this one is shorter and sweeter to help me survive the month (7 fics in one month may be a record).

Day 7, @fluffyjuly: kate bishop, happy tears + will you marry me?

summary: Kate Bishop asks you on a first date and gets... a bit over enthusiastic.

It was their first time at the fair among humans, enjoying shaved ice and funnel cake and all the other junk foods…Leo’s cotton candy was the perfect blue, picture perfect; he couldn’t help but fluff the cloud here and there for posterity.

“Dude, you’re not doing a mukbang!”

“You’re as bad as those Instagram food bloggers!”

(written for @fluffyjuly day seven: stealing food)

Fandom: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Word Count: 2597

Posted on AO3!

--

Mikey stumbles out of the gymnasium, a blunt Number 2 pencil in his hand and an open backpack slung over his shoulder, and he nearly collapses onto the bench outside.

Leo’s there, waiting for him, looking no better than he is. There are deep circles below his eyes, and he’s wearing Raph’s giant hoodie, looking two seconds away from falling asleep.

Mikey walks up to him and holds up a trembling hand. 

“We did it, bro.”

Leo tries to high-three him, missing the first time, and barely clipping his pinky the second time. He looks so tired, Mikey can’t even make fun of him. 

“We did it.” Leo croaks out. “APUSH. It’s finally over.”

“Finally.” Mikey sighs, sitting down next to him. He watches the other people filing out behind them, just as wrung out, and he absently wonders if movie directors use AP Testing Day as inspiration for what zombie raids look like. “Thought it would never end.”

“What did you get for that last short answer question? It made no sense to me.”

“Bro. I’m being so for real with you, I just started writing Hamilton word for word somewhere in the middle of the FRQs.”

“Wait. Me too.”

Mikey snorts, hard enough that he accidentally starts coughing. Leo laughs loudly, and it comes out as a honking sound. Which makes both of them crumble into a fit of hysterical chortling, undoubtedly drawing everyone’s attention, but not caring one bit. 

“Oh,” Mikey gets out, finally taking a breath, hearing his heart beat in his ear, “I think we officially hit that stage of exhaustion where we’ve lost it.”

“‘Lost it’? Did we ever really have it?”

“If by ‘it’ you mean the Hamilton soundtrack, then yeah, apparently.”

They break out in giggles again, echoing in the empty gym floor. A tear rolls down Mikey’s cheek, delirium threaded through each hiccup.

“Okay, okay, c’mon, that’s enough.” Leo rasps, trying to sit up. “We’re literally about to pass out from laughing.”

Mikey obeys, and stands up, only wobbling on his feet a little. He pulls Leo up, who wobbles a lot more. Ha. Mikey wins. 

He checks the time on his phone, white numbers stark against his wallpaper, a picture of Donnie drawing a moustache on Mondo’s sleeping face.

“Eugh.” He groans. “11:15. My stupid English class is going on right now.”

“Oh, with that really annoying girl, right?”

“Yeah! Her voice is like a bad Jennifer Coolidge impression, man. And she’s always talking.” 

“‘You look like the fourth of July’.” Leo tries to imitate, scrunching his nose. 

Mikey groans again, massaging his temples. He already has a tension headache brewing, and if he has to deal with that nasally sound for the next forty minutes, he’ll die. 

He sees Leo frown slightly, as he reaches out to dig his fingers into the base of Mikey’s skull. He immediately goes lax, faint surprise mixed with relief from the pain. He hadn’t even realized the headache had travelled that far. Pizza Supreme bless Leo’s acupressure knowledge.

“Thanks.” He mumbles. 

“No problem.” Leo answers. “You sure you don’t wanna go to the nurse’s office? Or I could text April for some ibuprofen?”

“Nah, I’m good.” Mikey stretches out his neck, already feeling a lot better. “I got to get to class.”

Leo hums. And there’s a considering tone in it. 

“Or. Y’know.” He says, a little too casually. “You don’t.”

Mikey blinks at him. “Sorry?”

Leo shrugs, as a smirk grows on his face. “You don’t have to go. You hate English anyway, and I have a free period. We can, like, leave.”

Mikey’s brows rise up, shocked. Leo’s never been one to suggest bunking. That’s more Raph’s thing. “You want to go home? Dad’s gonna get mad, though.”

“I didn’t say home.”

Mikey simply stares at Leo. Leo stares back, a challenge in the quirk of his brows. 

“Oh, hell yeah.” Mikey exclaims excitedly, pumping a fist. “Alright! We’re renegades, man, we’re bunking school!”

Leo snorts, zipping up his backpack for him. “Oh, yeah, ‘renegades’. All those years of ninja training just to sneak out of school for snacks without getting caught.”

“Snacks?” Mikey asks with a grin. “What kind of snacks?”

Leo makes him properly fit both straps of the backpack over his shoulders, because he’s Mr. Mother-Hen and he has no sense of coolness. Mikey rolls his eyes. 

Then, suddenly Leo grins. “First one to the bodega gets to pick.”

And he bolts.

“What— hey!” Mikey chokes out, bewildered, his shoes squeaking against the linoleum as he tries to catch up to the quickly-disappearing figure of Leo. “Not fair!”

They race out of the Eastman High building, and all the way to their favorite bodega, a high-stakes competition of stealth and cunning and sheer un-sportsmanship, as exhibited by Leo when he tries to trip Mikey as soon as he gets a lead. Mikey just barely catches himself against a pedestrian signal pole, and curses at Leo loud enough to scandalize a group of mothers walking by. 

Eventually, Leo makes it there before him, hands on his knees, panting loudly. “I—I win.”

“Shut up.” Mikey wheezes out, back against the wall. His feet are killing him. “You cheated. I— hate you.”

“You can hate me all you want, I still get to pick snacks.”

“Screw you, Nardo.”

Leo flips him off, straightening up and reaching into his pocket. He waves a crumpled ten-dollar note at him, smirking, “Time to get my prize.”

Mikey rolls his eyes, and he goes inside. Two minutes later, he shows up with two chocolate donuts. He offers one to him as he takes a bite of his own. 

And so, of course, Mikey immediately snatches Leo’s donut, and shoves all of it in his mouth. 

“What the—Mikey!” Leo exclaims. 

Mikey tries to chew through the soft dough, skidding away so he doesn’t get smacked, trying not to choke from laughter at how indignantly Leo gapes at him. 

“Did you seriously just steal my food?” He groans, sounding betrayed. “That was my reward!”

“And that was my revenge.” Mikey waves a fist dramatically. 

The pathetically upset look on Leo’s face is only enjoyable for so long, before he starts feeling bad. He rolls his eyes again. “Fine, fine, here, take mine.”

“Thank you.” Leo huffs, taking a bite. “The least I deserve after that exam is a donut.”

Mikey opens his mouth, ready to inform him exactly what else he deserves, especially after that tripping stunt earlier, but they suddenly hear a voice across the street. 

“Yo, check it out, it’s those turtle hero dudes! Wait up, I wanna ask for a selfie!”

Leo cringes, sporting neither the appearance or the attitude to be doing a surprise meet-and-greet. Mikey relates.

“Rooftop?” He suggests. Leo nods, and they escape. 

They make it to the roof of the tallest building on the block, and Mikey sighs, throwing away his backpack and flopping down onto the cool cement. 

“You know you have a chromebook in there.” Leo reminds him. 

“Don’t care.” He responds. “Raph already broke his last week, and it’s still working fine.”

“Raph broke his?” 

Oh, he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone that. Shit. “Uh. No. No, he didn’t. You’re just hearing things. Focus on the donut.”

“I finished the donut.” Leo says, and lies down next to him. “And you’re a terrible secret-keeper.”

“Untrue! I can keep a secret.”

“You told April we were throwing her a surprise birthday party the hour we planned it. A week before the date.”

“...Objection. Relevance.”

“Overruled.”

The wind blows in their direction, chilly and refreshing—which, in New York City terms, means ‘not full of smoke’—and Mikey closes his eyes against it. The dull throbbing in his skull seems to subside a little, now that he’s away from fluorescent school lights and loud voices. 

“How’s the headache?” Leo asks. 

“Meh.” Mikey answers honestly. And, after a pause, “Yours?”

“Meh.” He replies. “I needed more caffeine this morning.”

“I think you mean you need to stop pulling all-nighters.”

“I suddenly can’t hear you.”

“Leo.” Mikey tsks. “You spent all night holed up in the library after it closed. That shit is not sustainable, man. What’re you gonna do in college?”

Leo stays quiet for a little bit, and he lets it go, ignored. He turns towards the pigeon a few feet from them, peering at them with its red eye, and he waves.

“I don’t think I wanna go.”

The words are barely loud enough to be heard over the breeze in their ears. Quiet enough that both of them could pretend he hadn’t said them at all. But Mikey doesn’t. “Huh?”

He watches Leo’s Adam's apple bob, as he croaks out, “I don’t think I want to go to college.”

Mikey gets up on his elbow and stares at him, surprised. “What?”

It comes out a lot more shocked than he wanted. Leo’s brows twitch in irritation. “I don’t, okay? What, is that a crime?”

“No, no!” Mikey shakes his head, holding his hands up. “That’s, like, totally fine if you don’t wanna go to uni. It makes sense, right? I mean, who wants to spend thousands of bucks for a piece of paper?”

“You do.” Leo reminds him, and it sounds almost accusatory. “Donnie does. Raph does.”

“Yeah, but like, Donnie is a nerd.” Mikey tries to justify, waving a hand as he speaks. “His entire world is books and papers. He wants that gold-encrusted degree certificate to hang in his office when he’s, like, the president. And Raph’s only going because he got a wrestling scholarship and he wants to play professionally. He’s probably gonna study something like, I don’t know, Bachelors of Science in Crocheting, probably. Or Sulking Broodily. Or Crocheting and Sulking Broodily. He’s good at both.”

Leo lets out a chuckle, the corners of his lips turning up, and Mikey rides on that high. “And—and me? You wanna compare yourself to me? You think I know what I’m doing most of the time? I seriously don’t. Actually, I’m probably the last person you wanna emulate.”

A deeper dent appears between Leo’s brows, and he turns towards him. “What? Why not?”

“Well. ‘Cause.” Mikey shifts his weight. “You’ll probably screw up.”

Now he looks more confused. “How?”

“‘Cause.” Mikey shifts again. “Don’t I? Screw up all the time, I mean? Everyone usually says, ‘Mikey, do this’, instead of ‘Oh, do it like Mikey’. You guys too.”

“Well, sure.” Leo says slowly. “But that’s because we’re just bossy. That doesn’t mean you’re a—a screw-up, Mikes.”

Mikey pauses, and then just shrugs. That isn’t the point of this conversation. “Whatever. I’m just saying you should do what you want, not what any of us want.”

“No. Not ‘whatever’.” Leo sits up, criss-crossing his legs, looking down at him. The frown on his face makes the dark circles look deeper, his already red eyes seeming more drained. Despite that, though, Mikey can see the gears churning in his mind. “Dude. Are you serious?”

“What?” He leans away, feeling a little like he’s under a microscope. 

“Do you really believe that?” Leo asks, and that tone, surprised weaved with hurt, makes something pinch in Mikey’s chest. “That you don’t do things ‘correctly’? And no one should listen to you?”

Mikey swallows dryly, and tries to lie back down, hoping to look anywhere other than Leo’s too-keen gaze. He tries to find an answer, but the silence stretches for a bit too long.

“Michael.” The hurt blossoms, like an invisible bruise pressed too hard. Mikey clenches his fist. “That’s not fucking true.”

“It doesn't matter.” Mikey mutters. “We were talking about you. Not me.”

“It does!” Leo exclaims, and oh, that's the big-brother voice, something Mikey is hard-wired to listen to. “Mikey. Look at me.”

He does, making his annoyance clear. The expression on Leo’s face reminds him of Raph, it’s so full of stubbornness. 

“You are one of the smartest people I know.” Leo begins. Mikey scoffs, but he barrels over him. “No, shut up, don’t make that face. You are. ‘Smarts’ isn’t just nerdy stuff, okay? It’s not just Donnie solving an integral on the spot. There's different kinds of smartness. And you’re, like, the coolest of them! You’re insightful, and intuitive, and, like, sharp-witted—”

“Wow, whose thesaurus did you rob?” He blurts out before he can help himself. 

“Michelangelo.”

“Okay! Okay, sorry.”

Leo leans forward, and grabs Mikey’s face with both hands. They are calloused and cold, and familiar as his own.

“You’re going to be quiet and listen to me, because I said so.” He states firmly. Mikey does. “There’s only a handful of people in this world that I genuinely look up to. And you are on top of that list.”

Mikey’s eyes sting, as Leo continues, “You know what I’m like, Mikes. I always play by the book, I never color outside the lines, I suck up to Dad. I have a stick up my ass, I know, you guys remind me every day.” There’s a small, rueful smile on his face. “That’s just how I am. But you are the exact opposite. You call it ‘improvisation’. I call it ‘thinking on your feet’. Figuring out what to do when you’ve exhausted all the rules, and all you have are your nunchucks and your mind. Not getting overwhelmed when you look at all the options and just going with your gut, and still turning out to be right. That is a huge skill, dude.”

Leo’s thumb strokes up his cheekbones, finding an area right past the outer eyes, and gently pressing down. The relief is immediate, and Mikey sighs. Pressure point. 

“You think outside the box, and you amaze the world, with both your talent and with your personality. I know we give you shit for not being ‘funny enough’, but trust me when I say that all three of us are totally jealous of you, because you are. Honestly, you’re probably the only reason we survived on SNL and didn’t turn into a national joke.”

He huffs wetly. 

“And you know the strangest part?” Leo says. “All of this just comes to you so naturally that you don’t even realize it’s something awesome. You don’t even realize that you are awesome.”

Mikey’s bottom lip tremors, and a young, little-brother part of him asks, “Really?”

“Really.” Leo nods seriously, looking him in the eye. “You, Michelangelo Splinterson, are the awesome-est. And I look up to you. And if you tell me that it’s okay if I don’t go to college, then I’ll listen.”

The stinging in Mikey’s eyes gets stronger, until Leo’s face turns blurry. He blinks it away, rubbing at them as Leo lets go. He’s not going to cry right now. He won’t, even though it feels like he just received the validation he’s been unconsciously searching for, for seventeen years. He’s not a crybaby. Just because Leo wipes his face with the sleeve of his hoodie means nothing. 

“Thanks, Leo.” He says hoarsely, hoping his answering smile conveys all the things he wants to say but can’t find the words for. From the way Leo’s face softens even further, he hopes he succeeded. “And—and me too, by the way. I think you’re the awesome-est too. And I look up to you. A lot.”

“Well, I know that, of course.” Leo smirks, leaning back on his hands. “You have to.”

“Oh, yeah, because you’re older, right?”

“No, because you’re short.”

Mikey gasps, affronted beyond measure, and shoves at Leo, hard. Leo cackles. 

Fandom : Doctor Who

Relationship : Eleven x Rose

My Fluffy July 2025 contribution for the prompt : “Did you just steal my food?”

I’m sorry for the mistakes, English is not my native language. I hope you like it.

Summary : The Doctor took the tray handed to him by the waiter, paid — probably a bit too much, judging by the man’s bulging eyes — then returned to his seat. He smiled upon seeing Rose waiting for him. Rose. He had never imagined he would ever travel with her again through time and space. Well, it had not exactly happened like that.

Disclaimer : Doctor Who belongs to the BBC.

@fluffyjuly

AO3 / FF.NET

The Doctor took the tray handed to him by the waiter, paid — probably a bit too much, judging by the man’s bulging eyes — then returned to his seat. He smiled upon seeing Rose waiting for him. Rose. He had never imagined he would ever travel with her again through time and space.

Well, it had not exactly happened like that. He had actually just said goodbye to her. She was in high school and he had become her teacher. For several months, he gave her lessons, but the moment he had dreaded came. He told her he had been offered a job at a prestigious university abroad and had to leave quickly.

He was not worried about her. Soon, she would find him again in another form. When he had big ears, a leather jacket and a Northern accent. But he, the Doctor with the big chin and bow tie, would never see her again. He could not. He had already taken too many risks by becoming her teacher. Yet, as soon as he stepped into the TARDIS, he programmed a date where he knew he could see her without upsetting the fragile balance of time. July 5158, on the planet Sunny Corner. A rather ironic name, as it was the farthest planet in its solar system and nothing more than a gigantic shopping mall. There was nothing else and one could spend days there without covering even a tenth of it.

Rose and his tenth regeneration were on that planet. He remembered they had decided to split up for a while. He to buy a rare part for the TARDIS, she to find a birthday gift for Jackie. And honestly, he had no desire to choose a gift for Jackie.

When Rose spotted him coming out of a clothing store, she immediately understood that John Smith, her teacher, was actually a new regeneration of the Doctor. She did not blame him for hiding his true identity and confessed that she was happy to spend another moment with him in this familiar form.

The Doctor set the tray on their table. Fish and chips for her and fish fingers and custard for him.

“No matter where you are in the universe, there will always be fish and chips,” he said, sitting across from her.

“I’d never have thought they sold fish fingers and custard.”

“They didn’t. But I managed to convince them to make some.”

Rose burst out laughing and the Doctor could not help but smile. He had missed her laugh so much. He picked up a piece of fish finger, dipped it into the custard and took a bite. Rose stared at him, disgusted.

“I’ve never understood how you can eat that. It’s disgusting.”

“It’s not disgusting,” he replied, pointing the fish at her. “It’s delicious. And you can’t judge what you haven’t tasted.”

Rose took him at his word. She grabbed a piece of fish, dipped it into the custard and brought it to her mouth. The Doctor’s eyes widened at her boldness.

“Did you just steal my food ?” He asked.

Rose nodded with a mischievous smile and bit into the fish. She shuddered and grimaced.

“Yes, it’s really disgusting.”

“You have no taste.”

Rose swallowed with difficulty and burst out laughing. A genuine, joyful laugh. No matter what form the Doctor took, she loved him and she was happy to share this moment with him. The Doctor knew their time together was running out. His former regeneration would soon come to fetch her and he’d have to leave before they crossed paths. But for now, he cherished every second with Rose. Every laugh, every glance, every memory. Just a stolen moment in the whirlwind of time.

Day 7 for @fluffyjuly,

A return and skip forward in The Hogwarts Sabbatical and a look Rebekah and Hermione friendship.

{Author's note, I don't agree with JK or support her and besides using the characters and world of the books i got decades ago, have nothing to do with her.}

---

“Did you just steal my food?” Hermione asked confusion, not anger and Rebekah looked down to find she had, in fact, without thought stolen Hermione's toast.

Embarrassment flooded her.

“I’m so sorry. I’m too used to stealing from my brothers” she apologised as she quickly scanned the table for anything she could offer to make up for the theft. “Well done Rebekah, scare off your only girl-friend.” she muttered to herself, failing to seeing Hermione's reaction to the words.

The problem with growing up the only girl with five brother had left getting and keeping friends of her own gender difficult, she blamed picking up Nik’s and Kol’s habits for it honesty. 

Even since they had woken up on the train and been sorted into mostly different Houses, she had taken it as another chance, her brothers could work out how they ended up here and what happened to their real bodies she wanted to enjoy a normal life.

Still her friends had mostly been the boys of her year and ‘house’ despite sharing a room with the girls, but she had managed to become friend was Hermione; the book smart girl remind her of Elijah’s responsibility and Kol’s thirst for knowledge, she didn't want to lose that.

She offered slightly panicking, not that she’d ever admit that she lifted all she had

“Here.” She offered her plate to the other girl. “When-where I grew up, sharing food was a sign of friendship.” 

She relaxed and smiled with relief as Hermione's hand reached out to pluck a slice of fruit from the plan

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Emma Swan & Wicked Witch of the West | Zelena Characters: Emma Swan, Wicked Witch of the West | Zelena Additional Tags: Minor Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan, Season/Series 06, No Captain Hook | Killian Jones Or Robin Hood, Comfort Food, Established Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan, Emma Swan & Wicked Witch of the West | Zelena Friendship, Triple Drabble, Fluffy July, Fluffy July 2025 Series: Part 8 of fluffy july 2025 Summary:

Emma had almost thought she’d have the manor to herself for the night. Until she remembered-

The hair on the back of her neck raises as she hears the footsteps behind her. The loud boots clacking immediately give notice to the other person in Regina’s manor; Zelena.

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ────

Kris frowns down at his plate. I definitely had more bread... The loaf he'd gotten from the baker today was exceptionally soft and fragrant, so to find some missing was a grave offense.

He looks up to find Laurent eating a slice of bread, and his eyes narrow. "Did you steal my food?"

"No?"

"Where did that slice of bread come from?"

"...The loaf?"

Kris rises from his seat and attempts to loom threateningly over Laurent. "Give me my bread back."

The attempt fails, and Laurent scoffs at him. "A bit late for that."

"You're going to pay for this-"

─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

[Do not come between the Warrior of Light and his bread. Also this stupid exchange cracks me up so much, they're such idiots (lovingly)]

-

"Quite a nice day to attend a carnival, wouldn't you say?" Nikolai asked loudly. The grin upon his face was impossibly wide in that off-putting way of his.

"Yeah." Sigma nodded. He'd thought it was supposed to rain so it was nice that the sun popped out instead. He turned his whole head as they started to walk by a food vendor that caught his attention.

Nikolai popped up right behind him and asked, "Something catch your eye?"

Sigma jumped. He shook his head, the embarrassed blush already creeping into his cheeks.

"You sure are cute when you lie," Nikolai laughed. He looked over at the food vendor in question then gave the other man a little shove. "Go on then."

Sigma took two stumbling steps forward before he finally walked normally. He went ahead and got himself one of the giant, fluffy treats the vendor had on offer. Then he headed back to the waiting clown who was snickering to himself.

"What..." Sigma grunted. He opened his mouth to take the biggest possible bite he could of the sugary cloud.

"Pop quiz!" Nikolai shouted. "Did you know that cotton candy is made from horses?"

Sigma paused and blinked at him. His brow furrowed then he grunted, "What. That's not true... is it?"

Nikolai held his own stomach as he burst into a fit of laughter. "Just kidding! Probably! I've never looked it up before!"

"You're exhausting," Sigma sighed. He rolled his eyes and finally tasted the fluffy treat. So yummy. He considered sharing for a fraction of a second, but really... the guy could've bought his own had he wanted any. Sigma wanted this joyous little cloud all to himself.

"And you're adorable," Nikolai chuckled.

The two of them continued to wander the carnival together. Sigma made quick work of his cotton candy and considering going back for another. Maybe later. He tossed out the trash in a random can they passed.

"Oh, hey, looky there!" Nikolai shouted as he pointed to one of the games they were walking by. He motioned to the prizes then somehow seemed to get even more excited as he exclaimed, "Would you look at that! Cookies for my cookie!"

Sigma's brow furrowed and he pouted. "I'm not your-"

"Of course you are!" Nikolai cut him off. He grabbed Sigma's wrist and dragged him over to the game in question. It seemed simple enough. Knock over the things. Win the other thing. Ok!

Nikolai whipped his overcoat open dramatically. The devilish grin upon his face was unmistakable as he motioned to reach into the fabric. He paused when Sigma grabbed his hand.

"If you win me a prize with trickery, it's the same as not winning anything at all." Sigma explained. He seemed very set on his decision when he said, "Do it for real or don't bother."

Intriguing. That look in his eyes sure was pretty. Nikolai waited a moment before he leaned in close and hummed in his most teasing voice, "Do I get a kiss if I succeed?"

Sigma stiffened and his cheeks immediately started to burn. He glanced off to the side before he finally mumbled, "...fine. A quick one."

"Be still my heart!" Nikolai yelled. He spun around dramatically before he shouted, "Now I surely cannot lose! Watch this, my most splendorous display of prowess!"