#Kingo comes in like are you making breakfast?

[redheadspark]

For your August prompts:

14. Watching TV & movies together.....I wanna watch TV with Druig that'd be fun!!!! 😆

A/N - STELLA! Thanks for requesting this, I loved writing this! its short but cute!

Sunday Nights

Summary - It was tradition: Sunday Nights are for the trashy shows

Warnings - Just fluff

“Are you ready yet?”

“Patience is a virtue,”

“Not when it comes to our reality show nights!”

Druig grabbed the remote control from the coffee table, turning the TV on as you were finishing the last of the popcorn that was freshly popped.  The aroma of popcorn was filling the small and cramped kitchen while you poured out the bag into a massive bowl, knowing that you had other pop two bags instead of one.  It was something you learned early on in your relationship with Druig when you two got together: Druig was a snacker.

He especially loved snacking while watching reality TV.

That was a shocker to you when you two met some time ago, Druig always seemed to have his nose in a book or digesting what was going on in the newspaper.  He would rather curl up in a book than go out to parties that his roommate Kingo would throw, which was fair since most of those parties were pretty rowdy.  That’s how to met him in the first place: trying to find the bathroom and accidentally walking into his room where he was perched on his bed reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

You ended up staying in his room and chatting about literature for three hours, and the rest of history.

Two years later, you both found a decent apartment that was close to his work at the University and it was perfect.  The views of the city, the walking distance to several restaurants and a few parks, even some of the neighbors that were on your floor were great.  The first night you two finally moved into your new shared home, you popped in a movie a brought out a new snacks for you two to share between.

Druig ended up eating most of the snacks without realizing it, which was quite amusing.

To his defense, Druig loved watching the Tracy reality TV shows that were everywhere, both on cable and streaming. It shocked you, a hobby that never really fitted his personality and lifestyles.  When you asked him about it once morning during breakfast, he simply shrugged.

“It’s a good way to turn my brain off for an hour or two,” he replied, you realizing that it was his own way other than decompressing.  He loved his job, though it would be very stressful at times.  He also was still iffy with his adoptive brother Ikaris, they would butt heads from time to time and it brought him down a bit.  You hated seeing him in those hard moments, it wasn’t like him at all.  

You made it a tradition then: Sunday nights were for there reality shows

“Here we are,” You said, walking into the living room and seeing your TV qeued up and Druig looking at you with a grin on his face.  You showed him the big bowl, popcorn was about to overflow as you made it to the couch and place it in his lap.

“Thanks, babe,” he replied, pecking your cheek as he the gestured to the TV screen, “This episode is supposed to be a cliffhanger,”

“Since when do you indulge the spoilers?” You asked in a teasing manner, seeing him grab some popcorn to pop in his mouth.

“I don’t, but one of my co workers told me on my lunch,” He explained as you ate some popcorn as well, “She knows I hate getting that kind of info, so I know she did that to pull my leg so to speak,”

“How nice of her,” You joked as he poked your side.  As he wrapped and arm around you to tuck you in his shoulder, you breathed in the cologne that he was wearing and the small hint of sweat that still lingered since he went to the gym earlier that day.  You both looked forward to this time together at the very end of the week before your work week would start up again.  Both of your schedules were full time, making it hard to enjoy some quality time together at the end of the day.  Hanging out with mutual friends or going out with co workers, attending family events, they were fun but also draining simultaneously.  

So having this small moment with Druig, it was more than enough. 

You phone lit up, showing a message on the screen,  You reached over to grab it from the coffee table, reading the message and then chuckling, “Makkari is going to rooftop party tonight and wants us to come,” 

“Sounds like fun,” Druig replied, then looking over at him and see him eye him with a smirk on his face, “This is better though,”

You laugh, typing the quick rejection to the invitation as he stared the show and you placed the phone to the side.  

The End

August Prompt Session

[lilacliquors]

day nine: santa baby

pairing: kingo x reader

word count: 769

notes: here's day nine! to be honest, days 10 and 11 might not be out on time because, as i said in a previous post, we lost my grandfather. his wake is tomorrow evening and the funeral is thursday, and these next few days are going to be very draining and upsetting. i'll try and write these prompts as distractions, but i truly make no promises.

as always, reblogs, comments, and asks are highly recommended, and likes are appreciated. enjoy <3

every year for christmas, kingo surprised you with something lavish. it was just who he was as a person, and as a partner. one year, he’d surprised you with a soft and fancy bathrobe, one you had been saving up for yourself. you’d always wanted one, they felt lavish and made you feel elegant, and he never forgot the way your eyes lit up the morning you opened it up. of course he got you a few other things, but that was your big gift. and it’s still in use to this day.

another year, your car had been on the brink of breaking down, and it needed repairs, serious ones. so you began saving up for a new one, mindful of your spending habits and putting away money from work. at this point, you and kingo had begun living together, and he insisted on taking care of bills. so your job became just a way to save up for things you wanted, and soon, you were even able to leave that job and start up your own little business, and it made you even happier. but that year, on christmas morning, kingo had brought you outside and surprised you with your dream car. it wasn’t the one you’d been saving up for, that one felt so far out of reach, but here it was sitting in your driveway, and it took everything in you not to cry as you hugged him.

the year after that, kingo took it upon himself to surprise you with a cruise. it was a trip that started after the holidays, since he knew how much you enjoyed staying home for christmas, but for a week and a half in january, the two of you were sailing, sipping cocktails and enjoying the bahamas, as well as each other’s company. it was surreal, and seeing your smile every day made it all worth it for him.

this year, you found yourself wondering just what stunt he would pull this time. you already had everything, it felt you you two had done everything, and maybe this would be your first quiet year. and honestly, you wouldn’t mind it. a nice quiet christmas day full of christmas movies, hot cocoa, and a delicious dinner afterwards sounded like heaven. and that was all you expected when you went to bed the night of the twenty fourth.

christmas morning arrived a lot faster than you thought, and when you woke up, you were alone in bed, but the sheets were still warm, meaning he only just got up before you. with a yawn, you sat up, tossed the covers back, and got up, going to grab your favorite bathrobe and head out into your living room. everything was beautiful and bright, and a fire was going, yet kingo was nowhere to be found.

“kingo?” you called, looking around.

“in the kitchen,” he replied. you smiled and went into the kitchen, but again, he wasn’t there. instead, there was a plate of breakfast sitting at the table, and a note beside it. you picked it up, and it read ‘eat up, then join me by the tree’. with a smile, you sat down and ate, enjoying every bite of your favorites, then went to put your dish in the sink. following the instructions on the note, you made your way back out to the living room, and to your surprise, it was dark.

“what’s going on? kingo?” you blinked a few times, and then suddenly, the tree lit up, and kingo was in front of it, down on one knee, with a box in his hands.

“oh my god,” you whispered, tears welling in your eyes.

“you had to know this was coming. we’ve done everything together, we’ve seen the world together, and now, i want to spend eternity with you. would you do me the honor or marrying me, so we can make that a reality?” he asked, opening the box to show you the ring. it wasn’t too much, not gaudy or extravagant. it was simple and sweet, everything you’d ever dreamed of.

“oh kingo … of course i will,” you said, walking over to him as he stood up, with one arm, he pulled you in for a kiss, and then he slipped the ring onto your fingers. you held your hand up to admire it, and he pressed a kiss to your temple.

“was this just as good of a christmas surprise?” he teased.

“you kidding? this is the best one yet. i don’t think you’ll ever top it,” you said.

“well, there’s always next year.”

[xoxo-mei]

I Should've Seen - A Druig x Reader Oneshot

I thought I had seen it all. My eyes witnessed everything humanity could bring to the table; love and betrayal, kindness and fury, war and peace. You name it, I most likely have seen it.

But I was surprised when I just woke up one day and felt this weird turning sensation in my stomach the moment I laid eyes on Druig at the breakfast table. Then, when I walked in further, I saw Makkari beside him, laughing at something he said.

That's the moment I felt jealous for the first time in the centuries of my existence.

I played it off like it was just another normal day, but deep inside I knew, I knew it was never going to be normal again.

My mind displayed a million possibilities of me telling him how I feel, but none seemed like the right one. Or maybe I was just discouraged by the fact that he always seemed to seek out Makkari, my best friend.

''Y/N?'' I saw a hand signing my name and I looked up from my book to face Makkari with a worried frown on her face, ''Did you see what I said?''

Placing down my book, I used my hand to communicate back, like it was as normal as talking for me, ''No, sorry. Can you repeat it?''

We were currently all working on a plan to make sure that Earth is going to survive the evil plan of our leader Arishem, all of us making individual tasks for each other.

Makkari and I were discussing the best way to sneak up to the spot when Druig joined beside me.

He showed me a kind smile but turned to Makkari more quickly than the speed of light.

My heart clenched at the sight, the pain actually blinding me for a second. I grabbed my book, slammed it close and excused myself, fleeing to my room. Kingo saw everything go down and followed suit after me.

''Y/N? Y/N, hold up.'' I sighed when I knew I wasn't going to get rid of him if I didn't stop and let him say whatever was on his chest this time.

He stopped beside me and placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder, ''You okay, kid?''

''Yeah, why wouldn't I be?''

''I don't know,'' Kingo shrugged, ''the way you left when Druig came - it appeared as if something more was going on than either of you were telling. Do you... Do you feel something for him, perhaps?''

I stayed quiet, not wanting to tell him anything. But my silence? It spoke more words than my voice ever could.

The realization dawned on him and I quickly fled the scene.

If Kingo knew, it might mean that Druig is soon going to know it, too. And I'm not ready for that yet.

-

Days went by and I managed to ignore Druig in all of them. It was getting obvious that something was going on, but I didn't want to tell. Not yet.

Distraction is the last thing any of us need right now.

The battle was going well for us, except for the fact that I wasn't able to heal from the attack that Ikaris launched on me.

Makkari rushed to me, ''Can you take care of Druig?''

Before I could answer, she was off. I watched her run in her top speed towards the beach and I stumbled behind Druig as he tried to make it to the speed where the damn giant was going to wake up.

It went well for a second but then Ikaris managed to fly towards us and with all his strength, he unleashed it all on Druig, driving him into the ground. My life flashed before my eyes as anger and sadness took over my body. I fell to my knees.

Seconds went by, followed by more seconds, and he didn't stand up. I was starting to believe he was dead, but I wasn't going to give up.

I groaned in pain at the movement when I placed my hands on the ground. With all the strength in me, I focused on the powers coursing through my veins.

They extended into the earth, glowing strings rooting beneath my fingertips.

I was feeling more faint by the minute but I wasn't going to give up on the only one I've ever loved.

Determination strengthened me. More glow was coming from me and surrounded me like a cloak.

Makkari saw everything go down and rushed over to my aid. Druig was lifted from the hole, and Makkari was quick to grab him.

His eyes fluttered open just as the glow went down and I fell to the ground, blood seeping from the wound making a puddle beneath me. My hands fell limp at my side.

''Thank you.'' Druig signed to Makkari and she shook her head, denying she had anything to do with it.

She spotted me and pointed towards my body, making Druig more obvious to what actually went down.

He stood up and fell beside me. His hand brushed some strands away as he sighed when he saw my chest rise and fall.

''Thank God, she's still alive.''

He lifted me up bridal style and rushed towards the others.

-

I had no idea how long I was out like a light, but I knew that I needed something more than just my thoughts when I finally felt my body again.

I wiggled my toes and fingers, my eyes opening gently.

Fluttering them closed again when the bright light hit my face, I realized someone else was holding onto me like dear life.

My head turned to the side, surprise clouding my judgment, ''Druig?''

At the sound of his name, he woke up. It was quiet between us when his eyes finally fell on me. I thought he was going to say something, but he just leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my lips.

My eyes were open in surprise but when it dawned on me that Druig was kissing me, they soon closed and I let myself sink into the kiss even deeper than I already was.

He parted his lips gently from mine when we both were in need of air.

''I was afraid I wouldn't be able to thank you.''

''That's what this was,'' I questioned, my voice barely a whisper, ''a sign of gratitude?''

''No,'' he shook his head, ''more a confession. I should've seen what was in front of me.''

And since that day, we've been talking more and getting to know each other better. It went so well, that we soon after started dating. And now, two years later, I was his wife.

We had two adorable little kids and a home in Spain.

Life couldn't be better.

-

-

-

Words: 1,1K

[luventi]

HEADCANONS FOR BOYFRIEND!DRUIG

cw. druig x gn eternal!reader, au where everyone is alive and happy and together, there will be dashes of suggestive content admits all the fluff so be warned!

druig loves you oh so very much, like the boy is so madly obsessed with you, and he truly doesn’t care if you or anyone else teases him for it

in the beginning of your relationship you assumed he wasn’t into pda but you soon realize instead of kissing or touching in public druig adores calling you sweet pet names in front of the others that makes you hold back a smile and gently shove him away from you

“darling hold still let me get that for you” or “lovely how is it you look extra beautiful today?”

he has a sliver tongue and by god does he know how to use it to make you feel giddy and loved

kingo and phastos would tease and poke fun at how the mighty druig sounds like a school boy whenever he’s around you but he doesn’t even pay them any attention, too busy staring at you from across the room. and when you meet his eyes he’ll wink and mouth “staring my love?”

during the winter he fakes asleep in the morning so you’ll be the first to rise awake and prepare breakfast for the both of you, you of course know what he’s doing but he’ll always deny deny deny

he’s not a fan of the cold, much preferring warmer climates and seasons. so when the colder months roll around he’s confined to the safety of your bed with you warming his lap and planting kisses all over his flushed face

whenever the rest of the eternals gather for human holidays it’s always hosted at yours and druig’s place, reason being he hates traveling (but you’re like 80% sure he’s scared of planes)

he mimics your mannerisms a lot and you start to pronounce words the way he does with his accent. sersi thinks it’s a beautiful testament to the love you both share

as lovely as druig is, he’s annoying :| it pains me to say this but there are times when his sarcasm and witty jokes are enough to make you go crazy, so you have to shut him up with a kiss! after you pull away he apologizes and leans in for another

speaking of kisses druig adores them! they’re always so full of passion and love, the way he explores your mouth with his tongue and your fingers tugging on his hair—it’s so easy for you both to get carried away and end up late for family dinners and other important events

physical affection and touch is very important to him, it helps him feel grounded and relieves the anxiety that threatens his sanity at times. his favorite place to be is in between your thighs, your presence surrounding him when he needs it the most but for the most part he just loves the skin to skin contact

druig is not used to domestic life, it’s just not him! but he won’t deny the love that fills his beating heart whenever he wakes up to your soft body next to his in the morning. his eyes will gaze over the various marks on your skin and the whisps of your eyelashes before kissing your forehead and bringing you even closer to him

i wouldn’t say he’s a very big movie buff but the rare times you do get him to sit down and watch a film with you is very nice. he’ll cover you in blankets and settle you on his lap for the entirety of the movie, unless you two end up under the covers giggling and cover each other in kisses

whenever you’re mildly upset with him he always brings up that time he took you to visit the amazon with him and you two cleaned off at a waterfall, the memory of that day is so hot and steamy you can’t help but crack a smile and give in to his flirting and pleads for forgiveness

during nights you both can’t seem to sleep you’ll lay in the grass outside and stare at the stars, trading stories about your travels and your findings all those years you two were apart. it’s in those moments when druig is truly grateful for all he was given in this life, his existence has true purpose because of you

more to come! hope you enjoyed <3

[ava-kedavra]

Wayward Devotion part eleven: revelation

Pairing: Ikaris x Reader

Summary: Captain Sam says breakfast is the most important meal of the day and we learn just how downbad Ikaris and Y/N are for each other. You’re also being blessed with another great science lecture by yours truly, and perhaps a plot twist?

Words: 3656

Warning: lots of swearing, some angst? too great of a science explanation?

link to part

-

You felt warmth all over as you slowly woke up from sleep, opening your eyes.

You try to move to sit up, but an arm around your waist precludes you from doing so.

“No,” you hear Ikaris murmur sleepily in your ear, “keep sleeping.”

“Ikaris,” you protest, trying to turn in his grasp, “we gotta wake up.”

“‘M too comfy,” he whines, “don’t move.”

You do, turning to face him. His eyes are still closed, but he’s got a small smile on his face.

“Ikaris,” you poke his cheek, “get up.”

“But you’re so warm,” he mumbles, “and I’m tired.”

“Me too,” you agree, “but we’ve gotta get going.”

“Ten more minutes,” he tries to bargain, throwing his hand over your waist.

You run your fingers through his hair gently, and he snuggles deeper into the pillow.

His breathing evens out as he slowly falls back asleep. You giggle before lifting his arm off you and on the pillow you were laying on.

You quietly sneak out of your room and make your way into the kitchen for some much needed coffee.

You find Makkari, Kingo and Sam in the kitchen.

“Good morning,” you greet, beelining towards the cupboards.

“How are you feeling after last night?” Sam asks gently from the stove.

You fill your mug with coffee, “pretty good actually.”

“That’s good,” he smiles, “you had quite a bit to drink.”

You sip your coffee, thankful for the warm liquid to wake you up, “I did,” you agree with him.

‘When are you planning on leaving?’ Makkari signs to you as you walk towards the table to her and Kingo.

“This afternoon probably,” you answer out loud, “Ikaris is still very much asleep.”

“He does love to sleep,” Kingo observes.

“Y/N, did you want eggs?” Sam calls out.

“Sure” you answer, “thanks Sam.”

“Of course,” he gives a warm smile, “it’s the most important meal of the day.”

“Okay Sam,” Bucky leans against the wall, “turn off Captain mode.”

“I’m not in Cap mode,” Sam points the spatula at Bucky, “breakfast is important.”

“It is,” Kingo agrees, “and these eggs are gonna be delicious.”

Bucky comes to the table with a full cup of coffee.

“Buck, this is Kingo and Makkari,” you introduce, “they’re eternals.”

“Hi,” he gives an awkward smile, “I’m Bucky Barnes.”

‘Nice to meet you’ Makkari signs.

‘Nice to meet you as well,’ Bucky signs back.

“The winter soldier,” you hear Druig saunter in, “with the metal arm.”

“He’s really harmless,” you offer, “I saw him fall on his ass walking on ice and it kind of ruined the scary appeal.”

“It was slick!” He defends, “how could I have not slipped?”

“Walk more carefully,” Sprite walks in with Sersi and Ajak.

“Respect your elders,” Bucky points to her, “I’m like a hundred years old.”

Sprite raises her eyebrow, “I’m literally immortal.”

“She’s got you there Buck,” you snort.

The table fills up quickly so you move into the kitchen to help Sam cook.

You work on the bacon and fruit, while he works on the eggs and toast.

“How are you feeling?” You ask him quietly, cutting up strawberries.

“I’m good,” he says and you can tell he’s telling the truth.

“It was meant for you Sam,” you tell him, “even if that wasn't always the case.”

“There’s no one better I can think of to carry that shield,” you’re serious, turning to look at him.

“Thank you, Y/N,” he gives you a hug, “really.”

“Of course Sam,” you squeeze before letting him go.

“Are you guys okay?” Rhodey asks, stealing a piece of strawberry.

“Yeah,” you answer, “just talking.”

He nods, before grabbing the juice and taking it to the table.

With Kingo and Sersi’s help, the table was quickly set up as everyone began to dig in.

Ikaris comes in as soon as you’re sat down. He takes the empty seat next to you, turning his chair towards you.

“Good morning,” he picks a blueberry off your plate and you weakly swat his hand away.

“It’s almost the afternoon,” you murmur, moving your plate towards him.

He takes a piece of bacon off the plate, taking a bite of it.

You see a crumble of bacon on the side of his mouth, so you bring your thumb up to wipe at it.

“Thanks,” he mumbles with a smile.

“When did this start happening,” Kingo is staring at you.

“What do you mean?” You take a sip of your orange juice.

“This,” he waves his hand, gesturing to the two of you.

“You know we are married,” Ikaris points out, “you went to our wedding.”

“I went to all of them,” Ajak comments with a smile.

“All of them?” You repeat, confused.

“Of course I did,” she says, “I wouldn’t have missed them for the World.”

“Why are you talking in plural?” You ask, turning to Ikaris, “why is she talking in plural?”

“Because we’ve been married more than once,” he says casually, but quiet.

“You have?” Rhodey asks at the same time you say, “we have?”

“Yes,” he responds carefully.

“You didn’t tell her that?” Ajak looks at Ikaris with a baffled look.

He flushes, “I didn’t think it was relevant.”

You widen your eyes, “you didn’t?”

“Should’ve told her,” Phastos murmurs over his cup of juice.

Ikaris puts his hands up, “I didn’t want you to feel bad,” he argues, “you were already shaken up when you found out we were married in the first place.”

“How many times have we been married?” You ask him, tilting your head.

“Just a few times,” he assures, but you’re unconvinced.

You turn to Ajak, raising your eyebrow, “that true?”

“Aja-” Ikaris starts.

“Six times,” she gives you a warm smile, giving Ikaris a pointed look.

“Six times?” You turn to Ikaris, voice loud, “we got married six times! And you didn’t tell me that?”

He shuffles down in his chair, as if he’s trying to hide. You smack his arm gently.

“Why did we get married six times?” You look around the table.

“For every millennium that you were together,” Sersi says gently.

“Oh my god,” you smile at Ikaris, whose face was unusually red, “that’s actually really cute.”

“Ikaris used to plan them,” Phastos cuts in, talking fast, “he even learned to make paper to send invitations.”

“Phastos,” Ikaris whines, hiding behind his hands.

“Stop,” you gush, cheeks red, “that is so adorable,” you turn to look at Ikaris, “you’re such a nerd.”

“I’m a nerd?” He questions, “you’re the one that made a garden filled with the leaves of tea I liked.”

“I did?” You ask, mouth wide, “that’s so nice,” you coo softly, hands covering your warm cheeks.

“You guys were pretty gross,” Kingo speaks up, “still are, really.”

You poke at the piece of Ikaris’ face you can see in his hands, “you hear that? We’re still gross.”

“Wait, I wanna know something,” Sam says, “raise your hand if you’ve ever walked in on Ikaris and Y/N.”

“That is not something I want to know,” you say weakly, but everyone else is grinning.

“Oh god,” Ikaris mumbles, continuing to hide his face in his hands.

You look around the room as everyone slowly raises their hand.

Makkari, Phastos, Sersi, Ajak, Thena, Sprite, Druig, and Kingo all raise their hands.

You’re red as a tomato, and look down at your plate.

“Why did you ask that?” Ikaris groans behind his hands, “she doesn’t need to remember that right now.”

“I agree,” you say, “I did not need to recall that.”

“That is amazing,” Bucky is grinning as everyone starts to lower their hands.

“Did you guys not have locks or something?” Rhodey asks, perplexed.

“We did,” Druig answers, “they just did it in some really weird places.”

“Oh god,” your cheeks heat up, “like where?”

“Everywhere,” Sprite grumbles over her drink.

“Who would’ve thought?” Sam is smirking, thoroughly enjoying your blushing state.

“Not me,” you speak up.

“Are you really that surprised?” Ikaris is giving you a small smile, no longer covering his face.

You shrug, looking him up and down, “maybe not.”

“Can we please get off the topic of Y/N and Ikaris’ sex life?” Sprite asks the group, annoyed at the antics.

“I agree,” you raise your mug, “thank you Sprite.”

“How about we make our way to the lab?” Bruce offers, cup of coffee in hand.

~

“So like it’s possible?” You ask with a smirk, causing Bruce to sigh.

“Nothing is impossible,” Bruce reponds, “let’s separate that from it being a possibility.”

“How did we get to this point?” Phastos asks, head in his hands as he looks up to you pacing the lab.

“I’m just saying,” you stop pacing, putting your hands up, “it would be a cool idea.”

“How would that be a cool idea?” Bruce pinches the bridge of his nose, “there’s like three movies that tell us why it’s not a good idea.”

“But those are movies, and if we learned anything from Scott, Back to the Future is a bunch of bullshit. So,” you continue to counter, “we shouldn’t trust Spielberg either.”

“Y/N,” Bruce says your name like he’s scolding a child, “we are not going back in time to get a pterodactyl.”

“You guys are boring,” you murmur, taking a seat at the table next to Phastos, “you know that right?”

“Didn’t you say that weird dude on the garbage planet looked like Jeff Goldblum?” You continue, asking Bruce.

“It was uncanny,” he agrees, “but that doesn’t mean anything.”

“I think it’s a sign,” you say, “truly.”

“What on Earth are you talking about?” You look over to the doorway to see Ikaris stroll into the lab, freshly showered.

You smile, “going back in time to steal a dinosaur,” you state bluntly, “and for the record,” you point at Bruce, “I know Peter and Scott would be on my side.”

You hear Bruce sigh again, but you look over to see him trying to hide a smile.

“Let’s talk about the tracker,” Phastos brings you back to the present, quite literally.

Bruce pulls up his concept notes. Your eyes scan over the equations quickly, noticing Planck’s constant in a few.

“Always do love a good radiation problem,” you speak quietly, looking over at Bruce.

He shrugs, “what can I say? It’s kind of my speciality.”

“I think it’s safe to say me as well,” you gesture to Bruce’s large green body clothed in a blue button up and a gray cardigan, “I helped you get to this point.”

“You did,” he admits, “and for that I am forever grateful.”

You turn back to the notes as Phastos speaks up, “how about the autopsies?”

“It was hard to do ample immediate post-death research given by the time I was able to assess the bodies, rigor mortis had begun to set in.” He explains as he pulls up the scans of the bodies.

You’d spent more than a few hours with Bruce in the lab, carefully dissecting the pieces of deviants. You’d already stored some of the smaller scales from one deviant, knowing Peter would want a memento of the fight.

“I was able to detect all the synthetic and organic material the deviant was comprised of, but I’m not sure if I’m right in my assignment of them,” he admits, running his hand through his frizzy curls.

“I can look at them on the jet,” you offer, “and send you any discrepancies I catch.” Bruce nods, before pulling at slides of thinly cut brain slices.

“The brain was the hardest to dissect,” he explains, rotating the image slowly, “a lot more synthetic than I’d have expected.”

“Their neural processing is in part artificial, but it’s organic enough for them to have functioning nerve cells,” Bruce starts.

“Which sends signals to the brain,” you elaborate.

“Precisely,” he continues, “but there’s more to it than that. They have an outward source the processing gets sent to.”

“Like the brain signals are getting sent somewhere else?” You turn to Bruce.

“Yes, but it’s also receiving signals from that source,” Bruce continues, “like messages being hit off a radar.”

Bruce pulls up a hologram of the simulated MRI scan done on one of the deviants brains. You watch as the scan slowly moves through the brain, but notice a small flash of light near the-

“Is that the lateral ventricle?” Phastos cuts your train of thought, speaking the words that were just about to be said in your head.

“Uhuh,” Bruce answers, putting the flashing on a loop as he zooms in.

“What is that?” Ikaris asks, lost.

“There’s four brain ventricles,” you explain, “the flashing is happening in one of them.”

“And that ventricle,” Bruce takes over, “also happens to store the subventricular zone.”

“I feel like you’re just putting words together,” you hear Ikaris mumbles softly.

You shrug, “basically yeah,” you look down at Ikaris with a smile. “Anyways,” you continue, “the subventricular zone is the largest neurogenic spot in the brain.”

“In English please,” Ikaris says.

You sit down in the chair next to him, turning to face him, “in layman’s terms, it’s the hub for all the signals in the brain.”

He nods, “okay, that makes sense.”

Phastos sits back in his chair, rubbing at his chin as he stares at the hologram. You wave your hand in the air so the video stills, stopping the small flash.

“Where’s the signal being sent?” Phastos asks Bruce, but keeps his eyes on the image.

“I don’t know,” Bruce admits, “but I think that we can track it.”

“Can you read them?” You ask Bruce.

He shakes his head no, “haven’t quite cracked that yet.”

“You could reverse-engineer the neural signals?” You offer.

“That’s a good idea,” Bruce nods, thinking through it.

“We could find a mechanism that attaches to the subventricular zone in order to trace the location,” Phastos speaks up, looking over to you.

“That would have to count on us being able to retrieve that without damage from the deviants,” Bruce defends, “or to attach it live.”

“That’s not happening,” you scoff, “it’ll have to be dead.”

“Which,” Bruce squinted, as if trying to recall something, “will give us about ten minutes or so to extract the location site it’s going to.”

“Why ten minutes?” Phastos tilts his head in confusion.

“That’s about as long as the brain activity goes on after you die,” you explain, “which should probably be about the same in the deviants.”

“So we couldn’t track the location from the dead ones we have here,” Phastos thinks out loud.

“We’d have to find an alive one regardless,” Bruce confesses, “that’s the first step.”

“You guys can wait until we get back,” you offer, “I know I’m really the muscles on the team,” you joke with a smile.

“We’ll keep you updated on what we do,” Bruce answers, “regardless of waiting or not.”

“Sounds good,” you grab Ikaris’ hand and stand from the table, “we’ve gotta get going.”

“Have a safe flight,” Bruce gives you a soft smile, “and don’t you dare go back in time to get a dinosaur.”

“No promises,” you call out with a giggle before turning out of the lab quickly.

~

“I don’t think it’d fit in here.” Ikaris states out of the blue, breaking your dissociative state of staring out the cockpit window.

“What wouldn’t fit?” You turn to look at him, confused.

“A dinosaur,” he gestures to the back of the quinjet, “not enough leg room.”

“We’d get a pterodactyl, Ikaris,” you say, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the World, “clearly they’d just fly alongside the quinjet.”

“You’ve really planned this out,” he observes with a small smile on his face.

“I like to plan,” you turn and shrug, before your eyes settle back on the clouds.

“How much longer do we have?” Ikaris asks, trying to decipher the screen in front of you.

“About two hours,” you inform, “then a thirty minute drive.”

The typical flight to Scotland from New York was about nine hours, but given the advanced tech of the quinjet you’d be there in about five.

~

“Are you stalling?” Ikaris his shoulder against yours, gently rocking you to the side.

“I’m not stalling,” you defend, though your voice is quiet, “I’m just a little nervous.”

“What are you nervous about?” Ikaris asks, absentmindedly as he grabs your hand in his, gently rubbing his thumb as he looks down at you.

“I haven’t seen them in a while,” you admit, eyes on the door, “I’m not great at keeping contact.”

“Clearly,” he jokes, “we’ve been apart for five hundred years.”

“Sorry about that,” you murmur, before raising your hand to the doorbell, pushing it gently.

The doorbell rings and you can hear it reverberate into the hallway of the house.

Fitzsimmons lived in a small, white, cottage farmhouse, it looked to be two stories with a great bay window. You also spot a small tool shed out back. You laugh, only imagining how many inventions Fitz has stuffed in the small box.

Ikaris gives your hand a small squeeze right before the door opens.

You come face to face with Jemma Simmons, your favorite biochemist. She’s got her long brown hair tied up in a messy bun, with bangs that shaped her squared face nicely.

“Jemma,” you rush with a smile, “it’s so good to see you.”

She stays silent, choosing to give you a tight hug instead. You squeeze her back, facing breaking out into a smile.

You pull back from her, still smiling as you introduce Ikaris.

“It’s nice to meet you,” he raises his hand for her to shake, but she’s frozen.

As soon as her eyes met Ikaris’s, it seemed like she was terrified, a look of horror was crossing her face, mouth kept wide open.

“Jemma?” You coax, resting your hand softly on her shoulder.

Your touch seemed to snap her out of her gaze, and she looked back at you. Noticing your hand, she roughly moves her shoulder, so your hand falls down to your side. She starts breathing heavily, as if she’s suddenly afraid.

She stumbles as she takes a step back into the doorway, putting her hand up she points, “please don’t hurt him! He had to do what he did, okay! We all did!” She’s directing her attention to Ikaris now as she stumbles farther back, turning to run.

“Jemma what’s going on?” You ask, confused by her sudden frantic state. You start running to catch up with her as she races up the stairs.

“Fitz!” She screams, “they’re here! Run Fitz!”

As she reaches the top step, you jump up the remaining stairs to grab her arm. You quickly pin her against the wall, hard enough to stop her, but not to hurt her.

“Jemma, what’s wrong?” You ask her seriously, “why would you think we’d wanna hurt you or Fitz?”

“Please,” tears run down her face, and she nearly wails, “don’t hurt him Y/N. I’m sorry, okay?” She chokes on a sob, before continuing, “please don’t hurt him,” she whispers, voice horse from the tears.

You hear a whizz sound, but before you can respond, Ikaris falls onto the floor in front of you with a thump.

You go to duck, but are quickly hit too and pass out abruptly.

~

You groan out as you slowly open your eyes, grimacing at the bright light.

“Are you alright?” Ikaris asks frantically, and you turn to see him standing towards you in an advanced glass containment pod.

You look down and notice that you’re in one two. Both your hands and feet are restrained, and you notice Ikaris has that, but his neck as well.

“What the fuck?” You ask, looking around at the sterile white room.

A jail cell.

Why the fuck do they have cells already prepared? You think to yourself as you look around.

“Wasn’t really the warm welcome I was expecting,” you mutter standing up to pace.

You hear the click of a lock, and you see a door open.

Fitzsimmons walks in hand and hand, each holding a gun.

“What the fuck is going on?” You ask, exasperated.

“We know why you’re here,” Fitz states bluntly, “and I’m not going quietly.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” You nearly shout at the two, “we’re not here to fucking hurt you!” You yell, gesturing wildly.

“Are you skrulls?” You continue, nearly ranting, “becuase I have no fucking idea where Fury is so stop coming down here to ask me, okay? I’m sick of this shit.” You mutter the last part, sitting down angrily if one could do that.

“Skrulls?” Jemma repeats the word curiously.

“Yes,” you groan, “drop the dumb act. If you’re skrulls, you legally have to tell me that. So fess up.” You point at the pair.

“I don’t think they’re skrulls,” Ikaris tilts his head, as if reading them.

“We’re not skrulls,” Fitz interjects.

“Then why are you trying to kill us?” You ask the two.

“Because you’ll kill us if we don’t,” Jemma states sternly.

“Why would I want to kill you guys?” You ask, “you’ve done nothing wrong to me. Also,” you add on, “I don’t just walk around killing people.”

“Speak for yourself,” Ikaris mumbles and you shoot him a look.

“I just wanted to say sorry,” Fitz states solemnly, “it really was the only choice.”

“What was?” You tilt your head at the man.

“Erasing your memory,” he states, as if it’s obvious.

“You erased my memory?” you ask, baffled.

-

hey babes!

hope all is well. oooooh plot twist huh?

maybe it'll get explained in the next chapter who knows

[siempre-bucky]

Im so in love with your druig!dad fantasy! I have idea that druig will serve us breakfast in bed (or try to 😂). Orla and Rory helps him preparing the breakfast end up 'destroying' the kitchen.

Dad!Druig x Reader

A/N: anonnn this is to friggin cute. Again i'm so grateful you guys like this headcanon and have kept it going! I appreciate you and I will write about Orla and Rory as long as you want me to ♡

wc: 778

Orla poked her tongue out in concentration as her oven mitt-clad hands pulled a tin of muffins out of the oven. "Got it, m'love?" Druig asked from behind her, closely watching as she placed it on the stovetop. She nodded and let out a soft hum in response.

"Do you think she'll like her birthday breakfast?" Orla was obsessed with the idea of giving you breakfast in bed after seeing it a few times in movies. She begged Druig and Rory to get up early and help her.

"I know she will," he reassured the twelve-year-old, kissing her on top of the head.

"I thought you and mommy didn't have birthdays," Rory huffed as he kept a close eye on bubbles forming on the pancakes. He leaned on the countertop with his small fists propping his head up, "They're ready!" he yelped.

Druig quickly rushed over to Rory's side but not before almost slipping in the fallen batter. He flipped the pancake, making a mental note to clean the kitchen before you came downstairs, "We don't, but thousands of years ago Kingo thought we should all have one. And your mom picked today." Rory just smiled excitedly, he loved hearing the stories of his family and their history.

Rory and Orla sat the picture-perfect display of food on the wooden tray and carefully carried it up the stairs to your bedroom. The two quietly hushed each other as Druig pushed the door open.

You were already awake, sitting up in bed, and responding to the birthday messages in the Eternals group chat. "Happy birthday!" the kids yelled, perking your ears. You'd never get tired of those cheerful toothy smiles of your children and the prideful one your husband wore as he leaned on the door frame.

Rory excitedly jumped on the bed and pointed out all the things he'd helped with while handing you a picture that he drew. Orla placed the tray over your lap and cuddled up to your side "Do you like it?" she asked cautiously, searching for your approval.

You chuckled and draped your arm around her shoulders, "It looks wonderful, honey. This is the best breakfast I have ever had."

"What about Uncle Gil's?" you gave her a reassuring smile, her little face starting to soften.

"So much better, because it came from you," you booped her nose to finally get her to laugh.

"Come on, let's give her time alone to eat," Druig called out, outstretching his hands for them.

The happy smile lingered on your face as you scraped away the burnt parts. Being in this position still felt like a dream; children... it still didn't feel real. Four hands making you breakfast with the supervision of the one person you trusted more than anyone. You didn't know what to call it; luck? Magic? Or was it finally getting the 'perfect' life you desired and worked for? You leaned back on the headboard, looking up to the ceiling as you bit down on one of the pancakes your son was so proud of.

The state of the room Gilgamesh spent hours organizing for you pulled you from the thoughts as you took the empty plates downstairs a while later. "Oh my god," you grimaced. Pots and pans stacked a mile high, food on every surface, and the smell of burnt toast hit your nose. Then you looked up, "Oh my god!" You repeated with a gasp as you saw the gunk on your ceiling.

You placed the tray on the cluttered counter and let the golden cosmic energy encase your pointer finger. "What are you doing, m'lady?" Druig's low charming voice teased you as he came back into the room, his blue eyes noticing your finger.

"Cleaning my kitchen," you responded with a small laugh.

His strong hand covered your finger, twirling you around so that your chest collided with his own. His nose just a few inches from yours, his lips set in a smirk. "I'm not letting you lift a finger today."

He let your finger go as he felt the warmth subsite, your hands finding their place on his jawline. "What did I do to deserve all of this? You three?"

Druig's smirk turned into a smile, "You simply existed, my beloved," he whispered to you as he placed kisses on your awaiting lips. You pulled him into a hug, letting your face nuzzle into the crook of his neck.

He let his eyes flutter close as he held you in his arms. Was that gold he noticed right before they closed completely? His dark eyebrows furrowed, "Did you clean the kitchen?" he asked.

"I did," you chuckled, proud of yourself.

[druigvoid]

Not So Secret Lover Pt. 2

Pairing: Druig x eternal!reader

Summary: After making it official, you and and Druig keave hints of your relationship tot he others.

PS: Reader has telekinesis and the ability to conjure weapons and sheilds (Like Thena).

Part One

The next moring you woke up from the beam of sunlight hitting your face. You turned around and saw Druig fast asleep, with you in his arms. You stared at his face.

"I know I'm handsome darlin', but no need to stare." He said amusingly.

"Good morning to you too." You replied.

He pulled you closer to him. He put his chin on top of your head, while your face was buried in his chest. You closed your eyes, savoring the moment.

"We should probably get ready, we might miss breakfast." You said looking up at him.

He sighed "10 more minutes please." His eyes were pleading you.

"Well, if you wake up now then you can take a shower with me." You offered. And with that his eyes shot open. He quickly sat up at looked at you. "Well, what are we waiting for then?" He asked with excitement plastered on his face. You laughed at the child like behavior of your boyfriend, then you stood up to head to the bathroom. Druig followed from behind.

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

You both walked into the kitchen area where the others are, while holding hands. When the others saw it pure silence was the only thing heard. You and Druig ignored it and made breakfast.

Druig sat on the kitchen counter while you took out two bowls, two spoons, cereal and milk. You gave him the cereal and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

"Alright that's it! I feel like a missed a few chapters here." Kingo yelled, breaking the silence.

"What?" You asked, you only played dumb but you knew exactly what he meant.

"What he meant was since when were you two a couple?" Sprite interfered.

"Last night, in the garden." Druig said not even looking at them. You smiled.

"This is wonderful news! Another couple has risen from our family." Ajak congratulated you two.

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

It was sunset, you and Druig decided to take a visit to the shore. You sat down on the sand, and patted the sand beside, telling Druig to sit. He sat down and kissed your cheek.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" You asked looking at the sunset.

"Not as beautiful as you, m'lady." Druig said looking at your face.

You rested your head on his shoulder, closing your eyes. You felt at ease with Druig, you always did. He put his arm around you, pulling you closer while rubbing your arm.

"Remember the day we met? You could barely say a word." You laughed at the memory.

"I remember, and I'm glad I met you. Or else, my life wouldn't be complete." He answered.

He rested his head on yours, also closing his eyes. The world could be falling apart, but as long as your safe and with him then he doesn't care for anything else.

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

Part Three Coming Soon.

[slothgiirl]

a rose by any other name vii

druig x reincarnating human! reader

prev. /// next.

baghdad, abbasid caliphate 912 CE

Hasan and Druig stumble as they come to a stop. Fatima is still spinning, her hands like twin snakes, eyes closed. 

He likes this form of meditation.

The world spins on its axis and even an Eternal was not impervious to getting dizzy. 

Hasan’s expression is blissed out. “Its always strange after,” Hasan mutters softly, seeming to readjust to himself. “Isn’t it Druig?”

He quirks a grin. Oh, he understood perfectly. It was learning to control his telepathy all over again. 

It was nice, shutting his thoughts up, still being himself, and just spinning. He wondered if any ascetic got the same thing out of these practices. Where they all looking to fill that chasm between their heart and minds as Druig was? Was anyone’s search the same even when they believed in Allah?

Ajak and Ikaris were both firm adherents, but their actions were distinct. 

Where did that leave him?

“Give me a second,” he winces, really feeling all the qottabs he’d had for breakfast. It had been too easy to pop them into mouth while Gilgamesh turned his back. 

Hasan laughs at him.

It’s probably how Kingo and Ikaris feel when Druig utters jabs at them over dinner.

They were so easy to wind up.

“There’s a lady selling kubas down the street.”

Druig throws him a dirty look before laughing, “I’d risk it. Oh, or kanefah!” He had a sweet tooth more than anything.

“How are you always hungry,” the man claps him around the shoulder, shaking him lightly. 

Fatima falls onto the floor, eyes still closed, she manages to still rib at Druig, “plain rice is enough. A bowl, no more, a strip of meat, maybe a-”

“Honestly, I just get bored.”

“Pick up a hobby,” Hasan shakes his head, arm around Druig’s neck, ruffling his hair like a brother might.

He feels a rush of affection for the man. He didn’t want a circle of flattery like Kingo when he had friends like Hasan. 

“Read a book,” Fatima calls out, her face flush with exertion. “Get some sun! Ah-” she opens her eyes, dazed. Fatima begins reciting shahada like a chant to herself. 

Curious, he reads her thoughts. 

He doesn’t know what to make of them.

Like the Buddhists and their nila bindu. . .

“Are you okay Druig,” Hasan asks.

“Huh?”

“You’re crying.”

It takes him a moment, “I guess I am.” 

***

He runs into Kingo.

“Druig, you’ve got to try this! I don’t know what is up with this grain but the beer,” Kingo makes a face of approval.

“Um,” he pretends to consider it, “don’t trust your taste.”

“Ouch. This is what hanging out with those weirdos does to a man,” Kingo fires back, falling into step with him as they walk through the city. “I mean,” the other eternal looks Druig over. “Doesn’t the gold defeat the point?”

“Well it’s not like I bought it,” he smirks at Kingo. 

“Druig!” He puts a hand over his heart in mock offence, “you’ve got to support their businesses. But tell me,” he leans close, “do you think I could pull that chain off?”

Druig raises a brow, “You’d think not being able to commission portraits of yourself would knock your ego down a few pegs.”

“Oh please,” Kingo rolls his eyes, “not being able to see me in painting makes seeing me in real life all the more special.”

“Are you sure they’re not just relieved they don’t have to see your ugly mug in their house every day?”

“You suck Druig, you know that.”

*** 

“Why do you even need a banner,” Druig asks Hasan.

“My father thinks the verse is fitting for my sister’s wedding,” Hasan explains. 

Druig breaks off a piece of unleavened bread and hands it to his friend. 

Calligraphy was the ruling artform of the times.

The shop is one among many, in the shadow of a mosque. Nothing about the stall stands out to him. Recommendations from trusted friends are the only way to know what you’re commissioning will be any good. 

The shop is lined with books. Examples of beautifully decorated Qurans sit open from the simple gold inked large letters, still legible in their artistic form, to calligraphy so abstract in black ink against vegetal backgrounds of green and blues. Druig can see the appeal. 

Makkari has quite a few exquisite examples from over the last centuries since Mohammad preached. 

The materials are not the finest to be found in the city, but the work is good. Druig has a refined eye from being as old as he is. 

Hasan grabs the shopkeeper's attention. The man wipes dust from translated books. There’s little out of the far west, but the Byzantine empire and southwest asia continue to flourish if the prose is anything to go by. “I’m here to pick up the order for Mostafa Jassim?” 

“Ah,” the shopkeeper looks up, “should be around here somewhere. . .” The man sets his damp cloth aside and slips behind a linen curtain that cuts the shop in two.

Druig senses another presence behind the curtain.

“Do you really think all these things exist,” Hasan asks as he flips through an account of a trip of the Ganges river written by a merchant. The animals must sound fanciful and Druig fails to smother a laugh entirely when he peers into his friends thoughts of what a tiger might look like. 

“I’m sure half of it is exaggerated,” he shrugs, “but as for what half?”

Hasan sniggers. For all appearances a normal young man, before he goes morose, “animals must have some soul or else they wouldn’t care for their young,” he muses.  It’s a startling amount of empathy and Druig is once again reminded that even with their proto-civilization, the people here are really no different from any of them. Us. Them. 

His thoughts stray to the morose.

When Druig was with you, he forgot about eternals and humans; just a man. 

“What does Allah have to say about that,” he asks?

“Druig,” Hasan chides with a smirk of his own, “you must at least read the Quran.”

“I’m not much of a reader. It’s such a dull way to pass the time.” It felt too much like watching the world go by. 

Druig did enjoy the colors. 

Only Thena had real enjoyment of making art. Gilgamesh and her had their fun harvesting plants and minerals to make paint out of oils and egg. They could disappear for hours when they foraged. City or in nature, it made little difference.

He thinks back on the jewelry you had made in your first life, pieces salvaged from time safe on the Domo, amphorae that must lie in ruins in Athens. He should be better about that from now on. 

“Here you go,” the shopkeeper emerges again. The paper is large even when folded. “Come help me hold this up!”

The most beautiful woman in the world steps out from behind the curtain. Your veil covers everything except your eyes, but Druig would recognize even the shade of your hair. Recognizing your bright eyes was easy.

He’s overcome the same bubbly emotions he always is when it comes to you, his smile softening as he looks at you.

There was no hope of conversation here. Social norms frowned on it. 

You help unfold the paper. There’s ink stains on the cuffs of your sleeves. 

“Looks good,” Hasan says. 

The rest of the transaction happens far away. The thought of you blots out everything else. 

Druig wants to know your opinion on so much: the ascetics, Arishem, his internal turmoil at doing nothing. He wants to crack roasted chestnuts open for you as the sun rises over the horizon. The desert out here could be so beautiful. 

You feel his adoring gaze, looking over at him. There’s nothing demure about the scowl on your mouth. He knows that look in your eyes, it’s the Druig shut up stop being stupid right before you burst out laughing. Only you don’t laugh and he leaves. 

***

He comes in the next day to buy a book. Druig doesn’t even flip through it. He catches no glimpse of you.

*** 

Makkari raises a brow when he comes back to their current residence with yet another Quran. Druig’s learned you do a good chunk of the work in your uncle’s shop. The brush strokes are clean and even. There’s no place where you pressed down too hard, ink darker than the rest. 

“What,” he asks her, forming the word with his hands poorly because of the book in his hand.

She rolls her eyes for a moment before asking, pointer finger pointing up in the air as she moves her hand, Where? 

“I don’t know what you’re on about,” he lies even as Druig feels heat rise. At least Kingo wasn’t here to give him shit about this. 

She presses her lips together as she silently laughs at him. Unlike the women of this caliphate, Makkari made no effort to don a veil, more often than not, spending her days abroad. 

When I see you next it’ll be in prison for committing zina. 

“Please, like they would get that far,” Druig points out. He could make the city guards forget in an instant. 

Makkari side eyes him like she’s caught him, Ajak said to follow their laws.

“She also said to stay on the same continent,” he holds out his hand.

She pouts, but hands over mochi treats all the same. We have an understanding, she tilts her head up. 

He nods. “Of course.”

*** 

You set open a different set of Qurans for sale as your uncle discusses a commission with another customer. 

Druig listlessly flips through an untranslated collection of confucian sayings from China. The piety sounds exactly like what Ajak would agree with. All following without questions.

“If you want to marry me,” you comment quietly without looking up at him, “you would get further by talking to my grandfather.”

Druig starts. It takes all his willpower not to look over at you. The characters on the page blur together. For a second, he wonders if you’ve remembered, his instinct to peer into your thoughts-

He doesn’t. 

It feels wrong.

He’s never breached any of the Eternals' minds either.

“Would you like me to,” Druig asks, trying to figure out if you did remember. 

Evenly, you respond, “that’s not up to me.”

You didn’t. 

He clenches his jaw, taking a measured breath. “If it was. . .would you want me to?”

You turn to him then, surprise clear in your eyes. 

Druig meets your gaze. He wants to reach for you there, damn good manners or whoever saw (he’d make them forget). He wants to take you in his arms, pull the veil from your face-

That wouldn’t be fair to you.

Not when you don’t remember him.

“I don’t know,” you say honestly, concentrating back on the book in your hand.

***

“Your calligraphy is quite good,” Druig utters so that only you can hear. Your uncle is sleeping at his desk with some meddling on his part. 

“Only good,” you reply, arching a brow for a moment as you pretend to sort imported books. “And it’s not mine.”

“So the ink on your sleeves. . .” He smirks.

You laugh quietly, “I have been known to do a page or two-”

“How humble.”

“The work speaks for itself,” you shrug. Still, he hears the amusement in your voice. 

Druig takes a step towards you. He gives up on pretending not to be looking at you. 

You look over at him. 

You don’t move away. He takes it as unspoken permission, bringing his hand up to your covered cheek. It’s easy to pretend it was just you and him. 

Druig longs for more. 

If he spent the next five thousand years at your side, he’d still want more time.

You turn away from him, your attention on folding up a banner. “Calligraphy is easy. It’s the backgrounds that are tedious.”

Druig smiles crookedly. 

You were always you. 

***

Druig commissions a banner in sanskrit. Was it cheating to jog your memory? That was probably something he should have asked you about before: whether Druig should try and get you to remember on purpose or let it happen naturally. 

“Not large at all,” he explains to your uncle as he pushes the man’s mind along, hushing the questions of why sanskrit. “Simple really.”

Druig has amassed a collection from this shop all for being able to see you for mere seconds as you help your uncle round the shop. Mostly, you are behind the curtain, working. Only occasionally could he properly exchange a few words with you. 

Your calligraphy surpassed your uncle’s. He had been in the shop long enough to know the difference in your work and your uncle’s.

“Of course sir, and for my good customer, I will take payment at the end.”

*** 

“That’s for dinner,” Gilgamesh slaps Druig’s hand away as he reaches for dinner. 

“Well,” he moves quickly with his other hand grabbing a warm kleicha off the plate, “I’m hungry now. You’re food deserves to be eaten fresh out of the oven,” Druig smirks, popping the biscuit into his mouth.

He smiles with a nod, stirring a pot, “it does! It just takes forever for everyone to sit down! Makkari always hides a book in her lap, dragging Phastos away from his lab,” he takes the bait, letting Druig eat before dinner.

“Druig,” Sersi comes into the kitchen, excitement in her voice as she bounces on her heels. “Someone’s here to see you.”

He looks up, mid-chew. Crumbs fall onto his simple clothes, a solid black that had gone gray after years of washing. 

You're standing behind Sersi, looking around at the kitchen. Ajak has always had an inclination to live well, in palaces or sprawling complexes. It’s not different in Baghdad. 

Gilgamesh laughs. “Might want to close your mouth.”

Druig does, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, warm with embarrassment and the fragile hope that you’re here because you remember. “Kleicha?” He holds a biscuit out to you. 

“I guess,” your voice wavers, thoughts elsewhere. Druig isn’t sure what you know. . .why you’re here at all, but he’s glad all the same. 

You’ve never run from the connection between you both. Like a ritualized dance, you always confronted him. 

Druig loved that you came to him, trusted him as you came to terms with the complicated memories of lives gone by. It made him run hot to be so wanted by someone he loves as much as he did you.

Your hand lingers in his as you take the biscuit, warm from the oven and his own body warmth. Your skin is soft and supple this time around. 

Druig strokes your palm with his thumb playfully before he pulls away. “And what brings a beautiful lady such as yourself here?”

You avert your gaze, crushing the kleicha in your hand. “May we talk, plainly?”

It reminds him of how anguished you’d been in Athens, the first time you’d really remembered more than dreams. 

Druig nods.

Gilgamesh clears his throat, “Sersi, help me carry these to the table.”

“But-,”

He drags Sersi away.

“This is haram,” you point out lightly, like you weren’t sure you were teasing or not. 

“I can call Ajak or Thena if it would make you more comfortable.”

“Ajak doesn’t like me,” you blurt out, crossing your arms over your chest. You curl into yourself, “I don’t-”

Druig wonders if you could simply take control of your mind and let you remember what you unconsciously knew. “It’s okay. . .my lady. You still haven’t explained why you’re here?”

“I can leave?” You study the floor, clearly still wrestling with your own thoughts, what to say, how to say it. . .

He takes your hands in his, giving you a reassuring squeeze. “Whatever it is, I will help even if it’s just lending an ear.”

“What?” Your eyes sparkle with amusement, “No witty remark?”

“Only if you ask nicely.”

You giggle.

For a moment, it’s you and him and nothing else matters before you turn somber again.

“My grandfather is in marriage talks for me.”

“Oh.” Druig feels a muscle in his jaw tick. That was-he could make the man forget everything entirely.

“Why sanskrit?”

“What?” 

“Why,” you raise your hand to touch his cheek, “sanskrit? That is the language you commissioned. Is it not?” 

“I figured old arabic was too close to the current arabic we use,” Druig answers, his eyes closing as he lets himself give into your touch. “And I wasn’t sure you remember or read greek.”

“It’s perfectly normal not to read or write,” you say tartly, your hand stilling on his cheek. 

Druig smirks, opening his eyes, “Don’t tell me you can’t read the calligraphy you paint!”

You smack the back of his head lightly. “Maybe I should take my chances with some old awful man and his six other wives.” His hair sticks out to the side now. 

Druig leans into you, resting his forehead against yours. “Last time I checked, I didn’t have six wives,” he chuckles, “but I am awfully old.”

“You weren’t there...in Varanasi?”

He leans back, “I was. Just not with you, how much do you remember?”

“Some,” you admit, “I always thought it was all just dreams. It’s only recently that it’s become vivid.” You bite your bottom lip. “I don't always understand any of it. . .is it me? Are they some dead girl’s memories? Don’t-we’re supposed to reach Jannah if we’re good?”

“I don’t know,” he answers honestly. “what’s happening or how you’re. . .” Druig takes a deep breath. “Our memories make us who we are. Maybe you’re not the exact same person you used to be, but who is after a decade let alone an entirely different childhood.”

You reach up, carefully pulling down the fabric that covered the lower half of your face, fingers trembling as you confess, “what if I don’t want them-any of it?”

He’s half expecting the scars that you had borne in Ghana. But there’s no trace of them. 

Your face has been imprinted onto his heart since Thebes. After two thousand years, your beauty still takes his breath away. 

Your words are a knife twisting into his heart. 

Druig’s mouth parts, but there’s no words.

“I just,” you sigh, pulling away from him entirely, hugging your arms to your chest. “You could make me forget, right?”

He’s never used his abilities on you. “I,” he swallows, “I could.” Clinically, it would work. 

“Would you, if I asked,” you whisper quietly, mirroring the turbulent emotions coursing through him. 

Druig wanted to break something. He wanted to scream and rage and leave the kitchen a mess. But he did none of those things, shoving aside heartbreak he had never known to answer you honestly, “I’d do anything for you.” His throat is tight and hot. 

“Oh,” you sniffle. Tears fall from your eyes faster than you can wipe them away. 

He reaches for you then. You bury your head against his chest. 

“I don’t want to be sold to some man,” you utter practically, “with you at least...I trust you.”

“You don’t have to-I’ll talk to your grandfather.” Even if you were never in love with him, Druig still loved you. He’d make sure you were happy, with or without him. “It doesn’t have to be one or the other,” he utters gently against your hair. “You don’t have to be with me.”

“Stop,” you look up at him, “stop saying such kind things.”

“My-” he cuts himself off.

“Just, hold me.”

He could manage that. 

*** 

“This doesn’t,” you poke your uncle with your brush, “it’s not bad for him is it,” you ask. “You’ve been putting him to sleep a lot.” 

“A lot,” Druig snorts, “it’s like two hours tops.”

“Every day,” you argue back, carefully sketching out the pattern for the latest commission. “I wish there were other places we could meet but it was hard enough convincing my grandfather to let me work in the shop instead of at home.” 

“I could,” he smirks, cracking open a pomegranate with his hands. The juice stained his hands. Spring in Baghdad was a lovely sight; the desert in bloom. The city smelled less like farm animals and so many crammed together as the scent of the first fruits filled the air. “You know,” he licks his fingers.

“If you stain my paper-,” you look at him crossly. 

“Is that a challenge?” 

“Druig,” you groan, scrunching your face as you look away from the paper, “you’re worse than a tick.”

He laughs. “A tick? My lady, you need to work on your insults.”

“I’m working,” you shake your head, laughing. Still, your hand remains steady, the charcoal barely visible and soon to be covered up entirely. “Or trying to anyway.” 

“I’m not doing anything,” he says with an easy grin that widens as your cheeks redden. “I’m just eating a pomegranate.” 

*** 

People pick apricots from the trees as Gilgamesh fills his own basket, “with plenty to make jam,” as Thena and you sit together drawing. 

The blonde eternal plays with color as she does landscape studies. You dip your brush in black ink, the height of your script mimicking the mountains in the far distance.

Druig lays on his back next to you, eyes closed. He’d kicked off his sandals long ago, enjoying the feel of the earth against his feet. 

It had been easy enough to convince your uncle to cover for you. The memory implanted easily into his thoughts. Druig had told him you were working in the back and not to look and so he wouldn’t. So long as you were back before the sun set, no one would ever know.

The sounds of your brushstrokes still. 

“These are so sweet,” you say, tearing an apricot in half. 

“Gilgamesh always knows which are ripest,” Thena says non-committedly. She doesn’t look up from her sketches. 

Druig opens his eyes. “He makes the best cakes.”

You laugh, “want half?”

He grins, “how could I say no,”  before opening his mouth. A dare, a challenge. 

You snort, obliging shamelessly placing the fruit half in his mouth. 

Druig runs his tongue over your fingers. 

“Do not expect me to give you CPR when you choke,” Thena speaks up evenly.

There was no way she didn’t know what she was doing. The woman was a menace. 

You blush, remembering the other Eternals was still present. You were in public.

Druig chews the fruit in his mouth, yearning to do more than just tease you.

You ask, “what’s CPR?”

***

The iman asks, “do you take this man to be your husband?”

Druig cannot see you, as he waits for the inevitable yes to go to you-

“No,” you say, adhering to tradition he was sure. The third time was the charm. 

The iman eepeats his question a second time.

Again you say, “no.”

He paces around the room. Despite Kingo’s insinuations, you hadn’t even kissed him. 

Then a third-

He holds his breath, suddenly nervous.

When you say no, Druig laughs. Even now, you were teasing him. He’d get you back later; he was experienced in making you squirm. 

The iman is exasperated by the eighth time as Druig fails to hold in a laugh, nudging the man to ask again.

“Yes,” you finally say. 

Druig goes to you then, lifting you off your feet and kissing you. 

You laugh, kissing him back just as needy.

*** 

“I was thinking,” you say, tracing shapes onto his bare chest.

“Mhm,” Druig nods, his hand resting on your bum. It felt so good to just lay here, your weight on him. 

“What if I pretended not to remember Ikaris?”

He snorts. “I love you.”

“You have mentioned that.”

“Well I do. I love you my beautiful lady,” Druig tells you, squeezing your bum with his hand. “Fuck, you’re so good to me.”

You smile sweetly, “Perhaps you can show me how much you mean that.” 

He smiles, rolling over so you both lay on your side. You shift, wrapping a leg over his waist. Druig kisses you tenderly before he trails kisses down your neck. He nips at the skin between your breasts before soothing the spot over with his tongue as your breath hitches.

Tomorrow, dressed to shade from the blaring sun and according to the current fashion, no one but he would know how debauched you were. His.

“That’s right, just like that.” You mumer. “You’re so good to me, such a good boy for me.”  Your fingers card through his hair before digging into his back as Druig pulls you onto his cock. 

“Fuck me Druig,” you whine.

He obliges.

notes: poor sersi just wants human friends and to help. this basically shows how interwoven the eternals have become with humans, kingo having his own circle of friends, so does druig and phastos. druig is witnessing the beginnings of sufi mystics btw. i think i may have mixed some iranian food w iraqi food? sorry about that.

i think there had to be at least one life where she askes druig, bc he can control minds, if hed make her forget. her history is a lot, especially on a human. idk maybe people just weren’t meant to live as long as the reader has ( about 2,300 years though not exactly if u go only by when she is reincarnated not just since egypt) still. . .but the choice is always love! druig!

[taran-chan]

on a Wednesday, in a cafe (chapter 21)

Read on AO3

monday lunchbox: grilled eel rice

It’s Gilgamesh’s birthday. It’s his fucking birthday, and he’s standing in his kitchen, making breakfast for them at 6:30 am, wearing nothing but his boxer and his “Kiss The Cook” apron, with a drawing of himself in a cartoonish way that she painted on not so long ago, and looking as delicious as a feast. Thena watches him from the kitchen door, she’s wearing his oversized hoodie and her expression is mixed between frustration and amusement.

“I planned to give you a birthday present in bed, you know,” She uncrosses her arms and walks over to kiss him good morning, “I even set the alarm 30 minutes early. It’s your birthday, you shouldn’t have gotten up this early.”

“I won’t give up any chance to pamper you,” Gil murmurs against her lips, his hands sneaking under the hoodie, “What did you plan anyway?”

Thena rises up on her toes, and whatever that she’s whispering into his ears makes him groan and hide his burning face into her neck, all the while holding her tighter. She’s nearly able to feel the thumping of his heart.

“Can I still collect my gift tonight?” He asks shyly.

“It’s your last chance,” Thena chuckles, rubbing his hair and kissing his reddened ears. Her eyes land on the lunchbox on the table, next to a thermos bottle that contains hot soup.

“You start selling your eel lunchboxes today, right?”

“Yeah, we’re switching to our summer menu from today,” he nods, “I took Makkari’s advice so I’ll just prepare a dozen boxes only. You get the first one.”

“Lucky me.”

Gil began to make lunchboxes for Thena to bring to work last week, after hearing from Kingo that someone at their firm got food poisoning because of the lunch meals at their cafeteria. They went to buy lunchboxes together. Thena chose an oval wooden box, and Gil picked a white wrap cloth with golden star patterns on it. They didn’t forget to buy a new waffle maker because Thena broke his old one when she tried to make waffles and then literally set it on fire. She doesn’t have anything to complain about, really, she’s eating better than ever.

“How many tacos do you think you can get for an eel lunchbox?” She asks while munching on her French toast and raspberries.

“I’m not sure,” Gil rubs his chin, “But definitely it’ll be more expensive than our regular lunch set. And it’s also limited, therefore if Jake and Layla order too late, there won’t be any left for them.”

“I think it could be approximately a special combo in their restaurant,” Thena says, “It’s insanely good.”

She got to try the grilled eel rice once with Sprite, Makkari and Ajak on the day they tried out their summer menu, including other goodies such as Ajak’s orange and guava tea and Makkari’s fruit tart. And after their camping trip, because Steven has excellently completed his mission of watching Arishem (the red iguana even looks chubbier after spending two days at his house), Gil gave him lots of coupons for the rainbow trouts they caught. A few days later, Eternal treated Steven, as well as Marc and Jake, the other two of the triplets, a hearty lunch. Ajak learned that Marc owns a Mexican restaurant three blocks away, she called for Gil and the five of them discussed for about 10 minutes, then agreed to trade food with each other. Two medium-sized drinks equal a large nacho, one slice of cake/pie equals one burrito and a lunch set equals a quesadilla.

Since that day, they’ve been buying lunches and sometimes Sprite’s after-school snacks from Marc’s restaurant. Her final exam is coming so she uses the times when they don’t get many customers to study, and she’s been increasingly asking Thena to teach her maths and physics, to the point the older woman feels like a tutor. She even worries as the exam week is approaching, which is this week.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Gil says, clearing the table, “You two worked very hard for this. It’ll pay off.”

“You too were so worried that you didn’t let her eat eels or anything that has seaweed, because she might “slip and fell”.”

“Hey, I didn’t fail once in my school years thanks to that trick.”

Thena just rolls her eyes, pulling him closer by the straps of his apron and kissing him. Her irresistible dessert. Gil sends her to work with many more kisses, as if he wants to make sure she won’t forget her promise for tonight. It’s a long day already.

★

The lunchbox is still warm when she opens it at noon. On the soft rice are two big pieces of eel that were deboned, soaked in BBQ sauce and grilled, sprinkled with a thin layer of sesame seeds. On the side is some stir-fried morning glory. The sweet and rich BBQ sauce has combined with the eel meat beautifully, a dot of nutty sesame seed here and there makes her unable to stop her spoon. There’s also hot miso soup to refresh whenever she gets tired of the greasiness. The meal is so good Thena tries to eat it slowly so that it won’t end. She’s talking with Gil over the phone at the moment.

“Have you had your lunch?” She asks.

“We’re waiting for Layla to deliver our lunch,” he sounds like an excited boy, “Turns out two eel lunchboxes can be traded with their special lunch set and drinks! Can you believe that?”

“I told you this morning. It’s incredible, you underestimate yourself this time.”

She hears him laugh, “Are you having lunch as well? Don’t skip your meal, okay?”

“Not a chance. I just call to tell you that Kingo saw my lunchbox when he stopped by my office to deliver some files, then he ran out of the building, I think he’s heading to Eternal.”

“So you call to tell me to leave him a lunchbox?”

“Only because he’s doing a pretty decent job this month. Besides, he’s probably come bearing your gift. Is there any box left?”

“Just one. I’ll save it for him then.”

“Thanks, darling, I’ll try to leave early today,” she purrs.

“Looking forward to it,” he lowers his voice, “I miss you, Thena.”

“Miss you.”

★

When Thena steps into Eternal’s backyard that evening, she finds Gil and Makkari up to their necks in the kitchen. It looks like there are many customers at the front, they seem to be short of cakes because Gil is making something that looks like a fruit roll cake. She decides not to distract them and steps up the stairs. She used the key he gave her on their one-month anniversary to open the door. The lights are on, Arishem turns his attention to her as she enters the living room. She comes over to the tank, petting and feeding him some dry food and then moves on to the kitchen to find some lettuce for him (Gil always stores at least one or two in the fridge).

On the table is her dinner: spaghetti Napolitan and salad Caesar with a poached egg. There’s also a note from Gil, saying that if she’s back while he’s busy with his shop, she should have dinner first and to apologize, her dessert is in the fridge. She grins when she finds a square container with blueberry tiramisu inside. She washes her lunchbox and thermos bottle, both empty, knowing that Gil would be very happy and proud of himself because she finished the lunch he prepared. Then she brings her dinner and Arishem’s into the living room to eat with the animal, looking at all of the presents that their friends have stopped by and given him during the day. They are stacked on the coffee table, he’s probably too busy and doesn’t have time to put them away. He said he wanted to spend the evening with Thena so they don’t organize a birthday party, yet he still got presents. Ajak gave him a new teapot, Kingo brought a Bluray set of Godfather movies and a thank you note for the lunchbox, Sprite gave him a keychain with a grizzly bear attached, Druig sent a fancy wine bottle, Phastos and his family: a huge flower lego set, Sersi and Ikaris gave him…a set of new pots and pans to replace the ones that have black spots at the bottom that Gil can never scrub clean after their camping trip. Thena’s very happy on his behalf. Her Gilgamesh deserves the entire world for simply existing in it.

“Thena?” Gil calls out the moment he steps inside and sees her shoes. She stands up from the couch and he rushes to her, sweeping her up her feet and into his arms. He kisses her deeply, whispering his apologies for making her wait. Her arms automatically loop themselves around his shoulders and he starts carrying her toward his bedroom.

“Have you had dinner?”

“I have.”

“Good, my turn. I’ve been waiting all day,” he kicks the door shut.

★

Gilgamesh is lying between Thena’s legs, his head pillowed on her stomach and he exhales a satisfying breath. They’re both sated, sinking into the bed while caressing each other lazily. Gil peppers her stomach with kisses, she slips a hand into his hair and tries to sit up, but he pulls her onto his lap and keeps kissing her. She indulges him for a good while more, then covers his eyes.

“Close your eyes.”

“But I want to look at you,” he pouts.

“How am I supposed to surprise you with your gifts then?”

“You have more gifts for me?”

“Of course. You think I didn’t get you any?”

“But I thought… We just…”

Thena laughs, “My love, you deserve more than one gift from me. Now listen to me and close your eyes.”

He does as told and she climbs off his lap. She opens the wardrobe, retrieving her lavenders and forget-me-nots bouquet and back to bed, reclaiming her position in his lap. She wraps her legs around his torso and he holds her hips, already beaming, “It smells nice. Did you get me flowers?”

“You can look now,” she says.

His smile is brighter when he sees the big bouquet. He can be so delighted with the small things in life, and she loves him for it.

“I think there’s something in the middle,” she points out. He draws out a paper hidden among the lavenders. It’s an advertisement for a seaside resort that Thena printed out from their website.

“I realized we haven’t had a summer vacation to the beach so I deliberately made a reservation. Last weekend of June. Two days and one night but I can extend it if you want,” Thena blushes, “Can you save those two days for us?”

Gil is nodding repeatedly, like a puppet on a string.

“Just you and me?”

“Just you and me.”

“You spoiled me rotten.”

“Don’t be silly, I barely got the chance to,” she disagrees.

“Maybe I’ll get to put sunscreen on you,” he says, moving the bouquet out of the way so they can be pressed against one another. She feels him harden beneath her and moans against his lips.

“I’ll grill lots of seafood,” he goes on, kissing her down the mattress, “Bringing you many rounds of mojito, and making sweet, passionate love to you any time, anywhere you want.”

“Fuck, I love you so much,” she gasps. She can’t wait until the last weekend of June.

[cutelittleluckysoul]

Omg I haven't seen you in such a long time!! How have you been?? Well I hope you've been good! I was wondering if I may request

Kingo and reader have been trying to have their romantic moment together on valentines day but everytime they try to be alone, one of the other Eternals interrupts them???

I have been doing good! Thank you for asking! I love this concept!

No Warnings just Fluff!

Will you be my Valentine? (Kingo x Eternal!reader)

Ah yes. Valentines Day. You know that many people dislike the holiday but for you, it has always been fun to celebrate. Probably because you've got an amazing boyfriend who somehow always made the day extra special. Even after all this time of being together he never ceased to surprise you.

This year however was different. First of you didn't wake up to him beside you. Thinking nothing of it, he probably was busy making breakfast. You were on the Domo this year with everyone else so you were sure the romantic was a bit more toned down this year. But you didn't mind. You were sure Kingo would make it special anyway.

So you got up and got dressed for the day. Putting a little more effort into your looks today just because. As you were making your way to the kitchen you could already hear bickering. When you entered you saw why. The table was set with a rose in the middle and all your favourite breakfast snacks were set. However everyone else was sitting around as well already taking pieces of the breakfast that you were sure Kingo had initially set up for only you and him.

Kingo himself was talking to Gilgamesh who was criticizing his cooking skills. As he saw you entering he came over to you and gave you a kiss on the lips. "I do apologize my love, this was a breakfast supposed to be just for us." He glared at the others behind him. You giggled. "It is fine I don't mind having them. We have all day to have our romantic moment. It is the thought that counts though." You kissed his cheek softly and sat down next to Sprite who was tearing into a pancake that looked like a heart. Kingo sat down next to you.

But oh how wrong you were. Every time today whenever you and Kingo were having a moment someone came between the two of you. You didn't mind the first time when Ikaris had to take Kingo with him because of an alleged attack, while you were walking through a flower field together. Or the second time, where Gilgamesh accidentally spilled some of his beer over the two of you while you were trying to kiss. You started to get slightly annoyed after the third time where Sprite tricked you into believing she was Kingo. The last straw was when you and Kingo were swimming in a lake, it was night and you two wanted to enjoy the last few hours of the day. It has been a very hot day. You don't really remember where you were. But it has been hot. The lake had a nice temperature and the night sky was crystal clear.

Kingo slowly swam over to you. Slowly pulling you into him, his arms circling around your body. "I have been waiting all day to finally be alone with you." You hummed in agreement. Because as much as you loved the other ones, they can be a hand full. He kissed you softly just as you were about to respond. Your hands slowly move to play with the hair at the nape of his neck. You were finally beginning to relax and to enjoy the moment when suddenly someone jumped into the lake, making a huge splash. You groaned and saw it was Makkari, the others slowly coming into view as well. Most of them got into the water as well, Gilgamesh jumping in as well. Others, Druig, stayed outside. He only dipped his feet in.

You looked at Kingo, who looked like he was about to murder someone. You chuckled and gave him a kiss. "At least we won't forget this year's Valentine's Day."

[taran-chan]

on a Wednesday, in a cafe (chapter 27)

Read on AO3

sunday lunchbox: croquettes, bingsu & fruit tarts

“I told you so,” Gil grins smugly.

“I didn’t think the rain would actually stop,” Thena admits.

“Ye of little faith,” he teases, rubbing his morning stubble against her cheek. Thena pays back by pinching his round cheeks, narrowing her eyes at the three sunny dolls swinging back and forth to the wind on his balcony.

“You dark wizard,” she mutters.

It rained heavily last night and didn’t let up long after they went to bed. Everyone thinks the Sports Event is tanked. In a last desperate effort, Gil tried to make a new sunny doll. Thena took interest in that so she put her book down and joined him. They made two dolls, and Gil brought his old one out as well and hung them all outside. When they wake up in the morning, it’s like the rain never happened.

“Do they only pray for sunny weather? Can they make it rain?”

“Sure, just hang them upside down. Why? You’re planning on praying for rain at some point?”

“Just asking,” she shrugs, locking her eyes with his, “Maybe I’ll use them when I want to share an umbrella with you.”

She bets her face is as red as his right now, but she couldn’t care less because this is the second time in three days that words escape him. It’s usually the other way around. She holds his face with both hands, rewarding herself by kissing him in a way that makes him moan and press her against the balcony, but his caring nature doesn’t forget to squeeze an arm between the railing and her lower back. When they pull back at the same time to catch their breaths, a silver string connects their lips.

After breakfast, Gil uses the shop’s kitchen to make their lunchboxes. Thena sits across from him at the kitchen counter and impatiently waits for her ride. She wants to lend Gil her car so he won’t have to take the crowded bus, and Ajak and Makkari have already gone with Sprite to school since early to support her, so naturally Thena will stick with Sersi, who’s nowhere to be seen.

15 minutes after their scheduled time, she hears a car horn from the backyard and spots Sersi waving at her over the fence.

“Wait, wait,” Gil calls out when she’s about to run outside, “Bring this with you. It’s hot out there.”

He gives her a bottle of iced pomegranate juice.

“When did you make this?” She asks in surprise. How does he find time to make a juice bottle between cooking breakfast AND lunch, she has no idea. He shrugs like it’s nothing.

“I always have time for you, Thena. Now go, I’ll be there before the relay race.”

“This is not fair, I was in the lead this morning,” she grumbles, shoving the bottle into her bag.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she huffs, kissing his cheek goodbye.

★

“Sorry I’m late!” Sersi exclaims and gives Thena a big hug when she comes close enough, “My car is broken so we had to go back to Steven’s house to get his car.”

“Where’s Ikaris? And Kingo?”

“Ikaris went to Kingo’s to try some of his new games, apparently they played all night and now they’re beaten. Just me and Steven.”

From the driver seat, the curly-haired guy nods at Thena shyly.

“That’s fine, let’s get going,” she nods back, “Ajak is nagging in our groupchat.”

Sersi gets into the passenger seat and Thena slides into the back seat. The first thing she notices is a blue hippopotamus plushie sitting next to her. It wears something like a golden tiara. As if Steven sees the way she’s looking at it funny, he starts to explain.

“It’s a present from one of my students.”

Thena just raises an eyebrow, still her fingers subtly playing with the hippo’s ears.

“You’re going to the Sport Events as well?” She asks.

“More like I’m there for the play. Hadestown?”

“He loves everything about history and mythology,” Sersi says, “He’s a history teacher.”

“You would get along with Sprite,” Thena observes.

“Nah, I’ve met her a few times and she has that intimidating aura, I’m afraid I might get bullied by a sophomore student,” Steven’s answer makes the two women chuckle.

He pulls over at the school entrance and Sersi immediately leans out the window to wave at someone. A few seconds later, Makkari runs to their car. She nearly stomps her feet in annoyance as she madly signs at them.

The second half of the game has already started! Do you know what time it is?

“Car problems,” Thena replies while Sersi hugs Makkari to apologize like she did with Thena.

Anyways, glad you guys made it. Let’s go! The competition takes place in the gymnasiums so we’ve got to run.

“I’ll go and park my car, see you in there,” Steven says.

Do you know the way?

“Yeah, no worries,” he signs back, “But save me a seat!” He shouts after Sersi. She’s been dragged away like a kite by Makkari.

“Alright,” Thena replies on behalf of her friends and follows them.

Ajak is sitting on the nearest bench to the floor, anxiously checking her watch and looking over to Sprite, who’s discussing strategies with her teammates. She competes in singles with a senior student and has won the first round, but she’s terribly distracted in the second. She’s losing and Ajak can’t help but think that telling Makkari to wait for the others outside is a mistake. It’s likely that Sprite’s spirit is down because they haven’t shown up yet, so the woman exhales a big sigh in relief when Sersi got dragged into the room by Makkari, and Thena is right behind them. She gets Sprite’s attention and points at the doorway. Her eyes follow the direction of her finger and widen. She practically throws herself at them, thankfully Sersi opens her arms to catch her just in time.

“I thought you weren’t going to come.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Thena snorts, still the blonde woman hugs her hello and rubs her head affectionately, “Sersi’s car is broken and we had to ask Mr. Grant for a ride. And Gilgamesh will be here later for your relay race.”

How’s the game? Makkari asks.

“The senior team is ahead now, 14-10,” she grumbles.

“That doesn’t sound like you,” Thena states.

“Yeah, I wasn’t myself in the last 15 minutes, thanks to some people,” Sprite narrows her eyes at them, and puts her racket on her shoulder, “But keep your eyes open and watch me win.”

That’s our girl! Makkari signs, then gives the girl her fiercest thumbs up, But if you lose, we’re still very proud of you.

“Thanks, but if I lost this round, I’d have to go for a third round. And I’m not going to let that happen.”

“Break a leg,” Sersi high-fives with her, but hastily calls after her as she turns away and runs back to her teammates, “And I didn’t mean breaking bones literally!”

They slide across the bench to where Ajak is sitting. She has saved their seats by spreading Sprite’s stuff and Makkari’s tart basket on the bench. There aren’t that many people watching anyway, most of them are on the football field to see the obstacle race for the freshmen.

The game continues. They nervously observe Sprite swinging her racket time and time again. Ajak shouts her encouragement while Sersi and Makkari are raising a banner they borrowed from Sprite’s classmates. Thena records the game with her phone so she can show Gil later, however Steven comes forward and offers to take over if she wants to join and cheer for Sprite, which of course she does. This time, the girl is able to pull up her scores to a tie. But what decides the final result happens when she’s waiting for her component to serve, Sersi yells louder than everyone else, “Com on, Sprite! If you lose, there will be a third round!”

Right after that, her attack moves become more aggressive and she scores exactly 5 seconds before the timeout bell buzzes. Ajak is so happy she has tears in her eyes, and Steven forgets his recording mission, jumping up and down frantically, his arms (still holding Thena’s phone) waving around in the air.

Sprite is drowned in a group hug from her teammates. She notices Ajak and the others are approaching and detaches herself. Thena smiles when she catches her words, telling her friends, “My family is over there,” and runs towards them.

They have half an hour to rest and get Sprite ready for the relay race, and after that is the 100 meters race for the parents, also the final competition of the event. They move to the football field. There are many students on the field already, wearing sports uniforms and gathering in large groups. The cheerleaders are doing cartwheels on the grass, despite the heat.

Sprite leads them into a temporary tent, which is already occupied by some other parents. There’s a table with water bottles and plastic hand fans with the school’s mascot. She quickly falls into a selfie spree with Makkari at a corner of the tent, while Sersi convinces Steven to stick with the group and join them for lunch.

“Is it really no trouble?” He keeps asking, “Gilgamesh gave us so many coupons, and you guys have been great customers to our family’s restaurant.”

“It’s all a fair trade, Steven,” Ajak smiles softly, “Besides, Gil always cooks a look, if you don’t join us, there will be leftovers.”

Thena listens to their conversation, wondering what Gil is cooking for today’s lunch. Back at the shop, she saw him preparing pork and scallops, with a lot of potatoes but she forgot to ask. She looks over to the football field’s entrance, her eyes scan the crowd and her lips quirk after a few seconds, “Finally.”

Gil is carrying a large icebox on his shoulder, looking up and down the area. She steps out of the shade and raises her arm. She can see his smile when he spots her and speeds up. She’s so busy staring at him that she almost misses Druig, who’s walking behind the chef with a picnic basket similar to Makkari’s, on his back is a black backpack. Druig is frowning all the way under the sun but his scowl fades the moment he reaches the tent, just because Makkari is waving at him.

“Take off your jacket, Druig, you’ll boil yourself with that black leather,” Ajak reminds him but he ignores her. He pulls Makkari into a big, long hug then signs at her.

“How's my beautiful, beautiful Makkari?”

Thena rolls her eyes, turning her attention back to her partner instead. He puts the icebox down and wipes his forehead with the back of his hand. Sprite is sniffing the basket on the table, “This smells good. What’s in here? Some kind of fried food?”

Her hand is about to lift the lid but Gil quickly blocks it.

“Not so fast, you’ll earn it by winning first place,” he says sternly.

“Hey, don’t put pressure on my daughter!” Ajak scolds.

“It’s fine, I’ll show him,” Sprite says confidently, but then her eyes narrow, “By the way, I won first place in the badminton game. Medals and everything.”

“Then you can take a cup,” Gil grins proudly at the girl.

“A cup of what?”

He squats down to open the icebox, and they gasp excitedly. Among blocks of ice are a dozen colourful bingsu cups the size of a large drink. There are at least 3 different flavours. Sprite shoves her arm into the box and grabs a cup with strawberry sauce and big slices of bright red strawberries. Thena picks her beloved chocolate-flavour cup and Gil hands her a plastic spoon. She scoops up a spoon that has everything: shaved ice, chocolate sauce and chocolate chips. The smooth shaved ice turns out isn’t water, it’s iced milk, bringing a light creamy and sweet taste, so cold that several of them got brain freeze. Thick chocolate sauce enhances the sweetness, balancing with the bittersweet chocolate chips. In each of their cups, Gil has put a couple of pirouette cookies on top.

“You made all of this alone?” Thena asks. He’s holding a mango bingsu cup, it has both mango jam and fresh mango. He’s shaking his head, to answer her but also to chase away his brain freeze.

“I got a little help,” he says eventually, nodding at Druig. Makkari is teasing him by pretending to feed him bingsu from her cup, only to turn her spoon around and into her mouth at the last second, smiling smugly.

“What’s in here though?”

“Why? Are you hungry?”

She shrugs, “Just wondering if it’s what I think it is.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“If I remember correctly,” her forefinger draws circles on the back of his hand teasingly, “A few days ago I mentioned that I’d been craving for a fried dish, which you can make with potatoes, meat, and seafood.”

“Something that would make Kingo regret so, so much for not coming here today?” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

“Exactly,” she laughs.

Just then, the president of the student council announces that the relay race is about to begin. Sprite pushes her half-eaten bingsu into Gil’s hand, “Hold this!” before dashing to her team’s gathering spot. She’s the fourth runner, also the last one.

“The mushroom is the finishing one?” Druig walks up to them, “That’s ought to be fun.”

Don’t underestimate her, she’s been practicing with me every morning, Makkari warns.

“Really? She didn’t work this hard last year,” Gil says, “It’s not that she needs to anyway.”

“She said she had to secure her victory, because Thena would be there to watch her,” Ajak smiles, touching Thena’s arm, “She really admires you.”

“It’s hard to imagine I’m someone’s role model,” she shakes her head, but a smile threatens to bloom on her lips as she looks at Sprite from across the football field. She can’t help it.

“Oh, I beg to differ,” Gil snorts, tucking a few strands behind her ear, “You’re one big important part of us.”

She returns his smile fully and he lowers his head to kiss her on the cheek as if to prove it further. Only seconds before the starting shot rings out and the field erupts in cheers, she catches Druig’s eyes. His expression is almost apologetic and at that moment, her heart sinks. She has a bad feeling about it.

★

Druig is waiting for her when she’s heading out of the restroom. The race is over and Sprite has preserved her championship. The parent’s race will take place at 2 pm, one hour from now, and the play will start at 5 pm. The rest of them are gathering on the ground behind the gymnasiums, where there are a lot of trees and shade to hide from the sun. They’re about to have lunch.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” He asks. There it is. There’s that apologetic look again. Uneasy feelings plague her, but she nods nonetheless. They walk to a secluded corner of the equipment storage. Druig opens his backpack and takes out a folder. Its size looks like a bad omen, and he confirms that with his following words.

“I wish there was another way, but I really need your help.”

He passes the folder of the case to her and starts to explain. It takes a few moments before she can understand what he’s saying. The more she stares and those words, the harder it becomes for her to breathe. Same circumstances, same type of victims.

“No!” She almost screams when Druig mentions “consultant” and “go back to the city”.

“Thena, please consider it,” Druig raises his hands up in an effort to calm her, pleading, “You won’t have to stand on court, I’ll take care of that. All you have to do is research and work this case with me.”

“Why me?” She demands, her voice low because of her repressed anger.

“You’re the only one who’s qualified enough for this,” he says, and at her bitter scoff, he adds, “The only one that I trust. Plus, despite what happened after that, you won the last case.”

She feels her panic rise up to her throat, choking her. Goddess of War. Victory after victory. She was too confident, nearly arrogant, and it was her downfall.

“Yes, a pathetic win,” she grits her teeth, “You weren’t there. You don’t know how chaotic that day truly was.”

“That’s why I need you! We can learn from it and work together so that it won’t repeat.”

At her deathly silence, he sighs, rubbing his face and avoiding her eyes.

“You know, I’ve always wondered, what would have happened if I had reached out that time and asked my boss to let us work together on that one,” he confesses, “It could have been different if I had carried some of the burdens for you. I understand that you don’t want to have anything to do with it. But at least consider it for a few days before you answer, okay? As a favor for me?”

Thena closes her eyes, her shoulders slump.

“If you had asked to be my partner at the time, my damn pride would have refused. I don’t blame you, honest. If you did anything differently, I might never be able to come back here and meet him,” her voice softens as she tries to breathe deeply, imagining the sound of Gil’s breathing. What happened cannot be undone. But if she refused, would she regret it later? What if this time will be different?

“How long do you think this is going to take?”

“A few weeks, a few months at most,” Drugs says quickly. He doesn’t dare to hope but is still glad because Thena wants to know more.

“I still have my current job.”

“We’re going to get in touch with your superiors and make arrangements. When the case is over, you can come back and continue to work.”

He tries to reassure her that everything would be exactly the same when she returns, but deep down he knows that’s not the biggest obstacle to overcome. Not even close. He isn’t blind, of course he’s seen how Thena and Gilgamesh are inseparable in the time he knows them, from the day he first found her in his shop, to the day they officially…together, till now. Forcing Thena to part from Gil, maybe for months, feels like stepping over the line, and wrong. He pretends he didn’t see her wipe away a frustrated tear on her face. She’s probably thinking about it too.

“When is the deadline to respond?” She asks.

“The end of next week, at most,” he swallows, “We have some paperwork to deal with so the arraignment will take place in the second week of July.”

She balls her hands into fists. Too soon.

“Look, I’ll sleep on it and get back to you soon,” she puts on her steadiest voice, “I promise. But you can’t say anything to everyone else. Especially Gil. If I decided to go, at least let me tell him.”

Druig nods, “Alright. I won’t tell anyone until you make your decision.”

Thena gives back the folder and they go in search of the others.

★

“There they are!” Sersi exclaims. All of them, including Steven, is standing under a large tree.

Hurry up, you two! We’re starving! Makkari’s exaggerated gestures can be seen from far away.

“Sorry,” Druig calls out as they climb up the small slope, “The school is too big, I was lost and Thena found me.”

“Are you okay?” Gil asks worriedly, his eyes fixed on her, “ You look pale.”

“I’m fine,” she swallows the big lump in her throat, “It’s so hot, I got a bit dizzy.”

“Come here,” Gil steps closer, taking off his cap and putting it over her head, “I’ll get you a drink. Then we should eat the croquettes before they become soggy.”

“Good idea,” she clings to his arm. She doesn’t want to think about Druig’s offer just yet, at least not now.

Thena picks one in more than two dozen croquettes. From the outside, it’s impossible to see which ones have pork and potato filling and which ones are scallops and mushroom, like Gil said there are. All are shaped into thick oval pieces, with a crispy yellow breadcrumbs coat. Only one way to find out. She takes a bite. The potato layer cools down enough but the ground pork stir-fried with caramel onions inside releases steam when it’s revealed. It’s perfectly seasoned and tasty as is without any sauce, but Gil made his famous tartar sauce and brought a bottle of salsa so she can’t say no to them either. The scallop and mushroom croquettes are creamy and melt right on the tip of her tongue. For some reason, it keeps the heat inside better than potatoes, so their mouths are burning up from taking a bite too big. However, Gil has the coleslaw ready. Just shredded cabbages and carrots, with some sweet pickle and corn, all mixed with mayonnaise and some other seasonings, but when served on a hot summer day, it’s addicting.

They have Makkari’s colourful tarts and Gil’s last bingsu cups for dessert. While the others are fighting for berries tarts or mango tarts, Steven just adores the lemon tarts. He looks so happy eating them that everyone gives him all of the sweet-and-sour tarts.

When they’re cleaning up the trash, they hear the announcement of the school’s speaker that the 100 meters race for parents is about to begin in 10 minutes, and the contestants should move to the starting line.

You’re going to win! Makkari is giving Ajak a pep talk, You’ve been running every morning with me and Sprite.

“Come on, you can do this,” Sprite adds, “You even purchased a new pair of shoes for the occasion.”

Ajak still looks pretty nervous, until Gil steps in front of her, patting her shoulders and says, “Just keep calm, no pressure, third place is good enough.”

Ajak pokes a finger at his chest, “I'll shove that 3rd place of yours where the sun don't shine. Let’s go, Sprite, Makkari!”

She leads the group toward the football field, ignoring how Sersi is patting Thena’s back, who’s having a coughing fit because she’s choked on water at Ajak’s reply. Druig only stares at Gil, he looks almost impressed. The chef rubs his hands together, picking up the icebox and the picnic baskets, his shit-eating grin never leaves his face.

“Works like a charm.”

They regroup at the tent. Sprite is pleading with Ajak while the older woman is tying her shoelaces.

“Do me a favor. If you win first place, please don’t embarrass me?”

Ajak straightens and puts her arm around Sprite's shoulders, her daughter is almost taller than she is but she pulls her close and stands on her tiptoes to kiss the top of her head.

“My dear girl, I will definitely embarrass you,” she smiles her warmest smile before taking her position. And embarrass her she does, with a gold medal no less. Well, it’s not like Sprite is expecting something else.

★

After the race, they watch the ending performance by the cheerleaders, and the head of the student council announces which year won the most competitions, then they’re going to release balloons with that year’s colour to the sky. Freshman year has blue balloons, sophomore year: yellow and senior year is red. It’s obvious that Sprite’s medals help the sky above the football field filled with yellow balloons. The whole time, Thena’s like a sleepwalker. Everything around her seems unreal and blurry. It’s not until they all enter the packed hall, sending words of encouragement to Sprite before taking their seats, that she is able to ground herself and everything stills again. That’s when Gilgamesh laces their fingers together in the dark.

She also realizes that she’s been subconsciously reviewing what she has done the last time, and what could be changed. If she has to be honest with herself, she’s already known what her choice will be all along, since Druig gave her that offer; she just doesn’t want to accept the fact that she has to leave her home and go back to where she has picked up what’s left of her and ran away. She thinks about Ajak’s words, how Sprite admires her. That 16-year-old girl, who not only won two sports competitions today, but also standing nervously backstage when her family watches the musical that she directs, what would she think if she found out the person she admires so much refuses to help a friend of theirs because she’s afraid that she might fail?

She squeezes Gil’s hand and he puts his head on her shoulder. His breaths are even, she doesn’t have to look to know that he’s nodding off, despite the loud and upbeat music. His hand is so warm, fitting with hers like two perfect pieces of a puzzle. Something twists in her chest; This is what she has to leave behind? She drops a kiss on his hair, then leans her cheek against his head, feeling all the more broken when it occurs to her that he’s the only one in this room who would see that she’s not okay, even if he just woke up, even when they’re in the dark. How is she going to tell him?