#but I think the next fic I post will be another multi chapter

[fayes-fics]

When The World Is Free: Chapter 1 - Sous le ciel de Paris

MASTERPOST | NEXT

Pairing: Benedict Bridgerton x fem!reader, WW2 AU.

Warnings: none

Word Count: 2.1k

Summary: Welcome to the start of my new multi-chapter fic based on a request by the lovely @amillcitygirl! Please see the masterpost for a synopsis of this story. Please note that while I do have a plotted outline, I will be posting chapters as I write them, and I expect that process to take quite a few months. Please bear with me! This first chapter sets up the story - reader moving to Paris in the summer of 1939 and bonding with her new flatmate, Eloise Bridgerton. Please note that Benedict won't be turning up for a couple of chapters yet. Thanks to @colettebronte for beta reading. Enjoy! <3

August 1939

Emerging from the underground Trocadero metro stop, you round the corner of the recently completed, gleaming Palais de Chaillot and stop dead in your tracks. There before you is the most iconic landmark of Paris. Perhaps all of France.

La Tour Eiffel. 

Breathtaking in its metallic magnificence, glowing in the setting sun. A sight that buoys your travel-weary soul seven days after you left New York: boats and trains finally bringing you to this wondrous spot. A light breeze even dances over your neck in greeting, a balm from the cloying subterranean heat of the metro. 

It's a light elbow check to your arm that pulls you back from a state of reverie. 

“A beautiful sight, but one you’ll get used to,” your uncle Robert chuckles, shaking your heavy leather case to indicate it's time to move along. “In fact, I've been told you will be able to see it from your appartement…”��

He has accompanied you to Paris and will see you settled into your new adventures before continuing on to visit friends in England. He spent the roaring 20s living right here in the 16th arrondissement himself and, indeed, has arranged for you to share living quarters with a young British lady, a relative of his English friends. It's a comfort to know you’ll have at least one English speaker to chat with as you dive headfirst into learning proper French as you go.

Robert leads you away from the amazing sight and into the bustling streets, alive with cars, trams, bicycles and pedestrians buzzing in all directions. It's all at once like New York City, but yet so different as well, cafe terraces filling the wide pavements with all manner of people gathered to sip robust cafe au lait and refreshing limonade. 

Within minutes, you are on a quieter side street and stopping outside a handsome honey-coloured stone facade with wrought iron window balconies and window guards, teaming with colourful, fragrant flowering pots. The number 14 gleaming white on a traditional navy blue tile. Your uncle pushes the enormous wooden door open, beckoning you into a cool whitewash wall corridor with mosaic floor tiles.

“Ahhh, Robert!!” a sophisticated middle-aged lady bustles from a nearby doorway and greets your uncle warmly, kissing both cheeks. It would appear they are friends of old.

“Y/n, this is Madam DuLac, your landlady,” he explains as you offer a handshake, admiring her boucle jacket and chic bun.

“Qu’est-ce?” she signals with a good-natured frown, obviously finding your polite greeting lacking, pulling you into a hug and two-cheeked kiss. She smells like Chanel perfume, cigarettes and baked goods. “You are in Paris now, ma chérie; this is how we greet one another,” she counsels in heavily accented but perfect English.

“You speak English?” you sigh, relieved, your French decidedly lacking.

“Bien sûr,” she smiles. “And please call me Solène,” she adds with a friendly smile.

“Eloise should be home from the library maintenant; the perfect time for you to meet,” she gestures towards an elevator cage surrounded by a sweeping grey marble staircase.

“I think I would prefer to take the stairs,” you admit, nerves flaring at the idea of such a contraption.

Your uncle laughs. “Well, I am taking it; I am not hefting this case of yours up five flights of stairs,” he adds dryly as you gaze up the swirling stairwell.

“Five storeys?” you squeak.

“The view is the best from the top,” Solène advises as she rattles back the cage entry and steps in, looking at you expectantly. 

Reluctantly, you follow, all three of you and your luggage crammed into the metal cage as it jerks to life and begins its ascent.

“You will get used to it,” Solène smiles as she reads the apprehension on your face, your vice-like grip on your small vanity case and handbag.

Luckily, the lift reaches your destination safely. One shudder before it stops, and the door concertinas back in Solène’s hand to reveal a sweeping hallway with doors left and right. 

“Ici,” she signals, the last door on the right-hand side.

But before you can knock, the door peels open, and a pretty, petite brunette jumps in surprise, dropping the book she is holding.

“Pardon,” she offers in perfect accented French, and you wonder for a split second if it is the correct apartment.

“Eloise, this is y/n,” Solène gestures.

“Ohhh, hello,” she grins, and the whiplash back to a plummy British accent is momentarily confusing. “I was about to go read in the courtyard, thought you might not be turning up today. Anyway… come in, come in!”

You shake her proffered hand as she ushers you into the apartment. Instantly, you feel a warmth spreading in your belly, like you have come home. It's light and airy, with large windows looking out across the Parisian rooftops, and yes, to the left is indeed the Eiffel Tower, still gleaming in the fading evening light. But the place also feels homely, that sort of messy that is lived in, comfortable. A large velvet sofa with tumbling stacks of books around it, a little kitchenette awash with colourful enamel cookware, and a jumble of art deco posters and random paintings adorning the walls. 

“Solène, I don't suppose you've baked any more of those rather delicious madeleines, have you? To welcome my new housemate?” Eloise pipes up with a chipper, conspiratorial wink your way. 

You already like her.

“Effronte!” Solène exclaims with fond exasperation before pausing. “There may be some…”

“I remember those!” your uncle adds with a tinge of nostalgia as he drops your suitcase. “You are in for such a treat, y/n.”

“Well, while our landlady decides if she’s willing to share the treats she has obviously baked but is being coy about…”Eloise raises a pointed eyebrow at the woman before returning to you. “...let me show you your room, then maybe a drink? I'm sure it's been a long journey.”

You nod and, with an exchange of grins, follow her down a corridor. She sweeps open the door to a lovely room, a large double bed with matching bedside tables and a dresser. But best of all, french doors onto a Juliet balcony overlooking a quiet courtyard filled with a riot of birch trees, their leaves gently rustling in the evening breeze.

“Mostly, it’s pesky pigeons down there, but you do get the occasional blackbird singing in the morning,” Eloise smiles as if intuiting your thoughts.

You spend some moments wandering the room and checking out the various fixtures, running idle hands over the furniture, already feeling remarkably at home with your new housemate and, indeed, your new home for the next twelve months.

“I'm just next door,” Eloise reveals, pointing a thumb over her shoulder. 

Your uncle appears in the doorway to announce that he and Solène are off to catch up as you unpack and suggests you all reunite for dinner later at a local bistro. It all sounds so very Parisian chic; you cannot wait.

“So tell me about yourself,” Eloise flops onto your bed, already wonderfully casual in your presence, as you open your case and the wardrobe to unpack.

“I’m y/n. I'm from a little town on Long Island called Patchogue, about fifty miles outside New York City. I'm 22…”

“Me too!” she interjects, then signals for you to proceed.

“I wanted to see the world before I settled down. And I’ve dreamed of living in Paris since I was a little girl...” You feel your eyes misting at the fact it's now finally coming true as you continue. “So my parents agreed to pay for me to come to Paris for a year. Under the strict agreement, I get married when I return…” 

“You have a fiancé?”

“Yes. Well, sort of. Stanley. We practically grew up together, and we’ve been going steady since we were eighteen.”

“Going steady? That's so American,” Eloise chuckles.

You nod with a giggle, then continue. “He hasn't proposed formally yet, says he is saving up for a ‘real nice’ ring, but it will happen. He is the son of my dad’s business partner. They run a construction company. So, while I'm here, they are building a home for us to live in when I return. We will get married next summer and move right in.” 

“You don't mind?” Eloise frowns.

“Don’t mind what?” you query as you hang up your favourite dress.

“That your future is so… plotted out. I couldn't bear the idea. It's why I think my mother let me move to Paris. She was so fed up with me refusing to settle down.” Eloise laughs, idly flicking through the magazine you were reading on your journey.

“I suppose I've never really expected anything else,” you shrug, pausing as you put away your hosiery, but her words make you contemplative. “You don't have a boyfriend back home?”

“God, no. Too many pretty Frenchmen to entertain me here,” she winks. “I’ll introduce you to some, just in case you change your mind,” she breezes, climbing off your bed and drifting to the door. “Wine?”

“Oh… well, why not? When in France, etc,” you agree and close the drawer on the pile of cardigans you have just safely stacked.

“That's the spirit!” she effuses over her shoulder as you follow her back into the living room, the Eiffel Tower still glittering in the dusk.

“This place is so lovely,” you sigh, transfixed by the view as she wanders over and hands you a glass.

“It is a pretty magical view,” she agrees, staring at the skyline with you, watching as each window seems to illuminate in soft yellow with the dying light.

“And the decor, too; I see you love books as much as me,” you smile, tilting your head to the piles before taking a sip of red wine. It's the perfect balance of refreshing, mellow fruitiness and tart tannin coating your tongue, so much better than any wine back home.

“Oh god, yes! I work in the library. I can bring home as many as I want,” she enthuses.

“So, are there actually any left on the shelves?” you jest, lightly, savouring your drink and wandering to take a closer look at a smaller painting that catches your eye. It's very different to all of the others.

“My god, this is beautiful,” you breathe, hugging your wineglass to your chest as you stare transfixed at the art. It appears to be a large country house, probably British, bathed in the warm pinkish light of dawn.

“That's home. Aubrey Hall in Kent. I think the family made me bring it in the hopes it would make me homesick,” Eloise deadpans.

“It’s a wonderful piece,” you breathe, fingers reaching out to lightly trace over the heavily oiled brushstrokes. Something about it is so captivating and intimate.

“I'll be sure to let the artist know,” she smirks. “Although I'm reticent to give him any more praise, seeing as, unfortunately, he is my brother.”

“Your brother painted this?” taken aback by the revelation, assuming it an heirloom.

She nods and comes to stand next to you. “Yup. Benedict. Second eldest. I'm fifth of eight, by the way. Hence ‘E’ for Eloise. It's a thing,” she rolls her eyes.

“Wow. Big family. I just have one brother...” 

“Lucky you. Although, as much as he is irritating, if I could only keep one sibling, it probably would be him,” she admits, taking a swig of wine.

“I love art,” you sigh, finally tearing your gaze from the canvas but already knowing it is something you will return to again and again. A pull you can’t quite understand.

“Oh, then I know the perfect job for you! There’s a gallery around the corner from the library, and I saw a sign saying they wanted an English speaker to assist international visitors! You would be perfect!”

“I would love that!” you extol, even as a tiny part of your brain lingers on the idea that it would be too good to be true if it all worked out, that fleeting sense of foreboding in paradise.

“Excellent!” Eloise’s enthusiasm pulls you back to the immediate. “So let’s get your glad rags on! It's time to hit the town for your first night in Paris!”

And thus, you find yourself being bundled back into your room to refresh and change for your first night in the city of your dreams. Indeed, as you find yourself being led by Eloise, arm looped in yours, through the bustling evening streets to a little bistro, your uncle and Solène already waiting at a table with smiling faces and drinks in hand, you can't help but feel this really is the only place in the world you could ever want to be…

Your adventure is just beginning.

Benedict taglist: @foreverlonginguniverse @aintnuthinbutahounddog @severewobblerlightdragon @writergirl-2001 @heeyyyou @enichole445 @enchantedbytomandhenry @ambitionspassionscoffee @chaoticcalzoneranchsports @nikaprincessofkattegat @baebee35 @crowleysqueenofhell @fiction-is-life @lilacbeesworld @broooookiecrisp @queen-of-the-misfit-toys @eleanor-bradstreet @divaanya @musicismyoxygen84 @benedictspaintbrush @miindfucked @sorryallonsy @cayt0123 @hottytoddyhistory @truly-dionysus @fictionalmenloversblog @zinzysstuff @malpalgalz @panhoeofmanyfandoms @kinokomoonshine @causeimissu @delehosies @m-rae23 @last-sheep @kmc1989 @desert-fern @starkeylover @corpseoftrees-queen @magical-spit @bunnyweasley23 @how-many-stars-in-the-sky @amygdtjhddzvb @sya-skies @balladynaaa

[thebunnednun]

New profile pic!! Oh and updates 4/14/2024 (Master list too)

Finally, something that looks like me!

Oh, btw the names Angellica or Angie for short. I don't mind being called BUNNEDNUN either babes.

My wifey: @elarakive

My sister friend: @thealtofvalleyxdoodles My girl: @orange-milky

WE ASLO HAVE A COMMUNITY LINK NOW!!:

Now let's get down to business,

An updated schedule will be as follows:

Mundane Monday: The beginning of the week is always dreadful so let's make it fun with some crack fics. Memes, Memes, MEMES galore!

Tearful Tuesdays: Angst posts will be the main thing on here. I'm thinking of some hurt and comfort fics. I'm already working on a Buggy fic for this. I'm not opposed to happy endings but in general, think of an onion cutting itself for these. They don't all have to be romantic and I'm creating something for Trafalgar Law here.

Wonderful Wednesdays: I will update two of the current fan series on this day maybe three if I have the time. So far the list includes:

*Enchanted meeting (Buggy The Clown x Straw-hat reader)

*Shadows of the Blade (Dracule Mihawk x Assassin reader)

*Capturing hearts (Iñaki Godoy x Photographer reader)

*Please Don't Hate Me! (Juan Ruiz x Imperfect reader

*Whispers of the heart (Dracule Mihawk x Maid (Pirate Queen) reader)

*Love Sick (Buggy the Clown x Straw-hat reader)

*Bound by Justice (Sabo x Marine! Reader)

*Carnival Confessions (Portgas D. Ace x Straw-Hat! Reader)

*If you only knew how much I love you (Sabo x Straw-hat! Reader x Ace)

*Make you mine!~ (Trafalgar D. Law x Cheeky~ Crewmate! Reader)

*Throw Me Overboard! (Buggy the Clown x Fm! Reader)

*Gone Fishing! (Sabo x Sea creature Straw-Hat! Reader)

*Good neighbors (Farmer! Bakugou Katsuki x Gardener! Reader)

*Dancing Under the Stars (Red-Haired Shanks X Bar/ DanceClub Owner! Reader)

*In the Arms of a Stranger (Charlotte Katakuri x Bride! Reader)

*Unexpected Dinner Guests! (Koby x Straw-Hat! Reader)

*Tempted to touch! One piece Men x Fm! Reader (Multi fic)

*Shadows in the Night! (Trafalgar D. Water Law x Ethereal spirit! Reader)

*Sweet dreams!~ (Trafalgar D. Law x Hot Doctor Wife! Reader (Modern Au))

*Golden afternoon (Monkey D. Luffy x Crew mate! Reader) *LOYALTY (Katsuki Bakugou x Sugar Baby! Reader)

*You're my Coffee (Shouta Aizawa x Pro Hero/Teacher! Reader)

*Overworked (Katsuki Bakugou x Stressed! gf! Reader)

*Build a Boyfriend (Mirio Togata x Pastel Goth! Reader)

*The One That Got Away (Katsuki Bakugou x Girlfriend! Reader)

Sanji, Usopp, Nami, Ace, Law, Robin, Boa, Chopper, and Zoro will be loading soon. I have many, many, MANY, ideas but no time right now.

Thoughtful Thursdays: Just some random conversations and ideas thrown out there. I'll try to host polls so you guys can vote on what you want next. Basically a rest day for me though because there's just no way I could write everything in one shot. (/@ ~@)/~* I've tried and it ends with me updating around 3AM or sum.

Follower Fridays: Requests from followers are posted. If you have a story request or anything you want to ask go ahead and do so on this day. Just make sure you send them in early so I can get to it in time. If you send something the day of I might be able to make it happen.

Sexy Saturdays: Send me your best Saturday night requests: ie dancing, funny adventures, or crazy antis with the one-piece crew or another fandom. I'm very familiar with Naruto and MHA (and any other anime honestly I doubt there's anything you could request that I don't know.)

It's all about having fun and having those Saturday night vibes babe!~

Sweet Sundays: Romantic One-shot posts! Any character of age and as long as it's not a child. I would be open to doing a reader insert where they are a parent or parental figure though. I find them to be very endearing.

As always your requests are welcomed and comments are very much appreciated. Sorry again for being gone for so long. I want to pick up my serious especially and make the chapters juicy again.

I also have a spring tee shop for merch related to all the stories!!

Every little bit helps me to pay for my tuition! <33

Thank you guys again for your patience and understanding.<<333

Don't forget to check out my a03 account of the same name!!

My new goals are to keep up with the schedule and get 50 followers by the end of the month! I wanna keep growing our family. :3

Most of all, remember that you are safe here and loved.

Until next time my loves!~

[canonicallyobserving911]

"What do you want?" - A Series of Fics and Ficlets

Fanonwriter2023 on AO3

Where CANON and FANON collide!

"What do you want?" A Series of Fics and Ficlets - This is a FANON series of “Fics and Ficlets” that focuses solely on Buddie. Unlike CANON, they'll actually talk so they can discuss the things they've left unsaid over the last 6 years. Hopefully, season 8 will include a narrative for them instead of IT BEING FILLED WITH TM'S (SHOWRUNNER) REWRITTEN AND MADE-UP STORYLINES FROM OLD MOVIES 🙄.

"What do you want?" - A Series of Ficlets

Currently 6 works completed; 41.4K Words: Rated; Teen and Up Audiences

"You don't know math!" - 3.3K Words; Rated Teen and Up Audiences: Buck is forced to choose while Eddie might be presented with another option.

"Math is a universal language." - 5K Words; Rated: Teen and Up Audiences: Eddie reconnects with an old acquaintance and they spend a lot of time together. However, now that Buck’s single, he finally tries to understand math is a universal language but when he sees Eddie talking to another guy, he wonders if it took him too long to figure it out.

“You know, it’s like that thing when you meet somebody and you just… click.” - 5.1K Words; Rated: Teen and Up Audiences: When Buck comes face to face with Eddie’s new friend; he hates it but since he’s only told Maddie about his breakup with Tommy, Eddie’s still under the impression he’s taken. Therefore, Eddie makes plans to spend even more time with his new acquaintance.

"I can't stop thinking about him." - 8.1K Words; Rated: Teen and Up Audiences: Buck and Eddie are trying to move on but they can’t stop thinking about each other.

“How I hide my true feelings from others.” - 9.6K Words; Rated: Teen and Up Audiences: Buck and Eddie return to therapy but they’re both not telling each other about recent events that happened. Will they finally have an open and honest conversation before it’s too late?

"We need to talk." - 11.4K Words; Rated: Teen and Up Audiences:  After Eddie and Buck decide to take a weekend road trip to El Paso, TX to visit Chris, during the 12-hour drive, they talk about a lot of things they’ve left unsaid.

__________

This is a series of “Fics and Ficlets” that I’ll be writing over the course of the next few weeks and my goal is to keep them under a certain number of words. I’m challenging myself to do it this way for multiple reasons but mainly because I want to see if I can write a full Buddie story by including smaller fics in a series in comparison to the multi-chapter fic I’m still in the process of writing titled, “I’m still in love with you but… I needed to learn how to love myself too!” I only have 9 chapters left before I finish it but once I’m done, I’d like to continue writing Buddie fanfics. However, this time I’ll start with my dislike for the way season 7 ended instead of the way season 6 did. Finally, I have a lot of WIPs that I want to finish and I figured I can turn them all into one shot fics or ficlets to build the full story for Buck and Eddie.

Since these ficlets will be posted in order, it’s imperative to read them one after the other. Each part ends at a specific point with a cliffhanger and the next part will begin with the ending of the previous part. Therefore, parts 1 - 5 should be read prior to reading part 6 and the series will continue in that manner until it’s complete.

Parts 1 - 6 are available on AO3.

[shesmyboot]

Personal Matter: Chapter 1

*Gif belongs to its rightful owner, it is not mine*

Pairing: Matthew Casey x reader

Summary: You have to tell 51 about a mix-up off shift with a coworker

Words: 797

Warnings: mentions of having sex, pregnancy (lmk if there’s any I missed)

Read on Ao3 here

Notes: Happy my birthday day to those who celebrate. At last, another multi-chapter fic is here after my small hiatus. Getting out of my comfort (Kelly Severide) zone and trying some Matt Casey again. Thank you for reading and join the Taglist to be notified when any new chapters are posted!

Join my taglist here

Tags: @mrspeacem1nusone

——

Staring at the test on the counter, you were speechless. It was one time, he was cute, you were drunk. It felt right, but the two pink lines definitely did not feel right. 

Sylvie, who was ready to leave for shift, nagged you from outside the bathroom door, “almost done in there?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right out,” you gathered yourself and put the test in your pocket, not knowing what to do next.

You exited the bathroom with a nervous look on your face and your roommate could tell.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“Can you keep a secret from the firehouse?”

“Of course. What’s wrong?”

“I slept with Casey.”

“Wait, when?”

“A couple weeks ago.”

The look in your eyes told Sylvie you weren’t telling the whole story.

“Is there something else?” She asked, sitting you down on the couch beside her.

“There’s more.”

“Uh oh.”

“I think I’m pregnant,” you pulled the test out of your pocket and showed it to Sylvie.

Sylvie embraced you into a hug.

“Does Casey know?”

“I just found out this morning.”

“It’s gonna be okay. Should I text Boden and tell him you’re not coming in today?”

“No no,” you wiped the tears from your eyes, “I should go to work. I can’t leave truck a man down today.”

“Then we better get moving,” Sylvie smiled warmly.

You grabbed your things from your bed and followed Sylvie out the door to her car, keeping the test tucked in the side pocket of your duffel.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked, lowering the radio’s volume.

“I think I should tell Casey.”

“On shift?”

“Yeah, get it out in the open. I feel like I’m going to explode.”

“Can I ask you something else then?”

You nodded.

“Do you want to keep the baby? Because you shouldn’t be riding truck much longer if you’re pregnant.”

“I think so, but I want to talk to him first.”

Sylvie nodded and refocused on the road ahead. The rest of your short commute was quiet, but pulling up to the firehouse, you felt yourself get anxious.

You brought your bag into the locker room to get changed and stuffed the test from the morning in your side pocket. After changing into your station gear, you left for the bunk room to talk to Matt. He was sitting at the desk in his quarters reading the paper as you approached.

“Captain, do you have a second?” You nervously asked.

“Sure, have a seat,” he gestured towards the perfectly made bed.

There was something more than a shift change on your mind and he could tell.

“What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?” He closed the door and sat back down at the desk chair.

“This is a personal matter.”

“Ok, what about?”

“Remember what happened between us at Molly’s a few weeks ago? We both got a little drunk and one thing led to another…” you trailed off.

“I do. Is there something wrong?”

“I took a pregnancy test this morning… and it’s positive.” You handed him the test. 

Matt looked like his head was going to explode, but he kept his composure as he drew the blinds shut. 

“Captain-“ 

“No no, we’re not just lieutenant and firefighter anymore. It’s Matt, please.”

“Matt,” you corrected, “I’d like to keep the baby, but you don’t have to be involved if you don’t want to. Or you can be really involved, it’s up to you. And I probably shouldn’t be riding truck…”

You had started to ramble, a familiar trait when you were nervous.

“I think you should move in with me,” he admitted, “help you prepare and then take care of the baby.”

“Matt, I don’t know what to say. We had sex once and now you want to move in together?”

“It’s not that simple. We had sex, got pregnant and I think we should move in together to create a stable home for this baby.”

“Okay.”

“Okay? Like okay, you’ll move in?”

“Yes, but there’s rules.”

“Which are?”

“What is this? Do we share a bed when we move in? Are we dating or just friends and colleagues who have gotten themselves into a little mess with genetics?”

“Do you want that?”

“Ask me on a date Matt Casey.”

“Tempe Grill? Tomorrow night? 6 o’clock?”

“Hell yeah, Mexican food sounds great.”

“I’ve got something too then.”

“Okay?”

“I’d like to be involved. Doctors appointments, things like that, as much as you’ll let me.”

“Of course.”

“We should go talk to Boden, you shouldn’t be riding truck while pregnant.”

You stood up and he took your hand, “thank you,” you smiled.

“What’s there to thank me for?”

“For taking care of everything.”

“We’ll get everything figured out, don’t worry.”

[emilykaldwen]

The Maiden and the Drowning Boy | Aegon x OC | Chapter Seventeen

Rating: Explicit

Ships: Aegon II Targaryen x Abrogail Strong (Lyonel Strong's Daughter), Jacaerys Velaryon x Helaena Targaryen

Summary: As the kingdom teeters on the edge of chaos, Alicent Hightower swaps the pieces on the board: Aegon will marry Abrogail Strong, Larys’ younger sister and heir to Harrenhal. Caught in the web of intrigue and political machinations, the pair must figure out where their loyalties lie, and what they mean to one another.

Tropes: Childhood Sweethearts/Friends to Lovers, Generational Trauma and Cycles of Abuse, It's All About the Character Development, Unreliable Narrators, Multi-POV, Canon Divergent, Bisexual Aegon II Targaryen, Book/Show Mash Up, Fix-It Of Sorts, Stopping the Cycle of Abuse before it gets us all killed, Team Neutral, fairy tale vibes meets victorian medievalism meets grrm

No tag list. please follow @emkald-fic and turn on post notifications for updates or subscribe on AO3

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Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight | Chapter Nine | Chapter Ten | Chapter Eleven | Chapter Twelve | Chapter Thirteen | Chapter Fourteen | Chapter Fifteen | Chapter Sixteen

AO3 LINK

Author's Note: We've got Rhaenyra POV! We've got Aemond POV! We've got a surprise in the end! Thank you for all the support and patience. You're all getting this chapter early since I'm out of town for the weekend! Enjoy!

PLEASE PLEASE subscribe to the series page or my author page so you get updates when we start the next story! You're not going to want to miss it. (And follow @emkald-fic on tumblr if you read here!)

All my love to @vampire-exgirlfriend for her love and support and holding my hand through this chapter that just kept kicking my fucking ass. If you need more Aemond content, you must read, They Say I killed You (Haunt Me Then)! Now complete! (epilogue going up soon!)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Parrying the Daggers Thrown At Us

Rhaenyra receives a letter. Aemond cannot find peace until he gets a taste of it.

Grandfather is still ill, much like we saw him last but he prefers his wheel chaired more oft than not…

Things have been tense, understandably so, but Queen Alicent has been cordial and has made sure we are comfortable and have what we need… 

Aegon and Aemond keep their distance, perhaps so they can glare all the better…

I do not know how to make amends for what happened… 

…and they say Aemond is taken by his pains at times, darkening his room as his head aches from his wound… 

I should make amends, it is right… 

What do you think I should do?...

Heleana has been the warmest… 

…we danced together at the feast and she was quite happy to do so. It is nice spending time with her…

Aegon is happy around Lady Abrogail and she laughs freely with him. He is not like how he used to be as much with her… 

I think Lord Lyonel and Ser Harwin would be pleased to see how well she is treated…

Many houses were represented at Aegon’s nameday… 

Most seemed to wonder if Aegon would have been named heir and displace you but none came to pass… 

…they will inherit Harrenhal. I can see the wisdom in it as Luke will have Driftmark one day, but I think of Joffrey and Aegitsos and my uncles who do not have lands and holds to occupy them…

I love you much, Muñus, I hope you are well and that I will see you soon…

Rhaenyra ran her fingers over her son’s careful script, her mouth twitching in fondness amidst her worry of her zēapos. His letter was long, too much for a raven’s wings and she started from the beginning once she had read it through once. Twice. Her ribs ached as if Jace had been carved out of her to go on this journey and she shook her head, trying to let the feeling flit away on the breeze. Her eldest had a temper, much as she did in her youth, much as his father had, in the ways that drew her in. Time stole away much, and her own bouts of temper had cooled with each broken toy, each yelling fight, each ‘he pulled my hair!’ and ‘He pushed me and won’t share!’

The sounds of swords clanged in the yard and her gaze flitted from her son’s letter - pages crinkled in her grasp - to the courtyard below where Daemon was testing the new recruits to the Dragonstone guard. His silver hair was twisted back from his face in braids as he preferred, something about war and mindset and always be prepared.

He called something towards Joff and Aegitsos as the knight before him panted, having been bested against her husband.

Baela had not written, that much she knew, though Jace had said that she had found a friend in Helaena after a tense standoff. Rhaenyra had found the mention of it surprising, for her little sister, in the times she’d been around her, had been a quiet thing, eyes large in her face, gaze flitting to everyone and no one.

Helaena has been the warmest…

Helaena was not yet married. The match with Aegon had never come to pass.

The invitation lay on the table before her next to the plate of lemon cake she liked for her morning meal on days such as this.

The wedding of Prince Aegon of House Targaryen and Lady Abrogail Strong of Harrenhal…

In five moons, the spectacle would be held in the Riverlands. In five moons, the realm would look upon her brother once more, peacocked and pulled out, as Daemon sneered, by Otto Hightower to show him off as a contender, to put pressure on her father to change his mind. Her father had nearly twenty years to change his mind and still, he had not. Not even in her absence, cowardly as it sometimes felt to retreat and lick her wounds, had her father’s support of the claim and her family seemed to waver. Try as the Hightowers might to scream and spread slanders that would call for bloodshed, her father still would not be swayed. It was the sense of satisfaction that she had felt when he came to her defense in that shadowed hall those years ago, the heated of curl in it that no matter what, there could be no question as to his choice.

He had chosen her.

Even as the feeling waned over time to give over to those moments where she doubted, all the times he had failed to reign his wife in with her abuses and vitriol, the words her son had sent her bolstered her.

I think Lord Lyonel and Ser Harwin would be pleased…

Harwin’s little sister, big blue eyes and red curls bound in braids, peeking curiously over the edge of Lucerys’ cradle next to Jace because ‘She asked if she could see the baby and give him this,’ Harwin had said, as the little girl presented her attempts at embroidering a little dragon on a pillow. Little Abrogail, half Harwin’s, half Alicent’s. She had tried to bring the girl to Dragonstone with them. Would she not be happier away from the court politics with her brother and the quiet? Lord Lyonel had given her a surprised, then hard look, and Rhaenyra had felt chastened in a way her own father had never been able to evoke within her.

“I will keep my daughter with me, and should I send her away, it will be back to her home, at Harrenhal, with her brother.”

Grief washed through her like the crashing of the waves on the rocky shore below and she felt her own jagged edges inside of her. Lyonel Strong had been the best of them, putting the realm first, always by her side at every council meeting she attended, encouraging her, even as his face grew graver with each brunette curled boy she bore.

Violet eyes swept across the parchment again. A servant in the camp had tried to attack the girl, Jace said. Crept into her tent, assuming she would have been alone. Inquiries were being made, but as far as anyone could see, the man had just been a baseborn servant - blending in like no other. Rhaenyra pursed her lips and looked down at the training yard once more, fingers drumming along the stone ledge of the terrace.

She wondered how wrapped around Lady Abrogail’s finger her half-brother might be… and how opportune this moment was.

Alicent’s eldest was marrying and taking a seat in the Riverlands. It was not the bold choice that Rhaenyra had thought would happen. Surely one of the many Lannister girls, or one of the Baratheons - a great house who would be invested in their own daughter becoming queen would have made more sense.

Harrenhal, for the wealth and lands that it had, did not command armies the way the Stormlands did. It did not have endless coffers the way Casterly Rock boasted of. It was a moody fortress on the edge of the God’s Eye, surrounded by lush farmland and woods that were dark and deep and felt that you were somewhere fanciful, somewhere that didn’t hold dragons nor thrones, nothing except for a warm hand wrapped around her own.

The clashing and screaming of steel in the yard below pulled Rhaenyra from her thoughts, and away from the path of her sorrows and regrets. Turning her back to the sight below, she reached for her own parchment and quill, pushing aside the letter from Lord Celtigar.

Lady Abrogail… Good tidings on news of your approaching nuptials…

Aemond pursed his lips, his gaze rising from the book before him, a study on the Conqueror’s approach to the first Dornish war,to squint across the barrel room near the top of the tower that held the library in the Holdfast. He drummed his fingers upon the scarred wooden table, a fingertip running along the crescent burn from the time Abby had accidentally knocked over a candle while they were reading about Harren the Black.

He exhaled slowly, the way the Braavosi manuals advised and looked back at his book.

It had been weeks since his brother’s festivities, and the chill of the end of the growing season had crept in. It was not cold by northern standards, but the air cooled, the rains rolled in for the next several months, and angry storms fell over them  from the Narrow Sea, their winds piercing and frightening, as if they were dragons themselves in the winds that the Storm God rode, threatening to tear apart the Red Keep brick by brick.

Helaena’s nameday had passed with quiet fanfare, the lingering lords of the realm who had not left parading their sons in front of his maiden sister. As if any of them were worthy of a dragonrider, someone as clever and kind as Helaena.

It had been complicated over the past weeks since the talk in the garden, and Aemond still wasn’t entirely sure how he felt. What had been most surprising had been the strange sense of release when his sister let him go, leaving him to sit in the rain before Visenya’s statue, her words ringing in his ears. 

‘I would burn Dorne for you… but I do not want to leave behind a world of ash and bone.’

How desperate Helaena had looked, angry and frightened and full of hope as she begged not to have a husband, but a brother back. ‘How else am I supposed to protect her?' he had wondered. How else could he offer his sister protection and security if it wasn’t to marry her, to tie her to him so that she would never have to fear, never have to doubt her acceptance and those who loved her?

Aegon had not wanted to marry her. She was weird, he’d sneered. How miserable Helaena would be, how miserable they both would have been. Aemond had done the right thing. He’d stepped up, he had gotten Mother and The Tower to break the betrothal. Even if they had not promised him and Helaena to one another, that was alright, it would simply be a matter of time.

He had Vhagar. There could be no further doubt that he was truly a Valyrian. There could be no more doubt as to his place in the world. All that was left was his sister.

Guilt gnawed deep in his stomach, shame twisting around his throat when the thought filtered through. Helaena was not a bauble he needed to collect to prove something. Collecting her was not protecting her. Collecting her was not about her, but for him, and it was this knowledge that he had thought about constantly.

His sister deserved more than being a broodmare, to be a pawn in the games. The forced distance the last few weeks had given him, after Helaena pushed him from the proverbial nest, had left him unsettled and snappish.

The loud thud of a book hitting the stone floor reverberated through the room. A heavy tome, judging from the heft of the sound, followed by a soft giggling, a deeper snickering sound chasing after it before they muffled and fell quiet.

He knew, with the utmost certainty, why it had fallen quiet.

Ever since the betrothal, the grip on his best friend had been slipping. Oh, him and Abrogail were an unlikely pair, but few appreciated books and history as his cousin did. While digging in the dirt and helping Helaena catalog her collection had been fulfilling, there was something joyous in being able to have someone who understood the quiet and sanctity of the library, and who loved books and reading and learning as he did. Lyonel Strong had always indulged his questions when was young - far more enthralling than Mellos and Orwyle were, and he had fostered that curiosity in his daughter.

‘All she’s going to care about is making babies with Aegon!’ Helaena had cried, frustrated and angry when they’d been alone after the fight in the brothel. 

There was a soft cry, and Aemond scowled at his book before his chair scraped across the stone floor and he strode purposefully towards the source of the sound. The histories of the Riverlands were there - not just observational books, but the census, the trade information, things used by the small council’s not-quite-so-small army of clerks and counters and lawmakers. The section of the library that Abby had frequented since the announcement and that he had helped her with.

“Not here,” came the whispered whine, laced with laughter. Aemond rolled his eye as he turned the corner of the aisle. It was shadowed somewhat this far down, The strategically polished silver angled to bounce the light around so as not to pose a fire risk among the precious books, although the day was gray and cloudy and the light reflected was that of a lamp. Abby was pressed against the bookshelves, the blue and silver brocade of her skirts rucked up with her stockings on display, her legs at present, wrapped around his stupid brother’s waist. One arm was stretched out to grab onto the bookshelf behind her, and the fallen book that had been in its place was still on the ground. Aegon’s face was buried into her chest, or maybe her throat? 

He was half-blind, after all, sometimes details could be mercifully missed. Or ignored.

“This,” Aemond said, his voice even and dripping with every ounce of annoyance and betrayal he felt, “is the library, not a brothel.”

Aemond’s fists clenched at the disrespect both of them displayed to a place they knew  was important to him. At the announcement of his presence, Abby squeaked, Aegon’s arms tightening around her as she scrambled to lower herself without sending them both toppling. He held his arms folded behind his back, his hand scraping along his elbow as the pair of them got themselves in order and he shook his head when Aegon looked at him, dragging the back of his hand across his mouth. Abby had turned to straighten her gown.

“Are you really going to act like this?” Aegon said, for it was barely a question. “We weren’t in front of you and your book. You were the one seeking us out.”

“Because you both weren’t as quiet as you thought you were,” Aemond snapped. “It was distracting.”

A lazy smirk crossed across his brother’s flushed face and he wanted to punch him square in his stupid nose. Let him kiss his future wife with his face bashed in. “Well, my lady is distracting-.” There was a soft sound as Abby smacked Aegon’s shoulder, cutting him off with an exaggerated ow, the flinch was nowhere near the violent response that inhabited his brother when it was their mother doing the hitting. She peered around Aegon’s shoulder, her mouth just as swollen, her cheeks just as flushed and her features apologetic.

“We’re sorry, Aemond. Things just got out of hand. I shouldn’t have-”

“Don’t you apologize,” Aegon interrupted her this time, a fierce look on his face. 

“No, actually,” Aemond cut in, taking a step forward, using the few inches he now had on his brother to straighten his shoulders. “She’s right. Thank you, Abby, for apologizing. Are you upset that she has to apologize for you, since your self-awareness is worse than a billy goat ramming his head into things?”

Aegon’s mouth gaped in offense, his flush deepening. There was a bruise along his neck that was going to be difficult to hide. The glib nature of his eldest brother was a trial at the best of times, but this? “You know this isn’t your place to run about as you please. Shall I just unlock my doors, let you roll around in my sheets and over my personal things while you’re at it?”

“It’s the fucking library, Aemond. It doesn’t belong to you-”

Abby let out a startled cry as Aemond’s fist shot out, but as much as he would love to punch his brother, he shoved him instead, feeling the crackling of frustration, the rumble of Vhagar in his chest.  “Because it’s all yours, is that it? You mewling fucking kitten. This isn’t just my library, it’s hers too, but you don’t fucking care about anything that means something to anyone else if it gets in the way of what your limp cock wants.”

“Aemond, truly, we’re sorry - Aegon, no!” Abby’s voice was lost in Aegon’s growl as his brother came back with another shove, sending him back a few steps. Aemond laughed, a hint of a sound like the thin scrape of wind whistling through a crack. Yes, yes let the idiot push him around. Let him continue to pull his friend away from him, from him and Helaena both. His gaze darted briefly to the redhead, blue eyes wide as she pressed herself back against the shelves, before meeting his brother’s lighter gaze.

“You are a glib fucking fool, Aegon,” Aemond said lowly, his mouth curling as he readied for a fight, needing to expend the burn of flame inside of him. “I don’t care what the pair of you do, I’ll say nothing should Mother hear of it, but-” he stepped forward and shoved Aegon hard into the bookstack. The ancient wood creaked and groaned, but the stacks were bolted to the floor to prevent them from topping. A few books fell from the force of Aegon’s frame smacking into it. “Stay the hell out of my library.”

He did not look over his shoulder, even as Abby called his name, apology rife in her tone. He strode through the halls, calling for his horse to be saddled while he went to angrily pull on his riding leathers. The left side of his temple ached as it was wont to do when his face was full of tension. Helaena would make him tea, protect him in the quiet, but that was not meant to be today. The last he saw, his sister was in the gardens with Jacaerys. 

How he ached to wring the stupid bastard’s neck.

How bright he seemed to make Helaena laugh.

How betrayed Aemond felt by it all.

Why hadn’t Helaena said anything? Why hadn’t she told him that she didn’t want to be married? Why had she just let him wander around like a puppy and now left the fool?

‘But hadn’t she told you?’ a little voice drifted through Aemond’s mind and he paused in the lacing of his leathers. Had she not told him by pursuing that fool Warren Fossoway, and the time that he had spied her kissing him - for he had seen Helaena push the squire behind the carved dragon pillar by the gardens. 

‘But she would let me kiss her, she would kiss me, and she’d touch me and I her and-’ The flurry of thoughts ached as he pulled on his boots.

It would not hurt as much if it was anyone but Jacaerys.

The ride to the beach beneath the shadow of the Red Keep was a blur. The rock outcropping of Aegon’s High Hill was a craggy, sheer thing, but the beach below was one that Vhagar enjoyed sunning herself, a guard dog laying at the foot of the bed in a way. Her head lifted as Aemond approached, lowing in greeting and shaking sand from her scales. The tension in Aemond’s chest began to ease at the sight of her, and he approached, patting a gloved hand along her scarred neck, scratching along a vicious scar she must have received in Dorne. There were no words exchanged, not the way Aegon chattered with Sunfyre. Aemond’s bond with Vhagar was one of feeling, of such deep understanding that no words needed to spill from him. In no time, he scaled her great bulk and yelled out the command to fly, which his dragon responded with her own, what he assumed was excited, call in return.

Vhagar landed on the cliffs on the western side of Massey’s Hook, the bay below dotted with smaller fishing boats this far out from King’s Landing and away from the bustle of the capital. Rage and grief, anger and fear were a tempest in his gut and he rankled at the call of Moondancer as his cousin circled above them.

If Baela wanted this fight, then he would meet her, unflinching. Let her see what dragons were made of. They did not all reside on Dragonstone.

“Laodijes peldios!” Baela howled at him, her voice a sharp shout on the breeze, her face twisted and ugly with fury, fists at her side as she readied herself to hit him should he get within reach.

Aemond glared at her, the distance between them shrunk now to an arm length. Vhagar was a great shadow behind him and he could feel the sulfuric heat of her breath as she exhaled buffeting at his back. Moondancer was a little ways away, shrieking fearfully and Aemond could not tell if the dragon reflected her rider’s mood, or her fear of Vhagar.

“You’re a fucking fool. Daemon Targaryen is your father, your mother a Velaryon, and you still don’t realize that a dragon cannot be stolen.”

“You had no fucking right!” Baela snarled. “Vhagar was for Rhaena to claim-”

“If Vhagar had not wanted me, she would have eaten me and you damn well know it.” Aemond cut her off, watching her jaw click shut with a curl of satisfaction. “Vhagar chose me, not your sister. What? You want to kill me to give her another chance at claiming her? Is that what you’re here? To finish the job that you all started?”

“Why would my mother’s dragon choose you?” Balea cried, and this time, there was a choked quality to her rage. Aemond’s eye widened slightly and he leaned back from her, a curl of uncertainty that he despised. His words had been harsh, full of the anger that he had felt simmering these past years. Aemond shrugged it off. He had earned his harshness in this. He’d been the one attacked, the band of them setting upon him simply because he chose to claim his right as a Valyrian prince.

‘Why would my mother’s dragon choose you?’

Aemond ran his tongue over his teeth and leaned back on his foot, watching Baela gasp for air amidst her choking sobs, and turn from him to look out to the bay, towards Driftmark and High Tide.

He remembered his mother’s cries, her rage, her such careful and elegant control snapping as her voice cracked in the silence of the Hall of Nine.

“He’s your son, Viserys.”

“Why did Moondancer choose you?” Aemond asked. “Why did Moondancer choose you, and my egg never hatched?” Baela did not look at him but he could see the way her shoulders tensed. “Why didn’t you go find the guards? Why did you come, thinking a thief had stolen a dragon and Jacaerys brought his blade? Why did they give me a pig, pretending they had found me a dragon as they both had their own? Why did they do nothing but terrorize me with that fact for our childhoods?” 

Aegon had done it too, gone in on the fun, drunk on being the eldest. It had lessened considerably in the wake of Rhaenyra leaving the capital, even if his brother sought other ways to tease him - he’d never again mentioned his lack of dragon.

Aegon had come to him in his sick bed, his curls shorn, red eyed and puffy faced, tears on his cheeks, had knelt at his bedside and vowed to him. 

“We protect our own and I did not protect you. I do not care if you’ve claimed Vhagar, for I was not there for you when you needed me. It will never happen again. I will protect you. I will be by your side.”

Aemond had sometimes wondered how much of the words were his brother’s own, but he had known, with certainty, that the feelings were genuine. His brother was an idiot, and they butted heads, but his brother loved him in his own way, and for as angry as Aegon could make him, he loved him too. In his own way. 

He might admit that on his deathbed, unlike Aegon, who would only need to be in the depths of his cups and into the sad and tearful mourning edge.

“What do you know, Baela?” Aemond said, his voice even, coldness creeping along the edges. “Of fighting and scraping for everything that is owed to you?” He forcefully bit his tongue, copper exploding in his mouth as he broke skin, to keep from pressing further at the loss of her birth right to Driftmark for Rhaenyra’s folly.

“A prince has to scrape for all that is owed to him.” It was rhetorical, biting, and Aemond snorted, taking a step forward, his own gaze looking out at the water.

“You may have been an idiot child, but don’t play me for a fool.” It was impossible not to see how little Viserys thought of his second family, and he had seen it plainly on Jacaerys’ face, the surprise in witnessing it. “I’m sure your father relishes every word you send to him. His little spy.”

Baela’s lip curled in a snarl and she stalked closer. Aemond stayed where he was, watching her with a narrowed eye as Vhagar let out a low growl behind him. She did not move, did not lift her head, but her nostrils flared and Aemond felt the heat of her breath swirl around him. Baela’s eyes widened, and she paused, the indigo of them shining with tears. 

He turned his head slightly to look at Vhagar. “Ȳgha iksi,” he reassured her, feeling Vhagar’s displeasure seeping through him, her warning and the remembered rage from those years ago when she could not protect him or take away his pain. He reached for her snout, pressing his hand to the scar above her left nostril, rubbing against it. He turned his back to his cousin and brought his other hand up, feeling the anger hot as coals, hot as dragonfire in his chest. Vhagar was full of tension. He could feel it. Would she feel that way if it wasn’t him? If she was not so worried for him, would she recognize the girl behind him as the child that Laena Velaryon surely brought to her, as Aemond would have brought his own child? Had his grandfather, Baelon, brought his sons to this dragon before them?

The silence filled the air around them, the wind thick with tension. Aemond pressed his forehead to Vhagar, took strength from her, squeezed his eye shut and ignored the pain that lanced through his head and pulsed behind his scar.

The sob behind him was soft, and Moondancer’s cry was mournful.

“He’s your son, Viserys.”

“I did not mean to tarnish your mother’s memory,” Aemond finally spoke, his voice carrying as he looked, blind side towards Baela. “It was not done to hurt you, or to take something from you. It was… It was my only chance. And it’s something I don’t think you’ll ever be able to understand. I am… I am sorry about the loss of your mother. I did not have the opportunity to give you my condolences then, but I can give them to you now.”

The sound Baela made was strangled. Aemond turned to look at her. Baela was stiff beneath her red and black riding leathers, the metal rings in her hair tinkling as the wind tugged at her braids. He recalled the mourning child she had been sitting by her twin and Jace, the vicious yell she’d let out when she punched him in the nose that night, the howls and scream of pain. He felt Vhagar twitch and groan beneath his touch, another warning and he hushed her again, stroking her snout. He watched her gaze go towards Moondancer, who was crying fitfully, grounded still, her aquamarine wings more green against the lush grass of the clifftop.

“Do you want to pet her?”

Baela stared at him, the hostile lines to her face instantly slacking in surprise. “Skoro syt?” Her voice was small and wary, even as her eyes were wide with grief.

“My condolences,” Aemond repeated, and he found the words genuine. It was not Baela, nor her sister, or even his bastard nephews that rankled him. Oh, he wanted his revenge, He wanted what was due, but more of the blame lay with his eldest sister and their father. Of that, Aemond was secure in. He would gladly feed them both to Vhagar, to take an eye as payment for his mother.

His cousin shifted on her booted feet before whatever compelled her brought her forward. Aemond shifted, beckoning her to take her place by his side as he murmured words to Vhagar. Baela had taken her glove off, her slim, tanned hand reaching tentatively up before resting along the scar on Vhagar’s nostril.

They stood there for how long, Aemond was not sure, quietly beside one another as Baela grieved for the mother at the bottom of the Narrow Sea, and his own grief at what was taken from him.

“Do not mourn me, mother…”

‘But mourn the boy dead on Driftmark.’

It was not lightness or peace that settled over Aemond when he and his cousin parted later. He was not certain how much time had passed, only that after she had sobbed, they sat there in a strange, companionable silence eating hunks of bread and cheese and apple that Baela cut with a wicked blade. She did not give him thanks, she did not say anything, but Aemond took the offering of shared food as her own gesture of whatever truce was settled between them. The exchanged curt nods before parting, Baela northeast and away from the city to what Aemond assumed was High Tide and her grandmother and twin, while he circled back towards the city.

Aemond was not certain of the feeling he held except that it felt like he had scratched something out on a list, or deposited a burden that he was trying to carry with all his other, more cumbersome burdens. It was a closed door. That was enough for Aemond, and there was a part of him that wanted to march to his sisters and tell them that he had made nice, to have Abby’s warm smile proud with him, and Helaena’s little clap and promptly being the receiver of her latest mountain spider that Uncle Rodrik had brought her.

Instead, after entering the inner courtyard of the Red Keep and handing off his horse to one of the stablehands, he made his way to the gardens and to his own preferred solitude when the library - so recently desecrated - was not an option. No, Aemond needed air, he needed the statue of Visenya to look down upon him. There, where Helaena had snipped the strings and released him from the vow he had made, the goal that held him that was more about him than it truly was about her. 

Where his sister had set him free, and he loved her all the more for it.

The problem, he found, upon striding down the paved path and through the dripping ivy, was that his garden was not, in fact, as empty as he hoped. Wylla Karstark was kneeled in front of a bush of hyacinths, carefully cutting the purple blooms and placing them in a basket beside her. She was clad in a dove gray dress, the black fabric of her kirtle beneath poking out through slashes along her shoulders and puffed at her elbows. Her fox features were pinched in concentration and Aemond watched her for a moment, silent as she had clearly not heard his approach.

Wylla Karstark was an unknown. She was pretty enough, with a long nose and sharp jaw, gray eyes that flashed when she was annoyed, which was the majority of the time. She had a rather frustrating talent of being able to look down at him even as she had to arch her neck, for she was as petite as Abby was. Their joint misfortune, just like Aegon’s. She was also well read, their conversation at the feast turning from a mutual annoyance to discussing the book of poetry that he had seen her reading, which itself had turned into a rather long and in depth conversation on the Valyrian poet, Praxilla, whose work had survived by the grace of her living the life of leisure in Lys when the Doom happened. Wylla and his elder brother unknowingly shared a fondness for drinking songs penned by the scribe, although Aemond was smart enough to know he shouldn’t bring that up.

Not until he needed to.

“It is polite to speak when coming upon someone, Your Grace,” Wylla’s northern burr was arch as she focused on her task. “I would curtsy, but you can see I’m already on my knees.”

Aemond’s cheeks flushed at the turn of her words, and he was not certain if she understood how they could be taken. He decided that she didn’t, for she did not turn to look at him, seemingly unbothered. All for the best, he supposed, for Aemond did not think he could meet her gaze should she be facing him.

“Why are you cutting my flowers?”

“Your flowers, Your Grace?” Wylla laughed, a sharp, lilting sort of sound and he wondered if that’s what she sounded like when she sang. Did she sing? He had not asked her. “These flowers belong to Queen Visenya, for it is her garden, is it not?”

“It is my garden,” he pushed back, frowning at the back of her head, the mass of thick, twisted black braids kept in place with a woven, pearl hair net with wicked looking, pearl tipped hair pins to keep the heaviness of it in place. He flexed his hands, wiping them on his riding leathers as he approached. There were other flowers in her basket, like wisteria and some of the roses from the main garden. He sat, bending his one leg to rest an arm on while the other reached in.

Up close, he could see the red flush to her pale cheeks. He did not recall them looking so red when he saw her the day before, outside of the bit of sun all the girls had gotten during the sun.

Her smack was quick, the sound of flesh stinging flesh loud and he immediately pulled back with a hiss and a glare. “How dare-”

“Those aren’t for you,” Wylla said forcefully, the gray eyes of her bright in her face as she finally looked at him. “They’re for Lady Abrogail.”

Aemond had killed a man for the fox-faced woman before him without hesitation, and the knowledge of it settled in him still, generally buried over the past few weeks because he had no idea what to do about it. They’d been attacked in the night, and Wylla Karstark had shoved a knife between the man’s ribs without hesitation. So tall, Wylla Karstark seemed, so loud, filling up the spaces she was in without holding herself back, that he had so often forgotten how small she was.

Until she was there, in front of him, those gray eyes like the storm ridden ocean.

Aemond held her gaze, reaching back into the basket to pluck one of the deep purple, nearly blue anemones that she had gathered, twirling it idly between his long fingers before reaching up to tuck it behind her ear. Wylla was still beside him, her red painted mouth parted slightly, so he could see the flash of her white teeth behind it. Her cheeks deepend in their red to match the paint on her lips and Aemon hummed. 

Abby had been understandably shaken. Knowing her as long as he did, even with the smiles affixed to her face, he knew the signs as intimately as he understood Helaena’s or Aegon’s, or his own mother’s. Wylla Karstark was a mystery. She had been quiet, from what he had seen, but the wedding preparations had taken up much time with the girls, as well as her brother finally leaving the capital earlier that week.

He clenched his jaw, a muscle ticking, before he met her gaze. “Are you alright?”

Her inhale was loud. It trembled and she pressed her red lips together, her throat bobbing with a swallow and looked back at the flowers but did not move to cut anymore. Aemond did not push her, but only waited.

“Yes? No? Strangely yes,” she finally whispered. “I think that’s what bothers me more.”

“That bastard came in with intent to harm,” Aemond said. “If you didn’t kill him, someone else would have. You were incredibly brave.” None knew  where he’d come from. The assailant had been clad in the same red garb as the rest of the servants. A baseborn man. Waters or Storm, Aemond couldn’t remember, much like he had no memory of the man’s face before he stared down at it, red and wheezing before he killed him.

“At least it wasn’t Aegon,” Wylla whispered, her eyes wide, drawing his attention back to her. “What would have that turned into - him sneaking in for them to slobber all over each other. Me thinking he was an attacker and-”

The snort of laughter that escaped Aemond at the idea of it all could not be held back. He bent his head, gasping for air as his shoulders shook and it was only a moment before Wylla’s own peel of laughter joined his. It had been some weeks since he’d laughed, in the wake of what happened at the hunt drying up what little humor he’d indulged in. There was an infectious quality to Wylla Karstark’s amusement that he found comforting. Aemond looked at her, her face flushed from her laughter, and he leaned in, kissing her.

The laughter abruptly stopped, her mouth soft against his, still from her clear surprise. She tasted like oranges. Abby must have indulged in the sweet and sour orange cakes they had at the feast. Wylla did not respond, but she didn’t move away either and Aemond took that as acceptance, and he lifted his hand to cup her cheek, thumb swiping softly against the apple of it. Kisses with Helaena had been different - always expected, always ready, with her initiating many of them. The one time he’d kissed Abby, when they were little and Jace had dared him to, did not count. The both of them had made faces, vowing to never do it again. 

Kissing Wylla, though? He never wanted to stop, especially not when she reached up, the clippers making a soft thump along the grass to wrap around the end of the braid slung over his shoulder. She tugged it gently and Aemond broke away, blinking and gasping. “What?” he asked. “Should I have not done that?”

“Oh, you should have,” she reassured him, breathless and red faced. She licked her lips and looked at her fingers still wound around his braid, toying with the leather tie. “I was just reminded of something someone told me once.”

He cocked his head, mouth pursed. “What was it?”

The smile that cut across Wylla’s face was amused, the scar along the top of her lip giving a mischievous bend to her small, red mouth. “It was about how dragons purr when you pull their hair.”

Whatever thought started to coalesce about her late night conversation with his sisters was pushed right out when her lips found his.

I would love to hear your thoughts! Even if it's just a keyboard smash! Reblog to spread a story around so others may find it! I would love to hear your theories! What did you love? What are you looking forward to? Happy to have you here as always <3

[Next Chapter]

[badkitty3000]

You Can't Go Home Again

Chapters 1 and 2

Link to Chapters 3 and Four

All Five wants to do is rest. But when yet another apocalypse threatens to doom them all, he doesn't have that luxury. This time, the only solution for the Hargreeves to try and save the world is to unite Five with another, alternate version of himself.

Five starts to spiral when he is faced with the alternate life that he could have had, if only he hadn't gone and ruined everything. But maybe, just maybe, there's still time for him to obtain the happy ending he deserves.

An alternate season three rewrite for a request I received.

Warnings: None

More chapters will be posted as I continue writing this multi-chapter fic. Enjoy!

Chapter One: The Other You

So much for being their ringer, Five thought bitterly as he stewed about the day’s earlier events. Lying there in his shitty bottom bunk bed like he was actually 13 years old, and waiting for Klaus to get back with his scotch, he tried to think of what to do next. Everyone was waiting on him, like he knew the answer to everything. It was damned if you do, damned if you don’t with this family, because no matter what Five said someone wasn’t happy with him. He sighed and flopped a pillow over his face, trying to drown out Diego and Luther’s arguing. At this point, he wished that Cobra Girl, or whatever the fuck her name was, would make him hallucinate he was on a tropical island with a fruity drink in one hand and Dolores in his other.

God damn it, he was tired.

Maybe this was for the best, though. Maybe they could just live here and be normal for once. After all, it didn’t seem all that bad. They just needed to avoid Dad’s merry band of Mega Assholes, but that should be easy enough. They could even keep the briefcase. He didn’t really need the reminder of that part of his life, anyway. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded. This was just what they all needed to start over.

Wait, where are all the lobsters? Fuck.

************************************************************************

“I swear there was a great vintage clothing store around here somewhere,” Klaus muttered to himself as he walked down the busy street, a few blocks from the hotel. He stopped and looked around, shading his eyes from the sun. He let out a frustrated groan. “The one time I could actually benefit from Ben being up my ass all the time. That jerk was like freaking Magellan.” He chuckled. “No wonder I’ve always been bad at directions. I usually just followed him.” Klaus caught the side-eye of a woman hurrying past him. “Aaaaand…now I’m talking to myself. Wonderful.”

As he stepped off the curb to try the other side of the street, he stopped dead in his tracks. Coming out of the café across the road, was an absolute dead ringer for Five. Well, an older version of him. But not like his real, 60 year-old version. More like the correct version, if the correct version had been allowed to age normally with the rest of his siblings.

It had to be him. Same dark hair swept to the side. Same lean build and sharp facial features. Same aggravated look on his face.

The one thing that was clearly wrong, besides the fact that he was roughly 30, was that he had two small children in tow, with one of them holding his hand. Then Klaus almost passed out when he saw a very pretty woman follow him out, putting her arm around his waist and kissing his cheek.

And Five just… smiled at her. Like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“What the…” Klaus started to wonder, before almost being run over by a delivery truck that came zooming down the street. “Shit!”

He stepped back onto the curb just in time, as the driver honked his horn and yelled obscenities at him as he drove past. But Klaus barely registered all of that. He couldn’t stop staring at his brother’s doppelganger, trying to figure out what to do about it. Would he even know Klaus? This was probably a completely different version that grew up here, in the Sparrow’s timeline and would have no idea that the Umbrella Academy even existed.

“Five!” Klaus yelled out, not even thinking.

The older version of his brother stopped and turned, looking for who might have called him.

“Fuck, it really is him,” Klaus muttered. “Five! Over here!” He waved his arms in the air, catching Five’s attention.

He watched as Five squinted across the street, then looked at the woman next to him, shrugging. The small girl holding his hand gave a sharp tug to get his attention, and Five let her pull him along down the sidewalk, taking one last confused look at Klaus over his shoulder.

“Fuck…now what?” Klaus said, one hand on his hip. “What would Ben say? He’d tell me I should not follow him and just go back to the hotel and tell Five. So…yeah, I’m going to follow him.”

Klaus stayed on the opposite side of the street, and hung back a little, but he followed Five and his family for a few blocks. As he paused behind a telephone pole, trying to hide for a few seconds to widen the gap between them, he was engulfed in a flash of blue light before being thrown against the side of a building, the front of his shirt clutched in someone’s hands, and a snarling voice speaking to him.

“Who are you and why are you following me?”

Klaus looked into the familiar green eyes of his brother, whose other version he had just recently been reunited with. There was no doubt it was Five now. Even without the spatial jump and the physical assault. When Klaus’s eyes dropped down to the fist that was clenching his shirt, he saw the tattoo that matched his own.

“Holy shit! Five, it’s really you!”

“How the fuck do you know my name? Who are you?” Five demanded again, pushing Klaus further into the brick wall.

“It’s me…Klaus! You know, your brother?”

Five paused, but didn’t loosen his grip at all. “What are you talking about?”

Klaus held his hands up in surrender, while also showing Five the inside of his left wrist. “See? It’s me! Numero Quatro. Remember?”

Five took a small step back, his eyes wide, but he still held tight. “Klaus?”

Klaus laughed. “Yeah! Hey buddy, how the hell are you?”

After a few more seconds of staring blankly at his brother, Five let him go and Klaus smoothed his shirt down. “I don’t understand. How are you here? This isn’t your timeline.”

“I know!” Klaus giggled. “It’s a LONG fucking story, one which my brother…well, you, actually, can explain much better than I can. But after a couple failed time travel attempts, here we are! And Dad was NOT thrilled to see us, let me tell you. Do you know he has a whole ass other family now? And Ben! He’s alive…or a version of him is alive. He seems like a real dick. But then there’s you, and look at you! All grown up and with a family? That’s so great! But how did you get here? How are you not a Sparrow?”

Five pinched his nose between his thumb and forefinger and sighed before smiling at his long-lost brother. “Klaus, it is really good to see you, but please, give me a minute here. I need to think.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“So, how did you time travel here? With what resource?”

“To this particular timeline? A magical briefcase. Before that, it was just you.”

“Ignoring whatever the hell a magical briefcase is, do you mean you used my powers to time travel?”

“Yes, but with varying success.”

“Ok. So, there’s a version of me with you now?”

Klaus nodded. “Yes. And you are ADORABLE.” He saw Five’s frown of confusion. “You’re thirteen. Well, not really. You’re actually 58, since you got stuck in an apocalypse for 45 years and then messed up your own time math on your return to 2019. So, yeah, you’re super cute but, wow, are you ornery.”

Five thought for a moment before quietly mumbling, “So you must be from an alternate Umbrella Academy timeline where I still time traveled at thirteen, but with a different outcome.”

Klaus nodded. “Sure, that sounds about right.” Then he tilted his head in confusion. “Hang on, if you’re here and the same age as me, and you still have the Umbrella tattoo, then how did you get here and how are there two of you?”

Five frowned. “Again, I’m going to speculate, because I can’t be entirely sure. But from what you’re saying, it sounds like there were at least two original timelines where the Umbrella Academy and us and the rest of our siblings existed. I decided to defy Reggie and jump to the future in both of those timelines, except that’s where things went differently. It sounds like in your timeline, that version of me got stuck in the future with no way back. In my particular case, I jumped and instead of going forward in time, I went sideways and got stuck.”

“Sideways?”

“Meaning, I jumped to a different, alternate universe with the Sparrows, but the time remained the same. So, I grew up here, in this timeline but without good old Dad to raise me.”

“Oh right…” Klaus said, nodding as if he completely understood. “So, you’re not the same Five that rubbed hot chili oil in my underwear in retaliation for stealing your sandwich when we were twelve?”

Five looked taken aback, but then he gave a short laugh. “No, but I did dare MY Klaus to touch his junk after cutting up a habanero pepper, then proceeded to take his picture when he started screaming and pouring milk down his underpants.”

“Man, you really are an asshole in every timeline!” Klaus laughed. “Poor me.”

With a grin, Five shook his head. “It really is good to see you, Klaus. The last time I saw any of my siblings I was thirteen. I’m glad to see you made it out and are doing well.”

“Well…I wouldn’t go that far, but I made it out anyway. And what about you? So, you landed here and then what? I didn’t see you with the other assholes who were beating the shit out of us in our own home.”

“Oh, the Sparrows? Yeah, they are a special brand of dickheads, that’s for sure. Even as teenagers, they sucked. Which is why—”

Just then, a pulsing wave of…something…washed over them and the entire city block, only for it to reverse itself and disappear the way it came. As Klaus and Five stood there in shock, a lady that had been walking on the other side of the street screamed loudly. When they looked over, they saw her holding up a dog leash attached to an empty collar. She pivoted in place, scanning all around her while she called out “Winston!” in a panic.

“Well, that’s probably not good,” Klaus observed; head tilted to the side.

“Yeah, no shit,” Five snapped. He glanced down the street, where his family was waiting for him on a bench. They appeared to be intact and he let out a sigh of relief. “Listen, I have to get back to my family. I don’t know what the hell that was, but if I had to bet, I’d say it had something to do with Reginald. So, as much as I’d love to sit here and catch up, I have to go.”

“Oh,” Klaus said sadly. “Yeah, ok. But don’t you want to come meet the rest of the gang? We’re all staying over the Hotel Obsidian, if you know where that is –”

“You’re staying there?” Five asked incredulously.

“Yeah, why?”

“That’s Dad’s place. He owns it. Didn’t you know that?”

Klaus shook his head. “No, I had no idea. Are you sure?”

Five rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m sure. I’ve been tracking Reggie since I was a kid. That place is basically his evil lair, and even if I haven’t been able to figure out what is going on in there, it’s a safe bet it’s in nobody’s best interest except his own.”

“Sounds about right, actually,” Klaus mused. “But, hey! He’s not there now, and our siblings would love to meet you, I’m sure. And OUR Five…he’s such a little shit gremlin, you should see him…you…well, you know what I mean. Don’t you want to meet your other self?”

“I’m sure there are terrible consequences to that, actually.”

“Oh, come on…just for a minute…”

“Klaus! A mysterious, dog-eating, energy wave from hell just passed over the city and you want to start planning a family reunion? They aren’t even my real family, anyway! So…while this has been fun, I have to go. Good luck with everything.”

In another flash of blue, Five was gone; reappearing at the other end of the street where his wife and kids were still waiting. Klaus watched in fascination as Five hugged them, and then continued down the street in a hurry, keeping them close to him for protection.

“Well, this is some weird-ass shit, even for us, right Benerino?” Klaus closed his eyes and sighed when he realized he was alone again. “Damn it. I keep forgetting.”

************************************************************************

Five was helping himself to the large selection of booze the hotel bar had to offer, trying to find just the right single malt to drown his sorrows and help him forget the happenings of the day. He decided that things couldn’t really get worse, so he might as well get plastered. He rattled off the earlier events in his head as he tipped back a bottle of Japanese whiskey and swallowed down a large gulp.

Lila tried to kill me. BOTH fucking briefcases won’t work. Lila tried to kill me AGAIN. The Commission is dead and the world is soon to follow. My old, one-armed ass died in front of me without giving me one single piece of useful information except “don’t save the world.” Jesus, what an asshole. And now this kugelblitz shit. He took another swig, grimacing as it slipped down his throat and burned his stomach. Oh yeah, let’s not forget that I’m still stuck in this prepubescent body, which is all sorts of fun. Although I think I spied one single hair on my nuts this morning, so things are really starting to look up.

“Fuck,” he muttered before laughing sardonically at himself and taking another pull at the bottle. “I should have listened to you, Dolores. I should have waited until I was one-hundred-percent sure of the math, just like you said. But you know me, always impulsive. I’m glad you’re not here to witness this, my dear, because I really stepped in it this time.”

“Five! Holy shit, I’ve been looking everywhere for you!

Klaus came running up to the bar, out of breath and smiling. Five frowned before taking another sip of whiskey. “Well, I’m not sure where you’ve been looking because I’ve been right here for the last hour.”

“Well, yeah…I mean I just got here. But, still, I have big news!”

“I’m on the edge of my seat,” Five said dryly.

“I met you!”

“Excuse me?”

“You! Well, another you, but it was still you! But like, older, you know? But with the same Umbrella Academy tattoo and surly attitude. And let me tell you…I was right because you did grow up to be hot. So, never fear little bro, you are one smoking piece of ass once you get past this awkward phase.”

“Klaus,” Five said, running a tired hand down his face. “What in the fuck are you talking about?”

Klaus took a deep breath. “I was walking around, trying to find this store I used to like, when I saw you. Another version of you.”

Five set the whiskey bottle down with a hard “thunk.” He crossed his arms on the bar top and leaned in toward Klaus, his eyebrows drawing together. “Come again?”

“You, Fivey!” Klaus repeated, gesturing wildly to his confused, smaller brother. “And get this…you have a family! An adorable wife and two precious little children. You should have seen yourself in absolute domestic bliss.” Klaus put a hand to his chest. “Oh, it was precious.”

Five slow blinked a few times, trying to understand what his moronic brother was babbling about. The whiskey was slowing his processing speed and he needed to catch up. “Hang on,” he squinted, trying to keep things in focus. “You saw another version of me? And you talked to him?”

Klaus nodded. “Yes!”

“This is…” Five muttered, picking up the bottle, but then setting it back down again with a frown. “This is not good.”

“That’s what he said! Well, not those exact words, but pretty close. I tried to get him to come here and meet everyone but—”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Five barked.

“What? I thought he’d like to see the other versions of us, since he comes from a different timeline, apparently. This you didn’t get stuck in an apocalypse, he just landed here instead. I don’t really understand everything and we didn’t have time to get into specifics before the scary energy tsunami killed the vibe.”

“Energy…what? Damn it, Klaus, I’m too drunk for this.” Five sighed heavily, dropping his head onto his arms before raising it again. He passed a hand through his hair, sweeping it out of his eyes. “Ok, listen carefully. Do NOT, under any circumstances, interact with my other self again. Understand?”

Klaus pouted. “Why? Aren’t you curious about this you?”

With a sorrowful look in his eyes, he shook his head slowly. “It doesn’t matter if I am or not. What matters is keeping us safe. You and our siblings. We can’t worry about anyone else right now, and that includes any other versions of ourselves that may be walking around. We just don’t have that luxury.”

“But…your kids…”

“They are not MY kids, Klaus! They’re HIS!” Five snapped, much more harshly than he had intended. He backed down a little. “I’m sorry. There’s too much at stake. Not to mention I can’t be trusted if I’m around another version of myself.”

“Oh, right…the psychosis thing. Yeah, Luther mentioned you went a little..” Klaus made a cuckoo bird noise and circled a finger next to his head. “I forgot about that.”

“Yeah, well I haven’t. It’s not exactly a great feeling to want to scratch your ball sack off while your doppelganger tries to murder you. You tend not to forget those things.”

“Point taken, mon frere.” Klaus grabbed a shot glass from behind the bar and poured himself some of Five’s whiskey. After throwing it back in one go, he looked around. “Alright, I have to go find everyone else and tell them the news. They aren’t going to believe this.”

As Klaus walked away, Five knew he should stop him. He needed to tell him about the kugelblitz, especially since it sounded like maybe he had already experienced a wave of it. But he had just been thrown some very heavy news and he needed time to think. It didn’t help that his brain was foggy with booze and he had already been in a maudlin mood even before Klaus had dumped this on him.

There was another version of himself walking around that city right now, not that far away. Another version that grew up in a normal world. That didn’t spend decades in a lifeless hellscape, scrounging to stay alive and slowly going insane. One that hadn’t fucked up his life, not once, but twice, with shaky math and a too-cocky attitude. And one that had a real family.

That was what Five kept circling back to. Klaus had seen him with a wife and two kids. Just the thought that there was an alternative life for him out there that included a real family nearly sucked the air right out of his lungs. A wife. A real wife that he presumably loved and that loved him in return. Children of his own.

It was too much. He couldn’t breathe and he furiously pulled at his necktie as if it were a noose tightening around his thin neck. Five pulled in loud gasps of air, but it still wasn’t enough. Grabbing the half-empty bottle of whiskey off the bar, he staggered towards the first bathroom he saw off the main floor. Panting with eyes wide, Five trudged to the old, grimy sink and stared into the mirror.

“Fuck you,” Five hissed to the skinny little shithead that was staring back at him. “You’re useless.”

He took a long swig from the bottle, his hand shaking on the way. As two small rivers of brown liquid seeped out of the corners of his mouth and down his chin, he lowered the bottle clumsily, hitting the side of the sink and smashing it into pieces. As shards of glass rained down onto the tiled floor, the pleasant tinkling sound echoing around him, Five laughed. It was a dangerous, demonic laugh that frightened even himself. He stopped abruptly, his hands clutching the sides of the sink, palms digging into the slivers of glass that had fallen there.

“You stupid asshole,” he snarled at the kid-version of himself. “You absolute piece of shit. Look what you’ve done. You’ve ruined everything.” He looked down sadly, then back up again. This time, instead of hate in his eyes there was only bottomless sorrow. “You don’t deserve that life. That’s why you ended up here, looking like this. Because you are the version that shouldn’t exist. You are the version that does not get happiness.”

Five’s cold eyes flitted down to the ground. There, lying next to his polished dress shoes that he had been so excited to complement his tailored suit, was a large piece of the broken bottle. The shard was long and tapered at the end to form a jagged dagger shape. Perfect for stabbing. Or slicing into a main artery so that someone, or yourself, would bleed out in a matter of seconds. Five stared at that piece of glass for far too long before slowly lifting his head again, facing himself in the mirror.

“I know. Don’t worry, Dolores…it was just a thought. Besides, that would be like drinking bleach while your car is flying off a cliff into a ravine. Why bother? Either way it ends the same.”

A few hours later, after cleaning the bathroom of any evidence, and composing himself back into a man in full control, Five found his siblings. It was clear that Klaus had filled them in on his discovery, and they all hushed as Five neared the group, although he noticed Klaus himself was missing. Pausing to grab himself a tumbler of scotch on the way, Five joined them. After stopping to take a casual drink, one hand in the pocket of his suit pants, Five gestured with his glass in hand.

“Alright, let’s hear it. I know Klaus told you, so let’s get this over with.”

“Five, you have a family! That’s wonderful!” Luther gushed.

“I guess I was wrong, maybe you do have a bit of domesticity in you,” Lila snorted.

Viktor shrugged with a smile and Allison rolled her eyes, neither of them saying a word.

Diego nonchalantly flipped a knife in his hand while eyeing Five up. “So now what? We have to deal with two of you? Because I can barely stand one of you.”

Five smiled his usual, acerbic smile. “Well, Diego, the feeling is mutual. But fear not; neither you nor I will be coming anywhere near my other self.”

“Why not? Klaus said the other you seemed perfectly nice after you stopped slamming him against a wall,” Luther said innocently.

Five sighed heavily, wishing for the umpteenth time that he didn’t have the sole responsibility of critical thinking skills in this family. “Because…” he began slowly, to make sure they were understanding, “Not only does it have the possibility of creating even more havoc to this timeline, there’s also the little matter of –”

“Oh!” Luther interrupted animatedly. “I remember! The paradox psychosis!” He turned to the rest of the family. “You guys missed it, but he kind of went a little…” He lowered his voice to a whisper even though Five could hear everything. “…psycho, if you know what I mean.”

“Jesus, Luther, I’m right here!” Five closed his eyes to try and regroup. “But, yes, paradox psychosis is the real deal. And there’s no way around that. So, let’s just focus on the task at hand, which is trying to get out of here before the world implodes with us in it.”

Five’s gaze landed on Lila, and he immediately knew she was up to something. “What the hell are you smirking at?”

She shrugged while sticking her hand up her short skirt and pulling out a small item. Five made a disgusted groaning noise. “God, please, whatever that is, I do not want it.”

“Oh, shut up, you little perv. Here,” she said with an eye roll, shoving the item into Five’s hand and forcing him to take it. “While you were having your little heart to heart with your freshly deceased corpse back at the Commission, I found this.”

Five peered down at his open hand. It was a syringe filled with a yellowish substance. On closer inspection, he could make out two words scrawled along the side, in what looked like his own handwriting. Paradox Juice.

“Paradox Juice?” he questioned out loud. He looked back up at Lila. “Is this what I think it is?”

She shrugged again. “Your guess is as good as mine. I assumed it was some sort of concoction to ward off psychosis should you ever have to meet with your doppelganger. The old, decrepit you probably made it during his time at the Commission.”

Five held the syringe up to the light and peered intently at the golden liquid inside. “Where did you find this?”

“On one of the tables in the bunker. When you so rudely had me leave during your existential crisis, I swiped them on the way out.”

“Them?”

“Oh yeah…” she reached up into her skirt again, revealing an identical syringe. “There were two.”

“How did you…where did you have those, because we just…I mean I’m pretty sure I would have found those when we were upstairs doing…what the hell?” Diego stammered; his dark eyes clouded with confusion.

“Don’t worry about it, honey,” Lila answered with a smile and a quick pat on his cheek. “Every girl has her secrets.”

“Well, regardless of this finding, there is no reason for me to make contact with my other self. I don’t see the benefit, and it could possibly do more harm, like speed the kugelblitz along,” Five explained while shoving both syringes into his inside suit coat pocket. He took another drink from his glass. “Let’s just forget it, ok?”

“Guys!” Klaus yelled as he rushed up to the group. “I have some bad news.”

***************************************************

Chapter Two: Homicidal Rage

As the seven of them trudged along the city streets, taking up the width of the sidewalk, and bumping into one another while grumbling and shoving each other in return, the sky began to darken. Another pulsing kugel wave washed over them and the surrounding buildings. They all watched in horror as every other living creature evaporated into ashes and blew away with the wind. In a matter of seconds, they were the only ones around.

“Fuck, this is not good,” Five groaned. “I really don’t see how finding my other self is going to help anything. Besides, for all we know, that wave right there just destroyed me.”

“We don’t know, but we have to try,” Viktor said. “Between the two of you, maybe you can figure out how to get the briefcase working again.”

Five looked dubiously down at the mangled black case in his hand. “I just don’t think my other self is going to welcome us into his home with open arms. I know I wouldn’t.”

“I’m telling you, Fivey, this you seemed much less ragey,” Klaus said. Five glared up at him. “See? That look right there, the one that means you want to rip my throat out? I didn’t get that from this other you.”

“Probably because that version is getting laid on a regular basis,” Diego murmured to Lila.

Ignoring his brothers, Five went back to his own thoughts as they continued down the street. When Klaus had told them Chet was kicking them out of the hotel due to “insufficient funds”, there was a moment of panic. They had no money and their only home was currently occupied by the world’s biggest assholes. Five glanced up at a giant billboard looming overhead featuring those same assholes, before looking back down at the ground. Fucking fuckers.

After a family meeting that involved more bickering and finger pointing, they had concluded that the only possibility, no matter how slim, of stopping the kugelblitz by returning to their correct timeline, was to track down the other Five and ask him for help.  Five had been the last hold-out in agreeing to the plan. He had no desire to find out what this other version was like. The one with the home and a wife and kids. Because he already knew the answer. He had everything and Five had nothing.

Allison, who had been leading the group, suddenly stopped, causing everyone behind her to cartoonishly crash into one another. She shoved Diego away from her with an irritated scowl, while continuing to look down at the piece of paper in her hand. She lifted her eyes to the building in front of them. It was a beautiful brownstone with magazine-worthy flowers and plants covering the front stoop; the gorgeous geraniums and petunias overflowing from their tasteful terracotta pots.

“I think this is it,” she noted.

“Damn, Five…nice digs. You must be doing well for yourself,” Diego commented after giving Allison a shove in return.

“Why do you assume Five is the breadwinner here? Maybe it’s his wife,” Viktor argued.

“I don’t. But Five is all smart and shit, I assume he’s probably some hot shot scientist or something.”

“Maybe his wife is a hot shot scientist,” Viktor shot back.

As the conversation quickly devolved into an argument among the entire group, Five remained silent. He peered up at the house in question. The one where the supposedly more successful version of himself resided. He stared at the flowers and the set of brick stairs that led to the front door with the cheerful looking wreath. He thought back on a time during the apocalypse when he and Dolores were scavenging for supplies. They had come across a destroyed row of brownstones just like this one, and he remembered finding broken shards of terracotta intermixed with the crumbling bricks. The odds that it had been this exact same house were pretty slim, but not impossible. Talk about fucking irony.

Five wiped the sweat from his brow and absent-mindedly scratched at his shoulder. Luther noticed and pointed his big meaty finger at Five.

“Dude! I saw that. You just scratched yourself.”

“Yeah, and you’re starting to sweat again,” Lila added, wrinkling her nose.

“I just walked several miles in a three-piece suit, of course I’m sweating. And people itch, Luther. Stop being dumb.”

“Denial,” Luther said, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding wisely. “Stage one.”

“God damn it! I am not…” Five started before scratching at his ass cheek, “…In denial, ok?”

“You do look a little weird,” Diego said, leaning in closer to Five in curiosity.

Five stuck his hand out, pushing his brother away with a palm to his face. “I do not look weird. Fuck, I need to take a piss.”

There were multiple grumblings around him, and Five was starting to suspect that maybe they had a point. He didn’t feel great. But…

“Hang on,” he said, glancing around and above him, looking crazier by the second. “This could be a trap.”

“How could it be a trap? He doesn’t even know we’re coming,” Allison reasoned.

Five whipped his head in her direction, eyes wide and manic. She took a small step backwards. “Because, dear sister…I am a fucking genius, remember?” He tapped his temple with his finger. “And I would anticipate our arrival. Probably set up some trip wires or something,” he mumbled, looking frantically around him.

“Ok, this is not going to get any better,” Luther told everyone.

Klaus nodded. “Yeah, Five, I think you need to take that shot of paradox juice.”

Remembering he had the two syringes in his jacket, Five took them out and held them up for everyone to see. “I’m not taking this, are you crazy? HE probably made these and poisoned them just to try and get rid of me,” he raged, pointing up at the house. “Paradox juice? You expect me to believe that I would come up with that lame ass name?” He turned to yell up at the windows facing the street. “I’m on to you, asshole!”

“Oh, for fucks sake,” Lila groaned. Mimicking Five’s powers, she blinked over to him, catching him off guard as she grabbed the syringes out of his hands. As Five began to protest, she looked over at Luther. “Hold him still, big guy.”

No stranger to taking orders, Luther immediately complied. Holding Five in place by pinning his arms to his side, he tried to reason with his struggling, smaller brother that it was for his own good. But that was like trying to reason with a cocaine-fueled raccoon, and Five snarled and hissed while trying to get away.

“Get your giant ape hands off of me! You tried to kill me before, I know you’ll do it again! LET ME G—OW! SON OF A BITCH!”

Lila sunk the needle of the syringe directly into the side of Five’s neck, pushing the plunger down and smiling gleefully while he writhed in pain.

“FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK…” Five screamed as Luther continued to keep him trapped.

“How long do you think it takes to work?” Viktor asked worriedly.

Lila shook her head. “No idea. Might not even work at all. Or I just killed him. But, you win some, you lose some, am I right?”

Everyone watched in fascination as Five slowly started to relax in Luther’s grip. His jaw unclenched and he stopped swearing. After about two minutes, the crazed look in his eyes left and he gazed at the concerned faces around him like a man waking from a dream.

“I think…I think I’m ok now,” he said weakly.

Luther leaned down, studying his face up close. “Are you sure? Because if I let you go and you kick me in the balls again, I am not going to be happy.”

Five shook his head. “No, really. I think that shit actually worked.”

Luther looked around for confirmation, and receiving nods of approval from everyone else, he let go of Five’s arms. Stepping back, he shielded his crotch from any unexpected backlash.

Five took in a deep breath of air and wiped away the last few drops of sweat that had been trickling down the back of his neck. Then he ran a shaky hand through his hair before straightening his suit coat and tie with as much dignity as he could manage.

“Sorry about that,” he told everyone, trying to regain his composure again. “If I said anything rude, I apologize. I was clearly not in my right mind.”

“So, no different than any other day,” Diego muttered under his breath.

Five shot him an irritated look, but said nothing. He turned to Lila. “Even though it was entirely unnecessary to stab me directly in the neck, you lunatic, thank you.”

“Happy to do it,” Lila grinned, slapping him hard on the back.

“Alright, then,” Five stated, rolling his shoulders back. “Let’s do this.”

As he took one step forward, the front door of the house swung wide open, revealing an older, and very sweaty and harried looking, version of himself. In his other self’s hands was a rifle that was trained directly at Five’s head.

“Don’t fucking move,” the other Five warned through gritted teeth.

Five paused, taking in the clearly psychotic version of himself before quipping. “Hey, asshole…the safety’s still on.”

As the alternate version lowered the weapon to check the safety, Five and Lila exchanged knowing glances with one another, before simultaneously blinking onto the porch. Appearing directly in front of himself, Five grabbed the rifle out of his doppelganger’s hands, while at the same time Lila stabbed the needle of the second syringe into his neck.

“AH! MOTHERFUCKER!” the other Five screamed, falling to his knees as he slapped a hand over the pinprick of blood that had started to seep out of the small puncture wound. “WHAT THE FUCK, YOU PSYCHO?”

Five threw the rifle down to Luther, who caught it in one hand, before turning to Lila. “Really? In the neck again? What is wrong with you?”

“I live for your pain.”

With a shake of his head, Five looked down at the panting, cursing version of himself. “Stop being a pussy. It’s not that bad.”

His alternate glared up at him. “Fuck you, Blue’s Clues.”

Lila laughed loudly. “Nice!” She held out her hand for a high five, but when she only received an icy glare from both men, she shrugged. “You’re too close to the situation, but trust me, that was hilarious.”

************************************************************************

“You have a lovely home, ma’am,” Luther said with an awkward smile as he sat scrunched on the couch between Klaus and Viktor.

The seven siblings, plus the older looking, alternate Five and his wife were gathered in the small living room. Five’s wife, who was introduced as Marie, sat perched on the arm of her husband’s chair, rubbing his back while he stared down his younger looking self.

“Thank you, Luther, that’s very kind.”

There was more awkward silence until finally Allison spoke up.

“Ok, so we obviously did not come here just for a friendly visit, although it is lovely meeting you two. However, we have a big problem. Our being in this timeline has caused a rift, so to speak, in the universe and now it’s trying to kill us.” She looked over at her smaller brother, who was standing with his hands shoved in his pockets, glowering angrily at his other self. “Five? Care to explain?”

Snapping reluctantly out of his stupor, Five faced his sister. “Right.” Then he addressed the other Five and his wife again. “So, as I’m sure you’ve noticed there are large energy waves pulsing over the city, erasing dogs and lobsters and now people.”

“Yeah, I have noticed. And I also happened to notice they started when Klaus here decided to follow me.”

Klaus started to protest, but Diego bumped him with his elbow, telling him to shut up. Five continued.

“Well, you are right about that. But it’s not Klaus’s fault, at least not solely. It’s all of ours. I thought we’d be able to remain here, just keeping a low profile, and live out our lives here. But, it seems the universe has other plans. So, we have accidentally created a kugelblitz and in a few short days it will destroy the entire universe.”

“Like a prolapsing rectum,” Lila added helpfully.

Both Fives looked at her with a frown and then turned back toward one another. The alternate Five set his elbows on his knees, leaning forward and steepling his hands under his chin. “So, you’re telling me that you group of assholes are the reason my family is going to be wiped out?”

Five nodded, actually looking a little sad. “I’m afraid so.”

“And you just came here to let me know, why? Just to give me a heads up? Mighty kind of you, thanks.”

Five gritted his teeth. “No, jacka—” He stopped mid-insult when Luther cleared his throat and gave him a look that said “Behave”. “No, that’s not why we came. We came…” He pushed a hand through his hair and he saw Marie bite back a smile as she recognized the same mannerisms as her husband. “We came to ask for help.”

“How am I supposed to help you? In case you forgot, James Bond, Jr., I AM you!” Marie gave him a pinch under his arm and the older Five jumped before looking just a tiny bit guilty. “Sorry.”

Five turned to his siblings, throwing his hands in the air. “See? I told you coming here was useless.” He turned to his doppelganger, leaning in with a caustic glare. “And just to remind you, shithead, I’m 28 years older than you, so watch your mouth.”

“Ok!” Luther jumped in, trying to salvage the conversation. “The thing is, Five,” he said, addressing the older version that was currently looking like he was considering punching his smaller self in the mouth. “We really do need your help. And you need his help. The two of you together are the only chance we have to stop this thing and get back to our correct timeline. Then you and your family, and the rest of the world, will be safe.”

“And how do you propose we do that?” the other Five said, tearing his eyes away from himself and turning to Luther. “My time travel math is just as shaky as his. I’ve been studying it my whole life, so it’s gotten better, but I still wouldn’t trust it. I certainly wouldn’t trust it with my wife and kids’ lives in question.” He placed a hand on his wife’s knee and squeezed it gently.

“Well, luckily, we won’t have to rely on just our powers,” Five explained, picking the black briefcase off the floor and holding it up for the other version to see.

“What the hell is that?”

Klaus piped up. “Remember I told you about the magical briefcase?”

The alternate Five nodded. “Yeah, I remember. So, how does it work?”

“Well, currently it doesn’t. Which is why we need you,” Five said.

The other Five took a skeptical look at the battered case. “How am I supposed to help? I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Five sighed. “As it turns out, another version of ourselves created it, using our powers as its basic design. It’s one-hundred-percent reliable, unlike our blinks. That is, when the universe isn’t collapsing. Now, it’s a hunk of junk. That’s where you come in.”

“What makes you think I know how to fix it?”

Five’s mouth turned up at the corner with a smug smile. “Because, I know us. And I am willing to bet that you work in some sort of scientific field.” When he received no denial, he continued. “I am also willing to bet you have some sort of lab right here in your home where you’ve been working on time travel over the years, trying to perfect it.”

Marie laughed. “Wow, you are dead on with that. He’s made it his life’s work figuring out how to accurately time travel. Even when he was a teen, his mom said he was constantly in their basement working on it. She showed me pictures of him slumped over his desk, looking just like you actually, having fallen asleep while running his numbers. It was very cute.”

Five paused, thrown for a second by that comment. “His mom?”

The other Five nodded. “I was adopted after I jumped here,” he explained offhandedly. “So, what you’re telling me is that if we can get this briefcase up and running again, you can return to your rightful timeline, the universe will correct itself, and my family will be safe?”

Still dwelling on the fact that his other self had been adopted by different people, Five nodded slowly before collecting himself again. “Theoretically.”

The alt Five turned to look at his wife. “What do you think, darling?”

“Five, they’re your family, even if they aren’t from your same timeline. You told me how much you’ve missed them over the years, and now here they are! They need your help, and I know you can give it to them.” She brushed a piece of hair out of his eye with a sweet smile. “This is what you’ve been working towards. To use your powers for something good and big.” She kissed him, placing a hand on his cheek and he closed his eyes for a moment. “You can do this.”

He nodded and then turned back toward the group. “Ok, I will do what I can to help.”

“Thank you,” Allison breathed out with a sigh of relief. “Thank you, so much.”

“Better go show him your lab,” Marie told her Five. “In the meantime, you must all be starving. The kids were just next door playing, but I’ll have them come back and I’ll make dinner. Sound good?”

“I know I could eat,” Luther said excitedly while Viktor rolled his eyes at him.

“That would be lovely, Marie, thank you. Can we help?” Viktor asked.

************************************************************************

As the two Fives made their way down the basement steps, neither of them said a word. Five was still reeling from the brief bit of information he had just received about his 30 year-old self. This other Five had been adopted by someone other than Reginald. And from the sounds of it, they were nice, normal people. He swallowed down the lump in his throat, trying to clear his head and focus on what he needed to do. But it was extremely difficult when all he kept thinking about was how this alternate version of himself had been given the chance for a normal life while he just kept getting shit on over and over again. It was maddening to think about, and if he let it fester in his mind, he was going to go crazy.

Fuck, he needed a drink.

As his other self flipped the light switch on at the end of the stairs, the overhead lights flickered on with a quiet hum. Five stopped on the bottom stair and took everything in. The space wasn’t huge, but every single usable square inch was filled with something. Long work tables scattered with tools and notebooks, empty coffee cups and paper plates filled with crumbs. The walls were lined with white boards; each one crammed with lines and lines of familiar equations and scribblings. It was surreal to see his own handwriting and obvious work in a place he’d never set foot in before.

As he scanned over the jam-packed computer desk against the far wall, his eyes fell to the framed picture sitting amongst the clutter. It was the other version of himself, with Marie and his two kids. It must not have been taken that long ago, because the two adults looked the same. The kids in the picture looked to be about four and six. A girl and a boy. The four of the them were on a beach somewhere, the sun shining down and making the water behind them sparkle. The girl was perched on her dad’s shoulders, a pink sunhat on her head. The boy was standing in front of Marie, grinning widely with a plastic bucket and shovel in his hand. The other him was smiling directly at the camera, while his pretty wife looked lovingly over at him. Five had never seen himself smile like that before. He had no idea that’s what he looked like when genuinely happy. It was off-putting, to say the least.

“You ok?” the other Five asked gruffly when he realized his older yet smaller self seemed frozen to the spot.

 Five cleared his throat. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. So what is all this stuff?”

“Well, I’m sure you recognize the equations and proofs,” he said, pointing to the white boards. He gestured to the tables. “I’ve been working on developing a type of time travel system, much like that briefcase. Some sort of object that could be programmed specifically to a certain date and time, so we don’t have to rely solely on our powers. Like—”

“A watch,” Five finished for him.

The other Five nodded. “Exactly.”

“I never did understand the briefcase,” Five mused. “It’s so bulky.”

“I assume it’s bulletproof, though?”

Five scoffed. “Don’t get me started.”

“Well, anyways, have a look around. Maybe something here can help, I don’t know. I’ve never really tried it in practical application before. It’s always been theoretical.”

“That’s ok,” Five said, setting the briefcase on top of one of the tables. “We have this as a guide. We can see if the inner workings of the case make sense in comparison to your work here. Then maybe we can piece things together to create a working timepiece.”

The alternate Five nodded thoughtfully again, studying his other self. “Hang on,” he said before striding over to the desk and opening the bottom drawer. He pulled out a bottle of single malt scotch and two glass tumblers. After filling each one halfway, he handed one over to Five.

“I recognize the need for a drink,” he explained with a tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Five accepted the glass, trying to disguise the fact that he was practically salivating at the sight. Needing a drink was an understatement. He wanted the whole damn bottle. But he didn’t need to be getting drunk at a time like this. And he also didn’t need to be showcasing his shortcomings to this clearly sober, well-adjusted, life-is-just-peachy-keen version of him, either. The fact that he was a raging alcoholic with unhealthy coping mechanisms didn’t seem pertinent to the current situation. Instead, he lifted the glass in a toast and took as generous of a swallow as he dared. The whiskey was smooth and it tasted so fucking good, Five had to silently tell himself to not slug the whole thing back in one gulp. He watched as the other him took a leisurely sip from his own glass. He probably goes to church every Sunday, too. Fucking Mother Theresa over here.

“So, where do you work?” Five asked, trying to change the subject.

“Over at the university.”

“Physics department?”

“Naturally.”

Five nodded. “That’s where I always figured I’d end up, too. Just…didn’t work out for me.”

“Yeah, what happened? Klaus said something about a different apocalypse?”

Five paused, staring into his glass. “Let’s just get to work, ok?”

The other version shrugged. “Sure thing.”

[myfairstarlight]

A Lover's Quill

AO3 Link.

Rated: M

Length: 2k

Pairing: Colin Bridgerton x Penelope Featherington

Canon Divergence

Based on my own post here, s1 AU in which a love letter is written instead of a scandalous gossip column...

This will be a multi-chaptered fic, but this first chapter can be read as a standalone. The whole story is already planned out! I'm not sure I will post every chapter on tumblr yet, but I will update on ao3 frequently as long as my life allows it.

Summary:

Dear Colin Bridgerton, As I understand it, this must be a farewell. Penelope’s fingers shake as she wraps them around her quill. Her eyes slide towards the crumpled pieces of paper scattered at the foot of her desk, wondering if such unrequited fantasy is even worth her tortured ink. Or. A s1 AU in which instead of a Whistledown column, Penelope writes a letter to Colin the night before he and Marina plan to elope.

*additional notes on ao3.

꧁༺࿅ིཽ• –– •❈• –– •࿅ིཽ༻꧂

Dear Colin Bridgerton,

As I understand it, this must be a farewell.

Penelope’s fingers shake as she wraps them around her quill. Her eyes slide towards the crumpled pieces of paper scattered at the foot of her desk, wondering if such unrequited fantasy is even worth her tortured ink.

I wish I had the courage to tell you what I am on the brink of revealing to your face, so forgive my cowardness for hiding behind a quill instead. These past few weeks have been full of agonising feelings, and ones I had to fully come to terms with before I could share them with you.

She pauses as she hears commotions outside her door. Servants are running up and down the estate in their haste to gather Marina’s belongings.

I must apologise, for my meddling regarding your and Marina’s courtship. It was not my place to dictate what either of you should do or should feel, even in my misguided belief that I was helping. I do believe that if one is lucky enough to be in love, well, one should declare it as loudly and fervently as you have done, claiming Marina’s hand in front of her many suitors.

She has shared with me your plans to elope to Gretna Green, I hope you do not fault her for divulging your secret. That way, I can wish you all the luck and happiness.

Penelope takes a deep breath. She knows the next words to be the hardest to put into paper and her fingers start to shake once more.

I must, once more, beg your forgiveness for my cowardness as I cannot bring myself to say those words in front of you. I truly do wish for your happiness, and yet I know the words would get lost between my heart and my mouth because there is another truth I could never speak into existence, for I knew it to be a meaningless affair.

I love you, Colin. I have loved you for many years before either of us even debuted in society. Perhaps from the moment we met, it is quite embarrassing really.

Nothing would ever come out of it, I was aware. But you deserve to know, and perhaps I also needed to admit it, to put it into the world, so I may now move on and seriously consider my prospects when I had been fighting them all season. I hope I can find a match that ignites the fire that bursts within your heart with Marina. I hope I will be as lucky one day.

I bid you farewell, my dearest friend.

Yours Truly,

Penelope Featherington.

To her surprise, the tears she feels building up in her eyes do not fall as she carefully folds the paper and seals the letter. When the wax solidifies, Penelope drops a kiss over the butterfly design.

She thinks of the ironic accuracy of her family’s symbol. Just like her heart, a butterfly will not live long once it takes flight, but at least it is free.

꧁༺࿅ིཽ• –– •❈• –– •࿅ིཽ༻꧂

Sneaking out to Bridgerton House is a familiar affair, Penelope is pretty sure Mrs Varley purposely looks away every time, a part of her cannot believe she truly is that invisible. The letter safely tucked in her bosom, she easily finds John, who looks at her with surprise and worry.

“Miss Featherington you should not—” he cuts himself off as Penelope thrusts the letter in his hand. “Ah. For Miss Eloise?”

“Mr Bridgerton,” Penelope corrects. “Colin, that is,” she clarifies, though John would know she barely ever speaks to Benedict outside of polite conversations and would have no reason to write to him. “Please make sure he receives it first thing in the morning. Is Eloise…?” She points towards the garden.

John nods, carefully putting the letter away. “Is everything alright, Miss?”

Penelope takes a deep breath. “You are aware of his plans, correct?”

“Indeed. I am to drive the carriage to the port.” A beat of silence. “For all that is worth, Miss, I do not think he is making a wise decision.”

She is not quite sure why, but servants have always felt comfortable gossiping in front of her, and even to her. Penelope will not complain, however.

“Well, it is not our place to say.”

“Is this letter not about that? Mr Bridgerton has always keenly listened to you.”

Penelope chuckles. “You flatter me, John. I do not think anyone has ever listened to me.”

But the Ton will gladly consume her every word, as long as it is put on paper. It would not have been worth losing Marina’s trust or breaking Colin’s heart, she thinks.

Although, a treacherous voice whispers in her mind, is it truly for the better, to keep silent? Though Colin believes himself in love, would it be enough to bear the burden of another man’s child? To feel the humiliation upon realising he was but a means to an end? And would Marina be able to live with herself? She has a good and kind heart, Penelope knows that to be true, but even the most beautiful souls can be pushed to cruel means when no other solution is within grasp.

Ultimately, Penelope thought, a couple of hours earlier when she decided against using her greatest weapon in Whistledown, this matter did not involve her. Marina is her cousin, Colin is her friend, but this issue only concerns them. Penelope has tried her best without breaking anyone’s trust, and she is at her limit. She cannot keep being the messenger.

And therefore, she has one more secret to divulge.

Curtseying in front of John — although she is aware she does not need to since he is a mere footman, she thinks it is still polite to do so — she ventures into the garden, to immediately find Eloise sitting at one of the swings. Their eyes meet, but Eloise does not move, nor does she scream at her to leave. So Penelope sits on the other swing.

“El.”

“Pen.”

The use of nicknames makes her smile.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

“I’m sorry for not listening to you.”

A pause.

“However," Eloise huffs, "you were so wrong because you’re really pretty, Penelope, if only your mother did not have the most horrendous taste in gowns. Never speak of my best friend as such ever again!”

And just like that, they are friends again. Penelope could cry.

“There was another reason I did not wish to discuss Whistledown with you at the time,” she confesses. Eloise makes a questioning noise, a hand reaching for Penelope’s arm. Penelope squeezes it. “It is because I am Whistledown.”

There is a moment of silence as they stare at each other. For a moment, Penelope worries she won’t be believed. Who could imagine sharp and cunning Whistledown as the petite, two-stones-too-heavy Featherington girl? Eloise's grip has gone lax on her arm before suddenly the brunette girl brightens up.

“Of course!” she exclaims. “It makes so much sense! My best friend, the cleverest woman feared by the Ton!”

Penelope blinks, taken aback, before giggling at her friend’s pure excitement. “Eloise! You exaggerate.”

“Oh, you must tell me how you managed such a fit! And do I get the exclusive before anyone else now?”

Penelope smiles and nods enthusiastically, holding Eloise's hands preciously between hers.

If she must say goodbye to her love, at the very least she will always have Eloise and frankly, it is as good, if not better.

“But say, is it still true? Do you wish to marry even though you have such a gem within your hands?” Eloise asks, her voice gone soft. “You could be entirely independent, you do not need a man.”

Penelope lets out a forlorn sigh. “I still wish for it, although I very much doubt I ever will.”

꧁༺࿅ིཽ• –– •❈• –– •࿅ིཽ༻꧂

John has never been one to care for his employers’ affairs. When the other members of the staff start to gossip, he tends to turn his head and not listen, out of respect. This season has truly tested his limits, however, between Miss Bridgerton, now Duchess of Hastings, debuting, and Mr Bridgerton, the youngest — bar little Gregory — getting so unexpectedly engaged.

And of course, the now notorious Lady Whistledown who rose from the shadows seemingly out of nowhere, stirring up society for being such a bold and yet secretive woman. Gossip had become an inherent part of everyday life, more so than it already was. Whistledown held up a mirror in the Ton’s face to heighten the whispers, and so the Ton speaks even louder because they love to look at themselves.

All that to say, John cannot help but be curious. Miss Penelope’s letter feels heavy. Not literally, of course, but the metaphorical weight of it feels monumental. It is as if he failed to deliver it in time, the world would not be turning on its axis any longer. There was a quiet resignation on the young lady’s face, so far from the warmth she usually bears. In truth, when he heard that Miss Penelope had debuted early and that Mr Colin Bridgerton was courting someone, John, much like the rest of the staff, had assumed she was the one he was courting. There was obvious affection between them, of a sweet and innocent kind, rare in its beauty, and everyone believed they would follow the path Lady Bridgerton and her late husband followed, finding true love at a young age in each other. Alas, perhaps it was only wishful thinking.

And again, it does not concern John, he is merely the messenger — or the driver.

Even so, he decides he would rather not wait. He is aware most of the family is still awake, including the very Bridgerton he is in search of. He finds him brooding in the library, a likely place for him to be, fidgeting by the window.

“Sir,” John says, startling the young man who almost drops the book he was holding. “A missive, for you.”

“A missive?” Colin repeats, intrigued and wary.

“From Miss Penelope, sir,” John clarifies, giving him the letter. He sees the moment Colin's shoulders relax, and his eyes bear a spark of happiness at the sound of her name.

Ah. Foolish youth.

“Right. Thank you, John.”

John nods, bows, then takes his leave. It seems this social season, although coming to its end, will still be full of surprises.

And if it prevents him from waking at the breaks of dawn the next day, he will not be complaining.

(A mere hour later, he catches Colin sneaking out of the house and running across the square. John suspects a new scandal shall befall this family in the morning.)

[greenduvet]

Sneak Peak!

I have been working on a multi-chapter Roman fic and wanted to share a snip from chapter one! Hoping to have this up next week. Let me know what ya think <3

The way to Romans office was nearly tattooed in your brain from years of walking back and forth. Though your office was just down the hall, tonight it felt like a dreadful journey into unfamiliar territory. This wasn't how the night was supposed to go. 

Turning the corner you could see him through the thick glass walls. He was staring at his computer, full attention to whatever was on the screen. You swear you had never seen him work so hard in his life… or at least pretend to work this hard. With a soft sigh, you walk into the office and stop in front of his desk, his eyes not once glancing from the screen. 

“Late night?” The tone of your voice is dry, maybe a bit sarcastic. You weren’t used to this Roman, the detached, focused type. He had always been clingy, willing to throw his work down as soon as you had walked in. 

Even standing directly in front of him, his eyes still never move from the screen. Moving his free hand from the desk to run through his already tousled hair, he hums softly, not bothering to give a full response. 

Another sigh leaves your mouth and you turn to take a seat on the piece of foam covered in velvet they called a couch, there more for decor than actual comfort. 

While your back is turned, Roman’s eyes glance quickly to you. The perfect image of a long day, he watched as you slowly dropped your leather bag without a thought. The whole day he had fought the urge to text you and watched the minutes tick past the planned reservation. He didn’t understand why he was doing this, pushing you away and trying to hurt you. Yet he felt like he was the only one hurting here.

As quick as his eyes lingered on you they were back on the screen. The same report sheet he had been rereading for over an hour now. The sight of you settling on the couch out of the corner of his eye made his brows furrow softly. Why was he doing this again? 

“Uh, ya know, Dad had me do some stuff.” He mumbles softly in response. His voice high in octave and almost tense. God, he didn’t even believe himself. He rips the hand in his hair down and begins to rapidly type something on the computer. Trying his best to sell his stupid ‘busy’ act. You weren’t buying it. But it was unspoken, you and Roman never really did feelings, maybe that's why you still were so close. 

Excited to get back to my roots and post my writing again!! Thanks for reading this far if you did, mwah!

[mostmagical]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤️

sunny........ I swear I did not mean to leave this in here for a whole month.... I thought it'd be a week or 2 or max...... forgive me.....

honestly most of these will be based on nostalgia and how the fic felt to me rather than what I think is my best writing but I THINK that's how fic and fandom should be

Consequences of Dating Blindly (Miraculous) - I LOVE THIS FIC. It's goofy and silly and came about from a series of me posting into the void and mutuals bouncing off of me and it was so fun... Made me feel like I was going back to my roots because fanfiction was always sort of in the crack treated seriously realm for me when I was younger

Fate, Destiny… A Hamster (Miraculous) - I feel like it's almost a cop out to put my most popular fic here but the memories I have associated with this fic made finding that hamster worth it. I feel like I made so many friends and mutuals through writing this fic and that just made me so happy…. It's also my longest completed fic which is always a win

Heartbeating (Mass Effect) - LET'S DO RECENCY BIAS NEXT. I'm still feeling shy.... but I'm really excited to be dipping my toes in another fandom. I feel like this is really try-hard but what's wrong with that. SOMETIMES WE TRY HARD!! Full disclosure this ask was answered late because I knew you wanted a Garrus fic on my list so here you go. It's your fault.

Losing Sleep (Miraculous) - I love dumb conversations about nothing, I love fluff, I love quiet moments, and I just WAH... This will always be one of my favorites. Short, sweet, and it made me feel better when I had a bad day. This was flash fiction that I wrote in a few hours so I was happy when it seemed like other people liked it too <3

unnamed unfinished fic from 2011 (unnamed fandom) - sorry Sunny.. do not come for me for no link...... This wasn't the first fic I ever wrote, but it was my first multi-chaptered fic in a small subsection of a subsection of a popular fandom. I never imagined many people would read it, but every time I posted, I'd get new readers and my favorite writer at the time eventually picked it up and I was STARSTRUCK. It was honestly a bit embarrassing. Writing this fic though was kind of this moment for me where I realized, "I can write. I can create stories that people want to read," and I feel like I've been riding that high ever since. I think about it a lot and I don't know if I'd be writing now if I didn't have this fic. I gotta finish it one day.

[space-mermaid-writing]

Consort and King [IronStrange]

Summary: Anthony Stark, King of Midgard, needs a spouse. Whether he wants one or not. So he accepts an arranged marriage with the Prince of Kamar-Taj – a man he has never met in his life to the day they are standing in front of each other at the altar, speaking their vows. Is it possible that the feeling of duty grows into something more? Will their future be happy?

Relationship: Tony Stark / Stephen Strange

Tags: arranged marriage au, royal au, strangers to husbands, enemies to lovers, slow burn, idiots in love, fluff, hurt/comfort, miscommunication, all the good stuff

Author's note: I'm finally back with a multi-chapter fic project! I started writing and plotting this last year. Then I got distracted by vampire Stephen and werewolf Tony. But I finally circled back to this and finished it on paper. Now I'm so happy to finally share this with you. New chapters will be posted regularly. Special thanks to my beta @kvjjjjjj who did a fantastic job and invested a lot of time and effort in this fic ♥

Ko-fi | Read it on AO3 | Series Masterlist | Word count: 3k | Next

Chapter 1: The wedding

The day of the wedding began early. There were still dozens of little things left to do, only a small part of which concerned Tony. He got breakfast in bed, but didn't have much of an appetite and settled for a single bagel.

"It's going to be a long day," Jarvis remarked, Tony’s mood not escaping him. "You need to eat."

"There will be plenty of opportunity to eat at the feast," Tony reassured his manservant slash personal guard slash personal advisor; and his own stomach.

It was unusual for him to let his feelings affect his hunger. But it was an unusual day and he suppressed that certain anxiety that probably overtook all grooms.

He took a long bath and tried to think of anything else but the wedding – without success. His fiancé had already arrived the night before, along with a small delegation from Kamar-Taj. The realm was far away and the journey must have been exhausting.

Tony wouldn’t see his soon to be husband until the actual ceremony. Not until it was too late to call the wedding off.

The day was a blur of people coming and going. Tony just nodded along whenever Pepper made him do any last minute decisions or May wanted an opinion on the decoration or the seating situation. As if Tony would care at this point.

This whole day has been planned for weeks and he knew that Pepper wouldn’t allow it to be less than perfect.

In the late afternoon Tony changed into his ceremonial wedding garment. The tailors had worked on it for weeks, painstakingly decorating it with beads and brocade. It must have taken hundreds of hours. All done for this one, special day.

Strapping his belt around him, heavy with an ornate dagger, his eyes drifted over his room. It had just been him living within those four walls for so long he couldn’t imagine how it would be to share them with another person.

He'd grown accustomed to his own company. But he was wise enough to understand that a marriage of alliance was something the kingdom needed for its own protection and strength. It had been something he'd resisted, whenever his father approached the topic. It hasn’t been necessary for when his father and king had still been alive. But now there was no further delay.

The events of the past year had made him realize how defenseless his kingdom was without a king or queen at his side. The kidnapping, his almost death, the betrayal of his uncle. Of all these events, the latter had hit him the hardest.

He needed a spouse, preferably kids to secure the future. Although that was a topic he had yet to discuss with his soon-to-be husband. Wasn't it strange to think about these things when he hadn't even seen his fiancé yet?

Tony stepped to the window, peering down below as the crowds gathered, already celebrating. He loved his people and desired to protect them, had vowed with his life to serve them.

As a prince he had garnered the trust of his people, stood his ground in his father’s court and showed them he was his own leader, and not just another carbon copy of the Stark rulers.

As their King, he was to fulfill that promise and duty to them by taking a spouse.

As a man, he was nervous. He didn't like the unexpected, and the marriage agreements had been carefully and meticulously planned out with Kamar-Taj’s representative by his most trusted advisor, Pepper. All he knew about his husband-to-be was, written on paper, his name - Stephen Strange, Prince of Kamar-Taj.

The foreign realm was known for its sorcerers and even if it was rare for a royal member to become well trained in the magical field, Strange had joined them as a well trained and skilled sorcerer.

Jarvis re-entered his chambers. "It is time," he announced what Tony already knew.

_____________

The pomp and ceremony was second nature to Tony. His father had drilled him on it early on. He was dressed in his finest garments, primped and preened within an inch of his life, and led ceremoniously along to the grand hall that was filled to the brim.

But he had a nervous knot in his stomach as he wondered about the man he was marrying, if they would get along and grow to love one another.

He kept his head up, eyes forward and inched his way along the aisle. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Pepper, standing and watching him proudly, a small smile on her face. Sir Rhodey looked grim, eyes full of knowing how difficult this was on a personal level for him. Tony was glad of their silent support and understanding as he came to a halt at the altar and waited.

A procession of trumpets began, before the anthem of Kamar-Taj filled the hall, played by his personally chosen musicians. He turned sideways to watch the next procession and stood straighter as the second half of the wedding party headed slowly towards him.

One by one they paused, bowed or curtsied before moving aside. He wished they'd hurry up and get on with it, his collar was beginning to itch. It was going to be a long day. The other attendees stood in their positions and then – for the first time – he got a glimpse of his new husband.

He was tall, dressed in exotic blue robes, marching to the beat with a set jaw, eyes front and center. Dark hair, blue eyes. Curious, Tony tried to read them, but they betrayed no emotion. Tony wasn’t intimidated by this and smiled warmly at him, still getting no reaction.

Stephen Strange was handsome, Tony couldn't deny that. He came to stand before him and bowed low, Tony gave a small bow in return before turning to the officiator who would carry out the marriage service. This was more the formal showing of them joining their royal courts; the marriage agreements that were the important part of the alliance, to be signed after the ceremony finished.

Strange would remain a prince for now, consort to the king. His coronation was planned after the duration of a year. That gave him enough time to become familiar with the realm he would rule by Tony’s side.

Tony was familiar with the ceremony, having been coached and taken through it over and over, because it would have been seen as a weakness and failing on his part to get the words wrong or miss his cue. He replied perfectly on cue, clear enough for his voice to echo throughout the grand hall, adding to the already delirious atmosphere of the crowd. The vows were pre-written and generic. They didn't know each other well enough to make it more personal.

Stephen was just as efficient as him. His voice not quite as loud but had an edge to it and Tony briefly wondered if he was displeased or just nervous. Tony watched him intently as he promised his vows, wondering how their lives would be from now on.

When it came to exchanging the rings, Stephen's hand seemed shaky and Tony gave him a squeeze of reassurance. The king got his ring first, a simple golden band with both their names engraved on the inside.

Stephen took off his glove to receive his own ring and Tony was surprised to see scars all over his skin. His eyes darted briefly up to Stephen, who had his gaze fixed stubbornly on their hands. His jaw was set, as if he expected a negative reaction. Well, Tony certainly wasn't going to give him one while all eyes were on them both. Besides, he didn't want to drag out the ceremony unnecessarily. He slid the ring on Stephen's finger, trying not to be too rough, and then looked to the officiant to finalize the marriage.

Stephen removed his hand from Tony’s and Tony noticed out of the corner of his eye that he was putting his glove back on. He didn't have time to comment, because the last words of the officiator were traditionally followed by a brief kiss.

It was mostly symbolic and felt a bit awkward. But it meant the ceremony was nearly over and they'd be able to escape for a moment before the short procession around the courtyards surrounding the castle started so his people could cheer them on their way back for the evening banquet.

Tony led the way to the small adjoining room where the papers would be signed, Stephen following, along with Pepper and Stephen's advisor, a man that Tony didn’t know the name of. He wore the typical robes of Kamar-Taj and had a stoic face. Tony didn’t pay him much attention.

There was little to do but sign their names, having already poured over the words and promises, fully aware what this meant for their kingdoms. Tony still felt a sting as he scrawled his name and took his signet ring from Pepper to stamp his seal by it. The alliance had proved to be a strong one, but he'd had to make some compromises he wasn't happy about. He stepped aside to allow Stephen to sign his own name on the documents.

There were several duplicates: two public, for Midgard and Kamar-Taj, to be displayed in the royal museums. Two private for their personal records to be stored in the royal historical records and one for them to personally keep.

Stephen set down the quill and the papers were checked over by an officiator under the watchful eyes of Pepper and Stoic Face.

Tony looked at his husband, who looked a little out of his depth, unable to meet his eye and practically ignoring him. Tony thought this should be an opportunity to get to know one another but found he was at a loss to attempt any small talk.

"Your Majesty," Pepper said, getting his attention, for once using his formal title. "Everything is in order. If you're ready we can begin the procession."

Tony nodded quickly, anything to get it over with. He walked to the door, Stephen falling to step beside him and they made their way out, side by side, Tony taking Stephen's hand as they faced the crowd. The court was on its feet and Tony paused, smiling over at the flower girls and giving a small toss of his head. They skipped forward just ahead of them, throwing rose petals and laughing delightedly as the people all bowed and curtsied their respect as they passed by. Tony kept a tight hold of Stephen's hand though it felt stiff in his own until they reached the outer doors that led to the courtyard beyond.

They were greeted with a cheering roar that caused his ears to ring. A sea of people came to celebrate the royal wedding.

The festivities took place in the ballroom. It was beautifully decorated with ribbons and lanterns and long tables that served food and drinks. As it was tradition, the celebration would last for a day and at night the king would whisk his husband away to his chambers.

Tony and Stephen sat at the head of one of the long tables and accepted congratulations and good wishes from all sides during the meal.

By now it was early evening and after the sparse breakfast in the morning and some of the excitement dying down, Tony's hunger was starting to kick in. Jarvis made sure that his plate was never empty.

Musicians played and various forms of entertainment were provided. Tony looked at his new husband from the side. Despite them sitting next to one another, they barely spoke a word to each other; instead they were caught up in conversations with the people beside them. With all the attention from the guests, Tony found it difficult to find the right words. Maybe for the first time in his life. What did you say to someone you just met, but with whom you would spend the rest of your life? And all this while being under constant observation from other people.

So he stuck to thanking the guests for their blessings.

And so it went on until night fell and more lanterns were lit. The hall was bathed in a warm light that gave everything a somewhat unreal and magical touch.

"I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to leave," Tony said at some point, not wishing to begin making any demands on him after only a few hours.

Stephen gave a curt nod and pushed his seat back as Tony did his. Tony said a few goodnights, well aware all eyes were on them as they left. He already knew what was on the court's mind as he led his new husband back to his quarters.

"These are our private chambers. I'll show you around tomorrow."

Opening the door Tony ushered Stephen inside, closing the door firmly behind them. Stephen took a few steps into the room and paused, turning to him and waiting. Tony could understand, this was their room now but nothing of it consisted of Stephen's possessions. They would all be unpacked in the next few days for him to arrange as he liked.

"There's been space made for your things in the wardrobe," Tony said, waving towards the large ornate cabinet. "Bathroom is through there."

"Don't I get my own chambers?" Stephen asked him and Tony turned with a look of surprise.

Stephen stared back at him, jaw set and waiting for an answer.

"I was just assuming," Tony began, suddenly unsure of himself. "I mean, we can arrange some rooms for you of course if you prefer. But these are private enough, no one but my personal servants and guards are allowed here."

"I'd prefer my own space," Stephen told him matter of factly with a small shake of his head. "Lets not pretend this marriage means more than it does. You wanted an alliance and you got it when I signed my name on those papers, and my parents had me taken off their hands."

Tony stared at him open mouthed, surprised and taken aback by the statement. "This marriage means more to me than a mere alliance, Stephen," he replied slowly and firmly.

Stephen rolled his eyes at him. "And what is it you're exactly expecting from me, Anthony?"

It was Tony's turn to roll his eyes, not expecting any of this conversation. He didn't feel ready for it, his head was swimming from the wine he'd drank and the long day he'd had. "It's Tony," he retorted. "And I was expecting a husband."

"You got one," Stephen told him. "At least on paper. I'm happy to do the public service with you to show the people unity but come on, let's not kid ourselves. You didn't want me and I certainly didn't want you."

"Have someone else in mind?" Tony replied dryly.

"No," Stephen shook his head. "But I'd have preferred to make my own decision on who I'm supposed to live the rest of my life with."

Tony snorted at the idea, it was preposterous and Stephen, as a prince, understood that well enough. Royalty didn't choose who they could marry.

"Welcome to the real world," Tony replied with a laugh. "Maybe you spent too much time with your magic and not enough figuring out just what life has set out for us. You know what this alliance will do for both our kingdoms, or do you consider yourself more important than your own people?"

Stephen glared at him and Tony knew the 'magic' remark had hit a nerve.

"Look, we're both tired, it's been a long day," Tony continued. He wasn't getting into this argument now, his brain was too addled. "We can arrange for new chambers tomorrow but right now, I'm going to bed. Feel free to join me or not, I'm not forcing you into anything here. All I suggest is that you stay in here tonight to at least put their minds at rest that we've 'consummated' this marriage."

Stephen seemed to agree, beginning to undress as Tony disappeared into the bathroom. He wasn't in there long, emerging to strip down himself and finding Stephen lingering, walking past him abruptly to use the bathroom himself. Tony undressed, happy to be rid of the uncomfortable layers, stiff collars and cuffs. He crawled into bed, unused to having to take a side but settling on the left. He turned on his side, back to the bathroom and turned out his light. Outside, in the courtyards below, celebrations were still underway for the marriage and he found that oddly ironic. There in the 'marriage suite' no such celebrations were occurring and instead he was finding out his husbands’ true thoughts on the matter.

Tony had been hoping for something more out of it, not just an alliance. Companionship. And more importantly someone he could lean on for support and help under the general strain and pressure he often felt as the ruler of his people. Instead he found Stephen saw this marriage as nothing but the alliance of their two nations. Of course Tony knew it had been wishful thinking.

He listened to the movement as Stephen emerged from the bathroom and he wondered if he was going to join him as the man seemed to pause in the room. Tony felt a moment of curiosity, wondered if he was naked, what he looked like under all those layers of clothing. The robes were beautiful, ornamented with golden brocade and jewelry. But they also hid the real him, though Tony wasn't sure he wanted to learn about the real man underneath when he'd shown such derision for their marriage.

Eventually the bed dipped beside him and a few moments later the light switched off.

Beside him his husband lay stiff and silent when instead he should have been writhing in pleasure over him. Or under him – he wasn’t picky. Tony hadn't even seen him naked, but if his body was as beautiful and handsome as his face, Tony knew he'd have little trouble becoming passionate with him.

It was just a shame about the emerging personality.

___________

Taglist: @goopierthenyou (text me if you want to be added/removed)

[existentialcrisistime]

Nic's AOS McKirk fic recs part 1:

longer (mostly 10k+ and/or multi-chapter), more plot-focused works

There are SO MANY excellent McKirk fics out there, and I'm only scratching the tip of the iceberg with these ones, but these are ten of my top favourites (you know, the sort of fics where you have to either yell in the group chat or stare into space for a bit afterwards, then think of it constantly for the following week?), so I hope some of the ones in here become your favourites too.

And remember, be kind, leave kudos/comments where you can, and enjoy!

In no particular order, we have:

jim kirk's guide to starship management: how to work with people you don't like by espressohno (E, 23k)

Jim has an anonymous hookup (read: the best sex of his life) with who else but the one and only Leonard McCoy, who's scheduled to start as the Enterprise's CMO the next day. Hijinks (emotions and miscommunication) ensue. A great exploration of Leonard and Jim's relationship, based around the question of: what if they met under slightly different circumstances?

unscrew the stars by espressohno (E, <10k)

Jim, lamenting his inability to pursue personal relationships due to being Captain of the Enterprise and under Starfleet's fraternisation rules, believes he's found a loophole that allows him to sleep with his CMO. Leonard, however, wants something more. Another one by espressohno, and honestly I'd recommend pretty much anything by this author.

Ask me again in the morning by @torsamors (G, 26k)

Time loop fic: Bones is stuck in a time loop. This fact upsets Jim every time he finds out, but Bones definitely isn't having a fun time either. An excellent getting-together fic told from the perspective of Jim outside the loop, with plenty of hurt and comfort.

One Little White Lie by laughter_now (M, 71k)

Jim lies about being married to Leonard after an accident which leads Leonard to losing his memory, which quickly spirals out of control. An incredible, emotional exploration of the fake marriage and amnesia tropes, becoming so much more than the sum of its tags. Another one for the fellow fans of Bones Having a Real Bad Time, with plenty of Jim angst in there too.

A Wish in the Dark (for a bulletproof heart) by drmcbones (T, 18k)

Without giving too much away: one close call too many for Jim has Leonard at the end of his tether. Somehow, a mysterious medical/magical ailment links the two of them together - how long can they keep it secret from even each other? I say this about every fic on the list, but this one is absolutely excellent - a really interesting plot I hadn't read much like before.

Catching Fire (The Firehouse AU) by kel_1970 (E, 46k)

21st Century fire department AU. Paramedic Leonard McCoy flees a disastrous break-up in Savannah and ends up working at a fire department in Iowa where he meets Jim Kirk. I know this one is on pretty much every McKirk rec list, but for good reason! A beautifully-written, emotional rollercoaster of a fic with rich settings and side characters. Will rip your heart out and stamp on it, then carefully piece it back together again. I read this one over a year ago and still I think of it on a regular basis, it hurts so good.

I Will Hold As Long As You Like by @excavatinglizard (T, 18k)

The Lighthouse fic. Set post-Into Darkness, Leonard takes Jim to a lighthouse to convalesce. Together they learn to weather the storm. A beautiful, emotional character study with rich settings that paint such a picture in the mind. Also comes with (beautiful) art and a playlist to really set the scene. Another one that I read over a year ago, as it was being published, and still think of on a regular basis.

Take a Bite of My Heart Tonight by EntreNous (T, 26k)

Vetenarian Bones AU. Jim Kirk and Leonard McCoy get off on the wrong foot as soon as they meet. So if Jim wants another shot with that gorgeous but grumpy veterinarian, he had better get his hands on some pets who need vet appointments, right? Such a fun, sweet, mostly fluffy fic of Jim getting up to some absolute (mostly unsuccessful) antics to win Leonard's heart

three sundays by espressohno

The fight club AU. Not Fight Club the film so much as a literal fight club: Leonard goes to fight club to get his anger out. Jim goes to fight club to get hurt. Leonard realizes this, and decides he doesn't want to hurt Jim anymore, but he doesn't want to stop seeing him, either. Plenty of hurt/comfort, and a whole lot of aftercare.

palimpsest by @fireinmywoods (E, 61k)

What can I say about this one that hasn't already been said? Such an incredible story, even if the final chapter did make me yell out loud the first time around (and I mean that in the most affectionate way). I've read this one twice now and got something completely different out of it each time - an enjoyable read the first time but even richer with hindsight, so cleverly constructed. As for the plot - the Enterprise is sent to negitiate readmission to the Federation with an isolationist religious group known as the Kindred. While there, Jim notices that some of the children seem to be gravely ill. The Kindred do not allow a doctor to be brought in, and so Jim... well, he improvises. + 9 (so far) further, shorter works to flesh out the whole Palimpsest verse, which I enjoyed just as much as the original story - especially aganorisis (E, 15k), which I guarantee you'll want to read right after. Can mostly be read out of order, but you gotta read Palimpsest first, I promise!

And that's it for now! Thank you for reading, please tell me which ones you enjoyed the most (or your own favourite longer/plotty McKirk fics), and keep your eyes peeled for part 2

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buck & Eddie: Chris has been looking for Dad!Buck since the Tsunami

After 6x11 aired, I always thought the scene from Buck's coma dream with Chris asking Buck to help him find his DAD meant Chris was looking for Buck and I believe I can prove my theory with the scene that happened after the Tsunami.

While writing the next chapter in my multi-chapter fic titled “I’m still in love with you but... I needed to learn how to love myself too!”, I realized the scenes from 3x3 and 6x11 illustrated how Chris was in fact looking for Buck both times but Buck didn't understand.

In 3x3, the woman who had been carrying Christopher around all day after him and Buck got separated asked Eddie, "You're Buck?" to which he replied, "No, I'm his father Eddie." Then she said, "He was looking for Buck" and Eddie looked at Buck and Buck looked at Eddie🙃🤪.

Eddie is Christopher's BIOLOGICAL FATHER! It's a fact that will never change. Eddie called himself Chris' FATHER twice in that episode instead of calling himself Chris' dad. Chris calls Eddie "Dad" all the time, he even yelled "DAD!" when Eddie saw the woman carrying him and Eddie yelled "CHRISTOPHER!" in response. So why didn't Eddie identify himself as his dad instead of as his father? 🧐

Let's proceed.

Reminder at the end of 3x3, after Eddie brought Chris back to the loft, Buck said, "I was supposed to look out for him" and Eddie replied, "And what you think you failed? I've failed that kid more times than I care to count and I'm his FATHER but I love him enough to never stop trying and I know you do too. Buck! There's nobody in this world I trust with my son more than you!" He used the word FATHER again instead of saying DAD!

In 6x11, Buck's coma dream happened more than three and a half years later and Buck still believes his place in Chris' life as his second DAD/PARENT is not real. He said it himself, when Chris asked, "Can you help me find my DAD?" Buck replied, "Sorry but you're not real and I gotta go. I'm always going to feel sorry for that one".

Chris didn't ask Buck to help him find his father (EDDIE), he asked him to help him find his dad (BUCK) 🤪.

Even after the Tsunami, Chris running away to Buck's loft during the pandemic, the shooting, the will reveal, Eddie's breakdown and Chris asking Buck to come back after he was struck by lightning, Buck still didn't get it and he didn't SEE IT!

I stand by the comments I made in a post at the beginning of season 6 (linked here), both Eddie and Chris have been waiting for Buck but he's STILL TOO CONCERNED WITH THE WAY PEOPLE SEE HIM to understand it.

"Dead Bobby" told Buck in his coma dream that he hadn't learned a damn thing if he still cared about the way people see him. Well, he didn't learn anything since he's still trying to get people to like him. He wants Margaret and Phillip to like him the same way he wants all the women he dated to like him. Reminder, ND walked out and when she came back, she said, "I like you" and he said, "I like you too".

WTF was that supposed to be? 🙄

Buck's been trying to get people to like him his whole life and it started with his parents, especially his mother. Full disclosure I don't like TK but in 4x8, she told him "You just can't stand it when someone doesn't like you". She was right and he's doing it again with ND, making the same mistakes by trying to convince her to like him.

In 5x18, he told TK he didn't want to make the same mistakes well, he certainly made the same mistake again for the fourth time with someone else who likes one thing about him but not all of him.

Why didn't the show just let Buck admit he needed time to focus on himself instead of hooking up with another woman who doesn't know him? He'll never SEE the family he's been looking for is right in front of him if the show doesn't stop throwing RANDOM women at him.

It doesn't matter how ANYONE tries to spin his relationship with ND and make it into some big and fantastic romance because the truth is, IT'S NOT A ROMANCE, IT'S TOXIC. She was only interested in his DEATH and that's creepy AF. She was supposed to help him accept his death but instead she came back talking about she liked him which was no different from the way Dr. Wells treated him after he lost Devon in 1x2. They don't have some "Gone with the wind" or "Romeo and Juliet" type of love affair. It wasn't that; it still isn't that and it'll never be that unless the show forces the narrative to make it work.

If the narrative doesn't change, then Buck will suffer through yet another boring AF lackluster relationship with the fourth woman who only wanted to use him for his "Firehose" until she gets bored like the rest of them did. If he was meant to be with any of them, the relationships would have lasted instead of them running for the hills when his life got difficult. TK told him she wanted him in 4x14 which is just like ND saying she liked him in 6x18.

Eddie and Chris love Buck for who he is not for what he can give them but he's still ignoring the family who has been beside him this whole time for two trifling parents who only show him any attention when he's hurt along with all those women who like Buck the firefighter instead of Evan the "Good man".

What's it going to take for him to understand he's part of the Diaz Family and has been for years?

At this point, who knows but HOPEFULLY things will be different in season 7 or it'll be another wash, rinse and repeat season with Buck's love life and Eddie being sidelined until ND gets the boot like TK did in S5 which was EXHAUSTING AF to watch for a whole season!

[halfhoursonearth-writes]

A new fic and some thoughts on process and the miscommunication plot

I’ve gotten a bit blocked working on the next set of chapters for But Who’s Counting?, and I probably won’t have anything I’m happy with to post for a few weeks.

But, to try to break through the writer’s block, I took a discarded idea for an early version of that story's climactic scene and wrote a short new fic. I don’t consider this story a spoiler for what’s coming in But Who’s Counting?; basically anything I plan to keep for that piece, I’ve changed in this one.

And you certainly don’t need to read But Who’s Counting? in order to read You Make Everything Better. If you like Zutara fics with yearning, self-denial and also the end of yearning and self-denial, I hope you'll check it out!

I also brought some some writing process thoughts. Oops.

Something that has happened both times I’ve written Zutara multi-chapter fics is that the two characters fall for each other earlier than I initially plan. I’m not the most committed outliner—as a writer I’ll usually follow the energetic flow of the characters rather than any hard plotting I've done. And I find the empathy just grows so quickly between these two characters once there's opportunity.

The downside to writing this way is that often the scenes that initially motivated me to write a particular story no longer work in the story as it unfolds. So I’m often killing darlings while they’re still a twinkle in my eye.

In my initial (imagined, lol) outline of But Who’s Counting? the climactic chapter looked something like this new story. But then the relationship between the characters progressed too significantly to land in this sort of scene without constructing a major miscommunication plot for the sake of it. And I thought about doing that! I started writing that draft. And then I had to reconsider.

I don't dismiss miscommunication plots out of hand. In fact, I think miscommunications are basically essential devices in certain enemies to lovers or friends to lovers plot arcs. And frankly, real humans miscommunicate constantly, so I think this trope is more reflective of reality than it's given credit for.

For these reasons, there’s probably still some miscommunication ahead in But Who’s Counting? because there’s a lot these characters still don’t know about one another, their respective worlds, and what they want. But I didn’t want to contort the character arcs for the sake of a scene that no longer fit the story. For me, when miscommunications require me to suspend disbelief about character choices, that's where they get frustrating.

But I just couldn't let this scene go. So now it finds its own way into the world!

[misc-obeyme]

THE THREADS THAT BIND

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

MASTERPOST for summary/info/chapter list

a/n: This is it, the last chapter. :') There will be a spicy epilogue posted sometime next week, but this is the end of the story right here. I had so much fun writing this story. I'm already thinking about writing another multi chapter fic, probably one about Arsenios. Might also be writing a song for him... but you didn't read that here. Anyway, I love Barbatos with my entire being and I'm sure I'll be writing about him again soon lol! I'm always happy to hear any ideas for future stories or to answer any questions about this one! Thank you to everyone who has been reading the chapters and leaving such amazing feedback. I love you all!

GN!MC x Barbatos | word count 1,187

Warnings: none, this is a fluff chapter lol

When you awoke the next day, you found yourself back in the guest room bed. You tried not to think about how it was likely Barbatos himself who had moved you. The thread was gone, just as he had said it would be.

Breakfast was a somber affair. Diavolo was trying to act cheerful, but he could tell that his little ploy with the potion had only made things worse. You hadn't been able to cover up the puffiness of your face and you knew you weren't succeeding at masking your general mood of sadness.

Once again, Barbatos was absent.

"Will you return to the House of Lamentation right after breakfast?" Diavolo asked as the Little Ds cleared your plates away.

You frowned. You weren't quite ready to put yourself back into the boisterous antics of the seven brothers. "I… think I'd like to sit in the garden here for a little bit first, if that's okay?"

"Of course," Diavolo said.

And that was where you found yourself shortly after. You were sitting in the gazebo of the garden, watching the falling stars and thinking about the thread that the potion had revealed.

You weren't entirely sure what you were going to do now. Your truth had been revealed for you, but you were sure that Barbatos had already known how you felt.

Even so, you remembered what Arsenios had said to you at RAD. That Barbatos should be able to make the choice himself. And you still hadn't given him that, had you?

As though he could read your thoughts, Barbatos came into the gazebo and sat beside you.

"MC, I must request that you allow me to speak with you," he said.

You laughed sadly and quietly. "You don't have to ask. I know I owe it to you to listen, especially after everything I said."

You couldn't look over at him, but you saw his body in your periphery. It surprised you to see that he was in demon form. As though he needed that extra strength to speak with you.

"This is the potion that the Young Master put into your drink," Barbatos said, holding up a bottle for you to see. It was a bright yellow potion, swirling and sparkling in the clear bottle. "The way it reveals itself is always different, but I must say I was not surprised it took the form of a thread in this instance."

Barbatos rose to stand before you. He took the lid off the bottle and drank down the potion.

You gasped, standing up yourself, reaching your hands out, but not quite touching him. "Barbatos, what are you doing?"

Barbatos smiled at you. "You needn't be so concerned, MC. As I told you before, this potion is harmless. But it will always reveal the truth, as it did for you."

As he said this, the thread that had connected the two of you the night before reappeared. It looked exactly the same as it had then - glowing with a teal light, a single string that began in your chest and ended in his.

"I was afraid that if I simply told you the truth, that you might not believe me," Barbatos said. "Now you can see it with your own eyes as well. What you must understand is that although I have seen things from the future, I cannot and I will not live my life based on them. I don't know if that person you saw was you or not, but it doesn't matter either way. I will not allow that person's potential existence to interfere with how I act here and now. Not when my love for you is so strong."

Your heart was racing. The look of determination on his face, the slight hint of uncertainty, the fullness of his hope, it was all there for you to see. He wasn't holding back any of his feelings. He was being fully transparent.

"What if… what if they do show up…?" you asked, your words hesitant.

"Not every future vision I have is meant to be," Barbatos said. "I will not suppress my love for you in order to be free for someone I likely have not even met."

Your eyes followed the thread from your heart to where it ended in his. You reached out your fingers to touch it, even though you knew they would simply pass through it. You looked up at Barbatos's face, still hopeful, still waiting.

You let your hand reach through the thread toward him.

He responded by taking your hand and pulling you into him, wrapping his other arm around your waist. You felt his tail curl around your leg.

"MC," he said, his lips inches from yours.

You didn't wait for whatever he may have said next, you simply kissed him, letting your arms wrap around him, clinging to the fabric of his shirt, your lips desperate as you pressed yourself into him.

Barbatos kissed you back fervently, his hand cradling the back of your head as the kiss deepened.

Eventually you had to pull away for air and as you gasped lightly, you looked again into Barbatos's eyes. The teal of the thread that still stretched between you was reflected in them, reminding you of the teal time streams that you had stumbled through during so many nights.

Barbatos reached up between you, his arm passing through the thread like it wasn't there. He held your chin with his fingers, keeping your gaze on him.

"MC," he said. "I have been alive for a long time and I have experienced many things. And yet I have never loved anyone in the same way that I love you."

A pleasant warmth and comfort spread through your limbs, radiating out from the spot in your chest where the thread was still holding on. Here was this demon, a master of time, a being of mystery, telling you that he had never known a love like yours.

You smiled softly. "All I want is to love you for the rest of my short human life."

Barbatos chuckled. "I would be very happy if you would stay by my side."

You didn't say anything else to this, just kissed him again.

Due to the amount of potion Barbatos had consumed, the thread that bound you took all weekend to fade. You were happy to stay at the castle for that duration, even though it wasn't required. Those first days with Barbatos would remain some of your favorite memories.

You found yourself settling into a new pattern. Living at the House of Lamentation, attending RAD, but spending a significant amount of nights at the castle. The brothers found this arrangement annoying, but they could also see how happy you were, so they didn't comment on it.

Every time you awoke in the night, you found yourself checking for magical threads. They were never there, but you didn't really need them to be anymore. Even if you never saw one again, you could feel the way your heart was forever tied to the heart of the demon you loved.

masterpost | chapter one

chapter twelve | epilogue

masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[badkitty3000]

You Can't Go Home Again

Chapter 6

Link to Chapter Five

Link to Chapters 3 and 4

Link to Chapters 1 and 2

Link to Chapter 7

All Five wants to do is rest. But when yet another apocalypse threatens to doom them all, he doesn't have that luxury. This time, the only solution for the Hargreeves to try and save the world is to unite Five with another, alternate version of himself.

Five starts to spiral when he is faced with the alternate life that he could have had, if only he hadn't gone and ruined everything. But maybe, just maybe, there's still time for him to obtain the happy ending he deserves.

An alternate season three rewrite for a request I received.

Warnings: None

More chapters will be posted as I continue writing this multi-chapter fic. Enjoy!

Chapter Six: Running Out Of Time

After another long night, and another painful transfer of powers, the second watch was complete. It wasn’t entirely necessary to build the second one, but it seemed like a good idea for backup, and since both Fives had contributed so much to making them, it only seemed fair that they both had one. This meant that Five and his siblings could return home with relative safety and correct both timelines. Once they were out of the timeline they were in now, with the Sparrows, things should return to how they were before the kugelblitz was activated. In theory, anyway. There was only one problem preventing them from going now.

“What do you mean Klaus is not here?” Five hissed through gritted teeth, leaning into Luther’s personal space and staring menacingly up at him.

“Uh, well…” Luther started, rubbing the back of his neck; clearly intimidated by his much smaller brother. “He said he was getting bored and he wanted to get out of the house.”

“And you just let him go?!”

“I mean, yeah…it’s Klaus! He’s always wandering off, but eventually he comes back.”

“Great!” Five said as he threw his hands in the air and let them drop to his sides again. “Just fantastic!” He turned to Luther again. “You know, as the leader of this family, you really do a piss poor job of actually leading.”

“Hey, don’t yell at him!” Diego interjected. “We can’t all just sit around waiting for your next order. Who do you think you are? Dad?”

Five laughed sarcastically. “Dad may have been a heartless asshole, but at least he knew how to keep you people in line. And now that I know what trying to accomplish that is like, I actually have a little more respect for the old man.”

“Come on, Five, that’s not fair,” Viktor said.

Realizing he probably was being a bit too harsh, Five backed off a little. After taking a deep breath, he spoke very evenly, trying to keep his anger in check. “Ok, let’s regroup here. Now, did Klaus tell anyone where he was going?”

The rest of the siblings exchanged glances that told Five, no, he did not tell them where he was going. As he let out a loud sigh, Jack appeared in the middle of the room with a big smile on his face. He was still very proud of his new blinking skills.

“I know where he went,” the little boy offered.

Five smiled. “Great, Jack. Where?”

“He said something about meeting a girl.”

“A girl?”

Jack blinked to the other side of the room, just to show off. “Yeah…her name is Mary Jane.”

At first there was a second of confusion and then the light bulb went on for everyone at the same time. Five groaned. “Damn it…of course our idiot brother decides to go get stoned when the world is ending.”

“As opposed to drinking himself half to death. Yeah, what an asshole,” Lila snarked with her arms folded across her chest.

Five rolled his eyes. “Fine, point taken. But we need to find Klaus so we can get out of here. I don’t know when the next kugel wave is going to come, but we’re already overdue for one so we probably don’t have much time.”

Luther raised a hand to speak. “Ok, but how are we going to know where to start? How would Klaus even know where to go in this timeline? Everything here is different.”

“It’s Klaus, he’s very resourceful,” Diego said. “I’m sure he’d figure something out…wait! Holy shit, I bet that fucker went back to the hotel.”

Allison frowned. “You think?”

“Yeah, why not? You saw all the weirdos that were there, and that used to be his hangout back in the day. It makes sense.”

“Ok, Diego and I will go find Klaus,” Five told them. “The rest of you stay here. The other me is still working downstairs and I want to make sure someone is here with Marie and the kids if another wave hits.”

“Aw…you do care! I knew it!” Luther gushed with a smile that quickly faded after the glare he received from his brother.

“Of course, I care, idiot. Despite what you all think, I’m not some monster that gets off on watching innocent kids die.”

Jack had blinked out of the room while the adults had been talking, but he suddenly appeared again right when Five was in the middle of his sentence. This time, his sister Maddie was with him. They both looked up at the group with horrified faces.

“We’re going to die?” Jack asked.

Allison jumped in. “No! No no no no…of course not, sweetie.”

“But that’s what you said. We might die.” Jack’s voice trembled and he put a protective hand on his little sister’s shoulder.

Maddie’s eyes started to well up with tears and Five tipped his head back with an exasperated sigh. “Christ.” He turned toward the kids. “Look, no one is dying, ok? At least not if I can help it. And I know your dad would never let that happen, either, ok?”

There was a very small nod from both kids, but it wasn’t very convincing. Five continued, using a much softer voice than his normal brusque one. “I need you both to stay here and be brave, ok? As long as you’re with our family, nothing bad is going to happen. Do you believe me?”

Again, there was a very slight nod, but they still looked terrified. It occurred to Five that maybe their parents had been keeping them in the dark about the severity of the situation. And now he’d gone and screwed that up. Great. Just what I need. More shit to feel guilty about.

“Who wants to play Yahtzee?” Luther asked enthusiastically as he tried to unsuccessfully change the subject. The rest of the adults, as well as the kids, just stared at him with various expressions of bewilderment. His shoulders drooped. “Ok…maybe not the best time.”

Five pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “The plan stands. Diego, you and I are going to the hotel.”

“I’m coming too,” Allison said firmly, standing up with that pose that meant she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“Fine,” Five said, just to move things along. “Let’s go then.”

**********************

The outside world was bleak, and getting bleaker by the hour. Each new wave from the kugelblitz brought more destruction to the city and the world around them. The streets were deserted of people, with cars left in the middle of the road after their drivers had evaporated. Buildings were starting to crumble and crack, trees were being uprooted, and the sky was turning all sorts of interesting colors. It looked like Doomsday for sure.

As the three siblings walked along the couple miles to the hotel, Five got lost in his own thoughts again. When they had left, the other Five was still doing a few last minute adjustments to both watches, and Five knew that once those were finished there was no time to waste. He needed to get his family out of there before anything else happened. He had nothing really to base it on except for a strong hunch, but he suspected that he and his siblings, along with anyone else that had powers, were going to be the last to go when the world collapsed in on itself. Which meant this would at least buy his other self and his kids a little more time. He wasn’t sure about Marie, but maybe her proximity to them would be enough.

As Five trudged along with his brother and sister, Diego suddenly spoke up. “Hey, this is like old times. The three of us doing some recon together? Just like with Gerald Jenkins.”

“Harold,” both Five and Allison corrected in unison.

“Whatever,” Diego grumbled, taking out a knife that had been strapped to the outside of his leg and flipping it in the air as he walked. “I’m just saying, this is the good stuff, right here. Us, working together, solving crimes and shit.”

“We’re just trying to find Klaus,” Five mumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“Well, it’s almost like solving a crime.” Diego was silent for a minute before speaking again, this time quieter. “You know, what you said back at the house…that’s not true.”

Five looked up. “What are you talking about?”

“You said we think you’re a monster. That’s not true.”

Five was silent and then Allison piped up. “He’s right. You’re not a monster, Five. An asshole, maybe, but not a monster. You’re our brother.”

Five didn’t know what to say. He was not used to having to show emotions, let alone express them out loud. The only person he’d ever poured his heart out to was Dolores, so this was definitely new territory. Say thank you or something, idiot! They’re being nice. Be nice back!

“Yeah…” Five cleared his throat. “Ok,” he managed to rasp out, still looking at the ground as he walked. That was all he could get out at the moment, but he hoped they’d be able to read between the lines of those two lame little words. Thank you. Thank you for caring.

No one spoke the rest of the way to the hotel, but Five could see Diego and Allison exchanging glances over his head. He should have brought a flask.

As soon as they entered the lobby of the Hotel Obsidian, something felt off. Which was saying a lot, considering what a weird place it was to begin with. It was quiet. And empty. At first glance there was no sign of Klaus, either.

“Klaus!” Diego yelled out, his voice booming and echoing through the vast lobby.

Right on cue, Klaus’s head popped out from behind a red velvet couch he had been sleeping on. He looked dazed, but otherwise ok.

“Oh, hey guys,” he said airily as he sat up and turned around to face them. “What are you doing here?”

Diego threw his hands in the air. “Jesus Christ, Klaus! What are YOU doing here?”

“Well, you know…I was getting antsy in that house, so I decided to take a little walk.”

“You went to get high,” Five stated flatly.

“Well, there was that, too. But, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, there’s not a lot of people to ask for such products these days.”

The four of them took a look around the lobby again, confirming they were still the only people there.

“What happened?” Allison asked.

Klaus shrugged, standing up and stretching. “Kugel-ed I guess? It was like this when I got here. Except guess who was here? Dad.”

“What? Dad was here?” Diego asked, holding his knife in a way that meant he was ready for an attack.

“Did you talk to him?” Five asked.

Klaus nodded and then laughed. “He said we sucked so bad back in Dallas that he made sure not to adopt us as babies. Then he wanted to recruit me for some experiment or something. Oblivion something. I don’t know, I didn’t understand completely. He said it would save the world and stop the kugelblitz.”

Five looked around nervously, expecting Reginald to come striding around the corner at any moment.

“Don’t worry, he left. Said he’ll be back with the Sparrows, though. But he wanted me to wait here for him.”

“Klaus…” Allison said warily. “You weren’t waiting here for Dad, were you?”

Klaus looked guiltily to the side but when Diego and Five made disappointed groaning noises, he started to plead his case. “Listen, this Reggie is way nicer than our version ever was! And you had to be there, but what he was saying made sense. Dad always told us we were going to save the world. Well, I think this is what he meant.”

Diego stepped close to him, getting in his face and pointing the knife at his chest. “Klaus, I swear to god, you better not be considering listening to that bastard. He tortured us! Don’t you remember how many times he locked you in that mausoleum and left you there?”

“Of course I remember!” Klaus shot back. “But this is not that guy. I told you, he’s a much softer Reginald.”

Five sighed heavily. “Fuck, Klaus…we don’t have time for whatever Daddy issues you’re trying to work out here. Reginald is a conniving bastard in any timeline and we need to go!”

“But what if he’s right? What if you’re wrong and Dad is right?”

“Klaus, you can’t possibly think that, can you?” Allison asked in a slightly gentler voice than her brothers’. “Think about it. Are you really going to trust him over Five?”

“Dad has never done shit for us. But at least Five has tried. And he’s trying again, so you need to trust him.” Diego added, still in Klaus’s face.

Five’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He hadn’t really thought about the fact that his siblings may actually trust him. Not after what happened the last two times. He assumed they were just going along with whatever he said because they had no other choice. But now they did have a choice. And it seemed they were choosing him.

No one spoke for a minute while Klaus’s eyes darted from Five to Allison, and then back to Diego. He let out a long sigh and his shoulders dropped forward.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” He turned to Five. “You really think you and the other, hotter you, can get us back?”

“I do,” Five said with a nod. “But we have to leave. Now.”

As Diego backed off, Klaus nodded. “Alright, then. Lead the way, Cinco.”

As the four of them left out the revolving door, getting stuck only once, Klaus took one last look back at the hotel before moving on.

Diego noticed. “So, what exactly did Dad say to you to try and convince you?”

Klaus looked up with a sad smile. “He said I was truly exceptional and would be a great asset to him. Which, I realize isn’t a big deal under normal circumstances, but it was coming from Dad. Can you even think of a time when he complimented any of us?”

“Yeah, I guess I see your point,” Diego answered with shake of his head. “Damn, he really fucked us all up if that’s the biggest compliment he’s ever given his own kids.”

Five nodded as he walked quickly along. “The man is diabolical, there’s no doubt about that.” He turned to Klaus, uncharacteristically sincere. “I’m sorry you had to speak with him, I know that wasn’t easy. Thank you for trusting me.”

Klaus grinned and clapped his smaller brother on his shoulder, earning him a glare and a swat at his hand. “Hey, if anyone can get us out of here and back home, it’s you my little brosef. And might I add, I cannot wait until you are the same age as that other you, because damn…you are one smoking piece of a—”

The other three siblings groaned, cutting him off, and Five looked up at Klaus with a disgusted look on his face. “Please. Never say that again.”

“Yeah, dude, that’s pretty weird. He’s your brother,” Diego said. Then he looked at Allison. “No offense.”

She rolled her eyes but then she laughed and shrugged. “God, we are a weird fucking family.”

“That’s for damn sure,” Five muttered.

*********************************

As the small group of siblings continued down the street, another pulsing wave rushed over them and their surroundings. More buildings started to fall and giant cracks were forming in the pavement of the streets. It had been gradual, but they noticed the sky was starting to turn black with dark clouds and flashes of orange light. Allison jumped out of the way as a falling brick nearly bashed her in the head.

“Fuck,” Five exhaled. “We have to go.”

Allison brushed off the concrete dust that had fallen on her shoulder. “What if that wave just took out everyone else at the house?”

Five nodded nervously. “I’m a little concerned about that myself.” He glanced around at the other three. “We need to get there fast.”

Diego moaned when he realized what Five meant. “Oh…not again! You know I’m going to get sick, right?”

“It doesn’t matter, we’re running out of time.” Yanking Klaus closer by his wrist, and holding Allison’s hand with his other, Five gave a pointed look toward Diego.

Groaning again, Diego reluctantly grabbed onto Klaus’s arm. “I really hate this—,” he started to say before being swept up in one of Five’s blinks.

As soon as they were dropped out of the portal into the middle of the living room at the house, Diego lurched forward, holding his stomach.

“Oh god, out of the way!” he warned as he went sprinting to the bathroom.

Lila looked after him with a small shake of her head. “Giant baby.”

The other three looked around, silently counting all of the bodies in the room. It appeared that no one was missing. Even the other Five, Marie, and the kids were there. Everyone was safe. For now, at least.

“Klaus!” Viktor cried with a smile. “Oh, I’m so happy they found you.”

With a quiet laugh, Klaus flapped a hand at him. “You know me, I always come back. Like a stray cat.”

“So, you were at the hotel?” Luther asked.

Klaus nodded, but before he could explain himself, Five interjected. “Yes, he was. And he met Dad, who is definitely up to something nefarious. It’s just another reason we need to get out of here as quickly as possible. If we can restore this timeline back to normal, hopefully Reggie won’t be able to carry out whatever he has planned.”

The other Five, who had been standing with an arm around his wife’s waist, was listening intently. At the mention of Reginald’s name, he instantly tensed.

“What was he planning?” he asked Klaus; his jaw already set in anger.

“I’m not sure, but he said he needed me and the Sparrows to carry it out.” Klaus swallowed hard and looked over at Five and Allison. “Actually, he didn’t just say he needed me. He said he needed all of us. Something to do with needing as many of our powers as possible.”

Allison put a hand on her hip. “Klaus, what the hell? Why didn’t you tell us that?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know! I didn’t want you to get all weird and I figured it didn’t matter anyway. We weren’t staying.”

“I knew it,” the older-looking Five said, stepping away from his wife and balling his hands into fists at his side. “I’ve known that bastard has been up to something for years, and here’s the proof.” He looked down at his kids who were understandably worried and crowded in next to their mother. “I’ll be goddamned if I let that bastard get a hold of me or my kids.” He scanned the rest of the faces in the room. “Or any of you, for that matter. He needs to be stopped.”

Five shook his head. “It won’t matter once we can get out of here. Things will return to normal.”

Just as he said that, another wave ripped through the house and reversed itself, leaving everyone with a strange tingling feeling throughout their bodies. The kids screamed, but when the wave passed, everyone was still accounted for and the house was still standing. Outside, a large tree cracked in half and fell across the small front lawn. In the distance, more rumblings of falling buildings and cracking concrete could be heard. An eerie, orange glow seeped through the windows.

“Go get the watches,” Five told his doppelganger. “We have to go.”

The other Five hesitated. Determination and anger were written all over his face and he seemed to not even hear Five. He was lost in his own head.

“Five!” Marie said loudly, snapping him out of his thoughts. “Go! Hurry!”

He turned to her, his eyes filling with tears. “Right.” Then he took her chin in his hand and kissed her softly with a smile before bending down to hug and kiss each one of his kids. “I love you all.” Before his confused wife could respond, he was gone in a blast of blue light.

“That was weird,” Luther said under his breath to Viktor, who nodded in agreement.

“Diego!” Lila yelled out. “Are you still alive?”

“Yeah,” came his weak voice from the bathroom. “Barely.”

“Well, chuck it all up and get on with it! We gotta go!”

Five looked around nervously. Something was wrong, he could feel it. And the way his other self just acted was not sitting well with him.

“Shit,” he said to himself. Then he looked up at Marie. “I think he’s gone.”

“What do you mean he’s gone?” she asked with wide eyes.

“Come on!”

Five hurried toward the basement steps, with Marie and Klaus right behind him. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Five saw what he was afraid of. No other Five. And only one watch on the table.

“Shit,” he groaned again.

“Oh my god,” Marie whispered as tears started to form in her eyes. “Why would he leave us like this?”

Five walked over to the desk where he had found the file folder containing the other Five’s collection of Reggie-related things. He opened the drawer and pulled the folder out, holding it up for Marie to see.

“Do you know about this?”

She shook her head. “No, what is it?”

“He’s been tracking Reginald for years. I wasn’t sure why before, but the fact that he kept it a secret from you, and his reaction just now to what Klaus told him, tells me that it’s not anything good. The watch is missing, too.” He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled a long breath. “Fuck…I think I know where he went.”

“How do you know?” Klaus asked.

“Because he’s a version of me, remember?”

Marie wiped at the tears on her face as Klaus put an arm around her shoulder. “The whole world is falling apart and he just left us? I can’t believe he would do that. I can’t…you have to get him back…I need him here. I just…please…” she cried while covering her face with her hands.

“I have the other watch and I’ll bring him back. I promise,” Five told her; his voice gentle but firm.

“I’m coming with you,” Klaus said. Five opened his mouth to argue and Klaus held up a hand. “Don’t even try arguing, old man. I’m not letting you go by yourself.”

Five thought about telling him no, but decided it would take up too much precious time. They needed to find the other Five and bring him back to his family. So, he just nodded at his brother and grabbed the other watch off the table. He strapped it to his wrist and held it up to start setting the coordinates of where he was 99% sure his other self had gone.

“So, where are we going, anyway?” Klaus asked, as he gently let Marie go and put a hand on Five’s shoulder so he could be transported along with him.

Five looked up at Klaus with a worried face. “The Academy. November 11, 2002.”

********************************

Five had been troubled by his other self’s obsession with their father, but only from the standpoint that he knew it wasn’t healthy. He understood being angry and resentful towards Reggie; that was a given. All of his kids had some lasting trauma from him. Even the stupid Sparrows probably didn’t have much love for the man. But Five had decades alone to work through his anger, whereas this version of himself had been carrying it around with him ever since he had been thrown out onto the street as a kid. It was understandable that he had a big chip on his shoulder.

But Five could see now that this obsession had reached a new level as soon as Klaus told him about Reggie needing their powers. Of course he was going to be protective of his kids, Five certainly understood that. They weren’t even his kids, but he still felt a strong connection to them. So, just the thought of Reggie trying to harm them in any way was the push his other self had needed to make him take action. Even if that meant leaving his family and placing himself in danger in order to protect them all.

Five had hoped he had set the watch correctly, because the last thing he needed was another show down with the Sparrows, even if they were only kids. So, when he and Klaus appeared in the basement of the Academy, he was relieved to see he’d calculated it correctly. They were alone, as predicted, with the everyone in the house presumably at the dinner table.

“Wow, this is weird,” Klaus said, looking around at the familiar surroundings. “It looks the same.”

Five was already on the move, creeping quietly to the stairs. When he realized Klaus wasn’t following him, he loudly whispered, “Klaus! Come on!”

“Right,” his brother said, hurrying to catch up with him. “So what’s the plan?”

“We need to get upstairs without being seen, first of all. Then, we need to find my other self before he does something stupid.”

“Are you sure he’s even here?”

Five shrugged as he made his way up the stairs. “No, I’m not. But stick close to me in case we need to jump out of here fast, ok?”

With a nod, Klaus crept in closer to Five, stepping on his heel and bumping into the back of him, almost knocking him over. Five stopped and turned around with his usual irksome glare at his sibling. “Not that close.”

“Sorry,” Klaus said with a guilty smile.

As they arrived on the main level, Five held a hand out behind him to stop Klaus until he did a quick surveillance of the area. They were in the main foyer area, with the doors to the living room closed. Five could smell their mother’s cooking again, so he knew they must be at the dining table. That feeling of regret and shame started to wash over him again. They may have been in a completely different timeline, but the day and time were the same, and it was one Five would never forget.

“Now what?” Klaus whispered.

Five was about to answer when they heard a small shuffling noise nearby. Five motioned to Klaus to follow him, making his way down one of the hallways. It was dimly lit, just like everything else in the house, but they could clearly make out a figure sitting on the floor  against one of the walls.

As they approached, the figure of the other Five became clearer. He was hunched on the ground, his back against the wall, knees drawn to his chest, and arms folded across the top of them. His forehead was resting on his forearms with his eyes closed. In the hand that was closest to Five and Klaus was a pistol.

Five hesitated. He recognized the gun as Reginald’s that was kept in one of the chests near the front door. It was always kept loaded inside the drawer, for emergencies, or at least that’s what Pogo had told the children. It had never occurred to their father to be concerned for the safety of small children in the home with easy access to a loaded weapon.

“Shit,” Five whispered under his breath, glancing quickly at Klaus with a worried expression.

Five and Klaus quietly made their way closer to the Five on the floor. He seemed smaller than normal, like a child, with the way he was huddled up and curling in on himself. Five worried about the gun, and he didn’t want to make any loud or sudden movements.

When the two brothers came within a few feet of the other Five, he must have sensed their presence. With his head bolting up, the pistol was immediately aimed at their heads. The older-looking Five kept his finger on the trigger, his eyes wide and manic. Five and Klaus both froze in place and when the other Five recognized them, his eyes clouded with confusion.

He kept the gun aimed at them, but he had moved his finger off the trigger. “What are you doing here?” he hissed, trying to keep his voice down.

“Stopping you from making a big mistake,” Five whispered. “Get up off the floor and let’s go.”

His other self shook his head slowly and then looked in the direction of the front door. “He needs to be stopped. So he can’t hurt anyone anymore.”

Five swallowed. He tried to imagine himself doing this exact same thing if their past paths hadn’t deviated so drastically from one another. But Five had worked so hard for so long to get back to his family that he had a hard time imagining abandoning them in order to exact revenge on their father. But yet, that was him on the floor looking deranged and pointing a gun at him and Klaus, so it must be what he would have done.

“Five, listen…” Klaus started. “I know how you feel. Believe me, if anyone has envisioned blasting a bullet through dear old Dad’s monocle, it’s me. But after a while…it just doesn’t matter anymore.”

“He’s right,” Five said. “I wish I could change so many things from my past, but we just can’t. What has happened has happened. You can kill Reggie, but it’s not going to make you feel any better.”

The other Five laughed. “I’m quite certain I would feel loads better knowing that shit head isn’t going to be out there, torturing other kids, and ruining their lives.”

Five looked incredulous at that statement. “Ruining their lives? Your life was anything but ruined, you absolute shit-for-brains! Do you realize what you have? What most people would do to have your life? What I would do?”

His other self didn’t say anything, but he lowered the gun. His eyes remained dark and angry and he swallowed hard, looking away from the other two.

“From the looks of it, I think you already know that, don’t you?” Klaus asked softly. “Because if you were going to go through with it, you wouldn’t be sitting here looking all sad and pathetic.”

The other Five glared up at Klaus. “Maybe I hesitated, that’s true. But there’s still time.”

Five looked up and shook his head before looking back down at his other self. “Fuck…that’s the thing! There’s always time! We have infinite time at our disposal; we always have. But nothing we do is going to change what happened to us.”

“I don’t care,” the other Five snarled.

Five sighed. “Alright, how about this? What if killing Reginald right now, today, alters the world? We know the butterfly effect can do some crazy ass things, so let’s say you blow him away today and you feel better about yourself. But then you return home to find out your wife isn’t your wife and your kids never existed. What then?”

His other self looked away again, gripping and re-gripping the pistol in his hand nervously. “I don’t know.”

“But it’s entirely possible and you know it. That’s why you’re sitting here in the dark instead of doing what you set out to do.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you think Marie would say about you being here? Do you think she’d be proud to hear you killed him?”

“Don’t talk about my wife! You know nothing about her…or me!”

“You’re right, I don’t know her. But I do know she’s at home in tears because she thinks you left her and your kids when the world is ending. And as for me not knowing you? I know you all too well, unfortunately. I know the way your mind works and how you operate. I know how every little thing that you have screwed up in your life eats at you until you feel like you want to crawl out of your skin. Why do you think I’m a fall down drunk half the time? For fun? No, because I want to forget every shitty thing that’s ever happened to me. I want to erase it from my mind. But all I’ve managed to do is alienate my family and become a cynical, jaded old man.”

“That’s all true,” Klaus pointed out, helpfully.

After an identical annoyed look at Klaus, both Fives faced each other again. “But he has tortured so many of us over so many timelines. He needs to be stopped,” the other Five said without as much conviction behind his words as before.

Five shook his head. “No, he doesn’t. Reginald will always be Reginald no matter what. You can destroy this one and another one will pop up again somewhere else. That’s just how it works.” He took another step closer to his other self. “Remember your first kill for the Academy? When we were eleven?”

The other Five nodded slowly. “Yeah…I remember. Snapped that guy’s neck.”

“And we had nightmares about him for weeks.”

“Yeah, and then we killed a few more, and it wasn’t as bad. What’s your point?”

“After you left the Academy, you’ve never had to kill again. And that’s because no one was forcing you into it for your own survival.” Five let out a long exhale and raked his hand through his hair. “You don’t want to do this. Because once you start killing again, you’re going to be that same, messed up eleven year-old kid again. That part never goes away, no matter how many lives you take. So, do yourself a favor. Be grateful for once in your goddamn life and go home. Go home to your family and your house, your parents that loved you, your career that you’re proud of. Don’t waste it all because of one asshole in the world that called himself our father at one point in our lives. Don’t let him define who you are.”

Neither Five said anything for a moment, and then Klaus tapped Five on the shoulder and whispered nervously to him, “I think we need to go. Listen.”

The sound of footsteps and voices started to get closer to the hallway they had been hiding in. They could make out the familiar sound of Ben’s voice and then the ominous caw of a crow.

“Shit,” Five mumbled before holding out his hand to his other self. “Come on, fuck wad, if you’re coming, we have to go. Now!”

After a few more tense seconds of the voices and bird noises growing closer, and Klaus becoming visibly agitated, the other Five grabbed Five’s hand and let him pull him off the ground. Klaus clasped onto his brother’s shoulder and the three of them were gone in a popping flash of light.

@kaybreezy3000 @lunalovesangst

[eyitzme]

ᵗᵒʳⁿ ᵖᵃᵍᵉˢ ;; ᵈʳᵈᵗ

Summary: You can tear a page out of a book for countless reasons. The book can have things you don't want to read about, things you don't want others to know, or you simply felt like ripping it out. Whatever the case is, it's impossible to act like the pages were never there. No matter what, there will always be something to prove to you that there are pages missing, and the chances are that you'll know exactly why they're missing. Or, Ace Markey thinks about moments in his life relating to his childhood best friend, Min Jeung. Word Count: 427 A/N: My laptop can only work when it's being plugged in because the battery is dead. I have to use my mom's old one for now, but the fan gets turned on the moment you open it and it bothers me. Anyway, on a note that actually relates to this, this is the first chapter of a short multi-chaptered fic I started working on after Chapter 2's final episode because I started liking imagining Min and Ace as best friends, and them being childhood best friends made it even better. They literally are that in my heart, and you can't convince me otherwise. You can just take this as an advertisement to read this on other sites because Tumblr isn't the best place to post multi-chaptered works. If you're interested in reading more, the links to where you can read it in places where it will eventually have the other chapters will be provided at the end. And don't forget your daily clicks!

the future marks a path unknown to us. pebbles poke at my feet, while thorns poke into yours. we will still walk side by side. do you remember?

The first time Ace Markey met Min Jeung was on the first day of first grade.

Ace didn't want to go to school. He had no friends there. In his first grade class, he already knew were going to be some people from kindergarten, but he didn't like any of them, and none of them liked him. Everyone else there were strangers. With so many people telling him not to trust strangers, it made it hard for him to understand why he was being put in a place with so many of them for so long.

Ace's first grade classroom had desks arranged in rows where there were two desks were pushed next to each other. They were placed randomly to help give the children an opportunity to talk to someone they might never have seen before. His desk was next to a stranger. The first thing he noticed about her was that she had really long hair, and some of it was falling over her eyes. He had immediately wondered if she had ever gone to a barbershop before and if he could introduce her to his. She always smiled when he told her his first opinions about her.

His first words to her were a simple, "Hi." He had decided that the new girl couldn't be that bad and was trying to get someone to play with at recess. He had no one else, so he might as well take advantage of what the teacher had tried to do.

The girl looked at him with really bright purple eyes. They looked so unnatural that, back then, he thought they looked weird, and it was good her hair was starting to cover them up. "Hi," she said.

"My name is Ace," he said. "What is your name?"

"Min," she said.

"Where do you come from?"

"My country?"

"No, school."

"Another town."

"You moved here? From where?" Ace had never moved before, but he saw it a lot on TV shows. His past self could never see himself leaving his home to move into another one down the street, let alone leaving the United States of America to live somewhere else entirely.

"I can show you on a map."

"What is a map?"

Min gave him a look he never saw anyone have before. She was suddenly interested in her school supplies. Now, Ace knew Min had thought he was stupid, but back then, he didn't know what he did. All he did know was that he wasn't going to be playing with anyone at recess today.

Short chapter, but that's really how they all are. Anyway, if you want to read more, you can read it on Wattpad or AO3! Please note that the rest of this work will have spoilers for Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. It's just this chapter that didn't have it. If you would rather read more on Tumblr, just ask me for the next part. I won't constantly be updating this on Tumblr though, especially with my laptop deciding it lived a long enough life, so it's up to you to keep asking for new parts. Still, if you got this far, thank you for reading!