#I also recommend stalking these incredible writers and reading all of their fics cuz they're amazingggg

[ineffably-a-fangirl-99]

KAYSANOVA FIC REC PART 2

I'll always be here with you behind closed eyes by @siriusnebulae

"One day, they had chosen to converse only in Persian, and were walking along the coast in the late evening, enjoying the breeze and stars coming out. They had just come from sunset prayers, Nicolo waiting outside while Yusuf had been inside. After praying, Yusuf was always more contemplative and grounded, and they each happily kept to their own thoughts, content with being at each other's sides."

Muslim!Yusuf and LostFaith!Nicolo after the war, falling in love

Language Barrier by twoseas

Yusuf expresses certain thoughts to Nicolo in Arabic. Sometimes he just needs to say them out loud and Nicolo can’t understand him anyway so where’s the harm?

Centuries later, Joe is still dealing with it.

two hearts, out of sync by @jhoomwrites

Nicky is never happy to see Joe die, but it is unfortunately a familiar part of their lives. But when Joe wakes up and attacks Nicky, he knows this time is not like the others.

one lifetime will have to do by @jhoomwrites

Joe didn't mean to fall in love with the cute Italian guy, but honestly he couldn't help himself. Now he has to deal with the consequences.

Where Nicky wasn't born in the Crusades and isn't immortal, and Joe has to come to terms with the fact that he'll one day lose the love of his life... whether it's decades or only a few years from now.

Habibi Through The Years by @meanderingstream

For a man formidable and even equal to Yusef himself in battle, the frank sure seemed hopeless at everything else.

"Again, habibi, really?”

—

ElephantOfAfrica pointed out that (paraphrased):

Habibi does indeed mean ‘My Love’ and grammatically it's being used correctly, but the reality of day to day life for Arabic speakers is a little bit different. It’s very, very casual and very versatile; it's not special. Some people use it when they're gearing up for a fight 😂 like "oh yeah Habibi?!" Fists up a-hole!!! Like it can mean babe, or honey, or you fucker, or are-you-trying-to-charge-me-extra-for-2-kilos-of-tomato?-fuck-you, or what-do-mean-your-mom-sent-us-dinner-again?-are-you-complaining-about-my-cooking-to-her? 👀👀 In general, there’s an incredibly passive aggressive energy it holds.

So this language plot-hole fixit got stuck in my head and wouldn’t leave. This is how Joe started calling Nicky “habibi,” and how the word became theirs.

the sun is trying to kill the moon by @andrea-lyn

“Where,” he hisses, leaning into Andy’s space, “the hell is Nicky?”

Andy doesn’t flinch even when Joe gets up close, his anger unrestrained. She lets it all wash over her before settling her coffee cup on the table. She’s staring at him like he’s the one with a problem, as if he’s gone crazy. “Joe, I don’t know who Nicky is.”

The science community unveils successful time travel and the very next morning, Joe wakes to find that no one knows who Nicky Smith is, other than him. Faced with the prospect of a life without Nicky, Joe will stop at nothing to get him back.

Campus cryptid vs. Future valedictorian by @agirlwithachakram

Mara Glass did not care about "weird hot guy," the supposed "campus cryptid." She had heard of him her first couple years and had him pointed out to her by a classmate once, but what was there to notice? Okay, he was probably thirty, a nontraditional student, so what? There were a number of those around. Apparently he was hot--well congrats to people who were into people, they could keep him. And if you asked Mara, from her extremely objective perspective, those Disney-green eyes were doing a lot of heavy lifting. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about a thirty-something guy who didn't talk about himself to twenty-year-old classmates. He probably had, like, a real life. There were rumors he was married, although Brittany noted that the only reason people thought that was because one time someone heard him finish a phone call with, "You light the candles, I'll bring dinner. I love you." None of that was remotely interesting to Mara. He sounded like a normal person, and she wished people would shut up about him.

Then in third year, she had a history class with weird hot guy

Kidnapping for Dummies by @runawaymarbles

A group is hired to kidnap Joe.

It doesn't turn out how they expected.

-

(based on the "you don't have him, he has you" meme.)

Stracciatella by @theheirofashandfire

“None of us have any evidence of the ways we have died,” Nicky continues. “But you remember the fall, don’t you? You remember the first time you died, the way your blood spilled out as your throat was slashed. I remember the first time I died, when the love of my life drew his sword across my neck as I drove mine into his chest and we both fell to the sand.”

Joe hums at that, a small smile curling his lips as he leans into Nicky’s side, and the fond look on Nicky’s face makes Nile’s chest ache a little. “Your body forgets, but your mind remembers them," Nicky says softly. "Sometimes, your mind just remembers."