Luckiest Man Alive (and other stories)

Author’s Note: This is a small compilation of drabbles based on prompts from a “Which Member of your OTP” list. Thank you to Ladynevrakis, Violetflipflops, and Mrswalkerwrites for the requests! I had way too much fun with these.

Luckiest Man Alive

Prompt: Which member… always waits for the other to fall asleep first

Her breathing deepens and the muscles in her back relax completely against my chest. I raise my head slightly; just enough so her profile comes into view.

God is she beautiful.

My fingers carefully brush strands of silky, dark golden brown hair off of her face.

“I’m so glad I met you,” I whisper into her ear before placing a soft kiss to her temple, as I do every night we are able to fall asleep together, and then settle back in beside her.

Content in the knowledge that my wife has fallen into a slumber relatively free of the stress that plagues her waking hours, I allow my own eyes to close. I drift off into a restful sleep, wondering yet again how I could possibly be lucky enough to have this amazing woman beside me for the rest of my life.

Raccoons and Rye Chips

Prompt: Which member… picks all of the good stuff out of the Chex Mix

“Again, Iowa?” Seth implores, raising one brow and eyeing me carefully.

“What?” I reply, grinning like a toddler caught in the act of knowingly doing something they shouldn’t.

I plop down on the futon next to him, stealing a quick glance at the bowl of snack mix on his lap. He rolls his eyes, his lips curving up into an amused smile.

“You know what.” He playfully nudges me with his shoulder. “Every time we buy a bag of Chex Mix for movie night and leave it with you, it’s mysteriously open and lacking rye chips when I go to pour it in the bowl.”

“I told you, Rocket is getting really sneaky lately.”

“And suddenly very picky about the food he eats.”

“Raccoons. What are you going to do?” I shrug, glancing up at Seth with a cheeky look plastered on my face and we both dissolve into unrestrained laughter.

“You know we could get a bag with only the bagel chips, right?” he asks, still grinning wildly.

“Yes, but you like everything else. Plus, we’d have to go to that store all the way across town to find them.” I snatch up the remote to start the movie at the same moment Seth reaches forward to grab something hidden under the coffee table.

“Well, it’s a good thing your boyfriend had a gig next-door to that shop last night and remembered your intense love for said salty snack, isn’t it?” he says, producing a heaping bowl of slightly curved, crunchy brown disks.

“Yes, it is,” I reply tenderly, setting the bowl in my lap before turning to meet his gaze again. “And that level of thoughtfulness is one of many reasons I love him.”

Delicious Addictions

Prompt: Which member… spends WAY to much time in the snack food aisle while grocery shopping

“Is that the exact same spot I left you in ten minutes ago?” The familiar joking voice of my girlfriend pulls me out of a deep concentration.

“No, I’ve moved a couple steps since then. I needed a better view of the fancy pretzel flavors.” I respond, matching her wit head on, and I can see the smirk growing on her face in my peripheral vision.

“We’re making snacks for the party tomorrow, Seth. We don’t need to buy any.”

“Yes, but I still need something for tonight. And tomorrow night. And maybe Sunday too,” I explain, grabbing three bags off of the shelf and tossing them in the cart beside me.

“You are addicted to snack foods, Levine,” Kaylee laughs and I can practically hear her eyes rolling in amusement.

“Tough words coming from the woman who made me hide the salted caramel Oreos from her last week so she wouldn’t eat them all before our friends came over for movie night.”

“Touché. And now that you mention it, we might need some of those for tonight too.”

Bad Influences

Prompt: Which member… spends WAY too much time in the snack food aisle while grocery shopping

Author’s note: This prompt was requested twice, and since I see both Seth and Kaylee fitting this prompt for different reasons (and I had two ideas) I decided to write another little drabble. 

“Iowa, what are these doing in here?” Seth asks me suspiciously, pointing to the two packs of Nutty Bars I tried to sneak into the cart while he was grabbing something on the other end of the aisle.

“Oh my goodness, how did those get in there?” I respond with over-exaggerated surprise. “It must have been Viv. You know she’s on a sweets kick.”

We both glance at our two year old daughter, who is happily sitting in the cart in front of us, just in time to watch her grab a candy bar from the shelf, sniff it, rub it on her cheek fondly, then place it back in the exact spot she took it from.

“Yes, and I’m also aware of where she gets her sweet tooth from.” Seth says with a wide smile. He informs Vivi of her wrong doing with a gentle sternness, then swiftly tosses the candy bar, now covered with essence of toddler, into the cart before we all continue on our journey though the store.

“You know, your lie would have worked better if you’d gotten something that wasn’t on the very top shelf. And I thought we agreed to both try laying off our snack food vices for a while?”

“I can’t, it’s impossible. These babies want sugar and they want it bad. I’m powerless against them Seth; it’s two against one.” I tenderly rub my ever-growing midsection and Seth snorts loudly.

“Fine, I guess I can’t argue with that.” He chuckles and reaches over to join his hand with mine atop my stomach. “Now, my little dynamic duo, what are your thoughts on your daddy snagging a bag of his favorite chips?”

The Klutziest Ninja

Prompt: Which member… is too clumsy for their own good

“We did it! She’s back asleep, in her crib, in her own room, and it only took us… twenty minutes!” I softly cheer. My husband’s open palm meets mine in a silent high-five and I hear a gentle snort escape his throat.

“You know we still have the hardest part ahead of us right? We might want to leave the room before celebrating too much.” He says semi-seriously, his voice barely audible as we start to walk out of the nursery.

“Hey, I’ve totally got this. I’m a ninja.”

“Yeah,” he chuckles, “only if ninjas are loud and clumsy.”

“Hey!” I retort, feigning hurt.

My next step falters, all of my limited brainpower focusing on trying to playfully nudge Seth, and I stumble forward uncontrollably. A loud thunk reverberates through the once silent room, my shoulder catching my fall against the wall.

Strong hands grasp my waist, pulling me back into an upright position. We both stand deadly still and silent as we wait for the inevitable bawling to begin again.

When it doesn’t come, we let out a simultaneous breath of relief.

“Way to go, Ms. Ninja.”

“That’s Mrs. Ninja to…” The solid edge of the doorway stops me in my tracks with a resounding thud, my eye making contact with the corner hard.

“SHIT!”

Instantly the room fills with wails, equally as heartbreaking as they are ear-shattering.

“You okay?” Seth asks.

“I think so, but I might have a nice shiner in the morning.”

“So the score is wall two, Kaylee zero tonight then,” Seth teases. He places a tender kiss right above my now throbbing eye then carefully guides me to the open doorway. “I’ve got her this time, go get some sleep.”

I reach out and give his hand a grateful squeeze before we turn to go our separate ways. By the time I’m back in our bedroom, an ice pack pressed to my face, the cries have quieted again. A smile paints my face and I roll my eyes when I hear Seth through the baby monitor.

“You really have to let your mama rest more Vivi; this whole sleep deprivation thing has made her even clumsier than usual and I’m starting to get a little worried… for all of us.”