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cas-writes-stuff-ig · 2 months

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Part 2 of Cheering Her Up (A Party)

f!/nb! reader x regina george

CONTENT:

Word Count: 3094

Reader is working on performing for the Winter Talent Show

singing for Regina

secret relationship

Jealous Regina

Jealous Reader

smut (shower sex) (drunk sex) (jealousy)

kinda will get angsty after this

(those band geeks/people who play music in the background in the new Mean Girls movie? yeah that's who the reader is friends with)

Part 1 of Cheering Her Up

Part 3 of Cheering Her Up

a/n:

this was supposed to be a one-shot but idk I had an idea because i get inspired by songs and then make up scenarios in my head. its gonna get a little sadder soon so sorry DW they'll end up together <3

Soona is a person who was apologized to, who plays music in the background for the songs (plays guitar and drums)

("Soona, I'm sorry I said you were dragging during 'Revenge Party' There was just like, so much pressure on us to move the story forward through the montage. Like you know how it is" (1:22:24 in the movie))

I made Soona date the girl in the beanie (plays bass and drums)

I heavily based this off the 2024 version, but I switched around some of the events back to 2004

(2004: October Party/Aaron and Regina get back together -> Talent Show -> Aaron and Regina break up -> "You can't sit with us" -> Burn Book scene)

(2024: October Party/Aaron and Regina get back together -> Aaron and Regina break up -> Talent Show -> "You can't sit with us" -> Burn Book scene)

Regina finished her brownie and you scarfed yours down unceremoniously. You covered your mouth and spoke while you chewed “Shit sorry, I’ve been smelling brownies for an hour and I was starving” she just rolled her eyes at you. “Want another?”

Regina paused a pained expression painted her face for a moment, then she put her wall back up “I’m fine thanks”

You decided to let it go and then the front door opened, “Regina?” her mom walked in “You having a party in here?” you grabbed your phone and turned down the music.

Regina's little sister Kylie ran inside after her mom and waved at you excitedly. Kylie liked it when you were around because you'd scold Regina if she was being mean to her. Kylie just ran up to her room to change.

“Hey mom” Regina greeted but she was dismissive as most kids are with their parents

“Hi Mrs. George,” her mom liked you, but she was naive to the true nature of your relationship with her daughter. You grinned “I made brownies, sorry it’s a mess. I’ll clean it up”

“Oh! That’s so nice of you. Thank you, hun, don’t worry about the dishes, darling” She put her bag down walked toward the sink, and started washing them. “I’ve got it, I know you guys have homework. Regina be nice yeah?”

Her mom said that every time you were over because the first time you were at her house, you worked with Regina at the kitchen table, and she heard her daughter call you “…a fucking nerd”

“Yeah, whatever Mom,” she stood up and started walking toward the stairs. You thanked her mom, rushed to take off the apron, hung it up, and dashed up the stairs. She walked into her room, and you soon followed inside and shut the door.

She just slipped back into her bed and went on her phone. You sat on the bed and kicked off your shoes, and were worried “Hey ‘Gina?”

“Mm?” She looked up at you briefly, and then back down at her phone.

You paused and didn’t say anything for a moment “…Gina, do you wanna talk about what happened earlier?” That same pained expression panned over her face. You just touched her knee and rubbed soothing circles into it. "It's okay if you don't wanna talk about it."

She sighed, "It's just me, don't worry about it, kay?" you gave her a look.

She then pulled you to lay next to her and lifted your arm to lay on your shoulder, head resting at the crook of your neck. "I won't push it" you added after she got comfortable.

She pulled out her phone and rested it on your stomach scrolling through her apps. You took your own phone out and checked your grades on there. Regina opened her camera roll, the most recent item was a short video of you, you immediately recognized your own voice and she had this shit-eating grin on her face.

It was you just fifteen minutes ago, you watched yourself wearing the rather girly apron, singing, and pulling brownies out of the oven. "Regina! Oh my God, delete that, please. That's actually so embarrassing" you face palmed.

She laughed and said "Absolutely not," and sat up "Don't worry, it's for my eyes only" She told the truth because she couldn't show the video to anyone else or else they'd ask what you're doing in her house baking brownies for.

"You're so mean to me," you said with no real bite in your voice. "Your mom said to be nice to me Regina" You didn't ask her again to delete it, because once she made a decision she usually stuck by it, she always got her way with you.

She scoffed and said "I am being nice" and leaned back toward you, kissing your collarbone. It made you stop breathing for a moment, your body got stiff as she kept kissing your neck.

"God Regina, I have homework" you mustered out, she left a dark red hickey that peaked out just a little bit from your shirt, then she licked your neck "Shit" she was getting you worked up.

"It's fucking Friday tomorrow loser, chill out, it can wait an hour" She whispered seductively in your ear. Regina was right though so you submitted to her whims

——————————————————————————————

"Duck, stay the night" She leaned against the bed sheets.

"Okay princess," you rolled your eyes "Anything for you," you said sarcastically, but you meant it. Regina pointed towards her closet and you found some of her more comfortable loose shirts to wear to bed. "Can I grab my guitar to practice for maybe thirty minutes though? Me and my group are practicing some songs for the Winter Talent show"

"Are you singing?" Regina asked smiling.

"If you make fun of me, I'll sleep in my fucking car, Regina" You made an empty threat. "I'm playing guitar, and doing background vocals. I'm the main singer for the last song only. I just wanna practice with the music in the back"

Your band for the Talent Show consisted of people from the Band Geeks (though you weren't part of the school band yourself). The four of you were versatile in your music skills, also being able to sing lead and backup interchangeably.

You only practiced one of your songs and opted to play ones you knew well for Regina. "I thought it was only one song?" Regina asked you.

"Thought I'd show off a little bit" you looked down at the fret board, she watched your fingers move.

"You serenading me Duck?"

——————————————————————————————

You cozied into her arms too easily, over the summer, spending nights with her had conditioned you to never get up before 10AM. So you couldn't rely on your body clock to wake you up.

You set an alarm for 7AM so she could do her makeup and choose an outfit. You had left a small amount of clothes in her wardrobe that was neatly hidden away, for the nights you slept over.

In the morning you brushed her hair back and pressed a kiss to her forehead "Gina babe, you gotta get up" I brought you the brownies I made.

She sat up and smiled at you "Thanks Ducky" Shit, that smile could send you to the stars.

"Of course Gina"

——————————————————————————————

That day, at the cafeteria. You slipped off your backpack and sat down across the table from Janis, and Damian. It was the third week of your Junior year.

You never stayed for the entire duration of lunch, just to eat and run to a study room where you could get some actual silence or hang out with the Soona and band you were friends with. And you never knew that Janis and Damian were using Cady to take Regina down.

Damian gasped dramatically, it surprised you. "What's that on your neck!?" Shit, your backpack moved your shirt down revealing part of the hickey Regina gave you. Some heads turned toward your table.

Janis looked "Who you hook up with?" They both leaned in.

You were bright red "No one" You and Regina actually hid your secret pretty well, which you both greatly appreciated. But you hung out with a few people, which is why they pushed harder for an answer.

Damian leaned forward "Who?"

"No one, leave it," You said, it came out a little mean since you were stressed. "Sorry" you decided to tell part of the truth and you softened up "They're not out yet, I can't say" they yielded and switched gears.

"Is that why you've been all glow-y this semester? Your face has gay painted all fucking over it." Damian gestured with his hands pointing at you.

"Please stop talking" You pressed your temples

"Fine" They changed the topic.

"Oh Cady told us of a party happening tonight," Janis said, but you didn't really pay attention

You said "Okay" and then just looked down at your phone and texted Regina. Her contact on your phone was discreet enough, it was just her initials backward. The only thing that hinted that it could be Regina was the picture of a Jeep from the internet.

You knew your contact name, but of course, you had a rubber ducky as a profile picture on her phone.

Duck: "G, they saw the mark you left yesterday"

GR: "so what? you didn't say anything right?"

Duck: "no of course not"

GR: "then we're fine"

You could see Regina looking down at her phone too where she sat with the Plastics and Cady.

You kept observing Regina, Gretchen was next to her and leaned over. "Who's 'Duck'? New guy?"

"Jesus Gretchen, haven't you heard of privacy?" Regina scolded her.

——————————————————————————————

After school, you drove home and Facetimed Regina "Party tonight right?" you asked.

"Mmhm, you gonna go?" Regina was also rummaging through her clothes

"Yeah," you said and put on just a black T-shirt, jeans, and a brown jacket. "How do I look?" You propped your phone up to show her.

"Lame, but fine" Regina responded

"That was mean Gina" It stung a little but you were fine. "Oh remind me to send you the set list we're practicing," You asked her.

"Shit, gotta go Duck. Karen, Gretchen, and Cady are coming to my house to get ready" She looked at the messages on her phone "I'll see you later" she quickly hung up. You changed your shirt to a loose tank top, which revealed your toned arms and the hickey, you wanted to exact a little revenge on Regina and make her a little jealous.

——————————————————————————————

Soona and the gang brought you to the party. You've been at this guy's house party three times over the summer. You grabbed a red solo cup and took it to the dance floor, and your friends joined you.

You normally didn't get this drunk unless you were with only a few people, because you lost your inhibitions a little too much. The only thing on your mind was Regina. Regina. Regina. Regina.

Your head buzzed and you looked for the familiar blonde, she was in the middle of the dance floor grinding up against some jock, which happened to be Shane Oman.

You got jealous, and when you were drunk you didn't think thoroughly. Regina didn't fuck anyone else besides you for a while, you understood 'friends with benefits' implied you were not obligated to monogamy.

You had decided to mess with Regina a little more, you joined a girl who was known for queer baiting, you didn't kiss her, but you definitely got touchy, she was lifting your shirt a little. You felt Regina staring daggers at you.

After a while, you excused yourself to the upstairs bathroom where there were far fewer people here. You wondered if that was enough to get a rise out of Regina. Then a knock at the door. "Occupied" you yelled out.

"Let me in, bitch" It was Regina's voice.

'Oh shit' You thought. You wanted to anger her enough that she texted you to come over to her house, but she broke your unspoken rule to not approach each other at parties or school. You opened the door "Shit Regina. No one saw you come in here ri-"

She slammed the door shut and shoved you against the wall, her left hand snaked around your neck, not enough to restrict air, but enough to show you how mad she was. "You're stupid," she said angrily. You looked up at her, your head still buzzed.

"Gina I-" You tried speak, but her hand squeezed a little tighter for a moment, before loosening her grip to grab your jaw.

"I'm gonna leave this party, and you're gonna meet me down this fucking block. We're going home" Regina's voice was full of venom. "Do you understand?" you could smell the alcohol on her breath, and the smell of her perfume.

You let out a faint "Yes"

——————————————————————————————

She called an Uber and you stood behind her like a kicked puppy. You were in deep shit. It was already 2AM when you left the party so everyone in Regina's house was asleep.

When you got to her house she practically dragged you up the stairs and pushed you onto the bed roughly "The fuck you think you were doing at that party?" She's never been so angry at you before.

"Regina, I'm sorry I-" you stuttered, she was mad at you and it scared you. But the alcohol in your blood and the way she towered over you, making you feel helpless, made your core ache with need.

She stripped off her shirt and straddled your hips, Regina took your arms and held them above your head. "You're a fucking tease" You were both still incredibly drunk.

"Regina, I'm sorry let me make it up to you" You pleaded with her.

She wore a mean smile "And how do you plan on doing that baby" You tried to wriggle yourself out of her grip, but she used her entire body to keep you down.

The more you tried to escape, the more pathetic you looked. Face flushed, pinned under the prettiest girl you've ever seen. "Shit, I'll do whatever you ask Gina, just say the word"

"Yeah baby?" she smiled "Whatever I ask?"

"Yes," you said breathily, though it was hot, you were scared of losing her favor. You wanted to be in her life as much as possible, you were obsessed. Anything to please her.

"Strip, get in the shower" She let go of your arms, climbed off you, and rid herself of the rest of her clothes. She turned her back towards you and walked toward the bathroom, then without turning, she crooked her finger, telling you to come follow her.

She didn't need to turn around to know you were watching her every movement. She turned the shower on and walked inside "Kneel" You did, she looked at your mouth and then down between her legs. Water beat down your back. "You know what to do baby" You nodded and started to gently kiss her clit, "Don't tease, just get on with it" Your slow kisses to her pussy turned into you sucking on it hard.

You looked up at her, and you made eye contact. She moaned then said "Keep that up baby, and I might forgive you" she gripped the back of your hair and it made you whine into her pussy. "Fuck- use your fingers too babe" Coating your fingers in her slick before slipping two fingers inside of her.

"God you feel so good," she said as you started rhythmically curling your fingers inside her cunt, you took your free hand and held her up. "Oh fuck" she arched her back and pushed her hips hard into your face. You kept your pace while she rode out her orgasm. She pulled your head away, and when she let go you just kissed her thighs.

"You satisfied, Gina?" you still were on your knees she brought you up and kissed you

"No, nerd. I wanna break you" Regina knelt now and saw her there you ached for her to just get on with it. Eating her out pulled obscene sounds out of her and made you wet, and she swiped a finger through your slit. "You're so wet," Then she slid two fingers inside. "If I let you finish, you gonna promise to be good for me, baby?"

Her thumb started to circle your clit "Sh-shit, yes Gina"

"Look at me" you looked down and she pressed your clit hard.

"Fuck Regina, I'll be good" you swore.

"Promise me?"

"Promise" You gasped out as she increased her pace.

Heat gathered in your stomach and your skin felt hot. You closed your eyes and tilted your head back, moaning Regina's name like a prayer. "Gina- fuck, I-"

"Words baby" Regina cooed.

You panted trying to speak, you finally gasped out "Gina, can I finish, please? please?"

She smirked "Only because you're so cute when you beg" She sped up "Come for me, come for your owner baby"

You covered your mouth in fear of waking up everyone in the house. Your body felt like a firework, and Regina knew how to play you like a violin.

She stood and kissed you, and her anger had dissolved. Just as you regained your breath, there she was to steal it away from you again.

You knew Regina was a bitch, but you couldn't help but melt into her touch when she washed your hair or kissed your shoulder. Her attention was intoxicating.

——————————————————————————————

You lay in bed with Regina and brushed her hair behind her ear. "Gina, about you kissing Shane tonight." you paused to really think about your words. "I know we aren't together like that, but you know me, if you start dating someone else, whatever we have has to stop"

She hesitated for a second "Of course Duck" she paused again "I only did it to keep up my reputation" Regina said. It was partially true if you wanted to keep up the secret. Regina had to play her part, she had to conform, it was comphet but you didn't bring up your thoughts to her.

"Gina, I'm sorry I was acting like that at the party" You apologized for making her jealous. You knew why you were jealous, but not why she was. Did she like you? Did she just want to fuck you? You never would expect anything beyond sex and friendship from her even if it broke you inside.

But she read you easily "Hey babe, did you get jealous?" she was smug about it, and you crossed your arms. "You did huh?" She provoked you but she held your face so gently and rubbed your cheek with her thumb, that you felt your attraction to her fall far deeper than you could control.

She gave you butterflies whenever she was around. You just responded with "I'm sorry"

"It's cute, Duck, you're fine. But don't do that again yeah?" She kept holding your face "At least not with that bitch you were dancing with, she’s such a loser babe"

"Yeah, fine fine. But anyone who isn’t you or your gang is a loser to you” you teased.

"Whatever. Now come here and hold me, baby" She had you wrapped around her little finger, more so than anyone else. You felt your feelings for Regina grow, but you didn't dare to confess. You didn't want to lose what you had.

You lay on your back and Regina laid her head on your chest, then you were stroking her back and held her close to you. You kissed her forehead sweetly and lovingly, earning an adorable 'Mm', and you were getting slowly coaxed into sleep by her gentle steady breathing.

Part 3 of Cheering Her Up

#regina george x reader #fluff #smut #renee rapp #regina george #mean girls #renee rapp x reader #mean girls 2024

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miraculouslycool · 9 months

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My Review of Miraculous Awakening: The Movie:

Spoiler alert: yeah I'm more disappointed than pleased. Zag really should consider making something original with his own deviations of the original show instead of contaminating what was already good on its own.

More under the cut, because spoilers:

The Things I did like:

The animation and visuals were stunning. The transformation sequences, Marinette's dreams being visualised, Ladynoir's duet were all very beautiful to look at. I liked how the powers and power-ups glowed, even the background and setting was tastefully done. This movie is very cinematic to look at and watch. The character models were definitely better looking than the prototypes they showed us in 2021.

(Sadly it seems like all the 100M budget went into this alone)

The Ladynoir was so cute y'all. I'm sorry, I know there are several people who would disagree but I liked their dynamic, their bickering and all was funny, and their duet and dance took my breath away. Was it as earth-shattering and groundbreaking as the show's Ladynoir dynamic? Absolutely not. It definitely felt like I was watching two different characters who had to learn to not dislike each other (compared to how they got along so well and clicked since the day they met in Origins), and I did like that they made Marinette acknowledge her feelings for Chat as well as Adrien, but if I compartmentalise it from the show, I think it's fine enough. I'm not really conflicted about it if I look at it that way.

The things I'm conflicted about:

Marinette's arc was....generic. It reminded me of several coming-of-age arcs where the protagonist had to learn to face their fears and believe in themselves, yada yada yada. But it felt like the soul of the Marinette we all know was gone from movie!Marinette. What made Marinette Ladybug in the first place was that quiet but powerful moment in Origins where she transformed to save Chat Noir and Alya even though she was terrified. Marinette was shy and reserved in the beginning of Origins, but it seemed like that was all Zag ever comprehended. What makes Marinette a hero is that she didn't "just face her fears", it's that her love for the world is bigger than that fear. She's scared of disappointing and failing the world than failing herself. That little nuance was deeply missed in the movie. Oh and her mega-intelligent genius brain too. What happened to the girl who can build a box that bites that hand that tries to steal from her? Where are her zany, over complicated plans?

However the reason why I didn't put her completely in the dislike tier is because this girl is genuinely the only one in the movie carrying the combat on her back. She's the one saving people, she's the one actually using her powers, she's the one at least acting like a hero.

Marinette's singing voice was not suitable at all. Lou is technically a very good singer but she's unable to bring the life Christina Vee does to her voice. Idk why they needed a singing voice actor for Marinette, Christina Vee has a beautiful voice already. Three guesses as to why she wasn't used. (/s)

The musical numbers were, like I said earlier, nice and lovely to look at. But after them making Marinette sing for the third time about believing in herself and having no way out of "facing her destiny" it starts to get grating. In all that time, they could have used it to flesh out Adrien's character much more, or even work on the rules for the miraculous. I did like Hawkmoth's number, Chat's song about falling for Ladybug and Ladynoir's duet, but that's it.

The thing Germy Zag and his money hungry company fails to understand is that Miraculous Ladybug, or any version of it will fail as a musical is because the show is too plot and action-driven. There is always something that has to be shown visually or explained verbally, and unless they're willing to show that in song, instead of filling it up with pretty sequences, ML as a musical is never going to work.

Things I dislike:

The "Chosen One" trope is 100% the worst part of this movie. (The use of Careless Whisper is a close second)

The miraculouses in the show were jewels that were meant to be given to people who proved they good at heart, and had potential to be heroic. The earrings and the ring flying away to magically bond with their owners was just plain lazy writing. What makes Ladybug (well, to a certain extent, she is the Guardian now) and Chat heroes is that they can choose to give up their powers at any point, they can choose to give up, but they get up and fight anyway because they want to become good people, not because they were destined to.

Why was the butterfly miraculous described as "evil"? It was common sense to show it as a jewel that can be misused by bad people, not something that was essentially made to be misused. Why were the Ladybug and the Cat shown as rivals, and not two halves of a whole that complement each other?

And most importantly, WHERE THE FUCK IS THE LUCKY CHARM???

And on that note, what, may I ask, did Adrien to earn the ring? How did he meet Plagg? How was he convinced to put on the suit? Movie!Adrien is a complete disappointment, and he didn't even have any nice redeeming moments like Marinette did for me to tolerate his portrayal. One of the important (if not THE most important aspects) of Adrien is his kindness. What kind, selfless things do we see Adrien do? What brave things do we see him do, other than taking shots at the villains?

Chat Noir in the show was much more reckless and direct than Ladybug but we also always see him saving civilians, putting Ladybug first, putting the fight first even when he is not doing good emotionally (which is always). It just felt like a fan's surface-level understanding of who Chat Noir is: a few snarky lines put together and a huge ego.

And don't even get me started on how shallow the Love Square was portrayed. Or in other words, the two sides of it that Zag thinks is the most marketable. I really really hate how rushed Adrienette was, compared to Ladynoir. This is insane, because I never thought I'd have any opinion like that about any canon portrayal of the Love Square, but it's true. Why did Marinette fall for Adrien? Because he awkwardly helped her up? Why did Adrien find Marinette's quirks weird when he's never ever done that in the show? Like where's the depth that Origins put into this ship?? And every single episode after??

I do think this could've been fixable though, if they didn't reduce Adrienette to a montage (like him telling her about his mom) and added at least 1 Marichat and Ladrien interaction each. That's what the other two sides are meant for!! For both of them to see a different side of their partner when their partner is seeing them differently!

In other words, this movie is showcasing the "true selves" syndrome several parts of the fandom were accusing the show of. Zag simply did not understand the ins and outs of what makes the Love Square so compelling and I really think if this was fixed, the movie wouldn't be as disappointing as it is.

Gabriel's arc was pathetic. I know, on one end, it's like, yay, Adrien's gets a grieving, neglectful but well-meaning parent!! He gets to avoid the abuse he goes through in the show!! But I think it also takes away the angst that comes from Adrien essentially being a hero fighting against his father's abuse daily, which is also a core component of the show (who knows how season 6 will deal with that) and it also was a huge asset to Adrien's character - how he turned out good, kind and heroic despite all that.

And Gabriel by himself just isn't as compelling if he wasn't a ruthless villain, in my subjective opinion. Maybe the moment of forgiveness between son and father would have been more touching if we got a few scenes between Gabriel and Adrien. (Can you believe they only interact TWICE in a 90 minute movie??) Maybe Gabriel shutting Adrien out but out of genuine overprotectiveness, maybe Adrien trying to bond with his father but Gabriel misunderstanding it and killing the entire vibe. Just something to show us that Gabriel really does love his son, if that is what the movie wants us to believe.

The ending being a sequel hook was so stupid lmfao. Gabriel wants to stop being a villain for his son's sake but will entrust the peacock miraculous and his refrigerated wife to his assistant? Instead of idk, properly cremating the poor woman? He doesn't want to be a villain but he won't let go of his obsession with his wife?

It makes sense psychologically, I just hate it because I know that in 2 years Germy is gonna waste another 100 million dollars to make another pointless sequel.

Overall I'd give it a 3/10. It's a shame because all of this stunning animation could have been used in the actual show, or the bickering dynamic they wanted for Ladynoir could have been done with different original characters.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous awakening #ml awakening salt #ml movie salt #i wont simply tag this as ml s*lt because i dont want it to end up in the show tags #rae speaks

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descendantofthesparrow · 5 months

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Brutally honest thoughts on each character?

...*Each* character???? bruh thats so many, okay ill keep this short cuz im waiting for a haircut rn

well start with the vks cuz thats easy

Mal-started off strong and then just became...THE WORST, love hate relationship for her. shes my art block fix but also i hate her

Jay-i dont have strong opinions on him, he actually never stuck out to me other than 'obligatory jock dude of the friend group.' i wish i liked him more but im more attached to his fandom self over canon Jay

Evie-got boring after D1, i wish they let her keep her chemistry stuff, love her vibe but shes kinda boring to me. SHOULD'VE BEEN THE MC OVER MAL!!

Carlos- lots of lost potential with his tech stuff from the first book and movie. easily could've been an engineer or inventor but they just made him an animal lover and i got bored of that real quick.

Uma-my queen, my idol, can do no wrong i love her so much i WILL kill for her.

Harry-i love his dumbass so much YALL DONY EVEN KNOW I WANNA BITE HIM SO BAD

Gil-one of the few characters i felt actually...grew up? idk but hes one of the few characters were it actually feels like time passed for.

Dizzy-oooooooh honey, honey honey, sunshine baby, please, put the glue gun down.

Celia- they should've gone with her trailer persona. Her outfits are so bad and i wish she got better writing and designs, so much lost potential, also she should've been Jays pick.

Smee twins- why the fuck are they even here they had one line and no significance. also they should've had a Harry scene.

Aks

Ben-puppy boy, deserved to have doberman energy. got turned into a doormat by the writers and is unfairly hated.

Audrey-bitch queen, shes not a nice person and thats okay~ girlboss.

Chad- should've been the D3 villan they had that all set up in D2 with his weird ass attitude over Ben getting kidnapped on the isle.

Doug -....honestly gives me the ick, especially in D3, i HATE the long hair his actor had/has. gold is NOT his color and neither is pastel purple or green. he looked good in D1 but ICK for 2 and 3.

Jane- bby gurl, blue bird sweetheart. yeah she did some fucked up shit in D1 but she was an insecure 14 year old girl who got manipulated by Mal and other aks!!!

Lonnie- deserved so much better, shes Chinese why is she getting Japanese style stuff?!?! her plot in D2 didnt even do anything it just happened and no one cared and Jay just shoved his problems of girls playing roar onto her.

Beast- *inhale* i wanna kick his ass, and i could, lemme at him. how dare he force an entire kingdom on Ben at 16 when he didnt become king when he was 28(when he married Belle)

Belle- they took away her backbone, shes not Disney princess book worm and independent Belle. she just, lost the spark

FG- they turned her into a preschool teacher, GIVE ME MY OL COOKY FAIRY LADY BACK

Leah- *seething rage*

vk parents

Maleficent- fuckin love her, shes such a manipulative bitch and feels like a gone crazy version of a Maleficent made for kids. def not the mistress of all Evil but i love her nonetheless

EQ- shouldve been the head villain, SHE WAS THE FIRST DISNEY VILLAIN CMON! def not the same character from the animated movie but shes dramatic and sassy and i adore her.

Jafar- haha funny characature~ i wish he was more menacing like he had been. Jafar is not one of my fav villains so descendants jafar didnt exactly translate for me well.

Cruella- yeah they nailed her, no complaints about her. good design, good dialogue, good acting.

Hades- LEMME KICK HIS DEAD BEAT ASS, fucking 'daddy issues made you stronger' my butt. i hate his hair and honestly he doesnt fit the washed up punk design, he didnt deserve the speech at the end and didnt deserve to be forgiven by Mal.

Ursula- we only saw her tentacle and one line but she seemed spot on so yeah

Lady Tremaine- why the fuck was she nice in D3??? bitch is the EVIL stepmother.

Smee- spot on, i have words for his sons designs becuaee hes old not naturally white haired but hes chill, makes sense hed be a good parent, he never felt evil to me, just compliant

Facilier- such a vibe, his actor got him spot on, would've changed up his suit design but hes chill and i can see him being a family man(ignoring wicked world).

#disney descendants

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chaoticstanley · 11 months

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Beetlebabes dni (seriously fuck off)

So, my current hyperfixation is Beetlejuice, movie, cartoon, and musical. But I have all the Beetlejuice cartoons on file so as I was watching, I decided to redesign Lydia and Beej in the show’s style for my own fic I’m working on. I added silhouettes of the show’s designs as a comparison. And I finalized my OC as a bonus. So here’s some info about Bj and Lydia. I’ll explain my OC some other time.

Beetlejuice:

I used all iterations of him as inspiration, but in terms of visual, it’s mostly the musical and cartoon. Gave him his green hair and also a mullet cause... Idk I think it looks good. But in terms of personality, it’s a nice combo of all three. He’s a lot more nastier and violent than his toon counterpart, but still retains some of the sensitivity showed in the show. For example, he’s still protective of Lydia, but instead of simply putting beetles in a bully’s hair, he’ll genuinely traumatize them with a scare or straight up try and kill them. He’s still a handsy and overtly sexual being like in the movie/musical. Instead of responding to emotional rejection (outside of flirtatious contexts) with a depressive episode like the show, he gets very angry and vengeful. He’s petty, selfish and a conniving ass like all three iterations. But he’s not as dumb as his toon counterpart. He’s irrational and acts before he thinks sure, but when it comes to being a trickster, he’s more thoughtful and malicious like the movie version.

His relationship with Lydia is a big brother/little sister type. She’s one of the very select few who’s ever gotten past his walls. He’s protective of her and always encourages her interests in the gross, rude, and dead. But he’s less affectionate than the show/musical. He’s not a big fan of pda and just barely tolerates her occasional hug. He and Lydia are the type of friends that exchange insults and petty barbs as a way of showing how they care.

A brief note on his most common alter ego, Bettyjuice. I modernized her into an egirl because the aesthetic is perfect with all the stripes. She’s pretty much the same as the show; gross, rude, and impulsive. But I made her too pretty unfortunately. I kept leaning towards cute with certain attributes like the added beanie and her adorable tummy, so that’ll probably be tweaked in the future, but we’ll see. I do like this design a lot even though it’s not gross enough.

Lydia:

Again, all iterations were an inspiration. Her Netherworld design is just a more aged up version of the original poncho, but I added a touch more purple at the forefront to reflect her personality. And her normal design is more muted just as a contrast to the Netherworld to make it seem mundane in comparison. In terms of personality, she’s got the character development of the musical. She’s still deadpanned and sarcastic like the movie/musical, but she’s much softer and more sweet like her toon counterpart. She’s a little more mature now that she’s 18, but not by much cause she’s still a young, developing girl. She only has a few friends her age since most of her peers at school are put off by her goth aesthetic and macabre interests. It also doesn’t help that she hangs around a weird egirl who likes to throw bugs at people (Bettyjuice of course). She does have two friends, Becca and Pamela (loosely based off Bertha and Prudence) and of course, her family. She still loves the Maitlands and hangs out with them a bunch. She has a better relationship with Charles Deetz now that she’s a little older. The one she has conflict the most is Deelia, but there’s still clear love there. She fully accepts Deelia as her mother now, while, of course, still keeping Emily Deetz in her heart as well. But they tend to bicker and argue the most because of their different worldviews, but much less so than before now that Lydia regularly spends time in the Nethworld.

But of course, Lydia’s best friend is Beetlejuice. They pull pranks, get into mischief, and regularly get revenge on Lydia’s main bully Claire Brewster.

But yeah, that’s it. I’ll explain my OC later, but I’m too tired rn. I’m working on some more art for Beetlejuice, but the main inspo is the cartoon since it has a lot more to work with in terms of story and world building.

#beetlejuice #lydia deetz #beetlejuice the animated series #beetlejuice the musical #toonjuice #toonlydia #oc

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tobiasdrake · 6 months

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Examining MK1 Characters: Earthrealm

Alright, I want to take a moment and go character-by-character to share opinions on the new versions of Mortal Kombat characters in Liu Kang's new timeline.

Let's start with the giant fucking sausage fest that is the Earthrealmers. I don't know what possessed Netherrealm to restrict "being female" to a trait solely possessed by aliens. IDK. But Kang's like, "Time to collect my warriors, no women allowed. Earthrealm is a Boys' Club now, and that is final!"

Maybe he's super creeped out that Johnny reproduced in the last timeline and is determined to stop that shit from ever happening again. Joke's on him 'cause Johnny still finds love anyway.

Liu Kang/Raiden

I'm putting these two together because they square danced into each other's spots so they compare more to each other than to themselves.

How does Kang compare to Raiden? Honestly, I loved him. As Protector God, Kang has a lot more personality than Raiden ever did. Raiden's always gone for this emotionless almighty deity approach, while Kang's performance shows a lot more of the humanity we know he carries with him. He emotes more.

Any time Raiden would speak with his champions, you could feel the godly distance between him and them. He wants them to prevail, but he is a being who is far detached from them and it carries in his lofty performance. But when Liu Kang speaks to his champions, you can feel his compassion. How much he genuinely cares. There's a likable softness to him that Raiden's never had. He meets people at their level because he remembers what it feels like to be there.

He is their god. But he engages with them as if he were a friend. Even when he reveals that he is the Creator God of the universe itself, he rejects any deference. I love that about him. Liu Kang is Best God.

Raiden/Liu Kang

For his part, Raiden is... He's almost an afterthought. I was worried he would overtake the story; That the writers would push too hard trying to make him the "new" Liu Kang. Rather than let anyone else shine, they'd swap Raiden and Kang's roles completely.

Instead, the opposite happened? Raiden is barely even in this story. He becomes Earthrealm's Champion and gets to show off his fighting skills to Sindel. Then he's dropped from the story almost entirely. He's a nice guy who punches well. He was not as good at punching as Kung Lao is, until one day, he was better. That's it. That's his entire plot.

Johnny Cage

Johnny's a hard character for writers to nail down. He's a self-important jackass and a great hero. Comically full of himself and a highly formidable martial artist who can hang with the best of 'em. His portrayals often struggle to capture that balance, veering too far towards either "Useless Clown" or "Totally reformed and genuinely virtuous".

MK1 struck that balance well. We get endless reminders of how Hollywood shallow Johnny is, without making a complete joke out of him. He's genuinely invested in being here and his character ending even reframes the whole "Johnny makes movies about his adventures" thing into a form of PR.

Kang wants to reveal the truth to the world, and the medium for that is Johnny's films. That's clever. I like it.

Johnny even gets to have a character arc. It's... not great? Like, his bromance with Kenshi is strong. But he opens his story with his wife leaving him because he's let his celebrity go to his head and burned all his wealth on trinkets and doo-dads. But then the trinkets and doo-dads wind up being his ticket into becoming a true hero, so actually it's good that he's Nicolas Cage-ing it up as hard as he can?

That sort of setup is usually supposed to inform us about a fatal flaw that the character must overcome. But instead, Johnny's rewarded for it. There's even a scene where he gets to use one of his money-sink toys to help the plot, while bragging about how wrong his nagging ex was. So I guess the central message around his ex-wife is just, "Man, bitches, amirite? Always trying to hold you back."

Meanwhile, the payoff to his arc is that Johnny returns Sento to Kenshi. But there's no indicator of character growth or development. The only thing that's changed between them since yesterday is that Kenshi had his eyes gouged out; That makes this come off like a gesture of pity rather than growth.

"Man, I would be a real heel to keep holding on to your sacred family treasure after you got disabled like that."

The intent is clear; This is meant to demonstrate the strength of their growing friendship. It feels like Johnny's still hanging onto Sento more to playfully tease Kenshi than because he genuinely feels entitled to it. But we don't get to see that growth. They trained together offscreen and now they're bros.

Speaking of which,

Kenshi

Kenshi gets a lot of focus and expansion in MK1. Prior to this, he was always "Wandering swordsman does swords real good in the name of Earthrealm". MK1 expands his character, delving deep into his clan's history and establishing grounded ties to the physical world. They do a great job of making Kenshi feel like a fleshed out character.

What they don't do well is making him into Kenshi. Adaptations/reboots/etc. sometimes come off janky when it comes to explaining how the character became the thing that's iconic about them. Sometimes it can feel like the Chains of Iconicity simply wrapped around them and dragged them inorganically into resembling their counterparts.

(This happens a lot to Jax, who has to have his arms ripped off in every portrayal somehow to justify his robot arms, even though the original had them installed apropos of nothing. He felt cool robot arms would make him stronger, so he got 'em.)

MK1 Kenshi is 100% a Chains of Iconicity character. He needs to get blinded somehow, so Mileena jams a pair of sais all the way through his eyes and somehow fails to puncture his brain. Then he needs to get Sento, so Johnny spontaneously hands 'er over without a fuss. Then he needs to gain spirit telekinesis, so Sento suddenly goes, "Hey, I'm a ghost sword and you have spirit telekinesis now." Even Kenshi's confused by how abrupt and un-foreshadowed that is.

It would feel like a random bullshit twist yanked straight out of the writer's ass if we, the audience, didn't already know it was a thing and expect it from a Kenshi-shaped character. He spends most of his journey as an interesting and organic character but then he suddenly gets kidnapped and pounded into a Kenshi mold.

Kung Lao

Kung Lao is the most consistent of the Earthrealmers. Which is to say, he's fine. All the Kung Lao stuff is there. He longs for greatness. He's devoted to protecting Earthrealm. He's part of the team. Raiden goes from nobody to champion and also Kung Lao is there. Johnny and Kenshi embark on this big mission and also Kung Lao is there.

He rarely stands out but he's certainly one of the boys. This feels like neither a step up nor a step down from past portrayals, where he was the other Shaolin guy standing next to Liu Kang while Kang was doing plot stuff. Kung Lao rarely gets to be distinctive or interesting. It's his curse to always dwell in the shadow of characters with more narrative focus.

Scorpion

Why is he Scorpion? Unclear. They go hard on making their Scorpion into a composite character of Kuai Liang and Hanzo Hasashi, even to the point of having him found the Shirai Ryu and marry Harumi. (And boy does that first Invasion want you to know this is what happened.)

It never stops feeling weird to see Scorpion running around as Sub-Zero's Lil' Bro. Even when they inevitably schism, Scorpion being outraged because Sub-Zero is a disgrace to the Lin Kuei remains utterly surreal from beginning to end.

Scorpion never feels like Scorpion; He always feels like Sub-Zero (the one we know) doing a cosplay.

As for the schism itself, this worked for me. Kuai Liang having to flee the Lin Kuei because their Grandmaster is a douche is one of those Iconic Things that has to occur, but having that schism with a living Bi-Han is unique and interesting. More on that in....

Sub-Zero

Bi-Han is the original Sub-Zero, but his Chains of Iconicity thing is Noob Saibot. Bi-Han typically exists to die immediately so he can come back as Saibot. This is the first time since the obscure platformer MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero that Bi-Han's been allowed to be an active player in events unfolding.

He more or less slots into the role of the unnamed Lin Kuei Grandmaster responsible for the cybernetic program that gives us Sektor and Cyrax. A supremely sinister figure involved in a major intra-factional conflict that previously occurred entirely offscreen. At once the wicked mastermind of a major development in the story and such an irrelevant footnote of a character that he never even warranted a name.

Kicking that role over to Bi-Han for the reboot is a strong choice. It puts an actual character into the lead position of this development and promises interesting things for the future. They took a character with no story to speak of and a story with no character to speak of, and fit them together like jigsaw pieces. Well played.

Smoke

Also Smoke is nearby.

Smoke is the Kung Lao of the Lin Kuei. Kuai Liang and Bi-Han have their drama, and also Smoke is nearby. In fact, he's so nearby that he gets punted from the story for the sake of the emotional Sub-Zero Bros having their showdown together, then jogs up to Liang afterwards like, "Yo, what'd I miss?"

It's hilarious how little the game cares about Smoke. If this is how you're going to handle him, why is he even here? XD

Sadly, this is not much of a change from previous portrayals. Smoke has always been "And Smoke". He's been Sub-Zero and Smoke, he's been Noob Saibot and Smoke, but much like And Kung Lao, "And Smoke" is the story of his life.

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat 1 #mortal kombat 12 #liu kang #raiden #johnny cage #kenshi #kung lao #sub zero #smoke #kuai liang #bi han #tomas

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manicpixiedckgirl · 4 months

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okay, so i posted a timeline. sue me! i quit all other social media last year and needed that dopamine hit. just a lil nicotine patch for online attention. seasonal depression is a bitch okay. i posted it here and to ig, bc ig is to late millennials what facebook is boomers. and people have all said some very nice things, but when you're posting a 10 year timeline, you're usually hoping for someone from your past to see it and go "woah! you're so different now"!

and whaddya know, this time it worked. one of my exes from when i was a teenager saw it. not one of the ones who turned out to be a lesbian, one of the ones who turned out to be a trans man. He just wanted to say hi - that he was so happy to see that i looked happy, and that i looked incredible, especially compared to the scruffy twink they had dated. (okay those are my words not his)

he and I didn’t have a great relationship at first - no one had a great relationship with me before i realized i was a trans woman obviously, but this was pretty young. I was really repressed and weird back then, and still very much without any social graces, and we were only like 16. they caught the full broadside of my emo fuckboy energy and got out fast once they saw that - i don’t blame them. I was crying in their arms about how much i hated my new body hair, and how i wanted to be able to wear dresses, and the next day i’d be completely emotionally unavailable and denying all of it. not exactly boyfriend material, not entirely boyfriend. They were very traumatized too in their own way, just realizing they were trans too, and engaging in a lot of ‘i want to be a gay man’ antics, fucking their way through the pain. He was frankly way too cool and sexually liberated to be wasting his time with that version of me. And it was very obvious to everyone who knew what that was 12-15 years ago that i was a closeted trans girl. we had a friend group that eventually fell apart, and we parted for the first time.

Later, in our late teens/20, we would end up fucking - i had started to accept and announce that my gender was complicated, and i was starting to be kinda faggy and loud about it, and not everyone hated that, and they had just started T and were boy horny. We split a bottle of wine (or was it two? It was probably two) and started watching an ashley tisdale movie. Looking back on it, how it went must definitely have been his plan, but i’ve always been blind about this stuff and was that night. It was definitely bad sex, but it was also fun sex - the first time I enjoyed myself, and the pressure of having to be a guy wasn’t so overwhelming i didnt effectively black out. he’s one of the first people i ever talked to about feeling complicated about gender, and i think by then he had figured me out, and was just letting me get the rest of the way on my own. I still couldn’t top for him, i never rly could top for anyone, even before estrogen. but we still had fun, with our hands and with our mouths. and then after that, we'd go to art shows and poetry readings and hang out again occasionally, like we talked about doing when we were literal kids, putting on rocky horror in our front rooms.

but life takes you away from people, and he got into film school, and i somehow graduated my chemistry program and moved to the US. he moved to Germany for a while, although i hear he's back home. i got married, got separated, there was a global pandemic. we hadn't talked in years, although i had snooped on him once or twice. He’s a director now - he’s made some impressive arthouse films, all horror and gender and kitchy campy cerebral themes. He’s got a big tv writing credit on the way in irish tv. Idk - it felt rly good to impress him, to say hi, to remember. it's really cool to see other trans people thriving and living life, always. anyone who cleaves reality to themselves and fashions themselves into someone they can love is someone who impresses me. but it's different when it's someone you've known for almost half your life - someone you were a fucked up kid with, not sure if either of you would make it to 18. and to be smiling at each other, looking at 30, and wondering what's next. i'm really proud of the both of us actually. and i needed that today.

#trans #essay #diary

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quill-pen · 1 year

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Blessing (Married!EbenezerXReader)

Hi. I'm new here. Nice to meet you. Oooohhhhh, boy I can't believe I've done this. Can't believe I've joined Tumblr; can't believe I've written this and have an idea for a whole story to go with it. I just cannot believe any of this.

To be honest, I knew it would happen. Once I heard that song and saw the animation and found out Luke Evans was going to play Scrooge, I knew if I watched the movie, something like this was bound to happen--especially when Scrooge sings and looks like that. I mean GOOD. NIGHT. (You cannot tell me this was not a deliberate decision. These people knew exactly what they were doing.) But how could I not watch it because: A) IT'S 'A CHRISTMAS CAROL' AND I LOVE 'A CHRISTMAS CAROL'--of course I had to watch it and see how it measured up to other versions. B) LUKE FRICKING EVANS. C) LUKE FRICKING EVANS SINGING. D) SILVER FOX SCROOGE VOICED BY LUKE EVANS. SINGING.

I knew what I was getting into--I knew it was dangerous. ... And I went for it. And I tried to stop the inevitable afterward, but it's the inevitable. There's no fighting it--there's only assimilate. So I assimilated. And here we are.

So, basically, overall, just really consider this like a teaser, I guess. Because the truth is I have a whole idea for a story behind this thing and after this thing, and this was just something that popped into my head that I had to get out and share to see what people thought. And, according to AO3, I won't get my invite until the 7th and I just can't wait that long. I'm so pathetic.

Basic synopsis for the story I'm planning: Reader insert, obviously. Takes place at least 6 months after the events of 'A Christmas Carol'. Jacob Marley actually had a daughter. (He married only to have an heir, never really felt anything for his wife, took a long time to have a kid, and, when they finally do, it's a girl--so he's not involved. [Because this Marley in particular seems like that type.]) Because her family is quite harsh, the mother flees to America with her daughter, and years later, early 20-something reader-daughter returns to London with a dead mother to bury in tow, meets and befriends Scrooge, and is pulled into her mother's very hoity-toity aristocratic family and everything that comes with that life. Reader, ultimately, can't go back to America (things...), but the only way she will be allowed to stay in the care of her mother's family (and presumably get whatever she might have inherited from her mother because no way Marley left her anything) she has to marry. Cue the gallant and handsome Ebenezer Scrooge to the rescue. (He's not what the family was thinking, but Reader is also not a high priority and Scrooge does have money and is of decent enough birth, so, eh, he'll do.) Yada, yada, yada, a marriage of convenience, slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance, domestic fluff, and drama, a little spiciness, some heartbreak, and heart-mending, etc. Isabel at some point does make a return (whether she's widowed or still married, idk right now) hence the exchange we have in this thing. Let me know what you think. I'd be very interested in knowing if anyone would be interested in reading a story like this. In the meantime, enjoy this tiny little snippet of an idea.

Oh, yeah, btw, if I do this thing, and I put this back into the story, it will be much sadder. For reasons. I won't go into it now, but you can probably guess.

youtube

Pairing: Ebenezer Scrooge x F!Reader (married)

Warnings: FEELINGS, tears, declarations of love, fear of losing someone--just feelings. Oh, also kissing after influenza in Victorian London I guess? *shrugs* Probably not the wisest decision for a few reasons. Isabel may also not be shown in the best light here because of Reader's POV, but I assure you we do not hate Isabel here. She is so sweet and lovely, and I hope she really ended up as happy as she looked in that picture.

Summary: You have been extremely sick with influenza for a time. Finally, you come 'round. When you do, you are greeted by an overjoyed and emotional husband. Some romantic and fluffy sweetness ensues.

A/N: Lots of inspiration from Poldark here. I'd be lying if I said I'm not going to take lots more inspiration from it with the actual story if/when I write it. Also did not put Prudence in this in order to strictly focus on the main relationship, but you bet your bottom dollar she's going to be in the story. I love that mastiff. One of the best things they added to the movie, even though it doesn't actually make sense for Scrooge's character to have a pet.

Oh, and first-ever reader insert. Wish me luck!

Blessing

The mist was beginning to clear, the weights that pulled you down into the darkness becoming lighter and breaking away. You were coming fully into the light now--awakening, though you hadn’t truly been slumbering. After an eternity of unknowing, you were becoming aware again. Aware of the world; of the air you sucked into your aching windpipe and lungs; of the accursed dryness of your throat; of the dampness of sweat coating your body; of the weakness of your body and the heavy and hot softness that surrounded it. It was stuffy and uncomfortable.

With a groan, you tried to open your eyes just to see exactly what made you uncomfortable. You’d never known trying to open eyes could be so hard or make one so very tired. Eventually, you prevailed: And when you did, you found yourself blearily gazing out into a bright, blurry world. You groaned and squinted against the light, then slowly tried again. After a period, things became clearer and the light became less blinding, and you were able to finally look around.

You found yourself tucked deeply into your bed, covered by several blankets along with the heavy comforter. No wonder you were so hot. You tried to shift the blankets a bit, but they were quite heavy, and you still felt so weak, so you simply resigned yourself to their near-suffocating embrace for the moment. At least until you could find somebody to help you move them.

Your eyes slowly traveled around the room, taking things in, until they finally came to rest on a familiar figure at your bedside.

Ebenezer sat in a chair but was slumped over, half-laying on the mattress with his arms folded beneath his head. He was sleeping--snoring ever so slightly. He looked something of a mess; his steely hair mussed and muttonchops unkempt, his shirt collar askew, sleeves undid, and messily pushed and rolled up his arms. You could see prominent stubble on his chin and around his lips--too prominent for it to be his typical morning shadow.

You opened your mouth to speak, but found yourself unable to make any sound beyond a whisper of a croak. You licked your dry lips with an even dryer tongue and tried to swallow before attempting to speak again. A bit more of a crackle came out that time, but nothing loud enough to gain attention. Oh, bloody hell and vexation! Slowly, having to summon up what seemed all of your strength to do so, you slid a trembling hand across the mattress and reached out to thread shaking fingers into your husband’s hair. You ignored the greasy sensation of it. Ebenezer unshaven and unwashed? Just how much time had passed?

You gently began to stroke the man’s scalp and tug his hair, all the while still trying to speak his name. Each attempt earned you more of a sound coming from your throat. “Ebenezer…” you rasped, fighting to keep your eyes open. These little efforts put together were all wearing you out so quickly. “Ebenezer….”

The man stirred, snorting softly and groaning. Slowly he raised his head and blinked the sleep from his eyes before looking up at you. His sleep-blurred gaze lasted for a mere second before he came fully awake, slate-blue eyes widening in alarm. He stood up from his chair and moved to sit at the edge of the bed, leaning over to you, taking your hand that had been in his hair into one of his as he did so. With the other hand, he reached out and touched your sweaty brow then your cheek. “Y/N?” he murmured in some disbelief. “Y/N, darling, you’re awake!” His lips were pulling into an overjoyed, open-mouthed grin, his bushy, gray eyebrows crinkling his forehead as they shot toward the sky. Turning his head slightly, but never taking his gaze off you, he called over his shoulder. “Ida! Ida!”

It was mere seconds before your lady’s maid was rushing through the bedroom door, looking greatly concerned. “Yes, Mr. Scrooge?”

“Send for the Doctor!” your husband ordered, still gazing at you. “Quick as you can! She’s awake!”

“Right away, Sir!” With that, Ida vanished just as quickly as she’d arrived.

Focused solely on you now, Ebenezer scooted closer to you, cupping your cheek in his hand as he gazed into your face with such relief and joy you could see a thin sheen of tears in his eyes. He kissed the hand of yours he held. “Oh, my darling,” he crooned softly, stroking your cheekbone with a thumb. “Oh, my dearest, dearest darling!” He then leaned in and planted a kiss on your brow (obviously not caring about the sweat and whatever other disgustingness covered your skin) and kept up a frenzied shower of them all over your face before finally catching up your lips.

He immediately pulled away. “Water!” he exclaimed. “You’ll want water!” He let go of your hand and pulled away only long enough to reach over to the bedside table where a pitcher and glass sat. The man poured you a generous helping. “Here,” he said. “Drink. Slowly.” He helped you to sit up and lift the glass to your parched lips as he noticed how shaky your hands were. Ebenezer watched carefully as you gulped the liquid down. “That’s it, my love. Drink.”

It seemed to take forever to finish the glass, but you were so savagely thirsty you couldn’t bear the thought of stopping until the water was gone. When it was, you pushed the glass back to your husband. “More please,” you croaked, the water having loosened your voice.

Ebenezer did as you wished, filling the glass and helping you hold it yet again as you drank deeply that delicious, revitalizing fluid. There was about a quarter of a glass left when you finally felt you’d had your fill. “Thank you,” you gasped, allowing the man to take the glass away.

“Of course.” Once storing the glass, your husband turned back to you again, eyes gazing deeply into yours, concern mixing with the joy that sparkled there. Taking both of your small hands into one of his, he reached up with the other to brush the hair from your face and caress your cheek. “How are you feeling, my dear?” His eyes pulled from yours for a brief second to look you over, as if he’d be able to see anything that might be wrong or afflicting you.

The corners of your mouth twitched a bit, but you were simply too exhausted to smile. “Tired,” you sighed. “In need of a good bath. And a bit suffocated.” You looked pointedly at the mound of blankets atop you.

Easily picking up the message, your husband set about clearing off everything down to the comforter. “Better?”

“Much.” You leaned heavily back against the pillows and gazed wearily up at the man, who was back to holding your hands and stroking your hair. Now that he was awake and leaning over you, you could get a much better look at just how bedraggled the poor fellow was. Not only was he unwashed and unshaven, but his face also seemed to be much more lined than usual, making him look much more like the old man he claimed himself to be. His cheeks were more sunken in, and there were bags under his eyes and dark circles around them: He looked as if he hadn’t properly slept or eaten in weeks, never mind days! “Ebenezer…” you trailed off, not quite sure what to ask.

But your husband knew what you were wanting to know. He always knew. “You’ve been ill for quite some time, my love,” he answered quietly, smoothing back some flyaways from your forehead.

“How long?”

“Two weeks.” He smiled thinly, pain tinging his gaze. “You were touch and go there for a long stint.” His lips trembled and a tear crept past his long lashes to his cheek. He paid it no heed but blinked back against the sting of its siblings. “My worst nightmare--I was so afraid I would lose you. A time or two I thought I had.”

Your memory of the time he spoke of was all a blur; a blizzard of flashes of light and darkness; numbing mist and painful sharpness; muddled voices and snippets of conversation that were sometimes too soft to register and other times so loud your head had pounded. You couldn’t decipher what had been real and what had been hallucination. Your head had been swimming then, and as you thought back through it all, it wasn’t much better now. You could remember one thing though. One extremely painful thing: “I saw her,” you whispered.

Your husband gave an inquiring look. “You saw whom, Y/N?”

You gazed deep into his eyes as you felt an ache rise in your chest and tears prick at your eyes. “Her,” you repeated meaningfully. “Isabel. I saw her. And you…” your voice broke off. You swallowed hard and wrenched your gaze from his, finding it too painful to look at him as you continued. “She’d come to take you with her. And you went.” You took a shuddering breath, trying to control yourself. “I wanted to die, the pain hurt so.”

Ebenezer’s gaze softened in empathy. “Oh, darling,” he murmured. He squeezed your hands.

You looked back at him, vision swimming and tears beginning to trickle down your cheeks. Pulling one hand free of his grip, you wiped at them. “She wasn’t here, was she? Truly?” you quivered, sounding pathetically meek. “You didn’t go with her? She didn’t take you from me?

The man shook his head firmly. “No,” he stated. “No, Isabel wasn’t here. It was just a dream. Isabel didn’t take me.” He leaned in and pressed his forehead to yours, gazing into your e/c-hued eyes with all the sincerity and adoration in the world, and added with gentle finality, “And she never, ever will. I’m so, so, so sorry I ever made you feel you had to worry about such a thing, Dearest. You are, without a doubt, my greatest blessing, and the absolute love and light of my life, Y/N. I am yours and yours alone, mind, body, and soul, in this world and the next should I be granted the choice.”

Those words, that declaration of complete and utter love from the man you loved more than you thought any human being could love another human being, made your heart swell and fill your chest to the point you feared it might explode. You were most definitely crying now as you gazed up into those beloved slate-blue eyes. “I love you, Ebenezer Scrooge.” The words seemed feeble, far too feeble after the eloquent, soul-deep statements your husband had just made, but there was simply nothing else you could think of to say to explain your feelings.

Despite your insecurities over them, the words seemed to be more than enough for Ebenezer, for the man smiled lovingly and returned, “And I love you, Y/N Scrooge.” He brought up your left hand that he was holding and kissed the delicate and simple gold band on your finger before pressing your hand to his breast over his heart. “With my entire being.” With that, he leaned in and captured your lips in a kiss--a real, tender, lingering, devoted kiss.

You closed your eyes and melted into it. Slithering your free hand up, you slipped it around the nape of Ebenezer’s neck and loosely tangled it into his steel-toned locks, gently tugging him deeper into the kiss. He gratefully obliged. It was evident you’d both missed each other’s affections. That would have to be remedied in its entirety sometime soon, but not now. Not just yet. (Truly, you had no strength for such activities right now!) Right now it was more than enough for you to know that your husband was yours: “Yours and yours alone--mind body and soul,” as he’d stated. For to have a heart such as Ebenezer Scrooge’s for your very own--a scarred but beautiful heart that was so full of love and kindness and care and joy and passion--was truly the greatest blessing anyone could ever be given.

#ebenezer scrooge x reader #married couple #love declaration #scrooge 2022 #scrooge x you #scrooge fluff #married fluff #victorian england #probably don't kiss somebody right after they've been sick for weeks #seriously why'd they have to make him SO FINE #God help me #Youtube

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swiftiephobe · 2 months

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OKAY SO.

i didn't have any friendship bracelets because honestly i could not be fucked making them and they generally just aren't really my thing. so i wasn't on the hunt to trade but two nice girls offered me bracelets (one girl spotted my arm lyric and gave me a speak now one and another girl gave me a dbtc one as we were leaving the stadium) which was very sweet of them!

i'm very VERY glad i didn't watch heaps of livestreams or the tour movie because while i was definitely familiar with most of the show i still felt like there were little details that surprised me!!

i may have gotten teary at the opening. it truly cannot be overstated just HOW emotional of a moment that is.

the bracelets during yntcd are so so gorgeous!

i had gone through 500 emotions by the time the lover set had ended and i knew i was in for an exhausting (in a good way) night

fearless really is THAT album like even if it's not high up on your ranking i really don't think you can be a swiftie without appreciating that album and everything it represents and what it did for her career

i had NO IDEA the intro for willow would be like that and it took me so off guard

her champagne problems speech was so!! ahh!!! i felt like the lover + fearless sets were fairly "rehearsed" in their crowd interaction (not that that's a bad thing!!) but in the evermore set she really started to open up and pour out her emotions.

i was surprised that she talked about the flashlights for marjorie because i assumed that was just something the crowd did every night and she would be used to it by now but she seemed genuinely touched by it tonight!

i also didn't know she talked to the crowd after the champagne problems applause so that was a really nice surprise!

the don't blame me/lwymmd transition was mindblowing as predicted

i simply cannot imagine a version of this tour without long love in it

i will NOT be hearing a single bad word about the red set going forwards. yes it's all the hits and none of the deep cuts but they are HITS for a reason!! i simply cannot make the hits not hit!

TELL HIM HE'S DREAMING

the folklore set is an interesting one. i was predicting it to be my fave as a certified folklore girlie and it was amazing BUT i felt like having it placed directly after atw10 put it in a spot where i was feeling VERY drained and i really had to work to pick myself up to get back into it.

everything after this felt very rapid fire like 1989 was just a barrage of major hits!!!! incredible just how many hits that album produced

the SYDNEY chant was a lot of fun

she sang should've said no (thereby declaring debut rights) and i screamed. then she sang you're not sorry one of my fave fearless songs and i screamed. then she mashed up new years day and peace and i screamed.

idk if i imagined this but while singing peace when she sang "would it ever be enough" it looked like she shook her head and it had me :(

the midnights set had my fave visuals of the whole show methinks

no "karma is the guy on the chiefs" for us tonight but i'm sure it was felt in spirit ❤️

thanks for reading my word vomit on all my thoughts about my show (i will probably have more tomorrow) i think i am going to sleep now

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minijenn · 4 months

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Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Shrek the Third

Figured I'd knock one more of these out tonight, and of course, its yet another Shrek. People tend to not really like this one that much, and I barely remembered anything about it going in. So is it any good or does it belong a one way trip back to the swamp?

Shrek the Third kicks off with Fiona's dad croaking (literally), which leaves Shrek to look for the next heir to the throne of Far Far Away, Arthur. Meanwhile, Prince Charming is back with a hostile takeover of Far Far Away, while Fiona and her princess friends set out to stop him. There's also the fact that Fiona is pregnant, leaving Shrek with plenty of insecurities about becoming a father. So yeah, a lot is going on in this plot, but you know? It balances most of it surprisingly well!

Our returning cast is still just as fun as usual; I kinda find it funny how we keep getting more and more insecurity plotlines for Shrek with each of these movies, it just seems to be a reoccuring trend for the poor guy huh. As for the new characters, we get Artie, who I thought I was gonna hate but he actually turns out to be a really good character? A big ol bundle of insecurities, just like Shrek, so the two of them actually end up developing a really nice bond as the movie goes along, one that's clearly meant to show Shrek that hey, maybe this whole being a dad thing won't be impossible for him after all.

As for the other characters, we have the princesses, who are all pretty funny in their own way as they take the piss out of the Disney versions of themselves. Merlin is fucking great here, he doesn't have a lot of screentime, but what screentime he does get, I was in stitches for. Prince Charming is back, this time as our main villain and... he's ok, but he just ain't really able to fill his mama's shoes as a standout baddie, sorry.

The comedy is actually pretty strong? I do think this movie has a problem though in that it tries much harder than it should to be funny? Like the first two movies were just... idk, naturally hilarious, but this one kind of tends to force its humor a lot? That humor also aims much more juvenile than the first two, leaning less on innuendo and more on... toilet humor and grossout jokes. Yay, my favorite...

The animation is ok, not superb, though I think that's kind of par for the course with Shrek movies at this point. The music is also surprisingly mid? Not as many pop songs this time around, and the ones that are there aren't anything nearly as memorable as All Star or I Need a Hero.

At the end of the day, I think people are maybe... a bit too hard on this movie? It's nowhere near as great as Shrek 1 and 2, that's for sure, but it's also not the worst thing ever? It's completely watchable, by all accounts. Even if it is a bit too tryhard for it's own damn good.

Overall Rating: 6/10

Verdict: Put it in the cringe collection

Previous Review (Flushed Away)

Next Review (Bee Movie)

#jen watches #dreamworks watch #jen tortures herself with every dreamworks animated movie #shrek #shrek the third #dreamworks

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unmotivatedartistry · 2 months

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Ask game but for your recent oc: 1, 4, 5, 6, and 18

WIESŁAW WRAITH SOKOŁOWSKI!!!!

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

I LOVE HIM not because I created him BUT: He's Polish first of all, he's one of those really closed off and distant people and he struggles so impossibly hard with empathy or compassion or being nice or just expressing himself without Indifference, Anger, Or Pushing People Away. But he learns how to be

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

CALL OF DUTY MODERN WARFARE 2. either the reboots or originals but I thhhhink I might make two mildly diff versions of him so I can fit him into BOTH worlds because. Why not? I actually made the silly OC guy for COD because. I don't know I wanted to make a COD oc so I did. But he can be separated outside of COD if we just say he went into a different section of the British Army after his discharge from the Polish Armed Forces

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

"From Underground" by Mook. I don't know why I started correlating him with the song aside from "Always looking outward / Always Looking Back" or "I'm unsure whose values / Am I living by" or "I say it regurgitated / But in my heart I know / I've accepted myself for less than I am" or "There's an animal waiting that must come out" or-- yeah you get it the song fits him.

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

WE'RE BOTH POLISH. AND we both were the kinda "academically gifted" kids but not really. Like that middleground between really smart kids and the regular kids.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

I don't have any romantic relationships I think he'd be in (pretty sure he's aromantic without knowing it. He just isn't the type to love + he's traumatized like shit because I wanted to idk and he thinks he's incapable of loving someone else / is scared of it) BUT platonic ones; I think he'd be like a-brother-from-another-mother type thing with Ghost (from COD, obviously...) because they both share trauma and they just understand eachother like no one else and. They're just so similar they might as well be siblings. AND I think Wiesław would be very close with Price too because canonically (in my au of sorts where Wiesław exists) saved his life and got him into the TF141

#simon says #simon answers #wiesław sokołowski #wraith sokołowski #wiesław “wraith” sokołowski #I LOVE HIM SO MUCH #I'D DO ANYTHING FOR HIM (I ruined his life)

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strandnreyes · 6 months

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jen, i've been trying to think of something super unhinged for nice ask week and i haven't been able to think of anything. so here's my shit excuse for nice ask week and sorry that you might have to look some of these up. please rank these fictional vampires in order from least want to befriend to most want to befriend AND ALSO from not-est to hottest (others opinions are welcome - this is MY ask, MY rules - just kidding pls post this jen, i worked so hard on it):

1. count dracula, dracula (specifically, the 1992 adaptation of the novel in which gary oldman - admittedly, my older gentleman crush - plays dracula)

2. stefan salvatore, the vampire diaries

3. damon salvatore, the vampire diaries (had to ask for both brothers, come on)

4. laurent, twilight (u know i think he is a lil something something)

5. daddy cullen i mean carlisle cullen, twilight

6. dakota fanning looking extremely slay, twilight

7. spike, buffy the vampire slayer

8. count von count, seasame street

9. eric northman, true blood

10. bella swan, vampiric edition, twilight

11. blade, blade

12. me.

THANK YOU FOR COMING

hello, lola. first let me start by saying here is a different vampire ranking without a definition of best, just vibes (you create one vampire au and suddenly this is your whole life). I am not rereading it though, so no promises that I'm not about to contradict myself

I appreciate how hard you worked on asking this, so I hope you appreciate how hard I worked on answering it

Least want to befriend to most want to befriend:

damon - he seems like a walking red flag, he really does

2. dakota fanning - I respect a girlboss but I do think she would kill me after one wrong move. would constantly have a tummy ache, stressed to the max.

3. spike - I have never seen buffy, but google tells me he was a villain. have to play it safe here

4. bella - I'm so sorry bella but I think you would annoy me

5. blade - I really tried looking him up to give an honest friend ranking, but there were so many version?? is it a comic? a movie? a tv show? idk I got confused therefore he defaults to the middle of the list

6. laurent - one of the nicer members of his little posse (unlike that bitch james). might try to kill me but a good sob story would probably get me out of it

7. count dracula - i just read his backstory. that's so tragic, I think he could use a friend

8. carlisle - turning a bunch of teenagers into vampires when they were on their death bed is a little odd, but he had good intentions. and now look at the house he provides for them like I'll move in no questions asked

9. stefan - admittedly have only seen a few seasons of tvd, but he seems to have some kind of morals so that's always a good place to start for a friendship

10. eric - "calculating yet loyal and generally willing to absolve those that aggravate him, unless they have grievously crossed him. However, he is fiercely vindictive towards anyone who harms or threatens those he loves". thank you, trueblood.fandom.com. If I'm befriending all of these vampires, making him a top priority seems like a good choice

11. count von count - he has a cat. I'm using him and abusing our friendship for that. sorry count

12. lola - who shouldn't (?) be on this list (unless you have a secret to tell)

okay hotness below the cut because this is already too long

Least hot to most hot

1. dakota fanning (jane) - default to last because she is a child lmao

2. count von count - he is a cartoon (puppet? I don't know). I feel like there is only one right answer here and it is to put him in the second least hot position (unless that's your thing. you do you)

3. damon - this man creeps me out. I don't know if it's the eyes or what but again, bad vibes. stay away from her (elena), old man!

4. count dracula - willy wonka looking vampire. sorry to your older gentleman crush. you can keep him

5. eric northman - I do not know this man but he is giving 'just some guy' with a little bit of finance bro

6. bella - one too many awkward smiles while tucks her hair behind her ear moments, you know?

7. spike - cheek bones are cheek boning. some may say too much though. hair is giving 90s boy band. although for his time I can excuse it

8. carlisle cullen - not the biggest dilf in twilight, but an important one

9. laurent - unfortunate that you didn't pick the picture where he rolls up with his jacket undone and no shirt underneath. what an entrance. he also gets hotness points because laurent is a very good vampire name

10. stefan salvatore - the objectively better brother based on my limited knowledge. good picture. love a henley moment. look at those forearms.

11. blade - I don't know this man, but I would like to.

*you can't be ranked on the hotness scale because you did not provide a picture. sorry ;)

#ask

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nehswritesstuffs · 1 year

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Double-Date from Hell

Y’all ever think of something so hilarious that you HAVE to write it, and then it just spirals out of control? Yeah, this is it.

8941 words; I’ve seen versions of this general joke going around and it’s still pretty funny in my brain so please just humor me; I guess it’s a Modern AU w/No Devil Fruits, but Brook is still a skeleton and Minks and Fish-men exist… somehow…? idk; SO MANY PEOPLE ARE ALIVE IN THIS AU THAT SHOULDN’T BE but you know what this is my story too damn bad I mean it’s already set in a quasi-Midwest metro; this took me so long to write because I kept cracking the fck up and I’m sure you’ll be able to tell where

Double-Date from Hell; Law has a new girlfriend. Cora-san’s got a hot date. Nami’s shagging a doctor. Things might be easier if Bell-mère had mentioned to her daughters she’s actually bi before she reconnected with an old flame. [modern!AU, LawNa, Bellazón]

Shuffling into the kitchen, Law blearily went into the fridge and began to poke around almost absentmindedly, hunger the only reason as to why he was currently existing on the mortal plane. What had supposed to be a twelve-hour shift in Logue Town General’s emergency room—as a favor, no less!—had turned into a twenty thanks to the perfect storm of call-offs and reckless pieces of bullshit trying to copy a social media trend. It reminded him of why he never wanted to stay down in Emergency full-time—fuck… doing clinicals there had been bad enough…

“Oh, there’s the sleepy-head!” Law jumped at the sudden confirmation that his father was in the room as well. He took a container filled with leftover noodles and popped it in the microwave oven with a bit more aggression than was necessary. “Rough night?”

“I remember when social media was used to share pictures of cats with poorly-spelled captions and complain about the accuracy of the fantasy book-to-movie pipeline, not to show off doing handstands in dangerous places and getting high off lip balm.” He glanced at his father to see he was dressed rather nice—that was a risk, considering how clumsy the older man was—though most things were better than his current pajama-pants-no-shirt-tousled-bedhead-at-four-in-the-afternoon look. “Cora-san, you know what happens when you wear a tie.”

“I know, I know, but I need to look nice tonight. What do you think?”

“That you look like a man about to turn forty who can’t so much as wear a tie without catching it on something every five minutes.”

“Well, yeah, but the shirt’s nice, right?”

An extremely pale pink with a red heart pattern; the tie was black, though his trousers were white.

“It’s… you.”

“I’ll take what I can get.” The microwave oven beeped at Law and he took the container out to stir. “Probably won’t be back until late, if I’m back at all tonight, so don’t worry if I’m not in.”

Law stopped mid-stir and stared at Cora. “Why would you both be alright, but also not come home tonight?”

“What, you can’t tell?! Your old man’s got a hot date!”

The silence that fell over the kitchen was simply unbearable. Law did not currently have the reserve mana to process that the grinning goofball he referred to as his foster father—foster roommate, on particularly irritating days—had anything even close to a potential sexual encounter lined up. He put the noodles back in the microwave oven and turned it on again.

“You don’t have to lie to me, you know,” he grumbled. “You know I don’t care what you do—we’re both adults now.”

“Oh, come on… you aren’t even the least bit happy for me?”

“I can’t legally be happy until I get at least six cups of coffee and these noodles in me, then we’ll talk.”

“Fine, fine; spoilsport.” Cora sat at the table and pouted, watching his son put together some coffee. He knew he was tired when he brought a mug of it over, as well as the noodles still in the container he heated them up in. “It’s not like I’m an old man—can’t I take inspiration from the fact my son got himself a cute girlfriend?”

“You’ve never met her, so there’s nothing to get inspired from,” Law replied dully. He twirled some of the long pasta on his fork and scowled. “No, this is not an offer for you to meet her either. I want to make sure of this one before that happens.”

“You make it sound like I’m embarrassing.”

“You picked me up from school in clown makeup.”

“It wasn’t that bad…”

“Multiple times.”

“It kept things interesting.”

“Kids recovering from near-terminal illness don’t exactly enjoy being interesting.”

“The assholes that were scared of clowns never bothered you after that.”

“Okay, that I’ll give you.” Law shoved more pasta in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “You know, I think I’ll go out tonight too—bound to be something going on.”

“There you go,” Cora beamed. “Here we are: a couple of young stallions, ready to make the night theirs!”

“Never again say those words in that order again, by all that is good in this world.”

“Spoilsport,” Cora scowled. A devilish grin then flashed across his face. “We should double-date!”

That too was a resounding, firm no.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was the generally-accepted consensus that there was no party like a Straw Hat party.

They weren’t all rowdy affairs that got the cops called at two in the morning—they reserved those for when the on-duty officers were ones likely to just turn the music down and bring their own drinks—but it was always the collection of people who were there that boggled Law’s mind. He had only started attending such shindigs recently after a weird series of events led to him pulling the charismatic teen out of the bay and helping make sure he was still alive. Luffy had declared them friends and that he now had an obligation to hang out, which would have been a one-and-done thing if it wasn’t for the people he collected in the nearly-rural house hidden amongst trees and actual property.

The East Blue kendo and archery champions? A world-class chef? A teenaged medical prodigy? The preeminent Void Century historian turning academia on its head? One of the most sought-after mechanical engineers in the world who also moonlighted in architecture? A living rock music legend? The man that kept literally all the trains in the region running smoothly? That didn’t even get into the kid’s brothers, or people outside of his innermost circle…

…and it certainly didn’t get into Nami.

He had originally begun talking to the redhead after observing her at that first party he attended. She was very level-headed—especially compared to Luffy despite that not meaning much—and knew precisely the situation they had going. It was the modern equivalent of the Enlightenment salon, where people got together and exchanged ideas and made changes happen. It was a counterculture hotbed with significantly fewer hard drugs and way more bellyflop competitions between people who couldn’t swim in the backyard’s in-ground pool. It was the next generation figuring shit out, getting ready to usher in a new age. Except, not only did the weather-and-surveying whiz keep everything running, it was very easy to say that she was the brains of the entire operation, making Luffy’s natural charm work for something. The next thing he knew they were chatting amiably, then kissing, and—after a considerable blackout—woke up very naked in bed with her the next morning.

It was a little awkward as they put everything together after that. They both thought the other was older than they really were (he thought her only a couple years younger than him instead of the actual six, and she thought he was well into his thirties (to be fair, he did say he was an actual surgeon while flirting)), and there was the wolf whistles that came out of some of the other Straw Hats as they went down to breakfast, but they settled into something… comfortable after that. The “crew” generally accepted him and he found their antics… tolerable, he guessed, especially considering what putting up with them meant for his love life…

“Oi! Witch! We need you to stop sucking geriatric face for two minutes and rein in Luffy!”

Nami groaned into Law’s mouth in frustration before breaking the kiss to glare at Zoro from across the large, open-concept living room that thankfully only contained the main Straw Hats crew aside from the man beneath her. Law knew to not remove his hands from her waist and rear, else she get pressured into something more involved. “What happened to someone saying he could handle him?”

All she got in response was a one-eyed glare.

“If she’s not back in two minutes like you said, Roronoa-ya, I will make you regret that age comment,” Law warned, voice dripping in sarcasm. Zoro flipped him his middle finger, which he returned.

“Boys, behave,” Nami sighed as she left the room. Law took it as his opportunity to see if there was any food available yet, shuffling over to the kitchen island where Sanji was working. A mug of coffee was already waiting for him as he sat down and watched the blond at work.

“Thanks,” he muttered, drinking the coffee gratefully.

“Just keep her happy,” Sanji replied. He and Law were in a tenuous sort of agreement, both men recognizing they were from the same Blue from the moment they met. Neither of them talked about it much, but it was clear that they were both in the East because it was not the North, and that was all they needed.

“If not, then you know it won’t be from lack of effort on my end.”

“True. Oh, Nami-swan told me the other day you don’t eat bread. Is it a gluten thing, or…?”

“Nah—just don’t like it. I physically can eat it, but just haven’t wanted to for a while now.”

“Not since home?”

“Something like that.”

“Okay, good, because I remember you eating breaded things the last few times you were over, but I have a special coating I can use if it’s a gluten issue.”

“Nope—just a preference.” Law sipped his coffee and watched the other man work, his hands nimble as he prepped and cooked. It reminded him of himself at his own craft, in a way, mesmerizing him until he felt a pair of arms warp around his midsection from behind. “Luffy tamed?”

“For the time being,” Nami murmured in his ear. “He’s going to be a handful next week when his brothers are over.”

“Not entirely sure how you do it,” he admitted. “Then again, I don’t know how any of you do it.”

“Luff just has that magnetism, you know?” Sanji chuckled. “When we’re all together, it’s because he knows we need to be in order to move forward. It’s why we’ve even got old-timers with us, as you know.”

“Nami, your friends are childish.”

“People wonder why I don’t date boys,” she replied. “That would just set both parties up for disappointment.”

“How true your words are, Nami-swan,” Sanji crooned. “We are all but mere amateurs compared to your beauty and grace. The fact you decide to honor us with your presence is more than we deserve.”

Fuck… to be that idiotically horny again. Law tried to remember the last time he said anything as stupid as the heart-eyed cook and, to be honest, couldn’t remember anything of the like. Seas… was he really that old…? No, he decided… just… busy during those years. He would take busy… as though busy was having an impact on him now…

“Sanji-kun,” Nami said sweetly, “I’m going to bring Torao upstairs for a little discussion before dinner, if that’s alright with you.”

“As you wish, Nami-swa~a~n,” the blond swooned. He blew her a kiss as she winked and pulled Law onto his feet.

This place was so fucking weird.

Heading up the stairs, Law silently followed Nami as she led him through the house he was already strikingly familiar with. They slipped into her room and she locked the door behind them. Finally—peace and quiet.

“Don’t you think you were a little rough on Blackleg-ya?” he asked as she unbuttoned his shirt. “I only meant it as a joke…”

“Don’t you worry about Sanji-kun,” she hummed, pressing kisses along his neck and collarbone as her fingers went over his toned abdomen. She guided him down to his knees before sitting on the edge of the mattress. With his hat long-forgotten in the living room, she was able to gently card her fingers through his fluffy hair as he turned his attention to her legs. He gently massaged her calves with his expert hands, wandering up her thighs. He went under the hem of her skirt and his eyebrows rose at what he discovered.

“Nothing…?” he smirked. “Naughty.” He lifted her leg to hook her knee on his shoulder before slowly tracing a line of his own kisses down her inner thigh and towards her hot, wet core. Hiking her skirt a bit higher, she let her other leg fall a bit more to the side, opening up for him. He lapped at her experimentally, smiling smugly at the noise she made.

“Fuck me good, Law-kun,” she ordered. “Make him hear me scream.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was quarter past four in the morning before Law actually left the house at 1000 Sunny Road, dragging his ass into his car and wishing it was quieter as he pulled away. The only consolations to his pre-dawn walk of shame was that he slipped out when all the other Straw Hats sans Nami were asleep and that he could still taste his girlfriend the entire drive back. She had seen him out after some additional, varied rounds in her bedroom, kissing him through the open car window.

“Don’t be a stranger now,” she had smirked. Fuck… she had him on a leash and they both knew it. Her taste had almost faded by the time he pulled into the driveway at his dad’s. He killed the engine and leaned back against the seat—a few hours of sleep and he could be back into something of a normal rhythm for when he went on day shifts the following week. It was all he could do to haul himself out the car and into the house, blaming his exhaustion on the twenty hour ER shift from hell messing with him and not his girlfriend fucking his brains out.

As Law walked through the dimly-lit house, he heard a snore come from the living room. He took a peek and saw Cora-san laying on the floor again, having passed out after some sort of fall. Again. Law hefted the other man onto his shoulder and helped him up the stairs to the main bedroom, where he deposited him on the mattress with little fanfare.

Wait a second… were those bite marks…? He looked closer at the bit of Cora-san’s chest that was exposed—buttons undone while his tie hung loose around his neck—and sure as shit, there were bite marks and smeared lipstick on both his chest and neck. It was a burnt-orange, which was definitely not a color that was in the house, lending credence to the “hot date” theory as much as Law shuddered at the thought.

He left a container of salve on the nightstand and made sure the other man was at least fully on the bed before going to sleep himself—with any luck, he wouldn’t have to hear a thing about the date and they continue on with their lives in peace. The less he could think about his father and sex, the better things were going to be.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“So… this old man you’re fucking… he at least cute in some weird geriatric way?”

“Ugh, what has Usopp been telling you?” Nami groaned. Her sister Nojiko chuckled at her from across the table, drinking her tea smugly. One of her rare mornings home and she was already being grilled. It was too early for this shit. “I’m not fucking an old man. He is in his twenties, thank you.”

“Turning thirty next month, is he?”

“He is twenty-six, for your information. He just looks a little rough because he’s got tattoos and is already a surgeon. Med school, clinical rotations, and residency are all vampires.”

“Sounds fishy to me,” Nojiko frowned. “I can’t be worrying after both you and Bell-mère now.”

“Bell-mère is a lesbian who just started reconnecting with an old flame from her Marine days,” Nami reasoned. “The circumstances are completely different.”

“You keep telling yourself that, sis,” Nojiko teased. “I still have on great confidence that he’s older than dirt, and that’s despite the fact you hang out with a man so old he’s a skeleton.”

“I am going to kill Usopp!”

“It wasn’t Usopp…”

“Who the fuck are you talking to behind my back?!”

It was then that their adoptive mother shuffled into the room, still half-asleep from the looks of things.

“I was woken by the sound of mockery; show me the object of ridicule,” Bell-mère grunted. She looked at her daughters and knew instantly what was going on. “We calling out the Old Man Fucker for what she is?”

“BELL-MÈRE!”

“Honey, if you’re planning on becoming a young widow, then at least make sure he’s loaded first,” Bell-mère said, unfazed by her youngest’s ire. She poked her head in the refrigerator and frowned. “Nojiko, sweetie, did you get more milk?”

“Haven’t been to the store yet,” her elder daughter said idly. “Will take care of it on my way back from work.”

“Since we’re currently in the habit of wanting to know about each other’s love lives,” Nami growled through grit teeth, “how’s Cora? That was your date’s name from when you went out the other night, eh?”

“That tongue still knows its way around a clit, let me tell you,” Bell-mère grinned devilishly. Both her daughters grew pale at the admission and immediately excused themselves from the table, neither in the mood for the conversation to go from zero to a hundred in less than a sentence.

Fine—ask about details, then run away at the details. Bell-mère chomped on dry cereal and wondered how she got two prudes for daughters.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Please don’t embarrass me more than they already do,” Law warned. He had his three best friends piled into his sensible, bright yellow crossover—Polar Tang—in the middle of making the huge mistake of driving them to the Straw Hats’ lair on a Saturday morning. They were already on the freeway, headed from the city towards the outer suburbs.

“We get it, we get it: you’re in it for the tight-ass pussy,” Shachi scoffed from the back seat. Penguin hit his shoulder in jest.

“If he was in it for just pussy, he wouldn’t be bringing us to the weirdo, sus-as-fuck party house in the middle of buttfuck-nowhere he goes to get said pussy in,” the other backseat gremlin said, tone rather matter-of-fact. “We’re a nurse and a couple of techs—how would we be embarrassing to a surgeon?”

“By talking about pussy the entire time,” Bepo stated flatly. He looked at Law and saw his grip on the steering wheel was unusually clenched. “Do you want me to drive?”

“No… I just need to remember this conversation for the next time I get asked why those two don’t just bite the bullet and get full nursing degrees instead of being the most overqualified nursing techs in the East Blue.”

“This,” Shachi said, pointing at himself with the first two fingers on both hands, “being able to sign off on patient care-related shit, would be dangerous and you know it.”

“It’s best for everyone involved that we stay Bepo’s gofers, because that makes us available as your gofers, and if we suddenly have to worry about shit like responsibilities, then where would you be?”

“Able to have competence on all my shifts?” Law snarked.

While tuning out the indignant protests in the back seat, Law turned off the freeway and headed towards Foosha Township, where Sunny Road was located. It was generally a tranquil road, with clusters of houses now and then to breakup wooded areas and the occasional farm. The car was thankfully quiet as he turned down a wooded drive, with Penguin breaking the silence as the conspicuously large house came into view.

“Law? Is this Straw Hat kid, like, loaded?”

“I don’t ask, so you don’t ask,” Law sighed. He parked the car on the front lawn next to Franky’s turquoise muscle car and turned to fully glare at the hooligans in the backseat. “Strawhat-ya’s not fully legit, but I don’t think he’s technically breaking any laws, and the cops here like him for some reason, so don’t fuck it up.”

“I thought you said the kid’s nineteen,” Penguin frowned. “How are you not wholly-legit at nineteen?!”

“Like I said: don’t ask.” Law then unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the Tang, getting some cloth shopping bags and his backpack from the trunk before heading around to the back of the house. It was just Luffy and his brothers there, all three splashing about in the shallow end of the pool while wearing arm floaties and inner tubes.

“TORAO!” Luffy squealed in delight. He jumped out of the pool and ran towards the surgeon—floatation devices and all—who got a sopping wet hug whether he liked it or not. “I was hoping that you’d come over today! Ace and Sabo are here! And Auncle Iva’s coming later! Grunkle Rayleigh can’t though because Grauntie Shakky made him promise something, and…”

“Strawhat-ya, I want you to meet the friends I was telling you about,” Law said, turning so that Luffy could get a good look at them. “That’s Penguin and Shachi, they’re nursing techs on my floor, and Bepo there’s one of the floor and hospital’s best charge nurses. We’ve known each other for ages.”

“Any friend of Torao’s a friend of mine!” Luffy grinned. He wrapped the two techs in a noodly hug, making them gurgle. “Oh! Yeah! Ace! Sabo! Say hi to Torao and his friends!”

“Luff, you’re going to kill them with affection,” Ace smirked.

“Yeah,” Sabo agreed with a laugh. “I don’t think we have enough space to bury more bodies in the backyard.”

“Please tell me that was a joke,” Shachi squeaked.

Law opted to not respond to that and instead left Penguin and Shachi in Luffy’s clutches while he and Bepo brought the bags in. Sanji was already in the kitchen prepping, while Usopp, Franky, and Brook played a racing game on the television.

“Did you get the goods?” the chef asked, pointing at Law with a knife. Law put one of the bags down and pulled out a bag of white powder covered in Wanolese script, which he threw at the man.

“I feel like I just watched a drug deal,” Bepo deadpanned.

“Even better than drugs,” Sanji claimed. “I don’t use a lot of it, but I’m practicing dishes from Wano for whenever it is Luff makes good on his threat to temporarily kidnap the consul’s son again.”

“Say the word ‘borrow’; it’s less incriminating,” Usopp shouted from the living room, not even taking his eyes off the game once.

“It’s just MSG,” Law shrugged.

“Yeah, but the good shit,” Sanji emphasized. He helped Law and Bepo unpack the rest of the bags and put everything away—odds and ends that weren’t of much consequence, but would be dangerous if missing later. “Nami-swan’s with Robin-chan picking Chopper up from school, by the way. They won’t be in until after lunch.”

That made Law’s eyebrows raise. “Sakura U is in Drum County. Four hours just driving round-trip.”

“Yeah, I know; I helped move the kid in freshman year.”

“Nami never volunteers to go get Chopper… unless…”

“Sounds like her mom’s getting some speecy-spicy dating action this week and she doesn’t want to hear about it,” Franky laughed. “I give the woman credit; she’s super feisty.”

“My dad just started dating again too—I get it,” Law said. “There are just some things you don’t want to hear… or learn… or think about…”

“If my old geezer started dating again, I’d die,” Sanji admitted with a shudder.

“Saaaame,” Usopp chimed in. The race ended and the teen groaned. “Brook! You are literally older than video games themselves! How did you beat me?!”

“I guess I’m a gamer down to my bones… which is all of me!” Brook cackled. “Law’s friend! Would you like to join us for the next round?”

“Uh… sure…” Bepo said warily. He sat down next to Usopp and accepted the fourth controller. “Are there any bear characters?”

As Usopp explained the game mechanics to Bepo, Law took his backpack up to Nami’s room and began to set himself up for later that night. He took care of the shit like condoms and lube because he wasn’t a goddamned barbarian and didn’t want his girlfriend to get worried if in the chaos of everything she forgot her medication for a couple days. It was just part of being a responsible adult and not some skeezebag looking to fuck how he wanted and whom he wanted without thinking about repercussions. The thought of a physical consequence crossed his mind as he shut the nightstand drawer and shuddered—Cora-san as a grandfather of all things would be something he’d need more than a few months to brace for.

“Law, there you are, holy shit.” He looked over his shoulder to see Penguin and Shachi both standing there, looking precisely the amount of moist that would be appropriate if they had been dragged into the pool against their will. Not only that, but they appeared to be absolutely flabbergasted by the entire situation they found themselves in. “That’s the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army in the pool… the national-level political party, not state-level!”

“I know, Penguin.”

“…and the other’s one of the lieutenants of the Moby City mayor!”

“I know, Shachi.”

“…and apparently the host of Impel Drag Race is ‘popping by’ later?!”

“…and the straw-hat kid’s referring to the former state lieutenant governor as his grunkle?!”

“…and the one in the kitchen you had us go to six specialty import stores for is sous chef and heir to the Baratie?!”

“…and apparently your girlfriend is currently on a fetch quest to haul over here one of the few who can out-prodigy you when it comes to medicine?!”

“…a kid, may I remind you, whose grandparents are part of the reason why we even have world-class medicine in Greater Logue Town, let alone the state?!”

“…and Bepo’s getting his ass handed to him in video games by the Soul King himself…?!”

“I get it: we stick out the least despite the fact you two hold multiple state-level swimming records each, I’m the youngest surgeon in all departments at Logue Town General by at least a decade, and Bepo’s a bear,” Law reminded them casually. “To consider this as anything close to a normal party house is sort of a disgrace to the very concept of a party house.”

“This place is batshit,” Penguin stated. “It also might break physics because it feels like it’s bigger on the inside.”

“That’s your crisis to work through, not mine,” Law said. He reached into the nightstand drawer and pulled out two single wrapped condoms, throwing them at his friends. “Be careful; if Hancock-ya shows up tonight, she’s going to bring the whole team, and I know how strong of a will you two have in front of a pretty face and thick thighs.”

“Wait, what…?” Shachi gaped. Law shrugged.

“The captain of the Amazon Lily roller derby team out of Kuja has a weird crush on Strawhat-ya that he doesn’t quite recognize and when she’s here, the entire team is here.”

“Law, have we ever expressed how much we truly appreciate your friendship?” Penguin said, his and Shachi’s demeanor clearly changed. They were in such awe that tears were beginning to well in their eyes. “This could honestly be the best night of our lives!”

“Step-on-me-pussy is literally the best pussy,” Shachi added with a sniffle. “We are in your debt.”

“Remember that next time I need changed dressings, blood draws, and vitals from everyone in the unit half an hour before shift change,” Law warned. His friends didn’t hear him—they were too busy imagining the possibilities for later on.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“What does it say about everything that you still don’t strike me as an adopt-into-single-fatherhood sort of man?” Bell-mère asked. She was at Cora’s for the evening, glad that the mysterious kid of his was gone with friends for the weekend. Picking up a picture frame from an end table, she looked at the image of her former comrade-in-arms hugging a sullen tween with Reverse Mountain National Park in the background. “Cute kid though.”

“Yeah, that’s from not long after I became his official guardian,” Cora said from the kitchen. “He was sick when I got him—didn’t think he’d make it past thirteen.”

“No shit. Now you said he’s in his twenties?”

“Yeah—went into medicine; his birth family was full of doctors and I think he wants to honor them that way. Works at Logue Town General and everything.”

“Who knows? He might know my youngest daughter’s beau.” Bell-mère went into the kitchen and sat at the table, watching Cora cook on the electric range—the only reason he wasn’t spontaneously bursting into flame while cooking their dinner. “She’s fucking some doctor who’s got to be closer to our age than hers if the intel we get from her friends is anything.”

“Possibly, though there’s a lot of doctors in LTG.”

“True.” She watched as he splashed some sauce on himself accidentally. “Sure you don’t need help?”

“I’m sure,” he winced. “So, what about you? Still never gave me an answer about the girls.”

“Something just clicked in my brain, you know?” she shrugged, taking it upon herself to pour the wine instead. “I’m sure you had a moment like that with your son.”

“Yeah, but Bell-mère the Beast? Adopting two little orphans while out on deployment?”

“You blew your cover on a covert job when you left, and the only reason you’re not dead is because it involved infiltrating your brother’s criminal empire and you both are worth more to him alive and unperturbed.”

“Technicalities,” Cora scoffed. He brought two plates of food to the table and sat down. “Things are still a little frosty between Sengoku and me for it, but I’d do it all over again and I’m sure you feel the same.”

“Beyond a doubt.” She ate some of the rice on her plate and chuckled. “At least fatherhood made you a decent home cook.”

“I’ll show you what else I’m still decent at after dessert,” he teased. She snorted in laughter—of course he would, because of course he was.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was late that night as Law and Nami both laid in bed, curled up together with their naked bodies flush against one another. The house was finally quiet and they could both just relax—a rare treat for the place they were currently occupying.

“Hey… Nami…?” He could feel her smile against his chest at the dropped honorific; something he did only when they were alone.

“Yeah…?”

“Is this… what you want…?”

She sat up and stared at him, raising one perfectly manicured eyebrow in a curious arch. “What do you mean by that?”

“Having the extent of our relationship being sneaking off to fuck in the middle of a house party?” He tried to shrug aloofly, but was too taken in by the sight of her in the moonlight to do more than twitch. “Would you like to be… I dunno… more involved…?”

“Depends on your definition,” she replied. She hugged her knees as she looked at him, the very sexy and very naked man in her bed bringing a tattooed arm up in order to rub circles on her back.

“Seeing one another without any of our friends needing to be there,” he mused. “Showing up at one another’s workplaces as a surprise, meeting my dad… your mom and sister…” He exhaled heavily, avoiding eye contact by staring at her shoulder tattoo. “I’m not saying commitment, but…”

“I get it; you want to know what’s on the table, if you need to keep future options in mind.”

“I guess.” He paused, trying to find the words. “I don’t mind if we’re a temporary thing…”

“You can say ‘fling’. I won’t be insulted.”

“Okay, fine: I don’t care if this is a fling and we drift apart or we’re actually friends with damn good benefits or I’m just what you’re into for now and you drop me like a rock next month. I mean… I’m getting sex out of it… sex with you…”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” she reminded him, patting the bit of blanket covering his dick. “This is working for more than just you, trust me.”

“What I’m saying is…” he swallowed hard, “if you’d like, I’m willing to start exploring what a life together might be like.”

“See if we like what’s being laid down?”

“Pretty much. We’d need to meet each other’s parents first—hiding you from my dad any longer than I have to will be torture.”

“Well, I’ve never tried the meet-the-parents routine with anyone except for friends, so if you want to try, I’d say it’s worth a shot.”

A small smile twisted the corner of his mouth upwards. “Yeah…?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Law exhaled, only then he realized he had been holding his breath. “Okay. We can do this…? We can do this. I mean, we’re adults.”

“We are.” She then laid back down, settling herself between his arm and his chest. “Let’s talk about it more after some sleep. Then I’ll tell my mom when I get home.”

“…and I’ll tell Cora-san.”

“Wait…” she giggled incredulously. “Your dad’s name is Cora?”

“It’s an old nickname,” he grumbled, “but it is what he prefers to be called. I’ll break that down for you later as well.”

“No, it’s just funny because that’s the name of the woman my mom’s dating. Sorting through the Two Cora Situation is going to be a group bonding exercise in of itself.”

“I guess so.” He closed his eyes as he felt Nami bring the blankets around them again, taking in the wonderful silence of the night.

Well, it was silent for people without really good hearing, as he could have sworn he heard Shachi sob through an orgasm in another room. Only his friends could ruin a moment and not even be there.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The following morning went the average amount of well an after-party morning could go. Most of the house denizens were some version of worn-out thanks to either staying up late, copious amounts of alcohol, or both. The pair of Kuja that stayed the night with Penguin and Shachi both left early—Law had still been on his first cup of coffee when they did—dragging along the smitten Hancock with them. The surgeon watched as his friends found their way into the back by the pool, plopping down at the little table next to him as he scrolled through news headlines on his phone.

“You’ve been holding out,” Penguin scolded.

“Yeah,” Shachi said, expression to be too relaxed to be anything but blissful. “We got them on social and everything. What took you so long to bring us here?”

Law shrugged through his coffee, which his friends refused to accept for an answer. They both glared at him, waiting for whole minutes until he cracked.

“I wanted to make sure of it… you know.” He contemplated his next sentence, thought better of it, and went through with it anyhow. “I’m having her meet Cora-san.”

“Oh, fuck,” Shachi cringed. “That’s… that’s a hell of a step for you.”

“The number of people that have both met your dad and seen your dick is extremely small, and the list even exists in the first place purely due to changing rooms and nothing sexual,” Penguin noted.

“Yeah, you think I don’t realize that?” Law fired back. “Nami-ya and me, Cora-san and his… lady-friend I’m surprised actually exists, and Nami-ya’s mom with her lady-friend—just going to tear the bandage off and get us all together.”

Shachi let out a low whistle. “Oooh… you got it bad.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Law grunted. “I’m putting up with Strawhat-ya to be with her, so might as well.”

It was then that Luffy, almost if on-cue, ran out of the house and did a cannonball into the pool, splashing water all over Law, but not Penguin and Shachi. The latter two tried to hide their giggles as a now-familiar shishishi echoed through the yard.

Yeah, he had it bad alright.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

As it turned out, it didn’t take long for Law to get a hold of everyone’s schedules. After looking at the family calendar and swiping her mother’s phone while she was in the shower, Nami was able to confirm that three weeks from that Tuesday worked well. He felt a sense of triumph as they coordinated the event, all the way down to the thumbs-up emojis that were sent his way when she asked her mom to join them.

Now, for the big one. It was luckily Law’s turn to make dinner that Monday, which meant that he was able to have everything ready by the time Cora-san came home from work. The older man raised an eyebrow when he saw his son in the kitchen with food nearly ready.

“Anything the matter?” he asked.

“Nothing’s wrong; just sit.” Cora did and Law brought over two plates of carbonara. “I just want a nice dinner for once.”

“Not complaining,” Cora nodded. He twirled some pasta on his fork and took a large bite, proceeding to talk with his mouth full. “So… you gonna tell me what this is about…?”

Fuck, busted.

“Okay, I’m going to need you to listen to me and not get too excited,” Law frowned. Cora perked up, his attention piqued. “Since we’re both dating someone…”

“…yeah…?”

“I thought it would be nice if we took a very non-committal step to clear the air and all meet one another.” Sparkles formed in the older man’s eyes and Law almost instantly regretted it. “She’s inviting her mom and mom’s girlfriend, while I’m supposed to invite you and… whatever it is that you consider a hot date. You know… be adults.”

“A triple date! How social of you! This young lady of yours must be doing wonders for your tolerance levels!” A thought then came to Cora and he instantly grew serious. “The crew isn’t jealous, are they?”

“Shachi and Penguin were both ‘stepped on’ by tri-state roller derby champions over the weekend and Bepo has decided that he’s determined to mentor this kid who we hang around now so he also doesn’t get the life sucked out of him by being a teenager in med school.”

“Then they approve! Excellent! Let the appropriate parties know and we can set up a day and time! Oh, this will be fun!”

“I was thinking three weeks from tomorrow, at a place near the hospital so it can be for lunch. We double-checked your schedules.”

“Not a dinner-date here…?”

“No, because I want to keep your shenanigans to a minimum, and that’s usually achievable when you’re trapped in a booth seat.”

“Well, you’re not wrong,” he admitted. “I’ll pass the word along tonight.”

“Thanks—let me know if anything comes up.”

“Oh, not a problem.” Cora couldn’t stop his wide smile as he looked at his son across the table. “You’ve come a long way, you know.”

“Yeah,” he blushed, “I know.”

“They’d be proud.”

“I know.”

“Now: does this mean I’m getting grandkids?”

It honestly took all Law had to not fling pasta in Cora’s face.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Later that night, Cora found himself having his final smoke of the evening before turning in for bed. Law was already asleep—kid’s circadian rhythm had always been fucked—and that meant that Cora was able to take his cigarette on the patio in peace without hearing his boy nag him about emphysema and other such things. He was nearly done when his phone buzzed: The Beast.

“Hey,” he answered, applying a suave tone to his voice.

“You said you wanted to talk about something?” Bell-mère asked. The text was actually a request to call when she was free, but he wasn’t complaining. “Is this about phone sex? Because I am actually in the mood for some phone sex…”

“We can do that later—there is something I want to get out of the way first.”

“Who’s dying?”

“No one,” Cora said cheerily. He stubbed out the cigarette and made his way back into the house. “It’s just my boy’s decided to coordinate something between us, so we can meet his girlfriend and her mom and mom’s girlfriend!”

“A triple date? With mostly people he doesn’t know? Kind of a lot for a kid that only tolerates hanging out with three people aside from his girlfriend.”

“Well, rumor has it that he met her at a party, and he tolerates her friends, so who knows?” Cora was beaming brightly as he looked at himself in the mirror next to the door—this was the sort of thing that was a rite of passage, wasn’t it? Meeting your kid’s significant other? Her mom? Oh, it was exciting! Was this a sign something more was on the horizon?! “He was thinking of going and doing something low-key: lunch at this restaurant that’s near the hospital.”

The line went quiet for a moment. “…Don Silver?”

“Yeah! I guess he and his friends go there during and after shifts a lot. It’s the kind of place that doesn’t need a reservation, but he’s asking them to set aside a table for us anyhow since he’s such a good regular.” Cora then paused, expression falling “How did you know?”

“My daughter wants us to meet her old-man-doctor-boyfriend, his dad, and dad’s girlfriend for lunch there. Tuesday at one?”

“…oh.”

Both Cora and Bell-mère were silent—no… it couldn’t be…

“Belle…?”

“Yeah…?”

“Did she tell you what the reservation was under…?”

“Her old-man-doctor-boyfriend’s name, but it’s not Donquixote…”

“I never gave him my family name, Belle. The adoption papers went through too slow for it to take effect before he started med school, even if he wanted to change it.”

“It’s a weird name, hold on, she wrote it down for me…” He heard a rustling of paper and then her grunting as she attempted to figure out how to pronounce it. “Tra… Tra-faye-el-gar?”

“Trafalgar; my son’s family name is Trafalgar.”

“Huh.” Cora began to chew at his fingernails and pace the kitchen as his mind began to race and the woman on the other end contemplated. He then began to pace and tug at his hair.

“Belle…?”

Nothing.

“Belle, answer me.”

Silence.

“Belle…?!”

“So,” she chuckled, “wanna fuck with ‘em?”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Don Silver was a well-patronized family restaurant within walking distance of Logue Town General, which made it the perfect location for Law to slip out to during his shift, but also to slip back in should an emergency arise. He left Bepo in charge of his patients until he came back, promising to stay late if he was out so long it threw everything off. When he walked into the restaurant, the owner simply gestured to the usual back booth he normally haunted with his friends, seeing that Nami was already there.

“Ah, there you are,” she chuckled, exchanging a quick peck as he sat down next to her. “Everything seems like it’s going as planned. Nojiko was a little irritated that she wasn’t invited, but she’ll get her chance.”

“Yeah, she will,” he agreed. Law felt as though his heart was going to beat right out of his chest. “I still can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“I know… kind of exciting, isn’t it?” She leaned in close and pressed a kiss to the back of his jaw, smiling as she saw how confused the owner was at the scene. “I should have you know that you might not be on the list of favorites after this.”

“Your mom that big of a menace?”

“More like Gin over there and Sanji have had beef since culinary school,” she chuckled. Law caught that the owner was staring at them and he shrugged—how could he have known? “Oh, hey, there’s Bell-mère!”

“…and that’s Cora-san,” Law noted. He watched has his foster father held open the door for Nami’s mother. “Wait a second… where’s their dates…?”

“That is… huh…” Nami trailed off as Cora and Bell-mère made their way to the table. Both parents decided to slide directly into the booth seating, with the leggy, clumsy one on the inside. “Do we need to wait for the others, or…?”

“There’s no others; what are you talking about?” Bell-mère scoffed. A waiter came over to deposit some glasses of water—a handled mug for Cora, as they were warned beforehand—and battered menus, leaving the four to their own devices for the time being. “It’s just us and our manfriends, although I’m honestly impressed you went as old as you did considering mine’s just a year younger than me…”

“Nojiko and I have been under the impression you’ve been seeing a woman named Cora…”

“Short for Corazón,” Bell-mère shrugged. “That was your codename out in the field, right hon?”

“It was, wasn’t it, Law?” Cora smirked. He tried very hard to not notice the deep sense of confusion his son was radiating. “You’ve been here a lot; what’s good?”

After some awkward deliberation, the waiter came back and took their orders and the menus while depositing a breadbasket. A silence settled over the table once the waiter left, one that made the younger couple hold hands underneath the table for strength, while the older couple decided to put their plan into action.

Operation Fuck with the Brats was a-go.

“We want to thank both of you for meeting us like this,” Cora said seriously, deciding to be the one to break the ice. He nearly couldn’t stop himself from bursting into laughter as he watched panic settle in on his son’s face. “It’s not exactly the sort of thing we want to talk about when I’m liable to trip while wandering around the house.”

“What…?” Nami wondered, cocking her eyebrow.

“Man’s a complete klutz,” Bell-mère said before Law could explain. “Let’s just hope it’s not inheritable.”

All the color left Nami and Law’s faces at once.

“What… erm… do you mean by that…?” the younger woman asked. Bell-mère shrugged.

“Eh, just putting shit down in the right places,” she replied. “Should’ve done it years ago, but never had the reason, until now…”

“Cora-san…? What is she talking about…?” Law asked, his voice faint. His foster father grinned widely.

“We wanted you two to be our Best Man and Maid of Honor!” he beamed. “You’d be perfect for the job! It doesn’t even get into being Emergency Guardians…”

“Oh I’m going to be sick,” Nami grimaced.

“Don’t you dare, you little shit,” Bell-mère warned. “I would think it’d be an honor. You did always want to be an older sister growing up.”

“…and we’re already on the older side for a baby, so having their older siblings be the ones to take care of them in case we can’t is perfect!”

Law sank into the booth, completely dumbstruck. Cora-san…?! And Nami’s mom…?! He was almost regretting not making this meeting at the Southern Blue pub down the street—at least they had a liquor license. “Does Doflamingo know about this…?”

“My brother wouldn’t know what to do with a kid if he had one walk in his front door,” Cora scoffed. “I know because I watched it happen. Multiple times.” The mortification on the younger couple’s faces was definitely worth the ruse; the kids seemed to be inventing new stages of grief. “Speaking of front doors—Bell-mère’s moving in since there’s more room, so you have the choice of staying in your current room or out elsewhere.”

“Nami, you and Nojiko get to fight it out over what to do with where we’re at now,” Bell-mère added. “Just don’t rent it out to any of your weirdo friends—I’d like the place to stay intact, thank you.”

“You have to be fucking with us,” Nami decided. She dug into her purse and whipped out her phone. “I’m calling Nojiko.”

“Go ahead, be that way,” Bell-mère said. She watched as Nami hit the button to dial her sister and held the phone up to her ear.

“So…? How’s it going…?” Ah, fuck, she sounded too smug.

“Nojiko, did you know anything about this?”

“…about what…?”

“…about why the hell our mom decided to meet my boyfriend so easily…”

“Ooohhhh, that,” Nojiko replied, a grin on her voice. “Yeah, she should have told us that her kinky reconnect was a dude before she got herself all prego. She offered me Maid of Honor first, but I said you can have it since you’d actually want to sleep with the geriatric Best Man…”

“I fucking hate you all,” Nami said before ending the call. She put her phone screen-down on the table and glared at her mother. “You are absolutely mortifying.”

“I am what I am,” Bell-mère shrugged. She then wrinkled her nose and looked at Cora with a frown. “Oh… the kid’s gonna be a Donquixote, isn’t it…?”

“Unless you’ve got a better idea.”

“Then how do you suggest we tell your brother? Ease him in gently or just let him discover on his own?”

“I honestly don’t know which would be worse.”

“Your brother—that’s up to you. Oh! Food’s here!”

Sure enough Bell-mère did notice their food coming out the kitchen as the waiter dropped off the plates cheerily. Both Law and Nami really didn’t feel like eating anymore, while their parents both began to pick at their fries…

…and laughed.

“Ah, fuck, we really had you going!” Bell-mère snorted.

“Your faces are priceless,” Cora added.

“So… you’re not having a baby…” Nami stated.

“…and you’re not getting married,” Law continued.

“Tch; don’t think I’m ready to settle down quite yet,” Bell-mère scoffed. “Besides, this klutzy nightmare? Fuck baby-proofing—I’d have to Rosi-proof.”

“Then you’re not seeing one another…?” Law knew it was dangerous to be hopeful. He was anyhow, only for his hopes to be dashed against the floor unceremoniously like a slippery water glass.

“Sorry to burst that bubble, kids, but I am one-hundred-percent fucking this goober despite all logic and reasoning telling me that I probably shouldn’t,” Bell-mère shrugged. “Didn’t think I’d be with a man again after we last hooked up in the Marines, but I have to admit he’s improved with age.”

“Belle…” Cora giggled, blushing furiously. “That’s still my son and his cute girlfriend…”

“…and that’s my daughter and her geriatric manfriend,” she replied. “They’re adults; I think they can handle it.”

To be honest? Neither Law nor Nami wanted anything to do with anything at that very moment.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was actually a fucking gorgeous day as Law laid face-down on the grass in the backyard at 1000 Sunny Drive. He hadn’t thought it was particularly appropriate to show his face at Luffy’s sus-as-fuck party house in the middle of buttfuck-nowhere after what had happened earlier in the week, but Bepo and the goons insisted. While the bear chatted amiably with Chopper and Kaya (how the fuck did Usopp of all the kids got himself a girlfriend? That he wasn’t having sex with yet? No one really knew), Penguin and Shachi were biding their time before the Amazons Lilys showed up (and let’s be real: the nursing techs knew they were the lay-conquest), while Law… he was just trying to not die of embarrassment.

“So…” a voice said, almost consolingly. “You fucked your sister.”

“She is not my sister, Roronoa-ya,” Law replied. He didn’t need to look to see the kendo genius standing there, nor that it was the chef who nudged him in the side with his foot.

“Well, your parents fucked before you did, so that makes you siblings.”

“That does not make them siblings, mossbrain,” Sanji scoffed. “Come on, Law. What do you think you’re going to achieve by doing all this sulking?”

“I’m touching grass; go away.”

“I don’t think that’s what they mean, but keep telling yourself that. Besides, you know the marimo never learned about sex-ed, birds or bees. I bet his old man would have reproduced via budding if he could and skipped the adoption paperwork.”

“Yours probably wishes he could bake himself a less pervy son.”

“Fuck off, you overgrown grass stain,” Sanji hissed.

“You realize none of this is helping, right?” Law said into the lawn.

“Eh; worth a shot.” Law heard Sanji flick open his lighter and the familiar smell of cigarettes hit his nose—the man smoked the same brand as Cora.

“Get away from him, you vultures,” scolded a very familiar voice. Zoro chuckled lowly as Sanji pulled him away. Once the clowns had dispersed, Nami sat down on the grass and sighed, hugging her knees.

“I blame Bell-mère for getting Nojiko in on it,” she reminded him. “She’s the reason any of these morons know anything… well, that and Sanji not having Gin blocked on social.”

“I know—it doesn’t make it any less embarrassing.”

“True, but it does mean that we’re probably going to spend holidays together at the very least, whether we’re fucking or not.” She reached over and began scratching his scalp, eliciting a heavy whine. “Look at it this way: they could have not been joking.”

“Doesn’t mean it can’t still happen,” he replied. “Pregnancy can occur all the way until post-menopause, and many are accidental.”

“Shhhh…” she soothed, smoothing his hair. “Don’t think about it.”

All he could do was squeak out a pained groan—he was a doctor… all he could do was think about it.

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