#(( I figured since they were heading to the library eventually anyway the title fit

[acearchivist359]

Castiel Winchester

I couldn’t get the idea of Cas being asked what his last name was and not having an answer and Dean supplying that his last name is Winchester out of my head so I wrote it. This is entirely gratuitous and self serving but hey why not?

I also posted it on ao3 with a more dramatic title: human and home

     Dean and Cas were in the kitchen when Dean got the call. The radio was playing and Dean was making dinner. Though Castiel didn't enjoy food anymore since his grace returned, he loved watching the care with which Dean prepared it, even though he appeared to spend a lot of time distracted by his music. Sometimes Cas would eat the food anyway just to see the proud smile on Dean's face when he assured him that it was good, though Castiel was mostly guessing. The call was from another hunter, someone from one of Sam and Dean's old hunts, inviting them to a different old hunters funeral. Dean, of course, agreed. He felt obligated, having hunted with the deceased a few times back in the day, at least that's what he told Castiel. Besides, he was offered beer, burgers and pie. Castiel had quickly learned that was a surefire way to get Dean to agree to anything. Dean went back to cooking, telling Cas some old hunting stories since they were on his mind. Occasionally Dean would pause to sing along to a few lines of the song before picking back up where he left off. When Sam joined them in the kitchen, he echoed Dean's sentiment of obligation and agreed that they should go. The drive would take around 24 hours, but Dean had never protested an excuse to take his "baby" out for a long drive. Castiel sat with the boys through their dinner, accepting the food and beer Dean offered him without protest. They talked about who they thought would go to the funeral, and filled Cas in on more stories. Castiel wondered what he would do in the Winchester's absence, assuming the invitation extended to the brothers only.

  Cas had long since grown used to spending his time with Sam and Dean. He no longer felt the need to spend any time in heaven, especially with it being in disarray, and he hadn't for a long time. Any time Castiel was alone was usually off searching for some thing to stop yet another apocalypse or to help the Winchesters. It was strange for Castiel to be alone in the bunker. The Winchester's presence was a sentient thing. The sound of the boys bickering over lore books, or Dean’s laugh from the kitchen, or the music he played in his room, filled the halls of the old bunker with life. Castiel could feel their presence whenever he was there. The bunker felt hollow when the brothers were gone and all Castiel was left with were the old ghosts of the Men of Letters.

  The boy's went off to pack, knowing they'd be staying at least one night in a "crap motel" as Dean called it, and Castiel wandered off in to the library. He scanned through the shelves of books, looking for something to occupy himself with while the boys were gone. He debated picking up an angel book, often finding himself amused by pointing out the inaccuracies. He placed the book back down though when he realized that was only fun when Dean was there to laugh while writing in Castiel's revisions with his messy handwriting. Castiel decided on a book about wendigos, remembering a story Dean told him once where they worked a wendigo case. Castiel settled down at the table to read and wait for the Winchesters to return.

  “Dude what are you doing?” Dean asked, peeking his head in through the library door. Castiel had been mentally debating if he thought the wendigo book would last him the whole time the boys were gone or if he should choose another. Maybe he'd watch a show Dean recommended on the Netflix.

  “I’m going to read, Dean,” Cas said, opening his book, “I thought you were leaving.”

  “Yeah, we're waiting on you,” Dean said, “Let’s go.” He nodded towards the garage, smiling at Cas.

  “I wasn’t aware I was invited.” Castiel didn’t look up from his book.

  “Dude of course you're invited,” Dean chuckled, coming into the library “Me and Sammy aren’t gonna leave you here by yourself.” He walked over to stand in front of Castiel. “You can be my plus one.” Dean patted Cas’ arm, smiling at him. Castiel, disarmed by Dean's smile, barely noticed Dean taking the book from his hands until he was halfway to the library door.

  “Dean,” Cas sighed, “I was reading that.” He was already halfway out of his seat.

  “Read it in the car!” Dean called back to him from the hallway, laughing. Castiel sighed, exasperatedly, but followed Dean anyway.

  Castiel was glad for the invitation in the end. Sitting in the back seat, listening to the Winchester brothers bicker over the radio was much better than being in the bunker alone. Castiel knew in the back of his mind that his home had never been heaven or the bunker, his home was this. These two boys arguing and laughing, whether in their car or the bunker or some crap motel.

  Eventually Sam decided he wanted to sleep, so Castiel traded places with him to sit in the front with Dean. Cas watched Dean out of the corner of his eye while he sang along quietly along with his radio. Every so often Dean would make a comment about one of the songs to Cas, telling him about which band was playing, the songs Mary had loved or John had played often. Castiel listened intently to both Dean and the music, taking in all the details. He enjoyed hearing Dean’s stories, the way his face softened when he spoke of his early childhood. Dean was softer in the car at night than he'd been while cooking dinner. He'd pulled a sweater on over his flannel at some point while driving, he'd left it unzipped but pulled the sleeves down to his hands. Sometimes Dean would look over at Cas and smile softly at him in the glow of the streetlights. Castiel couldn't figure out exactly what that meant.

  Cas watched the relaxed way Dean drove in the early golden light of the sunrise. His elbow propped up on the window, the way his body angled slightly towards the inside of the car. He was resting his head on his left hand. He looked tired but content. Sam woke up when the sun had fully risen and their moment was over, but Castiel was quite at piece with listening to the boys bicker again. Every hour or so, Dean would send Cas an amused glance, raising his eyebrows, before he saying something to purposefully rile Sam up again. Castiel would shake his head at him, but it only made Dean more amused.

  When they finally arrived at the other hunters house, Dean parked the car and they walked up to the house. There were cars parked in various spots up and down the street, most of them old, some looking rather beat up. Clearly none of them were as well loved as Dean's. Castiel lingered behind Sam and Dean as the hunter opened the door. Castiel could clearly see he was a hunter, given he was wearing the lumberjack style clothes Castiel had come to understand was not just particular to Sam and Dean but all hunters. As Sam greeted the man, Dean glanced back at Cas and saw him standing there with his hands by his sides, looking out of place. Dean rolled his eyes and pulled Cas through the door with him.

  "Cas, this is Daniel.” Dean patted Daniel on the shoulder before turning to put his jacket down. “Me and Sam helped him out with a werewolf case… what was it? 6 years ago?”

  “Sounds about right?” Daniel said, shrugging. Dean, having put his coat down, did the winking finger gun thing he always did. Cas noticed he did that a lot.

  "This is Castiel, our resident angel," Dean gestured to Cas, "the real deal, you know, wings… harp." Castiel glared at Dean but returned Daniel's handshake when he stuck his hand out. Castiel had been around since the beginning of that gesture, but he never did understand what the purpose of it was, only that it was polite. 

  Sam and Dean, despite their preference for being around only people they considered family, seemed to be largely enjoying the gathering. Castiel hung behind, standing off against the wall behind where Dean was sitting. He felt entirely out of place among all these hunters, despite having been on a great number of hunts with the Winchester brothers over the years. He could tell countless hunting tales but that would never make him one of them. Dean, however, told lots of stories. Sometimes Sam chimed in to correct him when Dean was making himself seem cooler. Dean was laughing merrily and drinking his beer. Every so often he’d prompt Cas for his input on a story, which Castiel would gladly supply him with. Dean would chuckle at Cas' monotone comments and Cas would smile a little.

  At one point Dean made another comment about Cas having a harp, which made Cas sigh. “Dean,” he deadpanned, but that only made Dean laugh harder. Castiel sighed again and went off into the kitchen to get himself another beer. Dean's was nearly empty, so it only made sense to get another for him as well. It didn’t do much for him in the way of intoxication as it did for the hunters, but it helped him feel more like he fit in. In the kitchen, there was a woman Cas had yet to meet.

  “Hello,” Cas said, clearing his throat. He’d learning in his early days with the Winchesters that people didn’t like being startled when he appeared. The woman turned around to look at him and Cas waved awkwardly.

  “Hi,” the woman smiled, “Did you need another beer?” she asked, noticing the bottle in Cas’ hand.

  “Uh, yes,” Cas responded before adding, “Please. And one for my friend.”

  She handed Cas the two bottles, opening one which Cas assumed was meant for him, but made no move to exit the kitchen so Castiel stayed, leaning against the counter behind him. It was something he'd seen Dean do in the kitchen of the bunker. “You’re new here,” The woman commented, studying Cas with her arms crossed, "I've never seen you before."

  Cas nodded, awkwardly. He knew hunters tended to be wary of people that they didn’t know so he supplied, “I'm Castiel.” He took an awkward sip from his bottle, for something to do.

  “Sarah,” she returned, "Daniel’s wife." Sarah stuck her hand out to shake, like her husband did. Castiel returned the favour. "Did you know Aiden well?"

  Castiel assumed Aiden was the first name of the hunter who had died, Dean had referred to him as something else, so he shook his head, "No." This only made Sarah look at him oddly so he continued with, "My friends spoke of him very highly though. He seemed like an excellent hunter."

  “Sorry you said it was Castiel? Just the one name?” Cas nodded, "So do you just like the one name thing? Like Beyoncé?" Castiel didn't think she was insulting him, but he thought there was something off about the way she laughed. He realized belatedly that she must have assumed he was some sort of undercover monster.

  "I don't have one, you see-" Castiel started at the same time a voice chimed in with, “It’s Winchester.”

  Cas turned to see Dean standing behind him, he hadn't heard him come through the doorway. "Castiel Winchester." He pointed at Cas as he repeated the name. Castiel blinked at him in confusion. Dean walked over and leaned on the counter next to Cas. He looked at Cas and gestured to the unopened bottle in his hand, "That for me?" Castiel held the bottle out to him. Dean caught his eye and smiled, opening his beer. He clinked his bottle against the one in Castiel’s hand before taking a sip. Castiel smiled down at his bottle as Sarah looked back and forth between the two of them. Dean started to make small talk with her.

  There was something about the feeling of being included so naturally as part of Sam and Dean's family, that made Castiel feel very warm and content. He liked the proud way Dean had added his last name to Castiel's singular one. He had had one singular name for centuries, in all his time of being an angel he had only ever been Castiel. Then he had met Dean Winchester. When Dean nicknamed him Cas, it was the closest Castiel had ever come to being human. After all that time, the wars he'd fought and won for heaven, all his angelic triumphs, being called a Winchester by the righteous man was the highest honour Castiel had ever received. He very much enjoyed being Castiel Winchester. It made him feel human and home all at once.

  “C’mon Cas,” Dean chuckled softly, wrapping an arm around Castiel's shoulder and bringing him with him, “or I’m gonna convince everyone you really have a harp.”

  “Dean,” Cas sighed, but it didn't have any irritation to it. Dean laughed loudly as Castiel walked with him out of the kitchen, still smiling to himself.

[side-shawty]

Ivy’s Daughter • Two

Title: Ivy’s Daughter • Two

Fandom: DC

Type: series

Prompt/Summary: Poison Ivy asks Batman to care for her daughter.

Pairing(s): (eventual) Damian Wayne x Reader (aged up), Batfamily x Reader

Requested? Yes

It took two weeks for J’onn to permanently stabilize Y/N’s mind and for Bruce to utilize everything Ivy gave him to create a compound that stabilized her growth. She would age slower than the average person but it was better than the accelerated growth rate she had to begin with.

He also tried to acquaint her as much as he could with society and its norms. His kids would take care of whatever he missed. Or at least he hoped so.

In this time you were staying in a room at the League HQ. The very first time you opened your eyes the first thing you were met with was a ceiling full of stars against the darkness of space.

Every inch of you was filled with shock and surprise but you stood quickly and almost knocked over the IV as it was ripped from your arm with the movement.

You called for your mother, and when no answer found your ears you began to panic. You attempted to open the doors, the first was a bathroom and the second one was certainly the exit because it had been sealed shut.

“Let me out!” You screamed and waited. No answer again.

You looked around the room for something that could help you get the door open but the room was bare save for your bed, a nightstand with a bamboo plant, and two plastic chairs against the wall under a window.

Your breathing was heavy and ragged as you dragged yourself to the said window and looked out of it. You were slowly floating through space and the Earth was shining back at you with it’s beautiful blue and green.

You were terrified but for some reason, the view made your breathing slow and you took deep breaths.

Panicking now would do nothing, you had to think of a plan. As you were racking your brain for ideas there was a soft hiss as the door slid open.

Your head quickly whipped around to eye the figures standing in the doorway. An uncowled Batman and Superman were both looking to you with sympathy clouding their eyes.

“Hello, Y/N,” Batman said, “My name is —“

“Bruce Wayne,” you cut him off, “My mother told me about you. She said I could trust you. Where is she?” You asked.

“In hiding,” Bruce said stepping closer with his hands raised in front of him. You didn’t of him as a threat but appreciated the gesture.

“Why?” You asked.

“In order to keep you safe, she had to do some things she’s not proud of. There are some bad people after her now, so she left you in my care,” Bruce told you, now only a few steps away. He put his hands at his side.

“No,” you said, “bring me back. I want to be with my mother.”

“I don’t know where she is,” He said.

The anger that flared in your eyes made Superman shift on his feet at his place in front of the closed door.

Before you got the chance to speak again Bruce continued, “I spoke to her before she left. She wanted me to tell you that she loves you very much but this is the only way to keep you safe.”

“Throwing me into outer space? I would have been better off at home, I can take care of myself,” you said, crossing your arms.

As if the universe had been personally involved in this conversation the station rocked and you lost your footing, Bruce caught you before you could hit the ground.

After releasing you, he looked to Superman and sighed, “Jason is here with Bizzaro. Make sure they don’t break anything else, please.”

Superman looked wary before nodding his head and exiting the room.

“Jason? As in your son—Red Hood?” You asked. Batman’s eyes went wide for a millisecond before he recovered.

“Yes. You’ll be meeting him when we go home.”

“And when will that be?”

“Tonight.”

———

You were given a pair of black jeans, boots, and a long-sleeved t-shirt to change into when Bruce told you it was time to go. It was the last thing you wanted, so you devised a plan, you would stay for a few days, maybe a week and then you’d slip away and find your mother. It wasn’t at all fool-proof but it was a start.

On the walk to the zeta tube, Bruce had told you that this was your home and you wouldn’t feel like a prisoner, but there were still rules.

When the flash of teleportation faded from your vision you were faced with the intricate, oddly welcoming Bat Cave. In your opinion it was stunning, but you didn’t get much time to fully explore it or take it in as Bruce led you towards computers and the people standing amongst them.

Three boys were standing with an older man and a young woman, once you and Bruce reached them you decided to let someone else speak first.

“Y/N these are my children,” Bruce began, “well some of them. Dick, Tim, Cassandra, and Damian. And this,” he gestured to the older man, “is Alfred. He’s one of the reasons things continue to run around here. You’ll meet the other later.” He told you smiling to himself at an inside joke.

“This is Y/N Isley. She’ll be staying with us.” Bruce said and you waited for more but it never came.

Dick was the first to move forward, “Nice to meet you Y/N,” he stared, holding out his hand. You shook it. “What Bruce failed to mention was that I am also the oldest and his favorite,” He said with a smile before his phone chimed. He removed it from his pocket to check.

“I am also late for a date, but welcome and I’ll see you around,” Dick told you with a wink before heading towards a staircase and disappearing.

“While he might be the oldest, I’m the brains of this operation,” Tim said before also shaking your hand.

“You’re still as delusional as ever Drake,” Damian said, and once you looked to him he was the only thing that holds your attention as the two of them began to bicker.

He looked like Bruce, but not really. His eyes were a different shade of blue, almost green…almost. As you continued to stare, Cassandra walked up to you.

“I’m Cass,” she said, her voice was soft and sweet as she bowed her head ever so slightly instead of shaking your hand.

“Hi,” you replied, realizing it was the first thing you had said since coming into the cave.

“Let’s get cookies,” she said to you and linked her arm with your own before bringing you up the same stairs Dick went up. Alfred followed closely behind and Bruce sought to stop his sons from arguing.

———

You liked Cass. She was a woman of few words but they got her point across every time. Afterward, she had given you a quick tour of the main living areas before she had to leave for patrol.

When she left you decided to wander a bit more on your own. The manor was even more extraordinary than you could have imagined. You found yourself gravitating towards the library.

While you were in your cryo-chamber your mother had taken to reading to you. She was never sure if you could hear or not but you remember. It was always peaceful when she read to you.

You felt a pang in your heart as you stepped inside and began running your hands along the spines of the books. You stopped on one with a green cover when the door to the library opened and closed.

Your eyes met Damian’s when you turned to him. His face was tight and uninviting as he watched you continue to read the spines.

After a few more moments he finally spoke.

“You don’t belong here,” he said, his voice was emotionless and uninviting. You sighed and finally turned to him, crossing your arms.

Damian was only a few feet from the door but was slowly inching closer to you.

“I don’t belong anywhere,” You said to him, and his features flickered briefly, he clearly wasn’t expecting that answer.

“So why not try to leave?” Damian asked, he finally stopped an arm's length away.

“I haven’t got anywhere to go. Not yet anyway,” You told him, tugging at a red curl and wrapping it around your finger.

“Well, your mother was a criminal with connections. So the faster you find one, the faster you leave.” He said, crossing his arms.

It was hard not to look at Damian’s arms in the fitted black t-shirt. He saw your gaze shift for a second and gave the faintest of smirks.

“This house is a fortress. I step a toe off the property and your father would drag me back,” You released your curl and turned back to the books on the shelf.

“Tt, if you were half the mastermind your mother was you could, and will, be out by morning,” He said before turning on his heel and leaving.

[cluttermind]

Without A Parachute (3/?) - No Judgment

Summary:  Emma worked tremendously hard to give herself a better chance. From group homes, to living in her car, to ivy league student, this English Major’s only solace was escaping her reality through books. One night, Emma comes home to find a small package with only her name on it written in beautiful calligraphy. The package contains a thick, brown leather journal. Emma soon learns that the fiction she writes in the journal eventually becomes reality. Will Emma learn to control this gift, or will she fall too fast into the temptation to change too much? With the help of her good friends August, Robin, and Elsa, and the mysterious, intriguing bartender of The Jolly Roger, Emma discovers just how easy it is to lose control, and how difficult it is to pick up the pieces.

Rating: M 

Words: 10,482 total / 3,335 Ch 3

Read on ao3: Beginning | Current

Note: Thought it was time to finally post this here! Thanks for reading friends! I hope you like this one - I had a lot of fun (maybe too much fun) writing it. Here's a little fun fluff and sweetness and lots of pop culture references before things get ~interesting~ Next week will probably be a hiatus while I finish up some [online] finals but a LOT happens in ch 4 so I hope you stay with me. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

//

Chapter 3

“No Judgment”

I can be your lover or your shoulder to cry on

You can be whoever you like

When you're with me, no judgement

You can get that from everyone else

You don't have to prove nothing

- Nial Horan, No Judgement

Emma worked at the bookstore all day on Friday. Being there always made her feel a little better. She was surrounded by books and all the things Belle brought back from her excursions. Bell had recently gotten a new shipment from an independent publisher she had recently found. Rose and Petal Books, while stocking many popular titles, had an extensive collection of lesser-known novels from independent publishers along with a plethora of local authors.

One book in particular caught her eye and there was only one copy sent in the box. The book was bound in a soft, brown leather with its title engraved and filled with gold foil on the cover in beautiful cursive. Into The Page . There was no barcode to scan for inventory.

“That’s odd.” Emma commented to herself, turning the thick book over in her hands. She opened it up to skim the pages and noticed that it was a journal filled with handwritten content. Something about the book felt faintly familiar. While the title was beautiful, there wasn’t anything remarkable about it. She figured it might have been someone’s manuscript that was sent to the publisher that got mixed in by accident.

“Hey Belle,” she called to her boss who was at the register, reading.

“Find something interesting?” Belle asked as she walked over to where Emma was in the back room.

“I think they accidentally sent us someone’s manuscript?” Emma handed her the journal.

“Hm. That is interesting.” Belle gently flipped through the book. “I’ll call the publisher tomorrow. It’s getting late, why don’t you head home for the night.”

Emma looked at the clock. It was 8:00, only an hour till closing anyway. “Sure. I’ll see you next week?” Belle nodded and gave Emma a quick hug. Before leaving, she hung up her apron and turned her phone back on. Emma usually turns her phone off during work and uses the time as an escape from everything. There were a few texts coming into her group chat about the meeting Elsa and Robin were at. Essentially the meeting was going to run long, lots of signs needed to be made before Sunday’s protest about something or other. Emma wasn’t really up-to-date on this particular one. August offered to come help because he was bored.

There was a text from her roommate Sarah to her and Claire that came in half an hour ago.

Sarah to group: Hey, Josh is coming over to cook me dinner and you know ;) can y’all stay out till like midnight? Maybe 1 if things go really well ;) Don’t want any distractions tonight ladies

Claire to group: Yeah I’m staying with Danielle tonight - we’re hitting up the Alpha Delta Pi party tonight

Emma sighed. Her friends were busy and she wasn't in the mood to spend hours making posters and signs after working all day. But the library would be open for a while longer. She could use the computers and scroll through Reddit for a few hours.

Emma to group: Sure thing. Have fun :)

Then she remembered someone she could waste some time with. She walked towards The Jolly Roger and opened the door. It was starting to get crowded but it wasn’t too hectic yet. Emma made her way to the bar and noticed Ruby there along with a man she hadn’t met yet.

“Hey Ruby,” Emma said, smiling. She and Ruby had gotten to know each other since they had first met at the pub. Ruby was a junior majoring in art. She also hated Macroeconomics, the class they were in together, but it was filling a graduation requirement. They studied together a few times and always ended up begging Killian for free food. Emma always ended up paying though, sneaking the money under the plate before she left.

“Hey! Looks like you’re in better spirits today. You okay?” Ruby responded, referencing the previous night that Emma would very much like to forget.

“Nothing that sleep couldn’t fix,” she lied. While the initial shock of yesterday was gone, the pain, the anger, the self-doubt still lingered.

“If you’re looking for the Captain he’s upstairs.”

“What?” Blush rose to Emma’s face.

“Killian. He’s upstairs. Took the night off. Just take the stairs behind the bar, walk two floors up and you’ll be at his door. I’m sure he won’t mind!” Ruby explained.

“Oh. Thanks.” Emma headed up the stairs, and hesitated at the door. Through it she could hear the sound of a guitar strumming. Maybe he didn’t want company. Maybe he’d rather be alone. Maybe he didn’t want to see her . She could just go back and sit at the bar and talk to Ruby for a while. They weren’t super close but she could find things for them to talk about. It was also getting busy downstairs though. Pull it together Emma. She knocked on the door.

The sound of the guitar stopped and seconds later Killian opened the door. He was surprised and happy to see her. “Hello, Swan. What brings you here? A little early for a booty call no?” Killian grinned, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Oh it’s never too early,” Emma played along staring right at Killian who was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed at his chest. “My roommate sexiled me and I needed somewhere to crash for a while.”

Killian stepped aside to let her in. He was wearing just a plain black v-neck t-shirt and grey joggers. It was odd seeing him out of his work attire - a black button down with two buttons undone at the top and dark, a black vest, and slim-fitted jeans. He watched her as she walked in and closed the door, distracted by her being.

“Sexiled?” Killian teased. “Well if you insist, love. Can’t leave a beautiful woman unsatisfied now, could we?” Emma slapped his arm.

“You know what it means. Sarah kicked me out so she could fuck her boyfriend without interruption. Honestly the warning was appreciated because even my ear buds can’t tune her out.” Emma explained. She took her jacket off and draped it over a stool at Killian’s kitchen Island. His apartment was beautiful. It was an open concept with a gorgeous kitchen, a beautiful island, a ridiculously comfortable sectional, with an oversized chase at one end and a large TV mounted to the wall. Speakers were all over. The doors to his bedroom with glass french doors, making the one-bedroom apartment look bigger than it is. “Sorry for not texting before, I thought you’d be working and was coming to sit at the bar for a while. Ruby told me you were up here.”

“No worries, love. I quite enjoy the company,” Killian said, moving to flop down on the chaise part of the couch. “And it’s clear that you find me so irresistible that you just had to see me tonight instead of one of your other friends.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Oh I can resist you just fine. Everyone else was busy.”

“Ouch!” Killian feigned pain, his hand going to his heart. “So I was your second choice.”

“4th actually.” Emma teased.

“Keep telling yourself that.” He winked and patted the spot next to him. “How about a movie? Anything in particular you’re interested in watching?”

Emma kicked her boots off and flopped down next to him. They were so close their arms and legs were touching. He nudged her foot playfully and he turned on the TV and opened Netflix. She shrugged against him. “Whatever you’re watching is fine. I don’t want to disrupt your evening.”

“You’re not disrupting anything, love.” Killian responded, handing her the remote. “Snacks?” He got up, taking the warmth of his body with him and Emma suddenly missed the closeness.

“When have I ever turned down food?” Killian laughed. She adored the sound of his laugh. It always made her smile. Emma scrolled through Killian’s watch list on Netflix. Ozark, The Witcher, The West Wing, Grey’s Anatomy . The last one made Emma giggle under her breath. So Mr. Bartender is a Grey’s fan. She made a mental note to tease him about that later. Not like she was the one to speak though. Ever since August let her use his Netflix account she’s been on that binge as well. Killian tossed a bag of popcorn in the microwave. “How was your day?” Emma asked, genuinely caring about the answer.

Killian groaned. “Infuriating. It was a lot of inventory and ordering and arguing to get things here on time. I prefer working the bar to that any day. How was yours?”

“Eh, it was fine. I spent all day working down at The Rose and Petal.”

“The bookstore?”

“Yup.”

“Aye, my grandad loved it there. Belle still owns it?”

“She does. Your grandfather lives here? What’s his name? Maybe I’ve seen him.”

Killian leaned back against the island, gripping it a little tighter as his eyes moved from Emma to the floor.  “Nah, love. He used to live here. He passed away 2 years ago, just after I opened the pub.”

Emma’s face softened. “Killian, I’m so sorry.”

He looked up at Emma. “He was a professor at Cornell. In the English department actually.” He tilted his head and smiled a bit. “You remind me a bit of him.”

Emma smiled back. “How so?”

“He loved academia and his research and teaching. He always had a book in his hand. Sometimes he’d lose all track of the world around him when he was working or reading. He was a fountain of useless knowledge. He knew little about music but always asked me what I was listening to, only took his coffee black except for at the pub, and asked me how my day was every time I saw him and always cared about what the answer was.” Killian reminisced. He had spent nearly every summer growing up in Ithaca with his grandma and granddad. Killian still couldn’t believe that he’s gone. “He always made me smile and loved telling me about what he was reading. He was my best friend.”

“He sounds wonderful.” Emma noted, blush creeping to her cheeks feeling both sad for Killian’s loss and flattered at the sentiment that she reminded me of someone he clearly loved so deeply. When Emma wasn’t physically at The Jolly Roger or with her friends or at work, she was usually texting Killian. They talked about nonsense most of the time but there was something comforting seeing his name pop up on her phone after long days. In retrospect, she wasn’t surprised that it was him she made her way to last night when life had shaken her to her core. Emma knew he’d be the one to help her hold the broken pieces together. If she was being honest with herself, it still felt as if those pieces were scattered on the floor. And from the look in his eyes, she could tell he had some pieces there as well.

“Aye. Wonderful.” Killian said. Although it was unclear who exactly he was talking about as he looked at her. Just then the microwave went off, breaking his trance. He opened the hot bag and poured the popcorn into a bowl. “So what’re we watching?” He asked, reaching to grab and open a bottle of wine.

“Well I saw this really fascinating documentary on sharks the other day that I wanted to show you.” Emma explained.

“Sharks, huh? What about them?” KIllian asked, intrigued.

Emma brightened, and animatedly explained the general plot. “So there’s this group of sharks that are living in the water around New York City. And there’s this big storm that’s coming, but no one is listening to the people telling them about the storm so of course no one prepares for the storm. So two tornadoes form over the water picking up all the sharks -”

“Emma.” Killian interrupts her, turning to look at her. “That’s the plot of Sharknado.”

“Sharknado 2: The Second One actually.” She corrects him.

“We are not watching Sharknado 2.” Killian says, chuckling. He hands her a glass of white wine which she accepts as he takes his place on the couch next to her.

“Sharknado 1?”

“Swan.”

“You mean to tell me you have no desire to watch Ian Ziering fight some flying CGI sharks?” She joked. She was clearly teasing him, enjoying the way he laughed at her ridiculous suggestions. Truth be told she’s seen all the movies multiple times. Who doesn’t love a flying CGI shark and an awful romance plot? Emma and her friends had multiple drunk movie nights last semester to watch them all. They provided a good laugh.

Killian laughed. “Aye, how about a real movie?”

“A REAL movie?” Emma feigned offense. “Clearly you have no respect for low-budget disaster films.” She grabbed a handful of popcorn, popping some into her mouth.

Killian nudged her playfully. “I think the low budget disaster movies have no respect for the viewers.”

“That’s the point! But fine.” Emma paused, thinking of a movie. “How about Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No?”

“Again with the flying sharks! You know that you have not listed a single shark documentary yet, love.” Killian jokes, taking a sip of wine.

“What about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society?” Emma said, taking some popcorn. “It’s one of my favorites. Also Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens, Sharknado 5: Global Swarming, and The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time are just not as good as the first three so I’m out of flying shark suggestions.” Killian stared at her, jaw nearly hitting the floor at the absurdity of the existence of 6 Sharknado movies and the fact that Emma has clearly seen them all. But her actual suggestion was sincere. It was an intriguing story of love and war and literature that Emma had seen at least 10 times. It reminded her of the power that books had.

“Now we’re getting somewhere.” Killian said eventually, choosing to let the Sharknado movies go. He searched for the film on Netflix and hit play when he found it.

About 20 minutes and a glass of wine later, Emma had snuggled closer to Killian. Partially for warmth, partially because her body reacted instinctively to his being so close. Killian, feeling that Emma was cold against him, reached behind them to grab a blanket, tossing it over them and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She leaned in closer to him, resting her head against his shoulder.

Her favorite film about writers and readers and the power of literature and love pulled all of the pain of the events of yesterday back to the surface. The weight of her professor’s words were sitting on her chest like a boulder and she couldn’t bear that weight alone anymore Eventually, Emma spoke softly. “I didn’t tell you the whole story last night.” The words spilled effortlessly out of her mouth. There was something about Killian that made her feel safe.  

Killians eyes stayed on the movie as he rubbed his thumb reassuringly over her shoulder. “Aye, I figured.” He wasn’t about to push her to tell him. He wanted to let her know that he saw her and that she could some to him on her own terms.

“Professor Gold told me I shouldn’t be a writer. That I don’t have what it takes and that I should consider another career.” This caught Killian’s attention. He shifted so he was looking right at her.

“What?!” Killian’s accent was thick with concern.

“He was apparently doing me a favor.” Her eyes were wet. Control was slipping from her grasp. She desperately needed to let go. Emma had tried so desperately to tell herself that none of her professor’s words mattered, to pretend like they didn’t affect her. Truth be told, she barely slept last night, constantly being woken up by recurring thoughts that he was right, that she wasn’t good enough, that she was a fraud.

“What kind of person thinks that’s a bloody favor?” Killian interrupted the tightening spiral of her thoughts.

Emma paused, letting the spiral start to slowly unwind. “What if he’s right?” She whispered. The question she’d been asking herself she had finally said out loud. A single tear escaped from her eye that Killian was quick to wipe away.

“He’s wrong. And you’re too stubborn to let him be right.”

“I just - I don’t know if I can do this.” Emma fell apart. She had held everything together until this moment. She didn’t know if she had what it took to survive Cornell. She didn’t have the support system most people had and she certainly didn’t have the resources others did growing up. Her average grades weren’t helping her imposter syndrome. What if she was here by mistake? What if she would never be good enough? What if she didn’t deserve to be here? Tears escaped her eyes faster than Killian could wipe them away.

Killian pulled her close, rubbing her back. “Shhh, love. Shhh. Yes you can.” He kissed the top of her head. Why? He had absolutely no idea. He hoped it would comfort her. “You made it this far. You got here. You got to this point. Fuck what Gold says. Fuck what anyone says.” Emma let herself relax into his arms locked tightly around her as she choked on sobs, tears falling to his shirt.

Then Killian remembered what his brother used to say to him when he was struggling. “You get to make your own choices. Make them based on what makes you happy.” He gently brushed her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “Does writing make you happy?”

Emma looked up at him. “It’s the only thing that makes me happy.”

“Oi, now I’m slightly offended!” He joked, smiling at her.

Emma tried to fight the smile pulling at her lips. “Your ego is ridiculous.”

“But I got you to smile, no?”

“You always do.” Emma wasn’t joking anymore. The way he looked at her made her heart skip beats and the way he cared for her scared the hell out of her. Something about Killian drew her to him and she didn’t doubt he felt the same. He ensured she was fed during late night studying and provided distractions when she needed a break. It was Killian she found herself going to when she needed to scream to someone.

They returned their attention to the film. While Killian had no idea what was going on, Emma was mesmerized, whispering some of her favorite lines under her breath along with the movie. Killian spent more time watching her than the move, enamored by the way she memorized her favorite parts, the way her brow furrowed when characters she didn’t like appeared, the way she gently hit his chest to shush him every time he attempted to ask what was happening or who a particular character was.

Eventually the movie ended. Emma reluctantly sat up, sighing as she removed herself from Killian’s arms and the warmth of his body.

“Thank you for letting me interrupt your evening. It was nice to be in a bubble for a bit and feel something other then . . . I don’t even know.” Emma said quietly. Killian turned to look at her.

“Then stay in the bubble for a while longer, love.” He held his arm out to her and she settled against him. Emma rested her head on Killian’s chest, draping her arm around his waist. His fingers traced lazy circles on her back. He wanted to be her escape, her bubble where things were good and where she could cry if she needed to. And she had the urge to be his.

For a while they laid like that - content in each other’s arms, clueless to the world around them, shutting out all the pain they both felt. In time they fell asleep for the most restful night either of them had in a long time.

[ghosthunthq]

Are We Breaking Up, or Is It Just the Heat?

She served him unfiltered Earl Grey tea. Post-canon.

For: @sprghosthunter

By: @dreams-of-kalopsia

Prompt: Noll having his tea leaves read (before or after the series)

Hi, sprghosthunter! Here’s your fic~ :3 Thank you for your prompt; I didn’t know anything about tasseography before, so writing this was an educational experience for me. The title is still subject to change since I just wrote the first one that came to mind. Suggestions are very welcome. XD Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story! ^u^ 

____

The past three weeks had been rather… trying.

June had quickly switched to July, like a spark that set Japan on fire. To Noll, whose body could not ventilate itself as efficiently as an average human’s could, any venture outside his apartment or the office was hell. On particularly hot days he would hole himself up in his apartment and leave the office to Lin, who never failed to set out in time to open SPR at 10 AM. On cooler days, or when he needed to consult a reference book in the office library, as was often the case, Noll would begrudgingly take the cab to Shibuya early in the morning, his mood spoiled for the rest of the day.

It did not help that whenever he mustered the effort to go to the office, he was forced to put up with the usual bothersome rabble. Yasuhara had recently started part-timing again despite being well into law school, saying that he needed the money to get his air conditioner repaired, but Noll could tell that it was just an excuse to stay somewhere closer to his school. The others had been shamelessly and unapologetically forthright with their intentions, much to his annoyance. It also did not help that Mai was on leave until she finishes gathering data for her thesis, which meant there was no one to remind those noisy people to keep their daily contributions to the world’s noise pollution to a minimum.

Thinking of Mai only turned his spoiled mood absolutely rotten.

Despite being gone from work for three weeks, she never thought to phone and check up on her workplace. He understood that data gathering was a time-consuming, important step in writing an excellent thesis, and he would have overlooked her radio silence had the others been treated the same way. But according to what he would overhear from the chatter outside his office (and, given the noisiness, he heard a lot), Mai had been in contact with everyone else but him. That presented the possibility that she had developed some sort of aversion to him. Perhaps all the months they had spent together finally convinced her that his bad personality would never change, and she grew tired of it.

Noll knew what was happening. He had heard about this situation from Madoka before, witnessed Gene use it as an excuse to almost every girlfriend he had lost interest in. The time of onset at eight months into the relationship seemed to fit, too.

‘End of her honeymoon phase?’ Gene laughingly said through their mental link the last time he had woken up, completely unaffected by Noll’s death glare. ‘I can assure you, Noll, the real thing’s so much messier and more troublesome.’

Coming from someone who had the attention span of a goldfish when it came to relationships, Noll did not feel the least bit assured.

The hot summer days dragged on without any reprieve from his rotten mood. He soon started wondering if he could blast the whole world away.

His suspicion came to a head the day Mai returned from her leave. She acted so normal, so happy to be back.

And then she served him unfiltered Earl Grey tea.

Noll stared blankly at the cup, watching the floating tea leaves sink to the bottom. “Do you expect me to drink this, Mai?” he asked just as blankly.

“Yup,” Mai answered with an eager nod. “But before you start drinking, you have to think about what could happen in your immediate future, and keep thinking about it while you drink.”

He narrowed his eyes in distrust, but her eagerness did not waver even under his scrutiny. “What are you planning?”

“To read your tea.”

Tasseography?

“Why?”

“Because I learned it recently and wanted to try it.” She checked the cup’s temperature with the back of her hand before gently pushing it towards him. “Drink it while the temp is right. Leave a tablespoon’s worth, though.”

Noll considered glaring and shooting down her request, but he knew that that would not work on her. It never did. Nevertheless, he glared at her as he sipped the tea to express his displeasure, ignoring the uncomfortable sensation of loose leaves brushing against his lips.

While he knew enough about tasseography to disqualify it as an authentic demonstration of ESP, he decided to momentarily suspend his disbelief in favor of Mai. He reflected on the question she wanted him to ask.

His immediate future… Why would it interest her? Was there some event in his future that she wanted him to be aware of?

A breakup, for example?

If this was how she had planned to break up with him, she sure was putting too much effort into it. Noll would have to appreciate the painstaking way she chose to end things. He should make it easier for her, then, as courtesy.

He swallowed against the sudden bitterness of the Earl Grey.

In a few minutes, the cup of tea dwindled into a tablespoon of tea. Using his left hand, he swirled the teacup three times counter-clockwise before inverting it on the saucer. Then he rotated the cup three times again at Mai’s signal. As he turned it upright with the handle facing south, he surreptitiously rearranged some leaves into certain shapes.

Twisted figures, to denote disturbances. A deer, denoting quarrels or disputes. A raven, disappointment in love. Scissors, separation of lovers.

Four ominous symbols. Those should help her open the topic so they could get this over with quickly.

“Let’s see…” Mai said, pulling up a chair to sit across from him. She peered into the cup and concentrated on the figures formed by the leaves.

He unconsciously held his breath.

“I see an… uh… umbrella on the rim?” She pointed at one of the figures he had distorted with his PK. “You must be experiencing difficulty and annoyance recently.”

It appeared to him more like a mushroom than an umbrella, but he held his tongue. It was not like she was wrong with her interpretation.

“I also see… a ladder. And a line going west. There’s a ship, too, and… a bird?” She squinted. “A swallow. So I guess you’ll have a successful journey westward, and it’ll have a pleasant ending.”

Noll studied the scattered tea leaves in the cup. Aside from the symbols he had formed, he could barely see anything else. His brows furrowed. Was Mai looking at the same things as him?

“At the bottom… there’s an abbey, surrounded by squares. You’ll eventually be free from worry and find comfort and peace.”

None of the symbols she just mentioned were in his teacup. Now that he thought about it, she could not have possibly found time to memorize tasseography symbols and their meanings while preparing to write her thesis, much less learn to read tea leaves. Her swift, confident reading and interpretation could only mean that she had memorized this particular set of symbols beforehand, and that she had been merely pretending this whole time.

He regarded her with a cold glare. “Mai. Stop wasting my time and get straight to your point.”

Mai had the nerve to look sheepish. “Ehehe~ You got me,” she easily surrendered as she produced a white letter envelope from her jacket. She handed it to him.

It contained a flight ticket to London via Heathrow. His flight ticket. He met her gaze with wide-eyed confusion.

“I thought you needed a vacation,” she answered his unsaid question with a smile and explained further, “So I talked to your parents, Madoka-san, and Lin-san as soon as I was free. They were happy to arrange things. I also cleared up our schedules for that time period; I’ll take care of the office while you’re away.”

“What makes you think I needed it?” he finally managed to ask.

“Well…” Mai propped an elbow on the table, resting her chin on one hand. Her other hand held up a finger for each of her reasons: “I heard from Ayako and Masako that you’ve been unbearably grumpy for weeks now. Bou-san complained that you rejected seven promising cases consecutively. John told me he’s worried about your health because you barely step out of your office. Even Yasu volunteered to take care of you in my stead, though honestly he just wanted to stay in the office because your ‘colder treatment than usual added to the air-conditioning’.” She chuckled. “I figured the heat was getting to you.”

“You sure have a lot of free time, chatting with the others in the middle of data gathering,” he commented, his tone disapproving and acerbic.

“Of course not! But they kept calling even if I don’t answer. It was really bothersome!” She crinkled her nose, then smiled again. “But at least I got updates on you and the office.”

With this piece of information, Noll’s earlier suspicion was dispelled, and for once he willingly acknowledged that his brother had been right all along.

He released a long sigh, weary but relieved. If he had gone so low as to jump to an irrational conclusion, then the heat must really be affecting his mental processes. Maybe he did need to go home for a while, at least until it cooled down in Japan.

For him to accept the time off, though, he required one condition met.

He slid the envelope back to Mai to start bargaining for it. “I don’t need it.”

Her smile fell. “What do you mean you don’t? Haven’t you been in a constant bad mood lately?”

He shrugged. “I feel fine.”

“Just take a few weeks off, Naru,” she said as she slammed her hands on the table, her frustration visibly mounting.

He raised a brow. “And leave the office to you?”

“Yes! It’s not like you haven’t done it before!”

She was right, so he disregarded her reply.

“I’d rather keep working.”

“I won’t let you work yourself to exhaustion!”

He crossed his arms and scoffed at her words. “Well, what will you do, come with me to Cambridge just to make sure I’m taking a break?”

“If I have to!”

There it is.

Noll took the envelope. “It’s settled, then.”

“Wh-What?” Mai spluttered, thrown off by his abrupt turnaround.

“You said you’ll come with me to Cambridge.”

“Eh—You were serious?! I thought you were mocking me!”

He gave her a dull look. “Am I the type of person who took vacations?”

“N-No.”

“So do you think I’ll stop working just because someone told me to?”

“I guess not…” she agreed but still looked unsure.

“You look like you need the break more than I do, anyway.”

She scowled at him. “Hey, what do you mean by that?!”

“It means I want you to come with me.”

Noll watched, amused and secretly in awe, as Mai’s angry expression froze, morphed into open-mouthed surprise, and became flushed with a radiant smile.

“Okay,” she finally said.

He couldn’t help smiling back.

For the first and last time in his life, he believed what was foretold in his tea. Mai had read him well.

____

References:

- “Tea-Cup Reading, and the Art of Fortune-Telling by Tea Leaves” (2006) by A Highland Seer, found in the Project Gutenberg website.

- “Your Essential Guide to Tasseography, the Practice of Reading Tea Leaves” (2018), an article by Aliza Kelly Faragher, found in Allure’s website.

- “Tasseography Symbols for Reading Coffee or Tea Leaves: What Do the Forms in Your Coffee or Tea Cup Mean?” (2019) by Lindsey Goodwin, found in The Spruce Eats website.

[morethanamullet-blog]

Everyone has a Family.

@ofchrysopoeia

It had been a regular day. More shouting at the station, more stupid people with stupid inquiries, more getting in trouble for what he did or didn’t do... By his standards it was normal. Nothing farther beyond that had happened, and he’d just gotten off of work. Rolling his shoulders back he kept walking, about to side step around a.. denizen of this strange city before said person nearly shrieked and took a back pedal towards the street away from him. “I THOUGHT I smelled something disgusting!”

Keiths brows rose and for a brief second while everyone else was either looking at the strange guy or walking away he didn’t think it was him. He glanced around, pointing to himself and his brows only rose further at the indignation coming from the others eyes. He found a very pudgy finger dig into his sternum, and now that he actually bothered to pay attention and glare at the creature he realize it wasn’t human. Something akin to Slav, now that he thought about it - sloth like and with too many arms. “...Can I help you-” “You can help me by keeling over and dying, yes thank you. I can not beLIEVE I smelt Galra here, of all places-”

He could feel the hair standing up on the back of his neck, his hands twitching by his sides as he stared at the guy in front of him. He didn’t think there’d be anyone from his life here, let alone someone that could tell or even know what it meant to be Galran. He immediately flattened his lips before he said anything stupid through the shock. Patience yields focus, listen to him before you say anything stupid.. “-Honestly, to think I was happy being AWAY from their rule and yet now I have to be plagued by yet another of your kind and what is this?” The creature grabbed at his arm and Keith quickly swiped it back, glare returning to the sloth like man as it gestured sporadically. “What are you the hairless variety of their species? Using a disguise? Oh I bet that’s what it is, your here to kill us all aren’t you-” He certainly spoke as much as Slav did, that was for sure. His eyes narrowed. “...Look, if you’re done-” “They should have you locked up! In fact put on the stake would be even better!” He was half way in between taking another step to leave before the man was in front of him again. He could feel eyes on them and it was already starting to set him on edge, his fingers curling into fists as he kept them locked at his side.

“... Sir.” His speech was tense and he was trying to keep from blowing up at the man - basically the same tone of voice he would have used if he had still been working and was actually trying to take the polite approach. “If you are done,” He spoke each word slowly, punctuated each syllable. The LAST thing he’d come outside to do was be berated for existing, let alone for something he wasn’t aware anyone here even KNEW about. The man kept going on, and on, and on and Keiths anger started to show through how his fists trembled at his side. He was never known to be patient, and this creature was just about to learn the meaning of losing it. “Disgusting Galran fil-” He wasn’t allowed to finish - Keiths fist was raking across his face and suddenly the force from the blow had the man tumbling across the concrete. He gave out a frustrated sigh, feeling his blood boiling and pumping as his heart rate reached his ears. “Fuck. Off.” He spat at the man now on the ground, and the movement he could tell coming around from the corners, moving around him made nearly everyone else back off of the side walk. He glanced around, noting the men seemed to be with the guy he’d just punched. There wasn’t anyway he was getting out of this talking now, and he knew it.

[puffdragongirl]

In Name Only - Team Really Royalty Reveal

Set several weeks after the events of Catch

After another endless day of squinting at notebooks, Ryuu closes the door to the pharmacy and turns blindly towards his quarters. He had been expecting a challenge – even looking forward to it – when he was granted the position of Wilant’s Head Pharmacist. He had imagined most of the difficulty would come from dealing with staffing the largely empty roster or interacting with the members of the frosty Northern court. What he hadn’t been expecting was the entire wing to be a disorganized mess of cabinets full of questionable contents, drawers crammed with mysterious vials, and spotty, near-illegible notes. Many days the sheer chaos of the pharmacy he’d inherited made him want to throw the poorly-kept logbooks out the window and retreat under his desk to scream into his pillow, but somehow Obi’s supportive humor and Shirayuki’s unflagging determination had managed to keep him sane long enough to get most of the supplies identified, labeled, and properly catalogued in the imminently sensible Lyrias style.

Speaking of Obi and Shirayuki, the only thing keeping Ryuu going tonight is anticipation for their weekly shared dinner. Although Obi still spends a good part of his time helping out in the pharmacy, his conscription to helping out with the paperwork surrounding Prince Zen’s permanent relocation meant he often took meals in the Prince’s office rather than the pharmacy. Not to say meals with Shirayuki alone aren’t enjoyable – they are. He just always feels that something is missing. He didn’t realize the missing piece was Obi until the fiasco with the sprained wrist a few weeks back had kept him away from paperwork (“Pens are different than knives, Miss Kiki!” he had exclaimed when Kiki had inquired about his apparent ambidextrousness, which did not extend towards writing with his left hand, “I had more pressing things to worry about at the time than writing legibly.”). Despite frequent whining about not being allowed to climb things occurring every day of those two weeks, the knight’s presence back at their lunch table those two weeks made everything feel right again. Ryuu tries not to think too hard about what the warm and fuzzy feeling being with Shirayuki and Obi means (They are not his parents. They aren’t.), but he does make a point to never miss their weekly meals.

As he approaches his rooms, the scent of roasting meats and savory spices grows stronger. Getting to eat delicious food is another benefit of sharing a meal with Obi. Pushing open his door, he follows his nose directly to the kitchen, where Shirayuki is setting places at his table while Obi stirs a steaming stirfry at the range. They are deep in conversation, although he only catches the tail end of it.

“And Master wants what, from us, exactly?” Obi asks, flipping the contents of his wok in the air to keep them moving.

“He asked if we heard anything about it in our travels,” she replies, setting a pitcher of water on the table before settling in her chair, “Apparently, one of the rumors was that the heir went North.”

“Hmmm…” Obi hums, face contemplative as he adds some last-minute seasonings to the dish, “I can’t recall hearing anything of the sort.” He thinks for a few minutes more, then shoots a sly grin across the counter, “Then again, I didn’t spend as much time with the gossips as you did, Miss.”

Shirayuki sputters, color blooming in her cheeks as she protests, “Look here, I don’t believe for a second that guards don’t gossip just as much as-”

“Gossip about what?” Ryuu interrupts, resisting the urge to smile fondly. Months on the road with the two of them taught him they would bicker and tease each other endlessly given the chance.

“Little Ryuu!” Obi calls, raising his spatula in greeting, “Dinner is almost ready!”

“Oh, Ryuu!” Shirayuki echoes, sending an unrepentant Obi a look but dropping the argument for now, “You’re just in time; we could use your help with this.”

As Shirayuki explains the situation, he wanders over to the counter, grabbing a mug from the table and filling it with water. He leans against the counter as Shirayuki speaks. It sounds like any other story of greedy nobles at first – a “missing” heir, with younger half-siblings looking to take their place – but something about the story sets him on edge.

“…So essentially, it is rumored that there is a son from his first marriage that would have the claim on the title, but no one has seen him for many years or is sure that he ever really existed.” Shirayuki frowns as she recaps the background, “I’m not sure why they didn’t try to figure this out sooner, especially since it sounds like the child would have been young when he went missing…” She shakes her head, and gets back on track, “Anyway, now that the previous title holder has passed, they need to figure things out as quickly as possible. The widow sent a petition for her child to be declared the official heir, but Zen wants to look into the claim of the older child first, to make sure the widow’s claim is valid.”

“What was the last name again?”  Obi asks when she finishes, shuffling the pan absently to keep the stir fry from burning, “Ga-something, right?” He turns off the heat and starts piling the steaming dish on a serving platter, “Galirat? Galiro? Gabirin?”

He makes several more attempts at the name, and a chill runs down Ryuu’s spine, but he pushes his worries down. It had been years, nearly a decade, and it couldn’t be. It just couldn’t be…

“Gaboriault,” Shirayuki corrects, and somehow, what he feared is true, and it feels like his whole world has dropped out from under him.

His mug drops from suddenly nerveless fingers, but he barely registers the clatter of porcelain breaking against the floor. The room spins and his ears ring as panic threatens to consume him. There are gasps, voices asking if he is okay, wondering what is wrong, but he doesn’t hear anything over the pleas racing through his mind. No, no. Please no. Please don’t make me go back, not when I’m finally happy, finally me.

Overwhelmed, he flees, leaving the broken pottery and the alarmed calls of Obi and Shirayuki behind.

It shouldn’t surprise him that it doesn’t take them long to find him. He is curled up under his desk, leaning against the back wall with his knees pulled tight to his chest. After several years of growth spurts, he is perhaps too tall now for it to be a perfect fit, but he is comforted by the familiarity of the small space all the same. Barely ten minutes have passed before he hears the pharmacy door open, and although their words are too quiet to make out, he would recognize their voices anywhere.

Even colored with distress, he finds their familiar back-and-forth comforting. Shirayuki first, her concern evident in the wavering tone and rapid pace of her words. Obi next, voice deep and steady as he soothes her, but touched with the slightest hint of strain. Their voices separate, and he hears the quiet sound of footsteps echo through the room. One set, still somewhat unfamiliar given he has only heard them a handful of times despite their long acquaintance, draws close to his desk, and the fabric separating his nook from the world parts to reveal Obi’s face peering in at him. His mouth is set in that way that means he is worried, and Ryuu can’t quite meet his gaze, upset with himself for worrying them.

“Over here, Miss,” Obi summons Shirayuki to the desk and before he knows it, somehow all three of them are wedged in the space, with Ryuu pressed securely in the middle. Although he can feel their concern, they don’t speak, content for now to have found him. He soaks in the comfort to their presence, and eventually unbends enough to explain.

“You probably guessed this,” he begins, staring hard at his clenched hands, “I am the ‘missing’ son they are looking for.” He can’t help the bitter laugh that spills from his lips, “Or maybe it’s better to say, the one they are hoping not to find.”

“They told me my mom… died right after I was born,” he continues, and now that the words have started, the story just tumbles out, “I’m not sure if my father really cared about her, but I know he didn’t wait long to remarry.” Ryuu didn’t have any memories without his father’s second wife, and his half-brother was only a year or so younger than him, so his father couldn’t have waited more than a couple of months to remarry. “She was…ambitious, to say the least, and resented that her children couldn’t inherit because the orphan a dead woman was still hanging around.”

“My father was always very busy, and more often than not was in Wilant or Wistal on some kind of business,” Ryuu could probably count on one hand the number of times he had spoken with the man, “He never really had time for any of his children, so the housekeeper and maids looked after me.” He pauses for a moment, then admits quietly, “I’m not sure I even remember what my father looked like.”

“Oh, Ryuu…” Shirayuki breathes, and her hand reaches out to wrap around his tightly-clasped fists. Obi says nothing, but his arm does settle across the stiff line of Ryuu’s shoulders. Neither of them miss the implication that, even if Ryuu wasn’t neglected, precisely, he was never really cared for either.

“It wasn’t so bad,” he offers, weakly, “I spent most of my time with the gardener, and that’s how I found out about plants and herbs.” He will always remember her patient explanations of which plants were used for food, and which for medicine, and the best times to harvest them both. He tells them how, once his questions had outpaced her knowledge, she started to bring him books from the library. “And one benefit of growing up…where I did… was the size of the library. There were books in the collection I didn’t see again until the library at Lyrias.”

“One day, she brought me the old gardener’s notebook,” he can still see the notebook, carefully kept despite the decade or so since the man’s departure from the property, “I found an old advertisement looking for apprentice pharmacists in Wistal Palace inside.” The yellowed paper had slipped from its place tucked between two pages detailing a particularly grueling insect extermination. It had seemed like a salvation, a way to escape the indifference of his father, and the resentment of the woman who could have been his mother. “I knew it was crazy, but it seemed like the only way out.”

He finishes his story, describing how he packed a bag with his clothes, the pocket and gift monies he had gathered over the years, and the notes he had compiled from the gardener and the library books; the way he researched the roads to and from Wistal from some maps his father stored in his office; and finally, the way he left in the dead of the night.

“I would call it running away, but that place was never really a home to me.” Drained by the telling, he leans back into the arm still around his shoulder, and fiddles his fingers against the grasp still warm against his hands. They sit in silence for a moment, then he asks, “Are you…going to tell Prince Zen?”

The pharmacy is dark, but he sees them turn to each other anyway, communicating in that silent way of theirs. What must be only a few minutes, but feels like hours, passes, before Obi moves to face him.

“Let’s start with this,” Obi proposes, “What is it that you want to do, Little Ryuu?”

“I don’t want to go back there,” he admits, the words leaving him in a rush, “I like it here. I like the pharmacy, even if it’s a mess right now. I like having dinner together, and traveling to get plants, and complaining together about how terrible fancy parties are…” He scrambles away from them, or at least as far as the cramped space allows, and bows his head, “My home is here, with you. With the both of you, wherever you are. Please…please let me stay with you.”

There is a beat of silence, then a slender hand is reaching for his chin, tilting his head to meet watery green eyes and a wobbly smile.

“Of course you can stay,” Shirayuki assures, her eyes taking on that familiar glint of determination, “If I have anything to do with it, I hope we can stay together always.” Her gaze drifts to Obi’s, and she admits, “All of us; no matter where we go, it feels like home because we are together.”

“You heard her, Little Ryuu,” Obi grins, and reaches a hand out to ruffle his hair, “And you know wherever the Miss goes, I follow.” His grin softens to a soft smile, “I guess you’re stuck with us both for the long haul.”

If the three of them spend the next quarter hour hugging, at least two of them crying at any given moment, at least no one outside the family would ever know.

The next day, Obi reports to Zen that none of them heard anything about the missing Gaboriault heir during their travels through the North. Indeed, given the ways of the North, where rumors were just as often born of boredom than grains of truth, they suspected the heir, if there had ever really been one, was long gone by now, and wanted nothing to do with the title. However, if you were to listen carefully to conversations on quiet days in the pharmacy, when only the three of them were around, you might hear the occasional reference to Ryuu, Lord and Master of the Pharmacy. And that was one title that Ryuu was happy to bear, as long as it stayed between the three of them.

[inawickedlittletown]

Walking The Wire (167/167)

Summary: Tony Stark always knew about Peter Parker. He didn’t know that Peter was going to get superpowers and become Spider-Man, but he always knew about Peter because Peter was his son.

This will span from pre-Iron Man up through the rest of the MCU (eventually including Infinity War) and will be for the most part canon compliant except where I’ve taken some liberties and interpreted canon a certain way.

Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Tony/Steve (endgame), Tony/Mary (past)

A/N: If you want me to tag you when I post new chapters let me know. This fic is also on AO3

I used Collider’s MCU timeline to stay canon and the title of this fic is an Imagine Dragons song that is just so fitting for Peter and Tony

@findmeinthestarss

Masterpost

Chapter One Hundred Sixty Six

-

Epilogue

One Week Later 

Peter didn’t know how he managed to convince his dad to let him go with him and Steve when they went to return the stones, but he did. It was officially the last mission that Iron Man would go on but it had kind of turned into a family trip instead. The only stone that they weren’t returning personally was the Power Stone because Captain Marvel was dealing with that one instead. 

“You did tell me you wanted to try the whole time travel thing,” Steve said when they prepared to leave. 

“I did,” Peter said and he had absolutely no complaints on going, he just hated how careful his dad was being about the whole thing. 

Their first stop was Vormir. Peter could tell that his dad wasn’t exactly okay being there, but Steve made the whole trip go quick. They weren’t there long enough for Peter to look around but there wasn’t much to even see. Knowing that that cliff was the one that Steve had jumped off of for them to get the stone made it difficult all around. 

Next they went to Asgard and Peter hadn’t expected it to be so beautiful and different. Alien. 

“This is a real place,” Peter said. 

“Not in our present it isn’t,” his dad reminded him. 

They dressed like Asgardians -- clothing courtesy of Thor -- and managed to get a good look around. The guy that took care of the bifrost and the entrance to Asgard was the only one that knew they were there and he didn’t seem to have a problem with it. He even helped them with putting the stone back. Peter had no idea how Dr. Banner had managed to get all the stones back into their original states, but he’d done it and the Reality Stone was back in the form of a liquid. After it was back where it belonged they just sort of wandered around for a bit. 

The Time Stone was a weird one to return because they had to go back and see Doctor Strange. They also couldn’t really linger because it was 2017 and Peter had already been Spider-Man by then and because Steve couldn’t be out and about on account of the house arrest. It was one thing to not care about creating another timeline and another entirely to make that timeline worse for the versions of themselves that would live it. 

The Scepter was an easy one to return. It was 2015 and Peter got to have a  small glimpse at what life had been like in the tower in 2015. The tower as a whole had looked entirely different and Steve explained that the penthouse floor had been destroyed by Ultron and that after everything his dad opted for a remodel. They were on look out while his dad put away the stone. 

“This wasn’t exactly a happy time around here, was it?” Peter asked. “This was -- he stopped responding to me.”

“Yeah,” Steve said. “It was a hard time. Your dad and Pepper weren’t really seeing eye to eye and he was losing hope of ever getting to meet you.”

“I know,” Peter said. “We kind of talked about it. May really didn’t want him to meet me -- she thought it’d be dangerous. I think she’s realized how much of a mistake that was on her part. Anyway, we know each other now.” 

Lastly they went to 2011. It was another quick trip. The tower was different again and Peter got to see the beginning of the Avengers. He also saw his letter -- the one he’d sent that he knew his dad had only managed to read right after he almost died. 

“It was a relief when I thought I was going to die, that you didn’t know what I was to you,” his dad said. “But reading that letter made me hope and made me want to live.”

“I love you, dad,” Peter said in response. 

They went on a few detours. Quick moments in time -- they went to the 1920s for a day and then the 1930s where they went to Brooklyn to see a small serum-less Steve. It was jarring seeing him that way -- but even then he was still a lot like the Steve they knew and because his dad couldn’t help himself, he left that Steve some money anonymously. They visited a few more years, never staying long and trying to not make too many ripples. For his dad they went to a Queen concert in 1986 and Peter was surprised at how many songs he actually knew. Peter requested that they stop and go see the original theatrical release of Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977. Steve just seemed to be enjoying seeing all the things he missed while frozen in ice. 

“This will probably be the best trip we’ve ever been on,” Peter said. 

“Although, we’re being very irresponsible and probably creating a whole bunch of new timelines,” his dad said. 

“But you’re sure this won’t become a real problem later?” Steve asked. 

“It won’t.” 

Peter was just happy to spend time with his dads and since Shuri had okayed their trip, he was sure it would be fine. 

--

Three Months Later

Tony appreciated how easy it was to let go of Iron Man now that the threat of Thanos was gone. He was aware that plenty of other villains existed and that some of them might even be worse than Thanos, but for the moment he was happy with how easy it seemed. Things were settling, the world was a little better. He was married. Peter was the best son he could have asked for. Things were good. 

The Avengers had a new roster and while he had given up the superhero life entirely, Steve was still helping with training the new members of the team.  It kept him busy and involved when they weren’t working on their new house and Tony liked to join him sometimes. It was nice to see the next generation of heroes and he could see the appeal of getting to shape them and train them and showing them the ropes. But working on the house was also rewarding work. Steve had an artist’s eye and between him and Tony they had designed their perfect home. 

In the meanwhile, they waited for the call. 

Months passed. Then a few more. 

The agency contacted him every once in a while, just keeping up with them, but never with the news they wanted. 

“It will happen, when it happens,” Steve said. “Sooner or later.”

“When it’s meant to,” Tony said in agreement. Waiting just kind of sucked. 

---

2019

“Do you know what Peter did while we were in Germany?” 

Peter groaned. Steve who had been in the middle of making them dinner turned to look at him. “Back during that whole airport thing?” 

Tony nodded. “I think I must have told you.” 

“I don’t think I’ve heard this story,” Bucky said. 

He was seated on one of the stools at the table right next to Peter and Peter could tell that he was ready for a story that he could use against Peter in the future. 

“Well, I booked him a hotel and Happy was supposed to be watching him. Then again, I didn’t think that Peter would sneak out of the hotel room, but that is what he did--”

Peter raised a finger in the air. “In my defense,” he said, “I was really hyped up after the fight. I didn’t think it was big deal.” 

“When I finally tracked him down he was at a rave. My fourteen year old at a rave in Germany--”

Bucky cracked up at once, laughing with his head thrown back. Peter punched him on the arm but that just made him laugh harder. Steve was laughing too. 

“Anyway,” Peter said. “All I said was that my decathlon team is going on a trip to Europe this summer.”

“And you’re welcome to go as long as you don’t end up in a rave again,” his dad said and he was smirking at him. 

Peter rolled his eyes. “I won’t even bring the suit. I think a break from Spider-Man might even suit me.” 

“And, hey, maybe you can take that girl you like somewhere and finally tell her,” Bucky said. 

“I’ve been trying,” Peter said. 

And he had been trying. MJ was just a tad intimidating and whenever he tried to bring it up things just got awkward and weird and he couldn’t get the words out. Hanging out with MJ wasn’t hard -- he did it all the time whether alone or with Ned, it was just that talking about his feelings just wasn’t easy. Reading Michelle and figuring out how she felt was even harder and the last thing that Peter wanted was to ruin their friendship. 

Ned seemed to be convinced that MJ did like him some days, but other days he thought she didn’t like him. Ned was absolutely no help and when it came to the trip, he was trying to get Peter to try and catch the attention of European girls on their trip which was entirely unappealing to Peter.  

“Not hard enough,” Bucky said. 

“It’s hard,” Peter said. 

Bucky pat his shoulder with his real hand. 

“You should go,” Steve said. “Hang out with your friends and see a few new places. Flirt a little.” 

“Steve!” 

“And definitely don’t take her to any raves,” Steve added. 

Peter rolled his eyes. “She’s more into ancient libraries than raves. And I think I will tell her. I’ll come up with a plan. It’ll be great.”

His dad chuckled. “Plans never really work out perfectly, kid.” 

“But maybe this way I can actually tell her and if we’re in Europe maybe I’ll find a good place to take her to when I tell her.”  

--

2020

The call came early in the morning. Early by Steve’s standards because Tony had been wide awake going on a few cups of coffee and deep in an engine and the sun wasn’t even really up yet although it was a matter of time before Steve was up for his morning run. But it was still he, that picked up the call when Friday told him it was important. 

“Hello?” Tony asked. 

“Hi, is this Tony Stark?” a female voice asked. 

“Yup. This is Tony,” Tony said and he waited because no one could get his direct line -- not unless Pepper or he personally gave it out. 

“I’m calling from the adoption agency. We have a match for you -- she’s four years old and we think you and Captain Rogers would be a good placement for her.”

His heart felt like it wanted to beat out of his chest. This was the call that he’d been waiting two years for -- since he and Steve had gotten married and since they had both decided that adoption was definitely for them. 

“I — yes, yes. We are definitely interested. Can I — What’s her name?” 

“Morgana,” the woman said. 

Morgana. A four year old. 

She kept talking, telling him a little about the case -- the steps that came next and a bunch of other things that Tony didn’t even really hear because the call had come. He and Steve were going to adopt. Since applying there had been a whole bunch of things for them to do. There had been home visits and evaluations. He and Steve had had to attend a few parenting courses, but it was all going to be worth it. And it was finally happening. It was amazing. When he got off the phone, it didn’t take him long to run out of the workshop. K-9 got up from his charging station and barked at him before he followed. 

“Steve! Steve! Peter!” 

Peter opened his bedroom door first. His hair was standing up in all directions and he looked decidedly bleary eyed. Steve opened their bedroom door a few seconds after, shield at hand. “What is it, what’s wrong?” 

Peter blinked at them. “There wasn’t an alarm,” he said. 

Tony shook his head. “No, no. No alarm. It’s -- I can’t believe it. Steve, we’re going to be dads.”

Steve blinked at him. “We’re already dads. Have you met Peter? Our son?”

Peter laughed as Steve walked to stand by him. He leaned a sleepy head on Steve’s shoulder. “It’s too early for jokes, dad.”

Steve rubbed his arm and Peter leaned a bit heavier on him. 

“The adoption agency called,” Tony said, bringing both Steve and Peter’s eyes back to him. 

Steve’s eyes widened, surprised. 

 Peter grinned. “Oh,” he said, “I’m going to be a big brother.”

“Yeah, kid. You are.” 

Peter yawned. “I’m like really excited, but I’m also really tired,” he muttered. 

Steve rubbed his shoulder gently. “I think back to bed with all of us,” Steve said, reaching for Tony’s hand. “Come on, we’ll have a huge breakfast to celebrate and you can tell me all the details.” 

“Her name is Morgana,” Tony said. “She’s four.”

“Morgana,” Steve repeated. “I like it.”

“Me too. Hey, did I ever tell you I was kind of obsessed with King Arthur and the knights of the round table?” 

“No,” Steve said, bemused. 

“So Morgana,” Tony said, “Like Arthur’s half-sister. It’s fitting. Meant to be, kind of.”

“Morgana,” Steve whispered. Tony kissed his shoulder. 

---

Peter took a look around the barn. It was red outside like most barns were. He’d actually looked up the reason for why barns were red and it was something to do with chemicals that farmers used to use to keep their wood from rotting. Now it was just paint. From the outside it looked entirely ordinary and no one would know that it housed a technologically advanced lab and workshop of one Tony Stark. And because his dad was his dad there was even a trap door that went down into a tunnel that led directly to the house -- the mansion -- that he’d designed and built. It had the personality of both of his dads and Peter absolutely loved it. 

“It’s cool, isn’t it?” Tony asked.

“Yeah,” Peter said. “No one will ever suspect that a farmer doesn’t live here.” 

Tony ruffled his hair. 

It was just a little bittersweet to know that this was all actually happening. His dad and Steve were moving from the tower into this farm. It wasn’t too far out of the city and it was admittedly really nice and quiet out there, but things were going to change soon. Not that Peter would have been around at the tower anyway since he was graduating in a few months and then after this summer it’d be off to college. Columbia. It had been that or NYU -- he’d gotten accepted to both. His dad had questioned his choice to not go to MIT.

“You’d love it there, kid, and it’s a great school and--”

“And it’s not in New York,” Peter had pointed out. 

Being in New York meant he could be Spider-Man. He could visit his dads and May. He could hang out with Ned when they had a spot of free time. His relationship with MJ didn’t have to turn long distance seeing as she was going to NYU. Not to mention that he wouldn’t miss out on spending time with his little sister. 

Peter hadn’t met Morgana yet, but his dad and Steve had and Peter had just had to look at them to know that they already loved her. And in just a few days she’d be coming home with them. 

He followed his dad out of the barn and towards the house. It really was a nice house -- the kind that were on 1000 piece puzzles but that no one ever saw in real life. It was huge but not overwhelmingly so. Steve was standing on the wrap around porch and he grinned at them as they headed over. 

“Hey, Joan from the agency just called. They okayed everything. We get to pick her up tomorrow.” 

“Really? But she said in three or four days and now—”

“I know,” Steve said. 

“Already,” Peter said.  

“I -- there’s still so much to do. We don’t even -- we haven’t even furnished this place yet and--”

Steve stepped forward and placed his hands on Tony’s shoulders. “Because we’re not moving yet,” Steve reminded him. “We’ll be at the tower for a few more months. Her room is ready. Everything is ready. You bought her a million things she won’t even need.” 

Tony nodded and Peter could tell that he was relaxing, especially when he turned to look at Steve. “She’s going to need everything we got for her.” 

Peter met Steve’s eyes and they smiled at each other because they both knew that Tony had gone a little overboard. But they should have known to expect that. 

“I can’t wait to meet her,” Peter said and he really couldn’t. 

“You’ll love her, Pete,” his dad said. 

Peter still remembered the conversation he’d had with the social worker that had come to check out the house. He’d been nervous because he didn’t want to ruin things for his dad and Steve, but the questions had been straight forward and mostly to do with how he felt about the adoption. He felt great about it — he was excited for the new addition to the family. Peter just didn’t know who would be spoiling Morgana the most. 

“Hey, do you think we can get a real dog out here? K-9’s going to need a friend,” Peter said. They had plenty of room for one. 

“I think your dad wants to get chickens, Pete. It might very well become a menagerie.” 

“Just because I think it would be interesting to have a few cows,” Tony said. 

“Because Shuri sent you pictures of cows once she heard about the farm,” Steve said. 

“Well did you know that there were so many cute cows?” Tony asked. “I think Morgana would appreciate having cows.” 

Peter rolled his eyes. “We don’t need cows,” he said. “Morgana certainly doesn’t need cows.” 

“Okay. No cows. Maybe. But what about alpacas? At least one? We can name him Gerald.”

Steve looked like he was trying to hold in his laughter. 

“But, dad, what if it’s a girl?” Peter asked. 

“We can call her Geraldina.”

Peter saw Steve shaking his head, but Peter shrugged his shoulders. “They are kind of cute.”

He would await the day when he arrived at the farm and found an alpaca and some chickens and cows. Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea for his dad to pick up a new hobby, though.  

“What about we welcome our -- we welcome Morgana into our lives first and then think about getting a zoo?” Steve asked. 

“I am tabling this conversation for later, but I do want to point out that we have the space and the time for it.”

“Sure, honey,” Steve said. 

Peter followed Steve inside. It still wasn’t fully furnished but it was kind of cool to actually see it finished after so long. It was different than the tower -- cozier and more homey with touches of tech because what Tony Stark house wouldn’t have that, but it also had a separation from that. It was perfect. 

“Hey,” his dad said after a while of walking from empty room to empty room. “You’re really okay with this right?”

“What? You guys moving?”

Tony nodded. 

“I am. It’s -- it’s what you guys want and I’ll like coming out here to visit all the time. And I’m excited about Morgana too. It’s -- it’s exciting. You guys deserve this after everything. Our lives are never going to be normal because I have spider powers and Steve is a supersoldier and you’re a genius but this is our family and Morgana is going to grow up with Thor showing up uninvited all the time and you building robots in the barn and maybe some alpacas and cows running around. And we all know I attract danger and trouble no matter where I go so--”

He was thinking back to the European trip. Peter had reluctantly taken his Spider-Man suit with him, but hadn’t intended to use it. His plans had entirely revolved around telling MJ he liked her. Somehow, he had managed to do that, but other things happened too. By the end of it, the world at large knew his identity and not just that -- they knew his father was Tony Stark. Things had settled down and ended fine by the end of it, but it had been rough going for a while and Peter didn’t think he would have handled it as well without his dad and Steve at his side. 

Still, at the rate that he was going, Peter expected that if he did end up dorming for school that his roommate might end up being some supervillain. Hell, maybe it would be one of his professors.

“Yeah. Not your finest quality, kid,” his dad said. “Maybe why I don’t like the idea of being too far from you.”

“In a suit, you can get to New York City in about fifteen minutes. Don’t worry. I’m an Avenger.”

His dad sighed. “Yeah, I know. Just, I guess to be honest, I’m a little worried about tomorrow.”

Peter sighed. “You’ve already met her and she likes you and Steve. It’s going to be fine. And Aunt May said you can call her any time for help or babysitting. Not to mention that she’s going to have the best big brother ever so…”

Tony laughed and he pulled Peter into his side. Peter went willingly. Things were going to change over the next few months but none of that was going to matter, not as long as the important things didn’t change. The important things being his family -- new additions and all.

-

Bonus Chapter

[minty-fresh-21]

Boy in the Dog Park (Ch.2)

Summary:  “Hello listeners! The local police station asked me to remind all of you out of the roads tonight that, here in Gainesville, we believe in a speed limit of 19 miles an hour. If you go 20, well, you’re going to jail.”

Gainesville is a strange town. Virgil should fit right in.

Now if only Virgil could figure that out. Luckily, he’s got three friends, and maybe eventually something more, to help him along.

Warnings: Non human characters, Past violence, non descriptive violence

Chapter Title: The Second Meeting

Chapter Summary: In which having a nice conversation does not go as well as the pariceipencts would have liked, and Patton ships Viremy

Words: 3227

Need to Catch Up? Previous/Next  Also posted on AO3 

They were back at the park again. This time there was a chill in the air, and all three of them were wearing their Midwinter Festival sweaters. Logan had protested that ‘it wasn't even All Hallows Eve yet.’ Patton just laughed at him while Roman forced the sweater over his head.

None of them mentioned it, but all three of them had an apprehensive air about them. It had been a week since they had met Virgil. Though, Logan thought privately, meeting was a rather strong word for someone running away from you when you tried to introduce yourself.

That Forest had moved away and was now encircling the local library. (All the Librarians were trapped, and there hadn't been any contact with them for three days. They were probably fine. On the other hand, Logan hoped it moved soon, because if it didn't he would be racking up huge late fines, with the amount of books he currently had checked out. No one in Gainesville liked late fees. No one. Hiring demons from the underworld as your librarians probably was not the library director’s smartest idea.)

Patton had told them yesterday that he was going to the Park with Blue again tomorrow. He hadn’t asked them to come this time, but they dragged themselves out of bed to tag along with him anyways. (Both Roman and Logan had quietly agreed that Patton’s habit of getting up so early was outrageous.)

Patton was the one who finally brought up the topic they were all thinking about. “Do you think he’ll be here?” Before Logan could reply, a voice interrupted

“Hmmm, Gurl, Probab-!”

Roman reacted as dramatically (as usual) to Remy sneaking up on them, shrieking loudly. “MOTHER-”

“FATHER!” Patton quickly cut him off. “Now you!” he squealed, pointing at Logan.

“BROTHER!”

Remy paused, raising an eyebrow at the three of them. “Y’all are insane.”

Logan chuckled internally, and nodded. You would probably have to be crazy to survive in this town, anyways. “That’s fair.”

“Where did you even come from?” Roman gasped, still recovering from his shock.

“I’m a minor chaos god. I can teleport.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“Well anyways Patton, how’s your garden going?”

As Patton happily rambled about how his chrysanthemums were coming along, Logan subtly leaned over to Roman.

“What did he mean? He’s not actually a god, right?”

Roman looked affronted, hissing back at him. “What the hell, Logan? Don’t you know it’s rude to question someone’s mortality status? Why would anyone lie about that?”

Logan blinked, sitting back in his original position, suitably chastised. “Ah, my apologies, we didn't really have, uh, that, where I come from.”

Roman’s face softened, and he nodded, straightening back up as well. Though Patton continued to chat with Remy, Logan and Roman started to scan the edges of the park, attempting to spot Virgil.

All three of them were hoping to see the mysterious Virgil again, for various reasons.  

Roman wanted to see the tiny man again, not just because he was adorable, but mostly. Logan wanted to make sure that Virgil was alright. They had startled him badly last week, and he had panicked a little too much to be normal. Patton wanted to apologize to the man, having worried about him all week.

Roman was the one who spotted Virgil first this time. He grinned triumphantly, poking Logan in the side to draw his attention to the approaching figure edging it’s way along the fence.

While Virgil walked over to Holly, who was still on her leash at Remy’s side, Roman and Logan had a quiet squabble where Roman crowded about how he “Saw him first, suck it, Microsoft Nerd!” and Logan glared and hissed back that  “It wasn’t a competition, Roman.”

When Virgil reached Remy’s dog, he plopped down on to the ground, glancing up at them warily.

Remy broke off his conversation with Patton to grin down at him with an almost predatory smirk.

“You did show up, how nice!”

Virgil flushed, scowling as he glared adorably up at Remy. Patton let out a small “Awwww…” at the expression.

Ignoring Patton's reactions, though they did cause his cheeks to darken, Virgil quipped back at Remy. “Shut up Rem. No one asked for your opinion.” Logan raised an eyebrow at the odd exchange, but decided that they must have met up at some point between when the three had seen them last week and this saturday, and this was a continuation of a conversation he wasn't privy to.

Remy snorted at Virgil’s response, but turned to introduce Virgil to the three of them formally.

“This is Virgil, as you already know. Vee, this is Patton,” Patton gave the man a brilliant grin, which caused him to blush a beautiful shade of violet. Observing this, Logan to wonder whether Virgil’s blood was a similar shade. “Roman,” Roman gave a dramatic bow to the man sill sitting on the ground next to Holly. “And Logan.” Logan gave a soft nod towards him.

“Salutations.”

Virgil gave them a nod, but didn’t say anything, his spitfire attitude from earlier gone.

“So Kiddo,” Patton began. “I know we gave you quit the scare last week…” He trailed off, not knowing how to proceed without making the apology awkward, but knowing that pausing was only making the situation more awkward. He looked at his boyfriends, growing slightly more panicked as the seconds wore on, hoping one of them would save him from himself.

Logan took pity on Patton and picked up where he left off, deciding to just go to short and simple route, and get straight to the point.

“We started you badly last week, and we wish to offer our apologies for it.”

Virgil offer them another smile, this one more shaky and hesitant. He flushed an even deeper shade of violet.

“It’s okay. I overreacted.”

And awkward silence came over them before Patton realized that standing in the dog park with the dogs on leashes was kind of silly. Blue was tugging on his leash, eager to run. Patton unclipped him, releasing him onto the various squirrels throughout the park.

Remy followed suit, unhooking Holly from her leash and watching her try to catch up to the hyperactive puppy. When Blue took a rather sudden turn, changing course to pursue a particularly chunky squirrel, Holly, doing her best to follow him, managed to perform a spectacular backflip as she lost her footing. A laugh was startled out of Virgil, which in turn, startled the three of them. They hadn't talked with Virgil much yet, but he didn't seem like the laughing type. A snicker wouldn't seem out of place coming out of his mouth, but not a laugh. Yet here he was, giggling, at Holly.  

Too cute.

Remy snorted at his dog, then poked at Virgil with his foot. “Go on, go play with the dogs and let the grown ups talk.”

Virgil scowled at him. Then, after a moment of thought, a vicious smirk came over his face that made Logan become wary of what mischief he could be planing. In a few swift movements, Virgil grabbed Remy’s leg from where it was still digging it into Virgil’s side, and gave it a quick yank. Remy yelped and fell back. Before anyone could even react, Virgil was gone, running after the dogs at a speed that was a bit too fast to be human.

Remy, still lying on the ground, sighed. “I’m not sure if I should be angry or not”

“To be fair,” Roman said, “you kind of deserved that.”

~~~

Almost a half hour past with the three making idle chatter between themselves and watching Virgil running around with the dogs. He somehow managed to keep up with Blue, occasionally even out pacing him. At several points, Patton had to gently reach over to shut Logan‘s mouth. (Greyhounds can run up to 43 miles per hour, the fastest human to date had clocked in at only 28 mph, how…?) Virgil finally came back over, painting lightly.

He flopped on the ground, in the same spot he had been sitting in before, next to Remy who had never actually moved from where he had fallen. Logan was half convinced that he was asleep at this point, but was unsure because of the shades that the god was wearing.

Patton happily flummped to the the ground on the other side of Virgil and struck up a conversation.

~~~

Eventually they had all ended up at the ground. Patton was throwing a ball for Blue to chase. Holly, who had worn herself out already, had joined her owner in dozing off. Roman was sprawled out, with his head in Logan’s lap, Logan leaning against the fence of the dog park.

Casual conversation was flowing between them for now. Remy was almost certainly asleep, having started snoring 15 minutes ago. This was the subject of the conversation now, Roman poking fun at him.

“Is he snoring, or trying to start a lawnmower?” He snorted, as a particularly loud sound left Remy.

Virgil laughed, which startled the three once again, still not expecting such a light sound coming from such an emo nightmare.

“No, he snores like that all the time,” Virgil snorted, “especially when he’s sitting up or laying on the ground.”

“How do you know?” Logan’s comment was absent minded, no real purpose to it besides curiosity. He regretted asking when this small smile easily slid of Virgil's face.

~~~

Sometimes, Virgil regretted opening his big stupid mouth. Why did he say that? He was just felt so relaxed with the three, he let slip details that prompted them to ask questions about his past.

Questions he didn't want to answer. Questions that took him right back to when he was sitting in a strange bed with a strange man sitting slumped over next to the bed in a chair. Terrified to move, to make a noise, terrified that he was going to wake up this man. This man who must have healed him, but also must have seen his deformity, the most disgusting part of himself, because he wasn't wearing his jacket and the stranger had seen him and he was going to hurt him, maybe cut off his tentacles, maybe that wouldn't be so bad-

“Virgil, are you okay?”

Oh Damn it. He had zoned out. They probably thought he was a freak now, not they wouldn't have realised it soon anyways because he so stupid and can’t even control his own limbs when he got excited. He-

“Virgil, can you hear me?.”

That was Remy. When did he wake up, did Virgil wake him up? He did, he did, he did. That was bad bad bad bad.

“It’s gonna be okay, Virgil. Do you need to leave?”

Yes, he wanted to leave! Where was he, where-

Where was he? He was outside. Outside, not in a bed.

Outside. There was dirt. Pebbles pressing into his palms and in a flash he was aware of his hoodie still around him. Not in a bed, or a house. Outside.

“Virgil? Can I touch you?”

The dog park. He was at the dog park, with Remy, who wasn't a stranger, not anymore, who would never do those things to him. Remy was safe.

“Yes.” His answer startled himself. He took a shaky breath to steady himself and repeated “Yes, you can touch me.”

Remmy was hesitant at first, reaching out to rub Virgil’s back. Virgil grabbed Remy’s arm and curled into his side where he was crouched next to him. Virgil shivered in his jacket, breathing coming unevenly.

“Remember your breathing, Virgil” Remy murmured still rubbing his back. “One.., Two… Three…” After a while of that, Virgil was calm enough to remember what had started his attack.

He jerked up, spinning around to face the other three sitting next to him, ready to apologize for freaking out- but they weren’t there.

“Virgil? Are you okay?” Remy asked cautiously, his hand stilling on Virgil’s back.

“Where did they go?” Virgil asked “Why-”

“When you started to zone out, they woke me up. Once they saw that I could handle it, they thought they would be better more of a hindrance to than help. And they left to give you some space.”

“Oh.” Virgil let out the breathe he just now realized he was holding. At least his extra limbs hadn’t busted out of the back of his jacket. Now they knew he was a freak, but at least not how much of a freak he was.

Remy was looking at him now, intently peering over the top of his shades. Virgil shuddered slightly when he met him at Remy's inhuman, hypnotic (literally) eyes. It was times like this that Virgil was reminded that Remy was a god.

“You’re not a freak, Virgil.”  Virgil started, starkly reminded of how Remy was so good at reading his thoughts. Remy had assured him many times that he couldn't actually read minds, but Virgil still doubted sometimes.

He looked at the ground, using to meet Remy's eyes. “I'm tired.” Closing his eyes, slumping into Remy’s chest. “I'm just tired.”  

Thankfully Remy drop it for now, though Virgil had no doubts he would bring it up again later. “I’m going to teleport you to your clearing, close your eyes.” Virgil nodded faintly, and did as instructed.  

He felt a faint squeeze, and heard the whispers you hear when you're alone. Remy had teleported him before, and had already warned him to never open his eyes, otherwise the old gods, the ones who lived in the space between where you were and where you were going, who weren't quite as kind as Remy, was would try to tempt him to stay.

Thankfully teleporting didn’t last long at all, and they were soon surrounded by bird song and the sounds of the stream instead of those Whispers. They were inside his tent, though. He could tell because of the still air, instead of the near-constant breeze of the forest. His eyes refused to open now though, the loss of energy from his attack hitting him in full force.

Remy placed him on his sleeping bag and drew back. Virgil was just awake enough to realize that he was going to leave.

The thought of being alone out in the open hit him hard, as it's often did, and he desperately flung out his hand to catch Remy’s sleeve.

“Don't go, please- please.” Remy didn’t reply, but laid next to him, and Virgil relaxed.

He was lulled to sleep by the sound of Remy’s steady breathing, and the sparrow that was singing in the trees.

~~~

When Roman, Patton and Logan got home, Patton squirreled himself away into his bedroom, and tried to forget about the days events by watching the newest episodes of his favorite cartoon, Moon Stories (An animated show about the adventures of one of the moon goddess’ children.) He wasn't very successful.

Roman has brought him lunch at noon, just a ham and mushroom sandwich and some chips, but other than that, no one bothered him, which he was glad for.

At the moment, he could hear Logan and Roman talking in the living room, but didn’t feel like joining them. He flopped onto his messily made bed and flung his arm over his eyes. The events in the dog park had shaken him. Virgil’s blank, stricken face, breathing shallow, not responding to them was seared into his mind.

He felt tears well up in his eyes thinking of how much terror he must have been in. The poor thing was so scared! And they had left him!

Paton wished they could have stayed and comforted him. But they had woken up Remy, who, once he had come to his senses, was quick to help Virgil. They would have made it worse if they had stayed.

Remy was obviously well equipped to help him. If Patton had to guess, he would say that they were more than friends. They were obviously close. Virgil seemed very relaxed in Remy's presence. Logan may have been confused as to why Virgil would have slept with Remy before, but Patton thought it was rather obvious.

The two down stairs had stopped their conversation, and were coming up the stairs now. The lighter set of footsteps headed for Logan's room, while the heavy pair stopped in front of Patton's own door. Patton smiled, as he knew roman was deciding whether or not to disturb him and knock.

Saving him the trouble, Patton stood up and walked over open the door.

"Hey, Ro." Patton flashed him a small smile. "How’re you doing?"

"I'm good Pat. I actually wanted to ask you how you’re feeling. You looked pretty shaken."

Patton shrugged, refusing to meet his eyes. How do you respond to that? He just saw his friend- at least he hoped Virgil was his friend, despite having only met him recently - having a panic attack. That's not something you got over quickly.

Roman let out a breath, not quite a sigh, but close. He swept Patton into a gentle hug, just as much for his comfort as Patton’s

"Next Sunday, if he comes -," Roman broke off, clearing his throat. "When he comes, we can apologize."

"Yes. " Patton smiled a little brighter. He hooked his chin over Romans shoulder. "I could bring him cookies!"

Roman chuckled. "That you can."

"You talked with Logan?" Patton mumbled, the mood lowered again.

"Yes." Roman released another breath, this time it was definitely a sigh. "I think I managed to convince him it wasn't his fault."

Patton nodded as best he could with his chin still hooked over Roman's shoulder.

"And how is he feeling?"

"I don't know. He's closed off again. But I think he just needs some time alone."

Patton hummed sadly. When their relationship had still been in the beginning stages, Logan had a hid a lot his emotions from the two of them, especially his negative emotions. They had been working on open communication, but it seems that Logan had regressed. Their nerd was a genius, but he struggled with emotions and social cues.

"Well," Patton let out of breath, blowing his bangs out of his face. "Remy is good for Virgil, at least."

Roman hummed, nuzzling into Patton's hair. "We can't just assume that they're together, Patton."

Patton's finally broke the hug and flopped back onto the bed. "We can't just ask him either, though. We don't want a repeat of today."

Roman fell onto the bed next to him, spreading himself out dramatically. "It's not our business, really, but if you're that curious, ask Remy. He might give you a straight answer."

"Yeah..." Patton trailed off tiredly." I just feel terrible about scaring him so badly..."

Roman only replied with a sleepy sigh. When Patton looked at him, he was sleepily blinking at him, half asleep already. It had been a long day. Patton let out of small, sad sigh. Normally, all three of them slept in the master bedroom, but it seemed that tonight they were sleeping in separate rooms. He understood that. Logan needed some space at the moment, but he still missed the extra body in bed. He nudged Roman under the covers, where he murmured sleepily at him, then Patton slipped under the covers next to him.

He fell asleep to the sounds of wolves howling out in the street.

Tag list: @moxietea @nightwolf713 @fandersunite @shedglitter

[legendslover]

Rule number one:        don’t fuck with librarians

Prompt: The three times Richie Tozier broke the rules, the one time he didn't. [Library AU]

Pairings: Reddie, Implied Stenbrough

Warnings: Swearing, Mostly Fluff, Soft Richie, Not As Germaphobic As Usual Eddie, No Mention Of Pennywise, Just Two Boys Flirting And Bickering, First Time Meeting

(Title coming from a quote!)

Aged Up Characters!

Richie Tozier was running late. So late. On his way back from Beverly Marsh’s place, where they had hung out as usual, chatting about music and life in general, he had suddenly remembered his original plans: joining Bill and Stan at the local library. He was so dead. If they knew that he had purposely ditched them for a girl, whoever she was, they would be so pissed. Richie, despite being the loudest person of the school, was probably also one of the smartest, which exasperated most of his classmates to no end. Fortunately, his friends had been used to his behavior since first grade and knew how to benefit from that cleverness instead of throwing a fit about it. Except they would exactly do that today if they thought Richie was letting them down, simply because he was too smart for them. Richie knew he was certainly overreacting but he had already witnessed Stan feeling this way multiple times. Even though they were used to his constant teasing, he didn’t want them to take it to heart. The least Richie wanted was to hurt his friends. They were the only ones forcing him to stay in town at this point. Unlike the others, he didn’t need to wait for college to leave Derry behind: surely because he didn’t plan on going anyway. Between his job at the drugstore and the music shop, he had cumulated a large enough amount of money to get his own car or a plane ticket to New York, Philly or Boston. As soon as his eighteen birthday would come, he was out of that hole.

His racing mind was disturbing his march along the sidewalk. Unaware of his current surroundings, he stumbled right before the library and shuffled through the large doors of the place, heading towards his friends. What he didn’t expect was to find himself colliding into a small and hard figure, a half dozen books tumbling to the floor in the process.

“Watch the fuck where you’re going, asshole!” hissed a strangely sweet voice.

Still staring at the books scattered against the carpet, a slow smirk progressively formed on Richie’s lips, not a tiniest bit intimidated by the boy’s tone.

“I could say the same about you.”

“There’s no running in the library!” The boy grunted, clearly becoming frustrated.

When Richie finally raised his eyes and fixed his glasses with his usual weird face scrunching, he was met with the first sight of Eddie Kaspbrak and what was certainly not going to be the last.

The second time Richie met Eddie Kaspbrak, new librarian’s son according to high school sources, he was going back to the library by himself. The night had been rough for several reasons, but mostly consisting of his dad beating the shit out of him. It was a chilly Friday night, which meant the last place where Richie could go was still open until nine. He ran his long fingers along his face, wincing when his hand came across his bruised –most certainly broken- nose. He wished nothing but to be at calm right now or he would explode of rage for certain. 

The saturated light hit his features as soon as he opened the doors of the library, letting a breeze of cold air rushing into the warm place. Behind the counter, a middle-aged woman (probably Eddie’s mother) was reading quietly, enjoying the last moments at work. Her lips instantly started to open once she had gotten a good look of Richie’s state but the comment that followed wasn’t hers.

“What the hell happened to you, Tozier?”

Richie, perplexed as to why the rather small teenager knew his name, didn’t let his shock come to the surface.

“How do you know my name?”

“We’re at the same school, duh.” Eddie shrugged nonchalantly, digging his feet into the ground. 

“You’re the new kid, how come you already know so much about me?” Richie teased, rather enjoying the blush that creeped up Eddie’s cheeks while his mother gave them a look, before heading at the back of the office.

“Stop thinking I’m a stalker, you idiot! It’s hard to go a day without hearing about you when teachers are constantly yelling your name in the halls!”

“I see you’ve been paying attention to me,” Richie playfully said.

“Oh c’mon, give me a fucking break! As if you hadn’t heard my name already, with the rumors that have been circling around me-“

“Wait, which rumors?” Richie interrupted, his air softening at the sudden dismayed look on the brown-haired boy’s face.

“Really? You don’t know about them? They- ugh, never mind.” Eddie looked at his feet defeatingly, clearly upset about something that Richie had no idea about. He felt bad for the kid: not only was it awful enough to move in fucking Derry but being treated like crap on his first days was the worst. Richie could definitely relate to this situation, despite having lived in this town most of his life. 

“Hey,” he suggested softly, “Wanna go read comics with me? As you’ve probably seen, I’m not having the time of my life right now, so I wouldn’t mind a little bit of company.”

Eddie gulped quietly, probably not expecting this. Richie’s heart tightened at this because he knew for a fact that Eddie Kaspbrack was probably the same loser as he was, rarely receiving kindness from most of people. 

As Eddie was rounding the counter to join him, Richie rummaged through his jeans pockets in search of the granola bar he barely had time to grab, before leaving his house. He startled as he heard Eddie’s screech behind him, when the other boy saw the bar in his hand.

“There’s no eating in the library!” 

Richie laughed wholeheartedly at the boy’s expression and they bantered back and forth playfully on the way to the bookshelves. 

When Eddie and Richie met for the third time, the situation was definitely not as comfortable as the previous one. As Richie barged in the library on a Saturday afternoon, one week after their second encounter, Eddie was perched on the library ladder, reorganizing books in alphabetical order on the top shelves. He was so small that he could barely reach the novels and had to stand on his tiptoes. Richie watched him for a little while, silently, as Eddie muttered to himself about god knew what. 

He realized as he gazed at the boy’s short fingers pulling out the books, that a sentiment he knew all too well, was spreading through his chest: affection. Pure affection as he stared fondly at Eddie being Eddie, organized, steady and perfect. He didn’t know how this feeling had emerged but he wasn’t going to try and tone it down, now that he finally had an idea of what happiness could taste like. 

All of a sudden, as if Eddie could have sensed someone staring at his back, turned around on the ladder and looked puzzled for a second, watching Richie back in the eyes. They remained in this position for a moment, before a child scream interrupted them and frightened Eddie on his ladder. 

Richie watched in horror as Eddie accidentally loosened his grip on the wood and slipped, letting the books crash to the ground at the same time. Richie didn’t have much time to react: he was by Eddie’s side in two steps as the latter’s scream immediately stopped when he realized he had hit someone’s arms instead of the floor. 

It took a little while for Richie to see that his friend was in fact not okay: his breaths were terribly fast and his face was paling by the second.

“Eds!” He yelled, concern all over his face and judging what to do. “Deep breaths, Eds, one at a time…” 

Richie knew he didn’t have the most soothing voice but he couldn’t bare watching Eddie getting worse while he lay there in his arms, trying to do the best he could at catching his breathe. 

“Oh my god, oh my god…” A sudden and familiar voice reached his ears. “What did you do to him? He has asthma!”

Miss Kaspbrak appeared at his side and nearly ripped her son away from his hands while Eddie was still desperately attempting to breathe. 

“Here, here…” She cooed while pushing what seemed like an inhaler between Eddie’s slightly purple lips. 

“Is he going to be okay? I mean-“

“Just go.” Miss Kasprak spit forcefully while checking her son for possible injuries. 

“What?”

Richie didn’t want to leave Eddie or be the cause of Miss Kasprak’s hatred while he wasn’t exactly the cause of Eddie’s incident. 

“I SAID GO!”

As Richie clumsily got to the doors, all shaken up by the situation, he couldn’t help but looked back one last time at Eddie’s figure lying on the floor, barely moving. He shivered, promising himself he would never approach Eddie again. Because he knew he would be able to stay away from him. At least, for now. But there was one thing he was sure he could never do: hurt Eddie Kaspbrak. 

Richie dragged his feet along the sidewalk as Bill and Stan were chatting animatedly ahead of him, seemingly having forgotten he was even here. Their hands kept brushing against each other’s and it didn’t look like they were going to stop anytime soon. Richie’s heart broke a little at the sight, subconsciously wishing that Eddie could be by his side. It had been two weeks since the librarian ladder incident. Despite being certain that Miss Kaspbrak disliked him for a whole another reason, he didn’t have the heart to face Eddie yet. 

But Bill being Bill and Stan being Stan, they could no longer study at home and refused to hear Richie complaining one more time. And Richie being Richie, he eventually decided to tag along because he could no longer stay at home as well, but for a whole different reason. He had covered his usual ruffled hair with a gray beanie, because the December cold weather was starting to hit his skin but mostly because he needed an excuse to hide as best as he could.   They entered the library as silently as possible and Richie headed right away towards the tables in the very back, where no one would come bothering him. Despite his cold and red cheeks, his hands were sweating with nervousness. He couldn’t fathom the feeling that was crawling up his spine and leaving him speechless. As he was scattering his sheets and textbooks across the table, a distinct thud of a heavy object clattering on the floor, quickly alarmed him. 

Right behind his chair was standing a rather sheepish Eddie Kaspbrak and Richie thought that the sight of his flushed cheeks was rapidly becoming his favorite thing. If multiple ideas to make Eddie blush came to mind, he kept a neutral façade, struggling to fight off the smile forming on his lips. He had promised to himself that he would behave and as upset as it was making him, that he would cut ties with Eddie whenever the situation presented itself. Turned out it had happened faster than he thought. 

“Listen-“

“Listen-“

They both awkwardly cringed. Richie hid his face in his sweater, bracing himself for the spiteful words. But they never came. All at once, before Richie could comprehend what was vaguely occurring, tiny hands found his face, dark eyes searched for his own and seconds later, smooth lips captured his, erasing every last rational thought. His heart went thundering in his ribcage. Edward fucking Kaspbrak was kissing him. His lips tasted just as Richie had imagined them: sweet, clean and incredibly soft. He was immensely aware of the noises they were originating but really couldn’t care less. Dragged to his feet by the front of his shirt, Richie had really no other choice but to follow the smaller teen between the shelves.

“B-but-… Isn’t there a “no kissing in the library” rule?” Richie smirked, clumsily grabbing Eddie’s waist between his shaking hands.  

Out of breath, the boy in concern gripped Richie’s tight curls under his beanie, pulling him towards his chest and ready to quiet him.

“I can make an exception for this time.”

Hope you enjoyed this little AU! If so, leave a kudo on this link (http://archiveofourown.org/works/12421947) and comment your thoughts here! That would truly make me the happiest since English isn’t my first language and any kind of constructive feedback would be appreciated!

[texanredrose]

Okay, so, this is the other prompt fill! Taken from the second suggestion by @makas0ul, and my first time writing this pairing, too. Set in the same universe as the previous two, let’s have some fun with SolarFlare. Also, shoutout to @keena-kapu for letting me use their Remnants of Heart universe in this! (Also, bear in mind that Sun’s an unreliable narrator at times.)

Sun sighed, settling into the middle seat on the lounge's couch with the tub of ice cream in his lap and a new movie he'd been dying to see already flicking over to the menu on the wide screen television bolted to the wall. While the college had splurged on high definition televisions and a new gaming console for the various lounges in the dorms, they definitely didn't trust the students enough not to either toss them through the window in a fit of misguided amusement or move them into someone's room. Honestly, the monkey Faunus didn't mind, seeing as his room happened to be the last place he wanted to be at that moment.

Being from Vacuo and studying in Vale, Sun considered himself a pretty laid back sort of individual, especially compared to others in the study abroad program. No one started grief with him, he wouldn't start with anyone else, and aside from a few pranks here and there to clown on the Campus Police, he stuck to that policy. So, even though he didn't exactly like it, he couldn't really get too upset about the two students having ridiculously loud sex in the room next to his. Neptune usually just rolled his eyes when they started before excusing himself to either the library, the nearest coffee shop, or a jog around campus. Meanwhile, Sun chose the lounge, having a pretty solid grasp on their stamina and actually not minding the noise itself much, anyway. It usually had to do more with... well... picturing what was causing the sounds, especially since he was friends with one of them and didn't want anything awkward to come up because of it.

When he first arrived at the school- and found out that Vale had co-ed dorms, how cool- he thought he might be the only Faunus on campus. Come to find out, one of the people in the room right next door was Blake Belladonna, a cat Faunus from Menagerie. She turned out to be super chill and they became pretty good friends, although any hope of them becoming more were dashed when she started dating her roommate, who was... well.

Everyone called her the Bombshell Blonde, and she owned it. Beat up leather jackets, a motorcycle, aviators, arms that could bench press a truck- Sun thought he had great abs but, really, he had nothing on Yang Xiao Long, easily the school's most talked about wild child. Which was weird, honestly- aside from one bar fight before the beginning of term, she didn't get in trouble and actually seemed to avoid the parties all over campus, or didn't stay at them too long when she did make an appearance. Still, the reputation stuck, and from the few glimpses he'd caught of the woman ducking in and out of the dorm room next to his, he had to admit she lived up to it pretty well. She always seemed on the move, and though he knew she apparently boxed and played lacrosse for the school, he couldn't be sure if it was practice for both that took up all her free time.

Still, he couldn't really blame Blake, and she seemed pretty darn happy about the whole arrangement. So, to save her the embarrassment- and to keep himself from blushing and being unable to look her in the eye the following day- he would retreat to the lounge with a movie and a snack for a few hours. All in all, it worked out pretty well. One of these days, Neptune might join him, but for right now, he was perfectly happy starting the movie and shoveling a spoonful of the half empty cookies 'n' cream into his mouth- leftover from the last time.

About twenty minutes later, he heard someone shoulder open the stairwell door, looking over just in time to nearly choke on the bite he'd just taken. There, striding into the room while running a hand through her hair, was Yang Xiao Long. This was the first time he'd gotten a proper look at the woman, with her beat up leather jacket over her yellow tanktop, brown shorts and boots, that orange scarf she always seemed to wear around her neck and aviators set atop golden locks, she definitely looked the part of the Blonde Bombshell, just without the motorcycle.

"Uh..."

"Oh, is that the new Sensational Sister movie?" The blonde's expression pinched into one of mild consternation. "Man, I wanted to see that! Guess it's already out of theaters, huh?"

"Uh, yeah." Sun quickly grabbed the remote and paused the movie, as much so he could keep watching without missing anything important as to keep from spoiling the movie for the woman. "I picked it up today, actually." He raised a brow. "I, uh, though you were... y'know." Using the spoon, he gestured towards the hall. "With Blake...?"

"What?" Yang looked slightly confused, then reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her scroll, thumbing through it a moment. "Oh, she's got her girlfriend over again. Dang." Then her brows furrowed, lilac eyes darting up to meet his. "Wait... can you hear... uh, them-"

"Yeah," he said with a lopsided smile and a shrug. "Thought it was you two and figured I'd, ya know. Give you some privacy."

Almost immediately, the blonde laughed, putting her scroll back. "Wait, you thought Blake and I were dating? Nah, it's- well, someone else."

He narrowed his eyes slightly at the information being withheld but eventually shrugged; the other Faunus would tell him in time and, if she'd left the impression with her roommate that it shouldn't be disclosed freely, then there was probably a good reason. Or Blake was just being silly, which he thought she often was in regards to certain things. Oh well.

"So... guess that means your room's off limits now, huh?"

"Yeah." She sighed, shifting the duffel bag hanging from one shoulder.

"Well, you wanna watch the movie with me? I can start it over." He grabbed for the remote, heading back to the title menu. "I mean, since we're both not going back to our rooms for a while, might as well, yeah?"

Yang smirked, throwing her bag down by the couch and plopping down. "Guess so. Hey, what's that you've got there?"

"Cookies 'n' cream ice cream! Want some?" He offered her the tub with one hand and the spoon with his tail, ready to start the movie over.

"Uh, thanks, but..." The blonde peeked into the container. "Looks like you've only got a little left."

"That's fine; I've got some vanilla, too."

"Really?" Her eyes darted back to the stairwell. "Pretty sure my sis keeps a bottle of chocolate syrup in her room. We could have a sundae."

"Hey, I've got some bananas; we could make it a banana split!" He faltered a moment. "Not sure I have a big enough bowl, though."

"Pretty sure I've got that part covered." Yang laughed, fondly shaking her head. "Ruby kinda keeps a big mixing bowl in her room at all times. There's no oven around here, but she makes cookie dough like nobody's business."

"Alright, then let's do it!" He handed off the tub and spoon, then hopped up, careful to keep the remote from falling to the floor by setting it on the couch's arm. "Here, you finish off that, and I'll get the vanilla and the bananas."

Jogging down the hall, Sun quickly ducked into his room, humming to himself to help drown out the noises coming from next door as he collected the vanilla ice cream from the mini freezer and two bananas from his side of the room, plus an extra spoon. He'd almost left when a video game case caught his eye, laying half obscured by the shirt lazily thrown on top of it. Some fighting game, the sixth in the series and at least one installment passed being recent, but he still liked playing it from time to time and thought it might be good to grab. After all, his initial plan involved taking a nap on the lounge couch, so maybe this would be a good substitute to fill the extra team needed until Blake... well, until the room wasn't off limits to Yang, at any rate. Plus, if the movie turned out to be a bomb, they could always pass the time beating the crap out of each other in the versus mode.

By the time he got back to the lounge, he could hear the stairwell door closing on the floor above and settled back onto the couch, this time a bit further over than his previous spot to give them some room between them for the bowl. When Yang returned, a full sized mixing bowl, a can of whipped cream, and a bottle of chocolate syrup in hand, plus his spoon from earlier, the two set to work peeling the bananas and cutting them with the spoons- which, actually seemed to work, surprisingly well. Dumping them into the bowl, they then started scooping out the ice cream, and that part... took a bit longer than he expected, honestly.

"Here, let me see it," she said, accepting the tub once he'd handed it over. She began rolling it between her hands, pressing against the sides of the tub, loosening up the ice cream within until she could upend it, the majority falling into the bowl with no problems at all.

He let out a low whistle, scooping out what little remained clinging to the bottom of the tub. "Wow, you really do have some guns there, huh?"

"Yeah, they're not bad." She flexed one arm, showing off the bulge in her bicep briefly before cracking a smile. "You've got a nice set of abs yourself."

"Thanks." He flexed a little, taking advantage of the view his open button up provided, but started laughing quickly after. Slipping the top back on the empty tub and setting it aside, he continued talking while she set about pouring the chocolate syrup over their creation. "I don't really work out much, though. I just like climbing trees and stuff."

That seemed to spark some form of recognition in the young woman. "Wait, are you the guy who climbed the side of the science building last week?"

"Oh, that." He held up both hands in a placating gesture at her raised brow. "Look, I was running late for a class and the professor had already walked in the front door; there was no way I was getting past him without getting seen unless I went a... well, alternate route. I really didn't have a choice!" He crossed his arms over his chest, a small frown coming to his lips. "Not that the Campus Police believe that. They somehow got it in their heads that I just climb buildings for fun."

"So, that wasn't you on the gym last month?"

"A ball got stuck on the roof."

"And the administration building two months ago?"

"The main door was closed for some reason and I had to go around; over is around!"

"The dorms the second week of term?"

"I was locked out of my room. And the window was open." He flicked his tail for emphasis. "Really, I should be getting credit for having that kinda foresight!"

Yang laughed, shaking her head as she put the bottle off to the side. "Dude, is there a building on this campus you haven't climbed?"

"Um... the library? Wait, no, I had to return that book one time..."

The blonde smiled, grabbing her spoon as he held his- in his hand, this time. "You know, I've heard all about the kid climbing buildings for f- perfectly valid reasons." She corrected herself, those lilac eyes shining just a bit with amusement at the little furrow that came to his brow. "But, I've never caught your name."

"Oh! I'm Sun, Sun WuKong." He held out his unoccupied hand. "Nice to finally meet you, Yang."

She seemed genuinely surprised but it passed quickly as she shook his hand. "Guess my rep proceeds me, huh?"

"Well, yeah, but you're also Blake's roommate." He chuckled, pointing towards the hallway again. "I kinda bugged the hell outta Blake the first time I met her. I was just so excited to see another Faunus, and one from Menagerie, too! I think it took two days for me to stop asking questions."

"Really?" Putting the cap back on the can of whipped cream, both of them inspected their work.

It... actually looked really good, and he kinda wondered why he'd never tried this before, but then it clicked. "Aw, we don't have any cherries."

"Dang, you're right... hey." She looked at him, her expression turning a bit more mischievous. "Do you usually eat the cherry first or last?"

"Well, last; it's the best part!" Honestly, he liked bananas better, but when it came to an ice cream dessert, his comment stood. "That final burst of sweetness to finish off the dish. Why?"

"I know something we can use as a substitute!" She turned, settling into the couch and facing the television. "But I'll save it for the end. Let's get this movie started!"

"Alright!" Sun couldn't quite tell what the woman had planned but decided to go with it, starting the movie up and helping himself to the first bite of the banana split.

They sat and watched the movie, occasionally trading little jokes about the events happening on screen while slowly working their way through the dessert. Apparently, Yang knew quite a bit about the old Sensational Sister comics, offering up little tidbits about which issue or run a certain line referenced, offering insight on how the designs came together to pay homage to all the different styles, and even providing context for some of the references to other characters in the universe yet to be introduced. The movie itself was awesome, too, mixing action and drama with a fair bit of humor and even a touch of romance, and he probably should've gone to see it while it was still running in theaters himself. By the time the end credits rolled around, their shared dessert was nothing but a memory and their guts were hurting from laughing so much over a somewhat thoughtless comment on his part.

"You- you serious- oh man." The woman finally recovered enough to look at him, wiping a tear from her eye. "Did you really just compare Sensational Sister to Beowoman? Like, really?"

"I just mean they both have awesome costumes! And they can fight!"

"That's like saying Perfectman and the Red Hare are similar! They're totally different!"

"Okay, so maybe I'm not as much of a comic book geek as you are, so sue me!" He shrugged, leaning back against the couch. "I obviously need to read more comics if I want to make accurate comparisons."

"Well, you should! Comics are awesome, dude; seriously, you don't know what you're missing out on." Yang took the bowl and set it on the floor, scooting closer slightly. "You... wouldn't happen to have another movie, would you? Pretty sure the, uh... room's still occupied."

With a smile, the Faunus grabbed the game case from earlier with his tail while using his hands to manipulate the controller into stopping the movie and ejecting the disc. "Well, it's not a movie, but are you into video games?"

"As a matter of fact, I am." She winked, reaching for the case. "I'm a well rounded geek." Lilac eyes flitted over the case, her expression brightening. "Hey, I know this series! Used to play with my sis all the time. Well, the second one, anyway." A few minutes later, the movie and game were swapped out and both of them were seated side-by-side, controllers in hand and ready for some friendly competition. "How about we play normal for the first game, then best two out of three gets to choose the mode."

"Sounds good to me!"

She nodded, tapping all the buttons as if to remind herself where they were. It might've been a while since the last time she played, especially if the second installment was her last game. "You ready to go down, WuKong?"

"As if!" Sun laughed, flicking over to the versus screen as an opportunity revealed itself, and he gunned for it. "We'll see Xiao Long you last against the champ!"

"Oh, that was a bad move, Sunny boy." He made the mistake of glancing over, catching sight of the fire that ignited in lilac eyes. "You just entered an arena you're woefully unprepared for, and now I'm going to beat you twice over."

"Oh yeah?" The Faunus couldn't help but encourage her, curiosity and amusement convincing him that whatever he'd just asked for, he wanted to see. "How do you figure?"

"'Cause I'm not monkeying around here, dude." A few rapid taps of the controller's buttons had her character selected and costume changed to one she'd somehow unlocked in the past few seconds and how did she even do that? "I'm hotter than the Sun with the skills to match. You'll be playing second banana to me the moment we start this game!"

"You know quantity doesn't beat quality, right?" He teased, selecting his own character. "Let's see if you can trash talk and play!"

"Bring it on, Wukong!"

The first match, they nearly broke even except for a last minute combo from Yang that knocked his character clear off the stage. On top of that, she actually could continue making puns and quips while playing, and though he felt like he met her step-for-step in that regard, the second round proved a bit more... difficult. The woman adapted to his play style rather quickly and Sun had to change up his tactics to compensate, squeaking out a win at the last minute. The third round, though, Yang upped the ante.

She leaned forward into the classic, hyper focused gamer position, the tip of her tongue peeking out between her lips as she intently focused on the screen. Not one to be outdone, Sun leaned forward, too, his tail curling around the back of the couch to ground him. When the third round kicked off, they both put their all into beating the other, using combos and quick reflexes to attack and dodge, dancing all around the playing area. He started leaning with his controller, hoping to get just a little bit more leverage, but Yang did the same, and it really came down to the wire before she managed to pull off one hell of a combo, blasting him to the other side of the stage. He tried to make a last minute save and grab the edge, but Yang hadn't planned on leaving anything to chance, rushing towards the edge and delivering a drop kick just as his character stood up, sending him flying into the awaiting abyss.

"Holy crap, you're good at this!" He leaned over, nudging her shoulder with his. "You couldn't go a little easy on me?"

"It's your game!" She laughed, elbowing him lightly. "Maybe a few more rounds and you'll warm up, yeah? Or are you turning tail after one defeat?"

With a raised brow, he moved his tail, turning to lock eyes with her as a distraction. "Your pun game is good, but you know what's more involved?"

"What's tha-a-A-AT!" Yang jumped where she sat, flinching away from the unexpected contact of his tail flicking in the dead center of her shoulder blades. "Hey!"

"Practical jokes!" The Faunus laughed, his amusement becoming even clearer when he received a light punch to his shoulder in retaliation. "Aw, c'mon, that was funny."

"That was cheating." She changed the settings on the game before starting up another round. "Here, we're going to play Sudden Death. Let's see if you're quick on the draw." And just like that, they were both competing again, racing to land the first big hit that would end the round, but he should've known Yang was leading him into a trap, soundly beating him three times in a row. They didn't even have to play the third round, but she insisted, likely to tease him some more. So, of course, he decided to be crafty himself, suggesting they switch characters. "That's not gonna help you."

He shrugged, deciding to call her bluff. "Humor me."

The next two rounds, he handed her sound defeats, causing the woman's brows to furrow slightly in agitation and her tongue to peek out through the entirety of both, though it didn't seem to help her this time around. Truthfully, he couldn't manipulate the character nearly as well as the previous one, but he at least had enough proficiency to hold his own. "Alright, you win."

"Is someone a sore loser?" Sun teased, bumping their shoulders together.

"No!" She bumped him back and offered a genuine grin. "Just kinda bummed I stopped playing these." With a chuckle, she motioned towards the screen. "Honestly, I only picked her to begin with because her moveset never changes. I haven't played fighting games in years, except to brush off the old system."

"And you're still scary good, dang." He hesitated on starting the next match- he'd switched it over to a low gravity mode for fun- and looked over at her. "What kinda games do you play nowadays?"

"You're not gonna believe me."

"C'mon, try me!" The Faunus poked her in the head with the tip of his tail, earning a playful swat in return. "I'll be honest, even though I like a good first person shooter every now and then, I'm big into open world RPGs. Just getting to run around and do silly stuff or side quests- that's my jam! Especially the ones that have some sort of morality system built in."

Yang smirked. "Oh, like playing the bad boy, is that it?"

"I am a force of chaotic good," he said with a wink. "Emphasis on chaotic."

They both laughed before she replied, reaching up to run a hand through her hair. "I get it, though. I'm actually really into those games where you can sink, like, hundreds of hours into exploring and doing things. I mean, I like a FPS or those button mash types, too, and I love multiplayer games, but there's something just... really cool about exploring a whole new universe, getting immersed in your character, and living out an adventure, ya know?"

"Absolutely." Suddenly, he remembered his newest gaming purchase from about four weeks ago, mainly because he'd become so engrossed in it he hadn't bothered picking up another game since. "Hey, have you played Remnants of Heart yet?"

Her brows furrowed, as if trying to place the name. "I think I remember seeing a trailer for it, but no, haven't played."

"Aw, it's great! You get to be the Captain of a pirate ship, sail around and fight other pirates, pick fights with the navies of various Remnant nations from, like, four centuries ago, and you fight these gnarly beasts called Grimm- totally up your alley."

"That sounds awesome." Lilac eyes sparkled with wonder, a smile pulling at her lips while the fighting game was entirely forgotten, the woman turned her body towards him as she continued. "Do you get to create your own character? How's the story? What kind of weapons can you use?"

"Yes, excellent, and whatever you want!" Sun had been dying to talk to someone about the game but Neptune often played the 'PC master race' card and wouldn't listen to him, insisting a console couldn't support such an excellently rendered landscape as the Faunus claimed, despite it also being available for computers. Regardless, having someone just as interested allowed him to go full throttle in talking about it. He started with the opening- nothing too descriptive so she could experience it for herself firsthand, but enough to set the stage- and then went on to the mechanics, the combat system, and the ship design menu, all while his companion listened attentively, seeming more and more enthralled by the game with every little tidbit revealed. "The multiplayer is kinda shit, if I'm honest, but the story is top notch."

"Is there... uh." She reached up, tucking an errant lock behind her ear, almost as if suddenly self conscious. "Like, a romance side quest?"

"Oh, that's the best part! You can basically pursue any NPC!" He stopped short, thinking that last comment over and trying his best to not give away the big twist. "Okay, so not like any NPC, but a fair majority! Like, seventy five percent of the ones in the game, you can get with, and there's no restrictions! Straight, bi, gay, poly- your character can have whatever romantic life you want!" He dropped his voice conspiratorially. "I know it's probably not a good idea but, honestly, I recruited my love interest to be my first mate just so we could be a pirate couple. Her stats aren't great or anything, but it's about the emotional connection, ya know?"

"Yeah!" That seemed to erase any anxiety the woman might've had, her interest returning in full force. "Man, I get so attached to the companions in games like these, it always bums me out when the one I want to romance isn't an available option. I need to give this game a shot!"

"You really, really do." He shot up, leaving the controller behind while jogging for the hallway. "I'll be right back!" Sun went back to his room, quickly digging through the clothes strewn around until he found the game case for Remnants of Heart. When he found it, he quickly went back to the lounge, wincing slightly as his tail pulled the door closed behind him, the slam echoing in the quiet hallway. Ah, well, he didn't hear anyone poke their heads out to yell at him, so he simply went straight for the console and swapped out the game discs before reclaiming his spot on the couch, handing over the first controller. "Here! The first segment's super quick, once you get past character creation, and then you get your first ship!"

"But... isn't this one player?" She quirked a brow, nodding towards the loading screen. "You could just show me yours-"

"Nah, that's not as fun." He leaned back, throwing one leg over the couch's arm. "I mean, we've still got time to kill, right?"

"Uh, yeah." Yang nodded. "I... got a text from Blake. They're, uh, still using the room."

"Cool." Sun looked at the television as the cinematic intro for the main menu started. "I think you'll get a better feel for it if you create your own character. Mine's kinda tailored and I'm at a point in the game that could have spoilers."

"Alright." She noted before turning her attention to the screen.

Yang went through the whole process of starting a new game, quickly choosing her character's features- tall, tan, with blonde hair and muscles, plus a scar along her character's jawline- and selected the first group of abilities, the majority of which focused on hand-to-hand combat and a little bit in pistols. While he thought she might come to regret that later, she made a joke about being the 'hands on' type and he had to admit she probably would find a way to make it work. While he didn't do more than offer a little commentary every now and again, plus answer some questions, the Faunus found himself enjoying the role of observer, a small smile on his lips as she made her way through the tutorial section.

"So, what's your favorite ice cream, anyway?"

"I dunno, don't really have a favorite." He blinked, looking over at her with a raised brow. "Why?"

She shrugged, keeping her gaze on the screen. "You seem like a vanilla kinda guy, is all."

"Well... yeah, I can see that." Sun nodded slowly, scratching behind his ear with a chuckle. "Vanilla goes great with just about anything, so I'm pretty flexible in that regard. I might not wow anyone by being super flashy or unique or deep but... I can have fun, ya know? Or just chill." With a shrug of his shoulders, he continued. "Sometimes, it's nice to be a little bland."

"Hey, I didn't say you were bland." The woman glanced over at him, still wearing a smile, though it had shrunk slightly. "I was gonna make a joke-"

"I know." It wasn't often he could be smug about something, but crossing his arms over his chest and flicking her hair with his tail felt deserved right then. "I just wasn't going to give you the satisfaction of it."

"Oh, you play dirty, Sun." Yang laughed, mirth back in full force as she lightly slapped at his tail away. "And watch the hair."

Presented with the opportunity for a little mischief, he lifted his tail, hovering the tip just behind her ear and ever so slightly away from her blonde locks. "Oh? Does your hair do tricks?"

She chuckled, reaching up in a flash to grab his tail, those lilac eyes glinting with both light and intensity. "Yeah. Touch it again without my say so, and you'll find yourself able to go through walls!"

He probably should've been intimidated or at least apologetic. Instead, he just smiled bigger; this must've been exactly how she looked that night of the bar fight, when she truly earned the name 'Blonde Bombshell' and he could definitely see how apt a title it was. Yet, at the same time, there was something more- a seriousness that would rather not be tested unless forced, which he could absolutely respect. "As cool as that sounds, I think I'd rather sit here a bit longer."

"Great!" The moment she released his tail, he brought it back to wrap around his waist. "As long as we have that understanding."

"Anything else I should know about?" Sun looked at the screen briefly, confirming she'd nearly reached the end of the tutorial.

"My favorite ice cream is strawberry." She offered, turning her attention to the miniature boss fight that ended the tutorial, her tongue once again starting to peek out as she focused on keeping her character alive. Yang certainly hadn't opted to take the easy route in the game but she managed to triumph all the same.

"I like strawberry, too," he said quietly, not wanting to break her concentration as their conversation died. A few minutes later, the cinematic progressing the plot finished and the woman was out to see in her first boat, looking over the map and testing the navigation. With every new feature discovered, Yang became more enamored with the game, easily becoming lost in the rhythm of exploring and picking up side quests, completely ignoring the main storyline for a time- which, in his opinion, was how the game should be played, because the urgency hadn't quite kicked in yet, so it made the most sense to start farming the easy missions for experience and gear rather than charge into the next plot point. Honestly, watching her play was a total trip; she had a different set of priorities than he did but made everything work for her in a way that he admired, rolling with every bump in the path. Even parts when he thought for sure she'd get knocked back to the last save point, just barely clinging to the last bit of health in her bar, the woman would somehow pull through; really, not even the movie they'd just watched could compare to the drama and relief of watching Yang's character succeed when failure seemed like the inevitable outcome. Finally, after an hour of playing, she seemed to notice the time.

"Oh, wow, it got late!"

Checking his watch, the Faunus winced slightly. Thankfully, he had a late class tomorrow, so sleep wasn't a huge priority. "Yeah, it did. You think they're still... ya know?"

He bit down on the urge to make a joke about Blake's stamina- Yang would probably find it funny but, if word ever got back to her that he'd said it, the cat Faunus probably wouldn't be as amused- as the blonde shook her head. "Nah, the room's open. And I've got an early morning class, too."

"I'm sorry," he said, collecting the controller from her and grabbing the game cases while she got her stuff together. "You gonna get enough sleep?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine, don't sweat it." She smiled, lifting the strap onto her shoulder. "Not my first late nighter."

He figured she'd head to her room, so he went over to the console and pulled out the disc, putting it into the movie case for the time being. He'd switch them all back later- or not, considering half his games weren't in the proper case and he'd gotten used to keeping mental track of what was where- and powered down the television.

"Hey, Sun." Surprised, he turned around, finding she hadn't left the room after all. Instead, she stood by the couch, with a smile that reached all the way to those sparkling eyes. "Thanks for this. It was nice hanging out with you."

"You too, Yang," he replied, beaming. "Just let me know the next time you get kicked out of your room. We can watch some movies, play some games- heck, if I can find another TV somewhere, we can play the co-op!"

She raised a brow, tilting her head slightly. "I thought you said it was shit?"

"Well, yeah, but we'll make it work."

"That sounds awesome." Yang started to turn away before stopping suddenly, snapping her fingers. "Oh! Before I forget, did you... still want that cherry?"

Sun shrugged. "Sure."

He didn't think much of it- maybe she had a cherry flavored candy or something in her bag- but then she walked over and...

And, then... she kissed him.

Full on the lips, lasting more than a few seconds, she kissed him.

He could hardly believe it, blinking in slight disbelief as Yang straightened up and winked. "Hope that was sweet enough for you."

"Yep." The word left his mouth automatically, something lodged in his brain preventing any cognitive thought from processing. "Perfect!"

"I'll catch you around." Just like that, she was gone, with a flick of golden hair as she turned and went down the hallway.

He just stood there, in the middle of the lounge, so surprised and so... just... kinda overwhelmed? Yeah, that was it; he'd come out, expecting to spend a night watching a movie and giving his friend some privacy and, lo and behold, he got to spend a few hours with a pretty awesome person! And she kissed him to boot!

"Heya, Sun, buddy... are you alright?"

Snapping out of his daze, the Faunus looked over to see Neptune standing just inside the lounge, one blue brow raised up in askance. "Heh, yeah! I'm... I'm fantastic!"

His roommate didn't seem entirely convinced. "Are you sure? Because I've been standing here for, like, ten minutes, and you've been staring at the wall for at least that long."

Shaking his head slightly, the Faunus checked his watch again and, sure enough, at least twenty minutes had passed since Yang had left. "Wha- huh, I, uh, well..." He trailed off, another moment passing before he started grinning. "Man, you're not going to believe this."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Neptune gave him a wry grin. "Try me."

"I got to hang out with Yang! Yang Xiao Long." He started pacing, throwing the cases onto the couch so his hands could be free to gesticulate. "We were waiting for Blake and her girlfriend to- well, you know, and so we watched a movie- which was good, totally recommend it- and then we played some games, and we shared a banana split, and oh!" He stopped, quickly spinning around to grab his friend by the lapels of his jacket, smiling so wide his cheeks hurt. "She kissed me!"

Although apparently amused by the previous display, the last declaration drew a skeptical look from his roommate. "She kissed you."

Sun nodded. "Yep!"

Very deliberately, Neptune reached up and disengaged the Faunus' hands from the fabric of his jacket, releasing his wrists a moment later to smooth out the material. Then, he seemed to register what his friend had said, brows furrowing slightly.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. Yang Xiao Long, the Bombshell Blonde, the one that every guy, gal, and non-binary pal on this entire campus would like to just talk to one-on-one, she kissed you at the end of what most people would call a date, correct?" Sun opened his mouth to correct that last portion but, on reflection... it kinda was a date, wasn't it? Not one either of them had planned, but... yeah. That pretty much constituted a date, and it definitely ranked as the best he'd ever been on, especially since he was finding it difficult to come up with a runner-up, so he nodded. "Well, did you get her number?"

"Uh... no?"

Neptune sighed theatrically. "Sun, you silly, useless heterosexual. What am I going to do with you?"

"Hey, man, it might've just been a one time thing!" He defended himself, setting his hands on his hips and frowning at his friend. "I mean, I offered for us to hang out again, but, ya know. This time was just because her room was occupied. And-"

Before he could continue, a finger was placed against his lips, effectively shushing him as Neptune pulled out his scroll and flicked it open. "Uh huh, okay, in the interest of saving all of us some headaches, we're going to just stand right here for a moment."

Sun furrowed his brows. "Why? Dude, it's not like-" At the pointed look he received, he dropped his objection, shifting his weight and tapping his fingers against his jeans while they stood there, waiting for... something. A few minutes later, the echo of the ground level door closing dully bounded up the stairwell, followed shortly by the door on their level opening. Almost immediately, the Faunus felt... entirely confused. "Hey... Blake... and... Weiss?"

He recognized Blake- of course he did- but he couldn't really believe he also knew the woman with her. They'd met once before- when she'd lectured him for twenty minutes about watching where he was going, all because he'd accidentally knocked her books out of her arms when trying to not be late for a class- and she had a bit of a reputation beyond that. One didn't carry her surname without having a few... ideologies attached. Most of which didn't bode well for Faunus but, given how particular Blake was in regards to the company she kept, he was willing to at least find out what she was doing here.

"Hey, Sun. I guess you've never been properly introduced." The other Faunus gave him a happy smile, sliding an arm around the woman's waist in an instantly recognizable gesture, lending even more credence to the next words out of her mouth. "This is Weiss Schnee, my girlfriend."

... huh.

"We've met before, though under... less than ideal circumstances, shall we say?" Though couldn't seem to hide the slight note of disdain in her voice, the woman did offer him a rather sincere looking smile as she extended her hand. "I'm... sorry about that, by the by, and I'm sure you're not interested in the excuses but I assure you our previous meeting was... poorly timed. It's nice to meet you properly, regardless. Blake says you're both very good friends."

"Yeah!" He quickly grabbed her hand, wincing at how hard he'd squeezed and preparing to apologize when she met him force-for-force and damn she had a helluva grip. "It's, uh, nice to meet you too, formally I mean... although... um..." Shifting a bit, Sun reached up to scratch the back of his head as he tried to word his question just right even as it left his lips. "Just kinda curious... when did you two walk past me? I thought you were, ya know, still in the room..."

At first, Blake quirked a brow, but then her eyes widened slightly as it must've dawned on her that, even though his hearing wasn't as sensitive as hers, that didn't mean he hadn't been aware of what happened in her room more nights than not.

"You and Yang were entirely engrossed in that fighting game." Unaware of her girlfriend's realization, Weiss spoke with a slight chiding inflection to her tone. "We thought it would be better to leave quietly, though you should probably be more mindful of your surroundings in the future. Then again, that does seem to be a recurring issue..."

"I texted Yang to let her know we were heading out." Apparently resolving to address what the monkey Faunus knew at a later time, Blake tilted her head to the side in clear curiosity. "She didn't mention it?"

Sun slowly shook his head.

"Of course she didn't, because, dude." Neptune announced while taking a firm hold of his shoulder, blue eyes boring into his. "I'm pretty sure she's into you."

He couldn't help but blink. "Whoa."

Author’s Note: I’m considering doing a companion set to these three from the other partner’s POV. Haven’t decided if they’ll be set shortly after these three- to kinda tell the other half of the story from those presented- or further down the line as a glimpse of how the relationships have progressed (even though I’ve been telling the Monochrome one in the background the whole time lmao could not resist) but I’ll figure it out eventually. Trying to clear out my backlog of prompts. Once again, sorry these have taken so long!

[kaedesfleawaltz]

Hanging out with detectives

Here��s ½ of my gift for the Christmas in July V3 exchange! This is my first time writing Saiouma or any V3 characters so I hope I did a good job.

AO3 link

Saihara was not sure how to deal with his current predicament. He could figure out a lot of things, that was a large part of his talent after all. He could find lost pets, thieves, and murderers even.

But he had no idea how he was going to get himself untied from Iruma’s latest invention and off of the ceiling safely.

All he wanted to do was grab a book and quietly read it by himself for a bit. After training with Momota, helping Yumeno with some card tricks she was working on, ‘singing’ with Kiibo, listening to Akamatsu play her latest piece, watching Gonta’s bugs he just wanted some alone time to wind down.

But apparently that was too much to ask. When he stepped foot into the library he found himself in Iruma’s sight and was asked, or more accurately forced, into viewing the test run her latest genius invention. It was supposed to be able to find whatever book you where looking for and retrieve it for you, or bring you a suggestion if you put in a genre or other books you have read. Iruma proudly boasted about how it’s long snake like design could make it extra speedy and help it swerve through the shelves. And it was capable carrying as many books as you needed at once, nothing was to heavy for it.

Which Saihara would have been pleased to use, if not for the fact that after entering the title he was looking for the machine got caught on his clothes and brought him along for the ride. And then it malfunctioned and went soaring to the ceiling exploding into a mess of wires and various bit and pieces that Saihara got caught in the middle of.

Iruma, being Iruma, found this hilarious. He tried to ask her multiple times to help him down but she was too busy rolling on the floor with laughter to listen. And when she finally got up, she left wiping away tears from her eyes saying something about how Saihara made an excellent chandelier.

So Saihara was doomed to be tied up in wires until someone came to his rescue, or until he wiggled himself free which would equal a fall and probably a few bruises at best. He’d rather not risk the injuries so he accepted his fate to be the rooms latest until someone came to help him.

It had been around an hour since Iruma left in a giggle fit so he was begging for someone to enter the room. Saihara had resorted to trying to reading the titles of the books in his view and guess who would read which book to keep his mind occupied. He was thinking about who would be a good fit for ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ (Yumeno was his current choice a fantasy seemed to be a good fit for the mage.) when he finally heard the beautiful sound of the library door opening.

“E-excuse me!” Saihara excitedly cried out. “Please I need your help I’m stuck!” Finally, someone was coming to his aid, he didn’t care who it was. He heard his saviours foot steps approaching and was tearing up at the thought of finally being on the ground safely. He didn’t care who was coming he was happy just to hear someone, anyone.

Until he saw the purple hair of a certain supreme leader appear.

Not him.

Anyone but him.

Not that he disliked Ouma, despite being hard to understand he found himself enjoying his time with the trouble maker. He may play too many pranks for Saihara’s liking but he was a nice person and good company when he wasn’t trying to put glue in the soap.

But Ouma was more likely to make things worse instead of helping him. Much worse. So Saihara silently hoped that Ouma, who was currently looking around for the mysterious voice would keep his eyes on the ground.

Of course Ouma eventual looked up and saw Saihara tangled up. He started for a few seconds before his confused face soon twisted into a smile. He was at least nice enough to try to stop himself from laughing at the sight. “Well well,” he managed to get out through his giggles. “What has happened to my beloved Saihara chan? You’re all, tied up.” Ouma couldn’t contain himself anymore and burst into laughter.

Saihara wished he was alone playing his guessing game again.

When Ouma was able to catch his breath he pulled over a chair and sat down on it and went back to staring at Saihara. “How exactly did you get stuck up there Saihara chan? Not that I’m complaining, I think the library looks much better with such a cute decoration. Saihara blushed at Ouma’s teasing, “no need to be embarrassed! I’m lying after all.” The redness on his cheeks grew as Ouma replied to his thoughts. He never could tell if Ouma’s compliments were honest or not, not that he wanted to be complimented by Ouma. Maybe.

Saihara knew that telling Ouma about what happened with Iruma would probably end up with more teasing, but he was his only hope. And now that Ouma was interested there was zero chance of him leaving until he knew. Saihara sighed, he did not like this one bit. “Iruma asked me to watch her latest invention and, I got stuck in it.” His voice trailed off as he finished his explanation. He looked away in embarrassment as he did not want to see Ouma’s face right now. Hearing him trying to stifle his laughter, and soon the sound of Ouma and the chair hitting the floor when he couldn’t hold back anymore was enough. Saihara wished he could hide under his hat, but that flew to who knows where when he soared into the sky.

“Anyways!” He tried getting Ouma back to what he called him over for. “I can’t get down so could you please help me?!” Ouma showed no signs of listening as he continued to laugh. Not even falling on the floor put a dent in his amusement. “O-Ouma kun please!”

“Okay, okay okay.” Ouma managed to get out between trying to breath yet again. Saihara’s face light up at the thought of finally being free.

“Really!”

“Of course Saihara chan! I wouldn’t just leave you up there no matter how much I enjoy looking at you.”

“Thank you so much! You have no idea how gra-”

“But!” Saihara’s joy immediately faded. He should have known better than to think this would be easy. It was Ouma after all.

“But?”

“You have to tell me you love me!” Ouma had a huge grin on his face while Saihara was too flustered to even speak. He couldn’t just say that! That should be a special moment, with a special person, not this. He hasn’t even said it before or even fallen in love with someone.

“Y-you’re just lying right?”

“Nope! C'mon Saihara chan it’s just a few words. And you do love me don’t you so it should be easy~”

If Saihara thought he was blushing before his face was on fire now. He didn’t love Ouma! But then why didn’t he just say that? His voice was stuck in his throat instead. Which made the cheeky smile on Ouma’s face even more annoying.

But Ouma did have a point, it was just three words, and he didn’t want to deal with anyone else seeing him like this. “Fine.” He had no choice but to do what Ouma said. Even though he didn’t think it would be as easy to say as Ouma thought. “I’ll say it, just please help me down.”

Ouma beamed with a smile that was much too cute for blackmail and went to work. He piled up books making a landing pad for Saihara and a set of stairs to climb up, teasing the stuck detective as he was emptying the shelves. But he could only make so many jokes about how ‘Saihara was such a bookworm it’s was pretty much like he was stuck here anyways so why make a fuss about literally being stuck there’ so Ouma switched to making fun of the books after a while. Saihara just listened to Ouma’s rambles at first eventually he started saying something to him so Ouma wasn’t talking to himself as he stacked up books.

They had gotten into a heated debate over Charlotte’s Web (“no Ouma kun, Charlotte couldn’t use her ‘ability’ to take over the world” “Saihara chan you’re no fun”) when Ouma dramatically wiped the non existent sweat off of his forehead, “all done! Now I just have to untie you” Ouma was now able to stand face to face with Saihara on the huge stack of books. He could see Ouma’s expression clearly. Instead of another smirk or some teasing expression Ouma had a wide smile on his face, he couldn’t see a hint of that being a lie.

Saihara smiled at Ouma back “thank you so much Ouma kun. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” And with that Ouma’s smile was gone. Now his face was completely blank, Saihara thought he could see some red on his cheeks but he insisted to himself that it was just from the work he had done.

Before Saihara could say something Ouma was back to normal and smiling yet again. “Oooo Saihara chan! I had no idea you loved me so much!” Saihara regretting ever saying anything to him as he was blushing yet again. “I love you too Saihara chan! That could be another lie though, did you want it to be true?”

He wished Ouma was back to being quiet.

“Mayyyybe if you’re nice I’ll tell you I love you back when I let you down!” Ouma continued his teasing. “But now isn’t the time for love Saihara chan! I need to be your knight in shining armour first and then you can confess to me.”

Saihara was too flustered to say anything back other then a stuttered mess of letters so he remained silent and Ouma got to work with getting him free from the web of wires. Ouma hummed as he tried to set Saihara free, he gently put one hand on Saihara’s lower leg and used the other to pull the wire that was tangled around it off. Lifting Saihara’s leg he pulled the last bit of wire off but Ouma was too preoccupied to notice that wire had frayed in the accident and let out a startled yelp as it shocked him.

Hearing Ouma’s pain he quickly moved his head and tried to get a look at him. “Are you okay?! What happened, are you hurt?!” A slight panic could be heard in his voice.

“No need to worry about me Saihara chan, owwwww.” Ouma held onto his finger getting a look at how bad the mark was. “The wire just doesn’t want to let you go, it gave me quite a shock! Hahaaaaa owwww.” It was impossible for Ouma to get away with this lie. Saihara’s face fell and he immediately felt guilty for asking Ouma to help. “I’m the leader of DICE and I can handle a little zap!” He quickly went to the other leg and tried to untangle that one. But in his attempt to show how fine he was he wasn’t looking at the wires he was grabbing and screamed out from the pain of being shocked yet again.

“Ouma kun,” Saihara tried to look at him in the eyes but only managed to see his messy hair, “You can leave now and go get something to help, I can get myself down from here.” Ouma just looked at Saihara confused and Saihara tried to give him a smile. “Thank you so much for helping me as much as you have, and I’m sorry you got hurt because of-”

Saihara was cut off by the feeling of his face hitting the books. He looked up to see Ouma, cheeky grin on his face. “Ta-da!” Ouma waved his hands above his head in celebration. “You’re free Saihara chan! Now let’s get down from here, I’ve had enough heights for one day.” Putting his hands behind his head Ouma nonchalantly walked down the books and Saihara scrambled to his feet following him.

“W-wait Ouma kun.”

“Whaaaaaat.” Ouma whined back as he turned to face Saihara after he walked back onto the floor. Ouma wasn’t fast enough for Saihara who quickly grabbed his hands and yanked the smaller boy towards him, making him stubble a bit. Ouma opened his mouth to complain but he saw Saihara carefully inspecting the burn mark on his hand and closed his mouth again, not thinking about how soft Saihara’s hands were at all.

“This looks pretty bad, I wonder if Toujo san has any cream for burns?” Saihara muttered to himself. “I’m sorry again Ouma kun, if I knew you would have gotten hurt I wouldn’t have asked you to help me. But I’m incredibly grateful that you did I can’t thank you enough.” Saihara’s face showed how honest he was, a gentle smile on his lips and his eyes were shining bright with gratitude.

Which did not make Ouma blush at all.

Nope.

“Anything for my beloved Saihara chan!” Ouma said after regaining his thoughts. “A little burn is no match for me, I’ll be fine. As long as Saihara chan is okay then I am too.” Saihara felt happy to hear him say that even if there was a good chance it was a lie.

“O-oh and umm.” Saihara moved his hands until they were intertwined with Ouma’s and looked him in the eyes blushing. “I love you.”

….

……….

…………………..

Ouma ripped his hands from Saihara’s and stared at him blank faced again. The two stood in silence. Saihara embarrassed from what he said and Ouma from hearing Saihara say that to him even if it was just because he told him to.

“I was lying when I said you had to do that.”

Before Saihara could reply Ouma dashed out of the room as fast as he could. All Saihara could do was stare in confusion. Ouma never made sense, he was a complete mystery in every way possible.

As frustrating as he could be though, Saihara liked that. And as a detective he was planning on chasing him and solving the case of Ouma Kokichi.

After he found his hat of course. Now where did it fly off to.

[the-tales-of-the-fold]

Welcome To The Jungle (Eliza 3)

After what felt like an eternity of flying, Eliza could finally see the pair of islands in the distance. Flying beside her, Puk made an excited sound, something like the yowl of a cat. There were no words in the statement, but Eliza understood the intention anyway. Puk was just as excited as she was to finally be reaching their destination.

Skogweald and Pluvaria. Two islands right next to each. Skogweald was a forested island, of the more temperate variety. It had conifers and deciduous trees, as well as mountains and the dragons adapted to live in that sort of climate. From her understanding, there were also a great deal of Elves. She growled a little; Mother had never been fond of Elves.

Pluvaria, on the other hand, was the tropical sort of island. It had rain forests and rivers, and even a vast mudflat. It was also the larger of the two, and more appealing to be her first stopping point. She would stay on Pluvaria for as long as she needed before heading to Skogweald, and from there she would go to Wyrmbergia.

It had seemed logical to her, the path she had charted. Wyrmbergia was the island with the most dragons, if any island in this world could be said to be lacking in dragons. But the twin islands were on her way, so she would pass by them, study what she could, then move on to Wyrmbergia. Past that, she would probably work her way in a circle, ending with the Sea.

(She knew she would need to visit the Weyr and Aeropolis eventually, but she had little desire to. She would save them for last, even beyond the sea.)

Puk yowled again, this time a more alarmed sound, and Eliza stalled, coming to a stop and hovering in the air, trying to see what had alarmed the Mew. She spotted it rather quickly, a quartet of dragons flying towards the island. There was a brown dragon, a black dragon, a green dragon, and a dragon that seemed pink one moment, then a rippling blue the next.

She knew these dragons, she realized. Not the individuals, of course, she had never met them before in her life. But she knew their kind, knew what they were. They were Pyrrhian, a MudWing, NightWing, SeaWing, and RainWing. She knew the tribes well enough to recognize them from a distance.

What she didn't know, however, was what they were all doing together. The MudWing, RainWing, and NightWing made sense at least; she knew they all lived in Pluvaria, but the SeaWing was a complete mystery. What was it doing so far from its watery home.

Puk gave a chattering sound, his teeth clicking as he gazed at the other dragons, before he let out a concerned mew, and looked over to her, as though he was trying to ask her what they were going to do.

Eliza considered her options, considered whether these dragons would be a threat or not, before she decided to fly towards them.

Puk, loyal since the moment he had hatched, followed her as she made her way towards the strange dragons, though he chirped nervously the entire time. Feral though he was, he was clever enough to know that larger dragons, and they were larger than even Eliza, could be dangerous.

Eliza herself would have been nervous, she was small enough for any of the dragons to devour in three to four bites, had she not been so familiar with their kind. RainWings she knew were largely herbivores, the rest had more preference towards meat, but they weren't cannibals, and would have little reason to eat another sapient dragon. And if they did attack, she was small enough to maneuver around them and escape.

{{Hello!}} She called in rough Pyrrhian. She coughed a bit, her throat not used to it. The four dragons stopped, turned towards the noise, and saw her. They looked between one another for a moment, as if unsure what to do, or what to make of her. There was a chance they didn't know what kind she was, Eliza realized. Or, if they did, may not be on the best of terms with them.

{{We have no business with Talon!}} The SeaWing called back, looking a little nervous at the prospect. Eliza froze, then remembered what she was.

{{I'm unaffiliated with that organization,}} she assured them, finally getting close enough so that she no longer needed to shout. {{I may be their breed, but I am not working for them.}} She knew of Talon's doings on their own world, and didn't approve. And if she had to guess, they were probably doing more of the same here.

Which meant that, despite her better judgement, she would probably have to visit Aeropolis sooner rather than later, as she had planned. If Talon was doing what they usually did, she may find more dragons there than she'd originally guess. Hidden dragons. Disguised dragons. Dragons who walked among men, and played them to their own ends. It would seem appealing, if Talon cared about any dragon not their own. She made a note to ask this quartet later, but first she needed to finish introductions.

{{If you're not with Talon, why are you here?}} The RainWing asked, casting a look over towards his NightWing companion. This close, Eliza could see the twin silver of tear drop scales behind her eyes, marking the NightWing apart as at least a mind reader.

{{I'm here to study the world, its dragons, and how it works,}} Eliza said, seeing no reason to hide her mission. {{I arrived in the library, where I received Puk here,}} she motioned towards her Mew, who was flying around her anxiously, {{and then set off to Pluvaria and Skogweald. I figured they were on my way to Wyrmbergia, and would make for a good stop. Oh, but forgive me. I am Eliza.}}

{{I'm Fig,}} the RainWing said, before motioning towards his companions.

{{I'm Peacekeeper,}} the NightWing said. {{This is Fen,}} she pointed at the MudWing, who hadn't said a word yet, instead opting to watch from a distance. She was the largest of the group, and Eliza figured she was probably a BigWings.

{{And I am Mako,}} the SeaWing finished off, before flashing his lights to say the same thing in Aquatic.

{{Would you like to join us?}} Fen asked, finally speaking. {{You and your Beast can join us.}}

{{Beast?}} Eliza muttered, before realizing they must be talking about Puk. {{Ah, I see. I am used to calling them Ferals. But yes, thank you. We would love to join you.}}

------

The newly formed sextet continued on their way to the heart of the rainforest, where the RainWing and NightWing tribes lived together.

{{Do all Nightwings live with the RainWings?}} Eliza asked Peacekeeper.

{{Not all of us,}} the NightWing confessed. {{We are the largest tribe, but there is one located on Wyrmbergia, who did not wish to live among the RainWings. But worse than them are the NightWings who live in Muspell, who have wicked goals and who have thrown in their lot with the forces of Nightmare.}}

{{I have heard of that faction, but haven't yet met any,}} Eliza said. Puk, who had grown tired of the long flight, had taken his place on her back, riding between her wings as she flew. {{Aren't they the enemies of dragons?}}

{{They are,}} Mako said, coming over. {{But some dragons are willing to risk it, in the name of deals or power.}}

Eliza reflected on this for a moment, weighing Mako's words in her mind. It made sense, and from Mother's memories she knew that it was a pattern all too often repeated. Dragons would trade kinship for power, would sell out their own kind to make deals with all manner of creatures.

{{What sort of beings are aligned with Nightmare?}} Eliza asked, hoping to uncover a pattern.

{{Foul creatures, mostly,}} Fen said with a huff. {{Fellbeasts, and Wraiths, and Dementors.}} Foul creatures definitely seemed an appropriate way to describe most of those, except...

{{Why are Fellbeasts not considered dragons?}} Eliza asked. She knew why they weren't considered dragons in their own world, because there dragon had a very specific definition, referring only to one lineage of Morgoth's creations. But here, where many of the dragons shared little save the title, it struck her as an odd distinction to make. {{They are large creatures, reptilian in form, and flighted.}}

It seemed to catch the others unaware as well, because they paused, thinking it over.

{{They just aren't,}} Fen said at last, though she seemed unhappy with her own answer. {{No one ever calls them dragons, not even the dragons from their own world. But you do have a point, I suppose they are similar. Maybe they are Dragonkin, and we do not know it yet.}} A possibility, since the origins of both Dragons and Fellbeasts was a mystery. Some believed Fellbeasts were twisted Eagles, the way Orcs were twisted Elves, while others believed they were bred from the least members of the Cold Drake line.

{{I'll add it to my list of things to study,}} Eliza said. {{Though if they are aligned with Nightmare, I shall have to be careful with them.}} She glanced over at Fen, frowning as best as a dragon could, before speaking again. {{Fen, forgive me if this is too forward, or difficult to ask, but where are your sibs?}} Fen looked startled before laughing.

{{You're the first person to ever ask me that,}} she said. {{Most of the other tribes never bother to learn anything about MudWings, so no one knows that me being on my own is odd. My sibs are back with the tribe, probably sleeping or eating. It was decided to not send sibs groups on mixed Tribe diplomatic missions, otherwise the other tribes may think it's an invasion. Since I'm the Bigwings, I'm the one who goes. When it's just the MudWings going, though, my sibs come with me.}}

{{That's good to hear,}} Eliza said. {{I was worried you may have lost them.}}

{{What about you, Eliza?}} Fig asked, stalling a bit to fly alongside her. {{You said you were sent here to study this world, but who sent you?}}

{{A Goddess named Landilizandra,}} Eliza said. {{She is not of this world, but she is curious about it. But this world's magic is limiting, so she sent me instead. I am a small piece of her, you see, one she can shape as she sees fit. She made me a Talon Dragon so that I could travel between both Dragons and Men freely, depending on what my studies required of me.}} Fig seemed a bit put off by her answer, or perhaps he was just confused, and he looked towards Peacekeeper for assistance.

{{She is telling the truth,}} Peacekeeper said, which seemed to appease the RainWing.

They continued to fly until they reached the RainWing and NightWing villages, though calling them as such implied they were separate. Eliza's understanding of the matter was that the two were just a tightly linked in this rain forest as they were on their native Pyrrhia, with this settlement of NightWings living under the RainWing queen. Which, the more she thought about it...

{{Glory isn't the queen here, is she?}} Eliza asked.

{{She isn't,}} Fig confirmed. {{None of the queens from Pyrrhia came here. We had to hold new challenges for Queen, and in the end, it was Queen Hoatzin who won. We're bringing you to her now. She'll want to hear about your mission.}}

The group flew through the village, past dragonets playing in the stream and RainWings laying out in the sun, until they reached a rather large building, built into the largest tree in the area.

{{Wait here,}} Fig said. {{We need to conclude our business first, then Queen Hoatzin will speak with you.}}

{{Alright,}} Eliza said, sitting back and waiting as the group went in to speak with the queen. As she waited, she pulled out her notebook, taking notes on what she had learned. She considered resuming her notes on Puk, how long the Mew could fly for before he began to tire, and how well he took to soaring for long periods of time (he wasn't, truthfully, and often ended up resting on her back just as much as he would try gliding on air currents), but instead she decided to note down what she saw around her.

The majority population was Rainwing, by a fair margin, but the Nightwings weren't under represented. And part of her wondered if the discrepancy in population couldn't be caused by the NightWings sleeping, since the Tribe was naturally nocturnal.

More more interesting than the population dynamics were the dragonets, and the fact that many of them appeared to be hybrids. Their features were varied; some had the bodies of NightWings, yet the colors of RainWings, while others had the builds and tails of RainWings yet the star pattern of NightWings. They were all different, and no pattern could be seen, but what could be seen, rather clearly, was that hybrid  dragonets did exist in this village, and in rather large numbers. More than just living together, the tribes were crossing frequently.

Eliza made a note of this before pausing to think, wondering if it would be rude of her to ask the dragonets what abilities they have inherited, and from which parent. Was it always one of the other, or could it be a mixture of the two? Could venom and fire mix, or did one cancel the other out? She made a note of these questions as well.

The others returning from their meeting with Queen Hoatzin brought her out of this line of thought, and she put her journal away before turning towards the others.

{{Queen Hoatzin will speak with you now,}} Fig said.

{{Alright,}} Eliza said, getting to her feet and lowering her wing down so that Puk could climb onto her back. If she was being honest, she was a bit nervous about meeting the queen. Objectively there was no reason to be, nothing she was doing would interfere with how this Tribe operated, and honestly she had no intention of staying in this area for longer than she had to.

But that didn't mean anything. Eliza knew nothing about the Queen, didn't know how the politics of this Tribe and the world around it worked. The travelers believed her when she said she wasn't a part of Talon; there was no reason to suspect that the Queen would. She could be more cautious, less trusting. Even with Peacekeeper's ability and words, she may think it better to play it safe rather than take the risk.

And even if she did believe Eliza, when she said she had no connections with Talon? That may not be the only issue. Queen Hoatzin may be loyal to the native gods alone, and not want the emissary of an outsider to come into play, to potentially upset the delicate balance. She may believe that Eliza was here to conquer, not to study.

In truth, any number of things could go wrong, which was exactly why Eliza was so anxious to meet the queen.

Queen Hoatzin was laying on a large bed of leaves, gathered from various trees throughout the jungle. She was a very large, very old dragon, with her scales currently a mixture or blue and pink, with some flecks of green here and there. On her back, between her wings, was a rather small baby sloth.

{{Fig tells me you're not with Talon,}} the queen said, looking Eliza over. {{Your tongue would suggest differently.}} Eliza flicked her tongue out, the arrowheaded tip giving away what she was.

{{I am of their kind,}} Eliza confessed, {{but I have no affiliation with their organization. My mother, the goddess who created me, gave me this form so that I could go between the worlds of dragons and humans with relative ease, instead of being restricted to only one.}} That, and Landilizandra wanted her to study what impact the human presence had on this world of dragons. Why a human presence was needed.

{{Who is your mother?}} Queen Hoatzin asked. {{Not Seiryu, surely?}}

{{No,}} Eliza confirmed. {{My mother is a goddess named Landilizandra, a dragon far from here. She made me as a small piece of herself, one she could send to worlds she either couldn't go to, or didn't have the time to go to. This world is restrictive, and she did not want to interfere with the deities who control it, so she altered and sent me instead. She wants me to learn everything I can about this place, then report what I have learned back to her. I am here for study, not to invade or to conquer. I came to your jungle first because it was close to the Library, and I thought it would be best to go in some sort of order.}} The queen regarded her for a moment, her talons tapping against the floor.

{{Peacekeeper has assured me you're telling the truth,}} she said at last. {{I may not understand why you want to study this place, but I won't stop you. You may use our home as a base, so that you have a place to sleep and to put your notes, and any records we have are open to you.}}

Eliza relaxed almost immediately. {{Thank you, my queen,}} she said. {{You won’t regret this.}}

[notthetoothfairy]

Super Husbands

Summary: Blaine fails to mention what he’s really doing when he’s at the library “studying” night after night. But here’s the thing: Kurt already knows.

The title is very obviously a reference to the Flash/Supergirl song from the musical episode because, duh. :)

As always, beta’ed by my own personal superhero and superfriend @a-simple-rainbow. ♥

Rating: PG

read on AO3

Kurt didn’t plan on telling Blaine what he knows that night but one thing leads to another, and Kurt’s secret about Blaine’s secret is out. Blaine just can’t lie to save a life, though Kurt has got to hand it to his husband – he saves lives like no other.

He’s kept his mouth shut so far, figured Blaine would come to him eventually, but now that he’s caught him red-handed – well, black-handed, technically, since the color scheme of Blaine’s suit is blue and black – he just can’t go on pretending that he buys Blaine’s lies about studying late at the library night after night.

“What are you doing there?” Kurt asks, sleepily yet horrified, as he walks into the bathroom and watches Blaine pull off his cape and cram it into the washing machine.

“Kurt!” Blaine flinches, turning around with an end of the cape still in his hand. “I- I… um, I was trying on a costume for…” He looks lost for a second, and his eyes light up when he finally thinks of something. “Halloween! Um, yeah, for Halloween.”

“Blaine, it’s only March.”

“Never too early for a good costume fitting,” Blaine says quickly, shrugging for good measure. “I… I got a good deal on Craigslist.” He pauses. “I wanted to do something different this year.”

Kurt raises both eyebrows and gives his husband a pointed look.

“Kurt, just-” Blaine sighs, both hands clutching the cape tighter, a tell-tale sign that he’s nervous. “This is not what it looks like.”

“Oh, yeah?” Kurt asks, and glares at Blaine. “Because it looks like you are putting a mud-soaked cape in the laundry along with a suit that I plan on wearing to my NYADA graduation.”

Blaine’s eyes widen. “Mud? What mud? This is a black cape, Kurt, how would you even know there are stains when-”

“I know I can’t see the stains, Blaine,” Kurt says, exasperated. “I just know they’re there. Do you think I don’t watch the news?”

The news is the reason he wasn’t sound asleep already in the first place. There was a robbery in a museum downtown, and Kurt watched the city’s hero on the livestream as he chased the thieves through the stormy New York weather before he finally managed to catch them – one of them he dropped mid-flight right into a dumpster in a back alley, and also right into the arms of a waiting police unit, but the other struggled so hard he sent them both crashing into a muddy puddle, thankfully knocking the thief out in the process. Of course, the city was abuzz with excitements over the news that their favorite superhero once again succeeded in catching the bad guys.

Nightbird they call him.

Kurt calls him Blaine – who now gulps and frowns. The grip on his cape loosens, and it glides out of his hands into the washing machine.

“The… the news?” he asks carefully, as if he doesn’t know.

“Really?!” Kurt groans. He’s at the washing machine in two big steps and yanks the cape out of it. “You can stop playing games now, Blaine.” He puts the dirty cape in the sink and pours water over it. “I watch the news, I see the cape, I know for a fact you didn’t come in through the front door because you forgot your keys this morning and texted me to let you in later.”

It’s almost comical how much like a deer caught in headlights Blaine looks right now. Kurt rolls his eyes.

“Fetch me some vinegar and baking soda for the mud, will you?” he asks.

“Uh… sure…” Blaine looks distraught as he disappears out of Kurt’s view, and Kurt can’t help but chuckle to himself. He did not imagine having to tell Blaine that he knows about his alter ego to save a suit – well, two suits – but he plans on looking extra good on the day he graduates from NYADA, so he’s not compromising anything.

Besides, Blaine really stepped into this one. Who texts his husband that he forgot his keys when he can fly in through the bathroom window anytime he wants? Blaine doesn’t even know this, but Kurt keeps the bathroom window open at all times, especially during the night, just in case, even though he hates freezing his butt off in the shower and on the toilet.

The things he does for Blaine.

Still shaking his head and chuckling, Kurt is soaking the cape in water when Blaine comes back with the vinegar and baking soda. He gives Blaine the side-eye while he works his magic on the fabric.

Blaine, pale-faced and biting his lips, is clearly looking for the right words.

“So I blew my cover today, huh?” he finally asks.

Kurt snorts. “Today,” he echoes. “More like five weeks ago.”

“That was the first time I appeared on television!” Blaine protests.

“And?”

“And?!” Blaine sputters. “You’re telling me you knew all along, and didn’t say anything?!”

Kurt’s hands still on the cape. Turning his head slowly, he asks, “You’re telling me you were a superhero all along, and didn’t say anything?”

Blaine blushes. “Touché.”

“I don’t know how you thought you could slip this past me,” Kurt says, finally letting go of the frustration he’s felt since day one. “I’m your husband, Blaine.”

“That’s exactly why I felt like I had to slip it past you,” Blaine says, his warm eyes as earnest as Kurt has ever seen them as they look at each other. “I couldn’t involve you and risk losing you.”

Kurt opens his mouth and closes it, taking a second to phrase his next words right.

“And I had to risk losing you by not being by your side each night,” he whispers. “Do you know how hard that’s been? I was so close to stopping you the other night when you rushed out to fight that serial killer in New Jersey.”

Blaine watches him carefully. “Why didn’t you?”

“Because I believe in you,” Kurt says, shrugging nonchalantly despite the fact that he was worried sick that night and couldn’t breathe normally until he heard the unmistakable sound of Blaine landing on the bathroom floor carrying through to the bedroom. “And because I know you would have gone out there, anyway, I guess... I just wish you would have included me sooner so that I didn’t have to worry in silence.”

“Kurt…” Blaine’s eyes are watery as he reaches a hand up to his jaw. “I’m sorry, I just… I was so afraid I’d put your life at risk.”

“I know.” Kurt leans into Blaine’s palm. “We’re going to make this work.”

“We are,” Blaine agrees, and leans in to kiss Kurt on the mouth softly. Kurt melts into it, relishing the feeling of honesty and relief mixing into the kiss. When Blaine pulls away, he grins sheepishly. “So teach me how to get stains out of my suit properly so that I don’t endanger your clothes?”

Kurt giggles. “Were you really going to just wash your cape along with my other clothes hoping I wouldn’t notice?”

“Hey, I’m new to all this!” Blaine laughs. “I never played in the dirt as a kid, I was a really well-behaved goody two-shoes.”

“As opposed to now.” Kurt rolls his eyes affectionately. “You’re the vigilant hero of the city getting his cape dirty with mud. You could do worse.”

Blaine throws him a gentle look. “I really could.”

Kurt bites his lip into a fond smile, then elbows Blaine playfully. “Except with your superhero name, Nightbird,” he teases, smile turning into a smirk. “That’s really something.”

Blaine lets out an embarrassed squeak. “Kuuuurt,” he whines. “Don’t make fun of my alias.”

Blaine may be a real-life hero, but Kurt’s always going to be proud of his own superpower – making Blaine laugh and smile just like that.

“The nocturnal avenger,” Kurt says in a mockingly excited voice, waving his hand around and splashing water in Blaine’s face in the process.

“Oh my god, stop.”

“Admit it, you did it in honor of Pavarotti!”

“I didn’t!” Blaine protests before scrunching up his nose. “Okay, maybe a little. But it honestly sounded pretty good until you went and screwed it up just now, thank you very much.”

“That’s why you need someone to share this with, you know?”

Blaine makes a face. “Well, Sam didn’t have any complaints, so…”

Kurt stops goofing around and narrows his eyes at Blaine, not believing what he’s hearing.

“What did you just say?”

Blaine blinks at Kurt, clearly confused. “That Sam didn’t have any complaints?”

“Are you telling me that you told Sam and not me?” Kurt asks quietly.

“Uhm…” Blaine is clearly catching on now, looking from Kurt to the sink, back to Kurt and then to the sink again. “Is that done soaking because I really think we should move this along…”

“YOU TOLD SAM?!”

“Kurt, don’t freak out!” Blaine begs, cringing. “It was an accident, I swear! I found out I had powers when we had that trio reunion night with Tina a few months ago.”

“Great, so Tina knows, too,” Kurt mutters. Is he the only one not in the loop? “I’m feeling a bit left out here, Blaine.” He sighs, willing himself to pay attention. “So, Sam and Tina know.”

“By accident,” Blaine repeats, voice taking on an urgent tone. “When we went home from the bar, we saw a guy getting cornered in an alley… they were calling him names, Kurt.” Blaine shivers. “Like the ones they called me before they beat me up the night after Sadie Hawkins.”

“Blaine…” Kurt’s anger dissolves in an instant. He knows that night haunts Blaine, tortures him in his sleep sometimes. “Oh, Blaine, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Blaine looks up. “I suddenly felt so angry and… well, determined, I just ran towards them and started punching them, and then it happened.”

Kurt has seen it happen, too. The first time he did, on national TV, he couldn’t believe his eyes. There was his husband, in a suit and a cape and a mask, screeching at a villain so loudly that they tumbled backwards and then flying over to knock them out with force.

“I was so shocked, Kurt. I couldn’t process what happened. Sam and Tina had to tell me their side of the story to make me realize I didn’t just dream it.” He looks up, nodding to himself. “But I saved someone that night, someone like me all those years ago. And it felt so good. You know how I was so stuck lately, not knowing what I wanted to do with myself, not being happy with my performance major…?” Kurt murmurs a confirmation, too busy rubbing soothing circles into Blaine’s hands to say more. “I love performing but I really don’t think it can be a full-time job for me. And… that night I finally realized that there was something out there for me, something I needed to do more urgently. I want to help people, Kurt. It’s just not by making music or becoming a doctor or any other of my childhood dreams. I can actually do something now.”

“So you became Nightbird,” Kurt says, finally getting the whole picture. “And Tina and Sam…?”

“They help,” Blaine admits. “They know already anyway. They helped me with the costume, with headsets, with locating the bad guys… and Tina’s place is basically-” Blaine tilts his head with a frown. “Our lab, I guess? It sounds lame.”

“But it isn’t.” Kurt swallows his pride, focuses on Blaine’s pride instead. “You’re changing things, Blaine. You’re a hero. None of that is lame.”

Blaine breathes in deeply, turns his hands in Kurt’s and intertwines their fingers.

“So you’re not mad?” he asks timidly.

“No,” Kurt says firmly. “If I was before, it’s just because I didn’t know about any of this.”

“I really should have told you sooner,” Blaine says. “I just-”

“I know,” Kurt repeats. “Let’s be honest, I also could have said something sooner. But, you know, I thought I was playing it smart by just letting things develop the way they did. At least nobody’s gotten hurt yet.” He pauses. “Right?”

“Well, Tina actually broke her arm when she tried to help me on one of the first nights but other than that, all is good,” Blaine confirms. “We’re still kind of figuring it out.”

Kurt hesitates to ask. He’s afraid of the answer. But he pushes anyway, “Can I help? Get on the team? Be there for you, too?”

Blaine is hesitant as well, Kurt knows it by the way his eyes flit away ever so slightly.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” he says.

“But-” Kurt is ready to argue, ready to defend his choice and his abilities, but Blaine puts a finger on his lips.

“Hear me out,” he says. “I’m not saying you can’t because it’s not possible. If you really want to, I won’t stop you. But… promise me that you figure out your own career first? If it’s any consolation to you, I made Tina and Sam do the same thing. I don’t want you guys to become the team behind the hero… you need to be more than that. You’re all heroes, too.”

Kurt smiles. It’s such a Blaine response, and it reminds him of how supportive Blaine was when Kurt struggled with his college applications.

“Promise me you’ll keep thinking of your career as well?” he counters. “You can still make art and perform, if only as a hobby. It’s just – your powers shouldn’t be an obligation to give that up to be a full-time hero.”

“They’re not,” Blaine reassures him. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep my options.”

“Okay.” Kurt gnaws at the inside of his cheek. “And… speaking of your powers…” He trails off.

“I have no idea where they came from,” Blaine says immediately. “Maybe I’ve always had them, and that incident just brought them to the surface.”

“I was going to ask if you could show me,” Kurt says, grinning. “I’ve watched you on TV so many times. I really kind of want to see them in person.”

Blaine laughs, then looks at the sink. “It’ll look weird without the cape.”

“As if my husband flying through our bathroom isn’t weird in the first place.”

“Alright…” Blaine mutters, lifting off the ground like it’s nothing. He holds out his hand. “Want to join me?”

Kurt’s eyes widen. “Wow,” he gets out in awe. “Can I really?”

“Sure. Grab on.”

Blaine lifts him up, as if Kurt was nothing more than a feather. Kurt holds onto him tightly.

“This is incredible,” Kurt whispers. “You’re incredible.”

“Superhuman, I guess,” Blaine whispers back. “Hey, Kurt?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you, you know that?”

“Of course.” Kurt reaches up carefully to wind his arms around Blaine’s neck and kisses Blaine slowly, loving the feeling of complete weightlessness. “And I love you, Nightbird.”

Blaine hangs his head with a chuckle. “Not gonna lie, it really does sound weird when you say it.”

“Well, that’s what you get for not consulting your husband,” Kurt chastises playfully.

“I should have known that you knew,” Blaine replies. “You always know.”

“That’s because you’re not very subtle, Mister.”

“What?! I can totally be subtle.”

“Right.” Kurt laughs. “Like the day I knew my dad was driving me to my surprise proposal. Or when I totally knew you were going to serenade me with a marching band to ask me to get back together. Or-”

“Alright, alright, I get it.” Blaine lifts up both hands, and Kurt has to hold on tighter, before putting his hands back on Kurt’s waist and steering them back on the ground slowly. “You win.”

“And just for the record,” Kurt says, pointing a finger at Blaine’s mask. “That thing? Works for Green Lantern maybe but that wife of his must be blind. I knew it was you right away.”

“Ugh, don’t compare me to Green Lantern, Kurt-”

“But to be honest, it wasn’t even the face,” Kurt jokes, as he retrieves the cape from the sink and wrings it out. “You know how I really knew it was you?”

“How?” Blaine asks.

“I’d know that ass in spandex anywhere.”

[shadowsong26fic]

Random crossover headcanon/notes

So, I’m reading the latest Heralds of Valdemar book (because I love that series, and I really like Mags (the protagonist of the last several books) and it’s out or has been for a while and my lovely roommate brought it home from the library for me <3)

Anyway. Reading this book. And, as you may know if you’ve been following this blog, I have been trapped in the black hole that is Star Wars for the past year or so. And, as happens when I read a Valdemar book, thaaaaaat means a crossover/fusion!

I am seriously indebted to my roommates for letting me bounce ideas off of them and helping me fill in some of the gaps here.

Obi-Wan, naturally, is a Herald. About sixteen when Our Story begins. Already Too Old For This Shit. Gifts are Mindspeech, Empathy, and Fetching. Some extremely unreliable Foresight as well.

His Companion may or may not be Qui-Gon.

Qui-Gon may or may not be his father. And dead.

Both of these facts may actually be the case. Yay awkward reincarnation?

Alternatively, Yoda is his Companion?

Possibly his second after Qui-Gon died?

IDK, I haven’t figured that part out yet.

The important thing is, he is still very much Obi-Wan.

Padme! Padme is also a Herald, because the plot demands it—she is the Heir/Queen. Fourteen when Our Story begins. Pretty sure her only Gift is Mindspeech, but that remains to be settled.

Sabe is her Companion, of course.

She was Chosen when she was about twelve.

She is the actual trufax Queen now (ish—too young and still a Trainee; more on that later).

·  Poor, poor Bail.

Bail is the son of a Councillor and grew up in Haven/at court

He’s eighteen when Our Story begins.

He’s friends with Padme. She’s like his little sister.

He tried to rein in her enthusiasm

(this doesn’t work very well)

(especially since Sabe only encourages her half the time)

He grew up being more or less groomed to take over his mother’s Council seat.

Six months ago, he became Queen’s Own.

He got rushed through all the training he didn’t have (which wasn’t much, mostly Gift stuff and bonding with Taver/Rolan/whichever) and was just officially put into full Whites.

IDK what his Gift(s) is/are.

He and Obi-Wan are bros.

There may or may not be a pretty young Healer with enchanting dark eyes he’s mooning over.

(there totally is)

Some backstory!

Six months ago, due to some unspecified tragedy (possibly a war) Padme’s parent(s) and the previous Monarch’s Own were killed.

Councilor Sheev Palpatine rose to the occasion, was named the Lord Regent because who else could be more trustworthy, and has kept the Kingdom stable during the uncertain time of the Queen’s minority.

(he will, of course, retreat with grace when the regency is over and Padme is of age/has her Whites)

(he’s just laying groundwork now)

(he plays the long game)

(he’s probably planning to repeat this process with Padme’s child)

(something like that)

That’s where things stand when Anakin turns up on the scene.

First off, Anakin does much better as a Herald than as a Jedi.

For one thing, having a Companion helps.

For another, he doesn’t have to cut all ties to his mom.

Etc., etc.

Ahsoka is his Companion.

She’s just barely old/mature enough to Choose and flounces out of Haven to go track down her Skyguy.

(meaning about ten, if I remember Valdemar canon correctly)

(she and Anakin grow up together)

(it will be adorable)

Anakin is nine, lives on the Border with his mom and Watto.

He’s, like, a tiny gladiator or something.

So ‘Soka turns up and is all ‘Hi!’

And he’s all ‘Hi!’

‘Guess what you’re a Herald now.’

‘Yay!’

‘Come on, we’re going to Haven.’

‘YAY! …wait, Mom?’

‘...uh…screw it, I can carry you both!’

(Shmi has no idea what to do with this but is somewhat alarmed)

(she and her son have been kidnapped by a horse that Ani swears is talking to him)

(Watto might still come after them and kill them)

(It’s okay Shmi everything will work out just hold tight)

Anakin, like Vanyel, has ALL OF THE GIFTS.

(unlike Vanyel, he at least acquired them naturally, not under p. much the worst possible circumstances)

(also his Healing, like, barely works, but it does exist)

He turns up in Haven all earnest and excited and eager and NO IDEA HOW TO HUMAN PROPERLY.

Because, y’know, he was a slave

And a tiny gladiator

Obi-Wan facepalms and takes the poor kid under his wing.

(wait, when did I adopt a small child?)

Anywho, at some point, Anakin gets brought to Alberich for weapons training, as you do.

(shut up timelines means nothing)

And he mentions ‘but I already know how to do this stuff’

And Alberich and Obi-Wan are like ‘what’

And he says ‘oh, yeah, Watto used to make me fight people so he and the other masters could gamble on it.’

And they’re like ‘WHAT’

‘I was really good! I even won my last fight!’

‘…kay let’s go see the Queen and Council because uhhhhhhhhhhh’

And then he meets Padme.

They’re lifebonded, of course.

But! He can grow into it and have a better grasp on how normal people, y’know, date and stuff.

So everything will go much better.

Just in general Heralds are much better at this sort of thing than Jedi are.

Anakin being a Herald solves SO MANY PROBLEMS GUYS

Uhhhhhhh, I don’t really know what happens next. Anakin’s a field Herald for a while (and he’s very good at it) until he and Padme actually get married.

He is not actually crowned King because ahahahahaha even with therapy and a better support system and a Companion and all the things that make him much more successful as a Herald than he ever was as a Jedi…no.

His title is Prince Consort

Leia is their daughter.

Luke is her Companion.

Palpatine attempts to do his Thing at some point

Possibly before Luke shows up

The goal seems to be ‘kill Padme, get named Regent again, only this time don’t leave when the Queen comes of age’

Especially because he’s banking on building the whole relationship with Anakin

And then when Anakin shuts down after Padme’s death, who else will he turn to?

Of course this won’t work in this timeline for several reasons

(most of those reasons are Ahsoka)

(and Mindhealers)

(so Anakin is much less vulnerable to Palpatine than in canon)

(especially since Anakin isn’t cut off from Shmi)

(and Shmi doesn’t die)

(also the Heralds are…better…about issues like Anakin’s than the Jedi are)

(also also Valdemar has much better defenses against this sort of thing than the Galactic Republic does sorry)

Not sure where Han and Lando fit in.

And Chewie

And the droids

Han possibly gets Chosen at some point because lol.

He is not super thrilled by this.

Also not sure about the rest of the Council, Dooku, Maul, Tarkin, Mothma, Ackbar, etc….

Most of this is focused on the prequel folks because I have to figure out how that all resolves before I send Herald Leia out into the world.

…REX HOW COULD I FORGET ABOUT REX.

ETA: After discussing with one of my roommates, Rex will fill Alberich’s role as detailed above. May or may not be a Herald, have not yet decided.

Cody is around too; he’s Rex’s twin. Head of the Palace Guard.

Possibly also Fives and Tup?

Dooku is doing Something, and will eventually maim Anakin, which leads to Anakin being reassigned to Haven.

Anakin and Padme are already married at this point.

Only select members of the Heraldic Circle know.

(and Shmi)

(Anakin suggested reading Palpatine in but Padme talked him out of it)

(they wanted to be married Just In Case a) something happened to him, or b) someone tried to shove a treaty marriage down her throat; but they knew that as soon as their marriage was public, he’d be stuck in Haven and he was too useful in the field)

After Anakin recovers, he and Padme marry publicly.

He’s probably the Weaponsmaster’s Second after that.

(this is very confusing for visiting dignitaries)

I’ll probably add more if I come up with more, sooooooo....IDK watch this space?

[anna-liz-fiction-blog]

The Roommate Paradox | Part 3 | (Lucifer x Reader)

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Lucifer x Reader (main pairing / eventually)

Warning: foul language / swearing

Words: 1634

Writer: Liz

After letting go of Dean you watched the impala disappear into the horizon. For a few moments, you lingered in your thoughts. You were unsure of what to do. Babysitting Satan had never been something you thought about, so you felt quite unprepared. Then again, he didn't want you to anyways, so you just had to make sure he wouldn't break anything or anyone in the following days.

Sighing, you strayed towards the bunker's door and went inside. Since you hadn't eaten yet, you got yourself a bagel and then you wanted to spend some time alone in your room. However, you had to go through the library to get there. Silently you decided to just ignore Lucifer and sneak past him. This didn't prove to be an easy task since the fallen angel seemed to have awoken and was currently sitting on the couch with his head resting back on the backrest.

He seemed relaxed to you, his eyes were closed and his brows not furrowed for once. He had folded his hands on his lap giving the appearance of praying.

“I can sense you, human.” he suddenly exclaimed. His smug attitude was something that quickly infuriated you but you tried to remain calm for now.

“Yeah, I figured that out when you jumped my throat earlier.” Well, that was somewhat calm, right? He grinned and opened his piercing eyes to stare directly into yours.

“My father may have cursed me, but I am by no means weaker than a lousy human.”

ignoring the insult you answered quickly. “You think Chuck did this to you?”

“Who else would be capable of doing so? He reunites with aunty Amara and suddenly I am crashing in the bunker, half of my power gone but with my grace remaining.”

“Do you really think your father would do this to you?” As soon as you had finished the question you instantly regretted asking it as you saw his eyes light up with rage. From one moment to another his whole aura changed, he tensed up and suddenly appeared to be a lot more dangerous that before.

“MY FATHER!” he began raging and you already knew the story that was going to follow now. “He locked me up in a cage in HELL for having an opinion that differed from his own! I don't know what I did this time to deserve this treatment but I sure as hell am certain he is the one responsible for it!”

“Alright, alright. I think it was Chuck who transported you, but why would he make you sick?”

“I'm not.” Lucifer simply stated.

“You're practically burning, Satan.” you snickered and finally took the first bite of your bagel which you were still holding.

“Don't fucking call me that! If you have to annoy me with your presence use my name!” he barked before glaring at you.

“You don't address me properly, so I'm not going to use your name either. That's how it's gonna be around here, Satan.” you hissed back at him.

But before he could find another snarky remark he was thrown into another coughing fit and you left the room. Maybe the direct confrontation wasn't the best way for Lucifer to deal with problems, you figured. Maybe, he had to be alone and think about everything. If he wanted to be treated well, he had to show you the same respect and you were going to make damn sure the fallen angel would do so.

After spending the whole day in your room you had drifted off into a light sleep. This moment of comfort didn't last long, however since you were pulled from your slumber by your phone's ring tone.

Still drowsy you answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Well, you sound lovely. What's the matter?” Dean laughed on the other side of the line. “Did anything happen with Lucifer?” he added, suddenly sounding worried.

“No no, Satan's just being a douche but you woke me up. So this better be important, Dean-o.” you replied smiling.

“Yeah, we kinda need your help (Y/N). Can you search the library for us?”

“Sure, if you tell me what to look for. What is going on?” You finally sat up.

“We were passing through this city and there have been some murders as we've heard. Young victims, hearts missing.”

“Sounds like a werewolf with an age preference if you ask me.” you answered after you had noted down the information.

“Yeah but get this. They are also missing every last drop of blood and before they died all of them only wanted to consume ox meat. Also, they were described as being 'not themselves' and 'very violent, often committing criminal acts'. Sounds weird right?”

“When doesn't something in our life’s sound weird, Dean?” you joked. “But yeah, I'M going to look into it. Don't you want to get to Cas as soon as possible, though?”

“Yeah, of course, we want to but there is a snow storm in the area and we can't leave this city for the next few days anyways.”

“Alright, I’ll call you if I can find anything. Say hi to Sammy from me, will ya?”

“Sure thing, (Y/N),” Dean replied and hung up.

You asked yourself how the boys managed to run into trouble everywhere they went before laying that thought aside and going straight to the library. You didn't want to waste any time, maybe you could prevent the next victim's death.

As soon as you entered the room your eyes scanned it searching for Lucifer.

“I'm right here (Y/N),” a scratchy and seemingly sore voice from the back of the room, behind one of the bookshelves exclaimed. You immediately noticed that he used your name. It surprised you he even knew or remembered it at all.

“Thanks, Lucifer.” you said, deliberately showing him how this mutual respect thing worked.

You went straight to the lore section of the library and began looking for a book that you knew had to be around here somewhere. It was one of your favorites, to be honest, an entire list of all the supernatural beings known to the Men of Letters sorted after what the victims did or ended up looking like. For researching a case it was as valuable as gold.

When you found the place where it usually was you were met with an empty space. It was gone. But you were sure it had been here a few days earlier and the brothers didn't take it with them, otherwise, they wouldn't need you to research anything for them.

“Lucifer!” you said, maybe he took it?

“Don't disturb me. I'm reading,” he replied and you could hear him blow his nose shortly after.

“The encyclopedia of all supernatural beings known to the Men of Letters, organized by state of the victim?” you asked him as you made your way over to the other side of the room, where he was sitting behind the shelves.

“Exactly. These Men of Letters sure knew how to title a book,” he remarked.

“Could I have that, please? I need to look something up for Dean,” you asked, smiling about his joke.

“No. I feel like reading a little more. It's interesting what kind of creatures exist on this forsaken planet you know?”

“As if you don't already know all of them, Lucifer. I really need it. There are people dying!” you started to raise your voice a little, trying to convince the man without having to physically handle the situation. Even though he was sick, his vessel was still muscular and you weren't sure if you could handle a physical fight.

“People are always dying (Y/N),” Lucifer said and looked up from the book. “And they will always continue to do so.”

“Cut your philosophical bull crap! I'm not stupid! But no youngsters are going to be killed by a monster if I can help prevent that!” you shouted angrily and in blind anger ripped the book away from him, leaving him startled as you left the room and returned to yours so you could research in peace.

This guy – or celestial being – was annoying the crap out of you. Just a few moments after you had thought he was trying to do better he went down the asshole path once again. You concentrated on finding answers for Dean, so you wouldn't get too angry about something you couldn't change anyway. Slowly, while reading your anger finally started to fade and you honestly began to wonder how Lucifer got to be the way he was.

Castiel had once told you about him. Or more like what and who he used to be. Heaven's brightest, the morning star. Brighter and more beautiful than the sun itself was. Cas had described his older brother as a being of justice and liberty and he had spent countless hours talking to you about Lucifer's fall and the consequences that the archangels behavior had caused.

Overall, you could understand Lucifer's relationship issues with Chuck and even him not liking humans made sense to you but what you couldn't grasp - no matter how hard you tried to – was how he seemed to be unable or even unwilling to change his future and how he let his past determine what he was today and how he was going to be tomorrow.

For you, changing and growing as a person had always been very important and it was hard for you to understand him in this aspect. But then again, everybody was different, right? Maybe it wasn't in the angel's nature to change.

~TO BE CONTINUED~

Next Chapter → Here.

Masterlist for ‘The Roommate Paradox’

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Tell us if you want to be removed or added!

@lucifer-in-leather @sympathyforluci @kcam1621 @totally-fandom

[shellelynfandom-blog]

Rileyisms: Part Three

I love Ben and Abigail's house… err, estate. It's classic. Being a history buff myself I took quite an interest in it my first few times over for dinner. I got the full tour and detailed story from none other than Benjamin Gates himself. I'll never forget how pleased he was that I took the time to listen… he had tried to tell Riley as well but only got blank stares and sarcastic remarks.

Yup. Riley for ya.

Which is another reason why I can't quite figure out why I like Riley so much. I mean, if anything I should be attracted to someone like Ben. Now there's a man who relates well to me… yet Abigail is perfect for him. They can both talk history for hours. I'm only slightly jealous that Riley doesn't understand that part of me. Well, secretly… I think he does. But, he never admits it. That's okay though because he's into conspiracy theories which just happen to be my second love. So, hey we're all good.

I realize I'm rambling in my brain as we pull up in front of the Charles Carroll Estate. There it is… beautiful.

"Heh… we're here." Riley puts the car into park, and we both look up at the looming mansion above us. "Wanna wait in the car?" Riley's finger jabs me in the ribs, as he smiles.

"Are you kidding? You'll get lost in there…and I'll have to come find you. Think they're awake though? It IS Saturday morning."

"You obviously don't know Ben." Riley took his sunglasses off and set them on the dashboard.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

We got out of the car, Riley lugging his laptop case over his shoulder as we made our way to the door. "Shall I break in this morning?" He winked.

"Do you get some thrill doing that or something?"

Riley smiled broadly and rang the doorbell. "Ten seconds…" He counted down under his breath and right when he got to zero the door flung open. "Riley! What are you doing here?"

"She's pregnant."

"WHAT!" Benjamin Gates and I both exclaimed in unison.

"HA HA. Good times, man. Good times." Riley was in a fit of laughter as we entered his best friend's house. I kept my eyes on the back of his head the whole time. What a geek. "You should have seen the look on your face, Ben. Hah. Bring back good memories?"

Ben straightened up and peered over the top of his glasses into my eyes, "Kate. I'm sorry you have to deal with such a… Riley."

It was my turn to laugh, "And the funny thing is… I really don't mind. It's good to see you Ben."

We made our way into the library where we found Abigail sitting at a desk, looking over some papers. "Hello." She stood up and walked towards us, "How you two doing?" She shot me a wink and looked over Riley's way.

Before I could answer, it began.

"BEN! I found something… on the coin. It worked!"

Ben stopped dead in his tracks, "Are you sure?"

"Yup. I scanned the coin into my computer and was able to find a program that takes biometrics, heat waves, stuff like that, it analyzes hard surfaces – not just paper or flesh and… things…"

Ben raised his eyebrow, clearly not understanding what exactly Riley was referring to.

"You know, like one of those fingerprint scanners."

"Oh, right. Okay." Ben led Riley over to the desk where Riley proceeded to setup his techy stuff. "Show me what you got."

Abigail stood up and walked towards me, "Sounds like Riley might be onto something."

"Yeah, he's pretty excited – should have seen how fast his shower went! Normally he's in there forever!" I explained.

"What? And how would you know?" Abigail giggled, and I felt myself blush.

"I didn't mean it like that! It's just…whenever we're going somewhere, I'll call him up an hour before just to make sure he's showered and all that… so we won't be late. Boy LOVES his showers."

Riley's voice cut into our conversation, "In my defense - It's where I do my best thinking!"

"Right," I looked over at him and winked.

"Maybe we should make the boys some lemonade and then come and check out what they found!"

"Yeah," Riley stated, "I'm thirsty."

About An Hour Later

Everyone stood around the computer, looking for anything that resembled a code/cipher/inscription… anything. Yet, our worst fears were realized when Ben cleared his throat and said-

"Riley… I'm sorry, but that clearly IS a smudge."

I eyed Riley carefully; the happy smile that had radiated from him just a few minutes ago had completely disappeared. He licked his lips and briskly yanked his glasses off, rubbing his tired eyes. "Something is wrong with my computer… it… malfunctioned." His words were laced with despair.

Ben didn't say anything, just shot a glance towards Abi and I. The tension in the room was thick.

Shaking his head Ben remarked, "Riley – it's probably an error with the program itself. Nothing your computer has done."

But, that was the end of it. Riley hated when his computer couldn't supply answers how it should. He stood up and walked towards the front door. I could tell by his steps he was upset.

I started after him but was stopped by a hand grabbing my arm, "Let him get some air." I turned to face Ben and Abigail, their faces showed clear signs of concern.

"Look, it's getting late," Abigail's accent seemed thick, so I knew she was more upset than she let on, "I'm going to fix a sandwich or something for all of us. That alright Kate?"

"Mmm.. oh, it's fine. Need some help?"

"Ben will help me, won't you?"

"Of course."

They both smiled at me and left the room, leaving me standing alone. I looked out the large bay window and saw Riley pacing back and forth by his Ferrari.

I had to talk to him. I stopped in front of the mirror on the way out the door. What an improvement since this morning. Upon spending last night at Riley's I discovered the extra clothes I had in my car were actually work clothes… so I wore a brown wool skirt and a white-button down blouse. My hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, and yes… I even wore my brown-rimmed glasses today. I looked the school-girl part… very much a female version of Riley. I actually felt beautiful… my only wish was that Riley would notice.

The evening air was cool and breezy, and I almost felt I needed a jacket as I stepped onto the gravel of the driveway. Riley continued to pace, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

I watched as he walked over to some trees leading away from the house, quietly I followed him.

"Everything alright?" I asked upon catching up to him, my hair blew in the slight breeze and I shivered.

Riley looked shocked to see me, he obviously didn't hear my approach. "Hey, yeah. Splendid."

I furrowed my eyebrows and made direct eye contact, "Wanna talk about it?"

Riley rolled his eyes and scoffed, "It's no big deal, really."

I smiled and glanced ahead, there between the trees was a little pond – "Let's walk down there, mmkay?"

Riley followed my gaze and nodded, "That's where I was headed anyway."

We walked together in silence, the sun was setting behind the huge trees and the air smelled of the freshness of early spring.

Upon arriving at the pond, I sat down on the grass and was glad when he sat down next to me. All we could hear was birds chirping and leaves rustling. I gazed over at Riley; his eyes were fixed on the water in front of him that reflected the sunlight. It was beautiful. I noticed how adorable he looked in his jeans, green tee-shirt and black hoodie. Always a hoodie. I smiled, and my eyes looked down towards his shoes. Converse. Always converse. The left one was untied. Without a word, I leaned forward and grabbed his laces – tying them up.

"There ya go." I whispered, playing with the frayed bottom of his pant leg.

I felt his hand reach out and touch the small of my back; he rubbed it in small circular motions and sighed, "Thank you."

I looked back towards him, my bangs blowing in front of my eyes, "You got it."

Without another word being spoken, because really there was no need, he pulled me close to him and rubbed my arms. This was his way, sometimes when Riley is upset the best thing to do is to let him be until he comes around. He whines a lot sure, he complains and even argues… but there's another side to Riley. A calm, quiet and reflective side… and in getting to know him, I've come to realize that it's good to let those moments last as long as he wants them to. I leaned back into his embrace, content with the world knowing that whatever it is that is bothering him so much…he'll tell me eventually and all will be well.

Eventually Riley and I walked back to the house, and were greeted at the door by Abigail. "Where did you go? It's freezing out here."

Riley walked passed her in a hurry, "We were so making out!"

"RILEY!" I exclaimed, winking at Abigail. "We so weren't."

"Yes we werrrre." Riley sang from the library.

I rolled my eyes.

"Well," Abigail began, "There's some dinner ready for you in the kitchen. Ben and I already ate, hope you don't mind."

I laughed, "Not at all. Coming Riley?"

"Too busy!"

"Even for goldfish crackers?" Abigail tempted him, with a sarcastic smile.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Riley sprang from the desk and tore off to the kitchen.

Several Hours Later

I grabbed my cup of tea and headed towards the library, taking in my surroundings on the way. Elegant portraits lined the walls, each of them telling a story of their own. Great history rested inside of these warm stone walls. I noticed a small golden tea set perched on one of the Boston tea tables Abigail so treasured. Upon closer examination, I realized it was in fact "real." Smiling at such beauty I walked further down the hall, I could hear Riley's typing and soft voices coming from the library as I got closer. I reached my destination and peered through the doorway. Sipping my lemon tea, I couldn't help but smile at the sight before me…

Ben and Abigail were on an over sized chair on the left side of the room, reading together. Both of them had glasses and slippers on and the view I took in couldn't get any more romantic than that. Candles were lit everywhere. I tried to notice the title of the book they were reading as I passed by, making my way to where Riley sat at a desk in the back of the room. Ben's eyes looked up and met mine, a small smile playing on his lips. I smiled back and winked, noticing him place a kiss on the top of Abi's head as he continued to read.

I sat down on a love seat in the middle of the room; it faced the elaborate oak shelves that were full of countless books. I wondered if they had all been read… and how many of them were from Ben's personal collection. I glanced over and noticed Riley's "Templar Treasure" book sitting on the end table next to me. Smiling, I set my tea down and picked up that oh so familiar book.

I had read it several times, in fact… I had lost count. Before I even met Riley it had been a great source for me to turn to. There was something about the way he wrote that inspired and intrigued me. It was laced with little jokes and quirky thoughts, and all of them meshed together to create his masterpiece. His great work. I thumbed through and read some of the chapter titles, sure there was the nitty gritty like the "Kennedy Assassination", "Area 51", "Watergate Tapes", "President's Secret Book," "Atlantis," and "9-11" but there were also some silly ones like "Could Have Had A Bigger House", "Blue-Green Man," "3:22 – My Idea" and "The Shoelace Factor." So many wonderful thoughts. I made a mental note to encourage him to write a sequel. After all, his story kept continuing and I don't care how many people buy your book… it's still worth sharing to those select few. There's always going to be someone who enjoys it, loves it, lives for it…

I sighed, placing the book back on the table. I was drifting into a sleepy mode now, and the quiet whispers of Ben's reading and Riley's fast-flying fingers lulled me into it. As I was about to slip into my dreams Riley's computer buzzed and his agitated voice sounded, "SORRY!"

Ben looked back towards him, "Riley. MUST you be so loud?"

I saw the smirk on Ben's face from where I sat, but Riley only had a view of the back of his head. "HEY…that's not…"

"Never mind boys…" Abigail's motherly-toned voice calmed the fit Riley was no doubt ready to have. He had been so frustrated that his computer malfunctioned and got everyone's hopes up for nothing. I knew he felt like he had failed Ben and Abi. He probably wondered why they still let us be here.

"We're going to bed anyway, right Mr. Gates?" Abigail stood up and stretched, smiling over to where I sat.

"Yes. I guess we are."

Abigail reached out and took his hand, pulling him off the chair. "Do you two need anything? The guest rooms are ready for you, if you'd like to stay the night."

"Oh um…" I looked over at Riley, his eyes were glued onto the screen of his laptop and his ears were stuffed with headphones. Seeing as he took no notice I continued, "If we're here in the morning, we're here, I guess. If not, I'll leave you a note."

"That's fine." Abigail yawned and then smiled, "Sleep well then."

Turning she left the room and Ben walked closer to where I sat, placing the book he had been reading back onto the shelf.

"Is he all right?" Ben motioned over towards Riley and looked into my eyes.

"Yeah. You know how he is. His computer malfunctions and it's the end of the world." I smiled, suddenly becoming interested in the fabric on the couch. My fingers traced the little lines, allowing me to not have to make eye contact with Riley's best friend. I just couldn't for some reason.

"Tell him I'm sorry, will you? I'll have a talk with him in the morning. You two really should take advantage of the guest rooms. They don't get used as often now that Riley has… you."

My finger stopped tracing.

"I mean," Ben cleared his throat, "It's a good thing… for him… to be home."

I let out an exasperated sigh and looked up to meet his eyes, "What?"

It was Ben's turn to sigh, "Riley hasn't really ever had anyone to fit in with. I know he doesn't get what I'm saying half the time. He's loyal though, and he tries real hard. I'm sure he's disappointed that today's discovery was a false alarm. Deep down, he loves this stuff."

I swallowed back emotion that I couldn't quite understand, "I'm sure he does."

Ben placed a reassuring hand on my arm, "Don't worry. Give the kid a chance. It'll get better."

I smiled.

"It's not always easy with Riley."

"Thanks Ben."

"Anytime… so… good night then?"

"Good Night."

I watched the tall, dignified man leave the room. I couldn't help but feel so lucky. Benjamin Franklin Gates was a good man, and his words had brought me comfort that I hadn't even realized that I needed.

I became entranced with a candle that was burning on the table in front of me, and slowly I drifted off.

I must have slept for about two hours because when I awoke the wick of the candle had burned down considerably and all was very still in the house. I blinked a few times and sat up straight, looking around to remember where I was.

Riley had fallen asleep in his chair. I stood up and stretched my tired limbs. How on earth can he sleep like that? I laughed as I walked towards him. His head was leaning so far back I swear it could fall off. His chair was also dangerously near toppling over. I stepped up behind him and removed the glasses that had slid onto his forehead.

I smiled, gently touching his cheek. I traced the outline of his features with my finger softly. He stirred and let out a snore, and crinkled his nose. Cute. Knowing he would have to wake up and go upstairs I began to play with his hair, tickling the back of his neck with my nails. Riley didn't budge; there's NO way I can carry him up all those stairs. I laughed softly and leaned down running my hands down his sides to tickle his ribs. Nothing. My face was so close to his I could feel his breath on my lips. Only an inch or two separated us. I inhaled nervously. What I didn't notice was the hand slowly lifting up towards the back of my neck. Before I realized what was happening, my head was pulled down against Riley's and our lips touched. He kissed me in that upside down state for a second, and then broke out in laughter.

"I'm sorry," He laughed with his lips against mine, "I couldn't help it."

"RILEY!" I laughed, and playfully punched his arm.

"HA! C'mere." Riley grabbed my hand, and swiveled around in his chair to face me, "Everything is just fine."

"Fine?" I questioned.

"Yes." He reached up and touched my nose, "I mean… about earlier. I just hate feeling like I let everyone down today… Ben was so excited when I got here. So hopeful."

I reached out and rubbed his shoulders, "You've been working so hard, Riley. Ben doesn't blame you for this."

"Yeah. My computer is evil. It malfunctioned. It's the one with the problem!"

"I can not believe you just said that!" I reached out and stroked the keyboard. "You hurt its feelings. Say you're sorry."

Riley grinned, "You know – someone has been spending way too much time with me. You start sayin' things like that, and I promise you'll wind up in some windowless cubicle punching numbers someday!"

I bent down and kissed his nose, "I learned from the best."

"You're beautiful…" He whispered with his eyes closed.

Grinning, I stood up straight, "Come on silly; let's get you to your bed."

Sunday morning came warm and beautiful in the Gates' … estate. I smiled, I couldn't get used to calling it that. Compared to what Riley and I lived in – it was almost unbelievable. Didn't matter though, there was something cozy about Riley's apartment… and I couldn't help but laugh when I thought about how much time I spent there compared to my OWN apartment. I needed to at least move closer to Riley, I spent all my time downtown anyway – at the Library of Congress or George Washington University, which is where I was currently attending school. It really made no sense to live where I did. I smiled, I could smell breakfast cooking. Bacon. Probably Riley's idea. He loved a big ole breakfast on Sunday mornings. The sunlight seeped through the lace curtains, adding a touch of brightness to everything. I didn't have any more clothes to wear today, well, not new ones. Luckily Abigail had let me do a load of laundry the night before and grinning, I noticed it all folded on a chair in the corner. I walked over and was surprised to see a little note on it. All it said was: "Hey. Abigail says there are a couple of shirts in the dresser if you're sick of wearing the same thing." Underneath the message were a drawn heart shape and the name "Riley." What a perfect way to start a day.

A Short While Later

Upon entering the kitchen I was enveloped in the delicious smells of Sunday morning "Riley-style." Pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns, toast, and freshly squeezed orange juice were all in the works. Riley was sitting on the counter, occasionally flipping a pancake, but mostly just using the spatula as a way to order Abigail around the kitchen.

I laughed at the all too familiar sight. "Oh, now he's bossing YOU around instead of me…?"

Abigail looked up somewhat flustered, "Thank goodness you're here. He won't shut up."

Riley laughed, "Hah. But you see Abigail? For once it's not YOU being told to shut up. Mwhahaha."

Abigail let out a huff, "Here." She handed me a gigantic wooden spoon. "You deal with him."

I smiled at her warmly, while keeping my eyes fixed upon Riley, "With pleasure." I leaned closer to her ear, "I'll beat him with this spoon."

"DO IT." She whispered hastily, and hurried out of the room.

I shot Riley a firm look, "Now Mr. Poole. Why are you torturing dear Abigail? She has done nothing but be kind to you and I. She even let me borrow this shirt."

I spun around to model my jeans, pink tee-shirt, and flip flops.

Riley bit his bottom lip to keep from laughing, "You're weird."

"What?" I pouted and looked towards him.

"Aw, come on…" He held open his arms, and a cheesy grin spread across his face.

I slowly scooted towards him.

"Do you think I have all day?" Riley waved the spatula mockingly in the air.

Finally I stood in front of where he sat on the counter, "Be nice."

"I am."

"HA!" I smirked, and looked up into his eyes, "You got batter in your hair."

"So?"

I rolled my eyes. Boy was impossible. I reached up to his hair and began to pull it off. "Did you shower yet?"

"Mmmhmm…" Riley answered, his eyes closed.

"And you're already a mess."

"Mmmhmm…"

"Did you have a talk with Ben?"

"Mmmhmm…"

"RILEY!"

His eyes flew open, "What?"

"You! STOP!... ….. Here… flip the pancakes!" I demanded, but when he didn't budge I laughed, "Fine. I'll do it." I set the wooden spoon down and yanked the spatula out of his hands.

I still stood in front of him as I reached over and delicately turned the pancakes. "These look really good."

Riley grinned proudly, "They're amazing."

I slightly smiled, setting the spatula down next to the spoon. I felt my stomach twist with all too familiar butterflies as my eyes wandered down to his hands. I was simply mesmerized with every bit of him. To me, Riley was like a subject in school I would have gladly studied for hours on end. I found every single detail fascinating and totally enthralling. I soaked him up like a thirsty sponge. I loved his brain, his physical stature, his many smiles, his hands, his hair, his… everything. His whole person.

Admitting this all to myself was surely draining. I never expected it. I felt that at any moment things would just go back to how they were before my life had become so saturated with him. I wanted to cry at the thought.

I reached out and slid my hand on top of his where it had been resting on the counter.

"Oh, hello." He said, speaking with a British accent. He looked down at his hand, which I began to rub.

I looked straight at his chest, lightly smiling at the picture of Mario staring back at me. "You know…" I began, "It's been a year."

"A year?" Riley raised the arm I was not controlling towards my head, and played with my bangs. "Since what?"

I smiled, still looking straight ahead, "Since we met. Remember it was the President's Day celebration at the Library. Today's April 12th… so yeah…I guess it's been OVER a year now."

Riley's hand wandered down the side of my face until he was able to lift my chin, he tilted it so he could look directly into my eyes. Licking his lips he whispered, "Best year ever."

Without another word, he kissed me gently, his warm arms enveloping my body. It only lasted a few seconds – but it was a kiss I wouldn't forget for so many reasons. The sweetness of it. The sunlight on his hair that seeped through the high windows. His strong hands rubbing up and down my back. His soft lips. The smell of breakfast in this beautiful place.

"Ahem."

Riley and I separated and looked towards the doorway. Ben stood there, his mouth agape. Abigail, next to his side, had a small smirk on her lips.

"Hi?" I questioned, beginning to giggle.

"Are we interrupting something?" Ben asked, looking back and forth between Riley and I.

Riley hopped off the counter and laughed, "Well. YES. Now if you wouldn't mind…" Riley brought my head towards his again and we both burst into laughter.

I picked up the wooden spoon and smacked Riley's butt with it lightly. "Get the breakfast on the table – you!"

The four of us sat and ate with pleasure, enjoying one another's company. By the smile on Riley's face it was if all the not-so-happy memories of the night before had disappeared. He was back to his usual shenanigans.

"So… Abigail was reminding me about the annual Easter egg roll at the White House…" Riley began, his words taking on a bit of a sarcastic tone.

Abigail immediately chimed in, "It really is so sweet, Kate. I think you would love it, and usually the cherry blossoms are blooming around the same time."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Riley roll his eyes at Ben.

"Aw c'mon Riley, you were the one who first brought that event to our attention in the first place, remember?"

Riley shook his head, "That was because there was TREASURE involved. Besides, how can you even show your face there again after everything we did? Secret service will think we're at it again."

"Maybe we are," Ben stated.

Riley opened his mouth to protest, but found no words.

"I think it sounds like fun, and Abigail's right – the blossoms will be beautiful." I chimed in, flashing my best smile towards Riley.

"Thrilling." Riley scoffed.

Later That Night

"Can you drop me off at my place?"

I watched Riley breathe in deeply, "Yeah, sure. Though I don't really feel good about it."

"Figure the aliens have taken over my apartment in the last couple days?" I teased, reaching over to pat his knee.

Riley shot me a sarcastic glance, "Cute one."

The Ferrari sped along quickly and I was relieved to finally be going home to my apartment. I needed MY clothes, MY bed and I had a meeting with my publisher the following morning. It would be nice to get into a routine again, even though the weekend had been nothing but wonderful. I glanced at Riley, his eyes looked tired and yet he seemed full of energy. Where does he get it from?

"This is my exit," I offered, motioning towards the sign.

"Yeah. Yeah."

Finally, we found ourselves parked out in front of my apartment. "Do you want me to pick you up in the morning?" Riley asked, looking at the clock which blinked 1:00AM.

"No Riles, you need to get some sleep and I'll just meet you for lunch or something? Can you make it back to your place?"

"Yeah. I need to do some work anyway."

"Up to something good?"

"Aren't I always?" His head turned my way, and the smile playing on his lips was so adorable.

I breathed deeply, and realized that for the first time I TRULY didn't know if I could STAND being without him – even just to sleep in my own apartment.

Nerves. I felt sick to my stomach. My first "important" publishing meeting had turned out to be a total brain meltdown for me. NOT because I wasn't prepared. My manuscript was all written out to the best of my ability. I did my research and had confidence the material I wrote about made sense and was true. I had a passion for history, conspiracies and other Riley inspired muses that no one could deny.

But, I couldn't do it.

Regnery Publishing loved it. They thought it was brilliant. They thought I had class and that a book like mine should sell just fine. They offered me a good cut on the deal – and even opportunities to travel and promote it… I would go to NYC. A place I had ALWAYS wanted to travel to – but never really had the time or means whereby to do it.

So what was my DEAL?

As I left my meeting I sent Riley a text that simply stated: No go. I need you. Meet me at Le Bon Cafe asap?

It was slightly cryptic but most things were between Riley and I. After the weekend I had just been through with him though, I knew that he was my ONLY comfort.

I sat drinking my lemonade, taking in the sights of busy downtown D.C. I honestly couldn't imagine where all these people were going as they maneuvered the sidewalks in a hasty fashion. I wondered if I was the only one who stopped and noticed the beautiful spring flowers blooming around me. They sure smelled good.

I sipped more lemonade and twirled my pen nervously in my fingers. Where ARE you Riley? I thought to myself. I was growing impatient, and I wasn't normally the type to behave that way.

I was ecstatic when I finally saw him coming into view.

Riley hustled over to my side, "Hey. I got here as quick as I could." He stooped down and kissed my cheek before taking a seat across from me.

"You hungry?" He looked around and then back into my eyes, "Kate…"

I bit my lip and began playing with my straw, "I couldn't do it. Riley, it's your world… not mine. These ideas I have written are all based on what I have learned from being with you this past year…" I stopped short, feeling my eyes sting with tears. "It's the sequel to the book YOU should write. It's yours."

"Katie…now we talked about this— I told you- " Riley began to protest but I cut him off.

"I know how it sounds to you. It's ridiculous - I shouldn't feel this way. It was a DREAM of mine to get published – especially about something that I TRULY do love and care about. But, I never thought I would feel this way… guilty about taking some of your glory away. Riley. I simply MUST feel right about this before I accept any offer that Regnery gives me." I bit my bottom lip and blinked away a single tear that slid down my cheek, "Riles…" I grabbed his hand across the table, "You're a part of every thought that is in that book."

I watched as he straightened himself in his chair, licking his lips, clearly uncomfortable trying to find the words to say which would make everything better. I wondered what he would come up with. How on earth could he possibly make my feelings of inadequacy go away?

"Kate…" He began, his grip on my hand tightening, "I need to tell you something."

Riley had opted for contacts today, and somehow the intensity his blue eyes held made my heart beat a little faster though I had no idea what was to come next.

Riley took his free hand and ran it down my cheek, "You… are so much a part of me now. Kate, I think… Look, I have faith in you to write something amazing. I believe in you. I know you want this."

I opened my mouth to respond, but I felt my throat tighten with emotion. Riley was far better to me than I could even imagine. There were so many things I wanted to say to him. I wanted to take him in my arms and confess my love and adoration… but, I couldn't. It STILL wasn't the time.

I blinked slowly. I think the look on my face told Riley everything.

He winked and said, "Would you like some bacon or ham perhaps?"

The corners of my mouth curved into a smile, as a small giggle escaped, that was just so like him. As much as I wanted to stay upset, it seemed impossible. Just being in his presence seemed to make almost everything better.

- A Few Days Later -

I watched as rain pelted against the window, the sun was completely hidden behind dark clouds. Hah. So much for accomplishing anything today. It didn't seem to matter though. I was content lying on the floor on my stomach. My laptop, books and pictures scattered all around.

Riley approached me from behind, I could tell it was him by the way his footsteps fell on the tile. Was I really THAT crazy that I had actually MEMORIZED how he walked? Wow, I must have it bad.

"Mm, hey beautiful." Riley's voice was husky, and sort of… umm, well, sexy? Oh, crap. I couldn't help but laugh silently about that one.

"What's so funny?" He asked, flopping onto the floor next to me. He lied down on his back, staring up into my eyes.

I shook my head and smiled, "Nothin' – hey, did you get new glasses?"

I watched as he took his glasses off and placed them on the heap of papers next to us. He then proceeded to rub his tired, glazed over looking eyes. "No. Those are a backup pair."

"Been on the computer a lot?"

"Oh yeah. Ben's got me workin' on some new, how shall I say this, projects?"

"Haaaah. Another treasure hunt, I presume?" I questioned, playfully poking his stomach.

"Maaaayyybeeee." The way carried out the vowels made me laugh again.

Thunder rolled outside and rain seemed to beat against the windows without respite.

I couldn't take my eyes off of him – I thought silently about how much I would love to never leave this floor where we could be so close. I wanted to be near him forever. With these thoughts and my heart pounding, I leaned down and brushed my lips against his. He tenderly kissed me back, running a hand through my hair.

"Mm, Riley… how… I love… you." I stuttered between kisses. The words were spoken before I had a real chance to think about it. In an instant the secret I had been trying to keep… the feelings I had felt about my BEST friend… were brought to the surface. The two of us were silent, I sat up and looked down at him – he still lay flat on his back – his hand resting on his stomach.

What I felt was so intense. I felt my eyes starting to burn, my throat squeezed shut... Riley blinked slowly two or three times and then sat up on his knees facing me.

To my surprise, he smiled – WIDE - and began to laugh. HE WAS LAUGHING AT ME! And it wasn't a laugh of disgust or disbelief – it was joyful, ecstatic laughter.

"Ahahaha… Oh Kate. You should see your face." He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist and pulled me close.

I squeaked out a small giggle, "But…" I thought about it, I probably looked like an emotional wreck. I felt my cheeks burn and I knew I was blushing.

"Katie," He cupped my face in his hands, "I love you too," He kissed me softly, "I think I always have."

Complete contentment and joy was all we felt the rest of that night. We cuddled on the floor, the rain pouring outside, and our laptops side by side – the secret I had held onto for so long was out. Finally, I could breathe.