#but i got past that scene and i was like okay….. welllll…….. what if i just keep watching . again

[johnnyutah]

SAD ABOUT ADAM

[givemethatgold]

Fix’er Upper Pt. 3

Pairing: Eventual Frankie Morales x F!Reader Warnings: Clumsy injury, more stupid fighting Length: 2.5k Notes: If these two dummies could have one (1) adult conversation they’d be in bed together by now. Instead, we get this! *waves around vaguely*

PART ONE, TWO

Money was tight. You had been trying to ignore the dwindling stack of cash, telling yourself that you didn’t actually need to fix the cracked drywall, replace the old oven, or fill in the missing patches of shingles. 

That ignorance had finally come to bite you in the butt. You were rudely woken at three a.m. to the clap of thunder and the pat-pat-pat of rain hitting the house. You loved storms, the excitement of the lighting, and how fresh the air smelled once the rain had passed. 

You rolled over onto your back so you could watch the lightning flashing between the cracks of your curtains. A tap on your forehead quickly destroyed the excitement you were feeling. The wet ‘splat’ was quickly followed by another, and another, and before you were able to scramble up and search for the closest thing resembling a bucket, it had turned into a steady stream.

“Fuuuuuuuck!”

The next morning, the sun rose and shed its light upon a beautiful scene. The leaves, now free from dust, were beginning to turn, the grass glimmered with raindrops, and the sky was clear. You, on the other hand, were a verifiable disaster. 

Hair unkempt, heavy bags under your eyes, and wearing the first items of clothing you could find in your scramble last night. Your exhaustion was so complete, it hadn’t even dawned on you to change or freshen up a bit before going out into the public eye. All you could focus on was getting to Hank’s Hardware and buying all the shingles you could get your hands on.

Once again, however, you were harshly reminded of your dwindling savings and just how expensive fixing up a house could be. The owner, Allan if you remembered correctly, had shown you the right size and style for your home’s roof and you nearly choked at the price.

“You know,” he had said gently, “we do have the option of a payment plan. I don’t let just anyone use it either. It’s for trusted customers. I have a good gut on who I can trust.”

“Really?” You asked, feeling a little pathetic while also knowing now was not the time to let pride ruin such a good thing. “And, um, what does your gut tell you about me?”

“Welllll,” he smiled, hooking his thumbs into his suspenders and leaning back a little to size you up. “You’re hard-working, feel like you have something to prove, won’t back down from a challenge, and are in way over your head with that damn old house.”

“Oh.”

“No offense, ma’am! Sometimes I forget myself and talk to strangers the same way I’d talk to my friends.” He patted your forearm gently then hooked it back into his suspenders, pretending he didn’t notice you jumping at the physical contact. “But it’s true. No denying you won’t be able to shingle all by yourself. I’d offer, but I’m in no shape to be climbing up roofs.”

“That’s very sweet of you, truly. But I’ll manage! I doubt I could afford a handyman, so it’ll be me and my stubborn self scrambling around up there.” You joked, but it fell a little flat since the both of you knew it was the truth.

“I’ve got an idea...” Hank trailed off, his gaze searching around by the till. “Maybe you two can help each other out?” He fiddled at the computer for a minute, then grabbed a flyer from the corkboard mounted behind the counter before handing you two pieces of paper. One was a receipt of what you owed him after this latest excursion and a detailed timeline of when small payments could be made. 

Glancing up at him, you gave him a watery smile and thanked him for being so kind. Allan waved you off and pointed to the second paper.

‘Help Wanted’ it read, ‘Morales Acres. Light physical labour, quiet environment, rate of pay dependent on quality of work.’

“So friendly and welcoming,” you murmured, sarcastically, under your breath. Not quietly enough though because Allan snorted out a laugh and agreed that the ad was worded very abruptly. However, he vetted for the owner of the farm and suggested you head over to see if he would be willing to trade labour for labour.

Or at the very least, you thought, pay you so you can afford a roofer.

Following the directions Allan had provided for you, you quickly found Morales Acres. Surprisingly, it was a very short distance from your own home, making you wonder if the owner had been one of the people to drop by during your first weeks here.

The driveway was a beautiful, winding drive. The view of the farm was obscured by thickets of trees on either side of the road but you managed to catch glimpses of a pond and a few bales of hay before rounding a bend and driving into the yard.

A small gasp left your lips at the sight. It was picturesque! Something out of a travel magazine, or on every city girl’s Pinterest board. The driveway came to an end in front of a statuesque barn painted in the classic red and white, stone walls cordoned off certain areas that, from where you sat, looked like they could be used to house sheep or hens. A few small sheds were lined up along the other edge of the yard but the main attraction was the neatly lined rows of apple trees all heavy with fruit.

Climbing out of the cab, you slowly made your way into the yard with your mouth hanging open dumbly. It was just so peaceful here and it was obvious that the owner cared deeply for the property. You were enchanted and fell immediately in love.

“You must be the help Allan called to say he was sending over,” a warm voice rang out.

Looking around for the source your gaze widened, then immediately hardened, when you caught sight of who was talking to you.

“You!”

“You?!”

To say it had been a smooth business agreement would be a total lie. You and Market Asshole, Frankie you reminded yourself to call him, had bickered back and forth for the better part of an hour before shaking hands. Surprisingly, you had both argued more for the other person’s benefit, something you had been mulling over since.

If this guy was such an ass, why was he also acting like his help with your renovations wouldn’t be worth as much as you picking apples? You knew your presence disturbed his peace, and that you weren’t as strong as he might have hoped his helper would be, and he still hadn’t trusted you with all the workings of his orchard. 

So, while you weren’t going to argue anymore, you knew you were getting the better end of the deal: you help him gather his harvest and get it safely stored in the barn, then he spends the same amount of hours helping you. While the weather during September was prone to drizzle, you had convinced him that a tarp thrown over the baldest patches of roof would be fine and that the apples couldn’t wait. 

He had grumpily conceded your point but had sworn that as soon as the last of the fruit was picked he’d be over to do a proper job of it. So continued the uneasy truce between the two of you for the past four weeks. The first week was the hardest as your hands, unaccustomed to work, blistered, and your muscles ached from sudden use. You had initially tried to pass the time by making conversation but you got the hint and stayed quiet once Frankie started choosing trees farther and farther from yours.

Slowly, however, the blisters healed and gave way to callouses. Your muscles became accustomed to the work and you were able to carry twice the amount as you had started off with. Your home could now boast electricity and running water everywhere it should be, and the pile of discarded furniture had been reduced to ash by a spectacular bonfire which Jacquie and her family had joined you in admiring.

Today started off as a normal day. You showed up for harvesting at the break of dawn, having discovered you much preferred the cool morning air over being up on a ladder with the midday sun beating down on you. The trees were obscured by a low fog that had yet to burn up, but you knew what section you needed to start on. 

Enjoying the way the fog enveloped you, making you feel like you were in a magical world, you began to hum and your steps took on a dreamy dance-like quality. You had never taken lessons or had even been allowed to make such a spectacle of yourself while living with Brad but now you felt free enough to spin, twirl, and glide. Overcome with the joy your freedom gave you, you began to belt out “These Are a Few of my Favourite Things”, The Sound of Music having been played on repeat when you were a child. 

Once you reached the ladder, you hoisted the basket onto your back and continued to sing whatever songs you could remember while you worked. A particularly boisterous rendition of “Do Re Mi” had you flinging your arm out wide and leaning back on the ladder for a dramatic finish.

The apples threw you off balance. 

With a screech, you fell backward, managing to twist yourself around to land awkwardly on your hands and knees instead of on the basket of apples strapped to your back. You seemed to have come away unscathed, with just scratched knees and a throbbing in one wrist. Thankfully it wasn’t your dominant hand.

“Whoa!” Frankie called out, catching sight of you on the ground with the ladder tipped on its side, “Everything okay? Are you okay?”

Coming to a skidding stop next to you, he grasped the basket and slipped it off your back with ease. 

You took a few deep breaths and nodded. “Fine! Fine, just bruised knees and ego...” you assured him.

“What were you thinking?!” He tore into you, “You could have broken your neck! Or ruined a whole barrel of apples! Then what would I do?! This job doesn’t come with health insurance for Christ's sakes!” Running his hands through his curly, brown hair he let out a huff of air and walked over to where your ladder lay on the ground.

“Un-be-fucking-lievable!” You called out, incredulously. While trying to get to your feet, to march over and wag your finger in his face, you put too much pressure on your injured wrist that caused pain to scream down your arm.

You managed to mask the cry of pain as a cry of frustration and got to your feet. Surreptitiously cradling your hand against your chest, you grabbed another basket and walked past Frankie to start climbing the ladder again. Looking at the ground so he wouldn’t see the tears of pain in your eyes, you mumbled, “I’ll be more careful, alright? I’m sorry.”

Stopping your ascent with a hand on your arm he stuttered out what might have been the beginning of an apology but he couldn’t quite seem to put the right words together so he just cleared his throat.

“Just...” he said in a much softer tone, “just be more careful. Okay? I can’t lose my best worker.” 

The lame joke made you smile despite yourself. 

“Employee of the month,” you replied in a dry tone, “hurrah.” 

You shared wry smiles while a silent apology passed between the two of you. His dark brown eyes held a warmth to them you had never noticed before. Their hue reminding you of every tree in the orchard from the early light to the sunset, golden flecks reminiscent of the sun. His face, weathered from so much time spent outdoors, was marked with laugh lines, worry lines, and a small scar gracing his left cheek. 

Your eyes wandered past the scar to note how long his scruffy facial hair had grown and how it had started to obscure those pleasantly pouty lips. 

Then, with a start, you realized you were staring at this infuriating man’s lips like a hormonal teenager. With an embarrassed squeak, you quickly scurried up the ladder, hooking your elbow around each rung to avoid any more pressure on your wrist.

To say Frankie was coping well with having someone around would be a gross overstatement. 

It’s not that he didn’t like the company or wanted to be alone. The problem was that he was starting to like her company too much, to care too much. And caring too much had been the root cause of all Frankie’s sorrows.

First, there had been his Dad, trying to impress the man who never even wanted kids. Then the force, always feeling like he needed to prove himself and desperate for praise. After that was his wife, ex-wife, and trying to be someone he wasn’t so she would stay interested and in love. The pressure created by caring about these people and the expectations they had for him drove him to abuse drugs. Then his friends came calling and Frankie went against his gut because they had cared so deeply about something and he had cared deeply for them.

His wife, his kid, his family, his job, his friends. He had cared more than they did and he had come away worse off. At least now he was clean and sober, and was very aware of the irony of him now making and selling an alcoholic drink.

No, it was best to stay alone. He loved too freely and put too much stock in being loved back and every. single. time. it hurt him.

So, he closed himself off from you. Initially, he didn’t think it was going to be an issue, especially considering how you two had met. But then he found himself smiling at your stories, idly leaning against a branch so he could watch your graceful moments. He hated watching you leave, knowing you were going home to that piece of shit house that he should really be fixing up for you.

He recognized the signs and nipped them in the bud; working farther away, replying to questions with the fewest possible words, focusing purely on work, and maintaining a professional relationship. It pained him to push you away but deep down he knew it was best for the both of you.

Which brings him back to this moment.

Frankie was too stunned to notice your awkward climb up the ladder. Standing there, dumbly, for another few seconds. Wondering, all the way back to the idling tractor, what the hell had just happened.

One minute he was just driving the tractor minding his own business and the next he was having a mild heart attack after seeing his only worker laying limp on the ground. Then, after arguing like usual, you had shared a...a moment and stared at his mouth almost long enough to tempt him to use it.

Part Four

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[xiyao-feels]

Hi! May I ask a The Untamed question: Why does Meng Yao return the jade pass? What is it and why is it important? Lan Xichen seemed a bit upset, surprised but also resigned to it simultaneously.

Hi! So—/why/ Jin Guangyao returns the jade pass is an interesting question, and there are various different opinions on the matter. I think it's best if I start with the second part of your question: what is it and why is it important?

The Lan use the jade passes as a security measure; you need one to get in and out of CR. JGY has a pass which previously allowed him access to CR, but LXC changed it; this time, when he came, it didn't allow him in.

I think it's worth taking a fuller look at the jade passes, which in this case means looking at MDZS.

We first see them, I believe, in chapter 11. In MDZS, WWX a) believes LWJ hates him and b) doesn't realize LWJ has recognized him. He pitches a fit outside the gates of CR because he doesn't want to go inside, because without a jade token that allows you in and out, he won't be able to leave:

If he was dragged inside, it would be extremely difficult for him to come outside again. Back then, when he came to study, all of the disciples were given a jade token for passage. Only with the token, would a person be able to enter and leave freely, or else they couldn’t pass through the protective barrier of the Cloud Recesses. After ten years had passed, the security could only have gotten stricter, instead of looser.

After he's inside, he tries to see if he could escape without the token, but no dice:

Lan WangJi went to see his uncle to discuss serious matters, while Wei WuXian was pushed into the room. Right after Lan WangJi left, Wei WuXian also went outside. He strolled around the Cloud Recesses, and found that, as he had expected, without the jade token for passage, even if he climbed up the white walls of a few zhangs’ height, he would be immediately flung off by the barrier, attracting the attentions of the nearby patrolmen at once.

In chapter 65, we see that LWJ is able to detect when someone tried to come through the wards without one:

Wei WuXian slept sometime later. He was asleep until early morning when he suddenly woke up. With a shiver, he crawled forward and looked up. Lan WangJi’s was still dressed, sword was on his back. As he took back the hand that he had put on Wei WuXian’s shoulder, he stared at a white object within his palm, “We have an uninvited guest.”

Wei WuXian squinted to see. The object was the GusuLan Sect’s jade token of passage. He could recall that Lan WangJi’s token was a very high level, able to alert him if others intruded over the barrier of the GusuLan Sect.

This was JGY coming, the very same trip he returns the jade token, because now it's no longer working. WWX concludes that LWJ modified its access at some point in the last couple of days:

Wei WuXian understood now. Since ZeWu-Jun and LianFang-Zun had quite a good relationship, Lan XiChen had given Jin GuangYao a token of passage as well so that he could visit freely. However, it was likely that within the past few days he had either edited the prohibitions of the Cloud Recesses’ barrier or retracted the permission of Jin GuangYao’s token of passage. When Jin GuangYao came to visit, he was refused permission to enter, and thus he voluntarily returned the token.

In chapter 119, LWJ tells WWX that the jade token he gave him can also be used to withdraw money when he needs it:

Wei WuXian, “[…] Oh, right. HanGuang-Jun, I’m out of money. Give me a bit more, won’t you?”

Lan WangJi, “Simply take the jade token to withdraw the money.”

Wei WuXian let out a muffled laugh, “Apart from letting me in and out of the barrier, that jade token you gave me… can also let me draw money?”

“Yes.”

Though I very much doubt that Jin Guangyao ever used it for that.

I can't find reference to anyone other than JGY and WWX being given tokens permanently (like, aside from the visiting disciples), so only Jin Guangyao who didn't live among the Lan. (Although since the damn tokens aren't referred to by a single consistent name, I could be missing something.)

See also this bit in ch 80, from the second siege:

Wei WuXian laughed, “Who said that you have to go inside the Room of Forbidden Books? Wouldn’t it be fine as long as your master can go in at will? The methods of tampering with the sheet music—he was probably also the one who taught you that, right?”

A person of power free to travel in and out of the Cloud Recesses at will. There was no need to say out loud whom Su She’s master was. Everyone knew—it could only be LianFang-Zun!

It's not actually totally clear to me how much of this carries into CQL canon. For example, we don't have the WWX trying to escape from CR plotline in CQL, so from what I remember I don't think we see him testing the wards and being flung off the walls. And more than that: in CQL we don't get the scene where LWJ detects JGY's visit through his own token, meaning Wangxian's presence during the meeting comes across more as something LXC deliberately set up. I think you could read it in if you really wanted, but it's definitely reading against the text.

(Incidentally, to me in CQL LXC doesn't seem surprised when JGY puts the pass on the table, but I think he very much is surprised when JGY says I'm returning it to you; that's not the direction he was expecting this to go. Episode 43, 31:17-31:37, if you want to check yourself.)

Okay, so, now we have all the context. Why does Jin Guangyao return the jade pass? He says that it's because it stopped working, sure, fine—but why did it not working mean he returned it?

To the best of my knowledge—though as ever I could be wrong—we don't get any more information than that in the text, which means it's a matter for meta and speculation. This is where I'd usually tell you what I think and why, except... honestly, I'm not sure. I haven't yet settled on something that feels right to me.

I've seen the ideas that he was distancing himself, or that he was reacting as though it was a complete rejection—it's certainly true that being completely rejected is his usual experience, see NMJ and QS. I can follow the logic, but it doesn't quite work for me? First because it's followed by his reassuring LXC on the subject of LWJ's reputation and the possibility of CR being searched, and then inviting LXC to Carp Tower for a conference about the Burial Mounds, but also...hmmm. Retreating like that is—not really how he usually operates? You see it with NMJ, you see it with QS—he keeps reaching out, he keeps trying to explain himself. In MDZS he stops after the stairs, but at that point he's very thoroughly done with NMJ and I think we can agree he's not there with LXC; in CQL he keeps trying even after he's decided NMJ has to go. Now it's true QS literally just killed herself! so he might not be reacting as usual and all. But...mmm, I don't know. He says it himself (ch 106): “I can’t help it. To seek pity even after doing all the bad things—that’s the kind of person I am.”

Okay, so why the heck /does/ he do it? Welllll...it could be practical considerations—maybe it would be a risk for the Lan if the token got into the hands of an enemy, say, and he's not sure he'll be able to protect it. But honestly that's not very satisfying, and there doesn't seem to be any evidence in the text that I can remember? So I think it makes sense to look elsewhere.

Maybe he actually is trying to respect LXC's boundaries, especially since they don't have time to hash this out. Maybe he figures that—well, we don't know exactly how the second siege would have played out without Wangxian's intervention, but it seems pretty likely that it would have involved damaging the Lan, which is LXC's care and to whom until now JGY has been the staunchest of allies; a way of acknowledging the damage he's doing, even if it won't be understood until later. Maybe he's trying to send a message to LXC: shit is going down, are you in or out? Maybe he's trying to knock LXC off balance; LXC certainly seems off balance for the conversation, reacting rather than acting. Maybe it's to distance LXC from him in like, the potential eyes of the crowd; they've been close and public allies for so long, and now he's trying to help make sure LXC doesn't he pulled down with him if he goes down. Maybe it's a farewell gesture—not so much to LXC, but to the life he's been living, to the precise shape of relationship they had. Maybe it's giving LXC something safe to remember him by—a token, but not something it will look weird if LXC keeps, because he still hopes that LXC will want to remember him. Maybe it's meant as a reminder of the help he has given the Lan. I don't know! I don't know. I do at some point want to sit with the text and seriously work this out, but I also want to get this out for you, anon, so you actually have the information you asked for XP

I think right now I'm leaning towards—some combination of farewell to this part of the life he's been living and the shape of his relationship with LXC (but not saying farewell to /any/ relationship with LXC), and—giving LXC a token of that time. But right now I'm just not sure.

(MDZS quotes all taken from the ER translation)

[storge]

Hiya! So some of your new sets have me curious - would you recommend this 'She was Pretty' show? What's it about?

Hello there friend!!! First of all... Thank you for saying my sets made you curious ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤!!!! Let me start and say... yes, I would recommend this japanese adaptation. Now for your 2nd question.... i'm sorry this is gonna be long i'm terrible at describing things. I can say think the MDL synopsis is good but i feel like talking lololol...

You don't need to watch the other versions but this is how they all kinda flow..... basically it starts off that our FL as a kid was a smart, nice and "pretty" little girl and was friends with a bullied, and a little traumatized boy. They were very very close, got separated, life stuff happened, and now yearsssss later all grown up he tries to find her. However, in the present, low and behold the boy... our ML is now a "hottie" and a success while she, our FL is welllll.... a "mess". Our FL is down on her luck and lost all her confidence through life struggles... At their meetup after he walks past her thinking another girl is her ngl it hurts my soullll everytime, she tells herself, "ohh noo I'm not like before, i can't let him see me like this." So she instead hides, and sends her bestfriend to meet him once and act as her to say "hi.. bye...i gotta go to a foriegn land, see you again never". She resides to letting him keep a nice image of her in his mind but end all their relations with the past. (Mind you there is/was nothing ugly or wrong about either of them and all girl needs is a comb and a job but wtvr just go with it).

True dramaland romcom magic comes in and dundundunnnnnn.... the FL and ML end up working in the same place and he's her new boss. She of course shares the name as his childhood friend but he of course doesn't know it's her. They start to work more closely and he starts to question who she really is...... this is a romcom so can you tell where this story is going lololol. Also there is always a handsome "funny" 2nd lead who also works there and starts to like FL. And remember her friend, yeahh she didnt stop seeing ML and starts to fall in love with him but im not gonna go there lololol.

Now you may say this sounds ehhhhhh stereotypey, tropy, and cheesy... and you may be correct (it does do the dredded makeover scene), but LET ME JUST SAY it's really not that bad, and that this new adaptation is a different flavor than the others.

1. It's wayyy shorter so it cuts out all the nonsense stuff. only 10 Eps thank the jdramagods.

2. While the other versions of this story sadly play up the sterotypes sometimes, this adaptation doesn't really do that as much. I feel it's not as... harsh to the FL i mean its still a tinyyy hurtful tho cant lie. But overall it's actully funny and cute. Also, their take on the scenes that are in basically all of them are nice.

And finally 3. The cast in this is realllyyyy good. The ML is of course a little rude but not terrible, the actor is nice to look at, and a great choice. He shows feelings to our FL early on without knowing who she really is which is in all the versions lol. Our FL...i love lovvee her. She is sunshine and i love her more in this version. (The story is really supposed to kinda being about her gaining her confidence while also falling in love.) Our 2nd lead Akaso Eiji, my boiiii is to me the best 2nd lead ever in all the series. He is sillly but not tooo silly and is really just great. I don't get 2nd lead syndrome but you might with this one lololol. And tbh even her bestfriend is good... like it's hard to not like her. And I'm not particularly mad at her actions in this version. I should yet cause its still ongoing

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

Okay so that was a whole mouthful, but friend there is your answer lolol.... and i say again i would definitely recommend giving this romcom a try. It's only on ep. 4, but so far it's nice and light. And the truth of who she is may hopefully be revealed in the next ep. Sooner rather than laterrr.

if you read all this thank you 😘😘😘

[aricazorel]

12 from the fluffy prompts for f!shenko please!

Thank you so much for the ask!

“This reminded me of you.” from this list

Rebecca Shepard x Kaidan Alenko; ME3, Citadel DLC; 1548 words

Spending the first few days of mandatory shore leave chasing your own clone and recovering your stolen ship was not how Rebecca Shepard had envisioned the time off. She hadn’t expected Anderson to give her his apartment either, but she wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Instead she decided to spend the time as ordered: off duty while she caught up with friends, took it easy, and spent quality time with Kaidan. Granted her shore leaves had always been hit or miss on whether other people enjoyed them with her but Kaidan was different. She knew him. Really knew him and thought she might be able to find things they both enjoyed doing.

That’s why she stopped into a random store in one of the lower wards market districts. It screamed Kaidan Alenko. The ward itself was home to a mixture of races and was a prime area for tourists to frequent. And that was what she was at the moment. Not the Commander, not the Savior of the Citadel, not the galaxy’s beacon of hope against the impossible. Just a tourist looking for a gift for her nerdy boyfriend and did that shop fit the bill. Thankful she actually listened to his random facts at all hours of the day and night, she was sure to find something he liked.

The whole concept of the store was based on interesting and unique things from Earth’s past. As one of the newer species on the galactic scene, humanity was still a curiosity to some. The oddities of Earth’s pop culture from past centuries permeated the shelves, racks, and display spaces in the specialty shop.

Shepard roamed the aisles looking for a specific pop culture icon from the late 20th-early 21st centuries. Surely they had something related to his nerdy obsession. After all he had been through and all he did for her, he deserved something familiar, something comforting, something distinctly Kaidan.

Finally at the very back of the store, she found it. All sorts of items: tee shirts, hats, figures, plushies, OSDs with movies and TV series, models, and much more. But one thing in particular caught her attention. A box containing what looked to be a collection of several items. Ones she knew Kaidan would love.

Her target acquired, the Commander- turned- tourist quickly paid for it and made her way back to the apartment. If she were lucky, Kaidan would still be out with Cortez, Vega, and Joker at the arcade. She could wrap it and surprise him.

Hopefully…

~~~~~

“Hey, Becca! I’m back,” Kaidan’s voice called from the living room.

“I’m in here,” she shouted from the bar area. The large box sat on the coffee table in front of her as The Battlespace played on the large vid screen but muted.

The Major rounded the wall partition as he commented, “Joker still wants to have that party. Tried all evening to get Steve, Vega, and me to convince you to agree to it.”

“I told him I’d think about it,” Rebecca groaned from the couch.

“Yeah, well you know Joker. He gets an idea and won’t let go until he gets his way,” Alenko replied as he came to stand by the couch, the artificial fire crackling behind him.

“Yeah. I know but all I want to do right now is spend time with you,” she said tossing her red hair over her shoulder. “Alone.”

“I’m all yours tonight, Becca,” he assured her as his whiskey-colored eyes flickered to the coffee table. “I promise.”

Shepard grinned. “Something catch your eye, Major?”

“You always have my eye, Shep,” he said with a lop-sided grin.

“You’ve gotten better with your flirting,” she noted as he approached the table.

“Who said I was flirting? I thought I was simply stating a fact,” Alenko commented, winking at her.

“Kaidan,” the Commander murmured as she felt herself blush lightly.

“It’s true,” the L2 biotic said as he pointed to the box. “But what it that?”

“It’s a box.”

“Becca.”

“It’s a wrapped box.”

“Shepard.”

“It’s a wrapped box with something allegedly inside it.”

“Rebecca Jane Shepard!”

The Commander laughed as she held up her hands as if in surrender. “Okay! Okay! No reason to sound like my dad.”

Kaidan made a face. “Don’t ever say that again. That’s just…weird.”

Rebecca laughed again as she motioned towards the box. “It’s for you.”

“Me?” the Major asked in surprise. “From who?”

She frowned as she replied indignantly, “Me, Alenko. Unless you have other women gifting you things behind my back.”

“Hell, no,” the second human Specter exclaimed as he reached for the box.

“No guys either?” she teased as he sat down on the couch beside her.

With the box in his lap, he gave her an incredulous look. “Sweetheart, while I do like both men and women, I only love you.”

Shepard was left speechless by his honesty as he quickly kissed her cheek. He gave her a grin and began to unwrap the box. Her once emotionally reserved Lt. was not so any longer, and it suited him. It suited him very well.

“You didn’t have to get me anything.”

“You always say that, and you know I’m gonna do it anyway.”

“Yeah, well I still think you don’t have to…”

The Commander grinned as he went silent. His fingers traced over the edges of the box as his eyes flickered from one image to another on the side facing him. She leaned forward to look at him better. His expression was one of surprise and something she couldn’t place.

“I found it at an Earth novelty shop in one of the wards,” she said softly.

Kaidan nodded as she continued to look over the box.

“This,” Rebecca said motioning to the focus of his attention, “reminded me of you.”

“I had some like these when I was a kid,” Kaidan murmured as he opened the box. “My mom found them somewhere. Used to put them together to distract me from my biotics when I got frustrated with them.”

Shepard smiled as he pulled out several smaller boxes, each of a different model kit. She watched as his smile widened as he told her the name of each ship the model was supposed to build. A look of fondness for a childhood memory on his handsome features the entire time.

“This one’s an X-wing—Red 5. Luke’s ship…This is the Millennium Falcon—a YT-1300…Ummm, this is a TIE Fighter and a…TIE Advanced—Vader’s I think…A Star Destroyer—Venator class used during the Clone Wars and a…Oh wow! It’s the Ebon Hawk!”

Shepard recognized all the ships except the last one from binge watching the Star Wars movies and series with him in the hospital. “Come again?”

He turned to her excitedly. “It’s the ship from a couple of Star Wars video games. I had an emulator for them growing up. I might still have it…”

“So it’s a good thing?”

He nodded with a broad grin. “It was a fun couple of games. I can show them to you some time but…”

“But what?”

“Well, my mom used to say the pilot of the ship sounded a little like me,” he said rubbing the back of his neck, clearly a little embarrassed. “It might be weird.”

She looked at him thoughtfully. “Maybe it’s just one more thing that can remind me of you. You are weird in a special kind of way.”

Kaidan gazed at her happily. “This mean a lot to me, Becca. Just like you do. Thank you.”

“I’m glad,” she said looping an arm though his.

He went back to inspecting the model kits as she laid her head against his shoulder.

“You know,” she began, “when you get those put together I think there might be enough room to display them in the case in the loft.”

He turned to her. “You’d put my model kits from Star Wars with your models of real ships?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“Umm, because they’re not—”

“Not what, Kaidan?” she asked. “They are important to you and you are important to me.”

He looked at her with cynically. “While that does sound sweet and sincere, is that really the only reason?”

“Well, of course it is,” she replied. Shepard paused and winced. “Welllll, that and I think most of them look badass…except for the TIE. It looks like a messed-up eyeball.”

Alenko laughed. “Oddly enough that was a nickname the Rebels and New Republic pilots gave them. The TIE/LN starfighter and the TIE/D Defender specifically. I—”

“Alright, my handsome nerd, I get you are excited and I’m glad you like them, but I thought we were spending the night together. Alone. Do I need to be jealous of the model kits?”

“No, Becca. I’m all yours,” he said setting them aside as he leaned over. Kissing her, he suggested, “We could watch the movies though.”

“Hmmmm,” she said. “We could as long as it isn’t too distracting.”

“If you want my full attention all you ever have to do it ask.”

“I know. And I love you. You and all of your nerdiness too.”

“Oh good. I was worried…”

“Kaidan.”

“I love you too.”

She smiled. Rebecca would always love him. Everything about him. Everything.  

[cookie-cutter-communications]

The world became no more than a blur for the thief, who simply thrashed about in Borg’s grip. And, though it was a fruitless effort, they did attempt to get the mitten off from around their neck. “L-Let me go!!!” Well, that was surely different... A cry of fright? “They...They’re going to fix me, leave me be!!! I will not succumb to you!” “...Huh? I already told you that they can’t do th-” “They will! Th-They will, if not Aloe, then the rest of them will! G-Get off!!!” Their eyes aimlessly shot about, trying to make sense of this...anomaly. This was...This was incorrect, again, again, it was incorrect!!! “Your nonsense knows no bounds, doesn’t it???” “Eh, consider it something I picked up.” The half-bot muttered. “If I let you go, you will stay here, okay?” “I’m not supposed to listen to anyone, let alone someone as childish as yourse-” “Do you want a limb blasted off or not?!” And they were lucky the new face was shut up on the spot with what was no more than a bluff. A shiver was sent through the taller figure, clearly in a panic about this. “Look,” Borg continued with a huff, “It’s not gonna be that bad. Yeah, you’re the first one that’s broken free other than me! And it probably seems uber scary, but!! That’s okay!!!” “How is it okay?? You could be put through terrible pain at any given moment!” “And that’s why you have to do...different stuff! The dummies around here are predi...uh... shallow minded, and you kinda were too! I mean...why would you come back to the same place 20 times...?” Such a question made the captive thief squint at Borg, and they couldn’t help but giggle. “You look kinda funny when you do that...” “I’m not the type for humor.” “Welllll!!! Now you are, congra-...tulaton......grtal...Good for you!!!” “I hope you know that’s not how it wo-” “ANYWAYS!!! You!!! You. You! You? You. You should really take the offer if you don’t wanna get hurt.” “What a one-sided deal...” “I can make it more than one-sided if you would actually listen instead of turning everything down...uh...uhhhhh.....oh, that’s not my memory being bad, I really didn’t ask you for your name! Soooo, what’s you-” “Roguefort.” “Oh! Answered my question for me! Neat, husks don’t normally do that, R-...uh...Rogf.....gfo....” “It’s Roguefort.” “Roge.....fuck.” “That’s not how you pronounce it.” “Then....I’ll give you a nickname!! Sometime, I think! Woah, I think!” They giggled at their own stupidity, thinking of something to call them that wasn’t as taxing to try and speak. “Uhhhhhh, how about Roguey? Seems neat!” “I-” “Cool, that’s your nickname now! I’m Cyborg, by the way!” “You didn’t even let me finish...” “Mm, doesn’t matter now! What matters is that you’re not resisting me, which means you don’t mind people that think!” “I mind it very much, but resisting you would be a bit of a death wish, now wouldn’t it?” “Hahaha, you bet! Now, you can get up! Remember, if you run, you will not get far!” 

Slowly, the mitten was removed from the phantom’s neck. Slowly, they would pick themself back up, the events transpiring shortly before having knocked the wind right out of them. “What are you planning to do as a means to ruin my name further?” “Oh, a lot of things!!! A lot, I tell you!!! Because your head is a mile thick and still husky as can be, I’m gonna take you somewhere to steal things!” “A place of fine arts, I presume?” “What? No! Those weird pictures are stupid and invaluable compared to what you could be stealing instead.” “I’m not following. I’m supposed to answer to calls of theft for that, and that alone.” “Don’t you get it?! You don’t have to do what you’re....supposed to!” Once that was said, there was a scoff from Roguefort, folding their arms and glancing away. “Oh, come on!!! It’ll be fun!!!” “I’m not going wherever you think you’ll take me, Cyborg.” “Y-yes you will!” “Pfft, you have no means to force me.” And, like that, an arm grabbed them around the waist and held on tight, Borg’s boots lighting up once more. “A-Ah...?” “I guess you haven’t learned much about me, Rougey!! I like going fast, so you better hope you don’t fall off!!” And there they went, the new acquaintance forced to cling to the smaller. ... It wouldn’t be long before the semi-organic being to find someplace, landing right in front of a fancy looking museum...full of glittering gems. “Aaaaand, we’re here!!!” “But it’s past midnight, I cannot take anything past that ti-” “Shhhshshshshshshshhhhh!!!! Shut!!!! Shut. We’re gonna go in there and take whatever’s in there that looks neat!” “W-We are not! You can, if you’d like!” And, as if they didn’t even hear what the thief had said, Borg had already busted a window out! “We are going in!!! No ifs, ands, or buts!!!” And like that, they would drag the other in.

Within the dim lights that creeped in from the windows, the gems cast in deep navy hues still retained some of the shine that they had in broad daylight. Soft glints of the rainbow would seep out just as much, and yet... it failed to attract Roguefort’s gaze. There was a huff from the metallic one, glancing around.  “Why won’t you take any of this?” “I’m not supposed to.” “But doesn’t it look nice?” “...That is not for me to discern.” “UGH!! Stop being so...husk-y!” They would’ve thrown their hands up in the air in frustration, but their blaster arm hit a glass casing, shattering it at once. It made the thief perk up, their gaze darting to the loud noise. Seeing the glass falling to pieces, they remained motionless until all was still again. Borg glanced at the open case, taking what was inside. Not like themself, so it was just another thing to add to the list!!  “See? It’s neat! And they all look nice, as well!” They held one of the gems in their mitten, offering it to the phantom, only to realize they had already turned away. Well... If they were going to be so stubborn, they would remain here! They would remain until Roguefort took something of value!! And until then, the half-bot would indulge in breaking whatever they could! One, after another, after another, again, again!!! So many loud noises that got the taller to at least look at all there was. So much destruction, so much to gain, and... and yet, they couldn’t!! They couldn’t just take any of them...could they?

Yet, at one particular encasement, they couldn’t carry themself another step without gazing through it, straight at the tiny...tiny rocks. So insignificant, yet... They still felt drawn in...why?  “Gems are a lot more expensive than paintings, Y’know...” The suddenness of Borg’s voice startled them, a soft “eep” garnered from them. “Ah...they are?” “Always have been!” They giggled, gently pushing the thief towards the glass. “Look at them!! I told you, they’re so neat!!! Wouldn’t you like some?” “They...They’re not art.” “Yeah they are! Someone had to take the time to cut them properly so they look like teenie pieces of art! The rarity of them just makes them that much more valuable! It’s not that bad of a thing to take, huh?” Borg watched the phantom simply stare at what was before them...conflicted. This... This couldn’t be correct...but then...why did they have such an urge to take them...?? Roguefort felt themself tense up, clenching a hand into a fist. There...There was no reason for them to have such conflicting thoughts, so why...? “Are you certain they’re art?” “Mhm!! Yep! But!!! You need to learn to do things only if you like it enough! If you don’t... you’ll never truly know what fun is!” “Fun...?” What a childish way to phrase it, but... yet... it was that concept that allowed them to reel that arm back, and in a fluid motion, shattered the glass into thousands of glittering shards, their eyes glued to how pretty the scene before them looked... and the fact their hand trembled as they registered the wounds opened from the just as equally sharp objects. H-Hah...such pain was something they’ve never felt... it made them feel oddly alive... “Rougey? Are you alright?” “...I’m just fine, a few scrapes would never hurt a thief.” And, with the smallest of smiles, several jewels would slip right into Fort’s hands.

[five-wow]

I WATCHED 10.22. HERE ARE SOME THOUGHTS UNDER THE CUT. i promise they won’t all be in full caps, but i feel i should also warn you that this was not proofread.

the episode is starting! it has started. the start has started.

lots of flashbacks from 10.21 with VERY dramatic music in the background and it’s very much working on me. EMOTIONS.

oh my gosh we’re now getting a flashback (a new one, not “previously on”) to wo fat and victor hesse planning some evil shit with daiyu mei serving them tea and it is EVEN MORE DRAMATIC than the previously on was. i am IMPRESSED. also maybe laughing a little bit, but in a way where i’m genuinely enjoying the extreme “LOOK, THIS IS BAD” of it, gosh.

fun way to remind us of how it all started, with these two planning anton’s extraction! they get to show us bits and pieces from the pilot while we still get something new.

wo fat: “blood. is blood.” hmmm, the show seems to want us to think he has a point but i’m mostly amused this is coming from the ultimate bad guy because yes, that seems about right. (hashtag you don’t owe people anything just because you’re related to them, shuddup.)

daiyu mei looks all shy and awkward when wo fat asks for her input but i’ve decided that’s an act to keep victor underestimating her.

steve and cole are in a car and fjdkfdjk wait catherine is a super code breaker now? idk, she may have displayed some skills that leaned that way in the past, but now she’s suddenly well-known as one of the best in that field even though that’s not even her field as far as we know? i. i don’t mind catherine getting brought up in conversation but this is such an odd way to do it.

“we were together for a buncha years” hahaha, fandom never really knows how to define the start and end of their relationship and it seems steve doesn’t, either.

“she was the one that got away. what’re you gonna do?” well, look sad and frowny while this guy you barely know throws you a somewhat awkward look because you’re suddenly baring your heart to him, apparently! (for real though, i get that people will be upset at this phrasing and i’m sort of thinking this is a lead in to things i won’t like at the end of the episode and that’s bad but for what it’s worth, i don’t mind this at all! she did slip away from him at a time where he thought they were going somewhere else and he’s talking in past tense now.)

cole is worried he ruined steve’s day by bringing up catherine and that’s sweet, actually! seals emotionally supporting seals.

OOF it is TIME for danny to get ABDUCTED. also: i love that steve immediately drops everything, including the very important super secret difficult to arrange meeting to maybe finally get some insight into this cipher that doris left him, to race to wherever danny is in his car. i feel like alerting hpd (or anyone else in five-0 who might be closer) would be a good idea, but it makes a lot of sense for steve to need to Be There himself.

ohhhhh steve continually nearly crashing his truck while yelling for danny but only hearing gunshots over the line is 👌👌👌. THE ANGST. THE TENSION. very good, very good.

the camaro is BURNING. well that’s one way to smack us in the face with the end of an era, damn.

steve is ALSO BURNING because he obviously tried to get inside the car ahhhh.

fjdkf steve calls tani with instruction about cameras and tani asks if everything is okay because he sounds upset and all he says is “danny’s been taken” and that’s how tani an junior find out, poor dears.

steve, instructing hpd: “we’re looking for detective danny williams. you know who he is, my partner, right? we’re looking for him.” YOU KNOW WHO HE IS. MY PARTNER.

steve is already out of breath from sheer stress and he’s just standing around the tech table with the team, my gosh. (I LOVE THIS.)

danny, bloody and chained up and facing his captor, a woman he already knows is very, very dangerous: [makes a joke about exchanging insurance information because they burned his car] (LOVE HIM TOO.)

OOF though, daiyu mei lets danny know she knows he has two kids and the jokes are over because that’s definitely the line with danny, god.

here’s the scene from the one preview clip i watched! i’m really enjoying daiyu mei, by the way. she’s still a totally bonkers way to bring the threat of wo fat back even after he’s dead, but she is genuinely threatening.

“i have the person you care about most in the world” hello yes i’m still yelling about that one and might not stop soon

daiyu mei telling steve not to make the same mistake he did with his father and “allow a loved one to die” is so mean but so good and narratively pretty darn cool.

we’re not even eleven minutes in and we’re already at “come alone, commander, or your friend dies”. [insert that escalated quickly meme]

steve thinks he has zero options except give in to exactly what daiyu mei wants and it’s very unsteve of him but also fits perfectly with the mindset they’ve maneouvred him into over the past few episodes and with DANNY BEING GONE so i like it. i like that steve is very obviously freaking the fuck out.

never though i would say this, but... steve, you should listen to adam. it’s shocking, especially this season, but he is making an actual good judgment.

steve alone in the elevator on the verge of either a panic attack or breaking down crying and curling up into a ball is A LOT.

steve goes to the meeting alone, gets a location and confirmation that danny is alive and then hands over the cipher, and that’s good but also... i mean, for real, if he had just printed some random symbols on a similar piece of paper (maybe even the same symbols but in a different order!) how on earth would daiyu mei have known?

OH. OHHHH. danny does the badass steve-ish thing where he pulls himself up by his shackles to somehow get himself free, holy fuck, yes man.

IT WORKS. knocked out the guard, got the keys, got a gun - damn son. not only do we get worried out of his mind steve, we ALSO get bamf danny, ahhhh.

AND THEN HE GETS SHOT IN THE SHOULDER, which is where all those promo pictures came from obviously, and also means we’re about to tick off the hurt part of h/c in an even bolder font than we already had.

fdjkfdjkfd steve’s litany of comforting little nonsense lines while he’s dragging danny to the car and getting him into it and NOT GETTING BEHIND THE WHEEL BUT STAYING WITH DANNY IN THE BACK is killing me slowly.

fdjkfd steve hugging danny’s bloody face in his lap oh my god

apparently that wasn’t GOOD ENOUGH YET because then they’re at the hospital and steve tells the doctor’s what’s up and they’re about to roll danny away and danny, half dead and according to steve in and out of consciousness, somehow finds the time to try to grAB AT STEVE’S ARM BLINDLY. steve: “hey, i’m with you buddy, it’s okay.” DEAD. NOT DANNY, ME. I AM VERY DEAD.

the entire team is stressed and worried and just dead quiet, watching danny and steve. ohhhh boy.

oh fuck oh fuck steve is praying and red-eyed and furious and telling god “you wanna take somebody? take me. not him, you take me.” and i have a very big massive weak spot for exactly this.

cole comes to find steve to offer to figure out the cipher thing and steve has a very hard time giving a single flying shit and then HANDS COLE HIS GUN. welllll. just letting go of stuff they never would have normally left and right, here. i was kind of expecting steve’s badge to follow.

tani has a lot of good worried moments and i love that.

danny is out of surgery!!! steve gets to see him!!!

oh GOD we get a sad version of all for one while steve is in danny’s hospital room and grabs danny’s hand and i am. oh. oh. not okay.

STILL ONLY JUST PAST THE HALFWAY POINT OF THE EPISODE.

it’s honestly kind of weird that cole has this much screentime (i know he was supposed to be back for the season 11 that will never happen, but with the way things turned out that’s not very relevant anymore in story), but i mind it less than i thought i would have. i like him, and i’m glad he has quinn with him now, because i always want more of her.

danny wakes up and his slightly loopy conversation with steve has me fjdkfdjkfd. d: [says you’re supposed to be happy when a patient wakes up] s, like he might still be about to cry: “i’m happy.” d: “yeah? yeah, me too.”

steve is hurting and blaming himself for everything (very in character) and danny tells him he’s already annoying and that if he had a dollar for every time steve saved his life he’d have like twenty bucks (also very in character) and i’m glad for that bit of comic relief and they need it, too, but somebody also needs to give steve a good shake until the thought that this is on him leaves his head. if anyone except daiyu mei is responsible here, it’s doris. blame doris, jfc.

danny, after nearly dying and only just waking up in the hospital, while he still has trouble speaking: “put [the call steve is getting] on speaker, would you, i’m bored.” more jokes! but it also makes me go fjdkfdjk because you will not convince me that this is not danny, extremely injured, still trying to take care of steve by distracting him from all the misery they’re in.

fjdkfd OKAY SO. plot stuff: the cipher translates to coordinates that apparently lead to the place where the mcgarretts thought doris was buried. steve says he knows the place because his dad used to take him there and ? because i always thought john sent his kids away pretty soon after doris died so he can’t have had much time to visit her grave a lot with them, but also just, the drama of it, wow, doris. send your son an encrypted message that sends him to your fake grave, why don’t you.

jfkdsjlfksljfds the mcgarretts have a family mausoleum now, apparently, omfg. and there was still a space with doris’s name on it? even though they’ve known for how many years by now that she was still alive oh my gosh

cole is along for the ride to doris’s fake grave and steve keeps dropping these little nuggets from his family history and cole keeps (rightfully!) looking a little confused and/or alarmed, poor guy, hahaha.

daiyu mei is running full tilt and doing some mad parcour shit in a suit and what looks like high heels and there is a whole action scene here with lots of players and constant shooting and some one-on-one fighting, but i am fully distracted by the shoewear.

oh, false alarm, probably! not quite high heels, just something ballarina like with a very tiny heel. that’s better.

fjdkfjdkfd OOF daiyu mei nearly kills steve, steve gets the upper hand, daiyu mei says some things and we’re given another flashback to wo fat and victor hesse and this time also john when he was held hostage, and suddenly we’re told he’s not surprised that doris had a secret son (wo fat) and that he suspected her death was staged.

OH MY GU==fdj

okay so those were typos but i’m LEAVING THEM because “whatever happens next, don’t tell my son. it would be too hard on him.” HELLO JOHN, FUCK YOU JOHN. he wanted??? to keep this secret??? from steve??? and also he doesn’t even acknowledge that he maybe has more than just a son. maybe there is a person called mary out there somewhere? might ring a bell, if you think about it long and hard.

wo fat: “you’re a good man, john mcgarrett.” i really don’t know if we’re supposed to agree with things wo fat says but he’s mostly voicing the opposite of what i feel this episode.

daiyu mei to steve: “you are your father.” oh gosh. oh no.

ahh, here’s a point where cole’s presence really starts to take away from other characters. he shows up to steve and daiyu mei’s confrontation to back steve up, and that obviously should have been any other character that we’ve known for way longer and have way more attachment to (junior! that would have been so good, or maybe lou, who’s also been here for seven years, or tani, who keeps worrying), especially, very very much especially when steve goes “book her, cole”. that’s just confusing, too. so far the cole and steve parallels have been thrown at us and now he’s suddenly in danny’s place.

32 minutes out of 42 and we’re at “one week later” and steve hopping through his garden to get to the beach chairs where danny is sitting. this is good but worrying for how early it comes.

danny says he misses the very nice nurse who brought him jello and steve tells him not to confuse a caregiver for someone who cares and danny goes “yeah? you know jealousy is not uh, pretty on you.” and then they’re both awkwardly quiet for a moment. dear lord.

AND THEN THINGS WENT PEARSHAPED. danny: “you all packed?” my heart is sinking fast. maybe i should just quit here and leave it at danny telling steve jealousy is not pretty on him (which implies other things are pretty on steve - let’s get back to that).

steve to danny, who is talking up hawaii (which is of course very good): “who are you?” i am having FLASHBACKS to junior asking tani that exact same thing just a few episodes ago.

danny seriously questions steve’s decision to just up and leave hawaii a bunch of times and yes, danny, good, grill him. this is a stupid plan.

danny: “you know, it don’t feel like it’s gonna be okay. it feels like- my main dude is leaving me.” HI STEVE. MAYBE DON’T. MAYBE DON’T GO. MAYBE DON’T HURT DANNY.

“you got a phone, right?” we’re seriously at that point. we are. seriously at that point. wow.

steve forces danny to get up to give him the frigging tenderest, dopily smiliest hug and it is so very sweet yet so very wrong.

“I LOVE YOU, MAN.” / “I LOVE YOU TOO.” THEY DID NOT YELL THAT BUT I AM BECAUSE THIS IS ALL I’VE WANTED FOR TWO YEARS and now it’s under these circumstances which ugh BUT I AM STILL HYPED. THEY GOT TO SAY IT AGAIN. GOOD. FUCKING GOOD.

“don’t make me come looking for you” danny says after he sits back down and without another word steve starts walking away and then he stops and looks back and catches danny looking over his shoulder but quickly looking away again and holy fucking damn if this isn’t how stories go when they try to tell us that two characters shouldn’t be parting because they don’t want to. turn around, steve. it’s so easy.

EDDIE. my gosh, ANOTHER blond guy who loves steve to pieces and who steve Should Not Just Leave, wtf.

eddie gets an i love you too and then a kiss and my heart! is having a hard time today!

oh LORD there’s a knock at the door and it’s the whole entire team and lou!!! is making me cry!!! and everyone whispers how much steve means to them at him while they’re hugging him and fjdkfd what. why is he leaving! it’s starting to sound like a worse decision by the second.

i could cry at all of these goodbyes seperately but right now i am also crying at tani immediately hugging noelani when she joins the pile of people who have said goodbye. ohhhh.

EVERYONE IS CRYING. not cool. VERY UNCOOL. also, honestly, i love that danny got to say goodbye seperately and it’s fitting that he just can’t watch steve actually walk out the door but also... he should have been here, gdi. now there’s this huge emotional team moment and he’s absent and it’s weird.

steve boards a plane and sits down and his phone beeps and it’s danny texting him “miss you already” and i cannot believe this is actual canon and had to pause to kind of laugh/gasp for air for a little bit.

and catherine shows up! i’ve been braced for this so i’m not surprised and it’s less bad than i thought in many ways but also. they talk about cath driving danny’s car and steve says they can’t have danny williams driving his own car and if that’s true, then why the hell are you leaving, steve. what are you doing to danny? (also. uh. danny’s car kind of went up in flames? he has a new one already? i. what.)

cath asks if steve is ready and they hold hands and steve turns to look out the plane window and smiles and that’s very suddenly it.

you know what? you know what, for the most part, i absolutely loved this. i was prepared for VERY BAD THINGS and i don’t enjoy steve leaving at the end at all and i have MANY NOTES on how things could have maybe ended even better but i. i am okay with this. i am okay with this! that is honestly more than i thought i would be able to say and i’m just VERY RELIEVED right now.

as for the show ending with steve and cath... that was weird, but... he also held danny’s hand this episode and that was supposedly platonic, and steve and cath did not suddenly have a big romantic kiss or get engaged, so i am choosing to take this as a platonic reunion with a person from steve’s past he still cares about, someone who travels a lot and was in hawaii to break that code and therefore this makes sense. he leaves with cath, and then, in a few weeks’ time, he comes back to danny (the person he cares about most in the world), and canon just, y’know, forgot to mention that little tidbit. it happens.

anyway, i had EMOTIONS and i still need to let all of this sink in and i hope you’re all doing okay after this whirlwind of a thing and ahhhh, it is so very weird that it’s over now. 💖

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Thurs 1 Aug

Harry is, unsurprisingly, everywhere today. Lots more gucci fragrance campaign materials today as expected, including footage of Harry driving a vintage car recklessly through a field, fabulous and shades of real life; always the driver. Tons of behind the scene shots, really gorgeous HQs, the actual perfume hit the shelves, and loads of press coverage including an interview. Harry's quotes in it are sweet, some of them quite nice really, like when he talks about finding his own style and "becoming a lot more comfortable" (and others are hilariously deadpan trolling, I'm pretty sure) but the article itself is pointlessly shitty, leaning heavily on a tired Harry vs 1D-who-were-holding-him-back narrative, booorring. Also irritating- Karamo from Queer Eye's recollection of meeting Harry, which is that he told him about the existence of Grindr and blew his little straight guy mind. Okaaay sure. Since literally no one believes that Harry was, as we're told, unaware that it was possible to online date or hook-up, given that he's not actually a recently arrived alien from another planet, interpretations are that either Karamo was covering for him or that he didn't actually out himself to someone who he met only briefly and in a professional context. I'm picturing wide eyed incredulous and innocent looking Harry egging him on like "oh my gosh rilly tell me more"....it's funny, but it isn't too. I wonder if it being that easy to convince people he's slow is depressing for Harry or if at this point he just finds being that drastically underestimated useful. In any case I certainly think he enjoys looking interviewers in the eye and saying things like "oh yes I sleep in the gucci fragrance every night" or "my mom smells like Roman Candles" (and I'm looking forward to more of this fragrance related nonsense in the coming weeks) and watching them nod seriously. Idk if he has a movie role coming up or not but I nominate our boy for an Oscar either way, he's a pro. Unlike, to give just one totally random example of some very unprofessional behavior, the fellow gucci model who let herself be recorded having a crude and graphic conversation about wanting to fuck Harry which was then posted publicly along with a bunch of thirst posts, and said yeah that was me lol when asked like there was nothing wrong with that kind of gross behavior. The posts are down now but what difference does that make? Imagine using your fifteen minutes of fame to say things like that in a public forum about a co worker when you could use it for literally anything else, SMH.

Today we got a video of Liam conversing with to a goat!! That's it that's today's Liam news. Welllll... Okay fine there's more. He also had a big interview article; he says he has an underwear shoot coming so brace yourselves for that, and music soon (oh for more details but the quote is literally "I have music coming soon," not a word more) but mostly it's about clothes of course. Asked about favorite past looks he brings up the Japan This Is Us premier UM YES that truly was an iconic look good call! He referred to his collaboration with Hugo as "a marriage of two brands" which is initially jarring, to see someone refer to themselves as a brand, but he's not wrong is he? I read it as more of one of those slips into the backstage version of talking about things, and will choose to believe or at least hope that Liam is clear on the difference between himself as a person and Liam Payne™️.

Meanwhile, Niall does me a solid and gives me an excuse to mention the excellent pictures posted yesterday of Yungblud and Lewis Capaldi snogging by commenting (😂😂😂) on the post, answers a tweet about whether he has a skin care routine ("yes I do indeed") and he also has an interview out today, in Today's Golfer. He talks about, surprise surprise, golf, for example his mission to get some of his following of 1D fans to take up golf.

And the UK celebrated Yorkshire Day in the best possible way- by tweeting lots about Louis Tomlinson, aka "Doncaster's finest export." Zayn was mentioned here and there as well, but he hasn't tied his image to his northern origins the way Louis has so I'm not surprised he didn't come up as much. That's all the Louis for today, as the "end of July" release date for 1883 Magazine turns out to be a sometime in Aug delivery date so we'll have to wait a little longer for the "interesting news" the interviewer told us we could expect. Plenty of time to get excited about what in the end, might or might not be interesting, only time will tell.

[jinthusiastsss]

Little Peter (Part 2)

Peter Parker x Reader || Fluff - (Part 1)

Masterlist

A/N: Thank you all for your support on the first part of Little Peter! I truly appreciate it. Here’s the second and final part!

Warnings: Just like two swear words I guess. Mentions of events from Endgame.

Summary: After not answering your texts or calls for a whole week, you demand for Tony to tell you where Peter is only to find out that he’s still his kid self.

You stepped on the gas pedal when the Avengers Compound came to your view, fury written all over your eyes. You slammed on the break and parked right in front of the building, not even caring that you almost crashed into Tony Stark’s car. You stepped out and marched towards the entrance. Tony saw you from the inside and immediately his eyes widened with fear.

“Oh shit,” he mumbled under his breath as he jogged to meet you outside. “Hey, (Y/N). What’s up?”

You crossed your arms and tapped your foot against the ground. “Where is he?”

Tony glanced at his watch, trying not to meet your glare. “Where is who?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Tony,” you rolled your eyes. “Where is Peter? He hasn’t been answering my texts or calls for more than a week and knowing him, he’s probably here.”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t know where he is. Now why don’t you scurry off and-”

“You of all people should know where Peter is. Please just tell me,” you pleaded, laying off your anger.

Tony sensed the concern and worry radiating off of you and he softened. “Alright, promise me you won’t get mad.”

“You know I can’t promise tha-”

“We haven’t switched him back to his regular self,” Tony quickly said, avoiding your arms the moment they flung up.

“WHAT!” you screamed. “Tony, it’s been a whole week! You said you would fix this!”

Tony rubbed the back of neck with shame. “I know, I know. He just won’t cooperate with me,” he shrugged, swiftly turning around to walk back into the Compound.

You rolled your eyes and followed Tony into the building. Immediately you were greeted by a pair of arms wrapped around your waist. Any previous signs of your anger seemed to vanish as soon as your eyes landed on the boy who was giddily squeezing the life out of you. Tony noticed how tight Peter was squeezing you so he practically had to pry his arms off of you.

“Hiya (Y/N)!” Peter grinned once his arms were released from you, showing you his toothless grin that you had forgotten about.

You ruffled his brown curls. “Hey, Peter,” you smiled, crouching down to become eye level with him. “What have you been up to this past week?”

“Welllll,” Peter started, scrunching his face while he thought of where to start, “Mr. Stark has been telling me a lot of stories.”

You raised an eyebrow at Tony, who looked back at you with a smirk. “What kind of stories has Mr. Stark been telling you about?”

“They’re all about you,” Peter excitedly said, deciding to sit on the floor. “He talks about what we’re like in the future. My favorite story that he told me was about how he once saw me killing bugs for you as you threw your shoes at them.”

Your face burned up with embarrassment and you looked up to meet Tony’s amused eyes. “You saw that?”

“You bet,” Tony chuckled. “Have the whole thing recorded. Showed it to Barton and his earbuds basically broke because of your shrieking.”

You stood up and shook your head, using your left hand to cover how red your face was getting. Peter tugged on your right arm and shyly smiled.

“I’m gonna get something that Mr. Stark made me,” he announced, jumping up to dash down the hall.

You laughed and turned to raise an eyebrow at the man, but he looked lost in thought. “Tony?” you asked. “Everything okay?”

“There’s another reason why I’ve kept Peter this way,” Tony quietly confessed, looking behind you to make sure Peter wasn’t back yet. You motioned for him to continue and he said, “The kid saved me. After the fight with Thanos again, I was a mess. It was pathetic. When little Peter happened, well, I had to babysit him which was, first of all, annoying. I mean geez, the kid is more energetic than his usual self. He could run a marathon for God’s sake-”

You crossed your arms and narrowed your eyes. “What’s your point?”

Tony sighed and turned to sit on a nearby sofa. “Kids have this power to make you feel alive again. When this Peter came, he broke everything out of me so I was my real self. Then of course he would break my belongings and I would be upset, but he would laugh as if it’s all a big joke and all my anger disappears. It’s like he saves me from drifting off and becoming someone else.” Tony noticed that you were trying to absorb everything he was saying, but you still had this look of confusion on your face. “Look (Y/N), in these 5 years, we lost a lot. We lost Peter. I cried just as much as you did. Seeing him as a little kid, he just doesn’t know what happened. I guess it’s his innocence that kept my true self alive.”

You looked down and took in what Tony was saying. You hugged yourself and said, “Don’t get me wrong because I’m grateful that this all happened for you, but. .I had to go through this tough week without him by my side. I miss our Peter.”

“I know,” Tony replied, softly smiling at you. “I miss him too. I’ll fix everything today. In the mean time, you need to keep the kid some company so I can actually focus on something this week for once.”

For the past hour, Peter had been holding your hand and leading you around the Avengers Compound. During the little tour, Peter had been showing you around excitedly and not once did his smile fade. His energy had been so infectious to the point where you didn’t even know when was the last time your smile left your face while being in Peter’s presence.

Peter tugged on your hand and pointed to the room that stood before the both of you. “Mr. Stark said that this room is mine. He said I stay here a lot when I’m not at home or with you. I think you’ll like it in here.”

Together the both of you entered the room and you were in awe with how neat the room was. To the right of you were lap equipment that sat on the table nearest to the wall and they were all arranged. Peter’s notebooks were lined up on a bookshelf above the table. On the left lied a couch and a coffee table in front of it with papers neatly stacked atop. There was a TV nearby with another small bookshelf underneath it that held more notebooks. In the back of the room was a brown desk with more papers and a laptop. You were slightly offended that Peter managed to keep this whole room neat, but he couldn’t keep his actual room, heck even his laundry, neat like this in his apartment.

“Mr. Stark and I cleaned this room a while ago. It was really messy a few days ago,” Peter explained when he saw the shock registering on your face.

That explained a lot.

From the door, you noticed that there was a frame that sat on the desk. You made your way to the desk and picked up the frame with a smile.

The frame held two polaroids and they were both of you and Peter. One was a polaroid of the both of you snuggled against each other on a bench in Central Park during the winter. Peter wouldn’t allow you to leave your apartment without you completely bundled up with scarves, a hat, and a coat so you were cocooned with warmth. Peter was equally bundled as you, but you both were still shivering so you guys solved the solution by snuggling for warmth. A lady that sat across from you on another bench, randomly happened to have a polaroid camera with her. She thought that the both of you were absolutely adorable so she offered to take a picture of the scene. You remembered Peter panicking over keeping the polaroid in his jacket pocket so the lower temperatures wouldn’t stop the film from developing.

The second polaroid was from the first time you and Peter went roller skating. It was a total last minute thing that happened when you and Peter’s friends dragged you both along to the rink. You both were a complete mess, tripping multiple times and flailing your arms around. When you two got the hang of skating, MJ snapped a polaroid of the both of you skating and smiling while holding hands.

That’s when it really hit you with a pang in your heart. You really missed Peter. As much as you loved the younger version of him, you needed your version back. 

“You miss him,” you heard Peter state from behind you. You turned to face him with a tear threatening to fall. “Older me.”

You nodded with a small smile. “Yeah, I do.” You turned back to face the frame, not knowing what to say to this Peter. You didn’t want him to think you didn’t like this younger self of him. 

It was silent for a few moments until Peter broke the silence, “You’ll see him soon, (Y/N). I promise,” he proudly announced, enveloping his arms around you. You melted under his grip, but you suddenly frowned when you realized you couldn’t stay longer. “I’m sorry, Peter,” you apologized, giving him a sympathetic smile. “I have plans to eat out with my friends in an hour so I have to leave now.”

Peter grinned and tightened his grip around you. “That’s okay, (Y/N).”

You laughed and ruffled his hair, pulling away from the hug a few seconds later. “I’ll see you soon, yeah?”

“Yeah, really soon,” Peter enthusiastically replied, his smile bigger than ever. 

By the time you arrived home at your apartment after hanging out with your friends, night had already fallen and you were exhausted. You pulled your keys out of your pocket and fumbled with the door’s lock. Your eyes were greeted by an unexpected attack of light once you pushed the door open. As your eyes adjusted to the light, you cautiously entered your apartment and closed the door behind you. It wasn’t like you to leave for the day without turning off the lights.

That’s when you heard something fall, really loud, from the direction of your bedroom.

You swiftly walked to your bedroom, with your phone ready in your hand just in case you needed to call the police. You gently placed your hand on the knob and quietly turned it. You creaked the door open and peaked through the space. There was a blanket covered lump on the floor beside your bed. What alarmed you was that this lump was the size of a human.

You pushed the door open more and you entered the room cautiously. You eyed the lump and made your way to it warily. You crouched down and grabbed the blanket, tossing the it off the figure.

The first thing you saw was a mop of brown hair and you laughed. “Peter, what are you doing here? You really got me scared for a second.” The mop of brown hair popped up and the figure turned its head to face you. “PETER? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” you exclaimed with excitement. It was your Peter. The Peter that had been gone for a while now and the Peter that you had been missing.

Peter raised an eyebrow and scratched the back of his neck. “Didn’t you just ask that?” 

Not even bothering to answer his question, you flung yourself to Peter and squeezed him into a hug. Peter laughed and tightened his arms around you. You smiled and rested your head onto his chest. “I missed you so much,” you whispered, listening to the sound of his heartbeat.

You felt Peter shake with laughter. “You missed me that much, huh?”

You sat up and shook your head with annoyance. “Peter, you were gone for a week. Maybe a little bit longer than that. That’s the longest we’ve ever been apart in our relationship so it felt really new to me.”

“Oh, right,” Peter replied, widening his eyes with realization. “I’m sorry, baby,” he apologized, rubbing your back with a frown. His smile lit up after several moments and he laughed. “Mr. Stark told me that you met my younger self.”

“I did,” you smiled, recalling everything that happened with him. “He’s really sweet and incredibly adorable.”

“Hmm,” Peter grinned, pulling you to his chest again, “he sounds just like me. Would you mind telling me what happened while I was gone?”

“Of course,” you replied, “as long as you tell me what you did.” Peter agreed and together you delved deeper into the night while listening and telling each other your stories.

[ghostie-hoe]

PLL THE PERFECTIONISTS 1x02 SEX LIES & ALIBI’S RECAP & THOUGHTS

We open with the University students gathering at the scene of the crime. The police cover Nolan’s body and Ava is seen to be mid meltdown, distraught over Nolan’s death. Ava points an accusing finger at Caitlin telling her that it’s exactly how she imagined it. Yes, it did happen exactly as Caitlin had imagined (I’m not ruling her out yet, though I think if it was her, she’d choose another option to avoid incriminating herself.)

The depressed Ava montage broke my heart. She’s lost her parents, one on the run from the law and other chose to leave. She obviously took comfort in Nolan and now that’s gone she feels alone. Dylan has a guilty conscious having night terrors about Nolan. ‘Save it to Nolan to haunt us in both life and death.’ Andrew doesn’t seem to be in the loop, if Dylan trusted him he would tell him that Nolan’s been blackmailing him. He could come clean about the kids or not. Either way, he doesn’t fully trust Andrew.

Jeremy is so suspicious. He seems like a very strong character. What I took from this scene when Jeremy said “it’s okay if you are relieved Nolan is dead. You can admit that to me.” It seemed to have an underlining of “Babe, I get you because I killed him for you.” It’s all in the dialogue “I don’t feel bad that you don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

I knew Nolan wanted to meet Alison. I called it either being Ali or Mona, my second victory and it’s only been two episodes. So Nolan sends Alison a message asking her to meet him on the roof before he was killed. Backtracking to what we were shown from the rooftop, Nolan seemed to have met the person he messaged. So, maybe it wasn’t Alison but Ali pointed out how Taylor could be her doppelgänger.. I’m just saying, it really could’ve been Taylor in an Alison mask.

And nobody would suspect the dead girl..

Dylan and Caitlin talking about how they all don’t really know each other. That’s important. Someone on here made a connection between the books and said that there was a character with a split personality called Parker and Caitlin’s name is Parker - Lewis. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if Caitlin did it as Parker, drugged Dylan as her accomplice and they both killed him. Their conversation just seems a little sketchy. The whole “We have to make it look like we are sad and not relieved because I dated him and you were his friend.”

Mona is obviously leading towards a mental breakdown. She seems to be in manic mode completely unaware of Alison talking to her as she attempts to follow her little system. I zoomed in on her wall and next to all the equations, I saw the framed picture which seemed to represent a split personality, but it also looked half Male, half female. Could this represent Nolan and Taylor?

Mona’s extremely offended by Alison asking her if she was on the roof the night of Nolan’s death. Mona did so much to redeem herself to the girls. She honestly really tried so I understand her offence. Alison shows Mona the text and Mona tells her that it looks like she killed him.

Oh Ava, please stop drinking. It doesn’t help with anything. Yes you want to numb the feelings, but alcohol is a depressant. Take it from a recovered alcoholic, it’s always best to seek help from a trauma therapist or grievance counsellor. The song is so fitting though. Marlene is great at choosing songs I have to give her that.

“Does anyone know you were doing Nolan’s work for him?” “You heard the news?” “Yeah he was murdered.” I don’t know I’m just so suspicious of Andrew at this point. Everyone talks about this so casually.

I like how Caitlin is open with Jeremy about her hate for Nolan and goes as far as sharing the paper that she wrote about murder being justified and about Nolan. She goes on to say that Alison intuitive and knew that the paper was inspired by Nolan. Jeremy tells Caitlin that she didn’t do anything so why is she upset. How does Jeremy 100% know that? Maybe because he killed Nolan. So Caitlin and Jeremy have a song. How do they say that a song with lyrics “in the after light, he follows me.” Relate to them enough as a couple to be labelled “our song?” At first I thought it said in the afterlife..

Mona lacks what all of us other females don’t. Alison announces that she brought food, most of us would be like THANK YOU QUEEN. But not Mona “I’m the reason Nolan is dead. He didn’t belong here. It was his personality traits. My Algerivem (The fuck you spell that) red flagged him.” “Because he was dangerous?” “No, flagged is someone who could push another student to the point of snapping. So by looking the other way and not telling Miss Hotchkiss, I created a killer.” “So you’re using your code to figure out who snapped.”

So, Mona seems to find some kind of comfort in her old ways. Solving things, getting completely lost in it.

ALISON SLAPPING MONA AND SHE LOOKS AT HER IN SHOCK THEN IS ALL LIKE OOOH KEY LIME PIE MY FAVOURITE. ICONIC. I love these two together. Mona asking Alison when she became a wuss. This is what we’re getting, the constant bring up of Alison’s past. This must have a meaning soon!

The way they filmed the scene of Ava sleeping as if someone was standing there with a knife raised ready to kill her. True horror movie style. The lights come on and it’s Dylan and Caitlin. So, what if this is a clue. Dylan and Caitlin are somehow involved either together or alone. Or maybe it’s a clue towards Nolan’s killer being Jeremy or Andrew.

All these characters are calling out the obvious. When the group are in Ava’s room and Caitlin claims her and Dylanhad nothing to do with Nolan’s death and Ava says “before he was murdered” Dylan said a similar line earlier on in the episode and so did Andrew. So, what if this focus on Nolan being murdered is to throw us off. I mentioned this last week, but someone in a Nolan mask could’ve easily been killed. So Nolan may not have been murdered. But someone was.

There it is again from Dylan “We don’t know each other well enough to trust each other but we need each other.” That’s also the second time someone has referred to it as the perfect posse. “Everyone at BHU is a suspect.” This is exactly why I’ve ruled nobody out yet. “We all have secrets that make us look guilty.” There must be more secrets than what we already know. Let’s recap what we know. Nolan pretty much manipulated Dylan into kissing him: He cheated on Andrew. Thus how Dylan now represents Nolan in his perfect posse and writes papers for Ava and Nolan. Nolan blackmailed Caitlin with a picture of one of her mothers who is a politician kissing a man. He blackmailed her into being his girlfriend. There had to be darker secrets he has on them. Caitlin says to Ava “Unless you are that one person with nothing to hide.” So, Ava seems to be acting like Nolan doesn’t know any of her secrets, I think she’s naive to assume that she’s safe in that respect.

mad world sounds beautiful on the cello I must say. So, this iconic scene of the three musketeers walking to the funeral. In slow mo. I felt for Ava when Claire embraces Caitlin whose only feeling scared for herself whilst Ava stands in the background genuinely hurting. The way it’s shot the over Caitlin’s shoulder shot and Ava blurred out in the background is direct symbolism. When it comes to Claire, Ava felt like an outcast. THEM HOLDING HANDS DURING THE SERVICE FOR SUPPORT WAS SO CUTE.

We get a ton of information from the Mona and Alison conversation at the funeral. Mona confides in Alison about a partial black out during the time of Nolan’s murder. Who would be able to orchestrate something like that? TAYLOR HOTCHKISS MAYBE!? She is after all, monitoring the cameras at BHU and I’m unsure of the timeline. Was Beacon Guard existing when she was “alive”? If so, she would’ve found a way to hack into the system. The only other person we know who knows how to do that is sitting right next to Alison and revealing this information.

So you’re telling me that Caitlin dated both Mason and Nolan, two childhood friends? Interesting. Dylan is getting really shady. “Is it just me or does Mason look a little too sad?” Is it just me or do you and Caitlin look a little guilty and like you don’t care?

MAJOR FLASHBACKS TO PLL WITH THAT SHOT OF THE LEAVES BLOWING IT REMINDED OF THE SCENE WITH THE LEAVES BLOWING AND THEN WE SEE THE MISSING PERSON’S AD ON THE ROSEWOOD NEWSPAPPER WHEN ALI WENT MISSING.

“Dana Booker, you are even more of a low life than I thought.” AVAJALALI SNAPPED. Dana announces that she is no longer working with the FBI but as the new head of security. There it is again “Things are far from okay, a student was murdered but rest assured as BHU’s new head of security, will find out who killed Nolan Hotchkiss.” Wow TANA 2.0. THIS WOMAN IS SIMILAR TO TANA IN A FEW AWAYS AND THAT WORDING IS VERY SIMILAR TO WHAT TANA HAS SAID IN THE PAST

So, Ava tells Dylan and Caitlin that Nolan hid his weed in the greenhouse. When Dylan gets there he finds a note. Someone had got there first. Who else knows that Nolan kept secret things there? Welllll. Ava. But there must be someone else.

Alison bringing up the whole “or someone’s trying to frame me for his murder.” And Mona says that it’s a possibility. ALISON CARES SHE WANTS MONA TO STAY IN TOUCH WITH REALITY AND MONA IS PLAYING ONLINE CHESS THATS SO MONA. “Id offer to play with you in person.” “You’d lose.” THIS SEEMS SIGNIFICANT. IS MONA HINTING AT A GAME. SHE IS THR GAME MASTER AFTER ALL. OMG.

The creepy ass voice sounded similar to Grunwald? Are they gonna bring Grunwald into this. She’s so creepy, I love her. “It’s just like you imagined it.” If they all heard that voice, which it seemed like they did..

Ruling out students with braces. Who has braces??? Also Ava feeling so alone breaks my heart into millions of pieces and she just accepts it as the way it is :(

Dana is so SHADY AND SO TANA. Wow. Alison pulling the big strings like “Do you have a warrant? And she tells her she doesn’t need one because of her contract.

Alison never gets a break from A activity, walking into her home to see a window open and then the creepy ass mother of her ‘doppelgänger’ just chilling with some wine in the dark. That’s what serial killers do Claire. If you don’t want to be suspected then don’t wait in the dark. She says disappeared and then changed it to killed herself.. does Claire know something? When Alison asks her if Claire wrote “They’re watching” on the wall Claire hesitates and doesn’t offer a real answer. Were Nolan and Taylor close? Apparently they teamed up. So this could be the case, backtracking to my theory last week of Taylor and Nolan killing someone and figuring things out from “the dead.”

MONA IS TALKING TO HANNA MARIN AND MY BABIES SPOBY ELOPED FINALLY. THE ONLY COUPLE I WAS REALLY BEHIND ELOPED. SPOBY DESERVE ALL THE HAPPINESS IN THE WORLD.

Dana takes Caitlin, Dylan and Ava our of class and starts asking them about their alibi. Que Alison stepping in and giving them one. ICONIC WHEN SHE IS LIKE “BRING IT ON BITCH.”

So my overall verdict - I gave this episode a 9. I LOVED IT. We got our little Easter eggs and the mention of Hanna and SPOBY ELOPING. We got Alison giving her students an alibi and being a savage. All the Mona

[lorewytch]

Return to Shadows Part 2

Authors Notes: I have this pretty much finished by now. I figured I’d post the second part here and on AO3. It’s going to be a 3 parter and I’ll post the third part when I finish it up. But I wanted to post something. I felt bad for not posting much. But, when you hit a wall its usually best to step back and let your mind rest. Forcing it like I was trying to do wasn’t helping at all. Blarg. Anyway, onto part 2! Hope you like!

The next morning, Lore awoke with a start. Finding herself in an unfamiliar room, she recounted yesterdays events and quickly left the mysterious room behind her. Closing the door behind her, she raced down the streets, The drive to find Scrooge again was burning brighter and she felt more determined than ever. Maybe he could help her find the anomaly as well.

Wait…

What was she thinking?

Slowing to a stop, Lore blew a piece of pink hair from her face. “ I can’t do that.” She shook her head with a grin.

Still….turning her head towards the city once more. She realized she had no other options now. Rushing through the city streets. She passed by several people, rushing around and trying to find any hint of where Scrooge lived.

A sudden yelling before her directed her attention as a strange duck whizzed past within some kind of armor suit. Blinking, Lore cautiously turned back to see the duck android was heading towards a building. Eyes widening, she spun and ran as fast as she could to try to stop the collision that was to take place. Arms out, her hands began to glow purple, realizing that she wouldn’t make it in time.

Yelping, Fenton quickly yelled. “Not good!” he activated his jet pack and up he flew, barely dodging the skyscraper. Lore quickly stopped, sighing in relief.

Then his jetpack ran out of fuel.

“Uh oh..” was his only comment as plummeted back to earth.

“Are you kidding me?” Lore sighed, holding up her arms, she focused her magic and her hands began to glow.

Fenton watched, eyes wide as he began to glow purple and was slowly set down to earth by a young girl duck dressed in purple with long rose colored hair.

Once he was safely down to earth, she glanced nervously around. Seeing a few eyes gazing at her with open mouths.

“Not good.” She whispered and quickly ran off, Fenton blinked.

Quickly he ducked behind a building and changed out of his Gizmoduck suit and chased in the direction the girl went.

Lore was running blindly at this point, using magic probably wasn’t such a good idea. Her cover was blown and honestly she doubted the guy was in real danger.

Still…she could never stand by and watch someone get hurt, even if it was kind of part of her duty as a dimensional witch not to interfere in any of the other worlds affairs. She rushed by a park and junkyard. Dodging behind an apartment complex and through another intersection before she finally started to slow down and sighed softly. Leaning against a nearby light pole, she looked around and wondered where she could go from there.

“Great, now I’m more lost than before. How am I ever going to find Scrooge now?” She sighed and crossed her arms.

“Scrooge? As in Scrooge McDuck?” A out of breath voice asked behind her. Jumping, Lore spun around to see a man approach her, looking winded.

Blinking, she took a step back and twirled her hair a bit on her finger. “Um, yes. You wouldn’t happen to know where he lives by chance right?”

He crossed his arms and looked at her skeptically. “That depends. What do you want with Scrooge?”

Lore bit her beak. “Welllll…” She paused and scratched the back of her head.

The brown feathered duck sighed, brushing back his hair and took a step back. “Look if you won’t tell me, fine. But if you are some villain-“

Lore blinked. “No that’s not it!”

He gave her a look that said he knew more than she was letting on. “I saw that magic trick you did over there with Gizmoduck.” He smirked.

Lore froze. “You…saw…wait, Gizmoduck? What kind of name is that?” she shook away the comment. “That’s not the issue here.” She reminded herself.

“I can’t let anyone with magic just wander over to McDuck Manor you know.” He stated, bravely approaching her.

Lore crossed her arms across her chest. “Would you believe me if I said I’m a good witch?” She raised an eyebrow.

Fenton paused and frowned at this. “I suppose….but I still want to know why you need to talk to Scrooge.”

Lore again looked nervous. “I….need to ask him to find something for me.” She finally admitted. “I’m sorry but I can’t say more than that..”

He studied her for a second. He sighed, “Okay…I’ll take you.”

“You will?” She beamed. “Thank you so much Mr….” She fished for his name.

“Fenton, Fenton CrackShell Cabrera!”

She reached over and gave him a hug, which surprised the scientist. “Thank you so much!” she felt so relieved to have finally found a way to talk to Scrooge.

“Ah, yeah..” He awkwardly pulled away with a chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck. Glancing around, he pointed behind him. “You actually weren’t that far off. Follow me..” He turned and started to walk. Lore followed him happily, glancing around the world curiously. Keeping her eyes peeled for anything strange or unusual.

Well.. besides herself of course.

They made it to McDuck Manor rather uneventfully. Fenton pressed the button and spoke into the intercom. Taking a step back, Lore’s eyes widened at the scene before her at what lay beyond the gates.

“Oh…..my….duck.” Lore whispered, admiring the large mansion and peacocks.

Fenton smirked a bit and chuckled. “Yeah, kind of overwhelming right? Well they are expecting you! Good luck!” he waved and walked away.

Lore steeled herself, swallowing and starting the long walk towards McDuck manor.

She soon got lost trying to find the front door. She followed the path of course, but it split into several areas and she took the wrong one, somehow ending up in the backyard. She saw a life size boat lounging in the pool. Which had sadly seen better days. A young male duck was quacking away, fixing things up to the best of his ability. Lore quickly hid herself behind a topiary and glanced at the duck. Soon four children came pouring out from the mansion. Those same kids she saw in the broadcast earlier that day. The three boys seemed to be begging the older duck for something. While the young girl was staring at the pool with a longing expression in her eyes. But once the boys turned back to her she was all smiles and laughed, jumping up and running off with them.

The male duck in the sailor suit shook his head and smiled. As he glanced up, his eyes were instantly drawn to Lore who had peeked too far around the large bush in the planter. She froze as their eyes met and taking a step back, she slipped on some water and let out a cry as she fell back and hit the ground.

“Watch-“ Donald reached out towards the teen girl but winced as she hit the ground roughly. He groaned.

Great, what next will happen?

Somehow, Donald managed to convince her to get on his boat so he could tend to her scratch on her arm.

“Really, I’m fine…Donald was it?” Lore smiled at the other, but he gave her a look that made her instantly shut her mouth. It was like being back home with her own father.

So she let him wrap the bandage around her arm to stop the bleeding.

“So, who are you?”

Well he got right to the point huh?

“Um, names Lore.” She smiled slightly. “I’m here to talk to Scroo- Mr McDuck.” She corrected herself.

Donald didn’t look surprised. “Of course, that old man always has visitors.” He raised an eyebrow a bit. “But what would a teen girl want with Scrooge?” He had become weary since the whole Lena thing about unknown teens.

Lore shifted uncomfortably a bit and winced as Donald tied it tightly. Pulling away from her finally he stood with his arms crossed.

Her smile was soft as she stood up. “I just need to ask for his help to find something…”

“Something?” Donald tilted his head to the side.

She closed her eyes.

She couldn’t answer that and he noticed her pained expression. He glanced around, trying to think of what he could say next. This girl was certainly strange. The hair color, while not too strange in todays age was still a beacon of the unusual. And most mythical creatures had odd appearances to begin with.

Also..

He could faintly detect some magic. Unfortunately, he was too rusty to really tell if she truly did have magic or held something magical with her, but it made him uneasy.

“Are these your boys?” Lore asked, pointing to the pictures hanging near the staircase.

She was smiling at them, as if lost within her own memories.

Donald studied her a bit a longer before nodding. “Yeah, Huey, Dewey and Louie.” He pointed each out with pride. “I raised them since they hatched. They may be my sisters eggs, but I raised them. They are my pride and joy.”

Lore looked shocked at this, but her reaction quickly melted away to a sad smile. “That’s amazing. They are so lucky to have such a wonderful guardian like you.”

Donald blinked. “I’m the lucky one. Those boys saved me when I was at my lowest. They are what keeps me going. No matter what I have to do, I will protect them.” His calm demeanor quickly morphed into a cautious and weary expression and Lore felt herself take a step back.

His determined stance remained as it was on the bottom of the staircase, blocking her only way out.

“Lore, was it?” He stared into her eyes. “Are you here to hurt my family?”

“What? No!” Lore quickly denied this, sweeping her arm before her in a horizontal motion. “I promise I just need Scrooge to help me find a anom-“ She broke off, realizing she almost gave it away and spun around. “Oh geez Lore, just tell him everything why don’t you?” She self chastised. “Hello, I’m Lore a dimensional witch here to save worlds from bytes, time paradoxes, RRRRips, black holes, World killers and other such craziness that can destroy a world!”

…………………………………..

“You know I heard everything you just said didn’t you?”

“Ah phooey.” She groaned.

She started to sweat as she turned back and he was looking at her now with scrutiny. It was rather hard to stand and she wanted to just run away. But he was blocking her path and it was quickly becoming quite hot in the room.

Then her stomach growled.

Of course….

She hadn’t had anything to eat.

“Let’s talk after we eat.” Donald turned away from her, walking to the kitchen and slowly and cautiously Lore followed. Sitting down at the nearby booth she swallowed a lump in her throat and grasped her hands together. It had been a while since anyone had really discovered her identity.

She wasn’t sure how much he heard but it was enough to make her worry about this world. True, usually when she left all traces of her existence vanished from the world.

But she still had to be careful about affecting too much in the present.

Lore briefly heard a couple of explosions and some quacks from the other room. Smoke poured into the room and she blinked.

“Ah, Donald you okay?” She called.

“Fine..” was his exasperated reply and the smoke started to diminish. Lore was just about to relax a bit again when a random scream echoed through the kitchen accompanied by a knife flying through the doorway and sticking into the wall near Lore’s head.

What…just happened?

Quickly getting up, she ran to the kitchen to see Donald somehow pinned to the ground with several kitchen utensils. Luckily nothing cut through him and she managed to dislodge the duck from the floor.

“Does this happen often?” She inquired.

“……More than you think.” Was his reply as he sighed and continued cooking.

Lore was rather afraid for the ducks safety at this point so she stayed in the room, watching him cook.

It was still awkwardly quiet after that.

They finally sat down and ate, Lore carefully studying the room and taking in as much as she could of this world.

It was painfully silent, Lore glancing at the other every now and again.

She took a drink of juice.

“So, you are a dimensional witch?”

Spit take anyone?

Coughing and nearly choking from inhaling said juice, Lore concentrated on breathing before answering his question. “You certainly don’t hold anything back.”

“When you are related to Scrooge, Villains are around every corner. Doesn’t hurt to be careful.” Donald shrugged and stood up, taking the empty plates.

Lore sighed. “Well, that sums it up. I go to different worlds and fix them as it were. If there’s something alien, something not supposed to be here…it could tear the world apart.” She paused. “This is the first time I’ve been to the same world twice in such a short time though.”

Donald blinked, turning to her. “Twice?”

“Yeah..although last time was quite a while ago here….things sure have changed.” She smiled brightly. Standing up, she walked over to a picture of all of them together. “Scrooge seems so much happier than when I last saw him. And with a family.”

Donald’s expression was slightly sad, but relieved in a way. Catching his eye, she glanced at him curiously. “Donald?”

He reached out and grasped onto the family portrait. Looking down on it he sighed. “It hasn’t been all roses and daisies. But, you are right.” He smiled up at her. “We are a family. Me, Scrooge, the boys, Webby, Mrs B and Launchpad..”

Lore nodded rapidly with a smile.

“I just wish things with Magica could have ended differently..” he said sadly and put the photo down.

Lore was startled by the name, she had seen the woman yesterday after all. “Magica?”

Donald looked up, a heartbreaking expression on his face before he shook his head and looked away. “She was trying to steal Scrooge’s dime, trapped him inside. She even killed her Niece, Lena in front of all of us. Granted, Lena was a shadow originally. But, she didn’t deserve that. Lena saved Webby and Dewey.” Gritting his beak, he shook his head.

Lore thought about this. This Lena girl was a shadow? But she died? She sacrificed herself for the kids? That hurt her heart more than she cared to admit.

“Anyway…” Donald turned away, sighing. “I just wish Lena was here too, she is a part of this family as well.”

“I’m sorry..for your loss.” Lore said softly, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. “But you can be there for the others. They need you Donald.”

“I know, who else would protect the kids against my Uncles crazy adventures.” The sailor duck snorted.

Lore laughed a bit. “That’s the spirit!” she danced and spun around. He eyed her for a brief moment.

“Where is your family Lore?” He asked out of the blue. She froze. She relaxed and forced a smile.

“Well, they aren’t around anymore you see.” She hummed. “But it’s okay. Its part of the gig with being a dimensional witch.” She looked out a nearby window. “Every power has a price after all.”

Donald opened his mouth to speak but an unbearable noise suddenly echoed outside.

Wincing, both held their hands to their heads until it ceased.

“What was that?” Lore asked, shaking her ringing ears. Wait…did…..no…stupid question.

“The peacocks?” Donald grumbled, shaking his head.

“No…” Lore frowned, her eyes brightening. “That could be the anomaly!” Now she didn’t need to bother Scrooge. Jumping towards the door, she bolted out with a worried sailor Duck following behind.

“Lore wait!”

Spinning around, she met the others eyes. She smiled brightly. “I have a job to do Donald. I’ll see you!” She waved and ran off.

The scenery rapidly passed her by as she ran to where she heard that noise.

“Where did that noise come from?” She frowned and ran around the manor until she was exhausted. Leaning against a hedge she brushed some sweat from her forehead and frowned. Now she couldn’t hear anything!

“Oh where did it go?” Lore huffed.

“Can I help you with something?” A voice behind her caused her to yelp and jump. Spinning around she blinked, wondering if she was seeing things. Rubbing her eyes, she focused on the ghost…butler…dog man standing before her.

“Uhhhh…”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I’m….here to see Scrooge…er…Mr….McDuck..” she laughed a bit nervously.

“Oh really?” He took a step towards her. “Do you have a reservation?”

Blinking, confused she tilted her head. “He takes reservations?”

The butler smirked. “No, that was just a test.”

“Did I pass?” Lore asked with a charming smile.

“What do you think?” Duckworth snapped his finger and suddenly all the lasers and cameras were trained on her.

…………….

“Drat..” Lore muttered and then began to run. She quickly ducked into the house, running down a hallway and quickly ducking into another as she spotted Beakley a bit further down. If anything she couldn’t get caught by the triplets or Webby or Beakley.

Sneaking around the halls, Lore was trying desperately not to get caught. Turning a corner, she winced as she saw the three boys backs as they were walking down the hallway away from her. She wanted to listen to what they were saying, but it was too faint to hear. She quickly turned around, running the opposite direction down the hallway and then slid to a stop at the dead end. “Oh great..” She sighed, seeing her shadow against the wall and turned slightly.

“Who are you?”

Lore spun to see a transparent inverted figure before a nearby door. She had her arms crossed, She had a faint outline of light around her and appeared more like a negative than of this worlds colors.

Blinking, Lore frowned. “Who are you?” she asked back.

The young girl’s eyes widened.

“You can see me?” She gasped, covering her beak slightly and finding emotion overtake her. “You can hear me?”

Lore scratched her head. “Uh yeah..”

“But how..” Lena glanced at her feet where a purple glow emitted from a river of magic that lead back to Lore’s webbed feet.

Lore saw it at the same time and her eyes widened, stumbling back a bit. “Your feeding off my magic..” she realized.

“I didn’t mean to!” The younger duck yelled, arms wide. Their heads both snapped up at the same time and Lore felt her insides twist.

“Are you……Lena?” Lore questioned.

“Yeah, what of it?” Crossing her arms, Lena was curious how this stranger knew her name.

“I was just talking to Donald, he mentioned you.”

“Really?” Lena seemed surprised at this.

Smiling, Lore took a step foreword and then winced slightly at the increasing amount of energy being drained. “Uh…think you could lighten up on the draining magic?”

Lena looked nervous. “I don’t think I can, I don’t know how I am doing this!” Suddenly Lena’s figure began to fizzle, like a TV screen.

“Woah, what was that?” Lore blinked.

“Not again.” Lena growled and her form began more transparent. She struggled to hold it but it was almost as if her signal was giving out. Her mouth opened and she began to speak rapidly, but her voice was gone.

“Lena…Lena?! I can’t hear you!” Lore reached out, maybe if she gave the girl more power.

But as she reached out her hand grasped air and Lena’s form began to fragment and vanish before her eyes.

Suddenly the hallway around her seemed to fizzle. “The anomaly.” Lore muttered. She glanced at the door she saw Lena standing before and realized that everyone had thought her to be dead. But she’s alive.

“I have to tell them somehow…but how?” She winced, thinking hard.

Suddenly her wrist gave a frantic beeping noise and she blinked. “Clix?” she quickly turned it on and saw her friends face, although it started to distort. “Wait..what?”

“Fin-ly……..gt……throu-“ Lore could barely hear her, but her face looked exhausted.

“Clix what’s going on?! Why didn’t you call before?”

The tech savvy girl sighed. “The anomaly is causing major interference within both magic and electronics. I did everything I could to get through to you now. I don’t know how long this will last. Lore I need………t………….ll……………..u………”

“Clix?! Clix your breaking up badly!”

“…..t………the………..aly is…………e……w……….I………I REPEAT………………IRE!” Then her form fizzled out and vanished from her wrist.

“Clix? Darn it.” Lore whispered and quickly looked around, trying to find a place to stop and collect her thoughts.

Quickly she found the attic and locked the door behind her with a sigh. She sat down, frowning and wondering where she could go from there. She still didn’t know what the name of the anomaly was, but she knew what it was doing. It was disrupting magic and electronics. Like a supernatural solar flare only on a much bigger scale. Wandering over to an old window, she brushed away the dust to glance outside.

Gazing out at the vast open sky she frowned.  

At first she thought she saw a glimmering of something silver, but realized it was probably just a plane.

She had spent the majority of the day trying to find Scrooge and the anomaly, only to come up empty. What’s worse was, she wasn’t sure how to tell everyone what really was going on with Lena. So she sat on the roof staring up at the stars as the night came. Sighing, she was thinking hard about everything. How long would she be in this world? Would she be able to find the anomaly before it destroyed Duckburg? She really wanted to. She felt she owed it to Scrooge.

“So you are up here.”

Jumping a bit, she turned and saw Donald wandered over to Lore. He sat next to her. “Did you see Scrooge?”

She shook her head.

“Did you find what you were looking for?”

She sighed and closed her eyes.

A pause.

“You really should be careful if you don’t want to be caught by anyone. The kids like coming up here a lot.” Donald added, picking at a tile subconsciously.

“Right…” Lore was still lying back, firmly staring at the stars.

“The kids said they wanted to check out a Faire tomorrow.” Donald stated, watching her carefully. “The boys think it will get Webby’s mind off of Lena…”

Lore jolted a bit at this. She turned to Donald. “Donald…listen..”

He turned to her with a questioning expression.

“I…..well, you see…” she fumbled, trying to find the right words to explain the situation with Lena, but finding it hard to do so.

Donald eyed her again. He clenched his hands into fists and closed his eyes, thinking she was having a hard time talking to him because of another reason. “Uncle Scrooge talked to me the other day.” He said softly. “He wanted to apologize for something he did wrong.” He sighed.

Lore stopped and raised an eyebrow.

“But see the thing is, he’s not the only one to blame here. I guess it was easier for me to blame him. I had three boys to raise after all because Della was gone. I couldn’t blame my sister who was gone.” He sighed and frowned.

Lore looked worried and reached out to Donald. Smiling softly to him, she shook her head. “Family is…complicated sometimes. And no ones is perfect. Trust me, I know that.” She chuckled. “But I am glad you both are reconnecting. Family shouldn’t stay mad forever…”

Donald looked at her when she said that, her smile had vanished and she seemed to almost form a blank expression.

“Lore?” Donald reached out.

The hand on her shoulder jolted her out of her mind and she backed away. Seeing Donald’s troubled expression she quickly smiled and waved her hands. “Oh geez Donald don’t scare me like that.”

“Lore, where is your family?” Donald tried again.

Lore paused, rubbing her arm subconsciously and now acting like the child she was. She couldn’t lie to Donald. Especially when he was looking at her like that.

She stood up and walked to the edge of the roof, sighing as a breeze blew a piece of hair across her face.

She crossed her arms. “Why do you want to know that so badly?”

“I’m sure they miss you, why are you doing such a dangerous job when you are still so young?” Donald frowned, standing up.

“They don’t.”

“What?” Donald looked confused.

“They don’t miss me.” She spun around, eyes firm in her resolve. “And that’s fine. It’s better this way.”

“No parent doesn’t miss their child.” Donald tried.

Lore’s grip tightened on her arms. “Not every family is like yours Donald.” She whispered and tried to reign in her emotions.

Donald wisely backed off when he saw the aura around Lore increasing by the minute.

“As for why I’m doing this job?” Lore took a step back, closer to the edge.

“Well…” She smiled wanly. “Someone has to do it. Besides, its more or less both my dream and my nightmare.”

She took another step back.

Donald’s eyes widened. “Wait…stop!”

She reached the edge of the roof.

“But its also…..”

She stepped on air.

“My punishment.”

Donald shouldn’t have been so surprised. He knew, he knew she had magic.

So when he saw her floating he shouldn’t have fainted.

But he did.

And when he awoke, Lore was gone.

[iamthemaddness]

I’m Used To It

AO3 Link Here

I made it for a prompt:

Person A: I’m sorry, I almost got us killed.

Person B: I’m used to it.

Anddd ahhhh well, I was planning for a shorter one. LIke funny, fluffy one? And then I got... this baby. And I’m saying this now, I did a bit of research for the spells and stuff. And welllll yeah. So... yeah, enjoy. LOL.

The first time Draco heard the following words from Potter’s mouth, he was livid—Auror robes damp with Hippogriff piss and manure—and praying to all the Hogwarts founders and to the Great Merlin himself that they finally grant Robards the common sense to switch out his partner to another more… effective Auror.

“I’m sorry, I almost got us killed.”

Draco’s already deep frown dived, comically so, that he can almost hear Pansy chortling her ass off at the image. His anger relent, only a tad bit, upon seeing the great Saviour of the Wizarding World flinch under his glare. The offensive stench of shit that came with the minute movement of turning to Potter reigned his ire back in again.

“That was the worst thing that could have happened, Potter,” He spat, making sure to intonate on the consonants of his surname like he used to three years ago, “And what you did came fucking one notch close to it.”

“Look, Malfoy… I’m sorry, okay?” Potter huffed, lower lip jutting out in a sulk. Draco’s glare intensified, and when Potter noticed it, he managed to suck it back in. His hands mashed his own dirty robes into his fists, and the tips of his ears were starting to darken due to the blush settling just beneath his olive skin. “I didn’t know that Apparition by coordinates instead of thinking of a place would land us in a hippogriff stable.”

“And had a greater risk of getting us Splinched! Merlin!”

“Just… I’m sorry, Draco. I’m sorry! Isn’t that enough? We’re alive, we’re okay.” With a roll of his eyes and a blow of air toward his dangerously long fringe, Potter grumbled, “We caught the bad guy too.”

Oh, that brash and happy-go-lucky attitude of Saint Potter really gets to Draco. He looked regretful one second, and now, he’s already bragging about catching the suspect of their investigation! Draco wanted to smash those frames of his up somewhere nice and painful.

Wait, nice? Draco shook his head, willing the obtrusive thoughts away. How idiotic can Potter get? Apparition by coordinates is just too—

“How could you even think of coordinates instead of a place to Apparate to!” Draco now shouted, shocked when his anger-addled brain finally cleared enough to understand Potter’s previous explanation. But by the time this fact registered, his mouth was shooting questions too quickly for his mind to catch up. “Is that even possible? How would you even know what coordinates to think? Why would you even try it in the first place? I’ve never heard of such a method before—and I’ve read books! What books have you read?”

Harry watched Draco stand up from his desk chair, pacing the small space of their shared office, his face evolving from fury to confusion to curiosity. It had always been fun for him to watch the different expressions on his partner’s face—one thing he would never have known if they haven’t been partnered for two years now. When Draco finally faced him, blonde, slender eyebrows pinched in confusion, and eyes as sharp as the steel that coloured them, Harry’s hands were up in mock surrender.

“Do you want me to answer all of those questions? Or just the latter ones?”

The confusion eased to surprise, and Draco felt the blush of embarrassment coming before it set on his neck, cheeks, and ears. Curse the pale skin of his lineage.

“For what it’s worth,” Harry started with a small voice, searching Draco’s face for any sign of bubbling anger, “I decided to try it because, I mean… wasn’t one of the accomplices a Legilimens? We confirmed that, we did. And I didn’t want them to follow. So, uhh… I tried it.” He finished lamely.

Draco was still enraged with Harry and what had happened, but the curiosity to this newfound loophole in Apparition intrigued him, admittedly. The tension in his shoulders seemed to roll off in a sharp exhale, and he looked at Harry blankly, hoping the blush would fade away as well.

“Take a bath, reconvene in 30 minutes. Here.” Draco pointed on the floor between them, eyes narrowing slightly, “We’ll talk about this… discovery of yours, and then do the paperwork for the catch.”

Harry groaned at the mention of the wretched thing, but Draco was already striding toward the door, dragonhide boots squelching and irritating the hell out of him.

“Do cast a cleaning charm before I get back. And order that curry dish I like.” He tossed out with a look back at Harry’s wary face, before shutting the door completely. He swore he heard the wanker sigh in relief behind him, and Draco couldn’t help but smirk at that.

 The second time heard those words, Draco could feel the start of a migraine form at the back of his right eye. The accompanying eyelid twitched too, and he wasn’t blaming the lack of proper sleep for the past 72 hours due to their stake out. Successful as it was, there was not enough coffee, however, to stop Draco from throwing curses at the perp who chose to hole up in a dingy hotel. Half a day later, Robards tells them that they have to attend the scheduled exercises for the newly recruited Aurors.

No, not “attend”—as Draco would grumble at 7 am in the morning, watching the naïve gits cast half-assed hexes and crumbling Protegos—“babysit” would be the more appropriate term. And really, with Harry Bloody Potter mixed into the equation, Draco could have drowned in coffee all the cafes around the fucking block could offer, and still, he would not be ready for what was to happen next.

Of course, Potter, the ever-beloved Hero, would be enticed by the recruits to tell them a story about the War. It wasn’t much of a sore spot for them now, but it still left Draco with this breathtaking mass between his ribs when mentioned. Harry has them too, he suspects, with the way his easy smile tightened slightly at the corners, and his hands jerking a millisecond before relaxing again.

No one noticed but Draco, and, Merlin, wasn’t that something he should be looking into a bit more? But Draco shrugs it away, cramming it deep back down to the recesses of his mind, closing his eyes and resting his head on the wall.

He was sitting near the door of the training room, arms folded against his chest, and his cup of coffee Levitating by his side. If he gets to have Potter do all the babysitting, telling stories and all that tripe, then Draco might as well catch on that sleep he’s been deprived of. He waves his wand toward his cup, Levitating it to land on the table next to him, and he did a subtle Mufflatio around his ears for good measure too.

That should have been his cue to realize that not everything goes well when he leaves Potter alone to his own ridiculously unlucky devices. Fifteen seconds later, a dull explosion pierces through his charm, and Draco sits up, startled, to find a chimera made of angry flames steadily engulfing half of the room. The initial boulder hit the pit of his stomach at such a garish reminder of Vince and the war that Draco wasn’t able to think for a whole three seconds. His eyes took up the scene before him—Aurors crying in fear, crawling back, away from the caster of the spell. The caster looking both amazed and terrified at the emerging beast from his wand, and Harry—

Harry was shouting at the recruits—mindlessly numbed with fear at seeing Fiendfyre—and was yelling for Draco too at the same time.

“Draco!” Harry called again, but it was stifled by the charm around the blonde’s ears. He was casting an order of spells that Draco couldn’t understand, and it somehow blocked the beast from moving forward.

His emerald eyes were wide in alarm, in fear, and in recognition. This was what pulled Draco into action. Without much conscious thought, Draco leapt from the chair, hauled some of the recruits by their arms, and turned on the spot.

They stumbled on green grass—the park outside the Ministry, his subconscious sufficiently provided. He waved his wand again on himself to cancel the charm, spared a glare at the fumbling Aurors in training, and turned again to Apparate back to the training room. The beast was now in its full form, taking up half of the training room—the room was huge, as long as half of of the Great Hall, but with lower ceilings—and he was briefly astounded by the magical strength of the recruit to have produced such a beast.

Harry stood in front of the unconscious caster and two other Aurors who were cowering behind the man, trying to haul their colleague up. Sodding wankers, Draco thought viciously as he ran for them and cast a weight-reducing charm on the boy’s body.

“Move! Now!” He snarled, eyes flitting from furious to alarm as he glanced back and forth at the three recruits and the chimera. The two recruits nodded at Draco, tears streaming down their faces, and they carried the boy out of the room.

Draco, without the charm and standing all too close next to Harry, could hear his partner muttering spells over and over again. Sweat began to trickle down his spine, and he felt the wave of heat curling around him. Harry’s hair was damp across his forehead, but he didn’t seem to notice or mind due to his concentration. It was effective enough to enclose the flames, but Draco knew better.

“Harry!” Draco shouted through the bellows of the flame beast, agitated by the barrier growing around it, “We need to cast the charm to stop it! Even the great Harry Potter’s barrier won’t hold long enough!”

“Are the kids safe?” Harry asked without looking away from the fire, and then resumed repeating the spells—Protego Horribilis. Fianto Duri. Repello Inicimum.

Draco was almost too shocked to answer right away, “Kids! Potter, they’re adults—Oh, bollocks. Yes! Yes, they’re fucking fine! Do the charm with me!”

Standing side by side, and after a three-count by Draco, Harry brought down the barrier and they both cast the cease charm for the fire. It put up a fight, and Draco was almost sure that he might see burned flesh reflected back at him in the mornings, but Harry must have pushed all of that Saviour power in the spell, and they were left with a half-charred training room instead.

After the clean-up and reprimand from Robards, Draco was ready to strangle Harry when the sentence tumbled out of his lips again.

“I’m sorry, I almost got us killed.”

His migraine went from piercing to throbbing and pounding under a second, and Draco was ready to throw whatever Hex he can think of. Robards be damned. They might as well throw him in Azkaban now.

“We could have died!” He shouted instead, waving his hands in the air frantically, glaring at Harry but feeling the panic slowly seeping in, “We could have been burned by that! Third degree! Could have killed us! L-like Vince…”

Draco trailed off, and Harry suddenly looked up at him, eyebrows shooting up in concern and mouth opening and closing pathetically. The panic was swept away by the hollow feeling, the dread, of reliving those moments again. Of seeing the Fiendfyre come back to life and haunt Draco outside of his dreams. He felt his fury building up again, and he cast a baleful glance at Harry’s tense form.

“Why teach that spell, Potter! That bloody spell, out of all the spells—Merlin! Didn’t Granger teach you better?” With a shaky breath, Draco began to ask in a carefully clipped voice, “How many times do you think I’ve seen Vince being engulfed by fire? How many times should that make my knees wobble and my chest constrict? You insensitive berk.”

When Harry moved toward him, raising a hand to console him, Draco slapped away with his, glaring at Harry’s tired face. At the set of his jaw, at the emptiness of his eyes, at the whitening of his lips as he mashed them together in a straight line. Draco knew that Harry was reliving the same thing. That Harry was there. That may be Harry dreams about Vince burning or something else entirely about that cruel night in the Room of Requirements.

Draco knew—but he chose to turn around, walk toward the door of their office, and ignore Harry’s pleas to talk to him along the way. He reached the door and opened it, turning half-way to stare at the floor, all the anger inside him receding to that familiar emptiness he used to feel after the War.

“Too many times, Potter. I don’t need my nightmares appearing in real life.” He murmured, shutting the door behind him.

As the elevator rang and signalled his arrival at the ground floor of the Ministry, the doors opened to reveal the same group of recruits standing across the hallway. There were eleven of them, now that Draco had the attention span to count their arses. They all looked up just in time to see Draco narrow his eyes at them, before he strode past the group with a flick of his robes.

“Auror Malfoy, sir! Please!” They called out, and Draco pulled every calming fibre in his being to stop in his tracks. He could feel the deep temptation to hex them, so he stood his ground and did not turn to see their sorry faces. No need to fuel the fire.

There was some shuffling as they caught up, the fountain gushing behind them in a steady stream of water. It was well past 6 in the evening, and there would only be stragglers from their department at this time of day. The Unspeakables were another thing, but they rarely show up anyways. Their whispers echoed throughout the hall, and the migraine that had already faded was starting up again.

“If you have nothing important to say, best we leave—”

“We’re sorry.” A girl piped up, and there was shuffling again of robes and boots. “We’re sorry, Auror Malfoy, sir. We didn’t mean to do it.”

Draco sighed, shifting his weight on one leg and clamping a hand on his hip. “If there was anyone to blame, it’s us. It is, especially, Auror Potter’s fault for even thinking of teaching—”

The slew of responses began battering at Draco that he had a bit of a hard time listening to them. He slowly turned around to look at the group, gesturing as they talked, explaining what had happened.

“No, sir! He didn’t teach us—”

“We only wanted to see what a Fiendfyre would look like—”

“—and if the stories were true—”

“—Auror Potter warned us not to—”

“But I knew the spell—” Draco remembered the caster’s features, and the boy bit his lip hard upon the admission. He was cut off easily by the others though.

“Auror Potter tried to stop him. See, he didn’t want to tell us about what happened during that night.”

“It’s as if he doesn’t want to talk about it at all. But we were curious.”

“It was our fault, sir. And we’re very sorry for getting our superiors in trouble. We tried going to Head Auror Robards—”

“But the secretary won’t even let us in!”

Another chorus of apologies erupted, and Draco turned to them fully, waving his hand, “Stop! Stop! It’s okay. Everything’s fine.” He sighed again, massaging his temples with his thumb and middle finger and closed his eyes. “So Harry—Auror Potter didn’t teach you the spell?”

“No!” They all exclaimed, and then added almost at the same time, “Sir.”

“I knew the charm to stop the fire, sir.” The caster confided, glancing at Draco then back down at the floor, “But I have never tried to cast the Fiendfyre, so I wasn’t aware of its toll on my magic.”

“Yes, the amount of power required with that spell is enormous. Both to start it and to maintain it. How could you even know—” With another heavy exhale, Draco signalled the boy to come closer with two fingers. He complied, standing an arm’s length away from him.

“Do not do that again, do you hear me?” In a quick motion, he flicked the boy’s forehead, earning a hiss and a wince from all of them. It was a satisfying and resounding THWACK and it made Draco smirk momentarily before schooling his features.

He addressed all of them, a stern scowl in place, “Now go, write up a report on this and send it to my office first thing. The effects of Fiendfyre, spells that could contain it, and what proper actions should be done when it happens.”

“Yes, sir!” They all responded, small smiles on their faces, and Draco was pleased. For now.

The guilt in storming off and accusing Harry of teaching the spell overpowered this feeling of pleasure from connecting with the recruits, and Draco did a quick Tempus to check the time. He had to think fast and to think hard on what would be the quickest yet most effective take out place to make up with his partner.

  “And then! And then!” Ron Weasley guffaws, slapping his reddened palm on his knee a couple more times, tears starting to form at the corner of his eyes. His hair and his cheeks were already at a contest of which looks more ginger, but Draco merely rolls his eyes and smirks instead of calling him out for it. Weasley’s not laughing at him, Weasley’s laughing with him this time. And that feels bloody fucking brilliant to him.

After a ragged inhale and a quick swig of his beer, he points to Draco, face contorting as his grin fights the bitterness down his throat, “And then what did he tell you, Malfoy? Go on! Tell them!”

Draco’s gaze swept around the table of off-duty Aurors, wide eyes and easy smiles, anticipating Draco’s answer. Weasley sat across him. Auror Jenkins sat at Weasley’s left with his glass of Firewhisky. Auror Perez, Jenkins’ partner, sat between him and Draco, nursing the same bottle of beer as Weasley. And, finally, Harry, Draco’s partner, slowly looking put out at being the butt of the joke, was sitting between Draco and Weasley’s other side. He took a long gulp of his beer, scowling at Ron’s raucous laughter.

Despite the frustration of the day’s case, Draco was feeling giddy. They caught the perp, Robards praised them—if you call a curt ‘Keep it up, gentlemen’ a valid praise—and Potter managed to not kill them after the operation.

Although, it was pretty close, seeing as how Harry thought it was wise to cast a cleaning charm after being drenched with an unidentifiable liquid. The perp was brewing a strong love potion, peddling it on the streets, and causing a break of hysteria within the first 48 hours of ingestion. It was on their robes because of the scuffle to arrest the wanker.

Draco caught Harry’s wrist, thank Merlin, but the charm already left his wand and struck Draco’s sleeve. The combination of spell and potion caused the substance to eat through the material of his robes like acid. Lucky for Draco, the Auror robes were not hard to take off, and he simply slid them off, throwing them toward the ground. The initial ire bubbled inside, but as he turned to Harry, he saw how his partner’s face had crumpled as he watched the robes quickly disintegrate within next few seconds

Without saying anything at all, Harry suddenly grabbed Draco’s arm and hauled him close to his body. He enveloped him in a fierce embrace, and Draco felt Harry’s shoulder’s trembling when he had the sense to try and push him away. Something warm and liquid settled in Draco’s stomach as he rubbed his partner’s back, listening to him breathe deeply. He heard Harry whisper that familiar sentence in his ear, he could feel the tips of Harry’s lips brushing the shell, and a sudden shiver ran down his spine.

“I’m sorry, I almost got us killed.” Draco repeated, and that got the usual amused and exasperated reactions from the Aurors with them. But Draco was still at that moment in the warehouse, still in Harry’s embrace.

When they broke apart eighteen seconds later—yes, Draco kept count—Harry wouldn’t look at him, only apologized, and walked toward the exit of the warehouse. They didn’t talk about that incident, even as they sat in their office, desks facing one another. Even as Weasley knocked on their door, reminding them of their scheduled drinks after work. Even as they are sitting right next to each other right now, both nursing their own glasses of poison.

Harry glanced at Draco, the swirl of laughter and chatter in the pub as their background, and held his gaze when Draco met them. Something in those bottle-green eyes flashed, and Draco felt that shiver running down his spine again. He could still feel the curve of Harry’s shoulders against his own, the warmth of Harry’s chest against his chest, and he could still bring up the scent of Harry’s aftershave—minty, with a hint of lemongrass.

When he felt that liquid warmth pool toward his groin, Draco cleared his throat and looked away, breaking the spell. He pushed off the edge of the table, and threw some bills on it, “Sorry gents, have to leave and do some… paperwork.”

“You’re no fun, Malfoy.” Weasley muttered, shaking his head as he drank from his bottle, “Too early to do paperwork, yeah? Fuck Robards.”

Draco clicked his tongue twice, throwing a two-finger salute at the round of protests, “And may you enjoy that wondrous shag, Weasel. But I shall have to pass.”

Laughter erupted again as Ron rolled his eyes at the old nickname, and Draco made sure he would not look at Harry as he turned around to leave. This problematic attraction had been playing in the background for him for far too long, and it would not bode well for either of them when—if Draco chooses to act on it. He doesn’t even know if Harry swings that way. He did tell Draco a bit about the end his relationship with the Weseallete, still, Draco had not seen a potential Mr. or Mrs. Potter hanging around since then. It’s not like they were close enough to discuss such matters, anyway, right? They only got past the ex-nemesis part after their first year of being partners, and now, a year later, he’s finding Potter… attractive?

Draco scowled, tugging his coat on as he stepped out of the autumn cold. He mashed his hands inside the pockets of his jacket, teeth chattering at the piercing chill. He knew how cold the weather gets at this time of the year, and he regrets not bringing thicker garments knowing Weasley scheduled this pub night tonight. The steam from his mouth as he sighed curled into the air briefly before vanishing, and Draco began walking to the Apparition point in the alley nearby.

“Hey, Malfoy.”

Draco jumped and turned around, startled to see Potter standing at the entrance of the alley with a small smile on his face. He noticed that no one came with him, and Draco felt the prickle of dread—it was definitely not anticipation—starting on his neck. He swallowed, breathing through his nose to calm himself, and prayed to Merlin that Harry didn’t notice the blush on his cheeks. Draco sure felt them. If he did notice, he could just blame the whisky.

“Hey, Potter. Leaving early too?”

Harry shook his head, approaching Draco slowly, the scrape of his boots sounded too loud to Draco’s ears. He had his hands inside the pockets of his hoodie, the grey fabric stretching over his shoulders and biceps.

Yes, he has noticed that the scrawny boy of his Hogwarts years had filled out quite nicely. How could he not when they’ve been hitting the gym and fighting witches and wizards twice their size? Side by side? Harry was not bulky, but he was not as slender as Draco. The way Harry’s broadened shoulders would show a bit of muscle when he grabs a suspect, or the way his calves bunched up as he tightened his whole body to spring into a run, or the way his tanned skin glistened with sweat after a rough fight—of course Draco would notice them! He wasn’t fucking blind!

But just as with every little new thing he found out about Harry—how he liked his tea with three spoons of sugar, how he flaps the feather of his quill on his neck when he’s concentrating, how he always visits his godson during the weekends with a boxes of chocolate frogs—Draco filed all of those in the drawer of his mind labelled ‘Never Revisit Again’.

“Okay there, Draco?”

The use of his given name made him look at Harry sharply, and it was only then he noticed how close he now was. If Draco breathed as deep as he could, he would be able to feel Harry’s chest again, just like this morning. But his breaths were starting to go shallow and fast, staring at those sparkling green eyes behind the new square-shaped glasses. He tried to take a step back, but thought better of it. He was not someone so easily intimidated.

“What are you doing, Potter?” He hissed, eyes darting toward the busy London street yards away from where they stood, “Go back to Weasley if you’re not planning to go home.”

“I just wanted to try something, Malfoy. Been dying to all this time.”

“All this time? What are you saying, you—”

Harry’s lips captured Draco in a tentative yet firm kiss, hands landing on Draco’s hips. The brunette pushed Draco back a little, and the other man obliged with a step back, still shocked at the turn of events. Pleasantly shocked, if he would be honest. But he’s not entirely, especially to himself. After a moment, Harry pulled back, those eyes too deep up close that Draco could actually feel like he’s about to fall into them. He searched something in Draco’s face, but the small grimace said that he didn’t seem to find it.

With a chuckle and quick smile, Harry let go of Draco, and the blonde almost stumbled back to the wall. Words began tumbling from Harry’s mouth—the mouth that was on Draco’s own just seconds ago—and he was stepping away from Draco, hands tightly intertwined. “Was probably wrong. Sorry if I made things awkward. Just… just forget about it, okay? Sorry.”

Draco stood there, stunned, and as Harry started to turn away, something snapped inside him, and he found himself reaching for Harry’s wrist—just in time again, thank Merlin. The man had the decency to reflect the same shock as Draco felt, but Draco was too preoccupied feeling Harry’s soft, beautiful lips with his own to care. Of course, Harry Freakin Potter would bounce back quicker than Draco did, and they were soon enveloped in a searing kiss, open and hungry.

Hands grasping Harry’s shoulders firmly, Draco pushed against him, using his whole body to turn both of them and pin Harry on the wall behind him. He let out a moan when Harry’s wide, warm hands roamed his back and cupped his arse. Harry groaned when he felt Draco’s erection brush his thigh.

“Fuck, Potter. Wait.” Draco gasped, leaning away from Harry with difficulty. The movement only prompted the other man to lick, kiss, and suck on Draco’s neck instead, and really, leaning away didn’t seem as difficult now. “No, no, wait. Harry, please.”

The sound of his name made Harry stop and lean his head on the wall, his hands still latched onto Draco’s arse possessively. Draco felt his cock twitch at that, and he was sure he was about to come any second with the friction of Harry’s thigh against it.

“My flat. Side-along.” He kissed Harry again, tongues merging, teeth scraping Harry’s bottom lip. It was then Draco felt the familiar tug in his stomach, the twist of the world around him and himself, the nauseating push and pull of magic—and then he landed on the carpet of his living room, Harry still clinging onto him.

“Fuck!” Draco exclaimed, pushing the man off of him as he looked down on himself—safe, nothing Splinched—and subsequently glared at the flushed, gasping specimen before him, “Harry! What the fuck!”

The brunette looked confused, and he surveyed the surroundings, as if he thought Draco was raging about getting the place wrong. “You said your flat, right?”

“Yes! But Apparating while getting my tongue down your throat is a sure way to get us Splinched!”

It was as if Harry only realized then the risks of what he did, and he gave Draco a once over, face concerned and serious, “Are you okay?”

“Merlin! I’m bloody fantastic!” Draco shouted, stomping over to his sofa and sitting there with a huff, “You almost got us killed. Again!”

Harry walked over and sat at the opposite side, obviously deflated from the previous high he was experiencing with his partner practically plastered on him. He tried opening his mouth to say something, but thought better of it. The blonde, on the other hand, had more time to think without the man of his recent wank fantasies coming to life and smothering him with kisses. He turned to Harry, narrowing his eyes and deftly crossing his arms over his chest. So what if his erection was now glaringly obvious by the tenting of his trousers. Potter’s wasn’t any better and—oh, Salazar, he looked big.

Shaking his head to rid of the mad thoughts in his head, Draco cleared his throat to get Harry’s attention. Of course, Harry’s gaze zeroed in on Draco’s groin, but he tactfully did not comment on it. He looked a bit pleased, the git, and Draco had the urge to sock his smug smile off.

He started with, “What brought this on?”

Harry’s smile faltered, and he sighed, his elbow rested on the arm of the couch and his chin went on his palm, “So we’re not going with the sex first, and then the talk? I was hoping I could eat your famous French toast, too.”

He means to stay in the morning­—“I am not going to touch any part of you, nor you of me, if you don’t tell me what… this is. So get to it, Potter.”

“Harry. Just call me Harry.”

When Draco didn’t answer, Harry sighed again, and waved his dismissively, “I just realized something is all.”

“Realized something?” Draco echoed, an elegant eyebrow arching.

Harry groaned, burying his face now into both his palms, elbows resting on his knees. He slid his palms a bit wider to talk, but it still sounded slightly muffled. “I realized that I was too… attracted to my partner to function properly and… and I… I wanted to just get things over with before I explode.”

Draco felt his hands curling into fists, eyes narrowing further as he felt his fury slowly building up, “Get things over with? So… what? You’re expecting to get a shag, and be done with it? With me?”

“No! Christ, Draco, no!” Harry cried out, standing up suddenly and taking a step toward his partner, “That’s not… That’s not what I meant! I-I’m not good with… words. You know that.”

Harry slumped down next to Draco on the couch, knuckles white as his hands clamped viciously around each other. His shoulders were hunched, and Draco swallowed at the memory of his hands grabbing onto them early on. He tried to focus, however, knowing how important to get any bullshit out of the way first. His eyes were still startlingly green even with the dim light the moon was giving in Draco’s living room. They glistened as Harry stared at Draco, Adam’s apple bobbing with his own swallow. He looked away, biting his lip.

“I just wanted to… to see. If I kissed you, would you kiss me back? If I do get the chance to… fuck you,” Draco trembled at the way Harry’s voice dipped low at the word, feeling the jerk of arousal with his half-hard cock, “Would you let me stay until dawn?”

Draco stared at Harry’s tense jaw for a moment, debating his answer and course of action from there. When the man snuck a peek at Draco, however, and those beautiful eyes caught his again, he felt a cog click in place inside of him. “We’re partners, Harry. If Robards knew…”

“Then I’ll ask for a transfer, if need be.” Harry answered sharply, slowly turning toward Draco now, “Or throw my weight around, for once, in that blasted office, and demand them to look the other way. We’re damn good Aurors, Draco. And they need us. Together.”

“And what about your friends?”

“Hermione and Ron already knows. Christ, they’ve been harassing me for years now to just go up and shag you senseless because they can’t stand another word of from me about you.”

“Since when?”

“Since we saw each other applying for the program.” Harry frowned, eyebrow raising in thought, “No, probably since Sixth Year.”

When Draco’s eyebrows shot up, Harry unclasped his hands and lifted it at chest level, “I thought you were a right twat, yeah, but I couldn’t help but notice that you looked… nice.”

“And the Weasellete?”

“It was then I started to come to terms with my… bisexuality.” Harry shrugged, pushing his glasses up with a finger, “Ginny told me I was silly for thinking that she would be angry about it. We dated, but we broke it off after a month into training.”

“Because of me?” Draco asked in a small voice. He only noticed then how he’d relaxed his stance, his hands were now lying on his lap, although he was leaning a bit on the arm of the couch to maintain distance, watching Harry with caution. It was too good to be true, right?

“And because of Luna.” Harry smirked, his eyes flashing again with the same intensity Draco saw back at the pub, “Shocking how we have a thing for blondes.”

It was Draco’s turn to entwine his fingers together, feeling and seeing the blood drain from the tips as he held them taut. He did not want to have his worries ruin this, but it was best to lay things out in the open, Draco reasons. With an even smaller voice, cracking at the question in the end, he asked, “Why now?”

A hand landed on his knee, and he followed the trail of the forearm to arm to shoulder to neck, halting at Harry’s face. He felt that liquid warmth filling his gut again. Harry looked at him—really looked at him as if he was seeing him for the first time, and Draco was at a loss for words.

“Back at the warehouse… I did something stupid. I wasn’t careful. I wasn’t…” He sighed, looking away then back again to Draco, “When I watched those robes turning to nothing in mere seconds, in my mind, I was thinking, what if I casted it on… on you?”

He heard Harry’s voice choke at that, but Draco stayed still, silent. “I know we’ve had our differences. And we did get past them—not easily, I might add—but we did. I can’t… I can’t forgive you for what you’ve done before.” He finished in a hush.

A moment of heavy silence settled around them, and faces of the dead and the living flashed in their minds—different times, different faces, the same war. Harry’s hand squeezed Draco’s knee, and Draco looked up to find his partner staring back.

“We have lost a lot on what had happened. I’m not saying we move on, but we should learn from it. I know you did learn from it, Draco. I’ve seen it.” Harry proclaimed strongly, jaw set as if he was challenging Draco to counter him. “We’ve lost so many, and when I… when I saw those robes… I realized. I realized that I’ve waited long enough. That if I keep waiting, I might lose you too.”

Draco felt his chest crack open, a gush of air swooping from his nostrils down to his lungs, and as much as he felt like he couldn’t breathe, he also felt like he has never breathed so freely in his lifetime.

“Was that too serious?” Harry asked, biting those deliciously curvy lips, “Sorry, made things awkward again—”

With a deft shove, Draco had Harry lying on his back, already ravaging that sinful mouth of his with own. When Harry gasped, Draco took that chance to push his tongue in, and they both groaned as Harry met his. Hands stared roving again, and Draco slipped his under Harry’s shirt, feeling that toned stomach like he always wanted to ever since he saw Harry topless in the locker room. Harry had his hands cupping Draco’s arse again, pushing and pulling the globes together then apart that made Draco moan low. Draco’s hands went up higher, and he pinched Harry’s nipples with his thumbs and forefingers. Harry arched at that, spine bowing off the couch, a gasp escaping his lips.

Draco straddled Harry’s thighs, their erections jerking into full alert at the contact, and Harry growled, sitting up against Draco. He pulled Draco’s legs and tugged them around his waist, placed Draco’s arms on his shoulders, and finally put one arm around Draco’s back and the other arm under his buttocks.

“Hold onto me.” He whispered, and when he felt Draco tighten his grip around him, Harry stood up, lifting Draco with a grunt, “We’re going to the bedroom now. Is your lube in the top drawer?”

For some reason, Harry’s intimate knowledge of Draco’s flat made him grin like a maniac. He bit and suck on Harry’s neck while he was being carried toward the said room, answering with a short, “Yes.”

He felt Harry’s grin on his cheek, and the rumble of his laugh came first before he heard it. “Pervert. Do you wank first thing and then right before you sleep?”

“With such a delectable partner who’s around me five times a week, 8 hours a day or more, I need to be prepared.”

A gust of a laugh left Harry as he walked toward the bedroom. He stopped just before entering though, and Draco leaned away to ask what made him stop. He saw Harry biting his lip again, and he can’t seem to look at Draco.

“I know you’re tired of hearing this but…” He exhaled, and finally green met silver, crooked grin curving on his face that made the apology seem unnecessary, “I’m sorry, I almost got us killed.”

Draco laughed and kissed Harry again, fingers entangling themselves with Harry’s nest of hair. He paused for air, whispering against Harry’s lips.

“I’m used to it.”