#I love not being a spoilsport about a fun holiday

[myenterpriseisparked]

I love Threshold Day so much.

[royalwriteroftheuniverse]

Holiday party with Andy

Mostly fluff tiny bit of angst some anxiety Andy Barber slightly older than his girlfriend and fluffyness but 18+ just incase

Comments & reblogs welcome no reposting or publishing

Special thanks to @cevansbrat0007

"Hey sweetheart you don’t have to be nervous look-"

"It’s not that I just I want to make a good impression on them"

"I don’t give a shit what they think from a 2 hr party with an introduction that lasts 3 minutes. I’m not going to break up with you just because someone goes 'I don’t like her.' Because  I love her and that’s all that matters beautiful" he kisses my head. 

He said he loved me he never said that before I wonder if he realizes he just said that 

“Hun you hear me.”

“Yea,"

 "If you don’t want to go you don’t have to go.”

“You kidding let all those women and men around you with alcohol in their systems and their work guard down. Hell no. I gotta steak my claim.”

"You steamed your claim"

"Um not to them. Now either I go or I give you a giant hicky"

"Either, or can't be both?" 

"Andy"

"What? It’s a valid question."

I roll my eyes.  

"Ok pants or dress"I swear I can see his eyes darker. "That’s not why I asked  I meant and that’s not happening."

"Spoilsport"

"You need to stop watching "The Good Fight." 

"Pants I know you feel more comfortable than the dress even though I like it better." 

I get a kiss on my hair. 

"Yea but it's cold"

"He smiles you can wear your velvet one."

He hasn't seen me in the velvet one it barely covers my butt, but then again slightly tispy jealousy Andy is fun to play with, "Hey we're taking a Lyfy tonight, right."

Yea why?

 "Just wondering"

Why plan on getting drunk on eggnog? 

I roll my eyes 

"One time it was one time and didn't it didn't taste like alcohol how was I supposed to know-"

"Mhm This is not a trial Missy." He grabs my hips bringing me close to him. 

"Don't missy me," I pout "I don't like being made fun of."

"I'm sorry babe you know I love you," he says wrapping his arms around my neck giving my temple a soft kiss. That's the second time he said he loved me in an hour. 

"Ok red velvet dress it is. Only cause you asked so nicely. " But if I get sick-" I point at his. 

He throws his hands up in surrender 

"I will take days off and nurse you back to health."

"Good boy" 

"You trained me well."

We get to the restaurant and I am suddenly regretting my choice of outfits and why does everyone here look so old i mean I know late 40s and 50s but they look like… God I can hear the jokes now about me looking young i feel bad about the jokes they might make to Andy about him and me being a good digger there's only a few years That's not fair its not his fault I look young he shouldn't have to-"

"Hey what's got you so worried Princess? Your coat."

"Oh yeah," I shrugg it off. "Are you sure I can uber home I mean they everyone is and I'm and you don't deserve."

"Hey relax no one is going to make a joke  and if anyone teases you you come get me and ill fire them." 

"K." I can't help but smile "But then who wouldn't want to make up an excuse to try to get you to dump me and date them?"

"Well it wouldn't work." He kisses me.

I give him a smile and then another piece of anxiety hits my brain. 

"I dont know any people he works with what if I seam so stupid and they just think I'm clingy and  I-

"Hey no one is going to think you're stupid. And I like having my arms around you as long as you do"

"Wha- did I say that outloud?"

"No you have different faces for different anxieties."

I groan as he wraps his arms around me. 

"I only noticed cause I pay attention sweetie  and- did that- was that dress always that short?"

"Yes I was wondering why you wanted me to wear it."

"You are not picking up anything this whole night."

"Andy if something falls-"

"I'll pick it up"

"Andrew you started this" 

He pulls me in front of him in a tight hug and then leans in and whispers "and I'm going to finish it." I can hear the smirk. All I want to do is crawl onto bed and sleep. 

"Well if it isn't the love birds."

I relax seeing Duffy.

"Hey nice to see a familiar face."

"I was hoping you two were going to make it. That's a short dress. I don't want to be arresting anyone tonight."

"It was Andy's idea."

"I didn't know the dress was that short." He says with an honest tone his voice raising up at the end defending himself. "But as long as no one touches her there won't be a problem." He says very matter of factly.

"I get a bit of a shiver  and move my shoulders forward at that mention

"Sorry sweetheart i didn't mean to-"

"No its my fault Andy I'm sorry. I "

"It's fine, I'm just glad I have Andy here and you if he gets out of line. " I wink. " plus I don't know anyone besides you two. You should come over soon for dinner."

"I'd love to."

"Do you like steak? Andy bought some for some cookout this fall that we never did and we need to use them or their worthless. I meanz God. didn't mean it like that. Sorry."

"No its fine and I absolutely do love steak."

"Next week?"

"What day?"

"Friday? 7?"

Still in his embrace I look up at Andy who nodded.

"Friday sounds great."

We part ways and we go to get a drink. 

"Oo eggnog."

"No." He laughs

"Why what's in there?"

"Vodka probably."

"I like vodka."

"I know but your migraine meds-"

I took them early afternoon so I don't take them tonight so its not an issue. And its just a cup. 1 cup Andy.  I know you mean well sweetie but trust me I got this." 

"Ok I trust you."

He gets me a cup and he holds my hand or my waist as we talk to people and by we I mean him because I am really really nervous and know no one. I end up playing with his hand a lot.

"Be right back sweetheart I have to go to the bathroom" I not as he says it into my ear and then kisses my temple. 

I intended to go straight to the bar to sit but I get intercepted but 

"Hi I'm Niel"

Andy's fried turned arch nemesis. He's ikier looking in person.   I introduce myself with the kindest I hate you smile I can muster. 

"I haven't seen you around  the office.Are you new?" 

This is his best lines ugh. 

"Uh no I'm here with my boyfriend."

"And he left you alone thats not very boyfriendly."

Neither is hitting on someone like this And I'm getting major creep vibes. 

"Well he-" 

Someone knocks into Neil and the drink accidentally spills on me a bit 

"I am soo sorry" a genuinely-genuine reaction forms on his face and  like a kick almost he changes attitudes to appologize 

"It's fine I'm fine " I back away before he can get napkins and I back into Andy. I know thst body anywhere.  I sigh and close my eyes for a moment of relief knowing he's there. I'm ok and he'd kick ass if I needed.  

"Babe what happened? You ok?" He looks up 

"Niel" he girts out 

"This is your boyfriend-"

"Yes I'm her boyfriend. What happened here? Neil."

"It was an accident." 

"It really was Andy."

"Niel." He growls out.

"Okay. Now that introductions are done. Andy, sweetie" and nope can't break their eye contact so I step in front of him. Bringing his eyes back to me "Why don't you come with me to the bathroom and help me get this out ok." 

"Yes lets." He takes my hand and then I see him give one last menacing look at Neil. 

I go into the women's bath. 

"Hello, anyone here my boy friends helping me with a stain."

No responses so I lock the door."  With a sigh as I lean back on it.

"Hey hey what happened what did Neil say ?"  his voice is soft but his eye furrow and its slits but I can still see his hands being forced out of fists by his own mind. At least he's trying. 

"He was just being a creep and someone bumped into him and thats why it spilt but-"

"How creep did he get?"

"The normal I'm used to. nothing I can't handle but I just, I missed you. The minute I bumped into you I knew everything would be ok "

"You knew that was me?"

"Honey I know your chest anywhere."

"What a coincidence I know yours anywhere too." I smile and laugh as my head drops down but when I look back up 

He is still looking at me with sad eyes he knows I'm not telling him everything but he's not pushing. 

"Honey any level of creep is not something you should be used to." His finger brushes my cheek softly.

"He was just hitting on me claiming you weren't being very boyfriendly enough." 

I think I said too much. 

"I'm fine." 

He sighs and wraps his arm around me.

"Are you sure. We can leave."

"And miss out on all that good food?" 

"Anytime you want to go I'll nick Neil out."

"Oka-wait what?"  I laughed. He kissed me and brought me in for a hug. I snacked my hands around his waist. 

"I love you sweetheart" 4th time today makes me smile "I love you too Andy."

He didn't even blink…."You calm enough?"

"Me. Yes?  You. What about that stain?"

"Oh it'll wash out."

I somehow get in a conversation with some wives and he makes sure I'm ok before he goes off to a different conversation himself.  We are ever so in tune and overprotective of each other, probably him more than me knowing I'm nervous we give each other little nods to signal the other is ok.  

When my group breaks up I find Andy immediately even though his group moved a bit.  its like this weird spidy-sense  we have for eachother. I wrap my arms around his waist and he puts his hand over mine. Its the little things that mean the most with us. The little touches the little glasses the little sift kisses.

"Sorry doll this is a private conversation don't think you'd under-."

"Excuse you but my girlfriend is welcome."

"And I just so happen to well  practiced  and versed in constitution law  and since it is a free country with the right to congregate you  can't discrimination against me being a woman as I was invited to the party."

It takes everyone in me not to roll my eyes at Andy who I know is beaming that  A) I remembered my constitutional law class from forever ago and b) the talented way I spin my words i said I was well practiced and verses. Not that it was my job.

A few minutes later I feel a hand slide down my hip I look at Andy and then I follow gaze and to the side of us Neil is in a conversation but obviously staring at my ass. 

"Doesn't he know I'm with you. "

"You ok with my hand there?"

"I didn't move it did i?"

"I love you. I really do. Love you. I don't know if you heard me the last 5 times."

"Actually this was the 5th time."

"So you did hear me," he teases."

Taglist

@nana1000night @sapphire-rogers @coltrainbat @hawkeyes-queen @patzammit @sparklybarbarianninja

[setaripendragon]

💖 [Heart] What is your favorite moment in this WIP?

Omg, I don't know if I could pick only one! XD

I mean, pretty much any scene where Meira and Dean get to have a heart-to-heart is an insta-fave for me. I actually particularly like the bit in Six Impossible Things (Book 2, Chapter 5) where Meira gets to reminisce about the 'holidays' each of her dads took her on. But the convo in The Stars Move Still (Book 4, Chapter 1) where she yells about John is also special.

The bit in Iron In Our Veins (Book 2, Chapter 8) where Meira nearly punches John over the Impala's honour had me cackling. Actually, putting Meira and John in the same room was ridiculously fun, and I'm honestly sad I didn't get to do it more. (-stuffs an AU spin-off where John lives under the carpet and starts whistling-)

The entirety of Put The Stars To Shame (Book 1, Chapter 11) gets reread a lot, because I adore Layla and I loved getting to torture Meira and write Dean being soft with her and getting to show off some of Meira's heavenly wrath.

And, you know, speaking of torturing Meira, the scene in It's In The Blood (Book 3, Chapter 3) where Dean says 'if it's supernatural we kill it, end of story' to Meira's face was so much fun to write.

-clears throat-

Um... out of what I've been writing this last week that hasn't been published, I've gotta say it's 100% Meira getting to chat with Special Agent Victor Henriksen on the phone:

“You’re a hard woman to track down,” Victor says finally, voice cold. “Where are your accomplices?” “Right behind you.” “Nice try, Winchester,” Victor retorts without missing a beat. Meira wrinkles her nose at nothing. He didn’t even look, did he? Spoilsport. “Ask stupid questions, get stupid answers,” she replies sweetly.

BUT! If you're asking for my very favourite it's-my-baby moment, the moment I've imagined over and over again when I'm trying to sleep and in the shower and while doing the dishes and on my daily walk?

Gabe's Big Entrance.

I am frothing-at-the-mouth vibrating-out-of-the-visible-spectrum chewing-on-the-furniture excited about finally, finally getting to that scene. You know, eventually. (Some time this year? -prays to any and every god of inspiration I can think of- Please?)

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 121

Insert Winter Holiday is here, again!

I’m queuing this ahead of time, and I originally had a really cute message about the end of the year. Then, I realized what year this is and said “Yeah, nope. Not jinxing it, will not have the actual end of the world be my fault.”

I am going to leave it at this: thank you to @baelpenrose, @raven-fae, and @charlylimph-blog for all your help with this story in 2020. Thank you to every single one of you who bombed by notes this year when you found The Miys. Thank you @janeshadow for talking me into getting off my rump and making the story easier to navigate.

Standing to my feet after putting the last dish in the oven, I couldn’t help but smile as I looked around my quarters. Despite the fact that we had forgone a tree this year for Insert Winter Holiday, there was a definite festive feeling as everyone packed themselves in as much as possible. Derek had clearly found my lights again, as they circled every public space in my quarters, including the kitchen.  Furniture was pushed as far against the walls as possible, and everyone had been advised to bring their own cushion to sit on.

In the two celebrations since waking up on the Ark, dinner and gifts had largely been a smaller, more typical dinner-style affair.  However, without my noticing, my family had grown exponentially since then, and this year finger foods passed from hand to hand as everyone relaxed and chatted. Charly, Tyche, and I took turns in the kitchen, with Hannah waving us all three to sit while she checked on something in the oven so that we could rest and enjoy ourselves, too.

“Where’s Derek?” Charly asked as she approached me to take her shift watching the last batch of food bake.

“He isn’t great with crowds, so he and Sam already came for lunch and to exchange gifts,” I explained, stroking the scarf they had given me. “They already left and took Mac with them.”

“Aww, they’re hogging the Christmas Cat… No fair!” she pouted comically.

“Eh, Mac’s not a fan of crowds either. Besides, I’m pretty sure someone gave him cheese - again - so I’d rather the little gas bomb not be here tonight.”

“Fair enough,” she laughed before popping me with a tea towel. “Go! Your turn to socialize and cuddle!”

I held up my hands in defeat before carefully picking my way around people. Coffey was gracious enough to take my hand and guide me around him and over to where Conor and Maverick were guarding the astonishingly huge pile of gifts. Arthur was nearby, arguing with Conor and trying to drag Simon into it every chance he could. The topic sounded like a rehash of the one regarding fortifications, only this time it was Fortification Redux: The Plant Edition. “We’ve already confirmed there are no megafauna on Von!” Arthur exclaimed wearily. “Not even vegetarians. Why would we need fortifications?”

I could tell Conor was just provoking him when he lazily waved a hand. “It’s psychological, to make people feel safe. Besides, agriculturally, it serves as double duty.”

“He has a point,” Simon conceded, wincing when Arthur turned a playful squint his direction. “He does!”

“Whatever,” Arthur surrendered with a mock-sulk. “Sophia…”

“You know where I stand on this argument, don’t even try it,” I laughed as I dropped in between my partners.

“You wound me! I was going to offer to whip up some goulash, but now I don’t think I will since someone thinks she should accuse me of such atrocious crimes.”

I rolled my eyes at his theatrics. “Whip up whatever you want, I’m done with kitchen duty, and so is Tyche. Charly’s on her last lap.”

“I sincerely doubt that,” Maverick laughed, catching Coffey’s careful eye on his beloved bundle of energy.

Arthur practically leapt to his feet. “That decides it. I am so offended by Sophia’s accusations that I am going to share the kitchen with Miss Chaos Incarnate and leave you all to wonder what wound up in the food.”

Tyche tipped her head back to scowl at him from where she was draped across Antoine’s lap. “If I find a single eyeball…”

Muttering something suspiciously close to “Dammit”, Arthur prowled across the room as though the entire floor wasn’t draped in legs and people.

I opened my mouth to whine about how he could do that, only to be cut off when a piece of pastry was stuffed in my mouth. Grievances forgotten, my eyebrows shot up as I chewed. “Tyche! When did you make donuts!?”

“It may have involved time travel,” she waggled her fingers at me. “But no blood magic or ritual sacrifices, swear.”

I could see Antoine shake his head before responding over his shoulder. “She made them this morning.”

“Spoilsport.”

“Travelling forward through time is still time travel, mon coeur.” He tapped the tip of her nose with one finger, eliciting an expression from her that promised swift and painful retribution.

A soft rustle of fabric caught my attention, and I turned to see a pile of purple and jade-green silk land beside me before a long, dark braid came into view. “The donuts are quite delightful,” Parvati declared as she yanked Xiomara down beside her in a graceless heap. Grabbing a dark brown one from the plate, she popped it in her lover’s mouth just as Xiomara was about to complain. “That one is a Black Forest, I believe. You’ll love it.”

“Careful on those,” Conor warned. “I think they’re half booze.”

“I only soaked the cherries in kirsch,” Tyche corrected. “Not the whole thing.”

“So yeah, half booze,” I corrected.

Giving her most fearsome scowl, Xio snatched the rest of the Black Forest donuts off the plate and balanced them in one hand.

A squeal of laughter interrupted our shenanigans, and we whipped our heads around in time to see Hannah holding a plate of mini-Wellingtons over her head without even looking, while Charly struggled to get up from where she was sprawled across both the other woman’s lap and Coffey’s.  Zach stared at Hannah like he just saw his first sunset, and Maverick snorted behind me.

“He is such a goner over her,” I heard him say, followed by a light smack.

“Because I have certainly never seen you look at Conor or Sophia in such a way,” Parvati added lightly. “And obviously not when Conor is baby-talking to the plants around the ship, or when Sophia is so busy working she will eat whatever is handed to her.”

He buried his face in the back of my hair before squeaking. “Nope. Never!”

I twisted around so I could see them both. “Wait. When did this happen?”

“Three times a week, in your office,” Tyche interjected in a bored tone. “And pretty religiously.”

I felt my face heat up. “Does everyone know about this except me.”

Xiomara nodded furiously, cheeks plumped out and a suspicious number of donuts missing from the pile in her hand. Parvati shook her head at the antics and smiled gently. “Someone needs to make sure you eat… He brings you gyoza, and you don’t even notice. It’s quite adorable.”

Conor laughed. “She’s got you there, love.”

Eyes flashed as four heads snapped around to him. “Oh, don’t think you’re off the hook, mister!” Charly scolded at him. “He does the same thing to you. Those little pasties you like so much, with the potato and onion.”

Maverick groaned his embarrassment into my shoulder, while Conor’s smile faltered. “I would remember that,” he insisted.

“Not even once,” Charly confirmed.

Rather than being embarrassed, Conor just laughed again and reached to drag us both over to him. “I don’t know how someone so tall can be so sneaky, but I won’t argue.”

That moment was when Arthur decided to return, a trail of slurps in his wake as he handed out goulash. “No eyeballs,” he sighed dejectedly as he handed one to Tyche.

“You guys are no fun,” Charly muttered as she took her own bowl.

Poor Simon eyed the offering hesitantly. Arthur gently wiggled the bowl at him. “I promise, you’ll like it.”

Carefully, as though it would explode at any moment, Simon took the dish and managed a small bite.  After a few seconds - presumably to confirm there was no trick - he chewed and immediately started bolting it down at a rapid pace. “I thought it would be spicier,” he admitted as he snaked a hand out to grab another.

“That would be the paprika.  Really red, not really spicy.”

Maverick laughed as he took a bowl, but poked it with his fork before wrinkling his nose. “Sorry, Arthur, not happening.” No sooner had the words left his mouth than Simon’s hand darted out again, eliciting laughter from everyone.

Arthur shrugged, well aware of Maverick’s food aversions by this point. “It’s not for everyone. You keep your tofu, I’ll keep my goulash.”

Not long after that, the last of the food was gone and dishes were cleared. Hot drinks were handed out by Zach and Conor, and then it was finally time to exchange gifts. Baked goods from Tyche made the rounds, along with beautiful accessories from Parvati, carefully curated books from Alistair, plants from Conor and Sam, and more.

At one point, Arthur was staring at his gift from Charly like it would bite him. “It’s… a pen?”

She nodded, producing a small jar of black ink from somewhere. “A fountain pen, with black India ink. I made them both myself.”

Arching an eyebrow, he brought the pen closer to examine the engravings. “An otter… with a sword?”

“With a saber,” she corrected. “I tried to make it look like yours, but do you know how hard you make it to get a good look at that thing!?”

“It’s literally on display in my office when I’m not practicing with it.”

“And how am I supposed to get in there when you aren’t? You booby-trapped the door!”

“Wonder why….” he mused with a small smile. “This is very intricate,” he finally admitted.

“Consider it an apology for the other ones.”

“Oh!” I realized.  “Give me just a second, everyone.”  Scrambling, and with nowhere near Arthur or Tyche’s grace, I managed to make it to our bedroom to grab an armful of boxes. Once I was back at the doorway, I peeked around the stack and smiled. “These are from Derek, with a little bit of help from Hannah.”  Checking names, I distributed the boxes before making my way back to my spot.

“This is… It’s so soft!” Parvati exclaimed. “And the colors are beautiful!”

I smiled as I rubbed the scarf I wore. “He wanted to show his appreciation for how welcome he feels, even if he was overwhelmed at the idea of being here.”

Hannah nodded as she brushed her scarf against her cheek. “We worked on these for months, but I didn’t realize he found time to make one for me… All the colors and patterns are different for each person, by the way. They’re meant to show us how he thinks of us.”

Conor held up the green and orange fabric that his box revealed. “I love it, but I’m confused.”

She rolled her eyes, and tapped her own scarf. “This goldish-brown is my eyes, and this olive green are the clothes I usually wear.”

Coffey’s laughter rang through the room as he unfolded his to see a pattern like Neapolitan ice cream: Rich brown, bright pink, with white swirled throughout. “I think he nailed it.”

Antoine’s head tilted until it almost met his shoulder. “Our eyes… Every single scarf has the color of our eyes in it.  That must have been so hard for him to do.” I could see what he meant - Derek did not look people in the eyes, as a rule.

“He wants us to know that he sees us, and that he likes that we see him,” Zach shrugged. When we all stared at him, he just blinked. “What? You don’t work with him as much as I do without figuring those things out.”

Without exception, everyone wrapped their gifts from Derek around themselves before the next set of gifts were handed out. “These are from me,” Arthur explained. “Hopefully I got it right.”

Like Alistair, Arthur had gifted everyone a book, but rather than a book that furthered a current interest, he had sought out historical insights into extremely niche topics for everyone. Some made pretty obvious sense - a book on the historical events leading to and the impacts of the Harlem Renaissance for me, a book on the evolution of law in various cultures for Xiomara - but some were far less obvious.

“A book on Roman law?” Charly asked, confused.

He reached over and tapped on the cover. “Specifically, this is about how much of Roman law was the result of litigation, with some pretty hysterical results. I think you’ll get a huge kick out of it.”

She cracked the book open to a random page and looked at it. “If you weren’t home when you were subpoenaed as a witness, you didn’t have to testify, but if you didn’t the person could stand outside your house and - “ she snorted before continuing in a fit of giggles. “Yell at you… for no more than three…. Three hours a day, three days a week - “ another snort “for up to a year!” She wiped a tear from her eye and surrendered to her giggles. “Oh that’s amazing! Thank you!”

Charly wasn’t the only one laughing. Even Xiomara was snickering. “That is an incredibly specific law.”

“Absurd laws are best laws,” he shrugged.

Eventually, all the gifts were distributed, but nobody was in a rush to leave. Instead, we lounged around, quietly catching up and talking about our plans for the upcoming ‘year’. At some point, Insert Winter Holiday had, unanimously and without fanfare, become the end of the year celebration on the Ark, even as far as the Council made plans. With that in mind, we were taking a chance to celebrate our continued survival for yet another cycle, and tried to look forward with optimism toward the next one.

I just let the feelings sink into me, enjoying the presence of the people who moved into my life.  Had I been asked fifteen years ago where I saw myself in the future, ‘on a spaceship, as the last of the human race, about to colonize another world’ would have been nowhere on that list.  But here I was, with a larger family than I had ever dreamed.

Despite all that we had been through, I couldn’t wait to see what the future would bring.

 (A/N: Keep your eyes out for an announcement on New Year’s Eve!)

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[grimgrinningghoul]

Not Quite According to Plan

Hey there @therealsirsticker, I’m your Secret Santa for the Christmas Truce!

I really enjoyed your prompts, and ”Amorpho and Kyle Weston hanging out” stood out to me the most. I’m not sure if I quite filled it, but this was what I came up with.

Hope your holiday was swell, and I hope you enjoy!

If there’s one thing Amorpho loves, it’s a successful prank.

If there’s one thing Amorpho doesn’t love, it’s a spoilsport. Which is an apt description for that ghost boy, Amorpho thinks. He just came for a little fun, not a scolding from some goodie-two-shoes hero.

A good chase is always fun, though. And fun it was. Zipping around the town like he’s the star of the show, being followed with undivided attention. What more could he ask for?

But even Amorpho enjoys a break every once in a while. So after a few well placed turns, he was able to give that Phantom kid the slip. He quickly dips into a nearby alleyway and cloaks, just in time for his assailant to continue flying past. Perfect. Now all he needs is a disguise to lay low in.

There had been a red headed boy following them earlier. Rather rude, that one was, yelling at them. But he was taking photos, which Amorpho could appreciate. Maybe he’d get into the paper thanks to him.

The ghost kid didn’t seem to like him, though, which made him the perfect candidate.

He stretches and contorts his body into its new shape before stepping out of the alley. He stops to check his reflection in a store window, meeting a pair of green eyes and a smirk on his borrowed face. No one would suspect a thing.

Now all he has to do is lay low until the ghost boy gets bored. Should be easy enough, Amorpho thinks. He can play nice for a few hours, and as long as he isn’t seen with the red head who had been following, he should be golden.

He realizes luck isn’t on his side however, when he sees the red head in question jogging in his direction. How did he get here? They had left him behind six blocks ago!

“Oi, Wes! Weren’t you just with- you’re not my brother.”

Oh, this isn’t the same one. The face is similar, but he sees now that the haircut and outfit are completely different. Crisis averted. Sure, Amorpho wasn’t planning on being talked to, but he can still-

Wait.

He sees through the disguise. How can he see through the disguise? No one is supposed to see through the Great Amorpho! This boy is human, Amorpho doesn’t see any ghost tech, so how can he see-

“You friends with Fenton or something? These are some sick effects.”

... Effects?

The boy leans forward- with Amorpho subsequently leaning back- to further examine “Wes’s” features. “Dang, you look just like him!...” He shrugs and relents, meeting the polymorph’s confused gaze, “Well, almost.”

Amorpho blinks, “Almost?” Okay, so he must have missed something crucial. Did he get the freckles wrong? No, that shouldn’t have been so easy to spot, he couldn’t have messed them up that bad.

“Well, yeah,” The kid responds, looking as if it’s the the most obvious thing in the world, “Wes has this funny little mole on his neck. I got one too, see?”

To prove his point, the boy pulls the hood of his shirt to the side to reveal- sure enough, a mole.

How could he even see that?

“Good attempt, though. If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.” He gives a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Amorpho attempts to shy away from it and subsequently fails due to the kid not getting the hint. “Like I said, only other kid I know dedicated to effects like these is Fenton, you guys friends?”

“Ah-” Okay, he can work with this. “Yes! I am indeed friends with Billy.”

“You mean Danny?”

“Right!”

“Sweet,” The boy blows at the bangs that hang over his eye and extends a hand. “Name’s Kyle.”

Amorpho hesitates, looking between the hand and the boy- Kyle’s, face. He seems genuine, albeit a bit stupid. Figuring there’s no harm, he takes Kyle’s invitation in a loose shake. “I am Amorpho.”

“Amorpho, nice. Better stage name than Phantom.”

“Er- thanks?” What is happening right now?

Kyle suddenly grins with a calculating glint in his eye. “Say, Fenton’s able to change how he looks in like, four seconds flat.”

Amorpho frowns, “Yes, and...?”

“And, I’m asking if you can do that too.”

Understanding dawns on him, and Amorpho grins back. Rather than answering, he takes a single step back and, with a dramatic flare of the hand, allows his body to change shape once more until it molds into an identical copy of the boy before him. And, for good measure, he pulls the hood aside to show that, yes, he remembered the mole this time.

Kyle looks his new doppelganger up and down and gives a thumbs up. He then grabs the other’s wrist and starts pulling him along, “Now, how you feel about turning someone’s world upside down?”

Amorpho follows without a fuss. He hadn’t expected a partner in crime, but he certainly couldn’t complain.

“Have something in mind?”

“Oh, buddy, I got lots.”

[tomtenadia]

Island Dreams - Chapter 23

Finally I made and chapter 23 has landed. We are not too far off from the final staged of the fic. This one is a mammoth and I hop that 8k words will keep you busy for a bit. I have an horrendous uni assignment due next week and work as well which means chapter 24 won't arrive until probably the beginning of next week.

The only thing I want to add about the chapter is the initial part where they talk about Christmas. Rowan's reaction might seem a little extreme but i based it on my own personal experience. I am pagan. I do not celebrate Christmas in any shape or form but I do celebrate the solstice. And what Rowan says to Aelin is what usually happens to me.

That's the only comment I'll make on the chapter.

Enjoy <3

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“You are not putting that Christmas tree in our house.” Was Rowan’s outburst when he saw the image on her phone. It was the beginning of December and Aelin was showing Rowan the tree she wanted for the house and all the decorations she wanted to buy. “It’s December Rowan. Christmas will be here soon and everyone is decorating apart from us. Stop being such a spoilsport.” He stood and began pacing around the living room. “It’s a stupid holiday.” And he realised he had gone too far when her expression morphed into one full of hurt. Rowan’s hand brushed his hair in frustration.

“So it’s just my traditions that are stupid? Did I ever made fun of you with all of yours?” Aelin was now in front of him and she was fuming. “No.” Was the only thing he could manage. “I came with you at the summer solstice. I listened to your beliefs and never made fun of you and now I ask something and I can’t get it? I thought this was a relationship of equals.” She was getting irritated. “It is.” He added, turning his back at her and staring outside. “It doesn’t seem like.” He heard her walk away and sighed heavily. His head leaned against the cold window. When he turned around, she had left the room. A bit later he heard the main door open and close and he guessed she had left the house. He sat back on the sofa, leaned his head back into the sofa and closed his eyes. His communication skills had, as always, been lacking.

It was an hour later when she came back. She had gone out, probably to let out some steam. He stood to go to her but she ignored him and it hurt. They had small fights but this was one was more serious than the others and he had to fix it. “Aelin…” he moved to her. Aelin went to their room and slammed the door in his face. He groaned and started pacing around the living room nervously, then went back to the door of their room and banged at it “Will you come out so that we can talk?” The door flew open and his hand was still in the air. “What? Talk about what? That you are behaving like a selfish asshole?” Aelin knew she had gone too far. Rowan so far had been everything but an asshole and from his reactions he knew she had hurt him just now. “Selfish?” He roared and moved away from her “You know what? Decorate the house. Do whatever the fuck you want. I don’t care.” He moved all the way back to the window and Aelin knew he was mad. He had cursed and that was not something he did. She heard him use the F word only once and it was during a much happier moment. “Ro, I am sorry. I didn’t mean…” He sighed and Aelin moved another step to him. That distance between them was too much and she did not like fighting with him. For the first time she was in an healthy relationship and she had no intention of ruining everything. He turned abruptly and looked at her “I have never celebrated Christmas. I am 38 and I never did.” He started, finally looking at her “My parents followed the old ways and growing up I did the same. I grew up with kids making fun of me because I did not believe in Santa and because my family did not celebrate Christmas. When I was with Lyria I was forced to endless Christmas parties and people made fun of me when I told them I was going to Callanish for the winter solstice.” He ran his hands through his hair. Aelin moved to him and hugged him “I am sorry…” she felt tears well in her eyes. Rowan sighed and his hands went on her back and kissed her head “Don’t. I am not mad at you.” She squeezed closer “tell me what you do. Tell me how you celebrate.” She looked up at him and his eyes looked sad. He turned her in his arms and pulled her closer against his chest. His mouth close to her ear “I add holly around the house. It’s a symbol of hope, it’s meant to ward off spirits.” He explained kissing her neck He felt her relax. He had not liked their fight “I usually have a tree. A real one, that is kept healthy and then replanted at the end of the holidays. Not those plastic monstrosities.” He gave her a squeeze around her waist “It’s the Tree of Life and it’s a very important symbol, that’s why you don’t put baubles and garlands on it. I usually decorate it with pinecones, berries and other stuff, but always natural elements.” She leaned deeper against him. What he was describing it wasn’t too bad at all. “And finally the yule log.” He kissed the top of her ear “it’s the only time I lit my fireplace. The log has to be from oak. According to the ancient lore it keeps the spirits from entering the house.” He grabbed her hand and kissed her palm “I hang a wreath on my door with some bells and I have plenty of fabric elves that I use to decorate the rest of the house.” “What do the elves do?” “Well, the ancients believed that the spirits that created the Sun inhabited the realm of elves. So by adding elves you are assuring their assistance and also the return of the sun after all the dark days.” He explained trying not to sound like a lunatic. She was the first person he had truly explained his beliefs to. Lyria had never accepted it fully and he had to pretend he liked Christmas with her. “I have mistletoe too. It’s a symbol of life in the dark winter months.” She turned to face him “are we allowed to kiss under it?” He looked down at her “Of course.” She hugged him. “And I make some incredible gingerbread biscuits.” He felt her grin against his chest and knew that somehow their fight was over and finally started to relax again. “It does sound a lot like Christmas to me.” He kissed her head “It’s because when christianity took over, they incorporated some of the traditions into theirs. But the roots of the holiday are basically pagan.” “I like it.” “I didn’t mean to—“ but she stopped him with a kiss. “I always had a horrible relationship with Christmas.” He confessed “I hate the way it’s forced on everyone. It’s everywhere. And you can’t even celebrate Samhain in peace that this holiday is shoved down your throat. And don’t get me started on the consumeristic aspect. It has become a holiday for the shops to make more money. And if I even try to voice my opinion I get called a grinch and a grumpy old man. And people tend to ridicule my beliefs.” “You are my grumpy old man.” And she gave him a kiss, gentle and brief. “I have never made fun of other people for what they celebrate, but the world seems to have a problem with me because I do not follow the masses.” He sighed heavily. “I like what you described. A lot.” “We don’t have…” She shushed him again with another kiss “But I want to. We can make it our own holiday. With our own traditions. And screw the rest of the world.” “I’d love that very much.” He said, finally smiling again “we can add holiday sex in front of the fire.” “That is a tradition I would subscribe to immediately.” “We can have some of your lights outside on the door.” He offered “It’s our house so it’s only fair that we follow your traditions too. I need to stop being stubborn.” “And snowflakes decals on the windows?” He kissed her head “of course.” “Can I have hot chocolate too?” “As if I could stop you. You always cheat on me with chocolate.” And he pouted, but Aelin removed his pout with a kiss. “We can exchange gifts.” He added and her smile became brighter. “On one conditions.” She added, pushing him to the sofa where she made him sit down and straddled him “Only one each. I agree with your rant about consumerism. Lysandra and I had the same rule. We started when we were skint interns and never stopped. Just one gift each and not too expensive. It has to be meaningful.” Rowan kissed her “I really love your plan.” Her hands twined in his silver hair “And we are not celebrating on the 25th. You and I are celebrating on the winter solstice.” She decreed and he smiled back at her. “Are you sure?” He asked, closing his eyes, enjoying the feel of her hands in his hair. Aelin nodded “Which bring me to my next question: can I please invite Lysandra and Aedion? Lysandra and I have all our traditions and this year will be the first Christmas we are not together. Can we celebrate the 25th with them? And don’t worry, Aedion is a massive grinch and hates the holiday. It’s more the idea of being together with the people I love.” “Of course, mo chridhe, they can come and stay here with us and use your old room. We will celebrate your way too.” “You are not working on the 25th?” “I am doing the night shift on the 24th and finishing on the 25th around noon. Malcolm is doing the rest of the day. He is not bothered. And I am off early on the 21st because again I come off the night shift so we can celebrate together.” And Rowan grinned wildly at that admission of hers “Good, because I have plans to take my wonderful woman to the best winter solstice ever.” “What plans?” She asked grinding gently against him. “If I tell you, I’d have to kill you And I’d rather not do that.” And he kissed her deeply and a moan left her mouth. “I have an elf pyjama for the holidays.” She admitted as her hand started to move in a sensual way around his body. “You definitely are my elf who brought back sun in my life.” Aelin groaned “Too cheesy. Now I need to punish you.” And her mouth crashed against his. Her hand landed on his crotch and she found him ready for her “someone is needy.” “Very…” he kissed her neck “very…” another one “very needy.” She stood and he groaned and the loss of contact with her body. She started to undress in front of him “I guess you can start unwrap your first present.” Then she stopped and started laughing “It sounded so much better in my head. It made me cringe.” Rowan stood and walked to her, his hand went behind her head and dragged her closer for a kiss that made her legs go jelly “Tell me another one of your fantasies…” he whispered in her ear. She whispered back “Blindfold me and tie my hands to the head of the bed and do your worst.” He looked at her wickedly “As you wish, mo chridhe.” He lifted her in his arms and quickly walked to their room, ready to start their own celebrations.

It was the winter solstice and Aelin and Rowan were at Callanish to celebrate the shortest day of the year. It was a very crispy night and Rowan had told her that according to his app there were chances to see the Northern Lights again. She was excited, she had seen then during their break and was looking forward to see them again. And in a place like Callanish the idea was beyond amazing. She was glad she had listened to him and covered herself in layers. It was quite cold. As they walked to the site Aelin lifted her head and saw the sky ablaze with stars. She was in awe. His hands touched her lower back and she looked at him. Rowan had a strange glow in his eyes. He had been like that all day and she could have guessed that he was giddy and excited about something. If it wasn’t that her boyfriend was famous for his composure. Damn, the man was grinning. In silence they walked to the stone circle and the stopped in the centre near the chamber. He turned her to him and kissed her “Happy solstice.” With the passing of the months she had slowly learned all about his being pagan. She had been fascinated by all of it and enjoyed his way of celebrating the holidays. After their fight about Christmas she had taken her time to listen to him and discover what being pagan meant for him. Rowan was basically a tree hugger, who loved nature, followed ancient festivals deeply rooted in the ancient traditions of people who followed Earth’s cycles and celebrated the passing of the seasons. He had explained to her that the winter solstice had a powerful meaning of regeneration and renewal. Slowly light was taking over the night. He had also added that that year was more important than usual because they had been each other’s solstice. They both were in a deep dark night before they met. And slowly they brought the sun back in their lives, together. And she loved the symbolism. She was busy with her thoughts when she felt his arms wound around her, his chin on her head, and she had come to love that position. She fitted perfectly under him. “When I was younger, I used to come out here with my telescope and look at the stars and the planets.” He confessed and Aelin smiled at the idea of a younger Rowan looking up at the sky in admiration. He grabbed her hand and pointed to a specific pattern in the sky “See that? That’s Orion the hunter.” “How can you tell?” He guided her hand across the air “This… is his bow.” Then moved the hand lower and horizontally “this is his belt.” And then down vertically “and this is his sword.” Then up again “and his body.” Aelin was amazed at him and all of a sudden she wanted to know more. Then he moved her hand again to another point “That W shaped pattern? That’s Cassiopeia. And if we move a bit…” and his body turned her and he pointed again “That’s the plough or the Little Bear and if you follow his tail all the way up you find what?” “Polaris.” Answered Aelin with a smug face for actually remembering something from High school. He kissed her neck as a reward and she closed her eyes to enjoy the moment. Then a second later she felt him move away from her. She turned to ask him what was his deal when he noticed him on one knee. She gasped and brought a hand to her mouth in surprise “Holy shit.” Definitely not the most romantic comment. “Aelin, my Queen, I have little to give you if not my love, my loyalty and myself. But I swear it will be my mission, for the rest of my existence, to make you happy. To cherish you and walk at your side through every peril and difficulty life throws at us. Aelin Galathynius, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?” Aelin sobbed. He had used the line from one of their favourite books where the lowly warrior falls for the Queen and they end up together. She looked at him on his knees with a box in his hands and a wedding band in it. Her heart raced and she felt her hands shake. She finally unfroze and moved a step toward him and ran a hand through his hair “Rowan Whitethorn, my King, I will happily accept to share my life with you. To whatever end.” He stood and kissed and she felt him shake as well. “For a moment I feared you were going to say no.” Aelin let out a wet laugh “I was too busy trying to breath.” He laughed and he finally put the ring on her finger “It’s not your usual engagement ring. It’s a Celtic ring, I had it made from a local woman who does jewellery and it has some Celtic symbols connected with love engraved on. And it’s white gold. I find normal gold too tacky.” And he kissed her again and when he pulled away Aelin lifted her left hand and looked at the ring. It was simple but gorgeous. And she could totally tell it was handmade. It was unique and her heart had swelled with love for him “It’s beautiful.” “I wanted something special, but simple as well. It’s my gift and we agreed to be meaningful and well…” She kissed him “It’s perfect and now it makes my gift look pathetic.” “Whatever you gave me, it will be perfect.” Aelin hugged him and took a notice of their surroundings “Does it have some sort of meaning that we are in the middle of the circle of stones?” “Not for a proposal, but during a Celtic wedding, the couple tie their hands in what is called the hand-fasting ritual and the guests form a ring around the couple. I loved the symbolism.” She kissed him deeply “I love it so much.” He sat down with his back against one of the stones and pulled her down to him and she took her spot between his legs while his hands wrapped themselves around her waist. “I want a Celtic style wedding. You know pagan… I had the whole white gown traditional super expensive hoopla. I don’t care for it.” He kissed her behind her ear “A pagan hand-fasting it originally has two ceremonies. The first one that is meant to last one year and one day and then the second one for the rest of the couple’s life. But some people do just the one and go for all their life option.” He explained and she lifted their twined hands to her mouth “I want the traditional. I love the idea of renewing our vows after a year and a day.” She admitted. “Will you be wearing a kilt?” She asked curiously. The idea of seeing him in traditional Scottish attire gave her fuzzy feelings. “Yes, I have one with my clan colours.” “Can I have something similar? I don’t want another boring white gown. Am I allowed to wear your colours?” He nodded “You can have a lovely tartan wedding gown matching my kilt.” “Ro?” “Yes, Fireheart.” “Can we please get married here at Callanish?” “We can do it at Beltaine if you accept to wait for a bit. It’s a fire festival. It marks mid way to the Summer Solstice. It has the meaning of rebirth as the short dark nights give way to the long summer days. In ancient days it was a great time for celebrating and gathering and people would lit bonfires. It is also connected with fertility. Earth is becoming alive again and its fertile energy is celebrated as well.” “Will it mean a lot to you if we chose Beltaine?” He shook his head “We choose whatever you prefer. You don’t have to feel the need to follow my beliefs.” Aelin turned, kneeling in front of him “But I want to Ro, all you said so far seems to have a beautiful meaning connected to love and life. All you said so far just feels beautiful and I want all of it.” She kissed him deeply “It would make me very happy.” She kissed him again and his arms pulled her closer and desire bled through her. “It’s a shame it’s cold. The idea of having sex on such a powerful site is very exciting.” Rowan laughed and pulled her down on top of him until she straddled him and went back kissing him. Rowan opened his eyes for a moment and stopped kissing her. “What?” She said pulling away from him. Rowan turned her and pointed at the sky. A beautiful green and blue with a light tinge of red was dancing in the night. “Yes!”shouted Aelin in celebration when she looked at the sky. The first time she saw the Northern Lights it was during their holiday, when they took their last step in their relationship. And now they appeared again on the night he proposed. She loved the connection. Aelin sat back and Rowan held her “They are so beautiful I want to cry.” Then she grabbed her bag and pulled out his gift, feeling almost embarrassed. “This is for you and please don’t laugh. I am not a big fan of buying presents and I had no idea what to give you.” He held her close and grabbed the present and slowly unwrapped it. Soft fabric appeared in front of him and in the middle he felt the hardness of a book. “That’s two presents.” He smiled at her and grabbed the fabric noticing it was a gorgeous scarf as green as his eyes and it was soft “Aelin, this is gorgeous.” “I saw it in a shop and I just thought it was perfect. It’s a lousy gift but it’s useful.” Rowan wrapped the scarf around his neck “I adore it. And I really needed a new one, I swear. I just couldn’t be bothered to go and get it.” He leaned forward and kissed her, then he started unwrapping the book and his grin grew bigger. It was one of the books he had eyes since it arrived in the shop. “I saw you put it aside a while ago and I kept an eye on it. You never bought it so I did it for you.” “Thanks. I had already overshoot my monthly budget for books so I was just waiting for the new month.” “I knew that.” She kissed his nose “I think it’s cute that you have a book budget.” “Well, if I didn’t I would not be able run the shop, pay bills and eat.” She straddled him “That’s what a girlfriend on big bucks is for.” And kissed him again. He pulled her down and she lay down snuggling against him and went back staring at the Northern Lights in the sky.

The following day Rowan was at the airport to pick up Lysandra and Aedion. Aelin could not get off her shift so he offered to pick up the couple. “Hi guys,” he greeted them when they came out of the restricted area. “Rowan.” Said Lysandra hugging him “Thank you for picking us up.” “Aelin could not get out of her shift, but we are going to the hospital so we can have lunch together.” He explained, grabbing the suitcase from the woman. Aelin had made Rowan promise that he would not reveal their news to Lysandra. Aelin wanted to do that. So he kept his grin at ease and walked the couple to the car. They reached the hospital not long after and they walked to the A&E. “This looks so different,” commented Lysandra at seeing the smaller place compared to what she was used to. Rowan tried to phone Aelin but she did not respond then he spotted Malcolm. “Hi man,” said the man greeting Rowan with a big smile. “Hi Malcolm, is Aelin about?” “She is dealing with a patient. I’ll let her know that you are here.”

Twenty minutes later Rowan heard a squeal and saw Aelin running to Lysandra. The two women embraced and jumped and gave the entire A&E a big show. Malcolm came back a moment later “A bit higher and you’d reach ultrasound level.” “Mal, these are my friends Lysandra. She is a kick ass doctor in London.” Then she turned to Aedion, “this is her boyfriend Aedion.” “Guys,” Aelin then turned to her friends “This is Malcolm and he is my second and he awesome.” And she put an arm around his waist. The first time she did she was afraid Rowan might not appreciate the gesture, but when she explained him that Malcolm was just a super great friend and definitely not interested in her he was okay. Mal shook their hands “Nice meeting you all.” Then his pager went off. He winked at Aedion and left waving at the group. “I gotta go, some of us actually have to work.” And gave Aelin a big grin. “Did he just wink at me?” Asked Aedion. “Oh yeah, Mal likes guys. He has a major crush on Rowan and I got a feeling you might be his type too.” Explained Aelin. “He is hot.” Admitted Lysandra, watching Mal walk away.“I wish I had such a sexy second. I am so jealous right now…” Aedion coughed. Lysandra turned her head “I still love you.” “Just checking.” Then Aelin grabbed Lysandra’s hand “let’s go to the cafeteria, I am starving.” Once at the cafeteria they ordered food and sat down at the table. Lysandra was about to tackle her lunch when she noticed the ring on Aelin’s left hand. “No way.” She grabbed the hand “When did it happen?” She admired the ring on her fourth finger. “I proposed last night.” Replied Rowan, allowing Aelin to eat. “Tell me everything.” Lysandra dropped the hand and was now in full gossip mode. Aelin was eating and since Rowan knew she had limited time he told Lysandra the story “I asked her last night at Callanish. It was the winter solstice. I have been planning it for a while. The night was special and the site too.” Rowan extended his arm to brush her head “And when she saw me on my knees, her first comment was ‘Holy Shit’” Aelin laughed “I was not expecting that. One moment you were telling me all about constellations, the next you were on one knee.” She blew him a kiss “It was awesome, though” Said Aelin “and it was so romantic. He used the quote of our favourite book.” She took another bite of her food. She was about to add something else when her pager went off. She groaned and finished off her food very quickly. “I gotta go.” She stood and kissed Rowan “Love you.” Then hugged Lysandra and Aedion. “I will see you all tonight at home.” And after that she ran away. “She seems happy.” Commented Lysandra eating her lunch. “She is. She is enjoying her job. The first month has been a bit rough, but she loves her team.” Explained Rowan and Lysandra noticed the pride beaming from the man. “I don’t think I have ever seen this happy. Whatever magic you are using, it’s working. And I am grateful.” Lysandra took Rowan’s hand “before she came here she was in a very dark place. So thank you.” Rowan nodded “To be honest, she helped me too.” He saw the woman smile. “We haven’t told Aelin yet, I will tell her tonight, but Aedion and I are thinking about moving here. I can work at the hospital if an opening comes up and he is a pilot and an aircraft engineer, he will find something.” Rowan was stunned “Really?” “Yes,” it was Aedion this time “we have been talking about it since the first trip we made. We both fell in love with the islands and we decided that when we will have a family, this is the kind of environment we want our kids to grow up.” Aedion took Lysandra’s hand “we know it’s a very big change, but it feels right.” “Aelin will be delighted. She misses you a lot.” Rowan looked at both of them “Are you sure? Island life has its challenges. I was afraid that Aelin was going to struggle. Going from living in a place like London where you have everything at your fingertip to live here, it is a massive jump.” Lysandra nodded “we discussed it extensively and we both want it.” Rowan nodded and smiled. They finished their lunch and he took them home so they could get settled and relax a bit while they waiter for Aelin to come back home.

It was much later that night when Aelin got back home. She had to stay behind a bit longer to organise a few things with Malcolm about the interns. She was now ready to collapse on the sofa and catch up with Lys. Once inside she noticed the three of them in the living room, chatting happily. She was very glad that Rowan got along well with them, especially with Aedion. “Old habits die hard?” Lysandra’s voice met her as soon as she entered the living room. “Mal and I had a few things to deal with. We were not planning to finish this late.” She went to Rowan and kissed his head “I’ll take a shower and I’ll be back.” “I got dinner aside for you as well.” He stood “I’ll go and warm it up.” When he passed beside her, Aelin gently pinched his butt “I am such a lucky woman,” and disappeared away to their bedroom.

After her shower she joined the rest to the living room and Rowan had her meal ready on the coffee table for her. It looked so appetising and she was starving. “Did you dry your hair properly?” He brushed her hair to check. “Yes, my lord and master.” Rowan laughed “Good.” Aelin tackled her food when Lysandra spoke up. “Ae, Aedion and I have something to tell you.” Aelin looked up and felt worry. Lysandra’s tone seemed serious. Aedion took his girlfriend’s hand “Lysandra and I are thinking about moving up here.” The fork stopped halfway between plate and mouth. She was staring at the couple with a weird expression. “Say something, please.” Asked Lysandra with worry in her voice. “Are you sure?” Aedion nodded “we have been discussing the issue for a while. You were not the only one who was not happy in London.” He confessed “Lys and I need a fresh start as well and well, we kinda fell in love with this place the first time we came to visit and we have been talking about it ever since.” “Aedion and I have been looking for jobs already. He has a couple of possible options at the airport as an engineer.” Aelin stood and ran to hug Lysandra, so fiercely they almost fell off the chair “I would love that very much. I missed you like crazy. Gossiping with Rowan is no fun.” Rowan coughed in response to the jab. Aelin sat on Lysandra’s lap, her arms still around the woman, and turned to him “Yes you, you never know any gossip in town. I always need to go to your aunt.” Aelin went back to her seat and continued her dinner before it became cold again. “It might take a while but we’ll do it.” “I can listen at the hospital if I hear any opening that might be good for you.” Lysandra smiled “That would be so amazing.” Then she took a sip of her beer “Have you and Rowan discussed about what to do for the wedding? I know you got engaged last night…” Aelin and Rowan exchanged a glance “We actually did.” He answered for her “We are going to have a pagan hand-fastening at Callanish on Beltaine.” Both Lysandra and Aedion looked puzzled. “It’s still a wedding but your hands get tied together with a ribbon as a symbol of the union.” “Sounds cool. And original.” Commented Lysandra. “And Rowan is going to wear a kilt.” Aelin looked at Lysandra and the two women exchanged an understanding glance “And I will have a nice tartan gown with his clan colours.” “What are his colours?” Aelin grabbed her phone and showed Lysandra a picture she had downloaded. “Oh, that’s going to be a gorgeous pattern.” “We haven’t decided the fine details just yet, but of course you two are coming.” Lysandra squealed in delight “Let me know if you want to have another bachelorette party. We can surely top the one you had for officer asshole.” Aelin flinched “I am not sure there is a point.” She drank a bit of water “Speaking of the asshole, I don’t think I told you that he came here.” “No fucking way.” “Yeah, he came here to take me back to London. He told me he wanted to try again and have a while together and then get married again because he missed me.” Aedion growled “Apologies for the language ladies, but what the fuck was he thinking? He was an asshole. He screwed the bitch for over a year and lied to you. He treated you like shit and he has the guts to come and beg to go back to him?” Aelin laughed, Aedion had always been very protective of her and Lysandra and he had been very vocal about his hatred for Chaol. “Don’t worry, Rowan punched him.” And she took Rowan’s hand and smiled at him. “Of that, I am very grateful. I just wished I had been the one to do it. I should have done it last year when he forgot your birthday and came home drunk and ruined the party at your place and kicked us all out.” Aelin had removed that horrible night from memory. He had been horrible to every one. Once they left he had tried to force himself on her but she had pushed him away. She had given him the divorce papers only the previous day and he was still furious with her. She had slept in the guest room that night. The following day she had told Aedion and Lysandra what happened and they helped her pack and move out of the house. She had been glad that Chaol was not at home because Aedion would have reduced him to a pulp. She had never seen him that mad. “Can we just change topic, please?” Aelin felt sick just thinking about it. Rowan noticed her distress, he put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him “I have a day off in two days. We can do something together. Until then you two are on your won unfortunately.” “Don’t worry about that. Aedion and I have ideas of what to do. We will be fine. We hired a car while we are here so we can be independent.” Then she turned to Aedion “But he is driving.” “I told Rowan that you and I celebrate on the 25th with our own traditions and we can have the whole day the two of us. Rowan doesn’t do Christmas and Aedion, well we know where he stands.” “Oh yeah, Rowan told me. I asked him why the Christmas tree without decorations and he explained me his version of the holiday.” “I promised Aelin she could have the 25th whatever way she wanted. We already exchanged gifts on the solstice and celebrated. So go ahead and have fun.” “Am I allowed to put Aelin’s present under the tree?” Rowan smiled “of course you can.” “I won’t be able to sleep with you though. I have a night shift on the 24th and I am not off until noon on the 25th so our morning traditions will have to wait.” Rowan had a curious expression on his face “what do you mean sleep with?” “Oh, Lys and Aelin always shared the bed on the 24th and woke up on the 25th together. They have breakfast in bed and then exchange their gifts.” Explained Aedion “Then they wear their silly ugly jumpers, drink hot chocolate all day, camp on the sofa with blankets, junk food and more hot chocolate and watch cheesy Christmas movies until they collapse exhausted on the sofa.” “You two could join us.” Commented Lysandra staring at the two men. “There is no way I am going to wear those obscene jumpers.” Complained Aedion. “You don’t have to. We can just be all the four of us together. Cozy under the blankets, eat drink and watch movies. We can even let you chose one.” Aedion looked at Rowan and the two men nodded at each other. “Fine. We’ll join the festivities,” Rowan conceded “But I will cook. We are going to have a nice meal. You won’t be able to get junk food on the 25th. This is not London remember?” She snuggled against him “I have the best fiancée in the universe.” Rowan chuckled “and I agree with Aedion. Us boys, we are not wearing any jumpers.” “Spoilsport.”

Christmas Day had finally arrived and Aelin was looking forward to go back home and start celebrating. She was exhausted. The nights shift had been crazier than she expected. Apparently some people had celebrated a bit too much. They also had an emergency in the middle of the night when a serious patient had been airlifted to the hospital from Benbecula. The guy had been in bad conditions when he came in, but was now stable. She was finishing off with her last patient for the day when she noticed Malcolm enter the pit. “Your saviour is here.” He walked to the changing room and Aelin followed him and stood on the door while he changed. “How was the night?” “It started off nice and quiet. Then we had a few people who have celebrated a bit too much and got themselves into trouble. A guy who almost got himself into a coma for how much he was drunk. I got vomited on five times, by a family who was brought in with food poisoning. And finally we had a man airlifted from Benbecula after a car accident. He was in really bad shape but he is stable but still in the ICU for now.” “Sounds like you had a fun night.” She sat down on the bench “I am so tired, I just want to sleep for a week.” “Are you sure you are okay?” He put on the top of his scrubs and grabbed his stuff from the locker and they left. “Which interns do I have with me today?” Aelin smiled wickedly “I gave you Lauren and James.” Malcolm swore. James had been the weakest of the interns. They had decided to try and give him a second chance for a little while longer, but Malcolm had very little patience with him. Although he had been out of the military for a while, he still followed some of his strict military regime he had when he was a medical officer. He had structure and she loved him for that. He also loved things done in a certain way and James had been struggling to adapt to Malcolm’s way of doing things. They were both working on it but where it was almost impossible to make Mal nervous, James was the opposite and became a mess around the man. “Be nice to him, please.” “I am always nice.” He said with a warm smile. “I know you are, but when you have your Captain mask on, you are a bit terrifying.” She laughed. She actually liked his Captain mask. It was no shit Malcolm. He would get things done with efficiency. She always wondered why he never took her job. The A&E would run like a super perfect clockwork in his hands.” “Mal?” She was curious “Can I ask you something?” They were almost back at the emergency room. He had stopped for coffee before starting his shift. “Go ahead.” “Why they didn’t offer you directly my position? You’d be amazing.” Malcolm stopped and sighed “Because I did not apply.” Aelin stopped as well and looked at him. “PTSD. I will tell you the story one day. After I retired from the Navy I took time off.” He sat on one of the chairs in a corridor “Once I was better I decided to try again to be a doctor. But I decided that I was going to remain in the position I was offered. I could not handle again the whole being in charge at all. Too much stress and it was not what I needed in order to heal. So when the position came up I just kept wishing we would get a very competent person in charge and it seems my wishes got answered.” Aelin had no idea what to say “For what it’s worth, I believe you’d have been amazing.” “Thanks, but taking orders for once it’s not too bad.” And he smiled at her “now go home, relax and celebrate with Lysandra. It’s my turn to get vomited on.” She hugged him tenderly “I will see you tomorrow night.” She stood “Nurse Jackie has baked a few cakes for all of us.”

When she finally parked the car in front of the house she relaxed. She had texted Rowan letting him know she was on her way back. He had replied saying he was finishing to prepare lunch and that the house was ready for celebrations. A part of her was excited, but another side just wanted to take a shower and sleep until it was time to go back to work again. Rowan was in front of her when she stepped in the house. He turned her around and covered her eyes with his hands. “What are you doing?” “Shhh.” He gently nudged her and she started walking. Then they stopped and he freed her eyes and Aelin gasped in surprise. The whole living room had been decorated with fairy lights. The coffee table had been moved and the floor had been covered in heavy blankets and pillows and then she laughed when she noticed Rowan and Aedion. They were wearing what looked like matching flannel pyjamas with elves on. She laughed. “The pyjamas were my idea,” confessed Lysandra “I bought them in London. And this morning I convinced them to wear them. As soon as I mentioned to Rowan that it would mean a lot to you, well, he was sold and convinced Aedion as well.” Aelin hugged Lysandra and then went to Rowan and hugged him as well and almost ended up crying. What was wrong with her? “I love it and you both look so very dashing.” She said with a flat voice and Rowan noticed that. “Are you okay?” He brushed his hand on her back while holding her. “Tired, so damn tired.” “Aelin we don’t have to—“ Aelin stopped Lysandra “Yes we do. I will be better after a shower.” “How was the puke count?” “Five.” “Not bad.” Replied the other woman “Nothing can beat the 20 of four years ago.” “Hell no.” Rowan looked between the two women as if missing the meaning of what they were talking about. “I’ll tell you after lunch.” She kissed him and went to the bathroom. Rowan was about to excuse himself but Lysandra preceded him “Go to her. She looks like hell. She needs you just now.” Rowan nodded and silently thanked the woman. He reached Aelin in the bathroom and noticed she was already in the shower. He quickly removed his clothes and joined her. “What are you doing?” He did not reply. He pulled her to his chest and hugged her tight. In that moment Aelin started crying. “Hey…” “I am sorry…” her arms went around his waist “I just feel like crying.” “Shhh let it go. I am here. Let it all out.” And she did. She cried until she felt spent in his arms. He washed her hair and tenderly washed her body as well. There was nothing sexual in his touches. He was just taking care of her and she almost cried again. While he was on his knees washing her legs she fisted her hands in his hair “I love you.” She kissed his silver hair “You don’t celebrate Christmas but still accepted to decorate the house and wear a silly pyjama.”she was sobbing again “You are amazing and I think I must have done something right in my life to have you chose me and allow me to be at your side.” She blubbered “That was cheesy. I am sorry.” He stood and pulled her back into an embrace “I didn’t allow anything. You stormed into my life and made camp in it. And I am glad you did. I meant it last night when I said I will do everything to make you happy. Even wear a silly pyjama or decorate the house with fairy lights.” His hands cupped her face “we are going to have a fun day, relax and enjoy time together with the people who matter to us.” She kissed him deeply and he pinned her against the wall. “What are you doing? We have guests.” She said against his mouth. “Lysandra told me to come and get you and that you needed me right now. I am just fulfilling my role as dutiful fiancée.” “Do your worst, Whitethorn.”

It was twenty minutes later when they left the shower and walked back into the living room. Lysandra and Aedion were snuggled on the floor with a blanket around them and were talking quietly. “Sorry guys,” apologised Aelin joining them “Rowan went to get the food.” “Are you oaky?” Aelin sighed “I think so.” “That bad last night?” Aelin shook her head “No. Not really. I had so much worse. No, I just feel exhausted.” “Come here,” Lysandra hugged her and pulled her close “Aedion and I were looking at houses out of curiosity. We thought that if we move here we could just buy a house.” Aelin turned her head “That means that you two are really serious about each other.” Lysandra nodded “It took us a while, but yeah.” And Aedion nodded. Rowan arrived five minutes later with plates full of food. Aedion helped him to move back the coffee table and he sat the food down. “I got some booze as well.” “I’ll take a beer if you have it,” said Aedion. “Do you have wine?” “Of course, m’lady.” Rowan replied with a bow and Lysandra giggled. “I’ll just have water. I don’t feel like drinking.” When Rowan got back they finally settled down. The pillows were against the sofa and they had a blanket for each couple. Aelin snuggled against Rowan and brought the plate toward her. They had set her laptop on the table and they were ready for the movie marathon “What do we start with?” “Love Actually, of course. It’s the tradition.” Aedion sighed “Babe, you girls have seen that movie a million times. Something new?” “Shh…” she placed a finger on his lips “It’s what the tradition dictates.” When the movie finished a couple of hours later, Lysandra was snuggled against Aedion but Aelin had fallen asleep in Rowan’s arms. “She is completely out.” He said. The three of them kept watching movies but Aelin never woke up or even moved. Once it was late, they decided to call it a night and everyone went back to their room. Rowan lifted Aelin in his arms and took her to bed. He deposited her gently and she woke up. “Shhh go back to sleep. I just put you in bed.” “What time is it?” She asked sleepily. “It’s almost eleven. Everyone went to bed.” “Did I sleep the whole day?” Rowan nodded. “I am horrible.” He joined her in bed, pulled her in his arms and lay down with her covering them with their duvet “No, you were not. You were tired. You worked all night. They both know. No one was mad.” “Did you watch many movies?” “A few. Aedion and I introduced Lysandra to Star Wars.” “Finally, I tried for years.” “Now go back to sleep. You are woking again tomorrow.” Aelin nodded and snuggled tightly against him. “Good night, Buzzard.” “Good night, Fireheart.”

[this-idiots-left-eye]

In Plain Sight

Cover art by Stlyrica on instagram!! I’ll put a link to it in a reblog!!

Fandom: Pandora Hearts

Summary: When Break hides Gilbert's favorite Christmas ornament somewhere in the Rainsworth manor, the Golden Trio must spend the afternoon looking for it. But why is it so special to Gil?

Notes: I originally wrote this for the prompt "Ornaments" in an alphabetical Christmas prompt list my friends and I did in 2017--(it was going to be part of a group of Christmas fics we all wrote for different fandoms. Some of the people in that group hadn't read PH, so that's why this fic has some explanations for who the characters are). Then I posted it for Pandora Hearts Month 2018 for the Golden Trio Prompt: Friendship. I hope you like it! I would really appreciate it if you could reblog and/or leave a comment to let me know if you enjoyed it!

*

“You’re the tallest, Gil, you should put the star on top!”

“Ooh! It looks yummy! Like a big cookie!”

“It’s not a cookie, Stupid Rabbit!”

It was a few days before Christmas, and the trio was at the Rainsworth manor. Finally, everything was ready for the holiday; a fire was dancing in its place, the stockings were all lined up on the mantle, and they had just put the finishing touches on the tree. The only one who hadn’t been informed about the festive season, was the sky outside; it had been raining for the past few weeks. There was a chill in the air, it was frosty, but snow hadn’t quite come yet. Still, they made the most of their time indoors.

“Perfect!” Oz exclaimed.

Oz Vessalius was the fifteen-year-old heir to the Vessalius dukedom, but after his escape from the Abyss that year, when he wasn’t off on adventures, and missions, he spent most of his time at the Rainsworth’s.

“It’s so pretty, Onii-chan!”

On account of the ten-year gap, Oz’s sister, Ada, was older than Oz now, but, no matter what, she would never stop seeing him as her older brother. She was on Christmas break from Lutwidge Academy, and more than happy to spend it at the Rainsworths, with her brother. She had, of course, brought her two cats—Snowdrop and Kitty—with her, (which Gilbert maintained a healthy distance from, due to his phobia of cats).

“The Rainsworths will have the best-decorated tree in town!”

Oscar, their uncle, was spending the afternoon with his niece and nephew too. He was a bearded, bespectacled man, with the same blonde hair and green eyes as the rest of his family. At the moment, he was sitting on one of the couches, with a cup what he called ‘tea’, but which the rest of them guessed probably had something stronger in it.

“I can’t take all the credit, Gil and Alice helped a little,” Oz joked.

“‘A little!’”

Gilbert was Oz’s servant; a dark-haired man, who often appeared cold and reserved, but who was rather sensitive, and a worrywart. He still sometimes acted as though they were only a year apart in age too, despite the fact that he was now ten years older than his master.

“Yeah, manservant!” Alice challenged, “More like we did all the work!”

“I was just teasing!”

“Well,” Sharon had a way of returning things to order with her calm and proper words, “you all did a wonderful job.”

Sharon was the heiress to the Rainsworth dukedom, and looked like a thirteen-year-old girl, though was really in her twenties or thirties—(they knew better than to ask her exact age). Her chestnut hair was usually tied back into a kind of half-ponytail, and, as always, she outmatched them all on style points; today it was with a dress of a wintery blue that looked as if she was trying to encourage the snow to fall. As per usual, she held a cup of tea in one hand—peppermint, she had informed them, for the Christmas season—and a pastry in the other. She was sitting at a small round table on the other side of the room, with Reim—duke Barma’s bespectacled, hard working, servant, who spent more time at the Rainsworth’s than anywhere else, with his two best friends—Sharon and Break.

“Well, I’m beat,” Alice stretched and yawned, “Seaweed-head, when are you going to make me some meat?”

Most Chains (creatures from the Abyss) didn’t look like Alice did; like a fourteen-year-old girl, with floor length brown hair, and an almost cat-like physique—(though it was a giant rabbit she often turned into). Also unlike other illegally contracted Chains, she did not have a thirst for human blood, although she did have a particular love for meat, as well as almost anything edible.

“I suppose I can make you something, now that we’ve finished,” Gil sighed.

“Oh? Have you now?” they turned to see Sharon’s servant, Xerxes Break, grinning as he poured himself another cup of tea. “Are you sure nothing’s…” he leaned back against the table, “missing?”

Break was a red-eyed, white-haired man, also much older than he looked. Even those close to him would say he was a bit of an acquired taste; his love for teasing, the creepy doll on his shoulder, and his general lack of regard for other people and their feelings, made it difficult for those subject to his mischiefs—such as Gilbert—to acquire any kind of affection for him.

Gilbert froze, turning his head slowly to the tree. His eyes immediately found the empty space where a certain ornament had been.

“Break!” he shouted, spinning back to him, “Must you do this every year?!”

“Let an old man have his fun.” Break grinned.

“I believe he must, Gilbert-sama,” Sharon answered Gilbert’s question, nonchalantly taking a sip of tea before continuing, “It has become something of a tradition.”

“I should have spent Christmas with he Nightrays this year,” Gilbert grumbled, reluctance in his motions as he began to pick up books, and other objects around the room, as if searching.

“You’re so mean,” Break chided playfully, then spoke a little more seriously, knowing Gilbert had no intentions of spending much time with his adoptive family, and real brother, “You’d rather spend Christmas with the sewer rat, than us?”

Gil gave him a death glare.

“Sorry…but what’s a tradition?” Oz asked, turning to Sharon and Break.

He wouldn’t admit it, but sometimes, especially with things like this, the ten-year gap could make Oz feel like an outsider.

“Every year Break takes Gilbert-sama’s favorite ornament,” Sharon explained, “And hides it somewhere in the manor.”

“Ooh! That sounds like fun!”

“It’s not fun, Oz!” Gilbert hollered at his master, “It’s a waste of a perfectly good afternoon! Not to mention annoying, and rude!”

Break laughed. Gil had yet to learn his outrageous reactions were what made this sort of thing so fun for the prankster.

“Don’t worry, Gil!” Ada bounded up to him, “I’ll help you look!”

Gilbert flushed, “T-Thank you.”

“What does it look like, Gil?”

He looked at Oz, then turned back to Ada, and explained it quietly enough that only she could hear.

She nodded, beaming, and began to look in a different part of the room.

“What’s the matter, Gil?”—Gil gasped as his master appeared suddenly at his other side—“You don’t want me to know what it is?” Oz’s laugh faded into a more puzzled expression when Gil averted his eyes, turning redder.

“It’s a secret, Onii-chan!” Ada answered for him, “You’ll see when we find it!”

He didn’t get the chance to ask anything more, because Alice broke in, having been observing all their interactions,

“Does…Does this mean I won’t get my meat?”

“Uh huh,” Gilbert sighed, “That’s exactly what it means.”

“No! I will not allow it!” Alice shook her head, and whirled around on Break, pointing at him in an accusatory manner, “Clown! Return Seaweed-head’s stupid ornament his instant!”

“It’s not stupid, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Aren’t you a spoilsport?” The Mad Hatter teased, then the doll on his shoulder, Emily, finished,

“Why should I listen to some dumb bunny?”

Alice growled, her hands clenching into fists. She spun to Gilbert, declaring as she ran up to him,“Then I won’t rest until I find that ornament! With the great Alice-sama on your side, you cannot fail!”

“Sure you won’t just get in the way?”

She kicked him in the shin, crossing her arms, “You’d be lost without me, Seaweed-head.”

“Don’t kick me, Stupid rabbit!” he rubbed his leg, “Now go look for it over there!” he stamped his injured foot back down and pointed to the opposite corner of the room, (to which she quickly ran, proceeding to tear her designated space apart in a matter of seconds.)

“Is this ornament really all that important, Gil? I mean, we have lots of—”

“Yes!” he answered before his master could finish, “it is!”

Oz sighed, knowing how attached his servant could get to things, “Alright. So…is us helping against the rules?” he asked, watching Alice destroy the room in search of it, Ada calmly remove things, and put them back where they were meant to go, and Gil as a mix of the two.

“Don’t you think we would have stopped them if it was, Oz-kun?”

Sharon shook her head, “It doesn’t matter who finds it, watching him search is the fun part.” Her mischievous side was showing; most of the time she was this prim and proper lady, but being close to Break had its effects.

“That’s right; the more people searching, the funnier it is when they can’t find it,” Break sang. “Though, tell me, Ojousama,” he turned to his mistress “are you merely saying that because you wagered he’d find it early—before 18:00?” he asked knowingly, sitting up on the table—(Reim gave him a look that could only be interpreted as: can-you act-any-less-like-a-servant?)

They turned to the clock—it was 15:00.

“Why do you want to know, Break?” his mistress asked with a tone of false interest, “Are you afraid your skills as a prankster have gone down with age?” she patted her mouth innocently with a napkin.

“What do you take me for, Ojousama?” he smirked, crossing his legs, narrowing his eyes at Gilbert, “He’ll need all the help he can get.”

Gilbert returned to him an even more murderous look.

“You… betted on this?”

“All part of the tradition, Oz-kun,” Break mentioned, stealing a mini pastry from Reim’s plate—(the incense was more than evident on Reim’s face, and probably why Break did it).

“It’s not money we wagered, though; If I win, Break has to swear off sweets over Christmas—as well as make me a lavish dessert full of those sweet things he can’t have. And if Break wins, I have to buy him an equally lavish amount of extra Christmas candy and sweets.”

“Nice! Break, I didn’t know you could bake!”

“He really can’t,” Sharon chuckled, “But it’s fun to see what he comes up with.”

Break glared at her.

“So… is this how you bet every year?”

“Sometimes it’s different. But it’s usually something to the effect of giving Break a taste of his own medicine…Though I seem to recall one year, I wanted Break to do this dance I had heard of in a book, if he lost. I believe it was called ‘Futterwacken.’”

“That’s a weird name for a dance!” Oz laughed, “So? How did that go?

“I suppose it is,” she smiled, “That was one of the tamer punishments, but, when he did lose, he refused—rather blatantly.”

“Really?!” he turned to Break.

“How many times must I tell you? I have no talent for dancing.”

“Truly, as a servant of the Rainsworth Dukedom, it would be better fitting that you learned,” she shook her head, then turned back to Oz, “Anyway, after that, we thought the chance to take away his candy was rather enjoyable.”

“Aw, I want to join the bet!”

Gilbert looked affronted, but before he could speak, Oz continued, boyish excitement simmering in his tone,

“Say, what if, if Break loses, I get to eat his candy instead?!”

Sharon and Break glanced at each other.

“Let me ask you something, Oz-kun;” Break set down his tea, “Are you willing to risk the consequences of such a wager?”

“Ehh…consequences?”

“Why of course. I couldn’t give little Oz-kun the chance of stealing my candy without the proper torment in store if he lost.”

“Eh…” Oz knew just how mean Break could get, and that this could very well turn into a prank war that ended in actual blood, “I think I’ll pass.”

“I always said you were smarter than you looked,” the Mad Hatter picked up his tea again.

“Maybe you could join in by helping me look, instead of encouraging them, Oz!” Gilbert whirled on him.

“Aww, do I have to?” the fifteen-year-old groaned.

“Oz!”

Oz turned to the masterminds, as if silently asking for them to give him an excuse not to.

“Hey, Oz-kun is sharp,” Break began, then Emily added,

“Probably smarter than these three put together!”

—two of the aforementioned three gave him what can only be described as ‘fight-me’ faces, and Ada looked disheartened—Break took no notice, and finished,

“So that depends; whose side are you on?”

“Well,” Oz thought for a moment, then mused, grinning, “it would be fun to see Break trying to swear of candy!”

“Is that so?” Break’s eye narrowed.

“In any case, why isn’t Reim-san helping?” he shifted the focus. “You’re not the kind of person to sit back while others are in trouble”

Reim sighed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “While that may be true, these two are often harsher with me, than others. If I help you, I have a feeling I shall pay for it in some way later,” he shot them an icy look, “dearly.”

“Whatever do you mean, Reim-san?” Sharon asked innocently. “We thought you enjoyed our company.”

“Yeah, it’s only because you’re our favorite, Reim-san,” Break gave a fake sappy voice.

“Then pick a new favorite!”

“That’s not how it works! You have a lifetime guarantee!”

“Sharon,” it was Ada who spoke. She had been focused on searching on the mantelpiece, and inside the stockings, “Why are there nine stockings?”

“What do you mean, Ada?” Oz asked, stepping over to her.

“Well, I was just thinking; there’s me, Onii-chan, Uncle, and Alice,”—Alice looked annoyed at Ada mentioning her name—“since we’re staying here for Christmas,” she pointed at each of the stockings in turn, “and these belong to Sharon-sama, Break, Duchess Rainsworth-sama, and Reim-san, right? But who does this last one belong to?” she held the bottom of the last one, careful not to pull it off the mantle.

They turned to Break and Sharon, who glanced at each other, their mischievous grins fading into more somber, reminiscent expressions.

“It was Break’s idea,” Sharon answered.

“Well, I can’t take all the credit—“

“It’s for my mother…That has become something of a tradition as well. We just thought it would be nice, to have something to remember her by during the Christmas season.”

The tone in the room quieted; the rest of them knew that Shelly was Sharon’s mother, who had died sometime after Oz’s coming of age ceremony.

“That’s…actually really sweet,” Oz noted, “Break, I’m surprised you thought of it!”

“You think you’re cute, don’t you? And you say that like I’m cruel.”

“Well…” Oz rubbed the back of his neck, smiling nervously, trying to formulate a non- insulting answer in his mind.

“I think what Oz is trying to say,” Reim started out gently, then finished harshly, “Is that it’s high time you realized you can be a jerk, Xerxes!”

“Well, I wouldn’t say jerk’…” Oz began.

“I would,” Gil mumbled.

“My…I cant believe that you all….” Break began softly, then Emily jeered,

“Just figured that out now!”

The anger was evident on all of their faces.

“Really, why are you all ganging up on me,” Break grinned, without a hint of hurt in his voice, “when you should be focusing on the task at hand?”

“Because it’s your fault we’re in this mess!” Gilbert shouted, then ran his hand frustratedly through his hair, observing the mess they had made of the room, before demanding, “Is it in this room?!”

“Given up already, have you?” Emily teased.

Gilbert clenched his hands into fists, biting back a retort.

“Did anyone see him leave the room?!”

Everyone looked at Gilbert blankly, or up at the ceiling, trying to think if they had, realizing they had no idea, and knew full well Sharon could have used Eques to transport him when their backs were turned anyways. Gilbert put his hands on his hips, sighing at their silence “Alright. We have a whole manor to look through, it’s best we move on from this room,” he paused, turning again to Break, with malice in his eyes, “Right?”

“Sure, kiddo!” Emily replied, and he gave the fakest grin yet.

Gilbert gritted his teeth, then shook his head, directing them,

“Let’s split up; Ada, you go down the left hall, Stupid Rabbit, you take the right. I’ll go downstairs.”

“I won’t let you down, Seaweed-Head!” Alice sped down the hall, not even searching, as if she had forgotten the task she’d been given.

Ada nodded, “Come on, Snowdrop, Kitty!” she called to her cats.

Oz sighed, “Alright, fine. I’ll help too.”

Gilbert smiled, about to thank him, when Oz added,

“But I expect to be rewarded for my troubles!”

His servant rolled his eyes.

“I kinda need to know what it looks like, though, don’t I, Gil? You seemed to want to keep it a secret earlier.”

“You’ll…um….You’ll know it when you see it,” Gilbert looked anywhere but at his master.

Oz sighed, putting his hands on his hips, “Really? That kinda makes things harder, you know.”

“Oh, not up to the challenge, are you Oz-kun?” Break goaded.

“No, no, I can do it! I just feel like we’re not addressing a key part of the puzzle here!”

With that Gilbert pulled him out of the room and into the search.

Gilbert was right; it did seem like a bit of a waste of an afternoon; exhausting wasn’t the only word that came to mind after rifling through each room one by one, with no clue as to where it might be. Especially because the feeling began growing in them that Gilbert was way too attached to things, as well as that Break was, indeed, a jerk. They didn’t know how much time had passed before they met up again in the hall, everyone hanging their heads in shame and disappointment.

“What should we do?” Ada asked quietly.

“We can’t let the clowny bastard win!” Alice slammed a fist into her other palm to emphasize her point.

“That’s right!” Gilbert agreed, “For years I had to put up with his constant teasing, it’s high time we got him back!”

“I don’t think losing the bet is really going to make him stop. I mean, he’s lost before, right?”

“You don’t have to be so blunt about it!” Gilbert complained.

“Sorry,” Oz shrugged.

In the moment of silence that followed, Ada’s cat started rubbing against Oz’s leg, as if trying to comfort him.

“What do you think, Snowdrop?” Oz asked jokingly, picking up his sister’s cat, (Gilbert eyed it, a whine developing in his throat, scooching away), “Do you have any idea where it is?”

Oz gasped.

“What is it, Onii-chan?”

Tied into the cat’s collar was a ribbon, attached to a little ornament. He pulled it free and placed the cat on the floor (it meowed and padded away).

The other three gasped in turn, leaning in to get a better look at it.

“That bastard!” Gilbert slammed his fist into the wall behind him. “He knew I wouldn’t go near your cats!”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, “leave it to Break to take the cheap shot.”

“What are we waiting for?!” Alice demanded, “Didn’t I just say we can’t let the clowny bastard win!”

“You’re right!” the others said together, and bolted down the hall.

“We found it!” Oz held the ornament high, like a trophy, as they burst through the door.

At the same moment that he held up the evidence, the hour chimed.

They each glanced at each other, then at the clock, which read exactly 18:00.

“My, my, isn’t this an interesting turn of events?” Break remarked, stretching, “It looks like it’s a tie, Ojousama.”

“It would appear,” Sharon smiled “In that case, would you please excuse me for a moment?” she gathered her dress and hurried out of the room.

“So, which one of you found it?” Break asked, walking over to them.

“I did.”

The prankster smirked, “What did I tell you?” he ruffled Oz’s hair, “Oz-kun’s sharp.”

“So… what does that mean about your wagers?” Oz tried to put his hair right. “Since you tied?”

“Just a moment Oz-kun,” he put his hand on Oz’s head, his sleeve falling over his eyes, and looked over their heads

Sharon quickly did return, a little out of breath, holding a small package wrapped in a ribbon.

“Here you are, Break!” she held it out for him.

He took it from her and unwrapped it, opening the little red box to reveal that it was filled with the the candy she had promised.

“Just the thing I needed” he patted her head, unwrapping a piece and tossing it into his mouth. “Better luck next time, Ojousama,”

Oz and Alice stared at him, open-mouthed, dumbstruck that he had beat them.

“Now I suppose I should get started on that dessert of yours,” he waited until the proper moment to add.

“Please do.”

“Huh?” Oz and Alice asked simultaneously.

“Since we tied,” Sharon spoke, as they both turned to them, “we both win.”

“So…does that mean the clown still has to swear off candy?” Alice asked hopefully.

“No—Unfortunately,” Sharon added, glancing at her servant, who rolled his eyes, eating another piece, “We both get the rewards of the wager, but no one gets the punishment.”

“More in the Christmas spirit, wouldn’t you agree, Ojousama?” he said between candy crunches.

“Since when do you care about ‘Christmas spirit’?!” Gilbert demanded.

“Better luck next year, I guess,” Oz tried to put a positive spin on it.

“Next year?!” Alice fumed, “I want to settle this now!” (Gilbert held Alice by the neck of her jacket.)

“Believe me,” Reim grunted, eyeing Break, “it’ll only end worse for you,”

“Who knows?” Break shrugged, “There may not be a next year, Oz-kun.”

Alice continued to seethe while the others glanced at each other, unsure of how to respond to such a statement.

“There you go again,” Reim scolded. “You can’t just mention something like that!”

Break dismissed him with a wave of his hand, chuckling to himself, and muttering something about his uptightness, as he made his way down the hall to the kitchens.

After Break left, Oz looked down at his hand, opening his fingers to reveal the little clay, painted oddity he was still holding. Alice came behind him and looked over his shoulder at it.

“What…is it?”

“You didn’t know what you were looking for?!” Gilbert questioned.

“Because you never told me, Seaweed-head!”

Gilbert looked away, clearly wanting to bite back, but without argument with which to do so.

Oz shook his head, staring at it. It was rather crudely made, ineptly painted. But he couldn’t mistake it for anything else—and Gil had been right, he did know it when he saw it.

Because he was the one who made it.

“I can’t believe you kept this, Gil.”

Gilbert looked away, nodding and turning red.

Now he understood why Gilbert was so intent on getting it back. This ornament had probably become a symbol to Gilbert—much like Shelly’s stocking on the mantelpiece was for Break and Sharon—for Oz himself. This ornament, through the years, had probably become tied to his faithful valet’s unending hope that his master would come back. Each year Break took it, as if teasing that perhaps he wouldn’t (and, maybe this was his roundabout way of him trying to prepare him for that), but Gilbert always got it back, as if displaying that he would never lose that hope.

“Oy! What is it?!” Alice demanded again, upset her ‘manservant’ wasn’t focusing all his attention on her.

“It’s a bird, Alice,” Oz answered simply.

“Really, how do you figure?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look very good does it?” Oz laughed.

“Seaweed-head, why would a crappy ornament like this be your favorite?”

“Oy! You don’t see me criticizing your bad taste!”

“Bad taste?! I have impeccable taste! I eat meat every day!”

“That’s not what—”

“Its because I made it for him,” Oz answered her question quietly.

“You?” Alice laughed, slapping him on the back, “You have pretty poor skills, Oz.”

“Give me a break! I was a kid!”

Oscar laughed, walking up to them, “You’re still a kid, Oz. Yes…I can’t remember how old he was, but he made me, Ada, and Gilbert ornaments,” he laughed a little, putting his arm around Gilbert, “I remember how offended Gil was at his master making him a gift.”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, they all looked up at Gil, who got steadily redder the more they spoke, “We had to force him to accept it.”

“Why are you surprised he kept his, Onii-chan?” Ada asked, “Uncle and I kept ours. They’re back at the Vessalius manor. But! we could bring them over here if you want!”

“That’s okay, I believe you! Still… Like Alice said, they don’t look very good.”

“But, like you said, you were the one who made them for us,” Oscar ruffled his nephew’s hair.

“What were the ornaments you made for them, Oz?” Alice asked.

“Well, I made Ada a little cat, and uncle Oscar a camera. I didn’t really know what Gil liked, so I just made him a bird. Funny, how your chain is Raven now.”

“How come you haven’t made me one, Manservant?!” Alice hit Oz on the head.

“Hey! I’ve been busy!” he rubbed the spot where she hit him.

“In any case,” Alice turned to Gilbert, jumping quickly to the next subject, “now you can make my meat, Seaweed-head!”

“Break’s using the kitchen, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Then let’s go to the market! I’m starving!”

Gilbert sighed into his hand, “Fine. Let me get my hat and coat.”

“Can I come with you guys?” Ada asked—Alice looked peeved, but Gil and Oz had already welcomed her.

“I’ll go check if Break needs anything!” Oz ran off towards the kitchen.

As Oz arrived, he saw that Break had changed out of his white coat and purple shirt into more casual closing—likely so he wouldn’t ruin his normal outfit. He had rolled up the sleeves, and was wearing a pink apron Gil sometimes wore when he cooked for them here, but which probably belonged to Sharon’s grandmother, or mother. He had already begun to make a mess of things; flour was all over the counter, chocolate was on the walls, somehow there were even ingredients in in his hair.

“You need some help?” Oz asked, half-jokingly.

Break looked up.

“Oz-kun,” he noted, then grinned, “You? Help me? Gotten bored of Gilbert-kun, and Alice-kun already?”

“Nah. I just wanted to know if you needed anything. We’re going to the store.”

Oz knew that Break could have asked for help from the staff, or Gilbert, but Sharon called him ‘Mr. One-Man-Show’ for a reason; sure, it might not taste or look all that good, but at least he would have made it himself.

“You really think I wouldn’t have come prepared?”

“But, if you won, you wouldn’t have to make—”

Oz gasped. Realizing something:

They both had bought the supplies ahead of time. Oz thought one of them would have to go to the store, depending on who won the bet, (perhaps dragging the other begrudgingly along), but they both had already bought the necessary ingredients. Which meant, either the food one of them bought would go to waste, or be used in some other way, or, regardless of who won or lost, they still intended to give each other the gifts.

“You already had the ingredients,” Oz thought out loud. “and Sharon-chan already had your candy...”

“So?”

“I would have thought one of you would have to go to the store, depending on who won.”

“What’s your point, Oz-kun?” Break pushed his hair back.

Oz shook his head, grinning like he now had some secret information. “Break, you really are a nice guy, aren’t you?”

Break put his hand on the table, turning to him, “Wipe that cheeky grin off your face before I do it for you.”

Oz put his hands behind his back, sauntering closer.

“Oh, nothing,” he whistled, “Just that, well, you do this every year, don’t you? Sharon likes to give you a taste of your own medicine if you lose, but you both use this an excuse to give each other extra gifts, don’t you? I bet it was your idea in the first place.”

“How do you know we weren’t planning to use the supplies in some other way?”

“Because you’re not considerate enough to let others use your stuff,” he grinned, “Didn’t you just say there would be punishment in store if I got your candy?”

“Well,” he smirked at Oz’s discovery, twirling the spoon in his hand, “‘nice’ would be stretching it. But maybe occasionally I’m not a complete ‘jerk.’”

Oz grinned. That was all the confirmation he needed.

As if he were brandishing a sword, Break flicked chocolate on Oz’s face with the spoon, “Now get out of here.”

Oz rolled his eyes.

“Good luck, Break!”

With that he exited the room, and ran to the front door to catch up with Gil, Ada, and Alice, who were gathered there, waiting for him.

“Break doesn’t need anything!” he called to them, “Let’s go!”

At first it may have seemed like a waste of time, but, in the end, Oz realized; an afternoon playing a game, learning that after ten years Gil had still cherished the small gift he had once been reluctant to accept, seeing how Sharon and Break found ways to bring each other joy, spending time with his friends, spending time with his real family, would never be a waste of an afternoon for him.

[ticklish-sprout]

Amp-leaf-ication - Platonic DLAMPR

Trigger warning: Sympathetic!Slimey Boi & Trash Goblin

Words: 1,966

“Patton,” Logan began evenly, “what is that?”

“You know!” Patton finished attaching the final sprig of mistletoe to the ceiling with a bright grin. He stumbled on his way off the ladder and giggled nervously. “You’re smart like that!”

Virgil eyed the plant wearily from his spot on the couch before throwing his hands in the air. “Nope, I’m done. I’m going to bed for a few weeks. Goodbye.”

“No, Virgil!” The fatherly Side gently grabbed his arm to stop him from walking away. “These are gonna mean something different!” He clapped his hands and jumped for joy. “I made a few changes to the rules this year!”

“What changes?” he asked.

“If two people get caught under the mistletoe, they have to tickle each other until one of them falls down!” Patton looked innocent on the surface, but on the inside he was cackling madly. He was a genius. “They’re all over the house, and you-“

Roman poked his head in. “Someone say mistletoe?”

“You want us to engage in a childish tickle fight instead of the normal tradition of kissing the other person during the holiday season...for what purpose?” Logan crossed his arms. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“You don’t need to understand things to have fun!” Patton put on his best puppydog eyes and fluttered his eyelashes cutely. “Please?”

He huffed, shaking his head. “I will not be participating.” He turned on his heel to leave.

“I put mistletoe in the doorway to your room!”

Logan slowly turned back around. “You’re evil. I’m sleeping on the couch.”

“Spoilsport.” Roman immediately ran underneath the sprig and smirked. “Who shall challenge me to a battle to the death?”

“Meeeeeeeee!” Patton threw himself at the prince, latching onto his sides and squeezing rapidly.

“Is thahahahat all you got?” he choked out through his deep chuckles. He began tickling Patton’s neck and threw him into giggles as well as the two of them fought to get the upper hand. “Surrender!”

Virgil blushed and turned away while Logan just shook his head. 

---

Nothing ended up happening for the next few hours. Patton and Roman had called a tie when they both fell over at the same time, and things were quiet once again. Everyone was on guard.

Oh wait, Virgil was underneath the mistletoe in the kitchen. He wasn’t even doing anything, he was just standing there as if he were waiting for something. 

Roman hummed to himself, making his way over to the cabinet to grab a jar of Crofter’s from Logan’s secret stash behind the coffee beans that he had found completely on accident. After getting his jar and a spoon he went to leave before seeing his favorite emo practically asking for it. He slowly set the jam on the counter for safe-keeping and tiptoed over. “Boo,” he whispered.

“Eee!” Virgil squealed partially out of surprise but also because he may or may not have adorably sensitive ears. “I hate you!”

“Do you?” he cooed. “Look up.”

He followed to where his finger pointed and his eyes widened. “N-no. I was never here, got it? You can’t-“

“I can and I shall!” Roman’s hands dove underneath his shirt to tickle his bare stomach with no mercy. “Coochie coochie coo!”

“SHIT!” Virgil immediately burst into bright cackles, legs wobbling. “PRIHIHIHIHINCEY! NOHOHOHOHOHO!”

He smiled fondly and nodded. “Princey, yes! I am slaying the emo dragon with my bare hands! I don’t even have to use my sword!” A few pokes to his belly button finally sent him to the ground, tears pricking in his eyes. “Victory!”

“Ihihihihi hahahate yohohohohou.” He covered his torso as he shakily rose to his feet once again.

“Please, like you didn’t love it! You were waiting for it and you didn’t even try to get me back!” Roman pointed out. “Thought I was too much of a fool to notice?”

Virgil’s face turned scarlet as he growled dangerously. “Who said I wouldn’t get you back?”

He stared at him for about five seconds before whispering, “try me, idiot.” 

“En garde!” He ignored all protests of cheating thrown at him and sought revenge to the fullest.

---

Logan was bound to slip up eventually, even he knew that. What he didn’t know was that it would happen so soon. He went to his room to grab a book or two only for someone’s arms to wrap around his waist firmly. “Patton.” He didn’t need to look to know.

“Hi!” Patton spun him around to boop his nose. “Boop! Now we gotta follow the rules!”

“Rules?” Then he realized. “No, I forfeit. Remember?”

He shook his head and tsked softly, fingers walking up his sides. “You can’t forfeit this! Just be glad it was me who caught you and not one of the others!”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Why is that good news? You’re the most ruthless.”

“Awwww! I’m flattered, but you’re forgetting a couple certain someones!” Patton giggled, pointing down the hall. “Our precious outcasts have caught wind of my little game!” Janus shrieked somewhere in the distance as if on cue. “And it looks like one was caught!”

He pressed his lips into a thin line. “That doesn’t change anything.”

“I can always drag Remus in to help me!” He narrowed his eyes dangerously. 

“You never said that there could be multiple ticklers in this silly game of yours. That is rule-changing.” Logan stepped forward as if to challenge him.

“I never said there COULDN’T, either!” Patton stepped back despite himself, nervousness pooling in his gut. “Lo? N-new rule, only one ler allowed. Okay?”

He inclined his head in acknowledgement and turned him around to hug him from behind, smirking against his hair. “You truly want to play this game? Fine, I shall oblige and follow your rules.”

“LooooooOHOHOHOHOHO!” He howled, squirming and laughing at the soft kisses and nibbles placed on his reddening ears. “THAHAHAHAHAT’S NOT WHAT I MEHEHEHEHEANT! STAHAHAHAHAP PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEASE!” He couldn’t even throw himself to the floor to save himself from how tightly he was being held and tortured. “I GIHIHIHIHIVE!”

Logan pretended not to hear him, scooping him up bridal-style and walking into the kitchen. “Virgil.” 

“Sup.” Virgil was straddling Janus, who was pinned on his stomach and cackling from the horrible back-tickling. “Wanna help?”

“No thank you, I have all I need already.” He was just nuzzling his victim’s neck now, Patton giggling wildly. 

“Your loss.” He glanced down at the squirming mess underneath him. “Oh, I forgot you were there.”

---

Operation: Wreck Logan was put into action effective immediately. He may have avoided getting tickled for several days by always being on guard and sleeping in weird hiding places, but his luck was going to run out fast. It wasn’t fair that everyone besides him got tickled to death. Remus had tried where Patton had failed, also ending up beaten. But now he had his reinforcements.

“Foul play!” Logan shouted. An indifferent Virgil came out of the laundry room with the teacher thrown over his shoulder haphazardly and pounding on his back. “I demand that you put me down this instant so I may finish with the clothes!”

Patton, Roman, Janus, and Remus were waiting in the living room with the most evil smiles Virgil had ever seen, making him shiver despite them not being directed towards him. “Special delivery, you guys. Where should I put him?”

“I called dibs!” Remus announced, making grabby hands. “Give him to me, I’ll get him started and the rest of you can join!”

“This is cheating!” Logan cried as he was plucked from his hold. “You said only one tickler!”

Patton giggled behind his hand. “Did I? I’m afraid I don’t remember that!” Janus smirked at him and flicked his tongue, tasting/smelling the blatant lie. “Just sit back and relax, yeah? You’re in good hands.”

He did find himself relaxing despite himself after hearing his tone soften towards him, closing his eyes. “Traitorous, icky hands,” he snarked with no real bite. 

“Who are you calling icky, dork? You didn’t seem to find me very icky when you had the nerve to attack me!” Remus grinned evilly. “Speaking of nerves, have you-“

“I’d rather get this over with, if you don’t mind.” Logan had accepted his fate. “Go on.”

“You’re no fun!” He shrugged, untucking his shirt from his pants and motioning first Patton to pull off his shoes and socks, exposing his death spot to the cold air. “Whatever. Where shall I start on you? I’ll let you choose.”

He cleared his throat and glanced away. “I-I have no real preference.”

“You’re taking too long.” Virgil shoved him aside and shot his hands into Logan’s underarms. “I’m all for anticipation, but this is getting ridiculous.”

Remus let out an offended gasp. “You stole my dibs! I’ll get you for that later!” He joined in on the fun and began teasingly counting his ribs slowly, pressing into each bone. “Onnnnnnne! Twooooooo! Threeeeee!”

“Ohohohohoho gohohohod!” Logan shook his head and flushed pink, embarrassed to be letting loose in front of the others like this. “Nohohohoho!”

“No?” Patton rested his fingernails on the sensitive skin underneath his toes, already making him giggle-snort. “Fair is fair, Lo! Don’t act like you don’t deserve every. Single. Bit.” His tone darkened with each word until he was grinning evilly. “Tickle tickle!” 

Game over, man.

He screeched and tried to sit up and grab any hands he could reach, only for Janus to lift his arms over his head. “JAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAN!”

“That’s totally my name. You were wrong Patton, this isn’t fun at all,” Janus hissed. “You are absolutely not adorable like thisssssssss.” He summoned the other four arms belonging to him, thinking about how he could use them. He ended up squeezing up and down his sides and vibrating thumbs into the protruding hipbones, sending their favorite nerd into a frenzy. “Do keep thrashing like that, it isn’t hard to hold you.”

Logan didn’t listen (or maybe he couldn’t hear him). “NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” He screamed in laughter and yanked hard on his trapped arms, especially when Roman jumped in to plant a raspberry right on his belly button. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, his face felt like it was on fire, and the whole time he had a huge, genuine smile. It almost hurt, but all he could feel was the tickling. It wasn’t as horrible as he expected, actually. He needed to do this more often. His laugh went silent within seconds and he was only able to wheeze quietly.

“Lo?” Patton poked his hot face. “We stopped, you don’t have to keep laughing!”

Virgil pulled his hood over his head, tightening the strings. “Cute.”

“Whahahahahat?” Logan looked down to see that they had all backed off to leave him in a pile of his remaining giggles, his entire frame shaking. “Cahahahan’t hehehehehelp ihihihit.”

“Hydrate yourself, Dewey Decimated!” Roman conjured a bottle of water and helped raise it to his trembling lips. “That’s good, take small sips. There we go.” He set the bottle next to him to rub his back gently. “Are you going to survive?”

He nodded. “Yehehes, but I must admit I am quite exhausted. I shall retire to my room for the evening.”

“Sure, see you tomorrow!” He waved happily, then turned to the others. “We’re all dead, guys. Start packing.”

---

The war waged on for many more days until Patton took down the mistletoe once December 26th hit, effectively ending the game he had created. However, the plant appeared again only an hour later with no explanation as to how or why. Patton began grilling everyone for information.

“I swear I took it down! You saw me, right? Logan?” He landed on his knees. “Please say you did! I’m going crazy!”

Logan just smiled into his Crofter’s. 

[antihero-writings]

In Plain Sight

Cover art by Stlyrica on instagram!! I’ll put a link to it in the replies!!

Fandom: Pandora Hearts

Summary: When Break hides Gilbert's favorite Christmas ornament somewhere in the Rainsworth manor, the Golden Trio must spend the afternoon looking for it. But why is it so special to Gil?

Notes: I originally wrote this for the prompt "Ornaments" in an alphabetical Christmas prompt list my friends and I did in 2017--(it was going to be part of a group of Christmas fics we all wrote for different fandoms. Some of the people in that group hadn't read PH, so that's why this fic has some explanations for who the characters are). Then I posted it for Pandora Hearts Month 2018 for the Golden Trio Prompt: Friendship. I hope you like it! I would really appreciate it if you could reblog and/or leave a comment to let me know if you enjoyed it!

*

“You’re the tallest, Gil, you should put the star on top!”

“Ooh! It looks yummy! Like a big cookie!”

“It’s not a cookie, Stupid Rabbit!”

It was a few days before Christmas, and the trio was at the Rainsworth manor. Finally, everything was ready for the holiday; a fire was dancing in its place, the stockings were all lined up on the mantle, and they had just put the finishing touches on the tree. The only one who hadn’t been informed about the festive season, was the sky outside; it had been raining for the past few weeks. There was a chill in the air, it was frosty, but snow hadn’t quite come yet. Still, they made the most of their time indoors.

“Perfect!” Oz exclaimed.

Oz Vessalius was the fifteen-year-old heir to the Vessalius dukedom, but after his escape from the Abyss that year, when he wasn’t off on adventures, and missions, he spent most of his time at the Rainsworth’s.

“It’s so pretty, Onii-chan!”

On account of the ten-year gap, Oz’s sister, Ada, was older than Oz now, but, no matter what, she would never stop seeing him as her older brother. She was on Christmas break from Lutwidge Academy, and more than happy to spend it at the Rainsworths, with her brother. She had, of course, brought her two cats—Snowdrop and Kitty—with her, (which Gilbert maintained a healthy distance from, due to his phobia of cats).

“The Rainsworths will have the best-decorated tree in town!”

Oscar, their uncle, was spending the afternoon with his niece and nephew too. He was a bearded, bespectacled man, with the same blonde hair and green eyes as the rest of his family. At the moment, he was sitting on one of the couches, with a cup what he called ‘tea’, but which the rest of them guessed probably had something stronger in it.

“I can’t take all the credit, Gil and Alice helped a little,” Oz joked.

“‘A little!’”

Gilbert was Oz’s servant; a dark-haired man, who often appeared cold and reserved, but who was rather sensitive, and a worrywart. He still sometimes acted as though they were only a year apart in age too, despite the fact that he was now ten years older than his master.

“Yeah, manservant!” Alice challenged, “More like we did all the work!”

“I was just teasing!”

“Well,” Sharon had a way of returning things to order with her calm and proper words, “you all did a wonderful job.”

Sharon was the heiress to the Rainsworth dukedom, and looked like a thirteen-year-old girl, though was really in her twenties or thirties—(they knew better than to ask her exact age). Her chestnut hair was usually tied back into a kind of half-ponytail, and, as always, she outmatched them all on style points; today it was with a dress of a wintery blue that looked as if she was trying to encourage the snow to fall. As per usual, she held a cup of tea in one hand—peppermint, she had informed them, for the Christmas season—and a pastry in the other. She was sitting at a small round table on the other side of the room, with Reim—duke Barma’s bespectacled, hard working, servant, who spent more time at the Rainsworth’s than anywhere else, with his two best friends—Sharon and Break.

“Well, I’m beat,” Alice stretched and yawned, “Seaweed-head, when are you going to make me some meat?”

Most Chains (creatures from the Abyss) didn’t look like Alice did; like a fourteen-year-old girl, with floor length brown hair, and an almost cat-like physique—(though it was a giant rabbit she often turned into). Also unlike other illegally contracted Chains, she did not have a thirst for human blood, although she did have a particular love for meat, as well as almost anything edible.

“I suppose I can make you something, now that we’ve finished,” Gil sighed.

“Oh? Have you now?” they turned to see Sharon’s servant, Xerxes Break, grinning as he poured himself another cup of tea. “Are you sure nothing’s…” he leaned back against the table, “missing?”

Break was a red-eyed, white-haired man, also much older than he looked. Even those close to him would say he was a bit of an acquired taste; his love for teasing, the creepy doll on his shoulder, and his general lack of regard for other people and their feelings, made it difficult for those subject to his mischiefs—such as Gilbert—to acquire any kind of affection for him.

Gilbert froze, turning his head slowly to the tree. His eyes immediately found the empty space where a certain ornament had been.

“Break!” he shouted, spinning back to him, “Must you do this every year?!”

“Let an old man have his fun.” Break grinned.

“I believe he must, Gilbert-sama,” Sharon answered Gilbert’s question, nonchalantly taking a sip of tea before continuing, “It has become something of a tradition.”

“I should have spent Christmas with he Nightrays this year,” Gilbert grumbled, reluctance in his motions as he began to pick up books, and other objects around the room, as if searching.

“You’re so mean,” Break chided playfully, then spoke a little more seriously, knowing Gilbert had no intentions of spending much time with his adoptive family, and real brother, “You’d rather spend Christmas with the sewer rat, than us?”

Gil gave him a death glare.

“Sorry…but what’s a tradition?” Oz asked, turning to Sharon and Break.

He wouldn’t admit it, but sometimes, especially with things like this, the ten-year gap could make Oz feel like an outsider.

“Every year Break takes Gilbert-sama’s favorite ornament,” Sharon explained, “And hides it somewhere in the manor.”

“Ooh! That sounds like fun!”

“It’s not fun, Oz!” Gilbert hollered at his master, “It’s a waste of a perfectly good afternoon! Not to mention annoying, and rude!”

Break laughed. Gil had yet to learn his outrageous reactions were what made this sort of thing so fun for the prankster.

“Don’t worry, Gil!” Ada bounded up to him, “I’ll help you look!”

Gilbert flushed, “T-Thank you.”

“What does it look like, Gil?”

He looked at Oz, then turned back to Ada, and explained it quietly enough that only she could hear.

She nodded, beaming, and began to look in a different part of the room.

“What’s the matter, Gil?”—Gil gasped as his master appeared suddenly at his other side—“You don’t want me to know what it is?” Oz’s laugh faded into a more puzzled expression when Gil averted his eyes, turning redder.

“It’s a secret, Onii-chan!” Ada answered for him, “You’ll see when we find it!”

He didn’t get the chance to ask anything more, because Alice broke in, having been observing all their interactions,

“Does…Does this mean I won’t get my meat?”

“Uh huh,” Gilbert sighed, “That’s exactly what it means.”

“No! I will not allow it!” Alice shook her head, and whirled around on Break, pointing at him in an accusatory manner, “Clown! Return Seaweed-head’s stupid ornament his instant!”

“It’s not stupid, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Aren’t you a spoilsport?” The Mad Hatter teased, then the doll on his shoulder, Emily, finished,

“Why should I listen to some dumb bunny?”

Alice growled, her hands clenching into fists. She spun to Gilbert, declaring as she ran up to him,“Then I won’t rest until I find that ornament! With the great Alice-sama on your side, you cannot fail!”

“Sure you won’t just get in the way?”

She kicked him in the shin, crossing her arms, “You’d be lost without me, Seaweed-head.”

“Don’t kick me, Stupid rabbit!” he rubbed his leg, “Now go look for it over there!” he stamped his injured foot back down and pointed to the opposite corner of the room, (to which she quickly ran, proceeding to tear her designated space apart in a matter of seconds.)

“Is this ornament really all that important, Gil? I mean, we have lots of—”

“Yes!” he answered before his master could finish, “it is!”

Oz sighed, knowing how attached his servant could get to things, “Alright. So…is us helping against the rules?” he asked, watching Alice destroy the room in search of it, Ada calmly remove things, and put them back where they were meant to go, and Gil as a mix of the two.

“Don’t you think we would have stopped them if it was, Oz-kun?”

Sharon shook her head, “It doesn’t matter who finds it, watching him search is the fun part.” Her mischievous side was showing; most of the time she was this prim and proper lady, but being close to Break had its effects.

“That’s right; the more people searching, the funnier it is when they can’t find it,” Break sang. “Though, tell me, Ojousama,” he turned to his mistress “are you merely saying that because you wagered he’d find it early—before 18:00?” he asked knowingly, sitting up on the table—(Reim gave him a look that could only be interpreted as: can-you act-any-less-like-a-servant?)

They turned to the clock—it was 15:00.

“Why do you want to know, Break?” his mistress asked with a tone of false interest, “Are you afraid your skills as a prankster have gone down with age?” she patted her mouth innocently with a napkin.

“What do you take me for, Ojousama?” he smirked, crossing his legs, narrowing his eyes at Gilbert, “He’ll need all the help he can get.”

Gilbert returned to him an even more murderous look.

“You… betted on this?”

“All part of the tradition, Oz-kun,” Break mentioned, stealing a mini pastry from Reim’s plate—(the incense was more than evident on Reim’s face, and probably why Break did it).

“It’s not money we wagered, though; If I win, Break has to swear off sweets over Christmas—as well as make me a lavish dessert full of those sweet things he can’t have. And if Break wins, I have to buy him an equally lavish amount of extra Christmas candy and sweets.”

“Nice! Break, I didn’t know you could bake!”

“He really can’t,” Sharon chuckled, “But it’s fun to see what he comes up with.”

Break glared at her.

“So… is this how you bet every year?”

“Sometimes it’s different. But it’s usually something to the effect of giving Break a taste of his own medicine…Though I seem to recall one year, I wanted Break to do this dance I had heard of in a book, if he lost. I believe it was called ‘Futterwacken.’”

“That’s a weird name for a dance!” Oz laughed, “So? How did that go?

“I suppose it is,” she smiled, “That was one of the tamer punishments, but, when he did lose, he refused—rather blatantly.”

“Really?!” he turned to Break.

“How many times must I tell you? I have no talent for dancing.”

“Truly, as a servant of the Rainsworth Dukedom, it would be better fitting that you learned,” she shook her head, then turned back to Oz, “Anyway, after that, we thought the chance to take away his candy was rather enjoyable.”

“Aw, I want to join the bet!”

Gilbert looked affronted, but before he could speak, Oz continued, boyish excitement simmering in his tone,

“Say, what if, if Break loses, I get to eat his candy instead?!”

Sharon and Break glanced at each other.

“Let me ask you something, Oz-kun;” Break set down his tea, “Are you willing to risk the consequences of such a wager?”

“Ehh…consequences?”

“Why of course. I couldn’t give little Oz-kun the chance of stealing my candy without the proper torment in store if he lost.”

“Eh…” Oz knew just how mean Break could get, and that this could very well turn into a prank war that ended in actual blood, “I think I’ll pass.”

“I always said you were smarter than you looked,” the Mad Hatter picked up his tea again.

“Maybe you could join in by helping me look, instead of encouraging them, Oz!” Gilbert whirled on him.

“Aww, do I have to?” the fifteen-year-old groaned.

“Oz!”

Oz turned to the masterminds, as if silently asking for them to give him an excuse not to.

“Hey, Oz-kun is sharp,” Break began, then Emily added,

“Probably smarter than these three put together!”

—two of the aforementioned three gave him what can only be described as ‘fight-me’ faces, and Ada looked disheartened—Break took no notice, and finished,

“So that depends; whose side are you on?”

“Well,” Oz thought for a moment, then mused, grinning, “it would be fun to see Break trying to swear of candy!”

“Is that so?” Break’s eye narrowed.

“In any case, why isn’t Reim-san helping?” he shifted the focus. “You’re not the kind of person to sit back while others are in trouble”

Reim sighed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “While that may be true, these two are often harsher with me, than others. If I help you, I have a feeling I shall pay for it in some way later,” he shot them an icy look, “dearly.”

“Whatever do you mean, Reim-san?” Sharon asked innocently. “We thought you enjoyed our company.”

“Yeah, it’s only because you’re our favorite, Reim-san,” Break gave a fake sappy voice.

“Then pick a new favorite!”

“That’s not how it works! You have a lifetime guarantee!”

“Sharon,” it was Ada who spoke. She had been focused on searching on the mantelpiece, and inside the stockings, “Why are there nine stockings?”

“What do you mean, Ada?” Oz asked, stepping over to her.

“Well, I was just thinking; there’s me, Onii-chan, Uncle, and Alice,”—Alice looked annoyed at Ada mentioning her name—“since we’re staying here for Christmas,” she pointed at each of the stockings in turn, “and these belong to Sharon-sama, Break, Duchess Rainsworth-sama, and Reim-san, right? But who does this last one belong to?” she held the bottom of the last one, careful not to pull it off the mantle.

They turned to Break and Sharon, who glanced at each other, their mischievous grins fading into more somber, reminiscent expressions.

“It was Break’s idea,” Sharon answered.

“Well, I can’t take all the credit—“

“It’s for my mother…That has become something of a tradition as well. We just thought it would be nice, to have something to remember her by during the Christmas season.”

The tone in the room quieted; the rest of them knew that Shelly was Sharon’s mother, who had died sometime after Oz’s coming of age ceremony.

“That’s…actually really sweet,” Oz noted, “Break, I’m surprised you thought of it!”

“You think you’re cute, don’t you? And you say that like I’m cruel.”

“Well…” Oz rubbed the back of his neck, smiling nervously, trying to formulate a non- insulting answer in his mind.

“I think what Oz is trying to say,” Reim started out gently, then finished harshly, “Is that it’s high time you realized you can be a jerk, Xerxes!”

“Well, I wouldn’t say jerk’…” Oz began.

“I would,” Gil mumbled.

“My…I cant believe that you all….” Break began softly, then Emily jeered,

“Just figured that out now!”

The anger was evident on all of their faces.

“Really, why are you all ganging up on me,” Break grinned, without a hint of hurt in his voice, “when you should be focusing on the task at hand?”

“Because it’s your fault we’re in this mess!” Gilbert shouted, then ran his hand frustratedly through his hair, observing the mess they had made of the room, before demanding, “Is it in this room?!”

“Given up already, have you?” Emily teased.

Gilbert clenched his hands into fists, biting back a retort.

“Did anyone see him leave the room?!”

Everyone looked at Gilbert blankly, or up at the ceiling, trying to think if they had, realizing they had no idea, and knew full well Sharon could have used Eques to transport him when their backs were turned anyways. Gilbert put his hands on his hips, sighing at their silence “Alright. We have a whole manor to look through, it’s best we move on from this room,” he paused, turning again to Break, with malice in his eyes, “Right?”

“Sure, kiddo!” Emily replied, and he gave the fakest grin yet.

Gilbert gritted his teeth, then shook his head, directing them,

“Let’s split up; Ada, you go down the left hall, Stupid Rabbit, you take the right. I’ll go downstairs.”

“I won’t let you down, Seaweed-Head!” Alice sped down the hall, not even searching, as if she had forgotten the task she’d been given.

Ada nodded, “Come on, Snowdrop, Kitty!” she called to her cats.

Oz sighed, “Alright, fine. I’ll help too.”

Gilbert smiled, about to thank him, when Oz added,

“But I expect to be rewarded for my troubles!”

His servant rolled his eyes.

“I kinda need to know what it looks like, though, don’t I, Gil? You seemed to want to keep it a secret earlier.”

“You’ll…um….You’ll know it when you see it,” Gilbert looked anywhere but at his master.

Oz sighed, putting his hands on his hips, “Really? That kinda makes things harder, you know.”

“Oh, not up to the challenge, are you Oz-kun?” Break goaded.

“No, no, I can do it! I just feel like we’re not addressing a key part of the puzzle here!”

With that Gilbert pulled him out of the room and into the search.

Gilbert was right; it did seem like a bit of a waste of an afternoon; exhausting wasn’t the only word that came to mind after rifling through each room one by one, with no clue as to where it might be. Especially because the feeling began growing in them that Gilbert was way too attached to things, as well as that Break was, indeed, a jerk. They didn’t know how much time had passed before they met up again in the hall, everyone hanging their heads in shame and disappointment.

“What should we do?” Ada asked quietly.

“We can’t let the clowny bastard win!” Alice slammed a fist into her other palm to emphasize her point.

“That’s right!” Gilbert agreed, “For years I had to put up with his constant teasing, it’s high time we got him back!”

“I don’t think losing the bet is really going to make him stop. I mean, he’s lost before, right?”

“You don’t have to be so blunt about it!” Gilbert complained.

“Sorry,” Oz shrugged.

In the moment of silence that followed, Ada’s cat started rubbing against Oz’s leg, as if trying to comfort him.

“What do you think, Snowdrop?” Oz asked jokingly, picking up his sister’s cat, (Gilbert eyed it, a whine developing in his throat, scooching away), “Do you have any idea where it is?”

Oz gasped.

“What is it, Onii-chan?”

Tied into the cat’s collar was a ribbon, attached to a little ornament. He pulled it free and placed the cat on the floor (it meowed and padded away).

The other three gasped in turn, leaning in to get a better look at it.

“That bastard!” Gilbert slammed his fist into the wall behind him. “He knew I wouldn’t go near your cats!”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, “leave it to Break to take the cheap shot.”

“What are we waiting for?!” Alice demanded, “Didn’t I just say we can’t let the clowny bastard win!”

“You’re right!” the others said together, and bolted down the hall.

“We found it!” Oz held the ornament high, like a trophy, as they burst through the door.

At the same moment that he held up the evidence, the hour chimed.

They each glanced at each other, then at the clock, which read exactly 18:00.

“My, my, isn’t this an interesting turn of events?” Break remarked, stretching, “It looks like it’s a tie, Ojousama.”

“It would appear,” Sharon smiled “In that case, would you please excuse me for a moment?” she gathered her dress and hurried out of the room.

“So, which one of you found it?” Break asked, walking over to them.

“I did.”

The prankster smirked, “What did I tell you?” he ruffled Oz’s hair, “Oz-kun’s sharp.”

“So… what does that mean about your wagers?” Oz tried to put his hair right. “Since you tied?”

“Just a moment Oz-kun,” he put his hand on Oz’s head, his sleeve falling over his eyes, and looked over their heads

Sharon quickly did return, a little out of breath, holding a small package wrapped in a ribbon.

“Here you are, Break!” she held it out for him.

He took it from her and unwrapped it, opening the little red box to reveal that it was filled with the the candy she had promised.

“Just the thing I needed” he patted her head, unwrapping a piece and tossing it into his mouth. “Better luck next time, Ojousama,”

Oz and Alice stared at him, open-mouthed, dumbstruck that he had beat them.

“Now I suppose I should get started on that dessert of yours,” he waited until the proper moment to add.

“Please do.”

“Huh?” Oz and Alice asked simultaneously.

“Since we tied,” Sharon spoke, as they both turned to them, “we both win.”

“So…does that mean the clown still has to swear off candy?” Alice asked hopefully.

“No—Unfortunately,” Sharon added, glancing at her servant, who rolled his eyes, eating another piece, “We both get the rewards of the wager, but no one gets the punishment.”

“More in the Christmas spirit, wouldn’t you agree, Ojousama?” he said between candy crunches.

“Since when do you care about ‘Christmas spirit’?!” Gilbert demanded.

“Better luck next year, I guess,” Oz tried to put a positive spin on it.

“Next year?!” Alice fumed, “I want to settle this now!” (Gilbert held Alice by the neck of her jacket.)

“Believe me,” Reim grunted, eyeing Break, “it’ll only end worse for you,”

“Who knows?” Break shrugged, “There may not be a next year, Oz-kun.”

Alice continued to seethe while the others glanced at each other, unsure of how to respond to such a statement.

“There you go again,” Reim scolded. “You can’t just mention something like that!”

Break dismissed him with a wave of his hand, chuckling to himself, and muttering something about his uptightness, as he made his way down the hall to the kitchens.

After Break left, Oz looked down at his hand, opening his fingers to reveal the little clay, painted oddity he was still holding. Alice came behind him and looked over his shoulder at it.

“What…is it?”

“You didn’t know what you were looking for?!” Gilbert questioned.

“Because you never told me, Seaweed-head!”

Gilbert looked away, clearly wanting to bite back, but without argument with which to do so.

Oz shook his head, staring at it. It was rather crudely made, ineptly painted. But he couldn’t mistake it for anything else—and Gil had been right, he did know it when he saw it.

Because he was the one who made it.

“I can’t believe you kept this, Gil.”

Gilbert looked away, nodding and turning red.

Now he understood why Gilbert was so intent on getting it back. This ornament had probably become a symbol to Gilbert—much like Shelly’s stocking on the mantelpiece was for Break and Sharon—for Oz himself. This ornament, through the years, had probably become tied to his faithful valet’s unending hope that his master would come back. Each year Break took it, as if teasing that perhaps he wouldn’t (and, maybe this was his roundabout way of him trying to prepare him for that), but Gilbert always got it back, as if displaying that he would never lose that hope.

“Oy! What is it?!” Alice demanded again, upset her ‘manservant’ wasn’t focusing all his attention on her.

“It’s a bird, Alice,” Oz answered simply.

“Really, how do you figure?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look very good does it?” Oz laughed.

“Seaweed-head, why would a crappy ornament like this be your favorite?”

“Oy! You don’t see me criticizing your bad taste!”

“Bad taste?! I have impeccable taste! I eat meat every day!”

“That’s not what—”

“Its because I made it for him,” Oz answered her question quietly.

“You?” Alice laughed, slapping him on the back, “You have pretty poor skills, Oz.”

“Give me a break! I was a kid!”

Oscar laughed, walking up to them, “You’re still a kid, Oz. Yes…I can’t remember how old he was, but he made me, Ada, and Gilbert ornaments,” he laughed a little, putting his arm around Gilbert, “I remember how offended Gil was at his master making him a gift.”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, they all looked up at Gil, who got steadily redder the more they spoke, “We had to force him to accept it.”

“Why are you surprised he kept his, Onii-chan?” Ada asked, “Uncle and I kept ours. They’re back at the Vessalius manor. But! we could bring them over here if you want!”

“That’s okay, I believe you! Still… Like Alice said, they don’t look very good.”

“But, like you said, you were the one who made them for us,” Oscar ruffled his nephew’s hair.

“What were the ornaments you made for them, Oz?” Alice asked.

“Well, I made Ada a little cat, and uncle Oscar a camera. I didn’t really know what Gil liked, so I just made him a bird. Funny, how your chain is Raven now.”

“How come you haven’t made me one, Manservant?!” Alice hit Oz on the head.

“Hey! I’ve been busy!” he rubbed the spot where she hit him.

“In any case,” Alice turned to Gilbert, jumping quickly to the next subject, “now you can make my meat, Seaweed-head!”

“Break’s using the kitchen, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Then let’s go to the market! I’m starving!”

Gilbert sighed into his hand, “Fine. Let me get my hat and coat.”

“Can I come with you guys?” Ada asked—Alice looked peeved, but Gil and Oz had already welcomed her.

“I’ll go check if Break needs anything!” Oz ran off towards the kitchen.

As Oz arrived, he saw that Break had changed out of his white coat and purple shirt into more casual closing—likely so he wouldn’t ruin his normal outfit. He had rolled up the sleeves, and was wearing a pink apron Gil sometimes wore when he cooked for them here, but which probably belonged to Sharon’s grandmother, or mother. He had already begun to make a mess of things; flour was all over the counter, chocolate was on the walls, somehow there were even ingredients in in his hair.

“You need some help?” Oz asked, half-jokingly.

Break looked up.

“Oz-kun,” he noted, then grinned, “You? Help me? Gotten bored of Gilbert-kun, and Alice-kun already?”

“Nah. I just wanted to know if you needed anything. We’re going to the store.”

Oz knew that Break could have asked for help from the staff, or Gilbert, but Sharon called him ‘Mr. One-Man-Show’ for a reason; sure, it might not taste or look all that good, but at least he would have made it himself.

“You really think I wouldn’t have come prepared?”

“But, if you won, you wouldn’t have to make—”

Oz gasped. Realizing something:

They both had bought the supplies ahead of time. Oz thought one of them would have to go to the store, depending on who won the bet, (perhaps dragging the other begrudgingly along), but they both had already bought the necessary ingredients. Which meant, either the food one of them bought would go to waste, or be used in some other way, or, regardless of who won or lost, they still intended to give each other the gifts.

“You already had the ingredients,” Oz thought out loud. “and Sharon-chan already had your candy...”

“So?”

“I would have thought one of you would have to go to the store, depending on who won.”

“What’s your point, Oz-kun?” Break pushed his hair back.

Oz shook his head, grinning like he now had some secret information. “Break, you really are a nice guy, aren’t you?”

Break put his hand on the table, turning to him, “Wipe that cheeky grin off your face before I do it for you.”

Oz put his hands behind his back, sauntering closer.

“Oh, nothing,” he whistled, “Just that, well, you do this every year, don’t you? Sharon likes to give you a taste of your own medicine if you lose, but you both use this an excuse to give each other extra gifts, don’t you? I bet it was your idea in the first place.”

“How do you know we weren’t planning to use the supplies in some other way?”

“Because you’re not considerate enough to let others use your stuff,” he grinned, “Didn’t you just say there would be punishment in store if I got your candy?”

“Well,” he smirked at Oz’s discovery, twirling the spoon in his hand, “‘nice’ would be stretching it. But maybe occasionally I’m not a complete ‘jerk.’”

Oz grinned. That was all the confirmation he needed.

As if he were brandishing a sword, Break flicked chocolate on Oz’s face with the spoon, “Now get out of here.”

Oz rolled his eyes.

“Good luck, Break!”

With that he exited the room, and ran to the front door to catch up with Gil, Ada, and Alice, who were gathered there, waiting for him.

“Break doesn’t need anything!” he called to them, “Let’s go!”

At first it may have seemed like a waste of time, but, in the end, Oz realized; an afternoon playing a game, learning that after ten years Gil had still cherished the small gift he had once been reluctant to accept, seeing how Sharon and Break found ways to bring each other joy, spending time with his friends, spending time with his real family, would never be a waste of an afternoon for him.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Your safety is my concern; 13th doctor x child reader

*Author’s note*

Hey guys well I have in store for you another Doctor Who fic request that came to me over 50000 years ago, so ti took me a bit but I managed to get a straight story plot in so to the anon who requested this fic, I hope you like it and thank you for being SOOO patient :) Not really any serious warning except for the alien threats, mild swearing and a bit of action so your typical PG-13 rating. Enjoy my lovelies :) Also there’s a fun face cast (until tumblr decides to stop being a little B***ch the face cast is Tom Ellis for our villain).

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@psychosupernatural

@waddles03

@platawnic

@ixchel-9275

_____________________________________________________

“Wait, wait so those things actually exist?” Ryan exclaimed.

“Yep.” I replied.

“You’re actually serious?” said Yaz.

“Yeah. They live in a place call the Black forest. That’s where the Brothers Grimm wrote their histories.”

“You mean their fairytales?” Yaz tried to correct me but I just looked at her with a quirked brow and a grin. “No way……”

“Can we go?” asked Ryan.

“I would but—that’s the one rule my mom doesn’t allow. She doesn’t even allow me to go on my own. But I’m in my 11th stage at this point, she went there long before I was even thought of. So you know what—screw what she says. Let’s go!”

“Alright!” Ryan cheered as the two of us fist bumped.

“Uhh Ryan can I speak to you for a bit?” Yaz urged him.

“Oh Yaz don’t be such a spoilsport.” I argued. “I know what you’re gonna try to convince him that we all shouldn’t do this cause it’s my mum’s only rule. Well news flash. You guys have been in worse case scenarios before, so let’s just drop it and go there and you guys can see what inspired the Grimm’s history books.”

“Yeah Yaz. C’mon. This is a one in a lifetime opportunity.” Yaz was in a debate with herself before she finally said.

“Oh alright. But only because I loved reading their books growing up.” I cheered out a yes as I fist pumped into the air.  “Just tell me we don’t have to use the TARDIS to get there.”

“Oh don’t be ridiculous. You can get there practically in any universe or timeline. Just gotta know where to look.” I said.

“Okay so where do we find the entrance here in London?” Ryan asked.

“Well if you were an English writer or wanted to read a book in peace, where would you go to write?”

“The Park.”

“But which one? There’s over a hundred parks here in London.” Yaz said.

“Well the land where the Brothers Grimm came out of in order to begin writing “Little red riding hood” was turned into what is Hyde Park. So just a cab ride there and I can show you guys they exited. Some entrances can lead you out into another part of the world so we’ll have to make sure we exit out of that exact spot once we get there. Otherwise we’ll end up in Germany or Italy.”

“But how will we get pass the Doctor and Graham?” asked Yaz.

“Leave that to me. Now c’mon let’s get going.” We then left my room and we made it to the heart of the TARDIS.

“So there you three are, finally getting bored of reading eh?” Graham’s voice rung out.

“Oh not my girl Graham. My little (y/n) could just bury herself into books, call her my little Belle sometimes.” My mum said.

“Yeah, hey mum since we’ve had such a long few weeks of battling Daleks, evil hitmen and mind controlling robots, you think we could take a holiday?”

“I wouldn’t mind that. Yeah so where shall we go? The Bermuda Triangle?”

“Nah not after what happened last time.”

“Yeah you’re right very nasty business. What about the Capri islands?”

“Charming little places but no. I was kinda thinking in the lines of local holidays.”

“Oh okay then well umm……uhh fam what is there to do around here that’s peaceful and tranquil?” my mum asked the gang.

“Well there’s always the park.” Ryan suggested going along with my plan.

“The park! Of course good suggestion Ryan.”

“Which park shall it be?” asked Graham.

“Earlier (y/n) suggested Hyde Park.”

“Of course she would. Never did choose any other park after that, not after seeing Queen perform there back in ’76.”

“Hey that was a great concert and don’t pretend you didn’t love it in your previous regeneration!” I snapped at her.

“Oh of course I did. I may have been a sour angry Scotsman previously but I knew good music.”

“That you did mum.”

“Alright Hyde Park it is!” mum proclaimed and as we all began to head out Graham took me by the arm and he said.

“Wait so—she was serious? She used to be a man?”

“Oh yeah. Various generations of them too. I kinda preferred her 10th and 11th form though. He was much cooler and funnier in those forms. His last form it was like having a grandfather instead of a father. But oh boy was I surprised to see this, but she does get me better now as a woman.” Graham looked overwhelmed so I patted his back and gestured for him to follow us.

We left the TARDIS and decided that a simple cruise through cabbie to Hyde Park was the best thing.  It took us about 15 minutes to get there but we finally arrived at Hyde Park.  Graham paid our fee and we all exited the cabbie and stood before the park.

“Alright gang, what shall we do first? Do a little exploring? Skip some rocks? I’ve always wanted to try and skip rocks, I never could do that when I was a man. Maybe with these new wrists I could do it.” My mum said.

“You know Graham’s actually a master at rock skipping, aren’t yah granddad?” Ryan asked.

“Yep. I mean I don’t like to brag but once I managed to get seven skips right by the docks during the WWII. My old brothers in combat never let me hear the end of it, but it was worth it if it got their egos knocked down a bit.”

“Then it’s settled. Graham you can teach my mum how to skip rocks, while Yaz, Ryan and I go on a little hike. That okay with you mum?”

“Alright but you stay close to Yaz and Ryan alright?” she warned me.

“I promise mum I won’t leave their side. Cross my heart.” I said as I crossed both my hearts and raised my right hand.  She looked at me but cupped my face in between her hands, her thumbs stroking my cheekbones before placing her forehead on mine.

“You better not. Yaz, Ryan I’m entrusting you to protect my daughter. Make sure she stays out of trouble.”

“Don’t worry Doctor, we will.” Yaz assured her.  My mum hugged and kissed me one last time before Yaz, Ryan and I headed on out towards the hiking trail Hyde Park had to offer.

“See, told you it’d be easy.”

“You were right (y/n).” Ryan said with a grin.

“Alright let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Now where do we find this entrance at?” Yaz asked.

“Well if I remember correctly, cause as usual you humans always make changes to the forests in order to build your parks, I think it’s…..this way.” I went to the right part of the park that led to the forest.

As we tracked along, I looked carefully at every bush and behind every tree trying to remember where the entrance to the Black Forest was.  It was then when I came across the blackberry bush, something clicked.

“Hey guys, we’re getting close.”

“How can you tell?” asked Ryan.

“See that blackberry bush? The Brothers Grimm once spoked about a blackberry bush being the first thing they found after they back from the Black Forest.” I raced on ahead with Yaz and Ryan calling out my name.  It was then I found what looked like a small cave entrance. “This is it guys. We found it.”

“This is the entrance?” Ryan said.

“Yep. This is our entrance into the Black Forest.”

“So…..what do we just crawl through it.” Yaz asked me confused.

“Go in and see for yourself.” I said with a slight smirk.  Ryan and Yaz looked at each other and Ryan shrugged at her.  Yaz sighed and walked up to the entrance.

“I can’t really see any….any light at the end of the tunnel. (Y/n) are you sure this the entrAHHH!!!”

“Yaz!” Ryan exclaimed as he went after her but he too ended up falling down the hole. I grinned and crawled into the den before whispering to myself.

“Off we go.” I then slide down on my back and proclaimed happily like I was going down the slide.

I ended up lying on top of Ryan’s back and I heard him groan underneath me.

“Hello Ryan.” I said.

“Hey (y/n), do you think you could get off of me? I think you broke a rib.”

“No I didn’t you’re just being dramatic.”

“She’s right Ryan, if you had you’d be in a lot worse pain.” Yaz confirmed with me. We all stood up and she said, “So, this is the Black Forest?”

“Yep. We can look around if you like, there’s plenty to see here. But be careful, every single character the Brothers Grimm wrote, they are all real. And some of them are made even lighter by their standards so tread carefully.” I walked on ahead leading the way with Yaz and Ryan following cautiously behind me.  As we walked on Ryan asked me.

“So who should we meet first?”

“Actually Ryan it’s best we don’t go looking for them, in fact I didn’t want to scare you guys but they might have a feeling that humans have entered their world.”

“Wait so even the human characters aren’t really human?”

“Not exactly. They’re…..” it was then an arrow came right in front of my face, barely missing my nose by a centimeter.

“(Y/n)!” They both cried out.  They pulled me in between them and they both asked if I was okay as Yaz began to look me over.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” But it was then dozens upon dozens of archers came out with their arrows drawn out ready to fire at us.  We all held our hands in the air trying not to appear threatening.

“State your name and business trespassers!” the bear-like huntsman demanded as he drew his arrow further back.

“We are not a threat Huntsman.” Ryan tried to reason with him.

“Silence weakling! I speak to the girl!”

“No need to get your knickers in a twist Huntsmen dear.” An echo sounded off as we heard a flock of ravens flying ahead.  It was then every single one of the huntsmen all tucked down in fear trying to swat away the ravens buzzing around them.  The ravens gathered behind a tree and as soon as the last one went behind the tree, a man stepped forward.

His skin while looking like the skin of a toad, glistened like morning dew on the grass, or the sparkling of the stars in the universe.  Across his face was an impish smirk and his eyes were demon red and he had hair black as ebony.  It was then I knew exactly just who this guy was.

The King of the Black Forest, the Fae King, Rumpelstiltskin.

“Rumpelstiltskin.” The Huntsman said fearfully.  He then bowed as did the rest.

“Oh my god.” Yaz whispered in awe.

“Shh!” I hissed lowly.

“Now then, who has the audacity in entering my kingdom without a request from me?” the Dark Fae king stood before us and looked at each of us one by one. “Ahh a couple of humans, been a long time since humans came. Now what were those two lovely yet odd gentlemen’s names again?” he hummed as he tapped his foot, pondering in thought till he snapped his fingers, “The Grimm Brothers. Lovely chaps they were.”

“This guy can’t be the Rumpelstiltskin.” Ryan muttered to Yaz.

“And just why can’t I?” Rumpelstiltskin snapped as his eyes flashed angrily.

“Oh well I—I-I-I didn’t mean any disrespect I was just…..”

“He only meant that….you looked so different, than what we’ve read about you.” Yaz tried to explain.

“Oh really?” he pondered. “And just how exactly am I portrayed?” Yaz didn’t respond back right away, all she did was just stare in awe at the Fae King.  

And I’ll admit in my previous stages, especially my teenage forms, I probably would’ve fawned over Rumpelstiltskin too.  Cause even with the toad-like skin color, he was still a very attractive fae (then again what Fae isn’t?).  

“Well judging by your gaping mouth I’d say not quite like this.” Rumpelstiltskin said as he gestured to himself.

“Begging your pardon, your majesty. What exactly shall we do with them?” a huntswoman asked.  Rumpelstiltskin looked at Yaz and Ryan and said.

“Take these two away.” It was then four huntsmen came down and two of them took Yaz while the other two took Ryan by their arms and held them back.

“Hey let us go!”

“Get your grubby hands off of me!”

“Yaz! Ryan!” I exclaimed.  Suddenly I felt this magical grip on me.  I couldn’t break free of it.  I was then hung upside down and forced to look in the direction of the King Fae. Knowing just how he had the power to affect children, I closed my eyes and tried to turn my head away.

“Ohh, a smart child aren’t you? You seem to know exactly what I can do. But you don’t have the same mortal aura as those two simpletons.” He cooed. “Why don’t you have a look into my eyes dear one? Let me see those adorable, innocent eyes?”

“No! I know exactly who you are! You’re a Djinn Fae! A creature from the Planet Drecarys that can bend reality and target solely children in order to obtain your long lives!” I heard him chuckle icily that sent shivers up my spine.

“A clever child you are, but then again you’re not any ordinary child, are you?” I felt his hand cup my cheek.  I tried to fight it but I felt myself being squeezed by the magical force and that’s when he said. “So that’s it. Now this is a surprise indeed. I think you a mere child but LOW! You are the daughter of a Time Lord.”

“Wait does he mean you know who?” I heard one of the huntsmen say.  That was until I heard the sounds of him choking and even gurgling? I don’t know what but I honestly didn’t want to find out, not if I risk falling under the spell of the Djinn Fae that is Rumpelstiltskin.

“The Doctor does not rule me!” Then I heard the snapping of bones and the collapse of a body. “Take the humans away, I have special plans for our guest of honor.” It was then I could hear Yaz and Ryan crying out my name and I called back to them till my voice was silenced as a gently shush was the only thing I could hear. “They don’t matter anymore my dear little Timelord, all you should be concerned about is us.” Then as I felt both sides of my face being cupped, I then began to smell something sweet.

It was like—honeysuckles no, no, no uhh….lavender. No oh stardust no he’s using the aroma Djinn Fae’s are known to use to put their prey under their spell. Wait hey….why are my eyes closed? Shouldn’t they be open? I then opened my eyes and that’s when I was looking into warm brown eyes.

“There’s my girl. Now come, we’ve got a lot to discuss.” I then felt myself being carried like a baby in his arms and I guess he looked safe so I clung onto him and he smiled down at me before I closed my eyes and fell asleep in his warm, protective embrace.

*3rd Person POV*

He finally had it.  Out of all the children he’s sucked the life out of, Rumpelstiltskin finally had the key to eternal youth.  With the regenerative abilities the timelords have been blessed with, even he could surpass any other Djinn Fae that came before him.  Even if he were near death, all he had to do was regenerate and he’d continue to live his life.

Rumpelstiltskin grinned down wickedly at the young timelord he finally had in his grasp before fading off into a beam of light and disappearing from the forest.

Meanwhile with Yaz and Ryan, they were being escorted by the hunts-people feeling beyond worried about what Rumpelstiltskin wanted with (y/n).

“What is he gonna do to her?” demanded Ryan.

“Quiet nave!” said the leader of the huntsmen scouts.

“No you don’t understand that is our friend he just took hostage! She’s important to us! Important to someone else!” Ryan snapped.  At that point the leader stopped which caused the rest of the guard to stop.  He turned around and said as he held up his ten inch hunting blade right before Ryan’s nose.

“One more word out of you, and I’ll feed you to the wolves!” he threatened.

“Please. That little girl is really important to us. Don’t you have children? Did any of you have children?” Yaz said as she looked to all the hunts-people. They were all silent until one woman stepped up and said.

“I did, once. But then Rumpelstiltskin came along and took her away from me.”

“I’m so sorry, how—how old was she?”

“Younger than your friend. He caught her when she wondered too far from home.” The huntswoman answered solemnly.

“My two boys, Isaac and Ferdinand. That—damned imp stole them from me. And it was me Ferdinand’s first hunting lesson. I should never have let his brother go on his own.” Answered another huntsmen.

“My husband and I once had a pair of twins. Two baby girls. They were the lights of our lives. Until that—devilish son of a bitch came and stole them in the night. My husband’s never been the same after that.” Another huntswoman replied. Yaz and Ryan felt heartbroken hearing these stories, but they were surprised when they heard the leader say.

“Even though I had asked for sons, seeing those tiny little things wrapped in their blankets, I—wanted to protect them. I should’ve protected them.”

“If you all want to avenger your fallen children, then help us rescue our friend back.”

“It’s impossible to fight the likes of Rumpelstiltskin. We’ve all tried, and many of us had lost comrades in battle trying to kill him. I won’t risk anymore of my people.” The leader answered.

“There has to be a way to kill him.” Ryan said.

“There’s not. No one can kill the imp that is Rumpelstiltskin. Even the knights from kingdoms have tried. Other sorcerers, and he just turns them either to dust or a part of his werewolf and dragon army.”

“Well if you won’t help us, do any of you know where he would take her?” asked Yaz.

“His castle is five leagues from here.” The leader said pointing West.  He then let out a whistle as he called out “Gregory! Gretel!” it was then two horses came in.  One was a brown stallion and the other was a khaki color mare.  “These horses once belonged to two great warriors. Before they too died at the hands of that imp. We named them after their riders. May they lead you both into battle, just like they did their former masters.”

“Thank you……”

“Hansel.” The leader introduced himself.

“Hansel? Does that mean…..” they both questioned.

“Yes, my sister—after she lost her son she tried to avenge him alongside with her husband. May my sister bless you and guide you in a way that she could not in life.”

“We won’t let you down Hansel, thank you.” Ryan and Yaz mounted the horses but before they took off riding a huntsman called out,  

“Hold on brave heroes,” He walked up to Yaz and Ryan and handed them each two things. A piece of mushroom and a vile of liquid.

“Wait is this…..”

“Since you come from the world where we are stories yes. Eat the mushroom and you will grow, drink the vile and you shall shrink to the size of a field mouse. Be cautious. His goblin spies and werewolf watch dogs patrol all of the castle.” They nodded before finally urging their horses and took off riding Westward.

“Good luck, and my God have mercy on your souls.”

Far into the West where a decayed old castle stood up along a mountain, Rumpelstiltskin had tied to a sacrificial table (y/n) bound and ready for the ceremony that would begin at the moon’s highest point.  As he prepped his potion and sharpened his dagger, he turned towards the young timelord child and said.

“With your powers no one will ever stop me. Not even death.” He poured a vile containing red liquid into a cauldron and the green potion turned red before he stirred it up.  

“Uhh…..mum? Mum are you there?” (y/n) softly groaned starting to feel slightly more conscious.  Rumpelstiltskin turned wide-eyed but remembering in her memories of how the Doctor was now a woman, he walked up to her and disguising his voice, he spoke as the Doctor.

“I’m here sweetheart. Just go back to sleep for now, mummy’s cooking up a special something for her favorite little Time lady.” He then kissed her temple and using his sleep magic, he once again had (y/n) under a sleeping curse.  “All to easy.” His voice spoke normally once again.

Meanwhile inside the lower part of the palace as a goblin guard was walked through the hallways and corridors doing it’s patrol.  It stopped and sniffed the air before looking towards a small crack in the wall.  He walked right up to it and looked inside it before sniffing it again.  After a few sniffs it turned away and proceeded with its patrolling.

It was then peeking out of the wall were mouse sized Yaz and Ryan.  Ryan looked around to make sure it was all clear before he said.

“He’s gone.” He said to Yaz as the two of them came out of the hole and walked along the stone railings.

“Okay, now how do we find (y/n)?” Yaz asked.

“We just—gotta think like an evil mastermind in any other fairytale, where would you keep a young female at?”

“The highest tower point.” She replied.

“Bingo.”

“But do you think we can get there in time? If this is anything like the fairytales then by midnight Rumpelstiltskin is gonna suck her life out. And either time moves faster here or my watch is broken but it’s 5 minutes till midnight.”

“Okay, okay let me think uhh—do you think we should drink the vile?”

“Do you think we can sneak past every guard, get up the tower and get to (y/n) normal sized?”

“We gotta try, otherwise the Doctor’s gonna really be pissed at us for having her daughter killed by some psychopathic fairy.”

“Alright Ryan, but you better be right about this.” They then took the pieces of the mushroom and took a small bite of it before the two of them grew to their normal sizes.  They then took off and hid behind a stairway just as two more goblin guards came their way. The two of them holding their breaths so that the goblin wouldn’t be able to smell them, then once it took off, they quickly and quietly raced on ahead.

As they came to a throne room, they noticed something behind the throne.  Yaz walked up towards the black and skeletal throne and moved it aside before pressing against the wall behind it to reveal a secret passage.

“Secret door, nice.” Ryan commented with a grin.

“This might lead us to the highest point of the castle. Now c’mon we’ve got four minutes left.” Both Yaz and Ryan quickly raced on ahead as fast as they could up the stairs.  When they finally reached the top, they were now standing before some ritual room but it was the young girl sleeping on the floor on top of an engraved symbol.

“(Y/n)!” they both cried out.  They both knelt down beside her and Ryan grew worried.

“Is—is she…..”

“No, no she’s still alive.” Yaz said as she took her pulse.

“Then what’s wrong with her?”

“Sleeping curse. Like snow white and sleeping beauty.”

“Great, so only a true love’s kiss can wake her up. But the Doctor’s not here.”

“Maybe not, if we can get her out of here, maybe that could cause the curse to fade away.”

“It’s worth a shot, let’s go.” Yaz picked (y/n) up and the two of them took off running back down the stairs.  But as they came down, a raven flew in front of them and began flying out cawing out an alarm.

“Oh shit!”

“Run!” Yaz and Ryan proceeded to run out of the palace as quick as they could with a goblin army chasing after them.

Flaming or non-flaming arrows were shot at them as they tried to dodge each one of them.

“Quick the forest!” but just before they could enter the forest, a firewall blocked them from the entrance and there a spiritual form of Rumpelstiltskin appeared.

“Taking my meal ticket away? I wouldn’t dream of it. You should’ve left when you had the chance, but now you will be delicious treats for my darling puppies.” He let out a wicked laugh as soon jumping from the fire were about seven werewolves, snapping with teeth and claws ready to devour Yaz and Ryan.

The two of them took off running as fast as they could as one werewolf was literally breathing down their necks.  Ryan reached the edge of a cliff, but before he could even react Yaz bumped into him just as the werewolf pounced right where they were just standing.  Sliding down the bumpy slide-like path that send them down the cliff before sending them flying through the air and landing in the forest.

“C’mon this way!” Yaz said as she adjusted (y/n) in her grip and took off running. From on top of the cliff, Rumpelstiltskin proclaimed.

“Don’t let them escape this world!” the wolves and goblins soon all poured down out from the palace and into the woods.  He also transformed into a large spiritual raven and took off gliding in the skies to track down the thieves who were the key to his eternal life.

As Yaz and Ryan kept racing through the forest, all they could hear were the sounds of goblin snarls and werewolf howls echoing through the forest.  Their adrenaline pulsing and their fear rising.  They didn’t know whether they were surrounded or about to walk through a trap.

“C’mon we can lose them this way!” Yaz proclaimed as she ran to the left through a thick patch of bushes.  But as they went deeper and deeper, the bushes soon turned into a hell trap of thorns and vines.  Even though they were getting scarred up and bleeding from their hands or cheeks, they kept pressing forward.

Suddenly like a bomb setting off, Rumpelstiltskin landed right behind them in the form of a dragon.  Yaz ran on ahead but as Ryan tried to keep up, he ended up getting tied up in the thorns. He tried to push on ahead but inch by inch he was being dragged back.

“Yaz! YAZ COME BACK!! I’M STUCK!” All the while Rumpelstiltskin kept opening and closing his dragon mouth trying to reach Ryan through the vines and thorns that he too was caught in.

“RYAN!!” Ryan looked up to see Yaz reaching out her hand for his.  He reached out and took it and she began pulling as hard as she could to free her friend.  Rumpelstiltskin roared and tried with all his might to grab a hold of Ryan, but then like a spring chord, Ryan was free and the vines shot out like a whip towards the King Fae’s eyes and the thorns went right into his left cornea which forced him to shoot up and roar in agony.

Yaz and Ryan continued to race on ahead, that’s when things began to look familiar to Ryan.

“We’re close to where we came from Yaz! Go right!” she nodded and the two ran ahead but just before they jumped down the small hill, something exploded from behind them and the three of them went flying.  When the smoke and dust cleared, Yaz and Ryan coughed and groaned in pain.

“Ryan, you okay?”

“Maybe feeling a bruise tomorrow but other than that I’m just fine. Where’s (y/n)?” It was then Yaz noticed that she was no longer holding (y/n).  She and Ryan gasped as now standing over (y/n)’s unconscious body was none other than Rumpelstiltskin.

“I’m gonna enjoy draining the last bit of life from this time lord’s very soul. Then you two,” at that point goblins held onto Yaz and Ryan as Rumpelstiltskin said in an almost ecstasy tone, “I’m gonna enjoy tearing you both a part. Nice. And slow.” He then picked up (y/n) by the collar and his eyes glowed pure red as he was ready to suck the lifeforce out of (y/n).

“NO!!!” Both Yaz and Ryan proclaimed.  Suddenly echoing through the forest was a thunderous roar.  A tiger’s roar to be exact.  It was then shooting out from the bushes was a large tiger.  It frightened off the goblins forcing them to tuck tail and run away, meanwhile the werewolves tried to fight back but with a single thunderous roar and show of it’s long canines, the werewolves backed away submissively.

The tiger then stood before Yaz and Ryan and hissed and mocked charged at any werewolf trying to get near them.  A few more thunderous roars left the entire forest shaken and even Rumpelstiltskin stood there in shock.  The tiger turned towards them and actually spoke.

“Don’t you even dare think of taking them away from me!”

“Oh my god.” Yaz muttered.

“Impossible.” Ryan said in shock.

“No, Doctor. Never. Never again.” He then carefully set (y/n)’s body back down like he was bringing a sacrifice to a God.

“This is your final warning Rumple. Stay. Away. From my family, or you’ll come face to face with something far worse than me being a tiger.” The Doctor lowly snarled as she stood over her daughter before turning back to face Ryan and Yaz. Both of them in shock at seeing the Doctor like this.

She then looked back down at her daughter and lowered her head and gently licked her cheek.  Slowly her chest began to rise and fall as a small groan came from her mouth before finally her eyes were starting to open up.

*My POV*

Whoa, that was—that was a seriously long sleep. Where was I? I mean last thing I remember was…..oh god Rumpelstiltskin, Ryan and Yaz. I slowly opened my eyes but I got an even bigger shock when I saw my mum standing over me.  Her eyes hard with sternness and anger.  Uh-oh, busted.

“Now keep that promise, we’re finished here!” I was then picked up in my mum’s arms. I turned to look at the Fae king who looked at my mother with a suspicious look.

“I promise Doctor, this is all behind me.” He eyed down at me wickedly as his eyes briefly flashed, almost like he just wanted me to see it, before finally disappearing into a beam of green light and fading away.

“Doctor we—”

“Not. Now Yaz! We’re going home now!” she kept hold of me in her arms as we proceeded to head back in the direction we came in.

Next thing we knew, we were back at the park.  Graham was standing by a tree and he said.

“There you three are, just what the hell were you two thinking!?” he snapped worriedly.

“Graham, I will handle this.” Said my mum.  “Now we’ll discuss this in the TARDIS, so everyone let’s head back now and get out of here.” As my mum and Graham walked on ahead, Ryan, Yaz and I lagged behind and I said to them.

“Sorry I got you into this guys.”

“It’s okay (y/n).” said Yaz.

“We’ll try to have the Doctor go easy on you.” We took a cabbie back to where we had left the TARDIS at and let me just say the car ride back there was so tense, it was like waiting for a black hole to devour the entire universe.

When we got back to the TARDIS, mum activated it and we were once again traveling through time and space.  She had Yaz, Ryan and I sitting on the steps as she paced back and forth as she said.

“I don’t know what any of you were thinking. You all could’ve been killed had I not stepped in!”

“Speaking of which how did you turn into a tiger?” questioned Ryan.

“Not the time Ryan. I’ll be dealing with your punishment later.” Graham lectured him.

“I just—I don’t know who to be madder, madder is that even a word? Anyways I don’t know who I should blame more! Yaz, Ryan I told you to watch over her and not let her out of your sight! And you young lady, you deliberately disobeyed me! You knew that the one world I’ve forbidden you to go to and yet you went ahead and did it. And what’s worse is that you put Ryan and Yaz in danger!”

“We’re sorry Doctor.” Yaz said solemnly.

“Just—the three of you please leave the console room, I need to have a word with my daughter alone.” My mum said in a disapproving tone.

“Don’t you worry Doc, I’ll give these two a proper talking to.” Graham said as he guided Ryan and Yaz out of the room and into one of the many rooms that TARDIS had. My mum came up to me and she knelt down in front of me and said.

“Seriously what were you thinking? Do you realize the damage you’ve done? You nearly surrendered your Timelord energy to one of the darkest and most dangerous Fae’s in all of time and space. Do you have any idea what could’ve happened had he succeeded in draining your life force?”

“I get it mum I screwed up okay? I’m sorry! I was just—I just wanted to show Ryan and Yaz that the Grimm Brother’s stories weren’t just stories.”

“There are other ways of showing a reality is real, especially one as dangerous as that. (Y/n) I—when you, Ryan and Yaz didn’t come back I grew so worried, then when I remembered that a Grimm world entrance could be found in this park I was terrified. If something ever happened to you I wouldn’t know what to do. You’re so important to me, and I can’t bear to lose you.”

“I know mum. The last of the timelords is us. You spared me the night I was born from the extermination of our planet when you ran away. I screwed up, I know. But don’t blame Yaz and Ryan, they were just curious. I was the one to goat them on and let them go with it. Hell Yaz was against it at first.”

“First of all language missy, you’re no longer a 24 year old anymore, you’re 11 and I don’t want any swear words coming out of your mouth while in this state.” I cheekily grinned at her. “Second, thank you for telling me who was really responsible for this. I’ll—try to be light on Ryan and Yaz.”

“Yeah, they had nothing to do with this. It was all me. So if anyone should be punished for it, punish me.”

“And you can bet I will, but for now come here.” She held her arms out and I went up and hugged her and she hugged me back. “I’m just so relieved that I found you when I did.”

“But—I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Rumpelstiltskin.” I muttered frightenedly.

“I know.” She said gravely. “He’s not one to give up so easily, but he’ll have to kill me first in order to get to you poppet. I promise.”

“Thank mum, I love you.”

“I love you too (y/n). I love you so much.” She kissed the top of my head and hugged me tighter.

After all that, mum apologized and let Ryan and Yaz off the hook since they really had nothing to do with going to Grimm world.  And of course I was punished with no mission going for an entire month. I was forced to stay in current time London 2019 and forced to stay with Yaz’s family, yeah I know it may not seem like much of a punishment but to a timelord who can’t travel and save the world, it’s torture.

But I had sickening feeling that we would soon come in contact with Rumpelstiltskin again, I don’t know when and I didn’t know how but I’ve been getting visions of him. It’s almost like there’s this—psychic connection between us.  I can see him and he can see me, and it frightens me to no end.

I only just hope we can find a way to stop him before my visions come to pass.

[scotianostra]

Did you know that up until 1599 that Scotland celebrated Christmas day on December 17th.

So Happy Christmas Day folks, Scottish Old Style! 

King James VI, via an act of his Privy Council, decided that Scotland should come into line with other “well governit commonwealths.” but generally well governed France, the date for New Year's Day was changed from the 25th of March and imposed as the 1st of January. So the day after the 31st of December, 1599, became the 1st of January, 1600. Insular England didn't make the 1st of January the official start of the year until 1752. For more facts about New Year check this link out here. Most folks, if asked, will say that New Year's Day falls on the 1st of January each year. It was not always so, either in the United Kingdom in general or in Scotland, in particular. Come to think of it, it still isn't so in many parts of the world. New Year's Day is generally accepted as being the day that marks the beginning of a new calendar year and also the day on which the year count is incremented, but neither was that always so and  still isn't so in the Jewish calendar. The 1st of January is certainly the  first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar and it was also the  first day of the year on the ancient Julian calendar as used in Rome. Despite that apparent synchronisation, January the 1st on the Julian calendar currently corresponds to January the 14th on the Gregorian calendar. In terms of other cultures, the Hijri or Islamic New Year begins on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar. In 2011, it fell on the Gregorian 26th of November. However, the Islamic year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the Gregorian year, so there's also a  perennially shifting differential between the two calendars. The Hindu New Year falls according to the time and date the Sun enters Aries on the Hindu calendar, which normally means the 13th of 14th of April, depending on the Leap year. The Jewish New Year is celebrated on Rosh Hashanah, which takes place between sunset on the evening before the first day of Tishrei and nightfall on the second day of Tishrei. Strange to say, Tishrei is the seventh, rather than the first, month of the Hebrew calendar. In terms of the Gregorian calendar, Rosh Hashanah will fall between September the 5th and October the 5th. The Chinese, on the other hand, celebrate New Year's Day as the first day of the lunar calendar, corrected every three years, for solar deviations. The date normally falls between the 20th of January and the 20th of February. Until 1599 in Scotland,  the New Year began on the 25th of March, which was in line with England. However, on the 17th of December, 1599, King James VI, via an act of his Privy Council, decided that Scotland should come into line with other “well governit commonwealths.” As a result of Jamie Saxt looking over his shoulder at the likes of 'well governed' France, the date for New Year's Day was changed from the 25th of March and imposed as the 1st of January. So the day after the 31st of December, 1599, became the 1st of January, 1600. Insular England didn't make the 1st of January the official start of the  year until 1752, the year it adopted the Gregorian calendar and way after James VI became James I of England.

According to the 'Register of the Privy Council', “The Kingis majestie and Lordis of his Secreit Counsall undirstanding that in all utheris weill governit commouns welthis and cuntreyis the first day of the yeir begynis yeirlie upoun the first day of Januare, commounlie callit new yeiris day, and that this realme onlie is different fra all utheris in the compt and reckning of the yeiris ...his Majestie with the advise of the Lordis of his Secreit Counsall statutis and ordanis that in all tyme cuming the first day of the yeir sal begin yeirlie upoun the first day of Januare...” Jamie's Privy Council was a powerful legislative and administrative body, which was very useful to him. The King had much more influence over the Privy Council than he ever did over the more independently minded Scottish Parliament. The Privy Council act of the 17th December, 1599, went on to command royal officials, clerks, judges, notaries,  &c., “in all tyme heireftir” to date all “thair decreittis infeftmentis charteris seasings letteris and writtis quhatsumeuir according to this p[rese]nt ordinance.” 

They also seemed to have had a shortage of commas in those days.

Scotland has had a chequered past regarding Christmas, perhaps that is why New Year has always been a wee bit mair special to us than the Yuletide season. Why was this? Well you can trace it back to an act of the Scottish Parliament in 1640 that made the celebration of Yule illegal.

Things had started going sour when those spoilsport Calvinist began to get a foothold, the earliest origins of the church falling out with Santa was actually some years previous, when in 1583, Glasgow Kirk at St Mungo’s Cathedral threatened those those who celebrated Yule with excommunication, this was serious in those god fearing days and would have condemned your eternal soul to hell, a fate worse than the death that would precede this! 

Why was this? Well there are no celebrations of Christmas, after the Nativity itself  recorded in the Bible. Therefore there should be none in Scotland, even singing a Christmas carol was considered a serious crime. After almost 60 years of build-up they eventually passed it into law. They also looked to the old testament for there religion, more or less ignoring the "papist" new one, as for the Virgin Mary, what was she but a heathen goddess dressed up in Roman garb? So she was dropped, along with all the other saints to whom benighted Papists addressed their prayers.

The law was officially repealed in 1712, but it was still generally frowned upon. Punishments for celebrating Yule were harsh, and there was no public holiday for the Scottish people on Christmas Day.

This next part might surprise many of you, after centuries of not having, what the Yanks call "The Holiday season" Scotland eventually began to shake off it's bad relationship with Christmas, when in 1958 it became an official holiday! January 2nd has for years been our additional festive season holiday, it wasn't until 1971 that Boxing Day officially became a holiday 

After centuries of social, religious and political change, Christmas in Scotland has become a very unique celebration.

And as in times long past, we treat this time of year as a holiday season, rather than a single day. Christmas flows into Hogmanay in a glow of family, friends, fun and feasts – and that’s about as traditional as you can get, so raise your glass, turn to your loved ones today and wish them a Happy Christmas. 

The first pic shows a full extract from the Scottish National Archives, the third is what is thought to be the first officially printed Gregorian Calender the basis for most calendars in the Western World.

[kittymaverick]

MCF: Black Crown commentary  part 2 and overall review.

 Spoilers! Though I’m going to post the spoiler free quick review up here.

Another great MCF game, I dare say, despite me constantly having to look away because of my fear of skulls. I’m a little sad that somethings weren’t explored a bit deeper, but overall the plot fits the MCF series, the art was of good quality, the puzzles were of the right difficulty. Not sure when and what the next game is, but I look forward to it if the quality keeps up!

1. [And then the walkthrough spent a full 5 minutes on a complex door puzzle] I was wondering when those would show up. MD: ...I’m more surprised no one sneaked up on me while I was going about this...

2. MD: Hm, maybe I should light this thing-- *Lights the entire passage way* Great, now they know we are here! MD: ...I was never meant to be stealthy, you know...

3. That’s... a somewhat floating ship, albeit on chains. MD: Seriously, they sailed that thing back from Louisiana?! What were they going to do instead, take a plane?

4. Girl: Hi there, also, look what I have. Doctor and Nurse: Help? MD: I KNEW IT. NOW WE HAVE A HOSTAGE CRISIS. Guess we aren’t deviating too far from classic MCF blunders after all.

5. Phineas: Let’s parley! MD: Sure! Give me the doctor and nurse, and I won’t burn your whole estate and ship down down. ...And the girl? MD: He can keep her. If there’s anything I’ve learnt, is leave no survivors to take revenge. Doctor and Nurse: Detective, no.

6. Phineas: Anyway, fix my ship until it’s seaworthy, and they go free, deal? MD: You’re gonna renegade anyway so is there even a point in me agreeing? Phineas: The other ghosts were right, you really are a spoilsport. MD: I’ll also like to point out you have at least 11 conscious subordinates to do your bidding still. Surely THEY can do SOMETHING.

7. A... tavern. MD: The fact that this is the first time I’ve seen a tavern surprises me. That’s a weird, sea monster, thingy, up there...

8. MD, please tell me you’re coming up with a plan to redrown this ghost, again. MD: Hm.... MD, please... MD: I mean, I’m thinking of a word that begins with m, can you guess what it is? Murder? MD: ...I was going more for mutiny, but sure, murder works too.

9. You know, one thing that’s nice about Phineas as a villain is he shuts up and let you do the work. MD: Ah, the sound of a tense peace and quiet... that is not at all pleasing. Time to blow some stuff up just so we can disturb it some. Wait WE’RE IN A CAVE--

10. [One controlled detonation and a ship released later...] MD: Okay, now hand over those hostages! Phineas: Bargain’s fulfilled. You can have them back. MD: ...What, really?! Phineas: I’m just missing some treasure though. Well, more like ONE PIECE (ahaha, ahem, sorry). My sword is missing. Can you get that for me? I’ll release the girl. MD: One, why would I even want that when she wants me dead? Two, I’m pretty sure that mutiny happened in the Americas. How on earth would the sword be here in England-- Phineas: I said A mutiny, not THE mutiny. MD: ...Oh. Still, do I have to rescue the girl? Doctor and nurse: Um, YES?! MD: Oh FINE, I’ll go play the hero... Phineas: I’ll be waiting in the captain’s quarters. MD: ...One, that sounded VAGUELY suggestive, two, you’re going to sink me with you, aren’t you?

11. MD: BTW, you two are taking this ghost pirate ship thing insanely well. Nurse: Um, we DO work at Manchester asylum, for one thing. Doctor: That and we’ve had to deal with you, once upon a time. MD: ...right, that, explains everything.

12. MD: Okay, that’s a lot of treasure on the boat. Maybe you can ask Her Majesty to loan us the army on account of rescuing some treasure? MD: She likes stories better. Awww.

13. Hm, a curse and a priestess... wonder who that priestess might be... MD: At this point, it could be any of the supernatural beings I’ve encountered.

14. Another skill the MD has: diving. MD: Can’t believe all those licensing lessons are paying off.

15. MD: Okay, got your sword! You can spring your trap now! [Ship sails away from the dock] MD: ...That’s one way to isolate your enemy, I guess. Maybe you should check for gunpowder before seeing the captain? MD: I really should do that, shouldn’t I?

16. [Inside captain’s quarters] Doctor and Nurse: Hi. MD: ...SERIOUSLY??? WHY DID YOU COME ON BOARD?! Phineas: Ahem, so the girl? MD: Yeah yeah, give her to the doctor, I don’t care. Phineas: Good! Off ye go, lass, and welcome aboard as my new crew hand, detective! MD: .............Haha, real funny-- Doctor: Remember that contract you signed? That was the service contract. Also, thanks to you, we’re immortal now. MD: ...I fucking knew that paper wasn’t just something random, AND ALSO OF THIS INEVITABLE BETRAYAL! *clench fist* Oh, as for immortality... I’ve got my feather, all good, no thanks.

16. Doctor: So long as the ship sails and we’re on board, we’ll have an eternity to enjoy them! MD: ...Okay, thanks for telling me how to stop you. Time to look for those powder kegs! Phineas: Damn minions, why can’t they keep their mouth shut.

17. Crew member... something: Find me some navigation charts! Another Crew member: I need a new target to throw at! MD: What am I, your servant?! Phineas: Well, judging by the contract, ya probably are. MD: ...You are going to love what I’m about to serve all of you. At least it wasn’t a prenuptial contract or the like, right?

18. Crew member I’ve-lost-count: Thanks for the extra hand! ...I guess they’re still a little insane after all... MD: Not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing... Crew another: I need to feed the bird, but the bird isn’t here... but I need to feed the bird, but-- MD: ...Let’s go with good for now.

19. [Fire a canon] Phineas: Which one of you did that?! MD: *whistles and goes downstairs*

20. MD: He... stored her remains in the FIGUREHEAD??? ...Wow, at least it wasn’t you, right? MD: Not at all helping!

21. MD: Got all the needles, now... HEY PHINEAS! Phineas: Wha? MD: I got a bunch of needles, and guess who’s gonna get stabbed? Phineas: Traitor! This is mutiny! MD: In seriousness, did you really expect me to serve you willingly? Phineas: No, but I didn’t expected you to be this stupid and try to rebel so early! MD: Oh you bloody... *Stabs doll like crazy*

22. Phineas: Wait until I’m free! I’ll rain all the wrath upon ya! MD: Nice try, now I’m going to take the crown, and also this other thing from you... now stay still while I go break the curse. Phineas: You will regret this! MD: I already don’t regret this! 8D I think for once, the MD might be having a bit too much fun tormenting their foe. 23. Phineas: NOOOOO MY SHIP!!!! MD: Off the sides, everyone! Take your leave before it’s too late-- AAAAHHHHH. You would think the voodoo priestess would be nicer and not drop you into the ocean like that. MD: I’m just thankful I’m alive, honestly. Girl: Also, thank you for saving me. MD: ... Dammit I didn’t exactly mean to do that... Oh well, just, please don’t come after me again. My life insurance is getting worse with each attempt. Phineas: *cackles from under water* MD: Oh shut up you ectoplasmic goop. I need another vacation-- Hey, a letter from Louisiana! Time for that American holiday, right MD? MD: *sighs*

[Extra content start here!]

24. So, guy’s got horucruxes. MD: What’s up with people putting pieces of their souls into stuff, huh? It mostly explains their state of mind, to be honest.

25. Only death can find you... creepy... MD: I mean, they’re not wrong. Death’s almost found me many times. And actually did find me that one time...

26. OOOOOHHHH that’s the shopkeeper’s body alright... MD: Welp, guess I’m on my own, plus that southern guy out there. Southern guy: Oh, she’s dead? Well, then I’m out. Keep the amulet to protect yourself! MD: Yes please, I no longer do search and rescues. At least not unless it’s paid well.

27. AAAHHHH TREE MONSTER THINGY! MD: AMULET PROTECT ME PUT THE JAW BACK PUT IT BACK *Thing collapses into dust* MD: ...Oh that was easy. Yeah, guess that’s over-- FLYING SKULL FLYING SKULL MAKE IT GO AWAY! (Kitty has nearly passed out from too much skull exposure at this point)

28. MD: Okay, into the crypt-- oh that’s a lot of skulls (Kitty once again passes out from too many skulls...)

29. Ghost: Heard you hate Phineas too, so we’re gonna help you get him. MD: Great! How do I-- Ghost: Just gotta find his skull among all the skulls here, good luck. MD: ... (Kitty is just gone) MD: Welp fuck me.

30. Ghost: Assemble the four great pirate elements! Wade: Teeth! Terrel: Tentacle! Joe: Eye! Wayne: Pistol! Ghosts: Together we are...! MD: ...A match-3 puzzle??? REALLY????????? Thank you for not making it skulls...

31. MD: FOUND YOU. GET OVER HERE AND BURN TO ASH! Phineas: Ehehe, you missed a tooth! MD: ...fuck.

[chuffyfan87]

Hiding. Part 36b (NSFW)

“I love you.”

"To the stars and back." She whispered.

“To the stars and back.” He repeated as he cuddled her.

"I was so scared I'd lost you." She whispered, a single tear escaping and splashing onto his chest.

He shook his head and kissed the top of her head. “Never. You never will.”

"I couldn't bare the thought of it." Another tear fell.

“Ssh.” He hated the fact he’d got her so upset. “I’m sorry I upset you.”

"Our biggest mistake was forgetting to talk and actually listen to what the other was saying."

He nodded, “Yes it is.” He agreed.

"I can't say it'll never happen again but I'll try my best to listen to you better." She promised.

“We’ll be ok. We have each other, we will always be ok together.”

"Promise me you'll never let go."

“I promise.”

"I'm hungry, do you fancy something to eat?"

“Only you.” He smirked.

"You already did!" She giggled.

“Can I only have you once?”

"No, but right now I need actual food!" She got up and made her way over to the kitchen. Opening the fridge door she pulled out several items and placed them on the worktop.

He lent against the doorframe and watched her. “You know what would be good?” He asked.

"What's that?" She asked, pulling more items from the cupboard.

“Just me and my one track mind, ignore me.” He smiled, “What do you fancy? Other than me?”

"I'm not sure." She surveyed the choices in front of her that practically covered the worktop.

“Something quick and easy?”

She nodded as she opened a packet of crisps, placing a large handful in her mouth as she made a sandwich.

He stroked his fingertips down her spine. “Not planning on sharing those?”

"I'm hungry!" She muttered before grabbing another mouthful.

“So am I.” He replied, “I’ve just had fantastic sex.”

"Is that your way of saying you'd like me to make you a sandwich too?" She laughed.

“Erm, yes please.” He grinned. His arms around her waist. He kissed her neck.

A few minutes later they sat back on the rug and tucked into the sandwiches and crisps.

It was actually romantic, a comfortable silence between the two of them.

The only sounds were the rustling of the food and the crackling of the fire. "I'm not used to it being this quiet." Duffy whispered.

“It feels really strange, doesn’t it?” He agreed.

"So strange. Did you really mean what you said earlier?"

“About having another baby?”

"Yes. It wasn't just something said in the heat of a passionate haze?"

“No darling. No it wasn’t. I want a baby with you, one last roll of the dice.”

"I'm glad." She smiled and snuggled up into his arms, the heat of the fire making her sleepy.

“Tired, gorgeous?”

"Mmm... Fancy a nap?" She mumbled.

“Hmm, maybe.” He kissed the top of her head.

"A quick nap and then we can go for a walk along the cliffs?" She suggested.

“Perfect idea darling.”

A couple of hours later they were awake from their nap, showered and dressed in tshirts, jeans and walking boots ready to head out for a ramble.

“As much as I value our time together, I can’t help but miss the kids.” Charlie said softly

"I agree, I'm having to stop myself from looking around to see what mischief the twins are up to!" She laughed.

“Those twins are trouble. I blame Tilly obviously but I bet Lottie’s just as bad.” He laughed gently.

"Lottie likes to give the impression that she's a little angel but she's as bad as Tilly. She's just better at not getting caught!"

He laughed gently, “She gets that from you.”

"Pretending she's an angel or not getting caught?" Duffy laughed.

“Both.” He smiled and kissed her tenderly.

She smiled softly as she took his hand. They walked further out onto the cliffs. Duffy stopped and looked out towards the sea. "Wow, the brochure was right, the views up here are absolutely stunning!"

“Yeah you’re right they are stunning!” He admired the views, “Maybe we could bring the kids one day?”

"As soon as they're old enough not to try and chase each other over the edge I think that would be a great idea."

“Good point. I’d like to take them away somewhere, maybe we should look for a holiday?” He pouted slightly as he thought.

"Sounds great. I would suggest next summer but we might be a bit busy then!"

“Next summer sounds perfect.” He smiled brightly.

"And everyone says I'm the crazy one..!" She giggled. "There's always Christmas if you fancied some winter sun?"

“I didn’t think of Christmas.”

"Where would you like to go?" She asked

“Where would you like to go?” He asked her back.

"I asked you first!" She pouted.

“I don’t know.”

"We can ask the kids what they think when we get back." She suggested.

“Yeah, sounds a great idea.”

They wandered a bit further along the cliffs until they reached a narrow piece that jutted out towards the crashing waves below. Flashing Charlie a mischievous grin Duffy began to head towards it.

“What are you doing?” He asked, noticing the mischievous grin she’d given him.

The narrow pathway widened out slightly at the end forming almost an island in the sky. "You coming?" She giggled as she placed one foot in front of the other, her arms held out to keep her balance.

“No, Duffy please.”

"What?" Seeing the look on his face she pretended to wobble slightly to tease him.

“Duffy!” He gasped, “Will you please stop teasing me!”

"Spoilsport! I'm perfectly safe." She smiled as she took in the view. "Its spectacular out here!" She opened her arms as she took in a deep breath, the sea air rustling her hair behind her.

“You know I have a dodgy heart.” He replied as he watched her.

She turned back towards him, a sheepish look on her face. "Sorry."

“It’s ok, just come back?” He held his hand out for her.

"OK." She stepped forward and reached to take his hand.

He took her hand and brought her towards him.

She was one step away from him when she tripped on a rock, pitching her forward towards him.

He fell backwards, bringing her down on top of him. He laughed, “Oft!”

She placed her hands on his cheeks and kissed him.

He returned the kiss, his hands on her hips.

She ran her fingers through his hair as she ran her tongue along his bottom lip.

He met her gaze and parted his lips.

Minutes passed as they continued to make out in the grass, totally oblivious to everything around them until a curious dog ran over and nudged Charlie's shoulder.

He stopped kissing her and laughed as the dog nudged his shoulder and then sniffed him.

Duffy looked up and blushed as the dog's young owner jogged over to reclaim his dog.

“Sorry, don’t mind us.” Charlie called to the young guy.

Duffy rolled off Charlie and sat on the grass, her blushing face hidden by her hands. "Oh my god!"

“What? Why are you embarrassed?”

"We just got caught snogging like teenagers by an actual teenager!" She complained.

“You make me feel young at heart.” He replied, “I am a teenager with you.”

She giggled as she stood up, holding her hand out towards him.

He took her hand and stood up.

They walked a little further along the coast, hand in hand, until they came upon a small hut selling ice creams, drinks and snacks.

Standing in the queue, Charlie asked, “Fancy ice-cream?”

"Ooh please!"

“What flavour?”

"Hmm..." She pondered the list. "Mint choc chip."

“Good choice!” He laughed, “Anything else? Tea? Coffee? Hot chocolate?”

"I wouldn't turn down a cuppa."

He kissed her cheek and ordered them two mint chocolate chip ice-creams and two teas.

As they sat eating their ice creams Duffy couldn't resist nudging Charlie's elbow so his ice cream smeared his face.

As his ice cream smeared his face, Charlie laughed and shook his head fondly.

Duffy flashed him an innocent, wide eyed look before returning to her own ice cream.

He left it a couple of seconds before he nudged her elbow.

"Charlie!" She squealed.

“What?” He asked innocently.

She dipped her fingertip in the ice cream smeared on her cheeks. She then ran her fingertip down Charlie's nose.

He watched her and bit his lower lip. “Having fun?” He asked although it was obvious he was distracted by something.

She lent forward and licked the ice cream from his nose. She made a rude noise when she realised how distracted he was.

His breathing had quickened slightly as he felt her tongue against his nose. Oh shit...

"What's wrong?" She asked.

He shook his head and blushed bright red.

"What?" She encouraged.

He lent forward and whispered in her ear, “I can’t stand up.”

"Why not?" A note of concern crept into her voice.

“I... erm...” He moved her hand to his crotch, hoping she’d feel what he meant.

Her concern turned to confusion as he grabbed her hand but then the realisation dawned. "Oh..!"

He was so embarrassed!

"Um..." She was at a bit of a loss as to how to deal with the situation.

“I just need to think of something else so it’s you know— less noticeable.” He mumbled.

"Would you, um... like me to make myself scarce for a bit?" She asked, giggling nervously.

“No.” He laughed gently, still feeling flushed!

"So... Um... There's some interesting wildlife in this area..." She began babbling lamely.

“There is? What kind?” He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

[madfantheyinablueblog]

Hey guys, so with the news of Oppy (Aka ‘Opportunity’) the rover being abandoned on Mars by NASA, and with people being upset...

Well, someone in a Discord server I’m in mentioned that they would love seeing the Doctor rescue Oppy. ( @toodrunktofindaurl had the same idea with their comic here)

 So, I dusted off my old writing bones and decided to give it a shot! Hope you all enjoy!

Team 13 Saves Oppy:

They had been searching for hours. The Doctor had always told Ryan to 'be careful what he wished for' whenever he or the others requested a certain trip. But this had seemed like it would be fun at first, but...he just had no idea how boring Mars was. The Doctor mentioned if they had been there a century earlier, they would have been in the height of the Ice Warrior empire. Apparently, their festivals and shops were good. At that point, the Doctor mumbled about things being ‘given freely’...

And speaking of food, Ryan could tell Graham was getting cranky. Which meant he was getting hungry...again...

'Guys! Over here!' Came Yaz's shout. Thank God, thought Ryan. They all gathered around where Yaz had summoned them. And there, in the dirt, was a large rover. It was quite larger than Ryan had originally guessed. He had pictured it would be the size of a small dog. Instead, it was almost as tall as Yaz, and about as long as his Nan’s dining table.

But, with all its size, it was still. What lights should have been flashing were now dark, the antennae that should have been spinning and full of life were motionless. All of the sudden, there came the Doctor’s shout of excitement through the coms. The outburst had nearly burst his eardrums!

She came tumbling over the dunes behind them, and scrambled over to her friends. ‘Wow, look at her!’ The Doctor was practically vibrating in place, hardly able to hold in her excitement. Ryan didn’t even need to look up to know that Yaz was smiling from ear-to-ear. She always loved when the Doctor got excited. She said she found it nice to see people enthusiastic about what interests them.

‘She’s just amazing, isn’t she?! She’s the perfect example of humanity’s ingenuity. Their thirst for knowledge, a representation of hope and their enthusiasm for growth. It’s more than understandable for others to mourn her!’

‘Well,’ began Ryan,’ we are rescuing Oppy, aren’t we?’

‘Yes, yes! Of course!’

Graham gave a little grunt ‘Well Doc, would we maybe be able to start this rescue mission then? And maybe grab some food on the way back to Earth? I haven’t eaten since this morning…’

‘Alright Graham,’ sighed the Doctor, ‘no need to be such a spoilsport!’

The Doctor took what looked to be a little token out of one of her pockets, clicked a button on the side, and placed in on top of the rover. As close to the centre of it as she could manage. She perked up, and went ‘Alright fam, let’s get back to the TARDIS! That little doohicky will let the TARDIS hone in on this location!’

With that, she led her friends back to their ship. She strode along confidently. That is, until she started tripping on rocks. This pattern continued until they made it back to the TARDIS.

Once inside the ship, she pulled a few levers and clicked a few buttons. With that, she slid down the main lever and the TARDIS was in flight. Suddenly, something started fading into existence in the corner of the console room. It was Oppy! The TARDIS thudded as it landed, and the TARDIS sent them into flight once again (with the location now being Earth).

The Doctor whooped with excitement, and grabbed a long cord out a box on the other end of the room. ‘Let’s turn her on again, shall we?!’ She plugged one end of the cord into the main console, and then into one hole of the rover. Ryan ran over, almost just as excited as the Doctor.

After a few seconds, Oppy seemed full of life. Discs spinning, lights blinking. Then came the beeping. Like some sort of pattern. Ryan looked over to the Doctor. ‘Erm, is she...saying something?’

After a moment of consideration, the Doctor nodded her head in agreement. ‘Yup, let’s see what she’s saying!’

The TARDIS groaned then too. The Doctor looked up at the ceiling of her ship, as if listening to the noises. After a long pause, the Doctor nodded again. ‘The TARDIS is translating for me! It seems Oppy is saying...thank...you...ah, you’re so very, very welcome!’

After some more beeps and groans, the Doctor’s expression went from happy to a bit...confused…

‘Doctor, what’s going on? What are they saying?’ Yaz piped up from the side.

‘Well Yaz, Opportunity is still talking. But they’re phrases that don’t really make sense. In all the old familiar places...that this heart of mine embraces...all the day and through...I’ll be seeing you. I don’t quite understand…’

Graham was the one to perk up from this. ‘Oh, I know this one Doc! Poppy is singing Billie Holiday, a song called I’ll Be Seeing You. Grace and I used to love this song!’

‘Ah, no wonder! I can’t believe I didn’t remember!’ Cried the Doctor. ‘I guess I’m getting old. You know, I was there when Elanora first recorded that song! She was quite a singer, and even better at Scrabble...she even gave me a good game. She beat me a few times too!’

After a short pause of being lost in her thoughts, the Doctor snapped out of it going: ‘Anyways, let’s get Oppy back home!’

===

The next morning, the first person into the NASA offices was a young intern. There, in the centre of the room, was something unbelievable. If by some miracle, it was Opportunity beeping away. Attached to her was a small sticky note that read:

I heard you guys were separated from each other! She’s quite happy to be home, so take great care of her. She is your boss after all (or so she claims).

With love,

~ The Doctor

[i-prefer-the-term-antihero]

In Plain Sight – Fic for Golden Trio Week – Day 3: Friendship (Full fic)

Fic Title: In Plain Sight

Fic Synopsis: When Break hides Gilbert's favorite Christmas ornament somewhere in the Rainsworth manor, the Golden Trio must spend the afternoon looking for it

Notes: I’m so sorry this is late!! To put it lightly, I’ve been having a hellish week. Which means most, if not all, my fics will be late. But I remember @maddyisenough mentioning that we were allowed to post things late.

I originally wrote this for the prompt "Ornaments" in an alphabetical Christmas prompt list my friends and I did last year. However, nobody got to read it last year, and since I didn't get the chance to write anything for the first week of phmonth18, I wanted to at least post something, and decided this worked well for the Golden Trio! Especially since Christmas is fast approaching. I think it works best for the day 3 prompt: Friendship. I hope you like it! I had a lot of fun writing this, and am rather proud of how it turned out! I would really appreciate it if you left a comment to let me know if you enjoyed it!

I posted the entire thing here, but you can also read this on Ao3. It’s under the same title, by I_prefer_the_term_antihero

Fic: 

“You’re the tallest, Gil, you should put the star on top!”

“Ooh! It looks yummy! Like a big cookie!”

“It’s not a cookie, Stupid Rabbit!”

It was a few days before Christmas, and the trio was at the Rainsworth manor. Finally, everything was ready for the holiday; a fire was dancing in its place, the stockings were all lined up on the mantle, and they had just put the finishing touches on the tree. The only one who hadn’t been informed about the festive season, was the sky outside; it had been raining for the past few weeks. There was a chill in the air, it was frosty, but snow hadn’t quite come yet. Still, they made the most of their time indoors.

“Perfect!” Oz exclaimed.

Oz Vessalius was the fifteen-year-old heir to the Vessalius dukedom, but after his escape from the Abyss that year, when he wasn’t off on adventures, and missions, he spent most of his time at the Rainsworth’s.

“It’s so pretty, Onii-chan!”

On account of the ten-year gap, Oz’s sister, Ada, was older than Oz now, but, no matter what, she would never stop seeing him as her older brother. She was on Christmas break from Lutwidge Academy, and more than happy to spend it at the Rainsworths, with her brother. She had, of course, brought her two cats—Snowdrop and Kitty—with her, (which Gilbert maintained a healthy distance from, due to his phobia of cats).

“The Rainsworths will have the best-decorated tree in town!”

Oscar, their uncle, was spending the afternoon with his niece and nephew too. He was a bearded, bespectacled man, with the same blonde hair and green eyes as the rest of his family. At the moment, he was sitting on one of the couches, with a cup what he called ‘tea’, but which the rest of them guessed probably had something stronger in it.

“I can’t take all the credit, Gil and Alice helped a little,” Oz joked.

“‘A little!’”

Gilbert was Oz’s servant; a dark-haired man, who often appeared cold and reserved, but who was rather sensitive, and a worrywart. He still sometimes acted as though they were only a year apart in age too, despite the fact that he was now ten years older than his master.

“Yeah, manservant!” Alice challenged, “More like we did all the work!”

“I was just teasing!”

“Well,” Sharon had a way of returning things to order with her calm and proper words, “you all did a wonderful job.”

Sharon was the heiress to the Rainsworth dukedom, and looked like a thirteen-year-old girl, though was really in her twenties or thirties—(they knew better than to ask her exact age). Her chestnut hair was usually tied back into a kind of half-ponytail, and, as always, she outmatched them all on style points; today it was with a dress of a wintery blue that looked as if she was trying to encourage the snow to fall. As per usual, she held a cup of tea in one hand—peppermint, she had informed them, for the Christmas season—and a pastry in the other. She was sitting at a small round table on the other side of the room, with Reim—duke Barma’s bespectacled, hard working, servant, who spent more time at the Rainsworth’s than anywhere else, with his two best friends—Sharon and Break.

“Well, I’m beat,” Alice stretched and yawned, “Seaweed-head, when are you going to make me some meat?”

Most Chains (creatures from the Abyss) didn’t look like Alice did; like a fourteen-year-old girl, with floor length brown hair, and an almost cat-like physique—(though it was a giant rabbit she often turned into). Also unlike other illegally contracted Chains, she did not have a thirst for human blood, although she did have a particular love for meat, as well as almost anything edible.

“I suppose I can make you something, now that we’ve finished,” Gil sighed.

“Oh? Have you now?” they turned to see Sharon’s servant, Xerxes Break, grinning as he poured himself another cup of tea. “Are you sure nothing’s…” he leaned back against the table, “missing?”

Break was a red-eyed, white-haired man, also much older than he looked. Even those close to him would say he was a bit of an acquired taste; his love for teasing, the creepy doll on his shoulder, and his general lack of regard for other people and their feelings, made it difficult for those subject to his mischiefs—such as Gilbert—to acquire any kind of affection for him.

Gilbert froze, turning his head slowly to the tree. His eyes immediately found the empty space where a certain ornament had been.

“Break!” he shouted, spinning back to him, “Must you do this every year?!”

“Let an old man have his fun.” Break grinned.

“I believe he must, Gilbert-sama,” Sharon answered Gilbert’s question, nonchalantly taking a sip of tea before continuing, “It has become something of a tradition.”

“I should have spent Christmas with he Nightrays this year,” Gilbert grumbled, reluctance in his motions as he began to pick up books, and other objects around the room, as if searching.

“You’re so mean,” Break chided playfully, then spoke a little more seriously, knowing Gilbert had no intentions of spending much time with his adoptive family, and real brother, “You’d rather spend Christmas with the sewer rat, than us?”

Gil gave him a death glare.

“Sorry…but what’s a tradition?” Oz asked, turning to Sharon and Break.

He wouldn’t admit it, but sometimes, especially with things like this, the ten-year gap could make Oz feel like an outsider.

“Every year Break takes Gilbert-sama’s favorite ornament,” Sharon explained, “And hides it somewhere in the manor.”

“Ooh! That sounds like fun!”

“It’s not fun, Oz!” Gilbert hollered at his master, “It’s a waste of a perfectly good afternoon! Not to mention annoying, and rude!”

Break laughed. Gil had yet to learn his outrageous reactions were what made this sort of thing so fun for the prankster.

“Don’t worry, Gil!” Ada bounded up to him, “I’ll help you look!”

Gilbert flushed, “T-Thank you.”

“What does it look like, Gil?” Ada asked.

He looked at Oz, then turned back to Ada, and explained it quietly enough that only she could hear.

She nodded, beaming, and began to look in a different part of the room.

“What’s the matter, Gil?”—Gil gasped as his master appeared suddenly at his other side—“You don’t want me to know what it is?” Oz’s laugh faded into a more puzzled expression when Gil averted his eyes, turning redder.

“It’s a secret, Onii-chan!” Ada answered for him, “You’ll see when we find it!”

He didn’t get the chance to ask anything more, because Alice broke in, having been observing all their interactions,

“Does…Does this mean I won’t get my meat?”

“Uh huh,” Gilbert sighed, “That’s exactly what it means.”

“No! I will not allow it!” Alice shook her head, and whirled around on Break, pointing at him in an accusatory manner, “Clown! Return Seaweed-head’s stupid ornament his instant!”

“It’s not stupid, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Aren’t you a spoilsport?” The Mad Hatter teased, then the doll on his shoulder, Emily, finished,

“Why should I listen to some dumb bunny?”

Alice growled, her hands clenching into fists. She spun to Gilbert, declaring as she ran up to him,

“Then I won’t rest until I find that ornament! With the great Alice-sama on your side, you cannot fail!”

“Sure you won’t just get in the way?”

She kicked him in the shin, then crossed her arms, “You’d be lost without me, Seaweed-head.”

“Don’t kick me, Stupid rabbit!” he rubbed his leg, “Now go look for it over there!” he stamped his injured foot back down and pointed to the opposite corner of the room, (to which she quickly ran, proceeding to tear her designated space apart in a matter of seconds.)

“Is this ornament really all that important, Gil? I mean, we have lots of—”

“Yes!” he answered before his master could finish, “it is!”

Oz sighed, knowing how attached his servant could get to things, “Alright. So…is us helping against the rules?” he asked, watching Alice destroy the room in search of it, Ada calmly remove things, and put them back where they were meant to go, and Gil as a mix of the two.

“Don’t you think we would have stopped them if it was, Oz-kun?”

Sharon shook her head, “It doesn’t matter who finds it, watching him search is the fun part.” Her mischievous side was showing; most of the time she was this prim and proper lady, but being close to Break had its effects.

“That’s right; the more people searching, the funnier it is when they can’t find it,” Break sang. “Though, tell me, Ojousama,” he turned to his mistress “are you merely saying that because you wagered he’d find it early—before 18:00?” he asked knowingly, sitting up on the table—(Reim gave him a look that could only be interpreted as: can-you act-any-less-like-a-servant?)

They turned to the clock—it was 15:00.

“Why do you want to know, Break?” his mistress asked with a tone of false interest, “Are you afraid your skills as a prankster have gone down with age?” she patted her mouth innocently with a napkin.

“What do you take me for, Ojousama?” he smirked, crossing his legs, narrowing his eyes at Gilbert, “He’ll need all the help he can get.”

Gilbert returned to him an even more murderous look.

“You… betted on this?”

“All part of the tradition, Oz-kun,” Break mentioned, stealing a mini pastry from Reim’s plate—(the incense was more than evident on Reim’s face, and probably why Break did it).

“It’s not money we wagered, though; If I win, Break has to swear off sweets over Christmas—as well as make me a lavish dessert full of those sweet things he can’t have. And if Break wins, I have to buy him an equally lavish amount of extra Christmas candy and sweets.”

“Nice! Break, I didn’t know you could bake!”

“He really can’t,” Sharon chuckled, “But it’s fun to see what he comes up with.”

Break glared at her.

“So… is this how you bet every year?”

“Sometimes it’s different. But it’s usually something to the effect of giving Break a taste of his own medicine…Though I seem to recall one year, I wanted Break to do this dance I had heard of in a book, if he lost. I believe it was called ‘Futterwacken.’”

“That’s a weird name for a dance!” Oz laughed, “So? How did that go?

“I suppose it is,” she smiled, “That was one of the tamer punishments, but, when he did lose, he refused—rather blatantly.”

“Really?!” he turned to Break.

“How many times must I tell you? I have no talent for dancing.”

“Truly, as a servant of the Rainsworth Dukedom, it would be better fitting that you learned,” she shook her head, then turned back to Oz, “Anyway, after that, we thought the chance to take away his candy was rather enjoyable.”

“Aw, I want to join the bet!”

Gilbert looked affronted, but before he could speak, Oz continued, boyish excitement simmering in his tone,

“Say, what if, if Break loses, I get to eat his candy instead?!”

Sharon and Break glanced at each other.

“Let me ask you something, Oz-kun;” Break set down his tea, “Are you willing to risk the consequences of such a wager?”

“Ehh…consequences?”

“Why of course. I couldn’t give little Oz-kun the chance of stealing my candy without the proper torment in store if he lost.”

“Eh…” Oz knew just how mean Break could get, and that this could very well turn into a prank war that ended in actual blood, “I think I’ll pass.”

“I always said you were smarter than you looked,” the Mad Hatter picked up his tea again.

“Maybe you could join in by helping me look, instead of encouraging them, Oz!” Gilbert whirled on him.

“Aww, do I have to?” the fifteen-year-old groaned.

“Oz!”

Oz turned to the masterminds, as if silently asking for them to give him an excuse not to.

“Hey, Oz-kun is sharp,” Break began, then Emily added,

“Probably smarter than these three put together!”

—two of the aforementioned three gave him what can only be described as ‘fight-me’ faces, and Ada looked disheartened—Break took no notice, and finished,

“So that depends; whose side are you on?”

“Well,” Oz thought for a moment, then mused, grinning, “it would be fun to see Break trying to swear of candy!”

“Is that so?” Break’s eye narrowed.

“In any case, why isn’t Reim-san helping?” he shifted the focus. “You’re not the kind of person to sit back while others are in trouble”

Reim sighed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “While that may be true, these two are often harsher with me, than others. If I help you, I have a feeling I shall pay for it in some way later,” he shot them an icy look, “dearly.”

“Whatever do you mean, Reim-san?” Sharon asked innocently. “We thought you enjoyed our company.”

“Yeah, it’s only because you’re our favorite, Reim-san,” Break gave a fake sappy voice.

“Then pick a new favorite!”

“That’s not how it works! You have a lifetime guarantee!”

“Sharon,” it was Ada who spoke. She had been focused on searching on the mantelpiece, and inside the stockings, “Why are there nine stockings?”

“What do you mean, Ada?” Oz asked, stepping over to her.

“Well, I was just thinking; there’s me, Onii-chan, Uncle, and Alice,”—Alice looked annoyed at Ada mentioning her name—“since we’re staying here for Christmas,” she pointed at each of the stockings in turn, “and these belong to Sharon-sama, Break, Duchess Rainsworth-sama, and Reim-san, right? But who does this last one belong to?” she held the bottom of the last one, careful not to pull it off the mantle.

They turned to Break and Sharon, who glanced at each other, their mischievous grins fading into more somber, reminiscent expressions.

“It was Break’s idea,” Sharon answered.

“Well, I can’t take all the credit—“

“It’s for my mother…That has become something of a tradition as well. We just thought it would be nice, to have something to remember her by during the Christmas season.”

The tone in the room quieted; the rest of them knew that Shelly was Sharon’s mother, who had died sometime after Oz’s coming of age ceremony.

“That’s…actually really sweet,” Oz noted, “Break, I’m surprised you thought of it!”

“You think you’re cute, don’t you? And you say that like I’m cruel.”

“Well…” Oz rubbed the back of his neck, smiling nervously, trying to formulate a non- insulting answer in his mind.

“I think what Oz is trying to say,” Reim started out gently, then finished harshly, “Is that it’s high time you realized you can be a jerk, Xerxes!”

“Well, I wouldn’t say jerk’…” Oz began.

“I would,” Gil mumbled.

“My…I cant believe that you all….” Break began softly, then Emily jeered,

“Just figured that out now!”

The anger was evident on all of their faces.

“Really, why are you all ganging up on me,” Break grinned, without a hint of hurt in his voice, “when you should be focusing on the task at hand?”

“Because it’s your fault we’re in this mess!” Gilbert shouted, then ran his hand frustratedly through his hair, observing the mess they had made of the room, before demanding, “Is it in this room?!”

“Given up already, have you?” Emily teased.

Gilbert clenched his hands into fists, biting back a retort.

“Did anyone see him leave the room?!”

Everyone looked at Gilbert blankly, or up at the ceiling, trying to think if they had, realizing they had no idea, and knew full well Sharon could have used Eques to transport him when their backs were turned anyways. Gilbert put his hands on his hips, sighing at their silence “Alright. We have a whole manor to look through, it’s best we move on from this room,” he paused, turning again to Break, with malice in his eyes, “Right?”

“Sure, kiddo!” Emily replied, and he gave the fakest grin yet.

Gilbert gritted his teeth, then shook his head, directing them,

“Let’s split up; Ada, you go down the left hall, Stupid Rabbit, you take the right. I’ll go downstairs.”

“I won’t let you down, Seaweed-Head!” Alice sped down the hall, not even searching, as if she had forgotten the task she’d been given.

Ada nodded, “Come on, Snowdrop, Kitty!” she called to her cats.

Oz sighed, “Alright, fine. I’ll help too.”

Gilbert smiled, about to thank him, when Oz added,

“But I expect to be rewarded for my troubles!”

His servant rolled his eyes.

“I kinda need to know what it looks like, though, don’t I, Gil? You seemed to want to keep it a secret earlier.”

“You’ll…um….You’ll know it when you see it,” Gilbert looked anywhere but at his master.

Oz sighed, putting his hands on his hips, “Really? That kinda makes things harder, you know.”

“Oh, not up to the challenge, are you Oz-kun?” Break goaded.

“No, no, I can do it! I just feel like we’re not addressing a key part of the puzzle here!”

With that Gilbert pulled him out of the room and into the search.

Gilbert was right; it did seem like a bit of a waste of an afternoon; exhausting wasn’t the only word that came to mind after rifling through each room one by one, with no clue as to where it might be. Especially because the feeling began growing in them that Gilbert was way too attached to things, as well as that Break was, indeed, a jerk. They didn’t know how much time had passed before they met up again in the hall, everyone hanging their heads in shame and disappointment.

“What should we do?” Ada asked quietly.

“We can’t let the clowny bastard win!” Alice slammed a fist into her other palm to emphasize her point.

“That’s right!” Gilbert agreed, “For years I had to put up with his constant teasing, it’s high time we got him back!”

“I don’t think losing the bet is really going to make him stop. I mean, he’s lost before, right?”

“You don’t have to be so blunt about it!” Gilbert complained.

“Sorry,” Oz shrugged.

In the moment of silence that followed, Ada’s cat started rubbing against Oz’s leg, as if trying to comfort him.

“What do you think, Snowdrop?” Oz asked jokingly, picking up his sister’s cat, (Gilbert eyed it, a whine developing in his throat, scooching away), “Do you have any idea where it is?”

Oz gasped.

“What is it, Onii-chan?”

Tied into the cat’s collar was a ribbon, attached to a little ornament. He pulled it free and placed the cat on the floor (it meowed and padded away).

The other three gasped in turn, leaning in to get a better look at it.

“That bastard!” Gilbert slammed his fist into the wall behind him. “He knew I wouldn’t go near your cats!”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, “leave it to Break to take the cheap shot.”

“What are we waiting for?!” Alice demanded, “Didn’t I just say we can’t let the clowny bastard win!”

“You’re right!” the others said together, and bolted down the hall.

“We found it!” Oz held the ornament high, like a trophy, as they burst through the door.

At the same moment that he held up the evidence, the hour chimed.

They each glanced at each other, then at the clock, which read exactly 18:00.

“My, my, isn’t this an interesting turn of events?” Break remarked, stretching, “It looks like it’s a tie, Ojousama.”

“It would appear,” Sharon smiled “In that case, would you please excuse me for a moment?” she gathered her dress and hurried out of the room.

“So, which one of you found it?” Break asked, walking over to them.

“I did.”

The prankster smirked, “What did I tell you?” he ruffled Oz’s hair, “Oz-kun’s sharp.”

“So… what does that mean about your wagers?” Oz tried to put his hair right. “Since you tied?”

“Just a moment Oz-kun,” he put his hand on Oz’s head, his sleeve falling over his eyes, and looked over their heads

Sharon quickly did return, a little out of breath, holding a small package wrapped in a ribbon.

“Here you are, Break!” she held it out for him.

He took it from her and unwrapped it, opening the little red box to reveal that it was filled with the the candy she had promised.

“Just the thing I needed” he patted her head, unwrapping a piece and tossing it into his mouth. “Better luck next time, Ojousama,”

Oz and Alice stared at him, open-mouthed, dumbstruck that he had beat them.

“Now I suppose I should get started on that dessert of yours,” he waited until the proper moment to add.

“Please do.”

“Huh?” Oz and Alice asked simultaneously.

“Since we tied,” Sharon spoke, as they both turned to them, “we both win.”

“So…does that mean the clown still has to swear off candy?” Alice asked hopefully.

“No—Unfortunately,” Sharon added, glancing at her servant, who rolled his eyes, eating another piece, “We both get the rewards of the wager, but no one gets the punishment.”

“More in the Christmas spirit, wouldn’t you agree, Ojousama?” he said between candy crunches.

“Since when do you care about ‘Christmas spirit’?!” Gilbert demanded.

“Better luck next year, I guess,” Oz tried to put a positive spin on it.

“Next year?!” Alice fumed, “I want to settle this now!” (Gilbert held Alice by the neck of her jacket.)

“Believe me,” Reim grunted, eyeing Break, “it’ll only end worse for you,”

“Who knows?” Break shrugged, “There may not be a next year, Oz-kun.”

Alice continued to seethe while the others glanced at each other, unsure of how to respond to such a statement.

“There you go again,” Reim scolded. “You can’t just mention something like that!”

Break dismissed him with a wave of his hand, chuckling to himself, and muttering something about his uptightness, as he made his way down the hall to the kitchens.

After Break left, Oz looked down at his hand, opening his fingers to reveal the little clay, painted oddity he was still holding. Alice came behind him and looked over his shoulder at it.

“What…is it?”

“You didn’t know what you were looking for?!” Gilbert questioned.

“Because you never told me, Seaweed-head!”

Gilbert looked away, clearly wanting to bite back, but without argument with which to do so.

Oz shook his head, staring at it. It was rather crudely made, ineptly painted. But he couldn’t mistake it for anything else—and Gil had been right, he did know it when he saw it.

Because he was the one who made it.

“I can’t believe you kept this, Gil.”

Gilbert looked away, nodding and turning red.

Now he understood why Gilbert was so intent on getting it back. This ornament had probably become a symbol to Gilbert—much like Shelly’s stocking on the mantelpiece was for Break and Sharon—for Oz himself. This ornament, through the years, had probably become tied to his faithful valet’s unending hope that his master would come back. Each year Break took it, as if teasing that perhaps he wouldn’t (and, maybe this was his roundabout way of him trying to prepare him for that), but Gilbert always got it back, as if displaying that he would never lose that hope.

“Oy! What is it?!” Alice demanded again, upset her ‘manservant’ wasn’t focusing all his attention on her.

“It’s a bird, Alice,” Oz answered simply.

“Really, how do you figure?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look very good does it?” Oz laughed.

“Seaweed-head, why would a crappy ornament like this be your favorite?”

“Oy! You don’t see me criticizing your bad taste!”

“Bad taste?! I have impeccable taste! I eat meat every day!”

“That’s not what—”

“Its because I made it for him,” Oz answered her question quietly.

“You?” Alice laughed, slapping him on the back, “You have pretty poor skills, Oz.”

“Give me a break! I was a kid!”

Oscar laughed, walking up to them, “You’re still a kid, Oz. Yes…I can’t remember how old he was, but he made me, Ada, and Gilbert ornaments,” he laughed a little, putting his arm around Gilbert, “I remember how offended Gil was at his master making him a gift.”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, they all looked up at Gil, who got steadily redder the more they spoke, “We had to force him to accept it.”

“Why are you surprised he kept his, Onii-chan?” Ada asked, “Uncle and I kept ours. They’re back at the Vessalius manor. But! we could bring them over here if you want!”

“That’s okay, I believe you! Still… Like Alice said, they don’t look very good.”

“But, like you said, you were the one who made them for us,” Oscar ruffled his nephew’s hair.

“What were the ornaments you made for them, Oz?” Alice asked.

“Well, I made Ada a little cat, and uncle Oscar a camera. I didn’t really know what Gil liked, so I just made him a bird. Funny, how your chain is Raven now.”

“How come you haven’t made me one, Manservant?!” Alice hit Oz on the head.

“Hey! I’ve been busy!” he rubbed the spot where she hit him.

“In any case,” Alice turned to Gilbert, jumping quickly to the next subject, “now you can make my meat, Seaweed-head!”

“Break’s using the kitchen, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Then let’s go to the market! I’m starving!”

Gilbert sighed into his hand, “Fine. Let me get my hat and coat.”

“Can I come with you guys?” Ada asked—Alice looked peeved, but Gil and Oz had already welcomed her.

“I’ll go check if Break needs anything!” Oz ran off towards the kitchen.

As Oz arrived, he saw that Break had changed out of his white coat and purple shirt into more casual closing—likely so he wouldn’t ruin his normal outfit. He had rolled up the sleeves, and was wearing a pink apron Gil sometimes wore when he cooked for them here, but which probably belonged to Sharon’s grandmother, or mother. He had already begun to make a mess of things; flour was all over the counter, chocolate was on the walls, somehow there were even ingredients in in his hair.

“You need some help?” Oz asked, half-jokingly.

Break looked up.

“Oz-kun,” he noted, then grinned, “You? Help me? Gotten bored of Gilbert-kun, and Alice-kun already?”

“Nah. I just wanted to know if you needed anything. We’re going to the store.”

Oz knew that Break could have asked for help from the staff, or Gilbert, but Sharon called him ‘Mr. One-Man-Show’ for a reason; sure, it might not taste or look all that good, but at least he would have made it himself.

“You really think I wouldn’t have come prepared?”

“But, if you won, you wouldn’t have to make—”

Oz gasped. Realizing something:

They both had bought the supplies ahead of time. Oz thought one of them would have to go to the store, depending on who won the bet, (perhaps dragging the other begrudgingly along), but they both had already bought the necessary ingredients. Which meant, either the food one of them bought would go to waste, or be used in some other way, or, regardless of who won or lost, they still intended to give each other the gifts.

“You already had the ingredients,” Oz thought out loud. “and Sharon-chan already had your candy...”

“So?”

“I would have thought one of you would have to go to the store, depending on who won.”

“What’s your point, Oz-kun?” Break pushed his hair back.

Oz shook his head, grinning like he now had some secret information. “Break, you really are a nice guy, aren’t you?”

Break put his hand on the table, turning to him, “Wipe that cheeky grin off your face before I do it for you.”

Oz put his hands behind his back, sauntering closer.

“Oh, nothing,” he whistled, “Just that, well, you do this every year, don’t you? Sharon likes to give you a taste of your own medicine if you lose, but you both use this an excuse to give each other extra gifts, don’t you? I bet it was your idea in the first place.”

“How do you know we weren’t planning to use the supplies in some other way?”

“Because you’re not considerate enough to let others use your stuff,” he grinned, “Didn’t you just say there would be punishment in store if I got your candy?”

“Well,” he smirked at Oz’s discovery, twirling the spoon in his hand, “‘nice’ would be stretching it. But maybe occasionally I’m not a complete ‘jerk.’”

Oz grinned. That was all the confirmation he needed.

As if he were brandishing a sword, Break flicked chocolate on Oz’s face with the spoon, “Now get out of here.”

Oz rolled his eyes.

“Good luck, Break!”

With that he exited the room, and ran to the front door to catch up with Gil, Ada, and Alice, who were gathered there, waiting for him.

“Break doesn’t need anything!” he called to them, “Let’s go!”

At first it may have seemed like a waste of time, but, in the end, Oz realized; an afternoon playing a game, learning that after ten years Gil had still cherished the small gift he had once been reluctant to accept, seeing how Sharon and Break found ways to bring each other joy, spending time with his friends, spending time with his real family, would never be a waste of an afternoon for him.

[danrdarrenc]

Best Friends Since Forever

Will and Paul and Sonny are three best friends in their last semester at Salem High. Will and Paul are both on the baseball team. Sonny is their nerdy but lovable friend. What happens when someone realizes they want to be more than friends? 

or, the high school!teen!baseball!au @dinglehorton​ asked for. One-sided WilSon, Horita endgame.

“So. You guys ready for the season to start?” Sonny asked. He was sitting in the Java Cafe in Salem Place with his two best friends, Will Horton and Paul Narita.

They were catching up after the winter holidays, Paul having been off in Japan visiting his late mother’s family, and Will having spent Christmas in Switzerland with his Aunt Carrie, Uncle Austin, and young cousin, Noah. Sonny had stayed in Salem with his parents and three older brothers who had graced Salem with their presences for the first time since they had gone off to college. 

“Ugh. Don’t remind me,” Will moaned, dropping his head onto his arms, which were folded on the table in front of him. 

Paul snorted in amusement. “Will neglected his training over the offseason no matter how many times I bugged him about it.”

Sonny grinned. “What about you?” Sonny asked Paul.

“I’ve been in the gym every day for the last two months. I’ve been practicing my pitching with Dad.  I’m ready.”

“Showoff,” Will mumbled, his face still in his arms.

“What about you, Sonny?” Paul asked, taking a sip of his coffee. “You going to try out for the team this year?” It was the same question Paul had asked Sonny since middle school, when he and Will had first joined the school team.

Sonny laughed nervously. “I don’t think so. I can barely walk without tripping over my own feet.” It was the same answer he gave every year.

Will picked his head up to laugh. “Come on, Son. It’ll be fun. It’s our last year of high school! You don’t have to play. You could be the bat boy or something.”

“You’d be surrounded by a lot of cute boys,” Paul teased. 

Sonny had come out to them two years ago, during their summer break between Freshman and Sophomore year. Will had admitted he was also gay almost immediately after Sonny’s confession. Paul followed them out of the closet a month later, just before the start of the school year. 

They had been best friends since forever, Will and Paul having grown up together due to John and Marlena being married just before they started elementary school, and Will and Sonny having grown up together due to sharing cousins in JJ and Abigail Deveraux and Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Jack. Will had been Paul and Sonny’s link but they had hit it off immediately and the three of them became inseparable, spending practically every minute of their lives together that was not occupied by school or their families.

Nothing had changed between them, the three of them being out, except that perhaps they had formed an even tighter bond in solidarity with each other. 

At least that had been the case until this past summer, when Sonny had realized he was in love with Will. 

Sonny blushed under Will and Paul’s teasing. “All the same. I think my place is in the stands.”

Will laughed. “Spoilsport.” 

“We should get going if we don’t want to be late for our first class,” Sonny said by way of response.

“Always so serious about school,” Paul said, but followed Sonny’s lead in clearing their table. 

“We don’t all have a full scholarship to Salem University,” Sonny answered, as they walked out of the coffee shop into Salem Place and headed towards Salem High School. 

Over winter break, Paul had gotten the news that he was being given a full ride to the town’s college.  His grades were excellent but he was to be the star pitcher of the university’s baseball team.  

Will was also granted a scholarship to Salem University, although not a full ride, but significant enough that he couldn’t turn it down.  Although he was to play on the baseball team beside Paul, Will’s scholarship was an academic one and he looked forward to pursuing a career in sports journalism.

Paul had the decency to blush. 

“Sonny, you’re the valedictorian of the class by like twelve points. You’re not going to fail if you miss one class,” Will said, trying to lighten up his friend.

“Still. I’d not rather not miss a class.”

Will shook his head in exasperation at the old, tired argument and they walked the rest of the way to school in silence.

“I can’t move,” Will said, falling face first onto Sonny’s bed. 

“Practice was that bad?” Sonny peered at Will’s dramatics over the top of the book he was reading. 

“I already hurt everywhere and it’s only been one day,” Will mumbled into the comforter. 

“Where’s Paul?” 

Will turned his head so he could talk and breathe properly. “He’s having dinner with John. Just us tonight.”

“Won’t your mom be wondering where you are?”

“Probably not. Too busy boning EJ or something.”

“Will!”

Will swatted away Sonny’s scandalous objection and crawled up the bed to sit next to Sonny. As soon as he was settled, Will plucked the book out of Sonny’s hands. “Let’s watch a movie.”

“I have homework to finish.”

Will glared at Sonny. “It’s the first day back from break. How much work can you possibly have? Come on, Sonny! We haven’t had a sleepover just the two of us in ages. You pick a movie. I’ll make some popcorn.”

Will grinned at him, leaving Sonny no choice but to concede. “Alright,” Sonny sighed.

Will squeezed Sonny’s leg in his excitement and hopped off the bed to go downstairs to make the promised popcorn. 

Sonny stared after him, willing his heart to stop beating a mile a minute. He was acutely aware that tonight would be the first time since realizing he loved Will that the two of the them would be sleeping over together just the two of them. It would do him no favors to freak out over spending the night with Will without Paul as a buffer. For the last six months, Sonny had made sure to always make plans that included all three of them, staving off plans with just Will if Paul wasn’t available.

“What movie did you pick?” Will asked, coming back into Sonny’s bedroom with a big bowl of popcorn. 

“Star Wars?”

“We’ve seen that like a hundred times.”

“We’ve seen all my movies a hundred times.”

“True. Star Wars is good. You choose which one.” Will resettled himself on Sonny’s bed and immediately began stuffing popcorn into his mouth. 

Sonny’s lips turned up at the corners as he turned away from Will to grab a random Star Wars movie off his shelf and popped the disc into the DVD player. Steeling himself, Sonny crawled onto the bed next to Will, hyper aware that their elbows were touching. 

They watched the movie in comfortable silence for about a half an hour until Will asked, “Are you alright?”

“What?”

“Are you okay? You seem kind of quiet.”

“I’m fine,” Sonny answered, trying not to panic that Will was picking up on his stress. 

“Are you sure? Is this because Paul and I were teasing you about school? Because you know we don’t mean anything by it.”

“I know,” Sonny replied, focusing pointedly on the movie. “What are you doing?” Will had paused the movie.

“I want you to tell me what’s going on with you.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Sonny repeated adamantly, his panic rising.

“Son, we’re closer than brothers.” Sonny twitched at Will’s words, ‘brothers’ stinging him more than he wanted. “We’ve practically spent every day together since we were born. I know you’re lying. And - why are you so tense?”

Sonny shook his head, unable to speak for his panic. 

“Sonny?” Will asked, his voice soft with concern. 

“I’m - I’m alright,” Sonny stammered, taking a deep breath. “I am kind of tired though. I don’t think I’m up for a sleepover tonight. I’m sorry.” Sonny slid off the bed, putting as much space between himself and Will as possible. 

“I - alright,” Will conceded albeit confused. “I’ll see you tomorrow for coffee, like usual?”

Sonny nodded, not looking at Will, who left without another word. Sonny choked back a sob and curled into bed, his heart aching.

Sonny took a deep breath before pushing open the doors to the Java Cafe. Will and Paul were already seated at their usual table.

“Hey,” Will said softly when Sonny approached. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah. Sorry about last night,” Sonny apologized, accepting the coffee cup Paul was holding out for him.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Should we head for school?” Paul asked. He didn’t seem confused by Will and Sonny’s exchange so Sonny assumed Will had told him about the night before. 

Will and Sonny both nodded and followed Paul out into Salem Place.

A little over a month later, the three of them were lounging in Will’s bedroom in Lucas’s apartment, when Paul said suddenly, “Why do none of us have Valentine’s dates?”

“Probably because we’re the only three out gay guys in school?” Will offered, not looking up from the essay he was typing on his laptop. 

Paul glared at him and Sonny grinned in amusement. 

“Well, why don’t we go to the Spot then?”

“The gay bar on the other side of town?” Sonny asked.

“Yeah.”

“We’re not old enough to drink.”

“So what?”

“Yeah, so what?” Will echoed Paul’s question. “I’m game if you are.”

“Come on, Sonny. It’ll be fun,” Paul coaxed. 

“I think I’ll pass.” Sonny squirmed uncomfortably.  He knew he should probably go, try to meet someone to get over Will but somehow he couldn’t bring himself to do it.  “You two have fun.”

“No. Forget it.”

“Really, Paul. Go. I don’t mind. Go or I’m not going to go to your first game next week.”

“That’s it. We’re going,” Will said. Sonny had been at every one of their games since middle school; for him to threaten to not go was a serious matter.

“Just don’t be late for Java tomorrow!” Sonny called after them.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“This is it?” Will asked. He and Paul were standing in the doorway of the Spot. 

“Expecting something different?” 

“I’m not sure what I expected.” Will shrugged. “I guess I was thinking of it more as a club than a bar. Loud music, bouncers.”

Paul laughed. “Can I buy you a drink?” 

“Sure.” 

“Two virgin Bloody Marys,” Paul ordered as they settled themselves on stools in front of the bar. 

“Are you worried about college?” Will asked randomly.

“A little. Yeah.” After a beat, Paul said, “I’m the star of the team here, but what if I’m not good at the college level?”

Will’s hand found Paul’s on the bar top. “Hey. You’re going to be great.” 

Paul grinned sheepishly. “You really think so?”

“I have been on the other side of your fastball. I know I looked like an idiot trying to swing at it.”

Paul laughed and Will laughed at having made Paul feel better. “Salem University obviously thinks you’re good enough to warrant a full scholarship, P. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“Thanks. What about you? Are you worried about the writing gig?” 

Will fiddled with the napkin in front of him. “A little? I mean I’ve interned at the Spectator for years but I don’t know if that’s because I’m good or because my aunt owns the paper.”

“I don’t know. I think you’re a pretty good writer. I’ve always found your articles to be particularly compelling.”

“Shut up. You’re just saying that.” Will blushed under Paul’s praise.

They lapsed into silence until Paul asked, “Wanna dance?”

Will made a face.

“Oh. Don’t be like that. No one’s going to care if you dance like a robot.”

Will threw his head back with laughter. “Fine. Let’s go, smartass.” Will hopped off the barstool and held his hand out to Paul.

Paul smirked, took Will’s hand, and followed him onto the dance floor, just as the song turned slow.

“Oh. We don’t have to,” Paul said.

Will searched Paul’s eyes, all trace of a smile gone now. “No. It’s alright. We can dance.”

“You sure?” 

Will nodded and slid his arms around Paul’s waist. Paul accepted the gesture and wrapped his own arms around Will’s neck.

“You know, I’ve never done this with a boy,” Will admitted quietly.

“Me either.” 

“Is this weird?” Will asked.

“Dancing with a boy?”

“Dancing with me.”

“No.”

They stared at each other for a second before they leaned in simultaneously. Their lips met in a soft kiss. At first, it was nothing more than a press of mouth against mouth. Then Paul parted his lips, his tongue pushing against Will’s. Will allowed the access and pulled Paul closer.  Paul went willingly, tightening his grip around Will’s neck, and deepened the kiss.

They stayed locked together until the music changed to a faster pace, breaking them apart. They looked at each other, both flushed from the kiss. After a second, they grinned at each other.

“That was unexpected.”

“But not unwelcome?” Will asked.

“Definitely not unwelcome,” Paul confirmed.

“Walk me home?” 

The walk back to the DiMera mansion was a quiet one. At the door, Paul said, “We should tell Sonny.”

“Maybe we can keep it just between us for now?” Will asked and took Paul’s hand in his. “Until we know if this is going somewhere?”

“Is this going somewhere?”

“Do you want it to?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do,” Paul said, ducking his head and smiling uncharacteristically shyly.

“Good. Me too.”

“So we keep it quiet for now,” Paul agreed. “On one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“We go on a real date. Tomorrow night?”

Will nodded. “Can I kiss you?”

Paul answered by pulling Will to him and kissing him gently. 

“Goodnight,” Will said when they broke apart.

“Goodnight, Will.”

Will smiled and let himself into the mansion.

“How was the Spot?” Sonny asked the next morning.

“Surprisingly uneventful,” Will answered. Sonny was fiddling with his coffee cup so he missed the glance Will and Paul exchanged.

“I think we might try going back in a few months...or years,” Paul said. “You were right to bring up that we couldn’t drink. It was pretty boring without alcohol.”

“No dancing?”

“We’re...not really the dancing type,” Will said with a snort of amusement, though he held Paul’s gaze. 

“Let’s just forget the bar thing happened,” Paul said, though he smiled softly at Will. 

Will and Sonny both agreed.

“This isn’t weird, right?” Will asked Paul. 

They were walking along the pier on the way to Shenanigan’s, the piano bar/restaurant on the far side of town. Paul had picked the place, having heard about it from John and Marlena, suggesting that it was somewhere Sonny wasn’t likely to stumble upon them.

“Us going on a date? Surprisingly, no.”

“Surprisingly?”

Paul laughed. “We’ve been friends forever, Will. I guess - I guess I never considered us being anything more than that.”

“Me either,” Will admitted, stopping outside the restaurant. “But I’m not sorry we are.”

Paul searched Will’s eyes and smiled. “Me either. But it does feel weird not telling Sonny.” 

“I don’t think he’ll have a problem. I think he’ll be happy for us.”

“I want him to be,” Paul replied. “But you know what? No more talk of Sonny tonight. Agreed?”

Will bit his lip, smiled shyly, and nodded, following Paul into the restaurant.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“I had a really great time tonight, Will.”

“Me too.” 

“You know, last night after I left you, I wondered if it might be hard to transition to being more than friends.”

“And?” Will asked. They were stopped outside Lucas’s apartment, where Will was staying for the night.

“I don’t think it’ll be hard at all,” Paul answered, pulling Will to him by the waist.

Will grinned and willingly accepted Paul’s kiss, soft at first, deepening to something more, Will wrapping his arms around Paul’s shoulders and tangling his fingers in the hair at the base of Paul’s neck.

“I really like kissing you,” Will mumbled against Paul’s lips when they broke apart a little bit for air. 

“I really like kissing you, too,” Paul muttered, his eyes still closed and his forehead pressed against Will’s.

“I should go inside,” Will whispered, after a few minutes of them standing in the doorway, just holding each other.

Paul pressed another chaste kiss to Will’s mouth and then extricated himself. “See you for coffee tomorrow?”

“Dinner too?”

“Come to the townhouse after practice. We can do homework together.”

Will agreed silently, kissed Paul again quickly, and went inside.

Sonny didn’t see much of Will and Paul for the rest of February. They had baseball practice every afternoon after school, getting ready for their first game against Oakdale High School from the neighboring town, and they were all getting swamped with school work, midterms only a couple weeks away.

They managed to keep their morning coffee dates but Will and Paul were obligated to sit with the baseball team for lunch in the run up to the start of the season.  Sonny was left to have lunch with other friends they’d all grown up with, Gabi Hernandez, Chad DiMera, and Tad Stevens. 

“You okay?” Chad asked. “You haven’t touched your food.”

“Will and Paul went to the Spot last week for Valentine’s Day.”

“Together?” Tad asked, his eyebrows shooting up.

“It wasn’t like that.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. I am,” Sonny said forcefully.

“Why are you still brooding about it then?” Chad asked pointedly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“We know you’re in love with Will,” Gabi said gently. 

Sonny’s mouth dropped open. “Is it really that obvious?”

The three of them nodded at the same time.

“Shit,” Sonny mumbled. “Do you think Will knows?”

“Will is oblivious to stuff like that,” Gabi replied, squeezing his hand. “But maybe you should tell him.”

“No! I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” T asked. 

“I don’t want to make things awkward between us.”

“How do you know he doesn’t feel the same?” Chad said. 

“Because I do,” Sonny huffed. “I have to go.” Without another word, Sonny picked up his tray and left the cafeteria. 

“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” Will asked, even as he stretched his neck out to allow Paul more access with his mouth.

They were on Will’s bed in his bedroom at the DiMera mansion, their backs against the headboard, their homework lying abandoned at the foot of the bed. 

“No,” Paul said shortly, peppering Will’s neck with kisses and working his way back up to Will’s mouth.

Will grinned into the kiss, immediately pushing his tongue past Paul’s lips and clawing at the T-shirt on Paul’s back. Paul returned the pressure, swinging his leg over Will’s, straddling him. Will let out a groan, his hips bucking up involuntarily. Paul gasped into Will’s mouth but didn’t break the kiss. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Will’s neck and pulled him closer. Will went willingly, sliding his hands under Paul’s T-shirt and clawing at the bare skin of Paul’s back.

Paul broke away, breathless, but rested their foreheads together. “Wait. Wait.”

“What’s wrong?” Will asked. He looked at Paul, whose wide-blown eyes were surely a mirror image of his own. 

Paul swung himself off of Will’s lap. “I think we’re moving too fast,” Paul said, not looking at Will but instead running his hand over his face.

“Okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course,” Will said softly, lacing his fingers with Paul’s on the space of bed between them.  “Do you remember Chad’s fifteenth birthday party when we played Spin the Bottle?”

“You kissed Gabi.”

“You landed on T but he called foul.” 

Paul laughed and nodded. “What made you think of that?”

“You’re the first boy I kissed,” Will admitted quietly.

Paul squeezed his hand. “You were for me too.”

Will looked at Paul. “What about that guy you were hanging out with last summer? Derek, wasn’t it?”

“We never kissed,” Paul said with a shrug. “I don’t even know if he was gay or bi or whatever.”

“I’m glad you were my first kiss,” Will said, his face flushed.

“Me too,” Paul answered in kind, dropping his head onto Will’s shoulder.

March blew into Salem with bitter cold and a snowstorm threatened to postpone the high school’s first baseball game. But the weather cooperated and students, teachers, and families alike piled onto the bleachers to support their boys on the field.

“Good luck!” Sonny yelled through the fence. He waved at Paul who was warming up on the mound and at Will who was getting settled at shortstop.

Will and Paul both smiled at him and waved back, also waving at their families who were in the stands next to Sonny and his own parents.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“You were brilliant out there,” Will told Paul. 

The locker room had cleared out of the rest of the baseball team, their teammates all going their separate ways to celebrate their first win of the season. 

“You weren’t so bad yourself,” Paul said, pulling Will to him by his belt loops.

“I’m not the one who threw twelve strikeouts,” Will responded, smirking.

Paul shook his head in mock exasperation and quieted Will with a kiss. Will smiled into it, draping his arms across Paul’s shoulders. Paul pulled Will through the distance left between them, sliding his arms around Will’s waist.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

His throat sore from cheering, Sonny hurried through the empty school to the locker rooms to congratulate Will and Paul on their win and to pick them up for their tradition to celebrate a win with ice cream sundaes at the Brady Pub. 

As he slowed outside the locker room, Sonny found it surprisingly quiet. The team must have already left for the night. But Sonny hadn’t seen Will or Paul waiting for him so he assumed they were still inside. 

Sonny pushed the door open ready to call out for his friends, but his words died on his lips. Will and Paul were kissing passionately, Will’s arms around Paul’s neck, and Paul’s arms circling Will’s waist.

Sonny let out a strangled cry, his heart shattering. Will and Paul jumped apart, startled. They both paled at the sight of Sonny standing in the doorway, staring at them.

“Sonny -” Will started but Sonny turned on his heels and sprinted down the hallway and to his car.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“Shit,” Paul swore, lightly punching a locker.

“Hey. Don’t hurt your hand,” Will said softly, pulling Paul’s hand away from danger. “I’ll go talk to him.”

“He looked really upset, Will.” 

“He was just surprised,” Will assured. Will took Paul’s face in his hands. “It’ll be fine. He’ll be upset for a couple days and then things will go back to normal. Yeah?”

Paul nodded but didn’t look convinced.

“I’ll call you after I talk to Sonny. Okay?”

“Okay.” Paul’s lips turned up a tiny smile.

Will kissed Paul quickly and hurried after Sonny.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Somehow, Sonny managed to drive himself home and clamor his way up the mansion staircase before collapsing on his bed in tears.

There was a knock on his door what seemed like a minute later. “Sonny? Can I come in?” Will asked.

Sonny hiccoughed on a sob, took a deep breath, and sat up to face Will.

“You’ve been crying,” Will said, shocked, and closed the door behind him. “We should have told you. I’m sorry. Paul wanted to but I talked him out of it.”

“How long?” Sonny asked quietly.

“Since Valentine’s. At the bar,” Will answered honestly. 

Sonny looked away but he felt Will sit down on the bed next to him. 

“I really didn’t think this would be such a problem for you,” Will said.

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” Sonny turned angrily to Will.

Taken aback by Sonny’s tone, Will asked, “I don’t know. I guess because at that point it was just one kiss.”

“At that point?” 

“We’re dating now,” Will replied. 

“Oh.” Sonny found it hard to breathe. “And you still decided not to tell me.” Sonny said robotically.

“I’m sorry if you feel like we’ve betrayed you. We didn’t plan this. It just...happened.”

“Please stop talking, Will.” Sonny heard the quake in his voice. 

They sat in uncomfortable silence for a couple minutes. Then Will said, “Tell me what you’re feeling.”

“You don’t want to know.”

“We’ve always been brutally honest with each other. You can tell me what you’re feeling.”

“I love you,” Sonny whispered. He said it so quietly he wasn’t even sure he’d said it aloud.

“What?” 

Sonny swallowed thickly, turned his face to Will, and said, “You want to know what I’m feeling? My heart is fucking broken, Will.”

Will blinked at him, shocked by Sonny’s extreme reaction. He hardly ever swore. “We never meant to hurt you.”

“Well, you did! I can’t breathe it hurts so much.” 

“I don’t understand,” Will said slowly. 

“I’m in love with you, Will!” Sonny blurted out. 

Will shrank back, as if Sonny had struck him across the face. 

Sonny choked back a sob and turned away, burying his face in the pillows. “Please leave, Will.” 

Sonny heard rather than saw Will respect his wishes.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Will? What’s wrong?” Paul asked when Will walked into his bedroom. “I thought you were just going to call.”

“I needed to see you,” Will said, crawling onto the bed next to Paul.

“What happened?”

Will worried his lip, anxious. “It was so bad, Paul.”

Paul draped his arm around Will’s shoulders and pulled him closer. 

“He’s in love with me,” Will whispered.

“What?”

Will looked at Paul. “He’s in love with me. I had no idea. How could I have no idea?” 

“Hey. Hey,” Paul wrapped his other arm around Will so he could hug him properly and kissed his hair. “I didn’t know either. He hid it well.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Paul answered honestly. “But we’ll figure it out. We’ll give him a few days to cool off and then we’ll talk to him.”

Will nodded against Paul’s chest. “Can I stay with you tonight?” Will asked, looking up at Paul. “I don’t want to be by myself.”

“Of course.”

Will smiled sadly, kicked his shoes off, and curled into Paul’s side. Ten minutes later, they were both asleep atop the covers, both still in their jeans and T-shirts.

Will and Paul didn’t speak to Sonny for nearly two weeks. He didn’t show up for their daily coffee dates and he avoided them in school, sitting with Gabi, Chad, and Tad for lunch, and choosing seats in their classes on the opposite side of the room; Will and Paul’s afternoons continued to be preoccupied with baseball.

Will and Paul finally cornered Sonny in the Cheatin’ Heart, of all places, one Friday night in the middle of March. He was behind the bar, helping his mother out due to the bartender calling out sick. They had gone there for a night out, not considering that Sonny might be there. 

Biting the bullet, Will and Paul made a beeline for Sonny. 

“Sonny?” Paul asked tentatively. “Can we talk?”

“I’m busy,” Sonny said curtly, turning his back on them.

“Please, Sonny,” Will practically begged. 

Sonny sighed but said to the waitress, “I’m taking a break.” Then he followed them to a booth at the back of the bar behind the pool table.

They sat down, Will and Paul across from Sonny.

“We’re sorry we didn’t tell you,” Will said.

“Oh. So you’re a ‘we’ now?” Sonny mocked. “I assume Will told you what I told him?”

Will flinched.

“Sonny. Tell us how we can make this right,” Paul tried gently, choosing to let Sonny’s question go unanswered. 

Sonny clenched his jaw and looked away. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I want you to say that we haven’t broken our friendship,” Will said quietly.

Sonny looked sharply at Will but said less harshly than expected, “I’m not mad at you. I’m just hurt.”

“We didn’t know,” Paul said.

“Would it have really made a difference?” Sonny asked.

Neither Will nor Paul replied. Sonny blinked back tears, sighed, and rubbed his hand over his face. 

“I don’t want this to be the end of our friendship either,” Sonny said after an uncomfortable minute. “But I just need time. I don’t need you to like it but I need you to respect it.”

Without allowing Will and Paul to respond, Sonny slid out of the booth and walked back behind the bar. 

No more than a minute later, Will and Paul left the bar and went to the Brady Pub instead.

“Is Coach Sisko pushing us harder this year?” Will asked, collapsing on his bed and stretching his neck, trying to crack it. “I hurt everywhere.”

“It’s almost April. Are you still not used to the stretches and exercising? And general baseball activities?” Paul asked. “Or are you just being dramatic?”

Will stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend. 

“Oh. Nice. Very mature.”

Will grinned. 

“Come on. Lie down on your stomach and take your shirt off.”

Will squinted at him suspiciously but conceded to Paul’s request. “Are you just trying to my clothes off?”

Paul laughed, as he crawled onto the bed and straddled Will’s hips. “No, it’s not,” Paul said into Will’s ear. “Just relax.”

Suddenly, Paul’s hands were on Will’s shoulders, his thumbs tracing circles on Will’s back muscles.

“Nngngngh,” Will breathed out. Paul laughed.

“Feel good?” 

Will nodded against the bed. Paul massaged Will’s back in silence for a few minutes, Will drifting into a light sleep. 

“How are you feeling?” Paul asked, breaking the quiet, peppering Will’s neck with butterfly kisses.

Will’s lips turned up in a slow smile. “Better,” Will said propping himself up low on his elbows and turning his face to capture Paul’s lips with his own. 

Breaking the kiss, Will flipped himself onto his back, so they could get a better angle. Paul smiled down at him and ducked his neck down to kiss Will again, languidly. Will’s arms circled Paul’s waist as the kiss deepened, Paul’s tongue in his mouth and his fingers in Will’s hair. 

As the pressure and intensity of the kiss increased, Will scratched at Paul’s back and clawed at Paul’s shirt, working haphazardly to shed him of the material. Paul broke the kiss, and searched Will’s eyes. 

The air in the room had changed, suddenly charged with electricity and a heat that hadn’t been there when they’d first come in. 

Will’s hands stilled on Paul’s back. Staring up at Paul, his eyes blown wide with lust and his lips swollen and red from kissing, Will couldn’t help but feel the swell in his chest. “I want to,” Will said. “But only if you do too.”

Paul kissed Will again, hard and sloppy and fast. “I want to,” Paul said on a breath. 

Will arched up into Paul, sliding his hands under Paul’s shirt to push it off. They broke the kiss only to shed Paul’s shirt and the rest of their clothes.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“You okay?” Paul asked. Will was curled into his side, tracing circles on Paul’s chest.

“More than okay,” Will said with a soft smile. “You?” 

Paul nodded against the top of Will’s head and kissed Will’s hair. 

“I love you,” Will mumbled, drifting off to sleep.

“I love you, too.”

Will was sitting on the white couch in the newly renovated Horton Town Square reading a book when Sonny sat down next to him. It was the beginning of April and they were on Spring Break from school. 

“Hi,” Will said cautiously.

“Hey,” Sonny answered and gave Will a small smile.

“How are you?”

Sonny looked away from Will and fiddled with a loose string on his jacket. “It still hurts, Will. For a lot of reasons. But I miss you, Will.” Sonny turned back to Will. “You and Paul.”

Will scooted as close to Sonny as he dared. “I miss you, too, Son. So does Paul. It’s great, the two of us, but it’s not the same as having you around too.” 

“Chad and Gabi and T are fun to hang out with but it’s different, y’know? They’re my friends but they’re not my best friends. I want my best friends back.”

Will lips turned up in a smile. “We can take it slow if you need to,” Will offered.

“Can you promise me one thing?”

“Anything.”

“Could you maybe keep your PDA to a minimum around me? At least for now?”

“Absolutely,” Will promised. 

Sonny nodded his thanks and then asked, “So, are you busy?”

“No. I’m meeting Paul later for dinner with John and Marlena but I’m free for the day.”

“You, uh, you maybe want to get some lunch at the Pub? I think we have a lot to catch up on.”

“I’d love to,” Will said, and followed Sonny out of the Square.

The first time the three of them hung out together again was awkward for all of them. Will and Paul were exceptionally careful about not touching each other and Sonny was clearly still in some slight distress.

It was still too cold to do any extended activities outside so they opted to go bowling at the alley in Salem Place. Over pizza, french fries, strikes, and spares, Will, Sonny, and Paul began the slow task of rebuilding their friendship. 

“Do you remember that time in fourth grade when we went bowling with our class?” Sonny asked, dipping three fries into honey mustard. 

Will and Paul both nodded, mouths too full of pizza to talk. 

“Paul kept throwing gutter balls,” Sonny said, grinning evilly. “Couldn’t get his aim right.”

“And somehow he became the star pitcher of the baseball team,” Will deadpanned. 

Paul glared at both of them, but his lips twitched. 

“How did that happen?” Sonny countered, his grin stretching even more across his face.

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Will said, playing along.

“You know what?” Paul said in mock anger. “I can see today is take the piss out of Paul day. That’s fine. I can take it.”

Will and Sonny both threw their heads back with laughter. It almost felt like things were back to normal. 

“Sonny, can I ask you something personal? You don’t have to answer.” 

Paul and Sonny were sitting at a table in the Kiriakis garden enjoying the first warm afternoon of the season. It was a rare day off from baseball and Will was spending the day with his parents and his brother and sisters. 

“Sure.”

“How long have you been in love with Will?”

Sonny looked up from his book to stare at Paul. “Does it bother you?”

“No. I’m just curious.” 

Paul’s look was so earnest Sonny had no reason to believe he was lying. 

“Do you remember that makeshift camping trip we had at the lake last summer?” 

Paul nodded. 

“Will was pointing out all those constellations he learned from his trip to the planetarium with Sydney and the twins. His face was alight with excitement.” Sonny smiled to himself, dazing off into the garden, almost forgetting that Paul was there. “We couldn’t really follow what he was talking about it, he was talking so fast. But his eyes were shining and I don’t think I’d ever seen him so passionate about something, even baseball or writing. I looked at him and I just...felt something shift in me. That was when I knew.” 

“I’m sorry,” Paul said quietly. 

Sonny pulled himself out of his reverie and looked back to Paul. “I don’t need you to be sorry, Paul. It’s not anyone’s fault.” 

“But we hurt you.”

“No. I mean, yes. But you didn’t do it on purpose. You fell in love with Will same as I did. And Will fell in love with you,” Sonny said, the words hurting his heart a lot less than they would have two months before. “Will never saw me like that. That’s all there is to it.”

“Someone will love you, Sonny,” Paul said, grabbing Sonny’s hand on top of the table. “I promise. You have too big a heart for it not to be shared.”

“Have you heard from any of your colleges yet?” Will asked Sonny. 

The three of them were lounging on the couch in Horton Town Square, nursing coffees and sharing muffins and breakfast croissants. They were enjoying the nice almost mid-April weather and their last day of Spring Break before they returned to the push towards finals and graduation.

“You should be hearing soon, no?” Paul added.

Sonny tore off a piece of croissant, stalling answer the question. “I have, yeah.”

“And?” 

When Sonny looked up from the food, Will and Paul were smiling at him excitedly. 

“I got into a few but I’m turning them all down.”

“What?” Will and Paul asked simultaneously. 

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking the last couple months. I think I need some space from Salem for a little bit.”

Will’s smile faded and Paul’s brow furrowed. “Because of us?” Will asked, stung.

Sonny shook his head. “Yes. No. A lot of things. The truth is really that I’ve been getting a bit of wanderlust. There’s a whole world out there. I want to see it.”

“How long will you be gone?” Paul questioned.

“I’m going to defer Salem U for a year, go to Europe, Asia, maybe. I might even try climbing a mountain or two.”

“So a year, then?”

“That’s the plan right now. But if I like it? I don’t know. That plan might change.”

“When will you leave?” Will asked, sadness clouding his face.

“Right after graduation.”

“So soon?” Paul’s face was sad too.

“If I don’t go soon, I’ll never go. And this is something I need to do.”

Will and Paul nodded their understanding. 

As April barreled into May, Will, Sonny, and Paul continued rebuilding their friendship. They returned to spending as much time as possible together but they also set ground rules, allowing Will and Paul time to spend alone without Sonny, and allowing Sonny to spend time with Will and Paul individually. 

Slowly, Will and Paul integrated displays of affection into their time with Sonny. To his credit, Sonny handled it gracefully; the shaky new foundation of their friendship didn’t seem to suffer for it.

“Let’s go to the lake,” Paul suggested, one Saturday morning early in May. “The weather’s beautiful today.”

“Alright,” Sonny agreed and followed Will out of the townhouse so they could get their stuff.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“This was a good suggestion,” Will said. He and Paul were lounging on a shared beach towel, their legs intertwined. Sonny was on his own towel, next to them. 

Will tipped his head back onto Paul’s shoulder, turning his face up to the sun. “The warmth feels so good.”

“Mmm,” Sonny agreed, folding up a towel to use as a pillow. He had just laid down when a beach ball bounced onto his legs. 

“Sorry!” a voice called. A second later, a boy a year or two older than them appeared. “My little sister hit the ball a little too hard and the wind just carried it.”

“No problem,” Sonny said, handing the ball back to the guy, who took the ball but didn’t move.

“My name’s Brian, by the way.” He held out his free hand to Sonny.

Sonny shook his hand. “Sonny.”

“Nice to meet you, Sonny.”

“You too.”

After a beat, Brian said, “I, uh, I should get back.”

When Sonny didn’t say anything, Brian left.

“Sonny,” Will said. 

“What?”

“Do you really have to ask that?” Paul said with a laugh. 

“What?”

“He was flirting with you!” Will clarified.

“No. No. No, he wasn’t,” Sonny babbled, his face heating up.

“He was,” Paul confirmed. “You should go talk to him.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not?”

“Because.”

“Because why?” Paul pushed. 

“Go talk to him,” Will nudged gently.

Sonny stared at Will and Paul. After a minute, Sonny conceded. “Fine. I’ll go talk to him.”

Grinning, Will and Paul watched him go. When he was out of sight and earshot, Paul turned to Will. 

“Good. He’s gone. Now I can do what I’ve been wanting to do all morning.”

“What’s that?” Will questioned, even though he knew the answer.

Paul grinned mischievously and captured Will’s lips in a kiss, pulling Will on top of him, Will relaxing into the kiss and embrace.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

“This was a really fun day,” Sonny said. They were sitting at a table in Horton Town Square, eating ice cream.

“Sure it was. You got a date with a cute boy,” Paul said, grinning as he spooned ice cream into his mouth.

Sonny glared at him, but his lips were stretched in a small smile.

“It’s really great, Sonny,” Will said. “Even if you’re leaving in a month, I’m glad you’re putting yourself out there.” 

Sonny’s smile faded and he stirred the ice cream that had melted in his cup, not looking at Will and Paul. “It’s a lot easier than it used to be. I figure I might as well take that next step.”

“Good for you,” Will said, taking Sonny’s hand in his briefly. He hoped he wasn’t pushing his luck and crossing a line but it was a good sign that Sonny didn’t flinch away. 

Breaking the somewhat tense air that had settled over their table, Paul said, “Dad and Marlena are in Chicago for the night. You want to come back to mine and watch the Cubs game or maybe watch a movie?”

“Who says we can’t do both?” Sonny suggested, freeing his hand from Will’s. 

Paul smiled and followed Will and Paul out of the Square.

As May flew by, their time together changed from leisurely pursuits to stressed out cramming sessions for school, sharing notes and quizzing each other for last minute tests before finals.  Whatever other time they had was spent with Will and Paul on the baseball field and Sonny cheering them on. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“How’s it going with Brian?” Will asked from a lounge chair on the edge of the DiMera pool. Sonny was lounging on a raft in the water. Paul was inside making sandwiches.

They were taking time out from baseball and studying to relax at the behest of their parents.

“It’s not.”

“Oh no. Really?” 

“He was too full of himself. Boasting about being first in his class in his pre-med program. I don’t know. He irritated me.”

“Were you just not trying?” 

“I tried, Will. Really. I did,” Sonny insisted. “Maybe I’ll meet someone during my travels. Some fancy French artist or some hot Spanish flamenco dancer.”

Will shook with laughter. 

“So you’re really going?” Paul asked, picking up on their conversation. 

“Yeah.”

“You know we’re going to miss you, right?” Will said.

“I’m going to miss you, too,” Sonny admitted, climbing out of the pool and settling at the foot of Will’s lounge chair, joining Will and Paul’s picnic of sandwiches and lemonade.

Summer, the end of the high school baseball season, and finals converged on Will, Sonny, and Paul’s lives in the middle of June. 

“We’re free,” Sonny said, collapsing on Will’s bed. 

“Don’t say that to Paul. He’s still got a final tomorrow.”

“Sucks for him.”

Will muffled his laughter in a pillow. “Wanna watch a movie while he suffers with studying?”

Sonny grinned at him and crawled up the bed to sit next to Will. “Let’s watch The Breakfast Club. We haven’t watched that in ages.”

“Okay.” Will climbed off the bed to retrieve the DVD from his shelf. “Want popcorn?”

“Nah.” 

Will shrugged and climbed back onto the bed, popping the movie into his laptop, which he propped on a pillow in the space between their legs. 

Almost immediately, Sonny dropped his head onto Will’s shoulder. Happily surprised, Will smiled and dropped his own head on top of Sonny’s. 

They watched the movie in comfortable silence, falling asleep midway through, their heads still nestled against each other.

“Are you sad the season’s over?” Will asked, tracing circles on Paul’s bare chest.

Paul skimmed his fingers up and down Will’s arm. “Yeah. But I’ve got the college team to look forward to.”

Will smiled. 

“You’ll come to the games, right?”

Will shifted his head on the pillow so he could look at Paul. “Of course! Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know.”

Will propped himself on his elbow. “Hey. Talk to me.”

“College is hard on high school relationships,” Paul said, staring at the ceiling.

“And you think that’s going to happen to us?”

Paul turned his face to Will. “It could.”

“It won’t.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“For one thing? We’re going to the same school and we’re still living in the same town.” Will smiled a little. “For another, we love each other.”

Paul smiled at that. “We do.”

Will’s smile stretched across his face and he bent down to kiss Paul. After a minute, Will broke away.

“I have an idea.”

“Always dangerous,” Paul teased.

Will stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend. Then he said, “Why don’t we dorm together?”

Paul blinked at him and sat up, turning his body towards Will. “I wasn’t planning on living on campus.”

“I know. Neither was I. But I think we should. Together. That way we can ensure that we’ll be able to see each other. Even if we can’t make time for each other during the day - which I hope we do - we can be sure to see each other at night.”

“We should make a plan to make time for us anyway. Like lunch on Fridays no matter what.”

“Anyway?” Will asked hopefully. “Are you saying yes to us living together?”

“Yes. Yes. I’m saying yes,” Paul confirmed with a grin.

Will’s face lit up with bliss and he launched himself at Paul. Paul laughed and caught Will, falling back onto the pillows with Will on top of him.

“I love you,” Paul said, blinking up at Will.

“I love you, too,” Will replied, ending the conversation with his mouth on Paul’s.

“I can’t believe we graduate high school tomorrow,” Sonny said. 

They three of them were sitting on the beach on the edge of the lake. It was the middle of June and they were enjoying the beautiful weather, celebrating the end of the school year and the baseball season.

“Do you remember how scared we were to start?” Will asked.

“And we all promised that no matter what we’d stick together,” Paul added.

“And we did,” Sonny said, smiling broadly at his two best friends. 

Things between them had gone back to normal, Will and Paul loosening up around Sonny, and Sonny seemingly free of the greater part of his love for Will. Now they were closer than ever.

“I wish you were coming to school with us,” Paul admitted.

“I know. I do want to,” Sonny said. “But I need this gap year. Otherwise I’ll be restless.”

“Come back to us, Sonny,” Will said.

“I will. I promise.”

“You can still stay, y’know,” Will said. 

He and Paul were standing with Sonny outside the gate of Sonny’s plane at the Salem Airport. Justin and Adrienne had wanted to take Sonny to the airport but Sonny had insisted on Will and Paul driving him. 

Sonny smiled a little sadly. “I’ll email you and send you pictures as much as I can. And we can FaceTime whenever I get the chance.”

Will nodded, blinking away tears, and pulled Sonny into a tight hug. Sonny returned the embrace, equally tight.

“Don’t forget us, okay?” Paul said when Will and Sonny had broken apart.

“Never.”

Paul also pulled Sonny into a bear hug. 

“I should go,” Sonny whispered, extricating himself from Paul. “I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.”

Will and Paul moved to stand with each other, supporting each other as they waved goodbye to their best friend.