#also i am so sorry sasha. i forgot my design for you i had to make something new but i Know the old one was better

[ourskiesaboveus]

@just-some-guy-joust

alright i know this is a bit after the poll (this week was Hectic) but. i loved the tournament a bunch even though i didn't have time to make good propaganda for my boy matt

like. i didn't know who whole or brian were before this tournament but now i have spent way too long playing yuppie psycho (considering that poll came out like a week before finals and also that. i can't do any of the puzzles) and have so much cccc brainrot. all the participating blorbos were too powerful. amazing competition

anyway have a quick comic about the results :)

cw gun pointed at viewer

good luck to sasha as she bravely forges forward in the some guy semifinals

[overdramatic-queer-antagonist]

Mick Mercury's Failed Attempt At Espionage

Summary: Mick Mercury was easily the most incompetent person Peter had ever met, and it infuriated him how long it took for them to be introduced. Notes: There is a severe lack of Mick Mercury in Season 3, and that will not stand, so I put him in.

Read it on Ao3

Fic:

"JJ! Hey! JJ! Hello? Can you hear me?"

Peter would not have made any connection to the aforementioned 'JJ,' and Juno Steel had he not been glowering at the petulant ex-detective when the unfamiliar man called out and seen how Juno had tensed at the voice.

The large man made a noise of annoyance, and oh God, he's walking towards Juno. Peter wasn't worried for the lady, he was wholly aware Juno knew how to handle himself, but Peter had yet to foresee an outcome of this conversation that didn't blow their cover.

"Juno Steel!" the man yelled as Juno continued to ignore him. 

It was, unfortunately, very clear who he was addressing, and the woman Juno had been flirting with gave him a confused look. Peter would be lying if that didn't please him ever so slightly, but, as always, he filed that feeling away for later and went to save Juno's ass.

"Dear," Peter called out, attempting to get into the act of a doting husband, which had recently become much more difficult for him. Juno glanced at him appreciatively and went to stand at his side, where Peter promptly put an arm around his waist.

“You gave me a bit of a scare Mercury,” Juno said, looking at Peter for confirmation he wasn’t being dumb. Peter nodded ever so slightly as permission to continue. “Haven’t heard my maiden name in a while, no one’s called me that- well- since the wedding!” Juno forced a laugh that sounded more nervous than casual, but the woman he was talking with looked like she understood which- okay. That bothered Peter because that meant she was okay with flirting with a married man, but whatever, filed away.

“Wedding?” Mercury yelled. “JJ, You never told me anything about any wedding.”

“Listen, Mick, I know you're upset, but can we talk in private,” Juno’s eyes flickered to the woman he’d been speaking with, and Mick- Mick Mercury. What a fucking name- nodded. Juno led Mercury to a private corner of the ballroom, and Peter followed automatically. Mick gave Juno a look, but Juno returned it with one of his own, and Mick dropped whatever he was thinking. Peter couldn’t decide if it was frustrating or charming that they could hold a conversation without speaking. He settled on frustrating, simply because they were clearly close, and Juno had never thought to mention him. Granted, Peter wasn’t sure why that frustrated him, but it did. Another thing to file away.

The exact second they’d arrived at their designated corner, Mick spun on his feet. “Okay, what the hell, J? I always thought when you got married I’d at least get invited! I mean, obviously, I thought Benten or- hell, even Sasha would be man/maid of honor, but I thought I’d get an invite!” Juno tensed at the mention of Benzaiten, and Peter subconsciously put a hand on his lower back. Juno tensed more at this, but after a moment, relaxed. Mick continued on, oblivious. “And come on Juno, how long have you ever known this guy? We saw each other recently, and you didn’t even think to mention him?! I mean, I know we’ve grown apart since I almost got you killed by a serial killer lady, but come on, man!”

Juno gave Mick an incredulous look. “Okay, first of all, last time we saw each other, a robot made you try to kill me, not exactly the best time to bring it up. Second-”

“Second…” Peter interrupted before he, himself knew what he was doing. “We’ve known each other for three years. And my apologies for the lack of notice, Mick. See, I lead a very dangerous life, and my lady and I thought it safer to keep knowledge of my existence away from anyone who wasn’t trained in combat. And also Rita, but mainly because she tapped Juno’s comms and listened in on a very…”

“Oh my god!”

“Sorry, dear. I forgot how easily flustered you are.”

Mick gave Peter an appraising look for a second before deciding the answer was good enough for him and moving on. “So if you live such a dangerous life,” he lowered his voice to a -frankly terrible- whisper, “Then what are you doing here?”

Peter lowered his voice conspiratorially, “I really shouldn’t tell you this but, we’re on a secret mission. ‘Above Dark Matters’ secret. How about you?” This was a ridiculous cover, but he’d gotten away with stranger, besides, he was a little distracted by the woman Juno had been speaking to, looking their way, hungrily, no doubt at his companion. Peter’s grip around Juno tightened, and, to his surprise, Juno leaned into it.

“Really? Above Dark Matters? Juno, that’s great! Wow, Sasha must’ve flipped when you told her!”

“I didn’t Mercury, that’s what secret means. And I didn’t tell her about the mister either, and if you do, I’ll gut you like a fish.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Good. Hey, my husband asked a good question, why are you here?”

“I thought it might be good to get off of Mars after the whole Newtown debacle, so I got a job at a catering company, and then I got fired for eating all of the cupcakes, so I decided to join the party, and they haven’t noticed yet.”

Juno snickered. "Glad to see you're back to normal."

"Yeah, me too. Being responsible was exhausting, even with the good habits some of it brought. Anyways, I'll get back to the party, let you two plan out your secret mission," Mick finished that statement walking backward and, when it was finished, promptly ran into a plant. 

"What was that about?" Juno asked. "I mean, I get that you had to lie to him, but why... That?"

"Why did you leave me in that hotel room?" Peter asked. He'd meant it as a joke, at Juno's expense, of course, but it came off a bit more genuine than he would have liked.

Juno flinched, and for a moment, all Peter wanted to do was sweep him up in a hug, apologize for bringing it up and move on, but Peter was allowed to be angry. After what felt like an eternity but was probably 5 seconds tops, Juno spoke, "We need to talk about that eventually. You know. If we're gonna be working together."

"And we will, Dear Detective, but not right now. I believe the bidding is starting soon."

---

The bidding did not go as planned. While Peter would like to claim it was entirely the fault of his accomplice, he would be dishonest if he did so, and Peter Nureyev lied to many people, but not himself. Mostly.

Their new plan was as followed, Juno would continue to distract Ms. Zolotovna -the woman, who'd been eyeing him all night- and Peter would swipe it while nobody- not even the cameras- was looking. The first flaw of this plan came from one Mick Mercury, who was really starting to piss Peter off.

Mick had cornered him while he was making his rounds to destroy all the cameras.

"Hey! Uh... I never got your name, but Juno's husband!"

Peter turned around a little more aggressively than he meant to. "Yes?" He asked, already on his last nerve.

"I- uhh... listen, bud, this conversation is gonna be real awkward if you don't give me something to call you."

Peter quickly scanned his brain for a moniker he'd used with Juno, one that the lady may have mentioned to Mick in passing but not have gone into too much detail. There was only one with the chance of fitting the bill. "Rex. My name is Rex."

Mick's eyes lit up with recognition, and Peter immediately regretted his decision to use a name that had been plastered all over Hyperion to a native of the area. But there didn't seem to be any panic in Mick's eyes. Just... worry.

"Listen," Mick said, more serious than he had been all night. "I don't wanna give you some shovel talk. I'm sure you already got that from Rita." Peter had, which was strange considering Juno swore up and down that he never mentioned their past relationship. "But I just want you to know that, when all that went down, and you left, you really broke his heart. So just- be careful this time, okay? You and I both know he's more delicate than he lets on, and I can tell from the way you look at him that you love him, so just don't mess it up. Please?"

There was a definite moment where Peter stopped breathing until he remembered Juno and he were posing as newlyweds. He then forced his well-practiced laugh and asked, "Am I that obvious?"

"Yeah, like the way you were glaring at Ms. Zolotovna? You looked like you wanted to kill her! Oh! But you don't have to worry about that. Juno looked like he was just as close to killing her as you were, and I don't think he's ever cheated in his life. Well, there was that one time, in second grade when he-"

Mercury went on rambling for a while. He and Rita would get along swimmingly. Not that Peter was paying attention. No, he was far too busy staring into space. Apparently, Mick thought he was jealous of Ms. Zolotovna. Which, of course, couldn't be farther from the truth. He'd just been bothered that Juno would allow himself to become so distracted, that was all... Mostly.

Looking at him with Zolotovna felt wrong. Of course, it felt wrong, Peter tried to convince himself. Once upon a time, he had been in love with Juno. Even if those feelings had since dissipated it still made his stomach churn to think of Juno with anyone else. Maybe that wasn't healthy. Peter was starting to think maybe Juno was right about them needing to talk. But now was not the time nor the place for a heart. Just another thing for him to file away.

Right, Mercury was talking to him. God, Peter really needed to swipe that map so they could get out of there. "Well, Mick. I can assure you, I'd sooner die than hurt Juno. Will that be all?"

Mick seemed to have been interrupted mid-sentence, but he was friends with Juno, so Peter assumed he was used to it. "Oh! No, Juno wanted me to go get you for your-" he dropped his voice to a stage whisper "-secret-ay mission-ay."

Peter's brain stopped for a solid second. "Was that- was that meant to be Pig Latin?"

"No," Mick said, winking dramatically.

Peter followed Mick, a tad bit shaken by the implication that Mick Mercury didn't know what Pig Latin was in the slightest until the pair eventually reached Juno.

"Took you long enough, what? Were you stuck in a flowerpot?" The lady asked when they'd reached him.

Peter laughed, not entirely sure who the question was directed at. "Mick tells me you have a plan?"

"Not a plan, an observation. There's a camera trained on the map, one which you won't have time to dismantle before the dance begins in-" Juno looked at the grand clock in the center of the room "-4 minutes."

Peter grimaced in thought before eventually coming up with a solution. "Mick, when I give you a signal, try to get caught. Juno and I'll give you a lift back to Mars."

Peter was expecting some resistance from Mick, but he just nodded enthusiastically, "Okay, Rex. Uhh... I'm not really used to all this spy stuff. What's the signal?"

Peter only thought for a moment before coming up with an answer, "I'll trip on my heels."

Juno laughed, "Babe, that's a shit idea. What if you actually trip?"

Peter pointedly ignored the feeling in his chest when Juno called him 'babe' and instead responded, "I don't trip, dear."

Juno blushed and began to argue before being interrupted as the dance began. Peter silently held his hand out for Juno to take, and the lady barely hesitated before taking it.

Once they were far enough from Mick, Juno began to snicker softly to himself.

"What?"

"Feeling nostalgic, Rex?"

Peter laughed along with him. "What? It's the only name I could imagine you bringing up. Granted, I didn't expect it to stick with Mercury, but uh... I'm-"

"Don't. At least you had a reason. I was just scared."

"Of what?"

"Later, Nureyev," Juno whispered.

As they walked onto the dance floor, Peter could almost laugh with delight. Zolotovna hadn't been tracking his companion this entire night. She'd been tracking him. Maybe that said something about his self-confidence, maybe it said something about his affection for Juno, or maybe all it said was he would not make a very good detective. Either way, there would be a slight change in their normal routine.

"Juno, I do believe you'll have to be the one to swipe the map, someone seems to be watching me."

'Ugh! She's still doing it? That's messed up. Like our cover is as a married couple, and she has no problem making goo-goo eyes at you!"

Peter laughed, "Madam Dauphine, are you jealous?" 

Juno gave him a smirk, "Of course not, Monsieur Dauphine. I know you have better taste than that."

"I must've if I married you."

Juno gave him a smile. Not the snarky one Peter'd been expecting. A soft smile, one full of admiration. Peter remembered this smile, right after they'd stopped Miasma, and Juno miraculously survived, bleeding from one eye and looking at Peter as if he'd been the one locking himself in a room about to explode.

"What's with that look?" Peter asked.

"Nothing," Juno said. "I just forgot how fun it is to work with you when you aren't pretending to be someone else."

Peter grinned at Juno as they separated. Him going to distract Zolotovna, Juno going to swipe a billion-dollar artifact.

---

Their plan had gone off without a hitch, Zolotovna was rambling on with some love confession, or the other, and Peter was pretending to listen, watching in awe as Juno gracefully swiped their prize from behind his glasses. Peter had come up with some logical reason to reject Zolotovna, guessing she wouldn't be all too satisfied with the excuse of "I'm happily married," something about organized crime. He doesn't remember. Even managed to get a little over a billion creds from her.

He then made his way over to Juno. Planning on waiting a few minutes to escape into the crowd before signaling Mercury. And as he made his way to Juno, a golden goddess, a perfect image of beauty and grace, with his dark brown skin and curly hair and the scars scattered across his skin. Peter did the unthinkable. He tripped. Too distracted by the image in front of him to notice his misstep. That is until Mercury started taunting the guards.

Then he, Juno, and Mercury were running across the yard to where Jet was waiting with the car. At some point, Peter's arm had ended up around Juno's waist, likely when he nearly fell over trying to throw his heels off and grabbed onto Peter for stability. They finally reached the car, and Juno threw open the door, the three of them clamoring in at top speed.

"Hello, Ransom, Juno. Who's this?" Jet asked in the same deadpan tone, as always.

"We'll tell you later, now fucking drive!" Juno rushed, a little breathless.

"Alright, then. Buckle your seatbelts."

"Go!"

---

When they got back to the ship, Buddy spent approximately 30 minutes rotating between tearing Peter and Juno to shreds for their performance and greeting Mick and asking if he was staying for dinner. She did, however, agree to bring Mick back to Mars before making their way to their next mission.

Later, Peter and Buddy had a much kinder conversation. One that brought up an emotion that Peter had not felt in a very long time. Familial love. He would try not to think too much of it, but an undeniable comfort had begun to settle into Peter's stomach.

There was another knock on the door after she left, and he already knew who it was. Finally, after nearly a year, it was later.

[soldier-zer0]

Have Heart (Cinematic Plan)

I found this in my old onedrive files, enjoy Alistaire’s cinematic plan :)

Beep beep… Beep beep… Beep beep…

“Alistaire are you even listening to me?” His mother was looking at him expectantly, but that heart monitor was driving him nuts. Life support, he knew he would end up here eventually but he had never expected it this early.  

“Alistaire!” His fathers attempt at get his attention, shouting always with the shouting. It only earned a flinch and tears from Ali’s miss matched eyes.  

He was dying, and all that effort to try and stop it. The cybernetic heart of all things lay incomplete on his desk at home. Fingers were gently pulling his face to look at his mother, he was scared and he felt alone. He wished he had done more with the time he had, he then pulled his head away and his parents just kept quiet though quickly after a nurse came in to tell them visitation hours were closing. “We’ll come back tomorrow lad.” Though he didn’t answer as they left.

“Alistaire, it isn’t their fault you can’t ignore them forever.” His nurse, Sasha watched him as she spoke.

"They aren't doing anything, t-they’re accepting that I'm going to die! I don't want to die and they aren’t helping!” He sniffled and allowed his tears to fall, his breath catching in his throat. Sasha walked over and gently pet his hair, she was very motherly towards him since he first arrived at the hospital.

"I know you don't...” She helped him sit up and she turned on the TV knowing he liked to watch it in the afternoons. “How about, I refill your drip and we watch some of that show you love?” Sasha also picked up a tissue to dry his tears, she then smiled at him.

“T-that sounds good.” The drugs kept the pain away but he knew sometimes they did make him act strange, they made him feel distant at times like now. Watching TV did make him feel better.  

(Paragraphs when there is a time jump.) After some TV and his food he was left alone watching out the window as the rain pattered against the glass. The hospital was something familiar to him his mother had told him he had been born with a weak heart and often needed check ups, people who are born with holes in their heart usually heal up but Ali’s was one of those who’s hole just got bigger.

He had often made jokes about it being because he was missing his soul mate but the humour had only been a façade. His fingers gripped the duvet tightly, he had many regrets one of them being he had never confessed his love to his best friend. He had been too scared of telling someone he was gay, his parents didn’t even know. Everything seemed in such a blur before he knew it he was in a hospital bed waiting for his very last breath to come. He let out some sobs and found he fell asleep morning had already come and Sasha was waking him up for his breakfast. Ugh, the food here was terrible he would kill for a greasy fry up back at home in his warm comfy armchair.

"Sasha, do my parents have to come today?” He watched her and she looked at him.  

“Maybe you should listen to them Alistaire.”

“I know what they want to talk about. They want me to help make arrangements for my own funeral, I don’t care it’s not as if I’ll be here to see it.” He wheezed and coughed. Rasp, air.

“Alistaire? Are you alright?” She came to his side and looked at the monitor frowning she took the plate away almost throwing it down on the bedside table, using the remote to make the bed go flat.

His chest felt like it was on fire, and his eyes were wide. This was it wasn’t it? This was the end. It felt so hard to breath and so many voices. “Get me oxygen! Now!” His whole body hurt so much, his eyes felt so heavy. Though he could hear Sasha amongst what he guessed was other doctors and nurses.

“Alistaire, stay awake come on. You can do it lad!” She could feel her hand petting his forehead. His eyes closed and it felt like a moment to him of silence and nothing. But when he reopened his eyes a little it was clear sometime had passed he could hear his mothers crying but he felt so weak. His father Eoin was the first to notice he was watching them.

“Bethany, he’s awake. Look.” His mother looked up.

“Alistaire! Baby.” She pet his head looking distraught, he tried to speak but she stopped him “You focus on breathing alright?” He nodded a little, he couldn’t remember what had happened his breathing sounded terrible his body was giving up on him he knew that. Noticing the blue on the table at the end of the bed he realised they had brought his blueprints, but why? He wasn’t able to complete them… His gaze returned to his parents who realised what he was looking at.

“We were hoping we could help you finish them.” Bethany’s eyes were hopeful, she knew her son was strong but maybe this was too much now. “But if not baby, if you don’t feel strong enough you can go. Know that we’ll always love you.” His eyes watered, maybe there was still hope for him if they were willing to help. Though his father left, his mother stayed and helped him with the blueprints. Alistaire would point and try to use as little speech as possible since the breath intake without the mask was horrible. Together they figured out why it wasn’t working mathematically…

Wait, had he fallen asleep? Well his mother was gone, but someone else was here his eyes looked over to the side since it hurt to move his head. Though he spotted his best friend Jaimie the only one to stick with him through all of this, a small smile appeared on his face. Though Ali himself stayed quiet Jaimie's voice felt like silk to his ears "Hey... Sorry I couldn't get here earlier they were only letting family in."

"S'alright." The oxygen mask was making Ali's voice sound strange but it was helping his breathing. Why did he have to have a crush on him? It was so hard to look at him and know it was never going to happen. Thump thump. He watched as the other leaned closer to him, both of their eyes were watering.

"You be ok if I lift this?" Alistaire nodded a little, his breathing becoming a little uneven when the mask was taken away from his mouth but as quickly replaced with a pair of lips soft and gentle like he had always dreamed. Tears fell down his face as he closed his eyes and lifted a gentle hand onto Jaimie's chest, he didn't care if this was a pity kiss. It felt so good and he didn't want it to stop. Rasp. Instead of Jaimie pulling the mask back onto Ali's face he breathed for him through the kisses.

Though it had to end somewhere and their lips parted. Ali pulled his mask back on and breathed in deeply. “Such a nerd Baird. Look at you, blushing because you just got kissed.” Jaimie ran his hand through the others hair “I’m sorry we never got to be… I’m so sorry.” Ali didn’t reply not that he couldn’t but because he didn’t want to, if he did it’d mean the end it’d mean he was giving up and he didn’t want to give up. “Hey, if you want to go now it’ll be alright… I know what your parents are like. I’ll be here, I promise.”

Ali looked over to the window maybe it was his time to go, he felt so tired and he wasn’t sure how much more he could be bothered to fight. He would then allow his eyes to slide shut… thump thump… thump thump… thump thump…

“Mister Baird… I am Angela Ziegler. You already kn….” Ugh why was his hearing dipping in and out? His eyes felt so heavy he couldn’t open them. “…You are a smart young man, I am here to help you. Could you try and squeeze my hand?” He felt like he had almost forgot how to move it was so hard to even make his fingers twitch, but he managed it feeling skin against his own. “Very good, you are a strong young man.” Was he? In what way was he strong? His heart had given out once and he had already accepted he was going to die. He wasn't strong in anyway at all.

"We are going to run you through surgery, we have made your heart and now we are going to put it in you." Wait, had they completed his design? Ali felt confused but also hopeful and how was he still alive? Was he on life support? Oh god, the pain. It hurt so much. He could hear himself crying and screaming, what was gong on?!

"Alistaire! Calm down!"

"Doctor Angela we have to put him back to sleep! His heart cannot take the strain!"

"Ja! Do it! I will take care of you Alistaire, be strong." Everything went quiet again, why was this happening. He was so scared... so alone. Lost in the darkness of his own mind, he wanted to go but they weren't letting him he just wanted to pass over happy not forced to be here for the rest of his life in this unfair world.

The next thing he knew though was that he was taking a needy breath like his lungs had been starved of oxygen for years. He wasn't sure if it was a good feeling because it felt so nice to take a breath or a bad thing that he had been starved of it. Ali then looked around the room it was pure and clean just like the hospital, he hated it. The door then opened and a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes walked in along with another doctor he guessed.

"Alistaire, good morning. It is good to see you are awake." He raised a brow at her feeling confused about the whole situation. "I hope you are feeling well this morning." She walked over to the windows pulling the blinds up and lighting up the room, which caused Ali to cover his eyes giving them time to adjust.

"W-Where am I?"

"You are in the medical ward of an Overwatch base. I am Doctor Angela Ziegler and I helped complete your designs for your cybernetic heart. Do you have any unusual pains Alistaire?"

"No, not that I can feel. So... How did you do it?" There was always that risk when switching the hearts that the patient might slip away.  

"Well. After we switched the hearts we revived you, not a simple task might I just say but you are quite the fighter." She smiled at him and moved to the side of his bed to change the IV drip. "We also have something we'd like to discuss with you. Seeing as you are a somewhat expert in cybernetics we'd like you to join our team here."  

"Wait, what. Really?" He looked surprised at the doctor and then at the other man who was here. Were they really recruiting him?! This was amazing! "Yes. Of course." Ali tried to remain professional despite how excited he was to work with the worlds best medical team.

"Good, when you are better we shall get you settled in and you can meet everyone. I shall leave you to rest then, shall I?" She nodded and walked out with the other doctor leaving Alistaire alone.

Well this was a turn of events, wasn't it?