#ok! the writing gods blessed me tonight i guess!

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

heya, i have to wake up in three hours but! here's another lil human au snippet! ft. lightly implied Laughingstock! disclaimer i am so so tired so don't come at me for typos or strangely worded sentences or missing info <3

~

Before heading home, Eddie swings by a charming little store he’s been to once or twice before. He usually goes to the chain store by his house, but he doesn’t feel like dealing with the hustle and bustle and the endless aisles. This little store is quiet, nice, and strangely has everything anyone could need. 

The lot is mostly empty at this hour, so Eddie claims a spot right at the front. As with the other times, the windows are littered with displays and stickers - half off on this, sale on that. Eddie enters Howdy’s Place with the chime of the door’s shopkeeper’s bell. He’ll get what he needs and get out, quick and easy and peacefu-

Boisterous laughter slams into Eddie like a hammer, so sudden that he jumps in place. An employee stocking cans nearby glances weirdly at him. Eddie clears his throat and hurries into the nearest aisle as the laughter tapers off. The silence barely lasts a second before loud chatter starts up. It’s too fast and muffled for Eddie to understand, but he can pick out two distinct voices - one deep, one less so but still decidedly masculine. 

Eddie tries to tune it out as he gathers what he needs. Toothpaste, some paper towels, shampoo. For the hell of it, he nabs a box of classic bran muffins from the spacious food section. He lingers for a moment, enjoying how far-away the conversation seems at the other corner of the store. Unfortunately, theft is illegal, so Eddie is forced to move towards the noise.

A strange thing about the store - it’s a combination general store, antique shop, and diner, complete with a miniature gift shop separating the two. One long checkout counter stretches from the open store area, behind the gift shop, and into the diner, where the conversation is coming from. An interesting setup, but an understandable one. It allows anyone behind the counter to move fluidly between customers and sections.

As Eddie approaches, the conversation becomes slightly clearer. 

“-said, no wonder you didn’t get her number!” the deeper voice barks, and the two dissolve into that almost-too-loud laughter again. 

As it tapers off, the other voice says, “Sounds like a real charmer! But really, you oughta be careful, Barn. One of these days someone’s gonna throw a right hook at ya.”

Eddie’s eyebrows shoot up. A transatlantic accent? He hasn’t heard that anywhere outside of real old movies and a queen he once knew. It sounds natural too, like the man was born to sound like he belongs on a 1920s radio show. It nudges something in the back of Eddie’s mind. He’s started to get really sick of that nudge.

“Oh, this guy did.”

“No kidding? I don’t see a shiner.”

“Well, yeah. I went left.”

Both of them laugh again, and Eddie feels a tiny tug at the corner of his mouth. That wasn’t funny enough to garner an actual laugh in his opinion, but it wasn’t unfunny. 

Eddie steps up to the counter and quietly puts his acquired items on it, not wanting to interrupt. He chances a glance to the side - walking space in front of the counter’s length lets him see right down into the diner.

A large man with dyed-blue hair and an interesting fashion sense is at the bar, talking to an employee leaning against the other side. The employee doesn’t really catch Eddie’s gaze, but the other man… Eddie swears he’s seen him before. He studies him from the corner of his eye, not wanting to be rude but unable to mind his business. 

“Our bouncer didn’t even get a chance at the action - the idiot knocked himself out tryin’ a second swing!” The customer says. His deep voice, wavering with humor, only adds to the sense of familiarity. Metal glints in his right ear. Eddie knows this man from somewhere.

The employee shakes his head, tutting. His busy hands polish a vintage pitcher. “I swear, you get all the crazies.”

“Makes for a good story, though.” The customer takes a sip from his tall milkshake and scoffs. “Though if it wasn’t all well-ending, amusing bull, I doubt I’d be so tolerant.”

Minutes drag by as the two keep talking. Eddie goes from patiently waiting to awkwardly trying to get the employees attention. If only there was someone else behind the counter, but the only other staff member is elsewhere, likely still stocking shelves. 

The two men are too absorbed in their little world, even though both are facing Eddie’s way. The customer has both elbows on the counter, one of them bent to prop up his chin. The employee has his hip leaned against the edge as they chat. They’re obviously very familiar with each other, and clearly deeply enjoy each other's company. 

Still - and Eddie is sorry to say, but it’s bad customer service. He’s not in a rush, but he’d still like to be on his way home. He could be fishing out the complex keys right now. He checks his phone - he’s been here for nearly fifteen minutes. Picking out the items took less than five. 

Eddie sighs, staring at the various cigarette packs displayed behind the counter. He’s never seen the appeal in smoking, but as the laughter starts up again, he almost wishes he did. He’s going to treat himself to a very long shower once he gets home. 

The store’s other employee walks behind the counter, carrying a box. Eddie lights up. Finally - she pointedly clears her throat and heads into the back. 

The constant conversation stalls for the barest moment, and he looks over. The customer grins at him for a second - lord he’s handsome - before turning that grin towards his friend.

“You’re losin’ your touch, Howds,” he teases, bringing his shake straw to his lips.

“I resent that statement. You’re just distracting.”

“Lil’ me? Distracting? C’mon, you can just tell me I’m pretty to my face. I’ll take it like a champ, I swear!”

“Ha, good try.” The employee sets the pitcher down and starts to mosey in Eddie’s direction. “Your ego is big enough for the both of us as is. One more compliment and your head’ll pop like a balloon.”

“Well, given that most balloons don’t really pop, they just kinda deflate slowly-”

“Sorry for the wait!” the employee says loudly in a glaringly obvious customer service tone. He stops in front of Eddie with a cardboard smile. At the other end of the counter, the familiar man snickers and hides his grin behind his drink. “I trust you found everything you did - and didn’t! - need.”

Eddie just stares up at him for a moment. At six-one, Eddie hasn’t felt small in a very long time. He usually stands at least a full inch above other people. This employee - Howdy, his name tag states - has several more on him.

“Uh, y-yes, I uh, I did,” Eddie stammers, glancing at his items. 

“Wonderful! And again, my sincerest apologies for the delay. My friend makes a game out of keeping me from my job.” Howdy shoots his ‘friend’ a glare with enough heat in it to make an ice cube sweat. 

“No worries.”

Howdy scans the items at an almost frightening speed. Beep, into a paper bag. Beep, in. Beep, beep - “Oh, no.”

“What?” Eddie says, dread plucking at his ribs as Howdy holds the bran muffins and shakes his head. “Is there somethin’ wrong?”

“Indeed there is! You’re making a mistake with these. They’re absolutely horrible, I tell ya - and bad for you, too!” Howdy tuts and puts the box to the side. “No, no, you don’t want those.”

“I… don’t?”

“Not if you knew better! Lucky for you, I’m here to set you straight. What you need is-” he snaps his fingers, “Barnaby, be a pal and-”

“Already on it,” ‘Barnaby’ says, appearing next to Eddie.

If Eddie weren’t already paralyzed, he’d jump right out of his skin from how Barnaby towers over him. He has to be a scant inch or so shorter than Howdy, but he still makes Eddie feel tiny. Unfortunately, Barnaby is even more handsome up close. 

“Here ya go.” Barnaby hands a plastic container to Howdy and taps it, smiling lazily down at Eddie. “I’d take his advice on this one. Those bran-named muffins may sound fancy, but they’re pretty crumby! You want muffins of quality. Real breadwinners!

Eddie can’t help a soft laugh. “Breadwinners, heh, that’s a good one.”

“Are you selling these or am I?” Howdy says, raising a bushy eyebrow. 

“Hey, I’m just doin’ what you asked! I’m bein’ a pal.”

“And I - I’m sorry," Eddie interjects, "but you’re awfully familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?”

“Eh, I’ve been around, but uh… you ever been to [INSERT GAY BAR NAME HERE]?”

Howdy clears his throat. “I’m trying to make a sale here, Barn. You can flirt on your own dime when you’re not costing me mine.”

“Didja know your nose gets redder when you’re jealous?”

Howdy rolls his eyes and shoves Barnaby in the diner’s direction. Barnaby goes with a hearty snicker. Despite the joke, Eddie thinks it has some merit as Howdy scans the final item and rings him up, considerably frostier than before.

Belatedly, Eddie realizes that he didn’t actually agree to the different muffins. Too late now. “Say, what kind of muffins are those?”

“Poppyseed-lemon.”

Eddie relaxes - that is a lot better than boring bran. “Y’know, my mother loved poppyseed-lemon muffins.”

“Did she now,” Howdy drawls.

“Like you wouldn’t believe! If baking was so much as mentioned, she’d jump right on houndin’ us to whip some up for her, or send us to go buy some. We’d never even get a taste! They’d be gone the moment they hit the air, I tell ya.” Eddie chuckles. “Took me a while to understand what all the fuss is about, but man was she right. They are good!”

“Uh-huh. Well, we have a fresh batch delivered every morning. They’re not the same type every time, mind you, but I can promise that they’re all of the highest quality.”

“Breadwinners, right?” Eddie jokes. Howdy doesn’t blink, but Barnaby snorts. He’ll take it. “I might have to come by more often, if that’s the case! Thank you kindly, sir.”

“Mhm, have a good day.” Howdy hands him the bag and strides away without a glance. The dismissal is clear as day. “Say, Barn, did you hear about the racket one of those cult crackpots stirred up at our dear friend’s tearoom?”

Eddie doesn’t catch the tail-end of the sentence as he hurries away, but he frowns. Cult? What cult? There’s a cult? He certainly didn’t hear of one before moving here, and none of his background checks had turned up anything of the sort. He hopes it was just a figure of speech. 

The door chimes again as Eddie leaves. It isn’t until he’s in his car that the embarrassment of that whole exchange catches up with him. If he had a nickel for every time he’d made a fool of himself in front of a gorgeous, strangely familiar man, he’d have three nickels. At the rate he’s going, he’ll either be rich, or he’ll have to move. 

Eddie subtly tries to peek around the store’s window displays from the safety of his car. He catches a scant glimpse of blue hair - come to think of it, it’s a similar shade to Wally’s. But where Wally’s had, to Eddie’s memory, been uniformly dyed right down to his eyebrows, Barnaby’s rich brown roots were obvious. His beard and eyebrows weren’t dyed, either. 

As Eddie relaxes back into his seat, he re-reads at the store’s name. The color drains from his face and he barely restrains himself from slamming his forehead against the steering wheel.

Oh, of course. Of course he made a fool of himself in front of the owner. Eddie can never come back here again. And it was such a nice store…

#wait wym this is almost 2k words what the Fuck! #ok! the writing gods blessed me tonight i guess! #anyway slight context - #in my mind there's a whole Plot and stuff for this au #where it starts off with eddie running into The Group™️ and meeting them mostly separately #before they all meet up and go 'hey yeah you guys ran into eddie from high school too? cool. he's ours now' #and forcibly drag eddie into their little Circle #wh modern human au #snippets from the bog #also sorry about the [INSERT GAY BAR NAME HERE] lmfao i cant come up with one atm #i want it to be wh-related and Clever #but i am not very clever on a good day and this has been a bad one! and again! im tired! #i. dont know how to tag this. whatever! if you see it you see it! #ok im going to sleep. for a whopping three hours before my alarm goes off. *less than three. Sigh. #i always do this! its like 'oh i have to wake up early tomorrow! lets not sleep at all! im feeling so creative!' #gonna go think about this au's laughingstock as i drift to sleep #FOR THREE. HOURS. #have i mentioned the three hours????

[standardquip]

Heat Guy J Live Reacts

While watching Gungrave I remembered this show existed. Here are a compilation of discord messages I sent while watching the show over the course of ~2 weeks.

Key points: - This just might be an escaflowne AU - werewolves heck yes - better women than gungrave - surprise "tomatoes in anime" research

do I watch Heat Guy J (26 eps, similar to gungrave) or do I watch Black lagoon (29 eps, sexy guns starring a lady) I'm leaning toward Heat Guy J for my grey haired man quota I'm playing Heat Guy J ep 1 now so far the music is good lol kill bill inspired or kill bill was inspired bythis? I don't remember when either of those came out wow the voices are so much cooler sounding in japanese they just sound lame in english but english uses less brain power so I'll deal I'm gonna play all these at 1.5x speed because I'm on a strict schedule wow the cgi in this anime did not age well

I think this show shares a character designer with escaflowne … I might have to get this soundtrack damn this ost is all over the place but in a good way I'm only 12min into the first ep this is crazy ok alan schezar

hey look, it's Chid Freid all grown up

shut up, emo dildandau

also, they call the don of their mafia "vampire" (that's the title of the position) That's pretty neat

I'm pretty sure that's just a simplified bra design but this is the 2nd time she's shown up and all I can think of when I see her is "furry boobs"

this dude [Claire] seriously is dilandau straight up psychotic

werewolf or werecat? Hmmmmm

WHAT prisoners have their dna altered so when/if they escape prison, their faces are altered to look like beasts That is such an INSANE policy who puts sunflowers on a grave wtf

I started Heat Guy J I'm just starting ep 3 Here's my thoughts so far:

Surprisingly way more interesting than I thought it would be

The OST is god tier imo

Character design is very similar to vision of escaflowne

the android design is unique and cool bonus: at least one werewolf

ep4 it is a werewolf hecc yeah

"Have you seen my bunny?" I think I found Van

oh If we take personality into account This guy is actually folken

hot

this irish jig thing they have for the fight scenes is really entertaining

the russian roulette guy is the werewolf And I'm going back on the folken thing He's definitely Van ep5 I think this will be the last one for me tonight

fun times

[someone else says: Heat Guy J episode 1: October 1, 2002. Kill Bill Vol 1 premiere: October 30, 2003 ]

gonna try and get the next 5 eps of heat guy j done starting with ep 6 alright what's with the tomato symbolism in anime this didn't just come out of nowhere in new anime and now it's in heat guy j

[someone says: So Google has no idea why tomatoes I thought there would be like some sort of analysis on tomatoes as a symbolic device in anime ]

No it's probably not that direct like maybe japan exports a ton of tomatoes or something?

like if potatoes show up in some irish show There's a lot of history behind that (because of the potato famine) regardless of how they are actually used in the show There is a reason Just like how english is always saying "oh my god" or why they say "bless you" when you sneeze That seems benign but the reason for it is because english speakers are/were predominantly christian

Nobody's going to write an essay about why english speakers use "oh my god" or "bless you" in mass media It's something ingrained in the culture, so you'd have to look in a different context (different from its connection to why it shows up in tv shows a lot) to find the answer you're looking for

I guess ep 6 is "the stock market episode" oh boy they're really hamfisting the lessons in this one already oh boy they just explained the difference between stocks and commodities they also explained shorts (without calling them shorts)

J just caught a bullet with his BARE HANDS and it wasn't even a special scene or anything IT JUST HAPPENED

WHAT dilandau is like "I don't want you around anymore" to his butler so the butler is like "ok" AND THEN PUTS A GUN TO HIS HEAD FOR SUICIDE that's fucking crazy just leave the organization It was a free pass

ep7

cool he's got a scar now also it was just confirmed that THIS ONE is a cat

Back to tomatoes in anime: https://tasteofculture.com/2023/07/17/tomatoes-in-japan/ not as in-depth as I was hoping for

but my armchair guess is it symbolizes a gaijin making a big change to the culture and succeeding maybe an underdog story that also happens to look pretty

I wonder if this is why the tomato is getting spotlight in new anime https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Science/Japan-approves-gene-edited-super-tomato.-But-will-anyone-eat-it

why do japanese love the tomato so much? :skeptical fry.jpg: https://www.bbcspirits.com/gb/other-alcohols/729-liqueur-japan-la-tomato.html

ok so [person] might be onto something with the "it's just pretty" thing https://www.ishs.org/ishs-article/100_10 this abstract makes it more clear that tomatoes were grown primarily because they were pretty. They didn't start eating them until the 1920s!

starting ep 10 now

alright Let's see if I can get to ep 15 I want to start a different series

ep11 was about mind control You know, it's been awhile since we saw the werewolf guy I wonder if he'll be in ep12

Heat Guy J is way more entertaining than the trailer made it seem but there's no real over-arching plot so I'm kind of bored of it now But not bored enough of it that I am ok abandoning it without finishing HELL YEAH WEREWOLF GUY IS IN THIS ONE oh lame they reused the animation from the other episode 😔

ep13 (yay) if I could finish this series today, that would be cool idk if I can keep focused on it much longer though I actually kind of want to go to bed… :reigensweat: (it's only 6pm here)

Starting ep15 The last one for today oh damn they legit destroyed heat guy j they just gave the main character super lsd

… j will make a full recovery damn plot armor

damn MC's (Daisuke) got plot armor from the super lsd too what a letdown

well ep15 is over and nothing has fundamentally changed I'm going to bed I guess And by "Bed" i mean laying down and browsing reddit on my phone til I fall asleep

ok let's see if I can get through 16 - 20 of heat guy j tonight

ep16 MC's brother, alan with glasses, was shot and is in the hospital. I guess he doesn't have plot armor. Meanwhile, dildandau's organization tries to overthrow him because he's too psychotic I wasn't paying much attention, I'm not sure if it succeeded or not

ep17 continues this plot MC & J leave the city and MC smells clean air and grass for the first time He doesn't like nature smells one random side character is the voice of those toonami music video narrator's (outlaw star narrator?) and it's sooo weird

hell yeah werewolf is back werewolf guy aka van is actually just a deus ex He only appeared for 5 seconds to make plot armor for MC 😩 ep18 MC got fired from the special unit. So he and J are now no longer partners alan is out of the hospital I think MC is going after the gang organization that dildandau used to be head of. is currently head of? It's still confusing

ok looks like dildandau is uhhh not present mentally and is maybe on the run So I guess the coup succeeded lol dildandau's character name is claire rival crime gangs are all after claire because they need his eyes to defeat some retinal scanner to access a ton of gold

J has been re-activated to be the plot armor for MC, who happens to be in the same room as clair currently while this gang war is going on yadda yadda somehow MC got the special unit formed again ep19 MC trying to recruit werewolf to the new special unit oh werewolf history episode yay

werewolf joined them yay ep20 Probably the last one before bed tonight There's 26 eps total, so maybe I can finish it tomorrow ep20 today we learn lightsabers just casually exist in this universe oh There's also an evil clone of J apparently

the evil J is trying to kill the MCs but normal J is nowhere to be found I wonder why that is oh there he is finally J vs J battle has commenced J is so OP evil J is dead now ehhhh let's watch ep 21, then call it some random side character has lost his black cat, named juliet aaaand now he's dead

juliet sees it And with his dying breath, he reaches for the cat "I have to make sure that you get home" Sad surprisingly powerful for random side character who has never shown up before oh wait He has shown up before lmao his name is romeo of course he'd name his cat juliet poor juliet

ok ep21 done bed now finish heat guy j tomorrow hopefully

alright let's see if we can watch the last 5 eps of heat guy j today beginning ep 22 this time the killer machine is A WOMAN! you know, this show has more women than the last one (Gungrave), which is good, but so far every single "evil" woman has been mind controlled meaning apparently women don't have the power to be bad of their own accord So that's kind of weird that it's happened twice now

the mechanic for J is very obviously in love with him I mean it was obvious from the first ep she was introduced but now it's even more obvious This looks like it's going to turn into "the beach episode"

oh shit, the island's owned by sephiroth! 😂

ep 23 There's a reoccuring small girl photographer character. She sells photos from a carriage on the street with a mule. So we start this ep with her carriage (which is also her house) burning to the ground girl is stoic, mom is crying and sobbing Girl says "Darn. I forgot my camera. I bet I could've sold a photo of this to the news for some money"

monica (the girl) now lives with the special squad and she is spitting some straight facts J has agreed to pretend to be monica's dad She is using him as a stage performer so she can get money LOL Now she's using him to gamble haha

so you're telling me that in all the years MC has been carrying this bullet pendant around his neck, he never once tried to open it? give me a break Monica opened it and found a memory card inside which is a thing MC needed to solve a crime anyway, ep24 time woman assassin! is she acting of her own accord though? Let's find out

Turns out MC's brother, Alan (actually named Shun) was the evil one all along! Oh Female assassin is actually J's technician! womp womp and shun just killed her sad trombone.mp3 and now he's controlling J!

oh no.jpg

ep25 begins (second to last episode) claire/dildandau makes a triumphant return, to tell MC his brother is the one behind this! Because MC was too dumb to figure it out himself for some reason rather than MC fighting J, beautiful werewolf deus ex appears out of nowhere and forces J into sleep mode

something weird is happening with alan's voice I'm predicting he is actually an android as well Let's see if this bet pays off dildandau got his organization back

same face syndrome killed me the assassin was shun/alan's assistant, not J's technician time to start the final ep, ep26

this is dumb the anime is too episodic now what do I want to watch next? (even though ep26 is still going on in the background) - High Card - Link Click season 2 - Blood Blockade Battlefront - Grenadier - Noein - Black Lagoon

Currently I am interested in lots of guns and gray haired men idk which is more important so maybe a good 50/50 ratio is perfect 🤔 well if we go in download date order, I should do Black Lagoon next… MC to evil brother: "The only think I'm here to kill… Is your anger" 😂

plot armor is in full effect in this episode now there's fireworks because some random deus ex kills everyone that mattered to the coup evil brother tries to kill himself nothing matters evil brother is not an android sad evil brother does not die and decides to not be evil anymore they gave him amnesty This has less stakes than an MCU movie MC goes on a kino's journey without J series ends super lame I am going to make a very nonsensical decision and start High Card next oh no its japanese with subs only! 😩 I don't want to deal with that right now Guess I'll go with Black Lagoon

I finished Heat Guy J It's too episodic for my tastes Also the plot armor was super thick I have started Black Lagoon I'm on ep9 currently It's much better (Heat Guy J OST was still amazing though) the only thing black lagoon is missing is a silver haired guy

well there's 29 eps... More than enough time for one to show up

#heat guy j #sqreacts #live reacts #heat guy j live reacts #escaflowne au #werewolves #tomatoes in anime

[redemptioninterlude]

💕 simp me pls

let me 💕 you meme + @killjoysanonymous

me here just like, IS MY PRESENCE NOT ENOUGH? but ok kg you got it coming then!!! so like, why the theme, why all my old friends back in one place!? i’m just blessed i guess, like, especially with the timing and everything, it’s amazing to see the growth, strength, and kindness amongst everyone that’s come back into my life in the last few months, though with you especially, it’s been a great time just slowly warming everything back, coming to our own realizations and just?? letting go of a lot of old bullshit, like i really feel like collectively, what a time and what a good person you have been through all of it. for fucking real, i will fight for you on that.

and just URGH all our god damn things we’re writing, like, having a crack at bubbline and rules and spaye and everything has been!!! a fucking blessing because i know you’re always up for exploring the good, the bad, the ugly. not only of ships but of friendships too, and just i love writing anything and everything with you because you always have such a great take on your muses. the last few weeks have been insane, and i love you for real. one more day!!! and tonight you better have the best sleep ever, i’m manifesting this shit for you ♡

#killjoysanonymous #❝ ooc ❞ ┆ mun answers ┆ if no one's putting numbers on the board !

[thepetiteninja]

Welcome to 2024

Hello again!

My most recent post was from 4 years ago. And so much had happened since, so I guess it's time for another update. I'm writing this for me who will be reading this entry after a few years, maybe when I remember to dig up my old tumblr account again just because I felt like reminiscing.

So anyway, I'm turning thirty this year. That hasn't sunk yet because more than anything — I'm getting married this year too. It's still to the guy I have been writing about years before. We're turning 9 years this 2024, and are tying the knot this October. He proposed to me two years ago. On top of the Singapore Flyer, 11.11.22. Damn, what a date.

But the past few years weren't all about butterflies and happiness. These past few years were actually some of the worst ones of my life so far. I'm in debt. But fortunately on a good payment plan now that I haven't missed. I risked a really good job to pursue hosting full time — that only lasted for 3 months. Then shifted industries because I wanted to still give myself a chance. And so now I'm still hosting but for e-commerce livestreams. Got promoted twice in a year. I'm now a trainer. But I still do copywriting on the side because it makes good money. At least now I've flipped it up. Doing my passions full time then writing on the side. I'm tired though, to tell you the truth.

Mind-wise, I'm confident. I know what I can bring to the table and what I'm capable of. I don't second guess myself too much now. I still work hard and multi-task. I know my worth. I know my strengths. I learned my lessons well. I've been through difficult times and now I've gained stability. I know I'm ready to fly. In a smarter, more mature way.

Life-wise could be better. Because the wedding is right around the corner, everything I'm earning is being poured to it. So you can say I'm still living paycheck to paycheck after all the great things I take pride on. I'd like to think I've planted a lot of seeds that I'm just waiting to harvest soon. Hopefully the wedding turns out great, so I could finally enjoy the fruits of my labor completely. To be honest tonight, dinner was just a pack of pancit canton and cup noodles. It's petya de peligro and I don't know where to get tomorrow's fare to work. But I'll get by. After a day, salary's gonna come. I really hope it gets so much better soon.

So these things, y'know. It's entirely great but minutely terrifying. And every single time God proves to me that there's guidance from above. You won't believe how many conveniently unexpected blessings I've gotten over the past tumultuous years. I can't even comprehend how I've weathered through all the moments I worried about. But I'm here, sitting on my couch, safe, satiated, typing whatever comes to mind. It's these reflective, peaceful pauses that makes you realize that despite the chaos, I'm actually okay. Barely breathing but pushing on.

I'd like to think future me who would be reading this somehow, someday, would look at me and say: "just wait, it's going to be better". Because I would be saying the same thing to myself who started this blog 10+ years ago. It had gotten so much better. Crazier, but better. I wish future me would say, "babe, we're a millionaire". But more importantly would love her to say, "we still love what we do". No matter what that looks like.

So there. I think that's an ample update about how I am now. And hopefully in a few years tumblr would still be here so I'd be able to read all this again. It's a good self-therapy shit. And also I just missed writing my thoughts like this.

Ok, I'm just rambling now. Until the next update!

[heyitssmiller]

Frosted Windowpanes Part Two

I have no idea why this was so hard to write? Part one just came so easily and this... not so much. But here it is! All the holiday tropes! Christmas puns (thank you to all of y’all who gave me ideas for those)! Falling in love!

As always, @donttouchmycarrots is my hero for proofreading!! Love you <3

@lumosinlove Guess who’s back to borrow your characters ;) Thank you so much!!

Part One if you missed it!

.

Finn had a Plan.

Well, half a Plan.

Maybe.

Step one: meet up with Logan and Leo again. Step two: woo them. Step three: …

Well, it wasn’t much. And it was very vague. But Finn’s plans tended to never go the way he wanted them to anyway, so vague was usually for the best. And so far, it had been going well. They’d grabbed dinner several times, ran into each other at the store or buying Christmas presents downtown. And on Monday the diner was closed, so Finn and Leo spent hours at the farm helping where they could and pestering Logan. He was so fun to tease – he got all gruff and grumpy and adorable. Leo seemed to think so, too, if the number of times he teamed up with Finn to make Logan get all red was anything to go off of.

At the beginning of all this, Finn had thought he’d been overdramatic. He’d woken up the morning after first meeting Logan and Leo and assumed he’d been tired and jet-lagged and was imagining all those feelings he’d felt the night before.

And then he’d met up with them again.

Love at first sight wasn’t real. Finn knew this. But being here, meeting Logan and Leo, just might have been enough to change his mind. It made no sense, but – well, here he was. The past few days were happy, rose-tinted, and Finn couldn’t believe his luck. What were the odds that he’d find both of them in this sleepy little town?

So here he was, pulling into the parking lot of Leo’s for a cup of coffee and a healthy serving of sweet southern blond.

Leo was out front, shoveling snow and looking absolutely miserable while doing it. He was bundled in a thick coat and hat, scarf wrapped high around his neck. Finn laughed under his breath as he turned his car off and braved the cold. Poor southern boy. Leo glanced up at him briefly when he approached, then did a double take.

“Morning, sunshine.” Finn said with a cheeky grin. “Enjoying the snow day?”

Leo’s resulting grumpy look made Finn laugh. “I’ll take that as a no.”

“Nate called and said he can’t make it to work today because the roads are so bad.” Leo took a deep breath, and then the rest of his words came out in a jumbled, rushed mess. “Which isn’t his fault and I’m not blaming him at all. But I haven’t started cooking and we open in thirty minutes and there’s no coffee brewing and nowhere for people to park because of this goddamn snow and so I’m stuck shoveling snow instead of cooking and I’m so far behind-”

Finn gently pressed a finger to Leo’s lips, halting the nervous ramblings. Leo looked down at his finger, then back up to meet Finn’s eyes.

Oh, he was so gorgeous.

Finn had to force himself to focus on the matter at hand instead of cherry-red lips and soft baby blues. “Relax, ok? And hand me the shovel. I’ll do this, while you get on inside and start cooking.”

“But – Finn,” Leo said, and wow did he love the sound of his voice in that southern twang.

“Leo,” He echoed with an attempted accent, eliciting a smile from the blond.

“I can’t just ask you to work. You’re on vacation.”

“First of all, you didn’t ask – I offered. And the friends I’m visiting are both at work,” Finn explained, “so I’ve been left to my own devices for the day.”

Leo winced in sympathy. “Bless your heart.”

And see, Finn had done his research. He’d googled New Orleans, the state of Louisiana, and the south in general. And he’d learned that southerners were very confusing – more confusing than people gave them credit for. They were polite and kind to everyone, even if they definitely didn’t mean it. The phrase “bless your heart” could mean they either absolutely adored you or they thought you were the worst person on the planet.

Finn really hoped it wasn’t the latter. He didn’t think it was the latter, anyways.

“I’m literally dying of boredom. I’ll shovel the snow, and then I can come help you cook!” At Leo’s skeptical look, Finn brought out the big guns: his puppy dog eyes. They were known to melt even the hardest of hearts. He’d learned this lesson in college when asking his Grinch of an Ethics professor for some extra credit. “Please?”

Leo hesitated, but Finn could see the exact moment he caved. “Alright. But you’re getting paid.”

“Absolutely not. Consider it a Christmas gift.”

“I’ll pay you in food and coffee.”

“Deal.” Finn said, grabbing the shovel from Leo’s mittened hands. “Like I could ever say no to your food.”

Leo’ smile, warm and a little bashful, probably could’ve thawed the snow on the pavement if it was directed that way. “What would you like: sweet or savory?”

“Sweet,” Finn said instantly, even though he really preferred savory. His one-track mind was still stuck on dimples. “But I take my coffee black.”

“Comin’ right up.”

Finn watched him go, knowing that he had the dopiest smile on his face. Today was going to be a good day. And he knew a way to make it even better.

Finn dialed the number for Tremblay’s Trees, hoping more than anything that Logan would be the one to pick up. But of course he wasn’t that lucky. A bright, cheery voice answered the phone - definitely not Logan. “Tremblay’s Trees!0 This is Thomas, how can I help you?”

“Uh,” Finn said articulately, “Hi, I’d like to talk to Logan. Is he there?”

There was a slight pause, then: “Maybe. Who’s asking? And how do you know our dear Lolo?” The voice sounded curious, if not a little mischievous. Before Finn could answer, though, there was a scuffling over the line.

“Talker, give me the phone.”

“Oh, come on, I’ve got the five o’clock news slot tonight. Give the people what they want, Logan! Who’s your mystery caller?”

“I swear to god-”

The scuffling sound got louder, then there was a loud clatter when Finn assumed the phone hit the ground. He jerked his own phone away from his ear with a wince. “I am very confused.” He stated, not sure if anyone else heard him.

There was a small, softer rustle, then a breathless voice asked, “Hello?”

Finn couldn’t help but smile. “Hi, Lolo.”

That laugh was just as wonderful over the phone as it was in person. “Please don’t call me that.”

“Mmm… I might need to be convinced.” Finn said, letting some flirtiness slip through. “Anyways, I’ve got an idea. You busy today?”

“I’ve got the morning off. Why, what did you have in mind?”

So Finn, with the phone pressed between his shoulder and his ear, told the story of this morning as he shoveled – Nate not being able to make it to his shift, the ice and snow in Leo’s parking lot, Leo being behind on cooking and acting anxious. “So I was thinking we could do something? Like a surprise? And I know you guys need to actually sell things and make a living and stuff but I was thinking about decorating the diner? He just works so hard and he’s so stressed and I feel like he could use a little holiday cheer. What do you think?”

The other voice from earlier must have shouted, because he was loud enough to hear over the phone. “Phone guy! What the hell did you say to make him melt like that?”

Logan punched Talker in the shoulder. Hard. “I will lock you in the closet, Talker. Shut. Up.” His attention was brought back to the phone by Finn’s laugh and his demeanor softened again. He’d never met someone as chaotically considerate as Finn O’Hara. It was such a sweet, thoughtful idea. And it was something to help out Leo? How could Logan say no?

“Sounds like a plan.” Logan said, cradling the phone closer to his ear. “Most people already have their decorations so we don’t have a whole lot left, but I’ll see what I can find.”

“Perfect! Oh this is going to be so fun – fuck, I’ve gotta go. Customers just showed up. But I’ll see you soon, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Great. Ok see you soon bye!” The words reached Logan in a rush before the line went dead.

What a dork.

Logan was pretty sure he was half in love with him.

“So…” Talker said suddenly, making Logan spin around quickly. “Who are you pining over?”

Noelle, who had been passing by on her way to the kitchen, backpedaled in order to join the conversation. “Are we talking about Logan’s love life? Because I’m so here for that.”

Logan sighed and went to the coat rack by the door, grabbing his coat, toque, and scarf. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”

They both promptly ignored him. Talker grinned at his fiancée, sensing trouble he could get into. “He’s become such a sap.”

Noelle snuggled up to Talker, turning her teasing gaze to her brother. “But if it’s who I’m thinking of, they have such good chemis-tree.”

“Did you guys practice this or something?”

“Hey man, don’t be so defensive.” Talker said, voice turning serious. “You know we’re all rooting for you.”

“I hate you both so much.”

“Aww, don’t be like that, Lolo.” Noelle sighed, giving him an over-the-top hug and obnoxious kisses to his cheek. “We’re just having some fun. Do you want us to stop needling you?”

“I’m having fun fir sure!” Talker shouted, then burst into raucous laughter, which stopped as abruptly as it started. “Wait. That wasn’t Leo on the phone. You've got eyes for someone other than him, now? Branching out a little, are we?"

“No.” Logan said instantly, then winced. Because his feelings for Leo definitely hadn’t changed. But then there was Finn… “Maybe. It’s complicated, ok?”

“The redhead that was hanging out with you and Leo on Monday?”

Logan felt his cheeks heat up but didn’t say anything. Monday had been the best, though. Showing the two of them the farm and how he did his job and watching their noses and cheeks turn adorable shades of pink from the cold. Even though he’d been there for a year, Leo still seemed in awe of all the snow. He clearly hated it, but Logan could tell he still found wonder and beauty in a clean blanket of undisturbed, freshly-fallen snow. Finn, even though he was clearly freezing too, kept cracking jokes the entire time, his voice muffled by his scarf. They’d walked and talked and learned more about each other among the saplings that would be full-grown and ready to be cut down by next season.

Yeah, Monday had been a great day.

And Logan was so screwed.

“Birch, please.” Noelle teased, then softened. “But really, Logan. Both of them were just as interested in you as they were in each other. You’ve got nothing to worry about, you just need to talk to them.”

He looked up from the buttons of his coat. “You think so?”

“Only one way to find out. What are you doing with them today?”

“We’re decorating the diner.” Logan pulled his hat on and looked over at his sister. “Do you think dad’ll be ok with me taking some garland and a wreath?”

Noelle scoffed. “With all the coffee and pastries you boy’s given us, I think he’s more than paid for it. Do you want company?”

“No.”

“Oh, come on,” Talker said, wiggling his eyebrows. “We’d make the perfect wingmen.”

“You did enough while I was on the phone, thanks.” Logan said, grabbing the keys from the counter. “Ok I’m headed out. See you later.”

Talker and Noelle sent a chorus of boos after him, only stopping when the door closed firmly behind him. He huffed out a laugh, shook his head, and headed towards the display counter to grab decorations. They were a little old since it was so close to Christmas day, but they’d have to do. Logan hesitated for a split second, then grabbed the Santa hat as well. They’d get a kick out of that. He threw the decorations in the back of the truck and took off down the road.

.

They actually worked really well together – Leo and Finn, that is. Finn dealt with customers while Leo made the food. They had a complex, intricate dance around the close quarters of the diner but they seemed to know the footwork already and could predict exactly what the other needed without blinking an eye. Leo peered out the kitchen window at Finn as he took orders at another table, laughing at something one of the women said. He was good at this. He was naturally outgoing and good with people, but he was also efficient and seemed to be able to keep track of twenty different things at once.

Leo frowned thoughtfully down at the grits on the stove. Logically, he shouldn’t like Finn. The redhead had appeared like a whirlwind and thrown everything off course. But then he went out of his way to be helpful and sweet and thoughtful even though it didn’t benefit him in any way. He had a big heart with a lot of love to give. And he gave it willingly to everyone, it seemed.

Don’t get him wrong, that was a good thing – it was a great thing. But it also made the past few days incredibly confusing. Was Finn treating Leo like everyone else, or did he want something more?

He definitely wanted something more with Logan, though. That much was obvious.

Leo just wasn’t sure how he fit into all of this.

Finn barging into the kitchen snapped Leo out of his thoughts. He looked up as Finn started looking around for something on the counters and shelves, tongue poking out in concentration. Leo couldn’t help but smile at the little detail.

“What are you looking for?” He asked, stepping away from the stove.

“The, um…” Finn said, trailing off as he continued to search, clearly distracted. “The spicy maple sauce for the chicken and waffles.”

“In the fridge.” Leo stated plainly, maneuvering around Finn to grab flour from the pantry, brushing against his back as he did so and trying to ignore how the simple touch heightened his awareness of the redhead. Finn threw open the fridge door, scanning the shelves.

“Where?”

“Second shelf from the bottom, on the right.”

A few seconds of silence, then: “Where?”

Leo laughed, dumping a cup of flour into a bowl and heading to the fridge. He peered over Finn’s shoulder, then reached around him with one long arm to grab the bowl of sauce. “Right in front of you, sweetheart.” He teased. Finn turned around so that he was facing Leo, a look that Leo had seen a lot in the past few days but still couldn’t identify on his face.

“Yeah,” was all he said, soft and a little strangled.

Leo looked away from those deep, brown eyes and down at the sauce. His heartrate picked up significantly. “Have you tried this yet?” At Finn’s shake of his head, Leo grabbed a spoon from a nearby drawer. “Figured I’d combine my roots with where I ended up, y’know? Tabasco, black pepper, maple syrup, and a few more secret ingredients.” He said with a wink, spooning some out and holding it out to Finn. “I’m pretty proud of it, if I do say so myself. Try it.”

Instead of grabbing the spoon from Leo, Finn just leaned forwards and tasted the sauce straight from the spoon in Leo’s hand. Leo’s breath hitched and his stomach swooped as Finn straightened again and met his eyes.

Oh, he could stare into those eyes forever. Eyes the same color of the coffee Finn had slid through the kitchen window about an hour ago with the words, “figured you could use some” before dashing off to clear another table. Leo had turned beet red, but grabbed the coffee and held it close before taking a sip.

Leo also hadn’t realized how close they were. The diner was small and the kitchen was cramped, but they definitely didn’t need to be standing this close. Not that Leo was complaining.

“Is it hot in here?” Finn murmured, gaze flitting from Leo’s eyes down to his lips and back again.

Leo seemed a little lost, too, leaning closer to the redhead without even realizing he was doing it. “Must be the sauce.”

It definitely wasn’t just the sauce.

The chime that alerted them to the front door opening startled both of them, forcing them to jerk away from each other and blush furiously.

“I, uh, I’m going to go check on that.” Finn said, still not looking away from Leo as he backed up.

“Ok.” Leo whispered, reaching back to grab the island behind him in an attempt to steady himself. Finn reluctantly tore his eyes away and disappeared from sight, leaving Leo reeling in the kitchen as he entered the dining area.

Finn’s mind was still back in the kitchen, wishing more than anything that he hadn’t been forced to step away. He’d never wanted to kiss someone senseless quite as much as he did right then. And how was he supposed to keep it together when all he wanted to do was flip the diner sign from open to closed and get Logan here and finally talk to them. They’d felt this pull - this magnetism - too. He knew they did. The only thing left to do was finally talk about it. 

Finn was forced to snap back to the present when the counter was suddenly covered in green needles, red berries, and festive ribbons. He looked up to see Logan grinning at him. Under his coat he was wearing red plaid, which matched the Santa hat perched on his head.

How was it possible to want two people so much at the same time? He couldn’t breathe with all the emotions overflowing in his chest.

“Ho ho ho,” Logan attempted to say, but cracked up before he could finish. Finn grinned and laughed as well, stepping forward to greet him.

“You should’ve used the chimney.” Finn joked, tugging on the end of his hat playfully. He got a smile and sparkling green eyes in return. Finn bit back a dreamy sigh. “But really, thank you. Leo’s gonna love this.”

Logan’s face grew a little worried. “How is he?”

Ha.

Haha.

That was a good question, since Finn left him standing there in the kitchen with the spoon still in his hand, looking a little lost.

He ended up shrugging, glancing back at the kitchen door longingly. “Better now. Still seems tired.”

“We’re going to have to force him to take breaks, aren’t we.” It wasn’t a question.

“Probably. If we tag team, I think we can manage to make it happen.” Finn looked down at the decorations. “So where are we putting these?”

Logan looked around the dining area, giving Finn a perfect view of his profile. He longed to kiss that strong jawline so badly, holy shit. “We could hang some over the kitchen window and some around the front window. And the wreath can go on the door.” Finn followed Logan as he maneuvered his way around tables to the front window, eyeing it critically. “The frame is wide enough that it should stay up on its own, so we won’t need nails or anything.” He grabbed the garland from the counter and then turned back around. Finn looked from him to the tall crown molding around the window.

“Need a ladder?”

“No.”

Finn laughed, grabbing one end of the garland and stretching up to place it on the ledge. Once it was secure, he looked over his shoulder at Logan and stuck his hand out for the other end. Logan hesitated, clearly wanting to do it himself, but quickly admitted defeat and handed it over. He huffed at Finn’s smug smile.

“Shut up.”

Finn laughed as he hung the garland. Logan was so small and grumpy and cute. Finn wanted to bundle him up in his arms and never let go. His little pocket-sized lumberjack. How adorable. He was so different from Leo, in basically every way. And yet Finn still wanted them both. How the hell did that work? 

“I should probably check on the customers.” Finn said reluctantly, glancing around at the breakfast crowd. “Do you think you can manage the kitchen window?”

“I got it.” Logan grumbled, sizing up his next target. Finn just shook his head fondly and started making his rounds to the occupied tables. Logan grabbed the remaining garland and headed behind the counter. He couldn’t help but stick his head through the window and look around. It was several degrees warmer in the kitchen than it was in the dining area. Logan was surprised at how tidy it was, considering how hectic the morning had been. There were a few scattered dishes in the sink, but the counters were mostly clean and organized, each bowl seemed to have a designated location. Leo, focused with his head down, maneuvered between stations with an effortless grace as he breaded a chicken tender and threw it into a frier. Logan never thought he’d be so entranced by something as simple as cooking but here he was, watching Leo hum along to the Christmas music on the radio as he poured batter into a waffle iron. He grabbed a mug of coffee off to the side and looked up as he took a sip, jumping when he saw Logan.

“Logan! Hey, honey!” He smiled, like seeing Logan was the highlight of his day. Logan yearned at the sight of that smile. He seemed to be doing a whole lot of yearning lately. “When did you get here?”

“Just a few minutes ago. Brought you something.”

Leo arched an eyebrow. “That sounds a little ominous.”

“No,” Logan laughed. “No, it’s a good thing.” He held up the garland and wiggled it around a little, causing it to sway in the air.

Leo’s entire face lit up. “Christmas decorations?”

“It was Finn’s idea.” Logan said, looking back over his shoulder at the redhead. Leo visibly softened, smile gentle and eyes warm.

“He sure is sweet, isn’t he?”

You just need to talk to them, Noelle’s voice echoed in Logan’s head. Looking at Leo right then, he couldn’t help but think that maybe she was right.

.

“Sure is snowing hard out there, eh?” Logan asked several hours later as he looked out the window. It was a strange lull in the day – too late for lunch, but too early for dinner. They were all grateful for the break. Logan honestly wasn’t sure how Leo did this every day – it was exhausting.

Finn, who was sitting on the other side of the booth from Logan and Leo with his legs stretched out, pulled up the weather app on his phone. “It’s only supposed to get worse. They’re calling for a blizzard.”

Leo looked out at the snow worriedly. “I really don’t wanna drive home in all that.”

“Might need to close up early, then. No one’s going to be out in this weather, anyways.” Logan said, watching Leo bite his lip as he thought about it. “I could drive you, if you want.”

Leo looked over at him, relief clear in his eyes. “Would you?” He rushed to continue, “I don’t wanna inconvenience you or anything, and I know you need to get home too-”

“Leo,” Logan cut in with a smile. If Leo didn’t know Logan would do pretty much anything for him at this point, he was clearly oblivious. “I don’t mind, I promise.”

Leo seemed to accept it without further argument and looked over at Finn. “Do you wanna tag along? I was thinking about making cookies.”

“Well that depends.” Finn said with mock gravitas, leaning forward to rest his forearms against the table. “What kind of cookies are we talking?”

Leo matched his pose, mischief alight in his eyes. “I was thinking snickerdoodles, but I’d be willing to reconsider.”

“Sneak in some sugar cookies we can decorate and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

Leo and Finn shook on it, keeping it professional.

Logan was infatuated with the two of them.

“So you’re closing early?” He asked, excited at the prospect of spending the rest of the day with them. At Leo’s nod, he nearly sighed with relief. “Good. You need a break.”

Leo rolled his eyes, but smiled all the same. “Maybe I do.”

Finn grinned. “He finally admits it!”

“Ok, ok, I get it.” Leo sighed, shoving Logan’s shoulder repeatedly until he got out of the booth. Leo followed after him. “I’ve got to put stuff away in the kitchen and then I’ll be done.”

Logan and Finn shared a look before trailing after him. They worked together to clean up, put food away, and organize the receipts and cash register for the day. It went much faster with three people. Before they knew it, all three of them were piling into Logan’s pickup truck, bundled up against the cold and brushing freshly-fallen snowflakes off of their coats and out of their hair. Logan pulled out onto the road, driving while Leo gave directions from the passenger’s seat.

Leo’s house was nice – small, but it looked warm and well-loved. There was a snowman out front, complete with a scarf and carrot nose.

“Cute.” Finn said as they got out of the truck, walking up to the snowman. Leo smiled, fishing his keys out of his pocket.

“My friend’s little brother made that over the weekend.” He unlocked the front door and ushered everyone inside as he held the door for them. Leo’s house was all cool tones – soft blue and purples and greens. There was a tree in the corner of the living room by the window, all lit up and decorated. There were presents under the tree, wrapped in brown paper with ribbons and bows.

Leo hung his coat on the coat rack and took Logan’s and Finn’s from them. “So. Cookies?”

“Nope,” Logan said, grabbing Leo by the hand and tugging him towards the living room. “Rest first, then cookies.” Leo laughed, reaching behind him to find Finn’s arm and pulling him along with them.

“I won’t say no to a Christmas movie.” He agreed as they all collapsed onto the couch. Finn grabbed a blanket from the arm of the couch and threw it over the three of them while Leo grabbed the TV remote.

Logan moved closer under the pretense of getting under more of the blanket. He was now pressed up against Leo, butterflies in his stomach. “My vote is for Die Hard.”

Finn scoffed, throwing his legs over Leo’s and Logan’s thighs. “That doesn’t count as a Christmas movie.”

“I beg your pardon-”

“Is it about Christmas? No. Case closed.”

Logan leaned forward to look around Leo at the redhead. “It takes place during Christmas!”

Leo just listened amusedly to the bickering as he flicked through movie titles. They were still arguing when he started the cute, old Claymation Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. Both boys trailed off as the introduction music started.

“This works.” Finn said, settling in to get more comfortable, his calves flexing against Logan’s thighs as he stretched. Logan hummed in agreement, eyes already glued on the screen.

They hadn’t even met Hermey the elf before Leo was sound asleep, head pillowed on Finn’s shoulder and breathing slow and even. Finn looked over blond curls at Logan and smiled, making his heart thud painfully in his chest. He needed to talk to them, and soon. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could sit there and keep all these feelings internalized.

But it could wait until after a nap. He snuggled up close and turned back to the TV.

.

“No, you need to-” Leo stopped and laughed, pointing to the recipe. “Teaspoon of vanilla extract, darlin’, not tablespoon.”

Finn switched out one measuring spoon for another with a wince. “That would’ve been bad, huh?”

“Very bad.” Leo agreed, looking over at the oven to see Logan already staring back at them, a wide, almost-giddy smile on his face as he started loading cookie dough balls onto a baking tray. One tray of snickerdoodles were already in the oven and spreading out rapidly as they cooked.

“We might’ve put those too close to each other,” Logan said, crouching down to look into the oven. “They’re all starting to stick together. It’s just one big, square cookie.”

“That’s ok. It’ll still taste good.” Leo said with a shrug. They both turned when Finn started banging on the table in time to the music.

“I don’t want a lot for Christmas! There is just one thing I need!” He screamed, bopping along to the song. Logan laughed and let himself be tugged forwards to dance. Leo watched as they both jumped around and danced in the kitchen, hips swaying and acting like total dorks. But they were so happy, as well. Big smiles graced their faces as they laughed and sang and held each other close. Leo whisked wet ingredients together in a bowl and leaned back against the counter as he enjoyed the over-the-top show. They were cute together in the warm glow of the kitchen – a sharp contrast to the snow falling outside and collecting on the windowsill. Finn tilted his head back to shriek the last high note, causing Logan and Leo to both burst into fits of laughter.

“O’Hara, please don’t audition for Broadway.” Logan teased, still laughing a little. Finn scowled and grabbed a tea towel, spinning it up before whipping it at the brunet.

This started an all-out war. Many a cookie lost their life in the crossfire when Logan accidentally hit Leo’s arm as he was transferring cooled cookies into a tin. They had a warrior’s send-off as they were dumped into the trash can.

After the cookies were baked and decorated and the kitchen was cleaned thoroughly, it was pitch black outside. Leo had genuinely lost track of time, but he was selfishly grateful for it. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for y’all to be driving in this weather in the dark.” He said, snagging a cookie from one of the plates and taking a bite as he tried to be casual about the two boys potentially staying the night. “I’ve got a guest bedroom and a pull-out couch if you wanna stay here.”

Finn and Logan looked at each other, then Logan shrugged. “If that’s ok with you.”

Ok? It was wonderful.

“Of course it is. I’ll go make up the beds and get y’all something to sleep in, ok?” Leo said before hurrying to his room, where he hastily made his bed and rummaged through his dresser for clothes. He muttered to himself as he pulled out two pairs of sweatpants. “Don’t make a big deal of this, Nutty. They’re just spending the night. That’s it.”

His mind fast-forwarded to imagine sleep-mussed hair, soft smiles, and rough morning voices. Sitting at the table together, nursing cups of coffee as the sun rose over a clean, white blanket of snow. They’d talk and laugh and just maybe share some coffee-flavored kisses.

Leo sighed, pressing his forehead against the edge of his dresser. “I’m screwed, ain’t I?”

.

Logan woke up to a gentle hand prodding his shoulder. He breathed in sharply as he remembered where he was and blinked his eyes open to be met with worried blue ones. “Leo?” He asked as he sat up, voice raspy with lack of use. “What’s wrong?”

He was greeted with an absolute onslaught of words. “There’s so much snow outside. Like, so much snow. I’ve never seen this much snow before. And I didn’t think it would be this bad so I don’t have any milk or bread or eggs in the house and I doubt I can get to the store. How long do you think the roads will be out? And what about the diner? Is snow damage a thing? Do I need to go check-”

Logan laughed softly, falling back against the pillows and covering his eyes with his forearm. “What – milk, eggs, and bread?”

“It’s a southern thing.” Logan couldn’t see him, but he could hear the pout in his voice. His vision was suddenly filled with blond bed-head and wide baby blues as Leo pulled his arm away from his face. If he could wake up to this every day, Logan would die a happy man. “Come on, sweetheart, I’m really freaking out right now.”

One of these days, the terms of endearment were actually going to kill him.

“I’m sure the diner’s fine. Besides, there’s not much we can do until the roads clear, so we’ll just have to wait it out.” Logan shifted over on the bed, leaving a Leo-sized spot open. He tugged on Leo’s arm until he crawled into bed, laying on his side to face Logan, their feet tangled together. Leo was wearing fuzzy socks.

Logan smiled at the sight in front of him, then closed his eyes again. “Go back to sleep, Leo. We’ll deal with it when-”

The door banged open to reveal Finn, face bright with excitement. “Snow! Have you guys seen all the snow? We should-” He stopped when he saw the two boys in bed, nestled together and still sleepy. He cleared his throat. “Uh, sorry. Didn’t mean to-”

“Cuddle.” Leo said, reaching up for Finn as well. “We should cuddle.” Finn smiled warmly and didn’t hesitate to clamber into bed on Logan’s other side, scooting in close and only elbowing Logan once as he got comfy. Logan grumbled, but quickly got over it when he felt a tentative arm wrap around him as he drifted back off to sleep.

.

Leo woke up to two boys asleep in bed with him and couldn’t think of a time when he was happier. They were all tangled together in a mess of limbs and blankets and pillows. It was warm and soft and Leo never wanted to leave. But he also wanted to surprise them with coffee and breakfast. Breakfast in bed wouldn’t be too obvious would it? He thought back to the past twenty-four hours and decided that if this wasn’t flirting, he wasn’t sure what was. Now it was just a matter of taking that next step and actually talking about it. So who cared if it was too obvious or not?

Leo glanced at Logan and Finn one last time. There was just something about seeing the two of them in his clothes. Logan’s sweaterpaws were visible from where he was grabbing onto Finn’s arm in his sleep. Finn was close to the same size as Leo so the clothes actually fit him pretty well. His face was pressed into brown hair, arm tightening around Logan as he huffed out a breath. The sight did something to Leo’s heart. He smiled dopily before sneaking out of bed, his back popping as he stretched. Ok, game plan: coffee, breakfast, talk. He could do this.

He crept down the hall and into the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as he could when getting a frying pan out and setting it on the stove. Next came the kettle for water to use in the French press, bacon, and ingredients to make homemade biscuits. Normally he would’ve done eggs, but they’d used all of them on the cookies yesterday.

The biscuits went into the oven and the bacon into the frying pan, sizzling away. So much for breakfast in bed. Leo knew the smell of food cooking would bring the other two out of the bedroom and, sure enough, he soon heard two pairs of footsteps headed towards him, one slightly muffled by too-long sweatpants hems dragging along the floor. He grabbed three mugs from the cabinet and sent a smile over his shoulder at the two boys.

Three cups of coffee: one black, one with cream only, and one with cream and sugar.

Leo pulled the biscuits out of the oven and quickly transferred them onto a plate, doing the same with the bacon before bringing both to the table.

“Leo, you’re an angel.” Finn said as he grabbed plates and silverware for the three of them. Logan hummed in agreement from in front of the fridge, where he was collecting butter and jams for the biscuits. They all joined each other at the kitchen table, still a little sleepy-eyed and half awake.

Leo, halfway through his first sip of coffee, passed Finn his mug of steaming black coffee, then Logan his own cup full of cream and sugar, just how he liked it. Logan looked down at it and sighed happily, “Love you, Nutter Butter.”

Finn’s head shot up. Leo choked on his coffee, cheeks heating up. Logan looked at them confusedly before he realized what he said and his face paled. “Shit.”

“You... you love me?” Leo asked, voice barely above a whisper.

Logan’s heart ached a little at the look on Leo’s face. God, he should’ve told him a long time ago. In response he just slowly nodded, hesitantly meeting wide eyes and hoping for the best.

Leo smiled, letting out a soft laugh. “Honey, I’ve loved you for months.” He took a deep breath, as if gathering up his courage, then reached out to grab Finn’s hand. “And I think I’m falling for you, too. Judging from the way Logan stares at you when you’re not looking, he feels the same.” Leo looked from Finn to Logan hopefully. “Right?”

Finn squeezed Leo’s hand, finally daring to hope. Maybe he could actually have this. His heart thundered in his chest, so loud that Logan and Leo were bound to hear it. “And how does he stare at me when I’m not looking?”

Leo’s eyes flicked over to Logan with a smile. “Take a look for yourself.”

Finn’s breath hitched as he looked over into evergreen eyes, bright and gazing at him the same way Finn had caught him staring at Leo so many times before. He laughed a little in relief, tracing Logan’s cheekbone with gentle fingers.

“I was a little worried we were never going to have this conversation. And I know we’ve got a lot to figure out, but...” He trailed off, a little in awe. What were the odds of this? Everything seemed to fall perfectly into place, like puzzle pieces. It wasn’t some huge revelation, though. There were no grand romantic gestures, no race against time, no frantic outburst. It was calm and gentle like the sun rising outside, casting everything in light pastels and golds.

Logan just laughed softly, scooting his chair back with a loud scraping noise and standing up. “Stop just sitting there and come here, I’ve been wanting to kiss you two for forever.”

Finn scrambled up from his seat and all but threw himself at Logan, nearly bowling him over as he kissed him enthusiastically, arms wrapped tightly around Logan’s waist. Leo smiled as he watched them. He loved their dynamic – the bickering and teasing like they’d known each other for years, and yet the head-over-heels way they looked at each other and held each other and kissed each other. They were so comfortable together, not shying away from anything it seemed. Leo couldn’t wait to see how their relationship grew and evolved over time. He couldn’t wait to see how all three of them would grow together. He stood too and joined Logan and Finn, pressing kisses to their cheeks, their jaws, their necks – anywhere he could reach.

Finn broke the kiss to press his forehead against Logan’s, eyes closed and smile a mile wide. “I’ve been wanting to do that since the first time I saw you at that farm.” His eyes turned to Leo next. He reached up and cupped Leo’s face in his hands. “And I’ve wanted to kiss you since that first bite of pie.”

“What, was the muffuletta not good enough for – mmph.” Leo’s teasing words got cut off by Finn’s lips on his. He sighed into the kiss, draping his arms over Finn’s freckled shoulders and angling his head to deepen the kiss. He could taste black coffee on Finn’s lips and had never loved the flavor more. There was another hand at his back, stroking over his spine. Logan. Leo leaned back into his hand before breaking away from Finn to look at Logan – the guy he’d been pining after for just shy of a year.

“How did I get so lucky?” He murmured, prompting Logan to lean up and kiss him, softly and heartbreakingly gentle. Leo kissed him with purpose, running his tongue against Logan’s bottom lip and causing his breath to hitch.

He thought back to his musings of the night before during his panic in his bedroom and laughed against Logan’s lips. The brunet made a questioning humming noise, so Leo leaned back just far enough to whisper, “Maybe I’m clairvoyant.”

Finn laughed, bewildered. “What?”

Leo just glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, smiled, and combed a finger through red tresses. Sleep-mussed hair, soft smiles, and rough morning voices. Sitting at the table together, nursing cups of coffee as the sun rose over a clean, white blanket of snow. Talking and laughing and sharing some coffee-flavored kisses. Those had been his thoughts last night. And here he was, suddenly getting all of those things.

“Nothing, sweetheart.” Leo said, looking down at his two with overflowing fondness as he thought of the future and hoped that those musings would come true, too.

#lumosinlove #sweater weather #coast to coast #finn o'hara #logan tremblay #leo knut #o'knutzy #frosted windowpanes

[hypfic]

Valentine prompts with matenrou and mad trigger crew number 8? 👀

ok so I kinda went ham with this one??? I got a lot of MTC requests so I think I’m gonna do those in their own special post but... phew these MTR ones started as hc lists and then I got possessed by the writing gods and made drabbles.... long post incoming!!!!

Jakurai [ 神宮寺寂雷 ]: In your previous years, you hadn’t done anything notable for Valentine's Day. It wasn’t that you didn’t have anyone, moreover that you and your partner were always busy. However, this year you made an effort to plan something for you and your boyfriend. Sure, maybe it was a little much, you weren’t school children, but someone had to uphold the chocolate-making tradition, right? You begged your boss to let you have the day before and the day of Valentine’s off. It was a tough battle, but you managed to make it out with two days off under your belt! Jakurai however, wasn’t as lucky. Working in a hospital didn’t permit many days off. You got them when you got them, purely by chance if at all. He, unfortunately, had to work that morning, but you weren’t saddened in the slightest. In fact, you were grateful for his calling duties for it gave you more time to craft your surprise for that evening. You somehow managed to sneakily make chocolates the night before, and even more miraculously hide them in the fridge. You tied your hair up and ran to the kitchen as soon as you heard the door close behind Jakurai and his car pull out of the driveway. He was worried that you would be saddened by the fact that he had to work on Valentine’s, but he truly had no idea what was in store upon his return home. Jakurai picked up a bouquet of flowers on his way home that evening, hoping that even the small gesture would bring a smile to his beloved's face. You grinned as you saw your boyfriend’s car pull into the driveway that evening, checking the living room one last time for any crooked corners. On your way to the door, you dimmed the lights and let the candles take center stage, giggling at your reflection as you checked your hair in the mirror. Your eyes widened as you opened the door and were met by not only your dashing boyfriend but a bouquet of flowers as well.  “Jakurai… what is this?” You blushed as he offered you the bouquet and stepped inside. “Well, it’s Valentine's day and you worked hard to get the day off and I had to go in,” He explained as he removed his coat, “I felt that I should at least do something for you,” the doctor leaned in to give you a kiss. “Why are the lights out?”  “Oh! Well, it is Valentine’s Day after all!” You said with a wide smile, reaching out and taking Jakurai’s hand, pulling him towards the living room. “I took advantage of you being at work and put something together~” “Y/n… you didn’t have to,” Jakurai’s ears burned red, taking in the scene in front of him. On the living room table, you had prepared and spread out a nice dinner for the two of you, covered in candlelight. A bouquet of roses stood in a crystal vase surrounded by homemade chocolates. You walked over to the mantle and turned on the radio, soft jazz music dancing around the room.  “No, I didn’t have to, but I wanted to! You do so much for me, it’s the least I could do,” You returned to your boyfriend’s side, hugging his arm. “Happy Valentine’s Day, baby.”  The doctor wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you in for a kiss, “You make me so happy, y/n. Happy Valentine’s Day, I love you.”

Hifumi [ 伊弉冉 一二三 ]: It didn’t take much to make you jealous. Especially with your boyfriend being one of the top hosts in Shinjuku, envy seemed to come… naturally. Hifumi always assured you that he never did anything more than share a few drinks and maybe a kiss on the cheek with any of his patrons, and you believed him, you did, but that didn’t always stop your mind from wandering. The two of you had talked through his work and what that meant for the two of you countless times, what boundaries each of you had and what you were comfortable with. The waters always became testy around Valentine’s Day. Hifumi would come home with bags full of cards, sweets, bottles of alcohol, and some other… strange things the days leading up to Valentine’s. What were you to do for that special day if every woman and man in Shinjuku had already given Hifumi gifts more luxurious than you could fathom? Your boyfriend wasn’t stupid, he could tell something was up. Moreover, Hifumi knew what this was about. He knew dating a host was hard, and it was even harder over the love-focused holiday. So, he decided that for the first time in his host life, he would call in on Valentine’s. Before heading home from his division meeting with Jakurai and Doppo, he stopped by the small jewelry shop he knew you loved. The host had placed an order earlier in the week, the store clerk was in awe that the number one host in Shinjuku would purchase such a piece. Hifumi only blushed and insisted that there was more to his life than being a host, and there was only one exclusive patron of this high rank. The jeweler wished him well as Hifumi exited the shop with a small, velvet box. When he returned home, Hifumi walked around the apartment for you.  “Y/n?” He knocked on the bedroom door, pushing it open slowly. He frowned as he saw your sleeping figure huddled up in a cocoon of blankets. “Y/n, kitten, are you awake?” Hifumi placed a hand on your shoulder as he sat on the bed. “I thought you would be at work tonight…” you said, turning around and facing him.  He brushed your bangs from your face and leaned down to kiss your forehead. “Well, I was supposed to but, I figured I’ve spent too many Valentine’s Days without you.”  “Your boss must be cross with you,” you said as you sat up and leaned your head on his shoulder.  “Meh, he can deal with it, I need to spend time with my true Valentine after all!” Hifumi’s voice quickly switched to his normal, joyful tone. “Nee, y/n, can I ask you something?” “Hmm? Sure ‘Fumi, what is it?” “I Uhm, well,” His cheeks blossomed with pink, “Well you see uh, I… You make me so happy and I wanted to get you something to show that… also uhm! I know dating a host can be hard and all so I wanted there to be something you can always have to remind you that you’re the only one for me!” Hifumi smiled brightly, reaching into his pocket for the box. “This isn’t the ideal way I planned to do this, but it was a spontaneous thought, to do it tonight. I was gonna wait and take you somewhere real fancy but…” You had tears in your eyes already, slowly realizing what was happening. “Hifumi, baby, it's ok I… are you?”  Hifumi nodded and grabbed your left hand, kissing your knuckles and holding your hand by his face, “Y/n, will you marry me?” “Yes.”

Doppo [ 観音坂 独歩 ]: You hummed happily in front of the stove, soft music softly bumping from your phone. It was early morning and you miraculously managed to wake up early, earlier than your boyfriend too. Today was Valentine’s Day, so the only logical solution to your blessed coincidence was to make your special someone breakfast. You were hoping that you could surprise him with the meal in bed but… you didn’t hold your hopes too high. Doppo always got up painfully early to go to work on weekdays, and just because it was the weekend didn’t mean that the routine would be broken. It was a gamble to try and prepare something to surprise him before he woke up. You glanced briefly at your phone to check the timer you had going for the bacon in the oven, smiling as it seemed that you had just about half an hour left before your tired salaryman rolled out of bed. Alas, you spoke too soon as a pair of warm arms found their way around your waist and a chin sitting on your shoulder.  Doppo hummed and pressed a kiss to your cheek, “Good morning…” he yawned, not making any apparent moves to let go of your waist. “Ahh, Doppo! I was so close! You should have stayed in bed for another twenty minutes!” You pouted, craning your neck to face him. “Good morning to you too,” you allowed yourself to chuckle. “Someone’s affectionate this morning,” your chuckles turned into giggles as your boyfriend peppered kisses on your neck up to your cheeks. “Rest well?” “Mmhm,” the salaryman hummed in agreement, pausing his storm of kisses to peek over your shoulder. “What’re you making?”  You shook your head and smiled, “Well, it was going to be a surprise if someone didn’t get out of bed early!” you clicked your tongue, “I wanted to make you breakfast for Valentine’s Day, surprise you with it if I could… I thought I was doing well with the time too…” Doppo chuckled and kissed the back of your neck, “Hmm, I guess I could go lay down then? Let you finish in here?” “That would be lovely, baby,” you turned around to face him in his embrace and pecked his lips. “It’ll only be about…” you paused to check the time, “ten more minutes! Don’t get too cozy in there, ok?” The man in front of you smiled softly before catching your lips in another kiss. “I’ll try my best, sunshine.” Your cheeks burned red at the pet name, even though you’d been referred to as such many times before. With Doppo now out of the kitchen, you pulled your goodies out of the oven and put a pot of tea on to boil. You continued humming to yourself as you quickly whipped together a batch of pancake mix, spooning the batter in heart shapes in the pan. Once the pancakes were done and you had everything nicely plated, you grinned excitedly as you walked up the stairs to the bedroom, trays in hand. It may not be the ideal surprise you had envisioned, but you were still thrilled. You pushed the door open with your foot and giggled as you approached the bed, noticing that your boyfriend had dozed off.  “Pssst, Doppochi, I thought I told you not to get too comfy,” You placed the trays down and poked his cheek.  “Mm?” he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, “Oh, sorry…” You laughed, “No, no, it’s ok, you need your rest after all! Look! I made us breakfast~” Doppo smiled wide and kissed your cheek “You make me so happy, you know that?”

#hypnosis microphone #hypnosis mic #hypmic #hypmic fic #hypnosis mic x reader #hypnosis mic: rhyme anima #hypnosis mic fanfic #hypnosis mic writing #hypfic #hypfic-requests #hypfic-valentines21 #mtr #Matenro #jinguji jakurai #jakurai jinguji #jakurai jinguji x reader #jinguji jakurai x reader #izanami hifumi #hifumi izanami #hifumi izanami x reader #izanami hifumi x reader #Doppo Kannonzaka #kannonzaka doppo #kannonzaka doppo x reader #doppo kannonzaka x reader

[froglatte]

HI i was wondering if you have any favorite fic suggestions atm? ♡ thank you!!

Hi!!  I would just like to thank you for not specifying any fandom and letting me go crazy with this (but if you are looking for a specific fandom feel free to send another ask or DM to clarify!!), so I’m just going to give a smattering from the fandoms I’m into right now!

Fullmetal Alchemist

just... excuse me while I go a bit ham on this one.... fma has SO many talented authors and I wish I could include more

Giants in the Forest by @liathgray

A GREAT parental Roy kidnapping fic in which they are both kidnapped and have to escape.  honestly I recommend literally anything by this author if you’re looking for that good good parental royed, they keep that mf tag on them!!  They’re also releasing a new fic (Blues Upon a Whistle) soon, which has been described as the “one where they drop a building on Ed” so look out for that! 👀

he’s a killer queen, sunflower, guillotine by @13tongues

if you haven’t read any hp/fma fics what are you even doing oh my god.  A strange crossover in theory, but in practice?? *chef’s kiss*  This one is a more fluffy, humorous one, but it subverts some of the tropes seen in normal ones so it’s EXTRA fun.  Updates on the 13th of every month!  (also I have, like, a LOT of favorite hp/fma fics so if this one hits then hmu for more)

then FINALLY, the HOMEWRECKER

Throw It Out to Sea by @anthropwashere

all i can say about this one is that is absolutely destroyed me.  simultaneously watered my crops and stared me dead in the eye as it ripped them out of the ground one by one. read it for a bad (amazing, beautiful, poetic) time.

Boku no Hero Academia

these recs go out to those of you who knew me as @ bakuwhoa

Anyone  by @gentrychild 

I know this one is popular but it’s just so fun??? how can I not include it??  Midoriya steals OfA and becomes the head of a villain organization that just does community service (how EVIL).  Featuring Dad for One, memes, and the disaster child that is Midoriya Izuku.

see it all in bloom (series) by  @captainkirkk 

A series of fics with SO many fun scenarios featuring class 1-A after graduation.  A few of them are social media fics which are my absolute shit.  Honestly I recommend anything by this author bc for every fandom they write in, I always find their fics in the top few pages for kudos.  No greater feeling than going through a fandom you didn’t know they write for and going hEY!

Naruto

alright sue me im coming back to my comfort fandoms a la 2015

Ascendant by Samurai101

Literally the fic that hasn’t left my mind since I first read it years ago.  Itachi dies and... wakes up 13 years old again.  Except his 13 year old self does NOT like the idea of sharing and uh.. hasn’t exactly signed up to the idea of clan genocide yet.  oh my GOD I remember it being so good I hope it still holds up, I’m actually going to start rereading this tonight AHHH I’m so excited!

Bloodstained Hands in a World of White by @doggoneloser

lmao can you tell that I like time travel fics yet?  as a sworn kakashi stan though, ones with him just absolutely HIT.  One of those time travel fics where even though it’s reliving past events, you ‘re still left guessing what’s going to happen.  also kakashi interacting with his dead teammates always just has me like 🥺

Supernatural

taking this blog back to its origins all the way back in 2013 with my @ trenchcoat-with-wings url oh NO.  but alas, with the great destiel fiasco that was the US presidential election, it was inevitable that I would find myself here again.

Crazy Diamonds by @pantheonofdiscord 

the first fic I read in my supernatural renaissance and MAN oh MAN.  I read this and then immediately forced my roommate to read it too.  both of us were up until 5am reading it.  A GOOD time travel body swap fic where 2018 Dean swaps with a 2008 Dean who is straight out of hell. girl i CRY

My Roots Take Flight by KismetJeska

one of the first fics I read for spn that still sticks with me in the far flung year of 2021.  Dean takes a deal to get out of hell-- becoming a guardian angel for a human named Castiel.  Except Castiel just can’t seem to get away from one Sam Winchester... 🤔 oh boy the TENSION in this one WOW

ok that was so LONG bless you if you’ve stuck with me this far and I hope I nailed some of your fandoms anon!  Thanks so much for the ask! ♥

#sorry this took so long to get to! #my wifi was out and then uni just took over #I'm actually reading Real Books right now so this is just a collection of ones that come to mind when I think of good fcking fics #also me realizing that the authors i tagged are actually going to see this post 😳 #h-hey how y'all doin? #fullmetal alchemist #bnha #naruto #supernatural #fic recs #grace talks #Anonymous

[eunoiaflow3r]

Sick And Tired

A/N: I know I changed the third request a little, I’m sorry. I still hope you enjoy. 

Warnings: fluff, mistakes... fem!reader.

Word Count: 1.5k

Requests: 

Spencer Reid request!! Can you do one where reader is at home when he arrives for his latest case and he’s sick or injured and she takes care of him? And he definitely tried to hide it and pretend like nothings wrong but she figures it out

Ooooh so I just read your “slow dance” one and it gave me an idea for a request. What if Spencer’s feeling kinda sick all day and throughout the day, the individual team members bring it up (I especially love the fatherly relationship he has with hotch so :}) anyway, by the time it gets to the end of the night, he’s barely keeping his eyes open and focused but won’t leave and reader comes up to his desk and finally convinced him to go home and takes care of him a little bit Is that too much?

ok. so. i just read THE coolest study on chicken noodle soup that talked about mitigation of neutrophil migration, and thus inflammation meaning !!! it actually DOES help a cold !!! point is, i would love if you could possibly write something abt reid caring for his S/O while they’re sick and being a little uncomfy because he finds it difficult to be intimate and caring without seeming overbearing? sorry if this is too bizarre/ oddly specific bahaha but tysm either way! ur writing is awesome :)   

Summary: y/n helps spencer when he’s sick.

~~~~~~~~~~

The morning ran pretty well for the most part. 

Everyone was just sort of hanging around until JJ shows up so that meant, Morgan was sleeping, Prentiss was talking with Garcia, Rossi was in his office, and you and Reid were where the coffee was like usual.

Spencer had asked you out about a year ago, and ever since then, you’ve been dating. You’re pretty sure that the team doesn’t know, but there’s always that chance that they do. Because of this at work, you and Spencer try to stay strictly professional, but even then it’s very hard.

“Jesus Christ!” Spencer yelled. He had gone from gently blowing and stirring his coffee to loudly sneezing and spilling a portion of his coffee onto his beige sweater.

“Oh my God, are you okay Spencer?” You asked worriedly taking the cup from his hands and trying to help him out of his hot sweater quickly. You both had secretly hoped it hadn’t got on his shirt underneath, but it had, and now he had to take that off too.

You blushed at the sight of him, but quickly wet a towel and gave it to him so that he could wipe the coffee off of his stomach.

“The one day I don’t have extra clothes with me, this happens.” He scolded himself. 

Morgan came into the room shortly after the incident, (he had heard the shouting), and was greatly amused to find a shirtless Spencer and a blushing, worried you.

“What happened here? Am I interrupting something?” He asked smirking.

“Interrupting what?” Spencer questioned, trying to get the spot of coffee off of his pants as well.

Your eyes widened and you shook your head, but before you could say anything, Spencer went from coughing hardly to sneezing and neither you or Morgan knew what to do except to say “bless you.”

After he was done you both asked if he was alright but he insisted that he was fine, and it was nothing to worry about. You and Morgan knew that he wasn’t fine, but you let it drop anyway.

_

On the plane, after the team reviewed the case, it was mostly silent except for the occasional cough from Spencer. You passed him a few cough drops and he thanked you silently, but he insisted that he did not need them and he was perfectly fine. 

When you weren’t looking though, he put one into his mouth and soon fell asleep.

As he was sleeping, both you and the team noticed he was shifting uncomfortably, half because of the ACDC shirt Morgan let him borrow, and half because as you had assumed, he was sick. You weren’t sure why he wouldn’t admit it to himself but you were going to try to help him any way you could.

“What’s up with Reid?” Prentiss asked noticing how Spencer would wake up with a sneeze every so often.

“He’s sick, I’m pretty sure.” You answer. “Probably a cold. He would know better than I would but he says he’s fine.”

_

Once you landed, Hotch told you and Spencer to go to the station and try to set up a geographic profile from there. Along with telling you he’d call with updates, he also told you to look after Reid and make sure that he was going to be okay. The way he said it made it seem like he knew more about the both of you than the two of you let on but at this point, you were glad you were paired with Reid so that you could try to help him.

A few hours had gone by, and Hotch called a few times helping you and Spencer build and better profile, but it seemed as though Spencer was only getting worse. His eyes had reddened, and his throat was sore meaning that the talking between the two of you was kept to a minimum. One of the nearby cops noticed he was somewhat losing his voice, and they had offered him some tea, but Spencer kindly refused.

You thanked the officer and took the tea anyway. You set it next to him, and you weren’t looking, the whole cup ended up empty. 

You smiled.

The team came back to give a profile to the public, and because Reid couldn’t do it because of his voice, you gave the geographic one.

Later on the plane home, the whole team had noticed Spencer’s behavior. His hair was a mess he didn’t bother fixing, he was sweating, his cheeks were flushed, and he just looked miserable. JJ gave him some Tylenol to take, and Rossi offered him some water, but he refused. 

Eventually, he gave in and took the medicine, but not without making sure that no one was paying attention to him and what he was doing.

Back at the office, everyone said their goodbyes, but Spencer had insisted to stay behind and work on the papers. You didn’t want to argue with him, so instead, you walked over to your desk and finished up files of your own that you could. A few minutes later, you decided to look over at Spencer’s desk, and just like you had suspected he had fallen straight asleep.

“L/N.” A deep voice had called from above. 

“Oh hey, Hotch.”

“Can I see you for a second?”

Once you were in Hotch’s office, you sat down and you noticed that he looked just as tired as Spencer was. His tie was undone, his hair a mess, and his desk was even messier.

“Y/N, I know about you and Spencer, and before you say anything I need you to know that it’s alright as long as it doesn’t interfere with the both of you doing your job.” He was serious until now. “I’m happy for you guys, you should see the way he looks at you.” You blushed at that. “Please take care of him tonight. He needs it. I’m not sure why he’s refusing to admit it, but please take care of him in any way you can. Take tomorrow off.”

You weren’t sure what to say other than the routine, “yes sir,” so along with that, you said “thank you,” and shuffled your way out of his office.

Spencer was still sleeping by the time you got back down so you took the liberty to pack up for him and you as well. When you were done, you went over to try to gently shake Spencer awake.

“Spencer, let me take you home.”

He woke up groggily and confused and said, “No. No, I’m okay I still gotta uhm, I gotta finish this.”

“You’re tired and hungry. Let’s get you to your apartment.”

Eventually, you convinced him, and you drove him to his ultimately very neat apartment other than a  few stray books on the table and the couch.

You tell him to go change so that you can make some food for him.

“Oh really? What are you making?”

“Chicken noodle soup.” You smile. “Obviously. You have some kind of cold. I guess soup helps.”

“Actually, it really does!” he smiles excitedly. “Did you know that chicken noodle soup helps clear nasal congestion as well as the thin mucus and it also has an anti-inflammatory effect than can help ease symptoms like congestion, anosmia, erythema, and irritation?” He pauses to sneeze.

“Bless you.”

“Thank you. Anyway, another effect of chicken noodle soup is also mitigating inflammation, so that’s pretty cool too.”

“That is very cool Spencer.” He nods in agreement before going into his bedroom to change.

By the time he was done showering and changing, the soup was ready. You had a bowl placed for each of you on the table, and as soon as he sat down to eat, you did too.

It was silent, and he wasn’t eating yet.

He looked nervous, and you grew worried.

“Are you okay?”

He nodded not looking at you. It looked like he was trying to tell you something but he couldn’t find the right words. He was fidgeting, and his leg was moving, and one of his hands raked through his hair the way it does when he’s really thinking about something.

“Spence?”

Instead of answering he pushed a key to you still without looking at you, and shoved a spoonful of soup into his mouth but then regretted that because it was still a tad too hot.

After making sure he was okay, you looked down and picked up the key.

“Is this?” You question searching for Spencer’s eyes.

He nodded, smiling at you.

“And you want me to use it?” You were in disbelief.

“I don’t want you to just use it Y/N, I want you to move in with me.”

“Move in with you?”

“Please.”

You nodded and kissed his cheek. “Of course I will.”

While you were in the bathroom to tell JJ the good news, (of course she knew about you and Spencer), Spencer called Morgan (he knew too) to tell him that you had agreed to move in with him. Spencer was beyond ecstatic he’d finally built up the courage to ask you. He was red all over and smiling to himself. Despite being sick, this was probably one of the most happiest moments of his life.

~~~~~~~~~~

feedback always appreciated!!

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#spencer reid fluff #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x oc #spencer reid angst #spencer reid smut #spencer reid fanfiction #dr spencer reid #spencer reid #spencer reid imagines #spence reid #dr. spencer reid #dr spence #criminal minds self insert #criminal minds #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds smut #smut #fluff #spencer reid criminal minds #spencer reid blurb #spencer reid headcanon #criminal minds fanfiction #spencer reid x you #spencer reid x y/n

[tryingsomethingoutidkyet]

Ham Hocks: 100 follower celebration

Ok so I may have accidentally found some writing inspiration . It is currently 4am and the smoke is clearing out of my house. Let’s see if this turns out well.

WORDS: 1.4k

Warnings: Fire (not really, but almost)

Pro hero! Sero x College!Reader 

////////////////////

Let’s get one thing clear, you can cook, you can. It’s just that you were tired. Which is justified. You had been working for the past two weeks non-stop on a project for your college class that you’re more than willing to admit you invested an unhealthy amount of time into completing, so much so that you hardly had a break.

It’s not that you didn’t want to take a break either, in fact, you thought you’d be done by now. And you would’ve been if your project partner actually did his half of the work instead of lying to you about how much he was getting done every time you checked in with him, only for him to tell you the week before the project was due that he hadn’t actually gotten anything done besides putting his name on it and yes, it was too late to switch partners. Which is how you got stuck gathering weeks of research, siting sources and linking articles into a few days of effort in order to get a passing grade.

It was about 12am and you had just finished the final page of your work, thankfully having gotten both halves of the project done without any other issues. You even had time to attach a detailed note to your professor about who did what exactly. Yes it was petty, but you did everything yourself and you refuse to allow the very reason you had been up for the past few days, surviving on an aggressive amount of coffee and maybe 8 hours of sleep total to get the same grade as you.

After completing your project you find yourself suddenly aware of all the needs you’ve deprived yourself of for the past few days. You were hungry and tired and you just wanted to take a shower that was longer than 5 minutes. So that’s what you set out to do.

Let’s get one thing clear, you can cook, you can. It’s just that you were tired. Which is justified. You had been working for the past two weeks non-stop on a project for your college class that you’re more than willing to admit you invested an unhealthy amount of time into completing, so much so that you hardly had a break.

After completing your project, you find yourself suddenly aware of all the needs you’ve deprived yourself of for the past few days. You were hungry and tired, and you just wanted to take a shower that was longer than 5 minutes. So that’s what you set out to do.

 It didn’t work out that way

You had scoured your kitchen for a quick meal and unfortunately came up with nothing. Dealing with the project kept you so busy you guess you forgot to buy food. The only thing you had in your freezer was a pack of fatass ham hocks and those take forever to get done. You contemplated sleep for dinner tonight before finally deciding to put them on the stove. “I’ll just sleep in tomorrow.” You reassured yourself as you headed to the shower.

Coming back from your shower at about 1am, you sat on your bed turned on the tv to distract yourself while you wait. There was nothing on considering how late it was, so you decided to leave it on the news.

  Now onto some exciting hero news. Pro hero Cellophane was seen today taking down a pretty big villain…  

 “At least I’ll stay up for this.” You say to yourself as you adjust on the bed, trying to find a comfortable position. You had been a Cellophane fan for a while so seeing him finally getting recognition for all his hard work was pretty exciting.

  The anchor lady continued to talk about the rising star pro-hero and his defeat of some creepy villain that looked like a science project gone wrong.

   You weren’t really paying attention to the news anchor as she spoke, preferring to focus your attention onto the footage that played in the background of your favorite hero.

 Honestly, you don’t even know how you became a fan. It’s not like you were always big on heroes. You couldn’t name more than a few but somehow, the human tape dispenser had caught your attention from the very start of his career. He always seemed to go out of his way to help civilians, no matter how small their troubles may have been. Which should be normal for a hero but seeing as how the pro hero Screamy Mc Anger Face is sitting at #2 on the hero charts, you really held an appreciation for Cellophane.

 It also didn’t hurt that over the years of you being a fan, this man has gotten more and more attractive. He had gotten taller, and now according to the tape man himself, was sitting at a good 6’2. His jaw had become more shaped and his form had filled out a little as well thanks to his years in the hero business. He had let his hair grow out a little more and seemed to mainly keep it in a ponytail for his hero work. He was truly the most attractive man you’ve ever seen.

 You were so caught up in your thoughts of Sero you hadn’t even noticed you were falling asleep.

You didn’t get much time to rest, however as you were being pulled out of your slumber by someone roughly shaking you. Your eyes shot open and met with a set of deep brown pupils that seemed so familiar although you didn’t quite know why. Allowing your vision to adjust, you see that they belong to someone you’d found yourself admiring for a while. “Oh, I must be dreaming.” You say to yourself as you roll over, fully intending to get the most out of whatever this was you were being blessed with. You loved when god blessed your dreams, at least you thought it was a dream.

 Only until you felt yourself being lifted into some pretty solid arms. “Ok definitely not a dream, y/n.”  Your eyes shot open once again, very much awake this time. The Sero Hanta was carrying you. But why? You were trying to wrap your head around the situation, but it was hard to focus. There was a loud screeching that had filled your head and you couldn’t see much further than Sero’s head due to the thick smoke in the house. That was when it clicked: My ham hocks

 Before you knew it, you were out of your apartment complex and being placed feet first onto the cold ground. After a quick look to see you weren’t physically injured, he began to speak.” It doesn’t look like anything more than smoke; I checked the whole house.” He stated before gesturing toward your smoking apartment. “I’m going back inside to open the windows and turn off the alarm; wait here.” He walked off into your apartment. Sero Hanta was just standing in front of you. Sero Hanta was just carrying you. Oh my god oh my god oh my god.

 When he came back, he was holding a few of your items in hand. “It looks like you’re just gonna have to wait it out, so I got you a few things from inside; I hope you don’t mind.” He says handing you one of your jackets, a pair of fuzzy slippers and your phone. “Thanks.” You say, slipping on the items before focusing your attention on him. He was so much hotter in person. How is that possible?

  “So… how’d you get in my house?” He looked surprised. “Oh, wow that sounded rude, I’m sorry.” You say nervously “It’s just that as attractive as you are, I’d rather not have a stalker. Wait that’s not what I meant- “he cut you off with a chuckle. “No, it’s fine. I guess I just wasn’t really expecting that question. I was coming back from patrol and I saw smoke coming from over there.” He says gesturing toward your open kitchen window. “So, I climbed through. Thankfully, your room door was closed so no smoke was able to get in. You’re a pretty heavy sleeper, by the way.”

 “Yeah, not really” you sheepishly reply, “I had a big project for class that kept me up for a while, so I guess my body just kinda went into a coma.”  You were less nervous now “Honestly I’m surprised my neighbors didn’t hear all the noise.” Despite everything that happened, they hadn’t made a peep. “Well, it is 3am. At this point they’re probably all dead to the world.”

 “Oh, I didn’t realize it was so late” You say, checking your phone. “You probably want to get home, so I won’t keep you.” You had felt guilty. He spent today battling villains and now he couldn’t go home because somebody couldn’t stay awake long enough to keep their sad meal from turning into an almost house fire.

 Sero didn’t seem to mind standing there with you at all, however. “No, it’s fine.” he reassured, “I really don’t mind. Besides, you’re pretty attractive yourself.” Wait-

He grins and continues “ Also, I was hoping that while I was getting your number, you could tell me what it was you were cooking in that pot, because I couldn’t figure it out.

--------------

Thank you for 100+ followers!!! idk why y’all are here but you are and I appreciate it.

#sero hanta #sero x reader #sero x y/n #sero simps hmu #pro hero sero #really this is just a story of how I almost died but with Sero

[khaleesiofalicante]

me, looking at my computer project deadline for tonight: You can wait

OKOK CHAPTER 3

Kit are you alive????

JACE

Beautiful.

Jace wasn’t sure what it stood for or what it meant. But he remembered the soft smile on Kit’s face when Ty had given the ring to his boyfriend.

Whatever it meant, Jace knew it meant a great deal to Kit.

SCREAMING OH MY GOD THE RING SAYS BEAUTIFUL

He had realized that he had subconsciously started to rely on the touch of those he loved as it brought him peace and comfort.

The way Alec’s hugs sometimes made him think this is how his mother would have hugged him if she had been alive.

The way Lexi’s head on his shoulders never felt like a weight but made him feel lighter than air.

The way Selena’s fingers wrapped around his made him feel like he was wrapped around in the wings of an angel.

The way David’s kisses, the ones he gave on both cheeks, made him feel like they could burn away the darkness that lived inside him.

And of course, the way Clary felt, parts of her and all of her, here, there and everywhere – made him feel like nothing and everything all at once.

Don't ducking do this to me when I'm sleep-deprived and tired I will cry

HE IS ALIVE

What pain

Jace

Jace what fucking pain

How long

It never failed to amuse Jace how people could be fascinated by his angel blood and his special powers when all of them knew the story of how he had come to inherit it.

It was the same with Clary.

They had been experiments, their lives and futures altered permanently as a result of one man’s ambition and madness.

And yet people saw it as a blessing and a gift.

Nobody saw it as a violation of their bodies and their lives.

Of course, it didn’t hurt to have extra powers. But sometimes it was hard to appreciate the powers when he remembered the price they had to pay for it.

Fuck I hate this so much.

JEM

No that's not it

This person or people who are trying to kill them

They are smart as fuck

And they've been planning this for a long time.

"That's no way to talk to your great-great-great-great aunt, Herondale!" the girl huffed.

I WAS WAITING FOR THIS

Max no it wasn't your fault

Otherwise wouldn't what happened to Izzy be Magnus's fault? But it isn't.

It's the same poison...

The fucking angelic poison again

FAERIES?? WAS I RIGHT SINCE THE ANNIVERSARY CHAPTER???

They had already tried to hurt Magnus and Max. They would come for Alec soon. And Rafael.

No

No fuck no

Wait

Wait a sec

No, it's not Seelie

Screw the fact I was wrong

It wasn't Seelie

If can't be them

Adamas...

What about Belial...

OK A LIST OF POSSIBLE THEORIES

No.1) Seelies

No.2) princes of hell

Demon ichor, Adamas, elf bolt...

He had done nothing but try to make the shadow world a better place – a fair place.

Rafael was the same, already carrying so much responsibility on his little shoulders.

Max never tried to hurt anyone. He was a little ball of magic and mischief.

And then there was Magnus, who had done nothing but help people every day of his immortal life.

They deserved better than this.

When I get my hands on these bastards you best believe it's not gonna be fun for them

“Maybe we should write down a list of people who might want to hurt your family,” Cristina suggested.

“Girl, it’s gonna be a long fucking list,” Lily sighed.

True

The dream...

Fuck fuck fuck

I will protect you, Alec silently promised. I will protect our family.

Me, in tears: ...ok

If anything happens to them...

THE WAY YOU END EACH POV

Like

Alec talking about how he'll find the person responsible for all this and then Selena going "she's never gonna get caught"

Oh so THAT'S why she's such a deep sleeper

How old is Michael though?

I wanna know if it's ok for me to ship these two

Reason number one – Michael, even though was 15 years old now, still looked like an eight year old girl in her visions.

that answers my question

Wait no

Selena was 10 when they first met right

And I'm guessing Michael was 8...

Ok yeah works

Michael honey no

Sigh

There's still some hope left though

COSMOPOLITAN

ELYAAS

“I learned about it in university,” Rafael explained. “Kids use it when they are planning to get drunk.”

Dad raised an eyebrow.

“Other kids dad,” Rafael rolled his eyes. “Not me.”

You sure bestie?

People only gave monosyllabic responses to that question when were not okay – because that’s all they could manage.

A word. A sound.

Don't fucking call out my mental health right now

RAGNOR

Max ignored that. “Is it possible to magically cut off someone’s hair?”

“That kind of lunacy is more of your father’s expertise,” Ragnor rolled his eyes.

“Max, are you trying to cut off your boyfriend’s hair?” Bapak demanded.

“I don’t like it,” Max complained. “Looks stupid.”

“Max, you can’t do that!” dad sounded horrified. “It’s highly unethical.”

“Uh, didn’t you try to take away your boyfriend’s immortality behind his back?” Max asked.

I did not expect anything else...

HEY I THINK DAVID LOOKS AMAZING WITH LONGER HAIR

Rafael please no

Rafael I'm fucking terrified

Rafael who actually read the terms and conditions before clicking ‘I agree’.

I'm sorry he what

Because that’s how David fought – quietly but persistently. He fought with his own type of courage

The Shadowhunter lady can rot in hell

“It doesn’t matter,” Max shook his head. “There is no angel or demon that can keep me from you.”

I want what they have

AWW LITTLE DAVID HAD A CRUSH ON ALEC

Max looked up at his boyfriend. He had to – because David was taller than him.

HEIGHT DIFFERENCES!!!

Any other shadowhunter wouldn’t have said that. Any other shadowhunter would have laughed at Max.

But not his David.

He understood the pain of loneliness. He understood the importance of friendship.

Anyone other nephilim would look at a demon and would simply launch an attack. But not his boyfriend. The blonde boy reached out with his hands and not his weapons.

That’s what he loved most about David; Max realized.

David was a human first, and a shadowhunter second

David...

He's literally the kindest person ever.

Also

His David

"Trying to see good in everything doesn't make us naive or stupid," David replied. "It means our heart always seeks what is good because it believes in goodness more than anything. That's not crazy. That's kind of cool."

It is kind of cool...

That's how humans survive. Love and kindness."

Yeah...

I love you. I love you so much. I love you more than life – my entire immortal life. I want to be with you for as long I can. I want to be with you right now and forever. I want to be yours. And I want you to be mine. That’s all I want.

I'm gonna cry...

These two oh my god

Where's my invite to the wedding

WHERE IS IT

“You know what this means right?” Max asked.

“What does it mean?”

“You're going to be related to your childhood crush,” Max giggled.

WHEEZING

The world was falling apart. But Max had never felt safer or happier in his life.

Because that’s what promises did.

They gave you hope. They gave you something to live for and fight for.

Yeah. That sums it up pretty well...

I'm so emotional right now

“David Beauchamp,” Max whispered. “Welcome to the family.”

I just-

This feels like the calm before the storm...I'm scared...

in other news, I'm now going to physical school 5 days a week so no more reading lbaf updates during online classes...

(staying up all night-)

ew physical school is a thing again? Why 😭😭😭 But I hope you are doing okay and the change back into normal(?) routine isn’t too much.

Here is a Max and Alec Tiktok 😂😂😂

#alec was a big NYSYNC fan and that’s just canon thank you #lbaf

[livexdolan]

Sushi ~e.d

A/n: ok so, yes, this is another Ethan story, I’m sorry I can’t help it, he’s my baby. Anywho- this is based off a lucid dream I had A WHILE ago- but are we surprised this took me so long to write? (the answer’s no lol) I was just mentioning the whole dream thing because, this is my story so of course it doesn’t make complete sense- sue me. 

Summary: You’re going out for dinner to your favorite Japanese restaurant that happens to be packed. The only available seats are at the sushi bar next to two young guys You don’t realize you know the two men until it’s too late- but is this just a blessing in disguise?

Warnings; Fluff, anxiety, fluff, and, oh hey- some more fluff.

Word Count: 2.2k

Tags; @episkygrant (my bup :)) and @georgia302

ALSO- THE TWINS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE 18 IN THIS SO DON’T COME FOR ME!! OK, ENJOY :))

“Would you just walk?!” I exclaimed, pushing- or trying I should say- my 6 4’ dad through the little curtain that has a very large sumo wrestler that never fails to creep me out. 

My mom just sighs behind us, “Kevin would you stop being an ass, we’re all- oh,” my mom stops mid-scold. We all stand close to the corner as we look around our favorite local Japanese restaurant.

The place is packed, every table and booth occupied by families or teens chatting loudly. Waitresses move around quickly table to table and I just happen to see that the sushi bar seems to have empty seats. “Good evening, Welcome to Wasabi, is it just the three of you tonight?” The hostess asks us.

“Y-yes, just the three of us,” My mom replies still seemingly shocked at how many people are in the small place. 

“Okay, I’m sorry but there’s a 30-minute wait on any booths and tables right now-”

“Can’t we sit at the sushi bar?” I say, pointing over to the counter where two people are sitting, three seats open on the left of them, and three on the right of them. My parents look at each other, me, then the hostess, my dad raising his eyebrows as though he’s asking if that’s okay.

“Yes, of course, I’m sorry I should’ve asked if you’d be fine sitting there,” She smiles at us, grabbing three menus.

“Oh, it’s totally cool, no worries,” My mom smiles reassuring the hostess, who now that I’m getting a closer look at, seems to be new.  

We make our way over to the bar when one of the men sitting at the counter turns to the other, giving me a view of his side profile that I know way too well. I can’t help stopping completely, my mom bumping into me and asking what’s wrong. 

My throat feels tight, my hands are clammy and my mouth feels like someone just stuffed cotton in it. “Y/n, are you okay?” My mom questions worry evident in her eyes as she searched my glossed over ones.

I can’t speak, I can only move my eyes between my mom and the two tall, loud men sitting at the sushi bar. My mouth keeps opening and I can only imagine that I look something like a fish out of water. No way is it them.

My dad sits next to them and looks back, realizing my mom and I are not following him anymore his brows furrow and he looks around confused at what’s happening. “Oh- honey is that- are those the-” I cut my mom off by nodding my head rapidly. 

“I-” I clear my throat trying to dislodge the lump in my throat, “I’m going to go to the bathroom,” I push past my mom and keep my head down as I pass the sushi bar and avoid my dad’s worried looks. 

I glance up and see the older twin filming a snap video of his younger twin messily eating a piece of sushi and they both start laughing. I walk down the small hallway and go into the bathroom. Looking myself in the mirror I pray that this isn’t a dream. 

Okay, breathe, it’s just the Dolan Twins sitting at the sushi bar at the local restaurant in your town, sitting next to your parents at the sushi bar. I look at myself in the mirror and try to fix my hair a little, shifting my shirt out of habit. I add a little bit of chapstick to my lips.

I take a deep breath and walk back out into the loud restaurant. When I get back to the sushi bar I’m surprised- to say the least- to see that everyone’s shifted down to the right one seat, leaving me with nowhere to sit.

That’s not what has my mouth hanging open- it’s the loud obnoxious laughs coming from not only my parents- but the twins as well. Holy shit. My parents are laughing and joking with Ethan and Grayson fucking Dolan. 

I slowly make my way over to my mom who’s sitting in the seat that was supposed to be mine. I shyly tap her shoulder, she turns around and gives me a soft smile, “Oh, honey! We had to move down but there’s a seat next to Ethan.”

I bite my lip and look up, seeing that I’ve become the center for attention. I make eye contact with the older twin and he smiles at me, calming me a little bit as I start to stumble over to the seat next to him my hands start to sweat and I crack my knuckles out of habit when nervous, “O-ok.”

I try my best to gracefully slide into the high seat next to him without leaning too close to him. He does a quick scan over my body, his tongue coming out to lick his lips before he clears his throat and looks up at me. Once he notices that I’m already staring at him he blushes, and I feel like my entire body flushes and is on fire.

He sends me a shy smile and I bite my lip to hide the wide grin that is fighting its way onto my face. I feel like I’ve just won a medal or something, I made Ethan Dolan blush. 

“Ok, so I’m Ethan, and I’m assuming you’re Y/n. Your parents told us a bit about yourself.”

“Oh God,” I groan, putting my head in my hands and pushing my hair back before looking at him again and very shyly asking, “what’d they tell you?”

He chuckles at my reaction and I realize that his laugh is my favorite sound- on and off-camera. His dimples show as he replies casually, in a cocky tone, “Just that you’re 17, a senior, really into YouTube…” he trails off and sends me a teasing smirk.

“Great!” I say sarcastically, “so they told you I watch y’alls videos?”

“And that you might have some Dolan Twins merch in the back of your closet- I was a little upset to hear you don’t wear it much anymore, to be honest.” 

I drop my head to the counter with a small strangled noise then sit back up straight and clear my throat looking him dead in his hazel eyes, “Ok, look- stop making that face,” I point an accusatory finger at him as he bites his lip to suppress his smile and holds his hands up in surrender, I roll my eyes at him, “I’m not like- I don’t know everything about you and a bunch of weird facts and shit like ‘Did you know Ethan Dolan sprained his right knee when he was 4 years old after his sister pushed him down the stairs?’ Ok? Yes, I watch your videos, yes I follow you on social media, yes I’ve been watching you since like before 4OU, Yes- ok, I used to have a fan account at one point- but I’m not like that anymore. I got your merch for my birthday a year ago and I- I don’t really fit it anymore so I don’t wear it. Ok,” I take a deep breath, “that’s it.”

“Wow- okay, a lot of information to process but I think I get it now. I’m sorry for teasing you, I was just joking.”

“I know you were- but I also know that you two deal with crazy fans and I want you to know I’m not one of them.”

He sends me a smile and is about to say something when we’re interrupted by the waitress placing my food in front of me. My mouth starts to water at the sight of one of my favorite meals- shrimp fried rice. “Damn, that looks good,” Ethan hums from next to me.

I look up at him through my lashes, “You want to split it with me? There’s no way I’ll be able to finish this, I never do,” I laugh and gesture to the bowl. 

“Oh no, it’s-” his eyebrows raise at my stern look, and I slightly push the bowl closer to him, putting it right between us, he sighs and gives me a crooked smile, picking up his silverware, “I guess one bite wouldn’t hurt, right?” I nod my head, agreeing with him, and hand him the soy sauce.

Twenty minutes later we were laughing and we had all fallen into a very comfortable flow of chatter and silence and my nerves were dissolved almost fully. My mom and dad get up with Grayson to go over and pay the bill while Ethan and I finish up our food.

As Ethan steals a shrimp from my designated side of the bowl- again- I hit his fork with mine causing him to drop it and his fork hits the side of the bowl with a loud clatter, making everyone look at us as we both just look at each other. We both grow red in the face and start laughing.

Once our laughter died down a little I realized I was getting a little chilly so I set my fork down and rubbed my bare arms to try and get some warmth. “You cold?” 

Ethan’s voice startles me slightly and I just smile at him before grabbing my fork again to steal my shrimp back, “Just a little, but m’fine. It’s not that bad.”

He sighs and shakes his head slightly, “Well, I don’t believe you,” I’m about to question him when he stands up abruptly. He starts tugging his large hoodie off his body, as he pulls it over his head, his long-sleeve comes up a little. I blush before quickly averting my eyes from his prominent v-line and try to keep my mind from diving head-first into the gutter, “Here,” he says in a soft, but commanding voice, pushing the hoodie towards me.

I sigh and look up at him, “What’re the chances of you still giving me that hoodie even if I tell you I’m really not that cold and I’ll be fine?” I raise an eyebrow at him.

He smiles at me, his dimples showing and the mole on his cheek raising slightly. He shrugs and pushes it into my lap, “Very high.”

I shake my head and slide out of my seat, “Fine,” I pull the hoodie on over my head and as I pull my hair out the back, I feel a hand against my face lightly pushing the hair out of my face.

My breath hitches as my eyes meet Ethan’s. He leans in closer, his lips brushing against my cheek before going to my ear, “What’re the chances of you giving me your phone number so we can hang out again and keep in touch?” 

I look up at him through my lashes, grabbing his hand and leaning up to his ear, whispering just as softly as he did, “Very high.”

I pull away slowly and he smiles at me. When I return the smile he winks. I snort and roll my eyes, grabbing my phone off the bar, I hand it to him as he pushes his phone into my hand. Already pulled up to a new contact page, I put in my number and name into his phone. I quickly open his camera and take a picture with my tongue out, fingers up in a ‘peace’ symbol with my right eye dropped into a wink, I set that as my contact photo before he suddenly grabs me and pulls me into his arms. 

I gasp as my back meets his hard chest and he wraps one arm around me, my phone in his other hand, the camera pulled up and pointing towards our faces, “Smile baby,” he kisses the side of my head quickly before smiling at the camera. My face flushes deep red and I grin at the camera. The butterflies in my stomach from the pet name are so strong that I feel like I might fall over. 

“Okay, lovebirds, let’s go,” Grayson’s voice brings us back to reality and I realize that my parents have already stepped outside. 

We walk outside and I pull the sleeves of Ethan’s hoodie further down so that I can grab them with my hands, making ‘hoodie paws’ as some people put it. I look down to hide the constant blush that’s on my face when Ethan wraps his arm around my waist again. I look over at my parents, worried to see their reactions only to find them smiling softly at us before looking away once they saw I was watching them.

I turn and bury my head in Ethan’s chest, wanting to feel his warmth again and have him hug me. I wrap my arms around his neck and he ducks his head down to put it in the crook of my neck, his scent completely engulfs just like it did when I put his hoodie on and I smile at the sweet, soothing smell. We can faintly hear my parents getting Grayson’s number and bidding him goodbye. 

We reluctantly pull away from each other, very slowly. Ethan smiles at me and kisses my nose, “I promise you- we’re going to hang out soon. I’ll call you later, yeah?”

“You better,” I say back and lean up to kiss his nose.

I turn out of his grip and go to quickly hug Grayson, “It was so nice meeting you,” I grin up at him and he mirrors my expression.

“It was awesome meeting you too, Y/n, you have some pretty cool parents,” he chuckles.

I look over at my parents saying goodbye to Ethan before my mom catches my eye and winks. I turn back to Grayson, “Yeah, I really do.”

#its a shit ending #what'd you expect #ethan x reader #ethan dolan #grayson and ethan #ethan dolan imagine #ethan dolan smut #grayson dolan #grayson dolan imagine #grayson dolan smut #grayson and ethan dolan #dolan twins #grayson x reader #dolantwins #dolan twins smut #my writing

[thefirsthogokage]

Time to Hate-Watch Turner and Hooch, Episode 5

Because I am bored. And I hate myself. Of you aren't ok with me hate-watching and commenting, well then this is not the post you are looking for. Please move along.

Ah, yes, reminder of the love triangle they put in a kids copaganda show for the parents. Again. Because reminder: they did that last week.

Ew, bad shaky camera work.

Oh god she was listening to that music as a personal stake out sound track by choice? Like, why?

"You're all hopped up on juice boxes and I don't like it." I did like that line.

Laura is 5 years old.

I do like the theme song.

You know what also is weird about this supposed kids show? The episodes are nearly 50 minutes long. No kid is going to pay attention to that long of an episode.

So much natural lighting and making Hooch very yellow in some scenes and not others.

I'm probably too tired to watch this tonight.

Honestly that poor girl. Such a big crush on a very oblivious dipshit.

Branden is a fucking gift to this show. Again, I am just so glad he kept acting after Power Rangers SPD. Not many former PRs stay in the business, let alone get steady work. I'm really proud of him!

Rain. This show must be filmed in Vancouver. Actually, I vaguely remember hearing it was shot there. ... (Googles)... Haha

I mean, air cold enough mid-day to see their breath + rain had to = Vancouver. I mean I guess Portland too. But either way, California my ass.

Dreary natural lighting. Classic Vancouver. I can't believe anyone could actually think this would look like California.

Having Laura recognize a lot of people so that they could give her information to make her getting the information super easy is certainly a choice... by writers who don't want to work to hard. Then again, I think this is supposed to be a a family friendly show...kind of. Line, this isn't a straight up specific demographic this is targeted towards. They just have done a few things I absolutely would not put in a kids show this day and age. Like, it honestly so bizarre to watch.

I'm not fond of stories like this. Guy is getting married, all aspects of the case have a relation to weddings. It's just too much happenstance in this episode. And I'm tired, I should have very little ability to notice most of the is shit tonight.

Oh god, this would be so painful if I wasn't so sleepy. Like, what the fuck are you doing, Laura. Well, at least this is showing Lyndsy's versatility and expressiveness. My god this is such a different character then Alex on Nikita.

Tired sidenote, my watermelon is very good.

Laura gets up to leave after getting this woman to hang out with her. The woman has to remind her that she doesn't know where she lives. I liked that.

"Thank you for your never-ending aquatic references." Ok, this show does have some good lines.

(This is honestly like kind of watching Lucifer. I hat the show, but occasionally there are so lines that I really like. Though I did stop watching Lucifer because I just hated it too much. I was only watching it out of boredom.)

I am really glad that they have a Native guest star. It's nice to see more Native rep on shows the past couple years.

Messaging: Kids, you gotta stand up for other kids being bullied because you are just as bad as the bullies if you just stand there. I'm really ok with this messaging. Good job, so that I mostly don't like.

I'm sorry, I'm so tired.

"His name was Jean-Luc-" Me: stares at camera in 'Robert Duncan McNeill directed this episode and is the primary Executive Producer on this show.'

For those of you who don't know, RDM was Tom Paris in Star Trek Voyager and a character who's name I can't remember that he also played on Star Trek TNG.

Fun fact, Tom Paris was initially going to be the same character he played on TNG, but something about rights blah blah blah, made that a no-go.

Sorry, back to me hate-watching while tired.

Oh god there are 21 minutes left.

Why is Laura holding a guinea pig? And why does she have a karaoke machine?

Why is Branden's character having a romantic time with his fiance while on a case? Ugh, the unprofessionalism. Like, aren't they only a two hour drive from home? Why is this happening? Do they think of distance like the British? Or people who live in Saint Louis? (Seriously, in Saint Louis some people think 20 minutes is a long drive. Granted, ten minutes is a long drive for me, but the position I have to sit in to drive really aggravates my Interstitial Cystitis (meaning I have to pee so, so bad the whole time I am in the car)).

I want to take this moment to apologize. I am very sorry about the tangents and the personal health and whatnot. But at this point I'm too tired to go bad and delete things or care about what else I'm going to write, so I'm just going to keep going without my filter on. Of you make it through this whole thing with me, bless you you sweet, sweet, probably bored soul.

🎶Ooo Heaven is a place on earth 🎶

Oh god, so much tomato stuff. All over the bathroom. The very white bathroom. Good luck with that...Scott? Is that our main characters name? Scott? I don't care to look it up at th- yeah it's Scott, Laura just said it.

Uh, shouldn't that have been made of metal? Either way, shitty craftsmanship if the dog could break it that easily.

That can't be how you train a bomb sniffing dog.

No way someone who's been a police officer for a few years wouldn't know that there are drugs on literally every bill.

Again, family show why?

Neither of them thought there would be a back door?

This while thing is insane. Not in anyway that I find entertaining. But I'd probably be more pissed if I it was more conscious. You should probably be reading all of my angry sounding things as just very tired and a bit sedate because of the tiredness.

I'm sorry Branden's character was a soldier in combat and he's never been shot? Unless I'm misremembering. But seriously, he doesn't know what getting shot in the vest fells like.

Oh look, the girlfriend fires at vehicles driving towards her too. In the same episode..I hate when things are related like that. Not upper level writing.

Why was the Secret Service also looking for those people? What? That can't possibly be their preview.

(Before I finished the episode, I discovered that for the second time this week, I did not get to the litter box fast enough (as in since this morning) to prevent my cat from moving the liner enough to pee between it and the box. So, at 11pm I had to go clean that out.)

Like this guy wouldn't know that he was copping to extortion by saying that.

God, why are they making this case the dad was working on (stupid arching plot in a family tv show why? For the adults who can tell this show is bad already?) even more complicated? Like, is this going to get Heroes level stupidly complex? Because that shit killed that show. Ok, so it probably won't be that bad...just the kids show equivalent of that bad.

Oh good for you, girl who's name I never learned! Quit the job with the evil boss! Please let her be OH NATALIE! Once again, thank you Laura for saying the name of the character whose name I wasn't sure of. What was I saying... Of yeah, I hope Natalie comes back and wasn't just on one episode. More native characters on TV please!

Oh wait, am I just realizing the girls in the live triangle were both on Glee, or did I remember that in a previous post? I know they were both on Glee from the moment I saw them in this show, but, like, I somehow didn't realize it was a very mini Glee reunion when they were in the same scene?

Wait, where did Scott wash Hooch if it wasn't in his own place the first time? Where was that bathroom? Wait, unless this isn't the bathroom in him home? I was definitely too tired to watch this. That might be saving me on the anger level, but it's certainly making it a bit difficult to keep track of some stuff.

Oh bad edit/consistency moment with the foam on Scott's face. Always hating to me.

Episode over.

Closing Thoughts: This show is still driving me insane with it's not on point demographic aiming and just silliness that isn't really good-silly, more like bad-silly. Also, I'm tired.

#turner and hooch #turner & hooch #disney plus #riley watches tv #long post #even though it's not that long I'm sure some people still consider it as long

[worryinglyinnocent]

Fic: Forged Through Fire (6/13)

Summary: Amestris. Once democratic, now a military dictatorship. Prohibition is strict; personal freedoms curtailed. All alchemists must be state-licensed or face imprisonment. Foreigners are met with suspicion. It’s a grim place and a grim time, but there are some people able to bring a little light to the world. Behind an innocent-looking bookshop, speakeasy proprietor Chris Mustang has formed an unlikely alliance with unlicensed alchemist Van Hohenheim to provide alcohol to those who want it and medical care to those who need it. When Riza’s newly complete tattoo becomes infected, Roy brings her into this underworld, little knowing the way it will change their lives in the future – uncovering the secrets of the mythical Philosopher’s Stone and the schemes of a Fuhrer hell-bent on achieving immortality, all whilst navigating what they mean to each other.

===

Rated: T

[One] [Two] [Three] [Four] [Five] [AO3]

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Content warning for this chapter: Moderate blood and gore.

Edit: OK. So, I am an idiot and I got centuries and millennia confused. I am so sorry. Xerxes has been gone for around 500 years, as in canon. Not 50 years, as my stupid brain decided to write. 

I’ve edited it now. I’m so sorry for any confusion.

===

Forged Through Fire

Six

“Do you think I made a mistake? I don’t think I did. I think that there’s been something there for a while and I knew that Roy wasn’t going to do anything about it. Maybe I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t had two glasses of wine. Scratch that. I definitely wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t had two glasses of wine. I would have thought about doing it, but I wouldn’t have actually done it. And I don’t think it was a mistake because he definitely liked it. But then I had to go and run away and make things all awkward afterwards when I realised just what I’d done. But at least it’ll be a talking point now. I mean, we’re going to have to talk about it at some point. What do you think?”

Riza looked down at Hayate, who appeared to be listening intently, his eyes fixed on her face as he panted calmly beside her.

“Romance must be so much easier in the dog world,” she said. “Or do you have this problem too?”

Hayate did not respond, and Riza sighed, bending down from her chair to scratch behind his ears.

“Well, what’s done is done. Maybe he won’t even come in tonight. He doesn’t come by every night. Although he did say he’d see me tomorrow last night.”

Riza had noticed that Roy seemed to be coming by the shop a lot more often in recent weeks; even if he didn’t go down into the speakeasy, he would come and say hello to her and pet Hayate. It was just another point in favour of there being something there that hadn’t been there before. Or maybe it had been there before, and she just hadn’t fully come to terms with it being there. She’d always had some feelings towards Roy, but at the time she’d put them down to a schoolgirl crush. Reconnecting with him over the past couple of years had proved to her that it was definitely not just a crush. 

Although she had not yet admitted it to anyone other than Hayate, who would never rat her out, Riza had accepted that her feelings towards Roy went as deep as love. 

She heard footsteps coming up the stairs from the bar and turned to see who was coming out. She was surprised to find Madam Christmas there. Riza rarely ever saw her coming in and out of the place via the shop; she knew that there were other ways in and out of the bar, but she’d never pried into them. 

“Evening, Riza.”

“Good evening, Madam Christmas.”

“Keeping a lookout for Roy?”

Riza nodded, remembered that Madam Christmas had been there behind the bar when she had kissed him last night and shook her head, and then nodded again sheepishly under the weight of the other woman’s look.

“Is this where you say ‘if you break his heart I’ll kill you’?”

Madam Christmas scoffed. 

“It’s none of my business whether or not Roy gets his heart broken,” she said. “He’s a grown man, he should be able to handle that himself. I’m not going to be giving him any speeches on your behalf either. I leave it to you two to sort yourselves out. I did want to talk to you about Roy, though.”

“Should I be worried?”

“I don’t think so. I just want to get a clear picture in my head. I wouldn’t have survived in the business I’m in without being shrewd and without being able to read people. You’re more closed off than most, which I’ve always assumed was due to your upbringing. I’m not going to pry into that. At any rate, when you’re with Roy, you’re the happiest and the most open I’ve ever seen you.”

Riza nodded. “Yeah. I guess I am. I’ve always felt safe around Roy. Ever since I first trusted him with my back, I’ve always felt safe with him. In a way, I think that’s part of the reason why I came here. I wanted to keep him safe in the way that he’s always kept me safe.” She sighed. “Back when he was studying under my father, my father told him to keep me safe. I’ve always known that he wasn’t talking out of any kind of affection for me in that sense – he wanted Roy to keep me safe because keeping me safe would keep the array safe. Roy’s always known that too – well, he’s known it ever since he first saw the array and realised what my father really meant. But even so, Roy’s always kept me safe, in a way. He’s always been there whenever I needed him, and I want to do the same for him.”

She paused as Hayate bounced up onto her lap, looking for scratches from Madam Christmas. 

“At first maybe it was out of a need to repay him for all his kindness, but I don’t think it is anymore. It’s just because I want to.”

Madam Christmas smiled, absent-mindedly patting Hayate’s head. 

“That’s what I thought. Maybe if we can make Roy see that he’ll stop beating himself up.”

Riza raised an eyebrow. “I’m not even going to ask.”

“Roy’s a very forgiving person when it comes to everyone but himself. When it comes to you, there are a lot of things he blames himself for.”

“I know. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to tell him that it doesn’t matter, and I don’t see it like that.”

Madam Christmas snorted. “Boy’s as stubborn as a mule. He gets that from his father, and I don’t think the military’s helped. Still. You’ve got my blessing if you even wanted it in the first place. I’m going to have to stop collecting orphans and waifs and strays at some point. People will think I’m going soft.” She patted Hayate again. “Well, I might keep this particular waif and stray.”

Hayate just beamed at her.

“Anyway. Speak of the devil.” Madam Christmas nodded towards the shop door as she turned to go back downstairs. Roy was just outside, and he seemed to be going through something of a mental crisis on seeing his aunt talking to Riza. It took a good couple of minutes before he actually opened the door and came inside. 

“Should I be worried?” 

Riza shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Did she threaten to pickle you in a beer barrel if you broke my heart?”

“No, although that was my first thought when she came up too.”

“Right.” Roy came over to the counter. “So… How are you?”

He was addressing himself to Hayate rather than her, but Riza didn’t mind. Hayate certainly didn’t mind the excess of petting that he was getting this evening, lolling in her arms with his eyes closed as he received a belly rub from his favourite uncle. 

“I’m ok, thank you. It’s been a slow day. How about you? Anything weird and wonderful happening in the laboratories today?”

“No, although Falman’s still knee deep in the paperwork from yesterday. Coming to think of it, though, I haven’t seen Hughes at all today.”

“Is that a cause for concern?” 

“Not normally, and he usually only comes in once a week so I wouldn’t expect him in here tonight. It’s just after everything that he was saying yesterday… I think we’re all a bit on edge at the moment. There’s something definitely going on.” Roy shook himself, as if he was trying to shake all the disturbing thoughts out of his head. “Anyway… I wanted to talk to you about last night.”

Riza nodded. “Yes.”

“You kissed me.”

“Yes. I did. And you kissed me back.”

“Yes. I did.”

There was silence for a while. 

“So… What happens now?” Roy asked. “Do we…”

The shrill bark of the telephone on the counter cut him off, and Riza leaned across to answer it without dislodging Hayate, her brow furrowing. It was rare for the bookshop to get phone calls, probably because it didn’t do all that much service as an actual bookshop, and half the time the calls would cut directly through to the speakeasy anyway.

“Cannon Street Second-Hand Books, how can I help?”

“Riza? Thank God it’s you, is Roy around?”

“Hughes, is that you?”

Roy looked up sharply and came around the counter, grabbing the receiver from her but letting her lean in close to listen in with him.

“Hughes, what’s going on? Where are you?”

“I’m in the normal place; I think I might have been followed, look, I’ve found out some things that you need to know about what’s going on. I found out about Project Xerxes. I was right. I…”

Hughes trailed off, and Riza’s heart leapt to her mouth as the sounds became muffled. 

“Hughes? Hughes!” 

Her heart stopped altogether when she heard the gunshot down the line. 

“Hughes!”

There was no response.

“Hughes! Hughes, answer me!” Roy thrust the phone back at Riza, who dropped it onto the counter and turned Hayate off her lap to jump up and grab her pistols from the top drawer. Roy didn’t bat an eyelid, running towards the back room. “Who’s in downstairs?”

“Just Armstrong and Havoc.” 

He was already through the door and halfway to the cellar as Riza was loading up her ammunition, Hayate whimpering under the counter at the sudden confusion. She reached down and patted him gently. 

“I’m sorry, boy. Mommy has to go and rescue your other favourite uncle. He’s got himself caught up in something way over his head.” 

Hayate whined and sat down, front paws over his eyes. Riza wished she could do the same. She was just grabbing her coat as a thunder of running footsteps came up from the bar behind her and Roy raced out, followed by Armstrong, Havoc and Hohenheim bringing up the rear. 

At least they all seemed to know where they were going. 

Riza shoved her pistols into her coat pockets and high-tailed it after them. 

X

“Hughes, if you die on me now I’m going to kill you.” It was the same mantra that Roy had been panting out for the past ten minutes as he sprinted through the dark streets of Central, the others hot on his heels. 

No one had asked where they were going. No one had asked any questions at all. When he’d rushed down into the bar and hammered on the clinic door yelling that Hughes had been shot and they needed to do something Right The Hell Now, Armstrong and Havoc had got up and followed him without a word, and Hohenheim had left Trisha and run along with them. He was vaguely aware of Riza bringing up the rear, and whilst there was a large part of him that wished she hadn’t come out of fear of losing her as well as Hughes, the even greater part was grateful for the protection her guns would bring them should they need it. 

They were nearly at the park. Roy didn’t know how long it had been since the phone had rung; he hoped that they would get there in time. 

The phone box came into sight. Hughes’s legs were sticking out of it, and despite the searing stitch in his side, Roy put on an extra burst of speed, throwing himself down onto the ground beside his friend and feeling for a pulse. 

“Please be alive, please be alive, please be alive.” 

“Roy?” Hughes coughed wetly. “That you?”

“Yes.” He could have cried with relief. “Yes, it’s me.”

“OK, let’s see the damage.” Hohenheim had caught them up, breathless as he got down on the ground and started pulling Hughes’s blood-soaked jacket and shirt open. It had been a clean shot in his chest at point blank range; Roy’s stomach rolled at the sight of the bullet hole. It was a miracle he was still hanging on. 

“Roy… I need to…”

“No talking.” Roy had never heard Hohenheim anything other than completely calm and gentle with his patients. Even in the very worst cases that had been dragged down into the clinic, he’d never seen Hohenheim as on edge as he was now. 

“But…”

“You can talk when your lung isn’t collapsed and you’re not bleeding to death.” Hohenheim felt around under Hughes’ back and swore under his breath. “It ripped straight though. Roy, I need you to try and stop the bleeding, keep pressure on the wound.”

Roy pulled off his own jacket and balled it up, pressing down hard on Hughes’ chest whilst Hohenheim kept feeling around. 

Hughes’ breath was starting to gasp and rattle. 

“No, no, Maes, no, you’ve got to hold on, you’ve got to live happily ever after with Gracia, come on, stay with me, I’ll let you talk about her every minute of the goddamn day as long as you don’t die on me!” Roy looked over at Hohenheim. “You can fix it, right? Surely you can fix it!”

Hohenheim nodded. His expression was hard and grim, and he wiped his hair back from his face, dripping blood onto his glasses into the bargain. 

“I can fix it. You might want to look away, though.”

“What?”

“Have you got a knife?”

“What?”

“Knife, Roy, I need a knife!”

“Hughes always carries one…” He reached for Hughes’ sleeve, trying not to let up on the pressure on his chest. 

“Here.” Suddenly Riza was there, holding out a penknife. 

“Thanks. You’ll both want to look away.”

Neither of them moved.

“I’m about to do something very disturbing and extremely illegal so if you want plausible deniability, look away now.”

Roy could only stare as Hohenheim slashed open his own palms, sparks of red alchemic lightning flashing over his hands as he plunged them down into Hughes’ chest.

The wait for anything to happen seemed to take forever, and even though Roy could hear the traffic on the street that ran alongside the park, this little area was so still and quiet it was almost eerie, just the electric crackle of alchemy sparking around Hughes’ chest and Hohenheim muttering something in a language Roy couldn’t understand. It sounded like he was praying. 

At last, Hughes took a huge gasp of air, beginning to cough as Hohenheim pulled his hands out. The sparks died away, and if it wasn’t for the bright scarlet blood coating Hohenheim’s arms halfway to the elbow, there would have been no indication that Hughes had been injured at all. 

Hohenheim was breathing like he’d run a marathon.

“We need to get him back to the shop,” he said. “Somewhere safe. He’ll need a few days to recover from the trauma but he’s in no danger.”

Roy just nodded dumbly, still rendered completely speechless by what he had just seen. 

Havoc and Armstrong ran over to them at that point having scouted out the area and found no sign of Hughes’ assailant, and Armstrong picked up Hughes as carefully as a baby, carrying him away.

“Are you three all right?” Havoc asked, and Roy could see the concerned confusion in his face. He and Riza probably both looked like they were about to keel over with shock. 

Riza nodded. “We’ll be fine.” She handed him one of her pistols and he tucked it into his waistband below his jacket. “Go with Armstrong, just in case.” She turned back to Roy and Hohenheim. “I’ll go find something to clean you two up with.”

As soon as she was out of earshot, Roy looked over at Hohenheim again. 

“What the hell was that?”

“I told you to look away.”

“That wasn’t alchemy.”

“It wasn’t the kind you’re used to, but it was alchemy.”

 “You didn’t need a circle. You didn’t even leave a scar.”

“I told you to look away, Roy.”

The words were icy and came through gritted teeth, and Roy recognised the expression in Hohenheim’s eyes for what it was. 

Fear. 

Mentally, Roy used the excuse of being in shock at what had happened to Hughes and what he’d just witnessed for temporarily forgetting that not only was Hohenheim an unlicensed alchemist, he was also an undocumented immigrant from who knew where with no visa and no ID and he’d just performed tremendously powerful alchemy in the middle of a public park. There were no witnesses around other than himself and Riza, but at the same time, he could see exactly why he was scared. The combination was a one-way ticket to the firing squad without trial.

“Thank you for saving him.”

Hohenheim nodded. “It’s fine. I could do it, so I did. Just don’t any of you make a habit of this.”

Despite himself, Roy gave a snort of laughter. “Don’t worry, we won’t.”

“Hey. You two ok?” Riza was back, carrying a dripping stack of paper towels from the public restroom halfway down the block. “It’s not great, but it’s better than nothing to stop you causing alarm on the way back.”

Hohenheim grabbed some without a word, beginning to scrub the drying blood off his hands. Roy noticed that there was no sign of the wounds he’d made on himself, either, and he grabbed Riza’s knife from where it had fallen, handing it back to her. 

“We’re ok,” he said. “We should probably get back. Armstrong will start panicking soon and Aunt Chris will want to know what’s going on. She’s probably not going to take kindly to having someone recuperating in her back room.”

“We need to let Gracia know what’s gone on as well, she’ll be expecting him at home.” Riza sighed. “You know, I think you were properly paranoid when you said that everyone was on edge about what was going on. What do you think he found out?”

“I have no idea. Presumably, he found out whatever Project Xerxes is.”

There was a crunching sound as Hohenheim’s glasses broke in his hands where he was cleaning the blood off them. 

“Hohenheim?”

“I’m ok.”

“Your glasses say otherwise.”

He looked down at them and swore before visibly deflating and shoving them in his pocket. “I need to go.”

He got up and left them without another word, walking quickly back in the direction of the shop. 

“Something’s going on there,” Riza said. 

“You think? I don’t think I can handle any more revelations tonight. Come on, let’s get back before we’re next.”

Riza nodded, and she held out a hand to help Roy off the ground. 

“Do you think he’s Xerxian?” she asked after a moment. 

“The country died out nearly half a millennium ago, but after everything I’ve seen today, I wouldn’t put anything past anyone.” Roy paused, mulling it over in his mind. “There’s something in that. It makes sense that there would be diaspora, Xerxians living outside the country. The legends always say that the people were touched by the gold of the sun, and if the genes always breed true, then the colouring could have passed down the generations.”

They made the rest of the journey back to the shop in silence; all the lights were off, but Chris was waiting for them at the top of the steps. 

“What was I saying about taking in waifs and strays?” she said to Riza pointedly before waving them down the stairs with a sigh. “Roy, what the hell have you got yourself into now?”

“I’m wondering that myself.”

“He’s awake, by the way, but Trisha gave him something for the pain and he’s rambling like no-one’s business. I’m beginning to think she’s got some magic mushrooms in that stock of hers somewhere.”

“Is anything he’s saying making any sense at all?” Roy asked. 

“He’s convinced that Fuhrer Bradley is the spawn of the devil but then, that’s not exactly an uncommon sentiment in these parts.”

They reached the bar; it was empty and the chairs had been put up on the tables. Chris would have cleared it out as soon as Roy had started yelling about people being shot. She led the way through the main room to the drapes at the back, bypassing the clinic and going to a separate room. 

Hughes was inside on a small cot, talking far too fast for human comprehension as Trisha and Hohenheim made sure he was comfortable. Hohenheim’s glasses were now miraculously fixed and back on his face, and having a patient to focus on seemed to have calmed him down and brought him back into the moment. 

Havoc and Armstrong were just looking at each other with increasingly worried expressions. 

“OK, I think you two can go home.” Roy groaned and sank down into the chair; this room ordinarily served as Chris’s office, but he had no idea where the desk had gone or where the cot had come from. “You were never here. You didn’t see anything.”

“Nice try, boss, but we’re all in this together now.” Havoc gave a wry smile. “We’ll go, but we’ll be back again tomorrow. I think you and Hughes are going to need all the help you can get with this one.”

Despite it all, Roy couldn’t say he wasn’t grateful for the assistance. 

Trisha eventually gave Hughes something to knock him out before he exhausted them all, and they all decamped into the bar. Riza was waiting for them; she’d been pouring the good stuff.

“I’ve called Gracia to let her know what’s happening,” she said. “And I’ll stay down here tonight to make sure Hughes is ok.” She looked over at Hohenheim and Trisha. “No offence, but I think Hohenheim probably needs his own bed tonight and you two really need to talk about what the hell just happened.”

“It’s ok, I know.” Trisha reached across and squeezed Hohenheim’s hand, and Roy knew that if there was anyone who could tell them what happened it was Trisha. He also knew that she’d take Hohenheim’s secrets to the grave if she had to. 

“Well,” Riza began, summing up their situation far better than Roy ever could. “This is all kinds of terrifying. What do we do next?”

#FMA Brotherhood #FMA Fanfiction #Royai #Roy Mustang #Riza Hawkeye #Fic: Forged Through Fire

[wlw-lovestruck-fiction]

Okay so I personally love Civilian/Superhero dynamics so could someone please write something involving Robin and MC dating? Like how the relationship would work while she deals with the double life of working for the Syndicate while keeping it on the dl from Robin?

Written by @somekidnamedkai

I looked at my phone while I was walking home from Optimus. My partner Robin texted me. I smiled as I opened the text, ‘The woman I love, more than anything, who knows me better than anyone, has left me alone. I’m so offended’ I laughed as I read it before texting back, ‘I’ll get you some boba if it makes you feel better’ I replied to them. I walked down to the subway to ride it so I can get home quicker. As soon as I got down the stairs, I got a text. I looked at it, assuming it was from Robin, but it wasn’t. The text was from Duke saying that we were going to have an emergency meeting at the lair. A few weeks after I started my internship at Optimus, I had realized I had powers, and I met with the syndicate one day when they broke in. I ended up joining them because of what I found out about Optimus. I ended just staring at Duke’s message for a minute. Robin didn’t know about the syndicate, nor me being a part of it. I felt really bad not telling them about it, and I wish I could. But for their safety, I had to keep the syndicate a secret. I started to type my reply to Duke saying I was on my way when I got a message from Robin saying they were going to try and bake some cookies their mom sent a recipe for, lemon bar cookies to be exact, and that they wanted me to help them. They also said boba was a good apology present for ‘abandoning’ them for the day. I felt bad reading Robin’s text, I wanted to go home and have fun with them, but Duke wouldn’t call an emergency meeting for no reason. He probably found something on Optimus, or maybe something to help take them down.

I erased my message to the group chat and started to type a new one, asking if I had to be there, I know the syndicate is important, and taking down Optimus, but I also really wanted to spend time with Robin tonight. Not even a minute later I got a response from Duke, ‘I’d prefer you here. But if you have plans, Bat or any of us can tell you tomorrow.’ I smiled as I read it, and another text was sent, ‘Yeah, so go have fun with your partner, MC ;)’ Bat texted. ‘I will. We’re making cookies,’ I sent them a text as I stepped on the subway on my way home.

I walked into the apartment, two boba’s with me, “Robinnnn,” I called as I walked inside and shut the door with my foot. “MC? Is that you?” They asked as they stepped in the living room, “MC!” they cheered and walked over, “Hi my love,” they said to me as they grabbed one of the boba’s from my hand and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “I love you,” they smiled and drank some of their drink. “Me, or the boba?” I jokingly asked them with a chuckle, as they grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers. “The boba,” Robin joked back with a smirk as I slapped them, “I will take that boba back Mxter,” I said with a giggle, as I put my purse down on the couch, I looked at them, “Now, about that cookie recipe your mom sent you that we’re gonna make,” I told them as they smiled at me, “Hell yeah we are! Let’s go,” Robyn said as they took another drink from their boba and walked into the kitchen motioning for me to follow.

We had baked the cookies, which were amazing, and then the two of us just cuddled for the rest of the night, but unfortunately, not everything lasts forever. The two of us had to go to sleep sometime, for some reason. I woke up to Robin’s arms wrapped around me. I smiled as I looked at them, peacefully sleeping. God, they’re adorable. I stroked my thumb along their cheek, their skin is so soft, and warm. I chuckled slightly, right before I leaned in and planted a small peck to their lips. My already there smile grew, if that was even possible, as their grip tightened on me, pulling me closer, and their eyes fluttered open, blessing me with their small, emerald green eyes. “Hmm, I think I’m still dreaming,” they muttered, still half- no actually, mostly, still asleep. “Oh, really?” I asked as I cuddled my head into their chest, “yes. There’s a really cute girl in my bed,” They told me, as I blushed. 

I go to kiss them, again, but as I lean up a phone ring ruins the moment. I groaned as I rolled over to see I was getting a phone call. Who thought it would be okay to call me at- eight-thirty am? Oh, It’s Duke. I groaned as Robin spoke up, “who is it?” they asked me. Uhhh, quick MC, think of an answer that isn’t ‘the leader of a group I’m in called the syndicate where we try to take down Optimus.’ “Someone important.” I lied, sort of, I guess. I’m sorry Robin, but I have to lie. It’s for your safety. “Oh, ok. Do they need something?” they asked me as I shrugged in response, “I’ll see,” I said, as I sat up and answered the phone. I wanted to be sassy and answer with ‘what do you need at eight-thirty in the morning?’ But I decided against it, “Hey,” I said into the phone, “Hi, Tiana. We’re having a meeting at the lair soon, and you have to be there,” Duke told me, as I groaned. “You couldn’t text this because?” I asked him, annoyed. You ruined the moment I was having with my partner. “It’s much more fun to call you, and annoy you,” he said, and I am one hundred percent sure he was smirking as he said that. The bitch. “Yeah, whatever. I’ll be there, text me the time,” I said, emphasizing the text. If he calls me again, I’m suing ChatSphere. I heard him laugh across the line, “alright, bye, MC, see you later,” he said, “bye,” I said and hung up.

I looked at Robin and smiled, “So, what was it?” They asked me as I opened my mouth to answer them, but got a text from Duke, saying what time we were going to meet. “I have a meeting to go to.. at twelve,” I told them, rechecking the time. “Oh,” They said, it sounded a little disappointed, but if they were, they didn’t show it, “what is it- oh. We have a lunch date. I blanked and forgot. I’m sorry,” I told them. “It’s fine, we can go out for dinner,” they told me. I don’t deserve them, they’re an angel, too good for me. “Alright, if you don’t mind,” I replied to them and sat back down on the bed. “I don’t. But you have you repay me by cuddling me for the next few hours,” they told me and pulled me back against them as I chuckled and said ok. This double life might be difficult, especially with having to keep it from Robin, but I’ll get through it. But I don’t have to worry about that right now, not while I’m in Robin’s arms.

#Anonymous #lovestruck #astoria fate's kiss #lovestruck afk #afk robin #astoria fates kiss robin #robin x mc #fluff #SFW #miscellaneous monday

[butterbeeryuta]

idol jaemin and interpreter you

a/n: so i actually did write this buT fucking tumblr,,, all of it got deleted and i dont know how and i’m so mad but,, anyway, there’s no use complaining. A really cute anon requested this and if you are reading this rn, pls do not hesitate to talk to me. Feeling lonely sucks ass and although having alone time is good for some time, it is sucky and not worth feeling when there are other ppl in the world that loves you. so yes, pls do not be afraid to hit me up, and this applied to anyone. i am pretty shitty at answering back in general as i am busy with school and all, but i will always make time for you. 

ok so the first thing that came into my mind is the korean to chinese and vice versa interpreter and jaemin makes her do shit and honestly, bless her soul she’s been doing amazing

jaemin calm tf down 

anyway, let’s pretend that she is you yeah

so it was jaemin, chenle, and renjun playing , and there you were having another day of translating their shit

idk how gaming works nor do i know that they were playing, so this is a challenge for me as well skdjkdsj

so, chenle is screaming

renjun is focused

and jaemin is saying the most absurd shit

‘am i allowed to kill myself in this game?’

‘imagine if this was all real life, we wouldn’t even have to worry about mother nature to torture us since we’d all die’

‘i wonder if jisung will look just as cute if he was an animation’

imagine translating all that, the real mvp is you sis

and your job ain’t easy, your brain works twice as hard and it gets pretty stressful (i did it once for my school for japanese to english, never doing it again...) 

then jaemin with his annoying and iconique line: ‘one, two, three four, fiiIIiiiIiiiIIiiIiiiVeeEEeeE’

you: ‘one two three four five’

jaemin: bish no, fiiiIIiiIiiiIivVvvvve

with whatever remaining cocaine you had this morning, you followed the pink haired bby 

fiiIIiiIiiiiIiVVvvVvveeeEeeeE 

or i guess i should say ooOooOOooooOOOOOOooooO

this made everyone laugh and jaemin immediately apologised

so im guessing he knows he’s pretty annoying lol

but yeah, you buried your face in your hands and thought to yourself, ‘imma have to do this for another 5-9 times’

so yes, you did your job and right after the live ended, jaemin immediately went to you with a few of the things he just won

and you weren’t sure if it meant you hAd to run away you know

is he gonna make you do stuff again? is he gonna scold you for actually listening to him? wHat is happening

sis caLm down no dhjsdhjshs 

‘hey sorry for making you do that, i didn’t think you’d actually do it. here, have some of this too’ he says 

oH?

you were honestly taken by surprise

i mean yes, you were sort of embarrassed, but it wasn’t like you were thinking about it for the entire time

i mean you translated worse crap before, this wasn’t too bad

i think

you thanked him and told him that it was fine, but he was still quite stubborn and sort of shoved the stuff in your hands

well i guess you had something to munch on for tonight

your brain was tired, you just wanted to sleep in your wittle apartment in a big ass hoodie

so just before you were knocked out, why not have a snack

and just like any other cliché ass headcanon, there was a yellow sticky note on the packet

‘i’m really sorry for what happened earlier hhhh, but hey, at least everyone found it cute including me. let’s see what’s gonna happen next time yeah? ;) -nana’ 

and you die 

no im kidding ksdjskjsdkj

well yeah sorta

also can’t believe i actually put the wink thing ew

in conclusion: na jaemin is a flirt, and this makes your job even harder cause maybe you like him, and maybe he likes you

maYBe

sorry that this is not as long as the other headcanon i’ve made, but yes! How’s everyone? I’m honestly quite stressed cause my mock papers start this friday until the 17th, and i am lowkey dying because gOd this is going to be an actual mess. i’m not prepared for maths at all, and i can’t wait to evaporate into thin air for knott knowing anything. I’ve also been thinking about this for quite a while now but, I think i’ll stop ‘history is a bench.’ the reason i’m saying this is because i sorta dont have the motivation to write it? social media aus are fun to make, but idk, i’ve been preferring to write headcanons and one shots more so yeah, i’m really sorry to disappoint everyone for that. 

#nct #jaemin #na jaemin #huang renjun #renjun #lee donghyuck #lee haechan #haechan #donghyuck #chenle #zhong chenle #park jisung #jisung #lee jeno #jeno #nct 127 #nct dream #nct u #wayv #headcanons

[creepyalienghost]

People Of Creation

It was Henry’s first year in college. He, like many others going wasn’t really sure what path he wanted to choose for his life. He had decided on five classes for his first semester, to gather the skills. Art history, Business, Computer tech, chemistry and film. He chose a few for giving the knowledge he needed and the others for some fun.

Within a few months of college he film professor gave the them the months assignment. They were to make a documentary about anything they or there group choices.

In class, Henry turned to his friend behind him and Norman who was beside him. “Do you two wanna make a group together? Would be fun!” He offered

“Must definitely!” Shawn replied with a smile.

“Sure!” Norman agreed with them.

The rest of that class they shared topics on what each wants to do this documentary on while Henry writes them down and talk why they want that topic. Shawn suggestions were

Irish folklore or the world of toy markers. Norman thought of doing people who went missing or something on the future. Henry suggested holidays or war.

They discussed on what topic they should choose but none of them can all agree on one topic though. The end of the class Came and they agreed to meet at Henry dorm later to decide. All day they went through classes thinking about what they should do or looking up more topics on there free times to add

And waited.

When they did meet up at Henry’s dorm later that night, they all had some new topics of interest to share. “Maybe we could do the documentary on storms?” Shawn ask

Both Henry and Norman shook there heads.

“Nah.” Henry disagreed then went back to thinking.

Norman, who was Searching on his phone for ideas popped up. “What about the people of the creation?” Norman looked up from his phone for a second then back when he saw Shawn and Henry taking an interest. “Says here they all live off the land and vary happen people?”

“And?” Shawn ask “what’s so cool about that?”

“Also says the talk to the gods so I’m guessing this is a cult.” Norman shrugs then leans on the wall behind him.

“Let’s do that one. Maybe we go there, see how they live and interview the people there! That would be fun!” Henry replied

“I’m down with this one.” Norman said and looked at shawn. “What about you?”

Shawn thought for a moment then nodded “alright. Let do this.”

Henry looked up and emailed the owner of the land asking him if they could do there documentary on them for a week. They waited for a few hours before Henry’s phone signaled that there was a new email. Shawn and Norman ran to the sides of Henry as he got out his phone and checked it. “Hello Mr. stein! I have read your email and I accept your request for a documentary. We are excited to have your crew come to let us share our views with you three. We expect you tomorrow. Have a blessed day!”

Henry looked at shawn then Norman. “Looks Like we’re going on to the people of creation!”

Shawn and Norman went back to there dorms to start packing for the weeks trip. Henry booked three plan tickets then packed as well. They meet up after at the Uber Norman called and headed to the air port. By 11:30 there plan was off. By morning they landed, got there bags and took a taxi to closes it would take them to the gates of the people of the creation.

It was strange but they got out and grabbed there bags from the Trunk then walked the mile up to the gates of the people of creation. “Halt!” Called someone behind them, followed by the sound of a loading gun. They all froze in place Witt there hands up.

The man came around in View of them. “You people are?”

“H-Henry stain, sir.” Henry was the one to reply. “These are my friends Shawn Flynn and Norman Polk. We had p-permission t-to come and do a Documentary on you guys.” He was Hopping it was actually there leader he ask and not some troll.

The man gives them a nasty look. “Wait here!” He ordered then went off to the side and talk into a walkie-talkie while still keeping an eye on them. All three of them was nervous as hell of what could happen but none of them said anything.

The man came back to them a minute later. “My apologies. Follow me.” He turns and opened the gate. Henry looked at the others two before following the man, Shawn followed grant and Norman followed after.

They came upon a two story house away from the other buildings. The guy that escorted them knocked on the door and another man in a suit opened it. “Greets!” He smiled “you must be Henry stein!” He shook Henry’s hand. “I’m Joey drew!”

Henry nodded as he formerly shook joeys hand. “Yep that’s me! These are my friends and crew Shawn.” He pointed to his left. “And Norman.” He pointed to his right.

“Welcome you two.” Joey shakes and greats them as well. “Come. Let me show you around!”

He starts to lead them around before Henry turns to Joey. “Do you mind if one of us films the tour?”

Joey shakes his head. “No. Go right ahead! There’s nothing to hide here!” He Smiled in a way that makes Henry’s stomach flutter.

They stopped for a minute for Norman to dig in his bag and gets out his camera. He pressed to Record button and they proceed the tour.

The first stop was at the church. A few people were praying or reading the Bible. “We gather hear every night after dinner for a daily lesson on the Bible.” Joey announces into the Camera. “And every Sunday is the full mass.”

Norman films around the church and the praying people.

They move on from the crunch to walk the kitchen and eating area. “This is we’re we have our meals.” Joey explains. “We love to eat out side but we do have tables inside

Incase the weathers bad.” He informed them.

A blonde woman that was cleaning off a table comes over. “Hello Joey.” She bowed to him. “Are these those guys you told us about?”

Joey wrapped his arm around her. “Hello. Yes this is shawn, Henry and Norman.” He gestures to each as he said there names. “Guys this is my wife, Susie.” They all greeted her and then moved on from the area.

The next stop they came to was the garden. Rows and rows of there plants and It was fenced up to keep the wild life from eating there plants. “Here’s our family garden. The ones that maintain it are finish for the day.

They move on to the rest of the buildings and areas of the land. A school for the kids, an area for bomb fires, a farm for meet, dairy and eggs. There was horses also but Joey just told them it was for fun.

Lastly they come to a little green house. “Here is we’re you will be staying for the week.” Joey informed them. “I had my husbands cheek and make sure everything was nice and clean for arrival.” He opened the door to a living room nicer to any hotel room they ever stayed in.

“I’m sorry you said husbands?” Shawn ask joey. “I thought you said you had a wife?”

Joey looked at shawn. “ I do. I have Susie my wife. And Sammy and Grant my two husbands.” He replied. “I’ll let y’all meet them and everyone else as dinner. Your going to love it! Tell then I’ll let you settle and rest up.” He smiled and left.

The three of them walked into there Little home for the next week and looked around. There was a small kitchen with fridge and microwave but no stove. There wasn’t no tv or any books besides a Bible on the coffee table. Up stairs there was three rooms and a bathroom. They all chose there rooms and unpacked there bags and supplies.

Shawn finishes and goes to Henry’s room. “It’s a little odd how they have TVs huh?

Henry shrugged. “I donno. I mean.. the amish doesnt use electricity ether...maybe here they don’t ether for TVs.”

“Ya I guess you right.” Shawn nodded and went back to his room.

After they all finish unpacking there clothes and equipment they decided to rest form the long trip here. Henry went into his room for a nap. Shawn went into his room to watch a movie and Norman went to his room and pulled out his book he brought and started reading.

——-

Later that night, when they were getting ready for there first meal with these people someone knocked on there door. “I got it.” Henry said, walking down the stairs and opening the door to Joey snd two other man in white gowns.

“Hello again Henry!” Joey waved. “I hope you rest well?”

Henry nodded. “We did thank you. And the house is nice, again thank you.” Norman and Shawn Came up and nodded in agreement

“I’m glad to hear that.” Joey smiled. “Oh. This is Grant and Sammy. My two husbands.” He introduced them. They all said there greetings and started for the kitchen area. As they were walking and listening to Joey talk about how exciting he was they were doing there documentary here, Norman noticed one of the husbands had a limp. He wondered if he was alright but didn’t think much to it though.

When they arrived it was Swarming with everyone coming here to sit down at the long table and the cooks bringing over the dishes of good. “You guys can sit in these three chairs at the end.” Joey waved them over. Henry came over and sat at the vary end, Shawn sat in the middle of then him and Norman. Grant got the end on the other side, Susie sat beside him. Sammy sat beside her everyone else got to chose where. Joey sits on the end watching the everyone.

Once they were all sat down everyone bows there heads and placed there Palms together for prayer. Joey looked at the three visitors. “Please would you join us in prayer.” He smiled.

Henry looked at Norman and Shawn then shrugs. “Sure.” They all three bowed there heads and placed the palms then Joey announced the prayer and everyone finished it with an “amen.” And begins to scoop there serving and eat.

Joey turn to the visitors. “I appreciate you fellas praying with us. Means the world to us.” He spoke then took a bite of his role.

“It’s not a problem, Joey.” Henry replied and Shawn nodded.

“You joining us for bible lessen tonight, right ?” Joey ask them took a bite of chicken. “I mean you should. It’s fun!”

Henry finishes his sip of water and nodded. “Yea. We’re be there to film it. That’s ok right?”

Joey nodded. “That’s alright.”

Shawn stoped eating to watch everyone of them for a minute. They all were so happy here. Smiles on there faces, talking with there friends around them, eating this delicious food they make on there own. Plus living here deep in the woods! It paradise!

Norman glances at Joey as everyone was eating there food and talking to each other. He didn’t like the way Joey was asking these questions to them. He had a weird feeling from him and many of these people. One of joey’s husbands kept looking at him Shawn and Henry strangely. He was on guard of everyone and everything right now, watching everyone.

——

When everyone was finish with their dinner and the table was cleaned everyone headed down to the church building for bible lessees. Norman had set up his camera earlier in the day so he just push record once Joey started his lesson.

Shawn sat beside Grant and watching everyone fellow the words of there bibles as Joey reads. Grant looked at shawn before scooting closer and held the book to him to share. Shawn looked at Grant and smiled at him. Grant gave a smile back at him and they listen to the lesson.

Henry watched Joey and listen to everything he spoke. He wanted to understand what Joey was saying and why someone would want to join one of these. He couldn’t wait to interview Joey and these people tomorrow. Couldn’t wait to hear what they would say.

Once Joey was finish with the lesson he dismiss everyone and sat next to Henry. “It looked like you were vary interested in this Mr.stain”

Henry nodded. “It was interesting. I can’t wait for our interview tomorrow morning.”

Joey chuckles. “Sounds like a plan then. You three have a good night now.” Joey smiled at him as he got up and went to his wife and husbands. Together all four walked out of the church together. Once again Norman noticed the blonde man limping.

Henry got up and turned to Shawn and Norman. “Ready to go back now?”

Shawn and Henry went to the house and went to there rooms for the night. Norman went back with them but snuck out once they went in there rooms.

There was something going on with this place. He didn’t know what, but he knew something wasn’t right. Joey drew voice when he was asking Henry questions, they way the brown haired husband looked at them at dinner the fact they they lived in a the woods, The curfew thing and having guards walk around with guns.

Norman hide in the shadows as he moved around the place, dodging the guards with guns. He stopped and looked up at the church in front of him and notice it was a two story. He opened the door and peaked inside before going inside.

The church was empty. No one was sitting in the rows of benches. Norman walked slowly down the ally to the strange and picked up

The Bible that was on the table. He flipped though it and read the notes for a minute. He put it back down where it was and looked around. He noticed there was a way to back stage from the side so he went back there.

There was chairs stacked together in one corner, a few boxes full of bibles, and table With some junk on it. Then Norman noticed the was stairs in one corner going both up and down. Norman slowly approaches the stairs for the basement. One he got to the them he saw a door at the vary bottom. He took slow step down, making sure it didn’t creek. Then another. And another. He got down them and reaches for the door nob and twisted it.

“What are you doing?”

Norman nearly jumped out of his skin and turn around to the voice. It was the blonde husband, Sammy. He was standing at the top of the stairs. “I was....” Norman tried to think of something but his heart was beating to fast to think.

“Don’t you know it’s pass curfew?” Sammy simply ask.

Norman climbed the top of the stairs. “Ya. But I couldn’t sleep. I could ask the same thing to you though. This is your home after all.”

Sammy looked at Norman. “I was on my way home when I saw the door to the church opened. Thought I see what was going on.” He answered. “Come on. I’ll lead you home.”

Norman nodded and followed the short blonde out of the church. As they made there way to the house he again noticed Sammy was limping. “Are you alright?..” he asked. “I seen you limp all day.”

“I -I fine.” Sammy replied. Norman definitely noticed his voice was different here. Shaky almost. “It’s just a .. sprained. That’s all.”

Norman looked at him. “Well. Shouldn’t you put ice on it?”

Sammy nodded. “I will..I do..w-when I’m home.” He smiled up at him.

They walk in silence for the rest of the way and soon came to the house Norman was staying at. “Well. Goodnight Mr. Polk.” Sammy said. Norman watched the man as he limped away for a while. Then he went inside and got ready for bed.

#bendy and the ink machine #sammy lawrence #joey drew #shawn flynn #grant cohen #norman polk #susie campbell