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neko-nemesis · 2 years

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𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙤 𝙄 𝙛𝙞𝙩?

Diluc Ragnivindr x fem-bodied reader.

❗WARNINGS ❗: MDI (MINORS DON'T INTERACT OR EREN IS COMING FOR Y'ALL), 18+ sexual contents ahead, nsfw, angst at the beginning (read the important note please) , slow burn-ish(?), SPOILER ALERT ⚠️ (Diluc's backstory is revealed a lil) Hurt/comfort, Fighting, Hatefuck, Hard Dom!Diluc x reader (later the mf is soft asf mmm), oral (receiving), fingering, temperature play, degradation, outdoor/public sex, extreme spanking, mask kink (sorry I'm kinda a whore for masks >//<), praise kink (receiving), reverse comfort, making up, emotional!Diluc (idk, I just see him being vulnerable around those he genuinely trusts) anddd I think that's it. Imk if I missed anything.

𝑷𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆: 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒎 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒈𝒆

𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝: 2.5k

⚠️ important note: before becoming basically a smut writer, I wrote and was into Angst (a little too much, a little sus?), I still very much am ehe~. Don't mind me posting angst now and then 🤪. On a real note, please remember this is a work of fiction, I have no intention of making a character look bad nor romanticize arguments and problems in relationships. But I will say this, it's very real. No relationships is gonna be 💯%, never. Communication is a must <3 If this may seen triggering, please avoid reading this! I love angst because there's realism in it and writing about it with comforting/spiCy (joking) endings or even reading other amazing writers helps me cope with my own bs. Lemme know what y'all think of this and if I should make more of others. Reading shit like this sometimes is very heavy, so hotties y'all better remember to take care of yourself and remember that you're loved. Mwah 💋 <3

Note : Sooo, Im in the mid of writing something 'bout Albedo 👀 (stay tuned for that babez) so like suddenly I just blink and see that I've written this whole shit about Diluc /j 🧍🏻‍♀️ damn, my bad 🤪 ik hella crazy but it is what it is. Ohhh and I'm literally going on a trip to the beach literally in the morning buuuuut it's about drive, it's about powe- anyway, sorry I lagged irl. As I was saying, fuck sleeping 😩🤟 (/j, please don't be like my dumbass.) LEMME KNOW Y'ALL'S THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS as this is my first angst here and if I should continue 👽 and uh, oh yeah THANK YOU FOR THE INSANE AMOUNT OF FUCKING SUPPORT, BRO WHAT?!!?!! YALL GOT ME CRYING AND SHIT. THANK YOUSM 💓🫂 UDRHJEDJ okay enough, I realize how long this is getting, Oop$. Reblogs and notes are appreciated alot!! Suggestions/requests are very much open. (Ya gal's a little empty in the head sometimes, it's very much appreciated too >//<) Aite I'll shutup now though lmaojshdj- (-_-;)・・・

You stare off into the distance, you felt sick and lonely. You felt hurt. This is not what should've happened. You and him were supposed to be happy. Your hand digging into the flesh of your palm, leaving a crescent mark caused by your nails. The events from 2 days ago left you restless and emotionally exhausted in the middle of the forest.

You understood being in a relationship with none other than Diluc was not going to be rainbows and unicorns, you understood he disliked PDA, wanting to keep his reputation clean and just in general wanting to keep what you two share behind the comfortable door of the Dawn winery. But for the past few weeks, you felt as though you were getting ignored, just totally shoved to the side like it's nothing. Waking up to find the cold bed empty is not something new to you but doesn't mean it hurts any less everytime. You tried to understand his problems and tried somewhat of a helping hand to him but only to get pushed aside.

"Thank you for the offer dear but I'm fine."

"I'd like to do my work in peace, I hope you understand."

"Please shut the door behind you."

Biting your lips hard and blinking away the tears, you went on, letting him be and carrying on. You were a ticking bomb, tolerating things until you couldn't anymore. You weren't asking for much, you wanted to be in a more committed relationship, like marriage. You both weren't getting any younger and have been together for years now yet Diluc didn't see the necessities of that. You accepted that too. You weren't asking for much. Just his love and time was enough but unfortunately you were deprived of them too.

Your hands slam hard on the table, "Diluc I can't explain this enough, can you not see it for yourself how distant you've been?" You yell, being already tired of the argument. From all the stress and burden of running the Tavern and being the Darknight Hero by night has already taken a toll on him. And the start of an argument with you was the last straw. Cutting the string from which he was barely hanging on. "I don't have time for this." He mumbles, walking past you but you didn't cave in this time, you raised your hand and block his way. "You don't have time for anything anymore. It's now or never! You're not going anywhere, Diluc." You say, shaky voice and fury dancing in your eyes, "it takes two for a relationship! Two goddamnit!" You say, your hand weakly hits him in the chest, "I feel like I don't exist! You're overworking yourself and I want the fucking best for you-"

"Oh? you do?" He asks, mockingly, all self restraint going out the window. "Because hearing you complain like this rather tells me a different story." You cock up your brows in irritation, "Oh so now, caring about your health is complaining. You're being ridiculous" you gritted your teeth, Diluc now standing so close to you that it was almost comforting. What changed it though was the fact he leaned down enough to be inches away from your face as he chuckles, you can tell he's angry. "You don't understand anything, do you y/n? You do know well enough I need to be present in order for my business to run smoothly and by night, Im around Mondstadt making sure the civilians are safe because I'd be damned if I ever trust the Knights of Favonius ever again." He snarled, making you nervous but from the adrenaline rush, your anger didn't falter. "Say Diluc, where do I fit? Hmm?" You ask, diluc pauses and you can see the conflict behind his crimson eyes, he was taking far too long to reply to you. Well then, I guess you had your answer.

You look away for the first time and laugh as you realize how dull you started to feel. Visually it seemed like the colours around you drained and now only darkness took over. Without another word, you run out the door faster than you ever had and mindlessly without a sense of direction, you ran. You ran and ran, from between the grapevines, then through the forest. Only stopping as you gasped for air. Your lungs screamed for oxygen, your legs ached but that wasn't even the worst part.

You never heard him chasing after you, to stop you from leaving and it crushed you.

Now here you were, heartbroken in the whispering woods, picking up lampgrass flowers lazily, for what reason? you don't know. Maybe they reminded you of him. You laugh at yourself from how ridiculous all of this was getting. You hadn't dare to step inside the city nor go anywhere around the dawn winery in the past 2 days. The nature became your home, dipping in the lakes, sleeping under the open sky and living off of fruits and meals cooked on the camp fire. You just don't know what to do. Is this the end?

Are you two officially..broken up? Just like that? You remember everything back every moment and think if you became just too overbearing, s high maintenance person. If you were expecting too much, if this is all your fault.

Tears fill up your eyes again as you held your face in your hands, stopping yourself from another crying session. Footsteps could you heard and you felt unnerved. Your head shot up and looked around frantically, standing up fast and grabbing your weapon. Before you knew it though, red consumed your line of vision and the dull blade you had in your hands, which you were clutching onto for dear life goes flying off to somewhere you can never find it again as your back hits a tree. You yelp in shock, you weren't hurt though. Not when the familiar warm arms held your back and no matter how hard the impact was, you were shield from the blow. Your eyes widening as the face of the man you love stares back at you, the only difference was the mask he had on. His chest heaving for air but still, his expression of rage never falters. "You could've gotten yourself killed!" He yells at your face, your head roll to the side as a weak chuckle escapes from your mouth, "ah, the dark knight hero. You're suddenly very caring-" "Enough already!"

He huffs out air in frustration. You look past him as you tried to struggle out of his hold. "let fucking go, Ragnivindr." your loud voice rings out into the woods, radio silence taking over as his eyes watches you struggle, you could barely push him away. "You're not going anywhere." He mumbles, lowly.

"Just fucking go, leave me alone, fucking go away- go leave leav-" "fuck you." That was the last thing he says before his lips shuts you up soon enough. The kiss was anything but gentle. It was filled rage and hate. Messy and desperate yet the relief washing over Diluc made him light headed. Teeth clattering at times but most importantly, both of you fought for dominance, diluc's teeth often sinking down on your bottom lip as you try to pull away to breathe. "Fuck-" you tried to speak, "stop- I need to b-breathe." Pulling away for a second as the long string of saliva dripped down his chin, diluc could say one thing. "You don't need to, sweetheart." You almost agreed with him. From how desperate his lips kept getting on yours, felt like you were breathing for the first time ever after so long. You felt Alive in his arms.

Soon he pulls away, both of you were panting for air but Diluc left you no chance for that as soon as you both pulled away, your body was used like a rag doll as he now had you turned around and bend over. "Wai-" you were off by the sound of your dress getting torn up along with your underwear. You gasp as you felt his warm hand smacked your ass hard. "Now- say.." he begins, rubbing his hand on your bum to sooth out the pain as your lips trembled. "What should I even do to you." You hear him say next right beside your ear. You tried to speak but the exhaustion was catching upto you. "You ran away, you ran away from me." He mutters, using his vision to warm him his hands more as then proceeds to smack your ass harder than the last. The heat from his palm had you gasping for air. He groans at your cute little expressions and tears before chuckling as he notices your arousal dripping down your thighs, "I've just now hurt you and you're getting off to this?" He mumbles, his voice darkening with lust, amused even though it was not the first time, "Disgusting little whore." Again proceeding to hit you harder as you let out choked cries out of pleasure. "S-shut up" you cry out. Tears flowing down your face, which made diluc look fondly at you for a second before a small smirk creeps up on his handsome face, his mask making him look more ominous. "Oh yeah?" He asks, "it's pathetic to see you under the impression that you have any say in this?" He questions you as if you were stupid. You felt so little under his burning gaze but it turned you on so much more. You hardly can remember when was the time you both last had sex but this, you weren't complaining but doesn't mean you'll be obedient.

"Of-ofcourse I have a say in this!" You snap, his head lilts to look at you and Archons, you regret whatever you said. Darkness consumed the man's face. "Want to repeat that, darling?" He asks, in a mocking loving tone. You notice his jaw clenched under the moonlight. "I-"

The next moments were blurry. When you were back to your senses, you realized your body was barely covered by anything, the remains of your clothing on you barely did shit but you could hardly care about it as your head was now in the clouds. Under the tree, Diluc had his tongue buried deep inside your cunt, as your head lay in the grass. Though your hips were raised enough for the man to eat you out like a starved stray animal. The filthy scene as you glanced up had you clamping down on the wet muscle of his tongue. "Fuck, you taste good." His words came out muffled as he tried to dig in his face even deeper, not even taking a second away to breathe. It was like the man was really parched for days. He hummed as all he could think of in his head was to lap up all the juices that leaked out of you and drink you up. "S-slow down!" You tried to stop him, your hand raising up and clutching onto his hair as your tried to push his head away only to have him moan and lick and suck more greedily. Soon his gloved fingers accompanied and slipped inside you with ease and started pumping in and out of you with a rough pace. His groans vibrated on your weak spots, making you let out incoherent lines as you could barely think straight. "Cum on my tongue, fucking- give it to me now." He demands as he pulls away with a pop from sucking on your clit harshly, as if on cue, you let out a gutteral moan and silence scream staying frozen on your features for a bit as your eyes rolls back from the intensity. "Atta girl, aren't you precious?" he praises you as he smiles, feeling his heart flutter by seeing you so ruined, by him and for him only. "there's my good girl, my baby." Lifting you up, you barely had the time to catch your breath as his arm grips on your hip hard enough to have control and slams you down on his hard cock. The sudden stretch was not something you were prepared for, it made you tremble in his arms as he whines, feeling your insides grip onto him tighter by the second. He starts his brutal pace, fucking you while his mouth finds home between your chest you hug his head for deal life. Then he grips onto your hair, pulling back for you to look at him as his face glows bright red as he stares into your eyes. "Fucking damnit take it" he moans, "take it take it, you dirty little girl A-Archons please, goddamnit make me cum please please" you couldn't help but whimper at him begging, he was so lost, so high off you that he let down all his guards and begged you. "Please cum- cum on me, make me cum, please hahh" by now, he was making barely any sense. He really lost it all, tears forming in his eyes from the immeasurable amount of pleasure of drilling into you while he looks upto yours, you were already sobbing at his harsh thrusts. "You. Are. Mine" he thrusts in slow and deep in-between his words as he drools, slurring on his words as his thrusts becomes sloppier. sucking on your nipples, he whines louder and louder. Muttering your name like a mantra. "Y/n i- fuck I'm close I'm close, I'm gonna cum and you're gonna take it o-okay?" With one last thrust, he emptied himself as he fills you up. From the second intense orgasm, you passed out of exhaustion.

Sometime has gone by and you wake up to the sounds of sniffles. Opening your eyes slowly and adjusting to the lights, you realize it's early morning, right as the sun begin to rise for the start of a new day. You look around and realize you're in the Dawn winery, in Diluc's room. You look to the side to see Diluc, silently crying as his comforting hands slid a warm cloth down your thighs in order to clean you up.

You tried to get up, which catches the attention of your boyfriend finally, he looks away, wiping tears away fast as he slows you down and instead helps you up, bombarding you with questions. "Are you okay love? Do you need something? Are you too sore? You've been out for days, Barbatos knows what on earth you've relied on for food. Are you hungry? Wait let me get adelinde-" you yawn, cracking into a genuine smile, "No I'm alright, stay" your tired hand lift up to caress his cheek and he buries his face into your palm, seeming very touch starved. Without his dark knight hero mask, you noticed how tired he looked, incredibly broken even. It broke your heart to see him like this."What's wrong Diluc?" You ask, concerned.

He couldn't take it anymore, he crumbles.

He crumbles like the day when his father died.

He crumbles like the day kaeya confessed about his dark secrets.

He crumbles like the day he realizes he's truly alone.

He crumbles like the day you left, falling down and never being about to stand back up and run after you.

Pulling you into a deep embrace, he cries his heart out. All of his walls has fallen down over the fear of losing you too and he was not about to watch and stand by to see you gone, like the others.

"I failed you." His voice comes out broken, "I treated you like shit god knows why, i won't- no. I can't CAN'T let you go please, I'm sorry I'm well aware it's selfish of me but just I'm so fucking sorry-" he begs, you coo and brush his hair to calm him down, whispering words of love and acceptance. The sincerity in his words are enough for you. He felt like he doesn't deserve you. Already being forgiven so easily, it hurts him.

This is who he almost lost.

Hugging you tighter, the early morning passed with him kissing you with love and apologies to which you'd reply with acceptance until you fell asleep, being secured and feeling loved again in the arms of whom you wanted only. As for Diluc, he was in the brink of collapsing but he couldn't, wouldn't stop staring at your sleeping form, it was like a fallen angel is in his arms. He couldn't help but let out the cries that re-surfaced again. This time over relief. You came back, you accepted his sins, you forgave him, you took him back with open arms even when you were wounded. And he'd be a damn fool to lose you over his own ignorance. You may have forgiven him but he hasn't, he counts down on days and plans on everything for the upcoming days where he'd do everything in his ability to make up for everything and be worthy for your love again. You are his comfort, you are his home.

He smiles as his eyes darts back to look at the little box in the nightstand before looking back at your sleeping form.

"And the day starts from today." He thinks to himself, as he falls into deep slumber on top of you, holding you and never planning to let go.

xxx

Edit: forgot to mention how much of a whore I am for this man, alright that's all. Thank you for listening to my tedtalk, love you guys <3

#diluc smut #genshin smut #angst #diluc angst #diluc ragnvindr smut #diluc ragnivindr x reader #diluc ragnvindr #diluc x reader #diluc #fiction #diluc genshin impact #genshin imapct #genshin impact #genshin angst

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inevitably-johnlocked · 3 years

Note

Do you have any fic recs of Sherlock being soft for John and John only.

Hey Nonny!

Ahhhhhhhh your request had me thinking that yes I do, and I did tag a few fics with “soft Sherlock”, but I’ve never started a list, so here ya go!

SOFT SHERLOCK

See also: Sherlock Soft With Children

Soft. Happy. Content. by inevitably_johnlocked (G, 223 w., 1 Ch. || Sleepy Cuddles, Bed Sharing, Slice of Life, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Spooning, Morning After, Sherlock POV) – Sherlock reflects on his state of mind. Part 6 of I-J's Tumblr Ficlet Collection

A Perfect Figure by ecb327 (K, 622 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, First Person POV Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Introspection, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Light Angst) – Sherlock build a spot in his mind palace for John.

I Knew You Loved Me by inevitably_johnlocked (T, 743 w., 1 Ch. || Morning Cuddles, Fluff, Clingy Sherlock, Idiots in Love, Slice of Life, Morning After, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Declarations of Love, Pet Name, Bed Sharing, Snuggles) – John and Sherlock share a lie-in the morning after their first time. So fluffy and gross your teeth will fall out. Part 4 of I-J's Tumblr Ficlet Collection

Peacock by ClassyGirlsWearPearls (T, 1,189 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Cranky Sherlock, Soft John, Hand Holding, Soft Sherlock) – A study in Sherlock and John.

Mizzle by MrsNoggin (K, 1,233 w., 1 Ch || Friendship, Fluff, Platonic Johnlock, Humour, Slice of Life) – John can't decide if it's raining or not. Sherlock doesn't understand.

And, Usually, He's the One Who GIVES Me a Headache by Cumberbatch Critter (T, 1,315 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, POV John, Cranky John, Headaches, Head Massage) – A migraine is never fun.

Together is What we Have, Together Protects Us by Phantom of the Black Pearl (K+, 1,566 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TRF, Friendship / Platonic or Slash, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Sherlock, Worried Sherlock, Slice of Life) – After a case one evening in the flat Sherlock voices a concern that causes the pair to consider why they've chosen to stick together after all that's happened

Here to Stay by MockJayPhoenix12 (K, 1,574 w., 1 Ch. || Post Reunion, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Headache, Bed Sharing, Care Taker Sherlock, Hand Holding, Fluff) – On Sherlock's first day home, John wakes with a migraine.

Evermore by SosoHolmesWatson (G, 2,068 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S4, 5-Year-Old Rosie, Love Confessions, Song Fic, Parentlock, Oblivious John, Pining Sherlock, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Disney Songs, Beauty and the Beast) – For the past years, John and Sherlock have lived at Baker Street again, raising Rosie together--as friends and nothing more. Ever since the little girl has watched her first Disney movie, she is obsessed with princesses. When John comes home one day, he finds his friend and his daughter in the middle of a reenactment of her current favourite. Part 1 of Made of Music

Let the Sun Fade Out by nothingislittle (E, 2,711 w., 1 Ch. || Fluff & Smut, Praise Kink, PWP, Obsessed Sherlock, Bottomlock, Heart-Tearing Love) – "He could warm the sun itself, Sherlock thinks, could heat their flat with just his presence, could brighten the room with one dazzling smile or just the sparkling in his eyes. John is everything, he’s beautiful and he shines, he’s everything."

Unquantifiable by 221b_hound (M, 2,799 w. 1 Ch. || Est. Rel., Sherlock/Sally Friendship, Grumpy John, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Pet Names, Texting, Sweet Sherlock, Princess Bride References) – John remains a terrible and foul-tempered patient, but he does try to make up for it with pet names and text message silliness. In the meantime, Sally Donovan visits Baker Street for a hint about the Milverton case, and has to deal with a Sherlock Holmes who can't find words big enough to thank her for saving John's life at the warehouse. For afters, there's a viewing of The Princess Bride. Part 33 of the Unkissed series

Pillow Talk by 221b_hound (E, 2,925 w., 1 Ch. || Post-HLV, Est. Rel., Preening Sherlock, Limpet Sherlock, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Sex on Furniture, Scent Kink, Masturbation, Fluff, Soft Sherlock, Sherlock’s Bum) – John gets home late from work and Sherlock is nowhere to be seen. John walks through the flat, distracted by memories of all the excellent sex they've been having, and finally finds Sherlock asleep in the upstairs room - apparently having fallen asleep mid-wank while inhaling the scent of John's pillow. Well, you should always finish what you start, John thinks... Part 3 of Lock and Key

The General Idea by agirlsname (T, 3,022 w., 1 Ch. || Retirement, Promise of Forever / Proposal, POV John, First Kiss, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Soft Sherlock, Idiots in Love, Crying / Emotional Sherlock, Love Confessions) – After twenty years of friendship, John is used to Sherlock acting weirdly. But the news Sherlock finally brings himself to deliver change the carefully built dynamics between them, and John realises it's time to act.

Affirmation by jamlockk (E, 3,096 w., 1 Ch. || First Time, Dev. Rel., PWP, Love Declarations, Emotional/Overwhelmed Sherlock, Comforting/Caring John, Gross Fluff) – "Sunlight dappled John's skin, casting a glow across his spreadeagled form as he dozed among the rumpled sheets. Sherlock knew the expression on his face was hopelessly soft but for once did not care about showing his true feelings so openly. He simply stood there, in the doorway, gazing at the impossibly beautiful man currently snuffling softly in his slumber." Part 8 of All the ways we love

Untouched by KittieHill (E, 3,239 w., 1 Ch. || Kissing, Frottage, Virgin Sherlock, Body Worship, Sherlock’s Scars Mentioned, Masturbation, PWP, Rimming, Multiple Orgasms) – Sherlock leaked a lot. John had never needed lubricant. John loved watching it, had once spent an entire afternoon edging Sherlock so he could watch as the thick precome drip, drip, dripped onto Sherlock's belly.

Morning Sunlight by slashscribe (E, 3,565 w., 1 Ch. || PWP, Morning Sex, Fluff, PWP, Established Rel., Soft Idiots) – A thin band of soft morning light peeks between the curtains and stretches across John’s torso, laying dormant across his forearm, dipping into the space between his arm and his chest, illuminating his right nipple but just brushing the edge of his left, disappearing into his armpit, and reappearing again right over Sherlock’s eyes where his head rests, nestled against John’s shoulder. Sherlock is not annoyed by the light’s intrusion on his sleep, not when it rests so soft and tantalizing on John’s skin, a work of unintentionally erotic art. A PWP with so much emotion.

Living Musical by VeeTheRee (G, 4,149 w. 1 Ch. || Est. Rel., Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Hobbies, Summer, Song Fic, POV Sherlock, Painting, Play Fighting, Soft Sherlock, Dancing, Love Declarations, Hair Petting, Promise of Forever) – A one-shot of John and Sherlock being domestic during summer. There is paint, fluff, and music from Imagine Dragons, namely from the album 'Speak To Me', specific song in this one-shot is 'Living Musical'. Part 1 of the Happy Fluffy Johnlock Time series

Date Night by inevitably_johnlocked (G, 4,451 w., 1 Ch. || Anxious / Worried Sherlock, Caring John, Schmoopy Fluff, Fidget Cube, Baking / Cooking, Date Night, Established Relationship, POV Sherlock Holmes, Understanding John, Grumpy Sherlock, John’s Bum, Kisses, Hugs, Domestic Fluff, Touching, Hair Petting, Light Humour) – It's John and Sherlock's first Date Night as an official couple and Sherlock needs it to be PERFECT. Mrs Hudson helps. Part 7 of I-J's Tumblr Ficlet Collection

If He Knows by shamelessmash (M, 4,513 w., 1 Ch. || TSo3 Fic, Pining Sherlock, Bed Sharing, Angst, First Person Sherlock POV, Texting, Internal Monologue, Blanket Forts) – I imagine mornings: John handing me a cup of tea, hair sticking out at odd angles. How he would bend down to kiss me, smiling fondly as he pulls away. The way his skin crinkles at the corner of his eyes, the way his skin looks in the morning light. The soft sigh as he sits in his chair with the morning paper, the way his toes curl in the carpet, the way he rolls his shoulders before sinking deeper into his seat. I watch him, how he is when he is content, as it should be. As he deserves. Happy. With me.

all things warm and tender by darcylindbergh (E, 5,177 w., 1 Ch. || PWP, Romantic Fluff, Rimming/Anal/BJ’s, Body Worship) – Grinning and giggling, John slides back down under the sheet and pulls it over his head. He finds Sherlock waiting for him, eyes bright and hair wild, the firelight bleeding through the thin fabric, colouring everything in soft peach and topaz, and in that moment he is so suddenly, unexpectedly, ethereally beautiful that John forgets how to breathe.

Pillow Talk by scullyseviltwin (M, 5,183 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S3, Angsty Fluff, Pillow Talk, Bed Sharing, Worried John, First Time Morning After, Soft Sherlock, Sexuality Discussion, Love Confessions, Kisses and Cuddles) – John has been looking at Sherlock for ages, it feels like.

a very soft epilogue (my love) by darcylindbergh (E, 5,395 w., 3 Ch. || Retirement, Domestic Fluff, Dancing, Dogs, Grumpy Old Men) – Across the pillows, Sherlock shifts and hums, the creases of his face deepening and then smoothing before settling. John watches him wake up, his chest swelling with affection and fondness, and thinks he’ll never get tired of Sherlock in the mornings, sleepy and soft. It’s been some forty-odd years, and John hasn’t gotten tired of it yet. Part 5 of things fairy tales are made of

Naked by sussexbound (E, 6,166 w., 1 Ch. || Frottage, Fluff, Intimacy, First Time, Love Declarations, Trust) – John takes a deep breath, and then lets out a long-suffering sigh. “Sherlock, how would you feel if you were sitting out here doing one of your bloody experiments, and I just waltzed out of the loo and started fixing myself breakfast completely starkers? Hmm…? ”Sherlock’s lips inch up at the corners into a pleased hint of a smile he can’t seem to suppress. Part 2 of Intimacy

Christmas by WhimsicalEthnographies (E, 7,673 w., 1 Ch. || Worried Sherlock, PWP, Drunkeness, Christmas, Est. Relationship, Idiots So In Love) – John feels a lump rise in his throat, and it hits him, again, that this beautiful, infuriating creature is his. Completely, one-hundred percent his.

How To Give Your Boyfriend Who Doesn't Know He's Your Boyfriend the Best Valentine's Day Ever by unicornpoe (T, 9,832 w., 1 Ch. || Valentine’s Day, Fluff and Crack, Soft Sherlock, POV Sherlock) – Sherlock is pretty sure that John Watson is his boyfriend. He's also pretty sure that John doesn't know it. But with a little help from a magazine, some friends, three crepes, five dates, one awesome CD, and a stalker van, John is bound to realize just in time for Valentine's Day.

Someone I Love by hudders-and-hiddles (M, 10,002 w., 2 Ch. || Canon Compliant, HLV-Filler Fic, Pre-Slash, Jealous John, PIning Sherlock, Angst & Fluff, UST/URT, Dog Tags) – John gets married and Sherlock finds comfort in wearing John's identity tags around his wrist.

To be loved by Strange_johnlock (E, 12,436 w., 8 Ch. || Post S3, Established Relationship, First Person POV Sherlock, Pet Names, Soft Sherlock, Mild ADHD, Protective John, Captain Watson, Body Appreciation, Bottomlock, Rough Sex, Travelling for Holidays, Introspection, Sherlock Loves John So Much It Hurts) – John is so deeply integrated into the work, both as my conductor of light, and as a great shot with a vicious right hook who tackles men -and women- no matter their size all in my defense. He protects me with all he can without question, and this loyalty is surely more than I deserve. Or: Sherlock is counting his blessings.

holding steady by darcylindbergh (E, 12,724 w., 4 Ch. || Post S4, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Growing Old, Gone Fishing, Mood without Plot, Soft Sherlock, Caring Sherlock, POV John Third Person, Anxious Sherlock, First Kiss / Time, Touching, Feeling Old, Sherlock Worship, Crying Sherlock, Cuddles, Comforting, Introspection, Retirement, Hand Holding, Forehead Kisses, Caring John, Bed Sharing, Emotional Love Making) – Sitting on a thick wool blanket at the end of a rickety dock side-by-side, legs dangling over the edge, a styrofoam container of wet, dark dirt between them, they’re fishing. John knows what this is about. This is about finally figuring it out.

On The Fence by BeautifulFiction (T, 13,770 w., 1 Ch. || Fencing, Case Fic, First Kiss, Insecure John, Pining John, Hug, Greg Finds Out) – The murder of the King's College fencing champion leads to revelations about Sherlock's past. Will it be the point that tips them from friends to lovers, or will they remain on the fence?

The Invocation of Saint Margaret by Ewebie (E, 15,831 w., 1 Ch. || POV John, Crossing Timelines, Light Angst, Fluff, Series 3 John / Series 1 Sherlock, The Matchbox, Mushy Romance, First Time, Bisexual John, Pining John, Bottomlock, Love Confessions, Sensuality, Emotional Love Making, Snippets of Time) – When Sherlock Holmes opens the matchbox from The Sign of Three and John finds himself years in the past, back to that first dinner at Angelo's with a much younger Sherlock Holmes. Is he dreaming?

Division by MrsNoggin (E, 19,542 w., 11 Ch. || Coffee Shop AU || First Kiss/Time, Fluff, Barista Sherlock, Clingy Sherlock, POV John, John’s Limp, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Sleepy Cuddles, Sensuality, Touching, Virgin Sherlock, Insecure John) – John likes mysteries. And every morning he dips into the local independent coffee bar with his newspaper and ponders another... one Sherlock Holmes.

Out of the Woods by SilentAuror (E, 20,471 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, Romance, Slow Burn, Flirting, Drunk Sex, Practical Jokes, POV Sherlock, Bottomlock, Possessive John, Pining Sherlock, Frustrated Wanking, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, First Kiss/Time, Virgin Sherlock, Love Confessions, Soft Sherlock, Dancing, Bum Appreciation, Hanging out with the Yard) – Sherlock is fairly certain that John has taken to flirting with him of late, but can't be entirely certain of it. At least, not until a case takes them into a forest, along with Lestrade's team and something happens that will change everything about their lives...

How To Unfold a Heart by elwinglyre (E, 25,477 w., 7 Ch. || Post S4 Fix It, BAMF John, Mentioned Eurus, POV First Person Sherlock, Case Fic, Fluff, Slow Burn, Topping from the Bottom, 3 Yr Old Rosie, Introspection, Sexual Fantasies, John Worship, Ogling, Hand Holding, Kidnapping, Domesticity, Sherlock Whump, First Kiss/Time, Doctor John, Caring John, Soft Sherlock, Sensuality, Touching, Crying, Love Confessions, Anxious Sherlock, Rimming, Toplock, Fingering, Bossy Bottom John) – To Sherlock’s dismay, John’s return to Baker Street with Rosie is only temporary. Sherlock’s daily visits to Regent Park with John and Rosie illuminate his lost childhood memories and missed opportunities. But with each trip to the park, Sherlock also feels a growing sense of hope. That is until the past horrors return unexpectedly in a cryptic note folded in the shape of a heart. To decipher the message, Sherlock must uncover the nature of the hearts around him, including his own.

A Quiet Life by DiscordantWords (M, 25,176 w., 6 Ch. || Post S4, Retirement, POV Sherlock, Awkwardness, Established Relationship, Family Dynamics, Minor Character Death, Questionable Parenting Choices, Non-Linear Narrative, 20 Year Old Rosie, Meddling Mycroft, Pining Sherlock, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Angst, Sherlock Whump) – There had been three days of silence and a funeral. Sherlock had the terrible feeling that whatever happened next would depend, entirely, on him.

Deck the Halls by itsalwaysyou_jw (T, 31,018 w., 24 Ch. || Advent Fic / Multiple One-Shots, Assorted Tags) – One Johnlock ficlet for every day leading up to Christmas. Who is ready for pining, first kisses, established Johnlock, and everything in between? This collection of stand-alone ficlets will have it all.

Gold Rush by ShirleyCarlton (E, 71,783 w., 17 Ch. || Post S3 / No Mary, Friends to Lovers, Mentions of Past Sexual Abuse, First Kiss, Case Fic, Slow Burn, Alternating POV, Switchlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Marriage Proposal, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Abduction, Anxious/Insecure Sherlock, Miscommunication, Emotional Lovemaking) – John has divorced Mary and pops round to 221B one evening to find Sherlock in the middle of a case. As Sherlock tries to find the identity of a young woman’s stalker, John realises he can no longer deny his feelings for Sherlock – which then, to their befuddlement, turn out to be mutual. Shy kisses and tentative embraces ensue. But will Sherlock be able to cast off a shadow from his past that he thinks might prevent John from wanting to stay?

Definitions by siennna (T, 101,528 w., 12 of ? Ch. || Dev. Rel., Pining, Fluff and Romance, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Fluff, Cuddles, Girl’s Night, Texting, Virgin Sherlock, Drunk Sherlock, Background Mollstrade, Hair Petting, Laying on Lap) – Sherlock’s journey in defining his flat mate and stumbling through the muddled world of emotion. {{This feels complete; the chapter count is listed as ? but I feel like it is done}}

Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (E, 151,714 w., 20 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-TRF, Hiatus Fic, POV First Person Sherlock, Present Tense, First Kiss/Time, Big Brother Mycroft, Escaping from Capture, Soft Sherlock, Toplock, Insecurity, Infidelity, Travelling, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Depression, Fantasies, Yearning for the Past, PTSD Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation) – Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns.

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #my fic recs #soft sherlock #Anonymous #long post

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what-is-your-plan-today · 3 years

Text

Riding On

Ch 19- Everyone Loves A B-J…

Summary: It’s Frank’s birthday and the Adler-Gallagher clan enjoy a family based weekend that brings Frank several surprises along the way, whilst both him and Fliss get a gift that money simply can’t buy.

Warnings: Bad Language words, Smut (NSFW, 18+)

Pairing: Frank Adler x Fliss Gallagher

A/N: LONG update here guys, and sorry, I really couldn’t resist the Trump bashing again. For what it’s worth, I cannot WAIT to write Frank’s reaction to that election when I finally get there. All together now “F**k Donal Trump!”

Thanks to my wonderful gals @icanfeelastormbrewing and @southerngracela who let me bounce a few ideas off for this...

Chapter Song: I’m Yours- Jason Mraz

Series Masterlist // WIYPT Masterlist

Well, you done done me, and you bet I felt it, I tried to be chill, but you're so hot that I melted. I fell right through the cracks, now I'm trying to get back.

Given that Alex's stay at his grandparents was a success, Fliss felt much happier about her planned surprise few nights away for Frank. She had already booked most of it in early January, having roped her parents, Mary and even Frank's colleagues into her plotting to ensure that the days she had selected- Thursday to Sunday over the second weekend in March- were booked as leave and factored into the rota at the shop without him knowing. Mary, being her usual googling genius self, helped Fliss to find the perfect place to stay in the area she had selected along with a number of activities and she’d booked the whole thing on her credit card so that Frank wouldn't see anything suspicious showing up on their bank statements. That said, despite all her secrecy, Frank could tell she was up to something. He knew her too well not to spot it. And being the impatient little shit he was, he tried everything he could to coax it out of her to no avail. She wasn't for cracking, and neither was Mary. All he kept getting told from both his girls was "wait for your birthday" which was driving him insane. He even tried to catch Fliss out mid sex one evening. He lay over her, languidly dragging his cock in and out of her at a torturously slow pace, promising her he'd let her come if she told him what she was up to. She'd simply panted out that he was an asshole and then looked up at him with those eyes, wide and bright, shining with love and as usual he'd caved. He never could resist when she looked at him like that and a few minutes later she was crying his name whilst Frank was still none the wiser as to what was actually going on. The morning of his birthday rolled around much the same as any other Saturday morning, except Mary had opted to stay home the night before instead of going to Roberta’s as they were going out for breakfast. The morning sun was warm on Frank's face as it spliced through a crack in the curtains, but that wasn't what had woken him. It was Fliss, kissing and nuzzling all around his shoulders and the back of his neck as she snuggled into him from behind, her hand snaking around his waist and dipping into his boxers.

He gave a croaky little groan as her hand wrapped around his semi-hard cock, lightly stroking him as she continued gently kissing his neck, the heat from her body radiating into his as she pressed her chest to his bare back. Frank turned his head so he was looking over his shoulder and she met him with a cheeky smirk which turned into a slow, gentle kiss, perfect for the lazy, slow strokes she was giving him.

"Happy birthday baby." She whispered, nudging his nose with hers.

“You can say that again.” He choked as her grip tightened around him.

“Happy birthday baby.” She chuckled and Frank rolled his eyes giving a huff of laughter but before he could reply Fliss had gently pushed on his shoulder, coaxing him over onto his back. She moved so she was hovering over him, kissed him again before her mouth made its way down his chest, nose and lips tracing a path down his happy trail and across his Adonis belt. With a soft moan of her name, Frank’s hand tangled in those soft, morning-tousled waves of bright, auburn hair he adored as she glanced up at him with her deep, brown eyes, the polka-dot bed covers peaked around her head. She gave another cheeky grin as her hands reached for the side of his boxers and he shifted his hips to allow her to pull them down. Her eyes locked on his she wrapped her hand round the base of his cock and gave a few further flicks of her wrist, causing him to sigh before she adjusted herself, pulled her hair over one shoulder and took him in her mouth. Frank moaned, totally blissing out as Fliss licked and sucked her way around his dick, the hand that wasn't in her hair fisted around the bed sheets as he felt his pleasure mounting the more she worked him. His hips bucked slight as she took him all the way to the back of her throat, a motion she repeated for 3 or 4 times until he was gone. With a hiss and a croak of her name Frank spilled himself down her throat, his fingers tightening around her hair as he sighed, laying back, eyes closed, chest heaving.

With a smirk Fliss pulled his boxers back up and crawled the length of his body, laying on top of him, her chest pressed to his. He smiled, his eyes still not opening as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close for a second, basking in what a fucking amazing wake-up call that had been, until the baby monitor on the nightstand suddenly emitted a loud gurgled screech signalling Alex was awake and sure enough, as they both turned to look at the screen they could see him attempting to roll over in his crib.

“It was a lot easier when he was right here.” Fliss pouted, her chin on Frank’s chest as she peeked up at him and Frank gave her a stern look.

“We’re not having that argument again, Liss.” He shook his head, “He’s 6 months old now. He can sleep in his own room.”

“I know, I know…” She sighed, pushing herself up away from Frank and climbing off the bed. He watched her go laying back on the pillow, giving a roll of his eyes at the ceiling. That had been one hell of heated discussion earlier in the week when he’d suggested it was time Alex moved into the nursery at night instead of just taking his daytime naps in there. Fliss had protested, shown him all this stuff on the internet about how it was better for kids to be in their parents rooms until they were 12 months old, which Frank and countered with articles to the contrary he had found and stated Mary had never slept in his room from the moment he’d had her. She’d gotten upset, teary, but he wasn’t caving in. He’d hated being so damned forceful with her but the fact was as much as he loved the kids he selfishly and unashamedly wanted his private space back, a space where they got to be alone with one another to allow them to be Fliss and Frank, not mom and dad. Plus he also knew the longer Alex stayed in their room the harder it was going to be to get him to settle in his own space. Eventually, after Fliss had realised this was one thing she wasn’t getting her own way with she’d given in, and spent most of the night tossing and turning, sniffing a little, and when he’d tried to cuddle her she’d told him to piss off. Frank had merely taken a deep breath and backed away, knowing full well that when she got up in the morning and saw that Alex was fine, she’d feel like an ass. And he’d been right. She’d been up at the crack of dawn, straight into the nursery and come back a few minutes later, sidling up to him and hugging him from behind whispering that she was sorry, and the entire thing had been forgotten.

A thud on the bed jolted Frank from his thoughts and he looked down to see Thor had hopped up on the foot of the bed and he flopped down, his head on the peak that Frank’s feet were making.

“Oh, it’s like that is it buddy?” he asked and the dog merely looked at him before giving a contented sigh, his tail thumping on the bed. Then his head perked up as the door to their room pushed open again and his tail grew even more frantic as Fliss entered with Alex in her arms. She placed him down on the duvet and climbed into bed again, both watching as their baby promptly rolled from his back onto his tummy, his head raising to look at Frank as he gave a loud gurgle, grinning up at his daddy.

Frank gave a huff of laughter as he sat up against the headboard and hooked his hands under Alex’s arm pits, standing him up on his thighs. Gently he moved his hand so the baby could grab onto his fingers and Alex stood, looking around the room as Frank helped him stay in place.

“Mum thinks he’ll be crawling soon.” Fliss smiled as she lay back, watching the two of them “I mean he’s already sitting up and bum shuffling on the floor so…”

“God help us…or more to the point God help Thor!” Frank snorted as Alex gave a loud shriek as he spotted the dog led on the bed. Thor once more thumped his tail but made no effort to move. At that point, Alex’s legs gave a little wobble and he plopped down onto the soft duvet, sitting up and grabbing at the pattern on the cover before he looked up, grinning once more at Frank.

“He’s always so happy.” Fliss beamed at the baby who waggled his arms excitedly as Frank once more helped him stand up.

“He does nothing but sleep, eat, drink and mess in his diaper.” Frank shrugged “What’s there to be miserable about?!” Fliss snorted as Frank cocked his head and studied his son. “His hair is definitely going darker.” He mused.

“I know.” Fliss smiled “I’m glad his eyes aren’t though.”

“Glad?” Frank turned to her. “How come?”

“Because they’re just like yours.”

Frank smiled as Fliss leaned over and kissed him softly. They spent a little more time in bed, watching Alex’s various attempts to shuffle over the top of the bed towards the german shepherd at the bottom, before they heard Mary’s door open. She headed into the bathroom first before she knocked on their door and when Frank told her to come in she dive bombed on the bed singing Happy Birthday and demanding that he get up to open his gifts.

It was only since being with Fliss that Frank had really had Birthday or Christmas presents to open since he had left Boston. Granted, Roberta had normally gotten him a little something from her and also Mary but now it was different. And not that he was materialistic but he loved the fact he felt a little spoilt. He sat on the couch and unwrapped each one in turn to reveal a couple of new shirts, a pair of sneakers and a framed photo of the four of them which had been taken by Bill at the last Competition Mary had been in. She was sat on Monty in her full show gear, rosette attached to the pony's bridle as Alex perched in front of her, held safely in place by Fliss's hands. Frank stood at the other side of the pony, his arm round Mary all of them beaming at the camera. "Thanks guys, I love it all." Frank looked up smiling, before he paused as Fliss handed him an envelope "More?"

She nodded from where she sat on the floor with Alex who was stood on shaky legs, hanging on to her fingers just as he’d done with his dad earlier. Frank looked at her suspiciously before he slipped his finger under the flap and tore it open. He pulled out the piece of paper, which was a flight itinerary and his eyes widened as he looked at the destination. "We're going to Vermont?" He looked at Fliss and she grinned, giving a nod. "3 nights, next Thursday to Sunday, just the 2 of us" She informed him as Frank quickly scanned the details, his eyes flicking back to hers as he registered the fact they were going to be alone "Nice little cabin in the Moscow area of Stowe and I booked us a few things to do..." "Please tell me one of those things is the Ben and Jerry's tour!" Frank groaned as and Fliss gave a chuckle.

“Well you know what they say…” she looked at Frank whose eyes flicked back to the printed itinerary before they raised once more to hers, questioningly. She grinned and licked her lips “Everyone loves a BJ.”

Frank gave a snort, followed by a little sigh of delight looking back at the piece of paper in his hand, his eyes shining with happiness as he took it all in. “Lissy, this is amazing." He beamed "Thank you." "Wait..." Mary suddenly piped up "You're going to Ben and Jerry's?" "Yeah." Fliss nodded.

"So not fair." She rolled her eyes "I wanna go."

“Tough.” Frank shot back “It’s my birthday not yours.”

“Well can we go for my birthday?” Mary asked.

“No.”

“That’s so mean Frank.” She whined.

“Go call someone who cares.” He looked at her. She narrowed her eyes and then held her hand out.

“Give me your phone then.” She demanded and Fliss laughed.

“Yeah? And who you gonna call?” Frank eyed her “Ghostbusters?”

Marry grinned “Nope. Poppa Bill. He’ll kick your ass.”

“Oh please!” Frank snorted “I’m not scared of Bill.” He shrugged “I could take him down.”

Mary pondered for a second before she looked at him, a positively wicked smirk crossing her face “Fine, I’ll call Uncle Steeby then. I know you’re scared of him.”

“No I’m not.” Frank scoffed and Mary snorted

“Whatever Frank, you’re only lying to yourself.” She said, standing up “Imma go get dressed. When we going for breakfast?”

“Soon as we’re ready.” Fliss smiled and Mary skipped out of the room, humming something to herself, Fred and Thor both following her as she went.

“You’re a liar.” Fliss looked at Frank.

“What?” he asked, picking Alex up and settling him on his knee.

“Saying you’re not scared of Steeby.”

“I’m not.” Frank shook his head, before his face rearranged into a little smile “I’m petrified of him.”

****

Just over an hour or so later they were settled in a booth at Keke's Breakfast cafe on Gulfport. Mary announced loudly that she didn’t need to see the menu, telling their server that she wanted her favourite, the apple and cinnamon waffles with a side of bacon. Frank rolled his eyes at her hyper nature, a soft smile on his face as she chatted away to the teenager who entertained her ramblings with the patience of a saint whilst he and Fliss gave the menu a cursory glance before they too opted for their standard order. Frank took the large French toast combo with his eggs over easy as always, whereas Fliss chose the raspberry stuffed French toast. They also ordered a side of plain pancakes for Alex, the baby now at the stage of holding various food items in his little hand and gumming them half to death with his few teeth. It kept him quiet and entertained whilst they ate, even if more of it did end up round his face and in his hair than his mouth.

Their food didn’t take long, Frank filling the 15 minute or so wait gently teasing Mary about a boy she had mentioned from school, causing her to narrow her eyes at him, protesting that they were just friends. When Fliss then pointed out that was how her and Frank started off she paused, pulled a face and then informed them that their accusations were both baseless and gross, causing Frank to laugh and lean back in his seat, taking a large drink of his coffee.

Their food arrived and Fliss cut up the pancakes, handing a large piece of one to Alex as they all tucked in, eating with gusto, a happy silence falling over the table which Mary broke a few moments later.

“Can we grill tonight?” she asked, her mouthful of food. Frank looked at her, where she was sat on the bench opposite him, next to Fliss. He shook his head “What?” she asked.

“Seriously, it’s breakfast time and you’re asking about what we’re eating tonight?”

Mary shrugged “You need to be more organised, Frank.”

Fliss gave a snort as Frank looked from Mary to her “Seriously, I’m 39 getting sassed by a soon to be 10 year old.”

“39…” Fliss sniggered and Frank nudged her under the table with his foot.

“So can we or not?” Mary demanded.

“Jeeez.” Frank rolled his eyes, picking up his coffee “It’s my birthday, don’t I get a say in what we do?”

“I’ve actually booked us a table somewhere.” Fliss spoke, cutting across the argument. “Thought it might be nice for us all to go out.”

“Where?” Mary turned to her.

“1200 Chophouse.”

Frank let out a groan of delight at the same time Mary punched the air “Seriously?”

Fliss nodded “It was going to be a surprise. Mum, Dad, Steve, Sian and the kids are coming. Oh, and Roberta.” She turned to Mary “So when we get back you need to ride then bath Monty and load the wagon ready for tomorrow. The table is booked for 6:30 so we can feed Alex before we go. He should be happy enough in the chair.”

Mary nodded “Am I on the 1pm class?”

Fliss shook her head “No, I told Joanne to take you off. I’ll teach you later once the class is done ok?”

Mary grinned “I like it best when we do that.”

Fliss smiled at her and then turned to Alex who had enthusiastically banged his fist on the little plastic tray of the high-chair. “You ok baby?” he grinned at her then let out a loud shriek. “Ok, hang on…” She tore another pancake in half and then handed it to him where he shoved it in his mouth straight away. She watched him for a second then looked at Frank “He’s got your appetite.”

“He’s a growing boy.” Frank shrugged.

“What’s your excuse?” Fliss teased and Frank swallowed the last of his breakfast and leaned back against the bench, arm resting along the back of it as he drank his coffee.

“I burn a lot of energy.” He said after little deliberation, shooting her a wink.

About half an hour later they finished their breakfast and headed home, Mary and Fliss both changing into their riding gear and heading over to the yard for the afternoon. Fliss was apologising to Frank about not spending the full day with him but he chuckled, assuring her that he some peace and quiet and one-to-one time with his boy was celebration enough, earning him a soft nip on his arm in retaliation. He spent the afternoon in between making sure Alex was happy and settled enough flicking through trash TV, drinking beer and scouting the internet for a couple of boat parts some of which were needed and others, like a surround sound digital entertainment system complete with satellite TV, were not. Nevertheless, he marked the catalogue number down along with the stuff he actually did need so he could see how much cheaper it would be when he ran it all through the system at work.

At just gone 5 Fliss and Mary came back through the door, Thor hot on their heels, Fliss face bright red and Mary’s streaked with tears.

“What…” Frank stood up and Fliss held her hand up, telling him to stop. He did as he was told, observing with a frown as Mary kicked off her boots and gave a sniff.

“Fliss, I didn’t…”

“I’ve nothing more to say on the issue.” Fliss cut her off.

“But…”

“No buts Mary.” Fliss shook her head “What you said was really mean and I won’t tolerate it ok?”

“Kay…” She sniffed again.

“The horse world is full of nasty bitches.” Fliss looked at her. “I don’t want you becoming one. You know, you’ve done spectacularly well for your first ever season and now and you’ve pretty much just ruined it for yourself because frankly I’m not sure letting you go tomorrow is appropriate given your behaviour.”

“I’m sorry…please, Fliss. I can’t miss the last show!”

“Enough!” Fliss voice rose and Mary shut her mouth hastily. “No more. Now go get showered and changed, we’re late, we need to leave in an hour.” Fliss spoke with a finality to her voice which Mary clearly picked up on as she didn’t argue or plead anymore. Instead she simply wiped her face and headed through the room to the hall, eyes focussed on the floor as she walked. When she shut the door behind her to the hallway, Frank turned to Fliss, his expression puzzled.

“Ok, what’s going on?”

Fliss groaned, heading to the fridge “She was practicing over a few jumps and couldn’t quite get Monty to make the turn on the last one right, he kept tripping or knocking the pole down so she started to get frustrated. And it didn’t help that Sally was stood watching. Mary carried on getting really annoyed and distracted, and basically screamed at Sally saying that she was putting her off and then called her an asshole and told her to leave because no one on the yard liked her.”

Frank arched an eyebrow “She said that?” Fliss nodded and he groaned “Jesus.”

“And then Sally’s mother started.” Fliss sighed heavily, shutting the fridge door and cracking open the bottle of water she’d retrieved. “She was accusing Mary of being a spoilt brat and a spiteful little witch so then I ended up arguing with her, you know, pointing out that they’re kids and they say stuff, and that Sally is no angel as she has an acid tongue too…not that that excuses what Mary said.” She took a long drink of water “The upshot is her mother served her notice and they’re leaving next weekend.”

“So you lost clients?” Frank folded his arms, shaking his head in frustration, “Because of Mary’s mouth?”

“2 boarders.” Fliss shrugged “I’m not too bothered about that side of it, I have a waiting list so I can fill them straight away, I just don’t want Sandybrook getting a reputation, you know? Livery Yards can be horrible places and I work so hard to nip any bitching and bad feelings in the bud before they can spiral.”

“Did Mary apologise?”

“Oh yeah.” Fliss swallowed some more water. “I tore strips off her. As soon as she said it I told her to get straight off Monty, put him away and we were done. I made her apologise in front of everyone who’d been watching and then told her I’m not sure if I’m gonna take her tomorrow. I also told her if it wasn’t for the fact it was your birthday and we had no one to babysit, she wouldn’t be going anywhere tonight either.” She paused and bit the inside of her lip and looked at Frank “Was that too much? I mean…”

“No, absolutely not.” Frank shook his head “And besides, even if I thought it was harsh, which I don’t, I’d never undermine you anyway.”

“Thing is Frank, I really want her to go tomorrow.” Fliss rolled her eyes, “She’s worked so hard and she’s not a bad kid. It feels such a shame to let all her hard work and practice go to waste.”

“Well you didn’t say she couldn’t go for sure, just that you were debating whether or not to allow it.” Frank shrugged “So, let’s see how she goes tonight when we’re out. Then we can decide.”

Fliss nodded “Okay.”

“Honey, don’t think on it.” Frank cocked his head to one side, the look on Fliss’ face betraying the internal conflict she was feeling “You did the right thing.”

“I know, I know but doesn’t stop me feeling shitty about it Frank.” Fliss sighed as Frank walked towards her “I hate having to tell her off. She’s a good kid most of the time and I know deep down she didn’t mean to be so cruel.”

“Well, we all say things at times we don’t mean. I’ve told her that a few times myself.” Frank smiled, wrapping his arms around Fliss.

“It was frustration more than anything.” Fliss melted into his arms and Frank gave a hum of agreement. “Frustration at not being perfect at something.” He said wisely “Monty isn’t an equation or a problem she can work out with maths or logic.” He shrugged “Maybe it will do her some good to learn a little humility.” He dropped a kiss to her head. “Now, no offence but you stink of horses and we have 50 minutes until we need to leave. Go grab your shower, I’ll feed Alex and then get ready. Won’t take me long.”

Fliss chuckled and pulled back, looking up at him, narrowing her eyes “You’re not wearing one of those shirts are you?”

“It’s my birthday.” Frank shrugged “Surely I can wear what I want?”

Fliss rolled her eyes “Whatever.”

“I thought you liked them?”

“They’re hideous”

“But endearing.” He dropped another kiss to her lips “At least that’s what you say.”

She chuckled “I’m only teasing, I kinda like you in them.” She kissed him again and then pulled away, giving a little jump as Frank slapped her ass as she turned around to walk away. She tossed him a look over her shoulder which he met with an innocent one of his own before she walked into the hall, heading up the stairs.

20 minutes or so later, complete with Alex who had enthusiastically wolfed down a generous helping of Fliss’ home-made cauliflower, broccoli and cheese puree, whilst simultaneously smearing it all over his face, he headed up the stairs and into their bedroom. Fliss was wrapped in a robe, finishing off straightening her once hair and she gave a smile as Alex grinned at her.

“He really likes that stuff you made him.” Frank smiled and looked down at his son as he gabbled away in his arms. “I’ll get him cleaned and dressed before I take a shower.”

“I got his outfit ready.” Fliss smiled “It’s on the changing mat.”

“Don’t you trust my fashion sense?” Frank teased and she grinned.

“Your fashion sense is exactly why I picked it.”

“Rude.”

“Trust me, when you see it…you’ll understand.” She smirked.

“Okay…” Frank pulled a confused face before he dropped a kiss to her cheek and turned to head across the hall to the bathroom. 5 minutes later he’d managed to give Alex a quick bath to clean him up and after a little wrestle as the baby really was becoming a wriggle worm, he finally got him wrapped him in his little bear towel with the hood pulled over his light brown hair. Emerging from the family bathroom he made his way towards the nursery, pausing as he heard a little sniffle coming from Mary’s room. Taking a deep breath he moved towards that door instead and gently knocked.

“Stack?” he asked, and when she didn’t tell him to either ‘go away’ or ‘wait a second’ he reached with one hand to open the door and pushed it gently inwards. Mary was sat on the huge bean bag which was situated underneath her raised cabin bed, a book on her lap, her hair damp from the shower. She was dressed in a smart denim skirt which was printed with little white stars and a red plaid top with lace trim down either side of the column of buttons and round the collar. “That new?” he asked having not seen the top before.

“Fliss bought it me last week in Target” she said quietly, wiping her eyes. “I liked it so she said I could have it as I’d done well with Monty”

“Well, you got good taste.” he smiled “Take after me.”

At that she gave him a scathing look and he chuckled a little as Alex let out a little gurgle, his arms outstretched. Mary held her arms out for him so Frank crossed the spacious room and handed the baby over. Alex grinned and made a grab for Mary’s hair, making her smile as Frank sat on the floor in front of them both, his back leaning against the ladders that led up to her bunk.

“You gonna shout at me as well?” she asked after a little pause and Frank inhaled deeply.

“No.” he shook his head, letting his breath out slowly “I think Fliss said everything that needed to be said. I’ve nothing more to add really.”

“Are you mad?”

“No, just disappointed Mary.” he said honestly “I thought I’d taught you better than that.”

Mary looked down, her shoulders slumped “I didn’t mean it. I was just angry. Sally makes me mad.”

“You make me mad sometimes but I don’t say nasty things.” Frank sighed, “Well, I hope I don’t.”

As he spoke those words his mind strayed back a few years to the incident in his apartment when he’d stood on the lego bricks. It seemed like a life time ago, Mary had been so little compared to the girl that sat before him now.

“Hey, look at me.” he said gently and she raised her eyes to his. “Did you mean it when you said sorry?”

Mary nodded “Yeah, I did. But her mom started calling me names and she was so mad at Fliss. Fliss told her to shut up in the end but then she told me off too.”

“Well, that’s because Fliss…” Frank paused, swallowing a little as the words formed in his mind “Well, Fliss is your mom and she loves you, so she’s gonna defend you. That doesn’t mean she agrees with what you did or that what you did was justifiable.”

“I know.” Mary’s voice was quiet “Is she mad? Sally’s mom said they were leaving.”

“Yes they are but…” Frank shook his head “No, she’s not mad. Perhaps a little disappointed in you too, but you know the rules, no one stays mad in this house. We say our piece, we apologise, we move on. And we try to be better in future.”

It wasn’t quite a flat out lie, whilst he and Fliss could argue and stay pissed at each other for days, where Mary (and in the future no doubt Alex) was concerned it was a different story.

“Do you think she’ll let me go tomorrow?”

“Depends on how you behave tonight.” Frank shrugged, moving his legs as he made to stand “I honestly don’t know.”

Mary took a deep breath and Frank pushed himself to his feet with a slight groan as his knees clicked. Fuck this getting older shit.

“Will she dry my hair for me?” Mary looked at Frank.

“Go and ask.” Frank replied simply, taking Alex off her. She followed him out of her room and made her way over to their room, knocking on the door. He paused in the doorway of the nursery, watching as she pushed it open timidly and he saw Fliss look up from where she’d been doing her make up.

“Lissy…” she said quietly “Please could you do my hair for me?”

“Course I will.” Liss smiled, beckoning her in. “Come on.” As she stood up so Mary could sit at the stool she caught Frank’s eye and he gave her a wink before he turned into their son’s room and made his way over to the changing unit at the right hand side. As soon as he saw the outfit he gave a loud laugh and shook his head taking in the tiny little yellow palm printed Hawaiian shirt, almost identical to the one he owned, and jeans.

“You’re momma thinks she’s so funny.” he snorted, dropping a kiss to Alex’s head as he lay him back on the mat. “And to be fair, as far as jokes go, that one’s pretty good.”

*****

The managed to depart just 10 minutes after their aimed for time and arrived at the restaurant 5 minutes or so late, but all things considered that wasn’t a huge issue. They walked in, Frank pushing Alex’s buggy as Fliss gave them the reservation name.

“Ah, yes, Mrs Adler, the rest of your party are in the bar area. If you head through I’ll let your server know you’re all here and she’ll come show you to the table.”

“Thanks.” Fliss smiled, and the 4 of them headed to the left. Mary spotted Steve and the twins first and gave a little yell, running over towards them, Frank, Fliss and Alex following.

“Mrs Adler, huh?” Frank teased, his voice low as he leaned down to speak into Fliss’ ear, the warmth that had flooded his chest at hearing the guy essentially calling Fliss his wife evident in his eyes which were bright with love.

Fliss gave a shrug, grinning as she turned her head to look at him. “I just gave Adler as the name for the table, he just assumed.”

“Well, you will be soon enough.” He smiled, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

He expected some sarcastic response about how there was still time for her to change her mind but none came. Instead she merely beamed at him, her hand gently reaching up to cup his cheek “Can’t wait Sailor.” She bit her lip and Frank could do nothing but smile back like a complete love struck idiot, his forehead pressing to hers as he kissed the tip of her nose.

“Get a room!” Steve bellowed over the bar area and Fliss merely turned her head to look at him, raising her middle finger.

“Felicity Rose Gallagher!” Verity scalded “Stop being so uncouth. I brought you up better than that.”

Fliss rolled her eyes “Dad didn’t”

Bill scrunched his face up and shrugged “Touche Titch.” He chuckled as he reached out for Frank, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a manly hug “Happy birthday, Son.”

“Thanks Bill.” Frank smiled, turning to Steve next who did the same before he then greeted Sian, Verity and Roberta with hugs and kisses to the cheek before he ruffled Charlie and Joel’s hair as they came over and hugged him round his waist. “You two grown since last week?” he asked, looking at the 2 boys whose heads were both now almost level with his ribcage.

“Feels like it.” Sian mumbled “Mind you, not like their father is a small man is it?”

Steve opened his mouth, grinning to make a dirty comment no doubt about his size so to speak but instead he gave a yelp as Verity reached up and slapped the back of his head “Don’t even think about it Steven.” She pointed at him.

“Mum…” he wailed as Frank chuckled, moving to the bar after checking if anyone else needed a drink.

“This is on us tonight.” Bill pushed up next to him, waving his hand at the bar tender “Yeah, on the tab for table 20, thanks…”

“Bill, there’s no need.” Frank began the usual protest whenever either of his future in-laws insisted on paying but as normal Bill shook his head.

“I know but we want to.” He shrugged “I mean what’s the world coming to when I can’t treat my kids to dinner huh?”

Frank sighed a little and smiled “Thanks.”

Bill nodded as Frank placed his order- a pilsner for him, lemonade for Mary and a tonic water for Fliss who had said she would drive home. They’d debated getting a cab but as she had assumed she would be up early in the morning to drive to the Competition and said she’d prefer to drive. Now that was all hanging in the balance due to Mary’s earlier behaviour, or lack of more to the point.

Shortly after they were shown to their table, Mary taking a seat next to the twins in between Verity and Bill. When both Steve and Frank began to tell them to sit where they could keep an eye on them, Verity scoffed and waved them away, her arm dropping round Mary.

“My pudding can sit next to me if she wants.” She pouted and Frank rolled his eyes before shooting Mary a look.

“First sign of any nonsense…”

“I know.” She cast her eyes down before she looked at him. “Please can I have my Tablet?”

Frank looked at Fliss and she nodded, reaching into the bag under the stroller for it and handing it over.

“Volume down.” Frank instructed as he passed it round and she took it with a thanks. The three kids huddled round it as Mary turned it on, no doubt looking at their latest Minecraft game or whatever the hell it was the three of them seemed to spend half their lives connected to one another over the internet for. Whilst Frank was conscious most people might consider this lazy parenting, he saw it as being no different to them having a toy or colouring book at the table and so left them to it, as they began to chatter amongst themselves, only being interrupted when they were asked to pick what they wanted to eat. Once the orders were placed and another round of drinks appeared, Frank was handed 3 gift bags over the table, blushing slightly as he took them with thanks. Bill and Verity had bought him a bottle of 15 year Barrell Craft Spirits Bourbon and a new pair of Ray Bans after his had met a sticky end when Alex had pulled them off his face and then dropped them onto the floor where Fliss had accidentally stood on them, cracking the lens. Fully aware of how expensive both those items were he thanks them, whilst reprimanding them once more for spending too much money on them to which Verity hushed him and Bill merely rolled his eyes giving a shrug. Roberta had gotten him a new tool belt for him to use when working on the boat which he was really pleased with. As he showed it to Fliss she cheekily quipped in a quiet voice that he could finally get rid of the spanner in his pocket which had made Sian choke on her drink when she overheard. Steve pat her on her back as she sorted herself out, and then Frank reached into the final bag from Steve, Sian and the boys. He thanked them for the 6 pack of Sam Adams, which could sometimes be hard to find in the stores in Florida, nodded in appreciation at the new Patriots Jersey they’d gotten him with ADLER arched over the back, and reached in to pull the last item out, which was a blue baseball cap.

“What the…” he scoffed and looked at Steve who had broken into a huge guffaw of laughter at the look of disgust on Franks face. Bill and Verity also started to chuckle and as Fliss reached out to turn it towards her she snorted as Roberta slapped the top of the table in utter hysterics as the white letters MAGA stood out clear against the dark navy.

“That was his idea, not mine.” Sian protested as Frank looked down, shaking his head at the joke before he spotted the small writing under the larger letters. “Make the Asshole Gone Again.” He read, and at that he gave a loud laugh. “Wonder if I’ll get away with wearing it for work?”

"I thought you said you were voting Trump?" Roberta’s voice was serious and Frank shook his head, taking a swig from his beer, as she gave him a cheeky grin.

"Don't start him off again, please Roberta!" Fliss groaned "I had to stop him putting his foot through the TV last night when they showed that Jordan Klepper vs Trump Supporters section on the Daily Show."

"He’s an ass clown." Frank replied and Steve laughed.

“Suppose being a Democrat is part and parcel of coming from Mass, huh Frank?”

“What, like being Anti-Tory is part and parcel of being from Merseyside?” Frank shot back and Steve gave a grin, raising his glass in his direction.

“Correct!” Steve nodded enthusiastically.

“Damned Tories…” Bill shook his head. “Johnson doesn’t know his arse from his elbow.”

“You know, I seriously think you should be IQ tested before you're allowed to vote.” Fliss shrugged and Roberta leaned forward.

“Yeah but, how can you test what ain’t there?"

Everyone at the table laughed as Frank reached for his beer. "Actually, if you think about it, it’s pretty simple." he swallowed a mouthful of his drink and looked at Roberta "One question- are you voting Trump? If they answer yes then they clearly have the IQ of a goldfish, right to vote denied."

The table laughed again and it wasn’t long then until their starters arrived and the chatter slowed as everyone tucked in, Fliss taking a minute or so to settle Alex who had woken up with perfect timing as ever.

“You want me to sort him?” Frank lay a hand on her thigh and she shook her head, handing the baby a teething ring.

“No, I got it.” She smiled, “Besides he’s good now.”

Frank gave her knee a squeeze and then glanced across the table where Bill was looking at Mary.

“So, you all set for your last competition tomorrow?” he asked and Frank let out a little groan.

“I err…” Mary’s eyes fell down towards her food “I don’t know if I’m going.”

“Why not?” Verity asked.

Frank looked at Fliss, who had been about to open her mouth and gently shook his head. He wanted Mary to be the one to explain, she was the one that had misbehaved after all.

“Because I was naughty.” She shrugged “So Fliss and Frank said they don’t know if I can go.”

Verity and Bill looked at one another before they both glanced over the table at Frank and Fliss. Fliss raised her eyebrows a little as Frank reached for his drink.

“Oh, well, I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson.” Verity looked at Mary and she nodded again, her eyes still on her plate, brimming with tears.

“It all depends on tonight.” Frank spoke softly “Good behaviour over dinner and we’ll think about it.”

“Really?” Mary asked, looking up and he nodded.

“Really.”

“What did you do?” Charlie asked.

“Never you mind.” Sian cut him off, looking at him.

“It doesn’t matter what Mary did.” Fliss stated simply “It was dealt with and that’s that. No need to talk about it anymore.”

“But…”

“Charlie, stop.” Steve said sternly. Charlie narrowed his eyes at his dad and Steve pointed his fork at him “Carry on mate, see where that attitude gets you.”

Threat received and understood, Charlie went back to eating and the talk struck up once more about Frank and Fliss’ trip to Vermont the weekend after. The more they talked about it, the more Frank found himself getting excited. 3 nights alone with Fliss in a cabin in the middle of what he was hoping would be a decent covering of snow sounded like his idea of heaven.

Dinner passed with no more talk of misbehaving children and at just gone 9pm they finished desert and Frank sat back, the waistband of his jeans feeling a hell of a lot tighter than they had when he arrived.

“Think I’m having a food baby.” Fliss groaned besides him and he turned to her, raising his eyebrows.

“As long as it’s not a real one.”

She snorted into her lemonade, shaking her head “Oh no…”

“You not fancy another?” Sian, who had heard the exchanged asked and Fliss looked at her, hesitating a little.

“Not at the moment, no.”

“Well that’s a step up from the ‘Oh,Christ no’ you spluttered last time the subject was raised” Frank teased and she nudged him with her elbow as Steve sniggered.

“You can shut up as well!” Fliss glared at him

“Ah come on Titch, another baby in the family would be great.”

“Well you have another, if you want one so bad!”

“We are.” Sian spoke and at that the table fell silent. All eyes turned to her, Verity and Bill exchanging a glance with one another as Fliss looked from Sian, to Steve who leaned back in his chair, arm falling round his wife’s shoulder, a smug smirk on his handsome face.

“No, are you…really?” Verity’s hand fell to the hollow of her throat as Sian blushed a little, nodding.

“We found out last week.” Sian smiled, looking at Steve “We wanted to get you all together and…”

The table fell silent before there was a sudden flurry of excited voices and the scraping of chairs as everyone stood up to hug one another and offer congratulations.

“What’s going on?” Joel piped up and Steve smiled as he sat back down having just received a huge bro hug from Frank.

“We just told everyone about the baby.” He smiled and the twin’s faces fell into identical expressions of understanding.

“What baby?” Mary asked.

“The one Aunty Sian’s gonna have.” Frank looked at her.

“You having a baby?” Mary looked across the table.

“We sure are.” Steve beamed.

“That’s so cool!” Mary grinned.

“So, when are you due?” Fliss asked and Sian smiled.

“Middle of October.” She said “So I’m gonna be huge at your wedding.”

“Especially if its twins again.” Mary chipped in and Frank turned to look at her, before he bit his lip and glanced back up at Steve who’d paled a little.

“You know it is a possibility…” Roberta grinned “Happened to a friend o’ma sister’s. Two sets of twins.”

“Oh, just think Bill!” Verity beamed “Another two grandkids…”

“Mum, shut up!” Steve groaned as the table laughed.

Not long after the happy news, everyone agreed that it was time to be heading home. After another mini argument between Bill, Steve, Roberta and Frank about the check, which Steve and Frank both lost, the party all gathered their things and headed out to the parking lot.

“Roberta, you need a lift?” Fran asked but before she could answer Verity shook her head.

“She’s coming back to ours. We have a bottle of Rioja to crack open.”

Bill let out a dramatic sigh “Can I come sleep in your guest place-ow!” he yelled as Roberta reached up and slapped him round the back of the head.

With a snort Frank clipped Alex into the baby seat and after another goodbye to everyone they headed home arriving just before 10.

“Did you have a nice night?” Fliss asked Frank as they walked up towards the door and Frank nodded, dropping a kiss to her head.

“It was fantastic, the whole day has been great. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Shame your mom couldn’t make it.”

“Well she’s still getting over that virus but I was thinking. Maybe near Mary’s birthday we could head up to Mass? We haven’t been since…” he trailed off and Fliss instantly understood why, the last time they’d been in Boston had been when Mary had been taken ill and John had attacked Fliss.

“I think that’s a great idea.” Fliss said as Frank unlocked the door. “It’s a short enough flight for Alex and it would be nice to go.”

Frank smiled as they all stepped inside and Thor came charging out of the kitchen to greet them all.

“Do I have to go to bed or can I watch TV?” Mary asked, looking up “It is Saturday…”

“Well, I would say yes but we have an early start tomorrow.” Fliss looked at Frank and he instantly understood.He rolled his eye softly before giving a concessive nod and Fliss continued “I mean that is if we wanna get to the show on time.”

“I can go?” Mary’s head whipped to look at them both and Fliss nodded.

“Yes, you can go.”

“Oh my god thank you, thank you!” Mary shot over to hug her, her arms wrapping round Fliss’ waist “I’ll behave, I promise.”

“I know.” Fliss dropped a kiss to her head. “Now skoot, we’re gonna be up at 6.”

Mary hugged her again, then turned to Frank who swung her up with a groan “Stop growing will ya?”

“I’ll try!” she giggled, squishing his cheeks between her hands. “Love you dad.”

Dad.

Frank felt his stomach twist, and he glanced at Fliss whose hand had flown to her mouth, her eyes wide. She hastily swallowed, recovering herself, her eyes glassing over as she shifted Alex’s car seat in her arms before she turned to place it on the coffee table.

“I love you too.” Frank cleared his throat, as he dropped Mary to the floor “Go on, I’ll come tuck you in in five.”

She skipped off up the stairs, Fred hot on her heels and as soon as her door shut Frank turned to Fliss.

“You ok?” she asked and he nodded, his eyes full of unshed tears as he sank down onto the arm of the couch. “How do you feel?”

“I don’t know.” He replied softly, and he truly didn’t. “Shocked, a little. I guess, that even despite the adoption I never…well, I never anticipated that because she’s not actually mine and…”

His face screwed up a little, and Fliss stepped in between his legs her arms wrapping around his broad shoulders. He pressed his face into her chest, his arms curling around her waist as she gently stroked one hand through his hair and down his neck.

“Of course she’s yours.” She whispered, dropping a kiss to his head. “I keep telling you this. In every single way possible bar biologically, she’s your daughter Frank. We got the paper work to prove it.” At that he spluttered a little laugh and Fliss pulled back to look at him, her hands cupping his face as she wiped away a single tear that had fallen down his cheek.

“We just never talked about it.” He shrugged a little lamely and Fliss smiled.

“Somethings you just can’t prepare for, no matter how much philosophy or logic you try and apply.” Her brown eyes locked onto his “This was just, well, it was a natural thing. I can’t explain it any better than that. The question is, did it feel uncomfortable?”

“No.” Frank answered honestly as he shook his head, taking a deep breath, his lip quivering. “And that’s what shocked me the most. I always thought I’d hate it but…”

“But you didn’t?”

“No.”

“And are you gonna be okay if she keeps calling you dad?”

He nodded and Fliss gently bent down to kiss him softly, before pulling away “Then roll with it. Like Dad did with me. You know, if you wanted to you speak to him then I’m sure he’d-“

“I already did.” Frank shrugged a little. “Months ago, just after we’d moved in here and we’d decided to adopt her. He told me about how you’d made that wish at your birthday and…” Frank took a deep breath “And I know Mary’s always said she wishes I was her dad and I guess, well if I’m honest there’s always been this part of me that wishes I was, despite Diane.”

“Diane would be happy, I’m sure.” Fliss looked at him “Frankie, I know this is probably gonna sound so shit, but, well there’s a reason she came to you to…well to do what she did, because she trusted you with her daughter. And you’ve done her proud baby, so proud.”

Frank felt the burning in his nose as he scrunched his face up in an attempt to stem the tears that were threatening to overwhelm him and once more Fliss wrapped her arms around him, gently rubbing between his shoulder blades. “What do I do now?” he whispered “How do I react?”

“You don’t “Fliss replied, kissing his head “You take a minute, then you go upstairs and tuck her in as usual. Don’t make a big thing about it or she’ll start to worry. Chances are she hasn’t even realised she’s said it.”

“And if she has?”

“Well then be honest. Tell her its okay.” She felt Frank nod and then she stepped back, her hands on his shoulders. “You good?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” He stood up, wiping his face. He took a deep breath and glanced down at Fliss and smiled, “I love you.”

“Love you too.” She smiled “Now go on, I’ll check the doors and be up with you in a second.”

Frank climbed the stairs, taking a deep breath before he knocked gently and walked into Mary’s room. She was already in bed, Fred curled by her feet and as Frank crossed the room he almost tripped over her discarded clothes.

“Seriously?” Frank pointed them as they lay on the bedroom floor. “Wardrobe, not floordrobe Stack!”

“Oops.” Mary grimaced and Frank rolled his eyes, picking the items up, tossing them onto the bean bag under the bed.

“If they’re clean put them away, if not put them in your laundry hamper.” He instructed, leaning against the rails of her bed.

“Sorry, I’ll do it tomorrow.” Mary shuffled onto her side to look at him. “Did you have a good birthday?”

“The best.” Frank smiled honestly “Got to spend it with all my favourite people. And you.” Mary shoved him gently and he laughed, “Joking, joking!” he smiled, brushing her hair back off her face “You know you’re my best girl.”

“What about Fliss?” Mary narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“She’s my best woman.” Frank answered easily. Mary looked at him before she smiled, accepting his explanation. “You excited about tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” Mary nodded “And nervous.”

“Nothing to be nervous about.” Frank shook his head “Just go out there and enjoy it. You’ve done so well for a first season, Fliss was saying that earlier. We’re proud of you sweetheart.”

“Thanks.” She grinned “Hey, Frank?”

“Yeah?”

“You know what I said before...downstairs?”

Frank took a deep breath “I do.”

“Did it bother you?”

“Not one bit.” He smiled and Mary grinned.

“Good, because I think I’d like to say it more going forward.” She reached out, her fingers fiddling with the buttons on his shirt. “Unless you annoy me. And then you can be Frank again.”

Frank chuckled “Sounds like a deal, Stack”

“Okay, you can go now. I need to sleep.” Mary snuggled down into the covers and Frank smiled, pulling them up round her chin, dropping a kiss to her head.

“Night”

“Night.”

He turned to leave the room, throwing a last glance over his shoulder before he closed the door behind him.

***** “Mary, are you paying attention?” Fliss looked at her as she sat astride Monty, grinning ear to ear.

“Yeah, sorry.” She turned her head, “I’m just so happy!”

“I know honey!” Fliss chuckled, “And you did so well in your other two classes and yes we’re gonna celebrate that later but focus on this one now, yeah? You’ve gone clear so all you need to do is get round the jump off. You remember the order?”

“Erm…” Mary spun in the saddle looking round “Yeah its two, six, nine, double back to twelve, across to five and then you send him quickly down the line to finish at eight.”

“Good.” Fliss smiled “Remember, let Monty find his way. Don’t mess too much and if you think you can make that sharp turn after nine and cut through instead of round four then do it. If not, take the safe route and aim for clear.”

“Ok, yeah, got it.”

“Glad you did.” Frank mumbled, gently pushing Alex’s buggy to and fro as the baby dozed “’Coz that all sounded like a different language to me.”

“That’s because you don’t get it, Dad.” Mary turned to look at him.

“You’re right, I don’t.” Frank agreed

“You would do if you spent more time watching me instead of faffing with the boat in the garage.” Mary shrugged. At her words Frank narrowed his eyes and turned to Fliss who was biting her lip, a faint flush on her cheeks.

“Don’t look at me!”

“Oh, I’m lookin’ at you Cowgirl, because no one else I know uses the word faff.” He arched an eyebrow. “Well apart from your mom, dad, Steve and Sian…damned British slang!”

Fliss snorted “Ok, busted. But that’s not exactly what I said.”

“Well what was?” he dropped his voice a little and Fliss started to laugh.

“I just said to Jo when she commented she hadn’t seen you in a while that you were busy with the other woman in your life aka the boat.”

Frank rolled his eyes. “Hey, that engine was giving me trouble.”

“I’m sure it was.”

“And you weren’t complaining about me faffing too much when you were up there with me a few weeks back.” Frank dropped his head as he spoke into her ear and smirked as Fliss shivered at the feel of his bearded cheek scratching slightly at her neck.

“Well that situation benefitted me.” She muttered back, her eyes hidden behind her shades as she kept her face turned towards the ring, watching the first of the ten kids through to the jump off go.

“Very selfish of you Miss Gallagher.”

“Well when it comes to you I don’t like sharing.”

Frank gave a chuckle and pressed a kiss to her cheek “No worries on that count, I’m all yours baby.”

She smiled, and then winced as the competitor in the ring misjudged the turn between two jumps and the pony slammed on, sending her flying over its neck. Frank swallowed as Mary turned to look at Fliss her eyes wide.

“Why did she undercut that turn then?”

Fliss shook her head “If she’d have hugged tighter to the corner she might have made it but as it was she only got a two stride run up.” She bit her lip then frowned “Don’t you do that!”

“I wasn’t gonna!” Mary snorted, rolling her eyes.

“Good.” Fliss nodded “Like I said, you can make your time up between nine and twelve and then five and eight, if you need to.”

Frank groaned “Why couldn’t you pick a nice safe hobby…like swimming or something?”

Mary looked at him reproachfully “Frank, I could already swim.”

“Yeah but…”

“And Swimming can be dangerous, people drown.”

“Not if they’re supervised.”

“And besides, if I hadn’t wanted to go horse riding, you’d have never met Fliss.” Mary looked at him, fixing him with a maddening smug look because she knew that was the absolute ace card.

“Okay, you got me there.” Frank grumbled “Smart ass.”

Fliss chuckled as the three of them turned their attention to the ring and eventually after the other nine riders had finished, Mary’s name and number was called having been pulled last in the random order draw.

“Good luck.” Fliss smiled as she walked Mary to the gate of the arena before she set off, trotting Monty around the outside of the arena before the buzzer sounded. And then she was off. Frank hated this bit, and always found himself torn between desperately wanting to watch and also wanting to look the other way. He normally settled for a combination of the two, watching for a second, looking away, glancing back…but this time he found himself watching Fliss. Her face was set in utter concentration as she watched Mary’s round, her head tilting left to right, her hand making a pulling motion as she was willing Mary to slow Monty down and then suddenly she perked up completely, her lips curling upwards.

“She’s cut the corner, she’s gone for it.” She whispered and Frank’s eyes snapped back to the arena to see Mary clear the second to last jump and Monty picked up the pace. “Not too fast.” Fliss muttered “Pull him up, just take a check, a little one. Oh, shit!”

At Fliss’ last words Monty took off, clipping the pole with his front feet. It rolled in the cups and Frank held his breath before it rocked a little too far and fell to the floor. There was a collective sigh of disappointment around the ring from the spectators and then applause rang out as Mary crossed the finish line and turned to see the pole on the floor. She hung her head a little, shaking it before she trotted out and stopped by Fliss and Frank.

“Hey…” Fliss beamed at her “That was really unlucky. He only just clipped it.”

“It rolled?” Mary grimaced and Fliss wrinkled her nose as they set off back to the wagon.

“Fraid so.”

“Bummer.” Mary shook her head.

“What?” Frank asked, utterly puzzled.

“It means that the pole simply rolled off, it wasn’t taken straight down with the knock.” Fliss explained “Believe me, It’s the most annoying thing in the world.”

“But it’s the same result.” Frank looked at them both and Mary groaned exasperatedly.

“Don’t talk about stuff you don’t understand!”

“That’s me told.” Frank scoffed as she jumped off Monty and proceeded to remove her hat.

“Can we go see who won?” She turned to Fliss who had just taken Monty’s saddle off.

“Sure, let’s get him loaded up and then we’ll go.”

Once Monty was back on board, the ramp shut they headed back down to the Arena, Fliss pushing Alex’s buggy as Mary slipped her hand into Frank’s. They arrived back just in time to see the placings.

“Oh, that’s cool.” Mary shrugged “Saffy won the class.”

“You know her?” Fliss frowned.

“Only from when we were waiting in line before.” Mary shrugged “She seemed nice. I wonder who’s won it overall.”

“We’ll check online later.” Fliss said, before she grinned “You know, I’d kinda like to know who won the Junior Rider class for the season. Any idea Frank?”

“Oh, some blonde kid with an attitude problem.” He shrugged as Mary looked up at him, her eyebrows arched, hands on her hips.

“Well everyone says I act like you so any attitude I do have…” she drew a circle in the air with her index finger of the hand that wasn’t holding his before pointing at him “…is one hundred percent your fault.”

Fliss spluttered out a laugh as Frank blinked, looking at Mary then to Fliss. “I…wow.” was all he could bring himself to say.

The three of them politely applauded as the top six riders took a lap of honour before the winner took her own and as she emerged from the ring Mary let go of Frank’s hand and stepped forward.

“Well done.” She smiled at the girl who sat atop a chestnut pony and Frank watched, the pride in his chest almost stopping his breathing. He felt Fliss slide an arm round his waist and he moved, dropping his own over her shoulders as she leaned up to kiss his cheek.

“Thanks Mary!” the girl grinned “You were so unlucky with your last pole.”

“I did my best.” Mary shrugged “That’s what my mom and dad say matters the most.”

Frank felt Fliss stiffen a little besides him “Did she…”

“Yeah…”he whispered, dropping a kiss to her head.

Fliss took a shaky breath and hastily blinked back the tears as Mary turned back towards them “Hey, can I go get a drink with Saffy from their van? I’ll be like 10 minutes?”

“Erm…” Fliss wiped her face and looked at the woman next to Saffy who smiled and nodded.

“It’s fine.” She beamed “Fliss isn’t it? You run Sandybrook?”

“Yeah.” Fliss smiled.

“I’m Jenny, Saf’s mom. And we’re just parked right there.” The woman spoke “I wouldn’t mind a chat with you actually about a horse I have. He needs backing and you came recommended.”

“Sure, just…” Fliss looked at Frank and he gave a grin

“I’ll set off back with him.” he nodded to Alex who was fast asleep. “See you at home, take as long as you need.”

“You sure?”

“Course.” Frank gave her a kiss before he called to Mary “Hey Stack, I’m gonna go.” She turned and ran towards him, hugging him tight as his hand dropped to the back of her head. “I’m proud of you.” He said softly and she beamed.

“Thanks Dad.”

He gave her another hug before he turned and took the brake off the stroller, turning it round. As he made his way back towards where his truck was park he tossed a glance over his shoulder to see Fliss now in a full on laugh at something the woman called Jenny had said, head tipped back, shoulders shaking, her pretty profile simply radiating happiness.

And right there, Frank knew there couldn’t possibly be ANY man in the world who felt the sheer contentment and love that he did.

#riding on #frank adler #frank adler x ofc #gifted #gifted fan fic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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starkerisendgame · 5 years

Note

tony has to take care of peter after his parents pass. (tony is peters god dad and totally forgot because him and pete’s parents drifted over the years) peter is a total brat and tony passes it off as him coping with the deaths. after a few months peter goes over the top and tony decides he has had enough, and so rough smut happens and tony realizes that peter was being a brat cause he’s cock hungry

This is such an interesting concept! It certainly turned out longer than expected, but I loved writing this! Thank you

P.2 | P.3

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that? I thought I just heard you say ‘kid’, ‘guardian’ and my name in the same line” Tony mumbled, sitting up straighter and ignoring the pounding in his head to eye the professional looking woman over the rim of his glasses. She eyed him back, a flicker of annoyance breaking her expression before it smoothed and she cleared her throat.

“Mr. Stark. I understand this must be a difficult time for you, after losing a close friend. But according to a contract drafted in 2001, you and Richard Benjamin Parker came to a legal agreement that you would be named God-Father to Peter Parker, labelled as his legal guardian in the event the boy has no immediate family able to care for him”.

The contract she slides over states exactly that, with two neat and authentic signatures at the bottom of the sheet. One belongs to him, messy and clearly done when he was drunk. The other belongs to Richard, equally as chicken-scratched onto the paper. There’s some vague awareness in the back of his mind about this. But he’s not willing to allow it to the forefront of his brain.

“Legal guardian” he repeated, reaching for the tumbler of water and taking a sip, groaning as he set it down to massage his temples. Richard’s funeral had been the night prior, and the last thing Tony had expected was a lawyer at ass o’clock in the morning, accompanied by a contract and apparently, a whole human being.

She sighs, like he is single-handedly managing to get on every single on of her 7,000,000,000 nerves. “Yes, Mr. Stark. In the contract it states that you are to become the sole legal guardian of Peter in the event his immediate family is unable to provide adequate care for him-”

“Of course they can’t. They’re dead” he mutters, and he doesn’t have to look to know the glare she sends his way.

“This includes any capacity in which his care is required from health, financial and residential. The paperwork was filed yesterday morning. As of today, you are the legal guardian of Peter”.

Peter. Vaguely, Tony remembers a disconcertingly quiet bundle in a soft, blue blanket, held close to Mary’s chest. The $200 gift basket and the custom-knitted blanket and the share in stocks that Tony had gifted. Peter had been a large factor in he and Richard drifting apart. Richard was focused on building his family. Tony was focused on escaping his.

“Right” He huffed, sitting upright and pausing long enough to stop his vision swimming. He desperately scrambled for a coherent thought and she folded her hands neatly, eyeing him as though he were a ticking bomb. With the way his brain begun to ache, he felt like one.

“Fuck Richard and that vintage bourbon” he hissed, reaching to loosen his tie. She startled, linking at him owlishly as he snatched up the contract, scouring the words.

I, Anthony Edward Stark, swear….Legal guardianship in the event of….By the decree of Richard and Mary Parker….God-Father to Peter Parker….Until Peter Parker turns of legal age…Inheritance of Parker Developmental….

He cursed again, snatching open the drawer on his desk to pull out a flask. The whiskey burnt his throat and took with it the rest of the filthy words he wanted to spit.

He wasn’t angry. Not really. Richard had been his best friend at one time, and was still high in his regards. Drifting apart over the years due to different priorities in life had not lessened the respect they held for each other, and Tony still remembered that strange feeling that bloomed in his heart, looking down at the pink, sleeping baby in Richard’s arms.

Except…Over time, he had forgotten about his promise. About the contract, buried deep, somewhere in his own archives. He’d never expected it to bear fruit. Not even when Richard proposed it, eight glasses in and wild at the eyes. Even when it became a legal document and he was still tipsy as he scrawled out his name.

Richard was supposed to have lived, well past the age Peter would require a God-Parent. Tony flexed his arm, looked at the chunky watch on his wrist. A thought, and it would evolve into armour. A Gauntlet. Perhaps if he punched himself in the face hard enough this would all turn out to be a drunk, horrid dream.

“Mr. Stark?” The lawyer probed gently, and he looked up at her, clearing his throat and gesturing.

“The boy. Peter”. He couldn’t bring any other words out, but she seemed to understand.

“Peter is staying with a close family friend, May Leehart. She took him in the night Mr. and Mrs. Parker died. She was informed of the contract and Peter has also been told. He is packed and awaiting pick-up”. She said it so cooly, as if Peter were a parcel Tony had to collect.

He stewed in it for a moment, before he waved a hand at her. “I will require 12 hours to prepare”. He tipped his glasses again the way she raised a brow, his expression cold. She quickly adjusted, nodding.

“I will establish a pick-up time of 2000 hours, tomorrow. Will that suffice?” She asked, scribbling down on her notepad. Tony grunted in response. Fuck, Pepper was going to be so mad.

She was, as it turns out. But not for the reason Tony might have expected. Instead of being mad that he’d drunkenly signed up to be a parent, she was mad that he had forgotten he’d drunkenly signed up to be a parent. He scoffed, but could not argue.

Regardless, she helped him to arrange adjustment of the guest bedroom in his penthouse, clearing all the boxes of parts he had stacked there and establishing a double bed, nice furniture. He simply handed her a card, waving away her suggestions. He had no idea what teenagers liked these days, her guess was as good as his.

The room ended up themed in dark, molten reds and a burnished, fancy-looking shade of blue. Empty shelves line the wall and a small desk was set up near the window, already filled with stationary for Peter’s schoolwork.

Right. The kid was what…Fifteen? Sixteen? Tony shook his head as he slipped into the car, pushing his sunglasses higher up his nose. The roar of the engine helped to overtake his thoughts as he let JARVIS input the address he had been given, guiding him through the city. For all that Richard may have been wealthy, this family friend was clearly not. The apartment he pulled up outside of was in Queens, and not even ‘good’ Queens.

The block was drab, beige and like the type of place Tony might live if he wanted to commit suicide by infected rat bite. “J, eyes on the car” he murmured as he shut the doors.

Yes, Sir.

The building was no better on the inside, shabby and with harsh lighting. Sat on one of the benches along the wall, is a boy.

Thick, fluffy hair as dark as full cocoa chocolate is messy, hides his eyes. He’s pale, lithe and slender. Jeans hug his thighs and his shirt is a shade too tight. Tony stopped in the doorway, unsure. It was only the bags at the kid’s feet that gave him a clue.

“Peter?” The boy looked up, wiping hastily at his eyes. They’re dark and red, his cheeks stained. He’s been crying, a lot. The boy stood clumsily, shrugging his bag onto his shoulder and approaching, arms folding defensively.

“Tony”. It’s abrupt, flat. Tony is so used to ‘Mr. Stark’ that it threw him for a moment, brows climbing. He let out an exhale, tucking his hands into his pockets.

“First name basis already. Look at us, we’re doing great” he chirped, leaning back a fraction to once-over the boy. He was…Attractive, he realised with a start. His face was still a little round with baby fat but he had a strong jawline coming through. Arched brows, creamy skin. He’s shorter than Tony by just a few inches.

Peter doesn’t respond verbally, but he does shoot an impressive scowl his way. But that’s okay. Tony can deal. Teenagers are meant to be stroppy and this one just lost his parents. He can abide by an attitude, for now. Stepping aside he held open the door to the building, making a mental note to grab a hand-wipe from the car. “J, trunk, please” he requests, allowing Peter to step past.

The car blares to life, the trunk popping open gently and lifting. Peter paused mid-step for a moment, before he continued, dumping his bag harshly into the trunk. The rest of his things are in boxes, already at the Tower. Happy had arranged pick-up earlier that day. All the kid has on him now is some clothes and personal effects.

“Music. Do you like music? Of course you like music, everyone does” Tony announced, lifting his own door and sliding in. Peter copied, slumping in his seat and clipping his belt in like someone on death-row. The only response Tony gets is a soft grunt, so he flicks on the music, AC/DC filling the uncomfortable, volatile silence. Leaning for the glovebox, he pulled a sanitary wipe and scrubbed his hands.

Peter didn’t say a word, not for the entire ride. But he did start crying somewhere along 29th. Tony elected to ignore it, gunning the car harder. If the kid wanted to display emotions, he could do that in the privacy of his own room. The closer they got to the Tower, the more Peter seemed to sink into his seat.

The sliding door to the base level vehicle elevator opened for them as they approached, and Peter’s head lifted, hands coming to wipe his eyes as he sat upright and blatantly stared. Tony couldn’t help the little smirk that graced his mouth. He knew the way that he felt, when his bots and his tech first worked. That flutter, low in his gut. The building climb of awe.

Peter glanced across at him and immediately scowled. “It’s not that cool” he muttered, looking away. Tony tipped his head, glancing almost sardonically across at the boy before he let go of the wheel, relaxing back. The car came to a gentle halt and clunked as the locking systems clamped onto the wheels.

The car twisted slowly on the rotating platform and Tony popped his door, stepping out and unbuttoning his jacket. He caught a glimpse of Peter’s wide eyes as the car turned, and then the boy stepped out of the car after him, stumbling a little. Tony stopped himself from reaching out to steady him, instead wandering to where he knew the door to the second floor would open.

Peter ambled after him, still a little wobbly and stopped besides him. “Hey, J. How’s the weather up there?” Tony asked, taking off his sunglasses. Instead of filtering through the comms piece at his ear, JARVIS’ voice filled the room around them.

“Clean and ready, with a light chance of Chinese takeout in the kitchen, Sir”. Peter spun, eyes wide as he looked around. Tony snickered softly, and sensed rather than saw the look of death Peter threw him.

“Oh, manners. Of course. Hey, J? Surprise, you’re an Uncle now. Peter Parker, JARVIS” he hummed, stepping off the podium as the door slid open. Peter had stopped, staring, but leapt out of the way when the car started up, steering itself past them and into an empty space.

“Mr. Parker. It is my pleasure to meet you. Welcome to the Stark Tower” JARVIS’ voice greeted softly, and Peter gave another unsubtle look around. “You will not find me in any true form, Mr. Parker. I am the brainchild of Mr. Stark. I am artificial intelligence and I am everywhere”.

Peter whipped around, staring accusingly at Tony. “So, what? You got an AI to spy on me? Creep” He muttered, wandering away to trace his fingertips down the bonnet of the Lamborghini. Tony snorted.

“You think I went through the trouble of coding and creating an entire AI just because I had some kid coming to stay? Egotistical, much? JARVIS was around before you were nut in Richard’s balls, kid. Besides. JARVIS knows when to look the other way” he winked, scooping up the bag Peter had abandoned and leading the way to the small flight of stairs that led to the penthouse.

Something dug into his hip within the bag and he subtly shifted, squeezing it closer. The unmistakable ridge of a dildo nudged at his side and he glanced down at the bag, raising a brow before looking over his shoulder. Peter was following, slowly. Stopping to stare longingly at each vehicle.

Huh. So there’s that.

He hopped the stairs lightly, tossing Peter’s bag onto the couch when he passed it and slipped behind the bar, reaching for a nice vintage. Pepper could scold him all she wanted. He was a father now. He deserved some damned wine. Peter came peeking around the corner a few moments later, eyes wide open as he looked around. Tony would admit, it was luxurious. While Richard and Mary hadn’t been poor, they hadn’t been on the same level as Tony and Parker Developmental was more a concept than a functioning business.

“You’re not old enough to drink, so. I think there’s some juice in the fridge. There should be. I sent Happy for groceries. I’m not sure what functioning people eat, so. Feel free to write a list” he rambled, lifting the glass to his lips and taking a long sip. Peter stared at him blankly for a moment before kicking off his shoes, leaving them in the doorway as he bypassed Tony and opened the fridge to glance inside. It was stuffed full of food. Vegetables, meat. Chocolate, fruit. Juices and milk and vitamin water.

“Where’s my room?” He asked instead, flicking the fridge shut and looking across at Tony, who pointed to a doorway as he turned. The door he pointed at was closed, sleek and white. Peter started for it and Tony strolled casually after him.

“Your door will unlock automatically, based on your genetic signature. But feel free to set a passcode. JARVIS will help” Tony informed, watching Peter’s startled glance back at him before he pushed the door open. The room was impressive. Tony hadn’t looked at it closely when Pepper sent him the files, but it was lighter than he’d expected. Looked completely different to a glorified storage room.

“A double?” Peter asked, turning in the doorway and leaning back against it as Tony stopped besides him. They were close like this, Tony’s side against Peter’s front. He turned, cocking a brow as he sipped his wine and leaned into Peter’s space a little.

“Luxury. And, who knows. When you’re old enough to know what sex is, maybe you might bring someone back” he shrugged gently. Peter’s breathing tripped over itself and he stared, lips parting as Tony turned away. “Don’t break anything and don’t touch anything important looking. JARVIS can play tour guide” he called over his shoulder, sauntering away towards his room. He needed to change. Maybe jerk off.

Peter watched his ass the entire way.

#Starker #IronSpider #Starker Fic #Starker AU #IronSpider Fic #Prompt Fills #IronSpider AU #Tony Stark/Peter Parker #Peter Parker x Tony Stark #Starker Request #Starker Prompt Fills #Starker Prompt #Starker Part One

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nanamicide · 3 years

Text

You are there, beyond despair - chapter 3

Read on AO3

To say Kanon was adjusting to her new life in the Hagakure household would have been a lie. No matter how she looked at it, it was clear to her that she wasn’t. Still, as much as the constant cigarette smell made her sick, she had never thought about leaving. There were some moments during which she’d think that she deserved better, or that she should seek her parents already – but there was something stronger keeping her where she was. It’d been weeks and she had no idea what it was, but she couldn’t deny its existence.

Despite all of this, falling asleep and not waking up in the middle of the night was getting harder on her. It had now been a couple of days since she’d been able to get a full night of rest. And she was tired, cranky, and anxious. She couldn’t help but think that something was wrong with her – that she was losing her mind.

It had nothing to do with Hiroko’s loud snores. Even when Yasu’s mother was working the nightshift at the local hospital, she still woke up in a pool of cold sweat several times a night. The only issue with that was that she had absolutely no recollection of a nightmare or dream of some sort. It all seemed so random – as though she was genuinely losing it.

That night, Hiroko was, as it was often the case, fast asleep while Kanon tossed and turned on the old mattress. She stayed still on her back and closed her eyes, hoping that if she did this long enough, she’d finally be able to fall asleep. She was so exhausted from helping Yasu clean his room, so why couldn’t she just get the rest she so desperately needed?

She opened her eyes and sighed deeply, staring at the ceiling for a few seconds before closing them again. That was when it happened – when she finally understood the reason why she hadn’t been able to rest. Leon Onii-chan was haunting her.

Big, bright blue eyes were angrily staring at her, as if she’d done something unforgivable. Kanon tried to look away, but there was no escaping the boy’s furious glance. Even keeping her eyes open wasn’t making him go away. He was there, with her, in the room. She tried to talk to him, hoping she’d be able to gain some sort of control over the situation, but no sound came out of her throat. Instead, she felt as though she were choking on air.

Y-you’re mad at me, aren’t you, Leon Onii-chan? She mentally asked, shaking as she attempted to face him. Why? At l-least tell me what to do… I swear I’ll do it for you if you tell me what it is. You know I’d do anything for you, right? Even the impossible.

Her vision became cloudy, as though she were drifting off to sleep. Still, with how tense and scared she was feeling, she knew there was no way she was falling asleep right now. Something else was happening to her – something she couldn’t understand; something her cousin was putting her through.

Her perception became clear again a few seconds later, showing the Ultimate Baseball Player’s corpse.

And she woke up. She did not scream, though. She just silently sat up, tears uncontrollably streaming down her cheeks. What the hell just happened? I swear I was awake…

Kanon took a few deep breaths in a failed attempt to calm herself down. But there was nothing she could do about it – her entire body was shaking, and she couldn’t erase the image from her memory. Her cousin was tied up to a pole, looking like he’d had a million baseball balls thrown at him with the strength of giants. She had not seen his corpse, and she’d never asked Yasu to tell her about how he’d died, but she got the feeling that something about that vision was real. This was how the boy she’d loved ever since she was a child had died. And it hurt. It hurt so much to see him like that.

She hugged her knees to her chest, letting all her tears out. She’d already done a fair share of crying over what had happened to him when she’d found out he was dead. Why was this suddenly happening again? And why were the visions and nightmares more intense than they’d been back then? This didn’t make any sense to her. Time was supposed to heal wounds, wasn’t it?

Or maybe I was actually awake, and this was just Leon Onii-chan’s ghost trying to tell me something? I should… I should ask Yasu about this, I’m sure he’d know about this type of stuff. He claims to hate all that occult jazz, but as a clairvoyant he must have the answers.

The brunette quietly slipped out of bed and out of the room, making sure not to wake Hiroko up. Yasu would probably be groggy and cranky when she’d wake him up, but she’d be able to deal with this. Besides, this was important. Not knowing would keep her up again, and she really, really, needed to get some sleep.

She quickly crossed the distance that separated her room from his, no longer trying to be quiet, thinking that the man would wake up in a better mood if she didn’t have to shake him awake like she used to back when they were alone in Towa City. That was also why she knocked on his door – not once or twice, but five times – before opening it and walking into his room.

He’s so handso—Wait, what the hell am I thinking? Kanon told herself as she shut the door behind herself, looking at him. She’d seen him sleep before, but there was something about how he was lying there and how the moonlight was hitting his skin that had made her cheeks grow warmer. I’m being ridiculous. I just came here to ask a few questions, not because seeing him makes me feel better or whatever.

Ignoring her inner voice, she sat down on the edge of his bed and gently shook his arm. She knew that she had to be a little rougher if she wanted to wake him up quickly, but there was something about how peaceful he looked – about how pure the moment really was – that made her not want to disturb him.

Fuck, this wack shit again? Really? He only looks good right now because he’s not talking. As soon as he opens his mouth, it’s like whatever he has going on for him in physically speaking just disappears. I need to quite being so soft.

And so, she started to vigorously shake her friend to wake him up, just like she used to in Towa City. And just liked that, Yasu jolted awake, covering his mouth as he quickly sat up in bed.

“Hey, it’s just me. No need to be so scared,” she sarcastically cooed.

“What the hell was that for? Did you wake up thinkin’ we were still runnin’ from the Remnants of Despair?!”

“No, no, but I need your knowledge.”

Yasu looked at the alarm clock that was sitting on his bedside table and sighed. Just as she thought, he was all cranky because she’d woken him up.

“At 2 in the morning?” He asked, rubbing his eyes. “Can’t this wait until like, noon? I’m tired.”

“I… I wish it could wait,” she whispered, looking at the ceiling. The fact he’d more or less asked what she wanted from him had brought back the image of her dead cousin in her mind. “Say, Yasu, are ghosts real?”

“Ghosts? Are you kidding me, Kanon-cchi?” He laughed, making her pout. “Didn’t I tell you that the occult is bullshit?”

“You might have mentioned that but I…” She frowned, stopping mid-sentence. If he didn’t believe in ghosts, how was she supposed to tell him about what had happened to her?

“Hey, what’s wrong? I know the lighting ain’t good in here, but you look like you—”

“Like I saw a ghost, right?”

“I guess, yeah.”

“It was Leon,” she blurted out, no longer caring if he took her seriously or not. She had to tell someone about this – it was the only way for her to get it out of her mind. “I… I didn’t see his body after he was murdered but like, this totally looked real and he just… He was so mad at me and like—”

Yasu pulled her close, and she didn’t have the energy to protest. At that point, even though she’d thought she felt better when she stirred him out of his slumber, she only felt like crying. Any type of comfort, even from that idiot, was welcome. It couldn’t hurt to be getting a hug from a friend, right? It didn’t mean she was forgetting Leon. He wouldn’t be angry about that – he’d have absolutely no reason to be.

Wait? Leon? What about the Onii-chan? She thought, silently crying as she buried her face in Yasu’s muscular chest. Am I… Am I really moving on? Am I forgetting how I felt towards him?

“You’re okay, Kanon-cchi,” he murmured, his fingers gliding through her hair. “It was just a nightmare, okay? I get them too. It’s hard to deal with the fact people around you are dying, especially people you love.”

“B-but I think I… I think I’m forgetting, y’know? And I guess that’s why he’s so pissed at me?” She sobbed, looking up at him. “It just isn’t fair because he had to die like this and I’m j-just here… I’m just here moving on and forgetting stuff about what we had and like—”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I don’t think you’re forgetting. I may be stupid, but I don’t think we can forget the people we lost to the Tragedy. But we… Ah, I’m gonna sound just like Naegicchi here but I mean, he probably isn’t wrong when he says these things. We owe it to them to move forward and not lose hope, so their deaths won’t be in vain.”

“You think so?”

Kanon was still crying, but there was something about Yasu’s words that was resonating within her, somehow. She’d never really analysed the situation in terms of hope and despair, but for some reason, him saying that the people they loved would have died in vain if they lost hope made sense. It was an optimistic and positive take on all the things that had happened, and she liked it. Coming from someone else’s mouth, she would have just thought it was wack, but coming from Yasu, it only sounded genuine – like something she could actually believe in.

“I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about that stuff. I tend to leave that to the others, but I mean it, yeah.”

“Thank you, Yasu, really,” she breathed in his scent, finding extra comfort in their physical closeness. “I’m glad I… I’m glad I talked to you.”

This would be the perfect setting for a love confession in a Shoujo manga or in a light novel, wouldn’t it? She thought, her body relaxing as Yasu stroked her back. But you don’t love me, do you? And I don’t love you either.

“Yeah, I’m glad you talked to me too. I should have noticed that you were losing sleep over som—”

“No, it’s fine. I didn’t know myself until tonight,” she explained. “But um…,” Kanon hesitated for a moment, unable to face him. She knew what she wanted to ask him, but she didn’t want it to come off as strange. “Like, I’m totally feeling better and stuff, but do you mind if I stay here tonight? I’m scared I’ll just have a nightmare again if go back to my room.”

The young man remained silent, probably considering it.

“It’s not weird, is it? I mean, we’ve had to sleep in the same room before so it’s not like it changes anything between us or whatever,” she added, nervously chewing on her lip as she looked at him.

“Huh? Yeah, you’re right. I guess it’s okay if you sleep here and stuff.”

Why the hell do I want to kiss you?

“Thank you, Yasu,” she mumbled, pulling away from him to lie down next to him.

Just what are you doing to me, Yasuhiro Hagakure? were Kanon’s last thoughts, as she peacefully drifted off to sleep.

She doesn’t need to know that she might have actually seen a ghost, Yasuhiro thought, staring at the ceiling. I don’t need to feel guilty about lying to her and saying ghosts aren’t real. She needed sleep, right? I did the right thing.

He turned to her, his heart racing in his chest. Even though she had just told him they they’d already slept in the same room before and that this wouldn’t change anything between them, he still got a hunch that things were already different. It was subtle, but he could feel it.

First of all, they were sleeping in the same bed. Second, he’d hugged her much longer than necessary. Third, he hadn’t been bothered by the fact she’d woken him up in the middle of the night to talk to him about what’d she seen.

Well, maybe nothing changed and it’s normal for people who saved each other’s lives to be this close, huh? I might just be reading too much into it.

Yasuhiro took a deep breath, hoping it would quiet down whatever thoughts he was having about the girl who was peacefully sleeping next to him. He had never denied that she was attractive, but as soon as she’d basically thrown herself into his arms for comfort, that had been the only thing on his mind – well, that and how much he wanted to protect her and make sure she was okay.

Even now, his attempt to rationalize what had just happened stemmed from the fact that the thoughts didn’t seem to want to eave his head. As soon as he took as much as a short glance at her, he was reminded of how pretty she just was.

But this can’t be more than physical attraction, can it? We’re so different, there’s no way we could ever be more than friends. I don’t think she’d ever even want this. I’m not even sure I want this. When she’s not vulnerable like this, all we do is clash and fight because I’m saying stupid things that hurt her. She doesn’t even know I genuinely care about her. She probably thinks I’m doing this because of something silly like survivor’s guilt, or her money. Hell, it might have been the case at first. Now I’m just not sure anymore.

What do I want?

What does she want?

What are we?

The clairvoyant tried to find the answer to these questions through whatever divination powers he had, but no vision came to him. He’d learned time and time again that forcing it was pointless, but something within him was urging him to find the answers – as though if he didn’t figure it out now, it would be too late for him to make the right decision and finally be the main character in his own story.

Throughout his life, Yasuhiro had never exactly been popular. Growing up in a poor town without his father had made him different from the other kids, even the ones who went to school with him. He’d always been deemed weird by his peers, and as such, had never been close to girls.

Kanon was probably the complete opposite. Being the only daughter of one of the most important people in the Japanese entertainment industry, and as good-looking as she was, she most likely always had a lot of boys pining after her. This meant that unlike him, she probably knew what she was doing when she’d asked to share his bed for the night. This also most definitely implied that he didn’t have to think about these things, because they didn’t mean anything more than what she’d told him when she woke him up – she was scared and wanted support. After the Tragedy, he was the only person she was relatively close to.

He didn’t need to overthink this. All he had to do was ignore that unknown, warm, fuzzy feeling in his lower stomach and go to sleep.

That’s right, he finally concluded. Nothing’s happening here. I just got carried away for a bit because it’s late at night and I’m half asleep. We’re just friends – friends who wen through intense and terrifying things together in the span of a few weeks. It’s normal for us to be close.

He looked at her one last time before closing his eyes in an attempt to fall back asleep, realizing that no amount of thinking about what their relationship really was and meant could no stop him from thinking she was beautiful.

It really wasn’t the outdated gyaru outfits and makeup. It was Kanon-cchi who was beautiful. He now was completely sure of it. Maybe he’d tell her – maybe this was part of the things she needed to not be haunted by her memories of her cousin anymore.

I’m just trying to be there for her, were Yasuhiro’s last thoughts, as he peacefully drifted off to sleep.

#yasukanon #Hagakanon #Yasuhiro Hagakure x Kanon Nakajima

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yourmandevine · 3 years

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Some stuff that made me happy in 2020, in no particular order

God send you no greater loss. It’s something my grandmother said a lot — a bit of highly Irish Catholic wisdom intended to remind you, warmly but sharply, that whatever you’re currently suffering through isn’t all that bad compared to what lots of other people are dealing with. That it probably isn’t too much to complain about, in the grand scheme of things. That you should, instead, be grateful for what you’ve got, big and small and everything in between.

God sent a great many people a great many unfathomable losses this year, and as hard as it felt at times, our family wasn’t among them; we’re lucky, in the big picture. In the past, people have recommended I try writing those reasons down, to give myself a list of stuff to be thankful for, for the times it’s tough to summon up the gratitude. I figured the end of the year was as good a time as any to make that list, to highlight the stuff that helped me get through this year — the reasons big, small, and in between.

So: here goes.

Peanut butter and jelly

I haven’t counted how many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I’ve eaten since March 11, which is good, because that would be an absurd thing to do, and a sure sign that I have succumbed to a very specific kind of madness. It’s also good, though, because I would undoubtedly be ashamed by the number; the figure would be titanic, like the unsinkable ship of same name, or the iceberg that sunk it.

Or, at least, I would be ashamed under normal circumstances. This fuckin’ year required whatever flotation device you could find, and you know what I found in the fridge and cupboard? A couple of slices of bread, some strawberry jam, and some goddamn Skippy.

Need a weird mid-morning “brunch” after not having breakfast because you went right from waking up to remote school with the 6-year-old? Crank up a PB&J with that third cup of coffee. Need to pack something in the diaper bag to feed everyone while you’re out at the playground for the afternoon? Stack ‘em up, son. Need a late snack after working the overnight shift filing weird bubble playoff columns? Three letters, one ampersand, one love.

I need to eat better in 2021. But I kind of needed to eat sort of like shit to get through 2020, and time and again, when your man needed it most, PB&J was there.

Sunday night Zoom sessions with college friends

I know that most of us started something like this back in March; I’m not sure how many have stuck with it. I hope the answer is “a lot,” because honestly, knowing that I’m going to end the week by seeing a few friends — some here in Brooklyn but mostly beyond our reach for safety’s sake, some who’ve moved away — has felt like a stabilizing agent on more than a few occasions. It’s important, and no small blessing, to have people in your life who really know you, weird messy ugly bits and all, and in front of whom you can let everything go.

That gallery view’s provided a place to vent, to seethe, to laugh, to cry, and to try to find some semblance of center before heading back into another week. I’m grateful for it, and for the people in those little boxes. Except for the time they reminded me that, when I was 18, I was pretty sure I was a Pacey, and they were all extremely confident I was a Dawson. They were right, but still: a bitter pill to swallow, then and now.

Olivia calling herself “Dr. Bloody”

She took out her little toy doctor kit and just turned into a cackling villain.

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Deeply disconcerting, yes, but also adorable.

All Fantasy Everything

What got me in the door was the conceit: three very funny stand-up comedians (Ian Karmel, David Gborie, Sean Jordan), often with a very funny guest but sometimes without, pick some topic or another and engage in a fantasy draft of their favorite aspects or representations of that topic. (It is, crucially, a serpentine draft. Now what is that? That’s a great question.) Some favorite examples: Mikes; Words That You Think Make You Sound Smart, vols. 1 and 2; Things You Yell After You Dunk on Someone; Fictional Athletes; Crimes We’d Like to Commit. Yeah. It’s that kind of podcast.

What kept me around was the friendship. Listen to an episode and it becomes really clear really quickly just how much the three hosts love each other, how much fun they have being around each other and making one another laugh. The warmth radiates, just pours out of the speakers; in a year where I sorely needed some good vibes, I appreciated my regular check-ins with the Good Vibes Gang to just ... unclench for an hour and a half or so.

Drinking beer

OK, I’ll admit: This doesn’t sound great for me. It’s true, though. I really like beer. (We brewed one in our kitchen, which I realize is something of a “bearded guy in Brooklyn” cliche, but here we are. It was exciting to complete a project, and it tasted OK-ish.) At some points this year, it didn’t feel like there wasn’t much to look forward to, and sometimes drinking some High Lifes or Narragansett tall boys — with my wife in our living room, with friends on the computer, whatever — helped take the edge off a shitty day/week/month/year. I look forward to being able to do that outside with people again.

The Good Place

I am sure some very smart cultural critics and political thinkers and social revolutionaries have forwarded compelling arguments for why this show is Bad, Actually, because that seems to be more or less true about most things, whether because said thing is Actually Bad or because the economics of the attention economy on the internet functionally necessitate the composition and publication of pretty much every position on pretty much every issue, and especially ones that present a counterargument for why you shouldn’t like the thing you like, and might be kind of a piece of shit for liking it. But I liked this half-hour comedy about the way the universe might be put together, why we should try to take better care of each other, and how doing so might be a pretty great way to take better care of ourselves.

Andrew let me write about it a little bit for a big project we did before the series finale aired, which was really nice of him. I found myself thinking about this part a lot this year:

I also thought a lot about Peeps Chili, but that happens every year.

Taking pictures of my dog

Check out this flumpy goddamn champion:

“Lugar is a good boy” is the main takeaway here. They don’t all have to be complicated.

Schitt’s Creek

I know we’re not alone in this, but we inhaled this show this year. A half-hour comedy about people being laid low, learning how to deal with who they actually are, and finding some grace and community and opportunities for growth kind of hit the spot, I guess.

One of the most wholesale enjoyable ensemble comedy casts I can remember; Catherine O’Hara was already in Cooperstown, but what she made with Moira Rose only polishes her plaque. I’ll never be able to describe with any specificity the thing Chris Elliott does, but I know it has made me laugh since I was a child too young to understand the Letterman bits or see Cabin Boy in the theater, and it’s probably going to make me laugh until I am dead.

I love that people who, for years, never got to see themselves or people like them on screen got to see David Rose on screen and maybe recognize themselves a little bit. The idea that seeing the David/Patrick relationship might make them maybe feel a little more at home, a little safer and more whole, makes me happy. Sad, about the before, but happy, about the now and the what comes next.

Past that, I just love how what was ostensibly a family-and-friends production for a Canadian channel just got absolutely everything right—the tone, the look, the sound, the theme song, the cast, the jokes, my goodness, the jokes—and before long, the rest of the world just got it. Like catching a fastball square on the barrel. Something the show clearly knew a little bit about.

Finding new outdoor places it was safe to go

Necessity is the mother of invention, and the need to give the kids a place to be that wasn’t unnecessarily dangerous but also wasn’t inside our two-bedroom apartment led us to do more exploring than we had before. Shirley Chisholm State Park is great. Canarsie Pier was a fun place to spend a Sunday morning; so’s Canarsie Playground. If we got there early enough or made our peace with some rain, the beaches at Jacob Riis Park and Fort Tilden were pretty rad this summer. I lived in Staten Island from ages 8 through 18, and during breaks throughout college, and don’t think I ever hiked in High Rock Park — that’s dumb, because it was nice!

Even if all those little excursions did was kill a little time and reduce the overall stress level of the four humans stuck in our four walls, that’s not nothing. Some days this year, it was everything.

Cobra Kai

I know I’m late here; I didn’t rush to seek it out because I don’t consider myself a huge fan of The Karate Kid, or at least not a big enough fan to sign up for YouTube’s premium service. I checked it out when it came to Netflix, though, and I honestly can’t believe how much I enjoyed this show. Give me “dumb, but with heart” every day of the week.

I believe in Miguel Diaz; I believe in Johnny Lawrence; I believe I will be firing up Season 3 next month, and perhaps drinking some Coors Banquets in its honor. (I cannot, however, believe how the “get him a body bag” thing came back around, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Closing unread tabs

I’m a serial hoarder of links, and I am bad at finishing all of them. I’ve tried to get into Pocket and Instapaper, but I’ve never been able to turn that sort of workflow — open link, save to third-party service, go back to third-party service later to read, then delete from there — into something that felt instinctual, natural, or habitual. So: lots of tabs. Like, lots of tabs.

This was a dicier proposition than usual in 2020, because cutting my work week in half to be able to more effectively coparent two kids who didn’t have school or day care for most of the year meant less time to read things.

I tried to do my best to keep up with the important stuff for work, and to read at least some stuff about how other parents were dealing with their anxiety/anger/depression/frustration at having to be on 24/7 and work, and to stay abreast of (at least some of) what was happening in the world. Sometimes, though, I would wake up and realize I’d been holding onto blog posts about Really Interesting Rotation Decisions on the 11th-Seeded Team in the East or whatever for literally nine months, and I would go against my nature and just hit the eject button on a 25-deep window, and something amazing would happen: I wouldn’t get fired for being shitty at my job. I would move on with my day, and I would feel about 10 pounds lighter.

I still keep too much stuff open. (As we speak, I’ve got three different Chrome windows open on two different laptops. I choose not to count the total tabs.) But I do so knowing that, if it gets too heavy, I can experience the momentary joy of surrendering to the inevitability that I can’t catch everything. In that moment, I feel OK with my decay.

Reading writers I wasn’t familiar with before

Two in particular stand out in my mind: Nekias Duncan, now of BasketballNews.com, who does excellent film breakdowns and statistical analysis, and Katie Heindl, who writes basketball stuff of all types all over the place, and strings sentences together in a way that scratches an itch inside my brain. I’m grateful I got more chances to read them this year, I look forward to bigger and better things for both of them, and I’m hopeful that, if things calm down and our schedules go back to something approximating normalcy, I’ll have more bandwidth to hunt out more new voices in the year ahead.

The time I ambushed my wife as she was trying to break down and put away the girls’ space tent

Pretty good.

Siobhan learning to ride a bicycle (with training wheels, but still)

The moment passed pretty quickly; Not Exactly A Mechanic over here can’t get the training wheels to reliably work right without either loosening them too much or tightening them so much that she can’t pedal it. In that first moment, though, and for as long as it lasted, it was really great to see her get excited about doing something new, big kid shit, for the first time.

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She was proud. I was proud of her. And then we went to a playground for a few hours. Pretty good day.

Tyler Tynes roasting me

Tyler did some incredible work this year — The Cam Chronicles is getting deserved praise as one of 2020′s best podcasts, and his reporting on the Movement for Black Lives was exemplary. It’s hard to top this, though:

You know what the messed up part is? I was excited to tell him what I was doing, just because I knew the reaction would be so violent. Like a body rejecting a transplant. So lucky to have such a dear, dear friend.

PUP

I’m late on everything, so I didn’t start listening to PUP until the spring of 2019, but I haven’t really stopped since. This year has been too sedentary too often; this band is too kinetic to allow me to stay there.

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“Bloody Mary Kate and Ashley Kate” is never more than about 20 minutes away from returning to the front of my mind. I would fucking love for it to be safe enough to watch these guys live at some point, and I am absolutely going to take Steve up on his offer.

Someone sending me a shirt based on a joke I tweeted

First:

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Then:

I’m not sure you should be rewarding my behavior, SnoCoPrintShop, but I appreciate it all the same.

Which reminds me:

Family dinner/family movie night

My wife works in Manhattan and commutes back on the train, and we've tried to prioritize getting the girls to bed early since they were little, so that doesn’t leave much of a window between when she gets home and they go in the tub for us all to connect; before everything shut down, we almost never really ate together. We’re still not great about it, but for a while now we’ve carved out Saturday as family dinner night, where we sit down to eat and talk about our “up” from the day — something that happened that made us feel good or happy, or something we’re looking forward to. (We used to talk about our “down,” too, but that kind of seemed like overkill. Why try to focus on more bad shit right now, you know?)

Then we settle in for a movie, with who gets to pick rotating each week. It’s mostly been Pixar, which has been great but also has its drawbacks; after she caught me crying during one of them (maybe the Bing-Bong scene in Inside Out? or Miguel singing to Grandma Coco?), Siobhan straight up told me, “You need to get yourself together, man.” We just watched My Neighbor Totoro, too, which they loved, so we’re probably going to try some more Miyazaki soon. It’s a really simple thing, but it’s one we rarely made time for before, and it’s been really nice to manufacture something positive that we can share and look forward to together.

Sometimes looking like a shiftless drifter

No shade to anyone who felt strongly about getting a lineup or whatever, but I haven’t really felt like going to the barbershop was worth the risk, and I continue to refuse to believe that my wife can actually pull off the fade she’s long wanted to give me. (It is also possible that she just means she’s intending to run my fade, and that I will before long wind up cold-cocked and slumped by my bride of nine years.) So I’ve just kind of been growing out my hair like it was when I was single, and sometimes been letting my beard get kind of out of control too, and, well, I sort of like looking a little bit like a Wildling, it turns out.

I have since trimmed things up a little. It didn’t go over well with my youngest. Oh, well. I’ll try to do better next time.

My wife and daughter singing the Pixies

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We don’t know all the words to too many lullabies, so we sing the ones we do know the words to. This will probably come back to bite us in the years ahead. For now, though: Pretty good.

Doughboys’ Tournament of Chompions: Munch Madness: Mac Attack

I can’t believe how invested I became in Nick Wiger and Mike Mitchell’s quest to determine the best menu item at McDonald’s in a 64-seed tournament that spawned hours and hours of delightfully funny audio featuring all-time home-run guests like Jon Gabrus and Nicole Byer, who gleefully feed into the often warm, sometimes antagonistic, always entertaining chemistry between the two hosts. I have also never found myself wanting to go to McDonald’s more in my entire life. I have hit the drive-thru a couple of times since, and the boys are right: The McDonald’s fountain Coke does just hit different.

Sound Only

I’ve lost track of whether or not a 38-year-old is considered a millennial, but I’m quite confident that I’m not exactly plugged into “the millennial lifestyle” as my teammates Justin Charity and Micah Peters discuss it on their podcast, which relaunched this summer. Doesn’t matter, though, because I love hearing Charity and Micah talk to each other even if I don’t know what they’re talking about.

Their conversation about Dave Chappelle was great. After listening to their Travis Scott episode, I felt like I kind of understood who he is and why he occupies the space he does in pop culture now. I had no idea how they were going to get me to give a shit about set photos from The Batman, but this they not only got me there, but wended their way toward blaming 50 Cent for needing to know who Groot is to have a conversation on the internet, which is something for which Abraham Lincoln did not die. The show is good, it's getting better, it’s fun to hear them talk their shit, and Charity’s regular bellowing of “I, TOO, AM AMERICA” has made me smile for four straight months.

Siobhan’s letters and notes

She’s in first grade now, and she’s taken to communicating her feelings through the written word. A lot.

I won’t pretend that I loved all of these in the moment. I can only get so upset, though, when she’s already writing with such a clear voice. (And trying to use proper punctuation. (And drawing little cartoons to drive the point home.)

Palm Springs

I’m having a hard time remembering too many specifics about it right now, which probably means it’d be a good thing to rewatch over the holidays. But, as I’m sure many people noted many months before we got around to watching it, a comedy about living the same day over and over again, and about trying to figure out how to make your life mean something when everything seems meaningless, scratched a pretty particular, and particularly important, itch this year. It could’ve been twice as long, and I would’ve eaten up every second of Andy Samberg and Cristin Miloti together.

I’m pretty sure I cried, although this year, that doesn’t necessarily mean much. Also, put Conner O’Malley in more things.

Joining our union’s bargaining committee

I won’t say too much about this, but I will say that becoming an active participant in the process of a labor union negotiating its first contract with management has been an extremely educational experience. It’s pushed me to have conversations, sometimes difficult ones, about our priorities as a staff and a company. It's helped me get closer with the other past and present members of the BC, and has led me to start developing relationships with members of our staff that I otherwise might not have had much of an opportunity to get to know.

The organizing work takes time, effort, and energy, but trying to do what I can to help take better care of my colleagues has been well worth all of that. Here’s hoping that in 2021 we can reach a deal that helps make our workplace even better, stronger, and more equitable for all of us.

Publishing a story about Stevie Nicks’ Fajita Roundup

I swear this is true: After I accepted my offer to work at The Ringer, but before I started, I told a friend that one thing I was excited about was that you had the chance to work on offbeat stuff here, in both the “kind of weird” and “not about the NBA” senses. That, I thought, might maybe open the door to me getting to write a story about a Saturday Night Live sketch I saw when I was a teenager about Stevie Nicks from Fleetwod Mac running a cheap Tex-Mex restaurant in Sedona, Arizona — a sketch that I wasn’t sure anyone else remembered, but that was stuck in my head forever.

That story ran on May 26.

A lot of people seemed to like it.

Accomplishing this goal was, as dumb as this might sound, a highlight of my year, and, honestly, a highlight of my career. I’d like to do some more stuff like this next year, time permitting; we’ll see. Whether or not I do, I got to do this. I’ll always have that.

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inyoursheets · 4 years

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was tagged by three super stars ok im crying, thank you @bourbon-ontherocks @riosnecktattoo @jazillia007

spell out your url using song titles, then tag as many people as there are letters in your url

fair warning i did not wanna dig deep for this so you’re getting a playlist made exclusively out of bad bunny and maluma songs

Ignorantes - Bad Bunny, Sech

No Se Me Quita - Maluma, Ricky Martin

Yo Perreo Sola - Bad Bunny

Ojos Que No Ven - Maluma

UN PESO - J Balvin, Bad Bunny, Marciano Cantero

RLNDT - Bad Bunny

Si Veo a Tu Mamá - Bad Bunny

Hablamos Mañana - Bad Bunny, Duki, Pablo Chill-E

El Préstamo - Maluma

El Clavo - Prince Royce, Maluma

Tu Vecina - Maluma, Ty Dolla $ign

Soliá - Bad Bunny

10 Mid-Depth Questions

1. What is your favourite word? it’s not particularly pretty, but -- gunnen. it’s a dutch verb that ive discovered really doesn’t translate to english well, but i use it a lot, also in conversations w/ my best friend who doesn’t speak dutch, but it means something like... wishing something for someone? wanting something for someone? idk how to explain it. but it’s an important... concept for me i guess? especially when im talking to/about someone I love. e.g. i want/wish for my little sister that she makes some good new friends. ik gun het haar van harte. 2. What is your least favourite word? i can think of a number of slurs here. 3. What turns you on? my boundaries respected, open communication, voices such as carlos aviles’, as ive let him know and he is now aware of 4. What turns you off? being fetishized 5. What sound or noise do you love? the little giggly noise my best friend makes when she’s feeling shy when receiving a compliment 6. What sound or noise do you hate? the sound of my cat yelling me awake every morning -- once, notably, at 6am 7. What’s your favourite curse word? fuck? 8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? acting? 9. What profession would you not like to do? the list is long. 10. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear god say when you arrive at the pearly gates? welcome home, [insert name only God knows]

im supposed to be tagging 12 people but im late to the party so i know im probably double tagging so im interpreting 12 as 1 + 2, so: @mego42 @mrslackles and @missmaxime im sticking with the ms

#tag games #playlist #music #@missmaxime let me know if you do know a way to properly translate gunnen bc my brain breaks every time I make an attempt

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delightfullypinkstrawberry · 5 years

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Rules: Answer 16 questions and tag 16 people you want to know better!

@spacekrakens thank you for the tag!! ♡

1. Height: 5'7"

2. Last Thing I Googled: "Jeffrey Epstein." I wish Persona 5 was legit and I could just go into this dude's heart and make him confess e v e r y t h i n g. Otherwise than this, all of my Google questions have been about Persona 5.

3. Favorite Musicians:

•Marianas Trench is top of the top, dude. They're extremely talented and my respect and admiration knows no end. I wrote an entire script for a majority of one of their albums, and that story has now become a publishing goal. Let's hope I can revise it without the music and make it its own!

•One Direction used to be my favorite. They're now an honorary mention for the nostalgia and the memories I have (like Liam looking at me and me panicking and him laughing - that was a fun one...if not awkward as frick...) (or my sister trying to theme with Niall and him just not getting it lmbo) (also my mom and I looking around Universal in the pouring rain bc we were told they'd be somewhere around the park, but actually they were hiding in one of the stores, so she and I got chicken and waffles at the Simpson's area instead) (also I got some random dude's autograph because he gave me tickets and I thought "dude, you're the best, you deserve recognition")(I still have that guy's autograph)(he was great)

•Passenger holds a place in my heart for their All the Little Lights album. That cheers me up like nothing else. It's just like, "Yeah, life sucks, but that's okay. We can still find happiness, we just gotta accept the pain as well and learn to move on from it." The most INFP artist tbh.

•Sleeping at Last because of his Enneagram songs mainly, but also because the thought he puts into his music is incredible and deserves to be noted. He's just so talented and I love supporting him.

•Lauren Aquilina because I relate on so many levels??? She just tells it like it is, but in such a poetic and beautiful way. She's an incredibly talented writer and singer. There's not one song of hers that I don't like tbh. Also, I can't listen to Tobacco in my Sheets without crying at the brother part because literally same @my bro and mom.

•Erutan!!! She plays all the instruments herself!!! And does all the singing!!! And writing!!! And her songs are so unique and beautiful!!! I feel like a little elven maiden walking through the forest gathering herbs and flowers in mid-spring every time I listen to her.

•NF. He's just so raw and real and he faces parts of human nature and christianity that we often want to pretend aren't there. He does so straightforwardly and without holding back too. It's incredible. Also, hearing his testimony pour out through his music inspires me with every song.

4. Song stuck in my head: well, after writing that, now it's Tobacco in my Sheets. But, I've been singing I'd Rather be Me from the Mean Girls Musical a lot too lately. Today it's also been Reckless Love by Cory Asbury as well. I've got like 20 different tabs in my brain and at least 3 of them are playing music a good majority of the time.

5. Followers: 36 on this account, 343 on @mymbti , and 12 on @i-am-child .

6. Following: 120

7. Do you get asks?: Occassionally, yes! I really enjoy answering them (though I go way too in depth lol, I'm sorry) and sending asks back to the person who sent them. It really makes the tumblr experience for me - getting to interact with everyone!

8. Amount of sleep?: hahahahahhahahahahahhaahhaha. I legit don't have a sleep schedule. For the past few weeks due to work, it's been about 3-6 hours though. I go to sleep anywhere between 1 and 3, then wake up sometime around 6:30-7:30, unless I'm off work, then I wake up around 9-11.

9. Lucky number?: Seven! My birthday (9/7/99), my enneagram, and my favorite number. (Lucky letter is J).

10. What are you wearing?: purple pjs that have gray French Bulldogs with little green sweaters on and a bunch of other designs. They say, "Excuse my French" too.

11. Dream job: To own a cat café!! I'm working at making that dream a reality now. Being an actress, director, or writer are also high up there. I love the entertainment industry.

12. Instruments: I don't play any, but I'd love to learn the guitar, piano, or violin tbh.

13. Languages: Learning French and ASL now.

Also, I went through duolingo the other day and did the first lesson in all of the languages I'm interested in. French (of course), Japanese, and Russian were the easiest and I actually really enjoyed studying them further afterwards.

Spanish, Korean, and German were extremely difficult and though I'd like to learn them, and really every language tbh, I think I'll put them off for now ahah.

14. Favorite Songs?: don't do thiS TO ME. Frick. Okay. Trying to narrow it down, I suppose these are my favorites, in no particular order:

•The Last Goodbye by Billy Boyd

•By Your Side by Tenth Avenue North

•El Shaddai by Dogwood and Holly

•Holes by Passenger

•Staring at the Stars (acoustic) by Passenger

•King and Lionheart by Of Monsters and Men

•Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons

•I'll Keep you Safe by Sleeping at Last

•Amarillo Sky by Jason Aldean

•Something to be Proud Of by Montgomery Gentry

•Amarillo by Morning by George Strait

•Atlas: Eight by Sleeping at Last

15. Random Fact: I'm scared of butterflies, but I've no problem with moths!

16: People I want to know better: @heddo-pewpewpew-gudbye @masterofpretending @mikeyspsyche @dangerously-human @xubbs @magnumpicactus

I'm 100% forgetting people, so I'm sorry if you weren't tagged, but feel free to do it anyways (and please let me know so I can learn more about you too!!)

#me #aismkddmmsd i went too in detail but going back and trying to rephrase just made me go e v e n m o r e i n d e p t h #i can't stop myself #im a terrible human #im sorry

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beepbeeprichiellc · 5 years

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Wild Flowers

Part 1, Part 2.

*Couldn’t help myself, not really a series but there I just loved this idea I had to do a part 3. I loved it, and fuck...it’s so sad.*

The weather had stalled out in between seasons. There was a blistering wind that came with the sunrise but faded by mid morning. Pumpkins-that Beverly had been so adamant about carving-were now withering on their front porch, their faces twisted and grotesque. All of leaves had almost all fallen, dying on the cold earth as a symbol of things yet to come. Stores were just now displaying their Christmas decor, making Richie shift in his own skin.

It had been six months since Eddie’s last letter.

Six months since he had seen that elegant hand writing, read the words that pored onto the paper and saw that faithful ‘love Eds’. He had known that this was coming, with Eddie’s company being on the move the soldiers had no time to write to their loved ones. Eddie had told him, warned him and yet there was a longing that begged to be tamed. There were news stories of platoons being captured and tortured by the enemy and every night Richie prayed that Eddie was safe.

Well, begged was more like it.

Things were tense in the house, his friends walking on eggshells around him. It was a wonder why they put up with his outbursts and frustrations, supporting him in any way they could. What hurt the most was that none of them truly understood the pain he was in, neither Stan or Beverly or Ben having to worry about the thing he did. Never worrying if today he would receive a call telling him that the love of his life was dead, or worrying that Eddie wouldn’t even bother to come to the farm if he did come back to the sates. Worrying about the body count coming in in waves, the horror stories soldiers told on the news, the fight to end this meaningless war.

Ben had left an hour before, needing to get to town before the grocery store closed so that Stan could finish dinner. The others were merely lounging around, waiting for his return with only the small hum of the news floating between them. Richie sat with his eyes glued to the names that crossed the screen, men who had died that week across the sea. After they were done he could breath again, not having seen his lovers name.

There were headlights in their front window, signaling his return and Beverly took it upon herself to meet him at the door. Her face twisted the moment the barrier was open, a question coming out in a hushed voice so that the others could not hear. What came next was Ben, followed by a unfamiliar solider who wore a thin and worrisome face.

Their guest had obvious seen better days, his hair shaved short as to expose a healing wound, his uniform worn and dirty as if he had walked cross country to get here. Even with all that it was the eyes that weighed him down, the darkness that swam in the grey pools was concerning and frightening at the same time. Richie looked at him, really looked and felt a sense of reality punch him in he gut. If this was what was coming home, what in the hell was staying over here?

“This is Bill, I found him in town asking around for you, Richie.” Ben explained, offering a sad smile. “He uh-he says he knows Eddie.”

“Eddie?” Richie repeated, his heart jumping into his throat. “Y-you know Eddie?”

“I-I do.” Bill stuttered out, sounding unsure of his own voice. “H-h-he was muh-my muh-medical officer. We w-w-worked to-ge-gether.” The stutter was bad, so bad that it was almost impossible to understand what he was saying. This left a sour taste in the air, a question that they all wanted to ask but knew it was not their place to do so. Bill must have sensed this because he added, “Suh-sorry about th-the stutter. I was ne-near a land mi-mined explosion and got sc-scrap metal in muh-my head.” His long finger pointed to the patched spot on the side of his head, “Th-they said I-I’m luh-lucky to be a-alive. Th-that if E-E-Eddie hadn’t been muh-my medical officer I wo-would be s-six fee-feet under.”

“Oh.” Richie whispered, taken aback by the information. “Okay, why are you looking for me? Is Eddie okay, are you here to tell me he’s-” But there was no finishing, no end to what he was asking because he was afraid of the answer that he would receive if he did say that faithful word. Stan’s hand was on his shoulder, supporting him and if it weren't for that alone, he would crumble.

“H-he was oh-okay the last t-t-time I saw him.” Bill said, understanding the question fully. “A-alive and f-f-fighting.”

A weight was lifted from Richie’s shoulders, making him feel a thousand times lighter. “That’s my Eds.” He mumbled, shaking his head and trying his best not to cry in relief. “He’s a fucking fire cracker.”

“I a-a-agree.” Bill replied, smiling. “I c-came loo-looking for you be-because of what E-Eddie had told m-me. He wo-wouldn’t shut up a-about you, about h-how amazing yuh-you were and h-h-how you b-bought this h-house for him a-a-and your freinds a-and fuh-fuck -” He laughed, the noise coming deep from within as if reliving a memory. “I d-don’t th-think I’v e-ever seen anyone s-so in luh-love.”

Richie didn’t know what to say. His face flustered in a mixture of embarrassment and pride. Eddie, it seemed. hadn’t forgotten him one bit. Even with a ocean separating them they were just as strong as before. “Is that what you came here to tell me? That Eddie loved me?”

“N-no.” Bill shifted his weight from one foot to another, awkwardly avoiding eye contact as shame covered every ounce of his face. “A-actually, I c-c-came here to-well uh-I j-just.” He let out a hot breath, his shoulders slumping in defeat as he muttered. “E-Eddie always t-t-told me th-that if I had n-no where e-else to g-g-go you and yuh-your friend w-would be th-there to he-help and as it t-turns out m-my brother was killed o-over in Vie-Vietnam. My p-parents d-don’t know h-how to d-eal with th-that and with muh-my st-stutter and th-they well-”

“Kicked you out.” Stan finished with pain in his voice.

Bill nodded, biting his bottom lip as to keep it from trembling. “Th-they well, y-yeah basically. S-so I remembered wh-what E-E-Eddie had told m-me and I buh-boarded a train from N-New York and w-w-well th-that’s wh-when Ben f-found me asking f-for yuh-you.”

“You are welcome to stay as long as you would like.” Beverly interjected, knowing that she was speaking for all of them. “A friend of Eddie’s is a friend of ours.”

Bill was beaming, his grin spreading the entire length of his face. “Th-thank you so muh-much, you h-have no i-idea how mu-much this me-means. I c-can’t-express h-how much-” The rest of the sentence ran away from him, his words becoming incomprehensible making tears build up along his glasses.

“It’s no problem, man.” Richie said, stepping forward and patting Bill on his shoulder in a brotherly way. “It’s what we do, we look out for one another”

“C-can you d-do one muh-more thing for m-me?” Bill asked, wiping at his eyes. “I kn-know it’s s-s-sounds stupid but E-Eddie t-told me you pl-played the guh-guitar? D-Do you m-mind if you p-p-lay for me? G-Guh-Georgie was learning when he-he-”

There was another shooting pain in Richie’s heart, understanding that Georgie was the brother Bill had lost in the war. He agreed instantly, accepting the interment that Ben retrieved from the other room. As Richie sat down the others took their usual place on the couch, Bill siting down at his feet like an anxious child waiting for a bedtime story.

When Richie played, the music took him away to another world. A world where he and Eddie had never been separated, where the war did’t exist and he was happy to live the life he chose. The notes floated into the air, creating a masterpiece with the tempo and tune. Richie began to sing, something he hardly ever did anymore. His throat was raspy and his tuning was off but the emotion that dripped from his lips was gut wrenching.

Beverly closed her eyes and leaned into her fiance who held her close. Stan was relaxed into the recliner, bobbing his head along with the music and Bill was weeping as he melted into the carpet. It was all wrong and so right at the same time. The only thing that would make this any better, any more sweet would be the missing boy who was still fighting in another country. Richie could feel his presence, feel his love that kept pushing him forward and rekindled his hope.

They would be together some day.

Someday, but not today.

Not tonight.

#reddie #it #it au #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #moodboards #contuination #not sure what i'm doing #not at all #hope you enjoyed it

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kookienomster3 · 6 years

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Blood, Sweat, & Tears (Pt. 7)

KPOP Fanfiction Written By: @20jane & @musicismylife45 WARNING: MATURE CONTENT Mafia/Gangs

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"Wake up Losers!" A voice rang. You stirred in your sleep cuddling into the warmth of the blanket. "Jungkook!" You heard again, the bed shook a bit as the voice tried to shake Jungkook awake. You cracked open your eyes to see Yugyeom. He looked your way when seeing you sit up on the bed. "(Y/n), your awake," he said smiling at you, "Now Jungkook just has to get the fuck up," he commented before ripping off the blankets then pushing him off the bed. Jungkook woke up mid-fall landing on the hard floor. You couldn't see him but you saw one leg rise up kicking Yugyeom where no man would want to be kicked. Yugyeom gasped eyes wide, as he held his.... manly parts. Jungkook got up with a normal expression passing by Yugyeom. "Come on (Y/n), let's go get breakfast," Jungkook called as he walked away. You slowly slid off the bed and avoided Yugyeom who laid on the ground in pain. You weren't too far behind Jungkook as you both went upstairs to the room with the couches. BamBam, Youngjae and Jackson all sat in pajamas on the couches eating breakfast burritos and Doenjang soup. Jungkook took three burritos before falling on the couch. Jungkook had no pants but black boxer and a white tee. You awkwardly sat in the armchair by yourself. You hadn't noticed till now, but you were starving. You hadn't eaten since you gotten here but even though you wanted a burrito you felt weird to grab one. You felt a hand pet your hair. You flinched looking up to see the one and only, Jimin, and his infamous smirk. He wore a large, black, short sleeve shirt, with an oversize striped jacket, and jeans. He looks really good. You just stared as he pushed the hair away from your neck, his fingers grazing the bruises he created on your neck. "Stop," you mumbled pushing his hand away from your neck. His eyes darkened, his hand then gripped your hair, pulling your head back. You yelped, he leaned closer to your face, "The fuck did you just say?" he whispered, He seemed irritated. 'Not a morning person,' you thought before you could push him away again, someone interrupted, "Jimin come on eat some breakfast," Jackson said. You both looked over at the other boys to see them looking at the two of you. Most had looks of disgust or awkwardness, but then you felt a deep stare coming from Jungkook. Jimin shrugged letting go of you to go eat. You leaned back in the chair, closing your eyes, trying to gather yourself together. You jumped back as a hand gripped your arm, you looked up guessing it was Jimin, but you were wrong. It was Jungkook. His body leaned over pulling you, "What are you doing?" you asked. Everyone's eyes were on the two of you. He said nothing. He almost looked like he was pouting as he pulled you to the couch next to him. You looked over at him in confusion as he gave you one of his many burritos. "Thanks," you smiled, taking the food. The door swung open to see Yugyeom... with a black eye. "Oh shit, Yugyeom what happened to your eye?" BamBam asked. Yugyeom just held his head, "I woke up ... Yoongi," he mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear. There was a long pause before everyone started laughing. Yugyeom just sat down where you were once sitting and held his face in pain. You didn't even notice that Yoongi trailed in behind him. "God damn it, shut the fuck up," Yoongi said admittedly. Silence fell over the room. Yoongi pinched the bridge of his nose, "It's Friday-" You tried your best to pay attention to what he was saying but your eyes kept staring at his shirtless, toned, chest. He wore black sweatpants that were baggy and hung low showing... a lot of skin. It was so hard to focus on his words, that you just ended up staring down at your lap hoping no one notice you gaulking at your kidnapper. "(Y/n)," a voice called. You looked up from your lap to see once again, Yoongi. You felt blood rush to your cheeks as Yoongi stood right in front of you. "Did you listen to a single word I said?" he said loudly. You looked up at him with wide eyes, "No I'm sorry," you mumbled, avoiding eye contact. "She's just tired Yoo-" Jungkook started trying to defend you but, Yoongi cut him off with a glare. "Did I Fucking ask you, No? Then shut the fuck up!" he said, anger filled the air. Yoongi took a deep breathe calming himself down. "Youngjae show (Y/n) how to use the earpiece, Jimin check on our guest j-hope and clean up your mess upstairs," Yoongi groaned. Everyone got up and went to work. You followed Youngjae into the small closet. Right next to the door was a twin sized bed at least seven computers were on one desk. You went to sit down onto the small uncomfortable looking bed but right, as you were Youngjae, stopped you. "Please don't touch ANYTHING," he said staring at you with disgust. "Fine" you spoke, rolling your eyes. You watched as he dug through draws of his desk grabbing out a few things. He turned to face you with an annoyed look on his face. He placed the objects on his bed just to pick it up again holding it in front of your face. It looked like an earphone. "Wear your hair down so no one will notice and also we can hear everything so don't try to talk to us it will give away your cover," he informed putting the earpiece down and picking up the other object. "There are three walkie-talkies that can talk into your earpiece and hear what's going on. I will have one, so will Yoongi and Jungkook," he finished putting down the last item. "Oh and how about you test out the earpiece. Go around the factory and see if you can hear me," he said throwing the earpiece at you. 'He probably just wants to get rid of me,' you thought, placing the piece in your ear sarcastically waving goodbye to Youngjae. "Can you hear me?" Youngjae's voice came through into your ear. "Yeah, can you hear me?" You asked walking away from the room. "Yeah go a little further," he said. You did as you were told but instead of going downstairs you looked at the metal door a few feet from Youngjae's room. His door now closed. 'What's up there I remember Yoongi telling Jimin something,' you thought, approaching the door. You crept it open. It led upstairs where you had never been before. Entering the staircase you tried your best to stay quiet and crept up the steps. You heard faint whimpers. Turning the corner you spotted Hoseok in a room covered in plastic. He laid on the ground still tied up. You could only see the back of him but you noticed blood covering the floor around him. You walked over to him taking a step closer. The floor creaked, signaling you were here. He flinched, "You'll kill me before I tell you anything," he said, his voice cracking. You walked closer avoiding the puddle of blood. As you looked over to the other side of the beaten up boy you saw his face. You cringed at the sight. He had swollen eyes and a split lip, cuts and bruises covered his body. His eyes widened at the sight of you. "Oh my God (Y/n)," he said trying his best to scoot closer to you. "Are you okay? How did you get here with those cunts?" he said sneering at the last part. "Hoseok is it true your in Nameless?" You asked, looking down at the beaten up man who you use to call friend. "You don't understand (Y/n). I needed the money for tuition and then I just got caught up in the mess," he tried to explain but you just shook your head. "The Nameless sell women! How can you be apart of that? What happened to the cute boy in my English lit class?" you asked, you refused to cry. "I'm still here but those fucking Reapers you're all buddy buddy with are no better than the Nameless," he said. You looked away for a second, not wanting to look at his broken face. "(Y/n), help me and we can leave together," he begged, looking up at you with puppy eyes. You debated on the idea for a few minutes just looking at him. SLAM! "Oh, J-hope~" Jimin's voice called from the bottom of the stairs. Both you and J-hope looked at each other with frightened looks. You had nowhere to hide. "What a surprise," Jimin said as he reached the top of the stairs.

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thatlongspringnight · 6 years

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The Red String (Okita Soji/MC) Ch. 3

Chapter 3 for you and me! Look, things are finally starting to pick up!

tagging: @han-pan @rizosrojizos @aina-chama @oh-my-otome@frywen-babbles @perfectruffian2389 @astralandopal@daydreamfirzana @slbp-owns-ayame @wonky-glass-ornament and @half-flat

“What’s all this?” Sojiro stops, panting softly.

He had gone for a run, opting to wear himself out before bed, he couldn’t handle another night of tossing and turning.

Another night of nightmares.

He clutches at his temples, the dull ache still present. Not even the cold winds seemed to be able to ease the throbbing

“…-san” He hears a whisper, like silk against his skin. He imagines she must be saying Sojiro, Sojiro-san.

Right?

Why does her voice sound so sad? Her bangs obscure her face, but he can feel her hands on his skin. She brushes at his cheeks, the soft touches making him shiver.

There is a sweet scent in the air.

Like flowers, like sickness, the sweet stench of death.

But no, he’s not dying. Just yesterday he was fine.

It’s just a little cough-

She presses a cool, damp rag to his face, and he shudders.

Was he that hot? He reaches a trembling hand to hers, cursing his weakness as he holds it to his cheek.

“Well,” He can hear the rasp in his voice as he talks. His fever had spiked, hadn’t it? He was sick, he’d be better in a few days. “I’ve felt better.”

The woman, that dear woman, he could feel an ache in his chest he didn’t understand, snorts. The undignified noise makes him grin.

“I suppose you have.”

So innocuous. Sojiro shook his head, trying to rid himself of the memories of the dream.

Odd considering how quickly dreams normally faded from his thoughts.

But if it meant so little, why had he woken up in a cold sweat? Why had he been panting, his heart racing? Why had he felt so desolate and lost?

He read somewhere, a few years ago, that it was impossible to dream a face he’d never seen.

So, who was this woman? This woman with the familiar voice, tinkling just beyond his recognition, and the face he never seemed to see clearly?

He took a step, almost tripping over the bag right in front of him.

Oh, right. What was that?

He reached down, snatching the note from the bag, reading it with an increasingly incredulous look.

She- She had actually made him food?

Come to think of it, he was hungry, he could feel the gnawing in his stomach as it rattled on cue.

Well, he might as well see if she was a good cook, right?

“What a weird girl.” He mumbled, opening the door to his apartment. She acted so small around him, like she was trying to disappear. But he had seen her with Mitsu, watching them chatter, and her giggling and full of life.

He wanted to make her look like that-

Wait, where had that come from? He had only known her for a few weeks.

Sojiro did not love easily, really, he didn’t like easily either. He was aloof, always joking but mostly alone.

That was how he preferred it.

He set the bag down on his counter, opening a container.

He gripped the counter with his free hand, startled at the sudden feeling that had bubbled up inside of him.

Had he-

Had he done this before? Lived this same moment once before?

The smell of the soup was overpoweringly familiar, conjuring images of afternoon Kendo practice, the feeling of him reaching for his inhaler when he was sick, and the soft brush of a woman’s fingertips, her voice echoing on in his memories.

“What the fuck.”

“A place Okita would go by himself-“

I walk through the streets, glancing into shops, my anxiety increasing with every step.

Okita hadn’t come by Shiki in a few days.

He hadn’t come, I found out from Yamazaki, because he was sick.

Now he was missing. It was just like him to wander off when he was sick.

A gust of wind caresses my cheek and it hits me.

I know where he is!

I run as fast as my legs can carry me, ignoring the ache in my lungs.

When I get to the cherry blossom tree the wind picks up and for a moment I’m blinded by the falling petals. My stomach lurches as I watch them flutter to the ground like pink flecks of snow.

Before this moment, the blossoms had been strong enough to take on the wind.

Before this moment-

I see him, just on the other side of the tree. He smiles softly, and I see him mouth something.

What- What is he saying?

I reach for him but in that moment, he is those cherry blossoms, flittering to the ground, falling at my feet.

And I’m alone.

I groaned, the pounding sound jolting me awake.

Dammit, it was already time to wake up?

I stretched my body, wincing as I listened to the pop and crack that followed.

Another night, passed in fitful tossing and turning.

The dreams were getting worse, not in their frequency but in their vividness. I had felt the wind, smelled the damp earth under my feet.

It was like being there.

The sound continued, and finally, it hit me.

That wasn’t my alarm.

I glanced at the clock.

I slid out of bed, tugging a sweatshirt on on-top of my pajamas. Quickly shuffling to the door, I yanked it open.

There in front of me, Okita- No Sojiro, his eyes blazing.

“Its 5 am, why are you here?” I mumbled, doing my best to chastise him, it fell flat between us as he thrust a bowl at me.

“Eat”

“Huh?”

“Shouldn’t you eat the food you make?” He began again. I stared at him for a long moment.

“Why don’t you…come inside?” I finally decide, holding the door open for him.

He walked in, clad in a similar jumpsuit to the one I saw him in the other morning. The scent of wood and wind was clinging to him and the color was still high in his cheeks.

“Did- ah, um. Did you just get back from a run?”

“Mmm” He didn’t respond, choosing instead to continue to shove porridge into his mouth. I sat across from him, idly spooning at the food he brought me.

What’s it called when someone brings you back food you brought them?

“It’s a bit early to be getting back from a run, don’t you think?” I tried again, tamping down my desires in favor of small talk. “I couldn’t sleep” he admitted, lowering the empty bowl. “When I can’t sleep I go running.”

“Running?” Okita would always spar. Tiring himself out, until he finally succumbed to exhaustion.

“it’s literally running from my problems. I know.” Sojiro ran a hand through his soft, brown hair as he shrugged. “It is what it is.”

I couldn’t help the snicker that left my mouth at his words, although it sparked my concerns. His eyes glinted in the early light of the morning, and I knew he was watching me.

That same gaze.

If I had to guess what he was thinking, it would probably be how he could get me to make that expression again.

“How frequently can you not sleep?” I tapped his empty bowl with a spoon. “I know running is good for you, I’m not so sure about this.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, you were out running last night too, right?” He shot me a surprised look, just a second, before his face returned to its unruffled appearance.

“How’d you know?”

“Well, you just told me.” I tsked softly, taking the bowl from him.

“Clever.” He murmured, almost under his breath.

“Want some coffee?”

“Mmm: Sounds good.”

“D’ya want to help me cook?” She’s smiling, he knows it, that beautiful, silly grin of hers, like she doesn’t have a care in the world.

He loves her smile, hates it when she cries.

He never wants to see her cry.

He can’t see her face, but he can hear her smile, in her voice, in the way that she rocks on her heels, her hair bobbing and flying out of place.

He steps over to her, pressing his chest to her back, arms falling loosely by her waist.

“Does this count as helping?” He presses a kiss to her temple. Her body is so warm, and he can’t help but draw her closer.

“N-No!” She protests half-heartedly, a giggle falling from her mouth.

“What about moral support?” His voice is husky now, and her blush is addictive.

He wants to make her blush more.

He wants to see her face

He wants-

“Sojiro?” a firm voice startles him. What?

Where had he been just now? Sojiro blinked, shaking the fading thoughts from his mind. In front of him, his coworker stood, placing a cup of coffee on the table

“Oh, thanks.” He took it, taking a long sip, the hot liquid jolting new life into him.

“Did I lose you for a second?” she resumed her stance away from him, arm’s length. Like she was trying to keep him away.

Sojiro was rarely wrong about these things.

“Maybe.” He confessed, draining the cup of coffee quickly. “I’ve been having nightmares.” It slipped from his lips without thought, regret following.

“O-Oh.” Her eyes widen, just for a moment, and her body tensed. His eyes don’t leave her face, reminded of the circles under her eyes, stark in the fresh light of morning.

She looks tired.

Maybe she’s been having nightmares too.

“That sucks.” Finally, she responded, looking away.

“It does.” Everything about this conversation seems trivial, Sojiro realized with a frustrating quickness. Like there is something missing, an elephant in the room. “Why’d you make me all this food?”

“Mmmph” Her eyes widen, and she coughs mid-sip, a choked sound leaving her mouth, the coffee cup slipped from her hands, hitting the ground with a clatter.

“Shit!” He cursed, at her side in an instant, his hand on her back, soothing her as she coughed. “Just breath, slowly.” He coached, talking to her till her coughing subsided.

“J-Jeez” She wheezed, teary-eyed. “You almost killed me Sojiro-san!” She swatted at him, landing a hit on his shoulder.

She was close enough to him that he caught the scent that seemed to follow her around.

So familiar.

“My bad.” He stepped back from her, a sudden familiarity making him anxious. “Now that you don’t have any liquid in your mouth, why’d you do all that?”

Her reaction was almost comically over the top. Whatever she was trying to hide, she was not doing a good job.

“Why did I do it?”

Man he wasn’t going to give up was he?

” Because I felt like it.” I settled on, shrugging my shoulders.

“Because you felt like it.” He repeated back to me. “Yeah, that’s it.”

“When I said you could make me breakfast I wasn’t being serious.”

“Oh, but you ate it, didn’t you?” I crossed my arms, shooting him a look. “Like I said, eating breakfast is important.”

“I see your point. “ he conceded. “Especially after a run.”

“That is still pretty extreme, running that much.” I mumbled, looking down at the ground.

“The other teachers are going to be impressed by my bento skills.” He grinned, changing the topic easily. “Maybe I can mix something spicy into the rice and give some to the school nurse.”

‘He hates spicy things!” What a troublemaker! All I could think about was Yamazaki’s stricken look every time Okita succeeded in a prank.

This was no better.

He smiled at my outburst, nodding enthusiastically.

“It would be a great prank, I have to do it.”

“No, no that is mischievous, it isn’t something you should do at work!”

“When else am I supposed to do it?”

“I dunno, go, go to one of the work socials, they go out every week, do it there.”

“Oh, so you’re going to escort me to a work social?”

“W-What?”

“Well I am new, after all, so it would make sense.” ”I don’t go to them” I hurriedly explained. “Ask Mitsu, or the nurse, or-“

“Well then, we can both go, and it won’t be so awkward, right?” His smile and those eyes, ugh. I knew I was going to cave.

“Fujiwara-san… “

“Sojiro.” He corrected, heading towards the door.

“What if I say no?”

“But you won’t say no, will you?”

He was right. I wouldn’t say no, even if I needed to.

#okita soji #destined to love #ikemen samurai romances #cybird #reincarnation #julie writes #multichapter fic #mentions of death #exposition for ever

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anondt-blog · 6 years

Text

tag game

thanks to @squishyethan for the tag, it feels nice knowing that someone is thinking of a small lil blog such as ourselves :,) nicknames: A: Athena V: Venus

gender: A: female… I wanna make this funny somehow but just yeah V: Female

star sign: A: cancer… 69 gang V: virgo crew all the way

height: A: 5′0 V: 5′2 ;)

time: A: it’s funny bc y'all will see the different times we did this hahah, currently 2:12 pm V: 3:47

birthday: A: july 13th yeee V: September 20th

fav bands: A: LANY, silversun pickups, the drums, crystal castles, rhcp, incubus… the list goes on yo V: Gorillaz, Brockhampton, Summer Salt, LANY, Tame Impala

fav solo artists: A: this is such a fucked question bc theres frank ocean, lana, the weeknd… as of rn i’ll roll w the weeknd lol V: The Weeknd, Kid Cudi, Toro y Moi, and Daniel Ceasar

song stuck in my head: A: brockhampton - sweet V: I’m always in the mood to listen to Brockhampton - Face last movie i watched: A: I think it was lady bird w V? such a good movie guys 10/10 would recommend V: Coco, EVERYONE GO WATCH IT RN IT'S SO GOOD I CRY EVERYTIME

last show i watched: A: the challenge vs stars on mtv… lol

V: Seinfeld lol, one of my fav shows (im an old lady on the inside idc)

when did i create this blog: A: we’re like… a few weeks old? close to a month

V: what she said

last thing i googled: A: oh god… it’s fredericks lingerie AHHAHA V: Apple volume meme LMAO u can see the difference right there lol

do i have any other blogs: A: I love secrets dont you… lol

V: ye but its for all my marvel, dc geek stuff do i get asks: A: here and there! I love talking to people so feel free to slide in…

V: WE LOVE EVERYONE SO HEY

why i chose my url: A: MORE SECRETS AHAHA V: Because we wanted to be anonymous but hey here we are lol following: 72

followers: 45 (and we LOVE you guys)

average hours of sleep: A: every morning I wake up w a text from my mom saying “do you ever sleep?” hahah but I mean… AVERAGE at least 6-7 hours V: 5-6 hours honestly which I regret every morning

lucky number: A: 13

instruments: A: oh god I wish, I wanna learn the keyboard soon then pick up some string instruments… I feel like a vegetable V: Bass im learning and I can slightly play the drums

what am i wearing: A: HAHAHA oh shit still in my pjs… a black shirt that says “good vibes” and some j crew pj pants V: Yellow sweater and dark blue jeans

dream job: A: I would love if I was a genius of some sort and my brain just collected ideas and I was some boss ass CEO but… i’m gunna go w a mid wife or something in a medical field V: I have so many, I wanted to be an air force pilot, then a marine biologist , but now its film because thats me all the way bb

dream trip: A: there’s literally a list for me, like hawaii, iceland, norway, amsterdam… but something I find myself thinking about constantly is the pyramids in egypt, and zion utah V: Svalbard, Norway. I want to see the Northern Lights so bad

fav food: A: garlic bread… bread V: sandwiches; dude why did I have to think about this lol. I like to call myself 625 sometimes (if you get that reference you’re tight)

nationality: A: scottish and mexican… weird I know V: what she said. fav song rn: A: psychotic opera - small leaks sink ships, OR roses thorn - TOKiMONSTA V: Brockhampton - GOLD OKAY SICK WE TAG: @fiftyshadesofhissingdolans @grizzlygrayson @monochromedolan @peachyethan @jiminycricky @navylukes @rockstardolan @lovin-the-dolans @profanitydolan @majesticdolans sorry if you’ve been tagged already or just dont wanna do it or YEAH, you guys are sick :)))

#dolan twins #a & v

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nightbts · 7 years

Text

our little family | pjm | 04

pairing: father! jimin + teacher! reader

genre: fluff, angst + parent! au

word count: 4.7k

parts: 1 : 2 : 3 : 4 : 5 : 6 : + (bonus)

you were living a simple life filled with simple dreams; combining your two most loved things in life, children and teaching, you were starting out your career as a teacher at the local pre-school. but little did you know, how one child and her very special father, would change your simple life into something extraordinary

Readjusting your hat on your head, you rested a hand on your hip before wiping away the sweat that trickled down the side of your face. Who would've known that the day you had planned a field trip for the kids was the day of the record highest temperature your city had seen in the last decade.

Clearly, you didn't, because here you were with twenty sweaty, hungry and excited children all screaming and attacking you at once.

"Ms.L/N! Ms.L/N?! MS.L/N~" the children yelled, snapping you out of your trance, the heat making your head spin.

Looking down at the two children tugging at your skirt, they pointed towards the playground nearby and begged, "Can we all go play at the playground over there Ms.L/N? Please~" as they continued to put on their puppy faces, knowing well enough how irresistible they were to you.

Sighing, you nodded and immediately after, the rest of the children followed the two, running towards the playground and attacking the swings, slides, and see-saws with all their might.

"Be careful! And don't fight—Minjae! Get off Eunhae!" you yelled in exasperation, picking up your bag and trudging your way to the playground ahead. Finding a spot in the shade, under a big tree, you set down your stuff on the bench beside it.

Taking a walk around, you made sure all your kids were playing together, none of them hurting one another or themselves, at the least.

After you finished breaking up a fight over the sandbox, got a screaming kid off the monkey bars who was too afraid to let go and trying your hardest to calm down a crying child who accidentally stepped on an ant and killed it, you went to sit under a large oak tree, wanting to be away from the blinding sun.

Why are children so difficult to handle? you helplessly thought to yourself as you momentarily laid back against the tree trunk, your eyes fluttering close.

Just then you felt something wet stain your arm.

As you peeked your eyes open, you looked up to see a crow sitting on a branch as it blinked at you, making you slowly look down to your right arm.

"You did not." you gasped in horror as you looked back up at the crow and down at the large pool of shit it left on your arm.

After blinking at you for a bit, almost mockingly, it flew away making you mutter a couple words you knew you shouldn't have said with all these children around.

As you made your way to the bench where all your stuff were, you pulled out your water bottle and washed the sticky mess from your arm. Casually looking around the playground, you started to make a mental count of all your kids, when suddenly you felt your heart stop.

It was as if it all happened in slow motion.

Jieun and Miran, her best friend you had noted, were playing with a bright yellow ball that matched the color of Jieun's dress that day. But when Miran threw the ball just a little bit too far, you noticed it started to roll onto the road.

With Jieun following it.

You immediately dropped your bottle and started to make your way to her, "Jieun! Don't cross the road!" you yelled, but the little girl didn't seem to hear you.

Just then you heard the faint noise of a low rumble coming down from the right side of the street, your eyes flickering over when you saw a car quickly approaching where Jieun was crossing the road. Your eyes widened, a scream caught in your throat as you saw the car approach Jieun as she ran onto the street, looking only at the yellow ball, completely unaware.

"J-JIEUN!" You screamed, your jog quickly turning into a sprint. Jieun turned to look at you, her eyes wide in confusion before she saw the car approaching her. You screamed at her to run but she stood there frozen in fear. Running faster, you saw the car was only several yards away, the driver not even paying attention as he drove on, looking down at his phone. Crossing the pavement, you almost tripped on your feet as your hands reached out towards Jieun, an agonizing scream leaving her mouth as you engulfed her in your arms, tucking her body into your chest.

Suddenly you felt a sudden hit to your side, a gasp slipping past your lips as the force threw you a couple feet away, feeling your back hit the grass.

As you blinked furiously, trying to stay awake, you groaned in pain as your vision started to fail you. You started to hear a heavy ringing in your ear and before you knew it, you were out.

You bit down on your lip harshly, trying to hold in the sobs, as tears streamed down your pale face. As you sat in front of the emergency room, anxiously waiting for the doctor, you suddenly heard a pair of loud footsteps running towards your direction.

Looking up, your eyes met a distressed figure when your blurred vision cleared to see Jimin panting heavily, looking around when his gaze fell upon you.

Standing up from your seat, your hand clutching your rib as you winced in pain, you looked at Jieun's father apologetically and began to move towards him when you saw his gaze harden, his eyes turning black as coal.

"What happened to my daughter?!" he growled, your eyes widening in shock as Jimin trudged towards you, each step he took making you cower back in fear, unable to believe the man before you was the Jimin you saw just that morning.

“Well looks like you’re going to have a rough time today aren’t you?” a voice said behind you as you were marking attendance. Turning around, you let out an exaggerated sigh, shaking your head, “I don’t think I’m ready for this.”

Jimin laughed lightly before he rubbed your shoulder comfortingly, the touch sending sparks down your back.

“You’ll do great, don’t worry.” he smiled brightly at you, his optimism rubbing on you as you immediately gleamed in response, your confidence rising.

“Oh and Jieun, here’s your lunchbox sweetie.” he said as he handed it to her when you noticed that he had another one in his hand, your eyebrows raising in suspicion.

Noticing the look on your face, Jimin chuckled, “This— “ he said before handing the extra lunchbox to you, “—is for you.’ he finished.

Your lips parted in surprise as you felt your heart warm at the sweet gesture. You wanted to thank him, but you suddenly couldn’t find the right words, leaving you standing there gaping at him like a fish.

Jimin laughed at you, before he crouched down to Jieun’s eyelevel and said happily, ” Have fun Jieunnie!” as he patted his little girl’s head, who was holding your hand in hers tightly. Looking up at you, Jimin’s smile widened before he said, “You too, Ms.L/N.”

Finally managing to get yourself together, you flushed deeply before you replied softly, as you stared into his brown orbs that had you mesmerized, “I will.”

“Jimin! I–It was an accident—" you started to falter before you flinched as he yelled harshly at you, "Why on earth is she hurt?! What where you doi—Aren't you supposed to take care of her?!" as he grabbed your arm making you gasp, his fingers clenching tightly around the wound that ran down your arm, a small cry slipping past your lips.

His eyebrows furrowed as his gaze flickered over to your arm to where you hissed in pain, his hold pressing against the broken skin, as blood smeared his fingers. His eyes widened in alarm as he released his fingers from your hand immediately. Pulling your hand to yourself, you rubbed the area gently when you noticed his gaze soften at you, his eyes fluttering close before letting out a soft sigh.

"I'm sorry, That was inappropriate of m—" Jimin exasperated moving towards you when suddenly the door beside you opened, the both of you looking up as the doctor stepped out from the room.

Jimin immediately lurched towards him, almost stumbling on his own feet as he gasped, "My daughter, is she okay? What happened to her? Please, tell me she's alrigh—"

"Are you the girl's legal guardian?" the doctor asked firmly as Jimin let out a groan in frustration, "Yes! Now please, is my daughter alright?!"

Taking his glasses off, the doctor nodded said, "She's fine but she's resting right now. Thankfully, she seems to have only broken a bone in her right arm, with no other serious injuries to be recorded of. "

Jimin let out a sigh of relief, his shoulders slumping as he repeated relentlessly, "Thank you so much Doctor, thank you–"

"If there's anyone you need to thank, it's this young lady right here. If it wasn't for her, your daughter would've definitely been in a worse condition." The doctor replied grimly to Jimin, as Jimin's lips parted in surprise, his eyes darting towards you as you immediately looked down to the floor.

"Miss, the nurse will be out soon to do more testing." the doctor said as he nodded his head to both you and Jimin before walking back into his office.

"Ms. L/N..." Jimin sighed as he looked towards you, "I-I'm so sorry, I acted very inappropriately. It's just...she's my everything and I was so scared I was going to lose her, but that's no excuse for the way I acted. I'm so sorry and thank you so much for saving my daughter." Jimin finished, his every word dripping with sincereness.

You shook your head, your gaze falling to the floor, "It's still my fault, I-I should've been more careful, to begin with, and—"

Stopping mid-sentence, your lips parted as you saw Jimin's fingers reach out to your hand, as they enveloped yours, the both of your fingers fitting almost perfectly together it made your heart palpitate in your chest, your eyes blinking at him as he gave you a small smile.

"Thank you." he whispered, giving your hand a gentle squeeze, "I don't think I know anyone who would've done what you did for Jieun today, so thank you."

You felt your face flush as you gave him a small smile and said, "It's alright, It’s nothing really—"

"Miss L/N?" a nurse called, motioning you towards the check-up room.

"You should go. If anyone's hurt, then it's you." Jimin said firmly.

As you nodded, you turned around to follow the nurse who was waiting patiently for you at the door when suddenly you felt something change within you making you look back at Jimin.

"Oh and Jimin?"

"Yes?"

"Call me Y/N."

Jimin's lips tilted into a soft smile as your name left his mouth in a way that made you wonder since when your own name had sounded like music.

"Y/N it is."

"Coming!" you yelled, as you painfully made your way down the stairs, holding your ribs with each step as it made you slightly ache.

It had been at most a week since the accident, all the teachers and even your supervisor letting you know it was okay to take a break and that after what happened, you really needed it. Gratefully you did, as you spent the passing days going to your physiotherapy appointments, binge-watching all the seasons of The Office and eating anything you absolutely felt like.

As the door rang for the third time, it made you wonder who'd be at your door at such an awkward time, a dreary three in the afternoon on a rainy Friday. Brushing your messy hair behind your ears, you opened the door slowly, your eyes peeking through the crack when the sight made your eyes go wide with surprise.

"J-Jimin?" you asked in disbelief as your gaze fell to his right, making you laugh in amazement, "Jieun?!"

There in front of you stood Jimin and his daughter, as he gave you a kind smile that reached all the way to his eyes. You quickly happened to notice how well he was looking that day; wearing a pair of black pants and a loose white shirt that fitted against his body so well it had you instantly blushing all over.

"Surprise!!!" the little girl said, diverting your attention that immediately had you feeling guilty as Jieun pulled out a bouquet of flowers from her back, shoving it towards your direction.

Your lips parted in wonder, as you took the flowers from her and gave it a quick smell. Grinning widely at her, you exclaimed, "Oh—! Thank you so much Jieun! But what are you guys doing here?" you asked incredulously, your gaze falling back to Jimin.

Giving you a sheepish smile, Jimin rubbed the back of his neck before saying, "You see, Jieun and I felt bad about the whole situation so I might have asked Jackson where you lived. Anyways we thought we'd give you a visit to see how you were doing."

"You and Jieun felt that?" you asked knowingly as Jimin grinned cheekily, flushing deeply at getting caught, "Ok maybe it was just me, but really, I feel terrible about everything."

"Now you know how I felt don't you?" you remarked, referencing the club incident.

Jimin nodded knowingly before you gasped, a realization hitting you, shaking your head, "Oh! I'm so sorry! Come on in, I can't believe I've been making you wait outside."

As the two of them stepped in, you carefully took Jieun's jacket and hung it on the coat rack behind the door, Jimin hanging his upright beside hers. Turning back around to face the two, you offered, "Do you guys want any water or anything to eat?" as Jimin quickly shook his head although Jieun in contrast, nodded happily.

"Actually I was wondering if I could use your bathroom real quick..." Jimin asked, his face flushing with embarrassment.

"No.," you deadpanned. you held his gaze for a full three seconds before your lips twitched. Jimin's eyebrows quirked up in surprise before realization hit him, a sweet, honey-like chuckle escaping his lips.

"Very funny," he remarked as you started to giggle, pointing your finger towards the bathroom door.

"It's over there," you motioned as Jimin mumbled a quick thanks before leaving you and Jieun alone in the living room.

Crouching down in front of Jieun, somewhat painfully, she looked at you with her big round eyes that you came to endear greatly. Your eyes slowly raked over her body as you noticed the small white cast on her arm, a bunch of scribbles and names written on it, with one in particular in bright pink and bold letters that had your heart melting.

"Daddy loves you," you mumbled under your breath, bringing a small smile to your face.

"Do you want to sign it too Ms. L/N?" Jieun chirped as you nodded quickly, grabbing a marker from the kitchen counter.

"Get better Jieunnie!" you signed with a big red heart at the end, making Jieun giggle.

"Jieunnie?" she giggled, as you laughed in response, cutely pinching her cheeks as you bopped her nose with your finger, "Yes, Jieunnie!"

"Only daddy calls me that!!" she laughed as her nose scrunched together, making you tickle her sides gently, finding yourself in amazement at how cute the little girl was.

"Well, now your daddy and I are both going to call you that!" you laughed as she squealed in your arms, her body contorting around as you continued to tickle her slowly, still aware of her arm.

"Hey hey, don't have too much fun without me now!" a voice called as you turned around to see Jimin, mocking a hurt expression on his face.

"Daddy, look! Ms. L/N signed my arm!!" Jieun exclaimed as she rushed to her dad, waving her arm in his face.

"Jieunnie?" he said slowly, his eyes meeting yours briefly as you blushed, "I just thought it was a cute nickname. She did tell me only you called her that so I won't if—"

"No! No, I mean, that's fine. That's totally fine." he said immediately, his lips widening into a big smile, making you sigh in relief, your face quick to mirror his.

"Daddy, I'm hungry," Jieun suddenly piped, her lips forming a pout as she gazed up at her dad with her puppy dog eyes that always made Jimin go weak.

Chuckling nervously, he scratched his neck awkwardly, "Jieun, we just had lunch didn't we—?"

"Daddy!!! I want cookies!!" She whined making you laugh, as you stood up slowly, trying not to show the pain on your face that came with the action.

"Come with me Jieun, I have chocolate cookies that I baked the other day."

"Yay!!!" she squealed as she grabbed your hand, her two feet bouncing on the ground in excitement at the sound of her favorite snack.

"Thanks," Jimin said giving you a sheepish smile as you waved your hand, "It's nothing. Would you like some too? I think they're pretty good."

At that Jimin raised his eyebrows and said," You sure? You said that about your driving too and from what I saw—"

"Okay, okay Jieun lets go. Looks like your dad doesn’t want any cookies today.” you teased as you took Jieun to your kitchen, Jimin chuckling softly as he followed the both of you.

Quickly hiding in your small closet, you backed up against the wall as much as you could, a number of things in the tight space making it hard to do so.

Just five minutes ago, as you, Jimin and Jieun were sitting down at your table eating your chocolate chip cookies, Jieun suddenly got up from her seat and announced, "Let's play hide and seek!"

Both you and Jimin looked at each other in surprise when Jieun immediately shut her eyes close and started to count from 20, making the both of you jump out of your seats as you quickly ran around the house, trying to find a hiding spot.

Just then you heard a voice complain outside as they muttered to themselves, "There's literally nowhere to hide..."

Chuckling to yourself, you realized Jimin was just outside of your closet. You were about to tell him to hide in your bathroom but just then you heard Jieun slowly start to reach the end of her count, her loud voice counting down faster than you'd ever seen any kid count before.

Without thinking it through, you quickly opened the door and tugged Jimin's sleeve, a yelp escaping his mouth as you pulled him into the closet.

A decision you were quick to regret.

Forgetting for that second that your closet was possibly the tiniest thing ever, you immediately felt yourself being pressed against Jimin's chest, your hands grabbing his shirt in attempts to balance yourself, making you blink furiously in the dark as you could start to slightly make out his outline.

"Hello?" you squeaked as Jimin let out a surprised laugh.

"Hello to you too. Although, you wanna explain to me why I'm suddenly in here with you?" he said jokingly, making the blush on your cheeks deepen as you hastily removed your hands from his shirt, not before smoothing away the fabric.

"You see, the thing is Jieun was only five seconds away from reaching the end of her count and I realized that you hadn't found your hiding spot yet so I grabbed you without actually realizing how small this space is and—" you quietly sputtered in a rush when Jimin chuckled at your frenzied state, making you go still when he suddenly placed his finger against your lips.

"If you ramble that much, Jieun's going to find us quicker than her counting, which you've probably noticed is fast, alright?" making you nod immediately as he grinned, removing his finger from your lips.

Even though you could barely see him in the darkness, you could still make out his facial features as you found yourself staring at him, especially his dark brown eyes that were staring intently at you. You didn't know why the man before you had such an effect on you. Why you felt like your heart was racing so fast that you were afraid it would combust in your chest. Why the way his slow breathing made you feel calmer than ever, almost like the sound of soft ocean waves. And why the way he looked at you managed to steal your breath in the most amazing way poss—

"Y/N?" he asked suddenly, his voice turning low and husky, making shivers run down your spine.

"Y-yea?" you stammered, as your voice fell into a whisper when he smirked at you.

"Is there something on my face? Cause you're staring."

Gaping, your eyes widened as you quickly looked at the floor, "I-I...No! There's nothing! I mea—"

Breaking out into a silent fit of laughter, you looked back up at him in bewilderment as he continued to laugh at the expression that endowed your face.

"W-wha—?"

"I'm just messing with you." he grinned cheekily as you scoffed, pushing his chest slightly, although the lack of balance made you falter backward. Before Jimin could grab your arm from falling backward, something hard hit the back of your head making you wince in pain as you groaned softly, "Ouch..that hurt."

Immediately the playful smirk on Jimin's face disappeared into a frown as his expression quickly turned worried, his eyes glancing at you as he asked in concern, "Hey, what's wrong?"

You chuckled weakly as you gently rubbed the sore spot on the back of your head, half-joking, "I'm pretty sure I hit the back of my head against the clutter of a mess I have in this closest."

"Here let me see...," he murmured and within seconds he was pressed against you even more, which you thought was impossible, as his hand gently held the back of your head. You didn't know how long you were holding your breath; as the seconds went by, you could feel yourself slowly become lightheaded as Jimin made no attempt at moving away.

As you could hear the steady beat of his heart in his chest, you hoped he couldn't hear the way yours was hammering intensely in your own and the way your breathing had started to turn shallow, your palms sweating against your side.

But just then, your eyes accidentally met Jimin's as you noticed his gaze slowly soften and that was when you had realized that the hand that was resting behind your head was now cupping your cheeks, as his fingers gently brushed against your cheekbone.

Your eyes widened in surprise as you felt your chest tighten when you saw Jimin's gaze flicker from your eyes down to your lips. You found yourself subconsciously tilting your face towards him, the subtlest of movements. You could here his wavering breath as he slowly started to lean in towards you.

The playful atmosphere quickly turned tense, as you could feel his breathing slowly turn ragged, the hot air fanning against your face as the distance between the two of your lips began to disappear. His forehead laid against yours as you felt his nose brush against yours softly, making your eyes flutter close as your fists tightened against your sides.

Suddenly, you felt his grip on you loosen as you could sense him move away from you slightly, making you open your eyes in dread, you witnessed a look flash across Jimin's eyes.

Was it hesitation or was it regret? You didn't know but the second you saw him slowly pull away, you moved away from his grasp, immediately averting his gaze.

Noticing the ghastly look on your face, Jimin's eyes widened in alarm as he started, his voice raspy, "Wait, Y/N—"

"I found you!" a high-pitched giggle interrupted when suddenly the bright light from outside hit the both of you, the doors to your closet flung open.

You scrambled to get out of the tight space as you plastered on a fake smile, exclaiming, "Hey look at that Jieunnie! You did!!"

Jumping up and down in excitement, Jieun exclaimed, "It's your turn to count now Ms. L/N!! Come on daddy, we need to hide!"

With that, Jieun left the room skipping as a pregnant silence fell over you and Jimin, the atmosphere quickly returning back to its once tense state. Feeling his fingers wrap around your wrist, you looked back at him although not meeting his eye as he looked at you regretfully, his eyes wavering as he stammered, "Y/N, I-I'm sorry, just let me explain—"

"It's okay Jimin. It's fine," you said stiffly before removing his hand from your wrist. Although he started to stammer again, the words at the tip of his tongue, you quickly left the room, just wanting to be away as you could feel a certain wetness wash over your flushed cheeks.

As Jimin buckled in Jieun into her car seat, she began to whine, "Why are we leaving already?! I wanna stay with Ms. L/N longer!!!"

"We need to go home, Jieun. It's time for your nap." Jimin said firmly, closing the back door of the car, muting Jieun's whines for a split second.

As he settled into the driver's seat, turning on the car engine, he saw Jieun wave wildly to someone in the rearview mirror. He looked out his window to see you standing in front of your front door, waving to Jieun with a smile on your face that had his heart fluttering in his chest, a feeling he often felt whenever with you before he found your gaze fall upon him.

The moment he saw a flicker of pain flash across your face, he quickly looked away as his fingers gripped the steering wheel, his jaw clenching as he let out a shaky breath.

"Bye Ms.L/N!!!" Jieun giggled as she continued to wave at you, making Jimin start to pull out in reverse from the driveway, as he slowly drove away from your apartment.

He was waiting in the middle of traffic when he heard soft snores coming from the backseat, making him turn around to see Jieun peacefully asleep. His gaze softened at her as he grabbed his jacket from the seat next to him and placed it on top of her, watching as she immediately snuggled into the warmth it gave her.

Turning back around to face the front, he laid his head against the headrest, his eyes fluttering close as the memory of the way your face dropped when he had pulled away from you had played out in his head.

"Damn it, Jimin..." he muttered, every ounce of his body filled with immense regret.

Of course, he had wanted to kiss you. He'd been wanting to feel the way your lips would taste against his since the day he met you, since the time you were in his arms when he caught you from falling and you had looked at him in a way that had him feeling something he never truly felt before. He'd always liked you, but recently he started feeling different, more serious and it scared him.

He couldn't do that to you, not when you deserved so much more than him. He couldn't be a burden on you, especially since you were in your ripe mid-twenties: a time where you were supposed to have fun, be free and not be tied down to someone like him, a single father with a little girl.

But yet, he couldn't shake off the feelings he had for you.

And he didn't know what to do.

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