#IT'S NOT DEEP ENOUGH FOR ANYTHING TO GET LODGED IN THERE HUH WELL TRUST ME MATHEW I AM LODGING MY TONGUE IN THERE WHETHER IT FITS OR NOT

[baynton]

[gladerwolfstarkimagines]

Imagine being Azula’s favourite friend who she recruits first. The two of you have always had an unspoken attraction which neither of you were brave enough to acknoweldge...until you save her life and Azula decides to reward you

Background

You and Azula attended the academy together and had initially started as rivals. You were an above-average fire bender and because she didn’t know you Azula saw that as a threat. So she made it her mission to ruin your life when one day she found you arguing with Zuko. You didn’t hesitate to yell at him or point out his faults and from that moment on Azula knew she’d misjudged you. Azula be-friended you and you became a part of her group. Over time you became her favourite. She trusted you and could feel your loyalty to her, which was something she grew to respect more and more as Mai was compromised by Zuko and Ty lee became even more whimsical. You soon became inseparable and as the friendship grew it began to feel like more...you realised you liked Azula as more than a friend. You enjoyed every second you spent together and thought she felt the same. The tension between you grew and although Azula would grow flustered around you when you flirted with her she never reciprocated your feelings openly. You were heartbroken but understood that falling for the princess of the fire nation hadn’t been a very smart decision on your part. So needing some space to mend as soon as you graduated from the academy you joined the army. It hurt to be around Azula every day and to know you could be something great together if only your nation was more progressive. So you ran away from the situation and didn’t see Azula for years. You managed to stop thinking about her constantly after a few weeks and soon your heart didn’t feel as broken anymore...but you knew deep down you still cared about her. The princess would always be your first love. 

Your POV

The army was tougher than the fire nation academy for many reasons. For one your name, reputation and grades didn’t matter once you passed through the doors. They didn’t care if you'd sparred with the best fire benders or got the highest grades in combat skills for ten years, you were reduced to a number and treated as one. You hated every second of it but the alternative was to return to your family and you’d take anything over that so you stuck it out. 

One day all the recruits were ordered to wear their best clothes and report to the large training hall which could only mean one thing. Someone wanted to buy troops. High ranking generals or rich businessmen could hire trainees for missions or any jobs they needed completing. The buyer could choose who they wanted after watching you all in training and you would then decide if to accept or not. You took every opportunity you could and so stared straight ahead for inspection, trying your best to look hirable when a voice broke your resolve. "I’m looking for something in particular" Azula told your trainer and you only just managed to keep your head forward but a small smirk broke out on your face. Azula spotted you and walked down the line slowly before stopping in front of you. "Well, well who do we have here?" she asked. You looked up at her and matched her smile "long time no see huh?". Your trainer was horrified at the way you addressed the princess and rushed to yell at you when Azula cut him off with a laugh. She took your arm and you hugged her tightly. Your stomach exploded in butterflies and you clutched her tightly, you’d missed Azula dearly. "Your highness i don’t know what...i’m sorry for this one’s behaviour" the trainer started obliviously and Azula rolled her eyes "are they all as dumb as you? Obviously i know y/n". You smirked and Azula was spurred on by that beautiful expression she’d missed. "You really have no idea who she is?" Azula asked laughing "this is y/n l/n, her father is friends with my father and she is a personal friend to the royal family. To hear you haven’t treated her appropriately is very displeasing" Azula frowned and you smiled as your usually cruel and horrible trainer shook. "I’m sorry we had no idea who she was! We will treat her better, promote her actually" he babbled. "No that won’t do" Azula said "and that wont be necessary, y/n will be leaving with me for a job and won’t be coming back here". The guard hesitated "i...you can’t just take a recruit". "I’m not but i could" Azula growled "i think you’ll find it’s more y/n quits". "She can’t quit" the guard replied “she made an oath” and Azula raised an eyebrow in response "are you tell me what i can do? Are you telling a noblewoman what she can do? Any debt she owes you will be wiped by my command, understand?" Azula barked. The trainer paled but nodded "yes princess" and bowed his head. "Good" Azula nodded and she strode with you right out of the front doors. 

Azula brought you to the lodgings she was staying at in the nearest town and you were amused to see it had been given the royal treatment. Red everywhere, freshly polished surfaces as far as the eye could see, gold and silver decorations lay on every available service and of course a large portrait of the fire lord hung on the wall. Over a lavish dinner Azula told you the mission making you realise you’d accepted and left the army without even asking for any details. You were fine with hunting the avatar and Zuko with Mai and Ty lee but you also recognised you would’ve accepted almost any mission Azula gave you because you’d been so happy to see her. Azula had always had this effect on you and time apart hadn’t done anything to lessen that. You were as much in love with her now as you were the day you left two years ago. 

After dinner Azula led you to your shared apartment, it contained two bedrooms with ensuites and a large living room which you were pleased to see and you sunk into the sofa happily. "Your hair’s shorter" Azula commented suddenly and you nodded touching it self consciously "yeah it was a target in sparring". Azula scoffed "seriously? Don’t they teach the other recruits proper fire bending moves as opposed to childish tricks?". You shrugged "they told us to win by any means. That it doesn’t have to look good so long as you win". Azula laughed again "amateurs all of them! Of course it should look good". You smirked "well when it comes so easy to you" and glanced over her. Azula shrugged but had a large smile on her face "well I suppose I have been blessed in that aspect". You laughed again and smiled "this is nice". Azula smiled too "it is" and you locked eyes for several seconds before she looked away slowly. Azula stood up abruptly "we should get some sleep we’re moving on foot tomorrow to go get Ty lee and then Mai". You were excited at the thought of seeing your old friends and grinned "great! Also don’t think i didn’t notice you came for me first" you called as Azula made her way towards her room. She halted and you smirked "I always knew i was your favourite but really Azula to make it so obvious" you grinned and Azula paused. You walked to your own room and Azula finally responded "i always made it obvious you’re my favourite, it’s nothing new" and went into her room.

You stepped into your own room and leant back against the closed door blushing vividly from the encounter with Azula. You’d spent all your time in the army trying to convince yourself your relationship with Azula was purely platonic. That the fact your heart sped up whenever you thought of her or how you dreamt of her often was just because you were close friends. You managed to convince yourself you weren’t in love with Azula and that she didn’t feel anything for you either but less than a day with her and you knew that was a lie. You couldn’t deny the way she made you feel and how she smiled at you in a way she never did with anyone else...as much as it made you nervous your realisation also excited you. You couldn’t wait to be around Azula again and felt a happy glow spread over you. You settled in your bed, a smile still on your face and burrowed into the exquisite cushions. You expected to fall to sleep easily but a while later you were still awake. You frowned confused as to why. You were happy, you were with Azula and the bed was comfy so why couldn’t you sleep? You figured maybe the bed was too soft compared to what you were used to in the army so went into the living room to try the sofa. You laid down and realised this was better, more like the beds back at the military. You had just closed your eyes when Azula’s door opened. "Trouble sleeping?" she asked and you nodded "i think the bed’s too comfy". Azula laughed "i thought the opposite, really y/n your taste has worsened in our time apart". You shrugged "it’s better than what i’ve been sleeping on for the last 9 months". Azula lay down on the sofa next to you and you looked at her. You didn’t ask why after finding her own bed soooo uncomfortable she came to lay on a sofa barely a foot from where you were and just enjoyed the silence. “So, anything else i missed you didn’t put in your letters?” you asked. Azula hadn’t written to you much at the academy and honestly that had been a good thing. You’d have just missed her more than you already had but she did send brief updates once a month. Azula nodded "probably tons, i couldn’t write often". You didn’t point out she wrote to you on the first of each month religiously instead you turned on your side to look at her. Mai and Ty lee had also written to you but you’d noticed compared to their letters and the changes in their lives Azula’s had been...well boring. You felt almost sorry for her, you’d all moved away to different things but Azula had been stuck at home with a father who was cruel, the ghost of a cold mother and the memory of a banished brother. Azula quickly discussed some events that had happened and then also turned on her side to face you. "What about you then? How was military life really?". You shrugged "not as i expected". "I knew that job would be awful" Azula commented "why did you stay so long then?". You sighed "well i liked some parts of it, the physical training was similar to what we did in the academy which i liked, the mental tests were better, they made me use all my brain". "That’s a first" Azula chimed in and you rolled your eyes "i liked those parts of it...could’ve done without the abuse from the trainers, food restrictions and ban on leaving". Azula raised an eyebrow "remember what i always told you y/n no self-pity, you could’ve left at any time. You chose not to". You thought Azula sounded a bit angry when she said that but you shrugged "i could but that would have meant going back home not coming back to the capital and I’d rather fight all the trainers at once than that" you said through gritted teeth and Azula saw you’d tensed. She recalled you never got along with your family but she hadn’t realised they were part of the reason you’d taken such an awful job so soon after graduation. "They hated my move to the capital and said if i failed at all they’d have me back and married, i had one shot to escape them, there’s no way i’d give it away because i didn’t actually like what i’d chosen". Azula didn’t comment she just watched you conflicted, she hated self pity and weakness but you were so like her, she’d have done the exact same thing in your position. "But you did leave" Azula commented “you left to come with me” and you looked down "i did...". Azula saw the way your face changed, filling with worry and she actually felt slightly guilty. You’d left instinctively for her when she asked, no matter what it might mean for you in the long term. You did all that for her and it proved to her again why you were her closest ally.

Azula laughed and you looked at her confused "y/n do you really think i’d make you give up your job for a small mission?". You frowned "what?". "Your parents won’t be angry because this a much better job, you’ll be paid more and you’re working with me" Azula said pointedly. "They can’t say anything against that, as long as you’re with me they can’t touch you" she smiled and you grinned at Azula "you’d vouch for me?". Azula nodded "of course, i want you with me and that’s what i’ll get, i don’t care who your family are they’re not taking you anywhere ever". You were equally touched and shocked "ever?". Azula nodded "well obviously you might not be here forever but they’re never taking you back to tie you to a marriage, i’ll just keep coming up with excuses to keep you in my company until you’re too old and then they’ll have to leave you alone with me" Azula explained and you smiled "sounds perfect".

Azula laughed and met your eye, seeing how intensely you looked at her gave her chills. Azula had missed you greatly in the capital but honestly she’d let you leave without a fight. She sensed a growing attraction and longing for you which she knew had to stop. So she let you go figuring some distance would be good but as soon as she needed allies the first face in her mind was yours. The second she saw you she knew she’d made the right choice but she also felt the attraction just as suddenly. Laying here staring at you made it more apparent than ever and it scared Azula. She blushed and turned away from you, facing the back of the sofa "try and sleep" she commanded "we'll be up early". 

You didn’t comment on how much Azula was blushing or how she’d chosen to sleep out here with you. You just smiled and closed your eyes basking in the feeling of all she’d said and the safety of her. “Good night Princess” you whispered and you fell asleep almost instantly.

The next day you reunited with Ty lee and then Mai. Ty lee had launched herself at both you and Azula when she saw you and the same occurred for Mai. Mai grunted and hugged Ty lee begrudgingly. "I thought you ran away to the circus?" Mai asked Ty lee and she nodded "i did but y/n and Azula showed up and well they called louder than the universe" Ty lee smiled. "Wait y/n and Azula, isn’t the circus closer to the capital than the military?" Mai asked looking from you to Azula. "Yeah so?" you said confused and Mai shrugged "nothing just seems like it’d make sense to go to the circus first then military but hey i’m sure Azula had her reasons for coming to get you first" Mai smirked slightly. You didn’t look at Azula but Mai and Ty lee exchanged a look at the matching blushes you were both sporting, some things never change. Azula recovered first and pretended Mai hadn’t said anything about the two of you and began explaining her plan. You joined in after a few seconds of recovery but still felt giddy at Mai’s words.

Throughout your trip you and Azula grew closer and closer just like you’d done at the academy. Although neither of you spoke about it you felt drawn to one another and Azula acted differently around you. She sought you out more than the others, always kept the closest proximity to you and paired Mai and Ty lee and you with herself whenever you had to split into teams. As you fell into old habits all the past feelings came back and you began to worry at all the dangerous situations Azula was putting herself in just to please her father. She’d infiltrated Ba Sing Sei without any backup besides you, Ty lee and Mai which terrified you. Of course her plan worked but still you were so grateful Azula had been unharmed and managed to take over the whole city without any mishaps. You hoped it’d be smooth sailing from there but of course she wanted her brother and the avatar too. You did exactly what she said to try and help her but you couldn’t escape the feeling something would go wrong. Azula had left to go and face the avatar all alone apart from her dai lee agents and you couldn’t get her out of your head. Azula had put you in charge of making sure the earth king and his bear were looked after but you wanted to ensure she was okay so left it to Ty lee and Mai. You followed the secret passage you’d seen Azula take and found your way into a massive cavern filled with people. You spotted Azula fighting the avatar and saw her shoot him with a lightning bolt. He fell to the floor and you gaped at the fact Azula had likely just killed the avatar. The water bender with the avatar then went into a rage and flew through the air using a massive wave to catch him. Azula smirked ready to engage with her and you saw Zuko standing beside her. You were surprised to see Zuko beside her, never thinking she’d actually manage to get Zuko on her side but of course she was a master at manipulation. You smiled at all she’d achieved when you noticed Azula’s uncle Iroh was approaching them. He had flames in his hands and was looking right at Azula who was fixed on the water bender. You gasped at Iroh’s intentions and how nobody was aware of what was going on behind them. You broke out into a run and leapt down the cliff as quick as you could. You were getting closer but you still weren’t close enough. Iroh raised his hands and you went into panic mode. “Stop” you yelled and threw your own fire as Iroh released his own. Your strike managed to hit his off course and it hit a rock beside Azula. Azula and Zuko both jumped and Iroh turned to you. You were now stood blocking his path to Azula and you sensed he still wanted to take her down. You anticipated his attack and blocked it instinctively before firing back your own. Iroh was much stronger than you so you were heavily outmatched when suddenly two flames burst onto the scene. Azula sprang in front and began attacking her uncle savagely while Zuko helped. You were again slightly surprised by Zuko but quickly joined in. With three on one even the dragon of the west couldn’t last long and with a final hit from Azula he fell to the floor. “Seize him and throw him in a cage” Azula spat and walked past him to you. “I thought I told you to wait upstairs” she said fixing her intense gaze on you and you shrugged “I wanted to help and I think it’s a good job I did”. Azula shot you a look at your boldness but you could tell she was more amused than annoyed. “You appear to be correct” she replied curtly before walking past you. You smiled after Azula, admiring how happy she looked and why wouldn’t she? She’d taken over Ba Sing Sei, possibly killed the avatar, brought down her uncle and convinced Zuko to ally with her, all in all it had been an excellent day and Azula had proved herself a force to be reckoned with. You began following her when you saw the guards walking Iroh in the opposite direction. You were going to look away when you noticed he was still staring at Azula. You could feel his anger and knew what his intentions were, he meant to finish the job. In the blink of an eye Iroh burst out of his restraints, threw his guards to the side and took a stance. “Azula get down” you yelled sensing the electricity in the air but he had an excellent shot at her and she had nowhere to go. Instinctively you threw yourself into the path of the lightning. 

Azula also responded instinctively. She conjured her own lightning to meet her uncle’s when she saw you running into the fight, You tried to raise a wall of fire but there wasn’t time, you got hit by the bolt and collapsed. Azula only just managed to direct her own bolt away from you and felt her heart beating rapidly. As the smoke cleared Azula saw your body on the floor rage consumed her. She conjured a huge amount of electricity and sent it all at her uncle. He tried to block it but Azula’s bolt sliced through his defences hitting him square in the chest. Azula didn’t even check to see if her bolt had met its mark, she knew it had so rushed to your side. “Y/n” she yelled and she knelt beside you staring at the smoke coming off your back where the bolt had hit you. Your uniform was partially melted and Azula could smell the burning flesh strongly. "I need water” Azula yelled grabbing you and trying to feel for a pulse. She felt one and felt her own breathing somewhat stabilise too. "Now" Azula yelled and people rushed forwards. Azula poured the water over you "it’s okay" she told as you winced as she poured more. "We need to get her into the pool" she called "someone help me get her to the water". Zuko appeared and helped Azula carry you to a fountain. You were semi-conscious which made Azula hurry even quicker, she wanted to reduce your pain as soon as possible. Azula climbed into the fountain first and told Zuko to pass you to her. She took you carefully and laid you on your back floating. Your eyes closed as you passed out and Zuko called for a doctor. Azula clutched your by your arms keeping you close to her in the water "you will not die y/n" she snarled "you will be fine do you hear me?". You didn’t respond. 

Later

You woke up face down on something soft and tried to move your face away from it when shooting pains erupted along your spine. You felt like your back was cracking open and groaned loudly. "Careful y/n" you heard someone say and saw it was Ty Lee. "Ty lee? What happened?". "You got burnt" she explained "on your back..luckily Azula cooled you in time to stop any long-term damage but it’s still really sore so be careful". You reached for your back and flinched at the slightest touch of it. "Stop" Ty lee told you "Azula said i’m to watch you and make sure you rest, apply more soothing cream on it every three hours and just basically always make sure you're okay!" she told you cheerfully. You shook your head "Ty lee i’m fine you don’t have to sit guard over me" you tried to sit up and went pale from the pain. "Don’t do that" Ty lee cried rushing to your side "if you want to get up i can pile some pillows in front of you for you to lean on. I don’t think you can sit up for a while". You pouted annoyed but asked Ty lee to bring you said pillows and managed to pull yourself up onto your elbows "so what happened? Tell me everything". "Well thanks to you we managed to stop Iroh escaping and hurting Azula, we took Ba Sing Sei and the avatar is dead". "Wow" you said surprised "That is... a lot". Ty lee nodded “Ow and Zuko’s back on our side". You nodded and smiled "I bet Mai is happy". Ty lee grinned too "she is i haven’t seen her since we started for home". "We’re on our way back?" you asked and Ty lee nodded "yes but Azula said me, you and Mai are to stay with her even after we arrive back in the capital, she said she still has a need for us". You smiled laying your head down blushing slightly, Azula had kept her promise, she wasn’t letting you go. You sighed happily and Ty lee smiled "y/n?". "I’m just glad to be going back" you smiled "i think we'll have lots of fun". You had been dozing when the sounds of the door made you jolt awake sending shooting pains down your back. You winced but prepared yourself for an attack until you saw her. Azula raised her hands as she saw you jump and she smiled "just me". You relaxed "Azula, sorry i was asleep". "Don’t apologise you need to rest after what happened, i just wanted to come check on you. We'll be in the fire nation in a few hours". "That’s good news" you smiled and Azula nodded "how does the back feel? Ty lee says you’re doing as well as can be expected" Azula’s eyes drifted to your back and you froze. You were now very aware you were laid on your front with only a blanket covering your bare torso from Azula’s eye. Azula stepped closer and you rushed to explain and stop her inspecting you. "I’m fine" you told her "the burns aren’t too bad, they hardly hurt at all". Azula raised an eyebrow "then you won’t mind me having a look?" and stepped beside you. She reached for the blanket and you grabbed her hand with an uncomfortable strain "wait, i lied...i don’t want you to see it, Ty lee says it looks bad. It’s in the blistering stage and yes it hurts but everything has already been done for it and me so you don’t need to see it or check on me". Azula titled her head to one side as you couldn’t meet her eye and she sighed sitting on the floor beside your bed. "It will scar but unlike Zuko you can wear yours with pride" Azula said forcefully and you looked up at her shocked "with time i’m sure it will simply resemble a tattoo" Azula explained. You turned on your side to look at her, something you’d practised with Ty lee and could now manage. "Ty lee told me you did as much for me as you could...i can’t really remember it but..". "Do you remember jumping into the path of lightning for me?" Azula said "without protecting yourself or even any concrete attempt to do so, and what for?". You sighed thinking Azula was angry at you "i...i know it was reckless and stupid, it went against everything we were taught at the academy but I don’t know Azula, i did it without even thinking. I saw it heading for you and you weren’t ready! It would hit you and i just did it without hesitation, i know it seems stupid and emotional but i don’t regret it Azula i’d do it again" you told her sighing, feeling she wouldn’t understand. "I know that might sound stupid...why i’d do that for you but Azula i..." you started as Azula cut you off "y/n". Azula gently raised your head with a hand helping you to look at her. You were confused by Azula’s gaze, it was soft but at the same time intense, you couldn’t recognise the emotion, was she angry? Happy? Excited? Apparently it was somewhere in the middle. Azula leant down to you, hand on your cheek as she ghosted her lips over yours. You felt a sensation like water being thrown over you as Azula kissed you softly and quickly before pulling back "i don’t completely get it but i understand" she smiled blushing softly "i think I can imagine why you did it" she said looking away from you "thank you for saving me". You were speechless, Azula was thanking you? Azula understood why you did it? Did that mean she liked you too? She’d just kissed you so of course she did! Or was that what she thought you wanted? Azula had been used all her life, did she simply think you did this in order to make gains with her? 

Azula smiled slightly to see your brain short-circuiting at her actions and stood up. "i just wanted to make sure you were okay so now I know you are i’ll let you go back to sleep. I’ll wake you when we’re there". You nodded still confused and watched Azula walked away. You weren’t sure what had just happened but you knew you had to make Azula realise you didn’t do this just to use her. "Azula" you said suddenly "is that...what you just did...if that was my reward or what you think i wanted from you after today...i didn’t save you because i was expecting a reward or anything from you so what i’m saying is you don’t have to compensate me if you don’t want to. I didn’t do it for any reason other than to keep you safe". 

Azula blushed suddenly and felt her emotions swirling, she realised she was happy. To hear you express openly your desire for her safety filled her with excitement and she realised nobody had ever cared for her before like you did. Azula nodded slowly "that is welcomed news y/n" she smiled "but i didn’t reward you like that as a forced compensation either" she told you "although my intentions were personal and selfish i suppose”. 

You smirked slightly and nodded "good...i mean fine with me". Azula nodded "i’m glad we understand each other, good night y/n". "Good night princess Azula" you said savouring the words and Azula’s eye twitched but she maintained her calm expression and bowed leaving. You lay back giggling as realisation (and the medication you were on for the pain) set in. Azula had kissed you and told you she didn’t do it because she thought she had to but because she wanted to! For selfish reasons!!! You wrapped yourself in your blankets and didn’t stop smiling even in your sleep.

____

Is it just me who loves the idea of being in a secret relationship with the princess of the fire nation? I feel like Azula would excel at sneaking around the palace and would like rebelling against Ozai for once

[imaslutforremusandsirius]

You always get what you want part 2

Have fun and be safe

Part one

Part three

Part four

Warnings: 18+ 

---

It had been nearly three weeks after the incident of Remus fucking you and plugging your pussy with his cum. He did his best to act nonchalant, as if nothing happend, but you knew better. Remus wouldn‘t stop staring at you and Sirius whenever the both of you made out. Little did he know that you were doing it on purpose, that Sirius already knew about what happend. You had told him immediately and never had Sirius been so enthusiastic to eat you out.

„Fuck this might be my only chance to taste Moonys cum, please.“ Sirius was downright filthy after he got a taste, licking and sucking until there was nothing left. He even came untouched, the idea that his best mate had fucked his girl full, already made him cum like a bitch in heat.

Tonight, you and Sirius would break him. Make him fall apart and piece him back together. You wouldn‘t stop until he was a sobbing mess underneath you.

---

Sirius kissed you deeper, hands squeezing your ass as you sat in his lap, pulling his long hair free of the messy bun. You were sitting on Remus‘ bed, just as he had told you that you should, if you wanted a second time. Well, now he had you both to play with.

Remus walked through the door and was confronted with the sight of you and Sirius furiously making out on his bed. Sirius had your ass spread, showing only thin, lacey underwear, but he could faintly make out the lines of your pussy lips leaking against the fabric. Still looking he saw Sirius‘ boner in his tight jeans and nearly came then and there. You turned your head to look at him, cheeks flushed with pleasure and beckoned him towards you. His legs seemed to have a mind of their own as he stumbled in your direction, watching as Sirius‘ sucked and licked at your throat.

„You said that you would fuck me if I sat on your bed again. Now Sirius is as well.“

Sirius didn‘t stop sucking, only peered up at Remus through his thick black lashes and grinned. Remus gulped, hands fisting at his side to stop himself from touching his best friend.

„We want to fuck you Remus. Do you want that as well?“, Sirius drawled lowly, blinking his grey eyes prettily. Remus‘ breath caught in his throat.

„When did you tell him?“

„Right after you fucked me full of your cum and plugged me up. Don‘t worry Sirius enjoyed the taste of your cum.“

Remus closed his eyes and took a calming breath. You were killing him.

„Relax Moons, I‘m not mad. Promise.“

Remus looked at his friend and nodded lightly. „You should fuck some patience into her mate, she‘s feisty.“

Sirius grinned at his best mate, „Fuck her for me then.“

Remus smirked back and looked at you. Your pupils were already dailated and your pussy wet with the thought of being fucked by your boyfriend and his best friend. You let out a soft mewl, resting your head on Sirius‘ and pouted as you looked at Remus.

„C‘mon Remmy, been waiting for weeks to have you...“

Remus groaned at that, finally giving in and bend down to press a kiss on your lips, tongue caressing yours. Sirius let out a breathy Remus and Remus turned his head to look at his friend. Sirius was looking at him closely, as if he had seen him for the first time in his life and surged forward to kiss Remus hard. Remus couldn‘t resist, not Sirius, and immediately melted against him, letting you pull him on the bed. He laid on his back, letting you straddle his waist as he continued to kiss Sirius passionately. It was filthy, they were licking and biting, moaning and breathing in each others mouths, not once coming up for air. You pushed Sirius back slightly to pull off Remus‘ shirt and pressed kisses along his upper body, sucking at his nipples, his hips bucking up to meet yours.

„Sirius, love, I want you to watch as Remus fucks me.“

The boys stopped kissing and Sirius moaned out a ,Fuck yes, I want to see you both’, before he settled against Remus‘ headboard.

„You really are a slut, aren‘t you? Getting off on your boyfriend watching us fuck? You‘re filthy puppy, you suprise me every time,“ Remus said against your lips as his hands worked on taking off your bra.

„You should have seen her when she told me about it, Moony. She begged me to let you join us, begged me to let you fuck her again. Not that she needed to beg for long“, Sirius commented, as he watched you make out.

You whined, listening to them talk as if you weren‘t there. As if you were a toy for their pleasure. These boys are sin.

Remus let out a mocking laugh as he pulled your head back to look at your face. „Aw pup, don‘t worry I‘ll give you something to beg for..“

You only whimpered at that, silently begging him to touch you. Remus got up and pushed you on your back, kissing down your neck, hands playing with your tits. He was kneading them hard, his pointer and thumb pinching your nipples until they were sore, his mouth sucking yellowish bruises on your soft skin. You writhed underneath him, arching your chest in his mouth. He leaned back, satisfied with the state of your tits and continued to kiss his way down to your pussy, leaving a trial of spit in his wake. With a sharp tug he rid you of your clothing and pushed your legs against your chest.

„So thats what your pretty cunt looks like unfucked...God, I just want to ruin it.“

Sirius moaned at that and you heard him open the buckle of his belt.

Remus kissed your clit, spit on your pussy and slowly parted your lips with his fingers to push his tongue inside. You trembled at that, hips grinding on his face. Remus let out low groans, the vibrations making you even more sensitive.

„Enough Moony, fuck her already, c‘mon“, Sirius‘ voice urged.

Remus pulled back at that, leaving you empty and clenching around nothing. You knew better than to complain, so you just clamped your mouth shut and looked at Remus expectantly. Remus gave you a mocking smile at that.

„Greedy slut‘s learning hm? Good puppy.“

„Yes Remmy, wanna be good. Want you to fuck me good“, you said with a simper, lips pulling into a pout.

Remus grinned even more and Sirius chuckled from behind you.

„Since when are you so polite darling?“

„You would be too if he would stop fucking you before you reach your orgasm, Siri. Remus can be evil.“

Remus let out a breathless laugh and moved towards Sirius. You sat up to watch the exchange.

He leaned in to kiss his friend, lips that had been licking at your pussy just a few minutes ago. They didn‘t care, clearly enjoying your tase and Remus pulled back to whisper against Sirius‘ lips. „M‘gonna lay down now and your girlfriend will ride me until I come inside of her. I want you to fuck my mouth with your cock Padfoot, can you do that? Will you fuck my mouth?“

Sirius let out a broken moan against his lips. „Remus, fuck, yes please.“ „Good boy.“

Remus took off the rest of his clothes and threw them carelessly on the floor. You hurried to climb onto his lap and smeared your pussy on his cock to get him wet. Slowly you pushed the head of his cock against your hole and sat down, both of you let out broken moans. You stopped when he was lodged deep inside of you and waited for further instructions. Sirius immediately knelt over Remus‘ face and rubbed the tip of his cock against his lips. Remus‘ tongue gave a slow lick and Sirius shuddered, pushing his cock in further. You braced your hands on Remus‘ chest and started to fuck yourself on his cock in a fast pace, grinding and fucking your pussy to your hearts content. Fuck you dreamt about this for weeks. Pleasure slowly began to build up in your belly and you chased it, going harder, squeezing around his cock, rubbing your clit. Remus growled at the tightness and Sirius let out a high pitched moan, fucking Remus‘ mouth, not caring that his friend was tearing up and choking. If anything, it made him hotter and he rutted against Remus‘ face chasing his orgasm.

„Sirius, lean forward“, you said and stopped riding Remus. You tugged at your boyfriends hair and made him suck on your fingers. Slowly you rubbed your fingers against his asshole and pushed them inside, just as Remus thrusted up in your pussy, displeased with the lack of moving. You began riding him again, your fingers fucking your boyfriends ass, the other one massaging his heavy balls.

„Fuck, god, don‘t stop, oh please don‘t stop..“

Sirius was a blabbering mess, not knowing if he should rock forward to fuck Remus‘ face or backwards to fuck your fingers. He let out a shriek as your fingers brushed his spot and braced himself on his hands, giving you full access. You pulled away from Remus, wanting to give your beautiful boyfriend the best orgasm of his life. Your fingers fucked him harder, your other hand tugging at his balls, feeling them draw up to his body, close to cumming. Remus sucked his cock, spit leaking out of the corner of his mouth as he groaned around the cock in his mouth.

Remus and you fucked him relentlessly and Sirius could barely hold himself upright, voice hitching and watery with pleasure.

„Yes yes yes ooh, don‘t sto- ah“

He came hard, pushing his cock down Remus‘ throat as far as possible, his ass clenching around your fingers as you fucked him through his orgasm. Remus let out choking sounds as he did his best to swallow all of his best friends cum, his hands spanking Sirius‘ ass hard. With a low groan Sirius slid out of Remus‘ mouth and collapsed next to your bodies, basking in the afterglow of his orgasm. He was clearly gone, eyes glazed over, body trembling with pleasure.

You leaned down, kissing Remus, tasting Sirius cum, reminding you of your first kiss with the werewolf. Remus hummed, remembering too and kissed you back lazily, pushing you on your back to fuck you again. His cock was steadily leaking cum, not farm from his own orgasm. He thrust into your pussy with a sharp trust, drinking in your screams of pleasure as he fucked you senseless.

„You and your filthy boyfriend thought you could break me huh? Make me beg? Now look at you both. Pathetic sluts, m‘gonna show you how to properly fuck“, Remus bit out, voice strained and angry for being denied his orgasm by you so often.

„Fuck Remmy, please“, you gasped out, the knot it your belly steadily buildig up again and you trapped him between your legs, not letting him leave until he fucked you full of his cum.

He fucked and fucked and fucked you so hard you could barely breathe until he burried himself to the hilt and let out a throaty moan against the skin of your neck. He came and came, filling you to the brim with his seed, not stopping until you begged him to.

„Rem, s‘too much Remmy, stop“

„Before that it wasn‘t enough, now s‘too much? Make up your mind you dirty whore“

You could only sob at that, your body trembling all over, your blood feeling as if it boils your from the inside.

Finally he pulled out slowly, enyoing the way your pussy clenched around him and fell on your other side.

It was silent for a few minutes, both of you trying to calm down, listening to the Sirius breathe, already fallen asleep due to the force of his orgasm.

„Did you enjoy it?“

„You serious? I had the hardest orgasm of my life!“

You let out a tired giggle. „M‘glad then. Stay Remmy.“

„You sure? I um I can just sleep in Padfoots bed, s‘alright if-

„Remus, please stay.“

He gave you a relieved smile.

„I‘ll stay.“

You gave him a satisfied grin, tugging Sirius up to rest his head on your chest and Remus threw his arm over the both of you, head resting above yours.

The End (unless you want more lol, lemme know)

[pastelwitchling]

“What do you mean he’s been hit with truth serum?” Michael demanded.

Alex giggled from where he had his head rested against the wall, his half-lidded eyes on Michael. “You’re pretty.”

Michael and Liz stared at him a moment, Michael’s cheeks warm.

“Exactly what it sounds like!” Liz said urgently. “Look, it’s all my fault, I – I got in an argument with Max, I wasn’t paying attention, the solution was about to erupt, Alex jumped in to protect me, and he got hit!”

“It’s not so bad,” Alex said from the corner. He pointed at Michael’s open flannel. “I love it when you wear your shirt like that, by the way. Unbutton another one.” He straightened. “Never mind, don’t. I don’t want anybody staring at you but me.”

Michael exhaled slowly. He looked to Liz whose eyes were wide, her cheeks pink. “Why were you making truth serum?!” he snapped.

“It was unfinished!” she argued. “It wasn’t supposed to be a truth serum!”

“I like the way you smell,” Alex told her dreamily. “Makes me feel safe. Well, it did, until you played favorites and encouraged Maria to go after the only man I’ve ever loved. Did you ever consider what that would do to me? It killed me every second, by the way.” He perked up. “Oh! I left my copy of Little Women under the sofa! I’ll have to remember to check when I get back.”

Neither Liz nor Michael said anything in response to that for a long time. Michael felt an uncomfortable twitch in his spine at the mention of his ex, and Liz looked no more pleased with herself for her mistakes.

Michael shut his eyes. “Why am I here? Don’t you think I’m the last person who should be around Alex when he’s spilling his guts out?”

“You’re the only other person who can help me find an antidote to this!”

“Aww,” Alex laughed. “You’re both so scared of the truth. I don’t think my feelings have been any secret.” He pointed at Michael. “I’m in love with you –” He looked to Liz “—I’m disappointed with you.” He shrugged. “And I can’t even look at Maria anymore without wanting to scream and cry my eyes out.” He slumped. “I’m hungry. I don’t eat nearly enough.”

“I can’t –” Michael shook his head. “I can’t do this, I can’t be here.”

He turned to the door, made it just to the handle, and Alex called out in a singsong voice, “Michael’s running away again!”

Michael stopped, his whole body tense and on edge. He turned slowly to Alex to find him staring blatantly back at him, his smile intact, but his eyes glassy, as if a small part of him was still conscious of what was going on.

“I don’t run away from you, Alex,” he said.

Liz held a hand up. “Michael, he’s under a serum’s effects, he doesn’t know what he’s –”

“Don’t you?” Alex whispered, but his sad tone and teasing smile were enough to blanket the lab with a heavy silence. “Never seems to matter what’s happening to me, how hurt I am, how scared or lost or confused . . . you’ve never stayed for any of it.”

He stretched out his arms and legs. “Sure wish it had been that easy for me to abandon you like that.” He laughed. “But no, I kept coming back. Kept hoping. Then you’d make some joke about me –” he faltered, like a lump in his throat constricted his words, “being good for nothing but sex, and I’d feel like an idiot every time.”

Michael took a step towards him. “I . . .” he breathed. “Alex, no, I never meant any of that.”

Alex hummed. “I know, Guerin. I always know.” His smile turned small as he looked down at his lap. “But you were nice to her. I was always jealous of that. That you were so nice to her, but you were fine with making me feel . . .”

Liz was watching with furrowed brows, her own eyes glassy at the exchange. Michael suspected she only now was realizing the damage she’d done when she’d – as Alex had put it – played favorites.

“Feel what?”

Alex smiled like it was all a fun, tragic joke. “Unwanted.” His eyes turned dazed, his smile small. “I’m so tired. I don’t sleep nearly enough.”

Without another word to either of them, Alex curled up against the wall and closed his eyes. A moment later, he was breathing deeply.

Liz let out a shaking breath and sniffed, wiping her cheek. Michael watched as Alex slept, then turned to the table, pulling off his jacket. He levitated it over to gently cover Alex.

“What’re you doing?” Liz asked as he pulled out a few beakers.

“Working on an antidote,” Michael said. His voice was distant and dark to his own ears. “Before he wakes up.”

 Michael worked fast when he was pissed off, and he was pissed off, but only at himself. All this time, Alex had spent it with his shattered heart in his hands, and Michael had never noticed. Or maybe he had. That was the most frightening thought of all. That he’d known how miserable and tired Alex had been, and left him alone to deal with it.

He finished an antidote in less than an hour.

“Here,” he handed the spray to Liz, watching Alex. “You do it.”

“Right,” Liz took the antidote glumly, like a child being told to clean up their own mess. Either that, or she, like Michael, was still reeling from Alex’s honesty.

She sprayed several times around his face, let him inhale the odorless, colorless serum, and he woke with a flutter of his eyes. He blinked up at Liz who must’ve looked like she was about to attack him with perfume, and his brows furrowed as he pushed himself off the wall.

He looked around a moment, seemed to realize Michael was there, and his frown deepened.

“Did I miss something?”

“Quick,” she said. “Tell a lie!”

“Uh – about what? What do you mean?”

Liz glanced back at Michael, then took a deep breath, bracing herself. “Are you mad at me for talking to Maria about Michael?”

Alex blinked, startled, then his expression cooled and his impartial laugh slotted right into place. “What? No, Liz, what’s going on?”

Michael’s jaw clenched. “He can lie.”

Liz’s shoulders slumped, but guilt accompanied the relief in her frown. She wrapped her arms around Alex’s shoulders and hugged him tightly. “He’s okay. You’re okay.”

“I can lie?” Alex frowned, and Michael could see the gears in his head turning. “I couldn’t before?”

Liz pulled back. “You really don’t remember? My truth serum exploded, and you were hit!”

A moment of panic crossed his face before it was gone, so quickly that anyone that didn’t pay attention to every single thing Alex did would’ve missed it. But Michael did pay attention, so he hadn’t.

“It was truth serum?” he asked, then, “Why the hell were you making truth serum?”

“It wasn’t supposed to be truth serum!” she defended, exasperated.

“Liz,” Michael said darkly, “give us a minute.”

Liz looked between Michael and Alex for a moment before she silently nodded, brushed back Alex’s bangs, and left the lab.

Michael and Alex sat alone in the silence for a long time before Alex said, “I talked, huh?”

Michael shook his head. “Yeah,” he said. “You finally did.”

Alex met his anger with a cool glare. “I came to your trailer to talk, remember? You never showed up. I offered my help, you told me you liked someone else.”

“Stop it,” Michael growled.

“That’s what happened,” Alex reminded him. “What did you want me to do, Guerin? You went after her, you didn’t come after me.” He shrugged. “I don’t know what else there is to say.”

“Stop talking like that!”

“Like what?”

“Like you’ve given up on us!”

Alex stood, his expression darkening. “I wasn’t the one that fell in love with someone else, Guerin.”

He turned to leave, but Michael grabbed his wrist and turned him around so that he stumbled right into his chest. Michael wrapped his arms around Alex’s body, keeping him pressed against him.

“Neither was I,” he whispered against Alex’s lips.

Alex, startled, searched Michael’s face.

Michael’s eyes burned and his grip on Alex tightened. “I didn’t want to be unwanted.” Alex faltered. “I knew you wanted to have me,” he shook his head, “not that you wanted to keep me.”

Alex’s frown deepened and he sighed, turning his face away before Michael gripped his chin and pulled him in for a kiss. Alex gasped against his lips, shocked, but Michael couldn’t get his expression out of his mind; when he’d told the truth of how hurt he was, the way he’d smiled because he’d believed no one would care, and knew he had to be fine with that. Even under a serum’s effects, he’d warned himself not to show too much emotion, not to break in front of the people he no longer trusted.

It made Michael pull him in deeper, kiss him harder, tilt his head and taste Alex’s tongue and nearly tear off his shirt. He wanted to touch every inch of Alex’s skin, to whisper his love for him against his lips, his neck, his chest, his stomach, his arms, his legs. All this time, he hadn’t realized just how badly he’d been suffocating, and now, with Alex back in his arms, he felt right. He felt like he could finally breathe.

Alex pulled away. “Stop,” he panted, his hands curled to fists on Michael’s chest. “Stop, you can’t just . . . I don’t trust you anymore, Guerin.”

A lump lodged in Michael’s throat, and he held Alex tighter, holding him close enough that nothing could’ve fit between them.

“I’ll earn it back,” he promised, pressing his forehead to Alex’s to keep them close. “I’ll earn your trust back, I swear.” He swallowed. “I want to be good for you, Alex.”

Alex tensed, doubt flickering in his eyes. Michael cupped his jaw and held on tight, his thumb brushing Alex’s cheek.

He growled, “I know I can be good for you.”

Alex’s lower lip trembled, and his eyes filled with tears. He whispered, “And what if I’m not good enough for you?”

Michael scoffed, unable to help the grin pulling at his lips as he closed his eyes, taking in the warmth of Alex against him.

“No one’s better for me than you.”

*** Shrug.

[dc41896]

Mixed Signals

Pairing: college!Chris EvansxBlack Reader

Summary🪄: One text from your boyfriend nearly wrecks your night

⚠️: Slight suggestive content, mentions of virginity, a very awkward yet hilarious (at least I hope it comes across as that) moment, fluff!

Stomach turning and heart racing, it’s hard to focus on the math problems in front of you with what’s spiraling in your head.

Ever since “My roommate’s out of town, you know what that means😉” flashed across your screen, you’ve been slightly confused and on edge. And your friend’s response after you sent her the screenshot didn’t make you feel any better.

“Not trying to pry, but have you guys....you know... yet?,” she asked over lunch in the courtyard.

“No..why you think that’s what he means?”

“I mean I’m not sure, but I know when my boyfriend sends the winky face it typically means we’re not getting any work done,” she grins to herself before taking a sip of her soda.

You, on the other hand, had lost your appetite and hadn’t found it since.

In your five months of dating you and Chris never really brought up going to that level of your relationship, and you thought he honestly didn’t care. He never pressured you or made any advances that made you feel uncomfortable; instead he just let things flow, which you appreciated. There was a part of you though, that wondered if things would always stay this way and he’d always be so patient.

Apparently you were quickly being shown how they wouldn’t.

Not that you didn’t want to go there. Clearly you weren’t blind to how attractive your boyfriend was with his piercing blue eyes that made you swoon at every glance, and muscular arms and legs making you embarrassingly stumble over your words those times he’d greet you at the door in only his boxers. Paired with his overall personality that kept you entertained from his dorky antics yet intrigued from his intellectual views, you were completely smitten already by the man across from you.

But if you were ready for the next step, you weren’t quite sure yet.

Plus even if you were you wouldn’t even know where to start! You knew what went where, obviously, but what about the other stuff that went with it? And what if you weren’t any good at it? You knew guys talked (even though they claim not to gossip but we all know), and you didn’t want to be that girl getting destroyed in the group chat. Oh God what if something was wrong with you down there?!

“Y/N?...Babe!”

“Huh? Yea?”

“I asked what’d you get for 25? My answer isn’t matching up with what’s in the book.”

“Oh uh I haven’t gotten there yet, I’m still on 12,” you answer now trying to catch up.

“You okay?”

“Yea, why?”

“Well for starters, you’ve been clicking your pen nonstop for a while,” Chris chuckles as you slowly lower your pen. “And you’ve been kinda spacey since you got here. Anything you want to talk about?”

“YES! A LOT ACTUALLY!,” you wanted to scream, but instead you simply shrugged.

“No, I’m fine. Just a little stressed I guess.”

“Why don’t we take a break then?,” he suggests closing his textbook. Watching him stand from his desk with a short stretch and yawn, your skin feels as if it’s been set ablaze wondering what would happen next.

“Is this him making a move?,” you thought as he plopped down on the bed next to you with a loud sigh. Holding his arms out with a childlike smile, a nervous laugh escapes your lips setting your textbook off to the side before wrapping your arms around his middle cuddling close to his body.

“So I’ve uh been thinking...”

And here come the nervous sweats. Please don’t let me stink.

“Mhmm?”

“Maybe we could try some new things?,” he answers, fingertips trailing up and down your spine.

“N-New?,” you swallow. From how hard your heart is pounding against your chest, you’re surprised Chris hasn’t said anything and that you haven’t gone into cardiac arrest.

Then again the night’s still young.

“Yea, but there’s no pressure. If you don’t want to it’s fine.”

“Not that I’m upset or anything, but where’s this coming from?,” you ask. Your hands moving to rest on his pecs helping you sit up.

“Just to change things up you know? What we usually do is fun, but I’ve started wanting different.”

Great, now you’re boring. Wait, are you gonna be boring in bed too? You honestly weren’t that flexible. Maybe you could sneak to the bathroom and stretch?

“Oh, um okay.”

“Hey it’s like I said though, if you don’t want to it’s completely fine,” he reassures sitting up himself and taking your hands in his. His warm thumbs running soothingly along the bumps of your knuckles before bringing them to his lips.

You were still scared, but deep down you felt that you could trust him with all of you, and you wouldn’t want your first time to be with anyone else.

“No, I-I want to,” you smile.

“Great! We can-,”

He can’t finish his sentence before your lips are hurriedly pressed to his and your hands gently frame the sides of his neck letting your thumbs graze along his jawlines.

So far so good Y/N, just don’t think about it.

You’d made out plenty of times before, but compared to you two now, you realized those in the past were more so innocent and playful with your breaks for small chuckles and fingers tracing facial features. Seemingly feeding off your energy, kisses now were hungrier and soon you were straddling his lap feeling something press against your thigh as his fingers dug into your hips.

Okay now that we’re here, do I take my clothes off first or his? Or do I take turns with both? Should I wait on him? Does it really matter?

His mouth moves lower to your neck attacking right above your pulse point, and in turn making it race faster as a hidden moan rolls off your tongue startling your own self.

Hold on, did I even shave my legs? Dangit, I said I would do it tonight when I got back.

You lean back to remove your graphic tee, but Chris holds your hands in place stopping you from moving any further.

“Baby you sure about this?,” he asks slightly out of breath with red and partially swollen lips. “It’s your first time and I don’t want you rushing into anything when you’re not ready.”

“Yea...I think so at least. Plus you were talking about doing something different-,”

“I was talking about going somewhere different for our date night. Supendi’s is nice, but there’s this new arcade for adults that I thought would be fun.”

“But..but you texted saying how your roommate wasn’t home. And the winky face.”

“Yea meaning that when we get done with our work, we can watch the big tv in the living room rather than being stuck in here holding my phone screen.”

“Ohhh...”

You could’ve sworn your heart stopped right there as the blood drained from your face and apparently stopped in your throat from the lodged sensation you get.

Reminder: call your parents when you get the chance to ask if they dropped you on your head as a child, explaining why you’re so dumb now.

“You thought I was saying-?,”

“Yep, I did,” you sigh moving towards the opposite side of the bed pressed against the white as milk wall. Arms wrapped around yourself as you sink further into the mattress, your embarrassment also makes you feel uncomfortably vulnerable and desperately wanting to return to your room so you could cry in the corner of your shower.

“I’m such an idiot.”

“No you’re not,” he states leaning down to kiss your temple before hugging you close, “It’s my fault you thought that. I should’ve been more clear, I’m sorry.”

“If I wasn’t sure, I should’ve just asked rather than assumed though. That would’ve saved a lot of embarrassment and stress.”

A lighthearted chuckle vibrates his chest and forehead rests against your temple distracting you long enough to bring some level of comfort.

“Don’t think I stopped because I don’t want to, believe me I really do. Like I said though, I want you to be sure you’re ready.”

You only nod, giving him a small smile while you bask in the sensation of his cool nose bumping and rubbing against your cheek.

“And you’re not bored, since we haven’t had sex yet?,” you timidly ask finally meeting his eyes.

“Of course not. I’m never bored when I’m with you, and never will be.”

How was he so perfect? Where did this guy come from Build a Boyfriend? Your lips find his, still a bit red from your earlier session, melting away any self doubt or overthinking that remained in your brain successfully bringing the quiet it so desperately needed.

“Thanks for being so patient with me.”

Taglist: @fumbling-fanfics @honeychicana @honeydulcewrites @lady-olive-oil @themyscxiras @melinda-january @lovelymari4 @maxcullen @literaturefeen @damnitaa @curlyhairclub @plokyu23 @fullofmelaninsarcasmandepression @nunubug99 @felicity-x0 @ellixthea @jojolu @jnk-812 @brwn-sgr @captainsamwlsn @wildfirecracker @nina-sj @iammyownlover @chaneajoyyy @scoop93535 @secretmysteriousperson

If anybody wants to be tagged, has asked to be tagged but don’t see your name, only want to be tagged for certain people I write for (can be found in masterlist), or no longer wish to be tagged, just let me know🤓!

[alleycat97]

Slippery Slopes Pt.2

Part two y’all! Sorry it’s late, I’ve been busy. Should be one more part to finish this up!

Tag list: @samanthadalton @fundamentalromantic @avalawrencefl @penda-bear @queen-arabella-of-cordonia @kamilahsayeet2063

It had been an interesting 24 hours since the accident on the slopes yesterday. No word had been passed on about Emma and that left her suitors restless. Mason couldn’t cope with the fact that his father or ex best friend had committed such a cruel act that hurt Emma.

Noah couldn’t believe he was even in this situation. He should have never trusted Jennings but he let his guard down for the sake of the trip and Emma, and this is what he got. He was looking at charges for trespassing and endangerment while Principal Jennings seemed to be clearing his name.

Mack couldn’t stop pacing, Dr. Price was doing an awful job of updating his own daughter on her sisters progress. Ava wasn’t fairing much better. She had organized their room over and over trying to make sure it’s perfect for when Emma came back to the lodge.

It was just a sit tight and stand ready type of situation. None of them had a personal car available, so trapped at the lodge they were.

Ava stopped her cleaning when she heard a cellphone go off, to no surprise it was hers and the caller was Bayla. She grumbled and put the phone back down, she had called 4 times already today. Ava couldn’t bring herself to talk to her girlfriend knowing Emma was hurt in the hospital. She would sound weak, vulnerable, all red flags Bayla didn’t need right now.

Another call rang out across the house, this time it was Mack’s phone, and judging by her facial reactions, it was with her father. Mack nodded enthusiastically and ended the call, yelling out to find Mason.

“Emma is ready to come back here, dad said she will be ok, we need to go and pick her up. Spare keys are in his room, I’ll grab them and we can go.”

“What all was wrong?” Ava rushed out of the room and into the foyer.

“He didn’t say. I guess we will know when we all get back.” Mack said noticing the gloom placed on Ava’s features. “She’s gonna be alright.”

Ava went and tidied up the room once more and without knowing what Emma would require, she just cluttered the entire nightstand with odd and ends eliminating the guessing.

The front door slamming was her queue to come running, she leaned over the balcony railing only to see Jennings and Noah.

“I don’t know how you got those signs in my bag old man, but this isn’t over.” Noah hissed shoving his way past Principal Jennings.

“Maybe you should think twice before doing illegal activities. You’re never going to learn trailer trash.” Jennings barked stopping Noah dead in his tracks.

Jennings was an asshole. This dude seemed to get off on making teenagers lives miserable. The tension was unbearable.

“I know you knew about the course being closed. I just can’t figure out why you’d try to hurt Emma. You’re a sick bastard and if I go down, you’re coming with me.” Noah said inching up into Jennings face.

The scene was split up when Mack came through the door. Mason in tow pushing an unconscious Emma in a wheelchair. She had a cast on her leg and looked so cold. Dave brought up the rear looking like hell. Looks like sleep wasn't an option for him either.

“Ah yes there she is. How did everything go?” Jennings asked unfazed of what transpired.

Mason ignored him and tried to walk past to the staircase with Emma sleeping.

“I said how did everything go?” Jennings said jerking Mason back almost causing him to fall. Noah shoved Jennings aside helping to stabilize Mason so Emma wouldn’t fall out of the chair.

“Ask Mr. Price dad! Let go of me, Emma needs to be in bed!” Mason snapped shoving his fathers hands away from him.

Jennings jumped at the outburst and gritted his teeth, turning to Dave. “Let’s talk in the kitchen, I’ll have the Chef whip up some coffee.”

With the adults gone and the room de-stressed, Noah assisted Mason in carrying Emma up to her room, Ava steering clear of them until Emma was placed in bed.

“Ok boys thank you. I can handle her from here.” Ava shot out shoving them aside to check on Emma.

The boys looked to each other confused but didn’t say anything about the outburst. Mason needed his own rest and Noah had a busy day ahead of him with Jennings and the ski patrol assholes.

“Just let us know when she wakes alright? Mr. Price has her medicine.” Mason said closing the door leaving Ava alone with a sleeping Emma.

Ava had no clue why she wanted the privacy with Emma. She was a taken woman and Emma was her bestie. Nothing else, she tried to convince herself.

But the longer she sat and stared at Emma, the more her heart pounded, the more she wanted to wake her and kiss her all better. The thoughts of such activities made her dizzy and she had to get away. But it was Emma, she had this way of keeping her grounded and for the life of her, Ava couldn’t drag herself away.

So she continued to sit in silence, begging for Emma to wake up, because quite frankly? She didn’t look too well.

Ava easily got up and slipped out of the room and looked for Mr. Price. She heard some quiet commotion from the kitchen, what a shock.

“Now you listen here Jim, I don’t know how it happened, all I know is my little girl just underwent a major leg surgery after she took place in your little race.”

“Now I know how it looks Dave, I’m quite sorry that it happened, but Mr. Harris is the culprit here. I should have known not to place trust in him. What a terrible thing, taking down those signs.”

Noah heard his name and flew into the kitchen,

“I told you Jennings! I didn’t take down any signs!”

“Quiet scum! Adults are talking here! Don’t you have a meeting with the ski patrol?” Jim teased.

“I don’t know how you twisted this on me, but I’ll get you back.” Noah inched closer so only Jennings could here, “Maybe I should call off our deal?”

Whatever was said, Jennings went pale and cleared his throat. Removing himself from the conversation.

“Mr. Price?” Ava said entering the room. “Emma is still asleep. And she’s so pale, she looks sick.”

“I feared that. It’s her medication, she should be awake anytime now for another dose. Here, please give her one of these when she awakes. I’m going to get some rest.” Mr. Price said handing over the medicine.

Ava returned to the room with the meds and hot tea to find Emma slowly awaking.

“Hello sleepy head.” Ava rushed over with a smile.

“Where am I?” Emma groggily spoke out.

“Back in the bedroom with good ol me.”

Emma rubbed at her eyes trying to get them to open, “Are you an angel?”

Ava snorted, “Oh now you wanna shoot your shot huh.”

“Worth a try.” Emma laughed. “I feel terrible.”

“You look it.” Ava agreed dodging the pillow Emma tossed.

“Here Mahomes, here’s your pill and I made your favorite tea.” Ava giggled as she sat down next to Emma to help her take the meds and give her a sip of tea.

“Psh, Mahomes wishes he had this cannon for an arm.” Emma tried laughing but she done exhausted herself.

“Relax, you just underwent surgery. I’m actually impressed they released you so quickly.”

“Perks of having a doctor for a dad. I’m not about that hospital food.”

The two sat in silence for a moment while Emma sipped her tea. It was so nice just the two of them, Ava had Emma all to herself, no intruders, no boys, and no Bayla. Crap....Bayla was still her girlfriend.

Ava came to and realized she was stroking Emma’s delicate hair, resting her hand on Emma’s soft cheek. She quickly composed herself and stood abruptly, creating as much distance as possible.

What was this? What were they? Friends? More than friends? Ava knew what the answer should be, but the timing was terrible. Bayla was her own girlfriend, and Emma had her own issues.

A text shot through to Ava’s phone, it was Bayla. “Speak of the devil.” Ava whispered. She had been putting her off for long enough and by judging by the text she received, Bayla wasn’t happy.

“Ava?” Emma called out oblivious to Ava’s aggressive texting.

Ava turned immediately to face her, “Yeah?”

“Where are the boys?”

Ava doesn’t know why, but with her issues with Bayla and her feelings for Emma, hearing her ask for the boys really added fuel to her blazing fire.

“Idk. Mason is resting and Noah and Jennings are with the ski patrol.”

Emma could hear the aggression in Ava’s voice, but she couldn’t tell if it was at her texting or towards her about her question.

“Is everything alright Ava?”

“Yeah. It’s just Bayla. She’s bugging me because I haven’t responded in awhile.”

“Oh. I wonder what has her in a twist.” Emma asked innocently.

Ava knew why. She told Bayla before she left the arrangement, so naturally she had to keep tabs on her at all times. Trust between the two were slipping, but Ava wasn’t helping her cause and Emma wasn’t either. “Because that’s what a good girlfriend does!” Ava snapped surprising Emma. “She’s just concerned!”

“Oh. I understand, I’m sorry.” Emma apologized.

“No Emma you don’t! You don’t understand and you never will!” Ava said slamming her phone down on the counter and stomping towards the door.

Something told Emma deep within this was more than just Bayla being worried, she couldn’t help but think this was all her fault and the reason Ava was upset.

Ava had to get out and breathe, she loved Emma, but she couldn’t take her indecisiveness. She couldn’t stand competing for her hand any longer, it was time to set the record straight. She stepped back in to grab her phone before heading back out again.

“Where are you going?” Emma tried.

“I’ve got a phone call to make.”

[moody-blues-requiem]

Phantom Blood Drinker (afab reader x Vampire Jonathan)

Time for the writing poll’s top 3! In third place and our only non-Vento Aureo character of the winners is vampire Jonathan! My favorite jojo.... I really enjoyed writing this one, lol. Sorry I’m posting so late! 

N/s/f/w, obvious warning for biting but it’s all consensual and good 

The news felt like being trampled by a wild horse. For months, your boyfriend Jonathan Joestar had been hiding himself away from you. Instead of the large Joestar mansion he’d relocated to a nearby hunting lodge, a short walk through the heavy woods surrounding his family’s land. The mansion was empty, you’d been shocked to see it vacated. Where were the housekeepers, where was Dio? Jonathan didn’t have answers, it sounded like it hurt him to talk about. But through closed doors he promised he loved you, he loved you so much, and that’s why he needed you to leave. To stay away, for, well… he didn’t know for how long. Perhaps forever. Despite this, you visited him daily, leaving flowers and his favorite chocolates on his doorstep. They were always gone by the next day, retrieved at some point during the night. Sometimes Jonathan left you notes and little gifts in return, trinkets of his, despite his insistence that you should forget about him and move along with your life. But… you couldn’t. Your heart belonged to Jojo, and no amount of his pleading could keep you away-- not without an explanation for his sudden turn in behavior, at least. 

On a chilly October evening, as you were heading over to deliver Jonathan some adorably-decorated caramel apples from a market stall in town, you found the door to the old lodge cracked open. Your heart sank, was everything alright? You should be overjoyed that Jonathan had decided to go out, or let you in, but… it didn’t feel quite right. The inside of the cabin was dark and ominous. You knew what you had to do, though. You needed answers from your Jonathan. 

Steeling your nerves, you headed inside. 

The cabin was cold, but not from the chill of the weather outside. It felt… heavy. Almost like a dark energy hung throughout the building. There were a handful of candles scattered throughout the main room, unlit, but clearly used. The building’s single short hallway to the bed and bathrooms was dark, doors shut. 

“Who’s there!” a voice called out, causing you to jump, nearly dropping your gift. “You need to leave, immediately!” 

“Jojo!” you called back, recognizing your lover’s voice anywhere. “It’s me! Talk to me, face to face!” You set the apples down on a small table. “Please, Jojo, come inside. I… I’m not leaving until I see you!” 

The silence cut through you like a knife. It went on for so long you almost started to doubt whether Jonathan had heard you. But you heard soft footsteps outside, the cabin door opening slowly, and there he stood. Massive, muscular frame, dark, shaggy hair, awful sense of fashion, and… and. 

“Your eyes,” you whispered. They were glowing, a deep blood-orange hue. Horribly unnatural, but it was clearly still your Jojo. “What happened?”

“Have a seat, dear,” he replied softly. “I’ll put the kettle on.” 

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

It was that damn stone mask. You’d told him it gave you creepy vibes! He put it on-- natural curiosity, nothing more-- and spikes flew out of it, piercing through his skull. Jonathan looked like he might puke from simply recounting the tale, but he assured you that he was okay. He later discovered that the spikes activated by touching the mask with blood, he must have had a nick on his hand somewhere. And now…

“Well… we’re here,” he explained. “I fled to the hunting lodge, it was far enough away from people that I could live without the temptation of human blood. Animals seem to do just fine, thankfully… but the sensation of biting into a living being still makes my stomach turn.” You were silent, it was a lot to process. Pardon your language, but it was a whole fucking ton to process. But… it was so clearly still Jonathan, your dear Jojo. “Do you still need to eat food-- I mean, regular food, or does the blood…”

“I don’t need food, no,” he shook his head. “But I can eat it. My sweet tooth hasn’t diminished in the slightest, if that’s what you’re asking. Your gifts have been greatly appreciated.” 

You chuckled, leaning in, wrapping your arms around Jonathan. Even after everything, it was still him. His same beefy body, the same hugs, the warm pine-y scent his clothes carried, it was all still him. His skin was cool to the touch, a side effect of vampirism, you supposed, but… nothing a hot bath couldn’t fix. You were just so overjoyed to have your Jonathan back in your arms that you couldn’t resist leaning in to plant a firm kiss on his lips, hugging around him with all of your strength. “Don’t leave me again, Jojo, you had me worried sick,” you whispered, so close that your lips were still touching his own. “No matter what happens, I’ll be right here for you.” 

He replied with a soft smile and a long, deep kiss, a promise that Jonathan Joestar was yours. 

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

The soft, emotional kissing became a steamy and passionate make out before you knew it. Your tongue found its way into Jonathan’s mouth, rolling over his, brushing over the tips of his new fangs. Jonathan moaned softly as you climbed onto his lap, settling your legs on either side of his hips. He’d missed you so much, and now having you right there, on his lap, your warm body pressed against his cool one, he couldn’t take it. His mind was dizzy with arousal. He needed you, now. 

“Dear,” he gasped out, “do you think we could-- ah!” his sentence was cut short as you palmed the front of his trousers, running your hand over his clothed erection. “What was that, Jojo? I didn’t quite catch your question. Is there something you want from me?” It was always fun to tease Jojo into a little frenzy, his cheeks grew red with a light blush, and the way he always averted his gaze innocently was precious. “I…. oh, dear, you know I need more than just this,” he said, voice a bit whiny with lust. He gazed up at you with soft bedroom eyes, the newfound glow to them adding a certain something to the look, the heat in the pit of your stomach growing faster than usual. His puppy-dog eyes were his trump card, he had you hook, line, and sinker. “Surely… we can remove some of the layers between us, don’t you think?”

Having a cabin to yourselves meant no fear of being caught, no meddling stepbrother or well-meaning housekeeper to accidentally walk on you two. Taking advantage of the freedom, you and Jonathan stripped each other bare, basking in the sight of one another. Jonathan’s body was beautifully defined, the chocolates you had been bringing him didn’t even make a dent in his perfect abs. You watched the muscles in his arms flex as he carefully undid your blouse, shamelessly gazing at your body as he did. Before you could even speak he leaned in, bringing a nipple into his mouth and sucking gently, his other hand moving up to softly fondle your free breast. Had it not been for his orange eyes looking up at you, you could’ve forgotten about the vampirism thing, he was so cautious with his fangs. In return for the attention on your chest you moved your hips, sligining his massive cock with your slit, rubbing yourself along his shaft. You could feel him twitch with excitement. 

“E-Enough waiting,” he gasped, pulling back from your sensitive chest. “I… let me make sure you’re ready, but. I need you.” Two thick fingers slid between your bodies and entered you with ease. You blushed at the thought of just how wet you were already, but it only seemed to spur Jonathan on more. Scissoring his fingers slowly, opening you up, he moaned. “You’ve missed this as much as I have, huh?” he asked softly. You nodded, lifting your hips and guiding his cock to your entrance before leaning in to kiss him and slowly, slowly sinking down, until you were wrapped around his shaft completely. Profanity laced Jonathan’s moans, throwing his head back and grabbing your hips, keeping you seated firmly on his cock. You felt so full, it was almost too much, but at the same time, you were desperate for more. 

Jonathan let you set the pace, he was always cautious about being too eager and somehow hurting you. So you bounced in his lap, slowly at first, but quickly picking up speed. You’d missed this, you’d missed everything about Jonathan but in the weeks of his absence you hadn’t even touched yourself, hadn’t felt like it, and your body was feeling the neglect. But now, being split apart by Jonathan’s thick shaft, it had been worth the wait. You could feel the very tip of his cock brush against your cervix with every thrust, so so deep but you couldn’t get enough. Jonathan leaned in, his head resting on your shoulder, moaning wantonly. “Jojo,” you asked between moans and gasps, “has… anything ever happened to the animals you bite?”

“What?” he asked, clearly puzzled, but not slowing his hips one bit. “No, they’re fine, a touch woozy from blood loss but fine. Why are you asking now?”

“Because, I….. I want you to bite me, Jojo.”

He didn’t stop fucking you, but you could feel his thrusts fall sharply out of rhythm. “Wh… what?!” he asked, eyes wide. “Oh, love, I could never, I… it feels too risky, I don’t…”

He looked away, blushing deep red. “You want it too, don’t you, Jonathan?”

His eyes squeezed shut, and he nodded. 

“You have my full permission, Jonathan. I’d trust you with my anything and my everything. Bite me.” 

He placed his lips on the curve of your neck, kissing the skin gently. You remembered feeling his teeth grazing your skin, and then… everything was white. Your orgasm hit you harder than ever before, crashing into you and causing you to scream out Jonathan’s name as you clenched around him, gripping him tight. Between your release and the taste of your blood on his tongue, Jonathan was gone mere seconds after you finished, cock twitching wildly and sending ropes of hot cum into you, one after another. Your blood was delicious, but he only took a bit, really just piercing the skin and lapping up what beaded up at the surface, but it was clearly more than enough for him to get his fill and, in turn, fill you. 

When the ringing in your ears stopped and your vision faded back in, you were still on Jonathan’s lap, slumped against his body, exhausted. His cock was softening fast, but still in you. “That…” he started. “That was something, wasn’t it, dear?” he asked, voice shaky, but with a small chuckle. “You gonna be okay?”

“More than okay, Jonathan,” you replied, tilting your head up to kiss his cheek. “I’m on top of the world.” 

Had it not been for the slight chill of the cabin, you could’ve fallen asleep then and there, cradled in Jonathan’s strong embrace. Instead, insisting he carry you to the bathroom, you enjoyed a nice bath with your vampire love, watching the glow of the moon rise from the bathroom window, signaling a long, wonderful night ahead of you both.

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

Don’t Worry

Prompt: okay so i found your quarantine drabble "it started with a flower" merlin series and can we pls have more of gwen and arthur being worry warts while merlin continues to not understand why their worried? bonus points if merlin is immortal/cant be killed by human injuries so he's more reckless and gwen and arthur are just like "oh for fucks sake please stop merlin if for no other reason then we are mortal and you're killing us w stress" we love self-sacrificing merlin and his worried lovers

Thanks for the prompt, babe! It was so nice to look back at the true mountain of drabbles on this account...still can't get over the fact that a drabble is SUPPOSED to be 100 words exactly...also SHAMELESS D20 reference because that's how we roll babey

Read on Ao3

Pairings: merthur, gwen/arthur, gwen/arthur/merlin

Warnings: none

Word Count: 5653

Merlin has lived through many, many things. He continues to live through many, many things.

The fact that he can do this does not prevent Gwen and Arthur from worrying when he makes some, frankly, quite questionable decisions.

Or, five times Merlin makes Arthur and Gwen worry, and one time they make him worry in return.

1: Poison

In hindsight, the visiting lord was absolutely trying to kill both Arthur and Gwen. The man turned up with all his servants and knights in armor. Even the servants, yes, in leather tunics and with many different squires juggling things that were definitely supposed to be kept hidden. Arthur, of course, didn’t realize this because he’s been trying to be more focused on his own presentation—at least that’s the excuse he gives Gwen—but Merlin knows better. He’s been doing this for a long time.

So when the lord makes a show of rising to his feet amidst a jubilant feast, raising a goblet high in the air, praising Camelot, her strength, and the power of a strong, worthy leader, Merlin has to hide the roll of his eyes when he deftly removes both Gwen and Arthur’s goblets from their grasps. Arthur opens his prat mouth to ask what the hell is going on, only for Merlin to raise an eyebrow, toast to the lord, and down the contents of both.

“Merlin!”

Lancelot is out of his chair in an instant, rushing across the hall to catch Merlin as he slumps, followed swiftly by Gwaine who bellows for Gaius. Percival and Elyan don’t hesitate to draw steel, watching as the servants of the visiting lord hold up their hands.

“My lord,” the visiting lord simpers, “I have absolutely no idea what could have—“

“Save it,” Arthur growls, standing, “you have brought poison into the heart of Camelot. You will explain, but I have no wish to hear your pathetic mumblings right now.”

He turns his back on the lord as the knights rush him, holding the others at bay as Arthur kneels down at Merlin’s side. Gwen rises as well, her chin aloft, looking every bit the queen she is.

Merlin, of course, can’t hear a damn thing past the roaring of blood in his ears. This one’s a nasty one—he can feel it burning as it goes down his throat, splitting off into slivers that find their way through his body, into his chest, into his arms, right down to the tips of his fingers. It feels as though he’s both deathly cold and about to sweat out every little bit of moisture in his body.

He can’t see much either, his eyes squeezing shut to deal with the pain, but he can sense the moving of blurry shapes above him. Probably Lancelot, probably Gwaine, probably not Gaius yet, he’s quite far away.

Oh, is he being lifted? He’s probably being lifted. Alright, so they’re taking him to Gaius this time. That’s new. Wow, is the walk to Gaius’s always this long? Yes? No? He’s having a bit of a hard time keeping track of time right now.

“Merlin? Merlin, can you hear me?”

“Yes,” Merlin tries to say, only for his throat to explode in agony again the second fresh air enters, so he just ends up making this horrible half-screech-groan sound.

“Don’t try and speak,” the voice orders, presumably doing something other than just standing there watching this happen, not that Merlin can feel anything, “just hold on. We’re doing our best.”

Merlin closes his eyes fully and relaxes as much as he can onto the bench. Which probably isn’t very much if he remembers how most of these poisons work. He breathes, reaches deep into his chest for his magic, and waits, letting the slow golden light work its way around his body, helped along by whatever Gaius is doing to him.

He opens his eyes an uncertain amount of time later, looking straight into the most disapproving eyebrow he’s gotten in a while.

He swallows, cracking a smile when his throat merely tingles.

“So,” he croaks, “did I miss the rest of the feast?”

“Oh, Merlin!”

Ah, there’s Gwen—she flies into his arms, wrapping her own tightly around his middle, squeezing and holding on for dear life. Oh, her face is wet, has she—

“Hey, hey,” he mumbles, clumsily trying to pat her back, “it’s okay, ‘m alright. You’re alright too.”

“Thanks to you,” Gwen says, drawing back and wiping her face only to join Gaius in staring at him with the face of a disappointed parent, “Merlin, what were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that I have a much better chance of surviving that than you and Arthur?”

Gwen bats his shoulder with her shawl. “That is beside the point and you know it. You scared us.”

“Sorry, but—“

“No, Merlin,” Gwen says sternly, “no ‘buts.’ I understand what you’re trying to do, but you know this isn’t good for you.”

“I don’t normally down poison on the regular, no.”

He grins, big and cheeky, right in her face. And to give her credit, she manages to gold that stern queenly façade for a few moments longer before she breaks, smiling and shaking her head and rushing right back in to hug him.

“I trust you unconditionally,” she murmurs, “I just wish you didn’t have to.”

“I have to keep you safe,” Merlin mumbles, still quite tired from fighting the poison, “and I’m alright. I’m always alright, you know that.”

“I know, Merlin.” She draws back and cups his face with a gentle hand. “But I worry.”

“So do I.”

“Not about yourself,” Gwen whispers, “not nearly as much as you should.”

“Well, when I start reacting to deadly things like a normal person, I’ll be more worried.”

2: Bandits

They’re just on a hunting trip. It’s not even a patrol. The knights aren’t even in all their capes and obvious things that flap about in the wind like signal flags saying ‘yes! Hello! We are here and we are obviously from Camelot! Please come and try to stab us!’ Seriously, Merlin’s going to have words with whoever decided that a mandatory part of the knights’ everyday patrol wear is going to be massive red things tied around their necks. It’s a serious thing that he’s run into at least four times. It’s getting a little ridiculous.

Anyway, they’re not wearing those this time, because this is a casual hunt for only the king and his most trusted. Also known as: Arthur the prat is getting tired of being a prat in the castle and wants to go be a prat outside.

Also also known as: court life is hard and the knights—and Merlin—can see Arthur getting tired. So they drag him out to the woods where he can’t escape any of their snark because “There’s no one else here but us, Princess, get used to it.”

Merlin knows Arthur well enough to know he’s secretly very, very grateful for it.

You wanna know what he’s probably not grateful for? The inability of one of their hunts to go without running into at least one mess of bandits after an easy raid.

One hunt, just one. Please.

Merlin doesn’t even like hunts. He just likes not being in the citadel all the time.

He ducks swiftly behind a tree as a bandit takes a wild swing at him with his sword, getting it lodged in the trunk next to him. Merlin’s eyes go wide as the bandit rips it out again with a vicious snarl, drool leaking from his lips as he grins angrily at Merlin. His nose wrinkles as he smells the bandit’s breath.

“Ugh, you’re worse than Arthur in the morning.”

He uses the bandit’s momentary confusion to blast him across the clearing into a tree, knocking him out.

“So Arthur in the morning, huh?”

Merlin rolls his eyes as Gwaine blocks another sword. “Listen, if you want to try and get the prat out of bed, you be my guest.”

“And deprive you of that honor?” Gwaine smirks. “Not on your life.”

Merlin opens his mouth to make some snappy remark when he notices four bandits rushing at them over Gwaine’s shoulder.

“Look out!”

He sends Gwaine to the side with a blast of magic, ignoring the shout of protest. The bandits get closer, swords raised high, one of them letting out a vicious cackle.

Merlin sighs. Honestly.

He raises his hand and sends them all flying backward, smiling a little at the way the vicious cackle turns into a whine that would’ve made the runt of the new litter of dogs ashamed. The bandits lie on the ground, dazed, swords lying all across the clearing.

“Merlin!”

Merlin glances over, seeing Arthur rushing at him. He barely has time to turn before Arthur’s bowling into him, hugging him so tightly he panics for a second that Arthur’s under some sort of enchantment trying to kill him. Only to realize no, this is just his prat hugging him because he’s scared.

“I’m fine, Arthur.”

“There were four of them, you—clot pole!”

“That’s my word.”

“Yes, and it suits you perfectly! Merlin, you could’ve been killed!”

Merlin makes a show of looking around at himself, still fully intact, then back up at a panting Arthur. “I think I’m all in one piece, sire.”

“Don’t you ‘sire’ me, Merlin, you—“

“Did Arthur just admit that he likes it when I don’t refer to him with the proper titles?” Merlin glances around at the other knights that are trying valiantly not to laugh. “Did I just hear that right?”

“That’s what I heard.”

“Me too.”

“I mean we all knew it.”

“It’s taken him this long to figure it out.”

Leon simply shrugs. That man’s ability to keep a straight face is something Merlin will always respect and never understand. But he has gotten very good at spotting the way Leon will wink surreptitiously at him when he’s amused. Like now.

“Alright, alright, enough,” Arthur mutters, sheathing his sword and wrapping his arms tightly around Merlin again. “Don’t do that.”

“What, take care of all of our enemies really easily?”

“Scare me.”

“And now you’re admitting that you get scared when I’m in danger?”

“Only because I know Gwen would have my head.”

“Ah, yes, because Gwen is like that.”

Arthur glares at him. There’s a flash of something behind his eyes. Merlin spots it.

“I’m fine,” he murmurs, too quiet for the others to hear, “and I’m sorry for scaring you.”

“You’d better be.”

“Alright, lovebirds,” Gwaine calls loudly to various laughs, “let’s go. There are still tracks here.”

Arthur looks back at Merlin. “You’re riding next to me.”

“You say that as if I don’t already ride next to you.”

“Shut up.”

3: Fall

Okay so listen: when you chase people around the castle, they inevitably look for a way out. And if they’re high up, they’re going to go for a window if they get desperate enough.

Yes? Everyone on the same page?

Wonderful.

So Merlin’s currently falling out of a window.

In his defense, there was a rogue sorcerer who hadn’t realized that the ban on magic had been lifted and Uther isn’t king anymore skulking around the citadel. Merlin’s best guess is that they were imprisoned somewhere and only just got free, otherwise they’d’ve known. And, well, they tried to explain that magic is legal now—he’s so proud of Gwen and Arthur, really.

Someone just burst into their chambers in the middle of the knight and Gwen had been out of bed, offering him a drink and sitting down while Arthur asked the guards if they could bring food. They’d told him the ban had been lifted and that he was free to practice magic now. Then Merlin had shown up and asked what was going on and apparently, they’d taken it as a challenge? That Merlin—the Court Sorcerer—was going to arrest them for practicing magic.

In their defense, it was the middle of the night. Not in their defense, come on.

So they’d run, promising to bring down the walls of the castle. Merlin had rolled his eyes because he just got here, and taken off after him. They’d run around the top floors of the castle for a while, trying to figure out first, where the stairs were, and second, what the bloody hell was going on.

Then the sorcerer had jumped out a window. Sure. Alright.

Unluckily for him, when he’d broken the glass, a large shard had decided to make its home in his chest and he was dead before he hit the ground. Merlin, not realizing precisely what the plan was—when had he ever?—jumped after him, only to realize that there is in fact, no courtyard over here, just empty air until the cold stone of the square below.

So, falling.

It’s surprisingly peaceful, as a way to go. Time to enjoy the view, a good reminder that they should really make sure there’s someone at the front gate, and Merlin simply closes his eyes and concentrates.

There.

At the last possible minute, he slows, reaching almost a stop, before letting himself drop the last few feet to land harmlessly on the ground. Well. That could’ve gone better.

“Merlin!”

“Right on time,” he mutters, getting himself to his feet, and brushing off the little pieces of glass, looking up to see Gwen leaning out of the window.

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Oh, thank god,” she calls, “you’re alright. Now get up here, this instant.”

He grins, sweeping into a low bow before heading up the stairs. He opens the door to their quarters and is promptly yanked inside and into an embrace.

“Hello, Gwen,” he says softly, “it’s good to see you too.”

“Good to see—Merlin,” Gwen scolds, "you could’ve been hurt.”

“But I wasn’t.”

“That doesn’t make it any better!” Gwen wipes her face and oh…oops.

“I’m alright Gwen,” he says quietly, “really.”

It’s late. It’s the middle of the night and it’s dark and Gwen just had to put on every single ounce of royal charm she has, and watch Merlin take a fall that would’ve killed pretty much everyone else. As he watches, her queenly mask starts to break as she keeps a hold of his sleeve, dragging him to the table and setting a plate of food aside, glaring at him.

“Are you hurt?”

“Not at all, my lady.”

“Don’t. Not now, Merlin. Not while I’m this worried.”

“I wasn’t trying to,” he demurs, lifting his hands in surrender, “but really, Gwen, I’m not hurt. I’ve been practicing that spell, it won’t—“

“You’ve been practicing?” Merlin winces as Gwen draws herself up taller. “So you regularly throw yourself from great heights?”

“No, I just jump off my bed.”

“Off your bed?”

“The point is that I slow immediately when the spell takes effect,” Merlin says, “so I don’t need very much distance from the floor.”

She folds her arms and stares at him. “So what you’re saying is this is the first time you’ve done it from a great height and you weren’t sure it was going to work?”

Merlin’s hesitation gives her all the answers she needs.

“Gods, Merlin,” she mumbles, slumping into a chair and covering her face, “you’re going to scare me to death one of these days.”

“Nah. I’ll save you from that.”

“How, by doing some equally death-defying stunt?”

Merlin grins and takes her hand. “No. By not letting you see it.”

“Merlin…”

He relents, opening his arms and letting her give him another hug. He squeezes back firmly, trying to communicate that he’s here, he’s safe, and it’s okay.

“I’m glad you’re alright,” Gwen whispers eventually, “and I’m glad that everything…worked out. We do need to make sure that the sorcerers no longer feel the need to live in fear…”

Merlin chuckles as he feels Gwen’s brow furrow against his shoulder, probably already drafting things to do.

“Not tonight, Your Majesty,” he scolds gently, pushing her toward the bed, “you need rest.”

“Mm.”

“Where’s Arthur?”

“Probably looking for you,” Gwen murmurs as she slides back beneath the covers, “so you have to stay up until he gets back.”

“…and so he can yell at me too, hmm?”

Gwen snuggles into her pillow and smiles.

4: Stab

So.

Uh, Merlin doesn’t really know how they got here this time.

Because—right, well, it’s not really a secret that Merlin is very close to both Gwen and Arthur. It’s just not. Anyone with a pair of eyes who can walk into Camelot and see them is going to figure it out. Even Uther realized it.

Merlin will never forget the way Arthur burst out laughing when he told him what Uther said to Merlin that day before the tournament, looking up with tears in his eyes and just managing to gasp: “you’re telling me that you and I got my father’s blessing before Gwen and I even started seeing each other?”

Yes. Yes, he is.

Anyway, the point is, Gwen, Merlin, Arthur, they’re very close.

Also something that should be fairly obvious to anyone who’s been to Camelot in the last little bit of time is that one: magic is legal. Two: Merlin is Court Sorcerer.

Get it? Wonderful. So.

The man who is currently holding Merlin hostage with a sword to his throat knows that Merlin is important to Gwen and Arthur. He doesn’t seem to realize that Merlin is Court Sorcerer.

How those two things are not the first two things he realized Merlin does not understand. Honestly, he’s going to chalk that up to why he’s too startled by the fact that he’s got people coming at him with a sword to do anything about it. The sheer inability of those facts to reconcile in his brain prevents him from taking any action.

Honestly, he’s still figuring that out. Enough so that it takes him a while to realize that Leon is desperately trying to signal him and ask if he’s alright.

He gives back the okay and Leon’s expression morphs into one of soft exasperation. To everyone else, it probably doesn’t look like Leon’s face has changed at all, but they haven’t spent several council meetings with the man trading insults only through shifts in micro-expressions.

It’s quite entertaining, especially when they start to get really, really creative.

Anyway. Sword. Throat. Yes.

He’s not sure why currently being held hostage. Someone who wants something, probably. That’s generally why people get taken hostage, right? The sword presses a little closer and Merlin makes an effort to focus.

“Do this,” Arthur warns, his own sword out, “and you will never leave Camelot alive.”

“What good is Camelot,” the man scoffs, “if it allows for the devilish act of witchcraft and sorcery that will poison it from the inside?”

“You’re wrong.”

“Maybe,” the man snarls, spittle flying from his lips, “but not nearly as stupid as you.”

Arthur glances at Merlin. Merlin nods.

“Let him go,” Arthur says again, “and this might yet end well.”

The man throws his head back and cackles, the sword nudging insistently at his throat. Merlin winces. That was loud.

“This won’t end well,” the man says through his giggles, “and you know it.”

“Then let him go.”

“Alright,” the man snickers, “but you’ll have to give me a head start.”

Gwaine snarls, even as Arthur holds firm.

“I make you no promises.”

“I know. That’s why I’m giving myself a head start.”

Merlin’s about to wonder what the hell that means only for the sword to drive into his stomach.

Ah. That’s not ideal.

He slumps to the ground as the man lets him go, hearing the screams from the servants gathered in the hall and the shouts from the knights. He feels the breeze as they rush past him, two remaining behind to immediately put pressure on the wound and get him upright, wrapping his stomach tightly and promising that he’s going to be alight.

“‘Lyan?”

“Yeah, Merlin,” Elyan mutters, “it’s me. Leon’s here too, we’ve got you.”

“You’ll be alright, yes?” Leon whips off the bloodied tunic. “You will be fine.”

“Sit m’ up.”

They do, propping him up against the wall as the servants quickly rush for Gaius, for hot water, for bandages. Someone—maybe Malwen—sets a bowl at Leon’s elbow, followed by the quick assurances that Gaius is on his way.

Merlin closes his eyes and concentrates, trying to remember the few times Gaius tried to teach him about basic anatomy. Listen, it’s not that he wasn’t paying attention, it’s just that he—

Yeah, no, he wasn’t paying much attention.

Listen, like…three different people were trying to kill Arthur that day. He was preoccupied.

Stab wound. Right.

Merlin takes a deep breath, ignoring the way the breath aches and wheezes as it travels into him, and starts to gently draw magic from the well in his chest toward the stab wound. He feeds it slowly, trying not to overexert himself, just enough to staunch and stop the bleeding until Gaius can get here.

Something clatters to the floor next to him and he barely looks over enough to see Arthur.

“Stay still,” Arthur murmurs frantically, fussing with his tunic, “you’ll be alright Merlin, I promise, you’re going to be alright.”

Merlin knows, but he’s busy right now, so he can’t really talk back.

“It’s going to be alright,” Arthur repeats, over and over, “Merlin, you’re going to be alright.”

He manages to look over, catching sight of Arthur’s hair a mess, his eyes wild, his mouth a hard line. Arthur glances up from his slightly trembling hands and catches his gaze, doing his best to put on a brave smile. He reaches out and cups Merlin’s face gently.

“It’s going to be alright,” he says softly, speaking as much to both of them as he can, “you’re going to be alright, Gaius will fix you up, and then I can worry about how to make sure you’re safe, so this never happens again.”

His mouth quirks when something flits across Merlin’s face.

“If you try and tell me you can take care of yourself,” he admonishes gently, “I am going to remind you that you currently have quite the stab wound.”

One that Merlin is handling quite well, actually, thank you very much.

“I know you’d rather it be you than us,” Arthur whispers, laying his forehead against Merlin’s, “but you—you can’t just let this happen to you, Merlin, you’ll…”

He swallows, his eyes drifting shut.

“…you’ll break my heart.”

A surge of magic shoots through Merlin at Arthur’s hushed confession, filling the wound with a burning glow. Merlin leans forward as much as he can, resting his own weight on the wall and on Arthur. Arthur holds him gladly, muttering that he can’t wait until Merlin’s better so he can scold him for being so reckless.

Well, when Merlin figures out how the man didn’t realize he was magic, he’ll have one hell of a defense. Who knows, Arthur might get a kick out of it too.

5: Plague

At some point, Merlin thinks as he heaves another stone out of the way, we’re going to stop coming across cursed objects. There has to be a limit. There just has to be.

This one has a plague attached to it because of course, it does. The entire citadel had been overrun with shadow demons that could only be seen by one person, everyone jumping at every little sound, unsure of whether they were seeing real people or the figments of their nightmares. What made things far worse is that some of them could be seen by multiple people and some of them couldn’t. So you could never be sure whether people would believe what you were seeing.

Someone called this the Plague of the Shadow Cat.

Gaius had gone into the books, trying to figure out a solution. Turns out the only way was to go to this cavern out in the middle of nowhere and destroy these four totems that allowed the Shadow Cat passage, in order to break the curse. The problem was that the cavern was in the middle of a massive forest that no one wanted to go close to.

Merlin had sighed and packed his bags.

As it turns out, the forest was designed to keep people out of it—reasonable—and used magic to twist someone’s fears to keep them at bay. You know what Merlin has? Magic.

It was easier than it would’ve been for anyone else, surely, which is good. What isn’t good is that Merlin still has to survive going through this massive forest. He’s had enough of dried meat and berries for a long time, thank you very much.

After about a day or two of walking and not getting lost, he’s just being thorough, he reaches the entrance of the cavern. It’s piled high with rocks from what looks like a collapse, and starts trying to get them out of the way. Unfortunately, most of his magic is going to keeping the nightmares at bay, meaning he can’t really risk using it to get these stones out of his way lest he let the nightmares in.

He’s had enough nightmares for a lifetime already.

He grunts as he heaves another one out of the way. Honestly. Is there a checklist he can look at with all the cursed objects in the world? They’ve got to be at least halfway done at this point, come on. It’s been years.

At last, he manages to get the stones out of the way and ventures into the cavern. Around the twists and turns he reaches the center, seeing the four totems. He snaps his fingers to create a light, peering at each one. It seems as if he’s just going to have to disenchant them. Well, that won’t be too hard.

And…it isn’t. Huh. That’s a little anti-climactic.

He’s sure if he had to battle his way past his greatest fears and the Shadow Cat was actually here fighting him, this would be a lot harder. But, it’s not, so here he is, all done. Now he just has to get back through the forest. Ugh.

Merlin rides back into Camelot to see the people in the streets, happy, content, not afraid. He smiles, letting their joy wash some of the forests off of him. He slides off Cara and puts her away, wiping her down and giving her as many treats as the stable master will let him. He makes it back inside, to Gaius’s chambers, ready to throw open the door triumphantly and announce he’s fixed it!

The second he opens it to see Gwen and Arthur he freezes.

“…hello.”

“Hello, Merlin,” Arthur says softly, and oh shit he’s in trouble, “did you travel well?”

“A little damp, if I’m being…” He trails off when Arthur shoots him a look. “Yes. I did.”

Arthur nods sharply, leaning against the table and folding his arms.

“The curse is broken,” he tries, letting the door shut behind him, “and I don’t think it’ll ever come back.”

“That’s good, Merlin,” Arthur says in a tone of voice that suggests anything but, “that’s very good.”

Merlin nods hesitantly, glancing at Gwen. Gwen doesn’t look back at him, her eyes fixed on the vase of flowers in front of her. She withdraws one and holds it gently in her hands, turning toward Merlin, expressionless. Merlin fights the urge to flinch as she finally looks up at him.

“Do you know,” she says and this time Merlin does flinch, Gwen’s never sounded that cold before, “what happened the last time you vanished without telling us?”

Merlin’s heart drops to the pit of his stomach.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh, no.

“I’m sorry,” he says, starting forward, “I didn’t realize—I—“

“No, Merlin,” Gwen says, still cold, “you don’t realize.”

“We trust you, Merlin,” Arthur continues, “but that doesn’t mean that you can just leave, in the middle of a plague, on a mission that could get you killed without saying goodbye.”

“You don’t get to decide that it’s worth it,” Gwen says before Merlin can interrupt, “and you certainly don’t get to decide that we don’t deserve a chance to say goodbye.”

Merlin deflates, their words striking his chest with such ferocity that for a moment, he wonders if this is the fear he’s meant to face. “I’m…I’m sorry, I just…I knew I could do it.”

He closes his eyes. “I have to protect Camelot, protect you.”

“We know, Merlin,” Gwen says, her voice finally softening just a little, “but you don’t realize that we have to protect you too.”

Arthur walks forward, lifting Merlin’s chin. Merlin stares at him, desperately wanting Arthur to smile. Something.

“You’re the most powerful sorcerer to walk the earth,” Arthur says instead, “but you’re still our Merlin. So we worry.”

“I know.”

“So,” Arthur says, giving him a gentle nudge, “don’t do that.”

“You may be nearly immortal, but we’re not,” Gwen adds, coming over to take his hand too, “and you will give us more reason to stress than any of the things you stop put together.”

Merlin looks back and forth between the two of them. “So you’re not…angry?”

“Oh, of course we are.”

Merlin winces, only for Arthur to pull him into a tight hug, his head tucking over Merlin’s shoulder.

“Completely furious,” he murmurs, nuzzling into Merlin’s neck, “aren’t we, Gwen?”

“Absolutely.” Merlin feels Gwen wrap her arms around him as well. “Totally and utterly furious.”

Merlin wriggles halfheartedly in their grasp. “I’m not getting out of this anytime soon, am I?”

“No. This is your punishment. Stay put.”

“…fine.”

+1: Cold

“No, Arthur,” Merlin grunts, shoving the prat back into bed, “stay, I will get you the soup.”

Arthur pouts, looking every bit a sad golden puppy in his read blanket as Merlin bustles about the room. “I can stand, Merlin.”

“No, you can’t, you’re sick. Now shush and eat.”

From the other room comes a sneeze that is far too close to the door.

“Gwen, you’d better be in bed when I come in there!”

He hears the quick pitter-patter of footsteps as he crosses the room to the other chambers, hands on his hips as Gwen glances up, guiltily letting the covers drop on top of her.

“I’m in bed,” she says, holding up her hands, “see?”

“Yes, I can see,” Merlin huffs, “but you have to stay there. You’re sick.”

“It’s just a cold, Merlin, I’m—I’m—“

Gwen is cut off by another spectacular sneeze.

“…handkerchief?”

Merlin rolls his eyes and offers her one, watching as she blows her nose and shakes out her curls. If Arthur’s the puppy, she’s the kitten, startling herself with the force of her own sneezes.

“What were you so desperate to get out of bed for?”

“The book on my desk,” Gwen mumbles, reaching for it, “I wanted to—“

“Keep working.”

“No!” At Merlin’s knowing look, she makes a face. “…maybe.”

Merlin sighs. “I will get you a book, but you promised you wouldn’t try to work like this.”

“But I’m fine.”

“Yes, and I notice your sneezes didn’t interrupt you this time.”

“Merlin, I am alright.”

“Yes, so let’s have you stay in bed and rest until you’re better, hmm?”

He hears a clang from the other room. He narrows his eyes at Gwen who blinks innocently at him. Without breaking eye contact, he waves his hand.

“Hey!”

“Get your arse back in bed, sire.”

“I’m fine, Merlin.”

Merlin raises his eyebrows at Gwen. “Will you stay while I get your husband back in bed, please?”

“…if you bring me the book on the desk, I will.”

Merlin glances over and waves his hand. Gwen’s poetry book—not her work book—flies into his hand and he gives it to her.

“All yours.”

“Merlin, that’s not—“

“You surely weren’t trying to work were you?” He raises his eyebrows. “Because that would be a bad idea.”

Gwen pops open the book and buries her nose in it. “…thank you, Merlin.”

“You are most welcome. Now you,” he announces, striding back to see Arthur trying to open the now magically locked door, “will go back to bed.”

“Gaius said we were fine, Merlin,” Arthur pouts, “so we can go.”

“Gaius also said that I was in charge, so you’ll go back to bed.”

“Well, I’m the King.”

“And I’m the Court Sorcerer.” Merlin lifts his hand, letting a little of his magic swirl around his hand. “Which means you should get back in bed.”

“Threatening a king is treason, Merlin.”

“Yes, yes, and I’m sure the knights would be thrilled,” Merlin replies dryly, shooing Arthur back to bed, “now you will stay put.”

He doesn’t quite swaddle Arthur in the blanket but it is a close thing. Arthur just grumbles a little, reaching out and grabbing Merlin’s tunic and dragging him down onto the bed too. “Then you stay.”

“I have to get your medicine.”

“Have the guards do it.” Arthur snuggles into his tunic. “You stay.”

Merlin resigns himself to his fate, curling around his king. Arthur rumbles happily, nuzzling into Merlin’s neck.

“That’s the last time I let you two go out for picnics in the moonlight,” Merlin grumbles to himself, “look at what’s happened to you.”

“Now you know how we feel,” Arthur mumbles sleepily.

“You realize that we are now even for all of the things I’ve done, then.”

“Oh, no. Not even close.”

“Shut up and go to sleep, sire.”

[gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights]

Rating: T

Summary:  Marinette needs a model to finish her figure drawing portfolio. If drawing Chat Noir will distract him from asking why she refuses to ask Adrien, then she'll make it work. (It's not like his suit leaves much to the imagination, anyway.)

Word Count: 4729 | Chapter 1/2

Notes:  See AO3 for notes. tldr: the main genre is humor and despite what you may think, there are no sexy times

XXX

“This is terrible!”  Marinette flopped face-first onto her bed and wailed into her pillow.  “I’m going to fail figure drawing, and get kicked out of the design major, and never get an internship and starve trying to get commissions and I won’t be able to afford cookies for you which means you’ll have to find a new chosen and Chat Noir will hate me and—”

“Marinette, breathe!”  Tikki ordered, lightly smacking the part of her cheek that wasn’t buried in her pillow.  “You’re catastrophizing again!  None of that is going to happen.”

On a conscious level, Marinette knew that.  But that didn’t particularly matter right now when her mind was racing and the final due date for her portfolio was days away and there was no way for her to catch up now.

The figure drawing lab was closed for the models to prepare for their finals.  This wouldn’t be a problem, except she had missed too many classes due to akuma attacks to finish the pieces she needed.  All she had were five out of fifteen finished drawings and six loose sketches, hastily abandoned while she made increasingly awful excuses to go transform.  “I need to go water my plant” had been the most recent.  It was a miracle Professor Carbonneau hadn’t kicked her from the class already, considering how coveted the seats were.

But it didn’t matter if she was technically in the class if she couldn’t draw enough live models to pass.

“It’s hopeless, Tikki.  There’s no way they’ll let me retake this class. I barely got a spot in the first place.”  

“It’s not hopeless,” her kwami said more softly.  “You’re Ladybug.  You’re luckier than that.  And you’ve worked too hard to fail now.  I know you’re stressed, but you can’t give up!”

She rolled over onto her back, shoulder brushing a drawing that had slid down the wall and gotten lodged in the crack next to her bed.  She pulled it out only to crumple it and toss it towards her trash can.  Even the better designs she’d hung from a wire with tiny clothespins felt more like mockery than inspiration right now.

“If I wasn’t Ladybug, I wouldn’t have had to miss so much class in the first place.”  She sighed.

“I know, Marinette.”  Tikki patted her shoulder consolingly.  “I wish it didn’t have to be so hard on you.  You give everything you have into both being Ladybug and  creating your art.  You shouldn’t have to give up one for the other.”

In a way, it felt like she already had.  She’d never abandon Paris, no matter how frequently fighting Hawkmoth’s villains cut into her classes.  But could she really abandon her dreams of becoming a designer either?

“You’re right, Tikki.  I’ll… figure something out.”  She smiled and rubbed Tikki to her cheek.  “I can look up reference pictures online, I guess.  The details won’t be as good as drawing from life, especially for the size of paper I have to use, but it’ll have to work.”

“I could always model for you!”  Tikki joked, flashing a few poses she’d surely seen from the Agreste magazines Marinette used to have plastered everywhere.  She figured she’d look weird enough to her flatmates from her odd sleeping habits and patrol times without adding photos of her old crush into the mix.

“Thanks for the offer, Tikki.”  Marinette giggled at the kwami’s attempt to look flirty.  “But I think this course is meant to teach human anatomy.”

“I bet one of your other friends would model for you if they knew how important this was,” she insisted.  “What about Adrien?”

“No!”  Marinette smacked her fist to her forehead to try to dislodge the image of Adrien shirtless and posing for her that came unbidden.  “I can’t ask him!  I’m trying to actually get art done, not drool all over the carpet.”

“I haven’t seen you drool in a while.  Not over him, anyway.”  Tikki smiled knowingly, and Marinette glared.

“I do not drool over Chat Noir either.”

“I never said anything about him.”

She groaned, flopping back and wishing the mattress would just swallow her up already.  She didn’t drool over Chat.  He’d gotten over his crush on Ladybug before they came to university.  Unlike her, apparently, he knew how to move on.

Not that it mattered, because she didn’t have time for a boyfriend!  She was stressed enough as it was!

She took a few deep breaths and pulled herself back to the matter at hand: finishing her portfolio.  She wouldn’t dare ask Adrien to model for her, even if there was a slim chance he’d actually do it.  They were finally comfortable as friends, and while she was used to staring at nearly-nude models in class, she didn’t trust herself to not make things weird again if she had to stare at him in his underwear for hours.

Though unfortunately, he was probably the only one of her friends used to sitting and being stared at for hours.  Maybe it would be worth it…?

“Nope, nope, not doing it.”  She shut her eyes again.  She hadn’t been able to confess to Adrien in the past four years.  There was no way she could risk revealing her crush in such an embarrassing way, even to save her final grade.

...Granted, she’d done worse.  He’d gotten her constipation pills and she hadn’t given up.

“What are you not doing?”

“ACK!”

Marinette bolted upright, nearly toppling off of her bed at the voice from the window.  For a moment it had sounded like Adrien himself, summoned by her thoughts.  Thankfully, it was just the blond boy who was a more regular visitor to her fifth-story window.

“Chat!”  She whirled to scowl at him through the windowscreen.  “Don’t you know it’s rude to eavesdrop?”

How long had he been there?  Had he heard Tikki?  Had he heard her not-confess to drooling about him?

“You left the window open.”  He shrugged from his perch on the outer ledge.

She had left the window open because she needed some fresh air to keep from suffocating under the pressure of her deadlines.  Sure, usually the open window meant Chat was welcome in, but… 

Actually, maybe Chat Noir was exactly who she needed right now.

“I guess I did.”  She sighed before prying off the screen to let him in.

He slipped over the sill, bowed, and produced a pink rose from behind his ear.

“For your hospitality.”

She laughed and tucked it in the vase on her desk, replacing the wilting flower he’d brought her last week.  She was lucky her roommates weren’t as nosy as Alya, or she’d never hear the end of it.

“You know, if you’d really wanted to get me something, you could’ve brought the rabbit miraculous.”  She leaned back against her creaking desk as he took his usual spot on the cushion in the corner of the room.

It was a joke, but as she said it, the idea sounded tempting.  Alix wouldn’t mind parting with Fluff for a day while she patched her portfolio back together, would she?  If she weren’t worried about causing some kind of temporal paradox, she would’ve done it.

“Rabbit?  Sorry, someone else has already hopped on that one.”  He grinned, crossing his legs beneath him.  “You don’t feel like squeaking by with the mouse again?”

She stifled a laugh.  “You’re terrible.”

“But you’re smiling.”  Only he could look so smug about it.  She always frowned just to prove him wrong.  But she did feel better already, the way she always did around him.  “So what’s up?  I didn’t come to my favorite civilian’s house just to drop a few amazing puns.”

“Awful puns.”

He waved her off.  “Anyway, I just wanted to see how you were doing, with finals coming up and everything.  Akuma attacks always spike around now, you know.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me.”  She rubbed her temples.

“Don’t worry, though.  Ladybug and I have special patrol routes this finals week.  We’ll take care of any akumas faster than you can say ‘thank you Chat, you’re the best superhero ever’.”

Despite everything, she laughed.  The daily patrols would be just one more stress placed on her, but it was necessary after Finalizer destroyed the entire university last semester.  But Chat was surely dealing with the same thing, and he’d still taken the time out of his studying to come make sure she was alright.

“Thank you Chat, you’re the best superhero ever,” she said with a teasing grin.  She didn’t expect the blush that spilled out from under his mask.

“I-I guess I am pretty great.”  He rubbed the back of his neck.

“And I guess bragging about yourself is supposed to scare off akumas, huh?”

“Yeah, I mean—hey!”  He pouted, sending her giggling again.

“Sorry, sorry.”  She joined him on the ground by the cushion.  “You are great.  I wasn’t expecting you, but I’m really glad you came.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  It’s just… been a long day.”  She sighed.  “I missed my last class today, and now I don’t know how I’m going to finish my portfolio for my final.”

“Are you feeling okay?”  He reached out to press his palm over her forehead, as if he’d be able to feel anything through his glove.  “I’ve heard people get sick around finals week, too.  Do you want soup?  I can bring back some soup—or juice maybe?  What do you like when you’re sick?”

“Stop, Chat, I’m not sick.”  Though her face probably warmed enough at his concern to pass as a fever.  “I just missed class because… um—I stayed up too late studying and accidentally fell asleep!”

“Oh.”  He pulled back his hand and nodded sagely.  “That makes sense.”

She held in a sigh of relief.  “Anyway, I need to finish at least four more figure drawings before… three days from now?  Which wouldn’t be a problem except I need a live model and it’s not normal for friends to strip down to draw each other.”

He shrugged.  “Doesn’t sound that weird to me.”

She pointedly did not imagine him stripping down in front of her.  ...Not entirely, anyway.

“Yeah, well, unless you want to model for me—”

“I will.”  He grinned before pink tinged his cheeks.  “Um, or I would.  I don’t think I can take off my suit without revealing my identity.”

“You—take off—”  She made some noise that vaguely approximated a keyboard smash.  Not because of the thought of seeing him shirtless!  But he really trusted her that much, even as a civilian?

“Sorry, forget I offered.  It was stupid.”  He suddenly looked even more embarrassed than her, which was saying something.

“No, no!  I—I really appreciate it, Chat Noir.”  She squeezed his arm and smiled gently.  “I would never ask you to detransform for me, but it means a lot that you even thought about it.  Really.”

“You know you’re one of my best friends, Marinette.  Of course I would.  Besides, I’m used to—nevermind.”  He ruffled the hair at the back of his neck.  “Anyway, I’d gladly model for you if I could.  But hey, don’t you have a friend who’s literally a model?  Why don’t you ask him?”

Her eyes widened at the sudden subject change.  “A-Adrien?  NO!  I—I mean I can’t, I—”  She groaned and dropped her head in her hands.  It was bad enough for Tikki to tease her, but if Chat Noir found out about her maybe-not-so-old crush?  She would never hear the end of it.

“Why not?”  His head tilted, his brow creasing beneath his mask.  “He is your friend, right?”

“Yes.”  She sighed.  Just a friend, who would probably not enjoy her ogling him half-naked.  Which wasn’t the point!  She was just trying to pass her class, not stare at boys!

Maybe she should ask Alya at this rate.  She was ride-or-die enough to do it.  But Alya had a worse finals schedule than any of her friends, with all the journalism papers she’d put off while chasing akumas for the Ladyblog.  Nino, then?  No, he had several music scores to finish composing.

Adrien probably had as much work as the rest of them, with his math and physics classes.  It wouldn’t make sense to ask him.

“Then I don’t see what the big deal is,” Chat said.  “I’m sure he’d love to model for you.”

“He’s probably busy,” she said, which was true.  “And besides, modeling for figure drawing is completely different from clothes modeling.  You have to hold poses much longer, and some of them are weird, and you have to, you know, wear a lot less clothes.”

Her face burned.  She was stupid to even bring it up; she was just digging herself an even deeper hole.

“I think you underestimate how long photoshoots take,” he quipped back, and she raised an eyebrow.

“How would you know, anyway?”

“I-I wouldn’t!  I just think, all things considered, he’s your best choice.  I’m just trying to suggest what’s best for your grade, as a good, supportive friend should do.”

“Uh-huh.”  She frowned.  It did seem a bit odd how insistent he was on this.  Had he guessed her not-so-secret-crush after all?  “It doesn’t matter, because it’s not going to happen.”

“But—”

“Nope,” she cut him off, shoving him a little to make room for herself on the cushion.  He scooted to let her smush in next to him.  “I’d sooner draw you suited up.”

“...Would that work?”

She glanced at his chest, which was about at her eye level with the way she was slouched against him.  She never really thought about it before—really, she hadn’t—but the suit didn’t leave too much to the imagination.  If she used Chat as a model and just fudged a few parts, would anyone really be able to tell?  It would definitely be easier to get the proportions right than it would be drawing from a screen, especially for the quick gestures that were supposed to comprise a third of her portfolio.  

And if it distracted him from asking about Adrien, well, that was just a bonus.

“You know what?  I think it would.”  She grinned and scrambled up to get her drawing board, which she’d dropped against her desk as soon as she’d gotten home, too exhausted to store it properly.  Part of the giant pad of newsprint was coming off of its clips, and she adjusted it before propping it up against the foot of her bed.  It was even less comfortable than the benches in the drawing lab, but it would do.

“You—really?”  He beamed.

“Of course, silly cat.  I might not be able to use you for the detailed figures, but need gesture drawings too.  Your suit is tight enough that—nevermind.”  She flushed again.  This was such a bad idea.

But it would work.  If she could be professional with Chat Noir while fighting akumas, then surely she could be as professional as she was with the paid figure drawing models.

She expected him to tease her over that last comment, but he just sprung up and started striking ridiculous poses.

“So, how do you want me?”  He flexed, and she snorted.

“Not like that.  These are warm-up gestures, so let’s have you do a few that you can hold for at least thirty seconds.  They can be standing or sitting or using props, it doesn’t matter.”

“Props, huh?”  He tapped his chin before reaching behind his back for his baton.  It wasn’t like it was unusual for models to pose with staves in class, but she still had a feeling she was going to regret giving Chat Noir that permission.

Two seconds later when he had an arm and a leg wrapped around his baton, she knew she regretted it.

“How’s this?”  He asked, flashing a toothy grin.

“Chat.”  She glared, and he laughed before stopping his joking attempt at pole dancing.

“Sorry, sorry.”  His grin was unrepentant, but he rested the baton behind his shoulders instead.  “Better?”

She shook her head while letting out a little laugh.  He was just such a dork.  

“Sure, that’ll work.”

She fished her conté sticks out of her pencil case, set a thirty second timer on her phone, and swore that she wouldn’t make this awkward.

She looked up to find him pursing his lips in a kissy face.

Aaaand she promptly burst out laughing.

“If you’re going to make that face, I’ll have to ask someone else to model for me.”

“Nooooo!  I’ll be good, I promise!”

True to his word, he schooled his face into a neutral expression.  His charcoal-lidded eyes peered up through golden bangs. 

She forgot to breathe for a few seconds.

“Marinette?  Is this better?”

“Uh—y-yeah!  That’s great, just hold that until the timer goes off, then switch poses.”

She pressed the start button and brought her conté to the paper before she could get lost in his eyes again.

From there, it was much easier.  She was used to staying professional during her figure drawing classes, and all she was doing was capturing his form, not the bright green shade of his irises.  Not that the sharp curves of his shoulderblades and defined calves couldn’t be distracting too.  But the timer helped with that; she couldn’t lose focus when her warm-ups each lasted thirty seconds.

“How do you draw so fast?”  He asked after shifting to pose where he knelt close to her sketchpad.

Her face colored in embarrassment.  It was much harder to draw someone when they could watch you.  Gesture drawings weren’t particularly interesting to the untrained eye; he probably thought she was wasting his time drawing glorified stick figures. 

“Woah,” he breathed.

“Stay still,” she said before he could learn farther into her space.

“Sorry.”  He snapped back into position.  “It’s just your drawings—I don’t know much about art, but they just.  They look like they’re moving.”

“You can tell?”  She smiled hopefully, briefly forgetting about the timer.  “That’s the point of gestures.  It’s to warm up and get the form on paper without getting lost in details.  It’s not what I draw the most, since I’m taking this class to prepare to draw my fashion designs, but I’ve enjoyed it a lot.”

“It really shows.  And you can do this even though you missed so many classes?”

“Er—well I do practice outside of class as much as I can.  It wasn’t easy.”  She’d nearly snapped her conté sticks from frustration those first few weeks.  Professor Carbonneau was pretty lenient with her students, but that didn’t stop her from comparing her drawings to all of the studio art majors who had clearly been practicing for much longer.  She knew her art still wasn’t the top of the class, but as long as she could pass with a grade high enough to stay in her major, she would be grateful.

The timer buzzed, reminding them both to get back to work.  

“Let’s move it up to a minute this time,” she said.  

“Whatever the Princess wishes.” Chat Noir bowed, holding the pose for her to draw.

She laughed and went back to putting him down in black and white.

Tension leaked out of her as she swept her conté in long arcs, soft shadows, sharp edges.  Somehow Chat Noir was a much better model than she’d expected.  He barely twitched under her scrutinizing gaze.  Every once in a while he cracked a joke that set her line shaking, and she had to force herself to glare at him.

It was normal.  It was fun.  Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

At least, that was what she thought until they finally got to the fifteen-minute pieces.  

Fifteen minutes.  Fifteen minutes of staring at her partner lounging on the cushion like a real model.  Taking down the contours of his legs and side and maybe-occasionally just staring at his chest.

If he noticed, he was at least kind enough not to comment.

She swallowed, glanced at the timer, and kept drawing.  This one would be for her portfolio; she couldn’t afford to get too distracted.  Not that she should find him distracting in the first place.

“Let’s take a break.  You’ve been at this for a while,” she said when the timer finally went off.  She folded the cover back over her sketchpad and set it aside.

“You’re the one who’s been drawing.  All I had to do was sit there.”  He shrugged.

“That must not be easy to do for so long, though.  In our class, the models get breaks every thirty minutes.”

“Really?”  His eyes widened.  “That must be nice.”

“We can’t have anyone falling asleep on us,” she joked, standing and holding out a hand to help him to his feet.  “Come on, I’ll order us a pizza.  It’s the least I can do after everything you’ve done for me.”

His cheeks pinked below his mask.  “It’s nothing, really.  I’m a pro at sitting and looking pretty.”

She rolled her eyes, but unfortunately couldn’t argue with that.

XXX

“So,” Chat Noir said before swallowing a mouthful of pineapple pizza, “did you get enough drawings for your class?”

“Not quite.”  Marinette sighed, running her fingers over the edge of the paper plate in her lap.  “I still need a few thirty-minute pieces.  I don’t want to keep you here all night, though.”

“You know cats like to stay up late, Princess.”  He winked.  “But in this case, I do actually have a study session early tomorrow.  What if I came back tomorrow afternoon?”

“Hmm… I guess that could work.”  She took a bite of her pizza.  “I didn’t want too many drawings of the same model, but I don’t have many other options.  And you are really good at this.  I just wish I could...”

“Could what?”

“I could really use someone who doesn’t wear a full body suit for the longer poses.”  She sighed.  “Your suit’s too shiny for me to pass it off as skin, and I can’t make up the shading from scratch.  My professor will know.”

“There’s always Adrien,” he said with a smirk.

Marinette had half a mind to throw her pizza at him.  “Why won’t you let that go?”

“Because I know for a fact he would love to help you out.”  He shook his crust at her.

Her face flushed at the word love.  She thought she was better than this by now!  

“Really?  And how can you be sure?”

“Because I—uh—because…”  He glanced back and forth before shoving the pizza crust into his mouth.

“Come on, spit it out, Chat—no not literally!” she exclaimed when he frantically spat the crust back onto his plate.

He sheepishly grinned and put the slobbery food back in his mouth.  She smacked her forehead, probably getting pizza grease there.

“You’re gross, you know that?”

He swallowed.  How he didn’t choke on the crust, she didn’t know.  

“But you love me anyway.”

“Keep dreaming, kitty.”  She managed to get it out without so much as a stutter, despite the heat remaining in her cheeks.  Whatever feelings she did or didn’t have for Chat, it wasn’t like she could act on them.  Not when they couldn’t know each other’s identities, and not when she still couldn’t get over Adrien.

Not when he’d already gotten over her.

“Anyway, what were you trying to tell me?”  She asked before she could dwell on that.

“Oh.  Uh.”  This time he didn’t have any more food to use as a distraction.  His eyes darted back and forth before he sighed.  “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but… IthinkAdrienhasacrushonyou.”

Marinette felt her brain cells fizzle out at trying to process that sentence. She had to have misheard, hadn’t she?  “Come again?”

“Adrien,” he said more clearly, “has a crush on you.”

Was she dreaming?  She was dreaming.  She had to be.

“And how would you know that?”  She asked, her voice a little higher than normal.

He crossed his arms.  “A cat never reveals his secrets.  And besides, even if I’m wrong—which I’m not—he’d still help you because you’re his friend, and he cares about you.  So I really think you should ask him, or else I’ll use my superheroly powers to get him to model for you myself.”

“You wouldn’t.”  Her eyes narrowed, though her heart was beating out of her chest.  Adrien?  Having a crush on her?  It wasn’t like they’d seen each other too often this semester, with both of them being busy with their classes.  Why would he like her now?

At first she thought he was going to argue, but then he seemed to deflate.  “Fine.  I’m sorry for being so pushy, I just… you really don’t like him, do you?  Did something happen?”

Why did he seem so hurt by that?  “N-no!  I mean, I do like him, I like him a-a lot actually, and—you can not tell him this,” she threatened with a finger near his nose.

He went cross eyed trying to look at it, but nodded. 

She dropped her hand.  This was stupid.  If Chat knew about her crush… she’d worried about him teasing her, but really, he was her friend.  Her best friend.  She had to keep enough secrets from him because of her identity.  It would feel good to at least be able to share one.

“I’ve had a crush on Adrien forever, Chat,” she finally admitted.  “That’s why I didn’t want to ask him to be my model.  I don’t want to get distracted.  I need my drawings to be the best they can, and I especially don’t need him catching me ogling him.”

Her face burned.  It was one thing to share secrets, but maybe she didn’t need to share that much.

He laughed.  Was her crush really that funny?  He almost sounded surprised though, like there was any chance she wouldn’t fall for a sweet, caring, kind friend who also happened to be unfairly attractive.  Maybe he was only surprised because he thought puns and roses were the way to a girl’s heart.

(His way had worked too, though, hadn’t it?)

“So you want to ogle him.”  He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Yes—no—shut up!”  She shoved him, and he collapsed laughing on the carpet. 

“I’m hurt, Marinette.  And here I thought you wanted to ogle me.”

“I hate you,” she said through her fingers as she contemplated ways to erase this conversation from existence.  Could a Lucky Charm do that?  “I can’t believe I ever thought I liked you.”

“Ouch.  And here I thought your dad’s punches hurt.  Whoever made up that ‘sticks and stones’ saying was a liar.”

It took her a moment to realize he was referring to the time her papa was akumatized.  Of course he wouldn’t expect that she actually liked him now.

That was for the best though.  She wasn’t supposed to admit that, not as Marinette, especially not when she’d just learned Adrien (probably) had a crush on her.  She could hardly go out with Adrien when Chat Noir snuck in her window a few times a week, could she?

It hurt too much to think of letting her strange more-than-friendship with her partner go.

“So, you think there’s time for one more drawing?” he asked, brushing his hands off on his suit.

“If you’re still up for it.”  She couldn’t turn down the opportunity, even if she was even more afraid of giving her feelings away now.  Besides, if he thought she only liked Adrien, he wouldn’t notice her acting weird.  Right?

“Of course.  Can’t deny you the opportunity to capture all this.”  He flexed his arms in a few different poses.

“You know, I was going to thank you, but now I think that might go to your head.”  She laughed.

“Ah, it’s too late for that.”  He grinned.  “You’ve already inflated my ego beyond repair.”

She didn’t see how, but he was already holding his pose, one hand on his hip, the other arm flexing up near his head.  His legs were braced in a slight squat that would probably hurt to hold for too long, but left her with an all-too-good view of his quads.

She set her timer for thirty minutes and hoped that she could keep her secrets to herself a little longer.

[gustafsnightangel]

Shattered Lives Ch 12 Pt 2

She heard Gustaf talk to Lily while she made some mashed banana and smiled. She was so relieved he was home, the weight of the week ahead had already lifted a little. She wasn’t alone and that made her emotions catch in her throat.

He watched Sildie in the kitchen as she placed food on the table ready for lunch. She was only just holding it together, those raw emotions seconds away from spilling from her. He knew she was trying to not let the week ahead consume her today. Knowing she’d planned something for his return and those plans were abruptly put on hold hadn’t made the day easier for her.

“Come on miss Lily bear. Let’s go see what we can get to settle in your tummy.” He sat up and Lily hung on tightly. There was no getting her to let him go for the moment.

“She’s going to get you all dirty if you have her in your lap.” Sildie smiled, knowing the kid wouldn’t be going anywhere without Gustaf.

“Well it’s that or crying because I don’t think she’s going to let me put her in her chair.” He said softly as he looked at the tiny hand fisted in his shirt.

They ate and talked about Friday and the trip to the snow, anything to keep her mind off the grief. After some coaxing Lily finally ate, even if it was only half of what Sildie had plated for her, half was better than nothing. Sildie cleaned up the table, while Gustaf took Lily to change her hoping she’d fall asleep soon.

“You’re not feeling the best are you Lily bear.” Her eyes were red, nose starting to stuff up. The only blessing was she hadn’t thrown up again, yet. “Come on let’s get a nap on on the couch huh?” He could see her eyes drooping and curled her into him.

Gustaf came out to find Sildie curled up in the one seat with a book and smiled. Down time, even though the mind was busy it wasn’t work, it wasn’t fried from stress, and it wasn’t the kids. Without a word he kissed her head and moved to lay on the couch. Her hand found his and she squeezed it. Sometimes words weren’t needed to convey the simple thank you.

He gave her a returned squeeze and stretched out on the couch. He curled Lily into him, resting her along the back of the couch for support. Putting her favorite cartoon on he turned the volume down low. He toyed with her hair, soothing, calming and watched as she eventually closed her eyes and let sleep take her.

She watched him from over her book the sight warming her heart. Those long legs stretched out, Lily cuddled in tightly, his huge hand so gentle as he soothed her to sleep. With a slight smirk she continued with her book. There would be no way he could detach himself from her for them to have some one on one time now, that was just how life went today.

A couple of hours had past and when she put her book down to go and make tea she smiled looking at the beautiful man fast asleep on her couch, Lily still cradled to him as if she were his own. She remembered Quinn doing the exact same thing with Brendan and that thought lodged a rock in her throat.

She let him be and went to make tea, she’d have to pick the boys up soon and was warring with whether to wake Gustaf and take Lily with her or just leave them be. She wanted to leave them snuggled comfortably but there was always that apprehension, that doubt. She thought it through, chewed it over and over in her mind. She had to trust him if this was ever going to work and she knew deep down he’d never hurt them.

She wrote a sticky note for him and toyed with it. Biting her bottom lip she pulled out her phone and smiled. She took a photo, she had to have it, it was such an adorable sight. Would he be like this to our kids she wondered.

“Whoa! Where the fuck did that come from.” She muttered and snapped her mouth shut. She didn’t want kids, or did she now she had Gustaf? That wasn’t a thought she was entertaining right now and was furious at herself for even thinking of it. He might not even want kids she though abruptly. She wasn’t sure she wanted kids and it was the first time she’d ever felt conflicted about it.

“Fucking hormones.” She muttered as she got dressed. “Fucking emotions.”

When she was ready to head out the door she gently placed the sticky note on his chest and kissed his brow. He didn’t stir, one of those rare moments he was out cold, vulnerable, and it made her smile. He was just as at ease here with her as she was with him.

He woke to a quiet house, eerily quiet like it was just him and Lily. His hand brushed paper and found a sticky note. He saw her elegant handwriting and smiled.

Back in 30 or so, picking up the boys.

It was progress he thought for her to leave him alone with Lily. Her trust in him meant everything, more reason to not fall back into bad habits and old demons. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, fuck this up.

“Oh little lady you’re burning up.” He murmured as he brushed his knuckles across Lily’s forehead and kissing her brow. “Here’s hoping it’ll burn right out of your system by tomorrow.” He knew that was wishful thinking.

He watched as those bright blue eyes fluttered open and knew she was miserable. She tried to sit up and couldn’t and the sobs soon told him how miserable she was.

“Easy there Lily bear.” He cooed and sat up, pulling her gently into his lap.

He let her get her bearings before standing and taking her to run a tepid bath. He turned the water on for a bath in Sildies bathroom and sat Lily on the change table. She wasn’t screaming but her gentle sobs were enough to break his heart.

“I know love, you’re all hot and feel crappy. Let’s see how you’re doing after a bath huh?” He said gently as he undressed her. He sat her in the water and let her sob it out, that tiny fist clutching his finger.

Scooping water into his hand he let it run over her back, hopefully taking the heat of the fever with it. He splashed water over her legs and after a while he could see her start to come around. She started slapping her hands onto the water and looking at him, occasionally splashing him. She was still glassy eyes and feverish but obviously felt better.

Those big blue eyes held his. She was such a sweetheart and he felt the emotion catch in his throat. Could he live up to her expectations of him he wondered. Could he really be the father she’d asked him to be? That thought scared the shit out of him really. He could be the big brother, the dad like person in a heartbeat, but to Lily he was essentially her father. How could he live up to that with a past like his, demons like his?

“You put way too much trust in me little lady.” He sighed and smiled at her as she splashed his arm. “I don’t think I’m cut out for what you’re asking me to be, but I’ll try. For you I’ll try.” His murmur was soft and she answered him with a soft dad dad. “I don’t want to let you down Lily bear.”

He heard the front door and figured Sildie would find her way into the bathroom eventually. He continued to sit with Lily and let her splash and play. It was better than the fever spiking further and tears, she seemed happy for the moment. He also needed time to let his darker thoughts vanish.

“Here you are.” Sildie said smiling from the doorway.

“Yeah I woke up a little bit ago and her fever was high. She’s doing better now though.” He said as Lily said a quiet dad dad.

“I’m hoping it burns out tonight.” Sildie sat on the edge of the tub and ran her fingers across Lily’a forehead.

“Me too. You still want me to stay?” He asked knowing she would.

“Yes. If you have other things to do I’ll understand.” She smiled at him thankful he was able to do this much.

“I just need to go home and change out of jeans if I’m going to sleep on the couch with her.” He chuckled.

“Go grab some clothes while I sit here with her. It’ll be the only time she’s not crying for you.” Sildie smirked and he chuckled.

“You have a point.” He stood and kissed Sildie before she had time to move. “I’ll be back love.” He murmured.

She watched Lily splash in the tub and smiled. Lily still wasn’t feeling the best but at least she was happier. She couldn’t explain the tears that suddenly fell, they just fell. They weren’t sad or happy tears they were just falling. Relief maybe, relief that she had Gustaf to lean on. Or maybe they were just tears because of the week it was going to be.

He said hello to the boys on his way back to Sildie’s bedroom. All three with huge smiles on their faces that he was home. They were good kids and hoped he could give them what they needed as well.

Watching her from the doorway he could see the tears run down Sildie’s cheeks as Lily played. He said nothing and sat on the edge of the tub while she quietly wept, gentle fingers stroking through her hair. Lily chattered a dad dad and he smiled at her.

“Could you grab her towel please.” Sildie asked as she collected herself and started to lift Lily out of the tub.

Gustaf bundled Lily into his arms and blew a big wet raspberry on her belly which made the kid giggled.

“Someone’s feeling a little better.” He murmured as he sat Lily on the change table to dry her off.

He was dressing her when he heard the tub drain and Sildie’s arms snake around his waist, her head resting in the dip of his shoulder blades. He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips to kiss her knuckles before placing it over his heart. She just stood and breathed, reeling in the emotions to get some sort of handle on them.

“Now little lady, shall we go help Ama with dinner?” He said softly and Lily clapped her hands together with a happy mum mum. “That’s right.”

He turned and scooped Sildie into his arms. Those ice blue eyes looked back and he drowned in her. With a hand under her sweater at the bare skin of her lower back he kissed her with all the love he had for her.

“I love it when you kiss me like that.” Her voice soft.

“I know.” His growl was playful, anything to see a glimpse of that smile this week.

“Come on I gotta go make food before the boys start raiding the fridge.” She sighed and let go of him.

“Sildie?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re beautiful.” He grinned that mischievous grin.

“Only to you.” She laughed shaking her head and went to the kitchen.

“That’s what we gotta do this week Lily bear. Keep Ama smiling and laughing as much as we can.” He kissed the child on the neck and let his scruff tickle her which had her giggling.

They all sat at the table for dinner, and Sildie couldn’t help the overwhelming pull of emotion. They were a family, yet it shouldn’t look like this. She missed Quinn and Dana, this is what their family should’ve looked like. Gustaf’s hand gently gripped her knee in a venture that clearly said I understand and I’m here for you.

She watched the boys eat and laugh and ask Gustaf all sorts of questions about his travels this past six weeks. He happily told them almost verbatim what it was like. Lily ate a little more than at lunch which had her hoping for a smooth night tonight and tomorrow.

“Can we stay up late so Gustaf can play games?” Liam asked as they ate.

“We talked about this Liam.” She said gently. “School nights are school nights, no exceptions.” The boys were about to argue until they saw her face and the don’t push it look and thought better of it.

“Are you sleeping here tonight?” Brendan asked Gustaf quietly.

“I’d like to, if you’re all ok with that? If not it’s cool and I’ll go home and see you tomorrow.” He wasn’t going to pressure any of them. He wanted to stay but they all had a say in when that happened.

“I’d like you to stay.” Brendan’s voice was barely there.

Gustaf looked at the twins and they nodded. “You ok with that love?” His knuckles brushed her knee gently.

“Sure.” She breathed out relieved.

“I guess I’m staying for breakfast then.” He grinned at the kids and those smiles lit up his world as he started to clear the table.

“I got it.” He said to Sildie and kissed the top of her head hoping she’d sit down.

She sat down as his lips met her head and the boys looked back, a little wide eyed but smiling. Brendan nodded as if to say it was all ok and her nerves settled. She let out a shuddered breath and smiled at them.

“You’re ok with this? You’re sure? No turning back remember?” The boys nodded. “Ok then.” Her smile soft as her heart did flips. We’re they really ready for this? “Homework done?” She asked the boys and Brendan nodded. The twins still had their math to get through.

“Bring it out here and we can finish it together.” She said to the twins as Brendan grabbed his book and curled up on the one seat.

Sildie hauled Lily out of the high chair and went into the kitchen to find Gustaf loading the dishwasher. She slipped her arm around him and he turned to kiss her tenderly.

“Thank you.” She said quietly.

“Anytime love, you know that.” He murmured and continued to stack the plates.

She sat at the table with the twins and went through their homework with them, Lily happy in her lap. She squealed a dad dad as Gustaf came into view and she watched the boys carefully. She knew how Finn felt about it but he seemed to be ok with it now. Things were settling with time.

Sildie was explaining a math question to the boys when Gustaf silently stood beside her, clapped his hands together quietly for Lily to see and she reached for him. He took her into his arms and the little girl chattered to him while he went to change her for bed time. He hoped she’d go down without fuss even though she’d slept half the day.

He came out to a commotion and giggle fest in the bathroom, the twins were having a water fight in the bath. He stuck his head into the bathroom and the twins settled down.

“Are you supposed to be goofing around?” He asked gently.

“No.” Liam said with a grin.

“Well it’s your hide but you might not want to push Ama this week guys you know she’s already stressed enough don’t make it worse for her. Scrub and out ok?” He said goodnight to Brendan as he passed the kid’s bedroom and sat at the table with Lily in his lap for tea.

“Thanks for talking to the twins I was about to go in there and haul them out by their ears.” She said taking a seat.

“Team work.” He grinned and Lily clapped her hands and then patted them against Gustaf’s face. “Now to get this one to sleep.”

“Yeah good luck. She’s probably going to be up half the night with the amount of sleep she had today. She’s looking better than earlier though.”

“Hopefully just a 24 hour bug.” He kissed her temple and she squealed.

“Fingers crossed and thank you. It would have been a hellish day had you not been here.” She sipped her tea and saw the twins walk into their room. “Be right back I have to get the boys tucked in.”

His hand caught her as she went walk past and he tugged her to sit on his thigh.

“I like not having to worry about kissing you in front of the kids.” He murmured and gently kissed the nape of her neck. “I’ve missed the feel of you love.”

“Me too.” She sighed as his hand slipped under her sweater to cup a lace clad breast. “I’ll be right back.”

She left him sitting there while she read to the twins. His touch had already ignited a fire within her which was crap. That fire had been on a slow fucking burn for weeks now. SA If she was being honest she wanted him to fuck her senseless.

The afternoon with the kids had gone well apart from the twins testing the waters of what they could get away with, she’d expected that though. She knew there would be moments that were less peaceful but for the most part they gelled pretty well. She came back into the living room to find Gustaf sitting on the couch with Lily snuggled into him again, she was almost asleep.

“Mr Baby Whisperer over here.” She chuckled and sat next to him.

“I simply explained to her she had to go to sleep so you and I could have wild monkey sex.” He muttered and Sildie laughed, how he loved that laugh. “And that she wasn’t allowed to wake up when I made you scream my name.”

“It also might be the paracetamol I gave her in her juice at dinner.” She said and brushed her fingers over Lily’s hair.

“Drugged her up.” He raised an eyebrow in humor.

“Had to get the fever down and keep it down, so I’m hoping she sleeps the rest of it off and wakes tomorrow back to normal.” She watched Lily as she clung to Gustaf. There would be no other for that kid now. In her world he was her dad.

He let his hand wander her legging clad thigh as they talked. She seemed relaxed since it was decided by the boys he’d stay. It’s how he wanted life for her, relaxed and as stress free as he could possibly make it.

With Lily asleep in his arms he went to put her down. She didn’t stir but he sat on the floor anyway and made sure she wasn’t going to wake. Her tiny DIA gripping his finger tightly again. A little while later he heard Sildie come in and shut the door. The quiet click of the lock made him smile.

“I put your phone next to mine.” She whispered as she sat down beside him.

Leaning into him she rested her head on his shoulder and watched Lily sleep. His lips pressed to her head and he lingered breathing in that scent he’d missed so much. Damn he was so in love with her.

“I’ve missed this.” She whispered. “Having you close.” His kiss to her hair was all the answer she needed.

“Kids asleep?” He asked softly as he started to pry his finger from Lily’s fist.

“For now. We’ll see how many times the twins get up in the middle of the night to check if you’re still here or not.” She turned and kissed him on the cheek sweetly before she stood. She stripped the sweater and leggings off but his hand stopped hers gently as she reached for her crop top.

“Leave them on.” He growled quietly that low timbre sending a shot of lust to her core. He tenderly stroked his knuckles down Lily’s cheek and pulled the blanket up to cover her.

Standing quietly he saw Sildie sitting on the corner of the bed, legs spread apart by the ninety degree angle. His goddess in black lace with her halo of copper, she was a vision. He stood between her legs, knees resting on the corner of the mattress, not taking his eyes off her.

His gaze drew her in and made her pussy tingle. She knew that gaze, he was going to fuck her, and hard. She’d been aching for it all day. A single finger trailed the underside of her chin mimicking the gesture from the single gerbera petal at the hotel. Lifting her chin she looked up at him.

She was even more beautiful in the soft glow of the lamp, those curves begging for him to touch. He dipped his head down and kissed her with a tenderness she’d never felt from him before. It held a promise of love, of trust, of vulnerability. He was giving himself to her completely and it rocked her, simply saying trust me, love me.

Her hands slipped beneath his shirt and he let her remove it. The feel of her fingers against his chest made his cock twitch in the constraint of the denim jeans, he’d missed that touch. So sensual, so erotic without even trying to be.

He deepened the kiss and leaned forward so she lay back against the mattress, pressing his chest to her. Without a word he kissed his way down her throat, over her collarbone, until his lips found the edge of the lace at her cleavage. He hooked a finger in the strap and pulled the lace down enough to expose her nipple. He gently sucked it into his mouth and rolled his tongue over it until it was a hard nub and her breathing changed to a moan.

As he devoured the other nipple his fingers danced over lace and flesh, arousing, seducing. Slipping under the scrap of lace at her crotch his fingers slipped over her clit and a quiet gasp left her lips. He gently worked the g string from her hips with that one finger and guided her legs up one at a time so he could slip it off her.

His mouth teased its way down her torso until he was kneeling at her feet, and without warning feasted on her soaked folds. The strangled cry had him smiling as he gripped her hips, pulled her down to the very corner of the mattress, ran his hands along her inner thighs to push them up and positioned her feet on his shoulders. The feel of his palms on her inner thighs had her relaxing them which opened her up to him.

That clever mouth, how could she have forgotten what that did to her. The feel of his tongue swirling at her entrance before darting in, the way it licked her from pussy to clit and then sucked there until she was ready to explode. His hands gently squeezed her breasts under the lace, pinched her nipples until they were sensitive and eager for his mouth again.

He toyed with her until her soft whimper begged him for more. Slipping out of his jeans and briefs he kissed his way up her body, busy hands taking the crop top with it. She raised her arms for him to remove it completely but he left it at her wrists, twisted around enough for her to feel but not hurt, a silent ask for her to leave it and her hands where he’d bound them.

Tangling his fingers into her hair he kissed her, tongue teasing hers.

“You’re so beautiful Sildie.” He murmured against her lips, his eyes finding hers.

“Only to you love.” Her voice soft.

“Let me have you.” He breathed and lowered his body so it was just brushing hers. “All of you.”

“You’ll always have me.” She said quietly and kissed him sweetly, tongue teasing.

It was that sweetness from her that made his heart yearn for her more and more. She knew he was asking permission, permission to fuck her hard. He’d always ask because he’d never forgive himself if he hurt her. Ever.

He kissed his way down her body, savoring every curve and dip, every shiver of anticipation, every sigh and moan. Standing to that towering height her eyes roamed that chiseled body that was about to bring her undone. Her eyes feasted where her hands couldn’t.

He placed his hands at her knees and gently pushed them up and out so her feet were almost at her hips. Taking his already rock hard cock in his hand he ran the tip along her glistening pussy and saw the shudder run across her body.

He positioned himself at her heat and spread his feet further apart, at this angle he’d have purchase and power to fuck her deeply and hard. That thought alone made his cock throb.

He leaned over her and kissed that mouth he craved. He’d wanted her bound and laid out for him for a long time. Supporting himself on his hands he slowly fucked her with the tip of his shaft. Watching her as the sensation flowed over her.

She dropped her arms to curl around his neck, the lace crop top still binding her wrists. She pulled her to him and kissed him. She felt his finger hook around the lace and he gently but forcefully pulled her wrists back to where he wanted them.

“Keep them there love.” He growled and nipped her jaw roughly.

He tormented her with his tip, that was the only body part touching her and it was driving her mad. She wanted to feel that body against her, she loved the feel of him moving as he claimed her. That thick cock inside her.

He gazed into those ice blue eyes as he felt the need and arousal rise in her. Her pussy clenched and begged him to plunge inside. Keeping his arms straight he dipped his head down to claim her mouth, desperation kissed him back.

“Gustaf.” She breathed.

“Not yet love.” He kissed her softly. “I want you soaked and begging before I fuck you.” He murmured and grazed his teeth over her jaw.

She went to lower her arms again out of sheer desperation to feel him but he repositioned his hand between her wrists. With the lace of her crop top secured she couldn’t move and it sent a thrill up her spine. A touch of fear flashed through her body before it settled into arousal. She trusted him and knew he wouldn’t hurt her.

He watched her carefully as he secured her wrists with the lace tangled in his hand. Saw the flash of fear turn to arousal. Those eyes flicked to his looking for reassurance. He lowered his head to her and kissed her with tenderness, a promise of pleasure not pain, to trust him.

Her fingers brushed his and she squeezed them in a silent response.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are love?” He murmured at her ear and kissed that spot just below it that he knew made her shudder. “All laid out for me, ready to pleasure, ready to devour, ready to fuck.”

“Please.” She whimpered as his words washed over her making her squirm to try and get closer to him. He could charm a fence post with those words, that tone.

With his thumb hooked into the lace binding her wrists he pulled it further up the bed taking her arms with it. His free hand stroked a finger under her chin and she tipped her head back to look at him, desire looked back. He bent down so his lips ghosted hers before kissing her tenderly.

That free hand not supporting his weight trailed down her body to squeeze a breast before it traveled further south and slipped over her clit. He saw her bite down on her lower lip to stop the loud cry that she wanted to let escape. It made him groan all the same, he kissed her chastely and freed her lip by sucking it from between her teeth.

“Don’t test my patience love.” His throaty growl made her pussy quiver and it wasn’t lost on him.

He stroked his finger against her clit until she was on the brink and then stopped, her body writhing to try and find release. His thighs pressed against hers to keep her from pulling them together and waited. He dropped his head to brush his lips against hers.

“Please.” She whispered as she moved her hands against his, the lace that bound them cutting in, stopping her from touching him.

His cock was still and the lack of movement was driving her insane.

“What do you want love?” He whispered, ghosting his lips over hers.

“You. I want you to...” She said between her shuddered breaths.

“Want me to do what?” He murmured in that seductive tone.

“I want you to fuck me.” She finally got out as her body came down from the almost orgasm.

Without warning, without another thought he gently pulled her wrists so her arms were stretched above her head flush against her ears and thrust his hips hard. He couldn’t stop the groan of pleasure as he filled her, his cock bottoming out at her deepest point. That groan was mixed with a strangled cry of pleasure as she took him inside her.

It was a brutal thrust but she only felt the pleasure and ecstasy as he claimed her. He filled her, stretched her wide, caressing her inner most points. He didn’t pause, he pulled out just as fast and slammed back into her.

His rhythm was unrelenting and deep as he pounded into her. Hips pistoned and the shock of his body meeting hers made her whole body quiver and wobble, the bed shaking violently in response. He looked down her body as he claimed her. Those soft curves shaking in time with his thrusts, those gorgeous breasts bouncing, his cock spearing into her.

“Gustaf, please.” She whimpered, she needed release, it was right there tormenting her.

“Soon love.” He breathed, he was enjoying the feel of her, the look of her. She fulfilled every fantasy he’d ever had as the memory of her boudoir photos flashed before his eyes.

He lowered his arm between her bound ones and thrust deeper, she felt so fucking good. Her cry as he bottomed out, the twist in his hips grinding against her clit made her struggle against his hand. She was writhing beneath him struggling to claim that one thing that would tip her over.

“Please.” Her whimper was close to tears.

“Sildie.” He breathed as he pounded into her. “Come for me love.”

“I can’t.” She choked as her body started trembling, so aroused her release was hovering just out of reach.

He brushed his lips against her ear. “Relax love, let take you.” He murmured in that low tone he knew made her weak. “Let it claim you.”

He quickened his pace and stroked his hand down her body, pinching her nipples hard. He heard the choked breath in and felt her body tense.

“Let go and come for me love.” He murmured and pinched her nipple again, moving from one to the other until her body shook uncontrollably. She was right on the edge. “I want to watch you come.”

As he slammed into her taking her as hard and deeply as he could, his finger slipped over her clit. He watched as the pleasure shattered her. He covered her mouth with his, swallowing her scream as she came so hard he thought her spine would snap as she arched.

Her breathing was erratic as he continued to fuck her in search of his own release. As her pussy gripped him like a velvet vice he tensed slightly before his own climax thundered through him. He only slowed to a stop when they were both spent.

He looked down at her, those ice blue eyes captivating him. He gently released her wrists and unbound them from the black lace, kissing where the lace had cut in, her wrists slightly red.

Her hand grazed his cheek and he leaned into it wanting to feel it against him, her tenderness. He massaged each shoulder to work the stiffness out as the other hand cupped her face. Her eyes locked on his and held him there.

“You ok love?” He asked kissing her sweetly, those eyes searching.

“Yes.” Her breathing was still erratic and shuddered in and out, her body shook.

“You sure?” He kissed her gently now as his brow knit with concern.

“It was intense.” She said quietly and toyed with the scruff at his jaw.

“Did I hurt you?” He asked softly, that was what terrified him the most.

She shook her head. “No, it was just more intense than I thought it would be.” She looked into those Nordic blue eyes and saw the concern.

“I like giving myself to you.” She said softly and that statement almost stopped his heart.

“And I like it when you do. I like pleasuring you love.” He kissed her with that deep love he had locked away. “Watching you let go, it’s beautiful.”

He pulled out of her and helped her to her feet, legs still shaky. His arms wrapped around that curvy body and he kissed her tenderly. She went to the bathroom while he got settled under the covers.

He was almost asleep when she climbed in beside him. His hand blindly found her hip and guided her to him. He wanted her close, curled in. Be damned if he was sleeping without her warmth and love pressed against him tonight.

“You sure you’re ok?” He asked, he hadn’t expected her reaction and kicked himself, he probably should have given her emotional state this week. She was a little quiet.

“I’m sure.” She looked at him as her head snuggled against his shoulder. “I’ll tell you if there’s something I don’t like.” She kissed him so his toes curled.

“You can’t kiss me like that when we need sleep and I just fucked you like I did.” He chuckled softly and she grinned.

“Oh yes I can.” Her quiet chuckle was playful.

“Thank you for staying.” Her voice already sleepy as she closed her eyes and relaxed into those strong arms she’d dreamed about.

“No place I’d rather be.” He kissed her brow as she settled into him, his warmth and scent lulling her to sleep.

“I missed you.” She slurred.

“I missed you too love, sleep now.”

[whispersafterdusk]

Lost in Time - ch 8

It felt like Sunday came a lot quicker than it should have.

As he'd said before he wasn't expecting any sort of trouble - Portia's residents weren't known for getting physically combative during arguments - but still, Arlo had a small ball of anxiety in his gut as he walked down from the Civil Corps building toward the plaza.  

Usually the winter meetings didn't last too long since everyone loved hearing the news but hated standing out in the freezing weather to listen to it; Gale tended to keep these meeting short and to the point, bringing up only major or emergency talking points and plans, and then the next day he'd send out bulletins with the less urgent news and invite the townsfolk to give their input at his office at any time.  Arlo had a feeling that tonight was going to have only one major announcement but knew it could go either way on whether the meeting was short or if it dragged on (and if Gale hadn't already talked to Lee about Eli then it was definitely going to drag on). ((Continued below cut))

There was still about fifteen minutes before the meeting would start; Arlo could see shadows cast (on the inside, of course) through the windows of the mayor's office and the commerce guild but the plaza was currently empty.  He climbed the steps and pushed open the door to the commerce guild and nearly bumped into Gale's back as the man was standing just inside the door talking to a small cluster of people; he quickly and silently closed the door and moved off to the side to avoid interrupting their discussion.

Selene was there and so was Remington, and there was a quartet of blue-suit-wearing persons Arlo hadn't seen before but he recognized the patches on the arms of their jackets -- those had to be the scholars from Atara Gale had mentioned were coming.  Just as he was wondering when they'd gotten here the door behind him opened again and-

"-Mali!  Good to see you again."

Much like Arlo had done Mali also had to carefully shuffle around the group near the doorway; to his surprise Eli came in behind her - he knew Eli would be here tonight but hadn't expected her to have already met Mali.

Mali offered him a nod.  "Arlo."  She gestured for Eli to step ahead of her and toward the little group speaking with Gale; once Eli was over with them Mali turned her attention back to Arlo.  "I've been given the short version of Portia's recent events.  I came out here with the scholars but four more Flying Pigs will be heading out to help your Civil Corps with security detail."

He wasn't able to keep the look of surprise off his face -- FOUR Flying Pigs coming to help them out?  "That's great!  Though we did just get a locked elevator car into place - should make things a lot easier to keep an eye on."

Mali nodded, crossing her arms.  "I'm aware.  I'll be in possession of a key eventually.  Is it really true that you haven't found any AIs or security measures down there?"

"It's true.  It's very strange."

She nodded again, looking thoughtful.  "I've never heard of an Old World ruins that didn't have SOMETHING dangerous active in it."

"The place wasn't really powered properly.  Might be the AIs fled when their power sources started fading."

"That's a possibility," she said.  "The power cut out right as you found Elizabeth, right?"

"Eli," he corrected.  "And, right - it was at 3% when it released her from the tube and then everything shut off."

"We'll have to double check every nook and cranny to make sure nothing's hiding."  With that Mali turned and headed toward the small gathering, standing just behind the scholars she'd brought out here.

"Right," he said quietly.  There COULD be something hiding down there, he supposed...didn't seem likely, but until they'd investigated every square inch of that place they couldn't be 100% certain.

Whatever the group had been talking about seemed to wrap up a few moments after Mali joined them; Remington broke off from the group with Selene at his elbow, coming over to clap a hand to Arlo's shoulder silently.  Selene looked a little nervous too and was furiously scribbling away in a small notebook; Arlo glanced back to the group and saw Eli all but mobbed by the four scholars.  For one brief moment she met his gaze and flashed him a wry smile before turning her attention back to the ones in front of her.

They certainly looked the part of scholars; one was a balding gray-haired elderly man with a pair of spectacles perched on the tip of his nose.  The other three were all older women (not one of them could've been younger than 50) and all were sporting long dark hair going gray tied up in buns; the middle woman wore a pair of thick-rimmed glasses, the one next to her had darker skin and a noticeable tremor in her hand when she reached out to shake Eli's, and the third woman seemed far more sturdier than her companions but also thicker in the gut and neck.

In their matching uniforms they at least presented as a neat, tidy, and united group, but he definitely understood now why Mali had had to escort them out here -- none of them looked especially capable of defending themselves against...much of anything, really.

'Probably a good thing we've not found any hostiles down in the facility then,' he found himself thinking.

Thinking on Mali made him wonder when exactly they'd gotten here; he knew the sound of Mali's RS-001 well and knew the plane could be heard coming from a mile away, and he was positive he hadn't heard it approaching at any point this afternoon.  Maybe they'd arrived overnight?  He'd been sleeping a lot more soundly (and, a lot more in general) lately due to the long shifts out at the guard post for the facility and it was possible he could have "heard" the plane but it hadn't been enough to wake him up.

Arlo dropped his gaze down to Selene and caught a glimpse of what she was scribbling in the notebook - looked like an itemized list of...furniture took up the top half of the list that he could see from where he stood.  Probably for the scholars; the Happy Apartments sometimes doubled as hotel lodging so at least each room had a bed in it but they were pretty bare at all other times.

"Big plans, Selene?"

"Huh? Oh - yeah," she replied, glancing up to him.  "Gale's going to put the scholars up in Happy Apartments for the time being - that empty house up near Dr. Xu's home needs some renovations and Gale's hiring me to get those done ASAP, and then that's where they'll stay since they'll be here awhile studying our new ruins.  Thankfully I already got the elevator car done so I can start as soon as I get home tonight."

"All by yourself?" he asked, eying her. Selene was good but fixing up a house quickly, on her own, seemed like a tall order.

"Of course not.  Albert and Gust are going to be handling the plans and assigning most of the construction work.  I'll be working with them to get the raw materials processed as needed - boards, nails, screws, bricks, tile, you name it, I have a machine that'll make it.  And..." she added, with a sigh trailing off into a growl.  "I can dump whatever tasks I want onto Higgins, per Gale's orders.  I'm going to have a look through the place after the meeting and then see what bits and pieces I can handle and what I want to trust HIM with."  With a roll of her eyes Selene flipped the notebook shut and stuck it into the back pocket of her pants.

"Does Gale know there's four Flying Pig members coming out too?"

Selene nodded.  "Yep.  Mali said they'll make do with their own camping supplies - and she also said they're bringing more than just tents.   They intend to be here awhile."

Arlo nodded at that; the Flying Pigs were an adventuring guild, after all: if anyone would be comfortable roughing it in any weather, it'd be a Flying Pig.  

Remington took a couple steps toward the window and moved the curtain aside just enough to peek outside.  "-got a crowd gathering.  Not a big one at least but most of the usuals are out there."

Arlo mentally sighed -- if the 'usuals' were out there that meant Lee was definitely in attendance.  And so was Nora... That was something he'd been hoping to avoid (he wanted to broach that subject with her personally) but...well, he'd have to handle her reaction the best he could.  She was already not exactly happy that he'd been so tied up with guarding the facility's entrance--

"All right, people, all right-" Gale called out.  As everyone turned to face him he carefully buttoned up a sweater jacket and gave them all a wide smile.  "Time to head on out and greet our fellow Portians.  We don't want to be late - it IS rather cold outside tonight."

Being as they were closest to the door Arlo, Remington, and Selene hurried outside and stood off to the side at the bottom of the steps.  Behind them Gale, the scholars, Mali, and Eli all filed out and sort of loosely lined up behind the mayor as he took his place at the top step.

Arlo scanned the crowd; he could see Lee and Nora in the back, where they usually stood near the fountain's edge. Xu, Higgins, Paulie, Albert, Gust, Alice, Antoine, Carol along with Mars and their daughters, Dawa, Liuwa, Isaac, Russo, Martha and her son Toby, and Presley were all clustered at the bottom of the commerce guild's stairs, and there were a few curious tourists that Arlo could see that had stopped at the very edge of the crowd.

Glancing back up the steps he could see Eli standing next to Mali; however she might be feeling at the moment wasn't readable in her expression but he couldn't help but notice how rigidily she stood there.  For a brief moment he thought her attention flicked to him and he nodded to her but she didn't give any indication she saw.

With a deep breath he turned his own attention outward at the crowd.

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

All right...that man in the back, with the graying hair and beard with the gold bead in it.  If anyone in this crowd had to be this Minister Lee she'd been warned about, that had to be him.  There was a young woman next to him, dressed similarly -- probably the church girl...couldn't recall her name at the moment but Eli knew she'd also been mentioned at some point.

Let's see...there were a pair of men out there that looked identical to Sanwa.  Two obvious family groups with how they were standing together (and triplet girls, goodness - did Portia have a reputation for multiple births?), Xu was there, some older folks and some younger folks.  

None of them stood out to her like that minister man did.  If there was going to be trouble it was going to be from him, most likely.

In front of her Gale greeted the crowd and told a few jokes, announced a few things about some kind of festival coming up (something about a hot pot) and then reminded everyone about how the end of the year was approaching.  She listened even as she scanned over the crowd again; everyone seemed to be in high spirits and willing to joke with one another, and Selene breaking off from Arlo and Remington to go stand in the crowd with Paulie briefly drew her attention before it shifted back to the man she assumed was Lee.

"-now, with the fun things out of the way," Gale went on, clearing his throat.  "I have several rather...unusual, as well as highly important, announcements to make.  The first is the new ruins out in Somber Marsh are still closed to the public at this time -- our Civil Corps, the Research Center, and our very own Selene are working diligently to make sure the ruins will be safe to visit in the future.  Which brings me to the next announcement: I'm sure you've all noticed that Mali is once again here in Portia and that she stands behind me with a group that are strangers to you all."

He paused and there was a murmuring among those gathered; Eli noted a young boy waving at Mali only for his mother to shush him and push his arm back down to his side.

"I would like to introduce to you Edgar, Maryanne, Elsie, and Petunia-" Gale gestured at each as he announced their names - Edgar was the balding man, Maryanne had the thick glasses, Elsie had the weakened arm that shook with every movement, and Petunia was the larger woman.  Eli had met them only moments ago -- she'd need to definitely keep the women's names straight as she was going to be working with them down in the facility from now on alongside Merlin and Petra.

'Getting kind of crowded down there...'

"They are on loan, as it were, from the University of Atara and will be helping to study and preserve the ruins out in the Marsh."

There was an audible groan of frustration from one of the men in the audience - Eli's attention zeroed in on the noise and wasn't too surprised to see it'd come from Higgins.

Gale had obviously heard him too, his head turning to peer down at the man.  "Now now, I know many of you were hoping to do a little ruin diving or start a salvage operation but these ruins are incredibly well-preserved and we could learn a great deal from studying them."  His head sharply turned to fix his gaze on Lee in the back.  "This is a MEDICAL facility.  What we learn down there could save countless lives across the Free Cities, so while I promise that eventually we will be allowing visitors into the facility I want to emphasize that there will be NO unauthorized salvaging of anything within the ruins."

Eli watched Lee closely as Gale spoke; the minister's lip curled up in mild disgust but he remained quiet.  For now, anyway.  Maybe he could tolerate the thought of medical information, but boy oh boy she was not looking forward to his reaction here shortly...

Gale clapped his hands together then, and rubbed them together - it seemed more of a nervous gesture than anything to do with coaxing heat back into his fingers.  "Now... As a final announcement, and by far the strangest one I've ever had to make."  Very quickly he glanced to where Arlo and Remington stood; the two men both gave Gale a nod -- they were watching.  "-I'm sure you've all heard about how the ruins were found, and the little rescue mission that was undertaken to retrieve one of our own."

There was another brief burst of murmuring and more than a few heads turning to look at one of the short, squat men; that man in turn rolled his eyes and told a couple of people to hush up, even as his brother elbowed him with a wide grin.

"There was, however, one more person rescued from the ruins."

Eli inhaled slowly through her nose.  Here we go...

Gale reached a hand behind him, seeming to paw at the air for a moment before he turned enough to spot Eli behind him; that pawing motion turned into an obvious 'come here' gesture and Eli stepped up beside him flinching a bit as he put a hand to the small of her back.

The murmuring went dead silent, and all eyes were on her.

"This," Gale went on, "is Elizabeth Summers.  She is a Dubei native who was found within the ruins, having survived for hundreds of years due to advanced medical technology from the Old World."

The crowd erupted into gasps and hurried conversation, but over all the voices--

"-I thought you were JOKING," Lee called out, eyes wide.  "You can't be serious?"

"I AM serious," Gale replied, tone firm.  "This young woman here-"

"-not so young now, I think," Eli interrupted, smiling weakly.  The attempt at brevity didn't break through the handful of separate conversations going on.

"-yes, yes, not technically young by number," the mayor chuckled.  "Regardless of this woman's age however I can indeed state, with total honesty, that she was within the ruins and rescued the same day Dawa was."  The man's attention went to Dawa who simply nodded silently, then stared down at his feet as his brother elbowed him again (much more forcefully this time, and with a look of disbelief on his face).

"And just why was this kept from everyone for so long?" Lee shouted - not so much out of anger but more to be heard over everyone. "How many have known that this...this dangerous woman has been within our town?"

"Lee, I'd ask you not to call names or make generalizations with the intent to tarnish reputation," Gale immediately snapped.  "If you recall I did try to broach this subject with you several weeks ago but you rebuffed my efforts as some sort of practical joke."

"Because it's impossible!" came the minister's response.   "It's nonsensical!  And even if this is true, how can you possibly permit anyone with living knowledge of dangerous weapons and technology to roam our streets freely?"

Gale took a steadying breath, lifting his chin a bit so he was ever so slightly looking down his nose at Lee.  "As I was saying.  Elizabeth here - excuse me, Eli - was rescued from the ruins and has been both recovering as well as aiding our Civil Corps and Research Center members in sweeping the ruins to make sure they're safe.  There's been quite the number of human remains located down there, and we will be arranging a mass grave and memorial service for them as soon as we're certain we've found all of them."

"Don't ignore me, Gale."

The portly man was clearly getting agitated; Eli kept switching her attention between him and Lee, and by chance caught the strange look that the girl next to Lee was giving Arlo -- and Arlo had his head down, not looking in the woman's direction.

...interesting.

"Should you wish to discuss this in a civil manner then I am willing to hear your concerns," Gale said evenly (Eli silently congratulated him on sounding a lot calmer than he currently looked).  "I tried to give you that chance prior to tonight but, as I've already said, you brushed me off.  To answer one of your questions, obviously there are some here in town who knew of Eli before tonight -- it wasn't possible to keep her a total secret.  And while many would argue that that's a terrible secret to keep it was a choice I made in order to give her the best chance to recover in peace, as well as give myself time to see to it that she has employment and purpose, and above all felt welcome within a world that's totally unlike the one she lived in centuries ago.  And that is my final request before we adjourn tonight:  I sincerely hope you'll all join me in welcoming Eli into our community, as you would any other newcomer to Portia."

Lee looked to be seething, and she noticed Xu's brief gesture of encouragement and smile; the rest of the crowd were in various states of shock or maybe that was mistrust?  She didn't know any of these people well enough to read their expressions, especially considering how dark it was at the moment.  She saw at least a couple curious faces (and that woman had a hand clapped over her son's mouth and appeared to be dragging him away, despite his best efforts to stay put) so...maybe she wouldn't get run out of town by a mob.

"That's all the announcements for this evening," Gale said, looking a bit less annoyed now that Lee wasn't still shouting at him.  "As always, Sophie has been kind enough to provide us with pie so please help yourself."

...pie?  What pi- oh.  There was a table just off the side of the stairs, almost hidden from view since Arlo and Remington were standing directly in front of it.  There were lots of covered dishes there but no one seemed interested in getting a slice of whatever pie was underneath the covers.

The two family groups left almost immediately; the rest of the crowd dispersed in twos and threes, heads together and talking.   Lee stayed where he stood and glared daggers at Eli; she felt like making a face at him just to antagonize him further since she'd bet actual money that even the friendliest smile she could give him wouldn't change anything.

"Well, that went better than anticipated," Gale muttered.  He blew out a long sigh and scratched at the edge of his hairline.  "I knew Lee would have his outbursts of course but I DID try to warn him ahead of time..."

A shuffling at the base of the steps drew her attention away from Gale and toward where Selene was dragging Paulie by the arm toward them.

"Gale!  Gaaaaaale!" the builder called out.  "Higgins wouldn't even look at me but Paulie's willing to help."

The mayor blew out a long sigh.  "Probably because I didn't approach him first with the reward amount in hand.  Typical.  Well, regardless-" he gave Paulie a relieved looking smile.  "Good to have your help, Paulie."

"Of course, Mayor.  Selene showed me a list but is there anything else we're going to need?"

"No, no, you'll only need to be concerned about just the furniture - and perhaps a strong arm to help Selene with moving materials around."

Paulie nodded and crossed his arms (and somehow managed to fit a flex into the motion).  "Not a problem.  I can carry anything of any weight, anywhere, anytime."

Selene giggled a bit and bumped her hip into him.  "We know, Paulie.   You'd try to carry an entire building around yourself if you could figure out how to lift it in one piece."

The little group laughed quietly; Gale adjusted the front of his sweater.   "Selene, I'll have Gust or Albert, or possibly both, come by in the morning to schedule a walk through of that old house and arrange purchase of the materials - all paid for out of Portia's budget, of course. None of this need come out of your own pocket."

Selene waved a hand.  "Oh pfft - don't worry about it Gale.  Whatever of mine I use is just a donation.  I don't mind it.  And I'll hold off on having a look tonight then if we're going there in the morning."

Gale nodded, then began to head off down the street.  "I'm off for home then - have a good evening everyone."

There was a break in the chatter then; Eli looked around and saw that the plaza had fully emptied, more or less.  The scholars were being herded toward the Happy Apartments by Remington and Mali, Lee and the little church girl had disappeared at some point, and no one else had lingered to stare.  It was pretty cold and she was ready to head inside somewhere herself.

"-how's the casting of that tool coming along, Selene?" she asked the builder.

"I'm got a few molds setting up, then I'll start the metal casting step.   Got a few different designs, as it were, because I don't know how much leverage we're going to need to budge those bolts."

Eli nodded.   "We usually coated things with a thin protective layer that was meant to prevent sticking but who knows what three centuries might've done to it."

"Are you needing some manly muscle?" Paulie asked, looking between the two.

"Actually, we might," Eli answered.  "I guess we'll let you know?"

Paulie nodded, then patted Selene atop the head and gave them a half wave as he headed off down the hill.

"Well..." Selene said, blowing out a sigh.  "I'm going to head home - you don't have to come back now if you don't want.  I'll leave the door unlocked. Going to be a busy morning."

"I suspect I'm going to be mobbed bright and early by those scholars," Eli said dryly.  "I should probably get to bed myself."

Together they headed out of the plaza and down the road that led to Selene's shop.  Eli wasn't especially wild about the idea of a bunch of old geezers getting underfoot while they tried to work down there...she probably shouldn't be too hard on them, she supposed.  The world had...had lost a lot.  A lot of people, a lot of technology, a lot of knowledge.  Any chance these people had to recover some of what they've lost would only benefit the world in the long run; Eli was willing to teach and share whatever she knew but, on the other side of that particular coin, her knowledge was somewhat narrow in scope.  Just because she knew how something worked didn't mean she knew HOW it worked...knowing how to use something or approximately how it functioned wasn't a guarantee she could assemble one even if she had everything she needed to do that.

It was a concept she hoped she could immediately make clear to those scholars: she wasn't the be all, end all, source of knowledge they might be expecting.

As she walked it occurred to her that the sum of her knowledge were all things that that Minister Lee was likely going to screech about; she chuckled a bit and Selene turned to look at her.

"Hmm?"

"Nothing to worry about."

 Don't think about it.

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

Albert and Gust showed up early as promised; when Eli came out of her room she skirted around the border of the front sitting room where they were conversing with Selene around a table strewn with papers and books, and various rolled up blueprints.  The two men eyed her warily as she moved around the room but then she was out the door into the chilly morning where the sun was just beginning to rise.

She'd not slept all that well... Not that she'd been sleeping well since she'd recovered, to be honest -- the bed wasn't hers, the room wasn't hers, every little noise was unfamiliar and the general smell of the room wasn't something she considered to be...hers.  It was a strange thing to try and describe, even to herself, but there tended to be scents that you both did and didn't notice in your own home.  Smells that undoubtedly marked the place as safe, familiar, and above all something belonging to you.  Her current room smelled of wood varnish, with an underlying hint of dust, and the bed, pillow, and sheets smelled new still.

Eli rubbed her hands across her face; just more small details on the massive pile of details that she didn't want to, but really NEEDED to, think about and reconcile with.  And the longer she kept putting it off the bigger that pile of details was going to get, and that meant more...EVERYTHING could come crashing down on her at any moment.  Would she rather be buried by a mountain or a mole hill?  The choice seemed obvious but it wasn't a choice she liked being forced in to.

Well...whatever.  

It was probably too early for anyone else to be out and about in town; she'd gotten her first pay check, as it were, from Gale yesterday morning -- they'd agreed on a bi-monthly payment cycle for her Research Center salary and he'd fronted her her first two weeks of pay so she'd have at least something to her name.  How did shops work around here?   When she'd gone to Paulie's store with Selene they'd made their order and Paulie had delivered it but at the time no money had exchanged hands (aside from Selene's meager bet earnings), and she was pretty sure she didn't remember Selene paying him when he dropped the furniture off either.  Did Portia have a bank?  No one had mentioned one yet.

It seemed like she should carry money on her until she was sure how the economy worked, but then how much SHOULD she have?  She didn't even have a price context to come up with what was considered pocket change... And, come to think of it, she had yet to even closely study the gols she'd been given -- were there denominations to reckon with too?

Ugh.  What she wouldn't give to have her bank chip.  And her bank. The pile of details grew a bit larger.

What to do with her morning... She wasn't all that hungry, and didn't have anywhere to be until the scholars came looking for her, or at least until Merlin and Petra were at the center or the shops opened.  Maybe a quick walk?  There was a path along Portia that would circle her all the way around the town and back to the gates, and would probably (assuming she kept to a leisurely pace) kill enough time to get her through these early hours.

Right as she crossed underneath the stone archway of Portia's gates she heard someone calling her name; coming up the hill on her right was Sam and Paulie, and the woman was waving at her.  Eli returned the wave and headed that way, meeting up with them just outside of a little flower shop.

"Want to come for a run with us?" Sam asked.

Eli considered that for a moment; she felt pretty strong, all things considered.  Far stronger than she'd been in recent weeks, and she hadn't needed the cane at all in over a month.  "Guess I could -- I need to see where my limits are currently sitting."

Sam gave her a half-grin accompanied with a nod.  "We'll help get you back into shape, no problem.  C'mon - we meet up at the gates and run down to the harbor and back."

That wasn't all that far...Eli was fairly certain she could handle that.  The three of them headed up to the gates and stood around, chatting idly, while they waited for Arlo (and possibly Mali - apparently Arlo had invited her along too but no one knew what the answer would be until she either did or didn't show up).

"I know Gale told you not to but I do wish you'd told me about where you came from," Paulie said suddenly.  "I would've been happy to provide you some things without charging for it."

Eli blew out a sigh.  "I'm not all that comfortable with so much charity, if I'm honest.  Dr. Xu, Phyllis, Selene...everyone's been spending money on me and giving me things -- and don't get me wrong, I'm very appreciative.  It's very touching, and it makes...all of this-" she gestured around herself in a wide sweep, "-a lot more tolerable.  Knowing I'm not just thrown out into the world on my own is very comforting.  But then I've not really been a person who needs help all that often and needing it now is sort of a..."

She paused, and Sam tilted her head as she looked at her.  "-issue of pride?" the woman offered.

Eli shook her head.  "Not exactly.  More like...embarrassing."

Sam shrugged.  "Nothing to be embarrassed about - everyone needs help at some point."

Eli caught movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Arlo walking down the hill toward them; when he met up with them they all moved together as a group down the road at a moderately quick jog.  The cold air was rough on her lungs but the pace was tolerable, and no one talked much as they went.  On the way back from the harbor Arlo urged them into a faster pace in quick spurts; she had a feeling he was going easy on them because she was here. On the one hand she found that amusing but on the other she probably shouldn't push herself too far too quickly.  She was missing muscle mass and while she was fine at the moment she could definitely tell the centuries had done a number on her conditioning and fitness.

When they got back to Portia they came to a meandering stop at the fountains; Sam and Arlo did a few stretches but Paulie headed off immediately down the street toward his shop.  

"All right.  I've got to go relieve Remington," Arlo grunted as he stretched arms above his head a final time (Eli heard a few loud, deep pops - likely his shoulders).  "Sam, please let me know when the Flying Pigs arrive.  I didn't hear Mali show up at all yesterday."

"Probably because she didn't bring the plane," Sam replied.  "They came by bus.   Mali said Asher would be piloting the plane in with their supplies and the rest of them."

"Aha.  Well, good to know I didn't just sleep through it or something."

Eli looked to Sam curiously; a plane?  Planes still existed?  Or had they been rebuilt?  ...wait, no - what was considered a "plane" in this time period?  "A plane?"

Sam nodded, turning her attention to Eli.   "Yeah, Mali's got one of the few functional planes left over from the Old World.  We've had some other flying contraptions built since then but not a lot of them are as complex as her RS-001."

"A... You're kidding."  Eli started laughing - she couldn't help it.  An RS-001 had been a relic even in her time.  "I can't believe one of those survived."

Sam let out a short huff of a laugh.  "Do you know how to fly one then?"

"Good grief, no - those things were old tech, even for us.  I think that was a prop plane?  We didn't use propellers on our craft unless it was water-based, and with those the propellers were underwater for propulsion.  All our flying craft used high-powered turbines or -- ...um."  How the heck did she explain the anti-grav hover units?  "Have you run into any AIs that could hover?"

"A couple, yeah."

"Ok, imagine that but big enough to budge something up to a hundred times bigger than an RS-001."

"That's huge."

Eli nodded.  "They could get pretty big."  She glanced around; Portia seemed to be waking up and there wasn't any sign of the scholars just yet.  "I think...I'm going to go visit a shop or two, get an idea for how much things cost and how much pocket money I ought to be carrying around.  All I know right now is about how much food costs and food isn't something I can wear."

The three of them split up; Eli headed down the street to the clothing store she had spotted next to Paulie's store.  She could sense eyes on her as she walked and saw more than a few faces peering at her from the windows as she went.  She arrived at the shop right as a woman opened the door and flipped a sign over to read Open; above the door to the clothing shop was a large sign that read Total Tools.  Clothing and tools inside the same storefront...odd.

The woman gave her a hesitant look that turned into a nervous smile. "Oh, uh.  Hello there."

"Good morning."  Eli paused where she stood a moment.  "-uh.  All right.   I'll be honest - I'm in need of clothing but I have no idea how your economy works or what anything costs.  I've earned some money but don't have it on me since I didn't know how much I'd need and a lot of coins can get pretty heavy.  My hope is you won't mind me looking around to see if there's still things in my size available, and then I can run back to my room and grab whatever I need to pay for it."

The woman listened to this quietly and didn't respond immediately; in the awkward pause after she went quiet Eli could see the woman was growing a little less tense and seemed to be sizing her up -- not out of hostility, but more...gauging her actual size.  "Well...that seems reasonable.  And I'm sure I still have some things that ought to fit.  If not we'll see about altering them."

Eli nodded and walked up, extending her hand to her.  "Thanks.  Eli.  Well - Elizabeth Summers, but I prefer Eli."

The woman shook the offered hand after a breath or two.  "I'm Carol.  Please, come in and have a look around."

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

This time Arlo both heard and saw the RS-001 fly by overhead.  A few hours later and he could pick out Mali's figure on the horizon, and with her were four more people; all five of them were carrying heavy packs.  They came up to the little guardhouse and sat everything down -- looked like they had lugged out at least one heavy duty tent and other various camping tools and accessories.

Mali gestured for the four Flying Pigs members to start unpacking.  "-set up over there, to the right.   Looks flat enough and the guardhouse ought to block some of the wind."   She looked to Arlo then.  "Are the trees up here owned by anyone?"

He shook his head.  "No.  Nothing in the marsh is on any one person's property - it's just Portia's, in general."

"Good.  We'll be careful in how we collect firewood so we don't harm the area."

"The tree farm can help provide wood I'm sure."

"Gale's looking in to it to give us an idea of what can be provided."  Mali looked over to the elevator car then.  "That's the only way in?"

"That we've found.  There's an area that's caved in down there so it might be possible a second entry point was buried a long time ago, but it's also just as likely that we haven't opened the right door yet to find another entrance.  The place is enormous and we've been trying to quickly search the rooms for any remains," Arlo answered.  "It's also a bit of a mess down there in terms of power hook up since what we have isn't nearly enough to power a facility this big."

Mali nodded again, rubbing a hand against her chin and looking thoughtful.  "Do we have any more updates on that tool needed to get the power back on?"

"Selene said she had molds ready but then the scholars came and now she has to scramble to help get a home renovated for their use."

"Not ideal but I guess we'll have to wait on that then.  Unless the Research Center could take over that particular aspect?"

"Merlin and Petra don't have any sort of production or manufacturing machines," Arlo answered, shaking his head.  "If it's not something they could do with their own hand-held tools then they have to ask a builder for assistance."

"Selene's not the only builder around though.  Is there anyone else who could step in?"

"Not with Selene's level of automation and production, but even then ever since Selene showed up people have been relying on her more than Higgins since she's -- well.  Not Higgins," he said, emphasizing the last two words.  

Mali chuckled.  "Always knew his attitude would come back to bite him.  At least it gives us time to get set up out here."

At that she glanced over to where the other four were unpacking one large tent; it was especially thick canvas, wide and long but not all that tall, and the bottom edge of the canvas seemed to be doubly reinforced with more fabric.  Arlo watched them a moment before turning his attention back to her.   "-are you in need of anything aside from food supplies?"

"Don't suppose you know a source of readily available stone?"

"Sort of.  How much are you needing?"

Mali gestured for him to follow her as she headed over toward the set up area.  "Enough to line the bottom.  Saves on tent pegs needed and reduces drafts coming in under the bottom flaps."

Arlo eyed the tent, mentally gauging its size.  "Got it.  The places I know we can quarry freely that would already have some spare stone lying around are pretty far away.  There's some cliffs around here but you'd have to break the stone loose yourself.  Regardless of where you go though it's all far enough away you're going to need a wheelbarrow or wagon to haul it here."

"We'll ask around for one."

With a nod Arlo stepped in to help with the tent set up; along with being wide and long it also had a separate small section that covered a hole in the top of the canvas, like a tiny roof, but it left a three-inch gap all the way around the "roof" base.  It was obviously meant for ventilation so you could have a campfire inside the tent itself - smoke would rise and go out that gap with ease; that would definitely make staying out here easier, if not downright cozy.  When they had the tent up they left Asher (a tall, muscled blond man with a scar across the bridge of his nose -- a deep one too: if you looked at him in profile you could actually see a divot) to look after the campsite and the facility entrance as Arlo led the rest of them back into town to borrow a wagon from Sophie.  The rest of his afternoon was spent collecting stone and hauling it back to the campsite to line the bottom of the tent; Sam eventually came out to take her shift at the guardhouse, leaving Arlo free to head back into town.

Nothing seemed amiss in Portia as he walked back through the gates; inside Django's he found the round table in the middle taken up by the scholars and a tired looking Eli.  For a brief moment their gazes met and he thought about joining them but she seemed to have it well in hand even though it seemed like the scholars were hardly giving her a chance to answer before bombarding her with another question.  He offered her a quick wave and headed over to a stool at the bar, plopping down and trying to quickly make up his mind on what he wanted; his go-to dish was usually a plate of hot spaghetti but he'd been eating it a lot lately -- staying out at the guardhouse so much usually left him too tired to cook anything when he got back to town.  In order to stay fit he should get back to the more varied diet he had before.

"Hello Arlo.  The usual?" Django greeted him as he came around and behind the counter to take his order.

"Not today.  How about an order of mapo tofu and a bowl of spicy fish soup?"

"Not a problem."  As Django headed off to cook Arlo leaned his elbows on the counter and put his chin in his hands, and closed his eyes to listen to the chatter behind him.

Seemed the scholars were rapid-fire questioning Eli about the Old World nations and what had set off the Calamity, and Eli was sounding increasingly frustrated each time she answered something with 'I don't know, I was probably in the tube by then.'  It didn't seem like it was sinking in with them that Eli hadn't been...awake?  Hadn't been aware might be a better way to put it, but however you wanted to word it they didn't seem to grasp the fact that Eli hadn't actually been fully present when the Calamity hit.  She'd been living a normal life, gotten bombed while sitting at a watch post, and then had awakened to a new world, and now she had to deal with giving detailed explanations for one question only to bounce back to 'I don't know' with the next one.

He was debating coming up with a reason to 'rescue' her again (come sit and discuss the facility? ...no, that wouldn't work, the scholars would probably want to butt into that conversation) when Sonia and Django both showed up with his food, and Sonia also sat a tall glass of rainbow lemonade in front of him too.

"Thanks."

As he picked up his fork Sonia leaned over the counter toward him, glancing between him and the group at the table behind him.   "So...what's she like?" she whispered.  "Is she as dangerous as Lee wants us all to think?

He huffed out a quick sigh.  "No, she's not. Whatever he may have said about her isn't true."

Sonia blew a strand of hair out of her face and straightened her headband.   "She's been the talk of the town all day and Lee is out there trying to convince everyone she's going to, like, run off to somewhere and build something dangerous and come back to claim Portia for herself, or make weapons and give them out to anyone who asks."

This time his sigh was a drawn out and frustrated one.  "Really?"  Sonia nodded.  "Great.   I'll have to let Gale know.  We can't have anyone spreading misinformation about someone else, no matter who's doing the talking about whom.  Lee hasn't even talked to Eli directly yet, I bet."

"And I doubt he will," Django said.  "He's a stubborn one, but a man of conviction.  Really stands behind and clings to what he believes is right."

"Yeah, well, if what he believes is right isn't ACTUALLY right then he needs to stop talking," Sonia grumbled.  She came around and hopped up on an empty stool, propping an elbow on the counter and twirling a strand of hair around a finger.  "He thought Ack was going to be super dangerous too but all he wants to do is cook."

"Lee's right in that some Old World things are highly dangerous.  But to think EVERYTHING from the Old World is dangerous isn't a sustainable belief." With that Arlo jabbed his fork into a chunk of tofu and brought it up to his mouth, blowing on it as it steamed just below his nose - that familiar burn of spicy sauce lit up his nostrils and after a few breaths he took a bite and gingerly chewed the still-slightly-too-warm tofu.

Sonia got called away to refill drinks at the center table; Django seemed content to be quiet and survey the room, letting Arlo eat in peace and it didn't take long to more or less inhale the food and wash it down with the lemonade.

"No sign of any trouble down there, right?"

Arlo shook his head at Django.  "The only thing we've found down there that's able to move around is Eli."

"Huh.  Interesting."

"It's odd, to be sure."

He got a second glass of lemonade that he drank much more slowly; as the spicy burn in his mouth faded he could actually taste it now, and the chatter behind him seemed to be fading too.  All at once there was a chorus of scraping chair legs and as he glanced over his shoulder he caught sight of the scholars heading off together in a group, chattering excitedly to one another and laden with scribbled notes and several books each.  He turned on his stool to see Eli tipping back her glass and draining it, then holding up a hand to Sonia as the woman approached.

"I'm done, but thank you.  What's my portion of the cost?"

Arlo watched as Sonia surveyed the table to double check what was Eli's.  "-looks like just 70 gols."

And now he watched as Eli looked everything over. "-that's the cost and you're not tossing something in for free?" Sonia gave Django a very quick look at that and Eli raised an eyebrow.  "What're you trying to slip in for free?"

"Just the drink.  Don't worry about it - it's just 15 more gols, no big loss.  Consider it my welcome gift to Portia," Sonia said with a grin.

"All right.  Well, thank you.  I hope to stick around and not cause trouble. Or at least not any more trouble than I already have."

Sonia rolled her eyes.  "Oh, don't worry about Lee - he'll come around.  He didn't like Ack either at first."

"I'm told this Ack is a cook.  I'm not."

"I didn't think we'd get lucky enough to get two Old World cooks back to back," Sonia giggled.  She perched on the edge of a chair next to Eli.   "I know you just got bugged by all those bookworms but can I ask some questions?"

"What's a couple more after a hundred?" Eli replied, shaking her head.  She seemed more amused than anything.  "Go ahead."

"You don't have to if-"

"It's fine," she interrupted.  "I doubt you could be worse than that lot - here's a helpful life tip: if someone says they don't possess knowledge of something, rewording your question six different ways won't make that knowledge appear from thin air."

"Ugh.  I can only imagine, and I only heard like a third of the conversation anyway," Sonia said, huffing a bit.  "I had to ask at least that many times just to get their orders."

"Tunnel vision.  Anyway, go on."

Sonia clasped her hands together in her lap and leaned a bit toward Eli.  "This is going to sound silly but what was the fashion like back then?"

Arlo had to quickly turn around to keep from laughing at the absolutely bewildered look on Eli's face.

"Ah..well...uh, so.  Dubei had a couple million people in it.  Fashion was kind of..."

Eli trailed off; Arlo wondered if she was wishing the scholars would come back.

[clonerightsenthusiast]

Catch a Tiger

[Campaign Skyjacks, Gable/Travis, 7.9k words, rated M for (pretty canon-typical) violence]

Gable woke to insistent but polite knocking on the captain's door and an unfortunately clear memory of the night before. Without allowing themselves to dwell on it beyond an emphatic ugh, Travis, they rolled out of bed, tossing the blanket approximately back into place and running a hand through their ruffled hair. They wanted to at least maintain the illusion of not sleeping in the captain's quarters. They didn't need the questions it would raise, but leaving the captain unsupervised for so long made Gable… uneasy.

They passed Orimar standing at the map table where they'd left him last night on the way to the door, unrolling the map on the way for a convenient alibi. As the knocking started to increase in volume, Gable finally hauled the door open and looked down to see Nodoze quickly composing himself.

If he was surprised to see them, he didn't show it, and Gable relaxed slightly. Nodoze was trustworthy, and he wasn't a gossip. If he had any thoughts about Gable being in the captain's quarters at the break of dawn, he would keep them to himself.

"Morning, Gable," he said with a respectful nod.

"Morning," Gable returned, leaning against the doorframe. "Is something wrong?"

"Is Travis there with you?" he asked, eyes darting around as he tried to see into the room around Gable's considerable bulk.

Gable grimaced. Travis. "No," they ground out. "He's not. What's he done now?"

[read on ao3]

Nodoze's oddly piercing gaze returned full force to Gable's face, but if he was curious about the venom in their voice, he didn't express it. Gable mentally awarded him a few more points on their favorite crew member tally. "Nothing," he said. "Which is the problem. No one's seen him all morning. Spit wants to find him to… make sure he's been performing his quartermaster duties before we take flight."

Gable dragged a hand down their face, groaning. The sun was up, so Travis should be easily found, especially by a Spit on the warpath. Except--

"Oh, now where are you going?"

"Back to the ship, away from you. No, you sit back down. Don't follow me."

Gable reluctantly dropped their hand with a sigh. "It's possible that he didn't return to the ship last night," they said, trying to stem the wave of irritation rising within them. Trust Travis to make their life difficult even with his absence.

They shook themselves, shifting into mission mode as they focused back on Nodoze. "He's probably drunk in a gutter somewhere and we'll have to go find him. Go get Wendell and start asking around. I'll head back to the tavern and see if anyone saw where he went." They hesitated, imagining Orimar's lifeless stare between their shoulder blades, and added, "Oh, and send Jonnit up here before you go, would you?"

Nodoze tapped his forehead in a simple salute and uttered a simple, "Yessir, Gable," before slipping off.

Gable sighed in momentary relief, slipping back inside the captain's quarters and looking at Orimar.

"Why does he have to make everything so difficult?" they demanded, running a hand through their hair in frustration.

The captain winked.

--

With Jonnit assigned to captain-sitting duty ("Just make sure he stays there and… I dunno, study your maps or something okay love you bye--"), Gable retraced last night's steps to return to the tavern where they'd been drinking with Travis. It was a small place, lightly trafficked with an uninterested bartender. Or at least, she'd seemed uninterested; Gable was hoping she'd actually been paying enough attention to give them something to go off of, here.

The place was even less crowded in the light of morning, just a couple quiet loners picking at a simple breakfast. The same woman was behind the bar, playing some kind of card game. She didn't look up as Gable approached.

Gable loudly cleared their throat, finally getting her attention. "Good morning," they said pleasantly.

The bartender grunted and nodded curtly, leaning her arms on the bar. "'Lo," she said. "You need something?"

Gable kept a bland, polite smile plastered on their face as they said, "Yes, my... friend and I were here last night - maybe you remember us?"

The bartender gave Gable an exaggerated once-over and raised one sardonic eyebrow. "Yeah, I think I might," she drawled.

"Ha, yes, I'm very tall, I know, hard to forget," Gable said, the edges of their smile growing strained. "Anyways, I seem to have misplaced him. I don't suppose you saw where he went, or maybe he said something…?"

The woman snorted and pushed off the bar, nodding towards the back corner where they'd been drinking. "Sure, I saw him," she said. "He left with the witchhunters."

Gable stiffened, a cold weight forming in the pit of their stomach. "Sorry," they said, that strained smile still plastered on their face. "Did you say witchhunters?"

The bartender waved her hand dismissively. "Sure. They made quite a deal about it when they came in, the damn braggarts. Your friend started drinking with them after you left. They stumbled out together just before sunset."

Gable let out a long, slow breath, their hands clenching into fists behind their back. "Do you know where they went?" they asked, forcing their tone to remain even.

The bartender shrugged. "Don't keep track of people after they leave the bar," she said. "Sorry."

"Right. Of course." Gable forcibly relaxed their hands and smiled a little wider. "Thanks for your help."

"Mmhmm," the bartender said, already going back to her card game.

After a moment it became clear that they weren't going to get anything more out of her, and Gable turned to leave the bar. Their mind whirred with the mental calculus of Travis - drunk, upset Travis - a pair of witchhunters, and his sudden disappearance. Two plus two equaled nothing good.

As they strode towards the door, they caught sight of the table the two of them had been drinking at the day before. They paused, just a moment, as the memory of their argument rose once again, unbidden, to the forefront of their mind.

Travis squinted as he leaned into their space, wordlessly demanding attention. Gable leaned back in their chair away from him, wrinkling their nose. He was already drunk. Between the early hour and his negligible tolerance, drinking with him was frankly embarrassing.

"She dumped you, huh," he said, in what he probably thought was a sympathetic tone.

Gable's grip on their cup tightened. "Not exactly," they said tersely. "I don't wanna talk about it." Especially not with you, they added silently. They figured their glare got that point across.

Travis, naturally, either didn't get it or was willfully ignoring them. It was impossible to tell which. "You really should've seen this coming," he said, waving a hand. "It was inev--" he hiccuped. "Inevitable."

"Shut up, Travis," Gable snapped. "I said I don't wanna talk about it."

Travis shook his head, clearly not listening. "You'd think you'd have learned by now. You can't trust them."

"Them?" Gable asked, despite themselves.

"Mortals."

Gable swallowed down their anger with their bile and shouldered their way out of the tavern door. They were still angry at Travis; of course they were still angry at Travis. They were always at least a little bit angry at Travis. But a cold pit of worry had lodged itself deep in their gut, and besides--

They needed him back safe and sound if they wanted to kill him themself.

--

Wendell and Nodoze were already back on the ship by the time Gable got there. Jonnit, bless him, had corralled them into Dref's former office instead of the captain's quarters. Gable gave his shoulder a grateful squeeze as they crammed themself into the crowded space.

"What did you find?" they asked without preamble, crossing their arms over their broad chest.

Wendell cleared his throat. "Well, we poked around," he said, "and most people just told us to fuck off."

Gable dug their fingernails into their arm where the others couldn't see. "These things happen," they forced out, already thinking of how else they could start tracking down the witchhunters. "So then, we--"

"Well hold on, I wasn't finished," Wendell interjected. "Most people told us to fuck off--"

"To get to the point," Nodoze cut in, "we did find someone who had seen Travis."

Gable's arms went slack and their head whipped around to stare at Nodoze. "Where?" they demanded.

"That's the thing," Wendell said. "It was just on a street. Some shopkeeper said she saw Travis and two other people walking down the road just 'fore sunset, drunk as anything."

"There was only one inn in that part of town, and the innkeep said two people matching their description were staying there, but apparently they hadn't come back last night, and they hadn't seen Travis, either," Nodoze relayed gravely. "It would seem they've either left town, or are, as you suggested earlier… drunk in a gutter somewhere." He exchanged a glance with Wendell. "We could," he said slowly, "enlist more men to search, comb the town--"

"No," Gable cut him off, lowering their arms. "No, that won't be necessary. I know how to find him." They dropped one large hand on Jonnit's narrow shoulder, pulling him in towards them. "Jonnit and I will go get Travis. You make sure the ship is ready to go when we get back."

"Uh, yeah!" Jonnit piped up, game as ever. "Gable and I can find him, no problem. Don't worry about a thing!"

Nodoze looked silently at Gable. Gable made an attempt at a smile, then abandoned the effort and just gave what they hoped was a confident nod.

Nodoze tapped his forehead in an abbreviated salute. "Aye-aye, Gable. Off we go, then, Wendell."

Gable watched him herd Wendell out of the room, and mentally awarded him a few more favorite crewman points.

They're snapped back to reality by an anxious, "Gable?" as they remembered Jonnit was still in the room.

"Right. Yes," they said, focusing back on the task at hand. "Come with me."

They flung open the door and strode purposefully through the narrow corridors belowdecks, Jonnit scurrying after them. They paused by their hammock just long enough to grab their greatsword and mask and kept going.

"Gable!" Jonnit cried, ducking around crew members and struggling to keep up with Gable's ground-eating stride. "Where are we going?"

Gable slid down the ladder and ducked into the hold with the griffin cages. After a moment, Jonnit clambered down after them, still silently pleading for an explanation with wide eyes.

Down in the griffin hold, the bustle of the crew preparing the ship seemed far away. The loudest sound was the rustling of feathers and the scratch of claws on wood. Gable went down on one knee in front of Jonnit and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Jonnit," they said gravely, keeping their voice down, "Travis is in danger. I need you to help me find him."

Jonnit's eyes went even wider. "Wha--How? What kind of danger?"

Gable took a deep breath, struggling to find an explanation to get across the urgency of the situation without scaring the boy too badly. "He's with some… people," they said haltingly, "who either want to hurt him, or bring him to… a very bad place." The winter prison was so long ago, now, Gable didn't even know if it or places like it were still operational; it was up in the air whether the witchhunters were bound for a prison or if some rich collector wanted a changeling skull for their wall.

Jonnit looked searchingly into Gable's face; he was a smart boy, he could probably tell there was more they weren't telling him. But after a moment he squared his shoulders and nodded firmly. "Okay," he said. "How can I help?"

Pride and fondness swelled in Gable's chest and a smile broke over their face unbidden. They jostled Jonnit's shoulder affectionately, then flicked his forehead, right beneath the bandana. "How about with this? Can you… see… him?"

Jonnit's brow furrowed in thought and he rubbed at his eye under the bandana. "I… I dunno," he said, a little sheepishly. "I've never tried a spell like that before. But I can try!"

"Good," Gable breathed out. "That's good. You, um… you do your… thing, and I'll get a bird ready to go. Do you… need anything?"

"Um, just some quiet, I guess?" Jonnit said, taking deep breaths and visibly bracing himself.

"Right. You got it." Gable squeezed his shoulder one last time, then strode over to the birdcages. They gave Metatron a long look, then turned and walked briskly over to Flee. The albatross was the fastest; speed was most important here. Gable could handle the fighting when they found Travis.

Flee shifted restlessly as Gable hauled the saddle onto his back and slid the bridle over his head. He could clearly tell something was up, probably picking up on Gable's nerves. Gable took a brief moment, when he was fully tacked up, to slide their hands into his feathers and rest their head against Flee's long bill. Deep breath in. Exhale.

Okay.

When they turned back around, Jonnit was sitting cross-legged with his hands resting facing upwards on his knees; one held his bandana, and the other was bleeding from the palm. His two normal eyes were closed. The third was staring off somewhere into the distance. As they watched, he came back to himself with a sharp inhale and all three eyes flicked up to look at Gable.

It was unnerving, seeing him without the headband, but Gable had seen weirder and only raised an eyebrow.

"I think I know which way to go," Jonnit said with a proud but weary smile. "I can direct us."

"Good boy," Gable said, heart clenching. "And--your hand?"

Jonnit looked down at his bleeding palm in surprise, like he'd already forgotten the wound. He closed his fist around it and gave Gable a bright, reassuring smile. "It's fine. This is important."

What had they done, in two hundred years of wretched existence on this planet, and who knows how many more above it - what could they possibly have done to deserve this boy? But Gable wasn't very good with feelings, or expressing them, so they just nodded and swung into the saddle.

"Let's go."

--

Jonnit's spell wasn't so much a map as a compass. He could tell Travis's general direction, but there was a lot of forest that way out of town, and it would take some searching to pinpoint their location. Still, it was a better lead than "not in town," and Gable was grateful for every bit of help they could get. Flee was fast and they had keen eyes. The witchhunters couldn't hide forever.

"Gable?" Jonnit asked after a few long minutes of silence. He was tucked up in front of Gable in the saddle, sheltered from most of the wind by their bulk and their coat.

Gable hummed in response, focused on directing Flee.

"Who are these people that have Travis?" he asked hesitantly, darting a glance back over his shoulder.

Gable looked down at him briefly, all wide-eyed nerves and earnest curiosity, and sighed. "Witchhunters," they said after a long pause, hands tightening around the reins. "People who hunt down people like me and Travis. And like you," they added, nudging him gently with one knee.

"What'll they do to him?" Jonnit asked in a tremulous voice.

"I don't know for sure," Gable said slowly. "There used to be these… prisons, where they kept people like us, to make us work until our executions. Travis and I were in one together, once. We escaped."

It was a paltry summation of the weeks of biting cold and labor broken only by the thorn in their side that was Travis's nightly visits and persistent questioning. But the memory of Travis, complaining even while Gable killed the guards to free them both with their bare hands, made something twist in their chest, and they didn't want to dwell on it.

"What?!" Jonnit demanded, twisting to look up at them with wide, alarmed eyes. "When?"

"A long time ago," Gable said. "A very long time ago. I don't know if those places even exist anymore. They might not be bringing Travis there; they could be working for… a person, or some group, or maybe just themselves. We don't know. But whatever they're planning--"

"We'll stop 'em," Jonnit finished for them, flashing a wide grin. Gable smiled back at him, warmed despite themself at his confidence.

"Of course we will," they said, gently nudging him to twist back around the right way.

They flew on in silence for a little while longer, dark-needled trees flashing by underneath Flee's massive wings like a terrestrial ocean. The sun was starting to creep down towards the horizon. Anybody traveling on foot would likely be stopping to break camp for the night soon. Hopefully that included a pair of witchhunters with a wayward changeling in tow.

"Hey, Gable?" Jonnit's voice shook Gable out of their thoughts and they hummed in acknowledgement. "You said you and Travis were in prison together a long time ago. Just how long have you known each other, anyway?"

Gable swallowed their immediate response of always. It sounded too maudlin even in their head, and wasn't true, besides, even if it felt like it sometimes. Gable had existed for an eternity before they met Travis. Never mind that they weren't really Gable until they washed up on that beach.

Instead they drawled, "Too long," and smiled at the sound of Jonnit's laughter before the wind snatched it away.

"What do you mean, mortals?"

Travis gave them a scornful look, like he couldn't believe they were that stupid. Gable resisted the urge to upend his chair with their foot, but only because they wanted him to explain himself first.

"You know, mortals," he said, gesturing unhelpfully with his mug. "People who can die."

"You can die," Gable said. "Want me to show you?"

"Oh, you know what I mean," Travis snapped. "People that aren't like us. You can't trust them."

"And why not?" Gable demanded.

"They'll always leave you," he said, head bobbing with drunken sagacity. "One way or another. It's your own fault for loving her. Them." Travis hiccuped again. "You really should know better by now."

Gable scoffed, looking away. Their grip tightened around their mug. Travis was hitting too close to home, but they'd be damned (ha) if they let him win. "So, what," they said scathingly, turning their glare back on him. "I'm stuck with just you for all of eternity, then?"

"Is that really so bad?"

There was something too close to real vulnerability under his usual haughty tone, the kind that only came out when he was very drunk or very close to death. But Gable was angry, and didn't actually care about Travis's feelings just then. If he was so set on them being alone forever, he could very well drink alone tonight.

They stood up abruptly, nearly knocking their chair over. With as much venom as they could muster, they snarled, "Yes."

--

Jonnit's spell was imprecise, so when he suddenly whipped around so fast Gable had to grab him to stop him from unbalancing and falling off the bird, they had to circle the area a few times before he spotted a wisp of smoke curling over the darkening trees with his keen lookout's eyes.

"What's the plan, Gable?" he asked, fidgeting in his seat. "Where should we land?"

Gable thrust the reins into his hands and he took them with a squawk, frantically gathering them up. They ignored him to unhook the mask from their belt and fasten it securely on their head.

"We don't," they said shortly, loosening the greatsword in its scabbard. "Take me over the top, and then stay up here."

"What?" Jonnit squawked again, twisting around in his seat. Flee jerked as he inadvertently yanked the reins with him, and Gable put a hand on his head and firmly turned him back around. He glanced back over his shoulder nervously, but obediently steered Flee around to pass directly over the campsite. "What if you need help?" he demanded.

With slow, deliberate movements, Gable rose to stand upright in the saddle. It was old muscle memory to shift their weight to keep balance; Flee's steady glide was no more turbulent than the deck of a skyship in a storm. They unsheathed their greatsword and held it lightly in front of them. They could feel themselves sinking into a battle trance, lulled by the wind and the blood rushing in their ears. Breathe in. Breathe out. Fire ignited along the pommel of the sword.

"I won't," they said, and jumped.

They landed hard on one knee, kicking up a cloud of dirt. They rose smoothly to their feet and were moving before they even had time to process their surroundings. The closest witchhunter had just enough time to curse loudly in a language Gable didn't know before the greatsword found home in his belly.

A sharp sting in their shoulder. Gable ripped their sword free and whirled around, coat flaring out behind them, to see the other witchhunter across the campsite, firing at them with a small crossbow mounted on her wrist. They blocked another bolt with the sword and stalked towards her with long, deliberate strides.

She was quick. Abandoning the crossbow, she drew a scimitar engraved with runes along the blade. She ducked under Gable's first lazy swing and with a flash of steel scored a shallow line above their collarbone.

Whatever she had done to her blade, the wound burned more than by rights it should. But the sensation was barely an afterthought to Gable as they brought their sword around to block her next strike.

With a shove, they sent her stumbling back several steps and took advantage of the distraction to bring down an overhead strike with tremendous force.

The witchhunter couldn't hope to parry, but she was fast enough to get her blade up in time to redirect the greatsword just enough to allow her to escape being cut in half. The greatsword thudded into the ground hard enough to stick, and the witchhunter leapt forward to make her move.

But Gable was fast, too. Letting go of the greatsword, they caught her sword arm inches before the runic blade met their neck. As the witchhunter's eyes widened in surprise and sudden fear, their other hand shot out and grabbed her by the throat.

The witchhunter bucked and fought and kicked with all her strength, but Gable was unmovable as a mountain. They held her gaze, impassive, as they slowly closed their grip, and watched as the light slowly faded from her eyes.

A groan made them turn around, discarding the witchhunter's body like so much flotsam. To their surprise, the other one was still alive. With one hand desperately trying to hold the wound in his middle closed, he struggled to draw his sword.

Gable crossed the camp in a few long strides and kicked his hand, sending the sword skidding across the dirt. The man looked up at them with fear and loathing in his eyes.

"What manner of devil are you?" he choked out, blood in his spittle.

Gable looked down, head cocked as they considered him. After a moment, they decided to show him.

They flexed their wings, the hundred stinging pains in their back and shoulders flaring to life. A hundred severed connections, and two blessed balms where they had been remade.

They didn't know how much mortals really perceived their wings, really, but the witchhunter clearly saw something that terrified him. He shrank back from Gable, skin going ashen pale and chest heaving. Gable advanced on him, lowering themselves gracefully to one knee and reaching out to grasp his jaw in both hands.

"You should have left him alone," they said. Their voice was low and flat and alien and barely audible between them. The witchhunter's wide, panicked eyes darted around wildly, looking for some weakness in the mask and finding none. "He's mine."

With a smooth, fast movement, they snapped his neck and rose once more to their feet.

"Gable? Are you quite done?"

The familiar voice snapped them out of their reverie. Travis sounded… normal? He called their name the same way he might while breezing into the captain's quarters with some outlandish question or demand. With a careless movement, Gable pushed their mask up into their hair as they at last turned to properly survey the camp.

The witchhunters had a wagon, against one wheel of which the man's body was now slumped. Across the small campfire, in the shadow of a tree, sitting sprawled on the ground with his hands behind him and looking more thoroughly disheveled than they had ever seen him, was Travis.

"Travis," Gable breathed the moment their eyes fell on him, and hurried over. They dropped onto one knee, one hand going automatically to his shoulder as they looked him over.

The first thing they noticed were the knives jutting out of his leg and shoulder. The second was the blood matted in the hair at his temple. The third was the naked relief and affection in his eyes, the likes of which only ever appeared when he was drunk or close to death.

Hesitant, suddenly cognizant of how big their hand was next to Travis's head, Gable reached out to touch his head wound. Travis hissed and flinched away, his usual haughty irritation falling like a curtain over his face.

"Careful, you giant buffoon," he snapped. "You have fingers the size of sausages."

"Oh, don't be difficult," Gable chided him, threading the fingers of their other hand into his hair to hold his head still while they inspected the wound. "This happened after last night. And these," they added, tapping the knife in his leg.

"Very observant of you," Travis deadpanned, hissing in pain as they prodded at him. Then he smirked, tilting his head into Gable's grip. "Got the head wound the first time I escaped. I think the stab wounds were just their way of saying they liked me."

That surprised a laugh out of Gable, which turned into a snort as they shook their head. "I can't imagine why," they said. They dropped their head down to knock their forehead heavily against Travis's, their fingers tightening in his hair. "You bastard."

"What can I say," Travis said, his voice going uncharacteristically soft. "I'm a likable guy."

Gable stayed there pressed against him for a long moment, eyes closed, listening to Travis breathe. But, Travis being Travis, the moment couldn't last.

"Not that I couldn't get out of these myself," he said leadingly. "But I'd hate to steal the thunder from this whole dramatic rescue you've got going on, so--"

"Liar," Gable said without heat, letting go of him and leaning back. They tugged on Travis's (uninjured) shoulder to look behind him, and saw his hands bound in ugly dark iron shackles engraved with similar runes to the witchhunter's sword and attached to an iron spike driven into the ground. Grimacing in sympathy, they released him and leaned back.

"The big one has the key," Travis said, jutting his chin towards the man. "I can wait."

"I'd like to see you do anything else," Gable shot back, pushing themself to their feet and wiping Travis's blood thoughtlessly on their coat.

"Oh, wouldn't you," Travis called after them as they walked back to the male witchhunter's body. Gable just rolled their eyes and smiled, secure in the knowledge that Travis couldn't see with their back to him.

Rifling through the man's pockets produced a small black key that successfully opened the shackles on Travis's wrists. He rubbed at the odd burn marks left behind before shoving both hands in his pockets when he caught Gable looking at them. Gable grabbed him by the elbow and hauled him into a standing position, and then caught him around the waist and leaned him against the tree when he almost collapsed again.

"Well, that was fun," Travis said, too loud. "Shall we go home?"

Gable hesitated, looking him up and down. "It's getting late," they said. "Maybe we should--oh, fuck."

"What?" Travis asked, perking up.

Gable ignored him and strode into the center of the campsite, where it was clearest, and started waving both arms up at the sky.

"What in the world are you doing?" Travis asked, bemused. He limped over to join them. "Is this an angel thing? Are you casting some sort of spell?"

"Stand back," Gable said, taking their own advice and pulling Travis with them by the collar of his jacket as Flee rocketed down into the campsite for a hard landing.

Jonnit was scrambling off his back before he'd even furled his wings, and flung himself at Travis.

"Travis!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms around him. Travis went stiff, lifting his arms to avoid contact. "You're okay!"

"Yes, hello, Jonnit," he said, awkwardly patting the boy on the shoulder. Gable shifted their weight back onto one leg and crossed their arms, smirking at the two of them.

"You know," they said, glee at seeing Travis forced to endure Jonnit's enthusiastic affections diffused through their voice, "it's thanks to Jonnit that we found you so quickly. His spell led us right to you."

"Is that so?" Travis asked lightly. "Well, aren't we lucky to have such a magical boy on our ship."

"You're welcome, Travis," Jonnit said cheerfully as he pulled away, totally ignoring the lack of any actual thanks. He frowned as he took in Travis's injured, disheveled state. "Travis, you look awful!"

"Yes, thank you, Jonnit, that's just what every man wants to hear," Travis said with typical over the top sarcasm. "It's not like I got kidnapped to a spa, you know."

Jonnit looked sheepish, but Gable jumped in before he could apologize. "He's right, though," they said. "And about that…'' They took a deep breath, already bracing themself for protests. "Jonnit, I think you should go back without us."

"What?" Jonnit yelped.

"What?" Travis demanded.

Gable held up both hands defensively. "Look, Travis obviously looks terrible. If we go back today, he'll have to fake the injuries and it'll be a whole thing. But Jonnit can go back now and tell Nodoze that we found Travis, and he's fine, and we're coming back with supplies. Travis and I spend a night in the woods, we get back tomorrow with none the wiser. And depending on if there's anything good in that thing," they jabbed a thumb over their shoulder at the witchhunter's wagon, "Spit might even forgive you for running away."

Travis rubbed his chin, clearly considering their words. The inconvenience of hiding his condition was mostly on him, after all; he had to weigh spending another night in the woods against covering himself in pretend bandages for a week. Finally he shrugged and slid down the tree back into a sitting position. "All right, I suppose I can survive another night away from my bed."

"Well… if you're sure, I guess…" Jonnit said, shifting his weight anxiously and looking back and forth between Gable and Travis.

Gable clapped a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We'll be fine," they said. "We'll see you tomorrow."

Jonnit let all his air out in one blustering exhale, his shoulders slumping forwards. Whether it was genuine concern for their safety or just disappointment at being excluded, Gable couldn't tell. They followed him back over to Flee and gave him a leg up back into the saddle, waiting with a watchful eye as he settled into the seat and gathered up the reins.

They laid a hand on his knee and shook it lightly. "You did a good job today," they said. "Without you… I don't know what I would've done."

Jonnit looked moderately cheered. "You really mean that?" he asked.

"Well, no," Gable said, and plowed on, ignoring his falling expression. "I know exactly what I would've done. I would've taken Flee and wasted time searching the woods in every direction while they got farther and farther away. But you led us right to them. You saved Travis today, Jonnit."

Jonnit looked heartened as he nodded, once slowly and then again with more confidence. "Yeah… yeah! I did, didn't I?"

"You sure did," Gable said, a smile pulling at the corner of their lips. "And now you'll have a whole day to tell everyone all about it, before Travis gets back and can spoil your fun."

That did it. Jonnit beamed down at them and Gable gave his knee one last pat and stepped clear of Flee's takeoff. "All right! See you tomorrow, Gable! Glad you're alive, Travis!"

"Yes, always a pleasure, Jonnit," Travis drawled from his spot beneath the tree.

"We'll see you tomorrow," Gable said.

With that, Jonnit snapped the reins and Flee launched himself into the air, circling the campsite once before making a beeline back in the direction of the Uhuru.

And then, as the shadows lengthened and the sun started to set, Travis and Gable were alone once more.

--

A snapped rope and retreating prints were all that Gable could find of whatever beast of burden the witchhunters had been using to pull their wagon, so with a newly-changed snake coiled snugly around their shoulders, Gable picked up the yoke themself and started walking.

The walk was shockingly, blissfully, silent. Travis took advantage of not having to do any of the work himself to doze off, and Gable wasn't about to question the gift of silence. They could feel the slight rise and fall of his body against the back of their neck and took comfort in it. It was much easier to take comfort in Travis's presence when he wasn't awake to ruin it.

For a while they were able to keep their mind blank, and just lose themself in the simple labor of pulling the cart and the regular rhythm of Travis's breathing. But the monotony, eventually, left them with nothing to do but think. The wound from the witchhunter's blade still stung. Considering its size, Gable really thought it ought to have stopped bothering them by now. They wondered if whatever enchantments made it so stubborn meant that for once it might actually leave a scar. A tangible reminder of a hostile world only they were safe from.

It was so easy to assume Travis would be a thorn in their side for the rest of eternity. He'd managed it for two hundred years already, after all. But every so often Gable was reminded that Travis, despite it all, could die. With a pang, they remembered cradling the bleeding white raven, whispering nonsense until their throat went hoarse so he would make it to sunrise. They reached up without thinking to touch the snake's head. Travis, despite his apparent faith in his own invulnerability, was terribly fragile. He would not die. But he could be killed. Gable could, after everything, lose him.

"And you make it so tempting," Gable muttered, rubbing a thumb over Travis's head. "You are the easiest man in the world to kill."

In the moment, it didn't seem so far-fetched an idea that he did it on purpose, just to make their life harder.

Gable startled as the snake suddenly moved, muscles contracting as Travis lifted himself up to face them.

"Were you saying something?" he asked drowsily.

"Just thinking aloud about how annoying you are," Gable replied, flicking him on the nose. He reared back indignantly.

"Thinking, that's a new one for you. You should be careful you don't hurt yourself," Travis drawled. He sounded much more awake now. Joy. Their peaceful walk was over.

"I liked you better when you were tied up."

"Ooh, kinky. Don't let Spit hear you say that."

"You-- Shut--!"

Travis's snake laugh was dry and sibilant, and still - as always - painfully smug. Something twisted in Gable's chest to hear it.

He trailed off into a suddenly charged silence, and Gable had a moment to dread whatever he was about to say before he finally asked, "Gable?"

They grunted in response.

"I'm… sorry," he said, awkwardly, like the words didn't quite fit in his mouth.

Gable stopped short. "Pardon?"

Travis hissed, and his displeasure instantly put Gable back on more solid footing. "You heard me," he snapped.

Gable silently started walking again, pondering. They didn't often ponder, but the moment seemed to warrant it. An apology from Travis was a rare phenomenon. A sincere one was nigh-unheard of in the two hundred odd years they'd known him.

They wondered, suddenly, how he must have felt when they left him at the table. If he turned over their argument in his head while he was staked to the ground like they had while chasing his trail. The thought affected them more than they wanted to let on.

So they said, "So you admit I'm right and you were wrong?"

Travis looked away, his nostrils flaring. "I didn't say that," he said. "I was right about mortals. But it upset you, so I'm sorry." He shot them a narrow-eyed glare. "And that's the last time I'll say it, so don't even try."

Gable laughed. They couldn't help it; even at his most sincere, he was never anything but pure Travis. Irritating, smug, bratty Travis. Constancy was an odd trait for a changeling, but it was comforting to Gable. Everything else might change around them - did change around them - but Travis would always be Travis. As much as they wished he could be a less obnoxious Travis, sometimes.

"What?" he snapped, drawing back. Gable reached up and ran a thumb lightly over his head before he could take their reaction for a rejection.

"Nothing," they said, still smiling. "That's more than I expected from you, is all."

"Well," Travis huffed, trying to look like he wasn't leaning into their hand. "I am feeling rather magnanimous, given you saved me the trouble of having to escape on my own."

Gable snorted. "Oh, is that what I did? I'm sorry I interrupted your big moment."

"Well, you wouldn't have known," Travis sniffed. "I was being far too subtle for your big idiot brain to understand. But rest assured, I had them right where I wanted them."

"Well, maybe next time I'll just leave you to your own devices, then," Gable said, a smirk tugging at their lips. "Tell Wendell and Nodoze to pack up the search, Travis can just survive on his own."

Travis looked away. "Well. I always have," he quipped. Gable could feel the sudden tension in his body where it was coiled around their shoulders and frowned. That wasn't what they wanted.

"Travis," they said.

He turned his head to look at them. It was a shame his changeling forms were a secret. His ability to make a sardonic expression with a snake's face really deserved to be appreciated by a wider audience.

"You know you won't have to," they said. It was their turn to be sincere. Their voice was low and soft, hanging in the intimate space between them. I'll always be there. I'll always come for you. Even in this quiet moment with nobody but the stars and the trees to hear them, the words were too much to say and Gable swallowed them down. They were pretty sure Travis would hear them anyways.

Travis's coils tightened and relaxed. He looked away. "I know," he said, not quite achieving flippancy. He looked back at them sideways. "Because I'm right."

Gable shook their head. Impossible. He was impossible. "No," they said. "That's not why."

They took his nose gently in one big hand and leaned forward to press a dry kiss to the flat, scaly skin between his eyes.

Travis pulled back and considered them with coal-black eyes. Gable watched him back impassively. They'd said their piece; it was his move. After a long moment, he curled himself back around their neck and settled with his head pressed into the hollow space under their jaw. "Well," he muttered, and Gable could feel the vibrations of his speech, "I knew that."

Gable grinned.

--

They arrived back at the Uhuru shortly after dawn. The call went up from the watch and before they'd even made it all the way to the ship, the gangplank was lowered and crew were descending to transfer the supplies from the witchhunter's cart onto the ship, led by Nodoze.

He broke off from the group to meet Gable and Travis. Gable reached out to clasp his arm, tension draining from their shoulders as the familiar sights and sounds of the crew at work surrounded them.

"Welcome home, Gable," Nodoze said. "Travis."

"It's good to be back," Gable replied, squeezing his forearm briefly before releasing. Travis hummed. "This is quite the welcoming party."

"Jonnit warned us you'd come bearing gifts," Nodoze said. "I thought it prudent to make sure we were ready to receive you." He turned his unblinking gaze on Travis. "And thankfully you've returned our quartermaster just in time to inventory it all."

"Oh, well I don't know how important counting all this stuff is really--" Travis began. Gable clamped a hand down on the nape of his neck and he abruptly shut up.

"I'll make sure he gets to it," they said.

Something flickered over Nodoze's stoic expression. Amusement, maybe? It was hard to read. Gable was a little distracted by the hole Travis was glaring in the side of their head.

"... Quite," Nodoze drawled. He stepped aside. "Well. You've had quite a trek, and I won't keep you any longer. I can handle getting everything aboard."

"I know you can," Gable said gratefully. It really wasn't fair to the rest of the crew, they thought, just how many points he'd earned in the favorite crewman race. The rest could never catch up. They clapped him on the shoulder as they strode past up the gangplank with Travis in tow, leaving Nodoze barking orders at the crew behind them.

They could feel Travis's eyes boring into them as they made their way across the deck, but ignored him in favor of returning the shouted greetings of the rest of the crew. Nevertheless, he followed them as they passed out of the intensifying daylight into the dim interior of the ship. It was quieter here, with most of the crew on deck preparing for their departure. Gable stopped by their bunk to carefully lay their greatsword and mask back amongst their belongings, then finally made their way to the captain's quarters.

Orimar was right where they'd left them, standing at the map table and staring intently at the map they'd unrolled the day before. Gable ignored him and instead turned to finally face Travis, crossing their arms across their broad chest. "All right," they said. "Out with it."

Travis closed the door behind them and took his time turning around. "I don't know what you mean," he said evasively, adjusting the cuffs of his jacket.

"Bullshit," Gable said bluntly. "You're never this quiet."

"Oh, now you don't want me to be quiet? Make up your mind, Gable. These mixed messages are really--"

"Travis."

Travis narrowed his eyes. Gable stared back impassively. After several long seconds he sighed and looked away, waving a hand in surrender.

"I don't get you," he said plaintively. Frustration etched itself into the creases of his forehead and mouth. "All of these people are going to die. How can you care so much about them? How can you let yourself?"

Gable sighed and walked over to the cabinet where Orimar stored his alcohol. If they were going to have this conversation, they might as well drink for it. They pulled out a bottle, uncorked it, sniffed it, then took a swig. They turned back to Travis and held it out in offering.

Travis looked annoyed at not being answered, but he snatched the bottle and took a long swallow.

"I do it the same way they do, I suppose," Gable finally responded. "Humans live their whole lives knowing everyone they know will eventually die."

"It's not the same," Travis snapped back.

"No," Gable conceded. "But there is one thing that's the same."

"Oh, please enlighten me," Travis said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"We don't have a choice," Gable said.

Travis rolled his eyes. "And here I thought you actually had a reason," he said. "'We don't have a choice.'" He laughed, sharp and mean. "What kind of answer is that? Of course we have a choice. And I, for one, choose not to set myself up for failure."

"No, you don't." Gable walked back over to Travis. "You care about people on this ship. You just won't admit it. Even to yourself."

"Oh, please," Travis snorted. "I'm using the people on this ship. For now. And when I'm done with them, I'll move on. Like I always have."

"Travis." Gable plucked the bottle out of his hand. Travis made an indignant noise that they ignored. "I've known you for a very long time. I know you better than anyone. You act like you don't care because you know that caring hurts. But that doesn't mean you don't. As much as you try not to."

Travis looked away, shifting uncomfortably under the weight of Gable's gaze. "Maybe you don't know me as well as you think," he said, but refused to meet their eyes.

Gable reached out and cupped the side of his head with one large hand, threading their fingers into his hair. Travis's eyes fell closed for just a second, then he looked at them with trumped-up defiance. Gable took it as a sign they were right. "Travis," they said in a low voice, taking a step closer. "We can love them without loving each other any less."

Travis's eyes went wide. Gable bit their tongue to stifle their own surprise, but kept their gaze level and let the words hang between them. They'd known each other for more than two hundred years, now. They should finally be honest with each other.

"We can't stop them from leaving," Travis said in a quiet, matter-of-fact voice. "It'll always just be us, in the end. Loving them won't stop that."

"That's not why we do it," Gable said. They were separated now by mere inches, eyes locked on each other, unable to look away. "We can't stop them from dying. All we can do is make the most of the time we have with them. And lean on each other when it hurts. Because it will hurt." Their grip on his hair tightened. "We'll do it together, Travis."

"Gable," Travis said, his eyes darting across their face searchingly.

"Always," Gable said, and leaned down.

Travis flung an arm around their neck, burying one hand in their newly shorn hair and grabbing hold of the front of their shirt with the other. The bottle hit the ground as at the same time Gable curved their free arm around his back, pulling him impossibly closer as he yanked their head down the rest of the way to crush their lips together.

The conversation wasn't over. Might never be over. But here, today, Gable was content to leave it, another step closer to understanding. They let themselves get lost in the sensation of Travis - Travis, here, safe and sound and closer than ever.

When Jonnit and Spit finally burst in on them, it was almost enough to make them reconsider their stance on mortals.

[anubislover]

Welcome to the Heart Pirates, Nami-ya chapter 16: Salvage

As much as Nami would have loved to set out right away to get the antivenom, she knew there was no choice but to wait at least two hours until the tide was low enough to safely explore the shipwreck. From what she could observe through the binoculars, it was securely lodged into the rocks and reef that surrounded the island, but much of it was only really accessible when the tide was out.

So, with no other choice but to play the waiting game, she found herself perusing a zoology book to pass the time.

“Huh. Apparently, snow leopards can’t roar—however, their tails are super mobile and are often used to send ‘messages’ during social encounters. They’re ambush attackers who generally pounce down on their prey from above, which is easy since they’re excellent climbers and can jump up to seven times their body length. They’re also known as the ‘Ghosts of the Mountains’ in some places because they’re so shy and solitary,” she prattled, skimming over the description before looking up at Law, who huffed in annoyance as his tail irritably flicked back and forth.

Clearly, the transformed captain was antsy. He’d been told in no uncertain terms that he was not allowed to join his companions on their salvaging mission. Naturally, he’d thrown a fit, hissing and growling and making all sorts of angry sounds—including what she now assumed was his failed attempt to roar—but the pair of navigators stood firm. It was only when Nami pointed out that, Devil Fruit powers or not, he didn’t know how to swim in his current form which made him a potential liability, that he reluctantly acquiesced.

Of course, since he couldn’t help and would be forced to stay on the ship alone, he needed something to keep him occupied so he wouldn’t pace around the infirmary, speeding up the poison’s journey through his bloodstream. Unfortunately, he was having a harder time distracting himself than Nami, as his furry paws made it impossible enjoy a book past a couple pages. Reading aloud to him was the only real option and keeping him informed of his current form’s capabilities at least seemed useful. However, it appeared that there wasn’t a lot of information on snow leopards due to their reclusive nature.

As if human Law isn’t mysterious enough, she thought, skipping to another section. “Ok, what do you want to hear about next; pandas or binturongs? Or should we switch to birds?” she asked, indicating another book by Dr. Monroe. Bepo had been nice enough to lug over the man’s entire encyclopedia series, which ranged from reptiles to mammals to birds from all four Blues.

Yellow eyes rolled heavenwards as Law grumbled under his breath. Bepo wasn’t around at the moment to translate, but Nami could pretty easily deduce that he was displeased with both options.

“Well, sorry Law, but I already told you that I’m not reading any of your creepy-ass medical texts! If you don’t want me to read to you, we’ll find you a ball of yarn or something,” she snapped, slamming the book closed.

Spotted ears flattened back as he gave a brief flash of his fangs before calming down, looking away with a huff. Yet despite his haughty expression, she could see the tension in his shoulders and the way his claws flexed in and out.

He was trying to hide it, but Nami could tell Law was quietly freaking out.

She sighed as she reached out to stroke his brow soothingly. “Sorry. Guess we’re both a bit tense, huh?”

He grunted in affirmation but didn’t pull away, instead leaning into her touch.

Deciding that petting him would be a much better distraction than reading for both of them, she began scratching behind his ears with gusto as she said, “Look, I get that this must suck for you, especially considering how used to being in control you are. I’m sure I wouldn’t be much happier if I were turned into a cat. But I promise Bepo and I will be fine. It’s just a quick salvage mission; we get the antivenom, plus the supplies that guy needs, and then head straight back to the Tang. Easy-peasy. You’ll be back on your feet by dawn, and human again by breakfast.”

He gave her a disbelieving side-eye before arching his neck back, silently indicating that she should direct her attentions there.

Nami rolled her eyes but followed his instruction, fingers firmly scratching under his chin. After all, when else would she get the chance to cuddle a snow leopard like a friendly housecat? That, and he seemed less inclined to argue with her when he was getting so much physical attention. “You must know you’ve got a capable crew, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t have sailed this far with them. Sure, there are plenty of things that only you can do, but delegation of duties is an essential leadership skill. When this is all over, I want to you to start trusting your nakama more, got it?” she scolded, even as she carded her fingers along his broad chest, her hands practically disappearing into the luxuriously thick fur.

She had to admit, she did kind of like him like this. He was gloriously fluffy, she could ignore his snide comments and innuendos, and petting him was oddly enjoyable. Not that she wanted Law to stay like this forever, as she would miss their verbal sparring and occasional intelligent conversations, but she found herself wondering if, just maybe, when he turned back, he could…keep the ears and tail? He’d be so cute with them!

As she scratched his chin, a smug smirk curled her lips. “You know, maybe we should keep you like this for a little while longer. It’ll teach you to rely on your crew a bit more, and I gotta say, I wouldn’t mind having my own pet snow leopard,” she teased.

Law’s eyes narrowed at the statement before a wide smirk of his own spread across his muzzle, a hungry glint shining in the gold irises. It was an expression Nami could only describe as “deviously seductive” and she was certain that if he were in his human form, she’d be pinned to the nearest flat surface.

He gave a low, almost purring growl, and she immediately inferred it to mean “enjoy it while you can, because the second I’m me again, you are in so much trouble.” The message was further punctuated by the way he leaned in and inhaled against her neck, his whiskers tickling her chin.

Do not be aroused by a cat. Do not be aroused by a cat, Nami chanted in her head, blushing as her imagination was filled with Law in his human form, yet sporting those ears and tail she’d found so cute. Only, it wasn’t quite so adorable when paired with a feral smile and graceful, prowling movements as he caged her against a wall.

Realizing exactly where her thoughts were straying, she immediately sought to distract both Law and herself by reaching up to scratch behind his ears, earning her a series of very happy sounds from the big cat. It was hard to be seductive when you were getting petted like a big, fluffy kitty, after all.

Leaning hard into her touch, he let out a few deep meows, eyes shutting tightly in pleasure as she hit a particularly good spot.

“Umm, he just said ‘If the trade fails, your job for the rest of the year is doing this. Constantly’,” Bepo explained as he poked his head into the room. He carefully made his way to the bed, his hands occupied by a large bowl of water and a massive tray of raw meat while Kikoku was tucked awkwardly under his arm.

It hadn’t dawned on any of them until Law’s stomach had started growling that he hadn’t eaten anything since the pocky game, so the bear had offered to get him some food from the galley. Despite his captain’s current form, Nami had expected his order to be along the lines of onigiri, though she could now see that had been a bit optimistic.

“Are you sure this is what you’re hungry for, Law?” Bepo asked, looking down at the meat dubiously. “It’d really be no trouble to cook it up for you.”

Law’s eyes lit up at the sight of the bloody steaks and gave a few yowls in reply, pulling away from Nami’s hands to eagerly sit up.

The Mink blanched at his response. “Ew, Law! That’d technically be cannibalism!”

“What would?” Nami asked, horrified.

“Eating the boar that attacked us, since it used to be a human like him.” Bepo shuddered before handing him the food. “Here. They’re a little cold, but they were the only non-frozen meat I could find.”

The leopard didn’t seem to mind, literally tearing into one of the raw steaks with a barely-contained hunger. His table manners weren’t exactly great as a human, but Nami found watching him devour his dinner like this was far worse.

Any half-hearted plans of keeping him as a leopard were immediately scrapped. If this is what feeding time would look like, it was not worth it.

Averting her eyes for the sake of not emptying her own stomach, she turned her focus to Bepo, who had leaned Kikoku against the cot. “Why’d you get that? It’s not like he can use it,” she asked, wiggling her fingers meaningfully.

“He knows that, but I think it makes him feel better having it around,” he whispered in her ear.

“Like a security blanket?”

“Yeah.”

She stifled a giggle with her hand. “Got it. How’s the tide looking?”

“Almost fully out. I think it’s about time to go.”

“Sounds good. Think Law will be ok without us for a few hours?”

They turned to find Law on his back, batting at Kikoku’s dangling tassels. Feeling their amused gazes on him, he glared and let out a growl.

“Law says, ‘If you tell anyone about this, I’ll kill you’.”

This time, Nami didn’t bother to hide her laughter.

XXX

The trip over to the wreck had been fairly smooth—the weather was calm, the nearly-full moon provided plenty of light to see by, and their small motorboat managed to navigate the sharp rocks that poked out of the water. They’d grabbed a few empty backpacks to carry their loot, along with her lock picks and a lantern to light the way inside. Nami hoped they wouldn’t need much more than that; their boat was designed for speed and maneuverability, not weight, so they couldn’t afford to bring more than necessary.

As they pulled up alongside the ship, she was amazed at how well-preserved it was. Sure, it was definitely never going to sail again, but it was still in one piece; far better off than the ship that had fallen from Skypia that she’d made the boys salvage back what felt like a lifetime ago. Barnacles encased nearly every inch of the hull, and there were noticeable holes in the side that looked like damage from canon fire. If she had to guess, the pirates had been escaping a battle and gotten caught up in a storm, leading them to be shipwrecked on the cove. Her theory of a storm was confirmed when she got a good look at the mast—it was charred and splintered, clearly damaged by a lightning strike, and the sails were burned to black tatters.

From what she could tell, there were three levels, much like the Thousand Sunny. Given her experience infiltrating and robbing pirate ships in the past, she figured they’d find the galley, sick bay, and crew’s living quarters on the main deck level. The captain’s quarters and treasure room would take up most of the top level. Below deck would be additional living quarters, storage space, and brig.

She didn’t have high hopes for the lower level—it spent the most time underwater compared to the others, so it’d likely have little to offer. Still, her time as a thief had taught her not to completely rule out a secret treasure room or safe hidden deep in the bowls of the ship, as some of the smarter crews had learned not to keep the best stuff in the obvious places.

“Ok, here’s the plan,” she said to Bepo as they climbed up onto the deck. The wood was slippery with kelp and algae, and she could already see several large holes where the wood had rotted through. “We need to locate the antivenom first—the sick bay’s our best bet. Next, we’ll get the stuff we need for the trade. Depending on the shape the ship is in, though, you might need to hang back if the floors are too rotted.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

She carefully stepped over a broken railing—the whole ship listed slightly to the left, so keeping their balance was tricky. “We need to be careful; Law’s already all pissy because he couldn’t come with us. If we come back with so much as a scratch, he’s going to bitch about how he should have been there. This is your chance to prove to him that he can trust other people and that he doesn’t need to be such a control freak.”

“I’m sorry. We don’t want to rely on him so much,” Bepo said sadly as he reached out a paw for her to take, helping her climb over some debris, “but if we don’t let him get his way, he does it behind our backs, and sometimes he gets hurt because of it. At least when we let him be in charge, he’ll let us go along as backup.”

“Well, not this time,” she reaffirmed, eyes narrowed seriously. “You need to stand up for yourself more, just like you did back in the infirmary. Doing that probably saved his life!”

“I know,” he replied as they reached the entrance to the main deck. “It’s just…Shachi, Penguin and I have followed him since we were kids. The three of us were lost in a big world and desperate for a leader. And sure, we’re all grown up now, but he’s still the one with the plans and ambitions and power…”

“Yeah, he’s powerful,” she agreed, gingerly testing out the floor. When it proved solid enough, she motioned for Bepo to follow her inside. She knew they had to step lightly, though—even if the rooms only got halfway submerged at high tide, it was still enough to cause significant structural damage. “That doesn’t mean he’s all-powerful. You guys have your strengths, too. He can’t navigate, right?”

“Well, no…”

“Can he shoot a rifle like Shachi?”

“He can fire a gun, but he’s no sharpshooter.”

“Can he fix the engine like Ikkaku?”

“Absolutely not! Law specifically hired her because none of us could figure out the engine!”

“See? Everyone’s got their strengths and weaknesses. Yes, there are certain things only Law can do, but he can’t do it all. He’s already pulling double-duty as the captain and doctor; you guys need to step in when he starts making too much work for himself.”

“We stepped in on the beach,” he defended as he pointed out a room at the end of the hall with a little red cross over it.

Taking the hint, Nami carefully made her way towards it, indicting to him the spots that obviously couldn’t take the polar bear’s weight. “It shouldn’t have taken that long, though! He spent a week not sleeping, running himself into the ground—”

“Law only listens to us when things are really bad!” Bepo shouted, stamping his foot in frustration. Unfortunately, the force combined with the unstable wood sent his leg crashing through the floor.

“Whoa!” Nami cried, grabbing his arm to stabilize him while he pulled the limb out. Though that particular spot wasn’t rotted, it had been flanked by splintered sections that hadn’t offered much support. “Ok, you know what? Maybe this isn’t the best time to talk about this,” she said as nervous sweat dripped down her neck. She was so used to Bepo being meek and apologetic, she’d forgotten that he was a super-strong Mink. Him losing his temper was dangerous, especially here.

He nodded quickly, paws trembling the slightest bit. “Agreed,” he whimpered, his round ears drooping with shame. “I’m sorry.”

She immediately felt guilty. It was one thing to give a guy a much-needed lecture, but she’d been so far up on her high horse she hadn’t considered that they had significantly more important things to focus on. “It’s fine. I did say you needed more backbone, didn’t I?” Steadying herself, she helped him to his feet. “Let’s just hold off on the subject until we’re back on the Tang.”

“Ok,” he whimpered, head still hanging in contrition.

Nami made a mental note to keep an eye on the poor guy. He’d clearly been taking this whole fiasco harder than she’d thought. His captain was powerless and poisoned, his crew was missing, they had to trudge around a dangerous, rotting ship to appease a crazy old man, and Nami was basically telling him that it was his fault for not better controlling his stubborn captain.

Once this was over, she’d make it up to him. Maybe get him another giant salmon or something on the next island. Or more ear scratches. He’d seemed to like those, and it didn’t cost her money.

That in mind, she cautiously opened the door to the sick bay, wincing at the moaning creak the rusty hinges gave out. The room itself was fairly standard for a pirate ship—an examination table, sick bed, desk, skeleton display (which Nami hoped was fake and for reference purposes, and not some poor soul who’d been picked clean by the fishes), small cages for lab animals, and what were probably the sodden remains of the physician’s texts and notes. However, the state of the place would give Chopper a conniption fit; seaweed and algae clung to nearly every surface, the padding on the chair and cot had been ripped apart, glass from broken bottles was all over the floor, and the place reeked of decomposing wood and salt.

Of course, none of that mattered to Nami as her attention was quickly drawn to the large safe in the back of the room. It was made of stainless steel, so while barnacles and rockweed had attached themselves to the surface, there was blessedly minimal rust.

“Think that’s where we’ll find our antivenom?” she asked rhetorically, already examining the lock to see if it needed to be picked. It was a fairly simple one—it needed a key as opposed to a combination—and Nami immediately pulled out her lockpicks, carefully jimmying the tumblers into place.

The tiny click was easily heard by both navigators, who’d unconsciously held the breaths. They both exhaled a soft “whoa” as the door swung open, revealing stacks of trays filled with carefully labeled vials. Many of them were the antivenom they sought, but there were also shelves full of the venom itself; mostly coral snake, though there were notably a few others like king cobra, black mamba, and pit viper.

“That’s a lot of snake venom,” Nami said with a shudder, imagining the number of snakes it must have taken to get that much stock. And they’d kept them on the ship? That sounded like a recipe for disaster.

“The old man did say those pirates dealt in it.” Bepo peered at the assortment of antivenom before selecting a vial. “Here’s the coral snake. Should we take any of the others?”

“Hell, take it all. It’s not doing any good here, and I’m sure after this fiasco Law would want to have extra antivenom on hand just in case. Anything he doesn’t want, we can sell.”

“Law will like that. Antivenom goes for big money at hospitals, since it’s not always easy to get access to. But the venom itself we should dump—I don’t like the idea of anyone getting a hold of this much poison.”

Nami couldn’t agree more. There was only one reason she could think of for why anyone would want snake venom in large quantities—murder. And whether the Navy, pirates, or Revolutionaries were the buyers made no difference.

As Bepo carefully loaded up the backpack with the antivenom, she fished out the deadly vials and began flinging them out the broken window. She could hear some crash against the rocks while others plopped into the sea, hopefully lost forever. So long, and good riddance, she thought, taking a bit of pleasure in imagining she was flinging away the snake that had bitten Law. She wondered if coral snakes could swim, or if the snake had drowned when she’d blasted it away into the water. She hoped it was the latter.

When she was done, Nami assessed the rest of the room. “Should we take anything else?” There were syringes, a microscope, stethoscopes, scalpels, and several other assorted medical apparatuses, though none of it was in particularly great shape.

Glancing at the waterlogged infirmary, Bepo wrinkled his nose in disdain. “No way. This equipment’s nothing compared to the Tang’s, and I doubt the sanitation of most of it after months exposed to the elements. It’s not even worth selling.”

Mouth twisting in disgust as she found herself agreeing with his assessment, Nami eyed the knapsack on his back. He’d loaded the trays that kept the vials upright, but they didn’t completely protect them when he moved. “Are those going to be safe like that?”

“I’ve stacked them as best I could, but we should try to find cloth to wrap them in for extra protection so they’re not just banging against each other,” he replied, shifting nervously. Even with that small motion, Nami could swear she heard a gentle clink of glass hitting glass.

It was tempting to suggest they put the bag in the motorboat for safekeeping, but it was too risky; an errant wave could capsize the boat and dump their precious cargo into the ocean, and it all would have been for nothing. They’d just have to be careful.

“Maybe we can find some rags or something to use as padding,” Nami suggested, leading them back into the hallway. Until then, they’d absolutely have to watch their step; another crash through the floor like earlier, and they risked a backpack full of unusable liquid and broken test tubes.

Their next stop was the galley, and immediately they knew they’d find little of use there. The cooking utensils were rusted through, as were the pots and pans, and there was nothing that could convince them that opening the refrigerator would result in anything less than a biohazard. Nami braved a trip to the pantry; there was some tinned food that looked to still be in decent condition, though she decided to pass on the can opener—it was guaranteed to give someone tetanus.

I sure hope we have better luck with the rest of the ship, she thought gloomily as they decided to take a chance on the upper deck, otherwise we won’t have much to trade for the crew.

“Should we go upstairs to the captain’s quarters, or the other side of the ship for the crew’s?” Bepo asked, pointing at the ceiling.

After dropping the canned goods into her own sack, Nami considered the question. Given its position high above the ocean and rocks, it likely had sustained the least amount of damage, making it the safest to check out. It also likely had the most usable goods, meaning that if they could find what they needed there, they wouldn’t have to bother with the other rooms.

“Captain’s room. If anyone on this ship owned a pair of good, hearty boots, it’d be them.”

The stairs to the top deck creaked and groaned with every step, but thankfully they held together well enough, even under Bepo’s weight.

The top deck held only one door, which was probably ornate before the wreck—now, the red and gold paint was chipped and faded while the etched handle was rusted over. Nami carefully tested the knob, only to find it jammed. “Bepo, would you be a dear and get the door?” she asked sweetly, moving to the side.

The bear stepped forward, taking a minute to futilely try to turn the knob himself. Nami sighed and stopped him before miming what she meant for him to do.

“Oh. Sorry,” he replied before kicking in the door, the force of the blow sending it clear across the room.

“Guess you’re not used to breaking and entering, huh?” she joked. A thought came to her. “By the way, how’d you get into Law’s room earlier? You know, to get Kikoku? It was locked when I checked.”

Bepo’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Why were you trying to get into his room?”

She froze. Shit. She needed a good explanation, or else he’d surely say something to Law, and any hope she’d have of getting in there would be ruined. “Oh! Uh, I wanted to see if he’d returned to the sub!” she lied, putting on an innocent smile. “You know, it would have been silly for us to search the island for him when he’d been in his room the whole time!”

He scratched his head guiltily. “Oh. That makes sense. Sorry I didn’t think of that.” Gingerly stepping into the room to ensure the floor was stable, he explained, “I have a key to his room for emergencies. I mean, he rarely has to worry about locking himself out, what with his powers and all, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

It felt wrong to take advantage of Bepo’s trust and innocence, but Nami knew this was her chance to get into Law’s room. “Do you carry it on you most of the time, or do you keep it in your room for safekeeping?”

“Oh, I usually leave it in my top desk drawer so it doesn’t get lost.”

“See? You’re responsible! Further proof that Law’s stupid for not trusting you more,” she chirped, lightly hopping over a hole in the floor. Standing in the center of the captain’s quarters, she took in what had probably been fairly luxurious accommodations before the wreck.

While the elements hadn’t too severely affected the room since it managed to stay above water, two months of rain, wind, and waves coming through the broken windows had clearly taken its toll. The velvet curtains were tattered and coated with a layer of salt and seaweed. There was a leather chair that had seen better days, a fancy wardrobe sporting clear water damage, and the decorative cutlass displayed over the bed looked like it could dissolve if touched, it was so rusted and tarnished. The cherrywood desk had become home to crabs and starfish, and there was a massive bird’s nest in the center of the king-sized bed. Oddly, though, there wasn’t much by way of bird crap over the floor. Yet something clearly lived there, as it looked like some kind of massive bird had decided to rip apart the mounted snow leopard head with its beak and talons.

It was the polar opposite of any room Luffy would ever want, even looking past the obvious deterioration. Her captain had always preferred sleeping with his crew, roughing it in a hammock or bunk bed. He’d never even mentioned a desire for his own cabin, despite a captain having every right to one. Heck, even back in the days of the Going Merry, the second room had been given to Nami and treated as the women’s quarters, despite them at the time not knowing if there would even be any other girls.

I wonder why? Nami thought to herself. Did he just not see any reason for having a room to himself, or did he genuinely dislike sleeping alone? Maybe he and Ace always shared a room, so he slept better with company?

It drove home just how little she really knew about Luffy’s past. When they were reunited, she’d have to sit him down and get his whole life story; why Shanks had given him his hat, whether Garp and the Revolutionary Dragon were his only living relatives, tales about growing up with Ace…

Shaking herself out of questions about the past and plans for the future, she focused on the present. “Check the wardrobe for the boots and blankets—I’ll see if the desk drawers are watertight enough to keep any books from getting destroyed.”

Bepo nodded, shuffling over to the far side of the room while Nami set to work picking the locks of the desk drawers. Most contained sodden papers, leaking pens, a few animal claws on a string, and a waterlogged pocket watch, but nothing of real value or use.

However, inside the top left drawer was a metal box. Nami’s eyes lit up with belli signs as she imagined this could be where the captain had stashed his spare cash or prized pieces of treasure. Nimbly picking the padlock, she was disappointed to find just a few belli notes and a leather-bound journal. She stuffed the money in her bra for safekeeping and cracked open the log, hoping that it would at least tell her where the crew might have kept their treasure.

Captain’s Log: February 22nd Just made lucrative a deal with a stinking-rick noblewoman who wants a whole coat made of snow leopard fur, plus a pet baby snow leopard she can show off, but it’s not exactly easy to find those damn cats, especially outside the North Blue. Luckily, there’s a winter island not far from here with some conservationists studying them; maybe if we make nice, they’ll lead us to a few.

Captain’s Log: April 4th We may have found our ultimate meal ticket. Why search the Grand Line for exotic animals when you have a Devil Fruit user who can MAKE them? One of the conservationists can actually turn people into animals—he’s been using it to transform his fellow scientists so they can get close to the animals they’re studying. He’s an older man. Weak. Idealistic. Shouldn’t be hard to break him in.

Captain’s Log: April 10th Doc says he can’t really choose what to turn people into, but I think it’s bullshit. Yesterday, he turned the cabin boy into a calf, probably so he’ll think he’s useless. Joke’s on him, though—that veal was damn tasty. Good to know we’ll always have a supply of meat on a long voyage. Hell, maybe we could open a butcher shop on the side.

Captain’s Log: April 18th You know, I used to just put a bullet in an animal’s brain to kill it before skinning, but that always was such a bitch to clean up, plus it risked damaging the rest of the coat. But then Akio came up with a great idea—kill them with snake venom! It’s a lot less messy, depending on what you use, and I can save my bullets.

On top of that, Doc’s still trying to rebel by turning prisoners into useless animals like mice and hamsters. Except now we’ve got ourselves some excellent lab rats for making antivenom. Lemons and lemonade, right?

Captain’s Log: June 12th Doc’s “training” is coming along nicely. Sure, he still begs and pleads for us not to make him use his powers, but it doesn’t take much for him to give up anymore, and he’s finally giving us the animals we want. It helps that Haru was able to rig up one of the pullies to his cage so if he doesn’t comply, he gets a nice long dunk in the ocean to cool his head. Devil Fruit, am I right? I used to want one myself, but I’m starting to think it’s not worth the price.

Captain’s Log: June 18th Had to retrain Doc today. Thought he could get one over on me by turning a prisoner into a cobra. Too bad for him I was quick enough to shield my arm with Armament Haki. I think a long seawater bath will set him straight. Maybe break his leg, too, as a long-term reminder.

Doc really should be more grateful; it’s a win-win situation. We’re not killing or selling wild animals anymore, so his conservation work continues. And with all the fur, meat, and product we get out of it, we’re quickly getting filthy rich!

Captain’s Log: August 3rd Today was a huge score! We came across a lifeboat full of refugees. They were just floating there, helpless, packed in like sardines. Apparently, they’d been out there for days after their ship was attacked by a Sea King. We brought them aboard and promised we’d take them to the next island and provide food and shelter. They were so fucking grateful to be rescued they didn’t even care that we were pirates. Of course, their tunes changed once we started shoving them in cages!

We set Doc to work right away. The weakling whimpered a bit, especially when it came to the kids, but hey, it’s not like we’re breaking our promise; they’ll get to the next island. Maybe not in one piece, and definitely not human, but hey, them’s the breaks, right? It’s not like anyone will miss them, anyway.

Stomach churning with disgust, Nami couldn’t bring herself to do more than skim the later entries. Going by the dates, the captain had been making a massive profit off of selling exotic animal pelts, meat, venom, and pets for nearly two years. And he’d been forcing a man who’d devoted himself to protecting animals to do it.

No wonder the old man hated pirates. Had instinctively turned the Hearts into animals; he’d probably been scared out of his mind that they’d be just like the rest, ready to abuse and exploit him again. She could certainly relate.

“Nami?” Bepo’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts. “Are you ok? You’re whiter than I am!”

Shaking her head, she tried to give a reassuring smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. Any luck on the boots?”

He held up a pair of what were once very fancy snakeskin boots, except they were clearly falling apart in his paws. “Sorry; even if they were wearable, they’re a size eight. But that book’s in good shape! Think it’s something we can give the old man?” he asked excitedly.

Swallowing hard, Nami stared at the leather journal. “No. I don’t think he’d want to read this.” If Arlong had ever kept a journal detailing all the awful things he’d done to exploit her, she’d much rather see it burn.

The Mink’s ears drooped at her answer. “Nami, what are we going to do if we can’t get the supplies we need for the trade?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? They needed those things to free the crew and get them turned back into humans. But everything on board was garbage at best. They needed some kind of solution, otherwise Law and the rest of the Hearts could give up any dreams of sailing the Grand Line, much less finding the One Piece.

What would Luffy do in this kind of situation?

The answer was so obvious, she nearly laughed.

“We’ll give him supplies from the Tang.”

Bepo’s black, button-like eyes widened as his jaw dropped in disbelief. “What?!”

“He’s not asking much; just basic amenities. We can get some pots and pans from the galley. Law wears a size ten—we’ll give him a pair of his boots. There’s gotta be spare blankets, and the library has tons of books we can give him. Hell, according to this,” she said, holding up the journal, “he was a conservationist; maybe he’d like that encyclopedia set by Dr. Monroe.”

Twiddling his claws nervously, Bepo cautioned, “Law’s not going to like giving the guy who turned him into a leopard any of our stuff.”

“Well, if Law wants to be human again, he’ll have to deal with it. We’ve got plenty of cash to replace them. Hell, if antivenom goes for as much as you say, we’ll be making a profit from this trip, so it evens out. We’re not giving him anything we can’t easily replace on Atifakuto.”

He blinked, surprised at her determination. “You know, I always heard you were greedy and didn’t like spending even a single belli on anyone but yourself. But you’re being surprisingly generous.”

A deep, melancholy frown marred her beautiful face as she stared down at the journal. “That old man…he was a prisoner. His powers—his passion—was exploited by pirates for years. He was abused, tortured, forced to turn innocent people into animals to be sold or slaughtered…” A knot formed in her throat, but she stubbornly swallowed it down. “If all he wants is a few pots and pans and to live out his life alone, I’m willing to spend a few belli on that.”

A large paw gently patted her shoulder. “Ok. I understand,” Bepo replied sympathetically. “Should we go back to the ship?”

That would be a good idea, wouldn’t it? They didn’t need to linger. They could head right back to the Tang and start administering the antivenom.

Still, she didn’t want to risk anything happening to the glass vials if the ride back got bumpy. She didn’t want to use the blanket on the captain’s bed, though; it would disturb the bird’s nest, and enough animals had suffered aboard this ship. “We’ll check the crew’s quarters for those rags, then head back. But I think we can leave the lower level alone.”

“Ok, Nami,” Bepo said, giving a reassuring smile. “Should we leave the journal?”

She hadn’t realized she’d been holding the leather-bound book in a white-knuckled grip. She took a deep, steadying breath as she pried her fingers off the diary’s spine, tucking it into her knapsack. “No. We’ll give it to the old man—it’ll make good kindling.”

Knowing what kind of bastard lived in that room, Nami was more than happy to march out of the captain’s quarters onto the main deck. That man was a monster. She hoped he drowned in the storm, or got turned into something truly horrible, like a centipede, or dung beetle, or—

The sound of heavy flapping caught her attention, and Nami only just managed to duck out of the way as a pair of sharp talons attempted to rake across her face.

“Eeeek!” she cried, crossing her arms across her face defensively. She could feel heavy gusts of wind beat against her as the bird missed, swooping past to land on the deck with a heavy thump.

“Nami!” Bepo cried as he ran out, growling at the enormous black vulture that glared at them both. Its head was dark and bald, and the hazel eyes were so hatefully human there was no question that it was another transformed pirate.

“Stay out of our way,” Bepo said to it, taking a fighting stance. He wobbled slightly, the wood beneath him creaking and the slant not helping his balance, but his expression remained firm.

The vulture gave a drawn-out, hateful hissing sound as it spread its massive wings, indicating the ship.

“So you’re the captain, huh?” Bepo replied. “Well, your ship’s gross!”

Nami wanted to sigh at her friend’s terrible attempt at trash-talk, but she decided it was better to lead by example. “So, the old man turned you into a vulture, huh?” she asked, getting up and assembling her Clima-Tact. “Guess it’s fitting for a scavenger like you!”

The captain let out another hiss before taking off into the air, catching the wind and soaring above them, circling the ship as it formulated a plan.

Nami, however, wasn’t going to let that happen. “Cyclone Tempo!” she shouted, swinging her staff and launching a gust of wind at the bird. It did the trick of knocking it off-course, sending it further into the sky, but it also blasted Nami backwards with enough force to send her crashing through a rotten part of the deck floor.

She screamed as the wood splintered around her and she tumbled through the air. Luckily it wasn’t a long drop, and instead of landing on the floor she splashed into water, which was just deep enough to keep her from sustaining any major harm.

Sputtering, she stood up. The seawater reached her waist, and there were enough holes in the ceiling to let the moonlight in so she could see.

She wished she couldn’t.

Nami’s stomach turned as she took in the large room. There were cages everywhere. Many of them were broken and covered in barnacles after two months being submerged in salt water, but a few were still in decent enough shape that there was no doubt that the ship’s lower level had basically been a prison. To her left was a huge workbench covered in bone saws, knives for skinning, whips, chains, collars, and all sorts of other contraptions she didn’t care to identify.

Pirates like these reminded her why she didn’t believe people like Luffy existed for so long. They beat and tortured an old man, who just wanted to protect wildlife, for the sake of exploiting his powers. Then, they forced him to turn innocent people into animals so they could be sold as pets, skinned, or otherwise extorted.

This wasn’t right. Nami had no problem with animals being used for food or domesticated, but this was completely different, even if they hadn’t been humans first. Those pirates had gone out of their way to be cruel if the whips and chains on the wall were anything to go by.

“I’m beginning to think the old man’s inability to swim wasn’t the only reason he didn’t want to come back here,” she whispered to herself.

“Nami! Are you ok?!” Bepo called down, poking his head into the hole she’d fallen through. His eyes widened as he took in the cages, rusted saws, and chains. She could imagine that, even after two months being washed away by the brine, he could still smell lingering traces of blood and animal flesh.

When he bared his teeth in anger, Nami knew he’d managed to connect the dots of what exactly had occurred on the ship.

“I’m ok!” she assured, looking for the exit. “I’ll be right with you.”

“I’ll come down and get you!”

“Don’t risk it!” she cried, already wading towards the stairs. She could feel the rotten wood giving way beneath her with every step. “The floor can barely hold my weight, much less yours. Keep a lookout for that vulture, though!”

“Ok—” his response was cut off by a roar of pain, and through the gap between Bepo’s head and the edge of the hole Nami could see sharp talons grasping at his neck.

“Bepo!” she screamed, wading as fast as she could towards the stairs, stumbling over debris and holes and possibly even bones. She forced herself not to think about that—what mattered was getting upstairs and helping her friend!

Finally, she was able to pull herself out of the water, and the stairs cracked and broke beneath her feet as she ran up, but she didn’t care. When she got to the door at the top, she slammed her thin shoulder against it, fighting the rusty lock and hinges as they tried to keep her from the outside world. Not to be deterred, she braced herself against the corner of the stairway and unleashed another Cyclone Tempo to break them open.

The doors went flying, and Nami dashed outside in time to see the vulture take off, Bepo’s knapsack in its talons.

“No!” she screamed, futilely diving for the bird, but it was out of her reach. She was tempted to blast it down with a lightning bolt, but that would most certainly destroy the vials kept inside the bag. Another blast of wind would just push it further away, and her other attacks were useless.

As it flew towards the island, the vulture turned its bald head and gave a menacing hiss.

“What did it say?” Nami asked as she rushed to Bepo’s side. His neck and shoulders were scratched up, but his thick fur and skin had prevented them from going too deep.

“He said…he said ‘if you want the antivenom, bring us the doctor’,” he whimpered, looking confused. “But why would they want Law?”

“They don’t,” Nami replied sadly, staring at the island. “They want the old man.”

[ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes]

Roguish Women Part 8

Summary: Kate Rosseau is an American who fled to Paris to escape her past life. Now she's dancing and playing the part of a courtesan at the Moulin Rouge. There she meets Tommy Shelby who thinks she can be useful in expanding his empire. But has he been blinded?

Part 7: Black Star Day arrives 

           Grace and Tommy were serving beers while the Peaky Blinders chatted. A nervous energy filled the air. Everyone knew that they were walking into another battle. Striding into uncertainty. There was no guaranteed any of them would make it out of the standoff alive.

Kate went to sit at the bar beside Arthur. “Where do you boys want me to stand?”

“Best stay here with Grace. Polly’ll be at the betting shop holding down the fort.” The eldest Shelby responded.

“And I’ll be safe here?”

“Kimber’s men ain’t taking a step past us.” Arthur proclaimed confidently and nudged John who nodded in agreement.

But the mood in the pub changed in an instant when Jerimiah strode in and whispered something in Arthur’s ear.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Arthur groaned and stood up. He walked behind the bar with Jerimiah and walked to the backroom where Tommy and Grace had disappeared to moments earlier.

Kate couldn’t hear what they were speaking about but the look on Tommy’s face when he emerged was clear enough. Something was wrong.

“Kate, get up, follow me.” He ordered.

“What’s going on?” She stood up but hesitated.

“Right, let’s get a move on!” Arthur’s voice boomed over the mirth in the bar.

Tommy grabbed Kate by the arm and pulled her towards the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~

He didn’t answer any questions Kate asked on the way to Polly’s flat. He simply moved quickly, urging her along. Polly was already upstairs with Ada and the baby when Tommy stormed inside.

“Ada, c’mon. Go with Kate, get to the Bull Ring where there’s lots of people.” He spoke firmly almost to try and eliminate any need for questions.

Polly, however, wouldn’t do anything without an explanation. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve been fucking betrayed.” Tommy paced about the room like a trapped hornet. “Someone let it slip to Kimber. They’re on their way here and we’re outnumbered.”

Ada scooped up Karl, her eyes met Kate who was finding it hard to move a muscle. Kate expected to see fear on her face, but instead, she seemed to be thinking something over.

“Who else knew today was the day you were moving in on Kimber?” Polly questioned.

There was a pause in the room. Tommy stared into the hearth where a small fire was blazing. Realization settled over his face. The horror of his discovery was enough to make Polly’s lips part in disappointment.

It hit Kate when she least expected it. “Grace told me.” She said before she could stop herself. Polly turned to look at her. “She said you were going after Billy Kimber, just moments before you all came into the Garrison today.” Kate’s stomach wrung into knots. How could Grace betray Tommy and the rest of the family? She assumed the barmaid was close to the family, close enough to care about their wellbeing. She liked to think she had a read on people who were deceptive. But she never expected such a move from Grace. Maybe she’d underestimated Birmingham.

Polly’s jaw set with resolution. “I’ll deal with her.” She said to her nephew.

Tommy regained some composure and nodded curtly. He looked to Kate, wondering what the consequences were if he trusted another outsider. But there was no time. “Take Ada to the Bull Ring, stay where it’s crowded the most. Make sure people see you.”

“Could you help me with his pram?” Ada asked quietly, ushering Kate to the door.

Kate nodded; a bit dazed. “Yeah, yeah, of course.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy and Polly left the flat as Kate and Ada were getting Karl settled in the carriage. Neither of them spoke a word to the women, both of them heading right into a confrontation. Both of which had the possibility of being fatal.

Once they disappeared around the corner, Kate glanced both ways down the street. “Which way to the Bull Ring? I think I’ve gotten a bit turned around.”

“We’re not going to the Bull Ring,” Ada replied, tucking the blankets snug around her baby boy.

“But Tommy said-”

“Fuck what Tommy said. I’m not going to stand around waiting to hear if my husband’s dead or not.” Ada made up her mind and began pushing the pram towards Garrison Lane.

“Ada…” Kate felt like her feet were cemented to the ground with her options. She could let Tommy’s sister do as she pleased while she headed for safety. It risked the backlash from Tommy who Kate knew didn’t like when people didn’t listen. Or she could follow Ada into an uncertain fate. There didn’t seem to be an option of talking Ada out of her decision. If she was anything like her brothers, she stuck to her guns.

Kate sighed under her breath, made sure her pistol was loaded in her purse and jogged to catch up to Ada. She could only hope these men weren’t crazy enough to shoot around a mother and child.

~~~~~~~~~~

Men in heavy coats stood shoulder to shoulder. Facing off like soldiers in the war.

“Oh, dear God,” Kate whispered under her breath.

“Move!” Ada snapped, fearlessly shoving men aside, making her way into the center of the standoff.

Kate was sure she looked just as horrified as the Peaky Blinders. She stood near Ada and slipped her hand into her purse. She scanned over the group of men and locked eyes with Tommy.

“Ada!” Freddie looked incredulous. Certainly, this was the last thing he expected, showing up to a standoff only to have his wife and son interrupt.

“Shut up!” Ada replied.

“Have you lost your mind?”

“I said shut up!” She shouted. “I’m wearing black in preparation.” The young woman removed her hat and stood down her husband. “I want you to look at me.”

Kate held a finger over the trigger of her gun hidden in her purse. Ada’s words slipped away; the situation was too tense to listen to her. Kate’s eyes moved from Tommy to the other side where Billy Kimber stood looking a bit dumbfounded. She waited, watched for any sudden movement. She didn’t plan on killing anyone when she woke up that morning but plans changed.

“She’s right you know.” Billy Kimber’s voice, horrifyingly familiar to Kate, piped up. “Why should all you men die?” There was no time to question why Kimber was been so blasé. “It should just be them who’ve caused it.” Before he finished, his gun was raised and a shot rang out through the street.

Kate nearly dropped to her knees simply by instinct. But a protective sense kicked in. She grabbed Ada and shielded her so she could push the pram out of the line of fire. Another shot fired and Kate looked back. She saw one of the Blinders fall. Tommy had stumbled back, his hand pressed to his chest. When he lifted his hand, Kate saw blood.

“Tommy!” She ran towards him. He raised his head, then his gun. He pushed Kate aside and fired the last shot into Billy Kimber’s head.

As Danny’s body was being dragged away, Kate and Arthur each grabbed a hold of Tommy’s arms.

“To the Garrison. Bring ‘im to the Garrison.” Arthur told her.

~~~~~~~~~~

They got Tommy into the pub and into a chair. He was swaying slightly.

“Get his shirt off,” Arthur ordered Kate as he went behind the bar to get a bottle of whiskey.

“Just hang on,” Kate said quietly to Tommy and crouched down in front of him. She wrestled off his coat and began to unbutton his shirt, ignoring the blood seeping through the material.

Jeremiah hurried into the Garrison and examined the bullet lodged in Tommy’s chest. He doused a knife in the whiskey that Arthur brought over. “Alright, hold him down.”

Kate looked to the eldest Shelby who nodded. They both grabbed one of Tommy’s arm. She knelt down beside the chair and braced herself.

As Jeremiah began to try and dislodge the bullet, Tommy jerked back. Kate did her best to hold her own against him, not realizing how strong he actually was. Without Arthur there, there would’ve been no chance she’d have been able to keep him still.

A few agonizing shouts of pain later, Jeremiah removed the bullet and held it up triumphantly. “I’ve still got the knack.”

Kate released her hold on Tommy and stood up. She took a few deep breaths and ran a hand through her hair. The day’s events hadn’t been easy on her. For one thing, she didn't expect to be drawn into the Shelbys’ chaos. But she also didn’t expect the strong feelings she had for people around her. The disbelief when she realized Grace, who she considered a friend, had betrayed Tommy. How Kate was willing to kill to protect Ada and Karl. The fear she felt when she saw the blood on Tommy’s hands.

It was difficult to swallow. Emotional connections brought her nothing but trouble. She didn’t anticipate it and now that she realized it, it almost felt too late to undo.

~~~~~~~~~~

Kate was all too happy to get drunk and the boys at the Garrison gave her the perfect opportunity. After Danny’s body was loaded out in the truck, the rest of the gang took advantage of the pub’s well-stocked liquor shelves.

“Then what’s next for you then, America? Aye?” John asked, jostling Kate by the shoulders.

She giggled and shook him off. “I dunno, why don’t you ask your brother.”

“Which one?” He slurred and tipped forward in his bar stool.

“Tommy.” Kate sighed and finished her vodka. “If he wants my advice on the American gangs, I’ll be here. But I’m afraid I’ve got more than a few people who’d like to interrupt that.” Once the frenzy and violence of the day had worn off, she couldn’t help but let Santo’s letter resurface in her brain.

“Pft, who’s gonna hurt you, huh, who’s gonna hurt you when you’re protected by the Peaky Fucking Blinders?” John crowed.

The rest of the pub cheered along with him.

Kate laughed and accepted another drink but her smile faded quickly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the night wore on and men staggered out of the pub and left just Kate, Arthur, John and Polly.

Kate was laid back in one of the booths across from John and Arthur. She drunkenly regaled them with a tale of seducing an Austrian duke and swindling him out of a good sum of his inheritance.

“That’s what you’re tryna do to Tommy then?” Arthur joked.

She snorted. “Tommy’s not stupid. I like stupid men, they’re easy to take from.”

John and Arthur laughed. “Cheers, love, cheers.” The oldest raised his glass to her.

The door to the bar opened and Tommy walked in. Kate propped herself up on her elbows to watch him go in and talk to Polly. She was a bit too drunk to follow their conversation.

But his voice got easier to hear as he walked over with a bottle of champagne. “Shelby Brothers Limited are now the third-largest, legal race track operation in the country.” He clinked the bottle to each of his brother’s glasses. “Only the Sabinis and the Solomons are bigger than us, boys.”

“Who are they? The Sabinis and the Solomons?” Kate wondered and pushed her empty glass toward Tommy.

He popped the cork of the champagne and poured some for her.

“The Solomons, Alfie Solomons.” Arthur drawled on. “The Jews in Camden Town. ‘N Sabini. They’re Italians.”

Even in her alcohol-fueled haze, Kate bristled. “Fuck.” She muttered under her breath and glanced up at Tommy.

“Third largest operation, Kate.” He said to her. “No one’s going to fucking mess with us now.” He offered a hand to her. “C’mon, I’ll walk you home.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy escorted Kate down the darkened streets of Small Heath, her arm over his. Only to keep her steady on her feet.

“You weren’t there celebrating with us. Are we not fun to you?” She stuck out her lower lip. “I beat John in a drinking contest, you weren’t even there to cheer me on.”

Tommy chuckled. “I’m sure you’re plenty of fun. Americans know how to party don’t they?”

“When you know the right speakeasy.” She agreed. “Where were you?”

“Settling business.”

“You went to see Grace, didn’t you?”

Tommy raised an eyebrow. Even drunk, she was perceptive. “Perhaps.”

“Hm…you love her still. Ooh, oh fuck.” She stumbled a bit on the curb but he held her upright. “Thank you. So, where’s she going to go now? I imagine she can't stay anywhere near here after what she's done."

“It’s not important.”

“Ha, bullshit.” She replied with an eye-roll. “S’important to you.”

Tommy walked her up to her front stoop, making sure she didn’t faceplant up the steps. “You don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

“I wasn’t ever worried about her. I was worried about you.” Kate opened up her purse and fumbled around for her key.

“Me?” Tommy took another drink of the champagne bottle still in his hand.

“Men like you don’t fall in love easily. But when you-oh Christ, where is that fucking thing-when you do fall in love you tend to be blinded by it.” Kate finally retrieved her key.

“So, what do you reckon I ought to do?” He asked. "Seems you've got the answers."

She tried the lock a few times but couldn’t seem to get the key in the keyhole. “I like Grace. She’s smart. Reminds me a bit of myself, but she loves the same way you do. Blindly.”

Tommy took the key from her and opened the door of her flat. “So, what, you manipulate men? Learn their secrets? Betray them?”

Kate shrugged. “I don’t fall in love with the men I do it to, though. That’s the difference between Grace and I. Goodnight, Tommy.” She stepped inside and shut the door behind her.

Permanent Tag: @papa-geralt-of-cirilla​ @giftofdreams​ @biba3434​

Masterlist 

[hallowedmuses]

Discord Chat: The Scarlet Inquisition

SUMMARY: Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff are tasked with bring Hydra mole Scarlet Young in for questioning when they are met with an ambush. Things get a little hairy as the pair attempt to maneuver themselves and the mole out of harms way. TRIGGERS: HYDRA, Blood, Gore, Violence WRITTEN WITH: @captsteve​, @littleredscarlethood

NATASHA: She stepped out of the jeep and surveyed the area, nodding to Steve that it was all clear. "Just like old times, huh?" she replied as she made her way over to the apartment complex, punching in a door code Daisy had given them to unlock it. "I imagine we won't need to much fire power for this one," she replied as she held the door open for him. "So, who do you want to be tonight? Good cop or disappointed dad?" she teased.

Steve got out of the jeep, grabbing his shield, glad that he brought it with him so he wasn't walking into a possible HYDRA ambush unarmed. "Oh yeah, I totally missed having to deal with Nazi spies. If only Sam was here, then we could find someone to kick off a building." he let out a chuckle as he shut the door, his blue eyes scanning the street before walking into the building. "Clint seemed to find this quickly so hopefully we're getting to the kid first." Steve looked around the lobby before moving towards the stairs "Hmmm, why not both? I can be a disappointed cop."

In her apartment, her home, really, SCARLET was celebrating. this was a good day. no more lies, no more nothing. just her and daisy and a nice life forever. she'd tell daisy, of course. and while part of her wanted to just get it out of the way... she wanted one happy day. then she'd tell. she'd promised that to herself. she'd turned on happy cheery music and she'd decided she was going to follow a recipe to make waffles from scratch. they had an iron in ONE of their drawers. it had taken her a bit to locate it, and even longer to figure out the measuring cups. but she was getting there, and now she was whisking all the ingredients together, getting ready to pour it into the bowl. all this to say, she was blissfully unaware of the people coming upstairs with a big cloud to rain on her parade.

NATASHA: She smirked, giving him a sideways look. "I mean, we can still kick someone off a building if you're feeling nostalgic. I won't tell if you don't tell," she teased as she entered the building behind him. The lobby was empty which was good. Less collateral damage this this were to turn into a fight. "Disappointed cop, huh?" she grinned as she followed him up the stairs. "If it's anything like those detention videos, then I gotta say I'm in for a treat," she teased, unlatching her gun from its holster as they reached Daisy's apartment. She heard music coming from the kitchen and nodded to Steve. "She's here."

Steve rolled his eyes "That's more your style than mine." he chuckled. From what he could see there wasn't anyone in the stair well, if they moved quickly they could be in and out before anyone else found them. He let out a small groan "Don't even mention those videos, I only filmed one of those and I have no clue where the rest came from. I talked to Tony about it before the accords and he wouldn't look into it because they were so funny." The blonde put his ear to the door listening to the noise from inside, apart from the music he could make out one heartbeat "I only hear one person inside... how do you want to do this?"

NATASHA: "Hmm, it could be your style if you just expand your horizons a little. Come on, don't tell me this whole thing isn't making you miss being a full time agent," she nudged. A small smile crossed her lips as he mentioned he'd only filmed one video and he didn't understand where the others came from. "Sounds like a certain someone was having a little mischievous fun with your form. Either that or you've got a life model decoy laying around somewhere and Tony doesn't want you to find it." She nodded when he said he only heard one heartbeat. "Good. Let's hope its our girl. Daisy wanted this lowkey, so there's no need to come in guns blazing. Besides, it's not fun having to replace a door. We'll keep it friendly unless we start taking fire." She didn't need her name attached to any child's death unless she was absolutely certain which side the kid was on. She pulled out the key Daisy had given them and quietly unlocked the door. "Cover my six, yeah?" she requested, tucking her gun into the back of her jeans for easy reach if she needed it. She was glad Steve had brought the shield with him. It provided good cover if they started taking unexpected gunfire. Natasha pushed open the door to the apartment and stepped over the threshold. "Scarlet Young?" she called out as she made her way into the apartment. She spotted the girl in the kitchen. "Hello, Scarlet, it's good to see you again," she smiled politely, holding up her SHIELD badge. "We've got a few questions we need to ask you. I'm going to need you to come with us."

Steve: "Oh, I can see the headlines now. Captain America kicks suspect off 30-story-building let's just give the legal team an ulcer huh?" he chuckled, arms crossing over his chest. The videos were a nightmare for Steve, he signed on for a fitness test video and now there were all sorts of videos for nearly every scenario... he figured it was either some new-fangled technology or a look-a-like. "I wouldn't put it past SHIELD, they did have a whole secret medical facility designed to bring us back to life in the event of one of our deaths... who's to say they don't have LMDs of us." the blonde chuckled "Don't I always?" he moved into the apartment after giving one last look down the hallway. He shut the door and moved towards the windows, peeking down at the traffic on the street clocking a couple of SUVs pulling up. Steve pulled his shield off his back, sliding his arm into the straps as he moved back to the kitchen "We need to move." he gave the girl a smile before whispering to Nat about the two SUVs.

SCARLET: "Miss Daisy!" she called, happily, as the door opened. her back was turned away from the door, so she assumed that was who it was. when she heard two sets of feet, and natasha's voice... she froze. "natasha?" the first thought that came through her head was that Daisy was gone again. that was the reason she'd been let go today. because Daisy was dead and they'd gotten her and she'd helped and... no. no. NO. "is my mom okay?" she asked, turning to look at Natasha. that was the only thing she cared about, until she saw the gun out and the badge and she asked about questions and... what was going on? "where's Daisy?" she put down the whisk and the bowl. what was happening? and where was Daisy? she offered Steve a scared smile, remembering how he'd sat with her the last time Daisy had gone missing. she could tell she was going to need some reassurance for... whatever was making them all buisnesslike right now. "why are you looking at me like that?" they couldn't know, could they?

NATASHA: "Ah, what doesn't give them an ulcer? I walk into a board room and they panic," she chuckled. "Like I got time to kill everything that inconveniences me. We can only hope SHIELD's learned from past mistakes. I trust Daisy at the helm. I wouldn't have come back if I didn't. Let's hope we can keep her there. I don't think I'd stick around if there was another directorial shift." She knew if any information leaked, it wouldn't look good for Daisy, so she approached Scarlet with caution. "Daisy is fine," she reassured the girl. "She's back at headquarters. She's requested we take you in, you're not safe here." She listened as Steve leaned in, whispering about two SUVs that had pulled up outside. Natasha nodded, glancing toward the window where she could see several men in military grade gear filing out of the SUVs. "So much for doing this quietly," she sighed, grabbing her gun from the back of her jeans. She did a cursory survey of the roof tops. There. She spotted black among the gray: a sniper. Natasha was quick to react, dropping low to the ground and swinging her feet to kick Scarlet down just as a bullet shot through the window. It lodged itself into a cabinet right where Scarlet's head had been only moments before. Natasha grabbed Scarlet firmly, pulling the girl to her feet, and pushing her toward Steve. "Get the kid to the car, I'll cover fire and meet you down there."

Steve: "Well the last time you got in front of a bunch of big wigs you basically told them to shove it up their asses and then walked out so I'm not surprised." deep down, the blonde felt bad for the people that had to clean up him and the other Avengers, but in their line of work there was bound to be collateral damage. Steve nodded her her statement, keeping an ear out for people coming into the building. Seeing Nat drop he followed, crouching by the door. The blonde slipped a comms unit into his ear before tossing one at Nat and grabbing the girl's arm "FRIDAY, I'm gonna need an alternate route out of here." He turned his blue eyes to the girl "I need you to stay low and do exactly as I say, ok? No questions."

SCARLET nodded, letting out a breath when she knew Daisy was safe. her releif was short lived, however, when natasha moved her legs out from under her so fast she could hardly blink. she was on the floor, her batter and her whisk splattered across the floor with a loud crash. she didn't have time to mourn it, though. or to really register the bullet that was... right where she'd been. were they shooting at her? no time to process, though, because she was suddenly being pulled to her feet by natasha and shoved at steve. she grabbed his arms for stability. she. was. terrified. luckily enough, the adrenaline in her veins provided some sort of focus enough to ignore the likely bruising where she'd hit the floor and nod. for a moment she was back in HYDRA's base at nine years old. her parents were holding her, leading her. we need to run. you need to hide. steve wasn't telling her to hide, but it was the same deal. stay low, stay with him. good. if he wasn't planning on leaving her alone, he wouldn't die the way her parents had. "ready." she said, a sincere focus in her eyes. they were gonna go and they were going to get out alive this time.

NATASHA: She nodded a thank you to Steve as he tossed her the coms set. “FRIDAY, what are we working with here?” she asked, slipping on the coms and taking cover behind the granite kitchen counter.             “Looks like you two brought the party. You’ve met the sniper on the roof. You’ve also got three coming through the front, two through the back, and two coming up the fire escape,” responded FRIDAY.              “Lovely,” she sighed, taking the safety off of her gun and carefully making her way toward the fire escape, she kept low to the ground, making sure to stay out of sight of the window in case the sniper decided to strike again. She turned to look at Steve and Scarlet who were looking for an alternate way out of the building. “The fire escape is our best bet. I can take down the two coming up the ladder. The sniper will be a continuous problem, so watch your heads when you get out there.”              Natasha heard the boots coming up the fire escape. She waited a breath before firing a round, it hit first man in the shoulder and sent him tumbling down the fire escape. The second man began firing into Daisy’s apartment. Natasha ducked, waiting until the man had to reload his gun before firing her next shot. It hit him in the leg causing him to lose balance and tumble backward as well. The fire escape was now clear, save for the sniper on the roof. Natasha heard heavy boots coming up the stairs of the apartment. The others were closing in.         “Hate to break it to you, boss, but another unit’s just arrived. You may want to move this party along,” FRIDAY warned.              “Looks like I might get to kick someone out the window at least,” she grinned as she looked at Steve. “Go before they send more assholes up this way. I’ll hold the off the ones coming up the stairwell. Watch your head,” she warned, moving away from the fire escape and making her way toward the door to hold back the others.

Steve: The blonde gripped the girl's shoulder and moved them towards the window, keeping to the wall and out of the line of fire. Steve leaned against the wall, tightening the straps of his shield as he listened to to FRIDAY and Nat. He wished that the building had an underground garage, it'd give them more cover then the fire escape and let them change vehicles, but this wasn't a perfect world and they had to work with what they had to work with. "My deepest apologies Nat, next time we'll plan for the bad guys to be on the roof so you can kick them off it." Steve chuckled before turning to the girl "I'm going out the window first, you stay out of sight until I make sure it's clear then you come out after me. Stay against the building as we move, remember, keep low." He didn't wait for an answer before hopping out of the window.                  Just as he was about to give Scarlet the all clear to get on the fire escape FRIDAY popped into his ear "Police are en-route to your location boss, about five minutes out." he let out a sigh "Shit, alright, come on kid we need to move." Steve moved so he was physically blocking the view of the window with his body.

SCARLET: they were talking about kicking people out of windows, there were shots being fired. it was all highly surreal and about a third of scarlet was sure this was a dream. it didn't feel real. but usually her dreams were quieter, more nonsensical. she didn't know what to make of anything other than she needed to stay alive. and she liked Steve and Natasha. they'd help her do that. and then Steve jumped out a window. there was a fire escape there, and she knew it, but it did scare her for half a second. or maybe it was just another jolt of terror at this whole situation. still, she tried to focus. stay down, stay close, don't get shot. she began muttering the words in german to herself, trying to focus on something as she followed steve to... wherever he was going. stay down, stay close, don't get shot

NATASHA: “That better be a promise, Rogers,” she grinned as she reloaded her gun. “Bring the car around for me. I’ll see you in a minute,” she promised as she watched Steve and Scarlet disappear down the fire escape. Natasha turned to look at the door as she heard armored bodies slamming up against it, attempting to open it. “Hey, FRIDAY,” the assassin grinned, “How about some tunes?”        “You got it, Boss,” FRIDAY replied as she took over the blue tooth speakers in the apartment. Dojo Cat’s Boss Bitch began playing just as the first goon breached through the door. “God Bless Tony Stark,” Natasha grinned and ran full steam ahead, jumping off the ground, and wrapping her legs around the first man’s neck in a thigh grip. She activated the spider bites on her gauntlet and brought them down upon the man’s neck, electrocuting him and causing him to go down.        Natasha pushed herself up off the ground as the second goon came at her. He made to grab her, but she ducked and spun out of the way. He whipped around to face her, but it was all too late for him. Natasha buried the heel of her foot in the man’s chest, kicking him hard and causing him to tumble out the open window. “Looks like I do get to kick someone out of the building at least.”         The third goon attempted to come at her from behind, but she dropped to the ground and kicked low, knocking him off his feet. As he went stumbling back, his head slammed against the kitchen counter knocking him out cold.        The last two goons began firing without discrimination into the apartment. Natasha ducked behind the kitchen island as a hail of bullets swept the place. “Ah, Boss...” the AI warned.        “It’s fine, FRIDAY,” Natasha replied as she pulled out two taser disks from her gauntlet. “I just need them to get a little--” Natasha sung around the kitchen island, activated the taser disks, and threw them at each of the goons. The disks hit both square in the chest, electrocuting them and causing them to drop their weapons. She shot both of them in the leg causing them to go down. “Is that it, FRIDAY?”       “Did you want more?” the AI asked incredulously. “I think that was enough for today. Police are on their way, it’s time to clear the station.”        “You got it, what’s the fastest route to Steve and Scarlet?”

Steve: "Don't be late." he gave Nat a grin before turning his attention back to the girl. Once she was out onto the fire escape he used his shield to block her from view, guiding her down towards the street. Steve moved as quickly as possible, keeping her hidden from the sniper. In the distance he could hear the police sirens nearing, causing him to pick up their pace. When they reached the bottom, Steve pushed the girl up against the building behind some cover "Wait here." he ordered before dropping down and hitting the goon from behind with his shield, glint of metal caught his attention from the corner of his eye as the other goon swung at him with a blade. Steve ducked down to avoid the blade before grabbing the mans elbow, twisting it as he threw him towards the brick wall of the building. "Ok kid, let's move." Once she was following him again he guided them towards Clint's car, which had somehow avoided any damage. "Natasha, what's your status?" he opened the door to the back seat and was starting to helping the girl inside when he heard someone behind him. Steve turned to see one of the goons from the alley coming towards him, so with practiced ease he spun on his heel throwing the shield at their chest. It hit them with a crack of bones breaking, and Steve caught his shield and turned back to the girl "In the car, now!" his jaw ticked slightly as he slammed the door shut and got in the drivers seat.

SCARLET: there were guns and there was shooting and it felt like the base attack all over again. luckily, the plan wasn't 'hide scarlet and try and fight them off' this time. which was good. because she didn't want to see anyone else die because of her. and yet, there was shots and they were aiming at her and why were they doing that? at least Steve's directions were clear, concise, to the point, direct. she had something to focus on. when she got in the car, she was breathing hard. her eyes were wide. and she finally had a bit of time to process the situation. fuck "they were shooting... why were they shooting?" that was all she could ask steve, as they sat in the car, waiting. "why are there so many guns?" she had so many questions, none of which seemed to have any answers. she didn't like that. not a bit.

NATASHA: She grinned when she heard Cap’s voice ask for her ETA. “We’re all clear up here,” she replied as she picked up a iron fire poker and chucked it at one of the goons who was trying to get up and come at her again. “Daisy can bill me for the damages. I’ll be down there in five. FRIDAY, what’s the fastest route?”        “Fastest route is now the back entrance,” the AI informed her. Natasha nodded as she slipped out of the apartment and headed down the back steps. She paused at the back door for a moment, listening to make sure no one was on the other side, before pushing it open. Natasha made herself small and stuck close to the building. As she got to the side of the building she peered around the corner and narrowly missed getting shot in the head by the sniper who’d been tracking her movements. “Fuck,” she breathed as she ducked back behind the apartment building. He was going to be a problem.        Natasha observed her surroundings. Clint’s jeep was only a sprint away, but the side of the apartment complex provided little coverage, only a fee trees here and there to block her from view if she made a run for it. Unlike Steve, she did not have an impenetrable shield to protect her. Police would also be on scene shortly and there were questions she really did not feel like answering today.         The assassin took a deep breath as she eyed one of the trees ahead. As she exhaled, she sprinted forward and simply kept moving. Natasha did what she could to obscure her body from sight as she ran. She could hear the sound of bullets whizzing overhead as the sniper fired his rounds, but it was hard to land a hit on a moving target. Natasha could see Steve push Scarlet into the back of Clint’s jeep as he got into the driver’s seat. She picked up pace, making it to the jeep in record time.        As she pulled on the handle to open the passenger door and slide in, she felt it. One of the sniper’s bullets ricocheted into her shoulder. “Ублюдка!” the assassin swore as she opened the door and slid in. The sniper fired round another round, this one hitting the door of the car as she slammed it shut. Natasha grabbed onto her shoulder to apply pressure to the wound. “Go, go!” she ordered. “Stay low!”

Steve: Steve started the car, revving the engine as he threw the car into drive. "We're ready when you are Nat." he leaned over and unlocked the passenger door for Nat before turning back to Scarlet "Well, they're bad guys with guns, they shoot... a lot." Jeez, this kid is thick. he thought to himself, how she became a hydra spy was beyond him. In the short time he'd interacted with the girl he could see why she flew under the radar as a spy but they clearly didn't have many plans for the kid.           He looked back out the window, spotting Nat making her way to him as she dodged the sniper "Kid, buckle up and hold on." Steve heard the bullets and he ducked down "Shit." he cursed under his breath "FRIDAY, get me a way out of here and to a safe house." The soldier knew that they'd try and follow so they would need to change vehicles once they lost them. "Boss, local units are a block away, you gotta get out of there." His blue eyes looked to the rear view mirror hearing the sirens getting closer. Just as he was about to tell Nat to hurry, he heard the bullet hit her. As soon as she shut the door he stepped on the gas, peeling away from the curb "You alright Nat? How bad is it?"

Scarlet wanted to scream. she wanted to cover her eyes, to cower in a corner. but instead, she fumbled with her seatbelt, heart beating faster, faster, faster... something was wrong. something was WRONG with this whole situation. because the people that Steve was calling the bad guys were people like hydra. and hydra didn't shoot at her. she didn't know if they were bad or good or somewhere in the middle, but she did know they didn't shoot at her. Natasha was shot and somehow that sound was the last straw. she'd been holding it together, barely, and like a jenga pile it all came crashing down. she wasn't there anymore. not really. she was hidden in a pile of body bags, hearing shots fired and that noise of shots connecting with flesh. she didn't scream. she didn't cry. she just shook as tears ran down her face. this was scary, and she didn't have much of any other thoughts on the matter.

NATASHA: “FUCK,” the assassin groaned, pulling down the passenger side visor and examining the bullet wound in the mirror. “It’s safe to say I’ve had better days,” she admitted. “Which is more than I can say for our sniper friend once I identify him through the CCTV cameras." It wasn’t the first time she’d been shot in the line of duty. Her body carried a barrage of battle scars; this was another to add to the list. “It looks like the bullet went clean through,” she winced. “I don’t feel any shrapnel in there.” But she did feel every bump in the road as the jeep speed along. It hurt like a motherfucker, but she would heal in time and faster than most thanks to the enhancements the red room had given her as a child.        Natasha shuffled through the glove compartment where she knew Clint kept a med kit. She finally got the kit open and pulled out an XStat Syringe. These were military grade syringes that carried a dose of tiny sponge-like discs that could be injected into a gunshot wound. The sponges, which were treated with an anti-hemorrhagic substance, expand to 10 times their size in seconds, both plugging the wound and providing needed compression to stanch the bleeding. Natasha popped the cap of the syringe open with her mouth and brought it down over the open wound. “чертовски ад!” she groaned.  She could feel the sponges expanding as they plugged up the wound. She released a breath she’d been holding and gave Steve the once over to make sure that he was alright. “You may wanna call ahead and give them a warning,” she chuckled somewhat breathlessly. “You know how Thing 1 and Thing 2 get.” Clint and James had been pissed off enough when Steve and Nat left the safe house. They were going to be fuming now that she was coming back to them injured. Natasha wiped off beads of sweat from her forehead as she looked at up at the kid through the rear view mirror. Scarlet was as white as a sheet and shellshocked. “You alright, kid?” she asked. 

STEVE: The blonde looked over at Natasha, smirking slightly as he teased her "You kiss your mother with that mouth?" he chuckled as he followed the directions F.R.I.D.A.Y. gave him in his ear, weaving in and out of traffic. As he put more distance between them the tension he felt decreased, but only slightly. Steve knew that this whole thing would only get worse before it gets better and he really didn't want to deal with another HYDRA infestation. He turned off the main road, working his way towards a nearby safe house to switch out cars before heading to HQ. "I want to change cars before heading to HQ to make sure they aren't following, I'll call them during the switch and alert medical to be on standby to check you out."        His blue eyes moved from the road to the rear view mirror to make sure they weren't being followed, only to catch a glimpse of Scarlet passing out. He scoffed as he turned into the garage of the safe house "Shit, let's hope she wakes up before we get to HQ. I want to get all of this figured out as quick as we can." He threw the car in park and cut the engine, unbuckling Nat's seatbelt before his own. Steve got out of the car and opened the back door, collecting his shield before getting the girl out of jeep and putting her in the SUV. He let out a sigh, moving to look at Nat's shoulder "Looks like it's bye bye halter tops." teasing as he pulled out his phone to call Bucky, he'd handle Nat getting hit better than Clint would.

NATASHA: "No, but I did kiss you so I suppose that's close enough," she teased. She tried to keep her face neutral as they weaved in and out of traffic; she didn't want to unnecessarily worry Steve. She'd been shot plenty of times before and with a lot less equipment around to patch up her wounds. She was lucky Clint tended to be accident prone and kept enough of med wings gear in his truck. Natasha nodded as Steve mentioned switching cars. They needed to dump this one in case someone was following them.        “At least we know it’ll be a quite ride,” she mused as she glanced back in the mirror to see Scarlet in the backseat. She supposed it had all simply been too much for the girl. Unfortunately for Scarlet, she still had to go through interrogation and injured or not, Natasha was very thorough. She nodded a thank you to Steve as he unbuckled her seatbelt and helped her out of the jeep. She grimaced as she examined the bullet holes in the truck. “Guess we owe Clint a new jeep,” she replied as she slid into the replacement vehicle. She rolled her eyes as Steve continued to tease her. “Keep talking, Rogers, and I’ll give you a bullet wound to match,” she teased right back as he started the car and made his way toward HQ.        Security was quick and responsive as the pair pulled up in the van. Three guards opened the back of the van and roused Scarlet to her feet, taking her toward the interrogation room. Another two guards opened the passenger door of the van and helped Natasha out. She refused to be taken by gurney on principle. Her arm was shot, but her legs worked just fine. “Don’t start the party without me,” she winked at Steve as she followed the security guards down to the med wing. This was one mission that had definitely not gone according to plan.

[broadwaybaggins]

I scream, you scream

“You...fell.”

“Yes.”

Jed narrowed his eyes, fixing Byron Hale with a piercing look. Bryon didn’t flinch under his gaze, but he did at least have the decency to look guilty. Mary, standing next to Jed, wished she could be anywhere but there. Back in her cramped cabin with the girls, in the art barn with Anne and Emma--hell, she’d even take lifeguard duty with Alice Green at this point.

Jed took a deep breath. “You fell...into the poison ivy.”

No one spoke for a moment, the only sound the faint melody of some acoustic indie--folk song that Mary didn’t know playing quietly over the speakers (Jed had won their daily battle over who got to control the music). Finally, Mary broke the silence.

“...With your pants down.” It wasn’t a question.

Byron’s face turned redder than the sunburn Mary had treated a few hours ago. “Yes! That’s what happened. I fell into poison ivy with my pants down. How many times are you going to make me say it?” His hands clenched into fists at his sides. He was shaking now. Mary wasn’t sure if it was from anger, embarrassment, or an overwhelming need to keep himself from scratching.

“I thought it would be fine, I went to bed, and this morning...well, you can imagine. Now can you please give me something for it?” He spoke to Jed alone. “Please, help me out. I’m dying over here.”

Mary crossed her arms over her chest as Jed bit his lip, seeming to weigh his options. Was he really trying to figure out if he could help him, or was he just trying to torture Byron? Either seemed possible. 

“Fine. Go in the back room,” Jed said, indicating the makeshift sick room they had in the back of the health lodge, which contained a tiny cot in case a camper needed to lie down. Most of the cases the health lodge dealt with--scrapes, bug bites, skinned knees and the like--were treated in the big front room where they stood now, but Mary understood the need for privacy. She nodded at Jed--it was the first sensible thing he’d said all day. “One of us will be in with you in a minute.”

Well, that was short-lived. One of us?

Byron nodded gratefully and shuffled off to the back. Jed out after him without turning around. “Am I to assume we may also expect to see Miss Hastings soon for a...similar predicament?”

Byron cringed, turning even redder if possible. “I--maybe. You--you might. But I’m pretty sure I got the...worst of it.”

Jed nodded. “Great. One of us will be in with you in a minute.”

As soon as Byron had disappeared into the back, Mary whirled on Jed. “What the hell do you mean, one of us? You have to treat him!”

“Come here.” Jed’s fingers closed around Mary’s elbow before she had time to react, and he pulled her into the tiny office of the health lodge. There was a counter with a window that could open to the outside--it was where the campers who had to take medication came each day to get their meds--but it was closed now, so they could speak in relative private. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he chastised, his voice low. “You’re going to be a doctor. You can treat him just as much as I can.”

Mary stared at him.  This was like deja vu from care package day, and she didn’t care for it. “I know that. I cannot emphasize enough how much I don’t want to.”

Jed looked uncomfortable. “You think I do? Sharing a cabin with him is hard enough.”

“All the more reason that you should do it. You have...previous experience.”

Now he looked pained. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that, Phinney. Go on. It’ll be good for you. Isn’t doing things that scare you one of our camp mottos or something?”

“I am not scared,” Mary hissed. She frantically searched her mind for another argument. “You got to pick the music!”

It was a poor effort and they both knew it. Jed raised an eyebrow at her just as the door of the health lodge banged open. A tearful wail split the air as a little voice cried out. “I want Nurse Maryyyyyyyyyyy!”

“I know, baby, I know,” Charlotte crooned. She caught sight of Mary and Jed in the office and waved them out. “She’s right here, okay? She’ll make you feel better.”

Mary shot Jed a look of triumph. “Duty calls, I’m afraid. Tell Byron I said hi. Make sure to wear your gloves.”

“This isn’t over, Phinney.”

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

When Mary poked her head into the back room sometime later, Jed was sitting on the cot, looking exhausted and jaded as ever. Byron was nowhere to be seen--must have slipped out the back door. Jed looked up at Mary and managed a wan smile. “Ah, Phinney. Is our young friend still with us?”

She shook her head. “Char just left with her. She’s okay, she just rolled her ankle a bit. She’ll be fine.”

“She asked for you specifically. That’s good--you’re good with the kids.”

It was probably the closest he’d come to complimenting her all summer. “Thanks. I’m thinking about going into pediatrics.”

“You’d be good at it.”

“Is Byron...”

Jed rolled his eyes in a way that would rival Anne on her best day. “He’ll live. If it helps at all, it was mostly on his ass.”

“Mostly?”

“Best not to think too much about it.” He fixed Mary with a traumatized look, and after a moment, she burst out laughing. He laughed too, shaking his head. “They don’t pay us enough for this damn job.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Mary had to agree. “God, you look miserable. Thanks for taking one for the team. Um...can I make it up to you?”

The question flew out of Mary’s mouth before she had time to think about it. He looked at her curiously and she hoped he hadn’t taken it the wrong way. An image flew into her mind unbidden of her and Jed pressed against the wall of the health lodge...or trying to share the tiny cot he was currently perched on...

“I mean--candy,” she sputtered. “I got a bunch of candy from home--I’m more than happy to share--”

Jed looked at her thoughtfully apparently oblivious to her discomfort, then stood up. “I will take you up on your offer, but I have something else in mind. Come on, follow me.”

“W-what?” Mary asked, not comprehending. 

He brushed past her in the doorway, a spicy scent filling Mary’s nose as he did so. Campfire smoke for sure, but there was something else...

“You’re going to buy me an ice cream. Come on, let’s go.”

Not knowing what else to do, she followed him. A wall of humidity assaulted her as soon as she left the air-conditioned cocoon of the health lodge.They locked the door and flipped the sign over so that cheerful woodland creatures proclaimed to all that they would “be right back.” Jed shoved his hands deep in his pockets, and they set off across the main part of camp towards the snack bar.

The snack bar at Camp Green Wood was a relatively recent addition--one of the only new buildings built in the last five years. It sold everything from ice cream to chips and candy, and parents of campers put money into an account at the beginning of the summer so the kids could purchase snacks without actually handling any currency. Mary hadn’t actually been there yet, but she had to admit that it was a pretty genius idea.

“So, that little girl who came in,” Jed said as they walked. “She called you Nurse Mary.”

Mary blushed, giving a little shrug. “A couple of them have started doing that. I’m not really sure why. I guess ‘Going-to-be-a-doctor-someday Mary’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it. I don’t really mind. They’re little kids. If it helps them to think of me as a nurse, I don’t have a problem with that.”

“No, it’s just interesting, that’s all. I’m pretty sure most of them just call me Jed.”

They passed the administration office, where raised voices could be heard even through the closed window. Mary thought she heard the words “cannot afford” before a door slammed and cut them off. She looked at Jed, both of them walking faster as if trying to stay as far as possible from whatever the Greens were arguing about.

They reached the snack bar and Mary looked up at the menu, considering her options. The caramel sundae sounded good, but she glanced at Jed and asked, “I haven’t had anything from here yet. What’s good?”

He looked at her in shock, and Mary crossed her arms defensively. “What? I’m busy. I haven’t had time. Seriously, what’s good here.”

“Forgive her, she’s new,” Jed told the guy behind the counter. He turned and looked over Mary critically, as if appraising her. “Do you trust me?”

“What?”

“It’s a simple enough question.”

It actually wasn’t, but Mary didn’t feel like pointing that out. “Sure.”

“Mary Phinney. I’m gonna need a more definitive answer than that. Do you trust me.”

He leaned in close to her, maybe a little too close. Mary’s heartbeat sped up just a bit. Fuck.

“I trust you.” 

“Okay. Now that that’s settled.” He backed off, and Mary could breathe again. “Favorite flavor of slush?”

“Huh? S--Strawberry.”

A strange look came into his eyes, surprise and satisfaction all at once. He turned back to the order window. “Two strawberry glaciers, please. On her tab.”

Their order taken, Jed ushered Mary towards the pick-up window. “What’s a glacier?” Mary asked, but he waved her question away.

“You’ll find out.” Jed drummed his fingers on the counter as he waited. Mary watched him as discreetly as she could. He finally looked like he was a bit more at ease, something that until now she had only observed when he was around the campfire with his guitar. It was as if he and Mary had entered into a truce, at least for now--the bickering put on hold at least until they’d finished their ice cream. And maybe...

Girlfriend, Mary. He has a girlfriend, remember?

“Two strawberry glaciers!” From behind the counter, the other guy produced two cups filled to the brim with strawberry slush, topped with a generous dollop of soft serve vanilla ice cream in the middle. Mary took hers and regarded it with curiosity. This hadn’t been what she had expected.

“Thanks, Kendrick,” Jed told the guy, taking his own glacier and waving goodbye. There was a little bench along the side of the snack bar, and this is where Jed led Mary, sitting down and indicating what she should sit next to him. “I have to admit, I didn’t have you pegged as a strawberry girl. It’s my favorite, too.”

“What kind did you think I’d like?” Mary asked, genuinely curious.

Jed studied her intently for a minute, and Mary tried to shake the feeling that he was looking at her under a microscope, all of her flaws and secrets--even how she felt about him--on display for him to see.

“Maybe green apple,” he said finally. “Sweet, but with a bite, too.” He held out his glacier to Mary. “Cheers, Phinney.”

She tapped her paper cup against his and dug her spoon in, making sure to get both ice cream and slush on the first bite. The minute it touched her tongue, her eyes widened, and Jed laughed.

“Right? Best slushies I’ve ever had. I don’t know how they do it. And the soft serve is just...”

“Perfect. It tastes like all the best things about summer.”

“That’s it. That’s it exactly.” Jed punctuated his words with a huge bite of his own. He got a bit of soft-serve in the corner of his mouth and Mary tried not to imagine leaning over to wipe it away...or placing her lips there just enough to--

"I--I can’t believe that just happened, by the way?” she stammered, desperate for a change of subject that would make her stop imagining the way his lips probably tasted like strawberries now too. Even if the subject change meant bringing up Byron again.

Jed, apparently feeling the same way, made a face. “Come on, Mary. We’re eating.”

“I just mean, what are the odds?”

Jed arched an eyebrow at her. “I think you know the odds probably more than anyone, considering you bunk with Anne.”

Mary’s face turned red, and she stared at her ice cream for a few seconds. Finally, Jed laughed. “We do have a bit of a...reputation, you might say, for debauchery among the staff. At least in the last few years. It’s not something we’re proud of. At least, I’m not proud of it. To be frank, I’m not sure why the good people of Virginia continue to trust us with their children. Something tells me the Greens spend a good deal of time and money to keep our public image squeaky-clean. Although, numbers are down this year, so you never know...”

“Are they?” Mary asked. It was the first she’d heard of such a thing.

“Yeah, there’s a few cabins that aren’t being used at all this year. Usually we’re full up, with a waiting list and everything. It’s just kind of weird, that’s all. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, though.”

They fell silent, just enjoying their glaciers and the brief respite from the heat that the shade provided. Anne happened to walk by with a group of campers, spotted Mary, and did a series of discreet but increasingly lascivious gestures that, blessedly, Jed did not see. Mary waved her away, and Anne turned her attention back to her group, but not before winking suggestively at Mary and cackling loudly.

“Are you liking it here?” Jed asked, scraping his spoon against the ice cream dregs in the bottom of his cup.

Mary was a bit taken aback--given Jed’s previous treatment of her, the endless back-and-forth bickering that they usually participated in, this wasn’t a question she had been preparing to get from him. But he looked genuinely interested, and she nodded. “I am. It’s different than I thought. Less work, more...”

“Sitting around wondering how many more times you can inventory medical supplies and listen to camp songs?” Jed offered. Mary laughed.

“Yeah. But the people are nice, and it’s good work experience. So yeah, I do. I like it here.”

“Good.” Jed held out his hand for her empty cup, which she handed to him. He tossed both in the trash, then stood up. “Because we’re glad to have you here, and I’m afraid the health lodge awaits us.”

“Yeah, we should be heading back.”

“And Phinney?”

“Yeah?”

“The next time Byron Hale comes to us with poison ivy in a...delicate location, you are dealing with it.”

Mary allowed herself to smirk. “We’ll see about that.”