#and i at least knew who exo were before i got into them

[forcebookish]

not only have i been stanning for only four months, i didn't even know forcebook existed before then and i've already written two fics about their characters and two fics about them

[marlynnofmany]

Mystery Colors

Our first delivery after a bit of shore leave at the local space station, and it was a stealth mission. The client didn't say why they needed this delivery to be handed over without catching the attention of the authority figures at their work site, but they were paying extra for it. I wasn't part of the conversation. I don't know what other details Captain Sunlight got from them to make sure this was a safe risk on our account. But she was always smart about that sort of thing, and at any rate, she assured us all that we didn't need to worry. Flying in to an unpopulated area out of sight of the main science installation would be fine. 

We trusted that, but we were curious. And since the client was human, the rest of my crewmates volunteered me for the delivery in hopes of wheedling out some tactful details. 

I didn't object. I wanted to know too. 

So I got into my exo suit, checking all the seams and settings even though the safety gear was inspected regularly. This planet wasn’t even all that dangerous according to the readings — it was mostly terraformed to an acceptable standard, though the air wasn’t quite up to standard levels yet — but this felt like a good time to be careful. I wasn’t likely to be entrusted with any secrets if I passed out from lack of oxygen.

Paint was waiting for me with the box. “We’re almost there!” she said, scaly tail swishing behind her. “Best of luck!”

“Thanks,” I said, taking the box and wondering for the umpteenth time what was inside it. The logos were all from a megastore at the space station. Zhee had picked it up, and it was already sealed when he signed for it as official intermediary courier. The person at the checkout counter hadn’t known what it held either.

The engines made their usual landing hum. Since our ship had good landing gear and reliable artificial gravity, it would have been easy to miss otherwise. Paint scuttled out of the way while I walked toward the exit. Blip and Blop peeked around a corner, frills waving in curiosity. Zhee was parked in a cross hallway, not trying to hide.

He tapped one bug leg on the floor and said, “I hope to hear any juicy secrets first.”

Before I could answer that, Mur scooted by in a quiet slap of tentacles and put in, “I’ll be in the cockpit to see if Wio can eavesdrop with the sensors.”

I left Zhee to grumble about it and threaten to tattle on Mur for bothering the pilots. We all knew Zhee was just jealous that he was too big to perch in an out-of-the-way corner. At least he wasn’t Trrili’s size; she barely fit in the cockpit at all.

The door panel said the airlock was engaged, and the air outside was as expected. I stepped through the first door with the box held tight, letting it close behind me with a shush of air that drowned out the bickering in the hallway.

The outside door opened to let in bright sunlight, alien air, and distinctly less gravity. I didn’t notice that last until I stepped out onto the ramp and nearly made a fool of myself. Caught my balance, though. I tried not to leave finger-shaped dents in the box as I hopped awkwardly down the ramp and mentally kicked myself for not reading the briefing more thoroughly. I’d been focused on the air and hadn’t noticed that the gravity was lower than I was used to.

No time to worry about that now, though: a pair of human shapes in bright red exo suits were approaching from the edge of the flat rocky area. A metal roof visible over the boulders behind them was probably their own shuttle. Everything else in sight was rocks in a range of gray-to-orange colors. A hill in the distance held tinges of green that could have been plants.

“Hello!” said the human who was one step ahead of the other. She sounded a little younger than me. Her face wasn’t visible through the reflective visor. So clandestine. “Thank you for being prompt.”

I said, “We aim to please,” and managed to stop moving without smashing into either of them. They had clearly been working here long enough to get a feel for the gravity. “Here is your package,” I said as I handed it over, “And here is the payment tablet,” I added once my hands were free. I unhooked it from my waistband and passed it to the second human.

The first was busy ripping the box open like a kid with an anticipated present.

“Oh good, it’s the right kind!” she said in relief. She set the box on the dusty ground and pulled out something that I recognized as a turbo cleaning wand, the kind usually marketed towards the parents of small children. I’d seen artists use them too, both for cleanup and for making some neat inverted-color murals.

Not wanting to sound like I was doing more than making conversation, I said, “I’ve heard those are good ones.”

“They’re definitely the fastest,” the human said. “Lemme just see if they work on this particular ink.” She opened a thigh pocket with a rip of velcro, and took out what looked like a chunk of tile with deep pink scribbles on it.

The other human finished with the payment tablet and handed it back. “They’d better work,” he said. “If not, we’re toast.”

“How come?” I asked with concern in my voice, hoping that wasn’t too much.

I shouldn’t have worried. The first human activated the wand and wiped the tile clean in one swift pass, then laughed with clear relief. “Saved! We should have just enough time to get everything before the inspectors arrive. Now we just have to hope Julian didn’t leave any more of his rude notes somewhere we haven’t found. The shopping lists and tally marks would be bad enough, but his stuff would get all three of us canned immediately.”

I looked in the direction of the large encampment I’d seen from space. “Are you working this whole place alone?”

She laughed and put the tile back in her pocket. “Oh no, we’re just the only humans here. Everybody else is a Waterwill. Did you know those guys can’t see the color magenta?”

“Really!” I said. This was news to me.

She pulled a pen out of a different pocket. “These are completely invisible if you write on a pale surface. Which has been handy for keeping track of specimens when we feel lazy, and leaving each other notes by the door..”

“…But Julian took it a bit too far,” added the other guy. “With this gravity, he jumps and writes insults on the ceiling.”

“Ah,” I said. “I see why that might not go over well with inspectors. Who are not Waterwills, I take it?”

“Nope,” said the first human as she stowed the wand back in the box then picked the whole thing up. “But they’re not coming until tomorrow, so we should be able to clean it all away in time. Even if we have to do some quiet climbing around in the middle of the night.”

“Hey, what’s that?” the other human interrupted, reaching for something else in the box. He came up with a bundle of green cloth.

“Oh!” said the first. “That’s for Julian. I’m going to say it was at the bottom of the last food shipment as an error.”

When the guy unfolded it, the cloth proved to be a T-shirt patterned in green specks of multiple shades. The side toward me had black text that said “The Best.”

But the two humans were laughing about something on the back. When they saw my confusion, the guy turned it around.

Among all those green dots were a series of orange ones that spelled out “I’m colorblind! And also an asshole.”

The first human explained to me, “Julian is actually red-green colorblind. The magenta pens were for his benefit originally, since they don’t blend with the green ones like red does, and sometimes we need to chart things in color-coding. But—”

“But the Waterwills can’t see it at all,” the second continued. “So they were retired. Officially.”

“I see,” I said. “Well. Best of luck in cleaning up his messes!”

“Thank you!” they chorused. Once the shirt was stuffed into the bottom of the box and the lid was safely shut, they gave me a wave and bounded across the low-gravity rocks toward their waiting shuttle.

I made my awkward way back up the ramp to where my alien coworkers were waiting. I was considering an impromptu color vision test for them, just to see if something bright and obvious to me was invisible someone else onboard.

But then I realized that it would lead to a contest for smell-vision, and I was absolutely rubbish at that.

~~~

These are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

Shared early on Patreon! There’s even a free tier to get them on the same day as the rest of the world.

The sequel novel is in progress (and will include characters from these stories. I hadn’t thought all of them up when I wrote the first book, but they’re too much fun to leave out of the second).

[gumnut-logic]

How Gordon got there first was no mystery. Virgil was just too damned tired after three rescues in a row and Scott had been tied up with Tracy Industries for most of the day. Grandma could possibly have been on it if she hadn’t been filling in for John who had broken out his exo-suit to yank a couple of free floaters out of the sky.

He was still muttering about idiots and safety. His mood was not improved by the fact Grandma insisted he come down for the night so he could be counted.

Consequently, his muttering also included cursing bureaucracy even though Virgil knew census night was a favourite of the astronaut.

Perhaps Gordon got to the form first because he knew everyone else was tired and grumpy and needed a kick in the pants. Virgil had to admit with a fond thought that his little brother was prone to throwing joke bombs amongst them when the mood was through the floor.

Virgil had no issues wondering why Alan wasn’t the one poking at the form. Their resident teenager wasn’t interested at all.

“Okay, guys. What is our address? What did we put last time?”

Alan didn’t even look up from his game. “Tracy Island.”

Gordon, who was sitting at Dad’s desk, staring at the holographic form, hesitated. “Did Dad register that with the powers that be?”

“What?” Alan really wasn’t paying any attention at all.

Virgil sighed. He was sitting on the couch with one of his uniform boots on his lap attempting to pick out several penetrating objects out of the sole. His last rescue had been a collapsed factory and he was still trying to work out what exactly it was that they made that could penetrate his specialist footwear.

Fortunately, despite multiple incursions, he only had a scratch on his left foot, more an annoyance than anything, but these objects were frustrating and suspicious.

“Dad did all the right things. Tracy Island is the official name now.” The pliers weren’t quite gripping the piece of metal properly. The grip slipped and Virgil swore.

“Now? What was it called before?”

“Deserter’s Rock.” Scott strode in from the kitchen, a coffee in hand, and grimace on his face. His usually perfect hair was scruffy, as if he had been running his hands through it.

Virgil frowned up at him. “You okay?”

His brother took the steps down into the lounge and sighed. “Nothing a holiday won’t fix.” It was Scott’s turn to frown. “What’s with the boot?”

“Deserter’s Rock? Really?”

It was John who answered, very much like Alan, staring into his tablet and barely paying attention. “Really. Three sailors were stuck here for months. Only one survived. That’s why there is a cairn on Tracy Peak.”

“I thought that was a pile of rocks put there by Dad.” Gordon seemed genuinely surprised. “You mean there are two dead guys on the Island?”

“Along with their ghosts, yeah.” John still didn’t look up.

“Ghosts?” Alan did look up at that, eyes wide. “What ghosts?”

“The one’s who keep stealing my Bailey’s ice cream.”

“Oh.” Alan went back to playing his game, his eyes definitely not darting between John and Gordon at all.

“Okay, moving on…so where do I put ‘Tracy Island’ in this thing? It’s not a suburb, state or territory…do we have a postcode?”

“It’s a locality. Shove it in there.” Virgil grit his teeth and yanked hard at the piece of metal embedded in his boot. A grunt and a flex of heavy lifting muscles and…it didn’t move at all. What the hell?

“Okay, whatever.” Gordon half sung ‘Tracy Island, Kermadec Ridge, South Pacific Ocean’ to himself as he entered it into the form. At least he was being specific. Virgil glared at his boot.

“Next. Who gets to be head of household? Oh, the Householder?” A pause in which Virgil poked at his boot, Scott sipped his coffee with closed eyes, Alan killed three zombies with a grin and John sat motionless still staring at his tablet.

“Okay, then. It’s me.” Gordon grinned to himself.

Nobody looked up, but all four other brothers said simultaneously and in chorus. “It’s Grandma.”

Virgil flexed his hand and picked up his pliers again. Peripherally, he watched Gordon’s shoulders drop. Even the Fish couldn’t argue with that.

“Fine. It’s Grandma.” He reached up and touched the box to open that section of the form. “Where is she anyway?”

Virgil tried to get a better grip on another chunk of metal in his boot. “Yoga. Don’t disturb her.” Yoga was Grandma’s mindfulness time and after today, it was well overdue. “Leave her be.”

“I wasn’t going to. Sheesh. So, name. Sally Tracy.” He typed in her name. “Person two?”

“Scott Tracy.” Okay, so Virgil had a bit of a thing about this. His brother deserved acknowledgement for everything he had done.

Gordon glared at him. “And so I guess the rest of us are in age order?”

Virgil flipped his boot over. “Whatever floats your boat, fishboy.” A glance in Scott’s direction and he had to wonder if his brother had fallen asleep, he was that still. The coffee mug in his hand was the only proof of consciousness.

Virgil fought the urge to save it. “Scott, you wanna go to bed?”

“Wha-?” His brother sat up. “I’m fine.” Fortunately, he put the coffee mug down. The chances of Virgil having to treat burns tonight dropped significantly.

“How do you spell ‘Hackenbacker’?”

Virgil did not grace that with an answer as it was obviously a stupid question.

John was apparently on auto as he spouted off the required letters anyway while still staring at his tablet.

Gordon poked at the form in silence for a little while and Virgil wondered what on Earth he was entering. He trusted his brother. This was an official document, after all, but he was still Gordon.

“Okay, guys, I need your information.”

Beside Virgil, Scott ‘woke up’. “What, no questions about Grandma?”

Gordon frowned at his eldest brother. “I’ll have you know that I know our grandmother very well. We have a special kind of relationship.”

Alan snorted.

“What? You got something to say, sprout?” The fish glared at Alan enough to torch him on the spot.

“I’m just saying that after that time with Grandma’s diver’s license, you should know Grandma’s details very well. Her birthdate, her ancestry, her suit measurements…”

A starfish plushie suddenly had a very short career as a ninja star and bounced off Alan’s head. “Shut up, Alan.”

Their little brother only giggled more.

John, still staring at his tablet, raised an eyebrow. “Allie, Grandma baked some cookies yesterday. I think there are still some in the cupboard. Would you like some?”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Alan threw the plushie at his fish brother, missing completely, and went back to playing his game. There was muttering about Gordon making jokes but Alan not being allowed to.

Virgil sighed to himself.

“Scotty, what’s your age? It’s 2060 for reference. Oh, and your gender.”

All signs of sleep fell away and Scott sat up. “Gordon…” It was all warning.

“Hey, I’m just giving you the opportunity to offer an alternative. After all, tonight you look at least fifty-six.”

“I’m thirty-one and you know it.”

Gordon poked at the form. “Thirty-one years young. Got it.”

Scott grunted at him.

“Virg, are we telling the truth this time?”

“Depends on whether you want me to leave you in the ocean next time.” Why the hell couldn’t he get this out of his boot?

“To threat level already, you are grumpy tonight.”

“Gordon…” Virgil echoed Scott from earlier to the note.

“Johnny?”

“No one named ‘Johnny’ lives here.”

Gordon signed. “John Glenn Tracy, how would you like me to record your age?”

“Accurately.”

“Fine.”

“If I say I’m thirty-two, do I get to go higher up on the form?” Alan looked hopeful.

“If you like.” Gordon moved things around on the display.

Virgil gave up. The locality of Tracy Island was destined to be a statistical anomaly anyway. At least it would be an interesting one.

Besides, John would probably hack it later and fix it. The fact he had hardly protested so far was eminent proof of that security factor.

“Scotty, are you the husband or wife of Grandma?”

Scott rubbed his face and didn’t bother to answer, picking up his coffee again and burying his face in it.

Virgil just wished he would go to bed. The man was a zombie.

Gordon took the hint and was quiet for a little while. Virgil went back to tugging on his boot. Maybe he should take this down to his workshop.

The thought of actually working more had his shoulders slumping enough to alert Scott. The concerned and questioning look shot in his direction had Virgil sitting up a little straighter to fend it off.

“John, where should we put your usual place of residence?”

“Here.”

“But you live in space.”

“So do you.”

“Pedantic much?”

“As necessary. Tracy Island is home. Thunderbird Five is merely in our astronomical backyard, not to mention secret.”

Virgil looked up at that. It was a simple statement, but it was good to hear that John still considered Tracy Island home despite his multiple protests over the years.

“Fine. Secret space station wasn’t an option anyway. I could flub it and use Global One but then that would spark all those rumours about you and that captain all over again.”

“Gordon, I can hack your bank accounts.”

“Go for it.”

“I can also hack your fish tanks.”

The aquanaut shot to his feet. “You touch my tanks and you’re dead, spacehead.”

John didn’t react other than to smile just a little.

Their space brother could be a right royal ass when he wanted to be. Virgil sighed. “John, you know the rules.”

He shrugged. “Didn’t break any.”

“You touch my tanks, I’m spicing up your atmosphere on Five. I’m not kidding. I have fart gas resources even you can’t find.” Gordon was still on his feet and actually appeared angry.

John shuddered. “TMI, Gordo. Not interested in your gas capacity, honestly.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Calm down, Gords, John’s not doing anything to your fish tanks. He knows the rules, don’t you, John.” He arched a prompting eyebrow at his brother.

“Never said I didn’t.”

Definitely an ass.

“Gordon, calm down. You can put John’s relationship to you in as ‘nemesis’ if it makes you feel better.”

“I can only put in our relationship to Grandma. I wrote favourite grandson in yours.”

It was Virgil’s turn to shrug. “I’m not going to complain. Sit down and finish the form.”

His brother didn’t answer, but he did sit down, albeit still glaring at John.

John had gone back to his tablet, doing who knew the hell what.

Definitely an ass.

Virgil turned back to Gordon. “What’s the next question, Gords?”

The glare switched to Virgil for a second before turning to the form. “Where were we born?”

“Kansas.”

“I know that. What about Grandma, Brains and Kayo?”

“Space.” Alan said it with triumph.

“What?”

“Where John lives. Isn’t that what the question was?” Alan stared between his brothers.

“Go back to sleep, Alan.”

“Grandma was born in Kansas, Brains was born in India, and Kayo was born here.” Scott proved he was still awake by suddenly providing information enough to make Virgil jump.

Gordon poked at the form, but nothing further was said on that front. Everyone knew Kayo was sensitive about her past, and while she wasn’t in the room, she would find out and partially kill anyone responsible.

“Kayo is here tonight, isn’t she?”

Virgil yanked on his boot again, slipped and managed to elbow Scott in the ribs. His brother grunted.

“Oh, shit, sorry. You okay?” He shoved the boot aside and the pliers along with it.

Scott eyed him and rubbed his side. “That answers your question, Gordon. Kayo is on a conference call with Captain Rigby.”

Virgil glared at Scott.

Gordon eyed the both of them. “Is there something you two aren’t telling the class?”

“Shut up, Gordon.” Virgil glared at Scott a moment longer, enough to have his brother’s expression fall into one of concern. Grabbing his boot again, Virgil went back to wrestling with embedded metal. Damned specialised rubber was amazing when it protected him but when its tolerances were overrun, it was a pain to fix. Maybe he should ask Max to give it a yank. “What entertaining religion are you using this time, Gords?” Any attempt to get the conversation off this topic.

Gordon stared at him a moment, obviously still trying to work out what the hell happened there.

Scott was dead later; Virgil was going to make sure of it. Tired or not, he had crossed a line.

A sideways look in his eldest brother’s direction and it was obvious Scott realised that. Okay, maybe he could let it go. It had been a long day and they were all tired.

Probably should go to bed.

He went back to fighting with his boot.

Gordon was still staring but even the fish knew when to shut up apparently, because the next words out of his mouth were entirely religious.

“I’m worshiping Neptune this year.”

Alan frowned. “I thought you said that last time.”

“Dad wouldn’t let me.”

That brought the whole room to a standstill. Last census was ten years ago. Flashback to that time brought everything that had changed into the bright glaring light. The biggest change being Dad’s absence. But even more, ten years ago they were still based in Kansas, IR was in development, but not yet a reality. Alan was only six, Gords eleven and with his body still intact…it was a completely different time. Virgil was still in college and had to fill in his own census form in Denver.

Gordon broke the looming silence with a determined smile. “This time the government gets the truth. Scott bows to the sky gods, Virg worships molemen, Johnny is a god, and Alan is Satan.

“Hey!” It was said by multiple brothers at once.

Only John remained calm. He even had a smile. “In that case, I want bagels every Sunday.”

“You get bagels every Sunday. Virg sends them up all the time.” Alan glared at his space brother – Alan did not like bagels.

John grinned wider. “I’ll take that as proof that I have at least one faithful worshipper.”

“Next time you can get your own bagels.” Virgil glared at his brother.

Gordon snorted. “Yeah, right, you old softie. John could blow up Two and you’d still send him his bagels.”

Virgil found himself glaring at Gordon again. It seemed to be a theme tonight. “Short pier, long walk, Gordon, go for it.”

He got a smirk for that. “Don’t mind if I do. A little night diving is quite spectacular around here.”

Virgil ignored him and went back to his boot…which he had made zero progress on for all the time he had been sitting here, damnit.

“Does Virgil ever ‘need someone to help with or be with him for self-care, body movement, or communication activities’?” Gordon typed into the form. “Before coffee.”

Virgil ignored him some more as Alan took the bait and snickered. “Better watch it, Gords. Won’t be long before ‘before coffee’ time kicks in. Look at him, he’s already brewing.”

The piece of metal in his boot finally shifted a little. Thank goodness.

“Long term health conditions.” Gordon slumped in his seat. “Well, isn’t this cheerful.”

“Just fill it in, Gordon.” Scott’s words were little more than a sigh.

That left a gaping silence. Gordon tapped a lot at the keyboard filling in far too much. More for himself, obviously, but then there was John and his space issues, and they all had been diagnosed with something on the list hanging above their father’s desk.

Except Alan, who could not be left out. Virgil pretended to not be able to read the word ‘zombification’ next to his little brother’s name.

“Schooling? Oh man, John, you can write all the letters after your name. I can never remember them all.”

“Not a problem.” The astronaut poked at his tablet and the hologram in front of Gordon sprouted half the alphabet.

“Really? Did you get a new one?” He stared at John. “When did you get time for that?”

John shrugged. “Made time.”

“What’s this one for?”

“Oceanography.”

“What?”

“You were in the ocean. I didn’t know enough to help. So I fixed the problem.”

Gordon just stared.

Virgil, of course, knew. He had been the one to field John’s version of panic the day he didn’t know enough to help Gordon. John was practical. He saw a problem, he fixed it. Oceanography wasn’t an obvious topic for the starman, but he was a genius and that genius could be applied where he wished it to be.

If Virgil had found himself helping John at a few points that intersected with his specialities along the way, he was just going to take a little comfort from being able to return the favour after years of borrowing his brother’s brains for other topics.

And besides, it had meant he had been able to spend a little extra time with John. Always a good thing.

Despite him being the occasional ass.

Gordon was still staring. “Is that why you bugged me to take you out in Four?”

John shrugged. “Partly. Didn’t mind spending a bit of time with you either. Good experience to familiarise myself with Four as well.”

The stare continued.

“Be careful you don’t catch any flies with your mouth open.”

The stare became a glare. “We’re talking about this. You and me.”

“Sure.”

Gordon looked like he didn’t know whether to yell at him or run over and hug his brother. Virgil was voting for the latter.

But everything was interrupted by a sudden snore and snort.

Virgil turned to Scott and found his brother startled awake, likely by his own snore.

“Wha-?”

“Scott, you need to go to bed.”

“I’m fine.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Do I need to pick you up and carry you?”

“I’m fine.” He waved Virgil away, sat up straighter and attempted to guzzle whatever was left of his probably cold coffee.

“Idiot.”

“What?”

“Go to bed.”

“No. We need to finish the census.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Because why?”

“Because I want to.”

“Why?”

“Can you stop that?”

“Can you go to bed?”

“No!”

“You need sleep.”

“I can manage my own health, thank you, Doctor Virgil.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I am an adult.”

“Sometimes.”

“Virgil!”

Gordon let off a loud snort. “That’s it. I’m putting you two in as married.”

“Gordon!” Both of them, in chorus. It was apparently a theme tonight.

“Well, you both argue like an old married couple, what can I do?”

“You can shut up and move onto the next question.”

Gordon poked his tongue out at Scott, but he didn’t stop grinning and Virgil was forced to hold back a smile himself.

Bratty little fish.

He was still smirking when he said, “Employment.”

“Oh god.” Scott sank back onto the couch and rubbed his face with his hands.

There followed a book’s worth of employment activities.

“Rocket surfing is not an occupation, Gordon.” Virgil sighed.

“Why not? Both Scott and Allie surf rockets.”

“Alan rides a rocket sled and Scott is just trying to give me grey hair.”

“Has he succeeded yet?” Bratty fish.

“None of your business.”

“So is International Rescue paid or unpaid work?” Gordon was frowning at the form.

“Unpaid.”  Scott’s tone was sharp.

“So are we unemployed, employed or self-employed?”

“Self-employed.”

“How much do you earn a year, Scotty?”

Their eldest brother paused as if calculating, but then threw up a hand. “Stuffed if I know.”

John snorted and rattled off a number.

“There isn’t enough space for that many zeros here, John.”

“Give me a moment.”

The display in front of Gordon flickered and each of their names received a variety of numbers…except for Alan.

“Hey, how come I don’t have any earnings?”

“You are a minor.” John spoke calmly, as if speaking to a minor.

“But I do stuff for Tracy Industries, I do.”

“All your income is held in trust, you know that.”

“Then who is paying for all that popcorn I bought this morning?”

Scott sighed. “Don’t worry, you’re not going to bust the bank.”

“We own the bank.”

Scott stared at John. “When did we buy a bank?”

“I bought it for your birthday last year but forgot to give it to you.”

“Oh.”

“I’m writing obscenely rich next to all our names. Oh, except for you, Allie. You’re a pauper.”

“Hey! You suck, Fishbrain.”

“Remember who might need to lend you money in the next couple of years…”

“While Gordon remembers who lent him money in the past, who still helps him with his finances, and who also is the one to fish him out of the ocean after every mission.” Virgil pinned Gordon with his eyes.

Gordon blinked. “You have a point.” A pause as a smile crept over his face. “Who was that again?”

The hologram of the census form wobbled as a lounge cushion flew through it and hit Gordon squarely in the face.

“Right on target. Hmm, I’ve still got it.” Scott blew imaginary smoke off a finger gun.

Unfortunately, Scott may have still had it, but he wasn’t the best marksman on this census form. The cushion rebounded via aquanaut and hit Scott squarely in the face with an oomph.

This forced both Virgil and Alan to come to his defence and for a full ten minutes after that, it was an all-out pillow fight between the brothers. Even John was drawn in as Gordon came up behind him and tried to stuff one down the back of his shirt.

Which wasn’t advisable since his gravity support was still in play. But then John was king of the noogie and immediately grabbed a head full of strawberry blond hair, dragged it down onto the couch beside him and made sure it received the full-on noogie treatment.

Gordon did squawk quite a bit.

An extreme one-on-one joust erupted between Scott and Alan. It was that determined that Virgil had to back out. Alan, being the terrier he was, managed to get Scott on his back on the lounge and sat on him pummelling him with pillows.

Virgil had suspicions that the game was rigged.

In any case, he had to find somewhere else to sit and tinker with his boot.

Eventually, Gordon found his way back to the census form. Scott was still on his back and apparently Alan had decided he preferred that his big brother stay that way by sitting on him and playing his computer game. Scott at least had a remaining cushion under his head, but one foot had taken out a pot plant and the other was hanging over the back of the sofa. His brother really was too tall for lying on the seating arrangements, but he didn’t seem to care.

With a bit of luck he might fall asleep.

“Okay, let’s finish this. How did you get to work today?” Gordon grunted. “This form has no rockets, planes, submarines or space elevators on it.”

“Tick the ‘other’ box and let them work it out.” John let out a yawn.

Virgil eyed him.

John screwed up his face and poked out his tongue.

Wha-“ Virgil blinked.

“Hey, Virg, how many hours did you work last week?”

That distracted him enough to turn to Gordon. “How the hell do I know?”

“You worked them. I bet you know your flight hours.”

“Today’s. Not last week. That was last week.”

“Eos, send Gordon last week’s record?”

The AI chimed in at her father’s request. “Yes, John.”

Another document appeared in front of Gordon. “Wow, that much? Really?”

“The documentation is correct as recorded.” Eos sounded a little miffed. But then she never particularly liked Gordon on the best of days.

His fault, of course.

“Virg, you win, but only by a bit over Scott and that was because he twisted his ankle on Monday.”

“Sprained, you mean.”

“Twisted.” It came from the couch and was strangled by a little brother.

“Sprained. He should have been off for several days, but he’s an idiot.”

“You can’t talk, Mr Bruised-not-cracked.”

“At least I’m not Cracked-not-broken.”

“Sure.”

Scott might have said more but Alan whacked him with a pillow. “You guys are idiots. Gords, John and I are lucky our grey hairs don’t show.” Alan growled. “I’m sixteen, for crying out loud, and I know more about hospitals than I ever wanted to. Look after yourselves, you morons.”

Silence hit the room again.

“Way to go, Allie. You tell ‘em.” Gordon’s words were honest.

Of course, Scott was devastated and immediately questioning all his life choices. Virgil wasn’t far behind, but Scott, in particular had a sensitive spot where Alan was concerned.

“Hey.” He reached out a hand and rested it on their little brother’s arm. “Talk to me, Allie.”

Alan growled again. “I’m fine as long as you two look after yourselves. We kinda need you, you know.”

Scott grabbed his little brother and dragged him down into a hug. “I’m sorry.”

Virgil sat with his boot in his lap needing to grab both his brothers but not wanting to interrupt their moment.

He shouldn’t have worried. A second later Gordon jumped over the back of the couch, landed beside him and grabbed him, dragging him sideways into an oomph of a hug. “Don’t worry, my dear wingman, we still love you even if you are an idiot.”

“Gordon…”

“Admit it, you want a hug.”

“Shut up.”

Gordon didn’t say anything further, but he did squeeze tighter.

“When you get to the questions on whether any of us looked after children, Gordon, tick yes for all of us.” John’s tone was as dry as a desert.

“Will do.” Gordon grinned at him.

Scott actually fell asleep after that. It was about time. Apparently, Alan made a great teddy bear.

Alan grumbled about that for days, but Virgil knew his little brother treasured his relationship with Scott and the fact he fell asleep as well was rather telling.

But that fact pretty much ended the census form filling for that night.

The next morning saw all of them out on an earthquake and it wasn’t until two days later that Gordon realised they hadn’t submitted the form.

Grabbing Scott and Virgil, he ran them through the last of the questions, landing on the definitions of their dwelling.

“How many registered motor vehicles do we have at this dwelling?”

“Er, none? We have no roads.” Virgil frowned at the obvious answer.

“Three rockets, two planes and a submarine don’t count?”

An arched eyebrow. “Does it say anything about planes? Tracy Two and Three are registered in Aotearoa.”

“Aotearoa is not the United States.”

“But they are still registered.”

Scott sighed. “Read the form properly, guys. It says exclude heavy vehicles.”

“Well, that strikes Virg off the list, but your ‘bird’s a pansy.”

That earned Gordon a mocking whack up the back of the head.

“Gords, just write zero. The intent is there.”

“Fine. We have no motor vehicles. Stupid form.” A sigh. “Okay, how many bedrooms do we have?”

Scott answered that one. “Ten.”

“I thought it was twelve.”

“One went to an art studio and the other to a music recording room.”

Gordon glared at Virgil. “Way to take over the house, bro.”

“And how many fish tanks do you have in how many rooms? Not to mention the chunk of vegetable garden we had to sacrifice for Rover’s pond?”

“Leave Rover out of this. That wasn’t his fault.”

Virgil snorted. “Not his.”

“Shut up.”

Scott sighed again. “We have ten bedrooms.” He scanned the rest of the form, which thankfully wasn’t very long. “We own the place outright, and yes, they can archive our information for our grandkids to access. Tick the boxes and get this sent so I can go get some lunch.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Scott growled but Gordon ignored him.

Boxes all ticked, he hit the submit button.

“This form has already been submitted. You may not submit it again.” Underneath was the date of the day before census night. “What the hell? How could we open it if - ” Scott hit his comms. “John!”

John’s hologram flickered up beside the misbehaving census form. “I’m between a hurricane in Bermuda and an avalanche in the Pyrenees. How may I help you?”

“What?!”

“Oh, the census form. Eos submitted that three days ago.” Their space brother was distracted a moment out of pick up range as Scott’s jaw dropped. “Needed to get it done before Gordon got his hands on it. Besides, we can’t guarantee we wouldn’t have been called out anyway, so I got it done beforehand.”

“Then why the hell were we going through the damned thing on census night?”

John blinked. “You had fun, didn’t you? We shared an evening together.”

Virgil joined both his brothers at staring at John.

The astronaut just smirked back at them. “You did a great job, Gordon. Thanks.” The smirk turned into a grin. “Thunderbird Five out.” His hologram disappeared.

Scott’s face curdled. “I’m going to kill him.”

Virgil let his shoulders drop and sighed. “You said that last time he did something like this, and he’s still kicking.”

“I’m soaking his underwear in saltwater.” Gordon had that fire in his eyes that usually preceded a Tracy Island Armageddon.

“Gords…”

“He played me, Virg. He knew what I would do and played me. He thinks I’m predictable!”

“Yeah, but he obviously did it for the right reasons.”

Virgil found himself the target of two glares. “What? You want a group hug or something? C’mere.” And he grabbed the both of them, wrapping his arms around them. “Happy Census Night.”

The grumbling was worth it.

-o-o-o-

[makoredeyes]

6, Saint/Osiris/Felwinter

whooo! we got a soggy one!

#6 - on a falling tear

It... was time. Nestled securely between Saint and Felwinter as they three curled together on the couch as he was, Osiris thought it would have been easy to open up about what had transpired in the Pits of Luna and after. Instead, he was finding that repeating the tale of his pursuit of Xivu Arath and her High Celebrant, the loss of Sagira, and his subsequent enslavement by Savathun was quite possibly one of the most difficult endeavors he'd ever embarked on.

The telling was simple enough. He'd told the story so many times now he could speak the words without even thinking them, without hearing his own voice. He could almost say Sagira's name without his voice breaking.

Almost.

(no he couldn't)

What he could not take were his lovers' reactions.

Saint knew it all far too well by now. It had taken some time for him to get the whole story, Osiris forcing him to piece it together, and he thought that perhaps this was the first time the Titan had heard it all cohesively from start to finish. But he did know it, and he'd had his time to grieve with Osiris.

He lamented picking those wounds raw once more, but supposed Saint did own some of that pain by insisting he remain with him while Osiris fulfilled his promise to Felwinter to fill him in.

Those scabs, even rubbed raw and aching again, were old and at least somewhat healed over now. The pain dulled. Saint hissed and growled softly here and there as Osiris spoke, his arms firm around his side of the  Warlock, but he no longer carried the explosive rage he once had.

His fuse had burned down. The seeds of his ire had been sewn, and the fallout from his behavior had been mended between them. They had moved on as best they could for better or worse.

But Felwinter.

Felwinter...

Osiris could feel his body gradually tighten against his side. He was getting quieter and quieter. He'd surpassed the limits of humanity, and was now too quiet, too still to pass as a normal Exo. It'd been a long time since Osiris had seen him this rigid. He'd gotten so much better at blending in. Even his body got too cold, roaring fans the only sound from him at all.

He was the opposite of Saint in this regard. He processed pain and rage so much differently. It frightened Osiris just a little: not for himself, but for Felwinter. What would his beloved do, now? Osiris wasn't sure but he worried about it.

"Osiris..." Felwinter's soft voice cut through his ruminations, and a gentle hand on his chin lifted his gaze. Osiris looked up from where he realized he'd been staring down into his hands on his lap, twisted into tight fists. He'd curled up into a knot, knees pulled in tight, ankles tucked beneath himself. He didn't remember moving. His eyes stung, and he blinked, grimacing when a tear escaped. Felwinter's eyes narrowed in one of his subtle, concerned frowns, and he leaned in, catching it with a kiss before it ran off Osiris' cheek. Osiris' breath hitched and he looked away, pulling from his beloved's gentle grip only to come face to face with Saint, who met him with the same exact treatment. "It is over, Osiris," Saint said softly, laying another kiss, damp and salt-tinged, over his lips. "And we are here for you." Felwinter bent deep to press his face into the back of  Osiris' neck, mouthing warm skin there, and nodded, squeezing him firmly where he held him. Osiris' breath caught again, and though he began to sob in earnest, he smiled, nodding.

"I know," he gasped, wiping angrily at his eyes only for Felwinter to look up and catch one hand, kissing the wetness away from his palm. Osiris' breath shook, but he didn't pull his hand away, turning his face into more peppering kisses from Saint while Felwinter began to lavish each fingertip.

"Light, I know..."

It would be okay, he thought. They wouldn't allow it to be anything else.

[soleilceirinen]

Wind in my hair | Oh Sehun x fem!Reader AU

Summary: you're trying to study for your last exam but Sehun has other ideas. He uses his powers to distract you.

A/N: this is an EXO AU where Sehun has powers, as if he's some sort of alien. This is completely fictional, not based in real life.

Warning: nothing.

Also, English isn't my first language, sorry if there are mistakes and thanks for reading!

EXO Masterlist

The soft wind moved the curtain in front of you, delicately brushing your arm in a tender caress. Without taking your eyes off your notes, you moved your arm and slapped the fabric away as you tried not to lose track of what you were studying. Only one more exam and you would be free, that’s what you repeated in your mind to keep yourself motivated. 

Suddenly, the curtain hit you in the face, blinding you for a moment, all the previous tenderness of its movements gone. With a sigh, you pushed it aside and stared at the window to check if it was open. But no, it was still closed, just like you had left it before starting with your study session. 

Then, you turned around in your chair and faced your boyfriend Sehun. He was lying on your bed, smiling at you. Clearly, he was having a great time as he messed with your patience. 

“Stop it, Sehun. You’re not letting me study,” you complained. 

He put a hand over his chest and feigned surprise. “Me?” he asked innocently, although he seemed to be fighting a smile back. “I’m not letting you study?”

You nodded. 

It was him who had been moving the curtain all along, thanks to his wind controlling powers, whatever they were. You still didn’t fully understand the nature of his powers or his own existence, he came from another planet. So, technically, Sehun wasn’t human, and he wasn’t the only one. 

You didn’t care about him being an alien, as you liked to call it. What worried you was the fact that he and the others were the good guys, at least in theory, but there were also bad ones. Sehun refused to talk about them and you tried not to think about it most of the time. More than once he had promised you that he would keep you safe and you trusted him, you knew that he could be really powerful. 

It was a pity that right now he was using his power to piss you off. 

“Sehun, I need to pass this exam.”

“And? What am I supposed to be doing?” 

His faked innocence was starting to be replaced by a mischievous smile. It made you roll your eyes. Without any more words, you turned back to the desk and focused again on your notes. 

“You know exactly what you’re doing,” you murmured after a while. “Just leave me alone for a couple hours, I’m not asking for anything more than that,” you said, resting your face on one hand. 

He seemed to accept it, little did you know that he wasn’t going to stop that easily. 

-

You had lost count of how many deep breaths you had been taking in order to stay calm. It was impossible to tell by now. You were quite proud of yourself though, considering that you hadn’t stabbed him with a pencil yet, with the constant wind ruffling your hair, blowing it into your face and moving your notes around, of course not allowing you to study.

With a deep sigh, you took the elastic band that you always wore on your wrist and tied your hair up in a messy bun. It didn’t solve the problem because then, the wind increased, causing your notes to fall all over the floor. 

Sehun’s laugh could be heard behind you. 

Since you were so fed up already, you grabbed the first pen that you could find and turned around fast, throwing it at Sehun’s head. The pen hit him in the face. Under normal circumstances, he would have been able to avoid it without any difficulty, he was an alien after all, but he was so distracted laughing at you that he didn’t move away in time. Well deserved, you thought. 

He covered his face with his hands as he let out a soft cry. “Ouch,” he said, rolling onto his side.

After a few seconds, you got up and approached him. It wasn’t your intention to hurt him, you were just tired and frustrated. 

“Sehun, let me see,” you murmured softly, sitting next to him on the bed. You placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to make him turn so you could see his face. “I didn’t mean to hit you hard but I have a really good aim, what can I do?” you joked. 

He didn’t seem to find the joke funny. Instead, he made a sound that sounded like a hurt little puppy. This made you frown, what if you had hurt him for real?

"Sehun, take your hands away, let me see."

He removed his hands slowly but you couldn’t see anything because suddenly he moved so fast. Before you could realize, you were lying on the bed, with Sehun on top of you. A big smile was present on his face as his hands pressed your wrists against the mattress.

"You're an idiot, you know that? I was really worried."

Sehun laughed and brought his face closer to yours to kiss you but in the last moment you turned your face to the side, so his lips connected to your jaw instead of your mouth. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked in a low voice, nuzzling your neck with the tip of his nose before starting to leave a trail of small kisses that made you shiver under him.

"Oh really? What’s wrong?" You asked back, mocking his words and raising an eyebrow as you looked at him. As much as you wanted him right now, you had other priorities. "Now is not the time. Let me finish studying and then we can do whatever we want, or continue this. Alright?”

He released your wrists but didn’t let you go, still laying on top of you, now resting his head on your chest where he could feel your heart beating fast. After a few minutes in which your breathing became one, you started stroking his hair. It felt very soft between your fingers and smelled like your favourite shampoo from the last time he showered at your place. 

“You’ve been studying all day, I’m bored of waiting. You don’t let me talk, or make the slightest noise, or play video games, or listen to music…” he listed, mumbling.

You could feel the vibrations of his vocal chords against your chest, it was kind of calming.

“This exam is important to me, Sehun. Also, you can do all those things out of here, you don’t have to stay in the same room as me.”

He raised his head and looked at you with a frown. “But I want to be with you,” he confessed. 

This time, when he leaned in searching for your mouth, you didn’t turn your face away. The kiss was long and slow, without rushing. When your lips parted, you took the opportunity to take Sehun’s face in your hands, stroking his cheekbones with your thumbs. He stared at you, mesmerised. 

"An hour," you said. "That's all I need. Stop acting like a brat for an hour and when I'm done we'll do something together."

He seemed to hesitate, but finally he dropped to his side, freeing you from his weight. “Fine, an hour.”

You stood up from the bed, feeling cold without his warmth, and stared at the mess of notes scattered all over the floor with your hands on your hips. From the corner of your eye, you saw Sehun lying back on the bed with his hands behind his head and his legs crossed at the ankles. He looked as relaxed as always.

A gust of air made the papers move until they were arranged in a small pile at your feet. You bent down to pick them up and smiled at him. Sehun winked at you. He could be a pain in the ass sometimes but you couldn’t deny that since he came into your life nothing had been the same. 

You loved him like no one else, and couldn’t help but dread the day he’d be gone. After all, he didn’t belong on this Earth.

[svt-nari]

nari's love life !

nari started dating after they debuted. It was obviously against the company rules, but what were they gonna do about it? kick her out? she's pansexual and so far, has only dated people with the same life as her (idols), because they can understand each other's schedules and make it work better than with someone who's not a part of this life. right now, she's currently in a relationship with a male idol.

2015–2016 › seulgi, red velvet

— their friendship started when nari ended up confessing her undying love for red velvet's main dancer on a live.

— may I add... while she was completely wasted.

— she was saying how much she loved watching the older woman dance and how much talented she was.

— then, seulgi approached her on a music show the next day.

— didn't really date, but they were tied to one another, if you get what i mean.

— a sort of fwb kind of relationship.

— then nari confessed.

— and they decided to not keep on with this relationship.

— and then, nari was left heartbroken, but at least they are still friends.

— they joke about it from time to time.

2016–2017 › jayb, got7

— they were friends way before they started dating.

— nari met him because of her friendship with got7's maknae line and ended up befriending him due to bambam introducing them.

— started dating because jaebeom showed her a song he wrote for her, confessing the feelings he had.

— it also became a part of one of got7's albums.

— dated for almost 9 months then they broke up.

— she had a really good time with him and can't really complain, same as him.

— he wrote various songs for her just as she has written lots of songs about him.

— remain as friends and they support each other til this day.

2017 › wheein, mamamoo

— after her break up with jaebeom, she wanted to date women again.

— didn't go so well.

— her and wheein were friends for a long time before they dated.

— but they couldn't really understand each other and talk while they were together.

— the relationship ended after three months.

— and their friendship too.

— both parties don't really speak to each other anymore.

— it's awkward at gatherings when they are both there.

— nari tries to avoid wheein at all costs.

2018–2020 › baekhyun, exo

— got close because of a collaboration they did together.

— started dating after a couple months of knowing each other.

— their relationship consisted of spending quality time with each other.

— her first ever long-term relationship and her first public relationship.

— they dated for 2 and a half months until they broke up.

— happened during the pandemic, they slowly distanced themselves.

— especially due to their different life rhythms at the time.

— then nari broke up with him after a fight they had.

— he was devastated and literally tried to gain her back at all costs.

— going as far as posting some cryptic stuff on his social media.

— hinting that he missed someone so much that he thought his heart was going to stop beating.

— and then deleting right after.

— he still loves her, but she moved on.

— and for good.

obs.: some speculate that the album bambi has something to do with nari.

2021–present › seungcheol, seventeen

— okay, how to start?

— they've been friends since forever, basically.

— cheol has had the biggest crush on her ever since they met, but he didn't do anything due to their teamwork.

— he supported her through her every relationship, and she's forever grateful for that.

— nari takes great care of him. she just wants what's best for this boy!

— they started dating after a drunk confession on cheol's side.

— she was a bit hesitant at the start, but she knew that what they had was way more than just a friendship.

— then, after overthinking she just said fuck it and kissed him.

— all the members LOVE to tease coups for it.

— they NEVER will tease nari because of their relationship.

— just their big and scary leader who turns into the biggest softie whenever he sees her face.

— they've thought about going public but decided on letting people find out by themselves.

— which is slowly working since they don't really hide much.

— they've been together for a long time now and expect them to be like this forever!

all rights reserved © svt-nari, 2023

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 2 replay, exploring and part of Tali’s loyalty mission:

Phi Clio

-Cyllene – There’s an archaic helium-3 refueling station. This implies someone found the system by FTL, rather than the mass relay.

-Parnassus – It has geothermal and solar power station. There’s no history of the planet or its government in Citadel Council records. Since Cyllene is on record, it must have been deleted.

-So what the hell is the deal with this system?

My take away is that once the mass relay was discovered, the Parnassus population bailed because now it was too close to main traffic routes.

I am very curious. I suspect it was used by the Council for purposes they did not want officially known. The Citadel Archives probably has a history for it.

Enoch

-Laban – There are bunkers from an ancient race that were blown apart by a dreadnought class weapon.

-Mizraim – There’s debris orbiting the planet indicating that artificial satellites were destroyed

-Joab – Thousands of years ago a primate like spacefaring species were destroyed by massive orbital bombardment to their population centers. They’re only known because of time capsules buried outside of population centers.

-The buried time capsules implies the species knew death was coming and took some measure, however small, to ensure they would be remembered. Pretty tragic.

-Is this where Liara got the idea to leave behind time capsules in ME3, just in case her cycle also lost the fight against the reapers?

-The most likely culprit are Reapers.

This comes back to what level of civilization Reapers destroy. Was this race just barely spacefaring? This is the only planet I’m aware of where they’re remains exist.

If so, it comes back to my hypothesis that the Reapers are very thorough when exterminating civilizations to prolong the next harvest. They destroy races well before they develop mass effect technology.

-N7: Archaeological Dig Site – To the shock of no one, the planet is Earth like. At least the haze is an interesting twist.

-According to one of the terminals, Exo-Geni contacted “co-executive” Commander Vido Santiago of the Blue Suns for transport.

Nice call back to Zaeed’s loyalty mission.

-And the Prothean pyramid returns! With a side of the prothean vision Shepard received in ME1.

For such a short mission they crammed a lot of references into it.

-Who did Shepard give the Prothean pyramid to? I hope not Cerberus, but it’s not specified.

Normandy

-The email from Leslie, one of the woman on Aeia, has more reflection and emotion about Ronald than anything Jacob has expressed.

It’s frustrating. Bioware clearly can use the mission to generate turmoil, but they refuse to let Jacob experience it.

-Speaking of Jacob, he has more to say this time.

-If you go renegade (by asking how he’s handling the revelations about his father!), he actually calls out your attempt to talk him through any trauma he has. He points out you don’t have the qualifications to do so.

-If you go neutral or paragon, it’s all about the mission.

It’s interesting – he refuses to dwell on personal issues, doesn’t want to hear that everyone will die, but also rejects the false optimism that everything will be okay.

It’s over all a very grounded approach, but shows how Jacob is less malleable than some other characters. He has hard boundaries with Shepard and won’t let Shepard overstep them, even to reassure him.

Since one of Jacob’s boundaries is Nothing Personal Ever, it results in a character that feels more distant than the other squad mates. It’s not rejection of Shepard, exactly, so much as Jacob’s coping mechanism is to work and never do internal reflection.

So the issue Jacob is in most dire need of help with is the one he refuses to let Shepard assist on.

-Mordin has more post loyalty dialogues than any other crew member. Most only have their initial post dialogue loyalty and than one more conversation. I think this is Mordin’s third such conversation.

-Why did salarians develop unconscious social cues to discourage others from prying into secrets? What the hell kind of evolutionary tract results in that?

-Mordin presumably does not have any children of his own, since he’s using his favorite nephew to personalize the conflict.

Given Mordin’s prestige, that must be by choice. I’m sure he’d have no trouble obtaining a breeding contract.

-He’s very happy to be participating in an effort that involves no ethical conflicts. This is something he can be unambiguously proud of.

-Zaeed says he can’t blame Jacob’s father. You do what you need to do to survive.

I say Zaeed deserves a punch to the face. At no point was it necessary for Ronald’s survival to rape his crew.

Raheel-Leyya

-Migrant Fleet – The amount of care Tali’s mission has compared to Jacob’s is stark.

There is so much world building and complexity in just the first part of Tali’s mission alone.

By comparison, Jacob’s mission was barebones and straight forward. There was no world building and never any ambiguity about Ronald’s actions. The only question was how he would be treated.

-Tali specifying the Normandy is not clean is a nice touch. Of course that would be a standard question to ask all docking ships.

-The importance Quarians place on captains is also logical. Quarians live their entire lives in ships; it’s natural for captains to receive tremendous respect.

-Shepard, if they clarify they’re only a commander not a captain: Technically, I’m no longer in the Alliance military at all.

I suppose this is because Shepard was dead and not because they were/are a spectre?

It would have been nice if ME1 had ever explained Shepard’s status once they were made a spectre. See, it only takes one line!

-Miranda’s breather cannot possibly be acceptable for the quarians. Get the woman a helmet.

Actually, given the quarians’ history with Cerberus bringing her along probably isn’t much better than bringing Legion. The only saving grace is that the quarians might not know she’s officially with Cerberus.

-There are two layers to stripping Tali of her ship name.

First, it makes her look worse to the audience.

Second, it screws over her defense. Since Tali didn’t know she’d been stripped of her name, Shepard had no time to prepare a defense for her. Moreover, since Shepard is not familiar with quarian law or custom, it puts Tali at a huge disadvantage. They’re improvising on pure instinct what will work.

-If Shepard goes renegade when told they’re defending Tali, she says: They’re trying to turn the crowd against me.

Nice hint most players never see that choosing the option “Rally the crowd” later on can win Tali the trial.

-The trial comes across like a blatant attempt to get Shepard to reclaim the Alarei.

Every time I play it, I always think they could have saved a lot of trouble by shooting Shepard an email asking for help. No need for the farce that plays out.

-Why haven’t the geth fixed the Alarei yet? It should be well within their abilities.

-Once again, will Veetor ever complete his pilgrimage?

I doubt he’ll ever be in condition to do so. Quarians must have exceptions for those that cannot go on one.

-The dialogue with Kal’Rheegar discusses dark energy at length. The build up to it as a plot point in ME3 is incredibly obvious.

The fact it was dropped entirely in ME3 is a sign of Bioware’s decline in writing. You cannot have a concept built up that extensively and than do nothing with it without the end product feeling disjointed. They should have at least worked it into a side plot.

-Kal’Reegar on the effects of dark energy: Some days I think flying around in the fleet without a planet of our own is the right idea.

Like the Reapers?

This line is such obvious foreshadowing.

-Kal’Reegar straight up explains that the plan is for Tali to kill geth to build up audience support and find evidence to clear her name in the meantime.

I suppose Bioware felt the need to spell it out for anyone in the audience that missed it.

-Admiral Xen is awful, but I like her as a character. She’s quite pragmatic.

If Rael experimented on live geth, he was an idiot and no trial is necessary. If he did not, then this was a tragic accident and no trial is necessary.

-Her end goal is to regain control of the geth.

It’d be interesting to get her and TIM on the same call. I’m sure she’d be fascinated by Project Overlord.

And consider it appropriate that nearly everyone got killed by geth, because only idiots experiment on live geth. She would have done a much better job with a ship of crashed geth. Send it to her!

-Shal’Raan set up the trial carefully to best help Tali, even if it hurt Tali in the process. Not informing Tali of her father’s fate until mid trial was a necessary evil.

On a similar note, later on you can clear Tali’s name by handing over the evidence of her innocence. This helps Tali by preventing her from being exiled, but loses her loyalty since it tarnishes her father’s name.

Tali wants to be respected as much as cared for. Trampling over her desires to do what you consider best for her does not make her happy.

Does it remind her too much of her father, perhaps? He was so focused on providing for Tali that he never took the time to be with her.

-The “bubble” (environmental unit) quarian children are placed in from birth is so damn tragic. Logical and fantastic world building, but so incredibly sad.

Children need stimuli. They need physical contact with other people. But this must be limited for quarian children so they can survive.

Their parents need to work. How much time do quarian children spend away from their parents out of necessity? How small are their worlds for their own safety?

Receiving their first environmental suit must be a tremendous increase in freedom for them.

Ironic, as the rest of the galaxy considers their suits their prisons.

-The real purpose of the trial is whether the quarians will start colonization efforts or go to war to reclaim the homeworld.

Tali is just collateral damage in that debate. Is the risk in fighting the geth worth the possible reward?

-Koris guesses correctly that Rael experimented on live geth. His mistake is assuming that Tali was also aware of that.

-He also calls correctly that going to war could end with the fleet dying over the homeworld.

-Koris is extremely sympathetic to the geth. That he was made an admiral shows that a much more significant portion of the quarians must be sympathetic to them than we see.

[yourkimjaejin]

Impressed - A scene from my muse's past in which they tried to impress someone, successful or not

"The first moment that comes to mind brings me back to 20....18? The KBS Music Festival that year. Everybody had there own section of time to do a performance and SM wanted to highlight all of us. or at least try to. It was NCT, Red Velvet, Exo, and Hyoyeon sunbaenim's. It was a lot of moving parts but long story short myself, Juno and Aurora were involved in a couple of sections."

"First we did Punk Right Now with Hyoyeon and Red Velvet unnies. Then we were with Dream for Go/Boss and lastly we performed with Exo sunbae for their song Monster. Now let me preface this by saying I never got to meet to Exo members before this. I never met them during my training so they don't know me and at the time I didn't know them."

"Weeks before the show, a bunch of the nct members got together to learn/refresh our memories on the Monster's choreo. It was more like refreshing because who doesn't know that dance. When we gathered together to practice with Exo, I'm not gonna name any names, but there were a couple of confused faces."

"I can't confirm who said this cause my back was turned. But I heard someone say something along the lines of 'Are we sure they can keep up?"

"Now, I have a bit of a reputation when it comes to proving people wrong. I wasn't nicknamed The Shark during training for nothing. I would advise anyone who wants to challenge me to not to. Cause you'll never win. Cause I won't let you."

"I got so heated extremely quickly. In my head I was like, Who TF are you to assume I can't keep up. To quote the Michael Joradn meme, 'and I took that personally'. I out danced all those boys in every run though. I was mean mugging everyone in the mirror. I think I heard Johnny-oppa telling one of the exo members 'there's a reason Migyeong was called the shark."

"I don't take kindly to be underestimated. By anyone. There aren't many idols in my position. In fact, there's only four, Me, Aurora, Juno and Hannah. And I think that fact alone should inform everyone of how good I am at my job. You worry about you and yourself and I'll worry about me and mine. But I can guarantee I won't need to worry that much." ~ Moxy

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I think it was during We Young era that this happened. Fans have always wanted to know why there are some scars on my left knee."

"For those who don't know I'm a pretty good skateboarder. One day, the dreamies and I were in the dance studio and Chenle saw some trick video. He asked if I could do any of them. I chose to be a cocky idiot cause I said yes."

"Some of the tricks I already knew how to do but there was one I had yet to try. The 360 ollie heelflip. Essentially you flick the board so it spins in a full circle. During this, you turn your body in a 180 to land on the board then complete the rest of the circle to face forward again. Not the most complicated but it takes a moment to get in down. Even then, sometimes you can miss the board or it could spin too much."

"So I bet Chenle what would be 50 dollars in the America that I could do all those tricks. We met up after practice at the skate park I frequent and I was nailing everything. Time came for me to do the heelflip. I had the blueprint laid out in head on what to do. I went for it, everything was going well........until I over rotated and completely whiffed the landing. I fell on my knee and scrapped it."

"Thing is, I'm not mad about the scrape. You know those are battle scars that I'm proud of."

"I'm mad I had to pay Chenle 50 bucks." ~ Aurora

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Request Prompt: And for the ask game, I’m picking impressed (it can be both romantic, platonic, or proving someone wrong). If you want to do all members, that’s okay, or if you want to do one for this ask, I’ll pick Moxy.

Taglist: @alixnsuperstxr / @1-800-call-ria / @sophrodite / @sunflower-0180

[corvusalbus93]

Closed Wounds

A short I wrote today for the Festival of the Lost. During the Final Shape Cayde is worried about opening up old wounds, following the talk around the campfire. The Guardian reassures him that this couldn't be further from the truth, at least for her (no ship, just best friends):

The tower was bustling, even more so than usual. But such was always the case around the holidays, as Guardians came by to visit between assignments or to take a break from their explorations. Even Hunters could be seen in greater numbers. Sarantuya-5 looked across the small plaza, taking it all in, especially the decorations. Crooked trees adorned with purple candles, cobwebs everywhere, papier-mâché ghosts watching everyone with glowing eyes.

It was the Festival of the Lost. Days dedicated to everyone they had lost. Days to honour their memory.

Though she wasn’t that old by Guardian standards, Sarantuya’s list of lost friends was quite long already. Many had been Guardians, who had died their final deaths fighting enemies such as Crota or Oryx, or died lightless in the Red War. Since the beginning of the festival, she had lit candles for each and every one of them, watched old recordings, looked at photos. Each year it got a little easier, as she focused on remembering the time spent together, the laughter, the shenanigans.

There was just one more friend she had yet to honour.

A number was called out, and Sarantuya looked at the piece of paper in her hands. Ah, her order. She went to the little ramen shop and got her dinner, careful not to spill any as she went past other customers. Warmth seeped into her hands, as she walked up the stairs, passing Banshee, Eva, who was crowded by fellow Guardians, and the postmaster, before heading for the hanger.

There wasn’t much activity here, not at this time of day, except for a few working the night-shift. She much preferred it like this. She’d have a bit of privacy.

Cayde’s booth had not changed much since his death. Maps, trinkets and souvenirs were still where he’d put them, albeit with a thin layer of dust. The only change she noticed was the sea of candles Guardians had left for him. It was the first Festival since his passing, and though she was touched by how many had come to pay their respects, it still felt wrong to see his place like this.

Sarantuya took a deep breath, as much as an exo could anyway, and placed one bowl of spicy ramen on the desk, careful not to disturb anything. As she sat down between the candles and leaned back against one of the steel beams, her Ghost materialized, twinkling with the Traveller’s light.

“Should I?”

“Whenever you’re ready.”

Hermes did his equivalent of a nod, before settling down on her shoulder, while she started to eat her own bowl of ramen. From experience she knew it would be cool enough by now.

Then, a familiar recording began to play.

“This one’s for the one and only Ms. Strong-And-Silent-Type...”

Years later…

Cayde and the Guardian watched silently, as Ikora and Crow followed Zavala to the cliff edge. This was a difficult time, for all of them, but the Commander seemed to be the most affected by recent events. For a moment Sarantuya considered joining the others, but what could she even say? She glanced at Cayde, just when he was turning to her, and for a moment they simply looked at each other. It seemed they both were a bit unsure as to what to do next.

Thankfully, he ended the uncomfortable silence. “Nice band by the way,” Cayde noted, nodding to her arm, where the ace of spades was emitting a soft white glow. “But don’t tell me you’ve been crying over me this entire time.”

“From the person wearing Andal’s cloak even in death,” she teased back, tilting her head.

Cayde lifted his hands. “Touché.”

Looking to her arm, Sarantuya touched the well-worn cloth. “Don’t worry. I moved on, but… I still wanted to keep your memory alive. You were among the first to welcome me, when I got to the city as a new light. Helped me get my bearings.” She smiled. “And got me into trouble more than once...you were my friend.”

“Oh, you’re gonna make me blush. Wait, can I do that?” This made her chuckle and he too grinned. Then, suddenly, he shifted, the glint in his eyes disappearing, and he sighed. “Look, we kinda danced around the subject, ever since we met back at the tower, but…how weird is it? Having me around, I mean.”

It wasn’t the easiest question to answer. So much happened since his death, so much that she was starting to get used to the strange and improbable. “You know, weird things have been happening to me ever since I was brought back as a Guardian. Especially in the last few years. So, not as weird as you might think, not after the initial surprise, anyways. And I mean we’re inside the Traveller; all things considered, this is quite possibly the most likely place to run into some long lost friends.” Sarantuya stepped closer, reminded of something he’d said. “Earlier you were worried about opening up old wounds. Just know, I can’t say that about mine.”

“You sure?”

Her eyes drifted to his chest, memories flooding back, clear as if it had only been yesterday. But they didn’t hurt as much, not anymore. “Look��you died in my arms, broken, a gunshot wound through your chest. My rift and well were useless; all I could do was watch. You asked me to have your back, when we went to the prison of elders and I wasn’t there, when you needed me most.”

Before she’d even finished her sentence, his hands were on her shoulders. “Hey, ‘Tuya. I thought I told you. That. Wasn’t. On. You.” Cayde made sure to give each word emphasis, before letting go and pointing towards himself with both hands. “I messed up and paid the price. There is nothing you should feel guilty about.”

“So I’ve been told by pretty much everyone and deep down I know that too. But feelings aren’t exactly rational now, are they?” Sarantuya smiled. “Seeing you again, unscathed, finding out you were at peace, happy. To know it didn’t all end for you in pain, lying in a dim prison hallway. It’s a relief.”

Cayde’s white glowing eyes blinked a few times. “Hadn’t considered that,” he confessed softly.

Sarantuya looked at him for a moment, standing there without that air of confidence she was used to seeing and hesitated only a moment before embracing him. He looked like he needed a hug and frankly so did she. “This may not last, and I know you didn’t ask to be back. Especially without Sundance.” She felt him flinch, but he didn’t pull away. “And it might be selfish of me, but I’m glad I got to see you one more time. Perhaps this time, whenever it will be, we’ve got a chance at a proper goodbye.”

“Sounds good to me.” He finally hugged her back and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Partner.”

Also on Ao3

[kb1301]

Had the time to finally finish TFS and my thoughts are currently occupied over CAYDE. Regarding him and my Guardian... Thus I have to make an OC post about them and their relationship.

Max and Cayde

So uhhh... while I'm no true veteran (aka completed D1 or even played D1), I did nonetheless play during a time when Cayde was alive-alive. I was there for the Red War as well as the first three DLCs for D2 (although I never got to finish any of those three out of being burnt out from the game).

But I did play a little of Forsaken as this Guardian.

With that in mind, I actually really was smitten by Cayde and his character. My old Guardian at that time, a different Exo Warlock (who no longer exists), was you know... friends with him.

But what I'm getting here is the thing with my newer and beloved Warlock, Maximus-12, or Max.

Now, in my brain, these two had quite the close friendship with each other. In actuality, Max wasn't there during the events of D1 and Red War to Warmind D2... or even anything else before D1, but I already have created something regarding that. These two were close, and would be confidants to one another.

But then again being that I am so enamored by Cayde, there is no doubt within my mind that I will push a narrative where Max had feelings for his best friend, and vice-versa. They got into this one specific moment in their lives where Max confessed, really just blurted out or such some words, but he never remembered doing so. However, Cayde remembered his words.

Cayde may have had feelings of his own for the Warlock, but he opted to just strengthen their friendship even if he knew his own feelings are validated given that he also likes Max.

Then I guess that kept to be their dynamic until Cayde's death at the hands of Uldren Sov.

Grief, anger, vengeance, sadness, pain... Max felt all of these. He would've really done anything to end Uldren Sov for murdering his closest friend, his would've been lover. At some point, he did the deed, but it felt like it lacked anything good. Vengeance felt empty.

So he retreated to mourning and grieving for his friend. Took some time for him to get past it, maybe months even. Eventually he came to his senses and became himself again, but grief comes and goes whenever it wants to.

Then for those remaining years until The Witness opened a path into the Traveler's Pale Heart, until the 15th Wish was made to use... Until Max got in.

There he met Cayde again. Alive.

You'd think suspicion and guardedness was the first thing you'd do when a ghost of your past returns to the living, but Max went to hug Cayde again, grasped him tightly, feeling just how real he was. Some long gone discussion was made again, he got Cayde caught up with a few things... And they told each other how much they've missed the other.

Max gave Cayde a quick run through regarding what he missed, over many things that occurred over the almost six years he's been gone. The two talked lots over the campfire, over radio chatter, over tentative cuddles within some tent between friends who had every chance to become lovers.

But of course Max can't just up and go do something wrong, or at least what he felt wrong. He is with Shaxx, his loving husband for about three years. He decided to communicate with his love once the Coalition's forces have set up their base of defenses at the Lost City. The two talked it out, over affectionate and concerned words and with desperate hugs and helmet kisses.

When the couple talked of Cayde's surprising return, Shaxx knew that there would be something that would happen between his beloved Warlock and the Warlock's best friend. He knew too that Max harbored some kind of attraction to Cayde, and that could always mean that something intimate would occur between them. Max feared that the Crucible Handler would get upset, or frustrated, or jealous, or angry about it... Because all that his mind is thinking is that Cayde's back and that he has every opportunity now to do something about Cayde being alive once more. Though his overwhelming love for Shaxx still comes first place.

Shaxx gave him the green signal though, despite what guilt Max had over pursuing Cayde regarding this. He made sure that he wouldn't be angry, or jealous, or would think of it as anything worse. All he wants is for Max to get closure, to make peace, to do everything you can with someone that could disappear at some point in time. All he wants is for his Warlock to come home still, with a heart still full of affection for him.

With lessened guilt in Max's heart, and more hope to fulfill something between them, he went on to work it out with Cayde. Somewhere within Max's mind always knew that Cayde would have to go soon, so he had to spend his time with his friend for as much as he could.

Max would then... confess. He'd say what his core, his heart, had to say, that he had always had feelings for Cayde. Through all the shenanigans they've done together, through any adventures they've made together, through all the lighthearted jokes and deep conversations they've had. And his reappearance had made a rather faint attraction have its resurgence once more.

They'd kiss afterwards. Hug each other tightly and though they can't produce tears, the feeling of a long needed catharsis was very present between them. Soft whispers uttered into each other's auditory sensors about something they've wanted for a long while.

After that, they would enjoy their moments with each other for as long as there is time. Time before they deal with the universe's largest threat. They'd continue into their former routine: explore, wander about, joke around, converse, and more. But new parts were included, such as kisses and embraces, quality time, and even something more physically intimate.

Though most good things would never last. With everyone gathered up to strike at the Traveler's ancient enemy, it meant that everyone would be involved in the fight. Shaxx appears and Max retreats from Cayde's side to give his husband all the endearment that he missed. They do every affectionate thing possible as they converse. And as they do talk, Cayde would look at Max lovingly, before meeting Shaxx's stare. As they stared at one another, they nodded as well, some form of silent agreement taking place.

The assault happens afterwards, and everyone gives their damned best to fight The Witness and its forces...

Eventually The Witness perishes and likewise, Spinner (Max's Ghost) would give his life for The Witness' defeat. Max's Light was gone, and he was scrambling about to get his little guy, his first and foremost companion through everything they've experienced, into his arms.

Then at a single moment, he blinked. And when he opened his optics, he found himself in that realm of stillness, bright and empty. He begged for the Traveler to help him, to give his Ghost's life back, for it was of course him that brought him into this new world.

From behind and out of nowhere, Cayde appeared. And despite his preparation that there would be something that would happen soon with Cayde, Max couldn't accept it. His heart and mind could not accept the upcoming inevitability.

Cayde tells to him of how what's made of the Light will come back to the Light... an already obvious foreshadowing to what will take place. He told him that this was his choice to do, to give his Light to Spinner, to bring back the Light into Max.

He enveloped his hands on Max's, keeping them still as he held onto the defunct Ghost. In some way, they embraced through it, holding each other close as Cayde begins to give his Light away... and sacrifice it for Max's sake.

The Hunter would tell the Warlock that he's his favorite, and that shouldn't be forgotten.

The two kissed right after. Still holding onto the Ghost with their hands. They kissed plate to plate through it, letting their horns sway away from each other as they savored this, their last kiss. And when Cayde disappears and Max returns to reality... Spinner's alive again.

He knew he'd grieve, devastated by Cayde's loss, but he focused on the joy of having his companion with him. He held the little guy close, close to his chest.

Celebrations then commenced back at the City, lanterns were flown up to the sky by heat, to commemorate those that were lost in this war. To commemorate a victory.

Max would send his lantern away, to the thought of Cayde. He grieved day after day for his best friend, to his momentary partner. And in each day of grief, Shaxx was there by his side, comforting him through it all.

The Exo would go by Cayde's bust by the Ironwood Tree, and talk to him as if it was him. Or just settle by it and relax and let himself go through the peace that grief could provide. He'd even get bird feed from Saint to feed the chickens clucking about there. He'd stay there every day when he felt like he wanted to, until Shaxx comes by, which only meant it would be the time to go home.

Max grieved for him just like he did before. And though he found closure with him, got a chance to feel his love with him, it felt like whatever good that came out of it was not enough to feel the overbearing grief and pain. Cayde reappearing was like an old healed wound resurfacing and coming to tear him apart. And that was what he felt that time.

He... grieved for almost a month. Day after day.

Then when he felt comfortable enough to pursue other ventures, he did it. And through his journey with grief, Shaxx was there by him. Always patient, always loving, always caring.

Max was never the same though. For better or for worse, he was a changed man.

Some pictures during that moment within the Traveler's realm:

[have-some-heals]

Ardent-2 & Kuraokami & Khione & Sybll on missing friends

The three bowls of ramen let off wife’s of steam into the crisp fall air. The bowls were perfectly crafted giving the trio of guardians a stunning visual before they embarked on their next mission.

“You know” the exo titan began as he picked up his chopsticks and separated them with surprising grace. “The best part about these errand missions for Zavala and Ikora have got to be the chance to come to the tower… well I mean for me any way I guess you get to spend more time here..” Ardent-2 nudged the warlocks arm who sat next to him. The ramen and meat the warlock had secured slipping from the chopsticks to plop back into the bowl at the sudden touch.

“Don’t give ‘em such a hard time Ardent!” Exclaimed the hunter sitting on the opposite side of the warlock. “It’s got to be real hard on ‘em being the favorite for all these missions you know” the awoken hunter poked at her ramen with one chopstick before clumsily trying to pick up a clump of noodles. “KuraKura even has Eris’ ear right now with some secret mission. I basically had to beg to see the new armor she gave ‘em just to get Ada to design me some that fit.” Sybll stated in a partially angry partially defeated tone.

The warlock remained silent and simply ate his food. He had shown the younger hunter the gear Eris had given him for his work… gear which he’d personally thought was a bit stuffy. One set made home feel like he was a new light stick back in the library while the other was made of wood. None of it was his style nir something he’d be caught in, especially while meeting his mentors. The hunter however clearly did not share that same view as her normal armor had been replaced with armor similar to that of the wood style armor he’d gotten.

“Is tat why yous have flowahs growing outta you?” Ardent-2 asked bluntly while slurping up a strand of noodles. The titans look had changed a bit as well, though not as drastic. The normally dark metallic shades had been lightened Andre were now pastels. Like the previous set though the titans power had created cracks that illuminated the area around the titan.

“Don’t talk while you eat, it’s rude” Kuraokami said sternly before sipping at a small cup of warmed sake. “The gift from Eris was her way of thanking me as she couldn’t pay for the personal errands. That’s all” the warlock gave the hunter the side eye. “And I’m sure if you worked up the courage to talk to her instead of sending all those images and videos of the hellmouth you could have gotten a set as well.” The warlock turned his glare on the titan “and your time being spent at other posts has more to do with your little friend as I recall… at least that is what I would assume since I’ve taken your last 10 missions for you…”

Both the hunter and titan looked at their bowls in defeat.

“Eat before the rest of the team arrives” the warlock stated dryly returning to his own bowl. After a few minutes of silence the titan and hunter returned to going back and forth taking small playful swipes at each other.

The warlock had been tasked with putting together a team to investigate the sudden spike in energy on the moon again. It had Eris Morn concerned and she was unable to peel herself away to investigate. The titan and hunter had never officially worked together before but they had a few common teammates including Kuraokami and had ended up in the same clan.

“Report: the requested guardians have responded” the warlocks ghost Khione suddenly stated to the group. “We will need to find alternatives or delay”

“Who did you ask besides us” Ardent asked raising a brow.

“The idea was to bring together a group I knew and trusted. Khione give us thier responses please” the warlock pulled out a small black book and began writing as the ghost spoke.

“Book is unreachable at this time his ghost implied that the hunter may have retired.” Khione displayed a holographic image of the hunter before swapping to a titan. “Cannon-02 is unable to assist as he is working with Shaxx at this time.” Finally the ghost flipped to the a Hunter. “Clan leader Ace remains out of contact. Herself, Crow, and an unnamed guardian seem to be on a special mission on the other side of the planet.”

“Please put out a call for any guardians that are high ranking. I fear what we might discover in the dark of the moon”

[airbendertendou]

SWEET LIES! ♡ poly!tokyo revengers

@clovers-garden-co​ requested : what about like, mikey, baji, and Kazutora x reader though.. especially for the drama part too.. because kazu would come later on, and it would just be jiro n kei.. and then boom, valhalla. maybe reader joins valhalla with kei to yk make sure he stays okay?

synopsis : baji keisuke has a staring problem. sano mikey manjiro eats all of your food and just giggles when you mention it. hanemiya kazutora allows bad thoughts into his head and bad people into his life. and you - well, you adore them all too much to let them go.

includes : mikey, baji & kazutora. the boys all have crushes on each other n i wont apologize for it. reader gets called a bitch by unnamed valhalla member ; kazutora ends up hitting him. au where kazu got the help he needed earlier on <3

song inspo ; sweet lies by exo

if you have a blank blog [no bio, no user, no header or profile pic, nothing reblogged, etc] do not interact with my content. you will be blocked.

Knowing Baji Keisuke was strange, to say the least. You knew he was your classmate — a firecracker of a boy hidden behind thick glasses. And that was it. Baji Keisuke was a mystery — but he had a staring problem, you found out.

Tilting your head so that you could see him from your periphrial vision, you could tell he was turned towards you — again. He never spoke to you, he just stared in your direction numbly. Today, it seemed, was your last straw. "Baji, do you have a problem with me?"

The brunette boy tensed, cheeks flushing as you faced him head on. He let out a mumbled, "tryin' to see somethin'", before stiffly turning to hunch over his desk once more. You left it at that, continuing the silent studying your teacher had assigned.

"Y/N." Baji called out to you once the lunch bell rang. Curiously, you stayed put as he shuffled to stand in front of you. Fidgeting with his glasses, the boy set his gaze on you, seemingly more confident than before. "My friend, Mikey... you'd be good for him, I think."

Oh, so that's what his deal was, your shoulders slumped in relief. He just wants to set me up with his friend. Nodding slowly to let the information sink in, your ripped a piece of paper out of your notebook. Scribbling down your phone number, you handed it to Baji almost shyly. "Tell me when and where, and I'll meet him. 'Kay?"

—— ♥︎ ——

Meeting Sano Manjiro — who insisted you call him Mikey — was a rollercoaster, to say the least. The blond had crumbs on his cheek and his mouth was stuffed with what was supposed to be a present for you. He swallowed dryly, eyes widening ever so slightly at the sight of you walking beside Baji. Clearing his throat, Mikey spoke up. "The cookie was really good, if you were wondering."

"I can tell," you spoke through a laugh. You couldn't help but grin at the funny and bizzare situation. Shuffling into the empty booth across from Mikey, you made room as Baji slid in beside you. The sight of the two of you together brought something warm to the blond's chest — he suddenly found it hard to focus on anything other than the knock of Baji's knee against his and the slight brush of your shoe. "Did you order yet?"

His mind was blank, completely empty other than the slight touches you and Baji accidentally gave him. You frowned at Mikey's silence, meeting Baji's gaze across the menu you were looking at. The brunette shrugged, nudging Mikey's foot under the table — the blond only sighed. Baji decided to speak up, "Mikey? Hello?"

"Don't like lemons," the boy murmured out. You snorted at that — facing the menu again when Mikey's face flamed up a little. "I mean— what did you ask again?"

Baji rolled his eyes at his friend — he knew Mikey would be starstruck at your presence, but this was a bit much. Little did Baji know that he was crowding Mikey's mind as well. "I'll just order for everyone. Be right back."

Silence hit the table as Baji left, Mikey refusing to meet your eyes when you tried to look his way. Picking at your cuticles, you could only hope this was going well — that Mikey would like you enough and that would stop Baji's stares. They were unnerving and flattering simultaniously and you weren't sure how that worked.

"How do you know Baji anyways?" Mikey is the one to break the tense atmosphere. You bit your lip, not noticing how his gaze dropped to your lips and stayed there. "He said you went to school with him."

"Yeah, we're classmates." You find yourself looking for Baji, smiling as you watched him squint at the menu as he ordered. He turned abruptly, sending a thumbs up your way. You awkwardly waved back before turning your attention to Mikey again. "He's different in school. The way he acts and looks."

Mikey laughed at that, looking down at the table as he grinned. "He's rowdy is what he is."

"I'm sure he says the same thing about you," you can't help but grin back.

The blond looks at Baji before his grin turns mischievous, curling up further on one side. Leaning in closer so that he was almost laying across the table, Mikey whispers loudly. "Has he told you his nickname yet? It's Edward."

"Like from that vampire movie?" Mikey let out another bark-like laugh, throwing his head back just as Baji joined them at the table again. The brunette raised an eyebrow as he distributed the treats, but you only smiled innocently. "Welcome back, Eddie."

Letting out a groan, Baji plops down into his seat beside you. He has a frown on his face as he narrows his eyes at Mikey. Sliding his drink closer, the brunette grumbles, "shouldn't have left you two alone."

You let out a small giggle, nudging your shoulder against his playfully. Mikey's eyes sparkle again at the interaction and the way Baji smiles down at the table after. Yeah, he lets out a dreamy sigh, could get used to this.

——

Nothing official happened that day. You and Mikey went out a few more times and more often than not, Baji was joining you. It wasn't awkward — he wasn't a third wheel at all — but more like an add on. Dates felt empty without both of the boys and you stopped thinking about why that was.

"Try this one." A spoon full of pink ice cream was in front of your face. Baji was watching you intensely as you ate the ice cream, eyes lighting up and humming in delight at the sweet taste. The brunette grins, "mixed berry paradise or somethin' like that. Good?"

"Really good!" You cheer. A head of blond hair swoops past you as Baji reloads his spoon. You let out a snort as Mikey takes the bite Baji got for himself. You spoon up some of your own frozen treat, "anyone want to try mine?"

Mikey is the first one to steal a bite, eyes closing in satisfaction at the sweetness. After seeing Baji's defeated frown, you gather up more ice cream for him to try, too. They both hum at the flavor and you cant hide your smile as you grab another bite for yourself.

"Indirect kiss..." is muttered from beside you. Mikey is staring at his spoon blankly before he looks at yours, then Baji's. "We just had... an indirect kiss..."

You and Baji exchange glances, wondering why that mattered so much. Friends share drinks and food all the time, right? Before you could think any further, lips are pressed against yours quickly and gone just as quick. With widened eyes, you don't even acknowledge Mikey turning your head so you were facing Baji now. Taking the hint, Baji presses a small kiss to your lips, too.

And it seems that they like that — kissing you one after the other — because they do it again. And again — every time you meet up, kisses are pressed to your cheeks and head and lips. Other forms of pda become a regular thing between the three of you, too.

—— ♥︎ ——

You're sat in the classroom with Baji, intertwined hands dangling between your desks. You're finishing up homework as he struggles to write a letter, asking how to spell something every now and then.

"This sound right?" The hand that's being held is tugged on, diverting your attention to the brunette beside you. Reading over what he wrote, you take your sparkly gel pen and cross out the incorrect words, writing the correct one above it. It's what you'd been doing for weeks now — you thought Baji just re-wrote the letter when he got home. "Oh. Yeah, that does make more sense."

Little did you know, Baji sent those letters as they were. Weekly, his friend had recieved a letter with your handwriting and his. It made him feel warm — made a spark of joy climb up his chest. You were told about this from a nervous Baji — his teeth made home in his bottom lip as he chewed them constantly.

"Keisuke," you nudge him with your shoulder, "everything alright?"

The brunette lets out a groan from beside you, his head falling against the foot of your bed. He was at your house to study and you were both sitting on the floor when you noticed his uncomfortable expression. "I want you to go somewhere with me. But, Mikey— I don't think it'd be okay to tell him. He'd get upset."

You lay a hand on his shoulder reassuringly, "then we don't have to tell him just yet."

—— ♥︎ ——

Seeing Hanemiya Kazutora for the first time was nerve-wracking, to say the least. The dual-haired boy tilts his head as he stares at you from behind the glass shield. Your hands are hidden, but one is wrapped around Baji's while the other is rubbing the bottom of your shirt.

"You don't have to stare," Baji grumbles, eyes narrowed Kazutora's way. "Y/N's pretty n'all, but cut it out."

You feel your face flush at the compliment, a smile automatically falling on your lips. Kazutora's eyes narrow in on your smile, copying the notion stiffly. He glances at Baji before looking to you again, "this is the sparkly pen? Yours and Mikey's—?"

"We're not really anything." You realize how it sounds when both boys frown. "I mean, officially. We go on dates or just hang out or—"

"I kiss Y/N then Y/N kisses Mikey... or the opposite."

Your mouth falls open in shock as your free hand lightly smacks Baji on the shoulder. The boy lets out a loud laugh, head thrown back as he cackles. You glance at Kazutora nervously, gulping at his stare. "You just made it sound so much worse!"

Weekly visits to see Kazutora became part of your schedule after that. Most times, Baji joined with letters or trinkets from his other friends. Mikey had finally been told the big secret and everything that was happening. The blond smiled and told you only one thing — "I hope he gets better."

[Kazutora cried when you told him that, but he'd deny the tears.]

During one of your solo visits, an unfamiliar blond and brunette duo took your place in front of the glass shield. Kazutora looked distressed, his eyes foggy and disconnected from reality. You couldn't hear what they were saying, but you knew it was bad — really bad. You left soon after, telling Baji what you'd seen.

That was how Hanma Shuji and Kisaki Tetta were introduced into your world.

Keisuke told you they were lingering by — stirring up Kazutora's dark thoughts and tearing down everything he learned in therapy. The both of you kept a close eye since then, your intuation telling you something big was going to happen and you'd be trapped in the middle.

—— ♥︎ ——

The birth of Valhalla didn't shock you the way it did everyone else. What you didn't expect, however, was Kisaki Tetta. He was sitting proudly, back turned to Mikey as he was announced to be a new part of Toman. You frowned, looking at Draken for confirmation — he only shrugged. It wasn't like the others could tell their commander no, after all. Baji was supposed to miss this meeting, so why did you see him stomping your way?

"I'll be joining Valhalla!"

This was news to you. Looking at Mikey with wide eyes, you could see the miniscule change in his face. The blond was confused, and heartbroken, but he'd keep it hidden until it was just the two of you. Watching Baji walk away hurt, but seeing Mikey silently break hurt even more. You knew where you were needed — knew Kei would tell you what's going on later.

Draken dismissed the meeting, leaving Mikey frozen in his spot as the rest of Toman left. Kisaki eyed you as he left and you shot a seething glare his way. The blond sat on the steps of the shrine, eyes staring blankly ahead. You stood in front of him, "everything alright, 'Jiro?"

Mikey hums, leaning closer to you. Silently, you comply letting his knees separate your legs so he could rest his head on your stomach. Running your fingers through his blond locks lightly, you think of what to say to reassure him. Mikey beats you to it, though, speaking up before you can. "Is this the end of it, then? The end of this — us?"

"No," you plant a kiss on his head. Grabbing his chin gently, you tilt Mikey's head up so you can kiss his pouting lips. "Trust Keisuke — trust me, okay? Everything will be fine."

——

A week later, you've just finished running errands when you see him. A grin breaks across your face as you speed up, your body colliding into Kazutora's as you both stumble. Clumsily, your arms wrap around his torso — you speak up when he makes a noise of protest. "Knew you were getting out soon, but not today!"

"Y/N," he breathes. You're grinning at him, still holding him tightly — Kazutora can't remember the last time someone was this happy to see him. Trembling  hands found your shoulders, pulling you closer to him stiffly. "I— yeah. Got out yesterday. Kei didn't tell you that?"

You pull away so you can see his face with an exaggerated frown. "I've been grounded from his house. His mom said 'I do love seeing you around, sweetheart, but he's gotta get his grades up. Sending you all my love!' when I called the other day."

Kazutora lets out a breathy laugh, shaking his head. "Yeah, sounds like him." He peers at you curiously, his hands sliding from your shoulders to your hips. "And what're you doin' out and about, hm? Scary around here when someone pretty's all by themselves."

"Not alone — I'm with you," you reply without thinking. Kazutora sinks into you, pressing his forehead to the top of your head so that you can't see his blushing face. "Just got something to snack on, though."

"So, you're free now?" He pulls away to ask. You nod with a small mhm, wondering why he was asking. "Wanna go somewhere with me?"

That's how you end up in an abandoned arcade, people in white jackets eyeing you curiously. Whistles and jeers echo around you, burning into your skin with the eyes that follow your form. Kazutora has his hand wrapped in yours as he guides you deeper into Valhalla's hideout. Leaning to your ear, he whispers, "stay put, I'll be right back."

You clear your throat as you shuffle uncomfortably. You were in the enemy's territory now — completely vulnerable in the wolves den. A smirking, cheap looking guy waltzes his way up to you. He makes a show of checking you out before he speaks. "Oh? What's Toman's bitch doing here?"

"I'm—" you take a breath harshly as he comes closer. Backing away and squaring your shoulders, you meet his sultry gaze head on. "I'm not a member of Toman."

His grin widens at that as he inches closer. Need Manjiro, you think. Need Baji or Kazutora — need my boys before I bash this guys head in. Tilting his head, he looks you up and down once more. "So you're ours for the taking? You gonna be Valhalla's new play thing?"

His head is snapped to the left as a fist crunches into his nose. Golden eyes look crazed — murderous — as Kazutora places himself between you and the guy. Kazutora grins, and it's nothing like how he smiles at you — it's harsh ; sharp as he glares at his gang member. "Wanna repeat that?"

"Don't have too much fun without me," you hear Keisuke's voice. Warmth is pressed against your back as he slumps into you, his chest vibrating against you as he laughs. An arm is slung around your waist, a reassuring squeeze meeting your right hip. "Guy's got some nerve callin' our special friend a bitch."

You calm down quickly at the sight of them. Though, one word catches your attention and you swat Baji's arm lightly with a scowl. "Not your 'special friend', Kei. Sounds weird when you say stuff like that."

"Sorry," he says before placing a kiss on your head. He's not, though, if the grin you can feel against your temple says anything. Kazutora swings a few more times, the guy on the ground now choking on the blood that's escaped his busted lip. "Alright, 'tora. Let's show Y/N around, hm? Not spend time on worthless fleas."

Kazutora straightens up, breathing heavily as he stares at the ground. Silently, Baji takes one of Kazutora's hands in his and begins to lead you both away from the quivering, half-conscious body. The three of you find a place of solitude in the arcade, circling around each other for a blanket of safety. You eye the way Baji keeps his hand locked in Kazutora's until the developing bruises catch your gaze.

You reach out before thinking, you grasp the dual-haired boy's free hand in both of yours. A frown settles on your face — one that Baji admires and Kazutora gets the urge to kiss away. Delicately, you run your thumb over his knuckles, letting out a sigh. "Sorry 'bout your hand, 'tora. Didn't mean for you to get hurt."

"S'okay," he whispers. Kazutora is melting, his brain zapping and filling with thoughts of you he can't control. A glance at Baji tells him this might be okay — that he wasn't a terrible, awful friend for his wandering gaze. "Don't mind a bruise or two if it means you're safe."

—— ♥︎ ——

Mikey doesn't know what this means, but he hopes it's something good. You gave him a kiss before the big Toman versus Valhalla fight, squeezing his hand in comfort. Before you took a seat amongst the other viewers, you reminded Mikey — "trust them."

The blond could only hope that meant Baji would come back home soon — that you'd both come back to him safely.

You're sitting in front of the Haitani brothers, chewing on your bottom lip nervously. You don't allow your eyes to drift from the fight for even a second — you have to stare ; have to be certain one of your boys aren't hurt. There's a yell from Mikey as you see Kisaki hop his way to the fallen leader heroically. You roll your eyes at the sight, letting out quiet insults and curses that have the brothers behind you laughing.

The world goes still. Then, suddenly, two Valhalla members are swinging at Kisaki. With matching feral grins, Kazutora and Baji stare down at the injured blond. You let out a sigh of relief — they're safe ; everyone's safe. You straighten up at the sight of Mikey standing on shaky legs, his body bloody and already forming bruises. Baji's yelling is incomprehensive, but you assume he's telling Mikey his plan.

Confusion filters over the blond's face before he glances at Kazutora. That's all you remember before seeing Mikey pounce on Kisaki. The rest of the day is a blur, and nothing feels real until you're in the middle of the junkyard. Baji has an arm around your waist as he stands on your left, Mikey to your right. A dual-haired boy is standing in front of you nervously.

"I owe you an apology, and an explanation." Kazutora gulps down the fear of rejection as Mikey's dark eyes survey him. He takes in a deep breath, confidence building up in him as you and Baji encourage him silently. "About that night — your brother. I—"

"Later," the blond interupts him with a smile. It's a tired, battered smile, but it reassures him still. Wrapping an arm around your shoulders, Mikey leans against you in a sleepy haze. "Wanna go home right now. Sleepy."

A kiss is placed on your left cheek, trailing to the corner of your mouth as Baji loses interest in the conversation before him. Mikey lets out a whine, pecking your neck before he's grasping your chin and turning you to face him. Kazutora shuffles nervously at the sight, wanting nothing more than to copy their actions.

And then you're facing him, Mikey's hand still on your chin as he and Baji wait for the tiger to make a move. A brisk, barely-there peck is left on your mouth. It makes the brunette snort and Mikey grin before he's turning to leave.

Mikey looks back and tilts his head at Kazutora. "You comin' with us or what?"

—— ♥︎ —— this got longer than i intended for it to lmao oops but, thank you for your request, i hope it was everything you wanted <3 this is still going on! until november first ♥︎

airbendertendou © do not copy, plagiarize, repost, or translate my content on any platform. if you see my content under any other name than my own, let me know. i only have this tumblr and an ao3 account under the same name.

[phthalology]

Eris/Toland, 20?

things you said that I wasn't meant to hear

Eris knew she should wake up, or at least drag over one of the maps of the Moon littering the floor of Eriana's apartment and study. It was her responsibility. What were Guardians for if not saving the planet, no matter what the Lunar Interdict said? She had heroism on heroism before her, and ... hard work, runes to decipher that burned the eyes and puzzles to unravel that wearied the mind. The sun was coming up, and her new fireteam, finally assembled, had worked most of the night.

Eris lay on her side on a camping pad on the messy floor. Sai, Vell and Omar slept at catty-corner to each other in the sitting room, Vell's long legs propping open the door to Eriana's small bedroom. The room smelled like cologne and the City air through the open window. Inside, the tide of papers, books, weapons, armor and devices had lapped up against Eriana's slight attempt to keep her memorial to her partner clear.

So, Wei Ning's presence felt more like it belonged to the beauty of the place than to the Crota Raid team's nervous preparations. Surely, Eris thought sleepily, Wei Ning would have been down here among the messiest of them all. She wouldn't, like Toland, have separated her things out. His charms and armor, his strange pulse rifle, sat on the windowsill above the room's only couch where the old Warlock sat half upright, reading.

But now, Wei Ning's picture and one of her helmets (not the one she had died in, no; it had never been recovered) sat on a low shelf in Eriana's bedroom, surrounded by incense and flowers. Above it, the bed and the yellow lattice over the top half of Eriana's bedroom window were washed in buttery morning light.

Eris turned her face toward her pillow, pulled her camping blanket up and tried to drowse facing her Ghost. Looking at Brya's shell softened some of the poisonous pain Eris felt when she thought of the Hive killing Wei.

Eris remained indecisive about whether to try to sleep or wake up as Eriana got out of bed. The fireteam leader's long, yellow Warlock-branded t-shirt added to the impression of golden light. Eriana knelt at the memorial first, Exo eyes bright but something sleepy in how she held her shoulders, something grieving in how slow she moved.

Eris' drowsy mind roved from Wei's smiling picture to the Warlock logo to the other brand marks in the room; Eris' own Hunter blanket, Sai's foundry sweatpants. Even Toland wore identifying marks.

Where he sat, Toland the Shattered held a book in one hand and let the other hang down. Eris let her gaze rove up long fingers to rocky knuckles, from the pale sinew of the back of his hand to the sparse, dark hairs curling along his wrist. She wanted his hands on her arms, on her waist. She wasn't sure when she'd started wanting that, but being half asleep just heightened the feeling.

She looked away, not wanting Toland to notice Eris staring at his hand as his muddy green eyes flicked to the sound of Eriana picking up Wei's picture. Eris couldn't help thinking about the strange vulnerability of sleeping in the same room with him, though. All the other people here she was familiar enough with not to marvel at their old t-shirts.

Toland, though. He was an ominous legend. A Warlock legend, certainly, but she'd always thought there was something Hunter-like about the way he pushed boundaries.

Less positively, there were rumors that he performed experiments on Guardians, sacrificed students to Hive gods. There were people who said his eyes looked dead. Eris didn't agree with that. Or, if that nervous, probing stare was dead, it had been reanimated into something that moved in time with her heartbeat.

Regardless, she'd also noticed that he wore to bed a long t-shirt with the name of an academic conference on it in several languages, and black sweatpants. Horrifying. He was leagues skinnier than Vell, whose muscled back rested in statuesque Titan ease between the living room table and the small kitchen cabinet.

She'd never wanted to touch Vell in the same way. He was too clean, too easy to figure out.

Maybe that was a flaw. Eris gave one glance to the equally dormant Brya, wanting to share her worries and her euphoria alike with her Ghost, and shut her eyes.

She slept. Noises moved in and out of her awareness as people began to awaken and move around. Blankets shuffled with soft movements as Toland picked his careful way between crystals and papers, daggers and leather-stitching needles and tweezers. He knelt beside Eriana, within the cloud of sandalwood smell from the incense. Their low voices washed comfortably over Eris just beneath her awareness of her own blankets, of Omar puling his orange robe around his shoulders, of other Ghosts spinning lazily into the brightening air. Someone shut the WC door.

Toland murmured to Eriana. Eris couldn't catch the words.

"Do you really understand?" Eriana asked, bitter. "Is there someone you ..."

"Hmm. I've traveled far," Toland replied softly. "I am not lonely. Sometimes, I envy those with such concerns."

It was one of the few times Eris had heard Toland admit he wanted anything except the Hive's strange song. The tone of the words stuck in her mind, lonely in his creaking, contemplative voice. Except he had said he was not. Grim, that one might envy Wei in death and Eriana in grieving. She would resist the urge to read into the words their exact opposite.

She shut her eyes, pretending to sleep so that Toland would not look at her, so that she would never know whether or not he did.

[thecandywrites]

Kinktober- Day 1- First Time

Now you know me. I love my sweet fluff and my lemoney goodness. I'm trying really hard to go for a male and either a nonbinary or gender neutral reader. I'm trying to break out of my m/f pairings because those are my comfort zones for obvious reasons. But especially for Kinktober- I'm gonna try to be much more inclusive with my pairings and especially to my readers who don't get the love, support, and soft sweetness- especially in literature that they deserve.

Also B Dylan Hollis- on Tik-tok, this is basically heavily influenced by him and his love of baking. And I just adore him and his videos.

So yeah, I know I'm four days late on this. But better late than never. But thank you so much to @starsandskies for her Kinktober 2022 Prompt List that all of these are based on.

And I'm posting these from my EXO blog because you know your girl is going to be including werewolves, orcs, insects (humanoid ones- Jika), micro-mermaids (think mermaids but for the fish/aquarium field, a concept I came up with for Mermay a couple of years back becuase I grew up with a mom who kept and who continues to keep aquariums, and sisters who do too, so I am very familiar with aquarium upkeep and fish husbandry but with the same perspective that Jane Goodall was to chimpanzees, that just because they are tiny- they are still beings worth love, care, respect and dignity), rakshasa, etc.

Maze

“So what design do you think they went with this year?” Bashire asked you as you both looked at the gate to the corn maze. 

This year you were prepared. A thick hoodie and a backpack with coats inside was on your back so you wouldn’t freeze again. You just got out of the bathroom so you wouldn’t be stuck in the maze with a full bladder and wreck the maze trying to get out of it so you could use the restroom.

However, your thermos was full of hot cocoa with extra marshmallows. Which you had just sneaked one of those mini shot sized bottles of Godiva Chocolate Liqueur into along with a shot of Salted Caramel Bailies. Meanwhile Bashire had put some apple pie moonshine into his thermos of hot, spiced apple cider.  

You had grown up going to this particular apple orchard- because not only did they have some of the best apples in the Great Lakes, that made some of the best fresh eating apples along with some amazing apples for pies that would make anyone want to learn how to bake. But this place also had a cafe, with fresh doughnuts, of both the yeast and cake varieties, either glazed or dusted in sugar and spices- that were in flavors that you’d expect of an apple orchard in the fall.

And the cafe even had BBQ made with apple wood smoked meats which you were sure was why Bashire loved coming here just as much and they even had a BBQ sauce whose base was candied apples or at least apple butter based- that you couldn’t figure out- for the life of you how they made it but it could make cardboard delicious. This place even had a gift shop to satisfy any fall needs, whether they be decorative for your home or fill your hearth with foods to last all season long. 

It had it’s own pumpkin patch with varieties that could make your head spin- but your best homemade pumpkin pies came from the pumpkin’s that grew here just for that purpose that were specifically pumpkin pie pumpkins. Even the little baby sized pumpkins that were just too cute for words! 

You had come here late afternoon to pick your bushel baskets of apples, picked out your pumpkins for your pumpkin pies and got what you wanted and needed from the gift shop and put them all into the car before you went back in to have dinner at the cafe. Of course dinner came with Bashire, practically licking the BBQ sauce off of your fingertips for you which always made you blush bashfully and make you keen because you knew just what that tongue of his was capable of. 

This place even had a mini corn maze for the kids and a much bigger one for the adults. And depending on when you came- usually dictated what kind of “crowd” would be around. Earlier in the day- kids with their families- at night- especially after dark- the teens and adults with no kids because it was usually their bed time.

And that’s when the real fun began because the place also had a bar and sold these alcoholic drinks that looked like they came in IV bags. Your favorite one of course was A Positive because it was the fruitiest and sweetest and coincidentally- the most potent. Of course they made the non alcoholic ones too- so the kids could drink one too along with their parents. But for you and Bashire- that seemed a bit far off, but not outside the realm of possibility. 

It was one of your favorite orchards to go to in the fall and worth the 45 minute drive. And Bashire loved to bring you here, to see you light up with joy and happiness as you seemed to want to go over every pumpkin in the pumpkin patch to make sure you got the best ones for your pies. To go picking the apples to fill up bushel baskets full, so you could make your great grandmother’s apple pie recipe and her apple sauce recipe along with your own version of candied apples that would make even the greatest of connoisseurs weak in the knees. 

“Ready?” Bashire asked as he squeezed your hand a little tighter as you looked at the front of the maze.

“Ready.” You beamed as you kept a firm hold onto his hand and immediately went into the maze. 

The sun was setting, coloring the sky in gorgeous hues of golden yellows, bright oranges, delicate pinks, hints of purple and green before meeting the darkening of the blue skies as the full moon was shining brighter now that the sun was setting. The temperature was falling and you could see your breath. But you were quite full from dinner, and keeping warm from your drink as you traversed the maze. But it didn’t take long before you both stumbled onto the first dead end to see a couple making out which only got you to burst into snickering laughter and pull Bashire away so they could have a little more privacy as your cheeks flushed from more than just the buzz of your alcohol. 

But it seemed love was in the air because more and more couples kept disappearing off of the main trail- which you could clearly tell because of all the muddy footprints in the trail, leaving a muddy mess on your boots as you kept getting stuck in the mud and having Bashire pull you from as you decided to stay on the edge of the trails to keep from getting further stuck as you kept a firm hold on his hand as he led the way. 

But soon- your thermos’ were empty and put into your pack and despite, wearing gloves and having hand warmers, you still cuddled up into his side to keep warm from the biting cold. 

That was until Bashire took you off the trail entirely and found a spot was deep into the stalks of corn. 

“Bash- this…” You managed to say just before he pulled you flush with himself and kissed you deeply. The kind of kiss that made your own knees weak and you fought to keep your voice down when after he did, he pulled your hoodie down to feast on your neck as you could only look up at the full moon and it’s ethereal glow among the night sky, occasionally hidden with clouds that passed by. 

“Bash, we could get in trouble!” You whispered as he ungloved his hand to shove down your pants to your sex to rub at it sensually which only made you melt further while your heart raced. Because this was the first time Bashire even hinted at this particular kind of public display of affection. 

“Do you want me to stop?” He asked. 

“I didn’t say that.” You almost feverishly shook your head and pulled him back down to you because where he had lavished attention at your neck was now getting colder because of the leftover saliva there starting to freeze because of the cold air around you. 

“Then stay quiet.” He insisted as pulled you to turn around and moved your backpack to the ground so that he could lower his own pants while lowering yours too before you could smell the lubricant and he had to put his hand over your mouth while he entered you from behind to keep you from making too much noise. 

You could hear your heart thunder in your ears as much as every footfall from every other person traversing the maze. This was the first time you had ever dreamed of having sex in public, much less a corn maze! Where hopefully- unsuspecting people were only a few rows of corn away in any direction which you prayed was enough to hide you. 

“Come on, loosen up for me Babe,” Bashire cooed in your ear as you tried to relax for him but could only bend over more and widen your stance to give him more access to your desired hole but otherwise had to hold onto the stalks of corn on either side of you for dear life ot keep you somewhat upright because Bashire was taking more and more of your strength the closer he got each of you to your much desired releases.  

Suddenly, the cold was rendered moot. Because between the heat and friction between your body and Bashire’s and the alcohol already giving you a buzz, you felt like you were in a heat wave because of how flushed your cheeks were, which you were sure was going to be a permanant fixture on your face. The rest of your senses focused on Bashire’s huffs and quieted grunts as he pounded into you while he had a firm hold to your hips as he drove into you almost mercilessly. You felt like you were going to cut your tongue in half trying to keep your own mouth shut and to keep you from wailing and keening in bliss. 

“That’s it, come on, cum for me.” He managed to bend over you and murmur into your ear before you took your own glove off to put your hand down your pants to fondle the rest of your sex so that you could finish when he would. 

Then there it was, that feeling where his cock felt like it was made of stone, which gave all the explanation for ‘rock hard’ you had ever known in reference to a cock. That was your first clue that he was about to cum. Next was his almost heinously pace, that wasn’t just fast, but was rough and had so much momentum you could feel your insides undlulate from the impact of his hips smacking into your backside. 

You came in a silent scream as your whole body seemed to sieze before shuddering in delight as your orgasm flooded your senses before Bashire finally slammed into you as deep as he could before you could feel his hot seed spill into you, filling your belly with hot warmth before you both seemed to blow a breath of relief and satisfaction. Then it was a rush to get back bundled up and put back together before you got your next drink of choice out of your pack and gave him his. 

“Warn me next time you want to try something new for the first time ok?” You suggested but with a smile that obviously enjoyed your first public sex with him. 

“Yeah, you got it, Babe.” He offered before he kissed you sweetly, put his arm around you and peeked around to make sure you could safely exit this little oasis in the corn field undetected, only to leave the other way he entered it only to be met with the exit. 

“Aw, already?” He complained. 

“The night is still young. We could go again? Maybe not use the shortcut you found this time.” You suggested. 

“Deal.” He agreed before you took the few short steps to the entrance to go through the maze- “the proper” way this time.

[gumnut-logic]

How Gordon got there first was no mystery. Virgil was just too damned tired after three rescues in a row and Scott had been tied up with Tracy Industries for most of the day. Grandma could possibly have been on it if she hadn’t been filling in for John who had broken out his exo-suit to yank a couple of free floaters out of the sky.

He was still muttering about idiots and safety. His mood was not improved by the fact Grandma insisted he come down for the night so he could be counted.

Consequently, his muttering also included cursing bureaucracy even though Virgil knew census night was a favourite of the astronaut.

Perhaps Gordon got to the form first because he knew everyone else was tired and grumpy and needed a kick in the pants. Virgil had to admit with a fond thought that his little brother was prone to throwing joke bombs amongst them when the mood was through the floor.

Virgil had no issues wondering why Alan wasn’t the one poking at the form. Their resident teenager wasn’t interested at all.

“Okay, guys. What is our address? What did we put last time?”

Alan didn’t even look up from his game. “Tracy Island.”

Gordon, who was sitting at Dad’s desk, staring at the holographic form, hesitated. “Did Dad register that with the powers that be?”

“What?” Alan really wasn’t paying any attention at all.

Virgil sighed. He was sitting on the couch with one of his uniform boots on his lap attempting to pick out several penetrating objects out of the sole. His last rescue had been a collapsed factory and he was still trying to work out what exactly it was that they made that could penetrate his specialist footwear.

Fortunately, despite multiple incursions, he only had a scratch on his left foot, more an annoyance than anything, but these objects were frustrating and suspicious.

“Dad did all the right things. Tracy Island is the official name now.” The pliers weren’t quite gripping the piece of metal properly. The grip slipped and Virgil swore.

“Now? What was it called before?”

“Deserter’s Rock.” Scott strode in from the kitchen, a coffee in hand, and grimace on his face. His usually perfect hair was scruffy, as if he had been running his hands through it.

Virgil frowned up at him. “You okay?”

His brother took the steps down into the lounge and sighed. “Nothing a holiday won’t fix.” It was Scott’s turn to frown. “What’s with the boot?”

“Deserter’s Rock? Really?”

It was John who answered, very much like Alan, staring into his tablet and barely paying attention. “Really. Three sailors were stuck here for months. Only one survived. That’s why there is a cairn on Tracy Peak.”

“I thought that was a pile of rocks put there by Dad.” Gordon seemed genuinely surprised. “You mean there are two dead guys on the Island?”

“Along with their ghosts, yeah.” John still didn’t look up.

“Ghosts?” Alan did look up at that, eyes wide. “What ghosts?”

“The one’s who keep stealing my Bailey’s ice cream.”

“Oh.” Alan went back to playing his game, his eyes definitely not darting between John and Gordon at all.

“Okay, moving on…so where do I put ‘Tracy Island’ in this thing? It’s not a suburb, state or territory…do we have a postcode?”

“It’s a locality. Shove it in there.” Virgil grit his teeth and yanked hard at the piece of metal embedded in his boot. A grunt and a flex of heavy lifting muscles and…it didn’t move at all. What the hell?

“Okay, whatever.” Gordon half sung ‘Tracy Island, Kermadec Ridge, South Pacific Ocean’ to himself as he entered it into the form. At least he was being specific. Virgil glared at his boot.

“Next. Who gets to be head of household? Oh, the Householder?” A pause in which Virgil poked at his boot, Scott sipped his coffee with closed eyes, Alan killed three zombies with a grin and John sat motionless still staring at his tablet.

“Okay, then. It’s me.” Gordon grinned to himself.

Nobody looked up, but all four other brothers said simultaneously and in chorus. “It’s Grandma.”

Virgil flexed his hand and picked up his pliers again. Peripherally, he watched Gordon’s shoulders drop. Even the Fish couldn’t argue with that.

“Fine. It’s Grandma.” He reached up and touched the box to open that section of the form. “Where is she anyway?”

Virgil tried to get a better grip on another chunk of metal in his boot. “Yoga. Don’t disturb her.” Yoga was Grandma’s mindfulness time and after today, it was well overdue. “Leave her be.”

“I wasn’t going to. Sheesh. So, name. Sally Tracy.” He typed in her name. “Person two?”

“Scott Tracy.” Okay, so Virgil had a bit of a thing about this. His brother deserved acknowledgement for everything he had done.

Gordon glared at him. “And so I guess the rest of us are in age order?”

Virgil flipped his boot over. “Whatever floats your boat, fishboy.” A glance in Scott’s direction and he had to wonder if his brother had fallen asleep, he was that still. The coffee mug in his hand was the only proof of consciousness.

Virgil fought the urge to save it. “Scott, you wanna go to bed?”

“Wha-?” His brother sat up. “I’m fine.” Fortunately, he put the coffee mug down. The chances of Virgil having to treat burns tonight dropped significantly.

“How do you spell ‘Hackenbacker’?”

Virgil did not grace that with an answer as it was obviously a stupid question.

John was apparently on auto as he spouted off the required letters anyway while still staring at his tablet.

Gordon poked at the form in silence for a little while and Virgil wondered what on Earth he was entering. He trusted his brother. This was an official document, after all, but he was still Gordon.

“Okay, guys, I need your information.”

Beside Virgil, Scott ‘woke up’. “What, no questions about Grandma?”

Gordon frowned at his eldest brother. “I’ll have you know that I know our grandmother very well. We have a special kind of relationship.”

Alan snorted.

“What? You got something to say, sprout?” The fish glared at Alan enough to torch him on the spot.

“I’m just saying that after that time with Grandma’s diver’s license, you should know Grandma’s details very well. Her birthdate, her ancestry, her suit measurements…”

A starfish plushie suddenly had a very short career as a ninja star and bounced off Alan’s head. “Shut up, Alan.”

Their little brother only giggled more.

John, still staring at his tablet, raised an eyebrow. “Allie, Grandma baked some cookies yesterday. I think there are still some in the cupboard. Would you like some?”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Alan threw the plushie at his fish brother, missing completely, and went back to playing his game. There was muttering about Gordon making jokes but Alan not being allowed to.

Virgil sighed to himself.

“Scotty, what’s your age? It’s 2060 for reference. Oh, and your gender.”

All signs of sleep fell away and Scott sat up. “Gordon…” It was all warning.

“Hey, I’m just giving you the opportunity to offer an alternative. After all, tonight you look at least fifty-six.”

“I’m thirty-one and you know it.”

Gordon poked at the form. “Thirty-one years young. Got it.”

Scott grunted at him.

“Virg, are we telling the truth this time?”

“Depends on whether you want me to leave you in the ocean next time.” Why the hell couldn’t he get this out of his boot?

“To threat level already, you are grumpy tonight.”

“Gordon…” Virgil echoed Scott from earlier to the note.

“Johnny?”

“No one named ‘Johnny’ lives here.”

Gordon signed. “John Glenn Tracy, how would you like me to record your age?”

“Accurately.”

“Fine.”

“If I say I’m thirty-two, do I get to go higher up on the form?” Alan looked hopeful.

“If you like.” Gordon moved things around on the display.

Virgil gave up. The locality of Tracy Island was destined to be a statistical anomaly anyway. At least it would be an interesting one.

Besides, John would probably hack it later and fix it. The fact he had hardly protested so far was eminent proof of that security factor.

“Scotty, are you the husband or wife of Grandma?”

Scott rubbed his face and didn’t bother to answer, picking up his coffee again and burying his face in it.

Virgil just wished he would go to bed. The man was a zombie.

Gordon took the hint and was quiet for a little while. Virgil went back to tugging on his boot. Maybe he should take this down to his workshop.

The thought of actually working more had his shoulders slumping enough to alert Scott. The concerned and questioning look shot in his direction had Virgil sitting up a little straighter to fend it off.

“John, where should we put your usual place of residence?”

“Here.”

“But you live in space.”

“So do you.”

“Pedantic much?”

“As necessary. Tracy Island is home. Thunderbird Five is merely in our astronomical backyard, not to mention secret.”

Virgil looked up at that. It was a simple statement, but it was good to hear that John still considered Tracy Island home despite his multiple protests over the years.

“Fine. Secret space station wasn’t an option anyway. I could flub it and use Global One but then that would spark all those rumours about you and that captain all over again.”

“Gordon, I can hack your bank accounts.”

“Go for it.”

“I can also hack your fish tanks.”

The aquanaut shot to his feet. “You touch my tanks and you’re dead, spacehead.”

John didn’t react other than to smile just a little.

Their space brother could be a right royal ass when he wanted to be. Virgil sighed. “John, you know the rules.”

He shrugged. “Didn’t break any.”

“You touch my tanks, I’m spicing up your atmosphere on Five. I’m not kidding. I have fart gas resources even you can’t find.” Gordon was still on his feet and actually appeared angry.

John shuddered. “TMI, Gordo. Not interested in your gas capacity, honestly.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Calm down, Gords, John’s not doing anything to your fish tanks. He knows the rules, don’t you, John.” He arched a prompting eyebrow at his brother.

“Never said I didn’t.”

Definitely an ass.

“Gordon, calm down. You can put John’s relationship to you in as ‘nemesis’ if it makes you feel better.”

“I can only put in our relationship to Grandma. I wrote favourite grandson in yours.”

It was Virgil’s turn to shrug. “I’m not going to complain. Sit down and finish the form.”

His brother didn’t answer, but he did sit down, albeit still glaring at John.

John had gone back to his tablet, doing who knew the hell what.

Definitely an ass.

Virgil turned back to Gordon. “What’s the next question, Gords?”

The glare switched to Virgil for a second before turning to the form. “Where were we born?”

“Kansas.”

“I know that. What about Grandma, Brains and Kayo?”

“Space.” Alan said it with triumph.

“What?”

“Where John lives. Isn’t that what the question was?” Alan stared between his brothers.

“Go back to sleep, Alan.”

“Grandma was born in Kansas, Brains was born in India, and Kayo was born here.” Scott proved he was still awake by suddenly providing information enough to make Virgil jump.

Gordon poked at the form, but nothing further was said on that front. Everyone knew Kayo was sensitive about her past, and while she wasn’t in the room, she would find out and partially kill anyone responsible.

“Kayo is here tonight, isn’t she?”

Virgil yanked on his boot again, slipped and managed to elbow Scott in the ribs. His brother grunted.

“Oh, shit, sorry. You okay?” He shoved the boot aside and the pliers along with it.

Scott eyed him and rubbed his side. “That answers your question, Gordon. Kayo is on a conference call with Captain Rigby.”

Virgil glared at Scott.

Gordon eyed the both of them. “Is there something you two aren’t telling the class?”

“Shut up, Gordon.” Virgil glared at Scott a moment longer, enough to have his brother’s expression fall into one of concern. Grabbing his boot again, Virgil went back to wrestling with embedded metal. Damned specialised rubber was amazing when it protected him but when its tolerances were overrun, it was a pain to fix. Maybe he should ask Max to give it a yank. “What entertaining religion are you using this time, Gords?” Any attempt to get the conversation off this topic.

Gordon stared at him a moment, obviously still trying to work out what the hell happened there.

Scott was dead later; Virgil was going to make sure of it. Tired or not, he had crossed a line.

A sideways look in his eldest brother’s direction and it was obvious Scott realised that. Okay, maybe he could let it go. It had been a long day and they were all tired.

Probably should go to bed.

He went back to fighting with his boot.

Gordon was still staring but even the fish knew when to shut up apparently, because the next words out of his mouth were entirely religious.

“I’m worshiping Neptune this year.”

Alan frowned. “I thought you said that last time.”

“Dad wouldn’t let me.”

That brought the whole room to a standstill. Last census was ten years ago. Flashback to that time brought everything that had changed into the bright glaring light. The biggest change being Dad’s absence. But even more, ten years ago they were still based in Kansas, IR was in development, but not yet a reality. Alan was only six, Gords eleven and with his body still intact…it was a completely different time. Virgil was still in college and had to fill in his own census form in Denver.

Gordon broke the looming silence with a determined smile. “This time the government gets the truth. Scott bows to the sky gods, Virg worships molemen, Johnny is a god, and Alan is Satan.

“Hey!” It was said by multiple brothers at once.

Only John remained calm. He even had a smile. “In that case, I want bagels every Sunday.”

“You get bagels every Sunday. Virg sends them up all the time.” Alan glared at his space brother – Alan did not like bagels.

John grinned wider. “I’ll take that as proof that I have at least one faithful worshipper.”

“Next time you can get your own bagels.” Virgil glared at his brother.

Gordon snorted. “Yeah, right, you old softie. John could blow up Two and you’d still send him his bagels.”

Virgil found himself glaring at Gordon again. It seemed to be a theme tonight. “Short pier, long walk, Gordon, go for it.”

He got a smirk for that. “Don’t mind if I do. A little night diving is quite spectacular around here.”

Virgil ignored him and went back to his boot…which he had made zero progress on for all the time he had been sitting here, damnit.

“Does Virgil ever ‘need someone to help with or be with him for self-care, body movement, or communication activities’?” Gordon typed into the form. “Before coffee.”

Virgil ignored him some more as Alan took the bait and snickered. “Better watch it, Gords. Won’t be long before ‘before coffee’ time kicks in. Look at him, he’s already brewing.”

The piece of metal in his boot finally shifted a little. Thank goodness.

“Long term health conditions.” Gordon slumped in his seat. “Well, isn’t this cheerful.”

“Just fill it in, Gordon.” Scott’s words were little more than a sigh.

That left a gaping silence. Gordon tapped a lot at the keyboard filling in far too much. More for himself, obviously, but then there was John and his space issues, and they all had been diagnosed with something on the list hanging above their father’s desk.

Except Alan, who could not be left out. Virgil pretended to not be able to read the word ‘zombification’ next to his little brother’s name.

“Schooling? Oh man, John, you can write all the letters after your name. I can never remember them all.”

“Not a problem.” The astronaut poked at his tablet and the hologram in front of Gordon sprouted half the alphabet.

“Really? Did you get a new one?” He stared at John. “When did you get time for that?”

John shrugged. “Made time.”

“What’s this one for?”

“Oceanography.”

“What?”

“You were in the ocean. I didn’t know enough to help. So I fixed the problem.”

Gordon just stared.

Virgil, of course, knew. He had been the one to field John’s version of panic the day he didn’t know enough to help Gordon. John was practical. He saw a problem, he fixed it. Oceanography wasn’t an obvious topic for the starman, but he was a genius and that genius could be applied where he wished it to be.

If Virgil had found himself helping John at a few points that intersected with his specialities along the way, he was just going to take a little comfort from being able to return the favour after years of borrowing his brother’s brains for other topics.

And besides, it had meant he had been able to spend a little extra time with John. Always a good thing.

Despite him being the occasional ass.

Gordon was still staring. “Is that why you bugged me to take you out in Four?”

John shrugged. “Partly. Didn’t mind spending a bit of time with you either. Good experience to familiarise myself with Four as well.”

The stare continued.

“Be careful you don’t catch any flies with your mouth open.”

The stare became a glare. “We’re talking about this. You and me.”

“Sure.”

Gordon looked like he didn’t know whether to yell at him or run over and hug his brother. Virgil was voting for the latter.

But everything was interrupted by a sudden snore and snort.

Virgil turned to Scott and found his brother startled awake, likely by his own snore.

“Wha-?”

“Scott, you need to go to bed.”

“I’m fine.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Do I need to pick you up and carry you?”

“I’m fine.” He waved Virgil away, sat up straighter and attempted to guzzle whatever was left of his probably cold coffee.

“Idiot.”

“What?”

“Go to bed.”

“No. We need to finish the census.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Because why?”

“Because I want to.”

“Why?”

“Can you stop that?”

“Can you go to bed?”

“No!”

“You need sleep.”

“I can manage my own health, thank you, Doctor Virgil.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I am an adult.”

“Sometimes.”

“Virgil!”

Gordon let off a loud snort. “That’s it. I’m putting you two in as married.”

“Gordon!” Both of them, in chorus. It was apparently a theme tonight.

“Well, you both argue like an old married couple, what can I do?”

“You can shut up and move onto the next question.”

Gordon poked his tongue out at Scott, but he didn’t stop grinning and Virgil was forced to hold back a smile himself.

Bratty little fish.

He was still smirking when he said, “Employment.”

“Oh god.” Scott sank back onto the couch and rubbed his face with his hands.

There followed a book’s worth of employment activities.

“Rocket surfing is not an occupation, Gordon.” Virgil sighed.

“Why not? Both Scott and Allie surf rockets.”

“Alan rides a rocket sled and Scott is just trying to give me grey hair.”

“Has he succeeded yet?” Bratty fish.

“None of your business.”

“So is International Rescue paid or unpaid work?” Gordon was frowning at the form.

“Unpaid.”  Scott’s tone was sharp.

“So are we unemployed, employed or self-employed?”

“Self-employed.”

“How much do you earn a year, Scotty?”

Their eldest brother paused as if calculating, but then threw up a hand. “Stuffed if I know.”

John snorted and rattled off a number.

“There isn’t enough space for that many zeros here, John.”

“Give me a moment.”

The display in front of Gordon flickered and each of their names received a variety of numbers…except for Alan.

“Hey, how come I don’t have any earnings?”

“You are a minor.” John spoke calmly, as if speaking to a minor.

“But I do stuff for Tracy Industries, I do.”

“All your income is held in trust, you know that.”

“Then who is paying for all that popcorn I bought this morning?”

Scott sighed. “Don’t worry, you’re not going to bust the bank.”

“We own the bank.”

Scott stared at John. “When did we buy a bank?”

“I bought it for your birthday last year but forgot to give it to you.”

“Oh.”

“I’m writing obscenely rich next to all our names. Oh, except for you, Allie. You’re a pauper.”

“Hey! You suck, Fishbrain.”

“Remember who might need to lend you money in the next couple of years…”

“While Gordon remembers who lent him money in the past, who still helps him with his finances, and who also is the one to fish him out of the ocean after every mission.” Virgil pinned Gordon with his eyes.

Gordon blinked. “You have a point.” A pause as a smile crept over his face. “Who was that again?”

The hologram of the census form wobbled as a lounge cushion flew through it and hit Gordon squarely in the face.

“Right on target. Hmm, I’ve still got it.” Scott blew imaginary smoke off a finger gun.

Unfortunately, Scott may have still had it, but he wasn’t the best marksman on this census form. The cushion rebounded via aquanaut and hit Scott squarely in the face with an oomph.

This forced both Virgil and Alan to come to his defence and for a full ten minutes after that, it was an all-out pillow fight between the brothers. Even John was drawn in as Gordon came up behind him and tried to stuff one down the back of his shirt.

Which wasn’t advisable since his gravity support was still in play. But then John was king of the noogie and immediately grabbed a head full of strawberry blond hair, dragged it down onto the couch beside him and made sure it received the full-on noogie treatment.

Gordon did squawk quite a bit.

An extreme one-on-one joust erupted between Scott and Alan. It was that determined that Virgil had to back out. Alan, being the terrier he was, managed to get Scott on his back on the lounge and sat on him pummelling him with pillows.

Virgil had suspicions that the game was rigged.

In any case, he had to find somewhere else to sit and tinker with his boot.

Eventually, Gordon found his way back to the census form. Scott was still on his back and apparently Alan had decided he preferred that his big brother stay that way by sitting on him and playing his computer game. Scott at least had a remaining cushion under his head, but one foot had taken out a pot plant and the other was hanging over the back of the sofa. His brother really was too tall for lying on the seating arrangements, but he didn’t seem to care.

With a bit of luck he might fall asleep.

“Okay, let’s finish this. How did you get to work today?” Gordon grunted. “This form has no rockets, planes, submarines or space elevators on it.”

“Tick the ‘other’ box and let them work it out.” John let out a yawn.

Virgil eyed him.

John screwed up his face and poked out his tongue.

Wha-“ Virgil blinked.

“Hey, Virg, how many hours did you work last week?”

That distracted him enough to turn to Gordon. “How the hell do I know?”

“You worked them. I bet you know your flight hours.”

“Today’s. Not last week. That was last week.”

“Eos, send Gordon last week’s record?”

The AI chimed in at her father’s request. “Yes, John.”

Another document appeared in front of Gordon. “Wow, that much? Really?”

“The documentation is correct as recorded.” Eos sounded a little miffed. But then she never particularly liked Gordon on the best of days.

His fault, of course.

“Virg, you win, but only by a bit over Scott and that was because he twisted his ankle on Monday.”

“Sprained, you mean.”

“Twisted.” It came from the couch and was strangled by a little brother.

“Sprained. He should have been off for several days, but he’s an idiot.”

“You can’t talk, Mr Bruised-not-cracked.”

“At least I’m not Cracked-not-broken.”

“Sure.”

Scott might have said more but Alan whacked him with a pillow. “You guys are idiots. Gords, John and I are lucky our grey hairs don’t show.” Alan growled. “I’m sixteen, for crying out loud, and I know more about hospitals than I ever wanted to. Look after yourselves, you morons.”

Silence hit the room again.

“Way to go, Allie. You tell ‘em.” Gordon’s words were honest.

Of course, Scott was devastated and immediately questioning all his life choices. Virgil wasn’t far behind, but Scott, in particular had a sensitive spot where Alan was concerned.

“Hey.” He reached out a hand and rested it on their little brother’s arm. “Talk to me, Allie.”

Alan growled again. “I’m fine as long as you two look after yourselves. We kinda need you, you know.”

Scott grabbed his little brother and dragged him down into a hug. “I’m sorry.”

Virgil sat with his boot in his lap needing to grab both his brothers but not wanting to interrupt their moment.

He shouldn’t have worried. A second later Gordon jumped over the back of the couch, landed beside him and grabbed him, dragging him sideways into an oomph of a hug. “Don’t worry, my dear wingman, we still love you even if you are an idiot.”

“Gordon…”

“Admit it, you want a hug.”

“Shut up.”

Gordon didn’t say anything further, but he did squeeze tighter.

“When you get to the questions on whether any of us looked after children, Gordon, tick yes for all of us.” John’s tone was as dry as a desert.

“Will do.” Gordon grinned at him.

Scott actually fell asleep after that. It was about time. Apparently, Alan made a great teddy bear.

Alan grumbled about that for days, but Virgil knew his little brother treasured his relationship with Scott and the fact he fell asleep as well was rather telling.

But that fact pretty much ended the census form filling for that night.

The next morning saw all of them out on an earthquake and it wasn’t until two days later that Gordon realised they hadn’t submitted the form.

Grabbing Scott and Virgil, he ran them through the last of the questions, landing on the definitions of their dwelling.

“How many registered motor vehicles do we have at this dwelling?”

“Er, none? We have no roads.” Virgil frowned at the obvious answer.

“Three rockets, two planes and a submarine don’t count?”

An arched eyebrow. “Does it say anything about planes? Tracy Two and Three are registered in Aotearoa.”

“Aotearoa is not the United States.”

“But they are still registered.”

Scott sighed. “Read the form properly, guys. It says exclude heavy vehicles.”

“Well, that strikes Virg off the list, but your ‘bird’s a pansy.”

That earned Gordon a mocking whack up the back of the head.

“Gords, just write zero. The intent is there.”

“Fine. We have no motor vehicles. Stupid form.” A sigh. “Okay, how many bedrooms do we have?”

Scott answered that one. “Ten.”

“I thought it was twelve.”

“One went to an art studio and the other to a music recording room.”

Gordon glared at Virgil. “Way to take over the house, bro.”

“And how many fish tanks do you have in how many rooms? Not to mention the chunk of vegetable garden we had to sacrifice for Rover’s pond?”

“Leave Rover out of this. That wasn’t his fault.”

Virgil snorted. “Not his.”

“Shut up.”

Scott sighed again. “We have ten bedrooms.” He scanned the rest of the form, which thankfully wasn’t very long. “We own the place outright, and yes, they can archive our information for our grandkids to access. Tick the boxes and get this sent so I can go get some lunch.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Scott growled but Gordon ignored him.

Boxes all ticked, he hit the submit button.

“This form has already been submitted. You may not submit it again.” Underneath was the date of the day before census night. “What the hell? How could we open it if - ” Scott hit his comms. “John!”

John’s hologram flickered up beside the misbehaving census form. “I’m between a hurricane in Bermuda and an avalanche in the Pyrenees. How may I help you?”

“What?!”

“Oh, the census form. Eos submitted that three days ago.” Their space brother was distracted a moment out of pick up range as Scott’s jaw dropped. “Needed to get it done before Gordon got his hands on it. Besides, we can’t guarantee we wouldn’t have been called out anyway, so I got it done beforehand.”

“Then why the hell were we going through the damned thing on census night?”

John blinked. “You had fun, didn’t you? We shared an evening together.”

Virgil joined both his brothers at staring at John.

The astronaut just smirked back at them. “You did a great job, Gordon. Thanks.” The smirk turned into a grin. “Thunderbird Five out.” His hologram disappeared.

Scott’s face curdled. “I’m going to kill him.”

Virgil let his shoulders drop and sighed. “You said that last time he did something like this, and he’s still kicking.”

“I’m soaking his underwear in saltwater.” Gordon had that fire in his eyes that usually preceded a Tracy Island Armageddon.

“Gords…”

“He played me, Virg. He knew what I would do and played me. He thinks I’m predictable!”

“Yeah, but he obviously did it for the right reasons.”

Virgil found himself the target of two glares. “What? You want a group hug or something? C’mere.” And he grabbed the both of them, wrapping his arms around them. “Happy Census Night.”

The grumbling was worth it.

-o-o-o-

[blu-joons]

DAD EXO HEADCANON A⇴Z ⇴ Park Chanyeol

A ⇴ AFFECTION

Chanyeol loved to hug you tightly, especially when you were feeling low. He’d walk around and have his arms around your waist, carrying your baby bump for you for a while to help ease your pain and the weight that you carried as well.

B ⇴ BUMP

At night especially, Chanyeol had a habit of curling up as tight as he could around your bump. It was strange for you to see his usually long figure so small against your side, but he loved getting as small as he could to curl around your bump as best as he could to be able to cradle your baby as tight to himself as possible.

C ⇴ CRAVINGS

Whenever you were experiencing cravings, Chanyeol decided to take it as an open invitation for him to enjoy some food as well. His diet went out of the window when you fell pregnant, if you wanted a midnight snack, then so did he, only luckily for you, you didn’t have a trainer who would make you regret it the very next day.

D ⇴ DUE DATE

As your due date neared, a few nerves began to creep in for Chanyeol especially. Even though the two of you were incredibly organised, he couldn’t help but worry that perhaps the two of you had forgotten something or you’d missed something on one of the lists that you’d made of things you needed. For once, it was your turn to assure Chanyeol that you’d been through everything enough times to know you had it all.

E ⇴ EMOTIONS

There was no other emotion that Chanyeol felt towards your pregnancy then excitement. He was beyond excited to become a dad, to see you as a mum, and just enjoy having a baby that would be yours. He was always optimistic, whenever you were worried or nervous, Chanyeol got you looking at the bright side of life again, clearing your mind and easing your worries with a wide, excited, smile on his face throughout.

F ⇴ FAMILY

The two of you found yourselves spending a lot more time with both of your families as Chanyeol’s schedule eased throughout your pregnancy. You suddenly found yourselves able to say yes to all of the occasions that you had to say no to, even being able to invite members of your families to things as you had plenty of days free rather than the odd spare hours around the week like you usually did pre pregnancy.

G ⇴ GENDER

Chanyeol being Chanyeol refused to find out the gender of your baby without turning it into some sort of competition to play against you. You placed a bet on girl, he bet boy, with both of you desperate to be the winner as the loser would be paying for the first takeout you ordered once your baby had been born.

H ⇴ HEARTBEAT

You’d never seen the look of surprise on Chanyeol’s face before as you saw it when he felt the beat of your baby’s heart for the first time. Chanyeol didn’t have high hopes for being able to hear much, but he completely underestimated the power of the equipment, stunned when he heard the beat of your baby’s heart loud and clear.

I ⇴ “I LOVE YOU”

He always went above and beyond in making you feel loved anyway, but when you were feeling insecure in your pregnancy, Chanyeol would always remind you that he loved you the most. Even though he knew it might not be enough to do the trick, he wanted you to know how much he appreciated your body at least.

J ⇴ JEALOUSY

Whenever someone got a little too handsy with your bump, Chanyeol would get a little bit jealous. He was protective of your bump and had a bit of trouble hiding his disapproval when someone was feeling for too long. He didn’t mind if someone wanted a quick feel of your bump, but when someone lingered around you for too long, Chanyeol knew he had to do something to distract you and stop himself getting annoyed.

K ⇴ KICKS

Nothing made Chanyeol smile more than the feeling of being able to cuddle up to your bump and feel your baby kicking. It a was a feeling that he could never truly get used to, each time a kick suddenly happened it always took him by surprise, especially when he was resting absentmindedly against your bump.

L ⇴ LABOUR

He was incredibly comforting during your labour, whilst you spent most of it a panicked mess. Things didn’t quite go as the two of you had planned, and yet Chanyeol still managed to remain calm for your sake and support you. Although on the inside there was plenty of worry around what was going on, he made sure that he had all the right things to say to reassure you especially as your plans quickly began to change.

M ⇴ MORNING SICKNESS

You were lucky that things like sickness didn’t bother Chanyeol at all, and so he was always able to be the best possible support that you needed when you were sick. He went as far as always carrying a hairband around his wrist so that he was always able to tie your hair back too when it was getting in your way.

N ⇴ NURSERY

The nursery was a huge deal for Chanyeol, he wanted the whole thing to be perfect. As soon as he had a vision in mind, he knew what he was going to do with the room, with no other alternative except what he saw.

O ⇴ OBSESSION

Chanyeol was obsessed with your bump, he loved noticing even the smallest of changes, but most of all, he loved seeing how your body changed over the nine months and how incredible the journey of your bump growth was too.

P ⇴ POST BIRTH

He was incredibly cautious with you for the first few days after you gave birth, Chanyeol was in no rush when it came to you recovering and looking after your body. Although the sudden responsibility that he had was a little bit overwhelming at times, he stepped up, and made sure to take the best care of you both.

Q ⇴ QUESTIONS

Asking you if you were alright once would never enough for Chanyeol, he was usually quite pushy in making sure that you were doing alright. Eventually you’d end up snapping back at Chanyeol to assure him that you really were fine.

R ⇴ RANDOM FACTS

He loved to photograph your progress, and so at the end of the week Chanyeol would make you stand in front of the same wall in your house and pull a funny pose. At the end of your pregnancy, he had all of them printed, placing them into a scrapbook that the two of you could look back over in the many years that followed.

S ⇴ SCANS

In his studio, Chanyeol had a little frame just beside his computer which had your scan photo placed inside of it. Whenever he was getting frustrated, or perhaps struggling a bit for inspiration, he’d look to his left and remind himself what was important, and hopefully search for a lyric or two from the photograph as well.

T ⇴ TEST

The two of you bought quite a few tests, convinced that the first couple were just dodgy. It was only after you had seven positive tests lined up before you both, did you allow yourselves to think it was all real.

U ⇴ ULTRASOUND

Although he was a busy guy, Chanyeol made time for every appointment, because nothing was ever as important as seeing his baby.

V ⇴ VISITS

He was beyond excited to start having people around and introducing them all to your little one. He waited until you let him know you were ready for visitors, and as soon as you were, plenty of arrangements were made.

W ⇴ WAITING

Chanyeol was incredibly impatient, he was itching to call himself dad and get stuck in with parenthood alongside you.

X ⇴ XXXX

He’d often try and alternate his kisses as best as he could between you and your bump. He’d often kiss just along where your bump began to try and argue that he was kissing both of you at the same time and making both of you feel loved.

Y ⇴ YOU

You were everything to Chanyeol, his number one priority always.

Z ⇴ ZZZ

Most nights Chanyeol would fall asleep holding onto your bump to keep it nice and still so that you could get comfortable. He also loved holding onto it and making the most of the last few kicks that he could feel for the evening.

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Masterlist