#and my cousins and i would play / swim every other week or so cuz it was always hot

[calpalirwin]

Painted Pink Room

A/N: @talkfastromance4​ mentioned that a part 2 to this would be cool and I had some ideas for it, so here we are.

Word Count: 2.3k

And away, and away we go!

__

It took a month for McKenna to finally sleep through the night in her own room, not that Calum and Luke minded in the slightest. Nap time was fine, but there was something about sleeping in the dark alone, even with the aid of a nightlight, that sent McKenna scurrying into bed with her dads every night.

So when Calum rolled over one morning and found empty space before his hand smacked into Luke’s arm, he shot awake. “Where’s Mack?!”

Luke mumbled angrily in his sleep. “Shh, Cal, I’m sleeping…”

“And Mack is missing!”

That got Luke’s attention, blue eyes snapping opening. He sat up straight, throwing back the covers. “What do you mean she’s missing?!”

“Do you see her in here?! Did she sleep in her own bed all night?”

“She better have otherwise she might be actually missing…”

Both men jumped out of bed and raced down the hall to McKenna’s room. And found her peacefully sleeping in her bed, Duke and Petunia curled up on the floor next to her. “How is she still asleep?” Luke asked in a whisper. 

Calum shrugged, checking the time on his phone before groaning. “Probably cuz it’s five in the fuckin’ morning…”

“You woke me up at five in the morning because Mack was asleep in her own bed?!”

“I panicked, okay?! She’s never spent the whole night in her room before, what was I supposed to think?!”

“Sssshhhhh!” Luke shushed, gesturing for them to leave the room. “You wanna wake her up, or go back to bed? I, for one, vote for going back to bed.”

Calum yawned, agreeing with Luke that more sleep was needed. “Hey, Lu?”

“Yeah?”

“She did it. Whole night in her own room,” he smiled in pride.

“Yeah,” Luke matched Calum’s grin for a second. “But I’m kinda gonna miss her elbow in my ribs.”

“Yeah. Me too…”

And as much as they missed the little body squeezed in next to them, they did enjoy the extra uninterrupted hours of sleep. They also enjoyed McKenna tiptoeing into the room with both dogs at her side to wake them up, asking for breakfast.

~~~

“Alright, little miss, how do we want our hair today?” Calum asked her after Luke helped her get dressed. “Up or down?” He swung her up and sat her down on the bathroom counter, spinning her around so they both faced the mirror.

“Up!”

“Ponytail, braid, or bun?”

“Tail!”

“Great choice!” Calum grinned before setting to work, taking in pride at how well he’d learn to do her hair over the past handful of weeks. “Did Daddy tell you what we’re doing today?”

“‘Ool?” she asked, cocking her head to the side and turning a little.

“Gotta sit still for me, darling.” He gently set her straight again. “But, yeah, you’re right. We’re gonna go swimming today. Do you know why?”

She thought about it for a second, her little face scrunching in the mirror.

“You know you scrunch your face just like Daddy when you’re thinking,” Calum noted.

“Like Daddy?” she asked, scrunching her face more.

“Just like him.”

“Eyes like Papa!”

“Yep, eyes just like mine,” Calum smiled at her. “Can you remember why Daddy said we’re swimming today?”

“No.”

“It’s because we’re meeting some friends today!”

“Fwends?!”

“Yeah! Uncle Ashton and Uncle Mikey are gonna come over, so you can meet them and your cousin Wyatt.”

“Wots of fwends!”

“A little bit, yeah. But they’re excited to meet you.”

“Me?!”

“Yes, you! So, what do you say? Wanna go swimming with your new friends today?”

“Yes!”

“That’s my girl! C’mon, let’s go find Daddy.”

~~~

There was a small downside to having told McKenna that friends would be coming over to swim. It was the fact that she had very little concept of how time worked. So any sound of a car driving past was met with an excited gasp of “Fwends?!” and Calum and Luke having to shake their heads and go, “No, Mack. It’s not time yet. We have to have lunch and a nap first.” A cycle of conversation that repeated on an endless loop even after lunch had been eaten and the nap had been taken.

“Seriously, where the fuck are they?” Luke asked in a low, aggravated tone.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Calum replied in a similar tone, huffing and pulling out his phone. Then he sighed in relief, flashing the message at Luke. “On their way. 5 minutes ago.”

“Which means they should pulling up any-”

“Fwends?!” McKenna interrupted as a car turned into the drive.

“That better fuckin’ be them,” Luke grumbled, marching for the door and pulling it open. “Hey, ya made it!” he hollered.

Ashton laughed as he slung a bag over his shoulder. “Sorry mate. Someone took forever to go down for a nap.”

“S’alright. Still got most of the afternoon. How long can these two swim for anyhow?” Calum pointed out, stepping onto the porch next to Luke with McKenna at his side. “Look, Mack, our friends are here! You wanna say hi?”

McKenna peered around Calum’s leg over at Ashton and Michael, her eyes wide. “Big wike you…” she whispered.

Calum laughed. “Yeah, Uncle Ashton and Uncle Mikey are big like me and Daddy. But look! Wyatt’s little like you.”

“Hey, McKenna,” Michael said, crouching down in front of her. “I’m Mike, and this is Wyatt. Wyatt, do you wanna say hi to McKenna?”

“Hi,” the little boy said, before glancing up at Michael, and whispering “Swimming now, Daddy?”

“You don’t wanna say hi to your uncles first?” Michael whispered back.

“Oh…” Wyatt turned his attention to Calum and Luke. “Hi.”

“Hey, bud,” Luke chuckled. “Mack, they said hi. Do you want to say hi back?”

“Hi…” she offered up shyly.

“How ‘bout we hit the pool, yeah?” Ashton asked, trying to steamroll through the shy hellos.

“Great idea!” Luke agreed. “C’mon, Mack, let’s go get your swimsuit on.”

“Otay!”

From there, conversation flowed much more fluidly as the four men leaned against the pool walls, chatting about work ideas while McKenna and Wyatt splashed about on the steps, engaging in their own imaginary play and toddler babble. “So how are you guys adjusting and everything?” Ashton asked once they’d worn down work ideas. 

“Fine I guess,” Luke said with a shrug.

“Yeah. She actually slept the whole night in her own bed last night,” Calum added. 

“Shit, that’s a huge step. Have you reached the tantrum stage yet?” Michael asked.

Calum and Luke looked at each other and shook their heads. “No,” answered Calum. “She gets whiny and pouts about things sometimes. But no major meltdowns so far.”

“But don’t jinx us,” Luke added with a laugh.

Just then there was a particularly loud splash and all of them turned as Wyatt came up sputtering, before letting out a scared wail. “Whoa!” Ashton rushed, stepping over and helping Wyatt back up on the step. “Deep breath. You’re okay. What happened? Did you slip?”

“She! Pushed! Me!” he continued to cry, pointing at McKenna who scowled at him.

Calum grabbed McKenna, pulling her away from Wyatt before setting her on the ledge in front of him. “Did you push Wyatt?”

She nodded.

Calum sighed. “Why?”

“He mean.”

“He was mean to you?”

“Uh-huh.” And to demonstrate, she dipped her hand in the water and splashed Calum in the face.

“Hey!” Calum said sternly, grabbing her hand. “We don’t splash people in the face. That’s not nice.”

“He did!”

“Oh…” Calum said in understanding. “He splashed you in the face so you pushed him?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay, but we don’t push people, darling. That’s not nice either. If you have a problem, you come get me or Daddy, okay?”

“Otay…”

“Okay. So what do we say when we’re mean to someone and hurt them?”

“Sowwy…”

“Don’t say sorry to me. Say sorry to Wyatt.”

“Sowwy ‘Ayatt…”

“It’s otay,” he sniffed.

Ashton and Calum set both kids back to play before making their way back over to Michael and Luke. “So what happened?”

“I think Wyatt accidentally splashed her in the face and she got pissed, so she shoved him,” Calum recapped.

“So we’re raising a vigilante? Cool,” Luke laughed. “Good to know.”

“Shut up, it’s not funny,” Calum scolded.

“Eh,” Michael shrugged. “In all fairness there’s a 50/50 shot that Wyatt splashed her on purpose.”

“That’s true,” Ashton nodded. “Tried to break the habit about a billion times, but hey, maybe he just needed to get shoved to make the lesson stick ya know? They’re kids. No one got hurt. That’s what matt- Wyatt James, don’t splash her.”

Wyatt’s hands were poised in the water, ready to splash at McKenna again. He giggled, not thinking Ashton was serious and gave McKenna a face full of water. On instinct, she shoved him off the step again.

“Dude, what did I just tell you?” Ashton groaned as he went over to get Wyatt.

“Alright, we’re done,” Calum said, following Ashton to collect McKenna. “That’s enough swimming for the day.”

“Good call,” Ashton nodded.

“Papa, no!” the toddlers shrieked as they got taken out of the water.

“Yeah, I bet you’ll listen next time then, huh?” Ashton asked.

“Papa!��� Wyatt continued to sob as Ashton wrapped him in a towel and sat with him in a chair. “I… wanna… swim!”

“Me too!” McKenna hiccuped.

“Maybe later. Right now we’re taking a break,” Calum told them both.

“Daddy!” McKenna cried.

“Oh, you’re mad at me so you want Daddy? Alright, see how far you get,” Calum chuckled, as Luke and Michael made their way over to the rest of the group.

“What’s up, sweetheart?” Luke asked, taking McKenna from Calum.

“Swim, pwease?”

“Nope. We’re all taking a break.”

She let out a loud cry, burying her head into Luke, who reached over to shove Michael. “I told you not to jinx us, ya cunt.”

Michael laughed, “Wait til she has a tantrum over something completely ridiculous.”

The men continued to talk, while whispering small assurances to the toddlers that “It’s alright. You’re fine,” until the hiccuped sobs turned to soft sniffles.

“You understand why Papa had you take a break?” Michael spoke softly to Wyatt. “We don’t splash people in the face.”

“Accident…”

“The first time, maybe it was. But the second time we all watched you. Papa even told you not to, and you did it anyway. That’s why McKenna pushed you, and that’s why we all had to take a break.”

“Oh… Sowwy…”

“Not to me. To McKenna for splashing her, and to Papa for not listening.”

“Sowwy Papa.”

“Thank you, bud,” Ashton smiled at his son. “I love you.”

“Wuv you. Sowwy, ‘Kenna.”

“It otay.”

“What else do you say, sweetheart?” Luke guided. “Papa already warned you about pushing people the first time, that’s why you had to take a break.”

“Sowwy ‘Ayatt.”

“It’s otay.”

“Daddy?” McKenna asked, tracing her fingers over Luke’s painted nails.

“What’s up, sweetheart?”

“Dis pwetty.”

Luke waggled his fingers. “They are pretty, huh?”

“Mhm. Mine wike dat?”

“Yeah, we can get your nails painted.”

“Me too?” Wyatt asked, perking up.

“If you want, bud, sure,” Michael nodded, before directing his attention to Calum and Luke, “You guys got nail polish? We can do it now.”

“Yeah, we got a whole bunch,” Calum answered. “I’ll go get the stuff. Lu, you wanna get her changed out of her swimsuit?”

“On it.”

Fifteen minutes later found the group hunkered down in the living room, nail polish bottles scattered on the coffee table while little fingernails were swiped with pretty colors. “Tada!” Luke cheered as he capped a bottle of bright red polish. “Look, your nails are just like mine, now.”

“Papa too!”

“Oh, I dunno. Does Papa wanna match with us?” Luke asked Calum, waving the bottle back and forth.

Calum looked at his nails, and shrugged. “Eh, fuck it. Go ahead.”

“You want the red, or do you want your usual black?”

“Red’s fine.”

“Alright, Mack, you wanna help me paint Papa’s fingers?”

“Yeah!”

“Careful not to smudge hers,” Calum warned lightly as he settled back, giving Luke one of his hands.

Carefully, Luke held his own fingers over McKenna’s on the brush to guide her as she painted Calum’s nails for him.

On the other side of the coffee table, Ashton was blowing on Wyatt’s fingers to help the glittery purple nail polish dry. “You know, Daddy used to have hair kinda like this.”

Wyatt looked over at Michael and laughed. “Daddy hair purple!”

“My hair was lilac, not purple,” Michael corrected as he swiped black nail polish across his own nails.

“Not the lilac. The…” Ashton snapped his fingers as he thought. “Fuck what was it? It was like purple, blue, and black all at once.”

“Galaxy. Yeah, that one was fun.”

“Probably my favorite hair color of yours honestly,” Calum told him.

“Yeah, you ever gonna dye your hair again, Mike?” Luke asked.

“Maybe when you finally decide to dye yours.”

“I did dye my hair!”

“You’re blonde, and you dyed your hair more blonde. Doesn’t count.”

“How does that not count?!”

“Cuz you gotta dye it another color.”

“It was another color!”

“No, it was a different shade. Not the same thing.”

Luke made sputtering sounds of disbelief. “Cal! C’mon, tell Mike it’s the same thing.”

Calum snorted. “I’m with Mike on this one. Dying your hair a different shade, isn’t the same as dying it a different color.”

“You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“Not if that side’s wrong, I’m not.”

“You’re an ass for 1. And for 2, your nails are done.”

“Very pwetty,” McKenna beamed, proud of her handiwork.

“Thank you very much, darling,” Calum said, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. “Now we all match. Me, you, and Daddy.”

__

Tag List

@aquarius-hood1996 @creator-appreciator @philthepegacorn @myfavfanficsever @cxddlyash @youngblood199456 @stormrider505 @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof @hoodhoran @metalandboybands @maybeememez @major5sosstan @1weekago​ @kaitieskidmore1​

#painted pink room #calum hood #calum hood fic #luke hemmings #luke hemmings fic #calum hood x luke hemmings #dad!cake #dad!sos #5sos #calpal irwin

[wisherbysharlight]

WHAT IF... SANDERS SIDES BUT MAKE IT A TROPEY TEEN BEACH AU

Endgame!LAMP. Dukeceit, Remile

Just 2k stream of consciousness words from a plunny that grew legs TW for v slight underage drinking, one joking mention of violence, and a non-specific discussion of intrusive thoughts

-Janus has just moved there because his parents wanted to start a new "adventure" and he is a Stereotypical Teenager. Very "ugh MOM I wanna go back to my FRIENDS for my LAST SUMMER BEFORE COLLEGE"(most of his friends suck. He should not spend time with them. He does not know this)

His Parents buy him a surfboard and tell him to try it out as a way to get him to Shut Up

Hes a Skater Boy(cue music) so he picks it up super fast from like,,, youtube videos

 -He gets told to Get a Job if he wants to like, keep buying surf gear?

All the local kids work at like one restaurant/yacht club type place right on the beach

Janus gets hired as a host

 -Logan is a beach badge checker, Patton, Roman, and Remus are beachfront restaurant waiters but Roman just Really Wants To Surf, Emile and Virgil are Lifeguards, and Remy is a bartender

 -Janus is Very Good At Customer Service because Fake Smiles

Patton recognizes this Immediately

He shows him the Rage Closet which is a tiny room with an arm chair that locks from the inside where you can punch a pillow on your break when it gets to be Too Much

-Janus is Attached now and there is no getting rid of him

Patton Fully Endorses this and introduces him to the rest of the group

Janus Knows Immediately that LAMP is In Love but says nothing because he aint no snitch

-Remus surfs, but he also always wear a thong while doing it

Roman wears a full wetsuit and somehow still gets Board Rash. Remus is somehow immune and it infuriates him

 -Janus, not knowing that the twins live right on the beach cuz they are RichTM: Hey Ree I kinda wanna learn how to surf would you be able to teach me 

Remus, who religiously watches Janus surf every morning, but is absolutely willing to play this game: Yeah absolutely

Patton, later: “lets rinse off at the twins they’re right here” Janus: theyre.... What?!

 -Meanwhile, elsewhere, Virgil and Roman are double teaming Logan to drag him into the water with them cuz he’s pouting about losing a debate with their manager about how he didn’t really be mean to the dudebro who wanted to get his buddies onto the beach without paying, he was just enforcing the rules. And if the dude was so offended by Logan’s Very Accurate Dragging that he complained to management then, well, that’s his problem not Logan’s

 -Logan is never without a book. Ever. And its always a different book. Janus is starting to think he owns a library

One day he is just... reading a Physics textbook. Not taking notes or anything. Just reading. 

Roman is Very Very Alarmed by this because he is Gay and Math is Scary

"Roman I'm also gay that is not a determining factor"

"Yeah but you can't drive"

"...fair"

 -the first time janus has a shift with the twins, he cant stop staring, not just because hes like,,, super attracted to Remus but also because they are like Chaos Incarnate and yet somehow get the most tips??? He doesn't understand???

It's just cuz they are both Huge Flirts and Flatterers and the patrons dont care that they're not-so-subtly beating the shit out of each other right there on the dining floor because theyre just so charming

 -one of the bartenders gets aggressively snapped at by a customer and called "sweetheart" and before Janus can even begin to react Remy is there, sunglasses off, fire in his eyes, telling them to settle their bill and get the fuck out

Janus, used to City Restaurants- "Wont you get in trouble with the owner?!"

Remy, who knows Nothing Else But This- "What?? Not likely I only did it cuz Thomathy wasnt here to do it himself"

 -the restaurant is closed Monday and Tuesday so that is the Pseudo Weekend for the staff where everyone hangs out at the beach

Emile and Virgil take Tuesdays off but still work Monday’s cuz they feel better being the one watching over their friends

 -Roman, staring at Virgil on the lifeguard stand: ugh he’s so pretty I almost wish I was drowning just so he could give me cpr 

Janus: you wanna potentially get your ribs broken just for lip contact? 

Remy, staring at Emile on the lifeguard stand: listen, if that’s what it takes, I’ll take it

Remus, immediately going up to the lifeguard stand because he has 0 impulse control: hey my brother and cousin want you to break their ribs 

Virgil and Emile: excuse me?????

 -Patton will literally spend hours in the water. Logan physically drags him out to put sunscreen on him every two hours to the minute. Patton does not admit that he purposely "forgets" just so Logan will do so

Logan is Dark and has never used sunscreen ever but Patton is so pale and he just gets so concerned about him. Patton thinks its adorable

He has pages of research on proper spf determination.

Roman and Remus use spf 15 just on their faces and have never once burned in their lives

Logan wants to submit them for scientific study because that shouldnt be possible

Virgil calls Logan out on the fact that he also should be wearing sunscreen and Logan like... blue screens he cant believe in all his research he missed that

 -Patton is like... a ridiculously strong swimmer. Virgil still has a heart attack every time he goes for laps when there is the slightest hint of an undertow

Patton Knows This so he tries to stay in Virgil's sight line for the most part if there is an undertow. Or just dives over the waves again and again.

His nickname is Ariel. He thinks its just cuz of the swimming and the fact hes a red head. LAP all separately also tack on that its the swimming, the red hair, and the hnng pretty 10/10 would follow out to sea ala Prince Eric

 -first beach bonfire Janus goes to Remy is Fully In Emile's Lap like... half an hour in

he has had like maybe a sip of a beer

Remus says he still claims this is because he is a Clingy Drunk

no one will call him on it, least of all Emile

 -there is truth or dare. Roman may or may not skinny dip you have no proof

 -Logan gets infuriated that he cannot roast a marshmallow properly

Patton does it perfectly every single time but its ok cuz he shares and Logan eats it right from his fingers and Roman and Virgil are just in the background Trying and Failing not to be the Most Jealous

Patton thinks theyre upset they didn't get marshmallows and makes some for them too and there is lots of Significant Eye Contact involved

Janus is going to spontaneously combust if they don't get their shit together

 -Janus is out walking on the beach one night on a full moon cuz he cant sleep with everything so quiet around here when he sees a bright green patch out in the water and goes ...wait

he calls out to Remus and he comes into shore and is like "waves are perfect at night you should join me" so janus goes back and gets his board and they surf and chat for like the entire night

Janus finds out Remus couldn't sleep cuz intrusive thoughts were keeping him awake

Janus listens and doesn't judge, just lets Remus talk it out

They go back to shore and fall asleep on the sand next to each other like mid sentence still talking, now about whatever creative business idea Remus had, and get woken up by Logan's morning rounds like "come on guys you know you're not allowed to sleep out here" but they dont care theyre both just *blushing emoji*

-Logan Always Has A Notebook right? And a regular book he reads. And everyone assumes they are like Notions and Observations, but no, it’s actually blank paper and he uses it to sketch and then one day he leaves it behind and someone either Virgil or Patton finds it and flips through it and it’s all sketches of them and Roman and they’re like??? Actually really good? Anyway that’s how they find out Logan is actually minoring in art even though he’s majoring in something Very STEM 

And he never told his best friends because like almost all his pre college art is Them and he doesn’t want to be caught having Feelings and by the time it gets to college it’s been too long and he can’t tell them now 

Roman takes one of the sketches of him surfing and makes it his profile picture on All Social Media He Has and Logan is so flustered he nearly breaks his damn phone

Patton is so offended he didn’t get invited to Logan’s first showcase that he doesn’t talk to him for like two whole hours 

Virgil quietly asks if there is any art of all four of them, finds out there is, and makes a print and keeps it on his bedside table

 -They are all Pining Outwardly Now and its Worse

 -Remus : you have known them since pre-k please ask them out I beg of you 

Roman: You just dont get it 

Remus: I asked Janus out after 4 weeks what is your problem

 Emile: Virgil, I love you, you are my Partner in Anti-Drowning but you are so stupid 

Virgil: What???? All I said is that you and Remy are really cute and I'd love to be in a relationship like that 

Emile: I am not a violent person, Virgil, but I have the strong urge to smack you

 Patton, in the Rage Closet: They're all just so hOT and ReSPEctFUL 

Janus, waiting for his turn, trying to act like he cant hear him: I Am Looking Elsewhere

 Logan: I just don't understand why they were more upset that I didn't tell them than that I'd been making art of them for years?? Shouldn't that second part be worse??

Remy, who has been partial to Every Single One Of AMP Waxing Poetic About Logan: Yeah, no idea /s

 -the twins get into a surfing competition as a pair and everyone goes to see them and support them

Thomas airs the competition on every tv in the restaurant cuz he’s Proud of his Bois

They WIN cuz they are Creative and Talented and came up with all sorts of crazy tricks while they were fucking around in the water but it earns them Major Bonus Points for originality

 -Roman does the run off the podium and into Love’s arms trope with just like... whoever’s closest lets go Patton because he is a Waif and forced himself up front so he can see

The other two are Devastated because well shit but then Roman pushes through the crowd, still holding Patton’s hand, and gives them this smile and is like “remember in like second grade when we said we’d do everything together and made a pact on this beach”

Analogical: uhhhhhh yeah

Roman: holding you both to it. No take backs. This counts. Now kiss me, dammit, we WON and they DO MANY TIMES AND ITS REAL CUTE

 -Meanwhile dukeceit have Mysteriously Disappeared and No One wants to be the ones to go find them. They show back up, eventually. Janus has a branch in his hair and remus' hair is sticking straight up and when he opens his mouth roman glares at him and tells him in no uncertain terms that they do not want to know

 AnYWaY these are my children and I will gladly answer any questions about them. I left out Janus Backstory and Creativitwins Angst and Many Individual LAMP Scenes and Remile/Dukeceit getting together and Epilogue but can absolutely provide such things on request

#romantic lamp #dukeceit #remile #ts fic #sanders sides fic #remus mention #tropey beach au #listen im not responsible for what i do when on the beach with discord open #this is so self indulgent my god

[reogou]

Promise || bakugou.k

→ pairing: merman!bakugou katsuki x fem!reader

→ genre: fluff

→ warning/s: swear words

→ word count: 5K+

→ A/N: This is my contribution to the Just Add Water || Mermay Event of @bnhabookclub​ . Lmao I think this is the longest fic I’ve ever written asdfsdggk. Was really frustrated at this cuz I was taking way too long to finish this. And this went to so many edits ajfjfjg. A very big thank you to @writeiolite​ @clauclaustar​ @b0kuto​ and @lcaita​ for beta reading and for helping me edit this! Credits for @dailydoseofanimescenery​ for permitting me to edit their gif! Anyways, I hope you liked this! Enjoy!

→ prompts: “I’m trying really hard not to freak out right now.” 

“That’s just an urban legend.”

→ tagging: @pretty-settersquad​ @t-amajiki​

The full moon was in a full view as you sat by the shore of the beach, the calming sounds of the sea clearing your mind for a bit. The wind was somewhat cold, but it didn't faze you as you sat by the seashore, feet buried in the sand as you played with them. You could say that today was a great day to relax from all the stress and problems in your life. Your family decided to go on a trip to the Philippines, which was the reason why you're here. It was a great trip, you could say. The people were welcoming and the food here was great. One of your favorites was a street food delicacy called 'Isaw'. It's a barbecued pig or chicken intestines. At first you really didn’t want to try it, but after your mother encouraged you to eat it, you were surprised at how tasty it was. 

The tourist spots were also majestic and beautiful. The beach was clean. You get to visit the falls too, which was one of the tourist spots you loved. The view was breathtaking, almost magical. Even though you didn't get to swim in the falls, the place itself was enough to astonish you. You also enjoyed singing karaoke together with the locals. It never bored you since they were all so lovely and always engaged in conversations with you. 

This trip was not so bad, you enjoyed it. Really. It's just that something felt like a piece was missing. Something that’s somehow stuck in your head. Or rather, someone. Particularly Bakugou. The ash-blonde had always been in your mind for the past days, lingering and distracting you. You just missed him, very much. 

Bakugou had been your crush ever since middle school. Though you only got to hang out with Izuku, the angry boy had always captured your attention. Ever since you had started attending UA, you had been given the chance to become closer to him. Despite his aggressive stance and obnoxious behavior, you never backed out and had always reached out to him. Now that you two had finally become friends, it filled your heart with joy. 

Hanging out with Bakugou and the squad was one of the highlights in your week. But being away from them now, the sense of longing had built up inside you, making your heart feel like it had been longing for a particular emotion. You missed them so much. Not just Bakugou, but the whole class.

You trembled as a chill crawled down your spine. Perhaps it was the cold breeze, or the muted eeriness in the vicinity, but you felt like someone was watching your every move. You gripped your jacket close to your body to protect you from the cold, but the unsettling/disturbing feeling had remained; as if it had a diverse intent to make you feel anxious with your situation right now. You were certain that someone was staring at you. Fear crept inside you, but you merely shrugged it off. There's no way that an intruder could be here, lurking in the shadows. The resort was private and your family had exclusive access to it. Maybe it was just some workers or the night guards and maybe it was only your thoughts that had been bothering you to no ends.

Just as your nerves began to calm down, you almost jumped when a hand appeared in front of you making you scream. A loud laugh filled your ears. You turned around, glaring at Sero who was laughing at your reaction. He only laughed harder when you slapped his shoulders.

"Sero! I'm gonna fucking kill you! I almost had a heart attack because of you!" Your dark haired cousin just continued cackling, annoying you even more. How dare he ridicule you when you were genuinely scared by the unnerving feeling you felt just now?! It didn't even help when he surprised you like that! If you were holding a knife right now, you would've stabbed him already! 

Out of annoyance, you gripped onto his hair. Sero immediately shouted out in pain but he was still laughing. Goodness, he even had the audacity to cry out of laughter! 

"Ouch! Ouch!" He chuckled again, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I promise I won't do it again! Just please let go of my hair!" 

You growled at him, still annoyed at his actions. "Stop laughing, you idiot! Or I will really pull your hair out!" 

You gave him another slap on the shoulders before letting go of his hair. Sero massaged his aching scalp before chuckling again. He was quick to jump out of your reach before you could lunge at him again. You returned your attention back to the calming sea and hugged your knees, turning away from the pesky prick behind you. Of course, Sero had to annoy you more by sitting beside you. In retaliation, you found yourself admiring the moon from above in hopes of regaining your own composure.

"You're really scary when you get angry you know," he snorted, making you glare at his direction. "You always get so violent. I'm starting to think that Bakugou's attitude have influenced you." 

You tensed, just a mention of the ash-blonde made you miss him even more. Sero noticed your change of attitude from earlier. 

"You okay?" The dark-haired boy stared at you with curious eyes, his features softening. It was not a secret from the Bakusquad that you had feelings for that angry boy. Not because you were open about it, but your actions were enough for them to know who it is.

Your gaze shifted to your toes. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just missing someone." 

Sero gave out a sigh and looked over the moon in front of you. "I miss them too." 

You turned your head towards the black-haired boy, resting your cheeks on your knees. 

"By now, we should be going back to the dorms after a drink in the bar. We would probably be dragging a drunk Kaminari while Bakugou would lecture him for being a dumbass and drinking too much even though Aizawa-sensei will check on us in the morning." 

You chuckled at his words, already imagining the scenario. It's not far from reality, though, but you wouldn’t be sober enough to remember the details since you would be a drunken mess too. 

"Yup. It would happen." 

As you two talked about the Bakusquad, your memories of UA and Class A crossed your mind. You tried to shake off those thoughts and forget all the problems you left in Japan, just for today. You wanted to break free from all that chaos right now. Someone might question your decisions because you were aiming to be a hero, but then all you did was run away from your problems. But you couldn’t help it. If you let it get to your mind, you will surely lose control of yourself. And you don’t want that.  

"Well, enough of that. We'll only miss them more." Sero looked over to you, a glint of excitement slowly flashing in his eyes. "Have you heard of the legend about the Mermaids?" 

A mischievous grin was plastered on his face, making you roll your eyes. “That’s just an urban legend.”

"But what if it's true? They say that mermaids of the modern era hide in the deepest part of the sea, some also hide amongst the people to protect their identity. Since they bring fortune and luck, pirates and yakuzas always hunt them down and capture them, the reason why numerous numbers of them are killed due to pain and from the tortures." 

"Sero, you're too old for that crap. Do you really believe that mermaids are still alive nowadays? They're probably extinct already." 

"You never know! Besides, I also learned from the locals that mermaids often gather in the oceans of the Philippines because they're one of the few countries who don't kill mermaids." 

You scoffed at him, not buying his theories. "Even if the Filipinos didn't kill them, they would probably be killed by other countries already." 

"But-" Just when Sero was about to defend his theory, your grandmother called you back for dinner, interrupting your conversation. As you walked back towards the resort's lounge, both of you were oblivious of the vermilion eyes gleaming in the dark, staring at your figure.

-

The sounds of crashing waves filled your ears as you stared at the sea in front of you. The waves were a little rougher today. The moon was still in view, but partially hidden by the clouds. Nevertheless, gazing at the moon could always calm you down. Regardless of where you were, or whether the moon could be seen that night, you always took comfort in knowing that the moon was there to guide you.

You were dragged out of your thoughts when soft murmurs reached your ears. Out of curiosity, you peeked at the other side of the rock formations. The whispers were still a little indistinguishable, so you decided to inch closer. You knew you shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but there's just something inside you telling you to find out who was behind those rocks. 

“...shouting, Y/N wouldn't notice us! If we ever get caught, it's your damn fault!"

Your eyes widened at the mention of your name. Your heartbeat halted momentarily as you felt your mind go blank. Why were you being mentioned? And more importantly, who the hell were they? Determined to find out, you tip-toed towards them, only to find a familiar head of ash blonde hair in front of you.

Katsuki?

-

Katsuki scoffed under his breath as he swam towards the shore of Palawan, a Filipino beach that doubled as their hideout. He just came back from Japan after a mission to send some supplies to the western groups. The trip was pretty short since mermaids and mermen were able to swim faster than any other sea creature. 

If anyone knew of Bakugou being a merman, they would've laughed their asses off and think that the idea was ridiculous and impossible. But the world is filled with surprises, and one of those is Bakugou being a merman. If Shitty Hair and the other's were to see him in his merman form, they would most likely freak out. 

"Bakugou, have you already sent the supplies to the western groups?" One of the leaders of the eastern group greeted him. With a face void of emotions, Bakugou stopped swimming and nodded at the leader, his ash-blonde hair floating with the waters. The leader looked at him in the eyes, examining his expression.

"You know you don't have to do this, Bakugou." The leader spoke, his expression softening. Bakugou only scoffed and turned away, clicking his tongue in the insides of his cheeks.

"Shut up." The leader heaved out a sigh. Bakugou growled as the leader patted his shoulders. He only chuckled at Bakugou's reaction and smiled warmly at the young merman.

"If you really want to see her, she's just by your reach. She's the reason why you're here at the headquarters, right? You did that again yesterday. What's the difference if you do it again?" 

Bakugou clicked his tongue once more and glared at the man in front of him. "The hell are you saying, old man?" 

Shaking his head, the leader just let the rudeness of the young merman go. After all, the whole clan was used to Bakugou’s attitude ever since he was a child. Even though Bakugou always made snarky comments and pushed them away, they know what he's going through on the lands, and still understand where he's coming from. 

"Anyways, I'm gonna head out. You can visit her again if you want. She's at The Coast right now." Bakugou's body tensed after realizing that you were so near. Just a few miles from his reach. 

Although he doesn't openly portray his feelings well, he does miss you. A lot. His world just doesn't feel the same when you’re gone. Every time he has to go back to the ocean and leave you, the feeling of loneliness clung to him. It felt like he couldn't live without you in his reach. And it was painful. So painful that all he wants is to come back and be with you, even though you don't know his feelings for you.

"Good luck, young man." Was the leader's last words before he swam away, the pressure from his tail and speed making Bakugou lose balance. He clicked his tongue in exasperation and began to swim towards the headquarters. But it felt like something was pulling him off course, tugging him towards the direction of The Coast, where you were. He tried to ignore it and continue his way towards the headquarters, but the force was too powerful to fight with. The more he struggled, the more he was being dragged towards you. Shutting his eyes closed in frustration, Bakugou heaved out a sigh.

"Ah...fuck it."

-

As soon as Bakugou's head emerged from the waters, the calming lights from the resort greeted him. He scanned his surroundings, searching for your silhouette. And there you were, sitting by the rocks, your serene face gazing at the moon above you. His eyes softened at your appearance, but he immediately shook his head to empty his thoughts. Careful to not alert your sense, he started swimming towards your direction slowly. Just when he was about a few inches from you, a hand shot out and pulled his arm down the ocean. Bakugou’s brows immediately furrowed at the sudden tug, and he turned around to glare at the culprit, Awase, who was scowling at Bakugou as well. 

"What the fuck, Bakugou? Do you want to get caught or something? What the hell was that?" 

"Oi, what the fuck, extra?! Who the hell told you to drag me down so easily, huh?! You wanna fight?!" Bakugou's deep voice echoed in the waters, making Awase's eyes widened in fear.

"Shut the hell up man! She could hear you!" Awase hissed at him, tightening his grip on Bakugou's shoulders.

"Let go of me, you asshole!" Bakugou shrugged the other merman's arms off of him, growling. 

"Bakugou, this is not the right time to fight! Let's get out of here before she notices us!" Awase tried to pull him away from the rock formations, but Bakugou was persistent and refused to leave, glaring at the merman.

"No fucking way, asshole. You don't have the right to boss me around. And stop following me, will you?!" Before Awase could stop Bakugou, but the ash-blonde was already swimming back to the surface. When Bakugou emerged from the waters, he noticed that you were still staring at the sky above. Bakugou attempted to swim closer towards you, but Awase had already caught up and tried to stop Bakugou yet again. Out of irritation, Bakugou growled at him, making Awase flinch a little.

"Bakugou, I swear to god, let's go before she sees us!" Awase was getting more and more desperate. Why can't Bakugou understand him? If Bakugou got caught, he would face grave consequences. Why was Bakugou acting so reckless?

"What the fuck are you even fussing about?" Bakugou was boiling with anger, and his fury was evident on his face. "If you just stop shouting, Y/N wouldn't notice us! It would be your damn fault if we got caught!"

Suddenly, a small yelp interrupted their heated argument. Awase flinched at the unexpected noise; horror could be seen on his face as he slowly looked at the young girl behind him, who was trying to peek at the two mermen. In shock, you smiled nervously at them, subtly shifting backward for fear that they would harm you.

"Uh... hi?" 

"What the fuck?!"

Out of panic, you lost your balance, a loud shriek escaping your lips as you fell into the water. While underwater, you saw their tails as you struggled to reach for air. Thankfully, Bakugou immediately caught you and brought you back to the surface. Your heart was beating erratically as you caught your breath. Preventing yourself from falling again, you grabbed onto Bakugou’s shoulders for support, your florid face buried in the crook of his neck as you desperately reinforced yourself to regain your composure. Once your breathing became steady, you came face-to-face with Bakugou.

What the heck? Your eyes widened as you took in the view in front of you. Why does this man have to be so hot? You watched as the water cascaded down from his soft hair onto his nose, to his plump lips, and to his chiseled jaw. You couldn’t help but gulp at his appearance - he looked like the Greek God of the ocean, Poseidon. While checking him out, your gaze lowered to his biceps, onto his exposed chest and abs. Ohlala~ Can someone bring in some coffee? The bread is already here.

"Done checking me out, Shitty woman?" His sharp words caught you by surprise, as you blushed at the realization that you were checking him out so openly. Out of embarrassment, you buried your head on his shoulders again to hide the blush painted on your cheeks. You wished the waters below you would cut you in half and swallow you alive. 

"Now, don't be shy. You can stare all you want." Bakugou chuckled, making you whine and punch him playfully on the chest. 

"Shut up." 

-

“I’m trying really hard not to freak out right now.”

Bakugou sighed. Getting caught was not part of his plan. But there's nothing he could do about it. You already found out his secret. 

"Y/N." Bakugou started, his voice a lot gentler than usual, causing you to flinch when he called out your attention. Not only is Bakugou a lot softer than he usually is, this was also the first time he addressed you with your real name, and not those stupid nicknames of his. Something inside you tingled at how your name rolled out of his tongue. You never thought that Bakugou calling your name would have an effect on you.

"Oi, are you listening?" Bakugou frowned.

"Oh, sorry." You chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of your head. "I was not listening. What did you say again?"

Bakugou heaved out a sigh. "I said, now that you already know what I am, you should not tell anyone about this. You understand that?" 

You nodded in his direction, understanding his words. 

There was a long silence as both of you stared at the moon, sitting on the rock formations once again. Bakugou had moved you here, after the incident a while ago. Awase excused himself after informing Bakugou that he has to take care of this mess before the leaders find out. You couldn't comprehend what was happening even until now. Seeing him sitting beside you, his gorgeous, golden tail in full view, all this felt like a dream. Not to mention the fact that you and Sero were just arguing yesterday about how mermaids and mermen are not real. But here you are, coming face-to-face with one of them. And out of all the mermen out there, Bakugou was one of them. 

"Hey, Bakugou. I wanna ask something." You locked eyes with him, your eyes full of curiosity as they stared into his vermilion orbs. Bakugou raised both of his brows in your direction, awaiting your next words.

"What?" The unsettling feeling of anticipation and fear slowly crept up on Bakugou. He may not have shown it, but he was terrified for your reaction when he saw you staring at him with eyes wide in shock. What if you freak out and get scared of him? And now that you're starting to question him, all the emotions that he felt before unwillingly came crashing back. What were you gonna say? Would you ask him about being a merman? Would you ask him to stay away from you? Would you-

"What shampoo do you use?" You felt Bakugou freeze on the spot, an unexplainable expression plastered in his face.

"Hah?!" Out of all the things he was expecting you to ask, the shampoo that he uses was not one of them. Heck, it didn't even cross his mind!

"What did you say?!" You flinched at his shouting, starting to regret that you asked him about his shampoo.

"Is it...is it a secret?" As you spit out the words from your lips, your voice got smaller and smaller too. You backed out slightly, scared of what he might do to you. At this rate, you looked like a puppy who was about to get beat by it’s master. A Chihuahua, on that note.

"What?!" The ash-blonde merman stared dumbfounded at you. In disbelief, he couldn’t help but laugh at your ridiculous question. Meanwhile, you stared at him in awe. His face while laughing was so ethereal that it almost made you cry. Why the fuck does he have to be so beautiful?! Why? Shortly after, Bakugou stopped laughing but was still holding his stomach while wiping the tears away from his eyes.

"Ahh… that was a good laugh after ages." He chuckled at himself and looked over your direction. "This is why I admire you." 

At this point, it was your turn to be frozen in place as his words slowly sank down your brain. Seems like Bakugou also realized what he said and froze too. Oh god. He gulped. A blush started to emerge on his cheeks as your face became red too. Trying to hide his embarrassment, Bakugou cleared his throat and focused on the moon hanging above the both of you, hiding his face from your line of sight.

"W-what I mean is that I-I just like your personality. It's not like I l-like you in a romantic way or whatever crap." 

You snickered at his pathetic excuse. Even though Bakugou tries to hide it, the redness on his neck and ears didn't go unnoticed by you. You bet that if he turned around right now, his face would be as red as a tomato. You chuckled at that thought which made Bakugou glare at you.

"Stop laughing!" Ignoring his complaints, your laugh got louder when he turned to face you. Your assumptions was correct - Bakugou’s looks did resemble a tomato due to the intense redness on his face. 

"You're so cute!" You were laughing so hard, your stomach started to hurt and tears started to well up at the corner of your eyes. The ash-blonde man hissed at you once more, the scowl on his face making it obvious of how annoyed he is right now.

"I said stop laughing! If you don't stop right now, I'm gonna throw you to the water." Despite his threatening words, Bakugou was actually enjoying this moment, seeing your cheerful face in front of him. All of this is just perfect. You're actually cute when you laugh, but there's no way in hell would he say that to your face.

"Ok, ok! I'm gonna stop now." However, you couldn’t stop chuckling. No matter how hard you tried, stopping was not an option right now. Bakugou clicked his tongue in irritation but didn't say anything. Once you've calmed down, you grinned at him, eyes shining with happiness.

"Bakugou…" You started, "I'm happy to see you right now." 

Your words struck through Bakugou's heart. He was glad to know that you were content about seeing him. His heart skipped a beat at that thought and the blush on his face was tinted with a shade of crimson yet again. At this point, he was already sure of his feelings for you.

"Y-you should be, Shitty woman." He clicked his tongue again, hiding the smile that started to form. Chuckling, you gazed up at the moon, the stars surrounding it making the scenery even more beautiful. You could just sit here with him all day and you wouldn’t get bored. After all, this was what you wanted, to be with him even for just a bit.

"By the way..." Your brows shot up when Bakugou spoke, his eyes still glued at the moon. When he felt you staring at him, he turned towards you, brows arched. 

"Aren't you cold?"

Now that he mentioned it, you were practically freezing right on your spot. The cold gust of wind didn’t help either and only added on to the chilly sensation.

"You should go and change first before you catch a cold." His calloused hands ran through his damp hair, the tiny droplets of water only made him look more handsome to the eye.

"I don't want to…" 

"Huh? Why? Aren't you freezing? You wanna die or something?" 

You grinned, a small giggle escaping your lips. Heaving out a sigh, you looked back at the moon above you, stars twinkling around the celestial body. You pulled your knees up to your chest as you gazed back at Bakugou, who was eyeing your every movement.

"I don't want this to end."

"What?"

"This," You pointed at him. "You and me." And then to your chest. "Us, conversing peacefully. I don't wanna stop or ruin this perfect moment by going back to my room to change, while knowing that by the time I'm done, you'll be gone." 

Bakugou’s heart broke into pieces when he noticed the pain that crossed your crystalline eyes. He knows that you have feelings for him. And he knows he feels the same. He knows what you want, what you need. But he can’t give it to you right now. All he can give you now is assurance. That one day, after all of this comes to an end, he will come back to you.

A heavy sigh came out from his own lips as he shifted his weight to his arms and placed them behind him. There was an emotion that was plastered on his face you couldn’t name. "Go. Change. I won't be leaving." Bakugou glanced over his shoulders, eyes lingering on your face with that soft look of his, his vermilion eyes mirroring your own. 

"I'll stay. Just trust me.”

Two sentences. Those five words were enough for your tears to drop one by one, your heart filling with joy and love for the man in front of you. You could genuinely feel the emotion behind his words. The assurance. The promise. His feelings. All of them embraced you as Bakugou stared at you with that emotion close to yours, an emotion you can finally name. The emotion called love. 

"...wait."

A splash startled you when Bakugou jumped towards the waters. You waited for him to appear from the waters. You waited. And waited. But nothing. Minutes have passed but there was still no sign from him. Disappointment filled your heart at the thought that he already left. Didn’t he promised to stay? He didn't even wait for you to leave. You tried to think if it as a logical explanation. Maybe he had some errands to do. But would it hurt to say a simple goodbye to you? Was that really hard to do? A sigh escaped your lips as you fumbled with your fingers, distracting yourself from the aching pain growing in your heart. You thought that maybe, your relationship with him somewhat grew. You were certain, so sure that he feels the same way about you too. It may not be the same level as your feelings, but you know that he’s starting to like you too. The blush on his face, the stark emotions on his face, and his softness a while ago were enough clues for you to connect the dots. Bakugou was never that soft to anyone, only to you.

"Hey." You looked over your shoulders when you heard a voice coming from behind you. Seeing the familiar smooth ash-blonde hair of his, the feeling of euphoria and excitement filled your heart when you saw Bakugou below you, hair damp from the waters. He was holding a plastic bag with jeans inside it. You closed your eyes when a light appeared around his body, hurting you a bit. As soon as the blinding light disappeared, you came face-to-face with Bakugou's chest. You shrieked out of shock and moved backwards, your face turning red once more at the realization that the ash-blonde male was naked in front of you.

"What the hell, Bakugou!" You immediately shielded your eyes to prevent seeing something you will regret. “Get dressed!” 

Bakugou snorted at your reaction, amusement dancing in his red orbs. “It’s not like you don’t want to see my body.”

“Bakugou!” Bakugou only laughed and got dressed. When he was done, you felt a piece of warm cloth placed around your shoulders, the comfort making you purr a little. He pulled your hands away from your face and handed you a white, glowing pearl. It was so beautiful you couldn’t take your eyes off of it. 

You looked up at him with your eyes filled with curiosity, “What’s this?” 

“It’s a pearl, dumbass.” His cheeks started growing red and he averted his eyes from you. “It’s a...a p-promise pearl for us...mermen…”

“Oh…” Your cheeks heated up, as a tinge of red hue began to dust it as you blinked at the information he gave, gripping at the blanket wrapped around you. What does he mean by that? Is he...giving you hints? Or what?

"Uh...why would you give this to me?"

"Don't you understand, dumbass? I'm giving that to you as a promise that I will claim you when the day comes. So take that shit and put it in your forehead."

"Huh?!" You felt like your world was spinning. You don't understand why Bakugou was saying this all to you. You felt utterly bewildered by all that’s happening right now.

"Bakugou-," Bakugou clicked his tongue before snatching the white pearl from you. He kissed the pearl and placed it on your lips. Your cheeks burned even more when you realized that you had just kissed Bakugou indirectly. His calloused pads grazed on your soft cheeks as he pulled the pearl away from you, the pearl now flat on his hands. You were amazed at how he did that, but the pain on your forehead distracted you.

"Ouch! Bakugou, it hurts!" You tried to back away from him, but Bakugou placed his hands firmly on the back of your head to stop your struggling.

"Shhh...don't worry, just endure it a little bit more. The pain will go away." He cooed, his hot breath fanning the top of your head, sending butterflies into your stomach. When the pain subsided, you stared at Bakugou's features.

"Bakugou..." He arched his brows while still looking at the pearl on your forehead.

"What?"

"Why are you so...I don't know, soft right now?"

Bakugou stilled at your words. "W-what? I'm not, idiot."

You just smiled at him.

"You promised, ok?"

A long silence fell between the both of you. You thought Bakugou wouldn't answer, but his hands dropped on your shoulders, his grip tightening as he raised your chin up, making you look directly at his eyes.

"I know." He whispered, just enough to reach your ears. "But I wouldn't call that as a promise. I don't want to break that. So I will do all of my best to make you mine. You understand? So don't let any other man get close to you. Especially Tape Face." He gritted his teeth at the memory of you and Sero talking last night.

"What? But he's just my cousin!" You laughed.

"I don't care. Tsk. Now go and change your clothes or you'll catch a cold."

"Ok." You stood up and placed a chaste kiss on his cheeks before running away from him, giggling at yourself. "I'll be back, Bakugou!" You couldn't believe that you just kissed Bakugou on the cheeks. You felt like a highschool teenager at that moment, gushing over her crush.

"Y/N!" You stopped on your tracks and turned around, facing Bakugou whose face was once again red.

"It's Katsuki."

Your heartbeat raced 10 times faster. It was like you ran 3 kilometers in just a minute at how fast your heart raced inside your ribcage. A genuine smile appeared on your lips, smiling cheerfully at the ash blonde just a few meters away from you. At that moment, everything felt so right, everything felt so surreal. Like a happy ending in a disney movie, with the two main characters starting a new journey together. A new chapter in a book, the book that contains the story of you and Bakugou's. Of you and Katsuki's.

"Okay, Katsuki."

#bnhabookclub #mermay #reogou #reogou library #bnha #mha #bnha fluff #bnha x you #bnha x reader #mha x reader #mha x you #bakugou x you #bakugou x reader #bakugou katsuki #katsuki bakugou #mha bakugou #bnha bakugo x reader #bnha bakugo katsuki #bnha mermaid au #bakugou katsuki x you #katsuki bakugo x reader #bakugou #bnha bakugou x you #bakugou fluff #katsuki x you #katsuki x reader

[oahumyheart]

Yesterday was just one of those great cousin days. We missed becks, after going 6 months without seeing her or talking to her we’ve been making up for lost time. We legit make it a point to see her at least once a week. I was worried how joc would welcome her back in to the group, but I can tell she is trying. She’s making jokes with her, roasting her, I know in time things between them will be back to normal. We picked her up Wednesday night and just talked downstairs all of us playing cards until midnight. I looked around the room a couple times and just smiled. I watched Liv try to cheat, everyone roasting boo, Joc making her stupid impressions, everyone telling me to keep it down and just took in the moment. I missed that so much

Yesterday we went swimming for a bit and I worked outside for majority of the day so I could be with them. I got a little darker , which is always welcomed haha when I got off we went to the crystal shop. So I believed it them first and I never  persuaded the rest to believe in them or anything. Slowly Liv started, which influenced joc, then becks dove into it and boo is still hesitant hahah I bought her one last time and cleansed and charged it and put it under her pillow and she found it the other day and made a a comment how it was so smooth and pretty. So imagine my surprise when she got one yesterday!!! Shelly got her first little aquamarine crystal. Liv ended up getting 5, Jocy got 3, becks got 6 and I got 2 and I needed some Palo santo.

So when we walked into the place the girls looked up and smiled . The 5 of us coming in as a group is pretty intimidating haha so every time we enter a place I always tell them to shut up be quiet and be nice. But one girl was like “ you all are a pure sunshine , I felt the energy shift when y’all came in” and Jocys eyes got all big and just looked at me haha and then I was by myself in the corner looking at stones and one of the girls came up to me and was like “you smell delicious what is that you are wearing” kinda scared me a bit cuz she got super up close lol and I told her it was coconut pineapple and she just looked at me and smiled & said I smelled like a beach vacation haha that was the idea sis

After we went to Olive Garden for dinner. We had the whole back spot to ourselves , like legit no one came in at all. So we were laughing and talking kinda loudly and it was just a great time. After Jocy wanted to try some new dessert ice cream spot so everyone else got that while next door there was a boba spot. So I decided to treat myself to a taro milk tea which I slowly slipped to savor it hahaha it’s been at least a full year since I’ve had milk tea.

After we sat in the car for a bit until we went and took becks back home. It was just a great time yesterday, it’s slowly coming back like old times and I fucking missed that. I thought after a long time apart things would be awkward a bit. But it really wasn’t, it was as if there was no time apart

[adamarinayu]

“We’re All We’ve Got, Remember?”

So this was originally supposed to be a completely independent oneshot that just sort of popped into my head but then this quote slipped in there.

This is completely and 100% AU.

When a city, no matter how large, is all you’ve ever known, it begins to feel more like a prison than home. That was something Donald’s nephews had to learn the hard way.

Not that Donald took it much better- after decades of adventuring the world, being confined to Duckburg alone was driving him crazy. It was like cabin fever, only he could go out into town instead of being locked within the walls of that mansion he had once upon a time and once again called home. The simple fact of the matter was this was Duckburg, and there was no way out.

Except for the sky burning red and hot above them, the high glass ceiling of the dome keeping them inside the city, the guards patrolling the streets enforcing laws Donald had never grown up with, and a plethora of other small details and big details, it was the Duckburg he had known and loved and often left behind for a bigger, better, more exciting place- but the Duckburg he always returned to.

The children had never known any other world. They didn’t know life outside the dome.

Donald, Scrooge, Bentina, Gladstone and Launchpad did.

The world they grew up in was not the world Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby would inherit.

“Uncle Donald!”

Donald’s eyes tore away from the window, swinging around to look at his nephews and niece running over to him. They had dart guns in their hands, but the expressions on their faces told him they were much less interested in their game and much more interested in something else.

They leapt up on the couch, forcing themselves between Donald and Gladstone, causing the latter to drop the book he had been looking through in order to scoot over.

“Yes?” Donald asked, giving them a somewhat disapproving look. Gladstone didn’t look too perturbed, however, as he just plucked his book back up off the floor. He waved the childrens’ apologies away.

“We were talking with some friends from school,” Dewey explained to his uncle, “and everyone else says their parents tell them stories about the “old world” all the time.”

“So we were wondering,” Huey continued almost nervously, “what was the world like when you were young, Uncle Donald?”

Donald and Gladstone shared a surprised look over the ducklings’ heads. “When I was young?” Donald repeated.

“Yeah,” Louie confirmed, leaning against Gladstone’s side. “You know, when you were a duckling. Like us.”

“When you were our age!” Webby added excitedly, dropping her dart gun to grab his arm. “Please tell us, Uncle Donald? Uncle Scrooge doesn’t want to talk about it!”

That was understandable, Donald figured- Scrooge was bitter about the whole affair and hated thinking of the old days. He missed those days so much.

But Donald? Donald wanted the children to know. He wanted them to know how it used to be. How it should be.

He gave them a slight, sad smile. “Gladstone,” he started, turning towards his cousin and holding his hands out. Gladstone looked slightly unsure.

“You sure, ‘cuz? Unc’ didn’t want us talking about it,” he reminded Donald.

Donald rolled his eyes. “Scrooge can stuff it,” he said as Gladstone dropped the book into his waiting hands. “They deserve to know.”

“If you’re sure.”

He turned to the children. “Things were a lot different when Gladstone, your mother and I were growing up,” he started. “Back then we could go outside.”

“We already go outside, Uncle Donald,” Dewey pointed out, raising a brow.

“Not outside the house,” Donald corrected, flipping the book open to the first page. “Outside the dome.”

The album was filled with memories. Memories of Donald and Gladstone and even Della’s entire lives, right up until the dome was erected. Twenty-five years of fun, glory and paradise.

Sometimes the cousins regretted not taking more pictures- why they didn’t just take a picture of that common flower that bloomed every spring, or take more pictures of their grandmother, or more of Della, more of Fethry, more of that old pond out by the farm... the farm itself...

It was filled with memories, longing and regret, but also respect and nostalgia for the things that no longer were.

On the very first page, three ducklings- one slightly different, his goose showing through- sat on a blanket in the grass, looking at the camera in confusion. In the background, ducks of various ages played.

Scattered across the page were more pictures of those ducklings, sometimes all together and sometimes separated. It wasn’t very clear whose pictures these were, to be honest- Donald and Gladstone, when the triplets and Webby were barely a year old, had piled all of their pictures up and cobbled the album together with no clear separation on who the photos had belonged to originally. Sometimes they were at the farm, sometimes they were at the house Donald vaguely remembered belonging to his father, sometimes they were at Gladstone’s house, and then sometimes they were elsewhere.

Some places the two cousins had carefully copied whatever their parents had written on the back of the photos underneath, to be sure they would never forget the details.

At some point, of course, the pictures seemed to all merge- when all three children came into their grandmother’s care. Several years passed with the children there before a sudden separation happened again in their teens, when Donald and Della moved in with Scrooge officially.

That was when the old photographs really got interesting. Suddenly Donald and Della were in other countries, in adventuring gear or camping or somesuch, while Gladstone was at parties and the “best of the best for tourists” countries available.

Of course, there were the “cousin roadtrips” they took and treasured every year scattered throughout, but other than that Donald and Gladstone’s lives ceased crossing over as much as they once had.

Fethry, their other cousin, showed up mostly in family reunion photos and the cousin roadtrips. Every day Donald and Gladstone felt crushing regret that they didn’t have more pictures of him.

No one knew where he was when the enemy none of them knew about rose into power. No one knew where he was when the dome came to be.

He wasn’t home when the sky began to burn red.

“Uncle Donald, these pictures look so...” Huey started, sounding unsure as he stared at the album.

“Fake?” Dewey supplied somewhat nervously.

“Fake?!” Gladstone repeated, almost offended. “Dear children, these pictures are our lives!”

“Gladstone,” Donald started tiredly, leaning back on the couch as he gazed at the old photographs. “It’s okay, they don’t know.”

“The world can’t be that different,” Louie said, frowning at the picture of three blue-eyed ducklings swimming in a lake, an orange sun gleaming down from a blue sky.

“Sure it can,” Webby argued. “I mean the world had to change sometime, right?”

“It can’t be this different,” Louie repeated, huffing. “I was expecting boring talk about a building that no longer stood, or a park where industry is now, not-”

“We grew up on a farm,” Donald interrupted their argument, silencing the children. “The pond’s water was really cold,” he told them, pointing at a picture of him and Gladstone swimming. Della was in the background, a blur jumping off of the small dock with a rare image of Fethry following. “We swam in it every summer, anyway. The skies were always blue in summer, and the sun was warm and the air clean.”

“Air,” Gladstone added, leaning over the children to peer at the album as well, “actually came from the trees and grass and oceans, and not a factory.”

“That can’t be true,” Huey mumbled in awe, eyes on the trees Gladstone pointed out to them. Donald and Della were beneath that true, the former holding a spider protectively in his hands while the latter tried to throw a rock at it.

Donald remembered that- that had been in the year between his and Gladstone’s parents’ deaths, and Donald and Della were living at the farm without him. Donald had, shortly after losing their parents, become obsessed with being a pacifist. Everything, he believed, deserved to live- even the icky gross spider he used to cry for his father to come kill.

It was during that time Donald came to really respect all life, and learned that he actually really liked spiders... much to Della and Gladstone’s horror. He saved a lot of spider and insect lives in the years following.

In a photo on the next page, however, something caught his attention and he dropped his line of thought. This, he knew, was so much more important.

“This is Grandma,” Donald said, directing the childrens’ attention to an elderly duck lady, laughing at her grandchildrens’ antics as they pretended to drive a tractor. It was old and rusted, and Donald remembered it was sold a year later (briefly he wondered what happened to it, considering he couldn’t remember a time that old thing had actually worked), so she didn’t mind the three (and sometimes four!) children climbing up to play pretend. “She raised us after our parents were gone.”

“Your parents died too?” Webby asked, surprised. Gladstone was the one who nodded.

“Yeah,” he said, turning back a few pages and pointing to a family photograph taking up the entire page. He tapped on the ducks in question. “These here were my mom and dad, and these were Donald’s.”

“This was taken a week before mom and dad died,” Donald told them quietly, looking at his parents. They were holding hands, gazing adoringly at each other while their children played in the front with the others. They had been so happy. “An accident on their way home from St. Canard.”

“St. Canard?”

Donald and Gladstone looked at each other, and the latter- who, even Donald would admit, knew the album much better than anyone else- swiftly flipped to a page further in the book. Donald immediately recognized it; Gladstone and himself, one of the rare pictures of Donald without his twin (as she was the one taking the picture), under the lights of a club they were much too young to enter. It was their first trip together after Donald and Della moved into McDuck Manor.

“This is Donald and me in St. Canard,” Gladstone told them. “A city across the old lake- the lake’s not there anymore,” he added, flipping back and tapping a photo of the docks. “It used to be massive. Donald had an old houseboat docked there for a time, always dreamed of moving in, but then...” he trailed off, a frown coming over his face.

“Then...?” the children prompted.

“The soldiers came,” Donald finished for his cousin. “Whatever they did dried the lake, and all of the boats were left stranded.”

“But that’s not what we’re talking about,” Gladstone said quickly, clearly not ready to tackle that topic, and he flipped back to the St. Canard pictures.

He began pointing out every picture of them there, talking about what street they’d been on, what it had been like, the sights, the sounds, the smells, everything, and Donald, for just a moment, felt like he was there again. The children were just as enraptured, trying to imagine all these things they never had the chance to experience...

Then they were back to green-grass, blue-sky and clear-waters. A cousin roadtrip picture came up, the first year Donald, Della and Gladstone had their licenses, and finally Dewey broke down and, pointing to the fourth duck in the picture, asked, “Is that Uncle Fethry?”

“Yes,” Donald and Gladstone said in unison, each looking at the picture of their missing cousin.

“The one who wasn’t in Duckburg when the soldiers came?”

“Yes,” Donald answered alone, quietly.

“Oh.”

“And this is mom,” Huey guessed, fingers reaching out to brush over Della’s form. She was smiling so widely, giving Donald and Gladstone both bunny ears while, unknown to her, Fethry did the same to her.

“Yes,” Donald answered again, voice cracking slightly. “She loved the world, y’know.”

Without any prompting, Gladstone flipped to the first picture of Donald, Della and Scrooge on their adventures. “They used to adventure all the time with Uncle Scrooge,” Gladstone told them, gently tapping a selfie Della had sent to him of the three of them shortly after they barely survived a crash landing. “Had a blast doing it, too. I opted out.”

“There’s no way Uncle Donald could be an adventurer,” Dewey protested, looking at Donald in shock. “Right?”

“I was, and it was probably the best time of my life,” Donald sighed, looking at another picture of himself and Scrooge, taken by Della, in front of a South American pyramid in a previously-undiscovered city. Two faces Donald hadn’t seen in more than a decade, faces that hurt to think about, names that the children wouldn’t recognize, seemed to be cheering in the background. It had been the first time his adventures with them and his adventures with Scrooge and Della had overlapped. “There’s nothing quite like exploring the world, kids.”

“Even I did some exploring, just not the same way,” Gladstone said, flipping back a few pages to a picture of himself on the Eiffel Tower. “This album is our lives, right up until-”

“The soldiers,” Webby whispered, sounding awed. “So... it this was the world back then...”

“What happened?” Huey asked quietly, staring at the photos as Gladstone slowly flipped through the pages. “Why did the sky turn red?”

“No one really knows,” Donald said, turning to observe each one of his children. “Scrooge, Gladstone, your mother and I... we were all here when it happened.”

“Why isn’t mom here now, then?”

Donald sucked in a shallow breath. He had expected it, of course- he just showed them an album full of their mother’s life.

They knew she was gone, but they didn’t know why.

“She fought,” Gladstone answered for Donald, voice so quiet it was almost lost. He stared intently at the last picture in the album, at Della’s mischievous smile, Grandma’s laughing eyes, Fethry’s goofy grin, Donald’s exasperated affection, Scrooge’s proud expression, Gladstone’s own confident smirk... the last photo they ever took. “She fought alongside Uncle Scrooge, Donald and Bentina while I stayed with you four here, at the mansion, to keep you safe. I only wish I had kept her safe, too.”

“She died?” Louie asked, though they knew it to be true already. “She died... fighting them?”

“She died trying to protect the world she loved,” Donald told them, reaching over to gently stroke Louie’s feathers. “And she died to protect you four.”

“We didn’t stand a chance against the soldiers,” Gladstone admitted, closing his eyes and looking away. “There were too many. After Della died, and Donald was injured, and Scrooge lost basically everything...”

“They didn’t even give anyone a chance to save their families,” Donald said, tears burning his eyes as he thought about the farm- about his grandmother- so far outside of any city limit. “We don’t even know if domes in other cities were erected, before they did... whatever they did to kill the world outside.”

“We could be all alone in the world,” Gladstone sighed, rubbing at his eyes as they both thought of the family that hadn’t been in Duckburg with them.The family they lost, the family they might have lost.

“It was only Gladstone’s luck that let us stay in the mansion. Even though it’s a good point to see the city from, the soldiers didn’t want to make the drive every day,” Donald told them bitterly, turning back towards the window. “Frankly I’m surprised they let us live, but living in Duckburg now is a greater punishment than death so it’s no mercy on their part.”

He stared out the window, across the city he had loved and now only loathed, to the dome wall slicing through the bridge, to the old Moneybin sitting outside, falling apart as the harsh environment lashed at its walls.

Everything was bathed in a red light.

“On the other hand,” he mused, turning back to the children, “we’re still here, together and alive. And so long as we’ve got each other, we’ve got everything we need, right?”

“Right!” the children agreed, though the tears in Louie and Huey’s eyes told Donald that they weren’t exactly happy about it.

This was the world they lived in now. They had to accept that.

All the loss, all the pain, everything. It was their life. And maybe one day, he thought, maybe one day these children and their generation would change the future, reclaim the world as theirs.

Donald, though- Donald could only wish he could help.

He looked at Gladstone, who without words took the album from his grasp and closed it, handing it to Dewey, saying, “Read the things we’ve written in there, if you want to know more.” Then Gladstone stood up and moved over to Donald, grabbing his arm and helping him to his feet.

Donald leaned on Gladstone as the half-goose helped him take the few steps needed to reach his chair. He sunk down into the seat and, after setting his feet in their proper space, reached down to the wheels.

Looking at the children again as Gladstone retook his spot on the couch, Donald said, “The world used to be bright and colourful. Not everything was red. We lost a lot in that fight...

“But we should still be thankful for what we do have. We’re all here together, and we’re all we’ve got, remember?”

Gladstone just looked back at him while the children nodded, each one quiet as they watched their uncle.

Donald took a breath. He sounded more confident than he felt. Because honestly? His heart was breaking all over again.

“Good. ‘Cause for now, that’s gonna have to be good enough.”

His smile was sad, shaky at best, as he turned and wheeled himself out of the room.

#DuckTales 2017 #AU #DuckTales Family Fic Challenge #Donald Duck #Gladstone Gander #Huey Duck #Dewey Duck #Louie Duck #Webby Vanderquack

[sparksofsomething]

EVERY COLOR!!! :D

Purple: 10 facts about my room

-It’s full of figurines and toys and stuffed animals and they fill my life with light-I tried to keep a plant alive in it for a week and it suffered horribly-Until a couple of weeks ago, I had no dresser, so almost all of my clothes lived in a pile on the floor-Almost all my food lived on the floor too (in packages ofc) cuz I had no space in the kitchen-My wall has an Arin Hanson quote and everyone who comes over laughs at me for it (lookin @ u and Madison >:c)-I have Too Much Shit(TM)-It’s too small for two people, especially two ARTISTS we are suffering-My roommate is really cool and nice-I have 75 pounds of clay under my desk (if anyone wants it hmu)-Somewhere in this room is my lost copy of Tales of the Abyss (I hope)

Blue: 9 facts about my family

-My stepbrothers have a tiny bit of Sioux in them and are very distantly related to the British royal family-I’m related to some fucking vice president of the US that no one remembers. Not even me.-Literally everyone on my mom’s side of the family is dead except for her and her mother, which is wild to me because on my dad’s side I have so many got damn relatives I haven’t even met them all-I have a little cousin who is the absolute cutest kid in the entire world. He’s so nice. He always wants to share his things with everyone and has us play games with him I love him-I have two first cousins once removed on the way!-My dad doesn’t believe that anyone outside immediate family is family. He thinks second cousins are bullshit.-My one grandmother is a real estate agent and anytime you go anywhere with her she talks like she’s trying to sell the place to you-I’m never gonna have kids and I think it’s kind of cool that I have the power to just end a bloodline like that.-My family basically all started in New York but now we’re spread all over the country. It’s a bit sad not getting to see them.

Green: 8 facts about appearance

-I am 5′5″ and weigh like.. 140-170 lbs depending on what month it is basically it fluctuates so much-I have huge ass feet I’m a women’s size 10-When I was younger the ends of my hair would turn blonde but now I never go in the sun so it doesn’t happen anymore lol-The curvature in my neck is all fucked up-I think I have really nice eyes-I don’t know how to dress like at all it’s jeans and a t shirt with a cartoon character on it every day-I think when I was in middle school I had this weird thing where I had to cover up my arms? I’m glad I got over that jeez-I hate my hair long I need to get it cut

Yellow: 7 facts about my childhood

-It was horrible-My dad and I used to play Pooh Sticks-I was really into building stuff my dad bought me a whole toolkit and my grandma got really mad at him cuz he was “turning me into a boy”-I had a husky named Rocky who was the sweetest dog in the whole world-My stepbrothers were my friends before our parents got married and I remember all of us throwing are stuffed animals in a pool to “swim” for some reason-My mom bought me too much shit so one day my dad had me get rid of almost all my stuffed animals and I cried the whole time cuz I was worried their new owner would be mean to them. I still have almost all of the ones I kept lol-I moved so many times, like... 7 times before I was 10. At one point we lived in New Hampshire and my dad ran for public office. He didn’t win.

Orange: 6 facts about my home town

-In 2012 a movie called The Place Beyond the Pines was shot there and it was wild cuz I saw places I’d been to earlier that day in a fucking Hollywood film. They were actually going to shoot at my high school but that fell through for some reason-The police don’t do fucking anything except bust kids for underage drinking-I lived their for maybe 10 years I think?-I miss it it was tiny an quiet and nothing like the city I live in now.-Its population is only like 20,000 it’s so heckin small. My current city’s is 170,000-I lived like right down the street from one of my best friends I could literally walk to her house and now we’re 2,500 miles apart :’

Red: 5 facts about my best friend

But... I have so many best friends so

-Melanie has a sweet cat named Wall.E and he is the biggest fucking baby ever-Darryl dresses so well like teach me??-Aimee is smol and I actually wish she drew more I bet she’ll get really good at it-Star wants to do costume design as a career and I know they’re gonna kick ass at it-Me, Hannah, and Chloe will probably be friends for as long as we live. Or at least, I hope so.

Pink: 4 facts about my parents

-My mom is a soul sucking demon and my dad needs to calm the fuck down-My stepmom and I don’t always get along very well but all in all I’m happy to have her instead of no mom at all-My mental health improved a lot after I moved out of my parents’ house-Two years ago my dad was in a car accident and now he has trouble controlling his anger. I was like “hey dad you might wanna see a professional about this I bet it would help” and he was like “yeah probably” and then never went

White: 3 facts about my personality

-90% of it is dictated by my mental illness-When I was little I was super outgoing but I pretended to be shy for some reason? And now I’m actually shy and it sucks-I switch emotions so fast I can’t even keep up 

Grey: 2 facts about my favorite things

-Three of my like biggest favorite things (Sonic, Yugioh, MLP) are about friendship and bettering yourself with the support of others... and not giving up and all that gay shit-Yugi and Sonic are huge comfort characters for me I feel happy whenever I see them

Black: 1 fact about the person I like

-He’s 5 feet tall... graduated high school in 2016... carried the spirit of a pharaoh in his body for a few years...

[gcalit]

The George Bailey Conundrum (Featured in the December 2018 Issue)

by Todd Willhite

It's that time. Some would say it's the most wonderful time, at least of the year. I have had an odd relationship with Christmas ever since Christmastime 1990. That was the year that a certain Christmas movie triggered an existential crisis in my 10-year-old brain.

Because we had hit our goal of food donations for the needy we got a prize of watching a movie in the gym, on the big screen, actually there was no screen. Just a wall. We were all led to the gym and sat by class, fourth grade in the back because we were the oldest and tallest. The projector was set up in the middle of everyone and a murmur came over the gym when the lights were turned out and the emergency exit signs cast an eerie, red glow over the milk cooler.

After about 30 seconds the lights came on again because Mr. Hund was having troubles running a projector from 1965. We all had a good laugh at his ineptitude and I vowed to remember this moment for a good burn later in front of the class. Mr. Klink, the principal, silenced us and the lights went out again as the projector began to hum. The movie started and worked through the garbled sound that always accompanies cinematic fare viewed with dated technology. The title screen appeared and we finally found out we would be watching It's A Wonderful Life, which seems rather cliche but we were only kids and most, including myself, had yet to see it.

We watched in silent awe as the incomparable Jimmy Stewart embodied George Bailey, a down on his luck banker who gets into a drunken bar fight and then heads to a bridge to kill himself in the icy river below. I was 10 and there were 1st graders watching, too. Gotta love the early '90's and its complete disregard for the emotional well-being of children.

We all know the story, George goes to the bridge but his guardian angel Clarence falls in first and George saves him. Clarence goes on to show George what life would be like if he were never born (which I thought was dumb. Why not ask to see what life would be like if he had actually committed suicide? He was born and those things won't change but maybe his suicide will lead to a prosperous new town...). So George sees that the town and its people would be much worse off had he been a stain in his mother's bloomers instead of growing up to become the worst banker in Bedford Falls, NY.

One thing that I didn't notice 'til I was older was that no matter what happened to George financially, he was still a lucky man to have that hot piece of ass Mary Hatch Bailey at home, played by the incomparable Donna Reed. I would live in dumpster behind a Long John Silver's in Arizona, if it meant that I got to stick it to Donna FUCKING Reed a couple times a week. She's that perfect combination of housewife, homemaker, and dirty debutante that most men with mommy issues seek out but never find. The quintessential mother figure that was lost when women left the home for the workplace and became sexy, sexy secretaries (like that randy minx, Ms. Hathaway from The Beverly Hillbillies, played by the incomparable Nancy Kulp).

Well, George goes home and finds the townspeople have rallied together to fix all his financial problems like some kind of offline Gofundme and now he's happy cuz that's how depression worked in the black and white days. Then a bell on the Christmas tree chimed and his little girl says that famous line, "Everytime a bell rings, an angel gets his wings." How does she know this? How does anyone know this? Why would this be a stipulation for wings? Are angels in the summer screwed until a more bell-friendly season rolls around?

And with that iconic line the movie was over, school was out for break, and everyone had a merry Christmas. Except me. I was troubled for most of those two weeks off and even beyond. I couldn't help but wonder: What if It's A Wonderful Life's premise is a lie?

The premise, or argument (is every premise an argument or is that just my worldview?) is that every person has worth and if you, you special, rare platypus, were never born, your town, your family, and maybe the world would be worse off. The horror!

That argument is easy to make if you have a vitruvian specimen like George Bailey, who as a 12-year old saved his brother from drowning, and in his teens stoped a pharmacist from poisoning a young child with a poisoned prescription. Essentially saving two lives before he can even drive.

Then he saves the bank, helps hundreds of people buy homes instead of just paying rent, becomes a naval pilot during WW II even though he could have gotten out of it due to a bum ear, shoots down a plane that would have killed a transport, and earns the Medal of Honor.

It's not difficult to say that George Bailey has value. That if had he not been born, and no one took his place or those that did were incompetent, the community would be worse off. The world needs you George Bailey. We need you George Bailey. Your wife needs you, too. *wink, wink*

But what if you aren't George Bailey? What if you're just Ernie Bishop the cab driver? Or Violet Blick? Or Giuseppe Martini? (Played by Frank Faylen, Gloria Grahame, and William Edmunds, respectively). Or what if the people that had stepped in for George were better? What if his brother wouldn't have gone swimming because he had no brother to swim with? What if the kid hired by Mr. Gower noticed the poison and stopped him...and then told the police so the town would have then gotten maybe a better pharmacist, one that doesn't try to poison its residents when he gets a little melancholy? Or what if the navy would have gotten a pilot who wasn't deaf in one ear who would have not only saved the one transport but several others thanks to his supersonic hearing?

What if you meet your guardian angel and you ask to see life if you had never been born and everyone's life is better? Or a large majority? Or even just your family? George Bailey asked a dangerous question and got lucky. He had an opportunity to make his mark on Bedford Falls and he made the best of it. I remember thinking, I can't save anyone from drowning, I can't even swim. How can I question a local apothecary about his cure-alls when I can't even tell my own mother that her macaroni salad has too much mayo in it (and shouldn't have carrots at all, sorry mom)?

I thought of my guardian angel trying to conjure up a scrap of a reason I shouldn't off myself or worse yet... show me everyone in my family and town and how their lives are slightly better.

Showing me my friends with two more trophies on their dresser because they had a left fielder who could hit the cut-off man when the game was on the line. Or showing me my family sitting down to dinner with my middle spot on the crappy, uneven chair left out, as they all seem happier. My brothers would get more attention, my mother is 50 pounds lighter and not limping because in this reality she didn't dislocate her knee on my Mumra action figure, and my dad... well, my dad was a baby boomer dad so 2 kids or 3 kids, it didn't really matter to him much, but without me he would probably be happier since he wouldn't have to waste his Saturday mornings at my soccer games "cheering" me on.

My Clarence didn't do his due diligence and just figured that being born made everything better (what about Hitler, Clarence? Checkmate! Angels always forget about Hitler.) My Clarence keeps searching and struggling to find a family member or friend that would be worse off without me. He shows me my cousin who was born a few months after me thinking that she would be without a friend during family visits. But my Clarence forgot that I played with the boys and joined in on making fun of her and her girlish leanings…I also killed her goldfish and rubbed her Barbie's face on my butt.

I picture my Clarence then taking a break to look into the future so he can show me what I will become, how I will help people when I'm older and that the world needs me when I'm 30... and then realizes that ain't gonna convince me not to jump either. Well, luckily we didn't have raging waters like Bedford Falls. We only had a peaceful lake. My dad had guns but I wouldn't want to leave a mess... plus I didn't know how to load them. I doubt I knew about overdosing on pills, and I definitely would've wussed out on slitting my wrists. I just realized it's hard to kill yourself in small town America when you're ten years old.

Anyway…

I was a ten-year-old during Christmas time arguing with myself about suicide, instead of enjoying the Super Tecmo Bowl and Transformers I got as presents. Also, I never really found an adequate conclusion to the George Bailey Conundrum. Is there one? Now at Christmas I just watch the Rankin and Bass Rudolph 'cuz even though I usually feel like Dolly the doll from The Land of Misfit Toys (who people forget didn't really seem to be a misfit) of whom Producer Arthur Rankin later said she considered herself a misfit because of "low self-esteem and psychological problems," I can't help but forget my troubles when Yukon Cornelius wrestles that bumble.

Classic...