#JUST LEARN TO LOVE PAIN AND BE PATIENT ;( au: got ) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jellyj777 · 2 months ago

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04; Kiss? | THE PATIENT

THE PATIENT | Book | Ch04;Kiss?

JungkookxReader (smut/fluff/angst)

— Falling in love with a patient in an asylum might not be everyone's tea but you had a thing to fix something you never broke at first place.

Words: 4.8k+

TROPES:: One sided hate, Therapist Au.

SYNOPSIS:: —"Don't trust me, Believe in me"

WARNINGS:: Talk about abuse, Violence ahead, explicit language, Anger issues

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Seok: I'm nervous as fuck, Y/N.

Seok: Send help T-T.

You chuckle at the emoticon he used. Silly funny guy.

You: It's not your first time, don't worry too much ffs.

You: Haven't you been doing this for like five years now?

Seok: So?! That doesn't mean I can't get nervous.

There are new interns at our place this for this meeting, like five or six more, definitely more than last time. True. New university students always join to get their internships to become future nurses or doctors but what confuses you is that why is Hoseok nervous?

Out of all the doctors in this place, you have never seen Hoseok nervous before well that is because he never is. He has always presented whenever these meetings happened and he was never nervous. Always smiley with his tone and words.

You: It's not your first time, stop worrying too much. We're all there for you, Seok. I'd be sitting in front.

Seok: You better be ready for my glare.

Seok: I'll be staring at you while explaining the crowd. Makes it easy ^_^

You roll your eyes and swing on the chair with your back slumped against the same, makes you curious of his topic. He didn't talk about it like he always does before the presentation.

You: Whatever, if that helps you then do so.

You: What's your topic anyways? Thought you've been researching for days now.

Seok: Bipolar Disorder

Seok: We got a new patient with it and I researched for the nurses to learn about the symptoms and stuff.

Bipolar Disorder. Good one and would help the nurses to learn more about the disease.

You: Oh that's cool. I'll see you in the meeting room.

You: You got this!!

Seok: Thxx.

Seok: See u.

Putting your phone down, you get up from your seat to make your way out of the clinic. The clinic named under your name in the hospital designed with little things of yours just for the sake of your own mental health.

It's not easy to work in hospital especially as a nurse or a doctor. Especially when you can get slapped before by a patient, saying by the experience while you were working as a nurse doing mainly your internship. It's only been three years since you became a doctor in your department before that life, as a nurse, it wasn't easy at all.

Being a nurse in a mental hospital can be something which is risky for your own mental health too, you're surely aware of how stressful these types of meetings can be from a doctor's and a nurse's perspective. You remember the time when you were a nurse and Hoseok was one of the doctors back then.

He is always cheerful with the staff (the position of the staff doesn't matter) and made the place better than the emotional hell rollercoaster it was, but it amazes you how Hoseok is such a nice doctor even though he has witnessed a lot of bad stuff happening with his patients, done by the patients themselves.

Hoseok is one strong man that you know. Emotionally of course and on physical matters, it truly depends. You're aware how hard it can be to cope up with a patient's pain. Again, with experience.

He was the patient for you at that time. Left quite an impression on you to be honest.

A shrill like scream echoed in the hallway taking you out of your thoughts. The nurses rush towards the sound of the scream and with a frown, you follow along with the nurses. Not confused, just surprised at the sudden outburst. It wasn't uncommon to hear these types of shrills, screams, cries in the hospital building.

Many patients had different illnesses meaning that they have different hallucinations regarding the same. You walk past Jungkook's room who was looking out of the window with his one hand fiddling with elastic as he stretches the elastic out and another 'pop' sound in the room of his.

The sound of the elastic pop echoes. Not in the room but in his mind. Didn't even pay attention to the scream. Too busy with his own thoughts.

"Shit." You murmur and walk past the nurses to look at one of your patients who was laying on the floor with blood oozing of their wrist. "Bring the medic kit."

One of the nurses nod and rush away to bring the kit. Your hand wrapped around the wrist of the patient, mouth leaving comforting words that everything's gonna be fine.

Ji a. A patient who had ED. Suffered from the societal norms of getting fat-shammed in her early teens now in her late 20s has self-harm as her coping defense mechanism and is suffering from malnutrition.

Her other hand held the butter knife. It's actually phenomenal how some patients have found a way to do self harm without any materials provided to them.

You grab the butter knife and throw it away while one of the nurses clean up the wound and the other injects the injection through her forearm which makes her hiss. Ji a cried loud and clear letting you know she's in pain, in pain with the thing that she caused herself.

"It's fine, everything's gonna be fine..." your voice trails off in Ji a's mind, her head drops with a 'thud' on your lap, eyes closed and all the uneasiness washes away.

With a sigh, you get up after Ji a is safely tucked into bed and one of the helping hands walks in the mop to clean the blood from the floor.

"Doc. Mun, your coat..." The nurse points at your coat which had splash of bloods on it. Would leave a stain for sure but it was nonetheless than unusual. A little stain of blood is something every doctor is used to in here due to some of the patients.

"It's fine," you reassure and shrug it off but speak up again, "but what's not fine is that who forgot the butter knife."

The tension among the nurses infront of you rises as no one answers. "I just want to know who forgot it, no big consequences will be taken. Mistakes are tend to happen." You repeat, wanting the person who left the knife to admit without feeling scared, of course mistakes are tend to happen and a lesson should be taught so that it doesn't occur again.

Finally, a nurse steps in front, someone who you haven't seen before. You tilt your eyebrows upwards with a head tilt. "Was it you?" You ask. She nods.

"Everyone, make sure Ji a is fast asleep and check up the place again," You pause and point at the small closet beside the bed. "Make sure to check the cupboard, under the bed and anything that can help in self-harming should be removed."

The nurses nod and get to work, with squinted eyes you read the new nurse's name 'Sarah'. "And Sarah, please be at my office after checking up."

Sarah nods and waits for you to walk out. With a final look around the room, the other patient looking frightened by the encounter is now being comforted by the nurse. You walk out of the room to change your blood stained coat.

First time this week, new achievement for the year as it's Wednesday and it's only the first time blood got stained on your coat.

After changing your coat in the changing room for staff only, you make your way back to your clinic where Sarah was waiting out looking nervous, her gaze fixed on the pillar in front and wasn't even trying to look for you until your eyes meet. You gesture her to get in to which she nods, passes you a nervous smile, makes you reciprocate with your soft one.

The moment you both step, the awkward silence burns in the air, being the doctor you were and the senior one, it meant you're supposed to start the conversation. "I won't scold you," you start breaking the uneasiness and clear your throat. "Mistakes happen but you should be considerate with the choices you're providing for the patients."

Sarah nods, "I know, I'm so sorry, Doctor Mun. I just got transferred from a hospital to here and it's different. This is not an excuse for my behavior but it won't repeat again."

You're glad she took responsibility for her issue and it's normal to make mistakes. We're all just humans after all. "Um, I didn't know what illness was Ji a suffering from." She murmurs again quietly.

Your eyerbrows crease together, "What do you mean that you're not aware of what Ji a's suffering from?" You ask clearly confused by her statement. How can a nurse who is given a patient can't know the diagnosis of the patient.

"I mean, nobody told me. I'm telling you Doctor Mun, I'm new to the place." She pauses awkwardly fidgeting with her hands before she continues again not sure if the words she'll propose are correct. "I got transferred from a normal hospital with normal patients to this horrendous place."

"Horrendous? Excuse me." You scoff and fold your arms in front of your chest. Calling a helping hospital for patients who did not even want a specific diagnosis horrendous is crazy. This is not the correct vocab you'll use for this place.

At least not horrendous.

Sarah just shrugs her shoulders again looking uncomfortable for this conversation. "I said what I said, it's just new to me" She states again, staying stuck to her ground.

"Listen, I understand it's new to you but you cannot call a hospital — any kind — horrendous. Please improve your vocab cause I won't be tolerating this kind of language in a workplace where we are the helping hands for citizens. Understood?"

She nods, so you continue. "If you find this place being hard for you to handle please transfer to another hospital and the mistake that happened today should not be repeated. If you need any help with knowing some diagnosis, you can always come to my office, got it?"

"Yes, Doctor Mun." She nods again as you gesture her to leave with a small smile which she reciprocates and bows before leaving the room.

The lights shut off in the presentation room with projector being the only source of light at the moment, Hoseok clears his throat with a smile, his eyes the room and ended up landing it at you just like he promised.

"Hello everyone," he starts. "I'm Doctor. Jung for many of you who are new to the department or are doing their internships in here for future doctors or nurses. This is the meeting room where the doctors will knowledge you about general topics which can help you to learn more about the patients, I'll be starting today by talking about Bipolar Disorder as mentioned in the slide of the presentation."

He points at the screen behind him with his hand, there were total of six nurses in the room with three new interns and three doctors including you. You sat beside Dr. Kim, eyes locked in the front with your focus on the presentation.

These meetings are basically for new people in the hospital or even the old nurses who want to learn more about mental health diagnosis. You were basically here to support Hoseok knowing he returns the favor by coming to your presentations too, you already knew about bipolar disorder but supporting your friend is more important in this situation.

"Bipolar disorder is something that society believes into happening with anger issues in someone. Yes, this can be right but there are different types of Bipolar diseases and not all of them occur due to anger issues." Hoseok clicks the 'enter' button on the keyboard as the slide moves to second page with ease.

The second slide contained of three partition graph of types of bipolar diseases; "Bipolar 1 is defined by maniac attacks which are last up to seven days which can severe in many cases leading the patient to be rushed to hospital." He speaks.

"How severe?" The previous nurse, Sarah asks just like before she looked genuinely confused. Not her fault to begin with, she had zero knowledge about mental health and her transfer here is something that is really funny in a way and you're sure Hoseok will give you the tea about her transfer later, that is making you curious in a way now.

"Very, that patients suffering from this specific type of diagnosis go through depressive and maniac attacks altogether." Hoseok replies as Sarah nods her and writes down in her notebook.

"The worst part about this specific type is that the person suffering from it can change their mood from being overly happy which can be included in mania," He points out so that the interns can write down. "and feeling overly down which can be categorized under depressive attacks."

"So, a person can feel happy and sad at the same time?" An intern asks.

"Yes and the emotions of roller coaster is so fast that the person doesn't even what's happening." He nods and moves to another slide, "The worst part is that the emotions of roller coasters are so high that people can even hallucinate or even get delusions."

"Hallucinations and Delusions? Can you give more specific example for this situation?" Sarah asks raising her arm as Hoseok nods back.

"People living with this disease can feel strange sensations like hearing or seeing something that was never there which is also known as hallucinations; They also seem to believe in irrational stuff which may seem irrelevant to other people. Also note down that this usually happens when a person is going through a maniac or depressive episode."

Sarah nods so Hoseok continues, "A person with bipolar may be unaware that they going with a maniac phase or episode which means, they might be shocked after their phase is over or would mainly not believe people that they actually did something like that. It sound surreal to them basically."

A nurse raises her hand as Hoseok points after to speak, "Is there any cure for this? Like fully cure? Can a person live normally again after being diagnosed with this disease?" She asks.

"Unfortunately no, a person cannot live normally again. Bipolar disease is something which is life long and a person will survive basically on meds their whole life. They would also get episodes out of nowhere and that is what the meds help them in." He shifts his weight form one leg to another, "Meds prescribes can help in reducing the hallucinations and helps in balancing out the happiness with sadness in a person's life."

The next fifteen minutes went by Hoseok answering questions about the diagnosis and went much deeper about this topic. He took the questions and explained thoroughly with a smile and did not get annoyed at basic or even the most obvious questions. Thanks to his six years of training in being a doctor.

He later explained about this new patient who will be transferred here from another hospital next week, the patient was young and that is something uncommon in this specific disorder.

Bipolar can start from the earliest ages in childhood but children are often neglected thinking they are just acting up as kids or even in late 40s with anger and emotions build up. The guy who is being transferred is mere twenty-five and has been admitted since a year now.

"You did great as usual," You smile and pat Hoseok's back who walked beside you, the presentation ended five minutes ago and everyone went back to doing their work.

He shrugs with a proud smirk making you roll your eyes knowing he'll talk about his presentation for the next few hours at this point. He'll point out how good he was while talking about his topic even though this guy was glaring into your soul for the whole time. Was too nervous to even break eye contact. "You know I'm the best."

"Yeah, as if you weren't dyeing in there." You sarcastically comment with a sarcastic smug like smile.

"Ok, bae. I get you're jealous of my speaking skills." He grins walking into your clinic following you behind.

"Fuck off," You laugh and settle back in your chair putting the notes from today on the table, "What's up with the new nurse?"

"Who? Sarah?" He raises his eyebrows settling himself in front of you on the chair. Your hands fiddling on the table with the paperweight, your favorite thing to do in the world besides fixing stuff of course.

You nod, "Yeah, she even forgot butter knife in Ji a's room."

"Oh that was what the scream was about?" He asks, he knew about the patient Ji a, you told him about her condition and everything as he does the same bout his patients. He did in fact heard a scream when he was re-reading his notes for the nth time in front of the mirror but didn't pay much attention knowing it's really common for that to happen.

"Yeah," You reply.

"Hm, Sarah?" He hums again, head tilted upwards thinking about Sarah's transfer. "Oh, she got transferred here from Gwangju district." He answers, eyes back on you as he recalled the talk he had in the morning about new staff.

"Reason?" You raise an eyebrow at him.

"She was like too nice there and got transferred here. Apparently she'll take time with every patient which is a good thing but the amount of staff normal hospital has are less causing the work to be delayed." He answers.

You nod back even though you wanted to scoff at his but now it makes sense why Sarah got transferred here and being honest she doesn't look like the person Hoseok is describing. Maybe you need more time with her to get to know her fully.

After having a talk with Hoseok for the next fifteen minutes, mostly him breaking down the tea he got from another department. Hosoek got up to leave for his clinic. Says a quick 'see you at lunch' and walks out of the clinic room.

You hum to the jazz music that was playing through the small speaker connected to you and go back to doing your work. The door opening catches you a little off guard cause no nurse was allowed to enter a doctor's clinic without permission. You look up and your eyes meet up with Jungkook who stood there in his hospital pajamas, his expression a little unfocused and haze.

"Jungkook?" You ask, he gulps and walks in the room closing the door behind. This was confusing cause what was he doing here if he's supposed to be in his room.

"I need help." He speaks and takes a seat in front of you. You pause the jazz music quick and look at him with curious yet confused eyes. You don't mean to sound rude but you won't currently be getting paid to listen to his rant but you'll welcome it the most if it meant to help him or any other patients in his position.

"Yes? What is it?" You ask back, focus on him now.

"I did a bad thing." He replies, voice soft and innocent unlike how it usually is.

"A bad thing?" You ask back with a smile keeping calm cause both of you can't be panicking.

He nods, "You know Ji a?" He asks as if you were unaware of her. His choice of question now made you more curious, confused of why he's asking if you know Ji a cause you're basically her caretaker and doctor.

"Yeah, what about her? Did you talk with her today?" You question back with a smile but the frown on your face was opposite from the tone of your voice, happy cause he made a friend, maybe? but he just nods and stays silent. His expression was guilty which made your smile fall getting the sign that it wasn't just a friendly chat.

Silence settle between you two as you wait for him to speak but he avoided your gaze. Okay! the hell you mean he'll walk in firstly without permission and then talk like he did a big ass crime and then not speaking at all. "You can tell me, I won't tell anyone, y'know?" You break the silence slowly with a whisper.

He gulps "She, um, came to me today and started talking." He speaks again trying his best to explain the situation. You nod back showing that you're listening to him and he can continue talking. "She kissed me." Jungkook sighs finally letting it out of his chest, doesn't want to roam around the situation that happened. He didn't fully trust you but believed in you that you won't tell anyone hopefully.

Your eyes widened and eyebrows raised very confused now. His head hung low after his confession thinking he did something bad. "I'm sorry, what?" You ask not quiet believing him.

"Yeah, she, um kissed me and I don't know how but she just came to me and started talking and then the next moment she kissed me." He states, panic filled his voice as he looks up again to meet your not believing gaze.

"So you both kissed?" You ask again, he nods and you nod too. You both are quiet again, silence takes over between you two. You didn't see anything bad in this, they just kissed. What's the bad thing about it? "Can you explain me what happened fully?" You ask.

"She came to me and showed me her wrist when I was going to the washroom. She had like bandage around it and then suddenly she kissed me!" He exclaims.

Okay. So the kiss just didn't happen, it happened without his permission which is crazy. In the three years of being a doctor this is not the first time you're hearing about a patient kissing the other, both of them haven't felt intimacy for years now. Longer for Jungkook more than it was for Ji a. You've found patient even fucking in the field so this wasn't the craziest thing you ever heard. What was crazy though that it was out of Jungkook's consent.

"You didn't wanted to kiss her?" You ask and he shakes his head proving that he in fact did not wanted to kiss Ji a. "So, why'd you think that you did the bad thing? You did nothing bad in this." You speak, tone soft keeping up with your phycology major. Thanks to the university teacher who made you find calm in any situation. Periodt.

"I don't know but I didn't wanted to kiss her," He tried to explain shifting uncomfortably in his seat. It was clear sign that he didn't wanted to kiss Ji a but he wasn't sure how to say that in words.

"Uncomfortable?" You ask.

"Yeah, uncomfortable, it was out of nowhere and it fet so uneasy, more uneasy than the injections you guys give." He murmurs, nibbling on his lower lip.

"I'm sorry that happened, I'll talk Ji a and this would never happen again." You apologize, "Are you okay?"

He hesitates but nods; "I just... it's been a long time since I kissed someone or someone kissed me and it was a bit weird too."

"How long, hm? I'm so sorry, Jungkook that this happened to you. I promise this won't happen again." You murmur, a lump stuck jn your throat as you swallow. The feeling Jungkook must've felt must've been crazy to be honest and it was making you vulnerable even when you're thinking about it.

You're aware that Ji a is one of the patients and must have not been in her right mindset while doing something so serious. None of this excuses her behavior though, the way she luntched on Jungkook was clearly a sexual assault; doesn't matter if it was a small one.

"I don't like all this touching stuff," Jungkook declares hoping you'd understand his inability of being comfortable with touches. "And I haven't kissed anyone in a while so it really took me by surprise." He explains.

"I'll make sure it never happens again, Jungkook." You state with confident, this thing happening once was a big shock to you so it happening twice will be a big disappointment in it's own.

He nods, he believes you at least tries to you knowing you always stuck to your words. He gets up and was about to leave but stops in his tracks.

"Can I ask a favour, Doc?" He asks.

"Of course, anything. What is it?" You raise your eyebrows at him, now standing up from your chair so that you can drop Jungkook off to his room.

"Is there any way my room can be near your office?" He questions, voice low and slow almost a whisper. He said it as if it was a crime.

"Give me a second," You bite your bottom lip and bend down towards your computer to check if there's any rooms available nearby your clinic. "Hm, there's one room that was being renovated but it will take time."

He shrugs his shoulders, "I'm fine with the time taking, I just want to near your clinic so that I feel safe."

"Um, okay, I'll talk with someone and try my best to get you the room," You smile, standing up straight again. "Until then, just try to contact me or the nurses if something like this happens again."

He nods and walks out of your clinic with you behind him. The conversation towards his room was basically about his daily routine, about what he's eating nowadays or if he wants to try some new food or even fruits like last time. You got the feeling that he was still affected by the situation with Ji a which was quiet surprising cause Ji a has never thrown herself on to people moreover to kiss them.

She was very insecure about her looks, something that someone should not be but speaking generally out of her results, she was basically afraid to show herself to people. These fears led her to isolate herself from others, feeling conscious whenever someone looks at her, became a picky eater too.

You tried your best to make Jungkook feel safe, even if it was just a little. The effort put by you is enough to be noticed by Jungkook.

"Doc?" He starts, now sitting on his bed while you pour a cup of water for him and hum back to his questioning voice to answer. "Will you actually change my room?" He asks, yet again, a little conflicted and hesitant with his questions.

"I will try to, Jungkook." You hand him the glass of water, at least you'll try to change his room. If being honest, if not by you, you'll probably text another doctor in the department.

He nods and drinks his water; the tattoos on his arm were visible. Few inked tats here and there, to be honest, nobody knew what these tattoos on his right arm means. He never explained it to anyone; not even his friends or family or even the trusted doctors in the previous asylum and hospital he stayed at.

You'd love to ask him about the tattoos but that would be crossing the line. His tattoos were something which were present nowhere, not the documents, previous therapy sessions. Nothing.

"I'll let you know by tomorrow, okay?" You murmur, he nods in return before putting the now empty glass on the table beside his bed.

After making sure that he was all calm now, looked safe and after your reassurance he probably felt safe too. You leave the room quietly and the first thing that comes in your mind is CCTV footage. It's not like you didn't trust Jungkook. No. It's more like you wanted a reassurance yourself or confirmation if said in terms.

Seok: Wya?

You: Surveillance room; r you done with work?

Seok: Yea, lol.

Seok: Whatu doing there?

Obvious question from an obvious guy. You rest your head on the table, cheek pressed with the table while your left hand angled and also pressed on the table to the side with your phone in your hand.

You: Getting some tea :P

Seok: Stopppp, actually?!?

The reaction was so expected. You chuckle and sit up after seeing the notification pop up on top of Hoseok's message.

You: Gonna tell you tom, gtg, Kim's calling !!

Seok: C'monnn don't leave me hanging :(

wattpad:CH04 (read on wattpad)

A/N:

taglist; @seokout @khadeeeeej @bybyash ‘to be added in the taglist : 🏷️’

thank you for supporting 'TP' or 'THE PATIENT' ! Here's an update after so long; I got so busy with my life :<. Anyways, love you and have an amazing day ! This chapter is the longest i’ve wrote till now and i got too lazy to even edit it cuz too much reading and i’ve re-read it a millions times already lol, should i post the smut taexreader that wasn’t written in chap 3 or not!?

#bts #bts army #bts fanfic #fanfic #jungkook #bts updates #bts jungkook #angst #fluff #ask #love #the patient #booklr #fanfiction #bts jhope #networkbangtan

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ray935sworld · 1 month ago

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A kid's soulmate

(Marcmarc/ implied Lucalex - soulmate AU) Part 1

10.12 Winter writing

Everyone got a mark at some point of their life. It was a small tattoo, some kind of drawing.

People called it the soulmark. It appears when the other soulmates soul was born on both their skin.

Either they are born with it, if the soulmate is older than them or they get it at a later point of their life, in which case the soulmate is younger.

The first time Marc actually learned about that was on 10th of August 1997.

He had been playing with Alex. He was rustling a toy in front of the little ones face. Alex was laughing, giggling. His little hand were trying to reach for it. He made grabby hands and Marc smiled about his little brother.

He loved seeing him like that. He loved that he could make him happy and laughing and that there was not a care in the world for them.

But suddenly Alex stopped.

Mis movement froze. His smile faded and the glim in his eyes disappeared. Instead he got tears in his eyes and suddenly started to press his tiny hand on his chest. It all happened in the span of a few seconds.

He started to cry and scream. It was loud and hurt in his ears. It hurt in his heart. He didn't like seeing Alex like that or hearing his pain. It was cruel.

He just wanted to protect him and make sure he was happy and safe. He wanted to wrap him in a blanket and never grow up.

But right now Marc was panicking. He would never forget seeing Alex suddenly like that. He was obviously in pain but there was no real explanation.

He hadn't been hit. He hadn't been fallen. There was no reason for the sudden pain. There was no sign why he was in pain and therefore there was nothing that he could do.

"Alex!" he gasped shuffling close to hug him. He felt Alex reach for him, pulling him closer as he continued to cry.

"Alex, what's going on? What's- Are you in pain?" The boy just cried more and nodded against his chest.

"Okay. Okay, don't worry. MAMA! HELP! MAMA! ALEX IS IN PAIN! HELP!" he yelled at the top of his lunges despite already hearing their mother hurry towards them.

"Alex, Marc, what's going on?" she asked as she sat down next to them. "Marc, what happened?"

"I don't know!" the older boy almost sobbed himself. "He just started crying and holding his chest." "Auuuuuuaaaaa!" the younger one whined.

"Okay, okay, let me see" Roser said as she carefully lifted her babies shirt.

A few seconds passed.

"OH my baby" she whispered. "Oh dear, your soulmate is born." "Egh?" Marc asked confused and even little Alex looked confused. But he was just over a year old so he often looked irritated.

"Mama, what does that mean?" Marc asked while Roser picked up Alex to calm him with some cuddles.

"Do you see this?" she asked and showed Marc a small spot on Alex chest. It was a blue dot that was literally forming infront of their eyes.

"That's his soulmark. It appears on your skin when your soulmate is born." "But... I don't have one." Marc whispered.

He looked down with a sad expression. He had heard his parents talk about being soulmates and soulmates in general, then wishing that their boys soulmate would be good people.

Even at just 4 years old he understood the concept of love and being connected by soul. It was intimate and sweet. He thought of it as innocent. He didn't yet got the whole concept but he had a rough understand and he understood why it was desirable.

And he really wanted one. He wanted to get to know them. Soon. Quick. But now he realized that his soulmate didn't even existed.

"Marc, no." Roser said smiling, pulling him close. "My sweet darling, it's normal to not yet have your mark. It just means your soulmate isn't born yet. And you're only 4. There is nothing to worry about."

"But I want to get to know them!" he said and made a little stomp. "I guess you have to be very patient. Just like Alex. Even if his soulmate is born, that doesn't mean he will meet them soon. He will grown up and meet them one day. Just like you."

"But... But I want to get to know them now. Why can't I spent my whole life with them? Why wait?" "Sadly it doesn't quite work that way." she said laughing.

Alex had calmed down a little. He was still holding on to their mother and sniffing slightly.

Marc kept thinking about his soulmate. He still pouted. He wanted to meet his soulmate. He wanted to get to know whoever it was. Even if they weren't even born yet.

"They should hurry" he whispered but he knew he had to wait. And he would wait, very patiently.

He had to wait. Over a year he had to wait. He was in pre school on a Thursday when suddenly a pain started in his leg.

He let out a breath as his hand touched the place. At first he thought it might just be a sore muscle from riding his bike. But he knew that pain too well to not recognize it.

And the pain wasn't the same.

It felt different. It wasn't painful. More like a strong tingling sensation. There was warmth coming from it. He swallowed hard when he suddenly realized what it was.

He was grinning like a cat as he quickly raised his hand.

"Senora may I go to the toilet please?" he asked and after the confirming nod, he stood up, left the room and ran to the restroom.

He immediately checked his leg. And there it was. On his thigh there was a bright brown dot slowly forming. It already had a few edges and curves.

He tilted his head, trying to guess what it was supposed to be symbolizing.

Alex had gotten a beautiful blue bird, with maybe details. It would grow with Alex and one day he would find a person that had the same bird on his chest. Just like him.

And Marc would find a person that would have the same symbol on his thigh as he did. And that person was born today.

With that thought he happily went back to his class. From that day onwards he often thought about his soulmate. How old they now were and what they might be doing. And every year he thought about them on their birthday, celebrating it with them in silence.

Every year on the 12th of November.

Part 2

Soulmate AU

#motogp #motogp rpf #marc marquez #alex marquez #luca marini #marco bezzecchi #marcmarc #lucalex #soulmate au

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demigod-shenanigans · 3 months ago

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Love will run deep like hurt runs out

Summary: Jason is sick. Being an ex-praetor, champion of Juno, son of Jupiter, he’s pretty sure that isn’t allowed.

Leo is dealing with some residual limb pain. After roughly three and a half months of this nonsense, he’s forced to admit that that’s maybe a little more allowed than he’d like it to be. Not while he’s trying to take care of his sick boyfriend, though.

Word count: 10.5k

Rating: Teen and Up

Current last part of this little AU and also the only one of my currently completed valgrace/HoO fics I hadn’t cross-posted to tumblr yet! This part is the longest by a lot, lmao. Can be read separately of the other fics!

I used the valgrace week assurance prompt a while back to finally get myself to finish it, and I ended up having a lot of fun with this! Something something Jason and Leo are both terrible patients and massive hypocrites. Also something something couples mutually comforting each other. Truly ridiculous amounts of physical affection in this one, these boys are unbearable about each other actually and I love them so much.

Also, to avoid confusion: should be pretty clear where it happens since it’s marked differently from the other scene changes but the fic starts out as a Jason POV and switches to Leo partway through!

———

Jason woke up drenched and freezing in the middle of the night. This would have been surprising, at least sort of, considering Camp Half-Blood wasn’t supposed to have weather, but his father had been in a mood lately, so it was less of a surprise than he wished. He just hoped it was something the gods could figure out among themselves for once, and not a sign someone was about to be sent on another deadly mission with the world at stake.

There was a part of Jason that wanted to just turn around and go back to sleep, but he knew that wasn’t a feasible solution, no matter how much he liked sleeping in the grass at the edge of the woods when he was feeling anxious.

It had been a bad week, as far as nightmares went, but this had helped a little—had soothed a childish instinct in him that had learned to feel at home in the wilderness. One that had known once he’d proven himself to Lupa, the pack would protect him. He was safe.

He hoped he’d proven himself to Camp Half-Blood, after everything.

But he really couldn’t stay out here with the weather like this. He’d been feeling a little off for days, and he couldn’t afford to get sick right now. There were things to be done. The permanent housing they were trying to establish for adult demigods who wanted to stay at Camp Half-Blood long-term wasn’t going to build itself. So he shook himself awake and got up.

He was covered in mud, but with the amount it was raining, that would probably resolve itself by the time he got back to his cabin. Because he would have to go back there, even if being watched by a stern statue of his father as he struggled to fall asleep didn’t exactly help his anxiety.

He could have been running back to the cabin to get out of the rain faster, but with how drenched he already was, he figured it didn’t really matter. He was too groggy for a decent run, anyway, and he really didn’t need to slip in the wet grass and concuss himself again. With his luck, Leo had been right about the existence of an angry Roman god of head injuries.

Jason didn’t go back to his cabin. He didn’t register where he was heading until he was already there, wet clothes dripping all over the floor of the forge.

It might have been the middle of the night, but Leo was still up, working on what Jason assumed to be a replacement part for Festus. There had been a lot of those lately, as Leo tried to figure out what was causing the misfire issues. He hadn’t been able to actually resolve them yet, but he was pretty enthusiastic about it, and Festus seemed thrilled with all the attention and Tabasco sauce he’d been getting.

Jason meant to say something when he entered, but Leo seemed so utterly absorbed in his work that for a moment, Jason was transfixed just watching his boyfriend’s practiced motions, hammering away on heated metal, changing the shape only slightly until he got it just right.

Jason had seen the gods do impossible things before, but this—the way Leo could create anything he set his mind to, from small toys to replacement parts for giant metal dragons to a trireme they’d spent several weeks living in—was a different kind of magic, and one he’d never grow tired of watching.

Leo turned to grab a tool off the workbench and noticed him. He yelped, almost jumping out of his chair.

“Gods, Jase, I thought you were a swamp monster for a second,” he said, eyes wide. “You can’t sneak up on me like that! What if I’d decided to blast fire first and ask questions later?”

“At least that might have dried my clothes?” Jason suggested, rubbing at his face. His throat felt weird when he spoke. His voice sounded a little off. “Sorry for sneaking up on you. Too tired to think.”

“Which brings me to my next set of questions: why are you up, and why are you drenched? Did you piss off the naiads or something?”

Leo had put the small hammer he’d been holding back on the workbench, and now Jason had his undivided attention. It was a completely stupid reaction in this particular context, but having Leo look at him like that still made his face feel hot. In the best possible way, undivided attention from Leo was something Jason would absolutely never get used to.

“I didn’t sleep great, so I got back up,” he said, not technically lying but not really telling the truth, either. He moved closer to Leo. The heat from the forge helped, but the shivering was far worse than he’d realized. He let himself sink to the floor, pressing his eyes closed for a moment. He felt off. “As for your second question: have you looked outside lately?”

The forge had been built to be partially open, which was the only reason most people were able to breathe in here, and also meant you had an excellent view of the ongoing rainstorm.

This should have made it impossible to miss, but Leo blinked, confused, like he’d only just realized what was going on outside.

“Oh shit, we’ve got weather.”

“Yeah.” Jason sighed. “My father is apparently having a bad time and decided everyone else also needs to have a bad time.”

“That sounds like him.” Leo shook his head. “I didn’t even notice.”

“Not surprised. You seemed really absorbed when I got here.” Jason shrugged. “Not like I’m any better. Pretty sure if a building collapsed around me while I was sketching, I wouldn‘t realize until one of the rafters hit me in the head.”

“Sparky, we talked about this. No tempting the head injury deities,” Leo joked, looking him over. “How did you get this muddy on a five minute walk?”

“I didn’t.” Jason rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I’ve had a few bad nights. Sleeping outside helps.”

“And here I thought one of my foster siblings waking me with a wet washcloth to the face was a dick move. You got a whole storm.” Leo might still have been joking, but there was an anxious edge to it now. He kneeled down next to Jason and pressed a hand to his face, eyes wide with alarm. “You’re freezing. It’s mid-December, Jason. Were you trying to compete with Khione for icicle of the year?”

His hand was so warm that Jason wanted to melt into him.

The words “you’re hot” were out of his mouth before his brain could fully register what he was saying.

Leo grinned. “Yeah, I know, but it’s nice to be appreciated. C’mere, let’s get you warmed up.”

He wrapped around Jason, everything but his prosthetic leg slowly growing warm in a controlled burst of heat. After a moment of this, Jason’s clothes began to feel more moist than soaked, and the cold that had been seeping into his bones subsided. He still didn’t feel great, but he could have stayed like this forever, warm and comfortable and safe in a way he rarely felt. In a way he wasn’t sure he’d ever felt around anyone but Leo.

He had no idea how to express that, though—not even when he wasn’t sleep deprived and his head wasn’t spinning. In the current situation, all his brain unhelpfully supplied was “radiator boyfriend. Neat.”

It was stupid, and not at all what he’d meant to say, but Leo was laughing, so maybe he’d done something right. The laugh was a noise and a feeling with the way Leo was holding him. Jason’s limbs felt like pudding, and he knew it wasn’t just because of the warmth.

“I know, I know, you’ve got so much to brag about.” Leo was beaming. He was gorgeous, and also significantly blurrier than he’d been a moment ago. “Now we’re both nice and muddy, but at least you’re dry.”

“Mm.” Dry or not, Jason didn’t want to let go yet. “Do I win?”

Leo blinked. “What?”

“The icicle thing,” Jason said, and his boyfriend’s expression shifted again. Leo’s eyebrows drew together in something that was probably concern. Jason wasn’t entirely sure—mostly because the image was still swimming. That… probably wasn’t good.

“Yeah. Always. No competition.” Leo pressed a kiss to his forehead. “You’re really out of it, hm?”

“I feel weird,” Jason admitted reluctantly. “It’s probably nothing.”

This was made slightly less convincing by the fact that he finished this sentence off with a coughing fit.

“Yeah, you’re sick. Garbage combo with being sleep-deprived and getting drenched, in my experience. You need to be inside, in a bed, like, three days ago.”

“Is time travel something you’re working on?”

“Obviously. What, did you think I was kidding all those times I talked about wanting to go back in time to kick my own ass?” Leo joked, but it was obvious his heart wasn’t in it. He kept looking at Jason like he was an unstable machine about to fall to bits. “Do you think you can get up?”

“Yeah,” Jason said, trying and failing to push himself up on his elbows. His head hurt, and his limbs still felt like pudding. “Actually, maybe I need a moment.”

“That’s fine,” Leo said, with an expression that didn’t fit the statement even slightly. “I need to get everything shut down, anyway. Just don’t fall asleep on me here. I do not feel like draggingyou all the way inside.”

~~~

Jason felt more relieved than he cared to admit that by inside, Leo meant the Hephaestus cabin and not taking him back to the Zeus cabin he’d avoided sleeping in for the past few days. Partially because he really didn’t feel like being scrutinized by his father’s statue now any more than he had a few hours ago, and partially because even after the full fifteen minutes of break he’d gotten while Leo took care of things at the forge, he genuinely wasn’t sure he could have made it all the way there.

He was exhausted and dizzy, and it was obvious enough that Leo kept anxiously joking about handing over his crutches.

The rain had stopped just as abruptly as it had started, but the cold wind didn’t seem to be going anywhere. In his infinite, severely addled wisdom, Jason tried to get it to die down himself, but all that achieved was almost making him black out on the spot, and the wind just seemed to target him more viciously afterwards.

It was a fairly short walk, but by the time they got inside Jason felt like an icicle all over again, despite Leo’s attempts to stay close and radiate warmth the whole way.

Leo had a nice room—cluttered and cozy and without any looming statues of his father standing over him as he slept. The walls were plastered with blueprints, written-on and covered in sticky notes. There were several layers of them, and even the top layer ones were partially covering each other because Leo had run out of space. In a few spots, pictures of their friends poked out from under the rolled-up edges of blueprints or had been pinned neatly to those that weren’t currently in use. The bedside table was a mess of several unfinished projects, and it was kind of a miracle it hadn’t broken down under the weight yet.

Jason liked being here. It was one of the few places in camp that actually felt private.

All the clutter had made him anxious at first. Even without his memories, he hadn’t been able to shake the Roman discipline that had been trained into him since early childhood.

But being around Leo meant chaos, and Jason had learned that was a good thing, more often than not. There was a kind of chaos that was terrifying, and there was a kind that made him feel alive, thrumming heartbeat and all. This kind of chaos was homey and lived-in and welcoming, in a way the Zeus cabin could never be. It didn’t feel like Jason had to carve out a space for himself here. It was already there—provided he didn’t mind accidentally sitting on a wrench every now and again.

The bed was small, which meant every time they had a movie night, they were squeezed tightly next to each other. Which, looking back on it, was maybe part of the reason they’d had so many of those even before they’d started dating.

Right now, Jason was mostly just relieved to be sitting down. The world grew a little less hazy.

“You want tea or something to get warmed up? I’d offer you cocoa, but I don’t think there’s enough sugar at camp for the amount you usually put in there,” Leo teased, sitting down next to him.

Jason immediately melted back into him, wrapping his arms around Leo’s back and pressing his face to his boyfriend’s warm cheek.

“Sure, or you could go ahead and leech all my warmth without asking,” Leo laughed, upping his body temperature a bit more. “Is this good? Anything else you need from me or am I fully replaceable by a portable heater?”

“You’re perfect. I love you.”

It felt impossible how easy that was to say, considering it was only the second time, and Jason hadn’t even said it out loud the first time.

Leo’s body temperature went up more, like a full body blush. Not that Jason was complaining.

“Flirting with a heater is a little weird, Superman,” Leo joked. “But hey, you didn’t even make any typos this time.”

“In my defense, I’m both dyslexic and suck at Morse code,” Jason laughed. He was pretty sure he was smiling like an idiot. He was also pretty sure he didn’t care. “Besides, you liked it.”

“You wish,” Leo replied, soft and fond. He shifted so he could wrap his warm arms around Jason again. “Love you, too.”

Leo had tapped out the words against the table at breakfast absent-mindedly a week and a half ago. Jason hadn’t understood what it meant, just that it was probably Morse code, and Leo had refused to tell him when asked, but he’d blushed so furiously that his head ended up on fire, which got the message across, anyway.

Jason had IMed Annabeth after and asked her to teach him, then practiced for three days because he really wanted to get it right.

He’d still managed to mess up at the end because he’d gotten nervous, spelling out “kof” instead of “you”, but he hadn’t had time to feel embarrassed about it. Leo had looked at him, wide-eyed, then beamed at him like he was the sun and kissed him, only stopping when he realized he was starting to burn a handprint into Jason’s shirt.

Maybe it had been too soon by regular mortal standards—Jason never could figure those things out, it wasn’t like he’d ever had much of a shot at a normal life—but demigod lives were short and they’d both already had one brush with death. Some things just weren’t worth the risk of waiting.

“Sorry for dragging so much mud into your room, by the way,” Jason sighed, halfway muffled by Leo’s warm shoulder.

His boyfriend snorted. “Oh yeah, because we both know I’m infamous for my clean room and even cleaner clothes. I’m basically obligated to break up with you now.” He gestured at the general chaos of the room, then down at himself, covered in oil and soot where he hadn’t absorbed Jason’s dried mud. “Pretty sure we both need a shower, but you don’t look like you’re getting back up. I can at least steal you some clean clothes from one of my siblings, since unfortunately I do actually have to shower before bed.”

“That can't wait until tomorrow?” Jason asked, not wanting to let go.

Leo sighed. “I wish. There are some unfortunate downsides to getting your leg chewed off—yeah, I know, who’d’ve thought. One of them is that if I try to skip my evening routine or shower in the morning, my stump is going to be a whiny nightmare about it.” He rolled his eyes. “Turns out I can set the whole thing on fire and that’s fine, but sometimes I’ll have swelling issues over warm water—because that makes sense. It would be kind of funny if it wasn’t so annoying.”

“Trials and tribulations of being a demigod,” Jason replied, trying to keep the mood light, because even with his brain full of fog, he knew Leo, and knew he still got anxious talking about this. “We should really get our money back.”

Hell, Jason felt like a terrible boyfriend for all the things he didn’t know Leo had to do differently since he’d lost part of his leg, but the only tidbits of information Leo had volunteered were shared through jokes, and pushing him when he wasn’t ready wouldn’t have been fair orproductive, no matter how much Jason wanted to help.

“Yeah, tell me about it. But whatever. I’ll get the hang of it eventually.” Leo smiled at him. “I have to make sure you’re properly warmed up before I leave, though. You gonna be alright here on your own? Need me to tuck you in?” It was only half-teasing.

Jason just sighed and let his head drop back onto his boyfriend’s warm shoulder.

~~~

Jason missed Leo’s warmth immediately. He changed into the borrowed pajamas his boyfriend had tossed at him on his way out, which took way longer than he cared to admit. Then he curled up under the blanket. He was immediately hit with an overwhelming sense of exhaustion, the heaviness in his limbs growing worse now that he was lying down. His head hurt.

He changed positions several times, pulling the blanket tighter around himself, but it didn’t really help.

He stared at the ceiling and tried to get his mind to stop racing. Despite how tired he was, sleep seemed impossible. Since getting back, it was like he’d been waiting for the next thing to go awry, keeping himself busy so he couldn’t think too much about whatever that next thing would be. At night, these thoughts were much harder to push away.

He should have been used to them by now, but he couldn’t deal with the nightmares, either. Lately, he’d had so many where all he could ever seem to do was watch. Watch as people got hurt and died around him during the battle of Mount Othrys. Watch Reyna fall several meters down the side of a mountain, unable to catch her because he couldn’t waste the opening she’d given him against Krios. Watch as a fight broke out between both Camps he called home, unable to stop it. Watch as they were nearly overrun by monsters because he wasn’t Roman enough for the undead legion to consider him a leader. Watch Leo turn himself into an inferno to stop Gaia, unsure if there would be anything left of him to revive.

Some hero he was.

Gaia was gone. Jason wasn’t having visions of terrible things that would happen in the future. But he didn’t feel calm or peaceful. He’d spent so much of his life fighting that he wasn’t sure he’d ever known what being at peace felt like.

Time seemed to pass in slow motion. Jason tried not to think, which was about as successful as one might expect.

By the time Leo got back, he’d worked himself into such an anxiety frenzy that when Leo flopped down on the bed, Jason accidentally gave him an electric shock.

“Ow! You don’t need to take the Sparky nickname so literally, you know.” The mattress moved next to Jason, and he briefly wondered if Leo had decided it wasn’t worth the risk of actually sharing the bed and was getting back up, but then his boyfriend’s hand was moving soothingly up and down his arm. “You good?”

“Yeah. Sorry. Still a little cold, but not sure what that was for.”

In another pointless attempt to get comfortable, Jason had moved to face the wall, so he was currently staring intently at blueprints for some sort of multi-functional weapon—a two-handed sword that could be transformed into a large shield, by the looks of it—instead of looking at Leo. It felt easier that way. If he’d been facing his boyfriend, Leo would probably be able to see how close he was to having a nervous breakdown, and then Jason would have to explain, and he didn’t want to explain. He didn’t want to make himself an even bigger burden than he already was.

Jason was supposed to be a leader, for gods’ sake. He’d been in this life so much longer than anyone else he knew. He was supposed to be able to handle these things.

“Well, luckily for you, cold is something I’m an expert at fixing,” Leo announced, squeezing his shoulder. “Now scoot over, you’re hogging like three-quarters of my bed.”

It took Jason an embarrassing amount of effort to move. His limbs felt like they were made out of celestial bronze. Once he’d semi-successfully managed it, Leo wrapped around him, which made the effort more than worth it.

Jason could feel himself trembling against his boyfriend’s warmth. He knew it was more than just the cold—his anxiety made him feel just about ready to vibrate out of his skin. But he closed his eyes and tried to focus on Leo’s breaths, the way his chest rose and fell against his back, and it helped him get a handle on his own breathing. That was good. He really didn’t want to give Leo another shock by accident.

“You sure you’re okay?” Leo asked quietly. He sounded worried. Jason hated making him worry.

He was going to reply, but instead he just burst into another coughing fit, which wasn’t quite the answer he’d wanted to give.

“Sorry. Stupid question.” Leo moved his arm away from Jason’s chest. “You want me to wake Will? Oh, or I could get Kayla. Her sleep schedule is pretty shitty. She might still be up.”

“How do you even know that?”

“Amputee privileges. I spend so much time in the infirmary that I get inside scoop.” Jason could hear the grin in his boyfriend’s voice. “So, you know, might as well abuse those privileges for your sake while I’m at it.”

“No, that’s okay.” Jason took the arm Leo had been moving and pulled it back to its previous spot. “I think I just want to sleep.”

“Fine.” Leo moved his head, adjusting it against the back of Jason’s neck. His curls tickled a little. “I’m warning you, though, if you get any worse, I’m contractually obligated to drag you to the infirmary. If you have an issue with that, that’s on you for not reading the boyfriend fine print.”

Jason snorted. “You’re terrible.”

“I live to annoy and be your personal heat lamp, in that order.” Leo squeezed Jason’s hand. “Speaking of, is this okay? I could go warmer, but you’re not as cold as earlier, and I should probably save some of my hotness for daytime hours.”

“It’s perfect.”

Sleep came impossibly easy, with Leo wrapped around him like this, radiating warmth.

And even more impossibly, for once Jason didn’t dream.

~~~

Jason woke up feeling worse. His throat felt like someone had sandblasted it, his head hurt like hell and he was exhausted, despite having slept for most of the night.

Right. Nothing a little ambrosia couldn‘t fix.

He blinked a few times, taking in his surroundings in utter confusion. He was lying on his back. He distantly remembered waking at one point throughout the night to find Leo sprawled halfway across him, but the comforting weight was gone from his chest now.

The bed had folded back out of Leo’s tiny room into the bigger Hephaestus cabin, which was currently pretty much deserted, except for Leo and, for some reason, Will Solace, who was standing next to the bed with a breakfast tray.

“Huh?” Jason rubbed at his eyes, trying to make sense of the scene through the haze in his head. Light streamed in through the windows, much too bright for the early morning wake-up time Jason had rarely been able to shake due to his childhood at Camp Jupiter. “What time is it?”

His raw throat didn’t really like him speaking very much.

“You slept through breakfast. Not too surprising, considering you look about as alive as you did the time you got incinerated by Hera and you spent like half the night-” Leo paused, wincing when Jason burst into a coughing fit. He moved to sit next to him on the bed and pat his arm gently, which did absolutely nothing except feel kind of nice. “-doing exactly that.”

“Okay, but what’s with the food?” Jason asked once his body would let him, gesturing vaguely in the direction of Will, who was setting down the tray on the weirdly empty bedside table.

“I spent about an hour making a mess of Chiron’s kitchen to cook you something. Sick people privileges and stuff. If anyone asks about broken mugs in the next few days, play dumb.” Leo was clearly going for careless nonchalance, but Jason could hear a twinge of annoyance in his voice. “Crutches are seriously inconvenient sometimes.”

“I had to have a conversation with him about pushing himself beyond his recovery timeline and trying to carry things around without his crutches while we’re still working on his balance,” Will commented, glaring at Leo in the worried doctor way that all Apollo kids seemed to inherit. “Especially when it made sense for me to come along to check on you, anyway.”

“You okay?” Jason asked worriedly, squeezing his boyfriend’s hand. Leo felt kind of cold, which would have been alarming, except Jason wasn’t sure how much of that was his own body being seriously out of whack.

“Nope, nice try, but I’m the one fussing over you right now. Speaking of-” Leo turned back to Will, whose expression had softened, “I’m shit at normal human body temperatures, being the fire guy and all, but I’m pretty sure he’s running a fever.”

“Yeah, I’m absolutely putting him on bed rest,” Will said, pressing a hand to Jason’s face.

Unlike Leo’s, Will’s hand was icy. Jason shivered and tried to pull away.

“Cold.”

“No, not even a little cold. Leo’s right about the fever,” Will concluded, thankfully removing his freezing hand from Jason’s face. “Flu. Nothing a few days of rest won’t fix, but I’ll get you something to help with the cough.”

Jason opened his mouth to protest—there were things to be done, he couldn’t just leave everyone else to do all the work, especially not for several days—but the only thing he managed was another lengthy, painful coughing fit.

“Hey look, even your body could tell you were about to say something stupid,” Leo teased, doing a terrible job of hiding the concern on his face. “You wanna try and at least drink something to make your throat feel a little less like shit? I get it if you're not hungry. I wasn’t sure what you’d feel like having, so I… may have gone a little overboard.”

He was seriously underselling it. He’d brought water and tea and orange juice. Food-wise, there was a plate of cut-up fruit, plain toast, scrambled eggs and some sort of soup that was still steaming and smelled great.

Jason’s throat went tight.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but just making food appear out of thin air felt like cheating, and I’m not gonna start half-assing the boyfriend thing already. I haven’t even had the job for that long. It’s too soon for me to start slacking off.”

“I’m not really hungry, but water sounds okay. The food looks amazing, though. I’ll eat something in a bit,” Jason promised, struggling to find the words to express just how grateful he was that Leo would do this for him. He moved to sit up. “It’s already pretty late, and I said I’d help with the roofing, so I should just take a bit of ambrosia and get on that. With how much it rained last night-”

The world tilted horribly, and if it hadn’t been for Leo reaching out to steady him, Jason was pretty sure he would’ve toppled sideways off the bed.

“Sometimes I know exactly why you’re friends with Nico.” Will may have been terribly blurry, but Jason could still tell he had one hand pressed to his forehead in annoyance. “Ambrosia is for missions and emergencies. You not wanting to let yourself rest is not an emergency. I can give you a bit to help manage the symptoms, but you still need to take a few days off and give your body a break. You’re exhausted. The ambrosia won’t fix that.”

“I can still do this,” Jason insisted, trying to fight the growing panic in his chest. He had to earn his place here. He had to contribute. He’d known since he was a young child that showing weakness was a mistake he couldn’t afford to make. “I need to do this.”

He moved towards the edge of the bed, vertigo be damned, and it took a tremendous effort to untangle himself from the blankets. For a moment he thought his glasses were fogging up at the edges—then he remembered he’d left his glasses in the Zeus cabin yesterday. The thing going foggy was his eyesight.

It didn’t matter. He needed to get up.

Before he could try, his boyfriend’s arms wrapped around him from the side.

“Hey, Superman, that’s enough.” Leo didn’t sound like this a lot—strict and decisive and genuinely a little mad. It made Jason stop in his tracks. “Camp won’t fall apart if you don’t work yourself half to death for a few days. I’ve been dead, okay? It’s seriously overrated, trust me.”

“But-”

“Jase, look at me. Breathe. You’re okay.” Leo’s voice had softened. One arm was still wrapped around Jason. The other had moved up to his head, fingers combing through his damp hair. “Stop being an idiot and don’t force your amputee boyfriend to figure out how to scrape you off the floor after you inevitably faint and hit your head, yeah?”

Leo looked terribly worried, and Jason knew he was actively making it worse. It made him feel awful.

After another moment of hesitation, he allowed himself to collapse against his boyfriend, exhausted and dizzy and with a horrible ache in his chest. “I’m sorry.”

Leo exhaled audibly into his hair.

“Yeah, I can’t believe you’d get sick on purpose just to make me worry. That was such a dick move, dude,” he said sarcastically, then pressed a kiss to Jason’s head. “Lie back down, please?”

A part of Jason was still protesting, but he felt incredibly off and it was impossible to tell Leo “no” when he looked at him like that.

He let himself sink back onto the mattress, which at least made the room stop spinning.

“Happy now?”

“Yeah, yeah, gold star for not being a complete dumbass.” Jason could hear the smile in his voice. “Do you want a sticker or something?”

“Can you just put your hand back in my hair? That felt really nice.”

“Still here by the way,” Will said awkwardly, and Jason could feel his cheeks growing even warmer because he actually had forgotten about Will. “Doesn’t look like I’m needed anymore, though. I’ll go grab some meds.” He turned to Leo. “Make sure Jason drinks enough water and gets some sleep and he should be fine.”

“Oh, I’ll pester him as much as necessary, don’t worry. You know how annoying I can get.” Leo grinned. “Thanks for the help.”

“If you need anything else, you know where to find me.”

~~~

The bits of ambrosia Jason got still tasted like Leo’s tacos, and like Will had warned, they didn’t magically fix everything.

“If I give you any more, you’ll just try to help and hurt yourself, and then we’ll end up right back here.”

That seemed like a fair enough point, but Jason still didn’t like it. It was hard to convince his brain it was actually okay to let himself rest. When you’d learnt at two years old that showing weakness would get you killed, telling yourself it was fine and safe and nothing bad would happen to you in this specific instance and actually believing that was hard. Hell, his last stab wound had helpfully sorted itself out when he’d recklessly thrown himself into battle despite feeling like death. Keeping himself up and running was safe. This did not feel safe.

And sure, there was a protocol for handling illness and injuries at Camp Jupiter that usually included mandated rest periods. But when everyone looked up to you, expecting you to be the leader, it was hard to figure out where to draw the line. At which point was he objectively bad enough to neglect his duties?

As long as he could stand upright, it was probably fine. When he couldn’t, he’d just nibble on an ambrosia cube until he could. When that didn’t work, he was probably dead and no longer needed to worry about it.

Right now, he wasn’t dead or even dying, and so it didn't feel like a reasonable excuse to neglect his duties for something as stupid as staying in bed and doing nothing—even with Leo there to pester him and make jokes and offer him home-cooked meals that could be warmed up at a flick of his wrist.

It didn’t feel real to Jason that he was just allowed to have this.

If nothing else, since he’d taken the ambrosia he could at least sit up without feeling like he was about to topple off the bed, which meant Leo was currently pestering him into finishing his glass of water.

Jason was only half-listening, his mind continuously wandering back to all the things he should be doing instead of this.

“I can hear you thinking, Superman. It’s loud and very annoying.” Leo ruffled his hair. “Talk to me? We did say we’d give it a shot, but we’re both still kind of garbage at it.”

“I really feel like I should be up and helping,” Jason sighed. He was glad to be able to manage a full sentence without bursting into another coughing fit, but talking still hurt. “At least check on the temples to make sure nothing got damaged last night.”

“Nope. Wrong answer. Immediately disqualified.” Leo made a noise that was obviously supposed to resemble the sound of an incorrect buzzer on a quiz show, though it sounded like someone had kicked the poor buzzer down the stairs instead of pressing it. “The only thing you’re supposed to be doing right now is resting, and you’re doing a terrible job. You’ve basically been non-stop doing things since we finished dealing with Gaia. The temples, now this project… I know I’m one to talk, but you need a vacation or something.” Leo smirked. “I hear Greece is really nice this time of year.”

“Oh yeah, I’d love to spend all of our first vacation as a couple trying not to get killed.”

“You say that like trying not to get killed isn’t the foundation of this relationship,” Leo teased him. “But Greece or otherwise, you’re not talking yourself out of this vacation. Take it from the resident expert on running: you’ve got a tendency to keep yourself running when you shouldn’t, and you really need to stop.”

“Didn’t you tell me you were an expert at sticking around at one point?” Jason asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I can’t believe you remember that,” Leo said, laughing, like it was absurd that that moment had meant enough to Jason for him to remember it. Like Jason hadn’t built his life around the fact that his mom had promised to come back and left him instead. Like Leo, who had been runningand running and running for most of his life, hadn’t seen the fear in his eyes and chosen to stay.

“Of course I remember,” Jason said softly.

Leo gulped, clearly emotional, but then he immediately shifted back into his joke default.

“Damn it. Should have known you keep a folder of quotes to throw back at me at the right moment. You’re exactly the type of nerd who has folders on everything.” He shook his head. “To answer your question: I’ve got layers, babe. I have to keep you on your toes somehow.”

“I thought the point of this was to get me to rest? Isn’t that the opposite of keeping me on my toes?”

“You’re lucky I like you as much as I do.” Leo rolled his eyes, but then he smiled at Jason. “I’ll let you in on a little secret: I was trying to be supportive and also full of shit. I’m getting better at the sticking around thing, though. You can blame yourself and Piper for that one. Fourteen year old Leo would be quaking in his boots.”

It was more sincere than Leo usually was, and Jason really did feel lucky.

“Fourteen year old me would also be pretty shocked if he could see me now,” Jason admitted quietly. “He never slept past six am. He was also never this happy.”

“Six am?” Leo’s eyes bugged out of his head. “Is that standard for Camp Jupiter? Gods, no wonder Reyna is always so cranky.”

Jason laughed, which rapidly dissolved into another coughing fit. Laughing was still out, then. That was really unfortunate considering his boyfriend was right there.

“I think you’d like Reyna if you gave her an actual shot. There’s a reason we were best friends for years.” Their relationship had never quite gone back to what it had been before the whole memory wipe kidnapping incident, but Jason was back to being friends with Reyna, and he was glad for that. “Are you still scared of her?”

“Not as much. Piper’s trying exposure therapy. The results are so-so, but at least I don’t think she wants to kill me anymore,” Leo joked. Then he shoved the half-full glass of water back into Jason’s face. “Speaking of ways to prevent death: I’m supposed to keep you from getting dehydrated. Bottoms up!”

Jason sighed, but his throat still hurt, even if it did feel a little less sandpapered than before, and the water helped.

What it didn’t help with was the exhaustion—this ridiculous, inconvenient feeling of wanting to just curl up against Leo and let himself go unconscious. He may have been significantly less dizzy, but he still went between random flashes of feeling too warm and too cold and sometimes both at once.

“It’s fine if you want to go back to sleep, you know,” Leo said like he’d read his mind—or, more likely, Jason’s bone-deep exhaustion was just written all over his face. He took the empty glass and placed it back down on the bedside table. “I may be terrible at going to bed at reasonable hours, and sleep gets a general 5/10 from me because of all the nightmares, but unfortunately, it is important, especially when you’re sick. I don’t mind just sitting with you for a while.”

“If you’re staying with me, we should at least do something together,” Jason protested. “This isn’t exactly fun for you. I don’t want to just sleep and waste a whole bunch of your time.”

“You’re overestimating your influence, Superman. I have ADHD. I can waste my own time just fine without your help.” Leo smiled down at him, running his hand through Jason’s hair again. Jason closed his eyes and leaned into the movement. “Besides, we both know I’m the fun one in this relationship. Your job is more, like, mother henning so I occasionally go to bed before two am and actually remember to eat lunch instead of just disappearing down the project void for three days.”

“Shut up,” Jason laughed, which rapidly turned into another coughing fit. Gods, usually he loved how much Leo made him laugh, but it was a little inconvenient right now.

“See? Clearly, I’m the fun one. Now stop being ridiculous and just go back to sleep.”

Jason wanted to protest again, but his thoughts were turning to mush. His head was on Leo’s lap, and Leo was so, so warm that anything coherent he tried to grasp at drifted away before he could form even half a sentence. That just felt like cheating on Leo’s part.

Being sick still didn’t feel safe to Jason. This whole situation of him letting himself rest didn’t feel safe or right or like something he should be allowed to do.

But he knew so instinctively that Leo would never let anything happen to him that it was hard to feel anything but safe with him. With Leo there, Jason always felt like everything was going to be alright.

————————————————————————

Leo was pretty sure he was failing as a boyfriend.

The thing was, Leo was kind of garbage at taking care of people. He knew that wasn’t entirely his fault—no one had properly taken care of him when he was sick since he was eight years old, and just crawling under the bedsheets hoping his foster parents didn’t realize he was sick or finding himself a slightly less drafty bridge to sleep under weren’t exactly great precedents to base your care for someone else on.

But knowing that didn’t help. Jason was great with stuff like this. He knew how to calm Leo down when he was freaking out, made him cocoa in the middle of the night and had made sure Leo didn’t go stir-crazy when he’d been stuck in the infirmary for more than a week after the Gaia fight. That Leo was fucking terrible at it and he didn’t feel like he could properly help Jason in return made him feel like shit.

After his boyfriend had dozed off the night before, Leo had realized very quickly that he absolutely should have dragged him to the infirmary—or at least he should have broken in and stolen a few ambrosia cubes. Leo hadn’t really slept much. Jason had spent the whole night sweating and shivering against him, coughing so badly that Leo had been worried one of his lungs might come up, but he hadn’t been able to wake Jason when he tried, and physically hadn’t been able to leave the bed until sometime this morning. Every time he’d tried to pull his arm away from Jason’s chest, Jason had made a half-asleep whining noise and pulled it back, until eventually, he’d turned onto his back and wrapped fully around Leo, pinning him in place like a misbehaving pup.

It would have been hilarious if it hadn’t been so inconvenient.

Austin had been the only Apollo cabin member up when Leo had gotten there, and Leo hadbothered him into checking on Jason, but Austin’s powers were more concentrated in the musical than the healing range. He’d mainly concluded that Jason wouldn’t die and advised Leo to let him sleep for a while longer and ask Will to check in later if it didn’t get better.

Leo had then proceeded to waste most of the morning trying to figure out how to cheer Jason up.

He’d gotten a whole bunch of unhelpful advice from his friends, both in-person and via Iris Message. Reyna had said she liked to be left alone, and had absolutely no advice to offer in regards to what Jason usually did or needed when he was sick. She actually couldn’t remember him ever being sick in all the time she’d known him, which said some concerning things about the amount of off time he usually allowed himself to take.

Piper had said her dad used to tell her stories to make her feel better when she’d been little, which would have been helpful if Jason had been five. She’d also confirmed Jason was a terrible patient, which, considering he’d tossed himself into the ocean with a life-threatening stab wound at one point, didn’t take a genius to figure out.

Because Piper was just like that, she’d pointed out that Leo wasn’t much better, which, while not technically untrue, wasn’t exactly helpful advice, either.

Annabeth had said she didn’t get sick, which Percy side-eyed her for, and then she’d admitted she just liked knowing someone was there. Doing what, exactly? Who knew.

Percy was the only one who’d said something Leo could actually use: that his mom usually cooked something he liked to cheer him up.

Leo could do cooking.

So, as per Austin’s expert advice, he’d let Jason sleep, and after breakfast, he’d gotten to work in the kitchen.

Leo liked being in the kitchen of the big house, usually. Cooking relaxed him.

But he hadn’t done a whole lot of it since he’d lost his leg, and navigating the kitchen with his crutches had turned out to be a bigger issue than he’d expected. Carrying things around was fine if they were in closed boxes or bags, but carrying a mug with liquid? Yeah, nope, not happening.

But, after some mishaps, he’d found workarounds. He’d gone completely overboard because he wasn’t sure what Jason would actually feel like eating. It wasn’t like he didn’t know some of the things Jason liked, but none of the ones that came to mind exactly screamed sick person comfort foods to Leo.

He’d made a cup of that terrible herbal tea Jason liked for some reason, and a whole bunch of small things like cut fruits and dry toast. Leo had even tried to recreate the chicken pozole he remembered his own mom had sometimes made when he wasn’t feeling well. The memory made his heart clench in his chest, but he felt like he had to at least try.

There hadn’t been any major disasters during the actual cooking process. The main problem came after, when Leo realized he hadn’t really thought through how he’d get the food back to the Hephaestus cabin. Carrying a tray with crutches was even less possible than carrying around mugs filled with liquid.

So, well, Leo had chosen to just not use the crutches. He’d decided it was probably fine as long as he was careful. He could mostly walk around without crutches okay.

Admittedly, most of that walking had been without carrying anything heavy and with both Will and a wall readily available in case he needed to steady himself. And sure, they didn’t do these types of exercises for more than a few minutes at a time because Leo’s sense of balance was still shit. But he’d thought he could do this.

Will rushing up to him a few steps out of the building had been the only reason Leo and everything he was carrying hadn’t ended up all over the lawn.

“Leo, we talked about this,” Will had chided him, taking over carrying the tray.

He’d spent the whole walk to the cabin trying to talk Leo through recovery timelines, which Leo had tuned out after the second sentence.

Leo knew that stuff. He was painfully aware of the fact that it usually took over six months, sometimes up to a year, to be able to walk without crutches after an amputation. They’d talked through this in detail several times.

That didn’t mean he was thrilled about this fact.

Sure, Leo was making decent progress. And he was trying to be patient with himself.

But it had been months at this point, and he’d never been a particularly patient person, and that he was doing better didn’t mean he didn’t have days like today when he really wanted to hurl his crutches at a wall.

The other issue he was currently having was that his left leg hurt.

Leo was pretty sure he knew the cause of this—Will had told him he was supposed to regularly take the prosthesis off and check if the skin underneath was getting irritated, and also give his stump breaks throughout the day.

The thing was, Leo wasn’t great about this. Partially, this was because he got hyperfocused a lot when he was working on his little projects and he just forgot. Partially, this was also because he’d had two legs for sixteen years of his life, and even after three and a half months in this new situation, he still didn’t always remember that this wasn’t the case anymore. That part felt fucking idiotic, because most of the time he obviously did know and was unable to forget if he tried, but sometimes when he was especially sleep-deprived or intensely focused on something else, his brain just blocked out this particular part of reality. Having his prosthesis on when he worked late significantly reduced the risk of him trying to get up to fetch a tool and epically belly-flopping onto the floor of the forge in the process.

…okay, that one had been a one time occurrence and very early on, but still. Never again.

Nyssa and Jake hadn’t been weird about it—Nyssa had helped him sit up while Jake had gone to fetch Will, and both of them had the decency to never bring it up again. Leo still wanted to burn a hole into the floor from sheer embarrassment whenever he thought of it.

So, yeah, staying up as late as he had and keeping the prosthesis on the whole time, Leo was pretty sure he’d irritated the shit out of his stump, in ways his evening routine hadn’t been able to fix. Again.

He should have probably gone to Will or Kayla about this. At the very least, he should have taken his prosthetic leg off and iced the painful spots a little. If it had been any other day, he probably would have.

He didn’t.

Instead, he let Jason nap on his lap for two hours, which surprisingly did not help his leg pain.

Leo should have been better about this, especially when Will had literally just given him a lecture about not pushing himself. But the only semi-useful thing Leo had managed to do so far was make Jason food, which Jason hadn’t even eaten because he wasn’t feeling well.

So, yeah, fucking incredible work in the boyfriend department, Valdez.

The least he could do was let Jason sleep in a position he was obviously comfortable in, even if it was objectively only comfortable for one of them.

Aside from the pain, Leo didn’t really mind this situation very much. He spent an embarrassing amount of time just watching his boyfriend sleep like a complete weirdo.

Despite the fact that Jason was still sweating and shivering under the blanket, and despite the fact that every time he coughed it was obvious that it hurt, he looked… almost peaceful.

Jason wasn’t good at looking peaceful. Even asleep, it always seemed like he was one command away from jumping to his feet with his sword drawn. Almost was the closest he ever got.

And almost peaceful Jason was an image Leo really struggled to tear himself away from. It made him yearn for a future where maybe he’d get Jason all the way to actually peaceful, now that the end of the world wasn’t permanently hanging over their heads anymore. Leo imagined the machine shop he wanted, and getting to come home every night to a version of Jason that laughed easily and no longer remembered how to stand at attention.

Gods, Leo hadn’t even thought it possible to be this utterly gone for another person. A year ago, he hadn’t even thought he’d ever consider a place home again. Yet, here he was, just about a month into this relationship, thinking about living together. Talk about fucking u-hauling.

~~~

By the time Jason woke up, Leo had thankfully torn himself out of the kind of ridiculous fairytale futures that had always been reserved for other people and was fiddling with one of his little projects—an upgraded eye for Festus with a few extra sensors his current ones didn’t have.

Admittedly, Leo looking down at Jason might have been a slightly less disconcerting sight to wake up to than the giant metal eye that was currently staring down at him.

Jason yelped, and Leo was barely quick enough to move the large metal orb out of range before his boyfriend punched the spot of empty air where it had just been, nearly socking Leo on the jaw in the process.

“Whoa. Down, boy. No need to give me or Festus a black eye.” Leo dropped the eye on the floor next to the bed, then held his hands up defensively for extra effect. “This is mostly celestial bronze, anyway, so it’s not like you could do any real damage with your fists. It’s bad enough that you’re sick, we do not need to add broken fingers to the equation.”

Jason looked extremely startled. “Sorry. Oh gods, I’m so sorry. I thought- You okay?”

“You didn’t even actually hit me. Your uppercut needs work.” Leo gently flicked his boyfriend in the head. “Anyway, enough about me. How are you feeling?”

“A little better, I think.” This was followed immediately by another coughing fit. Leo raised an eyebrow.

“You are the worst liar I know.” He ruffled Jason’s hair, since he seemed to really be enjoying that today. Note for future reference: sick Jason was like a dog that enjoyed getting petted. “You need anything?”

“Maybe water?” Jason shrugged. “I don’t know. Just if it’s not too much trouble.”

“Superman, I cooked for you for more than an hour this morning. I’ll survive a three second walk to the bathroom and back to fill up your cup.” Leo nudged him. “Besides, I’ve got a leg and a half that are super asleep right now. It’ll be nice to get up and stretch them for a bit.”

~~~

Despite this bold statement on Leo’s part, the short walk in question turned into a total disaster.

Yeah, he could have made it to the bathroom and back without his crutches under most circumstances. He’d done that before.

But currently, his stupid stump was sore and hurt with every step and it turned out he could not manage.

He had to pause in the bathroom, the cup clenched in trembling fingers, which would have been embarrassing enough. But then it turned out he couldn’t make the way back at all.

The main issue wasn’t that the pain was so intense he couldn’t bear it—if it had been anything that serious, even Leo probably wouldn’t have been this much of a moron about it. The issue was that the fact that his steps stung kept throwing him off, and made Leo’s usually mediocre balance that Will had correctly pointed out they were still working on significantly worse.

Leo only made it about three quarters of the way back to his bed before he misstepped and fell, which was really just how this day was going. The main thoughts he had as he fell were annoyance and frustration directed at himself, as well as a distant relief that he’d had the presence of mind to take the plastic cup because at least that wouldn’t splinter.

Leo didn’t hit the floor. He was stopped mid-fall by first a strong gust of wind and then a pair of warm arms.

Jason shouldn’t have been out of bed. He definitely shouldn’t have been using his powers. In the end, Jason’s immensely stupid rescue attempt just made them both crumple to the floor, right into the puddle of spilled water, though at a much slower speed than the one Leo had originally been going for.

“Are you okay?”

Leo wanted to say something funny, but he looked at his exhausted boyfriend who’d just wasted a bunch of his energy preventing him from getting hurt and just kind of started to cry.

“Are you hurt? What’s wrong? Can I help?” Jason asked again, placing his hands on Leo’s shoulders. He sounded really alarmed, which just made Leo feel worse.

“I’m sorry I’m such garbage at this,” Leo sniffled. “You’re always so good with this stuff, but I can’t figure out how to help, and between my stupid crutches and my stupid leg hurting I can’t- I’m sorry I’ve been so useless.”

“Leo, what the hell are you talking about?” Jason looked something between concerned and seriously confused.

“I’m- my whole thing is that I know how to fix machines. But people? I don’t- I never know how to help when it comes to people. You’re not like Festus. I can’t just switch out your gears to make you feel better. I don’t know what I can do to make you feel better. What kind of awful boyfriend-”

“Stop.” Jason looked directly at him, eyes stormy. “You’ve been amazing. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I will not allow you to talk about yourself like this.”

“But-”

“No. Listen to me. If it wasn’t for you, I would have gone to help, and Will’s right, I probably would have ended up hurt. Most likely, I wouldn’t even have been upset about it, because that’s what I was raised to do. You said it yourself: I’m the prince of the universe. I’m supposed to take charge and get things done. It doesn’t matter if that doesn’t make me happy or if it isn’t good for me. That’s just who I have to be.” Jason’s voice cracked. “Everyone always expects me to be able to handle anything. But I’m not. You’re the only person who’s ever made me feel like it’s okay that I’m not.”

“Oh,” was the only thing Leo could manage as Jason pulled him to his chest, holding him so gently that he could barely remember how to breathe.

And then they were both crying, adding to the stupid water puddle they were sitting in. They probably looked ridiculous. Leo didn’t care. Being wrapped in Jason’s arms like this immediately made him feel better.

“I can count the amount of times someone’s taken care of me on one hand, and that’s never involved another person sitting with me for hours and stroking my hair and cooking for me before. I almost burst into tears over a plate of cut fruit earlier,” Jason admitted quietly, gently nuzzling Leo’s neck. Gods, he still felt awfully warm. “But you don’t need to spend all day fussing, especially if you don’t feel great. It’s so nice to just have you here. I’ve been really anxious lately, and I just- all I ever wanted was for someone to stay.”

“Oh,” Leo repeated intelligently, his own voice cracking too. Damn it, that meant he’d have to tell Annabeth he should have taken her advice. She’d never let him live that down. “I can do that. I can stay.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jason sniffled. “But I don’t want you hurting yourself to help me, okay?”

“Says the guy who just almost made himself faint trying to catch me,” Leo commented, grimacing. “I hate to say it, but Piper was right when she said sometimes we’re the exact same brand of idiot. Let’s both try to work on that, yeah?”

Jason sighed. “Yeah. Okay.”

This left them with the issue of how to get back off the floor.

~~~

In the end, Piper rescued them, appearing out of thin air like Leo had fucking summoned her the second he’d admitted she was right.

She collected both of them off the floor, went to get Will, and also brought some of the self-refilling cups from lunch, which… yeah, Leo really should have thought of that.

“You seem to have food covered for now,” she said, gesturing towards the tray of still untouched breakfast items on the bedside table.

Whether he liked it or not, Leo got his second Will Solace lecture of the day, this time with strict orders to rest and let his stump breathe for a while. He didn’t mind that too much—he’d felt absolutely zero desire to put the prosthesis back on since he’d finally taken it off.

Besides, being put on bed rest with Jason really wasn’t much of a punishment, aside from the fact that even sick, Jason still wouldn’t stop with his stupid mother henning.

“You literally said that was part of my boyfriend job description like three hours ago. You do not get to complain about it now,” Jason teased him, shoving Leo’s cup and another piece of toast in his direction.

Yeah, Leo really needed to find that folder of inconvenient quotes that could be used against him and burn it.

Jason was still garbage at letting himself rest, but it seemed to be easier for him now that he felt like he was doing something helpful—even if that something helpful was just bothering his boyfriend. Leo would have to write that down for future reference.

They shared the food Leo had made, and they talked. Jason told him why he’d been so anxious while Leo petted his head and offered to fist-fight Rachel the next time she tried to speak a prophecy. Leo finally went into some of his post-amputation problems, including but not limited to his occasional desire to hurl his crutches at the wall.

“Will probably has some old broken crutches you could actually throw. If you think that’d help, I’m sure he’d let you.”

“I’ll ask, but I’ll definitely tell him it was your idea.” Leo chuckled. “If Will keeps having to put up with us I think he’s gonna need a vacation too.”

“Maybe someone should tell him to just take a couple of days off with his boyfriend. This is actually really nice.” Jason didn’t kiss him, because he was a buzzkill and refused to get him sick, but he looked at Leo with such unbridled fondness that it was clear he wanted to. “I love you. You know that, right?”

“If you’re trying to quote Star Wars to me, you’re doing it wrong,” Leo joked, putting his head on Jason’s shoulder. “But yeah, I do know that. Love you, too.”

And well, spending the next few days like this, sharing meals and curled up next to each other watching movies and taking naps didn’t sound so bad, even if it did require Leo to be a little more honest about how he was feeling than usual.

He still wasn’t convinced they were lucky enough to have any kind of fairytale future, but currently the present wasn’t looking half bad.

———————

Some notes:

-Title is from Time by Gretta Ray. Shoutout to my friend Mal for putting up with me in the process of this fic, he’s never read the books and literally doesn’t even know who these people are.

Continuation of the point I made in Late Night Cocoa about Leo and Jason both being shit at voicing it when something is wrong with them! Jason’s been in charge for so long that not being okay has simply never felt like an option. Leo still isn’t entirely used to having people who care regardless of whether he’s currently being useful.

Being in a relationship does not magically fix all your issues! But they know each other and know how to lift each other up and it does really help.

Leo will not let Jason play the hero. Jason will not allow Leo to talk badly about himself ever. They’re just good for each other, full stop, and I love that for them.

Side note: I cannot believe I wrote a 10k established relationship fic and didn’t let them kiss on the lips once. That feels incredibly mean of me. I feel like now I need to write a date fic of some kind specifically to make it up to them, lol

This was my first time properly attempting Jason POV which was kind of scary but I think I ended up doing alright?

Anyway, thanks for reading! Comments and reblogs are always super, super appreciated.

@poppitron360

#valgrace #jason grace #leo valdez #hoo #heroes of olympus #leo x jason #jason x leo #my writing #heroes of Olympus fanfic #valgrace fanfic #hoo fanfic #pjo Leo #pjo Jason #fate and other technicalities #long post

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fantomette22 · 2 months ago

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Hello how you doing? ^-^

I have not checked tumblr in months but its always wonderful to see you to keep the gehrmaria space alive.. and I want to ask if you have hcs for how they both behave when the other is sick and needing care? Please and thank you dear friend ~

Hi anon! :D thank you a lot for the ask and checking in! You always put a smile on my face :) (Idk if you got other social media too that would be a pleasure to chat with you!)

I’m doing fine I would say. That depends the days.

And yeah I know I should do more on them! ejfssdhkfeihfkdskn

But yes I think you’ll be happy to know I have quite a few headcanons and ideas about this specific subject!

Well aside the AU where everyone is kinda alive and happy and they share a house, and sometimes got sick here*, I feel that in a more canon compliant setting they would rarely got sick thanks to the old blood. (*So yeah in AU they would be very sweet and patient and take care of each other when the other got sick for sure!)

Still with the hunt and all they would get hurt often and you can't always use old blood for every little scrape you got. You know you need to be careful with using old blood and all ;)

So at first I imagined when Maria got her first blood transfusion she stayed in a coma for maybe like 2 days. And her friends relay themselves at her bedside. So Gehrman did that for a huge part. (won't share all the context here but it's after facing off the keeper of the old lords! It was a a huge thing for her but she still decide to continue on the 3rd floor and Ludwig and Gehrman had to drag her back after getting KO by a gel enemy (you know the slime that fall on you)... she shouldn't have overdo it...

They did save each other lives from death situations more than once too! Even going as to carry the other on their back to get to safety! So yeah they got other others! (Yes Maria did that for Gehrman too!)

I always imagined Laurence was mainly the one to patch up and heal the old hunters who got hurt (logic) but as he got more busy and can't be everywhere, I feel they would all take care of one another and especially Maria and Gehrman being the more at ease with it (to heal the others).

I hc of course Laurence as a doctor or even surgeon (+priest lol) he is the best at sewing back skins for exemple but followed by Gehrman who's the second best! (I mean he can sew tissue very well so. Apparently it's not that far off! So now I imagined they trained together at Byrgenwerth on tissue and skins. Help ekdbd)

And then Maria learn it too. So, I imagined more than once, they might have sew back each other skins too! So yeah.

I had this silly idea... that show that they trust each other on that quite well. Like one day they are patching up, cleaning the scratches they got. It's just the 2 of them at the workshop. And at some point Maria's like : "hey hm... I got a pretty bad scar on my back hm would that be alright if you stitch it up?"

"Oh euh sure no problem."

"No I mean I need to take my shirt off... does that bother you?"

"OH! Hm... well we can wait for a nurse if that bother you..."

"No it's fine its it's you it's just... I understand if..that bother you...."

"Well... if that doesn't bother you... it's hm fine with me I think.."

"Alright..."

And it's awkward for like 2 mins before they start it. I mean it's fine she have her back to him and holding her shirt in front of her so it's ok. (wtf I am even talking about help)

Also Gehrman always have so tea or infusion for any kind of pain so he gave her a few remedy and receipt he have. But he love to prepare it too.

I also imagined that very occasionally Gehrman still got phantom pain in his leg/foot. Sometimes it's just slithy bothering or annoying but at times the pain is just too much. He can't do anything, just sitting there, gritting his teeth, almost on the verge of tears... waiting for it to pass. Somehow the better thing that smooth him is Maria presence. Talking to him and being with him. it helped the pain pass and being more beareble. (He never show that side of him to anyone but to her he did. They are here to help each other at when they're really not well. He did that for her too in the past until well.... When there were all the drama with Cainhurst and all for exemple.)

And last little thing hm. Still need to figure details but before she passed away, and clearly wasn't at her best, I imagined that maybe Gehrman did take care of her a bit. Making sure she sleeps and eat and all. Making sure she could donation and her own again. she did but well... you know how that end later. And he became slowly a giant mess without her presence...)

Sorry that's clearly not sweet so let's get back to the making soup and tea for each others and something 😭 patching up and telling the other to be careful not overdo it. Yeah that's better.

-----

Also I did try to draw something quick the other day too. It’s very messy I don’t think I did a very good job here. I didn’t wanted to post it at first.. But I figure it would still be nice to share to you and maybe others would still appreciate it as well! (I get what's like to be desperate for content and taking every lil bit so I can at least provide that!)

So there it is ^^

Have Gehrman patching her up and Maria calming him from phantom pain.

#fantomette22art #maria & gehrman #gehrmaria #kinda #bloodborne headcanons #my asks #anon asks #bloodborne #lady maria of the astral clocktower #gehrman the first hunter

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xxgoblin-dumplingxx · 1 year ago

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I just got caught up on the gaslight au and AHHH I love it so much! I do wonder about what the Waynes' secret. It's gotta be a version of the Batfamily, but it's mostly just hush hush in the story. Wonder if sweet wildflower will learn about it?

Bruce looked at the Doctor's daughter sitting across from him and his heart twisted. You understood the sanctity of life. You'd helped your father tend his patients as his very own nurse, setting and stitching wounds. Mixing salves and poultices.

And now there was blood on your hands.

Physically, he knew you would heal. You were young and healthy. But some wounds would take far longer to heal. Now, as you sat across from him, playing the part you were supposed to play. Pouring his tea and explaining, haltingly- from memory some medicinal properties of a local fauna your father had favored as a topical analgesic- he asked suddenly, "What were you aiming for?"

"Clavicle," you murmur. No hesitation. Just a pause to register the question. "I- I was afraid that if I tried to shoot him in the leg I would miss- close quarters and-" You break off and Bruce nods.

Clavicle. Not chest. To cause pain. Time to get away- you could run while he was writhing on the floor.

"You didn't mean to kill that- man," Bruce said. "You were in a panic. Terrified out of your mind." He set his cup down and looked at you seriously, "My father was a doctor, did you know that?"

"I didn't."

"And I don't think Thomas Wayne would have lost much sleep over the death of a man who would kidnap and- mistreat a young woman... And I do not think your father would be disappointed in you. He'd probably have been less kind about it than you were-"

"Pardon?"

"Your shot through his chest," Bruce explained. "It's why I asked what you were aiming for. It went through his heart. He didn't suffer." He had suffered, a little. But. You didn't need to know that.

"He just dropped- at first I thought I missed. I didn't know. I thought. I froze. I-"

Bruce nodded. You weren't a killer. Even if you had shot guns while hunting with your father- a piece of the story gleaned from Jason. It was a different matter to shoot a person. "It's not uncommon to freeze," he said.

"Will I- I mean I did kill a man-"

"If it comes to that," Bruce said calmly, "we'll take care of it. It was a murder, but it wasn't a crime."

"I-"

"One thing at a time," Bruce said. "The legal system is- imperfect. But. Jim Gordon seems to agree. The question is whether or not Harvey Dent will agree."

"What am I going to do?"

"Tell the truth," he said smiling a little. "And just know- you're under house arrest... sort of. I told Gordon I'd keep you here until we could figure out what were were going to do. Try you for the murder or make a case against your uncle for paying the man to start with."

#jason todd #jason todd x reader #ask answered #minors dni #reader insert #gaslamp!au

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sanguinemanare · 6 months ago

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Hii it is me again hehe

I saw somewhere on your blog maybe 2-3 times that BM likes light blue is there any particular reason?

Also you said that it was YN who initiated intimacy so how did Bloodmoon reacted the first time ? (Ik it’s kinda open to interpretation but I’d like your thoughts on this one please :3)

And also what if BM finds YN trying to escape peak obsession? What would be his reaction after YN failure or success? (Can he rage ? Or get really really mad that something doesn’t go his way?)

Let’s say that YN noticed that BM was getting a danger for their safety and decided to take action got him caged or trapped somewhere where they still could see him and interact, what would be is plan ? Would he think of a way to get YN to free him or would he turn to his strength ?

Could Bloodmoon ever learn to be gentle because of that?

Ok well that’s all that i can think of rn ><

Sorry if my questions are obvious, it’s bc im the type of person who like to have the author thought and pov about their creation!

Hi hi! Honestly I love the appreciation and curiosity. Sorry if any of my replies don't make sense, I have a hard time putting my thoughts into words sometimes lol!

So his favorite colour is light blue. There is no specific reason as to why. I honestly just thought it'd be funny, just a big murderous character who loves hurting others, pain and blood and then just….likes a bright blue colour. (I have a stupid sense of humor)

Well for the intimacy part I don't have any set lore behind it. Just that Y/N would have to be the one to initiate because of the type of character Bloodmoon is. Think of him like a slasher film killer LOL Bloodmoon's reaction to any kind of affection is generally confusion and then curiosity, so it'd basically be the same with Y/N showing "interest" that way. He doesn't understand why someone would be showing him any form of it, because everyone else shows fear, anger and disgust. Y/N would basically have to be just as insane as him to start anything like this, I'mma be real LOL. why you getting comfortable with this man that could kill you in a heart beat. Afterward, intense possessiveness would settle and decrease Y/N's chances of leaving even more so.

Y/N trying to leave/escape Bloodmoon at peak obsession can get intense. He always sees these attempts as a game and enjoys the struggle from them. If Y/N is successful at leaving, Bloodmoon would be trying everything in his power to bring them back. This is incredibly dangerous for Y/N and anyone else who is around as he would no longer be thinking clearly and basically tunnel vision on Y/N. Frustration and anger do come into play if he's not getting what he wants. If the emotion is strong enough it eventually twists and turns to a more psychotic/deranged state and it triggers his base hunt and kill coding. There is a very high chance that if Y/N is captured during this phase that they will die.

In my AU Bloodmoon is already basically caged within a specific area so he'd be relatively used to it if it were to happen again. He would be patient and most definitely trying to coerce Y/N into either going to him or letting him out.

During peak obsession however, there would definitely be much more physical outbursts from him. That room would be utterly destroyed LOL. One thing he can do is use his corrupt coding to take control of a few things in the building. He's not exactly good at it though and a lot of the time it ends in failure but during his time trapped he would probably try to hone it to free himself if physically breaking out isn't an option.

Y/N would experience moments of complete silence and stillness from him while he tries this and it can last for hours. If he has literally no way out, he would obsessively watch Y/N any time they appear. Eventually over time he would lose his mind even more so and become even more dangerous.

Soft and gentle moments with him are extremely rare to the point of almost being non existent. He is incredibly stubborn and it's basically in his coding to be aggressive. Changing this would basically change who he is as a being. They could change his personality and coding but it would just be an entirely new animatronic.

#ask reply #long post #fnaf #fnaf bloodmoon #bloodmoon #bloodmoon oc #my bloodmoon #AU #sanguine manare #not tsams #Y/N

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alchemistc · 5 months ago

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i wanna start out by saying ive been patiently waiting for a hockey AU on the bucktommy fandom and your Goon fic is everything i have ever wanted, im honestly obsessed with your characterization of tommy

i have never been that big on rpf in the hockey fandom, but i always love reading people write crosby in their hockey aus, also love how you include Hockey Lore TM in the story

so, i wanted your take on the insane 'tradition' (not really tradition, more of a common occurrence) of players playing through injuries specially in the playoffs (I remember that in the 2016 or 2017 cup run, there was more players currently injured on the penguins than not, pretty sure Letang or Daley had like, broken fingers for most of the last round) and how many times Buck had to run away from Hen so he could play, because if anyone is more likely to play through injuries, i'd say is Evan "i-had-another-surgery-instead-of-waiting-for-my-leg-crush-injury-to-heal-naturally" Buckley, or Evan "I-sued-my-job-because-they-wouldnt-let-me-do-said-job-after-said-leg-crush-injury-and-vomitting-blood" Buckley

Thank you thank you! Goon has been so much fun to craft, and I'm loving seeing the hockey fans and the 'what's a chiclet' 9-1-1 fans alike enjoy it!

Personally? I hate it. I think the whole idea of it is fucking insane and detrimental to not only their physical health but their mental health as well. (From the Avs fan perspective, regardless of what we actually know about the Nichushkin situation, the man broke his foot and played through it, likely got addicted to a painkiller in the recovery process, missed a playoff series because of [redacted], had a career fucking year and then sent himself to the Players Assistance Program, came back, had MORE career highlights, and then...failed a drug test in the run up to the playoffs and got himself suspended.

(Another reason players just play through injury and mental health crisis is the Players Assistance Program, which IS ANOTHER MAJOR FAILING OF HOCKEY CULTURE IN GENERAL)

Hell, Landy played through a not-healed-injury after he took Cale's skate to his knee and now he's had two surgeries and may never make another appearance in a game because of it.

(I can't think of the player at the moment, but I remember a cup run where a player was playing with fractured ribs and it was later revealed that if he'd taken a puck or a nasty hit or gone into the boards wrong there was a chance he'd have had a vital organ punctured and likely wouldn't have known the extent of the damage until he'd collapsed from internal bleeding. It didn't happen, but WHAT THE FUCK)

And fans have a tendency to glorify them as gods for 'fighting through the pain' in their quest for the Cup.

As far as Goon goes:

They're all gonna be playing through injury. SInce this is from Tommy's perspective, he's coming at it from two angles - he's the guy who's played through injury his whole career just to keep a spot in the lineup, he's toughed it out and dealt with the numbing agents and the wraps and the twinge that doesn't go away for weeks at a time (and the aforementioned pain killers that eventually prompted him to go to fucking therapy in the first place). He is also the guy who has spent four years unpacking why exactly he did that - how much of it is the culture, how much of it is his own shit and his dad telling him to rub some dirt in it and stop being a pussy, how much of it has just been to prove himself capable of being one of the guys in the room.

There's also Hen, who pushes harder than the other trainers, and calls out the bullshit when she sees it, so yeah, this team probably has a slightly better track record of keeping the guy out with upper body injury out of the lineup for longer than any other team would, but - Buck's not the only one who's learned how to lie about exactly how much pain he's in and how well his recovery is going. He'll strain shit and refuse to admit it, he'll push through on a 'minor' injury unless he thinks playing on it would threaten his career. (He absolutely has NO real concept of how bad an injury actually is, tbh, because like everyone else he's been lying about it for so long he doesn't have an accurate pain scale.)

The tldr of this is that I don't condone it, but the reality is it's so ingrained in kids coming up that it's a reality of the culture and I'm not necessarily gonna shy away from that. It's not a huge focus of the story, but there will be hints here and there.

#bucktommy hockey au #don't even get me started on the deification of kadri when he came back from breaking his thumb #that whole cup run is just a cesspool of toxic masculinity trumping taking care of the body #every cup run is #and i doubt it'll change any time soon #let's also not talk about all of the legends dying and finding out during autopsy that they all had cte #like yeah they wear helmets now and have a concussion protocol but is that ever NOT enough

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vladdyissues · 1 year ago

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Danny Phantom AU, where Vlad knew about Danny Phantom being Half-Ghost, before ‘Bitter Reunions’... What if Vlad hides his plans to take over both worlds from Danny?... What if Sam/Tucker (around Season 1) learn about Vlad's true evilness, and show proof to Danny?... What if Danny feels betrayed and believes that Vlad only liked Danny for being half-ghost? (Which isn't true) ... What if Vlad is heartbroken that Danny rejects him, and Vlad angrily blames Sam/Tucker for 'ruining everything'? 💔

I love this idea but see it diverging at the halfway point because Vlad is 1) an accomplished liar, 2) sly as a (silver) fox, and 3) experienced enough in manipulation tactics to know how to invalidate Sam and Tucker's claims while making himself out to be the victim. In other words, I don't think Vlad would even get a chance to be heartbroken because he's just that fucking good. Observe:

"How?" Danny stood before Vlad, quivering with rage. Tears threatened to spill from his flooded eyes. "How could you do this? How could you be so"—he struggled before finally spitting the word—"evil?"

"Oh, Daniel." Vlad sighed and sank onto the couch. "You don't actually believe these outlandish claims, do you?"

"They have photos of you in your lab! You in a ghost form! With a cape and fangs and weird hair and everything."

"Photos." Vlad nodded. "And which one of your friends is the computer whiz? Tucker… Fowler, is it?"

"Foley. What's that got to do with anything?"

"Does Mr. Foley have access to Photoshop?"

It took a moment for the implication to absorb through the blinding veil of Danny's anger. A seed of something cold and painful burrowed into the soil of his broken heart. It felt like betrayal.

"What are you saying? Tucker photoshopped those pictures of you?"

With a meek look of apology, Vlad spread his hands and shrugged.

Danny's head spun. "But that—no. No, he wouldn't. Why would—he… What about the documents?" He jabbed his finger victoriously. "Your journal! All those evil plans you—"

"I understand your friend Samantha is an aspiring author. Fiction, I believe. I've read her work in the local student magazine. Very talented."

Another blow. Danny felt the seed sprout into a choking vine, wrapping its tendrils around his heart and squeezing it until it felt like the muscle would burst.

And Vlad. So calm and patient. Sitting there with his hands clasped over his knees, giving Danny the most sympathetic expression. Danny wanted to simultaneously burst into tears and fly into a destructive passion.

"They wouldn't. They couldn't. Why would they…"

"Oh, Daniel." Vlad reached out to him, his face bent with worry. "Come, sit down, dear boy. You look exhausted."

Danny stumbled to the couch and dropped onto the cushions as if the weight of the world were perched on his shoulders. Vlad slid close and put a soothing arm around him.

"Don't you see, Daniel?" He tamed a wild strand of Danny's hair, and the fingers continued their stroking. "This is a simple matter of jealousy. Your friends are jealous of the time we spend together—time that takes you away from them—and they're trying to get you back. It's a tale as old as humanity itself."

Tears skidded down Danny's cheeks. "But it's—these are serious accusations."

"I know."

"Why would they make up something like this, just because we don't hang out as often? I mean, why go through all that trouble? Why… I can't believe they'd actually lie about this."

"Everyone lies, Daniel."

"Not to me. They've never—well. I mean, nothing serious."

Vlad sighed. "It may surprise you to know that I was in a similar situation myself once. When your mother first took a shine to your father when we were in college and began spending more time with him, I became jealous. I missed the hours Jack and I used to spend together in the science lab, just the two of us. I acted out and fabricated lies, made a perfect fool of myself." He shook his head. "It was so silly, now that I think about it. The college reunion last year was my way of trying to make it up to them, apologizing for my past behavior. And look where it's led."

He smiled, gently tugging a lock of Danny's hair.

"I got to meet you, the most wonderful and unique young man in the entire world. I can hardly blame your friends for wanting you all to themselves again. It's really the sincerest compliment, when you think about it. You mean so much to them that they would invent the most outrageous fabrication, slander me and tarnish my reputation, just to have you back. You're that special to them."

He finished with a paternal smile, and Danny turned to him, blinking more tears down his face. Vlad pulled his red handkerchief from his suit pocket and wiped Danny's dripping cheeks. The cloth was smooth and fragrant, and Danny leaned into its warmth.

"I'm sorry," he croaked. "I shouldn't have believed them—"

"Shh, shh, my dear boy." Vlad pulled him into a sideways hug and planted a kiss on top of his head. "You couldn't help it. To their credit, they did excellent work. I'd be inclined to believe it myself if I didn't know better!"

When his chuckle failed to lift the misery from Danny's face, he sighed and rubbed the boy's arm.

"I suppose it's my fault, really. I'm a lonely man, and I've been too greedy with you. I must remember that you have friends who need you, too." He pulled back. "Perhaps I should return to Wisconsin for a few months, let you and your friends enjoy the rest of the school year and—"

Danny grabbed hold of his arm. "No, please, don't go away. I—" He dipped his blushing face. "You're special to me, too."

Vlad stared. Then affection tugged at the corners of his downturned mouth. "You don't know how happy that makes me, Daniel."

This time it was Danny who initiated the embrace. Vlad wrapped his arms around the boy and smiled over his shoulder. It wasn't a nice smile. It was leering, cunning, too sharp.

"Perhaps I can arrange for your friends to come over more often," he said. "We can work together instead of separately. I'll even throw in some ghost-free recreation time. How would you three like to spend a few days up at my lodge in Aspen? Skiing all day, hot chocolate and movies at night, not to mention the enormous hot tub I have."

"Sounds great, except they hate your guts."

"Maybe once they get to know me, they'll change their minds."

Danny glumly pulled away. "How am I gonna face them? I mean, they're so convinced you're evil. What can I say? How do I tell them you're not what they think?"

"You don't have to say anything, Daniel. Not right now. Just let them speak. Look for the truth behind their lies. Once you see that they really just miss you and care about you, everything will become clear. And for the record, I have no hard feelings toward them. Be sure to let them know that when the time comes."

Danny sniffed wetly. "You really are a good guy, Vlad."

"Except for when I cavort around my lab, wearing a cloak and fangs, of course."

Danny laughed, and the spell was broken.

Everything was going to be okay. He would talk to Sam and Tucker, get this whole thing straightened out. And if he couldn't, well… maybe they needed a break from one other. Just until the lying and photoshopping and libelous works of fiction stopped. Everything was going to be okay.

As if sharing the same thought, Vlad reached over and grasped Danny's hand, lifting it to press a chaste kiss above the knuckles. He met Danny's eyes. Heat bled up Danny's neck to stain his cheeks pink. He bit his lip.

Sam and Tucker would never understand this, either. But that was okay. He wasn't going to let their lies come between him and the man he loved.

#oops a ficlet happened #asks #hjbwrites #pompous pep #bitter reunions au #manipulation #ficlet #long post

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carnation-damnation · 2 years ago

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Here they are!! All my AU Shadow's!!

Some design info + small trivia bits under the cut:

Refraction of a Shadow:

Story takes place after Sonic Heroes but before SHTH 2005. Emerald and I go back and forth about how it's like Shadow The Hedgehog (2) in the sense that there's multiple endings but also like Sonic Adventure (3) where you'd follow different characters in overarching stories with different perspectives. It was, at first, a fun idea about what it'd be like if Terios (The prototype of Shadow during sa2's development) were to exist within Sonic canon. This rides off how Shadow NEVER joins GUN and as a result, they seek to create their own "Shadow" of sorts, as a basis for a robotic/organic army (Since Shadow never joined them, they view him as a potential threat, both politically in how they're responsible for the covered-up ARK deaths and shadow knows and physically, as the Ultimate Lifeform.) Shadow's design is close to how I'd draw him cemented into the Team Dark dynamic; he ditched the white gloves for fingerless black ones and wears red mascara. He's attempting to heal from his experiences and trauma, but this new threat is opening up old wounds.

Rumination in Saudade:

Oh this guy is just so fucked up

Sa2 but everything is so FUCKED amiRIGHT!! So uh. I'd imagine hurtling towards Earth and losing all your memories after this blue angel of a hedgehog tries to save you. That can kinda..fuck you up. Esp if you're a weird little alien thing. Like...Having to relearn how to be something, how to be personable, and mask (haha...autism) He doesn't remember how he was conditioned by Gerald and Black Doom to train and be the Ultimate Lifeform, and doesn't remember how he grew up with Maria, loving Earth and all the people in it. He doesn't have any of it. He's just a weird little freak of a guy. He's off-putting, doesn't know how to control his chaos energy and black arms DNA, and overall just...Trying his best to re-learn what it's like to be a person. No influences from anybody except himself and Sonic. His design elements are basically Sa2 But With Some Extra Bits. Thousand yard stare, singed from becoming a fucking meteorite, an extra eyeball, messed up little tail, 'n an awkward demeanor. So your average unmasked teenager

I Was a Teenage Werehog:

The anxiety and dread of not being able to remember anything but bits and pieces not your style? How about a werewolf au where I self-indulgently combine everything I love about werewolf stories and their tropes for shits and giggles? No please don't run awa-

Basically Unleashed..2. I was inspired by the zombot arc in the comics and was like "haha what if....werewolves" and it kinda went from there. Shadow is your typical Experiencing Werewolf Issues protagonist, except he's not patient zero. Like instead of the real werewolf protagonist dealing with the pain and turmoil of waking up in a mess of blood knowing that something horribly went wrong for some random joe on the street, you get to see what happened to that guy instead. Shadow keeps things to himself; he's the ultimate lifeform, nothing can hurt him! He fell out of space! He fought THE DEVIL !!! Sonic's fucked up werewolf virus will have no effect on him and his mobian/alien DNA <- Guy who is so wrong and incorrect. For design elements, I purposefully fuddled with his proportions to make them a bit less...?? Sonicy?? ig? To put everybody in clothes that didn't make my head spin in confusion. He's got the hot topic 'fit he's got the mascara he's got the RIPPED JEANS!! He's ready for a gritty 2000s teenage werewolf drama baby!!

anyway, thanks for reading this far! I like these guys they're cookin', these cats are swingin'

#shadow the hedgehog #sonic au #art from the den #artists on tumblr #sth #sonic the hedgehog #Refraction of a Shadow #Rumination em Saudade #I Was a Teenage Werehog

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deathbxnny · 1 year ago

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YQ's Mother Requestor Anon here! I'm now gonna cackle bc the era of YQ angst is over and its time for his Villain! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

So, in the au "Jing Yuan executes his wife/Yanqing's mom wrongly" but let's make it even more worse with his son turning against him, very much angry and absolutely wanting to be the guy to end Jing Yuan. He betrays the entire Alliance and doesn't even care if he became a major criminal, because Yanqing now believes the Alliance is merely a glorified legion of murder worst than the Anti-Matter Legion (At least the Legion accepts their wrongdoings in a twisted way than to regale it as justice like the Hunt/Xianzhou Alliance).

He doesn't even join the Abundance, the Stellaron Hunters, etc. because he lacks the will that aligns with the Aeons opposing the Hunt/Xianzhou yet would not stay in the Hunt Path no longer, maybe he'll follow the Nihility or Finality?

Anyways, thanks for reading in my request and I look forward to whatever you bring!

[Ps: Bonus if the last straw was losing someone he loved bc of the Hunt/Xianzhou Alliance and making him question if the Alliance is truly the ones that bring justice, like Dan Shu and Yukong]

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A/N: Hello there! Yanqing's long awaited villain arc is finally approaching and so thank you for the request! I also apologise for me taking so long, but I officially got my new Laptop today, which means I'll finally get some requests out! I hope you'll like it!>:))

Content: Angst, betrayal, heartbreak, mentions of Yanging's mom being wrongfully executed, Yanqing getting his well-deserved villain arc, mentions/threats of violence, some cursing, Jing Yuan being kinda heartless, Reader briefly mentioned as Yanging's lover

Reader has no mentioned pronouns!

((Not proofread and new posting format!))

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Yanqing's life fell apart the moment he found out about the truth.

It were like the cold, unforgiving waves of the ocean crashing against a shore in a wild storm, drowning him in it with no way out. He reached out for help, yet all he got was pitied looks and empty apologies for what was the most heartbreaking revelation of his life. He cried and screamed, his body thrashing aorund in the hold of the cloud knights, his hands gripping onto his sword, his teeth barring at what was once his beloved master. He was reduced to nothing but a hateful memory now in the young boy's mind, all admiration and love gone in an instant and replaced with an unquenchable thirst for revenge.

"How could you? How could you betray me like this?" He screamed, but there was no explanation nor apology that would ever make this okay. Nothing in this world could fix this. And perhaps Jing Yuan knew this, when he turned aorund and began walking away quietly. He was a coward, who couldn't face his son's disappointment even when faced with the consequences of his actions. "HOW DARE YOU WALK AWAY, DAMNIT? AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! I LOOKED UP TO YOU, YOU LIAR!" The boy screamed, his throat burning and failing him, his voice cracking so painfully, that it made the older man wince in shame. He knew this would happen, he knew the truth would tear him apart. But ultimately, he could never imagine how bad this truly would be. He was ignorant and it made him wonder what he expected would happen.

JIng Yuan came to a stop momentarily, his eyes focused ahead to blend out the pain in his heart, as he slaughtered the last of his emotions with a single sentence. "Take him away to cool off." Yanqing's eyes widened at his words, his body going limp in defeat and surprise, yet the rage in him said more than he needed to.

This wasn't over.

But Yanqing waited. He would be patient with getting his revenge. He'd plan every detail, he'd wait for the right moment to enact the perfect betrayal. He dug deep, learning all about the way his mother was wrongfully excecuted by his own father, who decided to just never even mention him being his biological child to him either. Yanqing just couldn't comprehend why the general would do this to him. And it wasn't just about his mother's excecution. All the lies about his heritage, all the lies about who he was, his mother discarded as nothing more than an unimportant memory alongside her entire clan.

Forgotten by all, except for her son, who eventually couldn't wait anymore, after he lost the only person who kept him sane. You, the light of his world, that comforted him when no one else wanted to. They let you die. You weren't worth saving in their eyes and that was what made him finally break.

The darkness was turning him into a ball of hatred and rage, he wasn't the same cheerful boy he once was. The change hurt him in more ways than one, but he decided to just drown that old part of himself and push forward with his plans. He wanted no help. He wante to do it all on his own, destroy everyone on the ship with his own hands, until they finally understand how he felt. He made a pact with the Aeon of Nihility and gained the power needed to truly enact his plans of betrayal.

His hair whipped in the wind, his face devoid of any emotions, as he stared down at the dishevelled general, who was clutching on his bleeding side uselessly. The Xianzhou Luofu was up in flames, citizens and guards running aorund in panic to get away from the destruction, their screams music to the too far gone boy. Once father and son, now nothing but enemies, the two brandished their swords in preparation of a fight Jing Yuan never wanted and Yanqing was itching for.

The boy could only hope that you and his mother were watching him, as a smile spread across his face in glee of it all finally coming to an end, when the older man's sword clattered to the ground with him following it soon after in defeat.

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A/N: Alright, I hope this was okay! Thank you again for the request and sorry again for taking so long!<3

#honkai star rail #honkai star rail fanfic #honkai star rail x reader #honkai star rail x you #hsr x reader #hsr yanqing #hsr jing yuan #hsr #hsr yanqing x reader

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the-prince-of-pink · 9 months ago

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I got super inspired by @sm-baby 's digital circus au so I made a version of my sona for it! Carnival! Harbour "The Toymaker" Harbour's game represents all the toys you can win at a carnival, his game includes matching different parts of stuffed animals in order to form the one he asks for. Harbour is generally very sweet and kind, if a little clumsy, he assumes every new player is just another doll he forgot he made. If you don't make the right toy for him, he assumes you're broken and tries to take you apart and sew you back together, the moment he notices you bleeding/screaming in pain he realizes you're not a toy, he goes berserk with anguish, screaming about what you've done to his friends while relentlessly trying to sew you to the wall so he can take a look inside you. He can "hear" when his toys are talking, which is what he assumes the players are doing, he often goes into paranoid breakdowns while holding a toy close, comforting them as if comforting a scared and hurt child, he does this if he fails to catch new players too. Pomni finds him quite unnerving, with some of the toys he's been making recently falling heavily into the uncanny valley territory, though she tries her best to play along with his toys to keep him happy. Harbour however enjoys her company, both pre and post sentience, a fellow anxious buddy just looking for some sort of escapism from being awake.

Nicknames: "Larva" (Kinger) "Sticky-fingers" (Jax) "Costume supervisor" (Gangle) Fun facts! Despite being the costume supervisor, he doesn't actually know how to design clothes well, but gets yelled at by Gangle to do so. He adores Ragatha a lot and always tries to be polite, sometimes he just spends hours staring at her, marveling at her construction. She finds it very rude and his clumsiness leads to her raging at his table manners more than they'd like, but post sentience she's been learning to set boundaries and be patient when he spaces out. Though, she enjoys the quiet company of his toys. He wants to "fix" Jax, seeing him as a broken toy that just needs some love and to be stitched up.

#oc #original character #the amazing digital carnival #fan character #sona design #character art #meme makes art #illustration #fanart #TADC #the amazing digital circus #TADC AU #carnival au

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be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie · 2 years ago

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Your daily dose of Nocorro angst, good eats:

I'm not putting in @spicymiilk 's ideas in case he uses them, but dear god I would pay real money for my accidentally mated au to be written thank u.

-Part of me thinks there should be a fucking medieval au type thing where Neteyam is the next prince to take over the kingdom passed down via Neytiri's line. I just love the idea of Spider as a fucking Theon Greyjoy type son of the enemy raised by the family, and that’s why Neytiri doesn’t trust him or some shit it’s so juicy. Can't you all see it now it's so good, the star crossed horror of it all.

-The additional Neytiri/Neteyam parallel that comes out in nocorro. They both have forbidden alien romances, and yet Neytiri wouldn't respect or understand Neteyam's without a lot of work. THE SYMBOLIC T R A G E D Y. We could have a moment of Mo'at being like, "Get it together, I accepted your freak. I even like him better than you now sometimes."

-I am currently deeply obsessed with the bonds Na'vi form with their mates. Every author has played with bonds differently, but I feel like a lot of fics have mentioned this concept of being able to feel each others emotions. The fact that the bond is like, more raw and important in the beginning. So Spider and Neteyam keeping their relationship hidden, being separate and secret would be like almost painful. I am so so invested in that idea I want to know More. Like they Have to be near each other, like touch and shit is essential for a healthy bond at first and they’re just like fucking it up. I want to explore Na'vi bond concepts so bad, with some lovely hurt comfort of nocorro being forced apart at the worst time.

-I even like the concept of them being in a healthy, normal relationship, right? They are newly bonded, and everyone loved and supported them from the beginning or what not. They wanted to get mated before the train raid just in case, and then Spider gets fucking taken lol. Tragedy, they AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE APART, the drama of it all.

-I made that soulmate au post where I did all the different types of soulmate aus I could think of and with the one where they can feel and take each others pain I WENT STRAIGHT TO NOCORRO RIGHT AWAY. There’s something so funny and horrifying about spider getting taken and Jake being like “alright go learn an entire new culture” and Neteyam's like on the ground half dead like “but dad I feel like I’m being brain tortured”.

-Neteyam would be so fucking angsty and reckless at Awa'atlu in this au. He feels all of Spider's pain, so he's terrified and scared BUT ALSO CRANKY. He’s saying slightly rude things to his parents and he’s beating the shit out of Ao’nung before Lo’ak can even try. Man is testy. And he's shit at learning to breathe, he is not feeling calm or patient.

-The soulmate au where you can take the others wounds, imagine Spider taking the bullet wound even after they have a (spider inflicted cause he gets hurt more often) pact to not take each others wounds and pain. Horrifying. I have been wondering about the logistics tho, because Spider's body is proportionally different than Neteyam's, would the wound appear somewhere else on his body that would help him possibly survive? I can't decide.

-Oh my god also a version where they hadn't realized yet they were soulmates. Neteyam's all of a sudden devastated and horrified that he's alive at the cost of his soulmate, one he never got to meet, only to look over and notice Spider keeling over. TRAGEDY. pLS I need comfort fics too.

-There’s enough torture porn in this fandom I’m waiting for my Spider romcom. I want to be surprised by how right things start going for my boy, it's never surprising when all the things go bad all the time for him. I want that fucking fast food nocorro au I got so into. I want my soulmate au but they notice from the beginning so they accept him and raise him or something.

-Speaking of a little modern nocorro romcom (still with plenty of angst tho) I’m telling you I’m right Neteyam is P E A K I can fix him. He clocks Spider and is like “now there’s a boy I can fix (sexual).” His sexuality is will my dick cure him? Yes.

-Spider like, coughs once and Neteyam's like that sickly little loser of a man is Mine now, wow. Wow I am going to Save him and it'll be so satisfying. The man has a savior complex you can't convince me otherwise. That meme like "if I had a lame ass boyfriend I would hype him up so hard," that's Neteyam.

-I've always thought that Neteyam and Spider's problems and fights would always be over Neteyam trying to fix all of Spider's problems. Like Spider is just venting about his dad and Neteyam is like "so I'm on the phone with CPS and we're filing a report" and Spider's like "oh my fucking god I just wanted you to listen??" And Neteyam's like but babe I can fix it.

-Neteyam's GROWTH is him like learning to grit his teeth and literally sit on his hands as he forces himself to let Spider have his own problem instead of Babygirl-ifying him. He's literally Too Pure Too Good For This World in the most annoying way possible, he thinks everything can be fixed but maybe Spider's just gotta be broke, we can't superglue this one back together.

-Then Spider's like what if he won't like me if I'm not broken anyway? And it's a whole other complex and a whole other set of issues.

I hope you've enjoyed this word vomit of terrible angst, I need help and I need fluff.

#thank u to andrei for making sure i got literally nothing done all day #and at one point while we were talking I glanced up at work and noticed one kid had another kid in a headlock #and i'd been letting it happen in favor of this #neteyam sully #miles spider socorro #spider socorro #nocorro #neytiri sully #mo'at #jake sully #ao'nung #avatar #avatar the way of water #james cameron avatar #we are mindmelding get in

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baconcolacan · 2 years ago

Note

Lord do I need a sick fic between Tom and Tord, I just need one of them to ACTUALLY take car of the other,, even if they hate eachother or tease eachother they need to calm down

siiigghhhh

Stay AU, technically a sick fic lol but became more domestic Words: 5171

It’s hard to remember sometimes that his husband was always in some amount of physical pain.

Tord had always been good at hiding away what he felt, anything he deemed detrimental or unnecessary was always kept locked away in a little box he built in his head. After years of knowing him, Tom knew that it was all for his own safety, it was the only way his husband had ever learned to protect himself and people he loved. He had to be strong or else he got hurt, even worse if it was his loved ones, and to him that was essentially his fault for not being enough.

It was a lesson he learned too young, and something that Tom worked hard to dismantle when he could, lest his poor love work himself towards an early grave.

Tord’s proclivity of hiding his hurt became less of an issue as they got older. Sure his husband was once a stupid teen who always postured his machismo when they started dating, but the more they spent time together, thus leading to Tord trusting him bit by bit, the more Tord let him see his weaker moments well before it got any worse.

It took them a lot of yelling, fighting, tears, and heartbreak to get to where they were now, and Tom knew just how precious his husband’s trust was, how difficult it was for Tord to admit that he wasn’t as strong as he wanted to be.

So, he could never really fault him when he fell back into old habits. Especially during times when Tord felt genuinely afraid that his failure to live up to his own standards will endanger his family.

They were still working on it, and Tom was patient, he wished Tord would get his head out his arse sometimes, but at least his husband was making an effort.

It started when Tord came back from one of his tours abroad. During a late-night address to his troops, a failed assassination attempt had caused pieces of debris to fall on top of him, courtesy of a decrepit building that had been fixed to blow just as he had been setting up camp with his Company. Thankfully, Tord hadn’t been too scraped up, but there had been significant damage done to his leg- his bad leg- as a sizable chunk of the building had fallen on top of it, when he tried to avoid more perilous positions when the explosion rung out.

Though, to the eyes of the public and the RA, Tord was only mostly unscathed, thoroughly unbothered as he clawed his way out of the debris, still standing tall, as he demanded the heads of the would-be assassins, while a wave Red Sentries began flooding the area like the blood Tord’s enemies wished he had spilled.

Their public executions were swift and without trial, and Tord walked away from it spitting at their corpses.

But only Tom could see the way his husband’s steps had faltered. His eye twitched minutely, a flicker of pain, unseen by anyone else save for the man who loved him, watching closer than the entire world had done.

When Tord came home, back to their cabin in the woods- hidden away from prying eyes and loose tongues, their sequestered, treasured, moment in time, separated from all else- he had leant heavily against the door frame, with sheer misery on his face. His field operations uniform was scuffed, torn, and covered in dust. His skin had a deathly pallor to it, covered in the same grey ash his uniform had been in. His teeth were gritted, grinding so hard against each other Tom swore he could hear them creaking.

He wasted no time rushing to his husband’s side, his crutches held tight in his grip.

When Tord looked up at him, Tom could feel his heart breaking. Tord’s eye had a glassy sheen to it, unshed tears barely held back from escaping. His breaths sounded labored, but he tried his best to keep them quiet after he had seen the panicked look on Tom’s face.

Even still, his voice had betrayed him when he reached out to his husband with a shaking hand. “My love,” he said with a tremble as his face twisted into agony.

Tom nearly missed catching him when Tord collapsed forward, his right leg now unable to hold up his weight. He had to let go of the crutches in favor of supporting his husband himself. Small pained gasps escaped Tord, his hands curling tightly inwards as he held on to Tom’s shoulders, all his weight transferred over to his husband, but Tom didn’t mind it one bit as he gently helped him walk over to the couch.

“Fuck…it hurts….” Tord had gasped as he curled himself closer to Tom’s side. Seemingly trying to hide from the pain he was feeling.

“Shh shh, elskling, you’ll be alright. I already called Bing. I’m right here, okay?”

“It hurts so bad.”

Tom swallowed hard around the lump in his throat, his chest hurt at hearing Tord’s voice become so small, as he gently lowered him down into the couch, only hesitating when his husband let out a low whine and hard hiss as he stretched out his leg. Wordlessly, he offered him some painkillers and a glass of water, which Tord gratefully took.

“I know it hurts, love, but you’ll be okay, I promise.” He sat down next to his husband in an instant, holding him close as Tord buried his face in the juncture between his shoulder and his neck. Tom let out a shuddering breath as he felt a wet patch start to form on his shirt as Tord heaved in sobs. He offered his husband his hand to hold, which Tord had taken to squeezing tight every time the pain flared up too much for him to handle.

Tom could do nothing but offer him comfort as they waited for Bing.

Bing wasn’t exactly RA’s top medic, a title of which was reserved for Yanov, but he knew enough about biology to at least be decent enough to perform minor surgeries if needed. Larry of course was also quite adept at first aid, seeing as he had to be there to patch Bing up if ever he had a violent mishap at the labs. Plus, with him there, there was a less likely chance for Bing to muck up any medical procedures if his attention started to stray.

According to Bing, Tord had actually been pretty lucky. All in all, that chunk of building should have broken his leg beyond repair, but due to the presence of his modified leg brace- which Bing had said with a haughty amount of pride before Larry slapped him upside the head- most of the shock had been absorbed thus minimizing the damage that might have occurred.

Though, Larry suggested that Tord be put on bed rest for a while, or at least to not put as much strain on his right leg for the time being.

Tom promised that he’d keep Tord off his leg, even if his husband kept quiet during the whole exchange, only intermittently squeezing Tom’s hand when a spike of pain raced up his leg.

Bing and Larry bid them a good night.

Tom was prepared to get into petty squabbles with his husband for the next few days, as Tord vehemently refused to take any sick days even when he was feeling under the weather, more so if it involved his chronic pain. Usually, Tom would acquiesce somewhat as long as Tord wore his brace and took short breaks, or if Tord’s only intention was to sit and stay in his home office doing logistic work, but now that he had gotten into an accident, Tom knew he wasn’t going to compromise with his husband at all during his recovery time.

No matter what he did or said.

To his surprise though, the next morning after Bing and Larry’s visit, Tord was actually very cooperative.

…. Suspiciously cooperative…..

Tom had been hyping himself up when he first woke up that morning, ready to get into a row with his husband about needing to use his crutches the whole day at home instead of his leg brace, which Tord never really did even at home, preferring to only use the crutches at night when he had a day off to spend in the cabin.

It’s always been a petty little squabble of theirs, and he was sure Tord was never going to let it go.

Once he felt Tord shift beside him, along with the hand that snaked around his waist to pull him closer to the other man, he did all his mental preparations and arguments in a span of a second as Tord kissed him and greeted him with a sleepy: “Good morning, kjaere…”

“Morning, love.”

Tom greeted back as he fixed his position, so that he could hug Tord better while the other was still adjusting to the waking world. He ducked his head under Tord’s chin, breathing in his scent of pine trees and earth, a big improvement from the old smokey scent he had in his youth, after they both decided to cut down on their vices as they grew older (more so when AK came into their lives.)

He listened to his husband’s breathing for a moment, and the soft rumbling that came from his throat as he slowly woke up. He idly traced a scar on Tord’s back while the other moved his thumb up and down his hip as he yawned.

“Hey, remember what Larry said yesterday?” Tom said into the skin of Tord’s neck.

“Mmhm?”

“No leg brace today, or even the whole week, got that?”

“….”

At Tord’s silence, Tom readied himself for any of his complaints, but was surprised when Tord only sighed above him before he felt his lips press against the crown of his head in a whisper of a kiss.

“.....okay…..help me with my arm before we get up?”

Tom’s brows furrowed in slight confusion and worry, it wasn’t like his husband to kill the wind in his own sails like that, especially over something he didn’t like to do, but….he supposed he should see this as a good thing, at least it meant Tord was finally following a doctor’s (not really) order for once.

Still….he can’t help but worry, especially if this meant that Tord was in a lot more pain than he realized.

“Yeah…of course love, just give us a second alright?” Tom said as he moved back to lift his head up, he can’t really see anything at the moment without his home visor, but he knew for sure where Tord’s head should be, and anyway, his husband had brought his hand up to the side of his head to guide him, and he knew Tord was looking down at him at the moment.

Though, he really wished he could see the look on his husband’s face right now.

He heard Tord let out a small chuckle. “Don’t want to wake up yet?”

He offered him a smile he hoped was reassuring.

“I just…want to hold you right now, is that okay?”

He felt a thumb sweep across his cheek. Then lips over his own in a small sweet kiss.

“Always, my love.”

They spent half an hour in each other’s arms, with Tom just relishing the fact that, at least, even with the injuries, his husband could still come back home to him.

Once he was fully awake and had his home visor on- a thin little thing that looked more like one frame white glasses, something Tord teased him for, saying he looked like a tired old professor when he wore them- he happily assembled Tord’s robotic prosthetic while his husband hobbled off to the bathroom to go do his business.

Not without Tom fussing over him a little, even if he knew Tord could manage with just one arm and one crutch for now.

“You’re being silly, Thomas.”

“Shut up before I kick out the crutch from your hand, cripple.”

“Mean.”

“You married me.”

Once Tord came back around to the bed- which he fully collapsed into face first with a groan- Tom proceeded to help him attach his arm, doing most of the work while Tord just laid there with a dopey smile on his face.

“Remember when you dressed up for Halloween? That slutty nurs- OW!”

“Hmm? What was that, darling?”

Tom asked innocently when he connected his nerve endings with the arm’s wires. It was pretty quick, quicker than when Tord would do it on his own, so the pain was nothing more than a little shocking pinch, despite his husband whining and bitching about it on the bed.

Tom liked to bully him, but he didn’t like causing his husband any more unnecessary pain right now.

Besides, one little kiss, and his stupid Norwegian was done moaning about his horrible marriage to a horrible callous man, and back to asking him for just one more kiss Thomas! With the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster.

He’s so lucky he’s a patient right now, because almost suffocating due to a clingy Norwegian was not the way Tom wanted to die.

Tord happily walked out of their bedroom, both of his crutches supporting him, with a happy hum while Tom tried to catch his breath on the bed, before angrily yelling “Tord Larsin!” after his husband, who only laughed as he made his way downstairs.

For a whole week, it was actually quite nice in the cabin. Tord let himself be treated without much of a fuss, not even fighting with Tom about the use of his crutches while he was on leave. In fact, he had actually gotten quite good at moving around with them, even playing ‘crutch tag’ with AK that had him zipping around the cabin after their squealing little boy.

Tom had laughed when he would hear “Im gonna get ya!” followed by violent, fast, tapping and AK’s excited little shrieks and hurried footsteps.

“Pappa’s too good at this game!” AK had complained to him one day while they were having tea by the patio. Tord’s leg had acted up somewhat that day, and so Tom relegated him to the couch with a cold compress, painkillers, his favorite snacks, and a re-run of Insane Zombie Pirates from Hell. Then he corralled their little monster away from his ailing father, because as much as Tord adored AK, he needed as much rest as he could get. Though that didn't stop him from shedding fake tears as his "cruel" husband took his little boy away from him. AK happily played along with sad little yowls as Tom dragged him out to the patio.

“Oh? How’s that, dove?”

“His stick feets are longer than my feets.” AK huffed with a pout that had Tom cooing at him with a pinch of his cheeks. His son whined and slapped at his hand before continuing, “He can tag me while I’m far! No fair!”

“Well, why not find a stick of your own so you can tag him back then run away again??”

AK’s face got a shine of realization as he took his father’s words in, before smiling up at him and hugging him tight, nearly causing Tom to spill his tea.

“Thank you, papa!”

“Ough! Ah, no problem dove.”

A day later, Tord had come into their bedroom- while Tom was enjoying a particularly good playlist on his visor- with a scowl and an accusatory glare.

“You betray me.”

“I hold no allegiances to you.”

“So you say,” He said as he put his crutches aside and crawled up to the bed, Tom could barely hold back his smile as Tord came closer, “But you forget, Thomas, that the ring you wear his proof enough of your promise to be devoted to me.” He made a grab for his ankles, which Tom let out a high squeak at before kicking off his hands, only for Tord to jump forward and hold them tight. “And you betray me for a child with a stick!” He pulled him down towards him, “Come here traitor!”

“Waugh! Noooo!” Tom squealed as he was unceremoniously dragged down from his position on the bed and towards his grinning husband. He thrashed and squirmed in his hold but was unable to get too far before Tord was looming over him, he let out a warbled squeak mixed with a laugh as Tord dug two fingers at his sides in a bid to tickle him.

Tom made to scramble out from under Tord but was immediately pulled back down and dragged on his stomach before he could get off the bed.

“GOTCHA!”

Tord fell on top of him, causing him to wheeze as the air was knocked from his lungs. He shrieked when he felt Tord’s lips on the back of his neck as his arms wrapped around him in a secure hold.

“TO-HAHAHAHAHA! TO-HORD! T-HAHAHA- STO- TORD!!”

Tom squirmed and wriggled in his husband’s hold as Tord assaulted his neck, goddamn him! He knew how ticklish his neck was!

“Pay for your crimes miscreant!” Tord said as one of his hands strayed downwards to tase Tom at his side, causing his husband to buck and shriek underneath him as he let out yowling laughter. “I lost to a child! Me! Red Leader!” He grinned at his husband as he managed to turn around in his arms, making another attempt to wiggle free, only for Tord to descend upon him again, pressing playful bites and fluttering kisses along his throat that made Tom squirm and yell.

“Suffer the consequences, traitor!”

“OH MY GO-HAHAHAHA STOOOOP!! TOOOOOORD!!”

Somehow, Tom was able to free his hands from Tord’s grasp. He pressed them up against his husband’s mouth and pushed him away from his neck, only for Tord to lick at them.

“Oh AUGH! TORD!”

Tom shoved him by the shoulder, which caused his husband to laugh, but the sudden jostle made Tord accidentally put too much weight on his right leg and he winced with a hiss.

Tom stilled below him, looking up at him in concern.

“…Okay, I think that’s enough rough housing for tonight.”

Tord squinted down at him, he smiled, though it was obvious he was fighting back from the pain he was feeling. “Aw? I don’t really classify that as ‘rough housing’ Thomas, if you know what I’m saying...” He stuck his tongue out with a grin.

“Perv.” Tom said with a roll of his eyes and a smile as he moved to sit up, only for Tord to collapse back down on top of him, causing him to huff out a breath as the bed jumped below them. “Tord.”

“Can’t move. Ouchie.” Came his husband’s muffled reply from where he had his head face down on the bed just above Tom’s shoulder.

Tom let out a sigh and carded his fingers through Tord’s hair, earning him an appreciative hum and a tightened embrace. “So am I just going to be stuck here?”

“Mhm…”

“Are you going to fall asleep on me?”

“Yuh…..”

“Arsehole.”

“You married me.”

Tom huffed out a laugh at that.

“…Guess you don’t want that massage then….”

Tord paused, his whole body going still.

Tom smiled up at the ceiling.

Tord lifted his head to look his husband in the eye.

“….Massage?”

Tom lifted his eyebrows at him.

“In the bath, I had it prepared.”

Tord’s eye bulged out.

“..In the…huh?”

“It’s all romantic and shit,” Tom continued nonchalantly, tracing circles on his husband’s cheek. “I put in petals and candles and all that crap, even got Matt to let me borrow his essential oils.” He shrugged and wrapped his arms around his husband’s neck, tugging him back down. “But ooooh well, you’re tired, and so so sleepy, what kind of husband would I be to deny you your rest? Certainly not a loving one.”

“Buh- But- huh wait- bath??? Massage?? Bath massage???” Tord refused to be brought down as he looked at his husband with a wide eye.

Tom gave him a flat look.

Tord pouted, wobbling his lower lip. “Thomas…” He whined.

Tom stayed silent.

Tord continued pouting.

“….my leg hurts…” He tried.

Tom snorted, unable to keep a straight face, as he moved out from under Tord. “Fiiine….”

“Hooray for emotional manipulation!!” Tord cheered as Tom let out a guffaw, even surprising him as he moved over to his side to scoop him up in his arms, the action caused Tord to squeak and latch on to his husband’s neck as he was carried towards their bathroom, though once the surprise wore off he laughed, giddy, as he curled himself towards his husband. “I love you, Thomas.” He singsonged.

Tom scoffed and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Yeah, whatever sap.” Though his face did tinge a bit pink as he said those words.

Tord chuckled and pressed a kiss to the side of his neck just as he closed the door. Which of course, caused Tom to yelp and nearly drop him.

“Tord!”

It was inevitable that there would at least be one bad day.

Tom had woken up as usual, a little bit groggy but slowly coming back to the conscious world. He sighed as he stretched out, taking all the stiffness out from his joints with a satisfied pop. He breathed in deep as he sat up from the bed, yawning slowly as he blinked unseeing eyes.

He paused when he heard ragged breathing at his side.

Tom put a hand out in concern, careful not to hit anything.

“Tord? Elskling is that you? Are you awake?”

A small whimper and a rushed exhale replied to his question, just before he felt his husband’s hand weakly grasp at his own. Tom, hurriedly moved closer to his side, both of his hands coming up to hold Tord’s. His frown deepened as he felt how clammy his husband’s skin felt, paired with his shallow breaths and small whimpers.

“H…hurts….too much…” Came Tord’s strained voice, audibly shaking as he let out a pained breath.

Panicked, Tom made a series of clicking and chirruping sounds before finding his voice. “Ho-Hold on. Let me find the painkillers.” He let go of his husband’s hand, quickly turning around to where he knew his nightstand was, his hands grasped around the surface, frustration building as he couldn’t feel where his home visor was.

Tord whimpered behind him.

Tom gritted his teeth.

“AK! Arthur! Arthur!!” His voice took on an otherworldly sounding tremor, accompanied by small clicks and rumbles. He hated bringing their son into this, but he didn’t know what else to do at the moment.

It wasn’t long before tiny footsteps came running towards their room.

Their bedroom door opened and shut fast as Tom registered AK’s heat signature approaching him.

“Papa?? What’s wrong?? Why..What’s wrong with daddy?”

Tom reached out to his boy, AK stepped into his hands and let his father hold the sides of his face. Tom felt his son’s hands wrap around his wrists. “Honey, listen to me okay? Your daddy…he’s hurting a little right now.” He reached up and smoothed away the tufts of hair he could feel on his son’s face. Part of him was relieved he was blind, so he didn’t have to see the look in AK’s eyes, but part of him wished he didn’t have to call their son for help. “I need you to help me find his medicine, okay? They’re in my nightstand, red and white, look in the first drawer, okay guppy?”

“Okay papa!”

He felt his son slip out of his hold accompanied by the dragging rumble of a drawer being thrown open, he heard the crinkle and clatter of AK moving things around the drawer before he gasped out an: “AH!” As something was pressed into Tom’s hands.

“I found it papa! Red and white! Like you said!”

Tom smiled and leaned forward, AK knew what he was trying to do and moved closer to let his father kiss his cheek. “Thank you dove.” Tom said with a purr, earning a happy little chitter from his son.

He turned back to where his husband was, worried about how fast Tord’s shallow breathing had gotten, “Tord? Love, take the painkillers, I’ll go and get my work visor to check on your vitals just in case, okay?”

He heard the sound of AK’s footsteps running off to the other side of the room, probably to go fetch Tom’s work visor after hearing that it was needed. He sent a silent thank you his son’s way while he felt Tord make a shaking grab for the painkillers in his hand.

After a minute, Tord’s breathing began to even out.

AK came back with his work visor not long after, which Tom thanked him for before trying to send him back to his room.

AK stood still.

“Daddy will be okay, right?”

Tom looked down at his son, the visuals of his work visor gradually coming into focus. He bit back a frown at the wide eyed, terrified, look on AK’s face.

His visor registered his son’s heartbeat, it was faster than normal.

Tom blinked the information away.

“Hey,”

They both turned at the sound of Tord’s voice. The Norwegian was partly sitting up, though more so leaning against the pillows behind him, a sheen of sweat covered his brow, and his eye was drooping from exhaustion, but he smiled at his son nevertheless, despite the way his chest rose and fell with a bit of heavy breathing. Tom's visor gave him a read out of his vitals, while there was some inflammation in his leg, Tord was overall fine (enough). Still....seeing his husband in so much pain, yet hiding it for the sake of their son, made his heart clench painfully in his chest.

“I’m fine skatten min, I promise.” Tord reached out a hand as AK circled the bed, the child nearly jumped towards him but stopped himself before slowly sinking into Tord’s side, hugging him tight. Tord wrapped his arm around his son, pressing a long kiss to his forehead as he rubbed his hand up and down his back. “I’m just a little, ah, sick, okay? It’s not as bad as it looks!” At AK’s sniffle, Tord frowned and lifted his head up by his chin. “Oy, whats those tears for? Don’t cry my little sailor!” Tord pinched his nose with a grin, causing AK to giggle and wipe at his eyes. “This little pain won’t stop your pappa! I’m the Red Leader remember?? As if this will drag me down!”

Tord patted the space in front of him, letting AK crawl up the bed and sit on his good leg, carefully avoiding his right as he did. Tord smiled down at his son as he wrapped an arm around him in half of a hug- or a full hug in terms of what he was capable of at the moment. “Come now my little puffin! Don’t you remember how strong your pappa is? Did you forget huh? Did you??” He poked at AK’s side, causing his son to squeal and giggle as he squirmed in his hold.

“Daddyyyyy! Stop! I didn’t forget!!” AK said in between giggles.

“Oooh that’s right, you better not forget! Or I will eat your nose!”

“Waaa!” AK covered his nose with both of his hands, “Daddy not my noooose!!”

Tom laughed as he moved closer to his family, he wrapped his arms around his husband who leaned into his hold, even as he continued to terrorize their little boy as he made biting motions at him, a few of which AK would respond to with nipping of his own. Sometimes, when AK would kick out his legs or move his arm too far, Tom would pretend to lunge at them with playful little bites and low chittering sounds.

When AK took notice, he shrieked and curled up tight like a little ball in Tord’s arm.

“Daaaaaadddyyy!! Papaaaaaa!!” He whined, his voice taking a more higher pitch akin to a pup just learning how to howl.

“What do you say, kjaere?” Tord grinned at his husband who smiled back at him. “Shall we eat this little bird?”

“Anything for you, dear husband.” Tom said as he turned to look at his son, “After all, I’m nothing if not devoted.”

“Nooooooooo!!” AK yelled as he giggled and squirmed.

The two parents descended upon the hapless little boy, attacking at all sides. AK found himself partly shifted somewhere along the line, while his papa scurried around the room trying to catch him. His daddy on the other hand, stayed stationary on the bed, watching them run around with glee, though he was also a threat, as his papa would corral him towards his daddy when he wasn’t paying attention, and his daddy was good at catching him. AK would be subjected to tickles until he was able to break free, and the hunt was on yet again.

A little while later, the family of three were back together on the bed, with AK nestled happily between them, in the embrace of both his fathers. It didn’t take him long to start dozing off to sleep again, surrounded by love and safety as he was.

Tom looked up at his husband from over AK’s head, he smiled softly as he watched Tord smooth out their son’s hair, the look in his eyes so soft, fond, so full of love. A definite improvement to his tired, pained look when they had first woken up.

He couldn’t help but get lost in the grey of his eye, a colour that now reminded him of warm nights inside by a fire, a hand to hold during tougher times, a home that was all their own, a secret kept hidden from a world too cruel.

His love.

“Are you going to keep staring at me like a creep, Thomas?”

Tord’s smile never faltered from his face, but he kept his voice low as he continued to comb through their son’s hair. His eye moved up to Tom’s face, still soft and warm as when he was looking at AK.

“Do I need an excuse to look at my husband?”

Tom whispered back as he tilted his head with a smile mirroring Tord’s own. Though his husband’s smile widened a bit as he chuckled.

“Careful Thomas, people will think you’re in love with me.”

Tom felt his chest warm at Tord’s teasing tone, he wasn’t entirely sure why that was, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. He carefully moved over his son, Tord quickly caught on to his intent and raised himself up just slightly, as he tilted his head to give his husband a long, sweet, kiss. One he hoped conveyed that funny little warm feeling he had in his chest at the moment.

He hoped Tord liked that feeling too.

When he pulled back, settling down carefully beside their son once more, Tom smiled as he murmured:

“Let them think…”

For most of the day, the family spent their time in bed. AK brought his lego set into the room, while Tom decided that today might be a good day to indulge in old hobbies, and so brought his old bass in to sing his family a few songs he knew how to play.

A good day, overall, even if it did start out a little bad.

At least Tord was smiling.

That’s all he wanted really.

#tomtord #tordtom #eddsworld #eddsworld fanfiction #ew Stay AU #ew Stay AU writings #Im eepy now good night have some food #asks #anonymous

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