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#then i thought “why not add leo with some funny face”

jmcgirl · 5 months

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Since some people don't know why we believe Agent 18 has a crush on qFoolish I will list the reasons.

Firstly, when Agent 18 renovated Foolish's office, he made a pin board with all the information they found about the case and some funny one liners along with it. He also put a doodle of him and qFoolish holding hands. That alone could be excused as platonic but there was also blush on their faces. Which tends to indicate romantic attraction.

The next point is the one most people use when citing Agent 18's romantic interest for qFoolish. Is when Foolish was afk and Agent 18 set up a table and chairs next to qFoolish, even lighting a candle and handing a rose to him. Agent 18 then shakes his hand and puts it all way before CC Foolish comes back. This one is debatable because this gesture could have been for chat, not qFoolish. So it's up to interpretation!

Photo taken from: foolishfilmz

Then it's Agent 18's constant care for qFoolish. His first appearance he was shown to mourn the loss of qFoolish. In the QSMP streams Agent 18 was shown pacing around, he mentioned qFoolish in every report he made to Cucurucho, even when the worker killings stopped during Purgatory. It is alluded to that Agent 18 went to Elena to talk about his worries (including qFoolish.) Agent 18 has also decorating Foolish's room several times, entertaining Foolish's whims (playing Minecraft Suika, getting him a new Federation outfit) and has given him heartfelt books.

This is the book that everyone thought was a love confession at first:

Sorry couldn't put all the pages. I didn't have enough space but I put some more important parts.

Here is Agent 18's most recent talk about trust.

Agent 18 was seen putting up mistletoe in front of Foolish's (and his) office. This alone wouldn't be romantic as he did decorate the rest of their office festivally but Elena sees this action and says, "I see." With the knowledge that Agent 18 has confided in Elena before we know she isn't a stranger to how he acts. She is not simply saying that for any random actions she observes, this is deliberate.

And I haven't even mentioned Agent 18 questioning other people calling qFoolish "JabberJaw" (his nickname for Foolish) when talking with him and qBBH. BBH was saying "they" as in only referring to Agent 18 but Agent 18 took it as they plural, not singular. (Easy mistake, plus Agent 18's admin speaks Portuguese, not just English.) Agent 18 was jealous. That's his nickname for qFoolish afterall.

In Foolish's recent VOD, when the eye workers attack Agent 18 comes out of the Federation office with Agent 22 to help Foolish out. After the fight Agent 18 makes sure to ask if Foolish was okay. He also addressed Leo as "your egg" when he made it clear the stream before he was not too familiar with other eggs like Dapper, Pomme and Pepito.

There is also the difference in which he treats qFoolish compared to pretty much everyone else. He isn't completely rude to others but he is definitely more sarcastic to other islanders and outright hostile to some (qBBH and qTubbo.)

Those are all the reasons I could find/remember on why we believe Agent 18's feelings for qFoolish are romantic and not just friendly. If you have more to add, feel free to do so! :D

IT IS PROVEN, JUST NOW ON FIT'S STREAM!!!

qFit plans to confess to qPac and tried practicing yesterday with the help of Ramón (it was very bad), so Ramón found Agent 18 and tried to do romance practice with him and Ramón told qFit about it!

Here are Ramón's signs from that conversation:

It was very obvious Agent 18 had a crush on qFoolish from the beginning but crumbs are crumbs. I think this is the second time Agent 18 has asked an egg for help. He asked Sunny too.

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storywriter007 · 5 months

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(Part 1) Part 2 - You Used to Avoid Me Too (Percy Jackson x Fem!Reader, Leo Valdez x Fem!Reader)

summary: in which y/n finds clarity in her time away from percy.

warnings: cursing, inappropriate humor, mention of the dead, toxic relationship, etc

genre: sadness turned into happiness ig???

word count: 912

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y/n walked out of percy's cabin, not exactly sure what she was feeling. she was sad, but she was angry, but was she finally in a state of clarity? who knew? she looked around a couple of times, hoping no one heard the ruckus that had just occurred. tears fell from her eyes. she saw a shadowy figure stare at her for a brief minute before it disappeared.

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"y/n! it's time for breakfast!" one of her cabinmates yelled.

"coming!" y/n yelled back, hoping that the cold water had washed away the redness in her eyes.

she began walking to the pavilion, but felt a strong urge to turn around when she saw him.

him with the dark hair and bright eyes walking happily to breakfast as if he hadn't destroyed whatever hope she had in him the night before.

y/n grabbed her breakfast and began walking down to her table, unfortunately having to pass percy on her way there.

"i heard so much noise from percy's cabin yesterday." one kid said.

"my boy got it on last night!" the other kid exclaimed, the table bursting out in laughter.

perfect timing y/n thought as she walked by, suddenly not feeling hungry anymore. she took the apple and walked out of the pavilion and to the lake.

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you're not annabeth. you're not her.

those six words replayed in y/n's mind as tears began to fall from her eyes. why would someone even say such a thing?

she felt someone come sit beside her. not wanting to show her tear stained face, she quickly wiped her cheeks and put on a smile.

"i like your smile." the person said.

y/n turned to see leo. a wave of shock passed through her body, but she didn't show it.

"thank you." she smiled.

"but it doesn't hide your tomato eyes." he laughed.

y/n chuckled too.

"what're you doing out here?" he asked.

"just sitting. looking at the view." she responded.

"with a side of crying?"

"maybe."

"i heard you guys last night."

oh great y/n thought.

"we did not 'get it on-'" she started.

"i know. you guys were fighting. pretty badly, i'll add. i heard the glass and the yelling. i saw-"

y/n thought back to yesterday night and remembered there was some shadow walking around.

"you saw me." she sighed. "fuck."

"ing? i thought that's what didn't happen." he laughed.

"haha, very funny." she rolled her eyes.

"i heard the things he said." he started. "i don't think he's right."

"but isn't he? i wasn't what he was looking for and i was stupid enough to think i was."

"you can't change yourself to be what he misses. your job isn't to be the past, it's to be the present and the future."

"i don't even know. i'm so upset. he didn't even love me in the first place and for some reason, i feel like that's so much worse than falling out of love with me. i would've known he cared at one point. but now, i know he never ever did." she chuckled. it made more sense aloud. "and, i hope this doesn't sound mean, but why do you care? you used to avoid me too."

"yeah i did, but that didn't mean i wanted to." he answered.

"explain?"

"percy's my bro, so first, i just stayed away because he wanted me to. i never knew the real reason until he started saying a bunch of weird shit."

"like what?"

"stupid shit. like, 'y/n's hair is different' or 'y/n got a question wrong in math.' it was like he was subtly comparing you to annabeth, while trying to not completely give himself away. i lost respect for him first when he said you were only good during the nighttime, if you know what i mean. i think i lost a more respect for him when he said, and i quote, 'do you guys ever pretend someone is someone else? but then they're not like that person and it gets you pissed off?'"

y/n knew her tears were falling down her face again.

"then i was like, fuck this, i need to ask if y/n's alright. if he's saying all this, you must've been like a victim."

"mhm." she nodded. "i don't even know what i did wrong."

y/n buried her face into her hands as breathing became difficult.

"wait, hey-don't cry!" he panicked. "i mean, percy's stupid anyways. well i know i'm stupid, but he's like really stupid-" he started, trying to wipe away y/n's tears with his hands. "you didn't hear this from me, but he's obsessed with someone who's six feet under, maybe seven, she was kinda tall. it's like necrophilic at this point-"

y/n chuckled at that.

"if anything, he can take the gravestone and shove it up his ass." he smiled.

y/n gave him a weak smile as her tears slowly reduced.

"i'll see you around camp." leo said, getting up and reaching a hand out for her.

she took it, getting up.

"see you around leo." she smiled.

as they both went their seperate ways, y/n just couldn't stop smiling. she looked around as she walked back to the main area of the camp. she saw percy, sword fighting with jason. as she walked by, she locked eyes with percy.

"y/n!" he yelled "can we talk? please?"

"i would love to but i think you've got a gravestone shoved up your ass!" she yelled back.

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pt 2 because you guys requested ittt. it just hurts to make leo the bad guy so we cleared his name up <3

hope you guys like it lowkey gonna write more angst now

#angst #percy jackson #heroes of olympus x reader #heroes of olympus #leo valdez #annabeth chase #percy jackson x reader angst #reader x percy jackson angst #fluffy #pjo #pjo fluff #percy x y/n #percy jackson x y/n #percabeth #heartbreaking #happy

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seangelfish · 3 months

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Ritsu Sakuma x Reader ♡ Tags: Fluff, established relationship, casual romance, really wholesome, INTRO IS REALLY LONG, SORRY!, she/her pronouns ♡ Word count: 2,215 ♡ Synopsis: Inspired by the Meowsketeers scout story in which this card is featured in. I've been trying to read the scout stories since I never read them, and I thought that this one would be cute to add the reader in! Please note that this fic does not stay true to the story, but it has taken bits from it. A/N: There needs to be more Ritsu x reader fics.

Drenched in sweat, Ritsu slowly woke up from his nap in the ES gardens. His mind was still filled with thoughts of what happened the other day when Tsukasa confronted and withdrew some of the new members of Knights.

Ritsu pitied them, but what was said was the mere truth. That's the way Knights operated, it was never a unit to have fun with as an idol. But seeing those tearful faces did take a toll on him.

At that moment, Ritsu felt something heavy weighing on him. It wasn't what happened that day, but something physical that he could feel near his stomach.

'Who is it? Am I being attacked? It's not those pranks Tsukipi set up, right?' he thought tiredly. Unless it's (Y/N)...? No... she said she'd be busy today–

Ritsu was getting annoyed. "Hold on. You don't disturb people when they're sleeping!" he groaned. "Now I'm in a bad mood... Don't mess with me– Huh?"

Eyes wide open, Ritsu found that on his stomach was a black cat.

"Ugh, so it was this guy!" he fumed. "Get off! You're heavy and it's too hot...!"

Yet the cat wouldn't budge. It stayed lying on Ritsu's stomach as if he were a pillow. Ritsu wasn't having any of it though, no one dares disturb his sleep even if they were a cat! Getting angrier by the second, he decided to fight it off him.

"Hey! Ow! Don't dig your claws in me!"

"That Suo, he's late!" exclaimed Leo. "What a troublesome guy! I came early today since he gets angry at me when I come late."

"Unbelievable! He's wasting my precious time!" Izumi chided. "This is so annoying. Did your wanderlust infect Kasa-kun?"

Leo laughed. "Eh? What, what? Wahaha, that's funny, Sena! I suppose it's fate that Knights' leader is to be cursed by wanderlust!"

Frantic footsteps could be heard as Tsukasa barged into the studio panting. He apologised, mentioning to his seniors that he got involved in a little incident with Ritsu. That was when Ritsu entered the room, still arguing with the black cat he encountered outside.

"I told you to let go of me, didn't I?! Why can't you understand me, you stupid cat?!" Ritsu growled. "Do my clothes smell like catnip or something...?"

"A stray cat got attached to Ritsu-senpai and it won't let go of him," stated Tsukasa.

"Unbelievable. This was why you were late?" said Izumi. "There's got to be some way to pull it off. Just grab it by the neck like how a parent cat carries a kitchen– Owah! This guy tried to scratch me! If you were human, I'd have you pay compensation!"

Arashi suggested that they all calm down and get started on the retrospective – the reason why they were holding a meeting in the first place. If they ignore the cat, perhaps it would let Ritsu go!

But as Arashi started playing the video of their live, Leo noticed something. In the video, Leo pointed out the front row seats where beside a fan's feet, a black cat was seen.

"This guy, it saw Ritsu at Knights' live and came to meet him!" said Leo excitedly.

"Hah...? No way! That sounds so unrealistic," Ritsu replied before turning to the cat which started showing him affection. "Owah, what? Don't start licking my cheek!"

"Given its reaction, it probably did come to meet Knights," said Tsukasa. "Isn't it just the cutest? It probably fell in love with Ritsu-senpai's brave figure at the live!"

"What?! Don't say things so nonchalantly!"

But the other members of Knights had agreed to let the cat do what it wanted despite Ritsu's comments on how much of a disaster this was.

The cat didn't let go of him even during the retrospective. It lay sound asleep on Ritsu's lap. Knights had come up with a name for the cat too, 'd'Artagnyan', their 'newest knight that was drawn in by Knights.'

Ritsu didn't like this idea at all. He didn't see any resemblance between him and the cat that his fellow members were constantly pointing out too. Though, he didn't want to just kick it out. He wanted it to leave on its own volition.

"It clings to you like how you cling onto (Y/N)," stated Arashi causing Ritsu to erupt into a steam of embarrassment. "Maybe it finds your scent comforting~? If so, it might be satisfied with something that has Ritsu-chan's scent on it..."

"Something with my scent?" Ritsu repeated. "Ah, I just came to an unpleasant conclusion..."

He was talking about his favourite blanket – the only thing in this studio that had his scent on it. But there was no way that Ritsu wanted to give this unlucky cat his favourite blanket!

"Ah, wait! Don't suddenly pounce for my blanket, you idiot cat!" huffed Ritsu as he tried to yank the blanket away. He was now on the floor fighting with the cat. "Give it back! I don't want such an unlucky cat to use my blanket! Guys, please help me out here!"

"Oi, oi. There's no need to get so worked up over something like this, right, Ritsu?" said Leo. "I know it's annoying, but it'll be dangerous if you get violent in here, no?"

"But I really like this blanket! I won't allow it to use it! Ah, don't scratch it–"

"Please calm down, Ritsu-senpai...!" sputtered Tsukasa.

But before Izumi could assert himself to scold Ritsu, you had rushed into the studio. Arashi had texted you about the situation before they started their retrospective, hoping that you'd come to solve the issue at hand. After all, you solved a lot of their problems before, it became customary to ask you for help.

"Ritsu, are you okay?" you asked worriedly, bending down. "Hey, what's wrong? You're not usually like this."

"(Y-Y/N)?!" Ritsu blurted, perplexed at your sudden appearance. "W-What are you doing here?"

You answered that even though you were busy with your own assignments today, you couldn't just ignore what was happening with Knights, with him.

"Is this what's bothering you?" You tried picking up the cat, but it immediately started hissing at you. "Ah! Okay, I'm not going to pick you up then...! Anyway, Arashi texted me all the details already. Why don't you just give up the blanket, Ritsu?"

"N-No!" he cried. "I can't!"

"I don't understand why you like that blanket so much," said Izumi. "I'll buy you a new one if that makes you happy–"

"That's not it! (Y/N) bought me this one!"

Everyone had gone silent over that fact.

"Then I'll buy you a new one," you offered.

"No!" Ritsu protested. "You got this for me when we were first years! I can't just let that go!"

Ritsu usually wasn't this worked up, so you knew he was upset about something other than his blanket. But you also knew that he was a very sentimental person too, so you couldn't just force him to give up something that he truly loved. It was sweet that he had kept this blanket up until now though. It showed how much he loved you.

"I have an idea," you suddenly said. You rummaged through your bag and pulled out a white sweater. "This also has Ritsu's scent on it."

"Wait," Ritsu began. "That's my sweater."

"Mhm, my favourite one too!" you giggled. "If we give the cat this, then it'll give up on the blanket!"

"B-But (Y/N), you love that sweater...!" he said.

"I do, but you love that blanket too, right? I'll give this up so you can have your blanket back!"

With how selfless and thoughtful you were being, Ritsu had finally cooled down.

"N-No, it's fine," he said sadly. "I'll let it keep the blanket, you keep the sweater, okay? I'm sorry, everyone, I went overboard. I didn't mean to hurt anyone."

"Ritsu..."

He picked up his blanket with the cat still attached to it and left the building quietly. The meeting with Knights had come to an end. You sighed, apologised and thanked Knights for putting up with your boyfriend before following after him.

Ritsu was situated on one of the tables at the ES gardens, his head laid on his arms as he watched the black cat sleep in his blanket.

"It's my fault that Knights ended up fighting again... If only this cat hadn't been there. No, I should've been calmer..." he murmured. "It would've been better if I had analysed the situation calmly like I usually do, and brought it to a positive conclusion..."

"Ritsu~" you called out.

With the sound of your voice, his eyes immediately gravitated towards you. He didn't lift his head though, he was too tired for that.

"(Y/N)..."

"Here," you said, pressing a cold can of soda to his cheek. He cried at the coldness but quickly covered his mouth from being too loud. He didn't want to wake up the cat despite how annoying it was today.

"Ah, thank you..." he said, taking the can from you. He laid it in front of him, not opening it. "(Y/N), I'm really sorry about earlier. You were busy, and Nacchan had to call you over to deal with something so small."

"Eh, it's okay~," you said. From behind, you wrapped your arms around his neck, holding him close to you. "I'm nearly finished with my assignments anyway. But Ritsu, are you really okay?"

Ritsu strained a smile, but he held your arm in a way to comfort himself. "I'm fine now. I'm going to sit here and reflect on my actions until this stupid cat wakes up. If I ignored the cat in the studio and it gets restless, it might be even more troublesome."

You laughed. "It's so cute when it's sleeping. It reminds me of you."

"Eeehhh? Why does everyone keep saying that?" he asked.

"Well, it's cute and you're cute! Also, it takes naps just like you, hehe~"

Ritsu sighed but laughed along. "Ah, you're wearing the sweater," he said, finally noticing the baggy look on you.

"Yep! I'm glad I didn't need to give it up in the end, but I do feel sad that you had to give your favourite blanket away," you said.

"It's fine. Maybe it'll let it go later..." he started. "Well, I hope it does anyway. I really do like that blanket..."

He chuckled, reminiscing the time you first got him the blanket. The two of you met just before entering Yumenosaki. You were Mao's friend initially, but he had introduced you to Ritsu during the time he had to repeat his first year. Ritsu had treated you coldly at first, but when you spotted him sleeping in the gardens, coming to know of his illness, you had decided to gift him a blanket for him to use.

It was a blanket you had bought at a shop in town, nothing special, but Ritsu thought the world of it. Even when he treated you so poorly, you were still so nice to him – to accommodate him in this way. He grew fond of the blanket, but he mostly grew fond of you.

After that day, he stuck to you just like the cat he was watching now.

"You know, I'm surprised it's still kept in good condition after all these years," you pointed out. "We're in our third year now... and it still looks brand new."

"I take good care of my things, (Y/N)~," he said. "And I'll be keeping that blanket for as long as I can."

You smiled and gave him a peck on the back of his head. "Anyway, aren't you going to tell me what got you so riled up? It can't just be because of the cat, right?"

"Ah, right..." he said. He opened the can that you gave him and began to drink the contents of it. "So, this is what happened..."

He explained everything to you, recalling what happened that day when they had to withdraw some of the new Knights members. He was honest with his feelings, how bad he felt when he saw those tearful faces, how bad he felt when he knew that those dreams were being crushed.

But after some reassurance from you, Ritsu felt a lot better. That's when Tsukasa showed up to check up on him too. A suggestion of finding foster parents for the cat was brought up which Ritsu agreed to.

By time, he grew fond of the cat albeit he still wanted it gone. But things had resolved themselves, and Ritsu was back to his calm, analytical self again.

You had come to say goodbye to the cat, d'Artagnyan, too. This time, it had let you hold it.

"Hehe, it really does remind me of you," you told Ritsu who immediately turned red. "Don't miss Ritsu too much, you hear me~? I hope you live a comfortable life."

Watching you be so gentle with the cat like that had Ritsu feeling some sort of way. He smiled gently to himself, appreciating that you were there with him, that you were there to console him and to listen to every word he had to say. There was nothing better in this world – even his favourite blanket – that would compare to you.

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#ensemble stars x reader #enstars x reader #ensemble stars #enstars #x reader #fanfic #ritsu sakuma x reader #ritsu sakuma #ritsu sakuma x reader fluff #fluff #ritsu sakuma x y/n

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pianocat939 · 2 years

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Hi hope it’s not to late to request some rise content ! Could I please request Yandere platonic rivals between Splinter vs big mama HCs fighting over the reader who was an old friend of theirs (that one episode when Splinter first meets big mama in his movies star days) before she/their moved away only to return years later ? Only if you want to of course 💗

Y'know that joke where Baron Draxum and Splinter are a divorced couple? Well this is literally it except it's Big mama and Splinter lmaooo

I made this comedic, but I think the rivalry point still stands

Tw: Honestly this is just funny shit, minor brit slander, mentions of manipulation, MC lowkey feels kinda hopeless, mentions of past depression

Brits in a Pub

"Yeah and this really nice person close to the manhole, next to Big Mama's hotel, fed us some pizza!" Mikey cheered, clapping his hands together.

Splinter showing some interest replies, "Seems like you had fun, boys." His body sags on the recliner chair, like a potato on a pile of dirt.

"Oh, and they apparently moved back to New York City to see their old friends, Lou Jitsu and his girlfriend." Donatello adds, scrolling through media on his phone.

The lair goes silent as if provoked by Donnie's comment.

The purple-masked mutant looks up from his device, confused. "What? I thought dad might've known who th-"

"Y/N!" Splinter yells, bouncing up from his chair. He rushes forward to Donatello, gripping the turtle's shoulders. "Where did you find this 'person'?!"

"Um dad, Mikey already told you."

——————————————————

Big Mama sits at the very top stand of the Battle Nexus arena, looking down below. "Ooh, I think is going to be a very interesting fight~" She grins, showing off her fangs.

"My lady, we've received a message from an unknown sender. It was addressed to you." A staff member walks in, holding a laptop open. "The sender goes by the name Y/n."

Big Mama whips her head, all six of her ruby eyes glowing with joy. "Y/n? Why I haven't seen them in years!" She scurries over, a pair of arms taking the laptop.

An e-mail is present on the screen, stating:

'Hey, Big Mama. I know I moved away a long time ago, and we haven't spoken since, but I moved back and I was hoping we could catch up sometime. I heard you're a grand hotel owner now so if you're free, you could pick us a place to eat. After all, you probably New York City better than me now.

(Yes I know you're not human)

Your friend, Y/n'

Big Mama slams the laptop shut, her arms wiggling in excitement. "We need to make a reservation at the finest restaurant in the hotel! Oh and make sure it's a private room, I want no distractions!"

——————————————————

The Hamato family stands in front of Y/n's house, the late night sky hiding their identity.

"I'm sorry, you and Big Mama accused each other for the reason this Y/n person left?" Leo moves an eyebrow muscle, confusion apprent on his face.

"Well I say it's her fault but yes, we did." Splinter answers maliciously, arms crossed over his chest.

Mikey, as if offended, dramatically puts a hand on his chest, mouth agape. "Dad you shouldn't be saying things like that! Maybe they just wanted to get away from New York City."

"Yeah, it is kinda tight and smoggy here." Raph adds, staring up at the house before him.

"What can we say? New York, what a town~" Donnie wiggles his fingers and spreads his hands apart, like raining glitter over a piece of paper.

Before Splinter can reply, the group notices two of Big Mama's servants open a door for someone, seemingly welcoming a VIP.

"Hey, it's the pizza giver!" Mikey points out, realizing the identity of the mysterious person before anyone else.

"Blue, quick! Open a portal!" Splinter commands his son, a new energy rushing through his old and small body.

Leo holds his Ōdachi out, slicing an electric blue portal. "On it dad!"

——————————————————

"Hello darling! It's been so many years~" Big Mama hugs Y/n, her human form miniscule compared to her yokai form. The other hugs back, smiling.

When they pull away Y/n scratches their head, chuckling nervously, "Yeah it is. It's weird but good to be back in New York." They freeze before asking themselves, "I never told you why I moved away did I?"

The silver-haired lady shakes her head, her the frames of her glasses gleaming in the light.

"Well I moved away because I got a new job, and also 'cause I felt like I was invading your relationship." They frown a little, glancing away from her view.

Shocked, Big Mama questions, "Invading? How so?"

"I was always with you guys and you kept fighting for my attention so I thought I was ruining your relationship."

Ruin? No certainly not. If anything, the reason she was blinded to force Lou Jitsu to fight for the Battle Nexus was because her beloved friend left.

"The depression both me and Lou got after you left was horrible, we were so heartbroken."

"Speaking of Lou, where is he?"

"Um, we split up, and then he was transformed into a rat mutant."

"I-"

"But, enough of that, we have much to catch up on!"

She leads them to the private area, an unchanging grin on plastered on her face.

——————————————————

On the side of a doorway, the five mutants discreetly hide, trying to get into the restaurant Big Mama and Y/n currently reside in. "Sneak in, boys. Sneak in." Splinter whispers, his snout scrunched up.

"We almost have the perfect angle, only seven more seconds until we can infiltrate and hide." Donnie confirms, his goggles shading his eyes.

"6."

"5."

"4."

"3."

"2."

"1-!"

The ninja glide in, finding different items to shield themselves.

"This is an order for Big Mama herself, don't fuck it up mate." A chef states, handing the plates of food to a waiter.

"After it!"

They tail along, awkwardly tracing the same route as the waiter. When they arrive they stop right outside the door, back in a similar position from before. As the waiter leaves, they slip in before the door shuts.

Inside Big Mama and Y/n are chatting up a storm, like all those years ago. "So I was hiring this new broadcaster the other day and-"

"BIG MAMA YOU LIAR!" Splinter screams, his short height towered by the table. The turtles stand behind him, looking at each other to know what to do.

Y/n stares back, holding a glass in their hand, "Lou?"

"Oh why isn't it my little snuggle muffin! And his sons." Big Mama claims in a cheerful tone, but drops it at 'his sons'. She walks up to them, hands at her hips. "I am not a liar, Lou. You're just judgemental."

"No! You are the reason that Y/n left. You manipulated them into hating me!"

"No. Darling you scared them off with your dreams of becoming even more famous than you already were."

"Guys can't we just sit down and enjoy the-"

"Then explain why they didn't tell me why they left!"

"Hey, I-"

"Shush, you little rat!"

"Says you spider Mama!"

While the ex-lovers argue the brother head over to the table, reaching for the food.

Raph asks for permission, "Hey can we have this? Since they're arguing and all?"

"Yeah. There's plenty of untouched food here." They push a few plates forward to them, sighing in defeat.

"Don't mind if I do, haha!"

"Thanks!"

"If it satisfies my specific palate then yes."

The boys munch on the food, giggling occasionally. Meanwhile Y/n holds their head in defeat, not enjoying the situation. "Looks like it hasn't improved since I left. It's like they were raised in a pub full of Brits..."

(No I am not guilty for Brit slander. You know who you are.)

——————————————————

I'm so proud of myself. I got this done in 2 hours. Which is a record for me.

I know the ending is comedic but I really went for the rivalry part more than anything.

Also one thing, why are people suddenly saying my writing style is good??? Like, did I make people worry or something?

- Celina

#yandere #yandere x reader #Yandere rottmnt #rottmnt x reader #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the Tmnt #Tmnt 2018 #Yandere splinter #Yandere big mama #splinter #big mama #platonic #rivalry #Help I am not used to such affection

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hand-writxen · 1 year

Text

Bruises

TW// Mentions of abuse and bullying.

The beeping of your phone jolts you out of your sleep, you struggle for a moment as the phone vanishes into your sheets. After a few moments of getting tangled in the sheets, you are able to snag your phone and pick it up.

“Hello?” you ask, your voice raspy with sleep. Theres soft sniffles and a hiccup on the other line that causes you to pull the phone away and check the contact name which read ‘Bunny’. “Leo? Are you there?” The hiccups freeze a moment before shuffling sounds and the line gets clearer.

“Oh gosh- Y/N, im so sorry I thought I hung up. Please dont worry about it.” His voice was raspy and cracked with tears, the sound of wind and rain splattlatering in the background could clearly be heard. Your head rises as you glace out the window taking in the sight of rain and thunder.

“Leopold Stotch, Are you outside right now?” You quickly get up and start to pull on a hoodie and some sweats overtop your sleep wear and pick your way across your room to your boots, silence on the other end of the phone being the response to your question. Knowing the blonde wont answer you quickly struggle your boots on and race out of your room and out the door, your brain running a mile a minute as you slip through puddles and ice. “Leo you gotta tell me please?” The sniffling finally settles a bit as he takes a breath.

“M..My Lair.” His voice is soft but still full of pain and tears. You utter a soft farewell and push yourself to run faster as you put your phone in your pocket. Turning the corner past Kyle’s house the U-Store it facility looms ahead as you quickly prepare yourself to scale the fence like you had as a kid, Quickly throwing yourself at the fence you scrabble for a hold on the wet metal as you struggle abit to hull yourself over. Once you get over the top you let yourself jump and roll before quickly jogging off into the maze of buildings.

The pace of your jog lead you quickly to the storage locker you knew as ‘Professor Chaos’ base’. You knock softly before pulling open the side door of the storage locker.

“You know Leo, I still find it funny you’ve had this storage locker for 9 years and they havnt once questioned the fact you all but moved in here.” You say as you scan the cozy set up of the locker, Leo had hung string lights and set it up like a studio apartment minus the bathroom. The tall blonde laughed a little, looking over at you, the smile wiped off your face quickly upon seeing the bruise shining on his cheek. Without another moment you quickly rush over and take his face into your hands and softly rub your thumb across the black and blue skin causing him to flinch and whimper.

“Y/N, that hurts..” his voice is a croaky whine as you withdraw your hands away from his face with a muffled apology, taking the spot next to him on the bed.

“Leo, hon.. You need to tell someone, you cant just keep hiding the fact that Steven hurts you. I can only hold back so long.” your voice is hard but soothing as you take in his face, scanning for other injuries on his soft pale skin, the scar over his left eye standing out against the dark color of the bruises causes anger to flare up in the pit of your stomach. “Im willing to add another assult to my record to protect you, you know this.” This sentence caused a small giggle and grin to brake out on his lips as you lean back against his arm.

“I dont know why, what even am I to you? A friend? A sibling? You’ve been following me around since elementary school yet you’ve never once stated what we are, You just get into fights on my account.” He says, his face pulled into a frown. You look up at him before shifting into his line of sight and settling on your knees.

“You really want me to put into words and actions what you mean to me?” Your eyes are serious but your voice soft. At the nod of his head you lean in quickly and kiss him, The poor soft hearted boy went rigid never having been kissed before. You pull back from him as a small smile graces your lips. “I-I know you might not feel the same but i just had to-.” your words are stolen from you as Leo takes the initiative to kiss you this time, his hands grabbing your hips to drag you into his lap. Your hands quickly find place against his neck, gently cradling his head before you two separate, softly panting with grins.

“I love you Y/N, Ever since we where kids. I just didnt think you’d want a scrawny screw up as a partner.” His words where as shy as the look on his face, melting your heart in an instant.

“Leopold, I fell for you the moment you smiled at me on the playground. Thats why I’ve been by your side this whole time.” you could hardly get the words out before Leo was squeezing the air out of your lungs in a tight hug. The two of you laughed and lays next to one another on the bed, looking at the glow in the dark stars you both put on the ceiling.

“I think I could stand up to my dad if you where there with me.” His whispers as if to not brake the spell over the moment. You grin and slide your hand into his as you laugh softly.

“I’ve always got your back Leo, and I’ll back you up no matter what.” Your voice was just as soft as your laugh as the two of you share another gentle kiss.

#south park #x reader #butters

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mythica0 · 1 year

Text

Whimsy

🎂: ROTTMNT

🧁: Donnie, Raph

🍫: Leo, Mikey

Summary: The Lair has been a little too serious and dreary for the sunshine brothers, so they decide to be silly and bring some laughter!

A/N: I finally figured out how I want this to go! This is mainly build up but there are tickles at the end! We love the sillies! This is your friendly reminder to be silly and whimsical people! Enjoy!

Whimsy

It was quiet. It had been a tough week for the turtles.

This caused a serious atmosphere around the lair, Donnie held up in his lab all the time and Raph usually training or exercising.

However, Leo and Mikey were hanging together in the latters room. The sunshine duo didn’t like the somber attitude from their brothers, so they were trying to figure something out.

They kept brainstorming ideas on how to bring some laughter and light back into the space.

Once they had a list, they were ready to set up the plan. However, they both had a thought just as they were about to leave Mikey’s room.

“I have another idea!” They said at the same time.

Leo pointed to Mikey as if to say ‘you first’ and Mikey nodded.

“What if we tickle them! Then they have no choice but to laugh and be happy!”

“No way, that was my thought too! We can make them be silly and childish for a moment!”

“Let’s add it to the list!”

Then they moved along into the common room to set it up.

They had a long list to get through, but the first one was a surprise pizza party!

They had some hand-made decorations, (curtesy of Mikey of course)pizza to eat and more!

They even made sure to get music that was funny or silly in some way.

After that, the next step was getting the others in there!

“Hey Donnie, Raph, we ordered pizza!”

“Cool! Be right there!” Donnie shouted out.

A few seconds later, the two were in the common area entrance, confusion written on their faces.

“Surprise! We planned a little party! We got pizza, soda and music!”Mikey explained.

“What- why? What’s the goal here?” Donnie questioned.

“To have fun, of course! Now come on!”

Raph stood there a moment and then heard what music was playing and chuckled a bit. “Is this weird al?”

“You bet cha!”

Mikey and Leo nodded at eachother. Time for the next item in their list! Some signature Leo dad-jokes! (A/N: these are actually a bunch of dad jokes I just have in my phone lol)

Leo walked up to the set Microphone on the far side of the room.

“Are you guys ready for some killer jokes!” He called out.

Donnie rolled his eyes and groaned, but he was smiling. This was working!

“Why don’t you sharpen a broken pencil?”

“Why?”

“Cause it’s pointless!” That got a few giggles.

“What’s the difference between a piano, a tuna, and a pot of glue?”

“You can tuna piano, but you can’t piano a tuna.”

Donnie raised an eyebrow. “What about the glue?”

Leo smirked and winked. “I knew you’d get stuck there!”

Donnie groaned to hide his light laughs. “Walked right into that didn’t I?”

“Why did the ocean break up with the pond?”

“It thought the pond was too shallow!”

“Oh, great” Donnie groaned again.

“What did the pond reply?”

Donnie just sharpened his gaze and said “what?”

“Oh you’re just salty!”

Raph actually burst into small giggles from that one, and Donnie just put his face to the floor.

It was supposed to look like an intense facepalm, but Leo knew he was hiding laughter. So did Mikey, so he just tapped Donnie on the shoulder and whispered.

“You allowed to laugh, you know. “

The soft shell didn’t lift his head from the floor as he just spoke slowly, “bahad johoke”

“Then why are you laughing?”

Seeing the interaction reminded Leo of something that had made his twin laugh before.

“Oh, woe is me! My twin thought the joke was so bad he had to hide! What a shame~”

That broke the others facade, as he broke into giggles at his twins overplayed plea.

“Yohou’re sohoho drahahahamahahatic!”

Leo smiled at the sound.

The slider continued telling jokes for a minute, and eventually got off the stage, all three of his brothers laughing at least a bit.

They continued down their list, playing some video games, doing a little improv game (for the theater kids AKA disaster twins)

And lastly, the arrived to the final item on their list.

“So, brothers, there’s one last thing we want to do!”

“What would that be?” Raph asked

The sunshine brothers walked up to the others, Mikey towards Raph, and Leo towards Donnie.

“Oh, nothing,” Mikey started, “just this!” And right on cue, both of them started to tickle.

Mikey scratched against Raph’s shell spikes, causing him to fall forward in laughter.

Leo traced Donnie’s sides in random patterns, making him to squirm and giggle.

“Whyhyhy!” The soft shell called.

“Because you two need a bit of childishness!” Leo responded, with Mikey adding,

“And laughter and silliness! That’s why we did all of this!”

The soft shell and Snapper just laughed and laughed!

When Leo moved to Donnie’s she’ll, he started pounding his fist on the ground through his laughter.

Raph had started to tear up a bit from laughing so much.

Leo and Mikey got up and retrieved some water for the older brothers. (A/N: I am a “Donnie is the older twin” supporter because Leo and Mikey give me younger sibling energy)

After recovering, the four just talked and had fun together the rest of the evening.

It was so much fun to fill the lair with whimsy!

———THE END————————————————

#parrotwrites #sfw tickle community #rottmnt tickle #lee!donnie #lee!raph #ler!leo #ler!mikey

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ssobsinternallyy · 11 months

Text

good morning, mikey!

May 7th, 2024. Approximately two years after K-Day.

It was foggy in Mikey's head that day.

He woke up and felt stuffed with cotton. Like some sort of dumb stuffed toy. He stared idly at his ceiling for a good three minutes, before throwing himself off his hammock. He landed on his plastron, and tried to use the nubs of his arms to push himself upright. When that didn't work, he tried his legs.

Nope. Too sore. Mikey yawned, a soft orange glow emitting from his nubs as he used his mystic powers to hoist himself up.

His "nubs" were the term he used to describe the arms that are not there anymore. It didn't really make Mikey that sad anymore, thinking about them. Just gave him more of an excuse to play with his mystic powers. Even if that's why he lost his arms in the first place

Hey, at least Mikey had an excuse. Raph and Donnie would be just as willing to lose a few limbs if it meant nobody dies.

He summoned a hand and itched his snout. Maybe he should use his prosthetics today.. just in case.

Augh.. but that's SO MUCH WORK.... Mikey complained to himself. Not to mention you'd have to wake up Donnie to help you. Dr. Delicate Touch supplied not-so helpfully. DT wasn't really useful when it came to decision making.

So Mikey opted to just float around, a neat trick he picked up from Draxum. His prosthetics weren't even that heavy, but just thinking about them made Mikey want to fall over. Not to mention his legs were sore from patrol yesterday. Mikey forgot how important arms were when it came to balance.

He was a little surprised to find CJ in the kitchen at.. wait what time was it? Mikey glanced at the clock. 9:45 AM. Huh.

"Mornin', CJ." Mikey greeted. CJ glanced backward, and gave an awkward little grin. "Good morning, Master!."

Mikey chuckled. "I thought I said you could just call me Mikey?" CJ gave an awkward little laugh. "Sorry, Mikey." Mikey dismissed his apology with a wave of his hand.

"Did you want help with breakfast? I- I woke up earlier than I usually do." CJ explained. Mikey groggily mumbled something into his hoodie, before stretching and nodding. He summoned two pairs of hands, and seated himself on a countertop to do his work.

"Can you grab the pancake batter?" Mikey instructed as he got started on Raph's eggs. Raph liked his eggs sunny side up. Just a little bit of salt, and add a bowl of fruit on the side. Cutting fruit with his mystic hands was always a hassle, maybe he'll have CJ do it.

CJ had the pancake batter in hand, and waited patiently for Mikey. Mikey snorted. "You know how to make pancakes, Case, I taught you this." CJ's face flushed a little, and he laughed. "Yeah, uhm, I'll get started on that."

It was always fun having CJ around. He had been teetering between staying in the Lair, staying at April's apartment, and bunking with Cassandra and her girlfriend. The Hamato Clan just sort of decidedthat they shared custody over the guy. Mikey found it funny to think about. What's one more older brother figure in Mikey's life, anyway?

CJ turned around and got started on the pancakes. Mikey had taught him to make them the way Mikey had made them. His pancakes were always undoubtedly delicious, but Casey's replica of them were a very close runner-up.

Mikey finished Raph's eggs, sliding them onto a plate. He opened a cupboard on the highest shelf and fished around for Raph's favorite mug.

One small bonus about mystic hands is that you don't have to worry about being too short or too weak. Pickle jars and high cabinets have never been easier to open!

He snagged it and pulled it back down. "Hey, Case. I watch pancakes and you cut fruit? Remember, Raph likes his banana chips cut pretty thick. And add strawberries in there too, I think April just bought us some."

CJ nodded, and they switched positions. Cooking with CJ was always relaxing. He knew what to do, and asked questions if he didn't.

Unlike Leo, who, if he didn't know, just assumed. He's costed Mikey hours of kitchen cleanup. Raph had to honest-to-god BAN Leo from the kitchen, cause Mikey was seconds away from a meltdown.

The sliding of mechanical doors knocked Mikey out of his head. He turned from where he was moving pancakes onto a plate and smiled. "Mornin', Dee!"

Donnie murmured an unintelligible greeting, and plopped into a seat. Crap, Mikey forgot about his coffee!

"Agh- Your coffee isn't ready yet, sorry Don!" Mikey chirped, floating to the coffee machine.

Most people assume that with Donnie's autism, he would like his coffee smooth and creamy. But Donnie actually liked the bitterness of black coffee.

Mikey started the coffee machine and made a quick pit stop to check on CJ, who flashed him a thumbs up. Mikey smiled, using his mystic hands to flash CJ his own little thumbs up. He glanced at the clock, and looked around. Leo wasn't awake, and he needed to take his meds.

Crap, DONNIE has to take his meds.

"Don, I know you don't like them, but..." Mikey "grabbed" a prescription bottle that they had gotten from a Hidden City doctor, and slid it across the counter towards Donnie. Donnie grumbled, pushing it away. Mikey put two assertive hands on his hips. "I'll get Raph." He warned, pushing Donnie's coffee into his hands. Donnie rolled his eyes, sipping his coffee.

"You wouldn't." Donnie challenged, but Mikey already had his phone out. Donnie groaned, quickly pushing the pills into his mouth and taking a long swig of his coffee. Mikey smiled. "See? Not so hard."

Donnie grumbled. Satisfied, Mikey went off to hunt for his next victim.

"Rise and shine, Leo!" Mikey used his foot to kick open the curtained entrance to his blue clad brother's room. Leo let out a sleep chirr, lifting his head up.

"Hnnnngghhh.. Mikey...." Leo pouted, chucking a throw pillow at him. Mikey dodged it, swiftly using his foot to grab it. He balanced, and using all of his weight, spun around and threw the pillow back.

Mikey was successful in aiming at Leo, but he lost his balance and toppled over. He collided with the floor with an unsatisfying bonk.

"Aughh...." Mikey groaned. Leo watched from his bed with a smug grin. "Karma." He sneered. Mikey hissed at him. "Help me up, you blue goofball."

Leo took his sweet time putting on his knee braces. Striding over to Mikey, Leo nudged him lightly with his toe. Mikey tried to bite him, but missed.

"Woah, fiesty, are we?" Leo laughed, bending over and plucking his little brother off the ground. He grinned, throwing him over his shoulder. Mikey exploded into a fit of laughter.

"Put me daHAHAWN!" Mikey squealed. Leo liked listening to Mikey laugh. It was probably the best noise in the world. Leo let out a dramatic yawn. "Nah." He decided, carefully limping into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Donald, Casey Junior." Leo sing-songed, plopping Mikey onto the counter. Mikey snorted, using his foot to lightly kick the back of Leo's head. The slider turned dramatically, gasping. "My own brother! Betrayal!"

"Deserved." Donnie snorted. Leo let out an exaggerated sob, draping himself dramatically onto CJ. "Double betrayal! Are you seeing this, Casey?!"

CJ laughed, crumbling slightly under Leo's weight. "Sensei!"

A low rumble escaped Raph's room, and Mikey lit up. "Raph's awake!" He cheered. The thump of Mikey's feet were two times as fast as Raph's slow stomping, and Mikey was circling Raph like a happy dog in under a few seconds. Donnie pulled out his phone. "Huh. It took three whole seconds for Mikey, upon discovery that he was awake, dart over to Raph."

"That's a new record, baby bro!" laughed Leo, leaning over Donnie's shoulder to look at the phone. Raph glanced up, confused. "You guys have been keeping track?"

"Data collection is my craft, Raphael." Donnie stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Raph rolled his eyes playfully, grabbing Mikey by the rim of his shell and plopping him onto his shoulder. Mikey leaned his weight onto Raph's head and used his legs to support himself.

Using Raph as a jungle gym is hard now that Mikey's arms were MIA, but Mikey managed. He always managed.

That's what Leo always admired about Mikey. His ability to adapt. Mikey hadn't exactly welcomed disability with open arms (pun intended), but he took it in stride.

And seeing his little brother bursting with joy, eating breakfast with his family, Leo was reminded about just how lucky he was. That Mikey saved his life, that his brothers were alive and here.

Even if Dad wasn't with them.

Leo missed his father a lot. Their father had a troubling time raising them, and sure, they fought sometimes, but he loved his sons. More than anything else.

And as their family grew closer, Splinter's health started declining.

It was subtle at first, but it grew worse over time. And then one day, Splinter's chest spasmed in the kitchen, and he died on the floor, right in front of Mikey and Leo.

Leo didn't like thinking about what he had lost. It didn't make him feel too hot.

"Leo!" Mikey's voice rang in his ears. Leo hummed, turning around. His three brothers and CJ looked at him worriedly.

"Sensei, are you okay?" CJ asked. Leo smiled. "Yeah, I am. Just spaced out." Mikey nodded. Raph reached over and rubbed Leo's head. He laughed.

Mikey took a final bite of his pancake, and smiled.

It didn't get much better than this.

#amputmnt #shitpost #ficlet #havent posted amputmnt content in a while #come get yall's crumbs #amputmnt mikey #amputmnt donnie #amputmnt leo #amputmnt raph #rottmnt au #rottmnt

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not-kayvalencourt · 2 years

Note

Alright, I'll bite. What's the "Mirror Realm" you talked about in the tags to your last post?

Also I'm pretty sure you have the ability to go Anon is off

Oh, shit, really? I'll have to fix that when I get the chance, could have sworn it was on.

ANYWAY mr is relatively new compared to fr, since I just started developing it a couple weeks ago or so. I had seen a post a while ago talking about the way Rise changes up the age order (if I ever find it again, I'll link it!) and how it might influence future generations of tmnt. A couple questions were posed: "What if Donnie was the oldest?" And "What if Mikey was the oldest?"

(Long post ahead, it's segmented into four parts with the juice in the middle >:))

And So, It Begins...

Biting off far more than I can chew.

I wanted to tackle Donnie first (my initial plan was to come up with a few ideas, do some for Mikey as well, and then move on with my life buuuut, ADHD says "haha, funny au go brr" and I've hyperfixated on Donnie's part ever since), so I started with the basics.

-Mutant turtles

-Rat man ninja

Simple. I just have to spice it up a little. I've already started on the first part in making Donnie the oldest, but I wants to add a couple more little tweaks. At the moment, the age order goes (oldest-youngest): Donnie, Raph, Mikey, Venus, Leo.

"Why is Leo the youngest?", you may be asking. Because I thought it was funny. I had also brought up the AU to a friend when I first started development and he- jokingly- suggested adding a fifth turtle. I remembered Venus and Jennika, immediately working them into the universe, as one does.

Angsty-ass Backstory

Beating up fictional characters as a love language.

I knew I really wanted to go ham with the backstory. There was the standard "pet turtles turned mutants in freak accident", but I wanted to take this idea on my own joyride.

Hamato Yoshi and his wife, Hamato Miwa, ship themselves far away from their home of [unspecified location], Okinawa, Japan, to the wonderous city of New York. Okay, maybe not as wonderous as the brochures had put it, but Miwa was happy; and, if Miwa was happy? So was Yoshi.

Sure, he had some regrets moving across the Pacific Ocean and North America- his sister Karai was left alone, still busy grieving over their late father. Yoshi had been hoping to talk to her, or at least get a sign that she didn't truly resent him. The passing of Hamato Shō wasn't pretty, but it was no one's fault, surely she wasn't mad about that? It had already been so long. There was no need.

Whatever. Yoshi had Miwa, and together they had one son. Yoshi had always loved the work of the Renaissance Era, a few artists and works he was particularly infatuated with- it was difficult to pick just one! Eventually, though, he settled on Donatello, after Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi. He found the long name amusing, and while it's shortened on the boy's birth certificate, Yoshi would still call for him with it whenever he was in trouble- the amusing name working in the kid's favor, as Yoshi could never take himself seriously.

Donnie was quite tall for his age, growing up, but he still fit in perfectly with his classmates. Great grades (the kid was hardly five, it's not as though the work was difficult), a huge imagination, and most importantly- a cheery, light-up-your-world smile that won every battle.

His most endearing trait, Yoshi found, was the child's ability to get dirty, no matter what. He would come home with bandaged and bruised knees covered in grass, despite New York's general lack of grass for his knees to get covered in, but it was always there. His elbows matched, caked in dirt and debris and band-aids featuring whatever little character was popular at the time. Miwa often joked about how he would likely knock out all of his baby teeth before the others had a chance to grow in.

But he was having fun. He had many friends he'd rough-house with, but all in good spirit- not once did he run to his parents after school without a grin on his face.

Of course, all good things must come to an end.

Angsty-ass Backstory: The Sequel

Taking every previous turtles's greatest fear and turning it into these ones' reality.

Donnie had recently learned about turtles in class one day, suddenly deciding that he needed one right now, or else his life wouldn't be complete.

Their apartment's "No Pets" rule just so happened to not include said reptiles; and besides! Miwa and Yoshi both had their fair share of pets as kids, what was the harm in one? Sure, turtles lived quite a while, but they both had uncanny faith in this option. Something short-lived, like a rat, would be preferred; but Donnie certainly had a way with words- as well as their contract- despite hardly living a full decade.

The turtle would be going with Donnie wherever it could, anyway. It was more or less his problem, and the responsibility could help teach him something, Yoshi reasoned. Miwa seemed weary, but allowed it nevertheless.

Maybe Miwa should have listened when her gut told her it shouldn't happen.

One moment, it's a domestic, relatively chill moment at the pet store- the next, it's cold, metallic hands holding the Hamatos's wrists like it would cure cancer.

I wrote a short fic about this (tw for needles, discussions of human experimentation, and drawing blood), just barely 1k words, and it's not exactly up-to-date at the moment, but fairly accurate to canon. I loved the Kraang being this big, scary villain in Rise and wanted to channel that, but using 2k12 Kraang's numbers. I had also, in my research about previous tmnt generations, discovered a scientist called Harold Lilja and thought he'd be a fun addition, alongside Null Laboratories.

What exactly is up with the Kraang, Lilja and Null Labs is something I don't wanna spoil just yet >:) I also still sorta need to work on it lmao. But, after stuff happens, a 7 y/o mutant turtle suddenly has four siblings and is down a parent. Whoopsies.

After the destruction of Null, they find themselves in the sewers, with no more home to return to. Donnie and Miwa are both extremely aware of the dangers of being on the surface, knowing that they, too, would be terrified at the sight of human/animal hybrids roaming the streets of NYC.

Well, maybe that actually was pretty tame compared to the other stuff, but God knows what would happen if other scientists got ahold of them, and neither certainly didn't want to relive that.

Now what?

Purposefully leaving unanswered questions so they can find their way into my inbox.

I still have so much more to talk about, but it's two past midnight and I have school and a concert today, so I'll attempt to get my five remaining possible hours of sleep while I can. In the meantime, I'll make quick work of switching anon back on and would love to see if anyone takes interest in this AU. I'll quick make a tag as well, and just about anything related to it (asks, posts, fanworks?..) will be put under that tag.

Buenos noches, buenas tardes o buenas días,

Kay

#Mirror Realm AU #hoping everything makes sense and there's no big issues as I am too tired to beta read it #tw discussion of needles and human experimentation #it's not really a discussion tho. more or less just mentioned but definitely not hidden so I'm tagging it anyway.#rottmnt #unpause rottmnt #tmnt 2012 #tagging since they're honestly the biggest inspirtations #tho there's a lot of influence from what I've read about the comics and a little from the og 1987 show too #lmk if I need to tag anything else btw!! thanks

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moxfirefly · 3 years

Note

Hello~ From your smut prompt list. Numbers 2 and 44 for TMNT Bayverse? I’d say either Raph or Donnie. Raph would prob be more fitting but I’m curious to see what Donnie would do 🌝

Listen a jealous Donnie is something that I’m all for cause it’s a different type of jealousy compared to what Raph’s would be

So I’m going with him 👌

Rated Explicit (18+ Only)

It’s illogical, Donatello thinks.

To have this little nagging fire inside of his chest, this is expected after all. You’re beautiful, absolutely breathtaking in every sense of the word.

And yeah you’re his, and he is yours but that nagging little pin prick of self deprecation won’t leave.

He remembers staring at the comment on a harmless photo you had posted.

‘You’re so fucking hot’

It had read, the guys profile screams basic, he didn’t have much going for him aside from doing shit like this on any girls profile. Still it nags him, cause it’s not the only picture and the comments don’t remain as ‘tame’ as that one.

That same day you had walked into the Lair in nothing but short jeans and a flannel that often dipped off your shoulder. Donatello doesn’t like this twisting and churning in his stomach.

He doesn’t like jealousy.

Doesn’t like how his brain goes into primal mode and how willing he is to fight god himself if it looked at you funny. It’s worse cause now he’s hyper aware that everyone including his own brothers have stared at you at some point. Even if Leo shakes his head and shamefully adverts his gaze back to his book. Irritation doesn’t begin to cover his feeling when Raph clearly can’t keep his gaze away from your ass and Mikey still actively (if albeit friendly) flirted with you.

Maybe he’s reading to much into it. Still he goes a little harder on them when they spar. Sleep is definitely extremely needed after he blocks all the creeps from your page. Going to the garage had been a good idea, he could take out whatever frustrations remained in his body on repairs, soldering hell maybe even breaking apart things with a hammer.

He doesn’t expect to quell his jealous frustrations with you...

Against the truck...

With one finger deep inside of your heat and the other shoved a little too roughly into your mouth.

But this is kinda helping a lot, like way more.

Because he knows his comment was stupid, like sexist possessive boyfriend levels of stupid. Donnie has never once had an issue with your clothing choices, has never told you to not wear this or that but it’s the outfit from the picture that garnered so many disgusting men to say so many unnecessary and disrespectful things.

The second the words ‘You shouldn’t wear that’ leave his mouth he’s already wishing he could backpedal and explain that it’s not you, it’s the creeps. And yes words like ‘too revealing’ ‘not appropriate’ leave his mouth in word vomit and god why can’t he just shut up he thinks to himself.

You’re stunned nevertheless, brow raised and arms crossed and can’t you see your breast are barely in the short summer dress! Donnie swallows, fist clenched.

Then of course you had to go and say it, defiant little brat that you are.

“Make me”

Donnie bit the inside of his cheek, he took off the goggles (he hadn’t even started his repairs) and calmly walked towards you.

“Okay then” His voice was low, even, just too collected for how it had been seconds before.

And thus here you both find yourselves. On the side of the truck where no one can see either of you but fuck if they walked around the sight would be too much. Your back against his smooth plastron, he’s gotta hunch a bit due to his stature but that means his mouth is close to your ear. “You want to be a brat? You want everyone’s eyes on you?” The tone of his voice makes your skin break out in goosebumps, wow he’s actually angry.

You clench harder around his finger, he’s finger fucking so hard the palm of his hand smacks against your clit. Each resounding wet noise drives you closer to cumin. “They can all look, fuck it they can all ogle and fantasize and maybe even hope...” He lets the digit in your mouth slip out in order to gently grip your chin. He moves your face to better look at him. Then your eyes go so impossibly wide at his words.

“At the end of the day, this-“ He emphasizes with a hard thrust of his hand. “This pussy, is mine and mine alone, yeah?” You somehow nod, legs already shakey and unable to keep you up. If a stupid little dress caused this then, you guess you’re gonna have to wear this a little more often. “Don-I can’t,” Your legs are officially checking out and he knows, he wraps an arm around your waist and holds you close to himself as the first orgasm is pulled out of you via his finger.

Donnie doesn’t let you rest, he doesn’t even let your brain boot up again when he’s hauling you towards the table he has for working on parts of the truck. He sweeps everything out of the way, the clatter echoing and you’re sure somebody has to have heard that. Regardless of, he doesn’t seem to care, he bends you over the table, nearly rips the dress when he pushes it up passed your rear and yanks down your underwear. You grip the edges of the table, hearing things behind you, watching Donnie’s glasses roughly be chucked onto the table and the snap of suspenders.

You stick your rear out for him and hear him groan makes a spike of cockiness but it’s short lived when Donnie pushes into your sopped heat. You rest on your forearms, mouth open but no sound can come out that isn’t a choked breath. Donnie bottoms out with a lengthy ‘yeessss’ that’s growled out. It doesn’t seem to be enough though, because he bends down, arms trapping you and he holds the end of the table. He’s so close, suffocatingly close and god do you love it.

The angle adds a burn to your cunt, Donnie loves it. He feels your heat tightly squeezing his cock and he hasn’t even moved. “They wish they could, they wish they could do this” He says it right against your ear, every syllable tickling you and making you shiver. “If only they knew that at the end of the day, you walk around with my seed in you” He licks the shell of your ear before biting down on the back of your neck.

Hard.

Hard enough you yelp, hard enough that your hand reaches for his and he cups it. “Please, please...” You surprise yourself by actually stringing two words together when overwhelmed and heated to this point. Donnie makes sure to drive into you hard enough the table rattles and you yelp and squeeze your eyes shut. He slams again and you both moan together. You want to turn your head, you’re still worried somebody might walk in.

Donnie’s amused by that.

“Scared? Scared you’ll be found like this?” He gets up from your back and grips your waist, you know he’s giving you more room to look, to watch with baited breath and the possibility of it all only makes you wetter. You wanna play along, he’s been nothing but a jealous fuck this entire time, so why not hit him with one little blow and get his gears truly going.

“I hope Raph walks in” You say, voice shakey but teasing. Donatello’s thrust still, he glares down at you.

“I hope Raph gets to see me like this” You bite your lip before licking them slowly.

Donnie literally growls. He doesn’t give you enough time for another taunt when he drives into you quick and deliberately. He fucks you, he honest to god just fucks you like you’re his favorite toy and he’s been having a bad day, which he kinda has. He drives into you and doesn’t stop until he’s pulled three more orgasms out of you. He doesn’t stop, the sight of your sweaty, overstimulated body and barely able to scream anymore voice keep him going.

For good measure, just to reassure you, he manages for you to cum one more time. His muscles burn, he’s breathing to hard, delaying his own release always felt good but this? This was something entirely different. “Say it, say it or I’m giving you another one” He demands and you squeeze him because part of you wants to but another logical point is telling you that won’t walk right for the next few days. “I’m yours! Fuck Donnie I’m yours!” You feel him kiss the back of your head before pulling out. The daze isn’t enough to not make you look behind, he hasn’t cum’d yet so why...?

Donnie wraps his hand around his stiff length and pumps fast, he wants to mark you like this, it doesn’t take him long to cum. He finishes on your rear with a low lengthy moan, some of it shooting far enough to get the back of your dress.

“Jerk” You barely find enough strength to glare, even if his tired grin makes your stomach fill up with butterflies. “I’m gonna apologize but not right now” He wipes the sweat from his face with the back of his forearm. “You can start by cleaning me up” You hear several pops when you stretch a bit.

Nothing prepares you for Donnie kneeling and licking his own seed from your left cheek. You watch entranced as he pushes down the hem of your dress to cover your modesty. “I like jealous you” Comes your soft and honest voice. “Don’t, it’s not fun” He’s feeling all manner of things, even the gooey chemicals his orgasm brought but there’s still shame. You manage to stand back up on wobbly feet, you reach up and pull his face down and kiss him, literally tasting him.

Kiss him in a way that quiets all those negative thoughts and jealous images.

“I am, irrevocably so, yours” You caress his jaw, letting him close his eyes and hug you so tightly to himself.

#tmnt bayverse #donnie #tmnt donatello x female reader #donnie tmnt #donatello tmnt #tmnt donatello x reader #tmnt donnie x reader #tmnt donnie #tmnt donatello #donatello x reader #donnie x reader #Donatello #smut prompt #ask #onthebrinkofpink #ns*w

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well-its-not-human-anymore · 3 years

Note

Hi! Could I get HC from the guys? 👀 How they would always react to catching the reader seeing them "badly", in addition to the fact that he usually avoids them, but with his brothers it is incredible and they feel bad because they think they do not like him. But she actually likes them and she looks at them like that because she "studies" them to draw them and she is too clumsy and shy to talk to them, that's why she ends up avoiding them. Until finally he catches her drawing them with lots of hearts or maybe they'll find her notebook with lots of portraits of them.

It's kind of funny because when I study people to draw them, they think that I look at them with hatred xd maybe I should increase my glasses prescription

God, glasses are such a pain in the ass but I have to wear them. If I don't anyone within my near vicinity doesn't have a face. But why they gotta get dirty so easily???? Makes me wanna explode or something

TMNT Headcanons

The boys w/ a quiet reader who is fine with his brothers but acts cold around him and stares a lot

Michaelangelo

mikey couldn't describe his disappointment upon realizing that you didn't want to be friends with him

well, you never actually said that to him

but he was pretty sure it was the case

you'd never made an effort to be friends with him

stared at him an awful lot though, but there was always something off about your gaze when you looked at him

like you were sizing him up, scrutinizing him, like he was an opponent

it kinda worried him

to add to that, you didn't even attempt to look embarrassed when he caught you staring

you'd just stare harder

on your end it was quite the opposite

you always found the brothers fascinating and you LOVED studying their anatomy, you'd confessed this to Donnie early on and he happily indulged in your questions

and you loved how easily you got along with the boys

well, except for Mikey

but it wasn't for a lack of trying

whenever the orange sporting turtle came around your normally flamboyant personality crept back into its little corner and hid

any words of excitement that had previously been with you died in your throat

for the longest time you didn't understand it

and you hated not understanding things, so you turned to your only outlet

that's how you ended up with an entire sketchbook full of the youngest brother in vastly different styles and poses

you had a separate book for the others, none of them as detailed as this

and when you stared to analyze you'd fallen into a habit of not looking away when caught

by your logic, if you stared back hard enough he'd look away first or just assume you'd zoned out

he didn't

and on one hectic day you'd left your sketchbook open on the kitchen table in your rush to get to work

you hadn't even noticed the slip up until Leo texted you to let you know during your shift

instant panic

in truth, Mikey was the one who discovered the book upon waking up from his nap and he'd spent the next three hours analyzing every drawing

when you finally dropped in after work to grab your book the turtle was waiting for you with it in hand

he'd asked you if you hated him

you told him no and accepted your sketchbook from him

he was relieved and screaming excitedly, just in his head

"Do you maybe wanna hang out sometime?"

You sighed in relief and nodded

"If you're cool with it- you don't think I'm weird do you?"

"I mean- you are talking to a turtle..."

you lightly shoved his chest and smiled, although it faded within a second

"Oh hush, 10 o'clock tomorrow? I'll bring snacks."

he was so stunned he could only shoot you finger guns in approval

Donatello

Donnie genuinely couldn't understand your unease around him

he'd followed all the proper expectations of holding a conversation

he was polite and engaging

so why wouldn't you talk to him?

this boy has read so many social blogs to try and figure out what he was doing wrong and he just couldn't put his finger on it

you were fine with the rest of his brothers, you'd stay up for hours laughing and gaming with them

you'd even sat still long enough to listen to Leo explain some old Japanese myth that he'd read about in a book

but with him it was always a quick, cordial greetings and farewells with bland small talk in between

Donnie had picked up pretty quickly that you weren't interested in any sort of interaction with him

and he convinced himself that that was okay

but that didn't explain the staring

he'd caught you in the act several times, eyes narrowed and locked on him

especially when you were alone with him in a room or just in the lair

the poor turtle just couldn't put his finger on it

then he caught you drawing, he noticed early on that you always carried a small sketchbook on your person but he didn't think much of it

and it wasn't so much that he caught you drawing, in fact, he wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't snapped at him while he was trying to do a sudoku puzzle

"Damn it Donnie! Stop moving! If I fuck this arm up one more time I'm gonna decompose!"

he'd quickly moved back into the position he was in prior

"sorry?"

but you'd gone silent again, occasionally glancing up from your work and running your eyes along his frame before looking down again

nearly twenty minutes later Donnie had finished the puzzle and it seemed as though you had finished your drawing

"Uh- can I ask what are you-"

"I'm drawing you but you kept moving your arm and making me mess up. You always do that when I draw you so every damn picture I have of you stays a sketch because you always come out looking like a fucking octopus."

He just stared

"Sorry, I uh- I didn't mean to explode on you like that. I'm just- I'm really bad at talking to you okay? It's so easy with everyone else but you've just gotta be so damn smart all the time and I worry that you'll think I'm boring so I just... don't talk to you?"

Donnie is stunned™

You refuse to show him the drawing until you can complete the line art and color it

But at least he knows that you don't hate him

Leonardo

To be completely honest Leo didn't mind that you were distant from him

You created an aura of calm when you were around and you always managed to distract his brothers while you were present

And he enjoyed the alone time

But after a few months that calm acceptance turned into jealousy

Not that he would ever admit it

He would just push it off and ignore it, that usually seemed to work

So why wasn't it?

And your obvious staring problem didn't help at all

Leo didn't spend much time considering his appearance but something about your gaze made him self conscious

And he hated that with a passion

Why was it that you could hold entire debates with his siblings? Even his dad for gods sake. You'd have hour long conversations on almost everything but whenever he tried to say hello you'd make up some lame ass excuse and scamper away

He just wanted an explanation

It appeared that the answer resided in your sketchbook

You'd left it open on the couch when Raph had called you away to spar with him

Leo very delicately flipped through the pages, careful not to disturb some of the polaroid pictures of his brothers

He was admittedly surprised to find pictures of himself among the pages

One of him in a handstand, another of him meditating, there was even one of him mid sneeze that you'd recreated with pencil and paper

The image of his eyes was the most startling, but the book held no polaroid of his eyes

You drew them from memory

And he was shocked when you returned to the room and didn't immediately panic

But that might have been because he didn't try to withhold your book from you

"It took me three months to color them, your eyes. I could never get the shade of blue just right."

"I'm gonna be honest with you y/n, I really thought you didn't like me."

You had the nerve to roll your eyes and follow it with a laugh

"I don't. I mean- I do but no, you just remind me a lot of myself and I haven't exactly figured out why yet. I thought that maybe if I drew you it'd be easier to figure you out..."

"Well did it help?"

You grinned

"I'm talking to you, aren't I?"

Raphael

If there was one thing Raph hated it was not understanding something that was right in front of him

which is ironic, as a much younger version of himself probably couldn't care less

and a part of him wishes he didn't care about it so much

he wishes that your blatant avoidance of him didn't upset him

but shit, it got under his skin better than any needle ever could

was it too much to ask for you to just tell him what he said or did wrong?

was he asking too much of you?

but on the same scale you'd never shown obvious dislike towards him, you were never rude and you sure as hell didn't talk shit about him to his brothers

you got along great with them

in fact it was getting more difficult to remember a time before you became a part of his family

he'd become so used to your presence that it no longer put him off when he found you hanging around the lair

but in another sense he was certain that you hadn't spoken more than three sentences to him in your time knowing him or his family

so what was the reason

several months in he finally caught onto the staring, your narrow, glassy gaze locked onto his body and refusing to look away

he stared right back at you

this annoyed you for several reasons

because within five seconds your very peaceful drawing session had turned into a staring contest and your eyes were getting VERY dry

then you exhaled in a half-sigh and looked back down at your paper

"Huh, I guess your head is more of an oblong shape..."

he took offense to this

"What tha' hell is that supposed t'mean?"

now your eyes held more of an amused silent judgement, you begrudgingly held up your sketchbook

"I'm drawing you, you fucking walnut."

"Oh..."

now you rolled you eyes and tossed the book to him, he nearly dropped it and fumbled with the pages

your annoyance was quickly growing

"Careful with that."

He flipped through the pages at a snails pace, assumingly because he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing

you had some real talent

when he looked back up at you he was wearing that crooked smile

"and here I was thinkin' that my eyes were just green."

Hope I was able to get this down pretty well! I really enjoyed writing this one! Thanks for the patience!

-Mars 🌠

#tmnt bayverse #tmnt headcanons #tmnt x reader #writing blog #writing requests #askbox #ask response #tmnt leonardo #tmnt donatello #tmnt raphael #tmnt michelangelo

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maybeimamuppet · 2 years

Text

home away from home

heyyyy everybodyyyyy

sorry it’s been a minute since i’ve posted anything!! i’m going through some stuff in my personal life that makes writing kinda tough but nobody cares about that so let’s get into this!!

this is a request fill for gracerailly on ao3 who requested the whole main squad going on vacation together so here’s 15k words of found family vacation brainrot. also the twins are back bc it’s my mental breakdown and i get to pick the characters so enjoy that lol

tw for

brief discussion of pregnancy complications

mentioned depression

and as always please let me know if i’ve missed something so i can add it in :)

enjoy!

—————

Cady and Janis are blowing up balloons. Very important balloons, because tomorrow is their daughters’ first birthday. Janis’ face is a bit red from the effort and Cady is getting progressively more exhausted.

Cady yelps quietly into a balloon when their phones both go off at the same time. Janis laughs and checks hers to see what it is. It turns out to be a message from Regina in their friend group chat.

reginald: Hey, by any chance do you guys have plans for the Fourth of July?

reginald: Definitely not related to the girls’ birthday present at all.

snarkisian: i don’t think so ??? why ??

reginald: Good. Don’t.

snarkisian: what ???

reginald: Don’t make any plans. For that whole week.

reginald: And that goes for the rest of you too.

snarkisian: reggie wtf

snarkisian: this is so ominous what are you planning

reginald: Fun.

snarkisian: that’s not helping

reginald: You’ll find out tomorrow oh my god. Just let me have this.

snarkisian: ok ok damn

reginald: Thank you. Goodnight and happy birthday twins!!

snarkisian: ?????? goodnight

“Reggie’s up to something,” Janis sighs, clicking her phone off. They both look around at the sea of balloons around them and realize they can’t see the floor anymore. “This is probably enough.”

“I think so,” Cady chuckles breathlessly. “Let’s go to bed, we have a big day tomorrow.”

“Big day indeed,” Janis murmurs, kissing her wife and leading them up to bed.

————-

“Okay, let’s find out what this creepy mystery present your aunties got you is, hm?” Janis says, holding Leo on her lap. Cady has Layla on her lap next to them, and they help the twins open a large bag in front of them.

Layla happily pulls out all the tissue paper and wags it around, seeming more excited about the crinkle sounds than the actual present underneath. Leo reaches in and pulls out a tiny sun hat.

“Aww,” Cady coos. “How cute! Little hats.”

“There’s more, keep going,” Karen chuckles as Leo puts the hat on and it falls over her eyes. The twins pull out two little bathing suits, and two pairs of adorable sandals.

“So what does this have to do with… any of that shit yesterday?” Janis asks confusedly.

“Where can they wear that stuff?” Gretchen asks. Cady looks up as she catches on to what’s happening.

“A beach?”

“We bought a lake house, we thought we’d take all of you there for the Fourth,” Regina nods.

“Oh my god! That’s awesome!” Cady says. “Girls, you get to go on your first beach trip!”

“That’s… not what I was expecting, but… wow,” Janis says. She looks at Leo, who now has both hats on and is wearing her sandals on her hands. “I think this one is more excited about the clothes.”

Leo looks up at her and giggles when Janis adjusts her hats so she can see again. Janis bends down to kiss her chubby cheek.

“Little goof. Only a year old and you’re already trying to be funny.”

——————

They all have about a month to prepare for the trip, and gather supplies. Cady and Janis decided that trying to fly back to Illinois wasn’t quite something they were ready to face with two babies and decided to drive. Aaron and Damian said they’d drive with them, and the Plastics begrudgingly joined. So they all chipped in to rent a large van and decided to go together.

Cady frantically researched tips for taking wee ones on long car trips, and found that the best tip is to leave early, while they’re asleep, so they’re quiet for a good chunk of the trip. Their friends seem much less on board with the idea of waking up at four in the morning to get going, but understand that it’s a necessary evil.

Janis is the strongest night owl, so she’s told to be the first driver while everyone else sleeps in the back.

All the luggage gets loaded in and pets dropped off at daycare the day before, so they can just hop in and go. Or so was the plan.

Cady carefully transfers the babies to their car seats from their cribs so they don’t wake up, before she tucks them back in with their little blankets and stuffies. Janis puts them in the car, with Regina stuck in between. She’s the most… apprehensive, of the babies, so they decided to give her babysitting duty while the twins would spend most of the time asleep.

“Is everyone here?” Janis yawns, taking a solid swig of her coffee to help wake her up.

“Damian’s not,” Aaron replies.

“Ugh.” Janis huffs. “I’ll go get him.”

She opens her door and stomps back to her house, opening the front door to yell for her best friend. “Damian! Come out!”

“I’m gay!” Damian yells back.

“To the car, dumbass! We gotta go!”

“Car, I’m gay!” Damian replies childishly, coming downstairs in a onesie. “Chill, I had to finish my skincare routine.”

“Caddy wants to go before the smalls wake up, come on,” Janis grumbles.

“It’s five in the morning!” Damian retorts. “We got time.”

“You don’t know these babies,” Janis sighs. Damian clambers in the back next to his boyfriend while Janis climbs back into her seat. “Okay. For the love of fuck, do we have everything and everyone?”

“Yeah,” Regina yawns. “Let’s go.”

“Thank Christ.”

————-

Janis and Cady switch places at their first stop, after about three hours of driving. By some miracle, both babies are still asleep. Regina is subbed out for Damian and they’re back on the road within fifteen minutes.

The second break comes much quicker than they were hoping, only about half an hour later. Leo wakes up and rubs her little eyes with a fist, before looking around with a yawn. She whimpers when she sees she’s in her seat and neither of her moms are anywhere to be found.

“Oh no, you’re okay,” Damian says frantically when she starts to cry. Leo looks at him with a little wail and reaches for him, straining against her buckles. “Uh… I can’t take you out, but you don’t have to cry! Your moms are right there, we didn’t steal you, I promise!”

Leo’s crying wakes up Layla, who also begins fussing when she can’t find her moms. Damian frantically tries to calm them, dancing their little toys in front of their faces and making sure they both have their pacifiers.

“Sorry Dame,” Cady apologizes. “They should calm down in a second. And we’re almost to a gas station, I’ll pull over there.”

“It’s okay,” Damian says. “Poor things.”

He tries to play peekaboo with both of them

at the same time until they can stop. It doesn’t quite work, but it distracts them enough that they stop crying quite so loud.

“Here we go,” Cady says. Everyone stretches and works their way out, while Cady and Janis see to their daughters. Janis grabs Layla and Cady gets Leo. “Hi, munchkin! Did you wake up all alone? Poor baby, come here.”

Leo gratefully cuddles into her mama and smiles when she sees Janis inside the building. Janis passes Layla over so Cady can go get them changed and dressed for the day.

“Where’s Cady?” Regina asks, browsing the racks of snacks inside.

“She’s with the babies,” Janis answers. “Getting them dressed.”

“Speak of the devil,” Damian says as the restroom door opens and Cady exits, carrying Leo and holding hands with Layla. “Oh my goodness.”

Everyone turns to see what he’s talking about, and give similar reactions. The girls are dressed as little watermelons, in green short shorts and red and black polka dot tunic tops with green trim. And complete with matching watermelon patterned sandals.

“Aww, my little melons!” Janis coos, taking Leo as she reaches for her. “Hi Bee. You still sleepy?” Leo nods and rests her head on her shoulder. “Aww. You can sleep in the car. Sweet girl.”

Layla lets go of her mama’s hand and takes shaky steps over to greet her aunties and uncles. She makes it to Aaron first and reaches to be picked up.

“Hi Lala!” Aaron greets happily, picking her up and tossing her in the air before holding her close. She giggles and tries to stick her little fingers in his mouth. Aaron doesn’t let her, but he moves his chin to make her laugh. “Cool outfit!”

Damian comes up and gently kisses his niece’s cheek. Layla squeals happily and leans closer into Aaron. “And these outfits are reversible. If you turn them this way,” he explains, taking Layla and holding her upside-down. “Little strawberries!”

Layla laughs as she looks around upside-down, and shrieks happily as her exposed belly gets tickled. Damian laughs with her as he turns her back the right way.

“Crazies,” Cady chuckles affectionately. “Are we ready to go again?”

“I think so,” Gretchen replies, armed with the snacks her partners have purchased and made her help carry. Everyone else nods and heads back out into the parking lot.

They settle back into the same spots, since this stretch of the trip was shorter than they had counted on. The twins seem more okay with their moms being out of sight now that they’re less sleepy, and are content to play games with Damian and babble about the things they see out the windows.

Damian smiles as Leo grabs onto his hand and goes quiet, her little fists wrapped around his ring and index fingers as she looks wistfully out the window. Layla shrieks happily as she sees some cows out her own window.

“What are those, Lala?” Damian asks. “Are they cows? What do cows say?”

“Moooooo!” Layla replies eagerly, pointing to the creatures as they go by. Everyone laughs.

“Yeah, good job,” Damian chuckles, tickling her belly. Layla giggles happily and tries to wiggle away as best she can.

“She loves animals, she knows all the sounds,” Cady replies. “Except pigs.”

“Why pigs?”

“Janis never read that page in their story right. Now they think pigs say ‘you have a right to remain silent.’”

“It’s important knowledge!” Janis defends. “How many times are they actually gonna need to know the sound a pig makes?”

“When we get letters home from their preschool that they’ve incited a riot, you’re handling it,” Cady giggles. “I’m just glad they’re not copying you yet.”

“I’m just raising them with street smarts.”

“Uhhuh,” Cady replies sarcastically. “Have fun using that excuse to bail them out of jail.”

“We’re raising them to be decent humans too, they won’t be in jail! I’m just doing this, like, you know. Just in case.”

“Whatever you say, my love.”

——————

After another few hours, it’s Damian’s turn to drive, and nobody is safe.

Surprisingly, it seems to be going well for the first fifteen minutes or so.

Then, Regina pipes up from the back.

“Guys?”

“Yeah?” Janis replies, looking in the mirror to see them from her spot in the passenger seat.

“Where’s Aaron?” Regina asks. Janis whips around and looks, counting everyone. Babies, Cady, Plastics, Damian… no Aaron.

“Oh my god, we left him at the gas station!” Damian screeches. “I’m a terrible boyfriend!”

“Turn around!” Janis shrieks as well.

“I can’t, this is a no U-turn zone! When’s the next exit?!”

“I don’t know!”

“Well, look!” Damian demands.

Janis does, frantically switching between looking for road signs and looking at her phone map until they find somewhere they can safely turn around and head back to the previous rest stop. Everyone in the backseats is howling with laughter.

Finally, they get turned around and headed to rescue their lost passenger. Janis calls Aaron to let him know they’re on their way back.

“I was wondering how long it would take you guys to notice,” is the first thing Aaron says when the call connects.

“Babe, we’ll be right there, we’re heading back right now!” Damian says frantically.

“Take your time. I’ll just be here. Aaaaalll alone. Because you forgot me.”

“I’m sorry but now is not the time to be petty!”

“You forgot me at a gas station!” Aaron huffs.

“By accident!”

“Mmhmm,” Aaron chuckles. “Don’t worry, honey. I made friends with the cashier, got some snacks, it’s all good.”

“I love you!” Damian says desperately. Aaron laughs.

“Uhhuh. You owe me for this,” he replies. Janis gags at the implications. “Sorry Janis.”

“Your room better be as far away from ours as possible,” Janis grumbles.

“Whatever you want, babe,” Damian purrs into the phone.

“Okay hanging up now byeeee!” Janis says desperately before she hangs up on Aaron. She turns to her best friend and huffs, “You are paying for my brain bleach.”

“I love you.”

“I hope we crash.”

—-

As soon as he parks the car (rather poorly), Damian throws his door open and runs to find his boyfriend. The rest of them follow and find Damian clinging to Aaron like a lost child and frantically apologizing into his shoulder. Aaron, ironically, is the one doing the comforting as he weakly pats Damian’s shoulder.

“Dame, smile,” Gretchen teases. “I’m making a scrapbook of this trip.”

“You’re all awful,” Damian grumbles, refusing to remove himself from his boyfriend.

“I take it I’m driving now?” Aaron chuckles.

Damian nods. “I’m distraught.”

“Uhhuh.” Aaron hums. “Alright, I’ve spent more than enough time here, let’s go.”

—————-

After many, many hours and several naps on everyone’s parts, they’re finally on the last leg of the trip. Gretchen takes over driving for Regina, which means Regina is in charge of the tunes.

Naturally, she starts blasting Taylor Swift, to some mixed reactions. Janis laughs as her little ones dance along as best they can all buckled into their seats. Layla gives some very vigorous head-bangs that don’t totally match the vibe of the song, and Leo seems content to just wiggle in her seat to the beat of the music.

After a couple songs, Regina’s playlist brings up I Knew You Were Trouble. Regina, Cady, Gretchen, Karen and Damian all immediately sing along. Janis and Aaron join rather more begrudgingly. And the babies, evidently feeling left out, begin to babble along as well.

When it gets to the chorus, the volume level could rival a jet engine. Everyone screams along, including the little ones as they catch on to the rhythm of the song. They don’t quite get it at the right time, but they’ve got the spirit.

“Yeah, sing it, girls!” Regina cheers, turning around to smile at her nieces. They can’t see her, but their volume does pick up a little bit in response. “Get those emotions out. Hell yeah.”

“Don’t fucking swear in front of my kids!” Janis chides. Cady gently thwacks her on the back of the head. “Ouch.”

“Practice what you preach,” Cady hums lovingly, popping up to kiss her wife’s cheek to make up for the clearly very severe injury she’s inflicted. “They already copy you, it won’t be too long before they start trying to copy what you say.”

“They would never,” Janis scoffs, aghast at the mere suggestion that her children would ever so much as dare to curse. “Right, Bug?”

“Aaah!” Layla says.

“Ladybug, the song is over,” Janis laughs. “Should we play it again?”

Layla nods eagerly, already wiggling in preparation to dance again. Janis bends to kiss her nose as Regina skips back to it.

“You’re a very good dancer, Loopsy,” Janis chuckles. “And you too, Bumblebee.”

Leo looks away from her window and at her mommy, giving a precious little grin when she sees her. Janis smiles back and kisses her cheek.

Leo whines when she pulls back and reaches for her again. Janis smiles sadly and gently holds her baby’s little face. “You wanna cuddle? We’re almost there, you just have to stay in your seat a little bit longer.”

Leo starts to cry when she pulls her hand away. Janis pouts and puts her hand back, but Leo doesn’t calm down.

“Baby, it’s okay,” Janis hushes gently. “Just a few more minutes and then I can hold you, I promise. Oh my goodness, Bee, why are you so sad?”

Almost like a repeat of the morning, Layla also starts to cry as they get closer to their destination and her window is no longer enough to entertain her. Janis pops between them to pepper kisses over their little faces in a ditch attempt to calm them down.

Cady starts playing peek-a-boo with Layla from behind the seat, which distracts her enough that she stops crying. Leo keeps wailing no matter how many smooches she gets from her mommy.

Janis is almost desperate enough to take Leo out of her seat while they’re still moving by the time they finally arrive at their lake house. Janis wastes no time undoing her baby’s buckles and picking her up for a cuddle.

Everyone works their way out of the car and grabs either a baby or a bag to carry inside. Cady stops Layla from running full speed into the lake, and Janis continues trying to calm Leo down.

By the time they cross the threshold, Leo is dead asleep against her shoulder. Cady enters with the other one, panting slightly after their little game of chase.

“Sleepy little girl,” she hums quietly, kissing Leo’s teary cheek as she passes by. “Still can’t drift off without a cuddle.”

“I’m not complaining,” Janis whispers, carefully holding the back of Leo’s head. Layla wiggles out of Cady’s hold as soon as they’re inside and runs off in the first direction she can.

“Guys, heads up, baby incoming!” Cady calls to their friends in the living room. Her daughters have only been walking for less than six months, so she could easily catch her if she wanted to, but she feels it’s important for Layla to get some energy out. “Just don’t let her kill herself, please!”

“We got it!” Aaron calls back. Cady grins and turns to her wife.

“Regina said we’re in the first door on the left upstairs, can you go put her down?”

“Yeah,” Janis replies, crouching down a bit so Cady can kiss the baby goodnight before heading up to their room. Cady heads into the living room to find the other one.

Layla is running in a loop around the island in the kitchen and all the way through the living room. Their friends are all standing around watching her go, except Karen, who decided to join her.

Cady crouches down behind the counter and waits. When two little pigtails pop out, so does she, with a, “Bwah!”

Layla shrieks in surprise and freezes, turning to see her. She laughs when she sees it’s just her mama and carries on running around.

“How long will she keep going?” Regina asks, watching her niece and partner chase each other in circles.

“As long as it takes,” Cady shrugs.

“As long as it takes to what?” Damian asks in slight concern. Layla suddenly collapses face first on the ground, sound asleep.

“That.”

“This happen often?” Aaron chuckles.

“You have no idea,” Cady sighs as she goes to scoop her daughter off the floor. “Lotta energy in this little body. Goodnight, everybody.”

“Goodnight!”

—-

Cady is woken the next morning by ‘singing’. One of her babies has evidently decided to begin her day with a little jam session, and Cady can almost recognize it as one of the Taylor Swift songs from yesterday. It’s a strange, but adorable change from how their days usually begin. She yawns and heads to go get them up for the morning.

“Good morning, gi-“ she says as she approaches the cribs. One of them is missing. “Girl. Bee, where’s sissy?”

“Dedede,” Leo explains, pointing to the door and then her sister’s crib.

“Uncle Damian took her? Should we get dressed and go find them?” Leo nods and reaches out for her, so Cady scoops her up and kisses her all over her little face. Upon turning back to the bed, she notices Janis is also missing. “What about Mommy, do you know where she went?”

Leo shakes her head, sitting patiently on the big bed while her mama picks out her clothes for the day. Cady grins seeing her baby looking so small huddled amongst the pillows.

“We’ll find her too then, hm? Or maybe we just stay here all day and hide together. I like Leo and Mama days, what do you think?” she chuckles. Leo shrieks happily as Cady suddenly leaps onto the bed next to her and starts tickling her belly and blowing raspberries on her cheeks. “Yeah, maybe another day. Let’s get you dressed, come here.”

Leo is very helpful as Cady gets her out of her jammies and into her little swimsuit and sundress that the Plastics had bought her. Miraculously, it all still fits perfectly.

“There we go, you’re all dressed! You look very pretty in your little beach ouffit!” Cady coos. Leo grins and hunches in on herself sheepishly. “You’re so cute, I can’t take it. Okay, let’s go find sissy and Mommy, come on.”

“Lalala,” Leo helpfully informs her upon hearing her sister in the kitchen.

“I hear her too, I think she’s in here,” Cady says as she pushes the door open. “Yeah, here’s everybody!”

“Hey!” Everyone choruses upon seeing the two of them.

“I was gonna take both and give them breakfast but this little munchkin was still sleepy,” Damian says, taking his niece from Cady as she reaches for him. “But now she looks fantastic in this little tropical getup!”

“Beach ready,” Janis chuckles, kissing her baby good morning and offering her some banana to eat. “You have pineapples on your dress, you look so pretty!”

Leo giggles happily and munches on her banana. Layla looks up from her spot on Karen’s lap and bleats happily as she spies her mama. Cady laughs and goes to greet her other baby.

“Good morning, my sweet girl! Did you wake up early today and hang out with your aunties and uncles?” she asks. Layla giggles and cuddles into her shoulder. “Aww, hi. I missed you too. Are you excited to go to the beach today?”

“Eee!” Layla squeals happily. Cady laughs and kisses her temple.

“Almost! Beach.”

“Eee.”

“We’ll work on it,” Cady sighs. “Should we go get you dressed too?” Layla nods and points upstairs, so Cady carries her back up to get her ready for the day.

By the time Layla and Cady are both ready, everyone else has gotten changed and packed and sunscreened for a day at the beach. Cady returns to find Leo now fully decked out in her beach hat, sandals and some teeny tiny shades.

“Oh my goodness, Leo, you look so cool!” she laughs. “Should we go?”

“Yeah, come on,” Regina says. Their place is practically on the beach, so they just have a short walk to be on the shore of the lake. Layla toddles the whole way herself, holding her mothers’ hands, and Leo rides on Damian’s shoulders.

When she sees the lake, Layla immediately tries to take off towards it to go swim. She makes it a few inches before Janis’ grip tightens slightly on her hand and she falls onto her bum.

“Blelele,” she says pleadingly, pointing to the water.

“You can go to the water in just a second, we just have to go with you!” Cady giggles. “Come here.”

Layla lets her mama take off her dress and sandals so she’s left in her baby bikini. She giggles as Cady blows a raspberry on her tummy and picks her up. Janis does the same to Leo, and they head down to see how their daughters react to their first real body of water.

Aaron and Karen both tear past them and cannonball into the water, making the little ones giggle as they hear the splash.

“Okay, ready?” Cady asks, holding Layla aloft. Layla kicks her legs in excitement and squeals happily as Cady bends down to dip her little toes in the lake. “What do you think? Is it cold?”

“She’s definitely our little fishy,” Janis laughs as Layla starts kicking again to splash. “Let’s see what this little munchkin thinks.”

She bends down next to Cady and Layla to dip Leo’s toes in. Leo looks at the waves lapping against her little feet for a moment before she bursts into tears.

“Oh no, baby,” Janis says sadly, standing back up and holding Leo close. “You don’t like it?”

Leo wails in reply, wiggling herself as close to her mommy as she can get. Janis pouts and rubs her back to comfort her.

“Mamamama,” Leo begs, reaching a little hand for Cady. Cady pouts and switches twins with her wife.

“Come here pumpkin, it’s okay. Let’s go play in the sand, we can try the water another time. Shh, sweetheart, Mama’s got you,” Cady hushes. Leo sniffles and buries her face in her neck. Cady kisses Layla and Janis goodbye and heads to find where Damian and Regina are sunbathing.

“Hey!” Damian greets. His energy shifts when he sees the distraught baby in Cady’s arms. “Oh no, Leo! You didn’t like the lake?”

“She’s just not ready yet,” Cady says, giving Leo a little bounce and drying her tears with her thumb. “We’ll hang out up here for a while and watch.”

“Yeah, there’s plenty of room,” Regina says, scooting over a bit so they can sit between herself and Damian. Gretchen seems to be asleep already in the sand next to her. Cady settles on a towel and kisses Leo’s temple.

“Dede,” Leo murmurs, pointing to her uncle. Cady grins and peppers more kisses to the top of her head.

“You wanna sit with Uncle Damian? Okay, here,” she says, passing her over. Damian happily takes her and holds her in his lap.

“Yeah, hey, Leo,” he says, propping her up on his knees. Leo finally smiles and reaches to grab his face. “Ow, watch the hair. Let’s see… can you say Damian? This is gonna be your first word or so help me. Damian.”

“Dedede,” Leo replies, tugging on one of his ears. Damian gently removes her little fist and looks into her bright blue eyes.

“Daaaaamian. Day.”

“De?” Leo echoes. Damian nods.

“Me.”

“Mee!”

“An.”

“Na.”

“Damian!”

“Dedede,” Leo says again. Damian sighs.

“We’ll work on it.”

“Damian’s tricky, give her a break,” Cady laughs. “Janis is still just ‘Mee’.”

“Mee?” Leo asks, looking around for Janis.

“Mommy’s with Lala,” Cady replies, pointing to her wife and other daughter splashing around the lake.

She laughs as Layla gives a particularly vigorous one and they can just barely hear Janis call, “You little stinker!” as she’s showered with cold water.

Leo seems content now that she knows where her mommy is, and turns back to her uncle. Damian tickles her belly, earning himself a happy shriek as she tries to wiggle away.

“Has she been in the sand yet?” he asks Cady.

“No, do you want to try?” Cady responds. Damian nods and makes a sort of hoop with his legs, resting Leo in between so she’s contained but still has a little bit of room to explore.

Leo looks up at him curiously, confused by the rough new texture against her little legs. Damian picks up a handful of sand and rains it down over her little feet. She wiggles her toes and grabs her own handful to investigate.

“What do you think?“ Damian asks. “You’re not crying, that’s a good sign. No, don’t eat it.”

Leo pouts as he catches her fist halfway to her mouth and brushes the sand off her chubby palm.

“Don’t look at me like that, I can’t let you eat sand,” Damian pleads. “You look too much like a tiny Janis, I can’t handle it.”

“Don’t they? I’m always saying they look like if she shrunk and had blue eyes,” Cady says. “Can you keep an eye on her? I wanna go check on Jay and Lala.”

“Of course,” Damian replies. Regina doesn’t say anything, having joined Gretchen in dreamland. Cady kisses both Damian and Leo’s cheeks before she heads back to the shore.

“There’s Mama, Ladybug, look!” Janis says when she sees Cady standing there. “Tell her to come swim!”

“Mamamama!” Layla babbles happily, reaching out for Cady.

“No way,” Cady laughs. “This lake is freezing.”

“It’s not so bad,” Janis begs. “Come onnnn.”

“Mamama,” Layla pouts, straining against Janis to try to get Cady to come in.

“Pleeeeease?” Janis adds. Cady rolls her eyes lovingly.

“Fine. You’re lucky you’re both cute. Stand back.”

“Why-ack!”

Janis and Layla both yelp as Cady dives into the lake, showering them both with freezing cold water.

“Caddy!”

“I told you to stand back,” Cady giggles as she pops back above the surface. Layla laughs and reaches for her. “Hi, baby bug! Come here.”

“Can you show Mama what we practiced?” Janis asks. Layla nods and eagerly wiggles away. Cady almost panics when Janis suddenly lets her go, but Layla just turns onto her back so she can breathe and kicks her legs until she bumps into her mama’s chest.

“Oh my god, Lala! That’s amazing!” Cady gasps. “Look at you go, I’m so proud of you!”

Janis swims over too, squishing the baby between them as she leans to give Cady a kiss. “She wanted to swim, so… we worked on our backstroke.”

“You guys did great,” Cady grins. “You’re such a good mommy. Huh, Ladybug? We love Mommy so much.”

Layla nods and cuddles into Janis, who smiles widely and peppers kisses against Layla’s temple. “I love you too.”

Layla giggles happily as she’s suddenly held high in the air, and splashes as she’s brought back to the water.

“We’re gonna work on that next,” Janis huffs. “No more splashing.”

Impishly, Layla splashes again, showering her moms in cold water.

“Let her have her fun, she’s still little enough that she can’t do that much damage,” Cady hums. She’s suddenly hit with a small tidal wave. “I take it back.”

“Not very nice, Ladybug,” Janis chides gently. Layla rubs her chest with her little hand to say sorry in sign language. “Aww. We forgive you, baby. Here, splash this way.”

“They’re getting better with their signing,” Cady says happily as Layla gleefully splashes all she wants away from people.

“Yeah,” Janis grins. “You want this?”

“Sure,” Cady laughs as she holds Layla aloft. “Gimme dis baby.”

“I’m gonna go make sure Damian hasn’t killed Leo,” Janis says, handing Layla to her wife and kissing them both. “Or the other way around. Have fun.”

“You too,” Cady giggles. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Janis calls from the shoreline.

Janis returns to find Leo lying next to her uncle on the sand, with her arms bent up under her head and her legs crossed so they’re lying in the same position. She’s also wearing Damian’s sunglasses and her own pacifier, and seems content to just chill.

“Lishy, you look so cool!” she laughs. “Look at your shades.”

Leo grabs them and pulls them down so she can see, and grins when she sees her mommy sitting down next to her. “Mee.”

“Yeah, hi baby,” Janis grins. Leo takes her sunglasses off and hands them back to her uncle, nuzzling into her mommy. Janis grins and gently brushes a hand through her short curls. “What have you been up to?”

“Sananana,” Leo explains. “Dede.”

“Sounds fun,” Janis nods, as if she understands what Leo is saying. “Come here.”

Leo giggles happily as Janis scoops her up and holds her in her lap, resting her head on Janis’ chest. Damian tips his head slightly to see his niece, and smiles as she seems to get much sleepier as soon as she’s being cuddled.

“She’s so cute,” he says, watching Leo’s eyes flutter shut and her breathing even out. Janis carefully cradles her baby against her and nods.

“She has good genes,” she murmurs. “My little cuddle bug.”

“They’re already so different,” Damian says.

“They always have been. Leo’s always been quieter and cuddlier. And Layla’s been running away from us since she could roll herself over,” Janis chuckles. “I just… like, you know I love you. And I obviously love Caddy more than I can say. But I never thought I could… love something this much. Let alone two of them. Like… they’re me, y’know? They’re only a year old and they’ve already helped me feel so much more confident and settled in myself.”

“I’m glad,” Damian murmurs. “And I can see why. They’re so sweet. And absolutely precious. You’re a great mom, Janjan.”

“Thanks,” Janis grins, gently fiddling with one of her baby’s curls. “Have you and Aaron talked about kids at all?”

“Not really. I think I got drunk once and kept talking about how we should have a baby,” Damian says, his eyes seeming a bit haunted at the vague memories. “But nothing serious.”

“That’s fair,” Janis says, trying not to laugh at the mental image and wake her child. “You’d be a good dad. You’re already a great uncle.”

“I try,” Damian chuckles. “They make it pretty easy.”

“Yeah,” Janis grins. “I got lucky there. Once they came home they were some of the easiest babies I’ve seen. Made everything worth it.”

“Worth it?” Damian asks, tipping his head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Janis sighs and tenses slightly. “Well, you know everything while Caddy was pregnant. That was a lot of bullshit. But we also only got pregnant on our third try. None of the embryos implanted the first time and we had a miscarriage the second.”

“Oh god,” Damian whispers in horror. “I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“She didn’t want to,” Janis replies, looking out to the lake and smiling as she sees her wife laughing at Layla. “It messed both of us up for a long time, she just wanted to… process it on her own time and try to move on as best she could. And we wanted it to be more of a surprise when we actually got pregnant.”

“That makes sense,” Damian nods. “And it definitely was a surprise. I didn’t think you even wanted kids.”

“I didn’t either,” Janis says. “For a long time. But Caddy… she… she’s perfect. I knew she would be a perfect mama, that we’d be doing it together. I realized I just wanted a bigger family with her. And she had been asking for a long time, she kinda wore me down, too.”

Damian laughs outright at that. “I’m glad. You seem so much happier now than you used to be.”

“I am,” Janis whispers, kissing the top of a little head. Leo stirs slightly, but Janis just slips her pacifier back between her lips and she drifts off again. “I think I’ll always have stuff going on in my head. But now I have more reasons to get out of bed and fight it. And I’m still in therapy and stuff. But yeah, high school Janis would not have believed you if you told her this is where she’d end up.”

“I think that’s for the best,” Damian says. “I’m so happy for you.”

“I’m happy for you too,” Janis says. “You seem really happy with Aaron.”

“I am,” Damian says with a fond smile, watching his boyfriend act a fool in the water with Karen. “He’s the best partner I think I’ve ever had.”

“Good,” Janis says. “You know what I’d do if he wasn’t.”

“Easy, tiger,” Damian teases. “Please don’t murder my boyfriend.”

“Just say the word,” Janis hums.

They stay there for a long time, watching as Karen and Aaron play a slightly modified game of chicken with Cady and Layla. The little one shrieks happily every time she’s dunked into the water, even though Cady keeps a firm grip on her and she’s never under for more than a few seconds at a time.

Eventually they move on to Marco Polo, and Janis grins as Layla tries to say the words as best she can from Cady’s hold. She giggles happily as they’re chased around, and wiggles with glee when it’s her turn and she tags everyone.

Leo eventually stirs in her lap, yawning around her pacifier and blinking up at Janis.

“Hi, baby bee,” Janis murmurs. “Did you have a nice nap?” Leo nods. “Good, come here.”

Leo giggles softly as Janis holds her up higher and smooches her little cheeks over and over. She throws her arms around her mommy’s neck for a hug and cuddles in again.

“Sweet girl. Should we go get sissy and Mama to come eat lunch?” Janis grins, gently scratching Leo’s back. She feels her daughter nod against her and stands up. “We’ll be back.”

“I’ll be here,” Damian hums, stretching back out on the sand for another relaxation session.

Janis carries Leo down to the lake, feeling the baby cling to her tighter and squeak in fright as they approach the water. “Shh, it’s okay, we won’t make you do it again if you don’t want to. Let’s just sit here, okay?”

Janis sits them where the sand is wet, resting Leo between her legs and holding tightly to her chubby little belly to help her feel secure. Leo whimpers when a wave approaches, clinging to Janis’ fingers.

“Shh, I’m right here,” Janis soothes. “Watch, it’s just water.” The wave runs over Leo’s legs and then recedes, only going about as high as the baby’s hips. “See? It’s not so bad, huh? It’s just like a bath! You love your baths, baby girl.”

“Abababa?” Leo asks, tipping her head up to look at her. Janis nods.

“Yeah, it’s just like a bath. Here comes another wave, look!” Leo watches the wave as it hits her feet and rushes up her legs. She’s got a very serious and thoughtful pout on her face, but she seems less scared with each wave that hits them. “What do you think?”

Leo shivers, making Janis laugh.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cold, huh? Look what sissy and Mama are doing, do you want to try that?”

Leo looks where she’s pointing, at Cady gently holding Layla and slowly bouncing her around in the water to lull her into a nap. Their games seem to have tuckered Layla out, since she’s accepting the cuddles without complaint.

Leo looks up at her warily, but she does nod. Janis smiles and picks her up, holding her tightly against herself and slowly walking over to where her wife and other baby are.

“Hey.”

“Oh my god!” Cady gasps in fright, whirling around to see them. “Hi, Bee! You’re in the lake!”

“So brave,” Janis adds, kissing Leo’s cheek. “And choking me just a bit.”

“Like you’re complaining,” Cady teases. She kisses Leo too and says, “I’m so proud of you, sweet girl! What do you think?”

Leo looks around, clinging tightly to Janis’ neck and assessing the situation she’s found herself in. Cady grins as she kicks her little legs and watches the waves she creates ripple away.

“Look, you can splash,” Cady says. Janis carefully pries the little one off her neck and holds her so Leo’s back is against her chest, so the baby can use her hands. Leo weakly claps one against the water and flinches as she accidentally splashes herself. “Yeah, you got it!”

Leo splashes a couple more times, feeling the cold water against her little hands as she explores this new thing. She kicks her legs again, harder this time, and gives a quiet giggle when she makes more waves.

“See? It’s not so scary,” Cady says. “Oh, I’m so glad you came in, I’m so proud of you.”

“This one seems about ready to get out, though,” Janis chuckles, looking at the half asleep Layla resting on Cady’s shoulder.

“It is nap time,” Cady chuckles. “Should we go get dry?” Leo shakes her head. “No? You don’t wanna get out?” Another head shake. “Not even for lunch?” Leo thinks for a second before she nods. “That’s what I thought.”

“We’ll come swim again after lunch,” Janis chuckles. “Brave little bee.”

They head back to the towel and beach umbrella pile their friends have made and get situated. Karen and Aaron have returned as well, and joined in the picnic Gretchen brought with them.

Layla gets wrapped in her froggy towel and left to nap in peace, while Leo is wrapped in her ducky towel and sits on Cady’s lap to eat with everyone.

Janis watches in silence as Leo finishes her bottle and sneakily grabs half of Cady’s sandwich to try a bite. Cady is busy talking with Regina and doesn’t notice until she finishes the first half.

“Who-“ she says, looking around in confusion when she sees the tiny teeth marks in her sandwich. Only one person could be the culprit, and she’s caught red handed when Cady looks down to see her still chewing. “You little stinker, this is my lunch! You had a bottle!”

Leo gives her most precious grin, instantly winning her mama back over.

“Do I make good sandwiches, Lolo?” Gretchen chuckles. Leo nods and reaches for the other half in Cady’s hand.

“You are what you eat,” Cady hums. “My little turkey. Here, you can have another bite.”

Everyone laughs as Leo chomps into the sandwich like a little dinosaur. Her mouth is too small for her to get much of anything but bread, but she seems happy regardless. Cady quickly eats the rest before her kid can steal any more of her food.

When Leo looks up again expecting more, Cady shows her her empty hands. “Where did it go?”

Leo looks down and points to her tummy. Cady laughs and kisses her cheek.

“Yeah, it’s in your tummy. Clever little girl. Okay, let’s go play again, I wanna go with you this time!”

After a long day full of playing in the lake, building sandcastles and sunbathing, everyone slugs back to the lake house, changes into pajamas, and collapses into bed.

————-

A couple days later, Janis wakes up on her own. Which is odd, because the twins would usually be awake and trying to escape their cribs by now.

Yawning and rubbing her eyes, she heads to the cribs to check what’s going on. But her babies aren’t in them. “Caddy?”

“Mm?”

“Where are the babies?”

“I dunno,” Cady yawns into her pillow. “R’gina took ‘em. A while ago.”

“Oh, hang on,” Regina says, politely interrupting her nail tech when her text tone goes off. She pulls her phone out of her purse to see a text from Janis.

snarkisian: where are my children

Regina laughs and excuses herself for a second to go find the twins with her girlfriends. The babies are lying in between them on their massage tables, in matching face masks and little cucumbers covering their eyes. The twins seem to be asleep, since they’re not anywhere near as wiggly as they usually are when they’re awake. Regina snaps a picture to send to Janis.

reginald: Sent a picture: We’re having a girls day. Facials and mani-pedis. You have a problem with that?

snarkisian: i have a problem with you effectively kidnapping my daughters yeah

reginald: We asked Cady, she said we could take them for the day.

snarkisian: was she awake ??

reginald: Enough.

snarkisian: …

snarkisian: just keep them safe.

reginald: Oh, we were actually gonna take them jet skiing and then to feed some wild bears after this.

snarkisian: >:l

reginald: Oh my god, they’re fine. They’re asleep now, we’re just gonna go shopping and get lunch after this and then you’ll have them back. They’re having a great time so far.

snarkisian: fine. have fun, tell them i miss them

reginald: I will. Have fun with Cady on your little break.

Janis clicks her phone off and blinks at the wall in confusion for a moment, before turning around and crawling back into bed next to her wife.

“You find ‘em?” Cady asks, voice adorably rough with sleep.

“The Plastics took them out for a spa day,” Janis says. “Apparently they got facials.”

“Hm,” Cady hums, already half asleep again.

“So we have the morning to ourselves,” Janis purrs. “Whatever shall we do?”

“Sleep.”

“But-“

“Jayjay. We have twin toddlers. I wanna sleep in,” Cady begs. Janis can feel her resolve waver as Cady nuzzles into her chest and looks up at her, blinking those big, sleepy blue eyes at her pleadingly. Janis isn’t exactly well rested herself.

“Fine,” she hums, rolling onto her back and pulling Cady on top of her. Cady peppers some gentle kisses against the crook of her neck in thanks.

“I’ll take you back to bed later,” she whispers. Janis squeaks quietly, earning a breathy laugh against her shoulder. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Janis whispers, cradling her wife against her and drifting off for some much needed and deserved rest.

——-

Cady did end up making good on her promise after a delightful morning of sleeping in, and they were nearly walked in on when the Plastics returned home with their babies. Damian and Aaron had a date day exploring the town, so luckily they had been saved from that particular bit of mortification.

They quickly sort out their rumpled hair and get dressed before they head down to the living room. The Plastics instruct them to sit on the couch and close their eyes so the twins can surprise them with the new outfits they bought.

“Are you guys ready?” Regina calls down the hallway.

“Yeah!” Cady calls back. They hear the pattering of tiny feet as their daughters come running down the hall to find them. “Oh my goodness!”

Janis breathes a sigh of relief that her babies are both in one piece, and smiles widely as Layla comes running over to show off her snazzy new outfit and pretty painted nails. “Hi, Bug! What did your aunties do to you?”

“They picked their nail polish colors all by themselves,” Gretchen says. “Leo cried when she had to let go of the bottle, though. But we got cookies and everything was good then.”

“Aww,” Cady chuckles. “Let me see, come here, Bee!”

Leo runs over and does a spin, showing off her very fancy blue unicorn dress and sparkly blue nails. Layla has a matching dress, but her nails are red.

“Woooow,” Cady says. “Did you pick these dresses, too?”

“They might’ve had help,” Karen replies. “But mostly, yeah.”

“Well, they’re lovely, good job,” Cady chuckles. Leo leaves for a second to go tug on Regina’s pocket.

“Hi, honey, what do you need?” Regina asks. Leo does something with her hand, prompting Regina to look to Cady for an explanation.

“She’s saying thank you, that’s sign language,” Cady replies.

“Aww, you’re welcome!” Regina coos. Leo reaches for a hug from her aunties, so Regina hesitantly scoops her off the ground, unsure if this is the right course of action. Gretchen and Karen squish in on either side, making the baby giggle as she’s wrapped in a group hug.

Gretchen shrieks when something else wraps around her leg, but upon looking down, discovers it to just be Layla trying to join. “Oh my god, Lala!”

Layla waves when she looks down, as if she hasn’t just scared the wits out of all her aunties and her sister. Janis is laughing so hard she’s almost in tears watching the whole situation go down.

Karen picks Layla up too, allowing her to join in the little love fest. None of them quite catch Cady sneaking a few pictures of the adorable scene.

Leo wiggles her way down first, deciding she’s had enough and heading to show her mommy her new outfit and nails too.

“Hi, Bee! What’s on your dress?” Janis grins, picking Leo up and resting her in her lap. She laughs as Leo makes a horse sound. “Yeah, I think that’s about what a unicorn would sound like. Can I see your nails?”

Leo gently rests her tiny hand on top of her mommy’s, allowing Janis to inspect her glittery nail polish. Her hands and nails are still much too small to really be painted, but there’s neat blobs of blue on the end of each finger that work well enough.

“That’s a very pretty color, you picked it all by yourself?” Janis asks, fluffing out the tutu on Leo’s dress with her other hand. Leo nods happily. “It’s so nice! Do you like it?” Another nod, and Leo gently taps her fingertip to make sure Janis is aware of the glitter. “I see, it’s sparkly! It’s perfect for the Fourth of July.”

Cady sits down closer to them and leans into Janis’ shoulder, smiling at their daughter. “So… the Plastics got the two of us a hotel room for tonight. What do you think?”

“Without them?” Janis asks in concern, looking at Leo. Cady nods.

“Just for a night. Damian said he and Aaron would babysit.”

“But…”

“We need a break, love,” Cady whispers. “We’ve only been away from them four times since they came home from the hospital.”

“But I miss them,” Janis pouts.

“I miss them too,” Cady says. “I love these two so much.” Leo giggles as she tickles her belly. “But I love you, too. And I miss having you to myself. Think of all we can do with a whole night.”

“Okay, yeah, we can go,” Janis says, seeming much more interested all of a sudden. Cady laughs.

“That’s what I thought. I’ll go pack us a couple things.”

—

The twins’ cribs get moved to Damian and Aaron’s room for the night, and Cady packs an overnight bag. With a quick cuddle, Janis and Cady leave with the Plastics while the babies are distracted.

—————-

“Whoa,” Cady whispers as they walk into the lobby of their hotel. “Fancy.”

“I fucking love having rich friends,” Janis says in delight. Cady thwacks her across the chest. “Ow.”

“Be polite,” Cady huffs. Janis pouts. “We’re not only friends with them for their money.”

“But it helps,” Janis says. Cady rolls her eyes and kisses her cheek.

“You’re on thin ice.”

“Whatcha gonna do about it?”

“We’re alone for the night, keep at it and you might find out,” Cady hums casually. Janis flushes scarlet and looks at the ground with a flustered squeak.

Cady gets them checked in and leads them to their room, and is immediately pinned to the very large bed by her wife. They’re both getting progressively more hot and bothered when there’s a knock at the door and Janis rolls off her with several mumbled profanities.

Cady straightens her hair and clothes back out and answers the door, finding the Plastics on the other side. “Hey!”

“Hey,” Karen replies. “We’re gonna go get dinner, do you wanna come?”

“No,” Janis pouts.

“Sure,” Cady says at the same time, gently stomping on her wife’s foot. “Give us a second to get ready?”

“Take your time, they don’t even open for a while,” Gretchen says kindly. “Just not too much time, Janis.”

“Hmph.”

Cady closes the door and they both rush through putting on nicer clothes and doing their hair. Cady does some light makeup and kisses Janis on the cheek with a promise to continue their activities later, and they’re out the door.

—-

“You guys are spoiling us,” Cady says as they sit across from the Plastics in their very nice booth in the dining room at their hotel.

“We just haven’t seen much of you since the babies were born, we figured you might want a night off,” Gretchen says. “We’re glad you came.”

“We are too,” Cady says. “We definitely need a break.”

“No we don’t,” Janis grumbles, still pouting about being so rudely interrupted.

“Jay, my love,” Cady chuckles. “Those girls grew in me. I have the strongest connection to them out of anyone. And even I know they’re exhausting. We need a break every now and again, even if we miss them.”

“But I miss them too much,” Janis whines. “I trust Damian and Aaron and all, but… they’re so little.”

“And Damian understands that, he’s been around them enough to know what they need and want, they’ll be fine,” Cady comforts. “He’ll call if he needs us, but tonight is about us, come on.”

Janis nods and takes a deep breath as she picks up their menu. Their waiter comes by to bring them their drinks and take their orders, and then they’re alone with the Plastics.

“So tell us what’s been going on with you guys, I need gossip other than who has the worst behaved kid at daycare,” Cady says, leaning on the table and looking at their friends.

“Actually, we did have… kind of an ulterior motive bringing you guys here,” Regina says.

“Dude, you brought us to the nicest hotel in Illinois, an ulterior motive is the least of my worries right now,” Janis chuckles.

“We’re getting married,” Gretchen says. Cady squeals excitedly and does a little tap dance under the table. “And we want to return the favor and have you guys as our maids of honor.”

“Of course!” Cady says. “Congratulations, oh my god! When did you get engaged?”

“We didn’t,” Karen says. Janis tips her head in confusion. “Not really. I just was like, ‘Hey, we should get married.’ and they said okay. And that was that.”

“I mean, if it works,” Janis says with a chuckle. “Congratulations. Where are you doing it?”

“Here,” Gretchen says rather sheepishly. “In October.”

“Did Karen pick that?” Cady giggles. Karen nods happily. “Cute!”

“We’re planning on a pretty big wedding, like, our whole extended families and everything,” Regina says. “That… understand us, anyway.”

“That’ll be cool,” Janis says, understanding why Regina’s eyes have darkened a bit. Their food arrives then, and distracts them from the slightly heavy mood.

“So gimme all the details,” Cady says around a mouthful of carbonara.

“Karen and I are the ones getting legally married,” Regina says. “For tax benefits.”

“Nice!” Janis laughs. “But the ceremony is for all of you?”

They all nod. Gretchen says, “Kylie’s officiating, we’re just… adding another person to a pretty normal ceremony. And then Dylan is unfortunately our DJ for the reception.”

“Fuck yeah,” Janis cheers, getting some dirty looks from the tables around them. She hunches in on herself in embarrassment. “Sorry.”

“Nobody here cares, they just have to pretend to,” Regina shrugs with a chuckle.

“Rich people,” Janis tuts under her breath. “Anyway, by here did you mean, like… here here?”

“Yeah. That was the ulterior motive, we wanted to check out some of the rooms and stuff beforehand,” Regina says. “And also try to bribe you guys into being our maids of honor.”

“You don’t have to bribe us, we would absolutely have been anyway,” Cady says. She nudges Janis under the table in a ‘hush before I make you’ gesture before she can let out a disbelieving hum.

“Doesn’t hurt though,” Regina replies teasingly. “Right, Janis?”

“Nothing! I mean, uh…” Janis says, obviously having zoned out and only hearing the last sentence. “What are we talking about?”

“Jay,” Cady says with a chuckle. “You’re a goof. Do you need a moment?”

“No, sorry. I was just… thinking about the girls again,” Janis mumbles sheepishly. Cady’s eyes soften in understanding and she leans in to give her wife a comforting kiss.

“They’re gonna be okay, my love,” she whispers. “You know them. You know Damian. They’re perfectly fine.”

“I know,” Janis whispers back. “It’s just hard.”

“I know,” Cady says. She gently takes Janis’ hand under the table and gives a comforting squeeze. Janis squeezes back and shyly looks back to their company.

“We get it,” Gretchen murmurs kindly. “It must be tough. Being away from them. We didn’t mean to drag you away if you didn’t want to come.”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Janis says immediately. “You guys are right, we do need a break, it’s just…”

“They were premature,” Regina says with remarkable kindness and understanding. “You worry. If you’re not there you… can’t protect them. You have to trust someone else.”

“…Yeah.”

“We get it,” Karen repeats. Janis gives them all a small, thankful grin and clears her throat.

“Anyway, uh…”

“Tell us how you guys got together again?” Cady interrupts, attempting to steer the conversation to a lighter topic. Janis gives her hand yet another thankful squeeze and takes another bite of her dinner.

—————

Babies, unfortunately, only stay distracted for so long. Damian braces as Leo gets bored with her toys and stands up, wandering around to try to find her mothers.

“Mee? Mee?” she calls in her squeaky little voice. “Mamamama?”

“Your mommies left for the night, sweetheart,” Damian says gently. Leo turns to look at him. “They went bye-bye.”

“Mamama?” Leo asks, as if to confirm they’re really not there. Damian nods, feeling his heart break as his niece’s lip starts to tremble and she falls to the ground in tears. She crawls to the front door, and starts crying harder when she notices there’s no car in the driveway.

Damian goes to pick her up, closing the door and gently patting her back as she wails into his shoulder.

“Mee!” she sobs desperately, pointing to the door.

“Shh, I know,” Damian hushes gently. “They’ll be back tomorrow, I promise. They’d never leave you. You just get to spend the night with me and Uncle Aaron and then they’ll be back.”

Leo wails again, weeping into his shoulder with more strength than Damian thought her little body could muster.

“I know, I know, shh,” Damian says. He gently starts bouncing her up and down to soothe her and starts wandering around in a ditch attempt to get her to calm down.

Eventually they make it to Aaron in the kitchen, where he’s making dinner. He’s well aware of their approach, since Leo’s crying can be heard from a mile away.

“Have we been discovered?” Aaron asks his boyfriend. Damian nods and continues bouncing the baby.

“She tried to find them and then noticed the car was gone,” he says. “She won’t calm down, I dunno what to do.”

“I think she just needs to get it out,” Aaron says sadly. “A whole day without your moms is hard when that’s, like, a pretty significant portion of your life. She’s only one.”

“But she’s so sad,” Damian pouts. “Makes me sad.”

“Just hold her,” Aaron says. “She’ll realize she’s okay soon.”

“Mmkay,” Damian says, gently hushing his niece. “Where’s your little… baby cork thingy.”

“Her what?”

“The… thingy,” Damian says, as if that clarifies anything. “That they suck on to stop crying.”

“Her pacifier?!” Aaron laughs.

“Yeah!”

“Baby cork,” Aaron tuts under his breath. “Check the other room.”

Damian and Leo briefly disappear, and then return with Leo’s pacifier and Layla.

“There!” Damian says. “No more crying and the other one isn’t dead.”

“Gold star, babe,” Aaron chuckles. “Dinner’s ready.”

“What are we having?”

“Butter noodles,” Aaron says. “I dunno how to feed babies, this seems like it probably won’t poison them.”

“We just have to cut theirs up, I think,” Damian nods. “Sounds good, though, thanks honey.”

Aaron helps wrangle the twins into their seats and gives each of them a bowl of the noodles, which have been cut into a safe size for their little mouths. He and Damian grab their own portions and sit across the table from them almost like a dinner date.

Layla gets hers in her hair within thirty seconds, grabbing fistfuls of the mushy noodles and shoveling them in her face. Leo sits politely and doesn’t touch it.

“What’s the matter, Leo?” Aaron asks. “You don’t want dinner?” Leo looks down at her bowl. “You wanna try some?”

Leo hesitantly grabs a handful, squishing it between her fingers a bit and tasting it. She squeaks happily at the taste, but frowns at the texture coating her hand. Aaron quickly grabs a napkin when she holds her hand as far away from her body as she can and whimpers, before they have another tear fest on their hands.

Leo looks at him in relief as he wipes the offensive pasta off her hand and thanks him in sign language.

“You’re welcome, Lolo,” Aaron chuckles. “Come here, I’ll feed you. Little princess.”

Leo seems much happier with this arrangement, sitting next to her uncle and accepting bites of her noodles off one of her baby forks.

“She just wants to be clean, don’t judge her,” Damian says. “She’s like Caddy.”

“She really is,” Aaron agrees. He looks across the table to Layla, who seems to have gotten more pasta on her face than in her mouth and is wearing her bowl as a hat. “And that one’s Janis.”

“Great,” Damian sighs. “Layla.” The baby grins impishly at him. “Don’t play cute, little missy. You made a mess.”

“We probably should’ve fed both of them, to be fair,” Aaron laughs. “Can’t really expect a baby to eat by herself without making a mess. Do you want more, Lala?”

Layla nods and does her sign for more, so Damian gently removes her hat and goes to get her another portion.

“As much as I love your accessorizing, try to eat it this time instead of wearing it,” he says as he sets it on her tray. Layla grins again and digs back in.

“Might be bath time after this,” Aaron hums.

“Definitely.”

—-

Layla is so covered in pasta by the end of dinner that a bath is an absolute necessity. Damian carries them up the stairs into Cady and Janis’ en suite and starts drawing them a bath.

Aaron watches fondly from the counter as his boyfriend expertly keeps both babies in the tub and occupied while he washes their hair and scrubs them clean. It’s oddly domestic, in a nice way.

He knows then that he’ll definitely be using the ring he brought before they leave.

—-

After bath time, the twins are lotioned and their hair is brushed before they’re zipped into their pajamas for the evening.

They have a little bit of time before bedtime, so Damian turns on a movie and leaves them to play. Leo refuses to be put down with her twin, however, so she just cuddles with Damian and Aaron while they watch together.

About fifteen minutes before it’s time for bed, Damian’s phone rings. Upon checking it, he finds it to be an incoming FaceTime call from Janis. Of course.

“Hey, Jan,” he greets as he picks up. Janis looks very sheepish as she lies next to her wife on their very nice hotel bed.

“Hi.”

“Couldn’t stay away?” Damian teases. Janis flushes further and nods.

“They’re my babies, I miss them,” she pouts.

“What are you guys up to?” Cady asks, leaning closer into her wife so she can see too.

“We’re watching a movie,” Damian replies, turning his camera around for a second to show that they’re watching Tangled. Layla makes an appearance as she toddles her way across the room. “Well, Leo and Aaron and I are. Layla’s exploring.”

“Aww,” Janis chuckles. “Can we see them?”

“Sure. Oh, Leo, what’s the matter, honey?” Damian says. Leo has tears in her eyes and gives a precious sniffle as she points to the TV before reaching for a hug. Damian looks to see they’ve reached the scene where Rapunzel is taken from her parents. “Oh, is the movie sad?” Leo nods. “Poor thing. Come here, you wanna say hi to your moms?”

“Poor baby bee,” Cady coos sadly. “Hi, sweetheart! I miss you!”

Leo perks up when she sees Janis and Cady on the screen and gives a delighted wave. Her moms both wave back and smile as she starts babbling about her adventures with her uncles.

Layla comes running over when she hears their voices, crashing into the couch and falling backwards before Aaron picks her up and pops her next to her sister.

“Hi, Lala!” Janis laughs. “How are you, Ladybug?”

Layla joins in the storytelling, eventually grabbing Damian’s phone from his hands to see better. Her mommy and mama are stuck in the screen, how can she get them out?

Janis and Cady both laugh as they see her slide off the couch and start toddling around, still investigating the phone and telling them about her evening. Damian suddenly appears in the background with a teary Leo in his arms. “Layla, come back, honey! Leo wants to see your moms too!”

“Oh, baby girls,” Janis says sadly when she sees the tears in Layla’s eyes as well. “We’ll be back tomorrow, it’s okay! We miss you too.”

Layla accidentally hits the end call button and her mommies disappear. She looks at the phone in shock before she bursts into tears, toddling back to her uncle to show him the problem. She’s crying so hard she’s barely making sound, breathless with her desperate little sobs.

“Oh no, did you hang up on them?” Damian asks sadly, pulling her into a hug. “We can call them back, it’s okay! Oh, lord, I hope it’s bedtime soon. Come here.”

Damian returns to the couch and rests both very upset little ones on his lap. He brings Janis’ contact back up and gives her another call. She answers right away, seeming to know what happened the first time.

“Oh no, baby loves,” Cady says sadly. Both babies stop crying when they hear her voice, and Damian visibly relaxes a bit. “What happened, sweethearts?”

“Layla stole you guys and set this one off,” Damian explains, resting a gentle hand on Leo’s head. “And then she hung up on you by accident and got sad.”

“Aww,” Janis hums sadly. “Poor things. Uncle Damian has you, you’re okay! Mama and I will be back tomorrow!”

“Mee,” Leo says with a wave.

“Hi, baby,” Janis chuckles. “Are you having fun with your uncles?” Leo nods. “Good. I miss you.”

Damian lets the babies keep talking to their mothers for a while, holding the phone firmly in his hands to prevent any more incidents. Gradually, the babies start to slump down in his lap and their eyes grow heavy, and he decides to try ending the call for the night to put them to bed.

“Give kisses, it’s bedtime for you little monkeys now,” he says gently. Each twin gives his phone a kiss and a wave goodnight. He thinks it’s gone well until he says goodnight himself and hangs up. Both of them immediately burst into tears yet again, reaching desperately for his phone. “Oh, this was a mistake.”

—————

“See? They’re fine,” Cady says gently, lightly trailing her fingernails up and down Janis’ arm. “They miss us too, but they’re safe. Damian and Aaron even gave them a bath. They haven’t been out of their sight since we left.”

Janis takes a deep breath and nods, before rolling onto her side to face her wife and leaning in close for a kiss. Cady returns it, and hums into surprise when Janis sinks into it and tangles a hand in her hair.

“We,” Janis murmurs in between kisses. “Have this whole room. This whole night. To ourselves. Don’t suppose you packed anything fun in that bag?”

“You know I did,” Cady gasps, grabbing her wife and pulling her back down.

“Tits.”

“I have those too.”

—————

Later that night, Damian is woken by a tearful, “Dedededede?”

He opens his eyes expecting to see Leo calling for him, but is surprised to see Layla standing in her crib, cast in shadow and reaching out to him.

“What happened, Layla?” he whispers, carefully climbing out of bed and heading over to see what the problem is. She has her pacifier and stuffed animal, and her favorite blankie. But she still whimpers and cuddles into his shoulder when he picks her up. “Did you have a bad dream?”

Layla sniffles and wraps her little arms around him, clinging to him for comfort. Damian holds her in return and gently pats her back.

“Come here, it’s okay. You can sleep with me and Uncle Aaron,” he offers. Layla whimpers again when he bends over to grab her things, thinking she’s about to be put back in her crib, but he gently hushes her once and she goes quiet. After a quick check to make sure Leo is still asleep, he carries his niece over to the bed and crawls in.

Aaron rolls over in his sleep and tries to cuddle into him. He huffs in confusion when something blocks his way and pops an eye open.

“That’s not ours,” he mumbles. “Why is she in our bed?”

“She had a bad dream,” Damian defends, holding Layla closer. “She needs comfort.”

“She can’t talk, how do you know she had a bad dream?” Aaron chuckles.

“I just know,” Damian huffs. “Look at her, I couldn’t just leave her in there.”

Layla, conveniently, rolls over, allowing Aaron to see her adorable little face as she clings to her stuffed elephant.

“Aww,” Aaron whispers. “She looks so upset.”

“See?”

“Fine, she can stay,” Aaron chuckles. “Goodnight, Layla.”

Layla waves, as close as she’s willing to get to a goodnight in her state. Aaron gently taps her elephant to get her attention.

“Hey,” he whispers. Layla looks at him with an absolutely precious pout. “You’re safe, little one. Your moms will be back tomorrow, and Uncle Damian and I will protect you until then. We’ll keep all the bad dreams away, okay?”

Layla sniffs and looks at him suspiciously. Aaron tucks her in a little tighter with her blankie and turns on the flashlight on his phone. Layla looks at the ceiling as he points upwards, rolling onto her back. Aaron props himself up on an elbow and holds his other hand over the light.

“Look, it’s a bunny!” he says, making the shadow puppet bunny bounce around. “Or… maybe a doggy? Woof, woof!”

Layla giggles quietly as the shadow dog barks. Aaron makes up a little story for her, and drags Damian into it when he needs more characters. Layla gradually drifts off to dreamland, her little head filled with her favorite animals instead of scary dreams. Aaron turns his light back off and rests his phone on his nightstand.

“Do you have any idea how bad I want a baby with you now?” Damian whispers. “That was sickeningly adorable.”

“You want kids?” Aaron replies in the same tone, rolling over carefully so he doesn’t wake the little one snoozing between them.

“Yeah,” Damian replies. “At least one. Do you?”

“Yeah. Sometime down the line, anyway.” Aaron says. “Did you know I’m adopted?”

“No,” Damian says in slight shock. Aaron nods.

“My birth mom was a teenager when she had me, and my bio dad wasn’t in the picture by the time I was born. She wanted me to have a better life, and stuff. That she… couldn’t provide. I was in the foster system until I was two,” he says.

“Were your other siblings adopted too?”

“Some of them,” Aaron nods. Damian was rather shocked to learn that Aaron is the youngest of seven children, and made several jokes about him being part of the Von Trapp family. “Ava, Owen, Alana, and I.”

“Wow,” Damian says. “I had no idea.”

“I didn’t think to tell you. They’re just… my family, you know? I don’t remember anything different,” Aaron whispers. “But I’ve always wanted to… pass it on, I guess. Adopt another kid. I don’t remember most of it, but I saw what the foster system did to my siblings. If I can stop that for one other kid, or at least help, then it’s worth it to me.”

“I’ve always wanted to adopt too,” Damian says. “And thanks for telling me, now.” Aaron nods.

“We’ll talk about this more later?” he whispers. “It’s two in the morning.”

Damian nods with a grin. “Definitely.”

“Goodnight, honey,” Aaron whispers, carefully leaning across Layla to kiss his boyfriend.

“Goodnight, babe,” Damian replies, kissing him back before he cuddles into the baby and drifts off to sleep.

—————-

Janis and Cady get home around lunch time the next day, and follow the sounds of chaos to their daughters.

Damian is evidently wrapping up bath time after some sort of fun activity. Leo is standing off to the side wrapped in her ducky towel while he finishes washing Layla’s hair.

Janis sees this as a perfect opportunity to scare the wits out of her best friend.

She starts tiptoeing into the room, preparing to attack, but she’s thwarted by a tiny gasp and a sweet little, “Hi Mommy!”

Damian, Cady, and Janis all scream in delight and look at Leo, who’s peeking at Janis from under her duck hood. Leo jumps, startled by the sudden noise, and bursts into tears.

“Oh no, baby girl,” Janis chuckles sadly. Leo toddles her way over for some comfort and cries into her shoulder. Janis picks her up and bounces her a little bit. “You just talked! I’m sorry we scared you, come here.”

“Hi, my little ducky,” Cady murmurs, gently stroking the tears from Leo’s cheeks and kissing her forehead. “I missed you so much! And you’re talking so well, my big girl!”

“Mama,” Leo sniffles, reaching a small hand out for Cady.

“Oh, come here, sweetheart,” Cady says, smiling widely at her baby actually calling her Mama for the very first time. “Let’s go get you dressed, hm?”

Janis kisses Leo’s cheek as Cady heads to their room. Layla is now wrapped in her froggy towel and comes running over to her. “Hi, Lala! I missed you soooo much! Did you have fun with Uncle Damian and Uncle Aaron?”

Layla nods, and giggles as her mommy kisses her cheek before carrying her off to get dressed. Leo waves at her again as Cady pulls her shirt over her little head.

“Hi, sweet girl,” Janis chuckles, waving back. Leo smiles and slides down to go find Damian again. “Well, that lasted long.”

Damian comes back a few moments later with Leo. He sits down on the bed and holds his niece in his lap. “Okay, you can talk now. Say ‘uncle’.”

“Unca,” Leo parrots. Damian nods.

“Close enough. Now say, ‘Damian’.”

“Dedede,” Leo replies.

“Man,” Damian sighs. “How about Uncle D? Say uncle again.”

“Unca ‘gain,” Leo tries. Damian laughs and kisses her forehead.

“Good job. Now say ‘D’.”

“Dee!” Leo crows happily.

“Uncle D,” Damian coaches.

“Unca Dee,” the baby echoes. Damian beams and tosses her in the air.

“Yeah, that works. Okay, your mommies missed you, go say hi. We’ll play some more in a little bit.”

Leo heads back to her family and wraps herself around Cady’s leg, sitting on her foot.

“Hi, baby,” Cady chuckles. “Whatcha doing?”

“Mama,” Leo explains. Cady nods slightly.

“Do you want me to hold you?” Leo shakes her head and cuddles into Cady’s shin. “No? Just gonna sit on my foot?”

Leo nods.

“Okay,” Cady giggles. “Hold on tight.”

Leo laughs happily as Cady walks around, clinging to her mama’s leg and enjoying the ride. Cady laughs too, catching her other baby as she’s trying to crawl away from Janis as fast as she can in an attempt to escape getting dressed.

Layla fusses as she’s captured and forced into some clothes, but she giggles as Janis tickles her belly and sets her down.

“Man, what?” Cady says as Layla plops down on her other foot and holds on.

“Cute boots,” Janis chuckles.

“Thanks,” Cady grins back, striking a pose. “Made them myself.” Janis laughs and tries to pry one off her wife’s leg. They both absolutely refuse to let go. “Alright, come on.”

The babies both laugh as Cady attempts to walk downstairs, having to take swinging steps since she can’t really lift her feet. The stairs are a challenge, and she stops frequently to ensure they’re holding on tightly so they don’t fall off.

Cady looks down at her new shoes when they hit the bottom of the staircase. “You girls wanna go down to the beach?” They both nod. “Okay. Jay, can you grab the sunscreen?”

“Yeah,” Janis says, grabbing it out of their beach bag and managing to pry a baby off of her wife. Layla fusses as she gets her sunscreen lotion put on, but she calms down when she gets to latch back to Cady’s leg and Leo is pried off.

Once both babies and themselves are thoroughly protected from the sun, Janis grabs a blanket and her phone and opens the door for her wife.

Very, very slowly, Cady shuffles her way down to the beach, holding hands with her wife and giving the occasional smile down at her daughters. Eventually, they make it, and Janis lies the blanket down on the sand. She sits on top of it, and Cady carefully eases herself down next to her. The babies finally release her legs and sit down on the blanket with them.

“Here we go,” Cady says. “Gimme loves, bugs, I missed you so much!”

Her daughters both grin and crawl over to give her cuddles. Cady smiles back and kisses all over their faces.

“You know who I love most in the whole wide world?” Cady whispers, giving them even more kisses. “You,” she says, kissing Layla’s cheek. “And you,” she says, kissing Leo’s cheek. “And you.” She says, kissing Janis soundly.

“I love you too,” Janis whispers against her wife’s lips. “And these two.”

“You,” Leo says softly.

“What, Bee?” Janis says with a smile.

“You,” Leo repeats.

“What about me?”

Leo huffs in frustration, trying to figure out how to explain what she doesn’t have the words for yet. She settles for cuddling closer into Cady with a sigh.

“You love us too?” Cady asks quietly.

Leo nods eagerly. “Luff you.”

Janis blinks back tears, and hears a sniffle from her wife as she wraps herself around her family.

“We love you so much,” Janis whispers. “So, so much.”

They stay like that for the rest of the day. Damian drops off dinner for them, but nobody else intrudes on their day. Janis and Cady cuddle on their blanket while their daughters run to get some energy out, and they walk up and down the shore of the lake as the sun sets over it, hand in hand with the babies toddling between them.

It’s a moment Cady and Janis will both remember forever.

—————

Three days later is the Fourth of July. Aaron grilled everyone cheeseburgers for lunch, and they spend the afternoon playing games on the beach and building sand sculptures along the shore.

The fireworks show is just after sunset over the water, so everyone heads to change into more patriotic (and dry) clothing before they get going.

“Look at my beautiful girls,” Janis says when Cady comes downstairs with the twins. Once they hit the bottom, she sets them down to go get Janis. “These outfits turned out perfect!”

Leo grins happily as she makes it to her mommy and gets picked up. Janis laughs at her hairdo, one little ponytail on top of her head that turned out, ironically, like a little firework. Layla’s hair matches, but her ponytail has a blue bow on it while Leo’s is red.

The bows came with their outfits, red and white striped onesies paired with blue shorts that Janis had insisted they buy because of, “The stupid little butt ruffles Caddy look!” but the little ones do look adorable. In spite of the butt ruffles.

“Are you ready to go? We’re gonna go back to the beach to watch the fireworks,” Janis asks her babies as she holds them both. They both nod and smile as she kisses their cheeks.

Cady kisses her wife and the top of each little head and heads upstairs to get herself ready, so Janis opens the back door and starts the short walk down to their friends.

Aaron managed to get a fire going with exceptionally minimal help from Damian and the Plastics. Leo shrieks happily when she sees the bag of marshmallows they have to make s’mores with and wiggles to be put down so she can dig in. Layla, for once, is the one content to hang out on her mommy’s lap as Janis sits down in one of the empty seats.

Cady comes down and finds the adorable scene of her wife and one of her daughters cuddling by the fire, while Regina reaches the other one how to make a s’more. Leo looks very concerned as her precious marshmallow is impaled on a stick and held over a fire.

“Mama!” she squeaks happily when she notices Cady, making Cady’s heart melt again. She’s still not over her child actually being able to speak.

“Hi, Lishy,” Cady says. “What are you doing?”

Leo doesn’t seem to know what she’s doing, either. She simply points to the marshmallow she’s helping her auntie cook with a thoughtful look on her face.

“I think it’s ready,” Regina says, pulling it back to examine it and finding it to be perfectly golden brown. “Yep.”

Leo watches as her marshmallow is squished between some yummy graham crackers and chocolate, and then her s’more is held in front of her mouth for her to taste. Hesitantly, she leans in and chomps down.

She has to chew carefully, since she only has a grand total of five teeth, but her eyes widen and she looks as if she’s just tasted ambrosia. Everyone laughs as she grabs the rest of the s’more in her little hands and scrambles to take another bite.

“Oh, we’re gonna have to watch you around sugar when you get older, aren’t we?” Cady giggles, leaning in to kiss a sticky cheek. “One of those five must be a sweet tooth.”

Leo doesn’t answer, too occupied with her new favorite food to care about anything else. Regina just lets her have it and dig in, trying to pretend she doesn’t care about the sticky crumbs landing on her lap.

Everyone gets temporarily distracted, until they hear a squeaky, “Mo’e? Mo’e?” and look back at Leo.

“You are that whole s’more?” Regina asks in shock, looking at the baby’s sticky little face. She checks the ground to make sure she didn’t drop it.

“Mo’e?” Leo asks again, doing her sign too.

“How big is your stomach?! That thing was, like, half your size!”

“P’ease?” Leo begs, getting increasingly desperate.

“Let’s cook you a hot dog, if you’re still hungry after some of that you can have more s’mores,” Cady says. Leo whines. “I know, I’m so mean. Come here.”

“Mama,” Leo pleads. “Mo’e.”

“You need real food first, baby,” Cady says lowly. Leo whines again and gives an unhappy wiggle. “Shh, I know.”

“You want me to handle it?” Janis asks as Leo releases a very loud shriek for her size. Cady tries to keep a hold of the little tantrum tornado she has, to no avail.

“You want to?”

“Does anyone?” Janis chuckles. “Come on, Bee.”

Cady takes Layla as Janis takes Leo a bit further down the beach to handle the tantrum. “Hi, Bug.”

“Lololo?” Layla asks in concern, looking at her mommy carrying her sister away.

“She’s okay, baby love,” Cady says. “She’s just sad.”

“Look at this, Layla,” Damian says, offering her a distraction in the form of a sparkler. “Hold it down here. Mama will help you.”

Cady carefully rests her hands on top of her baby’s to help her hold the sparkler, and Damian lights it for her. Layla looks at it in awe and shrieks excitedly.

“Look at that, Ladybug, what is it?” Cady hums. She waves it around, bringing Layla’s arms with her. “What do you think?”

Layla shrieks again, making everyone laugh. She continues staring at it until it hits the end and fizzles out.

“Great, so I have a sugar fiend and a pyro,” Cady sighs. “You both really are like your mommy.”

“Just wait for the real fireworks,” Gretchen laughs. “Pyro’s heaven.”

“Maybe I’ll get lucky,” Cady hums. “And you two will have a little bit more impulse control.”

“Hopefully,” Damian hums under his breath. They all watch the fire for a while, before he looks up again and says, “Speak of the devil.”

Janis returns with a calmed baby, remarkably quick for their daughters’ tantrum standards.

“Somebody,” she begins. “Learned a new word.”

“Uh oh,” Cady says.

“A good word,” Janis huffs. “Come on.”

Leo sheepishly heads to her mama when Janis sets her down. “Mama?”

“Yes, Leo?” Cady murmurs.

“Sowwy,” Leo says quietly. “Sowwy, Mama.”

Cady grins at Janis and pulls Leo onto her lap next to Layla. “I forgive you, baby. Thank you for apologizing. Let’s get you your hot dog.”

Leo sniffles and settles in and watches as Cady starts cooking a hot dog for her and her sister to share.

—-

There’s still a bit of time between dinner (and part of another s’more, somehow, in Leo’s case) and the fireworks show, so Cady sets the babies down to run and get their sugar high off.

“Oh shoot, I left their headphones upstairs,” she says.

“I got ‘em,” Janis says immediately.

“Love, no, you-“

“Baby, it’s not a long walk back. Two minutes,” Janis says. “Not a problem.”

“I’ll miss you,” Cady says. Janis laughs and bends to kiss her.

“I’ll miss you too. I’ll be right back.”

Cady watches as her little ones happily run up and down the beach, feeling the sand between their tiny toes as they work out how to use those chubby little legs.

“Haha, hi!” she cheers when Leo crashes into her legs. “You’re so fast!”

“Hi!” Leo replies happily. ‘Hi’ has rapidly become Leo’s favorite word. Someone always says it back.

“Hi!” Cady echoes. “Are you having fun?”

“Fun!” Leo confirms. Cady laughs.

“Good,” she hums. “Are you excited for the fireworks?”

Leo tries to copy her again, but her newly speaking mouth can’t quite handle that many tricky syllables. So she just nods.

“Good, they’ll start soon,” Cady chuckles. “Okay, go play, I’m right here.”

Leo happily speeds off again, heading back to her sister to play something akin to tag. Cady giggles quietly as she hears Leo babbling, “Hi! Hi! Hi!” on her way back.

Janis returns just before the fireworks start, sitting down next to her wife and watching their little ones toddle around in circles. “At least they’re entertained.”

“Yeah,” Cady hums happily. The babies notice Janis is back and come running, but they’re interrupted by a flash of blue and a deafening boom over their heads.

Both babies freeze and look up at the sky, watching to see if it happens again. A red one goes off this time, making Leo scream in fright and run back to her mothers. Layla watches it interestedly until the last sparkle fades and she continues her journey.

She apparently was expecting that to be the end of it, because she jumps when another one goes off and yells, “Fuck!”

Janis tenses, her eyes going wide as she looks at her wife. Cady has a terrified baby in her arms and her lip between her teeth in an attempt to keep from laughing.

“This is your fault,” she giggles, looking to her wife. “Go get her, she’s scared.”

Janis nods, cheeks still a truly spectacular shade of scarlet, and goes to pick up her baby. “Ladybug, good talking, but don’t say that word.”

“Fuck?” Layla asks.

“Don’t say that,” Janis says. She feels bad scolding her baby for saying her first word, but… “That’s a grownup word.”

“Fuck!” Layla yells.

“Hey!” Janis replies. “Oh, man, you need a new word. Um… how about Mama? Let’s go get Mama.”

“Mama,” Layla says innocently, pointing to Cady. “Mama.”

“Yeah, that’s Mama,” Janis sighs. “There she is.”

“Hi, baby love,” Cady laughs, gently shifting a still teary Leo over and taking her other daughter. “Are you talking too?”

Layla nods. “Mama.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Cady grins softly, kissing Layla’s little button nose. “Come here, let’s try these.”

Cady takes the headphones Janis brought down with her and sizes them as small as they go before popping them on the twins. Leo pokes her face out from Cady’s shoulder when the scary loud noises stop. Layla giggles and holds on to the still too big headphones so they don’t fall off.

Janis lays their blanket out over the sand, and smiles as her wife shifts to lay her head in her lap. Cady cradles a baby in each arm and smiles back at her wife.

Janis spends more time looking at her family than the fireworks, watching the bright colors reflected in her babies’ eyes as they watch in awe and reminiscing about how far they’ve come in just a year.

Last Fourth of July, the twins had only been out of the NICU for two weeks, and Cady was still deeply in the throes of postpartum depression.

The fireworks had kept their newborns awake, and Cady had nearly snapped under the pressure. Janis barely managed to hold her together and convince her to take care of herself before they had a sleepover with the babies in their basement so the fireworks were muffled and everyone could finally rest.

But now, a year later and with the help of counseling, Cady seems happier than ever, expertly comforting a frightened Leo and pointing to the fireworks as they go off and explaining the science behind all the different colors.

Janis brushes the wispy hairs away from Cady’s forehead with a fond smile. Layla points to the sky with a, “Woooow!” and makes both of her moms laugh.

“I know, look at that!” Cady says, matching their daughters’ excitement. She notices Janis staring at her then. “What?”

“Nothing,” Janis murmurs. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Cady grins. “But you’re gonna miss them.”

“Fine by me,” Janis chuckles. “I got three little firecrackers of my own.”

“You’re such a dork,” Cady giggles.

Janis does look up in time for the finale, but still knows it has nothing on the faces of her family. She has all the excitement and beauty she could ever want right in her lap.

It’s far past the twins’ bedtime by the time the fireworks display ends, so Cady gently leaves them to snooze on the blanket under the watchful eyes of the Plastics while she takes a walk on the shore with her wife.

Janis is confused when she suddenly drags her backwards a bit, leaps onto her back so she can’t move, and claps a hand over her mouth.

“Caddy-mmph!”

“Shh, don’t ruin it,” Cady says. Janis makes a confused sound against her hand. Cady points a bit further ahead, and Janis is suddenly grateful for the hand over her mouth.

Aaron is on one knee, proposing to her best friend, illuminated by the moonlight and a pathetic little sparkler Damian has. They can’t make out the words being shared, which they don’t mind. It’s a private moment.

What they can hear is Damian screaming, “Yes!” loud enough to be heard on the other side of the lake and Aaron’s laughter as Damian takes the ring out of the box himself and shoves it onto his own finger.

“Lovey, are you crying?” Cady giggles quietly.

“No,” Janis sniffles. “I have sand in my eye,”

“Uhhuh,” Cady hums.

“…My best friend is engaged!” Janis sobs suddenly.

“That’s what I thought,” Cady says. “Shh, love, they’ll hear us. Don’t ruin the moment for him. Let’s go get the smalls to bed, let him tell you on his own.”

“Okay,” Janis snuffles. “Aaron better have picked a good ring.”

“I’m sure he did,” Cady comforts. “They treat each other well, he knows what he’s doing. Now come on.”

Janis continues sniveling as she carefully scoops up Leo, having to try to contain herself so she doesn’t wake her daughter. Cady grabs Layla and starts heading back inside. The Plastics gather everyone’s things and extinguish the fire before they follow them.

Janis ever so carefully gets the twins changed into their pajamas and undoes their ponytails before she rests them in their cribs and bends to kiss them goodnight.

“Jan!” Damian says, somehow whispering and shouting at the same time as he slams the door open. “Sorry! But. Jan!”

“What?” Janis whispers, pretending like she doesn’t already know. Damian motions for her and Cady to follow him out to the hallway. They both do with matching, knowing, grins.

“Aaron proposed!” Damian squeals as soon as the door clicks shut behind them, brandishing a hand to show off his ring. His friends both tackle him in a hug, knocking him into the far wall and then to the ground. “Janjan, why are you crying?”

“I just have a lot of feelings,” Janis snuffles into his shoulder. “Shut up.”

“Congratulations, Dame,” Cady says. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks, Cads,” Damian grins. Cady kisses them both on the cheek.

“I’ll give you guys some time to talk,” she whispers. “Come to bed when you’re ready, my love.”

Janis nods and continues clinging to her best friend. They’re a trio, they have been since high school and always will be. But she and Damian will always have a special bond, and Cady has never tried or even wanted to intrude on that.

“I love you,” Janis sobs.

“I love you too, Jan,” Damian murmurs.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Everything,” Janis whispers. “Everything you’ve ever done for me. I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t have the family I do without you. I wouldn’t… be here, without you. Thank you. I’m so happy for you. You deserve Aaron.”

“Thanks, Jan,” Damian sniffles. They’re quiet for a moment, listening to the ticking of the clock on the wall and the occasional sniffle the other lets out. “You don’t have to be scared.”

“I’m not!” Janis says, immediately defensive. Damian chuckles beneath her, and she crumbles. “How’d you know?”

“I know you,” Damian whispers. “It’s just like you and Caddy. No matter who comes into my life. Whatever family I have someday. I love them, but my heart always has room for you too.”

“Platonic soulmates,” Janis whispers back. Damian nods against her shoulder. “Does this mean no more sleepovers?”

“I mean, maybe not tonight,” Damian laughs.

“Tomorrow?”

“Sure, Jan.”

Janis gives herself a reasonable amount of time to calm down before she pulls back and wipes her eyes. Damian grins at her and ruffles her already messy hair.

“I love you,” he says.

“I love you too. Go get your fiancé.”

“Go get your girls,” Damian grins, standing and reaching a hand to help Janis. “Goodnight, Jan.”

“‘Night, Dame,” Janis grins, heading into her room and shutting the door behind her.

Janis is deep in thought as she checks on her daughters and crawls into bed next to her wife. Her definition of family has changed as she’s grown up.

But now she knows she has two. The one in this room, and the one in the other rooms. Biological and found.

And as she drifts off to sleep in her wife’s embrace, she knows.

Both her families are perfect for her.

And they always will be.

————

tadaaaa hope you enjoyed

kinda got away from me but anyhoo

happy pride month and have a great day my muppets!

lots of love,

ezzy

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peach-astrology · 3 years

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Humor and the influence of Mercury

Hi! In this article,I will talk about some of my notes about humor in the signs of Mercury.My observations are based on the natal charts of friends,relatives,and famous comedians.

1)Many of my favorite stand-up artists have Mercury in Sagittarius.Mercury is responsible for our thinking,communication,and sometimes our voice.Sagittarius is famous for a broad outlook,so their jokes affect every area of life,they never get hung up on one thing,they tend to change topics often and you won't even notice it.Also this sign tends to add jokes to every situation and it's really funny.

2)Mercury in Capricorn makes cruel jokes.Not everyone will understand their humor,but this is their advantage.They tend to make jokes about themselves and other people.A huge amount of sarcasm and banter.Quite harsh statements and the truth.They rarely laugh at their own jokes,they prefer to watch the reactions of others.Very often it has its own unusual style of jokes or communication.

3)Mercury in Cancer is famous for its strange humor.OMG,they have such a sweet and gentle voice that when they swear it's so funny.They usually have a pleasant and quiet laugh.Comedians with this position often paused in jokes or told with a very strange intonation,which is why they are popular,because people remember them.No matter how stereotypical it may sound,but often they start a monologue with the phrase " I've been thinking/Do you know what the most offensive thing is?".They take topics that they care about,it can be social problems or funny stories from life.

4)Mercury in Taurus jokes logically.They have really intelligent jokes,I don't even always understand them.They have such a nice voice...In contrast to Sagittarius their topics smoothly flow from one to the other.They usually end with the sharpest joke.They often choose situations from life for jokes.They don’t have a specific style,so their speech is remembered only by jokes,and not by the manner of speech.

5)In general,Mercury in Leo rarely jokes,usually he laughs a lot.They carefully monitor the reaction of others to their jokes,otherwise they will feel uncomfortable for the rest of their lives.They rarely joke about themselves,but they have a sense of humor.I want to devote special attention to their charisma,people like to listen to them so much, as if they are a magnet.Oh yeah,they also like to joke that they're narcissistic(or they're not kidding ahahaha)In any case,people laugh with their jokes due to their artistry and frankness.

6)I thought about Mercury in Virgo for a long time,because this is the strongest position of Mercury and the weakest(in my opinion)for a humorist.I often notice in my life that people in this position rarely laugh at jokes because they don't understand them.Their humor is much more complex and intelligent than that of Mercury in Taurus.They are good at normal communication,business conferences or discussions,but not in jokes.

7)Mercury in Aries jokes as spontaneously as Mercury in Sagittarius,but from Aries you hear the craziest jokes.They like black humor,they like to send memes to everyone.Aries has charisma,but not as strong as Leo.By the way,they are very funny swear and angry ahaha.They love sarcasm and often joke about themselves.

8)Mercury in Gemini is famous for its funny life stories.Their ass will always find adventure.They rarely use sarcasm,but they like intellectual humor.I noticed that they are very emotional telling all the jokes,which makes people laugh even more.They are very fun and interesting.If you are bored,then call Mercury in Gemini.

9)People love Mercury's emotions in Libra,especially when they are surprised,they are like 0_0 ahahaha.They sooo love to joke about themselves,like Gemini they have a lot of funny stories,but for some reason they rarely tell them.They have no boundaries they joke,they can even joke about death(once my friend with Mercury in Libra joked about the fact that she is late even for her own funeral)They are well gesticulated and have a stylistic intonation.

10)Mercury in Scorpio is the king of black humor.They also like to make vulgar jokes(sorry for the stereotypes,but it's true).Sometimes they even tend to go too far.They parody people well.Their humor is somewhat reminiscent of Capricorn,it is also sharp and sarcastic.I noticed that they often roll their eyes or tell jokes with an emotionless face for effect.They like to laugh with their own jokes.

11)Mercury in Aquarius understands all memes,not even his own country.I have not met a famous comedian with this position,so this sign is not common in humor.Why did I so often see them drop or break something at the most inopportune moment and it was very funny?By the way,in every company this sign has its own jokes.This is one of the friendliest signs,so their humor is rarely sarcastic.They like comedies,stand-ups,but they rarely joke.

12)I can say little about Mercury in Pisces,for they are the least joking of all the signs of the zodiac.They are very insecure jokes, usually laughing only at themselves.They like to listen to others rather than speak for themselves.However,this does not mean that they are boring.They just don't want to joke,that's all.

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moonyswriting · 3 years

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Pride

Happy Pride Month everyone! Whether you queer or questioning, closeted or out, I am so proud of you, you are valid and perfect! Remember that you never have to come out if you don’t want to. You’re not lying to anyone if you don’t. You don’t owe them to come out. Only do it if you want to. Also remember that labels can stay forever or can change and both is perfectly normal. You're fantastic the way you are. <3

So, I managed to write a pride fic for the first day of pride month! yay me. I hope you like it :)

Thank you for the idea @moonofthenight

Characters by @lumosinlove

When Pascal came into their living room it had never looked more colourful, but it had also not looked this messy in a long time. There was tape on all four sides of the table, paper and little paper cut outs all over the floor and in the middle of everything, all his four children, looking like deer in the headlights.

“What happened?”, he asked slowly. There would be a reasonable explanation for all of this, he was sure. Celeste had probably helped and they would clean everything back up in no time, leaving no trace of a mess before the team came over for dinner tonight.

Adele shuffled over looking at the floor. “Um,” she stared before glazing back at her siblings, who nodded at her encouragingly. “So, we decided to make some things for the others. You know, since you’re having that Pride Party tonight? We thought we’d make little gifts for the team.”

Oh, Pascal’s heart was already a puddle. “You-”, he stared, but couldn’t continue. He had questioned a lot if he should have raised his children differently, more open to the rainbow or attractions and genders (or lack thereof) that was out there, but this made him feel like he and Celeste had at least done some things right.

Pascal only realised he hadn’t properly said anything yet when Katie rushed towards him, hugging his hip. “Please don’t be mad. I promise, we’ll clean it all up. Mama said she’d help us!”, the big eyes of his youngest daughter stared up at him, guilty, but hopeful.

“I’m not mad, mon chou.”, picking her up, he turned towards the other three, still standing in front of him. “Not at any of you. This is an incredible idea! The team will love them. Thank you so much, it’s really thoughtful.” Leaning down, he placed a kiss on each of his childrens’ foreheads, including Katie’s before setting her down to get back to the others. Celeste walked through the door the next moment, flowers of all colours in her hand.

“You found our little pride squad then?”she asked, walking past him and into the kitchen, probably to cut off the ends of the stems. “Don’t worry, I’ll help them clean up and we’ll be done before any of your teammates even leave their houses.”

His wife knew him too well. He hated when other people visited them and their house was messy. Of course there had been times where he couldn’t really keep it clean with four toddlers running around, but he still always tried and his family knew that and helped him. It wasn’t really that it bothered him that visitors could see that they were possibly not clean people, it was just the principle. He thought it should that they were prepared and anticipated someone’s visit. He never wanted them to think it was a bad time to visit because he would eventually excuse the mess. He always wanted everyone to feel welcome.

And that’s what tonight would be about. Making his team feel always welcomed and loved and accepted.

Celeste returned back to their dining room without the flowers, kissing Pacal’s cheek and then turning towards their children. “Did you show him what you made already?” they shook their heads but quickly climbed up onto chairs and sorted through the things they had made. “They’re all really cute, I already saw some of them.” Celeste whispered giddily into his ear, as excitement bloomed in his chest and they walked over to look at the crafts.

“Here!” Katie waved a piece of paper in the air and Pascal walked around the table to look at what she had made. SHe beamed up at him as she explained, “This is for Tremzy! And Harzy and Knutty! It’s a card and I drew Lo, Leo and Finn on the front, see!” The man took the card in his hands. There were three stick figures on it, the smallest with brown hair, the next one with bright red hair and the last, taller than the other with yellow hair. In the back there were blue, red and black dots. “Why did you use those colours, ma petite?” He did have an idea, but with the many coloured pens on the table it could have just been a coincidence.

He could see Katie look over to Adele and Marc, before her eyes met his again. “Del and Marc said that those are the colours when you have more than one love and Logan has Finn and Leo, so they said I should use those. They look good together right?” Pascal could see that he wasn’t the only one close to tears after glazing over at Celeste smiling brightly. “Yes, Katie, it looks beautiful. Lo, Leo and Finn will love it! Adele, Marc, thank you for helping your sister. I know that this will mean a lot to Logan.” then as if he couldn’t help but to add, “I’m also very proud of you for looking up pride flag colours. I’m really happy you're informing yourself about these topics. They’re important.”

They all smiled at him. Pascal went over to Louis next. “I made two! This one is a card for Olli and Del and Marc also helped me with colours, so it's black, grey, white and this really nice purple that Katie gave me. It didn’t really match the photo, but I liked it better than the really dark one. Do you think he’ll mind?” The fact that his youngest son actually looked concerned staring down at his work had a tear spilling over. He let out a wet chuckle. “Non, je pense qu’il va l'adorer, c’est parfait. For who is the green one?” Louis pulled it out from under his other one and now Pascal could see it was not just green. There were black, grey, white and purple stripes on it too. “It’s for Reg! See, it’s got these stripes and then I drew this heart above it, cause even though he doesn’t want a boyfriend like Siri, he still gets all the love he needs from me and Siri and you and Re and the rest of the team!” Celeste came over and placed a kiss on his cheek, “He loves you too, mon lapinou. They look amazing.”

He walked over to his older son, he didn’t know if he could be any prouder of them. “ I made one for Kasey, Nat and Alex.” Marc stated as he handed his father one of the cards he had made. There were three heads on it, one with long blond hair and hoop earrings, one with light brown hair to the shoulders and one with dark red hair, freckles filling up more of his face than the light pink his son had used for all their skin tones. Pascal was about to compliment it, when Marc gave him another one. “This one is for Nado and Kuny. I made it full of hearts in pan and bi colours, because you mentioned that once and I really hope it’s right.” before Pascal could even think his next thought a stack of cards was placed in his hands. “And then for some of then we didn’t know, but we didn’t want them to feel left out or asume, so I made some rainbow ones for Pots, Talker, Sergei, Timmers, Cookie, Bluey, Ringer, Volley, Wrangler, Sunny and Foxy.”

Pascal was a bit shaken, not only that his son even remembered everyone of his teammates, without missing a single one, but at him having crafted every single one of them a rainbow card. “They will all love them, I’m sure. They look incredible.”

He saw Adele look down at her cards and moving them slightly out of view. Frowning, he walked over to her, “Did you also make something, ma colombe?” She nodded, pulling out one of her cards and holding it up for him to see. It was beautiful. She had glued blue magazine cut outs on the top of the cards, which got lighter til they reached a white in the middle and to green ones at the bottom. Over it there was a heart which read “Some hockey players marry their PT, get over it” He didn’t know how she had thought of that, but it was true and funny and so Adele, Pascal had no choice but to love it.

“These are all perfect. Thank you so, so much for making them, they’ll all love them I’m sure. We can tell them to all sit down in the living room so you can give them their cards later, sounds good?” They all nodded, seemingly happy with the idea. “Now let’s clean up before they come here and don’t recognize the place, eh?” All of them nodded as they got up, Celeste telling them where to start and how to clean it.

Pascal moved to the kitchen with the tray of now empty glasses Celeste had no doubt gotten them earlier, when he heard something behind him. Once he had carefully placed down everything he turned around to see Adele standing in the kitchen, arms behind her back. He waited for her to speak for only a moment until she did. “So, you saw that we made cards for everyone, because they’re all great and we should let them know we love and support them, right?” Pascal nodded, letting her continue, “But there’s one more card I made,” Pascal had counted before, his children hadn’t forgotten a single one of his teammates, he had no clue what that last card could be for. “because it’s important that they know they’re loved right?” she continued, “that’s a really important part of all of this. So,” she slowly pulled out a card from behind her back, “this one is for exactly that. Just because someone’s not queer or questioning, doesn’t mean they’re not important this month. It’s not the main focus of it, of course, but having allies is a big part of being able to be proud of who they are for some people. I wanted to thank you for that. I could have gotten some homophobic dad like some of my classmates, but I’m really, really glad I got you.”

She handed him the card she had made, similar to the collage of magazines but in black and white stripes with a rainbow A covering it. He couldn’t help the wetness that gathered in his eyes again. And here he had thought the emotional stuff wouldn’t be until the team arrived. He walked forward and hugged his oldest daughter. “Thank you so, so much,” he whispered, since he didn’t trust himself with anything else to come out anywhere close to evenly, “Thank you, ma petite. I am so proud to have you as my daughter. You’re the best children I could have ever asked for.”

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seattlesea · 3 years

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bad representation in the riordanverse

Racism:

-Gave Hazel and Piper gold and ‘kaleidoscope’/brown-blue-green changing eyes and pretty much went ‘Let’s add some characters of color but they cANT HAVE BROWN EYES THAT’S NOT PRETTY ENOUGH’ as if whitewashing isn’t more than just the skin.

-East Asian characters: Riordan pretty much went 'Here are my East Asian characters- one of them looks like a fat baby on steroids and is super undeveloped, his mother is strict and cold, and all the others are just described as 'Asian' because different countries in Asia don't exist and there's obviously no difference between Japanese, Chinese, and Korean'. His portrayal of East Asian characters went like this: Frank: Chinese, chubby, hates himself, underdeveloped, described to look like a 'Chinese Canadian baby man' and a 'panda' as if that's not stereotyping, and only learned to love himself when he looked hotter. Drew: Asian, villainized, rude, shallow, vain, and selfish. Ethan: Asian, rude, evil, a traitor, and deceased. Grandma Zhang- rude, strict, cold, traditional, and deceased.

-Hazel: Has gold eyes. Has 'cinnamon brown' hair even though dark brown or black hair would be way more inclusive and realistic. Had a mother portrayed as a rude and selfish witch who sacrificed, used, and trafficked her own child. Was the only character called or described as a witch while African-Americans were usually accused of witchcraft just for their skin color. Was the only character who was cursed. Had a mother who literally practiced voodoo. The only African-American character in the series before ToA who isn't dead (but she also died). Was paired with a sixteen year old guy even though African women are constantly forced with older men and that's blatantly racist stereotyping.

-Piper: Had 'chocolate brown' and then 'mahogany' hair? Has kaleidoscope eyes. Put a feather in her hair (which is stereotyping)- and it was an eagle feather, which is also wrong because eagles are extremely sacred to First Nation tribes and only spiritual leaders or warriors can wear it or it has to be gifted by an Elder of the tribe, and Riordan basically went 'Feathers are very important and it's racist to make a character wear one at inappropriate times but I'm going to make my character wear one as a cute accessory to make her look cool, pretty, and headstrong and to add to her 'Aesthetic'’ even though Cherokees didn’t wear feathers (which proves he did the bare minimum of research). Constantly oversexualized (56% of First Nation women are sexually harassed and Riordan had the audacity to put Piper in an 'embarrassingly low v-neck' and to have her constantly drooled over by a WHITE MALE and have her sexualized by her 1000+ mother without her knowledge or consent). It's said that her father was from a reservation in Oklahoma...but there are no reservations in Oklahoma, only cultural centers (which also proves that he did the bare minimum of research). She's the only First Nations character and she's the only character (besides Nancy Bobofit) depicted as a kleptomaniac (First Nations people are constantly called thieves by racist assholes). “The week before, he’d turned down several million dollars to play Tonto in a remake of The Lone Ranger. Piper was still trying to figure out why. He’d played all kinds of roles—a Latino teacher in a tough L.A. school, a dashing Israeli spy in an action-adventure blockbuster, even a Syrian terrorist in a James Bond movie. And, of course, he would always be known as the King of Sparta. But if the part was Native American—it didn’t matter what kind of role it was—Dad turned it down.” (The Lost Hero, page 165). So her father is fine with playing an extremely racist and stereotypical Middle Eastern role but not a First Nations role. Uses a cornucopia as a weapon (how she got it- cutting it off a half-bull- is disrespectful to her culture as hurting an animal is banned and she used a cornucopia- a symbol of Thanksgiving- as a weapon). Cut her hair, which is basically taboo in First Nations culture.

-Samirah: Had an arranged marriage (at age twelve, and she believed that she was groomed to be married to a rich and respectable family and nothing else). Ripped off her hijab in front of tons of male characters. The only Muslim character. The only Muslim character and she's the only character who married her cousin (you're supposed to break stereotypes, not enforce them).

Thomas Jefferson Jr: Said that he was thankful to the British for not siding with the South during the American Civil War even though they needed the South's cotton (but they didn't side with the North either). AKA a black man and son of a freed slave was thankful to Britain for not openly oppressing him? And at the same time he was named after a racist slave-owner.

Reyna: She's brown and her entire story revolves around her being independent, strong, alone, and self-sufficient but also desperately needing love and support but then Riordan says that she can't get her heart healed AKA she went through an abusive home, killed her father, left her sister, felt alone her whole life, worked a two-person job alone for months, and had to put on a brave face for others throughout all this then was literally told 'Shut up no one wants to hear about your struggles, just suck it up and deal with it’ and have you seen all the shit brown girls have to go through and keep silent about it?

Extra: -Latino, Puerto Rican, African-American, Chinese-Canadian, East Asian, First Nations, etc. characters and the two most powerful, best, and most skilled characters and who the stories mostly revolve around are two white guys AKA white supremacy.

-"Harriet Tubman, daughter of Hermes, used many mortals on her Underground Railroad for just this reason" and that World War II was caused by a child of Zeus and a child of Hades fighting very blatantly erases the shit those people went through and Riordan just went 'Let's use these racist movements as little easter eggs in my story'.

-Thanatos, who was chained and enslaved, is described with dark skin.

-Riordan writing the characters went a little something like this: Drew: You get common Eastern Asian features like dark hair and eyes because you're arrogant, selfish, conceited, and rude, and because you're an antagonist and you're going to be used to make one of my protagonists- who has unique traits- look good so you're going to have the basic, 'boring' physical traits so the readers know who's the more superior of the two of you. Leo: You get common Latino features like curly dark hair, dark eyes, and light brown skin cause you're the weird, hyperactive unattractive one who's very flirty but constantly gets rejected and you're the only main character without a love interest and the only way you can get a girlfriend is when she's forced to fall in love with you through a curse. Frank: You get common Chinese features like dark hair and eyes cause you're the fat unattractive loser who catches the eye of the African character who already has unique and 'special' traits so you don't have to be super attractive. Reyna: You get common Puerto Rican traits like dark skin, hair, and eyes cause you're the stoic, lonely, intimidating, and cold one who wants all the guys (two white guys for that matter) but none of them want you and they both have girlfriends with traits like blonde hair and gray and kaleidoscope eyes so the readers know who are the more interesting couples. Piper and Hazel: You two get eurocentric features because you're the main characters I have to set apart from everyone else- including other females whom I'm going to make one of you rivals with- so the readers know who's more superior so I'm giving you unique eye colors that literally cannot be found in humans so I'm going to try to validate it by saying that it's from something mildly associated with your godly parent even though neither of them have those traits. Riordan basically said that the common features are bad and boring and that unique and special features- aka features not found in those ethnicities- are good and cool. Also- if gods don’t have DNA how can their traits be passed down to their demigod children checkmate Riordan.

-Cecil Markowitz is the only Jewish character in PJO and the first thing used to describe him is "That kid, always thinking about the potential payout".

-Lavinia said that she was going to bring her date to her bat mitzvah even though you don't bring dates to bat mitzvahs or bar mitzvahs and she said that it was 'awkward' to tell her rabbi that someone was going to be her date even though you don't explain your guestlist to your rabbi, and they're most likely not even going to be at the party.

-Only three Latino and Puerto Rican characters (Leo, Reyna, and Hylla) and all three came from abusive households.

-Leo said 'Mamacita' as if that's not stereotyping.

-Made Nico ‘pale’ even though he had olive skin and gave him black hair and dark eyes despite Italians usually having light hair and eyes just to add to his ‘Goth Boy Aesthetic’.

-Hazel described Pluto to look like Adolf Hitler.

-Carter Kane said that Elvis took African-American music and made it sound like rock 'n roll and described it as cool- like no it’s cultural appropriation.

-Leo was abused and Riordan thought that it'd be funny to make all the other characters line up to punch him and then try to make it look funny.

-Gave almost every single POC character a white name and sometimes gave them white first names and POC surnames, and Reyna and Bianca are the only POC characters with names from their culture/native language and one of them is dead and reborn as someone else and the other’s full name wasn’t revealed until the fourth book in her series and she hates using it.

-Made two POC characters with names from their culture- Samirah and Olujime- go by white nicknames (Sam and Jamie) to make it ‘easier to read’ despite having white characters with the same amount of syllables in their names (like Annabeth) that didn’t go by nicknames.

-Never actually described the characters of color with physical traits from their ethnicities (Reyna, Hylla, and Leo with big eyes, thick eyebrows, brown hair, wide noses, full lips, etc., Piper with almost-oriental eyes, shovel teeth, high cheekbones, black hair, etc., Nico with light or brown hair and eyes, olive skin, a narrow nose, etc., Hazel with a wide nose and lips, dark brown eyes, black or dark brown hair, big eyes, thick eyebrows, etc.).

Anti-LGBTQ+:

-Nico was forcibly outed by Cupid and Riordan and the fandom didn't care and the only thing they thought was 'Aww, he has a crush on Percy! So cute!' AKA romanticizing a forced outing.

-Riordan said that he didn't want to make Reyna lesbian or bisexual because he thought it'd be stereotypical making her LGBTQ+ because she didn't want men anymore even though she could've been bisexual all along but Riordan casually dismissed the idea of that saying "Having a girl end up with a woman after dating men is a bad stereotype" and basically said that real bi girls don’t exist.

-The Hunters of Artemis were made so Artemis/Diana could protect those girls from men and their behavior towards women but Riordan dismissed lesbian relationships- even though nothing about that was said in real Greek mythology- meaning that he thinks that women need protection from other women just as much as they need protection from men.

-Alex Fierro is the only gender-fluid or transgender character and she/he’s seen as rude, snarky, and sharp and Magnus could magically tell when Alex changed gender.

-Riordan said that he wouldn’t make Reyna a lesbian because of stereotypes despite the reader asking if Reyna was going to get a girlfriend, not come out as lesbian AKA Riordan thinks ‘Girls liking girls’ is automatically ‘lesbian’ and completely dismissed bi, pan, poly, omni, etc. girls.

-Used a self-insert to make fun of wlw readers who saw themself in Reyna and thought she could be a cool character to relate to.

-Enforced LGBTQ+ stereotypes like the cold-hearted Asexual, the flamboyant bi/pan, the snarky gender-fluid, the emo gay, the laid-back and rebellious lesbian who dyed her hair pink and chews a lot of bubblegum, etc.

-Has one-hundred fifty-five characters total minus gods/goddesses, Titans, giants, nymphs, dryads, satyrs, monsters, etc. and only has fifteen confirmed LGBTQ+ characters (do the math, that’s exactly one out of ten regarding OCs).

-Only one character that isn’t cishet.

-Saves most the LGBTQ+ for the side characters or only confirms characters LGBTQ+ once they’ve become a minor character despite being a main character before.

-Only stated that Reyna was Asexual outside of his books and on Twitter as if that’s not exactly what J.K Rowling is doing.

-Used the LGBTQ+ community to make Piper seem like the ‘special snowflake’ and to set her apart from her siblings to make it seem like she’s better than all of them and used Hera/Juno and Aphrodite/Venus as excuses for his homophobic mindset that believes that straight is the default cause “Suddenly, much of what she and I had talked about started to make sense. Not being defined by Aphrodite’s expectations. Or Hera’s ideas of what a perfect couple looked like. Piper finding her own way, not the one people expected of her” in synonymous words is 'The expectations for love and the idea of a perfect couple are a heterosexual relationship, and anyone who 'finds their own way instead of the ones people expect' are different'. ‘Different’ and ‘default’ are antonyms AKA if he thinks that LGBTQ+ people are ‘different’, he thinks that straight is the ‘default’. Remember- an author writes their own personal beliefs.

-Josephine is the only black LGBTQ+ character.

-Reyna is said to be Asexual despite feeling sexual attraction towards Percy cause no one likes someone five minutes after knowing them and it’s anything but sexual attraction.

-Magnus and Alex are the only LGBTQ+ relationship whose growth and development is actually shown in the story (while there was also Apollo and Commodus, Piper and Shel, Will and Nico, Apollo and Hyacinthus, Emmie and Jo, Lavinia and Poison Oak, etc.).

-Riordan never canonically said the name of any sexuality and is clearly uncomfortable with the LGBTQ+ community shown by his little to no writing regarding physical affection and deep emotions in his LGBTQ+ relationships.

-Only added in LGBTQ+ relationships for publicity- Percy Jackson and the Olympians release dates: 2005-2009. 2005-2009: LGBTQ+ support was nearly at an all-time low. No LGBTQ+ characters, relationships, or references in the books. The Lost Hero-The Mark of Athena release dates: 2010-2012. 2010-2012: LGBTQ+ support was still very low. Still no LGBTQ+ characters, relationships, or references in the books. The House of Hades release date: late 2013. Mid-2013: the giant spike for LGBTQ+ support and allies. One confirmed LGBTQ+ character. The Sword of Summer release date: late 2015. 2015: LGBTQ+ support was good and gay marriage was legalized. A few LGBTQ+ references but no confirmed characters. The Hammer of Thor and The Ship of the Dead release dates: 2016-2017. 2016-2017: LGBTQ+ support was quite high. Two confirmed LGBTQ+ characters and the first canon LGBTQ+ relationship and kiss. The Trials of Apollo release dates: 2016-2020. 2016-2020: LGBTQ+ support was very high. More LGBTQ+ characters confirmed in one book than all the other series combined. Kind of obvious he was just following the public opinion.

-Legit said ‘Reyna can’t like girls cause she has had crushes on guys before’.

Ableism:

-It was heavily implied in The Battle of the Labyrinth that Rachel Dare had schizophrenia/psychosis but it's never brought up again.

-Grover's fake feet made it look like he was disabled from the Mist and it was said that he was bullied because of it but it was never brought up again.

-It was said that Tyson looked like he had down syndrome from the Mist covering his one eye but it was never brought up again.

-It was stated that every character but Frank has ADHD and dyslexia but never actually showed any symptoms after Percy Jackson and the Olympians and characters like Piper and Leo were even able to read English writing throughout The Lost Hero and the only symptom of ADHD Riordan showed through his characters was ‘a lot of fidgeting’ as if that’s not a blatant stereotype.

Pedophilia:

-Luke, a twenty-two/twenty-three year old had a crush on Annabeth, a sixteen year old. That's a six-seven year age gap.

-The only two girls put into relationships with much older men are black (Hazel and Sadie).

-Hazel, a thirteen year old, got together with a sixteen year old guy. Hazel's crush on Frank is normal- a girl having a crush on an older guy, but Frank's crush on Hazel is disgusting- an older guy looking down at a child and thinking about making out with her.

Misogyny:

-Aphrodite's kids are seen as useless, weak, snobby, shallow, vain, and selfish just because they’re feminine.

-Riordan portrayed Aphrodite’s kids as feminine despite Aphrodite being the goddess of love and beauty, not femininity, as if romance and beauty are reserved for women only.

-Piper is the only 'tomboy' child of Aphrodite and she's portrayed as tougher, stronger, and better than her feminine siblings (and it's portrayed that way multiple times throughout the story like other characters telling Piper she’s "-tough for a child of Aphrodite").

-Piper immediately stereotyped and disliked every single feminine character like Drew and the rest of the Aphrodite cabin just because they liked makeup and skirts as if that’s not shallow criticism.

-Feminine characters like Drew, Isabel, Khione, and Medea are used or even created solely as antagonists to make Piper- the tomboy- look better.

-Calypso is the only feminine character and she sucks at everything.

-Riordan’s take on female characters: Drew: a vain, rude, selfish, snobby, and bitchy mean girl. Silena: a shallow traitor. Reyna: a cold-hearted robot. Piper: internalized misogyny that was never brought up again. Calypso: an island whore. Athena: a rude, aggressive bitch with no emotions. Aphrodite: shallow, vain, conceited, and self-centered. Hera: completely evil with no backstory added into it. Marie: an evil witch who selfishly used and sacrificed her daughter.

-The Hunters of Artemis were blessed by Artemis to protect them from men but Riordan made it only about the men in their lives (again) and portrayed the whole 'losing men' thing like it was a burden and that they're 'giving men up' even though they join the Hunters to leave men. He distorted the original meaning of the Hunters- protecting women- by making it about the Hunters hating and being forced to leave men even though they're asking to have no men in their lives, cause that's the point of it.

-The Amazons and Hunters of Artemis despise men and literally attack them if they so much as speak as if sexism is reserved for women only.

-Portrayed femininity as weakness (and masculinity as strength, it’s even in the word- tomBOY).

-Constantly pit women against women for the sake of romance and love triangles instead of normalizing women getting along despite liking the same people and let the female’s relationships get controlled and influenced by the men in their lives.

-The men always outpower the women in powers and skills. Riordan’s portrayal of powers and characters- Percy: You’re going to have epic water powers and can even create your own personal hurricanes and even though you’ve only been canonically training for eight months total you’re going to be the best swordfighter despite multiple characters having years more training than you. Jason: You’re going to be able to fly, control lightning, create storms, and electric shock people into another dimension. Leo: You’re going to be able to create and control fire and blow shit up with just a screwdriver. Frank: You’re going to be able to shape-shift into any animal you want, even a whole dragon. Nico: You’re going to be able to control darkness and shadows, literally teleport, and raise a whole army of undead soldiers. Reyna: Powers? Nah, your only ability is to lend strength to others as if that benefits you at all. Annabeth: Powers? Nah. Piper: You’re going to be able to manipulate and seduce people and are literally going to use your body and attractiveness as a weapon and your power is literally called charmspeak. Hazel: You have more powers than all the other characters combined that can literally destroy anyone in less than a second but you’re never going to use them or even remember that you have them cause screw the female character being more powerful than the males.

-The men always accomplish the most incredible feats and if the females ever do accomplish something great (Reyna healing the riff and defeating Orion while the Hunters and Amazons couldn’t combined, Annabeth going through Tartarus, Hazel learning to control the Mist, etc.) they are never praised or rewarded or all the credit goes to the men.

-Ares/Mars in real Greek/Roman mythology was the feminist patron of the Amazons who loved his daughter very much and killed a rapist but was portrayed as the dumb, cruel asshole who loved nothing but bloodshed and tried to kill a twelve year-old kid who was trying to help him while Poseidon/Neptune in real Greek/Roman mythology was a greedy, short-tempered, and arrogant asshole who raped almost as much women than Zeus/Jupiter but was portrayed as the kind, caring, and gentle father figure.

Fatophobia:

-Frank is the only chubby character and he hates himself because of it, was constantly fat-shamed, and only learned to love himself after he got rippling abs, muscles, and looked hotter (because fat = ugly in Riordan’s mind, even though it's not).

-Clovis was depicted with a pot-belly and Drew described him as 'repulsive'.

-Dionysus/Bacchus is also depicted with a pot-belly and he's portrayed as a useless, rude, lazy, and drunken asshole.

Lookism:

Basically how Riordan wrote his characters- Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Reyna, Hazel, Piper, and most minor protagonists: You’re all going to be super attractive, have at least one character or more pining for you, have your looks constantly commented on, and some of you will even use your looks as a weapon cause that’s not obvious sexualization cause you’re all the main characters and protagonists that readers need to know are the protagonists. Nico, Leo, and Frank: You three are originally portrayed as unattractive but at some points are described as cute and two of you are insecure about your looks cause you’re scrawny and chubby and one of you hates yourself cause of your body and only learn to love yourself once you magically gain abs cause more muscle obviously equals more attractiveness. Luke, Silena, Chris, and Ethan: You four are going to be super attractive because you’re traitors but all of you make up for your actions and decide to help the demigods and become protagonists again. Octavian, Bryce, Michael, Titans, giants, etc.: You all are the antagonists so you have to be super ugly with multiple physical imperfections cause you’re not allowed to be attractive since you are against the protagonists and I have to set you guys apart and show the readers who’s the better and more superior character.

-Frank hated himself cause he was chubby and only loved himself once he got skinnier and gained muscle through magic but even then was called ‘cute like a panda’.

-Leo was described as scrawny and unattractive and was insecure about being short but even then was called ‘cute in a scrawny way’.

-Piper had facial imperfections and even a pimple on her nose but once she got claimed all of those disappeared and they stayed gone even after the blessing washed off despite all the magic being gone and only then was Piper’s looks commented on multiple times.

-Lester/Apollo hated his appearance cause he had a little flab and acne and his physical imperfections were used as comedy by making fun of it as if insecure readers don’t exist.

-Percy and Annabeth had one canon physical imperfection- a gray streak in their hair- and that magically washed away.

-None of the other characters were described with any physical imperfections like pimples/zits/acne, body hair (despite none of the characters having the care or time to wax or shave), bushy/frizzy or messy hair or eyebrows, big or small hands or noses, blackheads, super thick or thin eyebrows, blemishes, birthmarks, scars, stretch marks, braces, lazy eyes, yellow or chipped teeth, eye bags, glasses, moles, dimples, love handles, flab/fat, visible veins, freckles, etc. unless it added to their ‘aesthetic’ despite none of those being bad and saves it only for the antagonists as if ‘physical imperfections’ = ‘evil’.

Bias:

-Riordan portrayed the Romans as cold, cruel, ruthless, strict, and overall horrible despite them being the more inclusive camp regarding family and godly parents, have multiple families and rules that ensure their camper’s safety, and hold the nicest characters in the series while the Greeks are portrayed as fun, wild, reckless, silly, and cool despite holding the most prejudiced and rude characters, outcasting and ostracizing characters of certain godly parents just for their parentage, stereotype almost every single cabin, and make some campers without siblings live, sleep, and eat alone.

-Every Greek traitor (Luke, Silena, Ethan, and Chris) were portrayed as powerful, kind, attractive, and awesome and each made up for their actions but each Roman ‘traitor’ (Octavian, Bryce, and Michael, and only one of them are actually a traitor) were portrayed as unattractive, cruel, ambitious, ruthless, and extremely weak and never actually did anything useful.

-The Greeks were part of the Union and the Romans were part of the Confederacy (adding on to Riordan adding racist movements as fun little easter eggs in his stories).

-Four out of seven of the main Seven are Greek.

-There are at least 70+ Greek characters and less than thirty named Romans.

-The Battle of San Francisco Bay was used for the sole purpose to weaken the Romans and make the Greeks seem stronger than them and while the Greeks went through two whole wars, their camp laid almost completely untouched but the moment the Romans are introduced, half their population is wiped?

Romanticization:

-Romanticized Annabeth judo-flipping Percy AKA romanticized physical abuse/harassment (emotions, angriness, feelings of love and affection, ‘they went through a lot together’, etc. do not excuse hitting someone) despite Annabeth knowing where Percy’s Achilles Heel was and not knowing he lost it and flipping him on his back anyways (if Percy didn’t lose the Achilles Heel, Annabeth would’ve killed him).

-Romanticized Leo killing himself to see Calypso again and to take her off her island AKA a romanticized suicide.

-Romanticized Calypso yelling at and insulting Leo and Annabeth insulting and canonically lowering Percy’s self-esteem AKA romanticized verbal abuse/bullying.

-Romanticized Will trying to help Nico through his loneliness and depression as if that can’t be portrayed as someone just wanting to help another person AKA romanticized mental illness.

-Romanticized every character kissing another character without asking first and without their consent AKA romanticized sexual harassment.

-Romanticized Piper taking advantage over Jason’s amnesia and mental state and jumping onto him despite knowing there might be a girl he couldn’t remember AKA romanticized manipulation.

-Romanticized Piper and Annabeth’s possessive, overly-jealous, and controlling behavior over Jason and Percy (even before they were canonically dating).

-Romanticized Nico being forced to confess his crush on Percy AKA romanticized a forced outing.

Rick Riordan:

-Refused to apologize for his actions even after being called out by people from the groups he was writing inaccurately and stereotyping (Muslim, Jewish, African, First Nation, lesbian, gay, Puerto Rican, etc.) and tried to make himself look like the victim.

-Claimed he was being ‘bullied’ by readers half his age who were just pointing out his books’ racist flaws.

-Showed time and time again that he is not willing to listen to the voices of minorities.

-Clearly didn’t do his research on ethnicities, sexualities, religions, etc. shown by how he got the simplest things wrong.

-Tried to say that he- a straight white man- was right when people of the actual groups he was writing about (gay, First Nation tribes, etc.) were wrong.

-Used excuses like having a ‘headstrong’ and ‘stubborn’ character who wants to ‘show their culture in their own way’ for his stereotypes. No, Riordan, you want to show the culture that way, not Piper. She’s a fictional character, you’re real. Dumbass.

-Literally said ‘Sorry I put feathers in Piper’s hair, I can’t change what I wrote in the past and I didn’t know that sensitive readers existed’ then continued to write feathers in Piper’s hair in the future books.

The Fandom:

Note: Not to all of the fandom, obviously

-Draws Piper with light skin, light hair, and kaleidoscope eyes with feathers, hippie bands, and beads (yes, it's canon, but you're allowed to change it if it's blatantly racist, and the bead and hippie band thing was created by the fandom and that's also stereotyping).

-Almost always draw Reyna, Hylla, and Leo with light skin and Caucasian traits (props to the few artists who drew them with the right skin tones).

-Draws Hazel with gold eyes, ‘cinnamon’/light brown hair, and an adult body.

-Sexualizes female characters by drawing them in sexy and revealing clothes and giving them all the same exact sexy, slim, and perfect hour-glass shaped bodies.

-Almost never include physical imperfections, muscle, scars, stretch marks, etc. in drawings.

-Fancasts white actors for characters of color and puts actors/faceclaims of white people or people of different ethnicities in the moodboards or aesthetics for characters of color.

-Participates in cultural appropriation by wearing feathers when cosplaying Piper and wearing a hijab when cosplaying Samirah.

-Supports Riordan, tries to defend him, and condones his clearly racist and bigoted actions just cause they ‘like the books’ (if you are straight, white, and/or cishet, I definitely don’t want to see you trying to defend a fifty-five year-old multi-millionaire who is clearly racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic).

-Romanticize physical abuse, verbal abuse, mental illnesses and panic/anxiety attacks, etc.

-Ship pedophilic, manipulative, abusive, and wrong relationships.

-Barely allow others to have their own opinions (looking at you Perachel haters) without yelling at, insulting, cursing out, and/or even threatening them for liking or disliking different things than them including ships, characters, books, plots/faults, and Riordan himself.

-Straightwashes characters like shipping Nico with female characters or setting him up with a female character in fanfics.

-Whitewashes characters like drawing Hazel and Piper with eurocentric features, Reyna, Hylla, and Leo with white skin and Caucasian traits, Nico with white/pale skin, etc.

-Try to excuse and explain abusive, manipulative, possessive, and overall very wrong and toxic behavior.

-Fail to recognize and/or admit the toxic, racist, homophobic, sexist, transphobic, wrong, abusive, etc. faults in the books, ships, and characters just cause they like them.

The Percy Jackson franchise does not add good representation. You can still like the series as long as you don’t condone Riordan’s racist and toxic writing and actions and don’t try to ignore the horrible and stereotypical faults just cause you don’t want to admit that your favorite or childhood story is horrible.

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fleetingpieces · 3 years

Text

My One in a Million CH 6

Here we go! Thanks for the patience and support everyone❤️

Thank you to my amazing betas @knittingdreams and @inloveoknutzy I love you both so much❤️

And thank you so much lovely @heyitssmiller for your amazing vet knowledge and kind help, I hope what I wrote makes sense!😅

Tag list (let me know if you want to be added! <3 )

@justdyingontheinside @donttouchmycarrots @heyoitslysso @whataboutmyfries @sunflowerfox87 @hereforwolfstarr @potterlocked24-7 @cheekeebabe

CW: dog getting sick

Here’s the Masterlist, and the story in Ao3 if you prefer to read there :)

Chapter 6 - Water tides

Remus let the water wrap around him lazily as he swam down the middle of Gryffindor Tower’s indoor pool at a serene pace. He was glad to have the place all to himself that late afternoon, as he was exhausted after a pretty intense workout.

His day had been fully booked; he’d been out since morning, only stopping home long enough to grab his gym bag and head to the building’s top floor. He was trying to clear his head and organize his thoughts, but just like in the past three days, his mind drifted to the gift that was still sitting face-down in his guestroom, waiting for him to figure out what the hell to do with it.

As he reached the other end of the pool, he stood there with his hands caressing the surface of the water, feeling the slight resistance it made against his palms.

Sirius had seemed so genuinely sorry and like he was really putting in the effort, and Remus didn’t know what to make of it. It was still hard to believe how fast things had changed; this was the man that had been driving him crazy for weeks... but he was also the one that was making Remus open up about his past, even if it was just a little bit. Even Cocoa liked him. It’d been really hard for Remus not to turn into a fucking pile of goo when he saw them together, and fuck if Sirius’ starstruck face didn’t do things to him. People were usually afraid of Cocoa, but Sirius had opened his arms to him straight away.

What an adorable bastard.

Remus groaned and dived underwater. He stayed in place, floating with his eyes closed. Doing this always gave him a sense of peace that very few other things could. With the exception of yoga, maybe.

It was terribly ironic how sometimes he felt like he couldn’t bring air into his lungs when he remembered that time, but being underwater felt so soothing, even if he was obviously not breathing. There was something about the stillness of it and how weightless it made him feel, as if nothing could bring him down; and having his eyes closed, he could imagine having infinite space all around him, like maybe he’d blink and he’d be floating with the stars.

A splash of bubbles that could only mean another person had jumped into the pool reached his ears.

Remus held on for a few seconds more before he stood up, breaking the surface as he passed a hand through his face and hair to get the water out of his eyes.

“Merde.”

The whispered word echoed in the big room, though Remus was probably not supposed to hear it. He froze with a hand still in his curls and turned towards the voice.

“Sorry, I thought it was empty,” Sirius said from a few feet away. He lifted a muscular arm to rub at the back of his head and frowned with a small smile. “Just how long can you hold your breath?”

Remus just stared at him. At the way the droplets of water dripped from his dark locks and ran down his chest and the planes of his stomach. He swallowed, lifting his gaze before it could travel down further and focused on the piercing grey eyes that were already staring back at him. It felt as though Sirius could see into his soul, and it shocked Remus to realise that the thought wasn’t as scary as it should be.

Remus wasn’t sure how long they stood there, it could have been a second or maybe hours, but the smile slowly faded from Sirius’ face.

“I can go?” he asked unsurely.

“No!” Remus said hastily, before clearing his throat. “No, it’s fine.”

“Ok...” Sirius seemed surprised. They stared at each other a few moments more, Remus wracking his brain for something to say but coming up short. Sirius shifted on his feet. “Well, I don’t want to get in your way, so…”

He started turning around to go to the other side of the pool. Remus took a deep breath.

“Wait.”

Stopping mid-movement, Sirius turned around, arching a perfect eyebrow.

“I…” Remus started, but closed his mouth. Sirius’ eyes softened, and Remus started again, more firmly. “I never thanked you.”

That made Sirius frown. “Why would you need to thank me?”

“For the painting,” Remus said simply, though he figured it should be obvious. He couldn’t help but add with a small crooked smile, “and for the cookies too. Even though they were awful.”

Sirius barked a laugh, covering his face with a hand, and Remus found himself wishing he didn’t. He wanted to see the way his eyes crinkled. “Yeah, well. I should have asked first before I did anything, sorry I assumed-”

“No,” Remus interrupted, shaking his head. “No, you had no way of knowing.” He stopped to take another deep breath. “I'm sorry, I overreacted.”

Sirius raised both eyebrows at that, he clearly hadn't expected an apology. He regarded Remus steadily before he shrugged. “It's important to you. I think it's perfectly reasonable to react the way you did.”

Such a simple phrase, and yet something tugged fiercely in Remus’ chest. He tried to ignore it and sank until the water covered up to his shoulders. There was something about this man that made raw emotions come to the surface, and he tried his best to control them.

“Still, you were only trying to do something nice. So thank you.”

Sirius nodded as he stared at him, a small smile on his face again.

“Maybe we can start over?” He swam closer and Remus resisted the urge to sink lower. Instead, he got up when the other man extended a hand towards him. "Hi. I'm Sirius Black, and I live in apartment 12. Nice to meet you," he grinned.

The resolution on Sirius' face made Remus smile too, before he glanced down at the outstretched hand and reached to shake it. Despite the coldness of the water, Sirius’ palm was so warm that Remus felt it in his core, and he looked back up quickly to find Sirius giving him an odd look.

“Remus Lupin. I’m in apartment 10, right next to yours. Funny that we didn’t bump into each other sooner,” he said playfully, earning himself another wholehearted laugh from the other man, his chest rising and falling with it.

“Ouais, funny that,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. He let go of Remus’ hand and promptly plunged underwater, emerging only one second later while shaking his hair like a dog and sending a wall of droplets in Remus’ face.

“You mutt,” said Remus as he raised an arm to cover himself, making Sirius smile widely.

God, does he ever stop grinning?

“So, what brought you to Gryffindor?”

The casual way he asked it made Remus relax some more. He sagged back down and moved from the shallow part of the pool, treading water as he thought of everything that had led him here.

“It’s kind of a long story, but the main reason is that I wanted to expand my brand, and I thought living in a bigger city would be better for that purpose.”

Sirius nodded as though he knew exactly what Remus was talking about. “Yeah, that makes sense. Where did you live before?”

A wistful smile tugged at Remus’ mouth, and he noticed Sirius tilting his head in curiosity. “In the countryside, just outside of Gryffindor. I was born there and lived in that town my whole life until I decided to move here.”

“Do you miss it?” Sirius asked softly.

The water lapping around them was the only sound in the air as Remus looked down at his hands, weaving them just beneath the surface.

“Yeah...I miss my mum and Leo mostly. I know it’s not too far, but it’s not easy to see them either. I guess it’s hard for me not seeing them everyday.” Remus didn’t add that it made him feel lonely, or like he was back in room 308, but Sirius seemed to sense that it was making him feel sad, cause he didn’t ask more about that and moved to another question.

“What’s your hometown like?”

Remus smiled thankfully at him. “It’s really small, nothing compared to this,” he made a sweeping gesture with his arm. “But it’s beautiful. There’s this beach that Leo and I used to go to all the time when we were kids, and later on we would always find the time to go there on small camping trips, just the two of us in bedrolls, sleeping under the stars. It became a tradition. And then, there’s a forest on the other side, with these huge trees that go on for miles, and there’s a-” Remus stopped himself when he realised he’d been going on and on without a pause, blushing a bit. He looked at Sirius sheepishly. “Sorry, I got a bit carried away.”

But Sirius was just looking at him with a dopey smile. “That’s ok. I like listening to you speak.”

Remus didn’t know what to do with that, so he cleared his throat. “What about you?”

“Hm?” Sirius asked distractedly.

“Did you always live here?”

That seemed to snap him out of whatever he’d been lost in. He ran a hand through his hair, which stayed pushed back, sleeked by the water. Remus liked it. He could see more of his face like this.

“Uh, no. I grew up in Slytherin, actually. But I went to boarding school when I got older, so I spent a lot of my teenage years there. It’s where I met James and most of the guys.”

There it was again, that fond smile, and Remus found himself asking, wanting to know more, “what was it like, going to a boarding school?”

Sirius laughed at that, and walked to lean his back against the side of the pool, his forearms resting over the edge. He tilted his head back, staring up at the ceiling with a faraway look. “Oh, it was great. Not so much at the beginning though. I lived a pretty sheltered life up to that point, so you can imagine I was a bit of a snobbish dick.”

“A bit?” Remus raised a teasing eyebrow, making Sirius laugh again and focus his gaze on him.

“Trust me, whatever you think of me now, I was ten times worse.”

“I don’t really think you’re like that,” Remus replied, and was surprised to realise he meant it. Sirius’ smile faltered, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Remus beat him to it quickly, “so what made you change?”

There were a few seconds in which Sirius just stared at him with an unreadable expression. “James,” he said plainly in the end.

“James?”

“James,” Sirius agreed. “Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if we hadn’t met. He made me see I was behaving like an idiot, and everything I was missing out on.” He turned his head and gave Remus a sad smile before he continued, “I didn’t have any real friends before James.”

There was a deep pain rooted there that Remus couldn’t completely grasp, but he felt that it wasn’t his place to ask. “So you guys were friends from the start?”

“Pretty much,” he said, and then a laugh escaped him. “I tried to shove him aside at first, but he clung to me like a koala. I don’t even know why he wanted to be friends with me then.”

Remus thought about the way Sirius’ face lit up when he was close to James or when he talked about him. It was obvious to anyone that they were close, and how much it meant to Sirius.

“Well, I’m glad you found him.”

“Yeah,” Sirius said softly, “me too.”

“So how did you end up in Gryffindor?”

Sirius chuckled, “that would be James’ fault again. He grew up here, and I used to spend months at his house during the summer hols. It’s where I went when I finally ran from home; his parents took me in.”

He’d spoken casually, like it was the most normal thing in the world, but still Remus felt his heart stutter. “You...you ran away?”

Sirius’ eyes widened a bit, clearly he hadn’t realised how much he’d said. He glanced at Remus a bit wearily, who hastened to add, “I’m sorry, you don’t have to talk about it.”

Some of the tightness seemed to leave Sirius’ shoulders as he exhaled sharply. “No, it’s ok. I...fuck. My family and I had different views about...things. They own this big company and run in some upper circles of society that I never had any interest in.”

It was Remus’ turn to have his eyes widen like ping pong balls as the realisation hit him like a bag of wet sand. “Wait...you’re that Black? From Black Enterprises?”

The tension in Sirius’ jaw was so sudden and intense, Remus regretted his words instantly.

“No. I mean, yes. I should be. But I left that behind years ago.”

There was a crease between his brows, and Remus’ hand started stretching towards it to smooth it, but he caught himself in time and pretended to scratch at his cheek instead.

“Ah, sorry, my bad. I thought for a second that you were. But you must be the Sirius Black from Gryffindor, huh? I’ve heard great things about him,” Remus said in a light tone. At first, Sirius frowned at him as if he’d gone crazy and Remus shifted awkwardly. But slowly, it started melting away until he started laughing at Remus’ antics, one hand clutching his stomach.

“God, you’re so weird.” There was that sweet smile again, directed fully at him, and Remus’ heart stuttered for an entirely different reason.

After that, Remus lost track of time as they talked and splashed about. He felt surprisingly light. Laughter was not in short amounts, an easy banter settling between them, and sometimes he’d catch Black staring at him with an indecipherable smile on his face. It felt like they’d been friends for years and not just a few hours, which was something Remus’ brain couldn’t completely wrap around.

Their topics went from the most trivial things to some that bordered in way-too-intimate for how long they’d known each other, but it didn’t feel weird or forced.

Remus mentioned how much he enjoyed a cup of tea in the afternoon. Sirius told him that he’d started smoking at 16, and had quit three times so far but started again when he felt overwhelmed. Remus talked a bit about his mum and how hard she worked to bring money in, and how Remus had to practically beg her to let him help once his business had taken off. Sirius confessed to being afraid of spiders to which Remus couldn’t keep in a laugh.

“Really? Spiders?”

“Oh, shut up, you,” Sirius had said with no real venom as he splashed him with water, making Remus laugh harder. Remus didn’t miss how Sirius' eyes hadn’t left his face when he’d looked back up at him.

They had started drifting closer to each other, and right then Sirius was swimming backwards around Remus as he told a story about a school prank. Remus was turning around slowly on his feet to keep him in sight, entirely too conscious of the way that the movement with each backstroke made Sirius’ back look even bigger. And how the waves Sirius was making kept lapping at Remus’ lower belly.

What the fuck am I thinking?

He shook his head just in time to catch Sirius’ next question.

“Did you always know you wanted to teach yoga?”

“Oh. Well, not really. I always thought I wanted to be a writer,” Remus chuckled. “But then after...Um, a couple years ago I decided to start a healthier lifestyle, and discovered I really liked it.” He gave a small shrug. “I decided to focus on that, and I don’t regret my decision.”

Sirius hummed as he kept swimming with his eyes closed. Feeling a bit weird just staring at him, Remus pushed his legs up and started floating on his back, focusing on the ceiling instead.

“So, what do you do for a living?” he asked.

He heard more than saw Sirius stop and stand up at once.

“I um...I work as a freelancer from home.”

“That’s nice. What kind of jobs do you do?”

“Oh, all sorts of things. Y’know, I never learned to float like that,” he said in a rush, which struck Remus as a bit weird. He let his feet angle down and touch the floor, and he pulled himself upright to eye Sirius curiously. He was fidgeting, but smiled at Remus hopefully, so Remus smiled too.

“Would you like me to teach you?”

Sirius’ face lit up. “Would you?”

“If you want,” Remus shrugged.

Sirius nodded enthusiastically and took a couple steps closer.

“Ok, try to align yourself with the water, and I’ll help by holding you until you can adjust your body on your own. It’s easier to float if you take a deep breath and hold it, so let’s start with that.”

“Ok, I can do that.”

“You need to be perfectly relaxed, ok? Save that puppy energy for something else.”

“D’accord, d’accord,” Sirius rolled his eyes. Remus tried to ignore how nicely the words rolled out of his tongue.

He watched as Sirius breathed in and pulled himself into a horizontal position. He held it for barely one second before he started sinking, so Remus took a deep breath too and moved over to place one hand in the middle of his back, and the other under his head.

Soft.

It was all Remus could think as the dark strands of hair fell between his fingers.

“Tip your head back and lift your chin. There should be no tension on your neck.” Remus’ voice was mellow, automatically slipping into the tone he used for his classes. “Put your arms just like this.” He removed his hand from Sirius’ head and used it to bring the arm closest to him slightly up, Sirius’ fingers brushing against Remus’ thigh, and then placed it back in the inky hair.

“My hips keep going down,” Sirius chuckled, making the water ripple in small waves. His eyes were closed, his chin tilted up just like Remus had told him to, exposing the long lines of his neck. Remus looked away, trying to keep a blush at bay.

“Ok, I’m going to move my hand to support you better, is that ok?”

A breathy “oui” was all he got for an answer.

Remus’ hand trailed down, his fingers brushing against Sirius’ spine until he could place it more firmly against the small of his back. He could’ve sworn he felt Sirius shiver, but that could be because of the water.

Looking down at Sirius’ toes, he told him to try and relax more. His eyes went up his legs as he gave small advices on how he should place his body, passing by the blue swim trunks that clung to his thighs, then kept going up his hip bones, toned stomach and chest, telling him to try and push up. He glanced up at that long, elegant neck, until he finally stopped when he found silver eyes staring intently at him.

In that moment, with those eyes locked with his and feeling overly conscious of the skin he was touching, Remus felt a bolt go through his fingers and removed his hands instantly as if he’d been burned, and Sirius flailed his arms and sank.

He stood up spluttering, water dripping everywhere.

“Remus what the fuck-” he started complaining, but stopped short when he realised just how close they were standing.

Remus felt his breath hitch in his throat as he was engulfed in the grey once more. Wet hair fell over his eyes, and this close, he could make out all the shades, every spot in those irises. He felt like he was staring at a tempest sea, the calmness around them making him feel like he was in the eye of the hurricane, and he was about to be swept up in the storm.

Sirius’ breath fanned against Remus’ face, slipping between his parted lips. His eyes darted down to stare at Sirius’ mouth, those pink lips that looked so incredibly soft that Remus wanted to reach up and touch them with his fingers. The tip of his tongue moved to wet his lips, and when he glanced up again he caught Sirius following the movement. The other man inched his face closer, torturously slow, until Remus tilted his head up slightly.

Everything around them seemed to be suspended in time, waiting, waiting… And then that same memory was flashing through his mind and Remus pulled away.

“Remus?” Sirius asked, confused, and Remus’ heart gave another painful tug.

“I...I...” Remus backed against the wall so much he wished he could just become one with it. Sirius took a step back and watched him with worried eyes.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean...Are you ok?”

“I just- I...I gotta go.”

Not waiting for any answer, Remus turned around and lifted himself out of the water, and basically bolted back to the changing rooms.

He didn’t even stop to take a shower, just changed his clothes as fast as he could, grateful that Sirius didn’t come looking for him.

Once inside his flat, he unceremoniously dropped his bag and keys on the floor, and let his head fall back against the door.

What the fuck was that?

It was so not like him to do something like this. He knew better than to get tangled in... in whatever happened at the pool was. Focus on your career, that was the goal. No time to meet anyone just to get into a relationship, get attached, and then be left broken.

But Sirius just...it felt so natural to be around him. Remus was still surprised at how comfortable he felt around the other man, given the way they’d started things off. If the image he’d had of Sirius was so far off the mark, then maybe Sirius was not like-

No.

He was done with relationships and that was that.

“Ugh, fuck,” Remus groaned, then finally glanced around his flat. “Cocoa?” he called, surprised that he hadn’t been tackled in a bear hug yet. “Cocoa, c’mon boy. Let’s go for a walk. Fuck knows I certainly need some fresh air.”

It was dark outside already, but Remus’ heart was still beating wildly, and he didn’t think he could stand to just stay inside. He needed to calm down and get his mind off dark hair, stormy eyes and wet lips.

When he still got no response, Remus frowned. It was very unlike Cocoa not to rush to greet him or come to him when called. Even if he’d been sleeping, he’d always wake up to the sound of Remus coming back home.

Remus stepped into the living room, walking around the couch to where Cocoa usually laid in his dog bed. And there he was, with his head between his paws, looking up at Remus with big, yellow eyes. He whined when Remus got close.

“Hey boy, there you ar-” Remus stopped himself with the immediate knowledge that something was wrong. Cocoa was trying to get up, but his legs were trembling and he fell over. Remus rushed forward and knelt at his side, noting how fast Cocoa’s heart was beating, and the spasms still going through his body. “What’s going on? Cocoa, what’s wrong?”

Remus was frantically trying to figure out what was happening when his eyes landed on a crumpled piece of paper. He snatched it up and his heart stopped. It was the wrapper for one of his favourite dark chocolates, and there were only a couple of bitten pieces left in it.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, how did you get this? When did you-? Oh my God, when did you eat it?” Remus wracked his brain, trying to remember if the wrapper was there when he’d stop by his flat a few hours earlier, but he had no idea. He remembered thinking Cocoa seemed a bit more energetic than usual, but he hadn’t thought too much of it.

Shaking out of the whirlpool that were his thoughts, Remus carefully picked Cocoa up and rushed to the door.

“Please hang on, boy. Please, please, please hang on.”

#wolfstar fic #wolfstar #my writing #My One in a Million #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #remus x sirius #sirius x remus #youtuber #youtuber!au #yoga!au #muggle AU

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