tender

freddy, 30 perhaps you were born for such a time as this

[freddyatkins-blog]

Freddy didn’t really mind spending his days off at conferences and staff development days. Teaching and education were always changing and new research was always being done, so learning more and improving his practice was something he enjoyed doing. It was also convenient that a lot of the sessions were done at Wilson College, a perfect location for such which meant that Freddy could walk right there and back. Today was a good day, even with the training day, because he was meeting up with his buddy @tylersackerman after they guy had finished teaching one of his classes. Freddy’s session had just finished, it’d been a cool one and had given him some new ideas of how to use technology in his classroom, so he headed over to the cafe area, where he’d agreed to meet his friend. He set up his laptop just to write some follow up notes and to do a little further research and clicked shuffle on his favourite playlist. When Cher’s ‘believe’, came on, he tried to hold it in, but Freddy couldn’t resist singing along as he waited for his friend.

[freddyatkins-blog]

hadley-mackey:

Hadley raised an eyebrow at his comment. “I have too. Much worse than paint though. I’m a nurse over at the hospital.” Hadley worked closely with traumas, and all to often she found herself covered in an assortment of things. “I wouldn’t of taken you to be an elementary teacher,” she laughed. Her cheeks were slowly turning red from the embarrassment of spilling coffee on someone. “I hope you weren’t heading to work. I’d feel like a complete jerk.” At his suggestion, Hadley glanced down at her watch. She had a few minutes to spare, and she really needed that cup of coffee. “Again, I’m really sorry. I need to pay attention more.”

It was only when the girl mentioned where she worked did Freddy realise that he'd seen this face before. About two months ago, Grace had fallen off this dodgy swing they'd found when exploring the woods with his mother and father. They'd rushed her into the ER as soon as, and that was where he'd seen her face before. "Oh shit, yeah, I know you. I'm sure you probably see a lot of people and a lot of patients but I brought Grace in about two months ago...she was the one who made a big effort to let you know that your scrubs were all bloody and then made a little song up about it for you...?" Wondering if she'd remember and conscious of time, Freddy opened up the door and held it open for the girl if she wanted to grab abother coffee. "Really?" He joked, in response to her not thinking she'd be an elementary teacher. "How come?" He felt bad for the girl at the same time, her cheeks seemed to be turning a lovely shade of tomato red due to the embarrassment of what'd just happened. "Oh, no, I'm not, don't worry. Just a pick me up before a huge grocery shop. Tiring business." Freddy tried to reassure the girl that all was okay. It wasn't like he wasn't used to having stuff splattered all over him. "Don't worry about it. Are you on the way to work? Sure that'll distract you from all of this if you are."

[freddyatkins-blog]

clco:

The weather was getting warmer and all around Wilson, flowers were beginning to bloom. It was Cleo’s favorite time of year, so of course she’d begun her morning walks. They’d get more frequent as the season progressed, but for now she stuck to the weekends. All she’d taken with her was her cellphone (set on silent, really only just in case of emergnecy) and her sketchpad and a pencil. Her walks mostly consisted of stopping every few minutes to draw, if she were being honest. When she’d been out for a while, she happened to pass Freddy’s house and nearly missed the pancake sign on the door were it not for the particularly interesting way the shadows were falling in his yard. Now, sat at his kitchen table with the smell of fresh pancakes wafting through the room, she fully realized how hungry she was. “Just syrup and a bit of butter is perfect,” she said. “Do you happen to have bananas?” she asked, as she loved to slice them up and put them on top. “Definitely a good day,” Cleo agreed with a nod. A happy sigh fell from her lips at the look of the pancakes on the plate in front of her. “I’ve still not been able to finish this song I’ve been working on for like a month,” she said, drowning her pancakes in syrup.

Anyone who chose to have syrup with their pancakes went straight up into Freddy's good books. But then again, anyone - until they gave him reason not to - ended up there, generally. Cleo was a little different, in a way. He'd known her since she was a kid, him being a few years older and she'd pretty much been in the good books since she'd arrived in Wilson. With the syrup on the table ready for self application - because it was a personal thing, obviously - Freddy nodded with complete understanding as the girl asked for a banana, too. "What a great shout," he said with a smile, jumping up to grab one from the fruit bowl close by before handing it to the girl. “My mom has them with bananas, too and let me tell you, you don’t wanna’ see Lucy Atkins when you tell her you don’t have the right condiments to go with her pancakes.”  Freddy was always happy to see others happy as a result of his pancakes. He did take a lot of pride in them. "Ah...songwriter's block, hey?" He said with a sigh as he took a seat once again and hummed a little tune, almost to try and inspire them both. He would try and help her, but he wasn't sure he’d be much use. Grace was the musical one in his house, but potentially only with the help of Cleo, in the first place. "Right, we got this. What's it about?"

[freddyatkins-blog]

ellictism:

            being back, time rolled itself forward and elliot was pushing through the crowd. it wasn’t the first time seeing freddy since coming home but it hadn’t been as much as he would have liked. but being grace-free was enough to send him to his door. he could get all the attention he wanted— completely focused on elliot and elliot alone. sipping the orange juice that was first poured when he got here, he bounced his knee from the seat he’d gladly taken at the table. maybe getting cooked a nice meal wasn’t so bad either, considering he has little to no money, and has been skipping meals to make sure his bills get paid. but this was no day for talking about sad things like no money, or boys. he was just glad to be under this roof again.   “ drench that baby in syrup. i want four cavities by the time i leave here today. “   he didn’t tell his mama he was coming over, but she knew they were still close. she was glad freddy could be someone to elliot. and really, he was glad too.   “ well i’m still gay. “   he nods, looking around the quaint place.   “ still got student debt from beauty school. still bitter about the passing of prince. still way too big for this small town. “   he sighed, perching his chin on his palm.   “ not much, to be honest, though, fred. the world keeps on spinnin’. ”   not much that he wanted to share at the early morning breakfast table, anyways.

Freddy felt pretty contented having Elliot sat back in his house. He was essentially the closest thing he had to a son, and for the two years Freddy had dated his mom, that was pretty much what he was. Even now, despite the break up a few years ago, Freddy still looked out for him as if he was his own, even though his badass mom pretty much had that covered. Feeling a little stupid for not remembering that the kid was a syrup fan, Freddy glazed the pancakes all over, just before grabbing a knife and fork for him to dig in with. “You’ll be getting way more than 4 from those badboys, cholesterol central, BMI through the roof, throw all your chances of being the fittest guy in Wilson out of the window, buddy, ” Freddy said with complete pride and absolutely no remorse whatsoever, the smile that rarely left his face observing the boy with an air of gratitude that the kid was even still in his life, nevermind still willing to eat pancakes with him in his house, after he broke up with his mom. “STILL?!” Teddy joked, pretending to be shocked. “You mean, it wasn’t just ‘a phase’?” The ‘phase’ part came out in a mildly passive aggressive tone. God, he hated people who actually thought that was a thing. He loved Elliot for all he was, almost in an effort to pull out the version of him that he knew everyone else would love, if only Elliot would allow himself to be that person back here in Wilson. Freddy leaned over to steal a bit of his pancakes, listening to Elliot speak as he did so. The words that came out of his mouth were tainted with sadness, but the way he said them implied that for now, he was alright with them. “Student debt,” Freddy repeated with a groan. “How I feel that pain.” He still hadn’t got rid of his. “One day, when Grace is some big music star, she might lend us a few dollars to pay it all off. Haven’t quite brought this idea up yet but y’know. We can hope, hey? and Prince...” Freddy shook his head with literal despair, “don’t think we’ll ever get over that one, dude.” Him and Elliot had bonded over their love of Prince. “Him and David Bowie...fuck me. 2016 wasn’t kind to anyone.” Freddy desperately wanted to overlook Elliot’s comment about being ‘too big for this small town,’ but he couldn’t help it. He knew that it was just a passing comment, despite them both knowing it had a deeper meaning, but it hurt him to hear the guy say it. “One day buddy, one day, they’ll see what we see...” Freddy trailed off, not wanting to linger on the topic that Elliot didn’t seem all too keen to discuss at the breakfast table. He paused for a second and then began to chuckle to himself. “Wish I wasn’t spinning that Kylie Minogue song in my head right now...but I am.” Stealing another bit of pancake from Elliot’s plate, Freddy continued to observe the guy. “You getting many clients? You know that Grace would give you her pocket money to do hers.”

[freddyatkins-blog]

↳ INSTAGRAM: @freddyatkins​ uploaded a new photo

my first graders did me proud with these #bestjobintheworld

❤ 26 likes, ✐ 4 comments

[howlingdevil-blog]

“Well, well. Look what the cat drug in.” A smirk spreads across the boys features as he leans forward against the bar. A curious brow will arch as he looks towards the other. “And what is someone like you doing at Bennie’s tonight? I know it’s not for this wonderful crowd.” Nate motions outwards towards the already drunken crowd. It wouldn’t be a Saturday night if people weren’t drug before the night even really began.

[freddyatkins-blog]

Freddy had just popped into Bennie’s to see when his buddy, Nate was going to finish work for the night. He wondered if maybe the guy wanted to come round for a chill night with Sofia, his little sister. A pizza night in with good TV and even better company. “God, I wish I could be that drunk this early again. Now, I can barely last till 8pm,” Freddy admitted shamefully, covering his face a little with embarrassment. “When do you get off, man? You and Sof can come round for pizza later, if you fancy it? Feel like I need an excuse to crack out my crate of beer and not a crate of Lego.”

[crestfxllens-archive-deactivate]

Hadley wasn’t the best when it came to keeping track of time. She was forgetful, but it was something she never wanted to admit. She had every single shift or doctors appointment or plans she made set in her phone with an alarm that went off at least ten minutes before she had to leave. Even with the alarms, she always found herself running late. She rushed out the door of the coffee shop still trying to squeeze the lid on. She wasn’t paying any attention to where she was going, and she slammed into another body. Her coffee fell to the concrete with a splash. Hadley slowly brought her eyes up to the stranger. “I am so sorry. I really should pay more attention.”

[freddyatkins-blog]

Being a teacher was a messy business. Paint was often smeared all over the place, there was a lot of kneeling down involved and although the dress code was smart casual, no teacher below first grade would ever wear their 'smart casual' clothes to work. So when Hadley managed to spill her coffee just in front of him, Freddy's jeans weren't exactly unseasoned to the unexpected caffeine decoration. "Don't even worry, I've had worse things on my pants..." he began, before realising how weird that sounded. "Just to clarify, I mean poo and paint...not er-" Freddy shook his head awkwardly, chuckling, hoping to shake off the awkwardness of his reply. "Elementary teacher," he added quietly with an awkward smile, before a lightbulb came on in his head. "Replacement coffee to make up for my weird unintended euphemism?"

[freddyatkins-blog]

Freddy had been making pancakes his entire life. It was by far his favourite meal both to eat and make, and he was pretty much convinced that his mom’s Canadian gene was to thank for that. Being Grace-free for the day meant that he essentially had the freedom to do whatever he needed round the house, so given that Wilson was a nice town, he’d left a sign on the door saying ‘free pancakes’ and naturally, had ended up with a guest. “You want syrup with these? Nutella? Cream?” He offered, turning his head with a proud smile to look at the person sat at his kitchen table. “When pancakes are on the menu, it’s a sure sign of a good day.” Freddy announced, before placing the pancakes and additional condiments down on the table for the person. Chucking one of Grace’s superhero figures over into the living room, he sat down opposite his guest. “So, update me on stuff. I’ve still only got one ball and you’ve still...?”

[freddyatkins-blog]

hello new friends!! i’m rosie!  just thought i’d say hey and introduce freddy a lil bit! hope u are all having a nice day and stuff and happy easter if ur celebrating ✌ (i’ll put the summary down below) 100% down to plot and stuff so if you have any ideas feel free to come at me with them! imma message some people too so hopefully we can get some good stuff going!

sooo freddy is essentially a precious angel bear of a human and will p much do anything for anyone cos he’s cute af, he’s been through some stuff so cancer tw and as a result sees life through some ‘if not now, when’ kinda eyes etc

so he was born to 2 high school sweethearts, good models of love and stuff and was an only child till he was about 7

fam were never really rich or anything they were p poor tbh but they had each other and lots of friends so all was good

really wanted a brother but never seemed to happen, which all made sense when his mum found out she’d sadly gone into premature menopause

freddy did have a best friend though who had been taken out of his family due to abuse and so when freddy’s mum told him that he was sadly never going to have a brother, freddy suggested they adopt his friend

after a lengthy process, the atkin’s family adopted him and charlie (the kid) became freddy’s adopted brother!

happy childhood continued and eventually, freddy went off to college to train to become an elementary teacher (like his mum) and charlie stayed to take on their father’s plumbing business

freddy finally graduated and began teaching full time - loves his job

in his 4th class, he met a special little kid called grace, who like charlie, was going through the foster care system 

essentially, freddy couldn’t adopt her unless he had a less demanding job / wasn’t her teacher, so began looking for another job / the case to adopt her

on the morning of an interview day for a part time job, before leaving, freddy found a lump on his ball / testicle (scientific terms n all that)

went to the doctors a few days later and after a scan and further appointments, found that he had testicular cancer that had spread a little and needed to have several operations

one testicle was removed and chemo began, and eventually, an operation to remove the rest of the cancer

after a long time of healing and recovering both emotionally and physically, freddy was given the all clear and without thinking, began the adoption process again to adopt grace

finally adopted her and took the part time job that hadn’t yet been filled 

has been a dad for 3 years now and loves it, also loves teaching still

[brcthschild]

usually he has his aunt to come with him, except usually she doesn’t work through her lunch break and forgets to inform baby. so he’s sitting on this random bench, looking down at his phone just as she texts him when he’s been waiting for a whole half hour. baby sighs, stuffing his phone into his pocket before standing up and stretching, letting out a small content breath as his gangly limbs feel more loose. after he’s done, he blinks and looks around before calling out the nearest person, “hey! i know this is random but um…” he flushed a bit, a little surprised with himself for taking the reigns like this. “did you wanna grab lunch with me? if you’re not busy! see my au-friend, cancelled and i’m kind of hungry but i hate eating out alone so…” he trails off, rubbing the back of his neck.

[freddyatkins-blog]

Having spent the morning at Miss Layfette’s house, Freddy was pretty much jumping at the chance to head towards the Jefferson Street Diner and get some cheese fries down him. It’d been a pleasant morning, sure, helping his mom’s friend out, but Freddy had spent the majority of his time stating that yes, he was also a feminist and that he knew Miss Layfette was capable of the job, he just thought she deserved a break given that she’d broken her arm. After such a battle, he couldn't wait to sit down and have some alone time, if only for half an hour, but as usual, life had other plans. A voice called out to him and the guy stopped to see who it was. He offered the stranger a smile as they requested him have lunch with them. "Yeah, sure, man," Freddy agreed, at least a little reluctantly. "Man. The morning I've had..you know Miss Layfette?" He began, heading towards the diner on the left. "Lives on Lions Drive? Total badass, cop, broke her arm breaking up a fight between two drunk college kids last week? I just spent my morning denying that my fragile masculinity required me to do at least one 'manly', DIY job every hour to remain stable." Freddy chuckled to himself in disbelief, "I wouldn't mind but I really don't think I'm that guy. I spend most of my life dressed up as the damsel in distress for Grace to then save as the superhero...I feel like my masculinity has been pretty much decimated by being a dad." Realising he’d gone off on a bit of a tangent, Freddy looked over to the stranger,a grateful smile on his face in response to the stranger actually listening to him. “Sorry. I just need some cheese fries. You had a good day?”

[ftsire-blog]

“um, i’m just wondering and all, you can totally feel free to shut me down but like,” rosalie clears her throat, can’t help but laugh a bit of how much of a difficult thing this is for her, especially after hyping herself up for this and reminding herself that she’s supposed to be casual. “did you want to hang out saturday? i don’t know we can have a night in…go for a couple of drinks. whatever.” she finishes before looking at the person before her, eyes carefully searching for a positive or negative response.

[freddyatkins-blog]

Freddy couldn't lie and say he didn't feel awkward about the situation he'd found himself in. Sure, he'd been asked out before and the nature of such a scenario did tend to be a little on the awkward side, but he just didn't expect it from Rosalie. Trying not to give off a negative vibe, the guy smiled and exhaled slowly. It wasn't like he was saying no because he didn't like the girl, she was kind and seemed like she'd be a laugh, but it was a little awkward for him with Grace, he spent his Saturdays with her, usually, when he wasn't working. "Rose, you know I think you're great, but Grace's science fair is this Saturday and I don't really wanna' see her explode the volcano she's made in my face if I tell her I can't come," he offered her an apologetic smile, "but...whilst I wait for her to come out of extra curricular, you want me to assist you in finding someone who doesn't have a science fair to attend?" Freddy was a pretty good judge of character when it came to things like this, or he liked to think he was, anyway. Surely he could find a more suitable - and available - candidate for Rosalie to spend Saturday with?

[denverking]

He debates on even saying anything to the other person but Denver knows that it is the right thing to do. His heart still beats rapidly in his chest as he inches closer to them. The dark haired boy clears throat before speaking, lowly. “Uh, excuse me. You’ve–… uh, you got something on your face. Um, on your right cheek by your mouth.” And hands dip to tug gently at the sleeve of his jacket, nodding head briefly. Well, that was enough for today for Denver.

[freddyatkins-blog]

Classic pancakes with maple syrup and nutella; Freddy was onto a winner. Without even taking a breath, he'd eaten every single inch of each pancake and left no droplets of syrup to waste afterwards. Grace, his adopted daughter, had also devoured hers, and just like Freddy, did it in neanderthal 'I've not eaten for a week' style. The two were just packing up their things to leave, when a voice reached out to Freddy to tell him about the nutella he'd somehow managed to smear round his mouth. "Ah," Freddy chuckled as he lifted his phone to his face to observe the mess he'd made, "you, my friend, are a true example of not all heroes wearing capes." The man patted the stranger on the shoulder and gave him a smile graced with gratitude, "and Grace, I'm pretty sure you had no intention of telling me about this?" Freddy pointed up to his face, whilst jokingly frowning down at the kid, "absolutely not," she joked back and grabbed her backpack from off the back of the chair. Freddy shook his head and looked back to the stranger, "she's literally like that guy best mate in your life who would draw a.." he whispered, "dick on your back in sun screen on a guy's holiday."

[dailychrisevans]