was on his way to her. Seemed like no one was able to sleep well tonight.

“Love, are you asleep?” He whispered into the room. She lifted her head to look towards the door, inviting him closer. He walked up to her and found Mattie sleeping soundly, his blanket tucked around him.

“Looks like he's calmed down.”

“Yeah, a little bit. I'm going to spend the night with him to make sure he’s got someone by his side.”

“That's fine, love. I just wanted to check on you.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. His brow furrowed. “Are you crying?”

Kat’s lip quivered. “He must’ve been so afraid, Arthur,” she whispered, her voice tight with guilt.

“I suppose we should've left the light on in the corridor for him.”

“I should've stayed with him. I should’ve known it would be this hard on him.”

“Katherine, love, you can't possibly be by his side all the time. He is a growing boy. These are things he’ll need to learn to handle sooner or later.”

“But it's his first night away from his father.”

“He will understand soon.”

“Arthur… he's just a child.”

Arthur exhaled, seeing that his perspective on the matter wasn’t going to change Kat’s mind and starting an argument wouldn’t help. The best thing he could do now was let her do what she needed to feel better and support her however she needed it.

“Would you like me to stay with you too?”

“Oh, no. That’s alright. I'm just going to keep you up all night.”

“You’re going to do that either way,” he said. “I’d rather be with you.”

“Me too.” Kat shifted to make some room for Arthur. He slipped under the blanket, making sure Matthew stayed covered and undisturbed.

“Thank you,” Kat said softly.

“No need to thank me. We are having a sleepover after all, right?”

Kat gave a soft laugh, eyes still misty. She looked at Arthur, then at the boy curled between them, thumb tucked in his mouth, cheeks still damp but peaceful in sleep.

“I guess…” she murmured, brushing a hand gently over Mattie’s hair, “…we all just need someone by our side.”

“Of course we do, love. Silly things like glowing stars and comfortable beds don’t matter when you’re missing someone special.”

Kat smiled, giving Arthur’s hand a loving squeeze before falling into a sweet slumber, surrounded by her favorite people.

[missmungoe]

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 A lovely bouquet of flowers for the lady!

Still have a bunch of these in my inbox, and on the subject of Makino befriending powerful people by just being herself, here's a snippet from the next chapter of Salt Vows, which is next on my list after Put It on My Tab:

She’d lost track of how many days had passed since her arrest, the hours bleeding together and the world beyond the brig unchanged, tossing restlessly against the ship, in tandem with the contents of her stomach.

At least she wasn’t alone this time, although in terms of companionship, a taciturn Vice-Admiral wouldn't have been her first choice.

“And then they all join forces to crash the king's execution?”

Eyes closed in a vain attempt at not seeing how much the brig was tilting, “There’s a bit more build-up before that, but yes,” Makino said, her voice echoing hollowly inside the bucket in her lap.

“It's too easy,” Smoker said, leaning back against the bulkhead where he sat on his cot, his seastone cuffs in his lap. Unlike her, he didn't seem remotely bothered by the rough conditions. “How did they even get into the city?”

“Would suspending your disbelief enough to accept that they did be too much to ask?”

"I just don't buy how they all got past the guards."

"Neither did Ben, but I don't see either of you writing a bestseller," Makino muttered, and felt the pang of longing, but then in debating the plotholes of her favourite books, a fiercer adversary was hard to imagine, even if her current companion was quickly proving himself a worthy opponent.

Primly mutinous, she kept herself from reminding him that he was the one who'd asked, but figured the boredom had to be getting to him. At least talking kept her mind off her seasickness.

Then Smoker said, “At least it's not as bad as that amnesia story.”

Opening her eyes slowly, Makino looked at him through the bars, before saying calmly, "I will toss my puke bucket at you."

The corner of his mouth jutted. “If you could lift it in your state I’d consider that a legitimate threat.”

She might have proved him wrong, but whatever rebuttal she’d had ready, verbal or otherwise, was cut short as the ship rocked, and she bent over the bucket and retched.

[naffeclipse]

*Slithers to see crumbs of our favorite witch.*

ay yo a snake is watching me type

[nighthuntingclato]

au where cato is the male tribute in 75th instead of brutus if anyone is interested

[spoofymcgee]

"Clary, where are we going?" Jace asks for the tenth time–or maybe the hundredth, she stopped paying attention the second they got to the station and she had to sort out tickets.

"To the moon," she says, absentmindedly, scanning the digital list for the right stop. "In a big rocketship, we're going to find out if it's really made of cheese by trying to set it on fire."

He makes a derisive noise, slumping against the wall next to her like he's got no bones. "Come on, everyone knows humans can't actually go to the moon."

She pauses and turns towards him very, very slowly. "Excuse me?"

He holds her gaze for ten seconds and then loses it, hiking his shoulders up to his ears. "I'm kidding, I know about the moon landing. Simon showed me all the videos about Buzz Legstrong or whatever."

She squints at him and then shakes her head, going back to the screen. "The sooner I get this done the sooner I can pay attention to you instead."

"Or," he suggests, basically plastering himself around the frame of the ticket machine, "You could start doing that now, and we could go home and you could do that all day. I'm much more handsome than the little stick guy there, and I can buy you a smoothie from the kiosk."

She snorts. "You mean I can buy you one. Anyway, Mister," she peers at the little animated name tag, "Tracks? God, where's the creativity. Whatever. Mr Tracks can get me tickets to the special surprise I put a lot of effort into arranging for you, so I think I'm good."

Jace wilts, and then peels himself off the wall to wrap his arms around her waist and look at the processing screen. "Clary."

"What would your astronaut name be?" she asks him, not acknowledging the point of his chin digging into her collarbone.

"My name isn't good enough?"

"Not for going into space it isn't," she says, just in time for the machine to ding and spit out two freshly printed tickets. "I'm thinking... Blondie McBabeface."

He hums, consideringly. "That's not bad. Maybe I should start introducing myself like that."

"Or I can just call you Sweetcheeks and call it a day," she suggests, and can more or less hear him smirk.

"You know what else is sweet," he starts, and she slaps a hand over his mouth, cramming her fingers into it to jab into his hard palate to stop him. It gets them probably an equally strange look from the little old grandma waiting in the next line, but at least she doesn't have to hear anything other than his gurgling sounds.

"Moving on," she says, and drags him off to the gate. "Come on, stop complaining. I've got M&Ms in my bag if we make the train on time."

A bad idea as it turns out, because she always forgets how fast Jace can run. She makes him wait until she gets her water bottle out to ice her shoulder before handing them over.

[blackrosesandwhump]

As the light dims outside the small, high window of your cell, you curl up tighter in the corner, clutching the thin blanket to you, and wonder if you’ll ever get out. No, your mind answers. Yes, says your heart. You have to get out, one day; you have no choice. You have to get out, no matter what it takes. And what it might take could very well destroy you, but that doesn’t matter, because you will also be destroyed if you stay.

That’s how it works, in here.

[plushri-moved]

animanga blog: @springandchocolat / @hazzabeast is my cat

standard dni, no bigots

[admin-courtneys-corner]

{Tabitha said it was scary, creepy, and to not do it- but she’s always done this ever since she was a little girl, it’s how she skyrocketed in her classes, her tendency to hyper focus in on things is how she’s always lived her life, Leader Maxie praises her ability, praises her dedication, praises her. So it must be good, it had to be. If Leader Maxie liked it then she’s doing something right.}

{But then why is she so…lonely. Why doesn’t anyone talk to her, why is she pushing people away without even trying, why does it seem everyone can see through her like a window; why do they run with their tails between their legs the second she tried to play nice and be friendly.}

{She’s not normal, she knows that. But she doesn’t know what normal is.}

[whitepeachrum]

Busy Mornings and Bunny Ears

Fandom: Hetalia (personified) Pairing: Arthur x Kat (EngUkr/UkrEng) Content Length: Short (~1100 words) (This snippet focuses primarily on Arthur as a dad.)

“Daddy?”

“Yes, my lovely?”

“Can you do my hair?”

“You’d like me to do your hair today?” Arthur looks down at his daughter, surprised at her last minute request.

“Yeah!”

”Alright, but we’ll have to make it quick. I’m running a bit late today.”

Arthur lifts his little girl up and sits her on the bathroom counter in front of the mirror. He grabs a brush and goes to brush her hair and she pipes up.

“Daddy no! I want curly!!”

“We can do curly when there’s more time, but today we have to be neat. You have to look proper for school.”

“I want-! I want your hair.”

“My hair?” He chuckles at her naivety. “You don’t want my hair. It’s messy. I can’t even brush it sometimes. See?” He tries to brush his hair and pretends the comb gets stuck in there. Thanks to the gel, it did actually get stuck. He pulls it out and wipes the residue off with a towel.

“But you…” She takes a breath, fumbling over words she wanted to say, but did not have the speed for, “Why do you go to work with bad hair?”

“Oh, I don’t need to make friends at work, I already have them. But for school you have to. You want to make a good impression, right?”

“Yeah..”

“So, you have to look presentable.”

“Okay..” She seems bummed by the idea that she couldn’t look like her dad today. She totally would’ve loved to have fun hair like him.

“So, what kind of style would you like to do today?” He takes the comb and gently brushes her hair, making sure to get the knots out with ease and then looks at his pouty girl in the mirror.

“I want curly..”

“Tell you what. Since we can’t do curly right now, I’ll give you a couple of options. We can do some braids, we can do some ponytails, and we can do just clips.”

“I want ponytails. And clips.”

“We can do that. Two ponytails?”

She nods.

“Up here or in the back?” Arthur gives her an idea of what she might want.

“On top.” She points to the top of her head and he gives her a kiss on the top of her head.

“Alright. Why don’t you pick out which hair ties you want and then we can add some clips.”

“Daddy, can I wear all the clips?”

“You want all of them?”

“Yeah!”

“I can only promise a couple because we have to be quick today. Tomorrow, we can do whatever style you’d like, okay?”

“Okay!”

Arthur evenly divides up her hair down the middle and brushes out each side. It's a good thing their daughter ended up with Kat’s easy-to-work-with hair. If they had to work with his messy hair in this short amount of time, mornings like these probably would’ve started and ended with meltdowns. Luckily, they have both been patient with him and, because of that, he was more than happy to help where he could.

“Are you excited for school today?”

“Yeah..” She says with almost no enthusiasm.

“Yeah? What are you excited for?”

“Recess time when I get to play with my friends.”

“Oh, recess time is a fun time. What do you play with your friends?”

“We play dragons and princesses. And hopscotch. And sometimes, when it’s raining, we watch a movie inside. I hope it rains again today.” The younger sat and said whatever came to mind first as she focused on picking out her favorite clips from the box.

“Is that so? No wonder you like school so much. What about classes? Anything fun?”

“Daddy!!” She whines as she witnesses his work in the reflection.

“What? What??” Arthur pulls his hands away from her, thinking he accidentally hurt her.

“You made them different!” She pouts at him.

“Didn’t you want them on top?”

“Yeah, but not like that..”

“Did you want them to be like bunny ears?”

“Yeah..”

“Ohh, I’m sorry, my love. I’ll fix that for you.” He sighs to himself. He should’ve woken up earlier when his first alarm rang.

She watches him fix his mistake then goes back to picking out the clips. “I want these!”

“Alright. Hold onto them and I’ll put them on for you.”

“Daddy, I like..” She took another breath, wiping a stray hair out of her mouth. “I like bunnies.”

“Bunnies are nice. I like bunnies too. Especially this one right here.”

She giggles and corrects him. “I’m not a bunny! I’m a girl!”

“I thought you were a bunny with these cute little floppy ears.” He shakes her pigtails in alternating directions and she laughs at it again, then turns to him to correct him.

“No, THESE are my ears,” she points to them.

“Let me see,” Arthur leans down and tries to wiggle them back and forth. “By jove! You’re right! You’re not a bunny at all. How could I make such a careless mistake? Silly me.” He boops her nose and she cutely scrunches it the way a bunny’s nose does. “Ready for the clips?”

“Yeah!”

“Alright. Let me see what you picked out.”

“I want these!”

“Oh, look at this variety.” She loves animals, so it was no surprise she wanted to wear the clips with the animals on them. Lately, she’s been loving the cute and cuddly animals like bunnies and bears. The fuzzier, the better. Arthur figured she’s soon going to transition into liking llamas or sheep, since she was more interested in curly textures lately.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, my love?”

“Is Uncle Al going to come to my dance?”

“Do you want him to come?”

“Yeah!”

“Sure, we can have him come. But you will have to ask him yourself if he can come. Hopefully, he’s not busy then.” He carefully inspects the symmetry of the clips on both sides of her head and readjusts a couple that seem wonky to him.

“Okay! I wanna ask him now.”

“You can ask him after school when he comes to pick you up, alright? So, what do you think?” The little girl looks at her hair, moving her head left and right as her pigtails follow her. “You like it?”

“Yeah,” she smiles. He nods, his masterpiece complete. “Thank you, Daddy.”

“You’re very welcome, love.” Arthur looks at his watch, noting that even though he managed to do her hair in record time, he is still running late. “Alright, let’s get going. Mommy said she’s driving us today, so we’re going to have to lock the door before we leave, okay?”

He lifts her off the bathroom counter and onto the floor. “Go ahead and put your shoes on. I’m right behind you.”

“Yay!” She sprints over to put her shoes on, excited for another morning where she gets to go to school with a cute hairstyle, fun clips, and all her favorite people.

[softservesoymilk]

Why is my heart beating so fast for 😐 like? Are you a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog? No? So leave me alone 😞