#We actually never specified that it was raining here I just felt like it needed rain

[the-cosmos-withinus]

Shadow Puppets AU - Rainy Day

This is actually in commemoration of a finished thread, but it's much smaller than the poster I made for the completion of the Deadwardian Era thread, so I didn't want to make a poster. This thread was actually supposed to be a short Halloween inspired RP that Bragi and I started back in October, it took us a couple of months to finish this 'short' thread.

In this thread, it's been a few years since Philip and Astrophel met, Father Josiah is dead, General William has taken Philip as his apprentice and the Wittebane brothers have their own house now. To celebrate Gravesfield's good harvest, Caleb took Philip to the pumpkin patch to buy a couple as a treat. They got a big one to eat, but Astrophel insisted on getting a smaller one to carve a jack 'o' Lantern, too, much to the brothers' confusion.

Caleb figured out that Astrophel meant something similar to a Will 'o' Whisp that the brothers had heard about from a fellow traveler before they arrived in Gravesfield, and recalled the story of Stingy Jack they'd heard from him to his brother and his friend as he carved the pumpkin, which Philip wanted to look like Astrophel. When the work was done, they went back into the house to roast the pumpkin seeds, and heard a small crash outside.

Local trouble maker, Hugh Fayerweather had smashed their Jack 'o' Lantern. Philip and Astrophel were greatly upset and Caleb didn't know how to comfort them, but left to go after Hugh to make him pay for their pumpkin and tell the new town preacher what he'd done. Meanwhile, the two friends didn't feel like that was quite punishment enough and made a pact to get back at Hugh one way or another.

[shearlin]

Chapter 4: What is magical alignment?

Word count: 11704

First || << Previous

And that's it! :D

I have some writers notes about the alignments and energy quirks of the boys without all fluff. I might post it here ? Or one day add it as chapter 5 to this fic? I'll think about it.

I hope you liked it :D Thank you for reading <3

“Alright, kids, listen up and pay attention because it’s important.” He said leveling all Links in the clearing with a glare, especially Wind, who seemed too excited to finally learn about his magic to actually pay attention. “Aura tells a story of your life through magic. That means that every significant thing that happens in your life, especially magic-wise, will most likely be felt through your aura. That being said. Does anyone want to sit this one out?”

He waited as the words sunk in the minds of the heroes around him, wanting all of them to truly understand what they were signing it for. Some of them were considering it for a good while, once again weighing the implications of what might or might not be brought up, but eventually each of them gave him their confirmations, not able to resist learning something new.

Satisfied with their responses, Legend turned to his successor.

“Traveller,” he said, “Before we start, have you ever read aura? Did you ever try to sense for anything other than the simple presence of energy?”

“Well, yes and no? I know how to read aura. I scanned ambient magic in the past, specifically for dark energy and tracked down fairy fountains following the magical signatures left behind by fairies. I can differentiate between auras of different people. But if you mean if I ever wondered what alignment they were?” he shook his head. “I never thought about it. To me it’s just ‘that guy's energy’ or ‘this guy’s energy’, that sort of thing. Never really thought about what makes them different.”

“It's a pretty similar process, really. All you need is a change of perspective. Reading alignments requires attention to details that is unnecessary for a simple detection. I’m going to guide you though finding those details, so you can familiarise yourself with how different types of energy feel like. But. All I can do is point you in the right direction. The rest is on you.”

Hyrule nodded. He knew how it worked.

Everyone’s magic sense worked a bit differently. The common part was ‘ the feeling’ . An impossible to specify closer awareness of magic. But the beautiful thing about brains was that if they couldn’t make sense of something, they would make stuff up. And so, what could not be described from the primary sensation alone was bleeding into other senses.

For Legend, most often it was sound. Magic sang to him, hummed and played. Each type of magic played its own motifs, used different instruments, sang unique harmonies. Ever since that fateful stormy night his world was seldom quiet.

For Hyrule however, magic sense manifested most commonly though smell and taste. He talked about how rancid dark magic tastes, how sweet is the trill of a fairy. He loved the smell of forest after rain, its earthy tones reminding him of protection magic.

Those differences, while fascinating to discuss, made comparing anything about how they detect different types of magic near impossible. Not that if they shared the secondary magic sense it would make it any easier. From what the veteran knew, Time also experienced it though sound, but it manifested mostly through instruments and whispers . Magic talked to him, as creepy as it sounded. So despite there being some common ground between them, their experiences varied a lot either way.

The only way to learn then was through practice.

Read the rest on Ao3!

[neptunesfullbuster]

Hiya! I found one of your 'fake dating' post someone asked for and really loved it! Can I ask for the same fake dating trope but with sting? Gn reader, and if it's ok, reader comes from another guild far away, but they ended up taking the same quest and bumped into each other and had to work together (ie fake date) if it's to much work to make that all work don't worry! Also, can you make it really fluffy? I've been reading to much angst 😭 ~poe

- stormy weather isn’t always so bad

summary ; you end up going on a job with Sting Eucliffe and nothing goes according to plan..

authors note ; IM SO SORRY ERIEFIBBWIRJWS- yes this is late. yes this is nothing like what you requested. I tried so hard trying to fit the fake dating trope in I just couldn’t find a way to make it all work. My requests are closed but if you wanna send something involving fake dating or whatever again I will totally allow it to make up for it!

pairing ; sting eucliffe x gn!reader.

other characters ; none.

magic type: not specified.

warnings / genre ; few curse words. neutral, crack + fluff if you squint. 

You two were lost- whether you wanted to admit it or not. You had no idea which direction was which, and a large storm was coming in. To top it all off, you were stuck with a certain blonde dragon slayer, and he was no help at all. 

“Sting!” Currently, the said dragon slayer kept wandering off out of boredom when you two agreed on searching for some shelter before the rain clouds rolled in. 

“The fuck are you doing?” Sting sighed and walked over to you. 

“Having no clue which ways north and which ways south doesn’t mean we still don’t have a job to do.” 

Oh right- the job. You and Sting actually ended up taking the exact same job and decided to team up and split the reward. It was your usual- group of bandits causing chaos and terrorizing towns, and you two had to take them down. 

“Do you know where we are? Mr. Enhanced senses.” You asked, starting started to get frustrated with the situation. 

“No idea.”

Great. 

You looked at the sky- the dark grey clouds were now above you both, and it was going to pour on you two any minute. 

“We should get going,” Sting asked, following your eyes. 

“Yep.” 

Cue to you both now sprinting through the pouring rain and thunder, seeking any sort of shelter. 

Sting had his hand wrapped around your arm, also dragging you at how fast he was, “Sting, slow down, I can’t keep up!” you shouted, but he ignored you and stayed at the same speed. 

“Sting!” 

“Sting!”

“Sting, I asked you to fucking slow down!” You stopped running cause you to fall on your ass. 

“We gotta get outta here!” He shouted, pulling you up. Sting started to drag you again, but you ripped his hand off your arm.

“You don’t need to drag me!” 

“Fine, I’ll carry you!” 

“No!” You walked past him, but he grabbed you by your arm, pulling you closer to him. Pausing for a moment- it felt like the rain slowly went away. The distance between you both was almost non-existent, feeling his breath lightly against your cheeks. Bringing yourself back to reality, you pushed him away and started to walk. 

“Let’s go, and I can run on my own this time.” 

The two of you again sprinted for shelter- quickly shaking off that moment. Sting was faster than you, but you managed you stick behind him. 

“Hey, over there!” Sting shouted, spotting a cave up ahead. Unfortunately, the storm was only getting worse, so you both ran as fast as you could to hide underneath the rocks. 

“I don’t think I have ever run that much,” you say, completely out of breath. Sting pushed his wet blonde locks out of his face and nodded in agreement. 

“We gotta make a fire.” 

“How? Everything is wet.”

 The two of you looked around the cave. After a few minutes, you noticed a few dry pieces of wood hidden in the back.

“Sting, there is some wood back here!” You called out grabbed larger pieces out to build the fire pit. 

You began to build a teepee shape with the pieces of wood while Sting grabbed the rest of the materials necessary.

“You know how to build a fire?” He asked. 

“Yeah, grab two rocks with sharp edges.” You asked, ripping off small pieces of bark and placing them underneath. 

Sting followed your instructions, giving you two rocks with sharp edges. You began to quickly rub them together in order to create a spark so the pieces of bark would catch fire. Eventually, the pieces of bark caught, and heat slowly arose from the wood. 

Sitting next to the fire, you let out a sigh of relief as your body started to heat up again. 

“Sting.” You mumbled, a wave of tiredness began to hit you like a truck.

“Yes?”

“Remind me to never go on a job with you again.”

“Wh-” Sting was about to argue, but suddenly he felt your body sink into his as you fell asleep. Sting sighed and wrapped his arm around your shoulders, letting your weight fall onto him even more. 

The blonde placed a kiss on the top of your head and laid his on yours. “Can’t believe you’re sleeping on the job Y/n.” He mumbled, joining you in your peaceful sleep. 

After you, two woke up and the storm finally passed, revealing a beautiful blue sky, your job was completely forgotten about…

[bts-reveries]

the most beautiful moment in life | epilogue

The Most Beautiful Moment in Life.

We all knew that to get to the pretty parts of life, you’d have to get ugly first. 

Hey, no pain no gain right? 

Well I hope you liked our most beautiful moment in life. Thank you for going through the good, the bad, and the ugly. For running after Hana with Yoongi when she saw the grand opening of 24/7 Heaven. For walking with Huimang to Hobi’s door. For riding the train to Ilsan with Byul to meet Namjoon. For being with Jimin when he was scared and alone with Mingyu. For being with Taehyung when he finally met the one. For being with Jungkook and Rina when they got engaged. And for being with Jin and Mae when their perfect life wasn’t so perfect after all. 

It was happy, it was sad, sometimes it made us mad… but I mean, that’s what we have to go through sometimes right? Not only does it make the story more interesting, haha, but it happens in real life. As cheesy as it sounds, rainbows come after the rain.  

We started off happy, then went to parts that made us sad or angry.

That’s just what you go through to be happy sometimes.

The boys, the girls, the kids, they all fell apart at one point, only to reach their happy ending.

So hey

If you ever feel like you’re falling apart, maybe you’re just falling into place.

Maybe

Just maybe

You’re about to reach the most beautiful moment of your life.

Because right now, in real life, away from this one, we are all going through the same thing.

Yeah, the pandemic.

I know we don’t all live the same exact lives, but we all had it rough this past (almost) two years.

We might’ve lost a job, a loved one, connection with friends, got sick, got depressed, felt scared, and so much more. Because I have. Not every single one of those in that list, but most of them. 

If you were here since daddy duties, that was the start of the pandemic. I believe the lockdown in my country happened when I was posting the intro for that. How crazy?!

For most of us, this AU has been a little escape. A world without covid as someone once said. Actually, a lot of you have told me that reading this AU and receiving notifications for updates etc. are what makes your day. Which means so much to me of course!

“Hey Miya.”

I look up from my laptop to see Jin standing there in front of my desk here at work. 

“Hey Jin, do you need anything?” I ask, closing my laptop. I always brought my personal laptop to work for whenever it gets quiet. Being a receptionist here at Moon Studios is pretty fun, but of course, it does get boring sometimes. 

“No, no, I’m good. I actually am about to head home, but Yeonjun is still here,” Jin tells me. He has a smile on his face. “You two should go out, isn’t your shift over in a few?”

“Uh.. yeah it is,” I say, letting out a shy laugh. “Sure, um. I’ll just finish this up and I can go and meet him.” Jin nods.

“Okay, I’ll text him to come down soon. See you again tomorrow,” he says, walking away.

“See ya!”

Okay, anywho.

This was fun. A lot of us have a special connection with these characters and don’t want to see them go. Some want to see Rina and JK get married, I mean, we have all been anticipating it since the beginning right? Some want Sarang and Hobi to finally have a baby. And some just want to see the kids grow up. 

Because, well… 

Life Goes On

!note to readers!

This is in the span of a few years, not everyone’s first pic, second pic, etc. is on the same timeline (does that make sense?)

The instagram post shows a preview of their lives after the most beautiful moment in life. No, they did not all get engaged around the same exact time, nor did they all get married the same time/year, and had kids at the same time lol. It just shows that after the most beautiful moment in life they went on with their lives and got engaged, got married, had kids etc.

It could be the same year or different years. (ex. Rina and JK could of gotten married the same year Sohyun and Yoongi got engaged and around that time, Sarang and Hobi got pregnant.)

No years or dates were specified in this epilogue.

Also, the OCs instagram profiles are in the order of the AU’s release, not the dates of when the events of their lives happened!

☻☻☻☻☻☻☻

the most beautiful moment in life 

☻ epilogue ☻

pairings: BTS x OCs (yoongi x sohyun, hoseok x sarang, namjoon x byul, jimin x yuna, taehyung x bora, jungkook x rina, seokjin x mae)

a/n: now this wraps it up! i felt like i said everything i needed to say already up there. but here’s a bit more. this au is so so so dear to my heart. never have i ever thought it would make it this far. nor did i ever think that i would have this many people reading it! i have made so many friends from this series. you all have a special place in my heart! thank you to everyone who followed along since the very beginning, and even the ones whom just found out about us in the last member’s au. i didn’t think i’d be so attached to these characters, so just like a lot of you.. i want a part two. so with that being said, the most beautiful moment in life goes on. let this be a “part two” to the series, although it will be completely different in terms of format (???) i’ll have an official post on it later this week! until then, this isn’t good bye :)

taglist: @ramyagovindraj​ @sope-and-shine​ @jayhope88​ @casspirit0705​ @mygooie0 @fan-ati--c​ @spacxmann​ @princessjazzyjazz​ @sugaaddiction​ @ephyra1230​ @starlitemotions​ @alittlestudycorner​ @justinetingball​ @somewhereofftheglobe​ @ygbubs​ @salty-for-suga​ @momma-said-that-it-was-oke​ @mikrokosmicjoon​ @taekookcaneatme​ @betysotelo18​ [photos found via instagram and pinterest (mostly pinterest, so most of the pictures are unknown) here are the baby’s instagram:

jin: wooju_mom

namjoon: 2ah.in

yoongi: kimibbong1317

hoseok: nayun_mom

jimin: p_aiou

taehyung: no instagram, found on pinterest (jhanuul)

jungkook: tokki.daram]

[6sakusa]

8 hours, suna rintarō.

a/n; this is my first original post here so if you like it please support as it will motivate me to do more, thanks for reading.

warnings: angst lol (i’m so sorry), slight fluff if you squint, mild swearing, me not proof reading.

part 2

sighing, you peered at the clock which felt like it was an action you’d repeated 100 times in the past hour, the absolute pinnacle of deja vu. it had gotten to the point where you weren’t sure what you were expecting, why were you here again? what was making you do this? who were you longing for? ah, that’s right.. the answer to all those questions were sina rintarō, who was currently no where to be seen despite it being 3am on a weekday. he had invited you to come over to his days earlier, specifying the time at 7pm, but once you had waited outside of his place for an hour with no response you decided to let yourself in and wait instead. it shouldn’t be long right? wrong.

your eyes darted to the door as you heard the sound of keys ringing throughout the corridor, any second now. any second now you wouldn’t have to sit in the dark, any second now you would stop worrying, any second now you wouldn’t have to hope he was ok, any second now you could stop waiting, any second now suna rintarō would be home, any second now-

“y/n?” you heard a lazy voice crock on the opposite side of the room, a disgustingly comforting voice, one that you were so used to and in love with. “what are you doing here?” he asked with a bored expression on his face, not even excited to see you. you could laugh at yourself for thinking he would be. hilarious. when was the last time you had seen suna excited? it was in a distant memory you couldn’t quite decipher, it was just all so far away. he was so far away.

“we planned that i would come over two days ago.” you responded with the bluntest tone you could muster up, not offering up any additional details to see how much he would actually remember. how much he would actually care.

“we did? shit.” he sighed into his hands throwing his keys onto the counter, refusing to make eye contact with you. he had broke his promise. his promise that he’d try harder, that he’d do better, that he’d be better. a dark realisation was coming upon you and you were finally learning, suna rintarō can only be suna rintarō, he cannot try harder, he cannot do better and he most definitely cannot be better. but somehow, someway, he had always convinced you otherwise.

“where were you tonight?” you bit your bottom lip, fronting a facade of emotional stability, in reality you were about to break down any moment now. break down knowing that this was the bitter end.

“with some friends.” he responded steadily before making his way over to you, laying his head on your chest as the both of you were now sprawled out on the couch, him taking comfort in you knowing this would probably be the last time he would do so, you desperately searching for any form of closure before you said those words.

“you smell like weed.” you laced your fingers in his hair, raking them through steadily. he basked in your ghostly touch, he loved this feeling and he loved you but even he knew that you deserved better. you hated admitting it to yourself, you never once wanted to because you always wanted him, but now as the clock striked 3:30am there was no denying it.

“i know.” he said snuggling further into your chest, holding on just a little tighter, he needed you just once more. that was a lie. he would always need you but for now he’d only take what he could despite what he longed to have. he longed to have a perfect relationship with you, perhaps even a happy family. two kids had always been ideal for suna, he loved the thought of one boy and one girl, and maybe she would look just like you. how that would be a blessing. but in reality after accumulating vast trauma over the years pot was his only coping mechanism, and the distance between the two of you was just getting wider the more absent minded he grew.

“you promised.” you said but this time your voice cracked, it wouldn’t be easy to keep up this facade much longer now. you were at a breaking point. three years together, what did that all mean? you wanted it to mean a ring on your finger or at the very least a shared apartment but instead it meant you chasing after suna while he was miles ahead of you prioritising the weed.

“i know, i’m sorry.” his voice was quiet, the most delicate you’d ever heard it, the most vulnerable he’d ever been. but still, at milestones like this he was still high, so high that you could smell it because it was practically radiating off him, so high that he was forcing himself to understand what was going on right now.

you sighed at those words looking out the window with a head full of thoughts. the rain hadn’t stopped for the past 8 hours and it seemed that even the gods were crying for you tonight. you’d always believed that the two of you were meant to be together, fated in fact. was none of that true or had you just strayed from destiny? at this point you couldn’t be sure, not about him, not about anything.

“please don’t leave me.” he muttered out interrupting your thoughts. it was almost as if he’d read them, as if he knew exactly what your next words would be. and of course you couldn’t break his heart to his face, this was suna rintarō you were talking about, the love of your life. the person who had meant everything to you.

“i won’t.” you stared down at him, a comforting look on your face as you held him that much tighter. he relaxed as the words he wanted to hear more than anything else had just tumbled out of your lips. his breathing began to get slower and heavier and you knew that he’d now fallen asleep. he was trying so hard to hang on just to convince you, just for now, just one more time because next time he’d do better. he swore to himself, just as he did countless times before.

tears began to brim in your eyes as you slowly moved off from under him, watching to see if he was still asleep and surely he was, absolutely and completely knocked out after passing a blunt around for hours. he looked so peaceful, so calm, so serene and you smiled to yourself at the sight as you slowly approached the door to his apartment.

one last lie wouldn’t hurt right? not if you wouldn’t have to hear his heart break in his chest as he stared at you with lifeless eyes. not if you wouldn’t have to hear him pleading, begging for you to stay. not if you wouldn’t have to walk in on him 2 weeks later with a blunt in one hand and his phone in the other as he didn’t even realise you were there. no, one last lie wouldn’t hurt.

“i’m sorry rin.” and with that you walked out, of his apartment and his life closing the door behind you as quietly as possible. you would never have to wait 8 hours again.

you can read more of my suna work here:

the man you’d marry

play

[visionsofus]

Prompt for the mixtape: Wanda and Vision training together at the compound... and by training we all know we mean flirting

hi! thank you for this! I just feel like any time Wanda and Vis train it always dissolves into flirting and messing about (even if they're super serious for missions). I felt like writing a little capture the flag scenario, it's not long but I hope it's fun to read!

Track #27: Power - Isak Danielson

| read on AO3 here | mixtape playlist | send me an ask with your song/prompt request |

Capture the flag with the Avengers was always going to be a little different than your average summer camp game. It's made worse by the fact that Wanda and Vision can't seem to keep their hands off of each other...

It was the middle of the week for the Avengers and that apparently meant a friendly game of capture the flag.

It was for training, supposedly, but Wanda was pretty sure it was just to make sure they didn’t go stir crazy during their time off. Capture the flag was a less-destructive option compared with some of the other extracurriculars her teammates had tried to pursue during their holiday.

The time off was a new initiative. For 2 weeks out of every six months they were required to take time off and recuperate. The new rule was a result of a psychological evaluation that had been conducted two months earlier, finding that everyone was under an exorbitant amount of stress. It had been decided that in order for everyone to look after themselves properly there needed to be enforced holiday time.

As Wanda trod through the grass, her training boots softening the blow of her stomping, she couldn’t help thinking of the warm bed that she had been dragged from. Time off was supposed to mean lots of risk and relaxation, right?

Apparently not for a team of stressed-out superheroes with nothing to do.

The rest of the team had assembled on the back lawn facing the mass of woods that backed onto the compound’s south side. It was the view that Wanda saw from her bedroom, which was where she was supposed to be.

She shook her head no use complaining, she’d never live it down if she didn’t participate. Plus, she was a bit excited at the opportunity of hitting something that wasn’t going to try and kill her in return. Hopefully. She had finished the last of Sam’s peanut butter the previous evening so maybe her life was in a little bit of danger.

“Hurry up!” Natasha called from the circle she had assembled for their team, comprised of Steve, herself and a reluctant Clint who was still lacing up his boots and looked as if he too had been dragged from slumber. “I picked you for our team.”

Wanda surveyed their opponents – Tony, Rhodey, Sam and Vision. She grinned, her typical competitive spirit sparking at that. The last time they’d done a training exercise like this she and Vision had been on the same side; it would be interesting to actually try fighting him in a real time exercise. She grinned at Vision, a daring glint in her eyes and relished the way he stared, his eyes tracking up her body. Yes, this was going to be very fun.

There was a map set out on a plastic table, indicating where their flags were and how the forest was to be divided, with the river that ran through it the midline. The two teams took a moment to strategies. It was always a pain to pick who would be the one guarding the flag because everyone was competitive enough that they wanted to be part of the action. Thankfully, Clint volunteered, and Wanda was left to lead their attack, with Steve and Nat set on being the decoys.

“Usual rules, first person to get the opposing team’s flag wins, only one person guarding the flag at a time and please try not to destroy the forest?” Steve said pulling out one blue flag and one yellow flag, handing the latter to Sam.

Everyone made noises of agreement, but they were already shifting up to the starting line, bodies tensed and muscles tight, ready to launch themselves into the trees.

All it took was the clap of a starting gun and they jumped into motion. Each team set off in opposite directions while Vision disappeared in a blink. Wanda knew he would be at their flag, the last line of defence. A wise choice and one that would make her job all the more fun.

Wanda wasn’t as fast, but she was light on her feet and easily snuck through into the yellow team’s territory with no one noticing. It appeared Steve and Nat were taking their distraction role seriously.

Her powers made it easy to move about in confined spaces and so she darted between the branches of towering trees, using her powers to push herself off of thick boughs. Her boots ring off branches as she used the foliage for cover. Below her there was the sound of heavy footfalls and she saw Rhodey appear, sneaking off towards their territory. A few moments later Nat appeared hot on his toes, silent as ever. She glanced up at Wanda and grinned. Her thumbs up let Wanda know that the coast was clear.

Reinvigorated, Wanda launched herself over roots and onto the rough forest floor, her feet bounding. As her legs burned, she felt Vision. Technically it might have been cheating in some ways – but Steve didn’t specify if there were any restrictions on her power and based on the sound of explosions at her back no one else was holding back. Vision was nearby, she could feel like calling to like.

Nevermind that Wanda had warned Vision about how open he let his mind be, making it easy for anyone like her to slip inside. He was blasting his presence loud and clear for her.

Wanda thundered to a stop next to the wide river whose waters filled the lake near the compound. It rushes, the swell strong from the previous week’s rain and on the other side of the misting water was Vision. His arms were set confidently on his hips and behind him she caught the yellow glimmer of his flag tied around a tree branch.

Vision shrugged casually when he saw her, but Wanda didn’t let his nonchalance hold her back. She launched herself across the rushing water, her powers propelling her forcefully into the air. She barely made it halfway across, Vision reached her too quickly.

They collided remarkably softly, and Wanda smirked at how Vision’s hand reached around her waist to steady her. In a moment she was returned to the banks and Vision was where he was moments earlier. Damn super speed. She thought. Wanda can still feel the warmth of his bare hand on her back. Damn feelings.

“That’s not fair!” She called across the water. As she spoke, she darted to the left and Vision easily mirrored her movement, ready to stop her.

“It’s all part of the game Wanda, darling,” Vision teased. Wanda’s eyes narrowed at the term of endearment, surely antagonising the enemy should have been against the rules.

She feinted, moving one way before spinning in the opposite direction. As predicted, Vision wasn’t fooled, and he followed her motions easily. As Wanda jumped again Vision moved to meet her in the middle, hovering easily above the water. Instead, Wanda let her power go and dropped rapidly, almost hitting the water below. She recovered just in time to push her powers off the water and land on the bank. She hit the ground with a thud, her knees stinging a little on impact but wasted no time getting up again, eyes searching for the bright yellow flag she had been put in charge of retrieving.

Vision recovered quickly and in moments he was in front of her. Wanda stepped sideways and he moved. She threw a punch and he blocked, he feinted, and she easily saw through his manoeuvre. Neither of them could get past each other’s guard but they like the challenge.

There was a reason she was rarely paired with Vision during training. For one, their powers were too well matched to hurt each other so they tended to end up damaging the space around them. And then there was the fact that it could never just be fighting with them. There always had to be teasing, flirting, names, exploiting each other’s well-known weaknesses.

Wanda backed up, relishing in how Vision strode after her, the world blurred at the edges. She tilted her head with a cocky smile and raised her hands, red balls of energy forming. One after another she hurled them in his direction, but Vision was too quick. He actually laughed as he spun and dodged her carefully aimed strikes, instead they ricocheted off the trees around them. Frustrated, Wanda changed strategies.

With great effort she sent a bubble of power and encased Vision. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough for Wanda to launch herself up onto the nearest tree bough. Vision struggled as he waded out of her energy field, his head snapping around to figure out where she had disappeared to.

Wanda’s breathless laugh was all it took for him to figure out where she was. His head tilted upwards at the same time Wanda launched herself from the tree, hurtling straight for his chest. She hoped that the force of her power and gravity would sending him careening to the ground, but Vision, with all his strength and infuriating grace, simply caught her around the waist. He pulled her close, forcing her to look directly into his eyes.

“Hi there,” Wanda breathed, blinking at the sudden closeness.

“Darling, you’re blushing,” Vision said softly, and heat raced up Wanda’s neck. He wasn’t playing fair, but she was more annoyed with herself for caving to such simple tactics. With one push he reluctantly let her go and her feet hit the ground.

“Maybe,” Wanda punched as Vision blocked, “if you didn’t keep calling me pet names – I wouldn’t be blushing.” In a moment she thought she had him, with her leg hooked around Vision’s knee and using her power to pull him to the ground. But Vision’s speed put him at an advantage, and he caught her off guard by grabbing her hands and holding them tightly.

“That can be fixed,” Vision whispered close to her ear, and she shivered. Despite the situation and how close their bodies were there was a hesitancy to his behaviour that made her legs feel shaky. “Is dear more suitable?” he asked, and Wanda jumped when he pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Or my love,” he whispered, his lips trailing down her jaw.

“Wanda,” he murmured against her lips, and it was question and a confession all at once. Nobody said her name like he did. So, Wanda gave in. she pulled him to a standing position, pulling his arms around her waist as she kissed him breathlessly.

“We probably should focus on the game,” Vision whispered, his hand pushing her hair back from her face so he could layer kisses across her cheek and down her neck.

“Yeah, you’re making a great argument for that...” Wanda hissed.

Frustrated, she caught his chin in her hand and relished the way he looked at her. The adoration, the longing. She’d never get sick of those eyes.

“Kiss me, please,” Wanda murmured, trailing her fingers up his neck. In moments they were pressed up against the very tree that held the flag Vision had forgotten he was supposed to be guarding.

She reached up, masking the movement by running her hand through his hair. With him sufficiently distracted she reached further, her fingers brushing against the silky fabric of the flag.

With one hand pressed against Vision’s abdomen and his mouth distracted by her kisses she was able to send the flag flying over to a waiting Natasha who was waiting casually on the riverbank.

A sharp whistle pierced the air as Nat grasped the fabric and holding it above her head in triumph.

Vision froze and broke away from Wanda, looking slightly dazed.

“That’s really not fair.”

“Nothing’s fair in love and war, darling,” Wanda grinned, biting her lip.

“Gee thanks for the help lovebird!” Rhodey called and Vision hung his head in embarrassment.

“Vision you’re supposed to protect the flag, not fraternise with the enemy!” Tony called, arriving at the riverbank with a blue flag in his grip, he’d apparently grabbed it moments after Wanda had gotten their flag to Natasha.

“I wasn’t fraternising!”

“What do you call that then?”

Vision was stumped at that, and he let Wanda lead him back to the others, his hand a constant presence at her back, their fingers woven together. The others began to recollect their favourite moments, the game well and truly over.

“I’ll get you next time,” Vision said confidently, looking down at Wanda.

“I’m holding you to that promise.” Wanda scrunched her nose up in a smile as she kissed Vision’s cheek, his arms circling her waist in a hug.

[leahseclipse]

The Reichenbach Fall: Aftermath - Chapter Two: So, What Did We Miss?

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Sherlock Holmes x GN!Reader (With some Fem mentions)

Warnings: S2 FINALE SHERLOCK SPOILERS, Major character death; death topic, mourning, suicide mentions, depression mentions., terrorist attack brief mention (lemme know if I missed stuff.)

Summary: Now that Sherlock is back, explanations are due.

Word Count: 4.6K

A/N: Here's chapter two! As always- if you prefer AO3, click here :)

++

The weather had even gotten better, as if it only rained to have a full dramatic effect, there was only wind, which didn’t seem to announce a storm, for now. The sound of the leaves being crushed by my feet as I walked was to be heard, as no other sounds were around, it was very quiet today.

The silence did feel weird, I never liked it.

Not when it caused me to think of…

“Got time to spare for me?”

...him.

“Sherlock.”

++

“I’m not quite into this, usually- but in movies, the scene usually goes like; they stare, probably cry a bit, and run down in each other’s arms. But...the ‘stare part’ is a bit long, is it normal?” Sherlock asked.

“I would like to remind you that you were dead for two years. Hell, you’re still supposed to be dead, I just talked to a grave for the past hour, doing as if you could hear me from wherever!”

“I don’t think it works like tha- oh, imagination.” Sherlock acknowledged, raising his index. “Forgot, sorry.”

“What do you think I’ve been doing if ‘imagining’ doesn’t exist?”

“Being crazy?” He asked. “Sorry, first thought. Doesn’t mean you...actually are, you’re not crazy. Quite the clever kind actually, a tad smarter than-”

“I didn’t ask to be...praised. We’re kind of in the middle of an argument, and also in a cemetery. Which I realize now, and I doubt the dead people here would like to hear us yelling.”

“Probably.” He agreed, as he frowned.

He’s thinking.

“Can I just ask a small favor? I know that’s quite rare for me to do that, but I’m doing that because it’s you.”

“If that’s asking to keep the secret about you not-being-dead-anymore, I don’t know.”

“This could be this too, but it’s not.” He tilted his head, briefly looking down. “Promise not to kill me in the car? It’s just that, dying in a car, and ‘dying’ again would be quite an unfortunate way to decease, if you…”

“...fine. But I can’t promise I will keep that...promise, once we’re somewhere not outside.”

“That’s...fair, I guess. Thank you for...half respecting-” He stopped in his sentence as I gave him the start of a death stare. “...respecting my favor. Sorry, stutter.”

“That’s better...I guess.” I repeated, hearing a small hum from him as we started to walk out the sinister place.

I didn’t even get myself at this moment. Even though he was there, as I wished, it still hurt. He was here, right in front of me, so wasn’t it fine?

“Why do you have dried blood and bruises on your face though?”

“...John hit me.”

“John did?”

“He...did.”

Well that’s new.

“Guess you said something bad to upset him, I never thought he’d ever punch you, you guys are like kindergarten buddies’.”

Sherlock chuckled. “He had a good reason, though. I faked being dead, let him mourn, miss me. I’m even surprised you haven't done that...yet.” He said, looking at me.

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Right. Got it, no...tempting.” He nodded, turning his head back in front of him.

Sherlock’s lucky I have an ounce of good in me. I would have given him more than a punch considering what he did. If he wasn’t the famous, amazing detective, and my...friend-crush, he’d be dead and put in the grave he was supposed to be in all that time.

Speaking of that, I wonder if they just left it empty, or if someone was actually there all the time. I hope it’s empty, though. It would creep me out to find out I’ve been threatening an innocent person- considering they didn’t put some random criminal in there.

At least, the positive point of all this is that he won’t have to pay for another grave, which is...a good deal, for a guy like him.

I hope he has a good explanation for this, it’d be a shame to bury him again.

++

As I opened the front door of the apartment- Sherlock stepping behind me, I walked towards the blinds, pulling them open to let light in. I turned towards him, looking around the room.

“Yeah, by the way, I cleaned the place.” I pointed out. “Everyday. I know you never wanted anyone to touch it, do anything at all, but I did. I guess that was me hoping you’d come back, and I realize that I...kinda hurt myself by coming back here, hoping you’d be in there, or come through the door any second, but you didn’t, for two years. And even if two years seemed enough to realize that you were really dead- I, and probably others, hoped for a miracle. We didn’t stop at all.”

“I do realize I will never be sorry enough, because no amount of apologies would ever make up for two years, or even a month, or a week.” He listed. “I left you, I acknowledge it. But, even if my next words might anger you more...I did it so you wouldn’t be the ones that’d end up dead. Even if I didn’t die, I did make the person after me believe that, I think. And, don’t hit me for that either- but I’d do it again if a great risk was to put you all in danger. Even you. I know that I haven’t been the nicest, which made you believe you were just a girl working with me, but you’re like everyone I’m always with- a friend, that I also consider family, and you still are, you’ll ever be, if building back our relationship happens to take time.” He admitted.

“I don’t even know what I feel about you...about your death, and you...being here, after a whole lot of time. I mean- we all felt your death deep inside us, it wasn’t just ‘wow, we’ve been real sad , but now we can move on and be better, just as no important person if our life didn’t just die!’, you really couldn’t have...let us know without letting anyone know that we knew?”

“You know I would have if I could have!” Sherlock yelled. “I tried to think this through, and this seemed like the only way to solve this without damage. For you guys, mostly.”

“Oh, so, letting John witness his best friend committing suicide, letting him see his body on the bloodied pavement, his head kinda blown out, literally his friend being dead- was ‘without damage’ to you?”

“It seemed like, at the moment.”

“Well guess what, it wasn’t!” I exclaimed loudly.

“Gosh, try to understand, I don’t know, do as if you were a stranger, I don’t know! If a psychopath threatened to kill you, and your friends, or kill your friends to throw the blame on you, what would you do? Because someone would have known if I ever told it. And they would have killed you, all.”

“I could have done it. You know it wouldn’t have been as bad as it was with you, if it had been me.”

“Please don’t say that.” He plastered a saddened look on his face. “You couldn’t have done it instead. No one else could.”

“I could have, if you had let me. You didn’t deserve this.”

“Neither did you.” Sherlock quietly said.

The both of us glanced at the other, not one word coming out of someone’s mouth. Neither of us knew what to do.

He let out a breath, walking to the window, next to me. “...you’re making it feel like you’re not important.”

“That’s because no one is as important as you.”

“That’s not true. You are.”

“You know it wouldn’t have caused this much chaos with me. We needed you more, you weren’t some stupid detective, you were the most qualified, hell, everyone needed you. Lestrade didn’t need us as much as he needed you.”

“He did need you. you know that. You two were qualified enough to function without me. Don’t act as if you’re not smart, please.” He pleaded. “It was mine to deal with, this was between Moriarty...other people...and me, so not even some kind of FBI agent training for 40 years could have done it, or you, or John.” He explained. “I even had to plan how I’d die, how I’d set it up, how I’d hide, not let my presence slip out- I’m not saying you’re imcompetent, but all of this was mine to handle. I wouldn’t have been able to let anyone carry that. And if I had really died, that would have been fine either, because I would have died protecting the ones that mattered.”

“We would have still felt guilty. There’s always heavy consequences in that kind of event. We all searched what went wrong, if we missed anything leading to that, if we let an important detail slip that caused you to do that, or anything else that could have been blamed upon us. We all thought that was our fault.”

“I know. I thought of that. I do regret it, but I had to...jump off that building. If they wouldn’t have seen me die, they would have killed you all. And the same goes for the actual situation now. If they had seen me dead earlier, they would have killed you too.” Sherlock said. “Look, I wish I could have given up being dead and contacted you in some way, but I had to stay hidden until I could come back without risk, without you getting killed.” He specified. “I would have been the one filled with guilt if I risked your lives.”

“You wouldn’t have deserved to die. You still don’t” I quietly said, resting against the wall. “Do you even know how important you are to us? You’re more than a guy we work with.”

“...and I’m grateful for that. But all I’m asking you is to let me explain what happened; see it as a way to show how much you matter to me, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Moriarty wanted me to die. He summoned me to the rooftop, and...after I found an ‘arrangement’, he killed himself first, leaving me to be the only choice to save my friends . So, I had to jump as I was being watched, and if I hadn’t jumped, they would have killed Lestrade, John, Mrs.Hudson...and you.” He insisted on the last word, looking at me. “So this was better, what was supposed to happen, and the two years weren’t planned. I came back because there probably was...a literal terrorist attack.”

My eyes widened. “What? Aren’t you supposed to…”

“It’s being handled, forget it. It was probably a false alarm”

“We were on the road, Sherlock.”

“It’s far from here.”

“Why aren’t we there, though?”

“Day-off. I’m technically still dead.”

“Not really if people saw you. Plus, I doubt it’s a false alarm if it’s bad enough for you to come back.”

“Other people are handling it. Look, are you worried about them? I’ll send a text right in front of you.” He took his phone out, typing a few characters before hitting the ‘send’ button. “Just wait.” He looked to his right, as his phone emited a sound. “There…”we’re still alive.”

“Better, yeah.” I nodded. “...two years was really long, though. I started to believe you had really died, so I guess it worked.” I exclaimed with a shaky voice.

“Glad to know my plan turned out to be successful. Thanks for giving your review.”

“Quite rare of you to be polite. I do suppose you say ‘please’, and ‘thanks’, but I think you forget to say them out loud.”

“Sometimes, yeah. But I do think of them.” He confessed.

“Hm. But...what led Moriarty to do all of this? I’m not quite sure I have all the details.”

“Oh, that. It began a while ago, before you fully worked with me. The criminal network he was headed for was vast, he was practically everywhere, like a ‘cancer’, so we came up with a plan. Mycroft had...fed him information about me, and in turn he gave us hints, as to the extent of his web.” He explained. “And as you know, we let him go, so he’d acknowledge having the upper hand, which led him to destroy my reputation. But...I had to let him believe he had ‘won’, so he could reveal himself, in a way.” He informed, as he moved around the room. “Once we were on that roof, there were at least 13 likely scenarios, which were rigorously worked out and given code names. But, even if I said that he destroyed my reputation, it wasn’t what he truly needed. What he needed...was for me to die.”

“And then, what?”

“He...basically told me that whatever I’d do with him, nothing would prevent the assassins he had hired to kill you, unless…”

“You’d die.”

“And complete his story.” He added. “But the thing I wasn’t able to know was how far Moriarty was prepared to go. I guess that was my fault, on this one. Our first meeting at the swimming pool should have been enough.”

“What did he tell you, back then?”

“He told me about his death wish. And, realized it. He killed himself in front of me when we were on the roof as I told you, and I didn’t have long until the assassins would arrive, most likely. I contacted my brother, and the whole scene started. Each person around was part of the plan, even the pedestrians.”

“You hired...pedestrians?”

“I needed the scene to look real.”

“This street is always empty, this couldn’t have worked?”

“Um...not really. This had to look real, plus they kinda contributed.” He detailed. “Oh and if, them getting killed is part of your concerns, they didn’t. The three of you, and me, were the real targets, they would have only killed anyone trying to fail their mission. And also, if that’s also a concern, the whole street was closed off, like a scene from a play. No accidental arrivals.”

“I didn’t even know all of this was staged. Even the paramedics were?”

“Even them. They’re the ones who faked checking on me so John wouldn’t reach me once I hit the ground.”

“How did he not see, though?” I questionned.

“Before I jumped?” He asked, as I nodded. “I made sure he stayed behind the building situated in front of the hospital. That way, he couldn’t see that I hadn’t actually fallen on the ground, but on an airbag. From that moment, the airbag needed to be cleared out of the way as John came, and as he needed to see a body, a fake one was thrown out of the window.”

“And...what refrained him from running to the body?”

“A well-timed cyclist. He ran into him, giving me the time I needed to exchange places with the corpse, and the rest was only ‘makeup’, I couldn’t be white as a sheet, there had to be blood because of how hard I fell. And, before you ask, what refrained him from feeling my pulse once he had reached me was simply a squash ball under the armpit.”

“You made it sound so…”

“Emotionless? Easy? You could say that.”

“I’d say it’s that. But the moment must have been...I don’t know, between you hearing John, and him feeling helpless upon seeing you.” I said. “Be glad I wasn’t there, because you know I wouldn’t have stayed, the plan would have failed because of me.”

“I know you would have listened, anyway. Don’t underestimate yourself, you’re smarter than you think you are, actually.”

“Compared to you, not really close.”

“If Sherlock Holmes himself tells you that you are smart, it’s not a joke, especially if I say it more than once.”

“Promise you’re not lying?”

“Always.” He promised.

“If you’re always going to be this nice, I might even give up on killing you.”

“Oh, please. Killing me. That’s so two years ago.” He stated, looking right at me as a small grin drew across his face.

“Careful, that can always stay an option. I said that I might, not that I will.”

“I’ll sleep with one eye from now on, then.”

“Then be it, I guess.” I defied, letting my eyes fall on the ground after a few seconds. “I missed having you around.” I admitted with a small voice.

“I’m sorry I made you sad, that wasn’t my intention. I swore that it’d never hurt anyone else other than me, and yet- look at us now.”

“We’re kind of broken, isn’t it?”

“You could say that.”

“Do you think we’ll ever fix it?” I asked, with teary eyes.

“Most likely. Even if that takes years.” He walked towards me, taking a breath before fixing his gaze on me. “I hope that’s the case, I don’t want to keep hurting you.” He confessed, gently taking my hand.

“And I hate not having you around.” I responded, getting up from my spot as I enlaced my arms around his waist, holding tight.

“I’ll do my best to not disappear again.” He spoke out, putting one arm across my back, while the other went on the back of my head, slowly, as if he wasn’t totally at ease with it. “This shows how much you count, I’d never do that usually.”

“I appreciate it, but don’t ruin the moment.”

“You’re even taking your behavior from mine, what’s next? My job?”

“Who knows? I’ve been doing a lot these last two years.”

“I’m sure you’re capable of becoming better than me in less time, and before you throw back the compliment, don’t. This is me...trying to be nice.” He explained, lightly tapping my head before we broke off.

“Thank you for...explaining. I’m glad you’re back.”

“Thank you for…not killing me?” He thanked me, slightly unsure.

“You’re welcome, Holmes.”

“Have you been doing well...lately? I figured we haven’t talked much about your feelings.”

“Oh, that.”

I wish he could be more precise, but he doesn't even know of the ‘other’ feelings, which are more of the love kind.

“...I don’t even know if there’s much, to be honest.” I admitted, looking at him. “I mainly wished it could have been me. A world without you seemed impossible, a great loss, almost unfixable. There was no one else like you, and I...even thought about dying, myself. I was in a really bad place. I even started to do as you weren’t dead, I’d go to your apartment and unconsciously wait for you to return, everyday.”

It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

“And if you hadn’t come back for another two or three years, I would have believed it, fully- even if a part of me would think it wasn’t possible. Nothing can kill you, you’ve basically survived everything, and I do know you have moments of weakness like everyone, but you’ve always done your best to stay strong, no matter how difficult it was. And me...I’m not like that. I always have a hard time with some cases, and I always stand behind John and you so by the time you look at me, I’m good as new, as if I didn’t start to cry.” I detailed, fidgeting with my hands. “But...when you died, I didn’t cry, I kept all my feelings in a bottle, most of the time. I attempted to keep my head straight, for you, which was after a bit of time. I mostly wish it had been me...instead of you, and I’m aware of what I could have done, to make the pain go away.”

“I really caused a lot of damage, which seems pretty difficult to chug down for now, I lied about a big thing, and I can’t be sorry enough. I know that we can’t make life go back to normal, because nothing will erase this, or make it get forgotten- considered it’s all over the internet now.”

“You’re trending on Twitter?”

“Pretty much...seems like it- the press must have seen me. This will make things quite unpleasant, they’ll probably harass you guys as well, gosh.” He complained, running his hands through his hair.

“What’s ten more journalists? I’m used to it anyway. Besides, we’ve already got a lot of stuff in our hands, and will probably have more. Lestrade is gonna blow your phone again.”

“We do have a lot, including having a talk with him. There’s no way he’s getting away with that, you two are the best I have ever worked with.”

“I was going to say it’s quite rare from you but, I’ll just take the compliment.”

“I mean it, so it’s a good one.” He quietly chuckled. “Is our fight over...or?”

“I’d say so? I mean, there’s gonna be some ‘getting-used-to-you-again’ moments, of course, and some explainings, but I’d say we’re cool, yeah.”

“Then um...is it a good moment to announce that John and Mary are getting engaged? I didn’t want to announce it in the middle of a...death, well- fake death topic.”

“They are? When did they even-”

“Oh, at the visit I paid them. He was most likely about to do it, but then we talked, I said a ‘joke-y’ thing…”

“And he punched you.”

“Right.” He confirmed.

“Let me guess, you don’t have anyone to go to the wedding with?”

“Exactly.”

“And I guess that the person that’d fill the vacant spot to go with you...is me? “

“Correct? I mean, if you’d be okay with it.”

“Well I’ve never been to a wedding so...that’d be a great experience.” I admitted.

“As we say, ‘there’s a first for everything’. Plus, I can call Mary now.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You see, she had to stay with John, to talk him out of killing me, and other stuff that bores me, and she asked me to talk to you, and ask if you wanted to be her wedding attendant...and you said yes.”

“Did you ask me just because Mary asked you to? I feel like there’s another reason for that.”

“Is this really necessary?” He complained.

“I’m asking so...yeah. I guess.” I assumed.

“Fine, I wanted to have you with me. The thought of being with a friend of hers for a whole day annoys me, and I don’t want to have to pretend to have a good time, only to disappoint her at the end of the day.” He sighed. “And yes, I do have a small amount of compassion for people, even if they are all infuriating to the root.”

“Work on it, because people tend to think you’re embarrassed, or have no interest in having a conversation with them.” I advised. “But...I’m glad you thought of me. I’ll be attending this event with you with immeasurable pleasure, Holmes.”

“You just saved the day, I appreciate it. Call me by my name, though. I know you use Holmes as a nickname, but you have the ‘close associate privilege’, use it.”

“Did you just invent this?”

“Probably. Probably not, who knows. Invent your own words, it’s not forbidden by the law, plus who is going to stop us? The queen? Pff, let her try to catch me.”

“Hm, fair enough.” I agreed. “Although, I don’t get why you dislike ‘Holmes’, I’ll attempt to use it less to please you then, Sherlock.”

“It's very kind of you, Detective.”

“Pff, you’re a child.”

“A grown child then, I’d even say I’m superior, whether I’m speaking of now or when I used to be like them.”

“They’re children, chill.”

“That is quite a complicated task to ask, I do not accept being inferior to a toddler.”

“Come on, it’s a child, don’t be so harsh.”

“Quite complicated, once again.”

“Is there anything that’s not complicated? Something?”

“You.”

“What do you mean...by ‘you’?”

“You know it, you’re nice to be with, easy to talk to, understand, I’ve never had issues when it comes to being with you.”

“Woah, that’s...surprising?”

“I do agree that I’m not that open with everyone, you’re simply part of the few people that I can talk more deeply with. The others just get their whole behavior analysed along with harsh critics, you guys are lucky...even if I used to do that when I met you.”

“I still remember it. You don’t take criticism from a renowned detective in a good way, usually.”

“It’s not really to be taken in a mean way, mainly to be honest so I don’t hurt any feelings later on.”

“People actually tend to see it in a mean way.” I confessed.

“Do they?” He questioned.

“Yes.”

“I wasn’t aware of it.”

“And you’re most likely going to erase that from your memory because you don’t like it.”

“Correct, again. I prefer to be honest, always.”

“I know you do. But you weren’t harsh enough to push us away, we’re still supporting you, years after. You’re gonna have to try harder than this.”

“Is this a challenge?”

“If you’d like to see it that way, it can be.” I offered.

“Then I accept it, dear Detective.”

Even if I would like to ask him to call him by my name as I don’t get to do that with ‘Holmes’, I do like when he calls me detective.

It does give me a special feeling, and I miss smiling at that.

“You do know it’s nearly impossible?”

“Oh, please. Did I ever step down because it was ‘impossible’? I’m not anyone.”

“I do know. It’s just that it’s not going to be easy, you tried doing it when we met, and I’m still here.”

“It was just a small joke, this one is more real.”

“Is it? You’ve been failing for years, are you going to make it now?”

“One-hundred percent sure.” He informed me.

“Well then, I wish you good luck on this task, Sherlock.” I wished.

“I appreciate the kind gesture, Detective.”

“So do I.” I answered. “Anyway...what now?”

“We can either go see John again, hoping he won’t punch me- or we can stay here and talk about anything, even come back on my fake death, you can play the role of a journalist- whatever, I guess.” He said, seeming either embarrassed, or out of ideas.

“I say we let him lose his temper, we’ll see tomorrow.”

“I’d hope you’d not choose to see him, thank god. That’s why I like working with you, you always make the right choices.”

“I told you I was special.”

“And years later, you’re still right.” He agreed. “Can you take some water though? I talked a lot, you see.”

“I knew it. It was so weird that you didn’t ask for something for me to do.” I complained, walking to the kitchen.

“Don’t be mad, you have to drink too.”

I quickly came out of the kitchen, letting my bust stick out. “Yeah but who’s getting the glasses? Not you.” I pointed out, getting back inside.

“Strangely I do not have anything to say. You beat me this time.”

“Told you I’m the best!” I yelled, grabbing the glasses as I exited the room. “Man, I get to tell everyone I beat you, isn’t that great?”

“It’s a pretty good thing to brag about. You can be proud.” He offered a smile, settling into a seat. “Come on, we still have a lot to catch up on.” He said, as I set down the glasses on the low table, sitting down. “So, what did I miss?”

I don’t even know if I ever said it today, but; it’s good to have you back home, Sherlock.

++

|Chapter Three|

[thereisnochillinsideme]

The rain, Akaashi Keiji part two

I'm sorry it's been such a long time I've just had some stuff going on but here it is, part two. I also think @bakudummy asked to be tagged, if you didn't ask me to I'm sorry please tell me I'll take it off anyway enjoy! Akaashi was currently locked in a debate between himself and himself. While one side was telling him that it would be fine if he visited [Name] and Takahashi in normal clothing while the other was telling him that they weren’t close enough and that he was required to wear a three-piece suit. The first side then argued back that they might think he’s rude if he showed up for a cup of hot chocolate in formal wear. In the end, he decided that after picking [Name] and her cake off the street and getting her to Takahashi’s apartment, what he wore probably mattered the least to either of them right now and settled on a cotton T-shirt. He made his way out of his apartment and knocked on the door to his right, which was opened by Takahashi. He hadn’t usually seen her like this. She had changed out of the pencil skirt she so usually wore to work and was currently in a sweater and leggings. She also looked surprised to see Akaashi in anything but his work wear. She let him in and went back to the stove, where the milk for the hot chocolate was bubbling on the stove. He saw [Name] spread out on an armchair, now changed out of her wet clothes. She saw him and immediately perked up, changing her position to see him better. He took a seat on the couch across from her. She gave him a smile and immediately began speaking to him.

“Stoneface-san! Feeling better?”

“Yes, much better. How about you?”

She smiled. “I’m doing great! I got my cake, I got to meet you, I got to see Yo-chan, and now she’s making me hot chocolate!”

Akaashi smiled at the childlike elation she had at the situation she was in. She was an optimist to the bone.

He was a bit jealous of her, though he didn’t realize it. He was jealous of people like her. They didn’t have a care in the world, complete confidence in themselves. And people like him or Takahashi were following them around making sure nothing happened to them because, jaded and anxious as they were, they didn’t want that optimism to fade. It gave them strength too. It reminded him of the former captain of his high school volleyball team. Bokuto-san’s confidence was a force to be reckoned with and now there he was, playing professionally on a world stage.

Takahashi walked over with two mugs of hot chocolate, setting them on the coffee table that separated him and [Name]. [Name]’s smile grew wider upon seeing the drink and she happily picked it up and immediately took a big sip.

Immediately she started coughing.

“Ah barned mah tahnge.” She said, with her tongue hanging out.

Takahashi and Akaashi started laughing in unison as [Name] also began laughing with her tongue still hanging out.

“Why are you laughing? You burned your tongue?” Akaashi asked through chuckles.

“It is funny,” [Name] said through sips of cold water to soothe her tongue.

Time was spent happily drinking hot chocolate while [Name] told them jokes and stories.

Putting down his mug, Akaashi looked at [Name].

“[Name]-san, I’ve been meaning to ask your full name, as I didn’t get it when I met you.”

[Name] smiled. “[Last Name] [Name]”

Akaashi did a double take. “I’ve been calling you by your first name this whole time? That’s incredibly disrespectful as we don’t know each other well”

“It’s fine, Stoneface-san. I’ve never liked using my surname as it puts a formality barrier between me and who I’m talking to. Please use my first name.”

Akaashi nodded in acceptance. “So [Name], what do you do for work?”

She winked. “If I told you it would be no fun. It’s your job to guess. Your hint is that I’m in the creative field.” After many consecutive wrong guesses, [Name] changed the subject and started telling them what had happened to her at the train station that morning. As they laughed, Akaashi began to realize how much fun he was having.

It had been a long time since he had done anything like this. He maintained a strictly professional relationship with his coworkers and Bokuto-san was not free most of the time with having gone professional. He would come by and have a drink with Akaashi ever so often, but Bokuto-san usually found himself leaving early to spend more time with Shoyo. Akaashi didn’t mind that he was branching out and he knew that their adult life was definitely going to impact their friendship. However, it was not after he lost them that he realized just how much he cherished the carefree days on the volleyball team, how he would chase Bokuto-san around with an umbrella to stop him from getting wet in the rain.

It was probably why he spent so many late nights at work, trying to quiet his mind by occupying it. His high school friends were all busy with their own lives, he felt he should be as well.

“Stoneface-san?” He heard

He snapped out of his daze and saw [Name] staring at him, slightly concerned.

“Are you okay? Your stare was really blank and you didn’t laugh when I told you about when I threw a squid tentacle at the guy who came to collect my taxes.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I’m just feeling a bit tired. I also have some work due tomorrow, so do you mind if I take my leave?”

Takahashi looked at him, obviously concerned, but trying to hide it. “Yes of course, I’ll show you to the door.”

She walked him over to the door of the apartment and opened it, letting him go through.

“Thank you for looking after [Name] today, I’m sorry if she was a bit of an inconvenience. It was nice to have you both over, we should do it again sometime.”

Akaashi nodded, thanked her, and went inside his own apartment.

He didn’t mean to leave so abruptly, but he wasn’t lying, he did have work.

He made his way to the small desk by the window of his apartment and sat down, picking up the large, stapled sheet of paper by his window.

Today, his work was a bit more enjoyable than usual. He was editing one of his more favorite comics that was published in his magazine. Asuma no Sekai was a comic set in a demon world, with the main character being an incredibly lazy demon who preferred eating cake to doing her job. The crazy schemes she pulled to get out of doing her job were sometimes more work than doing the actual job and always made the reader laugh. Editing it was a more favorable part of Akaashi’s week and it never failed to lift his mood. The author was Sakurai Daisuke. He had never met the author in person as he usually sent someone else to pick up his manuscript, but he looked forward to meeting someone who was such a good mangaka.

After spending a couple hours reading, laughing, and editing the work, Akaashi went to bed as he had work the next morning.

[Name] had left on the first train that morning and though Akaashi was slightly mournful that he didn’t get to say goodbye, he continued on with his day like normal.

As the week went by, [Name] occupied Akaashi’s thoughts slightly more than a normal person would. He would pass by the cake shops in his area and wonder if she would enjoy the one in the display window. He was confused by why he was thinking about her so often, but chalked it up to the fact that there were a lot of cake shops in his area.

Later that week, on an afternoon while he was home, Akaashi got a call from his employee, Okomoto Chiyo. She sounded extremely distressed.

“Akaashi-san! I’m so so sorry to bother you!”

“It’s okay, what do you need?”

“My wife is sick and I’m home taking care of her. I was supposed to pick up Sakurai-san’s manuscript today, but Nanako’s been throwing up all day and I can’t afford to leave her now. Do you mind picking it up?”

Akaashi was slightly annoyed, as he had just gotten home. However, he knew that he couldn’t possibly ask his employee to leave her sick wife.

“It’s completely okay. May I have Sakurai-san’s address? At least I can finally meet him.”

“It’s xxx-xxx on the other side of the city. The train will be able to get you there really fast. Sakurai-san should have completed her manuscript by now.”

“Her?” Akaashi was confused

“Sakurai Daisuke is a pen-name. The author is female. She picked a male name to sound more ambiguous.”

“Oh, that comes as a bit of a surprise.”

“Thank you so much for doing this, Akaashi-san! I am forever grateful to you.”

“It’s no problem.”

Akaashi looked out his window and toward the train station which was a couple blocks away. It was raining.

As he turned, his eyes fell on a now-dry neon yellow umbrella. He must have forgotten to give it back to [Name].

He picked up the umbrella, put on a long brown coat, and ran out his apartment door.

He was able to make it onto the train last minute, sitting on the seat in relief. As the train moved along, he thought about what the author might be like.

Thinking about it now, it was fairly obvious that this author wasn’t like most of the male authors Akaashi’s company had published.

There was barely any fan service in the series and the author made sure to write her female characters just as realistic and flawed as her male characters. Most of the male authors drew one woman with an unrealistic body and made her show up every now and then to rip her clothes off and leave. Sakurai-san’s female characters had personalities and all different body shapes, some bigger or smaller, darker or lighter, more like the women he would see in the real world.

The train announced his stop and he walked out, looking at the paper where he jotted down the address.

He navigated his way through the twists and turns until he finally got to the apartment building.

He entered and went to the specified floor and found the correct door.

As he raised his hand to knock, Akaashi suddenly felt a bit nervous to meet this author who he borderline idolized, especially when he found out he was wrong about her gender the whole time.

Nevertheless, his hand tapped lightly on the door twice and he heard footsteps rush to open it.

What he saw behind the door was definitely not what he expected.

[Name] was peeking out, wearing a large animal onesie, holding a plate of cake with a plastic fork.

“Stoneface-san?"

[dottiechan]

Tempest (Pt. 1)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5  

Read on AO3

Pairing: Ava Du Mortain x f!Detective

Wordcount: 1950

Warnings: gay pining, denial of romatic feelings none

Summary: Ava waits for the private detective to arrive while pondering their relationship. (1890s AU)

A/N: I am plagued by the late Victorian AU and Miss Du Mortain, so this happened. I wrote the detective as a female private detective, but other than that I have not specified any details about her. It also passes as a reader insert fic! (You can check out the full art here.)

Ava watches the grey sky as it persistently batters the window with rain, the small streaks on the glass pane casting lines on her handsome face that could be mistaken for tears by someone who doesn’t know her. Anyone who does know her knows that she’d sooner shed her blood than her tears. That is just the way she is. The way she likes to be thought of. The only way she is truly safe.

The heavens have let loose, and god is baring his teeth. And Ava just stands there, hands shoved in the pockets of her trousers, gazing out into the busy street as still and cold as the marble statues dotting the hallway. But only on the outside. Because inside of her, there is a storm to match the tempest that assails the city.

She is agitated the moment an image of her slips into her mind, and she begins chewing on the inside of her cheek when she realises that every minute the private detective isn’t in her sight, she is losing her mind. The nervous gesture is soon quelled by hundreds of years of self-discipline, and is replaced by her signature frown, lips pressed into a thin line, the muscles running along her jawbone tensing under her opaque skin. She is... mortal, she wants to think. Fragile. Unimportant. A job.

But she is also everything.

Which is why she must sever her ties to the woman before the job is over, otherwise the eternity to come will turn into hell on earth without her. Ava deserves hell, she knows that. Not that she believes in the devil, but the sharpness of his pitchfork and the heat of hellfire are sensations not unfamiliar to her. Eternal damnation is just guilt and anger and fear hiding in Satan’s clothing. But she can’t even begin to assign words to the kind of torture a world without her would mean. Ava’s ever so logical mind paralyses in terror at the thought of existing in a time when she isn’t.

She inhales sharply - even brushing the surface of the topic causes so much pain to course through her whole being that she needs to focus on something else - anything else - to continue functioning. So she listens to Nate’s soothing voice as he discusses myths with the professor down the hall. She registers the footsteps of people mulling about the museum on the floor below, the idle chatter of ladies clad in expensive dresses, the booming voices of three men arguing over the origin of a painting in the first hall. She turns her piercing attention on the street now, listening to the sounds of horses and vendors and street urchins, feeling thankful to the steady rain for considerably dulling the sharp tang of the muddy streets in her nostrils. She pulls out her pocket watch then, the ticking matching her now once more steady heartbeat.

The detective isn’t late yet, though she has a feeling that she will be, with the rain clogging the streets with carriages and hansoms as it usually does, especially at such a lively hour in the late morning. Ava wonders what she will wear, how her hair will be styled. She wants the rain to kiss her face, she wants the wind to rake its fingers through her tightly pinned up hair and loosen some strands from their captivity. She wants the warmth of the museum building to engulf her once she steps inside, bringing a rush of blood to her cold cheeks. She wants all this and more, for her own body must stay still for everyone’s sake, thus leaving her to live through the rain, and the wind, and the warmth of the radiators, her own fingers and lips and skin left yearning for a sensation she must deny herself.

Her daydreaming is cut short when two men pass her by, throwing her wide-eyed stares as they clutch their books to their chests and mutter quiet greetings to her. Students of the professor, no doubt, and shocked to their very core by the sight of a woman in trousers easily towering above them. It fills Ava with a savage sort of satisfaction before her insecurities - awakened by the private detective’s appearance in her life - creep up on her. It has never been particularly acceptable for a woman to wear men’s clothing throughout history, and 1896 is no exception. Then again, Ava has never been particularly bothered by this expectation, so it has all been well. Until now, when she begins to wonder if the detective likes this. She has commended her on her bravery before, and agreed with her choice of clothing because of its practicality, but that is hardly an admission of approval or attraction. And besides, she seems to favour dresses herself, even if she is nowhere nearly as extravagant or tightly laced as the dames of the decade. Admittedly, the detective’s pulse always picks up when they speak, especially alone, and her pupils are blown when she catches her staring but...

“I’ve got what we came for... and more,” Nate speaks with quiet excitement as he stalks up to her by the window, and Ava forces herself to look at her friend, hands balling into fists in her pockets. She had been so absorbed in thoughts of the private detective that she almost didn’t notice Nate at all until he reached her.

Pathetic. She needs to focus.

There’s a supernatural on the loose, murdering in the streets of London, and she is thinking about whether or not a mortal woman likes her choice of clothing. She takes the folder Nate hands her, and pries it open to reveal several new pages filled with his neat handwriting. At least their initial hunch has been correct - they’re definitely something corporeal that can pass off as a human, and now thanks to Nate’s research, they’re all but confirmed to have come from Scandinavia originally. And yet it doesn’t help her ease her mind that she knows what they could possibly be - after all, they’re out for the detective by the Agency’s estimate.

“Could it be a dark elf?” she mutters, blonde brows furrowed as she skims through the pages.

“Dökkálfar. My thought exactly,” her friend nods, pleased that Ava has come to the same conclusion.

“Haven’t seen one of those in... well, in a very long time.”

Nate’s shoulders sag a little as his initial enthusiasm ebbs. “I suppose we are about to face one again.”

She wants to reprimand Nate for forgetting the real objective of their mission - it’s protection, after all, not hunting down a rogue. But she thinks of the detective again, a woman so unique and individualistic in a world that tries so hard to oppress her along with her ambitions, and she knows she won’t be able to rest until the threat to her life is no more. It’s her duty, she reasons meekly against the swell of affection filling her chest and pushing against her skin, threatening to crack the solid marble of her stoic facade. But she knows a lie when she hears one. She suddenly thinks of last year, Paris, the Louvre. Nike of Samothrace. The statue of the Winged Victory. Headless, and yet still the symbol of triumph. She has lost her common sense ever since she started working with the detective, but she knows she must win as well, because if she fails... Well, she dare not even think about the consequences it would have on her.

And above all, she must remain as cold to the touch as that carefully carved block of marble.

“I wish we could tell her,” her friend presses on gently, concern and guilt marring the edges of the soft curve of his long lips.

“It’s better this way. Safer,” she croaks, hating the way her voice softens and breaks mid-sentence.

“Safer for whom, I wonder?” Nate sighs, taking the folder Ava hands him and closes it with delicate fingers before leaning against the wall next to her. She hasn’t even realised she sought to support of the wooden panelled hallway until Nate mimicked her movement absent-mindedly.

“What do you mean?”

“Safer for her...” he sighs before glancing at Ava with sad eyes, “or safer for us?”

She averts her eyes, her long ignored self-loathing clawing its way up from the deepest pits of her mind before she clenches her jaw. “For all parties involved.”

But mostly for me, she admits to herself inwardly. The lie obscures her true nature, and she revels in it for once. She doesn’t know what she’d do if the detective flinched away from her in fear instead of being drawn to her like a moth to a flame in the middle of a heavy summer night. For the past 800 years, she thought of herself as nothing but an agent, an element operating in the shadows, making the world a less dangerous place. She hunted her emotions and burned them at the stake, but this witch hunt can only go on for so long without consequences. She always thought of herself as a vampire first and foremost, her base nature being a bloodthirsty monster, but she was human before that. And she’s never felt more human than now. Probably not even when she actually was one.

And that is a terrifying thought to live with, especially when its source is so easily pinpointed. Her. It’s all on her.

“So we lie once more?” Nate sighs, breaking the silence and drawing her attention outwards once more.

“Yes,” she states firmly, the word feeling strangely sour in her mouth. “We tell her this was a dead end. She doesn’t need to know anything else. The Agency, on the other hand, needs to be brought up to speed. Will you do it?”

“I’ll brief them,” Nate nods, pushing himself away from the wall before straightening down his coat. “I suppose that leaves you with watching her?”

“Yes,” Ava speaks through gritted teeth, ignoring the heat crawling up her neck at the thought of being alone with the woman. Her reaction to the detective is unbearable, and yet she brings it upon herself like a masochist inviting the pain. She doesn’t understand why she does it, and yet she has no will to stop.

A nod, retreating footsteps, and Nate is no longer to be seen or heard, not even by her eyes and ears. She slips out her watch from her pocket once more and flips the silver lid open - she is late. Her heartbeat turns into a wild galloping crescendo when she hears a familiar voice on the street though, her heart’s rhythm no longer matching the steady ticking of the pocket watch as it did before.

Ava stares as she exits the hansom with a graceful ease that should be categorised as a criminal offence, wet pieces of stray hairs sticking to her delightful face as she rushes across the street with a purpose that almost leaves her breathless.

She wants to catch the killer, she tells herself. That’s all she wants and nothing more.

Yet as she moves swiftly towards the staircase, unable to wait for her in one place, and wanting, no, needing to see her as soon as possible, deep down Ava hopes the detective is just as eager to be with her as she is.

And then at the very last moment, right before they’re about to come face to face, she schools her features into a blank expression, a great lie of a tabula rasa, her face hardening like sculpted marble - commanding, ancient, beautiful, but so, so cold.

[wanderingchocolateeclair]

For the asks, 11, 18, 19 for Edgeshot and the soggy noodle (Jeanist) please?

Oohhhh, thank you for sending one in!! I actually did number 11 for these two way back when I reblogged this for the first time in this post (one of your asks actually aha) but I’m going to write out some more/re-write what I’ve written slightly different most probably lmao

Warning: will be mentions of bad coping mechanisms, depression, death and self destructive tendencies and thoughts. Please read with caution. I’ve put number 19 under the cut for this reason.

11. Bad or petty habits.

Okay well, they’re both incredibly bad at dealing with stress and tend to have a habit of overworking themselves.

Jeans gets incredibly fidgety when nervous, however always tends to pick and scratch at his hands. So he’ll always have something with him that he can fiddle with, such as a ring or charm or just the hem of his clothes.

He also is really bad at taking care of himself for some reason, mainly with things like injuries and stuff like that, but still.

Also. Petty habits? His puns. Please, it’s his puns he just cannot stop himself.

Shinya overworks himself, as said earlier, but it just has to be emphasised.

Sometimes (very rarely) he can tend to make a snarky remark relating to someone complaining about their family, with a response along the lines of “oh yeah same” or “ahaha yeah, it’s really annoying huh?” or literally just hitting them with the “yeah, they’re dead.”

He mostly does it to villains as a way to make them actually hesitate, when they say stuff like “oh I’ll kill your friends and family blah blah” he simply answers with a “too late” and he hates how spontaneous he says it.

Obviously, this doesn’t happen often because, well it’s kinda obvious and he has respect towards his family, but some days he just cannot help himself, he considers it a very bad habit.

18. Things they’ll never admit.

That they are tired. Or stressed. Or overworked. Or mildly injured.

They are so stubborn and they just will not admit it.

Also, when one is mad at the other, they don’t like admitting when there is something that they’re mad/wrong about.

They are just incredibly stubborn and will wait for ages. And eventually they feel bad but are still stubborn so don’t want to admit that they want to speak to the other.

Not that they need to admit when one of them feels lonely or sorry or just really bad about something when they aren’t speaking. Because it’s definitely plastered all over their body language.

(To those who don’t want to read number 19 because it does have some pretty heavy angsty stuff, please feel free to leave it here ❤️)

19. People they’ve hurt or indirectly killed, and how it affected them. (Read carefully, contains some sensitive stuff as specified in my warning ^^)

Okay, like I said, these are pretty heavy and contain quite sensitive stuff so please be careful. I’ve wanted to talk about these particular headcanons for a while, but didn’t know how to.

I have a headcanon that Tsunagu has killed someone in the past, and possibly more than just one person. It was all accidental, well, mostly.

When he was younger, about 12, I can’t remember what age I said in ‘When it Rains...’ but he was young. He couldn’t control his quirk and his quirk often would be way too powerful for him and his body to handle.

He found himself rushing to help some kids from a villain but his quirk ended up going haywire and he basically strangled the villain to death, whilst doing serious damage to himself and hurting his sister by doing so. He was just so angry and out of control, his mind was screaming at him.

This spirals him into a very very dark mindset, and he starts to blame himself for everything. The kids at school knew what happened and called him a “freak” and he had no friends.

As time went on, he often got told that “his quirk wasn’t suited for being a hero” and taunted that he should just stick to “making dresses and playing hairdressers” which had a really big effect on the way he saw himself.

He started to agree with them and when they told him that “you can’t be a hero now, you killed someone! Better to just start fresh, yeah?”...he also agreed...and well, I’m sure you can imagine what that leads him to, since I’d rather not go into the details of that too much at the moment...

His sister has to feel all of this pain that he goes through, and this makes him feel even worse.

He manages to get through this with the help of his sister, and a couple of friends that stuck with him throughout it all. And he goes to UA with his mind still clouded with doubts.

He knows he’s weak, he’s thin and not of a suitable fighting form. His quirk is too powerful for him to control and also not suitable for being a hero, but with the help of others and teachers and family he manages to pull through.

As he becomes a hero, he starts to feel better and more proud of himself, however there is still that little comment at the back of his mind telling him that he is weak.

Everytime he fails to rescue someone, or accidentally injured or goes too far with capturing a villain, it takes a huge toll on his self confidence and he starts spiralling again. Even if it wasn’t his fault he will still take the blame. It all brings him back to that moment when he was 12.

This often leads him to overworking himself to the point of passing out or collapsing, and often one of his friends or interns will have to usher him to somewhere he can recover. He lets his health deteriorate and lets any injuries go untreated.

He is the type of person to carry every failure, tiny mishap and any failed missions, completely on his own back. He converts it all to regret and this makes him feel weak, stupid and helpless. He could be on the other side of town and hear of a villain attack that got someone injured and he’d blame it on himself. These thoughts get carried with him until he finally just has to break down and let it all out.

This usually happens at home, where it’s obvious to anyone that he needs to talk about it, even if he doesn’t want to. Or at their usual top 5 meet ups, because they understand and they all listen to him and comfort him beca they know how much it affects him.

Often, in these mindsets, he will end up over using his quirk and injuring himself with his recklessness, however....this time it’s quite deliberate...he just lets it happen.

This carries on until he’s quite a bit older, and even then he still gets moments where his mind starts to slip.

When he meets Shinya, it helps a lot with his mental health, due to them having so much in common (and just being a couple of generally traumatised and depressed heroes who can barely look after themselves properly). They help each other get through the hardest parts and they understand when one feels the way they do.

(I’ve got many other little things that relate to this rather depressing headcanon, but it’s a heavy subject so I won’t write them out unless someone asks and actually would like me to, just for me to make sure you guys are comfortable and okay)

—————got to switch to Shinya now aha—————————

Okay so we have his backstory (which I am still working up the motivation to finish the whole thing)

Shinya ends up killing a large group of the villains that ambushed his village. He didn’t know how it happened, how he did it, or anything like that. But in a moment of rage and adrenaline and pure unbridled emotion, he shot forwards and killed them instantly, brutally.

In the moment he didn’t care. He was scared and had just seen his family and friends die in front of him.

However, once he learnt exactly what he’d done, and how severe it actually was, that’s when he started to feel the regrets.

At first it was not much, but as he started to try to live a normal life again and interact with others, that’s when it became an issue.

He noticed how others glared at him. He noticed the fear in the other people’s faces as they walked past him. The looks on their faces as they acknowledged the broken, empty face of this child and how scared they were of his past.

Slowly this all made him very self conscious and worried about how others saw him. He started to feel more doubtful and less trusting than he was, even with barely any trust left in him.

He trained and trained, overworking himself and using his quirk way too much. This allowed him to gain experience, yes, but it also drained him of having any sense of what a childhood should be - draining his memory of living a normal life.

People were always intimidated by him, and over the years he got used to it, but there are always times where he felt that no one would see him how he really was. Just a lonely person, robbed of a happy childhood and innocence and someone who can’t find it in him to trust anyone ever again. The only person who would understand was his sister, since she wen through the exact same experience and was with him through it all.

When he meets Tsunagu, he finds himself starting to trust again, and found that he was one of the only people that he felt safe with.

Then he started meeting other pro heroes, some with tough backstories themselves, and it just made him feel less alone.

Of course, there will be days where his past haunts him, and he feels the blood of all the lives he’s taken and failed to save on his hands and it terrifies him. It drags him down. These days he ends up shutting himself away.

He doesn’t take care of himself properly and ends up collapsing and becoming ill and rundown.

However, these moments happen. And being with those who he finally trusts and those who are there to help him feel safe...that’s what allows him to recover

That’s what allows them both to feel human once again, despite their pasts and doubts. Despite their flaws and failures. They seek happiness in each other and they find safety in their friends...and that’s what keeps them going.

Thank you for asking! Sorry for how morbid that end one was, but it really is one of my most prominent headcanons for these two, especially poor jeans, and I actually kinda feel a little better to have you guys know it now, so that when I sort of reference it in my writing, you know what I’m going on about.

Please send some in guys, I would love to give you some headcanons on whatever character you’d like to send in! Love you ❤️ This is the post for the questions!! I’m going to bed for now, but please feel free to send some in for me to answer tomorrow, I’ll get to them as soon as I can!!

[trainwreckwips]

Another Musician in the Family (TUA)

Summary: Vanya shows Five a new coping mechanism: music.

Word Count: 1,421

Warnings: flashbacks

Author’s Note: Shoutout to @the-aro-ace-arrow-ace​ for helping me with part of the plot and giving me some inspiration for this story in general!

Tags: @patton-birdie @the-aro-ace-arrow-ace (let me know if you want to be added to the list - specify if you only want to be tagged for one/specific fandoms)

~~~

Five didn't know what to do.

The house was empty of people other than him. Allison was visiting Claire, Vanya was at a rehearsal, Klaus was out doing god knows what, and Luther and Deigo had gone out for drinks. They'd offered to let Five tag along, but he'd turned them down, wanting some time to settle down after two weeks of hell.

And now that he had time, he didn't know what to do with it.

It was cold, so he didn't really want to go on a walk. He considered finding a book to read, but couldn't find anything that seemed interesting. He wasn't sure he'd be able to focus on it anyway.

So, instead of finding something to do, he made himself a cup of coffee and settled down on the couch, alternating between staring at the gentle flames flickering in the fireplace and gazing out the window at the raindrops gently sliding down the window.

He let his mind wander, something he hadn't done in... damn, he couldn't remember the last time he had time to think. His zoned out his surroundings as his brain jumped from one train of thought to another, and another, and another, always coming back to one question.

'What now?'

He hadn't thought about what he would do after saving the world. Every time he'd had time to relax, something new was thrown at him. He leaned his head back, closing his eyes. What he really wanted to do was sleep. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option for him. Not now, at least.

He hadn't felt this stuck since... since... His eyes flew open and he sat up abruptly. Five was in the apocalypse again. His heart began to race.

'No. No no no! I can't go back! I can't be alone again!' Everything was burning and there wasn't a single living person in sight. He stumbled through the rubble, screaming his sibling's names despite knowing they wouldn't call back. It was deafeningly quiet and suffocatingly hot and everyone was dead and he felt like he was dying and everything was crashing down and he couldn't breathe and-

"Five?" Five snapped back into reality. He inhaled sharply, realizing what had happened. He felt alone again because the house was quiet. He heard the burning because of the fireplace. He was blistering hot because he'd dropped his coffee. He'd felt explosions because the cup had shattered against the floor. And he was back in reality because of his sister.

Vanya was standing near the door, looking at her brother with eyes of concern. She walked forward cautiously.

"Are you okay?" Five stared back at her for a moment before realizing she was talking to him. He glanced down at the broken coffee cup on the floor before sighing and looking back at her.

"Yeah. I'm fine." He stood to clean up the mess he'd made but Vanya beat him to it.

"Sit, Five. I'll take care of it." Five pursed his lips and sat back down reluctantly. Vanya picked up the shattered pieces from the floor. She retreated from the room, reappearing a few minutes later with a couple of towels. She handed one to Five, who mumbled a thanks, then wiped up the spilled drink. When everything was cleaned up, she settled down onto the couch next to Five, who had more or less managed to clean himself up.

"Do... you want to talk about it?" she asked him gently. Five sighed. He realized how lucky he was, having a sister like Vanya.

"I've spent years just trying to get home, save the world. Now that we did I just..." he waved his hand in the hair, trying to find the right words. "I guess I never thought about what I'd do after. I don't know how to deal with all these sudden changes." Vanya nodded.

"I get it. If there's anything I can do... let me know, okay?" Five nodded absently. He stood, straightening his jacket.

"I'm going to go on a walk, clear my head." Vanya pursed her lips.

"It's raining outside," Five glanced out the window, frowning, and shrugged.

"I'll be fine." Vanya stood up.

"Actually, Five, I have a better idea."

~A few days later~

Allison rolled over in bed, sighing. She couldn't sleep. She'd been able to visit Claire over the weekend, but now she was back at the Academy, in her old room, already worried about her daughter again. She'd been staring at her ceiling, lost in thought, for twenty minutes now. She was considering going down to the kitchen, making herself a snack or some hot chocolate, when she noticed the noise.

It took her a moment to comprehend what she was hearing. It was music. It didn't sound like a record, and it wasn't Vanya's violin. It was a piano. Allison frowned. As far as she knew, none of her siblings knew how to play one. She rolled out of bed and made her way to the door.

As she stepped out into the hallway, she heard the sound of a violin join the piano. They were playing a slow, melancholy tune she'd never heard before. There was so much emotion in the music like someone had turned every single drop of their grief and pain into sound.

She walked quietly down the hall, following the music. She walked through the maze of halls that made up the house, a series of rooms that only a person who'd lived there for years could ever hope to navigate. Eventually, where the music was loudest, she ran into Klaus.

He was standing outside one of the rooms Vanya had often used to rehearse. Allison vaguely remembered there being a piano in there, but no one ever bothered to learn it, and she figured it had long since gone out of tune. But it sounded perfect.

When Klaus saw her he smiled and put a finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet. He nodded to the door, which was opened a crack. Allison stepped forward and looked past the door.

The piano had been pulled to the center of the room. Vanya was leaning against the side of the piano, her violin raised to her shoulder, the bow gliding across the strings. Sat at the piano was Five, the last person Allison expected to be playing music with Vanya. Both siblings had their eyes closed and peaceful expressions, tired smiles resting easily on their lips.

Movement down the hall caught Allison's attention. Deigo was walking in their direction, a confused frown on his face. Allison made a gesture for him to be quiet. She pointed at the door. Deigo watched the two for a minute. A hint of a smile traced his face. The group listened for a while.

Heavy footsteps down the hall signaled Luther's arrival. All three siblings turned and quickly shushed him. They all saw how relaxed Five and Vanya seemed, and were happy for them. If anyone needed a break, it was those two. Luther joined his siblings outside the door. The four of them took a seat on the floor just outside of the music room, listening intently with content expressions on their faces.

As the music tapered off, soft laughter was heard from inside the room. Five and Vanya spoke quietly to each other, their tone sounding relieved and happy. After a couple of minutes, the door swung open. Upon seeing their siblings, the two had very different reactions.

Five realized they were there first. His eyes widened and he inhaled sharply. His face paled, and he disappeared in a spiral of blue light. Vanya just sighed, shaking her head with a small laugh.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked quietly. Allison stood up, smiling.

"Why didn't Five tell us he could play the piano? That was beautiful!" Vanya laughed again and began walking back to the bedrooms.

"Well, I'll be sure to tell him that. Try not to compliment him too much, alright? I don't think he can handle positive feedback." The siblings let out soft chuckles and followed her. When they got back to their bedrooms, she turned to face them, her face suddenly serious.

"Seriously, though. As much as you guys liked this, he really needs something good for himself." The siblings agreed. They quietly told each other goodnight and disappeared into their bedrooms.

And if Five was listening from the other side of his door with a smile, well... they didn't need to know.

[zodiyack]

Siren Seduction; Alternate Story

Kind of Requested?:  captivatedbycillianmurphy said: I’m actually a professional mermaid, it would be cool if you wrote a story about Tommy finding me by accident “in tail !” LOL🤣🧜🏻‍♀️ Siren Seduction !

Pairing: Thomas Shelby x reader

Warnings: swearing, mermaids, mention of death, sexual/smutty mentions and reference(s), nudity (FOR MERMAID REASONS), slight angst, fluff

Note: The note for these two stories is on the first one, found here. Also, my apologies for the random ending, I tried to make it go with the title. Sorry if it doesn’t make sense, it’s all I could think of.

Y/f/b/g = Your Favorite Baked Good

masterlist | Peaky Blinders Masterlist

Y/n L/n was an elegant and formal lady to say the least. She married Tommy and took his son into her life like it was nothing. She treated Charlie with love and motherhood, as if he was her own. She loved Tommy with all of her heart, her marriage to him meaning the world to her. Y/n was not one to break a promise nor the vows of her wed. Tommy was the same, his vows becoming important to him when he discovered his fiancé happily playing with her soon-to-be stepson.

After the wedding, he found that his wife strayed away from contact with water, and preferred wearing a large coat if she were to be around it. Anything to prevent her from getting wet. When the rain was falling, she asked that she be the one to hold the umbrella, so that it was sure to cover any part of her body that was showing any amount of skin.

It isn’t strange to have Aquaphobia, or at least to behave in a way that makes people think you do, but it was strange to act such a way yet enjoy being at the beach or around where water made home. Y/n hated the thought of getting her skin even the least bit wet, but she loved visiting the places having to do with the liquid. Why? No one knew, but it did intrigue them.

Currently, she lied on the sofa with a blanket and book in hand. Charlie was with Tommy and they were expected to be home soon. It didn’t bother her when they left, as it gave her some time with herself. She normally took care of the young Shelby when Tommy was out, and it filled her with joy, but she did need alone time every once in awhile. She had a lot of reading that she was excited to catch up on.

John and Arthur accompanied Tommy and Charlie with their visit to a bakery. There was a promise Tommy made to Charlie every time they were in town. “Behave yourself and you can pick out something for you and mummy.” So that’s what he did. Charlie often picked y/f/b/g for Y/n and a fresh cookie for himself.

As her fingers brushed over the page, she thought of the water, the beautiful and relaxing sound it made when leaving the faucet in the kitchen, or the peaceful splashes that came from droplets of rain from the sky, the waves of the ocean too! It made a glorious sound when it hit the shore. It was Y/n’s true home, and she had been away for so long.

Unknown to the Shelby family, or really anyone that was a pure mortal, Y/n was a mermaid. She was born to the creatures, and still was one. Like the others, she had the ability to transform herself to human on land. The price of which, was that she would shift back into her true form if she were to get wet. She could switch back, but that would require her to be dry again.

It needed an awful lot of cautiousness. She couldn’t be in the kitchen, or really anywhere that would cause her exposure to liquids. Of course, Bodily fluids and Charlie’s slobber/drool was an exception. By now, Tommy and her were not new to the bedroom. When they had first done the deed, it came as a surprise to her that she didn’t shift forms during said session. She ended up making it clear to her husband that she would do anything with him as long as it didn’t involve a form of liquid that didn’t come from their bodies.

How she bathed was another question. Y/n refused to do anything with Tommy involving the bathroom or tub, her rule specifying that. Maids were turned down when they offered to help. She didn’t bathe Charlie, instead asking Ada to do it, and she never washed her hands in front of others. So how was she taking care of her hygiene? Easy; she did take baths, but they were short due to her only needing to wash her upper-body. She used the extra time to dry off, so it only seemed like she took a long relaxing bath by herself to release the stress of the day.

Now she was at home and alone. No one could ask where she had went. No one could walk in on her with a tail. But still, she wouldn’t be prepared if her husband or one of her in-laws walked in. The only place, would be to go home. To the sea. Of course there would be a few people there, it was a good day, but Y/n knew a secluded part that only the Shelby family visited.

She asked a taxi-driver to bring her to the beach as fast as she could. He knew of her Shelby name, and he knew not to upset her or her family. Of course he didn’t take into thought that her husband might dislike her leaving her home while he had people ready to kill him and his loved ones. So, as she expected, he followed her orders and sped off to the sandy terrain.

They conversed a little on the drive. Y/n didn’t pay much attention to the driver. He seemed really interested in keeping her amused, however it didn’t amuse nor have any affect on Y/n’s thinking. She was too busy focusing on getting to the beach.

“Keep going, there’s a drop off spot. Please do not follow me, and do not wait for me.” Y/n adjusted her sleeve, not phased by the fact that she sounded suspicious.

“Yes ma’am. If I am to come upon your husband, shall I tell ‘im where you are?” 

“No, that will not be necessary.” The car halted to a stop. The man was about to rush to the other side and let Y/n out, but she was already smoothing her hands down her dress and reaching to open the door. “James is it? Well thank you, I ask that you do not come back to this location unless I am in the car and asking you to take me here. Understood?”

“Yes Mrs. Shelby.” He opened his hand and accepted the change, mumbling, “And it’s Henry...” as she left his line of sight.

She walked down the path, taking off her gloves and shoes to walk among the soft and warm sand. The wind felt wonderful in her hair. She continued walking, she was on the part she had thought about. Her hands relieved her of her dress, now nude in the empty area. The tip of her big toe touched the water, and her legs started turning into scales.

She had never felt so alive. Held up on land for about 3 years, it was so refreshing to be back in her natural environment. When her legs became connected she fell into the water and swam forward. She kept swimming. It felt like hours had gone by when she finally returned to the surface.

Little did she know, Tommy, Charlie, John and Arthur thought it would be a nice day to go to the beach, suggestion of Charles Shelby. When Tommy found his wife’s clothing, he assumed only the worst and sent his brothers into rowboats to search the water as much as they could. Charlie and him were walking along the shore, Tommy reassuring Charlie so that he wouldn’t get worried or start crying for his mother.

Anger filled Tommy when his brothers quickly rowed back. He couldn’t hear them shouting with awe and disbelief. They had found Y/n because she was swimming back, the bottom of her beautiful green and sunset-like colored tail came out of the water slightly when she swam past them. She didn’t see them, but they saw her.

They beat her back to the shore and pulled their boats with them.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doin’ eh?” Tommy was still furious. His first wife had died, and now this. Now his brothers just suddenly didn’t care for him or his lover. “My wife is out there! Get off ya lazy asses, and search for her!”

“Tommy!” John was out of breath, leaning over and panting like his older brother. “We found her.”

“Actually, she found us.” Arthur finally caught his and told his brother of the strange sighting. “She had a bloody tail. Have we gone mad?”

“I think you might’ve. There’s no way my wife, who has fuckin’ legs, had a tail and just,” He made a motion with his hand, “zoomed on past ya.”

The men were still arguing. It bored Charlie. And a great amount. He started looking around, practically begging for something actually cool to happen.

“Look!”

All three brother’s attention was on Charlie now. He was pointing to the ocean, where a tail poked out.

“See, we aren’t mad, are we John?”

“No. No, I don’t think so Arthur.”

“Look Tommy, ya son found his mum.”

The tail went back underwater and was replaced with Y/n’s head, her body following. The Shelby brothers took a second, all three with slacked jaws and wide eyes. Thomas caught himself first, noticing the situation.

“Cover your damn eyes. That’s my wife, and she’s obviously missing some coverage.” Tommy handed Charlie to his uncles, scoffing at his brother’s behaviors. “Hand me her dress. And that blanket while you’re at it.”

He rushed to his wife, both cloths in hand. She made a confused face at her husband, but let him wrap the blanket around her anyways. Tommy picked her up bridal style and held her close to him. She could feel his heart beat, as well as his shaking arms.

The secret was out.

Tommy shooed his brothers out of the way and set his wife down. He took the end of the blanket and wiped down her tail, making sure to be extra careful. No words were spoken until Y/n broke the silence.

“Tommy?”

He made a humming sound, letting her know he was listening.

“Do you not love me anymore? Since you know now?”

Thomas continued drying off her body, standing in front of her and reaching in a hug-like motion to rub her back dry. He turned the blanket quickly so that he could dry off her front-side, then her arms. After a little bit, her tail turned into her human legs. It caused her other human bits to be more exposed. Luckily, Tommy was quick to pull her dress over her body and sit her upright.

She put her hand on his shoulder. His eyes glanced up to hers and he smiled softly. Tommy pressed a kiss to Y/n’s lips, passion and relief filled both of their minds.

“No my love, I could never stop loving you. May I ask why you never told me?”

“I was afraid.”

“Afraid of what?”

“That you would think a freak of me, or that you would divorce me and say you no longer loved me.”

“Ah...” He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, “I could never think that of you. And as I said, I could never stop loving you.” Sensing that she was still doubting, he spoke one of his many thoughts of the subject. “You go nude into the water, yes?” She nodded. “Well your unintentional Siren Seduction must be dealt with at home and as soon as possible.”

The nervous tension turned sexual with his suggestive comment. And they weren’t the only ones to notice that. Laughter broke out among the adults.

“Tommy! For god sakes! Can you two keep it in your pants until you’re alone? Especially with Charlie here!” Charlie was too busy giggling at the water to notice anything. The couple and brothers, however, were startled by the comment.

“Jesus Christ! Where’d you come from Pol?”

[thran-duils]

Devils Look Like Angels (Ch. 6)

Title: Devils Look Like Angels (Chapter 6) Summary:  Fem!Reader x Psychotic!Castiel. An unhinged, criminal, supernatural artifact collector extraordinaire… and the reader caught his eye. It will not take her long to realize that beneath the charm and mystique is a crazed killer who will go to great lengths to woo her. Words: 2,900 Warnings (for the fic in entirety): Stalking, angst, death/murder, violence

Author’s Note: Sorry if you guys clicked on this about 5 mins ago and it disappeared. I realized I forgot half a page I had written. lmao

Chap 5 || Chap 7 || Masterpost  || Fanfic masterpost

The rain pattered the window next to the booth, your mind following the pattern of the sound. Although the sugar had long since dissolved, you still swirled your spoon slowly, lost in your thoughts.

Sam cleared his throat next to you and you got the hint it was not the first time he had done it based off the look that him and Dean were giving you when you looked up at them.

“Sorry,” you mumbled, placing the spoon down on the napkin next to your cup assuming the sound was getting to them.

“No, are you okay?” Sam asked quietly. “You haven’t said a word.”

You shook your head, “No.”

It had been days since Castiel had murdered those restaurant workers. And had somehow found you once again. You did not feel secure anywhere. Even the bunker.

They were waiting for you to elaborate.

“I don’t know what to think. He doesn’t seem like he wants to harm me. But you never know with crazy people. I could lose my charm or whatever he says he likes. Or I could refuse him too many times and he has one of those cliché ‘it’s me or nobody’ moments. And poof, I’m lying dead in a ditch.” You sighed loudly, running your hands over your face. “Why are psychos always so polite and charming?”

Dean said, picking up his coffee, “It’s how they lead people into their little fucked up web.”

You nodded in acknowledgment. Tears pricked and you felt yourself crumbling; you had held it together and this small crack in your façade that they had gotten you to open up was opening like a chasm. “I’m so tired. I can’t sleep.”

“Me either,” Sam admitted quietly.

“Ditto,” Dean chimed in.

Sniffling, trying to pull yourself back together before you fell apart, you attempted humor, “Glad to know we are all equally miserable here.”

Your phone buzzed in your jeans and you froze, your eyes moving between the two of them. They could not hear it over the noise in the restaurant and the fact it was in your pocket. The main two people who would text you were currently with you. Which left an unfavorable option.

“What?” Dean asked in response to your startled expression. He looked around quickly, eyes searching.

Slowly, you reached into your pocket and pulled your phone out. It was a text from him that looked to contain an address from the snippet you could see on your lock screen.

Eyes fixated on your phone, you barely breathed, “He texted me.”

You did not have to specify who ‘he’ was.

“Why haven’t you just blocked his number?” Dean asked vexed.

You had opened the text and read the address that was accompanied by a date as well.

Placing your phone down on the table, you took a deep breath, closing your eyes, taking a moment. When you opened your eyes again, you told him, “Because I would miss things like this. And like I’ve said, I feel responsible for whoever he is going to kidnap. Plus, if he can find me wherever I go however he does, what good does it do to block a number? He’ll just get a new phone and text me from that. Doesn’t seem like the type to give up easily.”

Sam and Dean read the text as you spoke.

“What is it for?” Sam questioned. “It doesn’t say a game.”

You shrugged, picking the phone back up, fingers hovering over the keyboard. Your heart rate was going up, staring at his name.

What is this for? You sent back.

The three of you waited impatiently, staring down at your phone. The waiter startled you all when he suddenly appeared at the table with your order.

Castiel still had not replied; it had almost been ten minutes. He was taking his sweet ass time.

You managed to get a few bites of food in before your phone buzzed and you all but dropped your silverware completely to get to it.

Another game. I would appreciate if you would RSVP quickly. The other guests look forward to your heroics. And it goes without saying that there is no room for a plus one or two in your case.

As soon as Sam read it, he said definitively, “You’re not going.”

“Damn straight,” Dean agreed, shoving a huge bite of pancakes into his mouth.

“But what if he gets upset?” you protested.

Dean gave you an incredulous look. Mouth full, he spat, “I don’t give a shit if his feelings get hurt!”

“He’s going to kill those people if he gets upset!” you hissed, leaning in to try to not be overheard by the other patrons.

Dean said nothing, instead exchanging a trying look with Sam across the table.

Taking the reins, Sam tried, “Y/N, yeah, that could happen. But we don’t know that for sure. For all we know, you could show up, there’s no one there and it’s you that kidnapped, and we never see you again. The only thing we know for sure is you’ll be safe if you don’t go at all.”

Moving your gaze away from him, you stared at the window. You knew deep down he was right. Castiel was unpredictable in the worst way possible and that made his request for you to come alone out of the question.

It was hard to stomach the anxiety though that people could be harmed because you were worried about yourself.

“I know,” you answered miserably.

Their eyes were on you as you picked up your silverware and resumed eating reluctantly. Each bite tasted sour. The rest of the meal was quiet as you were drawn back into your thoughts.

<> <> <>

“Maybe we should take a real vacation.”

This suggestion from Sam was what prompted the trip back to the Oregon coast near Cape Lookout. Dean insisted if this was where you guys were going to go, he needed the beach as much as he needed to visit the Tillamook Creamery. When you guys had gone, you had surprisingly been amazed at the amount of cheese samples Dean had not only managed to swindle but put away without getting sick. Enough actually to prompt you to buy some cheese to offset all the free samples, much to Dean’s pleasure to have back at the hotel.

Unlike Sam, you did not enjoy taking runs on the beach but you sure enjoyed rising early to take walks with the sun rising. Luckily the hotel was cheap that you guys found – because who cares what the room looks like as long as it is clean because you barely spent time there anyway – which meant you could book the room for a week More than enough time to travel up and down the coast to see as many viewpoints as possible. The Sea Lion Caves outside of Florence had been a trek but more than worth it.

This morning was the last one before heading home and it was quiet as the sand moved beneath your feet and the waves licked at your feet as you walked. Your sandals dangled from your hand as you took in the sea air, smiling softly as the gulls called overhead. Your endpoint was a local donut shop. If you brought a bag back, Dean would be sure to polish off whatever you and Sam did not eat when he drug himself out of bed.

Looking over the ocean waves. You wished you could stay here forever. Satisfied and tranquil.

<> <> <>

Placing your bag down on the table at the bottom of the stairs, you threw Sam a look.

“Don’t you wish we had a dog to greet us when we came home?”

Sa chuckled but Dean answered, “Hell no. Because if we had a dog, it would have been on that trip with us and it would have been in the backseat of my car messing up my seats.”

Rolling your eyes, you told him, “You always gotta be negative, don’t you? When it comes to dogs?”

Dean grunted in response, moving towards the hall with his bag in hand.

Sam and you exchanged a look.

“Pizza?” you asked. He rose an eyebrow in response, and you quipped, “I’ll make sure to order you some lettuce?”

“Cute. Where are we going?”

“Actually…” you started. “I was thinking I could go alone. No offense but I have been stuck in the car with you guys for a couple days.”

You did not miss the glint of unease in his eyes and you knew what was putting it there.

“I don’t know if that is smart, Y/N.”

“He hasn’t texted in almost two weeks. Since the diner.”

“That is precisely what is concerning. We don’t know what he’s planned. And you said he said himself he’s living in or near Lawrence.”

Jingling the keys in your hand, you shrugged, trying to put a braver look on your face than you felt. You had been thinking about it for days. What you should do.

“I can’t live in constant fear, Sam.”

Sam regarded you quietly.

You added, “I don’t want to let the thought of something bad happening keep me from living my life. Hell, if I did that, I couldn’t do what we do to begin with.”

This at least made him smile a little.

“Yeah,” Sam agreed softly. He fixed you with a hard stare though. “Please be careful.”

“I will,” you promised.

And you were. Looking both ways at four-way intersections, keeping track of who was in your rearview mirror, head on a swivel when you got out of the car to go into the pizza parlor downtown. You were on edge, imagining eyes following you. And more than once you caught yourself looking over your shoulder, afraid you would find Castiel there.

But he was not.

Every time.

You were not sure if that should calm you or make you even more nervous.

<> <> <>

Just when you started getting comfortable a week later, it all came crashing down.

Hand clutching your iced coffee and your other holding your bag containing a couple new books, you thanked the barista and turned away from them to go towards the exit.

Your eyes fell on him at a table next to the closest exit and you froze. He was staring directly at you and you knew he had been watching you for some time. Perhaps the whole time you had wandered around the store, picking up book after book, reading the back covers and placing back ones that had not caught your interest. And he had to have been to get himself situated the way he was and judging by the fact he had men around the two exits out of the café to the bookstore indicated this was calculated.

He motioned for you and pointed at the seat across from him, his mouth set in a thin line.

There were to many patrons for him to harm – you hoped – anyone. That hope is what forced you to move forward, cursing yourself for not having any weapons with you and letting your guard down.

Sinking into the chair, you refrained from placing your things down just yet. His stare was burning, and you wanted to recoil from the fierceness of it. His displeasure was evident.

“It has been awhile,” Castiel finally said, breaking the tension. “I needed… time to collect my thoughts. It disappointed me greatly when you did not show. In fact, it was downright insulting.”

You licked your bottom lip, contemplating how you were going to answer.

“The intention wasn’t to insult you,” you said slowly. “I have to admit I was – and am still, quite frankly – shaken by the… scene at the restaurant. You didn’t give me much to go on with that last text and I wasn’t sure what I was going to be walking into – especially alone. I considered it but decided to wait for word from you after the time had passed.”

Castiel was quiet again and you mirrored him. Although your heart was threatening to beat out of your chest.

He cleared his throat. “Hmm. It seems I still have not convinced you of your safety which is disappointing. But… I can admit I could have divulged more details regarding the parameters of the dinner.” He paused seeing the confused look on your face and he narrowed his in return. “What?”

“Dinner?”

“Yes,” he told you in a wry tone. “I was not going to invite you to something in the evening and not feed you. I am not a heathen. I actually care about your wellbeing.” He adjusted in his chair, tapping his fingers on the table eyeing you inquisitively. “You had considered coming, though?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I am upset it did not come to fruition. Especially since the duck was so delectable.”

“What about the others? The other guests? Did they show…?”

Shrugging, Castiel said, “They really had no choice in the matter. I feel that is one thing I have always been adamantly candid about in my texts. Their fate if you did not show to solve the game.”

Your stomach twisted in knots. This is what you had dreaded, what you had tried to reason with when discussing it with Sam and Dean. More people had died because of your inaction. Castiel had ultimately pulled the trigger but he had placed the gun at your feet first and you had neglected to act.

Apparently, it was clear as day on your face that you were in disbelief because Castiel pointed out, “I did tell you that you could trust me, did I not? That is one thing you can always be sure of. That I will never lie to you.”

He looked so sincere, like that fact should dispel any worry or negativity you were feeling. You were at a loss of what to do except to appease him until you could figure out a better plan.

Again, as if he could read your mind, he said, “If you were so inclined… you could make it up to me? Not a game this time; we will switch it up.”

Avoiding him was no longer an option. Placating him until you truly figured out what to do seemed viable right then and there.

“How?” you asked, your throat dry.

Castiel’s lips turned up, pleased. “The museum.”

Fuck.

You let out a small nervous chuckle and avoided eye contact.

“What?” he asked.

Shit shit shit.

Exhaling sharply, you met his eyes again and told him truthfully, “I don’t have the ticket.”

“What do you mean?”

“I… I left it in the restaurant. On accident. I was a little flustered by the… scene in the kitchen. I didn’t remember. I wasn’t thinking completely straight as I hope you can understand.” His mouth was parted in surprise, staring. You added quickly, “I am sorry if you spent a lot of money on it. I can pay you back. I swear.”

He leaned towards you and you started to lean back in response, but his hand fell on yours holding your coffee, stopping your movement.

“Oh, Y/N. I did not mean to shake you up so badly. I do wish you had not gone into the kitchen but since you did… please know I only did that because of the way they were going to serve you. Improperly. And I could not abide that.” His fingers caressed yours and you were fighting every instinct to yank your hand away from him. “You do not have to pay me back but thank you for the offer. It is extremely sweet and thoughtful of you, kitten.”

He finally leaned back, his hand leaving yours.

“There is an event coming up instead that I can acquire tickets to. And I will hold onto them this time for safe keeping.” A small joke at your expense and you forced a small smirk in response. “I would like you to join me. I can send a text when and where.”

You were almost too afraid to ask. “What kind of event?”

“Musical.”

“Alright.”

His smile was wide. “Perfect. I look forward to it.”

“Me too,” you got out with as much false sincerity as you could muster.

The biggest problem was going to be getting out for an extended period of time without worrying Sam and Dean.

“I hope this outing of ours will bring us closer, kitten,” Castiel told you, standing up. He held out his hand towards you, peering down his nose. Clutching your bag, you stood, accepting his assistance. He took your drink and bag from you, “Let me walk you to your car.”

He was close, his cologne circling around you. After you unlocked the car, he placed your bag in the backseat before holding your door open politely.

Before he closed the door, he handed you your drink. “You look lovely by the way in that color. It flatters you so.”

“Thank you,” you told him, holding your drink close.

“Goodbye for now, Y/N.”

You nodded and he closed the door, taking a step back to allow you room to back out of the parking space.

Your hands were trembling on the steering well as you left. He watched you until you drove off and he disappeared from the rearview when you turned the corner.

~~~

CASTIEL FOREVER TAGS: @willowing-love @perseusandmedusa @greenappleeyes @afanofmanystuffs @earthtokace @shikaros-blog @marisayouass

[anellope]

Reddie "in the rain" because of "love" pls 👀

@thundercatseddie also requested this.

“I dare you… to kiss Richie!” Bill said with a broad smile, making the whole group jump in surprise. Eddie watched him shocked, holding his breath and not daring to turn to face the friend on his left.

He frowned at the look of defiance that Bill gave him, though, quickly losing his temper.

“No.”

The smile on Bill’s face disappeared, the others still hadn’t said a word.

“It’s a dare, Eddie, you can’t refuse-”

“And yet I’m doing it, dares are not intangible, like, if you ask me to throw myself under a car I would, of course, refuse to do it, even if it’s a dare!” The boy continued, deliberately continuing to look at each person in the circle other than the friend involved.

Your only chance Eddie. You’re wasting it. Big idiot.

“It’s just a kiss, Eddie… we are friends, why are you-?” Beverly tried to ask, not interested in having a fight in the group for a stupid truth or dare game, but she was interrupted before finishing.

“No! Fuck you Bev, and fuck you, Bill. I’m not going to kiss Richie, okay?!” he snapped then, surprising all the present. He distinctly felt Richie moves slightly, but he didn’t dare look at him now, didn’t want to know the face he had assumed.

Coward.

“Eddie!” Bev was bleached, unable to understand what had happened “What the fuck?”

“I’m going to the bathroom.” he said with a growl, standing up and turning away without another word. He didn’t even close the door, a moment later Bill was behind him. He shut it up.

“….What the a-actual fuck, Eddie?” He snapped, crossing his arms, the bearing of a dad in front of his bratty son. The thought made the flame of anger re-ignite in Eddie like a big fire.

He threw himself on him, pushing him hard enough to make him collide with his back against the door -hard enough to take off his expression of disappointed mother. Bill let a little moan escape from his lips that made the other proud for a very second.

“Eddie, what are you doing!?”

“I told you not to interfere, Bill! I told you I just needed to tell someone and you, instead of letting me go to my fucking speed, decided to ruin everything!” Eddie burst out, clenching his fists at his sides and almost trembling with anger and despair.

Bill seemed almost offended at his words, as if Eddie hadn’t expressly asked him not to do what he had just done: expose him in front of everyone, in front of Richie.

“I was he-he-helping you out!” Bill said, his ears slowly turning to the same color as his hair.

“I didn’t ask you to!”

“Eddie are you ss-ssuh-serious?” Bill exploded, denying his head in disbelief. “I offered you an o-o-op-opportunity to kiss the guy you l-l-like and you do the fini- fin-, fuck, the little bitch and then attack me in the bathroom?”

“But I don’t want it to be like that!” Eddie snapped, stopping then, as he felt a sob forming in his throat; he lowered his head. Bill didn’t add anything, waiting.

“You made me feel like I needed to take advantage of this opportunity, like it’s unmissable, my… only chance to kiss him… but I don’t want our first kiss to be like this…it can’t be…”

It was embarrassing, so, so embarrassing, Eddie wanted to bury himself, to disappear from the face of the Earth, or at least from that bathroom, with Bill at his side and his friends - among with the person he was madly in love with- in the next room, where everyone surely thought he had become crazy.

“It wasn’t what… E-E-Eddie, that’s not what…” Bill murmured, taking a few steps to get close to his friend and put his hands on his shoulders to made him look at him. Eddie’s shoulders shook.

“I’m so-ss-sorry, it wasn’t the way I wuh-ww-wanted to make you feel, I just wanted to be a good…g-good friend, and help you.” Bill continued, biting his lip to stop himself from saying he wanted to be a good older brother… at least for someone. This would not have made Eddie happy either, he would have felt used.

“I really fucked up, didn’t I?” Eddie said murmured with a distressed smile, resting his head against his friend’s chest, apologetically. “I treated you badly… now all of them will hate me.”

Bill stroked his hair with a small smile “I’m ss-suh-re they’ll understand. …Richie tough…”

“What Richie?” Eddie asked worriedly, raising his face to his friend with a worried frown.

Bill looked at him in surprise “Didn’t you see the face he had? You must apologize to him, Eddie, I think you really did hurt him.”

Eddie’s eyes widened in horror “Fuck!”

When he came back into the living room, Bill behind him, four pairs of eyes looked at him as if he could burst from a moment to the other and blow them all up. The lack of the member of the group was obvious and pretty fucking heavy.

“Where’s Ruh-Richie?”

Bev answered, frowning, visibly ready to fight with Eddie seeing the furious glares she was throwing at him. “He got out to smoke, he didn’t want to be accompanied.”

“By no one.” Stan specified, watching the couple still standing with confusion mixed with bewilderment, as if trying to see what they had been talking about in the bathroom just from their faces.

Eddie headed for the door, making himself deaf to Bev yelling at him not to follow him and make it worse. He then took a deep breath.

Outside it was raining, not hard, more than anything it was drizzling. Eddie saw Richie’s car parked nearby, the owner sitting behind the wheel, window down, protected from the water by the roof. He was smoking his cigarette, just as he had said.

Eddie went to him, circling the car and trying to open the passenger door, but nothing, Richie had blocked it.

“Let me in, Rich, we need to talk…” he only said, but received no answer, the door remained locked.

“I’m getting wet from the rain, Trashmouth, you should get me in the car, I could get sick.” He tried again, but yet no answer, he sighed and retraced his steps. He lowered himself to Richie’s window, looking at his face.

“Hi…” He muttered, Richie was wet too, his hair still dripped water, the radio was on, but it was kept low, like when Richie needed company in addition to his thoughts. And at that moment they certainly weren’t the best for company.

“It’s cold out here, I don’t know how you’re doing it, I’m freezing my ass off.” He tried again, Richie at least turned to look at him, but still showed no sign of being willing to unlock that stupid door.

“Go back inside then.” he only said.

He had a hoarse voice, Eddie wondered if he had been crying, his voice made it sound like it could be, but from his face it was never clear: Richie had always been good at hiding tears.

But, like, a person doesn’t cry if your bro doesn’t want to kiss you, even if he says it rudely, like he did.

“I didn’t want to pull you in the middle, I was angry with Bill.” He decided then to explain himself, pretending not to feel the frozen drops making their way down his back. Internally he wondered if this would have caused him a fever the next day, and he felt sorry for himself. Not for a moment, though, he thought it wasn’t totally worth it.

“I told him a secret and when he asked me to kiss you, I-”

“Didn’t want me to get in the way?” Richie tried, sighing and turning off the cigarette knowing that his friend wouldn’t leave very quickly: Eddie didn’t like the smell of nicotine.

“I didn’t want him to get in the way.” Eddie corrected him with the surprise of both, he didn’t really know where he got so much courage.

Richie looked at him lost, not understanding if he was joking or not, if he had understood correctly. “What?”

And for the second time, Eddie, probably driven by the iron tremors that had made him braver, asked for something right.

“You wouldn’t have reacted this way if you were just a friend, right? If… if Bev had refused to kiss you… you wouldn’t have holed up in the car, would you? ”

Click.

The door was unlocked, after a moment of fear, Eddie went around the car again, sitting in the passenger seat. Richie pulled up the windows, raising the heater.

“With Bev you would have joked about it, wouldn’t you?” He asked again, after about a minute of silence, a minute that Eddie had allowed himself to let his numb muscles warm up.

“Please, answer me, I’m literally panicking here.” he added, with a slight smile of tension.

Richie didn’t look at his face, he just nodded with his head, as if expecting to be punished.

In reality he waited with pain that Eddie realized what this meant and left, probably forever. What else should you do when a friend is going after you like a maniac for the past 4 years?

“Last week I told Bill I’m in love with you.” Eddie said then.

They were both looking at each other now, at the distance the two seats allowed them. Eddie stood motionless, trying to keep a neutral face, when inside it was about to explode with anxiety.

Richie’s eyes were wide, he looked at his face as if he had just said the biggest bullshit in the universe.

“But… when he told you to kiss me, you…” he murmured in confusion, not allowing himself to believe what his ears had 300% heard.

“I didn’t want to, I mean…” Eddie tried to explain, turning his face red and glancing down. The wave of courage eroded.

“… Our first kiss to be in front of everyone, and for a stupid middle school game…”

Eddie didn’t have the heart to look in front of him until he heard Richie move by his side. He found it a few inches from his face, red on the cheeks too.

He was no longer looking him in the eyes.

He was looking lower.

Suddenly Eddie felt Richie’s cold hands cupping his face.

“So…” Richie said in a faint voice, licking his lips in tension and letting out new bursts of chills along the back of the other. “So now would be a nice time, right?”

Eddie had no way to answer. But he genuinely couldn’t care less, as he masterfully managed to forget that Richie still smelled of cigarettes, that he was cold because of the rain and that they were both still wet.

Richie had finally placed his lips against his’ and it was perfect.

He finally let himself go, stepping over the golfer between the seats that was preventing him from touching him for real and almost falling over him, being gladly welcomed by the other, who momentarily abandoned his lips to leave a few quick kisses on the temple, on the neck and then underneath an ear, a place that made Eddie grumble involuntarily, surprising both of them. Eddie felt the other’s grip tighten on his hips and almost let another one of those sound slip away, so he decided to silence himself long enough not to look embarrassing by taking back Richie’s lips, pushing his way and deepening the kiss. He settled himself better on the other’s knees, trying to be comfortable without hurting Richie, who in the meantime had raised his arms to the middle of his back, wrapping it and bringing their chests to touch.

Eddie finally took courage and slipped a hand under the other’s sweatshirt, feeling his warm belly contract slightly against the touch: probably his hands were cold too.

And yet there was something strange, beautiful, about passing his hand on Richie’s back and on his side, to feel him move away and immediately return back so as not to lose that skin-to-skin contact. Especially when in the meantime they were also busy making out. All that was…it was…

Suddenly Richie moaned, for real, not the small, awkward squeaks that Eddie had done before, something that weighed heavily on his stomach and that sounded fucking pretty.

And although neither of them was visibly willing to stop, Richie moved away slightly to talk, leaving a series of short and sweet kisses on the lips of the other boy.

“Eds, as much as I would give anything to stay here and kiss you forever, we have to stop right away if you don’t want our first time to happen in a car not far from the rest of the Losers.”

He was red in the face, but he had a broad smile that was impossible for Eddie not to emulate. “I think it’s a good idea…” he said, he felt out of breath.

He laid his head in the hollow of Richie’s neck with a long sigh, sniffing slowly the scent that, although almost completely gone, was still perceptible.

“What are you, a dog?” The other chuckled, wrapping his arms on his waist, gently stroking his hips. Touching them for the sake of it, without ulterior motives.

“I’m just happy.” Eddie grinned sweetly, moving away from his neck and smiling at his face. Richie couldn’t believe his eyes to see how beautiful he looked at that moment.

“I think I never felt so happy in my life, actually.” he continued, chaining his eyes with Richie’s, receiving an even bigger smile in return.

“You certainly know how to silence the Trashmouth, Eds, it has always been one thing of yours.” He murmured, before leaving another kiss on his smiling lips, Eddie brought his hands to stroke his hair and the base of his neck.

“Maybe it’s also part of the reason I’m in love with you.”

Eddie still cheered with joy, lingering on the other’s lips before starting a new kissing session himself, slower, quietly, sweetly. Just because they can now.

At one point, though, Richie burst out laughing out of nowhere, almost frightening the other, who looked at him in confusion.

“I just realized that now I can sing you Eddie my love without pretending I’m not serious!”

Eddie wrinkled his nose and denied rigorously. “Not that song again, you always pinch my cheeks when you start singing it. ”

“You adore it.” Richie rested his forehead against his, Eddie lowered his look, hiding his red cheeks “No, that’s not true.”

“It is.'' he murmured again, moving away slightly before taking a hand from Eddie and pretending to be dancing a kind of waltz.

“Eddie, my love, I love you so!” He intoned, Eddie had to restrain himself from giggling. “Richie please don’t do this to me.”

“How I wanted for you, you’ll never know!” “Can we start kissing again, please!”

Richie giggled, bringing Eddie’s hand to his lips and lightly kissing his knuckles. “I will make you regret having said these words, Eds, they will follow you to the grave!”

“Shut up and fucking kiss me, turd! And don’t call me that!”

“Please, Eddie, don’t make me wait too looong!”

Permataglist: @tinyarmedtrex @madi-personal @kitty-cat791 @that-weird-girls-blog (ask if you want to be added!)

[peterdpettigrew]

Leave a “Tell Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about my character confessing something to yours [be it a love confession, a secret, feel free to specify.] @starbrightblack

Peter had backed himself into a corner. There was nothing left, now. Nothing left to save him, nothing left for him to lose. It had already all been lost at this point, even if the others didn’t know it yet. They’d leave him. They’d want nothing to do with him. If they ever even had to begin with. He’d been keeping the cards so close to his chest, trying to play the game as best he could, desperate to stay alive. And in the end? He’d lost.

He’d come to Sirius’ place, already knowing what the outcome of the visit would be. Voldemort was close to being defeated. The Order had somehow pulled it off, without his help or hindrance. And there was no way forward for Peter. The Dark Lord couldn’t keep him safe, and he knew the second he confessed to being a Death Eater, to being the Spy that had caused so much grief for everyone, to being a rat, well... his time was up.

His hand was shaking as he reached up to knock at the door, and for a brief moment, Peter was hoping that Sirius wasn’t home, that he was out with Remus or Lily, somewhere that Peter wouldn’t have to do this, that he wouldn’t have to tell him. It wasn’t courage, after all, that was the reason he was there. It was because he literally had no other place to go, and soon enough his secret would be out anyway. All he could do was hope he could be the first to tell Sirius and the others. He knocked.

“Wormtail! What are you doing here?”

Sirius’ voice was happy to see him, and it made the weight on Peter’s shoulders feel heavier, the ache in his heart worse. He tried to smile as Sirius pulled him into a hug and ushered him into the room, but couldn’t find it in himself to do so. Not when he knew that that was the last time he’d ever hear that sort of tone from his friend. Not when he knew it was the last time that he’d ever be able to feel like maybe he could call Sirius a friend, if he’d ever been able to before.

“Have something to tell you,” He managed out then, taking a shaky breath and looking at the floor, unable to find in in himself to look up at Sirius. Not when it was this awful thing he had to tell him. Not when he knew what was coming.

“What is it? Peter, what’s wrong?”

Peter felt Sirius’ hands on his shoulders, and he knew the other man was trying to get him to look at him, could tell that he was starting to shake under his touch. He shook his head, and moved to sink and sit into one of the chairs, watching as Sirius looked confused and moved to sit on the couch, watching him so closely, as if he could read Peter like a book and figure out what he was talking about. It had been a long, long time since Sirius had been able to do that, and the thought made Peter’s heart hurt even worse.

“I... I need to say this, and I need... I need you to let me say all of it, without interrupting me, okay? I... I know that’s hard and I don’t want to be mean, but I need to get this all out and I need to tell you everything before you make any rash calls or judgement, okay? Please, Sirius. If I’ve ever asked anything of you that you’ve listened to, let it be this one thing, okay? Let me tell you everything before you say or do anything. Please...” His voice sounded so tiny and broken, and Peter hated it. Hated himself.

“... Okay, Pete. I can do that.”

Peter could tell that Sirius was on edge now, worried about what Peter might say, about what he could possibly say, mind racing with possibilities. And Peter knew that he had to blurt this all out, fast as he could, because he couldn’t be sure that with all that he was going to say, Sirius wouldn’t have a bad reaction to it and just act before Peter was finished speaking. So he had to be fast.

“When we were in school, I obviously wasn’t the most well liked. Or the bravest. Or, brave at all, really,” Peter spoke rapidly, remembering how he had always thought he didn’t belong, even though he was grateful to be where his friends were, “I was bullied, made fun of, even when you and James and Remus stopped it. But, I knew how to get through it too. It wasn’t like I wasn’t used to it.”

He took a deep breath, “I’ve always been focused on staying alive. Making it from one day to the next. That’s how I lived before Hogwarts. How I’ve always lived. And.. A few guys approached me, and told me that they knew of a way I could stay alive, and stay safe. I weighed my options, and thought it was the best way that I could ensure my survival. That was all I wanted, was to survive. I followed after you guys into the Order, but...”

“I also joined the Death Eaters. As a spy for them,” His voice was more rapid now, desperate to get all of the words out while Sirius was sitting there, staring at him with a stunned expression on his face, “I weighed my options. I only traded information that was useful enough to keep me alive, but not take the entire Order down. I would pass things on that I thought the Dark Lord would like enough to keep me on, but never anything huge enough to cause problems.”

His voice shook as he continued, “I didn’t tell them about the party. Nor about the dance.” James. Amelia. Alice. Fabian. How many had died because of things the Death Eaters had known? How many had died before the Order had finally gotten the upper-hand? How many had he, despite feeling like it wasn’t his fault, actually been the cause of?

He didn’t get a chance to even think about that, or anything else, because suddenly Sirius had launched up from the couch and was across the few feet that separated them, fists flying. The first one landed squarely on Peter’s nose, the second his right eye, both so rapid that he didn’t even have time to react let alone realize they were happening. He’d fallen back into the couch, stunned and yelping in pain as the blows continued to be rained down on him, trying to put his arms up as if to defend himself.

“HOW DARE YOU?!” Sirius was yelling, face red, looking completely furious, “HOW DARE YOU EVEN SAY THAT?!”

Peter then felt a hand around his throat, choking him and cutting off all oxygen. He struggled and tried to gasp for air, hands moving to grab at Sirius’ arm that was holding onto him as if he could try and stop him. He knew he couldn’t. He knew this would be the outcome. All those years of pretending to be his friend, he knew that the second he’d say this, all that would be thrown out the window. Not like it wasn’t his own fault, of course. Not like it had ever been real to begin with, he thought.

He was squirming, struggling under Sirius’ hold, wide eyes looking up at the other man, desperate, begging. If Sirius was going to kill him, then he wanted him to just do it. To get it over with. He knew he didn’t deserve that. That was a mercy that wasn’t meant for him. Even if he hadn’t meant to, even if he’d tried his best for things not to happen the way they did, they still had. People were still dead or missing. And there was nothing Peter could do about it, because it had been his words that had caused things to be set in motion. He wasn’t innocent.

But he’d thought that they’d been friends, once. He’d thought that at one point in time, Sirius had cared for him the way James had. But maybe James hadn’t. Maybe Remus hadn’t. Maybe everyone who’d been around them had been right. Maybe that’s why this had happened; because Peter always had been nothing but the stupid little tag-a-long that followed after the other Marauders, hoping to be let in to a family that had never wanted him. Because no one had ever wanted him.

Sirius still had one hand around his throat, choking him, but the other was reaching into his pocket, pulling his wand out. There was a look on his face that Peter couldn’t quite describe. Rage. Fury. Vengeance. Pain. Emotion. What was it? Peter’s vision was going blurry, but he saw the wand being pointed at his face. He could see the way Sirius’ grip on the wand was determined.

And then, there was a flash of green light, and Peter Pettigrew was no more.

[forkanna]

Back To The Future and related concepts © Robert Zemeckis/Bob Gale/Universal. Frozen and related concepts © Diznee. This story, plot, and prose © Jessica X and Fruipit. Artwork ©Captnducky. All rights reserved.

WARNING: This story will contain coarse language, incestuous romance between a mother and daughter, and some smut. Also contains Punzanna (Rapunzel/Anna) content. If you have a problem with any of those things, DO NOT READ.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is where the plot begins to diverge a lot more from that of the films. Part I followed the movie very closely, but the many little differences made it impossible to stick that close to the Part II script – or close to it at all. So we went where the writing took us. Sorry for it taking so long for us to get it out there to you, but we hope you are still along for the ride!

[AO3 LINK] [EF LINK]

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

The sky flashed. The lightning struck.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment. All ten fingers clamped down around the steering wheel as Anna accelerated toward the thick cable strung between the lampposts, sparks erupting all around the DeLorean. The flux capacitor was ready and only needed the nuclear reaction to power the time-jump. And it was getting it; no sooner had Doc connected two wires at the last possible moment was he blown back from the force of the electricity racing through the connection into a shrub.

Anna McFly squeezed her eyes shut, praying she made it home.

…And then suddenly she was coming to a stop, skidding sideways into a bus stop bench. It made an awful screeching din as it was uprooted from the ground and sent flying back into the nearest building, cracking a single brick with its corner before clattering to the ground.

That could be worried about later. For now… she had to look around and hold her breath.

Cafe 80s. GameStop. Verizon.

She was in 2015. It worked. Despite all the odds, she and Doc had got the stupid time machine working and sent her back to the future.

"FUCK YEAH!" she screamed, slamming the heel of her hand into the steering wheel. "I didn't die!"

Opening the door to the car, she was seconds from jumping out and doing a happy little dance when a familiar van came tearing down the street. Oh no. She didn't die, but someone else would, and soon, if she didn't get a wriggle on.

But it was okay. She could do this. They were from out of town. There were multiple shortcuts she could use to get there before they did. She could do this. Twisting the key in the ignition, the engine roared to life. Briefly.

"No, no, no!" Anna screamed, whacking the steering wheel with her hand. She tried again; once more, the engine sputtered, and died. Why? Of all the times for an engine failure…

She didn't have a car. She didn't even have a skateboard. As she took off running down the street, she had only one thing: desperation.

Never before in her life had Anna run that fast. She lost sight of the van, of course, but she knew Dell Valley like the back of her hand. She was heading straight for Twin Pines Mall.

But one lone teenage girl couldn't outmatch angry armed nationalists in a van, and as she rounded the hill that led to the mall, she knew she was too late. No time to call out, no time to warn Doc the way she had hoped. Only enough time to see bullets raining down onto his chest, blowing him backwards and onto the pavement from the far side of the parking lot.

Before she could even cry out, she heard her other self scream. That was eerie; even worse was watching a radiation suit-clad Anna come around the corner of the truck, shaking with anger and grief. The newly-arrived Anna shared the rage, and could only look on helplessly as she peeled out in the DeLorean. She wanted to do something else, but what could she do? If she interrupted, it would be one of those paradox things. No… all she could do was wait until the flashes of light and fire-trails gave proof of her disappearance.

Then she saw the nationalists firing off the rocket from their launcher, which streaked for the car… and instead blew a huge crater in the ground in front of them. Unable to swerve in time, they drove straight into the crater, totalling the van and probably knocking everyone inside unconscious.

"Good," she managed to mumble through her veil of tears. Hastily, she started running down the grassy hill, tripped, and rolled the rest of the way down. Then she hopped up to sprint for Doc's side.

It only took a few seconds for her to reach him. Collapsing on the pavement next to him, she brought a hand up to press at his face. "Doc…" she whispered. But no answer came.

Goddammit. Barking out a rough sob, she removed her hand. It had other things to do, like wipe at her tear-streaked face. God life wasn't fair. There was a cough – and it must have been her. After all, she was completely alone now…

"Anna…?"

Fuck, she could even hear his voice…

"Anna!"

Her hands were pulled roughly away, and Anna found herself staring at a very surprised, very not-dead Doc Pabbie. His eyes were wide and concerned, and he looked as though he were expecting Anna to say something. But she was entirely mute. Finally letting go of her hands, he brought his own up to his chest, slowly peeling away the lapels of the hazard suit. There was something underneath, and when Anna realised what it was, she felt she could have sobbed again.

"A bullet-proof vest," she croaked. "How… how did you know?"

He looked away at that question, lined features a little ashamed. "Back in '85, your video. And then your insistence to tell me something. Even if you didn't specify… it really doesn't take a genius to figure out something truly heinous would befall me." She looked at him, and he smiled. "Also… an elf left me this."

And from his pocket he pulled out a letter, weathered and yellow. Anna recognised it immediately. She had left her plan B, which had felt as pathetic a backup as a Plan Z when she left it; had he truly found it? She was a little surprised he hadn't just thrown it out.

"The letter," she breathed, eyes streaming so much that she could barely see it. "Oh… it's ripped down the middle…"

"I did start to tear it up when I first found it," he sighed. "No man should know too much about his own destiny. But then I figured…" A little shrug. "What the hell?"

Laughing, she threw herself into a hug, gripping him tightly – full of so much more happiness than the last time she had. The man hugged her back, even though his laughter was punctuated by a groan of pain. After a minute, she pulled back to ask if he was alright.

"Just fine," he grunted, pushing upward and onto his feet as they gathered up their things and prepped the truck to drive away. Olaf had to be coaxed out from underneath, but eventually he responded to his master. "Though I'm sure I'll have some beautiful bruises from the impact of the bullets, at least they didn't puncture."

"Right; guess that would still hurt, even with the vest. But… I'm so gla-"

"Please, Anna," he chuckled softly, though his eyes were full of an almost grandfatherly affection as he opened the door for her to hop into the passenger's seat. "I'm fine. But I do believe we have some debriefing to do."

"Right… guess that's true." Taking out her phone to call the police about the terrorists, she hesitantly muttered, "But I'm just so damn glad to be home."

CHAPTER 1

By the time they got back to Lyon Estates, the non-functional DeLorean stowed safely back in the confines of the truck, Doc looked quite a bit more sober than he had after cheating death. She had debriefed him about her adventure into the past, understanding that the details were much fresher to her than to him, leaving out some of the more risqué parts that he certainly wouldn't have approved of – but still filling in more details now that they could freely discuss them instead of worrying about past-Doc knowing too much. She felt a blush rising to her face as she recounted what had happened at the dance, leaving out the grisly details from their romp in Elsa's car. Of course, he was there, and knew about the attraction from Elsa's perspective. He did a very good job of not blaming Anna for everything that had happened in 1985, but he certainly didn't look pleased about the turn of events.

"I suppose I should have warned you about the Butterfly Effect when I was doing my demonstration in present day," he sighed. "Well, you're here now, so at least our attempts to correct the issue went off without a hitch…"

"Yeah… at least there's that."

Silence fell thick, and quite uncomfortable. She was sure he could – and probably already had – filled in the gaps that she'd left out. Bone-weary exhaustion was setting in, along with some sadness. The near-miss of the universe ending was now minuscule when compared with the reality of losing her Elsa. The one she'd actually come to know. It would be hard, she thought, adjusting to her new-old life here… but she didn't have any choice. Might as well start getting used to it.

With nothing else worth sharing – at least, not that night – Anna bid Doc farewell as he pulled alongside the kerb in front of her house. Creeping inside, she half-expected to see her mother still waiting up for her, but there was no one. When Anna finally got to her bedroom, she collapsed on the covers, still fully dressed. It only felt like it was about 10:30 – which it was, according to her body.

It still didn't take very long to drift off, despite apprehension for the coming day filling her dreams. But she needed sleep or dealing with reality would be impossible.

                                                       ~ o ~

When she awoke the next morning, Anna's bones ached from the awkward position in which she slept. At some point, her shoes had fallen off so at least she didn't dirty up her sheets, and she had thrown off her vest before crashing. Could have been worse. Her clock radio had probably been blaring out an old Huey Lewis song for almost a full two minutes before she sat up.

Was it a nightmare? She had to at least address that possibility as she rubbed at her face, stood up shakily. She was definitely starving; she hadn't eaten much last night… whether or not last night was the same night Adult Hans wrecked her dad's car, or the Enchantment Under The Sea dance. So she decided to turn off her brain and go get something to eat.

She only got as far as the living room.

It took a few moments to figure out why she felt an impending sense of disorientation, and when she did, it hit her like a freight train. Everything was different. The bare layout of the house was the same, including the furniture placement and one or two of the art pieces, but the furniture itself was completely different; much more high-end than anything her family ever owned. Some of the uglier paintings were gone, replaced with more tasteful, simple ones, or family photos that looked much less depressing than the ones Anna remembered. The wallpaper was gone, replaced with an elegant coat of paint that couldn't be more than a few years old. And sitting at the breakfast table were John and Wendy…

Except… since when did John wear a suit this early in the morning? Or at all?! And since when did they have grapefruit and muesli on the table instead of Pop Tarts and Froot Loops? Not only that, but there was also a quiche that definitely looked freshly-made, with a few wedges already cut out.

"Uhhhh," Wendy began when she saw Anna pause, staring at her siblings. She probably looked as confused as she felt. "Are you okay, Anna?"

"What- what's all this?" she asked as she slid into a barstool, staring at them. Wendy stared back.

"Breakfast."

"In a suit?!"

At that, John gave a light chuckle. "You know I've been pulling long days at the office," he said.

"Oh, yeah. Hah. Right. The office."

Obviously this wasn't exactly the same world that she had left. Her brother was, at least mildly, successful – at any rate, he no longer seemed to work at the local Pizza Planet. When Wendy stood up from her seat, the differences with her also became obvious; Anna hadn't noticed, but her glasses actually looked… nice, expensive trendy frames. Her hair wasn't an oily, limp mess; instead, it bobbed about her chin in tight curls. Definitely with a curling iron – but they'd never been able to afford stupid luxuries like that.

Maybe she needed to call Doc and have a conversation about that Butterfly Effect thing. Because she had a feeling somewhere, something she had messed up had made a huge difference.

She was just about to ask where her parents were when she heard the front door open. Mr McFly's voice rang through the house, though it was missing some of the reediness. Elsa's voice came through with a reply, and she sounded different, too.

And then they rounded the corner and Anna fell off her seat.

Her dad was in the lead, reaching out to lay his keys on a sideboard in the hallway. He looked to be in great shape, lacking the potbelly of the father she knew, and his grey-streaked blonde hair was in a rugged "rock" style that hung just past his ears instead of slicked back with oil to get it out of the way. On top of that, the pale blue button-up was open at the collar to show off a fine gold chain over his broad, toned chest.

"I… what… you…"

"What's the matter, honey?" he chuckled at her with a slight smile, reaching down to pull her back to her feet. It was still a gentle hand, but a lot more self-assured than he had ever been with her before; the grip was firm, his biceps more than enough to haul her upward.

"What are you wearing? What is anybody wearing?!" she burst out, knowing how stupid she sounded.

"Sweetheart," her mom sighed as she rounded her husband. "Did you fall out of bed and hit your noggin' again?"

And then she saw her. Not her mother… not frumpy Mrs. McFly. This was Elsa, aged thirty more years. Blonde hair in a much more tasteful braid than the younger model, but still braided, still well-maintained and elegant. She was a little plumper, but definitely not out of shape; this Elsa had shed her pregnancy pounds in the name of keeping healthy. Once she pulled her sunglasses off, she saw that there were still slight crows feet at the corners of her eyes, but not the enormous bags that her mother had always been sporting.

This was a woman who loved life rather than suffered through it. And she was beautiful.

"Mom?" she breathed softly, completely confused.

"Ohhh, sweetie," she whispered, leaning forward to kiss her forehead. When Anna froze solid to feel the lips there, Elsa did draw back to look at her for a moment, curious. "Sweetie?"

"Wh-what?"

Then Elsa's expression changed completely – as if she were seeing her for the first time. "Oh."

However, they didn't have much time to exchange that look, or for Anna to respond. Not with the family hovering – and Anna had caught the attention of everyone in the house with her glaringly unusual behaviour.

"By the way, Anna," Wendy was saying behind her, prompting her to whirl around in a circle and look at her sister. "We're not your answering service; that Jennifer Punzel dropped by while you were still asleep and asked what happened to you last night."

"Oh, that's right," Kristoff was saying as he sat down and drew half a grapefruit toward himself. "Wasn't last night supposed to be the big trip up to the lake?"

Anna frowned at him. It was, but… "Yeah, but the car was totalled, Dad."

Immediately, everyone sprung into action. There were cries of, "what?!" and "the car!" as everyone bundled out the door. Anna was swept up with the movement, pushed along until soft hands came from behind, securing her.

"Careful," her mother murmured. Anna swallowed and nodded, trying not to pay any mind to the butterflies. This wasn't fair! She was supposed to have left this Elsa behind, back in 1985. She was supposed to get her alcoholic, depressed mother. She was supposed to help her.

Anna wasn't given time to think on that, though, because soon she was peering out the fly-screen. "Anna Victoria McFly. Don't scare us like that," Kristoff chastised – which was strange enough on its own! If she'd still been sitting, she probably would have fallen from her chair again when Kristoff leaned forward, and called out to the man kneeling in front of the bumper of a distinctly not-totalled car, one that was much nicer than she was used to seeing out front of her house. "Now, Hans, I want to see two coats of wax on that car."

What? Hans? What was that lowlife doing to their car- and Victoria? That wasn't her middle name! Everything was too weird!

Even as Anna looked out, she felt Elsa step closer behind her. "He's lucky he could even get a job after that night," she said, voice low. "A little ironic that it's with cars… since he seems to have so much trouble with them."

Kristoff gave a light chuckle, then moved away, saying something about saving the grapefruit. Elsa didn't move, which meant that Anna couldn't move. Coughing, she cleared her voice. "What night?" she asked softly. Elsa's hands tightened briefly on her arms.

"Oh, you know. You were there, right?"

A spasm of electricity shot through her stomach when she heard those words. What could her mother mean? It didn't make any sense… unless…

"I don't have time to finish it," her father's voice cut through her thoughts. "I'm going to be late for my flight. Just wrap it up."

"Okay, okay, Dad," Wendy sighed. "But I hope you're all packed and ready to go, because I'm meeting Craig for lunch and I don't want to stand him up again."

"Okay, okay, slavedriver." As he passed Anna, he did a brief double-take – seemingly when he saw her hair in its semi-ornate bun. Then he glanced over at his wife, who nodded the barest amount. "Hmm… maybe I should cancel this stop on the tour."

"Tour?" Anna rasped, clutching at the sideboard for stability. Just then, as if he had been waiting for the cue, Hans burst into the house carrying a large cardboard box.

"Guys! Mr. McFly, I think this is it! The proofs for your new one!"

"Proofs? New one?" Anna felt dizzy. Her head was spinning, hands shaking. She was powerless to stop when Elsa pushed her forward again, back towards the kitchen.

"Don't you dare cancel," Elsa said, smiling fondly at him. "You've worked too hard. Leave the… domestics… to me."

Anna had a very strong feeling that Elsa was talking about her, and the panic from mere seconds ago rose up again. There was no room – or time – to make any sort of escape. Kristoff ripped open the box, eyes lighting up as he lifted something from inside of it. And it was…

A book?

"Wow…" he said, giving a low whistle. "Damn, that illustrator is good." Passing it over, Anna's mouth went dry. Her father's name was on the cover. This was his book! So he had continued his passion, after all! This Kristoff certainly did seem happier.

That wasn't what caused the lump rising in her throat, though. Splashed across the cover was the title, jagged future-font displaying the words Blast to the Past. Below that was a girl, clambering from a very stereotypical alien aircraft.

Oh shit.

A loud beep broke the silence, and Kristoff hissed. "Sh…oot," he said, glancing at Anna. "I better get going if I don't wanna miss my flight. Hon, are you sure…?"

It was Elsa's turn to smile. She finally let go of Anna, moving over to her husband to place a peck at the corner of his mouth. "I'm sure. Go enlighten the world, or whatever."

He gave a nod and a smile, eyes flicking between Anna and her mother before he turned away. "Wendy? Are you ready to get going?"

"Psh, yeah, Dad. Just waiting on you. If you moved any slower you'd be a glacier."

So out they finally went. John went along with them, kissing the top of his mother's head in a way that made her sigh and roll her eyes; he wasn't that much taller than her. There were a few scattered goodbyes, but Anna didn't participate; she was too shell-shocked.

Then she and Elsa were alone in the house. For a few seconds, her mother remained at the open front door, watching Hans' auto detailing truck trail away and John and Wendy's cars pulling off toward bigger and better things. Then she gently pushed the door closed.

"Mom? I… are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she sighed, turning back to smile at her. Her eyes held an odd mixture of excitement, dread, and curiosity. "But… I have a feeling we have a lot to talk about… Tori."

                                       TO BE CONTINUED…