#missing goober alert

[arandomnerd810]

remade an old oc

xe is a self indulgent mix of stuff i enjoy who i made before i found N from murder drones who is just that but better because the villain traits i enjoy are also in him aswell

still though here’s my little goober i hope you like them aswell

i tired my best to not make xem an N copy but you know i had to add those arms as a homage to him and the og design

basically they were made to do basic robot helping humans stuff but they had emotions too similar to humans even if it was flawed the people were gonna disassemble xem but there was a girl who decided to take care of her but because xey are a robot even though she lived a long and fulfilling life they were kinda left alone but they eventually decided to still make friends despite xyr extra long lifespan and enjoy life

xyr personality is cheerful and upbeat but their emotions are not perfect and they don’t always understand other’s emotions xe still got some abandonment issues and can struggle to ask for help in general

hopefully this isn’t too cringe

#oc art #oc #silly goober alert #murder drones #but not murder drones OC just md mention #anyways yea #i love robots #esp ones with lonleiness oooooo #i forgot the original name so i just kinda missed random letters and numbers together tbh #also xyr aro ace bc rep is needed and what use would that attraction have

[phlurrii]

Alrighty! So just some stuff that’s been brain rotting lately is a character I wanna introduce ya’ll too! Shinto, a shiny Celebi! Lovingly, but mostly patiently hunted and caught by @loupy-mongoose brother! Who kindly cloned and named it for me as I did not buy VC Crystal before the eshop went down X3

Anywho! Onto some rambles, for about a week I did warm up doodles of intercation with baby Qari and their adoptive father Shinto with mewtuals! Featuring: @xxtc-96xx @pokemon-ash-aus @mewtwoevolution @the-mew-crew (didn’t miss it this time >;3) @bbubbles-mewtopia @definitely-not-a-mew !

So as mentioned before, Qari is a mew that spent their early days falling through time and hoped around alot, often against their will as they couldn’t control their powers. Especially as an infant, so eventually, after many Pokémon attempt to take it in… only for them to vanish against through time, a certain Celebi is alerted to the time hoping baby. And… well, trying to find its parent turns into Shinto becoming the parent, despite being not the best or experienced with kiddos.

So Qari ends up being raised by Shinto, who has no idea what he is doing and is frankly petrified of telling/going near Meau about this random baby mew he’s found. Over time Shinto helps Qari figure out his time powers and stabilized him, being one of the few Pokémon able to follow the infant when he time jumps and keep them safe. So the above doodles are Shinto going around and receiving advice on how to parent the lil goober. We’ll see more of them after the Missingno arc and likely when they meant during it, but for now enjoy this peak into Qari’s life and the only Celebi I will ever love this much XD

#ancient mew #mew #pokemon #mew pokemon #the ancient mew #pokémon mew #Celebi #Celebi Pokémon #pokemon Celebi #interaction doodles #mewtwo #pokemon mewtwo #Qari #Shinto

[crazycookiecrumbles]

Searching For Inspiration

Masterlist

A/N:  Ah, first time writing Eddie Munson. Might be OOC? I have no idea. I’m just exhausted and winging it. I kind of gave up on this near the end. Sigh, idk. my mojo is vanishing. 

Special thanks to the @wint3r-h3art who helped my brain do things to make words for this

Pairings/Characters:  Eddie Munson x Reader

Warnings: Eddie being a goofy goober, swears; crack, fluff, drabble, mess? idfk

Summary: Eddie needs inspiration as the Dungeon Master, and he finds himself in your domain to find it.

Eddie Munson couldn’t fight this feeling anymore. He had hit a dry spell, so to speak, and he needed something to really get his creative juices flowing. It was going to be his final campaign at Hawkins High, the culmination of all of his years of work, and he really needed to make sure everything was to his standard of perfect. However, he just couldn’t quite figure out what was missing.

Eddie found himself at the local library in Hawkins in search of inspiration. If he couldn’t figure it out, which was insane given his own amount of creativity he harbored, then he was going to look to some of the greats.

He threw open the library doors with a loud bang, disturbing everyone and prompting the librarian to hit him with a glare and a shushing sound that made his skin crawl. He shot her a toothy smile, bowed his head apologetically, and let the doors fall to a close behind him. Eddie  clasped his hands behind his back as he walked down the aisles, peering over people’s shoulders to see what they were reading.

Then, he’d stop and stand in a corner or in an aisle somewhere, one arm draped across his front, the other resting over it with his fingers on his chin as he studied people. Perhaps people could give him the inspiration he needed if he couldn’t find it in a book.

No. No, of course not. What was he thinking? They were all too ‘normal’ here, so average and boring and nothing remarkable in the slightest. This meant that there was only one thing left to do, he really, truly needed to hit the books.

He went through the aisles without a care. He picked up a book, skimmed it, deemed it to be unworthy of the power of his campaign, and would haphazardly toss it over his shoulder. Sometimes it landed on a cart of books, a nearby table, on the floor, or, rarely, it even made it back onto the shelf, just in the wrong place, backwards ,or possibly just laying open against it. He went through the aisles without any regard for the books as his main focus was the sanctity of his campaign.

This left one unfortunate library employee to happen upon his mess, but have no idea what was causing it. 

You were baffled. You had just swept the aisles. Sure, a few loose ones here and there, but, otherwise, things were perfect. How, in the time it went for you to take a quick snack break, did things suddenly become so chaotic? All your hard work was falling apart within seconds, and now you were racing around the library trying to find the culprit.

You could hear humming, what had to have been a rock ballad, and the sound of pages being flipped through rapidly. You rounded the corner and found your misery. There were books on the floor, on top of the shelves. It looked like a hurricane hit. You stopped for a moment to see what was happening, and you could see a tall, young man with a curly mane of hair to make a lion envious. He was leaning on his side against a bookshelf, flipping through a few pages of Christine before chucking the book on another shelf.

It burned you.

Huffing and puffing, you picked up every book he had tossed and placed them onto your cart as you charged towards him. He was utterly oblivious as another book went sailing over the aisle, the waist of his jacket flailing out behind him as he continued to sashay down the aisle.

The only thing that truly alerted him to another presence was the sound of wheels turning rapidly and headed right in his direction. He spun around dramatically, and was immediately caught like a deer in headlights. His soft, sweet eyes illuminated and grew big as he saw you storming towards him, an enraged look on your face that he swore showed actual fire burning in your eyes. He smiled brightly as the cart screeched to a halt next to him and you stood tall in front of him, one hand on your waist, the other clutching the handle of the cart until the knuckles were screaming against your skin.

“M’lady—“

“Are you fucking kidding me?” You hissed, yelling, funny enough, in a sort of whisper as you glared at him.

“Huh?”

“Were you raised in a barn?” you cocked your head to the side. “I mean, really. Do you even know where you are?”

“Last I checked, this was the Hawkins Town Library, so — “

“Oh, good, you know something!” you whispered harshly. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

“Staring at a really, really pretty and angry chick,” he beamed. “You’re very pretty when you’re all angry and stuff.”

You had opened your mouth, ready to insult him no matter what he had said. However, when you heard him say you were pretty, your mouth shut and your cheeks burned hotly as his words replayed in your head a dozen times over in a matter of seconds. 

Using this to his advantage, he took one large step towards you and stuck out his hand, “Eddie Munson, m’lady.”

“I know who you are,” you muttered, sticking your hand out to him. “Y/N L/N.”

He leaned forward and kissed the top of your hand before standing up straight again, the grin never leaving his face as he watched your eyes widen and you raise your other hand to rest against your cheek to feel if it was actually burning as much as you thought it was. “It is truly my pleasure to meet you, Y/N.”

You blinked a few times before remembering what your mission was after you caught sight of a book on the floor. You huffed and yanked your hand away to rest on your hip once again, your eyes quickly scanning the other books in disarray before pointing them at Eddie, “Why are you tossing books around the library? This is a library not some baseball field or something! The books should be treated with respect.”

He looked around and it seemed like he finally saw what exactly he had been doing this entire time. His mouth fell open slightly before it settled in a straight line, bearing all his teeth to you as he slowly turned back to face you after seeing the damage. “I’m sorry. I did not realize I did that.”

“Are you serious?”

“I was just looking for a little inspiration for my campaign. See, I run the Dungeons and Dragons club, it’s a — “

“I know what it is,” you sighed.

He beamed, “That is seriously very attractive. Anyway, I run the club. I’m the dungeon master, and I need to make my next session absolutely amazing. I’m just looking for that special something to make this side-quest episode really ,really memorable.”

“Oh, well, maybe you can make it an episode about cleaning up after themselves and respecting public property,” you quipped as you pushed the cart past him and went to clean up the rest of the books. “All good stories have a lesson in there somewhere.”

“Uh-huh,” he trailed off as he fell against the bookshelf and watched you storm away from him. He sighed dreamily, hands coming up to clutch his heart as he watched you round the corner and disappear. Suddenly, he gasped and clutched the bookshelves next to him in dramatic fashion. “I’ve got it. They’re going to save the beautiful, fiery princess who spends her entire days in books reading and writing stories in a cavern — no, a stone castle filled from floor to ceiling with treasured books. She’ll have unbridled rage and fury and be so, so, sooo hot.”

Eddie sighed happily to himself, content with his conclusion. “Yes. They’ll save her from the evil dragon — no, the evil sorcerer who wants to sacrifice her to Vecna. YES! That’s it! And she’ll be all mine and say I’m her hero and  — I mean, uh…”he cleared his throat and scratched is head. “I’m not in the campaign. Right. I’m just gonna go home now…”

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #stranger things #stranger things campaign #stranger things fic #eddie munson fic #hawkins #stranger things oneshot #eddie munson oneshot

[parkerbubblegum]

do u plan on making a song about it or did u and i missed it?

i've been trying to release songs based around these goobers since 2018 with little luck lmao ;;; BUT my little instrumental song called "spoiler alert" is a compilation of all of these guys' themes' melodies!! try to guess who is who!

#meta #parker bubblegum

[therealloopylupin2099]

dang what the flip did i miss?

i disappear to try to cure MJ and i missed so much???

i should really turn on my goober alerts 😭😭

-solarspider

Not much. Just me casually being Carnage.

#miguel o'hara #into the spider verse #across the spiderverse #spider person #ask #miguel answers

[finnissilly]

Triple Threat - dnd campaign updates (1)

A story of three lonely fellas who no longer wish to be lonely anymore.

Our story begins with our three goobers:

Blooper Inkwell- a water genasi tempest cleric

Orion Estelle- a tabaxi druid

Miles Moonshine- a shadar Kai ranger

(We’re starting at level one)

I’ll try to give you guys like a reasonable amount of updates within each post because this campaign has been going on for almost a year now so. It’s a lot of information and I don’t wanna overwhelm people within ONE post.

Session 1/0:

Our three goobers find ourselves in the Ivory Kingdom which is a sub-Arctic continent, similar to Greenland.

We find ourselves in the small town of Farport which is a port trading town, and isn’t the wealthiest.

Miles got arrested for a month for jaywalking because he inconvienced the prince Zalastar and was locked up with a half orc jail mate and barely got any sleep as his jail mate snored a lot.

After getting out, he and his two buddies went out to go take a quest.

The quest was: merchants from Farport have gone missing when going to the city of Valica, since the two places are partners in that.

We went to go talk to the mayor of Farport, who knew Miles after writing him up a few times for shenanigans (crime) upon explaining who the three were he called us “stupid enough” to do this quest. After some. Interesting banter, we went off to see Samantha Green- who’s husband was a merchant and he went missing upon trying to go to Valica.

We spoke to her and gave her our word we’d bring her husband home, and she asked if we could help her out with a rat problem she was having.

We go out to the barn, and I’m like 90% sure they were dire rats (our dm didn’t say) but they were dog sized rats. And they were all covered in blood and munching on something.

After taming two of them and killing the third who was feral. We cleaned them up, got our pay from Samantha who was horrified. And decided it’d be funny if we gave the rats to the mayor.

He was not happy about that as we walk away and hear “WHAT THE FUCKKKK” being screamed from his home.

We found an inn and that was our first session.

Session 2:

We are all broke and cannot afford a horse and Orion can’t wildshape yet.

The next best thing to carrying a wagon full of trading goods? Use the party tank. (Miles)

The goods had the alert spell on them, and the mayor threatened us.

Anyway- walk to Valica is a two days walk on foot. (Or one and a half, I don’t recall) and most of it was uphill.

On our way there, we heard noises within the trees- as to which, Orion went and hid on the opposite side and Blooper attempted to scare away by using thaumaturgy and yelling “HEY FUCKER”

This did not work.

A half orc came out, and upon bloopers yelling ripped his map in half. Now pissed at us, Blooper and Miles got ready to fight.

Meanwhile since Orion was never spotted- he used charm person, and came out and basically said “hey big guy. Go that way.” And that. Worked.

After that we obtained the torn map, and found there was an X on it in between the mountains we were in.

We’d check that out later.

Continuing our journey we found a Selune temple looking ravaged, there was blood on the trees and ground, arrows, etc. and there were three pairs of footprints going deeper into the woods.

We decided to check that out later as we had a delivery to make.

We all went to sleep in the forest and got up the next day and headed to Valica.

There was an election happening between two mayors: Gilbert Thornwell(?) and Lyre Everrose.

What we gathered was that Gilbert was a gnome who was bigger on community and keeping the people of Valica together and strengthening it, while Lyre was bigger on expansion and capitalism, strengthening bonds of the economy. Wasn’t long before we found the merchants guild.

After some issues with the guards, we eventually got in and met the head of the merchants guild- a half orc named Korg.

Prior the mayor of Farport who’s name is Karaldic Hamelton (he’s an elf) told us that Korg “wasn’t the nicest person”

Upon meeting Korg we all loved him.

We told him the situation in farport and what we saw on the way here with the temple outpost and found out very quickly that Korg was a Selune worshipper as he had a Selune emblem on him and said “this just got personal” he also told us that no one from Farport has been coming here in about a month and whatnot.

Also he hates Farport mayor- as. All of us do. After shit talking Keraldic to Korg he wished us luck on our journey.

We went around the city for a bit to ask around about questions for the missing merchants and one conversation we heard was “yeah I just bought one the other day, they’re great.” We didn’t get much out of those people.

Orion asked someone if they’d seen “a little black cat” but the person he asked thought he meant a literal cat and not a tabaxi. So no.

We went shopping for a little bit then back out it was.

Session 3/4 because I cannot remember the order of these anymore, but I’ll sure as hell try:

We got back to the Selune outpost and followed the tracks which led up this super jagged mountain, and we all rolled extremely well on climbing so we got up fuckin easy.

We all stayed at the base of it as we watched and saw a goblin camp with the merchants we were supposed to save.

There was this wooden wall that was like 20 ft high, and Orion snuck up there and Miles teleported up there.

And Blooper just kinda.

Hung out on the cliff as he watched us.

Orion and Miles made a plan and then high-fived before Orion climbed back down to tell Blooper what was up, Miles was able to climb ontop the wall and sneak around to where the merchants were.

Blooper had cast light on one of his crossbow bolts and shot it up as a distraction and then cast fog cloud within the little wooden wall area so that Miles wouldn’t be caught.

Miles got down but not without busting his shoulder.

All the merchants were very afraid of him at first as he was able to bust out two of the merchants from their wooden cages, and was coming up with a plan to how to get them out.

Trying to make an exit path there was one person who would see him, so he one shotted them dead and then went back to save the third merchant.

Blooper got caught and decided it’d be a great idea to pop out and try to talk his way out of this.

Spoilers: he couldn’t.

The only person who caught him was the bugbear boss who was seemingly in charge of this whole deal.

After bloopers many attempts to talk his way out of the situation- we went into combat.

Blooper tried to zap the guys off (tempest cleric) but ended up going down twice and lost two of his fingers which made the fog cloud drop, Orion came down and hit the place with some earth tremors and infestations. And Miles was just focused on getting the actual fuck out of there with the merchants.

He got caught by a half orc and a few hobgoblins- the half orc was the same from earlier.

The half orc tried throwing his club at Miles and missed- instead hitting the wooden wall enclosure, which made for a nifty little exit.

Miles tore a peace of his clothing and put an arrow in fire before it hit the wall- setting it on fire before grabbing two of the merchants- the third following behind. Made it outside the now burning and partially broken wall.

If I recall correctly- Blooper was unconscious most of the fight, and Orion was fighting for his life.

Not to worry- help was on the way.

Our kolbold monk named Dragon Deeznutz (his player made it to one session and never came back, but we appreciated him in this fight regardless) Dragon beat the shit out of the half orc, Orion and him had known one another and were boyfriends.

Orion was super low on health but ran over to help Dragon out with tag teaming the half orc.

Blooper. Still fighting for his life- but by a miracle was able to survive (I don’t remember how)

Miles beat the shit out of some people and burned two people alive in the fire. Subtle.

After the fight, Orion went over and proposed to Dragon and he said yes.

Everyone was super tired (other than Miles who only lost like 4 HP during this because he put his hand in a fire)

And we all took a long rest and leveled up!

Orion got his circle and chose land, Miles got his fighting style and did Druidic warrior and I don’t remember Wtf Blooper got.

Ok that’s all for now for campaign updates!

I’ll post a second part to this soon (because I have a lot of the sessions written down already)

Here’s part 2:

#dnd #dungeons and dragons #dnd campaign #dnd campaign update #campaign updates #campaign update #dnd campaign updates #dungeons and dragons campaign #Ranger #cleric #druid #triple threat #dnd triple threat #ttrpg

[minuy600]

The 70s Wrap Up #17: Lunar Rescue (Arcade)

Taito Legends is cool. You get to learn about some of the wackiest, most well hidden arcade games through them. We'll see it be well used in the near future, but as for now, I have to do this with the wildly expensive yet better emulated Space Invaders Invisible Collection on Switch. Ugh, convenience alert.

We're back in space for the umpteenth time. Descending from a mothership to pick up stranded little dudes from the moon!! Saving them all while not crashing into obstacles, which cleverly change upon ascension, going from space junk to an all out UFO (and meteor) attack.

This gameplay loop ain't my favorite, but it's executed pretty well. Stages last a much longer time this time around too, considering there's 6 stranded stickmen to enact the game's title on every time. Quirky lil detail, dying by missing the mothership lets those goobers exclaim a disappointed 'Aaa...' and fall straight down into a void of nothingness. That's the second game with 'Lunar' in the title that manages to be sorta funny!

Not a lot to say about this one that isn't redundant for this part of the review. It's a solid title that doesn't much wrong without excelling particularly hard either. It's the nice goodie bag extra you'll look at twice and have fairly pleasant thoughts of.

The Verdict

Graphics (8): The age of the Space Invaders cabinet starts to show with how it's presented. The colors are still stuck to specific places on the screen, plus the framerate seems to be down on it's luck a tad here. The charm, however, is still intact. Possibly unintentionally, the spaceship you play as almost looks like a character on it's own, as does the mothership and a portion of the enemy UFOs. Can't forget about the Space Invaders showing up on the title screen and after stage 3 too! For the hardware, this is cool beans.

Sound (6): Swing and a near-miss. A lot of sounds are particularly pleasing on the ears, it all sounds like a weaker copy of the plentiful other space games. Makes sense, it's still gonna recycle some of the Space Invaders spunk baked in. Too bad there's only a couple new noises that actually work. There's alright fanfares for when you succesfully rescue a man (an even better one when you rescue them all in a stage), as well as the sound effect for when you have shot an UFO being an improvement over the aliens of old. Aside from those, you get a lovely cacophany of beeps and sirens. I could've done without them.

Gameplay (7): It all works well, like shit, Taito knows how to make a polished title, yet I can't deny that their first big hit was also their only truly jaw dropping one for a while. This introduces a new concept to the table that i've not seen before, I like that too. Unfortunate that it can't quite shake my difficulty of talking about it since it is so self explanatory. It's entirely satisfactory!

Longevity (7): Real talk, the loop gets old fairly quickly. Outside of the randomness factor which I still approve of, it's not gonna be too difficult to beat 3 stages and see the little Space Invaders easter egg before the game maxes out. Beating Taito's 5000 points isn't a hard task either if you know what you're doin'. Slightly disappointing it didn't try to introduce new gimmicks or at least had you try to beat the max difficulty before seeing the cutscene. Still, if you're an arcade nut from the early 80s, chances are you're gonna have your eyes peeled to it for a decent amount of time.

In Conclusion

I'm done! That's all for the 70s, folks. One more tier list and we are rarely gonna have to refer to this day and age ever again. Thanks for sticking with me throughout these 49 games, here's to so, so many more. Hopefully my writing will improve over time and I can get more in depth with my thoughts, I have not been very confident about my skills as of late...

#retro gaming #minuy600 #review #sona #taito #arcade #1979 #lunar rescue

[kagedbird]

TESSDE "AU" (+ Taliesin but he's not here lol) Inigo: Allora? Allora: *firing an arrow into a homemade target outside, missing it by a couple inches due to jumping* ...Yes love? Inigo: Hehe. My apologies. The others have said they startled you too. Allora: *giving him a look* Be glad I wasn't aiming where you are now. Inigo: I am. I'd rather not lose my pants like Kaidan did. Allora: *rubbing her face* No damn respect in this house... Inigo: *walking over to her* I was alerted that it was your birthday! Happy birthday my friend! You do not look a day over twenty seven! Allora: That's because it's still my birthday. *snickers* Inigo: Hehehe. Yes, correct. Allora: Were you going to give me a gift too? Taliesin's still working on his, since he only learned this morning. Inigo: I did not have anything prepared I'm afraid! My apologies. Allora: *waves her hand* Please, don't even worry about it. Gifts are nice, but no obligations necessary. Inigo: I would like to do something with you though, if you were up for it. Allora: Oh? Okay, what's up? Inigo: How would you like to go for a stroll? There is a very pretty place nearby here that I would like to show you! Allora: Weapons needed? Inigo: No, not this time, hehe. Allora: *teasing* You're just afraid to get pantsed. *puts down her bow and quiver* All right, I'm ready. Inigo: Hm... I believe we are missing something. Allora: Oh boy. Inigo: *pulls out a strip of cloth* Oh! I believe this is something we may need! Allora: Inigo. Inigo: That is me! Allora: *walks over to him and gently cups his cheeks and scrubs them* You're a goober. Inigo: *giggling and purring, leaning into her hands* Am I not allowed to have surprises? Allora: *kisses his forehead* You can. Silly. Are you putting it on or am I? Inigo: I will! *carefully ties the cloth around her eyes, making sure she cannot see* There! Now I can take you to the secret- I mean very pretty place! Allora: *dryly* You know, this feels oddly familiar. Can't help but think I'm being kidnapped. Again. Wonder why. Inigo: You are funny. I am merely taking you for a stroll that you cannot see. Come on, I shall guide you. *Inigo guides her along, minding rocks in the path or anything she could trip on, settling her down on the ground; he takes off her blindfold, revealing her sitting on a hill with a great willow tree, looking out along the setting sun from atop the mountain nearby the house with a picnic basket nearby* Allora: Oh... Inigo... Inigo: Is this okay? Allora: *huffs* More than okay. Are we having a picnic date? Inigo: Oh no! You found out my secret plans! I suppose I have no choice but to go along with it with you. Hehe. Allora: *pulls him to sit next to her and kisses his cheek* You're so good to me. Thank you. Inigo: I am merely giving you what you deserve! Happy birthday, Allora. What would you like? I packed away a bunch of goodies! Allora: Hmm... *bounces her finger over the food items before bouncing it over to Inigo with a wink* Don't know why, I've got a whole ass meal right here! Inigo: Please do not eat me. *chuckles and leans his nose into her finger* But yes I am quite handsome. Thank you! Allora: *plucks a sweetroll for Inigo while she takes an apple dumpling* Thank you. This is lovely. Inigo: *leaning his shoulder against hers* Always happy to, my friend.

#I find Inigo to be more qpp relatable than anything else #I hope it reads that way #I wanna give him many kissies of course but he's very in his own head when it comes to accepting affection on a romantic level- so Allora #Would be taking it more at his pace than hers #He gets forehead and nose kissies and many hugs until he's ready #Inigo #Inigo Skyrim #Skyrim #Allora #Dragonborn oc #tes #TESSDE AU #Shorts

[shesaiditwaslikemagic]

rachel roth - comes & goes

just a playful imagine? retweet if you like, comment some thoughts or more imagines? no hate if nothing is correctly written.

like or comment to request anything!

‘greetings, miss y/l/n.’

her eyes glanced up to the ceiling, the surround sound system turning off her grunge music once the voice started to speak. she had always hated bruce’s system voice, it had a thing for sneaking up on people. she was going to have to scold barbara for forgetting to warn her beforehand about it.

“yes oracle?” y/n hummed.

‘mr. grayson has made an appearance on the system’s cameras, ma’am.’

putting down her small gadget she was currently working on, y/n raised a brow curiously. “richard is here..? i’m assuming he’s found out about the news then.” a sigh left her lips, her hand reaching up to soothe the crease in her forehead. “why hasn’t he come in yet- let him in, oracle, and once i leave the cave please close it down.” she sighed and began to place away her tools in their designated places.

‘yes ma’am.’

“and oracle,”

‘yes, miss y/l/n?’

“stop with the informality. it’s y/n.”

‘would you like it if i stopped?’

“i would, please, you’re making me sound old. i’m 19, not 50.”

‘if that’s what you wish, y/n.’

“much obliged, oracle.”

—————————

“ah, y/n,” dick smiled at his oldest friend, who rolled her eyes playfully but had a small smirk on her face. y/n went forward, meeting dick with a tight hug before they pulled away and turned to the rest of his fanatical team. the titans. “it’s good to see you again, goober.”

“goober?” kory tilted her head with a warming smile, which caused y/n to glance to with a sigh.

“i wasn’t alerted that you had more guests with you, dick, but i’ve heard of many stories about you two.” she pointed to said people. “and of course, the shooting laser eyed dog.” y/n then glanced down to the white dog, earning a bark in return.

“y/n. this is connor and kory, also known as-”

“super boy and star fire, yes, i’ve known now for quite some time. lovely to meet you both.”

“she knows us already?” connor tilted his head.

“she’s been keeping tabs with me since the beginning. that’s why she knows why we’re here, don’t you, y/n?” dick glanced back to her.

“if you’re asking me to leak commander barbara gordon’s files about the incident, i can’t exactly do that.” y/n sighed.

kory shrugged. “why not?”

“i’ve already tried. she’s stubborn. reminds me of someone. look, you shouldn’t have come back here to gotham, dick, things are bad enough already as it is now that bruce is on the run.” y/n turned to the vigilante with a glare. “with you being back and without a warning?”

“bruce called for me, y/n.”

“i don’t give a shit if he called you, or a bat flew to your doorstep and delivered you a letter like harry potter.”

“you wouldn’t have said that if he was here-”

“look around, richard, and tell me if you see him! bruce went awol, lost his fucking sanity and killed the joker for what he did to jason- who fucking blundered him with a crowbar! he left gotham. probably sipping a damn martini in corto maltese by now.. so don’t tell me what he would and wouldn’t say.”

“y/n, think about what this could mean for us.”

“for us? or for you?” y/n scoffed, shaking her head in dismay. “look, you can stay and pay your respects to jason’s grave. he buried him besides alfred, but after that, don’t try and help out, don’t go to barbara, just leave.”

with that said, the titans watched as the 19 year old stormed out of the living area of the manor and upstairs, most likely to her bedroom.

————————

a couple of weeks had passed and the titans were still in gotham city, trying to figure everything out with scarecrow, the zombie of jason todd, and how to save gotham. but currently, the city didn’t really like them, or else they wouldn’t be in hiding as of now. because as of now, y/n would be nose-deep in a book, listening to celine dion in her bedroom, away from the madness that was now her home city.

during the attack of red hood, aka jason todd, the team was split around gotham city. y/n had managed to get them out of the police department after their not so comfortable fight with the commissioners and officers. y/n was going to have dick’s head for sure.

but once the team formed up once again, now with the additional members of donna and rachel, they were creating up a plan to find scarecrow’s point of view.

“to understand what a villain is doing, you have to get in their head.” y/n sighed, looking over the maps of all known places jonathan crane would be. “the bastard killed his own mother because they didn’t see eye to eye.”

“find a miracle.”

“why don’t i find you a brain, dumbass?” y/n growled, causing the team’s eyes to widen. “give crane a blow in his little gift to gotham city. blow out his birthday candles. half of gotham city is dead because of this toxin, so let’s start making a solution.”

“and what does that mean exactly?” rachel raised a brow.

“we’re going to create a antidote.” y/n said.

donna and dick glanced to one another, knowing what she was getting at.

“we’re going to create a antidote.” dick nodded.

“like i said,” y/n muttered. “we’ll need the tamaranean’s, miss roth and connor whilst the others will be at town square waiting.”

“for what exactly?”

“the miracle, of course.” she turned to dick, who knew what she meant. “you, gar and scrawny kid over there-”

“tim.” donna rolled her eyes.

“- will go to wayne manor and take it back. crane will be there in the cave, nonetheless, so that will be the perfect time to get him.”

rachel shook her head. “and the bombs?”

“by the time they get to crane, it’ll be disabled and he’ll go into a tantrum fit. which gives you, kory, and her very tall sister along with baby super enough time.” y/n nodded, moving to fold her arms in.

“what about you, goober?”

y/n sighed, looking down at her watch attached to her lips to check the time. “i’ll be going with the three ladies and gentleman to guide them, like a backseat rider. i won’t be in anyone’s way and we all survive until the end, got it?”

“yup. got it, backseat rider.” kory sighed.

“i understand.” connor nodded.

“if it gets us out of this, i’d like to finish the job at once. lead us to the magical portal then, miss roth.” y/n nodded to rachel with a small smile, knowing she could trust the girl the most right now. rachel nodded with a smile back and everyone began to disperse.

———

“purple rain,” donna smiled up at the sky, which was indeed filled with purple clouds as well. it seemed like a miracle… and it was. rachel and the tamaranean’s were able to withhold the lazuras pit as connor added in his freeze breath. when the lightning shocks became too much, donna was able to step in and control the situation without being electrocuted again. y/n hummed softly at the sight above, letting the rain drops dampen her short hair as she stood in between kory and rachel.

“your plan worked flawlessly, y/l/n, well done.” komandi’r turned to the girl, who was silent for the most part. “your people will praise you after this.”

“my people will go back to ignoring me, which is way better than the latter.” y/n huffed softly, stuffing her arms in her coat pockets. “this isn’t a democracy, y’know?”

“the vigilantes of gotham city do not get praised for their work?”

“yeah, i know, a shame.”

“a shame, indeed. on my planet, tamaran, i’ll be sure to mention you to the council.”

kory and donna couldn’t help but laugh softly at the alien, the sister patting her shoulder as a sign of small compassion. y/n shook her head with a chuckle as well, beginning to walk away from the group.

“we’ll see about that. i’m not really a vigilante. i just work for the people who pay me, nothing more.”

“bruce pays you for making his gadgets?” rachel tilts her head.

y/n stuttered. “well- no… but he pays with a roof over my head and food on the table. that’s the thing about mr. wayne, he has a soft spot for strays. especially the intelligent ones.” she stopped just in front of them and crossed her arms. “this will be our goodbyes from here on.”

“you’re leaving gotham?” rachel frowned.

“yes,” she nodded gently. “just to work on some personal things of mine before i can come back. maybe i’ll head to san francisco and see where the road takes me? who knows.” she glanced to rachel, who still held the small frown but knew where y/n was getting at. working under bruce wayne without a name for herself wasn’t the ideal life she wanted.

when bruce found y/n, she was covered in rat shit and sewer water with the rags on her back for clothing. she was 5 at the time, and trusted no one other than bruce, dick, and alfred. bruce hadn’t started her training until she was 7, letting her step into the bat cave for the first time and do what she did best, work on gadgets. when she turned 13, she helped assist bruce, dick, and barbara with a robbery with gadgets she had designed. the impact was great for her, it taught her all the things she needed to know along with martial arts fighting and acrobatics, like dick, who taught her. everything was changing for her, but she had no time to prepare for the outcome of it.

donna broke the small silence with a soft sigh and nod. “i wish you luck with what you find then, goober..”

“i know you do. we’ll see each other again, don’t worry.” y/n glanced to rachel with her reassuring smile, who smiled back softly and nodded her head, moving to walk forward and bring y/n into a tight hug. y/n hummed softly in thought and returned the hug, knowing rachel wasn’t going to let go until she received one back. “you’ll do great. i believe you have more potential than you think, rachel, just don’t let that beautiful gem stop you for making those choices. i’ll keep in touch, like always.”

“thank you, y/n.” rachel whispered, tilted her head a bit so it was closer skin to skin contact. “i better hear from you soon, or else.”

“yes, ma’am.” y/n chuckled and leaned back away from the hug, turning to donna who wanted a hug next. “i’ll be sure to call weekly.”

“every friday’s at 4 pm. attach that to your brain or i’ll release krypto on your ass, goober.” donna threatened playfully, hugging her tightly so they’d sway around loosely.

y/n smiled. “already attached.” she pulled away from her hug and turned to kory and komandi’r, giving them subtle nods. “kory, make sure dick doesn’t get himself killed, yes?”

“no promises, but for you? i’ll try my best.” kory blew a playful kiss, causing y/n to shake her head with a laugh. “best of travels, y/n y/l/n.”

with her small smile and mysterious eyes, y/n nodded her head to the four women and turned to the city one last time, gazing over everything before she let out a soft sigh and began walking through the empty streets of a reformed gotham city, not once turning back to the purple-haired beauty that was aching for her to return.

#rachel roth #teen titans #titans season 3 #dick grayson #kory anders #donna troy #connor kent #raven roth #red hood #nightwing #starfire #superboy #gotham #dcmultiverse #batman #angst with a happy ending #i’m done

[popquizhot-shot]

The Avenger and The Crow-4

A very big thank you to my jaan @confuscita​ for helping me with this chapter!

here’s chapter 4!!

warnings: None. Just heist stuff ig?

Taglist:@aleksanderwh0r3 @cleverzonkwombatsludge @dark-night-sky-99 @nightlovesyou @fangirl-with-a-shippers-heart  @kazscrow​ @mrs-brekker15​

The plan was simple. Kaz, Loki and you had to break into the merch’s house and steal the ledger along with some official documents. Inej and Jesper were on lookout for strange activity, Nina and Wylan were in charge of the escape route and Matthias was the getaway driver.

“ Why can’t you just use your magic to steal the ledger?”  Inej asked Loki, “ you’re a god right?” as they were waiting for Kaz’s signal to move.

Apparently Inej was the only one with actual brain cells here.

“ Although I am a god, don’t overestimate me darling.” Loki replied.

“ Top ten things Loki says to Y/n on their wedding night.” Jesper snorted.

“ Jes, shut up. Loki, I’m sure you can do it if you put your back into it.” you reply.

“ Top ten things Y/n says to Loki on their wedding night.” Nina added.

Retching at the thought, you playfully hit her shoulder.

At that moment, Kaz walked back and said, “ We should split up now.”

“ Top ten things Kaz-” Jesper began but was dragged away by Inej.

“ What was Jesper going to say?”  Kaz enquired.

“ Oh! Nothing of consequence!” you say, trying not to burst out laughing.

Rolling his eyes, Kaz beckons you and Loki to follow him inside the mansion.

~~

“ Shut up and stay close to me.” Kaz ordered as you all walked in silence, looking out for patrolling guards. 

He stopped in front of a door and was about to start picking it, when it unlocked on it’s own.

He looked at you and you smile sheepishly, “ You’re welcome.”

He didn’t reply, just went inside, beckoning you and Loki to come.

Loki made a face and followed him inside, you followed him.

The merch’s office was lit up by moonlight, making it a bit easier to see. Loki brought his hand up and created balls of green light and floated them to corners of the room, the room becoming much brighter.

Kaz’s eyes widened just a bit before going back to normal and saying, “ Look for the papers, the ledger is in the safe.”

He walked over to the safe and worked on picking it. Meanwhile, you and Loki looked for the documents,

Kaz was normally focused, but he was annoyed to find himself seeking you out every five seconds.

‘Focus you podge’

He heard a click, but something wasn’t right. The safe was open but-

He just managed to hear the whiz of the dart before he turned to his right.

To find the dart a literal centimeter from his forehead, floating in mid-air, before falling to the ground.

He looked at you, beads of sweat on your forehead, holding your hand out.

‘You saved my life’

“I saved you from becoming a kebab Brekker, Ha! You are now indebted to me.” you raise your elbow to rest it on a large vase but missed the goddamn thing by a mile, making it topple and almost fall . Awkwardly you try again, before giving up and crossing your arms in front of you. (like Thor in Ragnarok, this was my jaan @confuscita’s idea. go follow her).

Inej swooped in through the window to find Kaz staring at you, with your arms crossed in front of you, an awkward smile on your face. Loki was trying not to laugh.

What surprised her the most was Kaz’s expression, he wasn’t glaring at you, nor was he scrutinizing you, the look in his eyes, she didn’t see it  often.

It was wonder.

Kaz too, found himself confused. Why the hell was he not angry? Instead he found you weirdly cute.

“What? What is wrong with me? I need coffee”

“Kaz..the safe.” Inej whispered.

Immediately alert again, he glared at her and opened the safe, snatched the ledger and said, “ Let’s go. Lead the way Wraith.” Inej nodded and walked out, but not before sharing a meaningful look with Loki. Kaz followed, leaving you and Loki to scramble behind.

~~

“ Romanoff! I hope you’ve gotten the footage! Things are not looking good here!” Bucky’s voice came through the comms.

“ Hold ‘em off Barnes, I’m almost done.” Nat said, focusing on saving the footage along with extra information.

“ Romanoff!” Bucky’s scream echoed throught the comms.

“ aaaaand done.” Nat smirked and pulled out the goober.

She adjusted her suit before kicking the door open,

“ Hello boys.”  she smiled her Widow smile.

“ You guys are royally screwed.” Bucky said.

#Echo actually writes #kaz brekker #kaz brekker imagine #kaz brekker x reader #loki #loki x reader #Loki x six of crows #bucky barnes #winterwidow #loki x jesper #inej x reader #inej x loki #The Avenger and the Crow series

[dragoninatrenchcoat]

I watched johnny mnemonic because it takes place today january 17 2021 and I wanted to blog about it without bothering anyone with repetitive posts or whatever cuz I don’t post too often, so instead I just took notes and I’m uploading them all at once. generally just read it like an unhinged twitter stream. hope you like it

uh oh um keanu reeves is bad at acting

omg his brain can only fit 160GB and that’s after doubling it from 80. my phone is more powerful than keanu reeves

his brain can only fit 160gb. Dude like “this is 350GB can u fit that?” keanu idot boy all “yeah dude dw” fucker that aint how ~~technology~~ works

you can’t install 300 gigs of data on a 160 gig drive by smacking it and saying “suck it up”

actually looking a little bit closer it appears that everyone’s acting sucks which brings mr reeves up to par

Notably this film does have a plague in it

reeves do b wearin a long coat go woosh when he fights do you think it’s in his contract

this is just making me want to watch john wick which I’ve heard is [checks notes] good

ok the part where they haggle her price while he’s tied up and she’s straddling him while fighting off a room full of gangsters is admittedly badass

is the silver shit the women are wearing supposed to be armor? groundbreaking

“I’m on you till you pay” misty from pokemon vibes

“what do you think about when you’re alone?” oh these two are gonna have a kissing scene aren’t they. who needs chemistry when you have two het leads

“thompson iphones”? an iphone that isn’t apple? that makes literally no sense. unless “thompson” is a hacking term I’m not aware of

oh I am LOVING this internet VR interface. I’ve done VR before and I can tell I would DEFINITELY get motion sickness from this setup

bodyguard: [has a seizure] keanu reeves: look I can see you’re going through something but you ARE fired

this movie literally says covid was caused by 5G

they pronounced 2006 as “twenty oh-six”

“EHHHUHHHUHHH, why did you have to dO thAT? OoooOOOOOoOOH???” - man whose arm just got shattered

Ooh a Woman’s Naked Back!!!! Edgy

yall though his monologue about room service is badass too it’s like they had a great script but most of it burned in an unfortunate cigarette butt incident and they had to make up the rest on the spot. all that’s left is that scene where they negotiate her price, and the room service rant

she looks kinda like me at some angles. if her nose was shittier she’d look more like me- oh they’re kissing now. que surprise

I do like the dolphin. uh, spoiler alert? there’s a dolphin

I looked away for a moment, why is the dolphin crying

I wish they’d done a better job on johnny’s makeup. It’s cool that he’s #fucked up at the end but I feel like he could be #more #fucked up

bounty hunter really did just say “jesus time” before trying to choke her out huh

ok this is on me for straight up not paying attention for the past 5 minutes but the dolphin killing jesus bounty hunter is a definite plus. wow though they really did that death scene. sonic disruption? electricity? fire? ominous music? they got it all

actually it appears that I missed literally nothing. bad guys died, mr reeves got the goober. we good

straight up though. the AI lady actress has what? 30 total lines? and one of them is “the dolphin can take you through the data” or some shit. amazing

anyway I’m here for more stories featuring sentient dolphins

helmet gives me matrix vibes. low hanging fruit? maybe

did this dude really announce the to the world that they have the cure before even making sure they could break the code

SPAGHETTIFICATION ALERT FUCK EW OH NO KEANU REEVES IS A BAD CGI MAN STOP HIM

I can’t believe johnny mnemonic is actually the matrix EW HIS FACE OH NO OH NO THIS ENTIRE CG SEQUENCE IS INCREDIBLY UNFORTUNATE

and that’s the story of how keanu reeves and a dolphin used the matrix to stop covid

look ok I get that I was only mostly paying attention but did I miss them having chemistry or was it just not there to begin with (place your bets)

directed by robert longo

#johnny mnemonic #watch party #? #what do I call it #liveblog #forgot the word lmao

[galahadwilder]

Protection - A Post-Chameleon Story

Marinette sighed as she sipped her hot chocolate and tried not to cry. Today had been awful, maybe the worst day she’d had since Tikki had given her the courage to start standing up to Chloé. In the space of a day, the whole class had turned against her and there was nothing she could do about it!

She wanted to curl up into bed and sleep for a week. Just... stop everything and let the world take care of itself for a few days. See how well everything got along without her.

She sighed again. She wouldn’t do that, she knew - that was just spite talking. Spite and depression. She wasn’t that kind of person; not anymore. She’d keep fighting for them anyway.

Whether or not they actually appreciated her for it.

Her eyelids quivered and she tried not to shudder as she thought of going back to spending the year alone, without anyone by her side. The thought might’ve been tolerable, once, but that had been back when she’d been ignored. Before they’d told her they’d appreciate her, and then turned their backs on her without warning. The only one of them who’d stood by her side was Adrien, and that was a cold comfort when he was too scared to actually stand up for her.

She jumped at the sound of a knock on her trapdoor. “Hey, Marinette?” Alya’s voice said through the hatch, soft and hesitant. “You up here?”

Marinette groaned. “Go away, Alya,” she mumbled.

“Marinette?”

Marinette huffed and hugged herself. Maybe if she stayed quiet, Alya would think she was gone and leave. Which she realized didn’t make sense, but Alya had done a lot of things that didn’t make sense today.

“Marinette,” Alya said, "You have to let me up eventually.”

And suddenly Marinette found she couldn’t take it anymore. “Why don’t you go spend time with your new best friend?” she snapped.

Alya was silent for a moment. “Okay, I’m coming up,” she said, before slamming the hatch open and charging onto the rooftop.

Marinette turned away from her, trying to hide the stinging tears on her cheek. “If you’re just going to tell me to lay off her again—”

Alya wrapped her arms around Marinette’s torso from behind. “I was trying to protect you, you... you absolute goober.”

What?

“What do you mean?” Marinette demanded softly.

“I, uh...” Alya squeezed Marinette’s arms, then sighed. “Look. We know you. We trust you. You say Lila was lying? Then Lila was lying.”

“So why did you take her side?”

Alya unwrapped herself from her friend and opened her phone. “Look,” she said, handing Marinette her screen. It was open to a photo of Volpina, four months ago, dragging an illusion of Adrien up the Eiffel Tower.

“We didn’t take her side,” Alya said. “We were humoring her.” She shook her head. “Look, I’m a reporter. You honestly think I didn’t look into the fact that our class was missing a student before today?” She leaned forward and pointed at the phone. “Before this morning, the only thing I knew about her was that she’d already been Akumatized twice, managed to hide it, and both times she tried to murder somebody.” She frowned. “And today makes three for three.”

Marinette tilted her head. She and Chat Noir hadn’t revealed that Adrien had been an illusion, she suddenly remembered. But Lila hadn’t shown herself on Heroes’ Day... “Wait,” she said. “Twice?” Alya couldn’t have known about Heroes’ Day, even she hadn’t been sure.

Alya smiled and put a finger to her lips. “I’ve got my sources,” she said. Then she frowned. “But yeah, if today proved anything, it’s that Rossi is unstable.” She hugged Marinette again. “I just didn’t want her hurting you...”

Marinette felt tears squeeze out, but for an entirely different reason than before. “So, wait,” she said. “The—the whole class knew about this?”

Alya nodded. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get you the message,” she said. “Lila was right there and we couldn’t figure out how to tell you without alerting her.”

Marinette sobbed, throwing her arms around Alya. “I th-th-thought you’d all abandoned me...”

Alya grinned and patted Marinette on the back. “Never,” she said.

#protection #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #marinette dupain cheng #alya cesaire #chameleon #post chameleon #chameleon fix fic #fix fic #fic #my fic #original content

[fightevilandthengetblownup]

FIC: With Wax Melted I

---

“Morning, pretty one.” Grey murmured the words gently as he felt the blonde crown against his chest slowly start to move. It had been a rather peaceful night in the overall scheme of things - only having to smooth away the frightened expression on her brow twice over the night, and the time it took for Jo to recover from her usual morning waking nightmares was under two minutes from the moment he pressed her ear to his chest - and he’d actually managed to replace one of the villagers he’d been wanting to change out that night. “Sleep well?”

“Always next ta you, hun.” Jo mumbled back quietly, giving a soft yawn as she covered her hand against her mouth. As she snuggled in against him, nose nuzzling at his chest for a moment, Grey couldn’t help the smile from growing across his face. “You ready for your own?”

“I don’t need to, Jo-” “Sure you do, hunny.” “I got some rest last night, I’m good.”

“No, Grey, you need to get some rest. And-” The smile that crept across her face was wide and beautiful and everything he liked to wake up to in a morning, and Jo’s eyes were wider and more alert than normal as she looked up at him. “- I need you to stay in bed so I can make breakfast anyways!”

Grey couldn’t help the feelings swamping through him looking down at her earnest smile and how big and wide and hopeful her eyes were. It was like looking into liquid chocolate, and he was as weak to them as he was it.

“Oh? Why are you making your breakfast today?” He asked quietly, stroking his fingers through her hair and all Grey could think about was staying in bed like this until they were eventually disturbed by their fluffy baby’s whines for breakfast. “I thought I usually did Friday mornings.”

Jo raised a brow at him for a moment before that smile grew all the wider, and Grey’s own eyes widened in surprise when he realized just what he’d missed. “Hunny, today’s your day. I’m makin’ breakfast today, you goober.”

“Oh.” He hadn’t exactly forgotten. It had been an amazing surprise last year to wake up to so many treats, but Jo hadn’t said anything about it this year, and he’d felt uncertain about expecting anything this year - maybe there’d be a cake or Jo’d bake something special, but maybe not. He’d thought it might have been a once off, that maybe it wasn’t a thing Jo would remember to do either. But then again, he should have thought better of her. “Oh, I-”

“Had forgotten?” “...I didn’t say that.”

“Didn’t have to.” Jo replied with a smile, fingers curled in the fabric of his t-shirt, and Grey practically melted as she leaned up to press a soft, gentle kiss to his lips. This is how he always wanted to wake up. As she pulled back, he trailed his own fingers into her hair and tugged her gently back in for another sweet kiss. There was a laugh as she pulled back again after another long moment, before smiling gently at him. “So - you’re goin’ to get some sleep while I make you a treat, hun?”

“I guess I must.” Grey chuckled back with his own smile, nodding under the determined look from the other despite the crease marks on her cheek from her nights rest.

There was a decisive nod before Jo leant in for another kiss before quietly climbing out of bed. Watching her, the long expanse of skin and the dark swirls he couldn’t get enough of peeking out from beneath her underwear and his old blue t-shirt she’d stolen for her own sleeping attire, Grey considered tugging her back down to have a real good wake up but reconsidered. She must have planned something for the day, and he did so love her surprises, and a small part of him wasn’t sure how she’d take his trying to spoil her plans when she didn’t intentionally try to stop his. No matter how bad his plans had been for her day.

Grey missed watching Jo duck out of the room, lost in his thoughts and the frown that was the only reflection of his feelings that might have given her any reason to pause if she had looked back.

Sinking down in the bed, burrowing in under the blankets as much as he was burrowing in on himself, Grey curled up in on himself with a harsh sigh as he tried to focus on what Jo had asked of him rather than on the mass of self-loathing feelings that were swirling remembering her counter part to whatever was to happen today. Jo’s day... Her day had been a nightmare, he was sure of it. He must have ruined it all, even though she swore he hadn’t and what she told him had been the low point of the day felt and sounded so different to what he recalled, he still had brought that day down. And now? Now she was trying to surprise him with something he was sure would be amazing, astounding even. And all he could think was how he was sure to ruin her intentions again.

Closing his eyes tightly, it was the heavy feeling of the mattress dipping and something heavy and warm sitting down on the blankets the roused him out of his thoughts finally. Their darling girl always seemed to know where she was needed. Pulling his head free from the covers, he was unsurprised to be face to face with those big soft eyes and the heavy warmth of dog-breath that made him want to wrinkle his nose but also bury closer to the pup in thanks.

“You’re a good girl.” Grey murmured quietly to the dog as he shifted onto his side and reached a hand out to run through the soft fur as Nana shuffled about to get herself in a position comfortable for both dreams and pets. Letting out a shaky breath, he pulled the pillow still warm and softly scented with vanilla beneath his face and settled in to the comforting scent and the softness of their baby’s fur under his fingers as he tried to focus on those instead of his thoughts swirling.

It must have worked and he must have fallen to sleep at some point, as the next thing he knew Jo was gently begging their girl to shuffle down the bed and balancing that bed tray from last year in her hands. That this seemed to be beginning to become tradition from her made Grey smile as he managed to blink himself awake.

Reaching out, he took the tray while Jo settled herself in next to him looking exactly as she had when she’d left the bed - her hair sleep rumpled and nothing new on top of her sleep attire - but more alert and the smile on her lips was that little bit more awake. As the blonde finally settled, Grey rested the tray down across their laps.

“Mornin’ ‘gain, hun.” “Morning again, pretty one.”

The kiss they shared that time was just as sweet as the last few, and it didn’t break until the quiet, desperate whine from the third inhabitant of the bed staring impatiently at their covered dishes caught their attention. Grey found himself chuckling quietly at the dog’s antics, and then louder when he noticed that her breakfast dish was sat at the end of the bed but with a cover over it. “What’s all this then? Since when does Nana get breakfast in bed?”

“Since I thought it unfair if we did and she didn’t get to too.” Jo replied with a smile that had her tongue sticking out between her teeth in a flash of pink before she leaned down and lifted the cover from the dog’s breakfast with a showy flourish. There was a pause where the pup stared longingly at her bowl before glancing towards her mommy in a begging way before Jo waved her free hand. “Okay, babygirl, you can eat now. All yours.”

Nana didn’t have to be told twice, and as the pup descended with a relish upon her food bowl - and what looked to be those home made biscuits Jo had been working on rather than anything that might leave a mess - Grey turned his own attention suddenly equally ravenous to the covered plates and bowls on their tray.

There was a second before Jo unveiled with the same showy flourish their own breakfast, and Grey found himself pressing a kiss against the crown of her head for a second - caught in the scent of home and love and vanilla - before glancing down at their meal.

It was an astounding array of colors - fresh and bright and vibrant in a way that Grey barely imagined breakfast could look, a bountiful mix of bright green and yellow and orange and red, all with the colorful plates and the bright pink rose tucked in the middle that set everything off. There was a cast iron pan in the center, resting on a bright buttercup yellow heat pad, that was filled with what he thought must be the main dish - an eggy frittata like dish full to abundance of fresh herbs that smelled like coriander and dill and basil in almost equal measure, and as Jo cut into and dished a slice up on each of their powder blue plates he could see the thin lower crust of golden brown sliced potatoes and the bright yellow coloration from the saffron strands and tumeric running through the egg mixture and potatoes. And that wasn’t even taking into account the thick Brioche slices that were the gorgeous golden brown from being turned into french toast and the thin coating of cinnamon sugar was covered with what looked to be a layer of whippped mascarpone and slivered almonds, drizzled with honey; and the bright bowl of citrus salad that looked to be thin, well-prepared slices of oranges, blood oranges, grapefruit, finger limes and kumquats that looked like a bowl of sunshine all it’s own. Beside the bowls were two mugs, and if his wasn’t a cup of coffee then he would eat the mug itself.

Picking up his fork, Grey couldn’t stop the surprised noise at how delicious the mix of herbs and the sweet floral notes of the saffron potatoes was. It was just right for the morning - savory and eggy, and clearly filling to fuel whatever Jo had planned for the day - and he took a long sip of his coffee before finally setting his fork down with a look of wonder.

“Pretty one,” He found himself smiling at the way Jo’s head jerked up from where she was cutting up a slice of her own breakfast, and the adorable way her cheeks swelled up around the far too big a mouthful as she glanced up at him. Giving a quiet laugh as Grey watched her chew a few times and then those cheeks suck back in as she blinked and blushed prettily. “This? This tastes amazing. What on earth did you make?”

“It’s, uh, called kuku or somethin’?” Jo shrugged a shoulder, cutting herself another forkful before mumbling quietly. “It’s a... Persian thing? Kind of like a frittata but good for usin’ up herbs and eggs and stuff?”

“Using up, huh?” “Well, there were such nice bunches at the market I had ta buy them!”

“Makes sense. This is delicious, Jo.” Grey complimented again, enjoying the pale pink that dusted across his blonde’s cheeks and nose at his words, taking another mouthful himself and just simply enjoying the flavors. She would have to give him this recipe to try to replicate himself sometime, but Grey knew he’d never make it taste as good as this very first time. This dish made with love by his love. “You’re real talented, you know. And don’t you try to deny it.”

“You ‘aven’t even had any of the French toast yet, hun,” Jo replied as she gulped down a mouthful of green tea and smiled back at him, waggling her fork about. “You can’t say this is delicious ‘til you’ve had a bit of everythin’. Maybe the French toast or the citrus is gross and then the whole breakfast is ruined.”

Grey laughed at her insistence, and shook his head gently, reaching out a hand to pull her in for a kiss all over again before he kissed her nose and forehead gently with a smile. “Fine, pretty one, I’ll keep my compliments until the end. But by then there will be so many more to add too.” He chuckled to himself as the other blushed all over again and ducked her head bashfully before they both turned their attention in companionable silence back to their breakfast.

As he finished off the last of his main dish, Grey let out a soft sigh at just how full he felt looking over at Jo of both the delicious food but more so of love watching as Jo gently separated a few layers of potato from the base of her breakfast and tossed them into their fluffy pup’s bowl to enjoy as well. It felt so much like home deep inside of him, it felt so right and peaceful sitting there despite the cloudy skies outside and the light sheen of rain that seemed to be hanging in the air, it felt so warm despite it all watching his love and enjoying the spoils of her toil in a way that made everything feel golden. Shaking the thought away, Grey took a few sips of his coffee to clear his mouth out ready for the sweet portion of breakfast.

The winter citruses were all juicy and sweet and tart in their own ways, and the cooling warmth of the French toast had resulted in the marscapone becoming like a slightly softened sauce that added a creaminess beside the sharp tang of the citrus fruits and the sugary sweetness of the French toast. It all worked together so well, and Grey felt himself swallowing down a laugh to himself that Jo thought he’d have any change of opinion after trying that as well.

“Jo... You’ve out done yourself.” He practically moaned around the next mouthful, enjoying the crunch of the almonds amongst the rest of the juicy, creamy dish. “Really, where’d you come up with this from?”

“Uh,” The blush was back, and leaning in, Grey kissed a quick trail following the spread of her blush across those gorgeous cheeks with a smile. Jo giggled quietly, batting him away and giggling some more when he refused to move until he’d catch the taste of her lips too, before saying softly, “I was talkin’ to one of the old lady’s at the market. She suggested I make the fruit salad, and I... thought it’d be nice on the French toast?”

“You, my love, are an absolute genius.” “Stop that, no I’m not.” “Jo, you said you’d take the compliments now.” “Never said I wouldn’t deny them!”

“That’s very true!” Grey laughed along with her gently, smiling equally softly back at the smile he received before he shook his head gently. “Well, you are, and this breakfast is amazing. You really didn’t have to put this much effort in.” He quickly shook his head again and lifted a hand to cover the other’s lips with a finger, holding back her denials. “Don’t try to say you didn’t Jo, even if it turns out this wasn’t a labor intensive breakfast. You still put a lot of heart into it to taste so so good, so don’t try to deny it.”

Jo looked uncertain and her lips twitched, tongue flicked out to wetten them and brush gently against his finger in the process, before she seemed to back down from denying his claims. Giving a tiny nod, Grey smiled widely at the soft look he received and the way the blonde shuffled to sit closer to him, thigh pressed up against his own. “Okay, hun. I’m just glad you like it.”

“Like it? I love it.” Grey replied gently, picking up his utensils again and taking a few more mouthfuls of the heaven on a plate before licking his lips clean and leaning back with a satiated sigh at the delicious meal as he picked up his coffee to finish slowly. Waiting a moment, he glanced towards Jo with uncertainty. “So... what else is on the agenda today?”

“You’ll just have ta wait and see.” Came the cheeky response, but Grey let out a laugh to himself having expected just that from the other - she did so love to surprise him. As they cuddled in together, taking in the last few mouthfuls before Jo moved the empty tray off to the dresser before jumping back in bed, it felt like the absolutely perfect way to start off a day.

---

Jo’s hair was wet and leaving a tiny trail of dampness along the back of her sweatshirt, but Grey thought it just added to the detail he was taking his time drawing out just right.

They’d taken a while to finally get out of bed, taking it slow and just appreciating the quiet patter of the drizzling rain on the window pane as they’d cuddled and talked about nothing. Jo had gone to do the dishes while Grey had jumped in the shower, and when the blonde had come up to shower, he’d stolen more than a handful of kisses and touches rather than getting out himself until they were both all squeaky clean and bright pink from both the heat and their antics. It had taken all of a few moments for Grey to try and wheedle out Jo’s plans for the day again before he finally gave up getting more than knowing and sweet smiles and opted to copy Jo in jeans and a sweater. Nana had curled up in the middle of their bed, burrowed under the blankets and had only snuffed out a quiet bark when they’d dared to disturb her when trying to make the bed.

“Hey hunny,” Jo pulled him out of his focus on shading in the dark spread on her back just right, and blinking Grey raised a brow back at her. “Whatcha doin’?”

“Just... a sketch.” “Of what?” “The most beautiful thing in the world.” “...You’re sketchin’ Nana?”

Grey found himself laughing at that, smiling ruefully back at the blonde’s faked confused look, before shaking his head. “No, not right now.”

“Would you be able’ta without her ‘round for reference?” The question caught him off guard, Jo’s eyes wide and curious as she shifted about from her spot sitting on the floor between couch and coffee table before him to look towards him. She rarely asked about his sketching - or rather, Grey was used to her asking more about if he needed more equipment or less technical questions like if he was feeling happy or moody - and as Jo span about to rest her forearms on his knees, he felt a strange something bubbling in his chest at her interest. At his nod to the question, the wishful sigh that came up caught his attention even further. “I wish I could do that.”

“Did you... did you want to learn?” It was a strange idea that flitted through his mind that brought those words out. The glimmer of an idea, barely a ghost that was drifting through as if expecting not to be caught, but he found his voice reaching out to catch it before it could leave. “I mean, I’m not... It’s not like I’ve learned technically, but I could show you what I do?”

“Yeah?” “If... If you wanted to, then yes.”

The megawatt smile was there and the fear his idea was silly or Jo’d not actually meant it disappeared under it’s blinding light. The blonde popped up at that point and bounced to her feet before straight down beside him on the couch, cuddled into his side and practically bleeding with warmth as she curled into him.

Lifting his arm to give her space, Grey dropped it around her side as Jo practically clambered into his lap until they were a heart all their own and their knees were the point which held up his sketchbook. Looking embarrassed at the sketch of Jo’s wet tresses and the shape of her shoulders and back, he quickly flipped to the next blank page as Jo got comfortable and plucked his pencil from his own fingers.

“Okay, so, first thing - how do you want her to be?” He asked quietly, the tone softer as her ear was so close that Grey didn’t want to surprise the other or jolt her, before trailing his hand down around her back to cover her hand holding the pencil.

“I dunno, I guess like... sittin’?” “Oh her hind legs or like dropped on the ground?” “Hmmm... Like when she’s spotted a bird out the back door window and not sure how to get out to it?” “Ah, that one we both know very well.”

Jo nodded, the damp of her hair cool against his cheek as he hooked his chin over her shoulder to look down at the page.

Guiding their hand towards the page, Grey gently drew the very simplest of lines and shapes that would form the base shape for the drawing and act as a support frame to the eventual image. Jo’s fingers were so soft and thin and dainty in his calloused ones, but as he rubbed the pad of his thumb against the underside of her palm he could feel the equally hard callouses that simply represented his love’s hard work. It felt so strange in the best kind of way to him the dichotomy of softness and strength that he loved so much, and the way her fingers curled into his at the slightest touch was magic to him. Breathing in deeply against her neck as Grey stared down at the most basic of outlines, he took a moment for himself before he could break himself out of the overwhelming presence to continue.

“Hun?” Jo whispered the word out, and shaking his thoughts free, he pecked a quick kiss to the underside of her chin getting a giggle. “What’ve we drawn?”

“This is just the frame.” Grey replied gently, moving their hands towards starting the sweeping shape of the dog’s back, chest and tail thumping against an invisible floor, as more firm lines around the frame. The quick sharp straights of her front leg, and then he let go of Jo’s hand for a second to let her copy the movement for the other front paw. “Yeah, exactly like that. And now-”

“We can’t do the head yet, gotta do her back feetsies, right?” The other chirped, already guiding the pencil towards almost the right spot to draw a shape that looked like what should be the back leg but curved the wrong way for the position. There was a pause, and glancing out the corner of his eye, he could see the way the blonde brows furrowed in on themselves in confusion. “Huh...”

“Ah, see, that legs tricky.” Grey said gently, picking up the eraser and quickly vanishing the line away before guiding her hand back into position. Twisting so the line would glide the other way to curve correctly, he gently moved through that motion as he rubbed the outside of her fingers with his thumb. “You think that it should go the other way because that’s how it’d be for a human leg, dogs have more bones and bends in their legs than we do so it goes the opposite way.”

“Oh. Oooh, I would’ve never got that without Nana in front of me!” “It definitely takes practice. And I’ve drawn a lot of our girl, so I just have a bit more practice than you.”

The rest of the drawing flew by with gentle guidance and as Jo started shading in the various mottles of their pup’s coat, Grey slowly traced along a line of his own - pressing his lips gently against the curve of her neck and sighing quietly to himself about how right it all felt. They bickered quietly about the right expression, and Jo kissed his nose repeatedly to get her way when he’d pointed out that Nana never let her tongue hang out in an unladylike fashion while Jo was adamant she looked adorable when she did. Together they shaded in the image, and Grey took control of the pencil shortly after sketching in the shape of the door and the silhouette of a bird fluttering outside the window and then the slender lines of the most amazing legs he’d ever seen just to the edge of the image coming to open the door for the patient pup. It wasn’t the best drawing from an artistic point he’d ever done, but looking down at it as Jo’s fingers smudged the shaded fur just right, it was one of his absolute favorites right then and there.

“Wow, hun, you made that so easy.” Jo’s exclamation was sweet and soft and breathy as she drew her charcoal dark fingers to her lips, smiling as soft as those lips were, before tapping the page. “This was fun. Thank you for teachin’ me.”

“Any time, pretty one.” He couldn’t help purring the words out and then catching her slightly grey lips with his; the morning had been just too wonderful and relaxing and everything felt like the warmth pounding through his veins. “I’m thinking I should get this one framed - one of yours to go with the one of mine in the hall-”

“Oh, no no no!” Jo shook her head rapidly, blushing furiously red as she drew back. “Oh no way, this is only good cause of your work, hun, and I wouldn’t want to detract from my precious water color with this one that I almost ruined!”

“Jo, you didn’t almost ruin anything-” “I drew her leg backwards!” “-No, look how perfectly you got her splodges and coloring? You didn’t ruing anything. But... Fine, I’ll keep this one all to myself then.”

The blush got deeper and stronger, and Grey found himself laughing quietly as he snapped the sketchbook shut gently before the other could try to pull it from him. “Nuh uh, all mine, Jo. This is all mine, made by and with you.”

“Greeeeey,” The other whined quietly, nuzzling in against him and letting out a quiet giggle as he bopped her on the top of the head with the book before pressing a kiss right after it. With a huff, Jo’s lips pulled into a tiny pouting scowl before she let out another huff and a soft sigh. “Okay, fine, you can keep it. But I want somethin’ in return!”

“Oh? What’s that?” “Since we’ve done some sketchin’-” “Mhmm?” “- You can draw me another tattoo instead then!”

The victorious way that she said it confused him for a moment, the words sounding strange and weird, before they finally made sense. Or as much sense as a sentence but not so much an idea or anything really to him.

Frowning and shaking his head, Grey asked curiously, “What do you mean? Like.. a sketch? For you to do like that other one?” His hand flashed down to resting over the hip that bore in unremovable ink a momentous display of Jo’s love in getting his art work forever imprinted beneath her skin. It had been flooring, and altogether awe-inspiring the first time he’d seen it, and every moment since. But the idea of sitting down and coming up with something knowingly to leave a mark across her from him felt overwhelming. “I-I-I I don’t know, Jo, that’s a... t-that’s a lot of pressure to do-”

“Oh no!” The other cut him off quickly with an excited giggle before she bounced up from where he’d been wrapped around her and Jo moved quickly into the hallway. He’d just started to get up when she came bounding back in a flounce of blonde hair and excitement, holding up proudly a handful of different Sharpies towards him. “I just meant doodlin’. You know, temporary tattoo like?”

“Huh.” Grey’s brain was taking another moment to catch up, before the way Jo shimmied out of her jeans and left them discarded in a pile on the floor to pull him to his feet jerked him out of his state of confused shock. “You want me.. to... draw a tattoo.. On you?” He slowly found his way through the idea as the blonde laid down on the couch and pulled him to sit back down too.

“Yep!” The sheer sweetness in her voice caught him off guard, thinking a mile a minute about the idea and the pressure that had been catching in his mind fading a little to realize that this was just for fun. Just for play. Just something for them. Jo stretched lazily across the sofa, twisting this way and that for a moment that gave a flash of more skin before she pulled her arms under her head to pillow it. “Whatever you think of or would think’d look nice. Free reign.”

That idea itself was somehow slightly stressful in and of itself, but as Jo tugged the hip of her underwear higher to give him the same range of space that was covered on her other side with his work already, his hand moved like it was a piece of debris caught in her orbit. Popping the lid off of the fine black Sharpie, he found his mind blank but his hand moving on instinct to start sketching carefully some shape.

It took many gentle strokes of ink across skin before he realized what his fingers and mind had thought of together rather than the blank, concerned fog he’d been in. The silhouette of the sun and the burning wings from flying too close yet the hand still reached back up towards it as the form fell downwards, all surrounded by black birds like those on another part of the tanned skin and the wavy lines of smoke or shadows that were the pit the focal point fell towards. It was sharp and too dark on the soft skin beneath it, but the sharp jagged line that cut along Jo’s hip became a beam of light that cut through the image as a whole that made it all the more brutal in his eyes. Grey drew his hand back uncertain to the way the other would take what was covering her skin now.

Glancing up, he saw Jo was more focused on her phone, and blushing in embarrassment and his own hubris of the unconscious decision, he quickly added a sunflower in the vacant space the sun should go and a bed of flowers to catch the man who reached too far. It felt too soft with those additions, but also still not as soft as his love deserved. A few petals fell beside the reaching man, tears from the sunflower as much as falling feathers.

“Oh!”

The quiet exclamation and rush of breath from the other as Grey had started to go in and shade the edges of the petals and the smoke of the wings with a super thin pen caught his attention finally back away from the curve of her hip and adding more and more details as he tried to cover the rawness of the original drawing.

Glancing up, Grey stared startled and unsure into the other’s face and the way those brown eyes were tightly focus on the dark lines that somehow managed to match the natural beauty of the work on the other side that was more permanently etched into her but was far less carefree and sweet than the other. He wished he could read her mind. Not that he couldn’t if he wanted to, but he couldn’t do that again but looking at the depths of her eyes he found he wished he could know what she was thinking in that moment.

“That’s so pretty.” Jo breathed the words out as she moved a finger to hover over the design, tracing above some of the clearer lines and following some unknowable pattern she could see in them. “Oh I should have got you to put it on paper, hun.”

“No you shouldn’t’ve.” Grey quickly replied, eyes wide at the idea the other could ever want something so dark and desperate and gnawing on her skin longer than now when she already had so many carved and clawed into her skin. Shaking his head, he returned to finishing off some of the shading with a frown. “I.. I don’t think this would make a good one.”

“Hunny, it’s so... powerful though.” The other’s words sounded hollow and gasping like the same figure’s voice would have been - screaming for the sun and then for air as he’d plummeted into the sea, and Grey felt he could empathize with the feel of the water weighing hard on him in that moment. Shaking his head, he didn’t trust his voice to disagree when Jo added softly. “It’s so poetic. I love it.”

Swallowing thickly as he finished the last stroke, he capped the lid back onto the pen as he sat up from where he’d hunched over her hip and waved a hand at the skin to dry the ink as quickly as possible though part of him wished something would come along and smudge the vulnerability of its image away. “Maybe, but I think I’d make something more... you if it was supposed to be permanent.”

“Awwwww,” Jo said sweetly, reaching a hand out and stroking through his hair gently as he finally set the pens away and glanced a look at the clock to see it had taken him over an hour to finalise and blinked in surprise that he’d let so much time pass. “What myth for me then? I know, Pandora’s box, right?”

“What?! No! Of course not!” Grey started at the suggestion, and it took a second for him to realise that Jo was joking from the small smirk blooming on her lips. Shaking his head, he sat back and helped her sit up right again before smiling back. “Well, maybe a beautiful granite statue. Since it feels like you were made perfect and came to life when I needed you most.”

That got a giggle out of the other before he was tugged down against her for a searing kiss. He wasn’t sure what had encouraged it, but Jo ground up against him for a moment, fingers tangled in his hair as his curled around her arms, and her teeth grazed his bottom lip in a gentle bite before he managed to pull free of the draw of the sun. Kissing her gently, stroking her cheek gently, Grey finally let her lips go and pulled back.

“Jo-”

“Thank you for the new one, hunny.” Jo purred out before pressing a loud, smacking kiss to his cheek, and smiling as brightly as she ever had at him. “I’ll have to remember to really think ‘bout askin’ you when I want to do a new one.”

Ducking his head, Grey pulled back and shifted to sit on the coffee table with a smile as he watched Jo move about to fondly stroke the dried ink and then jump up to tug her jeans back on. Standing himself and stretching a little from how he’d been hunched over before, he moved to wrap the other’s waist in a tight hug before coughing quietly. “Did you need a drink, Jo? I’ve missed my normal coffee time.”

“Oh, that’s an idea!” “What is?” “Coffee time!”

---

Grey knew that today was supposed to be about him, or rather that Jo intended it to be, but strolling hand in hand with her skipping slightly beside him as she kicked up a few scant leaves on the path - he couldn’t help but smile to himself that they were doing something he knew Jo loved so much. It was her favorite time of year, after all, and watching the joy on her face made this his favorite time right then too.

Nana tugged a little too excitedly on her lead, but he kept a firm hold on her as the boisterous dog seemingly caught up in the same excited energy pouring off her human-mommy who was just as happy and excited to be splashing slightly in puddles and turning her nose skyward to breathe in the post-rain scents. It was amusing to watch the pair of them equally enjoying the same parts of the day and so alike.

It was lucky that the rain had stopped earlier and given them the chance to go out - when Jo’d suggested coffee, Grey had expected her to get their usual drinks together and maybe they would share some cookies. It appeared that had been Jo’s thoughts as well right until their girl had appeared with a full on bedhead and a lot of ruffled fur to bark at the back door as they’d set the pot up. When looking out the window the drizzle of the morning had disappeared, Jo had turned her own big brown eyes on him alongside Nana’s begging browns to suggest they go down to his favorite coffee spot instead.

“Oh, I hope the seats outside are dry so we can sit down.” Grey nodded along to Jo’s comment, threading his fingers through hers as they turned onto the final path that would lead them eventually to the small coffee shop. “They do puppychino’s too if we’re able to stay here, don’t they?”

“Yes, Jo, they do indeed. Nana always gulps hers down in no time though.” He chuckled quietly recalling the number of times the dog had finished her drink in no time and then looked pleadingly for more. At least it always helped him work on his saying no to those big puppy dog eyes. “It’s almost lunch too, so unless you had something planned-”

“We’ll get somethin’ here, for sure.” “Oh, so you haven’t planned lunch for me?” “No. Not all of us are as thoughtful as you, hun. But I have got somethin’ special planned for dinner.”

“Ooh, surprises.” Grey grinned widely across at the other, tugging on her hand to reel her in for a quick kiss to her lips and then the bright red tip of her nose before they arrived at the coffee shop. The seats outside were all empty, clearly other’s scared off by the morning rain, but the chairs all looked to be dry underneath the balcony as it was. “Looks like your in luck, pretty one. Did you want to order or keep a hold of the fluffy puppy?”

The blonde looked adorably indecisive for a moment before she reached out for the lead with a smile. “I think the not-birthday boy gets to pick what we have.” There was another soft kiss before Jo stepped back and shrugged a shoulder. “I’ll save us a table while you order?”

“Sure thing,” Grey smiled back before squatting down for a second as he handed over the leash to look in the happy, joyful face of their baby with his own reciprocating grin. “You be a good girl, sweetheart, and I may just get you a treat.” He took the quick, heavy thumps of Nana’s tail and the happy panting of a few breaths to be agreement before he headed inside to order as Jo scouted out a table that was closest to the dog water dish but also far enough away that Nana both wouldn’t disturb other customers or be disturbed by them.

Entering the coffee shop, Grey smiled happily before heading straight towards the counter. It was barely a worry to him what to order and exchanging the normal pleasantries with the barista working behind the counter to organise their food to be brought out, the shadow was out the door almost as quickly as he had been in it.

“What’dya order, hun?” The blonde asked as he moved to sit across from her in the little table towards the quietest part of the patio away from the door. Jo had managed to get Nana laying quietly under the table and chewing on a kong chew toy from her bag rather than waiting impatiently for her puppychino, and had tugged the scarf slightly looser from around her own neck as she’d settled in. “Please please tell me they had pump-”

“Yes, Jo, they had the pumpkin spice lattes. It is Fall after all.” “Well, sometimes they get rid of them after Halloween in favor of the Christmas flavors!”

“Don’t worry, I got you one.” Grey grinned back across at her, reaching to take her hands in his where they sat on the table top, twisting their fingers together and laughing when Jo turned it into an impromptu thumb war. Squeezing her thumbs down with a smile, he lifted her losing fingers to his lips, startling a laugh out of the other. “And I got Nana her own little treat too.”

“Well you had to,” Jo quipped back, “She’s followin’ your agreement to be a perfectly behaved angel. Like always.”

“And like most angels aren’t.” “That too!”

They both laughed, loud and carefree at the joke only they would find funny right then, and then Jo’s thumb trapped Grey’s own under hers and resulted in her lips on his fingers all the same. It was one of those moments that made him blush as much as she did, before gripping her chin gently with his thumb and forefinger to bring her in for a kiss over the table dividing them. It just felt so natural and right to do those things, and spend those times together like this.

Reclining back in his chair once he’d released her, Grey sighed quietly as the both of them communally pulled out their phones to look over anything they might have missed that morning. Jo was likely looking at an email or message from one hunter or another or Charlie about the hunting database they were working on; while Grey thumbed through the collection of amusing memes and jokes being shared with him by the trio of friends who had adopted him into their little group - the discord chat called Ghostfacers and Friends all an array of bad bad jokes from the other three men.

Their drinks arrived shortly after - a extra creamy latte with a pump of vanilla that smelled like home in a way that was always comforting for Grey to indulge in when Jo was away, and the pumpkin spiced latte for Jo - as well as a shallow bowl that was the frothed milk with a little cinnamon but no nutmeg that was the perfect drink for a sophisticated pup like Nana that was sat on the table for Jo to give to the now whining dog once the waiter left.

“You know,” Jo said cheekily as she finally set the bowl down and watched on affectionately as the Bernese began to lap up her drink with the happy enthusiasm only a dog could comfortably display in public like that. “You’re absolutely spoilin’ her, makin’ a spoilt little princess out of my well behaved girl.”

“Me?” “Yes, you!” “Oh no, Jo, you can’t blame this on me.” “Eh, why not?”

“I wasn’t the one to suggest we get her the first one ever, if I recall.” Grey responded with a smirk, raising a brow across at the other over his mug. He was right though. Jo had been the one to squeal in excitement the first time she saw the word ‘puppychino’ written on the menu, completely ignoring the price tag for what was essentially just frothy milk, and demanding that they get one for Nana. Since then, it’d been a treat whenever the dog was a very good girl - but Grey figured that didn’t count as a treat when both he and Jo would claim she had been every time they came out for coffee. “It’s a good thing we don’t come more than once a week with her, or there’d be a big problem.”

Jo giggled in response, and he couldn’t help the grin that formed in reaction. Taking a longer sip of his coffee, Grey leaned down to rub a hand over the happily smiling dog’s head when she whined slightly from the lack of parental attention. Watching the pup for a long while, sipping at his coffee slowly while the blonde across from him had set hers down and was focused on taking photos of their baby girl, Grey couldn’t stop from smiling just as happily as their pup himself.

Their lunch arrived shortly after, right around the time Nana had lapped the last of her frothy milk from her bowl and had licked her chops clean as well with clear joy on her face. Those brown eyes turned towards the plates that had arrived with obvious gluttony but the girl just stayed laying down quietly under the table across his feet, aware her best chance at a crust or mouthful was from being rewarded for good behaviour.

Tucking into the crisply golden toasted sandwich filled with cheese and peppers, Grey smiled back across to see Jo taking a few quick snaps in artsy positions of her own BLT and her still frothy mug. He was sure that he’d see those soon enough shared amongst their friends and family, and focused instead on the still melted cheese in his own sandwich before it got cold and less gooey and delicious.

Ripping off a crust, he dropped it down gently onto his plate to start cooling down so it wouldn’t burn the roof of Nana’s mouth when she eventually got it.

“Good idea,” Jo chirped up, tearing off the few bits of crust along one side of her sandwich and resting them next to his own to cool down. “Do... Do you think she deserves some bacon too?”

The quiet, pitiful whine that came up from under the table as Grey opened his mouth to reply brought a laugh out instead before he nodded, smile firmly in place. “I think perhaps she has been a very good girl. Maybe she deserves a bit of bacon with her crusts.”

“Well, daddy knows best for the spoilt princess.” Jo teased back with her own smile, freeing a few pieces of bacon from her sandwich before sitting them atop the crusts. Taking a big mouthful herself, Grey felt that same warmth at her chipmunk cheeks from the morning as Jo murmured out around her mouthful. “Shh uh uhd guhl.”

“She is a very good girl, yeah.” Chuckling to himself, Grey focused more on his own sandwich when Jo took another big bite of hers, enjoying the quiet and the limited amount of foot traffic passing them by. He got through most of his sandwich before finally scooping up the few crusts and bacon to be dropped into Nana’s bowl once they were cool enough, and watching the dog daintily start snuffling about and picking out pieces slowly from her bowl to enjoy.

They took their time finishing their lunch and just enjoying the peace and quiet of a cool Fall day, and by the time they had finished the last of their coffees and sandwiches the clouds were starting to look dark and looming but like they would hold off on letting out a downpour for a while longer. Jo bounced out of her seat as they’d finished and wiped their hands on some cleansing wipes, and took their plates inside while Grey had coaxed their girl up to her feet and weaved out of the seating patio carefully to give the pup as much room as she wanted away from strangers.

Jo appeared at his elbow a moment later with two take away coffee cups and a brown paper bag full of something, and as he took one of the mugs for himself in the hand that had Nana’s leash looped around his wrist - the once excited pup now relaxed and as calm as her parents now that she’d had her puppychino and some lunch - before wrapping his other arm around Jo’s waist beneath her coat.

“Did you think we’ve got time to go down by the lake?” Jo asked quietly as she curled into his touch and pressed up against his side as a mother and her three kids came scurrying past on the footpath towards the coffee shop. She didn’t take a step back though once any excuse for being so close was gone, and Grey took the opportunity to steal another long kiss from her lips while she was so close and so warm.

Pulling back from the kiss, Grey smiled warmly at the fingers that had wound themselves into his hair and the way Jo’s eyes blinked slowly back to reality above the kiss-plump lips. “I think we just might.” He replied gently, lifting his coffee for a sip before looking down at the expectant looks he was getting from both the girls in his life. “Want to see if the ducks are still around?”

“Yes please!”

Headed down the road, they walked with his arm around hers and Jo taking the leash in her free hand so they both could enjoy their warm coffees; and walking along the lake front they paused on occasion to watch the ducks from afar or steal another kiss or several from one another when there was no one around. Grey watched on, holding Nana’s leash and Jo’s coffee cup at one point when she saw a group of boys trying to skip rocks and dashed down to offer her expertise until they’d got the knack for it. And then it had been his turn to learn as well once the young group had run off to play tag or something else with cheerful thanks called along behind them - though Grey seemed to struggle so much with getting his hands just right and the twist of his arm and hip that he just had to have Jo get hands on with him much to both their amusement.

It wasn’t until the sharp snap of wind changed direction to blow cold and crisp across the lake towards them that Nana finished her snuffling around the shore and Jo vocalized with some remorse that it was probably time to head home. At least they could hold hands on the way home again, her cold fingers wrapped up in his warm ones as much as he was wrapped up in her warm smiles and the gentle patter of paws on pavement as they headed home.

---

#cc #ca #greypov #happy grey day part 1

[jiilys]

call if you care for me

Sirius Black to goobers: the one day i actually come and school burns down

Remus Lupin: what classes were you in

James Potter: i was in english you Were Not

Peter Pettigrew: or history

Remus Lupin: it doesnt count as attending school if u just lie behind the science block till lunch  

Sirius Black: youre all ruining this fire for me  

/

James Potter to Lily Evans: give back my chocolate shake

Lily Evans: i dont have it

James Potter: i can see u fuckin drinkin it we’re in the same mcdonalds

Lily Evans: everyones saying you did it

James Potter: pardon

Lily Evans: set the fire

James Potter: come off it

James Potter: whose saying that

Lily Evans: everyone

James Potter: ah yes my great mate ‘everyone’

Lily Evans: mary, elliot from science, louise marcot, guy from math whose name i dont know but went to ball with ruby garland, sam roberts, and sushi danny have all told me it was you

James Potter: wow that does seem like everyone

James Potter: now im wondering whether I did do it

/

Sirius Black to James Potter: had a dream i died in a freak pharmaceutical accident last night

James Potter: what is a freak pharmaceutical accident

Sirius Black: i was drunk in a pharmacy and put all their throat lozenges up my nose 

/ 

Marlene McKinnion to Lily Evans: schools on the news

Marlene McKinnon: why tf are they interviewing black and calling him a ‘student’

Marlene McKinnon: dont u need to attend school for at least 3 out of 5 weekdays to earn that title

/

Lily Evans to Sirius Black: saw u on the news

Lily Evans: ur tie was inside out if thats even possible

Sirius Black: all part of My Look which i have now publicised on national telly so eat ass

/

James Potter to Lily Evans: wow is this what happens when u go in the sun what a tan u have

James Potter: and by tan i obvsly mean you look like an overcooked frankfurter

James Potter: clearly u need to be marinating in sunblock like a chicken

James Potter: GOD these similes……… no wonder I won the english prize over you last year

Lily Evans: what a shame ur going to be murdered before you can win it again

/

Remus Lupin to Marlene McKinnon: just checking ur the one called lesbo archilles in the kahoot

Marlene McKinnon: ya

Marlene McKinnon: why

Remus Lupin: wanted to know who was beating me

Marlene McKinnon: up ur classics knowledge lupin  

/

Peter Pettigrew to only smexy activity permitted: holy dick mum got an email the police think the fire was arson  

Sirius Black: confess now james

James Potter: fuck you

/

Peter Pettigrew to James Potter: have u seen beyonce

Peter Pettigrew: i meant beyonce

Peter Pettigrew: why does it keep saying beyonce

/

James Potter to Sirius Black: nice work autocorrecting ur name in petes phone to beyonce

James Potter: however ur less destinys child and more destinys bastard son

Sirius Black: im making that my tinder bio

/

Lily Evans to James Potter: you know what i think ur socks need 2 pulled higher

Lily Evans: fuck the haters pull those things tits high

James Potter: ur late to this sirius already asked me if i knew i was being eaten alive from the foot upwards

James Potter: theyre literally pulled only just above my ankle i hate everyone i know

/

Remus Lupin to James Potter: have u seen this

Remus Lupin: sent a facebook link to jomes potter (general dickhead) deserves medal for burning down school

James Potter: this is getting out of control I DIDNT DO IT

James Potter: this page has 137 likes and theyve spelt my name wrong i wish i was dead

James Potter: ok why are you and sirius admins

/

Marlene McKinnon to Lily Evans: they know how the fire started

Marlene McKinnon: or mum knows cause shes sleeping with that police guy

Marlene McKinnon: lit cigarette by the languages block between 11-11:15

Lily Evans: fucking pardon

Lily Evans: are you sure

Marlene McKinnon: course i bloody am

Marlene McKinnon: whats the problem

/

Lily Evans to James Potter: james

Lily Evans: not to be drama but i think i fucking burnt down the school

Lily Evans: literally call me asap

/

James Potter to Remus Lupin: hypothetically in a hypothetical situation if someone was hypothetically smoking in the languages block and threw it on the ground at the exact hypothetical time a fire had hypothetically started what would one hypothetically do

James Potter: hypothetically

Remus Lupin: jfc what have u done

James Potter: genuinely not me this time come to lils pls

/

Sirius Black created the group save lily from arrest

Sirius Black added James Potter, Lily Evans, Remus Lupin

Lily Evans: sirius this isn’t funny i could’ve really hurt someone

Sirius Black: senorita blanco failed me in fourth year spanish so you could say it was karma

Sirius Black: also relax evans ur not guy fawkes u only maimed several expensive smartboards  

Remus Lupin: guy fawkes was famously unsuccessful ur reference is shite

Sirius Black renamed the group blow me lupin

/

Remus Lupin to Sirius Black: james has it so bad its embarrassing hes followed all her playlists on spotify

Sirius Black: hes making his bed cause shes coming over who is he

Sirius Black: like evans makes her damn bed

/

Peter Pettigrew to James Potter: marnie attkins just told me theres £120 on when youll confess u set the fire  

Peter Pettigrew: can u tell me when ur planning 2 so i can win i promise to split it  

James Potter: pete are you kidding me

/

Sirius Black to Lily Evans: stop looking at the languages block and being a sad sack  

Lily Evans: you mean where the block used to be before i burnt it down

Lily Evans: where are you anyway i cant see you

Sirius Black: on the roof of the bio building i have a deck chair here

Sirius Black: also dont be a drama queen youre not a bad person

Sirius Black: you hurt no one and cant change what happened by blaming urself

Sirius Black: now come 2 the science block and bring those twix in ur bag

/

James Potter to Lily Evans: nice tights

Lily Evans: i think you mean nice legs

James Potter: that too

/

Peter Pettigrew to reese witherhoon: we are go

Remus Lupin: godspeed boys

Peter Pettigrew: wait i left my wallpaper glue in the loos we’re not go

Sirius Black: im keeping one of these fake moustaches i look manly

/

Lily Evans to blow me lupin: sirius can i have the crisps in ur bag

Sirius Black: no

Remus Lupin: lily said to tell you shes lost her phone and cant see ur response so has started eating the crisps

Sirius Black: die evans

/

James Potter to Sirius Black: yeah every time i said I was over lil was a bold faced lie why is she the funniest prettiest best girl alive

Sirius Black: ur pathetic

Sirius Black: whats brought this honestly on

James Potter: she was laughing and i wanted 2 kiss her so bad i gave myself a headache

Sirius Black: i said you were pathetic 2 soon i shouldve said it here

/

Lily Evans to James Potter: i know u don’t think i shouldnt but im going to say it was me

Lily Evans: i mean i know mum cant afford the damage but im sure minnie would help me figure smth out where i could pay it back like over time i mean im just

Lily Evans: it was stupid smokings stupid and i miss it but im never fucking doing it again

Lily Evans: i did a bad thinhg

Lily Evans: i hate wine and its late and im masd u didnt come to this party i want u here

James Potter: dont say anything to anyone im going to ring you

/

Sirius Black to Marlene McKinnon: did you take my deck chair from the bio building roof

Marlene McKinnon: who is this

Sirius Black: come of it mckinnon i know u have my number

Sirius Black: i want my chair back

Marlene McKinnon: sorry was always taught not 2 talk to strangers

/

Mum to James Potter: school called and wants to interview you about the fire

James Potter: brilliant

Mum: bring milk home

/

Remus Lupin to Peter Pettigrew: are you with sirius

Peter Pettigrew: yeah

Remus Lupin: tell him i took his lunch and he wont get it back till he gives me my calculus homework

Peter Pettigrew: sirius says he has ur wallet and is now buying himself lunch

Peter Pettigrew: he said to ask if you wanted anything

/

Sirius Black to blow me lupin: so when is minnie taking u to jail james

James Potter: imminently  

Remus Luping: can we pls change the group name my mum saw these alerts

Sirius Black renamed the group fuck me lupin

James Potter renamed the group raw me behind the nice thai place lupin

Sirius Black renamed the group lupin rim me in ur mums home office

Remus Lupin: too fucking far leave mums home office out of this

Lily Evans: whats this abt james going to jail

/

Lily Evans to James Potter: cant believe you didnt tell me about mcgonagall interviewing you

James Potter: dw the police think its me lol

James Potter: i guess everyones been sharing their theories and that that fb page now has over 200 likes

James Potter: they dont have anything on me though so ur still good  

Lily Evans: they seriously consider you a suspect

Lily Evans: thats a big fucking deal james what the fuck  

James Potter: lily its fine

James Potter: lily

James Potter: jesus dont do anything stupid

James Potter: lily pickup

/

Peter Pettigrew to brats (not the dolls we’re barbie loyalists): omg guys lily just confessed she set the fire who knew!!!!!

Peter Pettigrew: guys

/

Marlene McKinnon to Lily Evans: baller of u to burn down the school and not tell me

Marlene McKinnon: is it cause im gay

Marlene McKinnon: homophobe

Marlene McKinnon: but seriously if you don’t call me in 24 hours im just gunna turn up to your house

/

Sirius Black to Lily Evans: fucking hell evans

/

Remus Lupin to Lily Evans: dont talk to the police without a lawyer

/ 

James Potter to Lily Evans: lily please call me

/

Lily Evans to rim me in ur mums home office lupin: im suspended for two weeks and have to pay off half the damage but not getting charged or expelled

Sirius Black: stunning job on not getting expelled or going to jail

Sirius Black: and a two week holiday!!! im going to burn down the english block

Lily Evans: black ur an ass

Lily Evans: also

Lily Evans added Marlene McKinnon to the chat

Remus Lupin: congrats lil glad 2 have u still with us

Marlene McKinnon: lupin what the hell is happening in ur mums home office

/

Lily Evans to James Potter: before you go getting all drama i didnt come forward because of you

Lily Evans: i did a bad thing and when you do bad shit ur not supposed to own up and say so

Lily Evans: i was being the kind of thing i hate and was sick of it

Lily Evans: but in the interest of honesty thinking about you in serious trouble makes me sick

James Potter: i understand

James Potter: i kinda always thought you would tell youre kind of like that

Lily Evans: like what

James Potter: good all the way through

/

Sirius Black to James Potter: love of ur life is pretty fucking ethical

James Potter: i know shes the best

Sirius Black: wait till i tell her abt that time u took that magazine from the doctors office

James Potter: we were literally seven how do u remember that  

Sirius Black: crimes are immortal 

/

Sirius Black to suck me off at the old quarry lupin: in lilys memory we should hold a bonfire vigil

Lily Evans: sirius im suspended not dead

Marlene McKinnon: rip evans (some fucking year – now)

Lily Evans: u rlly couldnt figure out the year i was born mar

Remus Lupin: gone but never forgotten

Remus Lupin: also stop it with these group names

Sirius Black renamed the group lupin pull me off at the gas station by the crisps

James Potter renamed the group lupin take me from behind in the girls loos at noon

Remus Lupin: hell has nothing on this

/

Lily Evans to James Potter: am very bored and out of oreos

Lily Evans: been considering dying my hair black just for something to do

James Potter: youd look shit with black hair

Lily Evans: youd know

Lily Evans: HA set you up for that id never dye my hair. u fool

James Potter: so rlly what youve been doing all day is thinking of that bit

Lily Evans: not just that i also finished the oreos

/

Sirius Black to Remus Lupin: are you asleep

Remus Lupin: its 4am so you know im not

Sirius Black: i have potters keys wanna get mcdonalds

Remus Lupin: ill meet you outside

/

James Potter to Lily Evans: school is shite without you im coming round

Lily Evans: its 11am

Lily Evans: park down the street i have nosy neigbours

/

Remus Lupin to lupin bum me at nasa: for my birthday i want no one to throw up in my shoes

James Potter: it was fucking ONCE

James Potter: im hosting the damn party i wont b ridiculed like this

Sirius Black renamed the group lupin jerk me off while wearing james’ vomit shoes

Sirius Black: two birds one stone

/

Lily Evans to James Potter: have fun tonight tell remus his gift is late but coming

James Potter: we’ll miss you

Lily Evans: nah youll b fine

James Potter: i wont be

/

Sirius Black to Remus Lupin: 2 protect ur shoes i put them inside the upstairs loo bowl no need to thank me

/

James Potter to Lily Evans: i know its late and ur going to think im drunk but ive only had one beer

James Potter: im interested in you

James Potter: so interested

James Potter: romantically

James Potter: earlier sirius struck out with some random girl marlene is now making out with and all i want is you here to laugh with us abt it

James Potter: cause youd say smth funny and good that would make everyone laugh

James Potter: also youre so pretty i couldn’t figure out how to work that in there but you are

James Potter: sorry if this makes you uncomfortable and fucks everything i just had to say

/

Lily Evans to James Potter: when you wake up you should probably come round

James Potter: im awake now

Lily Evans: wow an early one

Lily Evans: how was last night

James Potter: well four glasses are broken and peter slept on the dishwasher so standard but i also said how i feel about you to you so incredibly not standard

Lily Evans: yeah about that

Lily Evans: how do you feel about me now your single beer has worn off and the nights over

James Potter: the same

Lily Evans: well you should def come round then

Lily Evans: quite hard 2 kiss u dramatically if ur not here

James Potter: i know ur againist breaking the law and all but you cant say smth like that and expect me not to speed

/

Sirius Black to when will someone offer to eat LUPINS ASS at the museum holiday party c’mon guys he has needs: turns out lily was lighting fires in james heart all along

Lily Evans: jfc

Remus Lupin: i mean what is the correct reaction to that

Marlene McKinnon: removing him from the chat

#og title: call if you care for me at all' but i thought it was to drama no?? #jily #james potter #lily evans #jily fic #brotp: the lot #caroline does social media #i have literally been working on this in bits for two years and in four days i made it come together through sheer force of will #i know its weird and arguably not in character but i couldnt have james burn it down!! where would The Drama be!!! #carolineswritingtag #im on holiday when ur reading this cause queue is a marvel but i hope u liked this!! pls tell me if you do!! #i hope those line things work on mobile cause if they dont this is gunna b murder 2 read sorry team #queue

[connorskeepers]

Its been awhile so a quick update!!!!

Ry is a year old!!!! He's such a good dog and thrives with a job. He knows countless Commands and can be off leash pretty much anywhere in our neighborhood. But he's got a lot of anxiety and fear so we really need to work on that. It's too the point that I'm going to be discussing it with his vet to see if there is anything we are missing health wise. He loves working and doing training and play. Hes a total goober and lives to make people laugh. I'm so lucky to have him and the joy he has brought is endless, I cant thank him enough for all the smiles and laughter. I'm going to be doing a lot more with him outside now that it's cool here! Which will help him tremendously and keep up his great build.

On another note, please welcome Daisy to the team!!! She has transitioned to becoming my mobility and medical alert service dog and has EXCELLED in Seizure detection. She has surpassed Ry and his capabilities within the 2 weeks I've had her in training. He alerts a full 3 to 5 minutes AFTER her. She had her first outing with me yesterday to dunkin donuts and did great!!

Dugan is doing pretty well. He sleeps all day and only really moves to eat and go potty or follow me or claire to the kitchen. He is slowing way down but doing good and is pretty peppy if you've got food!

I have been diagnosed with PNES and have been put on an anticonvulsant. There isn't really a treatment other than that for me . It was decided EMDR would be detrimental more than helpful. So I'm on Keppra to help ease my movements and other than that I use MMJ to curb the seizures as needed. I'm also in the process of getting an official hEDS diagnosis. With the cooler weather my POTS has been a bit better and I'm able to do a bit more so I'm always looking to get out with the dogs. Wedding planning is still going strong and we are so excited for the holidays! Thanks for reading this far! We have missed you all!

#service dog #service dog in training #sheltie #little king #raidho #sheltand sheepdog #birthday pup #1 year #medical alert #mobility service dog #seizure alert dog #dog training #daisy jane #7 months #sdit #great pyrenees #puppy #pots #potsie #hypermobile eds #ehlers danlos syndrome #PNES #pnes #Seizures

[beatricebmorgan]

“Breakfast is ready!”

Astrid woke up with a start and instinctively reached for her axe, snuggly and safety kept under her pillow – but her hand met the cool underside. Where was her –

Oh. Right.

“Astrid, darling, get a move on it,” came her mother’s voice from the door. “Breakfast won’t be on the table for long, not the way your father eats.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.”

Her mother retreated downstairs, leaving the bedroom door open. Astrid sighed and pulled her legs from the blanket. Her rolled her neck around her shoulders.

The burned remains of her favorite, most trusted weapon leaned against the opposite wall. She had brought it back with her to Berk. When she’d been packing for the Edge – what felt a lifetime ago – her axe had been the first thing on her list. She should have left it on the Edge, but she couldn’t fathom parting with it. Not after all she’d gone through.

Sure, it was just a sooty piece of wood now, but… she couldn’t let it go. Not yet. Not for a long while.

Down below, her father let out a loud belch.

Astrid groaned under her breath. She pulled on her boots and headed downstairs to fend for herself something to eat.

“What’s on your agenda today, Astrid?” asked her father as she tore a chunk of bread off the loaf.

“Thought I might take a ride around Berk, get readjusted to being back.” Truthfully, she didn’t know, but her parents didn’t argue with her.

She’d had more chores on the Edge. Fish to catch, water to clean, defenses to secure, sectors to patrol, dragons to care for – but on Berk, she didn’t have nearly the same amount of things to do. It felt… like she didn’t have anything to do. The more she thought about it, the more that flight around the island sounded better.

 …

 “Come on, girl,” Astrid cooed to Stormfly. She shook out her wings and stepped out of the stable. She let out a short, distressed warble. “I know. I didn’t sleep that well last night either.”

“Are you okay?”

Astrid turned just in time to see Toothless land, Hiccup sitting on his saddle. Those green eyes of his were pinned on her, and just like always, her heart jumped into her throat.

“I was just about to take a flight around Berk,” Astrid said to him, mounting up.

“That’s funny,” Hiccup said, grinning. His eyes flickered upward. “I was thinking the same thing.”

Without another word, the two of them took off into the skies above Berk. Below, the village she knew better than any other was waking up. Another day. Agnes was sweeping out her house; Sven was feeding his sheep; Gobber already had a line of dragons at his shop. As they flew over Goober’s shop, she heard him singing.

They flew higher. Berk became a dusting of dots on the green island.

“It’s weird being back,” Hiccup said. “I mean, it’s weird that we’re not going back to the Edge.”

“I know what you mean,” Astrid said. “I got used to having my own place. I love my parents, but… it was nice to wake up without hearing my dad belch.”

Hiccup laughed. “Tell me about it. My dad woke me up this morning by yelling up the stairs. I mean, it’s not completely unlike getting woken up by the twins blowing something up or by smelling smoke because something is on fire.”

It was her turn to laugh. “Still, I’ll miss having my own hut the most. I mean, I can’t exactly invite boys over at night when my parents are downstairs.”

Despite it just being Hiccup, her cheeks burned. She dared a glance at Hiccup. The early morning light brightened his face, and she saw the unmistakable blush on his face, too. He caught her stare, and a wide grin stretched his face.

He let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, I don’t see your dad being happy about that.”

Below, the forest where Tuffnut had nearly been burned in that wildfire passed, when they had met the grown-up Torch. If she looked close enough, she could spot the slight mounds where the Whispering Death had gone after Toothless. The mounds had worn down with time, and grass had grown over them. In a few years, they would be unrecognizable.

Astrid glanced over at Hiccup. His eyes were elsewhere, but not anywhere particular. She knew that face.

“What are you think about?” she asked.

His shoulders rose and fell. “A bit of everything.”

She kept her eyes on him – she knew that tone, or she thought she did. He was either troubled by something he couldn’t control, or something was bothering him that he could control, and he didn’t want to confront it. It was hard to tell the two apart sometimes.

“Want to talk about it?”

Hiccup inhaled, met her gaze with one of determination that warmed her blood, and said, “Yes. Let’s head down. The cove isn’t that far away.”

 …

 Astrid landed a second before Hiccup. She slid off the saddle and onto the smooth, rocky ground.

“Gods, it feels like forever since we’ve been here.” Astrid took in the familiar sights, the waterfalls, the towering pines, the chirping birds, the shimmering pool. Stormfly trotted to the water for a drink, and Toothless joined her. That’s when she noticed it. A thing wrapped in wool on the back of Toothless’s saddle.

“It has, in a way,” Hiccup said. He walked to where Toothless knelt for a drink and unstrapped the thing. He held it in front of him, gently, like… something. Whatever it was, it sent little pricks all along Astrid’s spine.

“What’s that?”

Hiccup looked at the thin in his hands, then at Astrid. “Just a little something. A project I’ve been working on the past few days.”

Oh, it could be anything. A flight suit upgrade he wanted to show her? The latest model of his dragon blade? He’d been talking about upgrading his foot to make flying easier. Regardless, Astrid held her attention on him.

“Whatever could it be?”

Hiccup grinned and walked the thing to her. He stood for a moment looking at her, his fingers twitching along the thick wool blanket, and then he held it out to her.

She blinked at him.

“It’s for you.”

Her heart stopped, then fell into her stomach. “For me? Hiccup, you didn’t have to.”

“You don’t know that yet.” He wiggled it closer to her. “Take a look. Then tell me what you think.”

That smile of his! Gods, she could stare at him for ages.

She gingerly took the thing out of his hands. It had some weight to it. She undid the leather strings holding on the wool and pushed it off –

She gasped.

The wool fell to the ground, and in her hands was an axe. The blade was new – Gronkle Iron. Supple leather wound the sturdy handle. The pommel had been carved with lines, and in the center was a Deadly Nadder. Two strands of leather, one dyed blue, the other pink, wound up the iron wood handle and secured around the head.

Hiccup came back into focus, watching her expression.

“You made this?”

He nodded.

“For me?” She clutched the axe. “It’s… amazing.” She grazed her thumb against the blade. “And sharp.”

“I wanted to finish it before you got another one,” Hiccup said, hand on his neck. “It took a few all-nighters, but for you, Astrid, I’d do anything.”

She felt tears gathering behind her eyes. With a single blink, they eased onto her bottom lids. “Hiccup,” she started, but bit her lip. She couldn’t continue without one of those tears sliding out.

Hiccup closed to space between them and set a sturdy hand on her waist. “That bad, huh? I knew I should have went with the willow bark.”

“Hiccup, I love it,” she said, closing off that line of his thinking. He gave her a gentle smile – he’d known. She clutched the new axe to her chest, then held it out. She wrapped her arm around Hiccup’s neck.

He pulled her closer, and she pulled him closer in response.

Gods, this boy of hers – what power did he hold over her that turned her into such a weak-kneed girl?

“Too bad I can’t invite you back to my hut,” Astrid whispered, although she doubted anyone was listening – one this she’d discovered about Berk that she hadn’t before realized was how nosy everyone was, especially regarding her betrothal to Hiccup. Apparently, being engaged to the future chief was something to gossip about over the washing. Or so said her mother.

Hiccup smiled and pulled her a little closer. “We’re far enough out, and we’ve got dragons trained to alert us if anyone comes close enough.”

Astrid bit her lip. “They would let us know if anyone came remotely close. They would smell them before they’d see us.”

With a short whistle to gain Toothless’s attention and a following hand signal to watch the perimeter, Hiccup pulled Astrid toward the shadowed side of the cove. If anyone came from Berk or on dragon, they wouldn’t immediately see the two in the cove.

Astrid set her axe against the mossy stone. Before her hand had left the supple leather hilt, Hiccup’s hands unlatched and slid the pauldrons from her shoulders. They hit the ground with a soft metal thud. Hiccup pulled her against him, and her back met his chest – he’d already removed his leathers.

She pushed her backside into his hips with a purposeful sway and earned a deep growl from the back of his throat.

Oh, how she had craved him – since that first night in her hut, she had thought about his hands, his skin, his mouth. With each joining, they had gotten better, quicker, and with a little guidance, Hiccup’s nimble fingers knew where and how.

She didn’t have to speak – his lips tugged on her ear, and his hands roamed her waist, her ribs, her chest.

Clearly, he wasn’t in a hurry.

Gods, she loved those joinings the most. The ones where Hiccup took his time, touched her slowly, reminded her of his love.

She leaned her head back onto his shoulder and gave him full access to her neck, and he took it. His lips, his tongue, and his teeth grazed along her skin, gently tugging, nipping, and kissing. He circled that spot just underneath her ear, teasing her, before he sank his mouth onto it.

Astrid let out a soft moan – involuntarily, but she’d found that Hiccup could pull out all manner of sounds from her.

While occupying her neck, his hands worked her skirt loose, and by extension, the hem of her shirt. When his callused fingers met her bare stomach, a shiver wound up her spine and to her chest. Her breasts peaked; they pushed against the fabric of her bindings.

And Hiccup, the little shit, knew it. He smiled against her neck – she felt it. His hands made no move farther than her waist. His fingers traced slow circled on her skin inching upward agonizingly slow.

Pressure was building between her legs, and she felt Hiccup’s own desire against her backside. Still, he made no move to hurry things along. He made love to her neck while his hands tortured her.

“Hiccup,” she pleaded, her voice a gasp.

“Hmm?” he hummed against her neck. He nipped her skin then lifted his mouth to her ear. “Need something?”

She grabbed hold of his hand, and his fingers flattened against her stomach. “Touch me.”

“I am.”

She pushed her backside into his front, earning herself a gruff laugh from him.

“Hiccup!”

“Where?” he whispered in her ear, and she wanted to scream. She both loved and hated the games he played. She hadn’t anticipated this side of Hiccup Haddock, but each time, he’d left her panting and with wobbly legs.

She pulled her shirt farther up, and Hiccup traced his palms along the skin she revealed. Up and up, until Hiccup pulled back to give her room to pull her shirt over her head. He returned his hands to her waist, then slid them up to her bindings. He knew exactly how – a few blinks and rapid heartbeats, and her bindings had joined her shirt on the ground.

Hiccup’s arms came around her, and no sooner had the crisp air hugged her breasts than his hands form around them. He pulled her back into him, and he pulled out another round of sounds she hadn’t formerly known she could even make, all with his hands on her breasts and his mouth on her neck.

With his arms around her, hers had little place to go, and her hands fists in the fabric of his tunic. It took some carefully finagling, but she managed to reach the ties on his pants. Pulling them loose, Hiccup pinched her nipples in response.

She jumped and spun to face him and grabbed onto the ties. Hiccup pulled his tunic over his head and she loosened his pants further, enough to free his erect self. She ran her fingernail along his length, earning herself a shudder from him.

Hiccup captured her mouth for a tender kiss, and then in a few rapid heartbeats, their boots and pants joined the rest of their discarded clothing.

Astrid pulled Hiccup to her, and he positioned himself on top of her. He kissed her tenderly, and she slid her leg along his, urging him on. They’d gotten better at positioning themselves, too. the first few times had been more experimenting than lovemaking.

A guttural moan escaped Hiccup’s throat as he slowly slid inside of her. She clutched at his shoulders, his hair, anything she could reach. In to the hips, then out again, and in – each thrust gaining in speed and power, each thrust pushing her closer toward that illusive white-hot edge of pleasure.

She’d heard that a man could get a woman there with just his manhood, but Hiccup had so far been unsuccessful in that endeavor. He’d done well with his hands (after considerable instruction and guidance from her) and done even better with his mouth. With most of their lovemaking, after he tumbled over the edge, he bought her to it however he could, mouth, teeth, tongue, hands – whatever it took.

With their experience, she knew what that edge felt like – as with his thrust, she felt it. Burning at the edge of her awareness, but there. She reached for that edge, the burning white-hot abyss, and it listened to her command.

Hiccup grunted in time with his thrusts, faster and faster, his taut body working up a sweat. She latched onto his shoulders as that edge came closer, closer, closer.

Astrid cried out, or she might have – she didn’t know. The world beyond her and Hiccup faded as she fell over that white-hot edge, pleasure sweeping through her nerves and bones and whatever else. Her nails dug into his skin, and Hiccup grunted as he, too, fell over the edge.

Hiccup collapsed on the ground beside her.

“Gods,” Astrid gasped. “Hiccup…”

“We should get married.”

She glanced at him. “Right now?”

He met her eyes, pleasure warm and sleepy. “I want to do that more often, and not in the cove.”

She smiled. “Where?”

“A bed, the floor, the hearth, my worktable. Everywhere.”

She smiled and let out a small laugh.

“What?”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s thought about having wild sex on your worktable.”

Hiccup chuckled. “We can save that for a special occasion.”

She found his hand and laced her fingers with his. A caw came from nearby – Stormfly’s first warning.

Wordlessly, Hiccup and Astrid scrambled for their clothes. They were pulling on their boots when their heard the voices over the side of the cove. The twins, by the sounds, and Snotlout. Fully dresses, Astrid reached for her new axe.

“Well, Hiccup,” she said, turning to him. He was fastening his leather around his middle. “What do you say to some good old target practice?”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

#hiccstrid #rtte #rtte spoilers #wtf am i supposed to do with my life now?