#also did he like. steal it from the museum's exhibition. like i highly doubt hes allowed to do that while not being a curator yet

[tacagen]

eobard thawne is probably extra normal about the fact both him and iris have written barry's biographies bc i know he was really normal even about iris' one since oh you know. his very first appearance as a fan.

[currentfandomkick]

Selina Steals a Bug from Batman to get her Kitten.

blame this post here for this thing's inspiration, and a friend for encouraging this.

--

             Selina paused when she saw ‘the lost Wayne’ news. She knew Bruce didn’t adopt another kid and forget to tell her—Dick kept her up-to-date on his new siblings and sent her pictures. No, her boyfriend Bruce Wayne would certainly not hide a new Wayne from her.

             He absolutely would forget to introduce her to a new family friend or potential bat. She was still upset about how long it took him to admit that little Stephanie had been working with his son for months and he hadn’t thought to invite the girl over for a meal or two when Selina was over. It wasn’t like she didn’t already know Tim was dating another vigilante… it was that one of her not-technically-my-sons was not introducing her to someone who had saved his life multiple times and who happened to be another Gotham vigilante and another addition to the batfam.

             Selina is their unofficial mother after all, she has rights. Any possible members of their little bat family, and she must assess them. at the very least, teach them more than just Bruce’s habits. The man was horrendous at showing his actual emotions, and the kids would need a counter example to that—herself obviously.

             So imagine Selina’s surprise when she decided to surprise her boyfriend and his children with a visit, only to find a young teen drinking out of Tim’s favorite mug, wearing one of Dick’s more infamous Nightwing hoodie’s, and looking at one of Damian’s katana’s carefully.

             “Who are you?” Selina had a feeling this was the latest “not a Wayne” and she would have to ensure her bats were safe from a fellow thief… again.

             The teen looked up, almost startled by her appearance and nearly dropping the katana.

             Selina raised an eyebrow.

             The teen flushed. “Marinette.”

             “And what,” Selina strolled over to the table and sat on its edge. “Exactly are you doing with all of these?”

             The girl was smart enough to look a bit embarrassed, she'd give her that much. Not without shame. Good.

             “Well, uh, kind of complicated, but, uh, the boys said that I couldn’t manage to grab their favorite things.”

             Selina looked the girl over. She was probably the new one to the group, the spotted French girl Jagged Stone mentioned in a few of his songs. She was young, and clearly good at getting what she wanted.

             “Where’s Jason’s?”

             “Uh, how did you…”

             “Answer the question.”

             “… behind the gardener’s shed. He really needs to stop leaving his keys in easy access pockets.”

             Selina nodded, looking over the girl. She was twisting a familiar looking ring… wasn’t that one of the Wayne family rings!?

             “How did you get that off Bruce?” Selina feigned nonchalance.  

             “… don’t judge me.”

             “Too late. Talk.”

             “Accidentally, I swear, just, he left the safe open and mid-terms stress and then…” the girl gestured helplessly.

             Selina could appreciate the honesty. She could also appreciate that the girl managed to get something off each boy.

             But now came the real test.

             “Kleptomaniac kind?”

             The girl flushed harder. “Yeah… I was going to return it, eventually… I think.”

             Selina looked over the girl once more, suddenly seeing an opportunity she should have taken back when she first saw Tim stalking her bats way back when. She could use her own mini.

             “How do you feel about cats?”

             Marinette shifted gears at that. “Real, memes, or Chat Noir?” Selina could feel there was a story there, one for another time. “If we’re talking real, they’re amazing, the memes are fun and Chat is…” the girl shook her head. “Complicated. And in London apparently, so he can’t judge me for my poor life choices.”

             Oh, Selina likes this one. “I’m guessing you’re Brucie’s latest pet project?”

             Marinette scrunched up her face at that. “I’m here to force a sense of fashion on this family if it kills me.”

             Selina smiled at that. “Oh, I do believe we’re going to get along wonderfully.” She extended her hand. “I go by Catwoman in the field.”

             Marinette paused for a moment before taking the extended hand with a grin of her own. “Ladybug—though we might want to go with something else for this... how do you feel about panjas bracelets?”

             Selina’s grin grew. “Oh, we’re going to get along perfectly.”

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

             In the Batcave there was a meeting being held by a distressed Nightwing, impatiently waiting for the others to finish arriving.

             “Batgirl?”

             “She’s not on tonight,” Red Robin answered, quietly sipping his espresso in one of his lesser mugs. It seems like his bean got to his favorite earlier…

             “Black Bat?” Nightwing asked Batman.

             “She’s running with the Birds of Prey tonight—Oracle’s idea.”

             Nightwing seemed to accept this. “I’ll just forward them the power point.”

             Red Robin groaned. “Another one?”

             Red Hood shook his head. “Blame B. He got it in Dickie’s head that this is how you explain things to people. Bullet points.”

             “No names in the field,” Robin snapped.

             “No names in the field,” Red Hood mocked under his breath.

             Robin glared at him for that.

             “It’s a very effective method.” Batman stated defensively.

             “Yeah, on the League,” Red Robin grumbled into his coffee. The Batfam is full of (not really) professional detectives—they are capable of understanding without the bullet points of doom. Mostly.

             “Then I’ll just get started, Agent A, Lights!”

             The batcave dimmed to show only the projection of a power point title slide ‘Marinette Cannot Meet Selina, Ever.’

             “What the hell is this?” whispered Red Hood.

             “I allowed you to delay patrol, for this?” Batman sighed.

             “Silence! Nightwing is speaking.”

             “Thank you Robin, now, Marinette is under no circumstances to meet Selina.”

             “Why doesn’t he have to use codenames?” Red Hood wondered aloud. Only to be kicked by an aggressive Robin. “Ow! What the hell demon spawn!”

             “Silence,” Robin hissed.

             “As I Was Saying,” Nightwing loudly began. “Marinette is not allowed to meet Selina. It would be a disaster for us all.”

             “Its not she’d adopt her like a certain someone is trying to,” Red Hood stated, pointedly ignoring Robin’s attempts to silence him with threats of violence.

             Nightwing changed the slide with a sigh. “Exhibit A: Marinette enjoys shiny things, and so does Selina.”

             The slide showed two pictures, one of Marinette in various miraculous while holding one of Damian’s daggers, and the other of Selina with a very large gemstone necklace.

“Exhibit B, they are both prone to theft.”

             The next slide showed Catwoman stealing a necklace from a museum, and Marinette in Batman’s cape while using Tim’s phone and wearing one of Jason’s leather jackets, Titus laying at her feet.

             “Marinette does not stop at shiny things, as we can expect of Selina,” Robin explained.

             “You’re just mad Pixie managed to get past your security.”

             Robin glared at Red Hood.

             “That doesn’t explain why bean shouldn’t meet Selina,” Red Robin said. “Hm, maybe I should change the bean blend again? not getting enough of a buzz.”

             Nightwing sighed, changing the slide again. “If the two meet, we lose all we hold dear.”

             This time the slide showed a photoshopped Marinette and Selina sitting on a pile of miscellaneous objects.

             Batman sighed, deciding his eldest was just being overdramatic again.

             “Mari will learn new tricks from Selina.” Nightwing stated slowly. “Tag team with Selina, maybe even be the Robin to her Batman.” That got the room’s attention, albeit not the kind Nightwing wanted. “It would not just be Mari’s minor thefts anymore.”

             Red Robin rolled his eyes while Red Hood snorted a “yeah right.”

             Robin looked nervously as Nightwing finished his powerpoint.

             “Mari would rule Gotham and no one, not even us, would be able to stop her.”

             Batman decided that they wasted enough time on Nightwing’s bout of paranoia. “I highly doubt Selina would corrupt her.”

             At that moment a beaming stripped heroine walked in, wearing a new string of necklaces, with Catwoman at her side with an amused look of her own.

             “How dare you try to hide a kitten from me.”

             Nightwing threw his hands up. “I told you!”

             Batman stared while Robin began checking their systems… no alarms had gone off anywhere and they all knew the pair had stolen the necklaces that Marinette was sporting.

             Nightwing was right.  

             “Holy shit is this really happening?” Red Robin half-whispered, looking back and forth between the pair and a shocked Batman. “Is Catmom pulling a Batdad?”

             Catwoman flashed a smile. “Since someone wouldn’t let me take any birdies, I decided to take a kitten of my own.”

             “Why didn’t you tell me I could have more moms here!” Marinette exclaimed.

             At the groups growing look of horror, Catwoman’s grin grew. “Oh, I forgot to mention, Harley and Ivy are back. They want joint custody. She’s the Marigold Harley’s been tweeting about.”

---

first thing i do after getting real internet back plus have the time to think, and its write and post this. hope you all enjoyed!

[adapted-batteries]

The Intern

Fandom: The Librarians

Rating: General/sfw

Relationship: Flyzekiel

Word Count: 2408

Ezekiel happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Flynn gains a new intern.

AU where Flynn is in charge of the Egyptian exhibit as a professor, not student or Librarian.This is set when Flynn’s doing the Egyptian exhibit in the first Librarian movie, but for the sake of not writing underage fic, I’m aging Ezekiel up to being in his 20’s, considering Ezekiel was like 16 or something when he got the letter the first time.

Also posted on my Ao3.

-----

Ezekiel happened to be in New York at the right time. According to the poster he just walked past, there was going to be a big exhibit at the Museum of History in a few days, a replica of one of the great pyramids, complete with loads of artifacts inside. A goldmine, all in one place, ready for Ezekiel to take what he wished so he could replenish the fund he ran for abused kids.

He hadn’t been to that museum before; they never really had any pricy exhibits, the natural history museum always got them, so Ezekiel devised a plan to case the exhibit and figure out what he wanted to swipe. Donning the nerdiest outfit he could bare to wear, Ezekiel turned up while the students and other important looking people were frantically trying to set up and document everything in the huge exhibit.

The disguise worked well...too well. Not even five minutes into taking in the exhibit, a man, probably a professor by the looks of his outfit and the general nerdiness he gave off, called him over. “Hey you, give me a hand with this.” The professor was pushing a crate somewhere, apparently heavy enough that it warranted help and Ezekiel was unluckily the only one in the vicinity.

Ezekiel hesitated just long enough to make the professor annoyed. The professor scowled at him as he wiped away sweat from his face. “You can’t just stand around and expect to get a good grade.”

Finally settling on a persona, Ezekiel scurried over to him. “Sorry, uh, sir,” he muttered, pushing the considerably heavy crate. The professor pushed as well, but Ezekiel could tell he was doing the majority of the work.

The professor directed the crate to a collapsible table currently half used to hold a variety of artifacts. He stretched his back, then reached into the crate while looking at Ezekiel. “Help me empty this so we can get it on display.” Ezekiel nodded, carefully pulling considerably valuable artifacts out of the box, ignoring the way the professor was watching him. Ezekiel jumped a little when the professor asked him a question, definitely only because he was really playing into his persona. “I’ve been terribly busy organizing everyone and everything, remind me what team you’re here with again?”

“I’m, uh, with the artifacts team. My, er, specialty is items made from precious metals and gems,” Ezekiel stammered. He gulped when the professor narrowed his eyes at him.

“Precious metals you say. Tell me what this is made of,” the professor said, handing Ezekiel a small metal bust.

Ezekiel carefully took the head and turned it in his hands a bit. “Bronze, most likely a mild based on the shine, and since that’d be easier to sculpt. The eyes are smokey quartz. The gems in the necklace are lapis lazuli, emerald, polished carnelian, emerald, and obsidian,” Ezekiel explained, pointing at the gems as he named them.

The professor seemed mildly impressed, but also suspicious. “When would it have been made?”

Fortunately Ezekiel had seen a bust very much like it at an auction last month. “My guess would be around 2500 B.C. since I don’t know where exactly it came from.”

The professor seemed more impressed, taking the sculpture back from Ezekiel. “This comes from the collection in the British museum’s Egyptian exhibit, which their archaeologists in the mid 20th century found in the tomb of Userkaf. I’d love to have the pair of busts for this exhibit, but one was stolen years ago, before my time.” He stared at the sculpture fondly a bit more, then sat it on the table. “Keep unpacking. This whole crate needs to be unpacked and displayed today. We have three days, which I said was completely unreasonable, but here we are.”

A couple of students over at another table called for the professor. “Doctor Carsen, we need your help over here.”

“Coming!” His attention was immediately focused on the others. “I’ll be right back,” he said to Ezekiel, then scampered off to assist.

There was quite a lot of stuff to check out, see what was really worth having from this exhibit, and what better way to handle all the merchandise than to play helpful intern. He was going to sneak off and have a look, but true to his word, the professor came back within a minute. Apparently, unpacking to this Dr. Carsen meant taking each item out, and then giving anywhere from a two to five minute lecture about the origin and significance of each piece. The crate should’ve taken ten minutes max to empty, but by the time they got done, over an hour had passed.

Ezekiel didn’t know what was worse, that he lost so much time when he could’ve been casing the rest of the museum, or the fact that he kind of didn’t mind listening to Carsen ramble on about everything. Not that he actively listened; Ezekiel couldn’t tell much of anything about the history of anything he had handled in that time compared to his guesses at the value each item would fetch in various underground art markets.

Instead he spent way more than his fair share of focus noticing every little thing about this professor, the way his words jumbled when he got excited, the crinkles in the corners of his eyes when he smiled, the way he’d rock on the balls of his feet when he really got into the history of it. Ezekiel had a few rules when it came to thievery, and “don’t bang the target” was right at the top of the list, but right now it was getting easier to find loopholes to that rule than it was picking something to take.

To clear his head, Ezekiel finally got away from the professor when yet another group called him away for assistance. With his little time left before close, he skirted around the professor, surveying the rest of the displays in their various states of completion. There was a gold mine of things he could go for and get good profit, but that bust he handled earlier kept calling to him. It’d fetch a fair price by itself, or even more to the person who had bought the first head. The museum was way too busy now, but it wouldn’t be that night, so Ezekiel spent a little more time surveying the security measures before prepping for the night.

He expected the people working on the exhibit to continue well after the six pm closing time with the opening date just a couple days away, so he waited till after midnight before he ventured to a back door with an unloading dock. The security system recently went digital, so it wasn’t hard to loop the cameras, disable the motion and heat sensors, and unlock the door without anyone noticing. There were security guards, but only two for the large museum, leaving wings empty for minutes at a time, so Ezekiel had no issue making his way to the under construction exhibit.

Unlike the other wings, the lights were partially on still, creating patches of shadow over bits where assembly was finished and highlighting the folding tables with items strewn about them. No one was in the room at the moment. Ezekiel noted the table he had seen the bust last was unfortunately void of the object, so he quickly snooped through the dark, finished displays in search of his target. The next guard wouldn’t come through for another three minutes.

Just as he found the bust someone walked into the room. “Hey uh, I thought everyone had left.” It was the professor from before, looking a tad more stressed and worse for wear. “Oh, it’s you, from earlier,” he said just as Ezekiel sat the bust down and stepped into the light.

“Ah yeah, it’s me,” Ezekiel said, trying to play it cool.

“You slipped off earlier,” he rubbed his eye like one does when when exhausted, “you know, I don’t think I caught your name.”

“I like to keep it that way. Shrouded in mystery,” Ezekiel replied, leaning part of the way back into the shadows for effect.

“Funny, because I checked the rosters for everyone working on this exhibit, and unless you happen to have suddenly picked up that accent, which I highly doubt, you don’t fit any one on them,” Dr. Carsen continued, stepping more into Ezekiel’s space. “Who are you, and why are you sneaking into the museum at midnight?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Ezekiel said saucily while tapping Dr. Carsen’s chest, deciding that he should play into the oddly physical vibe that suddenly appeared.

To his surprise, Dr. Carsen didn’t back away. “I would, considering I can tell you moved the bust, which I assume was because you intended to steal it.”

Ezekiel patted his chest again, trying to hide his growing panic about Dr. Carsen reading the situation that easy. “Observant and well-read, I like that in a man.” He noticed Dr. Carsen look down at his hand before Dr. Carsen realized what he did, a good sign for Ezekiel.

“Are you, uh,” Dr. Carsen faltered when Ezekiel did his best to look enticing, biting his bottom lip and looking up at Dr. Carsen through his lashes (it helped that Dr. Carsen was a few inches taller too). “You’re um.”

“I’m what, love?” Ezekiel asked, tilting his head ever so slightly upward. Sure enough, Dr. Carsen reciprocated the movement.

“You’re really distracting,” Dr. Carsen settled, eyes flitting to Ezekiel’s mouth when the thief smirked.

“So I’ve heard. Though I can say,” he paused to place his lips mere inches away from Dr. Carsen’s, “you’re just as distracting as I am, in my opinion.”

Dr. Carsen leaned forward, lips ghosting Ezekiel’s, but then his brain started recovering, which meant he attempted to make space. “Wait you’re-”

Ezekiel was not gonna lose the ground he made; he slipped a hand around the professor’s neck and pulled him into a kiss. He expected Dr. Carsen to fight him a bit more, but near instantly Ezekiel found he was being kissed just as much as he was doing the kissing. In the back of his mind he remembered his rule, though technically his target wasn’t Dr. Carsen himself...so getting him in bed wasn’t breaking the rule, he reasoned.

Footsteps from a security guard echoed on the marble floor. Ezekiel pulled away only so far to speak so he could keep Dr. Carsen’s focus. “Should we take this somewhere else?”

Dr. Carsen nodded, his nose sliding against Ezekiel’s. “My apartment,” Dr. Carsen started, pausing to kiss Ezekiel again because apparently it had been too long already, “not far.”

The security guard walked in, startled at the two men being intimate. “Uh, sorry, just doin’ rounds,” the guard mumbled, then turned right back around and left the room.

Ezekiel kissed Dr. Carsen’s neck while his head was turned towards the guard, getting a gasp from the professor. “Unless you want to give him a show, let’s go,” Ezekiel said.

“Oh, uh, yeah, let’s do that, ‘s good idea,” Dr. Carsen said, attempting to do his best of talking and kissing and walking. They of course stumbled, Ezekiel’s hip hitting rather hard into one of the tables.

“Why don’t we focus on walking, then we can have our fun, hmm?” Ezekiel said, snaking his arm around Dr. Carsen’s waist as he promptly guided him towards the table that had a messenger bag that must’ve been the professor’s. Sure enough, Dr. Carsen reached out to grab it, not bothering to stop, slinging it loosely over his head. Ezekiel used the movement to sneak a kiss to Dr. Carsen’s jaw, then focused on getting them out of the museum before Dr. Carsen remembered just what he was getting distracted from.

Fortunately for Ezekiel, Dr. Carsen was entirely too easy to keep aroused. Kisses here and there, a little wandering with his hand, right tone of voice and word choice (apparently Ezekiel calling him “love” worked really well). It only took them maybe ten minutes of walking to get to the place that made Dr. Carsen halt and declare as his apartment building, and only one more to get up the stairs and into the apartment.

Dr. Carsen barely had time to take off the messenger bag and shuck off his suit jacket before Ezekiel pressed him against the wall. Dr. Carsen seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit, based off what he felt pressed against his thigh, but before he knew it, Dr. Carsen switched positions, pinning Ezekiel to the wall. “Mmhmm, like being on top, do you-hah,” Ezekiel purred as Dr. Carsen went for his neck, nipping a sensitive spot.

“That okay?” the professor asked, voice muffled by the fact he spoke into Ezekiel’s neck.

“Oh more than, love. Why don’t we move this to the bed, hmm?” Ezekiel suggested. “Do with me what you’d like.” That got a look from the professor, one of need, and then Dr. Carsen was all too happy to cart him off to the bedroom.

---

Ezekiel was not one to stay in one place too long, and that included people he slept with. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but Ezekiel knew he was probably nearing an alarm for the professor to get back to the museum and work relentlessly. Carefully he slipped out of bed, leaving Dr. Carsen’s arms empty. He started collecting his clothes, but found himself watching the professor sleep. His hair was mussed, mouth slightly open but not snoring, face looking relaxed and content compared to the stressed and tired look he had the previous night.

He shook his head, focusing on getting out of the apartment before he gave into the growing urge of climbing back into bed. For the most part he fought it, but he let himself do something he never did for anyone else; he left a note, not in his normal handwriting, saying simply “thanks for the fun, good luck on your exhibit” and signed it with an “E.” Then he was out and into the greying morning, feeling entirely more emotionally attached than he normally did after a one night stand.

This job was bust; he couldn’t bring himself to steal from Dr. Carsen. But there were others, and more to keep a bed with, he tried to convince himself, but he didn’t really believe it.

-----

Post Notes: With school starting and my semester going at 100% since the first day basically, I completely forgot I had this written and that last week was the Flynn x lits week. Oh well, at least I'm only a day late!

Liked this story, or any of my others? Feel free to buy me a coffee.

[katrinawritesthings]

Jonghyun/Taemin; skree; PG

when you’re a skeleton necromancer and you’re also easily swayed into bad ideas by the slightest amount of convincing

“Fine, fine,” Taemin grins. He lifts his hands again and hovers them carefully over the fossil that looks the cutest. “But only just to show you that it won’t work,” he adds.

ao3

“Hey, uh, quick question,” Jonghyun says. Taemin doesn’t glance up from his morning comics as he hums in reply. “How many, exactly, of these little reanimated skeleton creatures do you have wandering around your house?” Tiny little taps of bone on wood follow his sentence and Taemin does look up this time to see Jonghyun gently placing a skeleton lizard on the table next to his coffee. Taemin watches Elizabeth jump right back onto his hand and scuttle up his arm to rest on his shoulder. Jonghyun scrunches his nose at her and Taemin grins.

“Fifty-seven, I think,” he says. “Ish. I’m not too good with numbers.” He shrugs, reaching over to gently pick Elizabeth up and place her on his own shoulder. She nuzzles him with her nose and he gently gives the top of her skull a little kiss. “I can make them stop bothering you if you want,” he says, smothering his widening smile when Vani starts slithering up and around the back of Jonghyun’s chair.

“No, it’s… fine,” Jonghyun says. He turns to watch the little snakey skeleton when she pokes her head around his ear. “Just wondering how long it’ll take me to learn all of their names and shit,” he says. He holds his hand up and lets Vani wiggle her way on and around his wrist. Taemin smiles fondly as he watches.

“You will,” he says encouragingly. “I wouldn’t have agreed to be your physical study assignment if I thought you wouldn’t care about my little pals.” He’d never had one of those stuffy academic types from the university come to him and ask for his help in a class, but he’s already glad that Jonghyun did. Jonghyun is gentle and sweet and Taemin is happy to teach him about his little forest house of plants and skeletal necromancy. The sweet paycheck he’s getting from the school to let Jonghyun live with him for a few months doesn’t hurt either. Jonghyun hums a little noise of thanks, running the fingers of one hand gently over its spine.

“All reptiles?” he asks, looking back to Taemin curiously.

“Mmhmm,” Taemin hums. “Or, almost all. Some are birds.” He shrugs, gestures vaguely to the little perches he has dangling from his doorways. “And there’s an opossum somewhere but she’s usually hiding under the back porch because she’s shy. But yeah, reptiles are just easier for some reason.” He shrugs again, lifting a finger to boop Elizabeth’s nose away from his neck. One was enough for him to never want to try reanimating a mammal skeleton again. They’re complicated little shits.

“What about a dinosaur?” Jonghyun asks. Taemin snorts.

“Yeah, let me go out and find a pet-sized dinosaur skeleton just lying around in the woods behind the house,” he says sarcastically. “That’ll be super easy.” Jonghyun huffs, rolling his eyes.

“There’s a paleontology museum in the city,” he says. Taemin opens his mouth to reply, then closes it. Hmm.

~

“Honestly, this isn’t going to work,” Taemin mumbles as they walk through the wide hallways of the museum. This seemed like a good idea on the way here, but now that they’re actually here, he’s realizing what a not great idea it was.

“Have you tried before?” Jonghyun asks, glancing at him over his shoulder. He glances at his little brochure map of the place after and leads Taemin down a right turn into the smaller dinosaur exhibit. Taemin rubs his nose awkwardly.

“I mean, no,” he says. “But it’s harder when they’re older,” he says. “And what if dinosaurs were actually birds and not reptiles?” he asks. Science is advancing towards the former and he’s not so good with skeletons of the aviary variety.

“You have some birds, you can do them,” Jonghyun shrugs. He pauses to smile at a little diorama of herbivores before continuing on to wherever it is that he’s going. “And if you can't do it then you can’t do it.” He throws Taemin another little smile over his shoulder. “At least you’ll have tried,” he says. “There’s nothing wrong with trying.”

Taemin doesn’t know how some peppy, soft-spoken college kid he took on as an apprentice two days ago wound up being the one to encourage away his insecurities, but he can’t say that he doesn’t like the little boost of confidence that gave him. He likes that Jonghyun believes in him.

Still, as Jonghyun comes to a stop in front of a display of a little group of dinosaur skeletons, Taemin is highly doubtful that this is going to work. They look small and manageable enough; the plaque in front of them labels them as--

“Com--cosm--compson--Cops--I’m too fucking dyslexic for this shit,” Jonghyun mutters as he squints at the label. Taemin muffles a snort at that blatant complaint and shakes his head.

“I don’t think I can pronounce that either, if it makes you feel better,” he says. “Just call them cosmos.”

“Aw, that’s cute,” Jonghyun grins. He wiggles his knees so the rest of him wiggles as well. “Little space dinos.” He reaches over gently to boop one’s nose. “Anyway,” he says, stepping back and looking at Taemin expectantly. “Go ahead,” he says. Taemin puffs up his lips, staring down at the little skeleton. She looks cute, yeah, around chicken sized with a long wiggly tail. He lifts his hands, but hesitates, biting his lip.

“Jonghyun, I really don’t think this is going to work,” he sighs. “These might not even be real fossils,” he says. “A lot of museums just use, like, plaster replicas.” And he’s not good with birds, and they’re really old, and bigger than what he’s used to, and he doesn’t want to look like a loser in front of his new apprentice before the first week has even finished passing, and and and. He pouts, clenching his hands back into little fists.

“Yeah, well,” Jonghyun shrugs. “If it doesn’t work then we’ll know that it’s a fake fossil. Either way we’ll learn something new,” he says, and that is just… such a fucking genuinely interested university scholar thing to say that Taemin has to laugh softly. He can’t say no to that. He won’t deny Jonghyun in his pursuit of knowledge.

“Fine, fine,” he grins. He lifts his hands again and hovers them carefully over the fossil that looks the cutest. “But only just to show you that it won’t work,” he adds.

“Mmhmm,” Jonghyun hums. He leans up against the wall next to the display, eagerly watching Taemin’s hands. Taemin shakes his head fondly before he really starts to focus. At least when this doesn’t work, the next time he does it on an actual forest lizard or whatever will be extra amazing to Jonghyun.

He takes a deep breath, fumbles in his jacket for his little pin to prick his finger with, winces at the sight of blood like usual, touches it gently to the fossil’s skull, closes his eyes, and starts whispering the spell he wrote and tweaked and perfected years ago.

Magic grows inside of him, warms him up, feels familiarly sticky all in his veins, and then, all at once, to his extreme alarm, it all flows out and directly into the fossil.

The skeleton twitches, wiggles, and opens its jaw wide in a silent yawn.

Taemin blinks down at it, fucking astounded.

“Shit,” he whispers.

“Oh my god,” Jonghyun says. “You did it, Taem, that’s great!” He’s smiling wide, beaming, as he looks down at the little skeleton in wonder, but Taemin just feels regret and anxiety filling him up where just a second ago there was magic.

“What the fuck,” he says loudly, taking a step back. The dinosaur cocks her head and takes a step towards him, tail swishing pleasantly behind her. “This is not great, what the fuck,” he tells Jonghyun. He’s realizing all very suddenly that this was an awful, awful, terrible idea. “This is illegal, fuck,” he says. Jonghyun’s smile falters; with one hand, he gently holds the fossil in place.

“Small animal necromancy is legal with a license,” he says slowly, like Taemin needs to be reminded of the law he’s known his whole life. Taemin huffs, clenching his hands back to his chest so he doesn’t accidentally fuck anything else up.

“I meant stealing,” he snaps. “Stealing a fucking fossil from a museum is illegal.” Fuck, they are so fucked. Jonghyun just frowns, cocking his head in confusion.

“Who said anything about stealing?” he asks. “We weren’t gonna take her. Just make her dead again.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal but Taemin groans, putting his face in his hands.

“I don’t know how to make her dead again, Jonghyun,” he says. Jonghyun’s eyes widen; he looks back and forth between Taemin and the fossil quickly. Then he looks around the rest of the exhibit for anyone else that Taemin fucking hopes isn’t around.

“What do you mean you don’t know how to make her dead again,” he hisses. He leans close to say it as quietly as possible, but it still sounds way too loud in the silence of the room. Taemin shrugs his shoulders wildly, looking back down at the skeleton with despair.

“I’m not a murderer, I don’t know,” he whines. “I could never make myself learn how to kill something a second time.” He could never kill something, even if it was already dead in the first place.

“Oh my fucking god,” Jonghyun whispers. “You play with the forbidden laws of the sacred cycle of life and death on a regular basis but putting an undead pet down is too hardcore for you?” he asks.

“This was your idea, oh my god,” Taemin whispers back. The dinosaur scoots closer to him and nips playfully at his fingers with her rough teeth. Taemin grimaces, but lets her. “What the fuck do we do now?” he hisses at Jonghyun.

~

Cosmo hops over the kitchen counters, lopsided on her one leg but still happy to be able to explore. She peeps out the window, noses at the fruit basket, clickety-clacks her way on top of the microwave.

Taemin sits at the table, staring at his hands and contemplating what he’s done.

“I don’t believe it,” he says quietly. “Two days as my apprentice and you’ve already turned me into a criminal.” He taps his fingertips together, twists his wrists to look at the backs of his hands. Hands of sin. That’s what they are. He should be in the slammer.

“Oh, stop being so dramatic,” Jonghyun says. He walks to the microwave, picks Cosmo up, and cradles her in his arm, careful of the gaps in her tail where the museum put fake plaster bones to replace missing ones. “You’ve been a criminal for almost a decade,” he says. “Animal necromancy has only been legal for, like, two years.”

“PICKING--” Taemin starts loudly, looking up to throw Jonghyun a sharp glare. He cuts himself off and huffs lightly. He hates being loud. He shakes his head, then tries again, quieter this time. “Picking up a dead lizard off of the ground in the forest is different from smuggling a fucking ancient fossil out of a museum,” he says steadily. Very different. Extremely different. No one ever even came to visit him much before, when he just moved here out in the middle of the forest and was experimenting with his first little lizard skeleton friends. Now it’s common knowledge that there’s a recluse necromancer living in the woods and the missing skeleton will be all over the papers tomorrow, probably. He’s amazed that the police haven’t kicked down his door yet.

“Yeah, well,” Jonghyun mutters. He’s scritching the top of Cosmo’s skull gently as he speaks. “At least we learned you could do it,” he shrugs. Taemin sighs loudly, slouching back in his chair and staring at the ceiling. Fucking fuck.

“You are not writing about this in any of your essays,” he says. When he looks at Jonghyun again, his mouth is open, eyebrows furrowed in angry disbelief, but Taemin shakes his head. “I am not being arrested just so you can write about your little dinosaur bff,” he says. Jonghyun puffs all up and looks like he’s going to argue, but then sighs and deflates to lean against the wall.

“Fine,” he grumbles. Cosmo nuzzles his head, rubbing up against his cheek and mussing around his hair. Her long tail coils around his forearm and hand, the tip ending up in his palm so he can hold it. Despite his low mood Taemin finds himself smiling at the image.

“At least she’s cute,” he says.

[metasandmagic]

Song Bird part 5: To Good to be True

Summary: When Sara brings home her new boyfriend, Leonard Snart and his best friend Mick Rory, Laurel is in for the shock of her life. He’s changed a lot from the man she had met when she was just a teenager trying to grow up to soon. At the same time it seems like not much has changed at all. He still has that bad boy appeal she fell so hard for and from what her sister tells her about her travels across time she knows the good she saw in him back than exists too. Mick is also shocked to see the girl he had fallen for has grown up. Gone was the teenager and in her place stood a beautiful woman. To bad old wounds and new walls are threatening to keep them apart.

Chapter Summary: It should not have been a surprise to Laurel that her sisters criminal boyfriend would do something illegal or that his partner would be involved. The part that did surprise her was that Sara had so willingly gone along with it and dragged her into the whole mess. The next time time two thieves suggest going to see the new exhibit at the museum, especially when said exhibit is jewels, she wasn't going to not believe they just wanted to see it.

Characters: Laurel Lance, Mick Rory

Pairing: Laurel Lance/Mick Rory

AO3

@metasandarrows

@sonicanary

It should not have been a surprise to Laurel that her sisters criminal boyfriend would do something illegal or that his partner would be involved. The part that did surprise her was that Sara had so willingly gone along with it and dragged her into the whole mess. The next time time two thieves suggest going to see the new exhibit at the museum, especially when said exhibit is jewels, she wasn't going to not believe they just wanted to see it.

Laurel really should have seen the fact that they were using her, because Snart mentioned the exhibit and Laurel mentioned that she was invited to the charity event that the donor was holding. Before she knew it she was offering to see if she could get another invite with a plus one and she could go with Mick. Not as a date but just as a way for them all to get in. It had been a set up from the moment that he had opened his mouth and she had fallen for it, hook line and sinker. Sara was dead if they got out of this alive.

It had started fine. All four dressed up, and Laurel would be lying if she said that seeing Mick in a suit didn’t make something tingle. Everyone had been well behaved; sipping champagne or club soda in her case, eating the appetizers and making small talk with the other guests. That should have been her first clue but really she wanted to believe that Sara wouldn’t be involved in causing any sort of trouble in the city her father was a detective in but when had that stopped her sister before. The event went by perfectly and she could even remember sharing a couple of dances with Snart. It was after that everything went to hell.

The party was winding down and as much fun as she had Laurel just wanted to go home and curl up in bed. A part of her had been surprised that no one had tried anything. In Star City it seemed like there was never an event without a robbery or kidnapping or just general chaos. That didn’t leave her any less exhausted from making small talk and having to explain that yes her sister was alive, no Mick wasn’t her boyfriend and she was very much enjoying working in the DA’s office. That it was nice to be able to help this city. A conversation she had been having since she was dating Oliver with just a few changes in the script.

Leonard and Mick had disappeared and despite the assurances from Sara that they were fine and would be back in a minute, a bad feeling crawled down her spine. There was a look in Sara’s eyes she only saw in her when she was getting ready for a fight. It was the same one that Laurel was sure was in her own before one and with the missing thieves she wouldn’t be sure that they hadn’t had a plan all along.

“Come on. I promise nobody is going to get hurt.“ Laurel highly doubted that because she was going to hurt someone when this was over but still she went along with her sister. Some part of her must have thought it would be fun because she wasn’t stopping them. Instead letting Sara pull her along without calling their father or trying to put a stop to it herself.

She told herself it was just because she didn’t want to get Sara arrested or her new boyfriend who she seemed so happy with, but maybe the idea of being bad for a night was just thrilling. Whatever they were going to steal could always be returned in the morning. No harm, no foul.

That feeling of excitement only lasted up until the part where she was about to become an accomplice to an actual crime. When this was all over Sara, Mick, and Leonard would go back on their time ship and be far away from the city and whatever repercussions there was. Laurel on the other hand would be dead center. It wasn't lying to the cops or their friends that bothered her, Laurel was an old hat at that by now, but it was already starting to weigh heavy on her that what she was doing was wrong.

"I can't let you do this." So much for the idea of just returning the object in the morning. Laurel could let them do this, not when she knew it was wrong. Three pairs of eyes turned to her and Laurel felt like a canary who had just entered a den of cats. Mick was the first to react as he started laughing. That laugh used to make her feel the most delicious sensations in the pit of her stomach but now it was just pissing her off.

He took a few steps toward her and she could see Sara eyeing them both out of the corner of her eye. "And you're going to stop us?" She had forgotten that no matter how well they were all getting along now, these two men were still dangerous criminals. 

Laurel took her own steps forward. If he thought that just because she was in heels and a dress instead of her black leather that she would back down Mick was wrong. “If I have to.” 

There was a smirk on his lips that she didn’t know if it meant he thought she was a joke but it got her back up. “I’ve been wanting to see what you can do?” Or maybe he didn’t think she was a joke and was just eager for a fight. Laurel licked her lips, her heart starting to race in anticipation and Sara took a step forward. “How about you stop your boyfriend before dad kills us both and I’ll take care of Mick.” She just hoped Sara listened to her and not decide to stick it out with these criminals.  

The two started to circle each other. She wasn’t sure who made the first move but Mick definitely got the first hit. Not that the fight stayed in his favor for long. The dress was going to be ruined but that didn’t stop her from giving everything she had. The fight went between the two of them until she took advantage of a distraction and took him down with a kick. “You should have kept your eyes on the fight and not my breasts. Now stay down.”

Laurel hurt, but she hadn’t had a fight like this in a long time and it got her adrenaline up. Mick tried to get up and she put him back down before glancing back over at the other two. Sara wasn’t really stopping Snart but she didn’t look to be helping him either, she was just arguing with him. 

Mick took advantage of her own distraction and brought her down on top of him. “Now whose distracted Lance.” Laurel didn’t want to be in this position. Mostly because she wasn’t sure feelings was still there but Mick was still attractive.

“Let me go, Mick.“ His arms were wrapped tightly around her and she was having trouble breaking free of his hold. Pushing against him was doing nothing and she was just happy it was Mick on his back and not her.

Both were distracted by the clearing of a throat and Snart sauntering past them. “Got what we were after now lets blow this joint.” Laurel’s eyes turned to Sara who just shrugged and she got up as Mick let go of her. Nothing about this night was going as she wanted it too.

“You’re returning it in the morning.“ She was ignored by the guys as Mick walked to catch up with her partner and Sara wrapped her arms around Laurel.

“Of course. I’ll make sure they return.“ For some reason Laurel didn’t believe her but she would make sure it was returned.