#ya know relieve any of that anxiety

[spookberry]

Idiot to Idiot communication

[diazsdimples]

Fuck It Friday!!

Tagged by the ever wonderful @theotherbuckley and @wikiangela 💙

Finally got more of the Eddie/Buck first meeting done! Hope you enjoy!

Buck lets his eyes travel over Eddie again (listen, the guy is hot and he just hugged Buck, he’s only human) and it’s then that he notices the LAFD Fire Academy logo on the back of his shirt. In the back of his head, he can hear Carrie’s voice excitedly saying, “his Daddy’s gonna be a firefighter too!”. “H-hey, are you at the academy?” Buck asks, twisting his fingers with a sudden wave of anxiety. Eddie quirks an eyebrow, which looks, frankly, adorable. “Yeah, why?” “Well I – uh – I just finished my probationary year with the 118 and was thinking if you ever needed any help, with like training or whatever, that I’d be happy to lend a hand?” Buck’s got no idea why his heart rate has suddenly ratcheted up in pace, but then Eddie looks at him with a sort of tentative hopefulness, as if he’s deciding if he allows himself to accept help for the first time in his life, and Buck’s stomach does some very unhelpful backflips. “You’re in the LAFD?” Eddie asks, “with the 118?” His brows furrow and Buck’s heart catches in his throat. Is this weird? Is Buck being too much? Eddie looks like he’s thinking and then suddenly his face clears, a grin breaking through and he points at Buck. “Wait a second, you’re Buckley?” It’s definitely not what Buck was expecting, and he stands there dumbfounded for a second before finding his voice. “Uh, yeah?” he says eloquently. Eddie tips back his head and laughs, and Buck’s more confused than ever. “Oh man, you’ve got quite the reputation at the academy Buck” Eddie chuckles. Buck’s pretty sure his brain has been replaced with a family of small crickets. A reputation? Doing what? He nervously thinks back to his early days with the 118, of how he’d steal fire trucks to sleep with women (hey, he couldn’t exactly bring them home, right? And a man has… urges) and wonders if that managed to trickle its way down to the academy. “Uh,” he laughs nervously, “what do you mean by a reputation? I didn’t –“ “You’ve got like, all the records on the scenarios and exercises, man, I’m constantly trying to beat them, but I just can’t get there. And now I know you did all that whilst also being a single father? Jesus.” The way Eddie’s looking at Buck, almost with a sort of reverence, is absolutely insane. He’s hugely relieved that Eddie wasn’t about to bring up his old nickname of “firehose” (coined by one of the other academy members after catching him in the showers with one of the guest speakers) and if he’s totally honest, just a tiny bit smug that no one else has managed to beat his records. “Well, ya know, work hard, reap the rewards, right?” he replies, instantly realising that he sounds like a cocky ass. “Right, right,” Eddie says distractedly, pulling out his phone. He looks back up at Buck, hesitating for a second, before stretching out his phone to him. “Hey do you think I could maybe get your number? I just – I could probably do with a bit of help with my certification tests, and if Christopher and Carrie are going to be friends then it might be –“ “Of course!” Buck grabs Eddie’s phone, maybe a little eagerly, and keys in his number. He contemplates setting his nickname to “Sexy Firefighter Dad” but decides against it. Makes him feel too old anyway, that’s something Bobby would go by. When he finally hands Eddie’s phone back to him, he’s blushing furiously. It’s been years since someone asked for his number for anything other than sexual. “Thanks man,” Eddie says appreciatively and Buck waves him off. “No problem. Who knows, we might end up real close.” He winks cheekily and is delighted to see Eddie’s cheeks pink up a little.

tagging @daffi-990 @watchyourbuck @hippolotamus @cal-daisies-and-briars @puppyboybuckley @disasterbuckdiaz @thewolvesof1998 @rainbow-nerdss @spotsandsocks @jesuisici33 @fortheloveofbuddie @wildlife4life @evanbegins @buckbuckgoose @bucksbackwardcap @exhuastedpigeon @tizniz @smilingbuckley @housewifebuck @steadfastsaturnsrings @slightlyobsessedwitheverything @nmcggg and anyone else who wants to join

[sunonyoreface]

He Knows - Simon “Ghost” Riley Pt. 15

An: Took a bit of a break to work on my school stuff, thanks for your patience and understanding! If you can't tell from this chapter, I really missed Soap. Lots of angst to come ;)

Hi there, this is a series about Simon Riley from COD. This series does not follow any of the established plots or timelines from the games. While I use the names of some characters, they are different from the ones in COD.

Summary: You’re held captive by 141 for reasons unknown.

Word count: 3700

Pairing: Simon “Ghost” Riley x Reader

Warnings: 18+, nsfw, angst, military setting, explicit language, graphic depictions of violence, use of guns.

Soap’s arm brushes against mine as we make our way to an unexpected meeting called by Captain Price. He’s the only stability I have right now. My joints feel weak and unnatural as they carry me through the corridor.

As soon as Ghost landed the helicopter in Ludza, I was ushered off and escorted to a solitary room somewhere deep within the base by a group of men I didn’t recognize. That was yesterday. This morning I’d never been so relieved to see Soap.

He says something along the lines of “It's been dunky's since I last saw ya,” and while I don’t have the slightest idea what he means, I’m just glad it’s him.

His right forearm is wrapped in gauze and looks like it’s supposed to be in a sling. Maybe it was in one for a day or so before he grew irritated from the lack of mobility and tore it off. I don’t know if the new injury is from his previous mission or the attack by the Ultranationalists, but I’m smarter than to ask about it right away.

“So, why did Price call a meeting?” I ask.

“Not sure, but it’s important enough for my whole schedule to change,” There’s something different about his voice.  I’m not sure if he’s annoyed or relieved. Maybe neither. Maybe he’s almost as concerned as I am.

The part of the building we’re in is underground. Most of the base is. It’s an eerie feeling knowing that if something went wrong, we’d be trapped down here. But this base is newer and better equipped than the last one. I get the impression that they use Latvia as their main base because it’s closer to Russia. Closer to the Ultranationalists. But I can only speculate. Maybe this is nothing compared to their other compounds.

I can’t stop thinking about Simon – Ghost – I don’t know what to call him. It’s like the names belong to two different people and I never know which one I’m about to encounter. One is reluctantly vulnerable, damaged, caring, and tender. He yearns for more. While the other… is, something else entirely. Ghost is cold and industrial, the perfect killing machine whose all stoicism and no emotional interference. There’s an indifference present with Ghost: he’s witnessed and partaken in so much violence, so much heartbreaking cruelty that every other human emotion is out of reach. They are two sides of the same coin.

I toss a quarter in my mind and pray it lands on tails. I catch it in one hand and flip it onto my palm. Soap opens the office door as I reveal its face: heads.

Dark eyes peer out from behind that damn skull mask. He stands just beside the entrance while Price leans against a table. The only thing on its surface is a clunky, black laptop.

“Sir,” Soap nods to each of them as I duck my head and follow in behind him. The last time this happened, everything changed forever.

“Sit down, y/n,” I know it’s going to be bad when Price skips the small talk. I feel my blood pressure rising. My neck is warm and my cheeks flush. I sit on the foldable chair directly in front of him. The brim of his hat dips as he looks down at me, still leaning against the table. Soap takes his place at the other side of the door opposite Ghost. Their eyes on me heighten my anxiety. “Take a breath darling, you look about ready to fall over.”

A weak, nervous laugh bubbles from my chest. I try and relax my shoulders but I think we both know this is as good as it’s going to get.

“I’d like to thank you for alerting us to the Ultranationalist’s plan, it greatly improved our reaction time. Probably saved some lives,” Price says, but in my mind drifts to the others that were lost as a consequence. “But for our sake, I need to know everything that prisoner told you.”

So I tell him. I like Price and he’s always been decent toward me, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared of him. Ghost didn’t plan this thing alone. He’s had a hand in everything I’ve endured and has less of an inclination than Ghost to trust me. I don’t know a lot about the English military, but I know his rank means something. He holds power. If he wanted me to disappear, I would without a trace.

As I talk about the things the prisoner said I hear a few grumbles behind me from Soap. I look predominantly at Price but cast a few glances at Ghost who breaks eye contact every time. His actions are far from reassuring.

“Fucking knew there was a mole,” Soap’s voice is bitter with distaste. Ghost shifts as he casts a warning glare in his direction. My mouth feels dry after talking so much.

“Not now, Sergeant,” Price cautions him. This is the kind of discussion I can’t hear. For all they know I’m the mole.

“Sorry, sir.”

“Y/n there’s one other matter we need to discuss,” his attention turns to me. I feel Ghost’s eyes intensify as he watches my reactions. Did he say anything? My heart skips a beat. The inside of my cheek throbs as I nervously bite down on the flesh. Surely he wouldn’t. Right? But their bond runs much deeper than anything he and I had for that single night. When it comes down to me or Price, Ghost would choose him a thousand times over.

Maybe he did say something. What happens then?

I look from Ghost who refuses to make eye contact to Price who won’t look away. He knows.

“It has to do with information discussed at the safe house,” breathing becomes incredibly difficult. My hands clench into fists. Deny everything. Nothing happened. Nothing.

“Okay,” I sound guilty. I sound treasonous. Ready to be put down by a firing squad.

“Lieutenant Riley said you expressed an interest in viewing our tapes of several Ultranationalist attacks,” Relief washes over me as my shoulders sink into the chair. Ghost didn’t tell him. “Specifically the ones involving your father.”

My eyes lock onto Price. His words spin around in my head and part of me refuses to believe I heard him correctly.

“My father?” Swallowing feels impossible. My throat is sandpaper the whole way down. My head is light and a sudden gust of wind could blow me away like a tumbleweed.

“Affirmative,” he uncrosses his arms to brace his hands along the table. “I have them here,” he tilts his head, motioning to the laptop. I look between him and Ghost who finally makes eye contact with me. He wasn’t lying. There really are videos.

My head starts to shake. “I don’t-“

“It’ll make what I have to say next a lot easier,” Price interrupts. What he has to say next? What’s next? What’s worse than this? How could watching my own flesh and blood commit a heinous crime make whatever he is going to say easier? My stomach turns.

“Okay,” I mumble. My hands are being forced. I don’t want to see whatever footage he has.

“Right then,” He moves away from the table to log onto the computer. Already pulled up, ready to play, is surveillance footage of an Ultranationalist attack. “This was in France. Nine months ago. At a soup kitchen.”

Price clicks play and I watch the scene unfold below. A group of armed men dressed as soldiers enter a packed building with people in line for food and sitting at rows of tables. The camera catches the back of their heads. Sewn to their shoulders is the identifying patch underneath the Russian flag. They line the walls and a staff member starts to approach just as they open fire on the crowd. Two minutes of chaos ensue until every single person is riddled with bullet holes. I feel the bile creep up the back of my throat as I sit there completely stunned at what I’m witnessing. It can’t be real. It can’t be.

As the dust dies down, the line of men turns to exit the building. It’s now the camera narrows in on their faces. Their unmasked faces. Not a single man is trying to hide his identity. No. They’re proud of what they just did. I recognize him immediately, even at a distance and in a uniform completely unfamiliar to me. The man leading the group is undeniably my father.

Devastation snags my jaw like a left hook and I feel my face start to crumple under the pressure. What the fuck. It’s real. It’s too real. The first tear falls and I quickly wipe it away, but I know they saw. I can’t stop my head from shaking. I can’t believe he would do something like that. The same man who raised me. Who I thought was so kind.

“Next one also took place in France. South this time,” Price’s voice remains calm. I feel ashamed. I feel dirty from his actions.

I watch three more videos of similar attacks. In the final one, there’s a closeup of the men involved. It’s the first time I’ve seen my father with a beard, but it’s still him through and through. My own flesh and blood. How could a man do something so horrifying? How could he justify his actions?

My stomach turns and I fight the urge to throw up. Full-body tremors take over my weak frame. I wrap my arms around myself in a small attempt to find comfort. I hate the fact that they see me in such a state. I’ve never felt so vulnerable in front of a group of people before. Let alone a group actively hunting down my family. If I can even call him that.

I wish I was back in that cabin, wrapped in Simon’s arms. He’s known this whole time. He tried to warn me.  If only I knew how bad it was going to get.

“It’s a lot,” Price starts. “Which is why I’m going to let you sleep on my next question.”

I nod, still staring at the floor.

“Will you help us lure him out?” I should’ve seen this coming. That’s what this has all been about. Using me to get to my father, maybe even Makarov. Ghost said so himself. But now they want me directly involved. Why?

“I don’t know,” I mumble.

“Think about it,” Price’s answer is short and to the point. He’ll give me time, but his patience is limited.

“Will you kill him?” my voice wavers. It’s a brave question, but I’m not brave enough for Price’s answer.

“That’s up to him,” his voice is resolute. The ambiguity of his answer is anything but reassuring. “That’ll be all for now. We’ll reconvene in the morning. Soap, she’s to stay in her quarters for the rest of the day.”

“Yes sir,” I feel his good arm on my upper back guiding me out of the room before I even realize what’s going on. In the hall, his hand rubs reassuring circles between my shoulder blades. “Do ya want food?”

“No,” I sniffle. I need to get it together before we pass the cafeteria full of men. “Thanks,” I mutter through a deep breath as I wipe my eyes for the last time. I find myself leaning into his touch. There’s a softness to Soap that’s too easy to get attached to.

My eyes are swollen, but at least I’ve stopped crying. Exhaustion seeps into my joints. Just walking feels strenuous.

“Still on babysitting duty, Suds?” a vaguely familiar voice taunts from across the room. A blond man in full gear leans against the entrance to the dining hall. He’s speaking to Soap, but his eyes never leave me. Chills run down my spine.

“Shut up ya fucking latrine queen, I don’t have time for your shite right now,” Soap shifts to my other side, placing some distance between myself and this man. He urges me to walk with a gentle hand but my feet start to slow.

“You know,” suddenly his voice doesn’t sound so vague. It’s the same man from the transportation van. The one who made crude comments toward us. The same one Ghost shut up by pulling rank. “Rumor has it you knew about the ambush.” The man raises his hand to point at me. Guilt swells in my chest.

There are only the three of us in the hall connecting the offices, cafeteria, and sleeping quarters, yet I’m afraid someone else will hear his accusations.

“Friday shouldn’t have gone down like that,” any previous teasing tone is gone. There’s real anger behind his words. “Our men died because of you,” I freeze at his words. The overwhelming feeling in my chest starts to spill over. Death follows me everywhere. He’s right. They died because of me. Others are still in the infirmary. Because of me.

Does he see my father when he looks at me? Is that what they all see? A contorted excuse for a human, twisted to the extent even mirrors don’t recognize?

Overwhelming anxiety and despair push me to the edge. I feel the tears threaten to fall again. I can’t let him see me cry. I won’t give him the satisfaction.

My feet take off sprinting down the closest hall, toward the sleeping quarters. My heart thunders in my ears, drowning out the sound of Soap calling after me. I don’t care. I need to get away from here. They blame me. They all blame me.

The empty corridor is lined with doors that blur as I run past them. Each leads to a room with a single twin bed. But no one’s here. Downtime isn’t for another while. I don’t know where I’m going. Anywhere. It doesn’t matter I just need to get away. Panic and adrenaline course through my veins. Tears cloud my vision and I can barely see.

When I hit the black object, It initially feels like a wall: hard and unmovable. But then his arms constrict around my torso, trapping me against his chest. I try and push off him which causes his grip to tighten even more. My mind flashes back to that night he held my arm so hard it bruised.

“How did you-”

“Where’s Soap?” Ghost’s unmistakable voice thunders in my ear. He sounds pissed. I blink away the newest tears. My emotions feel scrambled. His fingers press into my flesh. Ghost knows he has me. He doesn’t need to be this rough.

“Simon, you’re hurting me,” my throat is sore as my voice cracks.

His breathing falters and immediately the pressure is lifted. Ghost’s hands clench into fists at his side. I don’t know who he’s angry with anymore. Me, Soap, or himself? Part of me still fears him. Of what he’s capable of. Despite it, I don’t step away. I missed the heat of his chest seeping into my own. I want to feel the tenderness he’s capable of.

He sighs, collecting himself for another moment before speaking again. “Why are you running in the halls by yourself?” Ghost’s voice is significantly softer, but I don’t miss the urgency still present. A large hand brushes down my arm. It’s the only comfort I’ll get for days.

“I left him,” I mumble, refusing to make eye contact.

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” I lie. The huff of his chest tells me he knows I’m lying. But there’s no time for him to push further. Feet thunder down the hall as the thick Scottish accent echoes off the walls.

“For fucks sake y/n,” Soap is audibly annoyed, but it’s only surface deep. “You can’t just run off.”

“Sorry,” the words tumble from my mouth. I hate this. I hate all the attention. All the expectations. Having to be on my best behaviour. The lack of freedom. All of it.

“What happened,” Ghost inches away from me as he turns his attention to Soap.

“I took care of it,” his thick words jumble together when he’s out of breath, but Ghost is used to it. What does he mean by “took care of it?”

“Is this something I have to tell Price?”

“Nah, shouldn’t be a problem again,” there’s a slyness to his tone. Soap tucks his hands into the side of his vest and it's now that I notice the red swelling at his knuckles. I watch Ghost’s eyes flicker down to the same spot.

“Right then,” he looks between the two of us. “I need to talk to you later,” Soap nods, seemingly already on the same page. Ghost casts one last glance my way before taking off. Conflict brews in the eyes beneath the skull mask. We need to talk. Question is, when? There’s a strange expression furrowed between Soap’s brows as he watches the interaction. One almost of suspicion.

I get an entire room to myself. I feel spoiled by this most basic accommodation. A twin bed, dresser, toilet, and sink. Like a luxurious jail cell. No windows. Not this deep underground. But at least there’s privacy. Tired feet drag their way toward the mattress.

Soap leans against the doorframe, bright blue eyes closely following my figure.

“What happened out there?” his voice is soft as he reaches for the door, slowly pulling it closed behind him. My eyes flicker from his to the swollen knuckles wrapped around the handle. My brain is foggy. His actions are slightly ambiguous. Does he mean today? Or at the safe house? The door silently latches into place as he blocks the only exit. What does he know?

“Out where?” I force myself to maintain eye contact. My hands nervously fist the comforter.

“The safe house,” Soap’s head tilts as he examines my reaction.

People are quick to dismiss Soap because of his openness towards others. He’s kind and doesn’t expect anything in return. There’s no hidden ulterior motive behind his actions. Johnny is simply a good person. And I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t done the same thing.

But his kindness, his ability to connect with others makes him better at reading people than the rest of the task force. Next to Ghost, Soap is who you have to be so damn careful around. He’s been right there beside Ghost for more interrogations than I can count. But they’re not always bloody and violent. Sometimes they’re soft. Sometimes they’re done by someone you thought you could trust. The right interrogator will caress your cheek and wipe your tears as they coax exactly what they need from your swollen lips. Soap knows exactly how to get information from different types of people. He is dangerous. I can’t let my guard slip around him. He’ll know.

“What do you mean?” I ask, crawling further onto the bed to rest against the wall. I need to stay composed. For a moment I was certain Ghost didn’t tell Price, but I didn’t even consider Soap. They’re closer than anyone else on the task force. Their secrets have to run deep. Chances are he could know already but wants me to confirm it. Or Ghost lied to him and he caught on. What if my story doesn’t match his?

“He’s barely spoken a word since you returned. Something’s up,” Soap steps away from the door, cautiously closing in on the distance between him and the bed. I scan his face just as carefully as he does mine. But I lack the years of experience and training that he has. All I have is my gut. And right now I don’t know what’s the truth and what’s a lie.

“Nothing happened,” I attempt, but it’s apparent my words don’t take when Soap starts to shake his head.

“I don’t wanna do that with ya,” his voice is reserved as he crosses his arms. Nerves start to crawl their way back up my spine. Every part of me feels on edge.

“He was angry I didn’t say anything about the Ultranationalists before the attack,” I mirror him, folding my arms across my chest. It’s true. Just not the whole truth.

I watch as he processes my words. As his eyes narrow and his brows pull closer together. Soap’s sharp jaw angles down as he considers his next words. Something is eating away at him.

“Did he do anything?” I don’t hide the confusion stemming from his quiet words. What would he do? Why is that the first thing that comes to his mind?

“No,” It slips from my mouth in a rush, but I catch myself. “Well, we fought, but that’s it.” The sigh that escapes his chest is heavy and his stance remains closed off. I don’t know if he buys it. “It’s fine. Really. Soap I’m sick of talking about this. I know I fucked up. Every damn thing I do out here is a fuck up. Can we just leave it at that? Please?” I quickly wipe at the stray tear that escapes.

“Don’t talk like that lass,” Soap’s shoulders soften as he uncrosses his arms. His feet risk another step forward, but then he stops. Something about his expression is pained. His hand twitches at his side like he wants to reach out and comfort me. My mind drifts to how it would feel to have his strong arms wrapped around my frame, how safe it would feel…

Soap reigns himself in. He knows he’s tiptoeing the line of his assigned duties.

“Can I get you anything from the cafeteria?” He retreats into safer territory.

“No,” I sniffle. “Thanks.”

The heavy Steel-toed boots thud along the floor. “I’ll drop off a plate,” Soap says as he closes the door behind him. The loud clank of the lock rattles throughout the room. The fog clouding my thoughts mutes the aching betrayal throughout my body, eventually lulling me to sleep.

My father planned the murder of hundreds of people. Innocent people. Mothers and children. Refugees trying to build a better life for themselves. Vulnerable civilians unable to stand up for themselves. All for what? Political gain? What kind of a sick bastard views mass murder as a tool for power? I can’t believe I’ve been so clueless. Maybe he does deserve to die. Maybe we both do.

I don’t notice the plate of food sitting on the empty dresser the next time the door opens. Something else snags my attention.

My sleepy eyes narrow in on the dark, ominous shadow looming in the corner of my room.

Someone is here.

Pt 16:

[brainr0t-landfill]

🌃 Mercurial

ghoap x male reader

Chapter Four: Nausea

"I will poison all your happy times, I will love you like the ashes in my cigarette box."

-The Crane Wives, Tounges and Teeth

(money insecurity, unhealthy relationship, implied homelessness, anxiety)

The on the road life is better suited for you, you feel more secure with the peeling, old wallpapers of whichever hotel you end up in than the walls you had painted with Johnny the beds reeking of mildew feel more familiar than the wide warm one you used to share with them.

Faces forgotten before you can commit them to memory, places gone with nothing to mourn them by, nightly vigels to the best thing that ever happened to you spent anxiously looking out foggy windows for any silhoutte resembling theirs, listening for uniform footsteps louder than an earthquacke and as familiar as the little compartment you've sewn in your backpack, containing a new ID, fake passoport ,ever-changing burner phones and your unstable money supply.

You're in your element when no one knows you, when people don't commit your face to memory, when they're ingenuine and changing. it's familiar and homey when you know every escape route and every card in the deck, it's not so familiar too with the ever present threat of being found breathing down your neck, you know too well how attached they are and how many strings they have to pull, you've seen it firsthand.

Even then you can't blame them, they fell for someone they thought was good and from this distance it's easier then ever to paint yourself as the villan, the one who stirred the water when all was well, pushed buttons he knew he shouldn't have pushed, tested boundaries that had been set in stone when they were finnaly comfortable, when all was finnaly well.

It started out small, just a way to relieve your tension, just a way to adjust and get some breathing room;

It was the small ritualistic details you started neglecting at first, not stocking the pantry, keeping the house messy before they came home from deployments, not kissing them goodnight or goodbye. They didn't get mad, they didn't even notice, John stepped up readily when you neglected the house and Simon happily went out for groceries whenever you 'forgot', and that set you off worst. The little things you'd built your life, your place in the relationship around where unimportant to them, just something someone else could do without much fuss.

Then it was keeping the door unlocked on the night you knew they'd be coming home, sleeping on the couch by yourself with the excuse of 'feeling smothered', going out and not telling them whene you were going or when you'd be back knowing you were leaving then anxious and frazzled worried for your safety and nothing else, they were good, too good for somone like you. So good that Simon sat you down and explained that he understood you needed some space and that them being gone one day and then then being so present and loud could be hard to get used to.

"Me 'n Johnny just want ya safe angel."

Simon and that understanding smile on his face, always considerate and understanding to the people he loved like a wise parent lecturing a misbehaving yet well meaning child. You spat in the face of that.

"You both are overreacting Si, I know y'all got this skewed view of the world because the military n shit but I'm an adult, I don't need bodyguards."

His face fell, John turned around momentarily to check on the conversation.

"It's not like that, 'n you should know by now. We love you, we want you safe, you're the one with the skewed view and if you keep this bullshit up there's gonna be reprucussions-"

"Simon."

John cut in walking over to the kitchen table and giving him a look, Simon deflated running a hand over his face and you felt the familiar pain of being a disappointment, of misguiding and upsetting. It was wose when you know you love them and do it anyway knowing the things they'd been through.

"Sorry.."

You mumble, his dark eyes soft as they met yours. His bare hands clasped on his lap, he's rubbing his own knuckles.

"Jus' - jus' be safe yeah? Take care o' yourself when we can't, keep our heads clear? For us, angel."

You nodded knowing full well that despite your guilt you had found a nerve and you weren't the good person you had cruelly convinced them you were. You revealed in uncertainties and tension, you hadn't been anywhere this long since your teenage years when you got kicked out. You weren't deserving of this care, this love so you were doing the right thing driving them away or perhaps you just liked being cared for in such avident and raw way either way you were dead weight at best and a parasite at worst.

The tension rose when you kept doing it, John was the first to snap when you introduced them as your friends to some work acquaintances. He broke down, screamed raw and bloody, punched a wall and pulled out his hair as Simon desperately tried to play mediator.

"How could ye?! How fucking could ye, you ungrateful, lying cunt!"

John screamed as you stood leaning against the wall his knuckles were still kissed white and bleeding from the hole they had left in the drywall. His aquamarine eyes squinted and wet, his breaths quick and shallow like a wounded bird.

"We live together! We sleep in the same god damn bed, that's my sweater on ye back, 'n ye sit there and call us your mates?! Yer buddies?! I swear to fucking god ye better have brain damage or I wi-"

Simon grabbed him by the shoulders before he could go on any further. You understood why he was mad, he had opened his heart out to someone he had trusted for so long not knowing he was a snake in the grass, he wanted his love, his safe space, his importance in your life validated especially after all the anxiety you had put them both through with your planned recklessness.

And you broke, in retrospect it could have been so much better if you hadn't, maybe then you'd have some resentfull exs instead of this manhunt with every card stacked against you.

You sobbed, apologized over and over again, promised you'd be better, promised you'd behave, you loved them, you really loved them, the pain in Johnny's voice was unlike anything you'd seen and you meant it too. You didn't wanna be stranded and drifting again, by yourself in the world.

"Ye know we won't ever let ye go angel, promise."

You broke your promises time and time again, they snapped and you broke, but guilt wasn't enough to scratch this constant itch under your skin. Waiting, salivating for when they finnaly got fed up with you like everyone else, it enraged you when they didn't.

Shit hit the fan when you spent two nights at a friend's house and kept your phone on silent, came home with her perfume spritzed on your neck, then you ended up in the cabin and realized some bonds had to be severed phisicaly.

So here you are now, in the roadie lifestyle you're used to, overgrown beard and bloodshot eyes, feet bloody and swollen in your shoes, always cold, always tired, never quite clean. Walking home with a measly paycheck in your pocket and TV dinner in a shopping bag, you're always tense, always on edge knowing full well they've most likely moved on, hopefully.

Life on the road isn't as secure as it used to be, not when their love made you soft and comfortable.

You miss warm beds, you miss a stable job and your warm clean home but most importantly you miss them, you miss them like an amputated limb, like you can reach out and feel the muscles hanging loose, the veins burst and drooling where you hacked them off; it's easier to deal with when you remind yourself people like you don't deserve things like that.

You're just outside your hotel rooms door when some primal, animal instinct straightens your spine, something isn't right.

You look inside from the windows check inside, your measly possessions are all where they ought to be, just when you're about to close to door you see them.

Footsteps, on the snow, big, bigger than yours and deep, pure snow filthied by mud somone tried to cover them up but they're still there.

You can't tell if they're combat boots that John favoured or the hiking shoes Simon sweared by but it sets you off anyways, primal fear and anxiety, restlessness churning in your gut as you pack all of your belongings.

Same game, new rules.

<< Next Chapter / Next Chapter >>

[cowgurrrl]

Hi! I love your writing. Ok so I was thinking about her chapter in baby Miller story, maybe baby Miller gets sick, nothing serious of course but it really shakes Joel up because, ya know trauma. All the feels please.

Oooooo I absolutely love this idea

Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby

Pairing: Joel Miller x fem!reader

Author’s note: hello this ended up being so much more sad that I thought it was gonna be

Summary: “Yes, there is a place / where someone / loves you both before / and after they learn what you are.” Neil Hilborn, “Lake”, The Future [1.2k]

Warnings: mentions of deceased children and past relationships, PTSD, anxiety, Charlie girl has a cold (also Charlie is like 3-4 months in this so she’s still just a squish)

Joel is missing from his side of the bed when you reach for him, feeling his cold pillow instead of his chest. You jolt up and look around the room for any sign of him. His wedding band is still on the bedside table, and his shoes are still by the door, but there's no other indication that he's in the house. Panic settles over your bones as you stand up, throw the blankets off you, and walk down the hallway. You peek your head into Ellie's room first. Maybe she had a nightmare, and Joel fell asleep trying to calm her down, but she's alone and sleeping soundly. You look into Charlie's nursery and let out a relieved sigh when you see him sitting on the floor next to her crib. He doesn't look away from her sleeping form as you stand there, trying to regulate your heartbeat. 

There's no evidence of a massive blowout or a half-asleep attempt at feeding her a bottle. The rocking chair is undisturbed, and it doesn't even look like she's been shifted much from how you laid her to sleep. Still, he's sitting there with a hand on her back, watching her little chest move up and down. You don't enter the sacred space yet. Instead, you just watch them. 

Charlie's had a cold the past few days, and you knew kids got sick. You knew it wasn't your fault, and things like this happen. You knew it was part of growing up, socializing, and building her immune system. What you didn't know was how fucking terrifying it is when your baby gets sick after your kid has died. The second she got a fever, you rushed her to the hospital and cried the entire time the doctor examined her. Joel wasn't any better, fighting tears and anger at himself for letting her get sick but doing his best to keep it together for you. The doctor said it was nothing serious and gave you some antibiotics to give her, but that didn't stop you both from spiraling. That's probably why he's sitting on the cold floor of his daughter's nursery in the middle of the night.

Your heart aches at the worried, gentle look on his face. The man known for his brutality and hardness has melted into this soft, anxious, tender father in no time. You wish he could see himself this way, sitting in the soft light of his baby daughter's room just to measure her breaths. You finally let your feet carry you to where he's seated, careful not to make any sudden noise that could scare them, and sit down across from him. You let your tired body rest against her crib and listen to her light snoring. Joel takes a shaky breath, and you place a hand on his knee, looking into those sad brown eyes.

"She's okay," you whisper, watching his eyes fill his tears. He shakes his head and clenches his jaw. "Joel, look at her. She's breathing. She's safe. She's okay," He wipes a stray tear and rubs his thumb over her little shoulder blades. She smiles in her sleep at the movement, making his lips pull too. You trace delicate patterns into his skin and watch him take deep breaths to calm down. "She's right there. She's not going anywhere."

"I'm sorry, I-"

"Don't," you shake your head. He takes your hand and squeezes like he's trying to convince himself that you're real. "Don't apologize. I know." 

"I'm so fuckin' scared." He whispers. You scoot close enough for your knees to touch and hold his hand with both of yours, kissing it. 

"It's just a cold. She doesn't have a fever anymore. She's gonna be okay."

"'S not just that. I don't... I don't know how to do this," he stumbles through his words, and you wait him out. You know to let him sort through his thoughts before he thinks, that beautiful mind of his trying to string together millions of ideas. "I keep waiting for somethin' to happen or somethin' to take her away, and I'm so scared that I'm gonna be too slow or too fuckin' deaf to stop it. I don't know how to keep her safe. I don't know how to do this after Sarah." He says, tears glistening in his eyes again.

"Honey, you're the best dad. Are you kidding me? You got out of bed to sit on her floor to make sure she was breathing. You're the first one up every time she even fusses. You're there every step of the way, and not just for her but for all of us. She adores you. I adore you," you say, holding his hand to your chest so he can feel your heartbeat. "You were meant to be these girls' dad, and they are so fucking lucky to have you. Sarah was so lucky to have you, and I know," your voice catches in your throat. "I know this is scary and way fucking harder than we thought it was gonna be. I know you're terrified because I'm terrified too, but we are more than capable of doing this because we're a team. You're my team, okay?" It feels like you're begging. The way you're clinging to him like you're trying to convince him to stay is all too familiar, and you're doing your best to keep yourself from crying. Joel notices and presses his forehead to yours, squeezing your hand.

No words need to be spoken as you sit together. Maybe that's the beauty of your relationship. He knows you feel the weight of Jane's body every time you pick Charlie up. You know he listens for her breaths because he heard Sarah's last. He knows you will always check for Ellie first because she was left in David's hands the first time you didn't. You know he sticks so close to Tommy on patrol because he watched a man shoot his brother. He knows you drive yourself crazy trying to be the perfect mother and partner because you weren't good enough to make Jane's dad stay. You know he does the same because he wasn't good enough to make Sarah's mom stay. You understand each other in a way you've never understood anyone else.

"You're my team," he echoes, and you nod. Tears fall from your eyes, and he lets go of you to wipe them away. "I'm not goin' anywhere. I'm right here, okay? I'm here with you, baby. I know." He kisses you, and you can taste his tears. 

Nothing can ever bring your daughters back to you. You can't go back and change anything. You can't stop the bomb from going off or the bullet from firing. All you can do is remember and cry when you get the tiniest slice of them back and keep living despite it all. And this. You can wrap yourself in each other and the beauty of being known by the people you love. So, when Ellie finds you two sleeping on Charlie's floor in the morning, she doesn't say anything. She doesn't try to wake you up or force you away from each other. Instead, she wraps a blanket over you and leaves, knowing what brought you there in the first place. 

[oh the joy and sadness that comes with being known]

[xxsabitoxx]

Telling JJK men you are pregnant

Characters included: Gojo, Nanami, Geto, Yuta, Toge, Itadori, Megumi

Warnings: none

A/N: kinda obsessed with the dad head canons I’ve been reading as well as how jjk men would react to finding out you have a kid from a previous relationship — so I wanted to do my own take on the JJK men finding out they’ll be dads :D

Gojo Satoru

“Satoru.” You stepped into your shared living room, clutching something tightly in one hand, something he couldn’t see. “Hmm?” Blue eyes peaked up at you over circular black lenses. “I…well… I gotta tell ya something.” His phone clicked off, legs folding as he put his full attention on you. “Did you find another lover?” He cooed softly, watching as you rolled your eyes. “No, Satoru I…” he cut you off again. “Did you cheat on me?” You scoffed, flipping him the finger. “Would you just let me say it, you ass!” He laughed softly, relieved to know that it wasn’t anything bad. “Go ahead Angel, I’m sorry.” You huffed, any anxiety you had about telling him was gone now. “I’m pregnant.” You held the test out, face maintaining a neutral expression as you waited for Satoru to react. “Oh… wow. How are you feeling?” He took the test, eyes roaming over the two dark lines. “I… well… how I’m feeling will be determined once I know how you feel.” You couldn’t tell if you were happy or sad, anxious definitely but you still were in a bit of shock. “Y/n… if you’re happy, if you wanna keep the baby, I’ll happily support and love the both of you.” He could see some tension leave your shoulders as you took a few steps towards him. “Really?” It was soft, as if after all these years you still couldn’t believe you had managed to get him all for yourself. “Yes, really.” You smiled as you fell into his lap, strong arms coming to wrap around you. “You’re gonna be a cute mom.” He laughed as you slapped his shoulder. “You’ll be a cute dad, it works.”

Nanami Kento

You held in a sob as the test revealed two lines. You and Nanami had been trying for a few months now to start a family, something that took equally as long to discuss if you were ready to try for kids. “Oh my…” you trailed off a smile pulling at your face as you excitedly began bouncing around your shared bathroom. Nanami was at work, wouldn’t be home till later, meaning you had the whole day to plan the perfect surprise. You would keep it simple and straight to the point, knowing full and well your husband wasn’t the biggest fan of extravagant surprises. You chose take out from his favorite restaurant, picking up a small box and some ribbon on the way to wrap the positive test. By the time Nanami had returned home, he was greeted with a cozy looking setup at the dining table. “Special occasion?” He murmured softly as you greeted him, arms wrapping around his mid-section. “Perhaps.” You pulled away, guiding him over to the table where the small box sat next to his plate. “Open it.” You watched as he grabbed the box, bouncing back on your heels as you watched. The string came undone, the lid popping off a moment later. Nanami’s face contorted into one of shock when he saw what was inside. “You’re going to be a papa.” You whispered softly, as if he was made of glass and would shatter at any loud noise. “Are you serious?” It startled you to see his eyes turn glossy. “Yes… I took the test this morning after you left for work.” He set the test down, hands coming up to rub his eyes before motioning you to come closer. “I love you, so much.”

Geto Suguru

It was early morning, Suguru was rustling around the kitchen making breakfast while you tried to get Nanako and Mimiko out of bed. All the while, you had a pregnancy test developing on your bathroom counter. You figured waking up the two young girls would be an easier task than waiting in anticipation for a particular answer. “C’mon girls… breakfast is almost ready. Dad’s making your favorite.” This seemed to wake them up a little quicker, as they realized pancakes would be waiting for them. “Suguru! You got two little gremlins coming your way.” You laughed as the ran past you, giggling as they tried to scare their father down the hall. You made a detour into the bathroom, shutting the door behind you with a soft click as you mentally prepared yourself to turn over the now developed test. A couple deep breaths later, you flipped the test and dropped it back on the counter when two lines stared back at you. A hand slapped over your mouth, trying to conceal your grin as you walked out of the bathroom with the test now in hand. “Good morning, beautiful.” Suguru smiled, both small girls were sitting at the table eating what he had put before them. “Good morning, handsome.” You always laugh at the way his nose scrunched. “Do you want coffee?” You smiled, shaking your head. “Won’t be having coffee for quite some time…” you watched his head tilted, brows furrowing together. “Why’s that?” Soft and sweet, a conversation just barely audible to the two girls. “Well you see…” you placed the test on the counter, sliding it towards him with a grin. “No way…” his coffee mug was set on the counter as he picked up the test. “Are you for real? You’re not joking?” You nodded, the same eager grin you tried to conceal before walking out now spreading from cheek to cheek on his face.

Okkotsu Yuta

It was quiet in your shared apartment, Yuta was fast asleep in your shared bed after a long night of fighting curses. You wish you could be snuggled up in bed with him, instead you were sitting on the bathroom floor, brushing your teeth after throwing up for the third time. “This is the only possible reason.” You mumbled, a pregnancy test was developing on your counter as you got up to rinse. You’d been feeling what you imagined to be ‘morning sickness’ for the fourth time that week. Your life had been so hectic that you came off birth control by mistake, you never used protection either. A child wouldn’t be unwelcome, you and Yuta always talked about having a family. You were just worried about how he’d react to having a child now if the test was to come back positive. You spit, reaching for a napkin to wipe your mouth as you set your toothbrush back in its holder. You assumed at least five minutes had to have passed by now, even if the test wasn’t fully developed, a second line as a second line. You turned it over without hesitation, eyes widening despite suspecting the answer it showed you. “Huh… would you look at that.” You jumped, head turning to see Yuta standing in the bathroom doorway. “Did I wake you?” As if you weren’t holding a positive test. “I heard you throwing up, it got quiet and I gave you some time but you never came back to bed. Wanted to see if you were okay…. Though I see you discovered something quite large.” There was a sleepy grin on his face as he made his way over to you. “We’re gonna be parents?” He mumbled, wrapping his arms around your shoulders and resting his chin on it. “We are.” You held the test out for him to see better, a smile creeping up your face to match his own.

Inumaki Toge

You had the test in your hoodie’s pocket, legs pulled to your chest while you watched a movie. Toge would be home any moment now, once you gauged how tired he was, you’d share the news. The thing is, you’d known you were pregnant for about a week now. You wanted to be absolutely positive, so each day you took a test to see the lines get darker, not lighter. The door to your apartment unlocked, Toge walking through with a smile on his face and flowers in hand. “Toge! For me?” You laughed, jumping off the couch to meet him at the door. “Salmon!” You took them from his hands, admiring them with a smile. “Well you see… I have a surprise for you too.” You watched his head turn, hands coming up to sign to you. “A surprise for me?” You nodded, making your way to the kitchen. “I really think you’ll like it.” You teased, reaching for the empty vase you always put the flowers he gifted you in. Once the flowers were set, you turned to face him. “Close your eyes.” He did as you asked. “Open your hands.” Again, he followed your instructions. You reached in your pocket, pulling the positive test out and placing it in his hands. “Open.” You watched him blink, eyes focusing on the item in his hands. “Tsuna?!” His mouth fell open, eyes going from the test to you and back again. “Yes I’m serious!” You laughed, dancing around the small kitchen as he began to laugh with you. “I can’t believe it! How long have you known?” You took a step towards him, arms opening to hug him. “I’ve known for about a week. I just wanted to be sure.” He kissed the top of your head, mumbling a soft “Sujiko” as you began to laugh again.

Itadori Yuji

You blinked down at the three tests on your counter, eyes welling with tears. “How?” You muttered, picking up each test to make sure your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you. You loved Yuji, to bits and pieces with all the baggage in tow, but having a child with him? To know that one day you’d inevitably be a single parent? Your heart was in your stomach, tears slipping down your cheeks in fat globs. “What am I going to do?” You whined, wiping your tears away even though they kept falling. “Y/n?” A soft knock, a voice you really didn’t want to hear just yet. “I’ll be out in a minute, Yu.” You didn’t hear him walk away, instead he got really quiet before he whispering. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?” You froze, not understanding how he would have already known. Maybe Sukuna? But then how would he have known? “I-I saw the pregnancy tests in your bag.” He spoke as if he was a child admitting to breaking a vase. The door unlocked a second later as you allowed him in, tears still in your eyes as he made his way to the counter. “I’m sorry… y/n this is my fault.” He turned to you, opening his arms for you to hug him. “It’s my fault to… Yuji what do we do?” You were getting tears on his hoodie, listening to his heart thump wildly as he tried to ease your nerves. “We can do whatever you want. If you wanna have the baby… we can have the baby. If you don’t want to, we’ll take care of it and keep it between the two of us. You don’t have to decide this very second either.” You sniffled, eyes squeezing shut as you tried to make sense of your storm of emotions. You didn’t know what you wanted, the biggest weight on your shoulders being that Yuji would likely not be with you in five years. The baby would grow up without their father, how were you supposed to make that choice?

Fushiguro Megumi

You and Megumi stood side by side in the bathroom, watching the digital test blink over and over for what felt like an eternity. “You should have taken the normal test.” He stepped away, going to walk around the small bathroom space. “You’re the one that said I should do the digital!” You jumped as the second bubble filled, one left until you’d know the results. “I didn’t think it would take fucking ages!” He whirled around, hands running through his hair as he began to laugh. “This is so stupid, by the time this one loads we could have gone to the store and gotten a normal one.” You began to laugh with him, nerves making you a little more jittery. If this test was positive, it wouldn’t necessarily be a shock. You and Megumi didn’t take any precautions to prevent pregnancy, if it happened it happened. “It’s almost there!” You yelped as the the third bubble filled in, blinking rapidly as if it was about to display the results. You both fell silent, returning to your posts side by side at the bathroom counter. With seconds left you muttered, “What do you want it to be?” Megumi was quiet for a second, audibly gulping before speaking “I wouldn’t mind if it was positive.” As if the universe heard him, the digital test loaded with “pregnant” written in big letters. A harsh gasp emitted from both of you, heads turning to look at one another. You were both frozen, laugher bubbling in your chest as Megumi looked at you like he’s the one that caused the test to be positive. Technically… he was. “Sooo, you wanna be called papa or daddy?” His head fell, lifting a moment later with a smile that matched yours. “I think I’ll take dada.”

Comments and reblogs are always welcome and appreciated 💞

[after-witch]

A Family Picture [Yandere Vash x Reader]

Title: A Family Picture [Yandere Vash x Reader]

Synopsis: Vash always wanted a family. 

Word count: 2000ish

notes: yandere, possessive behavior, toxic relationship, pregnant afab reader, babytrapping

You thought you had known what it felt like to be shocked. 

You were shocked when you came home from school one day to find your aunt in your house, with a sad but patient smile on her face, and the news of your parents death in a shootout on her lips.

You were shocked when you found out that the man you’d been flirting with all afternoon was Vash the Stampede, quite literally the most infamous man (if he could be called a man, technically speaking) on the planet.

But this? This goes beyond being surprised or shocked. This is something you were not expecting, ever, and it feels like you’ve been held upside down and shaken for a good long while. And then some.  

“Miss?”

The doctor’s voice cuts unpleasantly through your shaking thoughts and you stare at him, feeling your gaze barely registering as you blink and blink and try to understand.  

“Thank you,” you murmur, and the paper in your hands crumples as you grip it tightly and rush to get dressed. You ignore the doctor’s request for a follow up, and his remark about bringing the father in for a consultation as well.

That thought made you chuckle, bitter and breathy, as you hurried out the door of the office. Christ. You couldn’t bring the father into the doctor. Not unless you wanted to get surrounded by scientists, at best, or locked away in some lab at worst. 

You had to get home. And then what? You didn’t know. 

All you know right now is… you would have to tell Vash. There was no way around it. 

You were pregnant with his child.

--

Vash’s expression doesn’t change for several long, agonizing moments. In those moments, your hand instinctively rests on your stomach. In anxiety. In desperation. In hope? You don’t know, you don’t know exactly how you feel about any of this. 

All you know is that you can’t stand that look of quiet contemplation on his face. The uncertainty, the worry, something else--disbelief? 

And then, just like that, his expression breaks and there’s a beautiful, soft smile and he’s looking up at you with tears in his tired eyes.

“S-Seriously? That’s what the doctor said? You’re not pulling a prank, are ya?”

You shake your head, feeling dumbfounded--feeling the tight coil of shock and anxiety begin to gradually unloosen.

“No, he…” You curl your fingers against your stomach. “He was pretty clear about it. He wants you to come in to see him, but um…”

Vash lets out a shaky laugh and runs his finger through his darkened hair. 

“I’m not too keen on that kind of attention, so I think we’ll keep to ourselves, huh?” His grin doesn’t quite smooth over the real danger associated with what’s happening, but it does help you feel a little better. 

You sigh, tired, beleaguered. And Vash is right there, pulling up one of the well-worn chairs you’d fished out from a dumpster a few weeks back. He slides it underneath you and helps you down, as if you’re already 9 months pregnant and need the help. 

You laugh a little bit. “Hey, I can sit down on my own, you know.

Vash waves you away, and looks at you with this bright tenderness that makes your heart twist. “Call me a worried father, I guess.” He pauses at his own words, and you can’t help but grin at the almost surprised look on his own face. 

He’s coming to the same realization that you’ve already dealt with; or at least, dealt with the initial shock: you’re going to be a parent. 

He looks serious, suddenly. “Just… let me take care of you, okay? You and the baby.” He leans down and wraps his arms around you. His words are muffled against your shoulder, but they come out clear enough. Clear and strained and protective. “I won’t let anything happen to either of you.”

His hug is too tight, but you don’t say anything. You’re too relieved that he’s excited about all this to care about anything else.

Later, you swear to yourself, you’ll ask Vash how this was even possible. He’d told you on the night you’d first made love that it was impossible for you to get pregnant from him, because of his biology. That’s why you’d never used protection. It seemed a pointless expense. 

Later, that question will come. But for now, you stroke Vash’s hair and let him hold you, and try not to worry about the future. 

--

After one, two would come. Not right away. 

Your daughter was about four when Vash brought up the idea of a sibling. You’d hesitated, if only because of Vash’s own history with his brother, which you still didn’t fully understand, because it was a painful subject that was best left untouched. 

“It’ll be good for her.” 

There was something so soft and sweet in his eyes, that it was easy to ignore the desperation in his tone. It was even easier to ignore the fact that you weren’t entirely sure if you wanted another child. 

It was… different, being a parent.  Especially with Vash, who was kind, of course, and loyal and protective. But it wasn’t like you could live an ordinary life together. He was too famous, his face plastered all over the world. 

And whenever his identity was discovered or someone came looking for him, the three of you had to pack up and move on, often quickly, leaving behind treasured items in the name of safety.

But he pleaded. He wheedled. He convinced you. It would give your daughter someone to play with, when she was lonely. Goodness knows she had enough of that, especially during the days when you had to keep low and didn’t dare let her play with anyone in whatever town you’d ended up in.

Sometimes--privately, in your heart--you debated leaving Vash. Taking your daughter and just leaving. It wasn’t like your face was famous, or hers. She would be safe. She would be normal. She would get to live an ordinary life where mom and dad didn’t hastily bundle her up with a few of her favorite toys and get the hell out of town in the middle of the night.

And you… would be normal too. It was selfish to think about that,  you knew. But you wouldn’t deny that you missed being able to live like a regular person, without the fear of people finding out who you were with, and who cared about you.

But could you leave him? He loved you. He loved her. There was no doubt about that. Every time you thought you made up your mind to leave,  you simply couldn’t. 

There would be no money in the jar for train tickets out of town, making it impossible to leave. Or your daughter would get sick, and you certainly couldn’t take her while she was ill. Or Vash would be exceptionally sweet that day and guilt would eat your thoughts up.

So… two came. And with two, the thought of leaving Vash seemed to ebb and flow, sometimes becoming unbearable and sometimes fading away to almost nothing. 

It wasn’t like you thought about it all the time. Just now and then. An occasional thought that you carefully weighed in your hands before putting it back on the shelf so it could gather dust for another few months.

You loved Vash, and you loved your family. God knows you did, and would always.

But Vash could be… a lot. Especially now.

He was overprotective to a degree that made you irritated. You weren’t allowed to get a job anymore, because he didn’t trust anyone else to watch over your children. If you made friends with a neighbor, he wanted to check them out, to make sure they weren’t someone shady--or someone trying to collect the bounty on his head. Going out on your own, with or without the kids? Nearly impossible, unless he was in an exceptionally docile mood and you turned on enough charm. 

And the running--it was unbearable. You were hardly settled into a new town before Vash came in, a familiar well-worn look on his face, sweat on his brow. And every time, you knew. 

You would have to leave. Again.

It was always the same. Vash would come in with that smile that was more like a grimace. A hand sheepishly running through his hair, his eyes downcast. Apologies spilling from his lips, familiar words in familiar tones.

And then what little life you’d created was packed up, your children were uprooted, and life had to begin anew somewhere else. 

Sometimes, on those long nights on the trains, crowded and noisy, kids and Vash and clutched luggage at your side, you thought: Is this the life I wanted to lead? Is this the life I want them to lead? Always running, always looking over our shoulders?

But after two… there was the third. Unplanned. A total surprise, especially because you’d been buying protection every chance you got.

But with the third, a little boy with chubby cheeks and a shock of blonde hair, your thoughts of leaving seemed to naturally subside. 

Not because Vash had changed, or you’d learned to accept the things you hated. 

But because you weren’t stupid enough to think that a woman towing three children behind her would be able to make it on her own on this forsaken desert planet, regardless of the new Earth outreach that was gradually making life more bearable in some places.

--

Vash smiles and watches his trio of children running about in the backyard, tripping over the sand, squealing in delight at the toys he’d picked up for them in town. The sound of their laughter is music to his ears, no matter how many times he hears it.

He glances into the house through the back window and you were there, in the kitchen, idly humming a nameless tune as you fixed dinner. 

You seem to sense his gaze and give him a tired, worn, pressed-down smile. He grins back at you and your eyes flit back down to the stove, stirring something, throwing a handful of this and that into the pot.

Vash sighs and returns his gaze to the children. The oldest was the ringleader, of course. Bossy as all get out, prone to jutting out her chin and demanding her siblings do what she says.  

The second was the quietest, a little slip of a girl, who was more content to read books in her mama’s lap than run around with her siblings. But she could be persuaded, in the right mood. 

And the third, a boy, whose smile makes Vash's heart squeeze. Because it’s a familiar smile. Not his smile. But… sometimes, when his son turns his head just-so, or asks Vash a question in a particular lilt, his heart pangs tightly in remembrance of his twin. Someone like him, but oh, not quite. 

The pain was mingled with the bliss of fatherhood, of course. And his love for you. 

You would never know how much he loved you, really. It was that love that brought the five--five, even thinking the number made him smile--of you where you were today. 

It was that love which made him swear to never, ever reveal the truth about your pregnancy. 

Yes, it was a surprise when you’d rushed home from the doctor and told him about your pregnancy all those years ago. Not because he didn’t think he could get you pregnant. No, no. But only because he thought it would have taken longer, once he’d prepared his body for impregnation. 

It was a bit funny, he thought, that he could turn on his fertility like a light switch. It made it easier to plan for kids… well, on his end, of course, since you knew nothing about it.

It was a secret that only one other person from Gunsmoke knew, and that man was dead. William Conrad, long since murdered by Knives. Vash didn’t like to think of Conrad too much--grief for that man was complex, distant and mingled with bitterness. 

But he did have Conrad to thank for leaving behind clues to tests he’d run on independent plant biology, including their ability to have children under the right conditions.

He’s not heartless. He knows it wasn’t right to surprise you with that pregnancy, or encourage the others--not just because he wanted children, but because he knew it would make it harder for you to leave. But it was for your own good.

Besides… you loved the children, too. And him, though he could tell you weren’t always happy with the restrictions forced upon you because of his infamy. Yet you were a wonderful mother, and a wonderful spouse, and when you did manage to smile, it still lit up the entire room.

You were made for this, he thinks. 

He just had to clip your wings a little to make you see that. 

It wasn’t right. But… sometimes you have to do hard things to keep the people you love safe.

Vash knew that fact better than anyone else on Gunsmoke. 

[everythingseasoning]

We’ve Met Before, pt 2

// Reader x Choso fanfiction

…Little do you know that you and Choso were lovers in a past life.

CH 2: Nobara’s friend, Yuji Itadori, has been missing, and you realize it might be connected to the latest string of murders around Tokyo. Meanwhile, your lying, cheating ex Sukuna, is running around freely, and trying to disrupt any semblance of you finding love in your life.

Tags: This fic has CURSES and SORCERERS, but the characters are also students at JUJUTSU UNIVERSITY // ~1.2k

Warnings: Power dynamics, mentions of possible assault, blood & canon violence

WMB Masterlist || Chapter 1 || Chapter 2 ||

Your head pounds as you blink bleary-eyed. Transparent red curtains flutter above your head, a cool breeze passes through and you shiver, soft winter sunlight hitting your skin. Your heart sinks quickly; This is Sukuna’s room.

That familiar lilting, deep and rumbly voice sounds like music in the room, “Hey sweetheart, you’re finally up. Did you miss me?”

You feel your anxiety rush through your blood as you fling off his black blanket— relieved to see you’re still in the same clothes as last night— and you jump off from his bed, landing on your feet.

“What the hell am I doing here?” You hiss, eyeing the door. The worst thoughts fly through your head— Did he drug you while you were asleep? Did he touch you? Why did you wake up here? What happened last night? Your head feels too fuzzy, and you’re scared.

Sukuna just stares lazily at you and smiles, unspeaking, as he files his dark purple nails.

“Sukuna!” You screech— eyes frenzied— and somewhere deep down, you realize just how much control he has over you. “Why. Am. I. Here.” You punctuate your words, adrenaline coursing through your veins.

“Oh sweetheart,” Sukuna says smugly, finally replying, the nail file still shaving away at his thumb. “You have such a strange way of thanking the one who saved you from a murderer last night.”

You blanch, memories of last night flooding back: the girl screaming on the floor, in a pool of her own blood.

“Wh–what happened?”

Sukuna shrugs, before setting the nail file down on the table with a satisfying tchk.

“A girl had both her arms torn off at a party. It was done so quickly that nobody knows who it was or how it happened. Seems she was just one more body in the string of kills by the Limb Ripper, the one that’s been attacking this neighborhood this past month.”

You swallow thickly, pain clouding your eyes. “Is she— she’s—”

“Dead.”

You feel like you’re going to hurl.

“But I saved you,” Sukuna says, cocking his head as he looks expectantly at you with lidded eyes.

“Saved me?” You ask, half disgusted and scared that Sukuna is holding this over you, half grateful and curious about how you got out after fainting by the exit. Oddly, you feel fine— not a single bruise aching on your skin. Shouldn’t I have been trampled?

“You were on the floor when I was running out. So I just grabbed ya. Set you down here for the night.”

“I didn’t see you before I fainted—”

“Course you didn’t, sweetheart,” Sukuna says, his voice an octave lower, “But I’m always watching you… and I’m not the only one who has their eye on you.”

Your blood turns icy and your heart is beating too fast— you need to get out of this shared room now. What the hell does he mean, he’s always watching you? And somebody else, too?

“Relax, sweetheart. I’m not here to hurt you. Why else are you here, safe and sound from the murderer?”

“I appreciate it, Sukuna, really,” you force out. “But this doesn’t mean we’re getting back together. Stop calling me sweetheart, it’s gross,” you say firmly.

“You’re still my favorite, sweetheart.”

You visibly shake, regretting all the time you’ve ever spent with this vile man. “That’s disgusting. You’re disgusting. I’m leaving.” You walk swiftly to the door, half-surprised and half-relieved that Sukuna is just letting you leave.

“Before you go, darling, you should know that Choso Kamo isn’t the guy you think he is.”

You freeze, hand on the door handle. What the hell? Did Sukuna watch you and Choso bump into each other?

Whipping around, you retort, “You’re such a spiteful creep. I can talk to whoever I want to talk to. Stay away from me. Don’t stalk me.”

“I’m just looking out for you… He’s using you… You don’t have to believe me sweetheart, but just ask him about Yuji Itadori.”

Yuji Itadori? Nobara’s friend? The one Nobara hasn’t seen in over a month?

Sukuna continues, “Choso is obsessed with finding Yuji, his brother. He’s using you because only I know where Yuji currently is… and the only person I’d ever disclose that information to, would be to you, sweetheart.”

You scoff. “Yuji’s fine. Nobara was able to call him over the phone yesterday.”

Sukuna just reaches into his pocket and tosses something small and silver over to you— you manage to catch it— it’s an iPhone. The screen is badly cracked, and when you press on it, a group photo lights up the spiderwebbed screen. You see a tall, white-haired guy in sunglasses with a lollipop in his mouth, hunched over a trio while sporting a goofy look on his face. The trio consists of Nobara, Yuji, and who you assume is Megumi. Nobara is smiling with two shopping bags hanging off her right arm while a black-haired guy looks stoically into the camera, the sweet, strawberry-haired Yuji beaming happily with both his arms around Nobara and Megumi.

“This is Yuji’s smartphone. I was the one who spoke to her yesterday, actually,” Sukuna says, his wicked grin meeting your eyes when you look up from the damaged phone.

Your blood runs an entire degree colder. “You’re lying—”

“Show it to Nobara. Show it to Choso,” Sukuna smirks.

“Did you do anything to him?” You question, voice tight and pitched.

“He’s fine for now, sweetheart.”

You shake your head, anxious, fearful, and sick from whatever stupid game Sukuna is playing. Alarm bells have been going off in your head ever since Sukuna mentioned Yuji’s name— and you pray that Nobara’s friend is alright.

“Just– just leave me alone,” you say, pushing down on the door handle.

Sukuna raises one last question. “Tell me sweetheart, do you, or do you not, want me anymore?”

“I will never want you, ever again,” you say.

Sukuna just raises an eyebrow, smiling his signature cocky, devilish grin. “We’ll see about that,” you hear him say as you run away as fast as you can.

–

You’re running. The tears are falling. Am I safe? What the hell is Sukuna on about? Did he kidnap Yuji? Will he kidnap me? —You’re aware that you’re in possible danger, and all you can think about the face and body of Choso, the mysterious stranger. This would be your last wish before death. You wonder what his arms would feel like, wrapped around you in a snug hug.

—You can’t help but think that you know what it’s like to be hugged by him. Yeah, you just met Choso, but hell, Choso isn’t a stranger. He feels like soul comfort, warm cushions in winter, and happiness. You can’t explain it. It just is: Choso is safety, and you yearn for Choso as you flee Jujutsu West’s dormitory, running past the trees that line Sukuna’s dorm.

And luck must be feeling sorry for you, because as you turn the corner— you run smack into a stranger’s chest— but not just any stranger—

You look up, your eyes puffy, skin marked and tight from salted tears. Choso is staring down at you, concern blaring across his features.

“What’s wrong? __?”

“Choso,” you breathe, chuckling a bit in disbelief— And before you know it, you’re hugging him, exhaling deeply as you feel him immediately wrap his arms around you in a protective embrace.

“Tell me what happened,” Choso says, holding you tightly, securely against his chest.

You stay in Choso’s warm grasp for a moment before pulling away, remembering that he had disappeared right after the attack last night, gone when you needed him most.

“Where were you? Last night— we were talking and then—”

“You looked mortified and I reached out for you— but Sukuna shoved me away. Then you fainted. Sukuna picked you up and ran off with you.”

You gasp— the cold air stabs your lungs and you cough.

Choso is staring down at you with a look of pure worry. “Tell me, did he do anything to you? Tell me—” Choso’s voice comes out heightened with worry.

“Okay. I will,” you say, your hand instinctually reaching out to bridge the distance between the two of you, moved by the urge to give a comforting touch—

You retract your hand. “But we need to get away from this dormitory first.”

Choso’s eyes narrow and he scowls, “Sukuna.”

Choso wordlessly slips his hand into yours, his large hand engulfing yours. You blush at the sudden physical contact, feeling his soft skin on yours, your fingers laced together. Somehow, holding hands with Choso just feels so right.

“Let’s go, __. We‘ll go to my dorm room, it’s in Jujutsu West’s wing.”

–

✧꧂ Please comment ur thoughts/feelings!! I’m curious + that encourages me to keep writing this fic! ♡

Do not plagiarize my writing. Characters are of Gege Akutami’s work, Jujutsu Kaisen. All fanfiction ideas and writings are my own.

➜ M’s Jujutsu Kaisen Masterlist

[fic-heaven]

Enemies to lovers with König and witty reader? I don't know if you also write about him so imma leave this here

Answering two anons at the same time lmao

Say my name

(König x witty! Reader)

🐥 The first time König appeared on my drafts was when I was making my last Reyes x Reader fic and um... I kind of wanted to keep doing lmao so here it is. Sorry for my broken English-

Angst/ SOCIAL ANXIETY/ slight nsfw/ open ending (if you guys want a part two and this short gets some attention)

⚠️ I still picture König as Lee Pace ⚠️

.

They say you transfered from SpecGru to KorTac because you simply wanted a change of airs. But it couldn't be that simple. Why were you so simple?

As antisocial as he seemed to be, König was well aware that a bond between teammates was needed in order to sync and function properly during missions. He wasn't the best at striking up conversations and never intended to improve on this aspect either, often trying to figure people out from the distance, he only approached them if he had questions about their character. Horangi once said it was weird but König frankly didn't care about what was socially accepted or not, he just made the effort to know his team because it was expected of him, and as great as it would be to have friends, he struggled socializing and had given up trying ages ago. König was paid to kill, not to make friends. And as far as his interactions went with his teammates, the only one who gets his game and could be considered his friend is Horangi. But you?

He had tried to investigate you, even going as far as using his position as colonel to gather as much information from your background to understand you without having to make any awkward approach. But nothing he found explained why you changed factions or why you behaved the way you did. You had a normal childhood, went to a good school, graduated being top of your class... Jesus you had a rabbit called Mr. Whiskers, even the deepest info given was borely normal. No trace of trauma or any mental disorder.

König begun studying you like a biologist would to a newfound species and got more and more invested and frustrated the more information he gathered, because he simply couldn't excuse your... Well, your everything.

He approaches you one time during morning drills, looks you up and down as you stretched, ignores the flirty comment you shot his way, because what the fuck is your problem? You don't know him. Then König proceeded to mouth the first thing he ever said to you, one of the main questions he had on his head as to why you would behave so strangely. And it goes like this: "Do you have any mental illness, hm?"

"I might have, yeah."

And you said it so casually. Do you, though? Are you being sarcastic or... God he hates you. Why can't he figure you out!? Why do you smile at him so much? Why do you flirt so much with him? Do you flirt with the others the way you do with him?

That new question made him observe your body language around others and listen carefully to any interaction you had and found nothing but your enchanting witty self. Of course you teased other members, but never so bluntly like the way you flirt with him. The colonel felt weirdly relieved at this. Maybe he liked the attention given? Scratch that, or course not!

One time after a tiring mission in Barcelona, Spain, König approached you with a bottle of water, you thanked him with a wink and he watched you swallow the whole thing before he proceeded to ask you the second question that plagued his mind: "Do you perhaps hide some secret trauma that permanently changed your behaviour, using sarcasm, smirks and jokes to protect your scared inner child in order to not get hurt again?"

"Hmmm... The day I found out my mother was Santa Claus I went bananas, but I wouldn't say it scarred me for life. Do ya want an M&M, colonel?"

He fucking hates you. He hates you. König aggressively snatched a handful of M&M's and stormed away. That night he swore he could hear your laugh echoing inside his head. Why couldn't you leave his fucking mind? What was it with you? Were you doing it on purpose?

_____

You were definitely doing it on purpose.

You have to be patient with König. But he was so hilarious and scary, it thrilled you to watch the two meter tall behemoth of a man walk near you and sneak watchful, calculated glances your way when he thought you weren't looking. If someone dared to ask, you'd easily answer with the honesty everyone knew you posses: You'd fuck König without a thought.

He's so feral in battle, so demanding and intimidating on the comms. His ridiculous voice made him all the more adorable contrasting with his appearance. Oh fuck that. Even his appearance was ridiculous, he looked like the red guy from that creepy show called "Don't hug me, I'm scared" or one of those executioners from the Shrek movie. But he was HOT, with that slutty waist accentuated by his bulky back, those long slender arms that could lift anything on his way, you saw him lift a fucking car a few inches so an injured woman could scape, and as she cried of relief you could feel your pussy crying as well at the sight. And oh his hands... The way he used them, so elegantly but rough, they'd make a beautiful necklace. His voice, as unfitting as it sounded coming from this KorTac monster, made you itch to hear more, his accent was so attractive that it quickly made you addicted to sound of it and your brain pondered on how he'd sound while doing other things. Lucky you, when the stars aligned and you two coincided in the gym you made sure to be close enough to hear the quiet grunts and sighs from the colonel as he trained, to your surprise he never moved away as if he knew what you were doing and thought nothing much of it. Safe to say, you'd gladly eat whatever interaction König graced you with with a speck of salt.

Though, when you begun paying attention to the details (because it was hard to guess his thoughts without seeing his face) You noticed a few things about the colonel that indicated he had a severe case of social anxiety. The way he self isolated, how he forced himself to interact with people resulting in very awkward conversations that led to him coming up as rude to what he got frustrated and scaped the scene, how he loved his job because you were convinced that he thought he was only good at killing. That made you wonder if he had other hobbies... It's funny to imagine a tall, muscly guy like him baking or making origamis.

______

Today you saw the ultimate signal that your big crush wasn't a people's person.

You two were on a meeting with some other KorTac members. König was peeling an apple and had finished it rather quickly as all of you spoke, but he spent ten minutes with the remnants of the fruit slowly browning and drying on his hand, so you decided to test your theory by walking to the near trash can to throw a random paper you crumbled quickly, after a few seconds König abruptly stood up to throw the dried fruit remnant, the tall Austrian glanced your way before he sat again and kept to himself. Okay, so judging by this and how stiff he looks, König doesn't know exactly what to do with his body around people, he needed an excuse to stand up and throw the finished apple so he waited for anyone to use the trash can to go after, BUT he waited a few seconds to stand so he wouldn't look like he was waiting. Must be stressful to be on his shoes. Interesting, but maybe you were overthinking too much, so you decided to do a final test that would definitely tell you if what you thought was right. You didn't want to come to this unless it was really necessary... You'll probably have to apologize later.

You directed all the attention to König by asking a number of things, (obviously work related) that caught the attention of everyone in the room taking the poor colonel by surprise, his cristal blue eyes widened for a minute before he composed himself answering everything you asked with a professional tone until you spotted the tremble on his hands, poor König noticed your attention drift to his hands so he slid them under the table. That's how you knew it. He couldn't handle being the center of attention for prolonged amounts of time. Your poor baby...

You gave him a sympathetic look that again took him by surprise, but by that time König had called the meeting over, gathered his things and walked out before you could approach him.

Damn you and your stupid beautiful voice and worried eyes trying to comfort him discreetly.

Gloved hands fidgeted with the bracelet on his wrist. König remembers the little girl who gifted him said thing. The day him and his team rescued her and some other orphans from a building about to explode, the worried colonel spent a few minutes comforting the little girl until she pulled the orange bracelet from her small SpongeBob backpack, he chuckled at the gesture and had never taken it off since. They even shared some letters from time to time, he held a piece of little Astrid in the form of a cute bracelet and she held a piece of him in the form of sweet spoken letters.

König saw her kind eyes in yours and it squeezed his heart so much he felt suffocated. Why would a teasing little vixen like you have such kind, gorgeous eyes? It was weirdly comforting that someone would look at him so softly like he wasn't a monster for once after so long.

His heart begun beating faster, his head was so full of questions about you it infuriated him. Long legs carried the colonel to the gym absentmindedly, like his body craved to ease some tension, but at the last minute he turned to the left corridor further from the gym, went to the right and finally approached the shooting range's door.

"Scheibe..." König cursed lowly, he could have very well bursted the door out of it's hinges, his gloved hand (still a bit shaky) took his favorite riffle from the top right corner of the shelf while he shot a backward kick to push the metallic door closed. He spent fourteen minutes shooting targets while mauling at your last interaction, rage swirled his insides and yet he couldn't fully hate you for asking questions, after all it was work-related, and the last soft gaze you gave him spoke volumes that you didn't want to advert all the attention to him out of malice. König was reloading his sniper rifle when he heard a gentle thud indicating someone had entered the room.

"You'd make an amazing sniper." You spoke softly trying not to startle him.

"You come to mock me? Laugh all you like. I'm well aware I'm too huge to be a sniper." He spoke in resentment over his shoulder before redirecting his focused gaze to the target ahead.

"I always say size doesn't matter! As long as you know how to handle your weapon, you'll make any girl blush."

Your dark humour takes König by surprise and he misses the dummy's head, he tries to hold back the chuckle that threatened to spill from his hidden lips. Luckily the shirt he wore as a mask shielded his face enough to make it look like he was holding in a cough or a sneeze but you weren't stupid. When he turns to face you placing the riffle to the near table he gets startled by how close you are, the smirk accompanying your lips as you weaseled close to his very sacred personal space made him curse lowly in his mother's tongue. The tall Austrian stepped back and you rose your hands in mocking defeat.

"Alright, I get it, personal space. Jus' wanted to hear ya laugh..."

"I didn't." He hisses.

"Didn't ya? I thought I heard it, must have been the wind."

Your sarcasm often infuriated König who never seemed to get a good grip on his English, so it was hard for him to detect when you were being serious or just pulling his leg. His hands flex on his sides, tiny waist move side to side as he balances his weight before he crosses his arms and leans his back to the wall. König raises a brow when your smirk morphed into a sincere apologetic smile as you admired his stance six feet apart from him.

"I'm sorry for what happened back there." You said honestly, he sucked in a breath. "Didn't want t' put ya on the spot."

The Colonel's cerulean eyes widen in surprise before directing his gaze to your tank top blinking rapidly. It was easier to listen if he wasn't looking directly at your eyes. "König..." Your voice was honey making shivers run up his spine and his skin erupt in goosebumps, his hands trembled even when he fisted them on his crossed stance. "Why don't we start again? Call me paranoid, but I feel like there's tension between us and not the type I'd like."

König wasn't shy, he wasn't, but that last line of yours made him feel like it, and it wasn't an ugly feeling? But it was a little uncomfortable, foreign, it squeezed his heart in a suffocating way, his hands were clammy, he felt weirdly light like if it wasn't for his tapping foot on the floor he'd float away. König understood what you were saying and it comforted him that you were on the same page, the weird unsteadiness between the two of you becoming rather unbearable and a constant topic on both your minds, it was relieving that you thought the same way. Suddenly the ugly anger he had for you quieted down.

The colonel lifted his hand your way offering you a handshake you took with mirth.

"I'm colonel König. Y-you are...?"

"Goddamn. Ain't your parents bit' egotistical? Namin' their baby boy 'king' in their native language." You say with a snicker shaking his hand. He takes it back abruptly but you don't flinch. "I'm Sargeant (c/n). My name is (y/n) (l/n). Is König the name written on your birth certificate or were you called somethin' else?" You press.

König is taken aback by this. When was the last time someone had asked the colonel his name?

"I am..." It tasted foreign on his tongue, like he had forgotten the sound of it, the taste of his own name on his tongue. "My name is Andreas Dobler. That's... That's my name." His name wasn't König, he remembers the man he left behind all those years back, the man under the dark cloak. Before things went to shit, before becoming colonel König.

"Andreas. What a curious name, never heard of it-"

"Say my name again." König interrupts. His voice weak but demanding and desperate. He loved it. He loved the sound of his name on your lips. It was strange, sweet... Arousing, even.

You blinked angling your head up to take a better look at his half-lid eyes. This time König didn't look away, your eyes met and suddenly the ugly tension from before was morphing into another type of tension, your heart beats faster in sync with his. You didn't know you were getting closer until König placed a hand on your waist and then the other, not pushing, not pulling, he simply laid them there and it came so naturally, your playful smile wavered slightly as your hands landed on his shoulders, he shivers. You tilted your head to the side and he was so lost in you, your aroma, your eyes, your lips, your touch, he didn't realize he was returning the head tilt.

Your lips parted, pink tongue darting to hydrate your dry lips until your pearls were visible from the gap, and his eyes catch every movement your mouth makes when you whisper "Andreas."

"Again."

"Andreas-"

"Again..."

"...Andreas..." Your hands slowly move to his chest, his breath hitches. His name has never sounded so sensual whispered by anyone's mouth. You were... You...

"You..." He isn't sure what to say. You are not sure either, suddenly your wit has abandoned you it seems. "You intrigue me." He decides to huff out, accent heavily pronounced.

There's a thousand thoughts swirling on König's mind, he has shared his name but it suddenly didn't feel enough, he wanted to show you who he was, his past, his thoughts, his hopes and dreams, even his face. How can a simple woman like you make König feel so much? Because you were no simple woman. That's why when he felt your small hands slide up his chest to the hem of the shirt that composed his mask, König didn't tense up, in fact, his shoulders relaxed embracing the touch of your fingers gently feeling his neck under the cloth, his stubble, his chin, his high cheeks... Gloved hands grab your wrists.

You stop, still looking up at him noticing the heaving of his chest and how lost in awe his gaze seemed.

"Not yet?"

"I-i... Do not..." Mind. He didn't want to refuse your touch but at the same time it was so overwhelming.

You give a small nod, König lets go of your wrists and you take this opportunity to nuzzle his cheeks, he gasps landing his hands on your waist once more, squeezing the flesh over your tank top. The feeling of your fingers on his face was so foreign it felt like you were touching a piece of his soul.

"Don't you worry, darling..." König lets out a small whimper at this. "I'm rushing things ain' I? We were just getting on the first name basis and I had to screw it all..." You wanted to sound apologetic, you promise, but it was so hard when your colonel was practically purring at the feeling of your soft hands scratching his stubble.

König was putty on your hands, he has never felt this way. His cheeks burn in embarrassment, he tries to move back but remembers he's already against the wall, and you, a small thing like you have him cornered like a honey badger hunting a lion. His lip wobbles and he tilts his head to the side as he feels your hands massage and explore his neck and jaw in long, gentle motions.

"Shy lil' thing... Aren't you pretty hiding under there? Maybe you are too beautiful to allow anyone the pleasure of a simple look. Like a sweet Ferrero Roche firmly wrapped and ready to be eaten." You whisper, voice raspy before you chuckle when his Adam's apple bobs with a swallow. Your body is now pressed compleatly against his, your dear colonel's hands tremble on your sides as he fists your tank top. He's nervous, he's shy, but you know he is enjoying this judging by the way his teary, half-lid eyes blink slowly every time you feel a new inch of skin.

"...Sag bitte mehr, ich flehe dich an..." (Say more please, I beg you.) König moans out, his german accent so strong masking how weak he was feeling at the moment.

He loved your voice, your touch... Your everything. The colonel ran his fingers on your lower back encouraging to continue, meanwhile he very slowly tilted his head higher allowing you more space on his neck to massage and scratch. You chuckle darkly feeling his member poking at your belly, your body instantly pressing harder against his cornered torso.

"You like the sound of my voice, colonel?" You humm, he makes a small noise. "Andreas...?"

His shoulders shake with the force of his shiver, nails digging deliciously on your lower back, you chuckle delighted at the sight tilting his chin to the other side to feel his nape, his ear and some locks of hair. "ich begehre dich..." The Austrian groans, his member now fully erect twitched delighted by the delicious pressure of your torso against it and your soft ministrations to his neck.

Both your radios churr alive until a voice breaks the static, a random operator checking on the comms. König almost knocks you over with how fast he straightened his back and the way his strong grip held you back, his chest heaving fast, eyes wide and vulnerable. You take the opportunity to grab him by the hem of the shirt he uses as a mask.

"Wait-..."

König freezes when he feels cold air hit the heated skin from his neck. You had lifted a portion of the cloth revealing the part you were previously massaging, caressing and scratching. His head moves up to the side trying to hide from your touch, his hands shoot backwards planting on the wall as if a force had taken them from the previous grip he had on you.

"I hope you can forgive me colonel... Can't help it..."

There's a long gash on his neck, a very old scar that seemed to be product of a knife fight or even a bullet, it's crocked and it goes up probably to his right ear. You lean close on tiptoes because he couldn't crouch due to how shocked he still felt, and you planted your wet lips on the surface of the sensitive scar. König's throat rumbles with a groan, his powerful hands finally make the move to take you, to cage your body impossible closer to his. A hard roll of his hips make him gasp in relief and you loudly huff when he handles you to where he was previously caged, his hands soon making small effort to lift you up, both legs wrapped around his waist and he THRUSTS. You are still kissing, licking and nibbling his neck, your hands exploring the long bulky surface of his back, König moans delighted at one particular bite until-

"Shit."

König turned his head back so fast you are sure his neck is rotatory, two pairs of eyes look in shock at Horangi who is standing there holding the rifle König had previously left before all of this happened. Your colonel was frozen in embarrassment his shaking hands still held you up and his boner was no longer stabbing you, the thing died at the speed of light.

"Jesus Christ. You gonna keep staring or you wanna join us, tiger?"

König snaps his head back at you comically fast, icy eyes glare in surprise, horror and astonishment.

"As fun as that sounds I'll leave you two to your games... 'sides, I don't think you'll be able to handle König alone, imagine the two of us. We'd ruin you." The Korean's response made you laugh enchanted with his wit, he walked out the door in quick strides leaving you two alone once more.

König huffs glaring at the wall behind you. The sudden unwelcome presence of his friend seemed to had robbed the magic from the moment. Your Colonel's body shagged slowly lowering your body, and the moment your heels touched the ground his head leaned down falling to the crock of your neck, the feeling of the warm cloth of his mask made you humm. He kissed your clavicle over his mask and you ran your hands to his shoulders until König slowly retrieved.

He took two steps back, with a very noticeable defeated look.

"Hey. We can keep going whenever yer up to. Don't look at me like that, sweet thing." Your voice carried a playfulness that comforted him from the sudden feeling of defeat.

König couldn't meet your eyes, his voice was shaky "I'm just not like this-..."

"Andreas-"

"DON'T -...!" He barked, startling you both.

It was too much, too sudden, too weird, too suffocating. He liked it at first but... König couldn't put into words what he was feeling right now. He hated that the moment was cut short, he hated that he felt like it was his fault and he hated the way you are looking at him with so much concern like when you two were at the meeting.

"Verzeihen Sie mir." He muttered giving you a final short glance before he rushed out of the place leaving the door open and your startled self still leaning on the wall.

You recognized those words even if you didn't know much of German.

"Forgive me." You translated in a whisper.

Will you?

[harus-simp]

Overflowing darkness

-Jeonghyeon x reader-

Warning:angsty at first (kind of a fight) but just for a moment

Author's note: This is based on something that occurred to me the other day(without the boyfie part of course 🤡) so yeah got some inspiration :))

Hope you like it ;))

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The later it gets the more worry is present in jeonghyeon as you hadn't return from work yet, earning a lot of scolding and clinginess later.

It was around 2 a.m but you still hadn't came back home yet, jeonghyeon was really pissed and mad because of the late hour. You never came that late so he was assuming the worst, his baby was nowhere to be found and he was starting to get quite scared of your current location.

He had called you multiple times, but you didn't answer to any of his calls. It wasn't because you didn't want to answer him tho, it's just that your phone was silenced lol 🤡

.

.

.

You on the other hand was becoming anxious and frightened due to the long walk you were having home, the buses were not active at that hour and you saw the last one go away right in your face.

'Great' you thought to yourself

With no other option left, you decided to start heading back home, walking. It wasn't the best option, you were perfectly aware of that, but what else were you supposed to do?

You could have grabbed a taxi, but you couldn't find one at that moment. So you opted to just ignore your crippling anxiety and go back as soon as possible.

And everything was going quite well, until you started to feel like you were being observed from behind. However, when you turned around there was no one there. You continued your journey with the same sensation still present, so you quickened your pace and decided to forget about it and focus on the front avenue.

Everything was good again, that felling disappeared, but instead it was replaced by little sounds of wood breaking or muffling voices in your back. The creepiness that once was present came back like a powerful storm in the middle of the night making you question your decision of coming back alone.

Your own thoughts and worries were silenced when you noticed an upcoming call from your boyfriend.

"Y/N WHY HAVEN'T YOU PICKED UP MY CALLS?"

"Sorry babe, my phone was silenced"

" WERE ARE YOU?"he screamed furiously

"I'm near the convenience store down the road"

"WHAT? But the bus doesn't take that route?"

"I know, I kinda lost the bus so I've been walking back home"

"YOU WHAT?"

"I'll explain you later, I'm almost there, love ya"you said while hanging up

Damn, he was pissed. REALLY pissed.

.

.

.

Once you were approaching the entrance you saw him leaning on the door frame with a worried expression, and as he saw you he runned directly to your direction bringing you into his embrace hugging you tightly and sniffling into the crock of your neck.

"Thank God you're okay" he whispered, any signs of fury or anger not visible anymore, instead replaced by gratefulness and relieve.

You hugged him back placing your arms around his frame and just enjoying the close proximity between you both.

"Sorry hyeonie, I lost the bus and then I had to walk home alone and I felt like I was being watched and then-"

You were cut off by his finger being pressed onto your lips to keep you from your venting, figuring out you would rather need a more relaxed demeanour to talk things out without feeling overwhelmed.

"Don't worry babe, I'm really sorry for screaming at you, I was just so worried. Why don't we come in and I make you a cup of tea while you tell me about your day?"

You calmed yourself and agreed to his plan hoping that would be a much better option than the previous one.

So he took you inside making you feel right were you belonged, at home. After your explanation he reassured you everything was okay now.

He pressed a loving kiss on your lips making you forget about all your problems and worries and just focusing on the kiss you were sharing with junhyeong.

It was sweet and delicate, yet a little desperate due to all the accumulated emotions inside of you both. Like a taste of black coffee with a kick of milk on it.

When you separated you saw his loving and adoring gace on you bringing you so much comfort and joy to be by his side.

You both decided to call it a day and head off to bead due to the long day you both had. When you positioned yourselves on bed you noticed how he hugged you from behind and wasn't planning on letting you go at all as he nuzzled closer on the nape of your neck.

And he indeed didn't let go of you till the next day, keeping you safe in his arms making all your worries go away ❤️

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[letterstoear]

Our distance

Notes: Floyd x reader, GN reader, fluff, romance, a mix of angst, includes a letter from Floyd,

Interested in your own letter from Floyd? You can purchase your very own letter here: Twisted Wonderland letter package

For the past few days Floyd and you had been distant, tired of no communication Floyd has decided to write you a letter. However, before he could even hand you the letter he ends up talking to you instead. Why? Well because Floyd’s come to realize he couldn’t wait any longer. Anxious for your answer he rushes out his words and even fails to look you in the eyes scared to think this could be it.

After talking things out Floyd has finally found out the reason. Plus, he was relieved to hear it wasn’t him which was the problem. Just some good old stress, anxiety, and depression. Happy over the results Floyd leans his head against your shoulder and sighs in relief. Then before you could think you lifted his head and gave him a hug. Feeling the warmth fill you up you’ve never felt more loved than being in Floyd’s arms.

Grabbing hold of your legs he picked you up bridal style and carried you to the bed. All Floyd wanted was some cuddles and kisses, which you gladly gave. As for one of the major problems, well it was about you crying in alone. Floyd hated that, but he never wanted to push you to cry in front of him. He knew it made you feel small, so he never pushed you if you were uncomfortable, plus it only made you cry more. After hearing about how Floyd felt you knew you had to change, but it wasn’t going to be overnight. Together you made a promise to accept Floyd’s comfort as well as to understand it was okay to be vulnerable. Something you struggled with greatly.

In regards to the letter, well you found it after Floyd had fallen asleep. There on his desk was a letter addressed to you. He hadn’t even signed his name, showing how much in a hurry Floyd had been. Opening the letter you read the contents, on the slightly damped paper you read:

_________,

Staying with you made me feel alive and happy, I’ve never felt like this before. You’re someone who’s good at making me feel better. All I do is think about you then I feel better, that usually works out just fine for me. Now it doesn’t feel quite like that. I know you’re breaking down and I should know by now what it's about. Someone has to say something before we break apart. There’s something about us that’s changing, say can you tell me what’s bothering you? I really got no clue.

Well, that’s not true, I do have a couple ideas about what it could be, let me know which one it is. Please?

Is it because of your stress towards work? Has everything been piling on for you? I know you’re the kind of person to shut down during stressed times. Or has your health been acting up? Occasionally, your body tends to get hurt, especially if you’re ignoring your needs like this. Doesn’t help whenever I tell you to drink your water you suddenly remember you haven’t had any yet. Whatever is bothering you, can ya tell me?

On second thought, is it me? Am I the problem and I’m just too blind to see it? If it really is me that would send a shock right to my heart…. You can’t tell but I just walked away from this letter. I went away for a while.

I know that you’ve been crying on your own again. I’ve knocked on the door before because I wanted to comfort you, but you would always push me away. Plus, you would wipe your own tears and plaster a smile on your face. I’m supposed to be the one who wipes your tears away. So, if I’m the reason for your tears, can you let me know? If there’s no reason to stay with me, tell me. It’ll shock me for sure, but knowing I’m killing you slowly fills me up with pain already. Something between us needs to change, even if it means letting you go.

But not anytime soon! Nope, I don’t want to let you go without putting up a fight, that would be super lame. Here’s all the reasons you should stay with me. If you have any problems with me let me know and I’ll work on that part.

First off, I’m a verrrrrrrry good hugger. I’ll hold you tighter than anyone else, I won’t let you go. The next time you cry, I won’t leave you alone even if the air is awkward. I’ll just hold you tight till you’re ready to spill it out. Got that ________?

Secondly, I’m romantic~ See, I’m even writing this letter to you. Not romantic enough, I’ll give you flowers each day, especially those ones from that shop you like. I know I’ve been giving you a lot of cheap dates, but I’ll save up for an expensive one. If you don’t like our typical cheap dates, I’ll save my money. It might take a while though. Can’t say Azul pays me enough. Don’t forget kisses, if you want more of those, I can give you more. Plus, I won’t drop your hand, never would I do that to you.

For my third reason and the most important reason, I love you. If you haven’t felt my love enough, I’ll shower you in it. To me you’re the most important person. I don’t want nobody else if it’s not you. You brighten my days and I find everything fun because I love you. If it were anybody else, I would get bored, but not with you. To me you’re irreplaceable. My love even shocks me to this very day. Here just take my love!!!!!

________ what is going on with us? You know what, I was gonna hand you this letter and ask for a response, but I can’t wait that long. Jade told me to wait, but I’m tired of waiting. I don’t even know why I’m writing this part, it’s just a waste of time. Anyway, I’m off this is the end of my letter.

End of letter

Once you finished the letter you stared back at the eel who loved you. Feeling a smile creep up on your face you had the sudden urge to write back to him. Before you could leave the bed, Floyd caught you in his embrace. Looking down at the letter he very sleepily read it half-heartedly. Removing his eyes off the letter he looked back at you and asked if you wanted to keep it. Nodding yes in response, Floyd took a pen off the nearby desk and wrote his name: Floyd Leech. Afterwards he took hold of you in his embrace and the two of you drifted off to sleep.

[maybeimamuppet]

i'll be there for christmas III

hello everyone!! ahh i've missed you all so much i hope you've had a lovely day!! merry christmas to all of you who celebrate :)) sorry i didn't quite manage to post this on christmas. turns out making an entire christmas dinner and all the cookies/sweets for four people and trying to spend some time with family is a lot more time consuming than you would think!

anyway i've spent the last. eight straight hours (whoops) hammering this out as my christmas gift to you!! if you don't celebrate then i hope you enjoy anyway and you've had a wonderful december.

this was loosely requested by @ghosthooman who mostly just wanted to see janis pregnant for a change and tbh i did too!! so here's another little sequel chapter for ya. hope you all enjoy!!

tw for

pregnancy and c-section delivery (both as non-graphic as possible)

miscarriage

panic attacks

postpartum anxiety

and as always if i've missed something please let me know. it is 4am rn so it's. quite possible.

anyway!! enjoy!!

—————

"Janis?" Cady calls from the kitchen one day. Janis groans quietly to herself as she stands from their bed and pads down the long hallway and down the stairs.

"Yeah?"

"Are you busy?" her wife asks, looking up at her with a soft smile. Janis returns it and pulls a chair out from the table to sit on.

"Nope," she says. "What's up?"

"We need to have a... um... a conversation," Cady says hesitantly. Janis quirks an eyebrow.

"Are you making me sign another NDA?" she asks. Cady immediately says no, but in such a way that has Janis wondering if she really means it. Cady does have a lot of papers in front of her.

"There'll be no more of those if I can help it. But... we've been married for five years now. My mother has been pressuring me about this for three of them and I can't take it any longer."

"What is it?" Janis asks, reaching a hand across the table to hold Cady's fidgety ones. Cady looks at her with a relieved smile and places her hand in hers.

"My... my family wants to know when we'll have children," she says softly. Janis blinks.

"Children?"

"It's always been the expectation, and I know you said you wanted them previously but I wasn't sure if you still do, and I haven't known what to say but my mother just will not let the topic rest, and I-"

"Cady," Janis interrupts, squeezing her hand with a chuckle. "Breathe. Yeah. I... I still want kids. Especially with you."

"You do?" Cady asks, blinking at her with those huge blue eyes. Janis nods.

"Of course I do," she says. "Do you?"

"Yes," Cady says quietly. "I do."

"Then what's the problem?" Janis asks, scooting her chair closer.

"We're both women, baby, there are some logistical things to figure out," Cady explains with a chuckle.

"I'm not getting pregnant," Janis says immediately. "Ever. You can do anything you want to me except that."

Cady nods. "That's the problem. I... I finally have the job I've dreamed of since I was a child. I've spent my entire life working for this. And as much as I want children, I... I'm not ready to get pregnant and lose that. I'd have to take a leave when they're born, and there's so much that might go wrong that would take me away for even longer. I'm fine taking a long time off if it means getting to spend time with our baby, but... I'm worried about the long term effects carrying a child might have on me. And how they'd affect my ability to work."

"I know," Janis says. "I completely understand. I don't want that for you either."

"Then... what do we do?"

"We could adopt?" Janis proposes.

"Adopt?" Cady asks.

"Babies are exhausting anyway," Janis says. "We could see about getting a kid that's a little older. Someone who really needs a home."

"That sounds lovely," Cady says. "My mother won't be happy."

"Oh my god, is she ever?" Janis says with a bit of a huff. Cady laughs and kisses the corner of her lips.

"You hush, she's gotten much better," she chides.

"I know," Janis chuckles, winding her arms around Cady's neck and kissing her. Cady wraps her arms around her waist and smiles up at her. "We'll figure it out. I'm sure once she meets the kid she'll be fine with it."

"We'll figure it out," Cady echoes.

—-

Unfortunately, there are some things nobody can figure out. They tried for nearly two years, but every foster agency rejected their applications. Every foreign orphanage did too. All of them said the same thing. It wouldn't be fair to allow one child to live in such splendor for a while and then take them back, or while the rest of them are adopted out to normal families. They tried and tried and tried again, but they were shunned at every turn.

"We got rejected again," Cady sighs, plopping on their bed as she hangs up the phone. Janis puts her book down and reaches for her. Cady lies on her stomach with a huff. Janis chuckles and strokes through Cady's auburn hair.

"I think it might be time to call it, Cads," she admits. "I hate to say it, but it's been years and we haven't gotten anywhere."

"Who'd have ever thought you could be too rich to adopt a child?" Cady grumbles.

"I get where they're coming from," Janis says. Cady nods.

"I know. I do too," she says. "...But I really wanted a child."

"I do too," Janis says. "Maybe... maybe it's time to revisit some things."

Cady leans up on her elbows and looks at her with a puzzled expression. "What do you mean?"

"We both want kids," Janis begins, almost not believing the words coming out of her mouth. "Your mom won't get off our backs until we have them anyway. So... why... why don't we just do it?"

"You mean..."

"Let's knock one of us up," Janis shrugs.

"Janis, I still don't want to-"

"Then we'll knock me up," Janis says. Cady gawks at her.

"What? But you said you never-"

"I know," Janis replies, pulling Cady closer. "But... I've been thinking, and it... it kind of sounds like it might not be so bad. Once. I can take nine months of hell if it means a lifetime raising a little munchkin with you."

"Really?" Cady asks with tears brimming in her eyes. "You'd do that?"

"Yeah," Janis nods, stroking Cady's cheek with her thumb. "We're talking about it first. But think about it. We could have a little baby. With your eyes and your smile, and my hair. And my height."

"Hey!" Cady says indignantly. Janis laughs, and Cady eventually does too. They're quiet for a moment before Cady whispers, "A baby."

"And maybe someday things will be different and we can still adopt. But for now... let's... let's have a baby," Janis says. Cady cups her face between her hands and stares into her eyes.

"Let's have a baby."

—————

"I'm home!" Cady calls the next day as she enters from work. She kicks off her shoes and heads down the hall to the living room where Janis is waiting with a series of documents spread on the coffee table and a pen in her hand. Cady freezes in her tracks.

"My turn to make contracts," Janis says with a smirk. Cady hesitates before she sits down. "Miss Heron."

"Miss Heron," Cady echoes with a smile. "What can I do for you?"

"I have some terms. I think we should get them all... on the table, so to speak. And you can bring up anything you have to. I just don't want us arguing or worrying over anything once we've already gone through with everything."

"Good plan," Cady nods, reaching for the documents to read over. They all turn out to be blank, but Janis pulls out a notepad and writes RULES FOR BABBY in capital letters on the top. "What are your terms, Madam?"

"To clarify. I'm getting pregnant," Janis begins. Cady nods, so Janis writes that down. "I am only getting pregnant once. I want a kid with you, and I'm more than willing to do this so we can get there. But I am not doing it more than once."

"That's fine," Cady says. "I think one baby is plenty for us anyway."

Janis writes that down too. "Since I'm carrying them, I get to accept or refuse any procedures I want."

"Like what?" Cady asks.

"Like if I'm feeling really really sick and I think the gestational diabetes test is gonna make me hurl I get to say no or reschedule it if I want to," Janis explains. Cady nods.

"If you're carrying it I suppose that's only fair. But I get an override if we have medical evidence that either you or the baby are in danger," she insists. Janis considers this point and nods.

"Fair enough. Point three, the baby will be vaccinated on the normal schedule once they're born." she says.

"Obviously," Cady responds. "What else?"

"We both have equal say in picking a pediatrician, but if either of us find anything, the smallest thing, that we don't like about them, we're out of there no questions asked and we find someone else."

"Okay," Cady says.

"Names are a two yes thing only. If one of us doesn't like it the kid doesn't get it," Janis continues. Cady nods. "I don't want to find out the sex until they're born."

"No parties?" Cady pouts. Janis shakes her head vehemently.

"No parties."

"We can't even find out just for us?" Cady asks.

"You know your mom is gonna find worm it out of us if we know," Janis says. "I love her, but the idea of being pregnant around her is exhausting enough without her trying to suggest names and buying an entire nursery for them and everything."

"No, you're right," Cady agrees. "Surprise it is, then. What else?"

Janis adds it to the list. "Um... do you have anything?"

"Uh..." Cady hums. "I want it in writing that I get to come to all of your appointments unless you don't want me there for some reason. And... I don't want to use my eggs."

"You don't?" Janis asks in shock, putting her pen down. Cady looks at her lap and shakes her head. "Hey. Time out, come here. Why... why don't you want to use yours?"

Cady moves to sit next to her wife on the couch and leans into her side with a sniffle. "My... I... I just can't, Jay."

"Why?" Janis asks gently as Cady starts to cry. Janis pulls her closer and squishes her cheek against Cady's head.

"I... I love my family," Cady says hoarsely around a thick lump in her throat. "But-but they have done some-some despicable things in the name of money. That-that's in my blood, Janis. I-I-I don't want to... to pass that down."

"Oh, baby," Janis says as Cady dissolves into sobs against her shoulder.

One of Cady's first orders of business when she became co-CEO of Heron Enterprises with her father was completely revamping their ethics. It's been a slow, and expensive, process, but seeing how Janis was treated gave Cady enough ammunition to be able to talk the board into at least paying their employees a living wage, which is a good first step.

"They have, but you haven't," Janis says. "You've done the opposite, if anything. Even after being raised by your father, you've changed everything. You've basically changed the way the world works, baby. That's in your blood too. That's in you. Just because we use your eggs doesn't mean I'm gonna pop out the next Elon Musk."

"Do not mention that name in this house," Cady growls, wiping her nose with a sniffle. Janis laughs and wipes her tears for her.

"Noted. Should I add that to the list?" she hums. That gets a laugh from her wife.

"Maybe," she hums haughtily. "You... you really want to use mine? You're not worried?"

"Not in the slightest," Janis replies quietly. "Having my own kid would be boring anyway."

Cady laughs again. "I... I guess so."

"I know so," Janis says. "Anything else you want to add?"

"We're both taking off of work two months before and after you're due, at least. I do all the actual work on the nursery, but you can help pick designs and things. No visitors in person for the first month, and we avoid sharing their face in the media as much as we can."

"All good," Janis nods, adding them to the list.

"And no horseback riding lessons when they're old enough for them unless they absolutely beg for them."

"Um... okay," Janis chuckles, knowing her wife's horse phobia still runs deep. Cady hugs her left arm as Janis continues writing.

"Do you have anything else?" she asks. She feels Janis tense beneath her, and she frowns. "What?"

"I want a home birth."

"Absolutely not," Cady says immediately.

"I knew you'd say that," Janis sighs.

"Of course I would! Janis, do you have any idea the number of things that can go wrong during childbirth? Hemorrhaging and-and you could bleed out, you-you-you could die, Jay! And the baby, what if the cord is around their neck, or-or they get stuck? And you could tear, or get hurt otherwise, and we might not be able to get you to the hospital in time-"

"Hey," Janis interrupts. "Stop catastrophizing before I even have the kid in me, hm?"

"Janis, it's so dangerous! I won't allow it," Cady insists.

"It's not any more dangerous than it would be in a hospital," Janis says gently, squeezing Cady's hand. "I'm healthy and... a good size. If we go through with this, the chances of anything going wrong are incredibly slim. I know they're there," Janis continues, cutting Cady off as she was about to interrupt. Cady deflates back against her side with a small huff. "Unless the pregnancy turns out to be high risk for whatever reason, I want it to be here."

"But why?" Cady pleads desperately.

"Because I am going to be in an incredible amount of pain and discomfort no matter what we do, and I don't want to be somewhere I've never been before that smells like disinfectant and bodily fluids while I pop a whole kid out of my body. I trust my body to know what it needs, and I trust you to keep me and the baby safe during it. I want to be able to choose what happens during the process. I want you to be able to be involved as much as you want. We won't get that in a hospital."

Cady is quiet for a long time. "I just don't want you to be in pain."

"I'll still be in pain in a hospital," Janis responds quietly, resting her head against Cady's. "But it's worth it."

Cady cuddles a little bit closer. "We'll do what you want."

"Thank you."

"But," Cady says, and Janis sighs. "If... if it comes down to it, heaven forbid. I'm... I'm picking you over the baby."

"If we ever get there, I trust you to make whatever decisions need to be made," Janis responds just as quietly. "I'll make plans for everything I can. And if it's a situation like that I'll never hold anything you choose to do against you."

Cady nods with a sniffle. "I'm sorry. This should be happy."

"It should be important, and it is," Janis says. "We... we're doing the right thing."

Cady nods. "For us."

"For us," Janis echoes. She tears the list of rules off her notepad and hands it to Cady. "Can you... make this legal, however the hell you do that?"

"'Rules for babby' as the title and all?" Cady says with a watery giggle.

"I'll settle for nothing less," Janis insists. Cady rolls her eyes lovingly and rests her head on Janis' lap.

"You're strange."

"So are you," Janis echoes, gently tapping the tip of her nose. "And we'll have a strange little munchkin before too long."

"Hopefully," Cady sighs.

"We will," Janis insists again. Cady smiles wistfully.

A strange little munchkin.

—————

Cady absolutely insists on hunting down a decent sperm donor for them. Janis would've been perfectly content with an anonymous one so long as they didn't have any genetic conditions, but with everything else going on, she decided this was not the hill to die on.

Cady returned after about six months with one that had as clean a bill of health they could hope for, similar ancestral roots to Janis, and dark hair and eyes almost the same shade as hers. Janis just blinked when she was confronted with all the information and nodded.

Then came time to retrieve Cady's eggs. Janis decided spontaneously that she had changed her mind several times over, watching her poor, needle-phobic wife cry anxiously before her daily shots. Hormones, then the release, and the actual retrieval process itself isn't painless either.

"It'll be worse for you, and you said you'd do it," Cady always sniffled after the rounds were done for the day. "I can handle this."

Before long, they had everything they needed, and it was time.

—-

"You lot have some strong genes," the doctor says as a greeting. "You have seven impressive quality embryos and more that aren't quite so strong. Your chances of a healthy little one are much higher than most we see in here."

Cady smiles down at Janis and squeezes her hand. Janis squeezes back. "We're not putting seven in."

"No, no, heavens no," the doctor laughs immediately. She washes her hands and rolls over a stool to sit on while they talk. "I wouldn't recommend more than three at the absolute most."

"How many do you recommend?" Cady asks.

"For you in particular I would say two. Without wanting to dumb things down, that... doubles your chances of successful implantation. Of course, one alone could also always implant too. I'd just prefer not to see you back so soon if we can help it. And you're strong and healthy, your body can handle two embryos at once until they sort themselves out."

"Two," Janis says. "And what if both... both stick?"

"Then you have twins, and we can discuss what you'd like to do should that happen," the doctor says with a small shrug of her shoulders. "But again, that could also happen with one. Just a matter of fraternal versus identical. Your chances of twins with two embryos aren't all that much higher."

Cady and Janis look anxiously at each other. Twins was a bit more than they bargained for, but... they both have always wanted at least two. And like the doctor says, the chances are low.

"It's up to you, my love," Cady says quietly. Janis has been staring silently at the ceiling since she asked her question, mulling over the realities that are setting in now.

"Do two," she says with a strange lump in her throat, after about five minutes of pure silence.

"Are you sure?" Cady asks. "There's no going back from here."

Janis squeezes her hand and nods. "I'm sure."

The doctor nods and the clinic prepares two embryos. They're implanted a week later.

"And you are now pregnant until proven otherwise, congratulations," the doctor says. Cady tackles her wife in a hug as soon as it's safe to.

"I love you," she says softly.

"I love you too," Janis responds.

—————

It's an anxious few weeks from there. Janis goes from delighted to terrified roughly every thirty seconds, and Cady isn't faring much better.

"What if it didn't work?" she asks anxiously, pacing around their bedroom in the middle of the night. "Or what if it went wrong and damaged your uterus? Or-"

"Caddy," Janis grumbles sleepily from bed. "It's gonna be fine."

"You don't know that! What if you have to get more implanted? You looked so uncomfortable," Cady hums, wringing her hands in front of her.

"I'm gonna be uncomfortable either way. If we lose these then... we'll take some time to process and go from there," Janis says.

"But-"

"Baby," Janis sighs, sitting up and turning on the light. Cady pauses and squints a little bit as she looks at her wife. "Breathe, please. You're stressing me out."

"Sorry," Cady whispers, taking a few deep breaths. "I'm... I'm just worried."

"No shit?" Janis asks with a chuckle. Cady rolls her eyes in her general direction and starts pacing again, albeit much slower. "It's gonna be okay."

"But what if it isn't? What if- what if we're making some terrible mistake? What if we're not ready?"

"Baby, you're just... you... this is just what happened on our wedding day, okay? Even though it was what we both wanted and we knew it would all turn out, we both had cold feet until we were at the end of that aisle holding hands. I'm sure we'll have a few learning curves and whatnot. But... I'm really excited, too."

Cady pauses and looks at her again. She gives Janis a smile warm enough to melt her heart. "I am too."

Janis smiles back. "Yeah?"

Cady nods. "Yeah."

"Come to bed," Janis says, beckoning her over with outstretched arms. Cady sinks into them willingly and nuzzles in close. Janis flips the light back off. They lie together peacefully in the dark for a long, long time.

Janis thinks Cady's finally gone to sleep until she feels her inhale a little bit more heavily and Cady quietly asks, "You're not scared?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I am. I'm fucking terrified," Janis chuckles. "But I'm... not alone."

Cady leans up a little bit and grabs Janis' face between her hands. They have to get quite close to be able to see each other, but she leans in close enough that Janis can see a few vague details of her face in the darkness. "Never. You're never gonna be alone."

Janis smiles and rests a hand over Cady's. "Neither are you."

————-

It's an agonizing wait to find out whether their embryos stuck. It's barely two weeks, but they still don't even make it that long. Cady got so wound up that Janis ended up doing a few tests just to assuage her, but Cady was also too anxious to even look at them. Janis sighed and tucked them away without checking them for the doctors to see the hormone progression.

But, two weeks finally comes, and their tests are almost sure to be accurate at this point. They're both somehow more nervous this time. It feels much more official, even though they're just hanging out in the restroom together while the test sits waiting on the counter.

The timer goes off, and Janis and Cady lock eyes.

"You ready?" Cady asks, taking Janis' hand. Janis takes a deep breath and grabs the test with her free hand. Cady leans into her side, pressing against her arm so she can see the results too.

"It's positive," Janis whispers, biting her lip as delighted tears flow down her face.

"Pos- oh my god!" Cady squeals. She pitches herself at her wife and grabs her face, kissing all over it. Janis laughs and gently grabs Cady's waist to pull her back. "Baby, you're pregnant."

"I'm pregnant," Janis whispers before she gives a shocked laugh. "Holy shit."

"We're having a baby!" Cady says happily. Janis catches her when she throws herself at her again and hugs her so tightly, squeezing her close and resting her chin on her shoulder with a deep sigh.

"What if it's twins?" she whispers.

"Oh my god, can you imagine?" Cady chuckles.

—————

Janis can count on one hand the amount of times her feet touch the floor over the next few weeks. Cady either dotes on her hand and foot herself or gets hired help to do it, much to Janis' dismay. Short of going to the bathroom or walking herself to bed, she's treated like a princess in a tower.

It's nice for the first week or so, but after another, things get old. "Cads, I can get my own grapes. They're grapes."

"You're meant to be resting," Cady protests.

"I am! I haven't done anything but rest for three weeks," Janis huffs. "I'm meant to be exercising and stuff, too."

"Lightly," Cady retaliates.

"I haven't even been able to do that," Janis grumbles. "I need to be able to do a few things for myself or I'm gonna go crazy."

Cady sighs. "I'm sorry."

Janis leans against the counter. "It's okay. Just channel your worry in another direction, please."

"I will," Cady promises. "I'll stop chasing you back to the couch, at least."

Janis comes up behind her and kisses the side of her neck. "Thank you."

"I'm getting these grapes for you, though."

"Fiiiine."

—————

The next few weeks go much smoother. They still have a few small arguments, barely enough to even be called such, but Janis is feeling much better at finally being allowed to move around. She actually spent a whole day refusing to sit down just to make up for it all. Cady had a few things to say about that. They spend their time settling into their new rhythm, having blood work done to confirm Janis is actually officially for-reals pregnant, and relishing in the early days together.

Until one day.

"Caddy?!"

Cady goes running into the bathroom when she hears Janis' panicked yell. Janis jumps a bit when she slams the door open and looks at Cady with anxious tears brimming in her eyes.

"I'm bleeding," she says quietly. "Like, a lot."

Cady looks a little closer. Janis is, indeed, bleeding a fair bit. They'd been told a bit of spotting is normal, but this seems like... more. "Jesus, honey..."

"I think I'm miscarrying," Janis chokes. Cady shakes her head, both in denial and to clear it.

"Don't say that. Not yet. Let's get you cleaned up and go to the hospital," she whispers through her own tears. Her mind went there immediately, and she's almost positive Janis' words are true. But she can't let herself believe that yet. Can't let herself believe they've lost their baby.

She helps Janis get herself situated and into the car. Janis is quiet the entire drive to the hospital. She doesn't cry, she doesn't speak. She barely moves.

Cady bursts into tears halfway there. Janis looks at her and gently takes her hand off the wheel. Cady sniffs and drives with the other. "I'm so sorry, honey."

"For what? It's not your fault," Janis murmurs, holding Cady's hand to her heart and kissing her fingertips.

"I barely let-let you move for three weeks, you've only gotten two to-to really feel like you're pregnant and-and now we're losing them," Cady sobs.

"You were just trying to keep me safe," Janis comforts.

"Yeah, fat lot of good that did," Cady huffs through her tears. "Does it hurt?"

Janis shakes her head. "It's not... comfortable. But finding the blood was a surprise, I'm not hurting or anything."

"Good," Cady says. She takes a breath in vain and trills her lips. Janis squeezes her hand.

"It'll be okay."

"How-how are you so calm?" Cady murmurs.

"Panicking now won't do anything. Might make it worse, actually. And I'm worried about you," Janis shrugs. "There's... always a chance they're okay and this is just a weird thing."

A low chance, Cady insists in her head, but she doesn't say it out loud. "What if it's not?"

"Then we'll figure that out when we find out."

"...You're not really okay, are you?"

Janis' lip quivers and she chokes out, "Not even a little."

-

Cady pulls into the hospital parking lot and pays an amount of money Janis would've balked at had she not been married to a billionaire for seven years for a spot. People stare at them and point as Cady rushes up to the counter and Janis trails slowly behind her. Neither of them care.

"I think my wife is having a miscarriage," Cady pants, trying not to break down in front of the poor hospital receptionist. "She's almost eight weeks pregnant and she's bleeding a lot, I-I'll pay whatever it takes for her to be seen as soon as possible, we-we just need to know-"

The receptionist passes over a box of tissues and pages a doctor. Luckily, they wouldn't have had to wait anyway. They're called back to a small room and a curtain is tugged shut around an examination table to make it even smaller. Cady grips Janis' hand hard enough to nearly break both their fingers, but Janis doesn't even so much as breathe differently, let alone mention it.

A nurse comes in with a mobile ultrasound cart. Cady can't hold back more tears. They were supposed to have their first real ultrasound next week, to see their baby for the first time and make sure they were growing properly. Now they're having one to make sure there's even a baby at all.

They both wait with bated breath as the wand shifts every which way and the nurse frowns at the screen. Cady looks down to see Janis' fingers on her free hand are crossed tightly. She does the same.

"You're not having a miscarriage," the nurse says after what feels like a year, but can't have been more than five minutes. Janis and Cady both let out relieved sobs.

"They're okay?" Janis chokes. "You swear?"

"I swear. Your babies are both fine."

"Our what now?" Cady asks, suddenly very much not crying. Janis freezes beneath her.

"They're both kickin'. Not literally, of course, they don't really have legs yet. But their heartbeats both look steady, and they're charting properly for how far along you are."

"Both?" Janis echoes. "There's-"

"Oh my god, did you not know?" the nurse gasps. "I'm so sorry, I thought you had found out already! Um, you're having twins! Congratulations!"

"Twins?" Cady whimpers in delight. She looks down at Janis. Janis looks back. "They both stuck?"

"They sure did," the nurse chuckles. She turns the screen around so they can see, and sure enough, there's two little black orbs floating in grey static. "You kinda got the Cadillac of twin pregnancies, here. They each have their own placenta and amniotic sac, so they're the least likely to have any complications and things like that. And it means they're almost definitely fraternal. There's a small chance they're identical, but with you having had two embryos implanted and everything, all the signs would point to you having fraternal twins."

"And they're both healthy? I swear if something is wrong with them I will shut this hospital down so fast-"

"Caddy," Janis chuckles. "She knows what she's doing."

"You can see for yourselves. Let me zoom in a bit," the nurse says. She does, and Cady and Janis both look to see what she's doing. "This little blob thing here is baby A's heart, you can see how strong and steady it is. Oh, here."

She fiddles with the machine for a second, and suddenly an echoey pulsing noise can be heard in time with the rapid pulsing on the screen.

"That's their heartbeat?" Cady whispers, quietly sobbing again. The nurse nods with a huge smile on her face.

"Man, I thought I was gonna have to do the sad part of my job today, but I get to do the best part," she says to herself. "Let me find B for you, too."

They wait while she shifts a little bit, and then they watch the other blob's heart and listen to its steady beating for a long time. "Congratulations. I'll go get you all the boring pamphlets and stuff about twins."

"Thank you," Janis chuckles and sniffles at the same time. She wipes her eyes and leans back on the table. Cady watches as she bursts into hysterical laughter, and she can't help but join in.

"What's so funny?" she asks when they've calmed down a bit.

"I don't know," Janis giggles. "We just went from thinking we didn't have any babies to having two, my nerves are totally shot."

"Yeah, mine too," Cady agrees with a smile. "Twins."

Janis stops giggling suddenly, looking at Cady with a remarkably sober expression. "Do... are you... are you okay with twins? Do you want two?"

Cady squeezes her hand for the umpteenth time since they got to the hospital. "I was afraid of it when we put two in."

Janis just blinks at her, with more tension in her body than Cady's ever seen a human hold. Including herself, and that's saying something.

"But now that I know," she continues. "I've never wanted anything more."

Janis smiles. Cady smiles back and bends down to kiss her.

That's how the nurse finds them, so she just quietly leaves the pamphlets and ultrasound photos on the table next to them and ducks back out of the room. Janis is barely in the realm of reality enough to break away from her wife long enough to say, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," the nurse responds, shutting the door behind her.

"Let's go home," Cady whispers against Janis' lips. Janis nods and gives her one last good smooch.

———

"You should still lie down, baby. I know they're healthy, but you've still had a stressful day," Cady says as Janis enters their large house, both of them heaving a sigh of relief.

"...Will you come too?" Janis mumbles, like a small child asking for a hug from their parents. Cady chuckles.

"Of course. Let me get settled, I'll be right there."

Janis nods contently and pads off to the bedroom. Cady grabs her work laptop from the study and a snack for them from the kitchen before she follows her.

Janis is curled up under the covers in their huge bed when she enters, remote in her hand and browsing on the TV for something good to watch. She hesitates on Tangled for a minute before she pulls a face and moves away from princess movies.

Cady swoops in next to her and kisses her cheek. Janis squeals in surprise as Cady gently pushes her backwards onto the bed and pins her down. Cady hovers on her elbows so she doesn't put any pressure on Janis' stomach before she leans down and kisses her soundly. Janis hums in surprise, but she quickly winds a hand into Cady's hair and tilts her head to the side to kiss her back.

"I love you," Cady whispers between long kisses. "The gorgeous mother of my babies."

"Plural," Janis whispers back.

"Thank you," Cady murmurs against her lips. "For doing this."

"You're welcome," Janis chuckles. "But this does mean you're probably gonna have to take a little more time off work than we planned."

"I am anyway, whether something happens or not. Three months both ways, at least," Cady says immediately.

Janis frowns in confusion. "But your dad-"

"Is my boss. If he gets mad at me for taking time off to care for his daughter-in-law and grandbabies he can suck eggs."

Janis laughs and twists little pieces of Cady's hair together. "But you love your work."

"I love you more," Cady says with a shrug. "You're pregnant with twins, darling, it's going to take a fair bit out of you. I want to spoil you as much as I can throughout this. And if that means taking some time off earlier than I need to or working from home, then... so be it."

"Such a devoted mama," Janis grins. Cady pulls back a bit and looks into her eyes. "Baby, why are you crying?"

"I'm gonna be a mama," Cady sobs quietly.

"Yeah," Janis chuckles, reaching up to wipe her tears away. "Did you just notice?"

"No, it's just... it's the first time we've said it," Cady laughs with a sniffle. "We're going to be mamas, Jay."

"We are," Janis agrees.

Cady slides down a bit and gently tugs Janis' shirt up. Janis tips up on her elbows to look at her confusedly. Cady doesn't give her any response before she leans in and carefully presses kisses all over her tummy.

"That tickles," Janis laughs, squirming under the pressure of her wife's lips.

"I'm kissing my babies, it's not my fault they're in you," Cady retaliates, pressing another just above her belly button.

"It kinda is, though," Janis responds. "Dork."

"Hmph," Cady hums, continuing her onslaught of kisses. Janis simply chuckles and accepts her fate.

————-

"Janis!" Cady says, eagerly running into the room about a month later. Janis jumps so hard she nearly falls out of bed.

"What happened? What's the matter?" she asks frantically. Cady is panting like she just ran a marathon and brandishes her phone.

"Guess what?"

"What?" Janis asks desperately, rolling out of bed and going over to her wife.

"The babies are the size of figs!" Cady squeals like this is the most exciting news in the world. Janis pauses.

"Figs?"

"Uhhuh! Look," Cady says, showing Janis an image on her phone. Janis looks at the screen and chuckles.

"I thought someone died," she sighs in relief. "How big even is a fig?"

"Uh... this one says they're as big as brussels sprouts," Cady offers, switching to another app and allowing Janis to see she has about twelve. "And this is what they really look like, aren't they cute? They have little legs now! And it says they're already kicking but you probably won't feel it for a few more weeks."

Janis tilts her head as she looks at the graphic of the little fetus on Cady's phone screen. She thinks it looks a little more like some kind of alien shrimp creature, but she's just glad Cady's excited. "Does it say anything about when I'll stop vomiting every day?"

"Well, you're out of the first trimester after next week, so hopefully then," Cady says, gently cupping Janis' cheek. "I'm sorry you've been so sick."

Janis shrugs. "Two little goblins in there pushing on my insides. Kinda makes sense."

Cady giggles. "Hey, those are our little goblins."

"And they're gonna be goblins until they're about eighteen," Janis snorts.

"Cute goblins, though."

"They better be. Least they can do," Janis replies.

Cady laughs again. Her smile gradually softens and she leaves her hand cupping Janis' cheek. Their conversation fades for a short moment before she murmurs, "You're so beautiful."

Janis feels herself blush and tries to look away. Cady follows her gaze and shifts her hand to rest on the small, but steadily growing, baby bump.

"And this is the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life."

"Stop it," Janis whines. "I'm too hormonal for this."

Cady giggles and shakes her head. "Hm-mm. I'm gonna tell you every day. You're getting that glow, and seeing you with this little tummy makes me so happy. And I know you're gonna be the most amazing, beautiful mother."

"Nah," Janis hums, pulling Cady in closer and pressing her lips gently against the curve of her jaw. "You are."

"No way," Cady scoffs. "You're the one doing all the work. You've got all the chemicals and hormones in there making you even prettier than you were before."

"I really am gonna start crying if you keep this up," Janis warns. Cady laughs and fiddles with the ends of her hair as Janis rests her head on her shoulder.

"Fine. Then can I talk to the sprouts?"

"The sprouts?"

"The babies," Cady says like it's obvious.

"Oh," Janis laughs. "Um... sure. I don't know if they can hear you yet, but-"

"I don't care, it's a good habit to start forming," Cady says immediately.

Janis sighs lovingly and goes to lie back down. She lies on her side, and Cady lies facing her, scooting close enough that her lips brush against Janis' tummy. Janis smiles and runs her nails gently through the roots of her hair. Cady gives the babies a proper greeting, and explains her entire side of the family. She tells them how she and Janis met, and about what dating her was like, how their wedding went, and how excited they were when they found out about them.

Janis smiles lovingly the whole time, chuckling occasionally at the seriousness with which Cady is talking to their unborn children that may or may not actually have ears.

Cady ends her softly spoken tirade with, "And I know you have a lot more growing yet to do, and I want you to do that. But your mother and I are so, so, so excited to meet you. You're going to be the most perfect babies ever. And we're gonna love you so much. We already do."

Janis sniffles, prompting Cady to look up at her. Cady wiggles so she's actually at her eye level and leans in to give Janis a comforting kiss. Janis whispers, "I love you."

"I love you so much," Cady echoes. "All three of you."

—————

"I'm worried Maddie's going to faint," Cady says anxiously as they get ready for her family's Fourth of July celebration. Janis laughs from the bedroom where she's finishing getting dressed.

"She might," she agrees. Madeleine always at least gets teary when one of her sisters-in-law announces a pregnancy. Twins might be too much for her. "Callum's still strong, he'll catch her."

"Maybe I'll stand behind her," Cady says, fussing over her lipstick. Janis enters the restroom behind her, and they lock eyes in the mirror. Cady can't help the wide smile that splits across her face.

"What?" Janis asks, sheepishly adjusting her overalls over her red shirt.

"Nothing," Cady replies.

"What?" Janis insists with a whine. She's gotten much fussier during her pregnancy, which Cady is weirdly delighted by. It's almost endearing, and she's more than happy to assuage whatever is plaguing her sweet wife in the moment.

"You're just so cute. The overalls and the belly. I can't take you," Cady giggles, turning around to face her. She rests a hand on either side of her wife's tummy and leans in for a kiss. She has to lean a little further every week. Janis happily kisses her back.

"You messed up your lipstick again," Janis whispers when they break apart to breathe.

"Worth it," Cady breathes back before leaning in again.

—-

Not all of Cady's siblings made it to the celebration. Christmas is a priority for the family, but most often they spend other holidays scattered around the world with various other loved ones. And, though she'd never admit it, her favorites did make it. Clark is here, Callum and Madeleine are here with their four children, and Clifton and Hannah with their two daughters.

Janis stands behind Cady to hide her belly while everyone mills around on one of the docks waiting for burgers and hot dogs to be grilled. One of the house chefs is making them, but Cady's dad is thoroughly supervising as though he has any idea what he's doing.

Janis gently winds her arms around Cady's shoulders and kisses her neck. She shifts her lips higher and whispers, "You ready?"

"Are you? Everyone's gonna want to touch your belly, are you okay with that? I'll fight them off," Cady whispers back. Janis chuckles and kisses her jaw.

"No, it's okay. I figured they would, I can handle it for a while," she replies.

"Remember the signals. If you change your mind. I'll throw someone in the lake if I have to," Cady says insistently.

"Even your mom?"

"Especially my mom."

"Damn. You're committed," Janis chuckles.

Cady shrugs and gently leans back against her. "I'm kind of surprised nobody's noticed yet."

"We're being totally inconspicuous," Janis chuckles sarcastically. "I'd like to tell them before I start eating for three so I don't get stared at, though."

Cady laughs out loud at that. A few of her family members look at her and she freezes, but they just smile and return back to whatever they were doing. "You'll be fine. Should we just do it now?"

Janis shrugs. "Up to you."

Cady kisses her for strength and takes a deep breath. "Hey, uh..."

"Did you say something, dear?" Cady's mother asks. "Speak up."

"Yeah, but this is kind of for everybody to hear. We have a little surprise," Cady says. Her mother helpfully takes over.

"Everyone! Gather 'round, please, Cadence has something for us," she yells. Everyone except the chef puts down what they were doing and circles around them.

"What is it? Do we get presents?" the youngest child, Zacharias, asks eagerly. Cady laughs and reaches to ruffle his hair.

"Not this time, kiddo, sorry," she says apologetically. Zach pulls a small face and seems visibly disappointed, but he cheers up when his big brother Lennox wraps an arm around his shoulders and rubs his knuckles through his hair.

"Ow, Lenny!" he says eventually.

"Boys, settle down," Madeleine scolds gently. "What is it, Cades?"

Cady freezes. She's not even the pregnant one, and she can't get the words out. Janis frowns in concern for a moment and gives her a little squeeze.

"We're pregnant," Cady says hastily. "Well, mostly her. But, yeah."

Pandemonium is not a strong enough word for what breaks out. Confused children get shoved out of the way by older siblings and parents screaming in excitement, and Cady and Janis are wrapped in more arms than they can count within seconds.

"Oh my god, congratulations! My little Cady's all grown up!" Madeleine says around happy tears. "Having a baby of her own, I can't believe it!"

Janis smiles widely. "About that."

Madeleine snaps to look at her, and her eyes widen. "No." Janis nods, her smile growing. Madeleine screams in delight and runs in to hug her alone. "Twins?!"

"Triplets," Janis replies. That gets her. Madeleine collapses in her arms, and she barely has the strength to pass her to Callum. "Kidding. Yeah, just twins."

"Congratulations," Callum says, tapping Madeleine's cheeks as he tries to revive her. "And thanks for breaking my wife."

"You're very welcome," Janis replies with a mischievous smile. Cady gently whacks her arm. "Hey!"

"You stinker," Cady giggles. She squeaks as her parents both tackle her in a hug. She looks at Janis with eyes wide as saucers. You'd think she'd just been bitten by a shark.

"Congratulations, dear," her dad says. "Twins?"

Cady nods. "Twins."

"Why aren't you carrying them?" her mother asks.

"Because Janis wanted to," Cady responds.

"Are you planning on more?"

"Not at the moment."

"When is she due?" her mother asks.

"December," Janis replies. "But they'll probably be early, so we don't really know."

"Are you planning on breastfeeding?"

"Mother! Enough with the questions, please," Cady pleads. "Please just be happy for us, let us do this the way we need to."

Her mother humphs a little bit, but she does smile and squeeze her the slightest bit. Cady relaxes ever so slightly into it. Janis watches with a proud smile, and jumps when she's beckoned over to join the hug. "Oh, but you must let me throw you a baby shower."

"A small one," Cady says. "Like, brunch group small."

"Oh, bah," her mother says. "You're no fun."

"Mother," Cady says warningly.

"Fine, fine. No more than thirty people. Janis, I'll need contact information for your people so I can get things arranged," she says.

"Of course," Janis chuckles. "You'll finally get to see Damian again."

Damian and Cady's mother had met for the first time at their wedding and, somehow, got on like a house on fire. Apparently they still text regularly with party planning tips and quiche recipes, and have semi-regular coffee dates.

"Oh, that darling," Cady's mother says eagerly. "I can't wait. Congratulations again, loves."

"Thanks mom," Cady says with a smile. Her mother smiles back and kisses her cheek before she goes on to join in the suddenly much more lively celebrations.

"Surprised she hasn't already insisted on doing the nursery," Janis hums as she wraps Cady in the closest thing to a hug they can manage around her belly. Cady laughs.

"She only just found out, she's got to have enough time to come up with a theme and things," she replies. Janis laughs with her.

"Do you have any theme ideas?"

"Do you even want a themed nursery?" Cady retaliates, looking up at her with genuine interest. Janis considers this quite valid point.

"...Depends on the theme."

"Circus?" Cady suggests. Janis looks at her incredulously.

"I'm terrified that that was your first suggestion," she says. Cady laughs.

"I wasn't really serious," she says, saving herself in the eyes of her wife. "Dinosaurs?"

"Dinos might be cute," Janis agrees with a nod. She herself absolutely loved dinosaurs as a kid. It's definitely something to consider. "What about, like, just animals? Or safari or something."

"Oh, that would be adorable," Cady coos.

"Yo, mamas! Come eat," Clark hollers at them, interrupting their discussion. They both jump a bit and laugh as they head to join the line for cheeseburgers and hot dogs.

"We'll figure it out," Janis says as she sees the gears still clunking around in Cady's head.

"I know," Cady says. "I just like knowing things ahead of time."

"I know you do," Janis chuckles. "We have plenty of time. I'm only eighteen weeks."

"Almost nineteen. We're nearly halfway through, and the babies will probably be early, there's so much to do-" Cady says, getting progressively more frantic.

"Caddy," Janis interrupts, putting down both their plates so she can take and squeeze Cady's hands. "It's gonna be fine, okay? The babies aren't even gonna be in the nursery for a few months. They could come tomorrow and we'd be able to figure it out. Even if they come early, they'll be okay with a nursery that isn't perfect."

"They'd better not come tomorrow, you're not past the viability point yet," Cady mumbles. Janis laughs.

"There's my girl."

Cady smiles and tucks herself into her wife for a quick hug. She takes a detour when she pulls back to kiss Janis' belly, and then leans up to kiss Janis too. She bats Janis' hands away from picking her plate back up, and piles it high with all the delicious sides and carries it to the table on her behalf.

"Thanks," Janis says when she sits down next to her. Cady just nods and takes her hand under the table. Janis gives her a squeeze, and Cady squeezes back.

They stay like that throughout the meal, absentmindedly eating with their free hands and making casual conversation with relatives. Zach is very excited now that he knows he's getting two new little cousins soon and lovingly pesters his still-recovering mother with lots of questions about where babies come from and things of that sort. Janis snorts into her potato salad when he incredulously asks, "They're gonna come out her vagina?!"

Everyone else returns to their various activities once the meal is done and digested. Kids leap into the lake, parents stand anxiously watching from the shore or join in themselves. Cady's parents go inside for a nap, and Cady and Janis spread out a blanket on the sand and lie down together. Cady leans in and presses her lips against the top of Janis' rounding tummy a few times before she nuzzles in a little higher. Janis wraps her arm around her and holds her close, kissing the side of her nose as Cady also drifts off for a quick little cat nap in the sand.

Janis smiles to herself as she rests her head down against her other arm and watches her wife sleep.

God, I hope they look like you.

—————-

The next morning, Janis gets the wits scared out of her by Cady sitting bolt upright in bed next to her with a quite dramatic gasp.

"Jesus, what happened?" Janis gasps herself. Cady turns to look at her with a stricken look.

"We forgot to tell Damian!"

"Oh," Janis sighs in relief. "Don't do that, I thought you were having a heart attack or something."

"Oh. Sorry," Cady says sheepishly. "I can't believe we forgot to tell him, though!"

Janis chuckles and pulls her wife back against her. "Cads, it's not a big deal. We only told your family yesterday."

"But we told yours a week ago, we should've told him then!"

"Let's just do it now, hm?" Janis offers. Cady nods. "He's gonna scream, watch out for your ears."

"Just turn the volume down," Cady says. Janis pulls her phone out and texts Damian asking if he's available for a Facetime. She grabs one of her positive tests from her nightstand drawer and holds it, figuring that'll be the simplest way to get him to understand.

"Hey babes," Damian greets when the call connects. "Ugh, look at those pretty faces."

"Hi Damian," Cady greets with a giggle.

"Angel, how are you?! It's been too long," Damian says.

"It has! You have to come up to see us sometime soon. I can't believe it's already been a month, usually we can't even make it a week!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. My show schedule has been crazy," Damian says. He'd been cast in a production of The Wedding Singer and unfortunately had to devote too much time to that to be able to visit them on their normal schedule. "I miss you guys."

"We miss you too," Cady says. Janis nods.

"You guys should come see the show!" Damian offers. They usually do, but Janis wasn't up for the traveling, being so sick most days.

"We want to," Janis says apologetically. "I don't think we'll be able to this time. But we're cheering you on in spirit, baby boo."

"Thanks," Damian says, striking a remarkably homosexual pose. Cady and Janis both laugh. "Bummer you guys can't make it."

"Yeah, we're sorry," Cady says. "I'm sure you're great, though. And it'll be more than worth it."

"Worth it? What do you mean? If you guys can't come you can't come, it's no... big..."

Janis held up the test in the middle of him speaking, and they watch him take a few seconds to process before they have to mute him entirely to save any scrap of their hearing. When they see his mouth start to move in recognizable shapes again, they turn the sound back on.

"-baby! Holy shit, congratulations! I can't believe it! A baby! I'm gonna be an uncle!"

"It's twins," Cady says. Janis has to mute her phone again. Cady recognizes his lip movements partway through. "No, we're not fucking with you, we're really having twins."

It's a solid ten minutes before they can unmute him this time.

"My mom wants your help throwing her baby shower, she'll be in touch about that soon," Cady says when he's gone from the screaming phase to the hysterical sobbing phase.

"Of course! Oh my god, I'm gonna be a twuncle!" he sobs.

"No. New word," Janis says immediately.

"Twinkle."

"No."

"You have plenty of time to think of something tolerable," Cady interrupts. "And we'll be sure to bring them along to your next show. Well, once they're old enough."

"Yes! Oh my god, I can't wait. Okay, I have to go now or I'm gonna be late for work. I love you both and those little babies blossoming in your uterus very much. Have a wonderful life."

"Bye, weirdo," Janis snorts, hanging up on him and dropping the phone somewhere to be lost in the duvet. "There. Everyone is told."

"That's a relief."

—————

"Caddy!"

Cady goes tearing through the house and crashing into the room when she hears Janis yell for her. It sounds panicked. We can't be going through this again. They were fine the first time. Not again. "What happened?! What's the matter, are you bleeding again?! What's wrong?!"

"No, no, come here!" Janis insists eagerly. Cady pauses and reassesses when she sees her wife is actually... laughing. No bleeding, then.

Confused, Cady heads over to her wife. Janis grabs her hand and rests it right on the front of her belly.

"Feel," she says.

"Feel what?" Cady asks.

"Just keep your hand there," Janis says. Cady frowns at Janis' belly, but obediently keeps her hand where it was placed. After about thirty seconds, there's a little bump right against her palm. Cady screams and jerks her hand away before she realizes what it was and quickly puts it back.

"Oh my god! They're kicking!" she squeals.

"They're kicking," Janis agrees, laughing and crying at the same time.

"That means they have feet!" Cady says eagerly. Janis laughs harder.

"I- yeah, it does," she nods. "Doesn't it feel crazy?"

"Yeah," Cady agrees quietly. Janis frowns sadly when she suddenly lets out a sob. "That's our baby. Our baby's in there. Kicking you."

"And there's another one too," Janis hums, brushing Cady's hair out of her face and kissing her cheek. "We're getting pretty close now."

Cady nods again, but doesn't say anything. Janis is perfectly content to let her rove her hands all over her tummy, feeling for every little motion their babies make. Eventually, little jolts start happening at regular intervals on the other side.

"I think A has the hiccups," Janis giggles. "That's where they were on the last exam. B must've been the kicker then."

"They're so cute," Cady says with a sniffle, feeling each little jolt caused by each hiccup.

"Says you. You try having something with the hiccups inside you," Janis chuckles.

"Does it hurt?"

"Nah. It's just... really fucking weird, Cads," Janis replies. Cady laughs.

"I can imagine." She leans down and presses her lips to the right side of Janis' belly to talk to that baby in particular. "Hey, hold your breath! You're making your mother uncomfortable!"

Janis laughs again. "He can't help it."

"He?"

"I think we have at least one boy in there," Janis hums as Cady straightens back up.

"Really?" Cady asks. Janis nods.

"I'm almost positive," she replies. "What do you think?"

"I... I don't know," Cady replies. "I haven't had any... feelings."

Janis smiles and wraps her in as tight of a hug as they can manage. They slowly sway around their bedroom as they continue speaking. "I guess that makes sense. It's probably harder when they're not inside you."

"How crass," Cady giggles.

"I'm a heathen, remember? It's in my job description to be crass," Janis chuckles, kissing Cady's neck. They're quiet for a moment before she asks, "What do you want?"

"In what way?" Cady whispers back.

"Do you want sons? Daughters?" Janis asks. She doesn't sound like she's particularly fussed with whatever Cady says. She sounds like she genuinely wants to know.

"I just want all of you to be healthy," Cady replies.

"Come on, we both know that's a load of shit," Janis says. "As long as you know you'll love them even if they don't turn out that way, what do you want?"

Cady laughs. "In that case... I really hope you're right. One of each would be so sweet. But even if we have two boys or two girls, they'll be perfect. But I really, really just want two healthy babies and my healthy, beautiful wife."

"One of each would be fun," Janis agrees. "I guess we'll find out."

"And we'll find out soon!"

—————

"Ceiling would be a good name," Cady says quietly one night. Janis leans up on her elbows to squint incredulously at her wife in the darkness.

"You want to name one of our babies Ceiling?"

"I didn't say that. But if it didn't mean what it does, I think it would be a nice name. It has a good sound to it," Cady says, suddenly sounding much more sheepish. Janis laughs and cuddles into her side.

"I guess it does," she agrees. "But we're not naming our baby that. I know we're rich and famous, but we're not that rich and famous."

"No, of course not," Cady says immediately.

"Ceiling would be a good name, though," Janis agrees now that she's given it more thought.

"There's lots of words like that."

"Like what?"

"That would be nice names if they didn't mean what they mean," Cady says.

"...Like what?" Janis asks again.

Cady thinks for a moment. "Basket."

Janis considers this and nods. "I guess it does sound kind of name-ish."

"I told you! There's all sorts," Cady says.

"Cardigan," Janis says. Cady nods eagerly.

"Yeah, exactly!" she says. "I'm so relieved you understand my nonsensical ramblings most of the time."

"Most of the time they're actually pretty sensical," Janis chuckles. "But your ramblings are always my favorite."

"Hush," Cady scoffs quietly. Janis laughs and shakes her head.

"Nah."

She can almost hear Cady rolling her eyes, even though she can't see it in the dark. Janis can't help but continue thinking of words that could fit as names in alternate universes.

"Paper," she says quietly. Cady nods.

"Sofa."

"Enough," Janis continues. Cady deflates a little. "No, like, as a name. It has a fun sound."

"Oh! Yeah, you're right," Cady giggles. "Carrot."

"Carrot is great," Janis chuckles. "Ceiling and Carrot."

Cady laughs so hard she nearly pushes Janis off her. Janis can't contain her giggles either, and they spend a frankly concerning amount of time giggling at nothing in the darkness together.

Janis wipes tears of laughter from her eyes. "Android."

"Band," Cady says.

"Prophecy," Janis says with incredible drama.

Cady gives an oooh and thinks quietly for a moment. "...Chlamydia."

"Wh- Caddy!" Janis splutters out a shocked laugh.

"What?! I'm not saying anyone should name a baby that! I'm just saying that if it wasn't... that, it has a pretty sound!" Cady defends. She's laughing more at Janis' near-uncontrollable laughter than the actual idea of naming a baby after an STI.

Janis presses her forehead to Cady's shoulder and continues giggling into the blankets. When she calms down again, she says, "I love you."

"I love you too," Cady says softly.

"I'm glad we still know how to make each other laugh," Janis continues, ghosting a touch over Cady's collarbones with her pointer finger.

"I am too," Cady replies, tucking her head against Janis'. "I'm glad I have you to keep me smiling."

"I'm glad I have you to give me some excitement," Janis murmurs.

"I'm glad I have you," Cady says plainly.

"I'm glad I have you too," Janis murmurs. Cady adjusts them to such a position that she can lean in for a sweet, soft, lingering kiss. "And I'm glad I get to do that whenever I want."

Cady smiles and gently flicks her ear. "Goof."

"Oh, I'm the goof for being glad I have the hottest wife in the world that I get to kiss whenever I want?"

"Yes, because you don't have the hottest wife in the world," Cady giggles. "I do."

Janis scoffs. "Maybe before you knocked me up. With twins, might I add."

Cady shakes her head. "Especially now."

"...Really?"

"Of course, really," Cady giggles again. "You've always been beautiful. And you always will be beautiful to me. No matter how you feel about yourself. You're beautiful now, even though you're not happy with your body. You're carrying our babies. I don't know if you've ever been so beautiful. You always were, of course, but now... I can't stop looking at you. And you'll be beautiful when you're all wrinkly and your hair is all grey and we're sitting in rocking chairs together somewhere and we can only eat soup."

Janis chuckles and leans in for another kiss. "You really think you'll wanna be with me when all I can eat is soup?"

"Of course. Don't you?" Cady asks.

"Yeah. You'll be a cute old lady," Janis says immediately. Truth be told, she's always pictured the same thing. Every new line or scar on Cady's body is a revelation. A sign that she's changing. She's aging. Janis is always excited to get to know the new her with the new changes, slight as they are. As terrifying as it is, she's excited to be an old lady if it means she gets to know Cady as one too.

It's nice to know she feels the same.

Janis kisses her one more time. "Do you have any, like... real ideas for their names?"

Cady shakes her head. "Not really. I've had a few that sounded nice, but nothing has really given me that definite yes sort of feeling yet. Do you?"

"I have one I'd really like if we have a girl," Janis says quietly. "But I kind of want to wait until they're born and name them when we see them."

"I'd like that," Cady says. "What's the name?"

"You'll find out if we meet her," Janis hums smugly. Cady scoffs.

"Stinker."

"Hey, you were the one just going on about how excited you are to see me as a grandma," Janis retaliates with a giggle.

"I take it back," Cady sighs lovingly. "You're such a goofball."

"I'm not the one who wants to name a baby Chlamydia."

"I said I don't!" Cady insists before they break into peals of laughter again. Janis joins in, pressing her forehead against her wife's and laughing against her lips.

"God, we're gonna be parents."

—————

The next day they giggle about it all again on their way to their ultrasound appointment to see that the babies are still developing on track. Janis is used to it all by now, but she still shivers at the chilly gel rubbed onto her stomach.

"Aww," Cady coos when one of their babies' faces is visible on the screen. Janis smiles and watches too.

"That's B today, getting that sweet little face growing just fine," the doctor says as she shifts the wand all around and takes measurements of their limbs.

Janis and Cady chat while the scan continues. Little things, like what they want for dinner; they really should call Damian, it's been so long; look how cute the baby's little fingers are.

"Hm," the doctor hums softly, looking at the scan with a small frown before referring back to her notes. Cady and Janis' conversation halts in its tracks, and they both turn to see her. "You're planning on a home birth?"

"Yes," Cady says, squeezing Janis' hand.

"I'm afraid that might not be possible," the doctor says in concern.

"Why not? Are the babies okay? What-what's the matter with them?"

"As far as I can see, they're both still perfectly healthy," the doctor soothes immediately, noticing both of them starting to panic. "But you have a little troublemaker in there."

She shifts the wand a bit for another angle to confirm her suspicions, and she nods gravely. "Your baby A in here is the issue. They're in what we call the frank breech position."

"But they're okay?" Cady asks desperately.

"I can't see spectacularly well, but they've been doing just fine in all your previous scans, I don't think anything could've gone terribly wrong with them in the meantime."

"But what does that mean? Why can't I have a home birth?" Janis asks, sighing in relief now that she has reassurance that the baby is okay.

"Well," the doctor sighs and rolls over to a cabinet, pulling out a baby doll. She curls it gently in on itself. "Ordinarily babies are sort of curled up like this, and then they straighten out during delivery to come out safely. B is like that, you can see them here."

"Okay," Janis says. "Doesn't breech just mean they're upside down? Won't they flip over before I go into labor?"

"Ordinarily, yes," the doctor explains. "But frank breech means that your baby is... like this."

Cady and Janis both blink in shock as she folds the doll sharply in half.

"Their legs are up in front of their face, in this sort of V-shaped position. Look here," she says. Cady and Janis both look at the screen. "Those are feet, and that's their ear. At about the same level."

"Oh," Janis says. She can't hold back a giggle, in spite of the bad news.

"For pregnancy it's perfectly fine, even if it does make it harder for me to check on them. But for delivery... it's, er... well, to be frank with you ladies, the baby would likely come out bum-first. With a vaginal birth, that puts an incredible amount of strain on both the baby and you."

Janis can imagine delivering a baby bent in half would indeed be considerably more painful. "So... I-I have to have a C-section?"

"I don't want to dash all your hopes just yet, but I'd expect so. With you carrying twins, they're very cramped for room in there, so I don't expect they'll straighten out in time for you to deliver naturally. You'll be having weekly scans from now on anyway, but if they don't unfold before you're about 36 weeks it's almost a definite, unfortunately."

"Damn it, kid," Janis tuts under her breath. "As long as they're healthy. They can come out however they want to."

"B is doing just fine, A's heart looks great. And their legs are clearly growing on schedule to be so long. Anything else isn't really an immediate concern, just keep an eye on how you're feeling and make sure you get here every week for those scans."

"We will," Cady says, squeezing Janis' hand. Janis nods.

The doctor wipes the gel off of Janis' belly before she leaves. Janis pulls her shirt back down and sits up with Cady's help.

She's almost silent again as they walk to the car, and most of the way home. Every time Cady looks at her she seems fine, almost content, but Cady has reason to believe otherwise. "Are you okay, my love?"

Janis looks at her, and she seems almost confused. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"...Because your entire birth plan has to change now? You were very adamant about what you wanted and now you're being forced into practically the opposite."

Janis shrugs. "I kinda figured I wouldn't be able to have a home birth once we found out there were twins. I've had plenty of time to prepare for the possibility of things changing. I'd still prefer that, but if I have to have a C-section then I have to have a C-section. I don't think trying to fight it will do any good."

"I'm still sorry you're not getting your... is dream birth a weird thing to call it?"

"Yes," Janis laughs immediately. "It's really fine, Cads. As long as they're out of me by the end of the day, at this point I couldn't give a flying fuck how it happens. And this way I won't have to work so hard."

"You'll still have to work very hard," Cady says in concern.

"I know. But hopefully I won't get all sweaty," Janis says. Cady chuckles and takes her hand.

"That's what you're worried about?"

"I don't have anything else to worry about right now," Janis says with a shrug. "If we find something else to worry about then I'll worry about it. But I hate being sweaty, so hopefully that won't happen now."

"I love you," Cady says. Janis turns to look at her and smiles.

"I love you too."

Cady continues driving, and they're silent until they're nearly home. Cady fidgets with Janis' fingers with her free hand and quietly says, "We get to pick their birthday this way."

"Exactly," Janis chuckles. "You're getting it."

—————

After much discussion, they pick November 16th to be their babies' birthday. They were told to pick a day in mid-November to avoid Janis going into labor as best they could, and to give the babies enough time to finish growing. They didn't want it close to Halloween, but also not too close to Thanksgiving. And Cady likes even numbers, so the 16th was a quick pick.

The weeks fly by, the hospital bag is packed. Cady dances around the house the morning of as they gather all their things and drive to the hospital. "We're having babies today!"

"This is really not a we thing," Janis grumbles crankily.

"We get to meet our babies today!" Cash amends. Janis chuckles and squeezes her hand. "How are you feeling?"

"As well as I can knowing I'm about to be sliced open and have twins removed from me," Janis replies. Cady blinks, but she nods.

"Okay. That's... definitely one way of putting what's about to happen," she replies. "Are you scared?"

Janis nods. Cady pouts.

"I'm sorry, honey. I'll be right there with you, I won't let anything happen to you. Or to them. I promise."

"I know," Janis says softly, squeezing her hand again in thanks. "That's the only thing keeping me from totally spiraling right now."

"If they do anything I will shut that place down so fast. Everyone's getting fired, I swear to god," Cady says. Janis laughs.

"Caddy, it'll be fine. I know it will, but knowing I'm about to be numbed from the tits down for like, multiple hours, and again, have babies removed from my stomach just isn't the most pleasant idea."

Cady is quiet for a moment. "I'm still gonna fire them all. I'll hire new better doctors myself and get the best ones to make sure you're okay."

"You've already gotten me into the best hospital for C-sections in the state, babe, we'll be fine," Janis chuckles. "Calm down a little. Rage later if you need to, but don't get yourself all worked up now."

"I'm just excited," Cady mumbles sheepishly. Janis smiles.

"Good."

"Are you?"

"God, yeah," Janis chuckles. "Our little munchkins are coming today. And I don't have to be pregnant anymore. I'll probably be able to sleep on my stomach again by tomorrow night!"

“That's what you're excited about?" Cady giggles."You don't know, man. You try being pregnant with twins sometime," Janis huffs.

"No, I'm alright, thank you," Cady says immediately. Janis laughs. "I think one set is plenty for us."

"Definitely," Janis chuckles. "God, I saw in the news the other week that this couple did the same thing we did but both their eggs split and they ended up with quadruplets."

"Heavens," Cady shivers. The idea of the two of them raising two babies, even with all their money, is frightening enough. She can scarcely imagine four. At a stoplight, she bends over and kisses Janis' belly. "Thank you for staying how we put you."

Janis laughs again. "How are you feeling?"

"I have never been so afraid in my life," Cady says honestly. "But I've never been so excited either."

——

They both have the jitters by the time they pull into the hospital parking lot. Janis waddles slowly behind Cady as they head inside. Cady pauses at the door, knowing they'll be leaving with their babies. This is the last door they'll enter as a family of two, before their two and two make four.

Cady gets them all signed in, and then they have about an hour to get used to things before their surgery is scheduled. Cady cracks some very weak dad jokes, but Janis laughs all the same and gives her adoring smiles with each one. "You gotta step up your game, babe."

"I know," Cady whines after a particularly bad one about blankets for the babies to be kept at 'womb temperature'. Janis smiles and pats her hand.

"You'll get there. They won't be able to understand them for a good few years anyway," she says comfortingly. Cady smiles and leans in to kiss her.

That turns out to be the last practice shot she gets. Doctors come pouring in to get Janis dosed up and the both of them into sterile clothes. Cady is suddenly hit with the realization that this is all happening, like, right now as Janis is wheeled to the operating room and she's left to run after them.

It takes a very

very

very

long time.

Janis doesn't exactly look comfortable, but she doesn't complain of any pain. She does mention offhandedly that it feels like she's being squashed by an elephant, but that's the extent of her complaints. Cady is the one with most of them.

"This is taking forever," she whines into Janis' shoulder behind the partition. Janis tries not to laugh and risk jostling anything while someone has the fancy equivalent of a knife held at her gut.

"I don't know about you, but I'd prefer they take their time," she responds. "It can't be much longer. You've waited eight and a half months, we almost get to meet them now."

"The anticipation is killing me," Cady huffs. "I want our babies out and you safely put all back together and I want to take all of you home and love on you until they're in college."

Janis smiles. "I love you."

Cady smiles back and leans down to kiss her. "I love you too."

"Oh!" the doctor suddenly exclaims, and Cady is on her feet in a flash.

"What happened?! Are they okay? Is she okay?" she says desperately.

She freezes as she hears a shrill cry split the air. She looks down at Janis, who smiles dopily back at her. Tears start pooling in her eyes as she looks back and forth between her wife and the doctor.

The crying continues for a moment as the people on the other side of the partition handle the situation, and then a tiny baby is held over it for them to see. "Here's your baby B."

"B? What happened to A?" Janis asks.

"Apparently this one decided he wanted to be born first. Kicked A out of the way!" the doctor chortles.

"He?" Cady says with a quiet sob. The doctor nods, and Cady immediately leans in to kiss Janis. "A boy."

"I had a feeling there was at least one in there," Janis chuckles. Their son is passed off so they can get the other twin out and Janis closed up before too much longer. Another shrill cry rings out, and Cady and Janis both start sobbing again.

"Here's little A," the doctor says. "Miss Troublemaker."

"A girl?" Cady whimpers, looking at the little pink squirming thing. "We-we got both?"

"Certainly looks that way!" one of the nurses says cheerfully. Cady hesitantly steps around the curtain to cut the cords, trying very hard to focus on that and not her wife's insides on the outside. The surgeon gets to work handling that, and the babies are taken to the counter in the room to be measured, weighed, and cleaned off.

It feels like hours have passed before two swaddled little babes are carried back to them, still crying about all they've been through today. Cady sits back by her wife and smiles as one baby is tucked against her face on either side.

"Hi," Janis whispers through her tears, bringing up a hand to rub each soft little cheek. "Hi, babies. Thank fuck you're out."

"Hey," Cady laughs wetly. "Mind your profanity."

"They're crying so loud they can't hear me anyway," Janis chuckles. "Shh, I know. I know. I'm crying too, I know. We're all okay."

Cady sobs again and leans across their son to kiss her wife soundly. "You're all perfect. Absolutely perfect."

"They're... they're not missing toes, or anything? They're okay?" Janis sighs heavily.

"They're both just fine," one of the nurses says with a chuckle. "I'm new, but they're the healthiest twins I've seen so far."

"I told you," Cady says with a laugh.

Once Janis is put back together and stitched up, they're wheeled back to their room to rest and bond as a family for the very first time. Cady props Janis up with pillows and crawls into bed behind her. Janis winces as she has to move, but she leans back into Cady with a relieved sigh and finally gets a good look at their babies.

Cady kisses her neck gently and looks at the little ones over her shoulder. "They're so beautiful. And you're so strong. I... I can't believe they're here."

Janis smiles at the sleepy babies in her arms. "They're here."

"I love you," Cady whispers. "So much. Look at them. Look at what you brought into this world. They're perfect. You're the strongest person I know. And you're so beautiful. Thank you."

Janis blushes and feels tears start pooling in her eyes. "Don't make me cry, I just got Frankenstein-ed back together."

"I'm sorry," Cady laughs. "But it's true. Thank you for doing this. And I'm sorry you didn't get the experience you wanted."

"We have them," Janis says quietly. "That's all I wanted. They're safe, and they're here."

"And they're perfect," Cady murmurs. "These are ours."

"Our babies," Janis echoes with a smile. "The girl is bigger?"

Cady nods. Janis had been in the process of getting stitched up when the nurse told them, so Cady took in everything she could on her behalf. "She's six pounds and four ounces. This one. And our little boy is six pounds even."

Janis looks at their daughter in her left arm and son in her right. "They look just like you."

"You think?" Cady asks softly, resting her chin on Janis' shoulder. Janis nods and leans even harder back against her.

"They do. They look more similar than I thought they would, too."

"They do," Cady agrees. Both babies have impossibly full cheeks, matching little button noses, pouty mouths, what would be wide eyes if they were open, and Cady's dainty little ears.

Janis pulls off their little beanies, and Cady can feel her sigh.

"What's the matter?"

"I had two blonde babies?" Janis says in exasperation. "Two? Blonde?"

"That's exactly what my hair looked like when I was born," Cady chuckles, looking at the tiny tufts of strawberry blonde hair on each perfect little head.

"I guess I can live with it then," Janis sighs, but Cady can feel her smile. "They need names."

Cady nods. "What do you think?"

Janis looks back and forth between the babies, trying to decide which of them to start with. "He looks a little bit like a Charles."

Cady almost knocks everyone out of the bed in her shock. "You want to name him after my father?"

Janis shrugs. "Why not? Your dad and Charlie are some of the most important people in your life. And how often do you get to bring the fifth generation of a name into the world? Come on."

Cady blinks in surprise as she considers this. She looks down at the little burrito sound asleep in Janis' arms and considers this. "Charles Jacob Heron. The Fifth."

"Jacob," Janis murmurs. "You guys have too many Charles' already. We'll call him Jacob. Jakey."

"Jacob," Cady echoes. Janis gently brings him up to kiss his nose. His eyes flutter open as she brings him back down.

"Hi, baby boy," Janis greets with a smile.

"Hi Jacob," Cady echoes quietly, reaching around her wife to gently stroke his hair. "Happy birthday, handsome."

"Baby Jakey," Janis says. "You like your name?"

Jacob's response is an impossibly wide yawn. Cady and Janis laugh. "Goodness. Being born is hard work, huh?"

"He's such a Jacob," Janis says fondly as she kisses his forehead again and he's asleep once more. "Jakey suits him."

"It does," Cady admits. "You're sure about the name? My father hasn't-"

"I'm sure. Your father has made a lot of progress too. And we can always say we named him after Charlie instead."

"I'd have preferred Clifton," Cady chuckles. "But I guess you're right."

"What's Clif's middle name again?"

"Joseph."

Janis looks back at the baby and wrinkles her nose. She shakes her head. "Nah. He's not a Joey."

"He's a Jakey," Cady says with a smile. "What about our beautiful girl?"

Janis shifts her gaze to the other baby, and finds her awake. She gazes up at them with unfocused little eyes. "Oh, hi. Nice to meet you, sweet girl."

"They really do look so similar," Cady breathes. "Both their eyes are that color."

"What color is it?" Janis says quietly, tilting her head to look. "If I had two blonde, blue-eyed babies I'm going to scream."

"They look more grey to me," Cady says soothingly. "That's exactly what Elsie's eyes looked like when she was born, and they turned brown as she grew. I think they'll get darker."

"They'd better," Janis grumbles sarcastically. "God, she's cute."

"She is," Cady agrees. "Little stinker. You had to be all bendy in there, huh?"

Janis laughs as Cady gently tickles the baby's little chin. "She didn't have much room in there."

"That's true," Cady says. "You never told me that name."

"What name?"

"You said you had a name you really wanted if we had a girl, but you didn't want to tell me until we saw her and knew for sure if it fit her," Cady says. Janis tries to remember that conversation, and she laughs.

"How do you remember that? That was, like, four months ago," she responds. Cady shrugs.

"Naming our babies is important. It stuck out to me."

Janis looks at the baby. "Isla. I fell in love with you on that island that first Christmas."

"Isla," Cady breathes. "It's perfect. Hello, Isla."

"She's looking at you," Janis chuckles. Cady smiles and gently rubs the pad of her thumb up and down the bridge of the impossibly tiny nose. Isla's eyes flutter and it's not long before she's sound asleep. "What about her middle name? You should pick it. I chose all the rest."

"No, we chose together," Cady protests.

"From my suggestions."

"Yeah. That's fine."

"Cads," Janis insists. "Pick a damn name."

"Stop swearing in front of them!" Cady huffs.

Janis turns as best she can to glare at her. "We have, like, at least eight months before they can talk. One damn isn't gonna hurt them."

"You said fuck too," Cady grumbles. Janis laughs and groans at the pain it causes. Cady gently adjusts her wife and peers back at the tiny baby.

She barely has to look at the baby before a name comes to mind.

"Joy."

She can feel Janis smile as their cheeks are pressed together. "It's perfect."

"You think?" Cady asks shyly. Janis nods, and Cady can feel a few tears streaming down her cheek.

"Isla Joy," Janis whispers thickly. "It's beautiful."

"But you really think it suits her?" Cady asks worriedly.

"I think it's perfect for her," Janis nods.

"Really?"

"Caddy," Janis chuckles. "Trust me. Joy is a perfect middle name. I love it. She looks exactly like an Isla Joy. It's just right."

Cady smiles and kisses Janis' neck, looking at both their peacefully sleeping babies. "Isla Joy and Charles Jacob."

"The most precious babies there ever were."

———

Janis is totally dead to the world less than an hour later for a much deserved nap. Cady helpfully deposits the babies back in their... storage containers, she decides to call them, and lingers by her wife for a long time. Long after Janis is asleep, she's still gently tracing shapes on her bicep, murmuring thanks and love into her hair, peppering ghost-light kisses on her forehead.

Janis snuffles at the last one, and the one thing Cady does not want to do is wake her up. Carefully, she removes herself and leaves her wife to nap in peace, and goes to introduce herself to their babies instead.

"Hello, sweet babies," she croons softly as she scoops the tiny new little ones back into her arms and holds them properly, all by herself, for the very first time. "Hi. I'm your mama. Well, one of them. Your other mom is asleep right now. Isn't she beautiful?"

She wanders in circles around the room, pausing frequently to check on Janis or to look at the same view of the random field outside their window.

"I love you so much," she whispers down at the babies. "I've loved you from the moment I found out you existed, and now I finally get to hold you and see your sweet little faces."

She takes a shaky breath as delighted tears start streaming down her face.

"I might not make a very good mom. I definitely won't be perfect. But I promise you both I'm going to try so hard to make your lives amazing. And I'll always, always, love you both," she continues. "You two and your mother are the most precious things I've ever had, do you know that? I'm not going to risk letting anything happen to any of you. I'll keep all of you safe. I promise. And I'll love you your whole lives long."

She jumps as she turns around for another lap around the room and finds Janis awake, smiling at her with a few tears streaming down her face.

"Hi."

"Hi," Janis echoes. "How you doing, Mama?"

"I should be asking you that," Cady says, handing her their daughter while she keeps and smiles at their son.

"I'm fine, Cads. Do you have any idea the amount of drugs I still have coursing through me? I got, like, another good few hours before I really start feeling anything," Janis chuckles. "Ow, shit."

"Exactly," Cady huffs.

"I'm fine, though," Janis insists as she winces through adjusting her position.

"I can get you more meds if you need," Cady says, carefully putting the baby down to help her before she scoops him back up and cradles him close.

"I'm fine," Janis says for a third time. "I promise. Come love on these little munchkins with me."

Cady smiles and sits in a chair next to Janis' bed. "His eyes are so big. And he's got such long eyelashes already. And those chubby baby cheeks."

"They're only gonna get chubbier," Janis says happily. "She has the cutest little ears."

"He does too," Cady smiles. Jacob wraps his tiny hand around her finger, and she kisses the tips of each tiny baby finger. "And his hands are so small."

"Their nails are so tiny," Janis says. Cady nods.

"I can't believe they're actual people. They're so small, there's no way a whole human can fit inside there," she says absently. Janis laughs and groans again.

"Somehow. I'm not sure either," she says. "I'm still not sure how they both fit in me."

"I'm not either. No wonder you've been so sick, your body must have done a whole lot of rearranging to make room."

"You're telling me," Janis hums. "But it was worth it, huh Isla?"

"Now everyone gets to recover," Cady tells Jacob. He blinks at her. "Yeah. You're gonna stay here for a few days, and then Mommy and I get to take you home to rest. And you're gonna barf and poop all over us and scream your little head off at us, and we're still gonna love you! Isn't that wild?"

"Stop making me laugh," Janis groans from the bed. Cady smiles sheepishly.

"Sorry."

"It's okay," she says. She hands Isla back and smiles as she sees her little family all together. "You're so sweet with them already."

"I'm terrified, Janis," Cady whispers, staring into their son's unfocused little grey eyes. "They're so perfect. I can't mess them up."

"We won't," Janis promises. "We have each other."

"But they're... they're like the first snowfall, right now. I can't be the one to mess that up. I don't want to be the first footprint in it," Cady continues desperately.

"We can't help making mistakes. But I know how much you love them, babe, we're gonna do okay. I can't promise we won't fuck them up somehow, but I know we'll do everything we can not to and everything we can to fix it. You've already done so much for them. You took incredible care of me through my whole pregnancy, and you still are. We're gonna figure this out together."

"Together," Cady breathes shakily.

"Always together," Janis promises. "Especially because if you ditch me with these two now I will sue your ass so hard."

Cady laughs. "No, never. You're never ever getting rid of me. I might be one of those mothers who tries to move into the college dorm with her kids."

"Your mom didn't-"

"Of course not, she didn't even know where I was," Cady hums. She looks down to explain to the babies.  "I'm talking about your Nana. She won't treat you that way, I promise. She's done a lot of work on herself. She's already bought you two tons of presents. She can't wait to meet you."

"Oh, shit," Janis says.

"Stop swearing!"

"You're just gonna have to learn to live with it, babes," Janis says with a smile. "We gotta call Damian. I forgot to tell him. Again."

"Yay!" Cady squeals. She looks down at the babies again. "Are you two ready for the loudest phone call of your life? I hope so."

Janis can't help but laugh again, keeping a hand on her pained stomach. They get the four of them situated together on the hospital bed, the babies face-to-face in each of their arms, and Janis holds the phone facing the sleeping babes as the call connects.

As expected, Damian's answer is a shriek as soon as he processes what he's seeing. Janis smiles and turns the camera around to face herself and Cady.

"Those are babies!" he says.

"No shit," Janis says.

"Hey!" Cady insists.

"Hi Caddy!" Damian says eagerly.

Cady laughs. "Hi Dame. Surprise!"

"They're so cute," Damian coos as Janis puts the camera back on the twins. "Oh, they look just like you, Cads."

"They might have Janis' eyes," Cady explains eagerly. "Aren't they perfect?"

"Yes," Damian coos.

"This is our little boy. Charles Jacob, after Caddy's dad. But we're calling him Jacob," Janis says proudly.

"You had a boy?!" Damian squeals.

"We did! We had one of each," Cady confirms. Damian shrieks again.

"Oh my god! Oh, how perfect! Look at them, oh my god! Oh my god, oh my god! What's your girl's name?"

"Isla," Cady says with a smile. "Isla Joy."

"Jacob and Isla," Damian says, testing out the names. "Excellent. They sound like rich people names but not pretentious."

"Perfect," Janis chuckles.

"Have the media hounds swarmed you yet?"

"The media hounds don't know we scheduled a C-section for today. But I'm sure they'll be filling the parking lot before too long," Janis sighs. Cady leans into her comfortingly.

"It'll be okay," she murmurs. "I'll protect you."

"Aww," Damian coos. Cady blushes as she remembers he can, in fact, hear them. Janis leans in for a kiss and elicits yet another shriek from their friend. "It's too cuuuute! I can't stand it!"

"Hang up then, coward," Janis says, like she hasn't just had the softest moment possible with her wife and newborn babies.

"Hey!"

"Janis!" Cady scolds.

"What? I just had two babies cut out of my gut, I get a free day to say whatever I want," Janis hums. Cady shrugs.

"I suppose that's fair," she says. "Sorry Damian."

"It's fine. Lemme see them again," Damian insists. Janis chuckles and obliges, allowing their friend to coo over his niece and nephew for as long as he wants. They stay on the call for almost three hours, talking about the babies and them and everything in between.

"You're still coming for Thanksgiving?" Janis asks before they hang up.

"Yes! And if you try to do a single goddamn thing I swear to god I will drag you through the town square and throw you in the river," Damian says. "Bye. Love you."

"Love you too, D," Janis chuckles. She hangs up and flops back against the pillows with a sigh. "What a day."

"A good day," Cady says.

"The best day," Janis agrees, handing Isla to her and cuddling into her side.

"Get some rest, my love," Cady murmurs, bending at a strange angle to kiss her forehead. "We'll wait for you."

Janis yawns and smiles. "I love you."

"I love you too."

—————

They're all released from the hospital three days later. Cady carefully carries the babies out the doors of the hospital in their top-of-the-line car seats while a nurse wheels Janis behind them. Janis gets in the car first, and then Cady struggles through trying to get the car seats in place for the first time with babies inside.

After a solid hour, the seats are both snapped in where they go, and Cady gets to drive her family home.

They have a crazy first month trying to adjust to having twin newborns. Damian comes and provides them with an excellent but unbelievably chaotic Thanksgiving, and stays for a week afterwards to help them handle everything. Even with a maid and a chef hired on so they could focus almost exclusively on the babies and themselves, it's still unbelievably hard.

Cady is adamant about the two of them being the only ones to raise their babies and absolutely refuses a night doula. She drags both bassinets over to her side of the bed and declares she'll handle all the nighttime bottles and diaper changes. Janis is only woken up when one of the babies is truly desperate for some snuggles from their mommy. Otherwise Cady insists she get plenty of rest and time to heal. Janis doesn't complain.

—-

A week after the twins' one-month birthday, they brave the outside world for the first time. It's Christmas time, and time to take the babies to the annual Christmas celebrations hosted by Cady's parents in one of the Heron Enterprises hotels. Luckily, this year's is close to home, and they only have a few hours' drive instead of an international flight.

Cady smiles as they cross the threshold, and Janis sighs. She's only been out of the hospital for a month. Traveling is hard on her body.

Cady carries the babies in and gently sets them down before she turns to her wife. "You wanna go nap?"

Janis nods. "But they'll want to meet the babies."

"And they'll have plenty of time to," Cady soothes. "Let's go get settled in."

She can see the relief on Janis' face as they head to the elevators instead of right in to greet everyone.

"You feeling okay, baby?" Cady asks, gently cupping Janis' cheek. Janis smiles softly and nods.

"I'm just tired."

"Are you sure?" Cady insists. Janis nods again and takes her hand off her face to hold it instead.

"Promise. Cross my heart and whatnot," she says. Cady smiles and leans in for a kiss.

They both jump the slightest bit when the elevator dings, and freeze when they hear someone inside sigh. The doors open, and out comes Madeleine. She seems rather shocked to see them there. "Hi. I was never here, I saw nothing."

"You don't have to do that, Maddie," Cady chuckles. "Come up with us, you can meet the twins."

Madeleine looks to Janis. Janis smiles and nods, to which her sister-in-law squeals and wraps her in a gentle hug. Cady picks the babies' car seats back up and they all go into the elevator together.

"How are you feeling, Janis? You look incredible, absolutely unfair," Madeleine says, pointedly not looking at the babies so she gets the surprise properly. Janis laughs and winces a bit.

"As well as I can be," she replies, resting a hand over her healing incision. "Considering Cady was positive I'd die on the table."

"Your intestines were outside your body! You need those!" Cady insists frantically. Madeleine laughs.

"I'll make her go easy on you while we're here," she tells Janis. Janis smiles at Cady.

"No need," she says softly. "She barely lets me do anything now."

"Because you need to rest," Cady says.

"They're a month old and you're already spoiling them," Janis chuckles.

"All the siblings do, I think it's genetic," Madeleine chuckles. "When Lennox was little his feet never touched the ground. Callum absolutely refused to let him go."

"How is he sixteen?" Cady sighs sadly.

"He was born sixteen years ago," Janis replies. Cady rolls her eyes lovingly at her.

"I know that. But I still remember holding him in the hospital," Cady says.

"And now you have your own little ones," Madeleine smiles. The elevator reaches the right floor, so everyone trails out and down the hall to their room. "Now let me at 'em."

Cady rests both seats on the bed and carefully undoes their buckles. "Who do you want?"

"Both!" Madeleine says as if it's entirely obvious. Janis laughs and picks up Jacob, so Cady gets Isla out.

"This is Jakey," Janis says as she gently hands him to his aunt. "Jacob. And that's Isla."

"How beautiful," Madeleine coos. "God, I miss babies. These two are dangerous."

"Maddie, you had four, that's plenty," Cady chuckles.

"But mine are all big now. These two are still in the smushy little baby stage," Madeleine sighs.

Janis chuckles and gets herself comfortable in bed. Cady leaves Madeleine to coo over the gingerbread man-patterned onesies the twins have on while she sees to her wife. "Do you want me to stay?"

"Do you want to stay?" Janis replies. Cady pauses and considers this. As soon as she's downstairs, she'll be bombarded with questions about Janis and the babies. Part of her wants to go so Janis doesn't have to deal with that on top of healing and struggling through keeping twin babies alive. But the rest of her is just very tired.

"Yes... please. Is that okay? That leaves you with more to handle," she says anxiously. Janis chuckles and scoots over to make room for her to nap too.

"That's just fine. We'll do it together," Janis whispers. Cady nods and cuddles into her.

They're long asleep by the time Maddie gently rests the babies in their cribs and tiptoes out the door.

—-

A few hours later, they enter the foyer hand in hand with babies in arms. You'd think Jesus himself had just walked into the room.

Everyone turns to look, everyone gasps and starts chattering all at once, everyone rushes up and starts coming over the little ones, touching their hands and little cheeks and asking if they can hold them.

They both say yes and watch anxiously as their twins are passed from relative to relative. Cady swoops in to follow one around as Hazel, Charlie and Violeta's surprise daughter and the youngest of the kids (until now) at just seven years old peeks over her big brother Henry's shoulder and asks if she can hold baby Jacob.

Janis bites her lip as a ten-year-old Naomi and her nine-year-old brother Zacharias fight over Isla. The fight is broken up by Cady's mother, who takes the baby and kisses her before Janis can get a single word in about not doing that, please and thank you. She starting to get dizzy, looking desperately back and forth between both of her babies and trying to keep track of where they are. Isla's with her Nana- no, now Fiona has her. Now Jacob's with Hazel and Isla's been moved to Lana and-

"Hey, are you okay?"

Janis jumps and looks to see Madeleine next to her. Janis blinks back tears and shakes her head. Madeleine frowns in concern and takes a step closer so nobody can overhear them.

"What's the matter?"

"I need them back," Janis chokes. "I-I... I..."

"Say no more. Leave it to me," Madeleine says. Janis watches through teary eyes as she swoops around the room and returns with her wife and a baby, then sends the two of them out of the room and meets them in the hall with the other.

"Thank you," Janis sobs quietly as she finally has both her little ones back in her arms.

"Baby, what happened?" Cady asks in concern, cupping Janis' face with a hand and brushing the tears from her cheek with a gentle swipe of her thumb.

"I don't know," Janis sobs. "I just... there's so-so many people, and-and... I couldn't see them both and-and-and... I don't know!"

Madeleine gently wraps an arm around her shoulders and rubs her arm soothingly. "Cads, do you remember that time when Lennox was a baby and I had a panic attack because I couldn't find him? And it turned out you just had him in the bathroom and were trying to give him pigtails?"

"Yeah," Cady says in confusion. "Why?"

"This is that," Madeleine replies. "But worse."

Janis somehow hasn't heard that story before and releases a strangled sort of half-sob-half-laugh. "I... I trust ev-everyone, but I-I-I panic every time they're out of-of my sight, and-and I couldn't see-see them at the same time, and I-I just... I don't know."

"You don't have to explain, my love," Cady hushes. "I'm sorry, I didn't even think about how overwhelming that would've been for you."

"It's okay," Janis sniffs, leaning into her.

"You take your time. I'll go make something up, come back in when you're ready. Cady will make sure this happens on terms you're okay with," Madeleine says comfortingly.

"Thanks, Maddie," Janis sniffles again. "Did Lenny ever get his pigtails?"

Madeleine smiles. "He called her Auntie Piggies until he was four."

"He liked them!" Cady defends.

"Tell that to Fiona. Your next victim," Madeleine chuckles. She heads back into the room, leaving Cady, Janis, and the twins alone in the hall. Cady looks at the little ones still asleep and curled up in Janis' arms, and Janis' chest shaking as she tries to calm down.

"Come here," Cady coaxes gently. Janis sniffles and follows her down the hall to the parlor. Cady sits on one of the sofas that's there more for decoration than actually to be sat on, and Janis sits next to her. "Are you alright, love?"

Janis nods, but she doesn't say anything. She keeps her eyes firmly on the babies and firmly off her wife.

"No, you're not," Cady insists with a furrowed brow. "Talk to me. Please."

Janis looks up at her, her eyes watering again. "I'm sorry."

"No, honey," Cady says desperately.

“I'm sorry," Janis repeats. Cady watches in concern as she starts sobbing again.

"Baby, you have nothing to be sorry for," Cady murmurs. "I just need to know what's been going on. I need to know how I can help, that's all."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Janis sobs quietly. "I-I didn't know how, and everything just... it just..."

"I know," Cady hushes. "Will you tell me now? Or try? I'm your wife, you don't have to justify yourself to me. Just tell me how you're feeling."

"I don't even know," Janis chokes. Cady shifts off the couch and crouches in front of her, squeezing Janis' hands and looking deep into her eyes.

"Just try, please?"

Janis sighs and takes a long time to collect herself. Cady just squeezes her hands and lets her. Janis takes a deep breath before she begins, "I-I don't know what's wrong with me."

Cady frowns as she sees tears welling in her eyes yet again. "Nothing, baby, absolutely nothing is wrong with you."

"I can't... I can't breathe when they're out of my sight," Janis whispers. "Every time, even if you have them and I know they're okay, I just... I... I get so freaked out worrying about if they're still breathing or if they're hungry or hot or sick or even if they're just... I don't know, itchy, or something. I... I know in my head that they're fine, but I always just run through the worst-case scenarios and I just get myself even more worked up, and..."

She trails off, but Cady doesn't need to hear anything more. "How long?"

"Hm?"

"How long have you been feeling like this?" Cady asks. Janis is quiet again.

"...Since we found out she was breech."

It's Cady's turn to be quiet. "Three months?"

"I-I guess, yeah," Janis sniffles.

"Three months?!" Cady repeats. "You've been suffering like this for three months and you didn't tell me? Why?! Why wouldn't you-"

"I didn't know how!" Janis says pleadingly.

"I could've done something so much sooner if I had known-"

"What was I supposed to say? That I turn into a neurotic, jittery, anxious pile of garbage on the brink of a heart attack every time I blink?!"

"Yes!" Cady insists. "Yes, you were! Because then we could've had this conversation before bringing them to meet my entire family and I could've understood before you had a panic attack! And I could've put together that you've clearly been suffering from postpartum anxiety much sooner and gotten you the proper help for it!"

Janis looks down again. Cady takes a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said it like that. This shouldn't be an argument."

Janis shakes her head. "It's my fault."

"No, baby, it isn't," Cady insists, shifting to hold Janis' face instead. "You've been struggling, and you didn't have the words to let me know. I wish you had tried anyway, but... this has already happened. All we can do is go forward. And going forward, I need you to tell me when things aren't right, please. Even if you can't figure out how, just tell me something is wrong and we'll figure out what it is together, okay? I hate seeing you so upset."

"I should've told you sooner. I knew this would happen."

"Maybe, but there's nothing to be done about it now. I know now, and I can help."

Janis nods her head to signal she wants Cady next to her again. Cady sits down, and Janis leans into her. "I need help."

"I know," Cady whispers.

"Finding out that she was breech hit me harder than I thought it did. And knowing there was always a chance with the way she was positioned that something could've gone wrong and they'd miss it. I-I wanted to be a chill mom, and I thought I was, but it just turned my world upside-down and I haven't gotten back. I just feel that... loss of knowing, I guess. Of control. And I'm terrified every time I can't see for myself that they're okay that they're actually... not. Even if they were a second before."

Cady lets a few of her own tears slip into Janis' hair. "I'm so sorry, my love. I should've noticed."

Janis chuckles softly. "You've been mighty sleep deprived."

"Is that why you've been so insistent on helping with their night feedings?"

Janis shakes her head. "That's because I'm worried about you. I still get it when they're with you, but not anywhere near as strong as when they're just in their cots or whatever."

"Or with other people?"

"Apparently," Janis sighs.

"I'm getting you a therapist," Cady says softly. "That's a non-negotiable."

Janis nods. "Okay."

"I'm so sorry."

"For what?" Janis asks, looking up at her.

"I can't believe I didn't see how much you've been struggling," Cady says. "I should've noticed."

"Don't beat yourself up about it," Janis says softly, tucking back into her. "I kinda made sure you didn't."

"Don't ever do it again," Cady begs. "Please. I want to know. I want to help."

Janis nods. "I won't."

They both look down when they feel a wiggle, and see Jacob wriggling crankily before he releases a shrill cry. "Oh, pumpkin."

Janis carefully adjusts him to check her watch. "It is lunch time, huh?"

"I'll get their bottles," Cady says. "Gimme this one. Practice."

Janis chuckles as she passes Isla to her wife and smiles at them together. Cady gently scoops Isla beneath the shoulders and kisses her nose before cradling her in her arm. Janis sees to hushing Jacob and waiting for them to return.

Cady carries Isla into the kitchen to prepare the twins' bottles. Janis tries not to laugh as she hears Cady talking to the baby. Hearing the woman who talks like she's straight out of a Dickens novel cooing, "Hello, my sweet little princess babykins, are you ready for a baba? Are you hungry? Yeah? My sweet widdle pumpyumpykins. Let's get your baba." in a ridiculously high pitch is comical in a way few can describe.

After about five minutes and the terrible, deafening sounds of the bottle machines going off, Cady returns with their daughter and two bottles to feed them.

“He back to sleep?" she asks when she sees Janis gently rocking their son. Janis nods with a soft smile and gently strokes one of his chubby cheeks with the back of her index finger. "Good."

"How's our pumpyumpykins?" Janis asks with a small giggle. Cady flushes a remarkable shade of scarlet and looks down at the baby with a whine.

"You heard that?"

Janis nods and giggles again as she slowly stands and heads over to her. "Yeah, I did. But I think it's cute."

"I can't help it," Cady whines. "They're both so precious."

"I do it too," Janis chuckles. "It's just funny when you do."

"It is? Why?" Cady asks, tilting her head like a confused puppy.

"Because most of the time you have a transatlantic accent and use words like shan't and chauffeur and legality and clams."

Cady laughs outright at that. "Clams?"

"Hey, I'd never had one before I met you, far as I'm concerned they're a fancy food," Janis chuckles. She kisses Cady's forehead, and Cady smiles up at her.

“I love you," Cady says.

"I love you too," Janis replies. She doesn't quite know where that came from, but she'll always say it.

"Are you ready to go back in? We can just call it if you're not. I'll handle everything," Cady asks gently.

Janis inhales heavily and looks between the babies. She wants to go back in, wants everyone to have their proper chance to meet their grandchildren and niece and nephew and cousins, but her body is still tense and her mind is still racing. Cady notices her hesitation and takes her hand again.

"What if we did one at a time? You can keep your eyes on the one being held and keep the other with you," she suggests. "We can give Isla her bottle now and wait a bit on Jakey, since he's asleep. And you can just say you want to feed and burp him yourself. And by the time he's done everyone will probably have finished with her and we can swap them."

Janis considers this, and she nods. "That would be great."

"And I'll mention not kissing them again," Cady promises. "Just to be safe."

"Thank you," Janis whispers, kissing her wife soundly. Cady just smiles into it and kisses her back.

They linger on the bench outside while Cady gives Isla her bottle and they both have a chance to coo over and focus on her. Janis braces as she swallows the last of her milk away and Cady props her up to be burped.

"Ready?" she asks when Isla's all situated. Janis nods, and they head back into the living room where everyone is waiting.

Janis was expecting people to stare, ask questions, have noticed what happened, but nobody seems to. Whether they're pretending or genuinely just absorbed in their own conversations, Janis is relieved.

One person did notice, however. Hazel comes up to the two of them looking very sheepish. She quietly says, "I'm sorry I held the baby. I saw you crying."

Janis frowns. "No, kiddo, it wasn't your fault. You guys just looked so sweet together I got emotional. And the babies needed their lunch, so we just went to get that, see?"

She gestures vaguely with Jacob as he's eating his bottle. Janis smiles down at her son as he makes a little coo around it that sounds vaguely affirmative.

"See? He says he's okay too," Janis comforts.

"Oh," Hazel says, visibly brightening.

"Would you like to meet Isla?" Cady asks with a smile. Hazel bounces up and down rapidly and nods. "Go sit down."

Hazel runs back to her brothers on the sofa and plops herself down, eagerly holding out her hands. Janis watches Cady prop her arms with pillows before she ever so gently lays their sleeping little girl in her cousin's arms.

"Remember not to kiss them, please," Cady says softly. Hazel nods and looks down at her other new baby cousin.

"They look the same," Hazel says, making sure to be quiet. Cady laughs softly.

"They do. Auntie Janis and I weren't sure how similar they'd look, but sometimes even we have a hard time telling them apart," she says.

For all her loud and bold personality, Hazel is remarkably still and quiet as she holds and looks at the baby. "Would she fit in my baby doll clothes?"

"Maybe," Cady giggles. "If it's a very big baby doll."

Hazel considers this and shakes her head. "It's small."

Cady chuckles and continues watching like a hawk. Isla just snoozes, and Hazel just watches.

"Can I kiss her on her foot?" she asks after a while. Cady looks to Janis. Janis chuckles and nods.

"Go ahead," Cady says. Hazel happily picks up Isla's leg and carefully kisses the bottom of her tiny foot. She smiles contently and gently pats the baby for good measure.

She stays there a while longer before she asks, "Can I go play now?"

Cady laughs and gently removes the baby from her lap. "Of course. Go have fun."

"Bye!" Hazel says to the baby in a quiet but eager voice before she runs off to try to cajole Zacharias into playing with her. Cady carefully hands Isla to the next relative wanting to meet her, her brother Clifton, and smiles proudly as she stands protectively nearby. Janis smiles faintly from her spot nestled in the couch as their son finishes off his bottle and she props him up to burp him.

Surprisingly, nobody tries to take him. Hannah sits down next to them and coos over him for a bit, and Janis happily lets her hold him while keeping a sharp watch on their daughter. After about the fifth check in, she realizes her wife has everything handled. Isla is safe.

Before too long, everyone's met and held both babies at least once. Introductions have been made, uncles have been pooped on, big yawns have been tossed around at aunties, and many a stretch has happened in the arms of grandparents.

"You're gonna get a lot of loving from all those people," Cady informs the babies as they're in the elevator on the way back up to their room to prepare for dinner. "That went well, I think."

"It did," Janis agrees. "Other than me having a panic attack."

"Of course, other than that," Cady says hastily. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Janis promises.

"Good," Cady says. "Let's skip dinner."

"What?"

"We've already seen everyone, they can live without us for one night," Cady insists.

"But it's Christmas Eve," Janis says, frowning in confusion. "Don't you wanna spend it with your family?"

"That is exactly what I want," Cady whispers, gently pressing her against the wall for a kiss once they're on their floor and being very careful not to squish the babies between them. "Let's have our dinner sent up and snuggle our babies in bed and watch Christmas movies."

"That sounds amazing," Janis whispers against her lips. Cady kisses her once more before leading her back to their room to get cozy in their huge bed.

—-

"These movies are so unrealistic," Janis huffs at their third Hallmark movie. "There's no way a princess would just ask some schmuck into her palace like that!"

Cady looks between her, herself, their babies, back to her, around the room, and back to her.

"Shut up. I'm not a schmuck."

"I never said you were!" Cady laughs. "I do think you're right, though. We must be an anomaly."

"Not everyone gets knocked on their ass by a hot billionaire," Janis agrees. Cady giggles against her shoulder.

During the Muppet Christmas Carol, Janis feels Cady's head shift to peek down at the babies, as they sleep side-by-side in a special basket all bundled up together. Jacob's forehead rests just against Isla's cheek, and their arms are as linked as newborn babies can manage. Cady whispers, "They're so precious."

Janis looks down at their little ones and smiles. "Yeah, they are."

"You made these," Cady continues softly, gently adjusting Jacob's Santa onesie away from his neck and ever so gently patting his belly.

"I made them out of you," Janis hums contently. "Those little button noses are all yours, and their lips, and their ears. And their skin is really fair, so they'll probably get a few freckles as they grow. And their hair is yours, and their eyebrows."

"I think they'll have your eyes, though," Cady says happily. "Pretty brown. And I think they have your lips, not mine."

"Really?" Janis asks. Cady nods happily. Janis chuckles and noses into her hair. "Maybe."

"Definitely," Cady says. She's quiet for a moment before she softly says, "I've been a billionaire all my life. My play jewelry when I was a kid had real gold and gems. And these are still the most precious things I've ever had in my life."

Janis smiles even wider and kisses Cady wherever she can reach. "Good thing you get to keep 'em, then."

She can feel Cady smile, and Cady shifts to ever so gently straddle her at her hips. She takes special care not to aggravate Janis' still healing belly and gently leans down, cups her face between her hands, and kisses her soundly. "Thank you."

"For what?" Janis gasps in between kisses.

"Them. You," Cady replies, kissing her hard again. "Everything. You're just as precious to me as they are. You're the best thing that ever happened to me. The best thing I ever ran over on the sidewalk."

"So you admit you ran me over now, hm?" Janis laughs, threading her fingers through Cady's hair and smiling into a much more gentle kiss.

"You carried my twins for almost nine months, it's kind of the least I can do," Cady replies haughtily. Janis chuckles again and pulls her down harder against her. Cady happily leans in and kisses her again, and again, and again.

"I love you," Janis whispers when they take a pause to breathe.

"I love you," Cady echoes. They both turn their heads to the side when they hear a sort of squawk, and find Isla wriggling crankily before she lets out a shrill cry. Cady pouts and quickly scoots off of Janis to scoop her up before she can wake Jacob. "Oh, pumpkin, what happened, hm? We love you too, you know, you don't have to be so sad! Oh, what's the matter, come here. Mama has you, you're alright."

"You're so good with them," Janis murmurs, leaning into Cady's shoulder as she carefully cradles the baby's neck and tucks her into her chest. Janis strokes her fingers up and down the baby's back to help soothe her as Cady gently pats her little bum and hushes her.

Cady chuckles like she doesn't believe her and shakes her head.

"You are," Janis insists. "Look how quick you got her calmed down."

Isla gives a couple more half-hearted wails before she changes her mind and contents herself with being held. Cady smiles and pulls her back a bit to see her little face. "There we go, hi, baby. You just needed a little love, huh?"

"You just needed to hang out with Mama for a second, hm? Mama makes it all better," Janis coos. Isla coos back. "Yeah. She's the best, isn't she?"

"Nooo," Cady hums at the baby, holding her close again to kiss her cheek before she passes her to Janis. "Your mommy is the best. Yeah, there you go!"

Janis adjusts the lot of them, so Cady is half-sitting against the headboard, Janis is reclined with her back against Cady's chest, and Isla is carefully propped into a sit against Janis' bent legs. Janis holds her hands to keep her steady and makes sure the baby doesn't really have to hold up her own head all that much. It's hard work when you're only a month old.

"Hi, pretty girl," Janis coos when they're all settled. She gently combs a hand through Isla's little tuft of strawberry blonde hair. "Did you have a good nap with bubby? Yeah? Good sleep?"

Cady smiles and rests her head on Janis' shoulder. "Hi pumpkin. Sweet baby girl."

Each of them take turns cooing over their daughter, both of them already knowing one-on-one time with either of their babies will become a progressively more rare commodity. Jacob is perfectly content to continue his snooze by himself in the basket for now.

Isla's still-unfocused little gaze gradually shifts back and forth between her mothers, and she makes little happy grunts every now and again in response to their adoring words being poured over her.

After about their fifth turn each, it's back to Cady again. "Our little munchkin, look at you! Don't you look so sweet in your Christmas jammies, huh? Yeah, you do! Our pretty little sweet baby girl. Mama loves you so much."

They both gasp softly as Isla's little lips twitch and her face splits into her first-ever real smile.   Cady starts crying, and Janis feels a few tears slip down her cheeks too. "Look at that pretty smile!"

"That's a very good smile," Cady agrees tearfully. "Jay, she smiled at us."

"That she did," Janis agrees with a sniffle. She gently tickles under Isla's chin to see if she'll do it again, and they both giggle as she smiles at them again. "Yeah! Oh, we love that smile."

"So much," Cady hums. "We love that whole little smushy baby."

"Her first smile," Janis hums with one of her own.

"She's so beautiful," Cady sniffles. "Both of them are. I love them so much. I love you so much."

"I love you too," Janis echoes. She scoops the baby up higher and kisses her nose. "And you." She leans down carefully to kiss Jacob's cheek, causing him to give a little twitch in his sleep. Cady and Janis both giggle. "And you."

"Merry Christmas, my love," Cady says quietly. "Thank you for the best presents ever."

"Merry Christmas, baby," Janis replies. "And Merry Christmas, babies."

—————

tadaaaa i hope you enjoyed!!

tbh the only reason these two are twins is because i couldn't pick who i wanted to be older so i did a little fun thing with that lol. and also some of you may notice the babies did not in fact exit janis' vagina as i said in the last chapter of this series and the reason for that is i changed my gotdang mind. this'll probably be the last time we see these versions of them, at least for a while. it's been fun getting to play around so much with an au but we'll be back to your regularly scheduled cadnis in the new year (finally with picking teams again too aaah!) i also want to thank you all for being so patient with me this year. i'm painfully aware i haven't posted very much, but thank you all so much for all the love on what i have been able to put up. this year has been incredibly painful for me. people i'm close with have passed away, my works have been stolen, and my disability and mental health have gotten worse on top of it all. unfortunately that makes writing really hard, but seeing all your comments and hits and reactions have been the shining lights through it all. thank you <33 thank you all so much again for all your love and support this year. thanks for sticking with me :)) i hope your christmas was merry if you celebrate and if not i hope your day was amazing. see y'all in 2024 <3 lots of love, ezzy

[amistytown]

Leviathan Birthday Collaboration 2023: A-7 Wedding

Genre: fluff, hurt/comfort

Pairing: Leviathan & GN MC

Warnings: mentions of anxiety and self-deprecation

This is my piece for Leviathan's birthday collaboration this year; I chose the prompt wedding. I feel this isn't my best work, but there was a lot going on. I'm really glad I could meet the deadline and take part in this project! I had a great time and am honored to work alongside such talented people. 

Happy birthday, Leviachan 🥳✨

As always, I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors that may have gone unnoticed. Thank you to those who take the time to read and comment on my work; it’s greatly appreciated ♥

The silence is suffocating, allowing Leviathan’s thoughts to wander and find their voice. Normally, he sought it out, relishing the peace of mind the quiet brought him, the Avatar of Envy content to confine himself to his room and keep to the shadows. Here he feels alone and exposed, his soul laid bare before him in the vanity mirror. His reflection peers nervously back at him, wide-eyed and pale, as uncertainty takes hold and ties itself into knots in the pit of his stomach. He sighs, dropping his gaze to his hands, which tremble in his lap. You love him, and he loves you—this he knows—though doubt sows itself into his heart. What if this is a mistake—if you’ve yet to realize you deserve better? He can’t bear to see you unhappy.

“Yo, Levi!” The door swings open, and Leviathan jumps, yelping in surprise. “The Great Mammon is here to support his lil bro on his big day!” Mammon grins, while an unamused Lucifer trails behind him, scowling.

Leviathan glowers at the Avatar of Greed, feigning annoyance, but he can’t deny he’s relieved, their presence familiar and comforting, soothing his frayed nerves—it’s embarrassing. Mammon’s voice alone is loud enough to drown out his thoughts, and he gives Leviathan little time to think when he wraps an arm around the third born’s shoulders and playfully ruffles his hair.

“Don’t say I never did anythin for ya!” he crows.

“H-hey!” Leviathan growls, face flushing a deep shade of red.

“Mammon,” Lucifer warns, smoothing Leviathan’s hair as Mammon shrinks under his disapproving gaze. Though Lucifer’s expression softens, the eldest regarding Leviathan with a smile—genuine, sweet—bringing back faraway memories. A brother’s love, strong and true, and the unmistakable twinkle of pride unbidden in those eyes, the same eyes that watched over him in the Celestial realm and never stopped here in the Devildom. His heart swells with emotion, overwhelming but not unwelcome, the Avatar of Pride chuckling as arms wrap firmly around his waist, and Leviathan cries into his embrace.

In this moment, he’s a fledgling again, Lucifer’s arms and wings encircling and protecting him from the world. He’s loved, safe, all his worries melting away.

Until embarrassment gets the best of him, and Leviathan is very aware of himself and how his skin burns, quickly pulling back and averting his tearful gaze. Thankfully, his brothers allow him this, an unspoken understanding passing between them that lessens the tension, and he’s beyond grateful when Lucifer takes it upon himself to straighten his tie, voice filling the silence, “This is meant to be one of the happiest days of your life, is it not?”

“Y-yes!” Leviathan says without hesitance, still in awe you accepted his proposal. He recalls that night with utmost clarity, certain you’re standing in front of him now, eyes glistening with tears, and your smile so bright and beautiful he believes he’s ascended to the Celestial realm. Once he thought marriage a fantasy, uninteresting and unbecoming of an otaku such as himself, but you changed his mind—you changed his life. “But . . .”

“Stop right there! I know what’s goin through that head of yours, and it’s not true.” Mammon pinches Leviathan’s cheek, laughing heartily despite his brother’s murderous glare. “Who can resist my adorable lil brother, eh?”

“Mammon is correct.” Lucifer agrees. “What is it you say . . . believe in me who believes in you, yes?”

Leviathan’s mouth opens, but no words come out, caught in his throat. Instead, he sniffles, grateful tears rolling down his cheeks and snot streaming from his nose.

“Gross,” Mammon mutters. “I mean . . .” he improvises after Lucifer fixes him with an angry stare, clapping Leviathan on the back. “Ya look like a million Grimm!”

“Honestly . . .” Lucifer sighs. “Come now, Mammon.”

A wave of anxiety crashes over Leviathan. “H-hey! Wait . . .”

“We’ll see you soon, Leviathan.” Lucifer gives his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, and Leviathan nods, watching his brothers leave, their words of encouragement still ringing in his ears and strengthening his resolve. The only one who doubts him is himself, envy warping the world around him to fit its narrative—dark, lonely, and bleak. Though you love everything about him he finds disgusting, supporting him and inspiring him to become the demon he is today, and the demon he hopes to be in the future; a future he envisions with you by his side.

“Levi,” he imagines you say, the sweetness of your voice causing his heart to flutter and heat to creep down his neck to pool in his chest. “Can I come in?”

“You!” he squawks, catching your gaze in the mirror as you peek your head into the room. “I-it’s r-r-really you!” Quickly, he covers his eyes. “I’m not supposed to see you before the wedding! I-I heard it’s bad luck.”

“That’s an old human superstition,” you reassure him. “I wanted to see you . . . but I can leave if you’re uncomfortable.”

“N-no, stay!” he shouts, and then softly, “Please.” You want to see him. Years passed since you first arrived in the Devildom, countless days spent together, ending with you in his tub, your bodies and souls entwined, hearts beating as one, yet he still can’t believe you want to see him—that you want to marry him—that you want him. Every morning he wakes he falls in love with you again and again and again and again, and now he feels not a spark but a flame, burning with such intensity he aches in longing.

Your eyes meet in the mirror, and Leviathan gasps, mesmerized by your reflection and how it glimmers in the moonlight spilling through the window. Slowly, he faces you, his heart skipping a beat as he basks in your glory, shameless in his staring. Your smile is angelic, expression shy but full of affection, glistening with unshed tears as you look upon him, admiring him in return. The moment is etched into his memory, carefully filed away for safekeeping, saved not once but twice—a third time for good measure. He’ll never forget this, how you shine brighter than any star in the sky, radiating warmth and love, ridding him of doubt and instilling him with confidence; his love for you far too great to ignore.

“You look amazing,” you whisper.

“You do too . . .” He swallows. “You’re beyond amazing! You’re heavenly. My heart may give out before I make it to the altar.” Your laugh is music to his ears, leaving him weak in the knees. “You used charm and it’s super effective!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve come prepared,” you say, kneeling before him and presenting a gift box elegantly wrapped in orange ribbon. “A gift for my dearest Lord of Shadow.”

“Y-you shouldn’t have,” he stammers, touch gentle as he takes the box in his hands, untying the ribbon with unsteady fingers. Placing the top on the vanity, he grins, wide and toothy, admiring the two custom gaming controllers inside. “These are . . .” There are no words to describe the emotions flowing through and sweeping over him, surging forward in sharp stuttering sobs. Player 1 is inscribed on one and Player 2 on the other, the date on both in a heartfelt reminder of what the day is to bring and will mean after all is said and done, your bond continuing to grow and flourish.

You wipe the tears from his eyes, cradling his face in your hands. “I thought we could put them to good use later.”

Setting the box aside, he gathers you in his arms, pulling you onto his lap to kiss you, tender but fervent, the bitterness of his tears overpowered by the sweetness of your lips. “Love you I do, marry you I will,” he murmurs, resting his forehead against your own and savoring the feel of your fingers in his hair and as they run over the base of the horns now crowning his head.

“I love you too,” you laugh, your breath hot on his skin, sending a delightful shiver down his spine that causes his tail to curl. And he knows, as you lean in to kiss him, he loves you, and you love him, and there’s nowhere else he wants to be, happy and at peace in your arms.

[iisasarcasticlittleshite]

 Weak Immune System (Karasuno Volleyball Club/*MALE* reader) Part III

'Jesus, when did the weather get this pissed off?' You mused. Beyond the safety of the gym the rain was pelting down in sheets that pounded against the windows, the claps of thunder that followed lightning flashes made the glass shake. 'I thought the storm wasn't supposed to start 'till midnight.'

'Looks like mother nature changed her mind,' Suga mused 'I'm worried, Hinata can't possibly peddle home in the rain and at night.'

You looked down at your upperclassman, he was huddled in his uniform jacket, arms wrapped around himself, trying to keep himself from showing how cold he was. Your bigger build granted you more protection from the cold. You shrugged off your extra jacket and threw it around Suga, leaving yourself with the long waterproof windbreaker you'd be needed to get home. 'Worry about yourself a little there, Sugamama.'

The setter's face flushed as he took in the garment that you tucked firmly over his shoulders, it was at least two sizes too big for him. 'Hey! I'm not a girl!'

With a curious frown, you tilted your head at him 'is that supposed to be a reason for me to let you freeze to death, dumbass?'

'You've been spending too much time with Kageyama.' Suga pouted at you but didn't object any further.

You smiled wistfully and glanced around. The rest of the team was scattered around the gym, sat against walls, or standing in groups. The first year that Suga was worried about didn't look phased with the prospect of cycling home in a hurricane, but you knew that in this weather, cars were going to have trouble seeing him on those unlit mountain roads, on top of that, Hinata was wearing black. There was no way you were letting him go home in this, and it didn't look likely to let up any time soon.

Daichi walked over to join the two of you beside the window, if he noticed Sugawara huddling into your jacket, he didn't say anything, merely followed your eyes to the ginger, sat against the wall, talking to Noya. 'What does the forecast say?'

'Nothing nice,' you replied grimly 'my place is closest, might ask 'im if he wants to stay over. No one's gonna see him in this weather, it's an accident waiting to happen.'

'Sorry, Suga did you grow up?'

'Ha.Ha. Very funny cap.' you rolled your eyes, grateful to be dragged out of your fretting. You don't know how Suga does it, the anxiety would kill you.

'I'm making a run for it guys!' Tanaka announced 'Saeko's gonna freak if I'm late for movie night!'

'Don't die!' you teased 'I'll steal the girlfriend you don't have!'

Tanaka flipped you the bird 'screw you, dude!'

'You wish!' the pair of you chuckled before he turned away and took off into the deluge, soon followed by Nishinoya who was probably going to crash at Tanaka's place now that you thought about it.

'I guess we outta make a run for it too.' Asahi concluded.

As everyone else braced for the downpour, Suga nudged you toward Hinata. The boy's expression had shifted to something resembling apprehension, and you knew he was trying to hide the fact that he was nervous about going home. You sighed and tapped the boy on the shoulder 'Hinata, cycling home's gonna be a little on the risky side in this weather, you can come to stay at mine if you want.'

Hinata squawked in surprise, stepping back as his face flushed 'I-I'm not scared!'

You chuckled 'I believe you, so? I'd feel a little better knowing you're not trying to climb a mountain in the dark.'

'If your parents don't mind...'

'Pfft, don't worry about my parents. Dad would be more upset I didn't offer. So, race ya?' you gave your junior a roguish grin, shrugging on your waterproof over your bag to keep your books dry.

'You're on!'

'Don't stay up too late, Sleeping Beauty!' Suga teased on your way out, looking relieved.

'Dude, it's me, be lucky if I'm awake past ten!' you huffed, holding the door open for Hinata 'see ya tomorrow!'

Side by side, you and Hinata pelted through the rain. Your shoes were soaked in seconds, puddles splashing up your legs and soaking your trousers while the wind and water beat down against the thin layer separating your skin from the weather. Hinata was fast beside you, almost too fast, you were worried you'd lose him if he took off ahead without knowing the way. You wouldn't put it past him, nor were you in the mood to explain to the club parents that you'd lost their baby crow, so you reached out and snagged Hinata's sopping wet sleeve, tugging lightly as you weaved off the main road and pelted up a flooded side-street, water rushing down, washing over your sneakers.

Hinata's sleeve slipped through your fingers when he slipped in the riverbed that was once a road, and you managed to catch his hand just in time, your momentum hauling him upright after you, he was so light and you were still warm from practice, long legs eating ground even up the steep hill.

You didn't dare let go of him again, weaving past the occasional pothole that you knew all too well and through the back gate of your house. Your family home had a granny annex attached to the side of the main house, you'd moved into it when your older brother had moved out this year. Up a short flight of stairs, you shoved the screen door open and practically hurled Hinata inside the entrance hall ahead of you, gasping for breath and feeling both hot and cold at the same time.

With the door shut behind you, you looked at Hinata and laughed, the shorter boy soon joining you as he collapsed onto the tiles of the mud-closet, as you called it.

'Thanks for catching me back there!' the ginger scratched the back of his neck sheepishly 'I thought for sure I was gonna knock my two front teeth out!'

You chuckled, shrugging off your soaked overcoat, thankfully at least some of parts of you were dry, the same could not be said for any part of your bellow the knee 'no worries, give me two seconds and I'll get you a change of clothes, you look like a drowned rat.'

It was true, Hinata's usually voluminous tufts of orange laid flat against his forehead, some still dripping water onto the tiles. He'd be freezing his ass off soon if he didn't get a warm shower, with how small he was.

You found some of your old clothes, even if you had been fourteen the last time any of these fit you, they would still be a little big on Hinata, but it was the best you'd find without raiding your younger brother's closet, and you doubted Shouyou would appreciate you telling him that he fit your ten-year-old brother's clothes. You offered Hinata some dry slippers and ushered him into your little one-bedroom annex.

He looked around at the open layout, you had a kitchenette to the right of the door, a small living area in the center, and your bedroom was on the left, the bathroom was ensuite.

'Wow, you have all this to yourself? Don't you get lonely?'

You shrugged 'family tradition, the oldest son always moves in here before moving away for good.'

'How many oldest sons are there?' Hinata regretted phrasing it that way, but as usual, you merely chuckled off his awkwardness.

'There are four of us brothers altogether,' you explained, holding out a towel wrapped around a change of clothes 'now go shower, your dripping on my floor.'

'Sorry!' The redhead followed your directions to the bathroom, and you soon heard the sound of running water, so you took to your fridge to find something to feed you both. You hadn't been counting on having guests, and you knew for a fact that Hinata could eat like a horse after practice, so you made your way to the storage closet in the corner of your little space. It was like a secret passage, through a hazardous trap door that lead directly into your younger brother's room. He was busy playing video games with his headphones in, so you snuck past without bothering him and raided your mother's fridge while she was still in her office. It was nothing new, she always had the thing stocked to bursting anyway.

You returned unseen from your mission and managed to haul the load back through the trap door without dropping it all. With the shower still running, you got busy making dinner. In your family, everyone but your mother better be a good cook, the poor woman had no taste so anything she made was good only by accident and coincidence. Your father had drilled the art of not letting shit burn into all of your brothers at a young age, so much so that his first son now worked at a Michelin star restaurant somewhere in London.

Hinata emerged from your room, and before you could say a word, you burst out laughing, because the tiny middle blocker was drooling, following his nose and dragging his feet toward the pull-out table where you'd set a huge dish of egg fried rice. You'd found a fuckton of cooked rice downstairs.

Wordlessly, you served him a massive helping and handed him a pair of chopsticks 'enjoy, I'mma go change.'

Hinata gaped at you in awe 'you're an angel!'

'It's just egg-fried-rice dude, easy as fuck.' You shrugged, heading to your room, smiling as you heard Hinata tucking into the food you'd made. You ran the risk of him eating all of it before you got back, but you could live with that "happy hampster" look he got.

After changing, you and Hinata sat on your sofa so you could eat, you tried not to chuckle at how baggy your old clothes looked on him as you flicked through your phone.

'Hey, (Y/N)-senpai?'

'Yeah?' you looked up to find the boy staring at you with those wide, hazel eyes, like you were something complex to be solved, like a math problem or something 'why are you looking at me like that, man?'

'How come you act like you're not a good player?' Hinata ignored your question, still staring at you like he could burn the answers out of your soul 'you're probably just as good as Kageyama, so why won't you let coach put you in?'

'Pfft, me? As good as Kageyama?! Yeah right.'

Hinata pouted and stood up, marching into your room, only to return with one of the frames you kept on your dresser. He sat beside you and shoved the picture into your lap 'I wasn't sure who it was at first, your hair's so different but, is that you, at the All-Japan Junior training camp?'

You sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of your nose. The whole point of dying your hair is completely different from your natural colour was to avoid people recognizing you in featured pictures like this, how had the shortcake figured it out?

'Yes, yes that's me and my older brother.' you relented 'I was in my third year in middle school, none of the guys know about this so don't you dare tell 'em.'

'Why not?!' Hinata wailed 'we're going up against Shiratorizawa! It's going to be five whole sets! If you'd at least sub in to give Daichi or Asahi a break-!'

'I can't do that,' your voice was low, quiet, in massive contrast to Hinata's passionate outcry 'my brother made that mistake, he's playing on borrowed time to this day, his career could end with one fall.'

'What do you mean?' the boy blinked owlishly at you, leaning on the arm of the sofa.

'I told you, there's four of us. Our dad played all sorts of sports with us when we were kids. Fumihiro's my oldest brother, he might have become a chef but he was a regional tennis champion in mixed doubles. Masashi...we're only two years apart, and we both fell in love with volleyball. He always wanted to be on the court, we both did, but Masa...he wanted the entire team to rely on him, to believe in him no matter what position he played. One day he...he burned out, collapsed mid-set. Watching him getting taken away in an ambulance shook his teammates so much that they gave the game away. I know he's blamed himself for it ever since, but will he stop playing? Hell no.'

You crossed your arms and shrunk in on yourself, brows drew together in a scowl, glaring at the picture in your lap 'if people rely on me, I'll inevitably let them down, or burn myself out trying not to. I...I don't want to live as Masa does, wondering if and when his shoulder's gonna give out and force him to give up something he loves.'

'That's...Senpai you're an idiot!' Hinata wailed, making you jump and knock the frame off of your lap, but your eyes were fixed on the determination in your junior's eyes. 'You told me so many times, there are six people on the court, SIX! That means that there are five other people to fall back on if one falls short! You're just so scared of failing you won't even try and that...that pisses me off! You're tall, you're good at the game and everyone can see it!'

There were tears in his eyes now, his cheeks were flushed crimson, and you froze as the weight of his words hit you like a ton of bricks. Here he was trying to compensate for not having something that he couldn't control, while you wallowed and fought your own desire to get on the court and fight with your friends.

It was almost ironic. 'If I could make you tall and me short, I would.' you murmured, Hinata opened his mouth to argue, but you held up a hand 'I know, that's not what you meant. Look, I can't promise anything, but...next time Coach tells me to get in there, I won't argue with him, okay?'

Hinata lit up with a smile, the tears forgotten and replaced with the sun in your own living room 'just try! That's all I ask Senpai!'

'Quit tryna butter me up, Tangerine, I ain't Noya.' You reached to ruffle his damp hair, smiling despite yourself. The frame lay forgotten on the coffee table while you and Hinata went about setting up the sofa-bed, arguing about who would take it or the bed while a movie played in the background. It didn't end up mattering, since at exactly ten o'clock you knocked out with a half-eaten back of chips in your lap, and Hinata soon followed suit after binging at least two more episodes of the series you insisted he starts watching.

Pt.1 Pt.2

[sonicstalker123]

Jealous!Protective!Korekiyo x Clumsy!Reader

✨they/them pronouns used✨

✨fluff, angst and fluff at the end✨

CW: nothing really, just Korekiyo hearing Y/N stretch and it makes him blush, Kiyo being jealous, pajama sleeve sliding down Y/N’s shoulder, slightly suggestive?, jealousy, profanity

Korekiyo decided to surprise his S/O with their favorite snack that he prepared just for them with a tiny bit of help from Kirumi. He decides to send Y/N a text.

‘Y/N, good morning. Are you awake?’ SEND.

‘Mornin Kiyo… am not really awake rn… What’s up?’ SEND.

Kiyo gasps in shock. ‘Oh dear, I’m sorry to have woken you up. Are you alright, do you want to resume your nap?’ SEND.

‘Eh it’s ok, I’ll get up. I accidentally took a three hour nap. Guess I got into a food coma after breakfast? Lemme get up’ SEND.

‘Alright, I’ve got a surprise for you, by the way.’ SEND.

“Oh my, now he’s gotten me curious!” Y/N asks themself, clapping their hands in excitement and giggling to themself. “Alright, Y/N, ya gotta get up. Your boyfriend has a surprise for you.”

Little do they know that Kiyo wanted to surprise them at the door. He’s patiently standing at the door, with a little chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting on it. He gets butterflies but knocks on the door once he sighs to relieve his anxiety.

“Himiko, is that you? I can’t wait to watch your magic show this afternoon! I talked about it with Gonta last night while he was teaching me about the different kinds of ladybugs! Lemme get up- OH SHIT!” They slide off the bed. “Christ on a stick, that hurt! That’s juuuust great, a bruise is gonna pop up soon…” They sigh and stretch to wake themself up.

Korekiyo hears them stretch and blushes for whatever reason. “I-I didn’t know people made noises when they stretch… Maybe it’s just something Y/N does? It’s a mystery.” He then hears them walking and they bump into the door, making a loud THUMP noise. “Oop. Didn’t mean to do that, Himiko! I’m all good! It’s normal for me..!”

They see their (favorite color) pajama shirt part of their PJ outfit starting to slide down one of their shoulders. “Oh shoot!” They try to fix that but it slides down again, but fortunately it doesn’t slide any more. At that point, they give up and open the door, yawning. “Sorry, Himiko, my clumsiness got the better of me, I should not have stayed up until midnight. I think I ended up falling asleep on the floor haha-“ They look up to see a confused looking Korekiyo.

“H-Hello, Y/N. I made you a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting because Kirumi informed me that you really enjoy chocolate. She helped me a small bit. But I hope you enjoy it. Would you like to come with me to the courtyard? There’s tables and chairs underneath some cherry blossoms there.” He asks.

Y/N finally opens her eyes and sees Kiyo looking at them, patiently waiting for answer. They blush super hard and continuously try to fix their sleeve. Them blushing causes Kiyo to blush pretty hard and tremble slightly and almost drops his plate.

“O-Oh dear. I guess you’ve never seen me with PJs on. You’re one of the few people here in this academy who have seen my pajamas. This stupid sleeve wouldn’t stay put, maybe I can see if Kirumi can tighten them one of these days. A-Anyway, let’s go to the tables, I would love to try what you made for me, which is so sweet by the way, I really appreciate it!” They smile.

Korekiyo and Y/N make their way to the tables. Y/N has a little spring in their step and their sleeve slides down their shoulder, though they are just happily making their way to the table and they aren’t even aware that Kaito is in front of them.

Until they bump into him. “Oof-“ they silently say as they look up at Kaito. “Ohh! Kaito! I didn’t see you there! Afternoon!” They exclaim with a really big smile. “Hey there, Y/N!” They high five. “Do you want to come vibe at the courtyard with Kiyo and I?”

“Hmm… as long as Kiyo is fine with it, I don’t mind, my dude.” Kaito smiles and Korekiyo then walks up to Y/N. “Oh, Kiyo! Hey! Y/N here says that you’re going to the courtyard soon and they wanted to know if I could come along with you two. I won’t, like, be the awkward third wheel or anything.”

“S-Sure...” Kiyo responds back, sounding a little annoyed. Y/N’s eyes sparkle as they jump up and down with sparkling eyes. “Alright, let’s make our way there! I’m gonna get a head start!”

Literally them as they run towards the doors:

Kiyo happily waves at them as they run off and then turns his head rather quickly and glares at Kaito menacingly, but stays quiet. Kaito gets a little spooked, so he runs off and meets up with Y/N.

“Haaa… Y/N, there you are! Dude, I forget how big this academy is sometimes ….” Kaito exclaims.

Y/N is muttering profanities left and right as they look at their bruised knee. Kaito looks down at Y/N, who’s on the ground. Kaito bursts out laughing. “Ah, sorry for laughing. You good, though? A-Anyways, let’s go to the courtyard so we can vibe!” Kaito happily walks away, with Y/N happily walking with him.

Kiyo makes annoyed noises as he slowly makes his way to the courtyard. Y/N and Kaito make it to the courtyard table and sit down, across from each other. The two are just catching up about just everything. “So then I told Shuichi and Maki Roll while we doing our training stuff that ‘the impossible is possible, all you gotta do is make it so!’ and Shuichi seemed to like that. I saw Rantaro the other day painting Kaede’s nails the other day and I’m gonna be serious, can I ask you something?” Kaito asks.

Y/N happily nods. “Yeah my dude, you can tell me anything!” Kaito sighs. “I’m… kinda jealous. I wouldn’t be apposed to Rantaro painting my nails, but… I’m embarrassed to ask.” “Tell ya what! Next week, I’ll get my nails painted (insert favorite color here) and I can bring you with! Trust me, it’s amazing!”

Kiyo finally makes his way to the courtyard and sits next to Y/N. “Hello there, dear. Did I miss anything?” Korekiyo asks, readjusting Y/N’s sleeve again. “Not much, we were just catching up and I got a bruise. It’s not the end of the world. I literally trip on everything. Kaito get this. Literally yesterday I was walking upstairs and tripped on my own feet?? No idea why that happens, but I guess I’m a bit of a clumsy oaf.”

Kaito and Kiyo exchange glances. Kaito tries to resist the urge to laugh, but just starts laughing like crazy. Kiyo glares at Kaito and then he’s speechless. “Haha.. ahh, that is hilarious. Just Y/N things, am I right?” Y/N nods and they turn to look at the night sky.

“The stars look so pretty! Look at them, Kiyo! … Is that one changing colors??” Y/N asks, confused.

“Yeah! Did you know that stars can be different colors? I personally like the blue one. One day, I wanna go fly to the sky and check out the stars. You’ll be the first person to know about my stories and what I saw, I promise!” Kaito says, winking in a friendly way.

Kaito rambles for a few hours and Y/N is flat out dead asleep on Kiyo’s chest. “Shit, it’s getting late. I should go hit the hay soon. See ya Y/N! … Y/N?” He turns around and sees Y/N, sleeping peacefully with their boyfriend has his hand on her head, as if he’s protecting them??? Kaito gets confused and walks away with his hands in his pockets.

God that’s so cute, you don’t need to do that though, Kiyo

Kiyo gently taps on their shoulder, waking them up. “Hm..? Kaito? Where did he… go?” They ask while rubbing their eyes. “He… was tired so he went back to the dorm.” Korekiyo’s eyes start to glow, unable to keep his anger in anymore.

“Speaking of Kaito, what was THAT?! He was clearly flirting with you! Did you not see that?! HOW did you NOT see that?!” Kiyo exclaims. “I didn’t. I genuinely didn’t. If he was actually flirting with me, why didn’t you stop him?! Why didn’t you do anything!?”

“Because you were having a good time and catching up on things with somebody you don’t see a lot these days! And I didn’t want to ruin that for you!”

“… wait a minute. How did you know about that? How did you know that I was catching up with him?”

Korekiyo just kinda does this 👇🏻

“Were you intentionally taking your time? Were you eavesdropping on our conversation? I can’t believe it! It’s all over your face! You not saying anything is just icing on the cake!” Y/N explains with their pajama shirt’s sleeve sliding down even more than before.

“W-Wait, Y/N, let me expl-“ “SAVE IT, KOREKIYO! I don’t want to hear your bullshit lies!” Y/N exclaims with a hint of a growl in their voice. They storm off.

Korekiyo watches them storm off. He then sighs and sits at the table and stares at the night sky. “I had a bad feeling about Kaito this whole time… Does Y/N actually not know when people are flirting with them? Or were they just saying that?”

He looks at the ground and just walks inside the building. He enters the building and walks to his dorm room. “… just wait for them to cool off. You need to just wait, Korekiyo.” He starts to pace around his room. “I’m just going to go to my lab to distract myself.”

He makes his way to his lab and opens the door. He stares at his pot full of roses and just stares at them. “These are beautiful. Y/N and I grew these together. That’s what makes them even more beautiful. Them. They’re beautiful in all ways. Even their flaws make them beautiful.” He blushes really hard. “I must find them and apologize to them. I would only assume that they’re in their room or elsewhere.”

Kiyo spots Himiko. “Himiko, have you seen Y/N? I’ve been trying to find them.” Himiko looks at Kiyo, with an upset expression. “Nyeh, why would I want to tell you where they are?” Korekiyo sighs. “Thanks for your help, I guess.” He continues to pursue them.

Hallways? Nope. Game room? Nah. Cafeteria? Kind of? He found a box of pocky. That’s worth something, so he put it in his pocket. “Pocky..? That’s Y/N’s favorite kind of pocky, so I’m getting somewhere.” Kiyo mutters to himself.

He casually walks around the building until he hears Kiibo and some familiar voices, including Y/N’s voice in the library. “Found them.” “MAN, it feels good to take this pajama shirt off. It felt like I was on fire.” “Y-Y/N, please don’t say that, somebody might hear you say that and or doesn’t sound too good out of context!! What if your boyfriend was nearby and heard that? He’d get suspicious!” Kiibo exclaims

Shocked at what he hears, he aggressively pushes the door open and it hits the wall. Kiyo stares at Y/N and then at Kiibo and then at Kaede. He blushes really hard at the sight of Y/N in a (favorite color(s) tanktop and covers his face for a while. Kiibo raises his hands and walks out. “I wasn’t doing anything suspicious, I was just telling them that it wasn’t wise to shout that.”

Kaede just nopes out of the room. “Nope, not dealing with this.” Korekiyo watches his companions leave and looks at Y/N like this.

“My oh my, dearest. There you are. My beautiful rose. I was looking for you to apologize for what I did. Can you forgive me for eavesdropping on your conversation and snapping at you?”

Man I swear this dude has rizz

They start to blush hard. “Y-Yeah…”

“Thank you, dear. It means a lot to me. By the way, what was it you and Kaito were talking about? You don’t have to get specific if you don’t want to.” Kiyo asks, tilting his head to the side.

“W-Well, I’m sure Kaito wouldn’t want me t-talking about it, but we just plan on hanging out- nothing bad I promise! Just hanging out.” Y/N replies and Korekiyo smiles. “You look so cute when you blush like this.” Y/N raises her eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Well you look handsome when you blush too~, I’ve never seen you blush like this before.” Y/N scoots closer to Korekiyo and gives him a big hug. “And I’m sorry too… for the yelling. I love you.”

Kiyo smiles warmly. “Your heartbeat… it’s racing a little bit. And I love you so much more.” Kiyo and Y/N smile and Kiyo gets a little peck on the cheek. “M-My oh my… H-How u-unexpected.” He looks at the clock. “Oh gosh, look at the time, it’s three in the morning. But I don’t want to get up just now, I just want to feel your heartbeat for j-just a little while longer.”

“But we’re gonna have to-“ Y/N yawns. “-go home eventually. You make me feel so loved. I’ve never felt this before.” Korekiyo gasps and stands up. He reaches for Y/N’s hand. They stand up and they walk to Y/N’s dorm room. “What were you saying about not feeling loved like this before’?”

Kiyo and Y/N stand in front of Y/N’s door. “It… it’s a long story. I’ll explain it to you one of these days. As much as I would love to keep talking, I feel quite tired. See you in the morning?” They ask. “But of course, darling. I love you, I’ll see you in the morning, or specifically, later in the morning.” He gives them a peck on the cheek. They’re so happy that they go into their room, blush so hard that they are tomato red (from blushing) and dive into their bed and happily shove their face into their pillow and happily giggles. Kiyo hears their giggles and walks to his room, feeling happy and blushing, knowing that he just made their night.

The next day, Kaede walks into the library and realizes that their pajama shirt is still there. She blushes at the sight, picks up the shirt and walks to their dorm room with a note saying “Y/N, you left this in the library. -Kaede”

[sublimecatgalaxy]

reader finds out that eddie sells drugs and he gets scared cause he thinks that they’re gonna dump him

His eyes are filled with uncomfortable fear, looking down at the lunchbox in my hands, the contents distributed all over the bed. Shock isn't a good enough word to describe how I'm feeling, my stomach swirling anxiously as I stare at the multiples forms and types of drugs in front of me.

"Do you..." I trail off, gulping audibly as I shake my head, screwing my eyes shut tightly with a shaky sigh. When my eyes open back up, Eddie has taken a step closer to me, his hands now shaking violently at his side. "Are you on drugs?" I ask, my voice cracking and his brows quickly pull together as if I'm misunderstanding everything I'm seeing in front of me. But there is no possible way that I'm connecting dots that aren't there.

"No, god, no." He whispers, reaching forward to take the lunchbox out of my hands to place it down beside us. My fists clench and I try my best to think of any other reason for him to have this much illegal  drug paraphernalia.

"Then is it your uncle? Why do you have so much drugs?" Tears prick at my eyes and I begin to question every interaction I've had with him in the last few months; all of the dates, all of the late nights, all of the Hellfire campaigns... Was he keeping something this big from me?

"I...sell it. I sell the drugs to people." My jaw drops, eyes blinking up at him but there's a sense of relief that fills me that he's not currently on a bunch of drugs outside of his normal, occasional joint. "Please don't dump me- I know this was a big secret but I genuinely didn't want you judging me for making this my career choice- especially with me not graduation and I was afraid you were going to-" My hand slaps over his mouth, a small chuckle leaving me and his eyes widen.

"I'm not dumping you, I guess I'm just shocked- surprised, not shocked." My hand slips away from his lips and his shoulders deflate, the anxiety that previously wracked through his body just moments ago is nowhere to be found.

"Shit." He huffs, running his hands down his face as I look out across the drugs. "I'm sorry, if you want me to stop, I mean- I could ask Harrington for a job at the video store-"

"No, no, no." He blinks, looking a little lost as his hands reach out to take mine in his, a teasing smile on his lips as he waits for me to go on, a wicked smile on my lips. "You make a lot of money and I always wondered why. Now that I know, I don't want to lose the money or the crazy amount of time that I'm able to spend with you." He giggles, wrapping me up in his arms as I let out a relieved breath, happy that nothing has to change and that our relationship is not in trouble.

"Plus free weed."

"Case in point."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- Taglist: @bubblebuttwade @rafelover2405 @leslienjazzy @sorceresss @grxnde-dwt @alex–awesome–22 @bunnietoof @niyamar1e @serialghost @plantlungs @geniusohn @akaliltimmytim @lilaalouuxx @xshariex @elliotsbeigeguitar @elle4404 @lelieja @srhxpci @joselyn001 @taysirene @spinkspanther @thedivineuphoria @peter-maximoffs @tsukishimawhore @poohkie90 @szlaco @distantsighs @nstyles4299 @wolflover384 @givemefoodandlovesstuff @vane2828 @yeswhatever33 @amirrahfranson @vvaalleennttiinna @f-mu @yaspillz @jeyramarie @skylievin@abbybarnes17 @jointherebellion215 @visiondaddy @steezysimfinds @its-ya-gay-boi-luigi @crunchytoenailsyum@glizzymcguirex @beth123lg @melovesmut @rafecameronswhore @ariianelle @write-from-the-heart @vampviolets@haylee-e@popehaywardssecretgf @honee-chai-tea @lokiandbuckywife @smoke-and-fire @officiallyunofficialperson@heyaitsklaudia@rosepetalsparks @bluetreecloud20 @scenesofobx @double-shot-of-tequila @1dluver13xx @colbysbrocks @iamasimpingh0e @smoke-and-fire386 @loveshineslikethesky @id-3-kbro @diorsitgirl @errorfound101-allideasburnedout @neverwillknowme18 @ellyskey @taylors-folk @loversjoy @myaloveee @thyris-is @lagataprrr @aaaaslaaaan @minjix @luvrosee