I had a meltdown over my stomach last night. About my ass, thighs, everything that jiggles. I don't know what possessed me to try to put a pre-pregnancy outfit on only two weeks after the baby was born but it was so bad I locked the bedroom door.
For two hours.
We were supposed to go out and stay gone overnight, my mother in law set to watch the baby and oddly enthusiastic about getting rid of us for the evening.
"Everything okay in there? You all right?"
My husband had given me a full hour before checking on me, he must know something about my clothes that I had to find out the hard way.
"I'm fine." I really tried to sound like I had not been crying but failed miserably.
"Hey...what's that? Why are you crying?"
"I'm not." He jiggles the door handle HARD, aaaaand I should probably stop him before he rips it out completely. "I'm not physically injured in here. I'm not dying."
I hear a soft thud, and a softer Ukrainian curse as the light from under the door disappears. He must have parked. "But are you emotionally injured? I care about that too, you know."
I don't want to say yes because it's stupid. Two weeks postpartum is not a lot of time, and my old clothes aren't supposed to fit yet. I'm having a very roundly unreasonable expectation of myself and I try really hard not to do that.
"Yeah."
"Okay, well...you wanna reason it out or just sit with it for a while?" He's too nice to me, and it makes me cry some more. When will the hormones subside enough for me to stop crying all the time? "Milyy...let me in please. I won't say anything, I won't DO anything." Gotdamn, being around his Mama and her accent is really making his come out and if I didn't feel so ugly right now I'd jump his bones fer shure.
So I let him in and as it turns out, my husband is a filthy liar. The first thing he does is wrap me in his arms and pick me up. The second is ask me how he can fix whatever the hell is wrong with me.
"I just thought I'd bounce back faster."
He sets me down, and takes hold of my hands, his face extremely solemn. "Just bounce back on this dick and we'll figure the rest out later." I have to sit down at the foot of the bed after that one, his face is still very serious. "Why are you laughing? Bounce back faster...you're welcome to go at your own pace as far as Vlad is concerned."
"Stop."
He finally cracks just the tiniest smile possible. "Fine, fine. Pretend you don't know how many atrocities I'd commit just to get into those leggings."
"But..."
"Go on...feign ignorance as much as you want, I like it." He comes to stand in front of me, and lays his hand softly on the side of my face. "My sweet bunny, so silly. Upset over a little outfit when have the power to own my ass for the rest of my life. What's it like to be so silly, baby?"
I'm not really able to speak at the moment, looking up at him as his eyes go slightly dark, his tone so smooth and deep that I feel like I'm being lulled to sleep. I don't say anything until he hums...I guess he actually expects an answer.
"Not great."
"Well..." he bends down to kiss the tickly spot just below my ear. "Then let me make you feel better."
2 notes
·
View notes
aheem heem… hello dearest mutual… uhm… renthubs + 14 mayhaps? :3c
14. bruised / kissed (x) (1285 words. help. you guys made me terrible)
It’s late, and the basement of the monolith is already starting to seep through with cold. Etho runs a hand up the back of his neck, trying to work out the tension from sleeping funny the night before. He’s been in this position for a good part of an hour, tracing out the lines of blueprints half understood. He sighs.
"Knock, knock."
Etho straightens, startling. He turns in his chair to notice the outline of Ren in the doorway of his workspace.
"Oh, hey, Ren,” he says, relaxing his shoulders. Ren smiles at him, his ears perking up.
“Mind if I come in?” he asks, raising his eyebrows. He’s carrying a cup in his hands.
“No, no,” Etho waves his roommate in, patting the desk, as if to say join me here, the space is yours, too. Which. A few months ago, may not have been the case. As Ren pulls from the doorway, Etho squints into the rest of his living space. "Is Bdubs..."
Ren shakes his head.
"No, he's asleep."
Etho nods.
"Ah,” he says, leaning back against the desk. He tucks his leg up against the back, tilting his head. “What're you still doing up?"
Ren sits at the edge of the desk. He glances behind him for a moment, making sure that, when he inevitably wags his tail, it won’t knock anything over. Etho smiles, something warm weaseling up next to his heart.
“Oh. I couldn’t sleep. I figured I might,” Ren taps his fingers against the cup he’s holding and Etho watches him glance between it and his face. “Uh, see if you wanted company until you went up.”
Etho smiles and his eyes crinkle. “Thanks.”
Ren nods. After a second, he holds out the mug he was holding to Etho. Etho reflexively holds his hands out, before Ren even speaks. He shifts in the chair to meet him better.
“Here,” Ren says. Etho holds the warm cup in the cradle of his hands. It smells sweet, almost like cinnamon, or nutmeg, some dark spice he can’t place.
“Oh. It’s...” He furrows his eyebrows. Coffee.
“You don’t have to drink it now,” Ren blurts. His ears pin back. Something in his voice asks I don’t know if you like it. How does he say I’ll drink it for you? Ren continues: “You can wait until I leave.”
“I appreciate it.” Etho laughs, setting the cup down. That alone seems to make Ren’s shoulder’s relax. Etho sees his ears twitch. He settles back again, draping his arm over his knee. Ren tilts his head, just a bit, waiting on the inevitable question he must sense in Etho’s posture. "What did I miss today?"
Ren grins. The way it lights up his face. Etho wants to bottle whatever that is. "Oh man. Plans. All across the floor,” he spreads his hands, glancing over at him. “We spent twenty minutes trying to lay them out but my god when we did. Etho have you seen—"
Etho leans forward. "The color on them?"
Ren swings out, bats at his arm. He bats him back.
"And the design!” Ren says, rocking back, gesturing wildly with his hands. “They don't even look like someone could build them. They're inhuman!"
Etho nods, watching Ren try so very hard not to wag his tail. Etho says, pressing his hands together:
"He's been developing this new way of shading things so that the gradients create the texture for him, he's redefining—"
"Negative space," they say together.
"Exactly,” Ren sighs. “Wow."
Etho hums. Ren settles back against the desk, both hands behind him.
"It's nice having someone else to look after him, y'know,” Etho says. Ren inclines his head, ears perking up.
"Bdubs?"
Etho smiles.
"Mhm."
Ren huffs out a laugh, pressing a hand to his chest. He dips his head, as if it’ll prevent Etho from seeing the flush on his face.
"It's. An honor that you trust me to do it."
Etho traces the lip of the cup. He shrugs.
"Sure. You're an easy guy to trust."
Ren shakes his head, smiling, voice carrying a sheepish laugh.
"Please."
"I mean it."
“I know, I know,” Ren says, still laughing a little. There’s a lull, just for a moment, the two of them sitting quietly. Ren looks into his hands before he speaks again, quiet and still smiling.
"I care about you too, y'know."
"Yeah?" Etho snorts. But Ren sounds too sincere when he says it. Etho replays scenes in his head. Little things. Moments. Ren makes him breakfast. Ren tells him to be safe. Ren says to go to bed. Ren brings him tea. His favorite tea. Ren listens. Ren leans back in when Etho leans against him, too tired to walk back alone from another redstone project. Ren trusts him to critique his building, something he’s only ever been asked to do by Bdubs. Bdubs leaves them together. He tells Bdubs late one night that he likes Ren. It isn’t the stronger word. But Bdubs lights up nonetheless. He’s reading his mind. And Ren says:
"Yeah,” in a soft voice.
Etho feels something in his chest seize. He pushes the mug forward on the desk to put his hand down, pulling himself out of the chair and to a stand.
“Ren,” he says, his hand half outstretched between them. Ren glances over.
“Hm?”
“I, uh,” he swallows. For some reason, the words don’t sound right in his mouth. Not like he can’t say them, but that they’re suddenly not good enough. There is something much too bright and great in his chest to be encapsulated by words alone. He holds his hand out, palm up, and Ren, after a beat of hesitation, sets his hand on his. Etho turns his hand over. He reads over the fine lines of his hand. He wonders if he were to run his thumbs over his palm if it would be softer than his own. Maybe. Maybe.
Etho sighs to settle his nerves. He feels his hands start to twitch, just a little, so he squeezes Ren’s hand and watches his fingers curl reflexively. Etho reaches up and tucks his fingers under one of the loops of his mask.
“I figured this was right,” Etho says. “Given the circumstances.”
Ren’s eyes are wide.
“What circumstances are those?” He says like the breath is caught in his chest.
Etho unhooks the mask from one ear, then the other. It’s. His hands are shaking. He swallows hard. He hears Ren take in a breath that sounds too sharp to be good.
“I uh, I think,” Etho manages. He sets the mask on the table. He lets go of Ren’s hand. “I just figured out what loving a new person feels like.”
Ren holds his hand in the space between them. When Etho meets his eye, Ren’s gaze flicks over his face. He’s smiling. He’s smiling.
“How long you been figuring it out?” he asks.
Etho smiles, too. “A while, I think.”
Ren’s tail is wagging. Etho is smiling. Ren’s hand is coming up, not to trace his scar or his mouth of too sharp teeth or the split of his lip. He holds the right side of his face in his hand and he’s smiling. He traces the rise of his cheek and Etho leans into it. He feels something bubble up in his chest that might burst and take him with it.
“Yeah,” Ren says. "Me too.”
And he pulls Etho to him. (And Etho goes, kisses him. All his confessions have been with a kiss. All of them are just as sweet. And when Etho sleeps tonight, he is bracketed by two people who love him.)
188 notes
·
View notes
textposting about rosaline since i was banned in procreate (/j)
it is just a bunch of random facts about her without explanations because im still willing to draw things. just not now
.unlike some arcanists she cant sense graphic/somewhat clear omens, but she still has some sort of sixth sense, which in her case is closer to a human intuition, just a little more precise and without logical explanation behind
.shes overall heavily affected by human society and has some kind of inner arcanophobia like mesmer does, but unlike mesmers her prejudices are about viewing humans as higher than herself rather than viewing arcanists as lower than humans.
.as a result of her worldview, she tries to present herself more "humane", suppressing her emotions and ignoring her mental wellbeing, which as expected drains her psyche and makes her more sensitive (around other arcanists shes less self-conscious since her beliefs are based on learnt fear of humans)
.despite being mainly a sculptress, she sometimes makes pencil sketches. both as concepts for her future projects and just sketches of her surroundings for practice
.creating statues of living people is a taboo for her because she can control them and thus considers it unethical
.sensory part of her arcane skill causes her to have headaches and sleep issues, so she oftenly drinks herbal teas catering to those problems
6 notes
·
View notes