#asked my siblings to help me come over and pack but was planning on moving out next Saturday

[beautifulcrownobserves]

Ugh, unpacking is like cleaning your room, but hard mode.

[redflagshipwriter]

Hot Ghouls in your Area 9

masterpost

“Good morning!”

Jason winced and moved the phone a little further from his face. “Is this Doctor Fenton?” 

“It's one of them! What can I do ya for?” Jack Fenton boomed, just as bombastic as his newsletter made him seem. Jason knew, deep in his heart, that Jack Fenton was indeed the one who had selected green neon bold for his headings and borders. 

Angels wept. Jason scrubbed his palm over his eye. This man had no poetry in his soul. “I, uh, had some questions about a ghost. I've read some of your articles and your most recent published paper on the topic.”

“We love ghosts!” Fenton bellowed. “Ask away!”

“Do you know a ghost called Phantom?” Jason tried.

“...Sure do,” Jack Fenton said. “Whatcha need?” 

Jason cleared his throat. “It's somewhat complicated,” he said evasively, because he didn't need these people to know he was the Red Hood. Fuck. He should have either gotten his helmet stored away or not given his real name. Phantom knew his face and that his name was Jason. Any information that got around via Phantom might tie his face to his alter ego. If Phantom said he got married to Jason, the Red Hood, that could lead to the end of the Bat family vigilantism.

“...He cause you trouble, sport?”

Jason let out a slight laugh. “You could say that, though it wasn't really his fault,” he admitted. He cast a paranoid eye out the window to be sure no siblings were creeping on him. “No, it's really more that…” Fuck, he should have planned this better. “Is there any information you can give me about how a human could contact him?” 

Not that Jason didn't have a phone number for the guy. But it made him very uncomfortable to have any basic knowledge or way to track Phantom down if he decided to leave Jason to whatever was going on. 

“I could probably do that,” Jack Fenton said slowly, now sounding like an entirely different human being. “Say, you wouldn't be Jeremy, would you?”

Jason blinked. “...How did you know?” He went with. Phantom had contact with a human guy named Jeremy? That might be his in.

“Oh, well then, you've definitely got to come over,” Dr. Fenton wheedled. It somehow came across as shifty. “You'll be wanting a whole primer on how the Ghost Zone works, won't ya?” 

“That would be immensely helpful,” Jason agreed. “But I'd hate to take up your valuable time.”

“Nonsense!” Fenton bellowed. Jason nearly lost his grip on his phone in surprise. “Come over Jeremy, I'm dying to meetcha!” 

So, there was a plan. Jason packed for a day trip and dialed up his travel agent. 

“Fuck off,” said Tim. “I'm busy. Christ.” 

“I need an airplane ticket and a rental bike to Illinois,” Jason continued. He tossed his mostly full bag on the sofa and went digging for the socks he knew he had washed the other night. “I'm going to go see some nerds about my impromptu adventure the other day.”

Tim groaned. That was the first Jason had given any hint at all about what had happened to him when he'd been ‘sacrificed.’ “What nerds?” He asked wearily. 

Jason grinned into his sock drawer. Gottem. “Why, do you all know each other?” He asked blithely. 

“Do you always antagonize people you want favors from?” Tim whined. A keyboard clacked rapidly in the background. “Jason, I swear to God, you massive bitch. Cut the crap and communicate, or I'm hanging up.” 

Jason frowned at his socks and grabbed a random pair. “You don't gotta be like that,” he said sulkily. He slammed the socks into his bag with a very unsatisfying silence. “So, the ritual doohickey sent me to the infinite underworld, I met a guy there actually and we are magically connected because he's who that dumb ritual matched me up to. He doesn't want to be stuck with a human so we are on the same page about breaking this. We started looking for answers and he took me back to Earth since it's not good for humans to be in the green dimension for too long.” 

There was silence from the other end of the line for a few seconds. “You're fucking lying,” Tim said. 

“Only by leaving things out.” A bit stung, Jason pulled a hand through his hair and accidentally ruined his good hair day. 

“What are you leaving out?” Tim rejoined swiftly.

Jason laughed at him. “You think you're getting that kinda information in exchange for plane tickets?” He asked incredulously. 

“You are the most annoying person who has ever tried to kill me.”

Ouch. That genuinely stung.

“Fuck off.” Jason slammed the drawers shut. 

“I could guess aliens or supernatural off of what you just said.” Tim ignored Jason’s very good point. “Based off of your trip to the Gotham U campus and-”

“Are you still stalking me?” Jason cut him off, incredulous. He scoffed. “Little buddy, you already got my pixie boots, Red Robin costume, and my Dad. What else do you wanna take from me?”

“I think that you were there to assess Daniel Fenton,” Tim ignored him.

Jason was silent for a moment. There was probably no point in pretending that Tim was wrong. “You already knew about the Fenton’s connection to the supernatural.” He was suddenly tired.

“His older sister is an intern at Arkham, she stepped out of line to get a chance to talk to Jeremy Waters.” Tim didn’t seem to notice that the mood had changed. He was caught up on whatever twenty level plan was whirring away internally.

Jason looked at the wall for a moment, not bothering to think about why that name was familiar. “...and that is…?”

“The guy who kidnapped you, keep up,” Tim snarked. “Her supervisor guessed what she was hinting at, shut her down, put a note about it in the private server so there was a paper trail if she turns out to be a collaborator.”

““Private” is a strong word to describe that server.” Jason rubbed at his jawline and hefted his bag out to the bathroom to gather his shaving kit. 

“Mmhm,” Tim said blandly. “I bugged her phone. The signal is absurdly bad, unexplainably bad. She doesn’t send a lot of messages, but she had a very suspicious call with Daniel Fenton where, among other things, she hinted she had inside knowledge regarding some kind of local mystery, possibly criminal activity. Her brother accused her of supporting crime.”

Jason groaned. “I’m going to interview their parents.” He checked that the razor blades were stowed away correctly before snapping shut the travel case. Then he noticed that his bathroom mirror could use a wipedown. He left his bag for a moment to dig for the cleaner.

“Probably for the best,” Tim said, definitely misunderstanding his purpose. “They seem…” He trailed off when he couldn’t find an appropriate adjective.

“You should read a book,” Jason said, because he saw an opportunity to be an asshole. “Anyway, I wanna get out to the area tonight and see them in the morning. What’s my flight?” He spritzed the glass and watched his reflection blur. It was oddly comforting to not have to stare at his green eyes.

‘That ghost zone was the same green as the Lazarus Pits,’ Jason thought dully. He didn’t really want to think about it. But he had a pretty good idea why he hadn’t had the reaction to the place that Danny expected a human to have.

“Kon could take you,” Tim said sweetly, which was basically a death threat. It was enough to jar him back to the real world. Kon was still not feeling chill about the Titans Tower scuffle. It probably wasn’t good for him to be so petty, but Jason was not going to be the one to tell baby Superdork that.

Jason winced. “I was thinking more like United.”

Tim snickered. 

[heavyhitterheaux]

Got Me Thinking

Part 1: Butterflies

Synopsis: a reunion that is well overdue makes your heart flutter once you lay eyes on your first love in more than ten years and the feelings that you thought were long gone come rushing back

Pairing: Jack Harlow x Reader

Please Do Not Repost My Content Anywhere

Sighing to yourself, you quickly pulled out your phone and started looking for plane tickets to head back home to Louisville. It had been a little while since you had been back, but your biggest reason for going was to get away from him.

Him being your husband, Xavier.

The two of you had been married for only three years, but you were over it. You had come to the realization that the person you married was long gone and that there really was no hope left. The less that you were around him, the better.

You knew he was cheating on you and you recently discovered that he had gotten another woman pregnant and that she was due in less than a month.

He had no idea that you knew all of that information and since you found out, you had just been biding your time and had since opened up another bank account to save money in order to plan to get away from him.

The goal was to move back to Louisville so that you could be closer to your parents and siblings who stayed there while you were the only one that left.

Booking your flight, you closed your phone to begin packing since you would literally be leaving within the next few hours. At this point, you were desperate and longing for a peaceful environment.

You knew that he wouldn't ask any questions about where you were and it seemed as if it had gotten to the point where the two of you were simply roommates and you were completely okay with that.

It had been almost a week since you had seen him anyway.

A quick text was sent to your mom to let her know to expect you around midnight and she quickly responded back in excitement.

The plan was to divorce him by the end of this year because then you would have more than enough money to live off of for the time being once you moved back. Truth be told, you had enough money now, being a CRNA had its perks and it helped that you lived in California which had the highest pay for nurses because of the cost of living. Moving to Louisville would definitely be a pay cut, however you didn't even care. You just wanted to get away from him.

–

When you had finally touched down in Louisville at midnight, you told your mom not to worry about getting you from the airport but she insisted and wouldn't take no for an answer.

Once you slid into the passenger seat of her car after throwing your suitcase in the back, she immediately eyed you which made a sigh escape from your lips.

“Hi to you too, mother.”

“I'm just waiting until the divorce is finalized so that I can throw you a party.” She said while following behind the other cars headed towards the highway.

“By the end of the year. I told you that already.”

“But what are we waiting for? Anything that you need, you know me and your dad will support you until you get settled back here in Louisville. He is a piece of shit and I'm tired of him treating my daughter as if she isn't the best thing to happen to his ungrateful ass.”

“He wasn't always like this.”

“I know because if he was, ain't no way in hell he would have gotten my approval to marry you.” Your mother replied with her voice slightly raised and you simply sighed.

“You deserve so much more and it is hard seeing my youngest child so unhappy all the time. So, I'm just going to say it.”

“MOM!” You replied turning to her with wide eyes because you knew what was going to happen next and what she was going to say because she said it every single time that you talked to her on the phone or facetime.

“Jack wouldn't have treated you like this.”

“Will you ever let that go? We broke up more than 10 years ago! It was a mutual decision!”

“Well it needs to be a mutual decision for yall asses to get back together. Jack is the only son-in-law that I'm going to acknowledge at this point and I am waiting for the proposal. See? It's meant to be. I don't like his wife and I don't like your husband. There, that settles it.”

Any time that someone mentioned Jack, your heart immediately began to race and the butterflies in your stomach increased tenfold.

The two of you decided to end your relationship after dating from your freshman year in high school all the way up until senior year. It wasn't because either of you wanted to, it just was what was best. You were going to nursing school and Jack was trying to become a rapper and get a record deal and move to Atlanta. When you sat down and thought about it, the two of you could have made it work, but the last thing you wanted was for him to feel like he was being held back by you in any shape or form.

You saw how successful he was and was proud of him and never counted him out for a minute despite what people were saying around the two of you.

“Wait, pause. When did he get married?!”

“Talk about a delayed reaction. But it only happened about ten months ago. You and Xavier were umm… starting to have your issues so I didn't mention it. I met her when I went to meet Maggie for lunch and she gave me… What's that word yall use now? The ick. And in not so many words when Maggie and I went to lunch, she told me she didn't like her either and that he should have married you. Jack even LOOKS unhappy. But you didn't hear that from me. Do what you want with that information. I mean you could always go over to Maggie and Brian's. It seems like he's always there and never at home. I wouldn't be at home either with someone like that.”

“Mom! Quit it. I am here to…”

“Get away from your cheating ass husband who is also about to have a baby on you? Go and get the man who has wanted you since you were fourteen.”

All you did was sigh because you knew deep down that your mother was right. But, you still had hesitations in the back of your mind. You highly doubt that Jack still felt the same about you all these years later. Besides, he had a whole wife and you could admit that your mother could be extra dramatic at times, so why would he marry her if he didn't even like her?

“Okay, changing the subject. What do you want to eat when we get home?”

“Mom, it's one in the morning.”

“So? What time do stomachs open?”

–

Later on in the day when you had gotten some much needed sleep, you had a craving for some Italian food and decided to go to a restaurant not too far from your parents’ house and get your order to go. Your all time favorite, Vincenzo's.

In order to make it so no one in your house had to cook dinner, you took it upon yourself to get something for everyone. You had already placed your order and was waiting for it as you were scrolling on your phone, when suddenly you heard someone call your name from behind.

“Y/N?”

Once you looked up and turned around, you came face to face with no one other than Jack's younger brother Clay. Who you hadn't seen since you left Louisville to go to nursing school.

“Well look who it is and who is all grown up. Hi, Clay.” You responded while giving him a hug. You remember him wanting to be just like Jack and would want to follow him around everywhere.

“Just visiting or moving back like your parents want?” He asked and all you could do was roll your eyes because you knew your mom would tell anyone who would listen.

“Oh, so she's literally made it known to everyone that they want me to move back, but just visiting for right now. Had a taste for some Italian so here I am.”

“What are you doing tonight? Are you busy by any chance?” Clay asked, catching you off guard. Your only plans were to drink wine and watch tv until you passed out for exhaustion.

You simply shook your head no towards him.

“Well, it's Jack’s birthday and we’re throwing a surprise party for him and Urban. You should come. I know he would be happy to see you.”

You didn't even realize that it was in fact March 13th.

“Clay, I don't know. We haven't seen each other in over ten years.”

“All the more reason to come. Just…. trust me on this. He would want you there and I won't get knocked upside the head for his gift not being here on time and I'll just say that you're the gift.” All you did was laugh and shake your head.

It wouldn't totally be a bad thing to see him, but what would you say when you did?

The butterflies were erupting in your stomach again and you looked back up at Clay before you talked yourself out of it.

“What time and where is it?”

—

Your older sister, Janelle was currently with you in your childhood bedroom helping you decide what to wear and of course she was picking out the more revealing outfits while you were simply trying to be modest.

“Put them titties on display! Show him what he’s been missing!” She yelled and you simply looked at her and rolled your eyes.

“You are literally the worst and I should have asked Jeremiah.”

“Should have asked me what?” Your older brother and the middle child, Jeremiah asked as he popped his head into your room.

“What the? Since when do you live here?” You asked, confused by his sudden appearance.

“Well damn, I can’t come and see my baby sister when she’s here anymore? And besides, Janelle texted me and said you were going to a certain ex’s birthday party. So, I needed to find out the details and especially when the wedding date is.”

“Because Janelle cannot keep her mouth shut to save her life and yes I am. And wait a minute, WEDDING DATE? You two are just as insane as our mother.”

“She won’t dress slutty though as I’m suggesting.” Janelle said while rolling her eyes at you.

“You want my ass and boobs out like I’m not going to freeze.”

“Hoes don’t get cold.” She fired back, but you quickly gave it right back to her.

“I’m anemic.”

“You know you’ve always been it for him. I mean my baby sister is the shit and he let you get away and is now married to… umm…. Someone that is not on his level.” Jeremiah said as he went over to your vanity to pick out jewelry that you would wear despite you not having an outfit.

Jeremiah was definitely the fashionista out of the three of you and you knew for a fact if he wasn’t an orthopedic surgeon that he would definitely be doing big things in the fashion industry.

“So, all of you have met her?!”

“And it was not a pleasant experience and one that had left a good first impression.”

Janelle got up to rummage through your suitcase and found a black halter top that she paired with tan cargo pants and proceeded to throw your New Balance 550’s at you that matched.

“Here, go put this on. Your boobs are going to be spilling out the top in this.”

“Did I ever tell you two how much you both get on my nerves?”

“All the time, but it’s a good thing that we don’t care. Now it’s time to catch us a man.”

“He’s married.”

“And so are you. And both of you are miserable. Hurry up and make this happen, we have a wedding to plan.”

It was now 8 PM and you were sitting in the passenger’s seat of Clay’s car and the two of you were headed to where the surprise party was going to be held and he noticed how much you kept fidgeting.

“Y/N, it’s going to be fine. I know he misses you even if he doesn’t want to admit it at times. He is always asking our mom if she had talked to your mom lately and always asked how you were doing.”

“Really?”

All Clay did was nod his head as he slowed down to a complete stop at the red light in the intersection.

“Look, I… know he probably doesn’t want you to know this, but I’m telling you anyway.”

“Tell me what?” Now you could feel your heart rate speeding up.

“When he found out that you were married that broke him even though he was trying to put up a front and now he probably won’t admit it if someone asked him. He has never moved on from you.”

“Clay…. He’s married so, obviously he did move on.”

“Hmm, if you could call it that.” He responded while snorting and trying to find a place to park so that the two of you could head inside.

“Wait, what?”

“You know from the start that we were always rooting for you two to be together. Even our parents were.”

“Clay, I did not come here to break up a marriage.”

“I… it’s already broken despite it not even being an entire year yet, but you didn’t hear that from me. But Jack has to see it for himself. Anyway, we’re here. And if nothing else tonight puts a smile on his face, I know you will when he sees you. His wife might show up, she might not… she’s a piece of work.”

“All of you give me entirely too much credit. I am nothing special.”

“Ask Jack if he feels the same way and I guarantee that he’s going to say that you are.”

The two of you walked in and Clay had mentioned that Jack and Urban were going to be there within the next ten minutes and now your butterflies were starting all over again as they erupted once more in your stomach.

When PG saw you, you were placed into bone crushing hugs and it was expressed how much you had been missed around Louisville, especially from Jack and that once he laid eyes on you that it would be a done deal.

Clay told you to hide to the side in the back corner as PG was in front of you so that when Jack walked in, he wouldn’t be able to see you until everyone moved out of the way. He planned on everyone screaming ‘surprise’ when both of them walked in and then telling him that he wanted to start the party off right by showing him a gift that he had been patiently waiting for, and that gift was you.

It was now quiet in the room that the party was taking place and the lights had been shut off and you heard Jack and Urban mumbling to each other while trying to find the light switch. Once they did, everyone screamed ‘surprise!’ and the two of them were all smiles.

This was the first time that you had laid eyes on Jack in person in more than ten years and the butterflies erupted once more. He looked so good and it felt that your heart was about to beat out of your chest.

Clay had walked over towards him to give him a hug and then whispered in his ear and you were assuming that he was telling him about the so-called “gift” and the two of them started to walk towards where you were casually standing behind Ace and 2fo.

“I know that this will probably be your most favorite birthday gift that I’ve ever gotten you.” You heard Clay say and you simply smirked and laughed to yourself.

“Hmm, I’ll be the judge of that.” You heard him answer and it was now go time.

“Okay, Ace and 2fo, move out of the way so that he can see his surprise. I made this happen by the way, just so you know.” Clay said and Jack immediately rolled his eyes before laughing.

Once Ace and 2fo moved, Jack came face to face with you and it seemed to be speechless and it was as if he couldn’t believe that you were standing in front of him.

“Happy thirtieth birthday, Jackman, or should I say Jackson? Did you miss me?”

[sortofanobsession]

Unsure and Unconventional, to say the least (Ted Lasso Fic)

Author's note: because the Uncle's Day scenes made me think a lot of things. Phoebe would have Jamie wrapped around her finger in like .01 seconds. They would be a mischievous duo. And the team would be like awww that's cute.

Parts of this fic partially Inspired by:

an answered ask (HERE) by @andfrecklesandyoursmile about Roy giving his sister Jamie's contact for "emergencies".

@politelymenacing did a post that (THIS ONE) That may have helped inspire some dialog.

So credit to those brilliant post.

Ted Lasso Masterlist

OT3 Roy/Keeley/Jamie Romantic ship. Platonic team dynamics.

Content warning: Cursing/Swearing (lots of it because Roy Kent is gonna Roy Kent), Mentions of abuse, Mentions of physical violence, Mentions of hospitals, Self-Esteem Issues (because Jamie Tartt...), Polyamory, Anxiety, Anger Issues, Fear.

Word count: 8k+ (this one got away from me and that is why it took days to finish)

Read on AO3 here

Unsure and Unconventional, to say the least

“Coach?” Will says as he nears Roy Kent as the coach oversees training on the pitch. “Someone’s here to see you. They’re in the office.” 

Roy’s brows furrow. He wasn’t expecting anyone. Keeley would have just come out and joined them on the sidelines. He grunts in acknowledgment and heads inside. 

“Uncle Roy!” he hears as soon as he reaches the doorway. 

“Phoebe?” He says, accepting the little girl’s hug when she reaches him. He looks over to see his sister talking to Trent Crimm. Trent Crimm moves to the doorway. Stopping to offer to take Phoebe so she could say hi to the team.

“Can I please, Uncle Roy? I want to say hi to Jamie,” Phoebe looks up at him with those big eyes he just can’t say no to, or at least say no and mean it. He looks to his sister, who shrugs. 

“What? They're friends now too,” his sister says, challenge clear in her tone. “That a problem, Roy?”

Trent watches the Kent siblings with silent interest. Phoebe practically buzzed with excitement as she waits for an answer next to him. 

“A 25-year-old prick cannot be friends with an 8-year-old girl,” Roy glares.

“That bridge is long crossed, dear brother,” she laughs. “Especially after Uncle's day.”

“Uncle's day?” Trent asks with a grin.

“Fuck off, Crimm,” Roy grunts. His sister just gives him a fond and familiar look. “Fine,” Roy relents. “You can go say hi to Jamie, but stay out of the line of play. And don’t-”

But she is already gone, an amused Trent following close behind. Phoebe tells him all about Uncle's day as she goes.  

His sister grins. “She’s just going to bother Jamie. Thought you’d at least find that amusing.”

Roy grunts. “Too bad the prick will enjoy it.” Roy winces it. “That just sounds so fucked up.”

“You make it sound so wrong that she likes your friends,” his sister says. “That you think the people you have surrounded yourselves with are criminals.”

“How would you know if they are or aren’t?” he glares at her.

“Because you’d have kicked them in the teeth and sent them packing if they were. Jamie Tartt might be a prick, but even I know he’d probably die before letting anything happen to Phoe, especially if his childhood was half as shit as you’ve said. And he can’t be a complete twat if he sat through the whole of Uncle's day.” She grins. 

“Alright, cut the shit. What’s wrong?” He is quick to change the topic. “I know you’re not here to talk about Jamie fucking Tartt?”

“You sure about that?” She raises a brow. He growls. “Fine, I need you to take her this weekend. One of my colleagues was supposed to speak at a conference, and the prick went and caught something on holiday.”

“So now you have to go?” he asks.

“Fuck no,” she says. “I’m covering for the poor bastard that does, which means I’m working a double.” 

“Fuck that,” Roy says, annoyed on her behalf. 

“I know you have a match, and this might ruin your plans with Keeley-" she starts, but he doesn't care what else she has to say.

“Fuck off. It’s fine. We’ll take her,” Roy doesn’t even hesitate to say. “Kid always comes first. You know that.”

“I know,” she nods. "Thanks."

"You don't need to fucking thank me," he states. 

"I don't, but I'm still going to, you fucking prick," she says fondly. "Every time, no matter how much you curse or growl." 

"You could have just texted me," Roy says. 

"Yeah, but then I couldn't ruin your whole day by asking you the same question you have avoided answering. Can't avoid it in person."

Roy growls, and his glare intensifies. Most people would probably hesitate to continue. Or even hurry to leave. Not his sister. She was used to Roy's behavior decades ago. Roy would kill for his sister. Die for Phoebe. And he'd do it happily. She knew that. 

"Roy, you can't just ignore your feelings forever." She holds a hand up to stop whatever argument he was about to make. "You can, and you probably would. I know you, Roy. I know that you-"

"Don't," he cautions. She sighs.

"You might think that you're hurting just yourself here, but you're not. And that's not fair to anyone." She doesn’t drop specific names because she doesn’t want to risk anyone hearing the specifics. And she knows there isn't any point in pushing more now. "And I know you don't actually want to hurt him. You'll make the right call eventually." She grins. Before heading in the direction of the tunnel out to the pitch.

"You're lucky that you're my sister," he growls when he catches up to her.

"And that you love us, I know," she bumps her shoulder against his. He hums more than he grunts for once as he walks. He gives into that voice in the back of his head that he used to always ignore when in public, even if it's just the dog track on a training day. He puts his arm around her shoulder and pulls her into a half hug as they walk. God, she might be a pain in the arse, but he loved his sister and her kid. He may have smiled just a little as she returned the gesture. 

"You know I'm just trying to look out for you. Like you always do us," she says as they walk out of the tunnel toward the pitch. "You may think you're happy now, just think how much better it could be."

"You spend too much time with Keeley, and she spends too much time with Ted and Rebecca," he laments.

"I'm just glad we finally get to spend time with your friends. Richmond really has brought the best out of that boy from Chelsea that kicked Brock Lorens' arse at the commons."

"Do it again, too," Roy grunts. "Fucking deserved it."

"He was a bellend," she grins. 

"He gave you a black eye. That's not a bellend. That's a fucker with a death wish."

"Who has a death wish now?" Ted asks as they reach them. Roy drops his arm as they do. "Hey there, Doc." Ted greets her.

"Coach Lasso, Crimm," she nods. "Coach Beard." He responds with a nod. 

She turns her attention back to Ted as he speaks. "Glad to see you outside the ER, or is it ED here? Heh, that always sounds so odd to me. ED means something very different where I'm from," Ted says. "Probably just nice to get out of those scrubs. Those always seemed so starchy," he continues earning an amused look from her and a growl from Roy. 

"It is nice to meet in a less sterile but just as chaotic environment," she says. Her brother has warned her to pretty much ignore most of what Ted Lasso says. She looks out to where Phoebe has seemed to draw the attention of most of the Richmond team. "Hopefully, my daughter hasn't caused too much commotion." 

"Aw, the boys could always use a bit of a break," Ted assures her. "No harm, no foul."

She chuckles as a player, one she recognizes as Dani Rojas gives Phoebe a bear hug that lifts her feet off the ground. Phoebe's laughter carried across the pitch. Her brother grunts. She knew she was pushing it the longer they hung around. Her brother used to keep his professional and personal lives separate. Didn't like the way his teammates would look at her. This team was different. He seemed to trust them a lot more. And she could seem to see why. But she was still playing a dangerous game, treading on her brother's nerves. He takes his job very seriously, and they were disrupting it.

"Should probably let you lot get back to it." 

"Well, go on, coach," Ted says to Roy. "Know you want to."  

His sister is smart enough to step away. Moving closer to Ted and Beard. Doesn't even flinch when Roy shouts. "Oi! This is training, not a fucking playdate! Put her down and get back to your fucking drills!” She just shakes her head. 

"Been dying to ask," Ted keeps his voice low as he leans towards her. "He always been like that?"

"He's been Roy Fucking Kent since the day he was born," she says with a grin. "But he has his moments. You can say he was a very protective older brother. Don't know why I said was. Still very much is."

"Like dealing with whoever had that death wish?" Ted asks, low tone forgotten.

"Fuckin' Lorens. I'd smash his face in if he showed that ugly mug around here," Roy grumbles. 

"Again?" His sister smirks.

"Yes, again. Fucking twat." Roy growls.

Ted looked between the Kent siblings. "That bad, huh?"

"No one lays a hand on either one of them if they want to keep it," Roy states. 

"What did you tell his mates the next day when they threatened to go to the teachers?" She grins.

"To fucking do it," Roy says. "That I'd give them a detailed list of every fucking thing they'd ever done to any kid in her class."

"He then listed them, chronologically accurate."

"Then told those fucks that if they even breathed at my sister wrong, their teeth would be in the pavement."

"Wow," was all Ted could say.

"So yes, Coach Lasso, I can assure you, he has always been some version of this Roy Fucking Kent."

"Fucking, right," Roy says.

"And yes, I got more first aid training patching up his sorry arse after fights than I did in medical school." 

*-*-*-*

(Earlier during training…)

Jamie’s head snapped up when the pitch goes quiet. He had stopped to stretch out an annoying knot in his hamstring. The striker wondered why drills had stopped despite no whistle. Not even Roy’s shout of it. He looked up at his teammates, Sam and Jan being the closest. Sam was grinning. Then something collides with his back. He immediately tensed up until small arms snaked around his neck. Jamie let out the breath he was holding and huffs a laugh. 

“Just gonna run right out an’ tackle me, Phoebs?” Jamie laughs.

“Keeley says you like hugs,” Phoebe says in his ear. 

“Especially, Phoebe-shaped ones,” he says with a nod. He reaches around with one arm to anchor her to him as he shifts to stand up. Earning a few curious looks from his teammates. Jamie couldn’t have possibly cared less. When he is on his feet, he reaches up with his other arm to keep hers secure around his neck. He spins her around. She laughs. It’s an infectious noise that causes a few of his teammates to chuckle. When he stops, Phoebe giggles and says she’s dizzy now. He goes to let her down, but her grip only tightens. He can’t help but smile.

“Wouldn’t be the first time someone got sick on the pitch,” Sam says. 

“Roy would love that,” Colin says as he and others join them, all of training seemingly unofficially put on hold. 

“Speakin’ of,” Jamie starts as he makes exaggerated motions as he turns to look around. Phoebe laughs as he swings her around. “Where is the grumpy prick?” Jamie asks having not seen the man. Phoebe giggles, but before she can chastise him for his language, he adds, “Yeah, I know, it’s a bad word, innit? Pay ya next time.” His teammates laugh. He feels her nod more than sees it. 

“Mum said she needed to talk to him and that I could come say hi,” Phoebe tells him. 

“Well, hi,” Jamie says. 

“Hi,” she laughs.

“Say hi to the lads, Phoebs,” Jamie grins.

“Hi lads,” she parrots, earning amused greetings from the now bigger group of players. 

“You here for more than Jamie hugs?” Sam asks. 

“Do you want a hug?” Phoebe asks, and the others laugh. 

"I did not mean-" Sam starts to say but is cut off by Jamie.

“I’m sure the lads wouldn’t turn one down,” Jamie grins. Phoebe shifts, and Jamie lets her down. Sam does indeed accept a hug. A few of the others do too. Dani Rojas makes her laugh by picking her up off her feet and swinging her around. 

“Oi!” They hear from the side of the pitch. “This is training, not a fucking playdate! Put her down and get back to your fucking drills!”  

“Sorry, Uncle Roy,” Phoebe says at the same time the others say, “Yes, Coach.” Jamie just huffs, scoops her up and jogs them over, and sets Phoebe down on the sideline by her mom and uncle.

"Lovely as ever, Doc," Jamie winks, greeting Roy's sister.  

"Charming as always, Tartt," she returns. Roy growls. "Alright. Steady on," she says, patting Roy's arm. "Say goodbye to Jamie and the coaches, Phoe."

"Bye, Jamie. Bye, Coach and Coach." She hugs Roy. "Bye, Uncle Roy."

"See you this weekend," Roy tells her as he hugs her back. 

"Think about what I said," his sister says in a low tone to Roy, glancing at Jamie as she does. Jamie gives her a confused look, but she just grins as she pulls away. "Laters team," she says louder to the group. She takes Phoebe's hand and leaves.

*-*-*-*

“She’s gonna be a heartbreaker that gets legs broken,” Isaac says to the group as they watch the interaction on the sidelines. 

“And that’d be the lucky ones Coach likes,” Colin adds.

“Not just Coach,” Sam mutters.  

“Nah, Tartt would aim for faces,” Isaac says. “Kent would make sure no one’s walking away, but Tartt knows too well how they think. No helpin’ the ones that break her heart.”

“Make the outside match the inside,” Colin nods. “Break her heart, and they’ll be lucky if those two break their face.” A few of the players grimace, and the others nod in agreement. 

“Fucking get to it, or you’re all running laps til I say so!” Roy shouts. 

Jamie shakes his head as he joins them. “Might want to hustle, lads,” Jamie smirks. “As soon as she’s gone, he’ll run ya til you’re the ones sick on the pitch.” 

“Yeah, alright,” Isaac says. “Back to it.” 

They all head back to drills. 

*-*-*-*

Roy is not surprised, but still annoyed, to find Jamie waiting for him after training. The locker room is empty but for Jamie. Roy resists the urge to go back into the office, but he knows Jamie would just keep waiting. Jamie was already in his street clothes, scrolling through his phone, and sitting like the fucking prick never learned how to properly use a chair.

"What the fuck are you still doing here?" Roy asks.

"Took ya long enough," Jamie says, getting to his feet. "So your sister-"

"Don't even think about it, Tartt," Roy growls. 

Jamie holds his hands up at the sheer rage in Roy's tone, but he doesn't flinch or back away. "I wasn't gonna say anything like that, fuckin hell." 

"Then what?"

"Just wonderin' why they dropped by. Not usually her thing," Jamie says. "Gotta be important to drop by in person, no text or shit."

Roy knew he had a point. He'd been concerned himself when Phoebe had run up to him. The only reason he hadn't been scared shitless that something was wrong was that no one was in tears, or as much as in tears that any of the Kents get. That image was seared in his brain from when that no good waste of space ex of hers left them.

"They're fine," Roy says as they head out to the car park. 

"So we don't need to hide a body or slash any tires?" Jamie asks. If Roy didn't know any better, he would have thought Jamie sounded disappointed. When Roy doesn't say anything, Jamie looks up at him. "What?" Jamie asks. "Phoebe seemed fine, so I thought maybe-"

"Since when do you have thoughts about my sister? Since when do you have thoughts?!"

Jamie rolls his eyes. "Excuse me for giving a shit about your life and family."

Roy sighs. "Phoebe is fine. My sister, she is fine. She has to work a double this weekend and needs someone to watch Phoebe."

"I can-"

"No, you cannot," Roy stops walking as he reaches his car. "You have a match." 

"So do you, Coach," Jamie counters. 

"Well aware," Roy says. "She'll be in the box with Keeley."

"She'll love that," Jamie grins. 

"Like I said, they're fine, so go home, Tartt."

*-*-*-*

"There she is!" Jamie says, picking Phoebe up in a hug and setting her feet on the bench so she was out of the usual chaos of the locker room. He glanced around. Everyone was still riding the high of winning the match. "Have fun with Keeley in the owner's box?"

"Yes!" Phoebe was quick to answer. Jamie did his best to keep her focus on him. He usually wouldn't give a shit about his team's manners. Even when it was Keeley or Ms. Welton in the room, Phoebe is 8. She's an innocent kid.

"Tell me about it," he says as he puts on a new shirt. Thankful that Keeley must have timed it so most of them would be wrapping up in the locker room by the time Phoebe got there. She starts telling him all about watching the game. 

"You scored a goal!" Phoebe beams at him. Jamie can't help but smile.

Cockburn chuckles as he closes his cubby. 

"Colin did, too," Jamie says. 

"Keeley said you helped then, too," Phoebe says.

"That's what teammates do, Phoebs, you know that. You play on your own team."

"Less fun now that Uncle Roy coaches you," she says. A chorus of awws has Jamie looking over his shoulder. A few of the players were hovering.

"I'm sure your uncle misses coaching you, too," Sam says as he approaches.

"Richmond pays better," Jan states. "Would be silly to pick a children's league over-"

"Fuck off, Jan Maas," Jamie grumbles. "She's 8, and he still coaches her team when he can."

"Jamie…" Phoebe says, and she holds out her hand. Jamie feigns annoyance as he moves around the edge of the bench. He does reach up and put a hand on her arm to make sure she doesn't get knocked off balance by his movements. He gets his wallet out of his bag and hands her the money. She gestures again. He rolls his eyes and more money that he owes her from training. 

"Good," Phoebe smiles. The teammates around him laugh. Phoebe clearly had Jamie wrapped around her finger. 

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Jamie tells them. "She'll get you, too, if you don't watch your language." He grins at Phoebe. "Still think you should cash Uncle Roy's debt in for a pony," he says with a wink.

"Better!" Dani says excitedly. "A puppy."

"How is a puppy better than a pony? I thought most little girls wanted a pony." Sam asks. 

"You watch too many movies," Colin says. "Kitten, get a kitten. Less maintenance for your poor ma."

"Just what she needs, a grumpy black cat to match her grumpy and gloomy uncle," Jamie grins. 

"Maybe smaller l, like a guinea pig or a-"

"No one is getting her a pet," Roy grunts.

"Uncle Roy!" She reaches out for him from where she stands on the bench. Half the team looks like they are about to try and catch her if she falls. Sam actually reaches out.

"Mate, she's 8 and plays football. She's fine," Jamie rolls his eyes but grins. She's safer in this locker room than probably anywhere else.

Roy steps up into the spot Jamie had been in before he moved over to the other side of the bench. 

"Uh huh," Sam says. "And yet you braced her when you rounded the bench."

"He did put her up there," Dani points out. 

"Fewer elbows and…other things in her eye line up there," Jamie says. "I'm not driving her to therapy." 

"You would," both Sam and Dani laugh. 

Roy shakes his head and looks at Phoebe. "Ready to go?" He asks. 

"Keeley said we could get ice cream," She says. Roy is not surprised.

"If Keeley said so," Roy states. Earning a few murmurs from the room. Roy growls. Phoebe seems unphased.

"Can Jamie come too?" She asks.

"Yeah, coach, can Jamie come too?" Jamie smirks as he leans against the divider between his and Canterbury's compartments. Roy ignores him.

"You can ask him yourself, Phoebe. He's your friend, apparently."

"I still think he's your best friend," Phoebe says. Yeah, Roy left the door open for that one. That was on him. 

"Yet he says it’s Isaac," Roy attempts to deflect the attention her statement got him. 

"You wish," Isaac laughs. 

"Get your own best friend, Tartt," Colin agrees.

"That's just ridiculous. It's clearly, Sam. Did you not see the international matches?" Reynolds says.

"He can have more than one best friend, can't he?" Dani asks. "I do."

"Of course you do," Jamie chuckles as he makes sure he has everything he needs to leave. He looks up and when Phoebe calls his name.

"Want to get ice cream with us, Jamie?" He glances at Roy. Roy rolls his eyes and shrugs. 

"O' course, Phoebs," Jamie says. His smile softens. "Love to."

"Then get your arse moving, don't have all damn night." Roy helps Phoebe off the bench, and they head out the door. 

"She's right," Sam says. "They're clearly best friends."

Everyone in the locker room murmurs in agreement. 

"Is Tartt with her mum or something?" Someone asks. 

"God no," Sam says. "He'd be dead if was."

"Fair point," Isaac says. 

"But Jamie Tartt isn't the old Jamie Tartt," Dani counters. 

"Yeah," Colin says. "But Roy Kent is still Roy Kent. He'd have destroyed Tartt for that."

"He has threatened to kill Tartt for a lot less," Sam admits.

"Yeah," the others agree. 

*-*-*-*

"Glare any harder, and you might melt the cone with the heat of it," Keeley nudges Roy as she says it. Roy blinks before looking over at her. She is obviously amused by how he is acting. 

"How is this not weird to you?" Roy says in a harsh whisper. Glancing over at where Phoebe is knocking around a balled-up wrapper as a ball on the tabletop nearby.  She and Jamie had been seeing how long they could keep it going without it hitting the floor. It gets oddly competitive when it shifts to who can get it between two napkin dispensers more while not letting their ice cream melt. It only got worse once their ice cream was gone. Though Roy found it as funny as Phoebe did when Jamie got a brain freeze from it.  

"It's like minding two children," Roy complains. 

"Would you rather have to entertain her yourself?" Keeley asks. Roy just grunts. Phoebe cheers when she lands her last shot. 

"Well played," Jamie grins and looks over at Roy. "Almost done, old man?" Roy has to resist making an inappropriate comeback. There are children, not just Phoebe, around. And normally, Roy doesn't give a fuck what people think about him. But he wasn’t actually that upset about anything. Jamie had actually gone out of his way to look after Phoebe in the locker room. He'd watched them through the window in the office while talking to Beard about the match. He could tell Jamie was trying to keep her focus on him and not the room full of half-dressed footballers. And in the past, he might have thought he was just being an attention needing twat, but Jamie had been keeping track of who was where in the room. Keeping himself between her and the rest of the room. So he'd give him a bit more leeway. And Keeley was right. Phoebe was having fun. They still have another day to keep her busy. Having Jamie keep her busy for a bit hasn't done any harm. Instead of saying anything, he just finishes his ice cream cone and gets up. He holds a hand out to Keeley, and she takes it as she gets up. "Let's go."

"Thanks for the invite," Jamie says to Phoebe as they walk back to Nelson Road. Jamie giving her a piggyback ride. She smiles, shifting so she can pat his head. He laughs. So does Keeley. "You too, granddad." He says to Roy when the laughter dies down. Roy does roll his eyes at that. Roy wonders how this became his life. And that thought made him wonder if this was a good thing or a bad thing. His gut reaction is, of course, it's bad. Jamie is the king prick of pricks. But he knows that's not true anymore. Jamie had picked to go with them to ice cream instead of the club to celebrate with the team. Jamie'd rather spend his time entertaining Roy's 8-year-old niece at an ice cream parlor while Roy and Keeley enjoyed their own treats than party with the boys. Or even find a casual hook-up like the old Jamie would probably do. No. Instead, he was carrying a sugar-fueled child on his back despite it being less than an hour out from playing a full football match. Roy's knee would have been protesting if it was him. They stop when they reach Keeley's car. 

"What are you doing now?" Phoebe asks Jamie when he lets her down.

"He should go home. Rest and recover," Roy says. 

"Not going to join the team at the club?" Keeley asks. 

He shrugs. "Just going to head home. Catch up on something streaming." 

"Nothing fun?" Phoebe asks.

"You heard Coach Uncle Roy," he grinned. "Gotta recover."

Phoebe gives him a hug, and he heads to his car. 

*-*-*-*

After Phoebe is down for the night, Keeley hands Roy a beer. "You going to tell me what is going on, or am I going to have to just wait it out until you crack up?" 

Roy considers ignoring her question, but he knows she will just bring it up again later. 

"Just something my sister has been bothering me about," he says. 

"Do I get specifics, or am I just to go off that vague nothing of a sentence?" 

Roy huffs. "She's been on my case about Jamie."

"What about Jamie?" That piqued her interest. "Does your sister want to shag Jamie Tartt?"

"Fuck off." He cringes at the idea. "I hope not." 

"Okay, then what is she on about?" 

Roy has not been able to figure out how to say that part out loud. Especially to Keeley. They are barely back together, and Jamie is her ex. She still cares for Jamie, and Jamie has never denied he still loves Keeley in one way or another. Jamie maintains he's glad the two got back together. He had told Roy he was a dumb fuck of an old man and even dumber than Jamie himself was for dumping Keeley. Roy had agreed with at least part of Jamie's assessment on that. He had fucked up by pushing Keeley away. But Jamie had been there to keep Roy out of his head. Even if he was just pushing his buttons to give him a vent for his frustration. Filing the silence in training with annoying factoids that seemed infuriating at the time, but looking back, were just keeping his mind focused on something else. Roy hadn't realized how much he had leaned on Jamie. He had gotten to the point he'd started noticing stupid little things that Jamie would appreciate when Jamie wasn’t even around. Whether it was some stupid video on the internet or someone else's fuck up that he knew they could both find amusing. Fuck this was frustrating to think about. His mind had been drifting more and more to Jamie Tartt during the quiet moments of his life. 

"Roy?" Keeley shakes his shoulders. He grunts. "Now I know something is up. Spill it."

Roy growls, not at her but at his own stupidity. Keeley just waits him out. 

So he tells her about his sister's visit to Nelson Road. About how she had been questioning him about his feelings for Jamie since Uncle's day. Keeley is damn near giddy by the time he finishes talking. 

"You love Jamie," she grins.

"I love you," he counters. 

"And Jamie!" 

"Would you fucking shut it," he hisses. He glances over at the stairs and silently waits to see if he hears Phoebe. Keeley glares at him. And he knows he fucked up. That had been too harsh. "Sorry, that was-"

"A bit harsh, yeah?" She takes a pull of her drink. "You're lucky I love you."

"I am," he admits. "But I'd rather not Phoebe hear this."

"But you haven't denied you love Jamie." 

Roy groans, rubbing his eyes. 

"You can't, can you?" Keeley grins. "You can love more than one person. The heart is a bitch like that."

"Keeley," he grumbles. 

"You aren't the only one," she admits. 

"What?" Roy asks. 

"It's like…” she starts to explain. “He's kept all the sweet things I genuinely enjoyed when I was him and grew out of most, if not all, the bad bits."

"He's changed so much," Roy agrees. "And I don't know if that's endearing or infuriating."

"Well, you love him, so clearly, you have your answer."

"You just admitted you still love him too."

"Yeah, but I loved him before. It's new for you." 

"Well, what the fuck are we going to do about it?" He asks. 

"Honestly?"

"Yes," he growls. 

"Drag him to the bed and settle it the fun ways," she says, taking a drink.

"Fuck off," Roy growls.

"I'm serious, babe," Keeley says. "He went to get ice cream instead of clubbing with the fellas. He asked if he needed to help you murder someone. He'd risk his career for you. He is ready and waiting for you at insane hours of the day already. He had a poster of you in his room as a kid. Admitted he loved watching you play. He still looks at you like you're his hero. Like he can't believe you would let him have even a fraction of your time and attention. Roy, he cares what you think. He lights up like the sun when you tell him he did a good job. Can you really not see how much he wants your approval? Your attention? Good or bad, he lives for it." 

Roy has to look away as she speaks. That was a hell of a list. How has he missed it all? 

"So you think he'd-" he slowly starts to say.

"If we texted him right now,” she interrupts him. “I guarantee he'd be here in minutes. If you asked him to do anything, he would."

"I doubt that," Roy vocalizes the little voice in his brain. The one that doubts most everything.

"Fine, I'll prove it." She grabs her phone and starts typing a message. 

"What are you-" 

"There. Done," she sends a message.

"What did you just do?" Roy asks, dread pooling in his stomach.

"Invited him tomorrow night," She says. 

He is slightly relieved she hadn't invited him to come round now. 

*-*-*-*

Jamie has the worst timing when not on the pitch. During training, during a match, he is a master at timing shots. He knows when and where to strike. As for his life outside the pitch, that has been a mess since, probably forever. Like now, he’s just kicked back on his sofa, tv on for mostly just background noise as he scrolls through social media and other sites on his phone. The match had been good. He was sending some of the best reactions and headlines to the team chat as he does. He had just taken a drink because Roy would probably kill him if he didn’t hydrate when he got a text from Keeley. He opened it and choked on his drink. He ended up coughing so hard his eyes watered. She told him to come round tomorrow night. That they had something important to talk to him about. Jamie’s chest hurts, and it isn’t entirely from the coughing fit he just had. Did he do something wrong? He thought they had a good time earlier, and it wasn’t even an inappropriate or raunchy good time. It was kid friendly. He kept Phoebe happy and safe. Isn’t that like Roy’s number one priority? Always. And Jamie is happy to help with that. Did he do too much? Or is it the whole locker room thing? She had found him there. He’d kept her from seeing anything she’d need therapy to forget. Was it something he didn’t do? The lads wouldn’t mess with her. They fear Roy far too much. But Roy didn’t scare him as much as he might have in the past. But fear wasn't his motivating factor for once. Jamie wanted to look after Phoebe because she was just a kid. She deserved to feel safe and happy. Roy might hate that Phoebe’s dad is not in the picture, but Jamie knows there are worse things than an absent father. An abusive one that resents your very existence. One that you can’t get away from. A dad like that is something he hopes Phoebe never has to even think about. He hopes her friends, classmates, teammates, all of them never have to go through what Jamie did. What Jamie still has to deal with. But Phoebe has Roy, at least. She doesn’t need a father. She has her mother. She has her Uncle Roy. She even has Keeley and now Jamie. The more people in her corner is a good thing, right? So it can’t be about all that, right? Then what else could it be? It’s Keeley, so it’s probably not about the match or training. He looks at the message again. He probably is taking too long to respond. So he sends her a message saying he’d be there and sets his phone on the table. So much for rest and recovery. He knows his dumb brain is not going to let this go.

*-*-*-*

"Phoebe go home?" Jamie asks when Keeley lets him in. 

"Yeah, disappointed?" Keeley asks.

Jamie shrugs, aiming for nonchalant but coming off as anxious and a bit exhausted. 

"Roy's in there," she gestures past the stairs to the living room. Jamie still seems to hesitate. "I'm right behind you, babe." 

Roy notices it immediately. Something was not right with Jamie. That was clear as day as Jamie made his way into Keeley’s living room. The striker looked more exhausted now than he had when they watched him leave the Nelson Road car park. 

“Are you okay?” Keeley finally asks as she follows the younger man. 

Jamie waves it off. "I'm fine," he insists.

“Don't exactly look it. You end up out with the team after you left?” Roy asks. 

“Nah, went home, just shit sleep,” Jamie attempts to shrug it off as nothing. He was not going to tell them his brain was thinking of a million ways this conversation could end badly for him. "Been worse, yeah?"

“Nightmares?” Keeley asks. Jamie shakes his head. 

“It wasn’t your dad was it?” Roy asks. One of these days he was going to make James Tartt, Sr. pay for what he's done. All the shit he put his son through. That line of thinking is cut off for now as Jamie speaks. 

“Wasn’t him. Wasn’t anyone, really. It’s nothin’,” he insists. “You’re the ones with something important to discuss.” Keeley looks at Roy before looking back to Jamie. Her brows furrow. 

“How about tea,” Roy says before turning toward the kitchen. "Already started, shouldn't take long."

Keeley drags Jamie to the sofa and makes him sit as Roy leaves the room. She sits beside him. She frowns again when he puts more space between them by moving to the end of the sofa. Or at least as far as he can with her insane amount of throw pillows. That doesn't sit well with her. He looks so uneasy. Jamie used to act like he owned the place when he came over. Sure he was less of a prick the last few times, but this was not even how the new Jamie usually was with her. “Jamie…were you worried about this?” She gestures between Jamie and herself. "About this talk?" Jamie doesn’t answer beyond a shrug.  "You aren’t in trouble or anything, babe.”  

“I didn’t say that I thought I was,” Jamie tries to argue. His guard was up. He didn't want to feel stupid or look weak having worried over something this…well he wouldn't say insignificant. She had said it was important. 

“Didn’t say you didn’t either,” Keeley counters. And he knew she had him there. The old part of Jamie that still pops up in his brain sometimes tells him to play it off as if he didn’t actually care. Or to just be a prick. But he doesn’t really want to do that. He’s not going to turn it on her and make her feel bad because his brain jumps to worst-case scenarios. He sighs and leans back until his head is resting on the back of the sofa, and he’s staring at the ceiling. 

“Sorry,” He says but avoids looking at her. “You said it was important, and my brain ran with it.” 

“Jamie,” she shifts, half kneeling on the sofa, and bracing her hand on his shoulder to try and get him to look at her. “Yes, what we want to talk about is important. But it's not bad.” “So I didn’t do something wrong, didn’t fuck anything up yesterday?” She goes to run her fingers through his hair to soothe him but she stops when she feels him tense up as he speaks.

“What?” Roy asks as he sets down a tray with steaming mugs of tea on the coffee table. “Match was a win. You played well, and went for ice cream. What would you have fucked up?”

“That’s what I couldn’t figure out,” Jamie admits, finally looking at them. 

“So you’re saying you got a text from us, saying we wanted to talk to you about something,” Roy starts as he hands Jamie his tea.

“Important. Something important.” Jamie adds as he takes the mug.

“Okay, something important. And you assumed we were mad at you for something?” Roy is still trying to figure out where this is coming from.

“I mean, you’re usually mad about something,”  Jamie states. “Wouldn't be you if you weren’t.”

Keeley tries not to grin but fails. Roy grunts. “Fair enough.”

“But I’m not,” Keeley says. 

“Usually are with me, and that’s fair. I’ve fucked up a lot since you’ve known me,” Jamie counters. 

“That was before,” Keeley says without hesitation. “That was a very different you, babe. Nowadays, you’re more likely to apologize for something you had zero control over than for something you actually did. And that’s assuming you’d have anything to actually apologize for in the first place.”

“Which you don’t,” Roy reiterates. “You train your arse off and barely complain about it anymore. You look after your mates. Keep ‘em in line if needed. You spent yesterday holding court for a stadium full of people and who knows how many more on live tv, then entertaining an 8-year-old at an ice cream parlor.  How could I be mad at you?”

“You’re Roy fuckin Kent. Ya can usually find something,” Jamie states.

“Well, I’m not. Got it?” Roy says. “I’m not mad. But I will be if you keep being a prick.”

“Roy,” Keeley glares at him. 

“What? I don’t want to be mad about anything, not right now, at least. Not with what we were going to talk about. Anxious, of fucking course. Angry, no.”

“Why are you anxious if it isn’t a bad thing?” Jamie asks. Now clearly confused. 

“Because what we are going to ask you is not something people would consider normal,” Keeley answers. 

“Not bad, but not normal?” Jamie tries to sort it out.

“Exactly. It’s unconventional, but could be fun,” Keeley grins, moving back to start carding her fingers through his longer hair. Ever since he had grown it out her fingers had itched to touch it. Style it. Just feel Jamie melt under her touch again as her nails scrape his scalp. This time, he lets her. He holds himself back from going completely to mush under her touch, but he doesn't fight how comforting it is. Keeley and Roy see it as a win. She can help but smile at them. 

 “So? What is it?” Jamie has to ask, his tone and his body language now showing he is less guarded and much more comfortable.

Keeley and Roy exchange a look. 

“You want to say it or…” Keeley initiates. 

“Don’t look at me,” Roy huffs. “This was your idea.”

“And you agreed to it,” Keeley insists.

“Because you-”

“Seems a bit bad if you can’t even say it,” Jamie points out. “Gonna keep going roundabout all night? If so, might need to order takeaway at this rate.” 

Roy glares at him, but the prick has a point. He takes a drink if his tea to stall for time.

“We want you to join us,” Keeley says. 

“Join you where? I’m already here,” Jamie says, his mind is too distracted by the feel of her fingers along his scalp to look deeper at Keeley's statement. 

Roy rolls his eyes. Sometimes he forgets how direct you have to be with Jamie. Subtlety and nuance are often lost on Jamie Tartt. He is a genius on the pitch. And he knows a lot of shit about topic Roy couldn’t even imagine knowing anything about. But sometimes, he misses the obvious points. And as frustrating as it might be at times, Roy still finds himself wanting to protect this one particular idiot more than any other and help him. Teach him. Fuck, Roy was absolutely lost on Jamie fucking Tartt.  Unfortunately, he, too, had been anxious about this conversation all damn day and was on his last nerve. 

“For fuck’s sake, Tartt,” Roy sighs.

“What did I do?” Jamie starts to get defensive, pulling away from Keeley to look better at Roy. 

“Steady on,” Keeley levels Roy with a serious look. She puts a hand on Jamie’s chest. “We mean with us, like in our relationship, not just at our place physically.”

Jamie is pretty sure his brain has short circuited. He cannot have heard what he thinks he just did. He looks back and forth between the two of them. “You…you’re serious?” he asks. 

“Yeah,” Keeley says, smiling at him. Roy nods, hesitant to say anything that might ruin anything. He’s screwed up his relationships too many times. He’ll leave this to Keeley.  

“Me?” Jamie asks. “You want me…”

“Yes,” Keeley affirms.

“You both do?” 

“Yes,” Keeley repeats. “We both do, right, Roy?” She looks at Roy, eyes pleading for him to at least act like he isn’t a total prick. 

Roy grunts but adds. “Wouldn’t have brought it up if we didn’t.”

“Like a one-time thing or…" Jamie says. He still can’t believe it.

“Fuck off,” Roy grimaces. 

Keeley shifts so she has both hands on Jamie’s chest. “No, Jamie. Not a one-time thing. Because I miss you, Jamie. I miss being with you. And Roy, he…” She looks at Roy.

“Fuck it,” Roy grumbles before sitting in the seat Keeley was practically out of. Pulls her on his lap before gripping the back of Jamie’s neck and pulling him into his side before slotting their lips together. Jamie is almost too stunned to react.

“Jesus, Roy, warn a girl first,” Keeley says. “And let the man agree to it before you inhale his face. He may not slap you with an assault charge, but-” She’s cut off when Jamie pulls her into a hug. 

“I missed you,” Jamie admits. 

“So, is that a yes?” Keeley asks, her tone filled with hope and only a little muffled by his shoulder. 

“Of fucking course, that’s a yes,” Jamie laughs. “I might be a bit daft, but I’m not a complete numpty.”  

“You’re not daft,” Keeley says. She leans back enough to put a hand on his face. “You’re brilliant.”

“You might not be a fucking rocket scientist, but she’s not wrong. Selling yourself short, Tartt. On the pitch, you’re a fucking genius. Off the pitch, you know the most insane shit I couldn’t even pretend to know.”

Jamie ducks his head to hide the blush dusting his cheeks. 

"So adorable," Keeley coos. 

"That is the nicest thing you have ever said to me," Jamie murmurs, glancing at Roy.

"Don't get used to it," Roy grumbles.

"Or do," Keeley kisses Jamie's still pink cheek. "He's lying. He knows you thrive on praise."

Roy grunts. "No one would believe you if you tell anyone." 

Jamie actually laughs at that. And Roy would die before he admits it out loud, but he loves that sound. 

"This is really happening, innit?” Jamie asks. “I didn’t smash my face during the match and am in so fucked up coma dream, or like some head trauma hallucination, right?” 

“Well, then we’d be figments of your imagination, so how would we know?” Roy points out.

Keeley elbows Roy in the ribs, earning her a grunt. “You aren’t hallucinating or dreaming.” 

Roy pinches Jamie’s side. Jamie yelps and pulls away. “Real enough?” Roy smirks. 

“Not nice,” Keeley glares at Roy. She takes the opportunity to slip her hand under Jamie’s pullover and shirt to gently run her hand along the spot Roy had pinched. Jamie’s breath hitches, and he melts into her touch. She grins, “There’s my good boy.” Jamie groans.

“That really does the trick, doesn’t it?” Roy laughs. Jamie glares at him, but Roy just laughs harder. He’d seen Jamie’s glare make people flinch. But this one had no heat to it. It was a bluff. Clearly, he was enjoying himself too much to really be pissed. When the glare fails, Jamie pouts a bit. And Roy bites back a sigh.

“Fuck off with that pout,” Roy growls. He reaches over and pulls Jamie back to where he was before he pulled away. “This is a good thing, remember?” He reminds him as he tugs on the back of Jamie’s pullover until Keeley helps take it off of him. His shirt is quick to follow. Jamie nods. Keeley kisses him as her hands roam his chest and abs. She swallows his moan.

“Didn’t hear you, Tartt?” Roy teases as his own hands reach out and touch. Skin he’d been dying to touch for longer than he would ever admit to every time he saw Jamie in the locker room. 

“Very,” Jamie breathlessly admits.

“Good,” Roy nods. “Because this is just the start of what we have planned for you.” 

“Fuck yeah,” Jamie says. “Let’s go.” Keeley laughs as Roy pulls him in for a kiss. 

“Fucking hot,” Keeley says as she watches them. “We gonna move this upstairs or what?”

Roy pulls back and gets a good look at both Jamie and Keeley. “Inna minute,” he says, and he grips the back of his own shirt. Keeley shifts over into Jamie’s lap so Roy can get his shirt off. Jamie happily accepts her and frees her from her own shirt. 

“Fuck, I missed you,” Jamie says before moving his lips to the skin below her ear and along her jaw. He wasn’t exactly a selfish lover in the past, and he wasn’t a religious man, but he’d thank any deity listening for the chance to have her back in his life like this. Roy being there was just icing on the cake. 

“Fucking gorgeous,” Roy admits. 

"She really is," Jamie murmurs against her neck.

"I meant both of you, you fucking prick," Roy reaches up and cards his fingers through Jamie's hair. "Those pretty fucking lips of yours."

"Thought I was an ugly, ugly boy, with bad hair?" Jamie smirks. 

"Fuck you," Roy growls as he pretty much attacks Jamie's lips with his own. 

"That's why I said we should go upstairs," Keeley says from where she is sandwiched between the two very shirtless fucking fit men.  "Although I'm not complainin'." She runs her nails along Roy's abs making him moan into Jamie's mouth. Jamie took advantage of it and deepened the kiss. But Keeley wasn't done being cheeky. She grins as she grinds down on Jamie's already tented clothed lap. A shock of pleasure runs down the striker's spine and he moans loudly. His arm snakes around her torso to hold her tighter. The other goes up to the back of Roy's neck. Fingers gripping tight like if he lets go it will all just vanish. Roy growls.

"Oh, that was a fun one," Keeley giggles. 

"Upstairs." Roy growls. "Now."

[mbti-notes]

Anon wrote: Hi, I’m a 22 year old INFP in college. I’m at a point where I am deeply unhappy with my position in life, and I’d like your advice for how I should proceed. I want to change so badly and have been trying for so long, but somehow my efforts seem to never amount to any substantial change. I’m really sorry, this is going to be long and contain a lot of backstory. I have a lot of respect for you and have been reading your blog for years, and you seem incredibly wise; however I understand if you do not have the time to answer this. But if so, I appreciate it more than anything.

I come from an extremely dysfunctional family, whom I still live with. My mother is truly a narcissist, and I believe she’s an xSFP. She’s extremely dysfunctional and can hardly handle herself let alone her children. She has extreme nonconformist opinions (anti-vax, total disregard of modern medicine, arranged marriages, etc) and has instilled so much self-hatred into me. She cannot handle anyone who thinks differently from her. She blames me, my dad, and my younger brother for everything wrong with our household. For the past few days she’s been especially horrible, constantly berating me and calling me a failure. She’s extremely toxic but believes herself to be a saint.

My father is an ISFJ who is a total enabler. He suffers at the hand of my mother too yet will throw us under the bus whenever and never stick up for me or my siblings, even though he too gets treated horribly. I believe if he married a better woman he would’ve been salvageable, as he seems to just adapt to my mom’s views, although he gets so much shit from her too.

I don’t think I’ve experienced genuine love from my parents, ever. They’ve always wanted me to be something I’m not. They never approved of my interests (arts, humanities) or valued my opinions. When I was 17 they discovered that I was self-harming regularly, and instead of helping me, my mother shamed me for months and called me evil, a child of the devil. My father cried and asked me, how could you do this? What did we do wrong for you to end up like this?

I have a whole lot of pain in my heart. I’ve worked on myself to the point where I, when needed, can speak relatively objectively about who I am and my strengths. I no longer self-harm. But in my darkest moments, I have completely adapted the label of “evil” and beat myself up over it.

Despite being 22, I do not have my driver’s license. I’ve had my permit since I was 16, but cannot legally drive on my own. I think I could pass the test if I practiced more. However, that would require spending time with my mother, who’s temper stresses me out to no end while on the road. Its because of this that I’ve put it off for so long. I am too unwilling and fragile to deliberately put myself in a situation where I know I will get yelled at and degraded.

Despite being 22, I am not allowed to dress in anything “revealing”, nor get my nails or eyelashes done, I am not allowed to drink, I am not allowed to date, I have a curfew, and I am not allowed to move out.

A few months ago, I tried to take control of my life. Despite all of my misfortune, I am lucky enough to have a lot of genuine friends who care for me. My best friend and I decided to move out together. We leased a place, made payments, and started packing our bags. Right before our plan to move officially, without even knowing, my parents decided to go on an impromptu road trip to our hometown. I decided not to tell them until we were driving back from the trip… huge mistake. I was mentally tortured for the entire drive back (3 days). They degraded me to no end, guilt tripped me, cried, acted like I had murdered someone. My mom even accused me of being a lesbian for moving in with another girl, which is not only disgustingly homophobic, but also makes no sense!!! At one point my mom screamed so loudly and banged on the car door in anger while my father was driving, and he ended up pulling over on the highway. She blamed me and basically said if we died it would be my fault. Scared me and my younger siblings shitless.

In the end, it was more trouble than worth. Me and my friend called it off easily, having not signed a real lease and only giving a verbal agreement. We paid the rest of the month off and continued to live at home. I had felt like such a failure. I didn’t have a job or anything, but I was so confident that after moving out and being away from all the horrible shit at home that I’d be able to get ahold of my life, develop good habits, and become my own person… but my dreams of independence and freedom were ultimately crushed, and I remain in jail.

Because of that same trip and failure to move out, I became even more depressed. My parents had overstayed by almost a week despite my protests and their apparent dream of me doing well in school, and the school work and feelings were so overwhelming that I dropped almost all of my classes that semester. They don’t know of course, I’d be dead.

I truly wish I could get my life together, learn to love myself, and move so far away from them. I never want to speak to them again, as cruel as that is. They want to marry me off one day. I can’t handle it. But I have no money, no car, I’m struggling in school… I am always thinking about how I can improve or turn things around, and I always take one step forward and then fall 5 steps behind. I hate my body, I hate my incompetence, and I hate my life. I’ve been trying for so long, reading, writing, thinking, yet I can’t seem to get anywhere.

And then there is the matter of my little siblings. 17 and 8 years old. My younger brother (17) told me during that trip that if I moved out he would kill himself because he wouldn’t be able to handle them on his own or deal with them potentially getting even stricter once I left. It made me so sick, that I wanted to throw up. Luckily, he is most likely moving away for college next year after he graduates… which they are okay with, because he is a boy I suppose. My baby sister is a trooper and understood why I wanted to move out and even pretended to be on my mother’s side. However, when I tried, my mom said she would forbid us from talking because I am a horrible influence. The thought of abandoning her with mother makes me want to cry. I thought that maybe I would secretly buy her a phone before I move out and let her keep it a secret to talk to me with. But if me moving away and living my life the way i want to made her life worse, I dont know how I’d forgive myself or make up for it.

But either way, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to move out. I hate my body and my bad habits. I try to get clean and become healthier all the time but I can’t stick with it. Something always happens with my mother having an episode and it depresses me to no end and I lose it, try again, lose it. Then with driving. I keep thinking I’ll get my license soon. I never have motivation to practice with her. I need to be able to take my self places to get a job. And even if I do get a job, I know based on my old ones that the stress of home life, my self esteem, and fragility will make it so hard to hold down a job without breaking down constantly or just giving up. And then there’s school. I want to be educated and do well so badly, but it’s so hard with how things are. What should I do? How can I change? I want to escape this nightmare and live for myself more than anything. I want to be content with who I am and comfortable in my body and in my life decisions. I want to be able to voice my opinions and follow my values without being punished, stifled, or suffocated. If I don’t figure out things soon, I fear everything will come crumbling down and the life I long for will never be realized. I promise I try to be positive and appreciative of what I do try. I try to do things that will make me happier and take steps towards a better life. I try to deconstruct my mind so that I don’t fuss over everything and accept even horrible things as they are… But I always get shot down. It always becomes too much, and my progress always becomes undone. It’s like I’m trapped and can’t get out. All I want is the basic right to be myself, unapologetically.

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

You are a young adult and it's an important aspect of young adulthood to establish an independent mindset. I believe you have it already, but your environment is not allowing you to express it fully. This is not your fault, so there is no reason to blame yourself for it.

Blame is a distraction, and it can even lead to problems like self-harm. Blame keeps you hyperfocused on the negative aspects of situations, which drains the precious mental energy you need for moving forward in positive directions. The sooner you can let go of your blaming mindset, the better you will feel and the more rational your thinking will be when tackling problems.

Remember: The blame you direct at yourself is an echo of your mother's way of blaming you. Do you want to internalize her negative attitude? If you truly have an independent mindset, you should be able to separate your own thoughts from someone else's. Where will you find the truth about you: her words or your heart?

With regard to confidence: Most people experience times in life when it seems that problems or obstacles are too big to surmount. The best approach is to break them down into very small steps and manageable goals (requires proper use of Si). By doing this, you allow yourself to feel a relatively continuous stream of small wins that gradually improve your self-confidence. Believing that you are capable is half the battle, isn't it?

With regard to motivation: You say you have good friends to support you and that's a great resource to draw from. Whenever you're feeling down, reach out for some emotional support. Whatever it is you're having difficulty with, get input or assistance from someone more knowledgeable than you. For example, is your mom the only person in the world who can help you with driving instruction? Getting encouragement and support at crucial stages of your path helps keep your motivation up.

Failing to achieve a goal doesn't make you a failure or a bad person. If you believe it does, you are still thinking like a child and it is yet another manifestation of an unhealthy blaming mindset. Failure is really an opportunity. It helps you learn new things. It helps you improve your knowledge and skills. It helps you find a better direction. What mistakes did you make last time? What do those mistakes tell you about how to do better next time? An important aspect of personal growth is learning how to turn failure into something educational, edifying, or valuable.

For INFPs, Ne development is necessary for learning how to be resourceful and making the best use of what you have, rather than always getting lost in thinking about what you don't have. You've spent a lot of words telling me how your situation sucks so that I can understand where you're coming from. But I wonder: What is good about your situation? What resources, both internal and external, are available to you? What's the best way to use those resources to achieve your goals?

[archersxartxblog]

Master post

I'm at home sick, (just a cold) so I figured to get this chapter done ^^

I'm really glad people are enjoying this little au of mine. a lot of the comments I've been getting on AO3 have been very sweet ^^

we've still got a little bit too go, before work on the next fics in the series can begin.

anyway next chapter, we've off to the first lake.

Chapter 23

They stopped moving once they were well out of the human settlement. Breathing hard as they hide behind a large rock formation.

That had worked out better than he thought it would.

"That was reckless, you know." The other Zoroark hissed, looking back at him. "You're lucky Zisu caught on to your little plan, or Emmet would have been down one pokemon." She crossed her arms over her chest, shaking her head. "And after that little stunt, he and his pack will need all the help they can get. The Commander is probably going to come at them full force."

"As if. I doubt he could even get past your human with how Mama Ursaluna she is with the twins." Zoroark cackled at the thought. "Let alone be able to stand against my human. And don't get me started on the Warden and his mini Warden."

The female sighed and shook her head. "Don't Get Cocky, you don't know the commander." She then turned away from them, back towards the village. "I have to get back to Zisu. You should get back to your human as well."

Zoroark watched as she dashed off, snorting at the warning as he turned towards the two Zorua.

"Did we do good brother?" Blue asked, gold eyes looking up at him. 

"We did just as you said." Red backed up their sibling. "That human was so scared."

"Very scared!"

"You promised that if we did good we'd get to meet your humans"

“Yes. Take us to the humans.”

Zoroark grinned, closing his eyes and rubbing at his chin, pretending to be in thought. "I did say that, didn’t I? Hm…I don’t know. Your illusions weren’t exactly spot on.” he snickered as the two Zorua howled in protest at this.

“Not fair, Not fair!”

“Big Brother is being mean!”

“How are we supposed to get our illusions right if we’ve never seen the humans before?”

“We did them just the way you showed us!”

“Sorry, but those are the breaks kids” Zoroark shrugged as he continued to tease his young siblings. “Blue you were supposed to be the mini warden, and he doesn’t smile.”

“Oh yeah, Oops.”

“And Red you were supposed to be my Emmet, and he sneezes like a Glameow. I’m pretty sure the whole village heard you.”

“But it was dusty”

“And both of you had your tails hanging out at one point or another.”

To this, both the Zorua lowered their heads in embarrassment and this only made the older fox want to laugh louder.

It was funny, they were probably the only members of his old pack interested in humans, and they had actively searched for him when word had gotten out that he had been hanging around humans. 

They had pestered him none stop wanting to hear all about his Emmet and his new pack, and if Zoroark was being honest he might have hyped them up a bit. But he felt that if there was anything worth hyping up it was Emmet and his new pack.

The two kind of reminded him of the twins in a way.

Looking back at his siblings he chuckled and placed a paw on the tuff of each of their heads. “But you two still did well, that Human alpha will probably think twice before messing with my pack again. So how about a rain check on that meeting, hm?” he gestured toward the bleeding sky with his head. “Maybe when the sky is back to normal.” 

The two Zorua exchanged looks, glancing toward the sky themselves before nodding. “Okay. but you have to promise.”

“I promise, now get back to the pack before they start freaking out.” Zoroark nodded, standing up straight. “I have to go find my human before he thinks I abandon him or something.” Sinnoh, Emmet must have noticed he was gone by now, the poor pup’s probably freaking out.

With that, the two took off back toward the Icelands and Zoroark ran back toward the Highlands with the hope of finding some clue as to where the Warden and the twins were. With any luck, they had left the tent for somewhere safe.

He had heard the Mini Warden freak out when the sky had gone red, so there was no doubt that they already knew there was a problem.

Really, Zoroark hadn’t planned for any of this to happen. he’d popped out of his Pokeball for a spot of hunting. maybe get a nice Stantler for the Warden to cook over a fire, the pups could always use a bit more meat on their bones so they didn’t end up as skinny as their dad.

But then the Sky had gone red and he had received a message from someone that he just couldn’t ignore. 

It was hard to believe that the Alpha of the Galaxy Humans had planned on going after his humans, but Zoroark had witnessed it for himself. For some reason, that was beyond Zoroark, the Human Alpha thought that Sneasler’s Warden and his pack were responsible for the sky turning red. Even banished a member of his pack based on what Zoroark had seen earlier.

Some Humans would never learn it seems.

But Zoroark had made sure that Alpha had paid the price.

And it had been easy too.

the man basically had his worse fears at the forefront of his mind at all times. At least when he use to hunt Sneasler’s Warden he had to dig a bit. No, this guy had handed him a weapon to use against him.

But now that the threat had been taken care of, for now at least, he needed to get back to Emmet.

He just hoped the boy wouldn’t be too upset with him for taking off like that.

Maybe he’d hunt something good as an apology for making him worry.

—-

“The Space-time rift is said to be a portal to innumerable other dimensions… In one such realm, far and further still from ours, dwells Almighty Sinnoh.” The woman in black stated as she and Akari made their way into her tent, Volo having left a while ago to try and gather information on what Kamado had planned with the Warden and the twins, leaving the two alone.

“Almighty Sinnoh? Like the one from the Pearl clan or the Diamond clan?” Akari asked as she ducked through the opening, taking a moment to admire the interior of Cogita’s tent.

“The expanse from antiquity to eternity and the expanse to all sides, above and below…time traces the path we tread from here and now into the future… while space yawns all-encomassingly, surrounds us in every direction.” the woman nodded, stopping in front of the large bed, and turning to face her with a soft smile. “You see, it don’t you? The two together, time and space, comprise all creation-the universe. How can one claim that either is greater than the other, as those two clans do?”

“Well yeah, they’re inseparable.” Akari nodded smiling sadly. “Kind of like my friends. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one without the other.” Arceus she hoped Kamado was not so cruel as to forcefully separate those two.

“Ah, yes. The two unovan boys belonging to the time-lost warden of the Pearl clan you mentioned. Twins, correct?” Cogita smiled when the teen nodded. “Yes, I believe they would know a thing or two about not putting one force being greater than the other.” the woman gave a soft chuckle before continuing. “But then again, maybe the truth is clearer to wanderers like yourself and them-ones whom have known other ages.”

“Wait, You know about-”

“Now listen, Lost one.” Cogita cut her off before she could ask anything else. “Here is what you must do. Hisui holds three lakes of great importance-Lake Verity, Lake Valor and Lake Acuity. At each dwells a Pokemon said to embody one aspect of the mind. Complete the trials each one will set you, and bare their gifts to the Shrouded Ruins. There you may receive the Red chain. With it, perhaps you can the worlds together.”

“The…Red Chain?” a shiver ran up the teen’s spine at the mention of that particular item, memories of a few years ago of her encounter with team Galatic, and their boss’s plan to create a whole new world. But she quickly shook that off in favour of the other half of what the Woman had said. “Wait, you said it would bind the world? So, you mean it won’t close the rift?” she had thought that was the whole point of this mission, to fix the sky and close the rift to keep anything else from coming through.

“Sadly, I know the old words and what they bid us do. How true they are isn’t mine to know. But regardless of their truth, I am bound to pass them on.” Cogita shook her head with a sigh, so she didn’t know how the Red chain fit into all this either, just that this was what they needed to do. “How callous of my ancestors-to leave their legends to their children without a single thought to the hardship it would cause them. But…here we are.” she looked back at Akari, her head slightly tilted. “You know your duty, and you’ll do it. Won’t you?”

As if she had much of a choice. If she ever wanted to provide her innocence and free her Uncle and his sons, she had to go through with this plan. Wasn’t like any of them could go home if the world ended, in the past. “Of course. Not like I can do much else.”

To this Cogita smiled down at her, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “There is  Nobility in knowing what must be done and seeing to it.”

“Bra!” 

All eyes looked towards the door of the tent, upon hearing the sound of a pokemon cry just outside.

“What was that cry? Have we now a lost Pokemon as well as a lost child?” Cogita questioned before looking back at Akari. “Do see to it, Please.”

With a slight shrug, Akari exited the tent, and there in the doorway, floating only a few feet from the ground was a little Abra holding a folded piece of paper in its claws. Slowly, the normally sleeping pokemon looked up at her, holding out the paper for her to take, teleporting toward Miss Cogita’s workbench once she had it in hand.

Confused, Akari opened the letter, reading it over carefully.

“Akari

If you are reading this, then that means you have found somewhere safe and that Abra was able to locate you.

I have ensured that you will have all that you need, should you require any of your pokemon from the pastures then Abra will simply teleport them to you as you need. 

Focus on the task at hand, and don’t die.

-Captain Cyllene”

Looking up from the paper, Akari quickly looked back at the Abra and then back at the letter. A small smile slowly crept across her face.

So this was Captain Cyllene’s Abra?

Maybe, She could do this after all.

“Hello, Hello! I see we have an Abra joining us! Where did you teleport in from little fellow?” looking toward the entrance Akari was able to spot Volo walking back through the entrance of the retreat, a big smile on his face as he looked toward the Abra, then back at Akari. “Was it holding that letter then? Good tidings I hope!”

Akari smiled, nodding. “Yeah, looks like the Galaxy team hasn’t completely abandoned me.” 

“Good!” the merchant grinned, coming to a stop in front of her. “So, did Mistress Cogita tell you what the plan is.”

“Hm.” the teen nodded once more, folding up the letter from the captain and putting it in her satchel. “We’re to visit the three lakes, get the gifts from the guardians, and forge the Red Chain.”

“Hm, doesn’t sound like a very easy task-that’s for sure,” the Merchant hummed, pressing his finger to his chin in thought. “It sure would be wonderful to have a kind soul who might help us out…” the thoughtful look slowly transformed into a sneaky grin, one that if Akari didn’t know the merchant as well as she did she might have thought it suspicious. “Good thing I found us some!” Volo threw his hand out towards the entrance to the retreat. “Look who I found wandering the Highlands!”

“Wha-”

Akari could only watch as people started to enter the ancient retreat.

At first, it was just Lord Adamad and Lady Irida, which was already surprising enough. After being rejected by both Lian and Mai, Akari had feared that the clans too had abandoned her if only to avoid war with the Galaxy team. But for both clan leaders to be here meant that she was wrong in her assessment. 

“Quite the opportunist, aren’t you, Volo? Such a consummate guild merchant.” Irida huffed as she stepped through the threshold, shaking her head. “Luckily we were already planning on helping Akari out, anyway.”

“I’ve managed to reassure my people for now. The wardens are keeping a close eye on their nobles, too. Seems all’s quiet for the moment. And so…here we are!” Adaman added hands on his hips. “But still…we’ll never get away with openly aiding you.”

“Despite the many…slights…the commander has made toward my clan, if we undermine the commander’s direct orders, revelations would grow…strained. Prephase more so than they already are.” Irida hissed, her words bitter and for good reason, Akari could only imagine what kind of position the Pearl clan leader was in right now.

“Long Story short: we want to help but without drawing attention, so it’ll just be one of us. Me or her-it’s up to you. Though the answer should be obvious.” the Diamond clan leader explained, crossing his arms and giving her a slight smile.

Akari looked at the two leaders in awe, they were really going to help her. They were willing to go against the commander’s orders, if sneakily, just to help her. But…

She looked over to Irida, she couldn’t possibly choose the leader of the Pearl clan. The young woman was already under enough pressure, and with Ingo and the twins currently jailed by the commander, things could be disastrous if Irida was caught helping her. She couldn’t risk her Uncle’s life like that.

“I-I guess I have to choose-”

“Wait!”

Akari stopped herself midsentence to look over at Irida, as the Pearl clan leader called for her attention. 

“Before you pick, please allow me a chance to do as you have done with our honoured nobles and quell your worries.” the young woman in pink stepped aside, giving Akari a gentle smile. “Adaman and I found them in the Highlands, they were quite worried about you when they heard of your banishment.”

The teen looked from the Pearl clan leader to the entrance of the retreat, only now realizing she could hear the sound of footsteps approaching.

“Akari!”

“Akari, Akari.”

She wasn’t sure which one of them reached her first, only that they had run into her hard enough to force her to take half a step back to not to fall over. But when the second one tackled her, all three of them tumbled to the ground.

“Akari! Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you did he? Lady Irida told us you were banished because the Commander guy thought you turned the sky red! But-but that’s not possible! There’s no way to prove you even have that kind of power! It doesn’t make sense!” Lil Ingo rambled on, words shooting out of his mouth so fast that Akari worried that he might start going blue in the face. his pitch continuing to go up with every word that it was starting to make her ears hurt. But at the same time, she was worried that Emmet was trying to snap her in half, with the tight grip he had on her waist, perhaps a strange kind of punishment for upsetting his twin.

Her mind was moving in slow-motion, refusing to accept what was in front of her. Constantly telling her that this was nothing more than a dream, that a pokemon had put her to sleep not long after she'd been kicked from the village. 

That or she was completely losing her mind.

After all, what were the chances of Volo finding her and bringing her to the one person who knew the solution? 

What were the chances of Adaman and Irida coming to aid her and risk war with The Galaxy team? 

And what were the chances of Irida finding the twins in the highlands, when Akari herself had seen them be dragged away by Kamado’s men?

She knew this had all been too good to be true.

"Akari?" She looked at Lil Ingo, the boy looking back at her with worry. His face still carried the same bruises that it had the last time she saw him, though his hair stuck up at odd angles like he had been rushed out of bed. "It's okay, Akari. You don't have to do this alone, this time."

"Don't cry Akari." She could barely hear Emmet's as he spoke into her shoulder.

She was happy to see them, safe and sound, free of whatever cage Kamado had them in. She didn't want this to end, didn't want to wake up alone in the Feildlands again with only Shinx to pity her.

But she had to… 

If she continued to dream then the twins and their father would be trapped, never able to return home, and she would never be able to fix the sky.

Maybe…maybe she could use the plan from this dream, maybe Arceus was trying to show her something.

She squeezed her eyes shut and hugged the twins tightly, trying to will herself to wake up. "Don't worry, I'll get you guys out." She muttered as she fought back more tears.

"Akari?"

She didn't dare open her eyes to see which one was speaking. She couldn't risk being pulled any deeper into the dream.

"Miss Akari."

A new voice joined in, deep and rumbling. Akari had to fight to keep from letting out a gross sob at the sound of her uncle's voice, yet still, she refused to open her eyes. Not wanting to see what cruel image her mind might have conjured up.

"No…this isn't real." She whispered, curling in on the twins. 

"Miss Akari…is real, I promise you." the voice spoke once again, closer, softer, she could picture the old warden kneeling behind her. “I assure you, this is all real. What would ever make you think it isn’t?”

Still, she refused to open her eyes. why couldn’t see she just wake up? 

Akari shook her head, “Because I saw you.” she whimpered. “The three of you, they had you in chains. They led you away.”

A hand came down and rested on her shoulder, the pressure and weight enough to cause the teen to open her eyes and look at the man kneeling in front of her. His slightly glowing silver eyes stared worryingly into hers. “Akari, while I am sure you saw something, I can assure you that it was not us. We have been at the Fable Springs since very early this morning, trying to set up a station.” The Warden reached out with his other hand and ran his calloused thumb across her cheek, wiping away her tears and brushing the hair out of her face. 

Finally, her brain started to kick in, and the haze started to lift, as she started to take in all the little details that her mind refused to take in a few minutes before. 

The roughness of her Uncle’s hands from years in the mountains.

The Weight of the twins sitting on her.

The scratchiness of Emmet’s uneven hair pressed against the side of her neck.

The feeling of the plush Pearl clan tunic under her hand.

The feeling of the cold ground and the stiffness in her legs from being pinned there for so long.

Slowly, she let go of the twins, reaching out toward her uncle. The hug was awkward and Akari was pretty sure the twins got a little crushed in the process, but they didn’t complain and Akari found herself enjoying the warmth that came from her little-found family.

“Well I hate to break up this little touching moment, we still have a job to do and I don’t think we have a whole lot of time to waste.” Adaman's voice cut through the moment, bringing Akari further back into reality.

"Honesty, Adaman. Interrupting the sharing of space is quite rude." She heard Irida huff. "Even if I am inclined to agree with you."

Right, they had an audience.

Carefully, Akari released her hold on her Uncle as the man pulled away and the twins started to get off of her. "Y-yeah, you're right, sorry." She muttered, drying her eyes as she got to her feet. "Wh-what were we doing?"

"You were about to pick which Clan leader you want to help us out," Volo answered, his eyes cast toward the sky like he was doing his best not to look at anyone. 

"Oh, right," Akari nodded and dusted herself off before facing the clan leaders. 

Now that the worry of putting more pressure on Irida was gone, she was able to honestly decide on who she wanted with her. And as much as she liked Adaman, he tended to be a bit more on the impatient side of this.

So her choice would have to be…

"I choose Lady Irida." Her choice was totally not influenced by the fact that Irida had just given her Uncle back, nope, not at all.

"Of course you chose me! I was the one who got you what you needed when you first set out to quell Lord Kleavor. You and I made his balms together." The young clan leader smiled knowingly, avoiding looking over at her diamond clan counterpart.

"Yep, that's the reason." Akari kind of felt bad, but if anything, with all the crap the Commander has put her through Irida, was probably biting at the bit for some form of payback.

"Just what I would expect from you, Akari. You made the right choice. You won’t regret it.” Irida cheered, causing Adaman to roll his eyes.

“So, then, the leftover leader will…?” Volo started only to be cut off when Adman scoffed at his words.

“Leftover? Think again.” the blue-haired man crossed his arms as he glared at the merchant. “Akari trusts me enough to leave the tough job to me alone. I’ll be keeping an eye on the commander, so I can let you all know if anything happens.” Adaman turned toward her and Irida, hands on his hips. “ All right, Irida…You and Akari…” the energy seemed to drain out of him as his disappointment started to build. “Well, You two do what needs doing.”

“Of course, of course…and the lucky chosen one comes with us to the lakes.” Volo chuckled, waving the Diamond clan leader off as he walked over toward her and Irida. “We can fill you in on the details as we go.” 

“We’re coming too!”

“What?!” 

All eyes turned to look over at the twins, seeming to cause Lil Ingo a bit of embarrassment at having drawn much attention, but he didn’t seem to back down. “We’re coming too!”

“Ah… no! you’re not!'' The retort came out of the teen’s mouth quickly, maybe sounding a little meaner than she meant it but still. “This is going to be dangerous.”

“So?!” Emmet shot back.

"Didn't we just discuss earlier how the Commander is looking to have you and your father arrested?" Volo cut in, "he might have been tricked earlier. But sooner or later he will figure it out and come after you two." 

Akari watched as Emmet's confidence quickly melted away, being replaced by fear and she could see her Uncle start to take a more aggressive stance. Confused by this the teen turned to see the Merchant basically looming over her and by extension the twins. Maybe she'd have to talk to him about this before her Uncle went all Papa Luxray on Volo. They didn't need to intimate the twins to get their point across.

"And!?" But unlike his brother Lil Ingo stood his ground, meeting the merchant's eye with a determined frown. "So what are we supposed to do? Hide here while everyone else does all the work? What makes this place any safer than anywhere else in Hisui? If the commander really wants to lock us up this place is no safer than our tent back in the highlands. He'll find this place." The kid paused for a moment, looking from Volo to Akari. "Besides, he already thinks we're working with Akari, he'd be a fool to try and challenge all of us if he thinks we have the power to change the sky." He'd come a long way from that shy boy Akari had met back in Jubilife village nearly two months ago. 

Akari shook her head, and looked up at her Uncle, hoping that he might cut in and set his kids back on the 'right track'. Even if his eldest did have a point. "Uncle Ingo, tell them it's too dangerous."

But the Warden smiled at her, adjusting his hat slightly. "I am sorry Akari, but there is no switch to this track." He bowed his head slightly and shook his head. "While I agree these tracks are dangerous, I see no other route. Yes, we could hide away, but a train can run the risk of disrepair if it never leaves the yard."

"Translation…" Emmet smiled up at her.

"We're coming with you." Lil Ingo finished.

A harsh sigh escaped Akari's lips as she accepted defeat. "Guess I've been outvoted." yet still she couldn’t help but smile. As much as she worried about the twins getting hurt, yet at the same time, it made her feel better knowing that they would be right by her side, and she wouldn’t have to wonder if they were okay while she was out saving the world…again. Besides, they were capable trainers, just like she had been at their age.

Even if Volo didn’t seem too thrilled about them coming.

“Alright, you two can come along.” she finally agreed before looking back up at her Uncle. “And what about you Uncle? Are you coming as well?”

But The Warden just shook his head. “No, Gliscor and I will be returning to the Highlands to keep an eye on the Rift. I will endeavour to report my finding back should anything happen.”

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense.” As much as Akari wanted her adopted Uncle with her, she had to agree that someone should watch the rift. “Just be careful.”

“I will be sure to adhere to all safety protocols.”

The teen nodded, taking in a deep breath and looking towards the red sky. “We should get going then.”

“Yes, we should get moving!” Irida nodded, walking toward the exit but paused a step away and looked back at Akari. “I’d rather we walk this road together, but if the commander were to get wind of it, it would make things worse…I’ll meet you at whichever lake you choose!”

“We’ll travel with Akari then.” Lil Ingo added, looking over at Irida. “If travelling with Akari would be bad for you then travelling with us could be just as bad. And as I said, he probably expects us to be working together anyway.”

To this Irida nodded her thanks, and waited by the entrance for Akari to make her choice.

The teen hummed in thought as she tried to decide which of the three lakes would be the best to head to, but in the end, the choice was obvious.“We should just get the Lake by Jubilife out of the way. So let's head to Lake Verity.”

—

Cogita watched as the group of visitors slowly dissipated out of her little retreat.

Lord Adaman was the first to leave, followed by the time-lost Warden, then the Lady of the Pearl clan, and finally the lost child Akari and the Warden’s two ‘children’, leaving only Volo and herself behind.

It had been interesting to watch, the ‘Merchant’ had been silently seething ever since the altercation between him and the two boys. Volo had been able to hide his anger from everyone else but to Cogita it was as clear as day.

Was he really that upset that the boys would be going with them?

Of as there another reason?

A smile slowly spread across Cogita’s lips as she stepped forward. “What’s wrong dear?” she questioned looking over the ‘Merchant’ as she stood next to him. “Are you really that worried about their safety?” she hummed as she watched him closely.

No, that wasn’t it.

She remembered how he had stood over them, stance wide as he let his hat cast a shadow over his eyes as he glared down at the two boys while being out of Akari’s sight.

And yet, the ‘Merchant had faltered the moment he was challenged by the other boy.

Not surprising. After all, Baby dragons could only be scared until they realized they still had teeth.

“Or maybe your just upset that one of them called your bluff?” Cogita speculated aloud, barely flinching when the ‘Merchant’ suddenly turned toward her.

“I just don’t want them getting under Akari’s feet and getting hurt. We’re dealing with Legends here after all.” Volo shot back waving her off and plastering that ‘smile’ across his face once more. “Akari told me about them, and the three seem close. She would be heartbroken if anything happened to them.” he shook his head, hands on his hips as she shook his head. “Guess I’ll just have to keep an eye on them too.”

With that the ‘Merchant’ set off, heading towards the exit, off to meet Akari and the twins at the first lake.

“Be careful Baring your teeth at dragons dear, they tend to take it as a bit of a threat,” she called out as she watched him go.

The moment Volo was gone from her retreat, Cogita made her way toward her little table and pour herself another cup of tea. Her mind wandered back to the scene of conflict between the ‘Merchant’ and the twins, there had to be something more than a simple call of a bluff.

One of the boys seemed to be genuinely afraid of the man standing over them, enough so that the Time Lost Warden had almost stepped in. 

but that would mean the boy would need a reason to be afraid in the first place. 

A reason perhaps that was only known to the three of them.

Ah, Cogita was starting to see what was happening.

“Little dragon, indeed.”

[oregano-writes]

Tartaglia's 5-Step Plan for Wooing Morax- Chapter 8: Zapolyarny Palace

Unfortunately, Ajax did not get to stay in Morepesok for long. The next morning he had to pack his bags once again, much to the dismay of his younger siblings. 

“Are you sure you have to leave already? Can’t you ask Ba– Banar– uh– your boss lady if you can stay a little longer?” Teucer pleaded, giving Ajax his best puppy eyes. 

Ajax laughed slightly, patting Teucer on the head. “You know I have to do what Miss Barnabas says. If it were up to me, of course I would stay longer! But imagine how sad all the children would be if we stopped making toys.”

Teucer considered this. “Alright,” he conceded. “But you have to at least come back for Big Brother Matvey’s party!”

“The wedding?”

Teucer nodded. “Yeah, that one! Are you going to come?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Ajax lied. He knew full well that there was no way he would be attending.

──────── ✧ ────────

When he arrived at the palace, the one greeting him was no other than the Balladeer. 

Scaramouche scowled at him. “You’re late.”

Tartaglia gave him an apologetic smile. “Got caught in a storm on the way here. How’s your mission going?”

Scaramouche sighed. “We’ve still got no intel on the whereabouts of the actual Electro Archon– although we were able to spread the delusions as planned.”

“Well, you did what you could. It’s not like my mission’s been going much better- I found the Geo Archon, but I couldn’t figure out any weakness of his the whole time I was there.”

Scaramouche looked confused at that. “Hadn’t the Tsaritsa already– Nevermind. Did you accomplish anything at all during your time there?”

“Well, not anything related to the Gnoses, but I did help with the Northland Bank’s de–”

Scaramouche cut him off. “So you wasted four months doing paperwork? I’m not even surprised. What did the Tsaritsa think you would do? Defeat Morax in combat? We all know he would crush you.”

“Speaking of the Tsaritsa, have you seen her? She asked for me to come have a private audience with her this evening.”

Scaramouche shook his head. “She’s been busy– working on something, I think. Some sort of ice projection. The last agent who interrupted her was frozen solid.”

“Did he–” 

“He’s fine, she didn’t get any of his internal organs. He’s defrosting in Dottore’s lab as we speak.” Scaramouche looked away, crossing his arms. “Although, if Dottore’s still there when he wakes up, he might wish she had.”

Tartaglia had figured out what the Doctor had been doing to Scaramouche, even if he always changed the topic if Tartaglia brought it up. It was hard not to, when half of the times he saw Scaramouche, he was covered in fresh burn marks and smelled like ozone. But Tartaglia understood the desire to not be seen as weak, and never pushed the topic.

──────── ✧ ────────

Tartaglia closed the door to his office, shrugging off his coat and setting his bags down. The familiar chill of the palace’s ever present breeze bit into his skin, and he shivered. 

He spotted a letter on his desk and, recognising the symbol of the Tsaritsa, moved to open it.

My Child,

I hope you are adjusting to the Snezhnayan weather well. I have heard reports of your mission in Liyue, although I look forward to hearing the story again from you. I am glad to hear of your success, although I did not doubt you. I will be expecting an audience with you at sunset tonight.

–Tsaritsa Barnabas

Tartaglia read over the note again. His success? He ran the bank just fine, but that hardly seemed worthy of a meeting with the Tsaritsa. That sounded like something that would earn him a gift basket from Pantalone at the most. But he failed to procure the Gnosis– or even any meaningful information on Morax’s weaknesses. He didn’t think the Tsaritsa would use his fear of squid to steal the Gnosis.

──────── ✧ ────────

Tartaglia started to kneel down, but was interrupted by the Tsaritsa.

“Stand up.”

He obliged, looking at her questioningly. “What is it?”

“Do you know why I called you here today?”

“To review my mission, I assume?”

The Tsaritsa hummed. “And do you know why I sent you on that mission?”

Tartaglia mulled that over. “I… don’t actually know, your Highness. I guessed I was the only Harbinger not preoccupied with a personal mission?”

The Tsaritsa shook her head. “Although I have not been completing my duties as such, I am still the Goddess of Love.”

Tartaglia didn’t know how that related to his mission, but nodded anyway. “Yes, I remember, although I do fail to see how it relates to Morax’s Gnosis.”

The Tsaritsa tapped her nails on the arm of her chair. “I assume you have heard stories about soulmates?”

“Of course. Every Snezhnayan child hears stories of soulmates.”

“Hm. Do you believe those stories?”

Tartaglia faltered. “Your majesty, I– I don’t know. I guess I’d never really thought of them as anything more than a folk tale.”

The Tsaritsa summoned a small model of Teyvat’s constellations, tiny pieces of ice making up the stars, with glimmering strings of ice connecting them. “Everyone in Teyvat has a constellation they were born under, which decides their fate. While most constellations stand alone, some are connected, intertwining the fates of those who bear them.”

She gestured to one diamond-shaped constellation. “Lapis Dei is one of those constellations. For some time, I had been able to tell that it was, but I had not been able to figure out which constellation it was connected to. When I finally found a constellation resembling its match, I knew that was an opportunity I could not pass up. However, it wasn’t entirely clear whether or not it truly was the constellation I had been searching for. The best way to determine this once and for all would be to get the people under the constellations in the same physical location, which would make the divination considerably easier. And lo and behold–” She flicked her wrist, and the map enlarged a specific portion of the sky– “Lapis Dei and Monocerous Caeli were connected.”

Tartaglia’s eyes widened slightly, before he steeled his expression again. “What does that mean, exactly?”

The Tsaritsa twirled a finger, letting the summoned map disperse. “Well, it always depends on the individuals. Some ‘soulmates’ are romantic, like the stories say, but there are just as many where the individuals are destined to be enemies, or to achieve great things together outside of romance. However, knowing you and Morax, I did have a hunch as to which type the two of you would be.”

Tartaglia flushed, remembering the many meetings he had with Zhongli while he was in Liyue. Of course, he would have liked there to be something between them, but what feelings could a god really have towards the mortal servant of another?

“Your majesty, you– What were you hoping to achieve with my mission?”

“While it may seem like I have lied to you about your mission, that is not the case. We need Morax’s Gnosis if we are going against Celestia, and I know that none of the Fatui— myself included– could best him in combat. I needed some form of bargaining chip, and a soulmate could fit that bill quite well.”

“And you want to– what? Trade me for a Gnosis?”

The Tsaritsa sighed. “I wish it was that simple. Unfortunately, Morax is an emotionally constipated fool. I cannot imagine him making such drastic actions unless the situation was an emergency.”

Tartaglia nodded– that lined up with his impression of Zhongli well enough. “So what do you suggest?”

The Tsaritsa smiled. “Do you trust me, Tartaglia?”

“Of course.”

“Then hold still.”

The feeling of hoarfrost creeping over his skin was the last thing Tartaglia remembered before everything went dark.

[prince-honeypaw]

Heyhey!! May I request a regressed Shinsou with Aoyama as a big brother? They're my two favorite characters and I want to see how they get along (:

Have a wonderful day/night!!

♡ Of course! I haven't had the opportunity to do a caregiver Aoyama before so this was a fun experience! (And I certainly enjoyed working on the panel edit for him too >w>) It was rather difficult and I didn't get a lot of what I wanted in here, so there may be another post for these two in the future! :3 ♡ So I hope you enjoy this!

♡ Yuuga was a lonely child growing up. Stuck between a quirk that simply did not seem to fit his body and frequently moving with his parents, it was difficult to make friends. He longed for a younger sibling to fill this niche, but–for some reason–the mere mention of more children made his parents oddly antsy.

♡ So, he figured that this meant he was just... Supposed to be alone. As though the universe said this was how things were meant to be.

♡ On the other side of the coin, Hitoshi was also a rather lonely boy, though for different reasons. Being a foster child, he was usually passed from family to family, home to home, and city to city. This made it hard to make friends on top of his horribly stigmatized quirk, and whatever friends he did make would inevitably have to be left behind for another new home.

♡ It made him want to stop trying.

♡ When entering UA, it took quite some time before Aoyama and Shinsou actually had a conversation! Sure, they had "met" (see the events of the cavalry battle), but they hadn't really connected until Shinsou replaced one of the students in the hero course.

♡ Even then, it took the meddlesome help of a freckle-faced young man to build a connection between the two.

♡ On one of their socially awkward friendship building outings, Hitoshi had slipped into headspace without the rest of the group noticing.

♡ Everyone except for Yuuga. The boy has a tendency to mind himself and observe others, so it made sense that he saw Shinsou's shoulders slump more than usual. Saw his stride turn to a lackluster shuffle to the back of the pack... Right next to Aoyama.

♡ Hitoshi's regression isn't much of a secret at this point–what with the students all living under the same roof–but it's still unfamiliar to Yuuga. Someone else would usually come along and handle Hitoshi when he got to this point, so, surely the same could apply here?

♡ Despite knowing this... Despite knowing someone else, someone better, would eventually help him, Yuuga can't just stand there and watch him squirm. The lights, sounds, and scents of the mall didn't bother him, so Yuuga unhooked his bedazzled sunglasses from his ruffled shirt collar in a wonderful flourish and held them out to Hitoshi with a covert, "Here, mon ami, you look absolutely miserable! No need to thank me~☆"

♡ It was a bit startling to have the shiny accessory thrust upon him, but Shinsou was... Rather grateful. He gave a silent nod and slid the shades on without fuss.

♡ He looked very silly, but function over fashion! They functioned so well that he didn't even take them off when returning to the dorms. Izuku would take note of this! He's been on the receiving end of those glasses once or twice as well, and tentatively asks if he plans on returning them.

♡ Still being less than a year old, Hitoshi bundles deeper into his blanket and shakes his head. He's not ready to give them up just yet, and Aoyama hasn't asked for them yet, so mleh!

♡ No one can quite explain what happened afterwards. Maybe the simple act of kindness on Yuuga's part left an impression on Hitoshi. Maybe the fact that Hitoshi didn't turn down that kindness stuck with Yuuga. Or, maybe, they were two lonely boys that saw themselves in each other.

♡ Who can say?

♡ All class 1A knows is that the two became very close after that! Hitoshi gets almost hyper aware of where Yuuga is in groups and will make a point to join him, holding his sleeve like it's as natural as breathing.

♡ Hitoshi's bedhead also starts to develop more of a healthy sheen to it from the hair care routine Yuuga applies to it! Of course, it's still fluffy and alert, but now people can run their fingers through it without the risk of hitting any snags.

♡ Overall, Hitoshi looks less exhausted and more pampered with Yuuga keeping an eye on him! From clipped and painted nails to softer skin, Yuuga is giving the poor dear the love and attention he so rightfully deserves!

♡ The arrangement isn't onesided, though it may seem that Shinsou is getting the lion's share of affection, the mere act of being wanted is enough for Aoyama alone. But, the little trinkets, the quality time, being actively included in things...

♡ No matter how many times he's woken up in the dead of night to heartbreaking sniffles and hiccups.

♡ No matter how many times he has to brush away tears with the silk kerchief his maman gave him.

♡ No matter how many times he has to tuck an unruly head of hair under his chin and soothe, "You're fine now, mon cœur, do not cry. You are not alone."

♡ It is, and always will be, worth it.

♡ Because neither of them have to be alone anymore.

[echo-stimmingrose]

Hello, I’d like you to meet my Percy Jackson Oc. I only have two so far but I plan on making many more.

This is Chloe Firen.

I'll be posting about her girlfriend, Venus soon.

Some background on her: She grew up with her mother and occasionally her aunt, whom she never got along with. Her mother is bipolar and doesn’t take her medications making it hard for her to raise a child. Chloe managed to take care of herself and her mother until she was eight years old and her mother developed Capgras syndrome. Which basically means you believe imposters have replaced your loved ones. Convinced her mother hated her, Chloe packed a backpack and ran away in the middle of the night. Once she left her home she started being chased by monsters with no way to defend herself. She managed several nights running on her own, often sleeping in dark alleys or abandoned buildings.

One morning after successfully outsmarting and running from a hellhound, she woke to find a silver bow next to her with a quiver full of arrows. She quickly learned that she had a natural talent for archery. A couple days later she runs across two kids, about her age, trying to fight a monster she had yet to see. They were cornered, one was a girl with choppy black hair, and a blond-haired boy, a little older. She could tell they needed help so she drew her bow. Within a couple of shots, she took down the monster, surprising the two kids. She learned that their names were Luke and Thalia. Once they realized she was one of them and she didn’t have a home to go to, they insisted that she stay with them and explained to her that they were demigods.

For two years these three roamed the country until eventually, they came across a seven-year-old girl who also didn’t have a home, Annabeth. While Annabeth often looked up to Luke as a role model, Chloe looked up to Thalia and turned to her while in danger. The four were family, siblings. (She's ten at this point). Soon they were found by a satyr named Grover who told them they needed to come to camp. However, on the way back Chloe got separated from the group and they couldn’t find her. Thalia insisted that they keep looking but after finding her backpack, torn to shreds and covered in blood, they were forced to mourn her death.

Chloe however was alive, beaten up pretty badly. But alive. She remembered Grover's instructions on how to get to camp and followed them, hoping her family would be there too. With a dislocated shoulder, sprained ankle, and her bow she made it to the strawberry fields before passing out due to exhaustion. She woke up in the big house where Chiron explained to her where she was and what happened. She desperately asked for Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth but they had not made it yet. She was placed in cabin eleven and given a tour of the camp but she could not relax until her family made it.

The next day battle horns went off and the whole camp raced to the hill where Chloe found her siblings running from packs of monsters, more than she had ever seen in one place. Luke carried an unconscious Annabeth and dragged Grover, who looked like he had lost way too much blood to still be alive, over the hill. Thalia stood on the top, defending against the swarm of creatures. Chloe tried to run up the hill to help her but Luke held her back. She fought against his grip but she was still hurt and he was too strong. He held her, screaming “LET ME HELP HER!” as she watched her big sister make her last stand. It happened quickly but she remembers every little detail even years later.

A week later Camp Half-Blood was newly protected thanks to Thalia's sacrifice. Chloe was then claimed by her father, Apollo, during a campfire. She moved to cabin 8 and eventually befriended Lee Fletcher, Charles Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, Pollux and Castor, the Stoll Twins, Chris Rodriguez, and Clarisse La Rue. She got along with everyone and even surprised people when she and Clarisse became close. Luke was still her older brother while Annabeth was her little sister whom she was very overprotective of. It took her about a month before she was able to approach Thalia's tree, when she did she broke down beside it. Afterward, she started visiting it at least once a day to “update” Thalia on what was going on. Luke and Annebth would visit with her as well but eventually, they stopped coming as much, but Chloe continued to talk to her every day, even if it was just to say hello. Archery was her favorite thing to do at camp and she wound up the best archer they had. Even beating out her older brother, Lee, though not by much.

That's all of her for now. There is so much more to her story and I am absolutely in love with it but it is far too much to put in one post. I tried to simplify this as much as possible but there's a lot and I didn’t want to leave anything out. This is just her from ages 8-10/11.

Her design is here cause Tumblr won't let me post the photos with this for some reason

[redflagshipwriter]

Hot Ghouls in your Area ch 9 PREVIEW

In which Jason makes not a single good judgement call.

“Good morning!”

Jason winced and moved the phone a little further from his face. “Is this Doctor Fenton?”

“It's one of them! What can I do ya for?” Jack Fenton boomed, just as bombastic as his newsletter made him seem. Jason knew, deep in his heart, that Jack Fenton was indeed the one who had selected green neon bold for his headings and borders.

Angels wept. Jason scrubbed his palm over his eye. This man had no poetry in his soul. “I, uh, had some questions about a ghost. I've read some of your articles and your most recent published paper on the topic.”

“We love ghosts!” Fenton bellowed. “Ask away!”

“Do you know a ghost called Phantom?” Jason tried.

“...Sure do,” Jack Fenton said. “Whatcha need?”

Jason cleared his throat. “It's somewhat complicated,” he said evasively, because he didn't need these people to know he was the Red Hood. Fuck. He should have either gotten his helmet stored away or not given his real name. Phantom knew his face and that his name was Jason. Any information that got around via Phantom might tie his face to his alter ego. If Phantom said he got married to Jason, the Red Hood, that could lead to the end of the Bat family vigilantism.

“...He cause you trouble, sport?”

Jason let out a slight laugh. “You could say that, though it wasn't really his fault,” he admitted. He cast a paranoid eye out the window to be sure no siblings were creeping on him. “No, it's really more that…” Fuck, he should have planned this better. “Is there any information you can give me about how a human could contact him?”

Not that Jason didn't have a phone number for the guy. But it made him very uncomfortable to have any basic knowledge or way to track Phantom down if he decided to leave Jason to whatever was going on.

“I could probably do that,” Jack Fenton said slowly, now sounding like an entirely different human being. “Say, you wouldn't be Jeremy, would you?”

Jason blinked. “...How did you know?” He went with. Phantom had contact with a human guy named Jeremy? That might be his in.

“Oh, well then, you've definitely got to come over,” Dr. Fenton wheedled. It somehow came across as shifty. “You'll be wanting a whole primer on how the Ghost Zone works, won't ya?”

“That would be immensely helpful,” Jason agreed. “But I'd hate to take up your valuable time.”

“Nonsense!” Fenton bellowed. Jason nearly lost his grip on his phone in surprise. “Come over Jeremy, I'm dying to meetcha!”

So, there was a plan. Jason packed for a day trip and dialed up his travel agent.

“Fuck off,” said Tim. “I'm busy. Christ.”

“I need an airplane ticket and a rental bike,” Jason continued. He tossed his mostly full bag on the sofa and went digging for the socks he knew he had washed the other night. “I'm going to go see some nerds about my impromptu adventure the other day.”

Tim groaned. That was the first Jason had given any hint at all about what had happened to him when he'd been ‘sacrificed.’ “What nerds?” He asked wearily.

Jason grinned into his sock drawer. Gottem. “Why, do you all know each other?” He asked blithely.

[sapphiretaehyung]

♡Immortal♡Hwang Hyunjin♡3♡

Genre: Historical au, highschool au

Pairing: Hyunjin x OC

Warnings: none

Word count: 1.3K

"I don't know, I heard her sister Cheonmyeong had a much more interesting life, despite never being the queen herself" I suggested slight shocking the three boys as they all turned to look at me.

"In what way" Seungmin finally responded as the the other two stayed quiet.

"Well first of all there is the fact that no one knows whether she was the oldest sibling and that her love life was rather different" I explained as they all looked at me.

"Okay well I like it" Hyunjin was the first to answer, showing a smile again. We began planning out the project, starting with what we actually wanted to focus on.

"I quite like the idea of her love story, as cringe as it is, because everyone would just think of writing about how she was the next kings mother or why she never became queen herself" Jisung explained, I was quite glad being put in this group because I knew a lot of guys wouldn't want to do a project on some dead woman's love life.

"You seem to know a lot Sohee, do you want to be in charge of the facts and research?" Seungmin asked, we voted him as the group leader as out of all of us he had the best skill set for the job.

"Yeah sure" I just quickly said as they began picking out all of their roles too.

"So do you like history then?" Hyunjin asked looking towards me. "Well you obviously know a lot, so is it like your best subject" He quickly added realising I wasn't going to answer him all that quickly.

"Nope, actually least liked subject" I said bluntly, probably confusing them all. "Why do I want to constantly talk about the past and all the bad things that happened" I added on then went back to ignoring the conversations as I continued doodling on the notepad I did early.

"Alright everyone, start finishing up now" The teacher said loudly, taking everyone out of their individual conversations.

"When are you guys all free to work on the project?" Seungmin said pulling out his diary to look at dates, he really seemed over prepared for everything.

"I can do any day" I heard Jisung say and Hyunjin agree as they all looked towards me.

"I'm quite busy most of the time "I said not making eye contact with any of them.

"Well here" Seungmin said handing me a sticky note. "Give me your number and I'll create a group chat that we can discuss it on" He said sitting a pen next to the sticky note. I was hesitant at first, but I knew I had to at least try be a normal student, so I grabbed the pen and quickly wrote down my number before handing it back to him.

"Great, I'll make it after school" He said before grabbing his books and standing up, with Hyunjin following after him.

Honestly it was my luck that the day I started this dumb school that I was forced to work with people. I really just wish I could spend my time out looking for Kyungho rather than writing a damn project on mine and my siblings pasts. As much as it was one of the best lives we all had, loosing Cheonmyeong was pretty hard on me, and I was starting to regret suggesting her as the topic, although it probably would be easier than writing about Seondeok.

"Please make sure you write me plenty of letters" Cheonmyeong told me as she helped me pack up some of my many dresses, preparing for moving to Baekje with Mu.

"You know I would never ignore you Cheonmyeong" I smiled over at her as I began folding another one of my dresses. I knew unfortunately this would be one of the last times I ever saw Cheonmyeong, knowing I would have to fake my own death to eventually get out of Baekje. She always looked the most put together out of the three of us, always having her having her hair done to perfection, never being seen when not wearing one of her gowns, it was obvious to us that she was the real Royalty in the family, but she chose love over the throne.

We were both slightly startled when there was a knock upon my door, that soon followed with one of the servants coming in and bowing to us.

"Princess Seonhwa, Princess Seondeok has asked if you please meet her in the courtyard for a few moments" They said before bowing and leaving the room.

"You go ahead, I'll continue in here" Cheonmyeong said as I turned to her and gave her a thankful smile.

The courtyard was just outside of the room, so it only took a moment to see Seondeok standing on one of the many bridges, looking out over the small stream that passed throughout the palace. The stream had many small fishes and animals swimming around, and was always one of my favourite sights within the palace.

"Seondeok" I said loudly as I approached her, making her turn to face me with a smile. I quickly walked over to her and stood next to her waiting for her to tell me why she wanted to see me.

"Are you sure going to Baekje is the best decision?" She suddenly questioned me, she knew I would do anything to make her reign as easy as possible since it was put upon her after Cheonmyeong refused it.

"Of course, I want there to be peace between the Kingdoms, if anything it will make everything easier for you" I explained to her and she gave me a quick nod. By this point all of us siblings knew, despite our human ages, that we were all mature enough to make our own life decisions as long as it did not negatively affect each other.

"Okay I trust you on this, but we need a plan on where to meet up after we are all ready to move onto our next life" She explained, we were able to have these kind of conversations out in the open as all the servants knew to keep their distance from us when we were together, unless we said otherwise. I nodded to her, hoping she would be the one to come up with a plan.

"Once news spreads of me being ill or dying, I need you to fake your own death, obviously the news will take a day or two to reach here so how about the four of us meet at the next full moon after on the path connecting Silla and Baekje" She explained to me as I listened closely.

"Now I want you to know that everything I do politically between here and Baekje has nothing to do with you, if all goes badly between us it will be my council who I listen to" She told me, I knew she would have to mention this. Despite my whole reason for leaving being peace I knew it wouldn't last forever between the two Kingdoms.

"I know, I have already decided I will not be participating in any such decisions" I told her as a smile grew upon her face.

"Now I want you to go there and live great life, don't constantly think about the next one, just focus on what you have now and be happy. I know how you are Seonhwa, you never live in the moment, so just try be mortal" She told me, I understood her though. I never really tried to make friends or find any kind of love knowing that this life is just temporary and before I knew it I would be onto the next, leaving everyone behind.

"I will try" I told her with a small smile upon my face.

"Now you head back to Cheonmyeong, and I will see you at your departure" She told me as I gave her a smile before heading back over to my room.

"Sohee" I heard breaking me out of my thoughts, It was Jisung.

"You were daydreaming, I just wanted to say it's lunch if you want to sit with me" He offered, I quickly stood up and followed him to the lunch hall, which he obviously understood as me agreeing.

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[00katrinka00]

Landcaster Legacy Gen 6 The Heir That Never Was

So fun fact, Mads was never actually meant to be the gen 6 heir to my legacy story. It was originally meant to be her older sister Jane. When High School Years came out Jane was already a YA but nowhere near having children yet, and I didn't want to a) start a new save to play high school years or b) wait until Jane's children (who didn't even exist yet) were teens in order to play through with the HSY pack. I'm talking Jane hadn't even met her love interest yet. What I decided to do was switch the heir to my legacy to be Jane's younger sister Mads, and thus the gen 6 heir was born (again).

Taylor Swift's The Last Great American Dynasty came on while I was in the car today (thank you Spotify) and it reminded me how I had kind of based a portion of Jane's story around that song. It also made me nostalgic for the story I never actually finished, so I decided to write up a summary of what would have happened in Gen 6 had I not changed legacy heirs.

For reference here is the Landcaster family tree as well as a photo of Jane.

Without further ado, here is a summary of gen 6: The Heir That Never Was

Jane was pretty much the perfect student, she got straight A's, was on student council, and was basically on track to be valedictorian (had HSY existed when she went to High School). Basically, Jane had a very bright future ahead of her. Around the age of 14 Jane became pen pals with a girl from Oasis Springs named Layla Albright (The Landcaster's lived in Brindleton Bay). Jane and Layla became best friends.

At the age of 16 Jane receives a concerning phone call from Layla who was incoherent, sobbing and asking for help. Jane immediately went to her father, and they got on the first plane (let's pretend the game has planes) to Oasis Springs and met up with Layla. It was revealed that Layla had been living in a domestic violence situation for years and had just gotten kicked out by her stepfather. She didn't know what to do, so she called Jane, who Layla had always been a little jealous of because Jane grew up in a very loving household. Matthew invites Layla to come and live with their family, and they end up adopting Layla into their household.

During Jane's senior year of High School her mother gets terribly sick and ends up passing away a few weeks before Jane's high school graduation. The whole family is distraught, but Jane tries to keep it together for her father and the rest of her siblings. She ends up graduating with highest honors and is the valedictorian. Jane gets accepted in Britechester University where she plans to study Language and Literature.

During her first year of college Jane finds that it is not nearly as easy as High School, and after so many years of keeping up appearances and feeling like she's always having to be 'turned on' Jane finds herself suffering from academic burnout, and she ends up flunking out of college.

Unsure of where to go next Jane moves back home. She takes a few odd freelancer jobs here and there, and eventually she becomes a caretaker for an elderly women name Rebecca (Becca). Becca take quite the liking to Jane. As Becca's health declines she starts relaying her life stories to Jane about her very fabulous, but chaotic life. (If I had stuck with Jane as heir, I probably would have done flashback scenes to when Becca was a YA herself).

Eventually Becca does pass away, but she ends up leaving everything to Jane in her will, and Becca was rich. Becca's remaining (but distant) family take offence with this and attempt to contest Becca's will. Seeing as Becca came from a very wealthy family, the topic of her contested will became one that made it to the front page of every tabloid paper, and Jane became the most loved and also hated sim in the save file.

When all the legal stuff is over with it's concluded that Jane is the rightful recipient of all of Becca's assets. At this point she really doesn't know what to do. Jane returns to Becca's estate and begins to remodel it, since it's now belongs to her. Layla and Jane's younger sister Erin move in to help with the renovations, and the three girls end up creating quite the commotion in town.

Jane begins writing a book, about Becca's life and how it relates to her own. When she's finished Jane sends her book out to get published. Her publishing company ends up hosting a party in Jane's honor, to celebrate her very first book, there she meets a man named Henry Singer who is a fellow writer. The two end up becoming close friends often sharing their creative thoughts with one another.

Jane and Henry continue their friendship for several years, and Jane attempts to enter the dating scene but finds herself too awkward and unflirty to end up in a serious enough relationship, she ends up scaring most guys off.

Jane continues writing and ends up getting a few more books published, and before she knows it many years have passed and she's aging up into an adult. As an adult Jane begins to feel like her maternal clock is ticking, and she does want to get married and be a mother someday. After expressing these concerns to Layla it's suggested to Jane that she and Henry get married as they're already good friends, and Henry seems to be the only guy Jane hasn't managed to scare off by being too awkward yet.

At first Jane rejects this idea, but the more she thinks about marrying Henry the more she realizes that it actually might not be such a bad idea, so she decides to talk to Henry about this. It's revealed that he feels much the same way as Jane, he also wants to be a father and get married someday but thinks it's too late for him, so Jane and Henry become engaged.

Henry ends up moving into Jane's home (Becca's estate) and she finds it comforting to have someone around all the time again, as Layla and Erin both moved out several years prior. Throughout their engagement Jane begins to develop real feelings for Henry, but she can't help but feel like she's trapping in him into marriage, as Jane only wants him to be happy and feels she's taking his happiness away by making him marry a woman he isn't in love with. Unbeknownst to Jane, Herny has actually loved her since the day they met.

Things come to a head at their rehearsal dinner, and Jane ends up storming out. Henry follows and Jane tries to break the engagement off telling him that she just wants him to be happy. Henry finally snaps and reveals that he's in love with Jane and marrying her would in fact make him very happy. Jane is taken aback by this but does tell him that she feels the same. They get married and end up having 4 children together, Genevieve (Evie), Josephine (Jo), Guideon, and Katherine (Kit).

----

So, there you have it, the story of Jane, the heir that never was. I always intended to save this storyline for a future generation, because I really do love it so much, but I am intending to add more occult game play into future generations, and I don't really see how this would fit in.

[loorain]

Sims 4 Fontenot Legacy - What Comes Up Must Come Down

Sabrina returns from the cafe date with their friends and finishes up some final homework before exams in the morning. They even call it an early night and get some much needed rest.

Sabrina wakes early enough in the morning to go for a relaxing jog.

During the jog, they get a good morning text from Beau. It leaves them grinning from ear to ear.

After their jog they shower and grab a bite to eat in the dorm.

Heading to the computer room, Sabrina passes by a guy they don't recognize. He's not a student at the school. Is he a friend of someone? Sibling? Sabrina often sees unfamiliar faces pop up in the dorm, so this time shouldn't be any different, but something about this person sticks out in their mind. At any rate, they eat their food and just as they go to wash their plate, they hear crying from the bathroom.

Sabrina: Nyla? What's wrong? Why're you crying?

Nyla: It's all falling apart, Bina.

Sabrina: Hey, take a deep breath okay? Now explain slowly. What's going on?

Nyla: My child's father came by today... He asked to meet up for another session. I knew if I told him over the phone I might never hear from him again, so I agreed and told him to come here. Then when he saw me... he was shocked, to say the least. At first he denied it, said there's no way, we only did it once, and he couldn't possibly know who else I've been with since. But after some time... he seemed to accept the situation, but he's scared. I don't know what this means me. For my baby. Sabrina... I'm so lost.

Sabrina: Was that the blond guy I saw outside a little while back? Curly hair and glasses?

Nyla: Yeah. Alex.

Sabrina: Don't worry, I'll kick his ass for you.

That elicits a small giggle from Nyla.

Nyla: No, I kind of need him in one piece for now. Thanks for the offer though.

Sabrina: Okay, but you just say the word. In any case, I know things feel really difficult right now. I can't imagine what you're going through. But know that, if no one else, you've got me. And we're going to move out and get that place and raise the little bean together!

Nyla: Yeah... You're right. Thanks Bina.

Sabrina: No problem. Now let's enjoy the last day of the semester and finish our classes with a bang! Ooh, bad pun.

Now Nyla laughs wholeheartedly.

Nyla: You're the worst! And the best.

Like Sabrina said, they go to their classes to do back-to-back finals with a pep in their step. They know what the plan is and have prepared for this.

Nyla finishes her exams before Sabrina does, and looks especially exhausted by the end. She is miserable in more ways than one, but the main thought racing through her mind is Sabrina. Will they really be happy giving up school to help them raise their child? They don't want to bring anyone down with them.

Sabrina finishes their classes feeling super relieved and on top of the world. Now they can't wait to get back to the dorm and start packing.

Sabrina: Hey Nyla, do you have anymore... Nyla?

Nyla's bed and desk area are clear of anything connected to her; it's like she was never there. Sabrina goes around the dorm looking for her and asking others, but no one has seen her.

Sabrina: Huh?

Sabrina sits down at their desk, opening the mysterious letter.

"Dear Bina,

I'm sorry I left like this. I just couldn't let you throw away everything you've worked so hard for. It's selfish of me to allow you to do that. I don't know what will happen to me, but I need to figure out this first part alone. Focus on school, don't let anyone distract you from your goal. Philip, Beau, Alton, anyone.

You were truly the highlight of my time in university. Maybe I'll return one day, but for now I need to be the best mom I can be. That means leaving this behind. Thank you for everything. Take care of yourself.

Love Always,

Nyla"

Sabrina: Oh Nyla... where have you gone?

And with perfect timing, Sabrina gets a text from Beau. However, it's not the sort of text they expect.

Who the heck?! Who is Lanuola? Why hasn't Sabrina ever heard of this person before? Have they always been in Beau's thoughts? Had he actually lied to their face to get what they wanted? Sabrina's mind was swimming with questions, but even quicker emotions of rage and sadness overcame them. They told him to think about it himself and immediately muted his calls and texts. They couldn't deal with this right now. First Nyla leaves, and now this? What is happening?

Sabrina goes to their last practice of the semester, but afterward can't will themself to return to the dorm. Beau has betrayed them, and Nyla has disappeared. There's only one person they think to call.

Sabrina: Hey, can I come over?

[stranger-astrid]

𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞

e. munson blurb

premise: coming home from a dreadful family vacation to you metalhead boyfriend and home. it’s just fluff. take it.

warnings: sfw, afab!reader, she/her pronouns, fluff, kinda mentions nsfw if you squint.

your family trip to seattle was dreadful. knowing your family, one of your siblings was bound to cause trouble or your mother was going to be involved in drama, and that is exactly what happened. your sister forgot to pack her favorite top which meant the rest of the week was “ruined”. your aunt and mother started bickering over useless drama the minute you stepped out of seattle-tacoma international airport, and your dad and brother were doing everything in their power to stay away from the nonsense. you were scared you wouldn’t live to make the return flight, but thankfully you boarded right on time.

the excitement only grew in your stomach as the 4 hour flight came closer to an end. on most occasions, you would despise returning from your spring break getaway, but this time it was different. you were coming home to your boyfriend, eddie munson.

the plane touched down around 4:30 pm and you were practically bouncing in your seat.

“why is she so excited?” your little brother asked from beside your sister who resided in the middle seat.

your sister crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “her boyfriend is picking her up.”

“shut up.” you quickly shot back and you gripped your backpack strap.

getting off the plane felt like it took forever, but when you were finally off you practically ran towards baggage claim. it was technically a speed walk.

you saw him before he saw you. he was leaning against a wall towards the left of the exit you came from. he stood out among the people around him as they were dashed head to toe in bright colors while he was dressed in dark jeans, a dark and faded ozzy osbourne shirt, and his typical leather jacket and denim vest attire.

he was fiddling with a bracelet on his wrist when you called his name. “eddie!”

his head shot upwards, hand falling from his bracelet as a grin spread across his lips.

your feet began to pick up speed and you crashed into his arms about halfway across the room.

“there’s my girl!” He said aloud as he lifted your off your feet when you reached him.

you couldn’t help but smile at the nickname and hugged him tighter. “missed you eds.”

“me you too, pretty girl.”

after a moment, he carefully planted your feet on the ground. his hand came up to gently cup your cheek and his thumb moved slowly back and forth across the skin.

you would never get over the way eddie looked at you. it was like his entire world was standing in front of him and he had to make every moment last. the look of fondness and love never failed to make your heart skip a beat.

you leaned into his touch, your lips kissing the edge of his palm.

“you’re just as pretty as the day you left.” he leaned in close so you could hear him over the airport noise.

your cheeks heated up at the comment.

“sap.” you rolled your eyes playfully.

“you know you love it.” he teased back.

with that, he seized the opportunity to close the distance between you. his lips finding your own in moments. it was gentle as first, your arms coming to wrap around his neck as he initiated the kiss. but you could feel the subtle heat and want behind it as he nipped at your bottom lip.

“public,” you mumbled playfully into his lips. “parents,” you added.

he huffed, but pulled away reluctantly. “would you want to stay the night?”

that was most definitely not the plan, but without skipping a beat. “hell yeah.”

he grinned and gave your lips a quick peck. he briefly glanced over towards your parents who were waiting for their luggage and you silently thanked past you for packing everything you needed in a duffel bag carry-on.

“shall we?” he extended his hand towards you.

you interlocked your fingers with his and nodded. you could tell you were going to be in for a long night.

[l-r-christian]

Could you make a poly mikaelson smut??? Where they are jealous about another vampire flirting with reader and they get possessive.

Alright. We are going to break this off in little blurbs.

Warnings: Protective Mikaelsons, a bit smutty, Possessive Mikaelsons, Fluff

A/N: Gonna add my boy Finn as this was a little self indulgent 😌

Finn Mikaelson

It was a family ball that Klaus was throwing as a birthday party for Rebekah and Finn was watching over the ball. Finn really didn't feel like joining all this as he just wanted to curl up with their little wolf and sleep.

"You look grumpy."

"I do not Kol." Finn muttered as Kol smirked knowing it was Finn's turn to have the night with Y/N but it was kinda ruined when Klaus threw a party. Finn saw some vampire flirting with Y/N who looked uncomfortable and in a blur Finn was next to their little wolf.

"Darling, is this leech bothering you?" Finn said glaring as Y/N pressed close to Finn while vampire swallowed feeling nervous.

"A little bit but I would like to go upstairs."

"Of course." Finn said holding her with possessive hands picking her up. Y/N squealed finding herself on Finn's bed being kissed roughly as his hand was going under her dress.

"Finn.....the party." Y/N squeaked out as suddenly her dress was gone and his slightly cold skin met her warm skin.

"They won't miss us for a few moments." Finn whispered against her skin as his mouth moved along her neck. Y/N let out a breathy moan as Finn moved slowly touching her softly making her feel like her veins on fire.

"Finn......please." Y/N pleaded as Finn sucked on her her thigh closely to her heated center pulling a cry from her when he finally placed his mouth on her center. Y/N bit her fist shaking as Finn held her close tongue flattening against her clit and before she could cum Finn pulling away.

"Finn....no..fair." Y/N whined as he chuckled kissing her before easing into her slowly. Y/N whimpered clinging to Finn as he gripped her hips snapping his hips against hers.

"My beloved wolf, always so beautiful." Finn muttered burying his face in her neck as her walls fluttered around when he moved onto his forearms caging her under him. Y/N came with a soft cry as Finn groaned her name cumming after her nuzzling her neck listening to her pant gently tugging his hair and kissed the vampire softly.

Finn got up and cleaned her up then cuddled up to her pressing kisses on her neck as both muttered I love yous.

"They are going to come looking for us."

"I don't care. I just wanted to cuddle."

Elijah Mikaelson

Elijah glared hard at the vampire and wolf standing a little too close to Y/N while he understood that his little wolf was apart of Jackson's pack but that didn't mean he liked males being near her.

"The meeting is going a longer than thought Niklaus, Hayley seems to be adamant to make our little wolf miserable." Elijah said over the phone then looked to Y/N seeing a young vampire getting brave flirting with the woman.

"I need to go Niklaus." Elijah said eyes darken as he growled lowly hanging up. Elijah walked pass Hayley ignoring how she stared at at him.

"Just if you aren't busy we could hang out tonight? Show you a good time."

"No thank you. I am already in a relationship."

"Pffft, with the Mikaelsons. It isn't like I can't sleep with you too."

"Or I could tear your thoat out." Elijah said lowly picking Y/N up and way from the male. The vampire glared then realized he was looking at Elijah who was glaring at him.

"Eli?" Y/N squeaked whe in a flash you was pressed against a cabin wall with Elijah looking at her with hunger in his eyes. Y/N moaned when Elijah kissed her roughly his hand moving under her skirt fingers slipping pass lace as moved two fingers in her wet entrance.

"Wet already? You love it when I am rough, don't you? I want you to be nice and loud baby, let that baby vampire know who can satisfy you."

Y/N cried out gripping Elijah's shirt feeling his thumb rub her clit as Elijah bit at her neck leaving marks as his way to show she was taken. Elijah felt her wall tighten around his fingers when he added a third and moved his thumb more slowly against her clit. Elijah growled feeling Y/N move her hips against his fingers as he curled them.

"Look at you so needy. Such a good girl being loud, let him know who you belong to." Elijah said lowly in her ear feeling her shake against him, Y/N's face was flushed. Elijah smirked watching her cum with loud moan and bit Elijah's neck pulling a deep growl from his chest.

"Open." Elijah commanded as Y/N opened her mouth and Elijah placed his slick covered fingers in her mouth. Y/N's flush got worst as she tasted herself on his fingers, Elijah leaned in kissing her.

"Let's continue this at home."

Klaus Mikaelson

Y/N was in the kitchen on the phone with Damon as the two were close friends always playfully flirting. Klaus knew the two had no feelings for one another but couldn't help feel a bit possessive much like his siblings when ever Damon was around Y/N.

"Sounds like I should come and help you."

'No no. You don't have to. I'll just kill Kai then no more problems.' Damon tells her over the phone as Y/N smiled at Klaus seeing walk in.

"But my darling I would be happy to help."

'Seriously baby. No need we got it all under control.' Damon tells Y/N as she raised an eyebrow seeing Klaus down in front of her hands moving up her bare legs. Y/N only had on one of Klaus's shirts and laced panties and Y/N let out a squeal when Klaus lift her up having her legs over his shoulders then pulled off her panties and placed his mouth on her mound.

'You okay?'

"Y...y..yeah....saw...a spider." Y/N said gripping the counter as Klaus smirked against her making her ride his face while on the phone with Damon. Y/N let out a shuttering breath as Klaus groaned against her sending vibrations up her spine.

"D....D...Damon....call...you back." Y/N said hanging up feeling Klaus squeezing her ass as he ate her out. Y/N leaned forward on the counter shaking as she let out puffs of air babbling unable to think straight.

"Ni.....N....Nik....someone..could walk in." Y/N panted out trembling feeling him move to her clit sucking harshly making her cry out. Y/N bit her first teasr swelling in her eyes her face flushed and Klaus pulled her closer fucking her with his tongue. Y/N cummed hard shaking panting nearly sobbing as Klaus pulled away just as Y/N felt overstimulated.

"Are you okay, love?" Klaus asked picking her up kissing along her neck.

"Yeah...tired though." Y/N muttered as Klaus took her up stairs to clean her up.

"Oh love, I'm not done with you yet."

Kol Mikaelson

It happen in a blur when Kol threw a vampire that tried kissing Y/N which at first Kol was amused at the vampire's poor a tempt at flirting with the wolf but when he moved to kiss her, Kol wasn't having none of it. Y/N squeaked finding herself in the bathroom with Kol kissing her roughly and she kissed back.

"Kol?"

"Hmm?" Kol hummed moving his mouth along her neck hiking her higher grinding against her pulling a breathy moan from her.

"Are you sure, we can do it here?"

"Why not? You and Elijah had done it in semi public." Kol tells her rubbing her though her panties as she flushed remembering a month ago. Kol kissed her again this time much softer as small moans and huffs could be heard by anyone listening closely.

"Kol.....ah....fuck." Y/N babbled against the vampire's neck as Kol fucked her hard against the wall. Kol kissed her roughly as his thumb found her clit making her cry out throwing her head back.

"Letting all those vampires know who is railing you? Who you belong to." Kol whispered in her ear clearly enjoying the fact that Y/N was was a flushing mess as he fucked her. Y/N tighten her hold on him feeling her orgasm get closer and Kol could tell kissing her deeply swallowing her loud moans as she came hard pulling him with her.

"Let's get you home and cleaned up. We can watch a movie and cuddle."

"O..o..kay but carry me.....I can't feel my legs."

Rebekah Mikaelson

Y/N layed on bed with her face buried in a pillow as she was being loud and gripping the sheets while Rebekah fucked her from behind. Early that night Rebekah and Y/N was at Marcel's club enjoying a night out away from the brothers for once when a female vampire flirted with Y/N right in front of Rebekah.

So one threat and Y/N trying to calm Rebekah, both women went back to the compound that ended with Rebekah fucking her girlfriend. Y/N trembled crying out Rebekah's name when the blonde placed a vibrator on her cilt. Normally Rebekah wasn't one to get jealous nor feel possessive but something about the female vampire flirting with her wolf made Rebekah want to claim the wolf.

"Re...Re...Rebekah....please." Y/N whimpered shaking now as Rebekah moved the vibrator in time with her thrusts. Rebekah smirked seeing Y/N pulling at the sheets her face flushed with tears rolling down her face.

"Just one more beautiful. You are doing so well." Rebekah whispered kissing along the wolf's damp back. Rebekah had already pulled three orgasms from Y/N and six was going to be their personal record. Y/N pushed back against the strap on jolting when Rebekah turned the vibrator up. Y/N cummed letting out a silent scream arching as Rebekah pulled the vibrator away and pulled out.

"You did do well beautiful." Rebekah praised kissing Y/N's skin as the wolf panted trembling from the after shocks of her orgasm.

"Too rough?" Rebekah asked gently rubbing Y/N's back seeing the wolf falling asleep.

"No." Y/N mumbled as Rebekah smiled kissing her cheek then moved cleaning the wolf up and joined her in bed. Y/N nuzzled close to Rebekah muttering I love you as the vampire smiled kissing her head and both fell asleep but before doing so Y/N planned to talk to her mates about their possessive fucking as it hff and wore her out.

[messers-moony]

Runaways | R.B

Paring: Regulus Black X Twin!Fem!Reader

Summary: Regulus refuses to lose yet another sibling after Sirius leaves.

Being a Hufflepuff Prefect with a mischievous older Gryffindor brother is a lot of work. Sirius is frequently getting into trouble, and Remus is no help. But honestly? Y/n isn’t either. If anything, she laughs at her brother and her friend's antics. Y/n is the only Black family member still in good shape with all her family. 

Sirius was overjoyed when Y/n was into Hufflepuff. His little sister following in his footsteps of no longer being a Slytherin. However, Y/n’s twin brother - Regulus - was sorted into Slytherin. She didn’t let that define their relationship. Y/n was close with her twin and the Marauders. Remus often bumped her shoulder in the halls making her smile. The werewolf often had that effect on her. So did James, and so did Peter. 

But no one made a giant smile appear on her face than Sirius and Regulus. 

“Oi! Little sis!” His voice, it was calm and bright, something she hadn’t heard in a long time. 

Y/n turned, “Hey Siri.”

Sirius’ arm went around her shoulders, “How’s your day been?”

“Good, yours?”

“Oh,” Sirius sighed, dreaming, making her chuckle, “It’s been perfect, dear sister.”

“What did you do now?” Y/n fake scolded, “Everything.” Sirius replied. 

A familiar raven-haired boy was making their way towards them, hoping and praying that they wouldn’t notice. His green tie and green robes. The prefect badge on the left side of his chest. The wavy black hair and the beautiful grey eyes. The 5’11 Slytherin walking towards his twin sister and older brother. The people he adored the most in the world but barely talked to within the castle walls. His plan ultimately failed. 

Regulus turned to walk by his two siblings only for Y/n to wrap an around his shoulder, “Reggie!”

“Y/n, Sirius.” Regulus greeted with the corners of his lips barely turning up, “How’s your day been?” Sirius asked, turning to look at his younger brother. 

“Good until two idiots came along.” He joked with a smile adorning his features. 

Y/n put her hand on her heart dramatically, “You wound me!”

Both brothers chuckled, and a Professor came to greet them in the middle of the hallway, seeing their beautiful smiling faces, “All three Black’s in one spot. How brilliant!” Slughorn commented as Sirius faked tipping his hat. 

The three Black siblings. The Black trio. One Gryffindor, one Slytherin, and one Hufflepuff. Oh, how Walburga adored them despite the way she treated them. It was never in her heart to treat them the way she does. Orion had such a soft spot for his twins. But alas, both parents knew that if they didn’t raise them correctly - or without abuse - they would only get hurt worse. Walburga knew that if she treated them the way she truly wanted to, they’d be split. 

But that never compared to the aching in her heart when she had to cast a spell on her children. The kids she was sworn to protect. Walburga never wanted this life, never wanted to marry Orion, hell, she never even wanted kids, but Merlin, her kids were great. Slughorn and McGonagall would send her letters of how wonderfully they’ve been doing in their studies, how Sirius made another cauldron explode, how Regulus caught the snitch and won the Quidditch Cup, how Y/n made prefect and was top of her class. 

It was beautiful, and for once, Walburga was happy. She hid all the letters from Orion. If Orion knew he’d made Walburga send a howler, and she didn’t want that. Godric how she hated the awful red colors the howlers came in. The awful shade of brilliant rose. It brought a grimace to her face just thinking about it. But like everything, the truth comes out, and Sirius eventually got a howler. 

Sirius let go of Y/n to begin Transfiguration while the two twins made their way to Herbology. Not before Sirius kissing the tops of their heads like he did when they were kids, “I love you guys!”

“Black, get in here!” McGonagall yelled, and both twins laughed, “We love you too!” They replied in unison. 

Regulus and Y/n laughed, their arms around each other's shoulders, “I never want him to leave.” Regulus admitted. 

“Me either.”

The day was uneventful. More learning, more foolishness, and more laughter. Professor Sprout couldn’t help but smile at the Black twins in her classroom. Regulus was always ice cold when not around his siblings. They made him shine even if he couldn’t find a reason to. It didn’t matter where they were. The Black trio always brought smiles with them. Whether it was Y/n and Sirius, the twins, or all three, their smiles, their laughs, their happiness was so contagious. Three children from an abusive home, coming together to make each other smile. How is it possible?

Y/n would be the answer. The glue to the Black family. The bond to keep her brothers from drifting apart. But that all changed in the summer of 1976.

It was dark and another day of yelling. Sirius couldn’t take it anymore. He needed to leave. He wanted to go. It was bound to happen. He kept telling himself. But did that excuse leaving his siblings behind? Would he risk their safety for his own pleasure? Sirius didn’t have time to think about it. He packed his trunk and opened the window. One leg out and just about to get the other over until his door opened. 

His little sister, “Sirius?”

“Hey, sis…” Sirius hated how his voice shook and almost broke.

“What- Where are you going?”

He couldn’t help it; she needed to know the truth, “Away. Far away from here.”

Y/n crossed her arms slowly, “Without saying goodbye?”

“Goodbye?” Sirius replied with a nervous smile. 

She shook her head with a smile, walking toward his window. Sirius expected a smack, a lecture. But she didn’t do that. Y/n cupped both his cheeks and kissed his forehead like he did when she was hurt. Tears filled his grey eyes without permission as he stared at his younger sister's glossed eyes. Gently she ran her hand through his hair, moving it back. 

“I suppose you were never good at goodbyes.”

“Not really, no.” Sirius chuckled. 

Y/n smiled, “I know you aren’t happy here. You were never happy here.” Sirius interrupted before she could continue, “You could give Remus a run for his money.”

“Listen, Sirius, please.” She pleaded, and Sirius looked at her eyes; he’d miss them, “All I ask, is that you take care of yourself. Regulus and I, we’ll manage. But you should say goodbye to him too….”

“Go get him.”

It took minutes, but Regulus was eventually standing in front of his older brother, one leg out of the window and the other inside his bedroom. Y/n stood behind them, arms crossed with tears streaming down her cheeks silently. Regulus looked like he wanted to cry, but he didn’t. Sirius didn’t care anymore. Silver trails ran down his cheeks, especially when Regulus hugged his older brother with all his strength. 

“I'm going to miss you.”

Sirius sniffled, “I’ll miss you a hundred times more.”

“Impossible.” Y/n interjected, smiling. 

Regulus and Sirius pulled apart, Regulus now standing beside his twin, “I need you to know,” Sirius began, looking at Regulus, “James isn’t your replacement. He is nothing compared to you. You’re my brother, always.”

“And you,” He turned to Y/n after Regulus nodded, “You’re my baby sister, through and through. Just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean you can give me detention.” 

They chuckled, and possibly for the last time, “Always.”

“Forever.”

“Together.”

Sirius gave a watery smile and finished the jump out his window. Wordlessly Y/n shut it behind him. Regulus stood in front of the glass pane until Sirius was out of sight and gave a heavy sigh. Y/n was standing right beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder.

“I knew it was going to happen. I just wish it wasn’t so soon.” Regulus whispered, “I know.” Y/n agreed. 

Regulus took her hand, “Forever.”

“Together.” Y/n replied, squeezing his hand. 

So many they lost their always, but they still had each other. The next night at dinner was dreadful. Possibly the worst one yet, “Where is he!”

“I- I don’t know.” Y/n answered, cowering away, her hand rubbing her forearm.

Walburga looked at Regulus, and he shook his head, “Where is Sirius?”

“Gone.” Walburga replied to her husband, who gave a mere shrug at the answer, “Our heir is gone, Orion! What are we going to do now.”

“The reasonable thing, Y/n is next in line.”

Walburga scoffed, “Absolutely not.”

Regulus reached for his sister's hand after noticing the tears collecting in her eyes, “She is a disgrace! Just like Sirius!”

Orion put down the daily prophet, looking at his wife across the table, “What would you like me to do about it?”

“Regulus!” The boy stiffened, “You are our next heir.”

“No!” Y/n exclaimed, her rage taking over, “That isn’t how it works! I’m the next in line, disgrace or not. I'm older than Regulus.”

Walburga pulled out her wand, but Y/n didn’t flinch, “With that courage, you should be in Gryffindor.” The older woman seethed.

“You feel no remorse, do you?” Y/n asked, but she did; Godric, Walburga hated herself, “Putting your wand to my neck like I’m some training dummy.”

“How do you think we feel! Our older brother is gone! The one who took care of us because our parents can’t.”

Y/n had tears flowing down her cheeks, “How do you think we feel?”

The girl stood up from the table without being dismissed after letting go of Regulus’ hand, “I saw the tapestry.”

“You burned him from it! What kind of monster are you?! He’s your son regardless of his house. I’ll be your heir, but I will never be your puppet.”

Y/n ran up to her bedroom. Walburga and Orion stared at their son, who sat as stiff as a board. More minutes passed, and Regulus left the table too but not before speaking to his parents, “I’ll- I’ll be your heir. I’ll be your son.”

“Brilliant. Thank you, Regulus.” Walburga smiled.

Regulus lost his brother. He wasn’t losing his sister. But over time, it felt like he was. There was no more laughter in the halls. Only one Black sibling was laughing and smiling - Sirius. There was no more hugging in the halls, no more playing around. Regulus and Y/n were ice. They were cold and in pain. That was the first thing Sirius noticed. His siblings hadn’t stopped by his carriage like usual. It dampened his mood. 

“Hey, I’m sure they’re just busy.” James had reassured, but Sirius wasn’t so sure.

It was the first ride to Hogwarts that Sirius was utterly silent. He played with the ribbon in his hand. It was a green ribbon that he carried with him everywhere. The boys never knew what it was or where it came from. They had just discovered that Sirius would fidget with it when he was upset. Remus noticed it first - of course - but James did too, and shortly Peter followed. It was her ribbon, Y/n’s ribbon. A ribbon she wore in her hair when she was seven. 

After a bad punishment, Sirius had been given Y/n took care of him. Washed his cuts and plastered them. It was then she learned how much Sirius loved when people did his hair. So she braided it for him and tied it off with her green ribbon. He remembered the way it felt on his fingertips. So perfectly combed and webbed together. It was the reason his hair was long enough to braid. Every Quidditch match, he’d weave it. James asked why once, and Sirius ignored him, but Y/n knew. It was okay to keep secrets sometimes. 

Fifth-year for the twins went by smoothly. Sirius’ sixth year was hell. He missed his siblings so much somedays it was hard to get up in the morning. Regardless it was hard to get Sirius out of bed in the morning, but this year was particularly rough. It was like he was in a constant state of Remus after the full moon - tired, fatigued and sad. 

He missed Regulus’ smile and Y/n’s laughter. Godric, he missed everything! Sirius cried - sobbed about it at night. His silencing charms weren’t good. It left James and Remus in a tricky spot. It was apparent he didn’t want to talk about it because if he did, he would’ve by now. Remus stopped seeing the twins during prefect rounds and stopped seeing Y/n altogether. It was like she was avoiding them. 

The twins did their prefect rounds together, studied together, and only talked to each other. It broke Sirius’ heart. He ruined everything just for his own pleasure. But hadn’t Y/n meant what she said? That she wanted him to be happy? Sirius wasn’t happy. He was far from it. 

Regulus had nightmares every night about his parents. About his brother leaving, about everything. So he didn’t sleep most nights, and instead, he threw himself into his studies. Occasionally he’d realized that he had done two essays and then understood that he no longer had to do his brother's homework. Regulus had copies of reports everywhere because it was a habit. A habit he had to lose. 

Y/n stopped baking extra cookies. Every Saturday, she’d go to the kitchens to bake a new delicacy the muggle way. Y/n couldn’t help but accidentally bake extra for her Gryffindor brother, only to realize that she wouldn’t give them to him. Instead, she gave them to the house elves to serve after dinner in the Great Hall. They’d appear on the Gryffindor table, and Sirius knew they were a product of her. 

During the summer holiday of 1977, Regulus began to notice that Y/n gone often. Walburga would send her away, or Orion would make her run an errand. Regardless Y/n wasn’t around as much. Was she going to run like Sirius? Walburga and Orion sent her to Auror training. Y/n was young, too young for this training. It was Auror training, but they weren’t training her to work for the Ministry. They were preparing for her to become a death eater. 

Weeks passed, and Regulus felt saddened by her absence. So one day at dinner, he spoke up, “Why haven’t you been present at home?”

Y/n chuckled, “Are you serious? You haven’t told him?”

“What- What do you mean?” Regulus questions suspiciously.

Walburga coughed, “She’s been put into training.”

“Training?”

“Auror training.”

“But not to be an Auror, to be a death eater.” 

Y/n scoffed, “Bullshit, tell him the real reason.” 

She looked at both her parents, “They don’t want me anymore. They send me away because it’s easier than disowning me, like Sirius.”

“N- No.” Regulus denied, “Mum, tell me that she’s lying.”

Silence, “Answer me, please.” Regulus pleaded as a water film glossed his grey eyes.

“She’s not lying.” Orion stated, and Regulus let his tears fall down his cheeks, “No! I won’t let you take her from me!”

Regulus stood up, and his chair flipped behind him, “If you disown her, you disown me!”

“Reggie…”

“No! Please no!” Regulus was clawing at his hair, sobbing, “Don’t take her too….” He whimpered. 

Y/n began to stand up until Walburga sent a spell her way, throwing her back. It just made Regulus cry more. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. They were sixteen! This wasn’t fair. So Regulus stood up and held back his tears. Walburga held her wand to his throat, making Y/n nervous. But Regulus was cold, ice cold. Hastily he grabbed his mother's wand and snapped it. Y/n didn’t have time to gape. Regulus ran to her, and they ran. 

Through the front door to anywhere else in the dark of the night. Orion was too busy with his wife to realize his children were gone. Y/n was sure they were miles away before they stopped. No magic could be done. They weren’t seventeen yet. They’d have to survive without magic. But then she heard it. A howl. It was a risk, a big one, but they had to take it. 

She took her brother's hand and began running towards it, “Y/n, where are we going?”

“To whatever is howling.”

“Are you mental?”

“Maybe.” Y/n shrugged. 

Suddenly he saw it. That look Sirius always had. She looked free, happy, and mischievous. Suddenly she wasn’t Y/n Black. She was just Y/n. His twin sister. The girl that would beg her brothers to adventure with her, to trust her blindly. That’s what he was doing now - trusting her blindly. They must’ve been miles away. Regulus didn’t even know how they got that far, but in the forest, the howling got louder. 

But at the edge of the forest was a black dog, guarding the entrance to the woods, making sure that no one entered. The stag was taking care of the werewolf. They took turns. One full moon, the dog, was to stand guard, next the stag. Y/n cried upon seeing the animal. She dropped to her knees, and Regulus knelt beside her. The dog looked familiar and gave them both great kisses. They fell asleep together. Y/n, Regulus and the dog. 

The following morning, James went back out to the forest after realizing Padfoot was missing. At the entrance of the forest, he saw them. The Black trio. So he left them. Sirius knew the way back; it wasn’t worth ruining their moment. Regulus stirred awake first and woke the dog. The dog left a multitude of kisses on the twins. Y/n woke up shortly after. 

Regulus was appalled to see the dog turn into his older brother but happy nonetheless, “Sirius!”

“Reggie.” Sirius replied, holding him close. 

They parted, and Sirius kissed his forehead, “How?”

“The howling.”

“How did you leave?”

“I snapped mum’s wand.”

Sirius looked flabbergasted, “Really?”

“She- She was going to separate us. I didn’t- I couldn’t lose another sibling.” Regulus admitted, and Sirius took him into his arms again, “Never again. I promise.”

Y/n chuckled, “Looks like we’re all runaways.”

Sirius grabbed her into the hug, “But we’re doing it together.”