#oonafknchaplin

elena + will

Elena blames Ivy for this. She’d hemmed and hawed over theidea of getting a tattoo for so long, always stressing about what sort ofcritique her dance teachers might come up with if they noticed it. Ivy hadgiven her a much-needed final push, yet Lenny still can’t help but hesitateover the idea over and over. Her best friend has to literally push her into thedoor in order to ensure she goes through with it.

They find seats in the waiting room, Ivy claiming she’ll sayas moral support, when Elena first notices the shirtless man getting tattooednearby. She looks away at first for politeness’ sake, though she forgets hersense of propriety easily. Lenny glances over one, two, three more times beforeIvy speaks up.

“Are you going to talk to him?” she asks. Elena decides toplay innocent.

“Talk to who?”

“The guy who owns the abs you keep staring at?” Ivy doesn’teven bother to hide her smirk; Lenny tries to shush her to no avail.

“I’m not staring!” she protests, aware that it won’tconvince Ivy.

“Uh, you’re practically drooling.” Ivy retorts, looking all-too-pleasedwith the situation. Elena frowns.

“Fine, I’ll talk to him but only to shut you up.” Elena grumbles, getting upfrom her seat and trying to ignore the look of self-satisfaction on her bestfriend’s face. She rather daringly makes her way straight to the man, meets hiseye, and discover that he is annoyingly cute. Damn it.

“Hi! Are you getting a Harry Potter tattoo done?” So maybeshe’d stared long enough to pick up on that fact.

“Yeah, I am.” To his credit, he doesn’t look alarmed by thestranger who’s suddenly appeared to chat with him. The man looks more curiousthan anything.

“So am I.” Elena admits with a grin, which he soon returns.Damn it, he’s even cuter when he’s smiling. “Do you, uh, do you mind if I hangout here? My name is Elena, by the way.”

“No, not at all. I’m Will.” He smiles all the wider as shepulls up a chair to sit opposite from the artist. “So what are you gettingdone?”

They talk for much, much longer than she’d anticipated. Histattoo doesn’t take that much longer to finish, yet he hangs around once theartist starts hers. Ivy dips out sometime around then after a getting a textfrom one of her sisters. On her way out, she makes some smart remark about howLenny clearly doesn’t need her for moral support anymore – but Lenny can tellfrom her face that she’s delighted by the turn of events.

When Elena asks Will to hold her hand whenever the pain ofthe tattoo gets bad, she can’t help but remind herself to tell Ivy later. Sheassumes her friend will be proud of her game.

Once the tattoo is finished, she can’t help but be a littledisappointed that their conversation has to finally come to an end. Lenny startsto pluck up the courage to ask for his number, but he beats her to the punch.

“Do you want to go out sometime?” he asks, a tiny buthopeful smile on his face.

“Yeah. Yes. Absolutely, that would be great.” Elena nods afrankly excessive amount of times in response, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Infact, he looks delighted.

Lenny gives him her number andleaves the shop feeling light as air, having entirely forgotten each and everyone of her previous worries about getting the tattoo in the first place.

talia + stella

Talia is bored – which admittedly might not be saying much,given that she is rather easily bored by nature. With that said, she’d come to thisparty expecting a good time. The only problem is she, oddly enough, isn’t inthe mood for a wild night. Her mom called earlier to try her usual song anddance about needing just a small loan that she’d pay back soon, leaving Talfeeling emotionally drained – though she’d never admit it. As a result, she isn’t all that engaged with anything going on around her. She tells herselfthat she simply needed more to drink is all.

It’s when she’s shuffling towards the bar that she firstcatches sight of the other woman, talking to another person Talia didn’t know.She stops in her tracks, staring unabashedly. Talia assumes she’d nevernoticed the woman before, given that she’s sure she would have rememberedher. Her eyes rove up and down the woman’s figure possibly a little too shamelessly,but Tal figures she won’t notice. She vows to herself there and then thatshe’d find out if the woman was straight or not, because damn.

Tal glances at her face next: the high cheekbones, wideeyes, red lips, and wavy hair. She’s so entranced that it takes her a momentthat the other woman apparently felt her eyes on her, for she looks up.Talia isn’t embarrassed. Although she’s surprised, it takes her only a momentbefore a flirty grin tugs at her lips. To her delight, the woman mirrors it.

She doesn’t even get a chance to move before the woman’sfriend tugs on her arm, pulling her away. Talia offers a tiny wave asflirtatious her smile; she’s pleased when the lady looks over her shoulderto maintain eye contact right until the pair round the corner into anotherroom.

The exchange is over before she knows it, yet it somehow reinvigorates Talia. She casts her wallowing and bitterness aside, focusing instead on hernewfound determination to find the woman and introduce herself as soon aspossible.

troy + ivy 

He can’t help but wonder if it’s a little ridiculous to bespending some of his time in the one of the most beautiful cities in the worldin a bar. At least he still has weeks left to truly explore Rome, Troy reasons.

It’s especially hard for him to regret being there when hefirst sees her.

Troy feels ridiculous, but he can’t seem to stop staring. He’ssomewhat relieved that the feeling is apparently mutual, given that he looks uponce or twice to catch her eyes already on him. A mysterious pull makes himwant to go closer, yet he doesn’t rush. He tries to engage himself in theconversation going on before her friends scatter and he throws in the towel,excusing himself from the group he’d come with. On a whim, he orders a bourbonon the rocks. It’s a gamble, but he has a good feeling.

He soon learns that he’d made a good risk. Theirconversation stretches much longer than he’d ever anticipated, though he’sgrateful for it. The crowd in the bar is dwindling down, yet he barely notices.His attention is focused completely on Ivy.

“Can I ask you a question?” she asks rather abruptly.

He’s intrigued. “Sure.”

“What made you want to come up and talk to me?” When shedoesn’t elaborate, he raised an eyebrow in unspoken question. Ivy continues. “Imean, look at you. You could have the attention of any woman in this car, andyou came and talked to me.”

He tries not to take too much pride in the compliment. “Well,aside from the obvious,” he mutters, gesturing at her. She’s unfairlyattractive, really. “We kept meeting each others’ eyes and I knew I’d kickmyself in the ass in the morning if I didn’t come and introduce myself. Call ita gut feeling, if you will.” Ivy blushes in response, at which Troy can’thelp but grin. He’s not teasing, simply charmed. Troy leaps at her suggestionthat they go for a walk, so eager is he that the conversation not yet end.

They wander through the streets of Rome and talk, theirfingers intertwined. Once they reach the Trevi Fountain, she pauses to remark onits beauty – but he has a hard time focusing on anything other than her.

Ivy turns and catches him staring. He doesn’t try to hidethe fact that he was, especially as she moves closer, closer, closer. Heindulges his desire to kiss her with an enthusiasm that is apparentlyreciprocated. They’re flush against each other, pulling one another closerstill, and Troy doesn’t want the kiss to end. When they break apart, onethought springs to mind.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Troy usually avoids any sortof legitimate romantic entanglements on business trips at all cause. They canonly ever end badly, or so he always reasons. A fling or two is fine, butanything serious is a risk.

“I don’t have any plans.” Ivy answers. For the second timethat night, Troy makes a gamble.

“Would you like to go out with me tomorrow night?” He castsaway his inhibitions and ignores his instincts reminding him that he shouldn’tbe getting involved with a strange while in a foreign country.

Yet her response is music to hisears. “I would love to.”

willow + grayson

In true Willow fashion, her nerves have led her to be wildlyoverprepared. She has a feeling that most teachers do not need to lug so manymaterials into their first classroom, but she’s gone above and beyond. It’s hardnot to feel a little ridiculous as she juggles boxes while shuffling towardswhat’s supposed to be her new classroom. She would rather get herself moved in inone go, however.

Trevor had been supposed to give her a hand, but ducked outat the last minute when some work buddies invited him out for a drink. Willshad chosen to try to manage it all herself, while pretending she wasn’t at allannoyed that her boyfriend had backed out on her.

She (finally) reaches the doorway of her classroom. Willow entersthe room backwards to ensure the boxes fit through the door. Once she makes itinside, she breathes a sigh of relief, turns around – and spots the obscenelyhandsome man sitting at the desk.

(She banishes the adjectives from her mind, since she’s notoff the market and thus not at liberty to comment on how handsome he is…. evenif he is really, ridiculously good-looking.)

“Um… hi! I’m sorry, but I think this is supposed to be myroom?” Willow second-guesses herself as she says it, her words turning from statementto question halfway through. The man looks skeptical, but not unkind.

“I’m not sure about that. This has been my classroom for afew years.” He looks contemplative. “Are you the person replacing Mr. Harris? Thatroom is next door.”

The name sounds familiar, so Willow shuffles on back out thedoor and glances at the number on the door next to it. Whoops.

“Oh my gosh, you’re right.” She blushes furiously as shere-enters the room. “I’m so sorry, I’ve been here five minutes and I’m walkingaround like I own the place –“ He cuts off her rambling apology.

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind.” Truthfully, he doeslook more amused than anything. “Do you want a hand with that?”

Wills glances at the boxes she’s juggling. “Oh, no. It’sfine, really. If you’re busy, I don’t want to interrupt…”

He shakes his head. “I’m not busy.”

“Okay, then sure. Thank you.” She beams at him and hereturns the smile, which makes her traitorous stomach do an involuntaryflip-flop. Willow feels a sting of guilt and forces herself to think of Trevor,though that has the opposite effect of making her feel irritated again. “Myboyfriend was supposed to come help, but… something came up. Anyways, it doesn’tmatter.” She sighs, shaking her head. The man takes the heavier of the two boxesfrom her and she balances the remaining one on her knee to stick out a hand. “I’mWillow Grant, by the way. It’s really nice to meet you.” Her grin reappears,and he returns it once more. His ridiculously blue eyes meet hers as he reachesout to shake her hand.

- A happy memory that makes them smile

cody was completely certain that he’d just married the most incredible woman on earth - not that he was biased or anything.

it was hard not to be overly sentimental when they’d only just gotten married (married!). if that hadn’t been enough on its own, marley was positively glowing at the moment. she hadn’t stopped smiling all day and cody was starting to think he’d never been more enamoured with her. in fact, he was finding it hard to stop staring at her. his eyes kept switching between her radiant grin and the new ring on her finger.

for about the millionth time that day, cody wondered how he’d gotten so lucky.

he didn’t have much time to stop and be too sentimental, however. the day was so busy that they rushed from the ceremony to photographs and back to the reception. when they had one spare moment, cody all but dragged her away to a secluded corner just to kiss her. predictably marley didn’t object.

once they broke apart, he rested his forehead against hers. “i’m so happy,” he breathed. it was the only thought that kept running through his head, over and over. marley’s grin widened.

“so am i,” she murmured back, just before she dragged him down for another kiss.

- A sad memory that makes them cry

“you have to take care of regan.”

her words were so laborious that cody almost wished she wouldn’t speak. she needed to rest, conserve her energy - but he was surprised enough by the sudden declaration that he didn’t tell her that.

“i already look out for regan, mom,” he replied instead, his voice tentative and bemused. she shook her head at him immediately.

“after. when you don’t have me.” charlotte’s words hit him like a punch in the gut.

“you don’t know that -” he started immediately, his tone more forceful now, but charlotte shook her head.

“it’s okay, love, it’s okay. all that matters to me is that i know you and your sister will have each other.”

the words made unbidden tears sting the back of his eyes. a flood of emotions hit him all at once, though his only coherent thought was that he was glad regan wasn’t there to hear their mother’s words.

“you’re going to be fine, mom.” cody was every inch as pragmatic as charlotte; they both knew his words were a lie.

“promise me you’ll be there for regan and look after her,” charlotte repeated stubbornly, even though it was an evident strain on her to do so. “i need to know.”

cody gave up all pretense. “of course, mom,” he whispered back. “always.”

- A memory that makes them feel angry

cody liked to think that his dad didn’t have any power over him. once upon a time, the mention of james thorne might have been enough to stir anger within him but no more. besides, he didn’t have the capacity for rage anymore in the wake of his mother’s death. all he felt was numbness.

as confident as he was that his father couldn’t affect him in any way anymore, cody’s certainty was sometimes greater than it should have been. months after his mother’s death, he had finally found the time to go through the last few boxes from their family home which needed sorting. it wasn’t as hard as it had been months ago, but he’d been putting it off. he knew at least one was full of photo albums that he didn’t know he was capable of facing yet.

when he finally steeled himself and took on the challenge, he found that it wasn’t as difficult as he’d anticipated it to be. here and there he felt a pang whenever he saw a picture of his mother, but cody was oddly comforted by the trip down memory lane. while he hadn’t been one for optimism in the past few months, he contentedly clung to the thought that he was lucky to have this many reminders left of his mother.

and then he turned the page to find a photo of himself with his father.

it was tucked away on the last page of the last album, a picture that charlotte had presumably missed when she’d quietly rid their home of james thorne’s image years before. for a moment, cody was too shocked to move. he hadn’t seen his father’s face in over fifteen years. he’d almost forgotten what the man had looked like.

rage overtook him then, as a barrage of thoughts flew through his head at once: why should he want to know what his father looked like? james had decided that his son would know nothing of him, after all. he’d decided that he’d leave charlotte to shoulder the burden of raising two children alone, and that cody would have to fend for himself and for regan when he lost the one parent he had left. james had voluntarily made cody a virtual orphan before he’d even turned twenty-three.

without thinking about what he was doing, cody savagely tore the photo of its sleeve. he ripped it into halves, then quarters, then eighths, making the pieces tinier and tinier as his anger mounted. once he could break it up no more, cody let the miniscule remains of the picture flutter to the floor and dropped his head into his hands.

it scared him sometimes, the ways in which his dad inspired such fury and such resentment in him. he didn’t want to be that person, not anymore, but once in a while cody vividly remembered how easily his father packed up and left. the rejection would feel fresh all over again.

- A memory that makes them feel guilty

cody had checked out of his mom’s tirade. he knew that he was late, yes. he knew that she was worried. he’d heard it all a million times before and he was too tired to focus on what she was saying. cody really just wanted to go to bed.

he wondered later if his mom could see that on his face, as she suddenly stopped speaking. “are you even listening to me?” she asked.

“what?” cody responded dumbly. he learned quickly that that was the wrong answer, as charlotte went quiet and it immediately set off alarm bells in his head.

“do you know how much time i spend trying to provide for this family?” she asked abruptly, her voice still low. “how hard i work to make sure you and regan have a roof over your heads? that you never go hungry? that you have a good life? and you don’t even care what i have to say to you.” she paused for a moment. “i have a meeting with my boss on monday because he’s upset i kept using every spare moment i had to try and call you to find out where you were.”

alarm flooded cody. “mom -” he started worriedly, but charlotte cut him off. it was as if she’d read his mind and known exactly what he was going to say.

“i know you didn’t mean for that to happen, but it did.” she looked away from him. “and you can’t even be arsed to listen to me now.” charlotte sighed and took a step back. “i need to go get groceries.”

she didn’t give him a chance to try to explain himself as she swiftly left their kitchen. cody knew he didn’t deserve it. he sat there, flooded with guilt, not sure how he could possibly make it up to her.

- A memory about one of their loved ones, happy or sad

he’d never been great at handling spectacles. although cody was proud to be a fully fledged firefighter now, he hadn’t been looking forward to the graduation ceremony at all. the moment it had ended, he’d been flooded with relief. he could disappear into the crowd without a worry about anyone noticing if he stumbled or said the wrong words.

cody had found his mother and sister quickly, as their bright red hair had practically signalled him to them. it was impossible to lose a thorne in a crowd. the three of them had made idle talk about the ceremony before regan spotted a classmate of hers, who had been watching her own sister graduate as well. once regan drifted off to say hi to her friend, charlotte turned to cody with a curious look on her face.

“i’m so proud of you,” she said earnestly.

“mom…” he began bashfully, in the typical tone of a child brushing off their parent’s public affection.

charlotte cut him off before he could continue. “no, listen to me.” she reached up to adjust his tie as she spoke. “you’re doing a wonderful thing. i have always been proud to call you my son, but never more than today.”

cody was surprised to find that the sentiment struck him with emotion as well. he didn’t know how to reply meaningfully, so instead he reached out and wordlessly pulled his mom into a hug.

he only hoped she knew how much those words meant to him, and how much they would still mean to him years into the future.

- A memory that leaves them feeling lonely

it wasn’t until after the funeral that it began to set in for him.

after they’d talked for a while, regan had fallen asleep on the couch. he’d waken her up in order to direct her towards her room, in which he’d set up her bed from their mom’s house a few days previously. he would have let her stay on the couch had he not known that he would be awake for a few more hours still. there were papers and folders haphazardly stacked on his countertops, practically begging for his attention.

since regan was still a minor, all the responsibilities that came with sorting out his mother’s estate now fell on him. truthfully, he didn’t mind that so much. cody didn’t want regan to put any of that on her shoulders. she’d been through more than enough for a kid not even yet out of high school. he would do everything in his power to ensure that she could have the time to adjust to life without their mom, while he took care of the nitty gritty details.

but even just glancing at the papers scattered across his apartment was enough to bring a pang to cody’s chest. there was more to do than he could remember all at once, such as sorting out his mom’s finances, paying her debt, figuring out what to do with the house, moving everything out of the house, and - most importantly - making sure that he could get guardianship of regan for her last couple of years of high school.

cody had no idea where to start. worse yet, he felt completely inept. he was going to the courts the next day to sort out regan’s guardianship, as that was at the top of his priority list. he didn’t entirely know what to expect, to be honest. he wasn’t sure if it would take days or weeks or months, only that his mom had recommended it in her will which might be a good sign. he’d done as much reading on it as he’d had the time for between planning the funeral, but he was still confused, still scared, and still uncertain about what the hell he was doing.

he’d borrowed a suit from one of his coworkers in order to try to look as professional as he could. try as he might to appear older, he was only twenty-two. he was out of his depth and terrified of what might happen with regan’s guardianship.

if he lost her, he’d have no one left.

even years down the line, he can remember that thought hitting him like a ton of bricks as he stood in the middle of his old apartment. the distance of time still isn’t enough to dull the remembrance of the pang of loneliness that hit him at that moment.

- A memory that leaves them laughing

“what the fuck is he doing?”

marley was already snickering, but the question just made her laugh harder. “he decided that he wants to replace the flag,” she managed to say through her laughter. “he thinks it’s a brilliant senior prank.”

“no he isn’t,” was cody’s reply, as he started to cackle himself. “shit, where’s jake?”

“he’s coming.” marley turned to him with a wide grin on her face, her eyes alight with laughter, and cody forgot himself for a moment. he only shook himself out of it when she spoke again. “our friends are ridiculous.”

right as she said it, the flag floated down from above. cody and marley could barely contain themselves once they looked up and saw joe shirtless, somehow tying his shirt to the flag pole as he clung to it to keep from falling.

“that fucking idiot,” cody guffawed, his tone inexplicably fond. “sacrificing his own life for a joke.”

“that would be our friends,” marley giggled. it was as though one’s amusement kept setting off the other, as every time cody or marley would settle down, the other person would crack up and start the cycle anew.

for the rest of the day, they couldn’t even make eye contact without spontaneously dissolving into laughter all over again. 

- A memory about their significant other

as rory was now old enough that her sleep schedule was becoming more stable and predictable, cody and marley were more often crashing at the same time she did in order to get as much rest as possible. tonight, however, they’d gotten to talking just after their daughter had fallen asleep. it had turned into a much deeper conversation than cody had expected earlier in the evening, but he certainly didn’t mind. although the conversation had become more like a heart-to-heart, it was somehow still easy. he was still astonished by how simple it often was for him to practically bare his soul to her.

they were talking about the future, mostly as it concerned rory, when the conversation took a turn. “and whenever we get married -” marley had started before cutting herself off suddenly as she looked up at him, as if checking his reaction. cody’s eyes widened in surprise and marley hastily started speaking again. “not that we have to get married or anything -”

cody cut her off this time. “you wanna marry me?” he asked in a stunned voice. marley blushed faintly, then smiled.

“maybe.”

cody frowned in contemplation at her words. “i guess i shouldn’t be surprised,” he said after a moment. “you’re pretty much obsessed with me. it makes sense that you’d want to lock me down.”

marley groaned. “shut up.” 

“you’d tell a man that you want to marry to shut up?” he gasped. “i’m hurt. i’m wounded.”

“you are such a dumbass.”

“a dumbass that you want to marry,” cody shot back immediately with a cackle. marley looked less amused. “but you know what?” he leaned in closer and dropped his voice to a murmur. “i wouldn’t mind marrying you either.”

a small smile illuminated marley’s face again. “yeah?”

“yeah,” he nodded, leaning in to give her a kiss. “i guess that’s something we’re going to have to keep in mind.”

- A memory about their children

it was cody’s favorite kind of night. he was off work for a couple of days, as was marley. she’d come home early from work, just in time to catch rory before she started to crash. the three of them had piled up on the couch and put on beauty and the beast, per rory’s request. the three of them had been comfortably snuggled up for some time when marley shifted suddenly.

cody’s eyes flicked towards her immediately, an unspoken question on his face. “it’s okay,” marley muttered. “they’re just moving around a lot.”

that intrigued rory enough to make her turn her attention away from the movie. “the babies are moving?” she asked curiously. cody and marley smiled at her fondly.

“here.” marley took her daughter’s hand and placed it on her belly. as if they knew it was there, one of the twins kicked right under rory’s hand. she looked at both of her parents with awe in her eyes.

“one kicked!”

“they’re saying hi to you,” cody murmured with a smile. at that, rory leaned closer to the left side of marley’s bump. she got so close that her nose touched marley.

“hi, i love you,” she whispered before giving the left side of marley’s belly a kiss. she turned to the right side. “hi, i love you,” she whispered again, laying another kiss there.

cody thought his heart might burst at the sight of it. judging by marley’s expression when he caught her eye, she was feeling the same.

“any chance we can get them here any faster?” he asked. marley laughed in response while wiping a tear from her eye.  

as rory turned her attention back to the movie, cody pulled both of his girls closer. not for the first time, he thought about how excited he was for their family to grow.

- A memory about their friends

“you need to just ask her out.”

cody groaned, throwing a hand over his face. “didn’t we go over how that’s a bad idea?”

ash raised an eyebrow at him. “no, you went over how that’s a bad idea,” he clarified. “i thought it made no sense.”

“i’m not ruining years and years of friendship when i just got her back. i’m not doing it.” cody shook his head vehemently as if that emphasized his point. “besides, she definitely doesn’t like me anyways.”

he didn’t look, but he could practically feel ashton rolling his eyes. “yeah, and all the times i’ve caught her staring at you were just flukes.”

“you were seeing things. i hear that happens when you get old.” cody laughed at his own joke, though he knew ashton was less than amused.

“i’m barely older than you.”

“yeah, well,” cody snickered, not even bothering to come up with a better comeback. he returned to the topic at hand. “i’m not asking her out. i’m going to stay single until i get over this and we can be sad, miserable, single old guys together.”

“wow, that sounds great,” ash replied flatly.

“it’ll be beautiful, man. believe me.”

- A memory about a good deed they did

one of the first things he learned on the job was that he didn’t particularly like the hero worship.

being put on the spot in any way made cody feel strange and uncomfortable. he was proud of the work that he did, sure, but he hadn’t yet done anything worthy of praise. it seemed ridiculous to him that anyone might be willing to treat him like he was doing something all that amazing. while he was good at false bravado, no one could accuse cody thorne of being legitimately full of himself and self-important.

he preferred to think of his work as just a job until he faced the worst call of his career up until that point, a little less than three years after he joined the station. one house fire had caused pandemonium as homes on either side were ablaze before it could be contained. before cody knew it, a woman was frantically telling him that her little brother was inside and stuck in the far corner of the house. 

he didn’t even have time to think. they broke down the door and scurried to the spot indicated, though cody was the first to make it to the kid’s room. he couldn’t have been any more than ten, which made it easy for cody to scoop him up and dart from the room. cody’s adrenaline was so high that it felt as though he’d gone in and out in a flash. he didn’t crash until after he’d handed the boy over to the paramedics, at which point he had to sit on the sidewalk himself to catch his breath.

he didn’t have a chance to do so, as someone suddenly crashed into him. “thank you, thank you, thank you!” the woman squealed as she hugged him. cody belatedly returned the hug, dazed and confused as he was.

“i watched you bring him out,” she rapidly explained. she pulled away so that cody could see that she was the woman from earlier. “you saved his life - he’s not even injured, thank you, i can’t -”

cody wanted to explain that it hadn’t just been him, that he was a small part of a much bigger team - but a tiny voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like his mother urged him to accept that he’d done something amazing. “don’t mention it.” he shook off her words. “really, it’s just my job. i’m glad he’s okay.”

as the woman flung her arms around him for another hug, cody allowed himself to smile. 

- A memory that made them feel special

on the morning of his twenty-seventh birthday, all cody could think of was how far he’d come since his last birthday. a year ago, he was single, doing little other than working, and trying to figure out how to tell marley that he liked her. now he was waking up next to her and she was seven months pregnant with their child. he never would have dreamed that this would be where he was now a year ago, but he was more than content.

while he hadn’t planned on doing much for his birthday, marley had informed him that her grandmother had asked if they’d like to come over to their place for dinner. he’d been surprised by that. he hadn’t even known that marley had told them it was his birthday, actually - but he’d agreed to the plan.

cody was still tentative around her family, to be honest. he saw them fairly frequently and they’d always been good to him, but worries about what they really thought of him always lurked in the back of his mind.

he had assumed the birthday dinner they’d offered to host might be like the sunday dinners guadalupe hosted. he hadn’t expected them to do anything too big - so he’d been completely surprised to find out they’d gone all out.

cody had known that they’d invited regan as well, of course, but he hadn’t known that marley had told her grams all of cody’s favorite foods so that she could make them for dinner and that they’d gotten him gifts.

for a moment he was so surprised that he didn’t know what to say.

even throughout the rest of the night, he couldn’t completely believe it. he was so stunned that they’d gone so out of their way to make his birthday as special as possible, even when they’d only known him a few short months.

- A memory that made them feel loved

four days after his mother’s funeral, cody was feeling adrift. he’d been making progress on all that he had to sort out, but he felt as though he was spinning plates and struggling to keep them all from shattering on the ground. it was one thing after another, after another, after another. he was barely keeping his head above water.

while part of him was glad that he had plenty to keep himself busy, cody found himself forgetting certain essential tasks - like eating, for instance. he was constantly worrying over regan and ensuring that she was sleeping, eating, and taking care of herself, but cody couldn’t say the same for himself. he simply didn’t have any time to do so.

things changed after he casually mentioned to bea via text that he hadn’t eaten since the afternoon before.

later that night, he heard a knock at his door. cody’s brow furrowed as he approached, not knowing what to expect. he was even more bemused when he discovered what looked like half the firehouse waiting to be let in.

“what the hell?” he began as they shuffled past him into the apartment, but bea cut him off before he could continue.

“we brought over as much food as we could so that you don’t have an excuse for not eating,” she explained as they dropped bags on the counter one by one. cody absentmindedly wondered if colby had emptied the entire contents of his fridge.

“you guys didn’t need to -” again, bea cut him off.

“you wouldn’t accept help before, but you have to now. we want to be there for you.” she exchanged a look with him that reminded him that she knew well what it was like to battle through grief. that reminder made him less willing to refuse their help.

“thanks, guys,” he offered after a moment instead, his voice thicker with emotion than he’d expected it to be. “it means a lot.”

for the first time since his mom’s death, he felt less alone.

- A memory that gets their heart pounding

the first time he gets to a scene as a fully-fledged firefighter, he was fucking terrified.

he felt like an idiot for it. he’d trained for so long to get to this point and he’d been so eager to learn, but it turned out that being faced with a real burning building was a lot more intimidating than he’d anticipated.

to his great shame, cody hesitated the moment he stepped out of the cab of the truck. he didn’t know what to do, what to say, why he was even here. he couldn’t do this, surely? he couldn’t be capable of running headlong into a smouldering wreck and saving people’s lives. he wasn’t brave enough, or clever enough, or resourceful enough -

every doubt he’d ever had rushed through his head as his anxiety built, making his heart pound in the process. he’d have to leave, and what then? they’d make a mockery out of him and deservedly so.

before he could share his thoughts with any of his superiors, one of the veterans caught his arm. brooks looked down at him with a knowing look. “you good, thorne?”

cody couldn’t even answer; his throat was too dry. brooks sighed.

“look, kid,” he began. “everyone’s scared shitless at their first go-around. you just need to turn your damn brain off and listen to your gut instinct, you hear me?”

at first, cody only nodded slowly. as the idea sunk in, however, he nodded more urgently and found his voice again. “sir yes sir,” he finally responded, with a hint of a joke in his voice. to his relief, brooks laughed.

“atta boy. now go get at ‘em.”

his heart didn’t stop racing once and fear still clung to him, but cody turned off his thoughts and plunged in headfirst.

- Wildcard!!!

“hey, baby girl,” cody whispered as he darted into rory’s room. marley was fast asleep and he’d prefer to keep it that way, considering she had work the next day and he did not. rory’s cries quieted a little as cody scooped her up close to his chest, though she continued to squirm. cody made for the kitchen.

“you hungry?” he murmured as he opened the kitchen door and retrieved some of the milk marley had pumped before bed. cody easily drifted into what was a familiar routine by now. he would often not-so-jokingly claim that he could prepare a bottle in his sleep with rory nestled in one arm. cody had to bounce her up and down as he worked in order to keep her from crying out too loudly again. that made the process go slower, but he still had the bottle ready within good time.

cody settled them both on the couch before he offered her the bottle. rory took it gratefully. “there you go.” he lapsed into silence again for a moment, glancing up to check that marley seemed to still be asleep. he then turned back to rory, waiting until she decided she was done. once she had, he picked her upright to burp her. after that, he cleaned up her face and nestled her back in his arms so that he could stand.

as they wandered back to her room, cody looked down at his infant daughter. “what do you think, rore?” he asked absentmindedly. “you think i’m doing a good job?” rory gurgled in response, which made him chuckle. “that’s praise, right?” when rory made another small noise, he nodded. “hey, i’ll take it.”

carley

the name of your muse in my muse’s phone: “missus [heart eyes emoji] [fire emoji] [heart emoji]”a picture that my muse has of yours in contacts: he has approximately two million but i like this one because it makes me think of them taking dumb pictures on the way to/from the honeymoon (also that’s a very marley outfit or skirt at least???)the ringtone for your muse: he doesn’t understand how to set ringtones so it is 100% a joke one that she did, something along the lines of love machinemy muse’s last text to your muse: there is a 99% chance that at any given time, cody’s last text to her is either “i love you” or a succession of kissy face emojis or both

grills

the name of your muse in my muse’s phone: “gray [sparkle heart emoji] [rose emoji] [heart eyes emoji]”a picture that my muse has of yours in contacts: i went back in your tag for this and this would kill willow dead - she doesn’t want gray to know how bad her baby fever is because she’s worried about scaring him off but she would see that and her ovaries would yell - but also this because damn it she still thinks it’s a cute lookthe ringtone for your muse: willow is hella sentimental so it’s something highkey cheesy but also she’d have her ringtone off ALL the time because damn it if their students heard thatmy muse’s last text to your muse: "if you get your marking out of the way before we go to dinner, i’ll reward you for it later.” (will is a hella Responsible teacher even tho she’d blush just sending that text)

jabby

the name of your muse in my muse’s phone: “jax [heart emoji]” because abby is too unsentimental for a million emojis, but the one says a lot!a picture that my muse has of yours in contacts: jax and dogs, her two favorite thingsthe ringtone for your muse: it’s some sort of inside joke, like some sort of terrible pop from either the late 90s or early 2000s. actually, my brain just went to vanilla ice and idek why but something that ridiculous and randommy muse’s last text to your muse:something along the lines of “go kick ass tonight. love you, nerd.” abby’s great at romance!

stalia

the name of your muse in my muse’s phone: “stella [smirk emoji] [fire emoji]” tbha picture that my muse has of yours in contacts: this one from halloween (tal is Into It, because of course she is) and/or this one because maybe tal secretly likes getting random selfies from her the ringtone for your muse: i’m so bad at these can you tell omg but idek!!! idk if tal would even use a song but she’d get to the point where stella gets a different ringtone than everyone else so that she knows it’s hermy muse’s last text to your muse: “come to my place after my shift is done ;)” since tal is the least subtle

cash