Omg such a huge massive fan of ur writing!! I find myself coming back to your page every so often just to make sure I haven’t missed an update from you!
I’ve been experiencing some serious academia-based burnout lately and just found that I’ve really been neglecting my mental and social health lately and just been bad at overall taking care of myself.
I’d love it if you could write the cubs in this type of scenario going through something similar, and finally getting the support they need (though they try to resist at first fs). Usually Leo is my ultimate comfort character, but maybe this one would be slightly more impactful if it was Finn-based. He’s typically the most social of them all and can def relate to the academia burnout aspect of it, I imagine. It’s totally up to ur discretion - however you choose to write it, if it’s a prompt that appeals to you! I’d read anything you write ☺️
I think academic burnout is kicking us all in the ass right now, at least a little bit. Hope you got some rest, friend, and that all your exams and assignments went well! Make sure to drink lots of water and eat well, pretty please. :)
Have some Finn DEFINITELY not following those instructions. O'Haras give 110% all the time to a fault, so sometimes they need a little TLC, it seems. Luckily, Finn has one husband who is a GREAT chef and loves to feed him yummy things and another husband who loves to distract him from school work, ever since they went to Harvard together.
Credits to @lumosinlove !!
“Finn?” Leo called as he opened the door to their apartment. When nobody answered, he furrowed his eyebrows and toed off his shoes. “Finn?”
Still no response. Leo chewed on his cheek and thought for a moment. Maybe he was napping.
He poked his head through their bedroom door, but there was still no sign of Finn. The bed was perfectly made from this morning, the corners tucked in nice and neat like Leo liked. Finn’s book was on the bedside table, untouched. Leo felt an anxious feeling rise up in his throat.
“Finn!” he called again. The bathroom door was open, and there was nobody. He went to look in his old bedroom, now their home office. “Finn- oh.”
There he was, hunched over his computer and scribbling on a notepad. His hair was a bit messy, as if he had been tugging on it, and Leo could hear the music coming from his headphones, it was so loud. He was muttering to himself and tapping his foot. Two coffee mugs were pushed to the side.
“Oh, honey,” Leo sighed. He approached cautiously and tapped on Finn’s shoulder. “Sweetheart.”
Finn whipped around, eyes wide in confusion before they settled on Leo. He took off his headphones and offered a smile that was strained at the edges. There were purple circles under his eyes. “Oh. Hey, baby.”
“Hi.” Leo leaned down to kiss him softly. “What are you doing?”
“Finishing this paper,” Finn said, swiveling his chair back around to face his computer. “I’ve gotta get it done before practice tomorrow. And I’m doing my bibliography, but I can’t find one of the sources I used, I’m sure I had it downloaded, and I-”
“Baby,” Leo whispered. He massaged Finn’s shoulders, not missing the way he leaned back into it. “I think you should take a break.”
“No, Le, it’s fine, really, I-”
“Finn,” Leo interrupted, a bit more sternly. “You’ve spent every free second in here and writing, it’s not good for you. You’re exhausted, honey.”
Finn looked like he wanted to protest, but he didn’t say anything. He let out a defeated sigh and rubbed his eyes. “My eyes hurt.”
“It’s because you’ve been sitting in front of the computer for so long.” Leo kissed his temple. “I’ve barely seen you in days.”
Finn bit his lip nervously. His hands were fidgeting with his hoodie strings. “I’m sorry. I’ve been a bad husband lately.”
“No, you haven’t.” Leo spun him around in his chair and knelt on the floor. He ran his hands up Finn’s strong thighs and rubbed gently. “You’ve just been busy. Too busy. It’s not good for you.”
Finn’s eyes were anxious when they met Leo’s own. “I don’t- this was such a stupid idea. Studying while playing hockey.”
“No.” Leo shook his head and cupped Finn’s cheeks. “It’s not stupid. Lo and I think you’re so smart, honey.”
That got Finn to smile a little. “Yeah?”
“Of course.” Leo took his left hand and kissed over his rings. “We also think that you’ve been spreading yourself too thin. You want every essay and piece of work to be perfect, Finn, and it’s wearing you down.”
“I know,” Finn said softly, nervously. He reached down to play with some of the curls by Leo’s forehead. “I don’t know how to- I don’t know, not give one hundred percent into something.”
Leo laughed. “I think that’s an O’Hara thing.”
Finn laughed with him. “Yeah. Yeah, probably.” He peeked out at Leo through his lashes. “Can you read over my essay, please?”
“Of course.” Leo used Finn’s thighs as leverage to stand and then bent down to give him a kiss. “Here,” he said, coaxing Finn into standing, too, then sitting him down on the futon they’d put in there. He took out his phone and handed it to him. “You call Lo and we can talk to him for a little bit. I’ll read over your essay and finish your bibliography, okay?”
“‘Kay,” Finn replied, opening Leo’s phone. “The source list is in my notebook.”
Leo sat down at the desk and shook his head fondly. “Why don’t you just immediately cite your sources when you use them? It’d save you this whole process.”
“Because the thought of doing that is just too much, and it’s so boring.”
Leo clucked his tongue. “Well, you’re lucky I love you.” He went into Finn’s files and snorted when he found an article title to match a note in Finn’s notebook. “And I found the source you were looking for.”
“What? Where?”
“In your files, honey.”
“What? I looked over that a gazillion-” He cut off, then made a happy sound. “Hey, sweet thing.”
“Salut,” came Logan’s soft voice. “Ça va? Where’s Le?”
“Here!” Leo called, fingers flying over the keyboard. “Finishing Finn’s bibliography.”
Logan let out a sigh. “Mon rouge, you always do this. You always wait until the last minute to cite your sources.”
“That’s what I said!”
“Hey,” Finn pouted. “This is not ‘chastise Finn time’. I am a burnt out boy.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Leo stood and crossed over to Finn, leaning down to kiss him on the lips softly a few times. “So sorry, sweetheart.” He wrapped an arm around Finn’s shoulders to draw his head to rest against his chest and looked down at the phone with a smile. “Hi, Lo.”
“Salut,” Logan said again. He had a cup of tea in his hands and his sweatshirt hood was pulled over his waves. “How are you?”
“Good.” He kissed Finn’s forehead. “We’re feeling a little tired from schoolwork right now, so we’re gonna take a break.” He looked down at Finn pointedly. “And then make a schedule so we don’t run ourselves to the ground.”
Finn put on an innocent smile. “Oops.”
“Rouge,” Logan sighed. “Are you okay?”
Finn nodded, but he was cut off by a big yawn. “I’m better. Like seeing your face.” He winced and looked up at Leo again. “And yours. Sorry, I haven’t been around much.”
“It’s okay.” Leo kissed his temple again then went back to the desk. He sat down with a heavy sigh. “Jesus, Finn, these are a lot of sources.”
“I’m thorough.”
“You’re something, all right.” Leo ran his finger down the list in Finn’s notebook. “Gimme fifteen minutes, then I’ll read it over for you. Then I’ll make us dinner. I’m thinking bolognese.”
A groan sounded from the telephone. “I miss your bolognese.”
Leo smiled even as he typed. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’ll make it when you come up next week.”
“That’s right,” Finn said, a little more jovial now. “We get to play our biggest Frenchie rival next week. I’m very excited to pin you against the boards.”
“Fish,” Logan laughed.
“I’ll pin you against other things, too, don’t worry,” Finn reassured. He let out a soft sigh. Leo could imagine the fond tilt of his head. “Can’t wait to hold you.”
“Moi aussi, mon mari. Me, too.”
Finn and Logan chatted for a while, Leo piping in every now and then. Eventually, Finn decided that the futon was too far and came to stand behind Leo and drape his arms over his shoulders. They propped Logan up on the desk against one of the used mugs. Leo was mostly focused on the essay in front of him, but he leaned into the soft kisses Finn periodically pressed to his face and neck, calmed by the feeling of his warm skin and Logan’s deep voice.
“‘Kay,” he said after a while. “All done.” He turned slightly to look Finn in the eye and smiled. “It’s good. It’s really good, honey.”
Finn tapped his hands rhythmically against Leo’s chest. “You sure?”
“Positive.” Leo leaned up to kiss him and there was the clicking sound of a screenshot. He laughed and pulled away. “Logan, honey, you have a million of those. Your phone will run out of storage.”
“Ouais, I don’t care.” Logan let out a satisfied sound. “I love them. I love you.”
“Love you, baby,” Finn said back. He kissed Leo’s forehead. “And I love you, sunshine. Thanks for helping.”
“Always.” Leo saved Finn’s essay and shut down the computer. “You can read it one more time tomorrow with fresh eyes, but then you’re turning it in, deal?”
Finn wrapped his arms around Leo as he stood. “Deal.” He gave Leo one last kiss and picked up the phone. “C’mon, Lo, baby, we can go help Leo make dinner.”
“Ouais, I want to watch his back.”
Leo snorted. “You always want to watch my back.”
“Because I love it.”
“Yeah,” Finn agreed as they made their way into the kitchen. “You’ve got a sexy back, sunshine, it’s not our fault we can’t keep our eyes off of you.”
Leo smiled at him as he took ground beef out of the fridge. “No?”
“No. All of our brain cells leave when we see your back.” Finn settled Logan on the counter and leaned the phone against the napkin holder. “Can you see?”
“Ouais. Can you ask Leo to take his shirt off?”
“No!” Leo laughed. “That’s how I burn myself. You always ask this, and it’s the same answer every time.”
“Damn,” Finn said defeatedly. He turned to Logan and shrugged. “At least we tried, baby.”
“Okay.” Leo clapped his hands and turned to cup Finn’s hips. “Sit, honey, I want you to relax. You want some tea? A snack?”
Finn’s smile turned soft. “I can make myself tea, peanut butter.”
Leo shook his head. “No, I’ll do it. You’ve had a tough day.” He kissed Finn’s nose. “Let me take care of you.”
Finn feigned a sigh. “I guess I can let my blonde bombshell hottie take care of me.”
Leo rolled his eyes. “Go,” he said with another kiss. “Go, sit and talk with Lo. I’ll make you tea, then dinner. Then we can snuggle, ‘kay?”
“M’kay.” Finn wrapped him in a hug. “I love you.”
Leo tucked his face into Finn’s neck. “Love you.” He tapped Finn’s hip and pulled away. “Now, go, please.”
Finn obliged, picking up the phone and going to sit at one of the stools on the other side of the counter, swinging his legs happily as he began to talk to Logan again. It made Leo warm inside to see him so relaxed and willing to accept some care. It was hard for Finn, not being able to just fix things and do things for everyone around him. But Logan was a good distraction, always willing to just sit and listen to Finn ramble on about whatever thought was running through his beautiful, beautiful brain. Leo set his cup of tea in front of him with a kiss to his cheek, then went back to preparing the sauce. He was stirring it on the stove and waiting for water to boil for the pasta when the chatter behind him abruptly stopped. He turned around to find Finn watching him and pointing the camera of the phone at him. He smiled, confused. “What?”
Finn shook his head. “Nothing,” he said with a grin. He winked. “Just watching your back.”
Leo let his head fall back, his cheeks warming. “Shut up.” He set the spoon he was holding down on its spoon rest and went to stand behind Finn, wrapping his arms around him. The camera was flipped back so Logan could see them. Leo kissed the top of Finn’s head and peeked out at the phone screen to meet Logan’s gentle eyes. “Love you.”
Logan smiled. “Je t’aime, soleil.”
Finn leaned to the side so he could kiss Leo’s cheek. “Love you, baby. Thank you.”
Leo just traced the purple under Finn’s eyes gently. “You’re welcome, our little scholar.” He pressed their foreheads together. “You’re going to be such a good teacher.”
And when their smiles were pressed together and there was another sound of a screenshot, they pulled back, laughing, to look at Logan, who was smiling proudly at them through the screen. Leo let the warm feeling fill him up for a moment before kissing Finn again and going back to the stove, blushing at the wolf whistle Finn did at his back. He knew that Finn would sleep heavily tonight, and that the stress of his Master’s wouldn’t go away in just a day. But they could manage it. And then one day, in the near future, Leo would kiss him goodbye in the doorway as he went off to school in those slacks and button downs that were currently in his closet, his glasses perched on his gorgeous nose, and, most importantly, the rose-gold bands on his fingers and around his neck. And maybe, if they played their cards right and negotiated, Logan would be there to kiss him goodbye, too.
Leo let out a content sigh at the thought and dumped the pasta in the water.