#...not BETTER per se but like. reconsider a few things

[therealcocoshady]

Recovery - Chapter 33

Eminem x FemReader Fanfiction

Summary : Reader finally moves to Detroit with Marshall and gets used to living with him and getting to know him even better. She is on cloud nine... Until she learns she's going to meet someone special.

Tags : Fluff - Smut - Bit of angst

Author's Note : I hope you enjoy the chapter ❤️

Y/N’s POV 

After you finally landed in Detroit, you spent almost two days sleeping, trying to fight the jetlag. Marshall seemed to be dealing with it pretty well, probably because he was so used to traveling. You, on the other hand, were really suffering from it and it wasn’t only affecting your sleep schedule, on the rare occasions you were awake, you also had trouble focusing, which did not help you get reacquainted with the house. You didn’t think you would have much trouble settling in, since you had spent so much time there before moving back to Paris, but actually moving in with your boyfriend was a bit different : you had to learn where everything was located and you got familiar with Marshall’s quirky ways, like how he organized the pantry and his weird tidying up habits, that were really different from yours. Also, you hadn’t really thought about the fact that you might feel ill-at-ease in the house, but it was definitely the case. Your boyfriend was incredibly welcoming and made a point of saying that it was your house too, but it didn’t feel like it. Every piece of furniture reminded you of the fact that he had lived there for about twenty years and had lived a full life in it before you were in the picture. You weren’t jealous per se, but it felt weird, like you were starting from scratch and he was already on level 20. So far, the corner you managed to claim as yours was the bedroom, probably because you spent so much time sleeping and fighting off jet lag. On the third day, though, you managed to wake up at a decent time and found Marshall training in the home gym. The sight of him bare chested and all sweaty doing some push ups was definitely a nice way to start your day. 

Hey sleeping beauty, he said as he got up to kiss you. Didn’t expect to see you awake until a couple of hours at least. 

I think I’m starting to run on american time again, you giggled. You know, if I had known I’d see this in the morning, I would have fought the jet lag harder… 

Just got back to it today, he chuckled. Gotta start training back, after all that pasta in Italy. You don’t want me to get all chubby, now, do you ? 

I wouldn’t mind, you said as you ran your hand over his stomach. The more of you the better. 

How about you help me shower ? He asked with a smirk. You’ll get to see more of me. 

Are you really propositioning me this early in the morning, Marshall ? 

Haven’t seen much of you for three days, you know, he chuckled. 

Now I wonder how you managed for six months, you giggled. 

Not going to lie, it was hard. Pun intended. Are you coming or what ? 

Actually, your man having his way with you in every room and against every single piece of furniture did a great job helping you feel at home in the house. In the following days, you spent a lot of time doing each other but not getting much else done. After a while, though, you decided to finally unpack the few things you had taken with you. To be fair, it wouldn’t take too long and your things would not take much space either, seeing as you only had the bare essentials. You might as well start a blog on minimalism, at this rate. At least, you wouldn’t spend too much time choosing what to wear, your options being somewhat limited. 

Last chance to reconsider this whole me moving in thing, you said playfully as you opened your suitcase. 

Not a chance, he chuckled before kissing your cheek. 

Do you think you can spare a drawer in your closet for my stuff ? You asked. 

No need, he shrugged. You can have a whole closet. The house came with his and hers. 

Fancy, you giggled. Although, I would have thought your centipede ass would have taken over the second one for your sneakers… 

I did, he chuckled. But I freed up the space the day after we arrived, while you were sleeping like a baby. 

You’re the best. Although we can definitely share the space, I literally only need a drawer, you said as you pointed to your suitcase. 

I guess you’re going to have to shop, he said with a smile. 

I will, when I have a job, you said. 

Why wait ? He asked. 

Money, you shrugged. 

He rolled his eyes and handed you his credit card. You looked at him without taking it, waiting for him to put it back in his pocket. He stared back, not moving. It was like a silent argument. He had told you before that he was intent on taking care of you in every way possible, but you had your pride and there was no way in hell that you would shop with his hard earned money. You were already moving into his giant house, coming back from an expensive holiday in Europe that he had paid for, wearing a watch and a bracelet that, combined, probably cost more than what you had made in the past year. 

Just take it, he finally said. 

Put that back, you said. I can wait. 

You barely have enough clothes to go through a washing cycle, he pointed out. 

I’ll just borrow yours, then, you playfully retorted. Or walk around naked. But I am not taking advantage of your money. 

I kind of like the idea of having you walk around the house naked, he replied with a smirk. And you know I love it when you wear my stuff. But seriously, you don’t have to be so noble. It’s no big deal. 

I’m not a kept woman. And there is no way I will act like a trophy girlfriend and have you pay for my stuff. All of this is already too much, you said as you gestured around you. 

Technically, it would benefit me too, you know ? He pointed out. I like undressing you. Let’s not underestimate the importance of wrapping paper around the present… 

And what would the ideal wrapping paper look like ? You asked. 

Lingerie, obviously, he giggled. I like the lacy stuff. Can I confess something ? 

Go ahead, you chuckled. 

You know, the black lace bodysuit you wore in the picture that leaked last year ? He asked. It drove me absolutely crazy. I deleted the picture, out of respect for you, but I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t been in a few dreams of mine. 

Oh really ? You asked playfully. Too bad I don’t have it anymore. 

You have no idea what I would do to you if I saw you wear this thing, he said. 

I’ll put it on my list, then, you said with a wink. 

Or you could buy it right now, he said as he waved his card in front of your face. As a congratulation present for the album’s success ? Or early Christmas ? And let’s not forget that Thanksgiving is just around the corner, so, really… 

You couldn’t help but giggle. He reminded you of a kid asking their parents for a new video game. He was making puppy eyes at you, batting his eyelashes and whispering “please, please, please ?”. You rolled your eyes and ended up caving in. “Fine, you said. Only lingerie, though.”, you mumbled. Without a second of hesitation, he grabbed your iPad. For someone who often played dumb when it came to technology, he was incredibly proficient. In a couple of seconds, he had ten tabs open on various lingerie websites. He had a fancy taste in lingerie and definitely had a lot of ideas on what he would like you to wear, leading you to think he had given it some thought for a while. What initially started in a search for one lacy black bodysuit ended up in Marshall adding tons of things to the cart because “shipping is an ecological disaster so you might as well make the most of it”. At some point, you were sure that there were less items in a full Victoria’s Secret fashion show and you hoped for his sake that he had invested in Agent Provocateur, because the bill was going up insanely fast, with each click. He seemed like a kid in a candy store and was absolutely unstoppable. 

Babe, I don’t think I need a bodychain that looks like a butterfly, you pointed out with a giggle. 

I like accessories, he chuckled. 

They do have beautiful things, you admitted. Like, those rose gold rope handcuffs… 

You’re into that ? He asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. 

No, you said shyly. I mean, yes, but… well… 

No need to blush, he said. I’m adding these to the cart. Just in case… Oh, look, they have a matching choker. 

When you thought you were done, once the order was placed, he started arguing that you would need at least one pair of heels to go with it, just to complete the look and you didn’t even have time to answer before he started browsing Louboutin’s website. At that point, trying to reason with him was a lost cause. Plus, if you were honest, he did have good taste. 

You realize you just spent the equivalent of the gross domestic product of some countries, simply on stuff you want to ravish me in, right ? You pointed out. 

As a businessman, I’d say it’s an investment, he said with a smirk. 

As a rational person, I’m tempted to ask how this little investment would bring some actual profit, you giggled. 

That’s actually really simple, he said. That’s an investment in our relationship, which is important to my work-life balance, hence my creativity. 

Almost a fair point, you conceded. 

Plus, I think I could base a whole album on your body and all the things I’m doing to you once we receive that package, he chuckled. So if it goes well, it might pay for our next vacation… 

I swear to God, Marshall, if I hear one reference to our sex life in a song… 

One ? He said with a grin. Babe, it’ll be at least four or five… 

I’m serious, you said sternly. 

We’ll see, he replied with a wink. 

You thoroughly enjoyed having Marshall with you while you got used to the house. It was a far cry from your fancy holidays in Europe. Of course, discovering cities, eating at restaurants and staying at luxury hotels was nice, but this felt more real, more domestic. You also liked the fact that, in spite of his obvious wealth, the house had an actual family feel to it, far from what a lot of real people showcased on Instagram or Architectural Digest videos. The place was actually lived in, filled with memories and it had a nice vibe to it. Most people probably wouldn’t expect one of the world’s most famous rappers to live in a place like this, but once you got to know Marshall, it sort of made sense. The house was secluded and located in a gated community - for obvious reasons - and it was impressive in size, for sure, but it wasn’t flashy by any means. The furniture was all about quality but unassuming, with a nice cozy feel to it, with comfortable chairs and sofas, as well as spaces designed to have people over and entertain. The perfect nook for someone who actually spent a lot of time at home. You had never thought you’d live in such a place but you were happy you ended up here. Not that it mattered too much anyway, since you were sure you could be happy anywhere as long as you had Marshall by your side. After a few days, it was time for your boyfriend to go back to work and you’d be left alone in the house for the first time. The night before, as you were laying  in bed, the two of you were talking about his upcoming projects. Now that he was no longer in album recording mode, it would change a tad from what you had witnessed. He would spend as much time « in the lab », as he put it, but he would have more people over and prioritize his work as a producer for a bit. He seemed genuinely excited to go back to work, especially since he hadn’t indulged in such a long break in almost a decade. 

Three weeks off is rare for me, he chuckled. My team almost freaked out when I told them I needed this much time off, at first. 

Why did you, by the way ? You asked. 

I figured I would need a lot of rest after the tour, he explained. It was a short one but it was intense and, since I don’t perform as much as I used to, it’s harder on the body. Plus, I was still very much heartbroken over a certain someone… 

I’m sorry, you said sheepishly. 

Don’t be. All is well in the end, right ? I got my much-needed break, I have the most amazing woman back in my arms, we got to travel together and you even moved in ! I wouldn’t have it any other way, he said as he looked at you lovingly. 

They’re going to have you back in a good mood, you giggled. 

I’m pretty sure I’ll turn back into my usual bitchy self as soon as I get back, he chuckled. Doesn’t help that we’re starting with a full day of meetings, too… 

What meetings ? You asked, feeling curious. 

Bunch of them, he shrugged. One to plan the next months ahead, review the collaboration requests we’ve got, one about potential performance dates, a meeting with a journalist for an interview… oh and another one with Tracy. 

As soon as you heard her name leave his lips, you couldn’t help but grimace, which did not escape his notice. He chuckled and kissed your forehead. Since you had gone on vacation, you hadn’t mentioned her. To be fair, you were so busy that you had momentarily forgotten about her existence - which was not the worst thing. The mere mention of her was enough to make you groan and you had to put in a lot of effort not to have a mental image of her kissing your boyfriend the very day before you got back with him. Obviously, neither she nor Marshall had medium powers so they couldn’t have planned that you’d get back together but still… it irked you. You did not want that woman anywhere near Marshall. Especially since he had told you she had confessed to hoping they would get back together. He had given her a few weeks to sort her feelings out and decide on whether or not they would keep on working together, leaving the choice up to her. Your boyfriend was definitely a class act and a gentleman. Now, you secretly hoped she would quit. A shameful feeling you would never confess to having, of course. 

Stop clenching your jaw like that, it’s bad for you, Marshall chuckled as he traced your jaw with his fingers. 

I’m not clenching, you groaned. 

You totally are, he said with a smile. You still hate her don’t you ? 

Me ? Hate her ? You asked. I don’t hate her. Do I like her ? No. Do I hope she stubs her toe on some piece of furniture every morning for the rest of her life ? Maybe. But I don’t hate her. 

You’re so petty, he chortled. It’s hilarious. 

You mean pretty, right ? 

I said what I said, he chuckled as he kissed your temple. You know you don’t have anything to worry about, though, right ? 

I know, you said. I just have to shake the feeling. It’ll pass. 

I hope so, he replied. If she keeps on working as my personal assistant, you might run into her from time to time. I don’t want it to be weird. 

I can be civil, you assured him. As long as she keeps her hands off you. 

Territorial, much ? He teased you. 

You’re mine, you said. 

Yours, he said with a nod before kissing you tenderly. 

You settled in his arms as he turned off the lights and you put a hand over his perfect chest before drifting off to sleep. When you woke up the next day, he was already gone. You found a sweet note on your nightstand, telling you to enjoy having the house to yourself and that he would come home at 5:30PM. You missed him already but decided to make the most of your first day with some intensive self care. It was Monday so Talia was at work, otherwise you would have told her to come over for a girls day. Still, being on your own wasn’t going to prevent you from pampering yourself and trying to be pretty for your man when he would come back from work. You started with a bath, taking some time to do a full body scrub, some hair care and a face mask. One of the many perks of the house was the bathroom adjacent to the master bedroom, which was basically like a home spa. You could definitely get used to this life… you were getting dressed when the doorbell rang. It felt weird answering the door, but it was your new home after all. It was actually the delivery of your package from Agent Provocateur, and it was a huge one. As soon as you got it, you brought it to your closet and started unboxing. You had always liked lingerie but so far the most expensive stuff you had ever bought was probably from Victoria’s Secret or Princess Tam Tam, as well as a few Aubade pieces (on sale). This was different. It felt insanely sexy and luxurious and, to be honest, you weren’t too sure you deserved to be wearing such garments. Still, now that all this stuff was in your closet, you might as well wear it, so you decided to try it on. You were unsure whether it was the expensive fabrics and accessories adorning your body or your extensive pampering session from earlier, but you were absolutely feeling yourself. As you examined yourself in the mirror, you couldn’t help but think you looked great, which was quite a feat. Ever since you had lost weight, you had had trouble appreciating your body. You had always been on the curvier side and you had learned to love your body like this. So liking a skinnier version of your body was a bit hard. Still, the lingerie worked wonders. You tried on a few pieces and wished Marshall could be there to see it, sure that he would gladly enjoy the view, rather than being stuck in meetings with Paul, Tracy and God knows who else… That's when you had an idea : you might as well show him what was waiting for him at home when he would get back. Plus, it would also serve as a reminder that he might have a personal assistant, but you were the woman who was deserving of his attention. You didn’t actually worry about him being unfaithful, you fully trusted him, but you still had your doubts about whether or not Tracy would try and flirt with him. You barely knew the woman after all. As you tried on lingerie set after lingerie set, you snapped a few pictures and ended up having a little fun photo shoot. God bless good iPhone cameras, mirrors and timers. With a bit of color editing, the pictures looked even better. You sent one to Marshall, with the caption : « Good luck for your meetings. Miss you already. Can’t wait for you to be home ❤️ ».  Within a few minutes, he answered. 

From M❤️ : Can’t wait to be home either. Better not be wearing anything else when I get back. 

You chuckled and decided to tease him a little more, with pictures of other sets. You were curious to know what his favorite one was. There were so many options, from cute and simple bras with matching panties to more intricate things with corsets or garter belts…  

From M❤️ : Got told off by Paul for not paying attention. You’re getting me in trouble… 

To M❤️ : oops. Sorry for distracting you, my love. I’ll go and put some ugly sweats right away 👀 

From M❤️ : don’t you dare. 

You giggled and carried on with your little picture-taking, sending him the best ones. He didn’t reply much, but at least you knew he enjoyed it. It was the middle of the afternoon and you were casually chilling in the bedroom, in your finest lingerie with music playing loud on a portable speaker you had found in the living room. Not too bad for a Monday. You had just taken a cute selfie and we’re trying to edit it when you felt a presence. Before you could turn and check, you felt a hand firmly grasping your waist. You let out a scream of terror before another hand covered your mouth and you heard a giggle in your ear. It was Marshall. You immediately relaxed and turned to face him. 

You scared me ! You whined. 

I yelled at you but your music was too loud, he said with a grin before turning off the speaker. 

I thought I was being attacked, for a second ! 

Babe, it’s a gated community with security and cameras everywhere, you’re safe, he chuckled. Believe me, if my paranoid ass feels safe, it is safe. 

You giggled and kissed him before checking the time on your phone. It was 3:45PM. You looked at him in disbelief. You definitely didn’t expect him home this early, not that you were going to complain. 

Aren’t you supposed to be at work ? You asked. 

Called off the last two meetings, he said with a smile. If anyone asks, I’m feeling under the weather. Couldn’t focus anyway. I wonder why that is… 

Oops, you said as you blushed a bit. Am I in trouble ? 

Depends, he chuckled. Do I get to see more pictures ? 

You really suck at negotiating, you giggled. You could ask for a runway show and all you want are lousy pics ? 

He smiled and firmly grabbed your waist to pull you in for a deep kiss. His hands wandered around your body as your tongues found each other. 

You look incredible, he complimented. Your pictures drove me crazy. 

Glad to know there’s a way to get you to get back early, you said teasingly. I’ll remember that. 

I’ll be in trouble if that happens too much, he chuckled. But please feel free to send more of these pics… 

He pulled you closer and you could feel him being rock hard through his jeans. Knowing you were the cause gave you quite the ego boost and you felt quite proud. You kissed him and ran your hands on his chest. Even when he was wearing a tee-shirt, you could see the outline of his pecs and it was enough to drive you crazy. You gently squeezed one pec and he leaned into your touch while one of his hands cupped your butt cheek. 

So… do I get my runway show ? He asked with a smirk. 

Only because I’m a good girl and I don’t want to get in trouble, you said with a wink. 

You proceeded to try on a few of the items you hadn’t tried yet. The first was a black bodysuit with a lace up back, which wasn’t showing much but was giving glamorous vibes. The second was an opulent set with black lace and dainty chains, completed with a black waspie. As soon as he saw you, Marshall’s eyes widened. His mouth was slightly agape while he was staring. 

Do you like it ? You asked with a smile. 

You’re perfect, he said. These were fucking made for you. I think that’s my favorite set right here. 

Is it ? You asked teasingly. I should take a pic, so that I can send it to you next time you’re in a meeting… so you can remember me. 

I’ll take it for you, he said with a smirk as he grabbed your phone. 

You got on the bed and posed for him as he smiled and tried to take a decent shot, trying different angles. You teased him and bit your lip while you ran your hands over your breast, gently pinching your nipples through the fabric. 

You’re so hot, he groaned. I swear I could film you… 

You can do it, you said flirtingly. 

Are you serious ? He asked with a raised eyebrow. 

Sure, why not, you nodded as you kept on stroking your breast and caressing the rest of your own body, teasing him with your eyes. 

His blue eyes were devouring you and you absolutely loved it. His look was one of pure adoration, mixed with desire. This prompted you to put on a little show for him. You sat at the edge of the bed and started touching yourself on top of the lacy underwear that was covering you. Your fingers circled your clit and you could feel just how wet you were, simply from knowing how aroused Marshall was. You kept on looking him in the eyes as you pleasured yourself. He was still holding the phone, staring at you, while his free hand was mindlessly palming his crotch. You looked at him with a devilish grin and walked to him before dropping on your knees. 

What are y-? He began asking. 

Shhhh. Just keep filming and enjoy, you said with a smirk. 

You unbuckled his belt and managed to get him out of his pants and boxers. You stroked his erection, your touch making him sigh in pleasure. Precum was already dripping from the tip and you couldn’t resist licking it, gently teasing the head of his cock with your tongue as you kept on stroking him. His hand that wasn’t holding the phone went to the back of your head, gently encouraging you to keep going and you took that as you cue to start sucking, which caused him to moan and slur a few obscenities. You weren’t sure if it was the camera pointed at you, his unusually vocal response or the lingerie that had you feeling so confident, but you loved it. You stared at him as you kept on sucking him, trying to take him in as much as you could. He started bucking his hips while praising you for taking him so well. You had a bit of a gag reflex but kept going until the tip of your nose was touching his pubes. Tears were welling in your eyes but you loved hearing him moan. It was music to your ears. His hips started thrusting faster as the hold he had on your head tightened. You weren’t sure you could keep going for long and, for the briefest of moments, you were almost scared that you were going to choke. He stopped and looked at you, phone still in hand. 

Bed. All fours. Now, he said. 

Yes sir, you giggled playfully before doing as he said. 

Hold this for me, he said as he handed you the phone so that he could shed the rest of his clothes. 

When he was completely naked, he grabbed a condom from the nightstand and put it on before taking the phone back as he pushed your thong aside and positioned himself at your entrance. You let out a gasp when he entered you and immediately started moving at a frantic pace. Unlike most of the time, he did not give you time to get used to his size but you did not really mind - you liked the roughness. His hand was firmly holding your hip, his fingers slightly digging in your skin. In this instant, you belonged to him and you were his to use as he pleased. He was pounding hard into you as you moaned his name, tears still rolling on your cheeks from trying to deepthroat a few minutes earlier. 

Fuck it, he groaned. 

You heard a “plop”, it was your phone being carelessly thrown onto the bed and bouncing God knows where. Marshall’s now free hand found your waist. He was now firmly holding you, thrusting like a piston. 

I-I’m coming, you warned. 

Yes baby, he groaned. Come for me. 

You both exploded in an orgasm at the same time and Marshall collapsed onto you, letting out a small grunt as his head hit your shoulder. You stayed in the unlikely position for a couple of minutes, taking the opportunity to catch your breath. You were panting and you could feel his strong heartbeat in your back. You buried your face in the sheets and enjoyed the warmth of his breath on your skin. 

You are fucking incredible, he said. 

You too, you said. God, that was so intense. 

Too much ? He asked. 

Just enough, you said with a smile. Perfect. You know I like it a little rough. 

You’re also a little kinky, he pointed out. 

Maybe, you admitted with a giggle. 

He placed a small kiss on your shoulder and changed position so that he could properly lay next to you. He looked at you with a soft smile and placed a strand of hair behind your ear. You couldn’t resist kissing him. 

You are so hot, he said. I swear to God, I have never, ever been more turned on by anyone. 

Really ? You grinned. 

God, the pics, actually seeing you wear this, and then filming you ?! Babe, you are… wow, he said. 

I guess I was feeling a little frisky today, you giggled. 

I’ve noticed, he said with a grin. What got into you ? 

I don’t know, you shrugged. I mean… the lingerie got me feeling all sexy and… I always wanted to try filming, so… 

Really ? He asked. 

I mean… yeah, I was curious, you admitted. What ? Do you think it’s weird ? 

No, he shrugged. Not at all. You’re just a little kinkier than I thought, I guess. Not that I’m complaining. 

I guess I am kinky, you said with a smile.

He let out a small laugh as he stretched and got rid of the condom before laying back on the bed. 

What ? You asked, worrying that he might be making fun of you. 

Nothing. It’s just kind of funny. I guess you don’t really come across as the kinky type, you know ? When I met you there was no way I would have thought you enjoyed being filmed and stuff. 

Do I look that vanilla ? 

Frankly ? Yes, he laughed. But hey, I love your kinky side too. It’s a pleasant surprise. Makes me wonder what else turns you on. I realize there’s a shit ton I don’t know about you. 

It’s true, I haven’t been too daring in bed, so far, you admitted. 

Why ? He asked. Didn’t you feel comfortable enough with me ? 

It’s not that. I guess I wasn’t in the mood for kinky stuff at that particular time ? You tried to explain. I mean, getting to sleep with you is enough for me. I enjoy vanilla sex just as much. 

He hummed in response, still staring at you. As if he was waiting for you to elaborate. 

It’s true - we’ve been pretty vanilla so far, he said. 

How about you ? You asked. Any kinks you want to tell me about ? 

Hey. We were talking about yours. Don’t change the subject, he said. 

Are you feeling uneasy ? You asked. 

Maybe a little, he admitted. 

We don’t have to have that conversation if you don’t want to, you said as you kissed his jaw. 

Oh but I do want to have it, he said. I want to know about you. Go first and maybe I’ll tell you about me, he added with a grin. 

Let’s see… I feel like that’s pretty basic you know ? I like it rough but I don’t know if it registers as a kink ? Maybe it does. I mean… I’ve never really got to take it as far as I want to, so, I don’t know, you said. I haven’t had too many partners, and I’ve never felt confident enough to try all the things I want to. 

Really ? 

Yeah. I mean, it takes a certain amount of comfort in a relationship, you said. 

I guess, he admitted. 

Plus, you know, I had my first boyfriend when I was 18, and he is the first person I ever slept with. It lasted about three years and we never tried anything crazy. Then there was Simon. We were together for a while but we didn’t explore much. It was mostly light spanking, hair-pulling, but that’s all. Then Josh, but we didn’t do much. And then… you. 

How far did you go with Josh ? 

Foreplay, you said. 

He hummed, his eyes darkening. 

What ? You asked, I answer, you said. 

That motherfucker, Marshall commented. 

You really hated him, didn’t you ? You asked. 

Hate is a strong word, he said. But yeah, I wasn’t his biggest fan. He didn’t deserve you. 

He was nice and caring, you pointed out. That’s more than a lot of dudes. 

He was kind of stupid and he put you in danger, Marshall said flatly as he referred to the salsa bar incident that had led you to the hospital. 

You know it wasn’t his fault, you said as you rolled your eyes. I think you’re being a bit jealous here. 

Maybe I am, he admitted. I must say it was not the most fun time for me, when you dated him. I was trying hard not to be all over you, and he was the one who got to kiss you, take you on dates and everything. 

You are the one who got the girl in the end, you reminded him, which caused him to smile. 

The kinky girl, he added. Let’s not get lost here… I want to know stuff. So… slept with three people and that’s it ? 

Well, no. I only dated three people before you. I did sleep with a couple more people though. Girls actually. 

Oh I didn't know you liked girls, he said surprised. 

Yeah, I’m bi. I never dated a girl though. They’re too impressive, you said with a laugh. Men are easier to get, I think. 

Have you ever had a threesome ? He asked. 

That’s on my « list » but no, never. I’d be into that, though, you admitted. Any type of threesome. Or more than that, who knows ? But yeah, I think it could be fun. And I wouldn’t want to die stupid and ignorant you know ? 

Right, he chuckled. Though I must admit that in my opinion, it’s a bit overhyped. 

You’ve had threesomes ? 

A bunch of times, yeah, he shrugged. I mean, I get a lot of opportunities on tour. I’ve had threesomes, foursomes, moresomes… 

You looked at him with curiosity. You figured that, given his age and occupation, he must have had a lot of experiences, but you didn’t really know how far he had taken it. You were kind of curious and there were a lot of questions you wanted to ask. 

Did you enjoy it ? You asked. 

I mean… Yeah, he said. That was a point in my life when I wanted to get all the pussy I could, so in that regard, that was fun. Though there’s something about the logistics. Threesomes are fine but when there’s more people or an actual orgy, there’s a lot going on at the same time so you can’t really focus, you know what I mean ? But yeah, that was exciting. I mean, I did get a lot of opportunities and propositions, a while ago. 

I bet you still do, you said. 

Not really, he chuckled. I mean, with the level of security that I have, it’s hard to get to me anyway so there’s not a lot of people who can actually proposition me, you know ? Back in the day, we were more lenient with security and letting people hang out with us after shows. But regardless, my interest in that is different. 

You’re still a regular horndog, you giggled. 

True, he said with a smile. But getting sober made a big difference when it comes to my approach to sex and intimacy in general. 

I have so many questions, you said. 

Me first, he reminded you. 

Fine, you said as you rolled your eyes. What do you want to know ? 

Mmmh… How rough do you mean, when you say you like it rough ? Marshall asked. 

I don’t know, you said. I haven’t tested a lot of things yet, so I think I’d like to push my limits and test stuff. I wouldn’t necessarily want to get punched in the face, but being shoved against a wall, the ground and roughhousing ? Yes, absolutely. 

Ok, he said with a nod as if he was making a mental note. What else ? 

Let’s see… Well I wanted to try being filmed and we did that, so I guess we can cross that off my list… 

You’d never done that before ? He asked. 

Never. 

He smiled at you with pride and his grin made you scoff. Male ego at its peak. 

I wouldn’t say I’m into exhibition, but I wouldn’t mind trying stuff in public either, you added. I think the fear of getting caught can be really exciting. Other than that there’s… uh… submission. 

Really ? He asked with a raised eyebrow. 

Yeah, you confessed shyly. I think it’s really really hot when your partner takes control. Especially of you’re the partner. 

You could feel the heat in your cheeks and you were pretty sure your face was crimson red at this point, but there was something about Marshall, his aura, his natural charisma, his voice that called to your submissive nature. It had never been the case with anyone else, only him. 

Me ? He asked with a smirk. 

Oh yeah, you admitted. When you get that deep voice… ? God… 

You got lost in your thoughts for a second. The mere idea of Marshall domineering you was turning you on. 

Keep going, he said. I want to know more. 

I think that’s it, actually, you said with a smile. I mean, I haven’t done a lot of research either. I just want to explore stuff and have fun. 

I guess we might be able to try some stuff together, if you’re up for it, he said before kissing you. 

Really ? You asked in excitement. 

Sure, he chuckled. I mean, I wouldn’t consider myself like much of a dominant, but if you wanted me to try, I might give it a go. 

Ok, you said softly. 

The idea of being able to explore sexuality and furthering your intimacy made you really happy. You had never felt so safe with any of your partners before. You trusted this man with all of your heart and soul. 

What else would you be willing to try ? You asked giddily. 

What was on the list again ? He asked. 

Hum… Threesomes ? I mean, you’ve done it before so it wouldn’t be anything new to you, you said. 

I don’t know about this one, he admitted. 

Oh, ok, you said. 

I mean, I’m not sure how I feel about sharing you, he explained. Given the right opportunity and person, it’s not a firm and definitive no, but… Yeah, I don’t know. But threesomes can be fun, for sure. 

Ok, you agreed. That makes sense. But if it were to happen, like, hypothetically, you’d rather have it be with another woman, right ? 

Absolutely, he said. I’m definitely straight and I understand that a woman might want to have two men with her but… No way I’m sharing you with another dude. Not happening. Sorry babe. 

That’s fine, you giggled. Just testing the water here. So, when you had threesomes and all, it was just girls ? 

Yep, he chuckled. My ex is bi so she would have girls over and that’s how it would happen, most of the time. 

You were in an open marriage ? You asked. 

Not really, he chuckled. Though there was so much cheating that it might as well have been an open marriage, I guess. Let’s just say I was more lenient if she hooked up with girls and especially if it could benefit me as well… 

Ok, you said with a smile. My turn, now ? 

Fire away, he said. 

Are you sure you’re straight ? You asked cockily. Like, have you ever been with a man ? 

I have, he said casually. 

Really ?! 

You were in shock. You definitely weren’t expecting that and your question was actually a joke. You didn’t have a problem with it, obviously, but seeing as he had been portrayed as homophobic in the past, you didn’t think he would have given it a try. 

Can I ask questions about that ? You asked. 

I guess, he shrugged. I mean, I don’t think I have really talked about it but I trust you so, yeah, go ahead. But there’s nothing to say, really. 

When was it ? 

Uh… Twenty years ago, I’d say ? He replied after taking some time to think. So, yeah, it was a while ago. When I performed with Elton John at the Grammys… 

NOOOOOO ?! You almost yelled. 

Your mouth was wide open and you were almost in shock. Had your boyfriend really slept with Elton John ?!?! He immediately burst into a fit of laughter, so much so that he was actually crying. 

You should see your face, he said as he tried to catch his breath. Fuck, you’re so gullible, babe. 

You’ve been leading me on, haven’t you ? You asked with a grin. You’ve never tried guys. 

Oh no, that part was true, he chuckled. It happened after the Grammys but it wasn’t with Elton. He’s great, he’s a friend but it wasn’t him. I don’t think I remember the guy’s name though. In my defense, I was high. 

So, what happened ? You asked. Hooked up with a guy and didn’t like it ? 

Basically, yeah, he said. The guy looked good and I though “If I ever have to be attracted by a man, I think that would be someone like this”, so when he flirted and made a pass at me, I went for it. He was cool and an ok kisser, but the hookup was a disaster. If you can even call it that. I was fucking high but that sobered me up and I knew right then and there : straight. 1000%. 

At least you know for sure, you giggled. 

Exactly, he chuckled. Next question ? 

Do you have any kinks ? 

Not so many, he said. I’ve tried a lot of stuff, out of curiosity and for the sake of experience but I’m not into freaky, kinky stuff. I’m a simple man. But I suppose it depends on what you call a kink ? 

I don’t even know, you giggled. I should have done my research if I had known I’d get to quiz you. 

Find a list and I’ll tell you whether or not I’m into it, he shrugged. 

You grabbed your phone and took the first list you found - there went the purity of your web browser. 

Age play ? Like “daddy-dominant-little-girl” ? 

Absolutely not. Being called daddy in bed is a huge turn-off. Maybe it’s a Dad thing, I don’t know. Not to kink-shame but I think it’s sort of twisted you know ? He said. 

You have called me “babygirl” before though, you pointed out with a smile. 

Yeah but I don’t see it in the same way. Probably a double-standard he admitted. 

Let’s see… Bondage ? You asked. 

I don’t mind it. It can be fun but not a necessity. 

Blindfold sex ? 

Hate it, he said. I love being able to look at my partner. I think I’m pretty visual when it comes to sex. As for blindfolding people… maybe. Once again, it can be fun once in a while. 

So no blindfolding you, you noted. Cuckholding ? 

Is that shit alphabetised ? He asked with a laugh. Cuckholding is a no for me. First, because I don’t do humiliation, secondly because I’m not big on sharing. 

Yes it’s alphabetised, you smiled. 

I do enjoy that. I know it’s not a kink but I like things in order. 

Good to know, you chuckled. Claustrophilia ? 

It depends. I’ve had sex in elevators, closets and airplane bathrooms, so I think it counts. You ? 

Never thought of it but I’m not against it, you said with a wink. 

Good to know. Glad I can easily get a jet for us to try that, too…

You chuckled once again. You liked learning more about him. 

Dominance we have already talked about… how about DIY porn ? You asked. That’s the next item on the list. 

Didn’t we just do that ? He asked back. 

Yeah but how did you feel about it ? 

It was fun. I’m not even sure I did a great job with the filming though. But I guess it’ll be fun to have the video as a memory if i’m ever away from you and horny, he stated. 

Electrostimulation ? 

Nope.

Erotic Asphyxiation ? 

They could have put that in the B section under “Breathplay” he commented. I don’t really like being choked but if you want me to do it to you, sure. Safely, of course. 

Both his alphabetical comment and the statement made you smile. 

Foot fetish ? 

Nope. A girl asked me to try that once but I didn’t like it. 

Food play ? 

It can be fun but I’m not big on it. Next ? 

Gagging ? 

Not for me, no. You ? 

No thanks, you said. I don’t really mind if I gag a little during a blowjob, though. But not voluntarily. 

I do like the idea of making you gag with my cock, he confessed with a little grin. Next ? 

Gerontophilia ? 

Nothing against the elderly but that’s not a kink for me, he said. But I’m sure I’ll find you sexy as fuck when you’re an old lady though. 

Thanks, you laughed. We’ve covered humiliation already… how about impact play ? Like hitting ? 

I don’t really want to be hit or spanked, he said. You ? 

I think I’d like to try, you said. I’ve been spanked before but I’d gladly try more. 

As long as I’m not physically hurting you…, he said. 

You could see a hint of sadness in his eyes. 

Are you alright ? You asked immediately. 

Yeah, no, I’m good, he said dryly. I just… well we might as well talk about it… 

What’s wrong ? We can stop this conversation if you’re not ok, baby, you said. 

It’s fine, he said. It’s just… in the past, Kim and I got physical a couple of times. I mean, you probably know about that, because of the media and I’ve written songs about it. It’s never been to a point where I was actually beating her down, but we’ve definitely hit each other a number of times. But thinking about that… it’s hard because it’s one of the worst mistakes I’ve ever made, you know ? That’s not the person I want to be. 

That’s not the person you are either, you said softly. You wouldn’t hurt a fly. 

I’d rather kill myself than hurt you, he stated in all seriousness.

You looked at him and his stern expression. You gently stroked his hand. 

I trust you and I know you’ll never hurt me, you said. 

You don’t think I’m an asshole who deserves hell for what I’ve done ? He asked pensively. 

I don’t. I mean, I’ll never condone domestic violence and if you ever lay a hand on me in circumstances that aren’t sexual, I’ll leave, that’s for sure. I’ll never say it’s ok that you hit your ex, but it’s also in the past and I know you have changed. So I trust you and I don’t think you deserve to suffer. I can see on your face that you suffer enough from the memories. 

I deserve to, he said sternly. 

Sorry, you said. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have brought up impact play. If it triggers you, we’ll never try it. 

If you want to try, maybe we can keep it on the soft side, he said. But yeah… I don’t think I’d be ready to really hit you too hard. Even if you begged for it. 

We can stop the list there, if you want, you said. I mean… I love talking about that with you but I’d be happy to just cuddle and go to bed, you know ? 

Nah, it’s good. Keep the list going. I like learning stuff about you, he said with a smile. 

Ok, so… interrogation play ? 

Not really. 

Japanese bondage like shibari ? 

Not my stuff either. I get the hype but it’s too intricate and I don’t have time for that shit, he said with a grin. It’s really sexy to see though. 

Klismaphilia ? You asked. 

What the fuck even is that ? He asked laughingly. 

It’s Greek and it means… oh… it’s enemas. 

Ah. Then no. Absolutely not, he said. 

Me neither. How about Katoptronophilia ? It’s masturbating in front of a mirror. 

Nope. 

How about masochism ? You asked. 

Down to M already ? No, I'm not a masochist. 

Reading the description I might be into that, you commented. It’s enjoying pain so… maybe I’m a bit of a masochist after all, you shrugged. 

Yeah ? Well as I said… as long as I don’t mistreat you… I guess I can pull your hair and spank you gently, he said with a smile. 

Sounds fine, you said with a smile. Next on the list is… Melolagnia, you added with a grin. I think I’ve just discovered a new kink of mine. 

What is that ? 

I’ll read it to you : “ Melolagnia is a fetish that involves being turned on by music. This doesn’t simply mean having a go-to Spotify playlist when you have sex, but rather experiencing strong sexual reactions in response to music and also fantasizing about certain songs or genres. The arousal can derive from a combination of the musical elements including the singer’s voice, beat, repetition, or even the quality of the composition, all of which can lead to physical sensations like goosebumps, a faster heartbeat, or even more natural sexual lubrication.” You quoted. 

Oh wow. Didn’t know that existed, he said. But yeah music turns me on. You ? 

Oh, definitely, you said blushing and attempting to hide your face. 

Why are you suddenly so red and looking away ? He asked with a grin. Any songs I should know about ? 

Shut up, you muttered. 

Come on, Y/N. Tell me. 

No. You’ll never let me live it down, you said. 

As long as it’s not MGK, that should be fine, he joked. 

Come on… 

Tell me ! What ? Is it an artist I’ve had beef with ? Mariah ? Christina Aguilera ? Ja Rule ? Please don’t say Ja Rule… 

I’m not having this conversation, you said, embarrassed. 

Now that I know you like domination, I can make you talk, woman, he said as he put a finger underneath your chin. 

You wouldn’t, you mumbled. 

Try me. 

Your eyes met his. He stared at you. 

Tell me, he said in his deep, authoritarian voice. 

“Not fair”, you thought, definitely turned on but unable to speak. 

Do I know them ?

You nodded. 

Is it a friend of mine ? Dre ? 50 ? He asked as you were unable to make a sound. Then who ? Tell. Me. 

There went the voice again. 

It’s… you. 

You spoke so softly, hoping he wouldn’t catch it. Unfortunately for you, he did. 

Ah, he said with a grin, trying not to laugh. 

Don’t judge me, you muttered. 

Well it depends… is there a song in particular ? He asked softly. 

Do we have to have this conversation ? You asked as you rolled your eyes. 

Come on babe, it’s fun. And it’s flattering. I’m glad you think my music can be sexy. 

Marshaaaaall…

Please ? 

He was looking at you with adorable puppy eyes. 

Fine, you grumbled. Superman. And Heat, too. You happy ? 

You hid your face in your hands in embarrassment. You heard him scoff and he gently kissed your shoulder. 

Come on, it’s fine. It’s not as if you had said FACK, you know ? Then I probably would have laughed in your face. But Superman… ? I sort of get it. I mean, it’s kind of the intention we had when we recorded. Heat too. I mean, it’s in the title. So it’s fine, babe. 

You don’t think I’m a weird groupie ? You asked. 

Of course not. I think you’re the cutest thing ever, right now. And I can definitely sing those for you sometime, he said with a grin. Let’s just not play one of my albums while we fuck, ok ? I’m not that much of an egomaniac. 

Mmmh. 

Let’s get back to the list, he said as he took the phone from your hand. So… Nylons ? No. Nebulophilia - steam and fog ? Neither. Oh… objectum sexuality. You like toys ? 

I have a couple, you admitted. You ? 

Yeah, a couple too. Though I don’t use them much. But we could definitely have fun with that, he said. 

Sure, why not.  What’s next ? 

Uh… pregnancy fetish. 

Well I’m attracted to women but not pregnant ones, you stated. I get that the creation of life can be beautiful and stuff, but they look like aliens to me. 

Yeah ? Well I have to admit… I don’t want anymore kids because I’m all done with that and too old for that shit anyway but… yeah, I think pregnancy is sexy, he admitted. I mean, I sort of have a breeding kink.

Really ? You asked in shock. 

Yep. Never been more attracted to my ex than when she was pregnant, he said. 

Was that because she was carrying your baby ? You asked. 

No, not even that. I mean, that plays a big part in the appreciation, but Stevie isn’t technically mine and still, when Kim was pregnant with her… I found her so hot. 

Ok, you said. 

You’d had the kids' conversation before and you were ready to give that up, but him saying that kind of made you regret the fact that you’d never be pregnant anymore. 

You ok baby ? He asked when you went silent. 

Sure, you said softly. I’m just thinking… I’ll never get pregnant again, so… I’ll never get to experience this kind of attraction from you to me, you know ? 

Doesn’t matter, baby. I’m always attracted to you. You’re my kink and fetish, you yourself, he said. 

Yeah ? You asked. 

Of course. Plus, I may have a pregnancy fetish but it’s not that much. Like, I’m not going to jump on every pregnant lady I see like some sort of creep. And I’m not crazy to the point of dealing with 20 years of consequences for 9 months of kink. 

Makes sense, you chuckled. So if my belly gets too round because of pizza, that’ll turn you on ? 

I don’t know, he said as he burst out in laughter. Probably not though. I like your belly just the way it is. 

Ok then. Next item ? 

Public sex, he said. That’s a no for me. Obviously. I can’t risk it. Then we have… Quirofilia, the fetish for hands. I don’t really have that either. 

Good. I’ll save on getting my nails done, you joked. 

No, you can still do that. I mean, I love seeing your pretty hands… especially on some places… but it’s just not really a kink. Also, nail biting turns me off. 

Really ? 

Yup. Next is… role play. What do you think about that ? He asked. 

Not really my thing, you said. But if it’s something you like, I’ll give it a try. 

It’s not really my thing either, he said with a smile. Robot fetish ? 

Nope, you replied. You ? 

Neither. I mean, I guess that if I was single and really in need, I’d love to get a sex robot, but the idea doesn’t really turn me on, he said. 

Yeah, you’re just a guy, you teased. 

Probably, he admitted with a laugh. Next is spectrochilia. Do you believe in ghosts ? 

Not really. But if they were to exist, they’d be more scary than sexy to me, you said. 

I agree. Then we have Stygiophilia. That’s a good one, he said. The pleasure of the idea of going to hell or facing eternal punishment. I guess I’d better get going on that one because there’s no way I’m going to heaven so… 

Don’t be silly. Of course you’ll go to heaven. You’re the best human I know, you said. 

Do you even believe in God he asked ? 

Depends. In times of despair, I hope he exists and hears my prayers. Plus, when I look at the marvel of the universe, I think it’s not something random… but I’ve never even read any sacred text or anything, so, not really. How about you ? 

I’d say I’m a Christian, he simply stated. Not churchy or anything, but yeah, I’ve read the Bible and I believe in God. 

I didn’t know that, you said. 

I don’t talk about it a lot. What’s the point ? Everyone has their beliefs. 

True. What’s next ? 

Tentacles. Nope. 

Me neither, you said.

Trichophilia - are you attracted to hair ? 

Are you kidding ? I’m a girl born in the 90s. If anything I’ve been taught to despise it, you said with a laugh. You ? 

Not attracted to it, nope. But I’m also not one of those guys who is disgusted by it. It’s just… hair. 

What’s next ? 

Urophilia. That’s a no for me. You ? 

Neither. 

Thank God. I mean… if you had been into it, I would have respected it, but there’s no way I could be involved in it. 

Yeah it’s gross. Let’s change the subject. What’s next ? You asked. 

Underwear. Well, you know I have a thing for lingerie, obviously, he chuckled. How about you ? 

I like lingerie too, you said with a smile. As for male underwear, I don’t really care, but I like your boxers. 

Then we have… Voyeurism, he said. 

Oh I’m not a voyeur, you said. If anything I am scared to catch anyone I know in the middle of sex. 

Same, he chuckled. But I have to admit that seeing you touch yourself is the hottest thing ever. That gets me really horny, really fast. 

Really ? You asked. 

Fuck yeah, he said. Remember the night I told you I loved you ? 

You blushed at the memory. The whole thing had been caused by his very own sex scene in 8 Mile, of all things. 

I like masturbating for you, you said softly. And I kind of like watching you masturbate too. 

So kind of a voyeur too I guess ? He said. 

I guess. Next ?

Vicarphilia - that’s the… oh, the arousal of hearing someone talk about their sec life. What do you think of that ? 

I guess that can be sexy. Never thought of it before. But talking about sex is sexy anyway. 

True, he said. Even casually like right now… it’s kind of cool and sexy, he admitted. Then we have whips. Once again, not too keen on those. 

Oh, ok, you said. 

You ?

I wouldn’t have minded trying but it’s not necessarily on my list either, you said earnestly. Next ? 

« Wet and messy », he said with a laugh. I do love when you’re all wet and messy.

Isn’t that one about wet food like jell-o though ? You asked. I always thought it’s kind of gross though. 

Oh yeah, he said upon reading the description. Then no, that’s not my thing. Wax play ? 

Maybe, you said. I like the idea of massage candles and stuff. 

Yeah, that sounds pretty cool, he agreed. Then we have yoni eggs. I don’t have a vagina so I don’t really have an opinion on that one, I have to say. 

Yeah… not my thing, you said with a grimace. 

Zappers ? He asked. Like electro-stimulation ? Yup, no thanks. 

It sounds scary, you said as he nodded. 

And there’s the last item on the list : Zentai. Like the latex body suits, he stated. 

Not sure I’d like it, you said. 

Same here. I mean, you’d look hot in one though, but I’ll survive if I never see it. 

That’s it ? We’re done ? 

We’re done, he said. Unless you have more questions for me ? To be fair I asked you a lot of them too. 

You took a second to think. Of course you had tons of questions you’d like to ask him. After all, he was a worldwide renown superstar, so you assumed he must have crazy stories to tell. 

Do you know exactly how many people you have had sex with ? You asked. 

I should have known this one was coming, he chuckled. No, I genuinely have no idea. Anything else ? 

Do you miss the era when you were… you know… getting a lot of action ? Instead of just having one partner ? 

No, he said with a smile. It was fun for a while but it wasn’t fulfilling. When you don’t have a lot of opportunities, you fantasize about it and you think it’s going to be the best thing ever, but you don’t actually get to build a connection with someone, you know ? And the sex is so much better when you have that. Especially with you. 

Do you really like our sex life ? You asked. 

Of course, he scoffed. What ? Do I look like I don’t ? 

No, you said with a smile. But sometimes I worry that I’m not… experienced enough for you. 

You don’t have to worry about that, baby, he said as he took you in his arms. I love fucking you, making love to you… It’s great. Are you happy with our sex life ? 

Of course, you replied. I mean… You already know you’re the best I have ever had. And I love that we’re able to talk about it, too. Thank you for opening up to me, my love. 

I like talking to you, he said. Now, how about a shower ? I’m all sweaty. 

You nodded and you went to the bathroom where you showered together, kissing and exchanging love words. After, you lounged in the living room, mindlessly watching TV as he told you about his day and his meetings. 

How did the meeting with Tracy go, by the way ? You asked. 

Went well, he said with a smile. We talked for a bit and she said she actually feels comfortable to keep working with me, so that’s one less thing to worry about. I would hate it if I had to hire someone else. Sorry, babe, I know you would have loved to see her go. 

I never said that, you defended yourself. 

I know you too well, he chuckled. You don’t have to worry, though. About how she feels about me, I mean. We cleared the air and she said she was just feeling super lonely. 

Do you believe her ? You asked as you squinted. 

I do, he replied. So you don’t have to worry about anything, ok ? 

Ok, you shrugged. I mean, I trust you. By the way, have you slept with anyone else from your team ? 

No, he chuckled. Just her. Why ? Are you jealous ? 

I’m not, you said. But I just want to know if I risk running into someone who’s slept with you, you know ? 

You should be fine, he chuckled. I mean, you don’t risk meeting any ex of mine besides Tracy. Oh, and Kim, obviously. But that’s it ? 

Why would I meet Kim ? You asked confused. 

Well, she’s going to be here at Thanksgiving, he shrugged - as if it were no big deal. 

You looked at him with a confused look. You had agreed to celebrate Thanksgiving together this year, with his family. It sort of made sense, since the two were living together anyway. However, you had absolutely no idea that it would imply meeting his ex - the infamous Kim Scott. The one that people considered as Marshall’s one true love. You were so taken aback that you had no control over your facial expression. 

Anything wrong ? He asked after a few seconds of silence. 

You didn’t tell me that when we talked about Thanksgiving, you pointed out. 

I thought I did, he shrugged. 

I think I would remember if my boyfriend told me his ex-wife would be here, you said sternly. 

Sorry, babe, he said casually. Is that an issue ? 

I mean… yeah, you said frankly. Why would you celebrate Thanksgiving with her anyway ? 

Because she is the mother of my children, he explained. It’s a family holiday.

But she is your ex. You’re divorced, you said. 

Yeah but we will always be family, you know ? He continued. It allows the girls to have both of their parents with them and not have to choose. Especially now that they all have boyfriends and spend holidays with their in-laws every other year. Plus, we’re good, you know ? We get along pretty well so it’s no big deal. 

Ok, you mumbled. I’ll just celebrate with Talia and Jamal, then. 

Not with me ? He asked with his eyebrows furrowed. I was kind of looking forward to our first holiday together, babe. 

Me too, you admitted. But that was before I knew your ex would be here. 

Why would that change anything ? He asked. 

Because it changes everything, you said. How do you expect me to enjoy it if the woman you married - twice, mind you -, the mother of your children is here ? I’m going to be… intruding. 

No you wouldn’t, he said as he took your hand in his. You’re my girl, you’re the lady of this house. You can’t intrude in your own place. I want you here, with me. 

I don’t know, you said. I don’t feel comfortable. And I bet she wouldn’t either. 

She knows you’ll be here, he shrugged. And she doesn’t mind. I think she’s looking forward to meeting you actually. 

You stared at him in surprise. You definitely didn’t expect to spend your first holiday as Marshall’s girlfriend with his ex-wife being around. He didn’t seem phased by the situation, as if he didn’t see the problem. You, on the other hand, could smell the disaster from ten thousand miles away. Right when you thought you didn’t actually have to worry about another woman in Marshall’s life, you were about to meet his fucking ex-wife. What could go wrong ? Absolutely everything.

[idyllic-affections]

dad!pantalone brainrot (ft. il dottore & baizhu) iv.

summary. when their health issues flare up, there are very few doctors that their father will permit to treat them.

trigger & content warnings. implied canon-typical dottore violence, (empty) threats, chronic illness, blood, mentions of death, etc.

tropes, pairings, fic length, & other notes. hurt/comfort. dad!pantalone & reader, il dottore & reader, baizhu & reader. 0.7k words. they/them pronouns for reader. prev | next

author's thoughts. this series is never ending... in my defense, it was going to be a full-length fanfic but i never ended up pursuing that idea. anyway baizhu and pantalone are brothers here! idc if it ends up being non canon, its canon in my heart 💖 this got... slightly angstier than i intended. whoops!

when it comes to his child's health, pantalone only trusts two doctors in all of teyvat.

(he objectively trusts one far more than the other, though.)

il dottore is an... unfortunately large part of their life. the regrator did eventually accept that it was inevitable, given how "close" he and the doctor tend to be. dottore is one of their many tutors, though admittedly, his teaching methods are probably a little concerning... at least [name] is proficient in anatomy and physiology! perhaps pantalone should reconsider whether or not his child should be left alone with him. he'd somewhat gotten over his initial concerns about leaving them with him and his segments after seeing zeta nearly tear someone's head clean off in their defense, but perhaps it's time to reconsider! the second may not be hurting them, per se, but he is creating a desensitized little thing.

(though... it may very well be for the best, given their harbinger lineage. they cannot afford to be soft or squeamish. pantalone knows this very well.)

the second fatui harbinger is also largely responsible for making sure they're in good health. semiannual check-ups are a standard practice as opposed to annual ones; they did happen to inherit their father's poor immune system. dottore once offhandedly commented that it probably came more from the regrator's brother, as even pantalone isn't as prone to illness as his child is. the doctor has never met baizhu personally, but pantalone knows he's right. they tire so easily... sometimes it makes him sick with worry. regardless, it runs in the family, and some get it worse than others, so check-ups are more common.

(check-ups are always an amusing sight when zeta is around, wordlessly fiddling with a needle suspiciously close to their neck.

"put that needle in my throat and i will tear out yours."

he only smiles at them.

their smug aura does not mock him; contrary to popular belief, he finds it quite funny and endearing! they are the only person that can get away with talking shit like that. not even the other dottore clones can talk to him like that without getting a violent response. he lets it slide with omega because he has to, but beyond that...

he's fond of them. he's just too emotionally constipated to admit it.)

however, sometimes pantalone doesn't completely trust dottore not to harm them when they're seriously ill and vulnerable. he knows dottore would gain nothing by bringing them harm, and yet...

archons, becoming a father has made him awfully protective, hasn't it? surely he wasn't like this before he took them back from arlecchino?

times like those, times in which their illness would act up to the point of leaving them bedridden, making them shiver and tremble and spit up blood... times like those are when he calls upon baizhu.

he'd understand their illness better than dottore ever could, anyway. pantalone was right to make such an assumption.

"has your father taught you nothing of energy management?"

"energy management?" they scoffed sarcastically, the warmth from the cup of herbal tea in their hands soothing the chill in their trembling fingers, "from the man who hardly takes care of himself? please. he acts as if he isn't also chronically ill. he'll literally work himself to death if he isn't more careful. it's... worrying, actually." they tapped their nails against the cup mindlessly, chewing on the corner of their lip.

anxiety was not good for their health, especially not when they were already this ill.

"oh?" baizhu's interest was very much piqued at that, and their lips twitched upwards slightly at the way his hand stroked over their head calmingly. "in that case, i'll have to teach you my methods, but... he's been taking poor care of himself, has he?"

"the poorest."

"i see. do tell me everything, for... future reference."

they knew very well that 'future reference' meant a firm chiding. oh well! it's not like they purposely exposed their father's poor habits, no no. they were a loyal child. they'd never do something so terrible and unforgivable...

unless it was baizhu who asked, of couse. it would be awfully rude to withhold secrets about his own relatives from him, after all!

pantalone may get sick with worry over their health, but the sentiment is very much mutual.

please consider reblogging, it helps me out quite a lot!

[sagiow]

15 questions

tagged by @tough-n-dumb, thanks friend!

Were you named after anyone?

Not “after”, per se, but my dad “discovered” my name after making a new friend in the glorious Montreal Red Light Disco District... who turned out to be an Italian exotic male dancer (he never told my mom that’s where he got the inspiration from until 30-some years later)

My middle name is my mom’s because my frazzled, mid-20s, overwhelmed first-time parents hadn’t thought of one before he went to register my birth so he kinda blanked and went with hers and she was pissed off because she doesn’t  like her name.

0/2, Papa.

When was the last time you cried?

Some time in the last month.

Do you have kids?

Two, elementary school age, although the eldest is solidly in his tweens and giving me a fantastic preview of the fun years ahead.

Do you use sarcasm?

Just did, didn’t I?

Actually, much less than I used to when I was younger. Mostly for joking around  or ranting about our incompetent colleagues with my work wife.

What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Not to sound like a hippie on Main, but I’d say their energy? Their vibe? Some people come off as very warm, and others colder (and some, downright antipathic). Some have this bubbling, crackling energy to them, others are super chill and calm. Some have this spark of intelligence or quick wit about them, and others make you wonder if there’s anybody home. So a bit of all of that.

A smile, greeting and eye contact (can all be super quick, just acknowledge you see the other person) go a long way in giving off good vibes, so we’ll definitely start on the wrong foot if the other person doesn’t do any of those. Be polite.

What’s your eye color?

Brown

Scary movies or happy endings?

I don’t like scary / horror movies with gore and torture. I do enjoy a good ghost story (the Gothicker, the better) and some psychological horror.

Love happy endings although unhappy ones definitely inspire a lot more fanfic.

Any special talents?

I never look at the picture when doing jigsaw puzzles and WILL complete it before you do.

Where were you born?

Province of Québec, Canada

What are your hobbies?

Phew... there’s a few, and they tend to be seasonal. Summer is reading, hiking, baseball, gardening, camping. Other seasons have baking, crochet, watching TV, playing old-school computer games, and getting ready for whatever holiday or birthday is upcoming. Puzzles and writing year-round (if inspiration striked and fellow fans are around!)

Have any pets?

2 cats (and often at least another because we are a foster family to our local rescue), 2 rabbits and 4 3 chicken (found one dead yesterday after that major storm / tornado passed. Her ancient 3 year old heart couldn’t handle it. RIP Matante.)

What sports do/have you played?

Phew... there’s a few there too. I’m always down to play pretty much anything with a ball (beach volleyball! street ball hockey!), but on the other hand, will probably get my Canadian citizenship revoked at some point because I do no winter sport except for snowshoeing and some shitty skating.

I played provincial-level softball and badminton in school. I did recreational synchronized swimming, various styles of dance, varsity basketball. Now, I play softball, tennis (although my dad is aggressively trying to draft me into pickleball), try to get in a game of golf or two per summer (every addition to this sentence makes me feel 10 years older). In non-summer, I practice aikido, and love hiking, especially in the fall.

How tall are you?

5′7″, or 170cm

Favorite subject at school?

History and Drama in High School, Anthropology and some of my Forensics classes in University (”no applied science”, you ask? meh, not really. Science was me playing Life on Safe Mode).

Dream Job?

I would’ve loved to study Anthropology further and become an archeologist (although I did take one Biological / Genetic Anthro class that was absolutely fascinating and made me reconsider Things) but I’d had enough Academia back then. I wanted to get a job, stop being beyond broke, and travel.

Nowadays I get this massive urge to dump everything corporate and move someplace with shorter, kinder winters, ideally not too far from the sea, and get a bunch of goats and chicken, fruit trees and grapevines, grow a shitload of tomatoes and eggplant, bake bread daily, and write in the evenings. Just need to win the lottery first but then I’m makin’ it happen.

tagging (apologies for the double tags if you got them, I lost track) @jomiddlemarch, @tortoisesshells, @fericita-s, @combat-librarian, @divinecomedienne, @luarenah

[waterforlorn]

day ten. october 16th.

so, it's been a few days. i'm still feeling a little … weird about not sitting down to write for.. days. but i said i'd push my limit and i did. i… didn't kill anybody. so there's that. nico didn't complain about sharp comments, so .. either he's afraid or i didn't make any. long days, i don't really remember EVERYTHING i said anymore.

i've been driving mostly, which gives nico hours … on hours to ramble at me about the most random little things he sees. OR LITTLE HISTORY SNIPPETS. i don't mind like… per se, just.. man, he talks a damn lot. and sometimes he looks at me like he expects me to comment and then i either just confirm what he said or i admit i have NO fucking clue what he goes on about all day long.

do couples ever break up cause one partner's too dumb for the other? probably. or maybe he's too smart. yeah, that sounds more like it. what a fucking nerd. why am i even with him? we're from different worlds. he had a perfect little family growing up. i got shit all. IT'S NOT HIS FAULT. i know he hurts, too. i can see it on him sometimes, but he'd really good at hiding it. better than me… for sure, but that doesn't mean he isn't suffering. maybe that's why we found each other. cause i know that when he's with me the pain goes away and i think… he feels the same? i haven't dared asking. i don't wanna find out it's one-sided. and it's fucking ridiculous, cause i never wanted to depend on someone who isn't ME.

hell, i didn't even wanna have to rely on myself most of the time. although, i wanna say that i did okay with the rotten-ass goddamn apples life threw at me.

uh, right. my day.. emotions… thoughts.

i know there's worse than me, but i truly wish i could keep up with his brain. AT LEAST A LITTLE. so that when he rambles.. i can make some sense of it and comment. no fucking idea how he can have ALL THAT SHIT stored in his head. like he eats books for breakfast. i think he's gonna find out sooner or later he's fucking an idiot and he's gonna reconsider spending his life with said idiot. that's my thoughts alright. i know i'm biased kinda. i know i'm seeing it worse than it is cause it's ME we're talking about. i'm .. working on that.

emotions? can't say. worried i guess, but i'm trying not to let that weird gut-wrenching feeling take over. wouldn't help anyway. worrying isn't gonna make it go away. if he wants to find someone else, he should. i'm gonna be fine. REALLY. fuck him if he does, though. he started this shit and he knew i wasn't smart. so yeah, fuck him in advance. otherwise? i'm fine. not a lot has been happening, so.. i'm fine. kinda curious where nico wants to go next. so far we're back on the interstate.

my day… driving. lots of driving. it's .. calming. or maybe that's nico's presence. i feel calmer when he's there, probably why i like sharing my bed with him. peaceful nights.

i dunno when i'll sit down to write again, but ..i will when we did something other than drive and talk. what a strange thing to write down. i remember my early books, so full of rage. i didn't know how to contain it, although i'll admit writing it down helped deal with it at the time, but i grew out of that. i guess i no longer need it.

[extravalgant]

a concept ive been working on for the switch up au is how to handle certain character interactions and what i can do with them...

but most of all its about what i can play around with... hehe

which is why ive come up with an outside force taking the crown of command from the monkey king and putting it on the wizard

[ohheyitsokay]

concessions

part 2 of the ‘hey batter batter’ series

pairing: Francesco Morales (Frankie, Catfish) x reader

wordcount: 2.4k

warnings: none (yet)

summary: it’s a Triple Frontier baseball AU - trust me, you don’t need to know anything about baseball.

In this chapter, you run into the guys outside of the stadium and they promptly decide you’re going to be friends with them.

>>

Your friend was twelve minutes late. Not overly long but you could already tell what was going to happen.

It had been a long shot, anyway, an old classmate with little lasting connection. You had been trying to push yourself outside of your comfort zone anyway, why not? When she had originally reached out you’d been full of hope, enough to foolishly order your favorite appetizer as a ice breaker but the effort was in vain.

Fingernails gently clicking against the table, you caved and allowed yourself to look at your phone. It brought instant comfort, to escape the exposure of sitting alone in a restaurant, but you couldn’t stay. The air was cold as you sucked it through your teeth, weighing your options. The confidence it took to eat alone after being stood up was facing a strong competitor: your general policy not to waste good food and good money.

Shifting, you tried to settle, tried to pose yourself like you were in control, looking around the room as nonchalantly as you could. It was silly, your urge to keep moving, your feet on the ground, your hands on the table, your eyes on the other patrons, but you couldn’t help it. It was a nice place, nothing fancy, just a hole in the wall restaurant, filled only with a few locals.

Until your appetizer came around the corner, followed by a much more handsome man than you were prepared for.

His already smiling eyes met yours, and you looked away, startled, maybe blushing a little. He was familiar, too familiar. You tried to focus on the young lady waiting on you, and the steam coming from the plate in her hands.

Just focus on the food, you scolded yourself silently, thanking her and not ordering anything else. He was not your friend, he didn’t even know you, really. There was no need to make him feel uncomfortable.

Except, he wasn’t really worried about that, because he was sliding into the seat across from you.

“Hi,” he was grinning, confident and friendly, and your instincts raised no alarms other than confusion.

“Hello,” you replied, wondering honestly if you were dreaming. This was one of the men you’d met before, in that chaotic, over decorated room in the baseball stadium. He had been in front of you maybe fifteen total seconds, talking to James, before melting back into the sea of uniforms and caps. There was no reason he should remember you much less… be doing whatever was happening now.

The man mistook your expression for panicked forgetfulness and reintroduced himself.

“I’m Ben, Ben Miller? We met a a week or two ago,” he was searching your face for recognition, which of course was not the problem at all. It was sweet, how bashful he was when he pointed to the picture of the team’s logo on the poster by your table, and mouthed “the shortstop?”.

It seemed like he wasn’t trying to draw extra attention to himself, which was almost comical. Even with his casual tshirt and jeans he was easily the most noticeable person in the room – that’s how good he looked, and a testament to the visible confidence of men like him. He was all limber muscles and strong jaw and kind eyes and it wasn’t easy to just tuck that away.

“I – yeah,” this was awkward. “I’m sorry for staring at you, I just don’t normally see … non-locals here.” You smiled, weakly.

There was something in his voice and a glint in his eyes as his blue eyes glanced behind you.

“Would you believe it if I said we were locals?”

All of a sudden his looks were commonplace, because there was another man next to him who was a little broader and a little rougher around the edges- but surprisingly similar in casual masculinity. The “we" clicked into place.

“What’s this?” the first-baseman said, his expression more or less mirroring your own.

A handful of other men followed him and you wanted to melt into the chair. It was too much, too weird. They were all peering at you, dark eyebrows and cool toned cloth stretched over broad chests and it was the most bizarre thing. You weren’t really shy, per se, but stuff like this didn’t happen to you. Fidgeting you stared back at them, feeling helpless.

Ben came to your rescue again, guilty, but far too friendly to stop, like runaway dog at a park.

“I was just telling her that Will and I are from town! And we love it here,” he grinned, winningly, still failing to explain why he was seated with you.

Their hellos were amused and charismatic, for the most part, save the man in the back. It was… Francisco. Or rather, Mr. Morales.

Your heart thumped the same thump that you’d been feeling whenever you thought of him.

His voice was quieter, eyes reaching into yours like he had questions to ask, before he fixed them on the surroundings instead. They were crowding the area, all tall and much to large to fit in between tables. It would have been annoying if this were a busier place.

“You guys go on, I’ll be right there,” the shortstop across from you ushered them away, out of politeness or something else you weren’t sure. It was sad, to see him go again but the absence of attention made you breathe again. You waved, sure you looked ridiculous, and wondering if other women would be dying to be in your stead.

“Sorry, I just wanted to say hi,” Ben seemed earnest again, and you couldn’t help but relax. It was charming, the way his eyebrows dipped and he fidgeted, just a little. “You looked… lonely,” he added, hesitating before standing up with a gentle slap to the table. “Come join us if they don’t show, I’m sure the guys wont mind!”

You nodded, still more or less in shock, and he walked off, strides long and easy, like there was hardly anything weighing on his shoulders.

If they hadn’t been but 20 paces away, you would have shoved the plate aside and replaced its spot on the table with your face, and groaned aloud. You barely registered your food as you ate, wondering at the whole thing in awe as you took out your phone again to text James.

-

Frankie tried not to watch you. He really did. He loved his friends and they seldom got a chance, just the five of them to eat somewhere so homey and casual, without the whole crew, or fans and cameras, or other things to attend to. They’d been close for a long time, happy they enjoyed one another and trusted one another more than the rest of the team. It was what made them so good in the starting lineup – their communication and comradery off field translated into their game.

For awhile he was doing well. He wasn’t watching as you finished your food, hardly noticed the way your hands ran through your hair, barely registered when you stood up, brushing crumbs off your legs, and walked towards the front to pay.

But he did notice when you slid over to their table and… he couldn’t tear his eyes away as your hand touched Benny's shoulder. The movement was smooth and gentle and there was a sharp feeling in his gut.

“Thanks for before,” your voice was quite, more composed than before, now that your feet were under you properly. It wasn’t meant for him, wasn’t his to hear, but he listened anyway. The group was seated at one of those round corner booths, and really, there was no escaping it – they were on the ends.

Benny was saying no problem and Frankie took a long sip of his drink trying to cool down before he was choking on it as his friend invited you to join.

The idea of you sitting here was… a double edged sword. On one side, the chance to talk to you, be around you even in the low lights of the restaurant neons – was too good to be true. His daydreams of you hadn’t slowed down nearly as much as he had hoped after you were gone. And on the other… of all the men here, he didn’t stand much of a chance. The flicker of warmth your little wave had given him began to fade and he tried too late to get in control of his facial expressions as you considered the offer.

When Redfly reached across Ben, though, shoving the younger man to grab your hand, suppressing the growl in his throat was more important than the glare. Next to him, Pope eyes were sharp, catching everything unsaid. His friend was as tense as he was, feeling the charged energy fill the booth.

Some ridiculous part of Frankie was wanting to pull you away, tuck you under his arm, and keep you all to himself. But he couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t. He didn’t even know your name.

Then Will was pulling Tom back with laughter that didn't reach his eyes and Santi was apologizing, saying smooth words and coaxing you to reintrodunce yourself and pull up a chair and hang out.

Frankie would never know how Pope was so good at these things, how his passion made other people relent and reconsider and made them feel safe, but he was grateful for it. He tucked your name away, sure he wouldn’t forget it again. Especially because you pulled your chair up by him, and his heart swelled with something akin to pride as you leaned towards him, more than even Ben.

It could have been politeness, making room for the waitress, it could have been a coincidence, or that you wanted to be further from Tom, but he could quite bring himself to care. Having you close felt good, so much better than it should’ve, given the circumstances.

Even more than normal athletes, the Miller boys ate like they were hollow, and had ordered enough food for a week. There was plenty of talk and teasing and tossing of rolls, and it took you no time at all to settle in.

You found out you had some mutual acquaintances with Will, which helped, as you launched into comparisons of the town and laughed over shared observations. It made you feel at home, with him and Ben, and you understood how the brothers made everyone feel like family. Apparently there was girl Benny liked, who worked with the team’s athletic trainers. None of the boys had wheeled it out of him, but it took you less than fifteen minutes, your smile brighter as you sorted through his intentions.

Santi had a quick tongue, and you matched it. There was respect in his eyes as you leveled with Redfly, efficiently and effectively putting him back in his place. The older man head leaned back, nonchalantly, with raised eyebrows and low whistle, but Pope knew when Tom was embarrassed. There was an almost indiscernible bite onto the inside of the outfielder’s lower lip, a child’s tell.

He watched everyone, really, especially Frankie. They’d been playing together the longest and saw the best and worst of each other. It was fun, for him to watch his friend watch you. When you puckered your lips to suck a bead of water off your finger, Frankie’s jaw twitched. Like he was thinking of tilting his cheek towards you as you leaned in to kiss it – and Santi grinned, the gears in his mind turning.

For being as confused and awkward as you were before, it was crazy how well you fit.

Frankie liked your laugh, easy and pure, and the glint in your eyes when someone said something clever. He liked how friendly you were, even to Tom, and how you treated them like people. You never once stepped into the role of flirtatiously asking about the sport – or about being professional athletes all, and it was a breath of fresh air. Most outsiders would have their fingers tracing the curves of the muscles on Pope's arm as they asked him about pitching or would be tugging down the necklines of their shirts as they tried to be subtle about salaries. He liked how you talked about the food, asked them what they were up to that day, and actually listened when they answered. It was graceful, more that even Ironhead’s throw, how you managed to give each one of them attention, without controlling the conversation.

What Frankie liked best of all, though, was when yours eyes would meet his. They were narrow with laughter, and it was almost as if he were an hour away from know exactly what you were thinking. You’d lean towards him, just a hair, and under the thrum of conversations you would tell him little things, jokes or confessions like you were the best of friends.

When you murmured, “I actually don’t know anything about baseball,” he choked on his drink again, mind filled with unreachable moments. The boys were laughing at him, but he ignored it because they hadn’t heard you and... he could almost feel it – you against his chest as he showed how to swing a bat, your hand in his as he leaned in close, explaining, and him spinning you around in a victory hug.

All too soon the plates were being cleared and everyone was arguing over who should be paying. It made them smile, how earnestly you were offering, but there was no way in hell. 

You thanked them all verbally, but when Santi ended up paying, he got a quick peck on the cheek and that sharp feeling in Frankie’s gut returned with force.

As you left, before they could walk you out, you cherished the experience like a drop of honey on your tongue, confident this was a once in a life time thing, and excited to tell James about it. Of course you had texted him – he was the one who told you if you didn’t sit with them he’d never forgive you.

Then men behind you continued to talk, each silently thinking of their own reasons for being sure they’d see you again soon.

And when you walked past the window by the corner on the way to your car, a pair of deep brown eyes found yours through the glass. You waved, goodbye, and this time, the ache in your heart was aligned with the ache in his.

Thank goodness that old classmate never showed up.

<<

taglist:

@fangirl-316 @scribbledghost @writeforfandoms 

hey batter batter taglist:

@icanbeyourjedi

[animeyanderelover]

OMG ! Been waiting for this day for months to make a request ! Would have done earlier low key I hate social media cuz I get bullied but after bookmarking all your stuff for months you made me reconsider and I started a tumblr mainly cuz of your stuff ! If its ok could I request Kurapika and Leorio sharing a love they are like my favs ! Btw you really helped me in this pandemic so thanks a lot and also take care of yourself during this capitalistic nightmare of a holiday they call V-Day XD

😭. Tell me who your bullies are so I can fight them😡. Don’t let their words get through your head, you’re precious and you’re loved by many people❤️💖💝.

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, delusions, paranoia, overprotectiveness, mentions of kidnapping, death

Leorio and Kurapika sharing a darling

⛓🧳They’re good friends, sure. But I can somehow imagine that there would be a lot of troubles when it comes to sharing a darling. First of all, Kurapika as a possessive guy would never share the darling with anyone and doesn’t even let them see his friends all that often. That’s how paranoid he is. And if Leorio would fall for you, Kurapika wouldn’t be above threatening him to stay away and better not try anything.

⛓🧳So in order for this to work I think you were most likely Leorio’s darling at first. Leorio is fine with letting you out and is also the type to proudly show you off to his friends and that pretty often. So Kurapika will fall for you during the many times he met you. At first he might just think that he sees you as a good friend and will often point out things to Leorio where he shouldn’t be so careless since it might affect your health.

⛓🧳Once Kurapika realizes his feelings for you he’s the type to drive himself crazy with worries and the fact that Leorio tends to let you out so often will increase his worries only tenfold. And he would instantly tell Leorio about this. He is aware and since you’re Leorio’s darling this would be another story as if you would have been Kurapika’s darling first. I don’t say that it would have been impossible in such a case to share, just much more harder.

⛓🧳There was a heavy argument over this, Leorio protesting against Kurapika’s new feelings and the way he thought he had the right to tell him how to treat you and Kurapika being angry at Leorio for being so incredibly stupid and just taking you anywhere. What if you would get hurt?! Gon and Killua had to stop those two before this might have ended in a fist fight.

⛓🧳It stands open to question whether Gon and Killua made the suggestion to share, the both of them came up on their own with it or even you were the one who came up with the idea. Let’s just say at the beginning none of those two would be really happy about it. Kurapika not because he’s possessive and Leorio endangers, in his opinion, your health with his carelessness. Leorio is on a more open side and would be ready to share, but he loves it when you’re happy and knows that if Kurapika would have the chance, he would lock you all day in, which wouldn’t be very good for your mental health.

⛓🧳The road is rocky and hard, let’s just say it like this. They will often get in arguments about how to treat you since their Yandere types are very different and there are in general a lot of opposite opinions about you. You’ll often have to step in before a fiercely argument turns into a physical fight. They wouldn’t kill each other of course, but both of them are on the impulsive side.

⛓🧳In the end they might come to a more or less unstable agreement since at one point you might get overwhelmed by them playing a game of tug of war with you to treat you like they think you should be treated. You will be allowed to go outside, you and Leorio needed a lot of time to convince Kurapika from this. But only if he can accompany you. He doesn’t really trust Leorio with you alone which will offend Leorio a lot, but at that point he’s just glad that he manages to convince Kurapika to let you out at all. Good luck when going out with those two under people. Kurapika will constantly hold you close to him with eyes glaring at pretty much everyone looking at you. Leorio’s natural jealousy and Kurapika’s paranoia aren’t that good of a mix and you can only feel sorry for everyone who gets yelled at by Leorio or terrorized by Kurapika. Be aware that Kurapika will be almost hasty to bring you back into your shared house again and only the slightest thing is needed for him to drag you back.

⛓🧳How the time between you is assigned is another issue. Both of them, especially Kurapika, need a lot of time alone with you. Whilst Leorio might be more willing to share the time with you together with Kurapika, he can’t deny that that blonde sometimes seriously ticks him off with the way he always thinks he knows how to treat you better and often lectures Leorio about how to treat you properly.

⛓🧳Another important thing to mention in here is Kurapika’s want to start a family. Per se Leorio isn’t against a family, but he has a problem the moment he realizes you don’t want one. That’s when there’ll blossom another argument between those two. Leorio would be a really happy man if he would have a family, but your happiness will always come first and like hell he’ll watch you being forced to do something that’ll influence your life so heavily. I don’t say Kurapika would force you into this, but he’ll lose patience rather quickly and will get pushy.

⛓🧳Kurapika’s intensity is in general a thing that can be really unnerving, especially with those red eyes of his that’ll make you want to disappear in a magic hole. On the other hand Leorio is really touchy whilst Kurapika has a bit more respect when it comes to private space.

⛓🧳Leorio has a really hard time to hold Kurapika back from killing and will often fail horribly. Getting rid of threats is another of those sensitive topics under them. Leorio is loud mouthed and hotheaded and when pissed off enough the type to throw hands and give someone a blue eye. But he’s more of a big talk and dogs that bark usually don’t bite. But that’s a whole different story with Kurapika. His reaction isn’t all that verbal. It’s a more quiet and far more terrifying one with his eyes glowing scarlet red and staring at whoever caused him to feel that way, who endangered you. And that person has to die.

⛓🧳The funny thing here is that we actually could have a good dynamic since we have the goofy and more harmless one and the intense and paranoid guy. But it’s all about how they click together. It isn’t the worst one, believe me, there are far worse ones. But here and there there might be the need for a few improvements. But I guess sometimes it’ll be laughable to watch those two constantly together and bickering each other over the small things. Leorio is the more fun guy to be with since Kurapika tends to be a bit too serious from time to time. Kurapika is the one who’s more quiet, but overbearing nonetheless. Both of them have to hold the other back from certain things in order to not overwhelm or scare you. So Kurapika has to keep an eye on Leorio not getting too touchy and Leorio has to make sure that Kurapika doesn’t get too vehement with you.

[danijimenezv]

Jill Valentine: What the Future Holds

For @openheartfanfics Meet My MC Event ☺💕

Career

After her residency ends, Jill takes over the Diagnostics Team, after the three other team members vote for her.

When Ethan steps down, Jill immediately jumps into action and starts interviewing possible candidates to fill the fourth spot of the team.

Finally, she decides to appoint Jackie. She’s proved herself time and time again, and she’s an exceptional doctor, so it made sense. And Jackie fits right in with their dynamics.

The team, and the hospital with it, thrives under Jill’s lead. They help a lot of people and earn a lot of worldwide renown.

The team was already known because of Naveen and Ethan, but there were doubts flying around when Ethan stepped down to become Chief of Medicine. Those doubts were quickly put to rest.

Jill is stubborn and determinate, and she works her hardest to make her team succeed. And the team succeeds more than ever because of her idea to work along with other departments at the hospital, creating a huge teamwork effort.

Harper is often busy, so Bryce and Ivy are her surgeons on call, and both of them give Harper a second and third opinion, so they consider every possibility out there. Rafael is the one she consults when physical therapy is on the table. Elijah, Baz and Zaid also help from time to time when they contemplate experimental treatments or when they need to research a new alternative, and Baz’s input is invaluable when it comes to immunology. Sienna is her pediatrician of choice. Even Esme and Gary come in handy from time to time. And even in retirement, Naveen is more than happy to help and give his input when the team hits a particularly hard slope. That applies for Ethan too; though, as much as he loves diagnostics, he tries to get involved the minimum, instead he lets Jill do her thing, and she’s damn good at it.

Jill’s management of the team also meant a new project she had been working on with Aurora. As soon as Aurora takes over Mass Kenmore’s Diagnostics Team, the two of them collaborate on projects and cases. And even if Kenmore’s renown isn’t as big as Edenbrook’s team, each group has something to contribute. They even collaborate on publishing articles and case studies. They work as well on their own as they do together. They help twice the amount of patients working alongside instead of competing with each other.

With Ethan as Chief of Medicine, she works perfectly with administration. They constantly help each other. He has the power to approve her projects and budget requests, but he only does it after hearing her pitch, just like other doctor, and he recognizes the true potential she shows.

She implements a program that gives third-year residents the opportunity to work with the diagnostics team. They are assessed and evaluated since their intern year, and when their third year comes by, Jill picks the two best residents. They’re not a part of the team per se, but they do a two-month internship with the team, work with them and learn from the experience.

Jill also dedicates part of her time to researching and working on zoonotic diseases. With her family of veterinarians, she’s more than qualified to do this, and after the maitotoxin incident, she knows there’s a lot of work to be done in that area.

Jill quickly becomes one of the most respected doctors and earned world-renown. She even becomes a published author.

Her books: “From Animals to Humans: Understanding Zoonotic Diseases”; “Diagnostics: A Comprehensive Science”; “The Challenges of Diagnosing”; “Solving Medical Mysteries: A Team Effort” (co-written with Aurora Emery) & “A Guide to Zoonoses” (co-written with Lucas Valentine).

A few years later, when Tobias decides to move to New York to marry Katherine, and inevitably has to leave the team, Jill is once again left with the task of looking at prospects for team member.

When that happens, Ethan is more than ready to step down as Chief of Medicine, after his fair share of working with administration, and he presents his curriculum to Jill, as if he was any other doctor.

Of course, Jill doesn’t have to think twice. She knows the kind of diagnostician he is, and she’s missed working with his brilliant mind.

Jill doesn’t just accept him into the team. She announces they’re both gonna be Co-Heads of the Diagnostics Team. After all, they’re better together than apart. Ethan tries to fight it at first but, well, he has never been particularly adept at denying Jill, and that was a matter she wasn’t willing to change her mind.

Though, as years working well with administration, both Ethan and Jill have earned other administratives favors, and working with them goes without a hitch as well. There are no more problems with the board like there were when Jill was a resident, and Ethan has learned to work with them, so the fights are almost non-existent.

Still, Tobias quickly earns his place as diagnostician in New York Presbyterian Hospital, and he continues to work along with Jill and Ethan.

Relationship with Ethan

Since confessing his love for Jill, Ethan was completely sure that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

The idea of proposing hadn’t made it to his mind yet, but he knew he was ready for them to move in together.

Even if the question had been at the tip of his tongue every time they were together, Ethan held back. Jill was already trying to adjust to the transition from resident to attending, and to Head of the Diagnostics Team. He didn’t want to add to it by having her move to his place.

But he had his mind made up, and he would ask her to move in with him as soon as things settled back. He wasn’t going to be deterred.

Except he hadn’t contemplated something, and that something made him stop in his tracks and reconsider asking her.

Because Jill, as Head of the Diagnostics Team, had a new salary. And with that new salary, the first thing Jill had done was get a puppy.

And no, not a little Yorkie or a Chihuahua. No. It was a damn Bernese Mountain Dog, that was going to grow into a seriously large dog.

Ethan already had Jenner, and even Jenner spent more than half of the time at his dad’s place in Providence. He didn’t think his penthouse could take a hyperactive Bernese Mountain puppy.

But he also knew his girlfriend. Coming from a family of veterinarians, Jill wasn’t going to leave the damn dog behind. From the moment she got him (“Satchmo”), Ethan knew they were a package deal. If he wanted to live with Jill, he also had to live with the dog.

He didn’t know how that could work with Jenner and in his penthouse, but he was willing to risk it. He knew he wanted to wake up every day by her side and go to sleep with her.

So, in September, just a couple of months after settling in their new positions, Ethan and Jill moved in together. Unsurprisingly, Jill knew how to handle the transition for both dogs, and made the move easy for all of them.

And just a few months after moving together, in December, Ethan popped the question. Jill cried through his whole proposal speech and couldn’t say yes, but she nodded fiercely and kissed him.

They had a relatively long engagement, until finally, they got married the following year, on October 16th, 2022.

The reception was huge, hundreds of people invited (because of the Valentine’s connections), though neither of them seemed to mind too much. They were just happy to be marrying each other. According to the media and tabloids, it was the wedding of the century.

Naveen was Ethan’s best man, and Luke (Jill’s older brother) and Tobias were his groomsmen, while Sienna was Jill’s maid of honor, and Kat and Ivy (her two sisters) were her bridesmaids.

About six months into their marriage, they decided to move to an actual house, and started looking.

Funnily enough, Jill’s childhood best friend, Hunter, told them he was currently working on a few construction and design projects in the area of Boston. He was the one who hooked them with a house and was their architect, helping them design their dream house.

A few months later, they were moving into a bigger house in suburban Boston, along with Jenner, Satchmo and Vienna (the roomies figured Jill had more space than them and could take care of the fennec fox better than them).

Starting their own family

It was about a year after their wedding that they sat down and talked about having children. Ethan had already worked through his trauma, and his past with Louise no longer held him back. Jill stopped her birth-control, and they started trying to get pregnant.

It took Jill a couple of months, and deep down she was terrified to let Ethan down and not be able to give him children, now that he had decided he wanted them. Ethan obviously eased her worries and told her the only thing he needed in life was her; children would be nice, but he really only needed her.

Still, Jill anxiously took a fertility test, and once it came out that she could have children, she tried to brush it off as stress, but still worried inside.

A few months later, Ethan surprised Jill by taking her on vacation, to ease her worrying and stress. He took her to a wolf sanctuary in Alaska she had mentioned she wanted to visit a few times.

Jill and Ethan found out Jill was pregnant by accident, and it definitely took them by surprise, but the news were very welcomed. At the wolf sanctuary, the wolves changed their whole demeanor and body language around Jill, and the keeper congratulated Jill on her pregnancy. Turns out, wolves are excellent at telling when a woman is pregnant even if she doesn’t know it yet; the animals get all odd and careful around the pregnant woman and take defensive postures around her. It was definitely a reveal worth telling.

Her first pregnancy, thankfully went without a hitch, and soon, their first-born came into the world, through natural birth.

Their son, Nicholas Jonah Ramsey, was born on August 24th, 2024.

Everyone was enamored with the little baby, with his dark hair and intense blue eyes, the spitting image of his father.

Ethan and Jill decided to appoint Rafael and Jackie as Nick’s godparents.

Six years later, their second child came along, also through natural birth.

Their daughter, Brooklyn Marie Ramsey, was born on November 8th, 2030.

She has her mother’s distinctive ginger-bronze hair color, but her father’s blue eyes.

Brooke’s godparents are Hunter and Sienna.

After little Brooklyn was born, though, Jill was informed that a third pregnancy could be fatal for her, that her body wouldn’t be able to sustain another pregnancy. And, after much deliberation and talking it out as spouses, Jill went under a hysterectomy procedure, which meant no more children for them, but they were beyond happy with their two little blessings.

Family and Friends

The gang remained tight-knit close, to the point where their children called the others aunts and uncles.

Even when they no longer lived together, they promised to hang out constantly and see each other. It also helped that they kept working together.

Eventually, Elijah and Phoebe eloped, and Sienna moved in with Raf. Bryce and Ivy already lived together. Aurora and Jackie were the last remaining ones, and they got a smaller apartment for the two of them for a while.

Then Aurora moved in with Hunter (once he fully moved to Boston) and Jackie got a place for herself and her new boyfriend, which she keeps a secret from the roomies until she’s completely sure the relationship is the real deal, because it’s the least expected pairing in the world. (Spoiler alert: it’s Baz 😂)

Even paired off and building their own lives, the gang kept up some of their traditions and kept in touch.

They even celebrate a few milestones and holidays together.

It tends to get a bit chaotic, given that it’s double the people, counting the spouses, but they all get along great and enjoy spending time together.

Tobias moved to New York once he married Katherine, but both of them still visit from time to time.

After traveling the world, Kyra moved to New York as well, where she met and married Jill’s older brother, Luke. Just like Tobias and Kat, they visit constantly.

Jill remains close with her family. She’s always been close with her siblings, and even more when they married some of their friends. And she grew closer to her parents once her own kids were born. Haley and Matthew Valentine definitely spoil their grandchildren rotten.

Jill and Ethan, along with Ivy and Bryce, make the trip to New York once every other month, to visit Jill’s parents, Kat and Tobias, and Luke and Kyra.

And once every other month, alternating with them, Kat and Tobias, and Luke and Kyra make the trip to Boston.

Jill and Ethan also drive down to Providence to visit Alan every few weeks.

All in all, they’re a big, happy, messy and extended family.

Tags: @jamespotterthefirst, @takeharryandgo, @aestheticartsx, @choicesfanaf, @fireycookie, @liaromancewriter, @trappedinfanfiction, @tsrookie, @genevievemd, @lucy-268, @writinghereandthere, @queencarb, @gryffindordaughterofathena, @ohchoices, @anntoldst0ries, @bluebellot, @schnitzelbutterfingers, @mysticaurathings, @iemcpbchoices, @itsjustamesshonestly, @shanzay44, @lsvdw-blog, @heauxplesslydevoted, @starryeyedrookie, @casey-v​, @mercury84choices, @chaoticchopshopheart, @quixoticdreamer16, @a-crepusculo, @peonierose

[wonderwafles]

Hello! I'm your gifter for the Gates of Summer exchange (Secret Lord of Gondolin?) and I was wondering if you had any specific headcanons on the Ainur? Especially re. characterizations and especially especially re. characterization/backstories of the named Maiar? I have some ideas already, but my headcanons are a little out there for some of them! Also, any other details you didn't put on the form but would really like/DNW?

Hello! Happy Gates of Summer! <3

I do have... a lot! I generally imagine the Ainur as being... somewhat human in thought and reasoning (if not in physical form!), but a little to the left. More utopian in their thinking, more divorced from the concerns of the body, closer to Eru, which is why I think their semi-feudal system of "vassalship" to the Valar tends to work as well as it does. Actually, there's this poem I read a long time ago about the feudal system written in around the tenth century or so (???) that sort of idealizes the feudal state, imagining the lord as a benevolent guide and teacher who maintains the land and the serfs as willing helpers who benefit from it. Now obviously that's bull, but I sometimes imagine the Ainur's system as being like... a version of that where all participants really *are* in it with good faith, where the Valar want to help and teach the Maiar rather than exploit their labor and the Maiar help the Valar in turn out of gratitude and free will, and all parties can withdraw freely from the relationship because they are largely independent of each other. Though in true Tolkien fashion, they are at their best when they work together. Like if you took the medieval feudal system of liege-lords and fealty (because Tolkien) and put some utopian communism on top of it.

Of course, the Ainur's work involves the proper functioning of dreams and the regulation of the wind and rain and things like that. I like the juxtaposition of the grand fantastical nature of the Ainur being on top of a relatively mundane social system. I headcanon that Elves and Men both learned about Kings for the first time from the Ainur... for better or worse. :P

I also like the "pagan gods" aspect of them, and I think they sometimes take a break from being angels to go have big rowdy feasts in Valmar and wander Middle-Earth (playfully, depending on if the Maia is Melkorish or not) tricking the inhabitants into becoming part of a fairy tale. :D

Now for character headcanons! I have a few; I think Ossë and Mairon are foils in the beginning, for one thing. I like to think of Mairon as refusing to join Melkor in the beginning because he is all about order and despised Melkor's chaos and disruption of the Music, while Ossë joined because he likes to have a good time and rebel. Then it turned out that Melkor didn't want chaos and freedom (which was already inherent in the Music), he wanted to dominate everything that wasn't his, which caused both Mairon and Ossë to reconsider their stances on serving him. (Another thing is that Ossë had Uinen, who didn't give up on him; Mairon had no one.)

Some others: Manwë is a hopeful universalist, and believes unto the last Ages that even the vile spirits of Melkor and Melkor himself will be healed and brought back into the Music. Upon Olorin's return after the War of the Ring he was celebrated wildly as a hero of the Maiar, which he bore politely even though it made him grumpy. Ulmo seems to like humans, which I like to think carries through to his Maiar, particularly during Numenor’s sea-faring height. I think there are more Maiar hanging out in Middle-Earth still than we might imagine, both those who loved it and wanted to stay and those who are just doing their day jobs.

Less of a heacanon per se, but to rec a fic instead: I love The Sky, the Sea, and the Birds Between, and its portrayal of Eönwë in particular is my favorite Eönwë ever. I don’t want to assign you reading if you don’t want to lol, so some highlights are Eönwë as a valiant himbo warrior who spent much of the First Age asking permission to go fight in Beleriand, makes up poetry for fun, and has no idea how to handle kissing people. He does sleep with Eärendil and Elwing both, but don’t worry, it’s all above-board. Plus, it’s one of my favorite Silmarillion fics.

Okay... I think that’s all I have for now! I don’t think I have any other DNW’s (I mentioned Valar-bashing, right?). Feel free to ask me anything else you’d like to know! Or just to talk about the Ainur, too :D

[waywardfangirl]

For the fantastic @fight-surrender: You are a wonderful person with a brilliant mind and a kind heart, and I am so happy to know you! I really enjoyed the prompts you suggested for the Secret Snowflake exchange this year, so to give you something fluffy and happy for your birthday I combined a few of them into one sweet and silly fic - I hope that you like it! 🖤

A big thank you goes out to @carryonvisinata for her wonderful beta work and for making this fic even better for such an incredible friend 🖤 Purr-fect Strangers

Rated: General Audiences Word Count: 3208 Chapters: 1/1 Simon

"Die Hard? Really?"

I'm struggling to make the Redbox give me my DVD. Video vending machines sounded like a good idea when I couldn't find anywhere to stream my favorite movie, but the obstinate thing in front of me and the condescending voice behind me are now making me reconsider my choices.

"What's wrong with Die Hard?" I demand, momentarily giving up on retrieving my video to take some of my frustration out on the prick watching me.

Unfortunately, when I turn around to scowl at him, I make eye contact with one of the most attractive people I've ever seen. He's tall, with dark hair escaping the bun on top of his head and falling around his face, and a perfectly tailored suit hugging every inch of his body right on down to his shiny Chelsea boots. My brain shorts out, and he sneers at me.

"There’s nothing wrong with it, per se. But you have a near unlimited assortment of cinema to choose from, and you've selected Die Hard?"

(Read the rest on ao3, or keep reading here)

I scoff.

"Look, mate, some of us don't feel the need to watch pretentious films just to feel better than other people. I like Die Hard. I'm going to watch it while eating pizza and relaxing in joggers, and I refuse to feel bad about enjoying that."

He looks a bit startled, and his cheeks take on a slightly pink tinge, but he just arches an eyebrow at me. (And manages to make that look unfairly hot too, the prat.)

"What movie are you renting?" I say it like a challenge, and he pushes past me.

He deftly removes my DVD from the stubborn machine and thrusts it at me, before turning back around to get his own. I loiter behind him, just like he did to me, ready to see what movie he thinks is better than Die Hard.

"Two Weeks Notice?" I exclaim, when I see the poster pop up on the screen. "You're ridiculing Die Hard, but getting a rom-com for yourself? Unbelievable."

He pushes past me and turns up his nose. My blood boils for so many different reasons, and it's work to hold myself still.

"This has Hugh Grant in it. My tastes are superior."

Then he swans off, and I'm left standing on the kerb.

Baz

A year into my time at university, I started treating myself to a monthly visit to Sephora. It was easily excusable then, with parties every weekend to justify each new purchase, but I've kept up the tradition since graduating. (Retail therapy and good skin care never hurt anyone. And a little eyeliner does wonders for one's self esteem.)

This month, I'm browsing for something sparkly. My eyes are grey, but with a dark, glittery liner I think they might stand out a little more. I'm just testing one of the pencils on the back of my hand when I see him.

Blond hair, plain blue eyes, and a constellation of freckles and moles across his skin. The most lovely man I have ever seen, with the worst taste in movies, and (I'm sure) a well-deserved hatred for me.

For all that I try to appear cool and confident, my facade sometimes fails me. When I get flustered, I become cruel. The man renting Die Hard was so pretty that all I could do was insult him and then curse myself for it the entire way home. I couldn't even properly enjoy Hugh Grant, as mired as I was in self-loathing. And now, whatever second chance to impress him I've been granted with has surely been ruined by my actions last time.

I keep my head down and steal glances at him through my eyelashes.

He is entirely out of his element, that much is obvious right away. I watch him ask one of the shop assistants for help, and she points him in the direction of a display. His brow furrows as he picks up different containers, and he’s ridiculously precious and hopeless as he holds a lipstick tube next to a garish eyeshadow palette and closes one eye to look at them. (What is he even doing?)

Finally, his confusion seems to win out, and he turns to look around for help, when he suddenly spots me. I've been caught out; I can't pretend now like I haven't been staring, and he scowls a little as we make eye contact. I arch an eyebrow, watch as his face grows pink in anger, and decide I hate myself enough to try talking to him again.

"That's really not your shade."

"What?" It's a simple word, horribly enunciated, and does nothing to quell the wrinkle between his eyes.

"The purple. I don't think it would flatter you. Furthermore, that lipstick clashes horribly with every color in that palette."

He turns a bright red and starts to splutter. I am hopelessly endeared.

"That's not- I, I don't- it isn't-"

"Oh, calm down, there's nothing wrong with wearing makeup," I say, flashing him the back of my hand with the eyeliner tests on it. "You just need to pick a better shade." I pluck a different palette (for blue eyes) and a lipstick in a true red from the display and hand them over. "Something like this."

He stares at them dumbly for a moment, his mouth hanging open. (Mouth breather.)

"You think I should wear this?"

"I think it would flatter you if you chose to wear makeup. That purple will do you no favors." I sneer at the garish eyeshadow still in his hand.

"It's for my friend!" he finally bursts out.

"Are you mad at her?" It's a reasonable question, that eyeshadow is truly appalling.

"No? It's her birthday next week, and she said that she wanted to have some makeup for date nights and things."

"Are you in love with her?"

"No!" No hesitation at all. "No, no way. Penny is like my sister. She's my best friend. We're not…" he trails off, and I'm strangely reassured. He still probably hates me, but at least there is one woman in the world that he’s not dating, so my odds have improved marginally.

"Don't get your pants in a twist. I just thought you might be, since that eyeshadow would certainly drive away her current boyfriend."

He sticks out his chin and seems to decide something.

"Fine. What should I get for her, then?" The “if you know so much” is left unsaid.

I'm not really an expert, despite my monthly purchases, but I'll take any excuse I can get to linger around this starburst of a boy for a few moments more.

"Does she wear makeup normally?" He shakes his head no. "Then perhaps start with something more subtle for her." I take the offending palette away and hand him a more subdued one, with a faint shimmer. "Do you think this would look nice on her?"

He thinks hard for a moment, then pulls out his phone, swiping at the lock screen and turning it to face me.

"This is her."

His home screen background is a picture of the two of them, cheeks pressed together and grinning like crazy under the summer sun. His curls are being tossed by the wind, and he looks like a bronze Adonis. I think my heart actually skips a beat at the sight.

"That palette will be fine then. This lipstick, too," I add, handing him a plum shade. "Do you need anything else?" I ask, and then cringe when I sound like I'm working instead of flirting.

He shakes his head.

"No, this is brilliant, thanks."

He still looks a bit confused, and he bites his lip as he looks down at the makeup in his hand - the makeup for his friend, and the things I picked out for him.

I don't want to go, but I can't figure out any way to prolong our conversation.

"You should get that one," he says, pointing to one of the lines on my hand. I raise an eyebrow in question. He's right, but what does this mean? Is he flirting? Does he want me to wear eyeliner? Is he just trying to repay me for helping him? "Yeah. Definitely that one."

He raps his knuckles on the counter beside us twice, and then wanders towards the check out.

It's not until I'm trying to fall asleep that I realize - he bought the makeup for himself too.

Simon

One of my foster fathers had a workshop, and I spent a happy summer watching him build a table and matching chairs for the dining room. I didn't get to stay to see it completed, because one of his biological children kept stealing money out of his mom's purse and blaming me, but I still enjoyed the time I had spent watching woodworking. I liked it so much that when Penny and I graduated and got a flat together, I saved up to buy a few tools. I don't make anything major, but I've built small shelves and a side table and a pan organizer for the flat, and I really like it.

Recently, Penny has been complaining about not being able to reach everything in the kitchen, so while she's still at work I stop by the B&Q to pick up some wood for a step stool. I'm heading to the check out when I see him - the mean makeup guy. (Although he was actually quite nice when we were talking about makeup. He was just rude when we were getting our movies.)

He's dressed casually today, in tight dark jeans and a warm grey sweater, with his hair falling in loose waves around his face. He's glaring down at two wrenches, and I hate that he still looks so good when he's glowering.

Before I even register what's happening, my feet have carried me over to him.

"D'ya need help?"

He startles, and turns lovely grey eyes up to look at me. It's work not to gasp. He’s wearing eyeliner. I'm not entirely sure, but I think it may even be the eyeliner I told him to buy.

"The sink in my kitchen is leaking. I watched a tutorial on YouTube, and it should be easy enough to fix, but I don't have the proper tools."

He goes back to glaring at the wrenches, and I lean over to take a look.

“You want that one.”

“Why? How do you know?”

“Well, it’s adjustable. You can change it within reason, so as long as your plumbing isn’t something incredibly out of the ordinary it should fit just fine.”

He looks surprised (and maybe a bit like he wants to attack me, although I try to ignore that).

“How do you know that?”

I laugh.

“Basic home maintenance, mate, I’ve had to fix a leaky sink before too, believe it or not.”

I grin at him until one corner of his mouth tips upward in response.

“Thanks,” he says, his cheeks flushing a little. “I’ll get this one then. Yes. Thank you. Have a nice evening.”

He strides off, once again leaving me feeling a bit dazed.

He looks really good in eyeliner.

Baz

When Fiona discovered I hadn’t left the apartment in a week, she called in the cavalry. Daphne showed up at my door with a casserole and some flowers, and within minutes she had the kitchen feeling like a place that was less utility space and more home.

“Basil, Fiona is worried about you.” I rolled my eyes, despite knowing it wouldn’t get me anywhere. “I’m worried about you, too. You spend so much time by yourself, and you hardly ever go out to see your friends or enjoy the city.”

“I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.”

“Basil,” she had said, and that time it was a warning. “It’s not healthy for anyone to spend this much time alone.”

“What, do you expect me to get a cat?”

Daphne smiled, and I knew that I had said the wrong thing.

��Yes, actually. And,” she said, before I could object, “Fiona thought you should too. In fact, she made it a condition of your continued occupancy of this flat. We both think it might be nice for you to have someone else around to talk to.”

I arched an eyebrow.

“And you want me to talk to a cat?”

Daphne just gave me a Mona Lisa smile, handed me a plate filled with food, and told me when she left later that evening that I had forty-eight hours to send her a picture of a cat. (I asked what I should do if I didn’t like any of the cats I saw. Or if they didn’t like me. She said I had to at least prove that I tried.)

So, this morning, I made my way to the nearest RSPCA and talked to strangers for the first time in over a week. I told them that I was looking to adopt a cat, and they immediately led me to a room filled with individual cages and an assortment of felines. They said I could play with any of the cats that I wanted, and now I’m staring into the eyes of a fluffy orange tabby.

The tabby meows at me, and I swear that she’s telling me to get lost. I guess cats can tell when you’re out of your depth.

I stroll down the aisle and read the names given to each cat. It’s been years since I last had a pet and even then, the husky my family had wasn’t my sole responsibility. I was in charge of feeding him, but there was always someone else making sure that I did. And really, we only adopted him when my pediatrician suggested that an animal might help me after my mother died. Daphne is probably trying to do the same thing again now. (Is this how one becomes a crazy cat lady? Depression, anxiety, OCD, and an unwillingness to tolerate therapy?)

I keep walking slowly until I feel a tug on my sleeve. I look down, and a little orange paw ending in one very sharp claw has latched on to me. I unhook it before my sweater can snag, and then look into the kennel. There are two kittens, each only about ten weeks old according to their cards, and the orange one is peering up at me with big blue eyes. Its littermate is asleep in the corner, curled into a fluffy black puffball, but the tabby is ready to play. His tail twitches, and he pounces immediately when I wiggle a finger between the bars. He catches my fingertip in a far more gentle grasp than I would have imagined, then looks at me with what can only be described as pure adoration.

“Excuse me,” I say, moving my finger some more and feeling small claws dig in. Then again, louder, to get the attention of the woman, “Excuse me. Can I see this one?”

The woman comes over and flips the latch, then reaches in and comes out with a handful of fur and knives. The kitten opens its mouth in a fierce imitation of a vampire, then stretches it further as it lapses into a yawn. We spend the better part of an hour in a bright, cheerful room, just the kitten and I. At first it chases a string that I drag along the ground and runs after balls with bells in them, but then it calms down and curls up in my lap to sleep.

I’m petting it and cooing softly to it, trying to ignore the fact that Daphne and Fiona were both right about this whole thing, when the door to the room opens again.

“Oh. It’s you,” says the most beautiful man I have ever seen. My face flushes when I remember our last encounter and I pray he doesn’t remember my ignorance. (Of course he does. I didn’t know how to select a wrench. I am incapable of basic home repair and he knows it.)

“Do you two know each other?” The woman from before is back, this time holding the other kitten from the same cage, and looking between the two of us. “These kittens aren’t technically a bonded pair, but they are siblings, the only two remaining from their litter, and it would be lovely if they could still see each other.”

“Err…” the man says, shifting his weight.

“We’ve met in passing a few times now,” I say, trying to avoid encouraging this line of questioning.

“Great!” she says, clapping her hands brightly after handing the kitten off. “I’ll leave all of you to get better acquainted then!”

For a moment, there’s just awkward silence. Neither of us are looking at each other, both focusing on our respective kittens. Then, his kitten turns into the feline equivalent of a slinky, oozes out of his grasp, and runs over to tap my leg once before running away again. It hides behind his legs, and all I can see is a black tail winding around his ankles.

We both laugh, and the ice is broken.

“I’m Simon,” he says, and smiles at me. It’s the same radiant smile I remember from his lockscreen. It feels like looking into the sun, and I bask in it.

“Basil. Although my friends call me Baz.”

“Are you going to…” he trails off, but gestures to my cat.

“Yes,” I look down and give it a scratch under the chin. “I’m going to adopt it.”

“Same here,” Simon says, and then he blushes. “I mean, unless it rips my face off in the next few minutes, but I think this is the one.”

“Do you know which one you have?” Their names and genders were on the cage, but it didn’t specify who was who.

“No idea. I’m going to rename mine anyway though, I didn’t like either of those names.”

“I was planning on doing the same thing. If I’m going to have a pet, it needs to have a proper name befitting its personality. Not something mundane like Fluffy.” I scowl, and he laughs.

As his kitten comes over to touch its nose to my kitten, Simon clears his throat.

“So, um, like she said, they’d probably be happy to have playdates or whatever. I mean, since we’re getting them. And since we keep running into each other. It might make sense to, you know, exchange numbers?”

“Yes!” I say, far too eagerly. “I mean, that seems reasonable. It would be more convenient than waiting to happen upon you in the Waitrose choosing inferior crisps to set up a future meeting.”

He smiles. “Well, yeah, there’s that. And this way, it’ll be easier for me to ask you out, ”

Then the absolute nightmare sits down beside me and hands me his phone. He texts me immediately once I enter my contact info.

Unknown Number (11:27 AM) This is Simon Snow

Unknown Number (11:27 AM) Your cat is cute.

Unknown Number (11:27 AM) So are you

Unknown Number (11:28 AM) Wanna get dinner sometime? ;)

I blush, and send him a reply.

Baz (11:29 AM) I thought you’d never ask.

[connordavidscamera]

Wonder | Connor Brashier

A/n: obviously this is based off Wonder because it’s so good and I couldn’t not write something for it. 

Summary: You and Connor are at the launch party for Wonder and Connor has a surprise for you (established relationship)

Warnings: fluff

Word count: 1.8k

***

“I didn’t know they had launch parties for songs. I thought it was just for albums,” I say as I slide into my shoes.

“Well, it’s not an actual launch party, per se. It’s really just Shawn getting the team together for the release. It’s casual.”

“I know, I actually get to wear pants to this party,” I joke. 

Connor rolls his eyes. “Yes you do.” But then his eyes are raking me up and down and he bites his lip. “And damn, do you look good in them.”

“Hey, eyes up here, mister.” I say, reaching forward to lift his chin so his pretty eyes are on my face.

He smirks, “Okay, but what’s it gonna take for you to let me get you out of these for a quickie before we leave?”

I shake my head, “Nope. You’ve already had me three times today. You can wait until we get back.”

He pouts, “No I can’t. I’m needy and you’re hot.”

I laugh, “Flattery will get you everywhere, but not right now. We’re already running late.”

“It’s Shawn, he won’t care.”

“No, but you know your girlfriend is one for punctuality.”

He rolls his eyes, “Annoyingly so, yes.”

I gasp and hit his arm playfully, “You used to think it was cute!”

“Yeah, before it meant I couldn’t have my way with you before a party.”

I scoff and roll my eyes, “If you’re a good boy maybe I’ll let you have me while we’re at the party. How’s that sound?”

He perks up at the idea, eyes glimmering with a child like sparkle. “Really?”

How could I say no when he looks at me like that? “Yes, baby. But we have to go now before traffic hits.”

He leans forward and kisses my forehead. “After you, my love.”

“You’re gonna stare at my ass while I walk out, aren’t you?” I pull away from him with an amused smile.

He just shrugs, “I might.”

I pinch his cheek, “Well then I’ll put a little more pep in my step to give you a show.”

He groans, throwing his head back, “You’ll be the death of me, you know that, right?”

I hum and turn to walk out of our bedroom, his eyes following me as I go. 

---

“Another drink, my love?” Connor asks when he sees my empty cup in my hands.

“You trying to get me drunk, Brashier?” I tease, looking up at him. 

“Oh yes. That’s exactly it.”

I nod, “Nothing too strong, please?”

“You got it. Kiss?” he puckers his lips and I lean up to meet his lips but scrunch up my face. “You taste like whiskey.”

He chuckles. “Sorry, love. I’ll be right back.”

I nod and turn back to Shawn and Brian who are attempting to play beer pong against Sylvie and Justin. Brian isn’t very good, but he’s drank a lot more than Shawn has, so his aim is a little off. 

“Bri, you’re supposed to make it in the cup,” Sylvie taunts. 

“Shut up,” he grumbles, and sticks his tongue out a little as he squints at the cups on the opposite side of the table. And when it makes it in he’s more excited than I’ve ever seen him before. “Fuck yes! Yes! You’re supposed to make it in the cup,” he mocks. 

“Why is he screaming?” Connor asks when he returns with my drink.

“He made it in.”

“About time,” he checks the time on his watch. “Speaking of time. Shawn, you have to get on the premier. You have ten minutes.”

“Oh, shit, yeah. Thanks, Brash.” he pats Brian’s back and goes, “You’re on your own, Craigen. Good luck.”

“Where’s Anna?” he asks, looking around the room. “Y/n, where’s Anna. She’s good at this game.”

 “I think she went to get a drink.”

“Anna!” he yells. “Come be my partner for beer pong!” When she doesn’t answer immediately he groans. “Anna!”

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Craigen. I heard you the first time.”

“Be my partner,” he pouts. 

“Yeah, whatever.”

I look back at my boy who is already looking at me. “Shouldn’t you be with Shawn? Sober him up a bit?”

He shakes his head. “No, he’s okay. Wanna be with my girl.”

I nod and turn in his arms to face him fully. “You know, you still haven’t told me much about this song.”

“I know. It’s a surprise.”

“But why?”

“You’ll see when it premieres.”

I pout. “But I wanna know now.”

“Nope, you’ll have to wait and see.”

I groan. “Why won’t you tell me? What? Are you in the video? Is my baby in front of the camera instead of behind it this time?”

He chuckles, “No. I’m not in the video.”

I huff. “Tell me!!!”

He shakes his head with a bright smile. “No, my love. You’ll see it,” he checks his watch again “Thirty-five minutes.”

“Tease,” I grumble.

“Says the one who told me we could have a quickie in the bathroom and has yet to follow through.”

“Well I said that would happen if you were a good boy. But you’re not telling me things so,” I shrug. “Guess no quickie.”

He growls in my ear and I’m almost reconsidering my answer. Almost.  

“Fine,” he mutters, “I’m gonna set up the TV for the premiere. You okay here?”

“Mhm, I’m gonna watch Brian lose another round.”

Brian gasps and turns to face me. “You too?!” His face morphs into what almost looks like true betrayal, but I still can’t fight the laugh that escapes.

“Guys, three minute warning! Get your drunk asses out here and settle in,” Sylvie calls from the living room. 

“Anna sit with me,” Brian begs as Anna and I make our way to the room. 

“I was gonna sit with y/n, but-”

“She’s gonna sit with Connor. Please?” He asks again, making puppy dog eyes at her. I roll my eyes and push her into him. 

“Oh just sit with him. He’ll never shut up if you don’t.”

“Ah,” Connor says when he spots me. “There’s my love.” He holds a hand out for me. “I saved you a seat.” He smirks, patting his lap. 

I shake my head and fall into him, not in the mood to tease him now. “My favorite seat,” I mumble, resting my head on his shoulder.

As everyone settles in, I play with Connor’s fingers, spin his ring a few times before taking it off of him and sliding it on my thumb. I half expect him to take it back when he lifts my hand. But he brings my thumb to his lips and kisses it over the ring before lacing our fingers and bringing them back down to my lap. “I love you,” he whispers into my hair.

“I love you,” I whisper back.

“Okay,” Shawn says, coming into the room. “Are you guys ready?” he asks excitedly, plopping himself down on the floor, his back against the armrest of the chair Connor and I are sitting in.

Connor squeezed my thigh. “Are you ready for the surprise?” He asks me.

I nod excitedly. “I’m very excited.”

“It’s starting,” Sylvie says for the few stragglers that were making their way into the room. 

I’m already hooked by the countdown. It’s very Alice and Wonderland-esque, with the swirling clock. By the time the opening harmonies come in I’m leaning forward to squeeze Shawn’s shoulder. “You sound good, Rockstar,” I whisper. 

By the middle of the song, I’m nodding and humming along to the song. But when Shawn gets to the last chorus I look back at Connor. “Wait, bubba, what’s the surprise?”

“It’s coming. Wait until the end.”

I furrow my brows and turn my attention back to the screen. Shawn’s just finished the chorus and is on his knees on the cliff as the camera gets closer to him. And the screen cuts to black.

Directed by Matty Peacock

And then another two seconds later:

Written by

Shawn Mendes

Matty Peacock

Connor Brashier

I gasp and look at my boy who is already smiling at me. “You wrote this!”

He chuckles, “Well only some of it.”

“That doesn’t matter. You wrote it!”

“So, good surprise?” 

I scoff and wrap my arms around him. “The best surprise. I am so fucking proud of you.”

He kisses the underside of my jaw and rubs my back, “Thank you, my love. Couldn’t do it without you.”

“Well,” Shawn asks, standing up. “What did you guys think?”

I pull away from Connor and look up at Shawn. “It was amazing! Probably your best song yet. You literally just keep getting better.”

He glares at me, “Your opinion doesn’t count. You’re biased because your boyfriend helped write it.”

I shrug, “That’s true, yes. But you’ve seen my boyfriend? I clearly have taste, so I would know. And this is your best song to date.”

Connor laughs into my shoulder and pinches my side, “y/n, come on.”

“Why are you getting embarrassed? This is phenomenal and I am so proud of you. Both of you,” I say.

---

Nearly two hours later, I won’t let Connor stop playing the song. But so we’re not annoying the rest of the group, he plays it for me on his phone - the music video though, because I want to see his name at the end. Doesn’t matter how many times I see it, it still fills me with so much pride and joy for the beautiful man in my arms right now. He and I are swaying drunkenly to the song on the balcony outside. It’s just us two and it’s perfect, it’s euphoric. 

“Been dreaming that you feel it, too. I wonder what it’s like to be loved by you,” he mumbles into my hair as he spins us slowly and I look up at him with a bright smile.

“What?” He asks, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “Why are you so smiley?”

I hum and push up on my toes just the slightest bit to press my lips to his in a soft kiss. “You don’t have to wonder,” I say when I pull away.

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t have to wonder what it’s like. To be loved by me?”

I watch as his face morphs into something that I can’t quite place. 

“What?” 

“I adore you. Like I truly, desperately adore you.” He places his hands on either side of my face and kisses me, this time with a little more passion than the one I just gave him. “I’m so lucky,” he hums, using his thumb to pull my bottom lip a little, just for it to pop back in place. 

I shake my head, “I’m lucky. Luckiest girl in the entire world.”

“If you’re the luckiest woman, let me be the luckiest man in the world,” He whispers, tracing his thumb down the column of my neck.  

I nod, “Okay. We can both be lucky to know what it’s like to be loved by one another.”

“Yeah, we never have to wonder.”

***

I hope you enjoyed! Please like, reblog, and leave feedback!!

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Connor tag: @gangofhoes @verlaneswiftie13

[bewaretheidesofmarchyall]

Good Omens AU Part Four

It’s back. Original is here

Wilbur didn't expect to care about Tommy, but he accepted it pretty quickly.

---------

There wasn't much to bring with him the day he moved to town. After all, it wasn't like he'd actually need to renovate the house. 

He stood on the curb in front of the remnants of the house that burned down a decade ago, suitcase in hand. A bit of a fixer-upper, but I can work with this. 

After checking to make sure there weren't any nosy neighbors watching, he reached out to the debris. 

The charred wood and scattered bricks twitched for a few seconds, before assuming the appearance of a lovely home. 

A doorbell, a porch, windows in a shade of cobalt blue, and above all else the distinct feeling that Wilbur's house (and by extension, Wilbur) had been around on the block for ages.

Even if the neighbors didn't know who he was or what he did, they would have to struggle to think of him as a stranger. 

And they had their own petty human lives, which didn't contain the time or energy to waste worrying about a charming new addition to the neighborhood.

Wilbur strolled into his perfectly average house, plans whirring in his head.

Showtime.

--------------

There were quite a few houses on the block, but Wilbur was only focusing on a group of three.

House #1: Tommy's home, three houses away. A simple house that contained the most important person in the world and his intimidating dad.

House #2: That Weird Guy's house, two houses away. Wilbur had no idea who That Weird Guy was, but he was apparently close friends with Tommy's dad, and even more intimidating. Wilbur wasn't sure why the kid was surrounded by people that made him worry for his life despite being immortal.

House #3: Schlatt's house, sadly next door. He didn't need additional proof that god hated him, but apparently they'd wanted to make it even clearer.

A week or so after he'd gotten settled into his new home, Wilbur decided to go outside to get a better look at the streetlamps and the night sky while trying to find his plan. 

He was feeling surprisingly positive about the whole thing. Soon, he'd be changing the fate of the world.

If this didn't get him remembered after it all, nothing else would.

A hacking cough came from the porch next door, reminding him that he wasn't the only supernatural being on the block. Wilbur took a breath, trying to be civil. 

Don't get distracted from the most important mission of your life because you want to murder a goat. Just walk on by. Just keep walking, and don't acknowledge his existence. You don't know him. 

However, his unwanted neighbor had no qualms about acknowledging Wilbur's existence, and he'd only taken a couple of steps onto the street before Schlatt called out to him. 

"Well, would you look at that: You’re finally out of the house! This is more of a miracle than anything I’ve done.". 

Wilbur turned around, counting down the seconds until he could not be where he was, having this conversation.

"Schlatt, we're supposed to be undercover."

"Oh, my bad. Guess these random humans will never get to know our big secrets.". Schlatt raised his voice slightly, yelling to the deserted cul-de-sac.

"Would be a shame if someone found out that guy over there is a demon! Yeah, the jerk with the beanie's from Hell, and I'm an angel, and we're only pretending to be human because (get this) one of the little tykes on your block is actually the antichrist!". 

Wilbur pinched the bridge of his nose. Was it possible to get headaches when his mind was only semi-corporeal?

"Could you kindly shut the fuck up?"

"Nope.". I mean, that's kind of on me for phrasing it as a question.

Schlatt took a break from the Annoying Wilbur Show (airs all times that he has the poor idea to go outside) to dig into more of his tomato sauce and meat wraps. 

He raised the snack like it was a holy relic. Wilbur supposed that if Schlatt really wanted to, he could make it into one.

"These are Hot Pockets. I was actually planning on taking a few over to you-know-who's family as a housewarming gift, build up good favor, you know?". Suddenly, the plan clicked in Wilbur's head. He tried to keep his face neutral and concerned, with no hint of a smirk.

"Hot Pockets? I mean, are you sure?"

"What's wrong with Hot Pockets? And choose your next words carefully.". Wilbur leaned against a streetlamp, sighing in assumed pity.

"There's nothing wrong with Hot Pockets per se. They're fine, I guess.". Schlatt sputtered, offended beyond belief.

"Fine? Fine? You see before you the one thing that has made me reconsider starting the apocalypse, and you're like "eh. fine". Fuck you and your family and whatever you call taste buds. Fine? I'd tell you to go to hell, but that doesn't work, so go to New Jersey you son of a-". 

This continued on for a while.

Wilbur nodded along to the tirade, maintaining a poker face. All the while, he telekinetically inched the tray of wrapped (?) Hot Pockets towards him. 

The tray crept ever closer, past Schlatt's lawn chair, past Schlatt's nightmarish garden gnomes, past the freshly dug earth that definitely had a body buried under it, until it was finally within reach.

Without listening to another word, Wilbur grabbed the Hot Pockets and ran for the hills, easily outrunning the outraged angel. 

Sorry, Schlatt, but you're going to have to try harder to win this game.

He sprinted to House #1 and rang the doorbell, trying to look non-suspicious. After about a minute, he got an answer from the selected father (Phil, his name was Phil). 

Wilbur smiled brightly and walked into the house.

------------

The initial meeting went great, putting the whole "getting threatened with a knife" thing aside. 

Phil seemed to appreciate the Hot Pockets and company, and Wilbur could confidently guess that he'd managed to secure a place in helping him out in the future. 

Besides being good for the plan in general, he'd liked spending time around Phil and Tommy. Wilbur didn't get to talk to people a lot, and when he did it was normally trying to scam them out of their soul. 

So, this was a welcome break. 

And his heart definitely hadn't been warmed when Tommy had fallen asleep to the sound of his guitar. Nope. Absolutely none of that.

Phil evidently didn't see child raising as his first priority, and Wilbur found more chances to volunteer to watch his kid than he expected. 

At times, he felt like he was just as much of a parent to Tommy as Phil, if not more. 

Which wasn't to say that he felt any bitterness about that. Quite the contrary. Watching after Tommy was one of the best parts of his day. 

Despite being a baby, the kid already had so much personality, and his little face would light up whenever Wilbur went home to House #1.

When Wilbur held the baby in his arms, he really did feel like a guardian. 

The phrase "guardian angel" had stung, but he did want to shield Tommy from harm or becoming anything like him when he grew up.

Still, it's not like his heart was at all warmed when he held Tommy in his arms-Oh, screw it. His heart was warmed. He happened to care about the adorable baby that he spent a lot of time with. Go figure. 

Caring wasn't interfering with his job as a protector, informant for Hell, and general influencer of evil. So, there was no purpose in denying it.

Besides the unexpected emotional attachment, nothing really changed about the general routine.

His days consisted of maintaining the glamours around his house, reading his books, writing (it turns out that an approaching Armageddon worked wonders for deadline motivation), staring at the ceiling and wondering why God had forsaken him, looking after Tommy, talking with Phil (and on occasion, That Weird Guy), giving the Lords of Hell their required project updates, and, occasionally, almost getting murdered.

One key example of the "almost getting murdered" thing happened when Tommy was around two years old.

----------------

He'd just gotten back from another meeting with the Lords (yes, Tommy is still alive. no, he isn't evil yet, seeing as he's two years old. no, that wasn't sarcasm. no, I'd actually prefer for you to not kill me for my insolence. Same old stuff.). 

It was a cold yet sunny winter afternoon when Wilbur stepped out of the office building and back into the mortal world. As he made his way towards the bus station, his phone rang.

The call was from Phil, and he moved away from the middle of the sidewalk to take it, leaning against the brick wall of a building next to an alleyway.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Will, a job came up tonight without much notice. Would you be able to watch Tommy around 7-ish?"

"Sure, I can do that."

"Great, you're a lifesaver. One last thing: If Techno decides to question you about your motives and backstory, don't take it personally, he's just in one of those suspicious phases lately. Okay?". 

Wilbur would have loved to agree, nonchalantly laugh it off, and quickly go over his backstory in his head again. 

Unfortunately for him, there was a weapon aimed at him from the alleyway.

It would be a funny sight to the passerby to see a normal-seeming person cower in the face of a spray bottle. 

Of course, the average passerby wasn't a demon. 

9 times out of 10, when a spray bottle was pointed at a demon, the spray bottle was full of holy water and the demon was in for a bad time.

Wilbur stood there, frozen. The alleyway was shady, and he couldn't quite make out who was aiming the bottle at him. 

Phil's voice echoed out of his phone.

"Will? Are you still there?". Wilbur tried to keep his voice steady, and he quickly responded.

"I'm here. I got it. I'll be ho-I'll be back soon. There is no need to call me back. Goodbye."

"What's that supposed to mean?". He tapped the screen, ending the call. Please, don't have me die right now. It would be annoying, not to mention narratively unsatisfying.

He looked into the alleyway, addressing whoever had seen fit to threaten him today.

"Hi there. I'm guessing that spray bottle isn't full of Sprite.". 

A man in a blue onesie (Sonic the Hedgehog cosplay?) emerged from the shadows.

"Yep. I mean, it technically was Sprite until it went through the blessing process, but it's a lot holier now.". Wilbur blinked a few times in confusion.

"Connor?"

"Hey."

"What's with the outfit? Why are you threatening me in an alley? What's with the outfit?"

"Don't mock the outfit, I have it on good faith that this is the height of human fashion."

"Let me guess. Schlatt told you that.". 

The onesie-clad angel stood there, realizing that taking the advice of that particular coworker probably wasn't the smartest decision he'd ever made. Eventually, he shrugged it off.

"Well, I feel resplendent, so this is a win in my book.". Wilbur tapped the bricks on the wall, almost playing a rhythm.

"Listen, Connor, if you were just going to kill me with that thing you would have already pulled the trigger. Why are you here?". Connor looked a little sheepish about the whole thing.

"The higher-ups thought that I should make you an offer you can't refuse. Basically, some intern had the bright idea that we should have Hell's guardian either agree to spy for us or die."

"You're suggesting that I become a double agent?"

"Yeah. Or die, whichever is your preference."

"I think your higher-ups underestimate my importance here. Killing me won't slow our side down by much. They'll just send another guy, and you'll have to spend more time in unpleasant alleyways."

"And someday they'll send a guy who takes our offer. Trust me, we've been planning this ever since we realized Schlatt was going to be useless down there.". Wilbur thought about it. 

Killing god obviously matters more than prolonging my life. And I'm a good actor, but I don't have enough time in my life to be a triple agent.

"Come on, Connor. I thought you were one of the decent ones.". Connor half-heartedly kicked at a puddle. 

His face was reluctant, but he still aimed the spray bottle with precision.

"Please tell me you're going to accept the offer?"

"You've known me for years. What do you think?"

"From what Schlatt has told me, you're too stubborn for your own good.". Wilbur laughed at that.

"Yeah. So the real question is: Can you murder me, Connor?". Connor shuffled, and the spray bottle wavered. Wilbur continued talking.

"I'm actually interested to see what you do next. You've got my full attention.". The two of them stood there, completely still. Finally, Connor pointed the spray bottle away from Wilbur and aimed for the sky.

"You've kind of made this whole thing weird, man. So, I'll give you a 15-second head start.".

Wilbur didn't waste time thanking him, and he sprinted away. 

He fled through shadows and smoke, barely remembering to keep some trace of a physical body. He scrambled his way towards the bus station, reaching the glass doors. 

However, that was where his luck ran out.

"Sorry, Wilbur. That's the power of the Sonic onesie: I'm really fast.". 

I'm going to need to invest in a Sonic onesie. Except I can't, because I'm about to be shot. Fuck, those are terrible last thoughts. 

Out of desperation, he grabbed the lid of the spray bottle and twisted it off, before punching Connor in the gut. The angel doubled over, and the holy water spilled out of the bottle. 

Wilbur scrambled away from the spill, trying to keep from making contact.

He ran through the doors and into the bus station. 

Some of the holy water had gotten on his coat, and he awkwardly shrugged it off in a corner, which was a shame. He'd really liked the aesthetic of having a trench coat. Sure, he could glamour another one in a few seconds, but it wouldn't feel the same. 

Connor walked towards him, and Wilbur glared.

"You made me lose my trench coat!"

"Again, sorry about all of this, it was just business.". Connor held out his arm in an almost peaceful gesture. 

And Wilbur, tired and overconfident, made the first stupid decision for the day. He took the peace offering and took Connor's hand.

The white-hot pain nearly knocked him to the ground. 

There had been less than a drop of holy water on his hand, but it was more than enough to stop Wilbur from breathing for a few minutes. 

In and of itself, that was fine. He didn't need to breathe to stay alive. All that he had to do was stay away from holy things, what had he done. 

In the background, Connor was frantically apologizing and claiming that he "didn't mean to do that". Wilbur wondered distantly why he'd still be lying to him.

And here I was thinking that there were one or two decent angels. How laughable. 

No one's decent 14 years from Armageddon. Not humans, not angels, and not me.

Wilbur shoved Connor away and walked up to the ticket counter. 

His hands were shaking and his words all over the place, but somehow he managed to convey that he wanted to take a bus back to town and pay for it. 

If I can get back to my house, I should be okay. Or, at the very least, not dead.

The bus ride was tricky. For one, part of the route was along Fundy's cursed highway (one of the demon’s more useless inventions), so things were significantly slowed down. 

Also, everything felt far away and cold, and it was a bit difficult to keep focus on which stop was his.

It took far too much time to reach town, and even more to make his way back to his street.

On auto-pilot, he ended up at House #1 first, panicking slightly when neither Tommy nor Phil was inside.

Trying to keep calm, he checked House #2, and thankfully That Weird Guy (he knew his name was Technoblade, but that was a ridiculous name, and he'd been thinking of him as That Weird Guy for so long that it was hard to stop) was keeping watch over Tommy. Relief washed over him.

I don't know what I'd do if he got hurt. 

That Weird Guy seemed fine with taking care of Tommy for a little longer, which Wilbur was secretly grateful for. 

He also seemed convinced that Wilbur was going to pass out, which was hilarious, seeing as Wilbur didn't need to sleep or breathe unless he wanted to. 

After a brief moment of rest in a bush, he made his way to his house.

He tried to unlock the door, but his hands were trembling too much to use the key, and he was seeing two locks instead of one, and he slowly slid to the ground.

Is this actually how it's happening? 

I know I'm not long for this world, but I always expected a better exit. Something with fanfare and sacrifice and meaning. 

Our so-called "immortality" is a conditional one. The instant we dare to touch something holy, it all goes, and there's no soul or afterlife for us castaways.

I wish I was human.

Wilbur struggled to look up at the sky. 

It was still daytime, and the stars weren't out yet. That was a shame, he'd worked hard on those. He shivered.

I know we're doomed to fail come Doomsday. I know that there's no way out of Your ineffable plan. But I'm trying to make directorial choices with your script, trying to make a good story. This is a terrible ending.

It was quiet. That was probably for the best.

Do I deserve it?

Of course I do.

But I didn't always, and you're not blameless either.

I hope that Tommy's too young to remember me.

The world was cold, but peacefully quiet, and the pain was mostly beyond his reach. This wasn't bad, all things considered. Wilbur's eyes closed.

A few minutes later, he was rudely awakened by Phil shaking him.

"Are you okay? I mean, obviously you’re not, but can you stand?". He opened one eye.

"I'm fine.". Phil laughed at that. Part of Wilbur considered laughing along, while what was left of his common sense informed him that Phil sounded like he was laughing out of shock.

"Fine? Will, there were a few seconds where I thought you were dead!"

"Well, as you can see, I'm not. If you could just unlock the door, that would be great.". The door unlocked behind him. 

He struggled to rise to his feet, and Phil caught his arm, supporting him.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"Minor business conflict."

"There is a hole in your hand.”

"That happens at my job sometimes. I'm in the mafia."

"Have you considered other career options?"

"The insurance benefits are too good.". Phil set Wilbur down on a couch and left the room. As was to be expected.

Wilbur reached under the couch cushions to grab a hidden cigarette lighter. 

He had no intention of smoking while bleeding out, obviously. 

The cigarette lighter had been modified slightly, another one of Fundy's inventions. 

The fire of the lighter was no regular thing, but rather hellfire. Hopefully, that would be enough of a cure.

The warmth of the hellfire slowly and painfully chipped away at the ice and purity, and he took a few seconds to internally mock god. 

Maybe a bit of a hubris-related thing to do, but Wilbur was glad to live another day, and that meant spite.

For whatever reason, Phil stuck around to make sure he was okay. 

Wilbur hadn't quite expected that. 

He wasn't in the best state, but Phil seemed to believe that it was better for him to be talking than unconscious. 

So, in a half-delirious state, he rambled about mercy, and free will, and falling.

And when he whispered that he missed flying, he could have sworn that Phil agreed.

----------------------

Anyway, aside from dramatic moments like those, life was okay.

Wilbur was there for every milestone in Tommy's life, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

He was there for his first few words when Tommy was a baby (the first word was "kaboom", but the second was "Wilby").

He was there for his first steps, and once Tommy learned to walk there was no stopping him from running everywhere.

He was there for preschool graduations and first days of kindergarten and beyond.

-----------------------

Of course, Wilbur's job was to teach the kid to want to kill god, and he tried to do that too. 

From the moment Tommy learned how to read, Wilbur kept trying to get him to read Paradise Lost. Sadly, he was six and Milton wasn't to his taste at the moment. 

Wilbur wasn't sure how well he did on that front, but he tried. 

Either way, he wasn't sure if he raised a suitably evil kid, but he raised a good one. 

Not good as in morally, obviously. Tommy was still a rascal at times, but he was the rascal that Wilbur cared about.

-----------------------------

Wilbur was the one to teach him how to ride a bike. 

Tommy was so determined to learn how to do it, and he kept getting up even when his knees were scratched up from crashing. 

When putting on band-aids, sometimes Wilbur would slightly heal him. Not so much that he wouldn't know to be careful, but just enough to ease the pain a bit.

Wilbur also taught him other valuable life skills like lock picking, lying, good taste in music, and how to pick pockets. The stuff every kid needed to know!

His reports to the Lords of Hell became less clinical, and more chatting about Tommy finally figured out how to ride a bike, and he's getting good grades in language arts, and he likes musicals too, and he's such a wonderful kid.

They'd mostly stare in confusion, and awkwardly ask him how that was helping Satan.

--------------------------

And he knew that every birthday meant that the two of them were one year closer to Doomsday. 

And he knew that he wasn't going to survive Doomsday.

Wilbur had a feeling since the moment he first fell that he'd have to redeem himself or go out in a blaze of glory. And, frankly, he felt too bitter towards his creator to aim for a redemption arc.

So, when Tommy turned eight, he knew that he had eight years left to live. 

And when he was ten, he knew he had six, and so on. 

That didn't stop Wilbur from baking a cake for him and singing.

He cared about Tommy quickly, and he later grew to care for Phil, and maybe even he would be vaguely upset if That Weird Guy died. 

Wilbur couldn't call this place a home, and he couldn't say they were his family, but it was the closest he'd ever gotten to that sort of thing. 

And sometimes, he could fool himself into thinking it could stay like this.

-------------------------

Once, he'd made the mistake of trying to taunt Schlatt about it.

They'd been talking, and Schlatt made one too many jabs about how he spent his days babysitting. 

He'd mocked the patch that Tommy had clumsily sewed into his new trenchcoat, and Wilbur got a bit annoyed.

"At least I've been doing my job and spending time with the antichrist! You've been completely useless down here, just sitting around in that lawn chair and drinking. I mean, it makes everything easier for me, but the fact still remains that I've been getting stuff done while you've been treating this like a paid vacation.".

Schlatt looked him dead in the eyes, setting down his glass.

"You think that you were smart, getting close to their family? Turning up the charm, making friends, stealing my goddamn Hot Pockets (which I'm still mad about)?". He laughed in his face.

"Wilbur, you're a fucking moron. You say that I haven't spent enough time around the family? You've spent way too much, and it's given you a bleeding heart."

"I don't have a-"

"Tommy's going to die in six years, you know. Kid's cute, but he's not going to survive the end of the world. He's a child, and God is God, and he's going to get smote like burnt chicken. It's just the facts.". Wilbur recoiled from him, hissing his next words through his teeth.

"Shut up."

"Did you even think about anything besides your own stupid martyrdom? Or were you too busy playing house and getting attachments? Face it, Wilbur: It's lunchboxes today, graves tomorrow.". 

For once, Wilbur had nothing to say. No clever response, nothing. Just pure panic. 

He touched the patch on his trench coat covering his heart, looking to the sky.

Please. I know you're a bastard. I know you hate me, and I hate you, and that can't change. But if you gave me some sign, some promise that you wouldn't hurt Tommy, I'd do anything. 

As always, there was no response.

-----------------------------

Wilbur cared about Tommy, and he knew, and even if it was a weakness he couldn't stop. 

All of Tommy's family cared about him, wanting him protected and alive.

But Schlatt?

Schlatt didn't give a damn about Tommy, and he never would.

There was no care weighing him down. And that meant that he had infinitely more options than everyone else.

[daughterofluthien]

Fictober - Day 7

Prompt number: 7. “yes I did, what about it?” Fandom: Teen Wolf Rating: T Characters/Relationships: Kira Yukimura/Scott McCall; Kira Yukimura & Melissa McCall Word Count: 1557 Warnings/Tags: burn injuries (aftermath), hurt/comfort, light romantic content A/N: Episode tag to 5x05 “Novel Approach, A”

I did this I did this I did this 

Kira stood in the doorway of Scott’s bedroom, and all she felt was sick.

“So you’re saying his pain will get worse before it gets better?” She knew she sounded afraid — knew that she should probably be strong for him instead — but she didn’t think she could stand seeing him in pain again.

Mrs. McCall nodded. “Now to be clear, I only have experience with burn patients who heal at a much slower rate, so I assume the whole process will happen faster. But probably, yeah.” She winced sympathetically. “Sorry, kiddo.”

Scott shifted, and he didn’t make any noise, but was obviously breathing carefully against the pain. “I’ll be fine, Mom, thanks.”

“Okay.” Mrs. McCall didn’t look fully convinced — or maybe that was Kira just projecting, because she certainly wasn’t convinced that Scott was going to be fine — but she nodded and squeezed Scott’s shoulder on what Kira assumed was one of the few unburned patches of skin. 

Then, instead of leaving, she turned to look at Kira. “Could I talk to you outside for a second?”

Oh god.

Wordlessly, because she honestly had no idea what she was supposed to say, Kira nodded. She followed Scott’s mom out of the room.

Once they were in the hallway, Mrs. McCall suddenly looked a lot less professional and a lot more worried. “Okay. Can you please tell me what the hell happened out there tonight? I thought you guys were just going to go talk to someone.”

She didn’t sound accusatory, per se. But Kira was pretty sure that would change once she heard any of the story. She glanced back at the door, instead. “You know he can still hear us out here, right?”

“He could hear us if we were having this conversation across the street, and frankly I don’t have the energy to walk that far tonight. So what happened?”

What had happened?

“Well, um.” Kira took a deep breath, and Mrs. McCall raised her eyebrows, waiting for her to continue. Before she could think better of it, she plunged into, well, something of an explanation. Not that she really remembered enough to explain. “According to Stiles and Lydia, I disrupted the natural energy of the building? And there was a reaction. A bad reaction.” The next few words came out in a rush. “It’s my fault and I don’t even really remember but I did it. It’s my fault.”

Mrs. McCall held out a placating hand. “Whoa okay, slow down. You said you don’t really remember? What do you remember?”

“I remember electricity arcing out of my hands, just like, on its own. And then I... fainted, I guess? And the next thing I know, Scott’s carrying me out of the building. I only started to wake up once we got outside.”

The first thing she had heard was the sound of Scott being electrocuted, and she really hated that she already knew what that sounded like. Or more accurately, Kira knew what it sounded like when she electrocuted Scott.

Last time it had been her hand on a dial — this time it was just her hands.

“I woke up and he was already so burned and it was my fault and I’m so sorry—” Kira knew that she should really shut up now or leave or—

“Hold on, you said you fainted?”

The question startled Kira out of talking, because that was without a doubt the least important thing that happened last night. “I— Yes, I did.” She wondered if she sounded as confused as she felt. “What about it?”

“Kira, are you okay?”

That was a stupid question, because of course she was fine. Her foxfire only ever hurt other people, and sometimes that was just really, really unfair.

“I’m pretty sure you could plug me into the city’s electrical grid and nothing would happen to me. Actually, no, someone already did that. And the only thing that happened was that I blacked out the entire town.” She closed her eyes, and when she spoke again, she almost couldn’t hear herself. “Scott got hurt that time, too.”

Mrs. McCall nodded. “Yeah, he did. And guess what, it wasn’t your fault that time either.”

“But I—”

Mrs. McCall didn’t give her a chance to finish. “Last time it was Barrow, this time it was— I don’t know, whoever forgot to put a ‘no entry for kitsunes’ sign on the door.” She leveled her with a look that was both firm and kind at the same time. “But it wasn’t you.”

“But Scott’s still hurt.” Kira’s voice broke, and she hated how scared she sounded. How scared she actually was.

Mrs. McCall pulled her into a hug. “I know. And trust me, I know exactly how terrifying it is to see him like that.”

Kira believed it, because Mrs. McCall sounded scared, too. She didn’t know when she had started crying, but Mrs. McCall’s shoulder was damp where her face was buried. “He’s healing, right? He’s gonna be okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I think so. But it’s not gonna be fun, especially once his nerve endings start to heal.” Mrs. McCall pulled back slightly and looked down at Kira. “I bet he’d appreciate it if someone was in there with him while his body’s getting itself straightened out. You think you can do that?”

Kira swiped a hand across her eyes and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”

“Good.” Mrs. McCall jerked her head back toward Scott’s door, and Kira could’ve sworn she looked relieved. “Now get in there and hold your boyfriend’s hand.”

____________________

She almost reconsidered the decision once she was back in Scott’s room, because he really did look awful. While a few areas of skin were the normal, standard brown, his body was covered in patches that were either a charred and cracked black, or an angry, blistered red. 

He opened his eyes when she entered, and almost immediately furrowed his brow in concern. “You okay?”

She nodded and tried for a smile. “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks to you.”

Scott didn’t look like he fully believed her, but he didn’t call her on the lie. “I— I didn’t know what to do. I just knew I had to get you out.” He struggled to sit up a little further in the bed, so he could look her in the eyes. “She’s right, you know. You didn’t do this.”

After making sure that his hand was relatively burn-free, she wrapped her own around it. “I know. But you’re still hurt.”

“I’ll heal.”

She nodded. “Yeah. But that doesn’t make it okay.” She rubbed her thumb softly over smooth skin and wondered if that area of his hand had already healed, or if it managed to escape the arcing bolts of electricity.

He entwined his fingers with hers, and squeezed her hand gently. “I’m better now that you’re here.”

She almost laughed, because from anyone else that would’ve sounded impossibly cheesy, but it was just so… Scott. “When I woke up... I was so scared. I think I almost lost you tonight, and I can’t—”

Scott squeezed her hand again. “Yeah. Me too.” Careful not to disturb any burns, he nodded at the bed beside him. “You know you can come up if you want.”

She gave him a little half smile and shook her head. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t.” He tried to resituate himself against the pillows and winced. “Please?”

She fixed him with a playfully severe look. “Only if you promise you’ll stop trying to move. Okay?”

He responded with a small grin, and she was more than relieved to see it. “I promise.”

“Okay, then.” Kira held up her end of the bargain, and slipped onto the bed beside him. She lay on her side, facing him, and kept his hand held firmly in hers.

True to his word, he turned his head to look at her, but otherwise didn’t try to move. Not for the first time, she thought that his eyes were the kind that you could get lost in.  

“I love you, Kira.” He said it softly, like a secret and a promise all wrapped up in one. “It’s okay if you can’t say it back, you don’t have to. But I do.”

She wasn’t sure she could yet, not after what had happened tonight because of her. But Scott didn’t seem to want to rush it, so maybe that was okay.

Instead of responding, Kira propped herself up on her elbow and leaned over him, ever so carefully. She ran a hand through his short hair and kissed him gently, his lips moving under hers.

Scott reached up to brush a lock of hair out of her face, and technically it was breaking the no moving rule — but she was staring straight at him and it didn’t seem to hurt him, so she figured it was okay. She leaned into his touch. “Thank you.”

Her whisper was barely audible, but she knew he would hear it.

He nodded, and she leaned down to kiss him one more time, then settled down onto the pillow beside him, his hand in hers.

It had been a very long night, and they both needed to get some sleep.  

[thorne93]

The Softest Fire (Part 27)

Prompt: Rosaline Vaughan had it all: fame, money, power, glory, a high status job. Until, one day, she woke up, and realized something was missing from her life.

Word Count: 3361

Warnings: fight/violence/near death

Notes: First Fantastic Beast fic! I could NOT have done this at all without @arrow-guy​​​​. They have created a counterpart to this fic, writing it from Nora Vaughan’s perspective (Rosaline’s cousin/adopted sister). Fic aesthetic done by @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo​​​​.

Nora was better. She decided to make an announcement that they were going to merge curse-breaking with the Ministry. I was at the press conference in the crowd to support her, Newt by my side. Theseus and her made the announcement with a handful of others from the Ministry and two other curse breakers in the world. 

My time at Hogwarts came to a close roughly two weeks ago. I’d moved in next to Newt’s flat. Not in the same building, but the one next door. It happened shortly after Nora returned. I felt she needed the space back, so she wouldn’t feel as though she was mothering me any more. It also gave her the chance for Theseus to move in, should they act on it. 

When things ended for me at Hogwarts, the question on many people’s minds was if I’d return. Children gave me gifts and cards, begging me to come back and teach. The other professors gave me words of encouragement, but they know I’d been through some ordeals in the last few years, so they simply said they would love to have me return and left it at that. 

Even I didn’t know what I wanted to do. So, instead of seeking sage counsel from Nora as I normally would, I gave her a break and went to the new source of advice in my life. 

I sat in Newt’s flat during lunch time as he took a break from caring for the animals. His sleeves were rolled up, but they were still covered with wetness and muck. 

“I’ve been thinking,” I began, a bit unsure. 

“Oh? About what?” he asked beside me on the sofa. 

“My career,” I said, my tone serious and loaded. “I love working at Hogwarts…”

“Alright,” he said, dragging the word out. “Is there something that’s wrong with that?” 

“Not wrong, per se, but it does beg the question about where I am to go next. I have been searching my heart for an answer and I just can’t decide. I love Hogwarts. I love working with Albus, seeing the children, having knowledge at my fingertips. The children keep me on my toes. But, if I made it full time, that would mean I was away from you for roughly ten months out of the year. We’d be forced to all those weekend visits. At the same time though, I loved working with you. These creatures gave me purpose. Working with you, traveling with you felt like I was giving something back in the world, helping helpless creatures, keeping them safe.”

“So come back to work with me,” he offered. “I still need an assistant.”

I nodded, biting my lip. “I know, and I love the work, but part of me is quite practical.”

“Yes, I know,” he said, as if that didn’t make a difference.  

Toying with my lips even more, I said, “Well, as much as I do adore working with you, if we are to remain… steady, then I need my own income. I don’t think it’s wise for us to rely on the same income.”

Newt nodded, but I felt I’d hurt his feelings. 

“Please, don’t think I mean any disrespect. You know I adore your work, our work together. I think what you do is absolutely vital and noble. But I don’t think it’s safe to rely on possible book deals popping up.”

“That’s...understandable. Although I always want you to reconsider. You always have a place here as my partner.”

I teared up at his words. “Partner sounds more than lovely.” I took his hands in mine. “I have been thinking and… I think I know a solution. It will keep me local to you, it will help me give back, and I can have my own source of income.” 

“That sounds fantastic! What is it?” 

I held my breath, trying to find the courage to say it. I hoped he would support me, but he might think I was absolutely bonkers. 

“I’d like to run for Minister for Magic,” I said evenly. 

His eyes went wide as his eyebrows shot up. “Really? Wow, that is um, exciting. What made you think of this?” 

“Well, I know I didn’t want it back when I first came to you, but I’m wiser now. I was afraid of being corrupt or not giving back properly, but life experience has changed all that. I’m stronger now. I know how to hold off the Dark Arts. I know how they work. I know things the magic world needs and things it doesn’t.”

“That is true,” he agreed. 

I sat there, ready to burst. I had no idea if he supported me or not. 

“So? Do you think I should do it? Do I have your support?” 

He glanced at me. “Of course you have my support. You have my support to do anything you set your mind to, Rosaline. No matter what. You’ll do every job wonderfully. I’m sure of that.” 

I smiled at him. “Really?” 

“Of course.” 

“You’re not disappointed? Going to call me a cold bureaucrat?” I asked, nervous. 

“No, not in the slightest. If anyone should do that job, deserves that job, or is more fit for a job, it’s you. I’d be proud to see you take that title.” He gave me a warm smile and I nearly melted into his arms. 

---------------------------------

I went to the Ministry just a few days later, both applying for the position and holding a press conference of my own to announce my decision. 

“And so it is with great pride and confidence that I, Rosaline Vaughan, announce to the great magical world, that I will be running for Minister For Magic once more,” I spoke into the microphone. My eyes flashed to Newt’s who was standing in the first row. Theseus was beside him. The two of them were smiling and clapping, as was the rest of the crowd. Nora was off tending to a small curse breaking job, and I didn’t have the chance to tell her.

The press swirled around me for quite some time, asking many questions and people offered to run my campaign, shoving their cards in my hands. Photo after photo was snapped. Finally though, I set off. 

Newt and I walked hand in hand outside of the Ministry. I felt alive, empowered, confident. Until I noticed the streets looked odd. There were no passerbys, no cars, no one. A dead streat. 

Except for something out of the corner of my right eye. 

“Rosaline, running for Minister? What a naughty move... If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was a threat to me, but I know you're smarter than that," the voice sent a chill down my spine. 

I turned to face the voice, the reason for my nightmares. There, several feet down the middle of the deserted road, was Gellert Grindelwald, flanked on both sides of him with six confidants. Of course, I recognized Vinda, Creedence, and Abernathy. The other three, I did not know.

“Gellert. I would say it’s lovely to see you again, but, I’d be lying and I was raised not to lie.” I stared him down. 

“What a pity. I thought you might like seeing me again. After all, we were lovers, soon to be wed. More than I can say for your zookeeper here.” He gestured to Newt and I didn’t respond. I knew he wanted anger, or for me to glance to Newt, or to defend him. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. 

“What do you want, Grindelwald?” I called back. 

“I want you to call off your campaign.”

“Why would I do that?” 

“Because, my dear, you know far too much about me and with you in the position of Minister…” He made a face of faux sympathy. “Well, I’m sorry, but that just wouldn’t work out in my favor, and we can’t have that.”

A few moments later, aurors began to slowly step out into the street. I raised my hand slightly, signaling for them to stay back. 

“I’m going to have to disappoint you. I will not step down, I will not back down, certainly not to the likes of you.” 

He gave an almost laugh, and his followers joined in with a smirk. “You think you can beat me? Darling, you beat my last spell but all that did was land you in my bed, nearly becoming my wife. What makes you think this will turn out any differently?” 

“Because I know things about you now. I know how you think and as unfortunate as that experience was, it wasn’t experience wasted.” 

“Shame. Because your power as a witch will be wasted, when I’m through killing you.” 

He raised his wand but I expected the oncoming blow so I casted a nonverbal multi-shot jinx, knocking back the six of his comrades. By the time he brought down his wand, they were on their backs, moaning, but he kept moving. 

Water from a nearby river swirled quickly over my head and I raised my wand to deflect the oncoming attack but it was too late. The water had enveloped me, forming a sphere around me. I couldn’t breathe. I was going to drown if I didn’t get this ball of water off of my body. Either the water would invade my lungs or Grindelwald’s force he was applying would crush my body. 

I thought hard and quickly. I saw through the water that the six followers were starting to stand. Newt wouldn’t stand a chance against all seven of them. I tried to raise my arms to claw out of it but the water continued to morph around me, suffocating me. 

Finally, I flicked my wand towards Gellert, using Impedimenta to get him to drop his wand and hand. It worked, and I fell to the ground, gasping for air. I didn’t have time to waste. I stood up and casted firestorm at the six followers, keeping them in their place. Following that, I casted expelliarmus at the lot of them, making wands fly at my hands. Using the banishing spell, I sent the wands towards the aurors for safe keeping.

Grindelwald took the moment I was distracted to throw a crucio curse my way but I used Protego to rebound it. It wasn’t effective as the hex was too powerful to rebound, but at least I got it to deflect away from me. 

He casted shot after shot at me, forcing me to either deflect or rebound them until I finally casted Everte Statum at him. He deflected it though, sending it back to me, but I jumped out of the way. 

I tried to send a confundo charm at him, but he blocked it. I followed it up with stupefy but all we were doing was dancing around each other's charms. We did this for several minutes. It appeared it was a draw, but I couldn’t give up. If Grindelwald won, there would be virtually no one to stop him. 

Newt began in on Grindelwald as well, casting Everte Statum on him, sending Grindelwald back. He didn’t expect the attack, so Newt had the advantage. In his stunned moment, I casted Glacius Duo at him, casting him in ice. 

I ran to Newt, my hands fawning all over him. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Rosaline. Just fi--” His eyes went wide as he looked over my shoulder so I spun to see what had him startled. 

Grindelwald had broken from the ice. He was standing before me, his eyes lit with fire. 

I raised my wand but he was invariably faster. 

The moment I saw his wand and eyes were aimed at Newt and not me, time slowed down. I saw a spark of green cast out of Grindelwald’s wand.

Avada Kedavra

I had no time to lose. I raised my wand and cast a banishing spell at Newt, sending him flying into one of the windows of the stores across the street. It might’ve hurt, but at least he was safe. 

In the split second he went flying, I gathered a ball of light quickly and casted it out from me, causing an explosion to occur up and down the street. Every window, every glass, shattered and I sent every shard straight for Grindelwald using the oppugno jinx. He protected himself with a shield charm, every shard falling away from him.  

The two of us locked eyes as soon as the shards were done falling before we casted curses on each other. Our wands locked on contact, the spells connecting before suddenly, the beam of light between us wasn’t one color or the other. Rather, it was one gold beam. 

Priori Incantatem

I’d studied this effect before. It was rare, but possible. It meant that it was down to the will power of Grindelwald and myself. Our wands had the same core. I’d forgotten he had the Elder Wand in his possession. 

My wand felt as if it would explode in my hand, but I couldn’t let go. My heart hammered in my chest. I could hear nothing but a roaring in my ears as echoes of the last spells spilled out around us in a golden cage. No one from the outside could reach us.

If I lost, if I let up, if I let him get the upper hand in any way, I’d surely die. He would cast the killing curse on me and not think twice, and it would only follow with killing Newt and possibly Theseus. 

I couldn’t let that happen.

Images began to flicker in my head. I remembered Grindelwald inflicting the crucio curse on Newt in front of me. I remember Newt telling me that Grindelwald almost killed him twice in New York. He nearly killed him in Paris. And he also forced me to attack Newt, ordering me to kill him. 

Five times he’d preyed upon Newt’s life. He’d attacked Nora, Theseus. He killed muggles and wizards alike. There was no stopping him. He didn’t think twice before ending someone’s life, it didn’t matter whose it was. He would've ended mine had I not been some form of asset to him. 

Suddenly, my rage boiled inside me. He’d caused the world to live in fear, to live in peril. He nearly killed the one person I’d ever loved. He didn’t deserve to get away with this. 

This ended now. 

I took a step forward, my energy, all my will power, all my anger, all my fear, all my frustration flowed into my wand. Every word of encouragement and confidence thrust upon me came flooding to the forefront of my mind and trickled into my hands. I grabbed my wand with both hands, moving forward ever so slightly. 

Grindelwald looked up in surprise and for the first time I’d ever seen -- fear. 

Finally, his wand flew from his hand, breaking our connection and the gold cage. He stared at me with total shock. He raised his hand to perform a non-verbal spell but I was quicker. I quickly casted Petrificus Totalus and Incarcerous. 

He was forced to his knees before me as ropes wrapped themselves around him.

“Aurors!” I called back to the witnessing crowd. “You have a criminal that I believe needs apprehending.” 

“Quite the show, Ms. Vaughan. I must say I’m impressed. I didn’t think you had it in you.” 

“You nearly killed Newt five times. I’m not like Albus, Gellert, I don’t reason with people -- I stop them.” 

“I’d heard you were working with him,” he informed.

“Yes. He asked me to destroy your blood pact.” 

“Were you successful?” 

“Not yet, so don’t think you can break out of prison to have him killed.” I flashed a smile full of malice just as the aurors came up, all of their wands at the ready to take him into custody. “But, I did ask him to tell me all your weaknesses. I thought it might come in handy, should you ever try to attack me.”

He looked down, as if he should’ve seen it coming. A bit of an amused smile came across his face. 

“You should’ve just killed me, Gellert.” 

“And waste such a talented witch? No. I’ll live in your memory forever now.” He flashed me a proud smirk as they hauled him to his feet.

I nodded. “You will,” I agreed “as the most evil Dark Wizard I’ve had the pleasure to stop.” 

As they walked him by, he stared at me with what I could only discern as a begrudging respect. Once he was out of sight, I finally relaxed. Theseus rushed up to me. 

“Are you okay? That was… that was quite something.”

I nodded, taking a breath. “I’m alright. Where is Newt? Is he okay?” I turned, panicked that I’d hurt him worse than I intended. Just as I spun however, he was standing there before me, holding a wand. “Is that his?” I asked, despite knowing the answer.

He bobbed his head. “It’s yours now I suppose. Unless, Theseus, the Ministry will have some objection to this?” He glanced over to his brother.

Theseus shook his head, almost laughing. “No, no, by all means, Rosaline won it fair and square. I prefer it in her hands over the Ministry’s.”

I thanked him and he thanked me before going inside. 

Newt looked at me curiously before I laughed and inquired, “What? What are you looking at me like that for?”

“You’re truly amazing, you know that?”

“I suppose I am,” I agreed proudly. 

“I thought I lost you,” he breathed, staring at me. 

“I know,” I admitted. “I thought I lost myself too. As soon as that water came around me, I thought I was done for. Then he casted the killing curse at you…” 

“When your wands connected, I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to protect you so badly but I didn’t want to get in the way either.” 

I reached up, cupping his face. “You could never be in the way. In fact, today, your attack on him distracted him long enough for me to get the upper hand. I was sure I was as good dead there for a few moments before that. So thank you, for saving my life.” 

“It’s the least I can do. You’ve saved mine on numerous occasions while we were capturing animals.” 

“I’ll always do everything I can to protect you, Newt. Always. I can’t live without you.”

“Nor I you,” he agreed. 

“I was ready to step in front of that curse for you, but I knew that I was the best hope for stopping him, so I couldn’t do that. I’m sorry if my spell hurt you by the way.” 

He shook his head. “Quite all right. Just a little bruised, but not bad for interfering with a duel between the two greatest wizards of our time.”

I gave him a half smile before putting my hand on his shoulder and concentrating. A nonverbal spell spilled out of me and I lifted my hand. 

“Feel better?” I asked.

“Much. What did you do?”

“A simple healing spell. I actually learned it from Grindelwald.” I smirked, amused at the irony.

“Will you ever stop impressing me?” Newt wondered as he stared into my eyes. 

“I hope I never do,” I replied. 

“Me too,” he admitted. “Now, we should get you home. You have a campaign to plan and some resting to do. You’ve far more than earned it.”

“Ah, yes, and we should probably tell Nora about my decision to run for Minister,” I insisted as I put my arm through his. The aurors began reconstructing the street as we walked. 

“I’ll be sure to mention that, and the fact that you just won the greatest wizarding duel.”

“Yes, but that will overshadow my decision to run, so be sure you lead with the campaign first,” I encouraged. 

Newt glanced at me before smiling keenly. “Yes, quite right.” 

The two of us laughed before I rested my head on his shoulder, walking along beside him happily, more free and weightless than I’d ever felt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[symphonic--chaos]

Okay, so as a forewarning @crispyoperawolfdean​ , it’s not exactly like you requested. In order to stay true to their character, I had to make some sacrifices to the request and fill it in with what would be more likely to happen. I hope you’ll still like it!

It was Max's fifth birthday and Magnus was busy holding the chair for Alec as he put up the streamers along the wall. It was totally feasible for Magnus to do it with a simple wave of his hand and a little magic to set the streamers in place, but this way came with a nice view. "Magnus!" The warlocks mind snapped to as he hummed in question, his eyes focusing on Alec's face instead, the one looking down at him in both amusement and disbelief. They trailed down as the Shadowhunter wiggled his hand a bit, the empty tape roll rattling in the container. "We need more tape. Were you staring at my ass?" "No, not at all, Alexander. Why would I? It's not like it looks like it was sculpted by the skillful hands of Michaelangelo, a grace of the Gods to me, a lowly plebian. You haven't been doing weighted squats at the gym, no, absolutely not. You know, the pants you wear don't only accentuate your front, but the ba-" "Tape, Magnus." Alec interjected, rolling his eyes as he offered the empty container again. A grin broke the neutral line of his mouth, 'bitch face' as Izzy called it, as Magnus grumbled over his poetic 'Ode to Alec's ass', stopped in its tracks. It was his turn next though, as Magnus walked away. Alec's eyes swept over the tall, lithe figure of his husband as a wistful sigh passed parted lips, shifting right as a movement caught his attention, Max giggling in delight as Rafe chased him through the hallway. Alec had made it Rafe's job to distract the small blue one, to keep him out of the living room until the party started, and he knew it was a job the boy would take seriously and do well. "Tape, good sir." Magnus announced, giving a bow as his hand offered up the now full container with a flourish. His smile was bright when he straightened, Alec's laugh amused at his playful antics. A knock at the front caught their attention and Magnus gave a soft pat to Alec's rear with a playful wink to accompany it as he stepped away to answer the door. The bright smile remained on Magnus's face as he opened the door, only faltering the slightest bit when he saw a nervous woman on the other side. Her dark hair was frizzed and curled at the end, her eyes equally as dark and shifting from the door to the hallway where she'd come off the elevator and soon to Magnus. Seeing her go pale when she looked at him had Magnus's smile become forced. The hand hidden behind the door curled immediately as he did the quietest snap he could, a wall and ward forming and blocking off the hallway to the kids' rooms where they were currently playing. "Can I help you, miss?" Magnus asked as pleasantly as he could, though the tiny hairs on his body were standing on end, getting the worst energy off of the nervous woman in front of him. "I... I'm...Um... Are you Magnus Bane?" She finally managed, her fingers curling and tugging at the hem of her rumpled shirt, which looked like it had seen better days. She didn't look dirty or unkempt per se, like the poor homeless that Magnus tried to help every now and then, but like she'd been traveling a long while. Magnus inhaled quietly, his fingers curling around the edge of the door as he kept his ground in the doorway. She smelled of jasmine and something else that he couldn't put his finger on. "...Yes, and you are?" "N-Natalie. I... I was told to come here because you, um... You have my baby."

Magnus couldn't help the blatant look of shock that came across his face before his brows furrowed and he looked back into the apartment, searching for Alec, who must have heard the words because he was headed over to the doorway as well. "I'm sorry, but we don't have any babies here. You must be mistaken," Alec said as he came to stop beside Magnus. Magnus inhaled again and he swore he knew that smell, something on her was so familiar and he knew it so well, but his brain wouldn't process what it was. His magic tugged from within, trying to pull what it was and suddenly he felt like a vampire, trying to sniff out what made someone smell the way they did. It would have been humorous to him were his heart not pounding in his chest. "He isn't a baby, he'd be... Four, almost five. I left him on the church stairs because I didn't know what else to do, and I was told that was a safe place. I've been looking for it for the past month, but I haven't been able to find it again..." She started, looking between the two men as she seemed to curl in on herself, almost as if she was hesitant to finish. "He's... Blue." Alec felt his heart drop into his stomach as his head whipped to the side to look at Magnus, who looked equally as paled as the woman was. He watched Magnus's Adams apple bob as he swallowed hard, watched his fingers tighten around the door frame. "How... Did you find this place, may I ask? And hear about me?" Magnus soon asked, his voice quiet and almost steely. "I...know people. Like you. They told me that his father was a..." "Demon." Alec finished when her voice tapered off, his arms coming to cross over his chest. "What do you want with him?" Magnus noticed that Alex purposefully neglected to say Max's name, relief flooding him that they were on the same page- neither wanted to give her that power over knowing their son more than she should have. "I...I want him back. I know what I did was wrong, but you have to understand that I wasn't expecting a blue baby and I didn't know what to do because I was just 19 and--" "No." Magnus said firmly, his voice cold. "I'm... I'm sorry?" "I said no. You can't have him. Legally he's our son, we have the papers signed and declaring so. You don't get the right to just come back after four or five years and say you want him back." Alec was shocked at the deeper, colder tone Magnus's voice had taken on, shocked at how his mindset had changed in just a few years when he'd been so uncertain on finding Max, in being a father. "But I'm his mother." Natalie said as her eyes narrowed, her tone losing that nervousness and gaining a tinge of anger. "You were his mother. You lost that right when you abandoned him with a note saying, 'Who could ever love it?'. It. You called that beautiful baby an 'It'. What, because he was blue?" "Because I PANICK--" "I don't care. You didn't come to ask for help, you came to abandon him like trash. Most people look for help with they panic and you didn't even bother trying. You left him, called him an 'It', and you aren't his mother anymore." "I--" Natalie started, looking to the silent Alec as if he would help her case, make Magnus reconsider or think about it. Unfortunately for her, Alec was stone faced and looked as thrilled as Magnus was, which, frankly, was not at all. "It's not possible. We've adopted him, legally, and that's not going to change." Alec words were quiet but firm, though Magnus knew there was a fire raging as equally within him. "I can go to the police and-" "And what? You do realize that once a child has been adopted, the biological parent has the hardest time getting them back, right? And you'll plead your case by telling the judge your story about how you left your naturally blue baby on the stairs of an invisible Church to be taken care of people that crowd control demons and people that have magic that come out of their fingertips." Another woman's voice floated from the shadows down the hall. Magnus shifted enough to look out, seeing Lily emerge from the corner beside the elevator, a small birthday bag in her hand. She would never admit that she liked the kids, but Magnus and Alec both knew that after the Rafe ordeal, all her visits 'just because' was to check up on Rafe and in turn, she loved Max as much. "You'll sound absolutely insane and the judge will probably just lock you away in a looney-bin." Lily finished as she approached the doorway, offering a smile to Alec and Magnus. The words had been harsh, but both parents knew it was true and judging by the look on Natalie's face, she knew it as well. With a quick inhale and a forced huff, she turned on her heels and rushed down the hallway to the elevator, leaving the trio to watch her go until they disappeared back into the apartment, the door closing with a firm click of the lock. -- ".....duérmase pedazo, de mi corazón." Magnus finished the quiet lullaby as his fingers stroked through Rafe's hair, the boys body beside his own as they rested in his bed. Where normally Rafe's eyes would be heavy and the boy soon fast asleep, Magnus noticed that tonight he was still awake and with a worried look on his face. "Rafe, what's wrong?" Magnus asked as his hand stopped in the boys hair, instead moving to stroke his cheek with his thumb, giving a gentle and soft squeeze to the soft pink mound that was still plump with baby fat, though diminishing. Rafe was silent as he looked at Magnus before he turned his face away, little white teeth catching his bottom lip in a nervous habit Magnus knew Rafe picked up from him. Magnus frowned at the silence and while he never pushed the kids to tell them things, rather teaching them that they could come to their parents when ready to talk, he'd never seen Rafe look as nervous as this. "Baby..." Magnus's tone carried the worry despite his attempts to mask it. Rafe's words were soft and in Spanish, something Magnus knew he only did when he was upset or scared. "If ... If someone was trying to take Max away from the family, you wouldn't let him, right? He's my brother. He's our family. No one can take him away, right?" Red flags went off in Magnus's mind at those questions and he swallowed as he forced his body to not tense. Why was this suddenly a question? He'd blocked off the hallway a week back on Max's party, there would have been no way the kids would have heard the conversation. "Of course not, mi corazón. No one will ever take Max. Not from you, not from me, not from your dad. You know we'd fight for him and protect him, the same way we would fight for and protect you, no matter what." It was hard to muster up the words when his thoughts were going a thousand miles a minute and every single inch of him wanted to be up and in Max's room, as if Rafe's words meant there was someone in there about to snatch up his little blueberry. Rafe still had a hint of worry on his face, but Magnus could see the relief in the dark eyes that watched him, trusted him. "Get some sleep and if you need to, we'll talk more about it tomorrow morning over pancakes, alright?" Painted nails were brushing through Rafe's hair once more, a soft and lingering kiss pressed to the boys forehead as Magnus tried to collect himself, using the contact to ground himself. "Magnus, what's wrong?" Alec asked from the couch as Magnus walked briskly to Max's door after shutting Rafe's. When Magnus didn't answer, too set in his way, Alec placed the book on the couch and stood to follow him into Max's room. "Babe?" "Max, baby, wake up, bapa needs to talk to you." Magnus whispered as his fingers curled around Max, gently squeezing the boys arms and sending a small pulse of magic into the blue skin as if trying to assure himself that Max was there and alright. The gentle spark of energy pulsed back to his fingertips, a comfort system they'd established between them to remind each other that everything was okay. "Nnngh?" The boy groaned as his fists rose to rub at his eyes, his body limp and lazy as he was hefted up into Magnus's arms and cradled to him. Alec sat in the now empty space, watching the two as a feeling of dread spread through him, Magnus's vibes and energy off-putting and unlike the ones he'd had when they split to put the boys to sleep. "Max, are you afraid someone is going to take you away from our family?" Magnus asked, looking down into the blue eyes that were on Alec first, then up to Magnus, clearly startled at the question. "What?" Alec tensed, his gaze shifting from Max to Magnus as the smile he'd had for the boy dropped from his face. "What are you talking about?" "Rafe asked me if we would ever let someone take Max away from us, and I..." Magnus paused as his magic tugged and a familiar scent hit his nose. "Magnus--" Alec started, but stopped when Magnus nuzzled into the boys neck like a dog looking for a buried treat. Despite his alarm, Max couldn't stop the giggle from being tickled by both the nuzzling and Magnus's hair. "Max, I need you to be honest with me, baby. Have you been talking to a stranger?" "How is he going to talk to a stranger if he's always with us?" Alec asked, though his gaze soon followed Magnus's to the mirror in the room. Max was quickly handed over as Magnus moved off the bed and to the mirror, noticing the smell only got stronger as he did. The same smell that had been on Natalie, and the same smell he could suddenly find on Max. Magic leaked from his fingertips as they swiped along the edge, his teeth gritting together as he felt a wave of dark magic pulsing off of the center. "Max, I need to know right now. Has there been someone here?" Magnus's finger pointed to the middle of the glass, which shattered, confined in a blue cocoon as his magic spread across the surface once Max nodded in confirmation, tears trailing down his face. Magnus muttered something under his breath and soon the frame of the mirror creaked and groaned, curling in and folding on itself until it finally made a pop noise and disappeared into thin air. The magic dispersed through the room, scattering across the walls and along the floor and ceiling as a ward weaved itself in the air, bringing a new level of protection to their apartment. Alec soothed Max, rocking him and holding him close as the little boy cried, burying his face into Alec's shirt as his fists clenched his father's shirt. "Bapa's not mad at you, we're just worried," Alec assured, his hand cradling Max's head as he pressed a kiss to the top of the boys head. Magnus took in a deep breath, feeling every bit on edge as he finally moved to sit on the bed with them. "Can you tell us who you were talking to?" "A-a... blue... man..." Max said between sniffles, rubbing his nose against the soaked area of Alec's shirt, of whom didn't seem to mind at this point. "H-he camed on my buh-buh-birthday an' h-he said that he-heeee's m-my real d-daddy." Magnus could feel his heart breaking with each struggled word as the boy sobbed them out and he could see Alec's eyes prickling with tears as he tried swallowing and forcing them back. "What did you tell this man?" Magnus asked slowly, his fingers reaching out to wrap around Max's own little ones, which gripped the longer digits tightly. "I-I told-ed him that he was l-lying." Max said softly, a hiccup interrupting his words. "I said t-that my daddies w-were you. And he s-said that I had to come with him or he'll... H-he'll hurt daddies and Rafe." "Max, what is Elyaas?" Magnus was quiet, his fingers clutching the edge of the bed, only continuing once Max responded with 'a demon'. "And do we listen to them when they tell us lies and try to tempt us?" "N-n-no." "We both have demon blood in us, Max, you and Bapa. But the demon in the mirror is bad, very very bad. He... He might be your real daddy--" "Magnus-" Alec sounded alarmed as he looked up at Magnus, thinking they both should discuss explaining Max's parentage to him first, rather than at a time when Max was so upset. Magnus only shot him a look saying 'Trust me' in return and while Alec did trust him, his body language remained on edge. "He might be your real daddy, since your daddy is a demon. We will never know because we won't let him come scare you anymore. But he's dangerous, Max, all of our daddies are. Your real daddy, my daddy. Especially if we're powerful, like you and I. All they want is our power to make them stronger. That's why I have you talk to Elyaas. This man is the reason why I need to help you grow strong and smart. You're already so, so very smart, but I need to help you learn to be smart against them. Do you understand?" Max had finally stopped crying, his breathing simply just small hicks of breath as he listened to Magnus, watching him from where he had tried burying himself into Alec's chest. "Uh huh," he said with a small nod and a pout of his lips. Magnus offered out his arms and Alec helped Max scramble over, the boy burying his face in Magnus's neck as his arms wound tight around him. Magnus looked to Alec, they both knew they would have to ward the room better than it already was and now both knew they would be more wary around mirrors. "Max, don't forget, we'll never be mad at you for talking to us," Alec said quietly, rubbing Max's back as his free hand met Magnus's seeking one, their fingers lacing. "We'll always protect you, and if a stranger or anyone ever makes you feel uncomfortable or makes you scared, that's what we're here to protect you from. Ideally we don't want you talking to them in the first place, but..." A shift at the door had Alec ready to spring up and protect the two, but seeing Rafe peeking in brought him down. His hand reached out in offering to the curly-haired boy, who soon entered the room to take the hand and clamber up onto Alec's lap. "And Rafe, if you ever are scared for you, or for your brother, please don't be afraid to tell us. We're your daddies and it's our job to make sure you always feel safe." Alec's arms wound around Rafe, holding him close and, for once, the boy didn't seem to protest. "So...Max isn't going anywhere?" Rafe said hopefully, looking at his little brother, who soon turned his head to look over at Rafe. "No, Max is staying with us, always, no matter what anyone says, no matter who comes around trying to tear us apart. We're family. Lightwood-Bane's, all of us. Right, Magnus?" Magnus nodded in agreement, his rings flashing in the light from the small tableside light beside them. "Always, and nothing will change that. Are you... are you happy we're your daddies?" He wasn't sure why he was so hesitant to ask, he would have hoped so after five and three years respectively that they were happy in the home and not hiding anything. Rafe was immediate to nod, looking quite eager as he said 'Yes'. Max was silent, but his little slim fingers reached up and out, one hand touching Magnus's jaw and the other touching Alec's hand. Both could feel the soft warm pulse that came from his palms and the bright smile to follow eased every worry that Magnus may have had on the issue. "Happy. I won't talk to strangers. Our daddies, no demons." He said, watching the smile spread across Alec's face, seeing the pride there at his words. "What do you say we all have a sleepover?" Magnus offered, seeing Max and Rafe perk up. That night they would all share Alec and Magnus's bed, safe and protected, just as promised.

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

Motion Sickness: I Let you Die II

1

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GaiLong was comfortable after sleeping in Shion. Sure, sleeping in some hundred-year-old ghost town was eerie on it's own, but not as eerie as seeing all the newly stray cats and dogs with collars who managed to survive. They tried to put their lives together the morning after everyone died in the wreckage. 

Yes, we did cut the collars off every single one we saw. 

We were welcomed back to GaiLong too. I had been worried a little about how we would be received with the news, but it seemed to be nothing but paranoia on my end.  The village leader, Lai Beihfing, was more than willing to sit down and work with us, though. He had seemed content to think that our alibi of staying with them for the past few weeks was enough evidence to be assured we weren’t in on some conspiracy. 

He sent out riders by horseback to the surrounding villages, but he quickly monopolized my time. I wanted to leave to hunt the bandits, too, but…

“Surely you’ll agree that if all of you leave, we would be just as defenseless as Shion would.”

“If we encounter the enemy or whatever Grimm left that print, I need all hands-on deck,” I disagreed. Maybe I was paranoid, but if Beihfing-Tono didn’t believe us entirely, then having half as many of us here would also decrease our effectiveness if we tried some trojan horse-shit. 

“You said you would have fled if the beast returned to Shion.” He returned. “Doesn’t that imply your strategy was to retreat from it anyways?”

“Only if I thought I couldn’t beat it, which I definitely can’t with half my team.” I returned. “If half of us die then we definitely can’t kill it and there are also the bandits.”

“Who could then attack while you are gone. We couldn’t possibly fight them off without your help and without the presence of at least some of you, I am worried that the news may cause a panic.” The nail in the coffin, for me, really. “And we should not assume my riders will return with good news either.” 

It was a win-win for him and his village, and it wasn’t a gamble he could afford to take, whether I was telling the truth or not, he needed some of us here, preferably more than one of us. It wasn’t one I could afford to either. “Arc-san please. You must see reason.”

“I-” I sighed and shook my head, “I didn’t disagree with you from the start, sir.”

The Beihjing-Tono, reclined slightly and looked beyond and behind me. “Please, won’t you give us the room?” His own guards nodded and gestured for my friends to file towards the door. “You three are more than welcome to return to the inn.” Ruby hesitated and though she did lift her hand from my shoulder.

It was sort of implied that he would pay for our room and board while we hunted his enemies, especially now that I had my new weapon. Not just to pay us but also… well… if the bandits could kill them all, then so could we. Plus, if we were telling the truth we could just leave, and they would be fucked. 

It worked both ways, though, the timing of me getting my weapon, communications going down, and Shion’s destruction was all super suspicious on our end, too. 

The fact was we both sort of had each other by the balls and neither of us really wanted to do any more squeezing than was necessary. 

I turned and nodded to Ruby, “it won’t take us long. We just need to hammer out the details.” 

She nodded, but I knew she wouldn’t let it go. She’d want those details later. 

Well, I figured she’d probably want details on other stuff she wasn’t pushing super hard on now either, but it was really time to stop thinking about her as she was walking away from me. Her legs looked really good in those tights and you could see her hourglass figure from behind in that tight corset. But it was really time to stop thinking about Ruby's legs, you fucking idiot. 

I pretended like I made myself focus and it wasn’t when she shut the door. I was the boss. The boss, the boss, the boss, the boss.

When I turned around it was to the sight of GaiLong’s principle face pouring two cups of tea. He offered one to me even as he poured it and it struck me how tired he looked.

Panic, bandits, Grimm, and no communication with Vale, Atlas, or Mistral, further, Beihjing-Tono wasn’t exactly having a good day either. The village had no back up military-wise and no capital I could even take with me, let alone valuable enough to me that would really be worth risking their lives. 

He probably had friends in Shion, too. 

And he was now going to have to rely on the fact I wasn’t a total scum bag or people would die in his streets. 

It probably hadn’t been like this in almost a century, since the towers went up. It seemed nearly as far away ago as the construction of the first pyramids, since feudalistic Mistral. Not so long that the system had collapsed entirely.

“You agree you have to leave half yourselves here.” 

“Yes.” I took a long drink. “But I do think I need every one of them to kill it. Maybe some of your men, too. I don’t know how to kill it, I haven’t seen it yet, but it looks very big and possibly intelligent.” I hesitated. “It might be old, too.” 

“We should prepare, the Grimm will come here first, no?” It was true. It doesn’t matter how tightlipped you think your men are this place is too small. They’ll talk to their wives and children and more. “We must assume we are the first to know and thus, the most likely to experience the greatest change in happiness over the next few days. If it was as close to Shion and as you say, it will feel us. Do you agree master huntsman?”

“We’ll have to wait a few days at least,” I agreed. “My friend’s semblance lets him suppress an area from their senses, its better with fewer people but with such a small village it should help. It’ll help people stay calm, too.”

“What will you do then?”

“That depends entirely on what news your men bring back, doesn’t it?” I asked. “What should we do if your men bring back news that Shion wasn’t the only place destroyed?”

“We shall discuss that if and only if it comes up.” He’d been a little relaxed before but to my eyes he grew more cautious of me. “Arc-San, I am sure the destruction you experienced at Beacon was traumatizing but if a Grimm with such might has been in the area for years and destroyed villages with such ease, I would know it. After the first few days the bandits shall be the greatest threat. Once you eliminate them the danger will pass, and you can return to your journey.”

I bit my tongue. He didn’t want me here any longer than I had to be. Didn’t trust me enough, maybe. He thought I was in with the bandits, it would be a reasonable way to try and consolidate power in the area. I just had to invent some imaginary threat that only I could stop, and I needed all the villages around to give me whatever I wanted to do it.

I hesitated, I wanted him to strongly consider it now. I wanted to have a plan in case the villages around were destroyed too but…

“I strongly encourage you to reconsider.” I pleaded.

“I am not evacuating, I cannot consider it and you cannot pretend to be able to protect us no matter where we go.”

What? Did he think I was an idiot?

“I… I never was considering evacuating…” There was another plan too, an obvious one. “Sir, I have another idea, one I’m not sure anyone else needs to know about.” I watched him set his tea down, slowly. “I’m assuming that you don’t have a prison, even if we do catch the bandits…”

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So, I realize that what I was about to do may as well be murder if I pulled it off. Yeah, I was still calling it outlaw justice with a thousand justifications if anyone called me on it but wasn’t that sort of the plan with Cinder and her shmucks anyways?

It was complicated but calling something ‘outlaw-justice’ when I was contemplating how to kill people seemed really hollow. Maybe it is the right thing to do. I’m even convinced it is, but I am even more convinced that not everyone will see it that way. 

The Grimm needed to be drawn away and any of the bandits who had aura could not be allowed to escape and kill again. 

I’m no mathematician but I see some ways I could cancel things out. 

I glanced across my team’s faces and I reasonably guessed who I could sell what when and how. 

“We’re staying for a few days.” I met Ren’s eyes and started nodding. “We’re making everybody feel calm and going on patrols. Spending some time here. I have our board from the mayor and we’re just waiting for the riders to come back.”

“Should we start now?” Nora asked. 

I nodded. We’d talked about it along the way. We already planned to do ‘patrols,’ i.e. find dinner, in town and be seen. However, Ren could just calm down everybody he passed through walls and over fences and the combination of the two should help. He couldn’t do everyone, well, not at once, he could do something like ten to fifteen meters depending so there wasn’t anywhere in town that he couldn’t reach and calm down.

He rose with Nora to set about.

Then it was Ruby and I.

Which also led to the problem of how I’d sell Ruby leaving the bandits to die somewhere or cutting them down. 

Nora I could trick. Ren I could convince. But I’d need to somehow evade Ruby to get it done. Outlaw justice wasn’t going to fly with her. It just wasn’t. If I tried to launch it, she’d shoot it down and then maybe, she’d shoot me, too.

Bam, bam.  

I had to go because who else would kill them, and Ren probably had to stay here, and the implicit understanding so far had been any splitting-up would be done partner-wise. Changing that now would be suspicious. 

Well. I could and would have to change that over the next few days or find something else. I really was looking. It wasn’t like I had my heart set on lying to Ruby per se. Or even on killing the bandits or Cind-well, let’s not get crazy.

The bandits, though, I was open to ideas.

I still thought the mayor was wrong about the Grimm, too. How could he sleep at night with such a creature right next door? I suppose the same way he had the night before. 

“So how did it really go?” She wondered. 

I sighed. Feeling her arms wrap barely above my waist. “Pretty much like that. We have some other plans, but we need to know more.”

“Like what type of Grimm, it is?” Ruby hesitated. “It’s a Nuckelavee.” 

I blinked. “Wh-What else can you tell me about it?” I whipped around. “Ruby what the fu-”

“I didn’t know either, alright!” She snapped right back her hand somehow stung through all my armor despite that she was in her PJs.

They were the same as the old ones and they didn’t fit well anymore. She was taller and her legs were longer than they had been. She also just didn’t have the frame she used to. Her chest was bigger and she had wider hips. It made the place below her ribs thin and gave her a supermodel hourglass shape. 

I was trying hard not look at her. In the dark it was one thing, but…

“Alright, alright, alright.” I pleaded. “I’m sorry.” I turned and sat on the bed. I was frustrated but that was really no excuse at all. What was I? A barbarian? I spat out a long breath. “Please, where and how?”

“Nora told me; what it was called, I mean. She told me that Ren told her once, but that she doesn’t know any more. Ren does, though. He didn’t tell you, then?”

She threw out her arms and paced about the low-lit room. There was enough room to pace from the small sofa, to the small bathroom. Just enough for her to get all the pacing she needed done. I’d maybe been hypnotized by it once or twice. 

They’d given us two rooms again, which was nice of them. They were low, but they were warm, and their walls were built as inexpensive as possible from the dark woods around them. I mean they had other wall stuff done to them, too. 

I wasn’t I wall guy and I had better things to think about when she turned around, walked over, and handed me a cardboard box that had the logo, warmth, and weight of restaurant food. “Ren ordered it for you, said you probably wouldn’t mind anything so… We can get something else if you don’t like it. I’m sure it’ll get eaten.”

It was a large sandwitch with fries. I was pretty sure about its ultimate fate as well. 

“I’ll uh, thanks.” I stuttered off.

She turned and sat on the bed next to me with a plop as I tucked in. “Sorry, we didn’t wait for you, but we sort of figured.”

I nodded. 

“Nora was talking to me about it earlier, she said Ren’s been quiet, not sure how she can really tell.”

“He has.” I agreed. Why didn’t he tell me about the Grimm?

“You can tell too? Is it just me? Ugh.” She flopped backwards. Her exposed stomach was- well-exposed. As in I could see it. I was trying to stop, too, but it really wasn’t working well. She had abdominal outlines around her navel and the way her sides ran down to her pants was just-

 “-you know?”

I moved the box across my lap and chewed hard. 

“-Jaune?” She sat up. “You looked like you were thinking hard.” Incorrect, Rubes. “You figure something out?”

“Huh?”

“About Ren.”

“Ren?” I wondered. “Oh yeah. Yeah, I’ll talk to him later.”

“You think he’ll talk to you?” She raised an eyebrow. “When he’s not talking to Nora? You have absolutely lost your mind.”

“Maybe.”

I had an angle, I wasn’t really even sure what it was yet but maybe if Ren wasn’t his usual self… 

“Hey.”

“Huh.”

“Don’t you want to change?”

I was still in the clothes I’d marched all day in, not to mention armor, by necessity I’d had to leave the sword by the door. It was one of those two meter-and-change sword things. I eyed it now. “I was going to go practice some.”

“Nope.”

“Nope?” I asked. I couldn’t help the smile that ran across my face. 

“Nope.”

“Why nope, now?”

“Because you were up late last night doing it, and up early this morning doing it, and you did the same thing the day before. And don’t think we haven’t noticed you not even trying to sleep during Ren’s shift. We have. We’ve noticed a lot.”

“Who is we.”

“Uh, the rest of us.”

“You guys talking about me in here?”

“Well duh, what else would we talk about.”

I laughed. “Well it would be pretty arrogant of me to-“

“We’re worried about you.” She glared, her eyes glimmered at me even as she rolled over so I couldn’t see her face. “You butt.”

“Ruby-“

“You haven’t been the same since Beacon. You’re just… it’s like Ren, now, but all the time and every time someone tries to talk to you keep them out.” I watched her pull the covers around her even tighter. “Even me.” 

Her red face peaked out and I met her wet eyes. I took the deepest breath I thought I could manage. “Ruby you’re being unfair.”

She lost the battle against her angry tears and the first one fell. It was closely followed by the second. She wiped them away with the sheets of the bed with a fervor that left a red streak across her face. 

“I don’t mean with-like-Pyrrha.” I managed. She must have gotten the sense that I really was trying because her angry tears stopped for a moment and she just stared at me. “Come on. I was never going to be the same again. You haven’t been, either, since you saw her die.”

“I told you I hardly even remember what happened at the top of-“

“I know.” I pleaded. “I meant Penny.”

She looked away again, but I reached out and grabbed her hand. “I was never going to be like I was before Pyrrha died. How could I go back?” The headmaster’s machine beneath the school and the scarred girl in the pod were burned into my mind forever. Nothing could be the same again. 

“Well… you know you can talk to me about it.” She crawled across the bed and wrapped her arms around my neck. My stomach was too tight for me to eat anything, so I set my food on the nightstand between the two beds. I could smell, well, her. I couldn’t pin the scent down besides ‘rose’ in a lot of unhelpful ways. It was clean, though, and gentle. Maybe a bit like cinnamon and sugar. 

“I’m trying.” I continued. “It’s really hard. I didn’t get to sort out what I felt for her, if anything. And her feelings really just...” I shook my head. “God, listen to me complain like I was the one who fucking died.”

“You’re allowed to feel things you know.” 

“I really don’t know what I feel, though.”

“What about me?” Her voice came quietly into my ear and I simultaneously relaxed and tensed in her arms. She seemed ready for it. She always seemed to be able to do that with people. Tonight, wasn’t the first time she seemed to know what I was feeling before I did.

I felt like laughing. “I feel guilty just looking at you.” 

Is that all? She didn’t say it. She just rubbed her hands across my chest for a long moment. She knew it wasn’t though. Too many late-night talks between shifts and time on the road. Too much before that, too. In a lot of ways. “Jaune things will never be convenient but I...” I turned my head and suddenly we were centimeters away. “I want to help you move on.”

“I never started anything with her. Never got to.” I wondered. 

“Jaune you don’t treat me like her.” She insisted. “You’re not replacing her with me.”

My voice was tight. “It feels like it, sometimes.” I rubbed my face hard with one hand. “Ruby I-“ I tried to tell her. I looked into her eyes and saw how emotional she was. I wondered if I could feel even a tenth of it. 

“If you feel like you’re replacing me with her you can talk to me about that, too.” 

She brought my head forward in the cradle of her arms and kissed me.

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-WG